Spiritual Living Podcast

As we begin to do church around the purpose of transforming lives instead of doing church around the purpose of feeling better about ourselves, we in the community begin to feel a greater sense of empowerment, partnership, and ownership. This week, the Centre's transformation coach, Dr. Gary Simmons, visits to teach us how to not be triggered when we're judged. Knowing how is not enough to begin practicing not being triggered when someone judges us. We need to know why we should not be triggered. Right now we're living in a story of separation. But we're shifting into a world of inter-being, a shift to a context of wholeness, of oneness. When we are being judged, here is what we say: Tell me more. Why? Because the judgement is not about us. And we may find that behind every judgement is the gift of the revelation of an unmet need. But to get there, we need to stand in the place of "Tell me more."

This week, Dr. Patrick previews the upcoming weekend Genogram activity with Dr. Gary Simmons that will happen at the Centre. The Centre and its ministry has a history and thus a pain body. The purpose is to identify the unconscious patterns that drive or run our ministry when we are not conscious, as well as those patterns and the unintended consequences of the current way we do ministry in the minister-centric practice. We then seek to answer: Who did we come here to be? Why does the Centre exist? There are states of being and stages of being. A feeling of oneness is a state, and how we view it will be coloured by our stage of development. Limitation and poverty are not things but are the result of restricted ways of thinking. We are surrounded by a Subjective Intelligence which receives the impress of our thought and acts upon it. This natural Law in the Mental World is neither good nor bad. It can only be said of It that IT IS, and that we may consciously use It. The Law is a law of reflection; for Life is

We have within us a Power that is greater than anything we shall ever contact in the outer. A power that can overcome every obstacle in our lives and set us safe, satisfied, and at peace, healed and prosperous in a new light, in a new life. We've fallen asleep and gotten caught up in the outer. But waking up is so beautiful and wonderful. We do this by working to our edge, to the limits that we've reached previously. Mind, all Mind, is right here. It is God's Mind, God's creative power, God's creative life. We have as much of this Power to use in our daily life as we can believe in and embody. Let us heal our sense of separation. Let us stop listening to the mind and start listening to the heart. Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. -- Joseph Campbell

Service is: Giving to others, service to self, being a presence, compassion, being unselfish, doing something for others without expecting reward or gain, helping without expectation, and helping people when they are unable to complete a task for themselves. Being in service to others reminds us of our humanity. It's a chance to share our life experience with others and to realize that we are not so unique. It helps us to feel better about ourselves, and to feel better about our world. It is our opportunity to share our goodness with others. At the end of life, what really matters is not what we bought but what we built, not what we got but what we shared, not our competence but our character, not our success but our significance. Live a life that matters. Live a life of love.

This week, guest speaker Nadene Rogers teaches about never giving up but always giving over. On the theme of surrender, we learn how to let go of our identity to find ourselves, to let go of the roles we play and the masks that we wear. We give ourselves over to who we are being and how we are feeling and what we are thinking in every moment. We give ourselves over to that which is so much bigger than we are. We need to embrace our humanity to know our divinity.

This week, Dr. Patrick teaches from the ideas of Shariff Abdullah and his work for societal transformation. There are three stories that are alive on the planet. The first story is the Keeper Society, who live in harmony with all of life. They are the indigenous people on the planet. The second story is the Breaker Society. These are the ones "creating a world that is best for me". They predict and control. They represent separation. The third story is the Mender Society, who create a world that works for everyone. They embody the unitive consciousness, the idea of One Life, One Presence, and One Power. Keepers say, "Earth is Abundant." Breakers say, "There is never enough." Menders say, "Abundance needs our help."

In the system of Spiral Dynamics, the first tier is all about action. In the second tier, the theme is being. And as we move into the second tier, into yellow, we begin evolving from separation to inter-being. To facilitate this evolution, we accept what is, we honour what has been, and we understand that our actions may not shift things immediately. We must take heart that others are answering the call and are taking action to be part of this paradigm shift.

Guest speaker Elizabeth Manuel speaks about the important link between prayer and happiness. Prayer is not an act of overcoming God's reluctance, but should be an act of acceptance of Its highest willingness. Through prayer, we recognize a Spiritual Law and put ourselves in alignment with it. Prayer is constructive, because it enables us to establish closer contact with the fountain of wisdom, and we are less likely to be influenced by appearances around us or to judge according to experience.

Guest speaker Rev. Patrick Harbula speaks about living for the joy of it. Life is not just something to be endured. It is to be lived in joy, in a fullness without limit. We have a song to sing, we have a joy to bring to the world, and love and peace and happiness. Joy is not the opposite of sadness (that's happiness). Joy is an ever-present pervasive spiritual quality. A deep inner peace. A connectivity. As long as we don't resist life's experiences, we get to experience joy all the time.

