How Can You See the Good in the Bad Things That Happen in the World?

Someone recently asked me, “How can I see the good in a child being harmed, molested, or killed?”

You cannot see the good in any negative situation by taking it for what it is in the physical and looking at it with your physical eyes. There is no good to be seen there. You must realize however, that what is seen as anything less than or other than good in the physical appears in the physical because of ideas believed in, in the invisible. When you see beyond the physical and determine for yourself what you see, and determined what you want to see based on the Truth, what you begin to see in the physical changes, because now the Good can reveal Itself in the physical things you saw before.

Example: “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, “Wilt thou be made whole?” The impotent man answered him, “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” Jesus saith unto him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath”. ~John 5:1-9

In this example there was a man who could not walk, who in fact had not been able to walk for 38 years. That is how he saw himself. That’s how everyone who knew him saw him too. That is the way anyone only looking at what they could see in the physical could see him. Looking solely at what could be seen in the physical there is no good that can be seen in such a situation. You can see the Good only when you do as the Master Teacher, Jesus taught and “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” ~John 7:24

We judge according to the appearance and wonder how we can see the good. In this way we cannot. We must judge righteous judgment. That means knowing and seeing within ourselves the Truth. We can only know the Truth within ourselves or in the Invisible. When Jesus in the above example judged the man with the infirmity as whole, knowing and seeing the Perfection of God as the Truth of that man, the Truth was able to express in the man, through the man and as the man. That is how we judge righteous judgment; by knowing the Truth and not relying on what we see in the physical as reality. It is a real experience in the physical, but it is the Spiritual Reality that we know within our own use of Mind that allows the Good to be revealed in any physical thing.

How do you see the Peace of God while looking at war and accepting it as reality? You don’t. You know Peace within yourself to allow Peace to be established “in earth as it is in Heaven”.

This is why Reverend Michael Beckwith has said that when we see these things in the news to realize that we are “receiving a call for prayer.” Are we going to bring the dead back to life? Maybe not, although I believe that if we have enough faith we can (and I know of someone who did in my lifetime). But we can see more Love revealed in the world as opposed to the brutality spoken of in the question I was asked; but, only when we see the Good – by our own choice, within our own mind. Seeing the Good must be a proactive decision made by you if you want to see more of it. You cannot wait for something “bad” to turn into something good. You cannot say, “I can’t wait to see the good in this situation”, and expect to see any good if you haven’t determined what the good is based on Truth and spoken it into being.

How can you see the good in a child being harmed, molested, or killed? You can’t when you believe that is the truth. In Truth no one can be killed because no one ever dies. If Life is eternal how can it be that someone dies? In Truth no one can do anything to anyone else. Why? Because it is done unto you as you believe. In order for a person to be robbed, there has to be a belief by that person that someone can do something bad to them, and that someone can take something from them. That will be in harmony with someone who believes that they cannot get their good unless they take something from someone else. The person that believes they can only get their good by taking something from someone else is not in harmony with someone that knows that nothing can be taken from them, because whatever they have and whatever is theirs, is theirs by right of consciousness. The understanding that nothing happens to you, but that all that happens in your experience happens through you gives you the foundation for that belief.

The more you then believe that Good and Good alone is revealed in all children, the more you will see evidence of that in your world. As long as the human race believes in something less than good, and to the degree that the human race believes in something less than good, those beliefs must be played out in the physical. The more any individual believes in Good and Good alone, the more it will be played out in their individual experience and the more the world as a whole will be blessed. Whatever you believe affects not just you and your experience, but everything and everyone everywhere. Do you wish to affect the world by believing that bad things happen to people, or by taking a proactive stance in knowing the Truth?

~ Guy

The Power of Your Imagination

The greatest resource, tool for success and power you have is your mind. In fact, the mind is so powerful that Charles Fillmore, the Co-Founder of The Unity School of Christianity, recognized that man has 12 distinct powers, which all are faculties of the mind. In his highly recognized and respected work, “The Twelve Powers of Man”, Fillmore gives great attention to the power of imagination.

