Archives for posts with tag: Ernest Holmes
« Older Entries

Metaphysical Maps

August 17, 2011 //
3

Today—the metaphor of the map, how we seek their guidance and a very basic metaphysical map of the Science of Mind and Spirit.

I love maps.  When I’m in a new city, one of the first things I do is pull out a map and orient myself to the layout of my new locale.  Online mapping websites and the map app on my iPhone are my frequent friends.  I know I’m not alone in my desire to understand where I am, where I want to go and the best route to get there.

Seems like we humans have always had an innate desire to map our surroundings.  Where we now employ talking GPS’s in our cars, I can still remember back in the day pulling into the gas station to look at the big map they had on the wall or buying the local foldout map that never quite seemed to have the ability to fold back up in its original condition.  I still find it amazing that early settlers of the American west set out in covered wagons with only minimal maps to guide them.  Yet they did have some maps – the rough approximations sketched out by those who first traversed the wilderness.  And what about those early ocean explorers from the middle of the last millennium?  Is it any wonder that one of their main tasks was mapping what they saw Read the rest of this entry »

Tags , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories Conscious Bridge Website, Featured Article, Positive Evolution, Spirituality

We Are Already All One

February 23, 2011 //
0

Next week I’ll be in San Diego participating as two organizations who teach “oneness” decide whether to become one. Over 50 years ago, the one group that taught Ernest Holmes’ Science of Mind philosophy divided into two groups. Operating for many years as the United Church of Religious Science and Religious Science International, they created their separate operational processes and developed their own cultures all while teaching the same beliefs.

In today’s article, we sprint through humanity’s evolutionary path in honor of these two groups (now known as the United Centers for Spiritual Living and the International Centers for Spiritual Living) for taking this important step. They are evolving to their next logical step, just as you and I are.

To begin this jaunt, let’s consider that there are two ways by which we humans come to experience life – peering inward and looking outward. Gazing externally has allowed us to develop the wonderful gift of science, a tool which allows us to make sense of the external world.

Science has looked back into the past and offered us conclusions about how we got where we are now. Although they cannot tell us why or how everything started, most scientists believe that at the beginning of the universe all matter was compressed into one very tiny spot. The familiar “big bang” exploded outward disbursing everything that had been one into the vast recesses of space.  From that moment that all substance moved apart, science suggests that all the physical laws that we have discovered that act upon this matter existed as well.

As matter expanded from its initial state of oneness, the laws of gravity, strong and weak nuclear forces and electromagnetism began guiding it into clumps which eventually became stars and planets. Planets with the right conditions saw the elements combine in a form of self cooperation to produce simple organisms.  Science says something called “life” emerged and it grew more and more complex as it followed processes that later we described as evolution and survival of the fittest.

Eventually evolution led to something called consciousness emerging within these more complex beings and ultimately one of them became so complex that it crossed a threshold into becoming conscious of its own consciousness –humanity was born. As humanity’s evolution continued, so did its development of both its ways of experiencing and understanding life – that is, peering inward and looking outward.

The outward empirical gaze of science has served us well, bringing increases in our standard of living, technological advances and greater understanding of our universe.  Yet this outward gaze also tends to reinforce a perception that we are separate and apart from one another. It calls our attention to our differences. It fosters our sense of competition.  And, it contributes to our dividing ourselves up by our dissimilarities, be they our different races, cultures, countries, religious or political beliefs – and sometimes even our different organizations who teach oneness.

But just as we can peer outward and gain understanding on our evolutionary path, we can also peer inward and gain equally valid insights. Mystics and sages have been looking inside via meditation and reflection for years and reporting back their discoveries – we are already one. They remind us, as does science, that we were born from oneness. At the depths of that inner awareness, they sense that in spite of outward appearances to the contrary, we are still one. They state with conviction that as we continue to evolve we will return to truly living from that oneness.

Interestingly, in our past knowledge was knowledge – we valued both inner and outer wisdom without distinction of its source.  Hundreds of years ago a great “split” put the physical world under the domain of science and left the world of the nonphysical – God, consciousness and so on – to be the concerns of religion/spirituality and philosophy.  Along the way, each developed their own processes and cultures.

In recent years, there has been a move to reunify our inner and outer ways of understanding the universe – an integration of science and spirituality.  This was certainly one aspect of Ernest Holmes’ work in the creation of the Science of Mind early in the 20th century.  Individuals such as Sri Aurobindo, Ken Wilber and others have made contributions to this aim in creating “integral” philosophies.

The melding of the outer and the inner approaches to understanding have offered some interesting insights.  For example, many now realize that observed evolution of physical life growing into more complex forms is mirrored by a similar evolution going on inside everything.  Many philosophers suggest (and mystics concur) consciousness is embedded in everything.  As physical life evolved in complexity so did the consciousness embedded within it.

