An opinion is simply a point of view. Some opinions are better grounded in facts than others, but of necessity, every person looks at the world from a different vantage point and therefore sees things a little differently. Everyone has opinions, but not everyone is opinionated.

Being opinionated suggests that a person has a strong emotional undercurrent of “I’m right and you’re wrong.” This comes from fear and the need to be right, because to be wrong might mean a loss of being loved or included. We suggest holding your opinions lightly. There is nothing wrong with having opinions. For one thing, it is worthwhile to use your intellect to try to process the world around you. But one is happier if those views stay adequately flexible to take in new information.

One of the great sources of conflict among human beings is not liking other peoples’ opinions and being invested in changing them. Often, this is not productive. If there is openness and goodwill, you might with clarity and without rancor express your point of view and others might take in what you share and even make an adjustment. But it would be wise not to have a lot of attachment to that happening. You will be more content in life if you do not take opinions — yours or those of others — too seriously.

You may have had the experience of liking or loving someone only to learn that they have opinions you think are quite negative. Perhaps those opinions are from something they read or saw on television. There are people whose opinions cause them to act in destructive ways, and that is important, but probably most of the people you like who express opinions that seem negative don’t end up doing something significantly destructive about them; they just hold them in their minds. Those opinions may be faulty and not helpful in advancing human consciousness but they may also not be doing much harm either. There is some harm in voting for negative candidates, but the harm is far more diluted than harmful personal behavior.

Maybe you’ve attended family dinners where political arguments broke out. You might ask yourself, “Was anyone moved? Did anyone learn something or change their mind?” You are usually better off not arguing about your opinions when there isn’t openness and instead focusing on the love you share or topics that you can productively discuss. When people argue about their opinions, they are usually staying on a shallow intellectual level with each other. It is better to engage from your wholeness with their wholeness. Maybe these opinions are just a thin layer of that person’s wholeness. If someone expresses hateful opinions and also is acting in a hateful way, then maybe that is someone you would choose not to associate with.

People are many-faceted and complicated. Every human being at times acts in a more likable way and other times in a less likable way. It is valid to make choices about whom you associate with. Liking or not liking someone is an opinion you are entitled to have, although you might not want to close too many doors in this regard because something good could emerge in that relationship if you allow for it. It is, of course, your choice whether you want to stay open to that.

In every human endeavor, there is a wide range of conflicting opinions. Sometimes ideas seem to conflict that, when you dig deeper, you find are not as much in conflict as they first appeared to be, or can both be true at the same time, as in a paradox. Still, there are differences in opinion. A group of physicists, for example, who are very intelligent and mostly clearheaded, objective people may still come to different conclusions even with similar data. Maybe they will find common ground, maybe they will not. Disagreeing could end up advancing science because conflict holds a certain tension that can help prevent people from becoming too complacent in their opinions. It is admirable to keep an open mind and be open to learning new things in any endeavor.

Those who seek spiritually are often chagrined to find differences of opinion among teachers, including channels. They think that if it is true, it ought to all line up perfectly. Some discrepancies can be chalked up to faulty understanding or ego, but even among the wisest, there are different points of view because they have had different experiences. It is not the nature of life to agree on everything.

There’s also the issue of semantics. Many people use the same words but mean different things. It could be worthwhile to dig a little and ask for definitions.

In the Michael teachings community, there are many channels; they do not agree on everything. It would be surprising if there were multiple channels for any entity who completely agreed on every matter. We don’t even see how that could happen, given that thoughts must be transmitted through human instruments.

It is good work for those in the community to try to reconcile discrepancies, to talk about them without the emotional investment of being right. But even in the absence of this kind of openness, each student, including the channels, could take the attitude that everyone is entitled to their opinion and not be too invested in changing other people’s minds. Not needing to convince others of anything in life could come as a great relief, where you felt content just to find what seems to be true for you in this moment, which will probably change as you grow. Truth needs no defense — it will remain true even if common beliefs are contrary to it — but perceptions and understanding change.

Dogma is a fixed set of beliefs or opinions that people have an extreme investment in adhering to and having others adhere to. The frozen nature of dogma is a clue that it is not true. Truth is alive, and dogma is not alive. Maybe the understandings were initially alive when people first glanced a truth, but then they tried to preserve them in amber for eternity.

There are many concepts in the Michael teachings that are hard to prove. Some things can be validated with a certain amount of ease but people may still disagree about them. There is the phenomenon of different roles being attributed to well-known individuals. Only one role can be correct. Some firmly believe that their opinion is the correct one, while others believe with equal conviction in their conflicting opinion. It would be a shame for people to get into arguments about this since the purpose of the Michael teachings is unconditional love, but again, you are within your rights to have an opinion. Still, this can be an opportunity to learn something. Since Michael teachings profiles are complex, with many different influences, a trait that someone attributes to role could derive from a different chart element, or from factors such as imprinting, astrology, or background. Perhaps you can use disagreement to look at the person in question with new eyes, with greater curiosity. “Why do I think they are this role? What am I really seeing?” Any sort of disagreement can lead to learning when there is not an emotional need to be proven right.

