(Repost) Phineas Quimby, a 19th-century metaphysician who is known as the ‘Father of New Thought,’ wrote: 

“The mind is matter in solution and matter is mind in form.”

The solution that Quimby speaks about is the Creative Medium out of which all life evolves.  It is the field of infinite possibilities that Chopra declares. It is the primordial stuff that Holmes references. It is the waters that Moses speaks about in the Book of Genesis. Ralph Waldo Emerson puts it this way “There is one mind common to all individual men. ~  Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.”

In the study of the Science of Mind, we come to understand that Mind is the Originating Substance out of which everything that is, becomes.  It is pure consciousness, activated by the individual embodiment of feelings, emotions, and thoughts that are expressed through words; which in turn give birth to the people, places, and things that make up the world, individually and collectively. Here again, we are taught that the things that are visible to our physical eyes have a counterpart that is invisible.  

In many ways, the Principle of Being seems so elementary that I say to myself, ‘of course thoughts are things.’  Then there are other times the implication seems so abstract that it is a challenge to wrap my mind around it (no pun intended). Over and over and over again, I must teach myself about the power within me that is mine to use.  I remind myself that the Law of Mind Action is always exact and perfect in what it out-pictures. Therefore, as tempting as it may be to try to fix a person, place, or thing, the effort is futile. 

For example, one would never consider destroying a mirror because of the hair-do reflected in it, but would simply change the hair-do and look again. Therefore, by the same token, when there are unpleasant conditions and circumstances that you may be experiencing, know that the solution is ready and waiting to out-picture as the exact image your “word” represents. Say to yourself, “All I need do is announce the good I desire to experience and the power of my word is sure to bring it about.” Ernest Holmes puts it by simply saying, “Change your thinking – change your life.” After all, Divine Mind responds to the slightest impression of the feelings, emotions, and thoughts It receives.  

The key for successful living is to align one’s self with the natural state of being which is pure consciousness. Pure Consciousness is the Mind of God that is always Love, Peace, and Harmony. The embodiment of these words is the solution to every problem. “

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This Week’s Affirmation

“The More I think of finding solutions, the more solutions come to my mind.”

www.affirmations.online

Recently I met a woman who shared with me that she discovered New Thought at her workplace.  She explained that even though her employer never mentioned the spiritual philosophy she embraced, there was something about the way she approached every situation that awakened something within her. It is amazing how, as human beings, we are so delicately inter-connected with each other at the spiritual level that we actually feel the energy another emanates. The woman went on to say she asked her boss what religion she followed. The boss simply answered her question, without any effort to convert her. The woman was so inspired, she did her own research and eventually found a path she was ready to walk.

I love that story. It reminds me of the adage, “When the student is ready the teacher appears.”

The story solidifies the idea within me that practical spirituality is about living the Principles of Truth, all the time, no matter where or what the circumstances may be. Of course, this is a lesson we’ve heard since childhood. My mother would repeatedly say, “just be your (authentic) self.”  Nonetheless, there are times we may be tempted to divide ourselves into compartments. For example, adopting a certain behavior for the workplace; another for our social life; still another for our family; and of course, that special one for our place of worship. A hidden belief may tell us that portraying these different facades is a way to get along with others, to fit in, to be accepted, and a way to get our way.

The Truth is, we are already accepted and we get our way through consistent practice of activating Truth Principles. Just think, the things we desire to attain, whether relationships or objects are infused with the eternal feelings of Love, Peace, Harmony, Joy, Beauty, Abundance. All these gifts of the Spirit are within each and every one of us. These attributes, when practiced as a way of life, become the guiding light in all that we do, bringing about fulfillment. These attributes are the very essence of who we are. Once we began to consistently practice these principles and values and do not sway, they eventually out picture as the particular desires of our hearts. 

The beautiful part about this practice is, we don’t have to convince anyone outside of ourselves about the merits of such a way of life. The practice itself becomes an irresistible force, wherein nothing unlike it can penetrate and everything like it, is added to it. 

This kind of self-awareness takes time, commitment, and consistency. It means coming face to face with the power within that is the driving force that silently creates the next step on the ever-unfolding path of life and living. This exercise of self-realization is a form of self-care.

Self-care involves nurturing one’s Spirit, Mind, and Body which enables us to stand strong in the Power of God that directs our course. We may start right now, today, and become aware of the feeling of God-inspired ideas flowing in, through, and as us. And in so doing, we are empowered to make a conscious choice to live the more abundant life. 

