rjohnson's blog

Another Spiritual Principle to Consider

Serving others through acts of kindness, positive outreach, and volunteer work can be another way to connect with the divine and contribute to the greater good. Just pondering on the law of attraction that says: what you share you receive in kind helps to understand this spiritual principle.

In Luke chapter 15, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. Metaphysically, this story is about two sons. The spiritual side of us and the physical side or human nature we call the ego. The spiritual side or our connection with God is always part of who we are. This is the Christ Self that is always there waiting for our return to the Garden of Eden lifestyle that we left. The physical side or ego is the part of us that decided to separate ourselves and prove that we could do life on our own.

Another idea that confronts us as we continue our path back to our awakened Christ Self is spelled out by the apostle Paul in Romans 8:28. He says, “…All things work together for good to them that love God…” If we are to put that in a sentence using contemporary language we could say: Everything that happens to us (no matter how it looks) happens for our highest and best good. As we hold our thoughts in gratefulness and appreciation knowing that God is good and all is well, our good manifests in perfect ways.

Being present in a dialogue of communication with other souls is an opportunity to establish relationship, bonding and understanding. This requires an intention to listen with compassion and not prejudge and make up your own story about how you feel about what is being said.

We are looking for understanding of how the person feels and thinks, not what we feel and think. Most people want to be heard, understood and listened to without judgement. Opening that channel of communication says I love you and I am here to listen.

Overall, the key to fulfilling the principle of mindfulness is to make a conscious effort to stay present and aware in each moment, and to cultivate a non-judgmental attitude towards yourself and others. Since we are a Christian based community, that means following the teachings of Jesus.

This week my daughter sent me a link to download ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence program to try. I couldn’t resist asking it “What principles are necessary for a spiritual life” and watched with amazement as it immediately printed out the following answer verbatim:

“What principles are necessary for a spiritual life?
The principles necessary for a spiritual life may vary depending on one's beliefs and practices. However, here are some general principles that can be helpful:

This week we took some time off to slow down and look at priorities. In retrospect, I realized that we had become caught up in the time trap of following what the world has programmed us to believe starting with the phrases like “if is to be it is up to me, If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, I am totally responsible for the outcomes, you just have to work harder when things are not working, and etc., etc., etc.”

Easter Sunday is the day we celebrate the return to physical life of Jesus the Christ from the death of the grave. We also celebrate the Christ Self that we are and know that we can also overcome the symbolic death that the apostle Paul talks about in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin/error is death but the gift of God is eternal life…”

This Sunday is the first Sunday in April, the day that we are celebrating with a brief service and then talking and enjoying a brunch with each other. This day is also Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week that celebrates the triumphal entry of Jesus, riding on a donkey, into Jerusalem.

The Jewish crowds were welcoming what they believed was the prophet of Galilee, son of David and the Messiah. As we now know, the jubilation of that Palm Sunday turned into the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday and the resurrection that we celebrate on Easter Sunday (next week).

We are told in Genesis that God created man in his own image, Jesus told us that we are the light of the world and that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, and Paul tells us that the Spirit of God dwells within us.

We, as human beings, living in our daily lives are looking for the answers to life’s great questions, how can I live in harmony, peace, abundance and health? How can I create a legacy that allows my family to do that also.