Spiritual Awareness

Rev. Vicki A Bennett D.D.

As a child I was deeply spiritual, something that I brought with me into this lifetime. I had visions and was clairvoyant from the time I was around 7 years old. I soon realized that I was different than my friends and by my late teens had suppressed most of my psychic abilities. I then lost (for lack of a better word) my way spiritually for the better part of 15 years.

Every good story has to have a starting point and this one begins in my late 30’s. I am restless…I know that I want/need something but can't quite put my finger on it. I quit my job and go back to college…maybe what I need is another degree. After a year I am still floundering, but I have a new neighbor and she draws me into conversation about psychic phenomenon. She wants to buy a deck of Tarot cards and wants me to go with her to a “new age” bookstore.

I have no clue what “new age” is all about, but I read Tarot cards when I was 19 and I think, this could be fun again, maybe I will get some answers. I end up buying the cards, but I find Ralph Blum’s Book of Runes. I buy the Runes, incense and Tarot cards and spend the entire weekend sitting on the floor of my tiny apartment reading the cards and runes and journaling every reading. This will continue to be my way of contacting that higher self for many years to come.

Every reading takes me a little deeper into myself and I am amazed at what was there to be discovered. Soon I am reading everything there is about becoming aware and enlightened.

I take classes in crystal healing and learn how to journey out of body. I decide that I will be a healer and a teacher. I find an incredible Reiki master and receive my attunements from him. I know that now I have found my path and am anxious to see where this will lead me.

By chance, I pick up a book on Native American Spirituality and then go on to meet up with a friend of mine who is a therapist. While waiting for her, an associate comes over, sees the book and tells me that he is doing research on Shamanism and there is a woman who is working on her PhD studying Native Shamans. He promptly gives me a flyer for her workshops and walks away leaving me bewildered.

My friend never shows up, she has forgotten our meeting. So I go home and finish reading the book. Next I get books by Fools Crow and then study the visions of Black Elk and want to know more about the Lakota. How can I do this? I don’t know anyone who is Native American, much less how to approach them.

So I root around and find that flyer that I was given 4-5 months earlier. I call the woman and she is excited to hear from me and wants to share her journey with me. She is having a drum making ceremony and she tells me to order a kit from this Native man in Washington State and come to the ceremony in 4 weeks.

I am awakened again and again the night before with dreams that my drum won't go together. I wake up groggy, grab the wet leather from my bathtub and drive to her house. I stop at a traffic light and next to me is the most gorgeous man I have ever seen. He is definitely Native American, long flowing black hair on a huge Honda motorcycle. I say to myself, “why can't I ever meet a man like that..”

He is totally oblivious to me, and he drives on toward the river. I turn toward her house and then decide that I need caffeine to make this day work. After a quick drive through, I pull up in front of her house and a big black motorcycle flies past and screeches into her driveway. Yep, it’s him.

Long story short, his name is Petaigig Ichiwaiwanka (Peta for short) it means “Keeper of the Fire” in Lakota. We spend the next year together as he is dying of cancer. He tells me as he lay dying that I am to write the book of the warrior of Black Elk’s vision who brings the world together in peace.

I tell him “NO”… he refuses to let it go. Finally to shut him up and maybe give him some peace, I agree. He dies that night and I spend 8 years studying with the Lakota.

My life is completely consumed by the writing of this book. I am having visions almost every night; the spirits come into my room and awaken me, explaining what I need to do next.

When I ask a Lakota medicine man to bless my ceremonial pipe, he blesses my apartment first. When he enters my bedroom, he stops dead in his tracks, turns to me and says, “Are you aware that you have a doorway to the spirit world in your bedroom?”

“Yes I am aware.”

He just nods and continues with his ceremony. The book of the warrior takes 6 years to finish. When it is finally done I think, “This is the path of my life, this is what I came here to do.” But nothing happens. My agent has a meltdown and runs away from Manhattan and never returns the hundreds of pounds of paper that I have sent her. I finally self-publish the book.

