FROM THE GROUND...UP

 

In a very real sense, we are all aliens on a strange planet. We spend most of our lives reaching out and trying to communicate. If during our whole lifetime, we could reach out and really communicate with just two people, we are indeed very fortunate.  ~Gene Roddenberry, visionary & creator of Star Trek

This week I have been thinking about communication -words, intentions, purpose. I also have been thinking about safe harbors, peace of mind, our nation, our democracy, who we are at our most basic, and what that means in the scheme of things.

Some people seem not to get It. By It, I mean the Mother/Father/God Source within us. Their hearts are closed and their mind is blocked. But a block can be broken – the core revealed. If I can communicate that there's a power that is within you, that you are not only a child of the Universe but an individualized expression of the Universal Creation Itself. If I can convince just two of you, inspire just two of you in the whole world, then I have done my job. Because two begets four begets sixteen and so on and so forth, exponentially like a constructive virus.

The effects of the events of the U.S. Capital violent unrest reminded me of Andra Day's song from 2015, RISE UP:

You're broken down and tired

Of living life on a merry go round

And you can't find the fighter

But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out 

And move mountains

When we can't find the fighter in ourselves, the fighter that brings us back and makes us feel safe, whole, with a future, we tend to go negative. Or...

When the silence isn't quiet

And it feels like it's getting hard to breathe

And I know you feel like dying 

When those things happen

...it makes you feel like an alien in your own skin

An alien in your own skin. Allow me to remind you who you are. Let us start from the ground...up. 

The Sacred Books of all peoples declare that God is One, a unity from which nothing can be excluded and to which nothing can be added. All people are expressions of the Divine. All people have a connection/unification with Divine Intelligence / Divine Love. This is the most basic tenet of our teaching...and most others:

One God, One Source, One Father/Mother of All, One Mind, One Life

...that is the basics, the ground floor of belief.

When we have long weeks, when we have trauma, when we have negativity that scares the living perfection out of us, we must feel our feelings, take care of whatever needs to be taken care of in the 3D world about it, and most importantly:  start from the ground...up.

What do I mean by that? Lao Tzu, the purported author of the Tao te Ching wrote:

Those who are highly evolved, maintain an undiscriminating perception. Seeing everything, labeling nothing, they maintain their awareness of the Great Oneness. Thus they are supported by it.

Well, we are always supported by the Great Oneness. But how are we using It – communicating it to ourselves and the world? We observe social inequities, racial injustice, and disenfranchisement of people throughout our world, a world that has deeply held beliefs of race superiority, preference, and privilege not consistent with our spiritual and universal principles. So...

What are we to do?

How do we become or teach humanity to live in alignment with spiritual truth?
How do we have a world with less idiotic behavior...less desperation? less fear and chaos?

Some seem not to get it, but that's only because their hearts are closed and their mind is locked. But a lock can be opened. The key is love...the love of our Oneness...that all are created in the likeness of the Creator. It's not philosophy, religion, spirituality, or metaphysics, it's all of them and it's science.

A person experiences life as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. Our task must be to free ourselves from this self-imposed prison, and through compassion, to find the reality of Oneness.  ~Albert Einstein

Conclusion and Call to Action

From the beginning of Creation, this Unity of Life was set in motion.  It is the play of Life upon Itself; the action of a limitless Imagination upon an infinite Law. Through this Unity, this One Mind, any individual has the ability through the power of belief, through our thoughts and feelings, through our word, through our daily spiritual practice to ground the self in the absolute knowing and practice of Oneness, to manifest through from our GodSelf. And when we must, to remember who each of us is.

And to turn to each other, even if it's one or two of us, and say:

But I see it in you [this fighter spirit] 

so we gonna walk it out

And move mountains

And from the ground...up, we shall...

 Rise up...like the day

rise up...unafraid

[we'll] rise up...

High like the waves

[we'll] ...rise up

In spite of the ache

[we'll] ...rise up...

