to growth in consciousness as well. Don’t we all suspect that dramatic changes in personality and life direction might happen within us if we were able to contact His presence regularly? To the old, habitual self, which is caught in inertia, this is very threatening. It can throw up very resistant barriers to keep us from losing ourselves in Him.
Experiment: Choose and write down a habit pattern that is especially characteristic of your own limited, ego self. Pray each day that as your real self you may let loose of your involvement with that pattern. Cultivate an attitude of openness to His healing for this part of your life. At the end of each day, record any situations during the day where you experienced losing this particular limited sense of self.
“Let us replace our negative thoughts with positive ones, thinking not unkindly of anyone but rather speaking and thinking kindly of all.”
One definition of kindness is caring for the feelings of others and anticipating how our words and actions will make the other person feel. A kind word might be one that awakens a feeling of hope, joy or appreciation. An unkind one might awaken defensiveness or guilt. And yet kindness does not mean that we always say yes. Since there are many levels of feeling and response within us, saying no is sometimes the better, kinder way to awaken positive feelings deep within the person, even though the mind and body of that individual may feel disappointed or hurt.
Keep it [your soul) then in patience, in love, in gentleness, in kindness … For these are indeed the fruits of the spirit … And remember, a kindness sometimes consists in denying as well as granting those activities in associations with thy fellow man.
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We must also be careful not to judge our own kind words and acts too soon. The promise in the readings is that “the soul never forgets” and growth will come from the good we do to others. We simply must not put time limitations on the manifestations of that good.
Yes, yes, here we have an entity meeting its own self. These are not desirous and yet it is for the unfoldment and development of this soul-entity. Physically, only helpful influences may be brought for the mental and soul-self. Much may be the contribution for this entity in the present in kindness, patience, love. All of these are needed in the body. These will aid the soul. For, remember, the soul never forgets and that which is practiced to the soul, in the soul, will bring eventually a growth in the knowledge, in the understanding of the love of the Creative Forces.
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Experiment: Work on relating to others with kindness. Especially focus on speaking kindly. Record those instances where you were able to replace an impulse to speak harshly or thoughtlessly with kind words. Record as well, without a sense of self-condemnation, those instances where greater kindness than you expressed would have been helpful.
“As we open our minds, our hearts, and our souls, that we may be channels of blessings, we then have the mind of the Christ, who took upon Himself the burden of the world. So may we, in our little spheres, take upon ourselves the burdens of our world.”
What was the work completed by Jesus who became the Christ? Some would say that it was simply to serve as an example, that He was a soul just like we are and was simply the first one to make it back to God. Such a response would also assume that we are all on our own to make it back to God and that we cannot expect any intervention from Jesus, except as He serves as a source of inspiration. At the other extreme are those who say that the work of Jesus was so all-inclusive that we merely have to profess faith in Him and we are saved. We no longer have to face responsibility for the things we have built.
The approach in the readings takes a middle course between these two extremes. It suggests that we are individually responsible for dealing with that which we have built in many lifetimes, yet Jesus did a special thing that makes our work easier. He took upon Himself the weight of all the self-centered patterns that mankind had built (the subconscious minds of mankind) and through His death and resurrection was able to build a new, unique pattern within the subconscious mind of every individual. The superconscious awareness was moved one step closer to man’s physical, conscious mind. To redraw the model of the nature of man we have:
We are not asked to take on the burdens of confusion of all mankind. Yet we live His pattern and attune ourselves to His consciousness as we do the same thing on a much smaller scale: taking the burden of responsibility for helping others among our circle of friends and acquaintances.
Experiment: Take upon self a new responsibility for helping some other person. Don’t try to make decisions for that person or do things for him that he needs to be doing, but take on a sense of responsibility for loving and caring about that person, even though it may be a burden (time-wise, energy-wise or otherwise).
“It is a oneness of mind … which we must all seek … not for self-edification, but that power and strength may emanate from us to others less strong.”
When asked to list qualities and personality characteristics that we feel we need to change or improve, most of us have no trouble in creating a lengthy list. Yet many people find it very difficult to write a corresponding list of qualities and characteristics they manifest which are in accord with the highest they know. We all have these, even if we aren’t able to express them with regularity, so why is it so hard for many people to create such a list?
It may be that we realize that in recognizing these qualities we assume a greater responsibility for expressing them more often (i.e., if I don’t admit I have this potential, then I’m not obliged to live up to it). Or, perhaps it is because we have been taught that we need to be humble. Yet we fail to be humble only as we set ourselves apart from the source of the good manifesting through us and claim all the credit for ourselves. It is false humility when we refuse to recognize the ways in which the Spirit is in fact working through us.
For some that work might be a musical ability that can help lift the consciousness of others; for others, it may be a special ability to be sensitive and listen. We all have these capabilities to channel the qualities of the Spirit. We experience a deeper awareness of the sameness that unites all of life as we find ways of sharing our individual gifts with others who may lack them.
Experiment: Choose one of your characteristics or abilities which you feel is often able to serve as a channel for the expression of your spiritual ideal. Be sensitive to those who may lack this particular characteristic or ability and find ways of sharing this strength with them.
“As we enter into meditation, let us visualize the force of harmony and love in action.”
There is frequent discussion as to just what role, if any, the readings indicate that visualization should play in meditation. Consider the following two passages that seem to give contradictory advice:
Q-3 … How may we avoid becoming rote in meditation and our daily lives?
A-3. By visualizing in such manners those meditations that are given out for others, for self; for in aiding others does one aid one’s self most. And unless this is so visualized from without self, it becomes rote. But when made, set, or so experienced by the inner self as being an active, living principle within self, it ceases to become rote.
Q-4. During meditation I have experienced a strong vibration—the whole body vibrating. Please explain. And have I been able to direct this current to those we are trying to aid?
A-4.
