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Spiritual Oneness Through Music

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How wonderful it is to observe and think about the many different ways people may walk a spiritual path, and the different places along that road where one can find oneself. This is not an either/or proposition, but rather an opportunity to exercise the power of choice among the many options available. Depending upon what someone needs at any given moment, different approaches can fill that need.

There are times on the journey when one needs inspiration or guidance or a change in perspective, or maybe a deeper realization of love while working through a life situation. Sometimes what’s missing is the mystical and transcendent experience of oneness: that deep realization of truth where everything shifts and one experiences everything as perfect, as divine, as God in everything and everyone.

As each spiritual center, church, synagogue or mosque finds their unique way of talking about and fulfilling these human needs, more people can experience a depth and richness in the teachings and feel invited into a deeper acceptance and understanding of the Infinite.

Music is one of the most effective tools in facilitating the spiritual journey, and it is a powerful avenue by which all teachings and philosophies can find common ground and provide inspiration, a deepened realization of love, joy and peace and sometimes, between the notes and lyrics, that transient experience of the mystery comes, joining everyone in the divine. What a sweet place that is…especially when shared with others.

Three spectacular and unifying musicians, David Roth, Jana Stanfield and Richard Mekdeci, will offer the first Tucson emPower Music PosiPalooza Concert, from 6 to 9 p.m., September 21, at Donald R. Nickerson Performing Arts Center, in Tucson.

Admission is $20, or two for $35. Concert location: 3231 N. Craycroft Rd. Buy tickets at empowerma.com/upcomingevents or at Center for Spiritual Living Tucson, Unity Spiritual Center for Peace and Unity of Tucson on Sundays.

Blessings, Reverend Donald

Using Imagination and Will

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Having run across this following tidbit today, I thought it very appropriate for consideration given our theme for June: “Imagination and Will”.

“We take our point of view so much for granted, as if the world were really as we see it. But it doesn’t take much analysis to recognize that our way of seeing the world is simply an old unexamined habit, so strong, so convincing, and so unconscious we don’t even see it as a habit. How many times have we been absolutely sure about someone’s motivations and later discovered that we were completely wrong? How many times have we gotten upset about something that turned out to have been nothing? Our perceptions and opinions are often quite off the mark. The world may not be as we think it is. In fact, it is virtually certain that it is not.” (Norman Fischer, Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong, pg. 63)

How many times have you taken a piece of information and built it into its own false universe, only to find out later that the information you had was mistaken? You thought something happened, and maybe you took offense or felt hurt or diminished by it, when in fact it never happened at all, or it happened very differently than you thought.

Huge suffering can come from a misuse of imagination and will, and no one is exempted from doing this. We all have done it at one time or another. The key to sanity must be in understanding how to do this differently.

While thinking on Fischer’s quotation, I considered some questions:

How might I rightly use my imagination and will?

How can I use my imagination and will FOR my benefit, as well as for the benefit of those around me?

What if I use my imagination and will to “create” a world that works for everyone; where everyone respects differences and looks for connections and relatedness, instead of focusing on the differences. Since we all live in the same human bucket, how might I use my creativity to assist all of us more effectively getting along and finding mutual joy?

The questions continue to help my mind explore, and so far, I only have a few answers. This tells me that more answers are on their way and more joy is unfolding each minute. I think the beginning is to become ever more aware of how I am using my imagination, and how I am applying my will to those imaginings.

BestBlessings,

Reverend Donald Graves

How to Master Time: 5 Steps to Living a Timeless and Powerfully-Creative Life by Howard Falco

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Thinking About Time - Falco

Thinking About Time

It may be time for our idea of time to change.

Time is our most precious resource, yet each year, we seem to have less and less of it as our lives get busier and busier. Every day, we have a new set of tasks to complete and there are now so many distractions, and there is so much information coming at us on a daily basis, it’s no wonder we have lost that precious state of just enjoying the moment. A whole world of people now have their heads buried in their cell phones for most of the waking day and more than they’d like to admit during the wake-filled night. We have become digital information junkies. The result is a stressed-out, energy-drained state of mind, body and spirit. As a result, we have lost a big sense of peace and contentment with ourselves and the world around us.

What if you looked at time not from the perspective of time being limited but rather from the perspective of time being unlimited? What if you came to realize that your experience of time and how things all come together for you are actually rooted in how you interpret yourself and the world?

Mastering time is about learning to understand and trust the process of life. Faith is the word that comes to mind — except this is not a religiously-defined faith or a blind faith I’m talking about here but rather a faith in a universe that has literally birthed you into existence. Through endless years of evolution and trillions and trillions of transformations of the atoms and molecules in existence, you are the magnificent and perfect result.

