The Onward Impulse of Spirit

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God..." St. Paul Philippians 3:13-14

In worldly terms, by human measure, many millions of people around the world would report that their lives have been diminished over the last few years of economic decline. Incomes have been slashed or lost, equities have been fractionalized, retirement plans decimated, careers destroyed or upended, and families put under the strain of financial inadequacy. Many who will read this article know these scenarios first hand. Our assets and the flow of monetary good have taken quite a hit, and the ego mind can easily settle into a mode of counting the losses, bemoaning the great tragedy and take us into a state of despair.

What we need is a turnaround strategy.  How do we face and embrace this human condition and bring it in a new light that can serve us and the world? The answer is once again for us to remember and ground ourselves in the most fundamental of Truth that the Love and Intelligence of the universe is still with us. In other words, this human plight, and the worst of scenarios, is incapable of separating us from the ever present love and wisdom and activity of God.  We suffer because we allow our perception of life's challenges to create a rift in our faith, and suddenly we are all alone against the world. On our own, we feel powerless, victimized, sometimes even paralyzed to get back on our feet. But believe it or not, this is a choice we make.  We can either tell God about our big problem or tell our problem about a great and mighty God. We can either be hostage to our egos, or hosts to God (A Course in Miracles).

However difficult our human dilemma, however steeped we seem to be in a particular challenge, the eternal impulse to reveal Itself through us is greater and will always prevail, if we let it have its way in us. We can believe in depression, contraction, and devolution or we can believe in the 14 billion year story of the onward impulse of Spirit that is constantly expanding to reveal more of Itself through its creation. That means, that no matter how dark it gets in the human scene, the Light that first ignited your life, wants to shine even brighter through you now than ever before.  Could it be that in the evolutionary scheme of things, that great change, transformation, upendings, breakdowns of old ways and means of living must give way so that the fullness of God's Love, Light, Wisdom, Harmony and Joy can come into its own as us now?

Many people are waking up to realize and recognize and believe this deep eternal truth as a truly enlightened context for viewing wholesale changes in the individual and collective human experience. If we can catch God's idea, the Divine impulse behind the cataclysmic changes, we will see that beneath the trembling landscape of our human lives, there is something even more beautiful, authentic, and real seeking to emerge through us. It is no less than the upward call of God, cracking the shell of our limited perceptions, so that we take the governor off of our love, compassion, generosity, and bring forth a world in which our spiritual gifts can be put to wonderful use.

Take this personally, for a moment and ask yourself.  Knowing God's will for me is only good, what divine quality or awareness is being coaxed out of me in this time of challenge?  What meaning do I ascribe to this situation as I maintain that nobody and nothing is against me. No longer as victim of life, but as an heir to Infinite Love, I now have eyes to see that this situation is calling me higher, and drawing forth a grander version of my Self.  Seeing how this is true for you is the very grace of God made manifest here and now. Press onward with this realization until you can see the Divine perfection at work in your life.  It's an endless promise and revelation that will never leave you comfortless.

My Way or the High Way?

From where comes guidance? How do I know I'm on the right path?  How do I navigate this life? These are the questions that continually arise for those of us who sincerely want to find and stay on our right and true path through the journey that is our life.

We love the dramatic stories where the way is made powerfully clear but who of us has seen a bush burst into flame with a voice that declares our mission, or the parting of a great body of water to reveal a way through difficulty, or a yellow brick road to lead us home? 

We can more easily relate to ambiguity in our experience; the wandering in the wilderness of possibility without certainty whether we are getting closer or farther from the high way. We can be frustrated by the absence of direction as if following Yogi Berra's advice when encountering a fork in the road, "take it!"

Jesus shared a story about a directionally challenged young man who followed his inner guidance only to end up steeped in human indulgence and miserable.  The prodigal son was sure he would find joy in the world. He followed his desire for a better life, convinced that it could be found somewhere beyond the homestead of here and now.  In the end, when he hit the skids, he realized his navigation error; that what he longed for was not in the world but back home.

We can all relate to this story because, at least spiritually, we've discovered the errancy of our guidance.  Many of us come to ourselves and realize that we've been looking for our happiness in all the wrong places, and the wrong faces.  Because this world is such a powerful opiate that dulls our spiritual sense of direction, this is a tough dysfunction to correct. Under the influence of this illusory world, we are convinced that something or someone will give us what we need.  When the quest does not pay off, we usually convince our self that a new something or new someone is the way to go.  Yet, no matter how many times we set out to find peace or fulfillment or love in the world, our journey is doomed to failure. It can be no other way.

That said, we still have to make choices in this world of form, decisions that affect our work, our relationships,  our finances, our future, and the question looms, how do we know what is the "right choice?"  Or is there such a thing as a "right choice?"  Some frame this conundrum as a matter of discerning God's will - the High way versus my way. In Unity, we understand God's will for his creation is "not of this world" but a pure desire to fully express Itself through Its creation. It then follows that our decision process must proceed from inside out. The high way of the Divine is marked with internal guideposts that show us the way. We get our bearings by first turning away from appearances, the allure of the phenomenal world, and take steps that lead us home. Whatever choice that brings us a greater experience or expression of the Divine is the high way for us. That choice that brings us peace, expands our heart, heightens creativity or authenticity or expresses love is the Wise way.

Such choices might mean unorthodox behavior according to conventional thinking. You might turn down the promotion, or invest at lower rate of return, leave the sure thing and go out on a limb. You may begin to see and invest in qualities and values which the world dismisses or discounts. By the world's economy it may have been a costly journey.  But having come this way, you will find yourself at home, and at peace, in your heart of hearts.

