Harry Potter and the 12 Powers – The Rest of the Characters

Well, the 12 Spiritual Powers and Harry Potter is completed…or is it?  There are many other characters in the Harry Potter books that may deserve at the very least, an honorable mention and the Powers they exemplify.

There are books and books and more books written about Harry Potter and all the theories about him and the various other characters in JK Rowling’s books.  There’s a whole series on how Harry and all the themes and characters refer to Christianity. And then other books telling you to not read the books because they refer to Satan.

John Granger, in “Looking for God in Harry Potter” says that each book is based upon a central conflict of ‘good vs evil’.  And of course, it is the quintessential example of the hero’s journey.

He also thinks the story is meant to instruct and change us. Each book reveals a prejudice – fear of foreigners, of muggles, of giants, of muggle-born, were-wolfs….and individual people – even Harry was prejudice of Prof. Snape & Draco, for example.

So, our instruction here is to look at ourselves and our prejudices. We ALL have them. We must ‘be in the world but not of it’ John 17:13-16…hard to do in this HUMAN form.

 

Another theme, in every book is love triumphing death. “The absence of love is worse than death.” Which is one of the errors that Tom Riddle made. He loved no one and nothing but himself…and maybe power. Love trumps death just as light conquers dark.

 

 

And Harry was faced with two types of choices in every book, what sort of person he wants to be and what to do in each crisis – choosing what is right over what is easy. Reminders of what we need to answer often throughout our days. Those choices aren’t often easy to make.

Remember Dumbledore’s message to Harry? “It is our choices, Harry, that show who we truly are far more than our abilities.”

Maybe I just don’t want to leave Harry or maybe I think some of the characters really deserve to be included in our discussion…but for whatever reason, here are a few I think need to be mentioned…

 

Not in any special order – Remus Lupin.  Lupin was introduced in the 3^rd book as the Defense Against Dark Magic Professor. He is probably one of the most loyal characters in the story.  Remus was a very compassionate and intelligent man. In spite of his condition, a werewolf, he was very tolerant. And despite having suffered a great deal of prejudice in his life he managed to retain an ability to see the good in almost everybody and was extremely forgiving. Remus also had an excellent sense of humor.

What of the 12 powers do we see in Lupin? Definitely strength & understanding. I would say faith & love too.

Molly Weasley is the next character deserving to be mentioned in our study. – matriarch of the Weasley family, she is the mother of seven children; Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley, which makes her deserving in itself! Molly played a large part in the life of Harry Potter, acting as a motherly figure towards him.

You witness her strength and compassion throughout the series. One would need an imagination with 7 children and a strong will. Of course, love would make up a large part of Molly’s character with a touch of power.

Arthur Weasley – the patriarch of the Weasley family and the quintessential father figure. He was a staunch believer in the equality of all magical and Muggle folk, making him full of zeal & love and with 7 children, strength. His imagination shows in his love for anything to do with Muggles.

Ginny Weasley – Ginny was another character showing great growth through the series. She grew into a confident young woman, becoming an important member of Dumbledore’s Army.

Even though Ginny ended up marrying Harry, she was her own person, with her own career and professional standing, both as a quidditch player and later a writer. And Mother to 3 children. I see order in her life as well as power, wisdom and strength.

Some of the characters we loved to hate as we read the series. One was Professor Severus Snape – potions master for most of the story. Snape had a history with Harry before Harry even arrived at Hogwarts. Harry’s father, James and Snape didn’t like each other much, for various reasons. So, Snape didn’t like Harry when he came along as a student at Hogwarts.

As we came to the end of the story, we could see that Snape had much courage, love and strength. His will made him one of the most important characters of the story.

 

Of course, every story has to have some bad guys. So, let’s look at a couple.  We already talked about the number 1 bad guy to our story, Voldemort. He had a few others that had our hairs on end through the books.

One was Delores Umbridge. Even the meaning of her name suggests nastiness….’grievous shadow’. Sorted into Slytherin House as a student, Dolores Umbridge was an evil woman, nothing short of a sociopath who characterized the worst aspects of political power. She was ruthless, cruel, brutal, corrupt, misanthropic, and devoid of a moral or ethical center. She was a half-blood witch and Ministry of Magic bureaucrat.

Her time at Hogwarts was characterized by cruelty and abusive punishments against students, and because of her interfering and condescending ways, she was generally hated by most students and teachers alike.

According to Garrick Ollivander, wand maker, abnormally short wands usually selected those whose moral character was stunted

So what Spiritual powers were mis-used in Delores Umbridge? Obviously power. And Zeal along with order being way out of wack.

 

Another nasty character was Bellitrix Black Lestrange, a pure-blood witch, Sorted into Slytherin House.

Ron told Harry  – “There isn’t any dark wizard that didn’t come from Slytherin House.”

After graduating from Hogwarts she became a Death Eater, fanatically loyal to Lord Voldemort and was among the most dangerous and sadistic of Voldemort’s followers.

Her marriage appeared to be nothing more than an obligatory fulfilment of her family’s pure-blood marriage traditions, Voldemort was her true love, the one to whom she spoke in a romantic manner and showed concern for, even had a child secretly with.

However, he never returned her feelings as he was incapable of understanding love and disliked the idea of being emotionally attached to anyone.

Bellatrix was an intensely sadistic witch with brutal, violent tendencies vehemently against all: blood traitors, half-bloods, Muggle-borns, Muggles, and half-breeds.

Again, a mis-use of her spiritual powers of power, strength, zeal and will, just to name a few!

 

Although they were not part of the Death Eaters or fans of Voldemort, the Dursley family were not very nice to Harry

The Dursley family is a Muggle family, and the only known living relatives of Harry Potter. Petunia Dursley was the older sister of Harry’s mother, was married to the extremely unmagical, opinionated, and materialistic Vernon Dursley. They had a son named Dudley.

Due to his wizarding background, Harry was treated with fear and negligence by the Dursleys. An interesting contrast to Hogwarts, where he is famous.

Definitely a mis-use of power and will, order and especially love. Even the supposed love of their son, Dudley was mis-used.

 

So what do we learn from these characters? Well, the first few were supporters of Harry and helped him along his journey to be the hero that he was. They each strengthened him in ways he did not receive from his home.

The other characters certainly helped to keep him humble. AS he experienced more of life, Harry was able to discern the way he wanted to be, how he wished to live his life, often based on the examples from his God-father, his friends Lupin, the Weasleys, and Prof. Dumbledore.

And what he wanted NOT to be based upon his life with the Dursleys as well as what he saw from others.

The examples of what a family is like via the Weasley’s showed him that what he experienced with the Dursleys was not the rule. He learned what it was like to be loved and cared for in a ‘proper’ family.

When one sees the way any power can be mis-used, we get a better understanding of what is Spiritually correct and what is an error, a missing the mark, a ‘sin’ against humankind.

Unfortunately, we don’t have to look far to see where Spiritual Powers are used improperly.  We see it in our families, at our place of work, and in our communities and nations.

If we have learned anything through our discussion of the 12 Powers it might be that we can all do our part to create peace and love through-out our world or we have done our part to create anger, hate and distrust…remember – peace begins with each of us.

Ask yourself if you are doing your part? And do you know WHAT your part is?

Harry Potter and the 12 Powers

The Power of Power & Harry Potter

Winifred Wilkinson Hausmann says;

 

“Power! The word itself has a magical, mystical sound. Through the years the idea of power has been the main goal of existence in more than one person’s life—the never-ending search for power over other people, power in the political or ecclesiastical area, power to accomplish miracles, power to amaze and mystify others. Power, power, power!

 

Like a siren song, the idea has lured people on. And always, in the end, those who have sought power for its own sake have found disillusionment and disappointment.”

 

Isn’t that what we think of when the word POWER is mentioned?

 

“… Truly, power is a gift of our Creator, freely given, but it is a gift to be used under God direction only. Wrong use of the God-given power potential will bring disappointing or even disastrous results.

 

But power, rightly used under the direction of the Higher Self of each individual, will accomplish good beyond our present ability to imagine.”

