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

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If there is one thing we need more than anything else, it is light – light in terms of insight into self, guidance along life’s way, knowledge of the secrets of the universe, and the wisdom to use it and not abuse it. The clearest thinkers the human race has produced have always seen the course of their lives as the quest for light.

“Our great need is for light, which represents illumination, intelligence, wisdom. We can have no real comprehension of the Scriptures until we are aware that the Holy Spirit within us is decreeing light. . . . ‘Let there be light.’ . . . By this affirmation and acknowledgment we attune our minds to the Spirit of truth. Then wisdom scatters the darkness of limited human reason and supplants it with understanding.” - Elizabeth Sand Turner, foreword of Let There Be Light

“The Old Testament of our Bible tells us that the first step in creation is ‘Let there be light.’ This ‘light’ or radiant energy is the substance out of which everything in the universe is made; it is the ocean of energy, or God presence, in which we live and move and have our being, as St. Paul pointed out. Light is the substance or creative energy that God, the Creator, is constantly pouring into the universe, into every creature – it is the cosmic energy that not only makes, but runs creation. The Gospel of John points out that this light shines always and that even the darkness of man’s ignorance cannot put it out – it is always there, within the reach of each individual, ready for his acceptance and greater expression and experience of it. In a real sense, light is the essence of all – the radiation of God, the Creator, and the substance of man, the creature.” – J. Sig Paulson, Your Power To Be

Light is the reality of God in all creation. It is the reality of our own potential. All overcoming, all healing, all self-expression, is the inevitable effect of the dawning of light within and its pouring out into expression. It is of this that Isaiah speaks, “Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily.” (Is. 58:8)

As the Bible talks about it, and perhaps as science talks about it, light is a transcendent thing, an everywhere present reality. Cells appear to have an innate glow of light. The whole body gives off a kind of light or “aura” which some persons and certain instrumentation can see. Light, then, may well be the one great reality of things, beyond appearances. When you are consciously in the flow of life, there is an effusion of light that manifests as understanding, as guidance, as creativity.

But it is not something that God “out there” sends to you. It is, rather, an expanded awareness of the “true light” in the Presence of God that is present in you and as you. It is the illuminating principle in man, the Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is a moment of oneness, a feeling of being centered in God. Suddenly, there is a creative flow – “Let there be light.” So when Jesus says “Let your light shine,” he means let yourself be what you really are, or as Meister Eckhart puts it, “Let God be God in you.” You become an open channel to let the light flow as the reality of you.

We sometimes see the light of Christ, the love and joy and radiance, in the faces of people. Within the very nature of every person, there is a stored up substance of Christ which may be released to illumine the face and light the way. Paul says, “Stir up the gift of God which is in you.” Wasn’t this the true mission of Jesus, to help all people discover the light of Christ within themselves and to let it shine?

This really is the goal of all of us as we practice spiritual principles, to become a light-bearer, to stir up the gift of God within us and to let our light shine.

“The Christ within is always declaring, ‘I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ The first lesson in spiritual development to be learned is that everyone has within him the light of divine understanding. Those who do not recognize that they have this inner light are thinking intellectually instead of spiritually. The Christ light comes forth from God and all circumstances is aware of its source. It places all judgment in the Father, knowing that its light is from that source alone.” - Charles Fillmore, Mysteries of John

Let your light shine. And if you don’t feel like it, then get still for a few minutes or take a walk out of doors, get away from the commotion and the tension of things around you. Sit on a park bench, if you will, and reflect for a moment on the idea that you are a part of the tremendous, illuminating process of the universe, or as the wisdom came to George Washington in the early days of our country when he referred to it as “the little celestial spark of fire that a man may desecrate, but never quite lose.” It is within you. It is within us all. It is the light of Christ.

“When the mind is lifted up in meditation and prayer the whole body glows with spiritual light. . . .This spiritual light transcends in glory all the laws of matter and intellect.” – Charles Fillmore, Mysteries of John

Take a few moments now and perhaps follow this suggestion by J. Sig Paulson in his book, Your Power To Be:

”It will be helpful to take a few minutes to sit in a comfortable position, relax, close your eyes, and then speak the words, ‘Let there be light.’ Speak them audibly three times; then close your eyes and speak them silently. Now wait expectantly. Remember the words of Jesus: ‘You are the light of the world.’ . . . Do not try to force anything to happen. Let the light that is present in every area of your being reveal itself. And it will!

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-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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“Guidance” is a common word in our day. Everyone seeks some kind of guidance: guidance for children, for adolescents, for marriage relationships, for the businessperson, and so forth. Occasionally, someone might suggest the idea of spiritual or “Divine” guidance.

Unfortunately, that suggestion may be looked upon with distrust, simply because the term “Divine guidance” is usually related to the magical, mystical or psychic. Yet there is an almost instinctive feeling in every person that there is a “Something” beyond personal prejudices, different from the mental state of worry and concern, and that this “Something” can be reached.

But this feeling for the “Something” has often been dealt with on the level of superstition. Thus, many persons look for guidance through a sign or leading, all the way from the flipping of a coin to reading the stars or the numbers, the cards, the tea leaves or the crystal ball, and then on to Indian guides and spirit readings. This is not to put down any of these pseudo-sciences, but rather to point up the fact that involvement in them is a subtle form of self put-down.

