Spiritual Solutions

In a poem called “The Explorer” one verse goes like this:

“There’s no sense in going further – it’s the edge of cultivation,”
So they said and I believed it; broke my land and sowed my crop,
Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station
Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop.
Till a voice as bad as conscience ran interminable changes
On one everlasting whisper, day and night repeated so:
“Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look beyond the ranges,
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!”

God has endowed man with the gifts of life, of wisdom, of creativity, of judgment – and with the tools of the material world around him. We are told, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be.”  (I John 3:2)

Why? Because we are involved in a great experiment to see what we can make of ourselves. Despite the tremendous developments of the world around us, the only world that has meaning to each individual is the world within him or her. And he or she is the only one who can explore that world!

In the creation of humankind, each person is made just a little different from others. There are no carbon copies, so no one experiment by one person can give a stock answer that will benefit everyone. Each person must undertake the experiment for himself, to see what he can do with this thing that is within him – this thing called life, his life, his very own special gift from God, his own uniqueness.

We seem to be made up of flesh and blood, a hank of hair, a few clothes, and certain conditions and surroundings. We seem to be very much the product of our environment.

But while we are thinking these thoughts, along comes an Emerson or an Einstein, a Schweitzer or a Jesus, and all the world marvels at such people and says that they are not made of the same kind of stuff that you and I are made of.

This is where we are wrong, because in reality an individual will never discover anything outside himself greater than he himself is inherently. When you hear the words of great persons, or hear great symphonies, or see masterpieces of art, these experiences are awakening within you that which has always been there, something within you that corresponds to what the masters have done and are doing. In a sense, they are giving you back to yourself. This is one of the many adventures of self-discovery in the great experiment of life.

If you actually believe in a power greater than you are, you come to know that you, as a human being, have nothing to do with the processes of life whatsoever. You live, but you did not create your own life; you think, but you did not create your own mind; you are spirit, but you did not make that spirit.

All at once we are confronted with a thought so stupendous that it almost staggers the imagination: There is something in me that is greater than I appear to be! And that something really isn’t myself, as a mere human being, at all. It is something which is God expressing Himself as me, something which is me as God sees me, something which is limitless, all-powerful, all-knowing. And because this something is spirit, it is always experienced to the extent of my realization, my faith, my vision.

St. Thomas Aquinas once said that there are only three really important endeavors in life: to have faith in the right things; to hope for the right things; and to love the right things. That is our job – and to press on in the expansion of our consciousness, to increase our faith in the infinite power that resides within us as the self that is yet to be.

(This article is adapted from an 1976 essay by Rev. Eric Butterworth, The Explorer)

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Your copy of my recently published mini-book, Miracle Power You Can Use Today, Seven Secrets of Spiritual Growth for Your Wealth, Health and Happiness is now available.

The book, in addition to being a powerful spiritual resource for your reading pleasure, has two unique features:

You can enhance your experience of the book through access to an online environment for an even deeper, personalized experience of this book’s message. 

Secondly, after reading the book, you are invited to pass the book along to someone you know who you believe will benefit from the message in this book. After you’ve passed the book along you can access a tracking system to see where it goes and how it changes people’s lives.

Here’s what one person said about the book recently: “I virtually devoured it….reading, highlighting and enjoying some three times now. On my next trip through it I will be going to the online tool. Just didn’t want to interrupt for that on my first reading(s), but looking forward to that unique experience.”

He said his intent is to purchase more copies to send to others. Another person had the same idea; she said she is purchasing ten copies to send to friends and loved ones. That’s a great Christmas gift idea!

Just to whet your appetite, here’s an excerpt from the first chapter of the book, Connect with Your Source:

“God is constant as principle, always present, everywhere present, in wholeness, and at every point in space and time. There is no absence of God anywhere at any time.

“I’m not sure whether you have ever thought of God in that way, but if you have then it has changed your life.

“If you have not, then if you can capture that idea of God as principle, of God as present, the idea of unity with God, I can truly say that your life will never be the same again. It will change your life for the better . . .”

The paperback mini-book, Miracle Power, can be purchased for $9.95 through Amazon. com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0977625117/?tag=spiritualsolu-20 

Or you can go to  www.messengerminibooks.com.

Just scroll down until you see the book and then click on the Amazon link. You can also purchase the book in e-book format on that same site. The e-book is $7.95.

After purchase of either printed book or e-book you will be able to access the online journal. If you purchase the printed book you will also be able to utilize the pass-along tracking option.

Enjoy your book! Maybe you’ll want to get extra copies to send out as wonderful Christmas gifts for friends and loved ones.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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On that Thanksgiving Day in 1969, I wasn’t feeling particularly thankful as I entered the third floor of the Activities Building which at that time served as Unity Village Chapel.

I had just started ministerial school that summer, but it seemed that everything was falling apart. I had just gone through a divorce, my four children had returned to England with their mother two years to the day that we had come to America with all our hopes and dreams, and my father had died in England two months previous.

I’d not really been aware of Thanksgiving Day for the last two years, although I do recall we had been invited to dinner with friends. We didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving Day in England, you know. 

