Category: J Douglas Bottorff

The Substance of Faith

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For many, a declaration of faith is an affirmation of belief in the truth of a religious system. When they say they have faith in God, they are likely referring to the concept of God portrayed in that particular belief system.   

Faith, as a faculty, is active even if we adopt no religious preferences. The atheist, for example, has faith that there is no God. Let’s look at this familiar statement from Jesus to illustrate the point.

Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Mark 11:23

The mountain, of course, can be any seeming unsurmountable challenge. We can just as easily have faith that nothing we say to the mountain will make any difference. How we exercise our faith, however, makes a major difference in how we behave and what we expect in terms of an outcome. The substance of faith is, therefore, our own attitude, our degree of expectation.

How do we know our degree of expectation? Our first response is usually the best indicator. If there is doubt in our heart, it will show itself immediately. Like the man seeking healing for his son, we say, “I believe, but help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Faith pointed in two different directions is better described as hope. Hoping a thing works out is not the same as releasing all doubt.

We may wonder if our faith affects the way conditions unfold. While there is no record in the Gospels of mountains being cast into the sea, there are plenty of instances where a person’s long-standing condition of ill health changed by their change in faith. For twelve years, a woman suffered with an issue of blood that was cured the instant she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. The faith and money she had previously put in the medical help of her day was apparently diluted with doubt. As she made her way through the crowd to Jesus, her doubt disappeared, and the full force of her faith took over. For the first time in twelve years, her expectation was in her wholeness, and her wholeness is what came through.

We should not concern ourselves with how the substance of faith will manifest, only that it will.      

Who Inspired Jesus?

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It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

John 6:45

When we look at the biblical footnote associated with this passage, we see that Jesus is quoting from the prophet Jeremiah.

“I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow or everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34

This passage, clearly based on the paradigm of oneness, could easily have served as the inspirational model that Jesus followed.  

Jeremiah: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Jesus: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:21). “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:6).

Jeremiah: “And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.”

Jesus: “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” (Jn 6:45. Direct reference to Jeremiah 31:34).

Jeremiah: “… for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jesus: And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The son of man (the human being) has the power on earth to forgive sin. The father of the prodigal son did not acknowledge the obvious sins of his son.

The Resurrection Principle

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It is common today to hear people say they are pursuing a spiritual rather than a religious path. Religion, they say, is too restrictive in its scope, that the spiritual perspective allows us to lay aside the preconceived doctrine of the organized church and take a more intuitive and natural approach. I believe Jesus agreed, as he challenged many enshrined rules of Judaism while highlighting the spiritual truth behind the teaching.

I believe if he were alive today, he would call attention to the spiritual truth behind the resurrection story of Easter.   

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

He spoke of the need to be born again, to replace old wineskins with new, to “sell” our current belief system and purchase a field containing treasure, to become as trusting as a child who is not yet loaded down with spiritual preconceptions. All of this points to the need for a revamped and revitalized understanding of our spiritual nature. To be born again is the process of releasing our limited seed-self, that part of our thinking that so identifies with the body that we lose sight of the truth that we are spiritual rather than physical beings.  

From a metaphysical perspective, the crucifixion represents the death of the mortal and the resurrection of the immortal. The immortal soul has always been with us but becomes lost in our personal human quagmire.

How do we consciously resurrect the soul so that it may become the guiding feature of our daily thinking? First and foremost, we begin with the understanding that the soul, as forgotten as it may be, is still fully intact and unscathed even by our most negative thinking or thoughtless acts of unkindness. Our spiritual journey is not about developing or improving the soul but recovering our awareness of it. Our natural desire to do this indicates that we are already picking up on our soul’s natural radiance. Before they call, I will answer, is the soul’s position. We affirm, as Meister Eckhart did, that that which we are looking for is that which is doing the looking.

The Resurrection Principle is at work now. The old way of thinking of yourself is passing right now, and the new light and life of your soul is shining forth. Hold this vision for yourself.

The Beginning of the End

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The event we celebrate as Palm Sunday is the time when Jesus made his final entrance into the city of Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. In addition to participating in this important observance, the synoptic gospels report that he drove the money changers out of the Temple. This would almost certainly be considered an act that prompted the Jewish leadership to turn him over to Pilate to be crucified. In other words, his final entry into Jerusalem was the beginning of the end of his earthly ministry. It also represented the beginning of the Christian era.

