Awakening to Love in the Time of Fear

Awakening to Love in a Time of Fear by Marianne Splenda, MEd

“What the world needs now, is love, sweet love… not just for some but for everyone…” These song lyrics reverberate throughout my mind while my heart aches as I read the daily headlines about the ever-increasing numbers of people across the United States and around the globe who have contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease which is killing some but not others and no one seems to know why. This disease seems to be polarizing people more than ever: some rise to compassionate acts of heroism to protect and heal, while others are selfishly and flagrantly disregarding the needs of a community. A few weeks ago, all of us made many small decisions without a second thought, e.g., ‘I need to run to the store to buy __’ (fill in the blank). But not now— every decision, even going to the store, carries a possible life or death risk. I see a new word, “Moral fatigue,” creeping to our vocabulary that addresses such decisions. So where are you turning for your guidance?

IMPORTANCE OF INNER GUIDANCE

Many of us know the importance of turning inward for our guidance and like myself may have needed an additional opportunity to practice our faith. Before March 2020 my days and calendar were filled with many “to do” tasks to accomplish. On March 11th, I left my home in California, to the A.R.E. headquarters in Virginia Beach for a few days of meetings. Afterwards, I was scheduled to fly to JFK in New York City and then on to Cairo, Egypt as co-leader of the Acoustical Pyramid Tour of Egypt where we were prepared to play and record the healing sounds of the Acoustical Pyramid in the Great Pyramid and other temples. Oh yes, I had protective gloves, a mask and I had even made a solution of “Thieves Oil” for physical protection on this tour, but I had not yet fully foreseen the magnitude of the international response to this virus and its effect on my life.

My co-leader and I were determined not to base our decision to go or not go on the basis of fear but rather chose to put our faith in our spiritual guidance. Well, in the quiet of the evening of March 14th, after each of us had checked into our separate flights to JFK, the Creative Forces sent each of us a very clear and strong message: “STOP!” “DO NOT GO!” Luckily, we heeded those messages and we cancelled the tour that night. You may be asking: Why did this take you so long to make that decision? As I look back, this experience felt to me a test of faith and that we indeed had passed the test. Do you have a similar story?

THE EDGAR CAYCE INFORMATION

Now, more than ever, this is a time to turn or return to the Edgar Cayce information with the remembrance that the “Spanish Flu” of 1918 occurred during his lifetime (1877–1945); therefore, many of the trance health readings are pertinent today. Additionally, many of us have copies of “A Search for God,” volumes 1 and 2, and now is certainly a time to pull them off your book self and review the 24 chapters to see if one or more of those chapters is calling for your attention. Many of us have been ordered to stay-athome so we have more time to pray, meditate, and find ways to reach out to others through simple acts of kindness, even if it is a simple prayer.

From my perspective this pandemic is offering us a chance to grow spiritually both as individuals and as a collective consciousness. Maybe it’s time to learn how to BE. It is my hope that we individually and collectively come out of this experience with more love, more compassion, and with better ways to act as our brother’s keepers. I only have limited space here to mention a few ideas to assist us in this transformation, if we choose to accept the challenge.

NOT BY CHANCE:

Edgar Cayce reminded us that any experience is not by chance.

“For each soul-entity enters a material experience not by chance but as a purposefulness, - fulfilling that whereunto it has been promised that He hath not willed that any soul should perish, but that each

should know and become aware of its relationships to Creative Forces.”

-Edgar Cayce reading 1767-2

So, if we believe these words, can we use this pandemic experience to create a closer relationship with God and the Creative Forces?

LETTING GO OF FEAR AND ANXIETY:

If you find yourself cloaked in fear, what does one do? To understand the origins of fear, Cayce stated in reading 254-85 that—

“REMEMBER, my children, it is the FEAR of the material conditions that wrecks the material body. It is the FEAR of this or that, that prevents a channel from making for the greater supply.”

Clearly, we are instructed to mitigate our fear(s) to further our spiritual growth. This fear will be different for each of us, but I would like to share a spiritual practice that I find especially practical. It was given to me by the spirit guide, Dr. Pebbles, who is channeled by Natalie Gianelli and it goes like this:

Identify the fear

Sit and take 3 to 5 deep breaths from your diaphragm In the quiet for about 10 to 15 seconds Ask your heart, “Heart, what would you have me do?” Listen to the suggestion made by your heart Act on this information.

Once we find ourselves in our heart-centered intelligence, we will feel peace and we can understand and find solace that -

“As has been given, “Fear not.” Keep the faith; for those that be with thee are greater than those that would hinder.”

-Edgar Cayce reading 294-185

For additional support, the A.R.E. is offering a free digital book on the subject of fear, Overcoming Fear and Anxiety, by High Lynn Cayce. To download this digital book, go to the Helpful Resources for Overcoming, Fear, Anxiety, and Stress page.

OPEN TO THE BEAUTY OF NATURE

I’ve been wondering - what does it mean to be a ‘human be—ing’? To me, the energies of the beauties of nature are very real and they fill my soul with love and peace. As this pandemic has stopped us in our tracks, take time to feel the oneness with these Creative Forces. Listen to the songbirds singing. From a rocking chair on the porch of my son’s house in North Carolina I can hear a bird shouting: “Pre—tty; Pre—tty.” I see the limbs of the trees unfolding with new blossoms of white or pink.

If COVID-19 had not stopped me in my tracks, I would not have had these experiences. Truly it has given me a wonderful sense of divine love filling my heart and my whole being. Now, I find myself just ‘being’ rather than busy ‘doing’ tasks. As Edgar Cayce told an individual:

“Have more and more of Nature and of God’s outdoors…For each blade of grass, each blossom, each tree, each crag, each mountain, each river, each lake is a gift from the Creative Forces in [humankind’s] experience that he may know more of the love of God.”

-Edgar Cayce reading 1248-1

BE A CHANNEL OF BLESSINGS

Not all of us are called to be a health-care professional during this pandemic but we can reach out to each other. We are reminded: “To be a channel of blessing to others is that purpose for which each soul has come into conscious activity in a material world.” (3161-1). We can take heart from these words and act on them.

(Continued on pg. 29)