“People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.” ~ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wave in the Mind
“Most of us were conditioned to be nice rather than real, accommodating rather than authentic, and adaptive rather than assertive.” ~ James Hollis, Jungian analyst
It breaks my heart that wars rage in Ukraine, in Gaza, and in sub-Saharan Africa. It breaks my heart that hatred, racism, sexism, and religious persecution are on the increase across the so-called developed nations of the west. It breaks my heart that so many of my friends and fellow Americans seem to be fine with dangerously autocratic leadership and with their chosen politicians breaking the law. And it breaks my heart that all of this is happening at a time when we need all of our resources, intellectual, economic, business, and government to focus on the huge impending threat of climate crisis.
I have no doubt that it breaks yours as well if you are a reader of this blog. The question is, what do those of us on a spiritual pathway do? How do we square a spiritual desire for peace with the relentless attacks on innocent humans by Russia and Israel (and how to square a desire to see the Israeli state survive with the carnage in Gaza as well as the hardened absolutist views on all sides of the issue)? Similar questions arise for most of the issues facing us.
Many of us on a spiritual pathway have come to believe that we must never behave destructively or unkindly toward anyone or anything; that if we are spiritually in tune, there will be no dissonance, only harmony. As we are seeing with the current political dynamics particularly in the US but also elsewhere, destructive patterns exist aplenty. There are very real threats to the concepts of freedom and democracy present in the current dynamics, and large numbers of people have decided that those who would bring autocratic leadership offer them the kind of existence they really desire. In many ways, we are in the mud, wondering how to manifest the lotus.
If the response is to always be nice, accommodating, or adaptive in the face of destructive patterns, then we fail spiritually. We are here to first realize our spiritual nature and the power which resides in that nature and then to engage what is in our path, utilizing our spiritual power as compassion – the fullest expression of Truth. Compassion is rarely nice, often kind, and sometimes confrontational in the face of destructive energy, which arises from the false belief in separation. Compassion stands up for love, truth, and power – its expression is spiritual warriorship. To be a spiritual warrior is to defend what is essential to defend, to act in accordance with one’s highest values and to stand for what is right without being attached to our own version of what is right.
“When we find ourselves in a place of discomfort and fear, we’ll find that we want to blame, to take sides, to stand our ground. We feel we must have some resolution. For the warrior, ‘right’ is as extreme a view as ‘wrong.’ They both block our innate wisdom.” ~ Pema Chödrön
“If we find ourselves in doubt that we’re up to being a warrior-in-training, we can contemplate this question: ‘Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?’” ~ Pema Chödrön, Comfortable With Uncertainty
Some see the entire political/economic/social systems as corrupt and feel that only a great disruption can alter the course of society. These people usually minimize the consequences of that disruption and, candidly, see themselves as risking little in upsetting the system. There is rarely compassion in such a viewpoint. Much or most of this energy is driven by anger and unhealed individual and collective shadow. The failure to express true compassion is due to the prevalence of shadow in a person or group.
“There is an awful lot of anger in the world, and in me, and there is a real need to be creative with it, rather than destructive.” ~ Alice Walker
The question, as always, is how to move through to a greater possibility without causing unnecessary pain. This is especially difficult when we cannot agree what that greater possibility looks like. For most, it takes the form of trying to from power those who have a different worldview than “we” do – a conquest by ballot (or otherwise) if you will. If I cannot abide living in the world you describe and you cannot abide living in the world that I describe, what are we to do, especially if we each see our view as too important to compromise? And when compromise is seen as defeat or as immoral, how do we move forward?
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come. If we fix on the old, we get stuck. When we hang onto any form, we are in danger of putrefaction. Hell is life drying up. The Hoarder, the one in us that wants to keep, to hold on, must be killed. If we are hanging onto the form now, we’re not going to have the form next. You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. Destruction before creation.” ~ Joseph Campbell. “A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living.”
I don’t see a lot of willingness to give up the life we are living, do you? We are in a time where whole system changes are necessary to alter the course of human destiny toward a sustainable future. This will take both courage and a willingness to change and let go of some of our own sacred cows.
Often, the only alternative offered in spiritual circles is to withdraw, show no opposition to what is unfolding, maybe refusing to participate or deciding to vote for candidates with no chance of being elected based on a principle that one values. But such a choice does have consequences, and are we not accountable for the results of our choices?
If my choice is to vote or to abstain so that a disruption will occur and do real harm to many people, whether I am included or not, am I in integrity? Is it spiritually sound? Is it different than walking past a person who has just fallen without offering some assistance and instead, simply saying a prayer?
How do we come to terms with the realization that compassion is the highest expression of a spiritual life AND that true compassion can be confrontational, even combative? How do we develop the required healthy self-concept which allows us to live a truly authentic life from a place of love, compassion, and engagement? How often do our worldviews demand that others make a sacrifice or relinquish their worldview so that our desires can manifest?
