Unity Spiritual Life Center Blog

No is one of the most difficult words to deal with, especially when we desperately desire something, or feel it is critical for our success and happiness. In sales, NO is the leading cause of ‘fear of rejection complex’ that causes so many people to get out of business!

‘No’ was a difficult word for Bil and me to hear when we created amazing proposals, only to discover someone else was selected to do the job. But here’s how we began to hear the YES in NO. We started saying “Thanks for saying no!”

For example, when we received news that we weren’t chosen to give a keynote presentation we immediately followed up with a note, thanking the prospective client for giving us the opportunity to be chosen ~ and included positive affirmations for them to have a terrific conference.

Then we offered our services for up-coming events. We also indicated that, should something happen at the last minute where they found they needed a speaker, to feel free to call us. We usually

Incredibly, we found that we were often contacted immediately to discuss next year’s conference! We had learned how to find the YES in NO by looking at a more long-term response.

How often do you run into obstacles which seem to wave a big red ” NO” in front of you? It seems so easy to just cave in, and say, “Forget it!” But in Mark 10:27, Jesus makes a remarkable statement: “With God, all things are possible.” What exactly does that mean? It creates all kinds of debates, like “Yeah, possible, but how probable?” Or “This sounds good, but it won’t work in the real world!”

Suppose someone asked you to cut a hole in a 5×7 card big enough for a person to step through it. Because you’re a good Truth practitioner, you’d want to act like a believer. So you’d say, “All things are possible” and you might even take action - but in the end you might throw up your hands and say, “This stuff doesn’t work!”

As we make that connection with the Christ of us, our God center, we are open to the Divine Flow of everything we ever need. However, until we make that connection, our human self sees the appearance of obstacles, of “NOs.” So, how do we move through that process, so we can always find the YES in No?

THE ‘YES in NO’ PROCESS:

1) Expect the Yes in No

This relates completely to an attitude of expectancy. So often, we get exactly what we expect. Not necessarily what we want, or what we hope for - but what we expect! Shakespeare said it long ago: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Sometimes we create huge NO’s simply due to our expectations, which translate into our behaviors. For example, from a survey of top personnel executives of 100 major American businesses, here are some of the accounts of bizarre behavior by job applicants:

• “… said she was so perfect that if he didn’t get the job, it would prove that the company’s management was incompetent.”
• “… announced he hadn’t eaten lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer’s office.”
• “Balding candidate suddenly excused himself. Returned to office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece.”
• “…she vomited on my desk, and immediately began asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.”
• “When asked the reason for leaving last job: They insisted all employees arrive at work by 8:45 am every morning. I couldn’t work under those conditions.”

We do it to ourselves! So what do we expect?

Lowell Fillmore shares how Adam named the animals in the creation story, and says that in like manner, we can name our conditions as either bad or good, yes or no. Since we have this creative power, why not name things good?

Look at how fickle the concept of Good versus Bad is. Just one example: Is coffee good or bad for you? Depends on what research you find. A recent Harvard research article outlined in WebMD that coffee lowers your risk of diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and colon cancer-lifts your mood and treats headaches-improves athleticism, and can even lower your risk of cavities!

So begin now to Expect the Yes in No!

2) Embrace the YES in NO.

This means creating an attitude of joy, knowing that at the level of spirit, it already is. It is important to realize that what you think of or experience is more important than the thing or experience itself. Whenever you become aware of a blockage that seems to be saying “NO!” immediately affirm YES!

We create what we call the “Apostrophe Effect” ~ which we’ve shared before, but believe it is so important we want to share it again. When you face the NO’s of life, remember this. Imagine the word IMPOSSIBLE. Put an apostrophe between the ‘I’ and the ‘M.’ what does it spell now? I’M POSSIBLE! Practice creating the ‘Intention of Embracing the YES in NO.’

3) Expand the Yes in No.

Here we’re indicating the need to it on  projecting the attitude of hope and encouragement to others. You can begin educating others so that instead of asking “Why did this happen to me?” they learn how to ask the question, “How can I use this for good?” Here’s a little tip for you: It’s all in how it’s spelled!

You run smack into a difficult situation, and immediately you see N-O, NO! But suppose you changed the spelling to K-N-O-W, KNOW? This becomes a trigger to remind you that you KNOW there is a YES in that No, and you KNOW that you are one with Divine Substance, where all things work together for good - where all things are possible!

And just in case you run into a really tough situation that challenges your belief to the fullest, contact us to show you how you can step through a 5×7 index card.

We K-N-O-W, KNOW, that all things are possible when we we connect with our Christ Center! And as you practice the art of ‘Expecting the Yes in NO,’ ‘Embracing the Yes in No,’ and ‘Expanding the Yes in No,’ you will reap the benefits in terms of walking the spiritual path on practical feet!

