YouTube: Intelligence and Order

Advent Series, Part 4 of 4

In this four-part series, we are treating Advent as an intuitive awakening. Our focus is on the meditative process. Follow the same preparations from the first week. Bring your awareness into the region of the solar plexus using the simple statement, I Am.

Open your mind to the quickening presence of intelligence. Your entire being is already permeated with intelligence. The functions of your body are all governed by it. You see and experience intelligence as order in your breathing, the beating of your heart, and all the many activities within the universe of your body of which you are not even aware. You see intelligence in the flower, in your pet, in the birds, and the clouds that sail across the sky.

As you relax and let go, get the sense of this truth that you are completely immersed in intelligence and that your life is now unfolding in perfect order. Affirm:

The very essence of my being is intelligence. My mind is clear. My thinking is orderly. My vision is clear. I see things in their highest relation to the whole. My soul is vibrant with the wisdom of the universe. In all I do, I move forward in confidence and in peace.

Release all feelings of uncertainty about your life and know the intelligence of your soul is guiding your every step. Lift your spiritual eyes away from all appearances and see yourself as a conduit through which infinite intelligence is expressing as you.

Everyone and everything becomes part of your success in living. If your life seems to be pushing you to the left when you think you should go right, then know the intelligence expressing as your soul is now at work. Do not strain to work out plans or struggle to control events. Hold fast to the truth that the wisdom of your soul is directing your life, that the order and success you desire is unfolding with every new development.

YouTube: Power & Strength

In this four-part series, we are treating Advent as an intuitive awakening. Our focus is on the meditative process. Follow the same preparations from the first week and bring your awareness into the region of the solar plexus using the simple statement, I Am. See and feel your soul radiating power. Power manifests in a wide range of ways, from the unfathomable power of the sun to the simple unfolding of a leaf. Power divides our cells and fuels all aspects of our being.

Power rises in your being as physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength. You may call on strength to hold a steady course, to take one more step when your world seems to crumble around you, or to steady your faith in the well-being of a loved one. Strength may manifest as the courage to make an apology or it may express as the power to say no to behavior you know as destructive.

With your attention focused at your center, sense the power of your soul rising from your innermost depths and radiating throughout your being. Affirm:

I am an expression of pure power. The full radiance of my soul empowers me to steadfastness in all that I am and all that I do. My strength is boundless, my power has no limits.

If you are feeling powerless to do anything about some condition in your life, release the emotional energy of helplessness as you use this affirmation. Again, do not try to make anything happen or even look for changes in your life. Simply allow the flow of power to rise in your being and know it expresses as the strength you need, as you need it. Take a series of deep breaths. With each one, breathe in power and breathe out strength. Power is the essence of your being. You are never without it.

YouTube: Love & Understanding

In this four-part series, we are treating Advent as an intuitive awakening. Our focus is on the meditative process. Follow the same preparations from the first week and bring your awareness into the region of the solar plexus using the simple statement, I Am.  See and feel your soul radiating love. This beautiful energy of love works for the highest good of all concerned, sometimes attracting and sometimes repelling or dissolving, depending on how the highest good is to manifest. Whether love attracts or dissolves is not a decision you make, but one you trust love to sort out as it flows in and through every aspect of your being and your life. Love lifts your vision in a way that imparts the understanding to see and know what needs to be done. Affirm:

I am guided by the understanding that love imparts.

Love is my essence. Love is my being.

Love is the balancing action in all my relationships and all conditions in my life.

See your body immersed in love. See every aspect of your life, especially those areas that are troubled, completely engulfed in the love that radiates as your soul. See love doing its perfect work and become willing to do your part in that work when the understanding dictates. Loving your neighbor may result in strengthening your relationship or dissolving it. This is a much better alternative than trying to force yourself to love them because you think you are supposed to. You may not always be able to muster the kind word or take that right action that will bring agreement with another. Still, you can know that invoking love will fit all the pieces together, will tie up the loose ends, and move all concerned to their best and highest good. Love reveals that this is true even when your good intentions at diplomacy fail miserably, or fear drives your own actions. The love that expresses as your soul is greater than all human frailty. Your unloving thoughts and actions or the unloving thoughts and actions of another do nothing to alter love itself. Love does not depend on how loving or unloving you are.

Let all of this go and simply see your entire being immersed in love. Experience love’s healing warmth. Let it melt away your stress and your struggle to be loved. You are more than loved. You are love itself.

YouTube: Life and Enthusiasm

In this four-part series, we are treating Advent as an intuitive awakening. Our focus, therefore, is on the meditative process. Choose a regular time and a place where you will not be disturbed (allow 30 minutes to an hour). Relax your mind and body. Bring your awareness to the area of the solar plexus (abdominal region) and focus your attention with this simple statement: I Am. Slowly repeat these words, letting go of all stress-inducing distractions. After a time, begin speaking quietly the affirmations that follow. Allow yourself to envision and experience the action suggested by each line before you move on to the next:

My soul radiates the pure, unrestricted energy of life.

