Fairy Tales

September 25, 2016 – What Matters Most

by

09/25/16 Rev. David McArthur
“What Matters Most”

Look at the ways we’ve touched the fabulous spiritual teachings in our world: the Bhagavad Gita, and Tao te Ching and the Hebrew scriptures and the Gospels—the beautiful presence of Jesus’ teachings. I want to complete by going to one of my favorite teachers, Winnie the Pooh.

Oh that Hundred Acre Woods! That beautiful place which shows us in such simple terms our own spiritual journeys. In the forest we see parts of us. Rabbit has to keep busy all the time, and there’s a part of you that is Eeyore. There’s Piglet—you know, eager, but then afraid of everything bigger than he is and everything is bigger. And then there’s Pooh, the picture of the soul unfolding, discovering and open to what life has. We’ve been going along, discovering.

Winnie the Pooh and Piglet discover their own tracks in the snow and believe they’re from woozles and wizzles. And there’s Christopher Robin, the Christ Bearer, that delightful symbol that in tradition we call the Christ, but also the Atman, the I Am, the Buddha Mind. We discovered the universal laws, that the woozles we are following and kind of afraid of are really ourselves! It is us that’s been creating our experience and our fear; it’s us who have been journeying. Wow! What beautiful understandings.

Then we had a heffalump experience here. You know how Pooh sets a trap for a heffalump. We set a heffalump trap—we decided to build a building. And what we heard were things that were kind of frightening and go bump in the night. The whole world had decided to be afraid of lack, and some of us did a very good job of making that deeper. And then we ran into this insane statement by this guy named Charles Fillmore, “Pour your living words of faith into the omnipresent substance and you will be prospered though all the banks in the world close their doors.” And they just had! And we decided, “well, wonder if he’s telling the truth.” So we took on our heffalump, and we discovered it was just our fear. And the building got built. And there was more than enough, because more than enough is the truth of that divine love for each of us.

I looked at these beautiful teachings and I thought, “Wow! What in these last few minutes do I get to share with you? What is most important?” The times we ventured into prayer and meditation? Prayer is so important, but it’s not most important. And meditation is tremendously valuable, but it’s not most important. And the great teachings that focus on God in magnificent ways are not most important. What is most important is so simple: in this moment, do I choose love? That’s it. That is what’s important. If you choose love and you don’t know anything about the great scriptures, it doesn’t matter. They were just there to say, “Choose love.” If you gave up prayer because you spend more time arguing with God than listening, but you choose love, then it didn’t matter. God is right there, because the truth is, God IS love. Choose God and suddenly this amazing thing happens. Instead of seeing this world through this brilliant mind that we developed, this fabulous brain that figured it all out, we see that it was lying to us. It was saying, “That’s separate, and that has control over you.” It’s still a wonderful tool. It’s just a lousy boss. So we learned, didn’t we? We learned how to go. We learned how to make the choice.

It was the reality that touched me when I was young and in that place of pain and not knowing, and suddenly I was overwhelmed by love, and then there was peace and forgiveness and understanding. What happens is we are suddenly experiencing life from the truth, from a greater reality. So I tried to figure, “How do I get back to that place?” When I first started in ministry, I knew choosing love was the answer. I just didn’t have a clue how to do it. I looked around at all the spiritual students I knew and realized they didn’t either. They could love real well all those folks that loved them, but it was not their response when someone got in their face.

So we have spent years learning how to choose love. You know how. You know where it is. You know how to make that connection and move this power, this energy out of the magnificent instrument in your head down into that place where we connect with that spiritual being we really are. You know how to turn on the love. It’s in feeling—not in thoughts. It’s in the feeling, when you can remember that moment when you felt love. Might have been that puppy dog when you came in the door, shaking so hard, wanting to lick your face. Or a granddaughter giving you a hug. Or looking out and seeing that sunset over the water and feeling that magnificence of this divine love that surrounds you. It doesn’t matter what it was. When you feel it, you hit the access code. You’re in that place of love. At that moment it’s different, isn’t it? All those things we were struggling with, we aren’t struggling anymore. The things that were overwhelming that we didn’t understand, we understand. The anxiety we carried looks a lot more like peace. So simple. God is love. We just chose God.

Last Sunday we had Patricia Grabow here for a workshop. She had had an interesting experience. She was driving her car and got hit head on by a truck and died. And she came back to life. And she remembered what she had experienced. The only way she could describe it was “Love to the millionth power.” It is what is true. It is who you are. It is the only true reality of being. I find I go back to the amazing experience of Anita Moorjani. She had died after four years of cancer, her body completely depleted. After a time her body awoke. She left her hospital just a few weeks later cancer free. But she remembered what had happened in between. “I understood that at the core our essence is made of pure love. We ARE pure love, every single one of us. How can we not be if we come from the whole and return to it? I know that realizing this meant never being afraid of who we are. Therefore, being love and being our true self is one and the same thing.” That’s all we’re doing, just learning how to be who we really are.

