Circumstance Reveals A Man to Himself: Know Thyself!

"Circumstance does not make a man; it reveals him to himself," writes author James Allen.


This is so true. But beyond this, circumstance makes him aware of the activity of God in, and as, his life.


Let's take a look at two people we all may know:

A person who becomes a living giant when circumstances are massively negative. During that time, this person seems to rise taller and ride higher than before to unleash within him the "glorious splendor" that is within.


Then, there's the person who acts like a living giant on a daily basis but when challenges come, big or small, she becomes a "shrinking violet."

There are two factors at work in these different responses...and at work in us all the time: the activity of the God and the EGO self.

The person who is able to overcome his challenges and become "mightier than his circumstances," is the person who is able to "let go of himself and let God" be God in his life. But the person who is so tied to EGO vainly clings to his diminishing potential to help him heal. He simply does not know how to let go and trust, because his EGO self, i.e. pride, refuses to let him.


I used to think I was a "nice" person. Now I know I can be that...and charming...and ...thoughtful, just like anyone else...when I want to BE and when I feel UP TO IT!

"Circumstances reveal the man to himself. Know Thyself!"

"Nice" surely is a relative term.


It is one thing to act a certain way when life offers no greater challenge than a bad haircut or what to wear to the next event. But when life pushes us to the brink, our response tends to be different. We either let go completely, or we fight to maintain the status quo.

Often, we don't realize that the challenge came to help us grow further along our path to discovering our true power.


Circumstances can destroy you or build you. It depends on your response.

When a situation gets so bad that you simply don't know what to do, then the best course of action is to do nothing. Simply be still and wait.

Something will happen: either good or bad.




The seemingly bad thing that can happen is that the "bottom will fall out." Often, though, that is not what happens. What happens, instead, is that a gentle presence within us rises up and takes over, and we're lead to the other side, intact, to fight "another day."

Then what do we do when we get through a crisis?

We begin to believe in our own power to heal our circumstances! We often become so pumped up with ourselves, we don't discern that there was a power greater than us working "behind the scenes."

When things fall through, and we seemingly fail, we may feel lost to ourselves. If things are desperate enough, it is then that we learn to release...since we can't do anything else...and let God.




You see to "Let Go and Let God" essentially means the same as "Thy will be Done."
We tend to believe, though, that God's will for us is something contrary to our will for ourselves. We tend to believe that God is gonna lead us down some hole that we don't want to travel down.

Actually, some of us may go down a rabbit hole for a while. It may be that in order to "see" our lives in the right way, we have to be taken through some circuituous paths to our redemption.

Hebrews 12: 6 & 8: "My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him...But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."

Psalm 23: 3: "He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name sake."

When trying circumstances show up in our lives, often, this is the action of God seeking to express itself in, and through, us.

By "letting Go and letting God" we are letting "Thy will be done."


We can't see this, because our EGO gets in the way, taking credit for God's work, especially where there is "overcoming."

Sometimes, by separating ourselves from God in our unbelief or fear, we begin to feel an absence of God. By seemingly being absence from our "good," God wants us to wake up to the truth about ourselves and our Divine nature and connection to him. But fear, doubt, worry, hate and unforgiveness are the surefire ways we can continue to remain separate from God...and our good.


I have never met a living saint. All of us are on this earth to grow more into the perfection Jesus, Buddha, and others demonstrated for us. So, if you think you're a saint and are incapable of doing bad things, you're seriously out of touch with yourself!

After years of covering wars from the edge and seeing brutality he could not have imagined, CNN's Anderson Cooper says in the November 2008 issue of "Best Life," "The one thing I'm certain of is that anyone is capable of anything. Good and Bad. Terrible acts of barbarism and brutality. Great acts of compassion and kindness. You see that everywhere you go. All of us like to think we're not capable of anything bad, we have standards and beliefs. But given the right or wrong circumstances, people change. I've seen it in so many places, so often."

Now that's the TRUTH!

Unless you're focused on God, and you're connected in the Spirit with him, you're capable of feeling, doing evil and being evil! Yes, you!

There are those who are "good people," who would act as if they are ALL pure in thoughts, words and deeds. But I daresay that's EGO at work.


Based on my study of personality types, I've discovered that even the seemingly good folks have ulterior motives...if they are acting from EGO, and not from "God connection."

For the most part, most of our behavior, good or bad, is coming from an EGO center!

Without true introspection, and without being willing to give up fully ALL that you think and thought yourself to be, you truly will not arrive at the "father's" table. This means that you cannot believe you're above the "chastening" and "healing" that so many on the path experience because you're innately GOOD!

Before you're invited, you must be willing to do the search, with your WHOLE HEART. Then, after the invitation, lots of work still will need to be done. You can't get into an arrogant state, believing you've arrived, because you get some insight into spirituality. Progress can be slow and, also, frustrating.

Eventually, you'll know when you've "arrived" and are sitting in your designated place. You'll just KNOW THAT YOU KNOW!


Staying in "Spirit" connected to "Spirit" is focused work, once you make the connection. You then must jealously guard your thoughts, actions, responses and even associations, as they would sometimes cause you to remain separate. Start getting focused now!


We should not wait for our circumstances to change to decide whether we're going to be a Giant or a shrinking violet.

Instead of waiting for the next crisis, we can begin to depend on the ever-present, omniscient being that is in all that we do, every day... whether we are aware, or unaware, of its work. We can begin to live our lives from our God-filled center.

Decide NOW: "Am I going to be a GIANT, or a shrinking violet?"



Namaste',

Che'