Choice

You must continually make choices in this life, and you must choose based upon the highest ideal you are aware of. If you continually seek guidance from the Father your ideals will be elevated, your principles will be raised, your expectations will be enhanced. But choosing to act upon your highest thought of how to conduct yourselves in a given situation is the gift you give to the Father. Your making your every choice based on the highest ideal you are familiar with is the truest gift you can return to the Father; to act in wisdom, to act in peace, with harmony.

You are indeed very active, constantly making choices, constantly reevaluating your positions, reexamining your stances. This provides you the opportunity for continual reexamination of your principles and provides you with continual opportunity of either recommitting yourself to a previous choice or altering a choice to be more perfect. But it is the choosing that keeps you active. To not choose to choose causes stagnation.

So look about you and seek out choices, seek out opportunities, each one there for you to express and unfold and manifest as yet another expression of the Father's characteristics indwelling your very life.

Mary: You can look at choosing from several different perspectives. Choosing affects longterm goals and future plans. There are also choices that are made in the moment. I need to make a greater effort to be aware of the choices I am making in the moment, like the choice of language I use, the tone of voice, attitudes I choose to have. I'm not always alert to the fact that I am making choices in these basic modes of going about my business. When we talk about the spiritual significance of choice, I tend to distract myself with thinking about longterm choices. I think I need to recognize the significance of choices I make daily like attitude, language, approach.

Elyon:  Indeed, it would be well seen if all of you were to realize that your lives are one continual series of choices. Every aspect of your material existence is a choice you have made. From when you rise to what you ingest, to what you wear, to who you see, how you speak, what you devote your time to; all of these are choices which can have a spiritual impact as well if applied appropriately.

The fact that you all make all these choices routinely can become habitual, can go unrecognized as the potentials that they are. But I would point out to you that, from when you first open your eyes to when you shut them at night, you are in a continual process of choosing. I would then suggest that if you are in this process continually it might be helpful to access the choices being made and attempt to spiritualize these choices whenever the option presents itself, whenever the possibility exists to change the dynamics of the choice to include certain spiritual gains or benefits. Again I would say that each time you seek the Father, you may not be aware, but your highest goals and values will be enhanced by contact with the Father.

When you return to these high spiritual ideals to make your next decision or choice you will find that you will be operating on a slightly higher premise each time, almost unnoticeable at times and at other times obvious in your spiritual growth.

Lantarnek: You have a game where you place cards face down and flip two up at a time in an effort to match the face of each. Choice, when coupled with direction, amplifies its value in your life, for you know the skill required in playing this game is one where you recall from your past an association that applies to your future intent. Random flipping of cards will not win the game. When you begin to perceive choice as a matrix you will encounter less difficulty, less dilemma in arriving at a conclusive avenue in which to apply yourself.

Two of your religious phrases: "Seek the Father's will" and "Strive to be like Him" appear vague because of the reality of individual choice. When the Father initiated the creation of the universe He established principles through which all things operate in harmony to fulfill His purpose. You can count on, with assurance, continuation of the universe scheme because it is designed and conforms to these principles.

When you encounter the crossroads of choice, assurance can be had in your moments of doubt by faith-grasping the longlasting qualities of the principles the Father has established by which reality configures
itself. You do not choose to wear a coat on a hot day for given reasons. In matters of spiritual import, of crucial impact upon your personal destiny, there are given parameters by which you can discern and thereby choose.

But I must remind you that coupled with choice is creativity. This is a reflection of the Father Himself in your
own personal life. He chose and creation is. You choose and create. Creativity is choice with direction; it is choice where the personality applies itself with a purpose that does not merely react to environment but intently pursues the outworking of a cause that may augment, rather than respond to, the environment. To become more like the Father is to become creative in your decision making processes, to project situations in your life that are based on realistic parameters and deep personal goals. Every choice is like hand-over-hand in a rope climb to Paradise. In order to become skilled at the tantamount decisions of eternal import, make every little decision of seemingly trivial matters with the application of the ideas I have presented, that both given parameters and personal projections combined, made in good choosing, you will be prepared for those momentous decisions for the soul. 

