Category: Spiritual Living

LIFE’S COAT by Rev. Rhoni

Imagine the universe beautiful and just and perfect. Then be sure of one thing: the Is has imagined it quite a bit better than you have– Richard Bach

Recently Charles and I took some time off, and traveled to Durango, Colorado for my brief break away from Sunday. We explored galleries, and wineries, and walked the historic downtown area. Our two dogs, Ambrose and Ralphie were also included in our family adventure. It was the perfect few days of a “rocky mountain high.”

I have found in ministry; you never really get “time off.” It is part of the soul contract I believe when I decided to take my place in this human experience. Off and on during my time away I thought about what I wanted to “teach.” April’s theme is, “Coming into Life Again.” I received two books from Spirit during my contemplation. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and Paths to Recovery (Al-Anon’s steps.) I usually become concerned when I receive two “nudges” out of the blue, both appear to be repeating the same information pointing me towards something to do or be aware of. By the “third nudge” its intent is to get my attention, because things are about to change and, in my experience, you do not really want to experience that “third tap” because things are going to get real.

This time it has been “gentler”, and I loved revisiting both books. I read Jonathan Seagull when I was a teenager, and the Al-Anon Recovery book was my guide and anchor during my marriage to my former husband who passed due to congested heart failure and alcoholism. Both with their wisdom go together nicely and will probably show up in my talks this month. However, I have kept alert of there being a “third” book or other for me to pay attention to. I asked the question, “Is this all that I need to know?” A few days later, I received my third nudge.

As I am going through files in my home office looking for my copy of the Easter service, I want to share with all of you this year, IT appeared. It is a poem I wrote many years ago when I was in the middle of Practitioner training. I can remember the feeling of writing it, because I felt different. Something had shifted in my heart and was affecting me deeply. The gift is, after reading it again, I discovered a perspective of, when we enter our spiritual path, we have no idea where it will lead us. I can declare with a grateful heart I am grateful for every experience I receive. Life is a coat of many colors and experiences and this as my “third nudge” I would like to share with all of you.

Life’s Coat

It happened over night it seemed a change was in the air,

I reached first for my sweater, but alas it was not there.

So, I went to my hallway closet, where I knew my old coat hung,

But for some unknown reason, it looked a little different hanging on the rung.

I took it out and tried it on and found it did not fit!

How could this be? I thought and fumed, now this really got me ticked.

But as I took a longer look, my coats parts summed up my life.

Each piece connected one by one, told the story of my strife.

The cloth it was made of was my shield from really living.

The shoulders bore my burdens, though I felt I was forgiving.

Each sleeve displayed my heart that I allowed to be unprotected.

The pockets were where I stuffed the things I loved and neglected.

The lapels were where I displayed, the courage I thought I had,

And the fact no one was close to me, my heart was deeply sad.

As long as my coat stayed buttoned, I knew I could still hide.

However, the hem was a giveaway, unraveling daily, along with my pride.

It was then that the thought struck me, I could put this old coat away.

Never to be taken out again, not even on a rainy day.

The coat had many colors, which up close I could not see.

Ribbons of harmonious perfection bounced back as a mirror, taunting me.

So, I changed my thinking and changed my life,

Putting that old coat back on the pole.

I happily chose another one, this time not for my body, but my soul.

-Namaste with love, Rev. Rhoni

Wherever you go…there you are by Mariann Moery

“When we go to a new place we shall find there only what we have taken with us. If we have taken success we will find success; if, on the other hand we have taken failure we will find failure. Ernest Holmes Creative Mind – 80.2

Or Friends. Or Loneliness. Or Pizza. Or Limitations.

Holmes first book: Creative Mind published originally in 1918 is amazingly clear and direct, expressing all the important tenets of Science of Mind largely unencumbered by any of the ideas or language contemporary to that time.

