New Thought: It’s Here, It’s There, It’s Everywhere

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L.D. Turner

*** This article originally appeared on LifeBrook in 2008. A number of readers have asked that it be brought forward again, so, in response to these requests, here are a few thoughts on the value of the New Thought teachings…

 Each age in which humankind has lived and evolved has had specific tasks or assignments that had to be learned. Early on, it is obvious some of these were very basic types of lessons, but as humanity progressed, these lessons and issues become more complex. It seems to me that Sacred Spirit has a plan and the continual outworking of that plan has been the driving force of all creation.

 I think that there are two primary lessons for this exciting yet challenging period in our spiritual and social evolution. First, I believe strongly that one of our primary life lessons of this age concerns the deepening of our understanding of the power of our minds. Up until the last 150-200 years, except for a small number of esoteric spiritual groups, our awareness of just how powerful the mind is was minimal. However, beginning in the mid-19^th Century all of that was about to change.

 The 19^th Century was a time of increasing spiritual awareness around the world, but especially in the West. In Britain, for example, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution gave rise of a powerful reactionary force, seen primarily in literature and the arts. This movement became known as Romanticism. In Germany, the “Idealist” philosophers grew in both clarity and influence and began to have a particularly strong impact on theology. As the century progressed, America witnessed the emergence of the Transcendentalist Movement, again primarily in literature. Rejecting the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the logic of science, the Transcendentalist spoke of a higher plane of reality and a divine energy that permeated and gave life to all that existed. Writers like Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman challenged the accepted, traditional worldview and, in so doing, infused their ideas into the very core of American culture. The impact of these writers is still felt today in just about every field of study and endeavor.

 The divine plan of Sacred Spirit began to take flesh, however, in another American philosophical/theological school that eventually became known as New Thought. A widely diverse movement, New Thought had its origins in the field of healing and quickly spread to other areas of study and practice, including theology.

 Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866) is traditionally called the “Father of New Thought.” Quimby, like many others of his time, was dying of tuberculosis. After a mysterious sort of carriage ride in which he battled with a particularly head-strong horse, Quimby felt mentally invigorated and noticed that his condition improved somewhat. After attending a lecture on “Mesmerism,” a technique of hypnosis fashionable in the late 1830’s, Quimby began to experiment with hypnotic techniques and eventually became a healer of great renown. 

 Quimby’s techniques and ideas spread quickly through his students and eventually New Thought was born. Christian Science, although not technically New Thought, was certainly born out of New Thought teachings. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, eventually acknowledged her philosophical debt to Quimby and his followers. Other early New Thought pioneers included teachers like Emma Curtis Hopkins, Malinda Cramer, and Nona Brooks. This trio especially was involved in the founding of Divine Science, one of the more influential New Thought schools.

 Charles Fillmore and his wife Mary were also major New Thought figures, eventually founding the Unity School of Christianity. A little later on, influenced by New Thought writers Ralph Waldo Trine and Christian Larson, Ernest Holmes founded the Religious Science Movement. Holmes is considered one of the most influential teachers of New Thought and his teachings, called “The Science of Mind,” have influenced such modern day figures as Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, Og Mandino, Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins and, in an indirect and notably bizarre way, the entire Word of Faith Movement, the fastest growing segment of Christianity world wide.

 I could go on and on describing the impact of New Thought, which noted psychologist William James called the “school of healthy mindedness,” but space does not permit it. Suffice to say the New Thought has been of tremendous impact on our culture, our religions, and especially on psychology. Chances are, if you have been influenced by any type of positive thinking teaching, you have been influenced by New Thought in general and Ernest Holmes in particular.

 Turning from a historical perspective, let’s take a brief look at some basic New Thought teachings. Keep in mind, we don’t have time to go into great detail here. It is my hope that in presenting some of the fundamental teachings of New Thought, you may be motivated to study these ideas further and, if you feel so led, apply them to your life. Below I list the Principles of Divine Unity, one of the newer New Thought Schools.

 Principle One – There is One Power

  Principle Two – The Kingdom is Within

  Principle Three – I am an Individualized Expression of the Divine

  Principle Four – My Thoughts and Beliefs Give Specific Form to Spirit

  Principle Five – The Principle at the Basis of our Lives is the Law of Cause and Effect

  Principle Six – We are Endowed With Free Will and  Thus Can Embody Divine Unity by Choosing Compassion

  Principle Seven – Evil is not a Separate Force but a Misuse of the Law

  Principle Eight – Changing My Thinking Changes My Life

  Principle Nine – There are Seven Tools Which Enable Us to Transform Our Consciousness by Enabling Us to Transform Our Thinking and Thereby Our Lives and the World We Live In*

  Principle Ten – All These Principles Assist Us in Realizing Our Divine Unity Which Although Always Present May Not Be Realized Because of “Obscurations and Delusions

  The Seven Tools of Transformation are:

 The Word

 Journaling

 Goal Setting/Planning

 Contemplation

 Affirmative Prayer

 Meditation

 Visualization

 Keep in mind that this list is only an outline and time or space does not allow for a very deep analysis here. Suffice to say that New Thought, in its various forms, is of the belief that a divine energy permeates the entire universe and that this energy is not only the source of all life, but also its animating and sustaining principle. This “Divine Mind” or “Sacred Intelligence” operates according to set universal “laws,” most notably the Law of Cause and Effect. New Thought also places great emphasis on the Law of Attraction, a principle that gained much popularity recently with the publication of Byrne’s book “The Secret.” There really wasn’t much secret about The Secret. The principles discussed in the pages of Byrne’s book are straight out of New Thought.

