Becoming Spiritually Street-Smart By Dr. Susan G. Shumshy Would you open your door to a stranger and invite him to take over your home? That is exactly what many people are doing right now in the name of opening to inner voices, channeling spirit guides, or listening to "angels." It is very popular right now to open to psychic development and intuition. But opening to listen to inner voices indiscriminately is as dangerous as inviting a stranger into your home. You would never open your door to a stranger, so why open your awareness without identifying inner voices you are contacting? You are street-smart when it comes to your home and your property. You know how to conduct yourself when you walk on the street in a big city or use the subway. Now it’s time to get spiritually street-smart and practice "safe spirituality" when you visit the inner realms. Many people say, "I get intuitive messages and hear inner voices daily. I don’t know who is talking to me, but I follow what those voices tell me to do." Is this intelligent? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that following the advice of unidentified voices speaking in your mind would be confusing and could be dangerous. For example, two young girls used automatic writing to receive inner messages. One of their "spirit guides" said he was a friend of one of the girl’s dead father and he was her "guardian angel." He told her that life didn’t hold much for her and she should come join him on the "other side." This little girl threw herself in front of a bus! Luckily she survived. And what about Marshall Applewhite of the Heaven’s Gate cult? His inner voices told him and his followers to commit suicide. Tragically, he didn’t know how to distinguish the inner voices. He thought that God was speaking to him, but he was deluded. You have within yourself all that you need. If you would trust divine Spirit and allow God to be your guide, you would not seek guidance from counterfeits. There is a big difference between the true voice of Spirit and "other voices." You can learn how to distinguish between the divine voice and whatever else is in your mind. Divine Revelation is a way to listen to the "still small voice" within — the divine intuitive voice — and to use that profound spiritual connection to solve everyday problems and to receive divine healing, wisdom, and inspiration. It helps you distinguish the inner voices, identify the source of your intuitive messages, and un-derstand your spiritual experiences. It provides a way to test whether your intuition is the "real thing." With Nine Tests to Prevent Psychic De-ception, you can verify the authenticity of inner voices. When you allow the divine voice to speak to you directly, you can receive answers to your questions and make decisions with peaceful confidence. Also, you can set a clear direction in life when you discover your true purpose and destiny. God will give you that knowledge when you seek your answers within. There are four basic planes of existence that you could tap into when you receive inner messages. One is the true realm of Spirit. On that level God speaks to you directly. Also, you can hear the voice of angels, archangels, prophets, saints, deities, and other divine beings. The second realm is the mental world. There you would listen to your own subconscious mind or the mind of the collective unconscious. You might tap into past memories, beliefs, habits, and conditioning. This is what you have been brainwashed to believe by your parents, church, schools, peers, society, the media, etc. I call this your B.S. — your Belief Systems. You could tap this internal "chat room" and deceive yourself into thinking you are hearing a true divine voice or receiving a divine revelation, when you are simply talking to yourself! The third realm is the astral plane, where you might meet earth-bound spirits, astral entities, mischievous beings, malevolent beings, ghosts, etc. These are usually humans who died but, for one reason or another, did not go through the tunnel and enter the brilliant divine light described by those who have reported near-death ex-periences (NDE’s). These discarnate entities are not on the spiritual plane, and they have no body to inhabit, since theirs is dead. Therefore they hang around the earth plane, trying to enter a human body or talk to human beings. When you open up to receiving messages, these astral entities might attempt to communicate with you. Once again, you might delude yourself into believing that a divine being speaks to you when you inadvertently contact an astral being. The fourth realm is the en-vironment. You might tap into the thoughts of people around you, read people’s minds, or pick up the general static floating around in the en-vironmental thought-banks. Then you might falsely believe that God is speaking to you when in reality it is simply atmospheric thought-form flotsam and jetsam. The main reason that you might have trouble identifying "who" or "what" you are communicating with when receiving inner messages is that you may not have been trained to experience and recognize the true divine voice. Our religious institutions do not have any incentive to help us have this direct experience of divine contact. Why? Because if we were to "go direct" and cut out the "middleman," then that would be bad for their business. Also, you might not believe you are worthy to have God speak to you directly. Most of us have been brainwashed to believe that God is "out there somewhere" far away in "heaven," and that He (a male, of course) only speaks to saints, sages, masters, enlightened souls, prophets, and monks. It is my belief that God has not signed an exclusive contract with these so-called lofty people, and that every one of you can have clear experiences of that true spiritual presence. Another problem is that many of us believe that the only time we will see or hear God is after we are dead. That is why we readily accept near-death experiences, in which the living saw God when they were temporarily dead. But if you say that you never died and yet you saw God or God spoke to you, you would be a candidate for a straight jacket! That is how far away we have drifted from true divine contact in this scientific age. It is high time to return to the voice of faith and wisdom and to allow God to speak to us on a daily basis, whenever we want — at will! That is what I propose anyone can do. You don’t have to be a saint. You don’t have to read the Bible. You don’t even have to go to church. You can listen to God’s voice right in your own living room. All you need to do is close your eyes, get quiet, get still, take a few deep breaths, go within, and ask for the experience. Then let go and let God speak to you.
There are nine basic ways you can distinguish between the true voice of Spirit and "other voices" in your mind. These nine tests help you to receive divine messages clearly and precisely. You can use these tests to test the inner messages you are receiving, books you are reading, teachers and counselors you are visiting, and speakers you are hearing. Armed with these tests, you can’t go wrong.
How to Use the Nine Tests Be sure that your inner messenger
passes all nine tests. One test is not enough. All nine must be there for you to be sure
you are in contact with a divine voice and not one of those "other voices." If you are a psychic, a counselor, or a hands-on
healer, you should be feeling more energized as your day unfolds. You should never feel
drained. If you feel drained, it is a sure sign that you are using your ego energy instead
of God’s energy to heal others. Be sure to check the nine tests. It is best to use these nine tests in conjunction
with the seven basic methods of spiritual healing, eleven safeguards, and meditation
technique of Divine Revelation, which are all described in Divine Revelation by
Susan G. Shumsky, available in bookstores everywhere, or by calling 800-243-1438. For information on Divine Revelation classes, call
212-946-5132 or visit web site: Also visit http://members.aol.com/divinerevl. By Dr. Susan G. Shumshy |
