Tag: spirituality

From Belief to Knowing

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Imagine a bowl of water on the table. Your friend tells you the water is ice cold, and you believe it. Then, you decide to check it for yourself. You put your hand in the water and discover it is very warm. With this simple illustration, you have transitioned from belief to knowing.

When we read the statement of faith of any religious organization, we are reading a list of beliefs that have been worked out by the forefathers. The Apostle’s Creed, for example, starts with, “I believe …” and it lists a series of statements the believer is expected to accept as true. What happens when a person decides to question these beliefs and actually put their hand in the water? They will, in that instant, begin rewriting their own statement, shifting from I believe to I know.

Evelyn Underhill, in her classic work, Mysticism, highlights the mystic’s defining characteristic as experiencing “… a conscious relation with the Absolute.” They do not merely believe in God; they put their hand in the water. They know God as a living presence.

In many cases, such people find themselves at odds with religious powers. Madame Guyon, the very popular, seventh-century French mystic and writer, was for seven years imprisoned by the Church for her experiential approach to God. Read her book, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, and you will think it rolled off the Unity press.

Meister Eckhart, the thirteenth-century German mystic whose writings remain widely quoted by today’s New Thought community, was condemned as a heretic by the Church, and his writings banned. He and others like him dared to share not their beliefs, but their direct knowledge of the nature of God.

We’re also told that Jesus “… taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:29). He had the nerve to put his hand in the bowl of water.  

Because most of us were introduced to spiritual matters through established belief systems, we may feel a little uncomfortable putting our own hand in the bowl. We may feel even more uncomfortable saying what we’ve discovered. But if our spiritual journey is to mean anything, then we must be willing to transition from belief to knowing.

Exploring the Mystery of Spiritual Rebirth

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Using a term like rebirth, we may be tempted to think of reincarnation. Reincarnation is the same soul being born into a new body. Rebirth is the same soul awakening to a deeper experience within the same body. We see Spring rebirth in a tree that went dormant for the winter. It’s the same tree with new life.

While I believe reincarnation has a place, the thing we are most interested in is spiritual rebirth. Like the tree, we want to learn how to experience a current situation in a new way. This, I think, was the essence of Jesus’ ministry. He was trying to help people cope with the challenges of daily living by teaching them to experience them from a higher perspective.

We’ve all been in situations that we did not like because we felt negative, like they would never end. Then, the time came when we could see light at the end of the tunnel. At that moment, the challenge did not seem so big, and we may have even wondered why we made such a mountain of it.

The human experience itself can sometimes feel like an insurmountable burden. But what if we suddenly realized our time here is really just a flash in the pan? What if we knew this was but one of our many incarnations? This flash of insight is a kind of spiritual rebirth. It is a glimpse into a larger context that puts our present experience in a healthier place. Such insight is empowering, a great source for a second wind.  

Spiritual rebirth is not about changing the world; it’s about changing the way we experience the world. Affirming our true, limitless spiritual nature lifts our vision to broader vistas. Just as the countless challenges we have encountered in the past have faded from our memory, so that challenge that plagues us today will be as nothing tomorrow. We do not ignore that which is ours to do, but we do it from the strength of knowing this too shall pass. Spiritual rebirth occurs the moment we open our eyes to the truth of who and what we are as spiritual beings.

The Map Is Not The Territory

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Think of a religious symbol as part of a map used to help you navigate through life.

A few weeks ago, I told of how Myrtle Fillmore imagined Jesus in an empty chair offering her guidance through her healing journey. It did not matter that this Jesus was imaginary. To her, he represented a focal point for healing energy that proved to be helpful to her.

Any critical thinker would recognize this Jesus as a figment of her imagination. To simply pass it off as an irrelevant fantasy, however, would be to ignore the millions of people who found inspiration and guidance in Myrtle’s visualizing technique and healing.

Google Maps has opened a new understanding of this realization by providing us with a two-dimensional map and an accompanying three-dimensional street view. We can zoom in and instantly see the difference between the map and the territory.  

