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July 17, 2016 – Spiritual Access Code

by

07/17/16 Rev. David McArthur
“Spiritual Access Code”

With my wife’s murder and my suddenly finding myself a single parent, my consciousness was one of anger and pain and loss. I was in a state of emotional chaos. I went to the form of prayer I call desperation. I didn’t know anything else.

It was maybe a month later, as Lisa turned one, I put her on the floor in front of the couch and I sat down. Sitting there I went into a feeling of amazing, blissful love, loosing consciousness of what’s around me. As I returned from this feeling I saw Lisa playing quietly, happily, as she had with her mother. I realized my resentment and hatred were gone! I was at peace, a deep peace we call forgiveness. Wanting to know how deep this was, I met with “him” at the state mental facility. There was still pain and a great sense of loss, but it didn’t control me! Something had happened. The emotional turmoil was gone.

I wanted to know about this. I began this study. Not much of the spiritual or religious information helped me. I found more answers through science. HeartMath had found that when we connect with our heart we step into a different state of being. They measured it scientifically. But I saw the spiritual side. They had discovered the access code to stepping into a different state of consciousness.

I know we’ve all had great emotional experiences, and everyday ones. Are you willing to transform this week’s flavor of chaos? It’s a process you can easily learn. When I was on that couch, what happened right before I felt that blissful love? My daughter was playing as if she were with her mother, and my heart opened wide and then I felt the love (the access code).

It’s a simple way that has worked for me and many others again and again. HeartMath showed what happens physically when we remember when our heart was full—the access code. They said to remember a time like when you stood on a mountain top, or when you played with a puppy.

Much later, when our kids were in high school, our mantra every morning was “hurry before you miss the bus!” But one morning we did miss the bus! Now what? I new there was no good answer. If you’re like me, you check in your heart after nothing else has worked. What did I have to lose? So I went to my heart to remember a time when my heart was full. I remembered when Kathryn and I were in Hawaii and we took a ride on a raft out to see the whales. It was absolutely wonderful!

Well, my kids were all stressed out, too. But I realized I had been late for work before and the universe had gone on! So we put on some music and headed down the road in a different state of consciousness. I was looking forward to my day. I felt happy and was appreciating my kids. Moments before I was judgmental and stressed and setting up a stressful day. But I remembered when my heart was full! What a difference.

This week there might be some stress for you. When that comes up: I remember when my heart was full! I remember when my heart was full! I remember when my heart was full! Show up as who you really are!

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July 10, 2016 – Times Of Turmoil Need Love

by


07/10/16 Rev. David McArthur
“Times Of Turmoil Need Love”

We witness violence to others. We feel pain. We wonder how much is ours and how to respond. We’re all spiritual beings hanging out in this physical thing. So we look to our spirituality to see how to read this week’s events.


Day after day, year after year, the actions of millions of people have been calling to our desire to wake up. As we struggle to learn this personally it moves out of our unconsciousness into our consciousness. Love brings up patterns of our collective unconsciousness for us so that we can choose. “Stuff” shows up in our unconsciousness that is not consistent with the love we seek to have as human beings. What do we do with that?

What transforms it is love. But I was disturbed because my first response was anger and hate. Our mind polarizes things with “I’m for this and against them”, even though there is only “us”. There are many things to work out: questions and ideas. Within us we place our power in other places. It’s painful to see but gives us choices of what we have in our lives. Embrace that with love. It brings forth wisdom and guides us to healthy boundaries without rejecting the soul which was struggling but expressing in a way that is not ok. If you have been abused you’ve come to a point where you loved yourself enough to say no, to set a boundary. When you set boundaries with wisdom there is growth. When boundaries are set by your reactions it reinforces the abuse. We choose our manifestation.

We’re afraid love makes us vulnerable. We think to love is to accept all of a person without setting boundaries, that if we love enough we’ll heal them. Even Jesus said it was not he who healed the woman who touched the hem of his garment, but he put the healing on her, that it was she, her faith, that healed her. (He was in support of her reaching her wholeness.)

A family I know had a son who had become a drug dealer. They had to say, “We love you but we cannot have that destruction in our world.” They could love but couldn’t heal him; he had to make that change himself. He died violently.

Evelyn’s parents emigrated to America and she was first generation Chinese-American in an environment totally foreign to them. Her father was an alcoholic, and so she lived a life of turmoil. When she was sixteen, her mother passed away and so she was, in effect, an orphan. “What carried me through was my insistence that my mother loved me, and in my mind I was trying to fulfill my mother’s final wish, that I live my soul’s purpose.” It carried her through her biggest failures. As she turned to her mother’s love, she was turning towards that divine love that comes from within the being.

