Shake It Off and Step Up

The full text as prepared for the Sunday, August 19, 2012 message:

            I spent a lot of time this week thinking about something I said last week.

            Sometimes I say things that I’ve planned out, and sometimes I say things that I’m already aware of… things I’ve thought about or talked about before.  And sometimes things come out of my mouth that, in retrospect, I realize that I’d never thought of before.

            This idea that I put forth last week was kind of a mash-up of all three, or at least, the inspiration I felt during the week was a new thought for me.

            This is what I’m referring to: last week I talked about how when we catch ourselves being negative – we’re on a spiritual path and we’re heading toward something positive, towards a more expanded experience or a more peaceful experience and we catch ourselves being negative… what we all do, or at least have done… is we get upset with ourselves and we go through this verbal self-abuse about being unconscious when we want to remain conscious.  We do this instead of saying to ourselves, “Oh my gosh, I’m conscious, thank you God!”  and it seems to me that we can’t become conscious, we can’t return to consciousness, we can’t remember to be conscious with out the aid of God.

            Let me repeat that, “I don’t think we can return to consciousness without the aid of God. “

            If that’s accurate than what does that mean?  Every time we recognize we’ve been unconscious, which is the same as saying we’ve returned to consciousness, it must be because we have become aware of the Presence of God!  It must be because the Power and Presence of God has bubbled up into awareness.

            This is the part I was thinking about this week… how that’s what’s actually happening.  it's as though God is tapping us on the shoulder and saying, “Hey, I’m over here” instead of over there… over there being anywhere in which, or any time during which, we are unaware of God… or enmeshed in thoughts of negativity… and God taps us on the shoulder and we are actually available enough to be aware of it.  And God says, “Hey, I’m right here” and this is the part I really began to think about: the power behind saying, “Thank you God.  Thank you for your help.  Thank you for caring enough about me to tap me on the shoulder (so to speak) to say, Hey, I’m here.”  

            It was powerful for me this week to think about those things, and I think that that’s a very powerful way to break the habit of negativity.  

             Maybe we get a little too wrapped up in having this or that negative reaction, negative circumstance or condition, or whatever it is, and we battle against it, we fight against it, we try to overcome it, subdue it, conquer it, destroy it, vanquish it… and that does it keep the battle alive.  If you’re participating in fighting against anything, then you’re in battle with it, trying to dominate it.

            Where is the scripture that says, “Blessed is he who come in the name of dominance…?” Nowhere.

            Psalm 118:26 does say, though, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. You are blessed from the house of the Lord.”  The Lord meaning spiritual activity, “Blessed is the one who come in the name of spiritual activity.  You are blessed from (by) your spiritual activity.”

            There’s this thing… and I don’t know if it’s a dumb thing that guys just do or if it’s rooted in any tradition, but there’s this dumb thing that guys do where each combatant clasps the others forearm and then their hands and forearms are lashed and tied together so you can’t get apart.  Then you tried to beat the living daylights out of each other… until one of you is subdued.

            That, to me, is what it’s like engaging negative thinking in a “fight” kind of way.  All that does is actually bind that to us, and we just keep slugging it out and slugging it out… and much like Sisyphos who rolled the huge boulder to the top of the hill only to have it roll back down again and was compelled to repeat this action over and over again, we continue to fight against that which we do not want.  We continue to strap our hands and forearms to our challenges and wail away at the until we become exhausted and ask for mercy… or we get bloodied and we surrender in defeat because we can’t get away from it, whereas, if we say, “Thank you God, I’ve been unconscious and now I’ve remembered, with your help,” that, metaphorically speaking, takes one of those straps, one bit of binding off, if not all of it.

            So I think this is one good, very easy, very gentle and effective way, to break the binds that hold us to our struggle.  This is an easy step that we all can do.

