The Promise & Peril of Transformation

Did you ever wonder why Jesus willingly entered Jerusalem knowing what awaited him there?  I mean after the Palms, high fives, and Hosannas celebration, Jerusalem became a nightmare for Jesus.  Just what was he thinking? Now we know according to traditional Christian doctrine, Jesus passed through those gates with informed consent to bodily sacrifice, undertaken willingly to save humanity from the consequences of its sinful ways. According to this interpretation, Jesus death is seen as no less than the supreme purpose of his life. In Unity, we look at the same circumstances through a different lens of understanding and come up with a remarkably different interpretation.  We believe that the supreme purpose of Jesus' life was to realize and demonstrate a transformative relationship with God.   His success in overcoming the limitations of a mind/body identification and full realization of his oneness with God made Jesus the profound example of what's possible for humanity. Jesus had obviously made great progress in overcoming the illusions of mind/body identification when he entered Jerusalem on this fateful week, yet the grandest lesson of all awaited him there. Most of us could not imagine a more gut wrenching faith-destroying scenario, than abandonment and betrayal by friends, and bodily torture and crucifixion.  Was Jesus tempted to back away from this dreadful fate?  Yes, we know he doubted his mission in the Garden by his passionate plea that the cup of his fate be taken from him. However, Jesus ultimately knew that a complete realization of his spiritual essence would need to stand up to all tests.  If love were the greatest power in the universe, it would not fail him even through this horrendous ordeal.  It was only in going through the most convincing illusion of separation from life and love, that Jesus could establish for himself (and all of us) that Life and Love are eternal truths, not vagaries of human life. Stripped of the last vestiges of his ego, Jesus  was able to emerge from the tomb of darkness, and bear witness to the Light of truth that nothing can extinguish nor diminish. He fulfilled his supreme purpose and was transformed by his difficult journey. Perhaps you are facing the prospects of a difficult journey right now in your life.  You may feel trepidation as you contemplate the risks of what lies ahead. You may be tempted to back off and take a safer course.  I invite you to ask yourself this question before deciding how to proceed:  What is my supreme purpose in this life?  What is infinite Love and Life seeking to express through my life right now? From that deeper sense of self, you may find guidance and strength to take a truer course.  I have not always walked courageously into risky situations. Sometimes I saved my skin, and abandoned my spirit. During those times when I did muster the courage to face the dragons of uncertainty and fear I was often rewarded to discover something much greater and truer in me. This is the promise and peril of the spiritual life. When we are committed to a journey of transformation, when our desire to know Spirit intimately, as an indwelling presence that never leaves us, we are drawn through the refining fire of circumstances.  This can be painful as the narrow gate of truth strips away our entrenched but false beliefs of who we think we are that our true self might emerge on the other side of change. The gates of transformation are wide open for you. Go ahead and enter, trembling if you must, knowing God goes with you.

