Transformative Small Group Experiences

 Those wishing to explore my current work (which I have not referred to on this blog) can visit my web page www.clarkechols.com

SEVEN PRACTICES OF PEACE

You can acquire practices that will create peace in your heart, in your mind, in your life, and so in the world. Current psychology and modern spirituality, using current technologies, can bring ancient wisdom, hidden in creation myths, into your modern life. 

FREE INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOP

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

5 - 7 PM

A seven week series of small group experiences will be introduced at a free workshop led by Clark Echols, an experienced teacher and small group experience facilitator. 

Hosted by: Glendale New Church, 845 Congress Ave., Glendale, OH 45246 

To register for the free introduction go to www.glendalenewchurch.org

Cincinnati Spiritual Cinema Circle: The Letter Writer

Cincinnati Spiritual Cinema Circle: The Letter Writer: January 13, 2012 5 – 7 PM Elders have wisdom that includes powerful insights, great advice, and effective encouragement....

Tragedy, the Lord, and Christmas Love

Struggling with the awful news of killings in a peaceful Connecticut town – 27 victims including 20 little children in the heart of the Christmas season – I recall another terrible killing two thousand years ago, of little boys two and under, not long after Jesus’ birth in a Bethlehem stable. “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2.18, quoting the prophecy of Jeremiah 31.15) 

Joseph heard the angel’s warning and led Mary and baby Jesus to safety in Egypt. But the killing of the baby boys around Bethlehem is there, every year, to remind us starkly of the evil in the world that the Lord came on earth to overcome, through His own living and victory in temptation.

This awful episode usually remains in the background as we prefer to focus on the positive, the happy and joyful – hopes for the future and human wishes to move closer to “peace on earth, good will towards men.” (Luke 2.14) It feels different this Christmas time. Reading about the murders in a happy little elementary school for 5-9-year-old boys and girls, I can’t help but feel also the horror of Herod’s attack on innocence around Bethlehem, and the tragic pain that parents and siblings went through, as they are going through now in Connecticut. With greater intensity than in other years I feel the reality of evil in the world, and in hell, that our Lord came on earth to counter, through His victorious love and truth.

Why at Christmas? The Lord always brings love. Evil is never from Him. When in His providence evil is allowed, it is because He created us to live in states of freedom, to make choices as of ourselves. Our environment is governed by His laws of providence, but is not arbitrarily changed at every turn to avoid or negate the consequences of bad human decisions. Such arbitrary manipulation of our environment would work against our choosing freely, and we would lean closer to choosing what feels good now, and leave God by Himself to clean up the messes from human decisions. To live truly freely, we exist in an environment that also has freedom and is not under God’s constant manipulation and change. And tragedies like the elementary school killings, like Herod’s slaughter of innocents, do occur.

Let us remember: the Lord’s loving providence without exception seeks to bring goodness out of all evil. No tragedy occurs where God does not enter into all people to inspire feelings of loving others, insights of truth, and human changes for the better. He forces inner change on no one, but endeavors always to lead us in our pain to higher understanding of reality, to spiritual growth inside us, and to heightened caring for our neighbors. Herod’s killings show us truly why God’s Word needed to come in the flesh. Tragedy at Christmas, while bringing anguish, can deepen our inner thought, and move our focus to what is truly important about Christmas – God coming on earth.

Everyone who reads this will grieve from the recent tragic news. And we all can also take the time to reflect and to act, in our own personal ways, to carry out goodness from the Lord in our daily surroundings, with fuller and better love towards others.

Dan Goodenough, December 15, 2012

Reprinted with permission

Jeremiah 31

15 Thus says Jehovah: A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her sons refused to be comforted for her sons, for they were not.

16 Thus says Jehovah: Withhold thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for there shall be a reward for thy work, says Jehovah; and they shall return from the land of the enemy.

17 And there is hope for thy last times, says Jehovah, and sons shall return to their border.

Spiritual Growth Support Group

I look forward to facilitating a Spiritual Growth Support Group again for nine sessions starting 

Monday, January 14, 2013. 

Here are the homework tasks that are given out. Very powerful stuff!

WAKING UP TO SPIRITUAL LIFE AND DEALING WITH THE INFERNAL MARRIAGE
When you become aware of a negative emotion in yourself, find a distraction and notice if the strength of the emotion is reduced. Observe the thoughts that surround the negative emotion and how quickly they arrive. Experiment with stopping the negative emotion by stopping the negative thoughts. Notice any changes that the distraction or positive thoughts have on the negative emotion. Write about this in your journal and come prepared to report on your experience. 

NOT IDENTIFYING WITH NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
When you observe a negative emotion in yourself, remind yourself that the emotion is not YOU. Say: "IT IS _________ (mad, jealous, scared, etc.), and I don't have to be." Write about this experience in your journal and come prepared to report on your reactions.

LETTING GO OF CRITICISM
Observe your criticisms (out loud and in your head) for a whole day. Once you have noticed the pattern of critical thoughts, go for a whole day without internal or external criticism. This applies to self-criticism as well. Notice what happens and record it in your journal. 

DEALING WITH LYING
1. Observe IT (your lower self) Lying 
a. Saying to yourself or to another what is not true, 
b. Rationalizing; making excuses by lying to yourself, 
c. Exaggerating (externally or internally), d. Talking with authority about something you know little or nothing about, e. Saying things that are true with the intention to mislead, f. Lying by omission, leaving out some vital piece of information, g. Telling "nice" lies, lying to be kind. 
2. When you observe the lying, stop as soon as you notice.

LIVING IN THE PRESENT
Whenever you feel regret or anxiety, observe any connection with the past or future. Let go and bring yourself into an awareness of something positive in the here and now. Say to yourself: "The present moment is eternity. I am in the perfect place at the perfect time."

FORGIVING OTHERS
When a person trespasses against you, use effort and attention to recall something you should ask the Lord to forgive you for. Hold them side-by-side.

CHOOSING HIGHER DELIGHTS
When you suspect that a state you are in is NEGATIVE, notice whatever enjoyment you may be having from it. What is the pay-off for the negative state? What HIGHER ENJOYMENT is being blocked by the negative delight? Let go of the negative and see if you can allow the positive to take its place. 

HANDING YOUR LIFE OVER TO THE LORD
Create a task for yourself relating to handing your life over to the Lord. It might take the form of beginning each day with a prayer, such as "Lord, I give my life to You this day". It could take the form of pausing from time to time to ask: "Lord, what is Your will for me at this moment?" Find a task that suits where you are in your life at this time.

Gold and Shadow

I had an insight while in my men's group that I intend to hold to as long as I can! So I am writing about it....

The Lord's life flows in such that the divine is in us. When we own it, and feel it to be our own, it is no longer divine, but it is still His love and wisdom. In the lingo of the format of this men's work, it is called gold. Everyone has this gold within.

