Gaia Community: onemind's Blog

Amazing "Coincidental" Tribute to Michael Jackson - Be the Change

http://onemind.gaia.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:08:05 GMT

KarmaTube posted a heart-wrenching music video this morning featuring Michael Jackson's 1988 hit, "Man in the Mirror." I don't believe it would have been possible to assemble this piece this well and get it online in the hours since Jackson's death yesterday, so it seems to me a "cosmic coincidence."

Even if it was planned, though, it is still awesome.

Tags: change, Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Desmond Tutu, Ghandi

Chakras and Body Systems: Want a Book?

http://onemind.gaia.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:47:10 GMT

One of my primary and favorite healers is Dia Lynn of Monterey, CA. She is one of the most talented and diverse healers I've ever heard about, well-versed in Qi Gong, essential oils, body work, Rolfing, mental healing (she's a Religious Science Practitioner) and many others.

I've been taking a class from her for a couple of weeks in which she is charting the chakras against the bodily systems to which they relate. I've been fascinated with energy healilng for quite some time and I've been curious about the anatomicl connections involved in the body's electromagnetic system of fields. This course is exactly what I'd been looking for.

She's going to produce a dissertation for her ministerial degree program around this subject and I'd like to encourage her to wite a book about it. But I can't gauge the market for such a book. If you're interested in this idea, I'd appreciate it if you'd just indicate that by posting a reply to this post. No commitment, just an indicator.

Thanks very much.
Namaste

Tags: healing, energy healing, energy medicine, alternative healing, spiritual medicine

My May Teaching Schedule

http://onemind.gaia.com — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:27:11 GMT

Here are my planned speaking dates for May-June. All events are at Unity of Montery Bay, 601 Madison St., Monterey, CA unless otherwise indicated.

May 2 - Half-day workshop, "Meeting A Course in Miracles Again for the First Time" - 11-2. $20 suggested Love Offering includes light lunch

May 3 - "Remembering Who We Are" based on Marianne Williamson's "The Gift of Change", 10 a.m. service and informal group Q&A to follow

May 6 - And continuing for eight weeks, "I Need Do Nothing: A Course in Miracles and Enlightenment" - 7-8:30 p.m. at Unity. $5/class suggested Love Offering + $10 one-time materials fee. NOTE: These classes will be downloadable as MP3 files within a day or two of the class completion. Email me if you're interested in being notified.

May 17 - "The Gift of Atonement" based on Marianne Williamson's "The Gift of Change", 10 a.m. service and informal group Q&A to follow

May 24 - "The Universe, Numbers and Mother" at Gavilan Hills Unity Church, 13085 Monterey Rd., San Martin, CA (just south of San Jose), 10:30 a.m.

June 7 - "Focus on Innocence" based on Marianne Williamson's "The Gift of Change", 10 a.m. service and informal group Q&A to follow

Tags: Dan Shafer, Dan Shafer Speaking, Teacher, A Course in Miracles, Unity, Monterey, Gilroy, San Jose, San Martin

KC Star Columnist: Whose Christianity Anyway?

http://onemind.gaia.com — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:35:24 GMT

I try to keep up with things that are being written about spirituality in various places and to that end I have customized my Google News page so it follows the topic. This morning, a very interesting piece by Arturo Mora showed up from the Kansas City Star's community voices page.

Mora asks the question, "Are We (America) a Christian Nation?" and then proceeds to point out how essentially unanswerable that question is without a second question: "Whose Christianity should hold sway." He points out the fact that there are a significant number of flavors of Christianity that differ from one another in very deep ways. Those who would make of America a Christian theocracy are, as is so often the case with shallow thinkers, vasty oversimplifying a very complicated issue.

Interestingly, Mora's spiritual path and current walk bear some striking parallels to my own, which may help explain why I was sufficiently drawn to this article to post a blog entry about it. In my own life, Jesus holds the exceedingly important position of elder brother and wayshower and my own Christology varies substantially from that of others on both ends of the spectrum, I'm sure.