So, by all means pray and pray ceaselessly. Pray to know what wants to happen by means of you. But act in accordance with your prayers. Be open to finding a way forward which differs from the viewpoint which you currently hold, but which does not stray from a course of true compassion. If there is a paradox in that idea, does that surprise or perplex you? Here is a quote that is 127 years old:
“We are born into a strange time—a time that tries men’s souls. Bewilderment and fear hold many; change and uncertainty stalk through the land—all lands. Those who keep their courage up and go serenely on are coming through in a way that those who weaken or lie down cannot know. But to do this many lives need help—real concrete help….There is something in the universe that responds to intrepid thinking. The POWER that holds and that moves the stars in their courses sustains, illumines, and fights for the brave and the upright. Courage has power and magic in it. Faith and hope and courage are great producers—we cannot fail if we live always in the brave and cheerful attitude of mind and heart. He alone fails who gives up and lies down. To open ourselves to this sustaining POWER, to live continually under its guidance, this is our part. Those of us who do our part will keep free from fear, and therefore from a weakening, corroding worry.…”
“A change of consciousness does not come by simply willing or wishing. It is not easy to hold the mental attention to an ideal, while the human experience is discordant, but – it is possible. Knowing the Truth, is not a process of self-hypnosis, but one of a gradual unfoldment of the inner self.” ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind
“Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.” ~ Victor Hugo
There came a moment of clarity for me when I was in my second year of Science of Mind™ classes in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, when I realized that as difficult as I thought it would be to be a truly good Catholic (my religion of birth), it would be even more difficult to be a good Religious Scientist (my religion of choice).
The difficulty of my Catholic faith (to me, immature as I was) had to do with trying to please an external power who was, frankly, impossible to please. It was about conforming to others’ interpretation of dogma, doctrine, and rules with little to no focus on realizing my own power or divinity. I just HAD to be good.
To be a good student of New Thought is to realize that inner divinity and power and to express it in everyday life, regardless of what is happening or of what conditions are present. It is self-realization, which can be described as alignment with one’s deepest self, the soul, through the unconscious to the conscious mind and outward into action. The locus of control shifts from external to internal. To live the Science of Mind or any New Thought teaching is to work toward becoming AND TO BECOME self-realized in a real and practical sense. It is, to paraphrase Carl Jung, the realization ofthe soul’s agenda (LINK). There is no greater challenge, and it’s hard.
The gap between belief and knowing is critically important to comprehend, as it is the key area of inner action for spiritual realization. We can believe things which are true or false; we can only know what is true. It is in the gap between believing and knowing that our most significant work is done. It is here that we meet the shadow elements which can obstruct our path if we do not claim and integrate them. Shadow work is essential to aligning with the soul’s agenda.
Demonstration is often what leads us from belief into knowing, for we can only know what we have demonstrated. You might say that our treatments/thoughts/affirmations lead to belief and that our faith leads to demonstration and our demonstration leads to knowing. Only in knowing is our work complete with regard to any particular issue or characteristic.
“People who expect to demonstrate this principle must be very constant, very determined, very positive, very sure, and faithful with themselves, patient with themselves, long-suffering with themselves. You will rise and you will fall, you will get discouraged, you will become encouraged, but always you will be progressing.” ~ Ernest Holmes
Love and Law, p 57
How does one describe the difference between belief and knowing? An example would be if one person had been to Seattle and the other had not, the first person would know that Seattle exists and the second person could only believe that Seattle exists. That belief might be very strong and it may be true, but it is not a knowing until one has experienced being in Seattle.
The same can be said for anything else – health, abundance, compassion, creative self-expression, self-love – these can only be at the level of knowing when they have been demonstrated or experienced. This takes diligent, constant, determined, and faithful spiritual practices over whatever time it takes to transform consciousness and create alignment for the intuitive knowing of the soul to move into conscious awareness.
Here, Wayne Dyer, one of my personal way showers into New Thought, describes the process of manifestation. He includes the key in the last sentence, to shift from believing to knowing, which is the essence of spiritual realization. This is perfectly consistent with the quote at the top from Ernest Holmes, which speaks to the idea of a gradual unfoldment of the inner self, meaning to come into alignment with the soul, the essence of our individuated selves.
Knowing requires alignment through our unconscious (or subconscious) mind, which by definition we do not have direct knowledge of. We can only get a sense of the contents of our unconscious by seeing our automatic behaviors, especially habits and attitudes which arise without conscious effort. What we call our consciousness is an aspect of the unconscious mind which our awareness cannot penetrate. We can only know that we have made a change in our consciousness by observing our automatic behaviors and attitudes and seeing that they are different than they were.
When there is a change in consciousness at the unconscious level, it automatically emerges as new attitudes and behaviors in our lives. This is the new current reality after the initial demonstration. The demonstration is, in effect, a step in developing knowing. Once knowing is established, then new consciousness is automatically expressed in our lives. This is the importance of going beyond believing to knowing; of going beyond the need for conscious control of behaviors and thoughts to the realization of a new idea which is embodied in the unconscious mind. The old habit is extinguished, the new habit is born. This is all happening through processes in our brain/mind that we have no direct experience of, both quantum and biological in nature.
Once we have arrived at knowing, we can be at peace, confident that we will express in a manner consistent with our newly accepted consciousness, a consciousness based upon our demonstrations and experiences.
“I am still, knowing that God is over all, in all, and through all. I am at ease. I am at peace.” ~ Ernest Holmes
In a future post, I will explore how to make the process of manifesting at the level of knowing more accessible, and how the ways that we often teach New Thought principles and practices can inhibit this transformational process.
As always, your comments are welcome. Please share this post with others who may be interested. If you are so inclined, you can register to receive an email when a new post is up on this blog.
Within each human being is the potential to fully experience the connection with the One Spirit. A number of great spiritual teachers have set examples as to how this can be done. The collective human consciousness is, it seems, poised on the verge of emerging into the level of awareness necessary to experience this connection on a mass level. Each of us possesses a mind that is the locus of our experience of reality, of life experiences. Our thoughts create our mental images and beliefs. Sacred Thinking creates a mindset that connects with Spirit in a way that can bring bliss, connection, harmony, and empowerment. Right now, a relative few have done the preparatory work through spiritual practices to move into this new awareness. Human beings have reached an evolutionary point where the choice can be made to seek this awareness. Will you make that choice?
