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 some daily inspiration into your lives. This comprehensive list was compiled with love by Rev. Dr. Edward Viljoen of the Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa.

» You can download all months here.

» January Readings
» February Readings
» March Readings
» April Readings
» May Readings
» June Readings
» July Readings
» August Readings
» September Readings
» October Readings
» November Readings
» December Readings

The post Daily Readings for 2024 appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

Anyone can be part of our Spiritual Living Circles program. The concept is simple: You invite a small circle of friends to discuss the ideas on living a spiritual life as described within the pages of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine. We provide complimentary monthly discussion guides to support your conversations.

Once registered, you and your Circle members will receive an email with a link for a free, six-month digital subscription to Science of Mind magazine.*

*Currently, the magazine is available in English only.

For more information, contact Circles@CSL.org. You can also visit www.CSL.org/spiritual-community/spiritual-living-circles for more information.

The post Start a Spiritual Living Circle! 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.

The post Thoughts on Peace appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

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.

The post World Peace Is Not an Illusion appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

Are you interested in …

• Starting or growing a Science of Mind group in your area of the world?
• Finding out what Science of Mind books and classes may be available in your language?
• Connecting with or supporting our growing network of Science of Mind global communities?
• Finding out about our global Centers for Spiritual Living conferences and retreats?
• Discovering Science of Mind related global service projects?
• and anything else going on around the world in Science of Mind?

Visit Centers for Spiritual Living Global Services for all of this and more.

The post Global Services appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

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.

Bob Luckin, the mind behind our popular “Murphy’s Dogma” column, shares a tale of compassion, understanding and Oneness through a symbolic journey. Enjoy this online exclusive!

Roy and Randy had been a pair of socks since birth. No one really understood or could explain how socks are paired. The rule was once a pair, always a pair.
Most pairs got along fairly well and lived good lives covering feet of all different sizes. There were old feet, young feet, dancers’ feet, athletes’ feet, just to name a few. Some feet stood for hours while others rarely touched the ground.
No two pairs of socks lived lives that were the same. This wouldn’t be much of a story if Roy and Randy had stayed together warming cold feet, giving comfort to athletes and doing what socks do.
Aside from uncut toenails and some smelly feet, the only thing socks are afraid of is a giant pair of animals, usually living side by side in the kitchen or garage of many homes. The Water Thrasher could easily drown an unprepared pair of socks. Most socks had learned how to hold their breath for long periods, long before they were tossed into the mouths of these animals. If the Water Thrasher wasn’t hungry and didn’t eat them, the wet socks were tossed into the mouth of the Dragon Breather.
Roy and Randy were created white, and the Sock Tender wanted to keep it that way. One spring morning, the Sock Tender tossed them into the mouths of Thrasher and Dragon Breather for the last time. No one knows who ate Randy, but Roy was the only sock found.

