I am having major problems with the feeling exercise. I just can’t seem to do it, or to do any exercise that has to do with feelings. When I try to focus on a feeling my mind always seems to get in the way. Someone recommended that I try some breathing exercises like connected breathing as a way to open up to feelings. Do you think this might help speed things along? Thanks.

Answer:

Breath work, and particularly connected breathing can be a helpful exercise to make you more aware of your feelings. However, you are feeling all of the time. We are all feeling beings. We access our power, abundance and joyfulness through our feelings.

You have gone to great lengths to convince yourself that you can’t feel. That is a device you used to hide your power.

The times you believe you are not feeling are the times you can be sure you are feeling deeply.

I suggest that you think of one or more situations that bring a smile to your face or make you angry. If you can’t think of anything, read the newspaper for a story that makes you angry and watch a sitcom on television for a laugh. This will start you off on paying attention to all the feelings you have.

First let me say that I’ve never had it so good! Participation in your seminars and support groups (c. 1987 ) blessed my life right out of its old belief-system. I now have daily access to freedom and happiness that I only longed for before. Thank you, my friend.

Now my question is: How can I offer something more than mere comfort to someone who has suffered grievous loss at the hands of evil? When friends, family or acquaintances suffer crime, sickness or tragedy, I find myself at a loss to communicate the real healing message, which has worked so powerfully for me. All I can offer is comforting words and practical help.

But the message of principle and perfection seems cowed in the face of such pain.

Religious institutions are not meeting this need; they teach consolation without liberation. And people without any mythical faith are left utterly devastated by personal loss, especially in the pain-fear-suffering milieu amplified by the mass media.

How have you dealt with it effectively, especially with people who have never heard of principle?

Answer:

Although you are seemingly asking for a way to support someone who has never heard of Universal Principles, you are really asking for this support for yourself. Your question, “How can I offer something more than mere comfort to someone who has suffered grievous loss at the hands of evil?” indicates that you believe in “evil” as well as the possibility of “loss.”

We see the world around us through eyes clouded by our own beliefs. As long as you believe that “evil” and “loss” exist, that is what you will see.

The Principle involved is: All that I see is me. I am the whole of the Universe. Nothing can be done to me or be taken from me since there is no “other.”

Also, since all energy in the Universe is love, love is all that is being exchanged even though we have convinced ourselves that our beliefs in anger, hatred and violence are real. When we open the energy in our beliefs and see clearly, all we see and feel is unconditional love.

As for how to communicate to another, we are communicating lovingly all of the time. Each of us chooses how we wish to receive the communication.

When you are clear that all is love, you will not feel the need to explain anything to anyone. You will know that each person, in the fullness of his power, is choosing to have the exact experience she came to the human to have. And, one choice is not better than another.

The following is from The Journey, Chapter 19 — Universal Principles:

12. Comfort and Discomfort

Our bodies are magnificent instruments that we create to support us in having the experiences we come to the human to have. Our bodies are created and maintained in consciousness. They mirror the state of our consciousness, which includes the collective consciousness beliefs in how to look, act, age and die.

Unencumbered by our beliefs, our consciousness is unlimited, as are our bodies. The natural state of our consciousness is perfect ease, as is the natural state of our bodies. The limited beliefs we have about our bodies are there to love and embrace just the way they are. This opens the energy held in the beliefs as it opens the energy in our bodies from that of dis-ease to ease.

You say to see and feel everything that comes to me as the perfect support. And when that support is uncomfortable, to locate the belief that interprets the situation in a limited way.

Also, you state that until there is deep appreciation for what I’ve already created, the energy in the creation stays where it is.

Help me move forward. I want to be beyond this point. I understand that this situation with my mother is supporting me, but how? My belief that interprets this situation in a limited way is that I feel obligated for my mother’s happiness. How can I release myself from this belief? How do I let go? I can read your words, but how do I implement them? How do I effect change?

Whenever my mother calls, I have a gut wrenching reaction in the pit of my stomach. Since I won’t let her control me anymore, she tries even harder to manipulate me again.

When I think of calling her just to make her happy, I can’t. The panic and the terror wells up. I know if I call her, her manipulating will start all over again.

She says that I’m her child. I informed her that I’m her daughter, but I can’t be her child. I’m an adult now. So now she calls me her baby & says that I’ll always be her baby. I’m the oldest of three.

At 24, I finally had the courage to leave home. I now have an adult daughter. And my mother told a relative that she never forgave me for leaving her. She had my father, my brother, relatives & friends, she wasn’t alone.

I don’t want anything to do with her. I visualize her being happy, healthy & enjoying her life.

I want to live my life, I don’t want to live her life.

