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February 17, 2013 – The Great Paradox of Prosperity

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2/17/13 Janet Conner
The Great Paradox of Prosperity

The Buddha and Jesus each gave us a formula to create a beautiful, abundant life. Guess what? They taught the same thing! And it’s nothing like our modern obsession with the Law of Attraction. They both taught the paradox of abundance. They both taught the paradox that you don’t get what you want by wanting it. They taught “put your attention on the divine within” and then your life is abundant.

Not too many months ago, with all my success, I was bankrupt. At Thanksgiving, I told my son, who then asked, ”Are you doing work you love? [I was.] Then what’s the problem?” He was saying it wasn’t what I was doing that needed to change. I knew I needed to turn my attention to the divine within. So in my daily deep soul writing I dialogued with my beloved divine voice. I heard that I needed to spend the following month deep soul writing every day. One week for preparation, the next looking back at all the wisdom and what I had learned already. Then a week in forgiveness. The fourth week was to be spent looking at the life “you now want to create”. So I wrote.

Then, on New Year’s Day, I didn’t want to write. I found You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh at my feet, and I read the sentence which changed everything—“The Buddha said when conditions are sufficient there is a manifestation.” I realized we’re 180 degrees off with The Secret. It’s not about the manifestation, it’s about the conditions! So what did Jesus have to say about it? Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Dr. Neil Douglas Klotz translates the original Aramaic as “Pouring yourself out makes the universe do the same.” When we pursue a right relationship with the universe we produce a condition of reception in which anything we need to produce our beautiful abundant life will be provided by the universe. The same teaching!

The conditions for manifesting our desires are uniquely our own. Every day I let God have the responsibility for manifesting the things I want. I focus on living my intentions as I have expressed them in the center of my mandala. Then I tap my heart and say, “I’m one with the One.”

Sing “I will leave this world as it is, go inside and find my God…Inside there is peace [and] joy… there is more than enough. Inside there is sacred love.” Set aside your wanting and asking and go inside and find your God.

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February 10, 2013 – Love Your Enemy–They Showed Us How

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2/10/13 Rev. David McArthur
Love Your Enemy—They Showed Us How

The greatest commandment, Love God, is the universal experience found in all spiritual teachings. From Jesus to Krishna, it is the same beautiful teaching.

A most powerful teaching brings this ideal down to our world, and frees us. Yet it is also most difficult: Love Your Enemies. When you are having a difficult time, there is always someone there, denying you what you desire. As Unity students, we know that is not really the case, but still we say, “I know that I should love them, but if I do then I have to roll over and let them continue what doesn’t work.” At times we even go past the outer manifestation to the inner part of ourselves that blocks our good—“I’m too fat, I’m not good enough, etc.” How do we deal with what stops the good in our lives?

Then there’s “turn the other cheek”. We really misunderstand that. If you are experiencing abuse and turn the other cheek, that’s not loving yourself nor the person in front of you. From the sayings of Mohammad, “O messenger of God, how does one help the oppressor?” and Mohammad answers, “By hindering him from doing wrong.” We have an amazing example of “turn the other cheek” in the civil rights movement. The people of Selma chose to love themselves enough to say “no more”, and they loved those who had been part of their oppression enough to say, “no more”. From the Quran, “The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better and behold… [your enemy] shall be as if he were a loyal friend.”

When you really love your enemy, there is love for yourself. There is wisdom and intelligence there. It is within the nature of love when we say, “no more”. When that happens there is the most clear, powerful wisdom and you know what to do. You are divinely guided to love yourself and to love that other person. Affirm, “I am love. I am divinely guided.” You are there for one reason only—to free yourself and all involved.

Valentine’s Day is coming up and you can give the greatest gift—you can show up as who you really are! Bless you!

