Author: CSLT-Faces

Creating a Common Vision

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Reverend Janis’ recent reminder of the faith of Genevieve Behrend to manifest study with Thomas Troward even though he was across the sea and she had no money to get there, inspired me to think how we in our Center can manifest the home of our desires.

We now own property on 22nd Street near Swan, a flat buildable five-acre parcel on a busy and visible thoroughfare.  What is our vision for the asset that we now own? Even when we do not yet know how the Universe will provide it, just as Reverend Janis suggested during her recent reminder, I propose we come up with a vision that we can share and envision together.  A common vision requires a picture that we can focus on individually and collectively as we imagine the reality of how the building that houses our sanctuary and education center looks like on the land we now own.

As Genevieve Behrend, we have some legwork to do to educate ourselves on the cost and processes so our vision has a point of direction. Genevieve knew how much money she needed to bring her dream to reality, she knew her mode of transportation and costs, she knew where she would stay when she arrived in England and she knew where to find Thomas Troward. She had done her research so she could direct her mental work to accurately envision herself counting the cash she needed from one hand to the other, cruising on the ship carrying her to England, residing in the room she would occupy, and once there, walking up to Troward’s house and knocking on the door.

With a collective vision, we can each picture the money we need already banked in the facility fund, the city granting permits, the electric and water being run into the property, the foundation being poured, the hustle and bustle of the building going up, the spades turning the earth and the gardens been planted, and the parking lot being paved.  We can each imagine ourselves in the light-filled sanctuary for Sunday celebration, hearing the music the stirs our hearts and animates our energy. We can each listen to the spiritual message of Reverend Janis’ inspired and challenging words of truth resounding in the warm and inviting new space.

We can each picture ourselves in the education center partaking of exciting classes, brimming with knowledge and tools to help us shape our lives, supported by the smiling faces of our loving Community. We can each smell the gardens growing on the land and mentally walk the meditation path or labyrinth to remind ourselves of Omnipotent Bounty. We can each envision the sign out front boldly declaring our new home to all those who pass by. We can see the paved parking filled with cars transporting those of us already participating at our center to our new digs, and those who are new to the center curiously coming in to find out what we offer.

With a common vision and a common purpose, we could each model the actions of Genevieve Behrend and do the mental work to put ourselves in the place we want to be and hold to that vision with absolute trust that it is already so because the abundant Universe knows how to deliver it even when we don’t.  Let’s make our vision a reality!  So It Is!

By Carla Hodge

Course Corrections

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“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”               — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Have you ever wondered why changing directions, and moving in the direction of your dream, is so demanding and elusive? I have.

Not only must we endeavor to live the lives that we have imagined, we must also be honest about our experience of time, and how we spend, or use, it. Why? Because our repetitive thoughts and behaviors created the person I became today. The possibility of change arises only after we have neutralized the power, insistent drive and momentum of the old patterns and ways of thinking.

I had this realization at age 29. By age 29, I had spent 248,240 hours becoming exactly the person that I had become. During those years, I routinely spent one hour each Sunday in community on spiritual matters, and that was all. The rest of my life was mine to do with as I pleased. I didn’t like the results I was getting from that decision.

This recognition was important because I concluded that celebrating one hour in spiritual community on Sunday would not be sufficient to change the direction, much less reverse the trend, of my life. And I realized I had no interest in slowly and casually accumulating another 248,240 hours of (perhaps) new thinking to neutralize my past. Why?

I would be 58 years old, and only infinitesimally changed. I knew there had to be a faster way. There was. Rather than taking the slow path, doing only one thing at a time (attending Sunday services), I would increase my level of engagement and do three things at the same time. Simultaneously, I gave of my time, my talent and my treasure. This doesn’t only mean participating in the church or center of my choice. It means owning and honoring my own spiritual life experience. In doing so, I attained my goal and dream sooner rather than later.

By combining the actions, and owning them, I had unexpected success in common hours. I also had the experience of success sooner rather than later. One hour out of a week, or even of a day, would have been to slow, taken too long, and probably lead to frustration. And, out of that frustration, I can easily imagine creating an excuse to quit and say this stuff does not work. Attend Sunday Celebration only, participating at a passive level, would not have allowed my success.

In summary, there is power in time. How we use it is critical. Knowing the number of hours that passed in the creation of the old me, allowed me to exercise compassion towards the “me” that wanted to become more. I became my current self by arresting the momentum of my former life and intentionally changing my direction. Are you interested in arresting the momentum of your former self and creating a new you?

by Keith Gorley

Don’t Go There!

