"MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING"

To begin today I’d like to share with you the Lord’s Prayer as spoken in Jesus’ tongue of ancient Aramaic.

Awoon dwashmaya
Nith kadashe schmakh
Teh they mulkootha
Neh way say wee a nakh
Aikana dwashmaya op bar ah
How-lan lahma
Dsoon kanan yow-mana
Wash woklan hau bain
Aikana dap h’nan shwakan l hiya wayne
Wla ta'lan l'neeseeyona ella pasan min beesha
Mitol delahe mulkootha
Oo hailah otesh boktha
La alim almein amen

Today’s thoughts are inspired by the scripture, John 14:12.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes in me shall do the works which I do; and even greater than these things he shall do, because I am going to my Father.”

I’d like to look at miracles. Classically, miracles have had a very mysterious air about them. If we look in “Cruden’s Concordance” under the word “miracle,” we find the following:

“Miracle is a supernatural operation performed alone by the power of God. Our Saviour confirmed the doctrine which he taught by a train of incontestable miracles: They were so great in their nature, so real and solid in their proof, so divine in the manner of performing them, by the power of his will; so holy in their end, to confirm a doctrine most becoming the wisdom and other glorious attributes of God, and for the accomplishment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah, whose coming was foretold to be with miraculous healing benefits; that there was the greatest assurance, that none without the omnipotent hand of God could do them. The magicians performed divers wonders in Egypt, but they were outdone by Moses, to convince the spectators, that he was sent from a power infinitely superior to that of evil spirits. Real miracles that are contrary to the order, and exceed the power of nature, can only be produced by creating power, and are wrought to give credit to those who are sent from God; and when God permits false miracles to be done by seducers, that would thereby obtain authority and credit among men, the deception is not invincible; for it is foretold expressly, to give us warning, that the man of sin shall come with lying wonders after the working of Satan, but the heavenly doctrine of the gospel has been confirmed by real miracles, incomparably greater than all the strange things done to give credit to doctrines opposed to it.”

Whoa. Is that heavy stuff? Do you believe what Cruden says there? Do you have any idea who Cruden is? Alexander Cruden was born in 1701 in Aberdeen, Scotland. After earning a Masters at 19, he fell for the daughter of a minister. She, alas, was in love with her brother. Alexander was shattered and ultimately spent several terms committed to a mental asylum. His concordance of the holy scriptures probably gave him the grounding which kept him from spending his entire life in those pits of abomination. A concordance is, of course, an alphabetical listing of all the words in a text with reference to their occurrences. To undertake such an endeavor with a book such as the Bible was either a move of genius or of insanity. Personally, I’ve always contended that the only difference between genius and insanity is whether or not they catch you. Periodically, Cruden was caught. However, he continued with his concordant undertaking.

So we see a bit of a clearer picture of where our definer of miracles is coming from. An orthodox background mixed with unrequited love and madness.

He tells us that miracles are supernatural operations. And then he goes on to say that Jesus confirmed his teaching by performing these supernatural operations. Now, just what is a supernatural operation? Well, Cruden says that they “are contrary to the order, and exceed the power of nature,” and “can only be produced by creating power, and are wrought to give credit to those who are sent from God.”

Have you ever wondered, if the order is the nature of things, then how is it that God allegedly performs acts which are contrary to God’s own order. This idea of supernatural happenings is founded in a belief of duality. It is based upon a belief in the separation between man and God. There are only certain things that can be done by man, but God can step in and do the extraordinary. But that is an old testament belief. The word miracle only appears twice in the old testament, and its plural, miracles, appears four times. Does that mean that God didn’t perform many miracles back then? No, it means that the word miracle was not used as the descriptive of extraordinary circumstances and acts.

The Bible does not speak of the parting of the Red Sea as being described as a miracle. And yet most people think of the act with that term in mind. That the sea parted and allowed the Israelites to escape the advancing Egyptians was truly miraculous.

It’s not until Jesus comes along that the word miracle gets more press, and then the word is used only about 30 times in the New Testament. In the case of Jesus, the miracles are of import for they draw a lot of attention to what he is saying through what he is doing. In fact, it is reported that people came looking for Jesus just to see him perform miracles. This shows that the people were still grounded in a consciousness of dualism.

But Jesus’ message was not a message of dualism. In fact, Jesus taught that we are one with God. Jesus taught that God is like a father to us. To us. To you and to me. A spiritual father.

Then Jesus goes on to say something that confounds the fundamentalists. Interestingly enough, this is not an easy scripture to find. Throughout Jesus ministry, he refers to what others call “miracles” as “the works that I do.” He doesn’t take any credit for the works. It is actually the Father that is doing the works through him. The works are an important part of Jesus’ ministry. They are a large part of the marketing arm of Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus, in this scripture is speaking with the disciples and he is preparing them from his eminent departure from them through his upcoming death on the cross. They’re now down to the eleventh hour of teaching. There’s little time left, so Jesus is throwing the heavy stuff at them. No parables, just straight talk.

Now, this scripture comes from John, and we must remember that the book of John is unlike the other gospel books. It goes beyond the story of the life and ministry of Jesus and delves into the deeper issues of the teaching and its ramifications.

So we look at the 10th chapter of John, verses 8-31. Philip asks Jesus, “Our Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough for us.”

Kind of reminds me of what it sometimes feels like with people and Practical Truth Ministry. Just build it and they will come, right? Just show us the Father and everything will be cool. We will understand. We will be with you. We’ve got friends that will be glad to know you’re here. Well, the scripture continues.

“Jesus said to him, All this time I have been with you, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who sees me has seen the Father; and how do you say, Show us the Father.”

And isn’t that the way it is. Here we are living in the Garden of Eden, completely surrounded with the vast incredible opportunities and manifestation of God, our Father, and we forget to be grateful each and every day. If we would just recognize the God in everything and everyone and within ourselves, then we would see the Father. Then Jesus says:

“Do you not believe that I am with my Father and my Father is with me? The words that I speak, I do not speak of myself; but my Father who abides with me does these works.”

What Jesus is saying here about himself is also true about us. When we think of miracles, when we look for magic, we only need open our eyes. The miracles are everywhere. This is why I share with you things like the picture from the Hubble Deep Field Space Probe. When I first saw that picture, that view of thousands of galaxies billions of light years and billions of years ago, it took my breath away. All of the petty stuff of life disappears. Just the fact that we are here this morning sharing with one another is a miracle in itself.

Jesus came here to be an example and a wayshower. What is the example? “The words that I speak, I do not speak of myself; but my Father who abides with me does these works.” He has shared with us the true reality of life itself. The creative words of God speak through each and every one of us, creating these marvelous works. And then he says:

“Believe that I am with my Father and my Father is with me; and if not, believe because of the works.” See, I told you the miracles, the works, are important in themselves. Even if we can not yet recognize and accept the truth of the Father within, we can nevertheless believe through the glory of the works. To me, that’s what drives the forward movement of discoveries in science: the incredible majesty and beauty of the works. And I believe that Jesus here says that that awareness is good.

