Don't Feel Spiritual - Be It!

There are many teachers who have attempted to inspire meaning in the human experience. We may read about them in passing, making a note or two, or forward an inspiring message onto a friend through e-mail.
Dr. Wayne Dyer, on the other hand, in his new book, “There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem” offers compelling testimony on the power of love, harmony, and service, putting our collective energies toward what we are for, instead of what we are against. Dyer looks toward the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi, as a fitting introduction to unplug from the material world and awaken to the divine within.

Lord, let me be an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.
—Saint Francis of Assisi

“This is a perfect prayer for our times,“ Dr. Dyer recently told me, “even though it was written by a celibate monk in the 13th century. I call it an 800 year-old technology. Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment,” Wayne Dyer quoted Rumi. “Live in awe! That’s what highly functioning people do. They focus on solutions, have great passion and see the beauty and joy in life.” He went on, “Many of our forefathers abandoned pessimism. They are included in my previous book, “The Wisdom of the Ages,” a distillation of wisdom from sixty teachers who have walked before us. The short, three to four page chapters are titled by such words as: patience, knowing, triumph, inspiration, leadership, solitude and others that offer insight into the higher realms of living fully. Each chapter opens with a quote from a notable writer who has imparted wisdom through the ages. You see, “Oscar Wilde was right, we are all living in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

“The time has come to test the principals.” I invited him to share his perspective. “Well Liz, I began living these principals late last year. I was alone in a hotel room one evening when I felt an elephant sitting on my chest. I was having a heart attack. First was denial, ‘I don’t do heart attacks’. I live well, exercise, don’t drink, I don’t smoke, how could this be? Then I became fearful and concerned. This is when I realized I was being tested to put the principals to good use. I used them on myself.” What does this mean? I asked. “It means,” he continued, “that in life we deal with uncertainty. In the Scripture, it says, ‘perfect love casteth out all fear.’ So that’s what I did. I turned on my love. You know you don’t have to announce to a dark room that the light is coming. Think about it, would you ever say, ‘scurry darkness, the light is coming’? No. Wherever you bring light to the presence of darkness, the darkness dissolves; it dissipates and cannot exist. The same happened with my heart attack. The darkness (fear) disappeared in the face of light (love). This is the essence of my new book. Problems are of a lower vibration than solutions. Light is a higher energy than darkness. Not better, just higher, and in the energy world a higher vibration brings us to spirit. The ego has been held hostage by the lower energies. We now have an opportunity to integrate the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi. Where there has been hatred, we can now sow love.”

We turned our attention to the events of September 11th. “Our world has shifted,” he told me. “We are living differently and the events of that day will impact future generations. We will learn to sow love. The enemy is hate. It is not any ethnic group. All terrorism is a manifestation of hate. So if you were to squeeze an orange,” he presents a metaphor, “what would come out?” ‘Orange juice,’ I say. “And it doesn’t matter who squeezes, what instrument was used, what time of day it is, because out of an orange comes orange juice. “So if I were to squeeze you by saying something to upset you or offend you, what would come out of you?” And I answered honestly. ‘The stuff that’s inside me would come out including anger, fear, jealousy, hatred, judgment, resentment and everything else.’ “And do you realize”, he continued, “It isn’t about who squeezes you or pushes your buttons? It’s not about them. If it is in you…it will come out of you!”

Dyer advises us to begin the healing process by cleaning ourselves from the inside out. Meditation is recommended because it brings us into a higher frequency. And with a higher frequency we develop greater energy.

“Where there is hatred in your heart,” he tells us,“bring love. When you bring a higher energy into the presence of a lower energy, it will transform it. When teenagers in their rebellious and spontaneous nature yell, ‘I hate you’…you know what you can do? Just say…‘I love you’. This is the way we can change the world. Through our thoughts, words and prayers. Liz, how do you live your life? You know our minds are so powerful that we become what we think. What we put our attention on is what becomes our reality!”

A common theme and title of one of Dr. Dyer’s many books is, “You’ll See It When You Believe It”. Dyer continues, “Michelangelo said it best when he stated that the greatest danger is not that our hopes are too high and we fail to reach them, but that they are too low and we do. We have to shift our attention and raise our standards. There are many people who are now living in a different worldview. But we don’t know because most of us are choosing to focus on the negative. We can choose what we focus on. We can see the world through eyes of gratitude or we can see the world through eyes of lack. Many people suffer because they want more, need more, and guess what happens…they always feel they don’t have enough. We have choices. Let’s just say that instead of saying give me more; we say how may I serve. What happens then is…we are served, all the things we need and more. The universe is always giving you exactly what you ask for.”

Dyer sure knows how to give. He has amassed a huge amount of knowledge and it flows freely. He had so much to say that I lost track of time and then, realizing our interview was coming to a close, I asked him to share his thoughts on Thanksgiving. “That’s easy,” he said. “It’s really two words. Thanks and Giving. This is the holiday when we are reminded to have gratitude for all we receive. And giving, that’s the key to this holiday. Saint Francis of Assisi said it so simply. ‘It is in giving that we receive.”

“This is a good time for us to give attention to healing our hearts and thoughts. Humanity has grown so little in the last 2,000 years,” Dyer told me, “and by using force against force, it has limited our potential. Now is the time to nullify the negative and follow in the footsteps of the great teachers by affirming that each and every one of us become an instrument of peace.”

© 2002 Balance Magazine