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Do you ever feel as if your life is a big jigsaw puzzle, but someone forgot to provide the box with the picture on it? Or maybe your life is a 1,000-piece puzzle, but they gave you 2,000 pieces? Or worst of all, it’s a 1,000 piece puzzle, and you only have 999 pieces! That frustrating missing piece!

When you concentrate on any of these scenarios, it takes the fun out of doing a puzzle - and it can lead to a lot of “cross words!”

So, how can we transform our spiritual consciousness and deal with the puzzles life brings us by paying attention to crossword and jigsaw puzzles as metaphors? Believe it or not, there are at least three important lessons we can learn!

1. Keep Your Focus on Your Purpose!

We remember how a good friend of ours misunderstood Bil’s love for jigsaws and gave him this really hard puzzle. It was nothing but shades of red that made a solid mass of blended colors. Initially, we tried working it and it lay out on our puzzle table for several days, frustrating us. Suddenly, one of us got an incredible brainstorm: “Why are we struggling with this stupid puzzle anyway? Just because she gave it to us doesn’t mean we have to work on it!”

We had gotten off purpose! We were focusing on the frustrating puzzle rather than remembering our purpose was enjoyment, relaxation, and fun!

You may not imagine the joy and fun we had as we pulled apart the few pieces we’d managed to piece together and threw them back into the box!

So, what does this have to do with our spiritual growth? Well, the same thing happens in life all the time. Generally, ‘cross words’ signal us that we have misplaced our focus and attention. We allow little issues, other people’s words to get to us, get us, and cause us to get off focus.

We find ourselves complaining about things, holding grudges against people, or spinning our wheels and getting mired down in trivial matters. We fail to ‘let our light shine,’ to be the BEST Christ we can be! Committing our focus on our purpose in life helps us handle the puzzles life tosses at us!

2. Strengthen Your Spirit Connection by “putting in the time”

With jigsaw puzzles, we call it putting in “Puzzle Time.” We actually made up that term. It means that the way you get better and better at doing puzzles is by spending time doing them! We apply a variation of the term to other areas in life,

For example, in dancing, we refer to it as “floor time.” During practice, you learn how to navigate through missed steps or crowded floors, so when the competition comes, you can call on that instinctive ability and use it in the moment! Every sport or profession has a name for it: ice time; hoop time; pulpit time. It’s the time invested in honing your craft.

In the training discipline, it provides the confidence to stand in front of a group, knowing you will be able to handle anything. For example, we were recently booked to do a keynote and a breakout session. The size of the breakout was going to be limited so that a small group could roll up their sleeves and really get into the keynote topic. So, we planned an extremely hands-on session, with activities for around 25 people.

The moderator for the session got confused, and forgot to limit the group size, and we ended up with nearly 80 people! On the spot, we had to redesign our entire action plan, so we could accommodate the new group size.

We were able to do it, because we had “facilitator time” under our belts. We knew a lot of techniques, and could call upon them at the drop of a hat - but only because we had put in the time to learn and develop those skills. It’s not magic - it’s properly-laid groundwork.

With life experiences, it’s the same thing. If you only resort to prayer and meditation when you are in the midst of a dire need, you may be unhappy with the results you get.

When we put time in the Silence (spend time at headquarters), on a regular basis, we are building spirit equity! We are strengthening the skills we need, and when a situation calls for it, we are able to call upon them at a moment’s notice, when life experiences put us in a situation where we need them!

For example, when we are faced with the appearance of lack, we can immediately refuse to give power to lack (use denials) so that lack has no power over us. We can instantly connect with Divine Substance, knowing we have no fear of lack at all, because all we ever need is already available for us to call on. But we can’t use this technique unless we have done the ‘Heart Time’ and the ‘Silence Time by ‘developing and strengthening our connection with Divine Substance.

Take a deep breath!

3. Now for the most important lesson we can learn from the world of puzzles!

Imagine that you wanted to play a serious practical joke on your puzzle-loving friend. As you work with her or him on a difficult jigsaw puzzle, you very quietly, very secretly take away one of the pieces, and hide it. Then you continue to work on the puzzle. Most likely, at some point, your friend is going to say; “I know this piece should be easy to spot. I just can’t find it.” You help them out, but you are not worried, because you know where the missing piece is!

That’s the difference in how people choose to deal with life’s situations, be they health challenges, appearances of lack or limitation, supposedly unfair circumstances, relationship issues that are less than joyful, or any of the other things that hit our path on our life journey.

