What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

From May 2009 Science of Mind magazine by Ernest Holmes, excerpted from Creative Mind.

What is true spirituality?  Most people have asked this, and as many have answered it.  I do not pretend to know more about this all-important topic than others, but to the thinking person who has come to realize that all is love, yet at the same time all is governed by law, there must be a different answer given than the one we ordinarily hear.

The average religious person thinks that spirituality must manifest in some unnatural way, such as giving up all personal pleasure and becoming resigned to whatever happens; that we must give up most of what life holds here; that in some far-off future perhaps we may attain.  This was not the case with the man Jesus.  We have more accounts of his being at feasts and weddings and similar gatherings than at other places.  His first miracle was performed at a wedding feast, and we must remember that here he even turned water into wine for the pleasure of the guests of the house.  Perhaps we have made a mistake about what true spirituality means.

Other people think we must live some kind of an excluded life in order to obtain.  Perhaps this may be true of the weak ones.  But what of the world ?  What of the busy street ?  Is it not to be saved also ?  Jesus spent much time with the common people as well as with the rich.  And it is certain that he also spent much time alone with Spirit.

What is the Spirit, anyway ?  We all answer, “Why, of course, it is God.”  Where is the Spirit ?  It is present at all times and all places.  True spirituality must simply mean coming to realize the presence of this Spirit.  It must be coming to rely upon it more than anything else.  The one then who is the most spiritual is simply the one who relies the most; that is all.  No matter where he is, he must rely, he must trust, he must believe.  We do not have to give up anything but negative thought and act.  We do not want to do anything that contradicts the forward march of the unfoldment of the Spirit, so all that we think and do must be in line with that which is right.  But who shall say what is and what is not right?  Remember this forever, Only your own soul shall say what is right and what is wrong.  ”To thine own self be true, and it shall follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”  Look to no one for guidance.  This is the “blind leading the blind”.  The Almighty has put the truth into your own soul; look there and there alone for it.  Many people seem to think that for a man to look spiritual he must have no color in his face, have some kind of far-away truth; he must be peculiar either in looks, or in the way he dresses.

To one who knows the truth, both praise and blame sound alike, but from the human standpoint at least, a person cannot help being amused at the way in which the world judges true spirituality.  My idea of true spirituality is that a man should live a perfectly normal life, entering into and enjoying all in life that is clean and good.  He should place himself absolutely under the divine guidance.  Other than this he will seem just like other people, neither better nor worse.  Get over all kinds of unnatural thought and remember that all is good.  Neither criticize nor condemn people or things.  You are spiritual insofar as you trust in the Spirit, at all times, in all places, under all conditions.  In order to do this, you do not have to seclude yourself from the world.  To do so is an open confession of your own weakness and lack.  There are moments when it is best to be alone with the Power.  From those moments we gather strength.  To keep that strength to ourselves is pure selfishness.  Walk, talk, live with the human race, hand in hand with all people and unified with all events, live and love and learn.  Be natural and normal.  If you seek to enter some other way it must all be done over again, for no one lives or dies unto himself but unto all people.

The Church of God

The Church of God is not built with hands, it is eternal in the heavens; it is not lighted with candles; its dome is heaven and it is lighted by the stars of God's illumined thought, and each member in his separate star “shall draw the things as he sees it, for the God of things as they are”.  Here all people recognize the God within their own souls and ask for and see no other God.  When you can look upon all creation as the perfect work of a perfect God, you will become a member of this church.  I doubt very much if the church universal admits members from the church individual.  When you can see in the saint and the sinner one and the same person, when you can realize that the one who kneels before the altar and the one who lies drunk in the street is the same one, when you can love the one as much as you do the other, no doubt you will be able to qualify.  As it now is we have too many preachers who do not understand, that have no message; too many churches, too many 'learned' people, and too few thinkers.  ”The Kingdom of Heaven cometh not by observation.”  It is the “still, small voice” within the soul that speaks.  The expanded thought will never wish to join or be joined to.  Nothing human can contain it.  It feels the limitation of form and ceremony and longs for the freedom of the Spirit, the great out of doors, the Great God of the everywhere.  Alone in the desert, the forest or by the restless ocean, looking up at the stars, man breathes forth these words, “With only my Maker and me”. 

