Chicken Masquerade

Life, to be life, has to be lived. It has to be alive in you every moment.

Today I am going to offer you two approaches to keep the awareness of life alive in you. One I see as a good way, the other; a better way… and these are according to my point of view and experience.

First, I begin with a story.

One day, a naturalist was passing by a farm and saw in the barnyard a flock of chickens. Among them was an eagle. The naturalist inquired of the owner why it was that an eagle, the king of all birds, could be reduced to living in the barnyard with chickens.

"Well," the farmer said, "Since I've given it chicken feed and it thinks it's a chicken, it has never learned to fly. It behaves as a chicken behaves, so it no longer thinks of itself as an eagle."

"Still," insisted the naturalist, "It has the heart of an eagle. It surely should be taught to fly." After talking it over, the two men agreed to find out whether this was possible.

Gently, the naturalist took the eagle in his arms, looked into its eyes and said, "You belong in the sky
and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly!" The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was. Seeing the chickens down there eating their food, he jumped down with them again.

Undismayed, the naturalist took the eagle on the following day up on the roof of the house and urged him again saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly!"

But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and the unknown world and jumped down once more for chicken food.

On the third day, the naturalist rose early and took the eagle out of the barnyard to a very high mountain. There he held the king of birds up high above him and encouraged him again to fly saying, "You are an eagle. You belong to the sky as well as the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly!" The eagle looked back towards the barnyard and up to the sky, and still he did not fly.

Then, the naturalist lifted him straight toward the sun, and it happened. The eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched forth his wings. At last, with a triumphant cry, he soared into the heavens.

It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.

He was an eagle although he had been kept and tamed as a chicken.

Just like the eagle who thought himself a chicken, some people have learned to think of themselves as something less than they really are, less than God created them to be. Is this you?

You can have faith in the power and presence of God.

You can decide in favor of who you really are once again… with God's help.

Faith and Life are not spectator sports, they require participation.

There is a poem called "The Calf Path," by Sam Walter Foss, written in 1895.  In the poem he writes of a calf that meanders through a primeval wood. It leaves behind a crooked path that is then followed by a lone dog, then several flock of sheep. Now, the once unmarked ancient wood, has a clearly defined path running through it. Soon people walk the path followed by horses and carts, then it becomes a city street, is paved, becomes a crowed thoroughfare… the central street of a renowned metropolis…and people curse its wandering ways.

Now from the poem: “But they still followed ... do not laugh... hence two centuries and a half…The first migrations of that calf.”

“A moral lesson I might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach,
For people are prone to go it blind
Along the calf paths of the mind.
And work away from sun to sun
And do what others have always done.
They follow in the beaten track
And out and in, forth and back.
And still their devious course pursued
To keep the path that others do.
But how the old, wise wood-gods laugh
Who saw that first primeval calf.”

Both the story and the poem point to the fact that we often (perhaps mostly?) do what we’ve been taught to do and we do it without thinking about it.

We live our lives the way others do because that’s the way we do it.

Yes, we think of ourselves, probably overwhelmingly, as our name and personality; all the while holding open the space that there is “another me,” too, and we generally think of and speak of that “other me” as being “inside me.”

That seeming “other you” is the real you, it is your being. It is your true life, your true existence, your true actuality, animation, and presence.

As I’m sure you’re aware I start ever prayer with, “Loving Presence.” When I say that I am not speaking to a distant God out there somewhere, I am speaking directly to your being…to the real you…to the Loving presence that is you.

You are a son or daughter of the Most High. Please, do not be blinded by the path of others, the nay-saying of others, or the restrictive ideas of, “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” or, “I’m too old to change.”  In other words, you needn’t follow in the footsteps of the calf-Paths of your mind just because that’s the way you’ve always done it. You are not a robot. You are a dynamic co-creator with God.

I said I was going to tell you about a good way and a better way to maintain the awareness of life.

Here’s a good way. It, too, comes to us in a story, a true-life experience that happened to Jayne Sample.

