A fail-proof formula for choosing a plan of action.

What is appropriate in the moment? This question is to be asked and answered before every deliberate action or inaction. An action or inaction is a choice. Unlike action, however, inaction may result from default or apathy. When faced with making a choice a person may turn to things he consider to be authoritative sources such as truth, power or the powerful, laws, dogma, traditions, patriotism, knowledge, money, relationships, nationalism and ego needs.
But these things, as well as love which is the only norm and the only absolute, are not sufficient to enable a person to choose the course of action or inaction that is best for him in the situation specific. Any one of these things, like making truth preeminent as the basis in making a decision, may result in a person acting unwisely and bringing destructiveness to himself or another person. Is there ever a time when it is best not to tell the truth? Of course, there is.
So what is the criterion or standard that is to be used in choosing a plan of action. As stated earlier, love is the norm. But love is not enough. There is only one higher consciousness path to take and that is to choose what is appropriate in the moment. This more than suggests that appropriateness is situational in its application. While this is true , truth is not the principle that in and of itself undergirds appropriateness. Even in the absence of truth, i.e., known truth, appropriateness has validity that may supersede truth in a particular matter. In doing what is appropriate a person operates in hamony with his values, knowledge, awareness, opportunities, responsibilites and calling, i.e., his purpose for being alive.
Although we cannot systematically and categorically call upon all the resources we possess in making each decision, fortunately, we can call into play our intuition heart, the voice of the soul, which has the capacity to understand the gestalt and sees the whole and its parts in perspective. We are able to intuit from moment to moment, as if we were on automatic pilot, whether an action or an inaction will be fitting or appropriate for us.
We must bear in mind that what is appropriate in one moment may not be appropriate in another moment. And we must not allow truth for the purpose of consistency, right for the sake of a principle, or fear that makes us dread the consequences of our actions to prevent us from doing what is appropriate.
Appropriateness has its own reward that ultimately includes higher compensations than we are capable of envisioning. And because appropriateness is in haramony with love and love is also its norm doing the appropriate thing is doing the lovely thing, even in situations where love is not enough.
How can we know what is appropriate? Within every person there is a supreme voice, also called the inner voice or Spirit that speaks with clarity to us. It tells us what is appropriate in the moment. Thus a person needs to have awareness that there is not any external or internal source or guide, other than intuition, which is not to be confused with hunches or any of the thousand and one beliefs that corrupt the human mind, that is capable of enabling him to know what action is appropriate in his circumstance. Despite the fact that appropriateness is in the moment there are times when patience is necesary in the moment and from moment to moment.
In this moment listen, not with your ears, but with your soul. Hear no sound except the sound of silence. Silence is speaking. Discover the appropriate action or inaction that you are directed to take in the here and now. You have a choice to take action that is appropriate or take action that is inappropriate.

Copyright 2004 by Uriah J. Fields