Is the Universe Testing Us?

Sometimes, when we do not see our dreams reflected in the outside world immediately, we begin to wonder whether the universe is testing us to see how committed we are.

I don’t know exactly where this idea originated, but it came into my awareness quite early in my spiritual journey via Paulo Coelho in his popular book The Alchemist. The protagonist is told that when he pursues his dreams, he will be fortuitous at the beginning, but as he continues on his journey life will present challenges to test whether he is truly committed to the full realization of his desire.

Image courtesy of Warrior Rx

When I started to meditate regularly and became exposed to Neville Goddard and other mystical teachers, I realized that my inner world is the sole cause of my reality. It propelled me to write the following statement in a list of things I knew to be true:

“There are no tests from the universe, just inner conversations materialized.”

I’d like to break this down further to provide clarity on what it means when you feel inertia on the road to your desires and you start to ask whether the universe truly is testing you.

When we first assume a higher state of consciousness, there is often a process of alignment and maturation that takes place. Just like a new home, it may take some time for us to truly feel comfortable in our new state. A calibration may need to take place before our new state consistently guides our inner conversations and takes on its full manifesting power. More specifically, we may have beliefs that initially prevent us from dwelling in our new state of consciousness consistently throughout the day.

During this process, the physical world that we perceive via our five senses may not perfectly mirror our new state. It can feel like nothing is really moving, and we may even be presented with contradictory feedback. This is what leads some to believe that the lack of movement or contradictory results are ‘tests’ from the universe. There are two points I’d like to address related to this idea:

1. We can shift our perception of the universe. The universe is not something out there that determines our fate, or even something outside of us that we need to align with. The universe in its entirety is truly within us. Establishing a sense of intimacy with this ‘Self’ through meditation or any kind of stillness practice can greatly serve us, because it allows us to fully own that universal power.

2. Once we accept that the universe is within us, we start to see that it is completely supporting our journey unconditionally. From this perspective, we realize that what we formerly perceived to be a ‘test’ is actually a support system in place to help us ground into our higher state of consciousness. We realize that true joy comes not from instant gratification from the outside world, but rather from simply dwelling in this elevated state. This type of joy feels peaceful and much more sustainable, and the external world loses its power over us. We truly are no longer attached to outcomes because we are already living our desires through our pure, elevated being-ness. Of course we receive and enjoy the material outcomes when they come (as they inevitably do), but we can have an even deeper appreciation for this golden period of time when we get to just be.

So we can see that spiritual growth is not about achieving high scores on tests created and proctored by an entity in space with folded arms and an appraising look. Our spiritual journey is about feeling deeply loved and supported by our higher self in cultivating lasting, unconditional happiness that will serve us in all spheres of our life.