SPIRITUAL TOOLS FOR A BETTER LIFE

In a recent class, a student spoke out honestly and explained that he had made a serious effort to use the Science of Mind teachings in his life, to little effect. Other approaches had worked better for his particular issues, he said. While I was not surprised, I was a little concerned that other members of the class might lose confidence in the effectiveness of the approach I was teaching, at a critical stage where faith was a necessary ingredient.

It is a quality of faith-based processes that without faith, they don't work. People trained in science, such as myself, are often frustrated by this, and they are tempted to ignore or even ridicule processes that rely on faith as an essential ingredient.

We know that social systems rely on faith to work. Faith and trust are related, and without trust, no one would buy or sell. Without faith, no one would invest. Remember there was a time when no one had faith in science, and so we failed to derive the many benefits of the scientific approach. Today is is one of our most vital tools. It should be no surprise that faith is essential to anything in which the human mind is involved.

We often forget that science is only a tool, and that it is not our only tool. It is the same with any spiritual tool. Prayer is a tool for applying human consciousness to call upon the Divine. We cannot grasp what the Divine is, any more than we can grasp what a magnetic field is - we just know what it does. Affirmations are a tool to place a new idea into our unconscious - to build our faith in a new idea. Then we are guided through life by our unconscious thought process - at a deep level, no one knows why that works either.

I have five or six different kinds of hammers in my garage... a carpenters hammer, a welder's hammer and a ball-pein hammer for pounding metal, a rubber hammer for jobs where I don't want to leave marks, a wooden hammer for pounding on chisels, a heavy brick hammer, a sledge hammer, and so on....there's also a tack hammer. Each one is good for the job for which it was intended, and if we choose the wrong hammer for the job, we should not blame the hammer if we get poor results.

Spiritual tools are no different. It depends on the job you are doing. In our class, Science of Mind 101, we taught about three kinds - meditation, affirmations and treatment. Others we did not discuss would be simple centering, being in the moment, the 12-step process, and on and on.... The number of spiritual tools cannot be counted.

The Science Of Mind 100 series tools are meant for beginners who want to learn to manifest 'stuff' or 'conditions' in their life. They help to set what Wayne Dyer calls "Intention", in his great book "The Power of Intention". Later in the course of the teaching, students typical open their minds to focus on pure qualities of Spirit, knowing that the 'stuff' and 'conditions' of their life will take care of themselves.

I AM A FAN OF JESUS

Recently there have been ads on my Blog page that say, "Don't be a fan of Jesus". I only have limited control over the type of ads that people choose to display, but I want to make it clear - I AM A FAN OF JESUS!

The teachings of Jesus are the deepest and clearest expression of spiritual understanding that I know of. Sadly, most traditional churches either ignore or do not understand the deepest meaning of what Jesus said. I don't want to paint myself as a great Bible scholar (I am not), but as a student of metaphysics, I do have a grounding in the fundamental principles that underlie the teachings in the gospels.

Over the centuries, it has been a fundamental mistake to worship the messenger and miss the message. As a culture, we got so wrapped up in the divinity and uniqueness of Jesus that we failed to see him as the Divine Example for us, not the Divine Exception.

Monty Python, in the movie the Life of Brian, came closer to the truth than many churches have done. In the story, Brian hears the message of Jesus, and rushes to tell others about it. Ignoring the message, those others fall down and worship Brian, as he runs from them in horror and frustration. We have done this to Jesus, and thankfully, there are a few who do teach peace and the reality of the Kingdom within us.

SHH......IT HAPPENS!

When we adopt a lifestyle of spiritual practice, and begin to move our spiritual understanding from the head to the heart, there are gradual changes that enter our life. The study of the Science of Mind is one such practice, as it opens up an avenue for understanding the Bible at a deeper level, and also introduces a more effective approach to prayer. Combine this with meditation or any other technique for inner mind exploration, and you will find these changes will show themselves.

Co-incidences

One such change is the appearance of coincidences. We call them GMCs or "God-Managed Co-incidences" because things will happen to you that seem entirely beyond random chance. In fact these things are likely around you all the time, but your focus on the materialistic business of living will have blinded you to them. As you sharpen your intuition, these things will become obvious.

Harmony and Flow

Another change is that the flow or harmony of your life will start to improve. Again, much of it will be driven by the changes in your perception, in that you will see the flow of things - but that does not mean there will not be real and effective changes in the harmony of the workplace, the neighbourhood, and within family relationships. People often find that the annoying people in their life, the gossipy neighbour, the whining relative, the needy child, will either change, or else they will no longer pick you as their target. You will have been 'immunized'.

