YouTube: The Truth About Salvation

It has been my observation that many people carry, if only in the back of their mind, the question of whether they have measured up and will be okay when they pass from this life. I once sat at the bedside of a dying woman who was terrified of going to hell. I have talked to others who felt they were okay, that they had lived a pretty good life, but they were not 100% certain that they had earned a place in that eternal city with streets paved in gold. The question of salvation is alive and well among believers and nonbelievers alike.

An important facet of near-death research is that it blows the lid off the sin and eternal punishment model. Some who have lived a horrible life report an experience of incredible love and beauty, an indescribable feeling of having come home. They return to their body totally changed.

To me, this strongly suggests that the notion of salvation has nothing to do with the afterlife and everything to do with our present experience. As I said last week, I do not think Jesus was concerned about the afterlife. His focus was on helping people live a happier, freer life while they are on this earth. To him, salvation meant freedom from worry, fear, and the struggle of maintaining a body.

The key to Jesus’ understanding of salvation was recovering the awareness of our unity with God. Recovery, you recall, means we connect with something we already have but have somehow lost. Most NDE’rs describe their experience as having come home. The implication is that they returned to an experience they were having prior to birth.

Salvation, then, is remembering. It is consciously reconnecting with our eternal soul. This is what happens to the one who has a near-death experience. They make a conscious reconnection with the truth of who and what they are. The experience is so profoundly powerful that it changes the entire way they think of and live their life. Fortunately, we do not have to have one of these to be saved from the struggles involved in our earthly experience. Knowing our soul is eternal and naturally exempt from cosmic retribution of any kind, frees us to live each day to its fullest.  

YouTube: The Mammon Issue

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

For many, this statement has been somewhat confusing. It seems to suggest that we set aside our material needs and interests and devote ourselves to a contemplative life of prayer. Considering other statements from Jesus, I do not think this is what he meant. He acknowledged that we have material needs, and seeking first the kingdom would assure these needs would be met.

We should not think of mammon strictly as a quest for material gain, but more as how we think of our center of power. Do we draw our power from without—from positions and possessions—or are we empowered from within?

A child who fears there is a bear under their bed will find comfort and empowerment in a night-light. But where does this bear live? In this case, mammon is the belief in the reality of the bear. As long as the child believes in the bear, the night-light will provide a sense of protection. The ultimate protection from the bear, however, is the realization that it is a figment of the imagination. The child who comes to this realization has transitioned from serving mammon (unfounded fear) to serving God, their true center of power.  

An actual night-light is, of course, a good and useful accessory. And bears that stay out from under our beds are okay too. The point is that we want to recognize those times when we are relying on some form of mammon to alleviate a fear that can and should be permanently eliminated. We want to connect with that indwelling, empowering spirit that enables us to walk fearlessly through life, and to know when challenges arise, and they will, that we have the means to handle them. To seek first the kingdom doesn’t mean that we leave our doors unlocked or forego practical self-protective measures. It means we find our true center of power first within ourselves, dispel imagined bears, and live with the peace and confidence of the eternal being that we are.

YouTube: Spiritual Truth

Just this week I ran into three different uses of the word truth. These were scientific truth, religious truth, and spiritual truth. Scientific truth is a conclusion reached by unbiased observations and systematic experimentation. As such, a scientific truth is subject to revision.

Religious truth, specifically that of the Christian genre, is considered true, not because it has survived the rigors of testing and experimentation, but because it’s in the Bible.

Spiritual truth is experiential in nature and is reported consistently through all ages and cultures, primarily through the mystical tradition. Imagine a person 10,000 years ago stepping outside on a sunlit day. Would they not describe the very experience you and I would have today? Spiritual truth is not based on today’s science or on any religion. It is based on the changeless light of spiritual reality.

Jesus, I believe, was committed to teaching spiritual truth. While his teachings sometimes disturbed the religious leaders, this was only because religious dogma was not expansive enough to encompass the true nature of God, and man’s relationship of oneness with God. Religion so often imposes rules of thought and behavior that simply do not apply to God as the underlying creative life force that permeates all aspects of the universe. The rule is, if you’ve been bad and you ask for a fish, you still get a fish. You’re not given a serpent for punishment. In other words, spiritual truth is changeless.