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February 3, 2013 – Prodigal, Prayer, and the Beloved

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2/3/13 Rev. David McArthur
Prodigal, Prayer, And The Beloved

Prayer and meditation keep changing as our spiritual life grows. We have heard prayer is speaking to God and meditation is listening to God. But it’s hard to tell the difference anymore. Most requests for prayer to our Prayer Ministers come from need, especially the need for healing. The experience of prayer changes so much for us. When young, we pray from a list, especially for those that we think Infinite Intelligence somehow seems to have missed. Then we come to know that what is needed is already given, and that prayer is to open ourselves to receive. Prayer then, is to open our awareness.

Every month Silent Unity issues some prayers to bring our consciousness to this. This month they printed, “The flow of divine life revitalizes me” for healing. It’s already there, already given. Hold it and know it for yourself. Hold it and know it for someone you know that is in need. How beautiful, knowing this beautiful presence and power. This is not about need but about relationship with that Presence.

We see in the story of “The Prodigal Son” elements that express aspects of ourselves. Experiencing a real sense of lack, the prodigal son comes to his senses (we turn to prayer). Then, before he even gets back to his home his father comes out on the road to meet him. This is a response of love. Pure love. When we seek to establish contact with the divine the response is always love. It comes to meet you. God is not a child-consciousness that seeks revenge or punishment.

The older son who had stayed and was good shows us our self pity. (“It’s not fair!”) The father responds, “Son, you have always been with me and all that I have is yours.” No good|bad, no should|shouldn’t. All the divine has is ours. (We are still free to run around complaining.) But you are the beloved child of God! “I am the Beloved!” “I am the Beloved!” “I am the Beloved!”

Be still and be with God. The beloved is us. We are the ones loved completely without limit. You are the beloved child of God! Always!

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January 27, 2013 – I Am Peace

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1/27/13 Rev. David McArthur

I Am Peace

The feeling when you are right with the world—the awesome feeling of being at peace—relates to the 2nd form of “purpose”: how am I to be?

This is the most marvelous time the Earth has ever had. We are free to walk through all the forms of spirituality. Jesus’ consciousness of peace was given from the Christ-self, our oneness with the divine. Lao Tzu saw the flow of spiritual energy through life, and said to empty the mind of all thoughts; enter the heart; return to Source, to pure love. Mahatma Gandhi walked us through peace—not the turning away from things, but in the midst of things finding peace. It was not about non-violence, but active loving.

Martin Luther King, Jr. knew peace not as withdrawal, but as a state of consciousness in the middle of what’s going on. As a very young man, he was asked to engage in the Montgomery bus boycott. Violence asserted itself against the black community and it’s leaders. With very real threats against himself and his family, he awakened in the middle of the night, and was afraid. Not knowing how to deal with it, he prayed. He heard a quiet inner voice say, “Martin Luther King, stand up for peace. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. I will be with you even unto the end of the world.” From a place of great fear and anxiety he went to a place of peace and strength. He did it by prayer, by quieting the mind and focusing on the heart, finding the peace which is given by the divine. It is in you. This is not an experience of being unrealistic. It’s an experience of being in the world when what’s going down is going down.

You can use the “I Am” to identify that state of being. Affirm, “I am peace.” “I am peace.” “I am peace.” You don’t have to make that choice. If your family is in turmoil, you can get into it—you can always find someone to blame. But is your purpose to be part of turmoil or part of peace? This isn’t about good or bad, right or wrong. You are the presence of peace if you choose. “I am the presence of peace in my world.” “I am the presence of peace in my world.” “I am the presence of peace in my world.” As we are the presence of peace in our world we are creating a world of peace. For that I thank you!

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January 20, 2013 – Br’er Rabbit: Curing the Mopes

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1/20/13 Rev. David McArthur

Br’er Rabbit: Curing the Mopes

Bre’r Rabbit had the mopes—he had lost the race to the tortoise and other things were going wrong. So Mrs. Rabbit sent him to the Witch Rabbit deep in the swamp, and it was getting dark. This represents the journey into the heart—a difficult journey. Not everyone gets there. We usually let our brains list all the ways we are not better, not good enough, or not strong enough. Doesn’t fear come right in?