Jayne told some of us this story earlier this week. When she was in college she was invited to take place in a Science Fair in Flint, Michigan. Her science professor, attending with her, offered to fly the two of them in his airplane. Once they were in the air her professor told Jayne that she would be the navigator. Jayne told him that she had no experience and had no idea what to do.

“Just watch for the roof-tops as we pass from town to town and city. Watch the map, too, and you’ll know where we are.”

The trip up went without a hitch. Coming home, however, they encountered a storm over Fort Wayne. There were heavy clouds, rain, thunder and lightning.

Jayne couldn’t navigate. She told her professor that she’d lost her bearings and she didn’t know what to do.

He pointed off into the distance and asked if she could see, “that tiny dot of light?”

Then he said something to her that any of us can use when we’re enveloped in an emotional storm. He said, “We are going to head directly into that point of light.”

That is good advice to remember when we find ourselves in times of trouble; head directly into the light. Head directly into the remembrance of, “you are not alone; you are a child of God; that there is no order of difficulty for you and God in any matter.”

Do you ever think of scripture when you find yourself in fear?

Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.”

Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified… for the Lord, your God, goes with you; He will never leave you or forsake you.”

1 Chronicles 28:20, “David also said to Solomon, his son, “Be strong and courageous… Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord, my God, is with you, He will not fail you or forsake you.”

Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship.”

1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love… perfect love drives out fear.”

We must go beyond the borders of our fears. Courage does not mean never being afraid. It means to go on doing what you know is right, even though you are afraid.

Go to the Light. That’s where your peace and safety lay.

This is a good approach.

I also said I would suggest a better approach, and it’s this: live from the constant awareness that the Light is present always.  Live a life-style of extending that Light, reflecting that Light, radiating that Light into your thoughts.

“Roll out” the Light instead of rolling your eyes.

Hold someone in the light instead of holding them in contempt. (This includes yourself)

Radiate Light instead of recoiling in fear.

When you find yourself in fear or uncertainty, you can head directly into a point of Light. That’d be a good thing to do. Or you can live in the Light and possibly be that point for another person, that’d be a better thing to do.

Either way, you are here to work with God to make a difference. You are an Eagle and your soul was created to fly!

 

Prosperity Sunday 10 of 12

         June 1, 2014 

         This is Prosperity Sunday number 10 of 12. Today we are going to talk about “The Wonder of Giving” from the book SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS; THE PROCESS AND PRACTICE OF TRUE PROSPERITY by Eric Butterworth.

          Let’s just stop a second. I invite you to check-in with yourself. What sort of feeling or emotion did you have at the mention of the word of giving? Was it a clutch in the stomach; a hard swallow, tension in your body somewhere? Maybe you felt fear and your inner dialogue was something like this, “I hate talks about giving. I already don’t have enough and now he gonna tell me I should give it away…and that somehow that’s going to magically make me feel better. I wish I had stayed home today. I hate talks about money.”

          If you’ve been paying attention to these Prosperity Talks each month and thinking about what’s been said, then you already know that I haven’t for one moment been talking about giving money. I haven’t been talking about sacrifice; and I certainly haven’t been talking about some kind of “black magic” about how to fatten your bank account.

          People generally choose to believe the uncomfortable thoughts that arise within when the wonder of giving is talked about… and seldom does the average person want to spend any time delving into their embedded beliefs around giving, and around money, which is usually the “thing” automatically attached to the idea of giving.

          Today I am not going to beat around the bush. I’m just going to tell you flat out that I want you to give…and give generously.

          Butterworth said this, “When you discover the wonder of giving, you will wonder how you lived so long in any other way.”

          “The word giving has become so completely identified as a pious act that it is difficult to think of any conversation about money being anything other than a commercial for the church; “Give now; give generously; and let thyself be showered in Heavenly Grace. Can I get an amen?”

          Gag.

          The law of giving and receiving does not work when applied as “giving to get.”