 

“Power is not an end in itself, not a goal to be sought. Rather, it is simply a means that enables us to attain the end result of bringing forth God ideas on earth. It is not to be used for selfish gain or satisfaction of the personal ego, but for the forward spiritual movement of the whole.

 

It is to be exercised not for the purpose of controlling others, but for the purpose of taking dominion over our own thoughts and feelings in order to come into a greater God-awareness. It is a gift of God, and as such it must be respected and utilized to further Divine work on earth.”

In Charles Fillmore’s Unity classic, The Twelve Powers, he likens the creative faculty of “power” to the divine ideas of dominion and mastery. In Fillmore’s view, the power of power is the capacity to have dominion over one’s experience and also the potential to achieve mastery over that experience.

Fillmore places the power of power energy center in the throat area, specifically, the voice box. It is with the power of our word that we engage the wheels of creation itself and whatever we “bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever [we] loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” [Matthew 18:18]

In the creation story of Genesis, the power of the word comes into play almost immediately with the words “Let there be light.” With the creative power inherent in the sound of those words, the creation of the universe was set into motion.

In John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

Virtually every religious and spiritual tradition acknowledges the creative power of sound and words. In the Hindu creation story, Brahma, the Creator, revealed himself as a golden embryo of sound, a vowel resonating outward from his center, resonating off the embryo walls, echoing back upon itself and becoming water and wind.

In the Toltec tradition, great emphasis is placed on being “impeccable with your word.” Words and sounds have power and they create both positive and negative effects depending upon how we use and direct them.

In Sanskrit, this power is called “Matrika Shakti,” the inherent creative energy in the sound of the letters that make up words. In the Sanskrit alphabet, each letter has a corresponding sound vibration that resonates in our body’s subtle energy channels and also in the cosmos.

In each tradition, the creative power that is implied is the same power that Charles Fillmore calls the power of power, one of the twelve creative faculties of humankind.

It was Dumbledore who said, “Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.”

When working to intellectually understand the power of power, or indeed any of the twelve powers, it is useful to maintain awareness that each one only represents a potential power. It will always remain our personal responsibility to achieve mastery or dominion over our own experience. No one can do it for us and mastery is not guaranteed. However, our creative power is never a matter of potential. It is always a matter of personal choice.

Personal responsibility again…a very important part of Unity.  Our 5^th Principle. And a reminder that we always have a CHOICE.

At the level of consciousness, dominion and mastery over our own experience means that we have assumed the personal responsibility to exercise executive management over the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes that reside in our own consciousness.

When we engage the power of power, we use our words to communicate the thoughts and feelings present in our consciousness. If we have a consciousness of conflict, we use words of fear to criticize and divide. If we have a consciousness of peace, we employ words that affirm our fundamental unity.

Like the other powers, the power of power works interdependently and synergistically with the other powers. It does not achieve its potential if used in isolation or to the exclusion of the other powers. To fully engage the creative power of power, we must fuse it with the harmonizing power of love, inform it with the twin powers of spiritual understanding and discernment, clothe it in the dynamic power of our imagination and galvanize it to action through the executive power of our will.

The remaining powers, including strength, zeal and renunciation also play unique roles in the effective expression of the power of power. While mastery and dominion may not be guaranteed, it is reassuring to know that we are equipped with the limitless creative potential to accomplish them.

After all, if the power of the word is enough to set the entire universe into motion, it is likely powerful enough to help us to achieve our own comparatively smaller creative dreams and visions, even world peace.

 

Harry James Potter is the title character and protagonist of J. K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series. The majority of the books’ plot covers seven years in the life of the orphan Potter, who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard. Thus, he attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Rowling states, “Harry had to be an orphan—so that he’s a free agent, with no fear of letting down his parents, disappointing them … Hogwarts has to be a boarding school—half the important stuff happens at night! Then there’s the security. Having a child of my own reinforces my belief that children above all want security, and that’s what Hogwarts offers Harry.”

Harry is associated with the Power of Power because he uses his dominion and mastery of his Spiritual Power as he learns of his fate with regards to Lord Voldemort.  He learned to “fuse his power with the harmonizing power of love, with the twin powers of spiritual understanding and discernment, with the dynamic power of imagination and with the executive power of will.”

Harry’s ability to bring all the Spiritual Powers together as book 7 came to a close was the perfect example of the growth we all take on this Spiritual Journey called being a human being having a Spiritual experience on this planet called earth.

He took dominion over all the information he had before him and made the choice he made…to sacrifice himself and then to return and complete his journey and his growth.

Kind of like surrendering to the Divine Guidance we are receiving instead of fighting it for ego’s sake.

Could we do what Harry did? That is our question.  Harry had the opportunity to bring the 3 parts of the Deathly Hallows together to ‘conquer death’, yet he choose to aid humanity. J. K. Rowling said the difference between Harry and Voldemort is that Harry willingly accepts mortality, making him stronger than his nemesis. “The real master of Death accepts that he must die, and that there are much worse things in the world of the living.” He placed himself to be killed by Voldemort, and in doing that he conquered death anyway.

Could you do it? Could I?  Would I have the wisdom and strength to walk away from the power that was before Harry? He was tested by ego.  As we all are.

What Harry did was find his purpose. He questioned all he was learning. All the challenges before him…or I like to call them growth opportunities.

We need to do that…to question everything.  To seek within what our true purpose is. To honor God’s gifts, whatever they are.

We are reading and discussing the book, “Hell in the Hallway, Light at the Door” by Ellen Dabenport in Tuesday’s class. The title comes from the saying, “when one door closes another opens, but it’s hell in the hallway”. And her point being, when you are in a hallway, there are all kinds of gifts for us all if we just keep open to see them, to receive them.

Harry had a hallway in each book that lead up to the long, final hallway that each earlier hallway played a part in because they each had gifts, lessons to help him grow as he came closer to facing his Shadow, Voldemort.

Harry Potter and the 12 Powers – Understanding & Hermione

 

We are coming close to the end of our summer series on the 12 Spiritual Powers and Harry Potter. I hope you are not only enjoying the series but recalling what the 12 Powers mean to you and how they can help you through your Spiritual Journey as a physical being in this universe.

 

This week we will take a look at the Power of Understanding.  And we can certainly use some understanding, can’t we.  It seems many of our fellow Americans have chosen to act out their beliefs and others have chosen to stand for what they believe in contrast. And THAT has caused a bit of a physical clash.

 

Let’s be reminded that we ALL have a part in what is showing up in our world.  As long as any of us bear the thought of ‘better than’, ‘other than’; we will see that manifest in our world. Diversity is important in our world. We’d easily get bored if we were all the same. This is where discernment comes in to play with our thoughts and actions. We’ve discussed this several times. This is why we say, Peace begins with me.

 

It kind of goes down to something Dumbledore said to Harry, we all have a choice between what is right and what is easy. And ALL of us, my friends, get to choose.

 

Take a deep breath and let go of any and all distrust, disharmony and negativity….. and breathe in the love that we have here and know that is all there really is. There is only God and that means, only GOOD.

 

 

Let’s talk about understanding, our Spiritual Power this week.

 

WHY is it important to seek understanding? Understanding is invaluable because only understanding can give peace to the heart.

Understanding has many applications: it’s the mental process of a person who comprehends; it’s comprehension; personal interpretation:

It is also, the superior power of discernment; enlightened intelligence:

And, a mutual agreement, an agreement regulating joint activity or settling differences.

It’s demonstrating comprehension, intelligence, discernment, empathy, like an understanding attitude.

 

Can you see why understanding is needed for our hearts to be at peace?

 

Charles Fillmore, our co-founder, states in The Twelve Powers, “Spiritual discernment always places wisdom above the other faculties of mind and reveals that knowledge and intelligence are auxiliary to understanding. Intellectual understanding comes first in the soul’s development, then a deeper understanding of principles follows, until the whole man ripens into wisdom.”

 

Understanding is a bridge to living love. The more we understand, the more we are able to feel and express the love that is already present.