When we stand in Truth and live our principles, we can face anything with total confidence and step out on faith, because we know where the missing “peace” is. It’s spelled P-E-A-C-E, and it comes from that oneness with Spirit. And that comes in only one way: putting God first in everything we do.

Jesus taught us this when He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” What this means is to spend time in the Silence (prayer). Ideally, we can LIVE connected, always knowing we have the PEACE that seems to be missing for other people.

When you know how to handle the puzzles of daily life with confidence and joy, you are able to:

• Keep your attention on your purpose;
• Strengthen your Spirit Connection by putting in the time; and,
• Above all else, you can live with the confidence of knowing that you always have the missing PEACE!

That’s how you walk the spiritual path on practical feet!

WE absolutely love the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ~ because it personifies the human spirit, and the deep inner desire we have to reach out and help others. A hallmark emotion of this show is “Delight”

• the incredible delight of the family, when they view their new home;
• the obvious delight of Ty and the design team, in sharing the home;
• the heart-warming delight of the builders and volunteers, who always claim they receive so much more than they give!

Delight is an intense emotion, and one that truly opens the Consciousness to allow a free-flow of abundance and prosperity to come to you, in ways you would never begin to imagine!

As part of our Sunday service, we share a Prosperity Blessing during our offering time, in which we repeat together, “Divine Love, through me, blesses and multiplies all the I have, all that I give, and all that I receive.”

These words are actually a perfect outline for understanding an Extreme Level of Delight. Most people tend to think about money when they hear this blessing, but let’s “amp it up” into a description of our consciousness, and see a deeper message!

Delight in all you have:

Of course, this tells us to be grateful for the things we have  without begrudging what others have, or always longing for what you wish you had.

But there’s a deeper level to consider: don’t we all have things we don’t particularly feel grateful for? For example, things like illness, money problems, work issues, etc.? The real secret here is to live from a state of delight, even in the midst of these kinds of issues. Regardless of what we “have,” we are grateful! Not for  but from! Living from that sense of delight in knowing we are one with God and all is well, we can recognize that every experience is simply “curriculum,” from which we can learn and grow.

Delight in all that you give:

This section of the blessing reminds us to delight in the things we give to others, but it goes so much farther than that. Become aware of other ways you give  and pay attention to whether you are giving gratefully. We give by way of words; expressions; help; comfort; time. For example, we recently hosted some out of state friends. Ten of us met to share time together for a dinner, ranging from age 17 months to 89 years old! It was an incredible evening, because everyone gave their time, joyfully, to come together as family and friends. What a joyful gathering we all had!

Give joyfully! We write “Gladly” on all our checks (right above the words “Pay to the order of”), and it helps us experience a sense of joy as we send our money out into the world. By allowing a sense of delight to flow through us, we can send that joy out to others through our words and actions. Giving with delight enriches your prosperity, and the prosperity of all those whose lives you touch!

Delight in all that you receive:

Think about a gift you gave to someone recently. Recall your excitement in choosing it (or making it), and how you felt as you wrapped it up and delivered it. Now, imagine that you get no acknowledgment at all. Nothing is more disappointing than giving something, and not feeling a sense of appreciation on the part of the one you gave it to. It breaks the flow of the giving and receiving cycle.

Consider a compliment you received, that you negated and threw back at the giver! Think about offers for help, that you have glibly refused. When you do not receive with delight, you cut off the cycle of giving and receiving, and you put a kink in the prosperity flow into your life.

Experience shows that receiving with delight is the toughest challenge of all - particularly when we find ourselves in a place of need, where we must take help from others. But if we can just remember that in receiving with delight, we are actually helping those who are giving - and we are maintaining that Giving/Receiving Cycle, keeping it flowing in our lives!

Charles Fillmore is quoted as saying, “It has been found by experience that a person increases his blessings by being grateful for what he has. Gratitude even on the mental plane is a great magnet. When gratitude is expressed from the spiritual standpoint, it is powerfully augmented.”

When we live life from a Spiritual Consciousness of Delight - delighting in all that we have, all that we give, and all that we receive - we will discover that everything we ever need flows to us as we align ourselves  with Divine Abundance.

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.

With Halloween so close, we seem to have our minds on goblins! And that led us to think about the goblins in our Consciousness - those negative error thoughts that separate us from the Truth of who we are. We want to send those goblins on the run! But, we want to do it the right way, or we will just wind up creating more problems for ourselves.

Hence, the second part of our title, Google comes into play. Whenever we really need to know something, we turn to Google!

As an aside, did you know that Google is a play on the word “GOOGOL” which refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google coined the word to reflect their mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available via the web.

Google is our favorite search engine ~ but even with Google, you can only find so much. Just imagine the infinite amount of Divine Ideas and Guidance we have at our disposal when we Google God!

