August, 2014

The Giver — Love, Choice, and the Limits of Perfection

“If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be,” as Yogi Berra once said. If you want to understand what this means, go see The Giver.

The Giver is in the great dystopian tradition of Animal Farm and 1984, Brave New World, Atlas Shrugged, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and so many more. (It also evoked for me memories of the Ring cycle and Lord of the Rings.) It takes place in a “perfect” society that has eliminated war, pain, suffering, differences and choice. They have created a society where everyone is equal (except those who are “more equal,” of course), and everything is the same. Your job, your clothes, and all other aspects of your existence are chosen for you. The society’s byword is sameness, in which they see safety and liberation from all the evils of human history. Even the climate is controlled.

They also control the language. For example, they have abolished killing; instead they “release” people “to Elsewhere.” By controlling the words that people use, they control the ability to hold certain thoughts, and as we know, thoughts are the cornerstone of conditions. What we focus on expands in our experience, so if you can control the expression of ideas, you can limit the focus. (In many ways, “political correctness” does this.)

A young boy named Jonas is chosen to be the Receiver of Memories, a position wherein he will be called upon to impart wisdom to the Elders, using “the Memories”, including the collected memory of humankind. He is trained for this by the older receiver of Memories. “If I’m The Receiver,” Jonas asks his teacher, “what does that make you?” The reply is, “I guess it makes me The Giver.”

The training, he is warned, will require a lot of strength, because it entails a lot of pain. The pain isn’t so much physical as the psychic and emotional pain brought on by “the Memories.” But what Jonas also discovers is the importance of love, beauty, and all those other “things that make us human.” He is determined to share what he is learning and feeling, even though that is against the rules. He also falls in love with his beautiful friend Fiona, who does not know what to make of this.

In order to reawaken the Memories (and the feelings they entail), he must cross the border of memory. By reawakening the Memories, he can reawaken the ability of the people to live life full out, restoring the joy, love, and beauty that their utopia has taken from them. As Fiona says, “I know that there is more, but I don’t know what it is.”

At one level, this is a brilliant political commentary on freedom, individual expression, and utopianism. That Jonas’s friend, Asher, is a drone pilot is not merely a literary device. But there are spiritual lessons as well.

While Jonas is in training, The Giver tells him not to trust the limited thoughts that have been given to him, but to trust what is inside. Learning to trust our intuition is a key to spiritual advancement. It is one of the most important ways to allow ourselves live in joy, in the fullest expression of who we are and who we are supposed to be.

The Chief Elder at one point says that “when people are free to choose, they choose wrong.” And it is true that sometimes people make choices that do not serve themselves or others. But one person’s wrong choice is another person’s right one. More importantly, if people cannot choose wrongly, then they are not free to choose rightly, and it is the choices we make that define our lives.

In such a perfectly-ordered society, there is no room for beauty or love or any of “the things that make us human.” And yet, these things are central to our humanity. They are central to living the most elevated, human, passionate life that we can. Jonas’s struggle is to restore those things, for himself and for the society.

It is also a society with no diversity. Sameness precludes living your individual purpose and calling, which is essential to the joyful life.

It is that passionate life that enables us to reach for the greater, the richer, the deeper. And that is at the very core of our humanity, as expressions of the Divine.

This is a movie well worth seeing. It’s exciting, stimulating, touching, and very powerful

-Tim Phares, RScP

Every Thing Has a Season and a Purpose

Treatment by Carol Haave, RScP

It’s hard to believe that it’s August here. The mornings are cool; the days not excruciatingly hot; the sky is blue; and life is good.

As I listen to the sound of the waterfall and the birds chirping, I am reminded that “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Every thing has a season and a purpose “under” God — you, me, the birds, the mountains, the oceans, flowers. Every thing we can imagine has a right and purpose to be here, at this moment in time.

