Youtube: Episode 05: Fact or Fiction
In this episode, Lisanya and I discuss the power of using fiction to explore the sometime complex nature of spiritual ideas. As always, please hit the like button. Your comments are always welcome.
Author: J Douglas Bottorff
Doug is minister of Independent Unity, author of 8 books, musician and photography enthusiast. He lives with his wife and cat in western Colorado.
The Prayer Principle
YouTube: The Prayer Principle
Someone has said, and I believe rightfully, that prayer does not change God, it changes us. This seems to agree with the statement of James, who referred to God as the “ … Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). If we accept this, then we want to know how we are to change if our prayer is to be effective.
In Matthew 5:37, Jesus emphasized the importance of simplicity in our words by saying, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.” This principle holds true with prayer. Saying “yes” affirms a truth, while saying “no” denotes denial. In our prayer, we acknowledge the truth and release any negative energy we may have attached to a certain situation. Fear, as the most prevalent form of negative energy, often requires our attention and release during prayer.
The way we perceive things and think about them affects how we engage with the creative life force that we refer to as God. When we seek healing through prayer, for instance, we begin by acknowledging that deep down, our soul is already complete. We embrace our inherent wholeness and reject any conflicting appearances. Rejecting these appearances does not imply that we deny or disregard them. Rather, it signifies that we let go of any uncertainty surrounding our healing, and instead, we fully trust that it is already manifesting. There are no barriers or hindrances. Just like a river, God’s energy flows in a single direction: from within ourselves outward. This same principle applies to any other need we may have.
Whenever we notice any sign of lack, we take it as a reminder to embrace the power of prayer. As we live in a physical form, our prayer practice might also require us to make adjustments in areas such as our diet or overall lifestyle. I noticed my car was leaking oil, for example. My prayer for healing involved taking it to a mechanic. As much as I would like such an issue to self-heal, such things usually involve participation at the physical level.
If we think of the prayer principle as the act of putting everything in motion, beginning with our state of mind, then we are open to the perfect outworking of our need at all levels.
The Perfection Trap
YouTube: The Perfection Trap: Five Ways to Get Out
When Jesus said we should be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect, we may think he was setting a pretty high bar. Sometimes just being good is a tough job. Being perfect? Living through one day without making a single mistake may be asking a bit much.
While we should all strive to be the best we can be, there are some areas where we strive for perfection, at least conceptually, that we would do well to revisit. I’ve listed five.
1. Spiritual Perfection: The trap is the belief that we are supposed to reach a place where no more growth is possible, we’re at the top. We do not reach spiritual perfection; we realize that we are already spiritually perfect.
2. Earth is a school: This is a common model held by many. The trap here is the possibility of feeling like you are perpetually stuck in the fifth grade. The way to avoid this trap is to release this model.
3. The condition of your body reflects the condition of your soul. The trap is believing that if your body is aging or ill, your soul is flunking its tests.
4. Your thinking can impact the health of your soul. The trap is the belief that your thinking is powerful enough to alter the nature of your soul. Thinking affects the quality of your experience, but it has no impact whatsoever on the makeup of your soul.
5. Your spiritual imperfection interferes with your relationship to God. The trap is the belief that God responds to your states of consciousness like a human being would. Nothing you think, say, or do can change your relationship of oneness with God.
These, of course, are not hard and fast rules, but it never hurts to take a fresh look at the basic ideas that guide our spiritual thinking. We may have latched onto ideas that made sense in our early, exploratory years, but no longer do. Earth as a school was a big one for me. Laboratory might be a more stimulating metaphor. The point is, we want to make the most of our life in the body. Finding ways to free ourselves from false or limiting beliefs will go a long way in this direction.
Let’s Begin
YouTube: Let’s Begin
Another new year is upon us, so we naturally turn our thoughts to new beginnings. This idea takes on various meanings depending on where we are in life. The one principle that applies to all, however, has to do with recognizing each moment as a new beginning.
As I write this message, for example, it is easy to allow distractions to divert my attention away from the task at hand. Working with a computer means that I have access to a lot of interesting information. For example, as I wrote this line, I thought about the lost library of Alexandria, and what ancient knowledge we may have lost because of the fire that destroyed it. With a few keystrokes, I could have pursued that topic, and many others that would undoubtedly pop up along the way. Then, I was notified that we have a new subscriber. A friend emailed and I was alerted of that. And Facebook presented yet another friend suggestion, which I no longer take. So, what about the task at hand?