Answer:

The feeling you call “gut wrenching” is your power . Go into the feeling without the label you have placed on it — “gut wrenching” — and feel the energy in the feeling as your power — the Power of God.

You hid the power under the disguise of the label so that you could have the precise experiences you have had and continue to have with your mother. These are all experiences in consciousness played out in the human based on beliefs you accepted that define your relationship with your mother.

However, you are free to redefine the relationship based on the truth of who you both are — The Power and Presence of God.

I suggest you read The Journey for a more complete exposition of the process for transitioning from the human as a human experience to the human as a Soul experience.

We create our own situations either consciously or unconsciously and know that that is what we wanted when we see it and experience it, and we know our Soul Self comes to Human forms to have certain planned experiences, so … are the Soul Self choices part of the Cause and Effect principle?

When we are experiencing a circumstance, is it not from our conscious or unconscious or a Soul Self planned experience?

Answer:

The concept of cause and effect is an intellectual device we use to keep us at the intellectual level and mired down in semantics. I played that game years ago.
Now I know that every circumstance is there for me to enjoy. If it appears less than enjoyable I know that I am seeing it in some limited way, and that I have intentionally vested power there to give myself the experiences I am having.

I appreciate my creation, as I proceed to open the energy I have hidden in the limited belief. Then, I embrace the energy just the way it feels, free of any labels. As I feel the power come back, I feel appreciation for my willingness to reclaim my power.

Life is a feeling experience. Our power is in our feelings. Reclaiming our power is the real game in town. The power is unconditional love that keeps expanding as we feel more and more appreciation.

Until you are willing to go into the energy of these feelings and claim them as your power, that power will seem to you to be outside of you. And, the reasons you have for trying to separate yourself from them will continue to haunt you.

Some thoughts and questions about the Principle of Means and Ends as it relates to 9/11. If a pit bull attacks my 2-year-old, I do what it takes to remove the immediate physical threat. I use violence to severely injure it or kill it in order to protect my child. The end I seek is a peaceful life with my family. So I realize that I have violated the principle of means and ends, but have saved my kid.

Wouldn’t you agree that it would be ludicrous in that situation to make a peaceful request for the doggie to please stop, or to sit cross-legged and chant something like “All is love,” “I love this pit bull just the way he is,” or “Ah, I see that this perceived attacker is using his free will to express his love in the manner that is perfect for all involved?”

I am quite unsure as to how to respond to the 9/11 terrorists, but I believe that if our response on 9/12 was to simply reflect on the love and perfection of it all, the attackers certainly would have thought “Hah! They are the fools we believe them to be. Proceed to strike the next 3 targets and kill thousands more!”

Arnold, I believe in and have experienced the results of the means and ends principle, but aren’t there some who are just bent on doing what they believe is right regardless of cost of human life? And shouldn’t that be met with some kind of resistance because, however illusory, we value this physical life?

Answer:

As long as we believe that there is power outside of us that is what we experience. Pit bulls and terrorists do not arise randomly. They enter those people’s lives who invite them in.

Each of us is The God Presence. It is through the ultimate and unlimited power of this Presence that we create our human “reality.” What we consider “real” is just a figment of our imagination made to seem real because we are so powerful. If God were facing a pit bull, would you be concerned for God’s safety? Well, each of us is the God Presence.

We are never “unsafe.” We are never “victims.” We can, however, create the seeming reality of being victimized, by using the Power of our God Presence to give ourselves that experience.

As for valuing our physical life, we truly value ourselves by being clear who we really are. Seeing our limitations as real is valuing illusion. Accepting and appreciating ourselves as The God Presence is placing our valuing where we benefit the most. Are you worthy of any less than that?

The next question is how do you value yourself more? I suggest that you read The Journey for the answer to that question as well as a more detailed answer to your questions. You may also gain more insights by reading back through answers to other questions at this website.

My sweet little cat passed away suddenly on Sunday morning. My wife and I feel like our hearts have been torn apart. We’re both staying present and feeling the feelings (which are awful). I know that in some way, this was the perfect timing for his passing, but part of me feels like we have been robbed. Our cat was only five years old. I cannot express how much we loved him and how much he loved us. We are so blessed to have had his little spirit in our life.

Do you have any advice for us on how to get through this intense pain?

Answer:

One of the things your beloved cat came to help you with is to accept and appreciate that nothing dies. All is God and God doesn’t die. As for seeing and feeling the sweet little cat as separate from you, this is an illusion that you created. There is no “other.” All is Oneness.

The sadness and pain you feel are disguises for your power, your joyfulness, your inspiration, your creativity and your abundance—all aspects of The God Presence that is free to explore every kind of situation imaginable. You do this all in consciousness, and then with your unlimited power, give a seeming reality to your imaginative creations. Sadness, pain, separation and the finality of death are some of those creations.

