THE POWER OF THE INNER SELF

Awakening the Spirit Within

Bringing Great Peace and Calm, Kindness and Gentleness, Love and Forgiveness, Patience, Perseverance, and Self-Control Into Your Daily Life

John C. Lehner

Somewhere in my 50s, I began climbing “14teeners" in Colorado and ended up climbing nine of them. These were mountains that were over 14 thousand feet high. Beginning with my first experience, I felt something radically different arising from within and was overcome with a feeling of great peace and calm.

Difficult to describe as are most feelings it was an awareness of something within, yet, somewhat beyond my human/physical self. It was a feeling of something Godly that seemed to be driven by a mind totally empty of worldly thought.

It was a completely new experience, even though I had experienced a similar feeling when I was younger, driving a farm tractor and ploughing the soil. It seemed like a closeness to something beyond yet arising from within my “self.” These feelings were simply an awareness of them completely without thoughtful definition. While climbing these 14teeners, I did have thoughts of the vast creation below and God’s presence within it. This led to thoughts of my own spiritual nature and its eternity somewhere beyond this earthly life. Interestingly, during this same time, I had walked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and had the same escape into something beyond, but also within, my “self.”

A short time later, I experienced this same feeling simply by reading God’s Word slowly and without intentional thought. It was, again, a dominant feeling of complete “unthoughtfulness.”

It was an awareness/feeling of wholeness my physical, mental, and spiritual self all in one. It was just an experience indescribable and undefined but yet, an “awareness” of my total “self.”

These experiences were a great revelation about something Spiritual and Godly that produced a feeling vastly different from the one of my humanness.

And from this, I experienced a “Newness of Life,” one that contained more peace and calm, more than I had never known. For sure, I was changed and felt the reality of something more spiritual than human.

Later, these same experiences were driven by lightly thinking about something beyond myself God. It was a complete escape from the dominating thoughts of this worldly life. Arising without great intentionality, it was a different experience that produced a feeling of spiritualness, yet it was contained within my humanness.

Also, during this same time frame, I developed the concept of “spiritual muscle.” One that resulted from the first commandment that Jesus Christ left for us: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 1 For the first time in my life, the word “strength” stunned me, and I felt its impact.

At that point, I began writing a book about what seemed to be my own spiritual nature. I quickly realized that some of my experiences were a simple form of “Meditation.” And then, this book that you are reading, “The Power of the Inner Self,” became a reality.

Shortly thereafter, I had a strong urge to bring this spiritual concept of my Inner Self to others and decided to start a “jail ministry” so that the prisoners could also live in this worldly life with more peace and calm.

Many lives were changed. For sure, this was accomplished by the power and influence of the God-given Spirit within them. If these men can experience a “Newness of Life” through a simple meditative experience, so can you. It’s a life with more love and forgiveness, more patience and perseverance more Inner Muscle.

1. Mark 12:30

Most fundamentally, this Handbook describes the power and influence of my own spiritual experiences as well as those encountered when working with almost 3,000 men in my jail ministry. As a result, I have described a very simple and practical approach for awakening your Inner Spirit an experience that brings a “Newness of Life” upon you too.

To more easily understand the power and influence of this “Inner Spirit,” read the dramatic accounts of how this can happen on the website: “spiritualmuscle.com.” These reports were written by two prisoners with whom I have met many times, men whose lives became dominated by great peace and calm. You can read them by scrolling down to the section: “Real Life Stories.” One of them is also presented here in this Handbook on page 115 and another sepate one on page 13.

Many readers also have personal experiences about which I would like to read. Therefore, a special email Personal Experiences has been created under the heading “Contact” on this same website, where you can submit them and thereby possibly contribute to another, more “reader-driven” book dedicated to this topic.

This present Handbook is about the spiritual nature of the human self. It is the most basic characteristic of earthly existence and is the foundation upon which the concept of mindfulness as in other religions is built. It is this spirituality that drives all human development.

So, again, anyone can have a simple meditative experience. One that further develops, reinforces, and brings forth a Newness of Life containing the personal characteristics listed on the cover of this Handbook. And from these experiences, the most basic self its Spiritualness—becomes the main driver of your daily life.

The resulting transformation away from your human self can happen even if you don’t completely understand who this Spirit is or know anything about it. And further, even if you can’t explain the resulting experience or feeling, it remains real and personal to your “self.”

