Unity Spiritual Life Center Blog

One summer the accomplished British violinist Peter Cropper was invited to Finland to perform at the prestigious Kuhmo Music Festival. In recognition for his outstanding music ability, the Royal Academy of Music in London offered him an extraordinary opportunity - he would be able to play a priceless 258-year-old Stradivarius.

It is well-known that Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy brought the art of violin-making to its highest pinnacle of perfection. Each instrument was crafted out of 80 pieces of specially selected pine, boxwood, and ebony. Then, by a secret process, unduplicated even today, 30 coats of a soft-textured varnish were applied.

Even today a Stradivarius produces wonderfully resonant notes, which intensify the farther they travel from the strings.

The evening of the performance, as Peter Cropper hurried onstage, the unimaginable happened. He tripped on an extension cord which had not been taped down and landed on the Stradivarius, breaking the neck of the instrument completely off.

Somehow, with a borrowed violin, Cropper managed to keep his composure and play. Still in shock, he flew back to England. Far from blaming him the members of the Royal Academy tried to console him. But he was inconsolable.

A well known London violin dealer named Charles Beare offered to repair the Strad. The Academy thanked him but assured him that a broken Stradivarius would never be repaired. At Cropper’s insistence the Academy finally agreed and Beare started his work.

Two months later Beare notified the Academy and an anxious Cropper that the work was done. When the violin was brought to him Cropper stared at it, astounded, as the aproned craftsman showed them where the repairs had been made. Try as they might the distinguished Academy officials and Cropper could not see them.

But the crucial test was yet to come. How would the Stradivarius  sound? Cropper picked it up, said a quick prayer, hesitated for a moment, and then began to play a concerto.

As each soaring note resonated through the shop, the spellbound group of music experts was astounded. The tone seemed even more pure than before.

The unbelievable repair job fell well outside the parameters of conventional wisdom. It didn’t fit existing beliefs about the possibility of Stradivarius repair.

Sometime later Peter Cropper led the Lindsay Quartet on an international tour. Night after night he drew beautiful notes on the Stradivarius he once believed was ruined forever.

Its repair was made possible because the broken parts were placed in the hands of a master craftsman who brought his masterful touch to bear.

What if Cropper had taken to heart the conventional wisdom that says, "Take what fits and leave the rest?" or said another way, "Take what resonates and leave the rest?" or in the case of a broken Stradivarius, "If it IS broken you can’t fix it!" Messing with a Strad was considered irresponsible. Ludicrous! Even blasphemous!

That’s how we feel about the New Thought phrase, "Take what resonates and leave the rest." It’s ludicrous! It’s even blasphemous! It’s exactly the kind of thinking Charles Fillmore was referring to when he said, "I reserve the right to change my mind."

‘Taking what fits and leaving the rest’ is a status quo philosophy. It keeps us glued to the way things are. It worships convention. We may as well walk around with a security blanket over our ear like Linus in the Peanuts cartoon.

Not being willing to embrace something new is cartoonish! It keeps us in a RUT. And a ‘rut’ means ‘rigid unchallenged thinking.’ Many people have PhD’s in ‘rut management.’ They champion the status quo. They GO along instead of GROW along.

Moving out of comfort zones is what we are proposing.  We encourage you to turn ‘existing’ beliefs into ‘exiting’ beliefs when they become stale beliefs.

We are absolutely convinced that your health, wealth, and happiness are the result of heart-to-head resuscitation . It is your openness and receptivity to change and newness that will bring you immense happiness and joy.

• If you believe all lightning strikes go from cloud to ground - get over it!
• If you think the Dead Sea is the world’s saltiest body of water - get over it!
• If you think there are no incurable diseases - get over it!
• If you think people’s ability to levitate is just a magical trick - get over it!
• If you believe you have to die to go to Heaven - get over it!
• If you believe we can’t build a spiritual education center that can change the spiritual consciousness of the planet - get over it!
• If you think you can’t make your dreams come true - get over it!
• If you think you can’t ‘get over it’ - get over it!

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

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A balloon salesman was selling balloons on the streets of Mobile, Alabama one October day. He sold them in multi-colored packets of various sizes of balloons. He also sold helium-filled balloons. When business was slow he would twist the balloons and turn them into animal and flower shapes.

