Now in this Age of Enlightenment all can visit directly with their guides and gain the wisdom to proceed into the path that has been thoughtfully laid out for us. It is not for the fainthearted nor for the whimsical adventurer, however, because they take their work very seriously. You must honor their direction and move appropriately toward the path you should walk. They will expect compliance and purification of intentions if you wish to be free of hindrances. They will look deep into your heart and tell you what they see. They will expect you to look with them to eradicate any shadows that exist.

It is not insignificant that we are seeking our own truths because there is such an abundance of information coming forth. However, it may or may not be appropriate for our individual path. We all have purposes and all are grand in scale as we see it but we alone know our true purpose. We alone know what we desire deep within our hearts. We seek experiences that enhance our ability to believe in the Universal Forces that propel us into a New Age. We feel compelled to seek, but too often do not know where to begin. We must go within. Like an explorer, we must seek the self with all of its warts if we are ever to be pure enough to move into a world of Light unlike any this planet has witnessed. I am referring to what core beliefs we have about our selves and others that hinders us from being part of a much larger plan and whole.

I speak not of our spiritual health but of our psycho-spiritual health. We must be mature in our thoughts and perceptions of a world filled with madness and injustice. We must be mature in our approach to seeking how we, each one of us individually, can be the best that we can possibly be. After all, that is the greatest purpose of all. We all hope to make an impact on the world and we certainly wish to make a difference, but we often get so caught up in helping others we neglect the self. The self is logically where we should all begin. If we all tried to better ourselves then, of course, change would automatically come to our dimension. We need to alter our thoughts from "See what I can do" to "See what I have become". They are different approaches in value. Becoming the best we can be requires transformation of what we look and feel and think inside, not how we perform externally. When the internal psycho-spiritual aspects of self are in line with Spirit and our goals for betterment the outward automatically happens.

None are exempt from ego
It happens automatically because we are then ready to be of service to others. Ego can be the biggest barrier any of us faces because it is the ego that negative forces will use to hinder our effectiveness. We can get caught up in egotistical endeavors that seem to be of pure intent but intrinsically serve the self first. Such risks are inevitable when one strikes out into the world with a plan to serve and be a catalyst for change. None are exempt from the ego. All that ego requires is a little rubbing with notoriety and it will flare into a fire that can consume our plan and us. Warnings come from our guides and when we can hear them directly they can lovingly redirect us before we create havoc or injure another by pushing our ego into their space. Egos prevent us from seeing when we are wrong. Spirit Guides subtly point out our erroneous thoughts and ideas to us and get us back on the right path. It cannot be that one is never wrong, for only God is infallible.

Guidance takes many forms when you work collaboratively with your personal guides, but it will consistently be focused upon the self and its evolution to betterment and deeper spirituality. I admonish people that it requires courage to work with your guides. They can be the best friends you will ever have because they practice unconditional love, however they will push you to be better until all malice or prejudice or lack of forgiveness and shallowness is gone. We did not come here to change the world. We came here to become enlightened and to better understand the nature of negativity that usually presents itself in immaturity in one form or another.

Self-actualization means we love the self and low self-esteem is the most prominent attribute of those who wish to serve. Oddly, because most serve in order to please others and thereby find solace in their presumed worth. If someone needs you or honors and respects our advice, instruction, wisdom or guidance then it can create the delusion that we must be a good and worthy person. We all need to feel loved. It is possible that Christendom has been the greatest detriment in this manner in our western line of thought. We have always been taught to serve at all cost to the self.

Service can be harmful
Now we are coming to understand that service can be harmful. We can serve others; it may be our family, friends, clients or neighbors. We can do so to the point of suffering. We can do it unto the point of death and then, when we are old, we look back and wish we had had more time to explore the fullness of self. Transpersonal Psychology teaches that although psychology went off on a tangent that became very self-serving and selfish, the shift to the knowledge of the One is bringing us back to our senses. We must fix the self first with the fullest intent of then serving others. It has been asked "How can we fix the world by removing ourselves from it?" Which is what psychology attempted for a time. Serve yes, but be certain you are ready to serve. Be sure your information is right and take responsibility to repair and correct any damage life on this plane has created within your personal psyche.

