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Friday, April 22, 2011

How To Become an Interfaith Law Enforcement Chaplain

People who ask how to become an Interfaith Law Enforcement Chaplain typically already know something about the chaplaincy and law enforcement. But if you don't, here is some information about what a chaplain is and some important details you may want to be aware of before you apply for the training. Keep in mind however, that each agency has its own rules and standards and not all chaplaincy agencies are interfaith.

Are You Comfortable In An Interfaith Environment?

Several chaplaincy programs that serve Law Enforcement are considered to be interfaith organizations because the chaplains will have to know how to speak to people of all faiths during the course of their service. For such agencies, a prospective chaplain has to search his or her heart to discover whether or not they are a good match for such an environment. You might ask yourself, am I comfortable talking to and comforting someone who does not share my faith and convictions? If you are comfortable doing so, you can go deeper and ask yourself, will I be able to respect whatever policies are in place with the agency I am serving regarding proselytizing and/or conversion? If you are Jewish, you might try to imagine listening to and serving a Christian who is in crisis. If you are a Christian, try to imagine listening to and serving a first responder who is a Muslim and has recently returned from an incident traumatized. In each of these cases and every other situation in which an interfaith chaplain is involved, a desire to recruit the victim or traumatized officer into your faith is a sure sign that this calling is not for you. An interfaith chaplain has to be completely safe for anyone of any faith tradition.

Do You Have The Personality?

It is difficult to say what the exact personality profile is for a successful interfaith chaplain, however, there are some qualities you will have to be confident are a strong part of your own makeup. Included in the skills that are highly valued in interfaith chaplaincy are: compassion


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Thursday, April 21, 2011

Cycling In Sonoma County For A Good Cause

Sonoma County in northern California is home to some of the most incredibly beautiful cycling routes through vineyards, redwoods, and breathtaking views of oak lined valleys or orchards. Visitors from all over come to see the natural beauty of Sonoma County and many of those visitors come specifically to cycle because there is such a variety of options for cyclists.  You can have a leisurely, slow route with little challenge, or you can have a rigorous and exhilarating adventure.

For A Good Cause?

And now there is the added opportunity for cycling in Sonoma County for a good cause.
The good cause, you might guess from the name of this new annual cycling event, has something to do with law enforcement and first responder personnel.  

Tour de Fuzz came into being to support the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Service in Sonoma County, an organization whose mission is to “respond to requests from law enforcement and provide immediate emotional support and follow up care to them and to the members of our community who have suffered tragedy and loss. We are an interfaith community of compassionate volunteers without religious, political, or legal agendas.”

Last year, the Tour de Fuzz was a great success both because of the tremendous fun participants had, but also because of the funds raised for the Chaplaincy Service.   

What Makes This Event Different?

At the end of the ride there is a meal and festivities, appropriate for the whole family.  Non riding guest can also participate in the fun and fund raising by purchasing a meal ticket which gives them access to the law enforcement demonstrations that are annually part of the event.  Last year we had the bomb squad and canine team.   Every year there is something interesting and inspiring to watch, and we’ve noticed that our younger non riding guest love the event and their entrance is about half price.

September 10, 2011

You’re invited to join us for a memorable bike ride at Ursuline High School in Santa Rosa.  You can select 100 miles, 100k or 50k and all proceeds from the event go to the LawEnforcement Chaplaincy in Sonoma County.

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Joy And Happiness, Courage And Cheerfulness

William Osler, a physician in the late 1800 who among other important advances in the training of physicians was the first to bring medical students out of the lecture hall for bedside clinical training, is attributed with saying "Courage and cheerfulness will not only carry you over the rough places in life, but will enable you to bring comfort and help to the weak-hearted and will console you in the sad hours."
The quote reminded me that I was raised with a similar approach to joy and happiness. My grandmother would say "Everything will work out in the end" with a certain cheerfulness that would drive me crazy. And now that she has passed on I realized that she was on to something I would begin to learn myself: it takes courage to be cheerful, but in the long run its worth it.

