Justine asked:
Is it more important to get in touch with our Infinite selves or to try to do good? This is always a confusing point for me in spirituality...Do we actually change as we realize who we really are, or simply gain trust in our own power?
This is how I think: During this life experience, we (usually) first try to do good which leads to reaching/touching our Infinite selves. As we "grow with knowledge", we all change as we realize who we really are. Most of us will indeed gain trust in our own power.
There are exceptions.
I worked with a young man who tried to reach his higher self with the aid of drugs. The interacton he experiences was devestating. He SAW his infinite self so abruptly and without understanding that for the next 25 years he was in and out of the care of psycologists and counseling searching to bring himself back here to earth's reality. He can not cope with the "truth" that he was given. As the saying goes, "He bit off more than he could chew" for his brain and memory to obsorb. So, in has case he tried to find his infinate self BEFORE doing good (aka PUL) and the results were live lasting and devestating.
Yes, in his extreme case, his whole being change. He kept searching for more answers to questions that he couldn't put into words. He didn't trust his own power and tried to accelerate it with drugs.
Each being must search and find his/her Infinate self in his/her own pace and with respect and patience. I have been searching for 59 years and I still wait patiently for "more that there really is on earth".
It will come to me--- if not in this life dimension, then in the next.
Peace and love to ALL--- Carol Ann