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HOLDING THE HIGH WATCH
Have you ever looked back on your life to find a
moment when your life began to change for the
better? Perhaps, at the time you couldn’t see
it. It was too subtle. But now you’ve moved
forward, maybe years and as you look back, you
can see that moment. On the other hand, maybe
you look back at your life and say, “No, that
hasn’t happened to me yet.” Some of you are
still so young that you don’t have a need to
make a huge change because you haven’t gotten
way off course yet. But it happened for me, and
my life turned around in a wonderful way. You
might be surprised to hear that for me it wasn’t
when I found Unity, and the great people who go
to Unity. The turning point for me was
when I learned a new way to pray.
As a child I was taught a form of prayer that
involved begging, pleading, and bargaining with
God, or even bellowing at God and buying
prayers. I remember kneeling at the cross in my
church and reading that I would get 500 years of
indulgences for saying the prayer written on
that plaque, and I said that prayer a lot, just
in case I needed those indulgences later in my
life. But this kind of prayer just didn’t work
for me. Praying in this manner felt more like
making a wish before blowing out the candles on
my birthday cake. It's more wishes than true
prayer. When his followers asked why these usual
human methods of praying didn’t work, Jesus
said, “You ask wrongly.” Ok, so when we ask for
the wrong thing or ask in the wrong way and our
prayer doesn’t seem to work, we can get angry
with God decide that God must be angry with us.
We conclude, prayer doesn’t work, and we end up
turning away from God.
Jesus said, “You ask wrongly.” What does
this mean? Knowing the answer is the key to
answered prayer. Jesus taught that we are more
than just physical being and bodies. We also are
spiritual beings with Spiritual Bodies. When we
pray from the awareness that we are created in
the image and likeness of God and spiritual
beings our prayer is no longer an attempt to fix
something broken in a body or some lack in our
physical life. True prayer is a Journey into the
SILENCE where we become one with the one and
take on more of the qualities of the one and
that is what heals the body or fills the lack.
Spirit creates matter.
Have you ever gone on a retreat where there is a
day or more of complete Silence? At first you
are liable to be uncomfortable but as you enter
the experience you reach a point where you don’t
want the Silence to end. You discover that there
is a profound sacredness in SILENCE. Charles and
Myrtle Fillmore, the Co-founders of Unity, used
the term ‘The SILENCE’ to refer to Prayer in
Unity. This term doesn’t refer to a prayer that
is talking, listening, or even communing with
God. ‘The Silence’ describes an actual
experience of the Presence of God that happens
in Prayer and Meditation, which typically lasts
only an instant, but in that instant your whole
life direction is changed.
For example, a man named Frank told me a story
about finding the Silence. He said, “I was
driving home from work, distraught and crying.
Tears were filling my eyes so fast that I
couldn’t see so I pulled over to the side of the
road. I put my arms on the wheel, put my head
down on my arms and just wept.” In his weeping
there was a total release of his own Personal
Will and what he wanted in his life. In an
instant of silent emptiness and total surrender,
he said, two words poured into his mind and ran
through his entire being. Those words were “STOP
STRUGGLING.” Frank said, “As soon as I heard
those two words, I felt a release and my whole
body was flooded with peace.” Now, as a
Minister or Psychologist, I could have told
Frank to stop struggling but it wouldn’t have
had the same effect. The fact that those two
words, “Stop Struggling” came out of the Silence
is what changed him and his life forever.
Unity Minister, Author and my friend, Reverend
Jim Rosemergy writes, “When you make contact
with Spirit in the Silence, Spirit begins to
stream forth images, thoughts, and feelings that
a mere human being couldn’t come up with. Only a
Spiritual Being is capable of such experiences.
After such an instant in the Silence, you see
everything differently. You don’t react the way
you used to. You are more creative and able to
get along with people better so a promotion or
new job comes. It all streams from that instant
of contact with Spirit in the Silence.” The more
consistent the contact, the purer, the river of
thought, feeling and experience that flows
through you and the more you crave that
experience.
Unity is a Metaphysical Movement. In Unity, we
begin changing how we pray by learning to use
Denials, Affirmations, and imaging. In this way,
we impress upon the ‘subconscious or memory
mind,’ certain things like a healed body, a new
job, or loving relationships. This method of
prayer is based on the Spiritual Law of Mind
Action, “Thoughts held in mind produce after
their kind.” We practice holding the mind on a
steady course with the repetition of Truth
statements. We learn to I.D. ourselves with
Spirit rather than just with the body.
What we say over and over and believe will
express itself in the outer.
