Impersonal Nature of the Divine

It is great to be "Rooted in the Divine," and it is good to remember that the principle is infallible. It is working all the time for everyone. "The rain falls on the just and the unjust."

Some people might claim that this is very unfair of God, not to reward those who are good and nice for being good and nice. We might have held that cherished thought, when we were spiritually immature. We may have thought that we were dealing with a God that could be influenced by our prayers and petitions. Now we have come to find out that we are not punished for our sins but by them. God is not keeping score. Life is not a game in which someone wins and someone else loses.

Rather it is the nature of Principle to give and It is forever giving. Our job is to cooperate with the Divine Nature. We do that by being crystal clear about our beliefs. It is done to us, as we believe. In other words, if my belief is that the nature of my thought is that it is creative, then I will be meticulous about what I am believing to be true! I will not let doubt rob me of my good.

An example in my life is what I have been doing since March 1st! On March 1st, we entered into Escrow on our building. Being the spiritual director of the Center, I was the one who had to sign all the documents -- and now I am the one that is running madly toward all the deadlines! "Running madly" is not an intelligent way to approach anything in life, so in this moment, I take a deep breath, and "re-frame" that idea.

The whole idea is that we, the seller, would have all documents necessary for a smooth and easy escrow completion.

Perhaps I could say, "I am steadily and persistently handling each piece of paper when it gets to me." 

Perhaps I could further declare, "Divine Mind, in me, knows exactly how to complete all paperwork in a timely way." 

Perhaps I could add, "I have more than enough support to complete all tasks in a timely way." 

Perhaps I could even claim, "It is satisfying to complete all the paperwork on time." 

Maybe I could go so far as to say, "It is easy for me to do so. Change my thinking, changes my life!"

Aww!! Much better.

Dealing with an escrow of a commercial building feels like learning a new language, or maybe learning how to pray scientifically. One step at a time. I remind myself that I DID learn how to pray scientifically. And now, I do it so often, that I do not need to think about it at all.

More Helpful Than Harmful

We are all on a spiritual path whether we know it or not. Before I knew that there was a spiritual path to be on, I would often get stuck in ideas that would not let go of me. They stuck to me and I stuck to them. Most of them were not for my highest good. I practiced the blame game with alacrity. There was always something to fear, and then there was always someone to blame for that fear. (Believe me, I rarely considered that I could be the cause of my unhappiness.) I  was probably typical for women of my age -- there were so many things wrong with life -- there was the government, my spouse, low wages, parents of the children I taught, the children themselves, and the weather. Just to begin. It was not uncommon for me to declare that the weather was just miserable. And it may have been stormy, or cold, or icy, or too hot, but none of those conditions makes weather miserable. Feeling that there was someone or something to blame made me feel righteous. I was filled with righteous indignation. Imagine what charming company I would have been! Haha. Nothing was my fault. But I was playing the victim.  Of course, I would have railed against the idea that I was a victim. Through my eyes, I was simply describing what was so.

Later in my thirties, when I awakened to the awareness of divine presence, I was fascinated by God. I spent hours in meditations and contemplation. I wrote volumes about the nature of God. Most of what I thought I knew, I have now changed my mind about. But still it was a great change of direction to be contemplating something eternal, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent whose nature is love. I spent a great deal of time wondering about my purpose. What was God calling me to do or be specifically? That was not very productive as far as directing divine mind, but it was much better than the first two decades. It was healthier.

When I started understanding New Thought, I still contemplated God, but now as me. The Divine Presence that fascinates me is in me as me! During one of the first classes I took, I remember feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of subconscious mind, and how impossible it felt to change my entire way of thinking. I would often catch myself in negative thinking and often felt discouraged. Fortunately, we don't really have to erase every negative thought we have had, we simply need to keep filling up with positive ideas and hopefulness until the tendency of our thought is more helpful than harmful. 

Gradually, almost imperceptibly, I  started noticing that the tendency of my thoughts were positive, hopeful and life-affirming. I noticed that there is always so much for which to be grateful. I notice that more and more things for which to be grateful come into my life. (Were they always there, and I just couldn't see them because my filter was so negative? Or did my change in thinking actually change my life?)

I like to think it is the latter. Since then I did discover my true purpose which is to assist others in seeing their divinity. I feel thankful every day for my wonderful life!

Remember, it is  a wonderful life and all the better because you are in it.

A Gift From Some Students

I

It is Your Fault But You are Not to Blame

Resting my Sunburned Feet

For the month of May we will be exploring the theme "Spiritual Guidance and Personal Responsibility." This theme contains two of the most important principles of the Science of Mind. First, that we believe every person can be a revealer of truth. To me that means that we can, and do, directly connect with Source and It can, and does, guide and direct us. Secondly, that our experiences do not come to us , but rather come through us.

Each one of us has an inner guidance system. This system is always guiding us. It always knows what is  our highest and best good. Sometimes it speaks quietly so that you have to be still to hear it and at other times it screams so loudly that we can not ignore it. 

Over time I have come to be thankful for and expectant of Its guidance. There were many years that I didn't believe in It and could not hear It.  On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I had a private two-hour ride to the resort from the airport. I was guided to ask my driver for Spanish lessons. He was delighted to teach me. It made my trip fly by and gave Roberto, my driver, an opportunity to be in service. Guidance can be a simple idea like that or a feeling of "not going in the right direction." By the way, I also ignored my personal guidance to get out of the sun in Coasta Rica. Hence, sore, swollen, sunburned feet!

The second part is personal responsibility. In the past, I felt that personal responsibility was heavy and unpleasant. The words felt heavy and burdensome. But after studying the Science of Mind, I had a new idea about it. I realized that if everything came through my consciousness and absolutely no other way, then in order to change my life, I simply needed to change my deep beliefs. What a sense of joy and freedom it has given me! I am not a victim any longer. I accept everything in my life exactly as it is and as it is not. "I once was blind, but now I see."

Shakespeare penned these words in the play Julius Caesar, spoken by Cassius, one of the men opposed to Julius Caesar becoming a monarch:

 "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves."

If one thinks he is doomed to a certain life, he will be. If he thinks that he is going to prosper happily, he will. Nothing outside ourselves ever creates our experience. Rather it is the choices we make from our deep beliefs that will make life be whatever it is. We learn to notice our results and circumstances with compassion and love. The idea of personal responsibility always inspires me. I know that if my consciousness created a result that is less than satisfying, then shifting my consciousness by changing my mind and heart, can change it into something I do want. Yes, it is my fault but I am not to blame.