Unity VillageYou Cannot Stay As You Are!
Published on Monday, 26 September 2011 14:14 | Written by Milledge Mosby | 
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Fall 2011
You cannot stay as you are and expect to "evolve spiritually" at the same time. There is a shift that must take place from the present state of consciousness to a whole new "thought world." The title of this article is actually the title of the Sunday series we are exploring. The basis of this study is the exploration of what it takes to push us into a new reality . . . a reality based on spiritual thought?rather than ego thought.
This is a great time to be talking about consciousness shifting, because it prepares us for Unity’s World Day of Prayer to be held on Thursday, September 8th. As we have been studying, prayer is the process used by the Truth student to expand his/her conscious awareness of the Divine Presence, thus setting up the right condition for a whole new universe to be created within him/her.
As you all know, I get inspiration from movies and certain TV series. One of the best examples from a TV series to explain the basis of the idea of setting up the right condition for a whole new universe to evolve came from a Star Trek episode. I used this analogy a few times before, but I think it is okay to use it again, because it truly paints the picture for what we need to understand about transforming from one state of consciousness to another.
In this particular episode the crew was out in a roundabout when it accidently snagged a small unknown energy field with its ship. Upon close examination they discovered what they thought was just an energy field was actually the beginning of a new universe. Upon closer examination they discovered the beginning or genesis of a new intelligent species within the newly forming universe. The dilemma was that the new universe was expanding at such a rapid rate that if it was allowed to continue, within a very short period of time, it would obliterate and replace the existing universe.
The captain and the crew were caught in a quandary. Do they destroy the new to save the old? Or, do they allow the new to expand and replace the old? One of the senior officers could not understand the dilemma. Her feeling was that to destroy the new universe and its civilization, at its present stage of development, would be like stepping on ants. And that it was no big deal.
Hopefully, you can see the analogy here, because in the process of spiritual growth this is also our dilemma. If you choose to travel through life in prayer, meditation, and spiritual contemplation, you will ignite within
yourself the beginning of a new universe. A universe that will begin spreading through your existing universe . . . your existing belief system . . . at logarithmic proportions. The question you will be confronted with is: Do I allow the new universe (the new consciousness) that is trying to unfold within me to replace my old universe with all of its fears, beliefs, prejudices, wounds, and unforgiving thoughts? Or, do I squash it, stopping it from growing within me so I can maintain my existing way of being?
If you perceive this as a dilemma, be aware that each time you pray it ignites within you the beginning of a new universe . . . a new consciousness . . . a whole new receptacle . . . that is capable of receiving higher levels of divine thought . . . and, in the process it transforms the old so it can receive the new. In Mark 2:22, Jesus referred to this transformative process when he said that you cannot put new wine into old wineskins. You can only put new wine into new wineskins. Meaning, you cannot receive the gift of God in the form of higher level divine ideas unless you are willing to allow a new universe . . . a new consciousness to be formed within you that is capable of receiving the new higher levels divine ideas.
Many of us, who have been studying Truth principles for a long time, are like Nicodemus, in that we have all this intellectual spiritual knowledge, yet we do not understand how to apply it to the events which occur in our lives. When catastrophe hits our lives, our intellect becomes intertwined in our emotions, causing confusion and a multitude of reactions. In our confusion we pray for understanding, but Jesus is telling us we cannot understand unless we are willing to be reborn into a consciousness that will allow us to be aware of the Kingdom of God, while standing in the mist of intellectual confusion. To be born into a new awareness (a new consciousness) that allows us to see the Kingdom of God (which is the healing presence of love) we must be willing to allow a new universe based on love, to expand within us until it overtakes and replaces our existing universe, which is commonly based on fear.
Prayer begins this process. Every time we pray we are, in effect, beginning the creation of a new universe within ourselves. Whether or not that new universe survives and overtakes our existing fearful inner universe depends on whether or not we allow it to grow. We can sit around and intellectualize about being willing to allow change to occur, but when it comes right down to it . . . will we?? Especially when we begin to realize that all of our fears, hatreds, resentments, pain and wounds, unforgiving thoughts, strong beliefs and opinions . . . all that is based on fear and negative thinking will be engulfed, swallowed up by an overflowing stream of love.
Intellectual staging is quite different from spiritual surrender. One who is committed to a life of prayer persists and insists on remaining open to receiving guidance from within, and then sharing with others a peaceful, prayerful response to what is occurring in life. This is the way of the peaceful prayer warrior. Examples of peaceful prayer warriors are: St. Francis, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King. Each of them lived the prayer, Lord make me an instrument of your peace. And for those of you who heard the lectures on Power vs. Force, these are examples of people who lived by power instead of force.
To understand the difference, think of force as coming from reacting to life’s challenges from the forcefulness of the ego, and power as coming from responding to life’s challenges with the strength that can only be gained from prayer. Simply, force is artificial, short-lived, and limited . . . whereas power is real, eternal, and unlimited.
As Truth students we are learning that Truth principles demand a new universe, a new receptacle, a consciousness, free of the beliefs and opinions which keep us trapped where we are. This will be the focus of our lessons for the next couple of months as we learn how to allow a whole new universe to be born within us.