New Thought - This is our moment!

In 1959 Ernest Holmes made his last address to the Religious Science movement at Asilomar - now famously known as the "Sermon by the Sea" - The words of that address have rippled deep in to the heart of many in the movement, as a source of inspiration, aspiration and vision. Among the often quoted lines of this address is this line;

"It would be great indeed if a group of people would come to this earth who could stand for something and against nothing...."

Many like me have spent many a long meditation on just that line alone - what does that mean, and how do you go about doing such a thing? Our collective consciousness has grown a lot since 1959. We've seen the launch of the Association for Global New Thought - and its many great projects and initiatives like the annual Season for Nonviolence, a national 64-day educational, media, and grassroots campaign dedicated to demonstrating that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our lives and our communities. Inspired by the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this international event honors their vision for an empowered, nonviolent world.

And so here we are, in the early days of this year's season - and we have an uprising in Egypt dominating the news coverage. Now, having some strife, war and chaos during the season is certainly not new - guns have not ceased to fire during this 64 day period. But what is unique about this global headline - is that it began in PEACE. The people of Egypt marched and gathered in PEACE and Nonviolence to affect change in their country. In turn - they were attacked, by the very President that tried to tell the world that he was beloved and the "protesters" were rebel trouble makers. In fact, they had made no trouble, started no violence. The President sent his own police forces, in plane clothing, into the streets to attack and instigate violence, first on the citizens, then on the media for telling the story. Remarkably - on Friday, a day of prayer, the people of Egypt returned to PEACEFUL walks and sit-ins. You can turn to many sources for reporting - I've found that Rachel Maddow on MSNBC is doing some of the best you can find.

And so, my message is simple - this is our time New Thought! Time to apply the meaning of Standing for Something - and against No-Thing. Time to Stand for Peace - and Stand with the People of Egypt. Nonviolence is the only way forward in this conflict. We can support that happening by invoking the spirit of Gandhi, King, Chavez and others - AND by encouraging the people of Egypt to continue to stand for peace and nonviolence.

Within United Centers for Spiritual Living - we are guided by a "Global Heart Vision" . One of our esteemed ministers, adapted the vision for this critical time in Egypt - We are now inviting you - to read, meditate on and share this vision and prayer - post it on facebook, email it to you contacts - and watch for youtube versions from our spiritual centers very soon. This is what Standing for Something looks like - there is nothing to stand against - we include President Mubarak in our prayers - there are many ways for the people and the government of Egypt to move forward - ours is not to take sides on how that may or may not look - but simply that the call for Peace and transformation from the people will be heard.

Join us as together we vision and affirm:

We see Egypt free of homelessness, violence, war, hunger, separation and disenfranchisement.

We see Egypt, a country in which there is generous and continuous sharing of heart and resources.

We envision Egypt as a place in which forgiveness, whether for errors, injustices, or debts, is the norm.

We embrace a vision in which Egypt has renewed its emphasis on beauty, nature, and love through the resurgence of creativity, art, and aesthetics.

We see Egypt as a place in which fellowship with all life prospers and connects through the guidance of spiritual wisdom and experience.

We envision Egypt as being an example of a place in which we live and grow as One Global Family, a place where there is respect and honor for the interconnectedness of all life.

We envision Egypt as being as a bridge across the illness and illusion of separation thereby dynamically empowering spiritual life.

We envision Egypt as being actuated by this compelling vision of her spiritual wellbeing.

We see Egypt as a global community of inspired individuals caring for and about each other and the entire planetary family, thereby bringing the gift of active compassion and kindness to the world.

We see the leaders of Egypt as “points of inspiration and influence” effectively advancing the vision of a world that works for everyone.

and so it is.

Gratitude is a powerful tool of transformation:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melodie Beatie

Bishop Spong's Manifesto

Many of you have been asking me where to get a copy of the full manifesto by Bishop Spong that I referenced on Sunday - so here it is.... this came to me via his weekly emails which you too can sign up to receive at www.johnshelbyspong.com

Thursday October 15, 2009

A Manifesto! The Time Has Come!