Although its leading proponents consistently deny it, the Word of Faith Movement within Christianity has also been strongly influenced by New Thought. E.W. Kenyon, considered by many to be the earliest advocate of many of the principles that show up in Word of Faith teachings, was reported to have been strongly influenced by Ralph Waldo Trine, a leading New Thought teacher of the late 19^th Century. As stated earlier, Word of Faith advocates go to great lengths to minimize the influence of Trine on Kenyon. No matter, whether from Trine or some other source, the presence of New Thought principles in the works of Kenyon is both unmistakable and undeniable.

What I find most interesting in the Christian traditions that have imbibed New Thought teachings is how they deal with integral aspect of their theology. Let’s take a brief look at two examples, Peale/Schuller and Word of Faith.

 As just mentioned, Word of Faith teachers, when confronted about New Thought influence, go to great lengths to deny it. Most Word of Faith teachers, as well as most charismatic teachers, define the New Thought Movement to be “occult” and the various schools associated with the movement as being “cults.” This is especially true when they speak of Unity, Religious Science, and Christian Science. (It should also be noted that Christian Science is not technically a New Thought entity). If the Word of Faith advocates readily admitted to the influence of any of these sources, it would open the Word of Faith movement to charges of heresy, charges that are levied anyway.

 As for Peale, Schuller, and the “Positive Thinking/Possibility Thinking” crowd, they neither admit to nor deny New Thought influence. Schuller is especially interesting in this regard. While never acknowledging New Thought per se, he frequently mentions fairly contemporary teachers of New Thought principles such as Clement Stone, Manly Hall, Napoleon Hill, and Emmett Fox, just to name a few.

 Personally, I believe a third option is the most sane and workable approach. If you, your teachings, your writings, and your world view have been impacted by New Thought, just say so. It is as simple as that. There is absolutely no need to dance around the subject with a Texas Two Step like the Word of Faith folks do. Just be up front and admit your influences. After all, no teacher has ever formulated their teachings in a theological/philosophical vacuum.

 In the secular “pop psychology” world the influence of New Thought is everywhere you look. Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Gary Zukav – all have been impacted by the school of thought. Some acknowledge the influence, some do not. However, the level and intensity of the denial of New Thought influence is nowhere near that found in Christian circles.

 If you are anywhere near a regular reader of this blog, you are surely aware that my world view has been impacted by various New Thought writers. I make no secret of this because I see absolutely no reason to do so. One of my most firmly held beliefs in the conviction that Christ may indeed be able to work and teach through any venue he chooses. He does not need my approval. In addition, I make every effort to avoid rigidity in my thinking and myopia in my theological beliefs. I do this for more than one reason. First, I have found both truth and inspiration from a wide range of sources, including New Thought. Second, I am also aware that someone I have major disagreements with still has the capacity to teach me something if I am open-minded enough to hear it.

 For example, I spent the summer of 1972 working in Washington, D.C. at the National Campaign Headquarters for Senator George McGovern. Although I am much more in the center politically now, back in those days I was so far left I made Chairman Mao look like William F. Buckley. At about the same time, life slowly began to unravel for Chuck Colson, Nixon’s famous “hatchet man.”

 As most of you know, during his legal problems associated with Watergate, Colson had a conversion experience while sitting in his car and he became a Christian. It should also be said that I arrived in Washington on June 10, 1972. The Watergate burglary took place on June 17. Colson, after his release from prison, founded Prison Fellowship, a ministry geared toward the spiritual redemption of those serving prison sentences. He has also become a major author in Christian circles and his books are widely read by an eager audience.

 What I am getting at here is this. I am about as close to Colson politically and religiously as Kansas is to Katmandu. Colon was and is an arch-conservative Republican. I am an Independent politically, but it is safe to say that I have never voted for a Republican for any office at any level. I have major differences with the ideological stance of the Republican Party and have shed more than one tear over the fact that the Religious Right has abducted my faith tradition and enlisted it in the service of the Republicans.

 Not only am I far away from Colson’s political tastes, but religiously there is a great gulf between us as well. Colson is a Fundamentalist with a capital “F.” I think fundamentalism in any religion is a dangerous commodity and I disagree with much of this school’s teachings.

 My point is this. Chuck Colson is one of my favorite Christian authors. I can say without reservation that I have learned much from his books and not long ago had the opportunity to finally hear him speak. Do I agree with most of what Colson says? Not on your life! Would I vote for him if he ran for office? You’re joking, right? But do I benefit from my exposure to his teaching? You betcha. But it does take an open mind and a willingness to explore the thought of those much different than my own.

 As for New Thought, I would encourage readers to explore these teachings for themselves rather than letting someone else do their thinking for them. You may, indeed, be surprised at what you discover.

 © L.D. Turner 2008/2010/All Rights Reserved

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Proactive Compassion and the Heart of Christ

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L.D. Turner

I am convinced that one of the most effective means of restoring the image of the Christian faith in the public mind involves what I call “proactive compassion.” It means to simply approach serving others as the primary kingdom mission to which we are, one and all, called by Christ. If we are to live as Christ lived, then we are to reach out to the down and the dirty – the outcasts and the untouchables. And no my friend, we are not to set ourselves on a hilltop and beckon those in need to come to us. Instead, the appellation “proactive” means we are to go to those who are neglected and needy. If we are afraid to get our hands dirty, we have embraced the wrong Master and the wrong faith. If that makes you uncomfortable, so be it. The truth is, Jesus never neglected those deemed unworthy and unclean. Even leprosy did not keep him at a distance and whatever disease or condition we might view as a modern-day leprosy should not keep us at bay, either.