Become A Miracle Worker

" Today the promise of God's Word is kept. Hear and be silent. He would speak to you. He comes with miracles a thousand times as happy and as wonderful as those you ever dreamed or wished for in your dreams. His miracles are true. They will not fade when dreaming ends. They end the dream instead; and last forever..."                                                         - A Course in Miracles, Workbook, Lesson 106 Who of us has not longed or prayed for a miracle in our lives.  I can recall several times of agonizing distress when the consequences of an impending disaster felt unbearable, and I cried out with a plea for a reversal of a frightening situation. One particularly difficult situation involved our youngest son's preliminary medical diagnosis that might have meant his very short life would soon end.  Even though  at the time I was ensconced within the faith lined walls of a seminary, I could not help but ask for the physical miracle. One of my faith-filled classmates took me aside during one insufferable day of awaitinging the prognosis, and gently reminded me that the outcome of our son's health was beyond our control, and did I want to pray for peace of mind. I did, and we did. Our son survived and has thrived.   Who of us can be faulted for becoming attached to our children and wanting them to live long and healthy lives?  Or clinging to preferences for what seems precious and important. Yet we know that the young die, and the good suffer, and the stories of seeming injustices and unfair outcomes can show up on anybody's doorstep. Knowing this common and difficult reality surely has driven me to seek a deeper faith, than one built solely on outer manifestations. Even though it is much easier said than done, it remains my core belief that finding peace in the midst of challenge is the highest outcome of a faithful life, or as answered prayer. Why is peace of mind the summa cum laude of spiritual effort? Because it is unconditional, unequivocal and immune from the caprice of good fortune and misfortune.  This peaceful abiding place allows for the "good cheer" that Jesus described as beyond appearances. It is the Elysian field where our sense of wholeness is restored. Jesus called it the Kingdom of Heaven within.  No matter how much we may want for our life to morph according to our preferences, such outcomes, no matter how spectacular, do not offer lasting peace. You know the treachery behind the promise. The mind that creates a preference, will only concoct a new elusive desire on the heels of the last fulfillment. No sooner are you satisfied, than you are wanting again. It never ends, and never ends in lasting peace.   The nature of our ego-mind (relentless desire), and its spiritual alternative (the choice for true freedom and inner peace) are the core teachings of A Course In Miracles.  The course defines a true miracle "as a shift in perception." This teaching is the true "Secret" if there ever was one.    Even if we can't set it right, with God's help we can see it rightly. By asking for a shift, and being receptive, we can  become the way of greater peace, greater love, greater joy, and greater abundance.  From this unalterable, eternal and unambiguous place, we bring a completely new awareness to our lives and conditions.  This is how we become miracles workers ---by releasing our perceptions and letting the Divine look through our eyes and love through our hearts. Is this easy? No, but neither is a life of suffering from trying to create heaven from the outside in.

Journey Without Distance

"I will arise now and go to my Father..." Luke 15:18 In perhaps Jesus' most famous parable, he shared a story about a directionally challenged young man who followed his sense guidance only to end up far from home and miserable.  The prodigal was certain he would find his joy in the world. He followed his desire for a better life, convinced that it could be found somewhere out in the world.  In the end, when he hit the skids, he realized his navigation error: 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, in all the wrong faces.  Because this world is such a powerful opiate that dulls our spiritual sense of direction, it 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 what we need.  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.  The reason we can't find fulfillment in life is not because we're not looking but because our perspective is backwards.  Our understanding of cause and effect is upside down.  In our confusion, we think the source of our well-being is outside ourselves.  A valid spiritual solution is one that reverses our mistaken guidance and turns us in the direction of our true home, where our needs can truly be met. When we reverse our thinking and turn our attention from the world that constantly changes, to the eternal self (the indwelling spirit) we find fulfillment that is unwavering and unconditional. This reversal of worldly thinking is the teaching of A Course In Miracles, which I've referenced in many of my Sunday talks. This Sunday we begin a  series of lessons based upon the themes and teachings of A Course In Miracles. A.C.I.M. has been called a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy and a modern day interpretation of the teachings of Jesus.  A.C.I.M. has many parallels with Unity's philosophy and teachings and we will look at how its teachings can help us turn our lives around, call off the search in the world and return us to our home in God.

Let it Begin With Me

Every Sunday at Unity Center of Davis, we conclude our service by standing together and singing the Peace song.  The first and last lines proclaim, let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.  There is a variation of this refrain, that our ego sings many more times during the week that goes like this: Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with: her, him, that situation, this dilemma, this preference, that shift, this resolution, that outcome, and on and on it goes. The false self that sings this refrain is not connected to the whole of life, and clamors to reclaim the fragments of happiness that it believes are in the world of outer conditions and other people.  When I am identified with my false self, I feel separated, and frustrated, and it is easy to blame my inner turmoil on what someone or something is withholding from me. It may take two to tango, or reach accord, but only one can only find peace inside oneself. Real and lasting contentment, the peace that Jesus referred to as passing human understanding, is not an effect of getting what we want in life, nor a negotiated agreement, nor the laying down of arms.  A Course in Miracles says, Nothing outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace. Ultimately, peace is the recognition of a deep sense of well-being in which this moment is acceptable just as it is. Peace is more than the absence of conflict; it is the presence of a reality beyond the duality of your way or my way.  Rumi referred to this as a place beyond right or wrong, and a place where we could meet each other. The conflicts, which disturb our peace, are always some version of unskillful attempts to get our needs met.  When we drop below the surface mind that thrashes and lashes out we can see more clearly what is really true. This is spiritual insight that first takes us inward, opens our eyes to seeing in a new way, and brings us back to the world with a more holistic, compassionate perspective. The field beyond right and wrong is the unified field of our essential oneness, the great web in which we are united with every form of life. Once glimpsed, the ramifications of lashing out, or polluting, or blaming in order to redress some inner dissatisfaction, are seen more plainly as self-defeating. While we are evolving toward this enlightened perspective, we need constant reminders of the way to peace.  I know of no better technique to correct my perception than calling upon Spirit to help me see rightly.  Even when judgments are railing in my head and I am at war with everything and everyone one, there is the voice of Truth, that sees through the appearances and remains undisturbed.  This voice can lead me beyond the field of right and wrong, to the still waters of peace.  If nothing else we can sing the familiar refrain whenever we need to remember the way to peace, Let there be peace, and let it begin with me.

