YouTube: Finding Peace in the Valley

Part 4 of 6

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

The phrase valley of the shadow of death is thought to refer to a time when shepherds would guide their flocks through narrow valleys. In these places, predators could hide among the shadows cast by rocks and trees, using the terrain to ambush the flock. This imagery conveys a sense of danger and vulnerability, emphasizing the risks present in life’s challenging passages.

Regardless of historical accuracy, the valley represents a place of danger. Metaphysically, valleys symbolize low moments in consciousness, in contrast to mountains, which are seen as moments of enlightenment and spiritual clarity. Everyone experiences these low points, and during such times, feelings of vulnerability can arise, with threats—both real and imagined—seeming to loom large and threaten what we hold dear.

During these challenging moments, it’s helpful to affirm, as the Psalmist did: I do not fear this negative appearance. God is my protector, my refuge, my guide. By standing firm in this affirmation, we cultivate the confidence that visible good is imminent, even when uncertainty and fear seem to move in the shadows. This approach encourages strength, steadfastness, and the courage to continue moving forward.

Shadows can be deceptive. Even the gentlest person can appear sinister if a flashlight is held to their chin, casting unusual shadows across their face. Merely shifting the light changes the shadows, causing their negative effect to disappear. This analogy suggests that much of what frightens us is fleeting, dependent on perspective, and can shift with even a minor change in how we view our circumstances.

Life consists of valleys and mountaintop experiences. It is important to remember that God is present in all states of being, whether in moments of challenge or moments of joy. The 23^rd Psalm serves as a powerful reminder of this truth. Even a slight movement of thought toward God can refresh faith, reassure us of life’s goodness, and remind us that today’s fears are temporary. Peace is available, even in the valley of the shadow of death, and awaits our recognition.

YouTube: The Right Path

Part 3 of 6 

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

The Psalmist continues with the theme of spiritual guidance. The translators of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible change the phrase, paths of righteousness, to right paths, a clarification that should prove helpful in our understanding of the idea contained in this line. In practice the path of righteousness is sometimes converted into an attitude of religious self-righteousness, one that is often condemning of those who hold beliefs that are not compatible with what we think is right. The simple thought that God is leading you in right paths is a powerful, affirmative attitude that allows you leave others to find the way that is most meaningful to them.

The word sake means for the good, the benefit or the welfare of somebody or something. In addition, Biblical names, particularly in the Old Testament, depicted a characteristic or the nature of a person or place. The phrase, for his name’s sake, can be thought of as meaning, for the benefit of his (God’s) nature. In other words, there is a right path for you, a way through which God seeks expression. In this line, you are affirming that God is leading you to your right path, one through which all the divine attributes of peace, health and the abundance of all good shines forth naturally.

In your times of quiet, let go of your grasping for answers. Looking outside of yourself and seeking the resolution to a problem is the cause of all tension of your mind, shortness of breath, and stress in your body. You are on the right path when you turn to God alone for guidance. You are complying with God’s nature that works from the center to the circumference of your being. You know you are on the right path when you feel the stress of groping for solutions begin to subside and the peace of trust in God rise from your center.

Affirm: God’s perfect peace is my right path and I choose this path now. Be still. The peace of stillness is your right path. 

YouTube: An Act of Faith

The Freeing Truth of Letting Go

There are times when life presses us to release what we’ve been clinging to—plans, relationships, expectations, or even the image we’ve carried of who we are. To the mind, letting go might feel like failure or loss. But to the soul, it is freeing.

Letting go is not doing nothing, and it’s not giving up. It is a quiet acknowledgment that our limited grasp of the situation cannot hold all the factors that belong to Divine order. When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “Not my will, but Thine be done,” he was not surrendering to defeat; he was surrendering to the Infinite Wisdom that sees the bigger picture that may be hidden from us. 

Faith begins where our ability to control ends. The moment we release our tight hold, something larger can move through us. The need to manage outcomes is replaced by a calm expectation that Love, operating through all things, is bringing forth what serves the highest good. Letting go becomes an act of trust in a power and a wisdom greater than our own.

We are not always quick to see or even imagine new possibilities, especially when we’re caught up in appearances. The tree releases its leaves before new buds appear. The same law governs the soul: release precedes renewal. We see this rhythm in operation throughout the natural world. The old is let go and the new takes its place.

