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March 24, 2013 – How Full Is Your Glass

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3/24/13 Rev. David McArthur
How Full Is Your Glass?

A very large crowd spread their cloaks and palm branches on the road shouting “Hosanna!” as Jesus entered Jerusalem. Jesus was demonstrating the Spiritual power He had, and which he was inviting us into. There are times when everything comes together for us beautifully. Even the events that led up to Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate were seen by Jesus to be part of the process of infinite love which takes us where we are to go. He demonstrates this in his answer to Pilate, when Pilate told Him he had the power to free Him or send Him to his crucifixion. Jesus said, “You would have no power over me if it were not given you from above.” As we know, God is good all the time, but the ‘all the time’ is what gets us. When you are in a situation that is filled with only pain, it is not a demonstration of somebody doing this to you. It is a demonstration of love unfolding for your great good.

There is a famous Taoist story about a farmer who had a much admired horse to work his farm, but it ran away. The neighbors felt sorry for him. But he answered, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” The horse returned, and two wild horses with him. The farmer said, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” Then his son broke his leg breaking-in the wild horses. The farmer said, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” When the army came through, they drafted all the young men except the farmer’s son, with his broken leg. The farmer said, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?”

We do get “beautiful Jerusalem” moments where it is easy to see the good. At times it is not so easy, but we can still see the goodness that is always there. Once you know this, it is an amazing gift of peace. Life doesn’t do things to us, but for us. We can take the risk of reaching out to touch others because we know it is there. Every experience is filled to overflowing with that good. Is your glass filled to overflowing? —your life? —your heart? —to overflowing? You have the ability to see it. It is always there. Yes, your life is filled to overflowing!

March 17, 2013 – Why Pray?

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3/17/13 Rev. Sheila Gautreaux
Why Pray?

God knows our hearts, our every desire. So why pray? The word “prayer” comes from a word with two meanings: 1st, ‘to set a trap’. So when we pray we are setting up to trap the attributes, the characteristics of God, like love, peace, joy, wisdom, perfect health, perfect relationships. 2nd, it means ‘to make an adjustment’. When you pray you open to the attributes of God and you adjust. So when the storm comes, it does not have so much power because you can project the attributes of God into it. In that sense, the storm is birthing you! It strengthens your God muscle. Exercise it daily. Walk daily with God. And when you come upon a storm, you know you will be greater in the sunshine that’s on the other side.

It’s one thing to pray everyday. It’s another to have a relationship with God. It brings the rain-shelters and umbrellas so you have them when the storms come. How do we do that? The Unity 5 Step Method is a basic foundation.

1. Just sit. It’s not about doing, but being.

2. Focus inward. You could use “Come Holy Spirit” or “The breath of god is breathing me”. Use whatever brings your attention inward.

3. It’s not begging or asking, but reflecting on the love and goodness of God to give what you are wanting. Or meditate on the attributes of God. God already knows what you need, so picture yourself receiving.

4. Realize it’s already yours. God’s good pleasure is to give you the kingdom of Heaven. Realize it. Know it.

5. Gratitude. I know that I know that I know! You need to know how your Creator feels and acts toward you! God adores Its creations! It is well pleased with Its creation—you! Give thanks.

What shows up is the result of your relationship with your Creator. All we need is a critical mass of 1% to change the whole world at depth. Then people will say, “I don’t want to fight. I don’t need this assault weapon to bring peace.” Try it! We try on shoes; we take a test drive in a car. So try it!

March 10, 2013 – The Hobbit Goblins and Overcoming Hurt

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3/10/13 Rev. David McArthur
The Hobbit Goblins and Overcoming Hurt

Do you have the Hobbit-part in you, where you enjoy your comforts? Sometimes in our unfoldment we are called away from the confines of security and comfort to go into the unknown to find our unlimited abundance. It is not a journey out of need. It’s about expanding awareness. But beyond comfort there are trolls! When we are afraid that something has power over us, we focus on that. But we do need to engage the trolls long enough for the sun to rise—they lose their power in the light. The truth is there is only one presence, one power. No duality. No double stuff! That light removes the fear, which is natural, but we can transform it with truth.

Our goblins are the pain-givers we hold deep in the subconsciousness, and are real. This journey is frightening, dark, and necessary. As long as the pain remains in our subconscious it draws our energy. Golum is the twisted part of us which lost the sight of light and love. It remains powerful as long as we bury it. We have anger, hatred, things we do to protect ourselves from the hurt. In that dark place in The Hobbit they play a riddle game, and go back into a memory of sunlight on daisies. When in darkness we remember light, we experience hope. Hope turns us around and we head out of the caves.

