a new article by José Luis Stevens, PhD
If there were ever a time that human beings needed grace it is now. Grace, that little or big extra help – unearned, unexpected, in infinite supply. First, let’s try to understand just what this word means and how it is used or understood by most people.
What is grace? The word grace has many uses such as “She was given a grace period of ten minutes before the reservation was cancelled”. This is like a free bonus of ten minutes given by the restaurant before the reservation is given away to someone else. It is helpful for both the eatery and patrons.
“He led them in grace before the meal.” This is a prayer giving thanks for the good food about to be consumed and perhaps acknowledging that it will benefit all that partake. The idea is that all food comes ultimately from God and should be appreciated.
“She received the grace to overcome her addiction.” Here, grace is also thought of as a free, unearned or undeserved benefit usually associated with God or Spirit. There are different ways this can be used like for example, “The children in that family were all graced with good looks, high intelligence, and athletic ability.” You can see that it can mean slightly different things but usually suggesting that something has been given for free.
For our purposes here, let’s stick with the latter one, a free gift from Spirit. Grace is like an extra dose of energy, assistance, and help from God to accomplish something, get an advantage in life, or be favored by God or Spirit. Now, this is where things can easily go awry and result in havoc in the world. This notion can introduce the idea that certain people can be favored or singled out for benefits – certain groups like white people, perhaps men, perhaps only people of certain religious denominations and the like. Whole religions have supported the idea that some people are more benefitted, looked upon with favor over others, by God. This, as usual, represents the distortions of the human ego, usually by younger souls, interpreting some rather profound truths to their own advantage. Nothing new about that. We’ve all done it.
It is not as if the idea of grace is wrong. If Spirit, Beingness, Everything and Nothing, God, if you will, is infinite and eternal, there is no reason whatsoever that grace may not be visited upon absolutely everyone. To take this notion a little further, if Spirit is really everywhere eternally, is there even any room for Satan, demons, evil, and wickedness? Perhaps these concepts are actually referring to ignorance, and the faulty notion that reality is divided into good and evil. For this to be true calls for duality, which is a denial that Spirit is everywhere eternally. So confusing.
Let’s say that we accept the notion that if God is really God, then God is eternal and infinite meaning inside everyone all the time. That would mean that everyone is graced, deserving of free help and assistance at any time. If someone does not believe in grace or in Spirit, are they excluded from free support when they need it? No. However, lack of belief does introduce some resistance that can make grace more difficult, especially if someone is determined to prove that there is no Spirit and therefore no support in life whatsoever. They can live their life in such a way as to a make it appear that they are screwed. Even so, grace is everywhere and there for the receiving, and in some tiny cracks it may get through at times.
On the other hand, if we are accepting of the belief in grace, then we can ask for it and it will be provided when appropriate with no problem unless there are other barriers like believing “I have not earned it,” “I am not deserving of it because I have been bad.” It sure does look like we make things extremely difficult because we don’t believe in what’s true. What is true? There is evidence for grace everywhere if we allow ourselves to see it and if we are not zealous cynics committed to proving that we are toast. How do we know it’s true? It just feels right and the notion of it feels good.
Free gifts like grace cannot be purchased like a special indulgence to get to heaven by giving a church a big donation. A free gift like grace cannot become part of a transaction like “I will be good if you are good to me.” A free gift like grace cannot be earned, achieved, struggled for by years of praying, being of service, and being pious. Sorry, none of these strategies work when dealing with Spirit. Grace is given on an as needed basis for free, unearned by good works or performance. Spirit decides when and if you need it.
So, what does grace look like? Well, it might appear in a variety of ways. It might occasionally look like a much-needed infusion of money at just the right moment. It might look like extra energy, vitality, and strength or insight, intuition, deep inner peace, clarity, absence of fear, humor, and so many other things. On occasion, it might look like real capacity to make a change, a surge of power to assert oneself in a productive way. It may look like a reprieve from anxiety, shame, and lack of forgiveness. Oh, what a relief it is to know that grace is always here, available, and to be used with gusto by all!
What if grace is actually the only way forward, the secret sauce for all personal and collective world problems? What if humanity is being shown yet again that nothing is resolvable by sheer problem solving, analysis, throwing money at, worrying about, and getting depressed over current conditions? What if grace was always the only solution to the problems of the world? Grace, a free gift from Spirit, given as needed spontaneously to absolutely everyone – deserving or not. What if grace was percolating inside each of us, circling around us, just waiting for us to notice its activity and accept it with, yes grace, humility, surrender, and ease. Are we too proud to accept it? Without grace none of us would have survived to be alive today. Not only is it wonderful but it is in fact necessary, now more than ever. If you can’t earn it, transact it or force it then how in blazes can you deal with it? It is really quite simple. You acknowledge that is a thing and that it is in every one of us. You then give thanks for it and ask Spirit to provide it whenever you really need it, and when the world really needs it. Then you let go. That’s it.
ONLINE One Year Shamanic Studies Program
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This is an online version of our Intensive One Year Shamanic Studies Program, beginning October 15th, 2026 to October 16, 2027
With Jose, Lena and Anna Stevens and other contributors.
The purpose of this program is to provide the opportunity for those who have been interested but unable to participate for a variety of reasons in our in-person one-year program to learn about the shamanic path.