Just for fun, we did Google God, and came up with 510,000,000 hits in just .09 seconds! And you can bet, those hits were all over the place, from God’s homepage, to the official God FAQ (which we do  not recommend), to God’s Yellow Pages! But that is a drop in the bucket compared to what we get when we really Google God - through Meditation and Prayer. Rather than sit at the computer, try sitting in the Silence, quieting your mind, and becoming open to receive the Divine outpouring of ideas and guidance that are at your constant disposal.

And here’s the best part. When we identify our goblins, then Google God through mediation and prayer, we can live in a state of constant giggles! We can experience the pure delight of knowing that we are never alone, and nothing has any power over us. We can say with confidence: My consciousness is greater than any goblin my mind can imagine!

Research has now proven that complex humor (riddles, puns, funny stories) not only strengthens our immune system, it actually can improve memory and recalibrate our intuition! We can also approach problems with more flexibility, opening the channels to creative Divine ideas. We call it the Giggle State of Consciousness.

When we live in the Giggle State of Consciousness, we operate from a state of pure joy and gratitude. Here’s a great quote we discovered about gratitude, by Melody Beatty:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Were you aware that there is an actual meditation practice called Centered Silliness? Because the physical act of laughter is one of the few actions that involves the body, emotions, and soul, it makes it possible for us to transcend physical and mental stresses. It has even been proven to improve the immune system.

There are 3 stages to mindful laughter, each taking 5-20 minutes:

• Stretching like a cat and breathing deeply. Exercise the muscles in your face by yawning and making lots of funny faces.

• Pure laughter. Fall on the floor if you want, and continue laughing as long as you can. You may feel like you are forcing it at first, but we invite you to give it a try. Just laugh out loud!

Here are some funny stories to get you laughing:

We loved this announcement from a church bulletin: “Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person(s) you want remembered.”

Or this: Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door. (That’ll really boost that esteem!)

And how about this slogan: The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: “I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.”?

A woman went to the Post Office to purchase stamps for her Christmas cards. “What Denomination?” asked the clerk. “Oh, good grief! Have we come to this?” responded the woman. “Just give me 50 Baptist and 50 Catholic ones.”

• And the final step: Sit in silence with your eyes closed, and become aware of your breath.

We believe Jesus had a wonderful sense of humor, and understood the power of joy. He used hyperbole, paradox, and exaggeration to make a point. In John 15:11, He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.”

Lowell Fillmore (Charles & Myrtle’s son) said, in his book, The Prayer Way to Health, Wealth, & Happiness: “Unity believes that when joy is put back into religion, there will be more religion in the world.”  A friend of Lowell’s said that back when they lived together at Unity Farm, young Lowell would take off his shoes and socks, and run barefoot in the winter snow-just out of exhilaration, out of the joy of being alive!

We’d like to end this week’s article with a poem we enjoy. But take note: we added an extra verse to share a Unity perspective!

Sit on the Lid and Laugh (by Bertha Adams Backus)

Build for yourself a strong box
Fashion each part with care;
When it’s strong as your hand can make it
Put all your “goblins” there.
Hide there all thought of your failures,
Every real or imagined gaffe;
Lock all your heartaches within it
Then sit on the lid and laugh.

Tell no one else its contents
Never its secrets share,
When you’ve dropped in your care and worry
Keep them forever there;
Hide them from sight so completely
That the world will never dream half
Fasten the strong box securely
Then sit on the lid and laugh!

(Our added verse):

You have within you this strongbox
At Headquarters you’ll find it’s true -
Go there to empty your worries
Your problems, your fears - heartaches, too.
The goblins that seem to consume you
The burdens that tear you in half -
Can be Googled away in this strongbox ~
And you can sit on the lid and laugh!

So when the goblins come out to frighten you away from your Divinity, just Google God by going into the Silence, with the assurance that you can live in a continuous state of Divine Giggles and Joy, knowing that wherever you are, God is - and all is well!

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.

A 12-pound hawksbill turtle crawled up to die on a wind torn beach. An autopsy revealed that half of its weight was from man made products. Its stomach and intestines were filled with multi-colored beads, part of a comb, two golf tees, a toy wheel, rope, balloon, part of a plastic bottle, a plastic toothpaste cap, the top of a plastic medical syringe, baggies, and a plastic flower.* Its contents were carb-free, but had no nutritional value. (As referenced by Paul Varo Martinson in World Religions: The Problem of Imaging Christ, Imaging Christ: Politics, Art, Spirituality, ed. Francis A. Eigo, Villanova, PA: Villanova University Press, 1991, 111).

Apart from the environmental and ecological fallout associated with the turtle’s poor dietary choices, this unfortunate incident speaks to the message we have been sharing with you.