          Life is not lived from the outside-in (acquiring), but from the inside-out (giving). Unless we understand this we miss the meaning of life.

          The purpose of life is not acquisition but unfoldment… personal development. Even in the teaching of metaphysics there has lately been a tremendous swing toward using spiritual law as the tool to acquire money and things. The movie, “The Secret” is, in my opinion, coarse evidence of this; emphasizing “how to” techniques for manifesting money and possessions and jobs and success (not to mention jewelry). There is a whole industry around metaphysical getting: get, get, get.

          Consider this: “Giving is not an action, it is an attitude.”

Here is a beautiful story about giving. Our Charlie B. was in the hospital after a serious motorcycle accident more than 1700 miles from home; we had several broken bones and an elbow that had been ground down by the pavement  as his bike laid over on him. I think it was two days after being admitted to the hospital that Charlie called and said to me, “While I’m laid up in this hospital bed I’d like to pray for the people who submitted prayers in our prayer box, and I’d like to pray for the needs of the church and I’d like to pray for any needs anyone requests.”

          Charlie wasn’t worried about getting healed, about what the doctor was going to do for him, or what the nurses were going to do for him, or what the aides or physical therapists were going to do for him. All Charlie was thinking about is giving, in prayer, to those who requested it.

          In my conversations with Charlie it was clear he was focused on what he could give.

          When your awareness and experience of giving shifts from being an action, on your part or another’s to being an attitude, I believe everything in your life will shift, too.

Perhaps I, and Unity in general, have done you a disservice by leaning too heavily on the idea of, “Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind.”

“This way of holding with intensity to a thought, be it mental argument for healing…or looking to God for material supply…recognizing that we – ourselves – have power with such firmness of thought to bring what we want into manifestation… is one way of obtaining results… but it is a hard way.”

“In the matter of God as our supply… the moment we begin to be anxious our quiet becomes the airtight valve of tension that shuts out the very thing we are trying to bring about, and so prevents its manifestation.”

“We need to rise above this state of tension, to one of living trust.”

I’m not talking about sitting back, in idleness, and letting it all happen, but sitting back in a state of trustful passivity.

Emile Cady wrote words to this effect in one of her books, “Our job is “the what” and “the why.” The how is God’s job” and I would add, none of our business! But we get so busy concerning ourselves with the how… trying to make the how happen! How is not our job.

Which version of Exodus 4:14 do you think is the one that’s in the Bible?

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still” or

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only squirm, be impatient, and try to manipulate to your liking.”

What are the conditions revealed here? The invisible Loving Presence will fight to remove from your path the big difficulties, which look to mortal vision to be almost insurmountable… only on the condition that you stand still in heart and mind.

 Luke 6:38 says, “Give and it will be given you.” There must be a certain consciousness present in which the law of giving and receiving is held, and it’s a quiet, peaceful consciousness.

What I invite you to do this week is to quietly, passively, trust. Not trust that something will work out for you as you set it forth, but just to live in a state of trust – without agenda – toward something you view as small, and observe what occurs.

What God will do for you in the smallest way, God will do for you in the largest way. There is no order of difficulty for you and God in any matter.

This is what I invite you to write ten times a day (There is no order of difficulty for God and me in any matter), every day, until we meet again to talk about Spiritual Economics.

God bless you!

Father's Day 2014

On this Father’s Day, we need to keep in mind the tremendous gift that fathers have given to this world. Bernie Siegel said, “If you are worried about the future of the world, create children that love.” If we are able to create children that love, our future is assured. Everything will be all right.

Jane’s father was a loving man and he loved Unity, too.

Once I was invited to attend the Seminary at Unity Village, Jane’s father, Harold, decided he would sell the Harpsichord he had purchased in the 1960’s and gift those funds to us to help pay for school. For reason that escape my memory at the moment (probably tax purposes), Jane and her father were looking through check registers from the ‘60 to find the amount he had paid for the Harpsichord. Jane noticed that as she went through each month she would see a $5.00 check written to Silent Unity (about $35.00 today). After she and her dad accomplished the task at hand she asked him about the monthly checks. Harold told her that he called Silent Unity once a month, asking for prayer, while her brother Harry was ill.

