Practicing the Oneness Principle

Unity offers some very powerful teachings related to healing and wholeness, realization and demonstration, and prosperity, as well as other aspects of life. For many of us, once we discover Unity, we read books, go to classes and workshops, and attend Sunday services in order to learn the principles.

Unfortunately, it often stops there. We learn the principles, continue to sign up for the next great class or workshop, but often our lives change very little or not at all. When it doesn’t seem to be working in our lives, we may begin to question the validity of what we are learning. We may question, “If all of this is true, why do I not have enough money; why am I still single; why have I not manifested the perfect job?”  

If we are not living the prosperous life we desire, it is not because the principles we are learning are not true. It may be that we are not practicing the principles that we are learning, or that our practice needs to evolve to embrace a deeper level of understanding and embodiment. I have found this to be true for me. I share more about that below.

Unity’s fifth basic principle states, “Knowing and understanding the laws of life, also called Truth, are not enough. A person must also live the truth that he or she knows.”  We live the Truth by practicing the Truth in our daily lives. Our lives are not going to be transformed simply by a mental understanding of the Truth. In order to transform our lives and live our dreams, we must be willing to put into practice what we know.

As the famous joke goes, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, Practice, Practice.” For most of us, anything that we have learned to do and do well has taken practice. And, with enough practice, these skills become as second nature to us. We were not born knowing how to tie our shoelaces, but after someone teaches us how and we practice for a time, we no longer stop to think about it: we simply tie them. The same applies to learning the basics of mathematics. We learn addition, subtraction and multiplication, which may seem foreign at first, but with practice, the basic principles of mathematics become a part of our consciousness, and we use them without having to think much about it.

Oneness is one of Unity’s primary principles. We teach that there is One Power/Presence which we often refer to as ‘God.’ Additionally, we teach that God is our essential nature. We are the pure potential and possibility of all that we understand God to be and our purpose in this realm of existence is to embody and express that “Allness” to the best of our ability at any given moment. Unity cofounder Charles Fillmore said,

“It is your mission to express all that you can imagine God to be. Let this be your standard of achievement; never lower it, nor allow yourself to be belittled by the cry of sacrilege. You can attain to everything that you can imagine. If you imagine that it is possible to God, it is also possible to you. Whatever possibility your mind conceives, that is for you to attain. This is the law; let none belittle himself or dwarf the Supreme by trying to annul it.”

I have recently realized that while I have been a student of Unity and other New Thought philosophy for more than 20 years, I am still evolving in my ability to truly understand the depth of this Truth. Even though I have embraced the concept of Oneness, my Unity in God, I have not completely practiced it; in part because I have not truly grasped its deeper meaning. Even in my daily practice, I was holding myself apart, but recently I have gained a deeper understanding of Oneness. I am revisiting the ways I have “practiced” it and am opening to the awareness of how I can further deepen my practice. My contemplative question has been, “How do I practice the principle of Oneness?”

As I meditated on the question this morning, the following answer came.

You must first remove your attention from the world of effect and focus solely on First Cause (God). Know your Unity in God and realize that all you perceive in the phantasmal world is an effect of your consciousness. Turn your attention from the outer to the inner and reflect upon God. Contemplate the nature of God as Peace, Love, Joy, Harmony, Order, Unity, Beauty, and all the concepts/attributes you most often associate with God. Further, focus your attention there and merge your awareness of self with those attributes. You may need to penetrate layers of self-conception that seem to refute your Oneness, but persist until you sense that there is no secondary cause, not even that which you have previously considered to be your mind, your thoughts or your perceptions. Join in awareness with the One Mind, free from attachment to the world of form. And, from there invoke your power of Imagination to envision a world that embodies all of the Divine Nature of God as the Divine Nature of you. Activate your Love center in your heart space and begin to harmonize all in alignment to Love as you attract all that is in vibrational resonance with your newly awakened Unity consciousness. Using your Faith faculty, see beyond the evidence of what is, that which is currently manifested, to perceive what is possible as you align your vision to see as God sees as you. In conscious awareness of Unity or Oneness, know that all you could ever desire is realized first as you know your Unity in God. All that you could ever desire is here and now present as Consciousness. Know, too, that you are endowed with faculties, twelve of which Charles Fillmore discerned as The Twelve Powers of Man. These powers or faculties, which include Imagination, Love and Faith, when activated, strengthened and embodied are your innate abilities that empower you to bring into manifestation all that mirrors your conscious awareness of what is already fulfilled in Spirit. The consciousness of Unity in God is the ultimate definition of Prosperity Consciousness. Living from that consciousness, intentionally using your powers, brings forth demonstrations of it. First Cause/God moves through you, as you, in order to create that which embodies the attributes of Itself.

