Propserity June 2008- Visioning

I embody the Living Presence as I surrender into my highest vision for my life.

This month we are going to do some visioning about Unity of Corvallis. Hence, it makes sense to share some of the framework behind visioning and contrast it with the more commonly understood practice of visualization. Both are powerful spiritual tools often employed when we are seeking a sense of guidance or direction or when we want to manifest something in our lives. In a nutshell, the main distinction is that visualization tends to arise from personality whereas visioning is more about soul expression.

Here are a few of the details explaining this distinction between personality-based visualization and soulful envisioning.

In the visualization process we are taught to imagine something we want and picture God gifting it to us. We are often urged to pick a certain date by which we want the object of our visualization to appear. The transformational "work" we are expected to do is to hold a positive mental image of what we want and infuse it with appreciative energy. The concept is that it is God's good pleasure to give us the kingdom of heaven, which naturally includes giving us some external thing that is exactly what we visualize as adding to our good.

On the other hand, in a visioning process, we are seeking to understand what Spirit is wanting to create or co-create with us.... we are searching for the avenue through which God manifests something for our good and we are expected to be an integral part of this embodiment. The focus is on creating a state of being within ourselves through which something is manifested. Instead of the starting place that "something is missing", which is how visualization typically begins, in visioning we are taught to hold that something is already present as a full and complete idea seeking our cooperation to bring it into full expression on the physical plane.

In visualization, some people get trapped in an attachment to their own personal strategy of how to get a need met. For example, let's say a woman (we'll call her Zoe) feels isolated and her life is not as fulfilling as she would like. Zoe then gets the bright idea that a romantic partner is just the ticket to make her life less lonely and more fulfilling. Thus she decides it is a good idea to visualize her new perfect relationship and while she is at it, she decides to visualize her new perfect partner.

Now, there may be times when the chosen strategy aligns well with the need, and things unfold smoothly. The partner and relationship bring about a sense of connection that leads to development of new interests and an exploration of a deeper self in relationship.

There are other times though, when the deeper need is not connected with the strategy and this often leads to heartache and mistrust of the Higher Power. In the example above, if the partner Zoe visualized turns out to be looking for a partner to give their life meaning and to take away their sense of separation as evidenced in her own visualization, then it is likely that each will want more from their partner than the other is willing to offer. Each is approaching the relationship with the idea of what they can “get” and not how they can express their Divinity. In other words, in this made up example, Zoe and her partner have a need to make a connection with and serve Life but instead adopt a strategy to take away their isolation. As a result of this visualizing process they are directed toward a goal that their ego is invested in and not a goal that comes from their soul expressing. It is likely then, that they will both still feel lonely and still feel unfilled, even though they are now in a relationship. That is because the underlying belief is that some object outside themselves can remove their sense of isolation and the unfulfilled nature of their life. The loneliness that Zoe puts out into the world through her visualization about her lack of a romantic partner comes back to her as lack of meaning and lack of fulfillment under the laws of karma.

This same question taken to visioning might lead Zoe to a very different course of action. The Spirit-led vision would tend to help her to find the meaning directly by becoming willing to serve Life. Her soul would yearn to resolve the loneliness by reducing isolation through connecting with something within her that is yearning to be learned or discovered. Then the authentic action might be to join an activity that has a social overlay or that has some intrinsic meaning. Perhaps she would be led to volunteer at a non-profit that is aligned with her ideals. There are many possibilities. (Visioning tends to open to more possibilities than Visualization).

From this space of being open to God's unfolding through her, Zoe's lack of purpose is met with increased purpose which leads to transformation under the laws of karma. Likewise, the lack of connection is transformed into the energy needed to overcome her inertia as she joins a group or volunteers, which then creates a whole different paradigm in her energy field.

Now, as happenstance or Spirit would have it, Zoe enacting the vision co-created with Spirit might end up meeting a romantic partner at the study group or at the non-profit, and who knows how that will play out. The difference is that she is not looking for something to receive from outside of herself to make her feel better, she is looking for something to contribute, and in making that contribution she will feel better and then perhaps attract a partner.