“The quantum world evokes the new mystic, one who dreams from a deeper center and loves from an unknown spring of life, for the mystic already lives in the world of tomorrow.” ~ Ilia Delio, The Not Yet God
This belief speaks to the concept of integral relationship which is our connection to Source, Spirit or God in a reciprocal and constant connection. The Creative Intelligence of the universe (or multiverse) underlies all energy and gives rise to individuated expressions, including human beings, all in this integral relationship. Together, we co-create our experiences and these experiences become aspects of an evolving Source – yes, Source evolved by means of us.
For students of New Thought, this means that we must go beyond cause and effect as the only means of understanding the dynamics of reality. Within the implicate order of the multiverse, evolution is the vehicle of expression for Source in many dynamic ways, cause and effect being one. But quantum physics tells us that there are other dynamics which exist and function in ways that we would see as acausal!
“It’s a recognition that reality as we know it is being animated by an evolutionary current. This is true on the cosmological large-scale structure of the universe. It’s true biologically. But it’s true on a human level, too. The great mystery is living and wanting to transcend itself through us toward greater expressions of beauty, truth and goodness. And so evolutionary spirituality says that, for lack of a better word, God is implicate, intrinsic to that evolutionary push.” ~ Rev. Bruce Sanguin
This implicate nature of God, Source, or Spirit is intrinsic to the nature of our existence – It is always present, always moving, always evolving, always expressing, becoming explicate. And we, human beings, are in that dance, but there is no separation, there is one dancer, one thing happening. It is a paradox that our human brain comprehends with great difficulty, if at all. The Absolute Source expressing through the mystical realms, and emerging into physical reality on a continuing, unfolding basis.
The more we come to understand this, the more astonished we are, the more reverence we hold for our existence and everything in it. Therefore, the more we will approach our lives with true compassion and grace.
We do not discard cause and effect but embrace it as a developmental tool of understanding our reality, if in a partial manner. We need to master cause and effect to have a strong foundation for developing our relationship with the acausal, the mystical, and the transcendent. This is the reality in which we are immersed and to which it is our destiny to awaken.
Human challenges and frustrations arise when we are distracted from this soulful pathway and our progress toward spiritual realization is halted or obstructed. Our soul’s agenda is to fully experience what is possible for us and to dance with Source. Nothing else will do.
“Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we think. What we think depends on what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.” ~ David Bohm, Quantum Physicist
Continuing our exploration of the seven core beliefs from my book SACRED THINKING: Awakening Your Inner Power (LINK), this post looks at beliefs 5 & 6. The first post (LINK) looked at Beliefs 1 & 2; The second post (LINK) looked at Beliefs 3 & 4.
BELIEF FIVE:
As a human being, you are an individualized (not individual, which means separate) expression of the One Spirit, as are all other human beings and everything else in creation. You can never be separate from Spirit, nor can you ever truly be separate from anything else in creation. Your connection to everything is invisible, consisting of energy (both physical and non-physical) and intelligence. Your intelligence, your mind, is part of the Mind (Spirit) which created everything.
”The individual is going to be universalized, the universal is going to be individualized, and thus from both directions the whole is going to be enriched.” ~ Jan Smuts, Holism and Evolution
The idea of separation, of being apart from the Divine Source, is the cause of all human suffering in one way or another. We are Source expressing, experiencing, and evolving as us; we exist by means of Source and Source experiences by means of us.
God can never abandon or condemn you because you are an aspect of Its expression and because it is not God’s nature to do so. God is not a being with human feelings, but an immanent force. God does not know the details of you, your racial or ethnic heritage, what your gender identity may be, or what failings you have had. It knows you only in a general sense and wishes you well as part of God’s unfolding, much as you do not know any individual cell in your body, but you wish them all well as vehicles for your human expression.
“In this view, God is not an external deity who creates the world and then steps back to observe it, but an immanent force that is constantly at work within the universe, guiding its development towards greater complexity, diversity, and consciousness. Thus, the concept of God as the Evolutionary Impulse suggests that the universe is not a static entity, but a dynamic and evolving one, and that we are all part of this ongoing process of growth and transformation.” ~ Nish Dubashia on Facebook
This “guidance” is not like a human conscious process, but it is the action of universal law set in motion and allowed to evolve in a constantly changing series of patterns of intelligence interacting as energy. Matter is a form of energy, so everything in the universe is made of the same stuff.
BELIEF SIX:
Spirit experiences being human by means of you and all other human beings. This experience is not through you but as you. Spirit does the same thing with all levels and beings of creation. Why Spirit does this is a mystery that is ultimately unknowable.
“The creation of your life experience does not happen without your involvement in each unfolding instant.” ~ Jim Lockard, Sacred Thinking
Perhaps the most challenging New Thought principle is the nature of our relationship to and with Source. Its essence is relationship, the interplay between creative intelligence and creation. Without a realization of this relationship and its nature, one is easily left feeling adrift in a hostile or uncaring universe.
When you KNOW that you are one with Source (whatever name you give It), your experience of the world changes in an alchemical way. You are in relationship with It and by cultivating a relationship with your inner intuitive knowing, you come to realize the nature of that relationship more deeply.