Now, here it comes, the statement which sends chills throughout the fundamentalist world. The words of Jesus which destroy the fallacious belief that he is the only child of God. It is here that Jesus reveals what Paul later realizes when he states in his letter to the Colossians, “the mystery hidden from ages, but now revealed to the prophets, Christ in you, your hope of glory.” Here, listen.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes in me shall do the works which I do; and even greater than these things he shall do, because I am going to my Father.”

In other words, if you think that what Jesus did was divinely incredible, then just think about what you can do. And here’s the best part. You don’t have to wait. You don’t have to have an intermediary between you and God. The Christ that Jesus is, you are also. And greater works shall you do.

And why do we know that this is true? Because Jesus set the example and went all the way. He went to be with the Father. He rose above the appearances of the here and now and allowed his physical life to be sacrificed that he and everyone who believes in him should discover eternal life. And what do we mean by “believe in him?” It means to believe his example, to believe his teachings, and to practice them daily in our lives and in our affairs.

And how do we do that practice? Well, it’s different for each and every one of us because God has created each and every one of us to be unique. Have you heard the latest reports about the results of cloning animals? In spite of the apparent exact duplication of the physical aspects of these creatures, nevertheless they each one grow to reveal differences between one another. And they’re not just differences that are only detected after a long period of time. They are differences that become obvious from the beginning. Differences like personality. And if you don’t believe that an animal has personality, then you’ve never bothered to take the time to get to know one.

Our scripture continues: “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it for you, so that the Father may be glorified through his Son.

“If you ask me in my own name, I will do it.”

Have you ever asked for something in Jesus name? I mean, to say aloud, “In the name of Jesus Christ, this or that is so.” Asking isn’t begging. Asking is recognizing, declaring that the truth already exists. Begging separates us. Recognition unites us. Always remember that when Jesus is speaking here about himself, the self of whom he speaks is the Christ within, and that same Christ is within you and within me. So what he says about himself should be understood to be about your own indwelling Christ.

“If you ask me in my own name, I will do it.” And what is Christ’s name within you? That name is not necessarily a word that can be spoken and make any sense. It might just be a feeling, a realization. There are people who claim to be able to help you discover that name for yourself or to discover that name for you. But understand, if they do that for you, the name is only valid if you believe it to be so.

Did you ever see the play, “Cats?” Listen to the soundtrack. Every cat has three names. They have the common name that everyone refers to them by. Then they have the name by which other cats know them. But there’s a third name, one that is known only to them. We are no different. We each have our legal names by which we’re known. Then there are the names by which we’re really known to others. And these names are plural. We’re not just known by one name. We all have many masks that we wear, many parts that we play.

But there is a deeper name. It’s the one that only you know. Now don’t get this mixed up with the name of the “stranger.” That’s the part of you, the identity which only you know and which you share with no one, not even your spouse. And if you’re a spouse and that realization upsets you, just remember that you keep your own stranger hidden within. The stranger also has names, but we’re looking for something deeper.

Someday, you will, through whatever reasons or powers or circumstances, leave behind this physical form that you now inhabit. The you that can leave this reality of appearance and yet still exist, still be, is that real you that we’re talking about. And it, too, has a name, an identity by which you recognize it, by which it recognizes itself, by which it self-references. Do you know your self’s name? How familiar are you with your true self, with who you really are, beyond the appearances.

When we recognize that true self of us, then our scripture today becomes real for us. Truly, truly, once we believe in our indwelling Christ, the works that Jesus did, we shall do also, and even greater than those things shall we do. Why? Because Jesus set the example for us by becoming one with the Father in total consciousness and awareness. That oneness has always existed, but Jesus recognized it, accepted it, and manifested it. He did it so that we might know. He didn’t do it so that we must follow his example and also suffer and die. He did it so that we might live life everlasting, through our awareness that we are one with God, that we are God eternally expressing.

I love the way Kahlil Gibran said it in “The Prophet:”

“And it is with this belief and this knowledge that I say,

You are not enclosed within your bodies, nor confined to houses or fields.

That which is you dwells above the mountain and roves with the wind.

It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth or digs holes into darkness for safety,

But a thing free, a spirit that envelops the earth and moves in the ether.”

Once we recognize this truth about ourselves, then we will begin to recognize miracles wherever we turn. But they won’t be miracles that are supernatural, that are beyond the order of nature. Rather, we will recognize finally that the true rules of nature are miraculous themselves. Then all of life becomes a miracle for us. And this is miracles that bind us with God self rather than separate us.

In his book, “Spiritual Economics: the Prosperity Process,” Eric Butterworth says that there are no miracles. The reason for this is because everything is a miracle. You are a miracle. Hallelujah!

So, on this miraculous day that the Lord has made, go forth and set yourself free and live a life full of miracles. In the name and through the power of Jesus Christ, I declare that truth to be so. Amen.

- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:01 AM

 
'SPRING IS HERE!"

To begin today I’d like to share with you the Lord’s Prayer as spoken in Jesus’ tongue of ancient Aramaic.

Awoon dwashmaya
Nith kadashe schmakh
Teh they mulkootha
Neh way say wee a nakh
Aikana dwashmaya op bar ah
How-lan lahma
Dsoon kanan yow-mana
Wash woklan hau bain
Aikana dap h’nan shwakan l hiya wayne
Wla ta'lan l'neeseeyona ella pasan min beesha
Mitol delahe mulkootha
Oo hailah otesh boktha
La alim almein amen

Spring is here. It’s time to get on with our lives. Winter is over. The annual time of rest and rejuvenation has once again come to an end.

You know, it’s no coincidence that the church put Easter in the middle of spring. Did you ever think about that? Oh, I know, Easter doesn’t come for several more weeks this year. Did you ever wonder about that? I mean, we know that they didn’t really know when Jesus was born because, after all, there were just his parents and a few shepherds and three foreign travelers who were even aware of Jesus birth, according to the story. And yet the church has His birthday nailed down to December 25. That’s peculiar, because it’s more than likely that Jesus was actually born around March than at the end of December.

When we look at Christmas from a wider perspective, we see that the timing of Christmas coincides with a number of Roman and pagan celebrations. It is a lot easier to celebrate your own beliefs when everyone else is celebrating theirs, also. If everybody is getting time off from work for celebrating, then coordinating your celebration with theirs allows you to also have time off from work for your celebrating. And, of course, Christmas comes right after the winter equinox, the time when the days start getting longer again, sort of like a new birth.

But that birth is a physical birth that is celebrated. It’s a birth in which we recognize that Spirit takes on human form. Now, the truth of the teachings of Jesus, and of early Christians is that that birth of Spirit becoming flesh is one that takes place constantly in the reality of the lives of all of humanity. God is everything and everyone.

It is important, when we are looking at the roots of the beliefs of the Christian faith, that we always remember the setting in which these early events and, most important, their recording, took place. While Jesus was alive, before the crucifixion, there was a great joy and expectation amongst his followers. Those expectations were as varied as the followers themselves.