The vessel the receives the Lord's life is called the "own" (Latin: proprium). Lisa Hyatt translates it as "autonomy" as in the following from Heavenly Secrets #3994:

“Innocence is an absolutely essential element of love and charity, and consequently of goodness. A person’s innocence consists in knowing, acknowledging, and believing, not with the lips but with the heart, that only evil originates in oneself, and everything good originates in the Lord…When a person confesses and believes this in his heart, the Lord flows in with good and truth and instills a heavenly autonomy into him which is bright and shining. Nobody can possibly be truly humble unless that acknowledgment and belief are present in his heart; and when they are present he is self-effacing and so is not preoccupied with himself, in which case he is in a fit state to receive the Lord's Divine. These are the circumstances in which the Lord flows in with good into a humble and contrite heart."

Notice that the Lord eventually changes the proprium from being completely evil to being heavenly. In the lingo of this men's work the first proprium is called a person's shadow.

One way to use this information is to imagine one's shadow as out in front, and so no longer hidden. Also, one accepts the existence and power of the shadow. One cannot get rid of it. And fighting it is futile. In fact, again in the paradigm of this men's work, one is to embrace and accept the shadow as not only a part of one's being, but as equally valuable. This makes sense of one considers that the proprium will eventually be changed by the Lord into a purely good vessel.

So the insight was a feeling, both an emotion and a physical sensation. I realized the emptiness produced by a dilemma. On the one hand, if I label my shadow as a worthless piece of "refuse" (trash) I will have to lie to you in order to hide this part of myself because, of course, I want to look good and and I want you to like me (which you wouldn't if you saw what I was REALLY like). On the other, if I don't lie and show you that I am a worthless piece of refuse, again, I have come to believe, you will see me for what I am and will reject me and not like me.

The way out of the dilemma is to stop rejecting my shadow and to stop calling it bad and wrong. (Note: it is evil ONLY in itself, because I am giving it power by holding onto my judgment of it and trying to hide it or get rid of it). By accepting my proprium for what it is, I stop giving it power from the divine love the Lord is giving me to use. I detach from it in the sense that I don't make it all of me. I let go of it so that I don't own it (a favorite concept: all evil is from hell, all good is from the Lord). All the time I remember this, I can much more easily control the behavior, including thoughts as well as actions, that I am ashamed of, that separate me from the Lord, heaven, and that I would be embarrassed if anyone knew about.

Having Jesus In Your Heart

This the first of a series of articles based on the Gospel of Matthew intended to equip us better to be followers of Jesus Christ.

The first chapter of Matthew proves that Jesus is a descendant of, first, King David, and then of Abraham. Jesus is thus not only a Jew, he is royalty. All because Matthew could produce the list of names that links them all.

Before you read any further, take a moment and get a piece of scrap paper and a pen and write your name. Did you write your complete name? Did you print it neatly? Or did you write a signature? Is your writing distinctive? Is there something special you do to a letter or as a flourish? Have you ever played with how your signature looks or using just initials? Notice that these questions speak to how you think of yourself. And they reflect how you want others to see you.

Did you ever acquire a nickname? Do you have a “real” name apart from your nickname? Have you asked people to call you a certain name? How, if at all is it connected your given name? A nickname, when made up by others, reveals something about what they think of you. A nickname you choose yourself, or one made up that you perpetuate, reveals how you want to be related to, even in some small way.

Now, reflect for a moment on each of the following questions. What do you think is a person’s first thought when they hear your name? Does it make a difference if they are looking at you when they first hear it? Does it make a difference if you introduce yourself or if someone else introduces you? Do you want to change your name? Can you describe what it is about your name that makes you want to have a different one? How do you feel about the fact that you didn’t get to pick your name? Do you know if your parents had a reason for giving you the name they did? What was it? Has your personality developed to match your name? Is that because of your name, or because your name reflects your parents’ personality which determined not only why they named you what they did, but the way they raised you?

And here is a relevant teaching: “The ancients took a name to mean simply the essence of a thing, and seeing something and naming it to mean recognizing its nature. This was due to the fact that they gave their daughters and sons names with a relevant meaning. Every name had a unique element that indicated where people were from and what they were like....Such a manner of speaking was familiar to them, and anyone who fails to understand it will be puzzled by the symbolism....No one knows anyone’s name in heaven, either, but each knows what the other is like.” (Secrets of Heaven n.144, 145)

What do you plan to do, if anything, to live up to your name? Do you look forward to living up to your name? Are you going to be like the parent or ancestor you were name for? Is he or she a model for you? Are there characteristics about the person you were named after that you want to avoid or get rid of?

What do you want to be named in heaven?

The story of the incarnation of God begins with names, perhaps, to begin with the most external feature of the Lord, the name “Jesus” and the honorific “Christ.” At the same time, those names involve his deepest essence. On the one hand, his heredity did not define him (at least no more than it defines any of us). On the other hand, his heredity connects him to both the Divine Itself and you and I. Jesus Christ is thus unique, even as he is an archetype for all of us.

To be called “Christian” is a significant matter. No parent gives you this name. You don’t make up its meaning, its heritage. It is symbolic of a certain essence, and it actually represents a way of being, of believing and living. It cannot be taken as a “toss off” nickname.

In a sense, you cannot earn the name “Christian.” You acquire it by a life according to the commands of Jesus Christ.

Living as a Christian leads to people thinking of you a certain way. They have a first impression, which may or may not be accurate. Many of our acquaintances don’t know us by this name. Are there some we would not want to know us by this name? Why? Can you name yourself “Christian”? How comfortable are you with that.

Again, why does the Gospel of Matthew start with a list of names? Might it be that it is essential that we take on the name Christian because it connects us to our God, Redeemer and Savior? As we do, we surely acquire a new name that will stick with us even into heaven! It is an essential quality that everyone we meet there will see instantly!

Spiritual Growth Support Group

I look forward to facilitating a Spiritual Growth Support Group again some time. It is a ten week series of workshops. Here are the homework tasks that are given out. Very powerful stuff!

WAKING UP TO SPIRITUAL LIFE AND DEALING WITH THE INFERNAL MARRIAGE
When you become aware of a negative emotion in yourself, find a distraction and notice if the strength of the emotion is reduced. Observe the thoughts that surround the negative emotion and how quickly they arrive. Experiment with stopping the negative emotion by stopping the negative thoughts. Notice any changes that the distraction or positive thoughts have on the negative emotion. Write about this in your journal and come prepared to report on your experience.

NOT IDENTIFYING WITH NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
When you observe a negative emotion in yourself, remind yourself that the emotion is not YOU. Say: "IT IS _________ (mad, jealous, scared, etc.), and I don't have to be." Write about this experience in your journal and come prepared to report on your reactions.

LETTING GO OF CRITICISM
Observe your criticisms (out loud and in your head) for a whole day. Once you have noticed the pattern of critical thoughts, go for a whole day without internal or external criticism. This applies to self-criticism as well. Notice what happens and record it in your journal.

DEALING WITH LYING
1. Observe IT (your lower self) Lying
a. Saying to yourself or to another what is not true,
b. Rationalizing; making excuses by lying to yourself,
c. Exaggerating (externally or internally), d. Talking with authority about something you know little or nothing about, e. Saying things that are true with the intention to mislead, f. Lying by omission, leaving out some vital piece of information, g. Telling "nice" lies, lying to be kind.
2. When you observe the lying, stop as soon as you notice.

LIVING IN THE PRESENT
Whenever you feel regret or anxiety, observe any connection with the past or future. Let go and bring yourself into an awareness of something positive in the here and now. Say to yourself: "The present moment is eternity. I am in the perfect place at the perfect time."

