ed young man saw a breath-takingly gorgeous woman walk past Chicos in the mall. He was so smitten that he followed her as she made her way toward the center of the mall.

The lady observed his reflection in the store windows as she passed them and finally turned and demanded: “Why are you following me?”

He responded innocently, “Because you are the most gorgeous woman I have ever observed, and I’ve fallen madly in love with you at first sight.”

The woman smiled and answered,” I believe you need to look behind you at my younger sister who is ten times more attractive than I.”

The excited suitor turned around quickly and noticed what he considered to be an average looking girl walking toward him.

“She’s no where near as attractive as you,” he lamented. “You tricked me!”

“No, you tricked me,” she countered. “If you were so madly in love with me, why did you turn around?”

“I…Ah…Well…Ah…”

His answer was a case of a ‘Definitely Maybe’! He claimed he definitely thought the young woman was the greatest thing since sliced bread — but next he thought maybe there’s better sliced bread.

What is amazing is, people do that all of the time. ‘Definitely Maybe’ people live their lives through a chronic ‘yes — no’ perspective. They short-change themselves because they ‘under mind’ who they are. They are decisively indecisive.

• Sure I can. Maybe not!
• I absolutely want that. Okay, maybe I don’t.
• I will never do that again. Or maybe….

“We are unable to serve two masters,” Jesus shares in Matt. 6:24, “for either we will despise the one, and love the other; or else follow one and hate the other. We cannot serve God and physical substance.”

What Jesus is saying is: ‘definitely maybe’ doesn’t work. You cannot steal second base with your foot on first. You cannot squeeze orange juice out of a peach. You cannot put the toothpaste you have squeezed out back into the tube. And you cannot walk the spiritual path on materialistic feet.

A ‘definitely maybe’ mind set typically ends up sending mixed messages. The following story is an example. A televangelist stopped a couple of girl scouts at the street corner and asked for directions to the post office.

“Down this street three blocks. You’ll pass girl scouts selling cookies, so buy some, then turn to your right,” the oldest youngster replied.

“You appear to be a smart young lady,” said the televangelist. “Have you ever watched my nationally televised show?”

“Nope”

“Well, if you will watch Channel 22 tomorrow morning with your folks, I’ll tell you how to get to Heaven.”

“Aw, I doubt it mister. You don’t even know how to get to the post office.”

What sort of mixed messages would we send if we affirm, on the one hand, that there is only One Presence, One Power, and One Intelligence in the Universe and then at the first sign of trouble give power to outer situations?

What if we say we are one with the Inexhaustible Source of our abundant supply — and then worry constantly about money?

We have the power to be persistent about our truth walks. We also possess the power to give away that power. Some folks like sliced bread. Others like an uncut loaf of bread. Some individuals choose slices of Truth. Others want the whole Truth — unbiased, uninterpreted, and non-dogmatic — so they can render their own interpretations. The important thing is to be able to stand for something instead of falling for anything.

or illness, or fear to affect you. (There is no lack in my world. OR This perceived illness has no power over me.)

The denials we are talking about do not mean the same thing as the psychological term “in denial.” According to Webster, to deny means to declare to be not true; to declare as utterly false. Denials are our ability to put our error thoughts in their proper place. Denials are a way of talking back, refusing to give power to something ‘outside’ of us that seems controlling or restrictive.

Reprogram :

A denial without an affirmation is a very dangerous thing! So we must fill the vacuum created by denials with powerful affirmations what we know to be truth. In the Gospel of Luke 11:24-26, Jesus tells the parable of the man who was cleansed of an evil spirit. However, the spirit returned, finding the “house” swept clean, and so it moved back in, with seven of its buddies, more wicked than he. This reminds us of how important it is to reaffirm our beliefs and reprogram our thinking, by following up denials with powerful affirmations!

According to Emilie Cady, in Lessons in Truth, “to affirm anything is to assert positively that it is so, even in the face of all contrary evidence… Deny the appearance of evil; affirm good. Deny weakness; affirm strength. Deny any undesirable condition, and affirm the good you desire.”

The key is to affirm with power – with faith! When you use a Definitely Maybe approach, you are simply wishing. When you affirm from the strength of your Christ consciousness, you are speaking with a voice of faith and strength!