This is an important step of the Spiritual
Journey and a rite of passage into the ‘Kingdom
of Heaven.’ It cannot be skipped. You must
prove the existence of God and power of prayer
to your own Ego mind. However, Jesus also warned
his disciples about the pointlessness of vain
repetition. Question: Why? What does this mean
regarding to how we pray? Do you think
your whole purpose for being alive is to get
stuff for yourself or to have your human
experience enhanced? Is that why you’re here? Is
that your purpose? Is that the purpose of a
Spiritual Being? If we were only human just
getting stuff would be fine. But we aren’t only
physical beings. We are simultaneously Eternal
Spiritual Beings.
This means that what we really want when we pray
whether we call it stuff or God is the Freedom
of Spirit, which is the experience of God as
wholeness in all ways and the freedom to be who
and what we were created to be and experience.
In Unity, an important step of the Spiritual
Journey is learning to use Denials and
Affirmations for the purpose of getting our
share of stuff thus proving, Thoughts held in
mind do produce after their kind. But if you
only do that it becomes vain repetition because
Denials and Affirmations also serve a higher
purpose of keeping us on the path to true
freedom. “You shall know the Truth and the Truth
shall set you free.” We are learning to hold
thoughts and ideas in mind that produce true
freedom. Jesus gave us a glimpse of what life is
like when he said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and everything else shall be added to you.”
So, to paraphrase this “Seek ye first the
Kingdom of God and you’ll get your share of
stuff too because it is all God.” Whatever
you are seeking is already seeking you. At
some point we must stop trying to put something
IN through directed thought and become still to
allow something to emerge OUT. The Bible says,
“Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently on Him and He
will give you your hearts’ desire.”
The use of Affirmations and Denials serve a dual
purpose.
1. They condition the subconscious or memory
mind to trust God.
2. As we use them to focus our Ego mind, we make
ourselves more available to Spirit. They lift us
up from Human Mind to Divine Mind. Unity refers
to this as “putting on your wings.”
For just a moment, I invite you to close your
eyes and imagine a cliff with strong winds
blowing against it and large birds in the sky.
They flap their wings and expend their own
effort to fly. But when they come into that
unseen draft of air, they feel that unseen
presence, the wind, rising up. In that moment
they cease their effort to fly and just stretch
out their wings. They ‘let go and let God’ and
‘let the wind beneath their wings’ lift them.
And what happens? Without any effort, they
rise even higher. So, it is with Affirmations
and Denials. We diligently use them to reach a
certain height in Ego mind and then like birds,
when we come into that unseen updraft of air and
feel that unseen presence, we stretch forth our
spiritual wings, enter into the SILENCE and wait
to be lifted higher, ultimately into the Kingdom
of Heaven.
I am told that when you climb a mountain, you
often come to a lovely high meadow with grass
and wildflowers. From there you can look back
down the mountain and see things you’ve never
seen before. Metaphysically, this represents an
elevated state of human consciousness. It
feels good and you think, “I’ve arrived! I can
see life like I’ve never seen it before.” Except
you’re at the high meadow and when it comes to
mountain climbing, that’s not what it’s all
about. It’s not about getting to the high meadow
and saying, “I’ve arrived.’’ Just like it’s not
about getting stuff and saying, “I've arrived.”
Mountain climbing is about getting to the top of
the mountain! Nothing short of that will do.
Mountain climbers also say that in the high
meadow, the summit is often shrouded in dense
clouds so that you can’t see it or the trail
that goes the rest of the way up to the top.
Likewise, faithfully using Denials and
Affirmations, will lift you to a positive place,
the high meadow. But you can’t get to the
Kingdom, the Summit on your own efforts. You’ve
done all you can humanly do to get there, and no
human being, Ego or Human mind has ever done
it. What you must do now is WAIT.
Wait in the Silence and a woman (a feminine
energy) will come down out of the midst and
mystery. Her name is GRACE. She is not a
real woman but an image and a feeling. You can’t
get into a state of Grace by a force of human
will and just human effort. Your work is to get
to the high meadow and to mentally put on your
wings and wait and watch. It feels good there
but don’t stop there and say amen! Which is what
most people do when they pray or meditate. They
think, “I feel so good, wow I must be there” and
the end their prayer or end their meditation
time just before making contact.
Yes, it feels good there, but your life doesn’t
change at depth there. Anyone It can climb
there. No miracle has happened there because
nothing has poured forth from the Silence. Up to
that point you have poured in effort. So, now
you must stop your effort, stretch forth your
wings and wait to be lifted.
If you really want to spiritualize your life,
you must learn to wait. “They that wait upon the
Lord, shall renew their strength, they will
mount up on wings, like the eagle. They shall
run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and
not faint, teach me, oh Lord, teach me to wait.”
(Isa. 40:31).
The heart or secret of true prayer isn’t
repeating words or sitting in silence until your
bottom goes numb. It is learning to wait for
‘Grace’ to happen. Words have no impact on
Spirit. We use them to lift the Ego or Human
Mind up to where you make yourself available to
Divine Mind and what the Gospel of John calls
the ‘wind’ and you ‘wait’ for it ‘to blow.’