It is a message which says: Until we are open to individual and spiritual transformation and to the transformational conversation which goes along with it, we risk having our spirit clogged with the plastic half-truths of conventional thinking and embedded theology which can clutter half, or all, of our thinking.

We invite you to ‘get over’ carrying around plastic thoughts and attitudes like the plastic mush in the turtle’s stomach before it sends you crawling up on beaches of convention instead of soaring up mountains of enlightenment.

This ‘Get Over It’ message is based on the book by the same title. It is designed to help you move from plastic to platinum in your thinking - from blind obedience to conventional thinking to the unlimited openness and joy of transformational thinking.

The phrases we’re encouraging you to ‘get over’ in this article usually come as a pair. They are: “Birds of a feather stick together” and “opposites attract.”

We’re going to give you a bird’s eye view of these worn out beliefs which we believe are flying out of formation. These two phrases, we think you’ll agree, have been winging it for some time.

The “birds of a feather stick together” phrase has been around a long time. It has been in use since at least the mid 16th century. It initially appeared in 1545 in William Turner’s rendition of his papist satire The Rescuing of Romish Fox: “Byrdes of one kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together.”

No such origin can be found for “opposites attract.” However its origin may be closer than we think. It is actually a social psychology concept called “common belief factor.”

It springs from the word “heterocentrism.” “Hetero” is the Greek word for “different.”Centre” is Greek for “centered on” or “drawn toward.” To use a similar analogy, a “heliocentric” plant, like a sunflower, is one that grows toward or is drawn to the sun.

It reminds us why we are no longer total, absolute vegans. It seemed that whenever we sat in a chair near the window we started leaning toward the light.

So, something which is “heterocentric” involves two or more UNLIKE things that are magnetized towards each other.

Do opposites attract? Do birds of a feather flock together? What does the latest research literature have to say about that? In one of the most widely attempted studies ever undertaken on these questions, researchers at the University of Iowa found

Before we divulge their findings if you are looking for the perfect soulmate or business colleague you may want to read this very carefully. Researchers at the University of Iowa found that we tend to hang around others who are similar in attitudes, interests, philosophy, religion, and values.

However, it is the complementary nature of our make-up that seems to be more important in creating enduring and happy relationships. Those similarities include character traits like: assertiveness, introversion and extroversion, compassion, even-temperedness, sense of humor, and so on. (The findings appear in the February issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 88, No., 2, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Other than that nothing is definitive. The concepts of ‘birds of a feather flocking together’ or ‘opposites attracting’ seem to come down to one thing: the power of choice.

There is no automatic, incontrovertible, mindless magnetism that pulls people together. If that sounds like fowl language we invite you to consider the fact that in order for these two sayings to be absolute truths they would have to be true in all circumstances.

People who are the same don’t always hang out with each other. Opposites aren’t always attracted to each other. We decide with whom we flock, herd, swim, swarm, or hibernate.

We like to hang around with Unitics and other truth seekers. We also like to flock with: dancers, people who love the performing arts, open-minded people, high energy people, philosophers and metaphysicians, possibility-thinkers, healers, and frozen custard lovers, good conversationalists, movie goers, people who love to travel, people who have a good sense of humor, and banana pudding lovers, to name a few.

With whom do you flock! In what ways are important people in your life opposite from you?

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.

The co-founders of Unity, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, wanted a place where they could combine all of the ministries of their growing movement under one roof. They wanted a church home. It was 1902 and Charles felt it was time to appoint a building committee. The Unity enterprise had just gotten started and many people, including some of the Trustee members, considered the building committee was premature.

At one of the early meetings, Charles introduced the idea of more space. One of the Board members started the building fund by jokingly giving a penny. Everyone laughed good-naturedly, finding his token donation amusing - everyone, that is, except Charles.

His own trusted Board had ridiculed his idea. Have you ever received similar treatment for an idea you had? When was the last time you were taken lightly, made fun of, or even ridiculed for an idea you had? What impact did the slight have on you? Charles Fillmore could have responded in any number of ways. But he was centered in his faith.  He took the penny, thanked the member for his seed money, and blessed it.

To him the building fund was symbolically and literally on its way. Several months later, in February of 1903 in Unity Magazine, Charles offered subscribers “the opportunity of contributing any amount of money from 10 to one thousand dollars or more” towards the purchase of a site and the construction of a building. Incredibly, by the end of 1903 the building fund had grown to 25! That brings to mind the story of the Unity minister who addressed her congregation and said: “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is we’ve got plenty of money to pay all of our bills and take care of all our expenses. The bad news is it’s still in your wallets.