So I didn’t seem to have much to give thanks for on this day, set aside by Presidential proclamation for personal and national contemplation of the blessings of life.

When The Rev. Jane Paulson invited us to join in a meditation of thanksgiving I was feeling pretty raw inside from my losses. But something broke inside of me and I began to cry.

Then instead of focusing on what I had lost and didn’t have anymore, I began to give thanks for what I had and where I was.

By the time The Rev. Sig Paulson stood up to give his message my tears had stopped and I was in a more receptive state.

As Sig spoke he began to lead us in a series of ever-escalating affirmations of thanksgiving, and my tears began to flow again. I felt like breaking down and sobbing.

At the end of the service I rushed out of the building and over to the Peace Chapel, a small chapel with just six chairs for prayer and meditation. Fortunately for me, there was no one else in there. I lay down on the floor and sobbed my heart out.

Then I sat in one of the chairs and a great quiet and a deep peace came over me. I felt the flow of Divine Love through me, and I intuitively knew the true inside story of Thanksgiving.

Not only did I have many things to give thanks for, but I also had a new consciousness of the indwelling Spirit of God to give thanks from.

This concept of Thanksgiving will open a way for a dynamic experience if you really think about it for yourself.

Look away from the challenges and needs, whatever they may be, even from the obvious blessings of life, and make your inner contact with the creative process of Spirit. Let your mind think God thoughts, good thoughts, and positive thoughts.

Rather than looking around and wondering what you have to give thanks for, you will rejoice in what you have to give thanks from. Practice it today, so that this day will be for you a release of tremendous power and you will know for yourself the “inside story” of Thanksgiving.

This new insight into the deeper meaning of Thanksgiving can also help prepare you for the reawakening of the divine level of the Christ in you as we move into the Christmas celebration of the birth of the Christ child.

Recognizing the Christ within you is the most glorious thing you can possibly experience. You can begin at anytime to show your true identity, and this recognition will bring about the rebirth that Jesus referred to when he told Nicodemus, “You must be born anew.”

Kathryn joins me in wishing you the richest Thanksgiving and Christmas of your life, rich not only in the outer things, but rich in warmth and friendliness and new understanding.

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Thanksgiving is not for God, but for us. Praise raises our consciousness to a level where we easily respond to the divine flow. When it is “the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom,” the need is to get our thoughts on the level of acceptance.

Thanksgiving is a way by which we raise our thoughts to that level of acceptance. Thus, thinking good is thanking God.

To say, “I thank God,” and still thinking negatively is self-deluding. In a very real sense, if a person thanks God and still is filled with negativity, he is something less than “bearing witness to the Truth.”

The Thanksgiving principle is the key to positive thinking. Negative thoughts are normally centered in how bad things are. Turn your thoughts from what you have not and realize what you have in terms of your access to the Universal flow. Give thanks from this awareness.

Suddenly you are in a positive frame of mind. This thought is your realistic Thanksgiving. The Spirit within is a ceaseless urge to express in and through and as you. Thus, when you become “affirmatively receptive” by your good thoughts, it is as if the Spirit claps its hands with joy because you have made yourself an “organ of its activity.”

Thus, we do not have to thank God for things, but rather to “enter in and experience the Thanksgiving feast of the mind” and give thanks from the awareness of it.

True gratitude makes us great, increases our feeling of self-worth, expands our ability to see the good in people and situations, and thus to extract the best from life. When we become “affirmatively receptive” to the divine flow, we begin to see things from God-consciousness, and we actually project a flow of good.

Giving thanks for our many blessings is good, but there is so much more. Thanksgiving can be an active projection of good through seeing transcendentally.

It is a good time to take a Thanksgiving walk, even if in imagination, and project a blessing to people, conditions and things. It is a beautiful time to salute the divinity withi people, all people, and to celebrate the good everywhere. Take your Thanksgiving walk and raise your hands to people in blessing, even if not literally then figuratively in your own consciousness.

You can make every day a Thanksgiving Day of celebration. Resolve to raise your thoughts to the highest possible level about people, conditions, and things, knowing that thinking good is thanking God.

 God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again! 

At any time in life, at any place in your experience, you can make a new start.

Most of us, at some time, have felt that our life is at the end of things, that somehow everything that was steadfast and good has sort of crumbled around us.

I have counseled with many people who have experienced these feelings of despair, discouragement and loss. I, too, have felt those feelings at certain times in my own life.

This experience is not, as we often think when it happens to us, peculiar to ourselves. It is common to many persons. It is also through such experiences that we often come to new beginnings.

Whether you are facing discouragement or despair, or you simply have a strong desire to take as new hold on life, I want to give you the encouragement and the vision which will make a new beginning possible for you.

Napoleon Hill, celebrated author of the book Think and Grow Rich, made an important point in regard to our approach to any situation or problem we encounter. He says that we must use “accurate thinking.”

We may relate this to Jesus’ admonition to “seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness,” where righteousness refers to right use of thought, or “accurate thinking.”