Scientific truth is warehoused in the papers, textbooks, the classroom, and the lab. Religious truth is warehoused in scripture, tradition, and houses of worship. Spiritual truth is an essential characteristic of the soul. You and I are living expressions of the life, love, power, and intelligence of God. As such, we have each incarnated to bring some unique gift to this planet that only we can give.  

The important thing to remember about spiritual truth is that it does not change with your mood or your understanding. You are a complete soul, a perfect expression of God. Even if you do not feel this truth at this moment, it will wait patiently for you to come along.

YouTube: The Transformation

Eric Butterworth, Unity minister and author of the bestselling book, Discover the Power Within You, maintained that the religion of Jesus had been transformed into a religion about Jesus. I concur. The question is, what would cause this transformation?

Jesus directed his ministry to the spiritual awakening of the individual. He had no qualified trainees, no one among his inner circle who could pick up the baton. The mystic does not entertain a vision of collective enlightenment simply because, as William James pointed out, the mystical awakening “… must be directly experienced; it cannot be imparted or transferred to others.” This is an inside-out occurrence and if one is to experience it, they must have the mindset that allows it. It is made clear on several occasions that the disciples did not understand what Jesus was teaching.

The erosion of his inner-directed ministry probably began almost immediately after Jesus’ death. With their teacher and gifted seer now gone, followers relied more and more on the group as their center of guidance, power, and identity. They began moving from the narrow gate that led to self-awareness to that wider gate that opened to the security of the group dynamic. Because the focus moves away from developing a relationship to God as an internal presence, expectation becomes apocalyptic. The kingdom of God is no longer present, but it will be arriving shortly.

It is this apocalyptic hope that played into two additional pressures that confronted early followers. The most immediate of these was the increasing resistance from the Jewish majority that rejected the notion of Jesus as the Christ. The second was the Roman government.

The mystic helps the individual answer the question, “Who am I?”  Answer: I am an expression of God. In contrast, a group becomes devoted to answering the question, “Who are we?” Answer: I am a Christian. With their leader gone, the focus quickly shifted from what Jesus taught to what the budding church taught about Jesus. Building a coalition of kindred spirits was a natural way of finding support against growing environmental hostilities. Thus, the Christian movement, the religion about Jesus, was born.

YouTube: The Spiritual Side of Morality

Do unto others and you would have them do unto you. Forgive those who trespass against you. Love your enemy. Pray for those who persecute you.

What do these statements share in common? First, they have to do with moral behavior. Second, and most important, they have to do with the spiritual side of moral behavior, which is letting go of any negative state of mind that binds us.

I’ve been talking about the creative life force and its inward-out direction of flow. If we plot to do harm to another, if we harbor resentment, if we declare war on our enemy, if we wish the worst for those who have persecuted us, we are hanging onto things that hinder Spirit’s natural flow in our life. It isn’t enough to simply go through the motions of performing morally commendable acts. We must also activate the spiritual component of releasing the negative energy we have invested. In other words, we don’t do it simply because it’s the morally correct thing to do. We do it because it’s the freeing thing to do. 

We are not required to excuse the behavior of those who have in some way meant us harm. When Jesus said, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), he was pointing out that God does not react to the good or bad behavior of people. Our negative reaction to others is a way of saying we are willing to withhold the sun and rain of our spiritual light, not from a given person, but from our own experience. Jesus is not saying forgive for the sake of others. He is saying forgive for the sake of you.   

You recall the wealthy young man who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to obey the commandments. The man said he did all that. What’s missing? Doing the right thing is not enough. Jesus told him that he must sell everything. He must let go of the value he was placing on his possessions and invest instead in the freedom he was missing.

So it is with us. Doing the correct thing is not always the freeing thing. We should also take into consideration the spiritual side of morality which always involves some form of letting go.

