The Daily Guides have always been a beloved section of this publication. Each month, new spiritual guidance is imparted by members of the Centers for Spiritual Living communities. It’s lifelong insight you can’t find anywhere but Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine.

Each day brings two quotes from various wisdom teachers, a personal guide from the author’s life and a powerful affirmation. This daily inspiration has impacted generations of readers.

In case you don’t subscribe, here’s an example of what you’re missing.

The Gift of Receiving

Affirmation: There is a sacred light that shines within me, and this light enables me to illuminate the world.

It appeared in the distance, like a small light, faintly shining in the outskirts of my mind. This small light flickered but never extinguished. In the outer recesses of my consciousness, it remained, at times burning brighter, seeking to get my attention. In prayer it would become more obvious. In meditations, it seemed as if it were seeking to share something with me.

As I began to shift my focus and mental attention toward it, this light that was once in the distance slowly started to grow. Eventually, that once small light became part of my awareness and started to guide me on my journey.

What was that metaphorical light that once was but a minute glimmer dwelling in the outer realms of my mind? It was the light of spiritual truth that has been with me always, awaiting my discovery and uncovering of it. What truth am I speaking of? The truth that I am the I Am; the truth that we are connected to the sacred sun, the holy planet and the universal energy that enables all things to be.

When we focus our awareness on it, this light helps everything shine brighter. Today, let’s rise in consciousness.

Quotes

The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.
— Lao Tzu
Cosmic consciousness is not a mystery; it is the Self-knowingness of God through the individual.
— Ernest Holmes, “The Science of Mind,” page 343

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It’s an Easy Way to Access the Wisdom of Ernest Holmes Each Day »

We’re excited to bring our readers a checklist to help you catch up on “The Science of Mind” textbook and inject daily inspiration into your lives.

This comprehensive list was compiled with love by Rev. Dr. Edward Viljoen of Center for Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa. You can find the entire year of readings here.

» January 2024

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We are struck and saddened by the realization that during the celebration of the Season for Nonviolence¹, our world is experiencing armed conflict in more than 70 locations on the planet.  We are saddened, too, by what appears to be an overarching concern about the impact of war on the economy.

We are concerned about war’s impact on life, families, children, the environment, habitats and ecosystems on which we all depend. The current war in Europe brings to our attention the recent daily themes of the Season for Nonviolence — harmony, friendliness, respect and generosity — and rightly causes us to question if our spiritual work is having any beneficial impact on the world.

We believe it does, based on our teaching that consciousness is cause. Therefore, in light of what is happening, we feel called to reinforce our spiritual practices and affirm our support of and advocacy for peace everywhere².

We invite you to join Centers for Spiritual Living’s Spiritual Leader Dr. Edward Viljoen in a daily devotional at 6 a.m. PT³ (or whenever you feel called to participate), to light a candle as a symbol of our commitment to keeping our hearts open to love, our trust open to peaceful resolution of conflict and our minds open to the guidance from a Power greater than we are.

• Join Dr. Edward on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CSLSpiritualLeader
• The devotional is also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CentersforSpiritualLiving

We stand with people everywhere who are standing for peace and protesting violence. We stand with people everywhere who are praying for all leaders and all governments. We stand with people everywhere who dare to grieve the use of violence as a means to attain dominance and economic security. We stand humbly with people everywhere who can look to their personal and national history of complicity in violent means without losing courage or hope for a better world. We stand with people everywhere who help in times of crisis and who refuse to celebrate death, innocent or otherwise.

In our spiritual work of embodying oneness, we feel called to embrace:

• Haiti and the threat of further instability in that country
• Myanmar and the escalating fighting there
• Kazakhstan and the loss of lives during the fuel price-related nationwide riots
• Colombia and Venezuela, whose people are enduring armed clashes on the countries’ borders
• Burkina Faso and the widespread political anger there
• Syria and the thousands of displaced Syrians
• Ukraine and the hundreds of thousands of displaced Ukrainians fleeing the invasion of their country
• Everyone, everywhere violence touches our planet

We call you to join us in teaching strategies for peace⁴ and what it means to engage in peace consciously. We call you to share your views and concerns with family, community members and congregations, considering the question, “What can be done to end conflict?” We call you to connect with other spiritual and religious communities to discuss these issues and take collective action.

We call you to join us with affirmative prayers, vigils, meditations and hymns of peacemaking.  And we call you to reaffirm your trust in the power that these tools have to help mend feelings of helplessness and contribute to peace.