“We have missed the whole point, unless we have learned so to control our thought that time and place make no difference.” 21.4

C’est fait par du monde – lifting from Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations for Mortals (Day 27): Attributed to a French-Canadian grandmother, ..whenever a family member expressed overawed admiration for art, technology, anything, it roughly translates to- People did that.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, spoken by Cassius to Brutus.

“The thing to do is to unify ourselves with the biggest ideas that we can compass; and realizing that our ideas govern our power of attraction, we should be constantly enlarging within ourselves.” Ernest Holmes Creative Mind – 81.1

“If you want to do a new thing, get a new thought and then you will have the power of attraction which has the possibility of drawing to you the circumstances which will make for the fulfillment of your desires. Get over the old idea of limitation. Overcome all precedents and set yourself in the new order of thing…..God has created you for a glorious future; dare to fling out into mind the greater assurances about yourself.” Creative Mind 62.1

And one last quote:

“The one who dares to fling thought out into Universal Intelligence, with the assurance of one who realizes their own divine nature and its relation to the Universe—and dares to claim all there is—will find an ever-creative good at hand… God will honor the request. To the soul that knows its own divinity, all else must gravitate. Let us , then, enlarge our thought processes and dare to think in Universal terms. Let us dare to believe that every constructive word is invincible.” Ernest Holmes: Science of Mind Text – 142.3

May we all dare and do.

–In Peace, Mariann

Transitions by Linda Bullock

Spirit understands adversity as opportunity. Spirit is able to work for the good in all things. As I encounter difficult transitions in which I doubt the good which is unfolding, I remind myself there is a higher plan in motion with which I can consciously cooperate. As I face my resistance to change, as I choose to align myself with events as they are unfolding, I find in my acceptance a sense of tranquility, a promise of safety. Change embraces me as I myself embrace change. Transitions: Prayers and Declarations for a Changing Life by Julia Cameron.

Sometimes difficult circumstances are the impetus for change. Such is life and in the midst of personal change I am relying on the promise of safety and occasional sense of tranquility. We are preparing to sell the house that has been our home for 24 years. I don’t want to focus yet on all the change this house has seen, the life changes retirement and health decline have brought, the 5 dogs and 3 cats no longer with us, the friends who enhanced our experiences. That will be part of my grieving, reliving the joy and the pain. There is work to be done now.

This is a time I need my faith to be strong and my physical strength to be sustained. There will be opportunities to assume more of the decision-making in the ongoing elements of a big move, to ensure safety for my husband and pet throughout, to plan and adjust to a new community which will be very different from our rural one.

This is a time when I need to release my reluctance to ask for help, to remember that I am part of the Living Spirit. Julia Cameron affirms on page 94; Today I place my trust in universal love. I open my heart to receive care and comfort from unexpected sources. I allow my good to come from many quarters. I surrender my fixed ideas as to what best serves me. I open to the innovative grace of my unfolding life.

This is a time to be grateful for new experiences, new conveniences, new relationships ahead. I am grateful that this move is our choice, not one necessitated by disaster. I am grateful that technology accommodates ease of ongoing communication with likeminded individuals despite physical distances. I am grateful for Science of Mind teachings that overcome fear and anxiety. I am grateful for the practice of affirmations, such as the following from Ernest Holmes in Creative Ideas, page 27.

Today I do affirm that I am divinely guided and that the Spirit goes before me and paves the way. There is that within which knows what to do and how to do it, and it compels me to act on what it knows.

I accept this guidance as now flowing forth into action through me. Therefore I shall do that which I should do, I shall know that which I need to know, I shall encounter those new ideas I need. With nonresistance and complete acceptance, I let the inward stream of life carry me safely and surely to the accomplishment of my every good purpose.

May all your transitions be peaceful.

–Love, Linda

Gratitude. Good for the Soul. Good For the Whole Person. By Chris Wheeler

I am grateful because I cultivate gratitude.

Gratitude can be the pathway to stability in my outlook on life.