How can you not trust that the universe will continue to support you on your journey?

The way you answer this is a big part of mastering time. A greater trust with life allows you to go through life with less fear and a more peaceful faith, so all you need, from the standpoint of your awareness, will be provided as you journey towards your creative intentions. This does not mean you do not take action towards your intentions each day, but rather, you do so from a state of less pressure and more peace. You act from a state of mind of less anxiety around the question of “when” to more of a state of knowing and trusting that life will guide you. By using this mental approach, time is no longer seen as limited, but rather, each moment is seen as an opportunity to work with life and learn from all the challenges that come your way.

This is a powerful state of mind to be in, and it has a direct positive impact on your experience of time.

With this approach, what once seemed like a struggle to achieve actually becomes easier. Rather than feeling like you are swimming against the current each day or feeling pressed for time, you live from a more trusting, faithful mindset that puts you in more of the flow of life. You may then marvel at how what you want to have happen comes to you more naturally and without you having to force it or pressure it to occur.

If you knew how powerful you really are you would never stop smiling.

The way in which you look at yourself and life is really what has the biggest impact on your daily experience of it. In order to truly master time, you must be willing to open yourself up to a new way of looking at it.

Below are five steps to living a more timeless and powerfully creative life.

1. Immediately stop living in regret. Eliminate the lies of “woulda, coulda and shoulda” from your mind and your vocabulary. Stop worrying about what you did yesterday. Instead, accept who you are now in this moment and focus your creative energy on honoring this newfound acceptance.

2. Trust that there is a reason for every challenge and circumstance. Even if you don’t understand why, allow the space to embrace the notion that things are happening for you, not to you. There is a certain timing to everything that comes into existence. Having expectations of the universe for what you want and when you want it actually works to add time to your journey.

3. Be present as much as possible. Every person, situation and moment has a message to offer you. If you aren’t present or you are moving too fast, you are going to miss this valuable information life is presenting you and thereby stretch your learning curve — which in turn stretches time.

4. Learn to act on your initial instincts. These instant thoughts are usually providing the fastest way from A to B as it relates to what you want. Don’t resist this knowing when it arises, thereby, giving your mind time to think twice about it or talk you out of it. Utilize your instinct more and learn to have the faith to just go with it.

5. Build the faith to see time is never wasted. Each moment has purpose. Realize that even when nothing seems to be happening, below the surface, in the places you cannot directly see, things are moving in your favor. This helps dissolve fear, resistance and pressure and increases the crucial energy of faith. The more you can come to embrace that for this moment this is exactly where you are supposed to be on the journey, the more powerful you will become.

Mastering the precious commodity of time is not as much about the organization of time, but rather, it’s much more powerfully about the attitude you hold about yourself and how this attitude affects every happening in your life. Awakening to see the sacred connection between these two things by slowing down enough to be more present is ironically the beginning of a new and much faster way of putting time on your side.

Follow Howard Falco on Twitter: www.twitter.com/howardfalco

(This content was first published on 4/24/14 on the Huffington Post)

“NO” and “YES” by Janet St. Marie

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Well, this week I was given a gift that I didn’t even know was being handed to me. It all started February 9th, in the message about Love of Self, when Reverend Donald Graves told us of that two-letter word which is so important in self-care – “No.”

The NO required in self-care.

The NO required in self-care.started February 9th, in the message about Love of Self, when Reverend Donald Graves told us of that two-letter word which is so important in self-care – “No.”

“No.” That’s it? “No?”

Just that very word shut me down. I am a master at saying “No”, since all my life I’ve said it– but mainly to myself. Everyone else got a “Yes.” And consequently my boundaries, if they even existed, were devastatingly ignored.

Reverend Donald’s emphatic call to use the word “No” in our practice of self-care was urging us to absolutely and unequivocally halt the disrespect of anyone’s self-appointed judgments violating our personal boundaries; and that this is an act of love for ourselves. I got that. I really did.

But I wanted to hear how THAT particular “No” to the judgments and demands of others was really a “Yes” to the truly most beautifully powerful Self that we are…how THIS “Yes” frees us to be the boundless expression of the great and mighty God that we are.

I have heard Reverend Donald say it before, that there’s a “Yes” behind every “No”; that our “No” helps to redirect the way something is going, and keeps our “Yes” the priority. If I truly say “Yes” to life, my “No’s” to destructive behavior keep me on track in choosing life and living.

I wanted to hear that “Yes” part again, but it didn’t come in that morning’s message. So I had to find it for myself. And that was the gift. It took a good five days. And my disappointment (no judgment on my part. Oh, no, not me!) at not being spoon fed that nugget was the impetus I needed to strive for that nugget; to seal it into my consciousness, and to begin living my life from there.