When the critters found that Christopher Robin was leaving, Eeyore comprised a poem. As Christopher Robin was reading the poem all the critters seemed to fade away. As you’ve been doing this love thing, have you noticed how some of those “creatures” kind of fade away? There’s a little less Piglet/insecurity. There’s a little less Eeyore/grumpiness. So Winnie the Pooh, this beautiful unfolding soul, and Christopher Robin, this greater divine presence, go off. “By and by they go to this enchanted place on the very top of the forest. Sitting there they could see the whole world spread out until it reached the sky. And whatever there was all the world over was with them in Galleon’s Lap. (That enchanted place where they could see and understand it all.)”

There’s a teacher I love that talks about the same thing. She said, “…the secret place of the most high where each one of us may dwell and be safe from harm and fear of evil is the point of mystical union between man and Spirit, or God in us. Where we no longer believe but know that God in Christ abides always at the center of our being as our perfect health, deliverance, prosperity, power, ready to come forth into manifestation at any moment we claim it. We know it. We know it. We feel our oneness with the Father and we manifest that oneness.” —the wonderful Dr. Cady.

The access code to Spirit, to the “secret place of the most high”, is just love. The access code to Galleon’s Lap, just love. It’s very simple, that’s the only thing that matters. As we awaken we begin to step into who we are, that amazing experience of love. A wonderful man called me this week, a Unity minister who had had a brain aneurysm. His name is Gregory Guice. He was just calling to say, “Congratulations on your retirement.” I’d followed his recovery. He had spent three months in a coma. He said one of the beautiful things that happened during that time was that he got to connect with his daughter. She had died a number of years before. They got to be there in that heart to heart connection with each other. He told me it meant so much. He said he knew such peace! He knew that love. It’s who you are. That choice to choose love is the only real choice and all of you make that choice again and again. I know that because I’ve had the opportunity to see, to hear, to be aware of that, and how it touched those around us. What a difference it’s made in those who love you and struggle with you.

What a magnificent thing it is to see the light and the love that all of you are. I choose love. Again. I choose love. I choose love. This is when you might not have to be quite as attached to being right. I choose love. And this is for when you’re really really pissed off: I choose love. It’s for when you remember that you didn’t choose love and you start to do the guilt thing: I choose love.

You have made this world more filled with light, more filled with wholeness. The choice of your love has touched the fabric of humankind and it will never be the same. The power and the beauty of who you are is magnificent! There’s something that I like to remember. “Where ever they go, Pooh and Christopher Robin, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest, a little boy and his bear will always be playing.” In that little place, secret place of the most high, your soul and the very light and power of God will always be playing. And did you notice it ends by having fun?!! I love you all!

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September 25, 2016 – What Matters Most

by


09/25/16 Rev. David McArthur
“What Matters Most”

 Look at the ways we’ve touched the fabulous spiritual teachings in our world: the Bhagavad Gita, and Tao te Ching and the Hebrew scriptures and the Gospels—the beautiful presence of Jesus’ teachings. I want to complete by going to one of my favorite teachers, Winnie the Pooh.

Oh that Hundred Acre Woods! That beautiful place which shows us in such simple terms our own spiritual journeys. In the forest we see parts of us. Rabbit has to keep busy all the time, and there’s a part of you that is Eeyore. There’s Piglet—you know, eager, but then afraid of everything bigger than he is and everything is bigger. And then there’s Pooh, the picture of the soul unfolding, discovering and open to what life has. We’ve been going along, discovering.

Winnie the Pooh and Piglet discover their own tracks in the snow and believe they’re from woozles and wizzles. And there’s Christopher Robin, the Christ Bearer, that delightful symbol that in tradition we call the Christ, but also the Atman, the I Am, the Buddha Mind. We discovered the universal laws, that the woozles we are following and kind of afraid of are really ourselves! It is us that’s been creating our experience and our fear; it’s us who have been journeying. Wow! What beautiful understandings.

Then we had a heffalump experience here. You know how Pooh sets a trap for a heffalump. We set a heffalump trap—we decided to build a building. And what we heard were things that were kind of frightening and go bump in the night. The whole world had decided to be afraid of lack, and some of us did a very good job of making that deeper. And then we ran into this insane statement by this guy named Charles Fillmore, “Pour your living words of faith into the omnipresent substance and you will be prospered though all the banks in the world close their doors.” And they just had! And we decided, “well, wonder if he’s telling the truth.” So we took on our heffalump, and we discovered it was just our fear. And the building got built. And there was more than enough, because more than enough is the truth of that divine love for each of us.

