Spiritual Solutions

“Wherever you are is the entry point.” - Kabir

It seems to me there are certain moments in our lives when we have a powerful awareness and clarity about something, so much so that we remember it clearly though it may have been many years ago. And over time it also carries more meaning for us.

I remember when I first went to ministerial school at Unity Village, there was a moment when I felt I had come to and crossed a threshold in my life. All that had gone before, all the disparate experiences were spread out before me. All those experiences, which seemed to have no or little connection with one another, were linked together as a sort of threshold which I had crossed and were now providing a beginning for new experience and a new life as all those past experiences came together to form a cohesive new direction.

At the time it reminded me of the image of what Teilhard de Chardin called a “peduncle,” where all that had gone before had started from the Alpha point and moved in an outward direction and now, crossing the threshold, began to move in an inward direction so that it would all eventually join together at the Omega point at the top of the peduncle.

In the Spring 2000 edition of Parabola magazine, painter and author William Segal, at the age of 96, in an interview, was asked, “What is the nature of a threshold?” He replied, “It is an interruption in the ordinary response of our lives. It is difficult to realize how many reactions are merely mechanical. But smetimes our response to a certain situation can surprise or even astonish us. It is in such moments that a change in consciousness appears and enriches us in a quite unexpected way.”

In his article, Neither Here Nor There, in the same issue of the magazine, author Thomas Moore said of the threshold experience, “A mode of entrance is crucial. A door. A window. We need a chink iin the otherwise unbroken surface of what we consider real and proper.” He goes on to say, “The gap need not be physical, but it is required.”

In the dark wood at the beginning of his cosmic journey, Dante says, “I don’t know how to describe my entering there, I was so sleepy at that point that I lost track of the actual path.” “Standing in a doorway,” says Thomas Moore, “you are forced into the imagination, wondering what you will find on the other side. It is a place full of expectant fantasy.”

“This is the key point about thresholds. . . .” says Thomas Moore. “In their narrow confines you may find fantasy, memory, dream, anxiety, miracle, intuition, and magic. These are the means by which the deep soul prospers – neither in life nor entirely out of life. This is a good place from which to make a decision and get a hunch. It is the true home of creativity. It is also the claustrophobic place of greatest fear. Anything of moment takes place in these interstices – in the tunnels and passages and waiting periods. They are indispensable and yet must be kept tangential.”

Perhaps you stand on a threshold right now.

Jesus said, “Strive to enter by the narrow door..” (luke 13:24) This is the door of faith and trust in the Presence. “I am the door,” said Jesus; “if anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) In Revelations we read, “Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.” (Rev. 3:8) and “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)

So where is this threshold? Where is this door? Where is this entry point to your greater good, to what Jesus called life more abundant? The great Indian saint, philosopher and poet, Kabir said, “Wherever you are is the entry point.” Wherever you are! You are not separate from your good; you are filled with possibility and potential right now.

I would recommend that if you have not already done so, make a habit of taking a little time daily, alone in the quiet place of your heart, in communion with your Source, so that the illumination and guidance of the Holy Spirit may become alive and active in your life. Then go about your daily work, ever open to divine guidance, trusting it and resting in it, strengthened and sustained by its power.

God is always in communion with you, but sometimes you may lose sight of this communion. It is this loss of awareness of your innate oneness that brings a sense of separation. You can solve this great problem simply by the realization of oneness. Then you find that you have the working principle that will carry you through all times and all experiences. In your hour of need, in the instant of realizing your oneness in the Presence, you make the connection – and the separation is dissolved. As the Bible tells us: “You shall renew your strength, you shall mount up with wings like eagles, you shall run and not be weary, you shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend. You may also reproduce and publish this article if you also include this reference box. Thank you!

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at www.alanrowbotham.com
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On my morning walk here in Florida when even early in the day the weather was warm and the humidity was high, I greeted a man who was walking his dog and he asked me, “Are you bothered by the no-see-ums?” I replied, “No, not really.” And he said, “They’re all over me this morning.”

After that exchange I began to notice the little biting insects making their presence felt on me as well. Up to that point I had not been bothered by the no-see-ums, but as soon as I gave my attention to them because of what the man said then they became evident in my experience.

I share this experience with you to show how easily what we give our attention to becomes our experience; and so I ask you now “To what are you giving your attention?” Your life experiences will give you the answer. Are you giving your attention to what you don’t want? Are you dwelling on your problems, on lack or limitation, illness or troubles in relationship? If so, know that the attention you give to these areas of your life magnify them in your experience.

Watching Joel Osteen on television recently I was interested to hear him addressing this matter of where we place our attention by suggesting that we can counter the “negative” aspects of our lives by turning to God’s promises in the scriptures and adopting them as our own. For instance, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1), thus switching our attention to the presence of God rather than the problem. Or, “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.” (Ezek. 36:26) Or, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” Phil 4:13).