When the Celestine Prophecy comes out I read it in one sitting. I have experienced so much of what he is writing about and I share the book with my friends. We are all amazed at the journey that we have embarked upon and that so many others are doing the same.

I am getting restless again, so I go back to teaching college and it is a student who gives me the next push. She is getting married at a small wedding chapel. It is a sad little affair and the people who own it are fairly miserable…no happiness, no smiles…just business. Take your money, rush through a short ceremony and toss you out. No photos, no nonsense.

She says to me, “YOU SHOULD DO THIS, YOU COULD DO THIS SO MUCH BETTER.” I laugh. She goes on to say that I have the personality for this, that I would make brides feel special and…on and on she goes.

Six or eight months pass and I get to thinking about what she said, it suddenly piques my interest and I think, “why not?” I call to see what I need to have to do this and am told I need to be either a minister or a judge.

I am neither. But when I was a hippie…(insert laughter here) there was a church in California that was ordaining people. And my friends were all ministers performing weddings. What was that church called…you guessed it…Universal Life Church. I did a search online and found you.

Now, this was a big step for me. I was by this time in my mid-50’s and a Buddhist. I take my spiritual path very seriously and I am not sure that I want to be ordained online. It takes me several months to decide that I could still teach and do this too.

That is how I came to you. My wedding chapel is all the rage, I am an older woman who has seen much and experienced much more. My life is filled with love. I am called upon to share the most important day of a couple’s life. I get to join them in love and compassion and send them on their way to fulfill their dreams. I wrote this for the ceremonies that I perform, it is a Buddhist way of thinking, but I think that it applies to all people who are in a relationship:

Today you have declared yourselves to be husband and wife. Today you have committed yourselves to one another for the remainder of your lives. This one simple act has changed your lives forever. It was your passion for one another that brought you together originally and passion that brought you to this moment. But a union founded on passion alone cannot survive. From this moment on, you will need to learn to transform your passion into compassion. Compassion for one another will give you the strength to grow and endure as the years go by.

And when things get rough as they will in any relationship, I ask you to stand before one another as you are doing here today, hold hands, look deeply into one another’s eyes and remember this day, this moment, the sacred vows you have just pledged to one another and the deep and abiding love that you share.

Thank you for the gift of the seminary. It is a wonderful place to share and express ideas and most of all faith.

Namaste,

Rev. Vicki A Bennett D.D.

*******************************

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

The Universal Life Church offers handfasting ceremonies, funeral ceremonies and free minister training.

As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church  minister supplies. Since being ordained with the Universal Life Church for so many years and it's Seminary since the beginning, I've watch the huge change and growth that has continued to happen.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Spirituality

Defining Spirituality Essay

      I will begin my essay by first stating that I have never been much of a reader, let alone a person who enjoys studying information in books.  I have learned that what comes from books are always someone else's beliefs or opinions that may or may not resonate with your individual life lessons.  Everything that I know in regards to my own understanding of spiritual truth, are things that I discovered on my own.  They involve my own personal experiences, research and discovery.  While some insights were gained from material I was guided to read, such information was merely a tool in which to propel me forward within my own understanding.  I have learned that there is no definitive source of "truth" in the world, however, there are many sources of information that provide keys to helping unlock our own individual understanding of truth and this individual understanding applies directly to our current soul age.  What this means is that we can only understand information that our soul is ready for- if we are not ready for it, then we will not be able to comprehend it in this particular lifetime.

      What I have come to know is that our soul incarnates into human form in order to learn, grow and evolve, which involves numerous lifetimes.  Basically, our physical world is nothing but a classroom for our consciousness.  As beings of conscious energy, we are connected to all things, and as such, we are also always connected to our creator (God).  Each new lifetime results in the creation of a new temporary personality (self/ego), which we explore the world through.  Death is nothing but a transition to the next lifetime, or if you are at the end of your human lessons, you will move to the next level of lessons and experiences, whether that is another dimension or plane of existence. 