Here’s how Ernest Holmes put it – ” Through eons of time life has been slowly climbing up the ladder of unfoldment to the present self-conscious state achieved in man.   Some degree of consciousness exists in everything because everything is some form of Spirit, and Spirit is Intelligence.  However, there are degrees of intelligence, or consciousness.  We often hear the expression, “Consciousness sleeps in mineral life, dreams in plant life, awakens in animal life, and comes to self-consciousness in man.”  Man, then, stands at the very peak of the evolutionary climb.  He is now a self-conscious individual which means that he not only knows, but knows that he knows.  He can think about his own consciousness, and he now has the power of choice – the very summit of life’s upward striving.  Evolution, through infinite ages, has done much for him.”

So in essence, our journey has always been one that follows the same path.  That path begins in unity, it wanders into the experience of separation, and when that sense of separation has served its purpose, it returns home to the unity from which it began.

Millions of years ago, Spirit-God-Consciousness began in oneness and cast itself out, splitting itself up and embedding itself into all of its creation and allowing itself the experience of separation.  Yet the forces that would lead us out of the wilderness of separation were embedded within us from the beginning – evolution.  Evolution has allowed both the outer expression and the inner consciousness to simultaneously grow– along the way experiencing greater complexity, greater levels of self cooperation, greater degrees of conscious awareness, greater involvement in directing the evolutionary process.  There appears to be a direction to the progression.  Where is it going?  As Holmes put it, “Evolution is the awakening of the soul to a recognition of its unity with the Whole.”  In other words, we are remembering that we are already one.

Hundreds of years ago, our ways of knowing began in oneness but humanity split them into science and spirituality.  We have allowed ourselves to believe that there are two separate ways of knowing – the outer and the inner.  The material successes of science has on the one hand contributed much to the quality of our life while on the other leading us to turn against ourselves in conflict as we believe ourselves separate.  Something within us says it is time to move beyond this duality.  The evolution of our understanding is reuniting in an integral viewpoint where we realize that everything is connected.  In other words, we are remembering that it’s already one.

Tens of years ago, the philosophy of Science of Mind began in oneness but our humanness allowed it to split into two organizations.  We have allowed ourselves to experience separation via different rules, different structures, different cultures – forging different relationships with different people.  Evolution has now brought us to the point where we realize that separation has served its purpose and now returns us home to the unity from where we began.  In other words, we are remembering that we are already one.

Some years ago, your essence born of the oneness came into physical form at the moment of your birth.  Your senses have allowed you to experience separation from everything that appears “out there” in the earth.  You have believed that you are different from others, that you are in competition with humanity, that competition and conflict are appropriate in this world of duality.  But forces and urges within you question this sense of division, pushing you to grow beyond it.  Evolution and love call you to a sense of connection with others – to truly know your unity.  In other words to remember that you are already one.

Blessings

Mark Gilbert

Tags , , , , , ,
Categories Featured Article, Spirituality

The World As Your Valentine!

February 12, 2011 //
0

Today, the topic is love.  Given our title, you probably know where I’m going – all we need is love, what the world needs now is love sweet love, can’t we all just love one another – that kind of thing – and ultimately you’re right but I would, uh, “love it” if you would play along!

Valentine’s Day Is Here!

But do you ever stop to wonder where it came from?  Here are some basic facts from Wikipedia – the day was created and named after an early Christian martyr named Saint Valentine around 500 CE.  There are questions as to whether this name represents one person or many martyrs.  One of these martyrs named Valentine died on February 14, hence our celebration on this date. 

Ironically, the early honoring of Valentine had nothing to do with romantic love – the earliest records of linking love to Valentine’s Day is found in the writings Chaucer in the late 1300s.  Some historians believe the link derived from ancient Roman fertility celebrations that went on around the same time.  Over the centuries, many people were called to strengthen this connection between love and holiday – and in the 19th century, the tradition of writing notes to one another grew into the 20th and 21st century big business of the greeting card companies!

What were your earliest memories of Valentine’s Day?  For me, I can still see my elementary school room where we had taped up decorated bags with our names on them to the chalk trays under the room’s blackboards.  The night before at home I had prepared all my Valentine cards to be delivered to my classmates.  This was a big deal to me.  At my mother’s urging, I prepared a card for everyone in my class.  The choicest cards from the box my mother had bought me were selected for the prettiest girls.  The absolute best card generally went to the girl that I had a secret crush on!  This was my one time of the year that I could safely profess my love, even if in a very subtle way.

At the chosen moment, our teacher would have us go around and deliver our Valentines into the other kid’s bags.  Later we retrieved our little mailboxes, retreated to our desk and opened our love notes.  I carefully read the cards from the pretty girls, especially “that one girl”, to decipher any clues that my affection was returned.  I carefully noted who in the class had not given me a card.  My worth, my lovable-ness, all being determined by the count cards and the subtle messages they contained.  Oh how these early messages became ingrained in us and gave us fodder for healing later!

