A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #77, I am entitled to miracles.

 Lesson #77

I am entitled to miracles.

What is a miracle as defined by A Course In Miracles? It is a shift in perception and understanding from the world of the ego to the world of the spirit. A miracle is a healing in which we understand ourselves to be a manifestation of the non dualistic Oneness which some call “God,” others our “Higher Power.” Luke Skywalker called it the “force.” A miracle is what we called in the 60s “cosmic consciousness.” A miracle occurred when the monk asked the hot dog vendor to “make me one with everything.” When the monk paid the hot dog vendor $5.00 for a $2.50 hot dog and when the vendor didn’t give the monk his change, the monk asked the vendor, “Excuse me sir where is my change?” The hot dog vendor said, “Monk, you should know better than anyone that change comes from within.”

Miracles occur when we look at the devastation and insanity in the world of the ego and say to ourselves “This, too, shall pass,” and we rise above the tragedy on the ego plane and shift our awareness to the Spirit plane where Love is manifested and we are instantly healed and peace and bliss manifest themselves. Even in dying, we say, “Rest in peace,” R.I.P. and even though the body dies, the spirit, the soul, merges with the Cosmic Consciousness.

In Alcoholics Anonymous we are encouraged in step eleven to seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand God, praying for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote a respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. It is in the realm of the interdependent web which is beyond the path of the ego where miracles occur. We realize that our souls transcend the travails of the world. We come to realize that we are souls in a body not a body with a soul.

Today, we are asked to remind ourselves and be mindful that we are entitled to miracles. All we need do is make the choice for the world of Love rather than the world of the idols of the ego.

My Kind Of Church Music - Amazing Grace like you've never heard it before.

 

Spiritual Book Discussion, Scripture Unbound, What makes a text sacred?

 What makes a text sacred?

A person may think of a text as sacred to them individually. And while I certainly endorse a wide and inclusive view of what can be considered sacred, for the purposes of this book we will focus on the specific role of a text in the context of a religious community and, ultimately, on the potential role of touchstone texts for Unitarian Universalist communities. To that end, scripture in this book will refer to texts that are affirmed by a community for their spiritual authority and that the community finds normative for good living, calls on for ritual, and uses to guide spiritual growth and development.

Johnstone, Jonalu. Scripture Unbound: A Unitarian Universalist Approach (p. xi). Skinner House Books. Kindle Edition. 

What makes a text sacred? There are two things at least: Texts that the individual finds holy and special as if they exist in another than the ordinary material dimension, and texts that are held in reverence by a community of believers. 

Some might say the text is the authoritative word of God being given through chosen intermediaries. Some students take the text literally and some symbolically and metaphorically.

What texts do you consider sacred? What texts have special significance and meaning in your life? What texts have contributed to understanding and guidance in your life. Give an example or two.

Spiritual book discussion - The Spiritual Child, What to call your Higher Power?

 

Do you have a vocabulary to name aspects of your interior spiritual life?

As we have discussed, adolescence is a precious window for locking in a fluid front-and-back brain capacity for spiritual awareness, the transcendent relationship, and integration of transcendence into relationship, calling, meaning, and purpose. Together these create your teen’s spiritual identity. Identity formation, as we know, is another hallmark task of adolescence. Spiritual identity is a deeply felt sense of Who I am spiritually, how I set course and navigate, see my guideposts and calling in the world spiritually. As spiritual identity can become such a deep and lasting aspect of the self, this central developmental task needs to be a top priority. This doesn’t mean a forced march to religious services. It means engaging the spiritual dimension in everyday life, cultivating your teen’s capacity for engaging the Big Questions, as well as the seemingly smallest or subtle wonders or complexities of life. The fully integrated command-control process and spiritual identity may include religious involvement or it may not.

Miller, Dr. Lisa. The Spiritual Child (pp. 222-223). St. Martin's Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Whether a teen goes to church and engages in religious instruction is up to the parent, the teen, and the church. The point is that spiritual development is what is important with or without religious training.

Spiritual development is facilitated by having a vocabulary to name spiritual concepts, values, and practices. Some people refer to this as an interior spiritual life which includes a spiritual compass with which to make life decisions about what to think, to value, and to do.

Some basic spiritual questions are: What do you name your Higher Power? How do you access your awareness of this Higher Power? How does your discernment of your Higher Power guide and influence the decisions about you conduct your life?

Editor's note: The discussion of the Spiritual Child will continue into November and we will also begin discussing Scripture Unbound. We will be discussing both books over the next couple of months.

Talking to the dead

 Today is All Saints' Day in the Christian calendar and tomorrow is All Souls' Day. The days when we honor the memory of those who have lived and gone before us.

From The Daily Stoic.

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A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #76, I am under no laws but God's.

 Lesson #76

I am under no laws but God’s.

Society lies to us constantly. We are conditioned to believe all kinds of things which on the surface appear to be true and correct but at a deeper level are not only silly but insane. For example, the idea that money will make us happy.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, in step four, we are asked to do a fearless moral inventory of all the stupid things we have believed and done. This can involve all the idols on the path of the ego which we have given our power to whether it was alcohol, money, romantic relationships, status, prestige, power over others, property and possessions of various sorts. In the end how has this worked? We are miserable and our egos are broken. It is this brokenness that is the crack where the light can come in. Some call it “the dawning.” The dawning is the realization that the ways of the world are not the paths to happiness but rather a huge detour. With this dawning comes the realization that there must be a better way. And this realization instigates searching which has brought us to AA and/or some other spiritual program.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We learn in this searching that the journey takes us inward not outward. The search brings us to the understanding that we are under no laws but God’s. The laws of the material world are an illusion and in the end the only laws that really matter is the law of the Spirit which is Love.

Today, take a couple of 10 - 15 minute periods to meditate on this idea that the idols of the ego are counterfeit and won’t bring us to true happiness. It is the things of the Spirit that really matter. And every time we find ourselves feeling resentful, bored, anxious, we will center ourselves and reassure ourselves that I am under no laws but God’s.

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