Our granddaughter graduated from Daisies – the pre-Brownies group. As a graduation gift, the leaders gave each girl a little book filled with pictures capturing the events they had participated in. We were struck by one of the pictures. The girls were lying on the ground, in front of a fire truck. The words above the photo were “Stop, Drop, Roll.” Our granddaughter explained that it was a phrase the firefighters used to tell us how to handle ourselves if we ever get caught in fire.

It really connected with us and so we applied it to the 3 R’s: STOP – Recognize the maybe’s that dilute your spiritual growth and happiness; DROP – Release error thinking and behaviors by denying their power; and ROLL – Reaffirm the transformative power of the beliefs, the Truths, of spiritual principles! Put the 3 R’s into practice so you take the Maybe out of Definitely.

One of the toughest jobs we’ve ever done as corporate teambuilding consultants was to help a very large health care organization “come clean.” The person who hired us was the senior executive Vice-President of Customer Care. We had worked with her before when she was an exec with another Fortune 100 company. When she left there she took us with her.

In her new role she was mandated to resurrect a customer care department that was hemorrhaging. After conducting the usual internal audits and interviews, systems assessments, 360 feedback, and customer surveys, we identified key pathologies, conducted aggressive team development sessions, stirred up the proverbial hornets nest; and, when all was said and done, made several recommendations, including what amounted to a 25% reduction in force. Our client acted on our recommendations and cleaned house.

You can imagine the upheaval, the surprise and disbelief that ran through her division. But it was necessary, because of the old beliefs and ideologies that ran head-on into the new vision. Not everyone embraced it! It was tough, but six months later, her Customer Care Division won a national award for service excellence.

We witnessed a similar housecleaning at Unity Village Spiritual Education and Enrichment Center. Students attended from all over the world and from all walks of life. Most were from a combination of Christian and New Thought backgrounds and many were in some kind of life transition.

The ‘coming clean’ we’re referring to usually came during days 4 or 5. After almost a week of mind boggling class discussions, homework, team projects, and peer discussions about Truth principles, the Bible, and metaphysics, a few of the students (probably 30%) suffered meltdowns.

The Unity term for this meltdown is chemicalization. When we receive life-changing information that blows our mind, our old programming resists the new information and we experience an internal upheaval.

Our definition for this chemicalization experience is ‘spiritual Alka Seltzer.’ Alka Seltzer is a great metaphor for that stirring up of things to burn off the old ideas and create that relief of a higher spiritual awareness: chemicalization.

That’s what we believe is happening in Matt. 21:12-14. Jesus has just made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Read Matt.21:12-14 to see what happens.

Here is the metaphysical meaning. You may want to fasten your seatbelts:

We believe this event describes a chemicalization experience! A spiritual Alka Seltzer moment. It happens inside our heads. It is a consciousness shift, a spiritual deepening. When we are in that state of receptivity we are ready for spiritual growth, ready for the Indwelling Christ to speak to us.

Growth usually comes when our Christ potential (our Jesus quality) creates dissonance in our old belief system (represented by the money changers) and turns our old beliefs upside down (the tables). When this happens, we experience chemicalization – Spiritual Alka Seltzer.

As we grow on our spiritual journeys, we are bound to run into moments when our old beliefs run head-on into our new-found understanding … and we may experience some form of chemicalization.

Go back in your memory bank to some difficult experience you have moved through in your life. Not something you are struggling with now, but something from your past. Pick something specific. Recall (without the emotional baggage) the struggle and difficulty of living through the situation. Consider how you grew – personally, professionally, and spiritually from the experience.

Once we drop in a few Spiritual Alka Seltzers we feel the sizzle of enthusiasm, the plop, plop of expectancy, and the fizz of the faith-lift we receive as our lives are transformed forever!

It’s a whole new phenomenon in our culture ~ the cell phone dance! You’re talking to someone, and suddenly realize they aren’t hearing you. So you move around to another place and say, “Can you hear me now?” If that doesn’t work, you move again, higher, lower, near a window, walk outside, repeating, “Can you hear me now?”

We’ve found ourselves in some really weird positions, trying to complete an important call. We’ve all felt the frustration of dropped calls, as well as unanswered prayers. We’ve noticed that the secret to answered prayers is similar to the marketing messages used to sell cell phones!