If you need biblical examples, consider the following cast of characters that Jesus embraced with his proactive compassion:

• The Syrian-Phoenician woman we meet in Mark 7. She was not a Jew, but instead, was an unclean Gentile – yet Jesus did not hesitate to heal her daughter.
• In the seventh chapter of his gospel, Luke describes an encounter that must have set the Pharisees teeth on edge. Jesus not only healed the servant of a Roman centurion, but went on the praise the man’s faith, stating it was greater than any he had found in Israel. Good grief! Can you imagine the depth of the “harrumph” that must have echoed throughout the ranks of the religious leaders in Jerusalem.
• In Mark’s gospel we have the account of Jesus’ healing a leper.
• In John 4 Jesus encounters and dialogues with a Samaritan woman of dubious moral fiber (she had been married five times). This episode seems to even have shocked his disciples as Jesus was giving a double whammy – not only associating with a sinner, but a Samaritan woman as well.
• If the healing of the centurion’s servant was not enough, the Master also dined in the home of one of the most despised men in the Holy City. Jesus reclined at dinner with Zacchaeus, a Jewish tax collector.
• Happening upon a stoning that was about to begin, Jesus not only saved the woman caught in adultery (John 8), but challenged the religious leaders assembled there by stating, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” He then shocked them further by forgiving her of her sins.

There were other healings recounted in the pages of scripture, along with the driving out of demons and other examples of selfless service, driven by Christ’s proactive compassion. I suspect as well that we have only a slight smattering of the true extent of the service Jesus gave to the downtrodden and the oppressed people in Hebrew society. He then went on to stress the importance of this kind of service in the concluding section of Matthew 25, when he stated quite clearly:

I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me. (Matthew 25: 40 NLT)

It is to this very kind of down-and-dirty service to others that each of us is called. If we are bold enough to take on the mantle of Christ-follower, we must recognize that along with the privileges there is also responsibility. Ideally, as the Holy Spirit proceeds in the process of conforming us to the image of Christ, we come to perform this service out of love and a heart of genuine compassion – a heart filled with love of God and our fellow men.

© L.D. Turner 2010/ All Rights Reserved

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Wishing All A Very Merry Christmas!

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At this special time of the year, even though it can be hurried and harried, let us pause to reflect on what it is we are celebrating. With the incarnation of Christ into our hurting world, we now witness the birth of Light in darkness. Restoration has come, let us rejoice.

May all of you have a very Merry Christmas and may the One True Light shine brightly in your hearts, today and every day. Let us celebrate: Emmanuel – God is with us!

LifeBrook

Wise Words for Today

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The best way for a Christian to communicate his or her faith is to try to live it, to show the love that Christianity should involve in every aspect of life. This will make more impression and be a more effective witness to the truth of Christianity than any number of learned lectures. What is more, it is something that each of us can do, in whatever walk of life we may be. The only requirement is for us really to take Christianity seriously. Very few people actually do this. They pay lip service to Christ, but do not allow Him to affect their lives.

Peter Vardy

(from And If It’s True)

Jesus Christ: A Spiritual Anachronism

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L.D. Turner

When Jesus burst upon the scene of first century Palestine he set the accepted religious tradition of the day on its head. Christ’s not only challenged the spiritual status quo as prescribed by the religious leaders, he ushered in a very unique brand of spirituality. It can be rightly said that Christ was, in context of the spiritual milieu of his time, a spiritual anachronism.

Christ differed in his approach to the spiritual life by negating the traditional path of “ascension” spirituality. Instead, Christ taught and lived a spirituality of “divine descending” or “kenosis.” Instead of perfecting ourselves and ascending back to the heavenly realms, we are called by Christ to not only a sacrificial lifestyle of love, but also to “self-emptying” spirituality – a brand of spiritual endeavor whereby we become more holy by giving away all that God has given us. This refers not so much to living lives of poverty and destitution, but instead, involves utilizing our spiritual gifts in selfless services to God and others.

   Unlike the New Age adherents, we are not here to “learn lessons in earth school.”

   Unlike the “prosperity” teachers, we are not here to become rich.

   Unlike the Gnostic disciples, we are not only here to “know ourselves.”

   Unlike the Buddhists, we are not here to achieve enlightenment and escape the rounds of birth and death.

   Unlike the Vedanta followers, we are not here to perfect ourselves and discover the “God within.”

   Unlike Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains, we are not here to work off our moral indebtedness in some sort of karmic sweatshop.

   Unlike Muslim and Christian fundamentalists, we are not here to purify ourselves through legalistic obedience to religious laws, thus preparing ourselves for some final judgment.

Instead, we are here to carry on the great mission that Christ began when he decided to put on an earth suit and walk among us. In doing so, Christ revealed the true nature of God as a being of infinite love – a being of kenosis, who emptied himself into all creation through Christ. Since then, things have never been the same on this planet and they never will. Through the blessings of the Incarnation, blessings far too sublime for us to ever wrap our minds around, Christ revealed the heart of God. When I reflect on these themes, I suddenly and profoundly see John 3:16 in an entirely new light:

For God gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in him should never perish, but have everlasting life.

Our mission is one of continuing incarnation, of becoming the hands, feet, and especially, the heart of Jesus in this hurting world. Nowhere does scripture reveal a more cogent, relevant, and profound truth than in Matthew 25:35-40, where the following exchange between Christ and the disciples is recorded:

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; naked and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty, and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to see you? And the King will answer and say to them, “Today I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers and sisters of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.” (NAS)

This world we find ourselves living in is broken in many ways. Some theologians and biblical scholars call our world “fallen,” but I think this misses the mark somewhat. Is this world steeped in what Christians typically call “sin.?” Without a doubt. Is this world populated by a majority that operates on the premise that you should always “look out for Number 1” You bet it is. Is this world a place where trust and openness more often leads to pain than comfort? Just try it and see.

