Witchvox Article

Author: Bob Makransky
Posted: October 31st. 2010
Times Viewed: 3,285

I once had a conversation with a woman who was thoroughly convinced that someday Jesus was going to bring her a �whole ton of money�. I had occasion recently to question my spirit guides on this point, in connection with some money problems of my own.

B: What is the difference between faith and fooling yourself?

S: It�s like the difference between indifference and apathy. Apathy is a thought form copy of indifference. With apathy, you squelch your true feelings; with indifference, you relax into your true feelings. You just RELAX. That is the difference between thought forms and true feelings � between fooling yourself and faith. With true feelings, you release your own designs and let go of your hold (control, clinging) .

What we all need is grace � a direct lift from the Spirit to get us over the hump. Average people don�t know what grace is: they think it�s winning the lottery, or finding true love which drops down from heaven with no effort on their part. This is false: grace has to be prepared for. When witches take complete responsibility for themselves and their situation, then grace will come to them automatically. And this can only happen when they eradicate their self-pity and realize that they�re all alone, facing an abyss with no supports or protection. No deity is going to intercede for them or save them; and certainly society isn�t going to. They�re going to have to take complete responsibility for saving themselves. Then and only then will the way be cleared for the Spirit to fill them.

True faith means releasing your own plans and designs, your demands that the Spirit bring you money on your own terms and in your own time. Faith means emptying yourself of your own ego, and being willing to trust the Spirit, even if this means living on zero money.

B: But you could fool yourself into that one too.

S: Right, but in that case you wouldn�t feel peaceful. Fooling yourself doesn�t bring with it a sense of relief and release � the giving up of your own worries, the sense of urgency that your problems be solved. True release can only come when you give up grasping after a release. The grasping after a release is what keeps release at bay. Only when you give up looking for an exit, for an escape hatch; when you truly reach the end of your rope and have to let it go and drop into the abyss; can you feel true release � i.e., can you truly be released. Spiritual growth is basically just a matter of exhaustion.

What�s the difference between faith and fooling yourself? Just the way they each feel. Faith is RELAXED, is not pushing to get anywhere, and is not frantically seeking an exit. Fooling yourself is the belief that there is an exit � that if you somehow found the right button to push, God would deliver a miracle and save you. So you keep running around pushing every button in sight, and looking for more and more buttons to push, until you either run out of buttons or run out of energy to keep running around.

At that point you realize there is no exit. The Spirit isn�t going to go out of its way to save you. It�s at that moment that true faith becomes possible. True faith is peaceful, resigned, RELAXED. True faith isn�t smug (�God is going to come through for me in such-and-such a manner.�) . That�s why that woman was fooling herself in her hope that Jesus would bring her a whole lot of money.

B: Maybe he did.

S: Maybe he did. If she�s a �lucky� person, she may even have gotten her wish answered, and she did win the lottery or something. But even if she got what she was wishing for, it probably just compounded her true problems.

The evangelical belief in the Rapture is another example. All this clamor for Jesus to return will, in fact, bring Jesus back; just as the Jews praying for 2, 000 years to return to Palestine made that intent happen. However, knowing a little bit about Jesus, it seems more likely that when he does return it will be as a humble carpenter rather than in the clouds blazing with glory; and all the hopefuls waiting to be translated out of the tribulation will be left standing at the station. That�s the trouble with having expectations � you get so fixed on your own purposes and obsessed with your own selfish ends that when your cubic centimeter of luck finally does pop up, you always miss it because it never corresponds exactly with your dress-rehearsed fantasies.

True faith means not trying to dictate to the Spirit: �I want this and that and the other �� as if you were on Santa�s knee asking him for toys. It means letting the Spirit bring you what is best for you � what your true feelings want, not what your thought forms want. Like that woman � what�s she going to do with a fortune? Why not be content with a modest income? What she was trying to do was to dictate to the Spirit.

The point is that true faith does not depend upon the realization of a particular expectation. Believing that your thought form images � your miraculous escape from your present circumstances into some idealized fantasy world � will come true, is not faith. It�s fooling yourself. This is what most people spend their entire lives doing. Most people live for the daydream that someday the object of their fondest fantasies will drop into their laps from heaven with no effort on their part.