1. Free Ring tones

Who doesn’t want perfect music for their ring tone? And no matter where you are, you will hear someone’s phone go off – and sometimes people say, “Oh, I like that ring!”

Do you realize that everyone has a very special spiritual ring tone? It is a vibration that comes when we pray from our Christ Center. From a Unity perspective, we invite you to NEVER pray TO God! We believe that’s “praying amiss.” When we pray TO God, it signifies a belief in a separation ~ someone “out there” who decides what and how much good we deserve, and who, on a whim, determines whether or not to respond. We believe God is within, and when we pray, we pray FROM a consciousness of our oneness with God. So be sure you are vibrating at a high, spiritual ring tone send plenty of knee-mail (prayer) to your Indwelling Christ everyday.

2. Extended Calling Area

We recently switched cell phone service, and one of the things we paid attention to was the calling area available with our new server. We have certain places we travel, and we wanted to be sure our phone would work there. No matter how wide the coverage, it seems there are always ‘abyss’ areas that no cell phone company can cover. There just aren’t cell towers near enough to pick calls up.

With God, we have unlimited calling areas! There is no geography in Spirit. No matter how deeply embedded we may feel in lack consciousness, God is there. No matter how much we are perceiving separation, God is there. No matter how depressed or sick or angry we feel, God is there. Wherever we are, God is ~ and all is well. We are only a “Can you hear me now?” away. The moment we acknowledge our oneness there are no dropped calls!

3. Circle of Friends

Anyone who Takes a quick peek at television has seen the ad about the telecom guy who puts the geeky guys from the other companies on his circle of friends.

In a recent article in Mobile Insider, author Steve Smith describes the value of the Circle of Friends concept as a strategy that filters the world down to the people and things we value most highly and with whom we have the deepest connections. He postulates that one of the important psychological functions of the phone for many people is that it brings a feeling of intimacy and connectedness into an otherwise anonymous mass market of the street.

From a Unity perspective, we have a pretty amazing Circle of Friends: We have five basic spiritual Principles that are always there to guide us in our journey. We have our church family comprised of those with like Consciousness, who we know we can count on to be there when we need them! And we have our oneness with each other, knowing we are all one in Spirit. There is no limit to our Circle of Friends! The only thing that stands between us and answered prayer is when we are holding someone outside that circle … when we need to practice forgiveness … making sure we have nothing standing between us and Spirit. Once we have released the bonds of anger, hatred, fear, envy ~ whatever it is we need to forgive (and it may be ourselves!) ~ we suddenly realize we are standing in the open, and our reception is crystal clear!

As you move through the weeks ahead, when you find yourself looking up to the heavens and shouting, “Can you hear me now?” realize that those words are coming from the wrong direction! Remind yourself to:

• ensure you are vibrating at the ring tone of Spirit;
• affirm you are connected to an endless calling area; and
• expand your Circle of Friends through practicing forgiveness ~

When you do you will hear Spirit softly whispering, “Dear one, I have the answer! Can you hear me now?”

The search for the Holy Grail is like so many other things. We come to realize that what we are searching for is right here all the time. We don’t need to go somewhere else to discover it. We are carrying it within. So the real question is: how can we “RECOVER” it? How can we begin our own quest for our own innate grailness … our interior Christ nature. The recognition of our Christ self is the secret to the unfoldment of our divinity?

3 Quick Suggestions:

1. Be on the lookout for surprises! Many people live in a rut of daily routines. They lose sight of the surprise of living One of our favorite questions to ask congregants is “What will it take to make you say “WOW?”

Exercise: Make an “O” with your mouth. Now, make “W’s” with three fingers on each hand, and hold them next to each corner of your mouth. WOW! Be on the lookout for the wow’s in your life!

• In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, “They’ll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Arm-strong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first, and only, home run.
• Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

2. Be on the lookout for serendipity. Carl Jung called it synchronicity: the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer. It is that happenstance, that “accident” that turns out to be fortuitous. It could be called “a moment of grace.”

Scotchguard was created by a 3M scientist. Scotchguard is a substance that helps prevent dirt from staining fabric. The 3M scientist was trying to make a synthetic rubber to be used in airplane fuel lines. By “accident” some of the new substance spilled on her assistant’s canvas shoe, and they couldn’t get it off. As the tennis shoe grew older, it got dingy–everywhere except where the substance had spilled. Three years later, after some trial and error, they invented Scotchgard. Serendipity occurs more often when you expect the unexpected to happen … the more you experience it, the more you experience it!