 

The awakening of our own faculty of understanding starts with questioning—questioning the old ways of thinking that may have been taken for granted. Questioning our domestication. Wanting to know the spiritual Truth.

 

The desire for understanding leads to thinking about what is learned and seeking to put it all together in a body of information that will provide a basis for living; your integrity.

 

Understanding is different from … wisdom. Charles Fillmore defines wisdom as “intuitive knowing; spiritual intuition,” … and understanding as “the ability of the mind to apprehend and realize the laws of thought and the relation of ideas to one another.”

… To put it more simply, wisdom knows. … Understanding knows why, it sees the relationship between the parts of God’s universe.. … When your understanding is developed in both head and heart, not only will you have the light in mind, but you will also have the ability to apply it in your world.

 

Don’t work on understanding unless you are willing to change. You will attain a new understanding of yourself and your world.

 

Understanding is important in developing our spiritual nature, because it is the faculty which puts feet under our prayers and gives our spiritual activity something to stand on. Blind faith, faith without understanding of the spiritual laws, may get results on occasion, but our spiritual growth demands a base that is more dependable … understanding that is grounded in spiritual Truth.

 

 

This revelation of Truth to the consciousness of a person is spiritual understanding.

You may say to yourself, over and over again, that you are well and wise and happy. On the mental plane, a certain “cure” is effected, and for a time you will feel well and wise and happy. This is simply a form of hypnotism, or mind cure.

 

But until, down in the depths of your being, you are conscious of your oneness with the Creator, until you know within yourself that the spring of all wisdom and health and joy is within your own being, ready at any moment to leap forth at the call of your need, you will not have spiritual understanding.

 

All the teachings of Jesus were for the purpose of leading us into this consciousness of our oneness with the Creator. He had to begin at the external man—because people then as now were living mostly in external things-and teach us to love our enemies, to do good to others, and so forth. These were external steps for us to take

Jesus told us how we might find the kingdom of heaven within ourselves—the kingdom of love, of power, of life. Thus, giving us power over every form of sickness, sorrow, and over even death itself.

Every day we are met with opportunities to understand more. We each have a worldview. Those views are influenced by our country of origin, gender, life story, religion, education, economic status, Enneagram number, ethnicity, and the list goes on. We tend to gravitate toward the people who we share similar worldviews with. It’s easier to understand those who are like us and therefore easier to love them.

Then there are those relationships and situations where we bump up against other viewpoints, informed by a different set of influences than our own. We can make up many stories based on limited, external information. Our call is to go deeper. The more we understand, the more we can feel the love that connects us all.

There are many ways to inquire to develop understanding and ultimately love. When you are seeking to build understanding, the important starting point is to be pure in your intention. Start with the awareness that this is a soul in human form that has a story, with hopes and dreams, challenges and struggles. When you start with that, you start from a place of connection with them that is beyond personal beliefs.

Then, be curious. Ask questions in a welcoming, open tone; welcoming because you want to be invited into their world; open because there is room in your awareness for what they have to share.

Ask: “Will you please tell me more?”

The more curious we are, the more we can stay open to viewpoints outside our own worldview, ultimately building understanding and an ability to love more.

 

Some persons fall into the subtle trap of affirming misunderstanding. They say, I don’t understand my mother (father), I don’t understand my wife (husband), I don’t understand why my neighbor (friend) acts the way he does. Without realizing it, these persons have affirmed misunderstanding, they have invited misunderstanding to be a part of their life.

 

We can reverse this trend by Asking questions with an open mind and heart; by not making assumptions that misunderstanding is what is present…

 

Our Harry Potter character for the Power of Understanding is Hermione.

The name Hermione, is from the Greek, which is derived from Hermes, the messenger god known for his sharp wit and ability to transition between worlds.

Hermione makes one of the most beautiful changes out of any character in the Harry Potter series. She grows from a rather annoying know-it-all to a humble, intelligent, thoughtful witch. Hermione has an overwhelming thirst to prove herself in the wizarding world. Being Muggle-born in a world full of prejudice purebloods like Draco Malfoy could not have been easy to deal with.

Perhaps this is what fuels her thirst to always be the absolute best at magic. After getting her Hogwarts letter, Hermione purchased the required school books and then some. She then proceeded to read through all of them and memorized them all before the term even started, and simply hoped that would be enough for her to get by. She raises her hand to every question in every single class and does extra work proving that maybe she just might be a bit of a bossy, know-it-all.

But by the time readers leave Hermione at the very end of Deathly Hallows, she has become a witch who is so full of self-confidence that she understands answering every single question isn’t necessary to prove she’s deserving of being a witch, despite how fun it may be. Oozing with intelligence, she chooses her words very carefully as a means to not upset anyone or come off as a know-it-all. She is wise beyond her years and the most humble and clever witch around.

Her early compassion for House Elves led her to a career in the Ministry of Magic, furthering the cause for the better treatment of house-elves, before being promoted to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She eventually married Ron Weasley, and together they had two children Rose and Hugo. Hermione became the godmother of Harry and Ginny Potter’s eldest son James. By the year 2019 she was elected Minister for Magic.

Hermione’s understanding, not only of life’s situations but of others and herself is a perfect example of what this power can do for us all.

 

Harry Potter and the Twelve Spiritual Powers: Wisdom

 

 

This morning we are looking at the spiritual power of Wisdom.  The dictionary defines wisdom as knowledge and good judgment based on experience; being wise. Wise implies having knowledge and understanding of people and of what is true and right in life and conduct, and showing sound judgment in applying such knowledge.

 

In ‘The Twelve Powers of Man’ Charles Fillmore writes that “Wisdom includes judgment, discrimination, intuition, and all the departments of mind that come under the heading of knowing.”

 

Wisdom in this case is good judgment. Wisdom is making wise choices.  It is learning to balance our information, our knowledge, with our intuition.

 

So, if judgment is a good thing, why does it get such a bad rap?  “Don’t be so judgmental.”  “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

It’s important to differentiate between true judgment, i.e. the ability to discern, and condemnation.  Discernment seeks only truth, only to do the right thing.  Condemnation makes others wrong. Look at it this way, discernment is love.  Condemnation is fear.  “Judge not, lest ye be judged” makes more sense if we insert the word “condemn.”  “Condemn not, lest ye be condemned.”

 

Wisdom is making wise choices.  The spiritual power most often associated with wisdom is love.  The combination of wisdom and love is a clear example of the connecting of head and heart.  Wisdom without love can become academic. Love without wisdom can become co-dependent, and make unwise choices.

 

Together, wisdom and love help us to move beyond ourselves, beyond what we thought we were capable of.  Wisdom and love help us to see beyond appearances.

 

 

King Solomon was a wonderful example of wisdom in action.  Fillmore writes, “Solomon…when asked by the Lord what He should give him, chose wisdom above riches and honor; then all the other things were added.  Solomon was also a great judge.  He had a rare intuition, and he used it freely in arriving at his judgments.  He did not rest his investigations on mere facts, but sought out the inner motives.

 

In the case of the two women who claimed the same infant, he commanded an attendant to bring a sword to cut the child in two, and give a half to each woman.  Of course, the real mother begged him not to do this, and he knew at once that she was the mother.”

 

Solomon used his intuition freely.  How do we nurture and develop our intuition?

Silence.  By becoming quiet.

 

Our Harry Potter character for the week is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts.  Dumbledore is legendary among wizards.  He was famous for many, many accomplishments.

 

Author, JK Rowling stated that she enjoys writing Dumbledore because he “is the epitome of goodness.”

As we mentioned last week, Dumbledore, as Wisdom, has chosen to turn his trials into triumphs, to learn from life’s experience and use that learning to help others.  Both Jesus and Buddha point to an essential “renouncing” of the false self, a foundational death of the ego. This was his turn from his ego driven goals to his true self. This dying to self is at the heart of the spiritual journey.

 

He is a good example for us, many of us have made the same discovery to renounce our ‘old ways’ and learn from our life experiences, we have made a choice for life.