YouTube: Empowered By God, A Closer Look At Spiritual Power

In addressing this topic of empowerment, I want to go back to the river illustration I used a few weeks ago. There are two things about this river analogy that we need to be clear on. First, we are not seeking a destination on the river, upstream or down. The point of the illustration is to highlight the fact that the river flows in but one direction. In the spiritual context, this direction is from the inside out. To be empowered by God, then, is to know that our life can only be transformed from the inside out.

Both our religious and cultural training have programed us to believe the transformation, the fulfillment we seek lies upstream. Religion sees the current as a test of faith. Our cultural training says the hard work of paddling will get us to that satisfying place of success. So, why would Jesus question the logic of gaining the world at the risk of losing the soul? Did we really come here so we could spend our life paddling upstream?   

There is something more to what he taught. He said, “The gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:14). There is something wrong with the way this statement is translated. Who in the world would want to follow a way that is even harder than paddling upstream? A careful reading of this line reveals that he is saying the narrow gate that leads to life is hard to find, and few find it. He found it and he taught it. Nothing on this earth is our destination. We are here to enjoy this journey.

To enjoy the journey means that we have goals, we pursue interests, embark on careers, we make money, we buy houses, we get married, we have children. But none of these represent our purpose for showing up on this planet. We are here to solve this puzzle of living, to engage in all our activities empowered by God.

Go out in your yard and find a dandelion. This humble flower is doing fully what you and I are striving for. It is not paddling upstream or drifting aimlessly down. It is being who and what it is from the inside-out. It has solved the puzzle of how to live a successful life empowered by God.   

YouTube: The Truth About Karma

Someone raised the subject of karma, and whether we should consider it a factor in the way our life unfolds. In other words, should we think of negative conditions as karmic payback for something negative we may have done in the past? This is a good subject to explore, for a fair number of people in the West have adopted this Eastern concept. Mainstream Christianity’s version of karma is the sin and punishment model: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (Jn. 9:2).

That which has the greatest impact on the quality of our life is that which occupies our mind at this moment. Whether we embrace the concept of karma, or the more traditional sin and punishment model, it is our faith in either of these ideas that make them seem true to us. In the case of the man born blind, Jesus drew attention to the importance of that which occupies our mind in the moment: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him” (Jn. 9:3). How we use our mind in the present has more impact than how we used it in the past.

We do not want to sidestep the consequences of past actions. There may be a bit of cleanup required. But suppose Jesus had answered the question by naming the sinner as the man, or the parents of the man. We would know where to point the finger of blame, but we would have no solution to the man’s condition of blindness.

If you are a hiker, you will occasionally find yourself walking over rocky ground. You know how important it is to be mindful of every step. Likewise, when you walk over the rocky terrain of a life condition, be mindful of every mental and emotional step you take. You know how you got on your rocky patch of trail. You wanted the hike. How did you get to this rocky patch in your life? You wanted to live. You did nothing wrong; this is simply a stretch of the path you are on. This is your opportunity to see the works of God manifest.

When you think about it, you can only take one step at a time. Lay down any baggage of karma you may be carrying and take your next step mindfully and gratefully.

YouTube: Peace of Mind, Freedom from Fear

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our nation, our thoughts turn to the meaning of peace and freedom. I have said, and it’s worth repeating, that the true goal behind most everything we seek is peace of mind and freedom from fear. The problem with our attempts to achieve these important states from the outside-in, is that our achievements rarely satisfy for long. So, it’s important that we learn to find peace of mind and freedom from fear in ways that are not dependent on what we do or do not have. 

Is this really possible? Yes, it is possible. But it requires a way of thinking that is quite different from what many of us practice daily. We want to solve the problem so we can have peace of mind and freedom from fear. Can we turn this around by learning to experience peace and freedom first, then, from this more stable state, work toward a resolution to our problem? Let’s find out.