Biologically our brains focus on contrast and possible negative consequences because our primal selves want survival. Negativity is a natural tendency that very often can end in despair.

Gratitude helps me focus on the things and situations that contribute to my well-being.

Consciously we are aware of less than .01% of the sensory cells being activated each second. Normally this is a good thing – if we were suddenly aware of all of the different things touching our body, smells reaching our nose, tastes lingering on our tongue, sounds hitting our eardrums and light-rays entering our eyes all at once, we would go into overload and be unable to focus.

Sometimes it’s good to suspend the filter and increase awareness.

The next time you are eating delicious food, take a moment to close your eyes, focus on the pleasant sensations being generated in your mouth, and be grateful for 1) your tongue, 2) the food or both. Doing this not only makes me grateful and happy – it makes my food taste much better.

The next time you are listening to a favorite song, focus on the beautiful combination of sounds, and be grateful for 1) your ears, 2) the music, or both. Remember the emotions you experienced the first few times you listened to a favorite song? This can help you reclaim that initial joy.

The scope of gratitude can expand exponentially.

I have placed “Gratitude Rain Showers” on my to-do list because it gives me the opportunity to practice gratitude as free flowing consciousness. This once-a-month event (the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 on CSLT Zoom channel, email office for Zoom information) is a great way to start regular practice of listing gratitudes.

Nurturing a heart that is full of gratitude I find it easier to interpret my world as a place of unlimited potential and good. I prefer to live in the world I intend to live in rather than a world of pessimism.

God created ALL Things. Who am I to judge God’s results.

–Chris Wheeler

A Pot of Gold Consciousness by Rev. Rhoni

“Yes, you can have it all!!” Was the “consciousness cry” of the 80’s for Religious Science. Many of us concentrated on manifesting partners, palaces and parking places. Manifesting our hearts desire, proof that the power of the mind and the Divine does in fact work. In the Christian dogma there is now the “Prosperity Gospel” (Abundance Good News). Something metaphysicians have always practiced. However, has this consciousness changed? I have been a lifetime member of Religious Science, and I have been a witness and a participant in all the metamorphosis our philosophy continues to experience. I have watched other faith traditions embrace what we already have as a spiritual practice, of knowing “It’s my good, and I ought to have it” said Emma Curtis-Hopkins with conviction.

In the face of our current existence, we are bombarded by the financial stability of our country. Which I understand for me is to also look at my prosperity consciousness. There is a revelation a foot. A mirror reflecting to me, do I feel impoverished in my life? Or do I feel full and accept everything and “all that I need comes to me?” Abundance consciousness is not about money, it is about how we live. Sure, money creates things to be easy and carefree, no worries etc., but what about the other facets of our lives?

Ernest Holmes said, God wills us to have everything. As we express life, we fulfill God’s law of abundance, but we do this only as we realize that there is good enough to go around-only as we know that all of God’s gifts are given as freely and fully as the air and the sunshine.

I understand it as most people, probably feel somewhat comfortable with their present beliefs, and might prefer to stay at the present level of consciousness and at the present level of life it provides, rather than spending the energy to change your consciousness, and our life. The question deep down is, “Do we want something more? To have a different experience of this life we have currently chosen? How about giving yourself permission to want a different experience and totally change it! Jacob Needleman a professor of mine while studying at the University of Philosophical Research said, Our modern world-view tragically misperceives and wrongly defines what it is to be human. We are conditioned by our society to believe happiness comes from pleasure, or from getting things or power over people or money or fame or even health and survival. None of these sometimes very good things can bring ultimate meaning to our lives. We are born to be deeply conscious, inwardly free and deeply capable of love. The longing for these things is the definition of what it means to be human. Yes, we are human. It is important to note, although it is nice to have material “things”, it is not our source or our supply. God-in-me is the Source and Substance of my highest good throughout my life experience. We are, prosperous as love as the Divine lives and breathes and has its being through me and you. Is it really about the material we want to live in? Or is it about our relationship with our Highest Source? When we live in the consciousness of abundance of our entire life, WILL BE THAT EXPERIENCE. Through our mind in action, we embrace the mantra, “God is my source, God is my supply.” When we live in that mind set, IT IS. This month I will be speaking each Sunday on the topic of abundance as we explore together what it really “feels” like to live in an abundant universe. I hope you will join us either on YouTube or in person at 11 am on Sundays.

