2023-03-23-Living Your Free Will

Session

Opening

Dear Michael and Mother Spirit, it is such a deep, heartfelt comfort to invite the two of you to join us--always acknowledging you are never far away. You both are as close as our next thought, our nearest prayer, and our worship of thanks for life.

So it is quite a blessing to have this extraordinary kind of contact with you. I can’t think of a better way to spend our time during this lifetime of ours than to open our hearts and our minds to these wonder-filled gifts the two of you give us. We hope all those who come to hear these lessons, or read the transcripts, also keep in mind they can contact the two of you. Above us, and ever deeper within us, is our heavenly Father--the First Source and Center of all reality; and the Trinity--the wonderful God the Father, God the son, and God the Spirit. This wonderful Trinity is manifested through us with our God-given personalities, our Eternal Son-given creative spirits, then our Infinite Spirit-given wonderful physical bodies in this material universe we call home.

Tonight, Michael, right along with this fulfillment of being able to contact and receive you, we are a bit heavy-hearted with the difficulties our fellow citizens are going through both economically and socially. Without any kind of fear-mongering, we have genuine concern for those caught up in warfare and even not-too-petty crime. So we ask for a good word--if you would--to extend to them. Amen; and thank you.

Lesson

Michael: My dear children, this is your brother Michael. Mother Spirit and I are truly with you. Yet you are much more than mere extensions of us. You are our free-thinking, free-roaming children. We are ever so happy to echo our mutual Father’s gift of free will. We encourage you to make real the freedom that is potentially yours. Tonight I am only reminding you that freewill is yours, not in some abstract sense, but in your use of it.

(Using your free will)

It is good to contemplate and wonder--and cherish--the notion of being a free-willed creature, deliberately created this way by God. To help you realize this, I’ll emphasize the great meditation of stillness and worship. In this thankfulness, God can sketch out your way forward to act and realize your freedom.

In meditation you can re-establish a mindfulness of our Father’s presence right within and part of your mind. Moment by moment all through your day he makes those suggestions that give you the essence of freedom--options to choose. Ironically, they can be so mundane and matter-of-fact--the next good and healthy thing to do--it is all too easy to nonchalantly dismiss them.

Coming from God into the highest reaches of your mind, my dears, they are synonymous and complimentary with what your own mind, spirit, and soul can come up with. Because you yourself are a creative being endowed with spirit, you too can introduce something new into the ongoing stream of your life. You too can introduce and act upon something right out of yourself. Yet God’s presence is also part of you--the highest creativity and authority in all of reality.

(God works in you to increase your freedom)

The presence of God our Father so respects your free will he contributes to your mind in very subtle ways. As the creator of your essence--your personality--he loves you so much he turns you loose into time and space by relinquishing his unlimited power to control you. Rather, he only offers suggestions and ideas of options to feed your freedom of choice.

And so, my dears, his thoughts can answer your most fundamental prayer: “Dear Father, what can I do next? What should I do next?” Since the very next thought can be his answer, it calls upon you to voluntarily respect these suggestions that come to you, both from God and from your own highest intelligence.

Now to answer your invitation this evening, the greatest gift that Mother Spirit and I can offer is how to keep your head, your heart, and your creative spirit in times of stress and hardship. Remember: your greatest ability is your creativity to come up with something adequate that can respond to a challenge. It may economic, or social, or very personal--like your relationships with those who are closest to you and maybe depending on you to help them in their lives.

(Able to respond open-mindedly)

How do you keep your head and your heart open in the immediate panic which shuts down your own creativity, causing you to just blindly react? One of the greatest themes of our lessons has been responsibility--breaking it down to what it really means--the ability-to-respond. Now we are adding the ability-to-respond open-mindedly with a fresh and adequate option. What is the best thing to do next in your situation? This is what you need to know, isn’t it?

We’ve teased you with the notion to ask this of God’s presence within you. Most importantly—ask and take note--whether you can do it or not! You might have the immediate reaction: “That’s nice—but it’s impossible! I can’t do that!”” But entertain it. Don’t dismiss it out of hand. Consider it. Do what you can. Just lean in that direction.

