“The
Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:“Yes, I have loved you with an
everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” (Jeremiah
31:3; New
King James Bible Version; NKJV). “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I
not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” (Psalm
37:25: King James Version; KJV). “Thou
wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is
fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore.” (Psalm
16:11; KJV).
Loneliness
tries to take over all of us, at sometime in our lives; yet, it has a
spiritual
dimension that defeats it. For
even if
one has suffered a sense of loneliness for many years, this enemy to
our sense
of well-being can easily be defeated, once the path out of this mental
isolation is perceived. First
of all,
loneliness must be recognized as a false sense of being. It is the false, material
sense of reality
that tries to convince us that we are separated from God, our very
Source of being. Material
sense accepts nothing outside of
physical parameters. This
false,
material sense of reality denies spiritual truths the right to even
enter our
human experience. Thus,
the dark state
of believing oneself to be alone is always the product of the material
senses,
which have not yet perceived the spiritual reality of our individual
being. The sense of
loneliness comes, precisely,
from the suggestion that we are alone in our own being, without any
help at
hand from outside material means. Yet,
loneliness is a false state of
being for the simple
reason that we can never be alone,
nor separated, from God for even one second. Although
the material sense of life denies
God’s (Spirit’s) ever-presence, omnipotence, and omniscience because
Spirit
isn’t perceived materially, the material sense is untrue. False perceptions can
always be reversed. When
material thoughts whisper in our ear
that we are ‘on our own’ and nobody cares, or even thinks about us, we
must
shine the light of spiritual being on this lie. Since
loneliness is always a product of the
material senses, which do not yet perceive the spiritual reality of our
individual being, we can face this false
state of being with one, real truth: we can never, really, be alone,
nor
separated from God for even one second, “for
in Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts:17;28;
NKJV). Banishing
loneliness is
not impossible. Turning
our thoughts
spiritward, the truth of God’s forever love for us never leaves us
alone. God
is our forever companion who also fills our need for human companions. When we trust this
spiritual reality, our
turning in thought Godward makes all things about our human experience
new,
even to our physical perception. This
is
what is meant by ‘the word is made flesh.’ It means that the
spiritual truth, realized and trusted,
automatically
changes the erroneous physical scene back to God’s harmonious creation,
which had
been invisibly present with us all the time, even when we were
believing it was
absent. It simply
hadn’t materialized
due to our own unbelief. Belief
is a powerful
thing. We manifest
our beliefs all the
time, rather for bad or good. Christ
Jesus spoke of the importance of what we mentally believe while going
about his
healing ministry. Revealing
the
spiritual power of belief, he once told a follower, “As
you have believed, so be it done unto you.” (Matthew
8:13; KJV). That’s
because as
children of Creative Mind, what we think is very
important. We each
have the ability to manifest (bring
into material form) whatever we deeply believe or fear, whether for
good or
bad. No
doubt, that is why
Jesus often gave the directives, ‘fear
not’ and ‘believe only’ to
those
who came to him for healing. On
one
occasion when called to heal a child, Jesus told the mother, “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be
made whole.” (Luke
8:50; KJV). This
healing principle
is not just good advice; it works because by our own thoughts we
influence the
material sense of our bodies and circumstances.
Fear and doubt are the mental
states that work against
healing all of our human problems.
Negativity is not good for the one who expresses it. Still,
despite our best
human efforts, material existence can seem to be a very lonely place. Believing ourselves to be
living in a finite,
material body and mind, (and therefore believing ourselves to be
separated from
our God-Source) we can feel alone,
even though the kingdom of God is invisibly present with us, and its
spiritual
laws of harmony and companionship are always in operation on our behalf. It
is this false belief of ourselves
as finite, physical
beings that is at the root of the
claim of loneliness. The erroneous belief of material reality as the
truth of
being must be confronted and cast out of thought.
We must put aside the world’s beliefs of
physical power and law for recognition of the divine, spiritual Power
and Law. For, when
turned to without doubt and fear,
the spiritual Laws of God will trump whatever negative circumstances
came
before. In
a broader way, the
best thing we can do is to recognize
spiritual reality, rather than physical
being, as the actually of our own existence.
For as long as we believe
our
reality to be material, rather than spiritual, we are apt to fight all
kinds of
tribulations, without knowing the delivering power of infinite Spirit,
God, on
our behalf. So,
here is an
important spiritual truth to realize:
We
are first, last and always, the children of God, who is infinite Spirit. When we awaken
to this fact of Life, our sense of all things change; and with it our
false
sense of isolation from humanity begins to heal.
We begin to realize that all people in this
elusive, material plane of thought are not what they seem; for although
we still
seem to exist as finite, physical mortals, moving about in the false sense of material
families, tribes, races, and nationalities, we are really the spiritual
brothers and sisters of all, underneath the outward, temporary
appearances of
finite form. Perceiving
this new
sense of our spiritual being requires us to take a mental stand against
the
world’s false sense of being. Ruminating
about how miserable we are must be abolished from our thoughts. For, unless we do this,
the false sense of
loneliness (believing ourselves utterly alone within our own being)
begins to
darken both our days and nights. So,
let’s delve a bit
more into the seeds of loneliness.
Let’s look at one thing for which we can only blame
ourselves. Facing
this isn’t pleasant, but it is necessary
to defeat loneliness. One
might feel
great resistance to it, but it is
the truth that applies to all of us.
This
truth is that when feelings of loneliness first come upon us, we begin
to feel
sorry for ourselves and become blinded to all others who are worse off
than
we. Then we
mentally turn inward and
decide that we have nothing good in our current lives because our
families or
friends of the past don’t seem to need us anymore.
