Time to take 100% Responsibility for Your Experience

We have trouble manifesting joy and prosperity for ourselves because we buy into a duality in our minds, even while we deny it with our lips. We still view the world primarily in terms of oppressors and victims. When you set up that view of the world, you can’t help apply it to yourself. Whether the victims of people or of circumstance, when we view ourselves as such, the reality follows. If you believe you are a victim, guess what—you are, and you become helpless.

Circumstances happen. That’s a fact. But your experience while in those circumstances is entirely your choice. Once we get this, we can start to transcend circumstances and enter into joy and power. Once you really understand this, the next step is to go to the center and connect with your divine center. Feel the joy, feel the power—not power over others or circumstances, but power of choosing joy and peace, no matter what.

And we in the metaphysical churches get this, intellectually at least, but what trips us up at this point is our tendency to judge our progress by what our physical eyes see. This keeps your belief from shifting from the temporal to the eternal. Once you are choosing joy and peace, the changes in your circumstances are no longer the bringers of this joy and peace. Your choice to experience this serenity becomes the whole object of the spiritual exercise. The changes in circumstances are merely preferences.

That’s not what you wanted to hear, is it? Well, here is where you can enter the area of miraculous possibilities. Here is where you can choose the changes, as long as you don’t make your joy and peace dependent on the outer changes. Affirm those changes calmly, confidently, but don’t make your happiness depend on them. Your happiness, from a divine source, is what makes the changes happen.

After this, no matter what your eyes and ears tell you, BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE DONE. Seldom are the changes instantaneous, especially after living in firmly entrenched pattern of using outer conditions as your guide. Believe despite what your eyes, or your friends, or your family tell you.

In the western world, we are very methodical approach to everything, so I will break it down into steps.

1.)    Go the center and connect to joy

2.)    Visualize the way you want to live

3.)    Feel the emotion that accompanies that vision as if it is realized now

4.)     Feel grateful that is so now

5.)    Think and act as if it is so now

6.)    Repeat daily, or even hourly

One very good program that promotes this practice and provides support for you in this method is the One Command Circle. This has been embraced world-wide by people of all religious backgrounds, and in all kinds of circumstances. You can find a circle in your area at this link:

http://commandingwealth.com/calendar.php

If you are in the Augusta Area, you can join us by visiting the this link:

http://manifestingbrilliance.com/theonecommand-2/   

Namaste,

Bob R.

Was Jesus a Liberal?

Dear Friends:

I have heard it said that we shouldn't mix politics and religion, but in a sense, how can you separate them? I mean, theocracies are dangerous and have never worked without oppression and bloodshed, but in a way, we can't divorce our set of values from the way we vote.

I have noticed that if one goes to a new-thought church, it is assumed that he or she is a liberal in his or her politics. This is an erroneous assumption. There are many of us who believe in the universality of the divine principle, and of our connectedness. That does not mean we all believe in the same principles of governance.

I have had friends who bring up Jesus with regard to so many of the issues we are debating about today, trying to prove that Jesus was a liberal, I guess. Well, we can't say with certainty what he WOULD do if he were alive today, but we know there are things he did not do.

Jesus did not demand that the government take care of the poor or sick. He told his followers to do that. He did not tell his followers to force someone else to do it, nor to shame them into doing it. No, the responsibility was firmly on their shoulders.  Jesus told his followers to turn the other cheek, but he did not tell the government to do so. Jesus did not demonstrate against the government about the wars it was involved in--if fact, he did not demonstrate against the government at all about anything. This makes Jesus more like a conservative than a liberal.

If you are a political conservative who feels out of place among new-thought people, then relax. Your view is valid. It is compatible with universal principle and connectedness. Holding people accountable to work and take care of themselves and their families is a good thing, a compassionate thing--and so is charity. Conservatives statistically give more to charity than do liberals. We are all one in a sense, of course--but our checking accounts are not. Every individual has a lesson to learn about money and work and the relationship between the two. Every individual must find their own way, and it is our joy to help when we can.

There is nothing to be ashamed of for a conservative position on politics. It reveals your love of freedom and a desire for that freedom to be preserved for everyone.

Namaste,
Bob Roushar

Save the World? Why?

There is a tendency of modern mankind to think that the individual is here on earth to remove the need to struggle from the earth. He or she thinks that their mission is to “save” mankind, to get rid of all hunger, all conflict. This is an exhausting undertaking, and in the end, it fails.

If it was Jesus’ mission to remove all conflict and selfishness, then he failed. If it was his mission to remove all disease, he failed. If it was his mission to make everyone happy, he failed. No, his message was about individual transformation through transcending the self. It was not a model for governmental systems, nor extensive social structures.

Everyone came here to learn something. In order to learn the main lesson, there are more basic, prerequisite lessons, such as how to maintain a focus on one’s own conduct and attitude, and how to avoid the temptation of telling others how they should act or feel.

The key to fulfillment is to respond to all things within your sphere of influence by accepting and embracing what is, and seeing it correctly. You don’t owe anyone anything, except to pay for what you purchase. If it pleases you to help someone, then by all means, do so, but do not fall into the trap of feeling guilty because you are in health and eat well.

If done for genuine compassion, philanthropy and volunteerism can bring one a feeling of joy and fulfillment. If done because of shame or guilt, it becomes an unhealthy abuse of God’s gifts to you. It also leads to judging others who don’t share your enthusiasm for charity.

