Is the Universe Talking to You – 5 Test Questions

As I was reading A Course In Miracles today, I noticed the bookmark that had been placed in my book. I remember putting the bookmark there, but I don’t remember where it came from.  In fact, I was kind of surprised to find it there – it is a rather large bookmark, as far as bookmarks go, but I don’t recall noticing what it said in the past.  I also don’t know who to credit for it as there was no copyright statement on it.  If anyone knows where the following comes from, please let me know – I would gladly give credit where credit is due.

Now, I believe that the best way to make sure that the Universe is talking to you is through meditation.  But even then, some people think that the universe is speaking with them, but find themselves twisting what they hear into fit what they want to believe.  For most of the last two years up until a couple of months ago, I listened to my reverend’s weekly sermons in the context of my poker playing.  I found myself twisting her guidance and justifying my continued poker playing.  If I’d used the following “test” to confirm whether the Universe (or spirit, or God, or Divine Energy, or Mother Earth – whomever your higher power happens to be) was talking to me when I received this guidance, I probably would have stopped playing poker a long time ago.  But that is okay; I am clear that I went through what I went through for reasons I may not completely understand in this moment, they were for legitimate reasons that I may or may not understand in the future.  One thing I believe for sure is the Divine Order of things.  This is not a belief that came quickly, it came over a long, long period of time.  It is also not a belief that I take lightly.  All things are lessons for me.  All events that take place are there for me to learn from them.  However, if I am able to see my actions and my responses with the help of the following “Test,” I believe I will be “ahead of the game.”

Here is the test:

Is the Universe Talking to You?
5 Test Questions

A.  Agreement
Does the guidance agree with what I know to be true about myself and the Will of God?

B.  Bring out
Does the guidance bring out my unique gifts, talents, and abilities?

C. Confirmation
Is there external confirmation for this inner guidance?

D.  Divine
Does this guidance create or maintain divine peace and harmony in my life?

E.  Exaggerate
Does this guidance exaggerate my personal sense of importance?

A. is a beautiful question because it takes into account where ever you may be in your spiritual journey.  You don’t have to be an ascended master to know what is true about yourself and the Will of God.  You know.  You know you know.  Even if you aren’t sure you know – you know.  You already know what is true about you.  You also already have an innate sense about the Will of God.  You don’t have to know it directly, you can just feel it from deep within your soul.  Even if you don’t think you can, that is okay, because you still have four more questions to answer!

B. was a hard one for me.  I am a pretty decent poker player.  So guidance could seem like it was bringing out my unique gifts, talents, and abilities when it came to playing poker.  But it wasn’t bringing out the best of my other talents – teaching and writing.  I was taking too much time playing poker that I wasn’t utilizing my time to bring out my other unique gifts.  My contribution in those areas was sporadic at best.  Fortunately for me, there are four other questions involved with this test.

C.  is a huge one for me.  My body speaks to me.  I am certainly not in the best shape of my life, but I am not in bad shape.  My body speaks to me loudly and clearly when I am not treating it right.  This holds true with inner guidance as well.  If I am not following inner guidance, my body will let me know through depression, aches, stress cramps, and bowel pain.  My external confirmation comes from my body.  Yes, but my body is external.  It is my soul that is internal.  So even though it seems odd to say that I am getting external confirmation from my own body, that is exactly what I mean – we are not our bodies.  We are our souls.  Since we are not our bodies, then our bodies cannot be internal.  There are others get external confirmation from outside of the body.  I am sure I do, too, but I am so in tune with how my body reacts, that this is what I focus on.  It is different for everyone.

D. is focused on whether I feel at peace, in other words, in tune, with this question I may have.  After receiving my guidance from the Universe, do I maintain a level of peace and harmony?  If so, then I get credit for answering this question correctly.

