The Power of Our Imagination: Let's Use it for GOOD!

Early one morning on a recent hike, my friend, Debbie, told me a story about her daughter and a church that has been the inspiration for this post.

The story Debbie told was of her daughter visiting a local church in Milpitas, Calif., because of its fame. It's called Jubilee Christian Church, and the minister is Dick Bernal, who started the church in 1980 with his wife, Carla, and six people.

Debbie's daughter is in her early 20s and had attended Christian schools all her life, so did not expect to learn anything new that Sunday. But when she left Jubilee that day...she was blown away! Here's what happened:


Pastor Dick, as he's called, staged an "altar call." He asked everyone with extra money to go up and "leave it" on the stage. He invited people to leave whatever cash they felt led to leave...any amount was acceptable.

Being a large church with 14,000 active members, hundreds...thousands...of people kept walking up and leaving whatever cash they had.

Left on the stage was lots of cash... thousands of dollars... after everyone had given what they could "spare."

Pastor Dick paused for a few minutes to get everyone settled into the moment.

Then... he invited everyone who had a bill to pay that month...any bill that had been challenging them that month...to come up and TAKE from the mound of cash others had left for them.

People began to go up.

They were diligent in taking ONLY what they needed to pay their PG&E bill, whatever funds they were short of to pay their rent or other expenses.

I don't have to tell you how touching this scene must have been to all in attendance.

Even as I write this piece, I have tears streaming...at the thought of his deep caring...creativity...ingenuity....goodness!

What a man, Pastor Dick! People like him truly make God smile!

In a recent Facebook post, I got another jolt into Consciousness and the role this plays in the direct experience we're having in our lives:

"We stand at the edge of always, in a new season of victory, a sacred truth that just keeps directing us back to the vortex of our own power,"

wrote Rev. Cecilia Loving, SpiritMUV, New York City

At a certain time on this spiritual path, we come to the Dawn: a slow realization that our current life experience has been created by the thoughts and visions we held in our consciousness, perhaps over many years. We also learn that in order to change the experience, if we don't like it, we've got to RE-create the thoughts we hold and the visions we keep in our Consciousness about ourselves, our lives, about other people...indeed about the world!


Many years ago, I read the book, "Creative Visualization," by Shakti Gawain. It had a great impact on my life at that time, and I went forward to create many great results in my life through the Conscious choices I made each day.

As children we went through life having it handed to us. We did not realize, care... much less know... that the experience of life we were having came about because of the Consciousness our parents or caretakers held about themselves and the thought choices they made each day. All we knew was that we were rich, poor, warm, cold, hungry, angry, fearful because of the circumstances surrounding our lives!

So many of us grew up believing that life happened to us.

Yes. We had no money; we were poor.

We had money; we were rich et al.

Our parents instilled in us and passed on to us their values about money and their Consciousness about life overall and their "beingness" in the world.


Those are the values we embrace (d).

"Man, not knowing that his world is his individual consciousness outpictured, vainly strives to conform to the opinion of others rather than to conform to the one and only opinion existent, namely, his own judgment of himself."

Neville Goddard, 1905-1972.

My awareness that there was another way to experience life, i.e. I was not a victim of circumstances, started a little more than 20 years ago, yes, with spiritual teachers such as Shakti Gawain and others who cared enough to share their insights and wisdom about life and living. I gobbled up all the information I could as fast as I could and had tremendously positive results putting them into use.

But the habits and practices of the many years I'd been in the world operating unconsciously regained ground. At that time, I was not practicing what I know to do now: "Present Moment Awareness," so when things did not go exactly as I expected them to go, I lost faith.

I began to lose confidence in the path that I had been so diligently following with great success.

I stopped consciously trying to create my world. I let life HAPPEN to me.

I began to be like the grasshopper, Neville Goddard writes about:

"Today is the day, the eternal now, when conditions in the world have attained the appearance of giants. The unemployed, the armies of the enemy, business competition, etc., are the giants which make you feel yourself to be a helpless grasshopper.

"We are told we were first in our own sight helpless grasshoppers and because of this concepton of ourselves we were to the enemy helpless grasshoppers.

"We can be to others only that which we are to ourselves. Therefore, as we revalue ourselves and begin to feel ourselves to be the giant, a center of power, we atuomatically change our relationship to the giants, reducing these former monsters to their true place, making them appear to be the helpless grasshoppers."

Where I ended up both in CONSCIOUSNESS and in reality was certainly not where I'd projected my life!