Soon,
a great
resentment against the people who were close to us in our lives begins
to
build. Self pity
takes over, day after
day. As months and
years go on, our
sense of being a victim increases.
Self-righteousness and self-pity will drip from
every conversation we
have with others. Our
life becomes
joyless, not because someone did thus and so to us, but because we feel
so sorry for ourselves and believe ourselves to be a victim of
people and circumstances.
A strong sense of loneliness is definitely a product
of the mental
concentration
of self-pity we entertain.
As
we shake off the
world’s negativity that we’ve allowed to influence our thinking, we
begin to
realize that loneliness doesn’t come to us because of what other people
do, or
don’t do, for us. Loneliness
envelops us
when we turn our thoughts only on ourselves and refuse to get out, into
the
world, and think of others for a change, many of which need our help
and
healing, if only we cared. To
care about others
and try to offer what we can to help humanity is a first step back into
a
fuller and more joyful life experience that banishes loneliness.
When we find
someone else to make whole, or a little bit safer, or a little bit
happier, our
own loneliness disappears like morning fog.
So, the first step in banishing our bouts with
loneliness is to rise up against self-pity
and self-justification. We
must consciously banish the
whole victim-mentality. Life
is new
every day. There
are new horizons every
day, if we only seek them. There
are new
people who need us in their lives, if only we would stop trying to live
in the
past and give today and tomorrow a chance to unfold. This
step in defeating
the depressing trap we’ve been stuck in so long brings us back into the
‘theater’ of humanity, where we still have an important part to play. We don’t rejoin just for
the sake of our own
needs. We’ve done
enough of that. Rather,
our quest, so to speak, is to care
for the needs of others, now. This
is SO
important, because this activity puts a cosmic principle to work in our
lives
that will make all things new. Somewhere
in the Bible
it says that ‘it is in giving (to others) that we receive’. (I couldn’t find the exact
citation, but I
know it’s there.) So,
to receive the
companionship and our way out of loneliness we seek, as well as other
issues of
a harmonious life experience, we need to forget ourselves and start
caring more
about all the people who may need us.
So,
this principle is
not to be dismissed. To
banish
loneliness and depression we must start giving
of ourself, in some way, be it attention, companionship,
needful supplies,
or whatever someone we know may need.
When it is in our hands to supply someone with a
certain thing that he
or she needs for their well-being, we should rush to do so. For once we begin to give
of ourselves to our
brothers and sisters in need, we will have rejoined the divine ‘herd’
(so to
speak) of which we are each a part. Caring
about the
well-being of others is a healing step in so many directions. It begins at once to bring
forth good for
ourselves, too. It
shows us that we are
still needed and important to the whole of humanity.
It brings new beginnings into our dull, drab
or dark daily lives. We
discover new
talents and hidden abilities we thought we were too old to uncover. Joy returns to both our
days and nights, as
we sometimes can’t wait to get up and enjoy each new day. We find love and affection
from those we
help, but we no longer do it for ourselves.
We do it for them, our spiritual brothers and
sisters before God. And
best of all, we find a new purpose in our
daily lives that we love. So,
a good way to find
our way out of this mental darkness of joyless loneliness and
depression is to
realize that the whole world needs us.
It needs us as companions, helpers, as teachers, and
parents to those
who have no parents. The
world needs us
for our special talents, and all our individual abilities that we might
teach
to others. There
are millions and
millions of people around the globe that need us to get out of our
houses and
comfort zones, and give what we can to others, who need us. If we are home-bound in
any way, we still
have our place in God’s greater Family, Creation, Harmony and Love. Don’t know where to start? Just ask God.
A way will be provided for us to help others and
have a richer life, even
despite any current handicaps. We
also must
internalize the fact that we are never alone within our own being. No matter how alone one
feels, it is still a
false sense of being. For,
like a ray of
light emanating from its sun-source, we emanate from infinite Spirit
throughout
every minute of our being. Years
of
thinking otherwise have no merit.
We
have always been connected to God, who is the Source of all good,
including our
body and mind. The
Bible tells us of God,
“Thou
wilt shew me the path of life:
in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm
16:10; KJV). No
matter how long one has
mentally imprisoned oneself is the sense of isolation, it was never his
or her
true place or time. As
we turn
spirit-ward, these common intrusions upon our God-ordained joy and
happiness
will fade from our daily lives, when we remember who
we really are
(God’s own spiritual children) and where we really
are (in the
invisible, ever-present kingdom of God.) Since
we can never
leave our true home in divine Spirit, God, loneliness is nothing more
than a
senseless, illusionary state of being that we don’t have to put up with. Our connection to God is
our absolute
connection with all of creation; so from a spiritual standpoint, we
cannot be
separated from anyone or anything in God’s everlasting creation…even
when we
falsely believe we can. Have
I ever felt the
sense of loneliness? Many
times, as a
child. But when
lonely thoughts come to
me now, I remind myself that I couldn’t, truly,
be lonely, even if I tried. Then
new
ideas pop into my thoughts, and any dark mood leaves.
Turning to God’s love for me has always
brought new friends, or new places, into the human scene that had
looked so
desolate just before. So
in summary: We
can’t be a part of God’s creation if we
bury ourselves within our own troubles and disappointments that stop us
from
giving help to others who are in need.
Helping others begins at once to get us out of the
false sense of
loneliness into the realization of our truer place in God’s creation. We are always needed, in
our own special
way. And once we
accept this truth, the
invisible, but ever-present Kingdom of God, (and our own place in it)
becomes
known to us again, as we cast off all negativity and reclaim our
forever place,
as a part of God’s Great Balance. And
as
we awaken out of the dark sense of aloneness, we often find that our
companions
in the kingdom of God had been around us, all along.
We just hadn’t noticed them. |
