In the Heart of Winter: A Meditator’s Guide to Advent
There are times when divine ideas or inspiration come to us
unbidden. These ideas are often intuitive perceptions that arise when our minds
are quiet and we are receptive. We feel, and recognize, them as inspiration, as
glimpses of higher guidance. Sometimes they are simple urgings to act in the
moment—to call a friend, to open a book. Other times, they can be life-changing
directives. Like Mary in the gospel story, we might ask: What is this? How can this be?
In the scripture stories, these intuitive perceptions or
divine ideas are delivered by angels. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary with
the salutation: Greetings! Highly favored
one! God is with you and you are blessed! When such stories are approached
metaphysically, seeing the drama as an inner experience, an angel represents
our intuitive faculty of soul-knowing. Through our intuition, we have the
ability to know, to discern, and experience divine insights directly, rather
than through our thought process which compares and considers. Intuition comes
to us directly. By its very nature it announces to us, “God is with you as you
are blessed with this direct insight.”
Intuition comes to us holistically; it comes in fullness
which allows us to recognize it as true. We receive it with a felt sense that
we recognize. We know that we know. Then we must find a way for that divine idea
to take hold and be expressed. The moment that follows the revelation is crucial.
How is it received? The thinking aspect of mind may enter and plant seeds of
doubt. This doesn’t make sense, it
might say. How would you ever accomplish
such a thing? This isn’t realistic. And on it goes. If we follow the lead
only of the thinking mind at this juncture, we will abandon the inspiration.
Perhaps you have done that at some time. Many of us have disregarded our
intuitive inspiration only to later comprehend how it should or could have
been. I knew it! We declare. We had
the inspiration but not sufficient faith to trust it.
Three things can support trusting our intuition. First,
study the nature of divine inspiration to see how it works. It rarely comes to
us with the kind of mundane detail we would like. Instead, it comes as knowing,
as insight, which provides direction. It rarely says the how, why, when or
where. Second, learn how to use rational thinking ability in support of intuition
rather than allowing it to undermine it. At some point, our discernment and
logic will be needed to help us chart our course. However, when inspiration is
first received, it is not yet the time for that. It is not one or the other; we
don’t have to discard reason in order to trust our intuition. Both ways of
knowing are important and come into use at the right time. After we honor our
intuition, receive it, and begin to move toward its guidance, then our skills
of discernment can come in as support. Third we can observe that honoring “the
angels of insight” gets better with faith in the One, and with practice.
Practice:
Be open to intuitive insight in great and small ways. As you
cultivate greater silence and receptivity through your meditation practice, you
will notice that you have more access to intuition. Expect that divine
guidance, through your faculty of intuition, will arise. When it does, receive
it. Take some time to simply be with it, “pondering it in your heart” as the
scriptures tell us Mary did. This is just being with it, allowing it to be
heard, received, and felt. Inwardly ask if there is anything for you to do to
honor this insight with action. Sometimes the response is simply to wait with knowing
and let it unfold, other times there is a first step to take.
Contemplate:
And Mary said, Behold
the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to they word. And the angel
departed from her. –Luke 1:38
The mystic intuitively
senses Reality and instinctively knows the Truth…Intuition is God in man,
revealing to him the Realities of Being. – Ernest Holmes
Reflect:
Recall the times when you trusted your intuition and the
times when you did not. What was your experience? Ask: What, if anything,
prevents me from Self trust? How can I develop greater trust in my Self?
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