The Universe is constantly changing, moving toward greater and greater complexity. This is done through a process called evolution, which has been going on at least since the Big Bang – our name for the origin of the universe. Evolution appears to be a process through which Spirit manifests increasing degrees of complexity and intelligence in Its creation. As of now, human beings exist at the pinnacle of evolution, so far as is known. It can be said that greater intelligence emerges from potential to actualization by means of evolution. Human beings have reached a point in our evolutionary development where we can and do consciously affect the process of evolution.
“This is exactly the position that modern philosophers take; it is called the theory of emergent evolution, which means that when nature needs something, it demands it of itself, and out of itself makes it. So, in the evolution of the human being, when it was necessary for him to grasp, fingers were produced. When, then, if it is necessary for you and me to know something we do not know, can we not—according to this theory of emergence—demand the information of ourselves and have it come to be known? ~ Ernest Holmes, published in Science of Mind Magazine, July 2011
Holmes’ explanation reflects a mid-20th Century knowledge of evolution, but it is generally accurate. Seen through the lens of metaphysical spirituality, evolution is the methodology for the development of Spirit’s expression AS our universe. Our universe evolves in a cosmological sense, our planet in a geological sense, life in a biological sense, and humans in a psychological and spiritual sense. The only constant in this scenario is change. Nothing is static, all is dynamic.
It is best to think of evolution as a flow, a moving image, rather than as a series of photographs. Human evolution flows like a river, sometimes wide and slow moving, sometimes very rapidly. We are currently in the rapids of evolution – things are changing faster than in the past. However, regardless of the rate of evolutionary change, the process of emergence is always at work. Everything is moving, vibrating, expanding or contracting.
“Others will arise who will know more than we do; they won’t be better or worse, they will be different and know more than we do. Evolution is forward.” ~ Ernest Holmes, Sermon By The Sea- Asilomar, Saturday, August 15, 1959
BELIEF FOUR:
The Universe and everything in it is infused with intelligence and is self-organizing. Behind every thing is an invisible Power, a Power that is the Ground of All Being, and The Animating Force. This Power expresses as the physical or manifest universe and the energy therein. This Power expresses impersonally – it is fully available to all.
“You belong to the universe in which you live, you are one with the Creative Genius back of this vast array of ceaseless motion, this original flow of life. You are as much a part of it as the sun, the earth and the air. There is something in you telling you this — like a voice echoing from some mountain top of inward vision, like a light whose origin no man has seen, like an impulse welling up from an invisible source.” ~ Ernest Holmes
In order to become spiritually realized, we must fully transcend believing only in the evidence of our senses. The senses have evolved to help us negotiate our physical surroundings. The Source of everything in those surroundings is invisible to our senses. Spiritual realization, the process of discovering this invisible Power, does not separate us from our physical surroundings, it allows us to know ourselves for what we are and to know our surroundings for what they are – projections of an invisible Power imbued with intelligence.
“Sooner or later we have to risk everything. We have to gamble on the invisible and risk all that we can see and taste and feel. But we know the risk is worth it, because there is nothing more insecure than the transient world.” ~ Thomas Merton
Spiritual realization is a process of awakening to our inner reality, the mystical reality which is behind all physical expressions of reality. The mystic is one who has cultivated a relationship with the inner self, a capacity we all have. It is kind of like learning the inner operations of a clock and discovering what makes the hands show the time.
“Invisible connection is stronger than visible. To arrive at the basic structure of things we must go into their darkness.” ~ Heraclitus
This quote from Heraclitus is over 2,000 years old. The idea of an invisible Power in back of all things is not new. It remains a key to developing a powerful and mature sense of personal spirituality.
As always, your comments are welcomed. The next post will explore beliefs 5 & 6 from SACRED THINKING.
My first spiritual book, SACRED THINKING: Awakening to Your Own Power (LINK), was published in 2010. I am revisiting the book for a new writing project and I thought it would be helpful to blog about the 7 basic beliefs from the Introduction to that book. Over the next weeks, I will blog about these basic beliefs, and we will see where that leads us – to different beliefs, revised beliefs, more beliefs, or fewer? We shall see.
BELIEF ONE:
There is ONE Infinite Spirit. This One Spirit created the universe out of Itself, out of Its own infinite nature. It is the ground of all being and everything that exists is part of It. Being infinite, It can never be fully comprehended by any individual human being or all human beings as a collective. This Spirit, and aspects of It, has been given many names. If there are “lesser gods,” they are within the One Spirit. The simplest definition of this One Spirit is “Love.”
Sacred Thinking was an attempt to put the philosophy, theology, and practices associated with New Thought into a language available to anyone. It was my intention to reach out beyond our walls to others and to provide a different approach for New Thought teachers and students to understand what we believe and how to use practices to deepen and expand those beliefs.
“Spirit – God, within whom all spirits exist. The Self-Knowing One. The Conscious Universe. The Absolute. Spirit in man is that part of him which enables him to know himself. That which he really is. . . . We define Spirit as the First Cause or God; the Universal I AM. The Spirit is Self-Propelling, It is All; It is Self-Existent and has all life within Itself. It is the Word and the Word is volition. . . . It knows nothing outside Itself, and nothing different from Itself. Spirit is the Father-Mother God because It is the Principle of Unity back of all things. Spirit is all Life, Truth, Love, Being, Cause and Effect, and is the only Power in the Universe that knows Itself.” ~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind, Glossary
The concept of Spirit as FIRST CAUSE is critical to our understanding. That which set all things in motion and became what it created. Creator and creation are one and the same. Nothing is apart from or separate from Spirit. This idea of Oneness is expressed in many spiritual traditions. One Power in and throughout all. Everything which expresses does so within this One Power. There is no power for good and a separate power for evil; both are expressions of the One Power. This paradox is central to our teaching.