The Gospel of John has Jesus foretelling this event using this parable:

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

In its original context, Jesus the mystic would not likely have used this parable to refer to his own execution. He was illustrating the need for a rebirth in one’s self-perception. Most people saw themselves as a physical body with a soul that is presently separate from God. The mystic would teach people that all people are primarily a soul with a physical body, but existing in a state of absolute unity with God. The grain of wheat dropped into the earth and dying represents a major paradigm shift from separation to oneness with God.

This paradigm shift is graphically illustrated in the crucifixion account of Matthew:

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split (Matthew 27:5).

This curtain shielded the inner sanctum of the Temple, the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could enter, meaning the public could not access the presence of God. The tearing in two of this curtain is symbolic of the truth that all people, not just the priesthood, have access to the presence of God. In other words, on our personal cross, the thing that must die is our belief in the paradigm of separation. Affirming our oneness with God is the beginning of the end of our imagined separation from God our Source, and the promise of a spiritual life that is certain to bear much fruit.  

Trust Yourself

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“Who do you say that I am?” This question Jesus posed to the disciples may be the most significant of any that could be asked. We are born into a predefined religious culture that provides us with the answers we are expected to give to this, and countless other questions raised on our spiritual journey. The time comes when, after considering the abundance of perspectives available, we learn to trust ourselves to discern the truth about this life we are here to live.

In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-9) Jesus gives us excellent insight into why it is important to trust ourselves. Our consciousness, the sum of our beliefs, is the soil through which the seed of the soul is expressed. At the soul level, we find absolute perfection. At the level of expression, we find a mixed bag of good and not so good. The reason for conflicting expressions is that we try to answer the question, “Who do you say that I am” though the opinions of others. Perhaps we’ve graduated from the well-trodden path of mainstream thinking only to adopt a new improved system of belief that is still not our own.

Think of your soul as the bulb of an iris, and the iris flower as the life on earth expressed. Where does the iris get its wisdom, it’s very being? It is in direct communion with the bulb, the very soul of the flower. The bulb knows how to draw everything it needs from soil, sun, and rain. It does not seek the opinions of other flowers or study the wisdom of its predecessors. It’s very being is the answer to the question, “Who do you say that I am?”

It is good to study the works of others, especially when doing so brings clarity and affirmative support to our own thinking. In other words, we know and recognize a truth before we read or hear another’s version of it. It is good practice to dialogue, perhaps through journaling, with our own inclinations. We are a soul expressing through a body and it’s important to know that we’ve come equipped with the proper mechanism that allows for perfect expression. When thinking of yourself, the question, “Who do you say that I am?” requires an answer only you can give. It is an answer you were given even before you asked. Trust yourself.

The Gift of Jesus

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When I think of the gift that Jesus brought to the Jewish population of his day, I’m not inclined to think in traditional terms. What I believe he brought was a new way to think of God, man, and the relationship between God and man. He was born into a culture that believed God and man were separate. He taught from what I call the paradigm of oneness: we are one with God. To the average Jew, the kingdom of God was coming someday. To Jesus, the kingdom of God was not only present, but it was also centered within each person.

It is my belief that his message was lost in the movement that followed. A kingdom that can be described in observable terms is much easier to grasp than the rather abstract, inner-oriented model that we find throughout his sayings. With Jesus out of the picture, his original message took on an entirely different meaning that was more in alignment with the Jewish hope for a religious and political revolution.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were so adamant about the belief that God and man were separate that they threatened to stone Jesus for claiming his oneness with God. The Temple contained a sacred room called the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could enter this inner sanctuary once a year and offer sacrifices on behalf of the people. In other words, the people’s connection with God was made through the priesthood. The gift Jesus offered to the people was to tell them that God was not in a temple made with hands, that every person was, in fact, a temple of God. The connection with God was an inner one.

An important observation that I offer is this: The original teachings of Jesus were firmly grounded in the paradigm of oneness. The teachings of the entire New Testament are firmly grounded in a paradigm of separation. Jesus taught that the kingdom is present and found within each person, the early church taught that the kingdom was coming, and no one knows exactly when.

The gift of Jesus was a new understanding of God, and each person’s relationship of oneness with God.

The Simple Prayer

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“And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Matthew 6:7-8

Emerson described prayer as “the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view.” A great starting point is the one suggested by Jesus. The Father knows what we need before we ask. From this positive and accepting attitude, we engage in prayer as a two-fold action of releasing and affirming. We release all resistance, all fear, all doubt and we affirm that we have already received that which we ask for in prayer.

As Jesus points out, this activity does not require many words. Prayer is more of an acceptance, a conviction, a shift from want and doubt to a deep sense of knowing that our greater good, in whatever form we seek, is now coming forth.

