Five Steps to Cultivating Your Relationship With the Holy Spirit
Many spiritual seekers ask me, “How do I hear the voice of Spirit?” and “How do I know it’s not just my ego trying to trick me?” Cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit is the simplest, most natural thing in the world. It is the most satisfying relationship you will ever have, and it will result in all your human relationships improving immensely. As you get the hang of how to cultivate this relationship, your fears about being tricked by your ego will fade away.
Though it may seem elusive, this relationship is right here, right now. The key to making contact with the Holy Spirit is letting go of the ego self, or what A Course in Miracles (aka “ACIM” and “the Course”) calls, “undoing” and “unlearning.” Here are five steps that always work-even if you don’t discern results for a while. Keep them up and the Holy Spirit will be revealed to you.
1. Be willing. Another way of saying this is, “Step back and let the Holy Spirit lead the way.” Willingness is pretty easy, because even if you are not willing, you can be willing to be willing. That’s good enough. Just to be sure you really mean it, say aloud, “Holy Spirit, I am willing to be in relationship with You. Help me develop our relationship.” Breathe. Take a full inhale and exhale. Then say it again-as many times as feels right.
Think of “willingness” as connecting your will with God’s Will-like plugging into a Power Source, just as you do with electrical appliances and your cell phone. Willingness grows naturally after that, because once you’re connected to God’s Will, you are connected to an unstoppable Loving Force. A tiny, sincere willingness begins the process of cultivating your relationship with the Holy Spirit.
2. Tune In. Once you’ve stated your willingness to yourself and the Holy Spirit, consciously choose to tune in. Just as you would adjust the dial on a radio to get clear reception, do the same in your own mind. Focus your attention on the memory of God within you-it is there. The Course calls this memory the Holy Spirit. Draw your attention to something within you that Knows. This can happen quickly-in a holy instant. Trust that your intention is enough to help you tune in, even if it feels like nothing happened.
Lesson 124 tells us, “Your benefit will not be less if you believe that nothing happens. You may not be ready to accept the gain today. Yet sometime, somewhere, it will come to you, nor will you fail to recognize it when it dawns with certainty upon your mind.” In the Preface, Jesus tells us that “return to God [is] not only possible, but inevitable,” and in Chapter 4, “God is inevitable, and you cannot avoid Him anymore than He can avoid you.” And there are many more assurances of this kind throughout A Course in Miracles.
3. Establish Connection. Now that you’ve tuned in, it’s time to establish a lasting connection with your Internal Teacher, as Helen Schucman, the scribe of ACIM, referred to the Holy Spirit. How? Notice what comes to you… what ideas enter your mind? Ideas will probably not be logical, linear thoughts. For me, establishing connection has a lot to do with body language.