First, Witch Rabbit sends Bre’r Rabbit to catch a squirrel. That’s your first step—grab your squirrelly thoughts and “tie them up in a bag”.

2nd, Bre’r Rabbit has to get a snake hiding in the grass. It looks menacing. It embodies fear. When we run into the experience of fear it stops us and our knowledge of the beautiful power within shuts down. Bre’r Rabbit sweet-talks the snake and when it relaxes, he snares it, holds it up, and goes. If our attention is solely on the fearful thing, that’s all we see. Do we put our attention on the threat of the snake or on the wisdom in our hearts? When our attention is on the heart and what it’s telling us, we open and the knowledge comes. It doesn’t mean the challenges won’t cause pain. But we go into overcare, which is when we focus so much on the hurt or danger, especially for the people we care for, that we don’t go to the guidance in the heart. We let fear of what could occur stop the unfoldment of the greater good. It is not that you fear something that is not really possible, but turn from the fear to the heart. Grab the snake and go.

Lastly, take that fear to the heart and follow the guidance within, even if the path is not fully seen. Bre’r Rabbit’s final task was to get a tusk from the elephant in the forest. He has no idea how he’ll do it, but he goes to get it anyway. The elephant runs into a tree and the tusk just falls off. Sometimes we just have to take on the fear of power we see “out there” over us. But the power (and fear) is in us. Part of the gift of taking on the fear and finding the wisdom is that the fear falls away. It no longer has power over you. That’s when it’s fun!

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January 13, 2013 – Generosity Expresses the Presence of God

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1/13/13 Rev. David McArthur

Generosity Expresses the Presence of God

Kimeli, a young Maasai African, lived in a rural village that did not even have roads. He had no father, and was considered a lower human. But Kimeli admired the generosity of doctors, and wanted to be a generous doctor. And there is always the next step. So Kimeli ran away to a town that had a school, and the headmaster allowed him to attend. From there he applied to colleges in America. The University of Oregon offered a scholarship. Grants from a benefactor in Florida let him attend. Subsequently he got his masters from Stanford! If he can do it without resources…

What’s impossible doesn’t bother God. There is a flow of abundance that is completely inconsistent with what we “know”. But it tells us there is more to this consciousness. What this is, is when you say “yes”, that’s your purpose. It constantly unfolds in our lives. And in this time of powerful human consciousness, you can always go deeper! We are on purpose! The universe opens up and provides. It is “fulfillment”. The whole universe is wired to fulfill your purpose!

On 9/11 Kimeli wanted to respond to the pain he saw in Americans. Now held in honor, he went to his tribe at “storytime”. (Without technology, they communicate through their stories.) Kimeli went and told how the generous people in America were hurting. The Maasai couldn’t even conceive of a place like New York City. But he asked for permission from the elders to give his cow to the Americans. In Kenya, a person’s cow is their most important possession. Having one is comfort, it is security, it is life. The Maasai were very touched by his story and decided to give 14 cows! They asked the American ambassador to receive their gift. At the ceremony a thousand Maasai in full warrior dress sang the Star Spangled Banner with their hands over their hearts!

Kimeli’s response had been one of compassion and generosity. All along the way he had a consciousness of generosity. Jesus taught, as you give you will receive. Abundance comes not to us or for us, but through us. “…for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. For who so ever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” This quote is mostly used in other ways, but here are the words love and give. What is given is the Son—the divine pattern, the Christ, the Atman, the Buddha Mind, the I Am. Out of love. Jesus showed us the pattern and it is in everyone of us. God doesn’t give because we ask, but because it is the very nature of the divine. God can’t reject. Yes, we can reject, but it is not in God’s nature. Life always flows abundantly.

And there is always the next step. This week look for the opportunity to be more generous, every day, with your time, understanding, compassion. Listen. “Divine generosity flows freely through me.” This is when it gets to be fun! It’s ok to give away the cow!