 

Dumbledore is a protector of Harry, because he sees beyond appearances.  He sees Harry’s power and potential.  Rowling states, “Dumbledore is a very wise man who knows that Harry is going to have to learn a few hard lessons to prepare him for what may be coming in his life.”

 

Dumbledore is described as someone who can sort things out and make the just and right choice.

 

“The trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.”  Is that true? What are we choosing?

 

“Choose this day who you will serve… as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15. In other words, as for me and my house, we will base our decisions on Wisdom… in popular jargon, What Would Jesus Do?

 

We’ve mentioned this story from Cherokee teachings several times, here it is in full:

 

An elder Cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.”

The children thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

 

What wolf are we feeding?  What are we choosing? “Choose this day who you will serve.”  We know that Heaven and Hell are not actual physical places, but states of mind that we create.  Are our choices creating Heaven or Hell?  Do we choose grace?  Knowing that the gateway to grace is gratitude, do we choose to be grateful? Every day?  For everything?

 

Matthew Fox wrote, “When we are joyous and full of heart, we are emanating wisdom.  Wisdom is not in the head but in the heart and gut where compassion is felt.”

 

Wisdom is compassionate.  Wisdom feeds the wolf that stands for love, joy, & peace.  Wisdom serves our Creator, serves our Higher Self, the Spirit within.

 

Wisdom looks beyond appearances.  Here’s a passage from the end of The Sorcerer’s Stone.

 

Read pages 305 – 306.

 

Dumbledore rewarded the obvious acts of courage, as he should have.  And, in his wisdom, he looked beneath the surface, beyond the obvious and saw the tremendous courage it took Neville to stand up to his friends, to have the courage to say “no” to those that he loved.  Neville made a wise choice, and Dumbledore had the wisdom to reward it.

 

Philippians 4:4-9.  “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

 

Have the courage, the strength, and the wisdom, to feed the love & peace wolf.

 

 

Harry Potter and the 12 Powers – Will & Voldemort

Welcome back to our Summer Series on the 12 Powers and Harry Potter.  Today is an important day for us and I hope you are all planning to stay and enjoy our Anniversary Celebration.  Thanks to you we are 3 years old and growing!

This week we are looking at the Spiritual Power of WILL.  Will is the ability to choose, to decide, command, to lead, to determine.

 

Our free will is the most important element of our make-up, because within our will lies the power to choose – to choose by faith to follow God or choose by our emotions to follow self.

Our will in the Greek is called dianoia. Dia means “channel” and noya means “of the mind.” And this is exactly what our will is, the channel or conduit for God’s Spirit to flow from our hearts out into our lives. In other words, our choice is the key to whose life will be lived in our soul. Faith choices allow our Creator’s Life to come forth; emotional choices quench that Life

 

Free will” refers to the type of choice which is uniquely human: a moral choice. But don’t mistakenly think that morality is the choice between “good and evil.” Everyone chooses to be “good” – even what we would call the most evil, immoral people. Hitler rationalized that the Jews, gypsies and homosexuals were the enemies of the world, so in his mind he justified that eliminating them as doing “good.”

Free will is the choice between life and death. As the Torah says: “I have put before you, life and death… Choose life so that you may live.” (Deut. 30:19)

You might wish to look at how you define life and death????

 

One way or another, we are using our will, our executive mind power, all the time. We choose a course of action. We resist or resent. We submit or fight back. We aim high or we slide backward. Or we are willing to consecrate and dedicate our will to God and to let it be reeducated to go our creator’s way.

 

Romans 12:2 states: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
That is our job in developing our Divinely-given potentialities – to reeducate the will, to teach it to become receptive to spiritual motivation, rather than to goals determined by our materialistic pursuits alone.

 

The rewards of unifying our wills with the will of God are great. They include health, happiness, joy, peace, harmony, prosperity and other good that we cannot even visualize in our present state of consciousness.

 

Many in harmonies in human relationships result from the clash of human wills. Learning to activate the divine will in your life does not mean that you will simply submit to the human will of others. Instead, it will give you a new freedom that recognizes the human force applied by others but does not submit to it.

Greatness lies in how we resolve conflicts – in using our free will to grow – not to quit. To face reality – not to escape. To live and not to die.

I found these 5 stages of free will…

Five Stages of Free Will

Level One: Self-Awareness

Become aware of the choices you’re making. Life is a constant stream of choices. Once you become sensitive to the fact that you are constantly making choices, then you can monitor them. That’s using your free will actively, not passively.

Don’t let decisions just “happen. “Have an intention for the day.  Ask yourself:

Why am I reading this article right now? Am I just surfing the web? Or do I have a specific goal?

Your choices shape your life and determine your destiny. Take charge. If you don’t, you’re just a pedestrian watching as life passes you by.

 

Level Two: Be Your Own Person

Don’t accept society’s beliefs as your own unless you’ve thought them through and agree with them. Live for yourself, not for society.

This refers to Don Miguel Ruiz’s 5 Agreement – to question everything. To look at your domestication. And his ‘Don’t make assumptions!

Evaluate your past choices. Start each day anew. Don’t remain bound to guidelines and determinations you made years ago, or even to ones that you made yesterday.

Check your assumptions and make sure that they are really yours and not someone else’s.

Level Three: Distinguish Between Body and Soul

Within each of us, a fierce battle is raging constantly. It’s a battle between the cravings of our body, versus the aspirations of our soul.

There are times when you know objectively that something is good for you, but your physical desires get in the way and distort your outlook.

Here’s how the battle-lines break down:

BODY: Gravitates toward transitory comforts and sensual pleasures. Desires to quit, to dream, to drown in passions, to procrastinate.

SOUL: Seeks understanding, meaning, productivity, accomplishment, permanence, greatness. Confronts challenges. Embraces reality and truth.

You’ve heard the Native American story about the two battling wolves inside each of us and which would win the battle depended upon which one we feed.

Identify whether it’s your body or your soul talking. Until then, you don’t even know why you’ve made the choice that you are making.

Choose what is meaningful and productive. Choose life.

 

Level Four: Identify with Your Soul, Not Your Body

Point to yourself. Who are you?

We believe that your soul is the real you.

Attain inner peace. Achieve mastery over your body by identifying with your soul.

The Talmud teaches: “The righteous talk to their bodily desires, while evil people let their desires talk to them.” The question is who’s running the show? Who will dictate what you’re going to do?

The only way to win is to get to the body to desire what the soul wants. Because there’s no way you’ll ever achieve peace by giving in to the body. Your soul will simply not give up. Never.

Level Five: Make Your Will God’s Will

The highest stage of free will is not when you ask yourself, “What does my soul want?” It’s when you ask yourself, “What does God want?”

When that is your prime interest, you will have achieved the highest form of living. You are using your free will to merge with the most meaningful and powerful force in the universe.

Free will is the choice between life and death.

 

Free Will Summary

Level One: Don’t be a sleepwalker. Make decisions actively.

Level Two: Don’t be a puppet of society’s goals, or a slave to your old decisions.

Level Three: Be aware of the conflict between the cravings of your body and the aspirations of your soul.

Level Four: Identify with your soul, not your body.

Level Five: Make your will God’s will.

Pic

 Tom Marvolo Riddle, the half-blood orphan, was to transform himself into the very powerful Dark Wizard known as Lord Voldemort.  Eventually he would lose all – not because he lacked power, but because of his ruthless methods, his inability to love or trust anyone but himself, and his belief in his own infallibility.

He believed that “there is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it.”

The name ‘Voldemort’ from the French means “flight from death”. This is what he was trying to do by hiding pieces of his soul in magical items he valued over humans.

Could Voldemort represent our shadow side? Our shadow side – an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself. Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one’s personality, the shadow is largely negative, or everything of which a person is not fully conscious.

An interesting thought to contemplate.

 

We have been talking about choices; Choices reflect the character we have and shape the character we will have.

We might try to be understanding to Tom Riddle, knowing his life circumstances, left to grow up in an orphanage; yet it is still his choices that turn him into the person he became. He is a materialist because he places part of his soul outside himself. It is an ego preservation, material identification with material things.