Here is a personal example. I was wondering at one point many years ago, about what my next step towards ministry would look like. In my visualizations I considered myself doing guest speaking or teaching classes, but that was my ego’s plan. I decided to do a vision process and what came back was to volunteer at the Centre for Living with Dying. This idea never entered my mind prior to that moment and terrified me. I was afraid of death, I was uncomfortable with grief, and when I called them I learned that the minimum commitment was one night per week for an entire year, plus many other hours of training and volunteering. Do I need to mention, I was afraid of commitment too?

Yikes! This was way more than I thought I was ready for, but my authentic action was to make just one call about volunteering. I made the call and as it turned out, the application period for volunteers was open for only three more days and then it closed for the rest of the year. I decided this must be Divine Order and asked them to fax me the application. Then I found out to even be considered as a volunteer I need two personal references from prior volunteers. At the time I caught the vision, I had only the vaguest idea of what the Centre did and didn’t know anyone who had volunteered there. I took this into prayer and two names of dear friends came up. My authentic action was to call each and it turned out that both had been volunteers there and were very happy to give me a glowing reference. To make a long story short, this whole thing unfolded perfectly, I was accepted as a volunteer, given invaluable training and experience and some confidence that I do have some skills in working with bereavement. Looking back on it, my soul knew that I needed more compassion in order to take my next step in ministry, while my ego thought I needed more speaking. Now, many of you know my past profession was as a trial lawyer. Which do you think was Spirit guiding… my visualization or my visioning process?

So too, in terms of Unity of Corvallis, Debbie, your Board and I are wanting to vision what Spirit is co-creating here. For too long I think some of us (including, and maybe especially, me) have been holding onto some idea that our ego might have had about how this church should look. We might have been unconsciously trying to impose our will on Spirit's plans and attempting to set up Unity of Corvallis according to our personal preferences. In the past, I heard stories about the conflict that occurred whenever this church body tried to come together to determine this church’s mission and so until now we have shied away from this type of process. Well, it seems to me that we are now ripe and ready to uncover and take steps to manifest God’s vision for Unity of Corvallis with Spirit acting through us and with Spirit guiding our collective process.

Talking Points-

Hi,

Several of you, at the end of the service, asked me to summarize this series in an email. We did not have handouts and some of you missed a service or two and so wanted to get the bottom line. For the past 5 weeks we have been focused on The Embedded Consciousness of our Culture (which is victim consciousness) and dysfunctional relationships based on this mentality. We will be glad to create a set of CD's of all 5 talks for you if you are interested- please let us know.

In the meantime, here are the key talking points.

1) Being raised in a Judaic-Christian culture we unconsciously adopt certain ways of thinking and perceiving the world. One of these paradigms is a victim consciousness. The Hebrews, for much of their history as recorded in the Bible we know as the Old Testament, (and afterward) were an oppressed people - enslaved by the Egyptians and the Babylonians, occupied by the Romans and so forth. They saw their savior in a coming messiah or in "Yahweh". Mainstream Christian teachings also have a victim consciousness since they hold we were born in original sin - that Satan is after our soul and our salvation lies in Jesus. You can see in this that there are three roles: victim, persecutor and rescuer. Our popular political environment reinforces this mind set- politicians of all stripes claim that government programs or regulations will save us from some problem.

2) Once one adopts a victim role, then others in the system are either rescuers or persecutors - there is no other role in the system. If you are "rescuing someone" expect them to blame you at some point for their problems - which shifts you to a perpetrator in the system. If you are in this type of system, you may often be vying for victim status, and you will often have dysfunctional relationships or jobs that cycle around the victim, perpetrator and rescuer roles.

