Beloved Ones,

There are many experiencing great hardship today, especially in the area of financial security and planning for the future. What may have seemed to be a future that one could anticipate and prepare one's children for, is, for many, an unknown future, based on the uncertainties of the present time. This uncertainty, in whatever area it occurs, is part of the vibrational shift that the Earth is going through, and as it is a shift of large proportions, all beings who inhabit the planet are affected by it.

Since this shift is about light expanding on the planet, all beings who carry energies within themselves that do not resonate with light or are separated from it are being brought forward so that their inner being which is pure and one with All can be re-established within the conscious self. Such a movement creates great upheavals, without and within. The separated energies, often having to do with doubt, fear, mistrust, and hopelessness, appear to be, in the present, activated by outer events which seem to produce them. Yet these events, in turn, are being produced by the need for purification and self-confrontation, initiated by the force of light expanding.

When one is in the midst of a time of insecurity, whether it is financial, relational, physical, or emotional, it is difficult to know that there are powerful spiritual forces at work endeavoring to bring about positive change. Often, one only feels fear or doubt, while trying at the same time to regain balance and trust. This, Beloved Ones, is the challenge of purification, inherent in the very struggle to remain anchored in spiritual light and truth even while great uncertainties are present. The purpose of such confrontation is to challenge attitudes, preconceptions, structures of thought, perceived needs, motivations, and ways of viewing reality in order to bring forward the truth of the deeper self, the sacred self created by God. For this to happen, these attitudes must be revealed to the conscious self and a new way of being sought.

Such challenges do not occur as punishment or because one has done something wrong. Rather, they exist by way of an invitation required by the needs of this time to respond to life-events in a different way, a new way, to see life in a way that takes into account the reality of the soul and of God. This re-visioning of what life is really about is at the root of the emotional, financial, and practical upheavals that are taking place today for people all over the globe. Although one can attribute these at the financial level to global recession, to poor ways of managing money, to a shaky economy, or to just chance, the truth is that what is collective is also individual. Each embodied soul is being asked to face the challenges that correspond to what will bring their unique self into greater wholeness.

The conscious self, still based in ego-consciousness, will often protest and feel that life is unfair, especially when pain is involved for oneself or one's loved ones. The rational self will attribute individual circumstance to collective factors that are causing hardship for many. Nevertheless, the spiritual underpinnings for each one in any area of hardship can be found within each soul's choice, prior to taking birth, to face certain difficulties, to overcome certain challenges, in order that the self may grow in truth and light. Each individual on the planet at this time has chosen to be here, during this time of challenge and change.

The re-translation of life events, including all financial, emotional, relational, and political events into spiritual terms is not one to be taken lightly, for even while pursuing practical means to deal with crises to security of varying proportions, it is important to know that one's ultimate security rests in one's being a soul and a child of God. For those who seek to follow a path of Light, all challenges faced today will intersect with the one challenge that is at the root of them all, the need to cling to Divine love, goodness, light and truth at a time when darkness and the fear it produces may surround the self.

Such clinging is a powerful means of moving through this time and of re-establishing a stable platform from which to live. Choosing such a perspective, even tentatively, can allow one to face whatever challenges life presents with greater compassion and understanding, and with a deepened sense of the need to turn to the Divine in order to see where one is being led. This latter search is at the heart of the matter, for there is within all realms of difficulty a way through it that is held in greater light and that one can be guided toward if one persists in asking. The way through may not immediately relieve all distress, but it will show the path of navigation so that obstacles can be surmounted.

For life-events are but a teaching, and in each and every moment they are leading one in the direction of greater wholeness and a deepening of one's relationship with the Divine. This is the case, even where fear and mistrust appear strong. Those who seek to embody greater light and a deepened spiritual awareness will, in the face of such fear and mistrust, ask to be shown: "Where are You leading me, beloved God? Show me where I must go."

This is the prayer with which to face any and all life-circumstances, and it is the prayer which can liberate the conscious self from all self-blame and blame of others for whatever hardship must be faced. This is of some importance, since blame can often interfere with one's progression in a spiritual sense, causing the self to close down in relation to life, rather than to open to it. Within the parameters of whatever hardship one may be facing, a deeper sense of connection with oneself and with God can be found. This is the pathway, then, through all levels of hardship, namely, asking to be led through experience itself. When such experience is accepted rather than fought with, new ways of seeing and perceiving can begin to open within the self, for these ways are already present within the soul level of one's being. Reaching toward this depth through prayer, alignment, and anchoring in light can create a path through all difficulty so that the way is clearer and the destination hopeful.

Such is the destiny of this planet as it comes through a time of difficulty. It is the return for each and every child of God to their sacred roots, and for the Earth, a transition into a radiant planet of light.

Related Writings:

In the Presence of Hardship

Purification and the Experience of Helplessness

Healing Into Light: The Purification of Individuals and of the Earth

Aakhan Jor - The Great Surrender (Video)

Article Section -  Purification