To the point of this story, however, you likely cannot completely eliminate all negative events from your life. If you can, I will want to know your secret. We live in a world in which random events occur and what we do through our practice is to tilt the odds by removing ourselves from the chaos. We change the odds toward the positive through our change in belief.

But, stuff still happens - often when we let our thoughts drift to the negative side, but even when we have done what we can, we still have to live in the world, unless we are so rarified in our thought that we can float to the clouds.

Conscious Response, not Unconscious Reaction

That is when the third major change shows up. When things do not go our way, how do we respond? In fact, do we react rather than respond? Our reaction to the negative event is the greatest change of all. How do we handle a setback, and accident, or even a death (other than our own)? The Science of Mind teaches us to be RESPONSIBLE, that is, ABLE TO RESPOND, not just react. Reaction is the unconscious experience of an event, while responding is the conscious experience of an event.

An Example

The other day I was cutting oak mouldings to trim an archway in our kitchen. To fit it around the cupboard edge, a careful cut had to be made. I followed the age-old advice and measured not once, not twice, but three times before setting my saw. Then I proceeded to cut on the wrong side of the pencil line! Shh........it happens!

The moulding was particularly expensive, and I had prefinished it with several coats of lacquer. There once was a time when this mishap would have been followed by rage, curses, perhaps some foot-stomping. What would all that have accomplished? Nothing, but that would not have stopped me in the past. As it was, we considered whether to buy another piece ($25 for oak) and finish it (about $8.00 for another can of spray lacquer) or whether to patch in a Quarter inch sliver, about two saw blade widths. The latter is what we are doing.

Nothing in this world is perfect. The Bible tells us this. The entire physical world is an approximation, an estimation, of a pure and perfect idea. That's why we can imagine a perfect circle, but no one can make one. Atoms and molecules are lumpy things. But as we approach perfect understanding, though we see "as through a glass, darkly", we make the way as smooth as possible for ourselves, and for all who know us.

DON'T LISTEN TO ME!

I have been told by people for whom I have great respect that they don't always agree with what I write.

This is good, because my writing is sometimes full of speculation - thoughts of the moment, to make the reader think.

Don't adopt my thinking, even if it seems reasonable - think for yourself!

Ernest Holmes said, "Don't listen to me - listen to what I listen to." In other words, look within yourself, and see what that still small Voice is telling you.

There are a lot of people in this world. Each has been given a viewpoint, and each receives inspiration (ideas) according to his/her capacity and background. Doctors may get great medical ideas, but they may not be tuned to receiving financial or horticultural ideas. We tune our mental radio according to our interests.

Just as there a millions of plant species in the world, millions of animal types, so people get millions of thoughts - millions of inspirations. Some are received with clarity and good judgment - some are not. Some are workable, some are not. That is as it should be.

I don't expect to be agreed with all the time. I'm not fond of arguing, but I like to hear other views.

There are many ways of looking at the world. These may be different without being wrong.

BOOKS

I have been reading - something I do far too little these days. I find it's hard to write and read at the same time. I wasnt to give brief mention to some of the books I have enjoyed recently.

Last year I read THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE and found it fascinating.
More recently I have read THE FIELD by Lynn McTaggart, and I recommend it highly to those who can follow a little bit of science talk. It is an important book. I am going to have to read Lynn's more recent book, THE INTENTION EXPERIMENT, sometime soon.

Right now I am into a book by Biblical Scholar Bart Ehrman, called MISQUOTING JESUS, or THE STORY OF WHO CHANGED THE BIBLE AND WHY. This is a must read for anyone who feels the Bible is a vital source of wisdom, and who can take the truth about how it was written and assembled- or at least as much truth as is known. Ehrman is one of the top, if not THE top, scholar in this field right now, although I expect other Bible scholars would have something to say about that!

One of these days, I will have had enough of reading, and I will go back to writing - but not just yet.

THE EASTER STORY - AND YOU

Over a couple of thousand years, the immediacy of the crucifixion and resurrection fades for most people. Some wonder if it really happened at all - was it a cruci-fiction? Humans being what we are, this is understandable - we need to find relevance in the story that links it directly to our own lives.

It is not possible to independently verify all the details in the story. Yes, we have the four gospels, written anywhere from 70 to 200 years after the event. The most painstaking scholarship tells us that the gospels were, in the main, not written by those present at that time, but by their followers of another generation.

Historians of the time report almost nothing but a line or two in passing, and nothing that ties directly to the gospel narrative.

So, it comes down to this. What kind of faith do you have?

If your faith is rooted in materialism, then you need to believe that the events were real, substantially as the gospels report them, and that there is physical, historical event that we celebrate each Easter.

If your faith is of another kind, as is mine, you will not care so much what happened or whether, because there is an esoteric (e.g., hidden) meaning around the notion of crucifixion and resurrection.