Jesus hung out, so to speak, with many of the more unsavory elements of society. Whores, cripples, publicans, the blind, tax collectors, many of society’s rejects or shunned people. Those were the congregants of the Mother Church. By Mother Church, I mean the first gatherings of people who came together to share in an understanding and acceptance of Jesus teachings. We can only begin to imagine the desires of these people as it relates to a better life promised by this rabbi with a dynamic, revolutionary message.

You see, up until the time of Jesus, the beliefs of the people, the world over, were focused outside of themselves. Their beliefs, no matter what name they might be under, generally had a commonality wherein the individuals looked outside of themselves for salvation. People prayed to a god or any number of gods or goddesses to intercede in their lives. The basic belief of people was that human beings were essentially separate and apart from whatever higher powers in which they believed. People were as slaves, or serfs, or drones or in an otherwise subservient position with their relationship to the rest of the universe, and, therefore, to their gods.

After all, this universe in which we live can be a pretty frightening, overpowering place. When one thinks about all of the “natural” events that can affect our lives, like floods, droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, meteors, tornados, sunspots, poisonous plants, cyclones, famine, and disease, it can be pretty scary stuff. Today we have many systems to warn us about potential impending disasters, but such has not always been the case. And, of course, we’ve added our own events to this list of scary monsters, with air pollution, water pollution, nuclear bombs and nuclear waste, wars, guns, bombs, biological and chemical weapons, over population, drug trafficking, and heavy traffic.

No wonder people feel so helpless and alone and in desperation. And that’s only the superficial stuff. That doesn’t count the stuff that really matters. That doesn’t consider the lack of self-esteem, the dreadful feelings of aloneness, of being unloved, of not measuring up, of being indecisive, of not being included, of being ignored, of being a loser.

I’ve long pointed out to people that every one of us is born alone. We come into this world entirely on our own. Oh, if we’re fortunate, there are people there who do whatever they can to assist in the physical aspects of our birth, but the only way in which they can communicate with us is with feeling and intention. The reality is that we’re alone, beginning a new journey. Clean slate. Starting again from scratch. Learning, by and large, on our own.

In addition, each of us dies alone. Even if there are others present at the moment that we make that transition which leaves behind, forever, the physical body and all of it’s attachments, we still face that experience completely on our own. We’re alone, beginning a new journey. Clean slate. Starting again from scratch. Learning, by and large, on our own.

Those experiences of aloneness at the beginning and at the end of our brief life here on this physical plane at this time are what they are. There’s little or anything that we can do to alter the unique aloneness of those two experiences. The real tragedy of our lives is that between those incredibly unique transitions of aloneness, for most of the rest of the time we are here, most of us remain alone. That’s largely due to the fact that all of our experiences are unique to us alone.

The reality in which each of us lives is a reality of our own perspective. I remember some years ago watching the Academy Award nominated film, “American Beauty.” My wife, Sherri, said, “none of our perspectives are the same as reality.” Wow. None of our perspectives are the same as reality. They are merely perspectives, viewpoints, methods and positions of observation, experiences that are personal and unique.

What then is reality, you might ask. Well, reality is God’s perspective; and God’s perspective is the sum total of all perspectives. And it is incredibly sad to me that we don’t invest more time in discovering how to be closer to one another in our aloneness, thereby fostering experiences that transcend that feeling of aloneness. To do so would bring new perspectives that would, I believe, help more people to escape their “lives of quiet desperation.”

What is it that is meaningful to us? What is it that we are looking for in life? What matters to us? What is important to us? What experiences, viewpoints, perspectives, make our lives seem worthwhile to us and foster a sense of sharing with our fellow travelers on this journey through physical life?

Mike Farrell, who played Dr. B.J. Hunnicutt on the TV series “M*A*S*H,” and who went on to play Dr. James Hansen in the series, “Providence,” spends most of his time working as an activist devoted to outlawing the death penalty and to bringing attention to suffering people in blighted nations. He was quoted several years ago as stating, regarding the philosophy that guides his life, that, “I believe, and was taught in the most profound, personal experience of my life, that all any human being wants is love, attention, and respect. And that was taught to me by some former prisoners of a halfway organization that I was part of for a couple of years. And it has guided me through some very difficult circumstances. If you reduce it all to that, then station, gender and economics doesn’t matter. You really begin to recognize the interrelatedness of all people.”

Love, attention, and respect. That seems to be something that requires more than one. It would seem to imply a lover and a love, an attention giver and an attention getter, a respecter and a respectee. True? Very much so. So it’s not a job that one can accomplish by oneself. Right? Wrong.

You are the lover and you are the beloved. You are the giver and also the receiver. You are the respecter and the respected. If you cannot love yourself, you’ll never be able to love another. If you cannot accept your own love of yourself, you’ll never be able to accept the love of anyone else.

You are the attention giver and you are the attention receiver. If you cannot give the priority of attention to what matters in your own life, you’ll never be able to give true attention to another. If you cannot feel comfortable with your own attention to the importance of matters in your own life, you’ll never be able to believe and accept the attention of others as being sincere.

You are the respecter and you are the respected. If you cannot learn to respect yourself, then you’ll never be able to show true respect to others. If you cannot feel that you are worthy of your own respect, then you’ll never be able to recognize and accept the respect of others.

We must learn to constantly and consistently love ourselves, give attention to that which matters in our lives, and respect ourselves if we ever expect to give or receive those important aspects of the human condition to and from others.

We need love, attention, and respect. The way to get what we need is to give it to others. Give it first to yourself and then give it to those whom you love and come into contact with. And that means everyone. Diligently work on recognizing the Christ in everyone, no matter how deeply it may appear to be buried.

Jesus birth into this place of existence is alleged to have occurred as a result of what is called an immaculate conception. We’ve all heard the story. Joseph had not yet “known” his wife in the biblical sense, and instead, Mary was impregnated by God. This story right away created problems that continue to be a contention within the church to this day. The basic problem resulting from this story is the argument over whether Jesus was human or divine. Was Jesus a unique instance of God becoming incarnate, of God taking on flesh as it’s own directly begotten, or was Jesus a human being who had mythical stories woven around his life.

Well, the answer is “all of the above.” Jesus was God manifesting as a human being. But, what he had to share with us was the fact that that Divine origin, that spiritual parentage is true about each and every one of us. You are God manifesting as a human being.

Every conception is immaculate, for God is present and active in every conception. The story of Jesus becomes the story of each of us. Unity actually believes that much of the Bible is a series of allegories and stories which, when viewed from a metaphysical standpoint, reveal the story of the development of God awareness and the resulting spiritual consciousness and manifestation in each and every human being. This evolution of awareness and manifestation moves along at a rate, and to the degree, that is unique to each individual. And each of us is responsible for discovering and determining our own uniqueness.

Now, from this lesson from the birth of Jesus onto this physical plane, let’s look at the lessons to be discovered in his departing this physical existence with which we are familiar. The date of Jesus crucifixion is not a fixed date upon the calendar. One would think that it would be a definite date. Unlike Jesus’ birth, in the case of his death on the cross, there were a multitude of witnesses, not to mention the followers of his teachings who had amassed during the brief years of his ministry. Certainly Jesus’ crucifixion was an event that would have a lasting impact upon them.