I felt helpless about fixing the circumstances surrounding me, as I sunk more and more into my old habitual ways of thinking and being, and as I also continued to associate with folks in the world who had NO other Consciousness but that of living the "victim."

With enough study and enough application, I slowly re-awakened and re-emerged in the Consciousness that I was living in the fog of my Consciousness. With my thoughts and my imagination, I was creating a world and a life experience that came from my fears vs. my conscious choices.



"Consciousness precedes all manifestations and is the prop upon which all manifestation rests."

Neville

So, I've set about changing my manifestations.

Now, I'm alert and alive to my life experiences moment by moment. I know NOW I can live NO other way.

In Creative Visualization, Shaki Gawain wrote:

"The process of change does not occur on superficial levels, through mere 'positive thinking.' It involves exploring, discovering, and changing our deepest, most basic attitudes toward life."

"When you have strong intention to create something -- that is, you deeply desire it, you completely believe that you can do it, and you are totally willing to have it -- it is likely to manifest in your life in one way or another."

"Almost everything you truly need or want is here for the asking; you only need to believe that it is so, truly desire it, and be willing to accept it."

"Unless you can create a context that the world is a good place to be and can potentially work for everyone, you will experience difficulty in creating what you want in your personal life."

"In the same way that you can love a good friend while clearly seeing his or her faults and short comings, you can love yourself for all that you truly are."

"Once we begin to learn to accept the goodness of the universe, we naturally want to share it as well, realizing that as we give out of our energy, we make space for more to flow into us."

"Creative visualization can be an effective tool for healing because it goes straight to one source of the problem -- your own mental concepts and images."

Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote an entire book about how thoughts and beliefs create our experiences. "You'll See it When You Believe It" is the title of his book.


Many people are so fully separated from the "vortex of power" that Rev. Cecilia Loving talks about that as they go through life unconsciously; instead of building, they destroy! Separation from our "Center," which some see as "God," and going through life without awareness of this Consciousness, cause us to to use the Power of Imagination (visualization) to create a world we end up hating!

Let us all WAKE UP to this great power* given to us by God: The Power of Our Imagination.

Let us consciously use it for Good...as in the example set by Pastor Dick of Jubilee Christian Church!


Kudos to you, Pastor Dick: May the Christ Light Continue to Shine Brightly in Your Life and in Your Ministry!

Namaste',

Che'
*NOTE: This is one of 12 Powers given to us. Each month forward, I will feature in this blog one of the other 11 Powers.

Integrity: Who Really Has IT?

On a normal day, were I to ask 10 people if they had integrity, without a doubt, each would answer in the affirmative.

I would not have questioned their responses.

Until now.

You see, I've discovered that many people
really, truly don't have integrity!

Of course I'm talking about a matter of "degree" of integrity here.

But most would swear that they have ABSOLUTE integrity.

According to Webster's Dictionary, the word, Integrity, means:

1. A firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values; incorruptibility.
2. An unimpaired condition : soundness.
3. The quality or state of being complete or undivided : completeness.

In essence, integrity means Honesty!

So, most of us have it, right?

Wrong. Very wrong.


As a matter of fact, I don't think we've even begun to touch upon the rudimentary meaning of the word.

I thought of this when I saw someone being complimented as a person with "integrity."

I had to laugh out loud at that one: I'd always seen the person as not at all concerned with weighing right/wrong or true/false but who is more concerned with doing what is "expedient."

I also had to think deeply before I began writing this blog: Is it that my perception is suddenly colored by the people I've met within the year, or, was I not seeing with the right eyes?

I know now that I was "blinded" by the world.


Then, I also remembered Jesus' admonition in Matthew 6: 17: "Why callest thou me good; there is none good but one, that is GOD!"

He also asked those who accused the adulterous woman: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." [John 8: 7]

No one did.

You see most people operate under the illusion that they are honest, true, faithful, and would always do the right thing; they believe they are incorruptible and they would never, and could NEVER, be divided!


Right!

But doing the right thing is a matter of interpretation, and there is NONE of us, who will always do the right thing!

Let me repeat this: There is none of us...NOT ONE...of us who will always do the right thing!



If you disagree, please, please cast the first stone! I dare you!

It is so easy to say, or think, or delude ourselves that we will do the right thing, and only the right thing. Always.

If you believe you have "integrity," it's just an illusion!

Operating in today's world, I wouldn't know who to point to as a "role model"* for integrity.

Yes, there are so many who wear the trimmings of uprightness, so very, very proudly that they even have a demeanor of looking down on others in their righteousness.

