I love these words of the great German philosopher, Wolfgang Goethe. They stir my body and my soul. I lived for 34 years in a spiritual community in the interior of British Columbia, and I have never forgotten one of the things my mentor said during a presentation: “There is no god external to ourselves.”

Everything changes when we begin to listen to our own divine presence.

This presence is very practical. “What is the right thing in this situation?” It is concerned with what is useful and creative in the present moment just as it is. It’s not lost in communion with the Angels –though there may be some of that going on, I’m sure.

This morning, as I was eating breakfast, I happened to look out the window and saw our neighbors across the street loading up their SUV, obviously getting ready for a trip.

“You need to go over right now and let them know about our coming move to Denver,” truth said. I put down my knife and fork, called JoAnn and we went over together to tell them.

I was a young man of 23 working as a reporter on a large daily newspaper in London, when one day — out of nowhere, it seemed — the notion came to me: “You want to find the meaning of life – leave everything and go to British Columbia.”

What? Give up a promising career, say goodbye to my girlfriend, and abandon my family simply because a vague compulsion rose within me to go to Canada?

But how thankful I am that I followed that whisper within.

Sometimes people are frightened of stillness, or they think, “Why, stillness isn’t anything. God preserve me from such emptiness and boredom.”

But unless we are still we will probably miss the impulse of that divine presence that alone knows what is truly wise, what will truly bless our own life or the lives of others.

The belief that God, or Being is separate from us is a myth deeply entrenched in all of us. Perhaps it was inevitable back along the way. But truth is crying out in a loud voice these days for the myth to be ended.

Listened to your inner voice lately? is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Happiness inner peace

I got a job as a reporter on the Daily Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia. It is a beautiful city with beautiful ocean vistas all around, and since I love the water, I soon bought a small sailboat. I named the boat Vision. What else was I going to call it?

When a vacation came up, I decided to go on a short cruise. I had never done any coastal sailing, and my navigational skills were zero. The weather was nice when I left Victoria, but in the afternoon a storm moved in. What had been a pleasant, exhilarating sail quickly changed character. The shore seemed a long way away as I struggled against a fierce headwind, not sure how much progress I was making — or if I was making any progress at all.

After a difficult, challenging time I finally reached the safety of a secluded cove. With no other boat in sight, I left the open sea behind and entered a magic realm where the water was smooth and calm as velvet. The contrast was incredible. It was like being in a cathedral. With stars peeping out, and with barely a whisper of wind, I ghosted across the velvet surface enfolded in a cocoon of peace unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I felt at one with everything — with God, with the water all around me, with the tree-lined shores of the cove and with the beautiful sky above.

It was wonderful to find refuge from a storm long ago in a remote cove on the British Columbia Coast. But I have learned, as the winds of change have gusted through my life, often in fierce, totally unpredictable ways that I do not have to go anywhere to find inner peace.

God is not separate from me, as I was brought up to believe. Quite the opposite. When I am still, in mind and heart, I feel the presence of Infinite Love permeating every part of my body. How could that Love be any closer? I feel its presence in every cell — in my arms and legs, my chest and feet. It is the great organizing intelligence which animates all form everywhere — and look, it finds time to repair my damaged finger.

Said the great Persian poet Rumi: “Out beyond ideas of right and wrong there is a field – I’ll meet you there.”

This is the invitation, I believe, that Life, or Being, or God is extending to each of us in this time of violent upheaval and change. Things do look pretty bleak from one perspective, that’s true. But from another perspective, what an extraordinary opportunity is being unveiled in these times.  It is the opportunity, I submit, to claim our true spiritual heritage — to know ourselves at last as the beautiful, timeless, unconquerable Being we truly are.

I reach out my hand to you in friendship.  I hope you will find some inspiration and assurance, perhaps even comfort, on this site, and at the same time, I look forward to any comments or thoughts you may wish to share.  Poems are welcome also. I plan to put up new posts Tuesdays and Fridays, to start with.  Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you will visit “The Happy Seeker” again — Christopher Foster.

Welcome to my blog is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Happiness inner peace