The Inward Sea

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Hand-drawn art by Akshita
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“आंतरिक सागर”

हॉवर्ड थुरमन के द्वारा



हर व्यक्ति के अंदर एक आंतरिक सागर होता है

और उस सागर में एक द्वीप होता है

और उस द्वीप पर एक यज्ञवेदी होती है

और उस यज्ञवेदी के सामने जोशीली तलवार लिए एक देवदूत पहरा देता है।

उस देवदूत को पार कर के कोई भी चीज़ उस यज्ञवेदी को अर्पण नहीं की जा सकती
जब तक कि उसमें आपकी आंतरिक शक्ति की मुहर न हो।

जोशीली तलवार लिए हुए देवदूत को पार कर के कोई भी चीज़ आपकी यज्ञवेदी पर अर्पण नहीं की जा सकती जब तक कि वह आपकी प्रवाहित सहमति का हिस्सा न हो।

यह आपको शाश्वत के साथ जोड़ने वाली महत्वपूर्ण कड़ी है।


मनन के लिए मूल प्रश्न: आप इस धारणा से कैसे संबंधित हैं कि हम अपनी पवित्रता को केवल अपनी आंतरिक शक्ति और सहमति से ही छू सकते हैं? क्या आप अपनी आंतरिक यज्ञवेदी को भेंट अर्पण करने का कोई अनुभव साझा कर सकते हैं? आपको अपनी आंतरिक शक्ति और सहमति के प्रभाव का एहसास करने में किससे मदद मिलती है?
Seed Questions for Reflection

How do you relate to the notion that we can only touch our sacredness with our inner authority and consent? Can you share an experience you’ve had making an offering to your inner altar? What helps you realize the power of your inner authority and consent?

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Add Your Reflection

15 Past Reflections
GU
Apr 12, 2024
Thurman's lines imply that the angel with the flaming sword obeys "me" and does not intervene when my consent ( "fluid" indeed , it often is ) permits any something to infuse my being. ( Whatever is placed on "my" altar, infuses my being). But who really is the deity of this temple/church ? "Me" or God ?.
It helps me to make the tough decisions , quickly, timely, if i consider ( worshipfully) that the deity is God and not me, though instinctively, most of the time , "me" gets served
AM
Apr 9, 2024
Thank you for this reminder…- our shared path to our inner altars is also a sacred space of collective interconnectivity. We forget our responsibility to our own inner altar when we meet obstacles such as these last few years where “reality“ has shifted as if we were all living in a kaleidoscopic turbine of mixed forces. From the perspective of staying present, open and connected to what is emerging, I know I am passing through all sorts of release, where I welcome the flames of the sword as a purifying, an elemental initiation. Then I might be washed clean, perhaps more ready, entering that more fluid space of heart, and a deeper awareness from a different opening toward a Gladdened path of embodied joy & harmony. It is both solitary and multiply informed; these many dimensions and ways of knowing play us through time and space, shaping ‘the New’. Love matters most here.
SM
Steve Marsh May 7, 2026
Beautiful reflection, Allie. Thank you!
MA
Apr 9, 2024
I've discovered my inner authority through the game of chess. There are many choices to made and it's necessary to discern the good moves. Often I've asked myself what move the chess engine (computer program) would recommend and this effort to "second guess" the best move has yielded spotty results. But if I trust my own gut and my (admittedly limited) ability to calculate the outcome of a move, then I play my own game and have much more success. I'm learning to do this in my life, too. Rather than think about what I "should" say or do, I go to my inner self and trust my guidance. I'm learning how it feels to really be myself and I'm enjoying life a lot more!
MO
Molly Apr 9, 2024
Love the chess analogy.
AJ
AJ Apr 10, 2024
Amen!!! I❤️
MO
Apr 8, 2024
Knowing I have an inner authority (My I Am Presence) allowed me to consciously take authority of my life with the help of all the Masters, Angels, and Cosmic Beings helping us ascend. Free will took on a very different meaning. I was so lost until I woke up to this reality. Invoking light helps me remember the truth of this reality by how I feel. It is validation of how light energy is real right in the center of the heart. I give free will consent daily and often hourly.
DD
Apr 5, 2024
My thoughts: Our inner authority and consent can help us touch our sacredness, are important ingredients, but they aren't enough. Understanding "inner authority" to mean it's "my doing" to get to the altar is true, and it takes even more than that. That is, it takes my being truly sincerely into it, not just going through the motions. It also takes some good fortune. I've brought sincere study, reflection, discussion, openness to my inner altar resulting I feel in some growth in my spirituality. What helps me realize the power of my inner authority and consent is the sincere effort I'm referring to, along with some good fortune.
JP
Apr 4, 2024
We all have the potential source of Inner Light to see the Reality, the Truth, the Sacredness. Such inner light shines when our eyes do not get blinded by the power of hungry and self-centered people in our life. We are witnessing such authoritarian, power hungry, and self-centered leaders in many parts of the world creating divisiveness, hatred and destruction. How do create a world where we can relate to each other as highly evolved human beings? How can we create light in darkness? We have been blessed to witness highly evolved leaders like Mahtama Gandhi, Howard Thurman, Martin Luther King Jr and others mentioned in the introdution of the passage. This is a call for all of us to wake up, to remain awake, to join hands with our brothers and sisters and take a firm and strong stand for peaceful coexitence. Cultivating inner qualities of knowing the truth, listening to it with an open mind and open heart, and taking a courageous stand and joing hands with others is my way of goin... View full comment
BA
Barbara Apr 9, 2024
Thank you, Jagdish P Dave, for this post as it touches me and feels to ring true for me as well.
JO
Jo Apr 9, 2024
This is so beautifully written JPD! I distance myself from worldly powers … self centered folks. There is little “movement/flexability/growth” when in relationship with “power”. It/she/he always has its way.
By holding on to our “inner life”, we create “a safe place” to process what we experience in our “outer life”. Everything is more pure, free and surreal “inside”. The Divine (in me) … does not use His power to dictate and control … but rather to Live, Move and Secure my BEing.🌱🌷🌱
MI
Apr 4, 2024
Beautiful! Howard Thurman certainly has many inspiring quotes to offer. This text reminds me a lot of Khalil Gibran´s Prophet, where he writes something similar "on freedom": If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead. You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them. And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed. For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their own pride? And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you. And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared. This book (The Prophet) came to me as a present for the birthday of my older daughter and I kept it on my bedside table for 26 years. ... View full comment
GU
Gururaj Apr 12, 2024
Very true, Michael.
Your post is a reminder to dust off my copy of The Prophet and read it again
VI
Apr 4, 2024
wow........what a beautiful reminder of the power we each have to make choices that support our heart, our work in the world and our sense of belonging. I needed to read this exactly this morning. I needed to be reminded to be conscious of my inner authority and the 'fluid area of my consent' . Thank you dear Awakin team! With much gratitude and appreciation....