I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is "an abomination to God," about how homosexuality is a "chosen lifestyle," or about how through prayer and "spiritual counseling" homosexual persons can be "cured." Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy. I will no longer dignify by listening to the thoughts of those who advocate "reparative therapy," as if homosexual persons are somehow broken and need to be repaired. I will no longer talk to those who believe that the unity of the church can or should be achieved by rejecting the presence of, or at least at the expense of, gay and lesbian people. I will no longer take the time to refute the unlearned and undocumentable claims of certain world religious leaders who call homosexuality "deviant." I will no longer listen to that pious sentimentality that certain Christian leaders continue to employ, which suggests some version of that strange and overtly dishonest phrase that "we love the sinner but hate the sin." That statement is, I have concluded, nothing more than a self-serving lie designed to cover the fact that these people hate homosexual persons and fear homosexuality itself, but somehow know that hatred is incompatible with the Christ they claim to profess, so they adopt this face-saving and absolutely false statement. I will no longer temper my understanding of truth in order to pretend that I have even a tiny smidgen of respect for the appalling negativity that continues to emanate from religious circles where the church has for centuries conveniently perfumed its ongoing prejudices against blacks, Jews, women and homosexual persons with what it assumes is "high-sounding, pious rhetoric." The day for that mentality has quite simply come to an end for me. I will personally neither tolerate it nor listen to it any longer. The world has moved on, leaving these elements of the Christian Church that cannot adjust to new knowledge or a new consciousness lost in a sea of their own irrelevance. They no longer talk to anyone but themselves. I will no longer seek to slow down the witness to inclusiveness by pretending that there is some middle ground between prejudice and oppression. There isn't. Justice postponed is justice denied. That can be a resting place no longer for anyone. An old civil rights song proclaimed that the only choice awaiting those who cannot adjust to a new understanding was to "Roll on over or we'll roll on over you!" Time waits for no one.

I will particularly ignore those members of my own Episcopal Church who seek to break away from this body to form a "new church," claiming that this new and bigoted instrument alone now represents the Anglican Communion. Such a new ecclesiastical body is designed to allow these pathetic human beings, who are so deeply locked into a world that no longer exists, to form a community in which they can continue to hate gay people, distort gay people with their hopeless rhetoric and to be part of a religious fellowship in which they can continue to feel justified in their homophobic prejudices for the rest of their tortured lives. Church unity can never be a virtue that is preserved by allowing injustice, oppression and psychological tyranny to go unchallenged.

In my personal life, I will no longer listen to televised debates conducted by "fair-minded" channels that seek to give "both sides" of this issue "equal time." I am aware that these stations no longer give equal time to the advocates of treating women as if they are the property of men or to the advocates of reinstating either segregation or slavery, despite the fact that when these evil institutions were coming to an end the Bible was still being quoted frequently on each of these subjects. It is time for the media to announce that there are no longer two sides to the issue of full humanity for gay and lesbian people. There is no way that justice for homosexual people can be compromised any longer.

I will no longer act as if the Papal office is to be respected if the present occupant of that office is either not willing or not able to inform and educate himself on public issues on which he dares to speak with embarrassing ineptitude. I will no longer be respectful of the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who seems to believe that rude behavior, intolerance and even killing prejudice is somehow acceptable, so long as it comes from third-world religious leaders, who more than anything else reveal in themselves the price that colonial oppression has required of the minds and hearts of so many of our world's population. I see no way that ignorance and truth can be placed side by side, nor do I believe that evil is somehow less evil if the Bible is quoted to justify it. I will dismiss as unworthy of any more of my attention the wild, false and uninformed opinions of such would-be religious leaders as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Albert Mohler, and Robert Duncan. My country and my church have both already spent too much time, energy and money trying to accommodate these backward points of view when they are no longer even tolerable.

I make these statements because it is time to move on. The battle is over. The victory has been won. There is no reasonable doubt as to what the final outcome of this struggle will be. Homosexual people will be accepted as equal, full human beings, who have a legitimate claim on every right that both church and society have to offer any of us. Homosexual marriages will become legal, recognized by the state and pronounced holy by the church. "Don't ask, don't tell" will be dismantled as the policy of our armed forces. We will and we must learn that equality of citizenship is not something that should ever be submitted to a referendum. Equality under and before the law is a solemn promise conveyed to all our citizens in the Constitution itself. Can any of us imagine having a public referendum on whether slavery should continue, whether segregation should be dismantled, whether voting privileges should be offered to women? The time has come for politicians to stop hiding behind unjust laws that they themselves helped to enact, and to abandon that convenient shield of demanding a vote on the rights of full citizenship because they do not understand the difference between a constitutional democracy, which this nation has, and a "mobocracy," which this nation rejected when it adopted its constitution. We do not put the civil rights of a minority to the vote of a plebiscite.

I will also no longer act as if I need a majority vote of some ecclesiastical body in order to bless, ordain, recognize and celebrate the lives and gifts of gay and lesbian people in the life of the church. No one should ever again be forced to submit the privilege of citizenship in this nation or membership in the Christian Church to the will of a majority vote.

The battle in both our culture and our church to rid our souls of this dying prejudice is finished. A new consciousness has arisen. A decision has quite clearly been made. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. Therefore, I will from this moment on refuse to dignify the continued public expression of ignorant prejudice by engaging it. I do not tolerate racism or sexism any longer. From this moment on, I will no longer tolerate our culture's various forms of homophobia. I do not care who it is who articulates these attitudes or who tries to make them sound holy with religious jargon.

