Welcome to the Lake Tahoe Spiritual Living Center!

Another tragedy has occurred. All around the world, people are experiencing anger and sorrow and confusion, all normal reactions to a tragedy.

And from my brethren in Centers all around the country come the beautiful loving responses.

From Rev. Jeff Anderson, CSL Healdsburg, a call to express love, because love is all there is.

From Rev. Petra Weldes, CSL Dallas, a call to choose personal responsibility and unity.

From Rev. David Alexander, New Thought Center for Spiritual Living, a call to prayer, compassion and empathy.

And so today, here in Lake Tahoe, I call to you, dear reader. I call for you to remember that there are only two states of being: love and fear. I call for you to remember in your grief and dismay to take the time to stop….and breathe….and go to that place where you can always find Love….and then in that place, ask for the appropriate response, and then listen.

Is the response to assign blame, or perhaps might it be ask yourself where you can take personal responsibility? Maybe you can send a donation to an organization in Newton Connecticut that is helping with grief counseling. Maybe you can volunteer here, in Lake Tahoe, at an organization working to prevent violence. Maybe you can stop the violence in your own heart by asking for help if you need it.

Is the response to create separation between you and your fellow human beings by judging and assigning labels, or can you perhaps find a way to unify yourself with every human being you encounter today? Maybe you can stop judging others and love everyone, even the person who dresses differently than you. Even the person who believes differently than you. Maybe you can try and love without conditions. After all, that’s what God does. Maybe you can live as the child of God that you are, knowing that you are part of a whole, and that what you think and express DOES affect that whole.

And maybe you can retreat to your own personal prayerful space get to that place where you can be, do, and know empathy and compassion….for yourself and for every other human being.

Love is truly all there is. Go there now. Feel it, be it. Then come out and do it.

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What if prayer was a state of being, instead of a beseeching to an outside, separate God?

There is ample evidence to suggest that prayer is indeed a state of being, and I will be talking about this topic this Sunday, at Mountside Center for Spiritual Living, in Placerville, CA.  The talk will be followed by a two hour workshop on the same topic.

Without spoiling the surprise and writing my entire talk here, I just wanted to leave you with something to think about:  what would your life be like if you viewed prayer as a state of being instead of a beseeching to an outside entity?  For that matter, what if you changed your definition of God?  Instead of a separate inaccessible entity, what if God were in you?  What if God was a part of you, and you were a part of it?  What if…..hold on to your seat….God manifested AS YOU so that it could experience life in the physical realm?  What would prayer look like then?  How powerful would you be then?  How much punch would your prayers pack if you changed your belief about the nature of prayer and of God?

Examine  your beliefs, and see if there are any beliefs about God or prayer that are not serving you.  And if you want to know more and you live in the area, come to the talk and the workshop!  If  you don’t live in the area, feel free to comment, or to ask questions privately.

I’ll just come right out and say it:  I don’t believe in prayer.  But I do believe in knowing, in faith and in the power of spiritual practices like treatment, meditation and the power that is manifested when a group of people gets together and all place their attention on one thing, the highest and best good for all concerned.

And just in case you are wondering about my opening statement, I define prayer as a beseeching to an outside, separate entity, and that is simply not in my belief system.

I also know that there is a temptation to do, instead of to be, especially if impending doom is sensed or real.  Fear makes us do, and it very often makes us do things that we would not normally do.   I am so grateful for a teaching that taught me, and then continues to remind me, that it is more important to be first, then any necessary doing will follow.  Especially in the face of some perceived impending doom.

It does not matter what the impending doom is, what matters is that we do not do destructive things behind the fear created by the impending doom.

So my story is that I’ve been in the hallway for a while.  Big deal things have been uncertain, and that could be a scary place to be.  I didn’t talk much about it, only told a few very close friends, who, with great well meaning, immediately suggested some things for me to do to get myself out of the situation I found myself in.  But spiritually, I knew it was more important to be rather than to do.  Spiritually, I knew that I needed to go deeper, to spend more time in meditation and introspection, and affirm the truth of who and what I am.

And when my mind starting nagging me to do something and the second guessing started, I knew that what was important was to do more spiritual stuff and use the tools I have been given, and utilize the support of my Master Mind group and Practitioners.  I’m not saying I didn’t do stuff.  I did not simply drop everything and go sit on a mountain top somewhere to meditate until I was told which door to open in the hallway.   I have continued to enjoy life, have fun, do the dishes, go to work, walk the dog, all the stuff that we do, and while I was doing all that, I maintained a consciousness of knowing and never reacted to the situation in front of me.  I never really lost faith, although sometimes, when the second guessing was loudest, I was sorely tempted to react.  Fortunately I have been able to resist that temptation, because reaction behind fear never works out well.