 Think of that issue in your life that you want to resolve. Let’s pray about it. Does this mean we’re going to ask God to fix it for us? No. It means we are going to release all fear, all doubt, all stress that we have accumulated around the issue. This is denial, or the release of the negative energy. This is our first step in prayer. As we clear out the unwanted negativity, we affirm the truth of what we desire—peace of mind and freedom from fear. We speak words something like this: The peace of God fills my mind. I am free of all fear.

When David came up against Goliath, his companions loaded him down with armor. He felt so awkward that he had to throw it off. As a shepherd, he was most comfortable using his sling and stone. He accomplished the desired end, but with a method most comfortable to him. When we fear, we are responding to a challenge feeling we do not have the proper armor to succeed. But the simple sling and stone of the spoken word of truth should more than suffice.

As we discussed last week, if we think less in terms of conditions and more in terms of spiritual energy, the ball is always in our court. 

YouTube: Three Steps to Letting Go

What is the difference between ignoring an issue and letting it go? I once spoke to a woman who complained that her boyfriend often made demeaning remarks that she thought were intended to keep her in her place. “How do you handle that?” I asked. She rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed. “O, I just ignore him.” She may have given him the impression that she was ignoring him, but she obviously continued to carry the resentment.

Letting go is releasing the negative energy we hold concerning a person or a situation. This usually requires a very deliberate and conscious effort to actually experience the freedom of release. If the natural flow of the creative life force is from the inside out, then it is important for us to release the negative energy of fear or resentment we may harbor. Ignoring it is not really an option because, as the woman demonstrated, we carry it with us wherever we go.

Let’s look at three steps we can take to assure that we are letting go rather than just ignoring. First, we treat the issue as mental and emotional energy. We do this because, based on our inside/out model, we accept that we are the ones who decide how we use our energy. The outside/in approach says the world makes this choice for us. If I say someone else’s action makes me resentful, then I am giving them the power (outside/in) to control my energy. This is how most of us deal with the world, so it is important that we make a conscious effort to separate the outer appearance from our internal reaction.

The second step is to visualize this energy dissolving. I’m not trying to change a person or a condition, I am allowing my thought and emotion about the person or condition to dissolve. Think of the fog on your bathroom mirror after a shower. Point a hairdryer at it and watch it disappear. Hold a similar visualization.

When you feel some relief, some genuine detachment from the event, go about your business as if the situation is resolved in your favor. This, of course, is the fulfillment of Jesus’ advice to believe you have received what you ask for in prayer. Remember, do not ignore the appearance. Let it go. The power to do so is with us always.   

YouTube: What’s In A Name?

Our Unity teachings have encouraged us to think of the term Christ as the spiritual potential within all people. However, it is clear that all New Testament writers used Christ and Jesus interchangeably. Most people do the same today. Christ is a Greek term that means anointed. In the Old Testament, anointing was a ritual reserved for kings and prophets. In the New Testament, it is a title referring to the Messiah. Jesus Christ is intended to be understood as Jesus the anointed, Jesus the Messiah.

The associations we make with Christ may make our attainment of Christ Consciousness seem like a remote possibility. Evidence suggests that Jesus himself avoided the title. “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make (anoint) him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself” (John 6:15). The focus of his teaching is directed toward the spiritual awakening, not for the purpose of attaining an evolutionary advancement of the soul, but for the purpose of living a fuller, freer life right now.

I have been asked where I got the idea that our soul is evolving. It is a generally accepted belief in New Thought that was adopted by Charles Fillmore, cofounder of Unity:

“As death has no power to help anyone, the condition of the Adam man is not bettered by dying. Therefore, when people are re-embodied they ‘come forth . . . unto the resurrection of damnation,’ in other words, condemnation or correction. Everyone begins where he left off.”

I once embraced this belief. With the abundance of NDE research now at our disposal, I’ve wondered if Fillmore too would have exercised his declared right to change his mind. It is important for us to embrace this life, this journey on earth as our own. I do not think Jesus held himself up as the example for us to follow: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone” (Mark 10:18). I am inclined to believe he taught that the soul is complete, and his mission was to help us learn to let this light of completeness shine through every aspect of our daily life.