I looked at these beautiful teachings and I thought, “Wow! What in these last few minutes do I get to share with you? What is most important?” The times we ventured into prayer and meditation? Prayer is so important, but it’s not most important. And meditation is tremendously valuable, but it’s not most important. And the great teachings that focus on God in magnificent ways are not most important. What is most important is so simple: in this moment, do I choose love? That’s it. That is what’s important. If you choose love and you don’t know anything about the great scriptures, it doesn’t matter. They were just there to say, “Choose love.” If you gave up prayer because you spend more time arguing with God than listening, but you choose love, then it didn’t matter. God is right there, because the truth is, God IS love. Choose God and suddenly this amazing thing happens. Instead of seeing this world through this brilliant mind that we developed, this fabulous brain that figured it all out, we see that it was lying to us. It was saying, “That’s separate, and that has control over you.” It’s still a wonderful tool. It’s just a lousy boss. So we learned, didn’t we? We learned how to go. We learned how to make the choice.

It was the reality that touched me when I was young and in that place of pain and not knowing, and suddenly I was overwhelmed by love, and then there was peace and forgiveness and understanding. What happens is we are suddenly experiencing life from the truth, from a greater reality. So I tried to figure, “How do I get back to that place?” When I first started in ministry, I knew choosing love was the answer. I just didn’t have a clue how to do it. I looked around at all the spiritual students I knew and realized they didn’t either. They could love real well all those folks that loved them, but it was not their response when someone got in their face.

So we have spent years learning how to choose love. You know how. You know where it is. You know how to make that connection and move this power, this energy out of the magnificent instrument in your head down into that place where we connect with that spiritual being we really are. You know how to turn on the love. It’s in feeling—not in thoughts. It’s in the feeling, when you can remember that moment when you felt love. Might have been that puppy dog when you came in the door, shaking so hard, wanting to lick your face. Or a granddaughter giving you a hug. Or looking out and seeing that sunset over the water and feeling that magnificence of this divine love that surrounds you. It doesn’t matter what it was. When you feel it, you hit the access code. You’re in that place of love. At that moment it’s different, isn’t it? All those things we were struggling with, we aren’t struggling anymore. The things that were overwhelming that we didn’t understand, we understand. The anxiety we carried looks a lot more like peace. So simple. God is love. We just chose God.

Last Sunday we had Patricia Grabow here for a workshop. She had had an interesting experience. She was driving her car and got hit head on by a truck and died. And she came back to life. And she remembered what she had experienced. The only way she could describe it was “Love to the millionth power.” It is what is true. It is who you are. It is the only true reality of being. I find I go back to the amazing experience of Anita Moorjani. She had died after four years of cancer, her body completely depleted. After a time her body awoke. She left her hospital just a few weeks later cancer free. But she remembered what had happened in between. “I understood that at the core our essence is made of pure love. We ARE pure love, every single one of us. How can we not be if we come from the whole and return to it? I know that realizing this meant never being afraid of who we are. Therefore, being love and being our true self is one and the same thing.” That’s all we’re doing, just learning how to be who we really are.

When the critters found that Christopher Robin was leaving, Eeyore comprised a poem. As Christopher Robin was reading the poem all the critters seemed to fade away. As you’ve been doing this love thing, have you noticed how some of those “creatures” kind of fade away? There’s a little less Piglet/insecurity. There’s a little less Eeyore/grumpiness. So Winnie the Pooh, this beautiful unfolding soul, and Christopher Robin, this greater divine presence, go off. “By and by they go to this enchanted place on the very top of the forest. Sitting there they could see the whole world spread out until it reached the sky. And whatever there was all the world over was with them in Galleon’s Lap. (That enchanted place where they could see and understand it all.)”

There’s a teacher I love that talks about the same thing. She said, “…the secret place of the most high where each one of us may dwell and be safe from harm and fear of evil is the point of mystical union between man and Spirit, or God in us. Where we no longer believe but know that God in Christ abides always at the center of our being as our perfect health, deliverance, prosperity, power, ready to come forth into manifestation at any moment we claim it. We know it. We know it. We feel our oneness with the Father and we manifest that oneness.” —the wonderful Dr. Cady.

The access code to Spirit, to the “secret place of the most high”, is just love. The access code to Galleon’s Lap, just love. It’s very simple, that’s the only thing that matters. As we awaken we begin to step into who we are, that amazing experience of love. A wonderful man called me this week, a Unity minister who had had a brain aneurysm. His name is Gregory Guice. He was just calling to say, “Congratulations on your retirement.” I’d followed his recovery. He had spent three months in a coma. He said one of the beautiful things that happened during that time was that he got to connect with his daughter. She had died a number of years before. They got to be there in that heart to heart connection with each other. He told me it meant so much. He said he knew such peace! He knew that love. It’s who you are. That choice to choose love is the only real choice and all of you make that choice again and again. I know that because I’ve had the opportunity to see, to hear, to be aware of that, and how it touched those around us. What a difference it’s made in those who love you and struggle with you.

