I AM Innocence

This past Sunday, I shared that earlier in the week I found myself caught up in a whirlwind of emotion.  I was feeling angry, sad and scared.  I was telling myself that I was being misunderstood, wrongly accused, and that I was not being seen for my intentions and for who I truly strive to be in the world. 

From my perspective there were those who were, in effect, attacking me; therefore I believed I had to defend myself.  My defense showed up as a great deal of mental blaming, justifying, name calling, and judging of those I believed to be the perpetrators of this injustice.

By the time I became consciously aware of what was going on inside my head, I had been in this state for several days.  When I was finally able and willing to take a step back and observe myself, I was woefully amazed at the toll this experience had taken on my emotional and mental well-being.

As often occurs for me, I had an epiphany one morning in the shower.  Suddenly, I was reminded of a quote from A Course in Miracles which says, “In my defenselessness my innocence lies.” 

The question then arose in my mind, “What is the innocence that lies in my defenselessness?”  The answer was revealed by the still, small voice at the center of my being.  My innocence is that which needs no defense because it is that which cannot be threatened or harmed.  My innocence is my natural state of being.  It is the Truth of me; an eternal, changeless expression of God.  My innocence is who and what I truly am.

Naturally, my next question was, “So, if my innocence lies in my defenselessness, then what lies in my defensiveness?”  Surprising, the answer came; my sin.  Charles Fillmore in The Revealing Word defines ‘sin’ as “error thought.”  The original “sin” or error thought is the belief that I can be separate from God.  I realized that I was defending a sense of self that I created in response to my belief in separation and my attachment to the world and the beliefs and opinions therein. 

I recognized that I was defending a concept of self based on what I have defined as my reputation, my authority, my position, and my assumed identity as a “nice guy”; all of which is based upon a false sense of self derived from a belief about how others should value and appreciate me.  It is only that which I am not that can seem to be threatened, thus requiring defense.

When I believe that I can be separate from God, I also must believe that I can be separate from others.  In my “sin,” I create separation and the possibility for guilt, blame, attack and defense, none of which exists in God Mind. 

Fortunately, I learned in the Baptist church that my sin can be washed away through my faith in Christ.  From a Unity perspective, that means that my “sin” is washed away by the recognition of the Christ I Am as my only abiding reality.  That which I Am is real, and as A Course in Miracles says, “Nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists.”  As I am released from my error-thinking by the acceptance of my true nature, my awareness of my innocence is restored and I am set free.

In my innocence, I know there is only one, the one that I Am, thus there is nothing and no one to defend, and no one to defend against.  In that awareness, I am able to embrace myself and everyone with empathy, love and compassion. 

It only takes one, in Oneness, to end the insidious cycle of defensiveness.  Let me be the one to lead the way.  

What If?

I have often heard it said, “You can’t know what you don’t know.”  Most commonly I have heard others use this phrase when attempting to help another feel better about choices he or she made in the past that turned out to be painful or in some way hurtful to another.  The point being that we all make choices from the information we have in the moment, not from information we have acquired since and would apply in retrospect.  I am willing to bet that we have all used the phrase, “If only I had known then what I know now…”

It is common for us to stand in a place of pain or discomfort in the present and ask “What if...”  What if I had finished my degree program?  What if I hadn’t made that investment?  What if I hadn’t married him or her?  When we ask “what if” questions about the past we are in judgment of a choice we made.  Asking these questions keeps us in victim consciousness, blaming ourselves for something we did or did not do.  We are choosing to remain tied to the past, rather than choosing to claim our power in the present.

In truth, now is the only moment that exists.  All knowledge, wisdom and power are present here and now.  They exist as the very nature of God, Divine Mind, which we are.  As we begin to embrace this truth, we come to know that regardless of where we stand in the moment in relation to any life experience, we are the knowledge, wisdom and power to choose something different.  Anything we choose to know in the moment we know when we are willing and able to open our hearts and minds to the knowing of God that is present now.

It is true that we can’t go back in time and make choices from what we now know.  It is also true that we can know now what we need to know in order to make choices that will enrich our lives and fulfill our hearts’ desires.  I encourage each of us to begin today to affirm,

“I am the knowledge, wisdom and power to choose the life I desire.”

As odd as it may sound, as we claim this truth, we can begin to know what we don’t know that we know.  For in truth, we know what we choose to know when we consciously choose to know it.