3. Be on the lookout for Spiritual Sensations … moments when you feel the presence of God … when you know that you know that you know you are plugged in and connected. It could be when you are meditating; in church; out in nature; playing with a child; etc.

Just for kicks, we googled the word “Spirituality” and in 14 hundreths of a second, it brought up 101 million hits! It’s a hot topic, and people are definitely on a quest to discover it. Go on your own personal inner journey … your own quest. Affirm your true identity: Your I- amness with God. Search for the divinity within you. All the answers are within when you become aware of your own divinity.

So, be on the lookout for surprises … for serendipity … and for spiritual sensations … and you will discover what has been within you from the moment you were born: the divine spark of God … your grailness … your Christ nature which is the truth of you.

We have the key to unlock the DaVinci Code! Let’s raise our chalices together, and toast the joining of the two halves of our consciousness. Let’s toast our shared divinity … honor our grailness … celebrate our spirituality! Let’s claim our oneness with God, and discover what a transforming difference it will make in our lives!

You are probably familiar with the phone commercial on TV which shows a techie testing the phone reception as he stops and says, “Can you hear me now?” Then he takes a few more steps, stops again, and repeats his question, “Can you hear me now?”

Commercially it’s about clarity of reception and dropped calls. Spiritually it’s the age old question about unanswered prayer. The Bible is full of unanswered prayers. The Koran is full of unanswered prayers. The Torah is full of unanswered prayers. The Bagavad Gita is full of … you get the picture.

You may even have your share of unanswered prayers. If so, you’re not alone. As a matter of fact you’re in good company:

Moses prays to enter the Promised Land, but his request is refused, and he dies on Mt. Nebo. Jeremiah laments national calamity when he cries, “You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.” (Lamentations 3:44). The prophet Habakkuk exclaims in despondency, “Oh God, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear me?” (Habakkuk1:2). Job says, “I cry to Thee, and You do not answer me!” (Job 30:20). King David laments, “…God does not hear me!” (Psalm 66:18)

You may even have asked out of frustration, hurt, or anger, “God, can you hear me now? Are you listening?” Many a grieving parent has asked, “God where are you?” Millions of widows and widowers have asked, “Why did God take him away from me?” – “Why did God take her. Doesn’t He know I need her?”

On Sept. 11th 2001 three hundred million Americans asked, “How could you let this happen God? Where were you? Where are you now?”

Unanswered knee-mails (prayers) have one thing in common. And we have known what it is for over 2,000 years. James, the brother of Jesus reports Jesus as saying, “You ask, and receive not because … you ask amiss!” (James 4:3)

What does he mean by ‘amiss’ ? What causes our prayers to go unanswered? Here’s the answer! Are you ready? Jesus the Christ said, … are you sure you’re ready? … He said, “If we do not forgive others, our prayers will not be answered.” (Matt.6:15)

He didn’t say – If we fail to forgive others, it will be difficult to get our prayers answered, or that it may take a little longer to get them answered, or that our prayers will be answered anyway because were nice people.

He said if we don’t forgive others, our own prayers will not be answered. Seems pretty harsh doesn’t it? He’s giving us absolutely no wiggle room.

Unity’s founder, Charles Fillmore says, “The mind must let go of every unforgiving thought.” “The refusal to forgive is the linchpin of unanswered prayer,” says Richard Smoley in his bestseller, Inner Christianity. Harry Fosdick, in his classic book, The Meaning of Prayer, says, “We are not ready to receive answered prayer until we forgive.”

Seems pretty clear doesn’t it? We pray amiss if we don’t forgive. And until we forgive, our prayers will not be answered.

So, we invite you to look into your own heart and forgive anyone and everyone who has ever upset you, disappointed you, wronged you, or harmed you in any way. That may be a tall order for some of you. You may have been significantly wronged, or harmed, or upset by someone. You may feel forgiveness is out of the question.

But if you want your prayers answered, you’ve got to learn to forgive. You must go from bitter to better.

From a metaphysical perspective, forgiveness is a necessary condition for answered prayer. Metaphysically, forgiveness means giving up the false for the true. It means living from our Christ Consciousness instead of our coma consciousness.