By 1905, several years later, the penny which started the building fund had grown to merely $601. In spite of their disappointment the Fillmore’s remained committed to the building campaign. The building committee had found an eight-room house for sale at 913 Tracy Avenue, but the money they had available was insufficient to even think about buying the property.

The Fillmore’s had prayed over this matter and believed that their prayers would be answered. They prayed to start each day and they prayed out of each day. They visualized. They affirmed. They prayed, believing manifestation would follow. Sound familiar? They prayed when they were inspired. And they prayed when they were tired. Charles and Myrtle Fillmore had PhD’s in prayer.

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Unity Society of Practical Christianity a few months later, a few people offered a few hundred dollars apiece toward the purchase of the building. Their pledges were accepted thankfully but the Fillmore’s seemed to be the only ones enthusiastic about the building fund.

Then one evening one of the Board members visited the Fillmore’s and said quietly that he had decided to mortgage his house in order to give Unity with the necessary funds. He wasn’t a wealthy man and he had a wife and four children to provide for. But he had been around the Fillmore’s and had seen their generosity and commitment. He believed in their ministry and wanted to see the ministry grow.

His business associates discouraged him from taking such a drastic step. To them, Unity was not a good risk. They believed he was being brainwashed by this strange religious group and reminded him he had a family to support. Even some of the Trustee members in Unity thought he was giving way too much. But he would not be dissuaded.

Because of his faith and enormous generosity, Unity purchased the lot on Tracy Avenue, and the rest, as they say, is history. Also his daughter, May Rowland, became the Director of Silent Unity and served for over 50 years. Her book, Dare to Believe, is a Unity classic.

Unity Village was built on the faith of Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, the faith of their sons, and on the faith of their friends and colleagues throughout the years. The Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, N.C. is built on faith too - the faith of its Board and the faith of its members. Cher and I have faith in USLC too!

We feel that the point where our collective consciousness, commitment, and ability meet the needs of people is where God wants the Unity Spiritual Life Center to be! And if we are where God wants us to be, there is nothing that can detract from the good that we can accomplish. And the same thing goes for each and every one of us: The point where your consciousness, commitment, and talent meets the needs of the world is where God wants you to be. And if you are where God wants you to be there is nothing that can separate you from your good or the good you can do.

Let us put the concept of NOTHING in perspective. It is critical to your understanding of how close you are to Spirit. The powerful concepts of Omnipresence, Omnipotence, and Omniscience have a couple of incredible things in common. They all start with the prefix “OM”.  OM stands for the Christ within us, the I AM Presence. It signifies our connection to Spirit. They also have the “ni” in common. Ni is short for nil or nihil which signify nothing. So you see, there is nothing under heaven or on earth that can separate you from the all knowing, everywhere present, all powerful nature of God expressing in, through, and as you!

When you believe that, and if you truly know that within your heart, your life will be transformed forever! You will walk more confidently sleep more peacefully and live more fully. There is NOTHING that can separate you from the life you want. Not your past. Not your childhood experiences. Not your bad experiences. Not your most ingrained habits. Not your lost opportunities. Not the old tapes running through your head. Nothing can separate you from your good except your disbelief in truth principles and your doubts of your unworthiness. Any separation caused by these false assumptions and your feelings of unworthiness is only a perceived separation.

You are an idea in the mind of God expressing as you. The Unity Spiritual Life Center is an idea in the mind of Almighty God expressing as a community of believers. And each of us has a part to play in its unfoldment. “We live in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.” Those are the words of Dr. Martin Luther King. And they apply to us as members of this church, as visitors in this spiritual community, as citizens of this country, and members of humankind. We live in an “inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.”

Every time we pledge our time, our talents, and our money to this church we are going back to the future. Back to the pioneering contributors who made Unity Village a reality. The penny that began what we know as Unity Village made it possible for us to meet there today because this church is an extension of that mustard seed of faith.

The Unity Spiritual Life Center is here by divine right! We open these doors because Charles and Myrtle Fillmore opened doors. We pray to the God of our understanding because our co-founders prayed to the God of their understanding. We let our light shine because the Fillmore’s let their light shine. We have the privilege and responsibility of helping people understand that the Kingdom of God is within. The Fillmore’s believed it, and they believed it because Jesus the Christ taught it. And He taught it because it is true.

Inscribed on today’s pennies are the words: “In God We Trust” and trusting in God is a fundamental aspect of our truth walks. Whether it’s common sense or our sixth sense, it just makes perfect sense to trust the Omnipresence, Omnipotence, and Omniscience of a loving God. That insight will keep us on the right path.

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.

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.

It sounds really good that we desire to be totally connected - that we increase our spiritual might simply by giving all we have to Spirit. But that really scares a lot of people. They believe you have to go to a mountaintop somewhere, or escape into the wilderness in order to be that committed. But nothing could be further from the truth!