      Mature and old souls are much more aware of their spirituality, while younger souls are scarcely able to comprehend such things.  It should then be of no surprise to learn that an overwhelming majority of souls currently on this planet are younger souls.  New souls have had to be created as the planet's population increased, which happens if there aren't any previous souls ready to reincarnate.  Everything about our new incarnated life was predesigned - who our parents would be (genetic makeup), where we live, astrological alignment, etc.  From that design, we would be assured of experiencing things that would help us learn whatever lesson(s) our soul decided to learn during the next lifetime.  Nothing is ever "predestined", which is why it takes many many lifetimes to evolve to the next soul age.  Souls may get trapped in ego, never following their guidance and learn their life's lesson, so they recycle and repeat until they learn what they need to learn to move forward.

      Yet, within each new incarnation, we are still connected to the experiences of our previous lifetimes.  While we may not readily remember them while incarnated, we still have a 'sense' of the past. 

      There is, of course, a lot more detail involved, but I'm just trying to give an overview of some of the things that I have learned during my own life's journey.  As for my own soul age, I am reaching the end of the road for my human incarnations.  It wasn't until I came to understand the lesson of soul ages, that I realized why I've felt so detached from humanity during this life.  Part of the process of the final transitioning is the gradual disconnect from humanity, as we prepare to move forward into the next evolutionary state.

      With this knowledge, I began the Defining Spiritualism course.

      Upon completion, I came away with mixed feelings about the course, mainly because of disagreements with the author.  While he says at the end that he never attempted to be objective, it truly showed through several comments he makes throughout the course.  I also find it quite odd that a course primarily written to showcase various forms of spiritual philosophy was written by an author who basically says at the end that he doesn't even believe in philosophy. 

      However, from a historical overview perspective on philosophy, I enjoyed the course.  I think the background information and the various schools of thought were well done.  I was not, however, in agreement with some of the author's personal conclusions. 

      Here are some of those disagreements that I discovered during the course, which is based upon my own perception of what was written - right or wrong. 

·        The author believes that 'thought' can never answer the question regarding spiritual truth. 

I believe this is wrong based upon my own personal experiences.  There are numerous ways to reach insight and truths, and if you are ready to understand something, then you will be guided to that information through whatever means you're ready for.  How can intuition be followed, if you aren't able to understand or trust the intuition through thought?  Words may be a limiting factor, but again, if you are ready, information will be decoded enough for you to understand.  Yet, some of the things I have come to learn, even I cannot put them into words… but then again, this information was for me on my path, not meant for everyone else. 

Many things have come to me during what I call, "thought meditation".  A question will appear in my mind, something profound that I want to understand… and as I sat pondering the idea, an answer or understanding would be shared with me.  Simply, you have to be open to finding guidance and truths through any means available- emotional, mental, and intuitive. 

Synchronistic events are what I consider to be thought-related guidance.  While some events may be intuitive, the vast majority are things that occur which are meant to make us 'think' about what they mean.  They help us to question, ponder, and dig deeper for information within ourselves.  Truly, when you can achieve trust in combined mental, emotional and intuitive guidance, you will begin to understand everything on a much deeper level.

·        The author believes that, "when you realize you know nothing and then begin to realize that there is nothing to be known, it is then that you come to know everything."

I strongly disagree.  This concept would basically mean that there is truly no point to our existence, other than just existing.  Yet, I know that our entire existence is as a vessel for our soul to learn, therefore, there is quite a LOT to be known.  It would be wiser to say, "I do not know everything and never will," then to say you know nothing and there is nothing to ever know.

However, the fact remains, while incarnated, we will never know everything, because if we truly did learn everything, we would cease to be able to have a human experience.  How could one know everything, and still see and interact as a normal human with the world around them?  Such a thing would be impossible.  However, the author does refer to this concept by saying, "The universal truth cannot be learned, cannot be understood and cannot be taught.  It cannot even be known as it is so vastly beyond the confines of the self that the self cannot exist in its presence," although I'm not sure if he even understood the point he was making.  Our mission isn't to become spontaneously enlightened in one fell swoop, but to gradually develop enlightenment through numerous lifetimes of experiences and lessons. 