The other way we have to try to overcome this, in all its variants, in all the ways it might appear for us… and it’s too much for us (not to mention we can’t do it alone anyway).  It’s too big and it overwhelms us when we don’t include the awareness and the remembrance of the Presence of God… and gratitude for that.  So I think this is such a simple step to begin in that way to start to dissolve the power of negativity.

I don’t believe it’s any more difficult than that:

·         to recognize we’ve been unconscious

·         say Thank you, God

·         and then, from there, do whatever our spiritual practice is

 Sometimes when we go to negativity it’s “just” complaint about this or that or resistance to this or that.  But part of the way we’re kept in negativity is by reliving old bad memories; painful hurtful old memories that seem to rise up from time to time… and maybe even frequently… and we accept the invitation to participate in that old hurt again.  We accept the invitation to go back and relive that old hurt and establish that it has some kind of value for us.  If it has no value to us, why would we choose to relive it; to replay it in our hearts and minds again?  I believe that we do not participate in any thinking that we do not think has value for us somehow.  We must find some value in it otherwise we wouldn’t do it.

When old painful memories come up what do you do?  Imagine you had a box full of photographs that represented experiences in your life.  If you picked out one that reminded you of painful times, would you hold it, gaze at it, maybe even touch some part of it and then a wistful smile spreads across your face as you feel a longing to remember it and go back there?

I don’t think so.

Would you feed oats to a dead horse?

What I’m suggesting is when old, painful memories come up, and we become aware of them, that we say thank you God, and we go to our spiritual practice that we already have in place.

If you don’t already have a spiritual practice that you default to, then, once you regain consciousness from your struggle, say thank you and ask, what would you have me do?  From there, take a few moments to settle inside and listen for guidance.  Maybe it’ll come right away; maybe you’ll feel the inspiration in a day or two.

Here’s another way that I think we defeat ourselves… we give up too soon.

There’s a parable about a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule braying, or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him.  It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he should shake it off and step up! This he did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up!" He repeated it to encourage himself.

No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed, the mule fought panic and just kept right on Shaking It Off and Stepping Up! You're right! It wasn't long before the old mule battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well and out of his trouble.

No problem is healed (solved) without the Presence of God at work in our lives.  Sometimes the Presence of God is a conscious act for us and sometimes it occurs in the sub-conscious.

Why not give yourself the benefit of the doubt and invite God into your awareness?

What seemed like it would bury the mule actually blessed him, all because of the positive perspective from which he viewed his adversity. And once we reject the invitation to participate in adversity, in negativity… or once we decide to leave the party and go home, so to speak, to thank God for tapping us on the shoulder to remind us we’ve been unconscious, a blessing has been released and healing is free to move in our life.

My intention was to conclude the service at this point, but as I finished preparing this talk I was prompted by my Inner Guidance (which I think of as the Holy Spirit) to write these words:

“Trust is the main requirement in finding a happier, more peaceful life.  Trust in Me. Trust in the power and Presence of Me.  Why do you doubt what you have not yet fully tried? What difference would it make if you were wrong? Would it be anything more than a temporary departure from what already isn’t working or is working minimally?  “Try Me, you’ll like Me.”  Now go and have fun in life.  Bring good cheer with you in whatever you do.  I love you.”

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Look Above The Bar

(This week I laid my talk out in bullet points)

·        Watching Olympics

o       All participants have a common story

o       A willingness to do the work

o       Fight through negative thinking

o       Maintain a positive approach

·        Pole vaulter story from Norman Vincent Peale in, "Power of Positive Thinking":

o       Up for scholarship – make a vault he’s already made before and get athletic scholarship

o       I imagine this is a lot of pressure on him

o       (Have you noticed that when the pressure gets on us, interior inferior thinking rises to the forefront of our thinking?)

o       Pole vaulter looks at the pole then at the bar - “I don’t have what it takes.”

o       Coach: “I want you to throw your heart over the bar.  In your imagination and in your eyesight only see things above the bar.”