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January 6, 2013 – The Power of 3: Living the Charmed Life

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1/6/13 Rev. Sheila Gautreaux

Living The Charmed Life, The Power of Three, part II

Bring forth your power. Align with each level of the trinity of your being—MIND, BODY and SPIRIT. Live the “charmed” life of a spiritual being in a physical body. We are created by the goodness of the universe, so all the power of the universe is in us.

Grasp the Divine MIND Truth and align with it, bring it into your MIND. Chant it, affirm it, speak it throughout the day every day until you KNOW it. Then bring it into your physical BODY. FEEL it in every cell in your BODY, displacing belief in tiredness and illness. “I feel I am whole!” No feeling; no healing. Once you feel it, Spirit takes it out into the BODY of your affairs.

The Holy SPIRIT is our liaison with the mind of God, and is always available. Sit in quiet. Write your question at the top of a sheet of paper. Start by praying 3 times, “Come, Holy SPIRIT”. The response is actually palpable. You will feel it. Then ask. You will be guided as to “What is mine to do?”

We are afraid of our power because we don’t understand. God is not powerful, but power. God is not loving, but love. God is not peaceful, God is peace. Live life as if you ARE blessed, charmed, powerful.

Steps to “Living the Charmed Life”: Accept your power. It’s yours. Affirm it. “I accept the divine power that flows through me, as me!” Learn. Discover what you’re capable of. Apply the powers in the laboratory of your life. Apply; apply. Practice; practice; practice. Face and vanquish your demons of fear, judgment, hurt, anger, etc. They prevent you from standing in your power. Don’t run from your doubts and fears. They are illusions and are not as powerful as you believe. Once you shine the light they disappear. Don’t let them and their relatives move in. Bar the door. Lastly, protect the innocent—the innocent that you are. We have not lost our innocence. We are still the pure, innocent beings we were with God before the world was made.

Be the Christ in the world. When you walk out all suited up in your power you will begin to bring transformation into the world! Your light will shine so brilliantly! People will feel it.

Pray the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi as “Lord, make me an instrument of your POWER. Where there is hatred, let me so love…” and so on. You are the beloved of God. It is God’s good pleasure to support you in living the charmed life!

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December 30, 2012 – The Secret to Letting Go

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12/30/12 Rev. David McArthur

The Secret of Letting Go

You are a powerful child of God! But how do you let go of what no longer is serving you, what you know you have to let go of? How do you take the next step? Emmet Fox, in “The Golden Key”, said don’t think about what you’re trying to let go of. Instead, think about God. Remember, God is good all the time! But easier said than done–a minute later you’re back to thinking about the thing you want to let go of.

So take a look at what you want to let go of. In it there is fear, or loss, and that creates the drain. You can’t let go of it until you let go of the fear, the loss. You have to let go of the thing you give your power to, and the feeling of powerlessness.

The secret is appreciation. Contrary to popular opinion, this isn’t a “random generator” world. If there is something in your life it is there because you said there is something in it for you to gain. Perhaps some growth, like facing insecurity, for example. But once you receive the gain, you don’t need the draining experience anymore and can let it go. It is not the event which is attached to you, it is the emotions.

Think of what you have gained from the experience. Transform by appreciating what you have gained. Feel that. You are powerful, intelligent, and strong. This is a source of healing. You can appreciate the feeling of going forward without the draining emotional experience. In appreciation, use the power of love. We have two affirmations for this: “Love casts out fear” and “Love transforms.”

When you really appreciate what you have gained, it is Spirit saying, “Time to come and let go.” By appreciating what you have gained, you are the wisdom and the strength. Then you are aware of the goodness. God is good all the time! And with that appreciation, you are free!