As I grew up, Valentine’s Day got locked into a day to get gifts for my one girlfriend and eventually my wife.  Cards, flowers, candy and meals out were all purchased with the intention to say “I love you”.  At least, we hope that that intention is there!  I’ve talked to a lot of men where it sounded that their actions were more out of obligation than an intention of expressing love.  I have no doubt I probably slipped into this trap somewhere earlier in life, too.

What Is Love?

What exactly is this thing love which we claim to be professing?  So much has been said, written and sung about this topic – it has captivated us as long as there has been an “us”.  But I’m going to keep it simple here.

Most of us equate love with a human emotion somehow linked to desire for some person, thing or experience.  Most of us recognize there are different “levels” to our love.  I may love hot Apple pie, walking around Paris or a good movie.  Yet somehow that love is different than the love I feel for my dog, Harmony; my wife, Mary; my grown children – Melanie, Julie, Matthew, Glen, and Christian; or my grandchildren – Amelie, Cayla and Zoe.

I thought at the time that I loved that pretty little girl in my elementary school class.  I remember my first serious girlfriend and that intense out of control sense of love.  Along the path of life, I have felt “love” for many people.  That feeling has tended to mature a bit along the way.  The “life or death” intensity of “I love you, please love me or I am heartbroken” has shifted into a deeper care and concern over your happiness and the quality of your life.  I may still “want you to love” me, but I’m not going to die if you don’t and I can still care about you.  Bottom line is our sense of the experience of love shifts for most of us as we walk life’s path—it “evolves”.

Every once in a while, I bump into these people who exude a warmth and love that seems to extend from them out to everyone.  When I encounter these people, I want to be around them!  In fact, something in me wants to feel and exude the love that they do.  Something calls me to expand my feeling of love to more and more people.  Their experience of love seems to be the next step in how the maturing of my experience of it is moving.  Somehow love itself is calling me to love everyone.

Expanding Our Circle

I’ve written about this before – the natural progression of expanding our circle of care and concern to a broader number of people – moving from being egocentric (caring only about myself) to ethnocentric (caring about a widening circle of people who are like me – family, friends, share the same religion, share the same ethnicity, share the same country) to world centric (caring about everyone everywhere).  This is our evolutionary path ultimately.  We can deny it.  We can fight it.  We can avoid claiming it in this lifetime.  Yet I’m convinced this is where humanity is ultimately headed.

I’m not alone in that belief.  Many mystics and individuals who have combined spirituality and evolution have seen that truth including Ernest Holmes, Sri Aurobindo and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.  This path is also frequently referenced by philosopher Ken Wilber and integral theory.

One of my favorite quotes by de Chardin is “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”  If you’ve read Conscious Bridge for very long, you have probably heard me reference this quote before.

Upon first reading it, we may think that he is saying that if we could somehow hook electrodes up to humans and capture this power source called love, then we could somehow break our dependence on foreign oil and bring down our CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.  But that’s not exactly what he means.

In my opinion, de Chardin is reaching back into our past when humanity crossed a critical threshold in its evolution.  When we discovered fire is also when we discovered our ability to think and reason – we recognized that we were thinking – and with that ability came the power to manipulate the physical world.  We’ve been getting better at that ever sense as we “master the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity”.  Now we’re ready to kick it up a notch.

By turning inward, and harnessing this emotion that we call love, de Chardin is pointing us towards our next great leap in our collective evolution.  If somehow we can consciously direct our love rather than see it as an emotion which controls us, then we are “harnessing it”.  And, de Chardin reminds us we are harnessing this power “for God”– but please keep in mind that the God he describes is not the old myth of a bearded man sitting on a throne in the sky which is still fairly prevalent in our consciousness, but rather a God that is an energy, a power, a vast intelligence –”God” is in everything and everything is a part of “God”.

As we consciously choose to direct our love more and more, we let go of our sense of separation from one another and begin experiencing our unity, our oneness – in other words by our “harnessing our love” we expand our awareness of the fact that we are all part of “God”.  The more we can grow in that consciousness, the more we will be like those loving people I keep bumping into – if I can see beyond the veil of your story of your humanness from your time here on planet Earth and into your truth that you are this spiritual consciousness evolving in the same flowing ocean that I am, then how can I not love you!  In spite of outward appearances and our different earthly stories, we are the same!

Harnessing the Evolutionary Force of Love

Ultimately love at its highest level is not this emotion we feel, but an evolutionary force driving us to our highest potential.  De Chardin said, “Love alone can unite living beings so as to complete and fulfill them… for it alone joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth.”

Ernest Holmes said that love “is the great transforming Power, which brings everything into harmony.  It is the unifying Principle, the creative element, the motivating Power of all that is fine and noble in life.”  Aurobindo wrote, ” Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment.  It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.”  In were we not taught as kids that “God is love”?