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The theme for June was “imagination” and its power to manifest our experience in life. Like all of us, I have a vivid imagination which likes nothing more than to run hither and yon, unchecked, conjuring up all sorts of vivid images, scenarios, and outcomes, often the worst possible outcomes. The Science of Mind teaches that what you focus on or give constant attention to increases or manifests as our experience. Our imagination gives power to and solidifies what we believe, think and say, by giving them a strong visual and experiential component in our mind. When we strongly imagine something, do we not only visualize it, but experience as well as feel it? The Universe, or Divine Mind, which always says “Yes!” will always respond to the imagined scenario and reflect it back to us and manifest it as our reality.

In his book The Power of Awareness, Neville Goddard writes “…to become the master of your assumptions [beliefs, thoughts] is the key to undreamed-of freedom and happiness. You can attain this mastery by deliberate conscious control of your imagination. The great secret is a controlled imagination and a well-sustained attention firmly and repeatedly focused on the object to be accomplished.”

But how do you consciously control your imagination, which by its very nature seems impossible to direct, especially when it comes to thinking about the worst (which your mind seems so willing to do)? One way is to notice when your imagination is going in a negative direction and stop that train of thought. Thank your mind for sharing, then turn to its polar positive opposite and contemplate a higher idea. A phrase I’ve been using of late whenever my imagination starts down a negative free-for-all slide is “Don’t go there!” I’ve found that this puts on the brakes, so to speak, and sets my train of thought on to another track, in another direction, where I am free to choose a more positive idea. It works!!

Another process you can use (which I’ve shared in a previous article, but it bears repeating), is the following: after a treatment, while still in an expanded, high state of consciousness, indulge in an imaginary visualization voyage where you vividly see, experience and feel what it would be like if what you’ve just treated for were actually real in your life right now. It’s your trip, your imagination is infinite, and nothing is impossible. Should your logical mind want to step in with all its negative reasons and “yeah, buts” why your good cannot happen, DON’T GO THERE and continue imagining your good as vividly and thoroughly as you can. This is your time and this is a gift you are giving yourself! Immerse yourself fully in its “reality” and when you feel whole, complete, happy, and at peace, release it into the Universe, knowing it’s a done deal!

You CAN pro-actively direct your imagination to manifest the kind of life you want. Just get into the habit of noticing where it’s going, and if it’s not in the direction you want it to go, Don’t Go There!!

And so it is! Namaste. By Jon William Lopez, RScP

Living Love

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Ernest Holmes wrote, “The Truth points to freedom, under Law. We do well to listen to this Inner Voice, for it tells us of a life wonderful in its scope; of a love beyond our fondest dreams…” (The Science of Mind, 25.3-26.1)

In my experience, Dr. Holmes spoke truly. As I examined all that did not work in any previous relationships, I had to admit to myself the truth of my level of involvement in them was what didn’t work. I knew there must be another way, a better way, but what was it? I also knew that by using the Law, I could answer my own dilemma.

Carl Rogers defined love as “unconditional positive regard.” This is the essence of the love Holmes referred to above. This unconditional regard is what might be called Divine Love, which already lives in us, and when we allow it, it expresses through us and leads us beyond anything we can dream of.

In the first session of “Love, Relating & Relationships”, I offered a paraphrase of Lao Tzu: “To know, do. To do, be. To be, know.” That circular expression explains the principle of knowing and the method to access it. By doing love, by loving, anyone can access Holmes’ ideal of “a love beyond our fondest dreams.” By loving, we access the use of the Law FOR Love and experience more of It.

Everyone already lives in relationship with everything in the world, whether conscious of it or not. Each person shares the air available on the planet. For example, everyone here in Arizona inhales the blowings of the humpback whales in the Indian Ocean and shares their exhale with the whales. Whether it is relating to the clothes covering the body, the chair on which one sits, the ground on which one walks, everyone is in relationship with everything, including all the love there ever has been.

By shining light on what doesn’t support experiencing healthy relationships, anyone can stop doing what doesn’t work, which opens a space in which to allow all relationships to work. Literally, anyone can do this, because already human beings are designed to relate.

As social animals, relating is built into us. It is encoded in our DNA. Relating is natural for us. We have difficulty only when we have decided otherwise. Just like the fact that the sun still shines, even when we can’t see it through the clouds, or because we are standing inside a cave, or because it is on the other side of the globe, the sun is still doing what the sun does naturally: It shines. So it is with relating and with loving. We have to convince ourselves otherwise, in order to experience that we are not in relationship, or that we are not loved.

By relating, by truly relating, anyone can experience more love and better relationships in every area of life. By living as the innate Love within, anyone can experience more love in life. That is what living love really is, and to the degree that we let love out, we experience a love beyond our fondest dreams.