Furthermore, the author's statement does bring up a good point in that, "The universal truth… cannot be taught."  This is true because we are programmed to only be able to understand what we're ready for, what our soul age is capable of grasping.  Ever wonder why you can discuss something with someone, show them proof of what you're saying, but they will simply just stare at you blankly, unable to comprehend what you're saying?  The fact is they are not ready to understand it; their soul hasn't reached the level where they are ready to understand what you are trying to teach them. 

·        The author also made personal statements sounding like fact such as, "Help the people you minister to by encouraging social interaction.  This is such a necessary part of the human condition…"

I can personally tell you that this is not true.  That is the problem with many people, they teach in terms of absolute fact based upon their own personal beliefs and assumptions, that they leave those who don't fit that mold, feeling like there is something wrong with them.  Throughout my life I have never really enjoyed interacting with other people, I have never really felt a need to, and when I did interact, it felt somewhat foreign to me.  Yet, those who understand about spiritual progression know that once the soul has grown to an advanced level, they begin to drift away from mundane human interactions.  The fact is, by the time our soul reaches advanced levels, we have already, "been there, done that" in so many previous lifetimes, that it just no longer holds meaning for us anymore.  While people around us are excited about events or traveling, etc… we just have a sense that we've already done it, so why bother doing it again.  It is easy to become frustrated and even more reclusive during this time, because so many people think there is something wrong with us, because we're not behaving like everyone else.  The fact is, we are just aware of so much more than everyone else, that forcing ourselves to behave like them is just pointless to us.

I think as ministers or anyone for that matter on a profound spiritual journey, would do well to avoid seeing in personal absolutes when it comes to teaching others.  This was just one example I highlighted in the course, but there were several others I found while reading.

I do want to touch upon one final idea that the author mentioned. 

·        When he described the Buddhist idea of nirvana and how western people have a problem with that.

The "problem" basically stem from the human ego.  The human ego causes us to believe that we are special, we are perfect, we deserve to live forever, and that ceasing to exist means everything about our life was pointless.  However, if people understood death as I do, they would realize the errors of such thinking.  If any person can honestly look in the mirror and see all of the times they have judged others, been prejudicial, been angry with someone, hated someone, wanted to get even… once they honestly remember those things, can they truly say that they "deserve" to be immortal?  Would they want a heaven or afterlife with the same judgmental, prejudice people they currently walk the earth with?  Personally, I can say without hesitation that I would not want my human life's "personality" to be immortal.  I would not want to think, act, or react with this faulty human-ego process.  I know that beyond this skin, my consciousness is void of such fallibility, so why would I desire to see it tarnished by forever by human ego?

      In closing, I'd like to add my favorite Buddhist quote, "Do not believe something, just because I have said it."  I tell this to everyone I talk to about what I have learned.  Therefore, I tell you now, do not believe what I have told you and do not believe what you read or hear, believe only that which you experience yourself, directly.  Because if you cannot trust yourself, if you can't believe your own personal experiences, then how can you trust and believe in something outside of yourself?  The answers lie within, not outside of you.

Thank you for reading.

With Blessings.

-Rev. Bradley

********************

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.

As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Spiritual Awareness

Michael S Barth

Doctor of Spiritual Awareness Final Awareness

       This is one of the most interesting classes that I have taken.  In the first lesson, the instructor said that there would be new things we would learn and there would be old things where we would look at them in new ways.  The instructor was definitely right.  I did learn a lot of new things and I am definitely looking at old ways in a new light.  This really blew my socks off when I was going through this course.

