Notes from the Rev.
Notes from the Rev.
Keep up to date with Rev. David Alexander as he shares his message and passion for justice through the transformation of consciousness.
New Podcast Coming Soon!
So this past week I had a great dialogue with friend and local justice advocate, Manuel Padilla - it was an open forum dialogue delivered as part of the Wed. night Insight program at New Thought Center for Spiritual Living, where I serve as the Spiritual Director. Our dialogue prior to the service was incredible - and then the service itself was wonderful too. As I drove home, motivated by the positive feedback and engaging interactions - I reflected on how many other times I’ve had the privilege to sit with colleagues and friends and explore topics in deep and meaningful ways.
and the vibration of that conversation sparked a new idea….
I am excited to announce my latest project: New Thoughts - Podcast with David Alexander.
In this podcast I will explore philosophy, psychology, theology, spirituality, justice and the dynamics of consciousness in our collective human experience. Together we will examine the social tension and challenges and seek to apply principles from the New Thought Movement in an effort to help create a world that works for everyone. I’ll be interviewing friends and colleagues from my network of Thought Leaders, Social Justice advocates, educators, and spiritual leaders. I’ll be exploring and expanding thoughts from my weekly sermons, my monthly column, Philosophy In Action in Science of Mind Magazine, and more. Episodes will range from 30min to 45min each and I’m hoping to get them out at least once per week.
I need your help - What topics would YOU like to hear me explore and why? How often would you be willing to tune in and what other feedback would you be willing to share with me as I launch this new venture?
Please comment bellow or send me an email at revdavid1@newthoughtcsl.org
Unbound by Precedent
This last Sunday at New Thought Center for Spiritual Living, I concluded a series on Spiritual Laws and how to use them. You can find the video feeds of these services on our facebook page here...Here is a summary of the final talk in the series:
So much of our life is lived in limitation. That is, we create mental models of what is possible and what is accepted, normal and what is not. THen we live according to those models. It is a rare few who dare to break the status quo and life a life not bound by the precedent that has gone before us.
“All humankind is more or less following the pattern of thought in which it is immersed.”
We all have some kind of limitation or upper limit to what we think is possible in our lives. Maybe it's about how much money we can earn, or lifestyle we can live, or whether we think we are good enough to have what we really want or do what really makes our heart sing. Whatever it is, the limitation is a mental construct rather than a true limitation. I want to let you know that its time to chase down our biggest aspirations and break through the limiting thoughts that we think are holding us back. The world is suffering from too many people sleepwalking in lives of mediocracy, accepting the limitations set forth by the hypnotic tone of limitation.
In the 1950's the running world was caught up in the quest for the impossible. A sub-Four Minute Mile. The record stood at 4:01.3 set in 1945 which stood for nearly nine years. Just 100 years prior the fastest mile was just over 4:50. The desire for a sub-four minute mile dated back 3000 years and the Greeks and Romans had focused earnestly for nearly 1000 years. But after a nine-year stalemate beginning in 1945 it had become commonly accepted by trainers, runners and experts alike that a mile faster than 4 minutes was not physically possible. it had become a mental model that was widely accepted.
Still, three men continued the impossible dream. Each hungered for the chance to be the one who broke the record. But only one understood that it was a mental race and not a physical one. British runner, Roger Bannister refused to utilize any outside trainers, coaches or conditioning experts. He trained with only himself. He knew that the world believed the goal to be impossible and thus he refused to surround himself with those who were influenced by the hypnosis if limitation.
Then on a cold, windy and rainy day in May 1954 Roger Bannister did the impossible. When he crossed the finish line, he collapsed to the ground, lost consciousness and was color blind for several mintues after he awoke. The time: 3minutes, 59.4 seconds.
“When we dare to break through our limitations, we create a path for others to follow.”
It was an amazing triumph to be sure. But the really remarkable thing is what happened after the record was broken. later that same year 16 more runners broke the 4 minute mark. The following year, 37. Today, dozens of runners have broken 4 minutes over 100 times in their carreer. The mile record today stands at a remarkable 3:43. Why did so many people break the record after Bannister? For no other reason than it simply became possible in the collective mind of humanity.
What is your four minute mile?
For God's Sake, Evolve!
We are here to be stretched into and ever increasing capacity for greater good, not just for our selves, but for the world
You are born to learn and grow. It is natural right? As it turns out, from a spiritual perspective, quite differently than the way we have perceived from the material world. The newtonian world view would say that intelligence is a by product of the process of evolution. That is, there are less intelligent forms of life and through evolution they brought forward more intelligent forms, namely you and I. What a universal spiritual perspective suggests is that all life is intelligent (since Spirit/God is all there is), infinitely intelligent and that evolution (ie growth, progress, expansion) is the by-product of this intelligence. That’s a pretty exciting concept when you stop to consider it! The soil knows exactly what to do with the seed, the soil is intelligent. The seed knows exactly how to grow in the soil, the seed is intelligent. From acorn to oak tree (evolution) is the by-product of this infinite intelligence.
