An essential belief of New Thought is that the universe is an intelligent creation of an intelligent Mind. This Mind is God. Older theologies have proclaimed God as the Creator, but have not always given a logical or intelligent outline of the method by which the Creator becomes the created.
The New Thought Movement, with its understanding of God as Mind, explains creation as a logical result of the Divine Mind giving birth to ideas, which ideas take form. This process is an eternal one, for creation is never complete; it is forever going on.
This spiritual process by which the cosmic system has come into being is based upon divine law, a law of mind action. The conditions, limitations, and possibilities of each of us are dependent upon the ideas our consciousness projects into form.
We are created in the “image and likeness” of the Universal Mind, and, as Jesus said, have been given all power and all authority to be the Light of our own world.
This indwelling power and authority consists in our ability to grasp the spiritual ideas of the God-mind and to think those ideas into form. We are spiritual beings living in a spiritual universe governed by spiritual law.
If our experience doesn’t seem to bear witness to this fact, it is due to our own misuse of ideas.
Jesus Christ redefined our oneness with Spirit. God is Spirit and we are made in the image and likeness of that Spirit. Jesus came to inject into our consciousness the idea of our own divinity. He assured the individual that everything the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth accomplished could be accomplished by the Christ of each individual.
The indwelling Father to which Jesus referred is the universal Christ Principle in every son and daughter of God. As students of the Truth we apply our knowledge of our inherent perfection as spiritual beings to human needs and thereby heal the sick, prosper the poor, and bring peace to confused minds.
The healing of body and affairs is the natural result of spiritual causation operating through the mind of man. Health, happiness and prosperity are the inevitable result of our thinking the thoughts of God after Him.
A perfect Cause doesn’t produce an imperfect result. As our thought turns to Spirit as the “cause”, medium, and effect” in our life; as we recognise our oneness with God and therefore with all of attributes of God, realising that nothing unlike Perfection can belong to the Christ of man, we bring forth into our life; “the fruits of the Spirit,” some of which are happiness, health, and prosperity.
These great benefits, resulting from the immutable Law of God (which is always the Law of Good), are impersonal and omnipresent. They work for one and all. Creed, race, and personality have nothing to do with this immutable law of mind in action.
Heaven and hell are the results of our use of ideas. If we turn to the indwelling Christ Mind and draw our ideas from that Source, we live in heaven here and now. If we turn to the external world and the opinions of others, we build for ourselves a hell here and now.
New Thought affirms that we are in heaven here and now and are as spiritual as we ever will become. As we turn from the race beliefs in sin, sickness, lack and death, to the living ideas of Jesus Christ (which are life eternal, opulence, radiant health, and permanent harmony) we will create for ourselves a wonderful world in which we will live as intelligent spiritual beings.
New Thought is not so much a religion as is an approach to spiritual Truth. It does not tell us what to do; it tells us who we are, and we, by perceiving our own spiritual nature, automatically begin to change our attitude of mind.
With the adjustment of our thought, outer conditions in our life are changed accordingly.
The New Thought Movement is proving, in the life of every sincere student who applies it , the practical results of thinking with the Christ Mind and loving with the Christ Heart.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sunday, December 4, 2011
PRAYING WHEN THERE'S NOTHING WRONG
Crisis is not the only occasion for prayer. Although difficult situations are usually what motivate people to pray – and to seek spiritual counselling or prayer, there is a wide spectrum of other circumstances in which prayer can be a powerful tool for promoting wellbeing.
Prayer, in this sense, can be seen in a special light, offering not just healing but support, strength, direction, illumination and creative force as well.
Viewed from this perspective, prayer is not seen so much as a way to correct things that are wrong as to accelerate things that are already right.
A person seeking help with this idea in mind would not be doing so from the standpoint of feeling powerless or inadequate but rather from the standpoint of why ignore a rich source of support that can assist me in accomplishing my goal? This is true whether one is doing the prayer for oneself or getting assistance from a ministry of prayer.
We can consolidate these various prayer projects under the heading ‘self actualisation’ which includes the following:
1. Prayer to define your personal vision for life in terms of service or vocation. If you are praying for yourself, the prayer could be: “ I now accept that Divine Wisdom guides me into a path of service in which all my innate talents are employed successfully. Infinite Intelligence is revealing to me the ideal way in which I can find joy through work or service.”
Regular times can be set aside for declaring in prayer the results you wish to achieve. Becoming still, you can invite feelings you will have when those results come about; aligning yourself with those feelings is, assuredly, a form of prayer itself. Your prayer can also be supplanted by frequently visualising yourself in a happy, harmonious environment, performing work that is fulfilling.
2. Prayer to enhance job skills and learning capabilities in your chosen field. Such a prayer could be: “I now allow myself to be open to everything I need to know in this field, and I welcome all opportunities for Spirit’s inspiration to illuminate and expand my understanding.
I am strengthened in my resolve to seek out and discover all I need to know, and I am fully supplied with the energy necessary to carry out my purpose.”
The words of this prayer must be joined to a feeling of absolute acceptance, an unequivocal knowing that you have the power to accept the truth of what you have said, and that you do so now. You must assert complete and utter sovereignty over what is or is not accepted in the kingdom of your consciousness.
Then, sit in a period quiet or meditative thoughtfulness and acknowledge the efforts you have made up to this point. In those efforts recognise that there is an energy at your disposal to carry you still further in this learning process. Mentally search for and find the inner momentum you have already created and declare that this dynamic momentum will sweep you along until you know all that is needed.
3. Prayer to evolve spiritually and let the new you supersede the old you. This prayer could be stated: “I now declare that in the freshness of this moment, I release what has gone before and seize the change to express new light, never bound by the past. I choose to learn from my mistakes and love more wisely and genuinely this day. To this I am dedicated.