Cause A Ripple
Her cheerfulness left an impression on everything and everyone. At least that is how it seemed. I am learning that the same is true for me. As I pass through the world, when cheerfulness is present in me, it leaves an impression on everything and everyone. Like a boat in the water, my atmosphere causes ripples.
American author Washington Irving who wrote the Legend of Sleepy Hollow wrote "A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles." When I read this quote it had the effect of encouraging me to remember that I have an opportunity everyday to bring something wholesome into the world by means of the ripples I am causing.

Bring Your Own
Henry David Thoreau wrote "There is...no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself." Again, a reminder to me to be mindful of what I bring into a room when I enter. On the other hand I am also learning that I don't generate the gladness, it was already there - wherever there is. I don't create it, I walk into a place and there it is, ready to be discovered. That idea gives me courage to step boldly.

Take Heart, It'll All Work Out Well In The End
I am inspired by people like my grandmother and others who have also struggled with tremendous hardships, some who have fought to stay alive, still others who have lost so much, but who have not lost their gladness. Their stories have inspired me to remember that the challenges I face do not have to steal my joy away. They remind me that many things in human experience can go, but gladness doesn't have to be one of them.
Towards the end of her life, my Grandmother's arthritis left her unable to walk or take care of herself. She had multiple operations on her knees and feet and throughout it all she still caused ripples of gladness. I was certain she couldn't be feeling all this cheer and hopefulness she spoke about. And sometimes things would get to be too much for her and she would say "darn it!" I wondered if she would lose her cheer. I thought it would be appropriate considering what she was experiencing. But after a brief pause she would follow up with "Oh what can a person do about it? It'll all work out in the end." In a profound way, her example imprinted something on me, that would give me strength years after she was gone.

Don't Eat Spinach
Clarence Darrow, a civil libertarian and agnostic said "I don't like spinach, and I'm glad I don't, because if I liked it I'd eat it, and I just hate it." I like that quote because it makes me smile every time I read it, even if I'm in a bad mood. I include it here because it reminds me that even in my grieving and sadness, even when I'm all tangled up with my likes and dislikes, there remains a undercurrent of closeness with joy. Even when I want to, and sometimes do, shout out "Darn it!" or something stronger, that closeness with uncaused joy remains available. And for that I'm glad.

I was reading about the author Samuel Johnson who was born in 1709 and how there was some doubt that he would be through infancy. He had severe health challenges very early. Tuberculosis scarred him and left him deaf in one ear and blind in one eye, the result of being nursed by an infected nursemaid.

Nevertheless, he was apparently fiercely independent and driven to get along in life with as little assistance as possible. He didn't want that kind of help, he wanted to live and express. Someone told me that Johnson's writing reveals a passion for life that is inspiring. Hearing this reminded me that I have from time to time allowed setbacks to rob me of my gladness. It has prompted me to take a moment and think about those times and to ask myself if there was at any moment during the setback when there was a real barrier between me and the joy that is already present.
Now I can see more clearly that when a mood changes or when a circumstance changes unfavorably, these changes are not an indication that gladness is gone, and I'm practicing to have the courage to be of good cheer as much as I can.
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Saturday, April 16, 2011

What’s On My iPhone? Amazon Kindle for iPhone with Whispersync

This has to be one of my favorite apps.  Here you can see it in a folder titled “Books” along with other readers such as eReader and Stanza and iBooks.  But Amazon Kindle for iPhone with Whispersync is the one I end up using the most. I have some problems though, IT WONT LET ME COPY TEXT  and past into a message or note.  Am I doing something wrong?  I’ll study harder.

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IMG_2995But what I do love about it is that when I start it up and open a book, it checks online to find out if I am reading that book on any other Kindle device, my iPad, PC, or if I had a Kindle, on that… and then it lets me know where the furthest point read is on any device, giving me the option to go to that point.  So if I was catching up some reading of Ernest Holmes in the supermarket while waiting in line with my iPhone in hand, later that night on the couch with my iPad I wouldn’t have to try remember where I got up to.



IMG_2997I love the ease of viewing and flexibility and this picture is from my tiny iPhone screen and I can read it plenty well.