With love,
Rev. Dr. Edward Viljoen
Spiritual Leader, Centers for Spiritual Living
Spiritually Motivated Social Engagement Committee

“We are now seeing the necessity of a world law, to the maintenance of which all nations, great or small, shall contribute the best they have that the strong shall protect the weak without overpowering them; that the great shall live with the small without subduing them; that cooperation shall take the place of aggression; that government shall rule without tyranny through the common consent of the governed and that individual freedom shall unfurl its flag of liberty on the ramparts … .”

— From “The Essential Ernest Holmes,” page 178-179

1. 64DaysLenEllis (agnt.today)
2. https://www.crisisgroup.org/crisiswatch
3. Join CSL’s Spiritual Leader Rev. Dr. Edward Viljoen in a daily devotional practice at 6 a.m. Pacific Time. You can watch a recording of it and previous devotionals at any time afterward. Go to https://www.facebook.com/CSLSpiritualLeader. You can also watch the daily devotionals on the spiritual leader’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CentersforSpiritualLiving
4. Thich Nhat Hanh: “Order of Interbeing” | Tiep Hien

The post A Call to Prayer appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

By Rev. Dr. Ron Fox
Senior Minister at CSLSpaceCoast.org
We gather this day to pray for peace in our day. In this moment, we recognize we are all one, blessed in our diversity, honoring our differences.
We may speak different languages, pray in our own way to the God of our choosing, wear skins of different colors and express our love in ways that differ.
Yet beneath all these differences, there remains an ever-present truth: We are all children of a loving God.
So I now speak these words of peace for each and every one of us.
Let us come together and cherish the gifts we all share on our beautiful planet. Let us planet seeds of love and compassion as we turn away from violence and hatred.
Let us embrace our children and create a world where they feel safe and protected, no longer living with the effects of war and anger.
Let us work together to be sure that each of us has enough to eat and feels free to turn to the God they believe in.
Let us welcome our differences as we glorify our oneness.
Let us remember that the choices we make create the world we live in, so make choices that speak to peace, compassion, dignity, love and forgiveness.
And lastly, let us always remember there is One Life and that Life is God. That Life is expressing as each of our lives right now. Thank you, God. Amen.

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Here is an excerpt from one of Dr. Ernest Holmes’ unpublished works, “World Peace Is Not an Illusion” from July 1955. This was found recently in the Science of Mind Archives and Library Foundation.
As we celebrate freedom in the United States this month, please enjoy this timeless wisdom.
So we want peace on Earth? Then let us pray for peace in our own hearts, let us affirm peace in our own minds. Let us live as though peace were the mandate of God because it is. Together let us affirm it and let us encourage others to, no matter what the opposition appears to be, for it is a fundamental reality of God. “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”
Let us face the future without fear but let us all also face it intelligently as men and women who are not afraid of anything. There is nothing in the universe to be afraid of. Some things could be avoided. Let us realize if the world is healed of war and brought into peace it won’t have been because guns were bigger and better or more of them. We need them until it does heal itself, but that will come to pass only because somewhere along the line the balance of the scales of eternal truth shall fall on the side of peace.
Let us, you and me, pray for peace and let us make our hearts fit to accept it when it comes. Let us make our intellect and our soul and our will and are feeling ready to receive it and embrace it even before it comes. Let us in the stillness of our own soul go back to that ineffable Presence which is Peace and proclaim It even in the midst of confusion, that Peace which is the Power at the heart of God. And so it is. Amen.

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Let’s make the commitment to ourselves and each other to send more loving, healing energy to every being on this planet.
Below is a beautiful video to take you through the steps.

The post Loving Kindness Meditation appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

Science of Mind Publishing se enorgullece en presenter cuatro poderosos titulos … Disponible aquí.

 Cómo Usar la Ciencia de la Mente — $10.95

¿Podemos Hablar Con Dios? — $10.95

Lo Esencial de Ernest Holmes — $15.95

Este Algo Llamado Tú — $12.95

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As Erika Luckett took her last breath on October 24, 2018, the final punctuation in her powerful story here on Earth, she left us with many gifts, one of which was a final interview in which she and her partner Lisa Ferraro discussed their life’s work.

The feature article that resulted from that interview was written a few months prior to Erika’s transition from this plane. It is offered to you, the reader, as a final tribute in the December 2018 issue of Science of Mind Magazine. It is my hope that as you read it, you will be fondly reminded of the bright light that she was.

You can read more and find her music online at LisaAndErika.com.

