Are We Responsible?

Joel Goldsmith emphasizes again and again that all power comes from God, and that human beings have none in their own right. This is consistent, with minor differences in terminology, with the teachings of most sages. How, then, are we who are still stuck in individuality to take responsibility for our own lives, our fates, and our spirituality?

One answer is that, while we as individuals are powerless, as individual manifestations of Universal Spirit we are all-powerful. The realization that all power flows from God is just a half step away from the realization that nothing, including ourselves, exists but in God. When through meditation we come to the secure conviction that we -- and all things -- are manifestation of the God-force, then it becomes possible to accept that the power of which we were made still forms the essence of our being.

Another way to visualize these principles is to recognize that power alone is meaningless; that only power coupled with intention is capable of shaping the God-stuff of All That Is into a Universe of stars and planets, matter and energy, stones, plants and animals.

Our individualities are created, not just of power, but of intention as well. We are blessed not only with the power of God, but also Its creative Intention. We are capable of directing the flow of events in our Universe by exercising that holy Intention to instruct the omnipresent divine power.

As an attribute of God, which is Love, the Intention can be exercised only to produce loving outcomes. All other events that appear in our experience represent only the random operation of a power that has not been subjected to the control of Divine Intention. The more perfect our sense of Oneness with the Divine, the more perfectly will our intention shape the Universe around us into an accurate mirror of Divine Love. This is why the awareness of Oneness is always accompanied by Love, security, and happiness.

The circumstances of our separate existences, as we experience them, are entirely within our control. To the extent we acknowledge, and seek to incorporate, our Oneness with All That Is, to that extent we cause peace and Love to manifest around us. To the extent we turn our backs on Oneness, we subject ourselves to the random workings of an impersonal and unfeeling power. These are the choices that each of us makes every day, every hour, and every moment that we are alive.