But consider:

“what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul.” Mark 8:36

Nothing. We gain nothing if we lose our soul. We must be true to it.

 

We will look at Dumbledore next week, but it is difficult to look at one without the other a bit.  In mythical terms, they are the representation of Good and Evil.  Dumbledore, as Wisdom, has chosen to turn his trials into triumphs, to learn from life’s experience and use that learning to help others.

Voldemort has chosen to use his Will to control and harm others.  Dumbledore uses his Life energy for the good of all; Voldemort has subverted his Life energy in order to manipulate and terrorize.  Both men were very powerful – and they made very different choices.

Remember what Dumbledore taught Harry in The Chamber of Secrets?  “It is not our abilities that show who we are, Harry.  It is our choices.”

 

What are we choosing?  Are we choosing to create out of the Truth?  Or, as we see with Voldemort, are we creating out of our wounds?

 

Voldemort, out of feelings of rejection, of being “different”, created a life based on fear.  The more hurt, the more shamed he felt, the more control he tried to exert.  A modern analogy for Voldemort would be Adolph Hitler.  Hitler created a life, a Hell on earth, out of his wounds.  His Final Solution ultimately killed over 6 million people.  His ideal was of the Aryan man, the tall, blue eyed, blond master race.

So, here’s what’s interesting.  Hitler was short, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, and had a Jewish ancestor.  Don’t you find it amazing that he exerted so much control over his followers that no one questioned the in-congruency of his message?  Can you imagine what good this man could have done, given his powers of persuasion and leadership, if he had created out of the Truth of who he was, instead of out of who he was afraid he was?

 

How often do we do that?  How often do we create out of reaction, out of fear, instead of out of love and wisdom?

We live in a dualistic world…It’s about our choices, about how we choose to see life.  Is it a struggle or a joy?  Is it a curse or a blessing?  We believe that our thoughts create our life.  How we’re showing up reflects those thoughts.

 

Here’s an interesting exercise to do this week: Set a timer, either on your watch, your computer, your kitchen stove, for every 15 minutes.  Whenever you hear the beep, stop what you’re doing and observe your thoughts.  What do you see?  Are they thoughts of love or fear?  If you acted on that thought in the moment, what would you create?

Interesting what we do with our time and energy and we are not even aware of it.

Let me know your thoughts.

HARRY POTTER AND THE TWELVE POWERS: IMAGINATION & THE WEASLEY TWINS

Welcome back to our Summer Series The 12 Powers and Harry Potter. This week, Imagination! And who better to show us imagination than the Weasley Twins…but more on that later.

First – imagination.

Ella Pomeroy in “Power of the Soul” said; “Imagination is the ability to conceive, to draw together, to inspire the mind with a sense of newness. It is the mind’s exercise in foreseeing results in material form.”

So, Faith is the power to believe. Love is the power to be loving. Strength is the power to persevere. Wisdom is the power to choose. Power is the power to act. Imagination is the power to see.

Imagination is a key element in the formation process; the creative process. If we perceive it, we can conceive it. If we conceive it, we can believe it. And if we believe it, we can achieve it. This is the creative process. So, what are we creating? Are we imagining the worst? Or the best? What are we conceiving? If we look at the order of the process, perception is the step before conception. What are we perceiving? What evidence are we gathering?

“The command ‘be not afraid’ appears frequently in the Bible, and yet we as individuals and as a nation, seem to be driven by fear, of terrorist attacks, of accidents, of poor health, of worry over our children, and probably much, much more.
Have we let fear push out wisdom and prudence as the primary virtues of our daily lives, of our integrity? Should the biblical command “be not afraid” have a role in ALL decision-making?
Why do we as a society continue to fear so many things? What role can the biblical command “be not afraid” have in our everyday decision-making as well as in those of our elected decision- makers?
Why do we use fear, rather than optimism, around solutions?
Why does it seem easier for us as a nation and as individuals to move to fear rather than hope?
Are we perceiving that the world is going to hell in a hand basket? That everyone is ‘out to get’ us? Then what we conceive, what we imagine, is definitely going to achieve something, create something. But is that ‘something’ a reflection of our True Nature, of our Christ Nature, of our Higher Self? What if we perceive that no one and no thing is against us? That everything in the Universe supports us and our growth and our highest expression? What would we be conceiving then? How free would we be to believe the best and achieve the most?

We can look to the teachings and actions of Jesus for a primer on how to release our fear and uncertainty. In that primer, we are asked to redefine who “we” are, realign our will to Divine Will, and practice the Presence in all that we do: Love God; love yourself; love your neighbor as yourself: love your enemies; be inclusive of all; feed the hungry; take care of the sick; respect the Earth; live in the present moment rather than in yesterday or tomorrow; know that there is a power in the universe that is there for all to use; that this power is the same power that beats every heart; that this power is the source of wholeness and well-being.

You may ask why I am speaking of fear when talking about imagination? But then, isn’t it fear that we too often use with our imagination instead of love and hope and peace? Think about it.

 

Rev. Stretton Smith defines two different types of imagination: Conditioned imagination and willful imagination. Conditioned imagination comes from our memories (often where our fears come from). Willful imagination is something entirely new that we create with our mind. (often to erase those fears)

Let’s do an imagination in action. (You’re on vacation to somewhere we remember. Now willfully change the experience.) That gives you an idea of the difference.

The Harry Potter characters for Imagination are Ron Weasley’s twin brothers, Fred and George Weasley. They are constantly inventing things and creating some prank to sell and invent sport among the students. They represent how divine ideas can lead to physical manifestation and material gain. They also represent how ideas without much forethought can lead to trouble.
Here’s an example of the ‘sport’ they got themselves into…
The Weasleys had arrived to pick Harry up for the Quiddich World Cup, and as they were getting ready to leave, the Twins tested one of their products, on the sly…

Read book 4, page 48, beginning ‘see you’ said Harry. Through the end of page 49. Also, page 51, “Did he eat it?” said Fred through “test them on all summer…”

What’s great about Fred and George is that they have a vision. They knew that scholarship, per se, was not their thing. Their plan was a joke shop…To get to that shop, their vision may change depending on the circumstances and the opportunities presented, but they have a vision of what they want to achieve, and who they want to show up as, and they follow through with actions to fulfill that vision. They get specific, and they’re also willing to be flexible, to change midstream if circumstances warrant.
Imagine the imagination needed for such items as:
Weasleys’ Wild-Fire Whiz-Bangs, which were assorted magical fire crackers
Canary Creams, actually produced little yellow canaries
Extendable Ears, used to eves drop on people’s conversations
Headless Hat, once placed on your head, the head disappears
Nosebleed Nougat, makes you bleed until you take to counter nougat
Portable Swamp, self-explanatory
Puking Pastilles, I think you get the idea
Ton-Tongue Toffees, as explained in the reading
Punching telescope, again self-explanatory
As well as, Reusable hangman and Patented Daydream Charms
The key elements in our imaginings, our visualizations: Specificity and flexibility. Be specific and then be willing to let go of the outcome. Be specific, and then let go and let God. Be specific, and then pray, “This or something better.”

What is your vision for your life? For your career? For your family? How specific have you been? How flexible have you been?

Let’s try it: Get comfortable…Now,
Imagine yourself 18 months from now. Walk out into your future. Your heart is open. Your mind is open. You are willing to receive the gifts of imagination, wisdom, life, love and power. ASK—
What do I really want?
What does it look like?
What is my intention?
Am I showing up as who I came here to be?
What is my ideal working environment?
What is my ideal home environment?
Where do I see myself?
What is my ideal day?
Who are my friends?
Who are my clients, my coworkers?
What do people say about my work with them?
How much money am I making?
What am I doing with the money I’m making?
What impact am I having?
How am I contributing to peoples lives?
What skills have I mastered? How am I using them?
Holding these images in your mind, step outside the picture and witness. How many of your pictures are from your conditioned imagination, your memories? How many are willful, created from the infinite realm of ideas and substance?