The truth is we are always connected, regardless of where we are or what we are doing. We cannot be not connected to Spirit! The issue is that we are not always grounded in that awareness of our connection ~ and that’s when we begin to feel a sense of separation. So to really increase our MIGHT, we must become so completely grounded in our awareness of our oneness with spirit that no outer appearance can throw us off balance. Then it becomes a way of being to live life full out!

A great analogy of this is the ocean and the wave. They are one, and cannot be separated, yet each wave is unique and individual. However, it is still a part of the ocean. You can take a pail and bring some of the ocean water home collect some of the ocean water to take home - and you know that even though it is separated, it’s still the ocean. But a wave can no longer do what waves are meant to do, unless it is where it’s destined to be  in and of the ocean. Only as a part of the ocean can waves live life full out!

It is the same with us! We are in and of this daily life we have chosen to live. Our adventure is to allow our Divine nature to unfold as we live our life full out! When we have that solid grounding in our oneness, it becomes second nature for us to give our all to Spirit.

The question remains: How do we do that? We’d like to suggest three ways you may want to try. It is the "3-S Formula for Living Life Full Out!:

SILENCE:

You create a solid grounding in Spirit by spending time in the Silence. The connection gets stronger even if you think nothing is happening.

It’s like going to Weight Watchers! You stick to the eating plan, and each week you go in for your weekly weigh-in. You may not feel any different - but you find out you are a mere quarter of a pound lighter! It is so teeny you almost deny its value. But several weeks of this, and all of a sudden you are able to wear a pair of jeans that were uncomfortably tight, and now, magically, they feel great! You didn’t realize what was actually happening, until you performed some kind of action that made it real.

Spending time in the Silence is sort of like that. What you are doing is putting your Intuitive Connection on Alert. You’ll find that by spending time in the Silence, you begin getting messages, insights, ideas, strength, wisdom, things you need. By giving time to Spirit, you gain a life of spiritual growth, inner peace, and pure joy.

SERVICE (Through SHARING):

Albert Schweitzer said, "I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."

It’s interesting that all of us can give. We all have gifts, talents, opportunities to help others. We just need to be aware that there are some things an individual can’t do alone. For example - We’ve read that people are able to hold more weight in one hand than the other. In fact, we bet we can think of something you can hold in your right hand that you cannot hold in your left hand, regardless of how strong you are! Ready? Stretch out your left arm - and bend it. Now, place your left elbow in your right palm. Okay - you are now holding your left elbow in your right hand. Show us how you can hold your left elbow in your left hand!! See - there are certain things we just can’t do on our own!

It’s incredible - whenever you are experiencing a sense of self pity, or going through a difficult time, one of the best remedies is to do something for someone else! It transforms your whole viewpoint!

There are lots of opportunities to serve: community projects; volunteering; visiting people who are shut in or sick; taking food to a family in need.  A first grade class in Green Bay WI saved their chore money and bought 22 baby books for a hospital’s newborn intensive care unit. A group of nursing home residents created quilts, which they donated to a homeless shelter in Ohio.

Giving and receiving is a cycle, and we get into that cycle through giving. It doesn’t have to be money. (A friend of ours observed that it was much easier for her to tithe when she had a little money than when she got a windfall!)

By giving to Spirit through sharing, you claim a permanent spot in the cycle of giving and receiving!

SNACKS!

We know - this sounds weird! But give us an opportunity to explain! What do you think about with snacks? Feeding yourself, in delightful ways that bring you joy! The snacks we’re talking about in this formula are low calorie/high Consciousness ones. Snacks like making time to feed yourself spiritually, by consuming books, classes, retreats, labyrinth walks, or group discussions.

The neat part is, just like food snacks, spiritual snacks become addictive. You find that the more you snack, the more you want! And the more you want, the more you snack! And the more you snack, the stronger your grounding in Spirit, the stronger your awareness of NO separation! And that changes the way you THINK - the way you ACT - the way you live your life! When you hit life’s little problems - or the BIG ones - they just can’t knock you off center! You are grounded, and able to stand firm in Truth.

This week, make it an adventure to live life full out by give your whole self to Spirit! As you strengthen your grounding in Spirit, you’ll increase your spiritual might by practicing Silence  sharing  and spiritual snacking. Know that your time will reap millions in spiritual currency. Don’t settle for a penny less!

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.

In Matthew 20:1-16, we read an interesting story that many find confusing and problematic. This selection is the story of the landowner who paid his field workers the same wage when they worked in his vineyard, regardless of how much time they put in. But from a metaphysical standpoint, the story is rich with practical applications for spiritual development.