What does this mean for you and I? It means that we are surrounded by an infinite intelligence that responds to us and it means that our nature is to grow, change and evolve as human and spiritual beings. In other words, everything that happens in your life, does not happen “to you” but rather is happening “through you” and is a part of the creative process necessary to bring forward your own growth, expansion and evolution. You are not here to achieve external accomplishments and life status and then simply maintain a status quo of “the good life.” No, you and I are here to grow with every season of life and expand our thinking, our concepts of good, our ability to accept and give love, our constructs of what is possible. We are here to be stretched into and ever increasing capacity for greater good, not just for our selves, but for the world. What greater life purpose could there be? So ask yourself, where have I gotten stuck in an old way of thinking, where do I see a pattern or rut that is keeping me from making real progress. Where is the life intelligence within me calling for me to evolve? And if you'd like to take it a step further, where has our collective experience as a society become stuck? Where are we being called to evolve by way of experiences that are no longer serving humanity as a whole? Wow, that's big stuff....
Accessing Your Super-Power!
What about our own superpowers? Are they just the stuff of fantasy and wishful thinking? Or does the fact that we are each created from the stuff of stars – and by the same invisible hand – indicate that we may have innate powers that we cannot even imagine at this time?
Early on in the popular new Superwoman movie, there is a scene in which the young Diana is under extreme duress during a training battle that pushes her to the limits of her endurance and beyond. Only when she has exhausted her strength and resources – and yet still refuses to be defeated – does she discover a power she never even knew she had that could never have been accessed in any other way.
What about our own superpowers? Are they just the stuff of fantasy and wishful thinking? Or does the fact that we are each created from the stuff of stars – and by the same invisible hand – indicate that we may have innate powers that we cannot even imagine at this time?
Over a period of decades author Michael Murphy amassed recorded evidence from history books and newspaper clippings of people exceeding what we think of as humanly possible. In his 1993 book, The Future of the Body, he documents selected examples of what he calls ‘meta-normal’ human capacities in areas such as perception, cognition, communication, volition and spiritual development. Taken together, he sees such examples as pointing toward the further evolution of our species.
At this time of extreme duress, when we may feel taxed beyond our capacity to respond effectively, we too – like the young Superwoman – have the opportunity to dig deep and discover our own infinite well of resources. These previously untapped abilities can take us beyond our little self with its crippling sense of limitations and separation from our Source and from each other.
Your own nascent ‘superpower’ may be something so effortless for you right now that you tend to overlook it or discount its deeper value. Yet, in it you may find your greater reason for being and a path of loving service to others. Such a path immediately enhances our awareness of our inner superpowers. And in so doing, it simultaneously diminishes our need to be seen as ‘special’ by anybody else. By following the path that unfolds from within us, we find our way to the Promised Land of Great-Fullness and Joy.
So tell me, what is your Super-Power and how are you called to respond to the world today?
The Power of Being in Service to the World
What if we knew that this time of extraordinary peril and uncertainty is providing us with unprecedented opportunities to accelerate our conscious evolution and contribute great value to the world?
We are living in a time when dangers come at us from all directions – from the air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat and the medications we take. Violence is widespread. And the numbers of people in the world who are experiencing extreme poverty and suffering have risen to levels we have never seen before.
Though most people in the U.S. live in a relatively peaceful environment – in which acts of violence are not the norm – our own levels of stress and anxiety have also risen along with feelings of overwhelm and helplessness. What can we possibly do, we wonder, that could make a significantpositive difference in this chaotic, upside down world.
Actually, there’s another way we can look at this dark state of affairs – even as we recognize the urgency for us each to elevate our own consciousness and be of service to other people: What if these are precisely the times for which we took birth? What if we knew that this time of extraordinary peril and uncertainty is providing us with unprecedented opportunities to accelerate our conscious evolution and contribute great value to the world?
All of us have special gifts within us that could impact other people’s lives in significant ways. We may not yet have discovered or developed these gifts, but we see glimmers of them whenever we do something that gives us great pleasure and a greater sense of wholeness and fulfillment.
It could be as simple as arranging a bouquet of flowers – or a piece of music – to evoke a sense inner beauty in the hearts of all who experience it. The chord that is struck through that act of creation will reverberate forever – in never-ending waves that inspire countless people to find their own inner beauty and bring it out through their hearts to help illuminate the world.