Now let’s try another visualization. Pretend that Stephen Spielberg has optioned the rights to your life story. He intends to make a full-length feature film about you and has commissioned three writers to submit scripts to him.

One script will be about your life as it is now, as if nothing changes. The second script will contain one change of some sort – either you meet a new person or you move to a new place. The third script is the most outrageous of all – you become a totally new person – perhaps the one you always wanted to be, the one your soul has yearned for you to be – doing the things you always wanted to do. What would that script look like?

Are you open to new ideas? Are you open to new relationships? New opportunities?

Our imaginations are only limited by our biases.

If you can perceive it, conceive it, and believe it, you can achieve it. Remember this: ‘nothing is written, unless you write it.’

Now visualize for Unity of Rehoboth Beach – what do you see for Unity in 1 year? 5 years? 10?

Twelve Powers & Harry Potter: Enthusiasm/Zeal & Dobby

 

Enthusiasm: from the Greek, in and theos – in God, or the God within; eager interest,

 

zeal; inspired by God; eagerness, ardor, fervor; passion. 

 

Zeal is a joyous experience of oneness with Spirit, resulting in a continuing flow of energy to do God’s work.

 

When he was 94 years old, Charles Fillmore wrote the following affirmation: “I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.”

 

Pretty good for 94!

 

I guess most of you have figured out my enthusiasm for the Harry Potter Series.  I do not claim to be an expert in all things Harry, but I can hold my own….

 

Henry Chester said, “Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It overwhelms and engulfs all obstacles. It is nothing more, nor less, than faith in action.”

 

Faith in what you are doing.

 

In many of the books I read, they are adventures in the mythical, there is ALWAYS a faith aspect to the journey by the heroine and hero’s in the story.  It’s really neat to be reading about a dragon as it gives its wisdom to another being and it is right out of Unity Speak!

 

As we continue our journey through the Harry Potter Series and the 12 Powers, remember, our powers are not something we need to create – we already have them.  They simply need to be recognized, brought forth.  We are all naturally enthusiastic.  We experience enthusiasm in a spiritual way as a deep sense of what the ancients called “harmony of the spheres” or “in tune with the Infinite.” 

 

In tune with the infinite.  Sounds like what we talked about last week as being in the flow, Divine Order; so, it comes as no surprise that Enthusiasm is often paired with Order and/or Wisdom.  These pairings are important, because as with all the powers, left alone they can become unbalanced.

 

Look at them for a minute – Life, Order, Wisdom, Love, Imagination, Understanding, Will, Faith, Zeal, Power, Strength, Release—can you see how concentrating on only one could be unbalanced?  How would that show up?  Too much Order, for example, might show as compulsions…

 

The word zealot comes from the root word zeal.  When our fervor, our passion, for something becomes unbalanced, so do we.  We need to combine our zeal, with Wisdom and be in the flow of Divine Order. 

 

True enthusiasm for what we do, and who we are, supports our goals and dreams.  Enthusiasm helps us enjoy every day. 

 

It helps us to stay in the game, to get off the sidelines, to be a participant instead of a spectator.

 

Enthusiasm helps us to follow through on relationships and projects that are worthwhile. Enthusiasm carries us forward.

 

Enthusiasm started Unity of Rehoboth Beach! Thank you for that!

 

Enthusiasm doesn’t need to create false excitement or drama.  It finds humor and excitement every day, in ordinary things.

 

True enthusiasm says, “I am glad to be who I am, and I am glad to be living the life God has given me!”

 

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.  Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.”  So, she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.  “H-M-M,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.”  So, she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.  “Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony-tail.”  So, she did and she had a fun, fun day.

 

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.   “YEA!” she exclaimed, “Today, I don’t have to fix my hair!”  And she went out and had the best day ever!

 

Think about when you are not enthusiastic about something that you must do, a chore, maybe.  That lack of zeal for the chore also takes away the energy needed to do the work.  Now take that same chore and place some enthusiasm behind it and see how your energy changes….

 

I expect some forgotten chores will be completed after this Lesson!

 

SO I ask you, Are you glad to be living the life God has given you?

 

There was a young man who had become a paraplegic and then through a freak accident became a quadriplegic.  Someone asked him one day, “Doesn’t your physical condition color the way you look at life?  His response was, “Yes, it does, but I get to choose the color.”

 

What color are you looking at life?

 

Think about seeing someone you know who you haven’t seen in a while.  Sometimes you take notice, and say, “You’re looking great!”

 

What you are seeing is someone who loves what they do.  What you are calling ‘looking great’ is the glow of someone who is doing what they were born to do. 

 

What you were seeing was someone who is enthusiastic about who they are and what they do. 

 

You may not know it, but I LOVE what I do!  I love teaching. I love being with you every Sunday and interacting with you at Fellowship and during the week.

 

So, what do you love to do?  (Discussion.)

 

Harry Potter character we are looking at today is- Dobby, the House Elf. This explains Dobby

Read Chamber of Secrets, pages 12-13 and 176-177.

 

Dobby’s zeal, his enthusiasm for protecting Harry, almost gets Harry killed!  Because Dobby has not balanced this enthusiasm with wisdom and order.  Interestingly, the disciple that represents zeal had the same problem. 

 

His name was Simon the Zealot.  Sune Richards writes, “Simon the Zealot had been of the Zealot sect, a rebel party, heirs to the fighting spirit of the Maccabees.  They looked upon taxation as slavery, and though their purpose was a righteous one since they wanted no other rule but God, they had not learned the folly of using their zeal in the unrighteous way of violence. Simon, who represents a fiery zealot with a cause, did finally become gentle and loving through his associations with Jesus and the other disciples, and he made the ministry his life’s dedicated work.”

 

Once Dobby was released from his requirement to be a house elf, he could be who he really wished.  Being free to do or be something rather than freedom from something. Dobby was a free elf.

 

Dobby loved life, and he showed it in all he did.  He loved to work and collected his beloved socks with zeal.  He especially loved his socks when they were mismatched. He lived his free life with zeal, enthusiastic with what he loved and he showed it in every way he could.

 

If we could be free to be or do something rather than free from something, what would our life be like?

 

Harry Potter and Divine Order

 

Welcome back to our Summer Series, Harry Potter & the 12 Powers. And not just any 12 Powers, 12 SPIRITUAL Powers!  I know some of you, maybe most of you, know very little about the Harry Potter Series.  It’s really just a coming of age story, a hero’s journey.  We all have them. That journey that brought you to the person you are today.

 

And even if you haven’t gone out and watched the movies or, better yet, read the books, I do hope you are still enjoying the Series and are being reminded of the Spiritual Being you are and of your inherent Spiritual Powers.

 

We hear a lot about Divine Order, but what is it?

 

Divine Order is our ability to know what is important and to put our life in order.

 

Or: Divine Order is the ability to act from a centered place.

 

Romans 8:28 says it this way – “We know that all things work together for good, for those that love God, and are called according to his purpose.”

 

Notice that it doesn’t say “We know that all good things work together for good…”  It says all things, regardless of how they appear.

 

There was once a church, housed in a strip center much like ours.  Its name was God Almighty Tabernacle.  One Saturday afternoon, the minister of God Almighty Tabernacle was at the church putting his sermon together for the next day.  Saturday afternoon turned into Saturday evening, which quickly turned into Saturday night.  Before he knew it, it was 10:00. He decided he’d better call his wife to let her know that he was still working at church.

 

He dialed his home number, but got no answer, and thought that to be very odd — it was late, his wife certainly ought to be home — so he hung up and redialed.   This time, she answered immediately.  He asked if the phone had just rung and she said “no,” so he decided he must have dialed the wrong number and forgot about it.

 

The next day, after the service, he was having a quiet moment in his office when the phone rang.  No one else was around, so he answered it, “God Almighty Tabernacle, this is Pastor Dave.”

 

A very, very shaky voice on the other end of the phone said, “God Almighty Tabernacle?  Is this a church?”  The minister answered, “Why, yes, it is.  How may I serve you?”