Spiritual power is INFLUENCE, not control over another or over the world. When we choose love we change the consciousness of ourselves and of the whole, so what was unlike love heals. Choose love. I choose love. I choose love. I choose love. The choice is love. Love is the answer. I choose love. It brings transformation for all!

July 10, 2016 – Times Of Turmoil Need Love

by

07/10/16 Rev. David McArthur
“Times Of Turmoil Need Love”

We witness violence to others. We feel pain. We wonder how much is ours and how to respond. We’re all spiritual beings hanging out in this physical thing. So we look to our spirituality to see how to read this week’s events.

Day after day, year after year, the actions of millions of people have been calling to our desire to wake up. As we struggle to learn this personally it moves out of our unconsciousness into our consciousness. Love brings up patterns of our collective unconsciousness for us so that we can choose. “Stuff” shows up in our unconsciousness that is not consistent with the love we seek to have as human beings. What do we do with that?

What transforms it is love. But I was disturbed because my first response was anger and hate. Our mind polarizes things with “I’m for this and against them”, even though there is only “us”. There are many things to work out: questions and ideas. Within us we place our power in other places. It’s painful to see but gives us choices of what we have in our lives. Embrace that with love. It brings forth wisdom and guides us to healthy boundaries without rejecting the soul which was struggling but expressing in a way that is not ok. If you have been abused you’ve come to a point where you loved yourself enough to say no, to set a boundary. When you set boundaries with wisdom there is growth. When boundaries are set by your reactions it reinforces the abuse. We choose our manifestation.

We’re afraid love makes us vulnerable. We think to love is to accept all of a person without setting boundaries, that if we love enough we’ll heal them. Even Jesus said it was not he who healed the woman who touched the hem of his garment, but he put the healing on her, that it was she, her faith, that healed her. (He was in support of her reaching her wholeness.)

A family I know had a son who had become a drug dealer. They had to say, “We love you but we cannot have that destruction in our world.” They could love but couldn’t heal him; he had to make that change himself. He died violently.

Evelyn’s parents emigrated to America and she was first generation Chinese-American in an environment totally foreign to them. Her father was an alcoholic, and so she lived a life of turmoil. When she was sixteen, her mother passed away and so she was, in effect, an orphan. “What carried me through was my insistence that my mother loved me, and in my mind I was trying to fulfill my mother’s final wish, that I live my soul’s purpose.” It carried her through her biggest failures. As she turned to her mother’s love, she was turning towards that divine love that comes from within the being.

Spiritual power is INFLUENCE, not control over another or over the world. When we choose love we change the consciousness of ourselves and of the whole, so what was unlike love heals. Choose love. I choose love. I choose love. I choose love. The choice is love. Love is the answer. I choose love. It brings transformation for all!

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July 3, 2016 – Celebrating Our Interdependence

by

Rev. Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
“Celebrating Our Interdependence”
One Nation/One World Under God

Fourth of July! The day we celebrate our independence. But have we strayed from the path of our INTERdependence with God? We say, “I can take care of myself.” “I don’t need anyone else.” “I am beholden to nobody.” It worked in the Revolution when we needed to separate from oppression. But it could not have been done without the interdependence of the colonists. Look at our world today. It’s a reflection of “I don’t need nobody.”

I was very independent and proud of it. One morning I awakened without half my eyesight. I learned to become more independent by learning to be interdependent with others. As a nation we don’t know how to be interdependent with others.

Jesus said, “Where two or… more gather in my name, there I am …” meaning there is a groundwork of interdependence. Interdependence is a heart-sharing of co-operative effort to complete what we want to do. When we come together in his “name” (the manner/nature of God) with joined hearts, the divine energy comes in. It carries us through in a way that is good for everyone. It’s not too late to turn this ship around. The choices we make at this point determine whether we turn around or are dead in the water. Our thoughts, the way we hold ourselves and speak of each other goes out and we get something like ISIS.

Go inside. Is there a straggly word used casually? These choices go out and invite in the “locusts that eat our crop”. When we choose interdependence, joining together our hearts and ideas, creating community, the divine energy will restore that which was lost. I’m talking about consciously speaking, thinking, actively choosing interdependence.

In an interdependent family there are no electronic devices at the dinner table. They gather together to learn what is going on with each other, supporting whoever needs it.

If we rise above the negativity we draw to us the people of the world without seeing race, height, size, shape, we are free.