·        So often we look below the bar and then looking up at the bar, it seems so high and we think, “I don’t have what it takes.”

·        If you would, ahead of time, visualize everything above the bar and nothing below the bar, the lifting power of God with throw you up and over every obstacle in life.

·        It will work every time because you are more than flesh and bone – that is the least of you –

·        You have the spirit of God with you and God is giving you the strength and courage to go anywhere you want to go (God can only do for you what God can do through you)

·        Col 3:2 “Set your mind on what is above, not what is on the earth.”

·        If you wish to keep up comfortable place in mind, and have a peaceful soul, you must distance yourself, at least somewhat, from negative distractions around you.

·        But distancing yourself isn't easy, especially when so many negatives are struggling to get your attention, and your participation.

·        C.S. Lewis advised, "Aim at heaven…" That's a wise reminder. You're likely to hit what you aim at.

·        Indy car drives are taught not to look at the wall because they’ll crash if they do.

·        In other words you’re going to go in the direction you look to… so aim high – aim at heaven.

When you do, you’ll be strengthened in character as you improve every aspect of your life.

·        (Tell my own struggles with poor self esteem)

o       Plagued with poor self esteem

o       Never ever believed in myself as worthy, but always as a failure, not good enough

o       Put many hours and personal funds into “wooing” a potential buyer, finding temporary housing for him and his family; took his wife out everyday looking for houses; wife called one night to tell me she found a piece of property with another Realtor.

o       That was, “The straw that broke the camel’s back” after a lifetime of self-esteem self abuse

o       Sought professional help and brought God into the equation

o       Began reciting, “God is the strength on which I depend” in emotionally challenging times. (Quote is the title of Lesson 47 in A Course in Miracles)

·        There is a biblical counterpart: Phil 4:13, “I can do all things through God who strengthens me.”

·        Each week we close our service by reciting The Prayer for Protection and we affirm, “Wherever I am, God is, and all is well.”

What this prayer is affirming is that we are not alone.

o       We are not alone – God is with us always (all ways)

·        We all have this habit – when we realize we’ve been unconscious we get upset with/at ourselves… isn’t that accepting the call to participate in negativity?

o       When you have a spiritual realization, what do you do, get upset or be grateful?  Realizing that you’ve been unconscious is reason for rejoicing because now I’m conscious again!

·        Would you be willing to focus your attention “above the bar?”  Would you be willing, for the next 24 hours, to deliberately speak in positive terms about everything in your life? Would you be willing to speak, positively, about your job, your health, your relationships, your marriage, and your future?

o       Would you be willing to GO OUT OF YOUR WAY to speak, optimistically, about everything? The pessimistic way doesn’t work—it NEVER did. Look for the positive in everything… talk positively.

·        (PLAY VIDEO) http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/99-The-Greatest

·        Look above the bar.

"Seek Ye First Things First” – The Kingdom of Heaven is Eternal Within and Without

08/05/2012 

 C. Dee Coy, RScP

   

Today, I would like to talk a bit about gardening, baking, precious gems, and seeking first things first.

Seek Ye First Things First.  The master teacher is recorded in the book of Matthew, chapter 6, putting it this way, “Therefore do not worry or say, What will we eat, or what will we drink, or with what will we be clothed?  For worldly people seek after all these things.  Your Father in heaven knows that all of these things are also necessary for you.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

            Jesus is not making a judgment here.  He is not suggesting that we reject the world or the things of the world.  It’s a fact, that all of us are spiritual in nature AND it’s a fact that we are all living here as worldly creatures with worldly wants and needs.  What Jesus is saying is another lesson in cause and effects.  Food and drink and clothes, as well as phones and cars and houses and all the rest, are effects.  They are the given part of the equation here because, as we know, once cause is established, the impartial Law of Mind takes over and creates.  As we affirm the things of this world that we need and desire, we will have all these things but they mean nothing without understanding their source.  God is the only source.  When we seek for these things from a position of “self”, from a position of what WE as human beings create, we still get them but it all becomes a struggle.  When we seek first the source of all these things, then we find ourselves in alignment with that which creates and, “all these things shall be added to you.”

