Spiritual Maturity

Every person on this planet has experienced growing from a baby to a child then into an adolescent and finally into an adult. That is the natural progression of life which ends with our transition into another state of being and another form (used to call this death).

Do you know that all three stages of your being are designed to evolve and grow into maturity? Yes, your body, your mind and your Spirit - the very Trinity of life. The most neglected of these three is the most important - it's the eternal part of each of us - the Spirit.

The three stages of Spiritual Development are Spiritual Childhood, Spiritual Adolescence and Spiritual Maturity. Few of us reach true Spiritual Maturity in this life. My goal is to assist you in getting there as soon as possible because Spiritual Maturity is a state of total freedom! Let's look at each stage. Ask yourself: Which stage are you in right now?

Stage One: Spiritual Childhood - the "Parent God"

In this infant stage of spiritual growth we see God as our parent. Just as we have an earthly parent, we create a Super Parent we call God. God takes care of us. God makes sure our needs are met. God rewards us when we behave well. God punishes us when we misbehave. God gives us what we want when we beg for it - providing we have been good. God denies us what we beg for when we have been bad. In this stage we are not made in the image of God - we have made God in our childhood parent image. Religious Fundamentalism is a good example of institutionalized Spiritual Childhood.

The Spiritual Child is afraid of outside forces and of death. Uncertainty born of a capricious Parent God haunts the Spiritual Child. Spiritual Children believe the Daddy God spoke once in all of history, that He gave us a book to live, laid down the law once and for all and has nothing more to say. Spiritual Children believe that this book is the literal word of God, that God dictated it to a human so that we might have instructions to follow. As Spiritual Children we look to our Father in the sky for our every answer and for the fulfillment of every desire. To the Spiritual Child, our good flows from a God in Heaven - unkown to us and far away. All of life's experiences are seen to originate from outside of us.

Stage Two: Spiritual Adolescence - The Seeker

Spiritual Adolescents are spirits in rebellion. They have come to reject the ridgid all or nothing God of the Spiritual Child. They question the hypocracy, the obvious contradictions, violence and cruelty of the Bible and having been taught that the Bible is inerrent, they reject it out of hand. They see organized religion as not only false but evil. Often they become atheists or drift into alternate spirituality such as Eastern philosophy, the occult or New Age.

The spate of atheist writers on the best seller list today is testamony to this commonly held state of spiritual adolescence. These are sure that with their intellects and senses that they have life figured out. They are out to wake up the deluded believers in the non existant God.

Little do they know that they have "thrown the baby out with the bath water" by denying the architect of the Universe, believing in random chance creation and reducing life to a divine lottery of short and brutish duration. Because they deny any world beyond their puny intellect or senses, they attempt to sell us a life devoid of majesty, mystery or wonder. Humbug!

Spiritual Adolescents are "grazers", never staying in one Spiritual state long enough to embody it. They move into Science of Mind or other New Thought philosophies, never really studying this magnificent way of life, never learning to "demonstrate" the majesty and divine simplicity of the Law. They then move on to "something deeper", only to again continue their fruitless search for the answer. They are attracted to The Secret but never study the New Thought way of life behind this best selling book. They adopt it like a new fad, seldom making a life committment to spiritual practice.

Spiritual Adolescents often return to the safety of such "old time religion" as fundamentalism, only to lurch back to atheism or the occult. They desperately try fill the hole at their center but somehow never spend the time, the discipline or the spiritual commitment to move from fad to way of life. Many, many people in the US and other Western cultures are in this Spiritual stage at this time of great change and uncertainty.

Stage Three: The Spiritual Adult - Unity and Gratitude

This is the stage of knowingness. You know that God is everywhere present, that it is not a He or a She but the Intelligence that creates and permeates all that exists. You know that there is no separation of God and Humanity. God's Creation and God are One. You begin to understand the unity of all life.

You experience the state of being at One with God and all humanity. This is the spiritual stage where you have found what fills your heart to overflowing and your life with joy. This is the stage where you know who and what God is to you. This is the stage where you communicate easily and often with God, knowing that God dwells within you and in the soul of every human on this and every other planet.

You know that you know much of how to live the Life Well Lived; perhaps not all but it is enough for now. You know how to work the Law - you are a Master operator of God's Law - which is the operating system of the Universe. You know who you are and who and what God is to you.

You know that your outer world is merely a mirror, a reflection of your inner life - your thoughts, your beliefs and your choices. You know that to change your life you do not change circumstances but change states of mind.

You understand the phrase in scripture "in my Father's House are many rooms, if it were not true would I not tell you? I go now to prepare a place for you". You know that the true meaning of this great bit of wisdom is that there are millions of possible states of being available to you at any one moment. These are the rooms in my Father's House which is your mind and the Mind of God. You have the power, the ability and the mandate from God to move from room to room, from state of mind to state of mind at will; as you determine.

You also know as a Spiritual Adult that you will experience in full measure what the state of mind your occupy holds for you - whether good or ill. The choice is always yours and the power to change your state of mind and the state of your life is yours! You are a fully realized Divine Human and we celebrate your elevation to full Maturity.

And So It Is!

Winners and Losers

What makes one person always seem to be on the winning side of life while another always seems to miss the brass ring - never seems to get a "break"? Oh, I know that we like to say that there are no winners or losers in life and, to an extent, that is true. We all end up the same place and we all have to die first to get there!