Living from the Overflow

In every sense of the word, this has been a full week for me. The fact that it's Saturday afternoon and I'm just now getting around to writing this article that I usually complete on Friday, owes to an unusually busy week for me.  Denese was in Portland visiting her family most of the week, and I was privileged to teach a 10 hour Spiritual Enrichment Class at Christ Unity Church this week.  But I'm not here to share how full the hours of my day were as a consequence of this teaching assignment, rather to share how spiritually full and enriched I was by the experience.

There are activities in which we spend time and end up depleted by them and others where our time is invested and the return is a true increase in us. I am definitely better for having invested the time to facilitate this class.  I feel profoundly deepened and inspired by the reading, contemplating, preparing and sharing with this wonderful group of 15 truth students who shared our journey through a Lessons in Truth Class based upon the diminutive yet mighty Unity classic text by Emily Cady.

The teachings of Dr. Cady are pithy and direct with little fluff that might dilute their powerful intended effect of leading the reader beyond a mere understanding of the teachings to a  real knowing of the Truth. Most of us do not practice spirituality with such fervor or directness. Our class reveled in Dr. Cady passionate invitation to suspend tentativeness, and make the leap of faith into Kingdom of God consciousness. She does not mince words in her zeal to get right with God now! The first words of the book, a quote from Apostle Paul, urges "Finally be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his power" (Eph. 6:10) There is no backing away from this intense singlular focus all the way through the book, even to her culminating closing words, "God is a present help in time of need: but there must be a recognition of His presence, a turning away from human efforts, and an acknowledgment of God only (a single eye) before He becomes manifest."

This discipline of such a singular focus on God realization as the only true spiritual practice that bears fruit in one's life became disturbingly clear to me this week. I have studied and dabbled in many paths and practices in my effort to reach a sense of interior well being.  Many of these practices skirt the end zone and leave me short of my true goal.  The clarity and purity of this week's spiritual focus felt like a splash of holy water that cleared my spiritual vision and put me back on a truer path. The sense of the Presence and the sacred insights have been profound. I am indeed full for having invested the time in these clear, unfettered teachings.  As I reflect on the time spent, and count the interior gains, I realize I may have actually saved time in the long run of my spiritual journey.

This Sunday we look at our last core value, Abundance.  As I reflect on this topic, while still steeped in the pure teachings of Jesus, I see how Jesus clearly measured abundance from the content of his heart and his awareness of the full cup that overflowed with the presence, power and love of God. 

Living the Authentic Life

I shared this message with you two years ago. It is a topic that is once again, very relevant and near to many people's hearts right now. Living an honest, authentic life in which you remain true to your highest calling when the winds of change can batter your resolve, calls us to remember and stay the course of what is true in us.

In one of Rilke's early poems, he speaks of a man, who stands up without warning in the midst of a meal,

And walks outdoors, and keeps on walking,

because of a church that stands somewhere

in the East

Those who value authenticity and sincerity over conformity and status quo will eventually find themselves making radical movements to alter the course of their lives.  I have done so in pursuing the path of ministry.  So has Denese.  To make these choices takes a little bit of craziness, and whole lot of heart. 

When Denese and I chose to leave our idyllic life in San Luis Obispo, we had no clear picture of where the new life would take us, or how we could make it work for our family.  We were both certain that the old life, the way we had been expressing in the world of our work, were inauthentic and soul denying.  We had "good" jobs but they weren't good for us.  There was nothing bad about our former life, it just didn't allow for the deeper truth of us to emerge and express.  It was a clarion call to come into integrity with the awakening that was taking place within our heart and soul, and go wherever it might lead us.

Our decision to leave the stable, comfortable life went against our safety instincts that would rather not rock the boat. Our uncertainties, joined by the concerned murmurings of friends and relatives, threatened our resolve to leave the nest.  We even joked about our sanity at times when our rational minds took aim at the plan that would have us leave professional careers, comfortable incomes, with a baby and 10-year-old boy to live in Missouri for 2 years so I could become a Unity minister.  There was vacillation, hesitancy but eventually the decision came through a clear realization that this was simply something we had to do.  It was ours to do.  It was beyond our ability to fully understand and bigger than our fears could quell. 

We have never regretted the decision that continues to affirm the life work that supports our deepest beliefs, despite the many sacrifices of comfort, stability and moments of trepidation this journey has meant for our family and us.  People tell us our journey was heroic, born of extraordinary courage, and vision.  There may be some truth in that assessment, but what is absolutely true is that we made the journey to save our lives.  We could have chosen otherwise.  We could have "saved" the old life and died inside. Instead, we stood up to pursue a life fueled by passion, vitality and, authenticity.

This was our lesson and it is a lesson for everyone who will listen to their heart's call to a more authentic life.  We have shared this story over and over again so that others know that the life we live is our choice.

You may find yourself standing up for no apparent reason, and realizing that you can no longer play by the rules you have played by all these years.  Perhaps you may question the unspoken expectations of a relationship, the rules in your workplace, the unconscious values that dictate your life choices. The best advice I have ever received when discontent stirs is to be clear that your motivation is going toward something deep and meaningful rather than away from something you don't want.  We are here to grow into a grander expression of our true selves.  If there is one overarching will of the Divine for us, I believe it is - to be more of who we truly are, on earth as we are in heaven.