If there is a devil, the power it expresses is the One Power. Just as the same electrical current can be used to light your home or power an electric chair, what we call evil is an unloving use of the One Power of Spirit. Our senses do a poor job of reflecting the Oneness inherent in the universe, therefore, we use spiritual practices like meditation to help us to understand it.
BELIEF TWO:
The universe, or cosmos, is the expression of the creative nature of the One Spirit. The universe that you know and any other universes which may exist are all part of the One Spirit. Because of the Infinite Nature of this One Spirit, nothing can exist outside it; nothing can exist apart from It. Everything that exists has its being within the One Spirit.
Again, paraphrasing Thomas Troward (LINK): Spirit, through some act of inner contemplation, creates out of Itself, and becomes what It creates. This means that Creator and creation are one and the same. Nothing in creation can be separate from the Creative Intelligence of the Universe or Spirit. Any ideas of a deity condemning you come from a belief in separation, which is a fundamental error in the understanding of reality.
I am the life of life, I am that cat, this stone, no one… I see and know all times and all worlds, As one, one, always ONE… Oneness always! ~ Rumi
Our first two core beliefs speak to the nature of Spirit and Its relationship to creation, a relationship of Oneness. On this there is a surprising amount of agreement among world faith traditions, in theory if not in practice.
“Stephen, strolling along the shore, is thinking of the relationship of visible things to their source—of a son to a father, of Hamlet to Shakespeare, of himself to the ground of his being—and he comes to the relationship of Jesus, the Son, to God the Father, which is a Christian problem. If Jesus is God, and his Father is God also, what then is the relationship? Jesus said, ‘I and my Father are one,’ and those words brought him to the cross. Sufi mystic al-Hallaj said the same thing, ‘I and my Beloved are one,’ and he too was crucified. This is the mystic realization: you and that divine immortal being of beings of which you are a particle, are one. The classical statement of the idea is ‘tat tvam asi,’ ‘you are that,’ and the famous formula in the Chāndogya Upanishad: ‘you are yourself the divine mystery you wish to know.’ ‘I and my father are one.’” ~ Joseph Campbell (commenting on a passage in James Joyce’s Ulysses), from Mythic Worlds, Modern Words, p.71 (LINK)
The problem of the realization of Oneness in a world operating primarily in a belief in duality, is that you feel like an outsider; and you are. How then to live? Campbell writes that the mystic keeps to herself and does not flaunt her realization. So, you do not hide your light under a bushel basket, but neither do you insist that others see from your point of view, rather you seek to influence with love and compassion.
“If you’re lucky, at some point in your life you’ll come to a complete dead end. Or to put it another way: if you’re lucky you’ll come to a crossroads and see that the path to the left leads to hell, that the path to the right leads to hell, that the road straight ahead leads to hell and that if you try to turn around you’ll end up in complete and utter hell. Every way leads you to hell and there’s no way out, nothing left for you to do. Nothing can possibly satisfy you anymore. Then, if you’re ready, you’ll start to discover inside yourself what you always longed for but were never able to find.” ~ Peter Kingsley, In the Dark Places of Wisdom
You may not have heard or seen the quote above in your New Thought spiritual community or in any New Thought books. But maybe if you had, your life would be on a sounder trajectory, with less fear and confusion. This post is about coming to terms with the challenges of 2024 and finding within ourselves the strengths, realizations, and grace to survive and thrive in these times.
We are in the midst of a rapidly expanding atmosphere of fear, disinformation, climate emergency, political chaos, and massive shifts in what it means to be human. This atmosphere is speeding up due to factors such as social media, artificial intelligence, and, more importantly, a willingness by some to use these tools unethically to further their own agendas. This is not a time to withdraw nor is it a time to pretend that we are less powerful than we really are. It is a time to awaken the spiritual warrior within.
Eric Butterworth, the great Unity teacher, said that the only sin in New Thought is the “frustration of potential.” We frustrate the infinite potential within us by developing a consciousness which blocks or inhibits the expression of our potential. In other words, we “sin” when we get in our own way, or when we fail to bring our potential into actualization.
“Everything is inside you now, rooted deep into your being. And with the entire universe inside of you, where in reality it always has been, you can sense for the first time how much power you hold in the palm of your hand. For the whole world — whatever you experience or perceive — is just buds on the tree that you are.” ~ Peter Kingsley
We sin, or miss the mark, when we refuse to acknowledge the challenges, the pain, the loss, the confusion of life. Ernest Holmes and the other founders tell us to turn away from the negative to a deeper reality, but they do not say to pretend that the negative does not exist. To deny the negative side of life is to deny a significant portion of our reality and fertile ground for redemption (spiritual awakening) – we grow from our discomforts when we understand them correctly. What we are to deny is an attachment to or an identification with the negative side of life.
I like to think of New Thought teachings as a combination of working with the law and courting the Beloved. I first heard this idea in a talk given by Rev. Dr. Mark Viera. By working with the law, I mean developing a clarity about the Law of Mind and its uses; learning to use the law to master living in our world of duality. This is an important path and one which is essentially solitary – we may join in community to learn and grow, but our journey is our own.
By courting the Beloved, I mean the exploration of the mystical side of life. Our mystical identity is fluid, paradoxical, unbound, shared by all yet experienced uniquely. Our mystical nature is the key to our true identity. The highest value of working with the law is that we get our external lives in order to such a degree that we have time and energy to focus on exploring the mystical self.