However, we all know people that have a life journey filled with fun, abundance, health, joy, adventure, love, challenges met, growth and learning. Others have a life of struggle, sorrow, boredom, failure, illness, poverty and never enough of anything. Is it because God favors some and turns Her face from others? Not my God! One of the hardest things for us to "get" is that God never plays favorites any more than you favor one finger over the other. You are to God as the fingers of your hand are to you. Each unique and separate, yet part of the whole.

Some say that life is a giant lottery where some get the breaks and most are doomed to defeat and lack. This reduces life to a cosmic dice throw! My response is baloney! This explanation is the explanation of a loser who needs to place blame outside himself for his failure. Winners know better. Here's the Truth of the matter according to Dore'.

All of us were given the keys to the Kingdom of God long before we were born. God has known us and loved us for eons of time before the date of our physical birth. We have always lived and will never really die. The body may wear out but our minds, our essences live on. We are of royal blood, we are the dearly beloved of the most high God!

Each of us was endowed by our Creator with talents, desires, attributes that are unique to us. We are all given the tools for an abundant life. Not all of us are beautiful; not all are smart; not all are witty; not all are physically strong, but all of us have the seeds of our success hard wired into our very soul. We all have the opportunity to shine but few do shine. Why? Because we just don't know the winning secret and often when we hear it we refuse to believe that it can be that simple! Those with ears to hear and eyes to see, here it is:

Your outer life experience is merely a reflection of your inner self. You will never see success, joy, abuandance and health if you expect poverty, illness and sorrow. What you believe in, what you expect, you get! If you feel that you are unworthy - you will project unworthiness and will not be able to receive what God has put there for you. If you believe that life is full of illness and that "germs" wait around each corner to lay you low, then you will spend a great deal of time sick. You are sick inside long before your outer body becomes ill!

Yes, science does tell us that germs carry disease but why are some people always sick and some almost never sick living in the same house, going to the same school, working in the same place? Because they are different inside, therefore the outside is different. They expect differnt outcomes and they get them. Here is a story that illustrates the "loser" consciousness very clearly.

I have a friend who owns several rental properties and over breakfast he told me a story that illustrates just what we are discussing. One of his tenants was unable to pay his rent and after several extensions was still unable to meet his obligations. My friend had to ask him to vacate the home but knowing that this man needed cash to find a new place he did something I have never known a landlord to do before. He told his tenant that if he left the property clean and in good condition that he would receive $1,000 cash upon leaving the property. My friend was going to pay his tenant to do what he should have done in any event - as a way of helping him get on his feet. The tenant seemed pleased by this bargain.

What do you think happened? Did our wayward tenant get the cash? Here was $1,000 cash on the table ready for him and all he had to do was clean the place up! Would you have taken my friend up on his offer? I would have! In fact, I told my friend that I would be pleased to clean any of his properties for $1,000!!

Our tenant left the property a mess- so filthy that it was shocking. This is a losing attitude. Someone tries to help you turn a bad situation into a win and you cannot muster enough character and common sense to get the broom and mop out and do what you know you should do. Instead of leaving in good graces with a decent reference and cash in pocket, this fellow has nothing; no self respect, no place to live and no money. Whose fault is that? Why do you think the man acted this way? What would you have done in his place?

The cause of this failure lies with the tennant not being able to get beyond his ego and his sense of fear, hurt and anger and to see the great gift that he was being offered. Rather than say, Gee thanks, that is very decent of you and then clean like crazy, he dove into victimhood and made the whole affair someone else's fault. He failed to take responsibility for his actions - the non payment of rent. He failed to see that he created this whole scenario and that if he wished to do so, he could salvage some good out of it.

He could not imagine taking the high road, doing what he knew he was obligated to do, so he went down the well hewn path of the loser and, indeed, lost again. Of course I am certain that this incident just re-inforced his belief that nothing good ever happened to him, why did God allow this, why was he a born loser?

Now what about the winning consciousness?

Here are the five main characteristics of a sucessful person - a winner:

1. Takes responsibility for his own actions (not blame - responsibility) Once you realize that your life is YOUR creation, then you are in control and can create whatever life you want.

2. Does what he says he will do in all cases. His word is his bond. He can be depended on. As part of this, he is wise in what he promises and never over committs or over promises.

3. He gets it done, on time and well. Does not procrastinate or sluff off obligations. He eats the big frog first, as Rev. Edwene Gains so aptly puts it.

4. He is modest and builds up those around him, giving praise to all who made his success possible. He is grateful to God from whom his talent, strength and very life comes, and for all he has in life. He knows that we are all One in God and he is a team player.

5. He cares nothing for being "right" or fixing blame but focuses on the job to be done - on what he wants to happen and then gets it done!

As you are inside - so will be your life outside. You are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic of your life if you believe that outward changes will bring a changed life. All change comes from within, just as all that is created comes from the Mind of God.

Are you ready to be a "Winner"? The loser in you must die and you must give birth to a new you. You must change the whole way you do business in this life. You must rebirth yourself by means of a transformation of your Mind into the winner you were created to be. Can you change? Will you change? Need help? Request a prayer or e-mail me and I will help.

Remember, you have the greatest power in the Universe at your disposal: The indwelling God himself.