            The first thing that got my attention was a quote by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.  Chief Joseph said "We are not humans having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."  This quote by Chief Joseph really hit home with me.  This was the first time I had seen this quote.  It sticks out because it really went against my thinking the first time when I had read it.  But as I went through the course, I realized that Chief Joseph is right.  We are "spiritual beings having a human experience."  We are all spiritual beings that are here to learn lessons that would take a lot longer if we just stayed as spiritual beings.  All of us, as spiritual beings, need to have this human experience to learn the lessons that we need to learn.  These lessons could be such things as dealing with anger or jealousy.

            I enjoyed the lesson on evolution.  Early on, I was trying to figure out how evolution related to spiritual awareness and that question was quickly answered.  I had never considered before that the spirit evolves into higher and higher levels of being.  I had also never thought before that as a spiritual being, that we could continue to evolve into higher beings.  In science class, I was always taught about how species adapt to new environments, but never thought that spirits did the same thing to learn new lessons to evolve into higher levels of being.  In the past, I figured that I had been on this planet before because of dreams that I have had and that I have been to places and have said that I have been here before but not in this lifetime.

            I like the section about choice.  I never considered the fact before that we make choices and we can either learn or lose by our choices.  By our choices, we also decide on how we are going to learn the lessons that we have chosen.  This fact was totally new to me and I had never thought about my past and current choices that I have been making.  Over the years, I have learned many lessons through good and bad choices which I never had thought about before taking this course.  Both the good and bad choices have taught me lessons that I needed to learn as a spiritual being.

            The section about balance really got me thinking about myself.  I tend to act in extremes.  With me, there seems to be no middle ground.  One minute, I could be really happy and then the next minute, I could blow up with anger at someone for something that they said or did.  Obviously, this is just one example with me but I need to find balance and try to find that middle ground.  I have been this way as far as I can remember in this lifetime and only since I have been taking this and other courses here at the ULC Seminary has it occurred to me that I need to be more loving and find more balance in my life.

            I loved the section on Universal Laws.  I did not realize that there were so many of them but saw some that I need to apply.  The Law of Abundance is one that I need to apply and have started applying since I started taking this course.  I have started branching out more in my educational pursuits.  The Law of Action is another one I needed to apply because I kept waiting for things to happen but the things never happened.  I have been applying more of this Law of Action such as trying to understand things better and trying to learn about things that I am interested in.

            This course is one that I could keep writing about since I learned a lot of new things and look at things completely different.  This course really got me thinking about things which is great.  I know that I need keep applying the Universal Laws.  Now, I know that I am a spiritual being here learning new lessons that I need to learn so I can keep become a higher and higher level of beings.  This class was wonderful.  I wish I had taken it sooner than when I did but I am glad that I took it now.  I loved all the new things I learned and how this course got me to look at my old ways in a new light.

**********************

Ordination with the Free Online Ordination button.

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Lesson 4, Miracle of Prayer

Prayer Exercise:

1. Explain how you agree or disagree with the Course's view of true forgiveness. Give examples that support your thoughts.

I Do agree on ACIM view of true forgiveness.  It's reassuring to know that it comes from God and that forgiveness is only possible from God and that it's Gods responsibility to truly forgive not ours. Thank goodness.    It makes it perfect, whole, pure, unconditional forgiveness.  Total forgiveness, complete understanding, and true freedom... What else could we ask for-really!  

Being that all of the "stuff" we think someone did or didn't do to us is a fabrication of the ego to continue and reinforce the lie that we are separate from God to begin with.  We end up with Forgiveness to Destroy philosophies causing more pain and damage then what was there to begin with.  The ego is sneaky in making us believe that we have the capacity in this state of reality to forgive.    The ego reinforces the separateness by finding more things to be "hurt"  or "injured"  or "victimized" by.  Why would our ego states want to truly forgive?  It doesn't --- it makes us believe that it does.

Using guilt, unworthiness, shame, excommunication, inferiority to invoke forgiveness is a sham!  When we make mistakes which are sins, which means missing the mark, God asks us to correct our mistakes, learn from them and move on.  Be Love .... That's all we are and that's what God is and that's what God expects from us.  If we are being Love then what is there to forgive. ? We only need forgiveness because we are not being our true selves -Love.  