Remember, just like the woman who felt the Presence of God in her employer; not only does the energy of Unconditional Love bless the one practicing Truth, everyone within the range of such a consciousness, benefits. Peace begins right where each one of us is.

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This Week’s Affirmation

​”Today I live knowing I am beauty and love and goodness and allow it spill over to the world!“

Judy HIlley

(Repost) Way back in the 60’s I had an intuitive hit about the healing power of Spirit.  I must admit many of the stories I read during that time about “miracle healings,” were couched in sensationalism.  Nonetheless, they ignited possibility thinking within me.

Up until then, I believed the ability to heal was designated to a chosen few, who were given supernatural powers. I believed any current reports of healings were a hoax, stories steeped in superstition. I’m just saying: this was the mindset I had inadvertently inherited.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. 

Several years later I read about Phineas Parker Quimby¹, a clockmaker of the 19^th century, and how he developed his concepts of mental and spiritual healing and health based on the view that illness is a matter of the mind. 

Quimby’s theory introduced me to a new thought on the subject. It was as if I were given permission for the first time ever, to think outside the box for which I had become accustomed. 

I have come to realize there is One Life Principle that governs all life.  The Spiritual Nature of Being is always Whole, Complete, and Perfect. This never changes.  Spirit is The Source and Sufficiency out of which everything flows. It is the Universal Creator. It is the First Cause in the Triune Sequence of Spirit, Mind/Soul, and Body, encompassing all three. Spirit is the Life Principle. I discovered that knowing this Truth is healing power.

I have come to realize The Mind is a Creative Medium, an aspect of the One Spirit, that receives my thought impressions that eventually become the conditions I experience. This is subject to change. I now understand that healing takes place by the renewing of my mind. 

The Body, another aspect of the One Spirit, is the evidence of my thoughts/beliefs made manifest. This is subject to change. The nurturing of my body with proper care is healing. 

It has become clear to me that until my body and the body of my affairs as well as my mental house are in alignment with the Universal Nature of the One Originating Spirit, I am caught in the syndrome of false belief, manifesting as limitation in my life experience.  

There are awesome therapies to heal both the body and the mind. In addition, I have discovered that the modality called Spiritual Mind Healing, heals the cause of these apparent symptoms. 

Jesus, the Master Teacher, taught this form of healing when he said, “Know the Truth and the Truth will make you free.” (Paraphrasing John 8:32). 

 When I sit in the silence of myself until I reach a point of stillness, I come face to face with my True Self; MY Higher Self; My Christ Consciousness. There are no longer any pairs of opposites.  I AM whole, complete, and perfect. 

The fog is lifted. I see clearly! I am free from every sense of limitation.
I HAD A REVELATION!!!

The only thing that ever needs to be healed is my sense of separation; i.e., the idea of God and me, instead of, God AS me.  With this awareness, ALL things are possible.

 I bear witness to the former things falling away, and a new day dawning in my life and the life of the world that surrounds me. My body and my mind respond to this enlightenment. I listen to the Indwelling Spirit, and I am divinely guided to do what is mine to do. I practice being an instrument of peace, love, forgiveness, faith, light, and joy 

WOW, this is good stuff!

 ¹Father of New Thought: https://phineasquimby.wwwhubs.com/

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This Week’s Affirmation

” I am alive with the Great Vitality of the Spirit.”

Ernest Holmes (SOM, p.509.2)

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(Repost) I remember how exciting it was to experience my first luxury cruise. Late one night I wandered up to the top deck of the ship. I had never seen a darker night. It was pitch black except for the stars above, and perhaps moonlight. I was in awe. It was like being in the womb of eternity as the ship rolled peacefully along the black waters. 

I imagine that prehistoric people gazed into the darkness as well as the light above with a bit of trepidation. However, there was always faith that the rising sun would yield the light of a brand-new day. This was their normal way of life. 

I imagine as they gazed deeply into Life, a breakthrough in consciousness occurred. They began to illumine the darkness with candles, a new normal; to oil lamps, a new normal; to kerosene lamps, a new normal; to the light bulb, a new normal. In the language of spirituality, one might say evolution is always moving humanity from glory to glory. 

Moving from darkness to light through self-awareness is quite a feat.

