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| "Every highway's leading me back to you." ~Survivor, The Search Is Over |
The reason we want to find a role model like this is that we need someone who understands where we are coming from. He has to have been there AND know how to get out. Nothing is more important than the ability a Cause has to empathize with us throughout our Goal Achievement Journey (GAJ). Because people have different sets of strengths and weaknesses, there are varying journeys to get to the same goal. Thankfully many of us are similar so it’s not impossible to find a Specific Cause that most closely matches our needs. But we see why it is so important for all of us to write down and share our personal stories—our GAJ—once we have achieved our goal. There are others out there who are like us who NEED us. Maybe some people don’t and that’s fine but others DO!
It would also be best if our chosen role model has demonstrated that his solution is sustainable. There has been enough time to demonstrate that he hasn’t slid back into his old habits (#MaleFemalePronouns). He has been able to stay physically balanced for a long time and is loving it (#SustainableJoy). For example, whenever I read a product review on Amazon to help me decide if I should buy something or not, the reviewers (#Causes) who have only had the product for a few weeks and say it’s the best thing ever are not very convincing to me. Yet it is also true that I don’t necessarily need to have a testimonial of someone who has had at least 20 years experience testing out the product (#Overkill). Maybe I don’t even want it or need it to work for 20 years. So whatever my goal, a Cause needs to have sufficient experience over time that proves that his prescribed product or process works to the degree of sustainability I'm looking for.
If an example of a physical goal is getting into physical shape, an example of a spiritual goal may be to get into spiritual shape--become more emotionally balanced. Who would be our role model for that? We would want to find someone who has previously been spiritually out of balance like we presently are, who had similar weaknesses, and who then journeyed through the frustrations, fears, setbacks, hopelessness, apathy, repeated tries and failures in the journey until he found the balanced pathway that steadily brought him to successful goal achievement.
In fact, I have had this spiritual goal and in the past I was spiritually and emotionally imbalanced (see blog post Anxiety & Depression). I then journeyed through frustrations, fears, setbacks, hopelessness, apathy, repeated tries and failures until I found the balanced pathway that steadily brought me to a more sustainable balance than I once resided. The role model I chose was someone who had the capability to remotely login to my mind and heart so that I was trained from the inside (#TheVoiceInsideMyHead, #HolyGhost).
What is a remote login? A few years ago I had an issue with my computer that I couldn’t fix on my own. My Apple MacBook Pro laptop was slowing way down and I was seeing the spinning beach ball way too often and for way too long between commands. So I called Apple’s tech support. They gave me the instructions and code to enter into my computer to allow a tech support person to actually see my computer screen from his remote location while we were on the phone together. It was like he was looking over my shoulder and at my screen in order to point out where to go and what to click on so we could fix my problem. Through these efforts we were able to speed up my computer to its normal speeds. This Specific Physical Cause was very familiar with Apple computers. He had been specially trained in how they work so he knew where to go and how to troubleshoot the issues I was experiencing. So in this same way, the Specific Spiritual Cause I chose to help me with my spiritual goal was familiar with my spiritual computer—my mind and my heart. He was specially trained in how my spirit works so he knew where to go and how to troubleshoot the issues I was experiencing.
The Holy Ghost remotely logs into our minds and heart. He (or she) is on the same team as our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He is a personage of spirit personally assigned to each one of us (#GuardianAngel). This team of Causes is our General Spiritual Cause. So I chose members of our General Spiritual Cause's team to be my Specific Spiritual Cause.
So in my GAJ to obtain spiritual and emotional balance, our General Spiritual Cause specifically communicated with me through my mind and generally through my heart. He logged in remotely and spoke to my mind through thoughts, images, and pure meaning. When pure meaning was communicated to me it was kind of like Rapunzel’s (Disney’s Tangled) or Dori’s (Disney’s Finding Nemo) realizations (see blog post I See The Light).