The agony of crucifixion symbolizes the pain of letting go of our material existence - the death of the person rooted in the things of the world. After a period of three days (three symbolizing a cycle of perfect completion), the spiritual person is reborn, with new powers that show how the material world has been overcome.

This process is one that calls out to all people - to let go of the world of grasping, getting and spending, appetites and addictions - and move into a new set of experiences, where we have risen above these things.

Wordsworth wrote "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;"

The Easter message is not about something two thousand years old, but about an opportunity that remains our, in this moment - to rise above our problems, our agony and angst; to succumb, to let go, and then to rise again, renewed!

By the way, sorry to disappoint, but 'Easter' celebrates the ancient goddess Oestre, the spring goddess of fertility - hence the symbolism of eggs, from which will come our Thanksgiving dinners; and bunnies, whose fertility always amazes. Oestre is the later version of Astarte, Ishtar or Ashtaroth, fertility goddess of ancient Sumer, Babylon, and Phoenicia. The Greeks equated her with Aphrodite.

Happy Easter!

HOW MY CAREER WAS HAPPILY ENDED

I have a career story I have told to very few.

I am a professional Electrical Engineer who worked most of my life as a Strategic Planner, Futurist, and Business Planner.

About 23 years ago, I came upon a little magazine on the news stand at my local drugstore in Regina, Canada. It was called The Science of Mind. I had never noticed it before.

I bought it and skimmed the contents - it was not the sort of thing I was reading in those days - my focus was on my career.

My wife was used to me bringing home unusual magazines just for the fun of it, but when I bought the next month's issue as well, she scolded me for wasting money a second time! I'm not even sure why I bought it.

Then my company began to be re-organized, and my department was dismantled. Several managers were 'dumped' downward into lower level jobs. Some co-workers were fired, seemingly on flimsy grounds.

I began to be concerned for my income and my family - we were in a recession, and jobs were not that plentiful. However, the company was looking for people to move to other districts. I didn't want to move, but no one else did, either. It occurred to me that it might be a way out. I reluctantly agreed to a meeting to discuss moving.

It was a blustery, cold day in March of 1987 as I walked across town (by this time my office had been moved out of our headquarters), and I was grumpy, to say the least. Crossing a windy street, I clearly remember thinking (Why me? Why can't I seem to get ahead?)

At this point, a loud voice (NOT MINE) in my head said, "You need to become more spiritual."

This thought had never once occurred to me. It seemed irrelevant, and even somewhat angered me, given the frame of mind I was already in. I thought, in response I suppose, "I'm just as spiritual as anybody else - and so what?" My anger and frustration came boiling up.

Suddenly, my way was blocked by a tall young man, blond, in winter parka. He was a head taller than me, twenty-ish, with strong build, and he was begging for money. I felt angered that a younger, stronger, even taller fellow than me should panhandle on the street instead of seeking a job. I refused to meet his eyes, and stepped around him. I mentally directed my anger at the stranger.

I took only about four steps, and then I thought, "I've just been tested - and I failed!" My spirituality was indeed found lacking. So I quickly turned around - to find no one there.

I looked for alleyways - there were none - it was a typical concrete jungle. Doorways - none. The street corner was half a block away - surely too far for the time that had elapsed? I even quickly backtracked to the corner - there was no one in either direction.

I was somewhat shaken as I continued on to my meeting. I agreed to the move - to Saskatoon, 150 miles to the north - home of my alma mater in the sixties. It meant a lower income, and a considerable real estate loss, but it took me out of the head office turmoil.

One month after our family had moved into our new home there was an ad announcing the formation of a Centre for Spiritual Living, the first in Saskatchewan (then called Religious Science). Another 18 years further on, both my wife and I were licensed as ministers. She since allowed her license to lapse.

The Science of Mind has calmed my inner rage, and brought a sense of forgiveness. Though I had held five different jobs over four years, I was able to let go of the stress. I never did return to middle management, and I realize now that I didn't have the human relations skills to advance much further. Some of those skills I have learned through study of the Science of Mind.

In 2004, I retired after 36 years in my former career. I am a Staff Minister at The Centre for Spiritual Living, Saskatoon.

My latest book, "Insights" summarizes some of the lesson I have learned.

THE BLESSINGS OF OUR PIONEER FOREFATHERS

It is good to be reminded that our blessings often come disguised as hardship and sorrow, toil and effort. They become blessings only when we stop to consider them, and when we look back to see how far we have come, and how differently things might have been.

My ancestors left behind the land they knew, Iceland, to find a better life for themselves and their children. I wonder if they knew that they were trading one life of hardship for another one.

