Meeting Our Innermost Needs

"There is no opposite to the Allness, Love, and Totality of God."

– Dr. David R. Hawkins (I: Reality & Subjectivity, p. 282)

Dear Friends,

It should come as no shock to consider that what has happened in our lives is largely what has shaped us into who we are today. Our childhood, adolescence, and adult lives have been filled with countless moments of joy, sorrow, boredom, and courage. Yet, as a product of its evolution over millions of years, our survival brain has learned to focus its attention on the dangerous, negative, lacking parts of life as a means to protect itself.

No wonder it's easier to recall the sorrow of hurtful words spoken to us 20 years ago than that exquisite moment of joy when a ladybug landed on our arm 1 year ago... can we even remember it at all?

As I go deeper into my self, and bring a loving, mindful heart to the unexplored zones of my personal unconscious/ego/karma, I've begun to see more clearly that underneath the suffering is some even-deeper feeling of lack, and my innermost needs:

The need to feel loved unconditionally.

The need to feel connected.

The need to feel worthy.

The need to feel cared for and supported.

The need to feel safe and free from pain.

This list is not unique to me, nor are the traditional ways we as people try to meet these needs: getting married, having children, getting a well-paying job, and so on.

But why do we put our faith in external sources, which are temporary and limited by energy, form, and ability, to fulfill our deepest, innermost needs? It's at best a gamble, but more often than not, this leads us directly to disillusionment, disappointment, sadness, and pain. Over time, we may develop deep beliefs that "we aren't worthy of having our needs met" or "it's impossible for me to have all my needs met", which often results in the feeling of having been "abandoned by God".

Now, let's consider the quote at the top:"There is no opposite to the Allness, Love, and Totality of God."

In the Newtonian world of the intellect, all actions have an equal and opposite reaction. Duality colors our perceptions of all that's around us, as well as all that is within us. We are so used to duality, we project it even onto God, thinking of God as somehow separate from us. Yet this quote from Dr. Hawkins invites us to embrace a higher truth that, beyond the duality of the mind, the Allness, Love, and Totality of God simply are, without competition or any possibility of opposition. They just are. Thus:

Darkness is not the opposite of Light; it is merely its absence.

Coldness is not the opposite of Heat; it is merely its absence.

Hate is not the opposite of Love; it is merely its absence.

Doubt is not the opposite of Faith; it is merely its absence.

Therefore, all of our innermost needs can, in fact, be satisfied through the unlimited, universal, all-loving Presence. For what is understood to be "lack" and "need" is merely the absence of the Presence.

Our resistance to letting Divinity reach the depths of us leave us feeling painfully separate from Truth/Love/Allness/Totality, even though we may "know" that we need to feel connected to God at our innermost level. So why do we resist?

Speaking for myself, I believe that Dr. Hawkins's statement is true... but the instant I let it penetrate deeper than my intellect, I am terrified. In the comfort zone of my mind, the duality of "me" looking at a "belief" enforces a distance that helps me feel safe from a potentially harmful idea and helps me feel in control. While this is often an essential tool for navigating the world, it keeps us from experiencing the depths of our essence and its intrinsic Oneness with God.

In choosing spiritual work, we will discover that the willingness to surrender our fears, control, doubts, and aversions to the Allness, Love, and Purity of God is actually innate within us. By choosing to surrender our attachments to negativity, doubt, fear, and control, we are calling forth that innate Power, which is capable of transcending our resistances. This choice to surrender–– and the willingness to stick with it as it plays out––is what I think of as Faith.

I'm learning more deeply that Faith is the means by which the gaping holes in our hearts, which give rise to doubt and are our innermost needs, can become filled by the Presence of All-Loving Grace. Faith has no opposite, and is therefore of God. Likewise, "control" is not the opposite of "Faith", but is rather the resistance that blocks it from flowing from the Source within. By comparison, "belief" is a static, dead thought structure in the mind, whereas Faith is an ever-growing, living force of our highest Nature that brings us out of fear and delivers us to the Light of our soul.

Faith, as a pathway to God, is also the means to the fulfillment of our innermost needs. The limited domain of form and temporality is intrinsically incapable of meeting these innermost needs, but that does not mean they cannot be met. By turning to the unconditionally loving qualities of God and embracing the belief that they are present with us at all times and in all places, we can lean on Faith to guide us back home.