By Sara Awad
Life begins with breath. As each of us emerges from the waters of our birth, we fill our lungs, circulating the same molecules that have sustained human unfoldment since time began. This silvery thread that stitches together the moments of our time on the planet is, in the words of Erika Luckett: “An abundant gift, an undeniable connection to something beyond the self.”
As a singer, musician and storyteller, Erika has helped thousands to connect with that greater something. Through her soaring vocals, virtuosity on the guitar and mastery of a range of art forms, she has spoken to the Divinity within all of us, inspiring countless souls to step across the threshold between the sensual and the sacred, into greater awareness and expanded consciousness of who they truly are.
By surrendering into this greater presence, even during the moments when cancer made every breath a struggle, and embracing a deeper appreciation of life and a more profound sense of gratitude then ever before for all of it’s many gifts — by holding on to a sense wholeness and perfection even as she fought to sustain her body temple — Erika has modeled what it means to walk in faith, knowing that all is well, all the time, no matter what the appearances.
Erika said it best herself when she wrote:

I simply exhale knowing that in this fractal wave of time

Every moment is a gift with which to align

And express the Infinite Divine

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Each month, Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine brings you a prayer that goes along with our content theme. These affirmative mind treatments are written by ministers, practitioners and other community members from Centers for Spiritual Living across the globe.
Here is a powerful spiritual mind treatment in Spanish from Ninoska Duena, a Religious Science practitioner at Founders Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles, California.
» Download a PDF of the English version of this prayer from our December 2015 issue
Here is the Spanish version of her prayer:

SOMOS UNA ETERNA CANCIÓN DE AMOR

Todo es exquisitamente bello. Mira, escucha, siente ahora mismo el ritmo del universo. Esta es una sola canción, una sustancia, un sólo corazón. Esta manifestación del bien es la melodía infinita celebrando la existencia; un coro que emana vida a través de La Gracia Divina de Dios. Un Todo en armonía con la Palabra Viva.
De verdad, yo soy una expresión de esta belleza y todo el universo celebra cada momento de mi existencia. Nada me puede distraer del saber que soy uno con esta Unicidad, uno en Espíritu, uno con la Vida. Soy manifestación perfecta del amor incondicional de Dios y cuando digo que yo soy, también estoy diciendo: ¡Tú eres!
Y así, en este regocijo, acepto el regalo Divino de la Ternura de Dios, y declaro con profunda convicción mi unicidad con toda expresión de vida. Tú y yo somos Uno a través del amor; sé que yo existo en tu conciencia de la misma manera que tú existes en la mía; tú y yo vivimos en la Gran Conciencia de Dios; juntos somos una sola Canción que transciende raza, nacionalidad, sexo, o religión. Ahora me doy cuenta que en este Uno inseparable hay una conexión espiritual colmándonos de Paz y Amor.
Sabiendo que esta es la verdad del mundo, doy gracias, y estoy consciente que en la medida que expreso mi gratitud por la Presencia de Dios en todo lo que existe, mi corazón se nutre de gentileza y compasión. Gracias Presencia Divina, Gracias Espíritu Divino.
Y Así es.

 

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Biblical Spiritual Concepts »

Alaha, the Aramaic word for God, is the essence of life. Alaha can neither be seen with the physical eyes nor be understood in human descriptions and concepts alone. But we can comprehend God as a loving, caring presence, and we can sense the Divine presence.

What is spiritual and infinite cannot be seen or described in the language of mortal and finite beings. Also, God as creator and eternal spirit is the holistic environment of the entire universe and cannot be fully portrayed, divided nor defined by Its creations.

On the other hand, where a spiritual idea is difficult to explain, it can be imparted in a parable, allegory or figurative speech.

This is the reason some of the biblical writers and prophets portrayed God as an emperor, unapproachable, surrounded by ministers, counselors and intermediaries called angels.

Some of these authors presented God with hands, feet, ears and eyes. They described God as sometimes happy, sometimes sorry and at other times furious and extremely wrathful.

Spiritual or metaphysical ideas are like liquids and gases that need containers in order to carry them. Readers of scripture need to realize that the ancient Israelites were forbidden to draw pictures, carve statues or make graven images of God. They could not make objects of worship.

But the Hebrew writers and prophets found another way to portray and explain spiritual ideas and matters so that even common folk could understand them. They used parables and allegories that the people could easily grasp but never took literally.

Biblical authors were skilled in the use of their language and were familiar with the common idiomatic expressions and hyperboles. For example, the story of Adam and Eve is parabolic.

God never set up a tree and then forbade the man and the woman to eat of the tree. Anything forbidden usually draws us to it like a magnet. The narrative is meant to teach a spiritual or metaphysical idea. Another example is Jonah, who was swallowed by a fish. This is an Aramaic idiom that means he was in a dilemma.

The entire episode was a vision and Jonah knew what it meant.

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