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May 24, 2015 – Out Breath of God –– Silence & Pooh

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05/24/15 Rev. David McArthur
Out Breath of God –– Silence & Pooh

Last week we talked about the in breath of God—breathing in powerful presence and connection with who and what we really are: divine love on this journey of human experience. “Love fills me now. I am love.” The out breath, the other part, is the complete letting go, the entry into silence, stillness, the void, the empty.

Lao Tzu wrote, “Look, and it can’t be seen. Listen, and it can’t be heard… You can’t know it, but you can be it…” From the Koran: “Unable to find answers… [Muhammad] betook himself to the stillness of the desert…” For part of his awakening, Jesus, too, took himself to the desert, where there is nothing. That’s a symbol for meditation.

In the story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee, the wind is our thoughts that come up; the waves our emotions. The crossing of the sea is movement into the subconscious. The disciples represent our growing turmoil as fear comes up. Jesus awakening represents the conscious connection to the divine. Jesus rebuked the wind (the thoughts ceased) and the water (emotions) calmed. Jesus was in the moment, the stillness, holding the divine consciousness.

I really like how the book of Pooh tells it. Pooh, humming, is walking along on a beautiful morning. He joins Rabbit and finds good food and company, but is a good bit rounder afterward and he got stuck in the hole to Rabbit’s place as he was leaving. Just like Pooh and the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, we get full of our own stuff. We get stuffed. We get stuck!

After much unsuccessful effort, Pooh and Rabbit decide to summon Christopher Robin (who is the Christ bearer; he’s a symbol of that spiritual nature within us which is connected, of that flow of divine power within us). Christopher Robin decided to read to Pooh for a week. Then he’d be thin enough to get unstuck. Pooh concentrated only on Christopher Robin. The story doesn’t tell us the content of the book. When you meditate it isn’t about content; it’s about being there. It’s about letting go little by little of all the stuff. Just Pooh and Christopher Robin being there together. No thought.

At the end of the week Pooh was freed! That’s what we want—to be free of all that stuff we don’t need. To be free and go through our lives humming. We spend a lot of time here preparing in mindful study and I find that for those who reach for silence it is easier.

Through this week put the in breath of God together with the out breath: I am love. Peace, be still. Even if it’s just a minute or five minutes, or an hour. I am love. Peace, be still. I am love. Peace, be still. I am love. Peace, be still. And as he so often does, Christopher Robin left Pooh thinking, “silly old bear!” I wonder if the divine ever thinks that of us!

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May 17, 2015 – The In Breath of God

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05/17/15 Rev. David McArthur
The In Breath of God

We talked before about spiritually filling ourselves up and we can then give from the overflow. One way is the in breath of God. How do we let this beautiful Spirit fill us? Well, what touches us most is feeling the presence of God; the Presence as love fills us. It comes back to a simple experience, that God is Love.

From First John, “ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God… because God is love.” Not “God loves”, but “God is love.” In the Hindu writings, Krishna says, “Give all your love to me. Fill your mind with me; love me; serve me; worship me always. Seeking me in your heart, you will at last be united with me.” And Jesus said to love god with all your heart, your soul, your mind. That’s the work, the in breath.

Now how do we actually let that love be there and fill us? Love is an uplifting feeling but it’s so hard to get to when we are empty. It’s the last thing we think of, when we’ve tried everything else. When I want to feel good there is something that always makes me feel better—CHOCOLATE! You may not have known that chocolate is a doorway to God. Just touch the memory. The smell! The flavor! The feel! Just experience it. There never was anyone who said chocolate is awful. Who’d have thought that it’s so simple. That’s step one—feeling good. Get out of the “awful” feeling. Then you can touch some of those experiences where you actually feel love.

Recently on retreat, I found when I wanted to go from feeling good to the experience of love, I would go to the experience of my mother. I had a wonderful mother. Or you might recall your childhood best friend, or a grandchild. Feel their presence in your life. Then let them go, but continue to feel the love. Just breathe love. Breathe God. Breathe that connection with all of life—that love—the true nature of who we each really are!

One evening at the retreat the sunset was so beautiful, just reaching the point where it was breaking into all the colors. I went to the meditation room where I could see it across Monterey Bay. A nun there smiled and spoke, “My brother recently passed and I came up here to be with him, and I can feel your love for him.” And I could feel her love for him and I also felt his love for her. My heart opened. But then it was no longer about her or him. I could just be there in the love, breathing that love.

