Golden Keying

I am so grateful to have reread Emmet Fox’s The Golden Key yesterday morning at breakfast before I ventured out into the world. I was going to be in the company of a person with whom I’d had a challenging time with last week and was looking to get reminded of and fortified with the awareness of God’s Presence. I did.

Fox’s idea is very simple: Stop thinking about the difficulty, whatever it is, and think about God instead. The difficulty can be something within as well as a situation or person in the outer. You “Golden Key” whatever it is troubling you - person, place, situation - by constantly repeating some statement of absolute Truth that appeals to you.

So as I went about my morning whenever feelings of fear, inadequacy, judgment, etc. crept in vis-à-vis this person and what had occurred last week, I moved my focus back onto God. I got myself out of the way and stayed in the Light. The result was that I once again felt aligned with Spirit and Oneness and that brought me peace.

When I finally had a direct conversation with the person, I felt the issues of our last encounter melt away and all was well again. Thank You, God!

I’m always striving to keep Spirit as my focus, but obviously I do stray. I use the Golden Key to get back on track realizing the One Power, One Presence, One Activity in my life is God, the Good, Omnipotent. So it is and all is well.

Looking for Love

Today my attention was brought to the metaphysical meaning of the word adulteress: looking for love in all the wrong places. Boy, does that resonant with me! And, I’d say that everyone I know at some time in their life has looked for love in the wrong places. Many, many people continue to do so.

It can take the form of alcoholism, co-dependency, obsession with money, expecting relationships to complete oneself... the list goes on and on and on.

Not knowing I was seeking God, where I looked for love included: food, work, reading, and romance.

I’d say we’ve all been adulterers or adulteresses more than once in this lifetime. But with great mercy and compassion we are urged to move forward and err no more. For after all, if I’m seeking Truth, what other guidance is there?

Today I am so much more conscious of my thoughts and behaviors - and my heart center. I endeavor to follow the words of Emmet Fox and many others: “We must not allow any consideration whatever, any institution, or organization, or any book, or any man or woman, to come between us and our direct seeking for God.” - The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox, Page 136.

So in my ever expanding awakening, I find myself no longer looking for love in all the wrong places. I just look at me inside and there I find God.

It's Between Me & God

“We must not allow any consideration whatever, any institution, or organization, or any book, or any man or woman, to come between us and our direct seeking for God.” - The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox, Page 136.

In this time of accelerated awakening and change, yet another soul I know is stepping out to take care of herself. Being in a committed relationship, she found herself cooperating to live a life together with her honey. But her cooperation moved into compromise, a compromise too great and not in alignment with her true being. The divine spark within was dying from lack of spiritual nourishment, her connection to Source faltering.

When one reaches that point, the spiritual being having a human experience cannot continue without some significant change. And when in a committed relationship, the change required can be quite drastic.

I know what my friend is going through and the choice she had to make, for I went through it myself very recently. For now, she is relocating back to her home town without her husband for that is where her spirit is nourished in so many ways and her connection with God is strong. Without doing so, she’s not the person her partner knows anyway, and if the situation continued in the same vein, he’d be left without her anyway.

Like my friend, I’m relatively a newlywed (five years for me, three for her). Unlike her, I did not have to physically relocate to get back on track in my seeking of God; in fact, my husband and I recently relocated to a place that fosters this. But what I had to do was come back to me. I had to finally make the decision to put my relationship with God truly first (not just pay lip service as I had been doing), and the relationship with my husband, second.

In so doing, my spirit is joyful and my relationship with God is thriving. And, you know what? My husband got back the true person he’d married. A blessing to us both!

We are each individuals and the work we do to awaken to God’s grace is truly an inside job. Only I can do it for me, and having a loving partner along the way is icing on the cake. But I must remember that God is the cake and has to get baked first.

Here’s to Spirit! Here’s to Joy!

Where's My Focus?

“If you intend to be of assistance, your eye is not upon the trouble but upon the assistance, and that is quite different. When you are looking for a solution, you are feeling positive emotion — but when you are looking at a problem, you are feeling negative emotion.” – Abraham, Excerpted from "The Law of Attraction, The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham" #366.