Only Christians who are convinced that their view of Jesus is the only correct one would of course advocate a theocracy based on his teachings as they understood them. Which translates to the fact that only Christians who are at the right edge of the scale -- in other words, those who are fundamentalist and evangelical -- would seriously suggest this. And I know for a fact that not all such Christians would agree with that position, either.

So what do you think? Are there ways in which a theocracy -- regardless of its basis or core teachings -- would be an improvement over an open, pluralistic democracy such as we have (even if only in large part)? Is there a common underpinning in Christianity's teachings that all Christians can be found to share that could form the basis for such a society? If there were should we consider it?

Tags: theocracy, American Christianity, America, Jesus, Christology

Exciting New Web TV Series, "Global Spirit", Debuts April 12

http://onemind.gaia.com — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:05:00 GMT

I just ran across an announcement from Link TV about an exciting new series making its debut Sunday, April 12. The series, called "Global Spirit", sounds like something I will thoroughly enjoy. I've applied for press certification so that I can pre-screen some of these episodes and make specific recommendations here.

Because Gaia.com still doesn't allow embedding of video in blog posts (come on, guys!), I couldn't put the trailer here but it's on the Link TV site linked to above. They have a YouTube channel but the trailer isn't posted there yet, although an excerpt from one of the coming episodes is.

Tags: interfaith, peace, spirituality and science, spirituality, TV

The Role of Religion & Spirituality in Psychological Health

http://onemind.gaia.com — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:26:59 GMT

There has long been a disconnect in many therapists' offices and practices between the vastly important role most people claim religion and spirituality play in their lives and the degree to which the therapist will even consider discussing the connection, let alone using it to the client's advantage.

But some progress has been made in recent years, as revelaed in this article from the Toledo Blade.

Therapists are psychologists by training and psychology wants so badly to be viewed and treated as a science that its practitioners seem unwilling to engage in any activity that might even smack of unscientific or even non-scientific thought. This is just a side effect of Western -- and particulary American, German and Russian -- elevation of Scientism to the status of a near religion in its own right.

But as the professor interviewed in that article points out, when upwards of 90% of Americans claim a belief in God or a spiriutual path and only 25% of therapists do, the disconnect is all but inevitable.

My Science of Energy Medicine Group here on Gaia.com is a place where we will be examining this issue in depth and discussing ways we can further the research into the topic as well as improve the promulgation of the truth of the onenness of wisdom.

Tags: Science, Energy Medicine, Science of Energy Medicine, psychotherapy, psychology, counseling

Take the Vow of Non-Violence

http://onemind.gaia.com — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:54:26 GMT

Take the vow of non-violence in your thought, speech and actions. I was the 6,546th person to take the vow tonight. Let's hit a tipping point. Deepak Chopra is a key backer of this new movement.

Tags: peace, non-violence, Deepak Chopra, vow

New Science and Energy Medicine Group Formed

http://onemind.gaia.com — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:09:08 GMT

I just created a new group here on Gaia.com called Science of Energy Medicine. This will be the virtual home of a national movement I'm launching called the Science of Energy Medicine Group (SEMG). Its purpose is to foster and facilitate research and study of the connections between what modern science (particularly physics and biology) has discovered about energy and how energy can be used to heal.

If you're interested in the intersection of these two topics, please join the new group. And if you live in or near the Monterey, CA, area, note that I will be presenting on this topic at a Jan. 9 meeting, details of which are in the first post to the group forum.

Namaste

Tags: physics, chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry, science, energy healing, energy medicine, medicine, healing

Great Onlilne Radio Outlet

http://onemind.gaia.com — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:18:25 GMT

I'd like to point you to the Unity Web radio station, Unify.fm. They have a set of programs broadcast at the top of the hour several times a day all week. The topics vary from deeply philosophical to practical (a fair amount of emphasis on health, e.g.).

You can listen to the broadcasts live, but they also archive all of them so that you can listen at your leisure.

Even the "advertisements" are spiritually focused: on events, affirmations, and all sorts of interesting stuff going on in the world of New Thought.

Tags: Unity, radio, New Thought, metaphysics

Spiritual Leaders for Obama

http://onemind.gaia.com — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:11:12 GMT

I just found out about this site tonight. I don't know how I've missed it.