Today I realize and admit to myself that I, too, have a purpose under heaven. There is a reason I am here on the planet at this time. There is no one alive today who has the same exact skills, talents, knowledge and experience I do. No one else, but me, can bring forth that package — me — into the world in a way that contributes to the best of who I am and who, coll ectively, the world can become. My voice is absolutely necessary to the harmonic symphony of everyday life. I don’t shirk my responsibility or shrink from it. Today I am happy to bring my gifts to every situation I encounter. I strive to make every relationship/every activity better than it was before. I am humbled when I see the God essence of those around me even when they can’t see it in themselves. I am Divinely led to the perfect words and actions to make every situation better.

Thank you, God, for this glorious day and for all the blessings in my life. I reflect on the gift that I am — that others are — and know that all is well in my world, right now. I release these words into the Law that sustains Life for all time and know their immediate manifestation. The world is uplifted one person, one thought at a time, and I happily contribute to its well-being. So it is!!

Treatment for August 16, 2014

Planting the Seed of My Intention

Treatment by Caron Ward, RScP

I don’t consider myself a gardener…I don’t really enjoy spending hours in my yard planting flowers or pulling weeds ….so last spring, I found packets of seeds that promised beautiful flowers with minimal effort…and so I sprinkled the seeds liberally on the border of my sidewalk and covered the seeds with some leftover mulch and didn’t pay attention to them much…I let the sun and rain do its thing….and now, I have these tall gorgeous zinneas of pinks and purples with golden spikes at their centers that greet me as I come and go…how simple…my kind of ‘gardening’!!

In the blooming of these beautiful flowers, as in all that there is, I see the perfect Creative Force of G-d – or Spirit, or the Presence, or the One Mind, whichever term feels most comfortable – in the transformation of these tiny, almost imperceptible seeds to tall graceful stems topped with magenta, lavender, deep purple, and gold…with little effort they bloom forth …it is their destiny….

It is in Unity with this same Creative Force that I live, move, breathe, grow, expand into life, blooming forth new experiences, and allowing the richness of brilliant colors to fill my vision… I plant the seed of my intention firmly in faith, in the knowing that what I focus on becomes that which I experience; in the certainty that as I release the need to control and allow G-d to create, my intention is fulfilled, my destiny is unfolding…in wondrous ways…in ways that I cannot even imagine…

How grateful I am for knowing that I am One with G-d, with the beauty and brilliance that is infinitely unfolding. I am thankful for my faith and the knowing that this is true for everyone, everywhere, in every moment…I simply look around and see the beauty that is all around us!

It is with this gratitude and faith that I release these words into Law, knowing that they are true…

And so it is!

Treatment for August 15, 2014

Unexpected Blessings

Treatment by Tim Phares, RScP

What an interesting day! Suzanne and I set out to go peach picking, but on the way, a helpful fellow driver pointed out to us that one of our tires was going flat. We went into Columbia Mall looking for someplace to get the tire changed so we could be on our way. Thankfully, they had a Sears with an auto care place. Unfortunately, it was going to take a couple of hours to get to us. Now we were stuck at the mall.

We grabbed a bite at the food court and browsed some of the stores. then the auto care people found a couple of other things that were going to take longer. We wandered around the Mall a bit more (OK, a lot more) and came upon a clothing store that is closing (sadly.) Suzanne got some very nice sweaters for 80-90 percent off.

We never did get to the farm to pick peaches. That will have to wait for another day. However, we were well fed, our car was taken care of, and we found some great bargains. The flexibility to just go with it instead of resisting it created the opportunity for unexpected good to show up.

So we treat.

There is One Life, One Mind, One Power, One Presence. It is God, in all, as all, through all, and around all. Each of us is Its conscious, deliberate, intentional expression.

Knowing that God is prosperity, abundance, right action, flow, I know that I am all these things as I open to accept them. Knowing that god is timeless, I know that I have all the time needed to do all that I choose to do and experience all that I choose to experience, even when it seems very different from the plan.