Human logic, looking at the facts, says “there is no way that I can ever recover from this or have a good life.” Through human logic, the need is to get the facts.

In spiritual logic, the need is to know the Truth or get back to the principle. Then we can think through things in a spiritually logical manner.

Using Spiritual Logic

One of the great fundamental principles of Truth is that “There is only One Presence and One Power in all the Universe, God, the good, omnipotent.” God is where I am, and God is what I need – no matter what the circumstance.

So to what extent can we really make a new beginning?

Walter Malone, in his poem Opportunity, expressed a great truth when he said, “At sunrise, every soul is born again.” In other words, we are always at the threshold of opportunity.

Do you grasp the opportunity of taking a new lease on life at the beginning of each new day?

In order to do this, you may have to change your entire viewpoint.

You may need to reconstruct your faith, your philosophy of life.

You may need to get a whole new concept of God, of what and where God is, and of yourself and your relation to God.

You may need to discipline your thinking in a way you’ve never done before.

You may need to see your world, your life, your environment and your associates in an entirely new light.

Always, the need is for spiritual logic. The key to accurate thinking is to use spiritual logic, to return to the principle, then starting with the principle think things through to a logical conclusion.

You may say, “I can’t do this because I know my limitations.” But do you know your strengths? The limitations are simply concealment of strength. What you have done is never a valid measure of what you can do.

What is the principle? It is that you are created in God’s image-likeness, and you have been given dominion over all the earth. You can be all things through the power of God within you, for “with God, all things are possible.”

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter and blog at Spiritual Solutions. You can access his recently published mini-book at Miracle Power You Can Use Today.

For weekday inspirational quotes, go to Rich Words.

Feel free to pass along this article to your friends or to publish it on your blog or website, as long as you also include this reference box in any and all communications. Also, I appreciate your comments and suggestions at any time. Thank you.

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There’s a little song that goes like this:

If you go down to the woods today you’re in for a big surprise;

If you go down to the woods today you’d better go in disguise;

For every bear that ever there was will be there for certain because

Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

The song, of course, says that if you go down to the woods today you’re in for a big surprise. But sometimes those surprises are not always welcome, and it says “and you’d better go in disguise.”

In mythology, going to the woods is symbolic of going into the darkness, into the unknown. So it says you’d better go in disguise, you can’t really go with your normal everyday self because if you do that then you’ll be fearful of what’s going to happen. All the bears are gathering. You know what happens when the bears gather, in our financial world anyway. A lot of hardship and problems may happen, right?

So the bears are gathering. So we can’t go with our normal consciousness; we have to go with a new awareness. And when we come in a new guise or a new self, with a new heart or a new spirit, then God turns our bears into teddy bears.

So if you’ve got bears in your life, know that they can be turned into teddy bears. Listen to this promise of God in Isaiah 41:

“I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry lands springs of water.

I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;

I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together;

that men may see and know, may consider and understand together,

that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

This is the realization that, truly, God turns bears into teddy bears; God turns the dry lands into springs of living water.

We must let go of old perceptions, old beliefs, and old limited ways of seeing. We must open our eyes to a new way of seeing.

There’s a story that was in the Associated Press several years ago, around this time of year. It was about some Japanese fishermen in the Sea of Japan. Their boat got hit by a falling cow. This may sound rather unusual, but that’s what happened. It seems that there was an airplane, a transport plane from Russia, flying over the Sea of Japan with some cows they had just picked up in Siberia.

While they were on the trip, the cows became restless – it’s a true story! I don’t know why they became restless, maybe because of the food on the airplane. Anyway, they became restless and they were endangering the airplane. So the crew decided to open the cargo door in the rear of the plane, and the cows stampeded right out of the airplane.

Now you can imagine the chill of the mariner hearing the dreaded “Moo!” of a falling heifer in excess of a hundred miles an hour. And then, boom! It hit the boat, and it sank the boat. The fishermen were saved, but the real tragedy of the story would be if those fishermen did not go back again to fish in the Sea of Japan for fear of being hit again by a falling cow.

Now we all have falling cows in our lives, don’t we? Sometimes they’re in the subconscious mind; sometimes they’re very much in the outer experience too. But if we fear going on with our lives because another falling cow may be coming our way, then we’ll never take any more risks, will we? We’ll never step out again.

Listen to this promise of God:

“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness,

I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,

To open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (Isa. 42:6-7)

That’s quite a promise!

It’s so easy to look at what happened before and say, “I’m never going to get involved in that again, because look what happened!” Instead of this look to God’s promise, that God holds you by the hand and takes you out of the prison consciousness of limitation and brings you into a whole new awareness.

How do you see your world? Do you see it as a friendly world? Or is it a fear-filled world? When you look at your world, what does it feel like to you? Is it filled with danger? Or is it filled with a sense of security and love?

Listen again to God’s promise:

“And I will lead the blind in a way that they know not,

in paths that they have not known I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.” (Isa. 42:16)

Even in the difficult times of life, we need a new way of seeing. We need to open our inner eyes and see if we can find a blessing in there just waiting for us to recognize it.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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