There are no blockages. There are no restrictions.

I am filled with boundless life and unbridled enthusiasm.

The pure radiance of my soul shines in its fullness now.

In perfect peace, I let this pure energy rise.

As you relax with your awareness at your center, see the radiating energy of your soul as the energizing life that permeates all aspects of your being. It is natural to visualize life as the light that animates and heals every cell of your body and brings a sparkle of enthusiasm to your eye. You need not direct the energy of life, for life knows how to express itself. We see it animating countless forms at a variety of levels everywhere in the world. Life never stagnates. It is only our mundane focus of attention that becomes dull and lifeless. Acknowledge the free reign of life as it radiates its natural expansive movement through and as your being.

Don’t try to pump up your enthusiasm and strive to be the life of the party. Doing this will expend your energy by directing it to that bottomless pit of your unenthusiastic self-image.

Any forced positive attitude you generate will be short-lived and costly. A forced expression of enthusiasm is a performance you’ll have to continually maintain. Those who do this might be entertaining, but they can also be quite wearisome. You don’t have to instruct fire to be hot and you don’t have to inform life that it needs to express as enthusiasm. This is what it does naturally.

Natural enthusiasm manifests as genuine interest in whatever you happen to be doing, from creating a piece of art to taking out the trash. Enthusiasm is as unconditional as the energy of life itself. You need no particular reason to be enthusiastic. It is life’s gift to you. As you affirm life in your meditative experience, quiet enthusiasm will naturally grow.

YouTube: Spiritual Reality

 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Mark 9:1

As we study the sayings attributed to Jesus, we quickly see that one of his key themes involved the kingdom of God. What did he mean by this term? We know Jesus did not usher in the classically understood kingdom of God. Those who embrace this model still believe he will return and do it then. So, when he said there were some standing before him that would see the kingdom come in their lifetime, did he get it wrong?

Judging by this and other similar passages, we surmise that he was not talking about an era ushered in with trumpets and clouds full of angels. He was referring to an inner experience, one’s awakening to a spiritual reality. He was saying that some of his audience, not all, would experience a genuine spiritual awakening in their lifetime.

The more I study Jesus’ use of the kingdom of God, the more certain I am that he was referring to omnipresent, spiritual reality, the creative life force that underlies and animates all living forms. This creative process is already in place, fully functioning, and known to those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. As the Gospel of Thomas says, “The kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth and men do not see it.”

The term, kingdom of God, can trigger misleading preconceptions, stirring images of the old man in the sky finally coming down to take control of a dysfunctional earth. As a teacher, Jesus saw his primary mission as one of bearing witness to the true nature of the omnipresent, spiritual reality. An awareness of this spiritual dimension can heal, can bring order where there is chaos, can manifest as plenty where there is lack. In other words, understanding the true nature of God can establish conditions in one’s earthly experience as they are in this spiritual reality. “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).   

YouTube: The Narrow Gate of Self-Discovery

Maksim Klasanovic interview: In this interview, Klasanovic talks about why he was arrested, what he experienced in prison, and how one particular consciousness experience shaped his life.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Matthew 7:13-14

Jesus often used opposing imagery to illustrate the principle of oneness with God. He referred to old and new wineskins, houses built on rock and sand, good and bad fish, wheat and chaff, sheep and goats, and so on. Here he employs the imagery of wide and narrow gates.

The immediate impression we get is that Jesus is issuing a warning about simply following the crowd. Mainstream religion is indeed a wide gate that opens to a clearly marked, superhighway of beliefs that much of the world follows. In contrast, the individual pursuit of a direct relationship with God is a narrow gate that opens to a footpath that is often only vaguely discernable to the one who takes it. 

The wide and narrow gates are our intellectual and intuitive faculties. Mainstream religion, forged out of centuries-old statements of faith, rituals, and a tenacious hold on tradition, is by and large an intellectual pursuit. Yet at the beginning of each of these canonized systems of belief we find the lone, intuitively awakened mystic who took the superhighway offramp and traveled instead their own unique footpath of direct revelation.

Jesus spoke in parables to provide his own intellectually based society mental handles on principles that can only be discerned intuitively. The intellect builds its reality based on material appearances. He said, “Do not judge by appearances.” He pointed out that “God is spirit.” Like the wind you cannot see it, but you see its effects. To worship in spirit is to go alone into your inner room, to be still, and come to know God as your living source.  

It was the towering intellectual, Albert Einstein, who came to know, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind (the intellect) is a faithful servant.” While today’s academic standards reverse these values, it is through our intuitive faculty that we experience direct exposure to the spiritual reality that opens the narrow gate to true self-discovery.

YouTube: The Myth of Divine Favoritism

Does God do special favors for those who please Him?

This is the essence of a question that was raised as a possible subject for a Sunday message. Because it involves our understanding of the nature of God, it is a topic well worth exploring.

We can start with this question: Does a spiritual practice such as prayer or tithing influence the behavior of God, or does it influence the way we relate to God? Those who think of God in anthropomorphic terms will likely believe their practices influence the behavior of God. Those who think of God as Spirit will see their spiritually-related practices as a way of aligning with the nature of God.