“This is an essential experience of any mystical realization. You die to your flesh and are born into your spirit. You identify yourself with the consciousness and life of which your body is but the vehicle. You die to the vehicle and become identified in your consciousness with that of which the vehicle is but the carrier.” ~ Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
2024 promises to bring us challenges which are not new but have been growing in effect due to insufficient political and social will to resolve them. We are too easily distracted by issues, which may be of some concern, but do not rise to the level of the greater challenges present. Social media, for one example, seems to shrink our attention span to a significant degree. We spend valuable days and even weeks focusing on relative trivia, or worse, we may be in denial about the larger challenges altogether. Be wary of the power of media and social media to influence you toward an addictive pattern of resentment and outrage.
We see our politicians deny what is factually true and the media refuse to challenge many of those falsehoods. Or we are distracted by the “outrage of the moment” and lose sight of where our focus needs to be. Our egoic minds seek to relieve us of the stress of focusing on the bigger challenges, but our soul wants nothing less.
What is needed is each of us to realize our inner power to a greater degree and then act in unison to effect change for the good in our communities, our states or provinces, and our nations. We must show up at every opportunity to be heard and to effect positive change. What we need is a greater realization of the love that we are in the context that James Baldwin expresses here:
“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word love here not merely in a personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace —not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.” ~ James Baldwin
We cannot be spiritual change agents if we turn away from the difficult topics and the fear associated with them. We are not more spiritual if we do not watch or read the news, what we are is less likely to creatively respond to the world’s pain.
The opening quotation by Peter Kingsley speaks to this. When Ernest Holmes wrote that the world has learned enough through suffering, he did not mean that we should avoid the pains of life. How could we? What he meant was that we had to transmute that suffering into grace by transforming our consciousness of reality. To do that we must move through the suffering, through the pain, through the boredom, through the grief, through the fear, toward a realization of the grace of knowing that we are enough. We have to make the meaning fit our potential realized and the challenges at hand.
“The world does not deliver meaning to you. You have to make it meaningful…and decide what you want and need and must do. It’s a tough, unimaginably lonely and complicated way to be in the world. But that’s the deal: you have to live; you can’t live by slogans, dead ideas, clichés, or national flags. Finding an identity is easy. It’s the easy way out.” ~ Zadie Smith
Ultimately, I am not my family, my nation, my gender, my religion, or anything other than being a Precious Cosmic Self, individuated from Oneness to express as me in this reality. In the mystical reality, all identity falls away; in dualistic reality, identity plays a role. Those identities can be helpful in our working with the law lives, but they are not the ultimate reality of who and what we are.
2024 will demand much of each of us, not to the same degree perhaps, but aspects of our potential will be called forth as never before. If we withdraw and hide, we not only put ourselves in greater jeopardy, but we fail to bring the actualization of our inner potential forward to assist humanity. We deny our power and genius to the world.
It is time to wake up, wise up, and stand up for what is important and valuable in life.
“All nature is waiting for us to become conscious because there’s a particular quality of consciousness that only humans can provide. Nature needs that consciousness; cries out for it. And the process of deciphering Nature’s need, then discovering how to respond to it, is what’s called learning to become human.” ~ Peter Kingsley
As always, your comments are appreciated. Please share this post with others who may be interested.
“Never deny the authenticity of your own experience.” ~ Bishop Yvette Flunder
I was fortunate. The holiday season, from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, was generally positive in my home and among my extended family, the usual minor disputes aside. The major losses of family members occurred at other times of the year.
When I became a police officer, I was exposed to people with different experiences of the holidays. Families who had experienced deep trauma or significant losses during that time of year (or any time), who were unable to celebrate the season and often created additional dysfunction.
Later on, in my ministry, I began to experience those who had been shunned or disowned by their families of origin and for whom the holidays were painful. I remember at the center in Fort Lauderdale, we used to do two services on holidays, one recognizing the holiday and one that did not.
Joseph Campbell wrote about the concept of “living joyfully in the sorrows of the world.” He meant that in a world where sorrow is a given (and it is), you can choose to live in joy.
“The field of time is the field of sorrow. ‘All life is sorrowful.’ And it is. If you try to correct the sorrows, all you do is shift them somewhere else. Life is sorrowful. How do you live with that? You realize the eternal within yourself. You disengage, and yet, reengage. You—and here’s the beautiful formula—’participate with joy in the sorrows of the world.’ You play the game. It hurts, but you know that you have found the place that is transcendent of injury and fulfillment. You are there, and that’s it.” ~ Joseph Campbell
Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion
An important aspect of spiritual growth is to develop the emotional and spiritual muscle to live in the world in which we find ourselves. Recognizing our inner spiritual warrior, we are no longer victims; we are participants on our own terms to the degree that we are willing to realize our own innate power. Whatever your past, if you realize the metaphysical truth that Principle is not bound by precedent, you have choice as to the course of your future. I am not saying this is an easy thing to do, but it is something which can be done and has been done by many people.
We can use the Holiday Season as a lever to change the course of the coming year by changing our attitude and uplifting our self-concept. It doesn’t require a huge change, just a shift toward being more open to possibility. This renewal of consciousness is what New Thought teachings are all about; we change and grow throughout our lives.
You can create your own version of the holidays, one which serves you and which gives you the opportunity to serve others. Perhaps this means spending time with difficult family members, but being truly present for them, while denying them the power to disrupt your sense of being. If they are too toxic, avoid the contact, but hold them in love. Perhaps it means being alone on days when you are used to being in the company of others but using that time to immerse yourself in beauty and uplifting experiences – or just some really funny movies. Perhaps it means finding a place to volunteer to help others in your community. Perhaps it means a solo retreat in another location where you can be in nature for a few days.
