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 so to speak, 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 us what these values are, but rather gently reminds us there are such values and invites us to discover them for ourselves.
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 out even though we have new relationship technology.
So if we want happy, fulfilling relationships, we need to ask these kinds of questions and seek answers inside ourselves where the answers to all questions dwell. We need to ask sincerely to be shown what are the natural and inherent truths of relationships which can only be denied at risk.
If we like spiritual language we can call our asking "prayer" or "meditation."
If we think of ourselves as more scientifically inclined we can call ourselves "dedicated investigators." 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, if we want wonderful relationships we need to seek relationship answers we may never previously have looked deep enough inside ourselves to see. We need to be alert, to watch, to listen inside ... and to pay attention to answers rising from within.
It is said that all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. It is very helpful to imagine Humpty is our relationships and the king's power is modern relationship science, valuable but not in itself enough to accomplish our goal. On the other hand, those who have a habit of looking deep inside ourselves can be heard proclaiming almost every day:
"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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