A dear new friend asked me recently what do I believe.  Here is my somewhat edited answer:

‘You asked me last night what I believe in.  I am letting go of belief moving into Knowing.   Belief comes from what others have told you; from socialization or indoctrination.  I Know I have a choice about how I will react to the world around me and whether I live being in my body and heart or in the constantly chattering monkey mind.  I Know wide open unending Consciousness.   I Know the power and full embrace of Unconditional Love.  I Know Loving Ones both in body and in spirit draw close to support me/us in this earthly journey.   If I have a religion it is Unconditional Love and Loving Kindness.  Thank you for asking.’    

Truthfully I am still full of belief but I’m working on letting go of those that limit or do not serve me.  I am grateful for the teaching of no right and wrong, it just is.  Accepting what is certainly takes a lot less energy than resisting it; good old Buddhist/Taoist no resistance, no clinging.  I know that there is something to the Buddhist teaching of ‘right action’.  One action will bring more heaviness and tension into your life while another will bring lightness, ease, an uplifting feeling inside.   I think Abraham Hicks talked about it as not paddling up stream. 

I see as I get older that I become more and more uncertain of anything.  Instead of this upsetting me it feels like a kind of freedom.  I depend more on the moment and less on planning and calculating.  I am learning to let go into the moment more and finding myself falling more into joy….when I ‘m not calculating and planning of course.  :O)

It is interesting to look at what I Know/believe now, although challenging.  My new friend who questioned me comes from a very traditional southern Christian upbringing.  He has witnessed demons being cast out in church and speaks about people having “the anointing”.   He seems very devout in many ways along with being very untraditional.  He has said to me that if the Truth is something other than what he has believed he wants to learn and grow into that.  It is a joy and a challenge getting to know him since his belief structure triggers many of my old ways of thinking/believing. These old beliefs come with a “gonna get ya” attached, a wrathful God.  Fear based beliefs are the opposite of where my heart takes me.

I began with a rather open Quaker upbringing, drifted into a ‘Bible beating' stage where I would recommit myself to Jesus on every other Sunday at the Baptist church across from our Quaker Meeting.  I was one of the leaders of a small ecumenical Christian group and would preach from the pulpit there.   I had a very personal relationship with Christ and would allow the words I spoke from the pulpit to channel through me.  Although most of the other leaders would speak of right and wrong, heaven and hell, my messages always spoke of God’s love.  I never dealt with evil or the wrath of God.  I feared it existed as I feared many things then.  Even back then fear seemed the wrong direction and certainly never arose during the channeling that came through me.  Only the promise of God’s love and forgiveness or the plea to love one another rang through.  As I remember the times I channeled God’s message I would often feel a rising up of love that almost overpowered me.  It echoes some of the Tantra and Kundalini experiences I have felt recently.   

I am delighted to say I have discarded most of the fear based beliefs and enjoy being constantly curious at what is unfolding before me.  What I Know remains in the background.    I watch my monkey mind and then drop into my heart and feel Unconditional Love, abundance and loving kindness!   That is where I want to live.