This Sunday was the second of two Practitioner Sundays where your practitioners gave the talks while Rev. Carolyn is at Asilomar.  ky li and I shared this opportunity this week. Last Sunday Dinah and James shared with us on the power of Choice and the profound influence that perspective and judgement have on our personal power of choice and how we use it.  

  

  

Following this lead, ky opened the presentation this Sunday clearly explaining the five steps of Spiritual Mind Treatment, or Affirmative Prayer. Treatment is a sure-fire way to apply making our choices in an atmosphere of  conviction spiritually. The Five Steps of Treatment are: Recognition, Unification, Realization, Thanksgiving and Release.

ky also explained a key difference between the way those of us who practice New Thought or Metaphysics pray and the way we may have been taught to pray in other religions, or spiritual groups. We do not ask for assistance or favors from a God who is outside of us or separate from ourselves. We pray from a place of knowing that God (Spirit, Source, etc.) is all there is, ever-present, ever-knowing, ever-powerful. Knowing this to be true, we, by definition, are one with this infinite Source.  From this place of Oneness, we speak the truth of our being, knowing it is done.

  

Vicky followed ky discussing the results of doing Treatment, which Ernest Holmes termed, "Demonstration." A demonstration is, very simply, what Science of Mind calls an answer to prayer. Ernest Holmes gave it this specific, distinctive word because outcomes from Treatment literally demonstrate for us The Way It Works. It is not a mistake that revealing the way something works is exactly what giving a demonstration of something is. So, I gave a little demonstration of how we cultivate our consciousness through Treatment; I used a three-ring notebook and notebook paper to shed light on it. Just like aligning the three holes in notebook paper to go onto the rings, clarity in Treatment calls us to bring into alignment what we are thinking about something, how we are feeling about it, and what we believe about it. When these three areas are in alignment, there is no resistance to embodying the demonstration of our desire into experience.

As our first Practitioner Sundays opportunity over these two weeks comes to this close, we hope we have offered a holistc view of how your perspectives form choices, and how choice is your ongoing vehicle for taking your life into the experiences of your dreams. Please do let us know any questions you may have, or if we may assist you in Affirmative Prayer.

  

  

Dinah Smiley, RSc.P, James Stone , RScP., ky li, RSc.P and Vicky Jeter, RSc.P

This Sunday was one of two Practitioner Sundays where your practitioners give the talks while Rev. Carolyn is at Asilomar.  James Stone and I shared this opportunity this week, while Vicky and ky will have the honor of sharing their wisdom with you next Sunday.  I'm sure James will agree, it's a blessing and an honor to perform these duties. 

  

  

Choice.  I talked about the challenges I have experienced studying our philosophy and preparing to become a practitioner.  The challenge I shared this week was reading, comprehending and interpreting the writings of Thomas Troward.  I could have chosen to read and reread Troward's work until I knew it verbatim.  But I was lead to, and chose to, sit with Troward's words until they morphed into a writing style more conducive to my simplified style.

  

  

I call my style Appalachian Metaphysics and I shared a story that I wrote while assisting Rev. Carolyn with "The Edinburgh Lectures," by Troward.  The story was about two separate vessels experiencing the life of their choosing.  One life led to many bumps, and and scrapes and cracks, on one vessel, while the other life resulted in a vessel ending her life of service in pristine physical condition.

  

  

I purposely omitted our human tendencies toward self- judgement, or comparison from my analogy.

  

  

James Stone delivered the second portion of the talk.  James focused on judgement.  The self-judgement he felt as he grew anxious about giving his portion of the talk and the way we learn our judgement habits at an early age.

  

  

He shared a story from his youth when he was taught by his parents to fear African Americans.  He lived with this fear until one day he found himself in the midst of a fight.  Before he came directly into harms way, six young African American men encircled and protected James from what he referred to "as the potential for the beating of my life."  This selfless act of compassion was a pivotal point in James' life where he chose to walk away from the fearful and prejudicial teachings of his childhood. 

  

  

Rather than living from a place of self-judgement and judgement of others, James lives from a place of evaluating and selecting actions that speak from the divine truth of his being.

  

  

May you feel the love and blessings that you give so freely to us,

Dinah Smiley and James Stone