It is obvious that the early apostles, such as Paul, John and Peter had something we seem to lack or not have found. They spoke of peace, contentment, boldness, victory and even joy, though they were in extreme situations. Called before the authorities, threatened with death, beaten, thrown in prison, and living from hand to mouth--you would certainly think they would suffer from anxiety. Yet, they did not.
They were just human people, like us. So they obviously had something we don’t. They found something which overcame or prevented anxiety, fear, and physical stress symptoms. They had some kind of faith and some kind of connection that shielded them from the effects of stress.
Therefore the question must be asked: are we missing the boat? Have we failed to find what they had? If we found it, might it help us with our anxiety and stress issues? The answer is “yes.” Therefore I believe that this is a very important topic.
In this article I will discuss the different types of anxiety, each time relating it to our fallen condition and how re-finding our ground of being is the solution. I will also discuss why my meditation is helpful for anyone, Christian or not, who is sincerely looking for answers.
It is so simple that you don't even have to be able to read--just to listen to my words and understand. This is a lengthy article. If you would like to try the meditation, just go ahead. On the other hand, look over the article for insights and then try the meditation later if you like.
First, let me just say that our fallen nature and the fallen conditions in society around us are conducive to anxiety. Some have called it free floating anxiety--a vague sense that something is wrong, out of order, or not quite right.
I believe that this free floating anxiety is not a bad thing—it means that you are aware of something not quite right.
We are all in the same boat. We are born with a fallen nature which we inherit. Long ago, the human race lost Paradise and fell from being able to live perpetually to a temporary life, based on food and sex, that leads to death. We all share in an inherited shame—the vague realization that we are not living as nobly and perfectly as intended. Thus we have a natural modesty or uneasiness about our fallen existence and the animal bodies in which we find ourselves.
Many of us also have a natural uneasiness about the phoniness and shallowness of the society we live in. Everywhere there is tease and cruelty, often under a veneer of respectability. Everyone seems to feed our selfishness. Despite the surface lip service to propriety, something is not quite right. We sense it and it makes us uneasy.
Even in the family, when we were little kids, our parents put up a good front, but underneath there may have been hidden resentments and undercurrents of hostility that we picked up on and which made us uneasy.
Obviously, it not our individual fault. We inherit this life. We cannot help the family we were born into. Nor can we help the fallen nature we inherited. It is not to be condemned nor condoned. It needs to be understood.
Struggling with our fallen nature is an error. Likewise, painful suppression is not the answer either. It only leads to ultimate surrender to what we cannot deny. But just giving in to our lower animal self and living like animals are not the answer either. Both struggle and suppression on the one hand, and libertine immorality on the other are guilt producing. The answer is understanding.
Young people in their teens and early twenties often begin to experience anxiety. I believe it is often due to their maturing and becoming keenly aware of their fallen self, the physical body which we share with other animals, dependent on food and sex for survival. There is a bit of indignity associated with our lower self; and when we become aware of it, we tend to be a bit self conscious about it.
A wise and loving parent, especially father, can help a young person through periods of self consciousness, with love and understanding. But when father is not there for the child, or when father lacks understanding, the child must look to peer culture or strangers for answers or reassurance. Often, the person will struggle with something, especially issues around food or sexuality. There is also the growing self consciousness over pimples and many other things that are a part of growing up.
Read Mike's story. How he outgrew childhood OCD and shyness issues and overcame anxiety and bipolar without drugs
I must say again that the way we come into the world is not to be condemned nor condoned. It just is. But it does need to be understood.
For the small stuff, a loving mom and dad, graced with common sense and calmness, is all that is needed. For the bigger stuff (such as not making the team, or not being invited to the prom), the presence of loving mom and dad or wise grandparents will again help the young person weather the storm. For even bigger stuff,good advice from wise people is helpful, but we must also begin to search for answers and one day find the answers for ourselves.
For the ultimate questions about who we are and why we are here, the answers will be found by the searching soul who yearns for the truth.
Once again I must also say that there is a potential happy ending for the one who searches for truth and finds the mysterious salvation. Actually, it is a mystery, but one that is hidden in plain sight. It is only discovered by the pure in heart. This salvation is reserved for the second part of life. I deal with this topic in many of my articles and books. But right now the subject is anxiety.
Just look at how simple resolving it can be. Young people are often concerned about what they will do with their life or will they ever find love, and so on. The problem is they worry over it, and worry makes them less secure. By meditating to mentally stand back, the person sees that the negative thoughts are unreal. By not getting sucked into them, and just observing them, their mind and emotions are freed up to creatively move forward one step at a time and life and success just unfold for them. It's that simple.
The first part of life is for learning, discovering, growing up and experiencing the things that most of us go through which are a part of life. To the extent that understanding, insight, calmness, and common sense can be brought to bear on life's issues, we can come through with little baggage and few if any scars.