But your mind wants to come back in. It is so infinitely creative with all kinds of distractions. So just bring it back and affirm, “Love fills me now. I am love.” I went back to my opened heart. Love fills me now. I am love. That’s how we fill ourselves to overflowing: Love fills me now. I am love.

May 17, 2015 – The In Breath of God

by

05/17/15 Rev. David McArthur
The In Breath of God

We talked before about spiritually filling ourselves up and we can then give from the overflow. One way is the in breath of God. How do we let this beautiful Spirit fill us? Well, what touches us most is feeling the presence of God; the Presence as love fills us. It comes back to a simple experience, that God is Love.

From First John, “ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God… because God is love.” Not “God loves”, but “God is love.” In the Hindu writings, Krishna says, “Give all your love to me. Fill your mind with me; love me; serve me; worship me always. Seeking me in your heart, you will at last be united with me.” And Jesus said to love god with all your heart, your soul, your mind. That’s the work, the in breath.

Now how do we actually let that love be there and fill us? Love is an uplifting feeling but it’s so hard to get to when we are empty. It’s the last thing we think of, when we’ve tried everything else. When I want to feel good there is something that always makes me feel better—CHOCOLATE! You may not have known that chocolate is a doorway to God. Just touch the memory. The smell! The flavor! The feel! Just experience it. There never was anyone who said chocolate is awful. Who’d have thought that it’s so simple. That’s step one—feeling good. Get out of the “awful” feeling. Then you can touch some of those experiences where you actually feel love.

Recently on retreat, I found when I wanted to go from feeling good to the experience of love, I would go to the experience of my mother. I had a wonderful mother. Or you might recall your childhood best friend, or a grandchild. Feel their presence in your life. Then let them go, but continue to feel the love. Just breathe love. Breathe God. Breathe that connection with all of life—that love—the true nature of who we each really are!

One evening at the retreat the sunset was so beautiful, just reaching the point where it was breaking into all the colors. I went to the meditation room where I could see it across Monterey Bay. A nun there smiled and spoke, “My brother recently passed and I came up here to be with him, and I can feel your love for him.” And I could feel her love for him and I also felt his love for her. My heart opened. But then it was no longer about her or him. I could just be there in the love, breathing that love.

But your mind wants to come back in. It is so infinitely creative with all kinds of distractions. So just bring it back and affirm, “Love fills me now. I am love.” I went back to my opened heart. Love fills me now. I am love. That’s how we fill ourselves to overflowing: Love fills me now. I am love.

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May 10, 2015 – The Forgotten Woman

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05/10/15 Rev. Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
The Forgotten Woman

I remember that Moses’ mother put him in a basket in the reeds of the Nile because the pharaoh had dreamed he’d lose his throne to someone just born, so he ordered the slaughter of all newborns. I thought about all those mothers who lost their firstborn, and how they have been forgotten. I thought of all types of forgotten women. The first is our Mother God, the Divine Feminine. God was always “Father” until I got to Unity. Being raised that masculine was better than feminine meant as a girl I couldn’t be powerful or win at monopoly. I learned that I had to dumb down. I was told to let the boys win most of the time.

Later when I came to Unity, I studied “Mother, Father, God”. I read in the Bible where “God created them male and female.” We are all created both male and female because the two sets of characteristics are necessary. For example, in healing, masculine seeks out healing modalities and administers them. Female sets up systems of care, nurturing, and support, and both together create wholeness, healing, balance.

It is essential to wholeness that the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine work together to create balance for our lives and our world. The way to do this is to align with her. There is another forgotten woman: Mother Earth. We have not cared or nurtured or sustained her. To bring wholeness and balance, align with the feminine Earth.

Then there is the forgotten feminine aspect of our men. When they’re small, they are told not to play with a doll, “don’t cry”, “be a man.” That which makes them whole and nurturing to their women, we take from them. We need them to align with the Divine Feminine.

And in women, the forgotten woman is our lost selves, the aspects of ourselves that we put away to gain money and power. Masculine-ized to function in the world, we put our Divine Feminine away. When the masculine and feminine work together it is maximum power!

So what is our role? To be aware as we move through our lives and function in the workplace and raise our children, to balance masculine and feminine in ourselves. When we can align masculine and feminine in equal power, what a wonderful world!