Another thing Harold did, once I was invited to seminary, was he began practicing The Peace Song on his piano. His goal was to someday attend the church where I ministered and play that song.

Another goal he held for himself was to visit Unity Village and partake in the library there which is purported to be the world’s largest metaphysical library. Sadly, neither of those two goals was accomplished by him. He entered the hospital a week before school began and he never left.

Harold was a gentle soul and I have been blessed to have both a father and a father-in-law that were kind and gentle.

Here are a couple of fun stories about Harold. One is that he loved fruit pies, home-made fruit pies, and apparently he didn’t feel Harriet baked him pies frequently enough. His gentle remedy to encourage Harriet to bake more pies was a collage that he framed and hung on the wall at the dinner table. This masterpiece of art was a number of pictures of his favorite fruit pies cut from magazines and pasted on a board and then framed along with its title: “Your husband’s Favorite Pies.” It was hung on the wall directly opposite Harriet's place at the table/

Harold also solved a frustration in a unique way, a frustration that I can relate to, too. He could never find a pair of scissors when he wanted one. Eventually he hit on this solution; he chained a pair of scissors to the inside of the “junk drawer” in the kitchen. Now when Jane (for instance) wanted to use a pair of scissors – or at least this pair of scissors – she would have to take the scissors and entire junk drawer up the stairs to her room to use them and then return the entire drawer, including scissors, to the kitchen.

I’ve deduced from this story that Jane’s room may have been the scissors graveyard.

 Allow me to tell you another story. This story goes back many, many years ago, to about 1918. There were two boys in England. The one boy that I am going to tell the story about was a farmer boy and he was plowing his field. He had a horse in front of the plow and he was busy plowing and tilling the soil. There was another boy, close by, who was in the river swimming, having fun and making noise. But then, he started to make a little too much noise. He started to scream. He called out, “Save me! Save me! I’m drowning!” And the poor farmer boy stopped his horse, left his plow, and jumped in the river to save the little boy from drowning. He pulled out the little boy and revived him on shore. He saved the little boy’s life.

Life continued on for a year. The farmer boy was out doing farm chores on the same piece of land. He was in back of his plow and a man, a father, came to see the poor farmer boy. He tapped him on the back and said, “Son, was it you that saved my son’s life in the river a year ago?”

The farmer boy said, “Yes, but anybody could have done it. I was just here and I jumped in and I pulled him to shore.”

The man said, “Son, if you had all the money in the world to do anything you wanted to do, what would you do with your life?”

The farmer boy got a smile on his face and said, “Aw, it will never happen because we are very poor. But if I could, if I had a way, I would become a doctor. But more than a doctor, I would research medicine to help people. I see so many of the poor people of our village die. They need cures.”

The father of the boy that had almost drowned looked down on the farmer boy and said, “Now you have the money because I am going to put you through school. If you want to become a doctor, you will become a doctor.”

Many, many years later, something big was going to happen. The date was February 11, 1945. The Big Three were coming together – Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. They were coming together at Yalta. They were coming together to heal the world – one of the greatest meetings of all time throughout all history.

But there was a problem because Churchill had gotten deathly ill, and they didn’t believe that Churchill could come to the meeting. But he was shipped some medicine. The medicine was called penicillin. They injected it into Churchill, and within a day, Churchill was revived. They said that his life was saved. And friends, that was the second time that Alexander Fleming saved the life of Winston Churchill.

There was a time when I worked on a construction crew building metal buildings. Some of the guys I worked with were violent characters. Everybody had nicknames and there was a fellow called “Loser.” Loser eventually shot a Texas Highway Patrol officer. There was another guy called “Indian.” Indian allegedly looked too long and hard at the wife of another man on the crew, “Nelson.”

One day Indian doesn’t show up for work. The question, “Where’s Indian?” is posed.

“Hospital.”