There is a close relationship between the illusion of powerlessness, victimization, pain, separation and death, and the reality of a powerful being. In both situations, we are in the fullness of our power. We cannot create the illusion of powerlessness without using the fullness of our power.

This brings us to the concept of appreciation. We deserve deep self-appreciation for our creativity, ingenuity and courage in crafting a life filled with experiences so different from our natural state. We deserve that same appreciation for our willingness to open ourselves to the magnificence of who we really are.

I have two basic questions.
The first is how to do support work alone by myself. Do I have to do an invocation? And can I do an invocation in silence by myself, or do I have to whisper or speak it aloud? How is the procedure for doing the support work alone by myself?

The second question is about working for people that are not present. Can I do support work in a group for people who are not actually there? I give some examples to make myself more understandable. For instance I would like to have more people involved in the bodywork Trager (I assume you know this work), since I feel lots of people would profit from it and I would like them to profit. Can I do support work asking for people absolutely unknown to me? Like for instance people living in the third world countries and by support work sending them food, shelter etc.? This way I can also do work for others instead of always being busy for myself. Can I do this in a way that people unknown to me (I have never been in a third world country) profit from the abundance in the Universe? How is a procedure for such cases? And can I also do this by myself?

Answer:

One of the great joys of being human is the opportunity to relate to other humans. And, that is what we have come into the human to do. The support you are looking for is found in that interaction.

During the first phase of our journey here we experience the self-created illusion of being separate from others. This illusion results from beliefs that we are merely humans with all of the limitations attributed to being human.

When we feel the inner urge to move beyond these limitations, our human interactions provide us with the information that serves as the road map to open the energy hidden in our beliefs.

Mutual support is, at first, playing the supportive role in other people’s dramas. Then, mutual support expands into consciously opening our hearts to each other free of judgment.

We learned to be judgmental, but we are naturally unconditionally loving. In our interactions, as we heighten our awareness to who we really are, we locate the ways we resist being unconditionally loving.

When we love unconditionally, who are we really loving? The answer is, we are loving ourselves, for each of us is the whole of the Universe.

While these concepts are simple, they are also huge in scope. The way they become functionally real for us is through a commitment to open to them. The amount of the opening is equal to the depth of the commitment.

There is no limit to the amount of joy, abundance, creativity, inspiration and fun we can allow into our lives. There is no limit to the depth of the commitment we can make to open ourselves to these gifts. Every time we consciously choose to make the commitment to open more, the Universe sends us the perfect support to guide us through the opening process.

The vehicle through which the gifts of joy, abundance creativity, inspiration and fun come to us is our relationships with each other. How we see another is how we see our Self. As long as we see any separation between our Self and another, we are keeping the illusion of limitation, fear, pain and death alive. And the gifts stay hidden.

Living our lives in seclusion is maintaining the biggest illusion of all. We use all of the power of our God Presence to create and maintain the illusion of separation. We are always at choice as to how we wish to use our power. One choice is not better than another.

Perhaps you wish to ask yourself which choice is more fun?

The Journey is Arnold Patent “unplugged,” like King Lear in the storm scene or Job standing before the Whirlwind. You give the reader a welcomed sense that Arnold is right down there with us in the human experience, often just as bewildered and feeling the victim and unsettled like any one of us.

You’re not trying to level out the feelings in the human experience, or prescribing right behavior to correct what seems like an unacceptable situation. The Journey is far more powerful and supportive to the reader who is committed to opening up the beauty and joy of expanding the Soul awareness in the human.

You Can Have It All is powerful because it’s “truth is simple”—no apologies for the style and feeling quality. You also had to establish the vocabulary of this simple truth in the first book so we could all share with one another. But there was still an arm’s-length quality to it (and with the other subsequent books) that gave the impression that while Arnold is the ideal and articulate mentor, he is probably beyond most of the pain, despair, etc. that the rest of us feel on a daily basis, and has attained a higher level of existence.

The Journey guides us through the Principles using Arnold as the subject. The candor and humility with which you present your own experiences lets us know that all of us, even Arnold, can feel overwhelmed at times, particularly when we acknowledge that all that we see is ourselves.

Your personal experiences are also instructive because they demonstrate that everything, no matter how apparently insignificant, is information mirroring our state of consciousness and limited beliefs. From the World Trade Center to shingles to termite droppings, it’s all supportive and all significant. What better way to express and experience the richness and power of being in the moment, and all that is presented to us in that glorious moment.

I regard The Journey as the clearest and most approachable expression of Principle after You Can Have It All. You’ve given us all so many powerful gifts, Arnold, with each of your books, seminars, etc. The Journey pulls everything I know from and of you together and pulls it down to that sweet sense of humility that was only there in the background of the earlier works.