Minister's Highlights
Unity of Monroe
Perfect Vision: Seeing Through a Spiritual Lens
Possibility
February 2, 2020
An unfortunate explosion on a Navy ship killed one of the boiler men and he wound up in hell. But being used to stoking fires and very hot temperatures, he found hell actually comfortable. When Satan went to greet the new arrival, he found him sitting in his room smiling. “You like this?" asked Satan. “Oh yeah" said the sailor, “This feels like a spring day to me." Not wanting the new guy to get too comfortable, Satan turned up the heat--a lot! But when he went back to see how his new arrival was doing, the sailor was still happy and hadn't even broken a sweat. So Satan decided to try something different. Rather than turning the heat up, he turned it off. He made it so cold in the sailor's room, icicles formed. When he checked on the guy, the room was icy and he was shivering--but smiling from ear to ear. “Why are you so happy?” Satan demanded. “It's freezing in here!" The sailor said, “Look, I'm from Cincinnati and with this freezing over it must mean the Bengals have won the Super Bowl!"
For many people this is a holiday to enjoy and watch the last game of the year which certainly explains why when my kids were in school the teachers always had an inservice day the Monday after the Super Bowl. I was always a little suspicious I mean “In Service” or In Recovery from too much celebration. So as I stated earlier, to celebrate means to honor. We honor and celebrate the process we began last month as we began a new yearlong series for 2020 Spiritual Vision: Seeing Through a Spiritual Lens. Each month we visit a new theme idea to see how we can better see life and living. In February the theme is Possibility. The idea being that something might happen... and it might not. There is a possibility of rain later today or what do you think the possibility will be that the Bengals will ever win the Super Bowl. The word Possibility is from the Latin possibilitas, meaning “able to be done.” Able to be done...notice there’s no inference of it not being able to be done. We might say then that something in our lives is able to be done if we believe, if we creatively use the power of our imagination, if we believe in the presence and power of God through divine thought energy fueling our heart and mind. Seeing through spiritual eyes as we looked at last month gives us just such a unique perspective through a spiritual lens not to focus on the lack or negativity we are moving through but seeing the goodness, the possibilities that might come out. It works when we see the Christ presence in others, the divinity in ourselves and others, seeing the beauty and joy of life and celebrating our own inner process.
As we get new concepts about life and new ideas about ourselves, everything else changes for the better. Nothing increases living a life of infinite possibility than to learn the Truth of our Being. The Truth of our Being is that we are not becoming rather we are being whatever idea we have of our self based on the concepts that we have accepted about our place in the universe. We are "being it" now according to our consciousness which is always colored or framed by the way we see and process things. I’ve been reading a book entitled Edison by Edmund Morris and despite Edison’s difficulties and foibles he always kept moving forward. When asked to define electricity Edison said, “No one really knows what it is, only what it does. But it exists, Use it!” It’s like the power of Possibility within us when you think about it. Not Jesus nor all the mystics of all time have been able to define the infinite power and possibilities within us but have implied in their teachings and their lives that It Exists, Use It!
To live life then is to trust and know that life is, we are, there is a Possibility involved in all that we think and believe. Possibility living is living a life of unknowns. Now this is nothing to be frightened about or worried but when we are open to possibilities we are willing to have our consciousness expanded and we become a person who lives in the realm of the unexpected. When you get right down to it we are more adventurous in the art of living that we think we are. For example, when we go out the door we think we might know what to expect but we might just as well step into something completely unexpected. We often do and in fact, we cannot even be certain that we will walk through the front door again. We simply call that faith for without it we stay home. What we can do is to better understand that we have already been gifted with the tools, the discerning power of God to choose wisely and that within our hands and heart are the spiritual practices and tools that bring liberation. To focus on in prayer and meditation, the opening of our heart center, the power of creative thoughts and knowing and affirming that we have the ability to do all that is before us this day, we affirm the gift of God we are. We have serenity, courage and wisdom we just need to let those gifts shine on within us. Eric Butterworth wrote: "Infinite Mind knows no limitation and manifests according to the law of consciousness. You are limited by your belief, but you are not limited by Principle. Your potentials are inexhaustible, but your consciousness is the determining factor. You have a little or a lot. The Infinite does not care and does not restrict. Bigness brings consciousness forth; smallness contracts. You are big."
There’s a wonderful Old Testament passage from the book of 2 Kings that is a metaphysical lesson on Possibility Abundance. The prophet Elisha encounters the woman and her family during hard times and asks her what she has in her house to alleviate her debts and she says just this jar of oil. Elisha instructs her to go and gather every pot, jar, pan she can find from her neighbors - every empty vessel and bring it back to him. It then says, “Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.’ So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another vessel.’ But he said to her, ‘There are no more.’ Then the oil stopped flowing.” (2 Kings 4:1-7). She was then able to take care of her debts and her family and the great lesson of Possibilities here was the unlimited power of Imagination that Elisha demonstrated and the woman picked up on. At first she could see only lack and that was her experience. The prophet urged her to start by appreciating what she did have - the jar of oil and then to allow vessels of all kinds to receive and shape the abundance. On the one hand, we are that empty vessel ready to be filled with divine wisdom. We start by appreciating the divine abundance and possibilities in mind and heart that are always available to us. To me that implies not to be unloving with ourselves. Then we allow those spiritual vessels, and what are vessels metaphysically - they are ideas about how those Possibilities will express in our lives. When we're out of ideas, the flow stops, until we need it to express again.