Rather than ask, “What if…” about the past, what if we ask,

“What if I fully embrace all that God is as me this moment?”;  “What if I take time every day to consciously connect with the knowledge, wisdom and power that I am?”;  “What if I acknowledge my full potential and begin to live it now?”;  “What if I live my life as an example to the world?”

Indeed, what if…?

Unconditional Love

The Unity of Arlington mission statement begins, “We are a thriving spiritual community expressing love...” When we say that we “express love,” what do we mean?

 

Cindy Wigglesworth, founder of DeepChange, a leadership training and coaching company, and presenter of one of the Enlightened Leadership webinars provided by Unity Worldwide Ministries, has researched, written and presented extensively on the topic of Spiritual Intelligence (SQ).  Cindy believes that SQ is necessary for the conscious evolution of humanity.  And, she is of the opinion that SQ is all about unconditional love - love for yourself and others. However, she concluded through her work in corporate settings that the word "love" is not really workable in a formal definition, so she has adopted a definition of ‘love’ that she discovered from an Eastern tradition, "Love is a bird with two wings: one wing is Compassion, the other wing is Wisdom... if either wing is missing the bird cannot fly."

Cindy’s definition of spiritual intelligence is: "the ability to behave with Wisdom and Compassion (Unconditional Love) while maintaining inner and outer peace (equanimity) regardless of the circumstances." According to Cindy, people with spiritual intelligence express love – which she now defines as Wisdom and Compassion. She sees Wisdom as the most elevated stage of development of the intellect (IQ) and Compassion as the most elevated stage of Emotional Intelligence (EQ).

I believe the intent of our use of the word ‘love’ when we developed our mission statement was indeed to make it our mission to express “unconditional love” to the best of our ability and understanding. Using Cindy’s definition, we fulfill our mission when we act in ways that embody both wisdom and compassion. If we are to fulfill our mission, it is important for us to have a working understanding of both terms.

Intellect is considered to be the faculty by which one thinks and acquires knowledge. However, if we measure IQ solely on the basis of knowledge and reason, we risk missing the deeper understanding of what Cindy refers to as Spiritual Intelligence (SQ).  We often confuse knowledge for wisdom.  Knowledge is information that can be obtained from numerous sources. It is learned by the reasoning mind.  Wisdom, on the other hand, is an awareness of truth that must be realized and can be expanded through one’s intention and attention.  Wisdom includes insight and discernment.  It is imparted, not from the reasoning mind, but from a depth of Being beyond thought.  Wisdom requires a willingness to connect with and listen deeply to the I Am that is beyond our reasoning capacity and beyond the limits of our five senses. It is born of a conscious awareness of Oneness with the Source of all life.  It is the awareness of One Source as It expresses in the non-physical.  The wisdom that Cindy refers to is an acute knowing at depth that God is all.

Compassion, as Cindy has defined it, is the most elevated stage of Emotional Intelligence (EQ), thus it is associated with the feeling nature.  It is the capacity and willingness to join another in his or her pain with the intention of helping to relieve suffering, while not contributing to or joining in the suffering, thus maintaining inner and outer peace regardless of the circumstances.  Compassion is the ability to respond from a deep and conscious connection to the Christ within while maintaining a conscious connection with the Christ of another.  Compassion is free of evaluation or judgment, and simply embraces the other and the self with empathy, and gently holds the physical, mental or emotional experience occurring in the moment.  Compassion is the intentional opening of one’s heart and connecting with the heart of another.  Better stated, it is feeling another’s experience as one’s own experience.  Compassion is the acute awareness at depth that not only is there One Life in spirit; there is only One Life in expression as well.

Unconditional love in action combines the aspects of wisdom, which is the acute knowing that there is but One Life of all, with compassion, which is feeling the One Life of all as all.  Perhaps that is the kind of love Jesus was referring to when he said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30).  True wisdom allows us to know our neighbor as ourselves, and compassion allows us to experience our neighbor as ourselves.  We express Unconditional Love when we know ourselves as the embodiment of the living Christ, treat ourselves accordingly, and act from that same wisdom and compassion for our neighbors.

We are One in Spirit, One in Mind, One in Body.  We are One!