This of course is the concept that what we put our focus on becomes our reality.

And, this reminds me of the W.I.L.D. (Women In Love with the Divine) meeting I attended yesterday. Its focus was Emmet Fox’s concept of the Golden Key.

God is omnipotent, and we are God's image and likeness and have dominion over all things. Every individual has the ability to draw on this power.

Drawing on this power through scientific prayer will enable you to get out of any difficulty. In scientific prayer it is God who works, and not you, and so your particular limitations or weaknesses are of no account in the process. You are only the channel through which the divine action takes place, and your treatment will be just the getting of yourself out of the way.

It is very simple: Stop thinking about the difficulty, whatever it is, and think about God instead.

So once again, regardless of what is going on in my life - my business, my relationships, etc. - if I want to live in peace, joy, harmony, and love I must keep my eye focused on Thee.

Taking Care

I’m grateful that when I felt myself starting to lose my peace this afternoon, I took a time out. This is a loving action on my part, and my soul was thrilled... after all, the break was to nourish my spirit and connect more finely with God.

I read some spiritual literature, words by Emmet Fox, and was caught by the affirmation “I am surrounded by the Love and Peace of God.” Repeating this over and over with my eyes closed, I relaxed. Fifteen minutes or so later, I felt refreshed and ready to move forward in my work.

I’ve learned many tools to make my day flow more easily and joyfully, but I don’t always employ them. The main reason is usually “I’m too busy.” But this is deadly, for without nourishing my soul and my relationship with God, I deteriorate mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. And, life just ain’t fun (neither am I).

Dear Spirit –
Thank You for my knowledge of the many ways I can nurture my relationship with my soul and You, and for the willingness to take care and do so.

Present Demonstration

My prayer this morning was...

Dear God;

Thank You for this day.

In this moment, all is well - may I stay here, in the Now. Let me not look to the future, nor even to the past. For it is only in the Now that You are. It is only here that I am in peace. There is no fear here.

And then I read...

“... there is not the slightest reason to be discouraged merely because one’s present demonstration seems to be very poor and spiritual power entirely lacking.” - Emmet Fox, in his essay The Everlasting Gates

Granted, it is not true that my present demonstration is “very poor” nor my spiritual power “entirely lacking.” However, there are a couple of areas in my life that I feel fearful about. These are pointers that tell me I need to focus on God, on the Now. Here is where there is power, strength, faith. And peace.

It’s always about (getting back to) peace.

The Nature of a God Thought

I read a passage from Emmet Fox that was a bit of an astounding concept for me – and most uplifting.

"There is no end to a prayer. It echoes on forever in your soul. Long after the visible demonstration has been made and forgotten, the prayer that produced it continues to work for your spiritual advancement, for the creative power of a God thought is unlimited and eternal."– Power Through Constructive Thinking, Page 109

I can imagine this vast sea of God thoughts all around me and circulating in me, my soul – it’s a bit overwhelming. How powerful prayer is... Now I realize further the importance of prayer and thus have even more reason to pray ceaselessly: so that my spiritual advancement be guaranteed to continue.

Living Together

“The Lord is the strength of my life. God will show us at any time the meaning of anything that we require to understand, will show us at any juncture what it is we ought to do, and He will furnish us with Divine strength to do it.” – Emmet Fox in his essay Light and Salvation

We are getting down to the wire to find a new place to call home in Sedona. I feel I’ve released a lot in these past months – possessions, emotions, expectations, thoughts - and I’ve still got a ways to go. Based on conditions of time, finances, and desired location, we’ve been contemplating various housing scenarios, including renting a one-bedroom house. This is a challenge for me.

Ever since I bid au voir to my studio apartment in Manhattan, I’ve always had a specific room in my home set up as my office and quiet space. That has meant at least a two bedroom layout. When I bought my home in Gilbert as a single woman, I was blessed with three bedrooms. When Rog came into my life we converted the guest bedroom into his office. He had his office, I had mine, each to decorate and do with as they pleased. This had always been my ideal: a couple shares a bedroom and have their own separate spaces. Having one’s cake and eating it too!

