If you do what you know in your heart is the right thing to do you are connecting to this spirit, the holy spirit, of all living things to one another. If you listen to it and do what you know in YOUR heart is the right thing to do, you will remain in harmony with all living things. When you ignore your heart, your conscience, the spirit, you are creating disharmony no matter how good you think what you are doing may be.
It takes great faith to do this. You often know in your heart what to do, but it is not what society or whoever says you "should" do. in addition, there are often perceived and feared consequences to doing what you know in your heart is right. "What will Grandma say?" "Will my friend still like me?" Will people think I am wierd?" "Will I be hurt emotionally?" "Will I get hurt physically?" Or worse, "is what I know in my heart to be the right thing to do against the law and likely to land me in jail or cost me money?"
All valid concerns when we follow our hearts. Truly follow.
There is also a critical difference between what our physical bodies "want" and what we know in our hearts is the right thing to do. We struggle with the desires of the body, which are not all bad and often right at the right time. When we connect into the spirit that connects all of us, we will know the difference between what we desire physically and what is the right thing to do for us at that moment in time, because it will be in harmony with everyone else. Sometimes, thankfully, they are the same thing.
In the end, being connected into the Harmony, the spirit that connects all of us to each other, or God if you want, will always result in things actually turning out the best way possible.
Some Thoughts on What God is Not: There are thousands of images attributable to God. The most common of course is of an old wise man with a long white beard sitting regally upon a golden throne clothed in robes, with angels and cherubs flitting about and your chosen prophet standing at his right hand. The man/God may carry some sort of staff or sceptor. His hair is long and flowing. His skin is burnished tan and healthy. His hands are large and he is much more muscular and physically powerful than a man of his age should be. See images of Zeus from Greek mythology, the depiction of God in Revelations and more recently, King Neptune in "The Little Mermaid."
Is God a very powerful wise old man sitting on a throne? I think not, and I think that few people still believe in this sort of human-like God. Of course, while the Old Testament proclaims that we are made in the image of God, the New Testament consistently refutes idols and images of God as in any way human-like. See Romans 2:22 for example.
Proof of God: In an earlier post, I "proved" there is a "God." Of course, for those who "believe" one need not prove there is a God. There just is and always has been a God. I suppose I went through the process of proving there is a God for those of us who were not really sure and needed proof. It is rather complicated to sum up, so if you need proving, go read it.
So that begs the next logical question. "What" is God? If God is not an old wise man sitting on a throne on top of Mount Olympus or in the Kingdom of Heaven or at the bottom of the seas, then what is God?
Some Bible Thoughts: If one reads the Bible, and in particular the New Testament, I think that it is clear that God is a spirit, even though there are many passages that envision God as a being of some sort. God is metaphorically a Father and a Son, but by that, I believe that what Jesus and Paul meant is that God is our family. Jesus explained that there was a lot more for people to learn that he did not have time to tell them. He explained that the Spirit of Truth will guide us to the real truth. John 16:12 - 15. He explained that we have a direct relationship with God. God is within us. God connects us. We do not have to go through anyone or anything else to get to God. We are connected directly to God. That was hard for the priests of the day to handle.
He explains that it does not matter if you blaspheme, or curse or disrespect, God. It does not matter if you blashpeme, or curse or disrespect, Jesus. It is only when you blaspheme, or curse or disrespect, the Spirit when you are truly in trouble. Matthew 12:30 - 32, and Mark 3:28-29. Not that you should put all your faith in what the Bible says, but on God there seem to be a lot of people who care what it says on such things.
So what is the point of these statements? If you look into your heart honestly, your conscience will tell you what is the right thing for you to do at any particular moment in time. Your conscience or your metaphorical "heart" knows, because it is connected to the Spirit. In the Bible the Spirit is connected to God. When you lie to yourself, ignore the Spirit, your conscience, and fail to follow your heart, you are ignoring your connection to God, the truth for you, personally. The truth for YOU is not found in books or laws or rules or what Grandma or your priest or mother or whoever says, or anything else for that matter. What is right for you is found in one place - inside you. That is all through the new Testment and there are too many verses to recount.
So again we come to "What" is God. The Spirit is connected to God. The Spirit is within us. The Spirit is what makes us alive and able to drive the machine that is our bodies. So rather than a great and ageless man, God is a spirit.
I thought about this for many years. I have asked the Spirit of Truth for guidance. I have read the Bible, things written by many deep thinkers, many who are not Christian, and listened to atheists, agnostics, muslims, sikhs (my auto repair guy who is great), and just talked things out with people. I began to notice things, perhaps as natural as anything, but they seemed to guide me. I came to believe first that God was a spirit that all of our spirits come from when we are born, and all go back to after we die. I still believe that to be essentially true.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I found something else. Something I call the "Harmony." This was really by accident. Once connected to it and faithful to it, everything in my life just seemed to fit, to work, then get better. Coincidences happened. I met the right people at the right time. People touched my life at the right moment.
I found that whenever I did something for selfish reasons, it did not work out, no matter how well thought through and analyzed and planned for. This was especially true if it involved money. We all know the story of the rich young man who approached Jesus and asked how he could follow Jesus. Jesus told him to sell all of his assets and give them to the poor and then he could join and follow Jesus. The rich man could not do it. Jesus said, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. The point of this story is not that rich men will not get into heaven. It is that wealth makes it harder to do what you know in your heart is the right thing to do. Mortgages and Country Club dues are large and have to be paid. Spouses and children have needs that befit your station in life. This man knew what was right for him in his heart, yet he did not have the faith to suffer the consequences of the actions he knew were right for him. Sometimes the right thing is awfully hard and takes a great deal of faith.
I live by a very simple tenet,
Do what you know in your heart is the right thing to do and
you will remain in harmony with all living things.
As I have lived my life this way, odd coincidences have occurred in my life. Things always work out for the best. I am always happy. I am more calm. What I have also felt is that when connected into the Harmony, I am connected to everyone who is also connected. I have come to believe, therefore, that the Spirit Jesus speaks of, is the connection of the spirits of all people to one another through a common global/universal spirit, if you will. The spiritual internet.
I have felt driven to write this and to share this. I hope it helps you find harmony and peace in your life.
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