I have been part of this debate for years, but things do get settled and this issue is now settled for me. I do not debate any longer with members of the "Flat Earth Society" either. I do not debate with people who think we should treat epilepsy by casting demons out of the epileptic person; I do not waste time engaging those medical opinions that suggest that bleeding the patient might release the infection. I do not converse with people who think that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans as punishment for the sin of being the birthplace of Ellen DeGeneres or that the terrorists hit the United Sates on 9/11 because we tolerated homosexual people, abortions, feminism or the American Civil Liberties Union. I am tired of being embarrassed by so much of my church's participation in causes that are quite unworthy of the Christ I serve or the God whose mystery and wonder I appreciate more each day. Indeed I feel the Christian Church should not only apologize, but do public penance for the way we have treated people of color, women, adherents of other religions and those we designated heretics, as well as gay and lesbian people.

Life moves on. As the poet James Russell Lowell once put it more than a century ago: "New occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth." I am ready now to claim the victory. I will from now on assume it and live into it. I am unwilling to argue about it or to discuss it as if there are two equally valid, competing positions any longer. The day for that mentality has simply gone forever.

This is my manifesto and my creed. I proclaim it today. I invite others to join me in this public declaration. I believe that such a public outpouring will help cleanse both the church and this nation of its own distorting past. It will restore integrity and honor to both church and state. It will signal that a new day has dawned and we are ready not just to embrace it, but also to rejoice in it and to celebrate it.

– John Shelby Spong

Recovering the Mystic Self

In the July Science of Mind magazine article Holmes tells us that a mystic is one who has a “deep, inner sense of Life and his unity with the Whole.” He goes on to recognize some of the great mystics of the ages, past and present. Today we can confidently add Holmes’s name to that great role call. The dictionary defines the mystic as one who has a pursuit of communion or identification with, ultimate reality. And it is toward that definition that Holmes’s work becomes a valuable tool on the journey.

You see, like Jesus, Buddha and other great mystics, Holmes believes that each of us is destine to be a mystic in our own right. He removes the “mystery” and provides us with a tangible pursuit of union with Divine Reality through our own application of spiritual principles. In the declaration of principles or What We Believe, he states “anyone may become a revealer of this truth who lives in close contact with the indwelling presence.”

Awakening the mystic within begins with the recognition that you are more than what meets the eye. You are more than your body, more than the roles you play, more than what others think of you, or for that matter what you think of you! As you begin to take this idea into meditation and contemplation, you become more and more acquainted with the ultimate reality of the universe. This is what Holmes is driving at by a “conscious courting of the Divine Presence.” How wonderful to awaken to your true identity as an emanation of universal Love, Truth and Beauty. The truth is you were born in this awareness; every one of us comes to this world with a deep inner sense of our unity with the whole.

So, are you ready to re-claim your mystical self? Are you ready to stop courting ideas of lack, limitation, and not-enoughness? Are you ready to roll up your belief in the material world as your source and supply and number it with the things once thought to be real? If so, then you are ready for the adventure of a lifetime! You are ready to live, move and have your being in the awareness of God consciousness. Your reward for stepping out on this adventure? Nothing less that truly knowing that you are, and have always been, whole perfect and complete. And like Holmes and others before him, you’ll know first hand that living life as a mystic is the sanest thing you can do.

Your Internal GPS (The Principle of Divine Guidance)

In the June Science of Mind magazine article from Ernest Holmes we read about the principle of Divine Guidance. He presents us with the idea that we are surrounded by an Infinite Intelligence and that anybody can access and use this guidance who permits themselves to. This guidance, he states, is God’s gift forever delivered. What a marvelous idea!

I once had a teacher who would ask me questions about my future plans, dreams and aspirations – and often I would find myself saying “I don’t know.” I felt distressed about the many options before me. To which she would respond rather simply with “Well David, suppose you did know…then what would your answer be?” She understood the principle of divine guidance. She understood that there was something within me that did know and that all I needed to do was to call upon It. In fact there is something within each of us that knows exactly what the answers are to any challenge or situation facing us. I think of it as having an internal GPS device. I recently purchased a GSP device for my car and I absolutely love it! Even on the regular routes that I know well, I like to see the path it recommends to me.