So somehow each of us is called to journey in our awareness from an early learned sense of love being an emotion that simply arises inside us that is outside our personal control – to a new sense of love being a power that we can harness as we evolve, a power returns us into unity with spirit or God.  So how do we make that shift?  Here are some simple, but not necessarily easy steps:

  • Recognize that giving love is not dependent on receiving love.  I can still choose to love the little girl in my elementary class whether she gives me a card or not.  I can choose to love you no matter who you are and what you believe.  I don’t have to condone your behavior nor allow you to walk all over me, I can have healthy boundaries and disagree with your actions but still love you.
  • Recognize that I can always create an intention to love, it’s within my conscious choice.  Why are you and I giving those Valentine’s Day gifts?  The energy behind an intention of obligation tends to foster separation, an intention to express love moves us into unity.
  • Recognize that not only can I expand my circle of love to include more and more people – something inside me pushes me in that direction.  Most people regardless of their political or religious beliefs feel something in their hearts open towards people much different from themselves at certain moments.  Consider the Indian Ocean tsunami of a few years ago, the Haitian earthquake last year or the shooting in Arizona last month.  Much of the world’s attention has been focused on the events in Egypt these past couple of weeks.  Something inside of us connected the passion and excitement of Egyptians as they took steps to create a government that is responsive to their needs.  Our hearts opened as we watched their happiness unfold and celebrations erupt on the streets.  Forget politics for a moment – focus on that feeling within you that connected you with the Egyptians excitement.  That feeling can be controlled and expanded.  It is an evolutionary force connecting you with others!

So on this Valentine’s Day, make each of us be reminded to shift a little bit in our perception of love.  May we see the gift that this emotion has given us throughout our lives, how we may gain conscious control of this emotion and harness it for our personal growth, and how we may expand our love to encompass all – may we see the world as our Valentine.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Be Love!

Mark Gilbert

Tags , , , , , , , ,
Categories Conscious Bridge Website, Consciousness, Featured Article

These are a Few of My Favorite 2010 Things (Books)

December 27, 2010 //
0

It’s the end of the year and everyone is doing their lists of favorite things from this past year….no “top 10″ from me but I did want to take a moment and highlight some of my favorite books, films, web sites/blogs and anything else that comes up that I want to say “YES” to and why I see it being not only enjoyable but serving our collective growth….today a few books:

Walking Through Walls

This is the memoir of author, Philip Smith, and his account of growing up with a psychic father in the 1950s and 1960s.  Philip sent me a copy of his book after reading my blog and noting that I write about the Science of Mind, something his father studied many years ago.   His father, Lew Smith, who died in 1981, was way ahead of his time in his insights on alternative healing and diet…sort of a more modern Edgar Cayce in a way….consulting his pendulum and higher spirits for guidance..and that aspect of the book is interesting.  However,  it is the descriptions of the author and his youthful angst at wanting to have a normal life while living in a household with a mother who wants to be a member of high society and a father whose life shifts from being  an interior decorator to a psychic healer that makes this book special.  Imagine a father who knew everything that you did and gave you guidance from beyond… Mary and I read this book to each other at night and we frequently were laughing out loud…get ahold of a copy of this book, you won’t regret it!  

Millenium Trilogy

I don’t normally read a lot of fiction but on a long road trip from Denver to San Diego with my daughter, she plugged in the audio book of Stieg Larsson’s ”The Girl Who Played with Fire” (the second book in the three book series) to pass the time and I got hooked!  The only problem was we didn’t finish the book by the time we arrived and I had to go buy a copy!  So, I went back and read book one (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), reread and completed “Fire”, and then recently finished “The Girl Who Kicked up the Hornet’s Nest”.  All in all, a couple of months of great part time reading!  Great characters, great plots, mystery books you don’t want to put down.  The style reminded me a bit of Dan Brown’s work.  However, why I am mentioning the books here?  Because they have a  strong but odd female heroine in Lisbeth Salander who overcomes much in life to be her own person….a different hero in a journalist who seeks to ferret out misjustice and highlight it so we can all be better….and the backdrop of Swedish culture which for me served to shrink the world a little bit more.   The fact that Larsson wrote all 3 of these books and died before they were published….and now is one of the top selling authors of the past couple of years also adds a bit of human interest to the reads.  There is a reason these books are bestsellers….

The Power of How

A non-fiction work by Tom Stone who is teaching some simple techniques for healing issues of the ego, moving to a place of pure awareness and freeing yourself from the issues caused by self-sabotaging thoughts and habits.  The book is an easy read, the methods he teaches are simple…..and more importantly–they work!    Mary and I frequently reference his chart of 12 core dynamics which list the categories of all of our incorrect thinking and what the “flip side” of truth is behind them…..and I have taught his methods for touching pure awareness in a number of classes this past year with great success— people can do them so easily and get immediate benefits.  Check it out if you’re not familiar with the work.

UFOs–Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record

I wrote about this book when it came out earlier this year….but I feel compelled to mention it again….author Leslie Kean has written an unusual “UFO” book, one that does not venture into speculation.  She simply presents the facts and testimory of reputable witnesses and public records to show that there is something unusual going on here on planet Earth that is worth investigating.  If you are a person who cannot say the term “UFO” without snickering and holding negative judgment, I challenge you to read this book and not have that prejudice called into question.  Why is this phenomenon which has so much evidence in support that something is going on being dismissed as unworthly of scientific investigation?  Forget SETI, let’s put some resources into studying UFOs.

