Shaping the Future

How can you shape or influence the future? If you are feeling fearful about the future or thinking negatively as you look ahead, what might you do to change those feelings and thoughts?

Thank you for listening. More talks and courses with Sananda and Christopher at www.heaven-on-earth.co.uk.

Transcript

Welcome. This is Sananda. The future, of course, is a huge and fascinating topic and, big though it is, I want to widen the first question out a little bit. So it’s a question about the most effective way to influence the outcome of an election. But let's broaden that to what's the most effective way to influence the outcome of anything. What's the most effective way to act in the world to create the kind of future that you would like to experience? However, let's begin with an election and make the really obvious point, which is one of the most important ways in which you affect an outcome of an election is by voting. Now obviously, as I say, that's a really blatantly clear point. You know it already and you may come back by saying, well, in the constituency I live my vote doesn't really make a difference. 

01:16

There can be all sorts of responses, but the point I'm making is a general one, rather than one just about elections. And that is: do remember that whatever inner work you might choose to do (and I'm going to be talking about that), your actions in the outer world, they're going to make a difference. Having said that, from my point of view, there's not as large a difference between the changes that you make within your own self and the actions you make in the outer world as you might conceive yourself. For you, it might feel that your thoughts are at least to a degree private, whereas as your actions are at least to a degree public, and that therefore if you wish to influence the world, it's really going to be your actions in the outer world rather than the actions that you choose in your inner world that are going to make the biggest difference. However, one of the principal things that I want to suggest this evening is that actually those actions that are yours in the inner world of your being have a profound effect on the outer world. 

02:30

And that's implicit really in the second question, where here is someone recognising some of her own fears that are creating, at least sometimes, a vision of a negative future and wanting to know how to change that negative vision into something more positive. There's an implicit recognition that what's going on within really does make a difference. But to return to that first obvious point, if you are drawn to act in the world, do so. Your actions make a difference and permit yourself to appreciate that small actions are as valuable as large actions in the sense that when many of you act in the same direction, in what you consider to be small ways, there's a cumulative effect. Never feel discouraged from taking action because you've conceived the idea that your actions aren't really going to make a difference. They do. 

03:50

Consider that familiar analogy of the stone thrown into the pond - or let's say the pebble. Pebble is only small, but those ripples are going to keep on moving out until they come to the banks of the pond and you live in an infinite universe. The ripples of your actions continue outwards indefinitely. This, then, is one of the challenges of being in human form. You can recognise that you do indeed have an effect upon the world, but it's not easy for you to track those ripples as they move out beyond a certain point. And that point may be really quite close to you both in space and time. The longer term, the further afield, consequences of your actions are difficult for you to assess. 

04:43

This brings us back then to the inner world of your being. How do you (granted for a moment that you have the ability to choose what thoughts you have, what feelings you have, and this may not always feel true at all) but how do you, if you can, select your feelings and your thoughts, select those that are going to be most helpful, that are going to have the greatest validity, the largest beneficial effect. Understand that the entire universe as you experience outside of yourself is in many respects simply a mirror, a kind of outward working of your inner world. Therefore, to put it simply, if you wish to live in a peaceful world, pay attention to creating peace within yourself. 

05:59

So for example, if you find as the questioner does, that you sometimes have fears, negative thoughts about the future, don't quarrel with that in yourself. Don't add to the difficulties. Be merciful. Be loving to yourself. Recognise that those negative thoughts are there and don't instantly dismiss them or try to dismiss them. They have something to tell you. Again, to make this point, simply every fear that you find within yourself is a place that is calling out for love. Therefore, the very best response that you can make when you feel a fear is to love the part of you that is fearful, to reassure it and to listen to it - not necessarily to believe what it tells you, because it may be working on very limited evidence and that very limited evidence may be very out of date. But nevertheless, it has something to communicate. The fear that it demonstrates within your own being is like a lantern leading you to a dark place within. But there is a part of you that needs or longs for help. And the fundamental form that that help will always have is love. 

07:22

So to create a universe of unconditional love, keep on practising being unconditionally loving to yourself. It really does make a difference. Indeed, it's one, perhaps even the most powerful, way that is available to you in this lifetime to create beneficial change in the world. There may be much else besides, but learning to be unconditionally loving to the multifaceted human being that you are is a great work. It is of great value. It sends a message of peace out to the entire universe. It reaches way beyond what you could imagine right now. And if you struggle with that, don't belittle yourself. Don't feel inadequate. Don't compare yourself to others. You are unique. The struggles you have are not the struggles of others. They're yours. 