He was a clean, lonely, somewhat worn, single left white sock. He had always been a left sock. Some socks were right socks. Usually by the time they are old enough to be worn, socks know if they are a left or a right sock.
For socks, it really isn’t a lifestyle choice. There are a few socks that feel they are left and right. In the sock community, as long as you cover feet, it doesn’t really matter. The saying among socks was, “Socks is socks.”
When socks are not in service, most can be found lounging in a drawer waiting for a call to service. White socks in one drawer, black in another, brown, yellow and multi-colored socks also carefully separated from each other. Why they must be separated is not all that clear. When asked, Sock Tenders just said, “It’s better that way.”
Because Roy was a single sock without a partner, he would never be returned to the drawer for pairs. Instead, he was tossed into the hopper — an orphanage for single socks.
At first, he found himself very frightened. There were red socks, purple socks and socks of many colors. Roy saw a white sock and a black sock dancing the “sock hop,” a dance all single socks in the hopper loved.
Only pairs of socks can walk. Single socks must learn to hop. The socks he had lived with in the drawer never danced and never talked to socks different from themselves. Roy, being very frightened, clung to one side of the hopper and shook. A very old and worn sock with glasses, smoking a pipe, befriended Roy. “Hi, I am a sock-ologist. I am here because I lost my partner, as did you. My job is to help new socks get used to the hopper.”
Sigmund Sock went on. “Every sock here is a unique and perfect sock. Where you came from, most of the socks you spent time with looked so much alike that you didn’t get to notice how unique every sock was. You need to know that sometimes artists, musicians and free thinkers come to the hopper in search of single socks that don’t match. They may choose two left socks — that’s called a same-socks union. Or they may pick a red sock and a blue sock to wear. We love it when that happens! The sock chooser picks us because we are different from each other and because most of us, having learned to love how different we are from each other, fit in easily. We enjoy providing comfort and warmth for those taking the road less traveled, and that makes all the difference.”
Sigmund’s words were comforting. Roy noticed his fear had vanished. Without fear, he could see clearly how each sock was both unique and beautiful. It didn’t feel strange or wrong to hang out with a left sock, a multicolored sock, a tall sock or a short sock.
In the hopper, right socks loved right socks, left socks loved left socks, and the more colors a sock had, the more they had in common with socks of any color. All the socks in the hopper learned to love each other. “It is strange,” Roy thought. “I feel more at home and more alive than I have ever felt before. I am a single sock, but I don’t feel lonely. I feel like all socks are my brothers and sisters.”
Early in the morning, the Sock Tender returned to the hopper, opened it and began looking for Roy. “I found you! I found you!” laughed the Sock Tender. Roy was worried. What did this mean? The Sock Tender was holding Roy in her left hand and Randy in her right hand. Randy hadn’t been eaten! He had been hidden in the folds of a bed sheet when taken out of the Dragon Breather.
It was a warm and tender reunion. Things would never be the same for Roy or Randy. Once back in the drawer, Roy shared his adventure with all the other socks. Before long, black socks had managed to get into the white socks’ drawer. White socks climbed into the brown drawer, and multicolored socks could be seen everywhere.
Early in September, a time now called “September Fest,” the socks decided to have a sock hop. A great band was assembled, and Roy taught every single sock to dance. It was a special time, and each sock understood its own value. Never again would any sock in the world look down on or say unpleasant things about other socks. The old saying, “Socks is socks,” was changed to “Socks is socks. The Sock Maker didn’t make no bad ones.”
© 2016 Rev. Dr. Bob Luckin

The post A Story of Unity: Socks Is Socks appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

By Barbara Doern Drew and Walter Drew
» Please enjoy a meditation on forgiveness by Jack Kornfield and a guided forgiveness practice by Charles Filmore at the bottom of this online exclusive.
Nature’s gardens are always rife with pithy lessons about personal growth, and last spring we received one about forgiveness from our giant Oriental poppies. In the process of ultimately revealing their brilliant orange and coral flowers, they must burst through their protective pods, which serve a purpose only to a certain point in their evolution and then they must expand beyond them.
Dr. Barry Heermann, author of “Noble Purpose,” refers to this “sheathed” state as the “bounded self.” He describes how when we are infants, we relate to life from the pure essence and unlimited potential of our “essential self,” in which such qualities as love, trust, joy, spontaneity, creativity, and openness naturally abound. However, as life unfolds, for most of us painful and challenging things begin to happen, and to protect ourselves and survive we begin to develop a “hard, outer veneer, especially into adolescence, perfecting it throughout adulthood.” While understandable, the end result of this impermeable facade is a diminishment of the valuable life energy that can assist us in accessing and living from what he calls our “noble purpose,” unique for each of us.

These photos of a poppy’s life cycle were taken by Walter and Barbara Doern Drew, 2016

Misconceptions About Forgiveness

If forgiveness is so essential to the full functioning of ourselves, why do so many of us hesitate to engage in it, or perhaps only dip our toe in its waters but do not fully immerse ourselves in the process? There are many reasons, and some of them are based on “misconceptions” about forgiveness. Four of these are discussed by Dr. Frederick Luskin, director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Projects, and then summarized in the Institute of Noetic Sciences “Conscious Aging” facilitators guidelines:

• Forgiving an offense means that you condone the offense.
• Forgiveness means you have to reconcile with someone who treated you badly.
• Forgiveness depends on whether or not the abuser or lying person apologizes, wants you back, or changes his or her ways.
• Forgiveness means that we forget what has happened to us.

None of these is true, says Luskin, and he stresses that forgiveness is really about us, not the other person. “Forgiveness is primarily for creating your peace of mind. It is to create healing in your life and return you to a state in which you can live and be capable again of love and trust. … [It] can neither be compelled nor stopped by another.” He emphasizes that painful events can actually be life-enhancing experiences when we grieve and learn from them.
Another critical reason to practice forgiveness is that not doing so has a direct impact on our health. Naturopathic physician Dr. James Rouse, in his article “Choosing Healthy Forgiveness,” points out, “Unresolved anger and bitterness are toxic emotions. Holding on to painful emotions can eventually lead to health problems including depression, insomnia, and stress. Prolonged anger greatly increases the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, and angina.” In contrast, he says, “forgiveness heals. Forgiving others isn’t about them; it’s about us, loving and caring for ourselves enough to move from bitterness to owning our happiness.”

