Bigger Love

My friend, ScottStabile, author of Big Love and Just Love, spoke to my heart, as he often does, in a recent post on his new platform Bigger Love with Scott Stabile. He eloquently expressed much of what I, and I suspect many of us, have experienced and possibly continue to experience. With his permission, I share his post below. I trust that it will speak to you, as well.

As you read it, I encourage you to remember the words of Unity cofounder Charles Fillmore from Keep a True Lent –

"Love, in Divine Mind, is the idea of universal unity. In expression, it is the power that joins and binds together the universe and everything in it. Love is harmonizing, constructive power…Love is that mighty power, that divine quality of God that is expressing through all [humankind] and cannot be suppressed by any outside force.”

Hi Friends,

Some days I go back and forth by the half hour between deep trust in life’s unfolding and deep anxiety over the state of our world. One moment I feel at peace knowing we are moving evermore toward greater consciousness, and the next I feel anguish in the face of our inhumanity. Perhaps you can relate.

I sat with a wise friend a couple months ago and spoke of my nagging despair, my inability sometimes to be with all the warring and hatred, and how I want to retreat from the world because of it. “No!” he said. “Your job is not to absorb the insane energy of this planet. Your job is to share your loving energy with this planet, and trust in what you have to share.” A simple thought really, and not one new to me. But the way he said it, with such clarity and urgency, struck me, registered, entered my being. To be clear, he was not suggesting I ignore the harsh realities of our world or pretend all is well when it clearly isn’t. He was reminding me not to get so lost in what’s dark and painful here that I forget the power of my own light.

A couple days ago the same friend shared the following words, by L.R. Knost:

Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world.

All things break. And all things can be mended.

Not with time, as they say, but with intention.

So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally.

The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.

The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you. Now that’s beautiful.

It’s easy to feel powerless when considering what we can actually do to create any real change in this world. How bright is our light, really? Easy to feel like it’s hopeless, that all is lost. But that can never be the truth, because if we’re here, living and breathing, shining in whatever way we shine, then all is not lost. In fact, all is possible. I don’t say that naively. My days as a Pollyanna are long behind me. I just don’t believe we can ever count out the power of love. Intentional, extravagant, unconditional love. Has there ever been a more potent force on this planet? I don’t think so. Will there ever be? Doubtful. We just have to get in the habit of using it. Of becoming it. Of letting love become us.

I suspect I will always, to some degree, move between trust and anxiety, peace and despair, where our world is concerned. Look around. We humans are a profoundly sick species, terrified to reflect honestly on our delusions and take responsibility for our myriad hypocrisies. We are unwilling to change our minds and unable to acknowledge our wrongs. Most of us, most of the time, anyway. Myself included, some of the time, anyway. We are too often petty and unforgiving and unconscionably violent.

And still, we long for love. To give and receive it. We long to be seen, and appreciated, and loved for who we are. All of us have this longing. And so, love will never stop having a hold on us, no matter how unconscious we become, no matter how committed to hatred and war. Beneath our vast delusions, beyond whatever vile muck we deny or uncover, love waits. Ready. Willing. Able. My hope lives in this belief.

I don’t know much for certain, but I know that love remains, always, everywhere. It is within us, outside of us, ever-present even in its invisibility. And because it’s everywhere, forever with us, we have access to it in every moment. We simply have to choose it. To commit to love, and choose it, throughout each day every day. Intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. Choose love. In our relationships with ourselves, and with others. In our work, in our activism, in our anger. Choose love. In our connection to the earth, to our food, to the plants and animals, to the Source that created and lives within all things. Choose love. We have to be willing to stand in our light and declare ourselves messengers of love.

Our world is broken, and love is the glue. We are ripped apart and love is the thread that will mend us. I believe this as much as I believe anything. Every act of kindness inspires more kindness. My vulnerability invites you to be vulnerable. Your compassion awakens my compassion. Our collective courage invites courage in others. We are always affecting each other. Our love, for ourselves and for one another, is the one thing that stands to create healing for real. Not with time, but with intention.

Are you ready, willing to stand in your power and love yourself and everyone else, too? No matter what? I am, and I hope you’ll join me. We need us.

I love us, and I believe in us,

Scott

 

Again, the words of Charles Fillmore and an affirmation for us to use and take to mind and heart,

"I now firmly declare that [Love] is expressing through me, and that no environment or external condition can hinder it. Any unloving condition of the world is no bar to my exercise of love; in fact, it is an incentive.”

For more information on Scott and his work, please visit his website – ScottStabile.com.

To support Scott’s work and keep up with his inspiring posts, please subscribe at – ScottStabile.substack.com.

You may also like to consider joining Scott in his upcoming online workshop – ImagineIt! Create a more fulfilling life with Intentional Visualization – beginning January 3.

My friend and yours, Robin Hackett, wrote and recorded a powerful song that reminds us of the power of Love – Listen Here. 

 

 

Christ is Born Today!

As we celebrate Christmas we honor Jesus being born in human form while simultaneously coming into the world as the Christ, a full and complete expression of the Divine. We revel in the realization that through Jesus, as through each of us, the full potential of the Creative Life Force (God) poured itself forward into creation in order that it might be revealed.

