August 13, 2006
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Martin Luther King, Jr., in being asked to publish some of his sermons, wrote in the preface to his book, ““. . . a sermon is directed toward the listening ear rather than the reading eye. . . I offer these discourses in the hope that a message may come to life for readers of the printed words.”” This is my hope for you, dear reader.
——Rev. Linda
August 13, 2006
SET YOUR SAILS:
CHANGING TIDES
Last week we set our sails and began our journey out of the shallows of the swamp to the Care-of-Being Sea, propelled by the winds of our uplifted thoughts. This week we’re taking a look at the Changing Tides of our lives and what they mean.
Our founder Dr. Ernest Holmes said, “Nothing in the manifest universe stays put, nothing is permanent. . . Mind is permanent, real, and eternal—It never changes. [But] the activity of Mind forever changes. There is always change in the midst of permanency.”
And Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit. . . People wish to be settled: only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.” (Emerson’s Essays, “Circles”)
Tides are consistent, and yet they change. We can depend on their coming in and going out twice every day. Yet there is change in the changeless. Depending on the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon on the Earth, the tides can be higher or lower. But there will always be tides coming in or going out.
I believe there is a Force in our lives that is always pulling us, gravitating us toward something in our lives that is bigger than our plans, bigger than the individual events of our lives, that there’s an evolutionary process that’s taking place that’s always keeping us on track, whether we can see the bigger picture or not. Caroline Myss calls it a sacred contract.
Recently I’ve been reading F. Holmes Atwater’s biography, Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul, in which he acknowledges the Guidance that has led him all through his life as a remote viewer, from childhood, into the army’s secret psychic-spy program, and then at the Monroe Institute. You all know what remote viewing is—when you can describe locations, activities, or objects using just the mind without the conventional senses. In other words, you can see something even though it’s in a remote location from where you are.
His book is like a map of his life. At one point he says, “Without any conscious effort on my part, I had been guided to this moment of discovery all along, even when I felt as though only ‘earthly’ forces were controlling my military career.” (p. 54) He recognized that Something bigger than he was, or the army was, that was guiding and leading him, urging him in a certain direction in his life.
Something was creating opportunities for him, with such ease and grace he didn’t have to make it happen. All he had to do was to stay open to the possibilities.
Think for a moment of the progression of your own life. If you were to make a time line of the events your life, could you not see how one event led to the next to bring you to where you are today? Do you think that was an accident?
And yet you probably didn’t choose, consciously choose all those events, did you? Sometimes life just happens, and we don’t always like it much at the time. There may be pain involved, physical, mental or emotional. And our lives are changed in some way forever. The tides change, and we drift in to the shore or we’re carried out to sea.
When famous futurist, writer, internationally known lecturer Barbara Marx Hubbard, was 18 years old, she wrote in her journal, “It’s Christmas but I feel none of the mystery, the peace, or the warmth. . . Instead I’m tortured with doubt, fears and unhappiness. There’s a constant pull in the middle of my stomach. . . The cause is evident. In my own eyes I’ve achieved nothing, yet those same eyes have visions of glory untold. I must either lower my ideals or achieve them. I’m like a magnet feeling the attracting force of another magnet, yet held apart.” (The Evolutionary Journey, p. 6)
Our sacred contract. Do we feel it’s being fulfilled?
Barbara Marx Hubbard, says, “This vision of our future. . . is encoded in our genes . . . And now, by good fortune, we in this generation, have the chance to act consciously on the vision . . . For ours is the power, ours is the crisis, ours is the choice as to whether the entire history of life on Earth is fulfilled, or destroyed.”
And then she says, “we are part of the magnificent evolutionary processes that created us and that are still creating us now. We are not doing this alone. We are doing it in an evolving Universe whose processes and laws are operating through us, whether we know it or not.” (p. 117)
See, we can’t fail. We can’t fail. We are moving toward that which we came here to do. Now, we might not be moving as quickly or as efficiently as we could, but moving nonetheless. Could it be that those changing tides of our lives is that Force pulling us along our path?
Nancy Anderson, author of Work with Passion, wrote, “Personally powerful people can be compared to moving bodies of water. They will reverse course, ebb toward shore, tumble over rocks, form swirling rapids, slide into still lagoons, and even fall hundreds of feet to join with other waters. Ever onward they move, seeking newness, pushing forward to their eventual destiny—a bigger body of water (and a smoother ride). Theirs is a life that follows their passions.”
