Neale Donald Walsch, in his book, Tomorrow’s God, in his chapter, “The End of the Single Source”, suggests that in each of us there is an inner authority and an outer authority. He is speaking about the workings of the Spirit, inside and outside. Walsch, using his formula of questions to God and God’s answers, says to God: “…what if people genuinely wish to expand their awareness (of the Divine) and uplift their consciousness using the tools of their exterior world (i.e. religions)? Is it not a ‘legitimate’ process or practice to reach outward to see what others are experiencing, and what they have to say of their experience?”
God’s response: “Of course it is. As long as outward reaching does not turn into outward placing.”
Of my 22 grandchildren, five are now out in the world, making a life for themselves separate from their birth families. Two of these are what I would call seekers. The others are, too, but these two young women have shared their searches with me, a gift that will make me smile as I walk into the kingdom some day.
I have loved listening to their questions, the same questions I myself had asked over the years, I shared with them insights that I have gained in my own search, but I was careful not to impose upon them my beliefs as in any way Ultimate Truth. I am forever in process, after all. A firmly held truth today may get weak as new experiences present themselves.
In the beginning of these conversations, my granddaughters were questioning the teaching of the religious communities in which they were raise, but as time went on, they were exposed to other beliefs and brought their curiosity about these into the conversations. The advice I gave both of them is this: “Be true to yourself.” I was telling them, in other words, that if they come across a teaching by anyone or any organization outside of themselves, accept it only if it fits, if it matches what you intuitively know. Don’t be afraid, I advised them, to question and explore. God, I assured them, loves their seeking and is watching over them. I didn’t say it, but I might have added, “You will probably make mistakes, go down some paths that later prove to be fruitless or erroneous.” I have found that when I myself have done this, the “error” within a particular path begins to reveal itself, like a pebble in your shoe. We may see that it does not bear out as applicable in real life. Or we come to realize that it does not fit into our value system. This is the work of intuition, or as I would call it, the discernment work of the Holy Spirit within. I think this is what Walsch has God trying to tell us.
Sharing these insights with my granddaughters was an act of faith on my part. I did get a fearful thought: what if they get involved in something harmful like a cult that they cannot get out of? So far that has not happened. As they have proceeded on their journeys I have seen a few red flags. I tried to address these as kindly as possible. I knew that if I attacke they would draw away and stop sharing. So I took ownership of my thoughts and trusted them. If I could not trust them, I trusted God. Put another way, I entrusted them to God. It has proven, so far, to be a trust well placed