Tags: Obama, politics, leaders, yogis, meditators

Healing and Transformation, From Metaphysician to Mystic

http://onemind.gaia.com — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:42:18 GMT

I recently underwent triple bypass surgery after suffering a major heart attack. The entire experience was a series of blessings in disguise (the theme, interestingly enough, of a series of lessons I had co-presented at our church in the weeks leading up to the incident) about which I will have much more to say over time. Like all opportunities to face the end of life as we've come to know it, this experience brought me a vastly deeper understanding of Truth and Reality than I'd ever had before. A book is in the offing.

Meanwhile, however, I thought I'd share one insight that came to me in meditation today. The process of moving through standing on the brink of transition to the next phase of my eternal life has moved me from being a metaphysician to being a mystic. As a metaphysician, I found myself committed to the belief that the essential Oneness of All That Is lay at the heart of Spiritual Truth. That remains valid for me, but it has taken on a deeper dimension somehow. I find myself now completely committed to the certain knowledge that reunion with Divine Mind -- the Ultimate Purpose of Life -- can only be attained through self-surrender, which in turn requires deep contemplation and meditative prayer.

When I went in for my surgery, I did so completely unafraid, a turn of events which startled me as much as it would anyone who knew me. I had absolute confidence that I would come out the other end of that dark tunnel betteer off than when I entered it, absollutely regardless of whether I returned to this physical existence or moved on to the next phase of my eternal life. I likened the experience to an opportunity for me to evaluate a new job offer from Spirit. If I found the new opportunity more compelling than what I knew I had left to do here, I'd take the job and move on. But it would be my choice. Because I believe we are always at choice, so why should the decision to live or die be any different?

So now I unabashedly bear the label "mystic" as I turn my attention and my focus ever more deeply inward and ever more sweetly to the surrender of self withiin which lies the Ultimate Truth and the Ultimate Purpose of this phase of eternity. And I wait in wonder to see what the Universe has in store for me now.

Tags: death, metaphysics, mysticism, mystic, choice, purpose

Forgiveness is the ONLY Answer

http://onemind.gaia.com — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:33:16 GMT

I just finished teaching a short course called "A Course in MIracles and World Peace". (You can download audios and handouts on my Web site if you're interested.) Every time I teach the Course, I am, of course, reminded that the central practice of the Course is forgiveness. This time, I devoted my entire final class to this important topic.

As you know if you're familiar with the Course, it means something different by the word "forgiveness" from what we mean when we use the word in everyday speech. To students of the Course, forgiveness has nothing to do with releasing others from guilt or responsibility for acts they have committed that have injure or offended you. In fact, the Course says such acts are never real because they are of a nature that is inimical to God's inability to conceive of what we commonly call "sin."

Rather, the Course teaches us that all of us make only one mistake. We forget who we are. We don't remember that we are divine, eternal spiritual beings having for a time a physical experience. If we remembered that about our true nature, we would not engage in any of the behavior we and others perceive as "sin."

It follows, then, that the only thing that demands our forgiveness is the act of forgetting. This is a particularly powerful concept because in order to forgive someone else for forgetting who they are, we are inevitably reminded ourselves of who we are and thus are forgiving ourselves every time we extend that forgiveness to others.

Every problem we think we have in the world of appearances can be solved by this shift in consciousness, from perceiving certain behaviors not as sins requiring guilt and punishment but as errors requiring correction and forgiveness. That's a strong statement and I'm generally wary of any sentence that begins with or includes an absolute term like "every" or "always". But in this case, I believe it is true.

I was astonished when I went to my favorite bookstores and found there were literally dozens of books written about forgiveness. Two or three at least <em>seemed</em> to be approaching the subject from a Course in Miracles' perspective.

So how does this sit with you?

Tags: Course in Miracles, forgiveness, consciousness shift

Success and Significance

http://onemind.gaia.com — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:23:04 GMT

I was watching one of Spiritual Cinema Circle's better offerings last night and was taken by a statement one of its participants made. The movie is "Living Luminaries: On the Serious Business of Happiness" (I may have the sub-title slightly wrong). Rev. Michael Beckwith, who is one of my favorite visionaries, said, "So many people are so caught up in their search for success that they forget the search for significance."