Discover a Richer Life

Disclaimer—yes, I am a Science of Mind minister and have a great fondness for the writings of mystic Ernest Holmes.  I have read and re-read many of his works and discover so many things that I didn’t catch the first time around.  I have grown from his books tremendously.  I have a lot of his out of print books, but this year one that I did not own was re-published, ”Discover a Richer Life” (original publication in 1961) and it quickly became my inspirational book for the year.  Although the book is fairly short and is comprised of a number of magazine articles Holmes wrote, each one is to be read and reflected upon….I took a lot of time reading and re-reading this book and have been recommending it left and right.  If you like Holmes, get a copy of this book.  If you are new to Holmes, although you would no doubt benefit from this book, you may want to read a more introductory book of his like  ”The Basic Ideas of Science of Mind” or “This Thing Called Life” first.

Ok, there’s a few of the books that I really enjoyed this year…..what were a few of yours?

Mark

Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories Bridge Building, Entertainment, Featured Article

Consciousness vs Awareness?

December 12, 2010 //
3

Someone posed a question the other day on a “list serve” I subscribe to which caused me to do some reflection….The question:  What is the difference between consciousness and awareness?  Although I posted my comments there, I thought I would bring it over here to the Bridge readers as well. I would love to hear your answer to the question as well.   Here’s my take…

Here’s the short answer:  Consciousness is the ground of all being, an essence, power and divine intelligence that is embedded in everything.  Awareness is both our personal perception of the level of consciousness within us and our use of it.

Here’s the commentary on the short answer:

The creator, creative force, God or whatever name you wish to give that which created All embedded Its essence in all of its creation.  That essence includes the power and intelligence of consciousness.  Everything contains consciousness, from the smallest particle on up to those entities with the most complexity such as humans.  Our evolutionary path has been driven by forces (among them love, allurement, and the synergy of being in relationship) that have brought about higher levels complexity.  As more complex entities emerged, they transcended but included the lower levels from which they came, and in that process embedded within themselves higher levels of consciousness.  In integral theory, each level is called a holon.

At each level of the evolutionary process, each entity had an “awareness” appropriate to its level of consciousness.  It may be hard for us to imagine what a rock’s or a plant’s or another animal’s “awareness” is like, but they each have their own personal perception and use of their consciousness appropriate for their level of development.  Humanity crossed an important threshold in its complexity such that its awareness moved into a level of “self-awareness” not available to lower levels.  In other words, we know and know that we know. 

Here’s how Science of Mind creator Ernest Holmes put it so many years ago:   ”Through eons of time life has been slowly climbing up the ladder of unfoldment to the present self-conscious state achieved in man.   Some degree of consciousness exists in everything because everything is some form of Spirit, and Spirit is Intelligence.  However, there are degrees of intelligence, or consciousness.  We often hear the expression, “Consciousness sleeps in mineral life, dreams in plant life, awakens in animal life, and comes to self-consciousness in man.”  Man, then, stands at the very peak of the evolutionary climb.  He is now a self-conscious individual which means that he not only knows, but knows that he knows.  He can think about his own consciousness, and he now has the power of choice – the very summit of life’s upward striving.  Evolution, through infinite ages, has done much for him.”

So here we are at the summit and are becoming aware of the power of our thoughts.  And, the more and more we become aware of this power, we realize that we are a co-creator in the divine evolutionary process.  We can now look forward and upward to the even greater levels of complexity and higher levels of awareness that exist beyond us as individual humans.  With our understanding of the evolutionary process, we can now consciously move humanity towards these higher levels.

These higher levels call to us to release our sense of separation and to embody our sense of unity.  We include our uniqueness and our personalness and carry it with us as we transcend our current level of awareness and move into an awareness of oneness.

Here’s how Rumi put it, ““Originally you were clay.  From being mineral, you became vegetable.  From vegetable, you became animal and from animal, man.  During these periods man did not know where he was going, but he was being taken on a long journey nonetheless.  And you have to go through a hundred different worlds yet.  There are a thousand forms of mind.”

And it gives meaning to these quotes from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: ” Driven by the forces of love, the fragments of the world seek each other so that the world may come into being. Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves.” and ” Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

Blessings,

Rev Mark Gilbert

www.consciousbridge.com

Tags , , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution

Every Week is Peace Week!

September 20, 2010 //
0

This is peace week according to my calendar.  September 21 is the United Nations International Day of Peace. A lot of folks are doing a lot of good work to try to shift our thinking this week so that our consciousness might move us closer to a lasting peace among humanity.

Here’s just a sampling of events this week:

At noon (your time) on September 21 via a multi-faith movement, we are all called for a moment of prayer in the form of prayer to which you are comfortable.  I say, if for some reason you miss that specific time, you can still hold a moment of prayer.  Just consider it part of the eternal now.  Here’s the details on this project for a “million minutes” for peace.