We’re kidding ourselves if we think we can walk the spiritual path on unforgiving feet. Unanswered prayers are the products of an unforgiving heart. When we tighten our connection to Spirit by unloosening our attachment to an unforgiving spirit, we won’t have to ask, “Can you hear me now?”

When we eliminate the static of unforgiveness, the reception will be crystal clear.

Ernest Hemingway tells the story about a young man who wrongs his father and then runs away from home to Madrid. Out of great love for his son, the father posts ads in a half dozen or so Madrid newspapers.

“Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana, 12 noon Tuesday. All is forgiven. Papa.”

When the father gets to the hotel, he finds 650 young men named Paco waiting for their fathers.

Forgiveness, it seems, is a universal human need. At its core it is the need to be pardoned, to be released from the emotional strain of having wronged someone or having been wronged by someone. At its essence it means going from bitter to better.

Forgiveness requires an emotional correction. It is an empathic response to a wrong doing. It constitutes an act of extraordinary consideration which oftentimes seems much too lenient, if not down right foolish. But forgiveness is not a doormat philosophy. Forgiveness doesn’t mean consent. Forgiveness is an act of release. Essentially it is emotional amnesty. It is truly going from bitter to better… from adversary to ambassador.

That’s what Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York did when he relieved a judge for the evening and took the bench himself in one of the poorest wards of the city. A case came up where a grandmother had been arrested for stealing bread to feed her grandchildren.

La Guardia told her, “Unfortunately, you are guilty, and I’ve got to sentence you. I’m fining you $10 or 10 days in jail.”

And then LaGuardia pulled a $10 dollar bill out of his own pocket and gave it to the astonished grandmother.

“I’m going to forgive you this time,” said the Mayor, “but I don’t want to see you here again.”

Then he fined everybody in the courtroom for helping to create a city where grandmothers have to steal bread to feed their grandchildren.

The bailiff passed the hat and the woman left the courthouse that evening both reprimanded and thankful. Not only had her fine been paid, but she left with $47.50 in her purse.

“We must forgive as we would be forgiven,” says Emile Cady in her classic Unity book, Lessons in Truth. “To forgive does not mean to arrive at a place of indifference… To forgive is to give some definite good in return for a wrong experienced.”

“Emotional wounds cannot heal until we forgive, “says Rosemary Ellen Guiley, in her book Prayer Works. “When we forgive, we experience a tremendous healing of body, mind, and spirit. It doesn’t matter whether we forgive a fresh wound or an old hurt; the liberating effect of forgiveness is the same.”

Jesus was asked by Peter in Matt. 18:21-22: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.”

The Christ’s answer in verse 22 is somewhat startling. If taken literally it appears we are being asked to forgive as much as 490 times. But we’re missing the point if we think Jesus is talking about a literal number.

Forgiving someone – or asking someone for forgiveness is an extraordinary human act of compassion and surrender. And yet it is something we must do for our own good…for our own sanity… for our own peace of mind. Forgiveness frees us from the past and keeps feelings of revenge, resentment, and anger from eating at us, from cannibalizing us.

There is another, more profound, meaning for forgiveness. Metaphysically, forgiveness means giving up the false for the true. Another way of saying that is it means giving up our fixation with fiction. The kind of fiction we’re referring to is our attachment to anything which blocks our spiritual growth.

And if it takes 7 times, or 700 times, or 7,000,000 times – to give up a false belief, to give up a false conclusion, to give up a self-defeating course of action or long-standing resentment, then that’s the amount of time Spirit gives us to get it right.

And getting it right means forgiving it right… right from the get go. That means going from bitter into better.

We’ve come to the conclusion that we think you should have an absolutely AWEFUL day today… We’re serious! We hope you have an AWEFUL day!

We want to be clear about what we are proposing. The kind of aweful we’re talking about is spelled AWEFUL… as in AWESOME! We want you to have awe-filled days the rest of your lives. Here’s a neat story to illustrate the awesomeness of going from AWFUL to AWEFUL.

Lightning struck a huge tree up ahead and sent it across the rain-soaked road. The driving rain was falling like liquid bullets. As the driver slowed to a stop, trying to figure out what to do next, another bolt of lightning struck a tree behind the SUV and fell across the road, trapping the driver and his very, very, very pregnant wife on Rt. 54.