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

As I have noted, there is a mild degree of “backlash” against spirituality, lightly sprinkled about our community.  I have spent much time contemplating why this is so.  Certainly, there can be a degree of falsity and pretentiousness among some who “claim”, for whatever reason, to be spiritual.  There may be a feeling of lack or failure in some, who read about such from others.  So, a protective mechanism of rejection may come into play for those people.  Some who have no interest, may just wish the conversation was upon something else and so, it is boredom or worse.

I recently came under a surprising degree of attack for calling myself a mystic.  “If you say you are, then you aren't”.  Really?  What is a mystic anyway?  Who else can determine?, if I'm having a “direct” experience, huh?

There is a whole thread here about what a mystic is but my own definition of mystic is simply this - I choose to have a personal relationship with “something not seen” but believed in by me, something that appears to me to “respond” to my efforts to be in communication with it (if that is delusional to someone else, fine, it's quite real to me).  Something that seems to care about me and my welfare, but never to an extent that it cares less for any other being or places me in some position “above” another.  

Part of what has come from the recent experiences has been a thought that perhaps the next phase of my own path includes incorporating spirituality in a more quiet and subtle way, that is less public, simply my little life's heartfelt and loved secret.  Perhaps really maturing means not needing to draw any attention to it.  Drawing attention does not change its existence in my life and a lack of attention to it by others, does not lessen it in my life either.

That is not to say that I will ever quit talking about it entirely, in this group.  That's what we're here for - to study spirituality - specifically the ability to consciously apply spiritual energy with the intent to manifest a specific outcome - metaphysics.  So, all of its aspects, and meanings, and applications, and effects, are within the realm of this group.  You are ever invited to discuss any of these.  Anyone who feels like doing that, is welcomed by me to do so.  

It is easy enough for anyone who is bothered by talk of spirituality simply to boycott this group - not visit, not read, not comment and so, of all the places I could find myself in my life, this is the one place I feel I can speak from my heart.  That is probably why some of my friends who visit here think of it as my sacred space.  For I write about all aspects of my life from the perspective that there is, for me, a spiritual aspect to any of it.  

I think at this point in my own contemplations, I will attempt over several sharings of other's thoughts, and a merging into them of my own in commentary, to illustrate some of my own thoughts, about why not all people are interested in a spiritual “aspect” to their life, is that good or bad or indifferent?, can a person fulfill their reason(s) for living without having the least iota of spirituality about them?  I think so.  

I do believe that those who react strongly to the word “spiritual” are working through some kind of conflict, within their own self and soul, regarding whether they should engage or express, or chose not to express, a spiritual aspect, to their human experience of being.  Otherwise, why care?  A trigger is usually an indication we need to be looking more closely at whatever “triggered” a reaction in us.  Put me in that category of - still working it all out within myself.

Therefore, there are a couple more excerpts or articles, and some more thoughts coming from me, in this thread, that the thinking of Ernest Holmes here in this article is also relevant to.

Deb

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

Ernest Holmes says in the article above “The expanded thought will never wish to join or be joined to.  Nothing human can contain it.  It feels the limitation of form and ceremony and longs for the freedom of the Spirit, the great out of doors, the Great God of the everywhere.  Alone in the desert, the forest …”.  Anyone who has known me for awhile, knows how much being out in nature is a part of who I am.  I am never unhappy there.  I have always thought because there is nothing “artificial” there.


I have almost finished reading the book Mike recommended to his Fully Engaged group - Finite and Infinite Games - A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James P Carse.  Other than the juxtaposition of Finite and Infinite, I'm not sure the title is a good description but thinking through the contrasts of these two concepts has been a good exercise and has expanded my perception in many ways.


I wanted to share some of Chap 82 of the section titled “We Control Nature for Societal Reasons” because it was a meaningful description for me of what Nature is.  That chapter follows -


Just as Nature has no outside, it has no inside.  It is not divided within itself and cannot therefore be used for or against itself.  There is no inherent opposition of the living and the nonliving within nature; neither is more or less natural than the other… .


Our freedom in relation to nature is not the freedom to change nature; it is not the possession of power over natural phenomena.  It is the freedom to change ourselves.  We are perfectly free to design a culture that will turn on the awareness that vitality cannot be given but only found, that the given patterns of spontaneity in nature are not only to be respected, but to be celebrated.