Some channels and their students dismiss other channels. Maybe they believe that the other person isn’t channeling or isn’t channeling Michael. Channeling is also a complex phenomenon. It is possible to make a connection without everything necessarily coming through accurately. Many things can go amiss in that process. Accurate material can also seem inaccurate due to misunderstanding. It is better to evaluate information case-by-case without drawing too many conclusions about the channel. “Is this material resonating with my truth sense? Does it seem consistent what I have found liberating and enriching?” Some ideas are channeled that may not be exactly correct, yet perhaps no harm is done as people process them. At a certain level of understanding, maybe it doesn’t make much difference — incomplete understandings will fall by the wayside as further information comes in.

There are fine points of dogma in religion that most people could care less about but those identified with their belief systems have gone to war over. You see this sort of thing in every walk of life. In politics, when people discuss dogma that falls along party lines, they can get belligerent, but when they discuss what should be done in specific situations, they might agree more than one would expect based on the beliefs they profess. When an effective, sensible course of action is rejected on purely ideological grounds, the highest good is rarely served.

The beliefs you profess are often superficial. Your deeper beliefs, your core understanding of life and the universe, have much more impact on how you behave. These beliefs are sometimes at odds with each other. There are people who in personal conduct would never act unkindly to their neighbors, but if their superficial beliefs are along different lines, they might support others who would do harm. The reverse can also be true: people who hold a lot of bile internally may have a superficial belief in being nice, but their efforts will usually feel artificial and hollow.

In addition, deeper beliefs may be at odds with each other. A big part of growth is gaining alignment among the various forces within you—getting your subpersonalities on the same page, you might say. In psychological terms, that might be referred to as being integrated. Everyone has at least some work to do in that regard, so it is good not to be judgmental of others when they act inconsistently.

It is appropriate to hold people accountable for their actions, but there can also be compassion, since we are all evolving, even on higher planes; we all make errors. The one thing spiritual students can do is their best. If you are genuinely doing your best, you will evolve more consciously and quickly. Those who do not choose that path will still evolve, if more slowly and unconsciously, and that’s okay too. They’re entitled to choose their path. You can only choose for yourself.

If you can be at peace with the limitation that everyone has — that you can only choose for yourself — you have a good shot at being pretty happy. There is a lot of unhappiness in trying to control others. There are rare situations in which it is appropriate to control others — e.g., to prevent children from harming themselves. But even there, many parents and teachers overdo it. Children will grow more if they have a chance to make more of their own choices, as long as they don’t endanger themselves or others.

There is often a feeling that one needs to control the environment to be safe and happy, but there is a limit to how much you can do that. If you were living in a country that was becoming fascist, for example, you might be unable to do anything about that, but you might be able to leave and thereby be safer. You would be justified in being sad that so many people were making that regressive choice, but it pays to make a sensible evaluation of what the situation is and what you can do about it.

Many people who stay in abusive situations, trying to fix them, would be better off leaving, although they might find that challenging if they are working out karma. In any case, your power is in your own choices, those you can make. To decry your powerlessness over choices you cannot make is just hitting your head against a wall. You are wise to do what you can do to improve your situation — we are not suggesting being fatalistic, only that you look clearly at what you can and cannot do in any given moment. Do the things you can that you feel called to do. If you think creatively, you might find that there is more you can do than you had previously assumed.

Human relationships are often difficult. You can choose your friends and move away from relationships that no longer work for you, although that may not be so easy with family. It can be hard to figure out what to do when loved ones make choices you don’t agree with or that are destructive. There is no standard course of action, but if you take a loving approach that sees clearly what you can and cannot do in the situation, you will have your best shot at improving it. If it were easy to be human, you would probably have just one lifetime. But it is not so easy.

Many of you, and sensitive people in general, are feeling discouraged and fatigued. It is true that, on a soul level, you chose to be here, but many could reply with some validity that they didn’t anticipate it would be quite like this. Maybe of greater comfort would be to know that when you’re done with this lifetime, you can take as long a break as you wish. In the meantime, remember to take care of yourself. Remember the true rest that will recharge your batteries and the true play that will make you glad to be alive.

Many people deal with health challenges. With modern medicine, people can stay alive longer, and there are ways of dealing with pain that did not exist in the past. Living longer, however, also means that you are likely to live through more health malfunctions. Often, these are caused by lifestyle choices that could be improved, but some are just the scathing of the physical plane. On the whole, most souls believe that the relatively longer life spans are of benefit and that it is worth it to stick it out through the health challenges.

There are channeled teachings that you create your reality. Sometimes there is the promise of getting everything you want and living in bliss. We do not discourage these thought experiments — they cannot hurt. If you work on creating a more positive reality, you will probably get some improvements in your life. But it might be wise to temper your expectations so that it is okay if you do not get all you want and live in bliss.