Her contractions were minutes apart and he had to get her to the hospital. He got out of the truck to access the situation and instinctively ducked as another lightning strike splintered a towering pine tree nearby.

A few moments later, soaking wet, he jumped back into the truck.

“Honey, we’re trapped. There’s ditches on both sides of the road and the trees are so huge they’re blocking the road in both directions.”

“Thank God they didn’t fall on…” she stopped as one of her contractions hit, “fall on us!” she whispered.

“I’ve got to get you to the hospital,” her franticed husband announced.

Just then a pickup truck pulled up. The driver saw their predicament, told them to stay in the SUV, and explained what he was going to do. In no time at all he had the tree ahead of them cut into enough pieces to clear the way for them.

He refused any payment. He said he was going to stay long enough to clear the other tree out of the road too. Then he gave the couple a tattered business card sized note.

Worn and creased with age, the inscription on its face, dulled by the touch of many fingers read:

You’ve been helped in some way today by a Good Samaritan. In lieu of payment, please pass on the favor to someone else

The couple looked at each other and smiled their gratitude – and their surprise. Their old website address was on the back of the card. They had 1,000’s of the cards printed up themselves years ago after they had seen the hit movie Pay It Forward. Their own thoughtfulness and generosity had turned what could have been an awful experience into an awesomely AWEful experience.

2000 years ago, Jesus the Christ walked many a storm-tossed road Himself. He had plenty of opportunities to turn awful experiences into AWEful experiences. He raised the widow of Nain’s son, (Luke 7:11), Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:22), and Lazarus (John 11:1) from aweful experiences – they had all died! Their resurrections were AWEful experiences.

He healed lepers (Luke 17:12), a blind man (John 9:1) another blind man at Bethesaida (Mark 8:12), a blind man named Bartimaeus (Matt. 20), a deaf mute (Mark 7:32), a Roman officer’s servant (Matt. 8:5), two people with demons (Mark 5; Luke 8), a paralyzed man (Mark 2, Luke 5), a woman who touched His cloak (Matt. 9, Luke 8); and hundreds of other awful health conditions in His time.

Metaphysically, no matter how dulled, deadened, or comatose we become (that’s what Jairus’ daughter, the widow of Nain’s son, and Lazarus represent) we can be resurrected by the power of Spirit. No matter how sick we are mentally, emotionally, or physically, we can be healed.

No matter how far gone you think you are, the Christ in you can raise the deadened you, the frightened you, the vulnerable you. By the power and might of the Indwelling Christ within you can pray yourself, meditate yourself, visualize yourself, will yourself, affirm yourself, diet yourself, exercise yourself, and divinely order yourself into wholeness and happiness.

Our bodies are our biological address. How long we live there and how well we live there pretty much depend on us. Some people are in constant triage. Others enjoy perpetual health. For many people, a balanced diet is a beer in one hand and a pizza in the other. No matter how we treat our bodies though, we all have two things in common when it comes to health: Our bodies will last a lifetime – and our lifetimes will last as long as our bodies.

The alchemy of health is a mind, body, spirit equation. When all three are balanced we have perfect health. If they are out of sync, we end up like the character in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew who is paralyzed and can’t walk. (Matt.9:2-8)

The literal interpretation of these scriptures is fairly straightforward. The man is lowered through the roof and according to his faith and those who lowered him, is healed. It’s a poignant story, but its deeper metaphysical meaning takes its 21st Century worth to a whole new level of understanding.

• The Paralyzed man represents crippling thoughts that keep us stuck and immobilized, unable to move toward our good
• People carrying the paralyzed man = faith-centered thoughts refusing to see anything but wholeness
• Process of lowering man through the roof = a Divine Idea coming into our Christ Consciousness
• House = human consciousness
• Scribes = organized worldly thoughts
• Bed or mat = comfortable assumptions, badge of lack consciousness
• Earth = physical body
• Home = Headquarters, the Kingdom of Heaven
• Son of Man = that within us that knows the difference between truth and error; our enlightened personality that seeks oneness with our Christ Nature
• Evil = thoughts which deny our divinity
• Your sins are forgiven. Stand up and walk home = Eliminate your error thinking (give up the false for the true). Behold your wholeness by going to Headquarters

When we step out on faith and choose wholeness, despite the appearance of extremely challenging or immobilizing situations, we can transcend any of our crippling thoughts and habits, because there is that within us that knows the difference between truth and error. We’ve got two choices: we can deny the power of outer appearances or affirm our wholeness by recognizing the awesome power of our Christ Nature. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ (Deny the power of outer appearances) or ‘Stand up and walk’ (affirm your wholeness)?