            It’s a matter of “not putting the cart before the horse.”   Don’t put the cart before the horse is one of those proverbial expressions for something that seems self-evident and you wonder how it ever got started.  In English, this one can be traced back to the 1500’s and I am guessing it had something to do with teenage boys.  I imagine some time ago in the middle ages, some boy with a loaded cart thinking it would be great if he could just get the cart into the barn without having to unload it, but there isn’t enough room to pull it in with the horse and it’s too heavy to pull in himself so he rigs up a way to get the horse to push the cart in.  Some teenage girls walking by see this and think it is totally ‘rad’ and the next thing you know every boy in the village is modifying his cart to go in front of the horse.  It all ends very badly of course, and therefore everyone has to be reminded not to do it. 

            What Jesus seems to be saying here is, put first things first and things will work out a lot better for us.  In fact, as we enter the Kingdom, all things automatically work out better for us.  Seek First the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to us.  Seek Cause before effect.  When we recognize First Cause, God Itself, the Source of all that is and realize Its principles then effects can become as simple as speaking our word.

            So what is this thing called heaven we are to seek first?  It wasn’t that long ago that the common conception of Heaven was rooted in place.  A place located just beyond the stars that were believed to be fixed to the surface of the celestial dome that covered the earth.  It wasn’t until Copernicus demonstrated the earth was not the center of the Universe about 500 years ago that this idea of a “place” called Heaven “up there” began to break down.  The confusion over Heaven being up there has a Biblical basis as well, as the word  heaven is used to describe different realms.  Heaven is used to refer to the sky of birds and clouds above our heads.  It is also used to describe that which is beyond  Earth’s atmosphere that contains the “heavenly bodies” of Sun, Moon and Stars.  It is used again to describe where God resides and with Him, those who have shed their earthly bodies and taken on heavenly form.  Finally, the last word on heaven is given to Jesus who spoke of it on numerous occasions. 

            Jesus often used parable and allegory to describe Heaven.  As an embodiment of the Christ Mind, he is thought to have had intimate knowledge of this Kingdom of Heaven or Kingdom of God.  We generally consider that the experience of Heaven is ineffable, beyond words if not beyond comprehension altogether and while Jesus did not offer a physical description of the Kingdom, he did teach that it was real and often explained its essence in metaphor, especially to his inner circle of disciples.  In addition to using Heaven to reference the sky and the stars and the place of God Itself, the teachings of Jesus very clearly places the Kingdom of Heaven within and at-hand.  The Kingdom of Heaven is more than a final repository of our souls after death.  The Kingdom is already in place, even here on Earth, simply waiting to be realized.  Charles Fillmore, the cofounder of Unity says, “Jesus definitely located the kingdom of Heaven when He said (in Luke, chapter 17), “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation;  neither shall they say, Lo, here! Or, There!  For lo, the kingdom of God is within you.”  But what does that mean?

            In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.  It is the smallest of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is larger than all of the herbs; and it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”  - We know that every seed we plant and cultivate naturally seeks to become the prototype that is programmed into its DNA.   - In the same way, every idea that we plant in consciousness naturally seeks to mature as the highest truth behind that idea.  - As we plant even the tiniest idea of a “Kingdom of Heaven” within our minds, it has the potential to grow into full knowing of that ‘Kingdom’ so that the ‘things’ of heaven  take up residence in its branches.

            Jesus immediately follows this metaphor with another saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like the leaven, which a woman took and buried in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”  - We know that when we add yeast to dough, it causes an invisible reaction throughout that changes the physical character of the dough over time so that it raises and expands.  When Jesus speaks of burying the leaven in three measures of flour he is describing the effect of Truth in each of the three states of consciousness, spirit, soul and body. - In this way, the idea of the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ placed in mind is invisible but moves throughout our entire consciousness, slowly changing the characteristics of our thoughts, our actions, AND our experience, and expanding them all to a raised state, the state of Heaven.

