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Finding the YES in NO

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

One of the most difficult words to handle is NO, especially when we desperately want something, or feel it is critical for our success and happiness. According to sales research, NO is the leading cause of ‘fear of rejection’ complex that causes so many people to get out of business!

As we looked back over our years as consultants, we remember that NO was a tough word for us to hear when we generated amazing proposals, only to find someone else was selected to do the job. But we discovered a fascinating way to hear the YES in NO.

We started saying “Thanks for saying no!” When we received the news that we weren’t selected to give a keynote presentation, for example, we would immediately follow up with a little note, thanking the potential client for giving us the opportunity to be considered ~ and our affirmations for them having a great conference.

We followed this up with offering our services for future events, and also indicated that, should something occur at the last minute where they found they needed a speaker, to feel free to contact us. Then we topped it off by including a copy of one of our books as our “Thanks for saying no” gift.

Incredibly, we discovered that more times than not we were contacted immediately to confirm dates next year’s conference! And we can identify three specific instances where unforeseen events occurred with the selected speaker, and we got the call to replace them! We learned how to find the YES in NO by looking at a more long-term response.

How often do you experience obstacles that seem to wave a big red “NO” in front of you? Giving in may feel like the easiest plan, and say, “Forget it!” But in Mark 10:27, Jesus makes an incredible statement: “With God, all things are possible.”

What is HE talking about? It tends to conjure up all kinds of debates, like “Yeah, possible, but how probable?” Or “This sounds good, but it won’t work in the real world!”

So let’s look at the Unity perspective of what this verse is really talking about, we get a whole different view. It says that as we make that connection with the Christ of us, our God center, we are receptive to the Divine Flow of every thing we ever need. But until we spend that time in Headquarters, in meditation and prayer, our human self sees the appearance of obstacles, of “NOs.”

Here are three keys to discovering the YES in every NO you seem to encounter:

  • Spend dedicated time in the Silence, strengthening your connection with Spirit.
  • Counter every appearance of NO with a big “Thank You for saying no!” Then identify ways to send positive energy to the situation or people.
  • Recognize that there is no being out there in the sky saying NO. We have the power to Divinely order our experience, and create the life we choose. Refuse to let the appearance of NO have power in your life!

Welcome back!

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The Prosperity Story of The Widow’s Oil: Do You Suffer From Only-ness?

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

In II Kings 4:1-7, there is an amazing story of prosperity that is timeless in its metaphysical message. In today’s troubled economy, the implications are staggering!

In case you may have forgotten this story, let us share it quickly:

Verse 1: The wife of a man from the guild of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that he was devoted to God. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

Verse 2: Elisha replied to her, “What help can I be? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “I have nothing except a little oil.”

Verse 3: Elisha said, “Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from everyone. Don’t ask for just a few.

Verse 4: Then come back home and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into every container you have, and as each is filled, set it to one side.”

Verse 5: The widow left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. Her boys brought the jars to her and she continued pouring in the oil.

Verse 6: When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Another jug, please.”

But he replied, “We’ve used all the containers.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

Verse 7: The widow went and told Elisha, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and take care of your debts. You and your sons can live on the money that remains”

From a metaphysical standpoint, we know that everything from this story stands for something that is going on inside us. So let’s look at the major elements:

Elisha: Stands for our Spiritual “I-Am”

The Widow: indicates a belief in separation from God – a belief in an external God who withholds our good. A widow represents one who has lost sight of God as support. The unity between mind and intuition has been cut off, and lack and burden result.

Empty vessels: mean expanded consciousness to include new faith and vision; an openness to Divine ideas.

Bringing vessels into the house and shutting the door: Represents focus and meditation – going to “Headquarters” and deliberately intensifying awareness to Truth.

Oil: Stands for Divine Substance

So what does this mean for us? The truth revealed in this story is the intensifying power of Spirit. When Elisha asked the widow what she had, he was essentially asking, “Where is your consciousness?” Obviously, her consciousness was on lack. When our attention is on “only-ness,” we are putting our thought energy on our lack.

The Key Principle to remember and apply: No matter what you have, DO NOT IDENTIFY IT WITH THE WORD “ONLY!”

When we expand our spiritual awareness, and focus our attention on our unending flow of substance rather than our lack, we generate an energy/idea flow that magnetically attracts even more abundance from True Source.

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The Metaphysics of Frosty the Snowman

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

What do an old silk hat, corn cob pipe, button nose, and boots have in common?? They all belong to a lump of snow called Frosty, the Snowman.

To the general public, Frosty the Snowman stands for joy. The joy of living. The joy of laughter. The joy of hearing children play. The joy of spontaneity. The joy of meaningful work. The joy of being with the people you love. Frosty, the Snowman symbolizes all of that. He is joy personified.

Most people, when they hear the words, Frosty, the Snowman, break into a smile. A gleam appears in their eyes. Children ages 3 to 93 identify with Frosty’s playfulness and zest for life. But Frosty represents much, much more.

When the traditional Christmas story is read, it’s either the Gospel of Matthew or Luke that are used. In each of these Gospels you find beautifully-told pieces relating the miraculous birth involving both the Divine and the human. The authors of Matthew and Luke also seek to place the birth of Jesus in a particular historical and cultural setting. Jesus is the son of poor Jewish parents, but is also described as a descendant of Israel’s greatest king, King David. His birth is given a definite time and place.