So it's about appreciating our good, and creating ideas for expressing it in our lives. Many of you are familiar with actor Michael J. Fox, best known for his roles on TV sitcoms and the movie series Back to the Future. When he publicly announced in 1998 that he had Parkinson's, it took him awhile to understand and live with the intent and meaning for his life. He wrote a book entitled Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. When asked how he stays in such optimistic attitudes he writes: “I see possibilities in everything. For everything that's taken away, something of greater value has been given. As big as my problems are, as big as Parkinson's is, for example, it can't take up that much space in a world that has so much capacity for good stuff. It just doesn't. I just don't let it take up that much room.” Do we know and believe in the Possibility that what lies within us is the creative power of imagination which fuels us to create, overcome, and transform the life we live? The great Principle Jesus taught was: "It is done unto you as you believe." (Mt. 8:13)
This past Wednesday we began a new class on living the Possibilities of our spiritual self and looked at the Nature of God and the Universe. Can you say that to yourself, no one is against me. The absolute Truth is only One Presence and Power at work in the Universe and in our lives. If we believe that the world is against us we know what thoughts will follow and we know the direction of our thinking will be negative. But, if we believe that the Universe supports us in our good, our thoughts and what we think about will be life-affirming. Any belief that takes us outside of our own consciousness negates our good; competition, comparisons, judgment and blame, top the list of self-defeating beliefs. Beliefs that are attuned to the Infinite Good; love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity are vessel ideas that expand our good always. As we examine our beliefs and pay attention to how they play out in our experiences, we can foster those that support our decision to "be" what it is that we have chosen to "be" and convince ourselves to release those beliefs that distract us from "being" that which we desire to "be." There is a Power greater than us in the Universe and we are called on to use it. Every time we make a decision or choose to believe in this Power and believe that we can "use it" ... we use the Principle, "it is done unto you as you believe." Let's make our life a Super Bowl filled with the Possibilities of joy and happiness, success and prosperity. And whatever we decide to accomplish we can rest assured that All-Power is with us to "be" whatever it is that we need to "be" in order to accomplish it.
Unity of Monroe • 272 Britton Lane • P.O. Box 138 • Monroe, Ohio • 45050
513-539-5103
E-Mail • unitymonroeohio@earthlink.net
WebSite • unityofmonroe.org
Perfect Vision: Seeing Through a Spiritual Lens
Possibility
February 2, 2020
An unfortunate explosion on a Navy ship killed one of the boiler men and he wound up in hell. But being used to stoking fires and very hot temperatures, he found hell actually comfortable. When Satan went to greet the new arrival, he found him sitting in his room smiling. “You like this?" asked Satan. “Oh yeah" said the sailor, “This feels like a spring day to me." Not wanting the new guy to get too comfortable, Satan turned up the heat--a lot! But when he went back to see how his new arrival was doing, the sailor was still happy and hadn't even broken a sweat. So Satan decided to try something different. Rather than turning the heat up, he turned it off. He made it so cold in the sailor's room, icicles formed. When he checked on the guy, the room was icy and he was shivering--but smiling from ear to ear. “Why are you so happy?” Satan demanded. “It's freezing in here!" The sailor said, “Look, I'm from Cincinnati and with this freezing over it must mean the Bengals have won the Super Bowl!"
For many people this is a holiday to enjoy and watch the last game of the year which certainly explains why when my kids were in school the teachers always had an inservice day the Monday after the Super Bowl. I was always a little suspicious I mean “In Service” or In Recovery from too much celebration. So as I stated earlier, to celebrate means to honor. We honor and celebrate the process we began last month as we began a new yearlong series for 2020 Spiritual Vision: Seeing Through a Spiritual Lens. Each month we visit a new theme idea to see how we can better see life and living. In February the theme is Possibility. The idea being that something might happen... and it might not. There is a possibility of rain later today or what do you think the possibility will be that the Bengals will ever win the Super Bowl. The word Possibility is from the Latin possibilitas, meaning “able to be done.” Able to be done...notice there’s no inference of it not being able to be done. We might say then that something in our lives is able to be done if we believe, if we creatively use the power of our imagination, if we believe in the presence and power of God through divine thought energy fueling our heart and mind. Seeing through spiritual eyes as we looked at last month gives us just such a unique perspective through a spiritual lens not to focus on the lack or negativity we are moving through but seeing the goodness, the possibilities that might come out. It works when we see the Christ presence in others, the divinity in ourselves and others, seeing the beauty and joy of life and celebrating our own inner process.