–Namaste, Rev. Rhoni

It’s An Inside Job by Mariann Moery

It’s cyclical for me. Ups and Downs. Feeling the Spirit within and then not so much.

The lesson story of the difference between two stone masons: one was doing his job laying bricks and the other was building a cathedral…same/same but totally different.

We always succeed, so our immediate problem is not one of success, but what kind of success we are having.…We need to learn to succeed in the right things. Ernest Holmes – A New Design for Living, 143 & 148

There was a time when automobiles were forbidden to go faster than 35 mph, because it was known that faster than that and our brains would explode.

Because we fail to realize that Principle is not bound by precedent, we limit our faith to that which has already been accomplished, and few miracles result. When, through intuition, faith finds its proper place under Divine Law, there are no limitations, and what are called miraculous results follow. Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind, 162.3

And so, we are in charge of how we view life, of how we live Life. We choose the Energy we use to create our experiences. We are not actually governed by what has gone before, or how we responded to events before – or how we named the experiences of our life before.

…only by starting now, not tomorrow, will we ever come to believe more, to experience the proof of that which we do believe. We have in this moment the choice, the right, and the privilege either to maintain and support any pattern of thought we may have previously established, or to establish an entirely new pattern of action.

We must decide…Now is the only time we can ever act. Ernest Holmes, A New Design for Living, 130.2

Consistency is all important. Consistent negative thought gets us into most of our trouble; consistent positive thought is the only thing that can get us out. … each additional successful experience will breed more of it. Success breeds success, so let us be sure of the direction in which we are going. Ernest Holmes, A New Design for Living, 146

If you are like me, and sometimes feel negative energy eroding that which is our basic good, then I will share these words from Dr. Holmes – the capital letters are his – he thought it important enough to YELL:

WE ARE BOUND BY NOTHING EXCEPT BELIEF. WE MAY CHANGE THE TREND OF CAUSATION WHICH HAS BEEN SET IN MOTION AT ANY TIME WE DECIDE TO DO SO. Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind, 128

–Knowing for each and all peaceful change toward the good, Mariann

 

Gratitude In All Things by Sharon Whealy, RScP

We are all familiar with gratitude lists as a tool to help us shift our thinking. We sit down with a piece of paper and list all the things we are grateful for: our home, our work, our family and friends, food on the table, good health. The list goes on. This practice of gratitude tends to focus on all the things we already have in our lives, and not so much on what we desire to have in our life.

Zen Master Sono shared this practice of gratitude saying, “Thank you for everything. I have no complaints whatsoever.” (SOM Magazine Nov. 2023). I journaled about this passage, delving into the idea of being grateful for everything, without complaint at all. How do we get to that place of gratitude for everything, not just the things we love having in our lives, but everything else that we would rather just go away?

For me, the first step is acceptance, can I acknowledge what has happened, or is happening, just as it is? It is done, and now it is up to me to choose how to respond. I can fight it, rail against it, try to change it, or I can say, okay – this is what is happening now.

My next step is to breathe and center, to get myself into present time. I look around and check in with what is actually happening right now, in this eternal moment of now. This allows me to remember and know that God / Spirit / Love / Life is right in the middle of what is happening and so it must be good, often despite appearances! Then I anchor that with Spiritual Mind Treatment (God is, I am, all is well and good, I am Grateful, and so it is).

