MHR EP 2607 - Is Your Path Counterintuitive?

Does the path you are currently taking seem different to other people? Are there detractors? Do you feel overwhelmed in current society? Join us as we discuss how to manage the concerns and handle your detractors.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Ever wonder why most aircraft approach patterns to airfields are counterclockwise?

SPEAKER_00 0:09

What if I told you that there's more to it? That there are benefits and resources from heaven that are available to help you in this life, and you've never heard about it. Are you curious? Well, join Gordon Merrill if he digs deeper into making heaven real in this life.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Welcome back to Making Heaven Real. Previously, we've kind of used this analogy with airplanes and aircraft several times, and we've discussed how airplanes get their help and assistance and navigation and control from air traffic control or ATC. We've also discussed a couple different episodes on how our spirit can get its direction and help and navigation assistance through this life from our spirit team or STC. So today let's take that analogy just a little bit further. We started out the episode by asking if you knew why airplane approach patterns normally or counterclockwise. Well, if you've ever been a pilot or work in the aviation industry, you probably have a heads up on how to answer that question more appropriately than most people would. But it's really quite simple. In most cases, in most aircraft, the primary pilot seat is on the left side of the airplane. So that being the case, if you're going counterclockwise, the left window has the better view for visualizing the airport, the airfield, the windsock, looking for animals, birds, other obstructions in or around the airport. So there's a reason for that. Yeah, you will find in some cases there's some air traffic patterns that go the other direction, basically, because of interference or traffic patterns over municipal areas or, you know, airfield is close to a mountain, those kind of things. But very few. And in most cases, most all approach patterns are counterclockwise. There's also the point that you need to look at as far as understanding approach to airfields. There's a big difference on whether it is a controlled airfield or an uncontrolled airfield. Primarily for commercial or military, or there are a few exceptions for controlled towers that are not commercial or military. In some cases, they're private airstrips or airfields that used to be military airfields. But from a pilot perspective, when you're trying to land or approach an airfield, you're taught early on that there's a very large uptick in your responsibility, other than just flying the airplane, when it comes time to approach for a landing. One thing we were kind of jokingly taught when you go through private pilot training is takeoffs are optional, but landings are mandatory. So you're always looking at the idea and aspect of how can I land this effectively, safely without any concerns or issues. So let's just quickly look at an uncontrolled airfield. It's quite possible for you to approach that airfield, go through the approach pattern, do all the pieces and parts that are necessary to land on that field, and land on that field with nobody else being around and nobody else even knowing that you're there. So when you look at it that way, you have all kinds of things to concern about. What's the weather like? Do you have a clear visualization of the airfield? Is the weather crosswinds on the field different than what you're having in the pattern? So you're always looking at all kinds of things that are required for you to safely assess the situation. The weather, the midfield flyover, crosswinds, anything that's potentially an obstruction on the airfield, whether it's animals, birds, planes, vehicles, debris. You're also communicating on radio. So that anybody else who may be out there that you don't see will know that you're there. And the two of you can start discussing who needs to go first in order to land. So, quite honestly, there's probably about a dozen things that you're responsible for when you enter the pattern to land at an uncontrolled airfield. You know, we've been talking for a while here that the main reason we're on this earth is because spirit has been put in human form in order to learn contrast. Most notably what it's like to not be in God's presence all the time. Or what it's like to not be continually in an atmosphere of unprecedented love. So let's compare and contrast a controlled airfield with an uncontrolled field. Well, if you're going to a controlled airfield, first thing you do is you talk to ATC. Air traffic control. First thing they're going to want to know is have you listened in on the special frequency assigned to that field where you get automated weather updates. And when you get ready to land and you start to ask air traffic control to be put in the pattern and segueed into landing into that field, first thing they're wanting to know is if you've heard, understood the weather information. So by that point, you've already taken care of several things that are on our list for an uncontrolled field because you have the weather information provided for you, you have the crosswinds provided for you, you know which runway is active already. So all of that information has already been provided. Final positioning and air traffic on the radio, it's all done by one communication to ATC. And then once you are on the ground, it switches from ATC to ground control, and you're done. So instead of having about twelve different things you're responsible for on an uncontrolled field, ATC helping you to provide you with proper information, scheduling, segue, communication takes all of that off your plate and helps you land safely in a controlled environment. The big thing about that though is you have to always be prepared. Even if ATC has everything in order and everything scheduled out for you and everything planned for you, there is always a chance of something happening. Let me give you a quick example. My wife and I had gone on a vacation out west, and on our return trip home, we had a stop over in Chicago O'Hare Airport. If you're familiar with O'Hare, they have bisecting runways that are