3) Here is how to see if you might be rescuing someone. Keep in mind it is our nature to be supportive and compassionate with others. We are here to serve life and so love to give of ourselves, however rescuing does not ultimately serve life; it diminishes life. Here are 5 key points to consider:
a) You see someone as broken and needing fixing.
b) You see them as not able to find the resources within themselves to solve their problems.
c) You perceive that you have good answers for their problems.
d) You wonder if they are motivated and/or committed to solutions. (By the way, as soon as you hold this thought, you are moving from rescuer to persecutor in the system)
e) You feel drained, used, exploited, exhausted, frustrated or some combination of these emotions.

4) If you find you tend toward rescuing, then here is how to de rescue:
a) See the person as whole and complete, a perfect child of God. Focus on their Divine Essence and not their outward circumstances.
b) Know that they have the inner awareness and guidance to solve all their problems.
c) Know that Spirit is active in their lives now. Know that each person you see has hopes and dreams and that they want to make a difference.
d) Know that in this exact moment, they are a blessing to you. (This can be a hard one, I know)
e) Treat them with the dignity and respect that you would like to be treated with as well. (Law of circulation: what you put out will return to you.)

De Rescuing will leave you feeling empowered and connected with your highest self. Yes, it may be a tough-love situation for a short while if you have been enabling someone you care about- and in the long run they will be better off if you hold them as a child of a powerful and loving God and not as a broken and incomplete human being.

There is much more detail in the talks so if you are interested then suggest you purchase them.

Looking for May's Prosperity Thoughts

Dear Friends, the process of trying to archive our old prosperity thoughts messed up the chronological posting of our May 2008 Prosperity Thoughts- if you scroll down you will find it below

Jan. 2008 Prosperity Thoughts

Affirmation for January 2008: I am a strong personal leader. I know I can succeeded at manifesting my good.


This time of year, between the hustle and commotion of the holidays and the resumption of our week to week routine tend for me to be a time of reflection. I tend to look at my life and determine what I want to manifest this next year. In some ways this is the same as "New Year's Resolutions" and in other ways it seems different to me. The difference might be that my resolve to change and grow comes from a loving place of positive manifestation rather than a critical place that demands I be different. In order to manifest my good, I need personal leadership, and so I thought I would write about this for our prosperity newsletter this month.

1) In order for us to unlock our potential good we first need to believe in ourself. Knowing that we are precious Children of the Divine, believing that we are one with the creative intelligence of the Universe, sensing and feeling the presence of a loving higher power in our lives that is supporting us to thrive are a few of the ways that help us believe in ourselves. For some of us, it is hard to convince our mind that we deserve good. One remedy is to find other like minded people that can see the good in us, a prayer partner, minister, support circle are all tried and true techniques that Unity offers.

2) We cannot unlock our potential good unless we expect to succeeded. As offspring of the most high, we are meant to thrive. That means we know we will meet some bumps along the way and in the end it will be good and so we tap into the knowledge that we will succeeded to help move us past the rough times. The thing about New Year's resolutions is that most of us have make them before and failed and so there is often this underlying belief that we are a failure. In our Honey in the Heart class, we establish a pattern of success, which tends to build more success as we come to really understand that we can succeed. Thriving means working through difficult times not quiting. I am looking just now at the apple trees in our yard- they are thriving right now. They have no leaves at all, but they are doing what they need to do in winter, and so they are thriving. In a few months they will look like they are thriving when the blossoms come out or when the leaves fill in, but right now, in the dead of winter, they are thriving too.

3) Visualize yourself as a success. If we have only a vague idea of what our good looks like, then we often fail to notice it. If we adopt someone else's idea of success then we typically are discontented even as outward success arises since it is not our heart's desire. Visualize your needs being met, see yourself as having all the help and support you need, know you will have creative ideas and inspirations to help you along your way and do not get hung up too much on how the end result is supposed to look... focus then on the needs being met and not your personal strategy of how these needs get met and affirm that you are successful each day.