The process is to go to your heart. Let kindness, tenderness, gentleness, and love wash over you like a warm bath. “Mother, please come. Let the light within shine like the sun. Let my heart expand to hold everyone. Mother please come.” For the next 30 days (the “3” represents triad, synthesis, the trinity, completeness. The “0”: eternity, infinity, oneness, wholeness) join us as we hold this for each other together, calling forth the Divine Mother. Thank you!

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May 10, 2015 – The Forgotten Woman

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05/10/15 Rev. Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
The Forgotten Woman

I remember that Moses’ mother put him in a basket in the reeds of the Nile because the pharaoh had dreamed he’d lose his throne to someone just born, so he ordered the slaughter of all newborns. I thought about all those mothers who lost their firstborn, and how they have been forgotten. I thought of all types of forgotten women. The first is our Mother God, the Divine Feminine. God was always “Father” until I got to Unity. Being raised that masculine was better than feminine meant as a girl I couldn’t be powerful or win at monopoly. I learned that I had to dumb down. I was told to let the boys win most of the time.

Later when I came to Unity, I studied “Mother, Father, God”. I read in the Bible where “God created them male and female.” We are all created both male and female because the two sets of characteristics are necessary. For example, in healing, masculine seeks out healing modalities and administers them. Female sets up systems of care, nurturing, and support, and both together create wholeness, healing, balance.

It is essential to wholeness that the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine work together to create balance for our lives and our world. The way to do this is to align with her. There is another forgotten woman: Mother Earth. We have not cared or nurtured or sustained her. To bring wholeness and balance, align with the feminine Earth.

Then there is the forgotten feminine aspect of our men. When they’re small, they are told not to play with a doll, “don’t cry”, “be a man.” That which makes them whole and nurturing to their women, we take from them. We need them to align with the Divine Feminine.

And in women, the forgotten woman is our lost selves, the aspects of ourselves that we put away to gain money and power. Masculine-ized to function in the world, we put our Divine Feminine away. When the masculine and feminine work together it is maximum power!

So what is our role? To be aware as we move through our lives and function in the workplace and raise our children, to balance masculine and feminine in ourselves. When we can align masculine and feminine in equal power, what a wonderful world!

The process is to go to your heart. Let kindness, tenderness, gentleness, and love wash over you like a warm bath. “Mother, please come. Let the light within shine like the sun. Let my heart expand to hold everyone. Mother please come.” For the next 30 days (the “3” represents triad, synthesis, the trinity, completeness. The “0”: eternity, infinity, oneness, wholeness) join us as we hold this for each other together, calling forth the Divine Mother. Thank you!

May 3, 2015 – Secret to Greater Spiritual Growth

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05/03/15 Rev. David McArthur
Secret To Greater Spiritual Growth

I saw how my parents grew by sharing with others what was valuable to them. Every time we give spiritual support to another we open ourselves to spiritual growth. When I was drawn to Unity, I found it was all right to be appreciative of different ways to grow. But it was a while before I could share because I carried pain from my experiences. I had to heal. So often the first inflow of spiritual energy goes to healing. I had to fill to overflowing before I could share. That’s when it becomes the instrument of our growth. It’s a spiritual truth. It must happen. That beautiful flow through us is a principle which always works. This overflowing energy draws to us those who are quickened by it (but there are those in our lives we know not to share it with).

Jesus spoke this truth: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” He was not so much teaching as sharing a truth, and it’s more about the attitude you use is the attitude it will be given to you.
Lao Tsu, “If you want to be given everything give everything up.” When we give beyond ourselves, when we give up “it’s mine”, we open to the flow. “To be lived by the Tao,” the divine presence, is to be living by what’s most important to us. Then can we be taken to who we really are. Every time we give we give to ourselves.

Walking aimlessly in Reno, Sherry Maddox was awed by an astounding sunset. She wanted to share it, but everyone just shuffled by. So she grabbed a saleslady just inside a store and insisted she step out to see the sunset. They looked for several seconds when Sherry said, “God is in his heaven and all’s right with the world.” A few years later, divorced and living in a trailer park, Sherry was doing her laundry in the laundry room. She picked up a Unity magazine and read a story by a saleslady that had been pulled out into the street in Reno to see a gorgeous sunset. The lady wrote that the truth that was shared with her turned her life around. That turned Sherry’s life around! It comes back!

It’s a heart commitment, not with everyone, but those who value it. I share freely and I receive joyously! I share freely and I receive joyously! I share freely and I receive joyously! It comes back! What a way to live! It unfolds again and again. We really are one, and we know who we are giving to. What a delightful way to live!