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This feature is great:  instant look up!  I can’t see immediately what a word means.  This helps a lot when reading through fast-paced science fiction or amazingly interesting books that and I don’t want to interrupt the read to find the dictionary.  Now I have no excuse for not knowing what a word means.


Here’s Amazon’s help page for Kindle on your iPhone
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Friday, April 15, 2011

How To Discover What You Really Want In Life

You can discover what you really want in life by asking yourself some straightforward questions. If you are willing to respond plainly and honestly you will find the answers to be crucial to your self-discovery and happiness. Many people set out on the path of self-discovery by searching for what they want in life. It might be a relationship, an experience, a better job or something else. Using various methods that are available in abundance they learn how to attract relationships, get jobs, and generally move things around in their lives. At some point, however, they will inevitably confront the realization that they remain unsatisfied and have not discovered what they really truly want in life.

What Makes A Person Happy?

At some point in your search you will encounter that same realization and you will find that we are taught to look in the strangest of places for our happiness. The emphasis seems universally to be on the outside. By that I mean things like a good job, a solid relationship, adequate shelter and food are held up as the reference point for happiness in life. Naturally, all of these things are very good, indeed vital to have and we can learn how to get them by using our minds clearly, and we can help each other to have them through generous and ongoing sharing of resources. Yet, we can't help but notice that life is filled up with stories of people who have all of these things and remain unhappy while many people who have practically nothing are nevertheless able to find contentment. At this point we have to ask ourselves, what makes a person happy? And with that question we will have started to really examine what we want in life.

Taking Care Of Business First

Before I introduce the questions that will help you inquire into what you really want in life, I want to emphasize that it is very difficult to set aside time to reflect on these questions when a person doesn't know where their children's next meal is coming from or how they will pay their rent. For that reason I support using whatever spiritual or self-help methods will do the trick to take care of the structures in life. Having a home, a job and the means to support yourself or your children will free up the mental and emotional energy it takes to think of the larger questions that lead you to understanding what you really want.

Inquire Within

To begin you will need a notepad and a pen. Take some time to write down on paper your answer to the question what do I want? Try not to edit your response and allow whatever wants to be expressed to arise. It could be a relationship, a job or health. Whatever it is, write it down. The next part of your task is to use your imagination and try to visualize that you already have it. Take a moment to think about that. Imagine how you would feel, act, dress and talk if it were an already accomplished fact in your life. And then write down on the paper the answer to this question: what has having [whatever it is] added to my experience of life? Or you may prefer this form of the question: who would I be with [whatever it is] in my life?

Typical answers to this question are, I would be more peaceful; I would by happy; I would be free. Whatever you come up with, now you know the answer to what you really want in life. If you are a person who prays, now you know exactly how to focus your prayer work because you will have identified what it is you yearn for. If you are not the praying kind, you have still identified the key to your happiness and can now focus on it.

What Does It Represent?

There is a humorous story about a man who prayed for a relationship and after a while a neighbor gives him a puppy. Although delighted with the puppy he finds himself complaining to a friend that his prayer remains unanswered, to which the friend replies "but don't you have everything you said you wanted: connection, devotion, a feeling of value?" This is exactly what you are trying to get at in your own inquiry. What does it, the thing or experience you say you want, represent to you? If you say 'freedom' or 'peace,' would you be willing to have that freedom or peace come to you in whatever form it arrives?

One of my favorite spiritual teachers, Gangaji, says that the truth is that having freedom or peace, or whatever it is you discover you want, is possible to have now in this moment. I take that to mean that any quality of being I can come up with, such as joy, peace, freedom, etc., is available everywhere all of the time because they do not depend on conditions. In other words, I may have once thought that out of relationship, joy arises. Now with this inquiry I am realizing that out of joy, relationship arises.

Just Imagine

Imagine this: the experience or feeling you seek is actually present and available now. To get a sense of that, try to drop your outward reference for what you believe will result in that feeling you have identified. In other words, use your imagination to ask yourself if there is any barrier between you and the feeling right now. Ask yourself, do I have access to peace right now regardless of whether or not the car, relationship, or puppy is present?