What they found was often hardship and loss. In the case of my Great-Grandparents, all their family belongings disappeared between the dockyards and the train heading west. They arrived at Duluth, Minnesota, with nothing to their name, and were cared for by the local Lutheran Church for their first cold winter in North America, the land of milk and honey.

Later, their North Dakota homestead was thrown into chaos and poverty by the untimely death of my Great-Grandfather due to consumption, as they called it then – we know it today as tuberculosis. Starting out with no belongings forced him to work cutting timber and laying track for the early railroads.

This made a farmer out of the eldest son at fifteen, and a farm labourer out of my own Grandfather at 13. Two younger brothers and one sister grew up in this time of uncertainty and hardship, too young to bear a full burden.

What kind of blessing was this? Well, ultimately an entire collection of Saskatchewan homesteads, beautiful farms, were the result, as the brothers left behind the pain and hardship of North Dakota and came to Canada, to the beautiful lake country, which they called Vatnabyggd- the ‘Water Settlement’.

When the second eldest brother – my Grandfather - now a cowboy and ranch hard at 22 years of age - first rode up north in 1903 with his some of his cousins and several others, a dozen hardy riders in all, it was because they were driven by the hardship of pioneer life to continually seek something greater. That pioneering Spirit is the One Spirit that blesses us all, everyday. The pioneer brothers, one a blacksmith, one a horseman, and one an entrepreneur with a bent for music and fine literature, all lived that Spirit, that urge to be more to be better, and to move upward in all things.

They all felt that blessing.

The blessing comes in the people you meet along the way, in the closeness of a family that has supported one another, and in the final results of all that adventure. The blessing comes in the wind, the rain and the sunshine of the prairies. On this farm, it came in the strength of their families, hardy sons and daughters, whose grandchildren are now scattered across the Canadian and the American west.

The blessing comes down to us as the people we see around us, our families, our friends and neighbours. We ourselves are the blessing, and we are also the blessed. The life we have today is truly a rich one, by the standards of those hardy pioneers.

We are truly blessed because we are alive, and we are here, in this beautiful place, this land of plenty, prosperous and surrounded by family that we love and who love us. All that is truly a blessing. The word ‘Bless’ means ‘to make prosperous’– not just in money, but in good health and the love of friends and family, in riches of every description.

And so I call on that Great Spirit that urged our families to this land, the invisible hand that has led us and fed us, clothed us and taught us, to guide us ever onward. That Spirit lives in each one of us, and calls upon us even now to say “Thank you”, and to continue to bless our land, including all who occupy it, all who visit it, and all who care about it. We were guided here, wherever we reside, for a reason, and maybe that reason is nothing more that to count our blessings, and appreciate and care for what we truly have in our family, and in our community, and on this blessed Earth.

DON'T WEEP FOR THE PEOPLE OF HAITI

Emotional moments can cause me to wax poetic. Sadly I don't normally have a great supply of the kind of 'wax' that it calls for.

What follows is meant to be a song, but I am not a competent singer, so I leave it to others.

I was awakened at 4:00 AM one night after the earthquake disaster in Haiti, following an urgent gift to the Red Cross.

This quatrain ran through my head over and over, coming not from me, but from a deep inner source.
Music and lyrics together, but only the initial verse.

Normally, I would have forgotten all about this early morning oddity by the time I woke up for the second time. This time I didn't and during the next day or two it kept invading my head, again and again.

What does it mean? I interpret it to mean that we waste our energy on hand-wringing and 'adopted sorrow'. To save a drowning person, we must not jump in and drown with them, but stay on firm ground and throw a line. Airlines tell passengers that adults should first put their oxygen masks on in the event of cabin de-pressurization, and only then help their children or the elderly. As heart-wrenching as these disasters appear, we must act to help rather than get caught up in sympathetic suffering. That's my understanding of the line; I did not create the verse!


I have the music running through my head, but not the skill to notate it. If anyone feels the urge to take this up and put their music to it, be my guest.

Don't Weep(January, 2010)

Don't weep, don't weep for the people;
They will do all the weeping.
Don't weep, don't weep for the people;
Just do what you can do.

Don't cry, don't cry for the homeless,
They will do all the crying.
Don't cry, don't cry for the homeless ones,
just do what you can do.

Don't feel needless pain
or torture yourself anew-
It's enough that these are felt
by those who are passing through
That valley of tears,
the shadow of death pervades
Keep yourself on that happier shore
That sadness never invades

Don't weep, don't weep for the injured;
They will do all the weeping
Don't weep, don't weep for the orphans
Just do what you can do.

Don't give in to the urge to wail,
Don't let the sorrow overtake you,
Never frown when the world seems down,
Just do what you can do.