The Peace Alliance and the Shift Network are co-hosting a week long a “global telesummit” for building a culture of peace.  They’ve got lots of great speakers, you can sign up and hear them and its all free.  Lots of great organizations have signed on as partners in this event.  Here’s the details on this.

World leaders are meeting this week in New York to discuss our progress towards meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.  Although not specifically a “peace event”, we all know that by meeting these goals we will be raising the standard of living and increasing the chance to live a safe and productive life for millions of people around the planet–and that success will move us in the direction of peace.  Here’s the link to what’s happening.

There’s lots more going on to raise our awareness of peace this week, go use your googling skills if you want to see more.  You might even discover other peace weeks as well…I say we can’t have too many peace weeks!

A comment on peace….

Almost all of us say we are “for world peace”.  We’ve heard the phrase so much that it has almost become a cliché, something beauty pageant contestants discuss during the oral questioning phase of the competition, something to satirize as “visualize whirled peas” on a popular bumper sticker….something to say “we are for” and then go on with our lives as if there is really nothing we can realistically do to bring about the peace we desire.

But if we truly are “for world peace”, then there is a lot we can do!  First off, realize that peace begins with you and it begins with me.  It begins inside us with our consciousness.  Therefore, let us be peaceful in all of our thoughts.  Let us be peaceful in all our interactions with others.  Let’s not take things so personally when someone does something that might upset us.  Let’s always look for ways to respond peacefully in all situations.  Let us “be peace”.  Let us “be love”.

And beyond that, think about other ways to “be peace”…..consider visiting the sites listed above and reading about peace.  Share this note with others and encourage them to read about peace.  Talk with others about peace.  Generate your own peace ideas! (I’d love to hear your thoughts!)  Get involved!

Oh, yeah…..and…..Pray for peace. Below is good prayer I like.

Peace!

Mark Gilbert

 

A Prayer for World Peace

by Dr. Ernest Holmes

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.
I know there is but One Mind, which is the mind of God,
in which all people live and move and have their being.
I know there is a divine pattern for humanity
and within this pattern there is infinite harmony and peace, cooperation, unity, and mutual helpfulness.
I know that the mind of humankind, being one with the mind of God,
shall discover the method, the way, and the means best fitted
to permit the flow of Divine Love between individuals and nations.
Thus harmony, peace, cooperation, unity, and mutual helpfulness are experienced by all.
I know there will be a free interchange of ideas, of cultures, of spiritual concepts, of ethics,
of educational systems and scientific discoveries – for all good belongs to all alike.
I know that, because Divine Mind has created us all,
we are bound together in one infinite and perfect unity.
I know that all people and all nations will remain individual but unified
for the common purpose of promoting peace, happiness, harmony, and prosperity.
I know that deep within each person the Divine Pattern of perfect peace is already implanted.
I now declare that in each person and in leaders of thought everywhere
this Divine Pattern moves into action and form,
to the end that all nations and all people will live together
in peace, harmony, and prosperity forever.
And so it is.

Tags , , , , , , , ,
Categories Featured Article, Politics, Uniting Nations

Seeing the Perfection in an Imperfect World

August 12, 2010 //
4

Things in the world show up based on the way we look at them.  The more we look at the imperfections of the world, the more imperfections we see.  The more we see things as perfect, the more the world shows us its state of perfection.

Our Challenge

One of the most difficult tasks for all of us is to turn our attention away from all the problems we see out in the external world and to focus our attention on our dreams of what we know is possible.  This is not a call to hide our heads in the sand and pretend that issues don’t exist.  Yes, the world may currently exist in its manifest form in ways that are less than what we desire.  Our goal is to use those conditions to give us guidance on what we don’t want so that we can turn our attention towards what we do.

Each of us must learn to spend less time whining about what we currently see that we don’t like, and spend more of our time on the perfection we know is possible.  If we were to perform an “energy audit” on our thoughts and actions, where might we find our energy flowing?  Let’s close the negative energy leaks and be more positive energy efficient.  Can we move to seeing the perfection in an imperfect world?

What is Perfection?

The Wikipedia article on perfection shows that the term encompasses a number of concepts including — that which is complete containing all its parts, or that which is good so that nothing of the kind could be better, or that which has attained its purpose.  Can we see the world in this light?  Does the world contain all of its parts?  Is it so good that it could not be better?  Has it attained its purpose?  What do you think?

Metaphysical traditions such as the Science of Mind and Spirit state that each of us as well as the world is already “perfect, whole and complete”.  Newcomers to the philosophy often struggle with this concept as they mentally compare the state of their lives and the state of the world against a vision of what is truly possible.  The gap between what currently exists and the vision of our potential makes it hard to see the perfection.

Yet the perfection that the Science of Mind claims already exists is not necessarily a description of the current condition.  As its founder, mystic Ernest Holmes described the concept of perfection, he used words such as “the real state of being” and “the divine attribute of complete excellence”.  He advised us to “see only perfection… regardless of appearances”.  In other words, he was pointing us to focus our attention into the realm of the divine beyond the realm of what might be right in front of us.