Over the years of working with people I have seen several people respond to this realization in a number of different ways. Some are shocked at the simplicity and when they first get it, they experience a rush of personal self-esteem when they realize what they are capable of. Some find the realization humorous and relieving and have the sense of shaking of a life time of burden. Others experience an initial wave of sadness for having been deluded for so long, but move on from that sadness rather quickly when they realize that they have access to as much peace now as they ever did. Still others feel a rejection of the idea that they could be happy and peaceful now and return with insistence to the idea that their peace of mind depends solidly on a certain event, person or outcome.

http://steppingstonesbookstore.org/index.cgi/kw=viljoen

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Edward_Viljoen



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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Science of Mind: The Three Faces of God

In a conversation with Andrew Cohen, Ken Wilber talked about the three perspectives possible for experiencing Divinity, saying "So the 1-2-3 of God or the three faces of Spirit basically mean that Spirit can be approached in first-person perspective or second-person perspective or third-person perspective. First-person Spirit is the great “I AM,” the pure radical subjectivity or witness in every sentient being. And then Spirit in the second-person is the great “Thou,” something that is immeasurably greater than you could ever possibly be in your wildest imagination, before whom surrender and devotion and submission and radiant release and gratitude is the only appropriate response, and from whom all blessings and all goodness flow unreservedly. And a relationship to that Other, in love and devotion and ecstasy, is the only appropriate response if you have any sanity at all. And Spirit in third-person is the great Web of Life, the Great Perfection of everything that’s arising. Those are third-person terms, “it” terms, and Spirit is indeed the supreme radiant perfection of all manifestation. And my point is that all three of these perspectives are correct."


It seems to me that the experience of Divinity is related to where I am standing at any particular point on the journey. The Science of Mind text book has changed for me as I shifted positions along the path. Now I can see (with patience for my learning) that all three faces of God are available in that book and depending on where I stood at the time I was reading I could see only what was available to my mindset.


"The Thing Itself" is a liberating and inspiring term for that part of the journey when the 3rd face of God become a new and transforming awareness. "One Life, In all and through all." (pp. 531) Oh how that changed my awareness of my place in creation and my relationship to others.


"The inner power of Life within me is God," (pp 507) too is a liberating and inspiring term, especially for that part of the journey when the 1st face of God is the awareness travelled in; God as me, or as Ken Wilber puts it, “..the pure radical subjectivity or witness in every sentient being.” How I loved waking up to the awareness that "The Word is a mighty Power, and that Word is in me and through me now." The way I tell my story is that this awareness saved my life.


The 2nd face of God is presented in our text book in the personal devotional prayers section toward the end of the book where Ernest Holmes writes "I look upon Thee and hope springs forth into realization" (pp. 514) and "Come, Thou Great and Infinite Mind and inspire me to do great deeds. Acquaint me with Thy knowledge and in Thy wisdom make me wise" (pp. 531) and "O Thou Who dost inhabit Eternity and dost dwell within all Creation, Who Dost live through all things and in all people, hear Thou my prayer." (pp. 550) My favorite line from these prayers is "Make me to do Thy will and from Thy wisdom teach me the ways of Truth. Compel me to follow Thee and let me not pursue the paths of my own counsel." (pp. 550)
But oh, the affront this 2nd face view can represent for one who is just discovering the 1st or 3rd face view. I remember it, perhaps you do to, that when I read these personal devotional prayers (I had just recently discovered my word of power and my oneness with all thing) I thought perhaps there had been a mistake in the publication. I had just learned how to declare and claim and know and now, there in the very text that was my guide, was this bold surrender and devotional language. Of course, later, reading through again, it was all over the text. Just hidden from my view.


In the past I mistook this 3rd face view of God to be equal to dualism. Now I do not. There is a way to turn it into dualism, but I do not suspect our founder of being in that mind. These days I am quite certain that I don’t know which face view is the correct face view or if there are perhaps many more than three angles to look upon Divinity, or through Divinity or as Divinity. I am confident that there is more.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

How To Cultivate Spiritual Alchemy

Alchemy refers to a medieval search for an elixir that was supposed to be capable of turning base metals into gold. It is sometimes used to refer to a magical power to change something of little value into a something of great value. What then is spiritual alchemy and how does one cultivate it? To me, the ability to increase the value of a situation is entirely possible but few people cultivate their skill in the one area where they have the possibility of accomplishing this act: their inner life; their thought.