Living with my life partner has not meant that I still don’t want and enjoy my own private space alone. Just closing the door puts me into another world. This space not only serves as my office, but as my sanctuary to be with God in prayer and meditation. Sure, I can be with Spirit anywhere, but I love the container of my room. And, I’m just not ready to give it up - yet.

I’ve always been easy to live with. However, growing up in the family that I did, once I no longer had to share a bedroom with my twin brother, my bedroom became my sanctuary. It was the peaceful world away from the chaos of my family (except when my twin brother would blast the stereo in his bedroom next door). And during my single days I only had roommates when a friend needed a place to stay for a brief while or when I took a share in a vacation house. I had always said that I preferred living alone unless my roommate was going to be my life partner; I pretty much kept to that.

Yes, I love playing house with Rog and we do it so well. But whilst we may be twin flames soul-wise, in this physical world of illusion, we are two distinct beings. So, I still cherish my time and space alone. And oftimes, I just want to go into my cave, close the door, and be still.

I know there is a new world coming, and living in community is part of it. And, it’s something I look forward to - so, I need to change. My perspective towards living with others needs to change. I must let go of past notions and be open to new arrangements. I must learn to feel like I’m in my sanctuary regardless of the physical layout. My sanctuary resides within me, wherever I am. It is not a physical place.

Dear Spirit –
Give me the strength to do Your Will with ease and grace, and rearrange my perspective so that I feel at home no matter where I am. Help me to be at peace and experience the Stillness in all locales. You are the strength of my life, and with You all things are possible – including changing my emotions about living space. Thank You, thank You, thank You.

Real Action

“... prayer is really the only thing that matters. The only way man in which man can improve himself or his conditions, get a better knowledge of God... is by prayer. Prayer indeed is the only real action there is; that is to say, it is the only action that makes things different.”

- Emmet Fox, The Garden of Allah

That says it all. What more need I do?...

Outer Conditions

It is so clear: do not focus on outer conditions. They are but a reflection of what is going on on the inner plane. I cannot change outer circumstances directly – I must change what is going on within me.

Emmet Fox states in his essay Be Still, “When things are going wrong declare constantly that you are not going to be afraid or intimidated by any outer condition... God is my refuge...”

And when the outer doesn't quite match what I’d like, and inner change has not yet taken effect, I am glad to be reminded of what Florence Scovel Shinn wrote, “I am under Grace and not under Law.”

“Regardless of conditions in the world around me, I look for the good and trust God for right results.” – Daily Word, October 7, 2009

God Will Provide

My source is God, Spirit, The Great Mystery, Higher Power, or whatever name I choose to call this concept of all oneness, infinite, omnipotent, omniscient Presence. It supplies me with everything and that supply is unlimited.

Emmet Fox reminds me that for practical purposes at any given time I draw from this inexhaustible Source only in accordance with the measure of my understanding, “just as you can draw water from the Atlantic only in accordance with the size of the vessel you use.” [Power Through Constructive Thinking, 1940, page 176]

Nonetheless, when God calls me to His Service, when I am on my right path, God pays all the expenses in whatever kind of coin. Whatever I may require to answer that call, to do God’s Will, God will provide. It can be in the form of money, opportunity, knowledge, training, strength, courage, etc. All I have to do is ensure that I am about God’s business, not about my own.

Dear God, as I understand You –
Please improve my conscious contact with You. I pray for knowledge of Your Will for me and the power and means to carry it out. And so it is.

Think About God

Rog and I have been seeking to care take a property in the Sedona/Cottonwood area of Arizona in exchange for no/low rent. We hit upon something recently that might be the place, and it is more than a guest house – it is an oasis: lush trees; 5 acres of land; organic vegetable garden; spacious, 2-story, window prolific home that resembles a barn; swimming pool; creek side property. Yes, “divine” sounds like a good descriptor.