There are a few curiosities I want to point out before I move from the literal to the metaphysical. The literal perspective leaves us a little inorganic when we discover the landowner’s treatment of the laborers and his attitude toward them.

Verse 1: Come unto me all of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This is what the Christ guaranteed us if we follow His teachings. To labor is to rest — rest in the understanding that all of our hard work pays spiritual dividends when we seek to know the Christ of us.

Verse 2: the usual daily wage - The denarius was the typical wage. Today’s equivalent is 25 cents.

Verse 3: He went out about 9 o’clock. Generally work began at 6 a.m., so 9 a. m. would have been the third hour. He went out a second time at noon and again at three and finally at five; 12 noon is the sixth hour, 3 is the ninth hour, and 5 is the eleventh hour (the commonly held belief is that the 11th hour means the last minute, with time running out, etc.)

Verse 7: He hires the ‘eleventh hour group’ and mentions nothing about their wages. He simply tells them to "go and work in my vineyard."

Verse 8: All of the workers were paid at the completion of the day. This would have been in accordance with Leviticus 19:13b, ‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.’ The landowner paid the last workers first and then gave wages to those who worked first. So those who worked all day actually got to watch how  much  those were paid who put in less hours than they did.

Verses 10-11: The workers who were hired first believed they would receive more, but they received the same amount as those who were hired at the end of the day. If this story is taken literally, you can see the problem here. The laborers who put in a full day’s work didn’t receive any more pay than those who only worked one hour (from 5 to 6 p.m.). It just doesn’t seem fair, does it? Some scholars speculate that those hired later were more experienced and deserved to be paid the same.  Others suggest that those hired later performed different responsibilities requiring more expertise which justified their pay. No matter how you look at it, the literal interpretation is unfair and upsetting.

Verse 15: When the workers who had been on the job the full day objected to the inequity in treatment, the landowner simply replied, ‘Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?’ The landowner explains that he has paid the first group according to his fairness and justice (v.17) and the laborers coming in later according to his good will and generosity (v.15). And then in verse 16 says, as a way of explanation, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

What’s interesting about this is if we go back to Matthew 19:30 (which is the end of the conversation Jesus has with His disciples regarding the rich young ruler) Jesus says, "but many who are first will be last, and the last will be first." In Matthew 20:16 He uses the same tact but reverses the clauses, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Taking this passage literally, it seems that Jesus is being a bit cavalier as He tells the story, and that He endorses the landowner’s unfair treatment of the workers. But let’s take a different approach at a more spiritual meaning of the parable!

It should come as no surprise that, metaphysically, this complete story happens in our consciousness. Without being too laborious - excuse the pun, let’s discover what this story means at a higher level of interpretation.

20:1 - For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. The original wording says the,  "kingdom of heaven is like this. "  There’s no comparison of the kingdom to an anthropomorphic being. The metaphysical interpretation of the main characters and concepts follows:

The kingdom of God is the Absoluteness, Is-ness, and Beingness of God. The ‘kingdom of heaven,’ on the other hand, refers to our conscious awareness of our innate divinity.

The vineyard represents the domain of structured truth principles of which we are invited to partake, so we can enjoy the fruits of enhancing our spiritual understanding.

The laborers stand for our thoughts, intentions, and beliefs.

The landowner is our Christ Consciousness.

The ‘usual daily wage’ represents the blessings we receive when we pay attention to divine guidance. The income is the same for everyone. It comes in the form of divine ideas, inner peace, radiant health, confidence, and so on!

Because this story describes how Divine Order works, here is the significance of the last is first, first is last — and three tips for your spiritual growth:

1. Practice Patience and Nonjudgmentalness . If we’re patient and trusting, even when outer appearances seem to say different, we will receive the "usual wage" (the manifested good we desire). The 11th hour indicates the point at which we let God and let go.
2. Practice the Presence . This whole vineyard story illustrates how Divine Order works! It is a three step process: Mind, Idea, and Expression. When we ‘practice the Presence,’ we acknowledge our oneness with our Christ Self at every level of our being. If we ‘practice the Presence,’ Divine Ideas will come. In the ideation process, it is a well-known fact that the most effective ideas usually come last. So the first ideas we have become the catalysts which bring us the "Aha’s" we need to manifest our good.
3. Practice Perseverance . Spirit encourages us to stick with it instead of becoming lukewarm in our Truth walk, which is represented by those laborers who were idle at noon. Jesus is simply clarifying for us to follow the invitation of our Christ Consciousness to harvest our divine ideas in accordance with Divine Order, no matter when our ideas show up (morning, noon, or night); then we canrest in the assurance that we have the wherewithal to manifest anything we desire.