This is the open-mindedness we ask of you for your own sake, and for those who depend on you. That is what open-minded means: Don’t get stuck in the past. Seek out the possible and the potential within this Eternal Now you live in, even if it seems so scary at first.

(Let the good ideas keep coming)

Let the good ideas keep coming. Write them down. Take an inventory of where you are. This leads to that wonderful quality that Mother Spirit helps you with--Understanding. Why are you where you are? What has led to this? What was the path to here? How then, can you not be bound by that? You have one definition of insanity being: “You keep doing the same thing--expecting a different result!”

Tonight, once again, let Mother Spirit and me remind you of a tool called stillness. Just be still when facing panic and its demand: “Do something!” Just be still. Let that panic crest like a breaking wave, then wash away. Breathe deeply and stay with yourself. Stay with your prayers to God. Stay with your worship of his creativity--and your own. This is one blessing of humility--opening yourself to the enormity that you are caught up in. If the fear washes over you, let it. Just stay with yourself in your meditation.

(It takes courage to see the past truly)

This, my dears, is what requires an open heart. It requires courage. It requires courage to let come what will in your meditations. Perhaps you are in an economic situation swirling about you, not your causing. Be open to understanding it. This takes courage. It takes even more courage to open your mind and heart to what you have done. It may be wrongfully contributing to where you are now.

Just being human you have the mental ability of denial of doing wrongful, maybe even criminal things, to hurt others. Denial stands in the way of your own present creativity. Every time you open your mind and your heart to meditate, you are immediately overwhelmed with a very righteous guilt. Yet, fearlessly--with courage—meditation leads you to what you did, so you can see it and understand it. You can put it in the past. It will no longer be blindly driving you around.

It indeed takes courage to be humbled by the enormity of some past action. It may be some past inaction, some terrible time when you should have done something, but were simply too afraid to. Now, it won’t let you be. Look at it to put it in the past and no longer cripple you in the present.

(Ask God: What is the best thing to do—Now?)

These past things keep you from being really creative--Now. They’re like a fog hiding: What is the best thing to do now? You need to realize--Everything is Now. You are alive, and changing; and your situation is changing. You are in a cosmic reality that is alive. God chooses to create and sustain it this way. He is the essence of life. His greatest gift of freewill is bestowed across an unfathomable universe of trillions of trillions of living personal beings, of all orders in addition to the human one.

Here you are—Now! You are alive in a living situation because of God. Breathe deeply. You are surrounded in a living society, with all its complications.

This is why--in this living reality you are part of--you have to do your part. Be still as best as you can, right within this huge, swirling, living, maelstrom. Meditate and develop this ability. Tune in and appreciate the life within you. Don’t suppress anything. Look at it. Don’t fill your mind with something else, not even some holy notions. They are for another time. They are your wonderful worship, your wonderful religious activities. But for now, be still so you can feel the heart beating in your chest--this gift of God’s.

Then comes your next breath--another ability of God’s. Feel your breath coming in and going out, again and again. If you want to feel its power, you can try to hold it. You can hold your breath—for a while. The ultimate end of this is, you lose your consciousness and it comes back again--not that we suggest you take it that far out.

(God’s gift of curiosity)

Another great gift we offer tonight is curiosity, the part of your mental ability that Mother Spirit augments. It’s another wonderful gift of God’s, to be curious and wonder. You can’t always arrogantly assume you already know what the next moment will be, so approach the beating, breathing life within your body with curiosity.

While there are dozens of yoga’s you can do with your breath and your heart, be still. Approach your breathing with curiosity. See if you can leave it alone. See if you can, because this is tricky. How can your awareness of something not affect it? Perhaps you need to learn this very subtle ability. How can you observe something without affecting it? Perhaps this ability puts you in a new reality.

In this giving your whole attention over to your life, it puts the other parts of your life in a proper perspective. The most sincere form of worship is being thankful for being alive. Be thankful for your life. Come to realize how God himself is keeping it in your soul. Break out of the past into your Eternal Now with a creative spirit. Ask God, “Dear Father, OK. I’m here--now. What is the best thing to do next?’ You’ll have an increased ability to step off and do it.