Behind the world of the “seen” is the world of the unseen.  Here is a reality that metaphysics frequently claims is “more real” than the external world demanding our sensory attention.  Here is the world of our consciousness, of energy, of thoughts and visions, of our dreams of what is possible.  Here is the world that creates our mental picture of perfection that we use in comparison with the material world and its seeming imperfections.  Here is the world in which our free will exists to move our thoughts in the direction of our desires.  Here is the world in which all of our collective consciousness joins together in one divine consciousness where our highest dreams combine to know at the deepest level of our soul what is truly possible.  This is where real perfection exists and serves to call us towards it.  Our seeking this perfection is truly a motivating force in our lives and on our planet.

Similarly, philosophers have long pointed to a paradox is contained within the human concept of perfection.  If the world were totally perfect, then there would be no room for improvement and therefore be imperfect.  This paradox claims that true perfection depends on the ability to grow, evolve and make progress.  Ironically, true perfection involves our movement towards that perfection.

Quick Summary

  • There exist in our inner realm of consciousness a vision of what perfection is.
  • As we look at the world, things appear to be less than perfect.
  • Our judgment of imperfection comes from noticing the gap between our inner sense of our highest potential and our outer experience.
  • We are at choice as to whether we focus on the vision of perfection or the worldly imperfections.
  • That which we focus on tends to grow in our outer experience.
  • Regardless of where we direct our attention or any imperfect conditions, there always exists the state of true perfection.
  • True perfection is a force that is calling us towards it.
  • The process of our moving towards this true perfection is part of the true perfection.

Our Charge

So what does this means for our lives? Armed with this knowledge, let us all:

  • Be aware of our vision of the highest state of perfection for humanity.
  • Turn our attention more and more towards this perfection.
  • Experience the perfection of our vision as more real than the outer world.
  • Recognize the perfection in the process of our evolution from the imperfect outer world towards this greater inner true perfection.
  • Allow that true perfection to be a force that calls us to learn, grow and evolve.

So how can you actually apply this in your life? I’ll be sharing some ideas in the near future, but would love your thoughts!

Mark Gilbert

Tags , , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution, Spirituality

The World Prepares for Peace

May 27, 2010 //
1

Sounds good, doesn’t it?  But what does that look like?

As we have stated here many times, whatever we focus our mental energy upon is what we tend to manifest.  Creation comes through the direction of our thoughts multiplied by the emotional intensity behind them.  No one can deny that acts of violence against a person or group generally lead to that person or group having strong emotional thoughts of retribution.  Unfortunately, violence often begets more violence. 

In the words of mystic Ernest Holmes, “the more the world arms for war, the more certain it is that there will be war.”  Mother Teresa is often described as having said that she would not attend an “antiwar” rally, if you had a meeting “for peace” she would come.  The point here is that as long as humanity is focused on preparing for war or in fighting against war, we are directing our attention towards war and ensuring its continuity.

This upcoming weekend America celebrates Memorial Day.  What better way to honor those who gave their lives for our freedom than to assist the world in preparing for peace?  But again, what does that look like?  How can we multiply our thoughts for peace with the energy of a strong emotional intensity?  How can peace capture our imagination so deeply that we are inspired to devote ourselves to its creation?

Yes, we can point at the movement towards a Department of Peace, towards efforts to create peace gardens and similar symbolic gestures.  These are good… but do they inspire you?

Please think about this… I would love to hear what you think it would look like as the world prepares for peace.

Mark Gilbert

Tags , , , ,
Categories Culture, Featured Article, Politics, Uniting Nations

What Is Our Vision for the Future of Humanity?

April 30, 2010 //
1

It would be naïve to consider that we have consensus on what our collective future should be.  In fact we can make a good case that many of the current conflicts on the planet are because of differing opinions as to where we should be going and on how to get there.  Yet there are a few sources that we can look to for a potential collective vision.

First let’s look at the United States (writing as an American) and the United Nations.  Do either of these entities have a vision statement? 

The United States does not have a formal vision statement.  Wikipedia’s article on mission statements does point to the preamble to our constitution as being a perfect example of one: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”  That statement does outline the purpose behind the creation of and the ongoing actions of our government.  But as far as a statement saying this is where we as an American people are headed towards collectively, neither this statement nor any other than I can find outlines such a path. 

The United Nations does spell out what could be considered a mission and vision statement in the preamble to its charter.  Here is the beginning which might be considered their “mission”:

“We the peoples of the United Nations determined: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and; to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and; to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom…”

And then the following words which might be seen as their vision statement:

” And for these ends: to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and; to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and; to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and; to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims.”