It seems that in today’s world we are faced with so many choices, about everything! Which one is the right one for me? how can I be sure? These questions have passed though everyone’s mind a thousand times. Holmes provides us with some simple guidelines at the end of the article for calling on this guidance and trusting that it will respond. But we must call upon it and trust in it. And to the part of our little mind that wishes to doubt, fret or worry let us turn to Emerson, who reminds us that “The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks. See the line from sufficient distance, and it straightens itself to the average tendency. Your genuine action will explain itself and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing.” (from Self-Reliance)

In other words, you have an internal GPS. The Universe knows where you are. Now, tell the universe where you want to go (state your destination) and trust the route that unfolds. This is one course you can’t get lost because at every turn in the road, God is present and divine guidance is waiting to be called upon. In the words of Raymond Charles Barker, “Divine Mind? You know what to do, now do it!”

You Are A Spiritual Being

In the May issue of Science of Mind magazine article from Ernest Holmes, we gain some wonderful insights into his view of spirituality. These excerpts come from his first book, "Creative Mind", and provide a wonderful view into his consciousness in the early stages of what became a 42 year career of published spiritual ideas! Holmes addresses what it is to have a spiritual life.

How refreshing it is to know that to have a “spiritual life” does not require any external add-ons. The car you drive, what you eat, or your exercise program cannot bring you a more “spiritual life.” The only thing that that is truly required is your trust in Spirit. When you come to trust and rely on the Spirit from which all things come, then, and only then, are you leading a spiritual life.
For many of us this may be a tall order, as we have been acculturated into a society that revolves around material goods and mass consumerism. Breaking this spell does not have to be a complicated matter. Begin asking yourself where everyday things and objects come from. It won’t take you long to realize that everything, your coffee cup or the chair your sitting in, all came from the invisible realm. That is, they began as ideas in someone’s mind. This is the Universal Mind to which Holmes frequently refers. Holmes is really telling us that we are free to live as unique individuals. Being spiritual means knowing the ultimate source from which all things come.

Holmes also places a strong emphasis on the freedom of the individual soul. He states: “The Almighty has put the truth into your own soul; look there and there alone for it.” The bookstores are filled with authors who will tell you how to be more spiritual and how to interpret and analyze various aspects of your life, but only you can correctly interpret what is unfolding in your experience. After all, you have just as much access to the intelligence of the universe as any other person. Holmes understood this. His message is one of spiritual liberation—to become familiar with, trust, and know your own innate goodness, intuition, and connection to the whole.
You are a spiritual being; travel well!

Bold Belief

It was Goethe who said, “Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” Ernest Holmes is a fine demonstration of that truth. This month’s article strikes a chord that makes me profoundly aware of both his boldness and genius. How awesome and inspiring are his words as he confidently declares that there is one power, one presence, and one truth running through the ages, all mystical teachings, teachers, and sacred writings.

Let us contemplate for a moment the assertion that throughout time and history there has been, and still is, a Universal Intelligence behind /all and expressing through all/. Not only that, but through the vast diversity and creativity of human expression, in both the religious and secular realms, there is ultimately one truth being expressed in infinite ways. Now that is a bold claim!

But here is where the pure genius of Holmes’s work comes in. Just at that magical point when your consciousness has been expanded and stretched to its limits, he turns around and makes it personal!

This magnificent power that you have contemplated is in you, right now. You can use this power to literally change your life. Holmes tells us that if we require a better God, then we should believe in one. In other words, stop waiting for something or someone “out there” to help you create the life you want. Take charge of the direction of your thoughts and beliefs, and in so doing take charge of your life.

As we welcome the return of spring, I invite you to take on a bold belief. Get quiet for a moment and ask yourself: “What bold idea or belief is waiting to emerge in my life?” What would it look and feel like for you to really embody, as your true nature, the belief in your perfection, wholeness, prosperity, and love vibration?

What have you got to lose? After all, you have the creative power and genius of the entire universe behind you. Go for it!

To read the full article of Ernest Holmes - pick up the April Issue of Science of Mind Magazine

A New Thought for Easter

As I sit at a desk overlooking the river, moving from meditation to pouring over my resources for Easter, I am moved by the notion that one must really be willing to take on the Easter Journey in consciousness in order for it to have any meaning at all in the 21st Century. In doing so it has profound possibilities for launching us into a new era of Being, not only with ourselves but with each other - with the human family and with all of creation. My prayer is that we, each in our own way, take on this journey and Rise Up to our Highest Potential in this Life. I wish for everyone a powerful Easter experience. I am truly grateful for the inspired work of Bishop John Shelby Spong who has this to say about Easter:

"Easter with is story of the resurrection can also be transformed, I believe, and carried with us into a postexilic future. Yet before that is possible, the miracles of physical resuscitation, the angles who roll stones away from tombs, and the bodies that appear out of nothing and disappear into thin air must be dismissed for the developed legends that they are. But life that transcends every human limit is a powerful portrait. Death, which opens all things to new possibilities; love, which triumphs over hatred; being, which overcomes nonbeing - those are truths to which Easter points, and those are the truths that emerge when God is met on the edges and at the limits of our finite humanity. That is what the stories of the resurrection are all about."

pg. 190 of Why Christianity Must Change or Die by John Shelby Spong

It occurs to me that Easter itself must undergo a trial, crucifixion and ultimately, resurrection for the sake of its salvation.

