Acknowledging the Divine Spark so it becomes manifest.

The body is nothing more than a framework for developing abilities, which is quite apart from what they are used for. That is a decision. The effects of the ego’s decision in this matter are so apparent that they need no elaboration, but the Holy Spirit’s decision to use the body only for communication has such a direct connection with healing that it does need clarification. The unhealed healer obviously does not understand his own vocation.T-7.V.1:1-4

A Course in Miracles (p. 253). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The second skill of twenty-one of Spiritual Intelligence in Cindy Wigglesworth’s model is understanding your life purpose. Why were you born and what is the purpose of your life are two of the most basic existential questions all conscious human beings consider.

The body is not the answer but is merely the temple of the Holy Spirit which resides in the mind and between minds not in bodies.The ego would have us focus exclusively on the body and ignore the mind but the Holy Spirit is latent, if not activated, in the mind of every human being. Once an individual becomes aware of the Divine Spark within themselves they yearn to connect with the Divine Spark in others and the Kingdom of God becomes consciously manifest in the world. This manifestation, consciously, of the Divine Spark of the Kingdom of God is a healing of the separation and our purpose in life to become One with Everything.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This affirmation and promotion is focused on the minds and not the bodies of our fellow travelers.

Today it is suggested that we look for the Divine Spark in ourselves and in others and when it is recognized acknowledge it so that it can become consciously manifest.

Salvation is when everybody loves everybody all the time.

Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, because that is where the laws of God operate truly, and they can operate only truly because they are the laws of truth. But seek this only, because you can find nothing else. There is nothing else. God is All in all in a very literal sense. All being is in Him Who is all Being. You are therefore in Him since your being is His. Healing is a way of forgetting the sense of danger the ego has induced in you, by not recognizing its existence in your brother. This strengthens the Holy Spirit in both of you, because it is a refusal to acknowledge fear. Love needs only this invitation. It comes freely to all the Sonship, being what the Sonship is. By your awakening to it, you are merely forgetting what you are not. This enables you to remember what you are. T-7.IV.7:1-12

A Course in Miracles (p. 253). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The passage above can best be read as poetry. Its meaning is rich and deep. The idea being presented is that God is all there is. The ego is an illusion. When you perceive the Divine Spark in yourself and the other, a great healing occurs and the Truth of our Ultimate being is realized. This is what some call “enlightenment.” Whatever this realization is called, the realization is a great blessing and an amazing grace.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity comes from God’s unconditional love for God’s creation. We are called by God to extend this unconditional love which we experience within outward to others.

Today it is suggested that we bypass our conditional loving and engage in unconditional loving for ourselves and each other. Salvation comes when everybody loves everybody all the time.

Spiritual Intelligence Skill Three- Values Hierarchy.

 

What matters the most to me in my life are _____________,  ____________________, and ______________. Sometimes I ask, “If you could have three wishes what would you wish for?”

Values are things we do when we put our money where our mouth is, when we walk the talk. Spirituality has to do with the things that are of ultimate importance.

The questions are “Can you name and rank your top  five personal values? Do you keep them in mind when making important decisions?”

As we grow and mature our value priorities change. We tend to move from the egocentric and ethnocentric to world centric and integral. An indication of a person’s maturity is their values hierarchy.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Truth and meaning comes from reflecting on the things that are most important to us in our lives.

What would Love have me do?

To think you can oppose the Will of God is a real delusion. The ego believes that it can, and that it can offer you its own “will” as a gift. You do not want it. It is not a gift. It is nothing at all. God has given you a gift that you both have and are. When you do not use it, you forget that you have it. By not remembering it, you do not know what you are. Healing, then, is a way of approaching knowledge by thinking in accordance with the laws of God, and recognizing their universality. Without this recognition, you have made the laws meaningless to you. Yet the laws are not meaningless, since all meaning is contained by them and in them. T-7.IV.6:1-11

A Course in Miracles (pp. 252-253). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Peace and bliss is experienced when we bring our will into alignment with God’s will for us. The above passage does not negate free will. We are free to deny or ignore God’s will for us. We can choose the world of the ego or the Kingdom of God.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which is seeking to discern God’s will in all that we choose to do.

Today it is suggested that as we go about our day in the back of our minds we continually ask “What would Love have me do?”

Spiritual Intelligence Skill Two - Awareness of Life Purpose

Paul Pearsall, the neuropsychologist, said that the three big existential questions that every person has to deal with are: Why was I born? What is the purpose of my life? What happens when I die?