(Taken from United Nations website)

We could consider that the essence of this “vision statement” is — to work towards a peaceful world where all people have economic and social advancement.  Elsewhere I have read the UN’s vision statement is simply the word “peace”.  Either way, these words give us a noble statement and cause, although it might benefit from the UN creating what business writer an researcher Jim Collins terms a ”big hairy audacious goal” to make it more inspiring. (To be fair, there are a number of goals that the UN has established in specific programmatic areas. Yet, none that I see that are very specific and inspiring.)

Next let’s look at Spiral Dynamics.  Simply stated, the theory of Spiral Dynamics comes from the data gathered by social scientist Clare Graves in the late 20th century and further supported by  ongoing data gathered by researchers such as Don Beck and others.    Individuals values were measured on a number of social instruments over a period of time and then charted.  What arose from the data was that we tend to have a set of values through which we look at life called worldviews or “value memes” (often written “v-memes” or I have shortened here to memes).

Spiral Dynamics paints an outline of worldviews through which humanity has evolved.  As we met the challenges of world conditions at one level of existence, we moved into a higher worldview where we faced new life conditions.  Through this evolutionary model we can see both humanity’s past, present and to some degree our immediate future.  Although it does not offer us a “vision statement”, the data does offer us suggestions as to where we appear to be headed by looking at the values held by those at the spiral’s higher levels.

At these levels, moving into what Graves called “second tier”, individuals are able to see all of the worldviews and how they are interacting.  Although at first they might use this knowledge for their own personal gain, at some point their motivation swings to working towards the health of the entire spiral (i.e., everyone).  They see themselves as part of a larger whole — a conscious, spiritual whole.  The blending of science and spirituality is a natural process.  They seek to express their personal freedom in a manner that causes no harm to others.  They begin to develop competencies and expanded use of the powers of the brain or mind.  They let go of the need to accumulate  material obsessions and see that having less is really having more.  They see everything as an integrated system  of Oneness.

If we were to consider boiling down these values at the spiral’s higher levels in order to distill a description for our future, then we might see a vision statement that includes words like “a world where there is a melding of science and spirituality, where in meeting individual needs there is alignment with meeting collective needs, where there is an expansion of consciousness to sense the oneness of everything”.

One of the great connections I have always sensed in Spiral Dynamics is the alignment of many mystics’ descriptions of the ultimate purpose of life and the higher turns of the spiral at yellow, turquoise, and what we imagine coral worldviews to be.

Many mystics and spiritual teachers have gathered “inner data” via meditation and other spiritual practices on the nature of human and spiritual existence.  The fascinating fact is that there has been much agreement on what they see as our “ultimate truth”.  Most have pointed out that after we release this material world and embrace the spiritual world, we must come back to the material world and integrate it into our spiritual world. They tell us that we have some inner urge that calls to be expressed “in the world”. This urge has a unique creative expression that varies from person to person. This urge includes a component of service which takes us outside ourselves and connects us with others. And through our expression of our unique creative desires we grow in our sense of interconnectedness to everything.

Ultimately, these spiritual teachers tell us that this urge is simultaneously one force pushing our growth from within to be creative while pulling us externally towards our return to wholeness and oneness.  For example, Ernest Holmes (Holmes, 1938) called it “the divine urge” and even described its unfoldment as being like a never-ending spiral.  Similarly, Teilhard de Chardin  termed it  ”the Omega point” which exerted both a force pulling us towards it as well as an internal push to grow to it.  He described evolution as “an ascent towards consciousness” culminating in some sort of “supreme consciousness”.  It is a direction in which he said every one of us cooperating and participating.

In fact, cooperation between individuals and groups is a key component as we move down this evolutionary path.  For example, evolutionary writer John Stewart detailed that the direction of evolution and the future of humanity included both higher levels of cooperation and the development of our ability to consciously use the evolutionary process. Interestingly, mystics agree. For example, Ernest Holmes put it this way, “The whole process of evolution is to produce a being who can consciously co-operate with the Evolutionary Principle, which is Pure Spirit.”

Yet this statement of Holmes describes another characteristic mystics say is our evolutionary future. They tell us that the ultimate goal of evolution is to return us “back home” to the source from which we came.  Evolution is seen as the time and process of our awakening to our truth, the development of our consciousness, the unfolding of our awareness, our return to Oneness. 

Although there are other sources from which I could’ve drawn that offer visions for our planetary future, I believe we have enough here already to draw some conclusions.  Here are some potential components of a vision for our positive future:

  • We live in peace.
  • We all have access to economic and social advancement.
  • We experience a melding of science and spirituality.
  • We have the freedom to individually express our unique creative abilities.
  • We live recognizing the interconnectedness of everything.
  • We purposefully use the power of our consciousness.
  • We meet our individual needs while meeting the needs of the greater whole.
  • We recognize we are evolving and consciously cooperate with the process.
  • We recognize we are on a spiritual path to be reunited with our source.

So does that resonate with you?  Does that sound like a positive future?  If so, then the question becomes—how are you going to move towards that vision?

[This article was extracted and edited from a longer piece submitted to the Integral Leadership Review.]

Tags , , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Positive Evolution
« Older Entries