On the following page is an image of a six-winged angel as described in the Holy Bible.1 Two wings covered his face. Two covered his feet and two with which he flew. It is used here in this Handbook only as a representation of your Inner Spirit and is not the image of the Spirit itself.

In addition, below the image is a short description and application of the concept of “worldly thought.” It is from this thought that we want to escape and have an experience of our inner selves and its meditations.

• Worldly thought often fills your mind with more than it can handle, like events at work, at home, and everything in between including an addiction, be it mental or physical.

• Most often, excessive thought is driven by an event in which others are involved. But, at times, it can arise totally from within the self.

• The simple process of escaping from these thoughts brings you into the spiritual reality of your Inner Self and into a Newness of Life, one that contains more of the characteristics listed on the cover of this Handbook.

Living and walking in the Spirit is as simple as being thoughtfully active in the Spirit. This is done by shifting your mind if only for a moment or two—into simple and short spiritual thoughts, and of God. Immediately, the spiritual awareness dominates your mind. Being in the Spirit, however, is not limited to a mental thought. It can also be experienced by performing a good deed unto others. Usually, this deed is right in front of you or will be at some point throughout the day.

Basically, this spiritual awareness in which you are walking and living is an escape from the dominance of worldly thought. And the experience of it can be brought about by intentionally repeating/chanting unto your “self” simple words like love, peace, forgiveness, and others of a personal and spiritual nature.

In addition, a short phrase like: “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” 1 or “you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit” 2 can also be repeatedly chanted. Even shorter phrases can be used, and some are drawn from these phrases, like: “in the Spirit,” “keep the unity,” or “the bond of peace.”

For me, a simple thought of something in nature can also lead to an abiding relationship with God, who is the Creator, Redeemer, and Comforter of us all no matter who we are. And from this simple beginning, an escape into my Spiritual Self immediately becomes a reality.

Each of us has loved our children, our parents, and our friends. Primarily, love is an awareness of a personal relationship. It arises from within the heart and soul and flows into the mind a feeling that sometimes occurs just for a few minutes and at other times for longer.

A simple thought brings me into my spirituality and away from my human/worldly self. Again, my spiritualness is something that is primarily experiential beyond thought. So, to have your own experience of it:

“Fix your eyes [mind] not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 1

As a result, you will be transformed away from the dominance of worldly thought and be consumed by the peace and calm you are seeking a feeling of wholeness coupled with a sense of belonging an experience of the Inner Self.

The simple exchange of worldly thought for spiritual thought produces an awareness of self that the Inner Spirit immediately brings into reality. In searching for a better understanding of it, I found that this feeling is somewhat like the wind, as Jesus Christ has described:

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 2

The Spirit goes “where it wishes,” and you don’t know “where it comes from and where it goes. ” You do know, however, that as one who was created in God’s image, you are “born of the Spirit.” As it awakens, you can feel the spiritual nature of your “Inner Self” overcome you.

Interestingly, the wind cannot be captured or contained, but it can be felt. So it is with your own spirituality. The presence of this Inner Spirit like the wind is constantly in and around you, for:

“In Him we live and move and have our being.” 1

Often, this Inner Spirit is or becomes the Holy Spirit. There are many ways the Holy Spirit can come upon someone, the most common of which is through Baptism with water. There are, however, other methods, one of which is simply by hearing the Word of God.2 An additional method is through prayer as described by Luke another Apostle of Jesus Christ:

3

So, it’s possible that most people can have the Holy Spirit within them simply by praying for Him even if the prayer is by someone else. And again, a full understanding of this concept is not necessary. God can do anything if not, He wouldn’t be God.

From within your abiding/chanting and the resulting meditations the Holy Spirit will begin molding the basic personality of your Inner Self. This occurs when you start to more actively seek and then receive at least in part these “Christlike Characteristics:”

- Love, Forgiveness, Faithfulness, and Goodness

- Kindness, Gentleness, Patience, and Perseverance

- Each leading to more Self-Control 4

Unfortunately, throughout most of my life, I had failed to call on God to help me have these characteristics and use them as I should have. This failure to intentionally fight the good fight with The Power of my Inner Self came about simply because I did not turn away from the more dominant flow of thoughts of my worldly life.