3rd Grace: The Grace of Resilience
The Gift of TempTerra
Biblical Inspiration: 3rd Commandment
Thou Shalt Not Take the Lord’s Name in Vain
Gratitude Statement
I am grateful for the Grace of Resilience (Gift of TempTerra) in TempTerra, where my human persona and its Free Will provide endless opportunities for Right Conduct through Loving Choices as guided by my Soul.
Inspirational Message
TempTerra is a Divinely-cluttered jungle of spiritual distractions. Metaphorically speaking, it is a dense forest stocked with the most diverse collection of plant and animal life. All of it is an intentional distraction, intended to have you forget your mission, your only purpose for being here at all.
We were taught that God warned Adam and Eve not to partake of the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge. Does this make any sense from a spiritual perspective? Both Adam and Eve had Souls. Therefore, they had ready access to Infinite Mind through their Souls. What on earth could a tree offer that would be greater than that?
It turns out that the ‘knowledge’ they were warned to stay away from is what we might today call Artificial Intelligence. You see, the Real You knows that your body is merely a vehicle equipped with an onboard computer. You, the Real You, are the driver and should be making all the decisions. But sometimes we get lazy and let the computers call the shots. They recommend the route. They monitor engine performance. They observe driving conditions. They do all of this through sensors.
Never forget this! Love, as an Infinite Energy, is ever-present and ever-shining. If you do not feel the warm and enlightening rays of the sun, then something must be blocking them.
If you do not feel Love in your heart, it is because Love is being blocked. It is that simple. What blocks it is the Artificial Intelligence of the egotistical brain. The Physical You falls for the misconception that what we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch is all there is to knowledge. That that is the sum total of Reality. How arrogant! How foolish!
By Divine design, existence in TempTerra is overflowing with deceptions meant to trip up the human mind. The first deception is that Materialism even matters at all if we are playing the long game. The second deception is thinking that we are better off if we play a Zero Sum game. The third deception is the selfish notion that survival, in the end, goes to the fittest.
Here is the truth. Your Life is lived by your Soul, and such Life is eternal. What your human body is experiencing is not Life, but mere Existence. While vacationing here in TempTerra you, the Real You, are on a frantic scavenger hunt to find opportunities to spread love. Each and every human decision presents a chance to choose love. And should such opportunities not avail themselves to your Soul, then the Real You must find ways to create opportunities.
This is God acting through you, to expand Itself. You truly are on a mission from God!
Just how do you spread love in TempTerra? It is spelled out in the Ten Graces for Spiritual Growth. To help us understand how they work, how the Game is played, God gave us Five Eternal Graces of Right Principles, and Five Material Graces of Right Conduct.
At every opportunity, choose love. This is much harder than it sounds. After all, at a default, we go through our days in TempTerra steering with the human mind. That which is tangible defines our reality. To accept that some invisible concept, like a soul, is the Real You is hard to wrap one’s head around. The tendency is to think human.
But when we do, we deceive ourselves, and sabotage our eternal bliss. We must be vigilant in detecting when we let the Mind Influence overtake the Soul Influence. Fortunately, God has made it easy for us to notice when there is spiritual imbalance.
Watch for negative emotions! You see, counter-productive emotions are generated by the human brain, the Mind, never by the Soul. So, when you find yourself feeling scared, angry, jealous, doubtful, hopeless, distrustful, resentful, or any other passions that do not spread love, then you are out of Spiritual Equilibrium.
Bottom line: At every opportunity, choose love. That is the Game in a nutshell. Go around the board as many times as you wish. Just factor Love into every decision. Resist deceptive lures and temptations created by the Artificial Intelligence of your ego.
Whoever said that Ego means ‘edging God out,’ had it right.
3rd Grace Belief Statements
Everly is Home: I believe that the spiritual realm of Everly is where Souls reside in eternal peace, serenity, and contentment.
TempTerra, Playground and Workshop: I believe that the physical realm of TempTerra is a perfectly designed self-improvement facility that provides both playground and workshop for Souls wishing to seek out and fulfill opportunities to express Love.
Purpose: To Choose Love: II believe that the sole purpose for human existence is to provide embodied Souls with countless challenges not found in Everly, with endless opportunities for us to make Loving Choices borne of Right Principles and manifesting in Right Conduct.
Spread Love: I believe that Choosing Love should be our constant fixation and obsession while in TempTerra. Therefore, when we are not confronted with opportunities to Spread Love, we should create such opportunities. This is why ALL blessed us with Creativity.
Temptation is a Blessing: I believe that every Temptation is a blessing for it allows us greater opportunities to Choose Love. Therefore, the point is not to avoid Temptation, but rather to confront and overcome it.
Free Will: I believe that ALL built Free Will into the Game of Life because, without it, Souls and their human hosts would not be free to pursue Right Conduct based on Right Principles.
Right Conduct: I believe that Right Conduct is the key to unlocking the doors of Inner Strength and Inner Wisdom, a key cut by mastery of Thought, Speech, Harmony, Character, Piety.
Conscience, Personal Spiritual Guide: I believe that my Soul, vocalizing as my
Conscience, is a Spiritual Guide infused with ALL’s Wisdom, that I can trust to
successfully escort me around and through the challenges of TempTerra. Conscience is the voice of ALL.
Right Thoughts: I believe that Right Thoughts are ones that share the same frequency with Love Energy, ALL’s universal vibration, and that to the extent my thoughts are out of frequency, I surely derail my most passionate endeavors.
Right Speech: I believe that our words can harm or heal just as much as any physical actions, and we must carefully filter them. Right Speech echoes only Right Thoughts.
Right Conduct: I believe that Right Conduct demands living harmoniously with my human brethren. How I interact with others, more so even than my Speech, reveals the true nature of my Character. Right Behavior evolves from Right Thoughts.
Right Character: I believe that one’s true Character shines bright in the dark when no one may notice. Right Character is essential to Right Conduct and stems from Right Thoughts.
Right Standing: I believe it incumbent on each of us to correctly acknowledge our true Standing as we navigate our time in TempTerra. Right Standing demands that we not abuse, exploit, or overstep the autonomy and authority privileged to us by ALL.
Divinely Gifted: I believe that TempTerra and all that it encompasses, including human Conscience, is a Divine Gift which must not be squandered. Therefore, be vigilant in seizing opportunities to animate the Ten Graces.
Ambiguities are Blessing: I believe that TempTerra’s Ambiguities are a blessing because they force us to compromise. Choices in life are rarely black-and-white; most of the best answers reside in the gray zone.
Diversity is Blessing: I believe that TempTerra’s Diversity is a blessing because it enriches our awareness. Throughout the spiritual and physical realms, no two similar things are identical; all created things are inherently equal, yet different.
Uncertainty is Blessing: I believe that TempTerra’s Uncertainty is a good thing because it forces humility. Other than from Infinite Wisdom fed through the Soul, Man’s independent understanding of any matter is necessarily limited by the five senses. Reliance on our externally-derived, inherently flawed insights demands us to show deference to others.