What a wonderful process it was – very much like unwrapping a surprise gift.

And now I’m feelin’ the love.

Thank you, Reverend Donald.

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

Experiencing Connection with All of Life

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Lynne and I have been co-facilitating a non-certificated class the last four Tuesday evenings. The class, entitled “Care of the Soul”, is about our awareness and connectivity with our personal experience of our life. After each one of us becomes aware of where we are, we are more easily at choice if we wish to change or deepen this experience. It has been a great joy to play in this experience each week with the intrepid and adventurous souls who have shown up for our class.

In the readings for one of the classes Lynne and I are taking for ministerial school, I found this quote. The book is called Will and Spirit; the author is Gerald May. The quote from page 43, is a tad long, but worth it:

“Human consciousness is the capacity to perceive and appreciate not only various stimuli but the ongoing process of being, and the mystery of that process. This sensitivity far transcends the simple observation of events and occurrences. One may sit by an open window, quietly noticing all that is there within and around oneself. Hearing a bird chirp, feeling the breeze, sensing the aroma of afternoon air, one is not only aware of these things, but can also sense that one is being aware of them….

Even more subtly, but just as solidly, one can sense and appreciate the process of one’s own thinking. Sitting by the window, increasingly relaxed and quiet, a thought comes, and it is noticed — as it is happening! One can even begin to perceive how thoughts form, how they seem to come into awareness. Many people have so busied themselves with the contents of their lives and minds that they may fail to appreciate such subtle processes. But utilized or not, the capacity for such open appreciation is present and accessible, within each human being….

Somehow these direct perceptions also include an immediate appreciation of being as a dynamic ongoing process. And somehow this in turn involves a person with all that exists in the cosmos, not just in terms of being related to it, but at a level of intimate communion and participation.”

I celebrate the experience of connection, within and throughout my life and in the lives of each person I come in contact with. Would you join me?

— Janis

Our Community Garden

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by Don Chatfield

Do you remember what first made you feel at home at the Center for Spiritual Living Tucson? Was it a warm greeting from an usher? Perhaps it was inspiring music provided by a soloist or the choir. It might have been a Sunday talk that spoke deeply to you. Maybe a member spoke with you after the service and helped you feel welcome. All of these things are vital components of the community that we are building at the Center.

A recent poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that the fastest growing segment of our population is those with no religious affiliation. The Pew research found that one-fifth of the U.S. public, and a full third of those under age 30, are religiously unaffiliated. Of those without a religious affiliation, about 37 percent consider themselves to be “spiritual but not religious” (a group commonly referred to as SBNR). Those who classify themselves as SBNR tend to believe in God, find a deep connection in nature, and pray regularly. Most of this group, however, say that they are not seeking a spiritual community. They tend to practice their spirituality individually.

At the Center for Spiritual Living Tucson, many of us can identify with the sentiments of the SBNR population. Some of us have previously dealt with pressure to believe a certain way, experienced unpleasant expectations about behavior, or seen excesses in the name of organized religion. For many of us, our first experience at the Center was like a homecoming. Our New Thought philosophy provides a practical spirituality that is “open at the top,” providing each of us with an opportunity to experience and express our spirituality in a way that makes sense to us. Drawing from truths of many spiritual traditions, we experience Sunday celebrations that are meaningful and inspiring.

While enjoying this personal freedom of spiritual expression, we also enjoy the many benefits of a spiritual community. It is these benefits that keep me attending the Center. While I sometimes enjoy meditating alone in the mountains or by a stream, I find vitality and encouragement in meeting regularly with others who are on a spiritual path.

Over the years, I’ve experienced the warmth of deep discussion in classes offered at the Center, along with numerous new friendships that grew from these connections. I’ve enjoyed laughter and connection at socials and community meals. I have savored the sound of a familiar voice on the telephone when I was hospitalized. And I have leaned on strong shoulders when I was feeling discouraged or stuck. I hope that you’ve had many of these same experiences.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German politician, author, and poet described the importance of community in this way: “The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and….is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.”

I’m delighted that this “community garden” is growing at the Center for Spiritual Living Tucson. Many have commented on the positive energy enjoyed in recent celebration services and the importance of being together with one another. Over the coming year the Board of Trustees, along with the Team Leads, will be working to provide additional tools to deepen our connection as a loving community. I invite you to explore ways to deepen your connection with our community.

Blessings,

Don Chatfield
President, Board of Trustees

Changes and what’s to come of it all.

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I’ve read that change is difficult for some people. I’ve read and observed people claiming to want change in their lives, however, some seem to want others to change so they avoid looking at themselves and making changes. It’s like grumbling at the driver in front of you in traffic. In attempting to change others, some find themselves very frustrated and emotionally charged over the changes occurring, meaning they’re not responding in a healthy way toward encouraging change, changing changes or managing change etc. Confused? Me too.

