Photo by Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash
“There is a universal intelligence that we call God or Soul or Spirit or Consciousness, and it is everywhere and, in all things,” - Wayne W. Dyer
I had a lovely chat with Jan Chipman on this week’s Insightful Conversations. Jan is a 3 Principles practitioner, teacher, mentor, and along with her husband Chip, she is the co-founder of the Vantage Consulting Group. Prior to coming across the Principles, Jan describes herself as having been very shy and insecure. In addition, she was an obsessive worrier who also suffered from anxiety and depression since she and Chip were going through a hard time in their marriage.
Before Jan first met Sydney Banks, both she and Chip had been on a spiritual path for several years. They had heard about Syd through mutual friends who had told them about this enlightened man who lived on the neighboring island of Salt Spring. Although they had witnessed the positive impact meeting Syd had on their friend’s marriage, Chip and Jan weren’t interested in meeting Syd for themselves. As Jan describes it, they considered themselves serious students of ancient Spiritual traditions and doubted what this eight-grad educated Scottish welder could teach them about spirituality.
Then, by some obscure series of events, Jan happened to find herself sitting with a group of people, gathered in the living room of Syd’s home, waiting to listen to him speak. As she was introduced to Syd, she remembers thinking that he had the most beautiful expression in his eyes, so gentle and loving and calm. Jan describes that first meeting as having had a profound effect on her. As Syd spoke, Jan knew that she was listening to an enlightened man. All the anxiety, analyzing, and busy thinking she’d arrived with began to dissipate. As Jan started to settle, a calmness enveloped her, and she felt like she was letting go of years of emotional baggage.
Everything Syd said resonated with what Jan already knew, but something in the way he said it touched her at a deeper level. One statement in particular impacted Jan. It was when Syd said, “If everybody in the world could see how beautiful they were. If they could see who they really were on the inside. If they could see this whole other part of them that they don’t even know about, they would see that they would have all the happiness they could ever imagine.” Jan knew that Syd was speaking the truth, but even more importantly, she knew that the wisdom he was sharing wasn’t coming from him; it was coming from within her.
I wish I had known this when I first embarked on a spiritual path all those years ago. Back in my early twenties, I often found myself enthralled by my spiritual teachers. I innocently put them on pedestals, thinking that they were special and knew more than I did. I handed over my power and looked to them for guidance and direction. Unfortunately, I had mistakenly imbued them with special powers they did not warrant. Not surprisingly, I found myself being taken advantage of by some of my teachers on more than one occasion. Just because you are a spiritual leader doesn’t mean that you are immune to the seduction of power. Abuse with Spiritual communities is rampant.
And that is why I knew I was in the right place when I first came across the 3 Principles. There was no leader to follow or swear allegiance to. There was no manipulation or coercion. All the 3 Principles teachers and mentors I have had the privilege of working with over the years never took advantage of me or succumbed to the intoxication of seeing themselves as gurus. Instead, my teachers reminded me that I had everything I needed within me. They reminded me that we all come from the same spiritual source; therefore, we are all equal. No one is more than or less than another. They reminded me that I had equal access to divine wisdom and that the answers to any issue I might have would come from within me, not from them. They encouraged autonomy over-dependence.
Recognizing that we all originate from the same spiritual energy helps us remember that we are connected to Universal Intelligence. Access to Universal Intelligence is not just for the few. It is for everyone. It is our birthright. It is innate to all of us. When we realize this, we stop looking to Gurus to give us direction and guidance. Instead, we tap into the Universal Intelligence within and listen to our inner guidance system.
With love and appreciation, Del 💕
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