Clues, memories, experiences, scriptures, stories, and music I had stored in my mind were organized to testify of a single truth. This form of teaching has been continuous throughout my GAJ. Some of the most powerful experiences I have had were when the truth that was revealed to me was about my personal story—who I was and why things in my life have had to happen the way they have. Along with these epiphanies came waves and waves of Peace rolling into my heart so I knew that it was true and not some crazy empty, dark hallucination. They tended to make sense of things that had confused me in the past. Sigh...I get it now. They also enabled me to love and forgive others whom I had not been able to love and forgive previously. They unlocked my grudges and untangled my emotional knots so the love just flowed freely to and from my heart (Listen: Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw).
Specific Spiritual CausesSome of my family, friends, ecclesiastical leaders, books, teachers, etc. have also been on our General Spiritual Cause’s team for me. These are my Specific Spiritual/Physical Causes. The important thing for me has been to make sure a Specific Cause's counsel does not conflict with my General. When it has, I have had to make some pretty difficult choices on my own (Listen: Me and God by Josh Turner).
There have been many Specific Spiritual/Physical Causes that have kept themselves in alignment with our General Spiritual Cause and have written about their personal Goal Achievement Journey (GAJ) as well as the General Journey to obtain Sustainable Joy. These stories have been preserved for us in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants (#Scriptures). What a total blessing! So many balanced role models for our own GAJ! It has been reassuring for me to know that what the Holy Ghost tells me will not conflict with what the scriptures are telling me (#WordsOfChrist). The more conversant I have become with BOTH the Holy Ghost and the scriptures, the more accurate the guidance I have received in my GAJ. That means the rate at which I have been able to obtain my goals has incrementally increased over time.
When my Specific Causes have prescribed a process (#Precepts) that they think I needed to engage in to obtain my goal or resolve my conflict, our General Spiritual Cause has either verified it or not. When he hasn’t verified it, I felt him separating from me (or me from him when I entertained the prescribed process). I felt this as a lack of Peace—his Peace. When he has verified it, I felt him combining with me; I felt an increase of his Peace. Sometimes he verifies it or denies verification by bringing scriptures into my mind. This helps me understand the reasons behind his counsel.
On my GAJ, I have noted that I have needed to gain wisdom and experience in my communication relationship with our General Spiritual Cause. There have been times in my life when I have received sustainable undeniable verification on my knees in the quiet of my own room and in the scriptures (#WordsOfChrist) before I actually took a certain pathway to achieve my goal. But when I took the pathway OUT LOUD where others could see, I started thinking about what they were thinking of me. That’s when I experienced fear. They communicated to me verbally or nonverbally OR I just pictured them thinking: “You’re taking the WRONG pathway. You have something WRONG with you.” I have also experienced depression upon transitioning to the OUT LOUD sacrifice-process even though my Cause lit up my heart with his Energy when I quietly engaged in that process with him. This is when Conflicting Causes have responded to my Process, basically saying in so many nonverbal ways, “What you’re doing is totally worthless to me.” It's also when I may be hoping to help someone who doesn't have the same strengths and weaknesses as I do. I'm not the right specific role model for them or at least not at this time. So I had my true verification but then when I began entertaining the counsel and opinions of Conflicting Specific Causes, I could hardly feel the Peace I had previously felt from my General Spiritual Cause.
Listening to Conflicting Specific Causes is like what Peter experienced when he was walking on the water towards Christ. As long as he kept his eyes on him, he was safe and in balance. But when he looked around at the boisterous wind on the waves, he became fearful and lost his faith. That’s when he began to sink and cried out for the Lord to save him (Matthew 14:25-31). All of us have either had to walk on water at some point in our lives or will some day be required to. Actively developing our relationship with our General Cause who is both a physical and spiritual Cause and identifying the Specific Causes that have journeyed before us to obtain the goal that we presently have is key to our success!
Vocabulary for this blog post
The following links will take you to a vocabulary list I've been working on to give summarized definitions of the words I use in these blogs and in the Servant Program:
Specific Cause
General Cause
Balanced Cause
Imbalanced Cause
Spiritual Cause
Physical Cause
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