I know that flexibility is the opening to the fuller expression of the Divine energy in my life. I know that I am right now abundantly experiencing and affording all that I choose. I know that my life is filled with blessings, some expected, some unexpected, but all welcome.

I am grateful for the opportunity to experience unexpected blessings and have unexpected experiences. I am grateful for the way Divine Order shows up in my life, filling all parts of my life with blessings.

In that gratitude, I simply let go, let God, and know that this is so, that I am blessed, that each of us is deeply blessed, and I know that my word is fulfilled. It is well done now and always.And SO it IS!

Treatment for August 10, 2014

Ah, The Vibrations of Life

Treatment by Ed Preston, RScP

Prelude

Well, here I am again, on the night before my treatment date, wondering what its all about. This morning I had a FaceTime prayer session with my prayer partner in Germany. He’s American and we really connect and talk for an hour before we pray. Then I spent the day planting Pachysandra in a big garden space along the side of our house. At age 77, all of these things can be either mentally or physically exhausting. Right now, I’m feeling physically exhausted but mentally ready for whatever is next. So, what’s next? I go with the flow.

In the prayer session with my partner in Germany, he began early using the word “release” which sort of jumped into my attention. Then my 20-year-old mantra came to mind, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) So for today, In the Beginning was the Word “Release”, and “Release” was with God and “Release” was God.

But life and prayer move on moment by moment. In the next moment my prayer partner said “vibration” which rang my bell. I suddenly let that be the new word. In the beginning was the Word “Vibration” and the Word “Vibration was with God and the Word “Vibration” was God. My mind began asking about “Vibration”, as I often do about “God”. It is going back and forth between two opposites. I asked myself as I prayed, how do “Release” and “Vibration” play together. The other side of “Release” came as “Attention”. So, I went into Vibration between Release and Attention. I simply chose to have a very low frequency of vibration between them. So, today, one cycle of the vibration has had one hour of “Release” and one hour of “Attention” over and over and over. I love the vibration of Release and Attention.

Treatment

And so I pray. I begin by recognizing that In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Today I bring together and unify my three words, “Release” and “Attention” and “Vibration”. I simply Vibrate between Release and Attention knowing this brings me to God, to my energy of Oneness.

I realize I can choose the frequency of the Vibration of my God of today. It is one cycle every two hours. I know we can all operate at that frequency. We shine together in Release and then paying Attention to our lives. They light our life with a wonderful glow of energy of very low frequency. It is the frequency of Bliss. We Release and then we pay Attention.

It is this merger of Words from the beginning that I am so thankful for today. I am so Grateful for Release, so Thankful for Attention and so Blissful with the Vibration of them in my life and in all life.

I now release these words into the Beginning knowing they are with God and they are God. I let it Be and so it is. Amen.

Treatment for August 9, 2014

Fortuosity: Finding Opportunity

Sometimes castles fall to the ground

But that’s where four-leaf clovers are found.

— Richard B. Sherman and Robert M. Sherman, “Fortuosity” (from The Happiest Millionaire)

Have you ever seen something in your life crash? Have you invested a lot of energy in something, only to see it fall apart? Most of us have had that experience. When that happens, where are you looking? Are you looking at the ruins or are you looking at what else is around you?

Recently, Suzanne and I heard this song on a radio program we enjoy. There is a great video of it (the opening scene of the movie The Happiest Millionaire) on You Tube, with Tommy Steele singing this song. It’s snappy, fun, and right on point. As Richard and Robert Sherman (who composed it) noted, when castles fall to the ground, you find four-leaf clovers. Four-leaf clovers are considered good-luck charms. This is “fortuosity” – which the Sherman brothers (Walt Disney’s favorite songwriters) define as “fortuitious little happy happenstances.” They go on to tell us,

“‘Round the corner, under a tree,

Good fortune’s waiting. Just wait and see.”

Where in the wreckage is your four-leaf clover? Where is your good-luck charm in the chaos that sometimes envelops life? Can you see it?