If I look at you as God sees you I will recognize we are one and I am free. Today I celebrate my Interdependence and I am truly FREE! Today I celebrate my Interdependence and I am truly FREE! Today I celebrate my Interdependence and I am truly FREE!

This week as you bar-b-cue, join your friends, watch the fireworks, take Interdependence Day with you all week, and every day. “No man is an island. No one stands alone. Each one’s joy is joy to me…”

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July 3, 2016 – Celebrating Our Interdependence

by


Rev. Sheila Gautreaux, L.U.T.
“Celebrating Our Interdependence”
One Nation/One World Under God

Fourth of July! The day we celebrate our independence. But have we strayed from the path of our INTERdependence with God? We say, “I can take care of myself.” “I don’t need anyone else.” “I am beholden to nobody.” It worked in the Revolution when we needed to separate from oppression. But it could not have been done without the interdependence of the colonists. Look at our world today. It’s a reflection of “I don’t need nobody.”

I was very independent and proud of it. One morning I awakened without half my eyesight. I learned to become more independent by learning to be interdependent with others. As a nation we don’t know how to be interdependent with others.

Jesus said, “Where two or… more gather in my name, there I am …” meaning there is a groundwork of interdependence. Interdependence is a heart-sharing of co-operative effort to complete what we want to do. When we come together in his “name” (the manner/nature of God) with joined hearts, the divine energy comes in. It carries us through in a way that is good for everyone. It’s not too late to turn this ship around. The choices we make at this point determine whether we turn around or are dead in the water. Our thoughts, the way we hold ourselves and speak of each other goes out and we get something like ISIS.

Go inside. Is there a straggly word used casually? These choices go out and invite in the “locusts that eat our crop”. When we choose interdependence, joining together our hearts and ideas, creating community, the divine energy will restore that which was lost. I’m talking about consciously speaking, thinking, actively choosing interdependence.

In an interdependent family there are no electronic devices at the dinner table. They gather together to learn what is going on with each other, supporting whoever needs it.

If we rise above the negativity we draw to us the people of the world without seeing race, height, size, shape, we are free.

If I look at you as God sees you I will recognize we are one and I am free. Today I celebrate my Interdependence and I am truly FREE! Today I celebrate my Interdependence and I am truly FREE! Today I celebrate my Interdependence and I am truly FREE!

This week as you bar-b-cue, join your friends, watch the fireworks, take Interdependence Day with you all week, and every day. “No man is an island. No one stands alone. Each one’s joy is joy to me…”

June 26, 2016 – Prayer as Co-Creator

by

06/26/16 Rev. David McArthur
“Prayer as Co-Creator”
 
I was back at Silent Unity a couple of weeks ago, the place of continuous unending prayer for the past 125 years. Millions of people from all over the world have called them for prayer. I reflected on how my perception of prayer has changed since I was a boy. Back then I asked for things, like I asked my mom and dad for things. As I got older I got somewhat skeptical, as most of us do.

As our understanding shifts, we realize prayer is creative. We move from supplicant to co-creator. Myrtle Fillmore, a wise spiritual woman, prayed for healing. She knew she was a creative being. “I told the life in my liver that it was not torpid …but full of vigor and energy. I told the life in my stomach that it was …energetic, strong and intelligent. I told the life in my abdomen that it …was alive with the sweet, pure, wholesome energy of God… I did not become discouraged at their being slow to wake up, but kept right on… until the organs responded.” Myrtle Fillmore cured herself of tuberculosis.

Think. As you take a breath, think of each cell athrill with the sweet pure energy of God. That’s a little different perception of prayer. Sometimes I treat prayer like aspirin, using it for any “headache”. But really, with prayer we’re bringing the spiritual pattern of who we are into that which exists. We’re bringing it into our body, whether we’re seeking healing of the body, or of our relationships, or whether we’re seeking abundance. Affirm, I CHOOSE THE FULLNESS OF MY SOUL PATTERN TO EXPRESS IN ME HERE AND NOW!

A minister friend has a little dog that had been going through a hard time. A group which met at her church prayed for it. Soon every evening for three hours the dog roused herself for a few minutes at the top of each hour, then returned to her bed to rest. My friend told the group’s leader, who told her they pray at the top of the hour and they sent friends in three time zones their prayer list!

My friend had a subjective experience of prayer. I’m cursed to be the kind of guy who has to know the objective “how” of things. What happened when those people prayed for the dog? What happened when Myrtle Fillmore reversed a disease not known at the time to be curable? Well, you are one with a force that moves through each and every cell. We are all one. We’re not separate. When we take hold of this power with our intention—when we make that connection—that’s creation!

For me the most powerful prayer is to simply feel love for someone. It carries the power of the creative intention of our world. So feel this love. Send it through your family. Send it to families around the world, to children, moms, and dads. Some are in harmony and some are in conflict. As you do, hold them in perfect peace. Can you feel just a little peace for them? Now send it to their communities. Feel it. Gently feel that peace. We’re spiritual beings and this is what we came for. Feel it. DIVINE LOVE FLOWS THROUGH MY HEART. DIVINE LOVE FLOWS THROUGH MY HEART. DIVINE LOVE FLOWS THROUGH MY HEART. And as it does, it unfolds and blesses our world. Peace IS this moment!

June 26, 2016 – Prayer as Co-Creator

by

06/26/16 Rev. David McArthur
“Prayer as Co-Creator”

I was back at Silent Unity a couple of weeks ago, the place of continuous unending prayer for the past 125 years. Millions of people from all over the world have called them for prayer. I reflected on how my perception of prayer has changed since I was a boy. Back then I asked for things, like I asked my mom and dad for things. As I got older I got somewhat skeptical, as most of us do.

As our understanding shifts, we realize prayer is creative. We move from supplicant to co-creator. Myrtle Fillmore, a wise spiritual woman, prayed for healing. She knew she was a creative being. “I told the life in my liver that it was not torpid …but full of vigor and energy. I told the life in my stomach that it was …energetic, strong and intelligent. I told the life in my abdomen that it …was alive with the sweet, pure, wholesome energy of God… I did not become discouraged at their being slow to wake up, but kept right on… until the organs responded.” Myrtle Fillmore cured herself of tuberculosis.

Think. As you take a breath, think of each cell athrill with the sweet pure energy of God. That’s a little different perception of prayer. Sometimes I treat prayer like aspirin, using it for any “headache”. But really, with prayer we’re bringing the spiritual pattern of who we are into that which exists. We’re bringing it into our body, whether we’re seeking healing of the body, or of our relationships, or whether we’re seeking abundance. Affirm, I CHOOSE THE FULLNESS OF MY SOUL PATTERN TO EXPRESS IN ME HERE AND NOW!

A minister friend has a little dog that had been going through a hard time. A group which met at her church prayed for it. Soon every evening for three hours the dog roused herself for a few minutes at the top of each hour, then returned to her bed to rest. My friend told the group’s leader, who told her they pray at the top of the hour and they sent friends in three time zones their prayer list!

My friend had a subjective experience of prayer. I’m cursed to be the kind of guy who has to know the objective “how” of things. What happened when those people prayed for the dog? What happened when Myrtle Fillmore reversed a disease not known at the time to be curable? Well, you are one with a force that moves through each and every cell. We are all one. We’re not separate. When we take hold of this power with our intention—when we make that connection—that’s creation!

For me the most powerful prayer is to simply feel love for someone. It carries the power of the creative intention of our world. So feel this love. Send it through your family. Send it to families around the world, to children, moms, and dads. Some are in harmony and some are in conflict. As you do, hold them in perfect peace. Can you feel just a little peace for them? Now send it to their communities. Feel it. Gently feel that peace. We’re spiritual beings and this is what we came for. Feel it. DIVINE LOVE FLOWS THROUGH MY HEART. DIVINE LOVE FLOWS THROUGH MY HEART. DIVINE LOVE FLOWS THROUGH MY HEART. And as it does, it unfolds and blesses our world. Peace IS this moment!

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June 19, 2016 – Brain Health and Compassionate Communication

by


Garrett Riegg, J.D.
“Brain Health and Compassionate Communication”

Happy Father’s Day! I found recently that I am a father figure at a fraternity I advise at Sonoma State. It was very important to a young man there. His father was absent from his life, and he had no brothers or sisters. He told me recently about his wonderful girl friend and the great job he had as a camera man with the Forty Niners. He was so excited. Over break, though, he was binge drinking and took some pills. I got a call that he was found face down on the floor outside his room, dead.

It is believed that over 50% of students engage in this dangerous behavior. We do know more people are now dying from illegal and legal use of anti-depressants and opioids than from handguns or auto accidents. Among white middle-class women, up to 40% are using 1 or more anti-depressants. Medicine didn’t believe how dangerous these drugs are.

The answer to depression is not drugs. After researching thousands of studies, it has been determined that there are 8 ways to calm the brain.

From the last to the first:

8) Smile. Mean it or not, it releases endorphins. And little things count. It has been found that if a patient about to get a bad diagnosis were to give their doctor a small bag of jelly beans before the diagnosis, the doctor is 20% more accurate!

7) Think. Chess can reverse some dementia. Games and puzzles improve mental ability in the short run, but for the long run the mind needs big intellectual ideas and challenges, like philosophy, metaphysics, or world peace.

6) Relax. Relaxing your muscles and breathing deeply is good for the brain, as is playing relaxing music or repetitive activity like knitting or using rosary beads.

5) Yawn! It also relaxes the muscles in the neck and causes you to breathe deeply. Students who yawned 5 times before a test consistently made higher scores. 5 yawns, too, are as good as a cup of coffee.

4) Meditating. It’s a treat for the brain. MRIs show significant differences between monks and regular people. And they show negative emotions kill brain cells, while positive emotions grow brain cells.

3) Aerobic exercise is definitely good because it brings more oxygen to the brain.

2) Dialogue. Talking, especially talking about big concepts like God or evolution.

1) Faith. The most important. Not necessarily faith in God, but focusing on affirming, positive beliefs, like faith in humanity or the individual’s faith that he or she can overcome. Optimists have better health overall; pessimists die earlier.

I was lucky as a college student to not only have a good father, but over summer vacations I also had a good father figure in my boss at Beacon Moving in Oakland. He was African American, and this was 1963, before the Civil Rights movement had accomplished anything. But Bill had faith. His work was of the highest quality. He was the first black driver for Beacon in Oakland. He had zero customer complaints filed when the average was 20 to 30 a year. He was elected to union shop steward at Beacon, even when the union still didn’t want to integrate! I found out Bill had pulled himself out of poverty and alcoholism, gotten married, and at 50 started a family by adopting a little girl. They adopted 2 more girls, and all were good students. I know at least the oldest went to college. Bill had never even graduated high school! I so appreciate the fathers I had!

June 19, 2016 – Brain Health and Compassionate Communication

by

Garrett Riegg, J.D.
“Brain Health and Compassionate Communication”

Happy Father’s Day! I found recently that I am a father figure at a fraternity I advise at Sonoma State. It was very important to a young man there. His father was absent from his life, and he had no brothers or sisters. He told me recently about his wonderful girl friend and the great job he had as a camera man with the Forty Niners. He was so excited. Over break, though, he was binge drinking and took some pills. I got a call that he was found face down on the floor outside his room, dead.

It is believed that over 50% of students engage in this dangerous behavior. We do know more people are now dying from illegal and legal use of anti-depressants and opioids than from handguns or auto accidents. Among white middle-class women, up to 40% are using 1 or more anti-depressants. Medicine didn’t believe how dangerous these drugs are.

The answer to depression is not drugs. After researching thousands of studies, it has been determined that there are 8 ways to calm the brain.

From the last to the first:

8) Smile. Mean it or not, it releases endorphins. And little things count. It has been found that if a patient about to get a bad diagnosis were to give their doctor a small bag of jelly beans before the diagnosis, the doctor is 20% more accurate!

7) Think. Chess can reverse some dementia. Games and puzzles improve mental ability in the short run, but for the long run the mind needs big intellectual ideas and challenges, like philosophy, metaphysics, or world peace.

6) Relax. Relaxing your muscles and breathing deeply is good for the brain, as is playing relaxing music or repetitive activity like knitting or using rosary beads.

5) Yawn! It also relaxes the muscles in the neck and causes you to breathe deeply. Students who yawned 5 times before a test consistently made higher scores. 5 yawns, too, are as good as a cup of coffee.

4) Meditating. It’s a treat for the brain. MRIs show significant differences between monks and regular people. And they show negative emotions kill brain cells, while positive emotions grow brain cells.

3) Aerobic exercise is definitely good because it brings more oxygen to the brain.

2) Dialogue. Talking, especially talking about big concepts like God or evolution.

1) Faith. The most important. Not necessarily faith in God, but focusing on affirming, positive beliefs, like faith in humanity or the individual’s faith that he or she can overcome. Optimists have better health overall; pessimists die earlier.

I was lucky as a college student to not only have a good father, but over summer vacations I also had a good father figure in my boss at Beacon Moving in Oakland. He was African American, and this was 1963, before the Civil Rights movement had accomplished anything. But Bill had faith. His work was of the highest quality. He was the first black driver for Beacon in Oakland. He had zero customer complaints filed when the average was 20 to 30 a year. He was elected to union shop steward at Beacon, even when the union still didn’t want to integrate! I found out Bill had pulled himself out of poverty and alcoholism, gotten married, and at 50 started a family by adopting a little girl. They adopted 2 more girls, and all were good students. I know at least the oldest went to college. Bill had never even graduated high school! I so appreciate the fathers I had!

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