God created us to live our lives from the higher dynamic viewpoint of Soul, not the lower rigid mental state. Until our mind is on board with this arrangement and takes a backseat to Soul, it will throw quite a fuss. No better is the difference between mind and Soul and the battle for top dog illustrated than in this testimony. 

Our family had just finished a delicious evening meal and was enjoying some quality time together in the living room. I had settled into my chair, put my feet up to relax after a day at work, and was enjoying watching our two-year-old daughter play. My wife and I began to share our day when our daughter got up from playing, came over, and told me to get up out of my chair.

I explained to her I was enjoying sitting in my chair. She then got very animated and put her hands under my legs trying her best to lift me out of my chair and said, “Up Daddy.” I firmly told her that this was my chair, and I was not moving. She then began to cry and throw a tantrum screaming “My chair Daddy.” My wife and I looked at each other with disbelief and a slight smile for this was an exceptional two-year-old moment, even for her, and not her normal behavior. I did not know why, but felt a strong urge to stay firm no matter what she did and stay sitting in my chair. I knew it was best for her. I proceeded to explain to her this was Daddy’s chair, but she could sit with me if she liked. She screamed louder, and the tears were running down both sides of her now-flushed red cheeks as she stood there crying and screaming over and over, “Get up Daddy, it is my chair, get up Daddy, it is my chair. Get up Daddy, it is my chair.” After about five minutes of this behavior there was no sign of letting up, so my wife took our daughter for a bath to calm her down.

This caught my attention for this was over the top behavior even for a two-year-old child. I was left with a sense of peace. I had a knowing that being firm in my attitude, that I was not going to get up no matter what, was best for all involved. Our daughter got her bath, calmed down, and we all went about our evening.

A few weeks later Prophet was helping me and a group of students understand more about our true nature as Soul. A smile came across my face as the memories of my daughter’s behavior a few weeks earlier came rushing into my consciousness. I was given the clarity to see how it tied into our conversation, and it reminded me of a spiritual truth that Del has taught me over the years. Soul belongs in charge of our mind and not the other way around. Soul belongs in the captain’s chair of our life. We are Soul, the spiritual adult in the relationship with the mind. It is much like the loving relationship between a parent and a child.

The mind, we call the “little-self,” is much like a two-year-old and was never designed to run our life. The mind is very limited and is the source of our frustrations, fears, anger, worries, self-doubts, vanity, attachments, and a variety of other ailments. It does not like change, gets overwhelmed, and is generally closed to ideas outside of itself. These are all traits of the mind but not of Soul. The mind is good at balancing our checkbooks and taking care of our daily tasks, but it is very limited when compared to the boundlessness of Soul.

Soul is creative, resilient, happy, peaceful, and cherishes freedom. It also has clarity, a can-do attitude, access to wisdom, and is generally open to new ideas. Soul has a higher spiritual consciousness than the mind, thus better equipped to run our lives. Soul is free to travel the Heavens, has a greater capacity to give and receive love, and Its potential for growth has no limits.

When we begin to be more spiritually nourished, Soul grows stronger in our life. We begin to make better choices and decisions that benefit us and those we love. Some of the things that help Soul grow stronger are singing HU, reading scriptures, paying attention to dreams, spending time with Prophet, and learning to recognize and be grateful for the blessings in life.

When Soul begins to get stronger the mind may start to protest. At first it feels threatened and does not want to give up sitting in the captain’s chair. The little-self has been used to being in charge of our life and has grown to like telling us how things should be. Initially the mind does not like the idea of Soul being in charge and will protest, yell, and scream, much like a two-year-old throwing tantrums to get its way. When Soul gains enough strength it takes charge of the mind and takes its rightful place in the captain’s chair of our life. This is what is best for us and what is best for our little-self.

Our true self, Soul, is designed by God to be in charge of the mind. Soul has a higher view of life, sees more clearly, and is receptive to God’s Love, truth, and guidance. As Soul we are more relaxed, peaceful, joyous, loving, wise, and creative. God actually created the mind to be subservient to Soul; an instrument to be used by Soul to achieve its purpose during its sojourn on planet Earth. This experience is a reminder to me that I want to live my life with Soul in charge of the little-self. That I want to nourish Soul daily and feed it the spiritual food it needs to grow stronger and stay strong, because this is my Divine nature — Soul. It is the true expression of myself as God created me.

Thank you Prophet for giving me this experience and for helping me manifest my Divine nature and the dreams of my heart.

Written by Mark Snodgrass

Excerpt from “Testimonies of God’s Love – Book 5”