As we get new concepts about life and new ideas about ourselves, everything else changes for the better. Nothing increases living a life of infinite possibility than to learn the Truth of our Being. The Truth of our Being is that we are not becoming rather we are being whatever idea we have of our self based on the concepts that we have accepted about our place in the universe. We are "being it" now according to our consciousness which is always colored or framed by the way we see and process things. I’ve been reading a book entitled Edison by Edmund Morris and despite Edison’s difficulties and foibles he always kept moving forward. When asked to define electricity Edison said, “No one really knows what it is, only what it does. But it exists, Use it!” It’s like the power of Possibility within us when you think about it. Not Jesus nor all the mystics of all time have been able to define the infinite power and possibilities within us but have implied in their teachings and their lives that It Exists, Use It!
To live life then is to trust and know that life is, we are, there is a Possibility involved in all that we think and believe. Possibility living is living a life of unknowns. Now this is nothing to be frightened about or worried but when we are open to possibilities we are willing to have our consciousness expanded and we become a person who lives in the realm of the unexpected. When you get right down to it we are more adventurous in the art of living that we think we are. For example, when we go out the door we think we might know what to expect but we might just as well step into something completely unexpected. We often do and in fact, we cannot even be certain that we will walk through the front door again. We simply call that faith for without it we stay home. What we can do is to better understand that we have already been gifted with the tools, the discerning power of God to choose wisely and that within our hands and heart are the spiritual practices and tools that bring liberation. To focus on in prayer and meditation, the opening of our heart center, the power of creative thoughts and knowing and affirming that we have the ability to do all that is before us this day, we affirm the gift of God we are. We have serenity, courage and wisdom we just need to let those gifts shine on within us. Eric Butterworth wrote: "Infinite Mind knows no limitation and manifests according to the law of consciousness. You are limited by your belief, but you are not limited by Principle. Your potentials are inexhaustible, but your consciousness is the determining factor. You have a little or a lot. The Infinite does not care and does not restrict. Bigness brings consciousness forth; smallness contracts. You are big."
There’s a wonderful Old Testament passage from the book of 2 Kings that is a metaphysical lesson on Possibility Abundance. The prophet Elisha encounters the woman and her family during hard times and asks her what she has in her house to alleviate her debts and she says just this jar of oil. Elisha instructs her to go and gather every pot, jar, pan she can find from her neighbors - every empty vessel and bring it back to him. It then says, “Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.’ So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another vessel.’ But he said to her, ‘There are no more.’ Then the oil stopped flowing.” (2 Kings 4:1-7). She was then able to take care of her debts and her family and the great lesson of Possibilities here was the unlimited power of Imagination that Elisha demonstrated and the woman picked up on. At first she could see only lack and that was her experience. The prophet urged her to start by appreciating what she did have - the jar of oil and then to allow vessels of all kinds to receive and shape the abundance. On the one hand, we are that empty vessel ready to be filled with divine wisdom. We start by appreciating the divine abundance and possibilities in mind and heart that are always available to us. To me that implies not to be unloving with ourselves. Then we allow those spiritual vessels, and what are vessels metaphysically - they are ideas about how those Possibilities will express in our lives. When we're out of ideas, the flow stops, until we need it to express again.
So it's about appreciating our good, and creating ideas for expressing it in our lives. Many of you are familiar with actor Michael J. Fox, best known for his roles on TV sitcoms and the movie series Back to the Future. When he publicly announced in 1998 that he had Parkinson's, it took him awhile to understand and live with the intent and meaning for his life. He wrote a book entitled Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. When asked how he stays in such optimistic attitudes he writes: “I see possibilities in everything. For everything that's taken away, something of greater value has been given. As big as my problems are, as big as Parkinson's is, for example, it can't take up that much space in a world that has so much capacity for good stuff. It just doesn't. I just don't let it take up that much room.” Do we know and believe in the Possibility that what lies within us is the creative power of imagination which fuels us to create, overcome, and transform the life we live? The great Principle Jesus taught was: "It is done unto you as you believe." (Mt. 8:13)
This past Wednesday we began a new class on living the Possibilities of our spiritual self and looked at the Nature of God and the Universe. Can you say that to yourself, no one is against me. The absolute Truth is only One Presence and Power at work in the Universe and in our lives. If we believe that the world is against us we know what thoughts will follow and we know the direction of our thinking will be negative. But, if we believe that the Universe supports us in our good, our thoughts and what we think about will be life-affirming. Any belief that takes us outside of our own consciousness negates our good; competition, comparisons, judgment and blame, top the list of self-defeating beliefs. Beliefs that are attuned to the Infinite Good; love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity are vessel ideas that expand our good always. As we examine our beliefs and pay attention to how they play out in our experiences, we can foster those that support our decision to "be" what it is that we have chosen to "be" and convince ourselves to release those beliefs that distract us from "being" that which we desire to "be." There is a Power greater than us in the Universe and we are called on to use it. Every time we make a decision or choose to believe in this Power and believe that we can "use it" ... we use the Principle, "it is done unto you as you believe." Let's make our life a Super Bowl filled with the Possibilities of joy and happiness, success and prosperity. And whatever we decide to accomplish we can rest assured that All-Power is with us to "be" whatever it is that we need to "be" in order to accomplish it.
Unity of Monroe • 272 Britton Lane • P.O. Box 138 • Monroe, Ohio • 45050
513-539-5103
E-Mail • unitymonroeohio@earthlink.net
WebSite • unityofmonroe.org