What a magnificent thing it is to see the light and the love that all of you are. I choose love. Again. I choose love. I choose love. This is when you might not have to be quite as attached to being right. I choose love. And this is for when you’re really really pissed off: I choose love. It’s for when you remember that you didn’t choose love and you start to do the guilt thing: I choose love.

You have made this world more filled with light, more filled with wholeness. The choice of your love has touched the fabric of humankind and it will never be the same. The power and the beauty of who you are is magnificent! There’s something that I like to remember. “Where ever they go, Pooh and Christopher Robin, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest, a little boy and his bear will always be playing.” In that little place, secret place of the most high, your soul and the very light and power of God will always be playing. And did you notice it ends by having fun?!! I love you all!

June 5, 2016 – Awakening the Power of Our Purpose

by

06/05/16 Rev. David McArthur
“Awakening The Power Of Our Purpose”

There are times when I really appreciate the fun part of our spiritual growth. I speak of the many aspects of ourselves found in the symbols in Snow White. The King and Queen are symbols of the divine. The male is our thinking nature and the female is our feeling nature. The birth of the Princess Snow White is our birth, the birth of our soul. But the Queen dies and the Dad disappears, off doing kingly things. (We lose our awareness of the Divine Mother along with the Father (wisdom and power)). The 2nd wife, the false or step mother is very vain (“mirror, mirror,” and all that). We end up serving a power “out there”, where we “have to do it THIS WAY”. If we don’t, we’ll be taken out into the woods and killed. This a real, but false, God-thought—do it that way or die. The divine self within us can be suppressed and put into the subconscious (the woods). But the truth remains within.

When Snow White reaches seven, the mirror tells the new Queen that Snow White is the fairest, which so angers the Queen that she orders the huntsman to take Snow White out into the woods and kill her. But he can’t do it.

So the Princess, at 7 years, goes over 7 hills to the house of the 7 dwarfs. (A subtle reference to the 7 chakras.) There she (we) begin to awaken to early spiritual growth (the dwarfs are not fully grown and show some of our aspects with names like Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, etc). But Snow White grows up. (We can no longer stay asleep. Our unconscious become conscious. Our spirituality awakens. Our brain grows up to the fact that we give our power away to the false perception of “out there”.) But the step mother and the poison apple cause Snow White to “die” (fall into a deep sleep, a “death”).

A man named Lloyd Glenn landed at the airport in DC where he was told that his 3 year old son had been in an accident and was near death. He was under the garage door when it closed on him right on his heart. His mother thought he was dead but at the hospital his heart was restarted. The staff called it a miracle. Unfortunately his brain had been deprived of oxygen, and when his father arrived he was told not to expect much. With his father at his side, the boy awakened and cried, “Daddy! Hold me!” The staff was amazed at this show of life. With care, he returned to the life of a 3 year old.

A month later he went to his mom and said, uncharacteristically, “Sit down Mommy. I have something to tell you. When I was trapped, the birdies came and made a swoosh and took care of me.” He called them birdies because they had wings. “They were so beautiful! White, and green and white. They told me the baby would be all right.” He was outside his body and could see the baby (himself) trapped under the garage door. He continued, “They went and got his mother and told the baby to stay and not leave. The bright light was so warm. There was someone really nice there who told me, ‘I love you but you have you go back, play baseball, and tell everyone about the birdies and everyone’s plans,’ because they love us so much.”

Emily Cady said to possess the secret of anything is to have power over it, and that knowledge of God within is power over all. In Unity we know I am the beloved child of God! But thinking it isn’t enough. It has to be felt. That’s the important part. Snow White shows us how: she is awakened when the Prince kisses her. So get kissed!

In Snow White there is the death of the old and the awakening of the adult (the mature spiritual self). That’s when the Prince and Snow White go to the castle to live. (The consciousness; the plan.) I am the beloved child of God! I am the beloved child of God! I am the beloved child of God! The amazing power which flows through you, not “out there” (center to circumference) actualizes your being. And on the way it’s ok to be kissed!