A Closer Walk with Thee

Yesterday in service we talked about the season of Lent and what it means to be in a spiritual practice of fasting from thoughts, attitudes and behaviors that are no longer serving us. The most useful spiritual tool that I have found regarding a new thought look at Lent is the book "Keep a True Lent" by Charles Filmore from Unity Press. In the forward by Georgiana Tree West we read:

"When we withdraw our attention, interest, and support from the false and unworthy, this is true fasting. When we give that same attention, interest, and support to the enduring good, we are feasting on the things of the Spirit, and this is true prayer."

This idea alone is worthy of forty days of mindful focus. What are the false ad unworthy ideas, thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that we have been walking with? Are we willing to shift our attention, interest and support to that which is the enduring good of our life?
The Lenten season is a church institutional idea that is based on a very sound idea - taking time to internally clean house so that we are prepared for a deeper spiritual journey into our Christ Nature. Ultimately this is a very personal journey and no institution, church or spiritual system can facilitate (even though we may find ritual, community and inspirational support in them) that which is between God (whatever we conceive it to be) and ourselves.

I believe it is this notion of the very intimate and personal spiritual journey that we are each responsible for that Ernest Holmes was speaking to in his first published work, Creative Mind in the passage entitled "The Church of God"

The Church of God is not built with hands, it is eternal in the heavens; it is not lighted with candles; its dome is heaven and it is lighted by the stars of God's illumined thought, and each member in his separate start "shall draw this thing as he sees it, for the god of thing as they are". Here all people recognize the God within their own souls and ask for and see no other God. When you can look upon all creation as the perfect work of a perfect God, you will become a member of this church. I doubt very much if the church universal admits members from the church individual. When you can see in the saint and the sinner one and the same person, when you can realize that they one who kneels before the alter and the one who lies drunk in the street is the same one, when you can love the one as much as you do the other, no doubt you will be able to qualify. As it is now we have too many preachers who do not understand, that have no purpose; too many prayers, too many creeds, too many teachers, that have no message; too many churches, too many "learned" people, and too few thinkers. "The Kingdom of Heaven cometh not by observation". It is the "still, small voice" within the soul that speaks. The expanded thought will never wish to join or be joined to. Nothing human can contain it. It feels the limitation of form and ceremony and longs for the freedom of the Spirit, the great out of doors, the Great God of the everywhere. Alone in the desert, the forest or by the restless ocean, looking up at the stars, man breathes forth these words, "With only my maker and me".

- Ernest Holmes

PRESS RELEASE: Rev. David to be honored at Morehouse.

Rev. David Alexander will be inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College on April 2, 2009.

This event will occur as part of the 22nd Annual College of Ministers and Laity Program. It is also the period of the College's 142nd Science and Spiritual Awareness Week, March 29th through April 5th 2009. This year's theme is "The Mature Spirituality of a Renaissance Man." The speaker is Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Washington DC. The prestigious Gandhi, King, and Ikeda Community Builders Prize will be awarded posthumously to Yitzhak Rabin, former prime minister of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize winner. The ceremonies will take place in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse College. Among the others to be inducted is Rev. David's dear friend Bishop Carlton D. Pearson.

Rev. David Alexander will also be the featured speaker at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, a New Thought embracing Pentecostal Church, at the invititation of Senior Pastor D.E. Paulk on Wednesday evening, April 1, 2009.

Rev. David has been dedicated to the work of Inclusivity and broadening the reach of New Thought's message into the world. Beginning with his friendship and collaboration with Sharif Abdullah, author of Creating a World that Works for All and director of the Commonway Institute and continuing with his outreach to Bishop Carlton Pearson during his "fall from grace," Rev. David continues to seek out new ways to connect the transformative principles of New Thought with the current issues of the day. Teaming up with cutting edge Inclusion leaders like Bishop Carlton and Pastor D.E. Paulk, Rev. David is helping to heal the separation and isolated exclusive thinking between the New Thought and Pentecostal Christian faith traditions, thereby spreading a message of a way of life that honors all paths to God and promoting spiritual tools for personal transformation that help make the world a better place.

(photo credit: Carl Studna)

Our place in Women's History

Yesterday was International Women's Day which began about 100 years ago to bring a greater awareness to issue of equality, treatment in the workplace, abuse and other social issues. (check out the About page in the IWD link above for more information.)