08:34

Honour yourself. Recognise that holding a positive vision for the future is a skill. You develop it over time. Treat it as any other skill that you might learn. You will never learn to play the piano well, if you are not prepared to be not very good to start with. You know these things. Apply this to your inner world as well. So then, one of the most effective ways in which you can influence the future is by patiently, continually, kindly learning to create a peaceful, harmonious, unconditionally loving relationship with yourself.  That broadcasts. Even if you were to live in a hermitage on the top of a distant mountain, you would be broadcasting that; others would pick up your broadcast. 

09:43

Now let's turn to another point, related but a little bit different. This is about the kind of vision that you might want to hold. It may be, very likely is, that you have a preference in a general election for one party over another. It may be that when you seek to create a positive vision of the future of humanity, there are certain qualities that you consider to be really important, others that you think are less important. Allow that whatever vision you create is going to be partial. Partial, both in the sense of it probably being a little bit partisan at least, but partial also in the more important sense that you are a contributor to the future of humanity. It is not given to you to dictate that future. You may well not want to, but you might find there's a little piece of you that says, ‘If I was the queen of the world or if I was the king of the world, this is what I would do.’ Well, love that part too, but don't take it too seriously. 

11:06

Recognise that you do not have all of the truth at your disposal. You may be a very wise being, you have much wisdom within you for sure, but not all of the wisdom. You are one amongst billions and everyone has a contribution to make to the future of humanity. So what you can find, and this is important too, is that when you look at creating or influencing the future, that you are simultaneously contributing to the vision that humanity holds - a general flow in the direction of the future - and at the same time, you are creating your own unique experience, your own unique future. Your future may or may not be it variance with the general future of humanity. Were it the case that humanity was finding itself addicted to danger, fear, difficulties, you might decide that that is not your future, that it is not a future that you want to add energy to, that you want to do your best to hold a vision of a different future. You are free to do that. Others can choose the future that feels most realisable to them. You can realise the future that is true for you. If there are troubles in the world, you do not have to be there participating in them. There may still be much that you can do to help where are difficulties in the world. That is your choice and how you help is also your choice. 

13:13

The future, of course, is an interesting phenomenon. In a way it doesn't exist, so that when we talk of you creating the future or indeed influencing the future, we might say you're doing something impossible. How can you influence something that doesn't exist? And yet at another level of your being, you have a great deal of certainty that a future exists. You may not be clear what that future is, but you know that there is a future and you may be very clear about some elements of the future. As a physical being all the evidence suggests that at some point you and your physical body are going to part company. The physical body you've got right now, all the evidence suggests, or shall we say almost all of the evidence, suggests it's not designed to last forever. 

14:19

And so there are certain characteristics of the present that you exist in, and the sense you have of the past that you've emerged from, that are highly suggestive about the nature of the future. So you find yourself by your nature something of a mixture. You can be the being who says philosophically the future does not exist. ‘Isn't that amazing? I am in the process of creating something out of nothing. What a miracle!’ And another part of yourself, equally truly, you can say, ‘Well, I know what the future is. At least I know part of it. I'm not going to be here forever. At some point I'm going to be leaving Planet Earth. I may not know what happens beyond, but I know that.’ And between these two extremes, a whole spectrum of different senses about the future. 

15:34

This then brings us back to the question about holding a fearful vision of the future. Understand that very often when you find yourself against your will, against your better judgement, containing, entertaining, fearful thoughts and visions of the future, that you may very well not actually be seeing the future at all, but that you are tuning into fears that are present in the shared consciousness of humanity at this time. This is one reason why I say healing those fears within yourself is helpful, not just to you, but to all of humanity. There really is no fundamental reason for humanity to create a future of disaster, of pain, of suffering. There is no reason at all for that to happen. If it happens, it is because the trend within human consciousness has been in that direction, but it doesn't have to be. 

16:53

Now, fears are energy forms. They're quite dense by their nature. You've noticed when you feel fearful that you can find that even at the physical level that's affecting you. Your shoulders may slump, your head may go down, you may curl in on yourself almost as if you are carrying a heavy weight because actually that's what you're doing. It's an energetic weight, not a physical weight, but it has the same effect. So consider the nature of physical matter. You know that physical matter has a gravitational field. Normally you don't notice the gravitational field of, shall we say, a tennis ball. But a larger object like the Earth, you certainly notice that gravitational field. And really the energy forms that are negative thoughts, that are fears, have an equivalent kind of gravitational field. So again, use this as a reason not to be hard on yourself when you find yourself sucked into spaces and places of fear, those places have their own equivalent of a gravitational field. They pull your attention. 

18:22

It's that call for help, really. It's love that heals that pull inward, that pull downward. So rather than chiding yourself for holding a negative vision or a fearful vision, say to yourself, ‘No, I am entertaining this energy form, because I'm choosing to bring love to this place within myself. I recognise that there is a dense energy here that needs my help and that my love can help that energy form to open up, to find more flow, to relax, to find a different way of configuring itself.’ 