“Hospital? What happened?”

“Accident.”

It turns out that Nelson’s wife says Indian was looking at her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. Nelson and John-John took him out, got him drunk and then beat him and left him in an alley.”

I think that these guys may have fancied themselves as “real men.”

Go back in your memory to the movies with men like John Wayne, or more recently, the character “Rambo.” That has been our idea of a “real man” – macho. He would never, ever talk to his girlfriend or wife, or have a meaningful dialogue with anyone. He goes into the jungle with a flamethrower, or up against the Indians or other “bad guys,” guns and fists blazing, and that is the way he conquered problems.

I used to think about this when I was younger, “Why is it that the guys with the biggest muscles are the ones who are right? Just because someone (ok, pretty much everyone) could beat me up doesn’t make them right.” (from Plato’s Republic “Justice is nothing more than the interests of the stronger” and Lucan, a first century poet, “Might was the measure of right.”)

In the last few decades, men have grown up and matured to the point where, frankly, women have been for some time.

It is okay, men, to cry.

It is okay, men, for you to be big and strong, and to show your feelings.

It is okay for you, men, to get on your knees and pray to God and know that God is going to come through for you.

And it is okay for us men to know that we are not alone; that we have a greater help from God.

And this is good to know for men and women to know. We are not alone; we all have a greater help from God; and there is no order of difficulty for God and me in any matter.

Back on June 2

The Monday Message is on vacation until June 2nd.

The Great Law/Do Unto Others

May 4, 2014

We are going to have an unveiling today as promised. That’ll come a little later.

Another thing that will come a little later is I’ll tell you about some inexcusable bad behavior that I exhibited about 11 days ago. It was so personally emotionally debilitating, as it is when we spew poison, that it took me eight days to get to the point emotionally, internally, that I could offer an apology.

In order for us to connect a few dots, we have to journey through a portion of the Gospel According of Mathew. Let’s look first at Chapter 7:1-5, “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ³ And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

I have to agree with Emmet Fox who so eloquently says, “In these five verses we are told more about the nature of man and the meaning of life, and the importance of conduct, and the art of living, and the secret of happiness and success, and the way out of trouble, and the approach to God, and the emancipation of the soul, and the salvation of the world than all the philosophers and the theologians and the savants put together have told us - for it explains (what Fox calls) the Great Law.”

Really, we’ve been talking about this same idea in each of our “Prosperity Sunday’s.” What you put into this every-where present, invisible, creative substance that is lying in potential awaiting your input, is what is reflected back to you in your life: You reap what you sew; you experience what you express. This is Cause and Effect. Cause and effect is the Great Law of Life.

Harkening back, again, to our “Prosperity Sunday’s,” remember that there is a subtitle to the book we’ve been reviewing, and it is “The Principles and Process of True Prosperity.” Here we have the Principle (Cause and Effect). What is the process linked to these ideas? Well, we find it just a little further into the chapter; Matthew 7:12, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

We know this as the Golden Rule and if people in general realized the Golden Rule as being literally true, it would impact the world in such a profound manner that it would decrease crime, reduce war, and increase personal responsibility. If people in general realized this as being literally true, they would realize that while they may able run and hide to escape the law of the land, they cannot escape the law of life. They would realize that they are the cause of something in their life and they are going to experience its effect.

Last week I said that spiritual principle holds the answer to our troubles.

How I reacted to a person in my life 11 days ago is not how I want to be treated.

Jane’s car got the sniffles about two weeks ago and in just a couple of days the car no longer had the sniffles, it was in critical condition in the ICU!

The amount of money it would take to repair the car was right about the amount we’d get on a trade-in. We had to make a decision, fix the car and hope nothing else goes wrong, or buy a new car. We chose the latter.

Once we knew the make and model we wanted I called a few of the local dealers, told them I would be purchasing a car in the next two or three days and asked them if they would be willing to submit a proposal for our business. I also told them I was inviting several other dealers to do the same. Now they were competing for our business which is the way I think it should be.