Using the month of December to set intentions for the New Year is important and valuable. How you do this needs to be consistent with maintaining your well-being. Whether or not you choose to participate in traditional activities, design your holiday experience to support your vision for the New Year and hold yourself accountable for sticking to your plan. You will be glad that you did.
“We’re in a freefall into the future. We don’t know where we’re going. Things are changing so fast, and always when you’re going through a long tunnel, anxiety comes along. And all you have to do to transform your hell into a paradise is to turn your fall into a voluntary act. It’s a very interesting shift of perspective and that’s all it is… joyful participation in the sorrows and everything changes.” ~ Joseph Campbell
I hold for you a vision of a renewed, refreshed, and amazing 2024, knowing that the Power within you can overcome any seeming obstacle to your fulfillment. Much love to you!
As always, your comments are welcomed. Feel free to share this post with others who may be interested.
“. . . for all tomorrow’s good May rest today upon your gratitude, For he who gives thanks before the wine Is pressed from grapes still clinging to the vine Has shown a faith above, beyond the present hour And his thanksgiving holds the future flower.” ~ from “The Voice Celestial” by Ernest and Fenwicke Holmes
Ernest Holmes, the developer of The Science of Mind (LINK) philosophy and the founder of Religious Science/Centers for Spiritual Living, was largely a synthesizer of ancient wisdom and modern psychology. He did not originate most of what he wrote and spoke about but put things together from various sources in a way which created a practical approach to spiritual realization. He was eternally curious, seeking out new wisdom throughout his life.
One thing which is unique to his teachings, as far as I can tell, is seeing gratitude as a proactive expression – in other words, when we are deeply grateful in advance for what we seek, we bring more energy into our manifestation – we create a strong consciousness of positive expectation. While it is easy to leave a focus on gratitude behind as we move from November to December, we do well to remember our New Thought principle of gratitude as an active and proactive element in our everyday lives.
“The feeling of gratitude is among the strongest and most affirmative spiritual energies at your command. When you feel a deep sense of gratitude…you are actually focusing your creative energy and bringing it to bear on your life.” ~Rev. David Owen Ritz
If my use of mental science is to be most effective, I need to recognize the power of gratitude in advance of manifestation. When I am truly grateful for what I am seeking in advance, I create a stronger consciousness of expectation within myself. Doubts about manifesting my desire are erased as I repeat my spiritual mind treatments with the gratitude step (Step 4 in the Five-Step Treatment Process).
“And the days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days.” ~ Ray Wylie Hubbard
It was at this point in writing this post that I had a spell of vertigo and ended up in the emergency room of the Hôpital Croix-Rousse here in Lyon for the rest of my Sunday. Apparently, all is well, but during the 7+ hours in the ER, which was mostly waiting, I did have time to ponder how gratitude can be a creative force, even when appearances are not positive. Or maybe, especially when appearances are not positive.
“When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.” ~ Shanuna Niequist
Rather than catastrophizing thinking, which is easy for many of us to do, I steered my thoughts toward gratitude. Gratitude for the four members amazing ambulance team, one of whom spoke excellent English, for assessing me so well and giving me the experience of riding to the hospital with the siren on! Gratitude for the excellent French healthcare system, and the Croix-Rousse complex which serves the northern half of Lyon so well. Grateful for the ER staff, who despite a heavy workload (an ambulance every 15 minutes or so, plus lots of walk-ins), did their jobs professionally.
And grateful for my own support system – Dorianne and our friends, who were there for me. Finally, grateful for this philosophy, the Science of Mind, which I have worked diligently to embody, and which served me so well in maintaining a consciousness of healing during this event. AND: GRATEFUL FOR MY HEALING WHICH WAS ALREADY PRESENT!
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” ~Meister Eckhart
Gratitude in advance, in order to be truly effective, must be accompanied by a consciousness of positive expectation. And while things do not always turn out as envisioned and there are no guarantees in life, this consciousness of expectation and gratitude is powerful and puts the odds in my favor. Our difficulties show up in life to call forth some quality yet unexpressed, so gratitude in times of difficulty, as difficult as it may be, can speed the process of expressing that quality and to a fuller experience of life. The creation of your life experience does not happen without your involvement in each unfolding instant.
Therefore, while Thanksgiving is past, and we are moving to the end of the “Month of Gratitude” in November, it is really important to keep a consciousness of gratitude active in our daily lives. I will close with one of Ernest Holmes’ more practical quotes:
“Always come to a complete conclusion when giving a treatment. Always feel that it is done, complete and perfect, and give thanks for the answer.…The treatment should be repeated daily until a healing takes place. If it takes 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days, or 5 years, the treatment must be kept up until a healing is accomplished. This is the only method we know. It is not enough to SAY that everything is all right. This is true in Principle, but in fact and in human experience, it is only as true as we make it. Treat until you get results. A healing takes place when the patient is no longer sick, and until such time, mental work should be done.” ~ Ernest Holmes
As always, your comments are welcomed. Please share this post with others who may be interested; and if you are so inclined, sign up to be notified when posts are published on this blog.
“I am unmoved by appearances, therefore appearances move.” ~ Florence Shovel Shin
“Who you gonna believe, me – or your Lyin’ Eyes?” ~ Groucho Marx
We are in an age where two major developments are occurring and becoming intertwined. One is the capacity to make false information look very real; the other is a concerted movement to stop social progress and regress to a time where the world seemed more controllable.
