In this member meeting, Rev. Regina Dawn Akers shared information about:
- 2018 Israel Pilgrimage and available Scholarships
- 2017 Financial Report
- Update by Lisa Hester on the Retreat House Campaign
A universal assembly for true discernment
In this member meeting, Rev. Regina Dawn Akers shared information about:
Kathy Smith explores the quotes from Experience Your Perfect Soul and shares from her contemplation of them.
Listen to the audio
Topic: “No permission slip required”
Rev. Gloria Wells discussed that when we stay focused upon our spiritual aspiration, follow through with commitment and presence, competing interests and distractions in life cannot gain a foothold. We then never need a “Permission Slip” from the ego-mind and all its false beliefs to be Love and Truth
Find a place where you will be undisturbed. If it is comfortable, put on headsets or earbuds. Relax, and enjoy this meditation.
Thoughts of Awakening Quote 40
If you are not at peace,
there is a wonderful opportunity
before you
right now.
Seize the opportunity.
What obstacle to peace
are you holding onto?
What idea do you cling to
that is causing you pain?
~From our Holy Spirit
Please spend time in silent reflection with the following quotes before going to today’s reading. After the reading, return and reflect on the quotes again.
Find a place where you will be undisturbed. If it is comfortable, put on headsets or earbuds. Relax, and enjoy this meditation.
Thoughts of Awakening Quote 39
Everything I have given
is fully and completely
with you now.
You are missing nothing.
Rest, my child.
Do not worry.
Rest is a means
of letting go of nightmares
and remembering your truth,
which is of Me.
~From our Holy Spirit
I’m sure you’ve noticed that the mind can be more or less noisy when you meditate. Although a quiet mind is considered ideal for meditation, it is not required. Michael Langford’s awareness-watching-awareness practice instructions say:
If you seem to be having a lot of thoughts, ignore them and turn your attention away from the thoughts and towards awareness observing awareness.
In this case “ignore” means, place your attention elsewhere. It does not mean, “repress.” Some applicable synonyms for “ignore” are:
Disregard, take no notice of, pay no attention to, pay no heed to, tune out
Meditation is called “practice,” because meditation is practice. We know our practice is paying off when we notice ourselves disregarding thought in daily life. When we ignore thought, we live from awareness, intuition and spontaneity.
The Teachings of Inner Ramana refers to ignoring thought and living by intuition as “living from within instead of living from without.” In today’s reading, the Pharisees are a symbol. The Pharisees who are not distracted symbolize living from within. Jesus symbolizes intuition, and the Pharisees who are not distracted are able to hear him. The Pharisees who are distracted symbolize living from without. Their perception is biased and limited by their thoughts. They do not hear Jesus’ message, just as we do not hear intuition when we are caught up in thought. They also do not notice “the peace beyond the words,” just as we do not notice awareness when thought has our attention.
Jesus is clear that we are not guilty if we believe our thoughts, even if we act on them. We are not guilty, because consciousness is unaffected. However, believing thoughts and acting on them is the cause of suffering. In NTI Matthew, Judas symbolized the mistake of believing and acting on thought.
In daily life, it’s important to turn our listening attention inward. It’s important that we learn to disregard thoughts and live from awareness, intuition and spontaneity.
Here’s something to remember from the Mullah Nasruddin story about the leaky bucket:
If you react unconsciously, you push the lesson of the moment away.
Our bucket leaks when we live from without instead of living from within. It’s as if we put water in the bucket during our morning meditation and contemplation, but then we let it leak out again as we live from thought throughout the day. We are never guilty for this mistake, but it is confusion, the cause of suffering, and an obstacle to truth realization.
Join us for our next Movie Watcher’s Group on Sunday, March 25 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT. This month’s movie,”The Matrix”, is a metaphysical masterpiece of the transcendence of belief. Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a computer hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality, but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. Morpheus awakens Neo to the real world, a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines that live off of the humans’ body heat and electrochemical energy and who imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must return to the Matrix and confront the agents: super-powerful computer programs devoted to snuffing out Neo and the entire human rebellion. Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
You can find the movie playsheet, which provides helpful questions designed to facilitate a spirit centered movie watching experience, at this link: The Matrix Playsheet.
Remember to ask for Guidance prior to watching the movie and bring your insights to the Movie Watcher’s Discussion Group.
The movie is available to rent on ITunes, Amazon, YouTube and Vudu.