Category: Spiritual Mind Treatment & You

Our ministries tend to have seasons, and we are wise to move through them with as much grace as possible. Having served two previous Centers as Spiritual Leader and one as Assistant Minister, both on the West Coast, and three as Interim, I have now been Spiritual Leader on the East Coast for nearly five years. I also did a “free-form” ministry between my first and second Centers, traveling through the country, speaking and giving workshops, and, later, visited Centers in the U.S. and Canada as an R.S.I. Board Member, giving Practitioner Seminars, and conducting Regional Meetings. Ultimately, I offered “Co-Creation” work in many Centers. My experience has taught me that, “Wherever I go, there I am,” for both good and less good! The plus side is that I am more in love with Spirit and our teaching every day and am grateful always to be in community with people who are seeking to deepen their connection to Source, to live authentically from Spirit, and to continue expanding their creative, intelligent activity, for themselves and others.
No matter the culture in each Center, I have found it appropriate and acceptable to live from my Authentic Self while honoring and seeking to understand the traditions and mores of each group. Of course, it is greatly satisfying to remain with a community long enough to watch children grow from tots to teens and adults expand in consciousness and quite another thing to be a “circuit preacher,” loving and leaving them! In either case, we are sowing the healthiest seeds we know how to plant and encouraging the people to discover and use Principle.
It is difficult to leave each Community, and my heart has just grown larger each time I take all those people with me. It has had to soften over the years and I am sure has stretch marks, and that is okay with me. I prefer to have those tender feelings and to honor anyone who may have had a conflict with me, as well. This ministerial road is not for the faint of heart but for the fervent of soul, and that is whether we are in buildings, on the internet, traveling about the world, or seeking rest and repose. A minister is a minister no matter the circumstance, and we do well to flow with each change of scenery and every type of activity.
The models of ministry have changed over the past forty-three years, as well, and I have come to appreciate and embrace the cooperative, consensus-driven type of teamwork with the leadership of each community, unlike the benevolent-but-decisive minister-in-charge approach with which I grew up. Inviting God to be in charge, we gratefully employ the ego to become that finely-tuned instrument through which Spirit may flow with Grace and Power. My major lesson has been to trust the Infinite Wisdom within me to guide me confidently and successfully through each season of my life.

Spiritual Mind Treatment

Divine Mind, Powerful, Loving, and Wise, is the One Creative, Intelligent Life that acts upon Itself to bring all sentient beings into form. I am a beautiful, individualized expression of that Life, filled with the Mighty, Moving Power of God, and living in Its Perfect Flow.
My mind is clear, my heart is open, and I move with Grace in and through each valued change in my life, trusting my Inner Guidance, and delighting in the spiritual alchemy always at work within my consciousness.
Never resisting the forward impulsion that continuously shows me the way to the next sacred expression of my Authentic Self, I heed and obey its wise and loving call. Like the seasons, I live harmoniously with Life, honoring the balance in my world, as “God is a rest and a motion,” and I choose to “rest in reason and move in passion.”
Deeply thankful for my adventure in Spirit, I embrace and embody the truth of these words and now release them to the Perfect Law of Mind, confident that the Presence gives generously and the Law acts impeccably.
And so it is!

Rev. Dr. Maxine Kaye
Greater Philadelphia Center for Spiritual Living
Paoli, PA 19301

I am reminded today that our experience of life transforms when we remember and acknowledge that everything that happens is a gift from the Universe for our awakening. One incredible gift we’ve all been given is the gift of being able to release our fear, the gift of the possibility of a life without limits, a life where we have the freedom and the power to release and let go of the distorted thinking that no longer serves us.

In Living the Science of Mind, Ernest Holmes wrote:
The sun may be shining even while we persist in standing in a dark basement. The manna may be falling but we refuse to gather it. Now we must come out of our basement of despair into the sunshine of Truth, into the warmth and color of Divine recognition, the instantaneous awareness of the Allness of Good.