Are you following your passion? When we follow our passion, what excites us, what inspires us, what moves us, what brings us joy, we can be sure we’re on the right path, and we can trust that we’re always being guided to our highest good, regardless of the changes that occur and what they might look like.
Our founder Dr. Ernest Holmes wrote in Science of Mind Magazine, “We generally seem to resist change, even that which is better for us. We also appear to resist being what we really are. We need to learn carefully and surely to permit ourselves to accept the fuller expression of the Mind that is within us. Against this there must be no resistance. For in Its creative flow through us rests our entire future -- the greater person we may be and the richer life we desire to enjoy.
“When we establish within our thought a nonresistance to that Power which is greater than we are, we are at the same time accepting within ourselves a stability that is the stability of the universe. We find ourselves secure, for we know that we are part of That which causes change but is never affected by any of the changes.” (Jan. 2001, p. 10)
I want to tell you this story of the only survivor of a shipwreck who was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions.
One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. "God, how could you do this to me?" he cried.
Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.
"How did you know I was here?" he asked his rescuers.
“We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
It's so easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but God is always at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain, and suffering.
So remember that, the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.
In Richer Living Ernest Holmes said, “I have no fear of change, I trust in God, the Good, to move me forward at the right time and in the right way. I greet the future with confidence, and I work this day with joy and freedom.” (p. 60)
Ride the waves, even the tidal waves, especially the tidal waves. In Practical Application of Science of Mind Ernest Holmes said, “There are going to be changes in our lives from hour to hour and day to day, and we cannot escape them. It is the nature of the Universe. Let us accept change, make the most of it, and capitalize on it. The action of the Law never changes, but the direction of the action is always up to us. Life can become a glorious adventure, increasingly filled with more of every good thing as we gradually or suddenly come to change our pattern of thinking so that it embraces more of those good things.” (p. 22.4)
And in The Science of Mind he said, “Sailing on that boundless sea of livingness, upon whose bosom we are all carried forward, we should go from success to greater success.” (p. 450:5)
Do we have any sailors in the group? Anyone here like to sail? If you’ve done any sailing, you know the preparations are extensive. You have to make sure everything is properly rigged. You also have to know how to sail, wind conditions. All that.
When Bill and I bought our first cottage on the lake, we took our little sailboat to have there. And even though it was late in the season—October—Bill really wanted to take it out on the water. But it had been a while since we’d sailed in it, and he didn’t get the line on the mast hooked up properly. The wind wasn’t too bad where we were, but as he headed out away from shore, it picked up considerably. And by the time he was ready to come about, the wind grabbed the sail, and capsized the boat.
It was a harrowing experience, watching him trying to get back into the hull, knowing he was in that very cold water. After about 10 minutes, I was overcome with fear. I called 911 and explained what had happened. The man on the other end asked me how long he’d been in the water. I told him about 10 minutes. He said, “Oh, my god!” That comment ignited my very worst fears. I immediately called a practitioner. She calmed me down, then told me to call her as soon as I knew anything. Then she went to work doing spiritual mind treatment.
Immediately an old hymn, Love Lifted Me, came into my mind, and I started singing it. As I sang, I could see Bill being lifted by loving arms out of the water to safety. I felt completely at peace, and I knew he was okay. Very shortly thereafter, a truck pulled up to the cottage, and Bill got out—wet, cold, and pretty shook up, but alive and well.
I learned a lot from this experience. Most importantly I learned that there’s a Power in the Universe that responds in our hour of need, that we’re not alone, that we can call for help, and that holding fast to our faith and what we know to be true works.
Sailing is a lot like life. If you control the sails too tight, you capsize. And whenever you start to feel afraid, you can simply stop by just letting go of the sail. It’s like stopping anytime we go into fear to meditate and pray. Listing, which I love. . . you all know what listing is—when the boat is tilted sideways, the faster you go, the more you list; the more risk you take, the faster you go. And balance is essential. And just like living, you have to do a lot of tacking.
And this kind of living, being out there on the open seas with the changing tides, can really push our buttons. We get to see just where our fears lie. Our buttons tell us there’s something to be healed, some belief that’s operating that needs to be changed. Our calling is always to heal the beliefs behind the buttons. They bring us opportunities for growth and healing.
Ships can be moored in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are for. We need to get out into the rapids of change and flow with the changing tides, knowing are sails are set, and our course is taking us to our highest good.