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May 3, 2015 – Secret to Greater Spiritual Growth

by


05/03/15 Rev. David McArthur
Secret To Greater Spiritual Growth

I saw how my parents grew by sharing with others what was valuable to them. Every time we give spiritual support to another we open ourselves to spiritual growth. When I was drawn to Unity, I found it was all right to be appreciative of different ways to grow. But it was a while before I could share because I carried pain from my experiences. I had to heal. So often the first inflow of spiritual energy goes to healing. I had to fill to overflowing before I could share. That’s when it becomes the instrument of our growth. It’s a spiritual truth. It must happen. That beautiful flow through us is a principle which always works. This overflowing energy draws to us those who are quickened by it (but there are those in our lives we know not to share it with).

Jesus spoke this truth: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” He was not so much teaching as sharing a truth, and it’s more about the attitude you use is the attitude it will be given to you.

Lao Tsu, “If you want to be given everything give everything up.” When we give beyond ourselves, when we give up “it’s mine”, we open to the flow. “To be lived by the Tao,” the divine presence, is to be living by what’s most important to us. Then can we be taken to who we really are. Every time we give we give to ourselves.

Walking aimlessly in Reno, Sherry Maddox was awed by an astounding sunset. She wanted to share it, but everyone just shuffled by. So she grabbed a saleslady just inside a store and insisted she step out to see the sunset. They looked for several seconds when Sherry said, “God is in his heaven and all’s right with the world.” A few years later, divorced and living in a trailer park, Sherry was doing her laundry in the laundry room. She picked up a Unity magazine and read a story by a saleslady that had been pulled out into the street in Reno to see a gorgeous sunset. The lady wrote that the truth that was shared with her turned her life around. That turned Sherry’s life around! It comes back!

It’s a heart commitment, not with everyone, but those who value it. I share freely and I receive joyously! I share freely and I receive joyously! I share freely and I receive joyously! It comes back! What a way to live! It unfolds again and again. We really are one, and we know who we are giving to. What a delightful way to live!

April 26, 2015 – Discover The Goodness

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04/26/15 Rev. David McArthur
Discover The Goodness

We speak and study the truth that divinity is omnipresent and absolute goodness. To step into it as our reality happens step by step. Then we have an experience where we wonder “where is God in all of this?”

When she was about 20, Susan got a German Shepherd she named Kisha, and they became best buddies. Kisha was bright and learned quickly and Susan could take her anywhere. Susan and Kisha began to teach dog training. Kisha loved the dramatic parts like playing a dog showing her teeth about to bite. But Kisha got mouth cancer and the pain made that difficult. Still she remained enthusiastic. Eventually even running and playing were painful and Kisha slowed down, but her enthusiasm still remained. When Susan had to finally release Kisha from her life of pain, the dog seemed to know what it was all about, and still there was complete trust. Kisha reached out her paw to Susan’s arm. Susan couldn’t see God in all this. Then Susan herself developed a tumor in her mouth. Later, cancer free for two years, she saw how there had been amazing goodness and love in Kisha’s experience to teach her that it was all goodness.

It is hard to see that goodness. Rumi wrote, “you dwell in this hall of images and illusion… Leave this house now and be silent.” We get caught up in what our brain sees as valid. The brain does not see the absolute goodness. So leave this “house”, this right/wrong, this duality. Say “God is Good All The Time!” Keep the mind silent. When we are able to take a hold of the divine goodness, the mind stills. Breathe that feeling. Be conscious of it. Breathe the goodness. The nature of the divine is wholeness. Our challenge is to step into it. Breathe goodness. “The light enters the darkness and fills all… You will have the Lord for an everlasting light… Greater than the day (sun) or the night (moon).” The Quran: “God is the light of the heavens and earth…like a …lamp within a crystal… Light upon light.”

The farther we go within we enter into light. That radiance within, the light of the heavens, the goodness within ourselves opening to infinite levels of expression. The wholeness is already given. Opening to this goodness we don’t know the form but are open to all possibilities, to infinite means of expression. It doesn’t mean there are no challenges. When we get to that place — It won’t work. I’m no good – God Is Good All The Time! God Is Good All The Time! All The Time God Is Good! When it really looks impossible, God is there. Take control of the mind. Let it be silent. Open. Breathe the goodness into your heart. That goodness is who you really are!

