Out of touch

Are you out of touch? What exactly does that expression mean? First, it is an idiom. An idiom is an expression of speech whose meaning is not a result of the literal meanings of its elements, but is a result from the parallel thoughts it creates. “Kick the bucket” is an example of an idiom which means that someone has died. Hence, the subsequent term “Bucket List”, which denotes a list of things to do before one dies.

Out of touch is an expression of speech which alludes to someone who is no longer interacting and communicating with one’s physical environment. The opposite idiom is to be in touch, or have regular communication and interaction with one’s physical environment. Events and circumstances regularly occur in our physical environments. Are they a result of random chance, or are they a result of one situation building on another situation until these situations are expressed as a final result? If you don’t pay attention to events and circumstances on a regular basis in your physical environment you are out of touch. In order to understand what that truly means we must analyze how events and circumstances manifest in our environments.

Jesus said in the Lord’s Prayer, “on earth, as it is in heaven.” Another way of saying this is “As above, so below.” These expressions of speech describe how the process of creation manifests in the physical world. As living beings, we have different aspects or levels of being that relay our thoughts into the physical world. Our spiritual aspect is our connection to God. It is a knowing that exists within us that we are expressions of the Most High God. Our mental aspect is where thinking occurs in our minds. It is where we generate and move the energy of thought. Our emotional aspect is where feeling occurs and it is where we either react to or pro-act with our physical environment. Finally, our physical aspect is where we interact with our environment through sensing. Our senses are our point of contact with our environment. Each of our 5 physical senses absorbs or feels different frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum and converts them into electrical copies or representations within our brains. What we perceive in our minds are symbols of our environment. We compare these thought symbols or archetypes to previous experiences through the contemplative processes in our brains. Our perceptions are a result of the state of all of our aspects of being in relation to the physical environment.

When we deny the facts that occur in our environment and replace them with the perceptions or opinions of others we are out of touch with ourselves. Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said, “When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others.” Do you live your life based on the perceptions or opinions of others? Are you so out of touch with your environment that you defend mediocrity and false beliefs? Have you daily accepted the easy way out because you have given up on your dreams? There is a way back to a state where you can be in touch with reality. It is a process that requires discipline and focus. By making the time to relax and block out the distractions of the outer world, you can begin to listen to the still small voice of God, who will develop your spiritual aspect to the point where your environmental interaction is based on knowing instead of reacting. Meditation is a process where you let go of the grip of the outer world and enter the peace and joy of the inner world. You might say, “I have tried to meditate and it feels weird, so I give up. It’s too hard.” First, you don’t try to meditate; the very definition of meditation excludes trying. If you try you are not letting go! Secondly, Henry Ford once said, “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.” I addressed this in a previous article.

If you haven’t made the time to get in touch with who you are, then you will inevitably fall into mediocrity. Do you just get by? Are the results of your life barely adequate? Have situations occurred in your life that have shaken your world and have brought you to the point where you know something must change? Charles C. West said, “We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them.” Has God given you a wake-up call? Has He rattled your cage enough that you are finally paying attention to what is truly going on in your environment? Will you heed His call or will you ignore it? It is your choice. Choose life, awareness of yourself and being in touch with the reality from all aspects of your being. That is the only way to escape being out of touch.

For more info: Download my free Wilmington Spirituality Examiner toolbar. Please visit my Eschatology Refutation Blog. “Life is a gift. Be thankful for it and it will be replete with abundance. Encourage others to express creativity, release negativity and embrace pro-activity." ©2009 Dean A. Banks. All Rights Reserved. Dean A. Banks, MCIWD, DD can be reached at webproducer@hotmail.com or banksnet.com. Download my free eBook on Articles 1-10 here.

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Ask and it is given

In honor of my 50th article for the Examiner I would like to write about my favorite saying of Jesus. Ask and It Is Given is the title of the current book I am reading by Esther (Abraham) and Jerry Hicks. A fascinating pre-cursor to their book The Law of Attraction in which I couldn’t put the book down! I suggest voraciously reading both books as they are a complete owner’s manual to the Law of Attraction. Jesus said in Matthew 7:7 of the King James Version of the Bible, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Let’s examine this statement phrase by phrase.

Ask, and it shall be given you – This is the starting point for the Law of Attraction, or That which is like unto itself is drawn. By asking for what we want, we are accepting and believing that something beyond us can give it. The desires of our heart are placed there by God for us to fulfill and actualize them. How many people go through their entire lives never becoming what they were created to be simply because they never asked for what they wanted. They either didn’t know how to ask, never believed they should have asked, or couldn’t bring themselves to a state where they were humbled by the presence of God. Asking turns over the control of self from the ego (edging God out) to the divine. The divine responds with whatever thoughts you predominately think about and emotionally charge according to the next phrase, Seek, and ye shall find. Like the genie (the Universe) says in the movie The Secret, “Your wish is my command.” Asking is a form of prayer to God for the things, circumstances and people you desire to have in your life.