Elements of Forgiveness

Ron Pevny, author of “Conscious Living, Conscious Aging,” describes what he terms the “elements” of forgiveness: (1) uncovering and feeling what happened, (2) committing to forgive, (3) humanizing the offender, (4) honestly looking at your role in relation to the hurtful situation, and (5) forgiving and continuing to forgive.
While all of the elements are essential to the process, we have found the third one to be especially powerful in our own forgiveness work. Pevny explains, “Try to separate the hurtful act from the person who did it. … What might the other person have been experiencing internally and externally? In what ways has he been wounded, and how did he carry that wounding into his relationship with you?”
Barbara had a painful childhood incident involving her father that she had worked to resolve for decades. She describes, “In 2014, when we were taking practitioner training, the issue surfaced yet again. Soon after, unexpectedly at a conference a minister did an unconventional affirmative prayer process in which I became my father and she became me, and the two of us had a heartfelt dialogue. Though my father had died in 2000, this role reversal significantly shifted my perspective about and my relationship with him. When I returned home, synchronistically the next week’s class theme was forgiveness! For the succeeding two weeks, I forgave both my father and myself 70 times each day and feel that the healing work is now complete, which has cleared me on many levels to do the creative work in front of me at this time.”
In alignment with Pevny’s fifth element, Dr. Martin Luther King states, “We must develop and maintain [italics ours] the capacity to forgive. The one who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.”
Walter understands the importance of an ongoing forgiveness practice. “A few years ago,” he shares, “at a nephew’s rehearsal dinner I made an inappropriate toast to my brother and sister-in-law. Within in a week, I had sent them a letter of apology asking for their forgiveness, which I received.
“The more difficult part was forgiving myself. I ran through the usual cursory excuses like, ‘Well, I was just trying to be funny, we all make mistakes, I will never make a toast again,’ etc. The truth was that I needed to examine the deeper underlying causes of my behavior, which months of self-reflection revealed more clearly. With this new understanding I was able to forgive myself, though I still shudder at times with the memory and wish I could take it all back. And then I start the forgiveness process all over again.”
According to Pevny, “Self-forgiveness depends upon our willingness to carefully examine our choices and actions and, in many cases, acknowledge that we did the best we could with the awareness we had at the time. … The biggest catalysts for our growth are often (perhaps mostly) what we learn from our mistakes, weaknesses, and poor choices. …
“It is also worth noting that in the bigger picture—the soul’s eye view of our lives—things are often not what they seem. What may seem to be mistakes or poor choices from the perspective of our ego and culture may be (from our soul’s perspective) what needs to happen to move us forward on our unique life paths. Rather than forgiveness, what may be needed in such situations is honoring ourselves for making difficult yet important choices.”

A Greater Impact

There is a larger sphere beyond our personal work and immediate relationships that is impacted by our forgiveness work. Azim Khamisa, who 21 years ago made the choice to forgive his son’s killer rather than seek revenge, states in his April 2016 online newsletter, “One is not able to perform at their zenith if they are mired in resentment and guilt. You cannot be out in the world giving 100 percent of yourself if you are hindered by these negative emotions. It is important that we are all out there fully if we are going to shift our world from so much anger, hostility, hatred, resentment, war and violence—things we experience in the media and our world on a daily basis.”
We are all being called to the great work of “unbinding” and freeing ourselves so that the “good” that wants to immerse our entire planet can do so. Are you ready to make a conscious choice to examine areas where you are holding on to old wounds and grievances? Some helpful questions to ask yourself are, With whom do you need to make amends? What harm have you done to others? What relationships need repairing—with your parents, other family members, someone in your workplace or spiritual community? Have you extended forgiveness to yourself?
The practice of forgiveness is a necessary component of a life well lived. We all make mistakes in our human endeavors, yet we also have the innate capacity to forgive others and ourselves so that we can function at our optimal spiritual and human potential, expressing our vibrant brilliance like the Oriental poppies. The freedom afforded by forgiveness opens the portals of inner and outer peace. Incorporating forgiveness into our spiritual practice is good for our hearts, our minds, our health, our spirits and the world. 