Although “natural order” is the common expression, it has something of a veiling quality about it.  More properly speaking, it is not the order of nature but its irreducible spontaneity with which we find ourselves contending.  That nature has no outside and no inside, that it suffers no opposition to itself, that it is not moved by unnatural influence, is not the expression of an order so much as it is the display of a perfect indifference on nature's part to all matters cultural.


Nature's source of movement is always from within itself; indeed it is itself.  And it is radically distinct from our own source of movement.  (deb's note - I can't say I'm certain I agree with the sentence immediately preceeding.)  This is not to say that, possessing no order, nature is chaotic.  It is neither chaotic nor ordered.  Chaos and order describe the cultural experience of nature - the degree to which nature's indifferent spontaneity seems to agree with our current manner of cultural self-control.  A hurricane, or a plague, or the overpopulation of the earth will seem chaotic to those whose cultural expectations are damaged by them and orderly to those whose expectations have been confirmed by them.

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

I have to comment on this little excerpt about Nature (I still have other things to post, and perhaps even a bit more from this section of Carse's book).  It is this idea that Nature is indifferent.  Certainly, I would agree that Nature is indifferent to human cultural concerns.  That is what I love about Nature.  

Yet, can we really say that Nature is truly indifferent?  Could it not be that the nature of consciousness in Nature is beyond our human ability to understand?  It could be akin to the question “will we know alien life, if it is much different than life is in us?”

I do like the thought about the “wholeness” of Nature.  That “un-natural” is not possible “in Nature”.  But I don't think I can agree that our source of movement is NOT from within ourselves.  Of course, for the sake of argument, let's say what he really means is the animating principle of the life force.  From where does that originate?  I think it more than heart beating and consciousness.  

It is a kind of energy but from where it comes, who can say?  What is it that causes the embryo's heart to begin beating, even before it is ready to draw a breath of air?  Such is the mystery of life, that we can not solve it while living in the physical form and I can not say, if we will know the truth of it, once we are non-physical again.

Here are some excerpts from recent magazines that flow along with some of the ideas presented, or to be presented, in this thread -

Newsweek May 4, 2009 in the Belief Watch section by Lisa Miller ”Is That a Bible in Your Pocket?”.  I think that the most useful concept I got from reading this article (which is about all the apps avaialble for cell phones - and downloads from iTunes of Bibles, the Qur'an, quotes from Jesus and the wisdom of the Buddha) is the word “sacredness”.  

Perhaps when I'm using the word “spirituality” or “spiritual”, what it is that I'm really trying to convey is the feeling of sacredness I experience in connection with mundane things.  

So, the idea in the article was that while trivializing the Bible or any other religious text by putting it on a mobile phone may seem contrary to the conventional idea of getting away to a quiet place, away from the buzz and busyness of everyday life, integrating one's religious practice or spirituality into the rest of your “ordinary” life may actually transcend what would otherwise be boring or unremarkable or simple necessity.  Chop wood and 
carry water, yes?  


Anne Foerst, professor of theology and computer science at St. Bonaventure University said, in the article, “Sacredness touches our lives constantly in the here and now.  It enters what we call trivial and transcends it.”  (Isn't it interesting how easy it is to combine the two, theology and computer science, that is really the background foundation behind metaphysics - combining the spiritual with the scientific, which is why I appreciate Gregg Braden so much.)

Another article on the same page of the same issue of Newsweek called ”How to Save Earth: Love It or Leave It” by Daniel Stone.  He begins by noting that a German Sociologist, Max Weber, once wrote that industrialization and secularization had influenced widespread “disenchantment” with nature, causing the view that earth and its wildlife were inert objects, there for the taking.  Now, in a new book, “A Reenchanted World”,  a modern Sociologist, James William Gibson, identifies a growing social movement that is reconnecting humans with the earth and believes that shift is the last hope to save the environment.  He believes that the future of the earth depends on what humans “feel”, when they interact with the Earth.  Gibson believes that it is the shocking realization that human damage has long-term consequences, that has provoked a more intimate reaction towards the earth by humans.