As he turned the balloons into shapes children would converge with their parents in tow. In the middle of his balloon-shaping routine he would occasionally launch a helium-filled balloon to add to the drama and excitement for the children.

His business would pick up for 15 or 20 minutes and so he repeated his shaping and releasing sequence three times every hour. He also changed the color of each balloon he released, first releasing a white one, then a red one, and later a yellow one.

One day an Afro-American youngster pulled on his coat sleeve. The salesman looked down at the boy who was wearing a soiled ball cap.

"Well. Hello there young fella. Would you like a balloon?"

"No, sir. I have my bottle caps." He dug a handful out of his pocket and showed them to the salesman.

"Oh, I see," said the salesman, grinning at the boy’s innocence. "I’m afraid you can’t purchase balloons with bottle caps."

"I can’t afford no balloons," the youngster said. Then he looked the vendor directly in the eyes and spoke softly, "What I want to know is, if you released a black balloon, would it rise up too?"

The balloon salesman knelt beside the little boy and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. "Yes, son, it would. As a matter of fact I’ve got some black Halloween balloons with me. I only sell them on Halloween. But, yes, they rise like the rest of them. Here, I’ll demonstrate for you."

The salesman dug a Halloween balloon out and inflated it with helium. Both of them watched as the balloon soared upward.

The youngster grinned, relieved that the black balloon was as good as the white, and red, and yellow balloons.  As the balloon salesman rose he noticed a tear in the boy’s eyes. He stooped down again.

"See, the balloon is going very high, it’s almost out of sight," he announced as he tugged the bill of the boy’s cap. "Son, it’s what’s inside the balloons that makes them go up. And it’s what’s inside of you that makes you to succeed in life. There’s greatness in you. Will you remember that for me?"

The youngster smiled brightly this time. "Yes sir, I will."

"Here," said the salesman, "These balloons are for you." He pulled two black balloons out, inflated them with helium, and gave them to the youngster. He watched the little boy leave with a smile on his face.

One of the bystanders who over-heard the conversation said to the salesman, "The boy is from the ‘Down the Bay’ area of Mobile, the poorest side of town. He uses bottle caps as baseballs and hits them with a stick. It’s a common practice for kids down there."

They both watched the boy let go of one of the balloons and then quickly grab its string. He repeated the release and catch move as he walked away from them.

The youngster remembered what the balloon salesman told him, "Son, it’s what inside the balloons that makes them rise. There’s greatness in you."

The boy grew up to become a professional baseball player. He stopped hitting bottle caps and hit baseballs farther and more often than anyone else.

During his professional career, ‘Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs, a feat that held for 33 years until Barry Bonds broke his record in August of 2007.

‘Hammerin’ Hank is the only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least 15 times. He is one of only four major leaguers to have at least 17 seasons with 150 or more hits.

Hank Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975. That’s 20 years! He still holds the ML record for the most runs batted in (2,297), the most extra base hits (1,477), and the most total bases (6,856).

Not bad for a boy who smacked bottle caps with a stick. Was it fate, or an accident, or chance that he met that particular salesman, at that particular time, on that particular street?

Hank Aaron’s coincidental meeting with that balloon salesman is the subject of our 7th in a series of ‘Get Over It’ talks. This morning we will examine the well-known New Thought phrase ‘nothing happens by accident.’

The phrase itself is true, but misleading. Of course ‘nothing happens by accident.’ There are no accidents in the sense that in and of themselves they suddenly appear out of nowhere, without a precipitating cause.

Any competent safety professional will tell you that. Accidents are created. They are the effects of a series of events which lead up to them.

It is the way people toss this saying around that has put it on our list of phrases to ‘get over.’ This phrase is used much in the same way as people use ‘divine timing’ and ‘divine appointment’ to describe what happens to them.

The statement that ‘nothing happens by accident’ implies that everything happens as it is supposed to happen.

And what is supposed to happen is determined by fate, or karma, or God, or cosmic beings ‘out there’ who are in charge of engineering our earth experience.

