“To me, faith is not a public allegiance to a set of outer beliefs, but a private surrender to the inner Knowing.”
Glennon Doyle
By Guest Blogger, Lia Varga
The Inner Knowing
I am my own higher power
I am the source
Of everything I’ve been looking for
I just have to listen
And be present
Past the ego
And everything I think I am
There is something deeper, something divine
I have all of the answers
I can manifest my own desires
Maybe the power we give to God
Or “the universe”
Has been within us all along?
We have to listen to ourselves
We have to love ourselves
We have to believe that we are everything
Every higher power we talk about
What if it is not external?
What if it is all inside?
I believe we have the power to provide ourselves with everything
If we worship ourselves
The same way we would worship a god
I know what you’re thinking. That’s a pretty intense way to start a blog! Way to make me question reality on a random insignificant weekday! Yeah, I know. But I honestly couldn’t think of a better way to introduce this topic.
This is a poem I wrote a month ago. Upon connecting with myself and growing spiritually, I have come to question many things about my life. Those questions led to deep contemplation and reflection, and that led me to big realizations.
Let me preface this. This is a pretty big spiritual concept. I tried telling it to one of my friends one time and I think I broke his brain. But even if you can’t fully conceptualize this, I hope you’ll at least think about it a little bit before you move on with your life and forget about this article forever.
So, question #1: What are the similarities between different faiths/ belief systems?
I feel as if many of us are trained to believe that religions are all so different from each other, and not connected at all. As if opposing religions and beliefs rival each other. Like just one religion is “right” and the rest are wrong. Personally, this never sat right with me. I thought there was no way to rule out that any other set of beliefs were any less valid than mine if I hadn’t studied them all. So, I started becoming more curious about the topic and took a comparative religions class in college. Here, we studied all different types of religions, their origins, and religion itself. From this class, what I learned is that a significant connecting factor between religions is faith that some form of higher power exists. Whether that is God, some other deity, ultimate oneness, or a higher consciousness, it is the faith that something bigger than us exists that most religions share.
I noticed that people focused too much on the differences of how these higher powers are defined, rather than the overall similarity that is the belief in this higher power’s existence. And I believe that this does not separate us. It connects us.
Question #2: Where does this awareness of a higher power come from that many of
us innately share?
I find it interesting that so many people believe in something bigger than the life we live, something beyond understanding, yet call it so many different things. People all over the world, across centuries, have all shared this knowledge, this belief, this feeling that there is something bigger than themselves. But, what if this feeling itself is the higher power?
What if the connection we feel to the thing is the thing itself?
What if it is not external?
What if it’s inside everyone?
Question #3: How does this all relate to you, Lia?
All of these questions led me to think of my personal connection to this thing. To God, “the universe”, the collective consciousness. Whatever it is that is inside of me that I feel connected to– I wanted to explore it and see how deep it goes. I wanted to give it attention, give it power. So, I started to read more spiritual books. I began to meditate and learned how to quiet my mind and body. I would sink into a deep internal state. And somewhere within, there is a deep, inner voice.
This is not a conscious thought. This is a deep, inner knowing (shoutout to Glennon Doyle… I stole this term from her). (By the way you all should read her book Untamed, it’s amazing). This inner knowing doesn’t even feel like it is a part of me personally. It feels like something much wiser, much truer than that.
I began to listen to it more. Whenever I would feel anxious or uncertain, I would try to find that place within me and listen. Normally, it has the answers. It has never once misled me. It actually has caused me to feel even more connected to myself than I ever have.
The connection I feel to my inner knowing brings me deep comfort. I know that it is something so true and powerful that it feels divine. It feels like God. It feels like oneness. It feels like “the universe.” And it is within me.
I believe that everyone has the power to connect to their inner knowing, or whatever you want to call it. Perhaps it is simply everyone’s individual connection to divinity. Perhaps it is how we have always known, throughout time, that a higher power was there. Perhaps we all are much closer to it than we think.
I encourage those who are reading this to remain open minded. Think about this. And maybe, if it feels right, try to connect to it, too. And if you do, I assure you, it will completely change your life.
josie varga 