4) Passionately pursue goals that are in alignment with your good. I once had a teacher suggest that if I wanted self esteem, I just needed to do esteeming things. The idea here is that if you have goals that are not in alignment with your good, you get distracted by other items and end up overwhelmed. Focus on those opportunities that further your deepest sense of self. If you have passion for each goal then you are unlikely to get burned out or bored along the way and your joy will attract more support for you when things are bumpy. Trust the process here, do that which you love doing and not what you think you should do. It works best for me to always point positive, so I do not encourage negative goals like loosing weight or stopping smoking. Find a positive way to define the same goal, for example, a desire to walk 5 miles or hike to a scenic viewpoint, which incidentally less weight or less smoking will help.

5) Be continuously grateful at each step along the way. Gratitude creates a flow of good unlike almost anything else. Be grateful for the so called set backs, they are showing you what you need to learn and helping you stay humble.

Looking forward to a great 2008!

John

Feb 2008 Prosperity Thoughts

Affirmation: I am a Divine Idea, perfectly expressing my love, passion and joy

February, with the celebration of Valentine's Day, has at least one day expressly dedicated to expressing our love, passion and joy, so I thought we would use that as our theme for this month's prosperity thoughts.

This Sunday, Matt Boggs and his best friend, Jason Miller (boyhood friends since third grade), will be presenting a talk on their passion: Project Everlasting Love. What on one level seems so incongruous, (two bumbling bachelors in their mid 20's on a quest to find the secrets to a life-long love from couples married 40 years or more), is also a perfect reminder of some key prosperity principles.

First and foremost: When we have "suffered" some deep pain, there is always an opportunity to transmute this suffering into a blessing that serves Life. In this case, Matt's mom and dad divorced when he was a young teenager and it impacted him traumatically and deeply. Their divorce shook up his whole world view and at the same time, ripened him for the Divine Idea that was just around the corner- to
co-create Project Everlasting Love.

Second: Repeated failure in an area in which we have deep passion and interest is merely seasoning for our eventual success. Matt, as he will tell you on Sunday, had a profound desire for a perfect relationship and never gave up, even though his dating and searching for a life mate has left him heartbroken time and time again. Since,
as we teach, "it is all good", if it is not seeming to be good, it is not done yet...and so, following this teaching, Matt has not given up on his dream of a perfect mate. Instead he has embraced it even more fully. In that process, he learned a few things about realistic expectations and unrealistic expectations and, hence, matured into
someone who is ripe for eventual success in relationship.

Third: When we are invited into a Divine Idea, we say "Yes!"-- even when we do not know how to take the next step forward. The "Oh-no!-How-can-I-possibly-do

-this?" moment is just a moment, and is the perfect time to affirm that we are a Divine Idea in perfect expression. As a Divine Idea, we will be inspired as we move forward. We will get new ideas, ideas from everywhere... from hired coaching to
offhand comments that lead us to the next step, and the next step after that. We will never ever run out of ideas so long as we have passion and joy around our life. Passion and joy attract energy like a magnet and energize people to support us with suggestions and help from every imaginable source. Matt did not know how to write a book or make a movie-- he just had the idea to call his best friend, Jason, and pitch this zany, crazy, off-the-wall adventure to him. Jason, who had never even thought of this kind of project a moment before, found himself saying "Yes!"-- and off they were to their next step of stringing together idea after idea in pursuit of manifesting
their Divine Idea.

Fourth: When we are in the Divine Flow, we can let go of results, knowing that Divine Order is bringing out all the love and passion and joy each step along the way. Since we do not really know how to implement this Divine Idea called life, we can just let go and allow Spirit to respond to us with an ever-more-abundant flow of joy,
passion and love. We can let go of our old ideas of how it should look, and enjoy the ride... knowing that our good is with us each step of the way.

Finally, we must, if we are going to live a life of joy, passion and love, say "yes" to that which we love and enjoy, and which expresses our passion. Matt and Jason were faced with hundreds of small decisions in their journey to bring Project Everlasting to fruition. They had lots of small time rejections or apparent detours and yet still said "yes" over and over again to the Divine Idea. This made the project more of an adventure and less of a trek, and the result was that there were many synchronistic events that enriched their lives and inspired their creative juices.

