Responsibility to the Inner Voice

Thomas Fox, J.D.

Lake Cumberland, Kentucky

https://miraclescourse.blogspot.com/

tomwfox@gmail.com

This planet serves as a schoolroom for learning discipline, and this fundamental truth should be understood from the very beginning. The lessons we need most should come when a child is barely aware of cause and effect, of the waiting consequence that follows every action. Yet beneath all temporary confusion and struggle lies your deepest intention—this is your safety and your anchor. Even when your mind races with distractions and you feel lost in the fog of doubt, that underlying intent remains constant and true.

There is transcendental beauty to be found in the simplest spiritual acts. Here you are—two or three people sitting together in quiet with a sincere desire to place yourselves in the way of learning, to connect with something eternal and immortal. Though your minds may wander and the experience sometimes seems meaningless, you have raised your banners against the forces of darkness. This is turning toward the Light of the world.

Sometimes in moments of temptation, when doubt envelops you like fog, the barriers that normally guard you from fear are lowered, making meditation difficult. It's as if a noisy crowd had entered the room and your spirit of communion had been pushed to the very edge and then lost. But these experiences happen during our spiritual journey, and even if you sit with your mind racing, scolding yourself for being caught up in trivial concerns, let me assure you that the simple act of sitting with intention is itself a prayer.

You have been told many spiritual truths to which you have responded with sincere belief, but you have not acted upon them with your full strength and commitment. Your efforts to apply these principles to your demanding daily lives have been inconsistent and sporadic. Surely you have already seen that the real benefit to be gained from this spiritual adventure lies in consistent practice and obedience to higher principles.

Let us speak about discipline, but discipline as a beneficial force that ultimately reveals itself as natural strength in times of need. Self-discipline is the armor of divine protection and can be taught as easily as discipline on the athletic field. You have witnessed the power and force created by organized worldly systems—there is a certain effectiveness, however misguided, in the application of political and social control. But let us examine the alternative to that approach: deep inner focus and individual responsibility to the voice within.

You know the results of disorganized, undisciplined living. You also know that organized, disciplined worldly forces achieve their goals through self-sacrifice and strict order, however harsh their methods may be. To overcome these worldly powers, you must organize and discipline yourself spiritually. But where worldly systems carry the seeds of their own defeat, your spiritual work contains inherent victory. Where they plant in corrupted ground, you have triumph built into your very purpose.

Your task is to become strong and pure enough within, through self-discipline, to complete the work that has been given to you. You ask how? Again we tell you: control your appetites—both the appetites that rise from unworthy personal desires and the appetites of the body. When a problem presents itself, remember that nothing is trivial. Bring the clear, calm power of spiritual intelligence to bear on every situation. Ask yourself, "Should I do this or that?" and you will be shown the right path, because your intention is to follow what is right rather than to drift in the laziness of unrealized potential.

The time has come to break into the light, and keeping this light burning requires self-restraint, sacrifice, and honest self-examination.

Our society today is paying a terrible price for the neglect of young people by parents and teachers who no longer believe in discipline. This failure cannot be overstated, for the timeless truth remains that this world is a training ground for learning self-control. The results of mistakes, poor judgment, and youthful overenthusiasm can be taught with wise, firm gentleness and even humor, but these lessons must be taught to prevent the painful confusion and suffering that youth will encounter when they face frustration and injustice in the real world. If proper discipline is not learned early, then when young people leave the freedom of home and school, they must face the pain and misery of learning through trial and error, whether that reckoning comes quickly or slowly.

These truths are timeless, and so are you—they belong to you just as much as to the very young, for you are still very young in this spiritual adventure, regardless of your chronological age. The goal is to become strong, self-controlled, joyful, and vital—not self-indulgent, destructive, spiritually unhealthy, or ignorant of the laws that govern growth and decline.

Be vigilant, stay eternally alert, maintain your inner quiet, and always remember that you walk with the Divine. In this way, you continue your everlasting journey in eternal life and immortal glory.