When we know, who walks beside us, on this path we have chosen, our fears fall from us.
Showing posts with label Emmet Fox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emmet Fox. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Why This Universe Puts You Through So Much Pain PART III:

 

 From Ruin to Rebirth

After the breaking a new version of you begins to rise, quietly, steadily almost unrecognizably. The pain that once seemed like it would destroy you becomes the very soil from which strength grows (Pain is the only instrument sharp enough to truly cut away the bondage of self). Not all things are restored to their original form nor should they be. Some pieces remain altered, cracked or missing altogether. But those broken edges catch the light differently now. The fragments of your old life begin to form a new shape. One that's not perfect but more powerful, more present, more real than before (Authentic). What once felt like devastation slowly reveals itself as Divine design. The universe doesn't restore by rewinding time. It redeems by rewriting: meaning scars once seen as flaws become the sacred script of survival. They tell a story not of weakness but of resilience. Each one is evidence that something tried to break you and failed.

Your suffering becomes the ink through which compassion writes its message. When someone meets you now they don't just encounter a person they encounter a Presence* that has been tempered by fire and yet remains soft enough to hold another's hand through the heat. There is a quiet strength that emerges from ruins.

You begin to understand life in layers. What once angered you now humbles you. What once frightened you now grounds you. Pain no longer owns you. It becomes a reference point not a residence. The storms you survived re-calibrate  your values. Joy becomes simpler. Peace becomes more precious. And faith, true enduring faith, is no longer an idea you talk about but a force you carry. You don't cling to certainty anymore. You walk with Trust. This transformation doesn't announce itself with fireworks. It arrives slowly almost silently as you realize you're no longer reacting out of fear but responding with wisdom. Where you once wanted answers now you offer Presence*. Where you once demanded reasons now you extend understanding. People begin to listen. Not because you shout but because your very existence has something to say. Redemption has reshaped your posture. You stand taller not because you're unbroken but because you've learned how to walk with pieces (The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves. BB pg.25).

(*From Let Go and Let God part 4: TRUST: PRESENCE is more than just being physically here. It’s a state of FULL AWARENESS, where your mind, body and emotions converge in the moment. When you are TRULY PRESENT your energy is undivided and your focus sharpens. THIS is where TRUST begins to grow, not from forcing outcomes but from aligning yourself with the flow of life. By practicing PRESENCE you learn to silence the inner noise, transcend old patterns and create space for something new to emerge (“As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.” BB pg.63).)

You are no longer a victim of your story. You are a vessel of its power. The ruins are still there but they've been rearranged into something beautiful, something useful, something sacred. The universe did not remove your history. It repurposed it (“Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have...” BB pg. 124). And now every step forward becomes a quiet declaration: “The breaking didn't end me, it equipped me.” What once was a story of survival begins to radiate beyond the borders of your own Life. You become a beacon not because you aimed to be one but because you walked through fire and didn't lose your light.

People are drawn not to your perfection but to your Presence. There's a gravity in your energy now, a quiet authority that doesn't need to announce itself. You speak not as someone who read about the storm but as one who has stood in its eye, wept through its winds, and emerged still breathing. The light that now lives in you was forged in darkness and that origin gives it a depth no spotlight ever could. There is a distinct weight to a voice born from pain. It carries something the untouched can't offer: Empathy without pity, truth without Superiority (No one stands above another, for any reason, for in truth we all stand together, each in our own “curriculum”, having become convicted in the truth of being, we now carry a silent blessing for all, helping when asked while releasing with Love all who choose, out of fear, to continue walking in pain, unwilling to embrace the healing and freedom that is only a heartbeat away).

When others see your life they don't see someone who avoided the fall. They see someone who learned how to rise. And because of that, your story becomes a mirror in which others can glimpse their own healing. Not everyone will understand what you carry. Not everyone will

recognize what it cost you. But those who are meant to find you will. And when they do, your scars will speak the language (The Language of the Heart) of their silent wounds. Being a beacon doesn't mean having all the answers. It means being willing to stay lit even when the wind tries to put you out. It means refusing to hide your process just to look put together. The cracks in your foundation are no longer weaknesses. They are windows through which the light escapes. You don't need a platform. Your presence is the message (“But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got.” BB pg. 164). Without striving you become an invitation to others to feel, to heal, to believe. Again, the universe is not using your perfection to reach the world. It's using your Redemption.

You've become proof that healing is possible that growth is real and that pain is not the final word. Were others hide their past in shame; you carry it like a torch because you know the night someone else is still walking through.

