LIGHT 
 

The word “light” is widely used in its spiritual and physical sense, including its negative or dark side.  When I received this word from spirit, I pondered about what meaning I should interpret the word.  Am I to consider only its physical manifestation or its physical, spiritual or dark side or supposed absence? 
 

I wanted to hear clearly and loudly its manifestations, as I did when I contemplated “fairness.”  I kept wanting and waiting for distinctions to appear like magic, as they have in the past.   
 

Of course, without the physical manifestation of light, little of reality as we know it would exist. 
 

Even now, I am avoiding contemplating the real meaning of light.  Is it because I fear contemplating its dark side?  Usually, however, it is fear itself that compounds the situation.  I have had much therapy to avoid being attracted to the dark side because of my childhood. 
 

I soon realized that “being light” is synonymous for “being in my true feelings.”  I realize that I am conditioned to being in my intellect and not in my feelings.  However, according to Dr. [Bishop] Sandra Adler of the Peace Community Church International, the distinction between intellect and feeling is something I have yet to learn fully. 
 
 

According to Dr. Francisco Coll, the founder of the Americana Leadership College (www.alcworld.com) and the IPM International, Inc. (www.ipminternational.org), “Your true feelings are action, involvement, fun, and related to your desires in life.  The real you wants to be involved with living and creating.  Remember when you were a child?  You probably did not think too much, you were just experiencing life.  Whatever you were experiencing has helped you to be where you are now.”  (from his book, TRUE FEELINGS:  THE CENTER OF YOUR UNIVERSE, published by the Americana Leadership College^sm, PO box 428, Osceola, Iowa 50213, 1978, page 20). 
 

My true feelings are the pathway to the universal consciousness/unconsciousness.  Through it I can tap into wisdom from the beginning of time. 
 

However, I am usually in my intellect, or thinking part.  This means that I think, or consider the life I am experiencing before I feel or have my goals clear.  The procedure for a streamlined, happier being is “feel, think, act,” not “think, feel (used here to imply reacting emotionally), act.”  When I observe the universe first through my feelings, I remain rejuvenated instead of feeling my energy drain from me. 
 

Francisco Coll in Man and the Universe (Americana Leadership College [www.alcworld.com], P.O. Box 428, Osceola, Iowa 50213), p. 7) states that we bring purpose and balance to our lives by having a thought (from the intellect, which wants to know and understand the world) for every feeling (our true feelings, where the power lies) and a feeling for every thought. Our needs and wants are generated by our true feelings.  
 

 

Dawn Overstreet, National Promotion Director for the Inner Peace Movement® Programs, states that confusion sets in when our intellect is programmed to suffer by analyzing before experiencing.  We are taught that life should be hard and that we must fight and argue for what we want.  We end up confused, not doing what is right for us at that moment and “kick ourselves in the butt” because we didn’t follow our first feeling or impression.  We need our intellect directed by our true feelings to assist us in obtaining what we need and want in life.

Dawn illustrates this with the following:

“To grow through our experiences we need to take time to understand what we learn from those experiences. Mastering our purpose is learning to be that light which represents the good, kind, sharing part of us, or our true feelings.

In a situation most recently a woman I know had been experiencing severe pain caused by an accident of a year previous.   From his diagnosis, the doctor explained that if she had major spinal surgery she would be freed from the pain.  This woman has two children whom she loves very much.

Freedom from pain did not happen.  She was left with more pain, depression, more surgery and then a fight to keep her children.

This situation resulted from this woman’s blind trust in people outside herself to help her through trying situations.  She has been left with a life that has changed her for the rest of her life and she is unable to do more then do the maintenance of the headaches and physical discomfort she has to deal with daily.  Because of this the system, the legal structure, wants to take away her children, all that she loves, from her.  The struggle to live her life continues, though the pressure of the outside prevails and worsens each day.

She can prevail.  It will take a lot of hope within her to put aside the bitterness such a situation can create to become focused on going beyond the confusion that gets created around us.  Her challenge is to take each situation and understand what she has learned from it so that she can use this wisdom to move forward to the next step of moving into the light and reclaiming her life again.

Everyone encounters situations that seem more then what they can bear.  When you see them realistically by remembering that you are the light based on your wisdom through your experiences, in the midst of all that seems unbearable, you are able to hold fast to what you know is truth and real to you.  You are able to do this without dogma, without judgment, without demanding or assuming, and move with ease through the challenge and utilize each step as a means to an end.

When our short stay on Planet Earth is completed, we will only take with us what we learned from all that we encountered.  We will never be put in a situation that we cannot deal with as long as we are learning.  Learning means that we are growing, what we are here to do.”  
 