Bill: I am in a situation where I have choices I need to make where I have no idea what the answer is because there are very divergent pulls. I'd like some comment on how to live in the uncertainty without getting fearful or hasty.

Lantarnek: The complexity of your situation reveals a threefold nature that is evident in so many factors of life, in this case it is involved with your desires and potential choices, the desires and choices of others, and the will of the Father. You are capable of the Father's embrace and receive the assurances of His will. You discern the desires of others. When you encounter situations as the one you are in, human beings discover the limitations of their realm of choice power. With sensitivity and your discernment of others and their wills, you have all reason to value your will with equal import.

Sometimes it is required for one to choose and resolve firmly to hold to the decision and patiently await the point of arrival of decision making that others must attain, knowing full well the Father is willing to wait upon His children. This resoluteness is valuable, but you also have the ability to refrain from choice. By this I mean weakness is not a factor in the suspension of drawing conclusion if all situations and evidence are not present. Where I indicate you might be forceful to decide on your own and proceed with some independence of the volition of others, you can equally be as powerful in withholding choice during the interim in which others must undergo the process of choosing such that you might better integrate with
them in the matter at hand.

You know the phrase that conditions the value of any experience, that is, "Does it draw you closer to the Father?" I also provide a corollary, "Does your decision allow others to draw closer to the Father?" This can help clarify whether you need to patiently wait before deciding or to decide and proceed. This perhaps does not give you a specific thing to do, but I hope it provides you with leverage whereby you may make our decisions.

Elyon: Choice is of supreme importance throughout the evolutionary ascent. The Supreme is a vast ocean of potential time/space experience. It is alive, ever moving. The tides ebb and flow and create the energies wherein you may derive growth, while at the same time your ascent contributes to the dynamics of the Supreme currents. There are three elements to choice that I will focus upon today. The first is freedom,
the second firmness, and the third fixation.

Perhaps it is easiest to address fixation from the standpoint of stagnation, choice which has eliminated future potential. Let us consider ourselves each as a boat upon this ocean of the Supreme. You, as a vehicle, may choose your course of journey. If you fix your choice negatively, it is as if you had dropped your anchor and you are unable to sail forward. However, if you allow freedom in your volition you can roll with the tides; you can adjust your tack to achieve your destination.

But freedom must be accompanied with a firm hand at the helm, and that is your strength of conviction, your determination to reach your destiny, come what may, whether your journey is extended, having to adjust to the fluctuations of time, or whether your course is as direct as you first perceived. Firmness
guarantees your arrival. Freedom allows you to adjust so that you attain your goal.

Fixation provides a temporary harbor wherein you feel secure, but it must not substitute for firmness. Ever be ready to drop anchor, to cut anchor, and to sail forward.

You know of the most important choice of your mortal career: the Supreme decision to survive the temporal life and to enter upon the eternal career of finding God, becoming like Him, and revealing your Supreme origins to all creatures throughout eternity. This is a choice of firmness. It is not a choice that is fixed. It has permanent repercussions, but you today are at the beginning of your journey, such a decision will meet with constant fluctuations, and you will choose forever firmly the same goal, all the while freely adjusting
and projecting your course.

I have spoken in the past of the levels of choice and decision. Choice is a power of personality; decision is an act of mind. Understanding this mechanism will greatly aid you in the quandaries you face, the dilemmas of discernment. Decisions can be likened to tossing your sail from one side of the ship to the other in order to pursue that which you have chosen. Fret not over a decision, for they can be remade, and they can be altered. Be ever safeguarding of your choice, for that will bring you to your destiny.

Jada:  Is fixation a sense of taking a rest from progression?

Elyon: I have attempted to illustrate that a decision that is firm allows flexibility where a decision that is fixed removes the potential for adjustment. A decision may be permanent but it must not fix. It ought to be firm and accommodating to the variabilities that face you in life.

