The Art of For-getting

My current Sunday lesson series, “Life as Art,” is intended to help remind us of our true selves and acquaint us with some tools and practices we can engage in to strengthen our conscious awareness of and further our connection with our souls. God, as the Master Artist of all creation, created us as expressions of Itself. Each of us is an individuated soul formed in the image-likeness of God and born into this life experience to share our own unique gifts and talents with the world.

As we give expression to our souls, we bring into visibility the invisible nature of our unique image-likeness of God and create our lives as works of art. In order to do so, we must, as all great artists do, learn to use our tools, in this case it is our thoughts, words and actions with focus, skill and vision.

We are born with awareness of our souls. However, we soon learn from our parents, schools, churches and others how to behave in ways that are “acceptable” but very often belie the expression of our true nature. We learn to hide our true light under a bushel basket full of myths, messages and beliefs that tell us a story of who we are, but which are, in actuality, who we are not. As a result, we lose conscious connection with our image-likeness, our souls, and instead of creating our lives as works of art in service to the God of our being, we live our lives in service to what others have taught us.

The title of my lesson this week is “The Art of For-getting.” I thought of titling it “The Art of Remembering;” however, I was inspired when I thought of ‘for-getting’ as a contraction of the words ‘before getting.’ I am intrigued by the idea of using our power of imagination to return in consciousness to a point “before getting” corrupted by the world.

Through setting a clear intention and using the power of our minds we can return to any point in our memory, a point before we took on the limiting beliefs of our parents, society, culture, religion or any other external influence. New Thought teacher and writer, Neville Goddard, called this practice “revisioning.” “Revisioning” involves recalling a time from your past in which you took on a belief about yourself that is not in alignment with your divine nature. Then, from that place, imagining a different scenario, one that is affirming, rather than limiting, and one that reflects the essence of your soul. I will talk more about this and give some examples in my lesson on Sunday, May 15. If you are unable to attend service, you can listen here beginning Monday, May 16.

In addition to “revisioning,” other elements of “The Art of For-getting” include the practices of reclaiming and repenting. “Reclaiming” is acknowledging the power of the word and using our words to establish ourselves in the energy of truth by claiming our divine nature. “You shall decree and thing and it shall be established for you” (Job 22:28). Note that this Scripture does not say that it “may” be established, but that it shall be. This is true because the moment we speak our intention through the power of our word, we align ourselves in the vibrational frequency of whatever we speak.

While the word “repent” may trigger some people due to the historical misuse of the word by some fundamental Christian teaching, the word actually means to “have a change of mind” or “to turn and make a different choice.” Repenting is the power we have to make different choices in our actions. When we are willing to practice honest self-reflection and determine that our actions contradict our divine nature, we can without burdening ourselves with guilt or shame, make different choices that assist us in living our lives in service to our souls.

I hope you will join us on Sunday, and for the rest of the series that will conclude on Sunday, June 5. My hope is that we each make a renewed commitment to being true to our souls and in doing so further the manifestation of heaven on Earth.