If any person evidences, even in a brief showing, some kind of inner direction or direct knowing, it is often identified as ESP or psychic phenomenon or spirit guidance. This is to malign our potential as a spiritual being, and to deny the inherent flow of guidance within us that is just as natural as the instinct of animals. Remember this dynamic statement from the book of Job: “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding.” So why do we refuse to accept this inner knowing?

Maybe it is that religion has not really dealt with the whole of the person. The dictionary defines “religion” as “divine revelation for human guidance.” But most religions have become exteriorly oriented, dealing with God “out there” or “up there.” We may be told in impassioned sermons that our need is “to find God.” But God is not to be found – for God is not lost. 

It is not God’s hiddenness, but our blindness that is the problem. We live in a state of ceaseless guidance, in a field of Infinite knowingness, but we are blind and deaf to the process. Emerson says, “There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word.”

To find God, to understand God, we need to expand our thoughts to the realization of the omnipresence of God and then know, in the words of former Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth, “The whole of Spirit is present at every point in space at the same time, and in its entirety.” There is no distance between us and God. There is nowhere to go to get guidance or inspiration or creativity. We are in it, all of it, all the time!

Divine guidance, or spiritual guidance or “direct knowing” is the same as getting an immediate answer to prayer in time of need. It is but another way of explaining the work of intuition. The ancient wise ones called these occurrences “illumination.” The mystics called them “showings.” Many call them “leadings.” But again we lose the real idea if we see these things as some kind of special access to the inner secrets of the Universe, or some kind of psychism or divination.

The term “Voice of God” is purely a poetic expression. It is found all through the Bible.   And it has been terribly misleading for many people. The classic instance is Moses’ experience at the burning bush. “God called to him out of the bush: ‘Moses, Moses!’” This was an experience of direct knowing. The Bible writers used highly symbolic language and overstatement, such as describing locusts as big as giants that jumped from hill to hill. So they are saying in this passage about Moses that it was a knowing so clear that it was as if God was actually talking to him.

Remember, “The Father knows even before you ask Him”; “Before they call, I will answer.” This means that God is present – always and in all ways. God knows. God knows in you, for you. Knowing is, and it is at hand. It is now. The way out (the way to escape the difficulties at hand) is at hand.

But this guidance or direct knowing comes into consciousness most easily through a mind that is uncluttered with the known. If you know about a lot of things, it is difficult to know the Truth, which is to know the Knower. A creative mind, or a mind in a creative experience, is so involved in knowing that it lets go of what others know about, even if they know about things that indicate impossibilities.

Most people have preconceived notions which they bring into their prayer time. They have a strong idea of what they want to have happen, and often, even in seeking guidance they are actually looking for “Divine approval” of something they have already determined to do. To have the mind full of preconceived notions, even images and treasure maps representing outlined goals, is to frustrate the process of direct knowing.

The important thing to remember is that wherever you are, God is. The whole of Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is present in its entirety at every point in space at the same time. Spirit is present, as presence. All-knowing is present. The answer to your dilemma is present – here and now. There is nowhere to go, nothing to reach for, and no one to contact and plead with.

Prayer is communion, oneness, a listening. “Be still and know that I am God.” When you know that I AM is God, you humble yourself to listen; you expect to be guided. In childlike faith, you know the Knower within you that is always present.

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-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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 (An article by John Harricharan)

Within each and every one of us is an inherent guidance system. We are not thrown helplessly into a seemingly cold and cruel world without the necessary tools for taking care of ourselves. Yet, most people go through an entire lifetime never realizing the power they have at their command.

This power is not the exclusive province of gurus, avatars or saints, but is available to all people as their cosmic birthright.

The power within lies waiting to be tapped by anyone who is willing to use its guidance. It is always there providing direction for our lives. But, because we are surrounded by the noise and activities of everyday, outside existence, we tend not to hear the gentle proddings from within. We become blind and deaf to the sights and sounds of our higher selves. To begin using this guidance, one must first be aware of its existence and then follow its directions. The following true life story is an excellent example of this principle.

Read the rest of this entry »

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What do you most want?

You might say, “I want money, success, health, power, friends, and love, all of those things the average person wants. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I want. I want so many and such varied things.” Well, you are like most of us.

Deep down inside ourselves we all want to be useful, to contribute something to the general good, to be accepted, important. But our ideas of importance are so many-sided that they always seem to fail to materialize.

It’s not easy to stand at the beginning or at the middle of our careers and choose what is our calling, our special talent, our true vocation, the inner urge at which we can be great, and determine to follow that choice to its consummation. We feel suddenly helpless, confused, and uncertain; maybe fear a disastrous mistake. What we really want first, then, is some kind of guidance.

So what do we really want? Isn’t it the guidance of God, and how can we get it? Well, by realizing that it is a divine force within us, by accepting it, by tuning in on it. In the first chapter of James we read, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting .  .”

There is only one way to ask God for wisdom. It is the same way you ask electricity to give you light – by turning on the switch, by accepting it, by taking the time to be still and to listen, to let it happen, to surrender and trust.

Surely, if we know what we want and need, this is to have God’s guidance and the gifts of Himself as life, love, wisdom, and power, and nothing is too much for us to expect.

If you know what you want, you will be able to accomplish great things and you will have health of body, peace of mind, success, happiness and true fulfillment.

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-seven years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions or go directly to the Spiritual Solutions Blog

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words

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