What once nearly destroyed you now becomes a map for someone else to follow and the beauty of it all you're not leading them to you. You're guiding them to the same PRESENCE that led you through. You are not the destination. You are the evidence that the path exists.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, pain when viewed through the eyes of Eternity, ceases to be Meaningless. It becomes the very path by which a person is refined, humbled and Commissioned (Our Commission: “Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail.” BB pg.89). The UNIVERSE (GOD) does not put you through pain to break you down but to build you into something deeper, truer, and unshakable (Def: Calm, not easily panicked or upset).

So if you are hurting, doubting, questioning your worth in the shadows, remember, the darkness you walk through today may be the very place your roots are taking hold. And when you rise, as you’ll understand: the pain was not the end. It was the beginning of everything you were meant to become. (“A.A.” is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted (Def: to change or alter in form, appearance, or nature and especially to a higher form), under grace (Def: unmerited divine assistance), into spiritual progress.” AS BILL SEES IT, pg. 35)

 AA,Course in Miracles,spiritual basis,Spiritual Living,spirituality,faith,trust,surrender,psychic pain,authenticity,wisdom,Serenity,Lao Tzu,Buddha,addiction,Emmet Fox,God,metaphysics,recovery,

Monday, July 21, 2025

Why This Universe Puts You Through So Much Pain Part 2

                                                                SEHNEND

 

 “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest Souls.” Khalil Gibran

Emerging from the fire, something changes (“Once we have taken this step (The 5th), withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease (This is a Spiritual Metric). Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience (Stepping from ship to shore).” BB pg. 75). Not just around you, but within. You no longer carry yourself with the same urgency to be seen, to be validated, to be understood. Instead you carry something far more powerful: evidence. Evidence that you've endured and more importantly that you've evolved (“Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life.” BB pg. 63). Where the world once measured worth by perfection you begin to realize that the Universe (God) selects its messengers by their scars (“We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.” BB pg. 60). Not the invisible wounds carefully hidden but the visible ones that bear witness to survival. These are the markings of one who has walked through suffering and still stands, not in bitterness (“…we shall be of little use if our attitude is one of bitterness or hostility.” BB pg. 103), but in wisdom (Def: ability to discern inner qualities and relationships leading to insight and clear-minded fair judgment. Note: The word WISDOM is not found in the text of the BB).

Scars speak a language words often cannot. They say, "I've been there." They say, "I know what it means to break." In a world saturated with performance nothing is more magnetic than authenticity (“No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience (Authenticity) can benefit others.” BB pg. 84). Those who have suffered deeply and chosen healing become beacons (a source of light and inspiration) - not by force but by presence (i.e. Full Awareness). They don't need to explain why they shine. People feel it. There's a gravitational pull in their stillness, a credibility in their quiet strength. The light they carry doesn't glare, it guides. It doesn't boast, it beckons (attracts). And those still lost in the chaos are drawn not by doctrine but by the reality of what they see lived. (“Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house. BB pg. 98. So we think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others.” BB pg. 132. “We, OF Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.” BB Forward.) (Note: the term “recovering” is utilized once while “recovered” is employed 12 times from the forward to pg.164)

 Pain, transformed, becomes power. But not the kind that dominates. It becomes a subtle, stabilizing force. A person who has bled and been mended no longer fears imperfection, they embrace it (Think: Kintsugi, the “breaks” and implied imperfections are the beauty and the strength of the “reborn” creation.) They speak not as preachers but as proof. Every step taken after the “breaking” becomes part of a silent sermon. And that sermon doesn't need applause. It only needs to be walked. Because the Universe (God) does not call the untouchable. It commissions the touched, the wounded, the ones who walk slower now, but carry something sacred in their silence.

Kintsugi by isuneek on DeviantArt

Healing doesn't erase what happened. It reassigns it. The betrayal, the loss, the failure. They don't vanish. They become elements of the offering. There's a strange paradox in how the most shattered vessels become the most radiant ones. Light seeps through the cracks more easily than through untouched glass. And in those cracks others begin to see their own reflection, their own potential redemption.