Nonviolence Is Love In Action

I recently watched a rebroadcast of Tavis Smiley’s 2005 interview with Coretta Scott King, widow of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader and activist.  During the interview Mr. Smiley asked Mrs. King if she thought that Dr. King’s nonviolent strategies would be effective in today’s volatile world political climate.  He specifically addressed whether she thought they would be effective in response to the events of 9/11 and in dealing with Osama bin Laden, asking her if a nonviolent response would prevail in such extreme circumstances. I was pleased to hear her unequivocal “Yes.”  In fact, she posited that if we had been practicing and promoting nonviolence in our diplomatic relations around the world in the decades since Dr. King’s assassination that there would not have been an Osama bin Laden or others like him.  Mrs. King further stated that the concept of “nonviolence” is based on unconditional love as taught by Jesus Christ and that when we embrace unconditional love as our guiding principle and respond from that consciousness, we naturally live nonviolence.  Nonviolence is not passive resistance, but active response expressed as unconditional love from the realization of Oneness. 

Jesus spoke from a realization of Oneness when he said, “The Father and I are One” and “Those who have seen me have seen the Father.”  The “Father” is the One Power and One Presence that is the Source of All.  Jesus was not talking just about himself; he taught that each of us is that One as well. 

There is only One in expression; therefore, all who appear to be showing up in human form are in reality individuations of the One. 

From the realization of Oneness, the mind-identified “conditions,” such as religion, race, gender, nationality, and sexual orientation to name a few, no longer have any meaning; therefore there is nothing to fear, thus nothing to defend or attack.  Where there is no fear, there is only Love. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear.” John 4:18.  Where there is only Love, that Love extends to all humanity through every thought, word and deed: This is the essence of nonviolence. 

When asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus replied, “Love – Love God, Love your Self, and Love the ‘other’ as the Self.  As Mrs. King stated, when we practice nonviolence we follow this – the greatest commandment of all.

Today begins the seventeenth annual Gandhi-King-Gyatso Season for Nonviolence.  It is sponsored by the Association for Global New Thought (www.agnt.org):

“The annual 64 day campaign, co-founded in 1998 by Dr. Arun Gandhi and The Association for Global New Thought (AGNT), is an educational, media and grassroots awareness campaign spanning the January 30th and April 4th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The purpose of the campaign is to focus educational and media attention on the philosophy of attaining peace through nonviolent action as demonstrated by legendary leaders Mohandas K. Gandhi, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar E. Chavez, and President Nelson Mandela, as well as living legends such as His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.”

Please visit their website to learn more or to download information that will assist with the practice and integration of nonviolence in our daily lives.

May we continue to live the teachings of Jesus and realize the dreams of these leaders, and others who champion nonviolence through the realization of Oneness and express that in their actions of unconditional love.

God Is

This past Sunday I had the honor of being the guest speaker at Harmony Fellowship of Fort Worth.  As I sat in the sanctuary awaiting the start of the service, my focus was drawn to the message that is posted on the front wall above the platform.  In large beautifully scripted letters are the words, “God is…”  I contemplated those words and assumed that they are the beginning of a phrase which each one is invited to complete for themselves.  It was a present reminder of how each of us defines ‘God’ in our own way, and how our concept of ‘God’ greatly impacts every area of our lives, at times enriching it, and at other times confounding it.  To some, ‘God’ as a concept can provide comfort and peace of mind in times of need.  To others, ‘God’ can also create much suffering.  ‘God’ can stimulate a great deal of pain and guilt for one who has learned that God judges and punishes. 

Over the past few years I have participated in discussions within our Unity of Arlington community about ‘God’ and the use of the word ‘God.’ One person said, “I do not believe in God: I am an atheist.”  Another said, “I am agnostic: I do not believe that any person can know the cause of reality without firsthand experience; therefore, there is no way to know if ‘God’ exists.”  Still another questioned, “If we are not talking about the big guy up in heaven somewhere that is controlling everything, the God of most Christians’ understanding, and we have a more evolved understanding of what it is, why do we still use the word ‘God’: Why not use ‘Life’ or some other word?” 

While it is just a word and as all words are, is used to represent a concept, the word ‘God’ is imbued with centuries of meaning, not all of it in alignment with what we teach in Unity.  When one, such as I, has been indoctrinated in a religion that uses ‘God’ to judge, punish and abuse, he or she often has a mental and emotional imprinting of the word that is not conducive to feeling centered or inspired when hearing ‘God’ spoken in the spiritual community.  There was a time in the not so distant past when I chose not to use the word ‘God’ and was often disturbed when I heard others use it, especially those in Unity or other New Thought communities.   And, while I now use the word freely, I completely understand that it can be disconcerting and even confounding for some.  I am sure it can be for them much like it is for me when I go back to a Baptist church service; I find myself reinterpreting nearly everything that the minister says, as well as all the hymn lyrics.  It can be tiring and trying.