My point here, however, is not to detail how much our world has fallen from God’s standards and ideals. No, my point is just the opposite:

This world, with all its suffering, pain, and injustice, is the ideal place for us to grow spiritually through following Christ’s example of kenotic self-transcendence.

This world, warts and all, provides us with the proper venue to hone our spiritual skills in ways a utopian society never could. Rather than seeking to find ways to accelerate our way back to our pristine spiritual homeland, we are to embrace this world, find out where God is working, and join in, utilizing the spiritual gifts that God has already placed in us. This is the way to become the optimal version of ourselves and, along the way, attain spiritual fulfillment.

© L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

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Darkness Before the Dawn (Part Two)

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Mick Turner

God accepts us and blesses us. So, why is it that many of us have trouble fully accepting this free gift of grace? Why is it that a significant number of God’s family displays such a negative mindset? Why is it that church pews are often filled with people wearing either plastic smiles or, even worse, displaying such a sour countenance that visitors might think these folks had been baptized in vinegar instead of water?

 Perhaps the problem stems from the fact that many of us, deep down in our spiritual hearts, just don’t believe that we have really been accepted. If we are among that number, our situation is such that we are actually rejecting the very gospel we proclaim.

 A renowned Christian theologian, I think it was Paul Tillich, once said that the key to the whole Christian gospel was the fact that we are accepted by God. In fact, he went on to say that the way to appropriate God’s grace was to accept that we are accepted. I am no theologian and, at best, possess a second or third rate mind. But I am capable of comprehending the truth of this statement. We cannot begin the spiritual journey as outlined by Christ until we accept the gift of grace. And the most fundamental aspect of accepting God’s offer is to accept that we are accepted. Yet many Christians don’t seem to get this point. In fact, in their broken, weak state they can’t fathom that they are in any way acceptable to God. Something is wrong here. Very wrong.

 The crown jewel in the center of the Christian message is that the lowliest, neediest, and most broken people are accepted if they have faith in Christ. Just take a look at the kind of people he chose to hang out with when he was on earth. He associated with thieves, lepers, tax-collectors, prostitutes, cripples, paupers, and even a woman married five times. It now strikes me as absurd to think that I, even with my hang-ups, sins, shortcomings, and defects of character, am beyond the loving pale of God’s grace. However, many people both within and outside the church feel they are unworthy of God’s grace and thus reject the gift that was designed for them in the first place.

 Consider the familiar story of the Prodigal Son as told by Christ in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. We are so familiar with this tale of a wasted life saved through love and redemption than we often loose the impact that it should have on our lives. Especially if we are wastrels and rogues like the wandering Prodigal. Perhaps more than any other passage in Scripture, the parable of the youngest son of a wealthy landowner illustrates the incomprehensible, counter-intuitive love of God. Brennan Manning speaks succinctly about the Prodigal in all of us and God’s incredible acceptance:

 “When the prodigal limped home from his lengthy binge of waste and wandering, boozing, and womanizing, his motives were mixed at best. He said to himself, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of Hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father”. (Luke: 15:17-18). The ragamuffin stomach was not churning with compunction because he had broken his father’s heart. He stumbled home simply to survive. His sojourn in a far country had left him bankrupt. The days of wine and roses had left him dazed and disillusioned. The wine soured and the roses withered. His declaration of independence had reaped an unexpected harvest: not freedom, joy, new life but bondage, gloom, and a brush with death. His fair-weather friends had shifted their allegiance when his piggy bank emptied. Disenchanted with life, the wastrel weaved his way home, not from a burning desire to see his father, but just to stay alive.”

 Yet even with these mixed motives, borne as much from desperation as from contrition, the wastrel was accepted by his father and a celebration ensued. Of course it is best if we respond to God’s offer with a pure, contrite heart and full acknowledgement of our failure and powerlessness. Yet how many of us are actually capable of this? Not many I suspect. I know I am not. But God accepts our response to his offer in spite of our conflicted hearts and spirits. In fact, if one is to believe what Christ teaches in the parable of the Prodigal, then he in accepts our desperation just as much as he accepts our repentance. This is truly “radical grace.”

 So what is our response to what God has done? What are we to do if we truly and sincerely want to partake of God’s marvelous offer to accept us, love us and empower us to be better people? What are we to do if we genuinely desire to become Children of the Light? First, we should deeply reflect on just what it is that God has done through Christ and what He is continuing to do through the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit. Brendan Manning again puts it in cogent and moving words:

 “We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that he should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”

Just how do we go about accepting this radical offer made by God? We just accept it. It is really that simple. There is no great mystery here, no elaborate initiation rites, no secret oaths or pledges. We just accept it because God offers it. We accept it on faith and leave God to work out the details and understanding later. The comfort we find in accepting God’s love comes after faith, never before it. Remember, it all begins with and hinges on faith.

 Christians seem to have an uncanny knack for taking simple truths and complicating them through debate, dogma, and doctrine. The “Doctrine of Grace” is one thing; the reality of God’s grace is quite another. It is freely offered to all who would humble themselves enough to receive it. I suspect that each of us has his or her own way of resisting God’s grace. Some of us, as mentioned above, feel we don’t deserve it; some of us are too prideful, feeling that we can fix ourselves on our own; others think the concept of grace is just too simplistic. Whatever our reasons for struggling with this basic Christian principle, until we resolve our conflict, we will not advance very far on the spiritual journey.

