Spirit Education Blog

Spirit Education is happy to announce its first of what will be many classes for 2016.

Rev. Cath DePalma announces her class, “I Can Do This Thing Called Life and So Can You!”

The class is based on her book by the same name and is a journey into ourselves that will help us get aligned with the bigger picture that is already underway.

This course is designed specifically to:

• Help yourself take a more active role in the creation of your own life.
• Build a working relationship with Spirit, as your Ultimate Source, that will bring more meaning to everyday life and a feeling of support you never knew was possible.
• Teach you practical, spiritual tools to use every day that will insure you greater success

See yourself in a new way. Get a greater perspective on your life. Give yourself a glimpse of what is possible in their future.

Join us for this 8 week adventure getting to know the Real You!

For more info, go here: http://spirit-edu.com/learn/courses/i-can-do-this-thing-called-life-and-so-can-you/

~rev jim

“We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake.”

– Sir Francis Bacon, Sr.

 

This life we have right here and now, in terms of “infinity,” is just a moment in time. Of course time is of our making, because everything, to us, happens in a linear way. We’re born, we live, and we die, in that order. There is no other way.

One thing Sir Francis Bacon doesn’t say, and maybe he didn’t realize it, is that both the star and the snowflake don’t cease to exist when they “die,” they only change form. Because they are made up of energy, (atoms, molecules, cells) their chemical makeup may change, but they do not cease to exist.

So, while we may cease to exist by a doctor’s standards when we “die,” we, in reality, only change form. Being made up essentially of water, it evaporates, and the remainder of the material returns to the earth, as basic elements.

As to what happens during this transition, one might say that the inherent energy we are made up of is transformed into another form, or as a person of thought, I believe we return to our maker, the universal energy some call God, Buddha, Wakan Tanka or the divine creator. Whatever happens, it is of little import here, as we would probably never know our former life, if we are reincarnated.

But, if, in this thing we call life, our purpose is to “sparkle like a star,” then how do we sparkle like a star?

That, of course, is a personal choice, but I believe it is to live our life to the fullest, while doing our best to do harm to no one, to be good stewards of the earth, and to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

In order for us to do this, to know right from wrong or good from bad, we have been endowed with the ability to think for ourselves. The first things that seemed to come to our awareness was survival and self-preservation. Even in Jesus’ day, people had a hard time comprehending his message, because the the people were still in survival mode.

Today, the speed of development of everything has accelerated dramatically, and many fewer people are any longer in a survival mode with nature, but the survival mode has become a socio-economic, pseudo religious-political reality. It is away from this mode that the world needs to evolve in order for all our stars to really shine brightly in this world WE have made for ourselves. If there is any job or purpose for us in this moment of time, it is for us to be the highest expression of who we can be, to lose the judgment we may have as part of our story, which keeps us from accepting those around us as friends and not foes, and to live from that higher place, which may encourage others to see that it is a safe place to be and therefore transition into that place themselves.

That takes a great deal of faith and trust to allow oneself to be open to change and be vulnerable to allow that change for themselves.

Are you ready?

-jts

This Sunday we will discuss the 4th of “The 4 Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz , and also add the Fifth agreement.

“Always Do Your Best”

This Agreement helps you to become the master artist. The first three agreements are in the realm of of the virtual reality.The fourth agreement is in the realm of the physical.

“Be Skeptical But Learn To Listen ”

This agreement gives you the power of doubt and discernment.  Looking forward to a lively discussion!

There is no charge. The discussion is about 45 min. Go to www.spirit-edu.com and click on SOM Sunday in the menu to find out how to join us.

Facilitated by Inka Omholt of Spirit Education.

Hope to see you there!

~ rev jim starke

How long must we pay for our sins?

First we must redefine “Sin” as it’s referenced in the Bible. When Jesus spoke, he referred to the “mistakes” people made, not a sin against God. The language he spoke was Aramaic, the language of the period in that Middle Eastern area of the world. When the Words were translated to the Greek and Latin, the translators messed up. They made a mistake, as many translators do, or they made an intentional error, which gave more power to the Priestly class over the peasants, who were unable to read it for themselves.

At any rate, the question of paying for your mistakes becomes a “worldly” one, rather than a Spiritually charged one. So the question becomes, “How long are you willing to beat yourself up over a mistake?”, rather than an idea of rioting in hell for an eternity.

The point is, in my way of thinking, we have a limited time on this planet. Is it really productive to beat yourself up for something that already happened to you? Whether it is something you did to yourself or something you feel someone else unjustly accused you of, my thought is a resounding “NO!”

I know people who have held onto a grudge for years. This “thing” became their story (of woe.) It became how they identified them self. They became stuck in their story. Their life never changed. They knew why, but the story became their identity. Without their story they were nothing, or so they thought. When they finally let go of their story by way of a repo, a foreclosure and loss of a sizable income, their life changed immensely, as you might expect. It took a short time to pick up the pieces, but with the help of friends, within two years everything started to turn around. Now 10 years later, this person has made an even better life, and is a new person.

Was it easy? Yes and No. Until he let go of the story that kept him from having the life he wanted, it was Hell! Once he let go and surrendered to the possibility of something even greater, his life made an about face and he found himself back on the road to the top. The transition was letting go, and making space for his good to fill the void.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson says, “the world abhors a vacuum.” And, when you make a space for good to flow, your life, it does.

Affirmation: I let go of that which does not serve my highest and best, so the good I deserve can be mine.

~jts

Life is not “lived” in fear.
Life is lived by stepping out into the world, confronting fear,
and then moving beyond it into a greater, more magnificent expression of Life as us.

jts