If you want a richly rewarding life, then start by saying "yes" to Divine Ideas, and continue to say "yes" to Divine Ideas, and never stop saying "yes" to Divine Ideas because You are a Divine Idea perfectly expressing your love passion and joy.

March 2008 Prosperity Thoughts

Affirmation: I thrive in a multidimensional Universe because I apply Spiritual Law to transcend ordinary thinking and common results.

Today I am wondering about the idea that our future actions help create our present as it unfolds. As a mystic and a believer in metaphysics, I find this concept intriguing.

Here is how it might work: I set an intention to create something in my life and thus, in the present, make a choice to receive it when it arrives into my present awareness. Moreover, I also make a commitment, in the present, to foster its arrival each step along the way.

In doing this, I move my desire into the field of all possibilities and, at the same time, become open to these possibilities manifesting one day at a time in my current life. I am open to ideas and coaching that I would not be open to had I not set the intention.

Here is an example from my own journey:

Many years ago, I had an intention to lose weight in a healthy way. I had some judgments about "diets" and calorie-counting plans. I saw them as constrictive and prone to failure because of the scarcity paradigm they created, so I wanted to have the goal of weight loss without a diet-type program. I had no idea at the time how this goal would manifest for me. I had failed over and over to lose weight or maintain a healthy eating program. (At the time, I was a vegetarian and had been so for many years and was still over my ideal body weight.) I set the intention for a future eating, exercise and weight paradigm that would support my overall wellbeing.

A few weeks later a casual friend invited me to an $80.00 half-day seminar in San Francisco (which was about an hour-and-a-half drive each way). I would have had no interest in this seminar, except that, since its focus was on healthy lifestyles, it seemed vaguely related to the future goal I has set for myself. I committed to go, in spite of the cost and long drive. Thus, my then-current behavior was impacted by a future goal that I had already set. Can you see the power of this? If you can, then you can guarantee the success of all your coaches and manifest amazing good in your life by setting an intention to be the person you have always wanted to be and then saying “yes” each step along the way.

In this case, it turned out that, after I decided to attend the workshop, my friend had a free ticket. This is an example of our current Universe shifting in support of our letting our future being impact our current choices. , The upshot is that I attended a workshop that I had never heard about, and I think I never would have heard about, had I not set this intention. Moreover, I found, in that half-day seminar, a willingness to create a structure of knowing about whole new ways of looking at food, exercise, weight loss, and lifestyle choices. I discovered an active support system that helped me easily change many lifestyle decisions, and I effortlessly lost about 20 pounds.

Then, at the end of the year, I went to get my body fat measured, thinking that, since I had lost weight and exercised more diligently over the past year, my physical results would show up in a measurable way as a more lean body. Now, this was contrary to what the teacher at the Healthy Lifestyles seminar suggested, by the way. Instead, it was a residual belief from my old way of thinking and looking at things from “objective” reality, and of my preference for relying on metrics to measure my progress rather than relying on my own inner knowing. The body fat measurement at the end of the year did not match my expectations and I got terribly discouraged. I quit on myself, quit before my miracle manifested, because I reverted to my old way of thinking.

Looking back on it, I knew I was healthier; I knew I liked how I felt, looked, etc. and there was no need for me to go get my body fat measured. I discounted all I knew and had learned, and the result is that I have not been able to recapture the success I had at being the man I intend to be.

So, I am wanting to imagine that it is true that an aspect of my nonphysical self, (my Soul, or Higher Self, or my angels, or spirit guides, or whatever language you choose to express this idea), immediately goes to that place where I have firmly set my intention and becomes that future self. I have proven this over and over again in my life. And since this is so, then it follows without a doubt, that my job in my physical here-and-now life is simply to passionately hold the faith that my desire will manifest, and to say 'yes' when the steps along the way to my good manifest for me. Unfortunately for me, I clogged up my manifestation process around healthy lifestyle with doubt, fear, insecurity and mistrust of principle.

