In the July
Ah-Man Spiritual Recovery Newsletter and in the blogs that followed, I
spoke about what faith is, and the difference between faith and belief and how one
might start to bring about faith.
Once that faith is established, you will be able to feel the
difference between the old you and the new you.
Why?
Because now you are coming from a place where you are secure
in a knowledge that was not there before; knowledge that you know what you have
to do, which is the best you can in each situation of life and let go of the
results, thus achieving results you were never able to before.
What helps bring about this ability to help make the best
decisions in life are guidelines to work off of.
In 12-Step programs, there are the 12 Steps. Once you follow
these guidelines, you are promised to see certain results. There are many sites
that list these promises. Here are two that I like: http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/alcoholism-12-step-support/153227-12-steps-12-promises.html
and http://friendsofbillw.net/the_big_book_promises.
In western scriptures, there are the 10 Commandments. Following
are links to two sites that might help you
understand that these are actually promises, not commandments: http://revruthlmiller.com/wp-content/uploads/10-commandments.pdf
and https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2012/06/the-ten-commandments:-a-law-to-be-obeyed-or-promises-to-be-celebrated
,)
And in the west, we have Yama Niyama. The following links will
help you better understand Yama Niyama’s guidelines: http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2565 and http://www.vedicworld.org/yama-and-niyama-the-pillars-of-proper-human-conduct/
and what they help bring about.
When laws are not followed, chaos happens. If there was no
law of gravity, stars would fall out of the sky, planets would crash into each
other, etc. Laws are meant to bring about harmony, and so are the guidelines
above.
A society without laws would not be a place I would want to
be. A life without guidelines would not be a very nice place.
So faith will grow when guidelines are followed, depending
on what guidelines you follow will be the result of your faith.
Peace.
Namaste,
Michael
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