To let go is to say yes to life’s deeper current. It is to affirm, even without visible proof, that divine wisdom knows the way when we do not. The act of release opens our mind and heart to unseen possibilities. We keep the door of our faith, our expectation open with the understanding that God’s infinite wisdom is paving the way for something good.

Faith, then, is not an effort to believe harder, but a willingness to loosen our grip—to trust that what falls away was never meant to imprison us. In that newly gained freedom, the soul discovers what it means to rest in God.

YouTube: Calm Expectation: The Perpetual Prayer

“According to your faith be it done unto you.” — Matthew 9:29

You have heard me say that faith is more than belief; it is expectation—a calm assurance that the cause we set in motion will bring a corresponding result. When we say, “I have faith in God,” we may unconsciously place the outcome beyond ourselves, waiting for divine involvement. But when we say, “I am working with divine law; therefore I expect results,” we recognize that we are participants in the process of creation.

We live in a universe of law. Every desire becomes a cause that must produce an effect. The clearer our cause, the clearer the result. If our desire is vague, our outcome will be blurred. Write your desire plainly. See it, feel it, give it form in thought. Then release it with calm expectation.

Know that you are working with law. With calm expectation of a corresponding result, you know that all necessary conditions will come about in proper order.

True faith does not strain. It does not plead or push. Like a seed planted in fertile soil, calm expectation knows that growth is already taking place. We do not dig up the seed each morning to check on its progress; we tend the soil and trust the process.

It is helpful to remember the phrase, “this or something better.” We often think we know exactly what form our good should take, but divine intelligence sees farther than we can. Many times, the “better” is not what we envisioned, yet it meets our deeper need.

Each morning, picture your desire fulfilled and give thanks that it is unfolding now. Each evening, rest in quiet gratitude that the same law continues its work through the night. Calm expectation is not idle waiting; it is faith at rest—an inward knowing that order is establishing itself.

Affirm often:

God, the living law within me, is now guiding me in all ways. Every step I take is the right step. I move through my life in confidence and peace.

This attitude keeps the heart open and joyful. In calm expectation, we cease striving and begin cooperating with the creative process of life itself.

Thank you, God, that this is so.

https://youtu.be/pW3Rf9MM7AAYouTube: Signals from Antiquity 2

The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit. 

The Greek word pneuma can reference the wind, spirit, or breath. Wind can be heard and felt but not seen. Spirit is understood as the animating force, the vital essence, the soul of all living beings. We cannot see it, but we see evidence of its presence in everything from the blade of grass to the human being. Each breath we take, also invisible, is vital to our physical existence. From this we get that spirit is unseen but felt.

The Hebrew Bible’s book of Job connects the innate wisdom of the soul to the breath of the Almighty. “It is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.[1]

The main thing I get from this saying is that the full wisdom of God is present and working in and through me now. We do not have to know how the answer to our need will come about, we only need to know that the Father is working, and I work, and greater good is unfolding.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 

The parable employs the symbolism of earthly things to illustrate heavenly things. The notion of a new birth is lost on the intellectually trained Nicodemus. His education does not allow him to make the connection between the symbol and the spiritual abstraction behind the symbol, a problem Jesus also encountered with his disciples: 

¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?[2]

What I want to make clear here too is that the Jesus sect was not pushing for a mystical approach to Judaism. They were pushing for a leadership that would blossom into the Christian orthodoxy we see today. As I’ve already discussed, I do not believe the early leaders of the Jesus movement and the more formal church that followed shared the mystically-based ideology.

No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, [the Son of man].

How would this passage qualify as something a mystic would say?

The author of John or a later scribe includes the Son of man as an obvious reference to Jesus. Because the mystic would not bring attention to themselves, we shouldn’t think of this heavenly figure, he who descended from heaven, as a specific personality, but rather as a faculty of mind.

The material and spiritual realms, symbolized here by earth and heaven, are not two separate things, but two ways of expressing one thing, like steam and ice are the same water in two different states. The faculty of intuition is that which moves comfortably between these two realms. The intellect forms concepts about the spiritual domain, but only the intuition can move from the conceptual to the experiential level, or ascend into heaven.

