Outside the Box!

Science of Mind is a part of a spiritual movement often known by the name New Thought. There is nothing "new" about New Thought. It is older than such "mainline denominations" as the Baptist Church, The Methodist Church, Assemblies of God, Church of Christ, The United Church of Christ and many others. Johannus Swedenborg, the seminal Swedish Theologian, is often thought to be the father of New Thought. He wrote in the 1600's, long before anyone thought up "Fundamentalism", Pentecostals or Evangelicals. The Age of Reason, which reached its height in the 18Th century with philosophers such as Locke, Rousseau and Montesquieu, owes many of its ideas to New Thought. These philosopher's ideas formed the basis for the birth of the United States and our Constitution.

In America, New Thought first flowered in New England. The ideas of New Thought were popularized not only in America but all over the world by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Anyone who has ever read Emerson's Essays has read New Thought. Emma Curtis Hopkins, Ernest Holmes (Science of Mind Founder) Charles and Mildred Fillmore and many others have brought New Thought into the 20th and 21st Centuries.

What makes New Thought new is that it presents a picture of God more in line with that of the teachings of Jesus The Christ than the Superhuman in the Sky that many of us were taught in Sunday School. As Jesus taught us, God is a Spirit not a super being up in the sky. God is everywhere present, also present in every human being. God is the architect of everything that exists, has ever existed or ever will exist. God's power is expressed through the Mind of Its greatest creation, the human being. God works for us through us. God has given us all the power we need to create our own heaven on Earth right here and right now. Any man or woman can create whatever life they choose within the Divinely defined limits of their physical and mental ability.

You see, we have already been given all the power of the Universe and it is ours to use. God has already given us all we need. The only thing that keeps many of us from learning to use this power and live the lives were were born to live, is our disbelief and our clinging to a great God in the Sky who rewards, punishes and sometimes turns a deaf ear. God is not a super human but rather the Great Mind, the First Cause that has always existed, has existed before the Earth ever took form and who created the Universe and all that is in it.

Each human being is free to awake to the power of God within and consciously use this power to guide and transform his/her life OR they may deny the power and presence of God within and sleepwalk through life, creating their lives in an unconscious, helter skelter, chaotic manner that is a recipe for a unhappy, often wasted life.

Either way, consciously or unconsciously, we create our own lives and we are totally responsible for them. You will never be free, never have true peace until you understand that your life is your creation and only you can change it. Self Responsibility is power. "The Devil made me do it", is victim hood and a worse state of being I could not wish on anyone. To live in fear of outside forces one cannot possibly control is to me Hell on Earth.

There is ONE power and ONE presence in the Universe and that is God. Light exists, darkness is merely the absence of light and has no actual existence. So it is with Good and Evil. The Devil (Satan) was invented to explain why evil exists. We certainly could not blame it on mankind, now could we? We would have to take responsibility for it! Much easier to invent a Dark Power who spends eternity trying to ruin our lives and steal our soul.

Evil is the absence of good and Good is God personified. God is light and evil is the absence of light or of God. The cure for darkness, my friends, is not to curse it or blame on some outside power; but rather to turn on a light! A man or woman at peace with themselves and their God within is in the Light and darkness cannot exist where Light is. How do we get back into the state of Grace in which all of us were born?

We do this by opening our hearts and minds to the God within each one of us. Each of us was born into Grace. We have divorced ourselves from this Grace by our belief in separation; the great lie. We are One with God, One with the Spirit. We are an expression of God, we are an experience God is having. Will God have a great time, a good laugh living our lives throught us or will She have to suffer through a miserable life brought on by a failure to understand and learn to use the incredible power which is our birthright?

The choice is ours to make. As John Cougar Mellankamp sang in his hit song: Hot Dogs and Hamburgers; each of us has to choose; hot dogs or hamburgers. He was saying that life is one long series of choices. These choices spring from what you say to yourself, what you believe and what you spend your time thinking about. You live with the consequences of your thoughts, words and choices - be very careful what you let into your Mind and what comes out of your mouth.

Once you awaken, you are never the same again. You are, in a sense, "born again" but not just by saying a few words or getting dunked in a river. There is nothing wrong with the symbolic gesture of washing the Spirit through baptism but without inner change; life will not change. "As within - So without" is a basic spiritual law we must all obey. Our outer reality is a mirror of what we are inside - what we believe, what we talk about, what we accept in our lives and who we are. YOU are the writer, producer, director and principal actor in your life drama. No one can write it for you. Don't like this drama of life you have produced? Read this blog each week, practice the principles I offer to you and watch your script change, the plot of the play transform and your whole life transform with it.

New Thought is about "thinking outside the box" about spirituality. Are we really born in sin, destined for a fiery Hell? Are we really weak worms of the dust to be crushed under the boot of a mighty and righteously angry God? Are we really small creatures here below, totally different in spirit and form from the God that created us? Many of us were taught these erroneous notions by well meaning but unknowing pastors who passed the falsehoods from generation to generation until now they are seen as the Gospel Truth.

No! We are made of the very substance of God, we are part and parcel of the body of God. We are the means by which God experiences His creations; we are one in Mind and Substance with the Most High God. You are of Royal Blood - the blood and Mind of the One God; call Him Allah, God, Rama, whatever. He answers to all names because He knows your thoughts before you think them; He knows your words before you speak them. He knew you long before the world began, you have lived forever and you will live forever more. How you live is the question, and it is your choice!