The ring makes us invisible—removing power from the goblins. We go out into the light. In Unity, we use denials. Denial removes power from the false, removes power from the limited. We move to the unlimited. How? We have the Prayer of Protection: The light of God surrounds me. The love of God enfolds me. The power of God protects me. The presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is, and all is well. It is a journey into light. Have the courage to face the pain and darkness in yourself. When they come up to meet you, it is not your failure, it isn’t something wrong in you, it is not to punish you. It is because you have been called to go on this journey!

Light illuminates, but it doesn’t transform. The goblins follow you into the light, but the eagle lifts you into the higher realm. It is the part of you which is able to see the truth with clear sight and a perfect vision of the whole. See the truth and the truth will set you free. I am a beautiful child of God! Transformation happens when we let the truth touch the pain. Then we heal. Love transforms. However your pain came to be within you, you didn’t have the power then. Love reaches into the pain. We journey through the mountain—the journey to freedom. Let the love in. I am the beloved child of the most high! You are beautiful, radiant, filled with wisdom, and you are whole!

March 3, 2013 – The Spell That Transforms Within and Without

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3/3/13 Rev. David McArthur
The Spell that Transforms Within and Without

We’ve been working on “love your enemies”, which is difficult. As Unity people, we know we don’t really have enemies, yet many of us are skilled at letting some people act like our enemies. When they do, don’t you just want to take your magic wand and ZAP them? Good news: you can!

Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” The civil rights activists of Selma, Alabama, showed us by hindering your oppressor from doing wrong you are loving him. Charles Fillmore said, “Things have a material and a spiritual identity. The spiritual identity is the side which causes things.” (But our attention always goes to the material identity.) Edgar Cayce said. “Think not they are the oppressors. Look within thine own heart. Has thou not practiced the same? For has it not been given that if there are ten just men (loving others as they love themselves), shall they not save the city—the nation—the world?” He says love is so powerful that merely a few just men can change the whole world. Whatever shows up, by changing it, we can change the world.
In Ho’o pono pono, an inner experience changes the outer. It has been measured. The steps are simple: I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. It releases that within to bring the change in the outer. Ask for healing for memories of something unresolved within. The nature of the divine is whole and the spiritual energy moves through, healing those inner memories. What a wonderful way to heal your “enemies”!

There is embedded within the consciousness that which is producing the pain, the fear. To have that removed, if you would not have your love restricted, love those around. The force to make it happen is the love. What is killed is the consciousness of limitation. That which is not whole. The love of God is whole. It removes the power of the un-whole, the focus on the un-whole. It takes away that power, and it is gone.

So practice the spell: I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. You’ll get a chance to practice! Someone will show up. I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. —that’s called ZAPPING!

February 24, 2013 – Non-Violence and the Other Cheek

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2/24/13 Rev. David McArthur
Non-Violence and the Other Cheek

Jesus taught if you are struck on the right cheek, “turn the other cheek”. In the context of the Jewish culture, to be hit on the right cheek meant the one who hit you used either his “unclean” left hand or the back of his right hand. Either was a great dishonor to you. But when you turn the other cheek to be hit, the person can’t hit you in either way. It takes back power where it had been lost. It makes you equal to the other person.

This teaching does not say that suffering abuse is spiritual. Rather, it is the non-violent response which opens us to the flow of divine energy and power, to love. Use the power of love to bring an equal connection with your “enemy”. But how? When someone is in your face, love isn’t your first response.

The civil rights activists in Selma, Alabama heard of the brutal treatment colleagues were suffering at the hands of the authorities. You can imagine the level of anger they felt—a natural response. But their leaders understood the teaching of non-violence. They asked for a call-and-response song that acknowledged love. They sang out “We love Martin Luther King” and the crowd answered, “Certainly, certainly!” The leaders sang out another civil rights leader’s name, and another. Each time the crowd sang back, “Certainly, certainly!” Then the song leaders sang out the name of the sheriff who, with his troopers, had them surrounded, threatening violence. “We love the Sheriff.” The crowd faltered at first, but soon sang, “Certainly, certainly!” They got it. Love has the power to change things! The sheriff said years later that in that moment he realized he had been wrong.

Love gives understanding and compassion, but it also shows us the oppressor, the victim, the self righteous one inside each of us. Healing that is where the power truly is. How do we do it? Recall the Prayer of St. Francis. “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.” You have the power, because you are the love to do that! And if music does it, sing, “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me!”

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.

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!

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!

January 27, 2013 – I Am Peace

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1/27/13 Rev. David McArthur

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!

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

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1/20/13 Rev. David McArthur

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!