Still my ego-mind started churning after viewing the photos about 100 times last night. With the 2-story open design, the heating and electric bills are probably high. How old is the house? - maybe it’s not been well maintained. There’s only one bathroom – that’ll be difficult when we have guests. Are the owners rational and easy to get along with?

I quickly caught myself for I know that if it is God’s Will that this property be our next place to call home, it will happen. And, if it’s not to be, Spirit has something better in store. No point in trying to force it, to put a square peg in what might be a round hole.

I am reminded of Emmet Fox’s words about The Golden Key and Scientific Prayer. In Scientific Prayer, it is God who works, not me. My main part is to just get out of the way so that Divine action can take place. Fox suggests: Stop thinking about the difficulty, whatever it is, and think about God instead. (Power Through Constructive Thinking, p. 138). This is the complete rule – to think about God.

Fox says “Do not try to think out in advance what the solution for your difficulty will probably turn out to be. Leave the question of ways and means strictly to God. You want to get out of your difficulty – that is sufficient. You do your half, and God will never fail to do His.” (Ibid, p. 140)

Today I pray to keep my thoughts staid on Thee, knowing – and trusting – that You never fail to take care of Your children.

Enough

It’s been a full, rich day. I spent most of it at my laptop, doing website design work and connecting with people via email. I emailed prospective clients introduced to me through mutual friends, communicated with owners of possible home rentals, caught up on how friends were doing in their new home state, and more.

It was a social day, a productive day. I did my active kundalini meditation and I spent some time reading Emmet Fox’s essays; they are always uplifting to me, and make me feel closer to God.

It was a day well spent and I felt like I had “done enough” which is often not the case. So it’s ‘interesting’ that I should read today’s Daily Guideposts this evening.

The author, Pam Kidd, had forgotten to give her elderly friend all of his birthday gifts when she visited him at an extended-care facility. “For weeks the magazines rode around in my car, taunting me. One more thing undone. And then, out of the blue, came a call: Claude had suffered a massive stroke. He was gone.

“Distraught, I went to the car and gathered the magazines, expecting also to find a heap of guilt. But the memory of Claude waving and smiling as he escorted me down the corridor sent a different message. You made me the birthday king, Claude seemed to say. Let go of what you didn’t do. Think about what you did!”

How very often at the end of the day I think about what I did not accomplish, instead of all that I did. And then, not only did I not do enough, but the “I’m not good enough” starts creeping in too.

It seems like today I got the message from Spirit before I had a chance to go down that path. Instead, I felt most satisfied with the accomplishments of the day. So although my experience today contrasted with the usual, I’m grateful for the story reinforcing the idea that it’s what I accomplish that counts, not what I did not.

Dear Spirit – Thank You for my feeling my accomplishments today and not worrying about the rest. I did enough, I am enough. All is well. Good night.

The Freedom of Forgiveness

Today being Independence Day in the USA brings to mind freedom and the rights we have been given through the Bill of Rights, the name by which the first ten amendments to the U. S. Constitution are known.

The Bill of Rights grants us freedom of religion, speech and the press, assembly, the right to bear arms, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, etc.

But there is a freedom that is at least as important as those stated in the Bill of Rights, and I grant it to myself when I practice forgiveness.

When I hold resentment against anyone, I am binding myself to that person by a cosmic link, a real though mental chain. Until I cut that tie, I am a prisoner in bondage, and living a peaceful, loving, and joyous life is out of my reach.

Emmet Fox, in The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life, states “The technique of forgiveness is simple enough, and not very difficult to manage when you understand how. The only thing that is essential is willingness to forgive” (page 173).

These days, thanks to a lot of 12 Step and other spiritual work, I find myself only occasionally, if not rarely, in the bondage of resentment. And when I do, I am willing to let go -with the help of God- and practice forgiveness. I set myself free (and the other person too). That is a freedom that extends far beyond any that could be bestowed upon me by a governmental decree.

Thank You, Spirit, for the various forms of freedoms I am blessed with by living in this country and living within Your Presence.

A Richer Day

Today was a full and balanced day.