God sent prophets and teachers to all the different peoples of the world, each tuned for the ears and hearts of those people. These prophets and teachers can have come from only one place - the One Power and Presence in the Universe - God the Good omnipotent. One size can never fit all in the world of spirituality. Ones religion is an energetic choice, we choose the church or religion that resonates with us, that fills us with joy. No one can choose this for us, nor should they.

One should never judge an other's religion. That is a matter between them and their God. Find the one that makes you a better, freer, more empowered person and that brings you the abundant life of joy that God intended you to live. Or have none at all and just love God and listen to Her with open heart and mind. She really doesn't care how you put Her in the center of your life as long as you do it. Some of the best church experiences I have ever had occurred as I stood on the sugar white sands of Siesta Key, here in Sarasota, Florida and gazed upon the majesty of God's Mind and Hand.

Science of Mind does not proselytize. We can make information about our way of life, available to those seeking a new way of worship but we must never force, coerce, or exhibit judgement about those not of our faith. In New Thought, we believe that when the student is ready, the teacher shall appear. If this blog is the teacher you seek, we are both blessed and I welcome you. If not, go in peace and find your perfect teacher.


May God Bless and Keep you until we are together again!

What To Do When Your Life Isn't Working

In Science of Mind we often seem to outsiders to be in a constant state of denial because we do not speak, think or act from a nagative point of view. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because we talk and think only about what we want and ignore what we don't want in our lives does not mean that we do not know or see life's challanges. In fact, Science of Mind teaches that you ignore an urgent situation in your life at your peril. We believe that water must be carried and wood needs to be chopped; in the metaphorical sense.

It is one thing to acknowledge a problem and another to wallow in it. We say yes, this is here but now what is the spiritual or mental cause of this problem or condition? When I face a time where a circumstance or problem looms, I always ask myself : How did I create this in my life? The answer is always there when we are honest with ourselves. We can see how a long train of thought, word and action led us to the situation in which we find ourselves. The solution is in removing the thinking that caused the problem in the first place. More discussion and thought about the effects of the problem, what we call the "ain't it awfuls", only makes the problem grow and grow unitl it overwhelms us. Nothing is served by this kind of chewing on the problem over and over - it just gets worse. You can never solve any problem at the level of effect - only at the level of causation can anything worthwhile be achieved.

This is why Western medicine seldom cures anything. It eliminates or aleviates symptoms which is valuable and necessary; but cures are rare. We say cancer is in remission but to cure cancer you must get to the cause of the cancer and Western Medicine has no idea what the real cause is. But unless the underlying cause of the illness is removed, the illness will continue to reappear over and over again. Other medical traditions in the East focus on healing the cause and thus curing the disease. Eastern medical practice has taught for centuries that cancer is caused by inner turmoil, sorrow, anger and discontent. We literally poison our bodies with our own angst. Before you dismiss this, think about it! Do our best Doctor's have a better explanation?

How can we use use the Law of Cause and Effect to get our lives back on track when things are not working - when storms rage around you, prosperity is illusive, times seem to be dangerous and all is going to pot? What can you do when the Doctor gives you that dreaded diagnosis and says it is "untreatable"?

First, don't buy into what the experts say. They are telling you their version of their truth and that does not have to be your truth. They are saying that your problem is untreatable by THEM but that doesn't mean that it cannot be treated by spiritual means, by the Law that God has instituted to run and create the Universe. Remember, "the facts" are the residue of someone else's thinking. You can buy into their facts and keep the problem or condition or you can make a demand on God's Law and create new facts for your life that do NOT include this condition or problem. There is a spiritual solution for every problem from weight loss (I am still working on this one so I am not your best teacher on this subject) to healing (that I know how to do) to prosperity - you name it.

Remember, your thinking got you into this mess and changing your thinking from the inside out will get you out of it. God has given you the power to transform your mind and with it your life. God will not do it for you but God has given you the power to do it - you must learn the techniques and use them!

First: Don't buy into what "they" say. Decide the outcome that you want and claim it as already yours. Know that you are always in the Mind and in the thoughts of God, that you are his dearly beloved. She wants only joy, abundance and peace for you. What do you want? Get your desires in alignment with God's desires for you and watch the magic begin! You and God are co-creators of your life but YOU must begin the process, God provides the opportunities, the right people coming your way, the right timing.

Second: Trace back in your mind the train of thought or feeling that could have produced the condition you want to change. Have you been talking "poor mouth" and buying into the "bad economy"? If so, it is no wonder your financial situation is not what you wish. You get what you believe and expect. Have you been sharing that scary diagnosis with everyone you know, speaking about it over and over? Well then, you have just given one person's opinion the validity of fact and made it HUGE in your mind. That person's opinion now becomes your reality unless you change it and only you can change it.

Third: Once you have remembered how your thinking or emotions have led you to where you are, the answer is simple. Stop thinking, feeling and speaking that way! Talk, think and feel about only what you want to have in your life, no matter how much your ego-mind tells you that its not "realistic" or that you "can't ignore facts". Yes you can! You are the author of your life and you can rewrite the script any time you have the guts, tenacity and faith to do it. You are not bound by anything but God's Law and your belief. God creates only perfection so the fault can only be in your belief, in your thinking, in your speaking and in your choices.

Change your thinking and change your life. Change your thinking and heal your body. Change your thinking and become wealthy - regardless of your current financial state. As you change your stream of thought, you change the state of mind that you inhabit and once you do this, the outer reflection of life experience must change. As within, so without.

It takes discipline to stop the flow of negative thought and speech but once you do it your life will be in alignment with our Creator and best friend. Then watch your life transform!