E.  is another biggie for me.  If it exaggerates my personal sense of importance, if I begin to think that I am more important or better than another, then I have failed the entire test.  When I am in my element, when I am performing masterfully, I tend to inflate my own ego.  I’ve seen many others do this, as well.  This was especially true in poker.  I knew that I was one of the better players online.  Even as one of the better players, I didn’t make a whole lot of money.  I mean I did okay, but I certainly wasn’t in the top tenth of a percent.  However, I was still one of the better players.  I didn’t just know this myself, I got plenty of external evidence of this.  Poker friends would tell me I was good, and that it was only a matter of time before I hit it big.  Such talk gave me a very big head.  I became overly impressed with myself.  I would go to the virtual felt (real poker tables are topped with felt fabric, but online, it is just a green oval with 6-10 “seats” depending upon the game), knowing that I was better than the majority of players that I played.  It was this huge ego that hurt me.  It didn’t hurt my game, but it hurt me at a spiritual level.  As far as spirituality went, I was stagnant at best.  I was never going to grow as a spiritual being as long as I was playing poker.  Especially since the only way that I succeeded was by destroying others.  If you are doing something that is destroying yourself or others, you are doing something that is harmful to you and others.  Whatever you are doing must be for the benefit of all.

The thing I love about writing about spirituality is that it not only brings me a sense of peace and harmony, it also brings the same to my readers.  There is something inherently spiritual about connecting with your readers.  Just a couple of nights ago, I had a reader email me her thoughts on a blog post I’d made.  Her comments were so profound that I wanted to bring them to the rest of my readers.  Ego would have told me to rewrite what she had written and claim it as my own.  But since we are all in this together, it serves me and others to come from a place of divine connection.

The fact that the words that come from my fingers resonate with my readers is proof in the divine order of things.  I find the same is true with other writers I read.  Have you ever thought of an idea for something that you thought was quite original, then you come across someone else who is putting that thought into action?  It used to drive me crazy!  I would have this great idea for a book, then I would go to the book store and see that someone had just published something just like it.  That happens because it is put out there for many of us.  If something needs to happen, then spirit will make sure that it gets that message through to as many people as possible.  It is also evidence of our Oneness.  If people are thinking things all at the same time, then there is some kind of connected mind energy at play.

One of my most profound moments was when, in one night out of many about a decade ago, I was with an ACIM group.  We were having a conversation about a particular part of the Course that I do not even remember.  All of a sudden, an incredible calm came over me – I felt myself going into a meditative state.  I was completely still and, though I was sitting (I usually meditate lying down), I felt that euphoric state reached when I have complete relaxation – I felt like I was floating.  I was acutely aware that something special was going on.

Unlike the past, when I have felt this calm, I actually felt it quite wide this time – in fact, I felt it in the room.  As I looked around, I noticed that everyone was unusually still.  The voices of those who were talking were quiet and gentle.  One of the members of the group who’d been studying for years calmly said, “You all feel this right now, don’t you?”  Everyone in the group nodded.  “This is a ‘Holy Instant,”” he said.  “This is a gift.”  I was relatively new to the Course at this time, so I was waiting for someone to explain to me how they had done this – how they’d made the room feel that way.  My logical deduction was that it had been done by the individual who’d first mentioned it.

But here is the beauty of A Course In Miracles.  No one took credit for creating this ‘Holy Instant.’  It was created collectively.  It was a huge moment for me because I realized then that my salvation, our salvation was in the hands of all of us – collectively. There isn’t one person or savior out there who is going to come onto the scene and save the world.  We, as a single unit, all of mankind, will save the world.  And we will not fail.  We cannot fail.  For all that we see out there is not real.  Only Love is real.

This is one of the hardest elements of ACIM to latch onto.  However, with regular study, with diligent effort, all of us will realize it.  And it will take no extra-ordinary effort on each of our individual parts, we merely need to do our part.  Now you can know if you are doing your part by testing yourself with these five questions.  By the way, getting 80% is failure.  You must be saying ‘yes’ to all five of them for you to know that the Universe is talking to you.

Peace be with you.

Namaste