active at all times. So you would have planes that may be landing north to south and planes that may be landing west to east all at the same time. I was able years ago to get permission to go view the air traffic control tower at O'Hare. And from that perspective, it's really almost nerve-wracking to watch how a plane will come in and land from north to south, and almost as soon as that tail crosses the runway from west to east, the nose of the next one taking off is already crossing the runway. Very tightly controlled, very tightly timed. And as you are watching that segue of aircraft from one side to the other, you can also look backwards behind that and see a row of landing lights ten, twelve deep, depending on how clear it is outside. All staged and patterned and ready for landing. That's a very strong example of the control and navigation and support from ATC. However, coming back on vacation, I had my wife sit up next to the window because obviously I've been around aviation for a while. And it was kind of good for her to be able to look out and see where things were and how things were happening. And as we're coming in for a landing at O'Hare, we were watching as the other runway was accepting traffic, most of it in smaller commuter aircraft that would land, stop by a certain point, and veer off onto a taxiway. In our particular case, we're watching, and an aircraft comes in on the bisecting runway and just keeps moving and keeps moving and keeps moving until it actually crosses our runway. In FAA terms, they call that an incursion. And as soon as our pilot saw that pilot and that aircraft make a runway incursion on his runway, it was up to him to respond immediately by full thrust and pulling the aircraft up to abort the landing and to do what's called a go-around. ATC had perfectly patterned him. ATC had perfectly well cleared him for that runway. But ATC had no way of knowing that the other pilot was not going to hold short. But the pilot on our aircraft was observant, responded appropriately, and initiated an official go-round. Now the nice thing about that is when you stop and think about it, it was out of ATC's control. The pilot responded appropriately, but ATC did not leave them hanging. ATC picked them up immediately, sequenced them back into the pattern for landing later, helped them to navigate around the traffic at the airport until it was safely able to get back in line and land. Several things to learn from this. One, it's perfect and awesome that we as spirits here on Earth in a human body and in a human form have the ability to have all of that control, all of that organization, all of that help from our STC. But at the same time, it's also refreshing to know that if something were to happen, STC is still there. It's still there to help you. It will still help organize your day and help you meet your goal. So going counterclockwise in order to reach an attack pattern or an approach pattern for landing kind of helps us as well when we're looking at our spiritual cardinal positions. You know, we started looking at this a couple weeks ago. We started with the North, and we found out that the North tended spiritually to represent introspection and challenges and things that we were running into where we were going to need some help and support. Last week we talked about the West, which tends to refer to endings and reflection. Native American tradition, for example, seems to indicate that their elders, their ancestors, go to the West when they pass. So the West is an indicator of endings and reflection, which from our perspective is a direction spiritually that we can look to when we're grieving the loss of someone. But more importantly, we also saw there that not only is it sometimes endings in reflection, but that's the direction that we can move in order to transition internally from the effects of the outer world and look internal to our inner world or our spirit world. That kind of tees up this week's discussion where we're talking about south. If we're going counterclockwise around the airport from north to west, then the next one would be south. And south. Everybody seems to love south for several reasons because it tends to indicate or be indicative of warmth, growth, life. We expect gardens to grow, we expect crops in the field to grow, all of that during warm summer months. But at the same time, we also have the south indicating growth and life. Considering our spirits in human form here for the purpose of learning, growing, and maturing, then the South can be very representative spiritually of that growth, of that enlightenment, of that understanding, of the knowledge that's gained through that growth. It's also linked to illumination and clarity. And I think that's very indicative, especially for someone who is going through the loss of someone special and going through the grief associated with that. Because here we're expecting, or well, okay, I like the word expecting. Wasn't expecting that, but it just came out and it makes sense. At this point, when we're looking to the south, we're expecting our STC to help us. We're expecting our spirit team to provide that extra understanding, that extra bit of illumination on what has happened and how we can, number one, actually survive that and come out of that with a goal, a purpose, a direction. Some cultures look at it as the South being an element of fire, symbolizing passion, transformation. There's not anybody out there who has had the loss of a significant loved one and gone through the grief associated with that, who does not understand the transformation involved. To have someone that you're so closely attached to be a part of your life for so long, and suddenly have that person, for lack of a better term, literally ripped away from your life. There's a transformation involved. Doesn't mean that you're on your own. Doesn't mean that you're not the same person you were. Doesn't mean that you don't have the same friends that you had. Some of them may have disappeared because just like we talked about earlier, they don't know how to handle somebody in grief. They've never been taught, they have no working knowledge of it. And the performance anxiety of not being able to know what to do to help you may make them run. But what doesn't run is your spirit team. What doesn't leave you are those