'The Love that Lives Within' Sunday Service October 29th 2017

"I look within for my answers, trusting the Guidance of Love and the wisdom of Right Thinking." And So It Is!

Centers For Spiritual Living Ordination

Our Vision: “Global Heart” 

1. We envision the emergence of the Global Heart to balance and guide the further evolution of humanity. 

2. We see a world free of homelessness, violence, war, hunger, separation and disenfranchisement. 

3. We see a world in which there is generous & continuous sharing of heart and resources. We envision a world in which forgiveness, whether for errors, injustices, or debts, is the norm. 

4. We see a world in which borders are irrelevant. 

5. We see a world which has renewed its emphasis on beauty, nature and love through a resurgence of creativity, art, and aesthetics. 

6. We see a world in which fellowship prospers and connects through the guidance of spiritual wisdom and experience. 

7. We envision a world in which we live and grow as One Human Family. We envision "UCSL" as a bridge across the illness and illusion of separation thereby dynamically empowering the vision of Global Heart. 

8. We envision "United Center for Spiritual Living" as united and actuated by this compelling vision of a healthy world (a world experiencing Global Heart) & is ardently committed to bringing this vision forth through its ministries & its transformative teaching. 

9. We see "UCSL" as a global community of people pervasively caring for and about each other and the entire human family, thereby bringing the gift of active compassion to the world. Our local churches and communities become "points of inspiration and influence" effectively advancing the vision of Global Heart.

The Centers For Spiritual Living Ministerial Code 

Fully Present In The Eternal Now

Today's entry in the Joyous Living Journal speaks of being fully present.

What a coincidence!

On Monday nights I have just started taking the "Thomas Troward: The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science" a class facilitated by our very own Rev. Bruce Fredenburg.

We have a dedicated group and more are welcome to join us as we discuss the nature of pretty much everything.

Our first selection discusses the differences between Spirit and matter. Already we have delved into the deep end and the discussion is already pertinent to the daily readings in the Joyous Living Journal.

"When the elements of time and space are eliminated all our ideas of things must necessarily be as subsisting in a universal here and an everlasting now."

Spirit is infinite and because of this cannot be limited to a place or a time but rather exists in the Eternal Now. It would follow that to commune with Spirit one must be in that Eternal Now.

Here's to being in the Present Moment!

Come join the discussion. If you have a Kindle the book in downloadable for free on amazon.com

See you Monday at 7:00 pm at the Center.

Change Your Karma

Everyone is in their true place. 

The above title only makes sense when the term Karma is misunderstood to mean Fate. Something from which you cannot escape. For a long time I have observed that many people use certain terms such as the term Karma without a full understanding of what the word actually means. 

According to the late Alan Watts, when Hindus and Buddhists use the word Karma they are using it as meaning action, from the Sanskrit root meaning to do. Watts offers a meaning of Karma as being that “this arises” “that becomes.” He notes that due to certain seldom unexamined assumptions prevalent in “Western Thought.” Western interpretations take it as meaning a law of Cause and Effect or Cosmic retribution.

Watts notes that in a fuller explanation in Buddhist philosophy there is a concept of the interdependent origination of all the forms and phases of life. Thus, what you do and what is happening to you and to every other person or thing is inseparable.

In one form of viewing Karma it is seen as a chain, often equated to bondage. Simplistic interpretations see it as “Good” Karma and “Bad” which then equates to the idea that if you do good things then good things happen to you and if you do bad things then bad things happen to you.

Watts adds ."Now, you may say, 'I did not mean to do that.' One school of thought will explain events by saying, 'You did something in a former life, or at a former time, that is now having this consequence.' However, that is a very superficial understanding of karma. You do not need to believe in reincarnation to understand karma ... 

With one aspect you are doing what you call the environment and with the other aspect you are doing what you call the organism, this living body. Since you cannot possibly conceive of the existence of a living body with no environment, there is the clue that the two are basically one. As with the two poles of a magnet, north is quite different from south, and yet they are both part of one magnet. 

In precisely the same way, you are both what you do and what happens to you. You have a little game in which you play that you are not responsible for what happens to you, you are only responsible for what you do. (emphasis mine) … Basically it comes down to the fact that you are responsible for everything … 

The place in life where you are is where you have put yourself. Just as on the surface of the sphere every point may be regarded as the center of the surface, so every place may be regarded as the true place. 

Everyone is in their true place. 

In whatever language you say it, everybody is a manifestation of the divine, playing this game … Your not knowing it, if you do not know it, is part of the game … " ~Alan Watts...

This Wednesdays evening at 7:00 pm we will look at practical ways to make your life work better for you.

Rev. Bruce Fredenburg