When you leave this earthly plane, there will still be poverty and suffering, conflict and warring. You will not have failed. This entire world is a learning lab for souls. If it had no opportunity for compassion or struggle, how would you learn? No, our purpose is not to make the world hold hands and sing “I’d like to teach the world to sing . . .”

Relax. You don't have to save anyone. Learn to feel joy, regardless of the circumstances around you. Learn to love, despite the hate all around you. Learn to live fully in each moment with gratitude. Once you can do this, then you are ready for the advanced lesson, whatever that is.

Namaste,
Bob Roushar

PUNISH THE VIOLATORS !

Dear Friends:

The longer you live, and if you're paying attention, the more you see recurring patterns in human behavior. It seems that we have a collective response to anyone who does something harmful that is just instinctive. Any time there is a crime spree or financial scandal, we seem intent on preventing it from happening again. Those of us who have seen these things happen repeatedly have learned that you can't prevent people from doing stupid or harmful things. You just can't.

So this is what we do: we oversimplify the situation, find someone to villify, declare those affected as victims, and pass more laws against the activity that stirred our anger. Then, self righteously, we ridicule or demonize the guilty constantly in our public discourse.

This does not help heal the world. I know "victims" of harmful actions that never heal because they constantly dwell on the unfairness of the situation. They constantly vilify those who harmed them. That's OK. It's their choice. There is, however, no freedom or healing in that choice.

Have you ever encountered a wounded animal? It will lash out because of the fear and pain. So it is with all creatures, even humans. Wounded people act in wounded ways. By realizing that people do harmful things because they themselves have been harmed, new possibilities are created. There is an opportunity to love.

I want to quote the Buddha here--one of my favorite passages:

“Look how he abused me and beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed me.”
Live with such thoughts and you live in hate.

“Look how he abused me and beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed me.”
Abandon such thoughts, and live in love.

In this world
Hate never dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.

You too shall pass away.
Knowing this, how can you quarrel?

Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byrom

Guilt-free success

Dear Friends:

In our popular culture there is always an ample measure of guilt because we are prosperous and healthy when there are so many who are not. This is not healthy for us or for those who suffer, as Catherine Ponder said once, "how does it help someone who is suffering for me to feel bad as well."

The answer, of course, is that it hellps no one. It doesn't even help me to help those who suffer. If you do something, do it out of love, not out of guilt, and please, please--do not try to shame others into helping. It doesn't 'work. Only love works. If you want further guidance, read about the example of Mother Teresa, who was against nothing, but for FOR many good things.

To this end, I want to share with you a poem from the Dhammapada:

Live in Joy,
In Love,
Even among those who hate.

Live in Joy,
In Health,
Even among the afflicted.

Live in Joy,
In Peace,
Even among the troubled.

Look Within,
Be Still,
Freee from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of the way.

Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byrom

Namaste,
Bob Roushar

The direct path

Dear friends:

In the New Thought movement, the statement is heard often, "there are many paths to God, but only one God." In a sense that is true, if you found union with God, then obviously the path you took is a valid one. Some paths, however, meander and go the very long way around. We in Unity favor the direct path.

Everyone has the ability to enter into a conscious connection with the Allness now, without ritual, without mantra, without outer action of any kind. This is hard to accept. Most of us have been taught that we must go through some other entity, do pennance of some kind, or earn the right of this connection. These are beliefs that are difficult to release, and they cause a wandering that seems to go on forever.

If you are looking for a better way, know this: you can connect with the divine by going inward in the silence. You can feel love and joy in this divine presence. The longer and the more often you spend time in that divine center, the more everything else will fall into place, the more of the mystical you will understand.

Namaste,
Bob Roushar

Emotional Attachment to Ancient Writings

It is amazing to me that for so long I believed that a book was the absolute authority for my thoughts and actions. This kind of blind belief in a sacred text, or the belief that it is the only source of guidance is the cause of a lot of frustration in the world. If you believe, because of something written in the sacred text, that a deity is displeased unless all of humanity must change their behavior, and will punish the whole of humanity for allowing the errant behavior, then you seek to be the savior of the world. You seek to force others to behave as you think your deity dictates.

This is a dangerous path to travel. By trying to force the world to conform to the template in your world view, you are setting off on a never ending journey that will never render joy or satisfaction, and will never come to completion. The world will never conform to your template, no matter how many people you intimidate, persuade, or even eliminate. Literal belief in a sacred book is a recipe for lifelong emptiness.

I was in this trap for many years, afraid to think for myself, afraid to disagree with what I thought the Bible was saying. Very gradually, I came to a place of reason and connection with all the positive things about spirituality. I came eventually to recognize universal principles instead of rules, great qualities instead of rigid behavior.

There is great joy in the freedom to seek a connection with the allness, without the tyranny of some rule book, written ostensibly by a deity given to anger. Ironically, now that I think for myself and am on a path of love and non-judgment, the Bible makes more sense to me than ever, and it is more valuable to me, but in a different way. I can see the stages in my own growth in the characters of the Bible, and there are many relational teachings within the stories. If you are struggling with this, know that a sacred text can be a special tool for guidance as long as we choose our values from our own spirit --as long as we are the masters and not the servants of the ideas written on its pages. We decide which ideas expressed in it will help us realize our values, and we can leave the rest.

Namaste,
Bob Roushar