The reality I know is that we must continue to change in order to survive and thrive. This is true of CSL as well as the individual souls who attend. In my time here, I’ve seen change and it made so much difference to my wife, DeeAnn Saber, and to me that we joined this community even when we were initially skeptical about becoming members (ask me about this story I’m happy to share). Honestly, I have found that when I’m involved in asking for what I want and in acting on what I believe is good, I’ve seen improvements and changes that make a huge difference in my life and here at CSLT. It’s happening all around us. This stuff we believe does work and I’m here to say so.

For example right now, looking at change we need to realize what we have to work with here at CSLT:

  1. We have a team working toward assisting in finding out what congregants REALLY want by creating a survey that will allow each of you to have input (Community Development Envisioning Team)
  2. We have a team that is searching for a new location that would provide us with a permanent home, class rooms, space for a children’s program etc… (Facilities Team)
  3. We have a team working toward feeling, seeing and guiding us toward our highest good (thank you to each of you for holding this space for us) called the Visioning Core
  4. We have a team called Altared States that creates beauty on our Altar each week and is trying to bring other groups together to unite for a commonality; loving and welcoming each other as well as newcomers
  5. We have a team that greets you each Sunday morning (the Ushers) providing that Sundays’ Program
  6. We have a team (the Music Core) that brings us music, talent, laughter, dance!
  7. We have a team that attempts to assist you, contact you, bring you food when you need compassion and help (Compassionate Heart)
  8. We have a team making the fellowship hall pretty and bringing supplies needed so that after services you can sit and visit comfortably (Hospitality)
  9. We have a team providing books and learning materials (Bookstore Team).
  10. We have a marvelous group of Practitioners who are also guiding the spiritual center of our community and each of you – our members.

We have more teams too which I haven’t mentioned. Each and every team is working towards teaching, change, healing and being supportive.

There is a way for every one of us to participate in supporting our spiritual community – join one of these groups. Know that each group/team contributes to CSLT’s overall well-being even while making changes.

I want to continue to champion more changes – and if nay sayers exist to a planned change, I to ask them to suspend grumbling, ask for more information if there might not be enough and to remember this:

I believe, trusting that the love and the compassion we exchange is real. Have faith in the fact that affirmative prayer and treatment DO work, all the time. Maybe it doesn’t always look like we thought it would but it does indeed work. Trust that your Board of Trustees truly opens, works within and completes each session focusing only on the highest and best outcome for us all.

Change is going to occur with or without your acceptance, in spite of you, because of you, for you, from you. Remember, you’ve been changing all your life. It’s not stopping now. You can choose to be positive and open where you’ll find it’s far easier to digest, guide and appreciate. Or not.

In closing, changes are not about stepping on anyone’s toes. It’s not about wanting to bypass individuals. It’s not about deliberately overlooking anyone. It IS about moving forward to see what’s available, what’s possible, what’s not being considered, what’s limiting, what’s another option. We must be willing to explore openly knowing final results will ONLY occur if it’s truly in the best and highest interest of our congregation.

So, knowing BIG CHANGE, that which we’ve experienced already and knowing that we will have MORE to come; as a spiritual community I look forward to us coming together without coming apart in the process.

I welcome the support I know we feel and share and will continue to show for each other.

Zach Saber
CSLT Board Member

A Few Words about the George Zimmerman Verdict

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Back up from the media, whether it’s ABC or FOX or Facebook or whatever, and take a look from a bigger picture: Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Mourn the unnecessary & tragic death of any young person or adult, and then extend that mourning to any perceived injustice. Honor the life of anyone who is senselessly killed or treated unjustly by advancing and/or establishing the very ideals that were violated. Take whatever energy you feel, about the George Zimmerman verdict last Friday evening or the Marissa Alexander verdict of May 2012, and use them and other similar situations to educate, beginning wherever you are right now.

George Zimmerman is not a free man. He will have to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life. Zimmerman is far from free.

Keep in mind that two people died in Sanford, FL on February 26, 2012. And in a very real way, both deaths were a result of the race consciousness in which they lived. Every perpetuated thought, decision and belief contributes to this pool of consciousness, and this is something each of us can do something about.

We each can heal the racial barriers in our own minds and hearts and promote inclusion rather than separatism, beginning right now. We each can remember: When senselessness and injustice have no place to live, they cease to be.

Let’s remember The One Life, The One Light. Let’s let THAT Light shine brightly within and without. Let’s light up the darkness by infusing it with Light.

BlessingsBe,
Rev Donald

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