 

With this the man started to laugh and to cry all at the same time and said:

 

“You already have!  Last night, you saved my life.  You see, I had reached the depths of despair.  I was in the darkest place I have ever been.  I had nowhere to turn and no one to turn to.  I was even contemplating suicide.  It was around 10:00 pm, when the only thing I could think to do was to I fall to my knees and pray to God for help, not thinking for a moment I was worthy of God’s help, but I was desperate.  While I was still on my knees, my phone rang.

 

“I got up to answer it, but when I saw on my caller ID: ‘God Almighty,’ I was too afraid to pick up the phone!”

 

Divine Order?

 

Just the two words – divine order can be a prayer in themselves. When we affirm divine order, we are affirming the establishment of that which is right and good. We are affirming the orderly outworking of every situation, the orderly unfoldment of that which is necessary to life and well-being.

 

Charles Fillmore described being in Divine Order as a perpetual Sabbath, as being constantly in a peaceful place, in the flow. He says, “Our minds are open to God every moment.”  He described it as releasing the outcome, not limiting God or ourselves.

 

Rev. Chris Jackson gave a seminar and one of the principles he shared were the characteristics of a Spiritual Pioneer.  Don’t you love that wording? Spiritual Pioneer – what does that suggest? What does that make you feel like?  He said that it was the job of a Spiritual Pioneer to Show Up, Be Honest and Trust.  Show Up, Be Honest and Trust.

 

That was how we could be in a perpetual Sabbath, how we could act from a centered place, how we could be in Divine Order, at all times.  To Show Up, Be Honest and Trust.

 

Show Up.  Be Present.  Be in the Moment.  We’ve talked before about examining our motivation What is the energy behind your intention? – are we being motivated by love or fear?  When you’re in the moment, there can be no fear.  If you’re not being influenced by past experiences or worrying about the future, you will be in a place of love, and where there is love, there can be no fear.  This was one of Jesus’ greatest gifts – to be always present, always focused on the now.  In the flow, his mind open to God, every moment.  That’s showing up.

 

Be Honest.  Look, see and tell the truth. This was another one of Jesus’ gifts to us, and possibly his most important example.  Jesus spoke the Truth, allowing Spirit to work through him, as him.  He had the quiet courage of his convictions.  He knew that he had to speak what had been given to him, regardless of the consequences.  Jesus was crucified for his beliefs.  Yet, his death and resurrection started a revolution in thinking that has continued for 2,000 years.

 

One of the things it’s important to tell the truth about is our gifts. Spirit has bestowed upon each one of us gifts particular to our mission, and it is vital that we recognize and cultivate those gifts, even when we’re not sure how we’ll need to use them.  Then SHARE your gifts with others.

 

The third – Trust.  I believe that this is the crux of being in Divine Order.  It’s about trusting that Spirit knows what it’s doing.  You know how to make God laugh?  Tell her you have a plan…

 

Real trust is about “Thy will be done”, whether I understand it in the moment or not.  Real trust is about not needing to know why.  We don’t need to know why, in order to grow through the experience.

 

Wanting the answer to WHY about so many things, I believe, held me back from opening to Truth, because it takes TRUST to not have to know why…to just follow your guidance. I had a hard time not wanting to know why. Still do sometimes!

 

So, that is being in perpetual Sabbath – to be in a place of perfect Trust, of perfect Love.  To be in a place of constant Communion with the Divine.

 

Divine Order is also about putting your life in order.  What’s most important to you? What are your priorities? What do you do with your time? Your money? Your talent?

 

Ask yourself this: If your house caught fire, what would you grab? Now ask yourself this: What would you not even remember had burned? Tell the truth.

 

So, how about if you release what no longer serves you, the things you wouldn’t miss after a fire… and literally put your house in order.  I’ve been working on this as I prepare to move. Never too early!

 

Divine Order is our ability to sort out what’s important and what’s not. What do we put first? Jesus taught us to seek first the Kingdom of God, and all else will be given to you.  And where is the Kingdom of God?  Within.  Go within first.  Put our Creator first. And everything else will fall into place.

 

The Harry Potter character for today is a hat, the Sorting Hat.  The Sorting Hat represents that we all have our place in God’s plan.  Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”

 

Read pages 117 – 121 from The Sorcerer’s Stone.

 

The Sorting Hat considered the hearts and minds of the children and saw where they belonged.  That then aided them through their formative years into the adults they were meant to be…good and so called bad.

 

By the way, I was sorted into the Ravenclaw House…the house of wit & learning…wisdom. I was happy with it even though it wasn’t Gryffindor, Harry’s House

 

But Order is not fate, events beyond our control, as illustrated by this passage from The Chamber of Secrets:

 

Read page 333.

 

What a powerful teaching… it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

 

So, here’s what Divine Order is not.  It’s not an excuse for not doing what we said we would do.  There’s nothing divine about that, or orderly for that matter. “I don’t feel like going to that meeting, so it must be divine order for me not to go.” “The Universe is conspiring against me – I just don’t have the time to do my homework – it must be divine order that I don’t finish the program.”  “This is much harder than I thought it was going to be – it must be a sign from God that I shouldn’t do it.”   “I can speak Parsel-tongue – I must belong in Slytherin.”  That’s not Divine Order – that’s using the Structure of Knowing we talked about last week:

 

1. If you use a structure of knowing to rationalize doing something you said you wouldn’t do.

 

2. If you use a structure of knowing to rationalize not doing something you said you would do.

 

3. If you use a structure of knowing to make someone else wrong.

 

 

It is our choices that show who we truly are.  Not where we live, or the family we come from, or even our astrological sign…  It is our choices, and what we’ve learned from making those choices.  What do value? What do we put first in our lives?  Who do we put first?

 

Like the Sorting Hat, many people, events, and situations can guide us but it’s our choice how we use them.

 

Meditation

 

 

 

LET US affirm divine order in our activities today divine order in keeping appointments, divine order in traveling, divine order in driving a car, divine order in buying and selling.

 

Let us affirm divine order in our homes today divine order in family relations, divine order in the care and upkeep of the home, divine order in the responsibility and management of the affairs of the home.

 

Let us affirm divine order in our work today divine order in the handling of the tasks before us, divine order in planning and carrying out every project.

 

Let us affirm divine order in every contemplated change today divine order in the new house, in the new job, in the new way of life.

 

Let us affirm divine order in all that we do today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harry Potter and the Twelve Powers: Elimination/Release

 

Welcome back to our Summer Series. the 12 Powers and Harry Potter.  I hope you are enjoying this series as much as I am, well, maybe at least a bit.  We continue, this week, with the Power of Release or Elimination.

 

In The Enlightened Mind: Anthology of Sacred Prose, Stephen Mitchell relates this story, told by the Buddha:

 

“A man walking along a road sees a great river, its near bank dangerous and frightening, its far bank safe.  He collects sticks and foliage, makes a raft, paddles across the river, and reaches the other shore. Now, suppose that, after he reaches the other shore, he takes the raft and puts it on his head and walks with it on his head wherever he goes. Would he be using the raft in an appropriate way? No. A reasonable man will realize that the raft has been very useful to him in crossing the river and arriving safely on the other shore, but that once he has arrived, it is proper to leave the raft behind and walk on without it.  This is using the raft appropriately. In the same way, all truths should be used to cross over; they should not be held on to once you have arrived. You should let go of even the most profound insight on the most wholesome teaching; the more so, unwholesome teachings.”

 

“You should let go of even the most profound insight on the most wholesome teaching; all the more so, unwholesome teachings.” What are we holding on to?  What rafts are we still carrying that no longer serve us?  Recognizing that some rafts are what we deem “good stuff?” What is holding us back or weighing us down that we have not been willing to let go of? What old thoughts or old habits are taking up space in our lives that could be filled with fresh new ideas or actions?

 

In The Twelve Powers, Charles Fillmore taught, “There must be a renunciation or letting go of old thoughts before the new can find place in the consciousness.  Living old thoughts over and over keeps the inlets of the new thought closed.”