Our spiritual community (New Thought Center for Spiritual Living) spent the day honoring the Divine Feminine in spirituality and specifically gave tribute to the great women of New Thought History. I was surprised to find out how many of us did not know this history. When I was in college I took a Women's Studies course - where again, I was surprised to discover that the professor believed that there was no organized religious movement that has women in significant leadership roles or that ordained women into the fully life of ministry! I was shocked! Having grown up in the New Thought tradition, I was very aware of ordained women ministers. As a result I wrote most of my papers in that course about the role of women in New Thought (none of which the professor had any awareness of!).

The truth is that we ought to be shouting from the mountaintops - loudly - the historic place that New Thought has both in Women's History and in religious history. When events like International Women's Day come along - we ought to be involved in a bold and significant way - educating others on our proud history and standing as a shinning example of a movement that has a over 100 year old history of breaking the mold!

Beginning with Mary Baker Eddy, who was healed by PP Quimby, went on to establish the Christian Science Movement...continuing with Emma Curtis Hopkins whom we regard as the "Teacher of Teachers" for as she broke away from Mary Baker Eddy - and established her own Theological Seminary in Chicago - she taught hundreds of students - many of whom became significant leaders and founders of the various branches of New Thought. This history extends to present day - as 3 of the 5 major branches of New Thought; United Centers for Spiritual Living, Unity and the Universal Foundation for Better Living are all headed by women.

Even more importantly is the role that the early women of New Thought played in the women's suffrage movement and cultural conversations of the day in the early 1900's. In 1999 a new book which highlights this history was first published: Each Mind a Kingdom: American Women, Sexual Purity, and the New Thought Movement, 1875-1920 by Beryl Satter. This work is a significant contribution to the library of women's history, American history and New Thought history. I hope that it will become as valuable and as referenced in our movement as Spirit's in Rebellion has.




Other references that I used last Sunday:

• The Return of the Mother - by Adrew Harvey
• The Divine Feminine - by Andrew Harvey
• In Search of the Christ-Sophia - by Jann Aldredge-ClantonB
• Born of a Woman - by Bishop John Shelby Spong
• Scientific Christian Mental Practice - by Emma Curtis Hopkins

for more information on New Thought History - click here

Re-investing in Faith

Philosophy in Action - for March 2009

Ernest Holmes teaching on faith is absolutely powerful and inspiring. However, for those of us early on our journey of faith, it can be a bit intimidating. In the Science of Mind he defines faith as

“an idea so inwardly embodied that the mind can no longer conceive of its opposite.”

Wow! Now that’s powerful stuff. But what if you do contemplate its opposite? Does that mean you have “less” faith? Often we approach life’s challenges with the notion of “if I only had more faith” or “I don’t have enough faith.” But the truth is you already possess all the faith you will ever have, right now!
If you have ever thought that all you need is more or enough faith in order to succeed, STOP. Begin to pay attention to where the faith that you do have is being used. Is is being used negatively or misplaced as Holmes describes? Do you find yourself saying “oh, I just knew that was going to happen!” when things go wrong? How about when things go better than expected? Do you think to yourself “gee, guess I was lucky?” If so, then its time to start re-investing your faith for higher yields.
It has been said that the difference between the mystic and the paranoid is a thin line. The paranoid believe that there is a grand conspiracy in the universe that is working against them. The mystic believes that there is a grand conspiracy in the universes that is working for them! All we need do to build our faith is to try on the idea that all things are working together for good, right now. In the bible we read: “All things work together for good to them that believe and those who are called according to his purpose” I like to think that since God is all that there is, then we are all called according to his purpose so the only question that remains is – do we believe it? This is what it is to have the faith of God.

for the full article on Faith by Ernest Holmes - pick up a copy of the March issue of Science of Mind magazine

Blog ReNewal

Greetings everyone - It's been a while since my last post and I'm excited to announce that this blog will have regular postings once again!

I now have a monthly column published in the Science of Mind magazine The column is Philosophy in Action - and is intended to be a follow up the the Ernest Holmes published article.

On or after the 15th of each month - that article will be posted here - so you the reader can post comments, ask questions and otherwise interact with the column and Holmes article.

Of course, I'll continue to publish other content as well.

I hope you'll enjoy this new feature and will spread the link to your friends.

Noble Purpose

All month long we've been focusing on the idea of living from "Noble Purpose" based on the book of same title by Berry Hermmann (www.noblepurpose.com) . Its been a wonderful series and continues for a few more weeks. In week 5 we discussed the step of "Claiming" which is about becoming 100% responsible and accountable for manifesting our noble purpose. Berry Hermmann suggests that we take our vision and break it down into bite size pieces and take action.