Continuing his teaching on the Spiral Dynamics framework of human evolution and change, Dr. Patrick discusses the mechanisms behind the emergence of a new paradigm. Each paradigm shift is a reactive, adaptive response to the inadequacies of the previous world view. Namely, our move from survival to shamanic thinking, to tribalism, to individual warrior consciousness, to the rule of law, to innovation and democracy, to meaning and balance, etc. First-Tier thinking is about sourcing our well-being and comfort from outside of ourselves. The Second Tier is where we can appreciate healthy aspects of each perspective and find ways to communicate with all the world views, regardless of whether we agree with their actions or not. It is about growing up and waking up. Growing up is when we stop being a victim. Waking up is when we begin to recognize the One Life that is All.

Our youth, returning from summer camp, share their stories of transformation and personal self-empowerment through shadow work and re-cognizing their self worth while being fully supported in a loving, intentional community of others.

There's a power for good in the Universe, available to everyone, and we can use it. Dr. Patrick continues introducing Spiral Dynamics, a system that looks at the patterns of cultures. The first tier is about doing. The second tier is about being. This week, Dr. Patrick covers the Second Tier. There is not a process of adjusting reality to the conditions that need to be changed, but of adjusting the condition that needs to be changed to a reality that already exists. In other words, we don't need to fix anything, we need to evolve into something.

Enlightenment is not about magic. It is about seeing clearly. In this week's talk, Dr. Patrick introduces the First Tier of Spiral Dynamics, a system that looks at the patterns of cultures. The first tier is about doing. The second tier is about being.

Life mirrors back to us what we are. Our consciousness precedes our experience. So are we keeping our commitments? Do we expect the Universe to behave any differently towards us? In the practice of the Power of Eight, we "power up" through the heart connection. We are energetically connected, and when we set an intention as a group, doing so through unconditional love, we step into the Mystery and into the Unknown. This allows the Power That Creates Worlds to do Its work in us and through us, making miracles happen. We have a miraculous power within us waiting to be released. -- Lynne McTaggart

What is a miracle? According to Einstein, a miracle is "spooky action at a distance". Virtual entanglement: We are connected whether we realize it or not. For every action that we take, even if no one witnesses it, it matters. Every action matters. Caring for one another is caring for ourselves. Praying for one another takes us out of the spin of ourselves. There is miraculous power that we hold inside to heal our own lives that gets unleashed ironically the moment we stop thinking about ourselves. Our internal state is very important in this process. When we hold an intention---the perceiving power of the mind---and link it with kindness and caring, we access the ability to shape substance. And when we get out of our stuff---and with altruism, compassion, and genuine concern for another---when we get into that space and send others positive intention, we open the door to healing, both ours and theirs. Miracles abound in this story of inter-being.

What is a miracle? A miracle is an event or an action that apparently contradicts scientific law. Dr. Patrick introduces Lynne McTaggart's The Power of Eight, a book that looks at harnessing the miraculous energies of the small group to heal others, to heal our lives, and the world. This books documents the transformative and miraculous changes that have taken place through the power of group intention and offers very compelling evidence of the power of the mind.

Parenting oneself---the creative process by means of each one of us---is never-ending. So it is today on Mother's Day that we celebrate the part of us that is the feminine face of God, because that is in fact the creative part of thought, the thought process that puts whatever ideas we might have into form. The idea from Stoicism known as Amor Fati represents the immense power of learning to love our fate. Amor Fati is to not only accept everything that life brings us---good or bad---but to love it, to embrace it, and to revel in it. It has all come for us, so that we can look at it and heal it, and not stay stuck. Epictetus said, "Don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would. But rather, wish that everything happens as it actually will, and then your life will be serene."

The divine impulse is always to grow---to evolve and change. Periods of dormancy are normal, but when we cling to the past and refuse to grow, we stagnate. Every moment is our opportunity to challenge ourselves to awaken to a new experience, to transform and be the best version of ourselves.

Life is an adventure in which we never know what is going to happen just beyond the turn of the road. But too often our today is filled with regrets over the past. If we could convince ourselves that the limitations of the past need not be carried into the future, what a happy outlook we should have. Today is the only day in which we live. And yesterday has forever passed. The change that we need to make within ourselves must be made today. We have to live each day as though it were complete and perfect unto itself. We have to live each day as if all the Joy in the Universe were ours now. If we make every day a day of praise and thanksgiving, a day in which we recognize the Divine Bounty and the Eternal Goodness, and if we live today as though God were the only Presence and the only Power there is, we would not have to worry about tomorrow. Jesus did not seem to think that this change required months and years of strenuous effort. Unlike those around him, he knew that God, or the Divine Spirit, wishes only go

How old is old? And when does a person get too old to enjoy life? Could a person be as young at 80 as he is at 18? Some of the scientific minds today are telling us that while time exists, age does not. That, in reality, time is not a way of measuring years and months and days, but rather, a measure of experience in a limitless life. God's Mind is the only mind there is. And God is eternal. The whole proposition in this we believe because God lives in us and we are able to think because the Mind of God lives in us.