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when John F. Kennedy was shot? Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when Dr. Martin Luther King was shot? Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when Robert Kennedy was shot? I think that we could all agree that not a single one of those men could be compared to Jesus in their importance and their impact. And yet we remember the specifics of how those three deaths impacted upon our lives. So, think now about how much more of an impact the death of Jesus on the cross must have had upon his disciples and followers.

So why isn’t the date of the recognition of Jesus death and the resulting resurrection connected to specific dates? Could it be that the particulars of the life of Jesus are not what we are to remember and to put attention upon? Instead, is it not the teachings and the example that Jesus set which are of import to us?

So the dates for recognizing Jesus’ death and celebrating his resurrection have been identified by the church through a mathematical formula that is directly related to the sun, moon, and stars. That positioning, which changes from year to year, has always been correlated with planting cycles. If you have ever done any gardening or farming and have not planted in harmony with the position of the sun, moon, and planets, then you’ve been gardening without taking advantage of the valid observations of millions of people over thousands of years on the most advantageous ways and times to plant and to work your garden. That’s what the farmer’s almanac is all about.

Although Jesus’ crucifixion and his resurrection are locked in a dance of fate with each other, it is the resurrection, rather than the crucifixion, which is considered in the decision of when to celebrate those events. And it is connected very deliberately with planting, with new growth, with spring. And although the two events are equated with spring due to the resurrection, because of their connection, Jesus’ death is also tied in with spring. And that’s as it should be. The resurrection is like a new birth, but it is an experience that is preceded by death.

That is the story of our lives. We are constantly approaching and experiencing rebirths on various levels of consciousness, and each of those rebirths is preceded by a death. The death is in our relationship to the old perceptions, the old ways of doing things, the old beliefs.

Have I told you before about the Unity minister who had been a nightclub entertainer before she entered the ministry? She played piano and sang, and the lyrics of one of her favorite songs to play at gatherings of fellow ministers went, “Everybody wants to go to heaven; but nobody wants to die.” And isn’t that so true of each of us? We have so many things that we want in life, yet we’re afraid to let go of the old ways which hold us back from accepting our good.

In the movie, “American Beauty,” Kevin Spacey plays a character who becomes free. But in order to achieve that freedom in his life he had to give up his fear. They say that fear stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real.” So what each of us must release are our unreal perspectives that are based upon the false evidence of appearance. That’s not easy. But, as a therapist of mine told me many years ago, “who ever told you that it would be easy? Who ever said that it would be just? Who ever said that it would be fair?”

And aren’t all of those terms: easy, just, and fair, relevant terms; terms which gain actual meaning only when considered within the light of the individual’s perspective of their relationship to the appearance?

Not a single perspective matches reality. Your life is your own. You were created through immaculate conception as a child of God. God, as your father, has created you a little lower than the angels. The angels are the messengers of God, the thoughts of God. You have been created but a little bit lower than the thoughts of God. You are, in fact, the thoughts of God in full-blown manifestation.

In its infinite wisdom, God created you with incredible potential as a field of all possibilities and gave you the incredible power of choice as to how you choose to express those thoughts of God, and the degree with which you will express them.

Spring is here. And each year, when spring arrives, it reminds us of the ever-renewing, ever-evolving, ever-reinventing, omni-expression of God that is our reality. We are constantly being reborn, from moment to moment. Break free from your bondage to the appearances and become a whole new you. Spring is here!


- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:01 AM

 
"YOU CAN FLY, BUT THAT COCOON HAS GOT TO GO"

To begin today I’d like to share with you the Lord’s Prayer as spoken in Jesus’ tongue of ancient Aramaic.

Awoon dwashmaya
Nith kadashe schmakh
Teh they mulkootha
Neh way say wee a nakh
Aikana dwashmaya op bar ah
How-lan lahma
Dsoon kanan yow-mana
Wash woklan hau bain
Aikana dap h’nan shwakan l hiya wayne
Wla ta'lan l'neeseeyona ella pasan min beesha
Mitol delahe mulkootha
Oo hailah otesh boktha
La alim almein amen

We have a couple of quotes from scripture this morning to set the stage for our time together. First, from Matthew 19:13-15.

“Then they brought little children to him that he might lay his hand on them and pray; and his disciples rebuked them.

“But Jesus said to them, Allow the little children to come to me, and do not stop them; for the kingdom of heaven is for such as these.

“And he laid his hand on them, and went away from thence.”

And then we have Mark 10:15.

“Truly I say to you, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child shall not enter it.”

From time to time, my wife, Sherri, reminds me that I have a wealth of material for talks in the fact that I have tapes and typed copies of many of my mother’s services and classes from her over 30 years as a Unity minister. Recently, I ran across a tape of one of her talks. It was a talk that identified an important part of her identity. She gave the talk on July 5, 1979, almost 25 years ago. I’ve never done this before, done a talk prepared by someone else, though I have read extensively from books written by others. So I decided to try something new. I’m going to share that talk with you today, with only a few modifications.

So, without further adeu, Rev. Bette DeTurk’s thoughts on the topic “You Can Fly, But That Cocoon Has Got To Go.”

“I would like to think with you today about the dichotomy of the human condition, the human consciousness. The word, dichotomy, comes from a Greek word meaning “to cut in two.” And man, the reasoner, the thinker, is covered by one of those definitions. Quote ‘in logic, the division of a class into two opposite subclasses as real and unreal.’

“And it seems to me that the biggest challenge that we have is to distinguish between the real of us, the eternal, spiritual self of us, and the unreal, that which is experiential, growing, changing appearance; that which is passing. We must know that the unreal of us is simply our present level of understanding of our true self, of the real self. And I think we ought to ask ourselves daily, ‘at this very moment, which one am I. Am I the real me, or am I what seems to be the real me.’

“We ought to question ourselves. For instance, why are you here? Now we all think that we just woke up this morning, or made plans last night to get up this morning, and come here. But you’re really here because something in you responded affirmatively to the activity of God in you, and that activity brought you here for this time of sharing, to give you an opportunity to be in a place, a receptive state of mind, to receive something that God wants to say to you today. And it isn’t mystical or mysterious at all. God speaks to you in a way that you can understand.

“We miss some of the things He says to us because we’re so busy thinking about what he should say to us, and how we can cope with a situation from a different point of view, or what we want Him to say to us. We’re told to be still and listen.

“Well, have you thought about what really drew you here, to this teaching, to a metaphysical teaching that is above and beyond the normal human physical concepts? And can it be that the real you is stirring and moving and seeking fuller expression through you? Trying to move into a full expression of the glory it already knows of you? Could it be kind of struggling to leave the cocoon of human limited consciousness?

“Now I think we have more than ample evidence of a greater, truer self, seeking expression in all of us, because we all have dreams and desires to live more fully, to do more, to be more. And it seems to me that the very idea that we have these indicates our ability to be more, do more, and live more fully. We’re created to live a full, free, abundant, effective, productive live. So what’s stopping us? The desires are there. Could it be that the desire is not quite a desire yet? Just a wish? Just something that would be neat if it would happen? Or is it an overwhelming desire to know?