            And Jesus said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who was seeking good pearls.  And when he had found one costly pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it.”  - We know that we are always looking to acquire the best (however we define what best is) that is available to us.  - The best gadget, the best recipe, the best experience, even the best church.  And when we find it, we discard what we have that is not the best in favor of it.  - In the same way, we spend our time seeking for the best ideas and the highest truths that bring joy to our souls, meaning to our minds, and happiness to our existence.  - The ‘Kingdom of Heaven within” is such an idea.  - Better than all the rest, it is worthy of replacing old ideas of separation and unworthiness.     

Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, declares, “We believe that Heaven is within us and that we experience it to the degree that we become conscious of it”  This is one our core beliefs, that the kingdom of heaven is already within each one of us simply waiting for us to plant the seed, add the leaven, seek it out, and be conscious of it.

            Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity says, “The kingdom of heaven is the orderly adjustment of divine ideas in man’s mind and body.”

            This is Cause and Effect.  This is As Above, So Below.  This is about experiencing without, what we know within.  This is how the Kingdom of Heaven becomes established on earth.  And it is not about giving anything up.  Holmes writes that, “Jesus did not wish us to feel that, in seeking this inner kingdom, we are losing anything worthwhile in the outer life, for he said that everyone who has sought the inner kingdom shall ‘receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”  The Kingdom is not something reserved only for future states; it is something which we experience here and now through the manifold blessing which the Spirit automatically bestows on us when we seek first things first.

            So how might we go about seeking first things first?  How can we, as we go about our daily lives seek the Kingdom of Heaven within?  How do we cultivate the seed, raise our consciousness and possess the pearl?

How do we go about “seeking It first?”

            First, we remember where we are seeking.  We are seeking within.  The Kingdom of Heaven is not out there somewhere.  The eternal Heaven that awaits us if and when we leave this physical experience is outside our control.  What is within our control and within our grasp is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.  It is the Kingdom that manifests from the inside out.  As we become conscious of it, we experience it.  Our work is all mental.  The Law that manifests it as experience works in accordance with our thoughts.  Fillmore, in one of his “Talks on Truth” cautions us  against getting bogged down in the conditions of the world and the burden of changing it from the outside, saying, “That is a long, circuitous route into the kingdom and those who are choosing it face many weary years of waiting.”

            Instead, we are to plant the seed and cultivate it.  Put the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven into your heart and nourish it with your thoughts.  You don’t have to meditate on it or hours every day, but be mindful of it always.  Consider it.  Don’t try to form it into anything specific, just be aware of the form it takes naturally as it grows into what it is meant to be.  When we make our lists of things to do, put SYF (seek ye first) right at the top, remembering that God within me knows how to accomplish everything.  When the phone rings, what is your first thought?  How about “seek ye first”  as in, God within me is the perfect communicator?  Then answer the phone.  Or if you find yourself in conflict with a spouse or child or neighbor, “seek ye first” by knowing that Heaven within you is perfect relationship, before you set about resolving the conflict.

                         

            Charles Fillmore puts establishing heaven on earth this way, “Whoever says, “I will be upright and honest in all that I think and do ,” is laying the foundation stones for one of the buildings of the New Jerusalem.  Whoever declares by word and act that only the good exists, is building white spires to the one and only true God.  Whoever has the mental resolve to do unto others as I would have them do unto me is paving the highways with pure gold in a heavenly city of equity and justice.”

            Remember that we are not asked to give anything up.  Everything we need and desire is added unto this.  That is the promise.  We don’t have to give up any of our goals or aspirations.  We don’t have to stop seeking for the best of everything.  All we are asked to do is put the cart in front of the horse.  To seek first things first.  To “Seek First the Kingdom of Heaven.”