I have distilled from the above the following:

In order to know, truly KNOW God and all the ways God manifests, I must contemplate only God and let go of any idea of a self that is separate. I must invite and allow the revelation of God and myself as one who can realize the full potential of all the “God-ness” that I Am. I must release all attachment to the world of form and trust that the power, presence and substance of God is demonstrating in perfect Divine Order in accordance with my knowing of myself as that. I also must know that I can and will only demonstrate at the level at which I know myself in Oneness. I know, too, that I will only demonstrate “God-ness” in my life as I am able to activate, strengthen and embody the Divine faculties innate in my humanity. This is how important it is for me to know that I am the Source in expression, my Oneness in God. My experience of wholeness, prosperity and all that I desire depends upon it. Practicing this principle from the perspective of the deeper awareness that I am currently enjoying will bring forth demonstrations in my life of wholeness, prosperity, love, peace and joy that I know God to be. I am sure of it. It is a knowing I have for you as well.

I hope you will join me in my recommitment to revisiting our Unity principles. My desire is that we come together to invite a deeper understanding of them so that we not only have intellectual knowledge of them, but also embody them in daily living. My prayer is that these principles come alive for us in ways that we have yet to imagine.

Join on Sunday at 10:00 as we explore together what it means to practice the Oneness principle of Unity and truly know that we are God expressing here and now in Its pure possibility and potential. Let us discover how we can live the Truth we know, individually and collectively, in order to co-create a world that mirrors all the attributes of God, the Supreme.

Strengthen Your Prosperity Consciousness

At Unity Spiritual Center Denver, we have designated August as “Prosperity Month.” In support of this, my Sunday morning lessons are focused on the topic. In addition, we will begin offering the 4T Prosperity class on Monday, August 22. Those who participate will develop a greater understanding of prosperity and raise their prosperity consciousness. You may register for the program here. We know that, as Emmet Fox said and we continue to teach, “Life is consciousness.” Our third basic Unity principle states that we experience our lives as a reflection of our consciousness. In order for us to demonstrate prosperity we must increase our consciousness of prosperity. 

Unity cofounder, Charles Fillmore said, “True prosperity is the consciousness of abundance based on the understanding of God as the inexhaustible Resource always open to man.”

We focus on God as the inexhaustible Source so that we can stand strong in the midst of what at times appears to be an expanding collective consciousness of fear stimulated by thoughts of lack and limitation - a collective consciousness of which we are a part and from which it is often challenging to separate ourselves.

Mr. Fillmore also said, “You have doubtless found that there is a spiritual law that brings into manifestation the thoughts we concentrate our attention on, a divine universal law of mind activity that is unfailing.”  We only need to look around us to observe the manifestations of the pervading consciousness.  If we are to demonstrate experiences of abundance, health and happiness, it is up to us to develop a consciousness of prosperity.

We come together in classes, workshops, and at Sunday morning services to strengthen ourselves and each other in the consciousness of God, the all-providing Source. We devote time and energy to renewing our minds with Truth and establishing a prosperity consciousness that enables us to demonstrate prosperity in every area of our lives. Mr. Fillmore stated, “If you are persistent in working this idea into your conscious mind it will become filled with it to the overflowing point, will ooze out, as it were, into all your affairs.”