I know that: "According to your faith, be it done onto you," I think this might be what he means-- that our present life is impacted by our future actions to the extent we have faith.

We believe that this is a loving, generous Universe. We know that it is written that indeed, it is "the Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom." Thus, it all boils down to us trusting in our passionate desires, and day by day, thought by thought, inspiration by inspiration, we close the gap between our "here-and-now me" and the "future me".

This "future you", that is the intention you yourself establish for yourself, is presently encouraging the "current you" through love, joy, appreciation. This "you" of your heart’s desire is influencing your actions today with loving inspiration sent by your future choices, actions and intentions, to be the person you intend to be and manifest the good that is yours.

Wow, what a concept... what an exciting place to live--an unlimited multidimensional co-creative Universe!

John

PS Here is another example of the principle of a multidimensional co creative Universe in action: My future actions will be that in a few weeks I am attending a training in Berkeley, California for New Thought Ministers. My future actions of attending this workshop led me today to write this prosperity newsletter earlier in the month than I normally would, so it would go out and enrich you on time for March 2008.

May 2008 Prosperity

Affirmation: As a Truth seeker I constantly reexamine my core beliefs around my relationship with God.

It is, at some point along the way to spiritual maturity incumbent upon each of us to come to our own understanding about the nature of God. There are a few, I suppose, who are content to adopt the God of their parents without question. That has not, however, been my own experience. As I see it, humankind’s understanding and awareness of God has evolved over the generations. Thus, although God has not changed, our relationship with God and our consciousness about this relationship have changed. Therefore, I think it is vital for each of us to develop our own personal understanding of God and to continue to reexamine our core beliefs about the nature of God.

The more accurate our map of God’s relationship with us and the more accurately we understand the laws and dynamics of this relationship, the more rewarding our experience of life will be. We can never become so arrogant that we decide that we know all there is to know about God. Truth seekers of every dimension grow in their understanding of spirituality over time. As the Bible says… there is time for everything under heaven….and what we can learn, and understand and integrate into our consciousness at one point in our life is often different during another phase of our life.

Of all the classes that we use to introduce and explore the nature of God, I think the Prosperity class produces the most direct impact on the consciousness of those who take the class. I have taught or taken a large number of prosperity courses over the years because I want my relationship to God to be of maximum benefit to me in this lifetime. I want prosperity. I am determined to enjoy abundance. I want my life to flow with fewer struggles. I want to understand as deeply as possible the earthly manifestations of God’s grace in my life.

Since God has not changed, the understanding of each prosperity teacher/author is a slightly different slant on the same truth. Each shares their own recognition of this ancient wisdom about the nature of the Divine using their unique stories and experiences. Thus, although each class offers a different take on the same age-old wisdom, it is worthwhile to revisit the subject because I can hear God’s voice slightly differently each time I study the same basic principles.

Likewise, I think it is worthwhile to examine the relationship at different times of the year because our direct experience of Nature often impacts our understanding of God. I have taught our Prosperity class in January, at the beginning of the New Year and in the fall around the time of the harvest. This next month, we will be facilitating the class in the abundant and flourishing springtime.

I have taught here at Unity the 5 GIFTS of Prosperity, Prosperity Guaranteed and Keys to the Kingdom. In each I incorporate things I have learned from some of the many other teachers in the field; Four “T”s, You and Money, Eric Butterworth, Catherine Ponder, as well as other lesser known programs, authors and teachers. This spring Debbie will be leading our prosperity exploration into the Nature of God. She will be using Edwene Gaines' book about the Four Laws of Prosperity. Edwene has been teaching prosperity principles across the globe for decades and she is a Truth teller and Truth seeker extraordinaire.

I think this is a perfect time to explore your relationship with the Divine. For some it may appear to be a revisit, trust me it will be time well spent. Debbie will be bringing her own flavor of insight, study and life lessons as well as her compassionate nature to the journey. Without intending to put too much pressure on her, I know it will be a profound and impactful class for each sincere student who joins us.