And … do it a thousand times again

In peace and love of self and others, let us fly like the God's we are into any diversity with the strength of our Oneness, the power of the Universe at our back, the Light of our Word manifesting our best, and the unconditional love of Spirit flowing. Let's take off from the ground...up.

Let's Fly!

Affirmative Incantation

I rise up...awake and wiser. I Am forever One with the loving intelligence that supports my body.

I believe in my power. 

I believe in my deserving of a joyous and happy life. 

Today, I declare my good health and feeling vibrant. Today, I take a stand, solid from the ground up and centered in my Divine nature, to think, feel and be in the best health possible. 

My blood sugar, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, body mass, physical activity, and diet improve every moment of every day. My blood is oxygen-rich, my cells round and flexible, my bone density higher, and my organs function optimally.  My brain, nerves and muscles fire up with Divine Intelligence, calm and ease, and strength.

My body shall reflect my belief. And I step boldly and bravely in believing in my great health.

ALWAYS THE WISER

 …you are one with the Creative Genius back of this vast array of ceaseless motion, this original flow of life. You are as much a part of it as the sun, the earth and the air. There is something in you telling you this -- like a voice echoing from some mountain top of inward vision, like a light whose origin no man has seen, like an impulse welling up from an invisible source. ~Ernest Holmes, This Thing Called You

The theme for 2021 is AWAKENING. After working on our perception of how life works, it is time to awaken to these perceptions...solidifying them in all we think, feel, and do.

Each month we will explore the path to our awakening. Themes like:

Loving It
Observing It and Decluttering It
Connecting, Expanding, and Authenticating It

                                                                                              …and much more

January is titled Believe It. Believing the wisdom of The Thing Itself, call It God, the Universe, Spirit, Divine Love, Divine Intelligence, Source...This Thing Called YOU

Our fundamental principles are an ageless amalgamation of many spiritual traditions and mystics that have tapped into the Infinite Eternal Gnosis of Universal Love. We believe in a Divine Intelligence, call It what you will, the Living Spirit Almighty; one, indestructible, absolute and self-existent Cause that manifests Itself in and through all creation.

We believe in the incarnation of that Intelligence in everyone and that all people are incarnations of the One Spirit.

We believe in the eternality, the immortality, and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding, empowered by this loving Intelligence within.  Following these principles is a full body experience. It takes the logical mind, the open heart, a faith, an enlightenment through alignment, a willingness to transform and transcend, and an eager awakening to the Truth of how the Universe works. Ernest Holmes said in his 1959 Sermon by the Sea:

Others will arise who will know more than we do; they won’t be better or worse, they will be different and know more than we do. Evolution is forward. ... [a] most direct impartation of Divine Wisdom that ... incorporates the precepts of Jesus and Emerson and Buddha and all the rest of the wise.

It's not just about attending Sunday celebrations, classes and workshops, or reading about the teaching. It's about showing up for and with yourself; using personal responsibility traits like:

Honor and Purpose

We honor the ancestry of our teaching by acknowledging the alchemy of the universal wisdoms to embody and use them in our lives. We are not talking about some dogmatism or any kind of authority generated from some alleged revelations or special information delivered only to the mystics or metaphysicians...there is no secret product or special dispensation of Providence or wisdom. It is wisdom dispensed and available to all who reach out to receive and honor It; to those who welcome the wise, awaken the intuition, and willingly evolve the mind and heart.

Do you have a special quote or text, a “timeless” wisdom you keep near you at most or all times? If not, I ask you to find one that resonates with you. One that causes you to vibrate at the speed of the Divine and honor this powerful Word by awakening to it and using its gnosis (its knowledge) in revealing the Divinity in you.

Openness Is Our Mission

Grounding, centering, and communing with Mother Earth and the energies of the Cosmos opens us up to the Divine impulses and urges of wisdom that is always calling us inward to the deeper part of ourselves. We prepare ourselves by cultivating the consciousness of humility, letting go of our spiritual arrogance and bloated nothingness out of the path, and perceive beyond our current perspective. And to be open to the “new thing” God is doing in, as, and through us and all beings. In this openness, we bust through, soar and zoom out of the old perceptions and perspectives that held us back and leave it burned in a ceremonial bowl of release and renewal. 