But, there is something totally different in Jon. There’s no nativity, no shepherds, no Magi, no star in the sky, no heavenly hosts, not even so much as a Mary and Joseph.

John’s gospel instead is some rather esoteric sounding language about something called “The Word:” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” Several verses later you read, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us” Then, not too many more verses after that, Jesus is suddenly baptized and begins his ministry. If John’s account were all we had to go on, we might be celebrating Christmas a little differently.

What John’s Gospel tells us is the Word became real, became flesh, became incarnatedand became a living, breathing part of us.

Christmas is an incarnation story. It is the saga of the Incarnating Christ in each of us. It is the chronicle of our unfolding Christhood.

So what does this have to do with Frosty the Snowman? Think about it: Frosty came to life one day, dwelt among us and told us It would be back again one day. The metaphor is obvious.

Joyfulness, not struggle, is the message. Laughing and playing, dancing around in a silk hat, ball cap, boots, sandals or barefooted is the message. We are here to enjoy this Earth experience to spend this incarnation, happily, healthily and prosperously to dance and play and create and achieve until we melt away.

From Frosty, we can learn a new set of “Three R’s”:

I. Release any worries about the future, and put your attention on now.

II. Recognize the Source: It’s not in your hat – it’s in your heart!

III. Reaffirm Joy, no matter what!

And KNOW that you cannot be separated from your good, from God, because you and God are one! And that is cause for JOY!

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Finding the YES in NO

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

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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Cross Words and Jigsaw Puzzles

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

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!

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Living in Delight

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

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.

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Goblins, Googles, and Grins

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

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.

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Birds of a Feather

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

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.

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Back To the Future

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

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.

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After Enlightenment Then What?

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Each swept floor prompts another sweep. Every child bathed invites another washing. Every lawn mowed requires another mowing. Every breath taken requires another breath.

The sun ascends each morning and sets every evening. The moon shines each night. Tides ebb and flow every day. Birds sing wonderful songs today and sing them again tomorrow.

Oysters open their shells when the moon is high in the sky. The chambered nautilus forms a new chamber in its spiraled shell each lunar month.

When we breathe, we do not stop breathing because we have taken in all of the oxygen we will ever need. We stop because we have all the oxygen we need for that particular breath.

When we exhale we stop exhaling so we can prepare for the next inhalation. We will need to repeat the process; however, no matter how perfectly we have inhaled and exhaled.

What these scenarios are telling us is what is finished invites refinishing.

So what do we do after we become enlightened? We become more enlightened. Once we are aware that we are one with the Infinite Isness we are prone to think we are finished, that we are finished, that we have reached the pinnacle of our perfection.

But nothing can be further from the truth. There is a Zen saying which goes like this: Before enlightenment, mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. At the moment one is enlightened, mountains are no longer mountains and rivers cease to be rivers. After enlightenment, mountains are again mountains and rivers are once more rivers.

A current version of this Zen koan comes from Unity minister, Jim Rosemergy who reminds us: “Mystics do not turn from the world once they turn to God. They remain in the world but not of the world. Even mystics have bills to pay.”

Once we are enlightened, that is, once we positively, absolutely, unequivocally realize we are God expressing as us, we stay in the world, but not of the world to demonstrate to others the path of enlightenment.

That is our spiritual mission: to fully express our divinity and help others to do the same. It is the same commission expressed in Matthew 28:19-20.

We will share the New Revised Standard Version and then offer an ontological version from the New Metaphysical Version of Matthew to add spiritual depth.

After His resurrection Jesus announced to His disciples in verse 19:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Metaphysically Jesus was referring to three specific nations: our body, mind, and soul. Baptizing the nations signifies purifying our body, mind, and soul from unhealthy sense attachments.

We are to do this ‘in the ‘name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ Name signifies ‘in the nature of.’ And, ontologically speaking Father, Son, and Holy Spirit represent the three aspects of Divine Order (Mind, Idea, and Expression).

So, we are to cleanse our body, mind, and soul by becoming one with the nature of the Christ Presence within us so we can divinely order our experience.

Matt. 20 says in the New Revised Standard Version: “Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you, remembering that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”"

Metaphysically ‘teach them’ means to walk our talk with integrity. ‘I am with you always’ means we have an indivisible, unshakable, universal oneness with Spirit. To the ‘end of the world’ means moving from one level of spiritual awareness to another.

Matthew 20 means we are to walk our talk by letting our Christ Light shine as we achieve one level of enlightenment, one level of completion, to another.

So, what will we do after we are enlightened?

We stay in the world but not of the world. We live as monks and mystics in cities, towns, and communities.

We light up the world with our example. Like the enlightened beings who became enlightened before us we will teach others how to teach others.

We will appear as typical men and women, but our values and the manner in which we live, move, and have our being will show our surrender to our higher calling.

We might have human challenges, but we will not be subdued by them. We may wear glasses or contact lenses, hearing aids or artificial heart valves, but we will not be defined by them.

We may take medicine or require hospitalization, but we will not be incarcerated by them. We may experience a world that is not perfect, but we will not be limited by that imperfection.

We will be in the finishing and refinishing business. We will pot and repot ourselves daily. We will renew and keep renewing ourselves. We will tool and re-tool ourselves constantly.

We will continue to seek enlightenment because enlightenment is a verb, not a noun. It is a process, an unfolding, and a movement from one exhilarating level of consciousness to another.

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

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