 

In Luke 5:36, Jesus says:  “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins”

 

Jesus’ is saying His new teachings representing the new wine.  We are the old wineskins. We must release old thoughts and beliefs to receive the new teachings of love from Jesus, our Way-shower.

 

So how do we prepare ourselves for new wine?  How do we release old patterns that no longer serve us?  First, we need to recognize that they don’t.  We need to realize that we’re carrying around rafts that we don’t need anymore.  Or in thinking in today’s terms, we need to clear out our mail folders, clear the cookies, or lighten our load by emptying out our backpacks.

 

In coaching, these beliefs, these old ideas, are called structures of knowing.  There are three criteria for discerning whether or not a structures of knowing is still serving you or not.

 

1. If you use a structure of knowing to rationalize doing something you said you wouldn’t do.

 

2. If you use a structure of knowing to rationalize not doing something you said you would do.

 

3. If you use a structure of knowing to make someone else wrong.

 

If your current belief or story or opinion meets any of those criteria, it’s time to let it go.  Dr. Williamson applies this similar prescription: We can release in a positive and freeing way by following these five steps – recognize it, face it, let it go, replace it with something better and healthier, and make restitution whenever and wherever possible.

 

Let it go.  It sounds so easy doesn’t it?  How do we let it go?  By forgiving. Forgive ourselves and forgive others, not because it’s the “nice” thing to do, but because it’s the only thing that frees us from our attachment to that particular person or situation.  Forgiveness doesn’t mean that we deny what happened or what was said.  Forgiveness means that we’re willing to let go of what we’ve made it mean.  We’re willing to let go of the power it has had over us… and move on.

 

While discussing some ideas from “A Course in Miricles” in class this week, we were reminded that every thought, event, action is a neutral thing until we place meaning to it.

 

If we keep the event or action neutral to us, there is no forgiveness required, no harm was done.

 

Release also means that we let go of stuff we deem “good” as we heard earlier in the raft story.  We may love a job or a home or a person.  And it may be time to move on, for our greater good and theirs.

 

This entails a lot of trust.  Trust that God’s will is only for our happiness.  We sometimes believe that our choice is to follow God’s will or to be happy, when the truth is that God’s will is only for our happiness. As Charles Fillmore once said, “We do not have a tricky God.”  Perhaps that’s the biggest belief we need to release – that God wants anything other than our happiness.

 

The Harry Potter character representing Release are the Dementors.

 

Read The Prisoner of Azkaban, pages 83 – 85,

 

“Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can’t see them. Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself…soul-less and evil. You’ll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life. “ – Professor Lupin to Harry

 

 

Based on Harry’s past, the Dementors had the ability to literally paralyze him, to suck the life right out of him.  And, ultimately, it was his happy memories that saved him.

How to defend against a Dementor? You use the Expecto Patronus charm.  It acts as a shield against the Dementor. “The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon – hope, happiness, the desire to survive…”

 

Harry’s Patronus was a stag, as was his Fathers.

I believe mine would be a hawk.

 

With the spell you must concentrate on a single very happy memory.

 

By drawing upon his recently created happy experiences, Harry was able to defeat the Dementors control over him.  Harry didn’t deny that there were terrible events in his past.  He just didn’t let them control him or his decisions.  He chose to focus on the present and to let go of the past.

 

What beliefs, what fears, are holding you back?  Is there something from your past that’s preventing you from moving forward?  Are you willing to let it go?  Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a Zen master, teaches that: There is only one courage and that is the courage to go on dying to the past, not to collect it, not to accumulate it, not to cling to it.  We all cling to the past, and because we cling to the past we become unavailable to the present.

 

Are you willing to become available to the present?  Are you willing to look, see and tell the truth about rafts that need to be placed down and let go?  Are you willing to go through your backpack and lighten your load?  Are you willing to become a new wineskin, ready and excited to receive new ideas, new opportunities… a new life?

 

 

Harry Potter and Strength

 

The third power in our series, Harry Potter and the Twelve Powers is Strength.  Strength is often seen as physical force, but true strength, the strength that demonstrates as our power, is quietness, inner confidence, non-resistance, and the ability to keep our center.  It is the ability to lead, to accomplish, and to hold firm to spiritual principles in daily living. To actually step forth in our re-discovery of Spiritual Truths.

 

Strength is also the balance between thinking and feeling, intellect and intuition.  It is the balance we attain when we connect our head and our heart.

The longest journey…from head to heart.  Did you know that?

 

Strength and faith must work together…faith must continually be strengthened and strength must be inspired to right action by faith.

 

True strength is patient.  It is calm, centered endurance.  Strength is persistent courage.  We’ve all had the experience of needing to take a deep breath, face our fear and do it anyway.  This is strength demonstrating as courage.

 

I see strength in another way.  Doing what must be done without asking…as in an emergency – stepping in and handling it.  This is what made me think of strength in this way, as I was writing this, taking care of my little brother when he was hurt while swimming.  We were at the community pool.  I was probably about 15 and ‘in charge’ of the younger kids. Frank was about 5 and at the shallow end of the pool.  He was jumping off the edge backwards, He and my sister were playing, and he didn’t clear it completely.  His chin was cut pretty deeply and he needed to go to the emergency room.

 

So, I couldn’t be scared or panic.  I tended to him as best as we could, arranged for the 2 middle boys to have supervision, got transportation and Frank ended up with clips in his chin.

 

Of course, after it was all said and done, THEN I got nervous!

 

But this is another example of the strength that we ALL have.

 

Faith and strength help us to see the bigger picture, to see beyond ourselves and meet challenges successfully.

 

The power of strength is often associated with the lower back, or the spine.  Let’s look at this.  A healthy spine is strong enough, firm enough, to hold us erect, but flexible enough for us to bend and move.  This is the nature of true strength – firm and flexible.  True strength is grounded, firm, in Principle, and flexible in the demonstration of that Principle.

 

“For thus said the Lord God… in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust (or confidence) shall be your strength.”  So, what are we returning to? Trust in what?  When we need strength, we return to God.  We trust God.  We trust our Higher Self, our Inner Wisdom.

 

Strength supports us in doing difficult things.

 

Read Jesus, CEO, page 25-27.

 

Jesus did the difficult things because he had the calm confidence that comes from being connected to his Source.  Jesus knew, that you can’t please all the people all the time.   When faced with difficult duties or decisions, Jesus got quiet…  in returning and rest you shall be saved.  Throughout the pages of the New Testament we read of Jesus going off to be quiet, to return to God… to return to himself, to restore his strength.  Jesus knew in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

 

 

Our Harry Potter character for Strength is Sirius Black. I think it appropriate that today is Father’s Day, because Sirius was Harry’s God-Father, the closest thing to a Father Harry will get to know and experience.

 

Father’s Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, and the paternal bonds of those who are standing in where birth Fathers may be missing for whatever reason. We honor fathers today with flowers for all who have fulfilled this part in our society, and that means not just males…not just biological parents, but all who fostered that paternal emotion.

 

Sirius exemplifies the ability to hold his selected course. Introduced in Book Three, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius is initially portrayed as a dangerous, escaped prisoner, accused of being in involved in the murder of Harry’s parents.  Ultimately, we learn the truth – that Sirius was wrongfully accused.  He endures prison, knowing he is innocent, and survives the Dementors to escape and help Harry.  He maintains his strength, his spiritual strength; in order to get out and help Harry.

Read Prisoner of Azkaban, pages 371 – 372.

 

What I find interesting about this passage is not just Sirius’ strength, but Harry’s.  Harry had been told for years that Sirius was a “bad guy”, the wizard responsible for his parent’s betrayal and murder.  But Harry was willing to be flexible, to trust that still, small voice, and believe Sirius.  This took strength. He followed his instinct about Sirius and Peter Pettigrew.

 

“We’ve all got both Light & Dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”

 

This passage from Sirius to Harry states plainly what we all face when choice confronts us. That is where Spiritual Strength steps in.

 

 

Cora Fillmore wrote, “To have the strength of character that makes life seem effortless, nonresistant, is to have the inward joy that no one can take away.”