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

June 5, 2016 – Awakening the Power of Our Purpose

by


06/05/16 Rev. David McArthur
“Awakening The Power Of Our Purpose”
 
There are times when I really appreciate the fun part of our spiritual growth. I speak of the many aspects of ourselves found in the symbols in Snow White. The King and Queen are symbols of the divine. The male is our thinking nature and the female is our feeling nature. The birth of the Princess Snow White is our birth, the birth of our soul. But the Queen dies and the Dad disappears, off doing kingly things. (We lose our awareness of the Divine Mother along with the Father (wisdom and power)). The 2nd wife, the false or step mother is very vain (“mirror, mirror,” and all that). We end up serving a power “out there”, where we “have to do it THIS WAY”. If we don’t, we’ll be taken out into the woods and killed. This a real, but false, God-thought—do it that way or die. The divine self within us can be suppressed and put into the subconscious (the woods). But the truth remains within.

When Snow White reaches seven, the mirror tells the new Queen that Snow White is the fairest, which so angers the Queen that she orders the huntsman to take Snow White out into the woods and kill her. But he can’t do it.

So the Princess, at 7 years, goes over 7 hills to the house of the 7 dwarfs. (A subtle reference to the 7 chakras.) There she (we) begin to awaken to early spiritual growth (the dwarfs are not fully grown and show some of our aspects with names like Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, etc). But Snow White grows up. (We can no longer stay asleep. Our unconscious become conscious. Our spirituality awakens. Our brain grows up to the fact that we give our power away to the false perception of “out there”.) But the step mother and the poison apple cause Snow White to “die” (fall into a deep sleep, a “death”).

A man named Lloyd Glenn landed at the airport in DC where he was told that his 3 year old son had been in an accident and was near death. He was under the garage door when it closed on him right on his heart. His mother thought he was dead but at the hospital his heart was restarted. The staff called it a miracle. Unfortunately his brain had been deprived of oxygen, and when his father arrived he was told not to expect much. With his father at his side, the boy awakened and cried, “Daddy! Hold me!” The staff was amazed at this show of life. With care, he returned to the life of a 3 year old.

A month later he went to his mom and said, uncharacteristically, “Sit down Mommy. I have something to tell you. When I was trapped, the birdies came and made a swoosh and took care of me.” He called them birdies because they had wings. “They were so beautiful! White, and green and white. They told me the baby would be all right.” He was outside his body and could see the baby (himself) trapped under the garage door. He continued, “They went and got his mother and told the baby to stay and not leave. The bright light was so warm. There was someone really nice there who told me, ‘I love you but you have you go back, play baseball, and tell everyone about the birdies and everyone’s plans,’ because they love us so much.”

Emily Cady said to possess the secret of anything is to have power over it, and that knowledge of God within is power over all. In Unity we know I am the beloved child of God! But thinking it isn’t enough. It has to be felt. That’s the important part. Snow White shows us how: she is awakened when the Prince kisses her. So get kissed!

In Snow White there is the death of the old and the awakening of the adult (the mature spiritual self). That’s when the Prince and Snow White go to the castle to live. (The consciousness; the plan.) I am the beloved child of God! I am the beloved child of God! I am the beloved child of God! The amazing power which flows through you, not “out there” (center to circumference) actualizes your being. And on the way it’s ok to be kissed!

February 7, 2016 – Brer Rabbit Finds Wisdom & Compassion

by

Rev. David McArthur
Bre’r Rabbit Finds Wisdom & Compassion

It’s time to turn to the sage Uncle Remus: Bre’r Rabbit got the mopes—being all down and feeling it’s hopeless, losin’ his smarts. His Ms. say he got to go down to Aunt Mammy Bammy Big Money the Witch Rabbit in the deep dark swamp. There, Witch Rabbit say for Bre’r Rabbit to catch her a squirrel. Sitting at the bottom of a big tree, he has a couple of rocks in a sack and he smacks them together. A squirrel asks what he’s doing. Bre’r Rabbit says he’s cracking hick’ry nuts in the sack. “Hick’ry nuts!” says Squirrel. “Can I crack some?” he asks. Bre’r Rabbit says “Sure!” and lets Squirrel into the sack. Real quick he closes the sack and takes the squirrel to Mammy Bammy Big Money.

This is the first step we’re told to take on our spiritual journey, to take control of our squirrelly mind. (In the Eastern studies it’s “monkey mind”.) Bre’r Rabbit can take this step because he journeyed to the heart wisdom (Aunt Mammy). Get into the heart; use the power of the heart to control the mind so that which is within you, the flow of your being, becomes conscious in your mind. It’s how you control the mind so intent and wisdom flow out. This is how you transform your life.

The 2nd thing Aunt Mammy Bammy Big Money asked of Bre’r Rabbit was to fetch that snake rattlin’ in the grass. He was so skeert he wanted to run away, but he talked Snake into uncoiling so he could be measured. Rabbit pulled a string from his pocket, but instead of measuring Snake he looped the string around Snake’s neck quick like and pulled it tight and dropped Snake into the sack for Aunt Mammy.