FORGIVING OTHERS
When a person trespasses against you, use effort and attention to recall something you should ask the Lord to forgive you for. Hold them side-by-side.

CHOOSING HIGHER DELIGHTS
When you suspect that a state you are in is NEGATIVE, notice whatever enjoyment you may be having from it. What is the pay-off for the negative state? What HIGHER ENJOYMENT is being blocked by the negative delight? Let go of the negative and see if you can allow the positive to take its place.

HANDING YOUR LIFE OVER TO THE LORD
Create a task for yourself relating to handing your life over to the Lord. It might take the form of beginning each day with a prayer, such as "Lord, I give my life to You this day". It could take the form of pausing from time to time to ask: "Lord, what is Your will for me at this moment?" Find a task that suits where you are in your life at this time.

Meditation

“Reflection is a mental looking at the disposition and nature of a thing, and from that reflection comes perception.” Arcana Coelestia §3661

“About reflection
“I was just conversing with spirits and angels about reflection, to which I do not know whether people have given enough attention; and it was said that if they give it some thought, they will discover more secrets in the doctrine of reflection than in any other.
“What reflection achieves can be quite clear to everyone from the fact that we perceive no sensation of the body or its parts, and are unaware of having a sensation, unless we reflect upon that part of our body. Then we perceive heat, cold, pressure - we even feel what that part is suffering. If we reflect on our breathing, then we feel and know that we are breathing, and in this way a voluntary factor joins in; besides innumerable other instances.” Spiritual Experiences §733


These teachings encourage us to make the time in our busy lives to read the Word and then make a special effort to reflect on what we have read.

I am convinced that the ancient people had special ways of reflecting on what they were seeing all around them. That practice has come down in a huge variety of methods of meditation, some of which are deservedly dismissed. For instance, the practice of “contemplating your navel” is only justifying one’s self and its limited ideas and corrupted desires.

Meditation, as I understand it from reading teachings such as those above, is a contemplation of the Word in such a focused and intense manner, that its truths transmit the Lord’s love into our minds and hearts that are prepared to humbly receive them so that they make a difference in our beliefs, our desires and our actions.

That huge result is produced by the Lord in us only when we learn how to meditate on the Word. This is not a natural talent. It is not a gift anyone has without a lot of work. The mental barriers – psychological and spiritual – are many and complex.

For instance, our brains are wired to make associations all the time. We want to be connecting the past or the future to our current experience. This means that we do not automatically provide mental space for the truth of the Word to be all by itself. We tend to attach all kinds of meanings to any idea we get from the Word. And some of those ideas will pollute the message of love the Lord wants us to receive.

To acquire the skill of considering the Lord’s truth in a non judgmental way, in the unaffected present moment, includes a number of steps, some of which seem in themselves useless or pointless. But each skill is part of the final ability. We must learn each skill individually for we cannot learn them all at once.

Note that Swedenborg’s own experience was that we will see the usefulness of such reflection just from the experience of paying attention to our bodies – “reflect on our breathing, then we feel and know that we are breathing, and in this way a voluntary factor joins in; besides innumerable other instances.”

“The voluntary factor,” that is, choosing to pay attention to a specific object, he tells us, makes a difference in our ability to reflect, ultimately, on the truth of the Word!



for instance, as I write this, I am present to the experience that summer provides wonderful times to meditate! The early mornings’ light and coolness draw us to sit and breathe deeply. Or, we can take time to cool down after mowing the lawn with a stillness of body and mind, in the simply enjoyment of a job well done (and, after ten minutes of this, a cold drink!).

So here is a list of meditation skills that, as you become skilled at doing them, can be combined to enhance your reflection upon the Word, bringing a sensation of the Lord’s love for you into your life.

Sit in a comfortable position and put your attention on small parts of your body one at a time until you have paid attention to, and relaxed, every part. For example, you might start by paying attention to the toes of your right foot. Wiggle them a bit, and then relax them. This will take only a few seconds, although the goal is the ability to give full attention to something as small as one toe for a long time. You might then pay attention to one ankle, then the other, one calf and then the other, and so on through all the muscles you can identify. I am surprised almost every time I get to my eyebrows and discover I am holding them up!

Another skill is paying attention to your breathing. Sit comfortably; take a deep breath through your nose so that you do it somewhat slowly. Notice how your lungs fill. Your ribs expand and your belly goes out. Breath out slowly through your mouth, letting your lungs empty completely. After a few of these deep breaths, relax into whatever is your normal breathing. And now the skill part: put all your attention on your breath. Notice the air moving in your nose, your mouth. Notice the movement of your ribs and diaphragm. You might have to close your eyes. If that leads you to think about other things or get anxious, then stare at something right in front of you until you are not paying attention to it anymore. You will quickly discover that you will think of something other than your breath. So, note that your mind wandered for a while, and put your attention back on your breath. This skill is not intended to remove the brain’s wiring. It is to give us the ability to choose where we put our attention for a longer time than we can now. Again, the goal is not to be able to pay attention to your breath for five minutes without a break. The goal is to acquire this skill so that you can use it to contemplate an idea from the Word without distractions. I look forward to being able to do it better!

I encourage you to explore meditation. There are lots of teachers around. It has been shown to help a wide variety of physical ailments. And people who meditate on the Word report many benefits. If you would like to join a meditation group at our church, let me know!

Metaphorically Speaking

“That same day two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him.” Luke 24:13-16


We are encouraged to see metaphors in our world and personal experience for what is happening in our spirit. It makes our spirituality–our inner, mental life– real to us and connected to what is happening here and now. This is important because, as we delight in realizing, our spirit is that part of our being that is eternal, and not bound to the material world. This delight is the joy being described in the Psalm quoted above. It is a source of continuing delight that the teachings for the New Church constantly make this connection between the reality of this world and the reality of our spiritual world. Our spirit, our essence indeed, yearns to experience the connection, and we look for it wherever we can.

And yet likely you have noticed that too often we miss the application of some spiritual principle because our attention is outward or on our own selfhood. Too often we have an opportunity to learn a new spiritual notion, but we miss it because our mind’s eye is closed. Perhaps something like what happened to the men on the way to Emmaus.

This story is not spoken of directly in the Writings for the New Church. I found an inspired exposition in an old book on the Gospel of Luke by the Rev. J. Clowes (pronounced “clues”), who lived 1743-1831, who is one of our church “fathers.” He was a Church of England priest who converted to the New Church and wrote a number of seminal works on the Writings. About this passage he writes (first concerning verse 12, Peter looking into the tomb and seeing it empty): “Nevertheless they, who are more principled in the doctrine of faith, are led to make enquiry about it, and seeing that in the Lord all truth was made Divine Good, they are excited to adoration.

“They too [as represented by the two men on the road to Emmaus], who are in the doctrine of charity and faith united, reason together on the subject, and by their reasonings bring the Lord near to and present with them, though they do no know it.” “Gospel According to Luke,” p 424.

The application to our lives of this spiritual principle is that we are on the way through our life, with a certain direction and goal in mind. Along the way, using the information we have, we reason about our beliefs and what they say about goodness and truth, and right behavior.

