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    As If from God
    As If from God
    As If from God
    Ebook316 pages1 hour

    As If from God

    By Jim Young

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    About this ebook

    Self-Help
    AS IF FROM GOD, Book Ten in The Spiritual Awareness Series, describes and gives testimony to a special prayer form used to penetrate belief in outer authority, so inner Truth is revealed as one's highest good. Immersed in daily devotion, the reader is led to commune with the divine consciousness found within, using three questions that free one from the limitations of intellectual pursuit. In this way, prayer becomes communion with one's inner depths, and spiritual guidance is received as the foundation for living a rich and purposeful life. Such focused spiritual awareness enlightens those who wish to transcend the chaotic life for one imbedded in eternal Truth expressed. If you are looking for a way to shift your life from the imposition of outer authority or the vagaries of ego consciousness, this is the book for you. Should you commit to the suggested practice contained herein, you could well be awakened to a life, until now, was only a dream but could be your spiritual reality.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateMay 29, 2008
    ISBN9780595616091
    As If from God
    Author

    Jim Young

    Jim Young served 23 years in the Army and after retiring, he became an ordained minister. He has been a pastor and a hospice chaplain. Jim and his wife Kathy live in Show Low, Arizona. They have 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild.

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      Book preview

      As If from God - Jim Young

      AS IF FROM GOD

      Copyright © 2008 by James H. Young

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any

      means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

      recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the

      written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations

      embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      iUniverse

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.iuniverse.com

      1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses

      or links contained in this book may have changed

      since publication and may no longer be valid.

      The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not

      necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any

      responsibility for them.

      ISBN: 978-0-595-50679-8 (pbk)

      ISBN: 978-0-595-61609-1 (ebk)

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction

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      JIM YOUNG’S WEBSITE

      www.creationspirit.net This website contains additional creations to come through Jim Young, including other books and,eventually, collector-quality photography. Speaking services and classes dealing with his writings are also available. Contact Jim personally: creationspirit@gmail.com

      I do not really give you new commands.

      I have so few to give.

      only I tell them in different ways, so as you teach others

      you can reach people with different needs

      who need to hear them

      in different ways.

      —Jim Young, from AS IF FROM GOD

      Acknowledgments

      flower.jpg

      I gratefully acknowledge the Spirit from which this creative expression comes. I freely and enthusiastically let it flow through me as it came: free from limitation. Thus I dedicate this book to the Highest Self I am.

      I thank Jane Wolfe for teaching me to pray in a way I could hear the Word, and then let it be expressed into the Universe.

      Jim Young

      Introduction

      flower.jpg

      Originally received in prose form during communion with God over a particular ten-month period of my life, this psalm-like verse has evolved as a natural expression of my relationship with God, the divine consciousness which is my Highest Self. The portion you will see represents what has been received from this relationship. Hence, it reads as if from God.

      Most of us seek to connect with a God separate from us, corresponding to what we have been taught through religious doctrine, no matter what the source. The real Truth, however, is there is no God separate from us. God is our Highest Self found only within. This is an important distinction to be made, for as long as we hold a God outside us as the Truth, we will be investing our energy in dualism and thus unable to reach the real Truth of our Being. In part, the testimony you are about to become familiar with is put before you to instill a desire to go within, into the silence, the only language God speaks. As the contemplative mystic Thomas Keating tells us, all else is a mistranslation. It is within where you will come to more fully comprehend your real identity and live true to only it. Otherwise, you will continue to live in a world of illusion, which can only profess to be real when it is not real at all.

      As I shared earlier pertinent versions of this material with others, I found the wisdom I received in this verse could well apply to anyone, no matter where they are along their journey. One way or another, in one place or another, we are all on that

      same narrow road. We seemingly struggle in common, even though our greater or divine consciousness is of the One. And although our timing may be different, the messages contained herein can apply to all of us as our spiritual awareness comes increasingly into focus. Read another time, and yet another, different pieces of eternal wisdom may appeal to us, touch us deeply, or even send us along our path to yet another insight or uplifting twist in our journey. Each time I began converting the prose to this more lyrical format, I found myself actually praying the verse. By converting the language from God’s Word to me, to God’s prayer as me, I have found deeper meaning, a more penetrating commitment, and an even richer form of love. Indeed, God’s presence has at times felt overpowering, yet as a simple quietude embracing my heart. I suggest you take this approach with each of these poetic verses: one at a time, in reverence for each as it speaks just to you, knowing any resonance you feel is the Truth for you, and is for your highest good only. A comment about this form of verse might serve well. While taking a poetry writing workshop I heard the instructor’s admonition to s l o w d o w n verse so the reader could permit the real meaning to enter both mind and heart. Given the con- text of the rapid lifestyle we generally embrace, he admonished us to do anything we could to slow down the process of reading and assimilating the messages created from the heart. It takes a special listening to hear them at the heart level, quite unlike the intellectual approach to reading verse many of us were taught. Reading from the heart takes us past the influence of the ego and the intellect to the spiritual meaning of life. From my perspective, spiritual meaning is the only meaning that is real, and of greatest importance in fulfilling our divine purpose in life. I have removed the titles from each verse for the same reason: so any expression of my ego, although unintended, would more than likely not influence your own personal rendering.

      The result has been for me to translate the earlier form of prose into verse of a more vertical format, stretching the language, giving it more space in which to be heard. In a very real sense, the space between the lines provides a bit of solitude that speaks to us every bit as much as the printed word. Indeed, for those who are willing, it provides an opportunity to hear in the silence of one’s heart something much more profound than the actual printed word. This form is a deliberate, purposeful way to

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