In moments of discontent, by means of meditation, I wander to the top deck of the ship of Zion¹, a metaphor for my consciousness. Here I gaze deeply into nature until I see the flickering Light hovering above. While I do not deny my experience in the world; I begin to use the apparent facts to determine what it is, in contrast, that is my true desire. The color and tone of my mind moves from sense-consciousness to spiritual consciousness. I no longer act as if I am a spectator watching a movie, wondering what is going to happen next. No, instead I act as if I am the Director. I affirm the Truth. 

Flashes of Light, such as: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world…” ² inspire me. I remind myself there is only One Power, the Great IAM; and, this Presence is individualized in me, through me, and as me. Moment by moment, the spirit that indwells me is the power that either sustains that which is in the world or re-directs the energy of my attention, initiating a new normal.

I embrace the teaching of Ancient Wisdom that says: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” ³ Soon, there is a breakthrough, a new normal. Morning is broken.  

Ernest Holmes teaches: “There is one power in the Universe and we can all use it.”   I notice when I am hanging out in the upper room of consciousness and gazing deeply into the nature of Peace, Harmony, Love, Wisdom, Oneness, and Wholeness; there is an up-leveling, or a breakthrough, if you will. The new normal beckons me to follow the beacon of light that guides me from glory to glory.

¹  https://www.truthunity.net/mbd/zion
² 1 John 4:4
³ Philippians 4:8

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This Week’s Affirmation

“The Presence of the One Power is individualized in me, through me and as me.”

Mary Jane LaBonte, RScP

“Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth.” ~  Iyanla Vanzant ~

How often have you heard, or perhaps even have said the words, “I’ll believe it when I see it?”  Yes, there’s a skeptic amongst us that demands proof from one of its “sense organs” before accepting a thing as being so.  The story of Doubting Thomas of the New Testament is an illustration of how humanity believes the physical body, and the material world we live in, are the only reality there is.  

However, we are waking up, slowly but surely, and have begun to realize that we are indeed more than our bodies; and more than our present circumstances, no matter what they may be. Humanity is evolving into the realization that we are three-fold beings. When all three aspects of who we are (Spirit, Mind, and Body) are in alignment, we experience the harmony, beauty, joy, love, and wisdom that is our inherent nature. When the self is in perfect alignment with its Self, skepticism is transformed into optimism, and we may find ourselves saying, “I’ll see it when I believe it.”

~ ~ ~ ~

The Omnipotent Law of Life that receives the direct impress of our thoughts and acts upon them, is in a state of continuous creative action. Through a process of unfoldment, the image and likeness of our word; i.e., the conviction of our hearts are realized as the people, places, and things we encounter in the world. When one understands this; prayers are no longer a practice of beseeching, begging, and bargaining; but rather, they become affirmations of Truth based on what is the heart’s desire and the acceptance of the word spoken.     

I have noticed that phrases like “I know” and “I believe” are often used interchangeably when speaking about practical spirituality.  I believe, in most cases, the common usage is simply that slippery slope of semantics, otherwise, the differences are subtle. We may all agree that it is the feeling conveyed that sets the Immutable Law of Cause and Effect in motion.

One may have knowledge of certain scientific facts, but do not believe the principle behind the knowledge will work for them. For example, one may know the laws regarding the ability to walk on hot coals. This doesn’t mean that everyone who has this knowledge believes he is safe in doing so.

~ ~ ~ ~

When the “Doubting Thomas Consciousness” within us says, “Lord, I do believe, help me to overcome my unbelief;” this state of humility and vulnerability may very well be the defining moment for self-healing. Otherwise, you cannot heal what you do not acknowledge.

~ ~ ~ ~

It seems to me; that the successful demonstration of the Law of God is the combination of knowing and believing. There is that within you right now who spontaneously knows the Truth of Being and her Oneness with it. You may unleash this Presence of Divinity and claim the good you are seeking, right now. The mystic realizes: I, Spirit, is the Driving Force, The First Cause that moves through our Mind of beliefs, and projects onto the material world, a Body of people, places, and things.

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This Week’s Affirmation

“I AM all what I will become.“

Keith Childers

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ANNOUNCEMENT

HOWARD THURMAN SERIES CONTINUES

EASTER SUNDAY

 APRIL 17, 2022

10:00 AM

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6130779853
Zoom ID: 613-077-9853

Springfield Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse of Vermont

FEATURING

Robbin G. Ruffner, RScP Emeritus

ALL ARE WELCOME!

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