19:27

Do your best not to judge, either yourself or others. So when you look into the world, when you look at something like an election, as I've suggested, you may well find that you're quite partisan about it. There are the good guys and the bad guys. When you look out into the world in general, you may have that sense. You might feel that, ‘Yes, there are us spiritual people. I doing a lot of good on Earth. And then there are these idiots, they dunno what they're doing at all.’ Well, that's all right, but ease back on that judgement. Who knows? You're like icebergs. Tiny bit of you shows above the surface. Some of the people who seem to be doing the worst or the most foolish things on Earth may turn out to be the greatest souls. You cannot always tell why people are acting in the way that they are. 

20:23

This does not mean that all actions are equal, that you just shrug your shoulders and say, ‘Whatever. I don't mind what happens in the world.’ At a certain point that becomes true. You can come to a place on your journey of growing spirituallyddd where you truly don't mind what happens. Everything is all right, but you come to that place because you are able to unconditionally love all beings and all actions. You can still recognise that some paths are more aligned with Divine Will than others. 

21:08

Therefore, to come back to influencing the future, when you wish (and it's very natural that you do), when you wish to influence the future, to create a better world, by all means have your personal vision. Your personal vision contributes to the vision of humanity,. Each of you, within your heart, has carried into this world a deep and incredibly beautiful vision of how the world can be. But each of you is like a piece of the jigsaw. That beautiful world you imagine really only comes into being when all of the pieces of the jigsaw come together. This is one reason why I encourage you to be unconditionally loving of others, to release judgement of them, their qualities, their actions, to understand that everyone is doing the best that they can. 

22:14

So, as I say, by all means hold your personal vision, honour that vision. Do your best to manifest it, but do it in a way that allows room for the vision of others. They too have a vision, each one within his or her heart. And every vision matters. Be kind to one another for you are kin. It doesn't matter if you experience yourself as having come from some distance star system and alighted here on Earth as an alien being. You are human, as human as everybody else. You share a common lot and your future is worked out together. So hold that personal vision, yes, but with room for the vision of others. 

23:12

And the simplest way of doing this is to look into your heart, to recognise the beauty of that personal vision, to honour it, to open it, to let it flourish within you. And as it flourishes it, treat it like a flower that is opening, breathing in its perfume, by which I mean breathe in its essence. Know the essence of the vision that you hold, for the essence of all the visions in every single heart of humanity is the same. It's what is sometimes called and I'm calling now Divine Will. Divine Will is not some harsh imposition from above by beings or a beingness who regards you as inferior. No, you embody Divine Will. You are Divine Will in action. Honour Divine Will in yourself. Request inwardly that you come to know Divine Will more fully. But with that relax. Divine Will is in the little things of life as well as in the big moments, the important movements. Your simple pleasures are part of Divine Will too. 

24:29

Life is not just a mission to make the world better. Maybe it isn't even that at all. But it is about finding joy in the moment. And so I would say this too, and this is really important. If you wish to create a positive future, enjoy the present. There is no other gift that is greater than this in the creation of the future. Enjoy the present moment and you are sowing healthy seeds for a beautiful future. Now, I mentioned earlier two kinds of extreme. One that might be the experience of yourself as a physical human being. ‘I know the future, one day I'm going to die.’ And the other extreme, which might be a kind of abstract philosophical spirit space where you say, ‘The future doesn't exist, it's nothing.’ Both of these are true, but in between do also recognise that you have the capacity (it varies from person to person, but you have the capacity) to see into the future. For yourself as a human being the future is not actually wholly unknown. 

25:55

You need never fear what the future may bring. But you can sense something of the future. You are living in a time when new energies are becoming available on earth and those new energies are bringing change. You know this, it's part of your experience. You're living in a time of profound change. And you can assist this tide of change that is moving through human consciousness simply by connecting with the light that is coming in, believing it, believing in that light within yourself, believing that you are of the light, believing that you are a beautiful being, that you are a beautiful presence here on Earth, that who you are makes a difference. 

26:51

And the difference you make is because of the being that you are. What you do is important too, but reside in the knowledge that who you are is making a difference. And grant yourself permission. Give yourself freedom to create visions of a wonderful future. Don't let either your fears or the fears of others that you're picking up, that are broadcast out there, alter that. Recognise that you can hold a vision of a wonderful future and at the same time have a part of you that is fearful, that thinks, ‘Oh no, we're off to hell in a handcart. The whole world is disaster. Everything's going wrong.’ Yeah, there can be a little bit of you feeling like that; may be quite a big bit, but that does not actually prevent you simultaneously having a big, beautiful vision of a wonderful future. And very importantly, as we come to the close of this broadcast, know that you can permit yourself to experience that beautiful future. Know that you deserve it. You deserve a beautiful present. You deserve a beautiful future. Open your heart and welcome in the highest future that you can imagine. And with that, with our love, go well.