Live your love and love your living.

BestBlessings,
RevDonald

The Universe is Prosperous

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Prosperity is the nature of the Universe and abundance is the expression and experience of that prosperity. More leaves grow on trees this year than last, and anyone who rakes them notices this fact.

Even with evidence from Nature, some people have difficulty experiencing the natural abundance of life. If someone is unaware that abundance is natural, that lack of awareness can keep the abundance away. Using the same logic, if someone accepts the natural abundant state, their acceptance would make space for greater abundance into that person’s life.

Cultural consciousness, the collective and accumulated viewpoint that any society has believed and promoted, can hinder the experience of abundance by focusing on lack, deprivation, the “have’s” and the “have-not’s”. Everyone lives in the sea of his or her collective viewpoint, and those who are receptive to its siren song, or who are unconscious of it, are controlled or at least influenced by it.

Just like a river, thought flows along the lines of least resistance, and culture-consciousness can shift focus from the prosperity-is-natural viewpoint toward lack and limitation. There are plenty of examples of people focusing on this latter reality.

If you live in a lack-and-limitation culture and want to experience greater abundance, you must consciously direct your thinking away from the culture-consciousness of scarcity and redirect your attention toward abundance. You must consciously change your point of view about life and its possibilities. This can seem challenging or downright difficult at first; however, persistence really pays off … literally.

Even as prosperity is the Universe’s nature, it is also the Universe’s nature to say, “Yes” to our directives, our commands, especially when the command is sustained with strong feeling and/or emotion. Fortunately, or unfortunately the Universe only says “Yes” to true commands and not to every random thought that passes through our mind. Emotion and feeling holds attention, and this is what makes the directive a true command.

When you put regular attention on the wonder and possibility of your personal experience of an abundant life, that decision brings the opportunity to experience these things into view. By focusing on the abundance of life and living in accord with that intention, you can have more abundant experiences. Life eagerly says, “Yes!” by affirming the presence of supply, and it willingly becomes a more joyful adventure. More good then begins to come naturally and effortlessly.

By affirming “All I desire comes to me,” and accepting the truth of this statement for just five minutes, four times daily, the Universe says, “Yes” to greater joy and abundance.

Join others in The Experiment here at the Center, by affirming your abundant nature, and by living, loving and giving from that awareness. Watch the gentle explosion of good, as it overflows in your life.

“Divine Love, as me, blesses and multiplies all that I am, all that I give, and all that I receive.”
And So It Is.
BestBlessings,
Rev Donald

Envisioning – It’s Your Right to Invoke The Law

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By Lynden Kidd, Chairman, CSLT

In this great country of ours we are invited to participate in our government; to vote for those who shape our laws and policies.  I’ve often been surprised when someone who holds a particularly deep belief about a ‘right or wrong’ also tells me that they’ve decided not to vote in an election for some reason. In my mind, that is an abdication of an essential and defining right of citizenship. That individual has dropped the ball on their role in improving the country by opting out of voting. They may have excuses or stories as to why, but in this era of mail in ballots and election-day transportation; there is no good reason not to have your choices be counted.

Clearly, Center for Spiritual Living Tucson is not a governmental entity. We aren’t a democracy either. The Board of Trustees makes decisions based on consensus: We all agree, by working to see the others’ points of view and come to agreement about the highest and best for all.

COMMUNITY ENVISIONING – This is one of our Center’s ways of inviting YOU to have a significant say about who we are and who we become and to be an active part of creating the future of our sacred Center. You may have joined us for one of our new classes in the yearlong series called, “The Journey”, or you may have a heard in one of Reverend Donald’s recent Sunday talks and know that we transform ourselves while we transform our community! This is an opportunity to participate in conscious transformation, by joining other community members for a few hours dedicated to envisioning our Center the way we want it to be.

We have the benefit of one of the brightest and most motivational leaders within Centers for Spiritual Living (CSL) – Reverend Dr. John Waterhouse, President of CSL, who is the senior co-minister at the Center for Spiritual Living Asheville, North Carolina. As CSL’s President, Dr. John coordinates communications and services between our centers and ministries and the rest of the global organization. We benefit from his wonder and wisdom for a full weekend, and you won’t want to miss a moment.  Starting at 6:30pm on Friday, April 17th, he will coax and cajole the best from each of us about our vision for our sacred community – our CSLT. Then on Saturday, from 9am to ‘at the latest’ 5pm, he will help us clarify our vision for the future of our spiritual home and assist us in articulating our objectives in reaching the big stretch goals for our Center.