I started waking up with morning ‘kawfee’ (even if it's only decaf!) with my beloved and we talked mostly about things spiritual. Then I spent a few minutes reading and contemplating several passages from The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox. The angels were surely with us as Rog and I had an adventurous time moving a sofa bed to a storage space, just the two of us. For what might have been an otherwise tiresome chore, I listened to peaceful selections from For God Alone by Mark Kelso while I packed some glassware for our upcoming move north, and thus felt the time doubly well used. And, this day also included some additional tweaking on the first of two new websites of mine: The Computer Spirit.

Yes, it was a varied day and Spirit was so obviously with me in books, in music, in conversation, on the Web, etc. – all around me and in me. Spirit is always with me and today I noticed perhaps more than usual, which made the day a richer one. I am always grateful for the increased awareness - Thank You.

My Very First Request

This morning I was in my quiet time, thanking God for my life and for this day. Then I asked God for help, especially financial - that caught my attention. I changed it to faith - a feeling of certainty that Rog and I would be well, not just ‘okay,’ no matter what. That immediately got changed to peace - ah, peace beyond all understanding. Isn’t that what truly underlies faith? Or, perhaps it’s that peace gives rise to faith which then loops back into peace...

Well, it is surely not financial that comes first! Emmet Fox says “As long as there is fear, or resentment, or any trouble in your heart, that is to say, as long as you lack serenity, or peace, it is not possible for you to attain very much.” (The Sermon on the Mount – The Key to Success in Life, page 42)

So I’m asking for peace- that is my request. From there all flows with ease and grace. All is well.

Thank You.

A Change in Soul

According to Emmet Fox, prayer is “...our only means of returning to our communion with God” and “... is the only thing that change’s one character. A change in character, or a change in soul, is a real change.“ (The Sermon on the Mount – The Key to Success in Life, page 41)

This reminds me of the story set forth in the book of Alcoholics Anonymous, in which an alcoholic American businessman was told by Dr. Carl Jung that the only possible hope for the man’s recovery was to have a vital spiritual experience. To Jung, “...these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once guiding forces ... are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate...” (page 27).

With this spiritual experience, we tap into a resource which is something greater than ourselves and experience a profound alteration in how we deal with life. This is certainly how it was for me when I ventured into the 12 Step program many years ago. As I studied and practiced the principles of the program to the best of my ability, over time my soul was changed, awakened – which could only be for the better. It was changed by a Power greater than myself and as I expressed those changes, there was a ripple effect on others. My awakening always affects the world in some way.

So it is with prayer. We cannot pray without making a difference in ourselves to some degree and hence in others.

Any time I pray, it is a spiritual experience, one in which my soul is changed, and to some extent yours too. We are One.

Dialogue

During this morning’s time in the silence:

Dear God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, and Higher Unlimited Self;
Thank You for my life and this day.
Help me to do Your Will throughout the day and have the ability to carry it out.

THEM: Do you really mean that?

JOYCE: Well..................probably not. I guess it would be better to say...
Please give me the desire to so want to do Your Will, with such a passion, a knowing, an understanding that You truly are First Cause, my Source and so I so strongly want to do Your Will. Then it will be natural for me to carry it out...it’ll feel easy, it’ll run all through me and not feel like a burden.

THEM: OK.

So my prayer this day, and really every day, is summed up as “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God,” one of the beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I strive to be one of those “pure in heart.”

Emmet Fox, in his book, The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life explains it this way:

“Blessed are they who recognize God as the only real Cause, and the only real Presence, and the only real Power; not merely in a theoretical of formal way, but practically, and specifically, and wholeheartedly, in all their thoughts, and words, and actions; and not merely in some parts of their lives, but in every nook and corner of their lives and mentalities, keeping nothing back from Him, but bringing their own wills in every last particular into perfect harmony with His Will – for they shall overcome all limitation of time, and space, and matter, and carnal mind; and realize and enjoy the Presence of God forever.”

“Beatitude” is defined as “the perfect happiness and inner peace supposed to be enjoyed by the soul in heaven.” It is a state of utmost bliss.

To know God in every fiber of my being, and more - that is what I pray for.

And, yes, I really mean that!