Wow.

Exactly.

If the work I do isn't *significant*, does it ultimately matter if I'm successful at it? I don't think so. But what if the work I'm doing is significant without bringing me worldly success? Is that a better outcome? Yes, at least to some degree. Ideally, of course, I achieve both.

Beckwith's observation is in keeping with the teachings of other luminaries, including one with whom I have the fortune to be personally acquainted, James L. White. Jim is passionate about helping people find and pursue their purpose in life.He's written a book called What's My Purpose? and offers courses and seminars and coaching along those lines. Like others in the world of self-help who are convinced that the key to happiness lies in finding and living your true purpose, Jim would probably agree with Beckwith.

If your purpose in life is to be successful according to the world's definition -- i.e., materially or in terms of power and fame -- then you're going to make a whole different set of choices than you'll make if your purpose in life is to be of significant value to others and to yourself.

The two are not necessarily in conflict but it does seem to me it would be supremely difficult to pursue them both with equal passion. When you choose where to focus, you opt out of a whole list of choices on the other side of the list.

But how does one measure significance? Does it, e.g., demand that you achieve some measure of fame or notoriety or audience? Is significance a matter of how many people find you significant? Or is it sufficient for you to feel that your work is significant? Is significance even subject to measurement? Are there degrees of significance?

This feels on some level like an extension of the learning I gleaned from my all-time best spiritual friend, the late Rev. Rory Elder. He taught me that life isn't about what you accomplish, it's about how you show up. May be these are two branches of the same plant.

Tags: significance, success, prosperity, purpose

Sally Quinn "On Faith" Interviews

http://onemind.gaia.com — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:00:49 GMT

A good friend who is not particularly spiritual but is very astute and political sent me a link today to this interview of astrologer Caroline Casey by Sally Quinn, who apparently has a program called "On Faith." This is just the highlights and it is amazing. At one point, Casey says of the current U.S. Presidential campaign, "We are electing a story. We're electing ourselves. This is the most mythologically potent election...probably ever, or at least since the Founding Fathers." She also tells a couple of marvelous stories about her encounters with scientists and their delight and joy at being freed from strict rationalism to the spontaneity of mysitc experience.

That's exciting in itself. But when you get to that page, you'll notice that there are dozens and dozens of these interviews available. Most have highlights and the full interview separately. What an immense treasure trove of wisdom and insight. I feel like I've just stumbled into yet another new library of insight and wisdom.

I wonder, have other people here previusly discovered this and I've just missed references to it? Does anyone else know of this work? Any background?

Tags: metaphysics, astrology, politics, election, Sally Quinn, Caroline Casey

"The Shift" Movie

http://onemind.gaia.com — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:21:15 GMT

I was invited to be on a panel for an interfaith discussion of world peace today at California State University at Monterey Bay. The host, Steve "Quazar" Goings, founder of the campus organization called "The Gathering", started things off by showing this movie, which I had heard of but not seen before:

The Shift Movie

Here's the URL in case the movie isn't displayed above for some reason (movie links don't seem to work well here unless they're from one of the major services):

The Shift Movie

This promises to be an outstanding movie. I don't know if/when it will be produced and released but I hope it's soon.

Tags:

A.C. Ping Quotation on Faith

http://onemind.gaia.com — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:51:14 GMT

"Without faith we confine ourselves to continuing to live in a world dominated by fear and greed. Without faith we cling desperately to the cloak of cynicism to protect ourselves from being hurt by others. And most importantly, without faith we undermine our own ability to really get onto our life path and BE who we want to BE and DO what we want to DO. Instead, we put ourselves in a situation where our own fears and doubts consume our passions and kill our dreams."

(A. C. Ping in Faith, p. 25)

Tags: faith, ping

A Beautiful Spirit Transitions

http://onemind.gaia.com — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:01:23 GMT

A dear friend and being of light and joy, Donna Briley, made her transition on March 26. Her Celebration of Life Service was held yesterday at her (and my) home church, Unity of Monterey Bay. I was blessed to be asked by the family to deliver her eulogy.