My attention was also caught by a 150 yr old quote from Henry David Thoreau, shared in the editorial Defender's View -Our Lands, OurWildlife from the current Defenders of Wildlife Spring 2009 magazine.  He said of wildlife loss in Massachussetts in his own time “when I consider that the nobler animals have been exterminated here … I cannot but feel as if I lived in a tamed and, as it were, emasculated country… . Is it not a maimed and imperfect nature that I am conversant with.”  Certainly, much of the “wilder” wildlife in my own little section of wilderness is gone.  That is why actually finding a Bobcat skull was quite exciting for me.  That is why I thrill to hear the Coyotes call and wonder if I'll ever chance to see a Bear as it migrates up from Arkansas, where they still roam the wilder places.

More to come, exploring spirituality and wildness soon …

Deb  

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

I haven't fully read the succeeding posts, Deb; but when I read the first, I felt that is how I see spirituality - though I don't use the word spiritual mind and sometimes tend to over-generalize it! The last para resonated well…

Not sure about most' spiritual though. I guess that 's something with words; when we use many, we can tend to go into some that we didn't really mean?

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

I guess I am a Mystic as well Deb. Sisters in the Myst

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/mystic-mysticism-life-existence-discover-realize-express-divine.html

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

Sistars and Brothars,
into the mystic…nothing quite like Van except Van…
The words seem to cloud the reality of what is.

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

Lars,

After signing up for imeem to watch the video, I got a warning that the link was infected with a Trojan Horse.  Since I don't know much about that stuff, I just shut it down (my anti-virus blocked it anyway, at the warning).

I found another link, not the greatest clarity, but a version of the song at this link - Music iLike on Facebook - Into the Mystic.  Not for sure it is Van Morrison even.  All the YouTube versions were other artists but they might be clearer.


Lyrics - 


We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic

And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when that fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
Then magnificently we will float into the mystic

And when that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home
And when thst fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float into the mystic
Come on girl…  

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

I'm sure the site is safe.  What are you using for anti-virus protection.
Always better to be safe then sorry..
I posted that same link on FB..

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

Lars,

We use AVG.  Yeah, it wouldn't start playing, and when I tried clicking on it again to force it to start, I got the warning.  I guess I could go in and try again.

Deb

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

Lars,

I did not get the Trojan Horse warning this morning but I still can't get it to “play”.  I don't know what it is that I am doing wrong there.  I did see your comment at the top of the list.

Deb

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

Denise,

Thank you for posting this definition of mystic.  Yes, it is what I meant by saying that is my focus and desire with the remainder of my life.

Deb

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

In the mystic link, Denise / Flowerchild gave us in this thread, the author says “Some call it becoming awakened, enlightened, or born again.”  In this May's Science of Mind magazine, there are some good examples of this being “reborn” idea.  I don't think it is necessary to go through some kind of traumatic shake-up to be expressing oneself from the perspective of being a mystic in this life.  However, human experience being what it is, it does seem most of us have some kind of disagreeable experience(s) that sends us looking for a “better” way of coping.


From May 2008 Science of Mind magazine - “Your Space” feature titled reborn into new faith -


Moira Shepard, Marina del Rey, CA
REBORN INTO NEW FAITH


A kind man gave me a ride to an event because I was too disabled from a back injury to drive there myself.  He asked how I came to be in this condition.  I told him I'd hurt my back on the job doing heavy lifting and had spent the past seven years housebound and bedridden after five failed surgeries.  ”That must have knocked you off the path”, he said.  Without taking a moment to think about it, I said, “No, it knocked me back on the path.”


In that moment, I realized I've been reborn into a new world full of kind people willing to give me the help I needed - like that wonderful man who gave me the lift to the event.  I've been reborn into a new kind of faith - faith that involves choosing, over and over again, to believe that everything happens for my highest and best good, even though I sometimes can't see it at the time.  I've been reborn into a new way of living, based on the conscious co-creation and acceptance of miracles in my everyday life - including 100 percent recovery from my back injury.  Knowing I am and always have been whole and complete within the Mind of God, I give thanks every day for my rebirth into this glorious new life.