So now it looks as if I might be traveling out of the hallway,  and I am grateful.  I’m grateful for the power of thought and treatment.  I am grateful for the power of knowing and being.  I am grateful for the people in my life who continue to support me spiritually.  And my mind is second guessing me, again.  “Ok, now that we got out of THAT one we need to go DO stuff so it doesn’t happen again!”  GEEZ.

I don’t think it is just me that does this stuff.  I think everyone does it to a certain extent.  Which is why I’m again grateful for the teachings of New Thought, that tell me and continue to remind me that it is more important to know rather than to question, more important to be rather than do.

If you are in a hallway of sorts, a place of uncertainty and questions, resist the temptation to react and do.  Instead, move within and know that spiritual awesome truth of you.  Do the inner work, and the outside will manifest just as it should.

Lat night in the Science of Mind textbook study we had a great time reading and discussing the section called Prayer.  I learned something new last night, a new definition of prayer.

See, I’ve always thought the definition of prayer was a beseeching to an outside entity.  That doesn’t fit what I believe; it doesn’t even come close.  God lives within me, and we are co-creators, I don’t need to ask, I simply know the truth.  I do affirmations and treatments.  So prayer for me, defined like that, is not happening in my world.

I’ve studied the textbook many times and never gotten another definition of prayer before.  I figure the gremlins snuck in the middle of the night and added that section!  HAH!  Anyway, I now have a new definition of prayer which fits quite well into what I believe:  “conscious commingling of our thought with Spirit.”  THAT is a definition that I can work with!

Why pray at all?  Why even bother to weave that into the framework of what we believe and do?  Ernest Holmes give us an answer in that very same section on prayer:  “Prayer has stimulated countless millions of people to higher thoughts and nobler deeds.”  I can’t think of a better reason than that, can you?

So, how does prayer work for you?  Does it work well?  If not, you are free to change what you think and feel about it.  You are free to change your definition.  I know I have, as of last night. I can now tell anyone who asks that if their definition of prayer is a beseeching to an outside entity, then no, I don’t do that.  But I do have a conscious commingling with Spirit and that feels incredible!

One of the things I get to do as a Practitioner is help people.  And one of the specific ways in which I get to help them is to enable them to find, understand and utilize a god of their own understanding, so that they can live lives of peace and happiness.  If you are not happy with your understanding of Spirit, let’s talk!

As a Practitioner, I pray alot.

It’s not the type of prayer most folks think of when they think about prayer.  At least I don’t think it is.  My impression of what most folks think about when they think about prayer is a beseeching to an outside entity, preferrably done on one’s knees.  I don’t do that kind of stuff.

Prayer is a way of allowing the one doing the praying to feel more comfortable inside one’s own skin.  If it makes you feel comfortable, or better, or more at peace, to pray on your knees, go for it.  If it makes you feel  comfortable, or better, or more at peace, to pray to something outside of yourself, go for it.  If it’s working for you, keep it.

That type of prayer never has worked for me.  It’s only served to make me feel disempowered.  I don’t like that feeling.

I love the type of prayer we do.  It is scientific, it gets results.  It’s empowering.  And it allows the one doing the praying the freedom to insert their own personality.

We have a Practitioner’s list serve.  It’s a private email sort of thing: Practitioners from all over the world are elibible to email on the list serve, and everyone who signs up for it can read the emails.  Only Practitioners are allowed to sign up.  Different Practitioners take turns sending in a prayer every day.  We don’t actually call them prayers by the way, we call them treatments. 

A treatment is a scientific formula consisting of Recognition, Unification, Realization, Thanksgiving and Release.  We Recognize the presence of that Power within, we remind ourselves of our Unification with that.  In Realization we state our word. It’s a word of power, words are very powerful, we state what we know to be true about the person for whom we are praying.  Thanksgiving is just that, and Release is we let it go to do the work we have commanded.

Within that formula is the freedom to insert all the flowery words and phrases you want.  Lately I’ve noticed in the treatments I’ve seen, including my own, a tendency to see God in nature.   I’ve read all sorts of cool descriptions of gardens, mountains, trees.  As a visual person, I’ve been able to read those treatments and actually visualize what the Practitioner is describing.  It’s been a nice series of trips!

Practitioners treat when we are asked to do so.  I don’t treat for someone who hasn’t asked for it.  Every morning I have a list of folks I treat for and I do this after my meditation.  I speak my word for each person who has asked.  Sometimes I also treat for myself if I’ve got something going on.

Treatment works.  It’s very powerful.  However, the one being treated for must believe that it works, and sometimes its a bit of a process to get there.  This is where the Pratitioner’s session comes in.

I’m out of time this morning.  We are having a meeting of the mind at the Carson City Center for Spiritual Living.  We’ve invited all the Ministers, Practitioners and Chaplains from the surrounding Unity Churches and both the United and the International Centers for Spiritual Living to come and visit with us.  I’m excited about it, it should be fun!  I’ll report back!