Cher and I invite you to ‘get over’ that way of thinking immediately. It puts your power, and self-determination, and your ability to be the captain of your fate outside of you.

We are NOT here to be the products of an ‘outside in’ mythology. We are here to be the architects of an inside out theology.

It will require a change in consciousness. It will take a transformation in consciousness. And that transformation includes becoming more aware of what we say, think, and do.

Our message is - it is NO ACCIDENT that you are reading this today:

• It is NO ACCIDENT that you are where you are on your spiritual journey.
• It is NO ACCIDENT that you are seeking answers to complex human challenges.
• It is NO ACCIDENT that you are becoming aware that you are divine beings having a human experience.
• It is NO ACCIDENT that you are the Christ expressing as you.

And so, it doesn’t matter what color your balloon is - white, red, yellow, black, or brown - you can soar as high as anyone else, because it’s what’s inside of you that counts.

Jesus loved sharing parables as a way of teaching Truth principles. But sometimes His stories sound somewhat strange and even harsh. It is necessary to delve a little deeper, to figure out the metaphysical interpretation and how it relates to our lives.

A perfect example is the story of the unclean spirit, shared in Matthew 12:43-45 and Luke 11:24-26. Jesus shares the story of when an unclean spirit leaves a person; it wanders waterless regions searching for a resting place. Finding none, it decides to go back to the house from which it came. Finding it swept clean and in order, the spirit then brings along seven of his buddies to join him. The end result is that the state of the person is worse than it was before.

Wow! That’s a strange story to read. So let’s explore some of the important elements, for a deeper meaning.

Unclean Spirit: error thoughts or habits that contradict our Divinity and get in the way of our Spiritual growth.

Waterless region: environment that lacks spiritual enrichment.

House: our consciousness.

Swept and put in order: a consciousness that has created a vacuum by recognizing and eliminating error thoughts, without replacing them with spiritual ideas and principles.

Seven: represents completeness in the world of phenomena (unusual or extraordinary)

So let’s take a look at this parable again, with this new information. Here’s what it is saying:

When a person identifies error thinking and, through denials, refutes its power, those error thoughts depart, leaving a void which must be filled. If it is not filled, the bad habits will return, and become even stronger than before, making the person more skeptical and frustrated with the world of appearance than when they started their spiritual journey. This is why it is so critical to create a regular practice of prayer and meditation, coupled with denials and affirmations, to refuel and rejuvenate yourself as you continue strengthening your life built on Truth principles.

3 Keys to Unlock a New Level in Your Spiritual Consciousness

Denials: cleansing your Consciousness by refusing to give any power to your error thoughts;

Affirmations: claiming a mighty spiritual principle and affirming it. Keep in mind, things do not become true because you affirm them; you affirm them because they are Truth!

Prayer and Time in the Silence: providing opportunities to realign, reconnect, and receive Divine guidance, ideas, and inspiration.

When, with good intentions,  you clean up your spiritual act, without creating Truth-based spiritual practices, you will feel like that poor subject of the parable  you will feel too busy to practice Truth principles; too embedded in the world of appearance to focus on Truth; and too skeptical to allow Divine Wisdom and Ideas to flow to you.

But when you create the time to practice denials, affirmations, and time at headquarters, you will have "cleaned your house" and redecorated your thinking and habits, so there is no space for those spirits to come back with their negative buddies! You are aligned and ready to co-create the amazing, healthy, abundant, spiritual life that you deserve by right of Consciousness!

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

For lots of people, the Book of Job is a difficult book. It relates the story of a righteous man who loses every precious thing he possesses, who suffers horribly, who seems victimized by the very God he worships. Let’s start with a snapshot of Job’s story. We only have space for a few glimpses although our journey will take us through the entire book of Job, chapters 1 thru 42.

The narrative begins with a description of Job as a man ‘perfect and upright, one that feared God, and turned away from evil.’ (1:1) Job’s goodness is so incredible that God says to Satan in (1:8) ‘There is none like him on earth.’

Satan implies that Job is pious because he has been blessed and protected. Satan says, ‘Put forth thy hand and touch all that he has and he will renounce you to your face.’ (1:11)

Jehovah allows Satan to deprive Job of everything he has in order to test him. Job loses all of his material possessions, his children, his livestock, his servants, everything! Job is crushed, but he still continues to worship God.