“What really stops us? Why don’t our dreams come true? What has happened to the ships, our ships, that never seem to come in? Can it be that we have failed to set them to sail on the sea of fulfillment so they can come in? Are we relying on someone in a foreign port to put that ship on the sea of fulfillment and aim it toward us? We know better.

“What causes those beautiful castles in the air that we build to crumble and fall? I found an interesting answer in a quote from Thoreau. And I do quote: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

“What are the foundations that are needed to support our castles in the air? And how do we go about building the foundation? Because you’re here, I assume that you agree with me that the foundation of everything of permanent value must be spiritual understanding. A realization of the truth of our individual being; a firm belief in, and a strong conviction of ourselves as individual, unique expressions of all the good that God is.

“Now, in this day of apparent shortages in certain areas of the world of land, we often, in building a new structure, must tear down an old one. And this is true when we think of building consciousness. We often have to be willing to relinquish all the present limited beliefs, our attitudes about God, about ourselves, and about the world. We have to be totally willing, almost eager, to give up our limited, distorted image of our self, and accept a newer, bigger, braver, and truer image, so that we’ll become closer to the divine image implanted within us.

“Now in Unity we teach that by recognizing the unreality, the passing quality of that which appears, the outer, limited, human experiences, and by realizing that they have no validity or reality in Spirit. We’re not saying they don’t exist. We’re saying they do not have the reality of Spirit to substantiate them. They are our passing thoughts made manifest. And when we realize and recognize them, then we can release them. And in Unity we simply call that using denials. Denying the validity of the appearing world as eternal and true.

“Now aren’t you really grateful that all of this comes to pass. Imagine if we had to live time after time after time in the same old turmoil. Isn’t it wonderful to know that it comes to pass and that we can come into the understanding of the greater and be the channels through which it is expressed? I think that’s really neat. I think that’s exciting. And frankly, I find it difficult to understand why more people don’t get excited about it.

“And once we’ve done this: tear down the old structures with denials and see them for what they are and release them, then we begin building the new structure, the new consciousness. And we build it through affirming the truth that we want to express. The truth that is stirring even at this very moment in you, is tapping on your heart, and trying to move you into a conscious effort to align yourself with the creative principle of the universe; with God, with life, with love.

“Sometime back I found a little card and misplace it again. But I do remember the gist of it, so I’m going to paraphrase it. Suppose, at this moment, you were arrested for being a Christian. Is there sufficient evidence in your life to convict you? Is there?

“You know, when I’m away, and especially when Charles is speaking, I love to have the message taped so that I can come home and listen to what he said. If he blew your mind, I want to know how to put it back. And I was very interested in the tape of the message that he brought to you while I was at Unity Village. In one portion, in particular, was very important to me.

“He spoke of his fantasy of facing Judgment Day and being asked this important question: ‘What have you done with your life?’ And answering it in a very limited way by saying, ‘well, I was nice to this person and that, I paid my bills, and I did this and that.’ And the question keeps coming back, ‘What have you done with your life, with the gifts that I have given you. Of what use have you made of these gifts?’

“Don’t you think it’s a wise idea for each of us to ask ourselves that question quite often? What have I done, and what am I doing, with my life, with the gifts that God has given me. Am I playing it safe: dull, stultifying. Or am I beginning to accept my responsibility to consciously, consistently, and deliberately move in the direction of being what I really am.

“Now I have found in my experience many ways to upset people, because I meet a lot of upsetable people, I presume. But one of the ways I do it is saying to these professing Christians, quoting the Bible, evangelizing, telling you that you’re going to go to hell if you don’t share their beliefs, and then I tell them that I personally have never met a Christian, not even myself. I have met people who are trying, but I’ve never met anyone yet willing to go all the way. And that’s what you have to do to be a Christian; you have to live a Christ life. And we’re trying. And we’re going to succeed, but we could put a more deliberate effort into that direction. We could begin to think about what use we’re making of all the wonderful gifts that God has given us.

“What misuse have we been putting them to? Think of the wonderful gift of imagination. Think of the wonderful ability to dream. And our dreamers, you know, are the one’s who make the progress, for the world. We need our dreamers, and we all need to be dreamers. We need to think about, speculate on, meditate on, and become acquainted with the Christ within us. We have to say to ourselves, “Am I coming any closer to the glorious and beautiful real of me?” Or, “Am I really living or am I merely existing?”

“Now, you are in charge, you know, really in charge of your life. We would all love to get rid of that responsibility. It would be so neat if we could just blame everything in our life on somebody else. And there’s no one to blame it on. We must grow up and assume mature responsibility for our life. We have to recognize that we have a choice in every experience. We can either take charge, or we can let circumstances condition our body, and so on, take charge of us.

“Are you responding to the experiences of the human condition with all the fears, and doubts, and disappointments, and bad judgments of yesterday. And then ask yourself the question, “Since I have all of these dreams and desires, and I want to be more, live more, do more, what am I doing to myself. How long do I plan to stifle my expression today, by being influenced by the limited concepts I have formed from my experiences of the past.

“Now you all know my total fascination with butterflies. I have them in all shapes and sizes; objects of art and posters. It’s much easier to get butterflies now, because more and more people are collecting butterflies, posters and whatnot. Because more and more people are feeling that stirring within and knowing they were born to be free as a butterfly. Butterflies are born free, you know. But have you considered that each butterfly must release itself from the cocoon before it can fly free.

“Recently I got a poster that says, ‘Yes, you can fly; but that cocoon has got to go.’ It doesn’t say ‘got,’ but I’m going to put it in there. It has to go. You can fly, but not with the burden of a cocoon.

Now there’s nothing wrong with the caterpillar that precedes the butterfly. It’s simply a stage in the growth, and unfoldment, and the revealing of the beauty of the butterfly. But that caterpillar follows universal law, and at a certain point in its expression it spins its cocoon and does a job on it, a real strong job, because that cocoon must protect it while it goes through the metamorphosis of change. And many, many changes take place. And then one day a new, radiant, glowing being seeks release from the prison of the cocoon. And once out, it releases the cocoon.

Can you imagine the difficulty, with the strength of the threads to build that cocoon to protect it? Suppose the butterfly just left one thread connected. Could it fly free? Could it fly at all if it lifts its wings and is carrying the burden of the cocoon? But it doesn’t do that. It’s following the law, the Divine pattern of its being and it releases the cocoon. It’s perfectly willing to change. It’s perfectly willing to begin a new adventure.

Now I’m not saying, and who knows, it may experience a little fear of the unknown. But it doesn’t let it stop it. It goes right on following the divine pattern, and through obedience to its Divine pattern, it finds the joy and the freedom of flying. It takes none of the caterpillar consciousness with it. It doesn’t waste today by living in yesterday.

While at the Unity Student Ministers Gift Shop at Unity Village, I found a little desk motto, and I want to share the words with you because they’re very important to remember. ‘Never let yesterday use up today.’ And we’ve all been doing that. We have forgotten that we have the freedom of choice at every moment of our lives. And we must train and discipline ourselves to recognize the moments of decision and choice, so that we can make a conscious, right choice to let go of the cocoon.