Sadly, I might have been just as self righteous, too, at one time.

Now, I examine my behavior, each and every time I take an action, and then, I hope for the best outcome for all concerned, including me.

You see, I simply don't know what's right...what's wrong...what's neither right nor wrong anymore.



I know people who think it's a great honor to keep a perfect credit score, believing this shows integrity, yet at the blink of an eye would break laws because it suits their purpose!

It all boils down to perception of what is honest and true.

At one time, truth and honesty may mean one thing; at another time, it may not.


To be honest, I simply don't know what honesty is anymore.



I'm thinking of Congressman Charles Rangel of New York City, who served with a long history of doing good works for the city, and now in the twilight of his career, he's being accused of so many ethics violation.


I think of House Representative Maxine Waters of California, too. She is under fire for ethics violation.


Without a doubt, I would not put it past the Republicans to be up to their low-down tricks. But you see, we know the Republicans are low-down; they don't hide it. They will do whatever it takes to get the enemy, defeat the opponent, without ever trying to say they are doing otherwise.

In fact, I love that level of TRUTH. With the Republicans, their dirtiness shows!


The thing is, though, that both Rangel and Waters know this too. Even though I haven't followed either of their cases closely enough, out of just sadness, I will say they are guilty...guilty as accused...simply because I know that honesty is up to interpretation.

Now, the Republicans may have seemingly found a way to discredit both Rangel and Waters, and whatever way you look at it, they will win!

Rangel and Waters may not have done outright whatever they are accused of doing, but to even walk close to the accusation means, they could smell that it was wrong and could and would not walk away.


Often, we use the excuse that if I'm not "doing it directly," then I'm not guilty.

There's guilt by association ...with a husband or wife or colleague or friend. Then, there are the employers and employees.

We know it's wrong when we feel it in our hearts.

We know it's wrong when we can smell it or think it.

In 1976, then President Jimmy Carter was ridiculed for stating that people were committing adultery by "lusting in their hearts." I fully understand what he meant...and you do, too!


Beyond this, sometimes, people who should seemingly have integrity just out and out LIE!

Late last year, I met a well-known preacher and spent about two hours in his company. My meeting with him that day reversed some of the negative opinions I'd had about him for years.


I'd dismissed him many years ago, as being just "another one of them." I'd ordered a set of CDs and realized that they were truly meaningless in content and was just a way for him to raise additional funds, beyond his ministry, for his cache'. After our meeting, I reserved judgment about him, hoping that he'd not outright lied to me about the situation we had met to discuss.


Months later, I confirmed that he did: simply dishonest, fully lacking integrity.

True. But he didn't disappoint me at all. As a matter of fact, I felt relieved that I was not wrong about him all the years in all the ways I'd assessed him as being "without merit."

I thank God for that insight that had guided me, and for my radar that tells me immediately when people STINK!

Why I know that we ALL are operating without absolute integrity is that I know that we always ...always...always...hear the still, small voice.


We always hear.

We always know the truth...intuitively...we always do!


What do we do?

We brush it away.

We plow forward.


We do it in relationships because we don't want to be alone; we lie to our lovers.
We lie to our employers: we want the job or we want to keep the job.
We lie to our kids: we want them to believe that we have all the answers or we don't want to hurt their feelings.
Or, simply because it's easier.
We lie to our friends.. for all the same reason.

We don't tell the truth.
Sometimes in small ways.
Sometimes in big ways.
Sometimes in ALL ways.



Sometimes we feel like crying; we laugh instead.
Out of compassion and caring...
sometimes we're sleepy; we stay up, because we're keeping
company with a friend who needs us to listen.

However way we don't tell the truth...however way we don't live up to our own moral compass...however way we compromise our conscience...our TRUTH, we are not truly living in INTEGRITY!



Many big companies lie about results and expectations; small companies do even more... some because they are desperate to attract customers and increase earnings...some because they are trying to "hustle" and hire "two-bit" hustlers to help them do so. Who knows? Lying on whatever level...for whatever reason... is LYING!




The biggest way...the most disturbing way...for us not to have integrity....
is to betray our own Souls.

Tell me, you always...always...listen to the still, small voice.

If you are able, then truly, cast ...

... the very first stone!

