Everyone has decisions to make, and is tested by life. How to summon the strength to make a decision, and how to know which decision is right?

When you shy away from making a decision, it means you have not yet found a key to your soul. You live, possibly without being aware of it, in fear. You do not take command of your ship, believing and hoping — again unconsciously — that God or fate will make the decision for you. Once in a while this may even happen, but, in general, God’s world is not permitted to interfere, since one of the things you have to learn is to take responsibility for your decisions. You have to learn to pierce the dark cloud which obscures the truth and creates confusion. You must do so by your own effort, by your personal spiritual endeavor, by your increasing self-awareness.

Striving to overcome your resistance is the only way to sharpen your spiritual vision. Only in this way can you perceive what exists in your own soul as well as around you. You must learn to evaluate even very complicated situations, and understand what is at stake both for you and for others. You must learn to achieve the utmost for your spiritual development and purification through solving hitherto unresolved problems. You need to confront a problem instead of avoiding it like an ostrich that buries its head in the sand.

If, after taking on the problem, you come to the conclusion that you are not yet capable of making a decision because you are not yet able to perceive which direction to take, you are in a totally different state. Then you can ask God for inspiration and knowledge and thus be ready to receive it and act accordingly. The needed recognition will come to you when you have prepared yourself through your own endeavors. It is one thing to avoid a decision, cover up everything that relates to it, and turn away from the problem altogether. It is quite another to strive for truth and knowingly and willingly decide not to make a decision until, after more personal effort, you are ready to take the right course. And when the decision is truly the right one, no shadow of a doubt will be left in you. The result will be ever-increasing inner peace and harmony in your soul. Only in this way can you become the captain of your ship.

Download Lecture 2: “Decisions and Tests” (PDF)

The practice: Explore the decision you need to make, and allow yourself to feel your resistance towards making the decision. Pray for the willpower to confront the problem head on, and to heed the guidance of your higher self.