Finally, I continue to look for the good in every situation. Anytime there is a natural disaster; floods, fires, hurricanes, etc., people come together to help each other. During Covid we saw the planet begin to heal, we gave each other space, and we learned new ways of staying connected. It is often when we hit “rock bottom” that the deepest shift and healing begin.

In Joe Dispenza’s Becoming Supernatural, he talks about manifesting the life of our dreams. About gratitude he says, “Gratitude is a powerful emotion to use for manifesting because normally we feel gratitude after we receive something. So, the emotional signature of gratitude means it has already happened. When you are thankful or you feel appreciation, you are in the ultimate state to receive” (pg. 82)

Lately I have been playing with the idea of being grateful for things that have not happened yet. When Jesus blessed the loaves and fishes, he gave thanks for the abundance they were about to receive. To open our last Gratitude Rainshower I read from Colette BaronReid’s The Dream Weaver’s Oracle, card 31, “When the Birds Sing Grat-it-tude”: “The true manifesting power of gratitude is the declaration in advance of your needs being met. . . . Can you be thankful for whatever happens?”

Next Gratitude Rainshower is Tuesday, February 25 th at 6:30pm on CSLT’s Zoom room.

-In all things, may you be grateful. Blessings. Sharon

A New Way of Thinking by Linda Bullock

Tamara Morrison illustration

“I am an old man. I’ve had many problems, most of which never happened.”  Attributed to Mark Twain.

“I now accept all that I have hoped for and believed in. There is nothing in me that can doubt that good will make its appearance in my experience.”   The Essential Ernest Holmes, p. 124

About 29 years ago, I became engaged to my now husband. I was very anxious about getting married again. I focused on a myriad of possible negative outcomes in our future relationship. I was obsessed with “what ifs.” I shared these feelings with my sponsor from 12 step meetings. She gently reminded me that it’s not about assurance of possible experiences in my marriage; that I needed to use my faith in my Higher Power to know that no matter what occurs (conditions) that I would get what I needed to get through and be okay. She further reminded me that because of our fellowship, I would not have to go through events alone unless I chose to.

At the time I wasn’t familiar with Science of Mind teachings but recognized the truth of my friend’s statement. And such has been my experience. I was raised with a fundamentalist belief that stressed sin and punishment. I literally had trouble believing in a God that loved me unconditionally. I didn’t believe that life was supposed to be happy. I experienced shame and guilt without any sense of forgiveness. It took a lot of work to release the selfcondemnation and shift to a consciousness of a loving God. I’m grateful that I hung around New Thought teachings until this shift happened.

According to Ernest Holmes, “One cannot be a good student of the Science of Mind who is filled with fear and confusion… We suffer because we are not in both conscious and subjective communication with the affirmative side of the Universe… There is nothing in the Universe that denies the right to be happy, if our happiness does not deny or interfere with the general good.” (SOM, pages 160-161)

I now use affirmations and affirmative prayer to override old religious ideas. I have learned that it’s not how I feel but what I do that determines the quality of my life. A daily spiritual practice is the solution. I am usually aware of when I am entertaining negative thoughts and endeavor to release them. Anxiety based on fear is a useless emotion. Today I can choose to be happy. One day at a time.

“You’re not the limited, anxious person you think you are…really, you’re the very heart of compassion, completely aware, and fully capable of achieving the greatest good, not only for yourself, but for everyone and everything you can imagine.” (Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, The Joy of Living)

~Wishing peace and many blessings to all, Linda

God and Grace Endure By Rev. Rhoni Tretsven

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Shift and change are part of our human experience as a soul here on this earthly plane. Many of us anticipate change when we flip over the calendar and see not just the month has changed but the numbers representing the year we are now entering. I have often stared at that blank January page and then quickly flipped through the rest of the pages, wondering what events will shift and change within me, not just my existence of what I name as a life lived. Beginning the new year I have written promises to myself, resolutions and half of them already are up for renegotiation. I have experienced a change in leadership not just nationally, but locally and set the intention to trust the process of these changes. When my life has felt uncomfortable, it is because I know there is a transformation that is wanting to give birth to a new idea, or a new lens of life to look through and be a witness to. All too often I know each of us has felt that uncomfortable and painful poke of what is trying to emerge, through us as us. Instead of pushing it away or down and saying to myself, “not now I’m not ready” Unconditional love of Spirit/God initiates the process of, “oh yes you are.” This is when we surrender and open our hearts and truly sense the reality of God. The unseen in the seen, love. All that is transposing, transforming, and transitioning for my highest good and yours as well. God’s grace endures.