Visioning a Vision to Envision and Live A Great Life

Here's a different take on the caterpillar to butterfly metamorphosis and its relation to inner wisdom, transformation and transcending. From Norie Huddle's book, “Butterfly” she writes:

The caterpillar’s new cells are called "imaginal cells". They resonate at a different frequency. They are so totally different from the caterpillar cells that his immune system thinks they are enemies . . . and gobbles them up - Chomp! Gulp! But these new imaginal cells continue to appear. More and more of them! Pretty soon, the caterpillar's immune system cannot destroy them fast enough. More and more of the imaginal cells survive. And then an amazing thing happens! The little, tiny, lonely imaginal cells start to clump together, into friendly little groups. They all resonate together at the same frequency, passing information from one to another. Then, after a while, another amazing thing happens! The clumps of imaginal cells start to cluster together! . . . A long string of clumping and clustering imaginal cells, all resonating at the same frequency, all passing information from one to another there inside the chrysalis.

A wave of Good News travels throughout the system - Lurches and heaves . . . but not yet a butterfly.

Then at some point, the entire long string of imaginal cells suddenly realizes all together that it is Something Different from the caterpillar. Something New! Something Wonderful!! . . . And in that realization is the shout of the birth of the butterfly!

Since the butterfly now "knows" that it is a butterfly, the little tiny imaginal cells no longer have to do all those things individual cells have to do. Now they are part of a multi-celled organism - A FAMILY who can share the work. Each new butterfly cell can take on a different job. There is something for everyone to do. And everyone is important. And each cell begins to do just that very thing it is most drawn to do. And every other cell encourages it to do just that.

Have a conversation with the wisdom you hear, read, and learn. Cultivate this Field of Consciousness into your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and let these wisdoms impress and inform, inspire, and evolve your life. When we know that we know what we know and put it in our lives as a practice, setting our previous ideas aside and becoming aware and conscious of the impress of Universal Spirit and Infinite Possibilities, our access to infinite wisdom and intelligence turns into a readiness for It to flow through us, as us, and with us.

One who comprehends truth is wise, one who loves it - good, one who orders his life in accordance with it - happy. ~John of Salisbury

When I want to learn something, I use the mental powers in my brain-mind. When I want to embody something or heal myself, I use the spiritual and emotional powers in my heart-mind. All are guided by the enteric-mind (the intuitive). The gut is where wisdom enters, the brain is where wisdom computes, and the heart is where wisdom lives and expresses.

The spiral of life is upward. Evolution carries us forward, not backward. Eternal and progressive expansion is its law and there are no breaks in its continuity. It seems to me that our evolution is the result of the unfolding consciousness of that which already is, and need but to be realized to become a fact of everyday life.  ~Ernest Holmes, Words That Heal Today

Let us not use 2020 as a headwind, holding us back. Let us use it as a tailwind, pushing us forward. 

When our purpose is strong and meaningful, 

we will be always the wiser.

 

When we have a mission that is bold and brave, 

we will be always the wiser. 

And when our vision is clear and forward moving, 

we will be ever the wiser.

Affirmative Incantation

Steeped in the wisdom of the ages, I humbly awaken to the inspiration. The greatest ideas of my life are now downloading into me:

When ancient mystics tell me I Am One with the Divine, I believe it.

When the modern mystics lay out the tools and practices to rise up to my best, I believe it.

When the Universe lets me know Its power lies within me ready to be used to manifest health, freedom, love, prosperity, peace, and tranquility, I believe It.

In this new year, I hereby resolve to evolve! I hereby provoke to become woke. I hereby breakthrough into the new.

Roused, revived, enlivened, and energized, I awaken to the wisdom of the ages and shape my world and my experiences with power and grace