Unity minister, author and prosperity teacher, Edwene Gaines defines true prosperity as, 

• 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

Isn’t that the life experience that we would all choose to live?  The good news is that it is the life experience available for us all to choose!

Mr. Fillmore said,

“The law of supply is a divine law.  It is a law of mind and must work through mind.  God will not go to the store and bring food to your table, but when you continue to think about God as your real supply, everything in your mind begins to awaken and to contact the divine substance, and as you mold it in your consciousness, ideas begin to come which will connect you with the visible manifestation.” 

Simple, right?  We assert that all we have to do is keep our minds stayed on God and manifestation will occur with grace and ease. That is correct, and it is simple, but it is not always easy. That is why it is important that we develop a spiritual practice that builds the consciousness of God and fills our minds with divine substance.

Fillmore encourages us to,

“Think prosperity, talk prosperity, not in general but in specific terms, deny every appearance of failure, affirm supply, support, and success in the very face of question and doubt, then give thanks for plenty in all our affairs, knowing for certain that our good is now being fulfilled in Spirit, in mind and in manifestation.”

 

We can begin today to develop this as our daily spiritual practice. We can make the commitment to ourselves to be aware of what we say – not just what we speak aloud, but what we say in the quiet of our own minds. After all, it is in our own minds that manifestation begins!

I invite you to join us at Unity Spiritual Center Denver as we celebrate Prosperity Month. Sign up today to participate in the 4T Prosperity Program, and join us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 as we explore ways to increase our prosperity consciousness and develop tools to strengthen our spiritual practices. We will learn together how to more fully demonstrate prosperity in every area of our lives.

Dare to Believe

We have designated August as Prosperity Month at Unity Spiritual Center Denver, so my mind is focusing on ways to speak about the subject. Well-known prosperity teachers in the New Thought movement of today come to mind; people like Mary Manin Morrissey, author of Building Your Field of Dreams and creator of Prosperity Plus and Prosperity Plus II, and Edwene Gaines, minister, teacher and author of The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity. Those who have been in the Unity movement for some time know that Catherine Ponder was a pioneering thought leader in the realm of prosperity consciousness. Her teaching is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. If you have not yet read her book, The Prosperity Secrets of the Ages, I highly recommend that you do. There are many other prosperity teachers, but they are the ones who have, to my knowledge, had the most far-reaching and profound influence on the prosperity consciousness of our movement. 

Bestselling author, and Pastor of Lakewood Church, Joel Osteen, is a leading voice in the arena of what is commonly known as the “prosperity gospel” for those who are seeking a more traditional approach. I realize that not everyone appreciates Mr. Osteen’s teaching. Some of his peers even denounce him because he does not teach the doctrine of sin and salvation. I understand, too, that not everyone who is reading this post relates to Mr. Osteen’s approach to Scripture or even his presentation style. Regardless of what one may think of him personally or professionally, it is apparent that he is speaking to many people right where they are and to what they need in a very powerful and meaningful way. His church, the largest Protestant church in the United States, boasts an average weekly attendance of over 43,000. In addition, his televised sermons are viewed by over 7 million people weekly and over 20 million monthly in 100 countries.¹ Obviously, he is reaching people in numbers that none of those mentioned above, or probably even in the totality of our movement, have done to date.

While I do not agree with his theology, I am inspired by Pastor Osteen’s books. I truly appreciate the opportunity he provides me to reinterpret his traditional perspective into language that fits my theology. It seems that he is teaching, albeit from a traditional and more literal approach, much of what Catherine Ponder teaches from a metaphysical perspective of Scripture. In fact, there is nothing new in what Mr. Osteen teaches. He is simply teaching in a way that reaches those who still view the Bible literally. Obviously, they are a much larger segment of the population than those of us in New Thought.