Seek, and ye shall find – God doesn’t hand anyone things on a silver platter. You have to earn them. Esther (Abraham) and Jerry Hicks state this next phrase as The Science of Deliberate Creation or That which I give thought to and that which I believe or expect – is. This is where you get what you predominantly think about, whether you want it or not. If you don’t apply these phrases or laws to the benefits of yourself and others, they still operate by default. If you think bounty, you will reap bounty. If you think lack, you will reap lack. Seeking is a form of meditation because it allows you to let go of the outer world of distraction and focus on what you truly desire. You must first know what you desire, make a plan to achieve that desire and expect it to happen. This can only come as a result of inner focus and not outer distraction.

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you – Once you know where you are going, you must take the steps to get there. Many have said it is hard and few have said it is easy. Whomever you choose to believe sitting around and dreaming of your desires without expecting them is a mind game. You must implement your plan by providing a service to mankind. This is based on the Hicks’ third law of The Art of Allowing which says I am that which I am, and I am willing to allow all others to be that which they are. This means to serve others by not judging them. It means to accept them as they are and love them for who they are. When you allow you cannot resist. If you resist the flow of life, everything that annoys you will persist. It’s like the story of the barnacle who wondered what it was like downstream away from the turbulent waters. All of the other barnacles told him that if he let go of the rock he would be swept downstream and be bashed on the rocks. He would surely die! One day he let go of his hold on the rock and was swept downstream being bashed from rock to rock. However, he didn’t die as the other barnacles told him. He ended up in a peaceful pool and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of his life. Allow others to be who they are, even if they don’t allow you to be you. Don’t invite others to rent space in your head with their troubles and circumstances. Allow the universe to work as it does and your reward will be the joyous freedom of being able to create your own life experience exactly as you want it to be according to the Hicks. Set your daily intention to deliberately create your own life experience. Jesus followed in Matthew 7:8 with "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” What a promise!

For more info: Download my free Wilmington Spirituality Examiner toolbar. “Life is a gift. Be thankful for it and it will be replete with abundance. Encourage others to express creativity, release negativity and embrace pro-activity." Dean A. Banks, MCIWD, DD can be reached at webproducer@hotmail.com or banksnet.com. Download my free eBook on Articles 1-10 here.

Fine Tuning Your Perception

Since our senses are limited, they only reveal a portion of reality. In order to finely tune our perceptions, we need a greater awareness of reality than we currently possess. In my 1982 book “Communication: The Key to Successful Living”, I explore the triune of prayer, meditation and service as a method of expanding your awareness. Prayer is a process whereby you speak to God (or Higher Power), meditation is the process of listening to God hearing His still small voice and service is the process of sharing your inner peace and resolve with the world.

Prayer is where you request or petition for something from God, or give thanks to God for something He has already given to us. It is where we accept that there is a Higher Power and we recognize our unity with Him. If we didn’t, then why would we pray at all? It is the way we talk to God. A simple look at the vastness of the universe should be impetus enough to realize that whoever created all of this is much greater than we are.

Meditation is where we shut up and listen. You cannot try to meditate. You must let go of the outer world and release your supposed control of it in order to truly meditate. Meditation allows you to enter the stillness of the Most High God. In the first part of Psalm 46:10 it states, “Be still and know that I am God!” In order to experience God’s greatness, we first need to remove any external distraction and enter the peace and stillness of the Most High God. God has 4 main qualities we need to experience in order to finely tune our perceptions. He is omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (existing everywhere), omnipotent (all powerful) and omniparient (the source of everything). In order to experience how infinite God is we need to regularly meditate, or let go of the outer world and its distractions.

Finally, when we listen to God and increase our awareness we must begin to move our feet. Awareness without action is selfish. When we receive God’s awareness it is a blessing. We need to share this blessing with the outer world. Service is the act of giving this awareness to the outer world. Volunteer in your community, mentor a child or help those less fortunate than yourself. The act of giving enriches your spirit and blesses you with a finely tuned perception of the continuity and enjoyment of life.

By faithfully practicing prayer, meditation and service, we develop an attitude of gratitude. Giving thanks daily for all the blessings we have paradigm shifts our awareness off of the things, people and situations that we cannot control into an understanding of being thankful for our current experience. By the Law of Attraction all things, people and situations are ultimately created by us. God has given us the power of co-creating the universe. Christ said in Mark 11:23, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” Can you get any clearer than that?

God has given us the tools to organize and appreciate the blessings in our life to be healthy, wealthy, prosperous and abundant. Can you count the grains of sand, the blades of grass and the stars in the universe? If you could you would see how abundant it is. We live in an abundant universe filled with opportunities to co-create, discover and actualize our God-given potential. Make time daily to finely tune your perception through prayer, meditation and service.

For more info: Download my free Wilmington Spirituality Examiner toolbar. “Life is a gift. Be thankful for it and it will be replete with abundance. Encourage others to express creativity, release negativity and embrace pro-activity." Dean A. Banks, MCIWD, DD can be reached at webproducer@hotmail.com or banksnet.com.