Does this mean we have to live isolated for a time? Sometimes it does. But isolation can be defined differently for the spiritualist. Eastern cultures teach silence. Eastern cultures speak of going to the teacher on the mountaintop wherein we can find our truths. However, that teacher is not alone on that mountain. He or she is deep within the spiritual realm, learning first of the self. After sufficient training he or she then opens the cave door and allows others to share that experience. It is indeed wondrous that today we can share that mountaintop experience in the silence of our own personal and sacred space. Our guides are empowered now to empower us because the lines of communication have been opened. They have lived this existence before and understand. They have been granted the right to open the cave door and help us by sharing their experience with us. We just need to learn how to go the mountain alone with them.

By going alone we become self-empowered. We become self-reliant and confident. We still may encounter periods of pride but they will be fleeting and our egos become less important as we begin to understand, as do our guides, that this is not an easy path on this planet. We see and experience injustice at every turn. We are bruised and bumped our life long, and sometimes we are so deeply injured it is hard to heal and move on. Our guides can show us the way back to the mountaintop. We live in a valley of fear and self-doubt and we must have the assurance of the mountain dwellers that we are still okay and still sufficient to serve if we can heal. Just as the body preserves itself in a homeostatic state, so does the mind. It desires to be whole. I think memories that are recurring and painful are there to remind us that we have healing to do. Memories get our attention when they hurt. Just like a broken limb pains us to make us pay attention to the fact that something is in need of attention.

Sometimes we set the broken limb wrong and it does not heal properly. Sometimes we ignore it and it heals in a distorted manner and serves as a constant reminder that we did not set things right. Painful experiences for many have been inadequately addressed and they cannot move past it. Their past is their present and they keep talking about the injustices they suffered. They bore us to uneasiness with the same old stories over and over. It is a cry for help, certainly, but no one can heal a wound they keep picking at. Healing can have profound effects when we come to the conclusion that life is not fair, nor is it just. It just is as it is. "Why me?" can be restated as, "Why not me?" when we understand that we chose this path for that very reason. When we suffer injustice we become wounded healers who understand another's pain. Frankly, I have little patience for those who tell me how it is but have never been there themselves. Experience is a most valuable teacher. That is why we came to experience life. Now we know how it is. More importantly, we know how it ought to be and we are set on a path of creating that better place or existence for all.

The Value of Pain
I do not minimize anyone's pain as I have had my share of it, but I do believe that we must take responsibility for setting it right. We can do so by understanding that there is purpose in our past suffering. It can teach us to avoid pain in the future, such as bad relationships, detrimental affiliations and associations with negativity in any manner that can create pain. We learn, if we are wise, to stop putting our hand in the fire, so we stop getting burned. There is value in pain. More importantly we learn that, innately, we desire a better world. We desire justice and fairness so we conceivably attempt to create such in our environments. We become a catalyst for change. Society I believe is experiencing painful instances of war and crime and a plethora of injustices in order to teach us to stop putting our hand in the fire. The collective consciousness is shifting to an awareness of the desire to live in peace. We, as cells of the Gaia and the One, are creating valuable change each time we choose to remove anything negative and replace it with positive.

Be advised that we bear a great responsibility for all thoughts we project into the collective consciousness. If we are not well, then we project sickness like a contagion into the field of energy that is controlling the Global Brain. We cannot do otherwise if we live in a sickened thought world.

Our guides can show us all of our negative thoughts and correctly set what has been broken. They have a lovingly confrontational style that is not offensive. They will also speak the truth when we need to hear it. Quetzalcoatl, whom I channel, recently stated it eloquently when he said, "The greatest contribution one can make is not that which is seen but that which is unseen", therefore I guard my negative thoughts regarding anything or anyone. Such is taking responsibility as a co-creator with God.

We can learn to live in peace