I would much better choose to have true forgiveness and free myself from the pain. !     

I find in these moments when I'm studying the ACIM and adjusting my beliefs and attitudes that my ego dreams up little fears and distractions from my studies.  I get moments of panic that come up.  I know it's my ego freaking out because it's been found out.  :-).  I just send my ego Love and pray about it which helps immensely.  I also allow the fear to surface and observe it and investigate it- not playing into.  What happens then it naturally dissolves away. Resistance is futile.  I let it be and let it go.  If the ego has something to fight against it will.   So, I do my up most to release the resistance.  Tucking it away is even worse.  It lies there inside of me and simmers and grows until it rears its ugly head again and this time the fear is magnified into something far worse.  

I just hand it all over to spirit, spirit fixes all things.  Faith-Faith-Faith.  

Blessings

Rev Naunie Maddox

 



Sent from my iPad

Spirituality Course

I think I will begin with the fact that I truly thought that by taking this course I would actually be able to “Define spiritualism,” once I had completed this course. What I have truly learned, is that I cannot. Definition, like beauty, is the eyes of the beholder and I believe ironically, that by not being capable of actually being able to define spiritualism, I got it! Of course, this little fact escaped me until the final lesson, which then lead me to understand why we have to completely read each and every lesson over and over again.

I imagined that becoming a Chaplain would make me all-knowing. I believed that I HAD to have all of the answers that may be asked of me throughout the rest of my life. I was now a person of higher power. I made a vow to My God to be able to do this when I became ordained. However, I now know that although I do have the knowledge of from whence it came, (The beliefs of others and how it all began,) it does me no good to speak - but to listen and that what I think really doesn’t matter at all in ministering. What matters is how that person feels when they leave me. Perception is everything.

Having taken this course redirected my thought process to a completely different level. I have noticed that when people come to me for advice, they really aren’t searching for advice – but for an ear to listen and confirmation that all will be okay. That is all anyone really wants to know. Don’t we all? I believe this is why countless folks pile in to wherever to have spiritual readings done. I have done this myself in the past - and when I think about it, I already knew everything that the reading person told me. But I felt better when I left because it had been validated!!! My feelings had been validated. Validated by someone who seemed to be in a more knowing position than myself. After all, they had their own little space, with their own little table and their own magical cards and I didn’t. Sounds very familiar to church which brings me back full circle to my ordination.

I have learned that I cannot promise anyone that all will be okay because their perception of okay may be completely different than my own. However, I can create the feeling that, “Everything will be as it should be.” This I can honestly and wholeheartedly promise. Once I realized this, (More like an actual brick hit me square between the eyes) I felt absolute peace in knowing that I don’t have to know anything at all!!! I simply have to have the ability to be compassionate and understanding and non- judgmental. Not having to have an opinion is just about the best freedom I have ever been given.

I cannot thank you enough for the guidance of this course and I still continue to read from it daily and probably always will. As stages in my life continue to change, so do the meanings and teachings of this lesson. Another brick between the eyes I suppose.

In closing, I would like to share with you that I have never been so thankful to have knowledge - of nothing at all!

My Sincerest Thanks –

Martha J. Tote

*******************************

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

The Universal Life Church offers hand-fasting ceremonies, funeral ceremonies and free minister training.

As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church  minister supplies. Since being ordained with the Universal Life Church for so many years and it's Seminary since the beginning, I've watch the huge change and growth that has continued to happen.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Dr. of Spirituality Lesson #2 homework

I have attached my assignment for Lesson #2 of the Dr. of Spirituality.  If this is not the correct place to send it please let me know.

 

Sincerely,

 

Ralph

 

 

Ralph Dehner
Master Trainer
Tai Chi for Health
www.haveqiwilltravel.com

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done the best you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your own nonsense."          --Emerson