I continue to be amazed and flabbergasted at the speed of my development in spiritual matters and the synchronicities that are occurring to me regarding my path. One of the things I’m most grateful for on a daily basis is the amount of quality information that is out there on the mighty Interwebz via YouTube, Gaia TV, and Facebook to name a few. Sure you have to navigate the hate speech, conspiracy theories, and misdirection some people throw out there, but that’s where your personal spiritual discernment comes in handy and is a must!

What is discernment? It is the ability to cognize and process the information being presented with an additional filter of how the information makes you feel. Does the message being presented resonant solely on an intellectual level? Is there something more embedded in the message? Does it increase or decrease your level of well-being? It’s a skill that some have naturally but for others it most likely will be learned once you become more aware. I feel I’ve always had an innate sense of it from my empathic abilities.. I call it my “Spidey Sense”. I can read a room, a person, a place or information very easily.. Sometimes almost too easy to the point it can be overwhelming. Now that my spiritual development is in overdrive on the Autobahn, I’m learning to buffer and release versus absorbing these extrasensory feelings as my own. It’s a fun challenge for me, although sometimes unpleasant and wild depending on the situation.

I have three main paths that my discernment takes; The YES path, the NO path, or the path my SPIRITUAL PARKING LOT. As I process the information from my metaphysical studies or even just interacting with other humans, the YES’s and NO’s come easy. It’s a palpable response to the information for me especially if I’m conscious of being in a situation that requires discernment. A YES resonates for me more in the Heart chakra area followed by a sense of increased well-being or at a minimum no change to current. For me, the stronger I feel the confirmation the stronger I should heed its content and/or message for me. It’s like my higher self/guides punch me in the arm energetically.

A NO is just as powerful and hits me in my lower chakras / stomach region. You feel it in your gut, and can sometimes feel like a punch there. I can also feel it as a “dimming of my light”, where it’s just as you can notice a quick flicker of the lights in a room. It’s enough time to notice but fortunately not long lasting (usually). Sometimes a NO comes in the form of me just tuning completely out of the conversation and not remembering one tidbit. It’s like my Higher Self puts on the “Charlie Brown Teacher Filter” and it is all Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah and I know that I wasn’t in the mood for a mental debate or Spiritual Parking Lot situation.

My SPIRITUAL PARKING LOT is where either new and/or conflicting information comes into my awareness and a “battle” ensues. It feels right but also challenges some well footed intellectual beliefs so the debate between feeling and knowing starts. Sometimes the “battle” is quick and the information is processed to a YES or NO quickly. Other times (and most often) the battle is too prolonged and not going to be solved immediately without some discussion or additional information. In these cases, I just surrender it to the Spiritual Parking Lot. Maybe I wasn’t ready for the message yet, and it’s just a sneak preview, or maybe it’s my ego finding a chink in the armor to induce a reduction of consciousness via scientific debate (that blasted engineering side of my brain)? Regardless, it’s banished to the Parking Lot where there the information stays until either divine timing (for a future conversation or synchronicity) or for another message with additional information, or just lost in the infinite cavern of my subconscious to be worked out in a dream or forgotten entirely.

As stated previously, I’ve learned so much over the past 2-3 years of seeking information via the Internet (videos, blogs, etc), Spiritual/Metaphysical Books, and even live teachers, but the vast majority of my input is via Channeled Messages via YouTube. I probably listen to an hour or more a day while driving, or doing house chores, or out walking. I find that discernment is crucial here and practice it vigilantly.  One of the sources of information I like to listen to is Kryon via Lee Carroll. I typically feel that his messages leave me with a lot of positive feelings and some fascinating thought experiments. I feel it resonates well with all the other information and my new found passion of Marconics.  Kryon talks much about discernment and its importance in a person’s spiritual development and that every person has their own measurement of it. That’s what I like most.

Give that it is crucial in these times of mass information, I found an excerpt from a Kryon article that was written quite a few years ago, but still holds very true (at least for me):

GUIDELINES FOR DISCERNMENT – New Realities Magazine – July 1987

Paraphrased…

1. There will always be useful information for everyone. Beware of the channel that gives you useful information for only a few, or tells you that it’s only for a special group or a sequestered number. It must be useful for ALL humanity, every single Human. This is an area of discernment allowing you to know you are hearing the truth.
2. The message should be uplifting. Watch for an empowering message – NOT ONE OF FEAR, not one that drags you down – not one that makes you want to take fearful action or hide – but an enabling message! This is a staple of God energy. It must be there. It should inspire the listener and reader. Every recorded angel appearance before a Human Being has begun with “Fear not!”
3. Spirit (God) will never, ever channel a message that asks you to give up your free will. Never! For your free will is what your experience on Earth. Free will! FREE CHOICE is what drives your future.
4. Spirit will never give you a message – ever – that asks you to violate the integrity of what you believe. You are honored in your thought processes. Spirit will never trick you or “talk you” into anything. The message must never violate your integrity. You must feel comfortable with it, and it must ring true to your heart.
5. Spirit will never represent a channeller as being the only source. Watch for this, for there are many channels of Spirit and they all coordinate their information to create a bigger picture, especially in this New Age. They will NEVER represent themselves as the ONLY source of information.
6. Watch for the fact that the information is normally new information. Beware of the channel that simply re-hashes the old, for they are not channelling anything but the ego of the Human Being. New information is necessary, combined with “core information,” it is the entire reason for the channel. Think about it.
7. Watch for the fact that channelled information should have spiritual solutions presented. Solutions to life challenges on Earth, via new information, is the purpose of channelling.

 

I use discernment to create what I call “Josh’s Spiritual Patchwork Quilt”. As I take in all this information, it’s processed and the strongly felt YES’s are sown into my Patchwork Quilt. And over time, that patchwork quilt has been worked on quite a bit. Patches are sometimes removed and replaced as I evolve and raise in vibration. Sometimes the beliefs banished to the Spiritual Parking Lot get that final piece needed to become a Patch. I think it is a suitable metaphor for how I believe the world’s spirituality should work and how I get so upset with people not accepting that EVERYONE should have their own UNIQUE quilt. No one should be forced into sewing patches into their quilt or even worse forced a blanket not of their own making. That vibration strikes a tender chord with me and typically results in a fight or flight response. It’s probably why organized religion invokes a fear and uneasiness I can’t consciously explain. Probably from many past lives being burned as a heretic or witch. LOL!

This sharing wasn’t necessarily intended to be one about discernment.. Typically I go into another place when I write so I guess my higher-self jumped in to preface and assist with a disclaimer with what my next sharing will be (as it was the original intent of this one). I plan on compiling a list of all the movies, blogs, sources of data that helped me create my patchwork quilt and if you are like me and more interested in all this stuff than what the Kardashians are doing on TV, then I figure it’s worth a future blog share!

It will be just a roadmap or starting point, but if my experience holds true, one breadcrumb will lead to another and another and when you hit a folk in the road, USE DISCERNMENT as your guide! Happy trails and stay tuned!

Be well.. Peace.. Namaste..

Josh