Take Back Your Power

Lately, I've been watching episodes from the 1970s TV show, Kung Fu, on DVD. It starred David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese, half-American Shaolin priest who wanders the post-civil war American West looking for his long-lost brother.

Caine is a martial arts master who resorts to using his fighting skills only when someone's safety is at stake. Kung Fu introduced many Westerners to some of the basic tenets of Eastern thought. Like fine art and true wisdom, many of the teachings espoused in the show are timeless and universal in nature.

One of my favorite episodes, El Brujo, concerned an evil witch who was terrorizing a small town. The townspeople so feared this man that they willingly gave away their power - performing whatever actions he demanded - hoping to please him. At one point, the townspeople were resigned to letting an infant die because the evil man had cursed the baby.

When Caine arrives, he cures the infant using herbs. Later, the witch curses one of the town's leaders, condemning the man to death in 24 hours. As before, the leader tries to give away his power - this time, pleading for Caine to rescue him. Caine simply replies, "Why do you believe him?"

The leader's shock matches the shock I sometimes see on people's faces when I ask them the same question, after they report "news" they've seen on TV. The number of people who willingly accept the thoughts and edicts of others, without question, is astounding, but understandable. In our society, we have been trained since birth to delegate our thinking and give away our power to outside "experts."

When you spill hot coffee on yourself, you are advised to hire an attorney to argue that you were not warned the coffee was hot. When you watch a political debate, experts come on later to "explain to you" what you just heard and what it means, as though you were incapable of forming your own opinion. You are taught to blindly allow doctors to pump drugs into your body, and to ignore the wisdom contained within your own self.

While soliciting outside advice can be helpful, blindly accepting another's thoughts, without discernment, violates your responsibility to yourself as a majestic spiritual being living on earth.

In the Kung Fu episode, a flashback to Caine's early training at the Shaolin monastery in China echoes this simple truth. His blind teacher, Master Po, explains, "The undiscerning mind is like the root of a tree - it absorbs equally all that it touches - even the poison that would kill it."

Caine chooses not to accept the poison. When the witch curses Caine, nothing happens, for the simple reason that Caine "does not believe him." The witch's hold over the town immediately vanishes.

So it is today. You need not blindly accept whatever fate or expectation your parents, siblings, teachers, political leaders, media commentators, friends or co-workers have dictated for you. You not only have the right, but the responsibility, to decide, for yourself, what you think.

To do so, you must become aware of your thoughts. You may well discover that the majority of thoughts that you think every day are not even your own. You may further discover that many of these thoughts are disempowering, intended to induce fear or otherwise direct your behavior.

You did not incarnate on earth to "play it safe" or be a robot that simply quot;follows the rules, hoping to fit in." You were created in the image of God. This means you were born to create. Your life's mission is to tap into your inner self and express the wisdom from within - not to blindly accept the viewpoint or doctrine of some expert, guru or societal program as the default setting.

Understand that as a creator, every thought you think is creating your world. Will it be a prison ... or will it be a heavenly garden? Wouldn't you rather be the architect of a beautiful paradise worthy of such creative power?

To create "Heaven on Earth," you must regularly tap into your divine nature by whatever name you choose to call it: master within, higher self, inner light, etc. When you tap into your inner self on a daily basis, you begin to assume and deepen your majestic spiritual nature.

There is no other mission on earth as critical as learning to tap into your inner self for guidance and expressing your inner light. As numerous spiritual traditions assert, "The highest and best source of wisdom comes from within." Learning to ask for, listen to and accept this guidance is essential to developing spiritually.

When you have tapped into your inner self, you then can use your mind to interpret the "voice" of your inner master, and take inspired action to create or express yourself - whether you are writing, painting, singing, working, playing or simply thinking.

Now, be forewarned: there are those who may tell you that relying on your "mind" is dangerous - that doing so is egotistical. Some "schools" of thought actually argue humans think too much and, to balance this tendency, they should rely more on emotion and instinct. This "theory" misses the point entirely. The issue is not whether you, or anyone else, thinks too much, but rather WHAT VOICE DO YOU LISTEN TO - the voice of your ego or that of your higher self?

Experience, intuition and certain other clues will help you to recognize the voice of your inner self and avoid the pitfalls of the ego.

Until then, it's time to think your own thoughts and take back your power!

If you would like to flush extraneous, discordant energies, thoughts and emotions from your energy bodies, to better prepare you to tap into your innermost self, plus, release any limiting beliefs that may be holding you back, then visit Energy Center Clearing.