As I reflected on this throughout the week, I remembered that I had done just that. When I was 14yrs old I was inspired, guided and moved into my Noble Purpose of public speaking and a life of public service. The action that I took was to create a business card and tri-fold brochure that highlighted my volunteer position with New Mexico Peer Leadership program and my desire to serve. Inside the brochure I published the following quote from George Bernard Shaw - it became my beacon, my guiding light and vision statement for many years to come. Some 18 years latter I find that my life is a manifestation of this quote and it continues to guide and direct me.

“This is the true joy in life … being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one … being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy … I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It’s a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing on to future generations.” - George Bernard Shaw

Universal Human Rights

9-11 Healing the Separation

Today is a significant day, not only for our country - but for the world.  It is a day that carries a heavy "pain body" triggered by the tragic events of 9-11.  Today our country takes pause to remember the fallen, the heros, the triumph of the human spirit and the deep soulful cry of the morning.  

We've all heard that in the face of conditions that we don't like - that we "Must Be the Change You wish to See in the World."  

Well, today we have two organizations in the New Thought Movement, United Centers for Spiritual Living (formerly United Church of Religious Science) and International Centers for Spiritual Living (formerly Religious Science International) are giving the world a most powerful demonstration of what it is to be the change....

Twins.

Here in Los Angeles, a soft morning is awakening a new day.

Arising out of the night, the eastern sky lights up its edges,
from within.

Standing on the tips of its toes,
whispering its love,
brotherhood bares its brave heart
while sisterhood,
smiling,
surrenders her veils,
softening the curve of her heart.

"Are we twins, then sister?"
"Oh Brother, I don't know..."
"I remember you from birth!"
"Yes! Me too! We slid into the world head first!"

Today in Los Angeles,
two organizations - twins if you will -
reach not into their heads,
but into their common heart
and find one another
dreaming their reunion.

We are those organizations.

Twin cities, twin towers, twin children separated at birth -

Today is both a day of remembrance and reunion.

It is a remarkable day, and yet unremarkable as well.

After all, doesn't every day change history?

Still...

We ARE changing history today, and in doing so, rearranging the future.


So as we enter this day, may we be all hold a high watch as the International Centers for Spiritual Living and the United Centers for Spiritual Living join today in Los Angeles to discover our commonality, to discover how inclusive we are.

Across this planet, in every community, may we celebrate who we are and who we are becoming - two twins becoming one again - and may the integration we seek for our organizations find itself in every one of us, and may we find at the end of the day, that none of us are strangers here.

We are twins.
We are everyone.
We are Love.

Ross Foti, RScP
September 11, 2008
Los Angeles, California

The Call: lost Poem of Ernest Holmes

This poem, entitled "The Call" is one of my favorites by Ernest Holmes - however most do not know of its existence.  It can only be found in the original 1926 edition of "The Science of Mind" text, in which its local is odd at bests.  It can be found at the end of the Glossary and just before the Index (no page number).  After the reorganization of the text in 1938 - the poem disappears - and to my knowledge is not published in any other location.

My soul is stirred by this poem and serves as a focal point of my calling as a minister of New Thought.  Here it is...

The Call:

by Ernest Holmes

This I saw or else some greater presence made it known to thee,

the universe is filled with life, the earth, the sky, the sea

And teamed with Intelligence with majesty and might

Deep within me some subtle inner sight

Beholds and sees, comprehends and knows the All

No fears, no falters, but answers the Divine Call.

To be as one, beyond the bonds of time and space

To overcome the bondage of the human race

And to leap with Trust, undaunted and free,

into the deeps of that infinite sea

Who's waters, calm are ready to receive 

Those who in simple faith Believe.

Faith, Doubt and Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa has recently made the headlines with her soon to be published private journal. The book “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light” reveals years of private journal writing exposing her personal thoughts throughout her ministry of service to the sick and poor.

The revelation that is making the news is that Mother Teresa writes about her Doubt and “lack of Faith” obviously for such a devoted servant of God this news comes as a surprise and even shock to most.

For me it opens the door to an important conversation, long overdue about the role of Doubt within the building of our Faith. We tend to think of the terms Faith and Doubt as being opposite and exclusive of each other. If you have doubt it means that you lack faith and if you have faith then doubt does not enter your mind. Particularly in the case of faith – we tend to think of it as an absolute. Homes says of faith – “Faith is a mental attitude, so inwardly embodied that the mind can no longer deny it.”