When I use the word ‘God’ today I am certainly not referring to the God of my childhood, a man with a white beard and white robes sitting up in heaven somewhere judging me and everyone else and most likely damning me to eternity in hell because I do not measure up to his criteria for admittance to heaven.  When I say ‘God’ I am not referring to a being or beings; and while I do not consider myself an atheist, neither do I subscribe to theism.  I am, instead, to the best of my ability giving voice to that which is ineffable. 

After further consideration, perhaps the words on the wall at Harmony Fellowship are not the beginning of a phrase, but a complete sentence.  The ‘God’ of my understanding today is not noun, pronoun nor verb: God is.  God is “no thing,” yet is All.  God is the Essence of all that is real.  As Unity co-founder, Charles Fillmore stated, “God is the eternal verity of the universe and humankind.”

Our concepts of ‘God’ are worthy of further consideration and exploration.  I hope you will join us this Sunday as we go “Back to Basics” and explore ‘God’ and “God is….” from a Unity perspective.  

God says "Yes"

I have heard it said that when we pray God has three possible answers: yes, no, or not now.

The problem with that concept, especially when we don’t get what we pray for, is determining whether the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not now.’  If that’s really the way it works and we don’t get what we ask for, are we supposed to give up or keep asking?  When I was a child and my parents said ‘no’ to something I really wanted, I would beg and plead until I got it or until my parents got angry and gave me a definitive ‘NO!’  Are we supposed to do the same with God?

Lakewood Church Pastor and bestselling author, Joel Osteen, in his book, Break Out! – 5 Keys to go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life, states that we have to go through our ‘no’s’ on the way to our ‘yeses.’  He contends that the ‘no’s’ are part of God’s plan, and that God’s ‘no’s’ are often a test of our faith. Mr. Osteen says that God has ‘yeses’ in our future and that we must be persistent in our asking until we receive a ‘yes.’  He asserts that God says, “Yes is coming your way.”

The idea that God says ‘no’ or ‘not now’ does not work with my concept of God.  The belief that God says ‘no’ assumes that God makes evaluations or judgments about what we should or should not have.  That concept of God speaks of a God created in the image of humankind, a God that gives to some and withholds from others, which is the opposite of man being created in the image of God.

The concept of a capricious God, with base human characteristics, does not mesh with my current understanding of God.  God is Pure Consciousness.  God is Absolute Good, as Unity’s first basic principle states.  God, as we understand God, is Principle, unchanging and unchangeable.  God is the one Source, the one Life, the one Presence, and the one Power.  The Consciousness of God (Good) is always expressing and expanding.  God is constantly and consistently giving All as all.

I hesitate to use an anthropomorphic analogy for God because I do not wish to reinforce that image of God, but I will do so here in order to express my point. If God answered our asking verbally, God would always say ‘Yes!’  God would say, “I have given All.  It is yours to accept as you choose.  All you need to do is release from your consciousness that which is blocking the manifestation of Good (God) in your life experience.”  It is up to us to recognize it, realize it, and reveal it. In short, it is up to us to say ‘Yes!’ to God.

The Consciousness that is God always reflects back to us that which we are saying ‘Yes’ to – not necessarily verbally, but through the projection of our minds which consists of not only thoughts, but our feelings as well.  God (Pure Consciousness) only shows us the perfect reflection of our own consciousness.  Within that, God says, ‘”Yes, you are seeing in the world of form exactly what you, in your mind are saying ‘yes’ to.”

If we are not experiencing the totality of God’s Good, it is because our consciousness has not evolved and expanded to allow it and to receive it.  If we are not experiencing the manifestation of our desire, it is because our minds are blocking our awareness and acceptance of it.  We are saying ‘Yes’ to something that we do not desire.

From this understanding, the question, “Why does God keep saying ‘no’ to my prayers?” becomes, “What am I saying ‘Yes’ to that is not a match to my deepest desire to allow and receive Good in my life?”