It is easier for me to remain in my feelings if I attempt to focus on the joys of life:  to rejoice in everything I say and do.  If I find that I do not find life so pleasant, or light, I try to find something pleasant to think about, ranging from my wife Judy to my pets, Kato (a 13 pound male Siamese cat about 10 years old who adopted us on Halloween, 1999) and Mia (an 18 pound female Japanese Chin, about 7 years old, who I adopted in September, 2005).  Also, being involved in the things that make me feel that I am “whole hog” (i.e., willing to be involved to the point of sacrificing myself for what I believe) brings me back to my true feelings because taking care of my needs helps me feel secure.  Knowing what I want and working to obtain it helps me stay motivated. 
 

Of course, I still have difficulty being in my feelings because of the trauma I experienced as a child.  Because of this, I sometimes I fear becoming frozen in my contemplation of the dark side.  Perhaps I feel that I am not deserving of being in the light, or in my true feelings.  Fear is not my true feelings; it is an emotion caused by my earlier programming. Francisco Coll repeatedly said, “All fear is based on the fear of death.  Your challenge is to stay involved and stay in your true feelings so you don’t get trapped in the unknown.” 
 

My consideration of light has usually been a focus on its positive side, on what some would call worship.  For example, I get much sustaining power from spirit when I read, hear or sing hymns.  This stimulates my true feelings. 
 

A simple thing like a stuffed replica of “Woodstock,” a cartoon character from the late Charles M. Schultz’s Peanuts/Snoopy comic strips, gives me joy and helps keep me in my feelings.  Perhaps I relate to Woodstock because of his errant flying (for me, walking and doing things sometimes haphazardly) and his difficulty communicating. 
 

I gain greater joy when I reflect upon the two young people who are characters in my link, “Confidence” in this website, www.davidhakim.com.  My neighbors delight me:  the mother is a talented teacher, her daughter a gifted musician, and her son a scholar and athlete. 
 

The people in John Jake’s novels (http://www.johnjakes.com) show tremendous resilience and live life to the fullest.  Many inmates in the concentration camps during World War II did their best to live normal lives. 
 

What many of those mentioned above have in common is pride in being who they are and recognition that they are children of God.  They have a love of life, a feeling that God is always with them, loves them, and that they are beautiful.  With these beliefs they were and are able to be relaxed, tuned into their true feelings, respond to the needs of others as much as they were and are able, and accomplish their goals.  They have found the true meaning of life.   
 
 

When considering the positive and negative aspects of light, I understand that there is an apparent conflict between the two.  However, I have learned that the dark side appears as a means to assist me in realizing the benefits of light in whatever form it appears.   
 

When I get angry and use vulgar language, I may feel the need to atone for my witness to the dark side; however, since I cannot avoid the occurrence of certain thoughts, words, and actions, I have learned to be less harsh with myself.  I try to understand that my contemplation or living the dark side should be seen as a means to further attain light more frequently in my life.  Recognition of my state of consciousness assists me in discovering whether or not I am in my true feelings. 
 

I sometimes appear to have almost simultaneous displays of the meaning of light in my life.  I have learned not to fear being judged by others who witness my reactions to various manifestations of light.   
 

Sometimes these judgments come unbidden.  Some predict devastation when another does what he dislikes.  Because of my fear of the dark side, I am inclined to accept the negative prophecies of another as self-condemnation and internalize them in my being. 
 

Lately on “60 Minutes” (CBS News) a teacher conducted an experiment by speaking judgmentally to her students.  This had the effect of actually causing her students, some of whom were brilliant, to perform badly.  
 

I still fear the dark side, that it may overtake me and cause me to do something I regret.  Fortunately I do not need to keep on a light when trying to sleep because of the fear associated with being in the dark or what has or may happen in the dark. 
 

I realize that fear comes from a lack of understanding.  As I begin to accept that I am the light and understand that I am one with all things, there will be nothing to fear.  When I live in the present moment I am the light because I am my feelings.  When I live in the past or the future I am in my intellect and will experience the emotion of fear. 
 

I attract what I fear.  If I fear the dark side I will attract it to me and I will become confused, depressed and tired.  If I accept that the dark side has a lack of understanding, I can offer love, facts and understanding to clear up any misconceptions and heal the situation so I can be at peace with myself.  
 

When I can more fully trust myself and my guidance, I will more easily fulfill the purpose for which I incarnated. 
 

Rewording a passage from TRUE FEELINGS (ibid) into the first person helps:

“I am my true feelings.  I am the center of my universe.  I am the center of my world.  I came in alone.  The only person who can reach my true feelings is me.”

           

                              David C. Hakim

                              Rochester, Michigan

                              October 13-21, 2006