First of all, we have to ask ourselves if are we conscious of our direction in life. And we have to become intentional in our goals. You are invited to read and meditate on the Word of God in order to gain a perspective on your own life. This will reveal to you where you are on your journey and where you are headed. This is perhaps the walking part of your life. This ongoing spiritual practice may be described as allowing the Word simply to be in your life without any preconditions. You have the Word in your memory first, and then it is available for you to use in your thinking, speaking and acting. The Lord’s promise is that this practice will bring His presence.

Perhaps the next piece being described in this story is the silent approach of our Helper, Comforter, and Savior. His presence is never intrusive or demanding. He quietly sneaks up on us in the daily routines of our lives. He even feigns ignorance! That is, He protects our freedom by hiding His influence. Yet, when we ask Him, He speaks up, raising all the experiences we have had in gathering and using truths from His Word, into the light of heaven. We are enlightened. In fact, “our hearts burn within us” (verse 32) because we are filled with a new sight of love for the Lord and our neighbor.

Every time we have such an insight, we have successfully connected our spiritual life with our natural life. It is a process as automatic and seemingly instinctive as our ability to use and understand metaphor. It can be said, even, that we can let go and let the Lord run His process! Our task is to keep walking, keep gathering truths from the Word and finding confirmations in our experience. As we do so, regularly meditating and reflecting on our spiritual state and goal, we can rest in the hope that the Lord will give us the wisdom and love to become ever more aware of His love in our life.

The Journey

There is a man in a state prison that writes to me, and he often amazes me. He describes in clear detail what he does to remain free. He was enslaved by evil long before society meted out punishment for his crime. And now, when he remembers himself – which he must do almost daily – he rises above the false ideas and evil delights that threaten to persecute him, and he is free.

I know a 50 year old woman who fears old age. She has watched her grandparents and her parents grow old and suffer the loss of abilities, then lose the enjoyment of life, and finally lose life itself. And now she recognizes the signs of the same losses in her own body and mind. Her energy is dwindling. Her reflexes are slowing. Her memory and attention span are not as good as they were ten years ago. Her work is all routine. Her avocation is becoming a burden. She is about to retire and move, and for no reason but that she is getting old. She is discovering that she is imprisoned by lies about life. One lie is that there is no value or reality to the present moment in and of itself, regardless of the circumstances. She senses an evil force manipulating her through this lies, convincing her that only physical youth is good, and that old age bad because death ends life.

I recently read the story of Dan Millman who was incredibly successful in gymnastics. He was judged the best in the world at the 1968 Olypmics. He writes of how he discovered the prison that his point of view about himself and the world created to enclose his spirit. It was wonderful that he didn’t have to lose his life of gymnastics, but he went through many trials to discover exactly what he did have to lose in order to find a way to use his talents to make a better world for himself and others.

I am told that a person can crave food in unhealthy quantities and qualities, so that eating is an attempt to serve a deep need for satisfaction. Actually the need is never met, and the obsession, if not curbed, leads to death. Such a person is enslaved by the falsity that a particular food can be of service to a spiritual need. When it doesn’t satisfy, the person eats more, continuing to believe the lie. The person can actually believe that a certain behavior, bad for them yesterday, will not be bad for them this time. The same falsity is involved in all addictions.

So how does a person so enslaved break out of such a pervasive prison? It is the process of spiritual growth, which begins with the realization that it will take a miracle to be freed. The process begins when I realize that it is my own knowledge and thinking from it that is the source of my pain, darkness, obsession and limitation. I then realize that I have to give it all up, that my beliefs and thought processes and the behaviors they produce must be replaced. The Lord’s preparations for my freeing then become active. Memories of long past delights in good are stirred. Ideas, circumstances and people (many of which were there all along) suddenly appear and are attractive. It is of note that the book and movie “The Secret” is based on this essential truth (although the author doesn’t see the whole picture and goes awry). The Lord’s design is that as I realize I need His miracle of healing, precisely because I feel lost, condemned and beyond His reach, there is created in my mind a glimmer of hope, and a strategy or two to be adopted. A tender, small and fragile sense of freedom arises in my heart.

“But nobody can have this freedom except one who is governed by good; for it is by virtue of good that he is in heaven and by virtue of good that truths are seen there.” And so the process continues with successes and failures to live up to the new sight of truth. Little by little, the good of heaven replaces the “good” the addict, the materialist, or the hedonist had before. More and more the person sees the evil of those delights, and identifies and rejects the falsities that propped them up.

Unbeknownst to the person, the Lord’s processes continue to operate to replace old, evil delights with new good ones. This happens automatically as the person acts on new true ideas, which then are receptors of and clothing for inner goodness. Without knowing how, the desire and inclination to act on the old falsities is gone! A new freedom is experienced.

This is the journey. There are traps, pitfalls, and dead ends. But as one perseveres and trusts in the Lord, there are successes. And we come to know for ourselves and in our life that “You shall deal bountifully with me.” (Psalm 142:7)

Freedom

Freedom is among the most precious gifts proffered by the Lord. From the most ancient times, human freedom has been considered at the core of our being. And today it continues a rallying cry – and a battle cry – in a hundred languages around the globe.

We should expect striving for freedom to endure through the millennia. How can it be otherwise with what God surely sees as His pinnacle of creation? All of nature, from the rocks that appear motionless only in our crude eyesight, to the finest substances of our brains that follow the incomprehensible laws of quantum mechanics, vibrates with the effort of divine life to find free expression, expansion and replication. All of spirit, from the lowest urges of instinct to the noblest inspirations of altruism, is driven by the outflow of divine life through the human being to find free expression in love, wisdom and usefulness.

The Lord cares about our freedom because His goal is the free expression of love that completes the circle of His life. Therefore, from His infinite love, He works to maintain the possibility of humans choosing to love Him in return through their freely chosen loving action. It must be, therefore, that infinite power steadies the flow of life, assuring that there is always a choice. On the lowest level the choice is between up and down, in and out, left and right. On the deepest level it is between materialism and spirituality, evil and good, selfishness and God. Surely among the deepest concerns of thoughtful people across the planet therefore is this: how do we realize this beautiful state of life individually and as a culture of selfless, good, spirituality?

Every human being on the planet has an opportunity to find his or her unique path to realizing the freedom that is being maintained by divine power. Clearly, many people do not understand how to manage their freedom. There are countless sad stories of people who are wounded by mistaking license for freedom. In striving for power, people evilly manipulate others with false promises of freedom. It is perhaps my deepest frustration that there is no enticement that will overcome a dictator’s desire for power. And too many people mistakenly believe they know quite clearly the order that establishes freedom (which is in fact only part of the process of establishing freedom), and seek to impose it on the rest of us.

It is important that we all contribute to the realization of natural freedom, of civil, political freedom. We do this in arenas from town councils to international organizations. Every good citizen of a country works to preserve the freedom of action, speech and association in an orderly way. This work, however, is limited if we are not at the same time striving to realize our own spiritual freedom. That foundation is necessary to see clearly the nature of lower levels of freedom, protecting society from immature notions of freedom.