Neville Goddard, known simply as Neville, who was recognized as one of the worlds greatest New Thought teachers, authored a book which I was introduced to just the other day titled “Awakened Imagination”. According to Neville, “Man becomes what he imagines.” Replete with understanding, this great work details what is necessary to awaken the imagination in you, and make use of it to experience the greatness that is waiting within you to be revealed.

Most go through life in the pursuit of knowledge through education in order to find success. There is nothing wrong with the acquisition of knowledge through education, in fact it may be the road you are taken on that leads to the realization to your imagined dream. Being successful in acquiring the education may be the desire you have for yourself. However, education and the knowledge you gain from it is not what leads you to your success. Only your own mind can do that through the power of your words, thoughts, feelings, beliefs and imagination.

This is why the person recognized as arguably the most knowledgeable person there has ever been, Albert Einstein, in his wisdom has told the world, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Because of the wisdom he possessed, he made use of his own imagination to lead him to the heights of his knowledge.

Even more recently, Dr. Frantonia Pollins appeared on “Aware Talk Radio on Blog Talk Radio”, as a guest on the show, “Creating Your Own Reality” with Pastor Jonathan Fisher, and shared her “9 SPIRITUAL LAWS OF CONSCIOUS WEALTH CREATION”. Can you imagine what the 5^th Law Dr. Pollins spoke about happened to be? You guessed it, according to her the 5^th Law of Conscious Wealth Creation is “The Law of Imagination. According to Pollins, “Imagination is one of our Spiritual faculties”, (which is directly in line with Fillmore’s “The Twelve Powers of Man”), and “out of imagination” she say’s, “comes creativity.”

Every person there ever was, every person there is now, and every person there will ever be has is inherently endowed with this faculty of mind. One of the most significant things about this fact is that we all can recognize this as true for us. It might not be so clear to some that they are filled with Love, Peace, Joy or Intelligence. It is true of everyone, it just might not be believed by everyone about themselves, because some have difficulty recognizing these qualities within themselves.

But we all know that we have imagination. This is being written to bring to light the power that we have available to us because we do. I am sure that you have heard stories of those who have successfully use visualization techniques or vision boarding. You have probably even used your imagination and demonstrated the awesome effects of it for yourself. You may not even be aware that was the case, but in retrospect you can recognize that it was because of the outcome. You have accessed the power to create whatever you believe and imagine you can have without knowing it, because you did not know what you did or how you did it. Even when you recognize what you did in hindsight, you can not do it again at will because you still don’t know how you did it.

Not only can you use your imagination to create things for you; you always do. The problem is, if you don’t know it you will continuously create what you do in life unaware of what you are creating. Because you are doing this it will always seem that some good things happen to you, and some bad things happen to you, and it is all because of a fate that you have no control over. That is the furthest thing from the truth. It is the reason the Master Teacher, Jesus, taught that nothing in life just happens to you. In fact, everything that happens in your life happens through you. So, his teaching clearly states that it is done you as you believe.

Some break down the word “imagine” and look at the idea of what we “image in”. The image we have within our own mind eventually turns into the situations, conditions and experiences that we have in our life as long as we believe it is so.

You can imagine anything you want in your life and it will appear in your life. The career you desire, financial security, good relationships, overcoming health challenges or any idea of what you desire to have, to do or to be. It is up to you. What do you want?

Here are two practical exercises that will get you started. Remember what you read here, then follow the instruction you see. It is very simple and it will only take a few minutes. Find a quiet time and place in your home where you can be comfortable. Close your eyes and relax. Release all thoughts of the day for a few minutes. Once you are comfortable and relaxed with your eyes closed, begin to picture a beautiful house in your mind. You only need to see one area of the house for this exercise; so, picture a beautiful living room. See it as you would like to have the living room in your dream home. See the room in as much detail as possible. See the size of the room; see how spacious it is and how high the ceiling is. See the colors that the walls, ceiling and trim are painted. See the floor, whether it is wood, ceramic or carpet, (or even dirt if that is what you choose). See the furniture, the windows and their treatments. See the pictures on the wall or whatever you would like to have hanging there. Is there a television, an entertainment center? It is all up to you. Now that you have this picture in your mind, relax and look at it for a few minutes. Feel yourself turning to see it from every angle you can. Feel yourself sitting in the furniture of your choice, or doing whatever else you may do that you enjoy to in this room. Are you alone? Do you have company? Whatever the case, enjoy whatever you choose to do while you’re in this room.