This is facing your fears. The wisdom within is greater than your fear. It removes the power of your fear and releases you. Your heart is that wise. Affirm, My heart is wise. It connects you straight to the spiritual power that you are. My heart is wise all the time. My heart is wise all the time. All the time my heart is wise.

The Witch Rabbit’s 3rd instruction is for Bre’r Rabbit to bring her an elephant tusk. He went far into the forest to find an elephant. As one came near he hollered “Howdy! Bre’r Lion say you too big to be very strong.” Angered, Bre’r Elephant ran at a really big tree again and again to knock it over. One of his tusks fell out. Bre’r Rabbit quickly grabbed it up and ran to Mammy Bammy. Bre’r Rabbit asked what he had to do to get his smarts back, now. “I don’ wan’ you do nuthin’ at all. If you was any smarter you’d be ruination of da world!” And Bre’r Rabbit didn’t feel the mopes anymore. You see, Elephant was the big impossible thing in our lives we can’t do anything about. Not so for the wisdom in our hearts.

There was plenty of compassion here. Ms. Rabbit and the Witch Rabbit both are women (our feeling nature). Now it’s time to take it to the next step, and your wisdom knows your next step. That’s compassion! My heart is wise! My heart is wise! My heart is wise! It will take you on your journey to your own Aunt Mammy Bammy Big Money!

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

February 7, 2016 – Brer Rabbit Finds Wisdom & Compassion

by

Rev. David McArthur
Bre’r Rabbit Finds Wisdom & Compassion

It’s time to turn to the sage Uncle Remus: Bre’r Rabbit got the mopes—being all down and feeling it’s hopeless, losin’ his smarts. His Ms. say he got to go down to Aunt Mammy Bammy Big Money the Witch Rabbit in the deep dark swamp. There, Witch Rabbit say for Bre’r Rabbit to catch her a squirrel. Sitting at the bottom of a big tree, he has a couple of rocks in a sack and he smacks them together. A squirrel asks what he’s doing. Bre’r Rabbit says he’s cracking hick’ry nuts in the sack. “Hick’ry nuts!” says Squirrel. “Can I crack some?” he asks. Bre’r Rabbit says “Sure!” and lets Squirrel into the sack. Real quick he closes the sack and takes the squirrel to Mammy Bammy Big Money.

This is the first step we’re told to take on our spiritual journey, to take control of our squirrelly mind. (In the Eastern studies it’s “monkey mind”.) Bre’r Rabbit can take this step because he journeyed to the heart wisdom (Aunt Mammy). Get into the heart; use the power of the heart to control the mind so that which is within you, the flow of your being, becomes conscious in your mind. It’s how you control the mind so intent and wisdom flow out. This is how you transform your life.

The 2nd thing Aunt Mammy Bammy Big Money asked of Bre’r Rabbit was to fetch that snake rattlin’ in the grass. He was so skeert he wanted to run away, but he talked Snake into uncoiling so he could be measured. Rabbit pulled a string from his pocket, but instead of measuring Snake he looped the string around Snake’s neck quick like and pulled it tight and dropped Snake into the sack for Aunt Mammy.

This is facing your fears. The wisdom within is greater than your fear. It removes the power of your fear and releases you. Your heart is that wise. Affirm, My heart is wise. It connects you straight to the spiritual power that you are. My heart is wise all the time. My heart is wise all the time. All the time my heart is wise.

The Witch Rabbit’s 3rd instruction is for Bre’r Rabbit to bring her an elephant tusk. He went far into the forest to find an elephant. As one came near he hollered “Howdy! Bre’r Lion say you too big to be very strong.” Angered, Bre’r Elephant ran at a really big tree again and again to knock it over. One of his tusks fell out. Bre’r Rabbit quickly grabbed it up and ran to Mammy Bammy. Bre’r Rabbit asked what he had to do to get his smarts back, now. “I don’ wan’ you do nuthin’ at all. If you was any smarter you’d be ruination of da world!” And Bre’r Rabbit didn’t feel the mopes anymore. You see, Elephant was the big impossible thing in our lives we can’t do anything about. Not so for the wisdom in our hearts.

There was plenty of compassion here. Ms. Rabbit and the Witch Rabbit both are women (our feeling nature). Now it’s time to take it to the next step, and your wisdom knows your next step. That’s compassion! My heart is wise! My heart is wise! My heart is wise! It will take you on your journey to your own Aunt Mammy Bammy Big Money!

November 8, 2015 – Climbing The Beanstalk to God Within

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11/08/15  Rev. David McArthur
Climbing the Beanstalk to God Within

Jack and the Beanstalk is a story of our spiritual journey. Jack is the son of a woman so poor she sends Jack to town to sell the family cow, which he does for a handful of “magic” beans. His mother gets so upset she throws the beans out the window. The mother is our “poor” state of consciousness. For some it’s body poor, relationship poor, whatever your favorite “poor” is.