The ability to understand and appreciate one’s purpose in life is to provide direction and meaning. This ability to set goals for oneself and pursue them even in the face of obstacles, barriers, and frustration is considered one of the important skills of emotional intelligence. The psychologist Angela Duckworth calls this tolerance of frustration, and persistence in spite of it in pursuing one’s goals, “grit.”

In Christian Pastoral counseling this desire to clarify one’s purpose in life is called “discernment.” The idea is attempting to discern one’s calling from God to become the person God created us to become and to do with our life what God is calling us to do.

The word, “vocation,” comes from the Latin word “vocare” which means to call. Our life’s purpose is a calling from God. To never apprehend this purpose or seek it or to ignore one’s calling is to never have lived one’s authentic life. Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living,” and the bumper sticker reads “An unlived life is not worth examining.”

So two questions for consideration in developing this skill are: “To what extent (low, medium, high) do you think you can explain your life purpose to others? Do you stay focused on it consistently?”

Back in the 60s we would ask whether people have their shit together. Some do, some don’t, most are struggling. Having your shit together in more professional language is what psychologists call a “well integrated personality.”

In Unitarian Universalism some people join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search includes the desire to discern God’s will for who I am to become and what it is I am to do with my life.

Which do we choose: the world of the ego or the Kingdom of God?

The ego’s goal is as unified as the Holy Spirit’s, and it is because of this that their goals can never be reconciled in any way or to any extent. The ego always seeks to divide and separate. The Holy Spirit always seeks to unify and heal. As you heal you are healed, because the Holy Spirit sees no order of difficulty in healing. Healing is the way to undo the belief in differences, being the only way of perceiving the Sonship as one. This perception is therefore in accord with the laws of God, even in a state of mind that is out of accord with His. The strength of right perception is so great that it brings the mind into accord with His, because it serves His Voice, which is in all of you. T-7.IV.5:1-7

A Course in Miracles (p. 252). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The ego tells us we are drops while the Holy Spirit tells us we are the ocean. Which is right? Which do you want to believe? Which thought system will bring us peace and bliss?

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the respect and love for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. The Holy Spirit nurtures us to a nondual level of consciousness which is similar to the interdependent web or creation.

Today it is suggested that we reflect on what we prefer to focus on: the world of the ego with its divisions and separations or the Kingdom of God which is the nondual awareness of healed consciousness?

Spiritual Intelligence Skill One - Self awareness: What Makes You Tick?

The first quadrant of skills in Cindy Wigglesworth’s model of Twenty-One skills of spiritual intelligence is called “self awareness.” In other words, does a person know what makes them tick?

The first spiritual skill of the twenty-one is “Awareness of Own Worldview - What filters do I see through?” Wigglesworth writes: 

“...the recognition that the way you see is not simply “the way things are”—it is a particular view. The word “worldview” comes from the German weltanschauung, composed of the words for “world” and “outlook.” It is commonly used to refer to the framework of beliefs and ideas through which we interpret the world around us. Those beliefs and ideas are inevitably going to be shaped by the culture in which you have grown up, your religious background, your ethnicity, and many other factors.”

Wigglesworth, Cindy. SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence (p. 49). SelectBooks, Inc.. Kindle Edition. 

Another term for this “world view” is “thought system.” What is the thought system through which a person perceives the world and interprets one’s perceptions?

Ken Wilber describes two developmental paths when it comes to spirituality: “waking up” and “growing up.” Waking up is the development of consciousness from physical to psychological to social to spiritual to transcendent. The lowest level is egocentric and the highest level is nondual consciousness or what some seekers call “enlightenment.” 

Growing up is the development of thought systems which go from magic to mythic to rational to holistic to integral.

The basic skill is knowing that one’s thought system is only one of many that people experience and that there are developmental levels of maturity through which one can grow and wake up. Wilber makes the distinction between waking up which is an experience and growing up which is a structure of thinking.

The question to be considered in assessing one’s skill level is “To what extent can you describe the impacts of your family upbringing, your culture, your peer group, the media, on your mental assumptions about our own functioning and the world in which you participate?” Low, medium, high.

In other words, to what extent do you understand and can explain what makes you tick?

In Unitarian Universalism the fourth of seven principles is to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search involves understanding the thought system from which one is operating and the desire to grow up and wake up. As the bumper sticker says “Change is inevitable. Progress is optional.”