In New Thought we really like absolutes – they keep things clean and simple – easy for the intellect to take hold of. But the fact is that in a metaphysical universe – there is a lot of “gray matter” The danger of painting Faith and Doubt in such black and whites is that we end up holding faith as such a high spiritual ideal that few people actually possess it. We make Faith so pure that we can never fully attain it. Not only that, but we then begin to carry guilt for our lack of faith and our more common doubt. Let’s return to faith in a moment -

What of doubt? Is is simply the lack of or mis-placed faith? I think doubt can be these things – but is much deeper and much more important in our spiritual development. In New Thought we have done very little to understand the valuable role of doubt in our spiritual awakening. To doubt, fundamentally is to question, to question is to inquire and to inquire is to learn and grow. I believe that doubt plays a much larger role in our unfolding and spiritual growth than we have ever acknowledge. After all, was it not Ernest’s youthful and constant questioning of the world around him (the preverbial question mark, always asking Why?) that lead to his awakening and articulation of the wisdom we now call New Thought and Religious Science?

When it comes to building our faith, doubt is an important component. M. Holmes Hartshorne reminds us in his work “The Faith to Doubt” that is was Luther’s dare to doubt the means of grace which the Church presumed to guarantee to the faithful, that “cut the ground out from under medieval Christianity.” I agree with Hartshorne that in terms of exploring spiritual principles it is “not reassurance but the courage to doubt critically” that we need. Similarly, Augustine observed that we doubt for the sake of truth.

I believe that it is through doubt that we are able to plumb the depths of our soul and uncover hidden beliefs – bringing them out of the dark shadows and into the light for close examination. In order to build our faith – we need doubt. Without it our spiritual principles become self serving Polly-Anne platitudes that lack meaning and substance.
Don’t feel guilty about your doubts – embrace them, explore them and allow them to deepen your faith. To do so is to develop healthy and mature faith.
Paul Tillich says this best…

“Faith comprises both of itself and the doubt of itself…To live serenely and courageously in these tensions and to discover their ultimate unity in the depths of our own soul and in the depths of the divine life is the task and dignity of human thought.”

Through exploring our doubts and darkness we can truly come to understand our Faith.

Thank God for Mother Teresa’s doubt - she has reminded us all that Doubt is a natural part of the Faith walk – while one day the church will make her a saint, today we know she was human. A great human with great Faith and Doubt.

More about Bishop Carlton Pearson

"The story of Reverend Carlton Pearson, a renowned evangelical pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who cast aside the idea of Hell, and with it everything he'd worked for over his entire life.


Carlton Pearson's church, Higher Dimensions, was once one of the biggest in the city, drawing crowds of 5,000 people every Sunday. But several years ago, scandal engulfed the reverend. He didn't have an affair. He didn't embezzle lots of money. His sin was something that to a lot of people is far worse: He stopped believing in Hell." (From This American Life)

Now Bishop Pearson is preaching and teaching a New Gospel - The Gospel of Inclusion - which is the title of his latest book.



"When love, healing, tolerance and justice cease to be the cornerstones of the Christian faith, it is not the non-Christians of the world who are damned. It is Christianity itself - .... Christianity deserves better. Christ deserves better."

"In the Oneness of God there is room for all. It includes much more than any one religion contains."

(exerpts from The Gospel of Inclusion")



Since being cast out by the Evangelical community and labeled a heretic, Bishop Pearson has found a new community of believers - believers of Oneness, Love and Inclusivity. He has been accepted for "Privilege of Call and Ministry" by the United Church of Christ and embraced by a widening circle of faith communities including Episcopalians, UCC, MCC, Unitarians Universalist, Buddhist, Native American, Jewish, Islamic, GLBT and New Thought. Bishop Pearson has been embraced and befriended by Bishop John Shelby Spong, Jim Garrison of Wisdom University and Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith along with many others.

New Thought Ministries of Oregon is proud to be among those embracing his message and supporting his new ministry.

Bishop Carlton Pearson on 20/20 Friday July 13

A Question of Hell...This Friday July 13th at 10E/9C, see Bishop Pearson on ABC 20/20! Don't Miss it.

visit ABC.com and learn more about Friday's Show...

Tell you friends to tune in and watch - then be sure register for Bishop Pearson's Book Tour event in Portland OR July 27-28, 2008



www.bishoppearson.com/portland/ to register


Did you miss Bishop Carlton on CNN?

go here to see his CNN interview about the GLBT community:
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2007/06/24/sanchez.pro.gay.evangelist.newdim



Did you know that you can view the CNN interview PLUS find links to Dateline NBC interview, This American Life interivew as well as links to Newspaper and magazine articles on Bishop Pearson - all by visiting http://www.ntmo.org/?content=pearson.php

visit the site, tell your friends and help us spread the word on this exciting story.




For details for these and other upcoming events visit our website: www.ntmo.org


Rev. David Alexander
Community Spiritual Leader
New Thought Ministries of Oregon
revdavid@ntmo.org
www.ntmo.org