Facing Your Doubts

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The Mystic's Life Lesson #15A Discourse On
Facing Your Doubts
As you proceed toward higher consciousness you will very likely have periods of doubt. Doubt can be a
good sign or it can be very harmful, depending on how you deal with the consequences of your doubt.
Certainly the road to higher consciousness is no place for the naive. An observant and discriminating mind
is not only helpful, it's essential. Otherwise, you'll believe anything! You will misinterpret your experiences
and make so many mistakes that you'll become extremely confused and turn your life off into some trip of
fantasy, complete with super-high beings and also a goodly number of hobgoblins.
Some of the definitions of doubt are:
an inclination to disbelief
(as a transitive verb) to be uncertain about; to question; to feel distrust of
to have a lack of conviction; a lack of trust or confidence
to be in a condition of uncertainty
(obsolete) apprehension or fear
The word doubt comes from the Latin dubitare, "to waver in opinion."
As you proceed toward higher consciousness, you are growing, your life is changing. Set values are being
updated and reinforced, while some which prove unworthy of you are being discarded. Thus, it is a normal
matter to find yourself at times "wavering in opinion." To be unchanging in your opinion is a sign that you
are very likely allowing some deep emotional convictions to dominate you; and your mind is not being
given its chance to evaluate, ponder, and develop a new set of concepts which will enable you to better
understand the process you are going through.
Escapists
Many quitters of this great highway to fulfillment refuse to doubt. They are striving to escape into a new
frontier of life. They refuse to entertain doubt because of their desperation for success and acceptance in a
new area. They deny their doubt or drown out their doubt by various means, including a form of
unrealistic romanticism. They are too busy having fun to think. Then, several months, or perhaps even
years, down the road some shattering doubt which they cannot ignore rises up before them and confronts

them in such a powerful manner they fear they cannot escape it. A significant crisis shakes them because
all the ignored doubts, all the old apprehensions and mental quibbles, as well as perhaps significant
unanswered questions, pour into the awareness of the once-carefree traveler.
In not having prepared for a doubt crisis, in fact, in storing up doubts while at the same time not
developing the strength and the sharp mind needed for formulating and understanding new concepts, this
poor, unrealistic, and generally immature seeker bites the dust. He leaves in an emotional rage, or his
behavior becomes bizarre, totally inappropriate to those who have been sincerely sharing in the journey
with him.
Sincere Doubt
Doubts must be faced, not harbored. Of course, they shouldn't be expanded and exaggerated, nor given the
freedom to dominate your quest. Nevertheless, any true path, and certainly the field of higher
consciousness itself, will not flee in terror from earnest questions, nor will it punish you for being yourself.
Certainly it will not withdraw from you simply because you are striving to know and appreciate it more.
Sincere doubts are often a sign of growth. Each and every sincere doubt is a potential for greater
understanding. While it's true that higher consciousness is a level of awareness far beyond the day-to-day
skeptical mind, the integrative wisdom of the higher consciousness nevertheless can reward an inquisitive,
interested attitude. Events in your daily life, and also the ideas in the great scriptures of the world, need to
be thought about, deeply pondered, in order to be well understood.
The mind can be satisfied in its own territory. There are appealing and powerful reasonings which the
mind can achieve, if you are willing to be honest, and if you are not trying to make your mind ignore
reality. Be willing to genuinely seek the truth and be genuinely humble in considering your new
possibilities and new experiences. Also, deeply study the words of those who have been so wondrously
blessed to experience higher consciousness.
Remember the beautiful example of Apostle Thomas?
"Doubting Thomas" said he could not believe Jesus Christ was resurrected and alive unless he, Thomas,
could personally see Jesus and touch Jesus' wounds. Jesus did not condemn Thomas or send him away.
Rather, Jesus satisfied Thomas' doubts through and through.
However, some people are so foolish that they stop everything whenever they have a doubt. The
momentum of their hearts and minds, the tremendous forward movement of their aspiration, is stopped
dead while they rummage around with a limited mind, seeking in a generally half-hearted way for some
powerful answer. Even if they received a powerful answer, chances are these aspirants would not
understand such an answer, being unequipped as yet in terms of concepts and in terms of

mental/emotional maturity to appreciate it.