Solid Faith on Shaky Ground

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:
 
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
 
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
 
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
 
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
 
Give me your hand.
                                       -Rilke's Book of Hours, I, 59

Every day we are confronted with the "seriousness" of life. If our own lives are at the moment blissfully devoid of serious stuff, we can readily find a relative, friend or neighbor who's dealing with serious life stuff.  The enormity of the suffering of the Japanese people affected by the devastating quake and Tsunami compels us to realize how serious life can get in one cataclysmic moment.  This disaster with its widespread destruction and horrendous human cost arose from a singular and sudden geological shift. The spiritual significance of this event seems vitally important to recognize; that while we maintain through faith that we "stand on holy ground" the earth is not a stable and constant foundation upon which to build our faith.

As the expression goes, "Shift Happens!" Whether we are dealing with tectonic plates that slide and destroy the foundations of lives, or the unbridled mutation of cells that threaten a body, or the free fall of monetary value that threatens economic survival, all are expected and cyclical events certain to arise again and again on the human scene.  

Some people argue that such horrific events belie the existence of a loving Creator, who would not withhold its power to save humanity from such suffering.  This view sees the Divine as a reluctant Intervener that chooses capriciously to act or not act to avert disasters that would bring about "serious" life consequences. But what about this view misses the Big Picture? Seeing God as apart and acting upon a separate creation robs us of the God that is Spirit that is with us, in us, and working through all of creation constantly and completely. To adopt this Spirit view of the Divine is to find comfort as we move through all the changes and difficulties in life, knowing that suffering will not separate us from the Life that endures and bears all things with us.

It is equally important to recognize how narrow is our view of life  from our limited human perspective. With a little probing we can uncover some obvious paradoxes that would give us pause to judge the compassion or disregard of the Divine for life threatening events such as earthquakes and cancer for example.   The wider view would tell us that shifting tectonic plates make it possible for geological material to rise up and replenish the earth surface, which of course supports life on earth.  And, it has been the ongoing mutation of cells that has evolved life on this planet so that species could survive and thrive.  When we are quick to isolate events and cast blame upon the Creator, we miss the long standing life affirming impulse that Life continues to express through all of creation.

When we are facing the disasters of life and searching frantically for evidence of the Divine, it is imminently important that we remember that "God walks silently with us through the night." Remembering that it's impossible to be separate from the Life that is our essence, from the Love that made us out of itself, we can"just keep going" through the "beauty and the terror." If we continue to extend our hand in faith we will be lifted up-it's a promise that Love never breaks.

Closing the Divide

Prayer is not a pious gesture at all. It is a response to the One whose heart beats with ours. - Joan Chittister

No matter our religion or spiritual views, the longing to have an active relationship with something greater than ourselves seems universal.  There are a thousand names for God and a thousand ways to pray yet beyond labels and forms of worship, we all share a yearning to know and be known by the Divine.

Because we are offspring of the Divine, we carry within us the imprint of our creator and deep remembrance of our true nature that calls to us to heal the divide and restore our primary relationship with Life. The urgency of this calling and our response is often related to how well we are doing 'on our own.' When our lives are relatively peaceful and to our liking, the call can be just a whisper in the background.  When our life "hits the fan," the volume and intensity of the call can be like a siren in our heart that brings us to our knees in surrender, to prayer, and sometimes, to insight.