“So let’s think about some of those cocoons. The beliefs that you have of yourself and the concepts that were given to you by parents, by family, by school, by society because you accepted them. That you’re an incapable, inadequate, unfortunate being. Poor little you. You worm of the dust. You miserable sinner. Yeah.

“Some of the other cocoons are the old tapes that we have played and responded to so many times that they’ve become habitual. We don’t even know that they’re old tapes. They stand in the way of our good and yet we continue to play them and let them run us. Old things that are like water under the bridge, that have passed away, make decisions for us today. And we don’t have to do that.

“It sometimes frightens me when I realize the opportunities that I, personally, have let pass in my life because my decision to let them go was colored and influenced by an old belief that said, ‘you won’t be successful at that. You can’t do that. It wouldn’t be good for you. Hey, man, that’s too strange and different to take a chance on.’

“Well, I believe more now that as I come into a greater alignment with the spirit of truth within me, I really believe that God does restore the years that the locusts have eaten. We’re going to talk more about that another day. God does restore the years that the locusts have eaten when we learn to fly and leave the cocoon. Freedom takes us to our good. Joy takes us to our good.

“One of the other things that upsets me, if I’m in the mood to be upset, if I’m not quick on the trigger to say, ‘Hey, that’s enough of that, kid. Drop it,’ is the wonderful, human relationships that I’ve denied myself because some little old thing triggered an old tape, and I saw, instead of the possibilities of the new relationship, I saw the potential for the hurt of an old relationship that was totally irrelevant to the present opportunity.

“Now, I’ve been sharing in the past few months, to a small degree, some of the growing experiences I’ve been experiencing the past year. And now I have something very interesting and exciting to tell you, ‘I have come to a new realization. Not one of those experiences needed to be painful. I chose to give them the power to hurt me.’ They were painful because I gave them the power to cause me pain. And as soon as I decided that it was a waste of Divine energy to suffer through such experiences, I found myself free from a tremendous burden.

“Now it may be that in the future I’ll get forgetful again, but I’m certainly trying not to be forgetful. And I hope I’ll be alert enough to recognize the minute I start to be forgetful of the truth of my being. I was created free, born free, and I can fly, and I have no further use for any old cocoons.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is not yet here. And I have a glorious now. And I want you to join me in the now and spend a lot of time knowing just how special, and unique, and beautiful, and wonderful you really are.

“Begin to look at people, and don’t think that because they’re joyous or enthusiastic that they’re too good or too great to be true. My friends, in those moments you are witnessing the truth of their being. It’s the confused, mixed up, serious, sober expressions that you have been calling real that are the unreal.

“In my time, I have presented challenges to people, not the least of which are my sons, by persisting in beholding in them a potential. Now, if they chose to assume that I was setting a goal, that’s their problem and not mine. I can look at them, and I can look at me, and I can look at you, and I can see days, and hours, and weeks, and months when none of us has behavior that measures up to the truth. But do you really want to invest Divine energy in that, in recognizing and accepting it and tying it to you and building a new cocoon. Or do you want me, and you, to invest our energy in beholding the Christ in each other, and thereby strengthening each other.

“If you don’t want to hear me say how special, and unique, and beautiful, and wonderful you are, you just better keep away from me. Okay? If you want to sit in the corner, stay in your little old cocoon, you have the freedom to do so. Be my guest. One day you’ll decide that it’s time to fly.

“I would like each of us to spend our time now, taking time to appreciate the beauty, not only of that which is around us, but of ourselves. Take time to know and to see and to appreciate the beauty, the uniqueness and specialness of those you’ve drawn into your life, even those you think are causing you problems. If you can find the beauty and the uniqueness, the problem will be solved.

“Look for that beauty and start telling yourself about it. First thing in the morning when you’re still in that little fog, you know, put signs up all over your room, so whatever direction you’re facing when your eyes open, something will remind it. And some butterflies. And in that field, before you’re fully awake, start affirming your own individual uniqueness, and beauty, and specialness.

“Rejoice and give thanks for the gifts of God in you, that you are literally created to be living expressions of those gifts. And the last thing before you go to bed at night, in the twilight zone, tell yourself again.

“Go through the day looking for the opportunities to find your beauty and to behold the beauty of other people. Now, as I said, I don’t know whether you want me to waste Divine energy accepting as a reality what you’re doing, I don’t plan to do it. And if you catch me doing it, please call a screeching halt, and I will do the same for you.

“So come, let’s fly together. You know, I’ve said a lot of times, ‘come fly with me, and I promise to you a hell of a trip, if we’ll fly together as the beings that we really are.’ Let’s leave all of the old cocoons. Let them return to the nothingness from which they came, and then go around telling the truth, and living the truth, and being the truth.

“I’ll start right now. I love you, each and every one of you. I behold the beauty, the joy, the uniqueness in each of you as something special that makes you unique from all of the people in all of the world. And I love that uniqueness, and that specialness, and that beauty. And I’m going to go right on loving it whether you like it or not. And I want to thank each and every one of you for being a part of my life and for permitting me to be a part of yours.

“Come fly with me. It’s wonderful. God bless you.”

- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:01 AM

 
"PRACTICALLY PRACTICAL"

To begin today I’d like to share with you the Lord’s Prayer as spoken in Jesus’ tongue of ancient Aramaic.

Awoon dwashmaya
Nith kadashe schmakh
Teh they mulkootha
Neh way say wee a nakh
Aikana dwashmaya op bar ah
How-lan lahma
Dsoon kanan yow-mana
Wash woklan hau bain
Aikana dap h’nan shwakan l hiya wayne
Wla ta'lan l'neeseeyona ella pasan min beesha
Mitol delahe mulkootha
Oo hailah otesh boktha
La alim almein amen

I like to share some scripture with you to lay the groundwork for my thoughts today. From Matthew 7:1-12.

“Judge not, that you may not be judged.

“For with the same judgment that you judge, you will be judged, and with the same measure with which you measure, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you see the splinter which is in your brother’s eye, and do not feel the beam which is in your own eye?

“Or how can you say to your brother, Let me take out the splinter from your eye, and behold there is a beam in your own eye?

“O hypocrites, first take out the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to get out the splinter from your brother’s eye.

“Do not give holy things to the dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, for they might tread them with their feet, and then turn and rend you.

“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.

“For whoever asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, the door is opened.

“Or who is the man among you, who when his son asks him for bread, will hand him a stone?

“Or if he should ask him for fish, will he hand him a snake?

“If therefore you who err, know how to give good gifts to your sons, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

“Whatever you wish men to do for you, do likewise also for them; for this is the law and the prophets.”

Today I want to share with you a story full of miracles. It’s a story full of miracles disguised as problems and tragedies and impossible situations. It’s a story of triumph from the jaws of adversity. And it’s a true story that is continuing to this day.

In a class I co-taught several years ago called Spirit 2000, one of the participants mentioned something that Vern Morgan, my co-teacher, had done in a class once that said a lot about the human condition. It seems that Vern had given the class a challenge of sorts. He assigned them a task that they must perform in order to continue attending his classes.