Do you have a desire that is yet to manifest?  Are you experiencing something in your life that seems to be in direct opposition to what you do desire? If you answer in the affirmative to either of those questions, I invite you to take an honest look at your beliefs around the desire.  Are you unconsciously saying ‘yes’ to something you do not desire? Are you holding a belief that is opposing your desire?  Are you willing to release it and affirm a new belief that supports the realization of your desire?  It truly is your choice.  God never says ‘no.’ God does not say ‘not now.’  God always says ‘Yes!’  We just have to be clear about what we are saying ‘Yes!’ to. 

Unshakable Faith

Yes, after a holiday break I am now back to considering the path to prosperous living prescribed by Lakewood Pastor and bestselling author, Joel Osteen, in his latest book, Break Out! 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life.  I am truly fascinated by his perspective.  Reading his book is helping me to discern how his teaching can integrate with New Thought philosophy in ways that I can apply to my life and help others use in their lives as well. 

What follows is the first in a series of pieces I will write in which I take chapter titles and quotes from Mr. Osteen’s book and offer my perspective on how we can interpret and use his lessons to truly live prosperous lives.  Please keep in mind Unity minister and author, Edwene Gaines’, definition of prosperity which is –

• A vitally alive physical body to provide a comfortable worldly home for the spiritual beings that we are
•  Relationships that are satisfying, nurturing, honest, and work all the time
• Work that we love so much that it’s not work, it’s play
• And all the money we can spend

Unshakable Faith

Mr. Osteen says, “When God puts a promise in your heart, you have to come to the place where you believe in that promise so strongly no one can talk you out of it.”

What is the promise that God puts in your heart?  It is not the promise of health or wealth, not the promise of a new job or the perfect relationship; not the promise of a new car or a grand home.  The promise that God places in your heart is the same promise that is in the heart of all.  The promise is “I Am that I Am.”  The “I” which we call ‘God,’ ‘Universe,’ ‘Divine Mind,’ ‘One’ as well as many other names is the All in all and the All as all.  The “I” is our only Truth.  That Truth is “written on our hearts.”  In other words, the Truth is recorded in our soul or etched on our spirit.

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel    after that time,” declares the LORD.“I will put my law in their minds    and write it on their hearts.I will be their God,    and they will be my people. – Jeremiah 31:33

That covenant is that the ‘I’ is all you need. Conditions change, people come and go, jobs begin and end, and houses are built and destroyed: “I” is changeless and eternal.  We must place our faith so strongly in the awareness of the ‘I’ that nothing can move us.  Nothing in the external can shake the faith that ‘I’ is the only Truth.  No appearance, no circumstance can move us from our firm foundation in the Truth.  It is this Truth that sets us free from the suffering caused by focusing on conditions.

Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, said,

“When we deny our attachment to matter and material conditions and affirm our unity with spiritual substance, we enter the new consciousness of real substance.  Substance is not confined to matter; it is the idea that is the firm foundation of all that we conceive to be permanent.”

Mr. Osteen says,

“If you focus on the condition, focus on the problem, you are using your faith but you are using it in reverse.”

Actually if you are focusing on your problem, if you are paying attention only to the condition, you are not using faith at all.  Unity minister and author, Eric Butterworth, defines ‘faith’ as “consciousness centered in the Divine Flow.”  If we understand ‘faith’ from that perspective, it does not follow that faith can be used to focus on a problem.  If we are focusing on the circumstance and we are not aware of the Truth in the midst of it, then we are in fear, not in faith.  Faith is keeping our minds stayed on Truth.

Mr. Osteen encourages us to, “Get in agreement with God.”  We must be honest, and ask ourselves whether we are agreeing with the medical report or the financial report, or are we agreeing with the promise of God – the Truth of our Being.

This does not mean that we have to deny the appearance or live with our heads in the sand.  It is fine to have information.  However, it is essential to not allow the information to be perceived as Truth.  The facts about a physical condition, financial situation, job or relationship are just that, facts; they are not your Truth.  Do not allow the “facts” to inform your actions.  Remove your focus from the facts before taking action and allow divine guidance to inform your actions.

Living a prosperous life is not something that happens to you; it happens through you.  Living a prosperous life results not from focusing on life’s conditions and taking action to remedy them, but from living in conscious awareness of the eternal Truth of your being - the ‘I’ that is and was and evermore shall be, the All, and taking action inspired from that consciousness. Your Good is not dependent upon any person, place or thing in the external.  Your good is dependent upon you and your willingness to make that shift in consciousness.  That is the only path to prosperous living.