The beans grow to the clouds. Of course, Jack has to climb the beanstalk. At the top it is beautiful, with lush fields and a beautiful castle. The giant had killed the Knight and everyone else in it but the Lady, who escaped. She was a Fairy (an angel which brings higher consciousness to us here).

The giantess tells Jack that he (us) is heir to the castle, the kingdom, but he has to kill the giant to get it. Emily Cady has written, “…to be ‘heirs of God…means every man is the inlet, and may become the outlet, of all there is in God… that all that God is and has is in reality for us, His only heirs, if we only know how to claim our inheritance.”
The giant is the god-thought that controls all, is far away and doesn’t love us. We believe that when we do our “poor” thing. Jack is enslaved by the giant. The giantess, the feminine feeling of fear, protects Jack because she wants him to serve her. It’s fear that enslaves us (fear of God). So Jack is hidden in the closet. When the giant falls asleep Jack steals the hen that lays golden eggs, goes down the beanstalk, and gives it to his mother. It is a symbol of divine ideas which bring fertility, abundance, and success for the labors of the farm-based life of the early nineteenth century.

The next night the giant counts his gold coins. They represent the abundance of God in this moment, the experience of divine capacity we are related to. Jack takes them to his mother too. The next night the giant commands his harp to play its beautiful music. (It’s a symbol of love, the harmonizing power.) Jack steals the harp, too, but it calls out to the sleeping giant, “Master…” Jack tells the harp, “I am your master now.” When he gives it to his mother (the symbol of the feminine) she gives him the axe to cut down the beanstalk, to undercut the God we fear. Letting love be felt removes the fearful God from our consciousness.

Jack still lives in the cottage and the Fairy tells him he has to remove the giantess (fear) to live in the castle. She takes him to town and shows the people that he is the rightful heir to have the gifts in the castle. We have to integrate it. We aren’t separate. We are one with all that love, goodness, abundance—our powers. We have to climb the beanstalk. Jesus put it this way, “The Father and I are one.”

For me it is helpful to say I am one with the goodness of God! Feel that goodness. There is no money lack, no need to do relationship lack. I am one with the goodness of God! There is nothing that’s against you because you are a radiant child of God. I am one with the goodness of God! Knowing that, may all your giants come tumbling down!

 

September 20, 2015 – Pooh’s Path to Peace

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09/20/15  Rev. David McArthur
Pooh’s Path to Peace

Monday is the International Day of Peace organized by the UN. Please hold the consciousness of peace with everyone. But how do we do that? One way is meditation, but it’s not always a regular practice. And I do have to get out of my meditation chair and be in the world, a world which is not trying to meditate with me. How do I bring peace into that part of my world?

Charles Fillmore said that to get to peace, to that in-depth experience in prayer which is beyond the challenges we face, get still. Let the body relax and the mind quiet. Silently say over and over to yourself, “Peace. Be still.” A great stillness will pervade your whole being.

In A. A. Milne’s first story Pooh hears a buzzing noise—a bee! Honey! To eat! So Pooh began climbing the tree. But a branch broke and he fell onto another branch which broke and he landed in the bushes. O help! He goes to Christopher Robin, who represents the Christ bearer, our spiritual self connected to the oneness, the fullness.

Christopher Robin gives Pooh a blue balloon. When Pooh grabs it, Christopher Robin lets go, and Pooh drifts up as high as the bee’s in the tree. Pooh could see them and he could smell the honey, but the wind didn’t blow him any closer. Pooh consoled himself, saying, “These are the wrong sort of bees.” So Christopher Robin told him to let go of the balloon. Pooh objected that he’d fall too fast and get hurt. So Christopher Robin shot a small hole in the balloon and the air let out slowly. Pooh floated down to the ground and back to Christopher Robin. If you’re involved with your “bees” and are trying to get your honey, Christopher Robin (the Christ connection) will help you float down. Our fulfillment is not with our bees but down on the ground with Christopher Robin. Just because it is simple don’t mistake it as not profound. In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

At the heart of each great religion is a prayer to go to the deep peace. One in particular calls to me. It is the Prayer of Saint Francis, Make me an instrument of your peace. Make me an instrument of your peace. Make me an instrument of your peace. When you are dealing with your bees: Make me an instrument of your peace. Take that deep breath. Our power here is the sincerity of our heart. If we want to move away from the bees: Make me an instrument of your peace. It draws us to our hearts and that beautiful consciousness. Feel that beautiful shift! Make me an instrument of your peace.

Right in the midst of all the bees there is an alternative. It’s called “peace”.