(Practice your meditation)

Practice your meditation, my dear ones. It is the most basic and profound ability you can develop, especially for hard times. It leads to not only what your own creative spirit can come up with, but what God’s presence within you can suggest.

Start now! As this lesson ends, start now. Practice stillness meditation of being alone with yourself and God. Be curious with what this wonderful, living body of yours is doing with your next heartbeat, your next breath. Just stay alone with yourself and God for a while. Be still and come into your power. Now if you have any questions or comments, we can do them.

Dialogue

Student #1: Michael, thinking out of the box, I was reflecting on the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. While the fatherhood of God is solid, the brotherhood of man seems to be in disarray on this world. We have issues of gender, war, religion, and race. Your counsel for stillness is the first line of defense against the perils of this disorganization.

But as the brotherhood of man isn’t limited to the people on this world, but includes the trillions of trillions of others you mentioned, is there an appeal for their help in addition to the stillness practices we are doing? They might be able to affect some transformation to break the log-jam we have here. I thought it would be prudent to make an official request for some aide outside of this world, since the quarantine has been lifted. Is that too far-fetched?

Michael: Oh, my son, not at all. There is no limit to how far you can stretch your mind, creativity, and imagination to realize the whole brotherhood of God--of which you are a part. Tonight I focused on the individuals who can hear my voice or read a transcript of this lesson. Mother Spirit and I answer as best as we can with our suggestions. And of course, God has his presence within every single human being on your world.

(Society is not a log jam, but a raging river)

The only thing I would tease you to question is your idea there is some kind of social log jam. Rather, my son, society is a raging river. People are being tossed wildly about in every possible and conceivable way-- from nigh unbelievable acts of generosity and sacrifice, to the most heinous kinds of criminal behavior. They are rushing through time on this world of yours for the lack of unified spiritual control. Going back through the terrible history of your world, there has been no Planetary Prince helping to control and direct spiritual evolution for thousands of years.

Rather, your world is spiritually directed by a “hands-off” respect for every individual’s free will. So you see the full range of human ability from the most divine and loving self-sacrifice, to the most depraved, truly insane perversion and cruelty.

Tonight I offered individuals a way of not being swept away with their own fear and panic, but to stop for a while. Meditating with God’s presence they can feel out a way of swimming in their own particular stream of time, enough to have some notion where to paddle here or there. They can feel and use my Spirit of Truth for their directions.

It’s giving total respect for the enormity of the situation, and just how dynamic it is. Consider on a worldwide level the amount of human resources and creativity going into warfare and the preparations for it, for crime or its prevention.

(Respecting the free will of others)

These resources, if given over to love and creative curiosity, would make a Paradise on earth in a very short time. Yet this only puts you face to face with the most deeply challenging understanding. This is your challenge, and I can only offer you our view of just how dynamic life is. The greater spiritual community--with all its unlimited power--respects individual free will. As a spiritual being yourself, can you do the same? It is up to each individual personality to create a better world in his or her own sphere. Does this help your understanding, my son?

Student #1: Yes, it certainly throws a light on it. Thank you for your counsel.

(Understanding the situation in an unbiased way)

Michael: An enormous aspect of wisdom is to feel for and respect the limits of one’s own comprehension. Since your various sources of information are themselves so limited and biased, you can do your best to understand the situation in an unbiased way. This is where the blessing of humility comes in, helping you acknowledge the dynamic nature of your world, and fully pray for guidance and worship. In a sense, send your love out into that maelstrom of individuals and do what you can in your own sphere of influence. This is your responsibility--your ability-to-respond to whatever comes your way--as well as what you yourself choose to encounter. This is your situation.

So, my son, within your sphere of influence try to be as spiritually creative as you can be. Recognize and honor each person’s free will. Even encourage them, as we do. Help remind those you love to be ever more responsible within their lives too. Be in my love.

Student #1: Thank you.

Closing

Michael: Well, my dears, this has been a long lesson and contact. Let me wind up this particular session with Mother Spirit sending her love. You definitely have mine. Share your own. Develop your own love and spread it as broadly as you can. Good night.