As I have begun to consider my Sunday lessons on prosperity during August, I am once again drawn to read and listen to the audiobook version of Mr. Osteen’s book, Break Out! 5 Keys to go beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life. I used this book as the foundation for a series of lessons I gave nearly three years ago at Unity of Arlington. Not surprising to me, because it happens frequently when I revisit books, I am reading and hearing things that I missed before. I realize that what is actually happening is that I am reading and listening from a different perspective. I have grown in my consciousness over the past three years, so naturally, I am experiencing his words differently.

Although he doesn’t use the word, Mr. Osteen understands the power of ‘consciousness.’ In my first read/listen through, I was concerned that Mr. Osteen was attempting to brainwash the listener/reader into believing that some supernatural deity is going to favor him or her with great wealth and physical healing, and fulfill all of their dreams at any moment; once again, provided that they put God first in their lives. I wondered if perhaps his approach might do more harm than good as it first appears that he is attempting to convince us that this capricious God is waiting for us to win his favor, but without being specific about how to do that.  Additionally, this approach has the potential of leaving the reader/listener with shame, blame and guilt in the event that “God’s favor” does not manifest in their lives. 

However, on my second listen I heard something that I had completely missed the first time; something that altered my perspective. In the first few minutes of the audio book and on the fourth page of the printed version Mr. Osteen says,

“Sometimes you need faith and victory spoken over your life.  Words have creative power.  When you receive them into your spirit, they can ignite seeds of increase on the inside.  That’s the reason I’ve written this book…There are new levels of your destiny still in front of you.  But break out starts in your thinking.” 

When I heard that, I understood.  I understood why Mr. Osteen wrote the book and what he intended to activate in the reader/listener.

Whether he is conscious of it or not, Mr. Osteen is teaching the Unity message all the while remaining true to his traditional Christian roots.  His message, while presented in language that we in Unity would not use, is the same message that Unity has been teaching for over one-hundred years - life is consciousness. In effect, what he is teaching is the message that those of us in Unity have heard for years; namely, “what you think about comes about;” or “change your thinking, change your life.”  His statement quoted in the paragraph above echoes the words of Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, in the original Unity correspondence courses from 1909.  Mr. Fillmore stated,

“This substance of true words is seed, and the harvest will be rich with increase to all who recognize that their seed words have in them life, substance and intelligence. It is these qualities in words of Truth that make them so powerful in demonstrating prosperity, or health, or whatever is desired.” 

Later in the book, Mr. Osteen says, “The real battle is taking place in our thought life, those thoughts that say “It will not happen. You’re too old. You’ve made too many mistakes. You’ll never accomplish your dreams.”

Mr. Fillmore said, “True prosperity is the consciousness of abundance based on the understanding of God as the inexhaustible Resource always open to man.”

Both men are saying that our experience of prosperity is the effect of our consciousness, and our consciousness is the sum total of all our beliefs. When we fill our minds with thoughts that are grounded in the Absolute Good that God is, we will experience the manifestations of Good in our lives.  We must keep our minds stayed on the Truth.  Mr. Osteen’s book, albeit from a traditional Christian perspective, is filled with words of Truth, or seeds, that when “taken into our spirit,” (when received and believed in our consciousness) must produce evidence reflecting their nature.

In Unity, we do not believe in a God of caprice, but in the unchanging nature of God as Universal Law.  It is done unto us as we believe, not because God is up there somewhere judging us and determining when we have been good enough to earn his favor, but because the Law always works. That is why it is law. It is unchanging. It is known as the law of cause and effect, the law of mind action, the law of attraction, and by other names as well.  Life is consciousness. We are responsible for our individual consciousness. Ultimately, it appears that is Mr. Osteen’s message as well. As he says, breaking out of a current unfavorable condition begins with making a shift in our thinking.  We must be willing to change our thinking in order to affect a shift and change our lives.

Over the course of the next few weeks during my Sunday morning talks I will be exploring the topic of “prosperity” from many different perspectives. I hope you will join us as together we take these prosperity teachings “into our spirit” and begin to live them fully.

¹ Wikipedia