During our journey of regeneration, we are given glimpses of genuine spiritual freedom. We can then look back into our past and see the ignorant, wounded person, the power hungry despot, and the self-righteous leader we have been at times! At some point we recognize the slavery we have endured. For one person it was a substance that enslaved them. It might have been the need to be loved. It might have been the need to “feel” free. The glimpses of true freedom have given us hope, a promise of divine healing of love and truth, which will set us free at last.

The story of the escape of the Children of Israel from Egypt, how the Lord freed them and how they then responded and stepped out in faith is perhaps literature's greatest example of this human striving for freedom that is successful when in partnership with the Lord.

Our congregation’s fall program, “The Journey - Realizing Spiritual Freedom,” promises to take us through the major stages from slavery to freedom in any area of one's life. Like last fall, the seminar utilizes large and small group experiences and “tasks” to do between sessions. The individual inner work is thus profitably linked to education in large group settings and mutual support in small group settings. The promise is that, by coming to church every Sunday for eight weeks beginning September 23rd, and reading the companion booklet, you will experience an opportunity to realize your own spiritual freedom in a new way.

Planning

“Anyone who does not view the matter from anywhere beyond the sense of the letter may think that all concern for the morrow is to be avoided, which being so, people should then await their requirements every day from heaven. But a person who views it from a position deeper than the literal meaning, that is, who views it from the internal sense, may recognize what concern for the morrow is used to mean - not concern to obtain food and clothing for oneself, and also resources for the future; for it is not contrary to order to make provision for oneself and one's dependents. But people are concerned about the morrow when they are not content with their lot, do not trust in God but in themselves, and have solely worldly and earthly things in view, not heavenly ones.”(from Emanuel Swedenborg's "Secrets of Heaven")

Robert Burns wrote (in modernized wording) that “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go astray, and leave us with nothing but grief and pain, instead of the promised joy.” And then there is Murphy’s Law: “If it can go wrong it will.” You have your favorite. The point is, why plan at all? It seems that any goal you have-–joy, happiness, success–if achieved at all will be by luck or chance more than by your meager power or control.

Swedenborg also says, “people in the stream of providence are being carried along constantly towards happier things, whatever appearance the means may present.” That is faint assurance, to be sure. It means that when things are at their worst, the Lord is still our omnipotent God, and His plans for us (as far away as they seem at the time) are still possible. Sometimes it is hard to be thankful to Him for that.

So how do we get into the stream? It is put simply in the same passage: “Those in the stream of providence are people who trust in the Divine and ascribe everything to Him.” Perhaps you were expecting something else? The way to avoid cynicism and desperation about planning is to trust in the Divine by, in part, ascribing EVERYTHING to Him.

Does this mean that we don’t have to think ahead and plan for the future; that, if we trust in the Lord, He will carry us along to a happy end? No. This passage also says: “‘Care for the morrow’ (in Luke 12) is used to mean, not concern to obtain food and clothing for oneself, and also resources for the future; for it is not contrary to order to make provision for oneself and one's dependents. But people are concerned about the morrow when they are not content with their lot, do not trust in God but in themselves, and have solely worldly and earthly things in view, not heavenly ones.” We are to become conscious of a dependence upon the Lord even as we provide for the future.

Being human brings with it this delightful opportunity: to trust in the Divine AND plan for our future from a spiritual point of view, not a merely temporal, materialistic view. Being merely materialistic is acting from less than our full potential. Being spiritual is acting from a desire to be useful, which has unlimited potential for growth and delight.

So it is important that we distinguish between controlling the planning and controlling the result. To be in control of the planning is provident. To seek to control the result is futile. To participate in the plan the Lord has for us, we have to take the time and make the effort to reflect on our purposes in life, our goals, and our dreams. We think ahead, save, collect ideas, and arrange the details as much as we can. If we trust in the Lord in the process, we are promised, happy results will follow. Perhaps not in time or space; and perhaps there will be tragedy and trial along the way, but His goal for us will be reached. And, importantly, we will be happy with any result. We will be content during the process, and will not get upset when things go wrong (the rest of this passage says all this very beautifully!).

On the other hand, our desire to control the future leads to worry, anguish, anger and eventually a denial of God. This passage from the Word puts it this way: “These people are ruled completely by anxiety over the future, and by the desire to possess all things and exercise control over all other people.” Again, if we plan to be useful, rather than plan a certain outcome, our attention will be on the use, not on controlling people and circumstances. You can easily imagine the huge difference!

Let us help each other plan for the future of our church, from the perspective of use and eternity, not expecting any results, and not just this day, week, year, decade or even our time on earth! The Word promises happiness as we do this planning, and then act in service to the Lord!

Hope Springs Eternal

“After these things, the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward….This one shall not be you heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in Jehovah and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:4-6

“Once I was out on a walk with some angels. We were walking in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, the place where all of us first go after we die. There we are prepared, if we are good, for heaven; if we are evil, for hell. I was speaking with them about many different things, among which was the following.
‘In the world where I am currently living in my body, countless stars appear at night, large and small. They are all suns that transmit just their light to our solar system. When I noticed that there are also visible stars in your world, I reckoned that there are the same number here as in the world where I live.’
Delighted by this topic of conversation, the angels said, ‘There could well be the same number. Every community in heaven at times shines like a star to those who are below heaven. There are countless communities in heaven, all arranged according to different feelings of love for what is good. These feelings are infinite in God; therefore there are countless feelings from him. Since these heavenly communities were foreseen before creation, I suppose that the stars were provided in the same amount, meaning that an equal number of stars was created for the world where people with a physical earthly body were going to live.’” Emanuel Swedenborg's True Christianity §160

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come. Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733


I cannot find this exact idea stated in the Bible. But we are told a great deal about hope. And eternity. Abraham’s life was dominated by his hope that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. And Swedenborg was buoyed by hope for the future of humans when he saw as many societies in heaven as there were stars.

We have a Concord grape vine on our small estate. The size of its crop has varied widely over the last four years. Every fall I carefully prune it back, right to the trunk, as I am supposed to. All that is left is a three foot long, gnarled stick, about two inches in diameter where it disappears into the ground, with a very dry, flaky bark. In the spring, it very much resembles the dead stems of last year’s raspberries, which are not far away.

And again this spring I worry that the dead looking trunk would never produce anything new or alive. Perhaps I had cut back too far! Maybe these vines have a limited lifetime. I know that our strawberries do not produce forever (at least the rarer, tastier varieties). I transplanted two rose bushes last fall, both with plenty of dead branches. One stayed that way while the other has sent up new sprouts. So my yard is giving me a mixed message, and my worry about the grapes continues.

But I had hope. It was based on an assurance that I was doing the right thing; that my experience was that the dead looking, woody vines sent out new shoots every year before. As I remember with delight the tasty, juicy fruit and the lush foliage in trellis that is the entry to our fruit garden, I am anxious lest it will all be gone!

Now imagine the hope that old Abraham felt when Jehovah told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars! He already had a child by a handmaid, so he had some experience. And he was a herdsman, and knew first hand how God caused tremendous growth in a flock. But now God was telling him that he and his aged wife Sarah would have as many descendants as the stars, assuring his indefinite posterity. Surely he worried! And surely his hope sprung eternal!