 I can attest to this fact from my own experience. Paul says that the idea of “Christ crucified” as the means of salvation would be foolishness to the Greeks. Well, for many years it was foolishness to me. I much preferred the complexity of Buddhism and Hinduism, or the sanity of New Thought. Still, somewhere down in the pit of my being, the Hound of Heaven was chewing on me. God was unrelenting in his pursuit of me and I, like Jonah, headed for the hills more than once. Still, God’s grace kept surrounding me and I could not escape. In fact, I came to treasure the comforting feeling of being surrounded by God. Finally, I accepted that I was accepted.

 Once I stopped running; once my struggles with God came to a halt, it was like a whole panorama of spiritual reality opened before my eyes, including a deep sense of optimism and hope. As a result, I began to view the world, including its problems and pain, with a greater degree of compassion and a genuine desire for healing involvement.

  With the help of the Holy Spirit, I came to understand at a deeper level that I was in fact accepted. Accepted in my weakness because this is where the strength of Christ is seen. Accepted in my brokenness because this is where the healing of Christ is seen. Accepted in my faithlessness because this is where the fidelity of Christ is seen. Accepted in my wandering in the wilderness because this is where Christ’s true and stable mansions are eventually discovered.

  As epidemic as this notion that we are undeserving of God’s grace and his willingness to restore us to more whole and healthy functioning is, there is another reason people do not change that is equally prevalent.  In order to actually change your life you have to genuinely want to. You see my friend, many people say they want to change, but they actually don’t mean it. They may even think they mean it, but they are only fooling themselves. The minute the going gets rough, these folks bail out faster than you can say, “Maybe things weren’t that bad after all.” Once these folks get a good whiff of the personal sacrifices often required in any program of transformation they hit their haunches faster than a Mississippi donkey.

 Many years ago I worked as a counselor in an inpatient psychiatric facility. I recall one patient in particular who was a good example of what I am getting at here. We’ll call her Bessie, although that was not her real name. Bessie had been admitted to the facility at least eight times that I knew of. No matter what therapeutic interventions her doctors tried, she always reverted back to her problematic way of dealing with the world, which involved a combination of prescription medication, alcohol, and frequent violent explosions.

 Bessie had been a patient of just about every psychiatrist in town at one time or the other, but the results were always the same. Bessie reverted back to being, well, Bessie.

At one point a new, young doctor came on staff and took over Bessie’s case. He tried a number of new things with Bessie and she at least seemed to be making some changes. Unfortunately, one day while in the hospital she manifested her old behavior. She reached over the nurses’ station and grabbed two medical charts and smashed them against the wall. She then began jumping up and down on them while ripping her clothes off and screaming at the top of her lungs. All of this happened just after she noticed her young doctor get off the elevator. While only clad in her underpants (Bessie was in her 70’s mind you, and more than a few pounds overweight), she started running in circles around her physician while telling him the following:

 “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to, Buddy,” yelled Bessie in a loud, cackling voice. “I figured it all out last night. You’re trying to change me, aren’t you? Well, I’m here to tell you it ain’t gonna work.”

 Granted, many of those who resist change are not as dramatic as Bessie in their behavior or their lack of desire for personal transformation. Still, the results are always about the same. Like Bessie, there is little lasting change. Bessie’s story and the stories of many like her share one thing in common: the stated desire for change was illusory.

 The simple fact is if change is to happen in your life, you have to truly desire it. Like anything of value in life, change begins with desire. I repeat:

 Every positive accomplishment begins as a desire in the mind of the individual. Desire is the initial force that gives birth to our dreams and it is desire that motivates us to achieve those dreams. All great things begin with positive desire.

 I encourage you to begin with an honest, gut-level assessment of your desire to change. You have to ask yourself, “Is my desire for change genuine? Am I willing to, if necessary, make personal sacrifices in order to reach my desired goal of personal transformation?” If you answer these questions in the negative, that’s ok. It just means you are not yet ready to change yourself and your life. If this is the case, my suggestion is for you to pray to God, asking him to impart to you a willingness to change. Be sensitive to anything the Lord may be trying to communicate to you regarding change and/or willingness to change. Keep a journal and write down any insights or messages that may come to you. Go back later and reflect on what you have written, pray about it, and see what happens next. Even the unwillingness to change can be an avenue through which the Holy Spirit can help you to grow spiritually.

 If you conduct an honest, thorough assessment of your desire to change and you discern that it is genuine, it is time to take the next step. You need to begin, through prayer and planning, to set goals for personal change and make specific plans for how this transformation might be facilitated. Enjoy where you are at that moment, because you are on your way to becoming a better version of yourself. Keep in mind that as you grow, you are increasingly able to realize the divine potential that God has placed inside you. You are more and more able to discern your strengths of character and put those very strengths into practice where it really counts, your everyday life. And one more thing, do it all for the glory of God. Like Jesus, your ultimate goal in personal change is to increasingly put yourself in a condition where you can glorify God.

 Doing so was a big part of Christ’s mission on earth; and it is equally a big part of yours.

(C) L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

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Darkness Before the Dawn (Part One)

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Mick Turner

The journey of personal transformation more often than not begins in significant pain. I know many of you might disagree with this statement and for all I know, you may be right. All I can say is that in my own case, in that of a significant number of my dear friends, and certainly in the lives of many of the people I have counseled over the years, the real pilgrimage of spiritual transformation truly commences when we scream from deep in the pit of our stomach, “Good God, I can’t take this anymore.”