What has become clear to me is that it was not my study of the teachings of Jesus that led to a mystical experience. Like most people, I began with the map of Christian doctrine that I was taught was synonymous with the territory. It was an actual mystical experience that led to my understanding of Jesus as a mystic. The experience, not the symbolism, is the territory.

In my own spiritual quest, I have utilized five different maps. The first is 1) mainstream Christianity, the second is 2) metaphysical Christianity, the third is 3) Christian mysticism, the fourth is 4) critical scholarship, the fifth is 5) near-death research. I put them in present tense because they all continue to play a role in my study.

I have drawn important insights from each of these “maps” knowing that beneath each one is the “territory” of experience that is most meaningful. In our continued quest for spiritual understanding, we’ll each have our different maps, but we should always keep in mind, the map is not the territory.

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.

The Gift of Life

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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 Many Dimensions of Spiritual Guidance

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In both the Old and New Testaments, spiritual guidance comes in the form of God speaking directly, angels delivering messages, dreams imparting specific information, or prophets passing on their direct revelations. For most of us, we’re left to wonder what the tea leaves are trying to tell us. In truth, it is probably no different today than it was in those ancient times. We should remember that the biblical writers had the advantage of reporting after the fact. When you already know how a situation went down, you can infuse your prophets, your dreams, your angels, and even God himself with the clarity that gets the point across.

Is there such a thing as spiritual guidance, and if there is, why can’t it be imparted in grammatically correct whole sentences like we find in the Bible? Of course there is spiritual guidance, but it does not generally speak in clear, communitive ways. It may come in a dream. We may have a hunch, a feeling that we should or should not do or believe a thing. We may see a billboard that says, “Just do it!” and because of the exact timing, it’s as if the heavens have opened.

I think the most effective approach to spiritual guidance is to simply acknowledge that we are receiving it at this very moment. Every step I take is the right step. Every decision I make is the right decision. Every person I meet brings something important. Every place I go has something special to offer. Such an attitude prompts me to develop situational awareness for the solution to my problem.

When we consider the wide spectrum of avenues through which the bible tells us spiritual guidance is imparted, we get the impression that it can come through just about any avenue. We also get the impression that those who are on the receiving end are rarely expecting it. This suggests that the healthy way to think of spiritual guidance is to expect you are now receiving it, but do not limit the way in which it might come. More than likely, the heavens will not open with choirs of angels singing your answer. You may just suddenly realize the answer you seek has been staring you in the face and you did not see it. A good night’s sleep may give you the clear mind needed to work out the issue. Or, an idea may form that points you to your answer.

Relax and know there are many dimensions of spiritual guidance and the right one is making itself known to you now.

What Is Consciousness?

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To be conscious means to have a subjective awareness of oneself and the surrounding environment. It involves being awake, alert, and perceptive of one’s thoughts, feelings, sensations, and experiences. If you’ve undergone surgery, then you understand that the anesthesiologist’s job is to render you nonconscious; all bodily sensations are put on hold.

When we talk about developing a consciousness of prosperity, healing, or improved self-esteem, we’re talking about changing our mindset. Changing from a consciousness of lack to a consciousness of abundance and an expectation of greater good involves a change in beliefs, self-image, the type of language we use, and our level of expectation. The whole of our belief system sets up a vibe, a kind of harmonic resonance that manifests as an environmental equivalent.

The primary focus of Jesus was not on the afterlife, salvation, religious conversion, the end times, social reform, or any of the causes normally attributed to him. Your faith has made you whole. Say to this mountain, be cast into the sea and do not doubt it in your heart. Ask, seek, knock. Be persistent. It’s not what goes into the mouth, but what comes out that has the greatest impact. All things are possible for the one who believes. These things relate to consciousness. He was teaching people that there is a connection between the inside, the consciousness, and the outside, one’s life.  