 Pain personalizes your power. You don't offer theory (intellectual, that of the mind)-you offer testimony (lived experience, that of the Heart). Not to elevate yourself but to remind others that rising (Freedom) is possible. (“We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.” BB pgs.83-4). (Serenity: a state of utter calm, unruffled composure and repose, quietude, clearness, evenness of temper. Returning to the source is serenity.” Lao Tzu

 The Universe (God) does not elevate those with polished resumes. It elevates those with surrendered hearts. And a surrendered heart is one that has survived its own collapse. That survival grants a person authority. Not the kind that shouts from a stage but the kind that whispers directly into someone's darkest hour. When you've truly healed, your life becomes more than yours. It becomes a mirror, a compass, a light for those who haven't yet made it through. Not despite the scars but because of them (“We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets.” BB pg. 124). When your scars begin to shine not as symbols of shame but as vessels of light something subtle yet profound starts to unfold:

 Surrender. (“Love and tolerance of others is our code…we have ceased fighting anything or anyone…” BB pg. 84) It's no longer driven by exhaustion, fear or defeat but by revelation. You've seen that holding on tightly does not protect you. It imprisons you. (“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle keeping you from growing. You get to choose.” Wayne Dyer) Through pain the illusion of control dissolves. You no longer carry the urge to bend the Universe (God) to your will. Instead you start to align with it (“What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.” BB pg. 85). And in that alignment surrender is no longer a weakness. It becomes the threshold of power. Letting go (and Letting God) doesn't mean giving up. It means releasing the need to orchestrate every outcome (outline) and finally allowing the unseen wisdom (God) that guided your breaking to also guide your becoming. (BECOMING, in this context, is the continuous process of change, of ongoing development and Spiritual transformation.) (“We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime.” BB pg. 84.)

 True surrender is not passive. It's a courageous act of faith*. It takes more strength to release than to resist. And once you do space is created. Space where pride once sat. Where fear once whispered where ego once clung (“Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation ...” BB pg. 25.)(Consummation: the ultimate end: finish.). That space becomes the chamber where unseen power begins to move. Not a power that demands or forces but one that flows effortless, steady, and exact. You begin to understand that divine strength doesn't operate like worldly dominance (“Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.” BB pg.14).

(*From Let Go and Let God part 4 TRUST: THE UNIVERSE (GOD), however (in truth), operates on FAITH, not fear. TRUSTING means stepping into the unknown despite the discomfort. It is choosing possibility over certainty. DOUBT thrives in certainty, in staying where you have always been. But TRUST requires you to embrace the unknown as a place of INFINITE POTENTIAL.)

The Universe (God) doesn't work through performance but through positioning. And that position is always low, not in value, but in posture. Surrender says "I no longer strive to become who I think I should be. I'm willing to become who I was always meant to be." In this state burdens lift. The noise dims. Clarity sharpens. You are no longer racing to be heard, to be right or to be recognized. You're simply present. And in that presence unseen doors begin to open within and around you. The paradox reveals itself. In losing the fight to maintain control you gain access to something infinitely more powerful. Your past with all its failures and pain becomes part of the architecture, not something to be erased (“Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have - the key to life and happiness for others.” BB pg. 124). The very things that once disqualified you now qualify you to carry depth, insight and grace. And you realize finally that surrender was never about losing identity. It was about uncovering it.

Beneath the layers of effort and ambition was someone shaped for something more enduring than Applause: purpose. No longer striving you begin to move with ease. Decisions aren't forced. They are felt. Direction doesn't come from pressure but from peace. The unseen power of the Universe (God) operates in this rhythm, slow, quiet, undeniable. And as you walk in this surrendered strength* the weight you once carried transforms into a presence you now carry. You are not trying to shine; you have become the light. Not through effort but through yielding, not by gripping tighter, but by letting go (and letting God) (for “…we have ceased fighting anything or anyone…”BB pg.84).

(*From Let Go and Let God part 4 TRUST: TRUST requires SURRENDER, not inaction. Imagine holding onto a rope so tightly your hands bleed. LETTING GO doesn’t weaken you; it frees you. By TRUSTING the process you allow the UNIVERSE (GOD) to work on your behalf often in ways you couldn’t have planned or predicted. SURRENDER is not PASSIVITY; it is the ULTIMATE ACT OF FAITH. It’s a declaration that you believe in something GREATER THAN YOURSELF.)  

It is not just about manifesting your desires; it’s about becoming the person capable of receiving them. THE UNIVERSE (GOD) DOESN’T GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT; IT GIVES YOU WHO YOU ARE. TRUST is the bridge between where you are now and the life you’ve always dreamed of. (Who am I? What am I? Why am I? To live in TRUST and truly manifest each of us MUST answer these questions to and for ourselves.)