April 26, 2015 – Discover The Goodness

by

04/26/15 Rev. David McArthur
Discover The Goodness

We speak and study the truth that divinity is omnipresent and absolute goodness. To step into it as our reality happens step by step. Then we have an experience where we wonder “where is God in all of this?”

When she was about 20, Susan got a German Shepherd she named Kisha, and they became best buddies. Kisha was bright and learned quickly and Susan could take her anywhere. Susan and Kisha began to teach dog training. Kisha loved the dramatic parts like playing a dog showing her teeth about to bite. But Kisha got mouth cancer and the pain made that difficult. Still she remained enthusiastic. Eventually even running and playing were painful and Kisha slowed down, but her enthusiasm still remained. When Susan had to finally release Kisha from her life of pain, the dog seemed to know what it was all about, and still there was complete trust. Kisha reached out her paw to Susan’s arm. Susan couldn’t see God in all this. Then Susan herself developed a tumor in her mouth. Later, cancer free for two years, she saw how there had been amazing goodness and love in Kisha’s experience to teach her that it was all goodness.

It is hard to see that goodness. Rumi wrote, “you dwell in this hall of images and illusion… Leave this house now and be silent.” We get caught up in what our brain sees as valid. The brain does not see the absolute goodness. So leave this “house”, this right/wrong, this duality. Say “God is Good All The Time!” Keep the mind silent. When we are able to take a hold of the divine goodness, the mind stills. Breathe that feeling. Be conscious of it. Breathe the goodness. The nature of the divine is wholeness. Our challenge is to step into it. Breathe goodness. “The light enters the darkness and fills all… You will have the Lord for an everlasting light… Greater than the day (sun) or the night (moon).” The Quran: “God is the light of the heavens and earth…like a …lamp within a crystal… Light upon light.”

The farther we go within we enter into light. That radiance within, the light of the heavens, the goodness within ourselves opening to infinite levels of expression. The wholeness is already given. Opening to this goodness we don’t know the form but are open to all possibilities, to infinite means of expression. It doesn’t mean there are no challenges. When we get to that place—It won’t work. I’m no good— God Is Good All The Time! God Is Good All The Time! All The Time God Is Good! When it really looks impossible, God is there. Take control of the mind. Let it be silent. Open. Breathe the goodness into your heart. That goodness is who you really are!

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April 19, 2015 – Take A God Break

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04/19/15 Rev. David McArthur
Take A God Break

There is tremendous spiritual energy flowing into the Earth in this time. Things keep speeding up and that brings up our “stuff”—things that don’t reflect the spiritual beings that we are. It’s now time to heal our relationships and insecurities and the unenlightened parts of us. We have the tools and know what to do, but things comes faster and faster. The spiritual truth about handling this is to slow down and let this transformative energy in.

Jesus met each of his challenges by a change of his consciousness and went through baptism to receive greater spiritual energy. Then rather than party and celebrate, he went alone into the desert for forty days to be in this consciousness. The story of his inner struggle there is told as an argument he had with the devil. Each of the 3 times in the story that the devil challenged his greater consciousness, Christ shifts to the consciousness of the divine. He took a God break and took hold of his new consciousness. So take a God break when you are challenged, when someone at work or in the family brings up your “stuff”.

Ejaz Naqvi, in his book A Look Inside the Koran and the Bible, says that by far, the most repeated passages are those that are the most compassionate, the most merciful, and that it’s not just that God is compassionate, but the God is compassion. When we are in the expression of mercy we are in the divine consciousness.

Taoism says to go from duality to the divine consciousness. “The Tao doesn’t take sides, it gives birth to both good and evil. The Master doesn’t take sides, she welcomes both saints and sinners.” [and] “The Tao is like a bellows…the more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand. Hold on to the center.” Center in your heart; connect with the infinite.

So if you are talking of it (thinking), you are not there. This is how: empty your mind for 30 seconds. Did you still have thoughts? Well, that’s the way we are. But focus on the experience of what God is, on the presence of God—the feelings of compassion, love, and kindness. To really feel it, hug yourself! Breathe quiet compassion. When your stuff comes up, hug yourself. Feel the difference between the thinking and the feeling? It is more powerful to feel compassion than to think it. To be powerful and effective is to feel the power and presence of God. Take a God break. Hug yourself. Feel the compassion.

Breathe quiet compassion. 30 seconds will do it. That’s what we mean by slow down. Don’t be fixing things or figuring anything out then, but go slower. Everything you need is right there when your stuff comes up. Take a God break. Breathe quiet compassion. It’s a doorway to peace!

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