We're all going to stumble and fall. But we need to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off.
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If we have good parents, that is wonderful. If not, then we will have to become our own parent: finding wisdom and understanding within to calm down and mitigate our reactions.
Becoming a Friend of God: Finding Courage and Peace of Mind in Age of Anxiety is now available. Find out more
How blessed is the child who has a wise and thoughtful parent. A parent who knows that “this too shall pass.” One who loves her child with unconditional love. One who is in the process of overcoming her imperfections. The secure, emotionally balanced, wise parent is a stable anchor in a troubled world.
Some of us had good parents. Yet, many of us had parents who made some mistakes. We resented them and looked to the world for answers. We were misled by others, and ended up making mistakes ourselves.
But take heart. The answers to your issues are to be found within. When the seeking soul learns to be still, it can find and experience God, Who dwells in the now present.
Knowing that He exists and that all the wonderful things we once heard about (but which seemed too good to be true) really are true provides an indescribable comfort to the soul. Suddenly all the things we worried and fretted about are no longer troubling. Suddenly hope returns, and each day we find ourselves able to deal a little bit better with what once made us come unglued.
Now, in light of the happy ending, let’s continue with our exploration of the topic.
Anxiety has both an emotional and a spiritual basis. In a nutshell, the emotional basis has to do with the fact that most of us have spent our whole life over-reacting faithlessly to things. We permitted ourselves to get upset, fret, and worry over things. We felt insecure and anxious when something was wrong. And we became inconsolable until some fix was found.
Our downward slide began when parents and other adults, who are supposed to know better, reacted emotionally to things. They taught us to be emotional.
But why do we react with emotional anxiety in the first place? Because we do not have faith or trust. On a down to earth level, if we trusted those around us and trusted our own ability to handle the situation, we would have little or no have anxiety. Maybe a little anticipation of some upcoming performance, but certainly not disabling anxiety.
When we trust in others, it takes away anxiety. When were little kids, for example, we trusted in our parents, and that took away anxiety. The classic example is the anxious person who arrives at the doctor’s office; and after being reassured by the presence of the doctor, the anxiety goes away. There is also fear of the unknown—that’s why some people are relieved when they get a diagnosis from the doctor. Now they know what is wrong.
Other people experience anxiety because they do not trust in their own ability to handle a situation. For one person, a leaking faucet is no big deal. For another, especially a man who is supposed to be able to fix it, it can cause anxiety. Especially if he has had a bad experience trying to fix a faucet and only made things worse. He does not trust in himself.
He fears and dreads the leaking faucet because of what it means to him: he fears that he is incompetent. Bear in mind, he probably is not incompetent; but he fears and resents it so much that he complicates his ability to perform.
The other classic example is the panic attack that attends some allergic or phobic reaction. Having been unable to cope with some prior reaction, the first possible symptoms of a new reaction bring anxiety because the person fears overreacting and becoming out of control again. Some people over-react to heart attack symptoms, making the situation worse. One person fainted in an auditorium and now fears fainting again.
>Perhaps you can now see the relationship between hypnosis and anxiety. The hypnotist reassures the subject that everything is okay. Similarly, someone who wants you to go along with what they have planned for you will try to become your hypnotist, by promising what you want to believe in and by reassuring you each step of the way.
Whenever you begin to wonder what he is up to or to ask meaningful questions, he reassures you. If you get an uneasy feeling or cold feet, he promises even more, and does everything he can to reassure you. When you feel comfortable again and anxiety is gone, you have fallen under the hypnotic spell. In other words, the reassurance of the hypnotist takes away anxiety.
Yes, hypnosis can take away anxiety, but it is a false comfort.
The person with anxiety or panic is not subject to the hypnotist (whose reassurances would take away anxiety). Instead, she is under the spell of the object/situation which is arousing the panic. She is also subject to the emotions and to the imagination which fuel the faulty feelings.
Let me again say that while it is true that most people with anxiety issues are over-anxious because they are over-reacting, they also may be closer to reality than the one who thinks everything is okay. A child may experience anxiety when being left with strangers. The child senses something bad or malevolent about the strangers, but the parent has bought the false reassurances of the strangers and is oblivious to the danger.
>The child, in this case is closer to reality than the parents. Another person may panic in church, sensing hidden evil operating. All the others are hypnotized by the music and the soothing words of the preacher.
So you can see that there is some sorting out to do. Sometimes we over-react because we are faithless and give in to our emotions. Sometimes our imagination is working overtime. But other times, there is REAL danger and REAL cause for concern.
We must also begin to see where the false comfort of others has lulled us into a comfort zone.