Using artificial intelligence to create “deep fake” images and videos (LINK) (images and videos which appear real but are not – like the image of the Pope in the Balenciaga coat above) and show people saying and doing things that they did not is one tactic. Others are creating masses of automated online accounts (bots) on social media to make it appear that some issues have more or less support or to mislead people by exposing them to false information which appears to be accurate. All of this is happening as the United States is one year away from a critical national election, and while wars rage in eastern Europe and the Middle East.
It’s a good time to start sharpening your critical thinking skills. Simplistic perspectives are inadequate for these times. Those of us on a spiritual path must come to terms with the world in which we live and take practical, spiritually-based approaches to the challenges of our time.
An example:
“Most of the things you’re going to see about the election over the next 12 months….that scare you the most…have a very high likelihood of being the result of Russian influence. Watch the peripheral events even more closely. While the war with Israel-Hamas might not seem like ‘election interference,’ I would argue it is some of the most potentially potent election interference there is. How? It induces fear and anger about the very kinds of issues that studies have shown to trigger people turn to domineering, powerhouse candidates in an election year. In short, rather than try to shape the man to what they know you want, they seek to shape the world events…that shape you….so that you’ll want…. the man.
Look at EVERYTHING that scares you, angers you or motivates you in directions that are different than usual…and ask yourself, ‘Who benefits most from me being scared of this, mad at that, or motivated to do this?’”
~ Jack Hopkins, @thejackhopkins
It is also important to discern the intention behind the information we receive. Is this information intentionally designed to make be believe something that is not true, or is the information unintentionally garbled or misrepresented? Who is the source, who are the intermediaries, what are their intentions? (LINK to info about misinformation)
“Consider that misinformation is information that merely happens to be false, whereas disinformation is false information purposely spread. Similarly, mispronunciation is people trying too feebly and in vain to say our names — and dispronunciation is people saying our names incorrectly on purpose, as if to remind us whose country this really is. Mispronunciation is a matter of limited tongues. Dispronunciation is a matter of limited hearts. ” ~ Anand Giridharadas
The key is not to mistrust all sources of information, but to learn to discern from a basic place of trust when that trust is not appropriate. In order to do that, I have to do my spiritual practices to build my sense confidence in my ability to discern AND I have to stay informed and learn to recognize false information. Mistrust, cynicism, and avoiding the news or media are not the answers, although it is fine to take a “newsbreak” from time to time. It concerns me that so many of my friends on social media reliably fall for Facebook hoaxes or unethical advertisers or believe sources who have been proven time and again to be dishonest or biased.
”Somewhat counterintuitively, it’s the more trusting people that actually emerge as less gullible. They obviously get fooled, as we all do… but they tend to be very good at learning from those experiences where they have been duped, they tend not to generalize it over everybody and then to start being cynical about everything, which then makes them more effective socially.” ~ Derren Brown, Professional Illusionist
The work to be done is to build up my ability to discern, learn to notice what AI-generated images tend to look like, to pick up subtle differences in messaging from sources I know (would she really post that?), to identify trustworthy places to get information (while realizing that no source will be perfectly accurate), and to resist passing along information or links that I have not researched.
I must cultivate my connection with my deeper self, my intuitive knowing more thoroughly so that I have my best faculties primed and ready to call upon when I need them. I can learn from my experiences every time I fall for fake information and emerge from the experience more capable of discernment. I must strengthen my inner resolve and build my capacity for resilience in times such as these.
“The need for approval, the need to control things, and the need for external power are needs that are based on fear. This kind of power is not the power of pure potentiality . . . or REAL power. When we experience the power of the Self, there is an absence of fear, there is no compulsion to control, and no struggle for approval or external power.” ~ Deepak Chopra
Since I desire to live life fully, I want to know the truth, even the parts which I find disturbing. I also want to develop myself to be able to face the truth, all of it, with courage, love, and compassion. If I find myself in a world where harm is intended and pursued, I want to be able to confront that with a higher vision and be present to it more powerfully. To do that, I need to see myself as capable (I already am), as strong (I already am), and as connected to an unlimited Divine Source (I already am).
“Stark honesty, however painful, is needed on this journey toward the Self; the unconscious will not tolerate anything less. One must be willing to face many cruel truths, those we keep hidden from the light of day, and those we keep hidden from ourselves.” ~ Marion Woodman
With my spiritual practices, I focus on developing a deep acceptance of myself as having enough of everything I need to express my best self in my life. New Thought principles teach me that everything has already been given to me as potential. What is mine to do is to actualize those potentials as inner qualities which lead to the outer expression of assertiveness, love, and compassion while engaging the world around me from a spiritually realized perspective. Through my spiritual work, I develop my ability to discern what is of value and what is not, what is real and what is imagined, what is accurate and what is mis- or dis-information.
One might paraphrase the quote from Florence Shovel Shin above to affirm:
I am not fooled by appearances, therefore,
I see the Truth!
I will close with something I wrote some time ago:
“The essence of the matter is that when we live only in our mind and do not engage with the world to bring our (New Thought) principles to light, we are, essentially, acting in opposition to our spiritual principles. We are keeping our principles hidden at great cost to those who would benefit by their expression, and possibly, at the cost of a more just society overall.” ~ Jim Lockard
As always, your comments are encouraged. Please share this post with others who may be interested.Copyright 2023 – Jim Lockard
New Thought Evolutionary 