Welcome to the Lake Tahoe Spiritual Living Center!

I’ve been doing a series on the Centers for Spiritual Living statement called “What we Believe.” I’m on the third statement today (the first two are here and here, but the honest truth is I’m not sure what I believe about this particular statement:  “We believe in the eternality, the immortality, and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding.”

Basically the third statement says that while our physical bodies may wither, decay and die, our souls live on….forever and ever.

That’s a lot of souls.  Do I believe that MY soul never dies?  Well, never is a pretty strong word. I believe my soul has been around a long time, and that what I do in this present incarnation is caused by my soul’s longing, bottom line.  Maybe I believe that when the soul stops its longing is when the soul transitions into another realm.  Pretty heavy duty stuff.  And then there is the question of what, exactly, is the soul?

And really, why is this important?  Is it really important to know what happens to our souls?  Is it important to have a belief as to whether or not we even have a soul?  Is it really important to know what a soul is?  I’m thinking that it might be more important to lighten up.

Besides, I’m currently taking a history of New Thought class and have discovered that What We Believe is really what Ernest Holmes believed.  So the Centers for Spiritual Living are putting out a belief statement based on the statements of our founder.  Nothing really wrong with that, because the What We Believe statement is generally accurate for our overall belief system.  And because really, we are free in this movement to believe whatever we wish, we can take it or leave it, accept it or not.  I like to think the What We Believe statement is more of a thought provoker:  really?  Is that really what I believe?  Why?  And what kinds of ramifications does this have for my life?  The statement is also a sort of informational thing as well, because we are all over the map in terms of beliefs.  A newcomer walks into a Center and asks, “What are you guys all about?” and the answer he or she will receive will depend on who is answering the question!  The cool thing about our movement in particular is that we really don’t care what you believe, as long as you are happy and at peace.  And if you aren’t, change your beliefs and it will change what you manifest.  And to change your beliefs do these spiritual practices and your beliefs will be changed.  That’s really a very short description of what we teach around here.

I’m thinking the importance of the third statement is not so much what it states, but what it causes in terms of introspection.  Introspection is a key spiritual practice.  The practice of introspection will allow you to get to know the beautiful being that is you, and that’s a good thing.  Spend some time in introspection about your soul today and see what comes up for you.  I’d love to hear about it!