When Jehovah rejoices that Job continues to praise Him, Satan mentions that only Job’s possessions and family have been affected. He tells God that if Job himself is afflicted, he will turn from God.

So Jehovah says to Satan, "Behold he is in thy hand, only spare his life." (2:6) Job is smitten with painful sores and boils all over his body (2:7). Chapter 3, verse 25 explains Job’s difficult situation. It says: "What Job feared came upon him." Does this have a familiar ring to it? Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Listen to what happens next.

Three of his closest friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) learn of his plight and come to comfort him. Chapters 3-31 contain conversations between Job and his friends.

Eliphaz believes Job is suffering because he has sinned; Bildad ponders that if Job was more upright, he would not be in the trouble he’s in; Zophar rebukes Job for being so self-righteous and fearful, and urges him to repent.

Job reproaches them for their judgmentalness and feels forsaken by his friends and God. "I have been wronged. I cry for help, but there is no justice." (19:7)

Finally Job looks deeply within himself, and then declares in (31:35) "Let the Almighty answer me!" At that moment, his three friends go away and Elihu comes to his rescue. With the arrival of Elihu, Satan backs off. The story ends with Jehovah giving Job twice as much as he had before (42:10) and Job lives happily ever after.

Despite the happy ending, the literal interpretation of this story leaves more questions than answers. Why did Job need to suffer in the first place? Why did God co-conspire with Satan to bring about Job’s suffering? Are we simply pawns in the battle between good and evil? What was God thinking, you might ask?

All of these questions are perfectly natural questions — if we take this extraordinary story literally. The spiritual meaning of Job’s suffering becomes clear when we take a metaphysical look. Metaphysically, the Book of Job is a case study in Mind Action. And as we mentioned earlier, Chapter 3:25 tells us why Job suffered: "What Job feared came upon him."

The people mentioned in the Book of Job are the thoughts, personal qualities, attitudes, and beliefs we hold in our consciousness. Their metaphysical interpretations are as follows:

Zehovah stands for the Christ of us, our God-Self

Satan symbolizes the tendency within each of us to forsake our divinity.

Eliphaz represents our half-hearted desire for spiritual wholeness

Bildad is our on-again/off-again acknowledgment of our Christ potential

Zophar represents our fault-finding nature which blames others for our troubles

Elihu is the Holy Spirit, the still small voice

Job represents that aspect of us that outwardly seems centered and dedicated to truth principles, but inwardly chooses to be deceived by outer appearances and then allows fears, doubts, and a sense of unworthiness to get the best of us.

So, here’s a metaphysical interpretation of the story of Job:

Our God-Self (Zehovah) honors our power of choice, even if it means allowing us to deny our divinity (Satan). When we experience difficult times, the Job in us, (represented by Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zohar) fears the worst in outer appearances and allows those things to get the best of us. However, once we remember that it is our own error thoughts which have caused us to miss the mark; we can go to our Christ Center (Elihu) and listen for that still small voice. In the story, God doubled Job’s prosperity. The number ‘2′ represents the two natures of us, human and divine, becoming one.

So, what can we do when we experience those dark night of the soul experiences?

1. We can change the outer world by changing our inner world . Become aware of what you are really thinking, and claim dominion over your thoughts. Choose to remember your Spiritual nature.
2. We can refuse to give power to outer appearance . When the ‘Job’ in us refuses to give power to outer appearances and accepts our divinity, it will be the second time fire is discovered by the human race - the fire of the discovery of our divinity. At that moment, there will be no more suffering, wars, or dis-ease. What an incredible world that will be!
3. We can claim our oneness with God . We suffer because we believe we are separated from God. And because we believe we are separated from God, we believe we are separate from one another. And because we deny our oneness with one another, we perpetuate a collective error consciousness, which gives power to outer appearances that strengthens our belief in our separation from our God-ness. That belief is the cause of all suffering.

So to avoid suffering, acknowledge and celebrate your oneness with God! Your prosperity, inner peace, and joy will return to you, multiplied!

Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.