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December 23, 2012 – The Other Christmas Story

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12/23/12 Rev. David McArthur

The Other Christmas Story

300 years before Jesus, the prophet Elijah knew a greater experience and consciousness of the divine was coming, and it could only come by living it. We don’t know exactly what happened. The readings of Edgar Cayce say his group became the Essenes, who said the new consciousness would come in the form of a messiah. So they began attunement. One of the young women would be the instrument to bring forth that being.  In her time, Mary, at age 4 began attunement. One purple-and-gold hued dawn, as Mary, by then 13, reached the top step of the Essene temple, there was thunder and a halo descended around her. Within the light the Archangel Gabriel was seen to take her hand. In 3 years she did conceive. This was an intelligent, well educated, well supported, spiritually disciplined young woman. She accepted her purpose and was well supported and well cared for by her community, even the innkeeper and the shepherds.

The Law of Equality teaches that your wishes, dreams, hopes, and wants are as important as those of any other soul in existence, including Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!  And the support will show up for you too. You know your purpose, which is in your heart, even if you have hidden it well. Whether it is a state of being or of creating, the support is there. Look around. You too are in a community.

At 10 years, Julie had already lost her mother, and her father had lost the farm, taking work with long hours and low pay. It was the 30’s. The old farm house was leaky and very cold in the winter. Julie got a fever and her brothers and sisters gave her their blankets. That made them even colder. She was very concerned for them and her father. It was the only thing on her heart. She prayed, asking for blankets and some money for her father. Although the door had been locked when her siblings left for school, a man came in the house with his arms full of blankets. He spoke calmly and Julie noticed he wasn’t dressed for winter, but in a T-shirt and jeans, and that his hair was much longer than the men wore in that day. He even left money for her father. 10 years old. Sick. Alone. In a very cold house. You can’t get much more powerless than that. But she asked! She asked for what was on her heart, her purpose. Your desires, dreams, and purpose are as important as any other soul’s in existence, and will come true if you ask! Are you willing to ask? Say, “I am willing!” I am willing to ask!

If all the support was there for Jesus—and it was—and it was there for Julie, get ready, ’cause IT’S THERE FOR YOU!

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December 16, 2012 – Mary, Joseph, and You – On Purpose

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12/16/12 Rev. David McArthur

Mary, Joseph, and You—On Purpose

This is a season of giving, loving, joy and celebration, and, yes, spending too much. Go for it! It is all about God, and our awareness of this is strong. This is a “Wow!” time. We have never before been empowered at this level. It is an incredible gift being given to all of us.

The Christmas story is our story of how we are, of truth. Our connection with the flow of higher consciousness is symbolized by the angels. The angel appearing to Mary is about how we receive that higher understanding of purpose into our lives. This might sometimes be rough. In Mary’s time, it could have meant stoning and death to accept, as an unmarried woman, her purpose of bearing the child Jesus. But acceptance of purpose brings together the pieces necessary for fulfillment of your purpose. Joseph dreamt of an angel (his connection to higher consciousness) which told him of Mary’s situation and his purpose. He said yes, and the things necessary came through.
Bonnie Shimp came to Unity when she was unemployed. She asked, “How do I put my life together?” She committed to her path. Things were slow, and didn’t seem to change much. Sometimes it’s hard for the universe to support us when we’re headed in the opposite direction. She looked deeply at “why am I here?” and experienced a connection with her purpose. She got it. She was radiant, but had no idea how it was to come about.
The first Christmas night the shepherds were called in to support the unfolding story. When we are on purpose the universe calls in what is needed. Bonnie’s intuition moved her to answer an old ad at a feedstore. Her head told her the job was already filled. But she asked! It was an intuitive knowing that this was a step to an old dream she had long suppressed. Resolution came to things of the past, and she stepped into her purpose. She now has her dream career.

Most of our purpose is “inner”. What we do, we do now with greater love so we are a greater force of love. The UN has said there is less conflict in the world now than there has been in the last 100 years! We go forward in a way that creates harmony in our world. It is our time to make it real. It is only God. It is only good. It is only divine purpose! Say, I am open to divine purpose unfolding through me.

What a beautiful birth of divine purpose is taking place now because of you!

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