Yesterday I looked at the grape vine. I saw nothing and was concerned. And then I remembered how I experienced this same worry last year (and likely the years before). The hope, the assurance, swept the worry away. I turned back and looked again, driven by the hope of seeing something. And sure enough, I saw one, then two, then three tiny sprouts growing out of that very dry and dead looking trunk! They are small, tender, and fragile. And yet I know they are hardy. Their greenness is the color of life itself-–a combination of the yellow sun and the brown earth and the blue water and air.

The miracle of life is displayed in plant life or the stars. It is my spiritual growth, and my salvation through Jesus Christ, and my eternal life. I certainly have periods when I feel lifeless. Life looks dry. Delight and inspiration feel absent. But that is not the case, for in fact, the Lord’s life continues to be present. And I can stop and remember that the Lord is the constant source of life that is flowing in, even though I don’t feel it. I can remember states of deep delight and great illumination. And then hope springs eternal. A small, green, living bud sprouts, assuring me of future fruitful times. It’s in the stars, if I will look up and remember!

New Church Paganism?

I could have paid more attention to the winter solstice this year. The longest night.

Radio programs analyze the many solstice traditions from ancient times. I am struck not so much by what Christianity has appropriated from more ancient churches, but that the pagans had so much of it right!

The traces of our ancestors still remaining within our ken. Music, dance, pictorial art, and artifacts all reflect the essence of being human, which therefore has its roots millions of years ago. They are all testimonies to the miracle that is human creativity. That miracle has been observed far longer than our current spiritual awareness, which has existed only a couple of hundred years. In fact, now that it is 2007, it is exactly 250 years since the last judgment and then beginning of the new age of humankind. In our wisdom, we need to learn from our past.

There are no artifacts of what the Writings for the New Church call “pre-Adamic” times. But surely current religious beliefs and practices are the descendants of those ancestors and then their descendents in the Golden Age before the loss of human’s first perfection. Being the children of our fathers, however distant, the ancient elements of our human spirit can still strike a chord deep within us. And we can hear it if we listen.

Some organized religions proclaim that pre-Christian beliefs and practices are evil, occult or “pagan,” (as if that is a bad word, but go look it up!). These power-hungry people have made their teachings dead dogmas, by cutting them off from their roots in more ancient human understandings and behaviors.

Today society seems adrift. We find it impossible to undo the knots we have tied ourselves into. What are human rights; where do they come from; who has them and who protects them? How do we respect others’ beliefs while defending our own; and should we defend our own? What is the appropriate use of technology; is there an inappropriate use at all? Might it be that we are cut off from the incredibly long roots available to us as human beings?

The ancient peoples, who knew exactly which night was the longest without any sophisticated astrological measuring tools, that night prayed to God, as they understood Him, for rescue. Are we too sophisticated to believe that we need to be rescued and that the Lord can do it? Which of us is so connected to creation-–the theater representative of the Lord’s kingdom–that we could build a Stonehenge? How many of us can move a 30 ton rock, which we have made perfectly square, using ropes and logs? And not enough of us get our hands dirty growing food. And too many of us are awake only to pleasure, remaining passive, merely reacting to the stimuli of modern technology. And the list goes on.

Fearing paganism is ridiculous! Our religion is actually being threatened by a lack of appreciation of the source of our beliefs, and a lack of its influence upon our culture. People are willing to hear about “God,” because that is abstract enough, but not about “the Lord.” For instance, rap music bears strong resemblance to the most ancient percussive, rhythmic music of drums, sticks and grunts. The fact that it is being used not to declare the glory of the Lord and His kingdom is painfully sad. And religion has given the Lord such a bad reputation that He is rejected outright.

So I say, let us rediscover our pagan roots! Worship the sun, the trees, the moon and earth - all as symbols of our Lord God Jesus Christ. Let us reconnect with our roots, and bring much needed nutrients to the growing spirituality we see in the world, that it may be fruitful.

Display A New Spirit

“Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.” Mark 16:9-12


It is perhaps only a cold comfort, but comforting it is, to learn that the Apostles were as cynical and materialistic as we can be today. Not one of them would believe what they hadn't seen with their own eyes, hear with their own ears, or touch with their own hands. Thomas is only the most famous doubter of them all, used by Jesus as an example, and a foil, for teaching (again!) about cynicism and implicit trust.

The Apostles grew up being told that God’s presence was obvious in the miracles He performed. He punished those who offended Him and blessed those who obeyed the rules. And, those men who became church leaders were also rich, proving that those who obeyed all the rules very carefully were blessed the most. Finally, God would occasionally send angels to His chosen people to tell them His messages. So their whole attitude was that for God to be present, He had to show Himself in some concrete way. When Jesus said things like, “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father,” He was introducing an entirely new idea.

This idea may be new to us, too! How do we expect the Lord to show up in our life? Could it be that the Lord can show Himself to us only to the degree that we first trust in Him? How many opportunities to be blessed have we missed because we stopped to wonder whether the Lord would bless us or not? How many visions of the Lord's love in people have we missed because we wanted proof of the person’s reliability, or because they didn’t look like us? How many people have we hurt when we refused their testimony because it didn't jibe with the evidence of our own senses, the fallibility of which we conveniently ignore? How many times have we been right instead of kind?

If my physical senses were more powerful in my life than the evidence of my spirit, then perhaps I would believe if I had had seven devils cast out of me. If that is the way the Lord reveals Himself to me then I could believe anything. If there is no reliable witness beyond my five senses, then if some slick operator played on my grief and passed himself off as Jesus, doing some slick disappearing trick, I would be gullible enough to believe.

So my belief in my Savior is not based on sense experience. It is much more firmly based than that. And it is not irrational or nonsensical; it is not intellectually empty. It is not dependent on my ideas, but on the internal evidence, the reasoning power of love, which I know I do not originate. My belief in my Savior excites my emotions, moves my spirit, and feeds my soul. My belief in my Savior motivates me to seek the balance of influences; to reject cynicism and materialism and join my beliefs and my feelings together into a coherent whole. I believe God is a spirit, and I am completely convinced of His actuality. I may not be able to see Him with my physical eyes, but I believe the report of His Word and my whole experience.

We can thus celebrate His resurrection displaying our spirit in broad daylight. Our love of what is good and true and our belief in His mercy will bring something new into the world. He will be the visible God living in us for all to see!

Ya See...

According to the God's Word, there is a distinction between prediction and perception. Prediction is foresight, seeing future events in the present. Perception, on the other hand, is being so present you can have assurance about the future.

I don’t know how many times I have made predictions, thinking I was being so perceptive. In helping people I have occasionally made suggestions. There have been many times that I said, “If you do A, then B will happen” as if I was in control of the outcome of their behavior! That certainly works in physics, but not in the realm of human nature.

The times I have perceived something, I was not led to announce to someone what he or she ought to do! Rather I was led to see something about them (or me!) that led me to do something for them! My concern was not for what happened next, WHAT they would then do. Rather it was that my love for them - in their present condition - was FELT.

Perhaps this is a subtle distinction between prediction and perception. Certain behaviors inevitably lead to certain results. We can say we can predict them. And you may have a perception about a certain situation that tells you something about how it will end. But there is a great difference between your attitude about what is going to happen and your perception about the state of current affairs.

