I am reading through a transcript that Carla had highlighted for me in which there was a question and answer format Mother was engaging us in. The year was 1986, and I asked Mother:
David H. Mother, how can you tell when the impressions and the voice and the feelings that you’re getting are from God and not just from yourself?
Mother Hamilton: Well, you all remember that in the Bible it says, “Test each spirit as it comes, or each thought because not every spirit is of God.” You have intuition inside of you. You intuit. In other words that is God speaking to you. I have used that many, many times in my lifetime. And your solar plexus is your second brain and that’s where you get the feeling that something is right or wrong. So when you don’t feel totally comfortable and get the green light on something, take a good look at it. I had that happen to me when I was in New York. I was shown something that I could do, that I wanted to do very badly and it looked just like a beautiful arrangement.
Then I remembered that “test each spirit as it comes.” I did that and immediately I said to God, “If that’s right let me know but if it isn’t show me something else.” Immediately I got a totally different picture. And I would have been in deep trouble if I had done what I first got. So when you get these feelings of either go ahead or the stop signal, listen to them. Don’t go against them. That is God in you, protecting you, guiding you, directing you.
In reading this I noticed that Mother did not give a concrete reference, such as look it up in this book, but rather gave a means for going deeper inside myself and communing with God. The other thing that struck me was that Mother gave an example from her own experience in which she had a misleading direction, something that seemed so right in her own mind, but God was prompting her from within to “test each spirit.”
It is amazing to think that 32 years have passed since Mother said this. I think back over the many experiences God had yet to put me through, and the times when I both honored and ignored Mother’s sage advice. I do wish I could say I always exercised the precise discrimination Mother taught, for that would have saved me a lot of pain and trouble.
However, the relevance of her teachings is timeless, and not just for me, but for all. That we take the time to really go to God to ensure the direction in which we are heading, to confirm that the day-to-day decisions we are making are in concert with the highest light and wisdom of God. It is crucial to our long term happiness and fulfillment that we really listen to what Mother taught, and do as she did.