We must learn to “not sweat the small stuff” as the old expression goes. We must also learn to face reality with equanimity and poise. And we must learn to stay aware and face situations where there are real concerns or even danger. We must learn to face reality, without props, support, pills, or hypnotists.
Moses was able to face the mighty Pharaoh, without any outside support. George Washington, with his rag tag army, was able to prevail over the English army. Little David faced and conquered Goliath. Another man called by God, namely Gideon, was basically hiding when the angel of Jehovah appeared and said to him: “Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.” (Judges 6:12) God and the angel knew that with God’s help Gideon would be able to overcome the enemy. God is able to use people who are insignificant and those who lack self esteem and confidence. (1 Cor. 1:27,28).
I have to say that the best assistance in this process of sorting things out is the proper meditation. Learning to be still, we are able to stand back from thinking and feeling, and become the thinker instead of the victim of thoughts. Being separated from imagination, we are no longer subject to the imagination. We see the big picture objectively. We are given the power to bring reason to bear.
When you face reality in the ever present, reality and the Presence of God in the present becomes your comfort.
Can you see that there is a difference between real comfort and false comfort? Admittedly the reassurance of someone, or a placebo, can temporarily alleviate worry. With worry on hold, the person's overactive imagination and emotions stop interfering with the natural healing processes of the mind and body. This good. Admittedly joining a group or organized religion can remove a person from bad influences, so they can stop doing bad things and taking drugs. This is good.
But in the long run, and for a permanent fix, you also need the Real Thing. Down through the ages, the great mystics of the church--people like Madame Jeanne Guyon, St. Francis de Salles, Thomas a Kempis, St. Teresa of Avila, Miguel do Molinos, Francois Fenelon and people like William Law, and even A. W. Tozer have found something, the abiding Presence of God, and they have sought to tell others and help them find what they have. May I humbly submit that the proper meditation may assist the sincere seeking in coming back to the present and finding what they found.
Bear in mind that reading the Bible or what mystics have said is nice, but it is so much nicer when with awareness and mindfulness, which the meditation helps you find, you read what they say and understand it because you are coming from the same place!
Even more importantly, the sincere seeker inherits faith through the proper meditation. Separated from imagination, the person is closer to wordless intuition.
We must learn to detect, follow and trust our wordless intuition. This intuition is our closest link to God.
Many of us have been saved from some danger by a wordless hunch or gut level feeling that something was out of order. Others of us have followed a wordless knowing to the right career, the right mate, or the right place to be.
People like Albert Einstein, Madame Curie, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth followed their intuition. Mozart and Beethoven were inspired through intuition. The Three Wise Men followed a wordless guidance to Bethlehem.
I have much to say about intuition. But here I just want to point out how importance it is to find the source of intuition through becoming still and separate from imagination. The same power that makes you aware of an error is the power by which correction can effortlessly come.
All your life you have avoided intuition because of your ego (which wanted to make things happen) and because intuition was a wet blanket on all the fun naughty things others encouraged you to do. Intuition being our best friend and being from God becomes conscience (when we stray from what is right for us). So it feels like conscience when we have strayed. And since our ego does not like to feel bad, it avoids, doubts, or escapes from conscience/intuition. Our favorite escape from awareness (where we sense conscience) is thinking and imagination.
We escape into the imagination where we can be great and powerful. It is there that deceiving spirits cloak themselves in images and familiar garb and put on a show for you. We can imagine ourselves to be great and powerful, and when someone disrespects us, we can imagine getting revenge on them. But the same agency that builds and supports your pride, which caters to you with naughty imaginings, will also be the agency that scares, torments, and defeats you with negative, morbid, and vile thoughts.
Through the power of awareness, implemented by the proper meditation, you will be able to sort things out. You will become more stable, and you will be given the power to stand back from imagination. And you will be given the power to stand back from things that once upset you.
Intuition is from God. It does not speak to us with words. It shines a light on things so that we can see the way things really are. Importantly, we see ourselves the way we are—but without reacting to what we see.
Can you see how looking to thinking, struggling with thoughts, being emotional, and taking counsel of our fears all feed into panic and anxiety?
Therefore learn how to meditate for mental distance. Do not struggle with thoughts and feelings, no matter how troubling or tormenting they may be. Many of our issues began with childhood trauma; then we made the mistake of resenting. Then we added layers of reacting to reacting, fearing fear, panicking over panic and so on.
For the time being, stop struggling with whatever you are dealing with. Just get the meditation and if you can, practice it for the sheer joy of re-finding the blessed present and becoming a friend of God and a friend of reality. Let go and let God.
Instead of struggling, fretting, and worrying—spend your time and energy learning how to be still. In time, God will ever so gently help you to deal with your issues. In the meanwhile, become still, live in the present, hear the birds sing. Your life will take on new meaning and joy, not because I say so but because it will be so, by the grace of God.
