"There is no Emptiness in You"

There is No Emptiness in You

by Karen A. Kral, M.A., LPCC (NM), LPC (CO)

www.corequestpotential.com

One of my favorite spiritual texts called A Course in Miracles claims that we are not lacking in any way.  It says that we were created by God and that we are whole just as we were created.

According to A Course in Miracles (ACIM or The Course), it is our belief that we are disconnected from God, our Source, that makes us feel like we are separate beings, living in a world of lack.  When we believe we lack something—that we don’t have enough or that we are not enough—we feel afraid.  And, from a place of fear, we frantically try to fill our perceived emptiness by looking to the world for relief.  From an Inner Bonding perspective, we know that this is the job of the wounded self.  Already feeling empty inside, the wounded self uses various strategies to try to get love, approval and safety from others, while simultaneously trying to avoid the possibility of any increased sense of pain or emptiness.

If it is true, as The Course says, that we are not separate from God and that we are whole as God created us, then what are the implications of this truth? 

Well, you may have already gotten glimpses of this truth during the times when you have been open to your spiritual guidance.  Maybe your guidance has told you that you are precious and lovable despite any of your perceived wrong doings.  Perhaps your guidance has held you and reassured you that you are not alone.  It could be that your spiritual guidance has helped you experience the present moment—the place where everything is actually okay in spite of the apparent “facts”—where you were able to rest for a time in a state of peacefulness. 

If you are like me, despite your wounded self’s resistance to this truth about you as a creation of God—you know at a deep place inside of you that you are as God created you.  You can replace the word God with Spirit or Love or Source or Divinity, or whatever word best matches your experience of the loving source from which you came.  But, no matter which word you use, when you reach down to the deepest place within yourself, you know that you are whole, perfect, loved, and safe. 

This deeper truth about you goes by many names in many traditions.  It is the “still small voice”, “vast emptiness”, “essential goodness”, and “true nature”; it is “Buddha Nature” and “Christ Mind.”  Whatever name you use to describe your essential nature, it is always there, underneath the static and apparent chaos of daily life.  Although the drama of life can sometimes seem to drown out the truth about who we really are, it cannot make it go away.  And, at times, we feel it.  At times, by grace or by deep personal process work, through tragedy or beauty, or through our connection with art or nature or a child’s laughter, we remember.

Somewhere deep down, you, like me, might experience the “memory” of God.  It is the memory of where you came from and who you really are.  Yes, right now, as your wounded self may be making objections and providing you with the long list of “evidence” as to why this simply cannot be true, why you must not let down your guard and believe that you are safe, lovable, beautiful and innocent—yes, right at this moment—the memory of God is within you.  You know it by how it makes you feel.  Buried under the fear, buried under the anger, the sadness, the grief, and the loneliness, there is peace.  It is waiting patiently for you.  It is waiting patiently for you to give up the illusions of your separateness, the illusions of your lack, and to come home. 

This state of peacefulness is your true home.  It is the place where, maybe just for a moment, you give up the fight, and you rest in your true nature.

Mark Lersch and Karen Kral are certified Inner Bonding facilitators and licensed psychotherapists.  They are facilitating a 3-day Couples Intensive at their home in Colorado on September 16-18, 2011.  For more information, go to www.corequestpotential.com