S R Fitting, Marin County, CA
THE POWER OF GRATITUDE


As a single mother of two small children, commuting to an office job in a neighboring city, I lived in the belief that one false move on my part would render us homeless.  When I crashed my car one rainy day, I assumed that my worst fears had come true.  I went into a panic mode as my mind raced, envisioning the worst-case scenario.  After several terror-filled sleepless nights, I forced myself to sit up in bed and try to meditate, hoping to stop my racing mind so that I could finally sleep.  What happened then changed my life forever.  Sobbing tears began to flow, and the most unlikely words began involuntarily voicing themselves through me:  ”I'm so thankful; I'm so thankful; I'm so thankful.”  I objectively observed myself repeating these words when the sequence of my life began to appear before me in an upward spiral and these words range in my skull, clear and comforting: “HAVEN”T I ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR YOU?”  I realized that my tears were those of gratitude and eventually fell into a deep sleep.


When I told my friend about this experience, she invited me to the Golden Gate Center for Spiritual Living (a Science of Mind philosophy church).   There, I learned about the law of attraction and the power of gratitude, changing my life and the lives of my children forever.  I am now married to a wonderful man, my children attend good colleges, and I am living a fulfilling, faith-based life.  Every day I am grateful for renewal and the opportunity to start again. 


Ruth Flynn (via the internet)
REINVENTING MYSELF


The year of 2008 was truly a year of rebirth for me.  I was experiencing some serious employment issues, and ending a seven-year, toxic, and co-dependent relationship, when my only granddaughter was killed in a hit-and-run accident.  She was nineteen, and we buried her on what would have been her wedding day.  Her mother had died less than 3 years earlier, and my brother made his transition exactly one year after my daughter.


I fell into a deep depression and even thought of taking my own life.  I continued to practice Science of Mind principles, pray, and meditate.  I began to see that Spirit was directing my life and to accept those things that I could not change.  Eventually I could begin to think about those things that I could change.  I prayed for guidance in seeking new employment, enrolled in massage therapy classes, and knew the Spirit had guided me to this choice.  I am doing my internship, loving the work I do helping others.  I am now calm, energized, and happy.  I am truly very blessed.


The May 2008 Science of Mind magazine recommends this book - The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit by Azim Khamisa and Jillian Quinn ($25.00 in harcover).  The authors offer 30 keys or secrets to emtional resiliency for bulletproof ways to take life's hits.  They have personal experience - Khamisa's son was murdered due to gang violence and Quinn lost her daughter in pregnancy.  The reviewer, Cliff Johnson, says “Unlike many self-help books, The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit is written in a warm, engaging style that invites the reader to keep turning its pages.”


Terry Cole-Whittaker (a Religious Science ordained minister) says in her column Success and Spirit in the May 2008 issue of Science of Mind magazine, on why faith is powerful -


Faith is the fuel for manifestation.  All souls possess faith as a quality of their being.  Everyone has faith in something, and whatever that is will motivate us to manifest our beliefs into forms and circumstances by our words and actions.  (deb's note - if you believe you are a victim of something, or that there is not “enough” of something, you will manifest the very thing you think you don't want, because you have “faith” in it.)


Every action will have a reaction, as this is a law of nature.  Troubles come from misplaced faith, taking the false to be the truth and the truth to be the false.  Jesus taught us the following: “Your faith has made you whole.”
 ”It is done unto you as you believe.”  Instead of perpetuating their difficulties by believing in the power of the problem and lamenting their situation, these biblical examples chose love and joy and naturally were healed.


Because of the enormous power of faith, it is most important for each of us to use this power to manifest our heart's desires instead of what we do not want.  Whatever people believe in, think about, imagine, talk about, and act on is being fueled by faith to manifest.  Whatever is happening in our personal lives, as well as with others throughout the world, is the result of what each believes and then acts on, true or false.  We will know what we have faith in by our thoughts, words, emotions, and actions.  The mistake is to believe that our fears are protecting us from the thing we fear, when it is our faith in these fears that is fueling them and giving them life.


We have divine intelligence to help us discern what is true from what is false, so that we act on love instead of hate, bliss instead of anger, and the everlasting abundance of every good and wonderful thing and experience, instead of lack.  While all around us people are promoting fear as truth, we must turn to our spiritual teachings that have withstood the test of time and focus and act on what we desire instead of what we do not want.  Our challenge and opportunity is to keep our minds spiritualized, beautified, and positive.

Re: What Is the Spiritual Mind ?

Wonderful thread…thank you!