So, please join us. Take ownership in what this Center has done for you and to you, as you’ve transformed. Help us reach a bigger audience. Help us accomplish our mission of moving more fully forward as THE premier hub for transformational teaching and growth in Tucson and Southern Arizona.

Thanks for joining me, the Center’s leadership team and the other champions, as we envision the highest and best for our community.  I trust I will see you on Friday and Saturday, as we invest with you in the growth, well-being and vision of our sacred Center for Spiritual Living Tucson.

Volunteering, or The “V” word

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When I reflect on my life, I’m fairly certain that the first good decision I ever made was when I was thirty-four and checked myself into treatment for drug and alcohol addiction.  But it wasn’t just staying sober that changed my life – it was my introduction to Alcoholics Anonymous.  You see, AA is a spiritual program and I hated all that God and prayer stuff.  Not only that, they told me if I wanted to stay sober I needed to help the newcomers and do ‘service work’.  What?  As a totally self-absorbed addict it was beyond the scope of my imagination to do anything besides try to stay sober.  Plus, I’ve never been one to do what other people think I ‘should’ or ‘need to’ do.  Guilt-tripping me doesn’t work.  I didn’t want to volunteer and no one could make me!

So I simply went to meetings and didn’t drink.  And those kind, truthful, annoyingly helpful people got through my thick skin and I willingly began the volunteering phase of my life.

As a bonus, I found that volunteering in Alcoholics Anonymous gave me far more than continued sobriety – I became part of a community and it felt so very wonderful to truly belong somewhere.  The more I helped in various ways, the better I felt about myself.  Other people’s welfare became important to me, as did the survival of my favorite meetings and the organization itself.  I had found a healthy place to hang out and grow and I didn’t want to lose it.

Fast forward thirty years:  That’s the same way I feel about CSLT.  I am so in love with my spiritual community!  During the two years I lived in Kanab, Utah, the thing I missed the most was my ‘people’, my ‘tribe’.  A year ago when I decided to leave Kanab I contemplated where in the world I wanted to live next – it was a short internal discussion.  I came home.

The ‘V’ word has become one of my greatest pleasures in life…yes, folks, I volunteer and I love it!  I care so much about CSLT and I want us to thrive for me and to be a major, positive force in Tucson, in Arizona!  So I give of my time.  I invest in my incredible community of like-minded souls who count on us to be here every Sunday.  At first I ushered – easy, infrequent, yet I had an opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and greet everyone who came through the doors.   Then, against every argument to the contrary in my brain, I actually volunteered to be on the Host Team – to be on the stage all by myself and speak into a microphone to y’all!  And no one has boo’d me off yet.  But the biggest commitment (aargh, the ‘C’ word!) I’ve ever made is becoming a member of the Board of Trustees here at the center. I was scared; all those old voices in my head told me I wasn’t smart enough, good enough, educated enough, mellow enough.  But the sane part of me won and I decided to invest my time and energy in what I love and to become a part of the changes and growth I want to see happen around our center.

Yes, I am a volunteer and am richly rewarded in more ways than I have space to write about.  If you’re not yet a volunteer because you aren’t sure what you would like to do or what needs to be done, talk to me.  There are so many choices, some of which aren’t visible to the general congregation on Sundays.  Most ‘jobs’ take up very little of one’s time.  And it feels so freaking good!  I guarantee you’ll feel more a ‘part of’ because you’ve shared some of yourself with something that matters to you. If it worked for a tough case like me, surely it will work for you.

by Renee’ Mezzone

A Clear Plan to Wealth and Abundance in Just 30 Minutes a Day

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In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever to get clear about your personal and professional goals—and to commit to a plan that will get you there. Financial abundance can be a game of fun and prosperity, but only when you realize that you don’t have to do everything yourself. Spirit wants to help you. Following is an overview of steps that you can take to allow it to do so:

1. Welcome your new spiritual partner to your financial advisory team and give it a name whose advice you value. I affectionately call my partner the Chief Spiritual Officer, or CSO for short. Create your own name for God, Spirit, Divine Intelligence, etc. which describes the characteristic of the all-knowing power of the universe that gives you advice through intuition, hunches, and other means.

2. Set aside 30 minutes a day to have a meeting with your partner. Follow a clear agenda that combines the force of 3 G’s – goals, gratitude, and God.

3. Establish clear job descriptions for both yourself and your new partner. You will decide what you want with gratitude. The CSO will create the path to achieve your goals and give you one step to take at a time. You will either take the step or ask for another lead. Then, you’ll reach your goal and celebrate.

4. Through this process you will experience a complete shift in your thinking about how financial wealth and abundance is created.

