Saul to Paul Moments
Life is complicated. We all have a shadow side and a side of light. Which side we choose to build is of course the puzzle each of us must figure out and then lay the pieces in their matching slots. You can change. No matter how bad of a mess your life is or if you just need a few adjustments. You can shift and get right with yourself.
We all have subconscious conditioning and life experiences that create our perceptions and those combined with emotional intelligence lead to our choices-good or bad. We usually make the choice that seems to make sense at the time. Often we have a gut feeling that we shouldn’t go a certain direction but our conditioning can be strong enough to overrule our own inner guidance.
Saul was a highly educated Jew. He was also born of a Roman father and he had claim to Roman citizenship. He was complex. His education in Tarsus was considered to be most excellent and his training in his religion was unmatched. Saul was heavily indoctrinated into the beliefs that he held most dear. He was trained as a Pharisee. The 613 laws in the Law of Moses were the points he held to in exactness and he was considered a zealot of Judaism. He wanted to control others probably in the same way he had learned to control himself. He took the truth as he understood it and armed himself but really was missing the mark.
He is an extreme case. Saul became what I affectionately call a ‘bounty hunter.’ He was taking his training to an extreme and he wanted to cleanse the earth of people who believed differently and had a different truth. He found the followers of a rabbi now dead from crucifixion a threat. He wanted those who believed in Jesus Christ to be eradicated. He took his life long training and in a dangerous way began to hunt down those who understood differently. Hate crimes at an ugly high. Saul arrested them, and many were tortured, and killed.
He felt justified. Why? Because of his belief systems and his conditioning. Then on the way to Damascus he had an eye opening, (rather blinding) experience. His henchmen and he were on the road and a type of earthshaking moment happened and a bright light which scared the bee gee bees out of them. He also had a confrontation from heaven asking him for accountability for his behavior. This became a moment of truth and a game changer. He had a radical change of heart. Saul was now blind and beginning to see. Taken to a local town and healer gave him a blessing and his sight was restored but he saw everything different. He now became Paul and became one of the most devoted followers of Christ and he spent his life teaching, writing, and ‘saving’ people. He was the most influential writer I believe in the New Testament.
He suffered for his change of heart and had to rebuild trust. He had to change his relationship to truth and humble himself to accept others reactions, and to face what he just couldn’t fix. He had to tap into his own power of discernment and decide what he believed and build a better way for his own life and then share it with others. He became a man who wanted to build rather than destroy.
We too have conditioning and we can challenge our beliefs and our need to be right. We can understand that we feel safe when we follow others but we all need to receive sight and lead our own lives and not just be sheep.
How do you find your pathway?
Know you have conditioning. Triggers. You have a perspective. Challenge your own high mindedness. Learn to question yourself. Learn to have an inner dialogue so you don’t just stay in a narrow path and miss the mark.
Is it kind? This is a simple guide. Is what you are doing, saying, putting on social media, or creating from opinion to actions a kind thing to do?
Practice some self discipline. We live in a time where people self indulge and our ‘selfie’ society is transforming into an undisciplined, self-seeking world. Where do you need to reign yourself in? Gossip, food, drugs, sex, nasty comments, passive-aggressive actions, blame? Look for your own little actions and change by just doing one simple action today that limits the pain you are putting into the chi of existence.
Fix what you can and let go of what you can’t. You can do some things to make things right and then there will be areas where you simply can’t so don’t burn out your candle on people, situations, or memories that can’t be building blocks to a better life.
Forgive everything. Move forward. Align. Accept people and what you have lived through and let others be who they are too. Don’t require others to change for you, they must do it for them. Change yourself and others may follow!
You can change and it can start today. Do it.
Blessings,
Rainbow
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