In Unity, our prayers are entirely self-directed.  There is no capricious God apart from us withholding our good. There is only the presence of God in its fullness at every point in space and time radiating its blessings in every direction.  This sweeping realization can both soothe us and trouble us.  We love the notion of an unconditional loving God that is always there for us.  The discomfort arises when we realize in those dark hours of our lives, that God has not left us, we have left God.  Like the prodigal, it is up to us to reverse our wayward search in order to find the loving parent who awaits our return home.

Prayer is our attempt to correct our perception of any separation between us and the Divine and see the answer in the midst of us, even as us.  As author, Eric Butterworth wrote, "prayer is not a matter of conquering God's reluctance, but of attuning our selves to God's eternal willingness."

Any words or practice or mantra that closes the gap in our awareness of the Infinite arms that constantly enfold us is useful to bringing us to a place of remembrance and comfort. As Buddha noted, "better than a meaningless story of a thousand words is a single word of deep meaning which, when heard, produces peace."

A simple phrase, such as God is here, God is now or Be Still and know repeated slowly and mindfully can calm the raging waters of our mind and soothe our aching hearts. Even a minimal choice, to pause momentarily in our busyness and take 3 conscious breaths can, in an instant, change our reality. In that simple practice we can suspend history and mystery, find a moment of timelessness, and let ourselves be enfolded by the One whose heart beats with ours.

Shaping the Light

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Jesus-Mathew 7:7 We have been exploring the major tenets of Unity philosophy in these articles and our Sunday lessons.  This week we look at the principle that perhaps causes the greatest confusion and difficulty in accepting and understanding its implications and application in our lives.  It is the notion that each of us has co-creative power to affect our lives. Sometimes called the Law of Mind Action, it claims that "thoughts held in (our) mind, produce after their kind." Quite simply this spiritual principle contradicts the fatalistic belief that life happens to us. Conversely, this tenet asserts that we are not helpless to affect life experiences because we have dominion over our lives.  It is the conviction that our thoughts and feelings have creative, formative power in our life experience. While most people, regardless of religious or spiritual orientation, would generally agree with the notion that our state of mind can affect our state of affairs, there is significant disagreement as to how literally and to what extent this principle is valid and useful.  This is a long discussion that the scope of this article cannot do justice but suffice it to say that when it comes to this principle there is a wide range of understanding of what it really means.  Just like in religious circles within a given faith, adherents to this principle range from literal fundamentalists, who believe that we can, and do, create everything in our lives by the content of our minds, to those who see it as an awareness to take us deeper into our true self.  I'll admit my leanings toward the latter camp.  Again, the whole explanation can't be unpacked in this short treatment, but let me give you a glimpse of my take on this much debated spiritual question. Clearly we are creative beings, as offspring of a Creator; we share its creative nature.  Quantum science bears out the implication that our presence in the field of infinite possibilities is significant and causative to particular outcomes. There seems to be no escaping the idea that our perception of reality is fundamental to our experience. As some have said, "we see the world not as it is, but as we are." That said, the question for many of us is how we use that ability to create better lives; a better world.  Some of us have played with the manifestation powers of focused intention, created treasure maps of ideal life situations, and witnessed the magic unfold before our eyes. However notwithstanding the creative successes there often remained a lingering discontent that the acquired stuff of life did not alleviate. Such discontent is the ache for inner wholeness; the back story of every human want or desire.  Simply, it is our desire to know God, or more universally, to know our true self, the imago dei. Once we come to realize the deepest need of our soul then that becomes our focus, our raison d'etre, and it follows that the most appropriate and effective use of our creative power is to maximize that awareness. Jesus emphasized this singular focus in many of his parables about the kingdom of God, suggesting that the worldly gains will not take us where our souls will find comfort.  He said "seek first the kingdom of God...and these things will be added unto you." In other words if we make peace, love, wholeness, and harmony the predominant thoughts and goals for our life, we direct the universe to match our life experience according to these inner qualities.  If we do it in reverse (I have) we get the sports car, or house overlooking the ocean, and still feel spiritually bankrupt, and then were back at the drawing board trying to figure out what would really satisfy us. The truth says that you have the kingdom of God within you now; the treasure map points inward. When we focus our creative power on manifesting these spiritual qualities, we create a world that works for us immediately, without exception or condition. And, as Truth would have it, the rest of the world is equally blessed by our brighter light.