The Soul is sometimes defined as being the principle of life, feeling, or thought, in humans. Think of it simply as your inner life. It is where we access the ability to shift and change the world around us, by shifting and changing how we interpret it. Anybody can do it, but few people develop their skill in this area, seeming to prefer being right over being happy. When the ability to bring increased value to life through a shift in perspective is cultivated, the possibility becomes permanently available, and we never forget it. Once the door is opened to that world of personal power, there is nothing in creation that can close it.


Interrupt and Slow Down

To begin cultivating awareness of your inner life, it is important to learn how to interrupt your automatic responses and inner conversations. Start by paying attention to such feelings as indignation, self-righteousness, and offense. These are certain indicators that there is a very close

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Monday, April 11, 2011

Book Review: A More Ardent Fire. From Everyday Love To Love Of God

A More Ardent Fire is a beautiful introduction to an important part of the Bhagavad-Gita, especially for people who have no experience of Hindu scriptures.  It explains the idea of devotional love, an eastern spiritual practice, in a way that builds bridges for westerners.  The author, Eckath Easwaran, takes one chapter from India's most beloved spiritual book, The Bhagavad-Gita, and goes through it verse-by-verse to explore ideas such as how to deepen our love for everyone around us, how to look for the divine in relationships, what devotional love means and how to grow from everyday love, to love of God.  With colorful stories to illustrate he makes these timeless ideas of devotional living accessible to people living in contemporary western lifestyles.
An Eight Point Program

The last part of the book presents simple but effective spiritual practices for learning how to love deeper.  The eight point program he recommends is presented in an easy to understand format, with specific recommendations for practices that westerners will be able to identify with and use.  Meditation, repeating powerful phrases, slowing down, paying attention, training the senses, putting others first, keeping spiritual company and reading spiritual books form the backbone of this recommended path.

After reading A More Ardent Fire, the chapter in the Bhagavad-Gita in which Prince Arjuna inquires about which type of person is most beloved by God came to life for me and has become one of my favorite passages to read.

Krishna:
Not agitating the world or by it agitated,
They stand above the sway of elation,
Competition, and fear, accepting life
Good and bad as it comes. They are pure,
Efficient, detached, ready to meet every demand
I make on them as humble instruments of my work.
Putting Others First
I think it is the sweetness of Easwaran’s personal style that draws me in to the book and lets me think about some of the challenging ideas put forth such as learning to love God through learning to love even those we dislike.  I would say that learning to put others first is the theme of this beautiful book which focusses on the 20 verses of the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.  Along the way, he reassures the reader, that love is a skill that anyone can learn.  They problem is, most people are learning about the way of love through popular culture, the movies, and through television.  This book proposes that there is another way to learn about love, to look within ourselves and practice loving the people nearest us.
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Sunday, April 10, 2011

How To Develop A Greater Spiritual Connection

The way to develop a greater spiritual connection can be discovered by examining the way greater connections are made in general. There appears to be some fairly dependable rules: consistency leads to greater connection; relationship is key; what you put into it is what you get out of it.

Consistency

If you exercise haphazardly you can't expect to have consistent growth in your fitness and physical health. To be clear, any exercise is better than no exercise, however, exercise performed at a regular, dependable schedule leads to outstanding results. Over time, the progress builds upon itself and the benefits of the exercise become cumulative. It is very much the same thing with developing a greater spiritual connection. Spiritual exercises performed faithfully and regularly over time develop a deep sense of peace. Keep in mind that if you start a gym program with too grand a goal, you can disappoint yourself and possibly even cause damage if you're not very fit. Similarly, start your daily spiritual practices with something that is attainable, within your reach, which can fit into your schedule so that you don't quickly become disappointed. An effective way to begin a consistent spiritual practice is to select a regular time of the day when you can be assured of having 5 minutes uninterrupted time. It doesn't seem like a lot, yet it is enough to start laying down deep spiritual connections. Sit quietly, in a comfortable position, and don't do anything. Only those who try this simple practice can know the deep wisdom of committing to regularly time spent in stillness.