A Forgiveness Meditation by Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield, author and cofounder of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, offers the following healing forgiveness meditation in the Institute of Noetic Sciences “Conscious Aging” facilitators guide.
It covers the three essential areas of forgiveness: asking forgiveness of others for ways we have wounded them, forgiving ourselves, and forgiving those who have hurt or harmed us. It begins with an exercise where we relax and breathe into our heart and feel all the barriers we have erected and the emotions we have experienced as a result of not having forgiven ourselves and/or others. Then he says:
There are many ways that you have hurt and harmed others, have betrayed or abandoned them, caused them suffering, knowingly or unknowingly, out of your pain, fear, anger, and confusion. Let yourself remember and visualize the ways you have hurt others. See and feel the pain you have caused out of your own fear and confusion. Feel your own sorrow and regret. Sense that you can finally release this burden and ask for forgiveness. Picture each memory that still burdens your heart, and then to each person associated with that memory repeat the following: I ask for your forgiveness, I ask for your forgiveness.
Next, you repeat the exercise with a focus on yourself, ending with these words: “For the ways I have hurt myself through action or inaction, out of fear, pain and confusion, I now extend a full and heartfelt forgiveness. I forgive myself, I forgive myself.”
Finally, you turn your attention to those who have wounded you in some way and do the steps of the exercise again, ending with: “I now remember the many ways others have hurt or harmed me, wounded me, out of fear, pain, confusion and anger. I have carried this pain in my heart too long. To the extent that I am ready, I offer them forgiveness. To those who have caused me harm, I offer my forgiveness, I forgive you.”
Kornfield encourages us to be gentle and forgiving toward ourselves if we are not yet ready to let go and move on—this is very deep lifetime work. He acknowledges that forgiveness cannot be forced or artificial; however it can be practiced, with a gradual effect over time.

A Forgiveness Practice by Charles Fillmore

Unity founder Charles Fillmore, in the pamphlet “A Sure Remedy” (Unity Publications), offers this comprehensive forgiveness practice:
“Here is a mental treatment that is guaranteed to cure every ill that flesh is heir to: Sit for half an hour every night and mentally forgive everyone against whom you have any ill will or antipathy. If you fear or if you are prejudiced against even an animal, mentally ask forgiveness of it and send it thoughts of love. If you have accused anyone of injustice, if you have discussed anyone unkindly, if you have criticized or gossiped about anyone, withdraw your words by asking him, in the silence, to forgive you. If you have had a falling out with friends or relatives, if you are at law or engaged in contention with anyone, do everything in your power to end the separation. See all things and all persons as they really are—pure Spirit—and send them your strongest thoughts of love. Do not go to bed any night feeling that you have an enemy in the world.”

The post Online Exclusive: Forgive & Your Spirit Blossoms appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

The Path to a Powerful Life: It’s Not Always Easy to Find Our Way Home »

For some, finding Science of Mind at all might be thought a miracle, but for many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities there may be the additional challenge of breaking through the barrier of an upbringing controlled by a homophobic theology.

The following stories each reveal a difficult passage from dark to light, from judgment to acceptance, from rejection to grace. The principle of Oneness guides us to know that we are all one thing, and that thing is God.

» 7 Stories of Reconciling Spirituality & Sexuality

The post LGBTQ Community: The Path to a Powerful Life appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.

Our July 2016 issue features a very special story by Linda M. Potter on the love between Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (the wildly popular SARK) and her beloved, Dr. John Waddell. Sadly, John made his transition on March 5, 2016. SARK feels the best way to honor John is by sharing the work they did together.
Read their love story in the July 2016 issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine, and practice these six habits that SARK and John discovered in their “love laboratory.”

What are the six habits embraced by people in succulent, wild love relationships?

1. They listen to their relationship mentor inside them — their Inner Wise Self, Higher Self, Holy Spirit — and take action.
2. They use their feelings, both as a guide to know when the relationship is off track and to constructively evoke cooperation from others.
3. They recognize inner critics and other negative dialogue in their head and don’t put this criticism on their partner — or themselves.
4. They respect their own and their partner’s boundaries.
5. They create “Joyful Solutions” where no one needs to compromise or sacrifice.
6. They practice seeing the perfection in their partner and all the other people they’re in a relationship with.

Click on the image below to learn more about their book and to visit PlanetSARK.com.

The post Six Habits of Wild, Succulent Love! appeared first on Guide for Spiritual Living.