Sorting through some of the papers I stashed away for later use in my craft room cubbies, I came across this essay. It is good to be reminded of the Good that is, even when the world seems to be reflecting less than good. Let us know personally and collectively that Good is and choose to claim it as our own.
– The manifest universe is the body of God; it is the logical and necessary outcome of the infinite self-knowingness of God.
– We believe in the eternal goodness, the eternal loving kindness and the eternal givingness of life to all.
selected from What We Believe – Declaration of Principles by Ernest Holmes
In the beginning
“In the beginning, God created all things.” The manifest universe is the logical out picturing of the thoughts (self-contemplation) of God. So, if it was good to begin with, what made it go so far off course?
Free will.
We (individual humans) have the ability to choose or use our divine gifts and powers to negative, harmful, or contractive purposes.
Why does God allow this? Because God is ultimate freedom and knows no restrictions or need for restrictions. God is already confident and secure in the Truth that all is Good. If I or anyone experiences less than my inherent goodness, I can know that this is not my ultimate reality.
Pre-destiny? Yes. The game of life is rigged to the fullest and greatest expression of growth and expansion. The Law of Growth is ever-present and ever active. Life is for living. There is a polarity going on in the expression of life: positive and negative electrical charges, giving and receiving, yet always One. One continuum cycling, spiraling ever expanding towards the greater good.
“Less than” storylines
If the game of life is rigged in my favor, why do I (and others) insist upon struggling and pushing myself (themselves and others) down a constrictive path? What’s up with my habitual storyline of “not good enough?”
As I age, I see more and more the ways I self sabotage, maybe you do too? It has gotten so old (pun intended), this doubt and disrespect I show to myself. I am good enough. In fact, I am a child of God, made in the image and likeness of the One. There is nothing else, separate from God, for me to be made from. God’s idea of me, my image, is so much more than I’ve ever allowed myself to believe and act as if it were so. Maybe this feels familiar for you too.
Affirmation
I choose, in this very moment, to begin to act and know that I am all that God has designed me to be. By Divine Design, I am all that and more. I am made in the image and likeness of the One. All that I need for the fullest expression of the Good idea of God that I am is available to me now. I choose to be that. I am THAT I am. When I find myself “in times of trouble,” I can choose to know LOVE, LIGHT, LIFE, PEACE, POWER, BEAUTY, and JOY.
I am that I am. I release doubts, fears, complaints, worry and any and every other form of constriction or contraction that I have ever or ever will falsely take on through my intellectual ego.
I open myself to the magnificence of Spirit that I am. Though I may not always consciously know what my Divine Design is, I do know that it must, in the beginning be: LOVE, LIGHT, LIFE, PEACE, POWER, BEAUTY, and JOY.
Anytime I witness examples of any of these God qualities, I can know that I see these because they exist in me. I accept. I receive. And, I give these forth in return, particularizing my life. In my crafts, in my love of family, in my service to others, in my very existence. There is no need for judgment. I am doing the best that I can and when I judge that I am not, I have the opportunity to wake up and choose again. There is no need to compare myself to others. Of course I am different. We are each individualized expressions of the One. There is no need for me to copy another. I am to be me, unique, wonderful, creative me.
Mid-May, I posted the following on FaceBook after we had returned from our trip to South Texas.
Posted on FB
We are back at our home in Antioch, CA, at least for the time being. It seems our plants have been very happy and busy while we were gone. Thankful for the rain and sunshine that supported their growth and our neighbors who kept an eye on the place.
While we are here, the plan is to clean, purge, and get the house ready for a new family to love it. We are open to the idea of renters and/or buyers. The RV life style and Consciousness Caravans calls us back on the road as soon as possible.
Our most recent RV trip to Isla Blanca RV Resort on South Padre Island gave us so many wonderful opportunities to connect with other travelers (car campers, RVers, and such) along the way. It is so uplifting meeting other travelers, whether they are out and about for a week or so on vacation and/or they find themselves living from their vehicles for the time being.
Every traveler (individual and family) is a Divine Expression of the One Life and precious just as they are. In visiting with other campers, we often heard and shared the joy of nature, family, and the recognition of the Divine in all of it.