To illustrate my point, I did not pursue research on the ancient library, check out our new subscriber, respond to my friend’s email, or check out the new friend suggestion. I’ll do those things at another moment. When I sat down to complete this task, I was saying let’s begin. I was immediately confronted with temptations that would detract from my intended goal. Then I recalled this saying of Jesus:
“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
Even as I pulled this passage from an online bible, I was tempted to pursue a couple of other links that came up in my search. Yet they were not in the field I intended to plow. You get the point.
While this sounds like a trivial example, it illustrates exactly why it is so challenging to give our full attention to the only place we can ever be: here and now. In the past, I have said we do not have to achieve success for our whole life. We only need to achieve success now. Our mind is like the computer that keeps throwing up interesting links that would distract us from being present. Let’s begin to get in the habit of putting our hand to the plow and staying with it until the field is ready to plant.
The Gift
YouTube: The Gift
When we think of the gift Jesus gave to humankind, our doctrinal conditioning will take us to his death, the notion that he gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins. I like to think of this gift in a dramatically different way. He dedicated his life to teaching the truth of our oneness with God.
The Franciscan monk, Richard Rohr, made a very telling observation that he calls the great comma. It refers to a statement found in the Apostle’s Creed. The line and comma in question is this:
“…I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried …”
The comma Rohr points to is the one between the “…born of the virgin Mary, He suffered under Pontius Pilate…” That comma represents 33 years, the entire life and teachings of Jesus. This is the gift he gave and the creed passes right over it.
Matthew’s account of the immaculate conception embodies the gift of Jesus’ teaching. This conception, imparted by the Holy Spirit, is symbolic of our receptivity to the deeper aspect of our own soul. Jesus taught his followers to go into the inner room, close the door, and pray to the Father in secret. That is, lay aside for a time the influence of the intellect, the Joseph aspect, and assume an intuitively receptive attitude. Advocating a direct experience with God was a refreshing approach. For those who were raised believing they were separate from God, the notion of the kingdom of God within would not have been an easy concept to grasp. But once that seed was planted, it would not be easy for the new believer to return to the old way of thinking.
The Christmas story is our story. I am not convinced that Jesus envisioned his message reaching beyond the world that he knew, but I think he would have found great satisfaction in knowing that his gift is still being given to people like you and me.
Gateway To Intelligence
YouTube: Gateway to Intelligence
Call upon the wisdom of the Infinite
This week we’re exploring divine intelligence and its expression through us as order.
Life and enthusiasm were the first topics for our Advent season. Love and understanding were the subject of last week. Today we’ll look at power and strength as the third of this four-part, pre-Christmas series. Intelligence and order will be the fourth.
How do we come to identify and name a characteristic of God? We can look for biblical passages such as this one: “Ah Lord God! It is thou who hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for thee” (Jeremiah 32:17). We can look at tradition that declares the omnipotence (all power) of God. Or through simple observation we can see countless expressions of power in everything from the volcano to the seed growing silently.
The power of God empowers us with the strength we need to carry on with our life. Those times when we feel our strength is waning, we affirm God’s limitless power works in and through us to give us the boost we need, when we need it. We remember Jeremiah’s inspiring words, “Nothing is too hard for thee” and we might add, “for thou art centered in me.” As an inlet and outlet to the everlasting power of God, I meet each day knowing that nothing is too hard for me.
Visualize God as a power center within your being. Imagine this power radiating out through your every atom and cell, expressing as the strength of optimism. One of Charles Fillmore’s favorite affirmations goes as follows:
“I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.”
Such an empowering prayer! As we saw in our first lesson on life, we know that life, zeal, enthusiasm, power, and strength are all interconnected, one power expressing in a variety of ways. This one power is our God center, our very center of power. Stir up this power with words, visualizations, meditations, actions, and any way that comes to you. A simple smile given to a passing stranger can empower them in ways you never know. Remember, nothing is too hard for thee, and thou art centered in me.
Tapping Your Center of Power
YouTube: Tapping Your Center of Power
Life and enthusiasm were the first topics for our Advent season. Love and understanding were the subject of last week. Today we’ll look at power and strength as the third of this four-part, pre-Christmas series. Intelligence and order will be the fourth.
How do we come to identify and name a characteristic of God? We can look for biblical passages such as this one: “Ah Lord God! It is thou who hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for thee” (Jeremiah 32:17). We can look at tradition that declares the omnipotence (all power) of God. Or through simple observation we can see countless expressions of power in everything from the volcano to the seed growing silently.