who are close to you who have passed on before. And what is not missing is the lack of direction and guidance that your spirit team provides. Now, there's a couple things I wanted to talk about specifically in this particular episode. There will always, always be detractors. There's always going to be somebody who's going to tell you that you believing in your spirit team is just a bunch of hooey because they don't know what they don't know. Remember back in episode one when we started talking about that? Just because they don't know what they don't know doesn't mean that what you know is not correct. You know, we know that we have a spirit team to guide us and direct us. They don't know that. Maybe it's partly up to us at some point in time to help them with that and help them understand that. The whole reason for this podcast is be was because I was told that I needed to help people understand what I didn't know when this happened to me. So there'll be detractors. There'll people be people who don't understand. If you remember back in the Bible, Stephen had that same situation. You'll remember Stephen was the one that was eventually stoned to death and Saul, who later became Paul, was the person who was standing there holding the coats of the people who were stoning him. But if you back the story up a little bit, what you find out is we have Stephen who was calling out the religious leaders because of their lack of knowledge or their lack of presenting the knowledge to other people. In Acts 7, Stephen's known for saying that the religious leaders are stiff-necked people, and your heart and ears are hardened, just like your ancestors. Okay. Why do you resist the spirit? Have you ever had a prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? Okay. So what we know about the Bible and what they call a prophet is somebody who gets a message from God or from spirit and tells the people what that message is in an effort to help them guide them or direct them. So using that definition and that actual working definition of what a prophet is, we have now a realization that it's not as ethereal of a position as we may have thought it was or were led to believe growing up. It's merely a position where God or a spirit provides them a message. We have that available to us ourselves. So with the story from Stephen, he's reminding us that the tragedy is not the ignorance, but the willful resistance. You know, even if the religious leaders have never experienced that before, you know, back to the you don't know what you don't know. What is the problem is they refuse to know what they don't know. You will find people who may give you a hard time because that you're finding answers, direction, and solace from your spirit team. But they don't know what they don't know. Those who knew the scriptures the most in Stephen's time and practiced religion regularly, they were the ones yet who chose to close their hearts to the spirit when it moved in ways that challenged their comfort. Remember what we talked about with free will? They chose not to believe. The messages and indications from their STC. Yet they're a little overwhelmed at what's going on in the world and politics and news and social media, etc., etc. I think the best place to start on that is the typical serenity prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change those that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. A lot of what's going on in the country, in the world, in the news, we personally cannot do anything about. What we can do is remain positive, start our day with affirmation, do everything we can to turn a negative into a positive, and raise our energy. As we do that individually, those like-minded people collectively raise the energy in their area. And that makes a difference. And then give us the wisdom to know the difference. Sarah Young in her book writes, You can make plans as you gaze into the day that stretches out before you. But hold those plans tentatively, knowing that Spirit or your STC may have other days, other ideas how to organize your day. As you make your plans, remember it should be spirit who orchestrates the events of your life. The other part of that, too, is going back to the example on landing at a controlled airfield. It's so much easier and takes a lot off the pilot's plate if he's got ATC to help him with the organization, the spacing, and the timing and communication. So think how much easier it is going to be for you to spiritually allow STC to organize and manage and control not only your day, but your future. Keeping in mind that they have in front of them your life's plan, know what goals you have left to accomplish, and know how to best make that happen. Making sure that every step you take, if you're following their direction, has the most efficient, easiest path forward with the least obstacles. Going back to the Chicago example, they can put everything in place and have everything mapped out for you. Yet something may still cross your path that you and them have to adjust for. But when you have to do the forced go around in order to avoid the obstruction and deviate from the plan slightly, they, just like ATC, will be right there to grab you, direct you, make sure that you're safe as you readjust and get back on track. Even if controlled airspace is easier, we have to be aware of potential incursions on our day-to-day mission, just like the pilot did in Chicago. Just like ATC rejoined that jet back into the pattern, understood their need to abort and go around, STC is also there to help us go around and realign our final approach. In our case, we can decide to quit trying to fly solo and land at a distant uncontrolled airplane or airport, or we can employ our STC, re-request their flight following, and allow them to position us for a perfectly controlled approach each and every day. To reflect, making heaven real in your life.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

We hope you learned something new about God's love and his resources during our time together. Please like and subscribe so you don't miss out. You can find our social media links and our contact info in the show notes. When you're commenting, please reference the episode number. Join us next time as we begin search out the ways of making heaven real in this life with Gordon Murray.