We are in the midst of designing our next Consciousness Caravans RV road trip starting from CA and exploring options for the Colorado area close to our daughter April’s wedding date in early September. We’ll post details here on social media and on our website: https:consciousnesscaravans.com
Update in June
It is now the beginning of June and we have made good progress with our clear and purge process. I’ve lost count of the number of boxes of books and craft supplies packed and ready for storage. Yes, I know we are supposed to be letting go of most of that stuff…but so far only some of it wants to be let go.
The really good news is that I’ve rediscovered several of my books, notes and pages with workshop and class room ideas. I am looking forward to bringing these to expression at a campground near you! It is amazing the spiritual tools available to us for helping us recognize the ever present Divine living in, through, and as us. Life is Good, even in the apparent chaos of cleaning, purging and reorganizing our lives. Blessed Be.
Hello Consciousness Caravans! Rev Sally spoke at the Oakland Center for Spiritual Living May 15th.
Rev Sally’s talk begins around 50 minutes into the service. Noted below are Rev Sally’s speaking notes.
I’m happy to be alive living a joyful life. I am Happy to be back at OCSL, where we teach spiritual principles and practices of Religious Science. In our travels, one of the questions I’m asked most is: What does Religious Science teach? My answer is the single most important and possibly most challenging teaching of RS is Oneness. Quoting from the global CSL website:
Oneness: There is One Infinite Reality. We call it many names, including but not limited to God, Life, Universal Spirit, Infinite Intelligence, First Cause, or the Thing Itself. The One Infinite Reality is undivided, complete, and whole within Itself. This Oneness creates everything out of Itself, and therefore includes both the absolute and relative, tangible and intangible, physical and metaphysical aspects of reality.
“One Infinite Reality”
“Undivided, Complete, and Whole within Itself”
“Creates everything out of Itself”
“Includes both the absolute and relative…”
We are the relative. Our individualized lives are relative expressions of the absolute Oneness. There is that within us that is both relative and absolute. Now, I may not be able to mentally grasp or fully explain the absolute, but I can, we can, explore and talk about the relative and being happy, absolutely Happy, as a relative expression of Oneness. My talk title for today is “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” It’s an exploration of the emotion of Happiness.
Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, tells us in Help for Today p. 166 “This is the secret, we must enter into the Spirit of Life, into the joy of living, into the usefulness of creative endeavor. No one need grow old in attitude if he has faith, purpose and enthusiasm. If we feel then that we are simply onlookers and not participants in the game of life, we should rediscover the youthful spirit of that childlike joy which gave to us the energy, happiness, security and faith we had as children.
Are you ready to rediscover that youthful spirit? Those of you who will be joining me this afternoon in the “Get Your Happy On” workshop certainly will be rediscovering your youthful spirit. In the meantime, I invite all of you here now (and on Livestream) to sing along with me…
“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.”
Thank you for sharing happiness with me. Robert Holden, a noted PhD who studies Happiness, said in his Happiness Now books and videos that “The good news is that happiness waits not on time or any other external condition, but on our welcome. Choosing the welcome is using our minds to control experiences.
Ernest Holmes tells us in his Seminar Lectures: “The ability to control your experiences and have them result in happiness, prosperity, and success lies in your own mind and the way you use it.”
“Happiness is a state of mind.”
Happiness lies within your own mind and the way you use it. Your mind is the relative use you make of the One, Absolute Mind. One of the ways you can use your mind is through using your imagination to set expectations for what you think might happen and/or want to happen.
Maybe you’ve experienced or been taught to expect the worst to happen (just to be safe, so you can prepare yourself). I can understand the relative wisdom within this teaching that inspired our ancestors to pay laser focused attention to what could go wrong in their immediate (relative) surroundings, so that they could outrun it or hide from it. Their success in doing this is why we are here today. The thing is that many of the dangers they faced are simply not present for most of us today.
Arguably, the most prevalent danger for us, as a human race, today is being too plugged into what could go wrong. Information overload, especially of the variety of what could go wrong or needs to be fixed prevents us from feeling and being Happy.
The news certainly focuses our attention, “as we come on the air this evening…the worst-case scenarios that happened today…” And don’t even get me started with advertisements for medical fixes – take this pill, because this must be wrong with you, never mind all the potentially deadly side effects of the pills you might take.
Focusing on worst case scenarios generally leads to a feeling and expectation of victim consciousness, sooner or later, this will be your experience. Most of us can’t (individually) stop (the war in Ukraine, rising gas prices) by running or hiding. So, even if your life is relatively “good,” the hyper vigilance of what could go wrong keeps our focus on the relative storyline of the drama triangle with a victim, relative to a villain, relative to a victor.