Namaste',

Che'
Jimmy Carter The Playboy Interview - Excerpt

November 1976

"Because I'm just human and I'm tempted and Christ set some almost impossible standards for us. The Bible says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Christ said, I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his heart already committed adultery. I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times.... This is something that God recognizes, that I will do and have done, and God forgives me for it. But that doesn't mean that I condemn someone who not only looks on a woman with lust but who leaves his wife and shacks up with somebody out of wedlock. Christ says, don't consider yourself better than someone else because one guy screws a whole bunch of women while the other guy is loyal to his wife. The guy who's loyal to his wife ought not to be condescending or proud because of the relative degree of sinfulness."

NOTE: * As a role model, former President Jimmy Carter comes to mind. After all, he was HONEST about having "lust" in his heart

The CONVERGENCE: "We are Becoming ONE!"

I saw a program recently on PBS, where Deepak Chopra said, "We look at the organism as separate from us, but it is not separate; we're one!"


Almost every time I go onto Facebook, I'm struck by how much the worlds of work and home, family and friends, are now blended!

There are no barriers anymore among work friends and childhood friends, colleagues or just people we know. In the world of Facebook, "they are all ONE!"


If the planet were conspiring for this convergence, it did not share its scheme with those of us who kept talking about the "ONENESS" within and that which constitutes us all! Then Facebook happened, and viola, without warning, here we are...all together...with our worlds welded together as ONE!

I'd previously commented on Facebook and how I thought it was only for those who wanted to be "showcasing themselves." Well, I was very, very wrong.[Who says a spiritual director can't be opinionated...especially one who is a writer!]



Now that Facebook has become an integral part of my day, I see now that I was unwilling to fully open myself to the benefits of this wonderful social networking tool.



Facebook brings people of disparate and diverse backgrounds, callings and interests all together. Your participation on Facebook can be whatever works for you as a "socialized" individual: sharing pictures, what you had for dinner, what your innermost thoughts are and in fact, just about everything you do in the course of the day.

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to use Facebook. It just is...whatever...you make it.

What I especially like about it is its openness to allowing people to feel free to share intimacies.... with even strangers they know will be reading their information. It shows that people will SPEAK their truths, let their voices be heard! They also can share their lives with family and friends, without having to have them be "right next door."



It also allows people, who are sensitive enough and caring enough, to "detect" when someone may be veering into trouble and seriously in need of help.

There are so many other ways the world is binding together as one.


There's the global economy, where transactions can be conducted in any monetary system and language, without too many hassles and headaches, in minutes!The Internet changed that by opening up easier lines of communication.

People can sell products just as easily to people in Europe, Asia, Africa as they can in the United States and Canada. Borders are disappearing rapidly, as far as commerce and commercial ventures.

Today, it also is not uncommon for people to speak several different languages...but the language that is becoming more commonplace is the language of "Love."




You keep seeing it crop up in many ordinary conversations now and used by both men and women very easily in casual conversations with their friends, family, and colleagues. It is no longer that "love," is a term reserved for lovers. It's used just as easily to express how you feel about people who previously would have been "my coworkers." People are hugging each other now in the workplace! Families & friends are becoming blended!



I'm reminded of this "one world" we're now living in whenever I get a loving comment from the Chinese reader(s) of this blog, who post his/her comments whenever my blog appears.

I love this new world we're moving into and that is growing so big and all encompassing.

Who knows...pretty soon...

This new world just might cover the world we once knew.


This new world just might swallow the world we grew up knowing: where yours was YOURS and mine was MINE!

Who knows...pretty soon...

This new world may completely cover over the hurt and pain and separations of the past...

Who knows...pretty soon...

This new world may help us see the obvious connections we miss when a friend calls just when we're sending energy his/her way...

Who knows...pretty soon...
We all truly may be ONE!

Then who knows: the human and the spiritual would also be ONE, where we would not be able to detect the separation...


Wouldn't that be a wonderful world!

Namaste',

Che'
NOTE: Today's Daily Word speaks of Peace in the World! Also cut/paste this link to check out "Take a Friend to Work:" http://www.dailyword.com/articles/2010/august/take-friend-work

Daily Word, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010--

" 'I see peace; I speak peace; I live from a peaceful heart.'

Consciously pausing to feel the steady, rhythmic beat of my heart and the deep and calming flow of my breath, I dedicate myself to expressing peace today.

Asa child of God, I share a common heritage of divine love with all people. I remember this as I think and speak of others today, as I interact, and as I agree or disagree with other points of view. I appreciate the diversity that adds richness, beauty and strength to the tapestry of humankind.

The words I choose and the tone in which I speak convey my peaceful intentions. I look for opportunities to share a smile, a kind word and a helping hand. I am a presence of peace. I see peace; I speak peace; I live from a peaceful heart."

Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.--Romans 14:19