The “Holiday Season” is upon us again! It is a holiday season unlike any we have experienced. As this year of the Covid-19 pandemic comes to a close, it would be easy to turn away from our spiritual practices and fall prey to the fear and confusion of panic, judgment, and blame that is widespread throughout our nation. It would be easy to fall victim to the political divisiveness, the hurtful rhetoric, and the biased, inflammatory headlines coming at us from EVERY direction. It would be easy to become casualties of worldly conditions, succumbing to false appearances. It would be easy to lose sight of our true Reality. It would be easy to question God!
It would be easy – and it would be very unsatisfying and counter-productive! Turning away from God and spiritual practice is what occasioned the race-consciousness to devolve into the current situation. Allowing our group-think to be swayed by the delusion of separation, otherness, and inequality, and to allow the illusion of there being more than one race of people can cause us to forget, “There is one Life, that Life is God, that Life is perfect…” as Ernest Holmes, the founder of Science of Mind said. So, let’s not do what’s easy – let’s do what’s effective.
What’s effective is simple. It is definitely not easy! But it is simple. We have to bring our awareness back to the one Reality – that God is all there is. The entire manifest universe is the body of God. Not some of it; not part of it; not most of it; ALL of it. God has become all of us. Again, not some of us, not a few of us, not only those who think like we do; ALL of us.
We humans have volition, choice, free will. We are at choice every moment, and what we choose matters. We can choose to live in fear or we can choose to come from love. We can choose judgment, blame, criticism, and hate, or we can choose gratitude, forgiveness, unity, and understanding. Look around! We’ve seen what negative attitudes and actions do. Yet, we KNOW what love and respect can accomplish. The choice is simple, but so many, today, appear to be struggling with commitment to their spiritual practices.
We are made in the spiritual image and likeness of God. We are the peace that God is; we are the love that God is; we are the light that God is. We came into being with all of God’s qualities inherent within us. Through no fault of our own many of those qualities have become clouded and obscured by the conditioning of the world. That happened. It is the human condition that circumstances, events, and situations impact us, sometimes negatively, and cause us to react, sometimes negatively. The value and importance of having a regular spiritual practice is that we have the ability to recognize when our reactions come from fear rather than love, and we then have an opportunity to respond more graciously.
When we are in our “right” spiritual mind we remember that we are all manifestations of the one God, and we recognize and accept that all others are our divine equals and should be treated as such. Bringing our awareness back to this spiritual Truth, we are then able to address any situation with love and clarity.
God created each of us to express differently. We were not created differently in terms of any one of us being more or less of God, but we are diverse in thought, and consequently in experience. This is as it should be! We were never intended to think, act, and feel alike about life in the world. But we were intended to respond to life in the world in such a manner as to expand and advance our own consciousness and the race-consciousness in an ongoing effort to achieve the highest and best good for ALL.
That is what our divine nature directs us to do. That is what the God within each of us directs us to do. Remembering that the Innermost God and the Highest God is the same God, it is clear that God’s will is for us to think and act from, and with, those high qualities and attributes that we were endowed with at the moment of creation.
Those qualities include acceptance, understanding, kindness, compassion, joy, beauty, gratitude, and forgiveness. We were born with caring hearts and open minds, and born with absolutely no thoughts of separation, other-than, or inequality. Right now – as much as any other time in history – we need to return to those sacred roots!
We need to BE the change we want to see, as Gandhi said. We want to live in peace; we want to be happy; we want love and joy in our lives. We are the ones who create our conditions, by our choices. We cannot change anyone else! We can each only change ourself. And change ourselves we must, if, after deep and honest introspection – going within – we find that ANY of our thoughts and actions are not grounded in love and peace, we need to admit to ourselves that we can and should do better. And then we must change our thinking!
The master teacher Jesus gave only two commandments: love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul; and love your brother as you love yourself. Remember, I said it was simple, not easy!
The world population is never going to agree on issues, but we can, and should, and someday will, agree to treat each other with love and respect, even while disagreeing. We will disagree, and then compromise. Then we’ll disagree some more, and compromise some more. And repeat, ad infinitum. In this way we will be able to navigate this world peacefully, eventually coming to terms with our differences in a manner that works for everyone.
This year the seasons will change in two very different ways. The first will be the regular annual change from-summer-to-fall. The leaves will turn color and fall from the trees, the temperature will cool, the wildlife will begin preparing for winter. The second change will be how this Fall, in the midst of the pandemic, will change dramatically from previous Falls.
We may not have the usual large gatherings, get-togethers, and parties. We will not have all group activities that are typically held this time of year. Many of us will not be able to spend time together with friends and family. It will be a different season on many levels. But the spiritual reasons for the observance of this season’s holidays are as true now as they have ever been.
Thanksgiving is still a time for gratitude. I hope for everyone to transcend the fear-based issues and bring awareness to the many, many things we have to be grateful for. Christmas is still the story of love, hope and faith. The New Year’s celebration is still about moving forward, changing those things in our lives that need changing, and leaving behind the things that no longer serve us.
This is still a great season to remember our spiritual practices, revisit and rejuvenate them, and expand our spiritual awareness. It is a great season to move forward in love, in peace, in brotherhood. It is a great season to birth a new world reality. It’s our opportunity to rise above the trials and tribulations of a lower consciousness. It’s our time to choose Spirit, and its Higher Consciousness!
And so it is. Amen. Amin. Om.