Many others that may be used in that way can be found in the scriptures, for instance: “Your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly.” ((Is. 58:8), “I now do according to your word. . . . I give you a wise and discerning mind. . . . I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor.” (I Kings 3:12-13), “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10). Depending upon your condition or your need, you can research the scriptures for yourself to find appropriate promises.

In the same way, in Unity, many of these “promises of God” are personalized and used as affirmations of Truth; for example, “God did not give me a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” (2 Tim. 1:7). Or, “My inner nature is being renewed every day.” (II Cor. 4:16), or “This is the day which the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps. 118:24). Write them out for yourself and put them on your mirror or where you can see them every day and repeat them to yourself again and again.

You see, as spiritual teacher Jeddah Mali says, “We live in a sea of awareness” or in God presence, and as Unity Minister Sue Sikking titled one of her books, God Always Says Yes. The sea of awareness “in which we live and move and have our being” always reflects back to us in our lives what we are truly asking for in the depths of our being or expecting to experience. The sea of awareness, or God presence, is our true nature and we are always one with it; as Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”

We are to know that we are never separate from Presence, and in any moment we can go beyond the appearance of things in our experience and give attention to the Truth of our being which is always present, often instantly dissolving the appearance as we become aware of the Truth in that moment. As the Apostle Paul said (Rom. 12:2), “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Two very different examples of that instantaneous transformation in my own life are as follows:

Many years ago, when my children were young and rambunctious, I found myself yelling at them. Then in that very moment, I realized it was not really me yelling but it was my father yelling through me as he had often yelled at me. I shifted my attention in the awareness of that moment and decided I did not need to do that any more.

My second example I’ll share with you was when my youngest son, at age 26, took his own life in early 1992. My daughter had called from England and left a message on our answering machine for me to call her as soon as possible. When I returned her call, she told me Carl was dead and had taken his own life. A great animal cry issued from somewhere deep within me, and the things I’d heard about people who committed suicide came flooding into my mind.

Then within me, almost instantly, I heard the words “He is enfolded in God’s love!” And I knew that Truth with a certainty that could not be shaken. I was able to go to England to be with my other children, make the arrangements, and conduct a memorial service for family and close friends. I was able to go through all the sadness of the experience and carry the heavy stone of my grief and loss while still remaining centered in that sure knowing of God’s love.

No matter what we may be experiencing, we can always choose where to put our attention or direct our consciousness – even in life’s most difficult challenges.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend. You may also reproduce and publish this article if you also include this reference box. Thank you!

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at www.alanrowbotham.com
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Today, Monday, April 04, is the twenty-third day of Lent. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience. 
 

Assignment 23
 
Our greatest need is awareness. Awareness is gained by associating with something in mind, by thinking and feeling about it. To feel is to be thrilled, touched, moved; it is a sensation, an inner impression of the emotions.
 
You can know what feeling is when you think of something or someone you love dearly. For instance, you can think of home or a place where you have great joy and contentment, you can think of a time when joy and tenderness overwhelmed you, even the sound of music or a word can bring it back to you. This is Feeling.
 
We must be aware of this human self, this physical body as an instrument of God instead of a fleshy transient thing that is just here to be fed, clothed, and satisfied in the outer. An instrument is something that is instructed and moved by a greater power.
 
Our awareness has been on how we affect others and what they think instead of being true to our inner guide; this becomes living a lie, and demands a great toll of us in health and in happiness. Ideas are the seed of God. Let us then become more aware of this invisible self, this self of true choice. Let us practice listening to its needs and directions and set others free to become aware of their true self.
 
Communication and exchange of ideas are healthy and stimulating. All that every person is doing in the outer is the instruction and movement of the power we call God. But our field of action is our own life and our own inner instruction and this physical body in which we live. So let’s stay home with ourselves.
 
There is so much more than the outer indicates or has yet revealed. Let’s learn to be aware and feel this so much more!
 
You are feeling this great Presence in that inner knowing and desire that keeps pressing in the region of your heart to be released and fulfilled. You do feel the inner dream and plan for the next project of your life, which is moving toward outer completion through you. Even the very discontent that urges you forward is but Divine dissatisfaction. Be aware of every pressure as the pressing of God, that every feeling in your body is God movement. “There is None Else.” (Isaiah)
 
 
 
(This series of Lenten messages was first developed by Unity minister Dr. Sue Sikking, founder of Unity-by-the-Sea, Santa Monica, California, author of God Always Says Yes and Seed of the New Age.)
 
 
God is Blessing You, Right Now!
 
Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
 
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions, at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com
 
To subscribe for free weekday inspirational quotes, Rich Words, go to www.alanrowbotham.com
 
Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.
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We can use our power of awareness to bring about healing in our lives.