 In order for many of us to become teachable, we have to be driven to the point to where we realize that maybe, just maybe, we are not nearly as clever as we thought.

 First, we must admit the reality of our own broken nature. We must come to that point of awareness, whether driven by intense spiritual longing or our own personal sense of pain and desperation, that we are operating at less than optimum capacity. By this I mean we must realize, with the fullness of our being, that something about us is broken. Once having done this, we can then move on to the second realization regarding our broken selves. We cannot fix ourselves! True, with great effort and diligence, we can improve ourselves. We can develop our capacities but left to our own devices, we cannot fix ourselves. Something is fundamentally wrong deep within all of us. Something dark and deadly, something beyond our understanding lurks in each and every one of us. Somehow we know intuitively that whatever this personal demon is, it is the source of our misery.

 Much of the root of our problem and the darkness referred to in the paragraph above comes from our obsession with self. “What’s in it for me?” has become the singular question for several generations now. A.W. Tozer speaks to this issue and the problems that float in its wake:

 There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets ‘things’ with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns ‘my’ and ‘mine’ look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant. They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do… The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution……..Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and ‘things’ were allowed to enter. Within the human heart ‘things’ have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their heart, for God is crowned there no longer, but there  in the  moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.

Bob George puts it another way, straight to the point:

 Jesus Christ says he came to give life. What kind person needs life? The answer was obvious: only the dead……….From God’s point of view, the problem with man is not just that he is a sinner in need of forgiveness; his greater problem is that he is dead and in need of life.

 Bob George is telling us the ultimate truth that the Bible shouts from almost every page. We are for all practically purposes, spiritually dead. Coming to realize this fact is part of the solution to our dilemma, but that is another subject for another time. Our focus right now is on our broken nature and how it, in some ways at least, can be our dear friend. Our fundamentally deceased spirit can be a blessing when and if it drives us to such a point of desperation that remaining as we are is no longer a workable option. Our pain is our greatest teacher when and if it takes us to the point surrender. Erwin Raphael McManus, one of my favorite authors, gives a clear description of this place we come to where transformation is our only option:

 No one can force this on you, nor can it be anyone else’s ambition for your life. It has to come from within you. Sometimes it takes a menagerie of different experiences to bring us to it. Some of us will insist on going through tremendous pain, disappointment, and failure before we come to it. Eventually we have to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror and decide there’s someone else that we want to see there. But everyone who’s going to make this particular trek has to pass through the same gauntlet that has brought me and so many others to that place where in the deafening silence we hear the cry of our own soul screaming, “I want to change!”

 Anyone who has been brought low by this type of personal angst and came out of it on the spiritual path can understand the old adage that say, “It is darkest just before the dawn.”

 I worked for many years in the field of alcoholism/addiction treatment and prevention. Time after time I saw successful programs of recovery begin when the afflicted person was, as they often said, “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” These words reflect a deep, real, and lasting desire for change. We don’t have to be addicted to alcohol or drugs to reach a similar point.

 I don’t know about your life, but I can attest that in my own I reached a point of absolute confusion in terms of my spiritual life. Although my spirituality was the most important part of my life, I often managed to think myself into a corner and this eventually began to wear me down. Like I said, I was confused, overwhelmed, and hopeless. Left to my own devices, I truly believed I might end up insane or if not that, at least profoundly depressed and isolated. And it is precisely at this point that the answer began to appear, at first like a very dim point of light.

 I am convinced that when we reach our own personal threshold of discomfort, we are then ripe for transformation. That threshold may be different for different people but in most cases, although painful, this sense of desperation can be a doorway into a life that is blessed beyond anything you thought possible. The key is that you have to step across that threshold and into a new way of living. For many of us, this is a highly threatening process.

 Step Two in the Twelve Step Program utilized by AA and many other self-help groups states: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. It is this second step that provides us with a sense of hope. It implies that restoration is possible and that there is a power that will help us with that restoration.

 As comforting as Step Two is, for many it becomes a major stumbling block. The most often cited problem centers on the fact that many people grapple with the notion of a “power greater than ourselves.” For Christians, however, this is not the issue. As believers in Christ we have no problems accepting the existence of a Higher Power and we are given ample evidence in scripture that this power is able and willing to heal us.

 Christians run into difficulty here, usually for one of two reasons. First, we may feel that God is able to heal people of any malady, but we also may have the mistaken notion that he will not heal us. After all, we tend to think that our sins, shortcomings, and defects of character are worse than most. Yes, the Master may indeed heal Joe Six Pack down the street from me, but he won’t heal me because I am really a mess!

 Basically, we convince ourselves that healing is possible for everyone but “me.”

 (to be continued)

© L.D. Turner 2010/ All Rights Reserved

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The Blessing of God’s Presence

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Mick Turner

For many years in my spiritual walk I wandered in the wilderness, seeking answers down many avenues and not a few dark alleyways. I often felt bewildered, alone, without direction and devoid of guidance. All too often I found myself isolated at a spiritual dead end, trumpeting loudly in my heart like an elephant at a dried out waterhole. I often felt abandoned by God and spiritually exhausted. I was burned out, burned down, and, more times than I care to admit, so despondent that I wanted to take the whole spiritual quest and toss it once and for all. But now, in retrospect, I can see God’s hand in each dark alley I stumbled down. I can see his caring guidance in each barren and arid well. For in each of these wanderings I learned much. I gained not only knowledge that has proved useful in many areas of life, but also obtained an experiential understanding of what Solomon meant when he said so many of our pursuits, even the most noble ones, are chasing after the wind. Most significantly, the Holy Spirit gave me the awareness that in my times of despair and what I thought was spiritual failure, I had not failed completely.