To put it simply, in all its complexity, God is revealed to itself, as itself, as the Christ in humankind. Jesus exampled this by awakening from attachment to the human conditioned consciousness, realizing his Oneness with God, whom he referred to as the ‘Father’ and living from the awakened Christ consciousness. He courageously exclaimed, “I and Father are one.” (John 10:30)

The same potential to accept and realize our Oneness is inherent in each of us as we willingly surrender to it. In fact, it is only due to our belief in separation that we can ever see a distinction between ourselves, Jesus, and God, the Creative Life Force that is constantly and consistency living itself in us, through us, as us.

As St. Paul said, “In [God] we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28 NIV)  God is pouring itself into the world every moment of every day as you and me. It is ours to choose to awaken to that Truth, realize our Oneness, and live from that Consciousness.

One of the foundational Scriptures of Christianity is John 3:16 & 17,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (NIV) 

This Scripture has traditionally been interpreted to mean that God sent Jesus to atone for the sins of the world by sacrificing him on the cross. Further, that if one believes that Jesus was God’s only son, then he or she will be saved from what would otherwise be an eternity in hell.

In his book, Discover the Power within You, Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth said,

“This scripture has been cited by many Christian preachers as positive proof of the divinity of Jesus, and his special dispensation as the Son of God. However, this takes on new meaning when we see it through the perception of Meister Eckhart, one of the great mystics of the Middle Ages. He says that God never begot but one Son, but the Eternal is forever begetting the only begotten.”

Unlike traditional Christianity, we in Unity do not view Jesus as the only son of God sent into the world to redeem it, but rather as one whose life may serve as an example for the potential within each of us to recognize, realize and reveal our Oneness. Jesus was a human being who experienced the conditioning of family, religion and society; similar to what each of us is subjected to, yet through a process of awakening he recognized, realized and revealed his Christ potential and his Oneness with God. The same potential and possibility is inherent in each of us.  

Interpreted from a metaphysical perspective, John 3:16 & 17 might read something like,

God, the Creative Life Force, loved itself into creation as the Christ and gave itself to all, as all, so that whoever exercises the power of Faith (consciousness centered in God) will know that God is eternally living and giving itself to the world and will realize their oneness with it. God did not love itself into the world to condemn it, but so that the world could save itself through its own recognition, realization, and revelation of Christ expressing.

From the realization of Oneness, we might even say,

“I, being one with God, am giving my Self through Love to the world so that the world can be redeemed as I show the way and model a life lived from the conscious awareness of Christ as the only Truth of all creation.” 

Through our realization and revelation the world is redeemed, or to use the traditional Christian word “saved.” The world is saved through each one of us awakening to the glory of the Divine that he or she is. And, as we awaken, we assist others in awakening as well.

Christ redeems the world through the world’s conscious recognition and realization of itself as the Christ. And as Christ is recognized and realized, anywhere in any moment, it is revealed as all creation.  

Redemption, or salvation, happens in the instant that we are willing to let go of the idea that we are separate from God and surrender to and realize our Oneness. Then, from the consciousness of realization, Christ is revealed as we choose to know it for ourselves and for the world.

Christ was born not only through Jesus, but Christ is born every moment that we are willing to surrender and allow God to have its full, undiluted, unencumbered expression in us, through us, as us.

The Christ is born as you today. Allow Christ revealed as you today.

Let us affirm together,

“I know myself as the Christ. I give all of my Self, the Christ of my being, in every moment so that the world might awaken to the Divine expression of Christ that it is.”

The Christ You Are

In Unity we observe Christmas, not only as the birthday of Jesus, the master teacher and way-shower, but also as a celebration of light as represented by the awakening of the Christ as each of us. The Christ is, as the writer of the gospel of John says, “The light that enlightens every [one].” John 1:9

We often use the word ‘Christ’ assuming that we share a common understanding of its meaning. However, it seems that while we may have a notion of ‘Christ’, the term is still somewhat nebulous. In the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary (MBD), Unity co-founder, Charles Fillmore offers an expansive explanation of “Christ.” The following is a short excerpt.

“Christ is the only begotten Son of God or the one complete idea of perfect man in Divine Mind. [Christ] is the embodiment of all divine ideas, such as intelligence, life, love, substance, and strength. In the architect's mind there may be one masterpiece, but that masterpiece is the sum of all the beautiful ideas that have come to his mind. This Christ, or perfect-man idea existing eternally in Divine Mind, is the true, spiritual, higher self of every individual. Each of us has within him the Christ, just as Jesus had, and we must look within to recognize and realize our sonship, our divine origin and birth, even as He did. By continually unifying ourselves with the Highest by our thoughts and words, we too shall become sons of God, manifest.”

Mr. Fillmore uses the term “Divine Mind” as a synonym for “God.” He taught that Divine Mind is replete with Divine Ideas only and that the ultimate purpose of humanity is to bring those Divine Ideas into manifestation through the power of thoughts and words which are born from the revelation and realization of the Christ.

Divine Ideas in Divine Mind are the equivalent of what we might refer to as the thoughts in God’s mind. Understanding this, it follows that since Christ is the Divine Idea for humanity in Divine Mind, then it is the equivalent of God’s thought that expresses the perfection of humankind.

Each of us is, in truth, the Christ and we are endowed with the full potential to embody the realization and demonstration of this thought. As beings created in the image and likeness of Divine Mind, we are one with it and have access to all Divine Ideas; therefore, we need only to open our hearts and minds through prayer, contemplation and meditation, and invite the awareness of the Christ-thought to enlighten us.

A Course in Miracles reads, “[Christ] is the Thought which still abides within the Mind that is [Its] Source. [Christ] has not left [Its] holy home, nor lost the innocence in which [It] was created. [Christ] abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God. Your mind is part of [Christ’s] and [Christ’s] a part of yours. [Christ] is the part in which God’s answer lies.”

The Christ is not a vague concept or unknowable ideal to which we are to aspire; it is an idea to which we have complete access every moment of every day. Christ is the place in our consciousness where the Mind of God is revealed as our mind. When we open to the infusion of this Christ-idea, the full meaning will be revealed and we will begin to realize the impact of this “enlightenment.”

As we consciously invite the awareness of the Christ-idea, we will begin to embody and live from the Christ-idea. As Mr. Fillmore said, we will manifest the Christ by “continually unifying ourselves” with it.

Mr. Fillmore continues his explanation of ‘Christ’ in the MBD by offering us a tool for revealing the Christ to ourselves,

“Spiritual perception reveals to us that we are not persons, but factors in the cosmic mind. Reveal yourself to yourself by affirming, "I am the Christ, son of the living God."  

Another way of stating this is that each of us is a thought in Divine Mind and that we are each a unique manifestation of the one thought or idea which we refer to as ‘Christ.’ 

Let us allow Christmas, this season of light, to be a time in which we celebrate the Christ that is each of us. As we awaken to ourselves as Christ, we are enlightened, and we demonstrate the Christ en masse. Celebrate the Christ you are.

Good Tidings of Great Joy!

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. – Luke 2: 10-11

December 12 is the third Sunday in Advent. Traditionally, this is the week when we explore the aspect of the Divine that we call Joy. Joy is a state of being. Like the other three Divine aspects that we reflect upon during Advent - Hope, Peace and Love - Joy is a natural state of the Divine self. Our souls, as expressions of the One, exist as Joy expressing. That we do not always experience the state of Joy is evidence that we have forgotten who we are. Advent is a time for remembering, a time of preparing our hearts and minds for the reawakening of the indwelling Christ.

Joy is one of the attitudes of Christ consciousness that we can embrace and embody as we awaken more fully to our Christ Light. It is also one of the attitudes of mind and heart that we can develop now in order to prepare ourselves to birth the Christ Light in this dimension.

As I say in my book, In This Moment, Joy is…

The wellspring of Life expressing in its fullness. It’s the inexplicable, inimitable Lightness of Being that is experienced as all creation.

Joy is a state of being. It is an experience that is difficult if not impossible to put into words. Like Peace and Love, Joy is an aspect of God which must be experienced in order to know it.

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give you” (John 14:27). And, in his letter to the Philippians, Paul refers to “The Peace of God that transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). The same can be said of Joy. The Joy of God is not given by the world and it is beyond our ability to understand it with our normal way of thinking and knowing. The Joy of the ‘I Am’ as our true nature must be expressed and experienced.

Joy is not the same as happiness. Joy is an experience of the soul that occurs in our realization of our oneness with the soul and with God. It is a state of mind and heart that can only be experienced at depth in the consciousness of Oneness.

Anne Robertson, a Methodist pastor, writer and executive director of the Massachusetts Bible Society, explains that the Greek words ‘Makarios’ and ‘chairo’ provides us with insight into the difference between happiness and Joy. ‘Makarios’ which has been translated into English as ‘happiness’ refers to the freedom from cares often experienced by the rich. On the other hand, ‘chairo’ translated into English as ‘Joy’ refers to the “culmination of being” or “the good mood of the soul.”¹

The Joy that we experience is an expression of our connection in God, yet it is but an inkling of the inimitable Joy of the Spirit.

I hesitate to admit this, but as I contemplated Joy this week, I realized that I don’t often experience it. I felt sad as I recognized that the concept of Joy is nearly foreign to me now. As I sat with my sadness, I was able to recall times in my childhood when I experienced Joy. In fact, there are many times as a child when I felt Joy. I felt Joy running through the hay barn on my Grandmother Howard’s farm. I felt Joy playing softball on the dirt road in front of our house where I spent my childhood and adolescence. I felt Joy when my grandmother Norman would come to stay with us for a few days. I felt Joy every year as Christmas approached. Not only did I get a break from school, but I was excited knowing that Santa would bring me all the things on my list. I felt overwhelming Joy on Christmas morning when I awoke before sunrise with an eager expectancy ready to see all the things Santa had placed under the tree, and there were always  the gifts from my parents and grandparents to open as well. And, my Joy was full as we drove from our home to spend Christmas Day with my favorite cousins. Childhood Joy was a frequent occurrence.

As I recalled those time of Joy, I asked my inner Knowing, “Why do I no longer have those Joy-full times?” The answer came quickly. “It is because you fear.” “What do I fear that keeps me from experiencing Joy?” I asked.  The response came, “You fear that Joy will not last or that it will only lead to harm and hurt. You fear that you do not deserve Joy. And, you fear that you will be judged for allowing yourself to express your Joy. All of these fears arise from your attachment to your limited idea of yourself. When you are attached to the adverse ego identity, fear is your constant companion. And, fear is the opposite of Joy.”

So, how do I cultivate Joy in my life? I asked. My inner voice responded,

Go into the fear. As the Tao Te Ching says “if you want to get rid of something you must first allow it to flourish.” ² Allow the fear to enlarge. Do not suppress the fear. Dive into the fear and allow it to have its life. You will soon see that the fear is the illusion of the adverse ego and the true self will be revealed to you as the Light of the Christ shines brightly upon it.

Investigate the fear. Where did the thought that experiencing Joy leads to harm or hurt come from? Why do you believe that you do not deserve Joy? Whose voice is that? What are you telling yourself that would make you think you are undeserving of Joy? Who is going to judge you for expressing your Joy? And, if they do, who cares?

When you allow the fear and investigate the story that has stimulated the fear, the fear will dissipate and return to the nothingness from which it came. Then, Joy will arise naturally from your soul. You will return to Joy!

Cultivating Joy as a state of mind and heart reveals the illusory nature of fear and opens the space within the consciousness for the Christ Light to be born and take its rightful place at the center of your consciousness awareness. The Christ is born in the manger of your heart. The Christ is born again and again and again in every moment that you are willing and able to dive into and move through the fear and allow the truth of your Being to be revealed.

Metaphysically, angels represent the thoughts of God. The message of the angels are the insights we receive through our power of Wisdom and the intuition of our inner Knower.

The first utterance of that voice within says “Fear not…”³ as it knows that you are not in Joy, the perfect state of mind and heart that God is in you.

It goes on to say, “I bring you good tiding of great Joy for all people...” The voice speaks the truth of Joy that is the true nature of all people and is available to all as we awaken to it.

“For unto you is born this day...” The Christ is born in you every day and every minute of every day as you are willing and open to allow it.

“In the city of David…” The awareness of the Christ is born in the place of wisdom in the center of our being through the consciousness of Love.

“A savior who is Christ the Lord…” The indwelling Christ, the self-existent one, the ‘I AM,’ is the Light that reveals the illusion of fear and saves us from our misperceptions and delusions that we are not worthy of Joy.

I encourage us all to explore Joy as we prepare our hearts and minds for the birth and rebirth of the Christ within us during this Advent season. Take some time to contemplate Joy and discover for yourself if you are allowing the joy of God to be your experience. If so, I celebrate with you!

If not, dive into the fear and allow it to be revealed as the illusion it is. Ask yourself what is stimulating the fear in your mind. As you move through the fear, you will discover the Truth of your Being, the Light of the Christ. In that Light, you will reclaim Joy.

Joy to the world. The Lord (the self-existent I AM) has come!

¹ Anne Robertson, “Joy or Happiness?” St John’s United Methodist Church

² Tao Te Ching, Chapter 36, Translation by Stephen Mitchell

Get Your Hopes Up

Don’t get your hopes up. I am sure that you have heard someone say that to you or someone else. You may have said it to yourself or to a friend or family member. It is usually a well-meaning attempt to protect someone we care about. We fear that if they “get their hopes up” that they may feel a great deal of disappointment if the thing hoped for does not come to pass. We fear the same for ourselves.

Recently, I listened to an episode of “We Can Do Hard Things,” a bi-weekly podcast hosted by author, Glennon Doyle. Actress Gabrielle Union was the featured guest on November 16. She spoke authentically about the vulnerability of hope as she shared about her experiences with miscarriages and failed fertility treatments. With each of those experiences, her hope of becoming a mother was dashed and she felt the pain of the loss. She shared openly about how risky hope can be at times.

My friend Debra’s mother recently made her transition. For years, possibly decades, Debra hoped for a shift in their strained relationship. You see her mother was, to put it nicely, unkind and unloving toward Debra. She was abusive physically, mentally, and spiritually when Debra was a child and continued to be throughout her life. Even though Debra, with a great deal of soul recovery work, was able to process through her trauma and forgive her mother, even to the point of freeing herself from her influence, there remained a sliver of hope in her heart that her mother would finally “see the light,” express remorse for her actions, and make amends. That did not happen.

There may at times be some wisdom in saying to ourselves or others, “Don’t get your hopes up.” This is especially true if we are hoping that someone else will change. Yes, hope can be tricky and risky when it involves a specific outcome or another person.

While that is true, I am encouraging you to “Get Your Hopes Up.” Even more so, “Set Your Hopes High.” Hope in yourself. Hope in your capacity for love. Hope in your willingness to change. Hope in your ability to take inspired action to bring about the thing or situation hoped for. Hope in your commitment to realize the power within you. Hope in your dedication to awaken to the Christ that you are and live from that Truth. And hold that same hope for others.

Sure, in our humanness we feel the hurt of loss, the disappointment of unfulfilled desires, and the pain of unrealized dreams. Yet through it all we can call upon the inner strength of the indwelling Christ to renew our hope.

The prophet Isaiah tell us,

"Those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

The “Lord” refers to the self-existent one – the Christ – the divine nature of each of us. The power of hope does not lie in another or any outer situation or circumstance. When we place our hope in the truth of our being, we can soar above the trials and tribulations of the world. We can persevere through any situation. We can walk this journey called life and not be depleted by it.

Nothing and no one can in any way diminish the power of the Divine that you are.

Gabrielle Union did not give up hope. While she did not give birth to her daughter, her dream of becoming a mother was realized through a surrogate. Hope made manifest!

Neither did Debra lose hope as demonstrated in one of her recent videos (here). Even though she and her mother did not heal their relationship on the Earth plane, Debra is able to see her mother as a beautiful expression of the Divine Love. In her human experience, her mother was unable or unwilling to realize that love. Now she knows the truth. Hope fulfilled!

Do not place your hope in the things of the world. The promise of hope lies within you.

Get Your Hopes Up! Set them high! Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

YOU are the hope!

 

Hope is Here

The Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel – Isaiah 7:14

This Sunday begins the Advent season. Advent is the period leading up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. For us in Unity, the birth of Jesus represents the fulfillment of the possibility and potential of the Christ that each of us is and that we can fully realize as our divine nature.

‘Hope is Here’ is our theme for Advent this year. One definition of ‘hope’ is: A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

The following came to me as I meditated on this definition. I activated my power of Imagination, and I imaged myself as a Jew in Ancient Israel.

I have heard the reading of the Scripture at temple since I was a boy. Today, I am especially remembering the words of the prophet Isaiah who foretold of the birth of a child born of a virgin and of the house of David who would be called Immanuel; the promised and long-awaited Messiah. This Scripture always fills me with hope, for I am one of a people who have been persecuted and enslaved by invading empires for centuries. I am one of a nation who longs for peace, equality and freedom. I am hopeful that the Messiah will soon come to deliver us from our bondage and return us to our place of honor and prosperity. I have lived with this desire, as has my father and his father before him. We are a people of hope. We live in expectation that the prophecy will be fulfilled. And, still we wait.

This is the essence of the attitude of mind and heart we call ‘Hope.’

Hope begins with a promise of a desire yet to be fulfilled. In the case of my imagined self, it is the desire for freedom from bondage and to enjoy peace and equality. That is a desire we all share. We all want to experience freedom. We all want peace. We all want equality. We all want to be valued simply because we are.

Unlike my imagined self or many who still await the coming of a savior to deliver them from bondage, we in Unity know that our freedom is not dependent upon the birth of a man or the coming of a long-awaited deliverer. Our freedom from enslavement, the bondage of our own limited thinking and beliefs, comes from the birth of the Christ, the one true light of God, in our consciousness. We can invite the birth, or awakening, of the indwelling Christ in every moment.

I am reminded of an analogy that Eckhart Tolle uses in The Power of Now when speaking about the power of our presence. He says that we should approach every moment with the same attention as a cat watching a mouse hole waiting for the mouse to emerge. I compare that image to the anticipation we feel as we embrace the attitude of ‘hope.’

Hope is living with eager expectancy of the discovery of the Christ born in us every moment, and the acceptance of the Christ expressing in each person we meet. The birth, or awakening, of the Christ in our hearts and minds is our deliverance from the bondage of the limited self and our belief in our separation from God and from each other. From that perspective, the Christ is our savior, the Christ revealed as us.

This week, as we begin Advent, we embrace ‘Hope’ as our attitude of mind and heart as we honor our desire for freedom and live with the expectancy of the freeing power of the indwelling Christ born as us in every moment.

‘Hope is Here!’ It is available to each and every one of us right here, right now. My prayer is that you embrace this truth as you observe Advent and open your heart to the birth of the Christ that you are.

 

Divine Human to Divine Human

When I was a child, Thanksgiving, even more so than Christmas, was a time for gathering with family, both immediate and extended. It was a time to acknowledge and celebrate the bond we shared. From my adult perspective I know that it was not the romanticized Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving family, but from my perspective at the time that is exactly what it was. I realize that not everyone has such childhood memories. I am grateful that I remember it as I do. It is a warm memory of love, nurture and safety.

It has been many years since I have been with my family of birth on Thanksgiving. I have blamed time and distance, but in truth I know that I could have easily made the choice to travel to Georgia many times over the years, especially during the holidays: I simply made other choices.

I made those choices because as I grew older the childhood Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving image I cherished faded and was replaced with a grainy Polaroid depicting dysfunction and loneliness. Until recently, I have chosen to distance myself from my family because I have judged them. I have blamed them. I have labeled them. I have instilled in my mind a picture of each of them, and I have related to them as who I believed them to be.

I say “until recently” because I have experienced an epiphany. It may, at best, seem odd that I am just now realizing this truth, but I have recently recognized that my family members are not static images any more than I am. I acknowledge and celebrate that I have changed and grown. Why would I think that they haven’t?

Not one of us is the same person he or she was – even five minutes ago. Likewise, neither are our spouses, partners, friends, co-workers, children, parents or others - no matter what labels we choose to put on them. When we label ourselves or others, we assign a fixed identity to one who in reality is a vibrant and ever-changing being through which the One Life is expressing.

We are constantly evolving beings, expressing from new perspectives, and encountering new thoughts and emotions moment by moment. When we label, we limit. We relate and interact around that label. But we are not labels. We are not even the roles we play. We are fully alive as thinking, feeling and connecting beings, constantly changing. It is vital to our well-being that we acknowledge this – for others and for ourselves. It is important that we honor this aspect of our humanity because the Divine is expressing and experiencing itself as our humanity. When we label or deny our humanity, we deprive ourselves and the world of an integral aspect of Life itself.

I recently began reading, The Endless Practice: Becoming Who You Were Born to Be, by Mark Nepo. The “endless practice,” referred to in the title is the practice of being fully engaged in experiencing our humanity. He says,

“To bring who we are out and to let the world in is a brave and endless practice that clarifies and solidifies the gifts we are born with. There is no arrival point or destination here, only the chance to be more alive as we move closer to the Mystery…The ever-changing practice of being human involves learning how to strengthen our heart by exercising it in the world through caring, building, holding and repairing.”

We honor our humanity by engaging in a relationship with ourselves, not as static beings, but as fully alive, fluid, ecstatic and sensuous human beings. We engage with ourselves in order that we may engage with life, including the life that is being expressed as every other person we encounter as well as every animal, plant and other life form.

Before we can connect with another where they are, we must be willing to connect with ourselves where we are. And, we must be willing to stand with authenticity and integrity to speak our truth, whatever that truth happens to be in the moment, knowing that it is fluid.

We must be willing to acknowledge and celebrate ourselves – what we need and what we feel – before we can enter into a meaningful relationship with another. Until we are available to and for ourselves, we will not be able to truly be present with another and what they think, feel and need.

I also understand that there are people who remain fixed in their points of view and behaviors, those who do not grow or evolve in self-awareness, and those who do not stop to question their worldview or their limited beliefs. As we practice self-love and compassion, it may be necessary to avoid contact with those who continue to stimulate pain in us, whether emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual. I do not advocate anyone putting themselves in a potentially hurtful or harmful situation. 

As we observe the tradition of Thanksgiving this year, whether it is with our birth family, our spiritual family, family of choice, or alone my prayer is that we take time to center ourselves in the awareness of the Life that is expressing as our humanity. May we see the perfection present in it, honor our feelings and needs, and celebrate them.

My hope is that each of us enters into an intimate relationship with ourselves, and then becomes willing to enter into a consciously connected relationship with others, letting go of any preconceived ideas or static images of who they are and, instead, opening to their humanity. Again, only when our safety is not threatened in doing so.

Listen to the hopes and dreams, desires and disappointments, fear and love being expressed behind the words. Listen with the heart and hear what is not being said. Listen for the humanity beneath the label. Honor humanity connecting with humanity, and know that it is, in truth, the Divine reflecting itself through the human form.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Best Christ You Can Be

This Sunday, I will finish my series of talks based on Deepak Chopra’s book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, with an exploration of the Law of Dharma or Purpose in Life. My guess is that most, if not all of us, at some point in our lives have ask the questions: “What is my life purpose?” “What is God’s will for my life?” “Is there a Divine Plan for my life?’

I have often shared in my talks and writing that from my perspective embodying the Christ consciousness is the ultimate purpose in life.

I stand firm in my belief that the pinnacle of human experience is the attainment of Unity consciousness - the realization of our oneness in God/Spirit/Divine Life/Unified Field of Consciousness, or by whatever name or nature we know It to be.

In fact, as I understand it, that is the “Divine Plan.” We are here, individually and collectively, to awaken to the indwelling Christ, to embody that Divine Ideal, and to manifest a world that exemplifies the qualities of the Christ through our thoughts, words and actions.

Unity cofounder, Charles Fillmore, in The Revealing Word, defines “Will of God” as,

God's determination is always perfection and all good for all [God’s] children; perfect health in mind and body; abundance of every good thing including joy, peace, wisdom, and eternal life. [God] does not will suffering or imperfection in any form.

We often think of “God’s Will” as a directive. We may have interpreted this to mean that God uses the Power of Will or will power to assert or impose a specific plan upon us. That does not jive with the God of my understanding. In researching synonyms for ‘will’ I found ‘spirit’ listed. Replacing the word ‘will’ with ‘spirit’ gives this concept an entirely new energy.

I suggest that each time we hear “God’s Will” we translate it to “God’s Spirit.” God’s Spirit of love; God’s Spirit of courage; God’s Spirit of forgiveness; God’s Spirit of abundance; God’s Spirit of joy; God’s Spirit of wholeness; God’s Spirt of peace, etc. God’s Spirt is accessible and available to each of us, yet never forced upon us. We get to choose.

We enjoy the gift of freewill. In his book, In the Flow of Life, Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth says,

The only predestination in life is the ultimate unfoldment of the divine creature you are. But the direction you take in realizing this outforming of the Christ indwelling will always be determined by your consciousness.

The content of our consciousness, the prevailing energy patterns of thoughts and feelings, determine our path, not some predetermined arbitrarily assigned role or plan for our lives. We have the power to affect the nature of our consciousness.

Regarding our “life purpose,” I share this from my book, In This Moment: Prayers from the Well of Awareness,

The sole purpose of life experience is to be a channel for [God.] “Why am I here?” or “What is my life purpose?” are questions asked by most of us. Many spend a lifetime seeking these answers, yet never finding them. The problem is not with the answer, but with the question. The question implies that the one asking has a purpose that is different and somehow separate from the one purpose of humanity – to be the expression of Love on Earth.

The questions often asked about purpose are truly questions of calling. The questions could very well be worded, “What is [Spirit] calling me to contribute to the world, and how do I accomplish it?” or “How can I, as an individuation of [God] freely share Love in a way that is life-enriching and uniquely suited to my gifts and talents?” Those are questions that open the channel of freedom, allowing the expression of all that desires to be born in the one asking.

Each of us has a unique part to play in the unfolding of the “Divine Plan” as we awaken to the indwelling Christ, and through the power of freewill, become God’s Spirit in action.

In addition, we are divinely guided on the path to our greatest unfolding. Eric Butterworth also said in In the Flow of Life,

Divine guidance is not an exterior force action upon you. It is the seed of your divinity (the Christ of you) seeking to fulfill its pattern in the outforming process of your life. God could never do for you that which you do not inherently want for yourself.

As we center our awareness in our hearts, we attune to the voice of our inner guide. When we listen and follow the knowing at the depth our being, we are lead each step of the way in the fulfillment of our unique pattern of the Christ that each of us is.

We are here, not simply to awaken to and to embody our Christ nature, but we are here in this time and space experience to share our gifts and talents from our conscious awareness of the Christ so that we actively participate in bringing the Christ consciousness to bear in all our affairs and into manifestation in our world. As we embody the Christ, our divine nature, we are called to express it as did Jesus Christ, our way shower, through acts of love, service, compassion and healing.

Stated succinctly, as Rev. Paul Hasselbeck, of my instructors at Unity Institute used to say, our purpose is to “be the best Christ we can be” in any moment. 

The Heart's Desire

This Sunday, I will continue with my series of talks based on Deepak Chopra’s book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. I will be exploring the concepts of ‘desire, ’intention,’ and ‘detachment.’

In the Buddhist tradition, the second noble truth is that desire and ignorance are the cause of all suffering. The Christian tradition also seems to teach that one should not desire things, often citing Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up treasures on earth…but store up treasures in heaven…”  Books and movies like, The Secret, encourage us to use the law of attraction to manifest our desires. Some denounce that concept as too materialistic. Desire is a natural aspect of our nature, but often we feel guilty for engaging our desires. To better understand the innate drive called “desire”, to learn to honor and respect it, rather than attempt to avoid it, let’s explore it.

Abraham, through Esther Hicks, teaches that desire is the beginning of all creation.

Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, says, in the book Prosperity, “Desire is the onward impulse of the ever evolving soul. It builds from within outward and carries its fulfillment with it as a necessary corollary.”

Marie Watts, in The Ultimate, says, “Mind is never impoverished. Within Its infinite Self-containment all that It can ever desire eternally exists. Every right desire and the conscious power of fulfillment of that desire are contained with this all-knowing Mind.”

Deepak Chopra says, “We are each multidimensional beings, and the different levels of our being give rise to different desires. At the physical level, our body has certain needs and desires for food, water, comfort, nourishing touch and other essential elements for health and vitality. The subtle or psychological level of our existence, which includes our mind, ego, and intellect, desires emotional security and connection. And the causal or spiritual level wants to express itself and experience oneness, expansion, and unity.”

I offer that true desire is born of Love. It is Love loving Itself, and Love perceiving Itself as the impulse toward manifestation. The fulfillment of desire rests in its complete acceptance and allowing of the one who receives the conscious awareness of it.

At the foundation of all true desire is the expression of Love. God, as Love, loved Itself into being as the only begotten idea for humankind, the Christ. The Christ is the essence of each of us, and as Love in expression, must therefore also be Love. Love cannot create anything unlike Itself for it knows none other.

Encoded in the very essence of us is the desire to realize ourselves as the Christ and to be the Christ in expression as Love. The ways in which we do that are unique to each of us. I have often wondered why there are more than seven billion humans on the planet. The answer must be that it takes each and every one of us to complete Love’s calling to bring Love into manifestation. Each of us has a role to play in the unfolding of the desire for Love realized and demonstrated on the earth.

Embedded in the heart of each of us is our unique expression of Love in the world. We can choose in every moment to open to the conscious awareness of it as it calls to us from the depth of being. Within that, love reveals itself to us as our heart’s desire.

As we awaken to Love’s call as desire, we are drawn to listen for the still small voice of Love at the heart of our being which speaks to us through many avenues, including inspiration and intuition. Inspiration and intuition are our personal guides to the fulfillment of our heart’s desire.

Inspiration is present in every moment and may make itself known to us if we are open to the acceptance and conscious awareness of it. It may manifest through the voice of a friend or trusted guide, in the pages of a book, in the silence of meditation, in times of connection with nature, or even on a billboard as we drive down the street.

Intuition is our connection with the “inner knower” that guides us toward Love’s fulfillment. We must allow ourselves to be aware and awake to the life that is present in every moment as we follow our intuition, usually one step at a time.

As we respond to inspiration and follow our intuition, we are guided to what we need. We often mistakenly think of a “need’ as something that is lacking, and we frequently feel tension when considering a need. Eric Butterworth, Unity Minister and author, helps us to reframe the concept of a “need” when he states in his book, The Universe is Calling, that “a need is a vessel to be filled.”

When we choose to think of a “need” as a vessel to be filled, we awaken to a different perspective. Rather than viewing “need’ from a consciousness of lack, we can instead think of it as a container that when filled helps to facilitate the fulfillment of desire, thus the expression of Love.

Before the so-called need is met in the physical form, the vessel must first be filled with the divine substance of our consciousness. Substance is not matter. It is not present in physical form. Emilie H. Cady in Lessons in Truth says,

“God, then, is the substance (from sub: under and stare: to stand) or the real thing standing under every visible form of life, love, intelligence, power.” 

The vessel called “need” must be filled by the conscious awareness of God (Love). Once the need is filled with divine substance in our consciousness, then the physical manifestation must occur. It is the law.

We fill the “need” in consciousness by setting a clear intention. Intention is the method by which we focus our minds on the manifestation of our heart’s desire. Setting a clear intention sets up a field of energetic vibration that draws into itself all that is in resonance with it and all that will assist us in giving expression to our desire.

Granted, because the manifestation of our desire usually happens over time, it is often essential for us to practice our power of faith. As Paul said in his letter to the Hebrews, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Even when the evidence has not yet appeared in the physical, through the practice of faith, we know beyond all appearances that as we remain open and willing to follow where Love leads, that every “need” is met because true desire contains the power of its fulfillment. We trust that as we remain true to Love’s call, that the need is met in perfect time and in divine order.

As we practice our power of faith, we release all attachment to our ideas of outcome and surrender to the intelligent, loving working of the Universe to bring into demonstration that which is in perfect alignment to our desire. It may be something greater than we have even begun to imagine. This is the practice of detachment.

Desire is born from the Love expressing in us, through us, as us. It is not, as we sometimes believe, born from the awareness of something lacking. True desire contains its own fulfillment, thus we need not seek it in the external. We must seek it only from within. As Charles Fillmore, the cofounder of Unity, stated, “Desire…builds from within outward and carries its fulfillment with it as a necessary corollary.” 

Desire is the impulse of Love moving as us. Inspiration and intuition guide us to what is needed in every moment. Intention draws us to and draws to us that which is needed to manifest our desire. Through the power of faith, we know that every “need” is met. Therefore, we can detach from the outcome knowing and trusting the Goodness of God in all things. Step by step we are led toward the fulfillment of our heart’s desire.

Honoring the desires of our hearts by listening deeply for the still small voice at the center or our being, acting on our inspirations, following our intuition, setting a clear intention, exercising our power of faith to bring into manifestation all that is needed to fulfill our desire, and detaching from the outcome, we honor the God within us, and we demonstrate Love in the world.

As we honor the desire that moves us toward a greater expression and experience of Love, that which we truly are, we bring the consciousness of Heaven to earth. Isn’t that The Heart's Desire?

Heaven or Hell? You Choose

Halloween is considered by many to have its origins in the Celtic festival of Samhain which was sometimes regarded as the Celtic New Year, a celebration of the end of the “lighter half” of the year and the beginning of the “darker half” of the year. The ancient Celts believed that the veil between the physical and the non-physical realms was thinnest at this time allowing spirits, both good and evil, to pass through. They wore costumes and masks as a means of protection. Disguised as evil spirits they could “blend in” and avoid being recognized as human.

The tradition of observing Halloween or Hallowe’en, a contraction of the original “All Hallows’ Evening,” was also influenced in the west by the Christian church. It is observed as the evening before All Saints Day, a time for honoring all the saints and praying for those recently departed souls who are in purgatory and have not yet reached Heaven. The custom of wearing costumes has been linked to All Saints Day by Prince Sorie Conteh, senior minister at Carleton United Church, St. Catharines, Ontario Canada and multi-faith chaplain at Niagara College, who wrote:

"It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities.”

In both traditions there is a common theme – there are souls wandering around somewhere between the realms of Heaven and Hell, a.k.a. “light and dark” or “good and evil.” In the Christian tradition this realm is knows as purgatory. Purgatory is understood to be a condition of purification or temporary punishment that prepares souls for Heaven.

In Unity, we believe that both ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ are states of consciousness. Heaven is a state of consciousness often referred to as Christ consciousness, which each of us may attain. It is the consciousness of knowing Oneness with the Divine.

Hell, on the other hand, is the consciousness of duality in which one experiences the suffering created by a mind that believes in separation. We are constantly at a point of choice: we can choose heaven or hell in any moment. However, many, if not most of us, walk around in state of “purgatory,” not quite in hell, but not yet enjoying heaven.

We seem to believe, perhaps not consciously, that we do not yet deserve heaven, that we must be punished, tested or tried in order to demonstrate our worthiness. We condemn ourselves to living in a perpetual state of purgatory, testing and “purifying” ourselves. We are those souls who are seeking the light, attempting to reach heaven.

As with the tradition of Halloween in which we wear masks and costumes to protect us from evil spirits, we, as a daily ritual, don masks and costumes disguising ourselves as the roles we play as human beings, often times believing that we are the masks we wear, not trying to fool the disembodied spirits of the dead, but in an attempt to hide our Truth from ourselves and others. While this allows us to “blend in” and to avoid standing out from the crowd, it prevents us from coming into the full recognition of our true selves and embracing the Christ consciousness, our ultimate potential.

In order to come into the recognition of our Truth, we must be willing to acknowledge the masks we wear and investigate them to determine for ourselves if we are allowing them to hide our Light. Until we are willing to remove the masks and see ourselves as we truly are, we will continue to believe that we are unworthy. When we recognize our Truth, we will know that no suffering is needed, and we will release ourselves from purgatory and enter fully into the consciousness of “heaven.”

I encourage us all to observe this Halloween as an opportunity to free ourselves from the limitations of our masks and costumes, and as we awaken to know that we are not souls living in purgatory, but saints who have arisen in Christ consciousness to celebrate Heaven.

Happy Halloween! 

Glorious All Saints Day!