There are numerous places where Jesus indicated that human behavior had no influence over the behavior of God. Addressing the subject of unconditional love, he 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). Elsewhere he reminds his listeners of, “… those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo′am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem?I tell you, No” (Luke 13:4-5).

In both cases, these responses sound like something a mystic would say. First, they run against mainstream thinking that insists divine retribution is the fate of the sinner. Second, he is pointing to the changeless nature of God, a key feature of the mystical tradition.

And of course, we have the parable of the prodigal son where neither the bad behavior of the youngest son nor the good behavior of the oldest son influences the love of the father. James also describes God as, “The Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).

It is good to question our own approach to God. Are we still trying to appease the man upstairs or are we seeking to align with the Creative Life Force whose sole intention for each of us is that we “… may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

YouTube: The Prospering Principle

“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.”

Mark 4:26-28

It is not difficult to see that a central New Testament theme involves the kingdom of God. As to the nature of this so-called kingdom, however, we find conflicting views. Consistent with the principles of oneness, it is on the one hand presented as a subjective spiritual process. On the other hand, consistent with the mainstream narrative, the kingdom is presented as an objective, coming event.

This parable from Mark portrays the relationship between an individual’s consciousness and the way their life unfolds. The type seed sown determines what sprouts and grows. How it sprouts and grows is a mystery. It is sufficient to know it happens.

I can easily see this passage as something a mystic like Jesus would teach. We are told that his main audience was comprised of the common people, most struggling with poverty. The gospel, the good news that he brought is that you can alter your life’s conditions by changing the focus of your belief system. “Consider how the wild lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these” (Luke 12:27).

People had made the connection between a person’s actions and their life’s condition, but only in a negative way. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Jesus was presenting the positive counterpart to this idea. If you focus on the good, the good will manifest. If you ask for a fish, you will not get a serpent. If you ask for bread, you will not get a stone (Lk 11:11).

The mainstream version of the kingdom of God is an ambiguous future event. Seeing God as a present reality gives us the ability to align with the natural prospering principle that opens our life in beautiful ways.

YouTube: I Am The Way (part 2)

There are a number of versions of the so-called 4 M’s of development of a religious movement. The sequence I learned was this: the man, the message, the movement, and the monument.

Christianity, like all world religions, has long ago reached the monument stage. The man Jesus and his message are obscured beneath the veil of antiquity. Scholars today often refer to the loosely organized group of followers that formed after his crucifixion as the Jesus movement. It was during this movement stage that the articles of faith that would become mainstream Christianity began to take shape. The teachings of Jesus became teachings about Jesus.  

In the case of Jesus, the man’s message bore witness to the truth, focusing on the spiritual awakening of his individual followers.  “… when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matt. 6:6). In other words, Jesus taught “… the art of establishing a conscious relation with the Absolute” (Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism).

In contrast, the movement phase represents a shift in focus from the individual’s awakening to the movement itself. Followers exchange spiritual autonomy for a list of articles of faith, the profession of which keeps them in good standing within the fold. To become a leader within the movement does not require that one establish a conscious relation with the Absolute. It only requires an acceptance of the articles of faith and a commitment to the advancement of the movement.  

More and more people are abandoning formal religion in favor of the autonomy of their own spiritual path. While Jesus never abandoned his Judaism, he did place its rote teachings and dogmatic practices second to his conscious relationship to the Absolute, the Father. By all appearances, the Way that he taught was intended to place his audience in harmony with the natural laws of manifestation. He taught through the simple yet brilliant use of parable, but most importantly, he taught by example. The truth that he bore witness to in word and deed is the very truth that will set us free.   

YouTube: I Am The Way (part 1)

“For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.”

John 18:37

 This passage represents one of the clearest statements Jesus made concerning his perceived purpose. He came to bear witness to the truth. This is something a mystic would say. The operative word of course is truth. Pilate asked, what is truth, and Jesus didn’t answer, perhaps because he sensed a great chasm of spiritual understanding between himself and a career politician such as Pilate.  

We may not be able to know with certainty how Jesus understood truth, but we can know how the mystic understands it. Evelyn Underhill, who produced one of the most definitive works about mysticism, defined it as “… the art of establishing a conscious relation with the Absolute.” To the mystic, truth would reference the changeless and eternal nature of God (the Father) centered in every individual.

Those who have awakened to this profound reality often consider it their single purpose to share with others this truth that has the potential to free people from the burdens of mundane life. It is clear that Jesus considered passing this message to others the cornerstone of his life’s purpose. “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

  When the mystic says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” he or she is not referring to their personal self but to their body of teachings. Unlike many mystics who were prolific writers, Jesus did not leave his teachings in a body of literature. These essentially died with him on the cross. He was literally the single resource, the way that he taught.

Apparently this label, the Way, stuck (Acts 9:1-2). It did not take long after his death for the Way to be transformed from teachings of Jesus to teachings about Jesus. In part 2, we’ll explore this transformation.