  I only failed to hear the voice.

 What voice? The same voice that accompanied Moses and his large band of followers in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. The voice that whispered the comforting words that would have filled my empty heart with a glimmer of hope. The voice that said, “I am with thee”.

 The Creator and Sustainer, the God of All Comfort led the wandering Israelites through the barren landscape, always remaining faithful in his promise to lead them into the land of plenty. He remained with them, in spite of their lack of fidelity, in spite of their disobedience, in spite of their seeking comfort in places and things other than Himself. “I am with thee”, he said and surely he was. How much more is he with us now? Has God changed? No. Has he altered his promise? No. Has he withdrawn his covenant to lead us into the Promised Land? No.

 In fact, since the Incarnation he is with us more than ever. The angel of the Lord announced to Joseph, “They shall call his name Emmanuel,” God with us. How much more is God now with us, even in our meandering faithlessness and spiritual adultry? No less than he was with the Israelites. In fact, he is now with us in a new and more glorious way. He lived among us and left one-third of himself to reside in each and every one of us. It is to this God who we are called to consecrate our lives. The call to us is the same as the call in those days of old. We are called to trust in the God who is with us.

Again, Hannah Smith says it so cogently:

God is everywhere present in His universe, surrounding everything, and sustaining everything, and holding all of us in His safe and blessed keeping……We cannot drift from the love and care of an ever-present God. And those Christians who think He has forsaken them, and who cry out for His presence, are crying out in ignorance of the fact that He is always and everywhere present with them. In truth they cannot get out of His presence, even should they try.

 The message in these words by Smith, as well as in the adventures of the Jewish people in the wilderness serve to bring home to us the fact that God is always there whether we perceive his presence or not. He is there with us in times of trial and in times of blessing; in the darkness before the dawn and in the brilliant light of midday; in the brittle and barren moments of spiritual aridity and the lush and lovely times when we feel awash in the everlasting waters. He is, indeed, Emmanuel – God with us.

 Given the realities of the pressure-packed, fast-paced world in which we daily go about our business, it is an easy affair to forget God’s presence. I know this is true in my own life and I suspect, from time to time, this sense of God’s absence is a universal experience. It is a vital blessing and a comfort to know and trust that, even in those times when we think the Lord has gone on Sabbatical, that his live-giving presence is as close as our own breath and our own heartbeat. In fact, everything has been filled with Christ’s presence:

 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. (Ephesians 4:10 NLT)

 It is so easy to overlook this reality and yet it is so crucial that we keep coming back to the awareness, revealed not only in scripture, but in the experience of countless saints and in the traditions of the church in all its flavors, that God is right there with us.

 Often our sense of God’s absence is brought about by external factors such as stress, pressures from family, work, or friends, or the myriad responsibilities we all face in trying to make ends meet in a world that demands much from us. At other times, however, we avoid God’s presence if at all possible. Take Jonah, for example. God had a clear mission for Jonah to accomplish yet Jonah wanted no part of it. He chose to flee God rather than face him. God directed Jonah in one direction and he went double-time in the opposite way. The results were predictable because God is there, even when we don’t want him to be. Perhaps nowhere is this reality more clearly penned than in the words of David in Psalm 139:

 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there?

If I make my be in Sheol, you are there.

 

If I take the wings of the morning

And settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

Even there your hand shall lead me,

And your right hand shall hold me fast.

 

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

And the light around me become night,”

Even the darkness is not dark to you;

The night is as bright as the day,

For darkness is as light to you.

 (Psalm 139: 7-12 NRSV)

 I take great comfort in the promise that God is there at all times, whether I want him or not. You see, the reality is that I want him far more than I don’t. I have come to understand that even thought there may be things that I want to hide from God from time to time, it is in my best interest not to hide them. And beyond this, I could not hide them, even if I wanted to.

 God is described by Paul as “the God of all comfort,” and to my way of thinking, one of the greatest comforts is the fact he is always present, no matter what I am going through. We could ask for no greater resource than this. Jesus clearly understood this when he made this promise to his disciples (and to us) shortly before he ascended into heaven:

 “And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NLT)

 © L.D. Turner 2010/ All Rights Reserved

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Wise Words for Today

Cover of I Give You Authority

I have become convinced, through working in inner healing and deliverance, that the enemy’s primary area of attack is our self-image. He does not want us to discover who we are. I work with victimized, abused and defeated people whose lives are often characterized by severe hopelessness or depression. Yet they are often brimming with hidden talents, untapped spiritual gifts given to them by God at conception. The enemy, knowing what these gifts and talents are, has done his best to keep these people from knowing their abilities. And he has destroyed or nearly destroyed their perception of who they are intended to be…….If we are to live and minister effectively for Christ, we need to know who we are and what that means.

 Charles H. Kraft

(from I Give You Authority)

Kingdom Principles: Wisdom, Light, and Compassion

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Mick Turner

In addition to being a “sage,” – a teacher of wisdom, Jesus was also a perfect embodiment of compassion. His entire life can be seen through the lens of what biblical Greek terms “kenosis.” Kenosis is typically translated as “self-emptying love” and from beginning to end, Jesus’ mission exemplified this spiritual virtue.

It is this very concept of kenosis that makes the Christian path unique. Even within the faith itself, it seems there were and are still many who missed the boat, so to speak, in terms of understanding what Jesus was bringing into manifestation on this planet. Traditionally, the path of spiritual development has been seen as one of “ascent,” where the spiritual aspirant engages in spiritual practices in order to purify themselves. Growth is seen as an upward spiral or ladder. In Eastern traditions, spiritual practices enable us to accumulate more “chi” or “prana,” – divine spiritual energy that enables us to better live the spiritual life.