Have any of you ever had that experience? Someone giving you an assignment that you have to complete in order to attend the next class? I wonder what would happen if we did that here? I wonder how many of us would show up next week. From time to time, I give homework or assignments, but I seldom follow-up to check and see if anyone completed the assignment. That’s because I don’t think anyone needs to feel embarrassed. That’s an emotion that is unproductive.

It is my belief that if one follows the homework and completes the assignment, then the results will be so pronounced that the individual will insist on sharing their experience. I won’t have to prompt for the results.

You know, one of the criticisms which is sometimes made about Unity is that it is too easy. It is just not demanding enough. People are looking for someone to tell them what to do. That’s why your more orthodox churches have so many people attending their services today, because they tell the people what to do so that they don’t have to think for themselves. So they don’t have to be responsible.

That’s what’s wrong with Unity. It’s so easy that it’s hard. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean that when it all comes down, the truth is pretty simple. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Are any of you curious about what Vern set as a goal to be achieved in order to continue attending his classes? You know, it was sort of like a homework assignment. Have you ever gone to a class or a service and the speaker or teacher gave you a homework assignment? Then did you go home and do it?

I remember working for a company in Denver once that sold training and motivation programs. This was back in the early 70’s. They had a program for achieving financial independence. It consisted of 16 cassette tapes, a book containing the text of the contents of the tapes, and a book with pages for outlining one’s life, goals, and strategies for achieving those goals in five areas of life: spiritual, mental, physical, financial, and social. It was all very professionally done and came in a very nice professional looking case. And it only cost $1200.

Normally, the program cost only $695, but the company was offering a special wherein one could not only buy the program but could also be authorized to sell the program to others as a practical way of achieving that goal of financial independence. Now, you might chuckle to yourself at the gullibility of some people, but when one is coming from the “life of quiet desperation,” of which Thoreau spoke, one is liable to grasp whatever handhold presents itself. Opportunities present themselves.

Does such a program live up to its promise. Well, the potential for success isn’t in the program. The potential is in the individual and what they choose to do or choose not to do.

$1200 for a kit on how to achieve financial independence. Would you buy it? Hey, how about if you were buying it from a nice guy like myself? It’s interesting to note that I got involved with that company because of my childhood minister. Yep, my minister back when I was 9 years old had finally quit the ministry and was working for this company in Denver and he convinced me that I would make a good salesman selling these programs. When he was my minister, I was living in Atlanta. Small world. Here I am back in Atlanta after all these years.

It was only going to cost me a $6,000 investment to go to work for the company. The company was called Master Industries, and the President of the company was one of the most dynamic, positive people I had ever met in my life. John Randolph Sauer. He’d grown up on a ranch in Colorado and now he was a millionaire running this big multilevel company out of Denver. Only $6,000. There was just one minor problem. You see, I didn’t have $6,000. In fact, the only money I had was a $10 roll of half dollars in my pocket that a friend had given to me so that I would have some money in my pocket when I talked with these people about going to work with them.

I had hair half way down my back. I hadn’t had a job since I’d gotten out of the Navy three years earlier. $6,000. So what do you suppose happened? What do you suppose I did? Well, I was meeting with a “Vice President” of the company to see what we could work out. This guy’s name was Dave Ritzenthaler and he looked to me like Pat Boone. I had tied my hair back and was wearing a $35 brown sport coat from Sears. Bottom line: we negotiated an entry fee of $3,200 instead of the 6 grand.

Now, what was that money for? Well, 2 grand went into two weeks of intensive training. 2 grand was for inventory. And 2 grand was for marketing rights. Renegotiating to $3,200 meant that I wasn’t going to get much inventory to speak of. But that was okay. I was going to be a crack salesman. After all, over a stiff glass of scotch, my childhood minister, my mother, and the woman with whom I lived at the time all told me exactly that.

There was just one other thing. Not only did I not have $6,000, but I also didn’t have $3,200. So, what was I to do? Well, this is just the way it went down. I asked “Pat Boone” Dave, “when does your next training session begin?” “In three weeks,” he replied. “Well, I said, if I’m here for that class in three weeks, when do you need the money?” “The first day of class,” Dave replied. “Then put me down for the next session,” I said. “I’ll be back.”

I left and drove back to Ohio, but not without some potential problems. Just outside of Kansas City the engine on my VW bus blew up. Remember, I have no job and I have no money. Not much hope, right? Wrong. What I had was hope, desire, intent. I went over to Unity School, which was close by, and floated a loan with their credit union and bought a VW bug. The bug turned out to be no great prize. It took me 24 hours to drive the final 600 miles to Ohio. Turns out that there was a short in the electrical system and I had to stop every hour and recharge the battery.

Time to give up? No, I was too naïve to know any better. To make a long story short, in three weeks I managed to beg, borrow or earn, through selling stuff I had lying around, the $3,200 plus enough money to fly myself and my companion to Denver and pay for two weeks at an apartment while I went through training. The reason that we flew was because the truck that we had rented to take our things the 1200 miles to Denver ran out of gas before we got 100 miles out of town. While waiting for a can of gas to be delivered to us from Indianapolis, I calculated what kind of mileage we were getting. Talk about highway robbery. I turned the truck around, drove back to Dayton, put everything in storage, and flew to Denver.

Following two weeks of training, I went out and rented a completely furnished house on a nine month lease and sub-leased a Cadillac and I was in business. Right? You’d think that I had it down pat, right? There was just one problem. I was afraid I couldn’t be a salesman. I wasn’t sure that I believed sufficiently in the product.

Then I talked to a guy I knew who was a captain in the Air Force. He flew out to Denver on a military flight so I could show him how to become financially independent. When it came time to close the sale, he literally wept as he cashed in savings bonds which he had earmarked for his daughters’ educations. $1200 to learn how to become financially independent.

Well, shortly after that, my inner guidance told me to bail and in 24 hours I had split town. Closed down the house, returned the car, got out of all contracts, ejected the three people whom I had allowed to live in the house with me, and I was on a flight back to Ohio. The following day it was announced in the media that Master Industries was under indictment by the Colorado Securities & Exchange Commission for selling securities without a license. It was a surprise to me. Remember the $2,000 for marketing rights? That’s what got them in trouble. Remember that the bad gas mileage made me leave all of my things in Ohio? That’s what kept me from being stranded in Denver.

But I got screwed, right? Well, let’s see. In the 90 days I was in Denver I made $649, gross. Plus, they started calling me and telling me that I owed them office rent for the time I was there. See, the deal was that if you didn’t make sales, then you owed office rent. And the one sale I made to the Air Force Captain, well, I didn’t tell the company about the sale. See, I sold a program out of someone else’s inventory. Remember I didn’t have much inventory. And that way I made more money than if I had gotten the program from the company.

So, what do you think? Is it looking pretty bad? Well, how many of you remember that I have referred to this experience in my life before? Do you remember how I got out of it more than what I put in?

When I went to work for Master Industries, there were two ways to do the business. I could either become an independent distributor in Ohio, or I could work at the headquarters in Denver turning people on to the opportunity of getting into business for themselves. I chose the later because I didn’t have the guts to jump right in to trying to sell stuff all by myself out there. I thought I would do better surrounded by others. And, what the hell, one of the others was my childhood minister, right?