I am sure many of us know someone like a neighbor of ours, who is convinced that “They” (whoever “They” are) are never going to let “people like her” get anywhere in life. People like this seem to scrape by. They never seem to have enough. They can see only the wreckage. If they would look, they would see the clover. But they never look.

How often do you focus on what is going wrong instead of the blessings in your life? Remember, one of the fundamental principles of the Universe is that what you focus on expands and what you do not diminishes.

Instead of focusing on the wreckage, find your four-leaf clover. Pick it up. Let it be the sign of a new and exciting beginning. You are not here to suffer, you are here to thrive. And remember that “every bit of life is lit by fortuosity.”

-Tim Phares, RScP

The Hundred Foot Journey – Home is Where the Heart Is

It’s been said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Apparently, a journey of 100 feet is a little more difficult.

Suzanne and I saw The Hundred-Foot Journey, a new movie from Oprah Winfrey and Disney. It concerns the Kadam family, who are in the restaurant business in Mumbai, India. After an election, their restaurant is burned and the mother is killed. They relocate, first to London, then to a village in France,, where they open a restaurant called Maison Mumbai. On their arrival in France, they are fed and put up for a night by a young woman named Marguerite.

Across the street is a very well-established restaurant called Le Seule Pleurer, run by Madame Mallory. The place is so well established that one of the government ministers eats there. She does not want competition, especially from foreigners. She begins to take measures to make business difficult for Maison Mumbai, and Papa Kadam retaliates. The mayor warns Madame Mallory that there are elements in town who are virulently against foreigners and she might not want to be associated with them.

The two restaurants compete for business and they barely speak with each other. Meanwhile, Hassan Kadam, who is the main chef at Maison Mumbai, begins to develop a relationship with Marguerite, who turns out to be a sous-chef at Le Seule Pleurer. Eventually, events cause Madame Mallory to offer Hassan a chance to be a chef at her restaurant. (Her restaurant is rated one star and she wants to upgrade to two stars.) Meanwhile, the relationship between Madame Mallory and Papa Kadam grows friendly.

Eventually, Hassan’s reputation is so great that he is hired by a restaurant in Paris. However, he finds himself pining for the village, his family, and Marguerite, so he returns home. This is a reminder of the vital importance of home and family.

This is a lovely movie with a couple of lessons. One is seeing the larger picture. For all the differences between Madame Mallory and her friends and the Kadams (and they remain), they manage to see their oneness as fellow human beings and to learn to support each other rather than warring with each other. And they learn forgiveness. They move beyond their mutual attempts to destroy each other, beyond their competition, to establish a bond that erases any hostility that may have existed.

This is a well-done movie worth seeing. You’ll leave feeling very good.

-Tim Phares, RScP

Ah, I Bask, I Listen, I Know, I Thank and I Let It Be.

Treatment by Carol Haave, RScP

I recently spent a week at La Costa outside San Diego for a training conference. Isn’t that the way it should be? Fabulous training in beautiful locations where you can feed your brain and soothe your Soul? What have you done lately to invest in your head and heart?

I look around me, and I see the beauty and nature of All that is. And I am grateful for It. I’m grateful for the birds nesting in the trees outside my window and for their songs that start maybe a bit too early in the morning (but that’s OK). I’m grateful for the Bay and the ocean and all the waters of the world that provide us peace and tranquility as we gaze out from the shore towards the horizon. I’m grateful for the colors of the flowers and the bees that pollinate them, buzzing around my head as I read. I’m grateful for all the gifts that I have, too many to mention, but that make my life richer and more colorful.

