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by William Frank Diedrich
The word spirit comes from the Latin word spiritus, meaning "breath". Spirit is the breath of life. The word intelligent is from the Latin, intelligentia, meaning "choosing between". Spiritual Intelligence is our ability to choose between spirit and ego. We consciously practice spiritual intelligence when we intentionally choose spirit over ego, love over fear, and the highest good for all over selfish interest.
The Voice of Spirit is the voice of our Higher Self. My Higher Self is that which has never left its creator. All Higher Selves are connected as One. I connect to my Higher Self through my soul. My soul is my dream self -- that part of me that has wandered through countless life experiences trying to find its way back home to the Higher Self. My soul desires to wake up and remember who it is.
I develop my spiritual intelligence when I join with my soul and choose to identify with my Higher Self, my Spirit. In this state of identification I realize that I am not my body. I am not my gender or my profession. I am not my ethnicity nor am I my religion. I am not my life situation, my illnesses, my financial position, or my status in society. I am not my problems and I am not my past. Spiritual identification has me detaching from all forms and experiences and seeing myself as a spiritual being in this human experience.
Many people in spiritual circles like to call on angels, Jesus, or other beings of light. This is good. Many others make use of rituals, tools, methodologies, and programs to learn and grow. This can be good, too. As we develop spiritually we come to realize that we are the light. You and I are the light that we seek. There is nothing we can seek that we don't already have within us. There is no person, program, or methodology that can do it for us. Nothing, of itself, will bring you the light or awaken you. It is your intention and willingness that that leads you to the power that lies within you.
This is the real "secret". There is nothing out there you need. Love, peace, prosperity, and wholeness are already within you. When you trust in this completely, you have all that you need in the physical. When we are hung up on the form--the car, the house, the bank account, the great body, the great relationship-- we make the form our source. The source, God, is within us, and is always available. We are not separate from God, and that is the secret.
We are born into this world not knowing the secret. If we knew it, we wouldn't need to be here. Yet, we are here, so there is something to be learned. Both our tendencies to live from spirit and our tendencies live from ego are manifested in the physical world by way of the Law of Attraction.
The film and the book, The Secret, is an inspiring piece of work about the Law of Attraction. Certainly you can use the Law of Attraction to build the life you desire. It should be noted however, that both Hitler and Stalin successfully used the Law of Attraction. The movie indicates that wealthy power brokers have always used the Law of Attraction. This is where spiritual intelligence comes in. When you create, are you creating from spirit or from ego?
Another point The Secret makes is: "Anyone can do this." Do what? Create a $4 million home? Own several luxury cars? Live a wealthy lifestyle? If this is true, then are we to conclude that those of us who are not enjoying these riches have something wrong with our thinking? On this basis we would have to make Donald Trump one of our primary spiritual teachers, and Bill Gates would be the world guru.
Each of us has an individual purpose to be played out in this life. For some, having great wealth is part of their purpose. For others, it may not be. Some people will practice changing their thoughts and emotions and find quick success. Others may practice for twenty or thirty years and find no change in what they have manifested. Neither scenario conclusively tells us where someone is in consciousness. The relationship between cause and effect is not linear. It is unlikely that you will think a negative thought today and the next day something bad will happen to you. Consciousness is made up of your awareness, understanding, and knowledge (or lack of). The physical manifestations in your life are not predictable to the ego mind.
For example, you may have a deep issue with unforgiveness. At the same time you are healthy, wealthy, and have good relationships. In spite of your wealth and health, you feel badly. In another instance, your unforgiveness may play out as indebtedness, poor health, or hurtful relationships, or all three. In truth, you don't know what you signed up for when you came to this life. Cancer may manifest from deep anger, or maybe you signed up for the cancer experience to learn something else. Our life experiences are not rewards or punishments. They are opportunities for growth that we have agreed to on another level of consciousness.
I have heard people say, "I would rather be unhappy and rich than unhappy and poor." Unhappy is unhappy. If you are very unhappy, wealth can provide plenty of distractions that keep you right where you are. Whereas, if you have a load of debt to contend with, you may be motivated to do the work. It is possible to be deeply indebted and ecstatically happy. If you can maintain that happiness the debt will probably dissolve in time. Whether it does or not is not the point. The important thing is that you have found inner wealth, peace and joy within, and that you have stopped identifying yourself with your manifestations. No one is luckier than you. The danger of finding wealth in the physical before you have inner wealth is that you will think the physical wealth makes you special.
Great wealth, excellent health, and beautiful relationships are wonderful to experience, but they are forms. Forms are effects. It is the cause that you focus on as a spiritually intelligent being. At some point in the spiritual development process, having nice things seems important. Further on your path, you just don't care about stuff anymore.
Being anti-materialist, promoting the image that you are just not into stuff, is no different than the rich person who identifies himself with his wealth. The attention is still on the form. Being "non-materialistic" doesn't make you special. Whether you have a lot of stuff or not is irrelevant. What counts is your ability to detach from it and to recognize that you really don't own anything. You are not your stuff (or lack of stuff). You are a spiritual being on the road home to your Higher Self.
The secret to your inner joy and wealth is your spiritual intelligence, your ability to choose between spirit and ego. There is a beautiful three step process based on a book called The Song of Prayer from A Course in Miracles. In the first step, you give all of your goals, your problems, and your concerns to God as a gift. Once you have emptied yourself, you join in song with God. That is, you identify with your Higher Self and immerse yourself in its love. In this state you know that you are blessed and loved unconditionally. The third step is called the Echo. That is, miracles show up to remedy problems or that help you achieve your goals. The real miracle is your ability to let go and identify with spirit. This creates inner wealth, inner health, and inner love.
We are 100 % responsible for our lives. This means that opportunities abound for us to respond by shifting our attention to our spiritual identity. Responsibility is not blame. Responsibility is power and opportunity. It comes down to this: in this very moment, who is running your life? Is it spirit or is it ego? Is it love or is it fear? If you are feeling anything less than peace, your ego is having its influence. Remind yourself that you are not your body, not your situation. You are a spiritual being. In this lies your strength. In this thought you know that low self-esteem, self condemnation, and blaming others are illusions. They are just stories you have told yourself.
Be the real you. If you knew that you were a powerful spiritual being, how would you stand? How would you carry yourself? What would be the expression on your face? What kinds of thoughts would you allow into your mind? If you knew that you were unconditionally loved, how would you act? What words would you use? What would be your tone of voice? This is one way you practice spiritual intelligence. You become aware, and then you become who you really are.
This awareness, understanding, and knowledge allows you to approach life with confidence. The essence of the successful use of the Law of Attraction is confidence. When you approach life with utmost confidence, your world responds. Confidence based solely on externals, or even based on knowledge of psychology, is fragile. Confidence based on spiritual strength is power.
This is the secret the world has kept from you--that you are God expressing as you. Each moment that you choose to live from your spirit is a powerful and expansive moment. Each moment you make this choice you influence others. You are a light. You are a blessing to the world.
William Frank Diedrich is a speaker, executive coach, and the author of three books:
The Road Home: The Journey Beyond The Spiritual Quick Fix;
30 Days to Prosperity: A Workbook for Well-Being;
and Beyond Blaming.
He offers workshops and keynotes on spiritual intelligence, moving beyond blaming, and leadership. You may learn more about his services and products and measure your SQ for free at http://intelligentspirit.com and at http://noblaming.com
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