Awareness is all-powerful. We create our universe through our awareness. We think of the universe as being out there and that’s what it is, that’s the reality. But the reality is that you create it from within yourself, and the universe is different for different people. You may see a friendly universe, another may see a universe that is not so friendly, and yet another may experience a terrible universe. It all starts within you.

There are two components of awareness. One is attention. When we give our attention to that which is negative, critical, or judgmental, then we tend to bring about in our world those negative situations that confirm our views. We see our world in a negative way, and then we have a bad experience in our world.

However, if we are purposeful and positive in our attention, and we give our attention to good outcomes and a sense of joy and friendliness in our universe, we tend to bring about in our experience health and wholeness, peace, joy, and harmony, all of the good things we would like to experience.

So the attention is an important aspect of awareness. As we become conscious of the power of our awareness, we can use it consciously to bring about that which we would want to experience in our lives.

By opening to an expanded awareness of the underlying reality of your life, which we call God, you become more fully aware that this reality is continuous and ever-present, equally present at all points in time and space. You give attention to that, and your intentions move to bring about right outcomes.

Years ago – in 1969, when Kathryn and I were first in ministerial school, there was something going on in a town close by there that was very significant in our understanding of the mind. It was at the Menninger Clinic, in Topeka, Kansas, where Elmer Green was performing experiments with an Indian spiritual adept called Swami Rama. Swami Rama had the ability to be able to voluntarily control the involuntary processes within his body, such as his blood pressure, his heartbeat and the rate of his heartbeat. He was able to raise the rate of his heartbeat or lower it just by giving attention and intention to it.

Elmer Green came to the ministerial school on more than one occasion to work with the students, and Kathryn will remember this. We were wired up with very primitive biofeedback equipment; that was the very beginning biofeedback equipment. We were wired up with electrodes on our hands and on our temples and we were invited to let our right hand become warm. And as we let our right hand become warm, we could see on the indicator scale that we were wired up to that temperature in our right hand going up as we voluntarily paid attention and intended to let the temperature rise in our right hand. In our left hand we were invited to let the temperature reduce, and on that indicator scale we could see the temperature going down. There was a difference of as much as five or six degrees from one hand to the other.

Why is this important? It’s important because this is the way the universe operates. As we give our attention and intention then we are able to affect how our universe works for us, because results follow upon intentions. The slightest intentions we have, the desires we have, bring about results. All desires bring about results.

So this is important for us to realize. That which we thought was involuntary, we can accept as being voluntary. Not only for the inner processes of our bodies, where we can focus our attention on that which needs healing and help to bring about that healing, but also in our outer world – which is connected to us. Remember that the underlying reality is everywhere and equally present in its entirety at every point in space and time.

So every part of God is present, meaning that all infinite intelligence is present where we are. So you can say, “Wherever I am, God is.” Wherever we are, infinite intelligence is also; and infinite intelligence responds to our attention and intention. As we expand our awareness, then we are able to bring about a more beneficial world for ourselves, for our loved ones and for our world in general.

What are you giving your attention to? The attention is first, and then the intentions follow that attention. The intention is the active part.

I’d like to suggest seven steps for you to take and apply to yourself:

1. Sit quietly and relax your mind, calm your whole being – because this doesn’t happen if you get anxious about it. Your intentions are interrupted by your anxieties, worries, and doubts. We have to be relaxed in mind and in a very natural way just focus our attention.

2. Intend the outcome that you want. Be specific about it. What is it you want? And do it in a natural way, in a gentle way, such as visualizing it or maybe verbalizing it through an affirmation (I have more vigor, more energy, greater health, etc.) You are intending an outcome.

3. Don’t get bogged down in the details of how it’s going to come about. Don’t force it or concentrate too hard. Just let it be very natural as though you were getting a glass of water or lifting your arm or whatever, just a natural movement of intending that outcome.

4. Expect and believe in the outcome, know that it is certain.

5. Realize that doubt and worry and attachment interfere with the process, interfere with your success. Those are the three biggest obstacles in us achieving our desires: worry, anxiety, and doubt. So we need to eliminate those.

6. Let go of the desire. Let go of it once you’ve identified it, you’ve put it out there. It’s like mailing a letter; you don’t have to do it twice. Just let it go, and wait for the result to come back.

7. This is a very important step. Be open to the feedback you receive. That’s where your awareness comes in again, because sometimes feedback comes in unexpected ways and can come either from within us or from our environment. But remember that any feedback you get, it is you who has elicited that feedback. It is coming because of the intention you put out. 

These are the steps, and that last step is really important.

This awareness is one of the healing secrets of the universe. One of your highest purposes is to be clear in your awareness of your oneness with the underlying reality of your life, the very presence of the living God. Be aware of that, and be aware of what you are giving attention to; then follow that by giving your intention to what you want to have happen in your life.

“Every good desire of the heart shall be fulfilled, either in ways we anticipate or in other ways that in God’s sight are even better.” – Ernest Wilson

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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