One of my “teachers”, philosopher Paul Tillich said, “Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage.”

The essence and great power of love I will name as God is always for us and never against us. Grace is a good and God thing when it strikes us. Grace is our continual conversation with It. Grace strikes us in multiple ways but the easiest is to simply embrace God’s acceptance of us. Each one of us IS accepted as a soul and as a continual presence of how God receives us unconditionally. God does not withhold acceptance, It is I, until some moment when I finally change in some way. God accepts and loves me right where I am, now, and It is the love that continues so that I may lean into it, rest if I have to, and begin again.

“Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, ‘You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now, perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!’ If that happens to us, we experience grace. After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed” *

I ask that we all take a few moments this week to be in the silence and allow Spirit/God to speak through us and take/receive a spiritual inventory of our conditions for a life well lived. To breathe and breathe into our life and the possibilities ever before us.

For Reflection:

• How have you experienced God’s gracious presence in this difficult year?

• When you thought you were separated from it, how did it show up for you as love?

• How has God/Spirit shown up?

• What have you experienced, or what has been demonstrated that you always know God is in and through you?

• Why not talk honestly with God about anything in our life, you can talk to God and It will always give you an answer.

Thank you for all that you are, and all that you are becoming.

*Paul Tillich, philosopher

In gratitude and love, Rev. Rhoni

Limitless, Infinite and All That Jazz! by Mariann Moery

Raymond Charles Barker when talking about ‘Limitless Opportunity’ chose this text from the Bible: “The world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come are all yours” 1 Corinthians 3:22

Barker continued: “This statement of Paul’s tells you that you can have what you want; you can become what you want; the Universe is a limitless opportunity for the exploration by the individual…. the people who are near to the heart of God are the people who are active – the people who are adventurous,….. not merely good; they are good for something. They are projecting, creating, and demanding from life that everything shall be theirs.” Raymond Charles Barker: Collected Wisdom 187-188

Jesus: It is done unto you as you believe. Matthew 8:13

“We do not have to do it, it is done unto us, it done by a power that is all….Life externalizes at the level of our thought.” Ernest Holmes: Creative Mind 25

“The law implanted within us is that we need nothing except ourselves and this All-Wise Creative Mind to make anything; and that just so far as we depend upon any condition, past, present or future, or upon any individual, we are creating chaos.” Ernest Holmes: Creative Mind 24

We know this. We have read it, studied it, been instructed in it….and yet. It is so easy to forget. To slide into …it is done unto me by events outside of my control….ooops.

One final quote from Ernest

“Where do we find the one who can live above their surroundings, who in their own thought can dominate all conditions, and in the midst of the crowd keep their own way and their own counsel. Ernest Holmes: Creative Mind 20

It is by our thinking, our knowing, our consistent persistence in ignoring the events that distract and staying fully present in the game – so say Holmes, Troward and even the Dali Lama. To stay present with joy knowing we are delivering our best unique expression as our contribution to lift that common hour pool of thought. That ‘gene pool of humankind’s history’ that governs events when we do not direct our own Life.

But first, before we can be in charge… we must decide and specify and keep constant what it is we want. The precise object/idea/change we want and then let it happen. As in get out of the way while holding on to the knowing that it or something better is coming.

Keep it in Focus. Always. Trust and Know. And so It is.

–In Peace, Mariann

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