After you have completely enjoyed this experience, open your eyes. You will continue to feel relaxed for a while, and that’s good. Now you are done with the first exercise. It was easy and it felt good. You may not have seen every picture as clearly as some will, but that doesn’t stop you from imagining the room and bringing yourself to that point of comfort, joy and relaxation. The more you do this though, the more clearly you will see the details.

Which brings me to the second exercise; select a time of day to do this exercise on a regular basis and do it everyday for one week. Instead of the room, replace that idea with the idea of your choice. Now that you know how easy it is, begin to imagine that you have what you choose to because it is what you really want in your life. But remember, this is not everything you need to do. You just need to add a few things for this to be complete.

The teaching is that whatever you ask for, believing that you already have it, you will receive. This is just a way to help you believe that you already have what you asked for. First you need to ask.

To be sure you understand how to go about that, let’s look at an example. This of course is a lesson that came from the Master Teacher, Jesus. He taught the world to do what he did; in fact he said that not only will you do the things he did, but even greater. When he asked for what he wanted, he received it. He taught by example, but most people disregard the example when they try to follow his teachings.

You see, he did not teach anyone to beg, beseech or pray by supplication. When he said, “when ye pray”, he used terms like, “give us this day our daily bread”, not “please let us have this day our daily bread”.

He always recognized where his desire came from, “It is my Father in me that does the work”. Likewise the example he gave the world was to pray, “Our Father, which art in Heaven”. He wanted to make sure you knew it is your Father in heaven that does the work. Do you remember reading about Lazarus? The first thing Jesus did was thank the Father for answering the prayer, (for doing the work). The next thing he did was ask for it to be done, knowing that it was already so, while he saw it as being so in his own mind, by saying, “Lazarus, come forth. He did not say Father, will you please raise Lazarus; or Lazarus, would you please come forth. He said, “Thank you Father”, and “Lazarus come forth”.

Giving recognition to the Father for doing the work, asking by stating that it is done, and giving thanks and praise that it is already an accomplished fact, (for thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory), are all elements of the scientific way that Jesus taught the world to pray. Getting what you want after all, is only a demonstration of your living in Spirit. We do not get what we want for the sake of our own greed and materialistic desires. We get what we want in order to prove the power of God in our lives, and as we do so. “Prove me now herewith, said the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

All of these elements of successful prayer are necessary. This is why you have the power of imagination and the reason you can use it to bring about anything you want in your life. That is why we have heard time and time again, from so many teachers, in this or a similar manner, “If you can imagine something, and you can believe in it, you can achieve it.”

Do you imagine you can?

Guy

Reach A New Height

Within you is something unique, something that longs for expression and somthing that will not only change you forever, but will change the world forever. As each one is an individualization of that which created, sustains and lives in all, each one individualizes it. It is only you that thinks as you do, perceives life as you do and feels as you do.

It is likewise only you that creates what you create, for only you can. No other can be you, no other can think for you and no other can give the world the gift that lies within you. You have something to give which only you can. It is the reason you were born.

Though we each have a special gift to give the world, few of us ever do and few of us ever will. In fact, most never realize this is true of them and will go through life feeling as if this is only the case for a special few. As you read these words you may reason, “There could only be one Da Vinci, Beethoven, Joan of Arc, Edison, Ford, Nelson Mandela, Amelia Earhart, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Barack Obama or anyone else who is that notable for their contributions to the world”. If that is your thought, you are absolutely correct. There can only be one of any of these monumental figures of history, past or present.

Likewise, there is and can only be one you. You may not have risen to the height that any of the aforementioned have, but you can. But like each of the aforementioned, no one else can do what you have in you to do. Only you have the God given talent that is yours. Only you have the ideas and the desires that can give expression to your dreams, for they are your dreams and your dreams alone.

You can keep doing what you feel is practical or safe, you can keep feeling as if there is no hope for you to accomplish anything with your life, or you can listen to your heart and honor your heart’s desire. Your unique talents are equal to living the desires of your heart. When you listen to your heart’s desire and follow your dream, believing that your dreams become your reality, they do.