True faith, by contrast, is faith that everything is unfolding as it should; so be patient. True faith is the conviction that things will happen precisely as you, in your inmost heart, need for them to happen; so go with the flow. True faith is knowing that you can�t control anything anyway, so you�d might as well quit worrying about it and just chill. Death will solve all your problems soon enough.

True faith, true trust in the Spirit, means shifting the burden of worrying about money over to the Spirit � just giving up all that worry (importance) . Faith is not so much the cessation of desire as it is the cessation of importance. When importance � the driving sense of urgency � is gone, faith rushes in to fill the gap.

(excerpted from Magical Almanac free monthly ezine, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MagicalAlmanac)

ABOUT...

Bob Makransky

Location: Coban, Guatemala

Website: http://www.dearbrutus.com

Other Articles: Bob Makransky has posted 29 additional articles- View them?

Other Listings: To view ALL of my listings: Click HERE

Email Bob Makransky... (No, I have NOT opted to receive Pagan Invites! Please do NOT send me anonymous invites to groups, sales and events.)

Home - TWV Logos - Email US - Privacy

News and Information

Chapters: Pagan/Heathen Basics - Pagan BOOKS - Traditions, Paths & Religions - Popular Pagan Holidays - TV & Movies - Cats of the Craft - Festival Reviews - Festival Tips - White Pages (Resources) - Issues/Concerns - West Memphis 3 - Witch Hunts - Pagan Protection Tips - Healing Planet Earth

Your Voices: Adult Essays - Young Pagan Essays - Pagan Perspectives (On Hold) - WitchWars: Fire in the Craft - Gay Pagan - Pagan Parenting - Military - Pagan Passages

Pagan Music: Pagan Musicians - Bardic Circle at WitchVox - Free Music from TWV

Vox Central: About TWV - Wren: Words, Wrants and Wramblings - Guest Rants - Past Surveys - A Quest for Unity

Weekly Updates: Click HERE for an index of our weekly updates for the past 6 years

W.O.T.W. - World-Wide Networking

Your Town: A Link to YOUR Area Page (The largest listing of Witches, Pagans, Heathens and Wiccans on the Planet)

VoxLinks: The Pagan Web: 8,000 Listings

Your Witchvox Account: Log in Now - Create New Account - Request New Password - Log in Problems

Personal Listings: Pagan Clergy in Your Town - Adult Pagans - Young Pagans - Military Pagans

Events: Circles, Gatherings, Workshops & Festivals

Covens/Groups/Orgs: Local Groups Main Page

Other LOCAL Resources: Local Shops - Regional Sites - Local Notices - Global/National Notices - Local Skills & Services - Local Egroups - Political Freedom Fighters

Pagan Shopping: Online Shops Index - Original Crafters Sites - Auction Sites - Pagan Wholesalers - Pagan Local Shops

Web Site Content (including: text - graphics - html - look & feel)
Copyright 1997-2013 The Witches' Voice Inc. All rights reserved
Note: Authors & Artists retain the copyright for their work(s) on this website.
Unauthorized reproduction without prior permission is a violation of copyright laws.

Website structure, evolution and php coding by Fritz Jung on a Macintosh G5.

Any and all personal political opinions expressed in the public listing sections (including, but not restricted to, personals, events, groups, shops, Wren’s Nest, etc.) are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinion of The Witches’ Voice, Inc. TWV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.

Sponsorship: Visit the Witches' Voice Sponsor Page for info on how you
can help support this Community Resource. Donations ARE Tax Deductible.
The Witches' Voice carries a 501(c)(3) certificate and a Federal Tax ID.

Mail Us: The Witches' Voice Inc., P.O. Box 341018, Tampa, Florida 33694-1018 U.S.A.

Witches, Pagans
of The World

Current Topic
Editorial Guide

NOTE: The essay on this page contains the writings and opinions of the listed author(s) and is not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Witches' Voice inc.

The Witches' Voice does not verify or attest to the historical accuracy contained in the content of this essay.

All WitchVox essays contain a valid email address, feel free to send your comments, thoughts or concerns directly to the listed author(s).