“Man’s world of affairs is the result of his self-contemplation. He is at first ignorant of this and so binds himself through wrong thought and action. As he reverses this thought, he reverses the condition attendant upon it.”
~ERNEST HOLMES~
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
~SOCRATES~
Early on in my studies of the Science of Mind, I learned that the Principle of Oneness was the foundation of all life. I was also taught how hidden beliefs that suggest separation and division influence our thoughts and actions without our conscious consent.
Hidden beliefs are ideas and concepts that are subjectively introduced to our consciousness. Many judgments, biases, and prejudices that cause a sense of separation and disunity are the result of hidden beliefs operating in the creative medium of our minds.
Once I grasped the concept, the Universe, as usual, provided an opportunity for me to see it play out in real-time, starting with the moment I accepted an invitation to visit a co-worker’s church.
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Upon entering the sanctuary, I immediately felt out of place – almost like being an intruder. It appeared there were several rituals going on simultaneously, even before the designated starting time. I wasn’t sure what to do. It all felt very strange. I began to feel like I was the “other;” or, for sure, they were.
I began to remember, from my childhood, having heard about this church and its practice. Stories, opinions, myths, and negative judgments about how they worshiped began to flood my memory. Before I knew it, I began to form an opinion about the co-worker who invited me to this event; a lovely person who, up until then, I held in high esteem.
I found a seat and joined those who were focused on the woman who was preaching.
I was stunned by what I heard. She was saying what I was learning, only couched in her own language and style that were different from mine. During her entire talk, the congregation celebrated her words with music and dancing even as she spoke them. I had to remain completely focused, lest I become distracted.
After the service, I was eager to tell the speaker, not only how much I enjoyed the message, but how it was the same principles I was being taught at my church. With a twinkle in her eye and an elbow to my rib, she said, “Honey, when we get to heaven, no one will ask what church we belong.”
So maybe she was talking about heaven as a geographic location while I imagined arriving at a place of perfect peace within myself. I don’t know. In that moment those possible differences seemed like semantics.
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The next time I sat in the comfort and familiarity of my own beloved church home, enjoying the quiet stillness of the pre-service meditation, I thought,’ how strange this might seem to someone experiencing this form of spiritual practice for the very first time.’
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What stories did you hear in your childhood about race, gender, lookism, nationality, social status, sexual orientation, religion and other concepts that are subject to “otherness?” Whether positive or negative, those stories have the propensity to become hidden beliefs, automatically operating in creative mind and out-picturing in the world. Through the application of The Principle of Oneness and the exercise of critical thinking, you may begin to reverse the thoughts that lend to separation and divisiveness. In so doing you participate in creating a world that works for everyone.
I am awake and aware of my Oneness with Spirit and all of humanity. I witness this Truth daily.
By Angela “Chris” Beam
StillPoint 
Great example thank you Rev Mary
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