Today, I’m grateful to know that God is my Source. I invest my financial prosperity today to take care of myself — my head and my heart — in some way. Maybe I’ll get on a training phone call or maybe I’ll meditate outside by the waterfall in the pond. Maybe I’ll take a walk in Nature with my puppy or smell the salt air by the ocean. What can I do today to invest in myself, in my Soul? I am Divinely guided to the perfect activity knowing that it is for my highest and best good. I eagerly await the “sign” that leads me in that perfect direction to that perfect place where I can rest and relax and know that all is truly OK. I let go of my busyness so that I can draw energy from the stillness and listen for the still, small voice within that guides me perfectly to my next training. Will it be LA, Paris, London, the Seychelles or Botswana? Where do I want to go physically and/or mentally? & nbsp;What feeds my head and heart right now? Where do I want to make a difference in the world?

And so I am quiet. I bask in the quiet filled with the sounds of Nature. I listen for Spirit’s call knowing that I can feed my head and my heart in ways that I can’t even dream of. Life is delicious! Thank you, God, for the manifestations in my life that allow me to travel to fabulous places and learn amazing things as I continue my head and heart’s journey where it leads me. And so it is!!

Treatment for August 5, 2014

Transitions Can Trigger Transformation …

Treatment by Rev. Trish Hall,

As we move through life, circumstances change. We change in response …. actually, we cannot not change when our circumstances change. We can opt to flow with. We can go into resistance. We can gleefully embrace the possibilities that accompany change … and … we can choose to be transformed as we consciously embrace our new beginnings. The distinction between change and transformation is sustainability. Change is always made in comparison with the past. Transformation is self-originating: catalysts may prompt it, however, it is independent from the past. It is chosen, embraced and embodied. We have in each moment the possibility of being transformed … of being brand new. Let’s all be bold, lean into Spirit and celebrate being t ransformed!

This I know for sure! There is only THE ONE and THE ONE is expressing Itself as all that is the world of form in which we live. I know that I am one with and inseparable from all of God in expression. Knowing this, I know that I am pure potentiality in no way limited by any past experience. I know that what I state about myself is true of all, so on behalf of all, I now declare from this place of Divine Freedom, that each person reading this prayer is now emerging from past delusions of limitation into radiant Life. Each is now embracing and embodying their Divine Birthright: Illimitable Pure Potentiality! As I fling open to this on behalf of each of us, immeasurable gratitude arises within me spilling over – touching and transforming every life it encounters. That knowing and that gratitude are now presenting the options of change … the possibility of transformation. I see it! I know it! In total confidence and conviction, I release my word, know it is already known in the Mind of God, so it is absolutely assured of fulfillment. I know It is so! … and so it is!!!

Treatment for August 2, 2014

To Create the Center as it Exists Today, and to Prepare the Center for its Next Best to Be, However that Manifests.

Treatment by Peter Fitzner, RScP

After all the recent changes at the Celebration Center, I thought it a good Time to express gratitude. Gratitude for where we have been, and for all who contributed to the humble beginnings as the National Science of Mind Center, right up until now. Gratitude for all of the classes, the teachers, the teachings, the ministers, and all the lives that have been positively changed through involvement with the Center. And, all of the Practitioners and Ministers whose very first experience with RS was right at our Center, and who have spread out all over the country to share this philosophy with others. All of these have combined to create the Center as it exists today, and to prepare the Center for its next best to be, however that manifests.

So in that place of gratitude, I know that there is only One Life — the Life of God, which is expressing as each of us and as the collective called the Celebration Center. I know that this Life is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent. As such I also know that wherever we are, God is. As the individualized expressions of the Divine, we are each imbued with the ability to create the Life we desire. That holds true for the Celebration Center, as well. It, too is a creative force, created by the collective consciousness of all who participate in it and partake of it, and so I know that:The Celebration Center moves forward on its Divine Right Path, in gratitude for what has come before, and in gratitude for what is yet to come. The path is made clear, and the manifestation is already known in the Mind Of God, and is revealing itself right now. I see the collective consciousness of the Center releasing any stories, any negativity, and any thoughts of lack or limitation, and just opening to all possibilities.Remaining in a state of gratitude, I release my word into the action of the Law, knowing it is already done in the Mind Of God.

I let go, and let God.

And so it is

Treatment for August 1, 20014

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