The power of God empowers us with the strength we need to carry on with our life. Those times when we feel our strength is waning, we affirm God’s limitless power works in and through us to give us the boost we need, when we need it. We remember Jeremiah’s inspiring words, “Nothing is too hard for thee” and we might add, “for thou art centered in me.” As an inlet and outlet to the everlasting power of God, I meet each day knowing that nothing is too hard for me.
Visualize God as a power center within your being. Imagine this power radiating out through your every atom and cell, expressing as the strength of optimism. One of Charles Fillmore’s favorite affirmations goes as follows:
“I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.”
Such an empowering prayer! As we saw in our first lesson on life, we know that life, zeal, enthusiasm, power, and strength are all interconnected, one power expressing in a variety of ways. This one power is our God center, our very center of power. Stir up this power with words, visualizations, meditations, actions, and any way that comes to you. A simple smile given to a passing stranger can empower them in ways you never know. Remember, nothing is too hard for thee, and thou art centered in me.
The Love Dynamic
YouTube: The Love Dynamic
Love, expressed as understanding, is our topic for this second week of Advent. As we consider the love dynamic, it should become clear why new understanding for a word so familiar is important.
Most of you are probably aware of the statement I make concerning the action of love:
Love draws to me that which is for my highest good, and dissolves that which is not.
When asked about the greatest commandments, Jesus said to love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, and soul. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.
God is love (1John 4:8), drawing to us that which is for our highest good and dissolving that which is not. To love the Lord our God is to recognize this is happening now and always. This is the ultimate affirming attitude toward God. To hold this same thought for others is the highest, most freeing form of prayer we can utter. To pray, Love draws to you that which is for your highest good and dissolves that which is not, is freeing both to you and to the one for which you speak it.
Think of love, not as a thing that can be given or withheld but as a perpetual action. At this very moment, as you read or hear these words, know that the action of love is drawing to you that which is for your highest good. Do there appear to be obstacles to your peace, success, health, prosperity, or harmony in relationships? Then know that these obstacles are being dissolved right now. If we are tempted to feel undeserving, we let love dissolve this feeling. Love is not a thing we earn. It is the very nature of the creative life force that is loving us into existence. All feelings of undeserving are based on our misunderstanding of the unconditional nature of God as love.
Affirming this love dynamic is active in us and in our life right now is key to experiencing the spiritual birth we celebrate during this Christmas season. With this understanding, we open our minds and hearts to the more abundant life that we know can be ours.
The Gift of Life
The energy that we call life is a mystery. When materially based science attempts to trace life to its origins, they look to the fossil record. The earliest life forms were apparently single celled creatures that inhabited the oceans. Through billions of years, more complex forms developed. What is not known is how the energy of life began animating these biological forms. Science says, it just happened.
However things started, this living energy is, as John says, the light of each one of us. I believe this life that is our essence predates all organisms, that it has no beginning and no end. As I think about this, I’m struck with a sense of awe that this eternal gift is given to me, as me, the same realization Jesus may have had when he said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).
When we describe a person as being full of life, we are usually referring to their enthusiasm for living. If we feel a lack of enthusiasm, it may be good to contemplate this ageless energy that we are. It’s easy to bottle it up in restricting perceptions, affirmations of being too old and too tired. The life that we are does not age and it does not wear out. Yes, the organism does both of these things, but we are not the organism. Before Abraham was, we were too. That thought alone is energizing.
If this sounds farfetched, consider that science tells us our body is about 60% water, and that water is one of the oldest substances on earth. So, 60% of the physical body could actually be billions of years old. Can we not imagine our life energy having even more resilience than water?
Though this kind of thinking can be fun, we really don’t need to get this exotic to recognize and affirm the creative life force of God enlivens our mind, energizes our body, and constantly creates new opportunities for greater expression through every facet of our existence. The gift of life will never wane. It is as alive now as ever. God is life and you and I are expressions of God. Keep this thought on the front burner of your thinking and watch it stir up creatively new possibilities.
The Resurrection Revisited
The Resurrection Revisited, Part 1
In this episode, Lisanya and I discuss the topic of resurrection, its meaning as applied to Jesus and as it applies to us today. The gospel writers advocated a physical resurrection. Paul advocated a spiritual resurrection—sown a physical body, raised a spiritual body. The question each of us need to ask and answer is this: Does it matter if Jesus physically resurrected?
If he resurrected, when will he return to establish the expected kingdom? 2,000+ years and still counting seems like a very long time to consider this Christian model good news. Maybe there is another way to think of this whole idea.
J Douglas Bottorff 