Relationship is key

You and I can't have a deep meaningful connection if we don't have a relationship. For a relationship to deepen in connection, many factors must be considered. I have to show up for
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Friday, April 8, 2011

Effective Ways To Improve Your Communication

Effective ways to improve your communication are not mysterious; they only need a little bit of effort to incorporate in your style of communication. By paying attention to some down-to-earth guidelines that you choose for yourself, you will be able to see dramatic and positive improvements in the way you relate to others. Good communication helps the people around you feel understood and valued and if practiced consistently, will create a feeling of mutual trust and respect. Here are some examples of guidelines that have helped me improve my communication:

Listen
Probably the most effective way to improve communication is to begin listening wisely. Many people think good communication is about learning to speak better, or getting their message across clearly, or transmitting their ideas well, and so on. They are correct; however, sometimes they forget a powerful secret to effective communication: listening. So few people have truly been listened to, and when they are listened to, they are much more likely to listen to you in return. So this week, when anyone tries to
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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

How Possible Is It To Really Forgive And Forget?

How possible is it to forget anything? I forget where I've put my keys sometimes. It drives me crazy that when I find them I can usually remember how it came to pass that they are where they are. I tried explaining that it is a product of getting older, but friends remind me that it has always been like that for me. I can forget something I did a moment ago especially if I'm distracted by something more interesting or if I'm not paying strong attention to the soon-to-be-forgotten something. But to really forgive and forget, now that seems to have many similarities to losing my keys and finding them again.

I have talked to many people in my career about the journey of forgiveness, what it is and what it isn't. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to how to really forgive. There is also no set time line for how long it should take you to accomplish the journey. Just like mourning: it's done when it's done and it's pointless trying to speed it up, maybe even harmful to try. In that regard, forgiving is similar to trying to find your keys, it's going to take as long as it takes.
If you really want to forgive.
There is a big difference between "Letting something go" and "Letting something be." A friend jokingly pointed out that when he has lost his keys, the harder he tries to find them the more
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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Questioning My Calling–How Do I Respond?

I’m preparing for author Gregg Levoy’s visit to our Center on April 17 and I started poking around our records round the time he visited us last.  I started to remember what an amazing presentation he gave and how well received he was.  I asked a few people who attended his workshop back then what they thought and I was truly surprised at how many substantial details they recalled from his workshop.  They really got some meaty stuff from attending. 

I remember reading about his book in a class that Rev. Chris Michaels taught in which we used key ideas that Gregg talks about to explore the spiritual call that we feel.  I remember that according to Gregg calls are more like a kind of questioning more than anything else; a questioning you don’t necessarily need to answer, or know how to answer.  Calls come in a variety of ways, such as a dream that keeps on coming back, or a symptom that is comically metaphoric (such as a pain in the neck) or an environment in which there is just too much friction on an ongoing basis, and one of these opens a questioning in you.

I’m looking forward to his visit and I am excited about the material he plans to present in his workshop about how to make course-corrections in life or in work, or how to use the natural friction that rises up when we being to make a course-correction, and probably more about how do I respond to my calling, and what happens if I find myself questioning my calling.  He is going to speak at all three of our services, so you have the opportunity to preview this dynamic, humorous speaker and then make a decision about whether or not to attend the afternoon workshop.

One of the things that amazes me about Gregg Levoy is that he is seemingly tireless.  After giving three Sunday messages, he presents a workshop in the afternoon, and he is one of the few presenters that wants to go on longer… he really wants the attendees to get something from the workshop, he told me.  I think that he has a strong interest in the work he does and a passion for sharing it with the world.

You can purchase tickets for the workshop online through our bookstore but keep in mind, services are free to attend and always will be!



