Universal Fear #2

The second Universal Fear in Gregg Braden’s Walking Between the Worlds: the Science of Compassion (1997) addresses self-worth, an issue that can either make or break success in relationships, not to mention your entire life:

Almost universally there is a feeling that runs through each individual, of each family, in every culture and society of this world that we are somehow “not good enough” (p.93).

[Let that sink in for a moment.]

Braden continues with how we deal with feeling that we are not good enough:

Through logic and rationalization we create scenarios describing why we are not worthy of our greatest dreams, higher highest aspirations or deepest desires.  Though we may wish, want and dream, there is a doubt within that we will ever “have” because we collectively question our desirability (p.93).

Braden states that we’ve been told for two thousand years that we are somehow “lesser beings” than our angelic counterpoints and that just by being born “we have committed an act from which we will forever be seeking redemption from a force that is beyond our understanding” (p.93).

My mind slipped away from the book, remembering childhood days as a Baptist.  I recalled the precise words attributed to Jesus about his miracles, “this and more can ye do.  So I looked up the King James Version of the Bible:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

At that moment, maybe ten years old? I was hooked on the concept of being like Jesus and getting to do what he did.

As I got older, I read books by philosophers, especially the metaphysical parts, and even dallied in the so-called occult like Tarot, I Ching, and Runes trying to learn more about manifesting.

But leaders on the “positive thought” end of the Christian continuum, the ones who preached and wrote about us doing what Jesus did, people like Neville Goddard and U.S. Andersen, reputedly went “crackers” in their later years.  This seemed like a powerful warning that mere humans are not supposed to emulate Jesus and his miracle-making.  (Read their last books and see if you don’t agree.)

But that doesn’t change the fact that we were sent a double-edged message:

Be like Jesus./You’ll never be good enough.

Braden explained how we’ve dealt with that double message:

We have agreed to collective expressions of limits to our worth.  In the acceptance of these illusionary limits, we question our gift of life and our qualifications to accept the eternal nature of our gift (p.93).

Like the first Universal Fear, how we respond to this one is determined by the “charge” (feeling, opinion, emotion) that we attach to our self-worth.

Braden states that our relationships will mirror our fear of not being good enough (p.94).  For example:

“Do you settle for relationships that are not truly what you choose to have in your life, yet rationalize your situation by saying, ‘…this isn’t the love of my life, but it is good enough for now?’ ”

“Do you find yourself saying ‘I would love to have a partner in my life that I can share the joys of my life with, but…’ ” or

“This is not the job where I really feel that I can express my gifts, but…’ ” followed by all the reasons that your desires cannot be met at the present time?”

If any of these situations sound familiar, perhaps you have skillfully created them to mask your feelings of “I’m not good enough” and/or “I don’t deserve what I want” in this world.

(Ouch!  Nailed again.  Apparently, I didn’t “get it” the first time so many years ago. …  Cool! I get another shot at having what I want by changing my beliefs about myself.

Concurring with Braden that we can change our experience by changing our beliefs, even if it’s been going on a long time, is a relative newcomer to the scene (considering that this topic has existed for thousands of years):  Abraham.

According to Abraham, the group of non-corporeal beings speaking through Esther Hicks, we are not trapped in what is, what has been, or what has come before.  (To her credit, in reading all but one of her books, I haven’t yet come across the words, “claim that you are God and…”)

We can change even our current health issues only by consistently changing our focus from negative to positive:

When you begin to understand Law of Attraction, and you understand that which is like unto itself is drawn, then it is easier and easier to understand that you are offering a signal, and the entire Universe responds. And when you finally get that, and you begin to exercise some deliberate control about the signal that you offer, then it really begins to be fun, because then you recognize that nothing happens outside of your creative control. There are no things that happen by chance or by circumstance. There is nothing that is happening because of something you vibrated a long time ago or in a past life. It is not about what you were born into. It is only about what you are, right now, in this red hot fresh moment emitting.  ~Excerpted from Seattle, WA on 6/20/98

Maybe that’s similar to what Braden meant when he wrote, “…choose a higher option”.

If you resonated with any of what Braden said about the Second Universal Fear, maybe it’s time to contemplate what your beliefs are about it.

Are you accepting what you don’t want and making the best of it?  Or are you starting now to change the limiting beliefs that you are not good enough and don’t deserve what you want?

Finally, if you doubt the power of thought, then check out this story by Greg Braden:

Till next time,

“Please be kind to everyone you meet, for we all have our hidden sorrows.” ~Tzaddi