It’s important that we understand that prayer does not cause God to act. Prayer brings us into alignment with the action of God. If we think of God as the creative life force, we see this as the river that flows in but one direction, from the inside out. Jesus said it isn’t what goes into your mouth but what comes out that matters. This creative process picks up on the frequency of our consciousness. A negative internal environment is a low frequency. As we release this energy and raise our consciousness frequency, things tend to go in our favor. We’re not being rewarded by God, we are being rewarded by working at a God-like frequency.

If your need is healing, release all negative appearances and begin to affirm the healing power of God is flowing in and through you. If you need greater prosperity, let go of your fear of lack and know the perfect abundance of God is pouring through you now. If you are seeking harmony in family or friend relationships, release all appearances to the contrary and affirm the perfect harmony of God is expressing through you and others this very moment.

Prayer as the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view invites us to lift up our spiritual eyes and see the greater good that we seek is flowing in and through us now.

Tapping Into Universal Wisdom

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The Lord created me [wisdom] at the beginning of his work,
    the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up,
    at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

Proverbs 8:22-23

The Old Testament is broken into categories by genre. The OT books that fall into the genre of wisdom literature are grouped together as Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. In this passage from Proverbs, the “me” that the Lord created at the beginning of his work is Wisdom. The Greek word for wisdom is Sophia. If you delve into the Christian Gnostic literature, you find they regarded Sophia as a feminine figure comparable to the human soul. They considered Sophia the female twin of Jesus, the Bride of Christ, the Holy Spirit of the Trinity, and a direct emanation of the godhead.

These metaphors point to the truth that there is no place where God leaves off and we, as individuals, begin. As emanations of the godhead, we are literally infused with the wisdom that was set up before the beginning of the earth.

Emerson said it this way:

“There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word. . .. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which flows into you as life, place yourself in the full center of that flood, then you are without effort impelled to truth, to right, and a perfect contentment.”

Wisdom is that which is in alignment with the natural way things work. What Emerson calls “lowly listening” is intuitive or soul-based knowing. It is the harmony demonstrated through the natural world, through the birds of the air and the lilies of the field whose needs are met and who live in perfect peace with their environment.

We tap into universal wisdom by seeing ourselves as an emanation of the godhead. In moments of quiet withdraw from the world, we envision the wisdom of God radiating from the center that is our soul to the circumference that is our life. This simple, heartfelt act opens the natural channel for the light of truth to shine in and through us.

Desire, Expression, Attraction

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Much has been written about the so-called law of attraction. This usually involves techniques of setting one’s intention on a positive mental and emotional environment that will draw success and riches. On the other end of the scale, there are also spiritual disciplines that consider desire as a negative trap inside the maze of materiality. Expression, as we’ll consider it here, is often the piece that is overlooked.

Desire can be a two-edged sword, especially when it is disconnected from its spiritual source. In short, we desire more in life because our spiritual essence continually calls us to rise above restrictions we have accepted as normal to the human experience. At the root of all desire is our need for freedom. If we connect freedom with the acquisition of things, we may get the things but not the freedom. This is where expression comes into play.

Expression is the actual experience of the freedom we desire. Is it possible to experience freedom when there are material restrictions in place? This is the question we are challenged to answer. We are called to look beyond what we think of as material solutions to our desire for freedom, and we seek to experience freedom itself. We turn from material appearances and release attachment to specific outcomes until we express internally the freedom we desire. This inner experience and expression of freedom is the governing influence of the law of attraction.

We do not invoke the law of attraction. Like gravity, this law never ceases to operate. We work with gravity by achieving balance, setting objects of value in places they will not fall and break, and by putting aerodynamic wings on our airplanes for lift. We do not invoke the law of gravity; we cooperate. Likewise, we become internally that which will reflect externally as the types of conditions we desire. Freedom within attracts conditions of freedom without.

Desire should not be suppressed; it should be understood. At the root of all desire is the soul seeking greater expression. As we let the light of the soul shine, the natural law of attraction becomes our friend.     

Tribute to Our Son

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I decided to present you today with a video tribute to our son, Ashley, who passed unexpectedly from this plane on January 30. Beth, Audrey (our daughter), and I are doing much better, but we’re still grappling with the emotional instability of grief.

When I stood before you last Sunday, I felt such an outpouring of love and compassion that I knew I couldn’t continue speaking. And I knew you’d understand. I know that most of you have lost loved ones, and you know the storm of emotion that this stirs. We want you to know how much we love and appreciate all of you.

And we extend this love and appreciation to our internet audience. Though we can’t be together in person, love really knows no distance, no barriers of time or space. Your comments are precious gems to Beth and me. . . .