But guess what happens when you sit and wait?
You begin to think about the darnedest
things--the roast in the oven, things that need
done and events that happened years ago. All of
it just pours in on your mind and you begin to
move back down the mountain. The human tendency
is to condemn yourself for this saying, “I can’t
do this. Something's wrong or it’s not working.”
Every human being that ever walked the path of
Prayer and came to live a spiritual life dealt
with a roving mind and it never ends. Why?
Because you are simultaneously human and divine
and so the roving mind is always in there with
you. You aren’t going to escape it. You learn to
accept and deal with it. So, let’s talk about
how to do that. So, you’re up in the high
meadow, your Human Mind focused on the idea:
“God is love and love is my nature, and I am one
with love.” You’re affirming that and then your
mind starts drifting to someone you haven’t
forgiven or something that happened at work that
upset you. So, what do you do? The answer
is in this story.
You are a parent making supper and your little
one comes in and says, “I want a cookie.” You
say, “I won’t give you one because it will spoil
your supper. I’ll give you one after supper.”
Now think about it. Would one cookie really
spoil supper? Kids don’t buy it. We keep saying
it, but no one believes it. But we think the kid
buys it and go off to finish cooking. Then we
hear the lid of the cookie jar and realize
something is happening. Now, don’t storm in and
yell. Just come to the doorway and look. And
there is your little one up on the counter with
the lid off the cookie jar; one cookie already
in the mouth and a hand reaching for another.
Now, this isn’t an innocent kid. Guilt is
written all over his or her face. So, what are
you going to do now? Are you going to yell and
say, “Stop! I told you couldn't have that!” No,
because there is a more effective method. You
just stand there and watch. This is called
‘Unconditional Observation.’ Just stand and
watch and as the little one feels the weight of
your gaze, she will look at you and put the
second cookie back.
1. When your human mind begins drifting off, you
watch it and give it ‘Unconditional
Observation’, without condemnation. When it
feels the weight of your awareness it will stop.
It may take 5 minutes before you realize your
mind is drifting or before you want to bring it
back but when it does, return to the simple
truth: “God is love and love is my nature, and I
am one with Love.”
2. Come back to center and wait again. Now, what
do you think happens? Your mind drifts back down
to the valley again. So, you watch it
unconditionally and it stops, and you bring it
back again and then you wait again. That’s
the essence of the Prayer of a Spiritual Being.
You aren’t the first person to have this
drifting challenge. Everyone who has ever
stepped on the Spiritual Path has had it. But
now, you know this is a natural part of the
journey and you know what to do.
3. At some point, maybe in a week or a month,
you’ll begin to make Direct Contact with the
Divine. As time goes on, there will be
consistency to your contact and your life will
begin to dramatically change for the better.
Things just get easier.
4. In addition, you will develop a reservoir of
spiritual energy that is vital to have because
you don’t always have time or the opportunity to
stop and pray/meditate and ask God for guidance
in a situation.
For Example: You're driving down a residential
street. Children are playing ball and the
ball bounces into the street. Without looking a
child runs after it. What do you do? Do
you say, “I have a decision to make? I
must pray and meditate? You don’t have time for
that! Hopefully, you will have built up a
reservoir of experience and energy so you can
avert tragedy.
In Unity we called this, being prayed up. To us
as human beings is like having money deposited
in a bank. We can make a withdrawal because
we’ve made deposits. But if all we want to do is
make withdrawals without making any deposits
what happens?
This is what happens in our relationship with
Spirit, when we have a problem, and we go to
Spirit and ask for something in prayer and
wonder why nothing is happening. If we haven't
built up a reservoir of Spiritual consciousness
and haven’t made any deposits but still want
stuff, we aren’t going for the right
reason. We aren’t going with the deep
yearning that says, “I am willing to journey to
the top of the mountain.”
In the Bible it says, “Ask and it will be given.
Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be
opened to you.” If nothing happens, Jesus’ says
it is because, “We ask amiss or we knock at the
wrong door.” Spirit doesn’t open it because
that’s the door where we’re trying to get our
stuff. We are asking on the wrong level of mind.
But when you knock on the door and ask, not for
stuff, but ask to make a deposit, ask for a
relationship with Spirit, that is when your life
will change because what Spirit has to give you
is NOT STUFF.
When we ask for this and that we are saying, “No
God, I don’t want you, I want this or that.” All
that Spirit has to give is the fullness of
itself and that is what comes to you from within
the silence. Wholeness is what always
comes out of the silence.
How do we say “God, what I want is you and only
you.” We say this not with words but by
being willing to wait. The answers to our
prayers will come, not with the words we speak,
but by learning how to wait upon the Lord in the
Silence.
What do you think?
© Unity of Vancouver, 2004 All Rights
Reserved.
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