“Happiness is a state of mind.”
Last Sunday, Rev Geri shared a clip from the movie, Inside Out. It revealed the emotional personalities that can be playing out the roles of this drama triangle in our heads. As we saw in the clip, those voices in our heads are not always feeding happy thoughts. Many thoughts of calamity race through our minds…as Rev Jeff used to say, sometimes it’s not a safe place to be, up there.
Religious Science teaches us to return our attention and awareness to Absolute Oneness, allowing ourselves to feel Happy, even if only for brief periods of time throughout the day, as one way to break free of this drama triangle.
Let me share with you 10 more things you can stop doing right now to be happier from Rev. Edward Viljoen’s, our Center’s for Spiritual Living – Spiritual Leader’s, blog.
Want to Be Happier? Stop Doing These Ten Things Right Now.
Stop watching too much television.
Stop having no quiet time in your day for reflection
Stop depending on your own counsel alone
Stop criticizing yourself when you make errors
Stop trying to make other people different
Stop hiding behind “that’s just the way I am.”
Stop putting other people down
Stop wishing for a better past
Stop holding on too tightly
Stop complaining
At the end of his article, Rev Edward encouraged the readers to make their own list of things they can quit doing. He challenged us to stand up for our happiness. That sounds like a fun idea…will you join me? Stand up (or do this seated).
“If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet. If you’re happy and you know it stomp your feet. If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it stomp your feet.”
You can sit down now. Returning to Rev. Edward’s blog. I’d like to share with you one of his further explanations he provided for #3 on his list.
#3. Stop depending on your own counsel alone
Rev Edward shares that another way of saying the same thing is: stop notlistening to others. Stop having no way for wisdom to find its way into your mind. Stop being self-dependent (listening only to that little voice in your head) and let yourself benefit from the wise (and even the not-so-wise) counsel of those around you, experts in their fields, role models, and the people who love you. Instead, make a habit of asking people what they think. You don’t have to accept their advice and opinions, but you will find your world expanding and your sense of community growing. You’ll definitely be doing something that can contribute to a feeling of happiness: connecting.
Everyone loves to be heard. In our travels with Consciousness Caravans, we routinely connect with other travelers and ask: “how’s it going?” and “what’s your favorite place to camp?” And my favorite, “how does it get even better than this?” People love to connect and share about themselves and their travels through this thing called Life. And, in the process of listening, we find out about some really happy places to go visit.
Speaking up can be a powerful way to invite happiness. Let’s try it now.
“If you’re happy and you know it, shout hooray. If you’re happy and you know it shout hooray. If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it shout hooray.”
Yes, that feels better already. We’ve seen that happiness can be found in taking actions: clapping your hands, stomping your feet, speaking your word. Yes? I’d like to clarify that happiness is not something you need to chase or “do,” although taking action does help. Happiness, Joy is a state of consciousness that is natural and normal for everyone. Let me share this story with you…to help illustrate this point.
A grown dog saw a puppy chasing its tail and asked: “Why are you chasing your tail that way?”
“I have studied philosophy and solved the problem of the universe, which no other dog before me has ever solved,” the puppy answered, “and I have found out that the best thing for a dog in life – is happiness, and that my happiness is in my tail. That is why I am chasing it, and when I catch it – I will reach happiness.”
“Son,” the dog said, “in my young days I was also interested in the questions of the universe. I also thought that happiness is in the tail and in the beginning I was also chasing it. But later, I noticed that wherever I go and whatever I do, the tail was always with me. And then I understood that I don’t need to chase it.”
Happiness is. Happiness is a state of mind, consciousness, and awareness that we get to welcome, to KNOW is our natural state of being. If we live life from a place of childlike enthusiasm, joyous expectancy, and positivity, then it lifts our spirits and creates a pleasant aura about us. Life then feels less like drudgery or a battle, regardless of how bad things may be in our circumstances or in the world. As we set our expectations use our imaginations to experience fulfillment and happiness, recognize the Divine treasures within, remember our tail is already attached, we are more apt to realize that happiness DOES begin within us as individuals and in that KNOWING, we seize more control over our own destiny through the use of our minds.
“If you’re happy and you know it, say amen. If you’re happy and you know it say amen. If you’re happy and you know it, then your life will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it say amen.”