Well, as I have said, every morning we would all get together, about 70 of us, for a meeting to get us fired up for the day. One of the vice presidents would get up on stage and lead us through reciting 10 affirmations. We would stand at our seats and try to affirm the affirmations without looking at our cheat sheets and do it with confidence and enthusiasm and gusto, but it just didn’t seem to be working. Our bodies just weren’t cooperating. I looked at the minister and he wasn’t doing any better than any of the rest of us. We were all embarrassed. We lacked self-confidence. It was really a comical sight.

Well, after returning to Ohio, with the company going belly up, the only thing I had to show for my time in Denver was those 10 affirmations. So I tried to learn them, but with very little success. Then it struck me. Perhaps I would have better luck if I helped others to learn them also. So I took a program which I had won while working at Masters Industries and made a deal to teach it to the Board of Directors and other workers at the church. The program was called “Church Leadership Development.” The only thing I remember about it was that a church is a business and has to make a profit if it expects to stay in business.

But I made the now famous 10 affirmations a part of the class. This way, everyone had a homework assignment that they could work on. Learn those affirmations. And in the meantime I was desperately trying to learn them myself so I could look like some sort of leader while teaching this class. But several weeks into the class it just wasn’t working. Some of the people had not even figured out how to learn the first affirmation, “I will gain a positive attitude.” Six simple words. Six potentially powerful words. I will gain a positive attitude. But nobody could get a positive enough attitude to learn, “I will gain a positive attitude.”

And I had an additional crisis brewing. I was about 27 years old at the time and I felt like an immature kid compared to the people whom I was teaching. Some of them were grandparents. And I didn’t know how to deal with the fact that they could not learn, after 4 weeks, “I will gain a positive attitude.” So I did something drastic. On the day of the fifth class in a 12 week series, while working on preparing for the class, I began to drink from a fifth of Mogan David 20-20, otherwise known amongst those in the know, as Mad Dog. It’s cheap 40 proof wine.

By the time the class was to start, I had drunk all of the fifth except for one coffee cup full. I began the class with cup in hand. What happened next dates this story for eternity. The secretary of the board, before I could even begin the class, asked me what I thought about Marlon Brando refusing to accept the Academy Award. I proceeded to share my thoughts on that subject for the next hour. I then taught the class.

The only person who knew that I was drunk was the president of the board and he thought it was funny. My mother told me afterwards that it was the best class that I had ever taught. As a part of the class, in attempting to help people overcome their fears regarding learning the 10 affirmations I talked about losing one’s inhibitions. And to demonstrate that I walked over and kicked over a whole row of chairs. Damn near broke my foot. We can sure do stupid things when we are drunk.

The following week, I admitted that I had been drunk and apologized, although that episode had had a beneficial result. I had busted through my own fears. I went ahead and learned the affirmations myself and was then able to teach them to others.

There was a trick to learning the affirmations. They would tell a story about a World War I pilot named ACE APAPLIC. The ten letters of the name stood for the ten key words in the affirmations. ACE, A, C, E, for Attitude, Confidence, and Enthusiasm. APAPLIC, A, P, A, P, L, I, C. APAP – Assets, Potential, Alert, Possibilities. And LIC – Listener, Imagination, and Can.

Here are the ten as they were originally presented to me.

I will gain a positive attitude.
I will gain a renewal of confidence.
I will gain a new enthusiasm, never experienced before.
I will look to my assets, instead of my liabilities.
I will look to my potential, instead of my problems.
I will become alert to potential and possibilities.
I will enter every day without giving way to the possibility of defeat of failure.
I will become a better listener, and not prejudge others.
I will develop a more creative imagination.
I will look to ways things can be done instead of looking for reasons why things can’t be done.

It took me six months to learn those affirmations. And when I finally did learn them, I discovered that there was something wrong with them, for each time I said them I felt as though they were just beyond my reach. Driving home one evening I realized that they all were “I will …” statements, talking about some undefined time in the future. By the time I arrived home, I had rewritten those ten affirmations dynamically into the present, in my head, and I had learned them all by the time I arrived at home.

Here’s what I learned that night.

I have a positive attitude.
I have tremendous self-confidence.
I have a dynamic enthusiasm that excites and inspires the entire world.
I look to my assets instead of my liabilities.
I look to my potential instead of my problems.
I am alert to potential and possibilities.
I enter every day without giving way to the possibility of defeat or failure.
I am an understanding listener and I do not prejudge others.
I have an explosively creative imagination.
I look to ways things can be done instead of looking for reasons why things can’t be done, and I do it now.

Over the past 25 years, those 10 affirmations have brought me far more than the mere $3200 which it cost me to go to work at Master Industries. And it all worked because of my attitude. Because I was always trying to figure out what I could do that would work. To this day, I can’t tell you how I did it. I don’t know where the money came from. I just know that it’s like Deepak Chopra says, “the universe handles the details.”

Too many people are looking for “magic” in truth. What we should actually be looking for are the practicalities. Truth is very practical. It is very simple and it is very workable. Perhaps that’s why we have so much difficulty applying it deliberately in our lives, because it just doesn’t seem to measure up to the complexities of the world with which we have to deal.

And so we slip into the trap of judging everything. And the thing that we judge the most, and the most harshly, is our own self. Every time we are judging others, we are actually judging ourselves. Haven’t you ever heard it said that whenever you point a finger at anyone else, you have three fingers pointing back at you? Jesus directed that we not judge others, but rather that we love God and that we love one another.

In our scripture he has admonished us to fix our own stuff before trying to fix others. And then he has given us that glorious guarantee, “ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened.” Why is this true? Because God is like your Father and wants you go have every good thing.

So, Jesus continues, go forth and practice the Golden Rule. Treat others as you yourself would wish to be treated. Why? Because this is the Law and the Prophets. Because that’s the way reality is. Period.

So if it’s so simple, why doesn’t it work for so many of us? Well, do you really want to know the answer? Remember Vern’s homework assignment which I alluded to? Do you wonder what it was? Well, I’m going to tell you, now. And I’m going to pass the assignment on to you. And I hope you will share your “aha’s” with me over this experience.

You are asked to drink eight 8 ounce glasses of water each day, every day, for the next week. That’s a total of 64 ounces, or 2 gallons, each and every day. Now, if you have a question as to whether or not that would be healthy for you, then ask your doctor’s advice. Every thing I hear is that doing this will be beneficial in many ways.

But physical health isn’t the reason for this assignment. The reason for this homework is because the process is a simple one. Drink 8 glasses of water every single day. But the truth is that the odds are that you can’t do it. That “can’t” really means “won’t.” And therein, you will learn what stands between you and your dreams.

A favorite comic strip of mine back in the early 60’s was Walt Kelly’s “Pogo.” It was Pogo who said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Take the 64 ounce challenge today. Take it and run with it and see how you can turn your life around.

I wish you the best in all that you do. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. And I would add, do it first. Now, go get that first glass of water.


- posted by Charles DeTurk @ 12:01 AM