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Monday, April 4, 2011

Book Review: Essential Ernest Holmes, Editor Jesse Jennings

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I feel a special connection to Essential Ernest Holmes because, prompted by the suggestion of a friend, I had a part in shepherding the volume from idea to final product.  I had the pleasure of interviewing prospective editors for the task of putting together in one volume a selection of the key ideas of American spiritual teacher, Ernest Holmes. Jesse Jennings got the job.

Jesse Jennings has done an extraordinary job of collecting and organizing the most important ideas of Holmes's work and laying them out in themes that are easy to read and absorb. Drawing upon This Thing Called You, The Science of Mind textbook, Creative Mind and Success and lacing the book with extracts from the poem The Voice Celestial co-written by Ernest Holmes and his brother Fenwick, Essential Ernest is a must read for anyone who is trying to get an big picture of the teaching known to the world as Science of Mind.

The book is presented in three parts and covers Holmes's central message about the unity of al life, the mystery of our spiritual being and how knowing who and what we are might impact our social awareness and responsibility as citizens of the world.

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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Heroes Of Forgiveness: How I Learned To Forgive

CHristopher 231
  • From Edwene Gaines I learned that I could begin doing forgiveness work even when I thought I wasn’t ready to start, and that going through the motions of saying the words was a significant and important starting point.
  • From Elisabeth Kubler-Ross I learned that I would start forgiveness work when the time was right and that there is no point in trying to force the issue when I am not ready to begin doing forgiveness work
  • From Lewis Smedes I learned more about what forgiveness is and what it isn’t.
  • From Helen Street I learned that it’s not done until it’s done…and that resentment is like taking poison hoping the other person will die.
  • From Karyl Huntley I learned that forgiveness is present when I can grant the other person safe passage through my mind.
 
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Saturday, April 2, 2011

"You can either pay the farmer or you can pay the hospital"

TEDxNextGenerationAsheville - Birke Baehr - "What's Wrong With Our Food System"
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What’s On My IPhone? Games and Entertainment too.

Not only do I love my iPhone for how it helps my productivity and organization, I have some annoyingly addictive games that I confess to playing with in the wee hours when I probably should be meditating or reading spiritual books.  Well, I do that too.  It’s not either/or, a spiritual teacher once said, rather both/and. 

So here is one game that entertains me.  Frustrates me is more accurate.  Until recently, when the makers released an update, I was utterly stuck on a level and seriously agitated in a way that I am pleased to have been able to hide from most people.  Embarrassing to discover that a little screen and test of wits and dexterity can do that to me.

The game is Geared by Bryan Mitchell.  For 99 cents you can have a whole bunch of fun trying to make all the cogs turn. 200 levels and, thank God, you can now skip to levels if, like me, you are completely flummoxed by one level.  This game appeals to me I think because as a child I would draw mysterious and fantastic machines with levers and cogs connected to each other just like in this game.  I can’t explain why it is so satisfying when the cogs are placed just so and everything turns.

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The yellow cog has to be connected with a variety of different size cogs to the blue cogs so that all of them turn.

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The red is the ‘no fly’ zone, strategically placed in each level to make you think and stretch.

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I love this game because it does make me think and I feel like I’ve been to the brain-gym after playing a level or two.

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Science of Mind and Spirit For Begnners

Science of Mind and Spirit For Begnners
"This wonderful book guides any individual to understand Science of Mind with ease and grace. It is a simple and beautiful presentation of the Spiritual Principles Science of Mind teaches. I highly recommend this book to students, licensed Practitioners and ministers. Blessings to Rev Edward." ~ Johan Gonzalez RScP. Science of Mind and Spirit for Beginners: Four Chapters in Simplified Prose, paraphrased by Edward VIljoen

Practice The Presence Journal

Practice The Presence Journal
Journaling offers a powerful way to record your spiritual growth. Writing in a journal calls on you to be more conscious of the insights that occur daily in your life. It gives you an opportunity to examine your beliefs and be mindful of your choices.

Seeing Good At Work

Seeing Good At Work
I have been through the book three times over three years, and am starting it again. This is not because the material in the book is not working, but because it is working so well! The weekly lessons keep me on track and focused on what is actually true and important, and help me experience more good in every area of my life. LS

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