New heights are in you to be reached and you can reach them. You cannot reach a new height if you don’t believe you can, because if you don’t believe you can reach it, you won’t even try. You will not reach a new height if you don’t start moving in that direction, because without moving in the direction of your dream you cannot get there. You will only reach a new height if you begin to climb.

Dare to climb that mountain, write that book, sing that song  or implement that idea the world has never heard of before, because the dream belongs to you and you alone. It belongs to you, but it is your gift for the world.

Guy

Affirmation for the Day, Thursday, May 21, 2009

The dam has burst, the floodgates are open, unlimited wealth flows freely to me now, and I am open to receive every good thing that comes my way. And so It is.

Learning to Love Yourself

What happens in your world of experience is always a reflection of your consciousness; as above so below, as within so without, you reap what you sow and Life always gives to you what you give to it.

The sum total of your thoughts, feelings and beliefs comprise your consciousness.  This includes those ideas you are aware of on the conscious level of your mental activity, and those ideas you are not aware of on the subconscious level of your mental activity.  Not being aware of what is going on in the thought atmosphere of your subconscious mind, you are quite often left feeling surprised or helpless about the life experiences you have.

Considering this it is imperative to think about how much you really love yourself, because to the degree that you really love yourself, you see that love reflected in your world of experiences.  Do you harshly judge and criticize yourself, or are you kind and loving to yourself.  For instance; do you hear yourself saying things like, “how could you be so stupid” or “you idiot, you should know better” when you make a mistake, or do you say instead, “that’s alright, something good will come from this”, “it’s not my fault, I did the best I could in the moment” or something like “okay, let’s look for the lesson in this”.

Since your subconscious is filled with every thought, idea, feeling and memory you’ve ever had, it is impossible to know everything that goes on in the subconscious activity of your mind.  But it is through the subconscious activity of your mind that your world of experiences, circumstances, events and conditions is created.  If you’ve been harshly judging yourself all of your life, what you feel and believe about yourself, and what is stored in your subconscious mind is harsh judgment, and will be reflected in your experiences.  On the other hand, if you’ve been kind and loving to yourself all of your life, what you feel and believe about yourself, and what is stored in your subconscious mind is loving kindness, and that will be reflected in your experiences.

The good news is that if you have not been so kind and loving to yourself up until now, you can now begin.  You have the ability to change the way you think about yourself, because you have dominion over what you think.  Starting now you can redirect your conscious thinking and thereby reprogram your subconscious thought activity.  You can be proactive in the way you think about yourself and you can consciously choose whatever thoughts and ideas you want to fill your subconscious mind.  If you want to have more kind and loving experiences in your life, start now by being more kind and loving to yourself.

Use more positive self speak in the midst of unfavorable situations.  The more you do, the less those situations will occur.  Be proactive in consciously redirecting and reprogramming your subconscious thinking with the use of positive affirmations, using kind and loving thoughts about yourself.  The more you do this, the more the thought atmosphere of your subconscious mental activity changes, thus more positive, kind and loving conditions will be reflected in your world of experiences.

Use affirmations such as: I love myself, I am good, I am always the best I can be, I accept myself as I am, I am a good (man, woman, person, husband, wife, mother, father, employee, boss, daughter, son, etc…), I deserve the best, I am wonderful, I am fabulous, I am smart, I am wise, I am good at what I do, I am good to me, I am beautiful, I am kind to myself and I forgive myself.  Don’t limit yourself to these suggestions; create some kind and loving self speak affirmations for yourself to use.

Think about the ideas you have read here and make the decision to be more kind and loving to you by implementing them.  Remember, you have spent a lifetime creating the thought atmosphere that makes up the subconscious of your mind; you are not going to completely change it overnight.  Devote yourself to improving your life by using positive self talk and positive affirmations for as long as it takes to see the change you want to see.  After all, who’s going to love you if you don’t? You deserve the best. And so It is. – Guy

God’s Light

God’s Light

The article you’re reading now was inspired by the picture you see here.  It was taken by a friend of mine named Sharon Zellner, and she appropriately named it “God’s Light”. It is an awesome and awe inspiring picture which captured a natural arc of light. It’s as if sunlight is emanating from the earth, rising up into the air, and pouring back down into the earth becoming one with it again. I have never seen anything like it, and am amazed that Sharon not only did, but was also able to capture it in such an excellent fashion.