Donna was a close friend of Marianne Williamson and an accomplished student of A Course in Miracles whom I had the pleasure of serving as a teacher for the past several years.

But she was so much more than that. Donna had a positive impact on every life she touched and she touched thousands of us. She had a ready -- and gorgeous -- smile for everyone. She always put others first, encourgaging them in their dreams and passions, lightening everyplace she was and every moment of her life. She could be going through a temporary difficult time but you'd never know it unless you were close enough for her to share it with you.

She led a rich life which ended far too soon for all of us left behind but I know she is now taking on a new role as a project leader for the world. Here, she labored for the Department of Peace initiative. Now she labors for world peace effortlessly and tirelessly. Here, she encouraged each of our dreams. Now she is part of the One Mind directing Universal Energy in our direction. Here she loved all she touched. Now she can touch all she loves.

The world could do with more Donna Brileys. Now Heaven has the full-time attention of the authentic one.

Peace on your journey, dear one.

Tags: death, Donna_Briley, eternal_life

Who You Are Makes a Difference

http://onemind.gaia.com — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:44:14 GMT

I'm sure you've probably seen this before, but it never grows old and the message is as fresh and valuable today as it was when it was created.

Check out the Make A Difference movie. And then send it to someone who makes a difference in your life.

Namaste

Tags:

A New Creation Story

http://onemind.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:29:43 GMT

One of the problems with all of the world histories I know about is that they are human-centric to the near exclusion of all other species, forms of life, or planetary eras. While archaeology and anthropology texts frequently delve with what they term "pre-history," it is difficult if not impossible to find a definitive story of how the cosmos and this particular universe within that cosmos came to be. In other words, it is hard to find a way to put the eye-blink history of a single species of being, of which we happen ot be members, into the broad context of not just the planet but the entire cosmos of which we are a part. And not only a part, but in many ways a consequence or result of cosmic forces.

The price we pay for such ignorance is that we make choices without the benefit of a big-picture view of their impact on our co-inhabitants of the grand cosmos. Such ignorance of our history can only, in the long run, have deleterious consequences.

The Universe Story by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry represents the best effort I've seen to help us to spin a new story about ourselves, where we came from, our place in the grand scheme of things, where we're headed. Subtitled "From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era," this book is almost poetic in its description of the birth of the cosmos, the emergence of our own universe and its if not unique then at least highly unusual formulation, and the development of our physical surroundings. Swimme and his mentor have created a fluid, readable, exciting take on the new story humanity needs to escape from the dark ignorance and deliberate blind spots of past efforts.

Tags: creation, story, cosmology, cosmos, history

Tony Snow Teaches Me Something About Death

http://onemind.gaia.com — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:38:25 GMT

I've never been a big fan of Tony Snow. First as a Fox broadcaster and then as spokesman for a president who has failed ot inspire in me any sense of pride, loyalty or support, Snow has been a veritable symbol of all in politics that I have found distasteful. I could not believe that he could bring himself to believe all of the apparent lies he told in his White House role.

Still, I have a bedrock belief that there are no evil people and that most people believe that what they are doing is right. They don't set out to become bad people and they don't have a belief that they are bad.

Today, my good friend and minister, Vicky Elder, sent me this essay Snow wrote for Christianity Today.After reading it, I sent this note to Rev. Vicky:

That was moving and intriguing. Thanks for sharing.

It made me more aware than I have been that when you flake off the paint of politics and rub away the patina of religious dogma, we are all, at core, lovely and eternal creations of a living God. That realization, in turn, brought into stark relief the Truth that every one of us wants the same ultimate consummation of life: a death with dignity in the certainty of eternity. While we may disagree on the best way to get there -- as we disagree on the "how" of so much in our daily lives -- there truly is only one of us here when it comes to the things that matter.

I am a tiny bit better person today for having read and reflected on that essay.

Tags: Tony Snow, death, dying, eternity