Mark: Would I be off base to say that is the resolve of a person, that you are resolved to a mission wherever it may take you?

Elyon: Good observation. Your resolution will accommodate adjustment. Your eyes are on the other shore, though you may have to make your way around islands to reach that goal. Your determination to make your journey will not change, though your course may have to adjust.

Mark: That determination often comes from our faith that, even though there are stormy seas requiring adjustments, the storm will pass and we will make it. That gives the strength to face the storm head on and do what needs to be done to make it to still waters again.

Elyon: Indeed. The fundamental of evolutionary life is constant change, dynamic interchange. The only thing constant is your ability to continually choose. Without change choice is irrelevant. It is not the Supreme purpose of the Father in this universe age to eliminate change; that has preceded the Supreme
experience. Now the currents flow; personalities evolve, and, as you say, the storms will rise and fall. The days will be clear and stormy. This is a dynamic universe.

Evelyn: Could you say more about fixation?  

Elyon: The purpose of my focus upon these words "fixation" and "firmness" was to underline the importance of flexibility. A boat will take on water if it is not allowed to sail freely. However, a directionless vessel will likewise lose its course and be blown afar. I would ask you to make this a test as you face decisions. Are you reacting in a static, stubborn way to conditions that confront you? Or are you holding firm, able to adjust and yet stay the course dynamically? I desire only to provide you with a technique that will help you during the difficult times of choice. It is good to be firm in resolve. It is not good to be fixed and stagnant. 

One of the more difficult decisions to be made is that which entails the leaving behind of something once cherished. It brings a sense of potential loss and, if not appropriately addressed, can make some feel that perhaps what they were leaving was once wrong to have held on to. You know through the course of your growth that every stage is a stepping stone to another level of attainment and valid. Walk firmly. Do not become fixed at any step. Step strongly at each point. Be who you are as you are today, each day. And ever be ready to roll forward.

Mary: We don't realize how often we make choices. A lot of choices are reflexive. We could be more conscious of choosing, that things aren't inevitable, like the choices of how to react in a situation. We think of choosing to act, but we also choose our attitudes. It would help to be more aware of our choosing when they aren't momentous choices.

Elyon: Good point, and I would draw upon a word you said, "reflexive" and compare it to "repetitive" and parallel those with "fixation" and "firmness". Reflexive can occur almost without your ability to control. Repetitive is a decision to choose once again the same choice you made beforehand. That you have control over and can alter if the need arises.

Mary: Choice can interrupt a habit we may have seen as reflexive. By engaging consciously we can interrupt a cycle in need of change. Now may be the time to interject choice and make it current and appropriate.

Machiventa: I would offer you what may be a helpful, quick, flashcard type examination, when one is interested in discerning what one's fixation point may be in a given situation or what the anchor may
be. One might simply ask yourself the following;

"I would do great things if it were not for ____."  

That is, "I would do lofty things; I would be idealistic; I would follow my visions if it were not for ____".

Therein you will find your tether; you will find what binds you to your fixation point. It could be a variety of
things, but the urge to follow your loftiest ideal may be reined in, may be anchored, at a specific point. If you follow that back to the anchor you will find the source of your fixation. So, next time inspiration comes to you, say to yourself, "That is a great idea. I would do that except for ____", and then you have something to work on.

Jonathan: We can be firm in saying, "I would (such and such)" and notice where we fix it, and then address those two points, what is desired to be accomplished and what we are using to thwart the purpose.

Machiventa: Even to take it one step further, rather than, "I would, if it were not for ____", "I will even if if I have to overcome ____". That is the difference between the long range, "I will conquer" and the short range, "I would if it were not for ____". One denotes determination to conquer, the other denotes defeat at your anchor cable point.

Tom:  That's where we find our freedom.

Machiventa: Well said. Cut the tether if it does not serve you. You are entitled to cut the anchor cable.