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Signals from Antiquity: Voice of the Mystic: Part 2

When an astronomer picks up a faint signal from a distant star, galaxy, or other celestial object, the signal may be very weak, obscured by all kinds of cosmic noise. To extract a meaningful signal, the astronomer must filter out the noise.  

With our gospels, I propose that through many of the sayings attributed to Jesus, there is a faint signal belonging to a mystic. In our filtering process, we isolate this signal by asking: Does this sound like something a mystic would say? Following the specific criteria spelled out in Part 1, we can identify likely candidates, filter out the extraneous “noise”, and lift the passage from the distractions of its Gospel context.  

Focusing on the nighttime conversation between the Pharisee Nicodemus and Jesus, I have extracted six passages that sound like something a mystic would say.

1. Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
2. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 
3. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
4. The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. 
5. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 
6. No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven.

In today’s lesson we’ll look at these sayings and consider the spiritual value of each. In our mainstream, larger-than-life version of Jesus, there is much noise around these faint signals from antiquity. With an understanding of the kinds of signals for which we are looking, we discover a treasure-trove of wisdom and practical guidance.

YouTube: Voice of the Mystic

Part 1

Biblical scholars have worked extensively to identify Jesus’ genuine sayings, separating them from those modified by the Gospel authors or subsequent scribes. Many appear to base their decision on their interpretation of Jesus’ ministry. What was the focus of his message? While many see him as an apocalyptic prophet, preaching the end is near, I believe he was a mystic teaching the kingdom of God, not as a coming event, but as a present, internally accessed spiritual dimension.

When I read passages attributed to him, I ask this simple question: Does this sound like something a mystic would say? To address this question, I look for sayings that include any of these four elements:  

• God and the kingdom of God are understood as an omnipresent spiritual dimension that is present and intuitively rather than intellectually grasped.
• The soul is an expression of God. God and the soul exist in a relationship of oneness.
• Communication with God is an internal experience accessed through the narrow gate of the contemplative process. As the prophet Jeremiah stated, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts.” Jeremiah 31:33
• One’s thinking influences the nature of one’s experience. The beginning of change is a change of faith and affirmative thinking.

In this series, I’ll demonstrate this selection process using the story of the Pharisee Nicodemus visiting Jesus in the night. From this conversation, I have identified six passages that sound like something a mystic would say. I will also explain why this approach is different from that of a standard metaphysical interpretation.  

It is almost certain that the encounter between this Pharisee and Jesus is the creation of the author. Understanding how he did this and why, will shed much light on how the gospels were developed. It is believed that these authors were working from collections of sayings and stories that circulated orally for decades before they were written down. These ancient story tellers worked much like story tellers work today, creating scenes and linking them together to follow a plot. The spiritual gems contained in these scenes are the treasure we seek.

YouTube: Own Your Path

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)

One of the most important components of Jesus’ teachings was his understanding of the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven. Through parables like this, it becomes clear he wasn’t describing the traditional image of heaven with pearly gates and streets of gold. In Luke, he points out that the kingdom is within. This requires a whole new way of thinking.

My quest for an understanding of this kingdom began in the “field” of mainstream Christianity. Who owns this field? A two-thousand-year-old religious institution. How do I purchase this field? I become willing to sell or let go of all preconceived ideas. If I don’t take ownership of my quest for truth, I will always be the trespasser.

The treasure I found is in the teaching of Jesus that points to the kingdom of God as an inner experience. The owners of the field say this kingdom is a coming event and that Jesus will return and usher it in. The more I take ownership of this field, however, the more I see this is not what he taught.

Each one of us is an expression of God. Our path to understanding this relationship of oneness with God is a very personal quest. No one else has worked it out for us. Yes, there are those who have written about this path and given us valuable insights. Ultimately, however, our relationship with God is ours and ours alone. Jesus said the gate that leads to this path is narrow, that few find it. The reason this is true is because few are willing to sell their indoctrinated possessions and purchase the field.

I have had the experience of standing on a beach and seeing the ocean stretch out before me. It occurred to me that this was my ocean. This is my place on the beach that allows me to have this experience. The same is true with God. I’m standing on a beach with the wholeness of God in my possession. My relationship with God is mine and mine alone. I have every right to walk this path on my own terms.