I have gone through my dark times, especially with what I’m meant to do as a minister. What’s mine to do? Am I using the unique gifts with which I’ve been blessed? Am I singing the song that only I can sing, making the difference that’s mine to make? I often grow discouraged when confronted with these questions. I currently serve as a staff minister at my Center, leading our Youth & Family Ministry. In connection with this role, I’ve often felt I’m in a dark basement. I wonder how man of us do, stuck in the darkness, complaining, maybe, or sad or discouraged or afraid, while outside the sun is shining with all its warmth and color and clarity. And it seems so real to us – our dark, fearful places, where people try to take advantage of us, where there’s not enough, where there’s illness and violence and fear. And it is real, but only as long as we stay there. The way up the stairs to the light is unlocked and ready, but it’s up to us to open the door and ascend the stairway.

Why are we so often afraid of letting go of what’s known? I’ve asked myself this question because the dark basement is all too familiar to me. Sometimes it seems we prefer the known to the unknown even if the known is wandering in the wilderness not knowing what we’re going to eat, or holding grudges, or blaming, or believing in lack. We overcome fear and accept freedom when we leave these things behind us, let them be buried in the waters of the Red Sea, as it were, when we leave the dark basement and go out into the light that’s been there all the time.

To live lives of meaning and passion and joy, we need to accept that there’s something else, that what we believe to be reality (the dark basement) is really only one small part of what’s there to be seen, and that we can leave it behind, releasing what no longer serves us, and by doing so, leave fear behind us as well.

Here’s one more thing I find I often need to remember: fear, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.  Fear is just the Universe’s way of letting us know there’s something we should pay attention to.  Noticing what we’re afraid of is like the warning light on your dashboard coming on.  This is not a bad thing – it’s a good thing, alerting you to the fact there’s a problem with your engine so you can do something about it.  The solution isn’t to cover up the warning light with duct tape so it won’t stress you to see it.  (Trust me, I’ve tried this and it doesn’t work.)  No, the solution is to pay attention, to find out what’s going on.  The warning light isn’t the problem; it’s alerting you to the underlying problem.

So, in our lives, if we’re feeling fearful in some area, this is just a signal alerting us to the fact that there’s an area in life where some serious work is needed.  Are we afraid we won’t have enough money to pay our bills or meet our commitments?  A warning light on the dashboard saying our abundance consciousness needs some work.  Maybe we need to seek or do treatment, take a class, read a book (or write one!), write and use affirmations, do an experiment.   Are you afraid you’ll never be in a place where you’re honored and accepted and where you can share your gifts?  Nothing wrong, maybe just the gift of a warning light alerting you to an area that needs work.   Does it sometimes seem you’re afraid of happiness, afraid to enter that Promised Land, afraid even to put your toes in the River Jordan?  Ah – a wakeup call.  Time for us to work on self-worth, self-care, self-love.  This is an ongoing challenge for all of us.  We need to recognize our gifts and be willing to shine.

So, let today be a day to consider the gift of freedom.  This is available to all of us if we’re willing to give up our fears, if we’re willing to accept the good that’s spread before us like the abundant manna was for the wandering Israelites, and if we’re willing to enter, if even only occasionally, the Promised Land of happiness, bliss, and joy.

 CELEBRATE TRANSFORMATION

In this season of miracles and new beginnings, this season when we remember and celebrate the experience of coming forth from the dark confines of a cave into the light and love of a garden in full bloom, we celebrate transformation.  As the man we know as Jesus brought sight to the blind, we open our eyes to the light, accepting new ways of seeing and experiencing life.  We leave behind that which is inconsistent with the truth of who we are.  We step forth into our power and our truth.

As children delight in the excitement of finding unexpected gifts (and  colored eggs!) where they least expect them, we remember to keep looking, to continue seeking, to know, regardless of appearances, that wonders surround us, that there is a magnificent flower inside that small dot of a dark seed, a vibrant, colorful butterfly inside the confining chrysalis that appears at first glance to be only a dried husk, a God-self within each of us.