When you predict the future, all the various paths you might take are, in your thinking, closed off to you (even though in reality they might be good paths to take). When you perceive something about your present and where you are heading - like the bad feeling of a guilty conscience - that will motivate you to action. You still take a specific path – if you change your behavior - but your attitude is one of the searching for the Lord’s will.

Predictions, which take the path of least resistance, are most often negative and loud. It takes less spiritual energy to negate something than to create something new. This is why it is easier to tear something down and to build it. Putting things into order is a slow process; shaking them into disorder is very fast, as shown by hurricane Katrina. Predictions are loud because in themselves they are weak. Internally, predictions are a lot of hot air. And, as we all have done, when we want our ideas to win, regardless of their merit, we shout them. Surely, therefore, you have found yourself yelling “Ya see, I told you so!!”

Predicting is easy. Perception is scary. You can make a prediction and walk away, as it were - even if it is your own life you are making the prediction about. When you perceive something about your life, you are immediately challenged to change. And, what is more, you challenge yourself within your own mind. This perception is the Holy Spirit reaching into your mind. The feelings you have are reawakened feelings for what was good planted in your mind by the Lord since your infancy.

Thus the Word encourages us to pursue a life that will prepare the soil of our minds for the planting of perception. “No one can see with perception what he does no know and believe. Thus no one can be granted an ability to see perceptively any good of love or truth of faith except through cognitions [concepts], which enable him to know what good and truth is and the nature of it.” (Arcana Celestia n.1802) I can make predictions without any understanding of the matter. However, an assurance that I am making the correct choice - a perception of good and truth - can be given only to the degree that I know and believe what I am considering. (And remember that belief involves loving and doing what is known).

While it is easy for me to pronounce, “Ya see, what I think is...” it is much more delightful, more deeply satisfying, and much more useful to those around me if I be quiet and allow the Lord to speak to me through the love for truth He has planted in my unconscious mind and through conscience. It is better to perceive that predict!

In Whose Hands Is Our Fate?

The Lord really wants us to be conjoined with Him, to have a relationship with Him. This is why He goes to such a great effort to make Himself be known to us. And what is more, He wants us to have a healthy dependence upon Him. The subject here is the wonderful balance (or does it feel like tension!) between our selves and the Lord, and between what we actually feel and what we rely upon revelation to believe.

Whether we feel it or not, the fact is that “Everyone from infancy even to the end of his earthly life is led by the Lord in the most individual things and his place is forseen and also provided.” (Divine Providence n.203) So, from considering the nature of God, we turn now to how he operates. (This topic is also appropriate as we mark the first anniversary of the evil acts of September 11, 2001)

Things happen to us all the time that compel us to stop and ask, WHY? They can be important events or only trivial ones. For instance, you’re stopped at a traffic light. The breaks of the car coming up behind you fail, and it smashes into you. Why did the Lord let that happen to you? You forget to turn off the oven and the roast burns. Again, you ask, (perhaps out loud!), what’s the point, Lord? You’re in the mountains, enjoying the magnificence of the Lord’s creation, and an avalanche hits you. That couldn’t have been your fault!

We’re told that God knows the number of hairs on our head! The teachings of the New Church tell us that this means that the Lord’s providence is over the very particulars of our life so that He may also rule the universal or general things (AC 4302:3, 8478:4). He couldn’t manage over the big things if He didn’t have control over the little things. And since He is the infinite God, His rule extends to everything that happens to us, with no exceptions. So, how do we deal with the things that just happen to us? How can a God of love, which is what He is, allow bad things to happen to us? In whose hands is our lot?

Often, we can see in retrospect how the Lord has led us; how He has guided our hand in drawing the lot that is our life (Divine Providence n.187). It is relatively easy to see how all the good things, our joys and successes, were given us by the Lord. For He provided the situation and the opportunity, He gave us the talent and the vision to see how to attain them. But what do we think of the bad things that happen, our sorrows and failures? What is our attitude toward them and toward the God that rules over them?

Many people conclude that God is not love, or that He doesn’t exist at all. Many people believe that, since God is love, and since His providence is always working for our good, that it is our sin that has removed us from His care, or that we are not protected because we are not saved, that we haven’t “found” Christ. The teachings for the New Church tell us that none of these are true (see Divine Providence n.117). God exists and He is love itself. And He is not limited in any way. And He always is working for our good, regardless of whether we are in sin or not, saved or not.

Christians know that God takes care of His children, but they haven’t known how. All believers know that God is love. But many people wonder how infinite love can allow evil (since He cannot be the cause of it). How can He permit accidents that hurt us or our loved ones? When we don’t know how or why God’s providence works, we’re left only with His “mysterious ways.” We’re told to have faith in Him despite all that happens, and then we will be made happy. This is just not true. That is, our happiness will not necessarily come just from believing that God works in mysterious ways. So the New Church has been given an understanding of how God cares for us so that we can place ourselves in His stream of providence. We may never fully know why something has happened to us, but we are able to understand our Lord and love Him. We have been given a new understanding that makes it possible for us to have a new attitude toward life. And it is this attitude that puts our life on earth into perspective.

First let us examine the teachings that give us this new understanding. The divine providence is the Lord’s government of His creation (Divine Providence n.1). That government is concerned solely with our eternal welfare. Now, of course, all that happens to us, no matter how trivial or traumatic, affects our eternal life. After all, life on earth is part of our eternal life. Yet His attention is on our reaction to what happens than on the event itself. He is concerned for our attitude because it is the product of our love–which can be materialistic and selfish or spiritual and charitable. The Lord’s leading does not look to temporary or earthly happiness solely, or primarily. He wants to lead us to heaven. And so He provides that everything that happens to us can be a vehicle for His leading us to a happy, successful, eternal life. Therefore He doesn’t prevent things from happening, or make them happen, simply because they will cause us some pain or provide us with pleasure. The Lord does not step in to change events that, from our finite, limited view, seem negative.

If this seems a hard saying, or limiting the infinite God of love, consider this: What if God provided something joyful to us, say, winning the lottery, and it caused us to neglect our spiritual life in the pursuit of material pleasure. Would He not then be working against our spiritual welfare? Or, what if God caused some terrific pain, say the loss of a loved one, and so we blamed Him and became bitter and resentful and turned away from Him. Would He not then be working against our spiritual welfare? These are extreme examples; but they portray a wrong understanding of who God is and how His providence works; an understanding that promotes a selfish, worldly attitude about life (Divine Providence n.217).

God is love. He is constantly reaching out to His creation to make all its parts perfect. When He created the human, His desire was that there should be something to return His love. To do this He had to create us with the possibility of imperfection. He had to provide that we would have absolute freedom to choose not to return His love. So, while He is not limited, His love’s infinite law is that He cannot violate human freedom. He cannot step in and change things simply because we think they ought to be changed. All the time He is leading us, bending our steps, providing opportunities. He is maintaining our freedom. If there is one great principle in the Lord’s providence, it is that He will not, indeed cannot, interfere with the people’s freedom to love, think and do what they want.

The issue is this complex as direct result of the creation of the material world, the world where space and time obscure our thought on the matter. We think this world is the very reality. We cannot help but think that its laws are the only laws there are. But this is not true. The spiritual world is very reality, and its laws supersede and, indeed, cause the natural laws we see operating all around us.