In my book, The Path to Wealth; Seven Spiritual Steps for Financial Abundance, you’ll also learn to go deeper into the practice to gain insight about your purpose, gain tools to successfully navigate financial ups and downs, overcome the fear of failure, as well as eliminate old beliefs and behaviors that have kept you from experiencing the success you really want.

Best of all, you will learn how to develop your own financial intuition, which is key to noticing and pursuing the opportunities that will present themselves once you are on this path.

Your spiritual advisor wants to help you. Make the commitment to begin your new partnership today!

May will be our guest author at our booth (#160) at this year’s Tucson Festival of Books on Saturday, March 14th between 11am and 3pm and will be speaking on Sunday morning, March 15th, during our Sunday Celebration Service at 10:30am and holding a workshop at our Office and Education Center from 1-3:30pm. Tickets for the workshop are $20 and can be purchased by contacting the office.

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May McCarthy has cofounded and grown six successful companies over her thirty-year career, with the largest growing to over $100 million in annual revenues. She credits her success to the spiritual new thought principles described in her book, and firmly believes that financial success and freedom are available to anyone who is willing to apply them. Visit her online at www.maymccarthy.com.

Groupon and the Farm Box

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tomato-9This story could more comfortably become a story I heard rather than something that actually happened to me today. About a month ago, Groupon offered a Farm Box for half the normal price. I had been curious about what local fresh organic produce delivered from the farm to consumer was like. I hadn’t been so curious that I wanted to sign up for regular delivery, so this was a perfect opportunity for me to find out how the FarmBox system worked and what was in a normal delivery. When I went on their website to arrange for pickup of my first (and probably only) FarmBox, I was not happy to learn that they required a credit card, in addition to my Groupon code to actuate my delivery. I communicated with their helpful customer service person about this and how I was unhappy that it really, really looked like I was being set up to be charged beyond this initial purchase, for regular weekly or twice-a-month-ly deliveries. The kind and helpful woman assured me that I would not be, that the consumer had to authorize any change in the program.

So the first box came and the contents were lovely, lively and fresh.  Still I was not inspired to change my subscription to start arranging for regular deliveries. The FarmBox people charge your card at the interval that you designate and if you do not pick up your box, they donate it to an organization that can use the fresh produce. This is a good business practice and good use of resources, since produce is so perishable, they have created a mechanism whereby it is not wasted.

Imagine my dismay this morning when I received an email from them that my credit card had been charged for this next week’s delivery, which I never set up and never authorized, but had been afraid would happen.

Emmet Fox wrote (in Around the Year with Emmet Fox), “When you give your mental assent to an idea, good or bad, you associate yourself with that idea and you incorporate it into your consciousness… It is the mental assent that counts.”

Oh that.

I e-mailed the helpful woman back and she got straightened out immediately. She remembered me from our previous interactions, was terribly apologetic, couldn’t imagine how it had happened, and that it must’ve been human error and wanted to make it right.

I knew exactly how it happened, and I know what to do about it. Shift my focus. Now.

—  Janis

Suffering is Not God-Ordained

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If the statement is true that, “The Christian religion gives more value to the individual life than do most of the others and that is why it has made such an appeal to the more vital races of the world, then the conjunction of Christianity and the African peoples was inevitable.

While the initial contact turned tragic; fortunately, over time, through its emphasis on the individual life, the peoples and descendants of Africa are beginning to rise sphinx like from the ashes of colonization and slavery.

Both movies, Django Unchained and 12 Years a Slave are psychologically significant, because they effectively captured and portrayed the spiritual aspirations of a people long oppressed. Oppressed in the sense that we were ignorant of our true nature and prevented from learning how to read and write. One film illuminated a mind set that had to be destroyed and the other illuminated a mind set that must be kept alive and vibrant.

Ernest Holmes goes on to say that, “Being what we are there are certain responsibilities that go with our natures-certain obligations; if our thought is creative and if we are unfolding to a discovery of our true nature, which must already be perfect, then the obligation and responsibility of this nature could impose freedom or bondage upon us temporarily, but our bondage cannot be real from the standpoint of the Absolute.” Our enslavement was not real from the standpoint of the Absolute. As one of African descent, having chosen to identify with the Absolute, bondage exercises no power over my soul. Incrementally, the world is moving towards identification with the Absolute.

Had the Science of Mind been written prior to the slave trade, and read throughout the entire continent of Africa, the road to self-discovery could have been a conscious one, and who knows, maybe in harmony with the aspirations of the white races, because suffering is not God-ordained.

The world has learned all it should from suffering.

Keith A. Gorley

Confusion is a place we hang out when we don’t want to let ourselves know what deep down we really do know. Because we don’t want to have to do what we have to do if we let ourselves know what we really do know. –Mary Morrissey

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