How can this phenomenal occurrence be explained? I have a little understanding about rainbows, but this doesn’t seem to fit the explanations we have come to accept about their appearances. Even if there was some moisture in the air at the time this picture was taken, where is the spectrum of colors and why is the entire object able to be seen from such a close distance?

These may be good questions, but I don’t particularly feel the need to examine these ideas any further.  There is probably a very good tangible explanation of this spectacle, but my thoughts quickly move to my personal interpretation of this wonderful vision in terms of some explainable metaphysical symbolism; I just need to know what it means to me.

As with any interpretation of anything imaginable, there are an infinite number of viewpoints, angles and perspectives that any idea can be approached from. For instance, the idea of God’s Light can be looked at as the sun, which many have come to view as the light of God shining on the world to supply energy, warmth, luminescence, and all that is necessary to regulate all functions of life.  It can also be looked at as the Infinite Intelligence of Spirit, filling all space and time with the unconditioned knowledge of all that is necessary to regulate all functions of Life.

We view the idea of illumined individuals, illumined minds or illumined thinkers. We sometimes get a “bright idea”, or when we realize the answer to a question we’ve been pondering, it is because “a light” has come on to give us the answer. We hope that people we care about, who make what we judge as mistakes in their approach to life, will someday “see the light” and change their ways, or come “from the darkness into the light”.

However we look at it, light is something we cherish; something we feel is necessary and beautiful.

An illumined being is one that we see as “walking in the Light of Spirit” or being “filled with the Light of God”.  This describes to us an individual that is wise, because they have become consciously aware of the Infinite Intelligence of the Universe as a basic aspect of their being, and are guided by this Intelligence with an intuitive understanding of how to approach all matters of Life.  These individuals also recognize themselves as “the Light of God”.

They see all of Life as they see themselves, as individualizing God’s Life, Love, Light, Power, Peace, Beauty and Joy. Everywhere they look they see Good, because everywhere they look they see God.

What does it take to become one of these illumined individuals?  It takes the willingness on anyone’s part to recognize that God is all there is; that all aspects of God are individualized throughout all of creation.  It takes a willingness to practice knowing that the Presence of Spirit is alive everywhere, existing in all, through all and as all.  It takes the willingness to believe that despite what we may see with our physical eye, the Truth of the Invisible, Infinite, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent Creator and Sustainer of all Life, is the Truth of our being and the Truth of all Life.  You and I have the power to do this; it is the power of our choice.

It is what allows us as human beings to have dominion over our selves, our experiences, and the rest of creation. It is also what allows us to be what we determine ourselves to be, do what we determine we can do, and have what we determine we can have.  It is what allows us to make the conscious decision to walk in the Light of God, be a Light unto our world and radiate God’s Light as a blessing to our world. I determine this for me, and I know that you can determine this for you. I am God’s Light, knowing that God’s Light blesses the world as me, and knowing that God’s Light blesses the world as you.  Thanks to Sharon for sharing this beautiful reminder of Truth with us all.  And so It is.

Guy

Inspired Quote of the Day
“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.” – Dwight L. Moody

Inspired Affirmation of the Day
I am a Light in this world, shining brightly for all to see the awesome wonder, goodness and glory that is God in all that exists. And so It is.

Affirmation for the Day, Sunday, May 17, 2009

I am sustained by the constant, consistent, unconditional, ever giving Love of God, which supplies all I need to live a healthy, happy and prosperous life. And so It is.

Affirmation for the Day, Friday, May 15, 2009

My world is Joyous, Loving and Peaceful, because I live in Perfect Harmony with all. And so It is.

Affirmation for the Day, Thursday, May 14, 2009

I no longer base my view of the world on the circumstances, situations and conditions I see around me; I go within and see the world as I choose it to be, and I relax and allow the Peace of God to express through me. And so It is.

Affirmation for the Day, Wednesday, May 13, 2009

I live in a Universe of Love, knowing that Life is always for me. So, I always expect to express, experience and have the best. And so It is.