The laws of the natural world cannot but seem capricious and accidental in their effects upon us. Why did the brakes fail just then? Why were we at that spot? Why did the friend come to the door so that we forgot the roast? Why did that person die? But in fact, the Lord’s spiritual laws, which we don’t as easily see operating in this world, are much more stable than the natural laws we see operating all the time. Natural, physical law seems fixed and set: what goes up must come down; there is a limit to the speed we can go; things wear out; the odds are that you will have an accident. And yet, despite all this, there is actually much leeway in this world’s laws, for there is still a chance that you will never have an accident - there are odds! And physical law demands that things return to dust - so how stable can things here really be?

So the process whereby the Lord’s spiritual laws that are His divine providence are manifested in the physical world is very complex (Divine Providence n.220). His laws are immutable. They do not change. They are infinitely predictable. But something happens as those laws descend in the process of creation. And in the end we are now in a world of seemingly fixed laws that really are not. We are in a world that seemingly we can trust to sustain us and protect us; and that seemingly will show us what will make us happy and what to avoid that will make us unhappy. And yet it does not. The world’s laws do not provide clear answers, especially when we are trying to discover spiritual truths, such as those relating to divine providence.

And here we come to the point. The teachings of the New Church tell us that we must not limit our understanding of God and what He does and how He does it to the physical world and our natural sensations. Our essential character, our freedom, our consciousness, are all spiritual things that operate on the level of our spirit–indeed they are our spirit. Our body, our actions, the things that happen to us, are all on the level of the material world. They are outside of our spirit and so are beneath and subject to, our spirit. The Lord works in our spirit in an effort to prepare us for heaven. A powerful way to make this real for us, is to picture how, regardless of the events and circumstances of our life here, the Lord counts the hairs on our head. He controls His creation so that every experience is a chance to turn to Him and follow His guidance.

It is in seeing life from this perspective that we can understand that the Lord leads the individual things in our life through us and through what happens to us. We are part and parcel of His creation and so of His providence, His government. And just look what He has done for us! In His infinite wisdom, the Lord has provided us with the ability to rise above our earthly life and our sensations, and put our place in His creation into perspective. We can look down and out to the world! What is more, He has provided us the perfect place to learn this lesson–on earth, where we can see and feel the difference between His leading of us and our trying to lead ourselves . There is no better place to learn that we are not God. We have the freedom to choose to live in His created order, or to invent one which we think is better able to operate in the material world. Nowhere else could we make this comparison, since we live in both worlds at once - material and spiritual.

We are here given the chance to see and feel the difference between charity–doing unto others what we would have them do to us, and selfishness–forgetting that our happiness is dependant upon others being happy too.

We have an opportunity to put into effect what we understand about our God and His love for us, experiencing both the pain of separation from Him and, in contrast, the joy of being in the stream of his providence.

What an opportunity He has provided us! Life on earth, with all its joys and sorrows, is our opportunity to see the Lord’s spiritual laws in operation, if we will but look for them. We can learn His truth in a situation in which we are absolutely free to accept those laws as our own. No matter what the event, we can, if the eyes of our spirit are open to the light of heaven, see how our reaction can be the result of a trust in Him and a sure acknowledgement that we live forever.

In believing this and living according to it, we have achieved the attitude that the happenings in our life are just that–things that go on around us and to us. Happenings are separate from our spirit. How our spirit reacts to these happenings determines our happiness here and now, and determines whether we will accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our God who infinitely loves us and cares for us, or not. We can trust in Him. Not a blind trust that knows nothing of the Lord’s providence. Not even a simplistic trust based on the fear of accidents.

We can trust in our Lord, a God of love, who wants us to be happy to all eternity. We can trust the Lord who maintains our freedom, despite all that happens to us. We can find confidence in Him in knowing how He uses all the things that happen to us to teach us about Him and His spiritual laws; in discovering how our essential being is above natural law; in experiencing how the purpose of life here is to build our relationship to the Lord; and how we do all this in absolute freedom (Divine Providence n.27).

This attitude will surely bring peace, contentment and happiness to our life here and forever, regardless of what happens to us. As He said, He knows about everything we need, and He will give us all of it, if we but “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31)

New Spiritual Growth Group Starting!

"The Joy of Spiritual Growth" a small group workshop, which will be introduced on Tuesday 30 January, 7-9 PM. Participants acquire the tools to advance their spirituality & partnership with God for a centered, whole life. This night is an introductory workshop for a 7-week course for those who want to work on themselves, discover ways to grow spiritually, believe closeness to God & their fellow human beings is desirable, & want to know how to achieve it; a support group with participants sharing experiences. The 7-week series begins 6 Feb; cost is $70 including the text & work books. Group facilitator, Clark Echols, is pastor of the Glendale New Church, a Swedenborgian community. Clark has spent his adult life studying Emanuel Swedenborg's philosophy. The course combines Swedenborg's insights into the human constitution, God, & the relationship between the two, with a task-oriented program for growth. At The Glendale New Church, 845 Congress Avenue, Glendale, OH. 45246. More info @513.772.1478, jcechols@newchurch-cincy.org, & www.newchurch-cincy.org.

Swedenborg and the 2nd coming

Emanuel Swedenborg wrote "Since the Lord cannot show Himself in person, as has just been demonstrated, and yet He predicted that He would come and found a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who can not only receive intellectually the doctrines of this church, but also publish them in print. I bear true witness that the Lord has shown Himself in the presence of me, His servant, and sent me to perform this function."

Most of the time I feel uncomfortable with this assertion. I go through a thought process to, again, convince myself that the second coming, the Writings and Swedenborg all make sense, are believable, and indeed contain advice necessary for my salvation. I end up concluding that the amazing internal consistency, the experiential proof of its correctness, and about thirty years of my use of the teachings, all confirm the good feeling I have about the them and about the reality of Swedenborg’s experience.

Then my thought naturally proceeds to consider how I can share these teachings with others. And, again, I go through a thought process that takes me from embarrassment and defensiveness to an urgency to get the message out for the sake of my neighbor, my country and even the planet! I come to the realization that it is not primarily the truth of the teachings, and thus the veracity of Swedenborg, that I am to share, but, first and foremost, my delight in those teachings.

I have noticed again and again that I am spiritual and emotionally energized when the beauty and effectiveness of the New Church teachings are combined with an opportunity to share them. It may be a chance meeting on an airplane, in an office, when a person shows an interest. It may be when I put myself before people, as at the Village Fair or at some breakfast forum. It may be when the person has come to church, thus manifesting their interest rather boldly. Of course each of these settings is different, and I must adapt. But in every case, all the Lord wants me to do to express love for my neighbor is share my delight in what He has given me. The stranger, no matter what their interest, will be served well, fed spiritual truth by means of my delight.

I am frustrated that more people don’t have and use the wonderful teachings I am often amazed I have available. But my trust in the Lord makes it possible to go through the processes of thought that bring me again to the affirmative attitude that the Lord is taking care of His church. He asks me to love my neighbor by, in this case, sharing the truth. So long as I am caring enough to brighten someone’s day, ease their burden, or relieve their confusion while showing them my delight in the truth I have, I am fulfilling the Lord’s goal of accomplishing His second coming.