All healing, emotional and physical, is the restoration of the harmony between us and our I Am Presence. It is a cellular connection. Healing is restoring wholeness. And wholeness suggests a pre-existent completeness. This completeness is the truth of us. The truth of our completeness does not depend on us. It’s there whether we believe it’s there or not. But the health of our cells, atoms, and molecules depends on the healthiness of our thoughts, images, and intentions.

Here’s the key to an alchemy of health: We cannot think Truth and error at the same time; so we cannot manifest Truth and error at the same time. Health follows Truth and sickness follows error. If we want the abundant life we’ve got to make choices that sow abundance. If we want health, wealth, and prosperity, we’ve got to make choices that sow health, wealth, and prosperity. All we have to do is eliminate our error thinking, take a stand for Truth by going to Headquarters (the Christ Presence within)…

Over the last six seasons hundreds of thousands of young people have tried to become the ‘next American Idol.’ They have come from all walks of life, from all 50 states, and from all levels of singing ability – or no singing ability – if you know what I mean.

But they all have the same dream – stardom! And the same nemesis – Simon Cowell. Regardless of what you think of the show, the contestants, or the judges, it is entertainment Hollywood style.

Randy Jackson prides himself in being the chief dog. Paula Abdul is both maternal and compassionate. And Simon Cowell invariably offends everyone, including his fellow judges, with his caustic feedback.

Each week the contestants are judged by Randy, Paula, and Simon, and millions of people who text or call in their votes. The contestants are pushed through a media gauntlet filled with sarcasm and praise, and occasionally helpful feedback from the judges.
American Idol is great entertainment, but it is also an apt metaphor for a great truth walk. Each week the contestants are judged on three key performance factors: they’ve got to pick the right song, use good vocals, and be themselves so they can demonstrate their uniqueness.

Those same three factors define our truth walk. The quality of our truth walk depends on how well we do all three. And how well we do all three determines whether our truth walk is on track or on idle – IDLE.

Walking the spiritual path on practical feet requires what could be termed spiritual orthopedics. If we want to step confidently and lively toward the kind of life we want to live, we must make sure our thoughts and actions are congruent with the truth principles we have learned.

It doesn’t matter if we’re stepping on bare feet or shod feet, big feet, small feet, white feet or brown feet or red feet or yellow feet, tired feet or energetic feet. Each step is a tithe toward our spiritual growth. Or toward our stagnation if we stand idlely by, because we neglect to put truth principles into action.

We strive every day to:

• pick the right song – seeing everything from our Christ perspective
• use good vocals – using powerful affirmations and positive words, and
• be ourselves so that each of our me’s is the best me we can be

Have you heard people say, “I’m trying to be more spiritual, but life keeps getting in the way?”

Dan Millman has an interesting perspective on that which is, as Simon Cowell would say, “Spot on!” Millman says in his book, No Ordinary Moments: “Someone once said to me, ‘I’d love to live like a peaceful warrior and do more spiritual practices, but with a family to support, and a fulltime job, I just don’t have the time.’”

He didn’t realize, says Millman, that his family and job – his relation-ship with his wife, the responsibilities of children, and the pressures of his profession – were his spiritual practice.”

The truth is, our truth walks are never on idle. We may think we’re going nowhere spiritually, but everything we do has spiritual implications.

In his delightful book, Buddha is as Buddha Does, Lama Surya Das, who has been called the American Lama, has this to say:

“The Dalai Lama taught me that the spiritual jewel that brings us all we need and seek is the unselfish heart and compassionate mind. These are what Buddhists call indispensable highest intentions, which come from the good heart, our best self, our innermost Buddha-being.” Sound familiar?

We can use those same terms to define our innermost Christ Self. And we can express our innermost Christ Self best when we:

• pick the right song using our Christ perspective
• use the right vocals by affirming our oneness with Spirit, and
• be our true selves, our divine selves, in this earthly performance we call human beingness

Going from idle – IDLE – to I do – DO – is a command performance.