Relationships are not what they once were. In some ways relationships have improved from the old days. People have learned to communicate better in recent years, there is less manipulation and control in relationships nowadays, and people are no longer terrified to let go of nonproductive arrangements.
But in the rush to modernize relationships time-honored values have sometimes been flushed down the drain, babies thrown out with the bathwater, leading to more relationship problems than necessary.
A good relationships course would have its students asking:
"What are the natural inbred values which, if ignored in relationships, render the relationship unnatural and therefore ultimately pain-producing?"
This course does not attempt to tell me what these values are, but rather gently reminds me there are such values and invites me to discover them for myself.
Maybe women have some natural genetically influenced traits which cannot be ignored in relationships. Maybe for relationships to work best men cannot be who they are not designed to be. Maybe there are certain relationship truths which our ancestors always knew instinctively and which cannot be thrown away even though we have new relationship technology.
My job this week is to ask these kinds of questions and seek answers inside myself where the answers to all questions dwell.
As I awaken each day this week, I ask sincerely to be shown what are the natural and inherent truths of relationships which can only be denied at risk. If I like religious language I can call my asking a "prayer." If I'm more scientifically inclined, I can call myself a "dedicated investigator."
Even scientists admit that answers to great questions are more often than not heard inside themselves with inner hearing rather than figured out by intellectual means. Many years ago the head of the Physics Department at a famous university announced a tremendous breakthrough in the understanding of subatomic physics. The announced breakthrough did not come from his team of scientists who had worked many years with no results. The breakthrough was given to him by a young man whose habit it was to sit on the roof of his house, smoke marijuana, and converse with "visitors from outer space."
Some would say it's a sad state of affairs when visitors from outer space have to feed us our scientific breakthroughs. Others would say it's been that way all along. If there were such a thing as visitors from outer space, they themselves would probably say, "Who do you think is writing this relationships course?"
The truth is perhaps closer to home. Maybe inner space is outer space and the inspirations that have always been given to scientists, inventors, writers and artists have come from within. Perhaps "visitors from outer space" are visiting flashes of enlightenment from inner space.
At any rate, I devote this week to seeking answers about relationships ... answers I may never previously have looked deep enough inside myself to see. My goal this week is to be alert, to watch, to listen inside ... and to pay attention to answers coming.
I might further the process by stating to myself many times this week some such statement as:
"I see clearly the natural truths about relationships that are sometimes being ignored in this day and age."
Each day this week before retiring for the day I review any insight or "light bulb" newly turned on in my mind, and any understanding I've gained. To each of the principles thus dis-covered, I declare my allegiance, saying to myself as many times as it takes to feel truly dedicated:
"I will not ignore this principle in my relationships, no matter what others are doing!"
Before falling asleep this week I feel the pleasure of knowing I have discovered truths just by asking with all my heart, and I feel the joy of being grounded in the foundation of truths thus discovered.
I might even say aloud to myself:
"What a joy to discover truth for myself and live by it! What an incredible joy!"
Also available free of charge online:
Course in Political Miracles
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