Does this mean that we draw difficult circumstances because of the kinds of beliefs we hold in our consciousness? Most of the people in Jesus’ audience were poor, struggling through a hand to mouth existence. He was not ignoring this or casting any blame. Neither was he giving them false hope, telling them how to think and grow rich. He was telling them that a change of mind would stimulate a change in the choices of attitudes that each person carried. He was telling them that a new freedom could be theirs if they learned to pay attention to the mental and emotional video that ran through their heads all day. Every challenge stirred opportunities to discover the self-defeating beliefs under which they labored, to cast these out and start anew. A simple change of consciousness could mean a substantial change in life.

From Religion to Spirituality

YouTube: From Religion to Spirituality, The Quest for Spiritual Authenticity

Nearly all of us who have come into a more direct study of spiritual principles have some type of religious background. For whatever reason, we have stepped from that path and pursued one that is more suitable to our heart’s dictates. Throughout my career, I’ve heard hundreds of stories from people who have stepped away from the “safety” of their traditional background and embarked upon a path that may not be so well received by their former teachers.

What would cause us to do this? I think the answer lies in today’s subtitle. We are looking for spiritual authenticity. While it can be said that the teachings we’ve been given are true to the beliefs of the early church movement, something has prompted us to question whether they reflect what is actually true of Spirit. Jesus criticized the Pharisees with this quote from Isaiah: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Matthew 15:8-9).

It has been pointed out that while all religions reference God, none can encompass God. A religion is a collective perspective intended to guide people safely through this maze of appearances we call life, and assure us the best outcome. All religions are based on the belief in separation. Either we are separate from God, or we are separate from our higher Self. But what happens when we grow past this given that we are separate from God or ourselves? What do we do with the revelation that the kingdom of the Father is spread out over the earth and men do not see it? (Thomas 113).

This is where our need for spiritual authenticity really kicks in. If God is present and centered within me, then how can I know and experience God? If my soul is complete now, how can I live from this completeness? If sin does not damage my relationship with God, how can I come to know this unconditional love in which I live and move and have my being?

I can search scriptures for answers to these questions, but I will not come to know the answers until I experience them for myself. Jesus advised to knock, and the door would be open. He did not go into detail about how this works, probably because he understood that each person’s relationship to God belongs only to them, that it isn’t something we find within the confines of a religious doctrine, but within the quiet center of our own heart.

Tapping Into the Mind of God

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It is becoming increasingly clear to a certain camp of physicists that omnipresent Consciousness is a fundamental element of the universe. This is not a new idea. “Panpsychism is the view that mentality [consciousness] is fundamental and ubiquitous in the natural world” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).” In the 19th century, panpsychism was the default philosophy of mind in Western thought. While the scientifically-minded will stop short of calling this God, we in the spiritual community have no problem doing so.

When we think of tapping into the mind of God, we start with the understanding that God doesn’t have a mind, God is Mind. The characteristics of God/Mind are life, love, power, and intelligence. All living forms express life, love, and power sufficient to their being. The tiny mouse is just as alive as the enormous elephant. Intelligence is the one characteristic that displays in distinguishable variations.

If intelligence is everywhere present, why isn’t the mouse designing quantum computers? Brain capacity seems to be the best answer. It’s like screwing a 40 or 100 watt bulb into the same socket. The 40 watt will not produce the light of a 100 watt, though they draw from the same source.

We are literally immersed in the intelligence of God, and we are designed to express it. This is particularly useful to know and visualize in our times of prayer. Affirming the light of intelligence guiding our way, healing our mind and body, or opening new channels of abundance raises our expectation (faith) of greater good to unfold.

Our body constantly carries out a combination of intricate functions that are far beyond our awareness, as if there are multi-universes transpiring within our single organism. We are literally permeated with the intelligence that knows how to carry out these important functions. The same is true of our larger body of circumstance. We may be fixated on the opening of a specific door while infinite intelligence is opening a window that we’re not even aware of. Affirming this possibility opens our mind to all possibilities. In truth, tapping into the mind of God is tapping into the greater resources of our own mind.    

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.