Bliss is possible. Monks who have meditated a great deal sometimes report bliss states, for example. It is also true that most monks don’t live very complicated lives. Complications are stressful, although one can learn to handle stresses more skillfully so they become less stressful. In any case, most people could be happier if they worked at it more.

If you are doing your best and making the most skillful choices you can, your life has a lot of worth and you will feel its worth, even if it is not all that you might wish it to be. If you are not awash in blissful endorphins much or any of the time and if you are not getting everything or even much of what you want, but you are of service to your family, neighbors, humanity, and the earth — in other words, if you are endeavoring to leave things better than you found them — you will probably feel pretty good about the life you have lived.

The human experience will likely become less extreme, although it might take a century or so for things to settle down. The period since World War I is probably the most stressful time that has ever existed. Life was often quite difficult and unpleasant earlier, but it was simpler — people had fewer choices to make. Needing to make more choices makes life both more stressful and more interesting.

The human world today is not simple but it is extremely interesting. Every time you open an internet browser, you are given virtually infinite choices. Not that long ago, if there were a few books in town, you were considered fortunate. You have traded simple for interesting. It’s not a bad trade if you can cope with the complexity.

The paradox about choice is that every one you make is important and unimportant at the same time. Every choice can give you practice in learning to choose more skillfully. You choose what to eat every day, for instance, which can help you develop the useful skill of listening to your body, among others. Yet in the bigger picture, if you don’t choose as skillfully as you might, it doesn’t make a big difference. We each have eternity to grow. Make the best choices you can, but don’t agonize over them. If you look back in regret at a choice you made or failed to make, you might frame it as “I’ve learned things and today I would have made a different choice. That means that I grew; I see more possibilities and can move into the future making better choices.”

It is not your job to save the world. You cannot. It is your job to make the most skillful choices you can, if you so choose. If you make more love-based choices, it will help the world. Often the concept of saving the world involves making choices for other people that aren’t yours to make, or convincing them of your opinions when you might not be able to do that. You can try if it seems possible, but another paradox is that you tend to get the best results when you don’t focus on the results, but on right action, so you will likely have more success convincing people when you don’t care too much whether you convince them. If you just share authentically, they may be open.

Some say the most important thing in life is to be happy, but happiness is partly a by-product of making wise, considered choices. Being truly happy is a great success on the physical plane and is worth valuing, but when you do something for the sole aim of being happy, it doesn’t tend to work. Some people develop addictions that way. They keep repeatedly doing something that once made them feel good to the point where it doesn’t feel good anymore.

Others believe that life requires them to sacrifice their happiness and well-being. That is mostly not correct. But living only for yourself won’t make you happy either; narcissism doesn’t work. What gives the best results in any endeavor is balance, what the Buddha called the Middle Way, where you respect your needs and those of others, where you make choices that seem likeliest to lead to the highest good for all, including yourself. That can look different from moment to moment. One day that might mean staying in bed and watching sitcoms, and another it might mean volunteering at a homeless shelter. It can look many different ways.

There are not a lot of rules about making wise choices other than “Do no harm.” Making skillful choices often involves thinking — considering, gathering information, and discussing with others — until you develop a deep knowing about what the best direction is for you. It’s not useful to be stuck in your head, but one of the cornerstones of sentience is using your intellect to weigh things. Effective thinking, though, is not bone dry — it is balanced by emotion in the heart. That gives you the best results.

There are also choices you make spontaneously without a lot of intellectual processing that turn out well; they might be based on processing you did earlier, or on intuitive guidance, but there is usually at least a moment’s consideration to make sure that the choice feels right and isn’t automatic or impulsive.

Perhaps you are realizing that it’s not so bad to be human at this time on this admittedly somewhat crazy planet and that you’re doing better than you thought you were. Maybe you also have more compassion for your fellow journeyers on the human path. Even those who do horrible things are not finding it so easy to be on this path.

The ultimate purpose of existence is to expand the experience of love. Loving is the most natural thing, but one has to grow in consciousness to be able to continue to love in the face of the obstacles of the physical plane. One cherishes children’s ability to love so openly, yet they can quickly lose that temporarily when they are in distress. As they mature emotionally and spiritually into adulthood, they have more capacity to love even when it isn’t easy. This is also part of the story of the journey through the soul ages: developing the capacity to continue to love when it’s not so easy.

Any time you have had success in that regard, you can give yourself a pat on the back. But the purpose of learning greater love is not just to benefit others; it increases your happiness, including your ability to be happy under adverse circumstances, so it is also in your self-interest. If you have failed to do that sometimes, that is okay too. But if you learn the lessons sooner rather than later, you will be happy sooner rather than later.

 

Michael Channeled by Shepherd Hoodwin
East Coast Michael Gathering April 26, 2024
Transcribed by Janaia Donaldson