Again, sitting in quiet, listen inwardly to what follows after offering your prayer. In the solitude of your silent inner listening you will finally discover a sense of the sacred as you reflect on the source of your own nature. Soon you are aware of increased balance, poise, and the stately peace of your inner being. You have been drinking from the wellspring of the inner Spirit and this is the key to spiritual growth.
But what about the results? Can prayer truly provide support that is meaningful in accomplishing specific goals? The answer is yes.
Regardless of the issue, be it crisis-related or simply a desire to expand and explore, prayer figures as a most powerful ally, and it deserves respect. When we broaden our view of how and when prayer is applicable, we enable ourselves to have a richer experience of life.
And finally, if we want to appreciate prayer in its deepest sense, we can recognise that prayer ultimately moves beyond words and concepts altogether into realms where we may regard it in the same way philosopher Alan Watts regarded meditation, when he described it as “the art of suspending verbal and symbolic thinking for a time, somewhat as a courteous audience will stop talking when a concert is about to begin.
Thus our greatest and most powerful prayer may simply be to make our need known and then to quiet ourselves and listen to the Infinite as it plays across our attentive and receptive minds.
Blessings
Prayer, in this sense, can be seen in a special light, offering not just healing but support, strength, direction, illumination and creative force as well.
Viewed from this perspective, prayer is not seen so much as a way to correct things that are wrong as to accelerate things that are already right.
A person seeking help with this idea in mind would not be doing so from the standpoint of feeling powerless or inadequate but rather from the standpoint of why ignore a rich source of support that can assist me in accomplishing my goal? This is true whether one is doing the prayer for oneself or getting assistance from a ministry of prayer.
We can consolidate these various prayer projects under the heading ‘self actualisation’ which includes the following:
1. Prayer to define your personal vision for life in terms of service or vocation. If you are praying for yourself, the prayer could be: “ I now accept that Divine Wisdom guides me into a path of service in which all my innate talents are employed successfully. Infinite Intelligence is revealing to me the ideal way in which I can find joy through work or service.”
Regular times can be set aside for declaring in prayer the results you wish to achieve. Becoming still, you can invite feelings you will have when those results come about; aligning yourself with those feelings is, assuredly, a form of prayer itself. Your prayer can also be supplanted by frequently visualising yourself in a happy, harmonious environment, performing work that is fulfilling.
2. Prayer to enhance job skills and learning capabilities in your chosen field. Such a prayer could be: “I now allow myself to be open to everything I need to know in this field, and I welcome all opportunities for Spirit’s inspiration to illuminate and expand my understanding.
I am strengthened in my resolve to seek out and discover all I need to know, and I am fully supplied with the energy necessary to carry out my purpose.”
The words of this prayer must be joined to a feeling of absolute acceptance, an unequivocal knowing that you have the power to accept the truth of what you have said, and that you do so now. You must assert complete and utter sovereignty over what is or is not accepted in the kingdom of your consciousness.
Then, sit in a period quiet or meditative thoughtfulness and acknowledge the efforts you have made up to this point. In those efforts recognise that there is an energy at your disposal to carry you still further in this learning process. Mentally search for and find the inner momentum you have already created and declare that this dynamic momentum will sweep you along until you know all that is needed.
3. Prayer to evolve spiritually and let the new you supersede the old you. This prayer could be stated: “I now declare that in the freshness of this moment, I release what has gone before and seize the change to express new light, never bound by the past. I choose to learn from my mistakes and love more wisely and genuinely this day. To this I am dedicated.
Again, sitting in quiet, listen inwardly to what follows after offering your prayer. In the solitude of your silent inner listening you will finally discover a sense of the sacred as you reflect on the source of your own nature. Soon you are aware of increased balance, poise, and the stately peace of your inner being. You have been drinking from the wellspring of the inner Spirit and this is the key to spiritual growth.
But what about the results? Can prayer truly provide support that is meaningful in accomplishing specific goals? The answer is yes.
Regardless of the issue, be it crisis-related or simply a desire to expand and explore, prayer figures as a most powerful ally, and it deserves respect. When we broaden our view of how and when prayer is applicable, we enable ourselves to have a richer experience of life.
And finally, if we want to appreciate prayer in its deepest sense, we can recognise that prayer ultimately moves beyond words and concepts altogether into realms where we may regard it in the same way philosopher Alan Watts regarded meditation, when he described it as “the art of suspending verbal and symbolic thinking for a time, somewhat as a courteous audience will stop talking when a concert is about to begin.
Thus our greatest and most powerful prayer may simply be to make our need known and then to quiet ourselves and listen to the Infinite as it plays across our attentive and receptive minds.
Blessings
Sunday, November 13, 2011
CREATIVE EVOLUTION
Creative evolution is evolution you can do something about. It is the evolution of you. It is using the power of your mind to evolve yourself into the person you desire to be.
It is part of visualising yourself as a happy, peaceful, successful person. It is seeing yourself in a mental movie climbing the mountain peaks of life.
It is opening yourself wide open to the best in life. It is inviting goodness, truth, beauty, and inspiration to flow into every cell of your being.
It is associating with those upward reach and high expectations, that you may catch the sparks from their noble spirits.
It is releasing words from the pages of great books and putting them to work in your life.
It is setting goals for doing good works and organising yourself for achievement
It is being forever alert for ways in which you can improve yourself and serve more effectively.
It is dreaming magnificent dreams and building solid, realistic foundations under them.
It is seeking the light of Love to illuminate the path before you.
It is having such a burning desire to grow that nothing can stop you.
It is thinking of yourself as continuously becoming more than you are, day by day, month by month, year by year. This is creative evolution.
Words inspired by Wilfred A Peterson, ....making every day life more manageable.
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