Tag: spirituality

Birth From On High

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Unity uses the term Christ is the essence of God individualized in each of us. However, we have accepted as the basis of our identity ideas of lack and limitation. These have found expression in our minds, our bodies, and our circumstances. Our spiritual quest is about recovering the awareness of our spiritual core.

We re-establish our identity in the Word (soul) so that Word may become flesh, full of grace and truth, and dwell among us. Mary represents the spiritually receptive intuition. She is the higher Self that is open to the things of Spirit. She is our intuitive nature, that part of us that knows there is more to life than this human, physical existence.

Joseph represents the intellectual aspect of our spiritual awakening. We must reassess the function of our intellect. Before, it was the leader, the teacher, the presenter of new ideas. Now it becomes the observer, the student, the discerner of eternal truths. It beholds divine ideas that are untouched by the limitations of human thought, born out of the virgin regions of the soul.

The shepherds represent our ability to watch over our thoughts. They represent our innate ability to discern and judge from the spiritual perspective. In the same way the shepherd keeps watch over his flock by night, so we keep watch over the flock of our thoughts and feelings. In daily periods of quiet, we remember that we are spiritual beings, here to express the highest and best that is in us. We let go of all that is not constructive, so that we may focus this wonderful energy and power of our spirit on the good.

The wise men from the east represent the innate wisdom of the soul. Just as there is a wisdom that knows how to unfold a mighty oak tree from within a tiny, insignificant acorn, so there is a wisdom that knows how to unfold the full potential of the soul through the mind and heart of each one of us. Sometimes we are afraid to move out of current conditions of limitation because it doesn’t appear that we have the knowledge to successfully pull it off. When we commit ourselves to growth, to changes that will encourage the bringing forth new dimensions of the emerging soul, the wisdom we need is given, as we need it.

Empowerment From On High

YouTube: Empowerment From On High

When we think of power in connection with God, we may envision the Almighty throwing mountain-splitting lightning bolts, or something of that nature. Or when we think of powerful people, we may think of those who possess great wealth or hold influential positions, such as a political figure.

Spiritual power is quiet. Empowerment from on High is the silent impartation of spiritual revelation. And we should not assume a person is spiritually empowered because of the position they hold. The exact opposite may be the case.

Spiritual power manifests through us as strength. For example, it may require a great deal of strength to admit we are powerless to resolve an addiction, or to control a difficult situation. Now we are moving into the notion of empowerment from on high.

We associate empowerment from on high with vision, the kind that evokes the understanding that we are more than the sum of our perceived resources. When we think of a power greater than ourselves, we do not think of a power outside of ourselves, but as the larger spiritual context that includes us. Empowered by this vision sparks new thoughts, new feelings of greater possibilities, and new strength to take needed action and move forward in creative ways.

We’ve all had moments when we felt we lacked the strength to take even one more step. But from such a place we also know that it can take only a few simple inspirational words of encouragement, spoken or written, to open the floodgates of power. Just a slight shift in the way we’re looking at a situation can bring us strength we didn’t know we had.

Like all of our spiritual resources, power is inherent in the soul. God as power is our underlying, unlimited source. When we feel weak, inadequate to meet that threatening challenge, we become still, take our mind off the appearance, and open ourselves to empowerment from on high. We wait in silence and in peace for the infilling. If it does not come immediately, we get up and go about our life. It is often in unexpected moments that we experience our desired renewal of strength.

The Attracting and Dissolving Action of Love

YouTube: The Attracting and Dissolving Action of Love

“Love draws to us that which is for our highest good and dissolves that which is not.”

J Douglas Bottorff

Week two in our Advent series addresses the spiritual resource of love. When we think of the attractive and dissolving action of love, it is good to put this idea into a specific perspective. Let’s think of love as we would think of the phenomenon known as sympathetic resonance. Let’s say we have a guitar sitting passively on a stand. On our synthesizer keyboard, we hold a sustaining A note. Soon the A string on the guitar will begin to vibrate. The notes above and below will remain passive.

When we make this statement, we are not really drawing or dissolving anything. All strings are still on the guitar. What we are affirming is a frequency, a level of expectation that enables us to see and experience the truth of our statement, and to tune in to the evidence that this is truly happening. If we say to this mountain, be cast into the sea, and do not doubt in our heart that this is so, we are establishing a specific frequency that prompts us to see the outworking in our life. This outworking may look different than we expect, which is why it is important to think of it as love in action. We are striking the A note, and we are setting the A string in motion.

Let’s change the metaphor a bit. You have a circumstance in your life that seems discordant. All the strings vibrate at once, a situation like that of an orchestra tuning before the performance. Affirming that love draws to you that which is for your highest good and dissolves that which is not is a way of silencing the chaos and beginning the performance.

We’re not rubbing a magic lamp. We are focusing on the truth of how love operates. We are becoming conscious that the greater good is now unfolding, while that which may be blocking this greater good (most likely some attitude) is now dissolving.