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March 22, 2015 – Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Embracing the Pain

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03/22/15 Rev. David McArthur
Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Healing the Pain

Our assignment last week was to heal our pain from past relationships. A change of perception will move us to the wholeness that we are. “Beauty & the Beast” talks of this spiritual awakening. It pictures the Kingdom of Heaven where divine love is caring for and supporting us in every moment. We can see the gifts (but not the giver). We can enter into our heart, into the feeling of goodness, the divine presence, by breathing the feeling of ease. But to grasp spiritual awareness is to forfeit life as we have known it.

Beauty (our feeling side) consciously enters the presence of the ugly fearsome Beast. How do we move into the conscious presence of “ugly” (the pain we carry from past experiences)? We must accept and be aware of it consciously. Breathe ease and hold the feelings in the heart. If we are in our head we go into the blame circle. But in the heart the spiritual energy holds it without judgment. It just is.

Beauty’s perception of the Beast begins to change. She still sees ugly, but also sees nobility, caring, and wisdom. Simply holding the ugly in our heart we begin to see more. Our perception changes. Beauty asks for some time to return to her family and what she misses. The Beast won’t refuse her anything, but warns “if you don’t return I will die.” If we don’t return to healing, the opportunity to heal changes. So Beauty returns to her family and soon forgets her promise to go back to the castle. She dreams one night she is in the castle and the Beast has died. So the next day she hurries back to the castle with intention, searching out of care for what had previously been frightening and ugly to her. She has grown.

Drafted to serve in Viet Nam, Arthur’s love for his wife Marina carried him through the ugliness he found there. Unfortunately, she found another and broke his heart. He used meaningless relationships, drugs and alcohol to cope, until he realized he had to change. He found a new relationship and happily remarried. Then Marina arrived to make amends. His terrible heartache returned. He had moved on but had not healed. The purpose of forgiveness is not to develop excellent coping mechanisms, but to heal the pain and find freedom from it. He went to his heart, where he had compassion for his pain that was real. He healed, and now says, “whenever I recall those days, I can do it with a smile…I can experience that goodness because it is here.”

Beauty finds the Beast near death. Compassion washes over her. You too can embrace the ugly within and feel the compassion in your heart. The tears of compassion break the ugliness and there is only healing, beauty, love, wholeness, freedom. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. That beautiful power and light that flows through us is no longer blocked and flows to those around us and creates that state of consciousness known as “happily ever after”!
 

March 22, 2015 – Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Embracing the Pain

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03/22/15 Rev. David McArthur
Beauty & the Beast, Part 2: Healing the Pain

Our assignment last week was to heal our pain from past relationships. A change of perception will move us to the wholeness that we are. “Beauty & the Beast” talks of this spiritual awakening. It pictures the Kingdom of Heaven where divine love is caring for and supporting us in every moment. We can see the gifts (but not the giver). We can enter into our heart, into the feeling of goodness, the divine presence, by breathing the feeling of ease. But to grasp spiritual awareness is to forfeit life as we have known it.

Beauty (our feeling side) consciously enters the presence of the ugly fearsome Beast. How do we move into the conscious presence of “ugly” (the pain we carry from past experiences)? We must accept and be aware of it consciously. Breathe ease and hold the feelings in the heart. If we are in our head we go into the blame circle. But in the heart the spiritual energy holds it without judgment. It just is.

Beauty’s perception of the Beast begins to change. She still sees ugly, but also sees nobility, caring, and wisdom. Simply holding the ugly in our heart we begin to see more. Our perception changes. Beauty asks for some time to return to her family and what she misses. The Beast won’t refuse her anything, but warns “if you don’t return I will die.” If we don’t return to healing, the opportunity to heal changes. So Beauty returns to her family and soon forgets her promise to go back to the castle. She dreams one night she is in the castle and the Beast has died. So the next day she hurries back to the castle with intention, searching out of care for what had previously been frightening and ugly to her. She has grown.

Drafted to serve in Viet Nam, Arthur’s love for his wife Marina carried him through the ugliness he found there. Unfortunately, she found another and broke his heart. He used meaningless relationships, drugs and alcohol to cope, until he realized he had to change. He found a new relationship and happily remarried. Then Marina arrived to make amends. His terrible heartache returned. He had moved on but had not healed. The purpose of forgiveness is not to develop excellent coping mechanisms, but to heal the pain and find freedom from it. He went to his heart, where he had compassion for his pain that was real. He healed, and now says, “whenever I recall those days, I can do it with a smile…I can experience that goodness because it is here.”

Beauty finds the Beast near death. Compassion washes over her. You too can embrace the ugly within and feel the compassion in your heart. The tears of compassion break the ugliness and there is only healing, beauty, love, wholeness, freedom. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. I embrace my pain with compassion. I am free. That beautiful power and light that flows through us is no longer blocked and flows to those around us and creates that state of consciousness known as “happily ever after”!

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