Keep Going
When in doubt, go forward! The answers to your deepest questions will be solved if you're willing to
maintain your momentum and keep going. The highway to higher consciousness is regularly jammed by
those who stop everything when they have a doubt. Those who are always stopping have to start all over
again. Frequent doubters, they regularly sputter to a halt. After considering the alternatives of not seeking
higher consciousness and noting how empty other attitudes of life seem, they lurch ahead once again.
People who are always stopping and starting do not go very far. There are some who claim to have been
seeking higher consciousness for years but, in fact, they have barely started. They stopped so many times,
they thoroughly destroyed any aspiration and devotion which they were developing. They have, in fact,
scarcely begun. They have not been "at it" for years, they only think they have. In reality, they have been
proceeding toward fulfillment for only days perhaps minutes when you consider the actual amount of
their forward-moving thoughts and attitudes.
It's possible to be a stopper for a lifetime but you won't find success. The road to higher consciousness is
dynamic. It involves a continuous forward movement of each aspect of your life.
Just as it would be foolish to try to drive your car sixty-five miles an hour down the road while at the same
time holding your foot on the brake, there are perhaps thousands who proceed toward the higher
consciousness while insisting on maintaining a dominant attitude of disbelief. In their continual attitude
of disbelief, they fail to get anywhere. Indeed, they burn up inside.
If you are not capable of focusing on your ideals while applying self-discipline, introspection, and devotion
with openness and hope, check to be sure some part of you isn't fiercely pushing down on the brake. By
brake we mean doubt the inclination to disbelieve anything and everything that is occurring on your
journey.
Be More Conscious!
Let's say it even stronger. Some travel, or at least say they are traveling, while refusing to be more
conscious. They have developed their doubt into an ongoing state of intentional ignorance. On the road
toward higher consciousness you are free to disbelieve or doubt anything you choose but you must make
an effort if you want to succeed to be more conscious.
While you might laugh or even be shocked that someone would be fool enough to try to go for a long
journey while pressing one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake, many attempt this
absurdity. You will likely meet a number of these people who, by force of habit, fear, or a sense of

arrogance, believe they are proceeding toward higher consciousness while totally denying its reality or
their own possibilities of experiencing it. Further, these confused doubters seem, additionally, to put on
blinders and develop an unwillingness that any of their faculties become more sensitive, more aware.
Keep in mind, however, while there are many self-stopped seekers, generally the most successful people
on the paths of enlightenment are those who doubt most sincerely. They are motivated to go forward in
an effort to solve their doubts through verifiable experience.
Remember also, it is good to doubt early on your path. Naive acceptance doesn't do anyone a favor.
Naivete is a form of ignorance, a form of stupidity, which eliminates a maturing process which is so
necessary. Early in your journey develop the habit of paying attention to your doubts, whether they are
mental, emotional, or intuitional. Face them. While maintaining your forward momentum, give them a
chance to be resolved through your experience and your research. Be honest with them. Your doubts may
well be genuine concerns from deep within you.
Your doubts may be your greatest assets along with your aspiration and sincerity. If you face your
doubts and deal with them constructively, you will see the glowing dawn of superconsciousness soon.
Your Insight Exercise
At least once a week take fifteen minutes to sit quietly and examine your thoughts and feelings for doubts.
Be physically relaxed but mentally alert. Allow your doubts and emotional frustrations to reveal
themselves. You may wish to start this insight exercise by first directing your good will outward to your
world and then inward to yourself. Then, say aloud, with feeling, something like this:
INSIGHT EXERCISE
I will face my doubts. I will learn and grow from them.
When I find myself uncertain or wavering in opinion,
I will seek greater understanding and attunement.
Where appropriate I will seek expert advice and take
the help of inspirational scriptures.
Whatever my doubt, I will consider it openly and
earnestly, directing my mind and heart toward a
lasting solution and life-changing insight. I now invite
my consciousness to reveal any doubts or emotional
resistance I may be harboring.
I will examine each doubt thoroughly, thoughtfully,
and maturely.

Then, pay kind attention to those doubts which float into your sincere, confident view.

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