            Today we know the truth.  If we are in our “cave-time,” we celebrate that as well, welcoming a time for silence and going within.  If we are in our bursting-out time, we joy in this.

We accept the gifts that surround us, knowing and accepting our Good.  We show up in love, giving and receiving freely, knowing all is well.

And so it is and so we let it be.

Rev. Claire Summerhill

A few years ago, during the presidential campaign, a theologian’s statement about God caused the press to sit up and take notice. For days, the media harped on several of –what they called — the minister’s negative statements. But most striking to me was what he said in one of his televised sermons, “We treat people according to our concept of God.” He didn’t go deeply into what he meant, but because I am a student of the Science of Mind the statement caught my attention. As I mused over the statement, a simple way to look at it came to mind: our concept of God either limits us or frees us.

A traditional religious concept of God is that He determines our destiny. We have nothing to do with it; our life and all our experiences are foreordained. The belief is that God is a powerful King in the sky. He rules from a distance. He is a jealous, angry and vengeful ruler and only sometimes, if we figure out what He wants and obey the command, he is a loving father. But we must always beg for his attention. We may never really succeed in getting our desire fulfilled because he is too busy for someone unimportant like us, but we try anyway. We must beseech Him to do something for us if it is His will. If we aren’t granted our wish, we may never have that thing in our life that we desire because it isn’t God’s will and we don’t have the power to get it for ourselves. The whole reason to worship this kind of God is not to create a life we’d like to live but to prepare us to spend eternity in this kingdom called Heaven.

The Science of Mind teaches us that God in me, as me, creates my destiny by way of my thoughts, by the consciousness that I have developed. God is the one and only Creative Power that is both within and without us. It’s everywhere. It is the power that creates everything. Communicating with this God is through our own mind and cultivating acceptance of what is already available to us in idea as potential. So, yes, there is plenty for us to do, but we do it without begging or beseeching. We learn to identify with this Creative All-Presence, state our desire, acknowledge that Its Creative Principle is not only listening but is doing something about it. We let go of it and allow the Creator to do Its work. Science of Mind removes the fear that God isn’t listening to us. WE are listening to us, because God in us, is us and because we understand that we are co-creators with God. Through Spiritual Mind treatment we begin to develop the consciousness of our desire as already real, already done. This realization opens us up to accept that the good we desire is already in the process of unfolding.

Yes, today both these concepts of God exist side by side. The question then for us is: which concept binds you? Which concept frees you? You have the freedom to choose. Make your choice today and create the destiny you desire. Live in Heaven here and now.

I DETERMINE MY DESTINY

As an individualization of Infinite Mind, the only Universal Cause, I am self-governed. I determine my destiny. I realize that due to my Divine Nature I have all the wisdom I require at every moment to create a joyful life. I am one with Infinite Mind. This means that I look to It and It alone for my health, my self-expression, for my purpose in life, for healthy relationships and abundance. I declare that my good is always appearing, and though it comes through human channels, my good always begins with my word. I speak my word now for the good I desire, and I expect it. I commit all my words and actions to creating a healthy, abundant and joyful life. Every good that I require appears at the exact right time. I believe in myself; I believe in my good. I accept it and I give thanks for it. And so it is.

Affirmation: My good is always appearing

Rev. Joan McCall
Author of “The Science of Mind Way to Success, Wealth & Love”- published by Devorss & Co.
Phone:: 310 657 0682 email: joanmccall135@sbcglobal.net

We always seek the opinions of other ministers in our movement, and encourage you to write a article about your experiences as a new Science of Mind minister. If you are interested, please review the Submission Guidelines, and submit your article to Rev. Myrna Hirst. Thank you for your interest. Please know we reserve the right to edit all submissions if necessary.