Have you ever heard anyone say, “I was so mad I couldn’t see straight?” Well, that was me.

At the same time I was negotiating for a car I went totally off the deep end about something else that was occurring in our life. I felt Jane had been poorly done by and I set out to set someone else straight. I was going to help the take the speck out of their eye before removing the plank of anger in mine.

It didn’t go well.

I came home from that confrontation ANGRY!

I checked my email and had offers from Dealers “A and B.” I decided to purchase from dealer “A.” I called dealer “B” and said I would take dealer “A’s” proposal unless he wanted to sweeten his deal.

“No thank you”, he said.

I called dealer “A” back and said let’s do it, then something caught my eye on his proposal. I thought he was trying to sneak something past me. I asked him about it and he gave me his answer.

Now you have to remember that my anger was still boiling under the surface. Not only could I not see straight, I couldn’t hear straight either. Dealer “A” was not trying to sneak anything past me. It was all there, clearly in black and white and his explanation fit what was in writing.

I heard and saw something different, something that was not there and I told him I didn’t want to buy a car from him; cancel the deal.

The best way I can describe my language is… well, my mother may gotten  the soap bar if I were younger. I can also tell you that I was not using my “inside voice.”

You might remember from last week that I suggested the way out of trouble is through the application of spiritual principle. I had to work hard applying spiritual principle in my thoughts to neutralize the poison my anger had created and showed up as the internal pain and suffering I was experiencing.

I apologized to the car salesman for my inexcusable behavior. I told him he did not deserve to be treated that way. I also apologized for forgetting every spiritual principle I ever thought I knew, and taught from the pulpit.

Gratefully, the car salesman was gracious.

I wonder, sometimes, if we misunderstand the outworking of “Do Unto Others,” thinking that it acts like some form of magic, “So and so has been unkind to me, so I’ll practice the Golden Rule, be kind to them and they’ll be kind to me,” and when that doesn’t occur people are confused, revert to their old ways and say, “Well that doesn’t work.”

This great Law of Life is a law of life.  If you extend kindness and love out into the world, the world will reflect kindness and love back to you. We often do see it reflected back from the person or circumstance we direct it at, and that’s wonderful.

The Question

The question is: How do you want to be treated?

1.     Do you want to be loved and accepted?

2.     Do you want to be honored and respected?

3.     Do you want to be appreciated?

4.     Do you want people to treat you fairly?

5.     Do you want people to be honest with you?

6.     Do you want people to be understanding and compassionate toward you?

7.     Do you want people to be kind to you?

8.     Do you want people to share with you?

9.     Do you want to be made fun of or mocked?

10.                        Do you want people to speak to you and be friendly?

Here is the game plan. You can take the list above or your own list and for everything that you want others to do for you…you begin doing those things for them. In other words, if you want love and acceptance, start loving and accepting others. If you want to be honored and respected, begin honoring and respecting others. If you want to be treated fairly, begin treating others fairly. If you want people to be kind to you, start being kind to them.

If there is someone in your life whom you do not accept, begin extending acceptance toward them. I’m not saying to go out and try to cozy up to them, but to extend thoughts of acceptance to them whenever they cross you mind. Do the same with people for whom you withhold  respect; begin to extend respect to them in your thinking and let the Great Law of Life take its course.

“We reap what we sow; whatever we sew is reflected back to us in life.

Do unto others is not a teaching confined to Christianity, it is a teaching that can be found in some form in every major religion.

The unveiling I mentioned earlier is this; Sherry Boram is a local artist well-known in national Quilted Art circles. A month or so ago Jane and I purchased a piece of Sherry’s artwork titled: “Do Unto Others,” which we are donating to the church.

It’s always helpful to have reminders. I think they are much better when they are gentle rather horrible warning I endured.  :o) Sherry’s Artwork will hang in the sanctuary as a gentle reminder to Do Unto Others…

 

Each "Prayer Flag " hanging on the quilt exhibits the Golden Rule as it's stated in various religions.