In the Jewish tradition, where Jesus and the first disciples grew and developed, this sort of spirituality was most clearly seen in the teachings of “Merkevah” mysticism. The Merkevah was associated with ascension in general and with the chariot of Elijah in particular. Elijah, as you may recall, was whisked away to the heavenly realm in a chariot. The ascetic group known as the Essenes were especially knowledgeable of the path of Merkevah.

Merkevah mysticism is especially concerned with divine “Light,” and this pure spiritual light is available to all if they know how to harness it. It is certain that Jesus was quite familiar with the tradition of Merkevah and its inner workings and is perfectly reasonable to speculate that those times he spent alone in prayer and meditation included extensive sessions of divine “Light Work,” recharging his batteries.

This path of ascension, however, was not Jesus’ primary mode of operation. Instead, his teaching and his life emphasized spiritual formation through kenosis – self-emptying love. Jesus showed the way of “giving, giving, and then giving some more.” His was a path of spiritual attainment through complete loving sacrifice. It was and forever shall remain, a path of “divine descending.”

Cynthia Bourgeault, in her wonderful book entitled The Wisdom Jesus, gives a detailed account of this path of kenosis.

In Greek the verb “kenosein” means “to let go” or “to empty oneself,” and it is the word Paul chooses at the key moment in his celebrated teaching in Philippians 2:9-16 in order to describe what “the mind of Christ is all about. Here is what he has to say:

Though his state was that of God, yet he did not deem equality with God something he should cling to.

Rather, he emptied himself, and assuming the state of a slave, he was born in human likeness.

He, being known as one of us, humbled himself, obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

For this, God raised him on high and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name.

So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

And so every tongue should proclaim “Jesus Christ is Lord!” – to God the Father’s glory

After this scriptural quotation, Bourgeault goes on to say:

In this beautiful hymn, Paul recognizes that Jesus had only one “operational mode.” Everything he did, he did by self-emptying.

The author then goes on to list the various ways that Jesus emptied himself in divine kenosis:

   He emptied himself and descended into human form.

   He further emptied himself (even to death on a cross) and fell through the bottom to return to the realms of dominion and glory.

   In whatever life circumstance, Jesus responded with the same motion of self-emptying – or to put it another way, of the same motion of descent: going lower, taking the low place, not the higher.

Bourgeault then contrast this kenotic type of spirituality with the more common ascension model:

What makes this mode so interesting is that it’s almost completely spiritually counterintuitive. For the vast majority of the world’s spiritual seekers, the way to God is “up.” Deeply embedded in our religious and spiritual traditions – and most likely in the human collective unconscious itself – is a kind of compass that tells us that the spiritual journey is an ascent, not a descent. Most students of the wisdom tradition consider this upward orientation to be one of the foundational attributes of sophia perennis itself…..In biblical tradition, the image of the spiritual ladder goes all the way back to the headwaters of the Old Testament, with the story of Jacob’s dream of the ladder going up to heaven. It’s probably five thousand years old. Christian monastic tradition returned to this image and developed it still further, as essentially the roadmap for the spiritual journey.

Bourgeault points out that the archetype of the “spiritual ladder” was so deeply embedded in Christian mysticism that the seventh century teacher John Climacus took the monastic name of John of the Ladder. I would also add that in the 14^th Century, a watershed period for Christian mysticism, the English mystic Walter Hilton wrote his most famous work, entitled “The Ladder of Perfection.”

When we look to the life of Jesus for practical guidance and spiritual direction, we can clearly see that the path he taught and lived was one of perfect balance between wisdom, light and compassion – gnosis, merkevah, and kenosis. From a human perspective, he attained wisdom through immersion in scripture and tradition and divine light through the regular practice of prayer, silence, and solitude. This inculcation of wisdom and light was carried out so that he would consistently have something to give away. The Master always made connection with the source so that he could be filled with wisdom and light; and he took this wisdom and light and emptied it out in repeated acts of compassion, healing, and love. Always doing the will of his father, he emptied himself into the world so that other might have light and life. Bourgeault gives this succinct yet telling summation:

Thus he came and thus he went, giving himself fully into life and death, losing himself, squandering himself, “gambling away every gift God bestows.” It was not love stored up but love utterly poured out that opened the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven…Over and over, Jesus lays this path before us. There is nothing to be renounced or resisted. Everything can be embraced, but the catch is to cling to nothing. You let it go. You go through life like a knife goes through a done cake, picking up nothing, clinging to nothing, sticking to nothing. And grounded in that fundamental chastity of your being, you can then throw yourself out, pour yourself out, being able to give it all back, even giving back life itself. That’s the kenotic path in a nutshell. Very, very simple. It only costs everything.

 If we are bold enough to lay claim to the status of “Christian,” then we are called to no less. If you desire more insight into these themes, I strongly encourage you to do two things. First, find yourself a copy of Cynthia Bourgeault’s The Wisdom Jesus and Robin Meyer’s Saving Jesus From the Church. Read these two books slowly and reflectively in tandem and make every attempt to apply these teachings to your life. Secondly, spend time in prayer and reflection considering exactly where you are in terms of establishing a balance of wisdom, light, and compassion – gnosis, merkevah, and kenosis – in your walk of faith. Pray and meditate, seeking guidance from the Spirit on what you need to do to establish and maintain a more consistent balance of this trinity of spiritual virtue.

May your endeavors and your journey bear much fruit and bring increasing manifestation to the Kingdom on earth.

© L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved