SPIRIT-GOODNESS

SPIRIT-GOODNESS

By

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

And so let us come near to God with a true heart full of faith. Our hearts must be made clean from guilty feelings and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold on to the hope we say we have and not be changed. We can trust God that He will do what He promised.  Let us help each other to love others and to do good. (NLV, Heb. 10:22-24)

Eddy: “Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and Love.  Here is the great point of departure for all true spiritual growth.”

Many ancient and modern religious traditions and rituals impose guilt, fear and self-condemnation.  LOVE-GOD annuls them with divine grace.  LOVE gives us wisdom, love, strength, guidance and triumph.  When our starting premise is our matter-transcending unity with SOUL, then the pursuit of intelligent goals and objectives becomes a joyous and rewarding spiritual journey.  Spiritual enlightenment, which emanates from MIND-GOD, prods us to express more of our magnificent SOUL-fueled attributes.  The repercussions are success in our ventures and we are also able to help others reach their thoughtful goals.

 

For the word of the cross is folly to them that perish; but to them that be made safe, that is to say, to us, it is the virtue of God. (WYC, I Cor. 1:18)

Eddy: “The belief that man has existence separate from God is a dying error.  This error Jesus met with divine Science and proved its nothingness.”  And, “We must have trials and self-denials, as well as joys and victories, until all error is destroyed.”

SOUL-SPIRIT is giving us its cascading spiritual riches.  Our incorporeal self is constituted of SPIRIT’s own limitless substance and life-energy. These spiritual facts overcome setbacks, obstructions, attacks, injustice and failures. While we often think of the “cross” as terrible experiences, it also symbolizes how during trying times we can become more connected to the love, intelligence and resources of SPIRIT-GOD.  We can cast off ingrained, failed and unproductive attitudes and replace them with spiritually enlightened ones.  We can abandon a limited, mortal outlook on life and grab onto overflowing, immortal LIFE-GOD.  Every time we supplant sclerotic, matter-trapped, obstinate beliefs with MIND-drawn intelligence and ingenuity we generate more love, health,

Forgiven and Blessed

Forgiven and Blessed

By

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" ¹¹"No one, Master." "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin." (John 8:3-11 in “The Message”)

 

A woman I know was helped by this biblical story.  She had made a grave mistake at work and the criticism was severe.  She felt guilty, ashamed and humiliated.  Ostensibly her career path at the firm had come to an end.  She was experiencing anxiety attacks and uncontrollable crying spells. 

 

In our conversations together I said that the fountain of her life was LOVE, and that LOVE’s tender caring for her erased mistakes and punishment.  Also, that our mistakes are opportunities for self-development. 

 

Kindness, empathy and forgiveness are qualities of LOVE and our expression of them augments our opportunities.  I reminded her of her intelligence and multiple talents. 

 

            Her mental clarity returned.  She scrutinized her past judgment and decisions and took note of what she would do differently in the future under similar circumstances. 

 

She was not fired, but high profile opportunities were given to others.  In the meantime, we continued our conversations and prayers.  We often talked about how LOVE’s opportunities were inexhaustible. 

 

One of our favorite take-off points for prayer and conversation was this statement by M. B. Eddy: “I am Spirit.  Man, whose senses are spiritual, is my likeness.  He reflects the infinite understanding, for I am Infinity.  The beauty of holiness, the perfection of being, imperishable glory, -- all are Mine, for I am Truth.  I include and impart all bliss, for I am Love.”

 

We kept on insisting that MIND would reveal something rewarding for her either with her present employer or with a new one. 

 

            I wrote several prayerful, spiritual concepts for her which she made fine use of. One of them is this one:

 

“Unfathomable and preeminent LOVE-MIND subsumes and generates everything about us.  Mistakes, guilt and setbacks are temporary experiences because LOVE’s spiritual power catapults us toward new opportunities and success.  Our intelligence, talents and right motives are gifts from MIND and divine law makes sure that we can express them triumphantly.”

 

And so it came to be.  She was given a demanding assignment and she excelled at it.  Her career was now flying again. 

 

The propulsive thrust of MIND-LOVE shatters through any obstructions to our progress. 

 

 

We Are Elevated by LOVE-GOD

We Are Elevated by LOVE-GOD

 

By

 

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

 

 

Draw night to God and he will draw night to you. (KJV, James 4:8)

 

Eddy: “To put down the claim of sin, you must detect it, remove the mask, point out the illusion, and thus get the victory over sin and so prove its unreality.” Also, “Since God is All, there is no room for his unlikeness.  God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it good.

 

One of the hardest things to do is to detect wrongs and correct ourselves.  We get easily fooled by groupthink, fall into counterproductive habits, self-righteousness and rigidity.  Divine WISDOM yanks us out of our mental and cultural traps.  It motivates us to seek out and ponder contrarian viewpoints.  MIND/TRUTH induces mental versatility, adroitness, and resourcefulness and transformation. Then we enjoy SPIRIT’s torrential blessings.

 

 

Arise go unto Nineveh, that great city … (KJV, Jonah 3:2)

 

Eddy: “Since God is All, there is no room for His unlikeness.  God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it good.”

 

MIND-LOVE commands thought to eschew its fears, stubborn beliefs and material phantasms and accept its all-surrounding mandate of unbounded health, love, bounty and freedom.  Jonah's whale in the Old Testament symbolizes obstinate and apparently overwhelming fears and difficulties.  But these fade away when we are conscious of LOVE's superlative grace and might.  To go to Nineveh is to move thought to an acceptance of our incorporeal unity with LOVE-SPIRIT’s all-encompassing and ever-flowing health and goodness. 

 

 

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. ² “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” ³ “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. ⁴ We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. ⁵ But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶ Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. ⁷ He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing! (NLT, John 9:1-7)

Eddy: “Heredity is not a law.”  And, “The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have learned from error, and man’s real existence as a child of God comes to light.” 

Being the fountain of our being, PRINCIPLE-SPIRIT has provided us with an excellent and bountiful inheritance of health, intelligence, love and resources.  Our spiritual endowments from LOVE—SPIRIT elides the multiple, specious assertions of material heredity.  Divine excellence is our past, present and future. 

 

We Flourish in GOD

We Flourish in GOD

by

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

“From His eternal care we never shall remove, encompassed by His grace, enfolded by His love” (Hymn 199)

We are saturated by Love’s rivers of health, intelligence, vigor and opportunity.

 

For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,’ says the LORD… (KJV, Jeremiah 30:17)

Eddy: “When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; ….”

Right when everything is ostensibly lost or we are in pain, despair, and even impaired, Truth-God is revealing that we possess a luxuriant, spiritual essence.  We can connect to Truth-God and to our triumphant, incorporeal self.  Love-God is fostering our formidable, magnificent self.

 

 The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works. (KJV, Ps. 145:9)

Eddy: “There is no error in Science, and our lives must be governed by reality in order to be in harmony with God, the divine Principle of all being.”

The preponderance of Spirit-Good obviates evil.  All issues obstructing our health, professional advancement, and fruitful relationships are precluded by our recognition of Love’s supremacy and its tender mercies.  We are flourishing within the super-fecundity of infinite Life-God.  This is a restorative insight.

There Is No Death, Only LIFE

There Is No Death, Only LIFE

 

By

 

Julio C. Rivas

 

 

Dr. Eben Alexander, a Harvard-trained neurosurgeon, experienced something of immortal, spiritual existence when he was in a coma for 7 days. His brain cortex was dead. It was being eaten by a very rare type of bacterial meningitis.

 

In his book “Proof of Heaven,” he recounts that during his spiritual journey he discovered that existence was without physicality. Each living being was both distinct and unified to everything and everyone else. In addition, everything was beautiful, joyful, and full of love.

 

He perceived a message, which had three parts:

 

“You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever.”

 

“You have nothing to fear.”

 

“There is nothing you can do wrong.”

 

On the seventh day, while his doctor and his wife were discussing disconnecting him from his mechanical life-support, he woke up healed of the bacterial meningitis that had been eating his brain.

 

The book “Life after life,” published in 1975 and written by Dr. Raymond Moody, describes the experiences of 150 people who died, or almost died, and recovered to tell about it. The book encouraged thousands of people from around the world to share their own post-death-and-back experiences. Support groups exist today in many cities where men and women feel comfortable talking about the continuity of life beyond death.

 

To one who glimpses something of spiritual existence, life is the immortal outcome of the divine SOURCE, SPIRIT-LOVE. Whether we are a part of a religious tradition or not, we can intuit that we are the outcome of a universal, uncontainable, inexhaustible, perennial LIFE-FORCE.

 

Of course, throughout human history we have benefitted from radiant, spiritual standard-bearers who have experienced and proven something of the materially transcending reality of infinite LIFE-SPIRIT. Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, we have Melchizedek, Enoch, Christ Jesus, and many others since then. There are also others from other traditions. Another of these standard-bearers from more recent times is the 19th century, radical thinker, Mary Baker Eddy, who perceived, proved and taught the LIFE-PRINCIPLE which generates prolific beauty, health and goodness.

 

We do not need to have “near-death” experiences to liberate ourselves from our feeble, time-enslaved, matter-enclosed views of existence. The more we study and learn about unbounded SPIRIT-LIFE, the easier it is to sense that we are vivid, perfect, perpetual, non-physical, spiritual beings.

 

I have witnessed patients of mine return to life after being diagnosed as clinically dead, or after being in comas for weeks and months. In these cases, I maintained my spiritual conviction that they were in unity with MIND-GOD, and that MIND’s revelations were causing them to thrive within uninterrupted SPIRIT-LIFE.

 

Spiritual awakenings cause us to feel our eternal connectivity to sublime LIFE. Those who have become aware of their immortality describe the feeling that they are at one with a tender, warm, gentle and limitless LOVE. They discern distinct celestial beings that live in perfect synchronicity with each other. In LIFE-REALITY, there is no limitation, separation, sin, guilt, disease, fear, nor hate.

 

The divine LIFE-FORCE makes one feel wanted, belonging to a grand, beautiful, excellent purpose. Superlative SOUL-LIFE excludes material birth, growth, aging, and death. Corporeality, along with failure, sin, and sickness, are a sham to our spiritual apprehension. Physical belief-distortions cannot touch, nor impede our glorious, celestial identities and divinely impelled existence.

 

We are LIFE-beings. We live within LOVE’s infinity. Tender, immaculate, and unbounded LOVE-LIFE maintains a harmonious balance among all spiritual life forms. A holy unity supports and enhances everyone’s divine purpose and reveals more of their radiant, eternal, excellent essence.

 

We are divine LIGHT-LOVE’s perpetual, shimmering beings. We are divine LIFE-LOVE’s eternal chorus. Let us choose to live as we really are.

 

 

MIND Propagates Us

MIND Propagates Us

By

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

 

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. (NIV, Ps. 139:3)

 

Eddy: “Immortal man was and is God’s image or idea, even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immortal man is coexistent and coeternal with that Mind.”

 

Unparalleled INTELLIGENCE-MIND produces spiritual reality.  The universe and man reflect from MIND immeasurable, spiritual excellence. We are MIND’s brilliant, magnificent, incorporeal expressions. There is an unalterable correlation between INTELLIGENCE-MIND and its effect – man and the universe. This dynamic relationship fructifies our lives with love-relationships, health, intellectual elasticity, prolific accomplishments, and fulfillment.

 

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” ³⁷ Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’” (NLT, Matt. 22: 36-37)

Eddy: “Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness is cognizant only of the things of God.”

MIND-SPIRIT propagates our incorporeal, immortal, affluent identities.  By seeking and expressing MIND we heighten our spiritual sensibilities. Our increased spiritual acuity expels weaknesses and resolves ostensibly intractable conditions. MIND-infused intelligence annihilates illness, fear and sin because these imperfections, like all material imperfections, are void of the qualities of MIND.  

LIFE-prodded Victory

LIFE-prodded Victory

By

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

 

¹⁵Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?" She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him." ¹⁶Jesus said, "Mary." Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!" ¹⁷Jesus said, "Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.'" ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: "I saw the Master!" And she told them everything he said to her. ^19-20Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." Then he showed them his hands and side. ^20-21The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you." (The MSG, John 20:15-20)

Eddy: “The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit, and after his resurrection he proved to the physical senses that his body was not changed until he himself ascended, -- or, in other words, rose even higher in the understanding of Spirit, God.”

Mary of Magdala, the deeply committed and capable disciple of Jesus, quickly perceived the resurrected Jesus. Even after his resurrection Jesus continued to enrich his cognition of man’s divine identity. He also helped his students come out of despair and to cognize man’s SOUL-generated, infinite possibilities for health, love and success. From Jesus’ accomplishments we learn that our Christly essence cannot be buried by materiality, hatred, disease and loss. Spiritual apprehension places us on an ascending path of superabundant LIFE.

¹²Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (The MSG, James, 1:12)

Eddy: “The human concepts named matter, death, disease, sickness, and sin are all that can be destroyed.” And, “The divine must overcome the human at every point.”

Christly wisdom armors us with celestial grit, resilience, love, might, and victory.

SOUL-Engineered Resolutions

SOUL-Engineered Resolutions

 

By

 

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

¹³ Boaz married Ruth. She became his wife. Boaz slept with her. By God's gracious gift she conceived and had a son. ^14-15 The town women said to Naomi, "Blessed be God! He didn't leave you without family to carry on your life. May this baby grow up to be famous in Israel! He'll make you young again! He'll take care of you in old age. And this daughter-in-law who has brought him into the world and loves you so much, why, she's worth more to you than seven sons!" (The MSG, Ruth 4:13-15)

 

Eddy: “Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, – these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence.”

 

Soul is communicating productive pathways and relationships to every spiritually aligned consciousness. By implementing these inspired ideas, and uniting our efforts based on a synchronicity of values and ideals, we experience outstanding successes.

 

 

²⁵Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged. "Master, help me." ²⁶He said, "It's not right to take bread out of children's mouths and throw it to dogs." ²⁷She was quick: "You're right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master's table." ²⁸Jesus gave in. "Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!" Right then her daughter became well. (The MSG, Matt. 15:25-28)

 

Eddy: “Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals.” And, “Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love – be it song, sermon, or Science – blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.”

 

Even the tiniest inspiration from Soul (the smallest crumb from Christ) can eradicate the most terrifying and unyielding illness, and financial, personal or professional dilemma. One “crumb” of Truth/Soul is greater than all human problems.

 

TRUTH’s Victory

TRUTH’s Victory

By

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

Asa had an army of 300,000 Judeans, equipped with shields and spears, and another 280,000 Benjaminites who were shield bearers and archers. They were all courageous warriors. Zerah the Ethiopian went to war against Asa with an army of a million plus three hundred chariots and got as far as Mareshah. Asa met him there and prepared to fight from the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. Then Asa prayed to God, “O God, you aren’t impressed by numbers or intimidated by a show of force once you decide to help: Help us, O God; we have come out to meet this huge army because we trust in you and who you are. Don’t let mere mortals stand against you!” (TM, II Chronicles 15: 8-11)

TRUTH-LOVE is ALL.  TRUTH understood extirpates whatever stands in the way of our SPIRIT-bestowed-and-enforced health, love, bounty, peace and advancement.  Our incorporeal, SOUL-designed self embodies an “army” of intelligent ideas and triumphant qualities. Mental, emotional, physical and financial enemies are nullified by it. 

Parenting with LOVE’s Wisdom

Parenting with LOVE’s Wisdom

 

By

 

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

 

What makes a good parent? We know that the biological ability to produce children does not necessarily make us one. Having responsible and loving male and female role models can go far in forming a right sense of parenting. When these are lacking, there is always man’s real parent, who is divine Love, to correct, guide and impart a spiritual sense of parenting.

 

Jesus Christ had a rich sense of man’s spiritual relationship to his heavenly Father-Mother, God. In fact, he personally referred to God as his “Abba,” or “daddy” in a modern context.  Jesus calls God by this name when he is praying about having to face the crucifixion. To face such a horrible trial, he is drawing on the courage and power that only His heavenly Father can give him.

 

The apostle Paul also refers to God as “Abba” when showing us that through Jesus’ example we can all find man’s spiritual son-daughter-ship to divine Spirit, God.  Paul writes, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Gal. 4: 6, 7).

 

M. B. Eddy writes of God as man’s divine Parent, as the one Father-Mother, God: “Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation” (S&H p. 332:4-5). And she also says that “Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother, God” (S&H p. 516: 21).

 

Since God is both Father and Mother, sexual gender cannot limit our spiritual capacity to express both the fatherhood and motherhood of infinite Spirit, God. We reflect the tenderness of Love’s motherhood as well as the strength of Principle’s fatherhood.

 

Christ Jesus demonstrated the mutually supportive qualities of compassion and firmness, forgiveness and authority, gentleness and strength because he reflected the wholeness of God. We reflect the completeness of our Father-Mother, God.

 

To know that man is the reflection of the one divine Parent, God, translates our dearest hopes to be a good parent into practical reality. We can rely on more than personal skills.  Infinite Love, God, has given to us a vast array of divine qualities.  As we get pride and fear out of the way and listen to God’s intelligent guidance, we can express the precise Soul-given qualities to meet our needs. We are then parenting, in some degree, as our Father-Mother parents us.

 

Paul says that we can love God “because he first loves us” and “That he who loves God loves his brother also” (I John 4: 19, 21). Paul is confirming that everything good starts with divine Love because it is the center and fountain of all spiritual being and harmonious action.  To prayerfully realize this is to feel His presence, encircling us and our children. The one divine Parent imparts the divine thoughts that bind us together as spiritual children in His perfect love.

 

Human love can be fickle, manipulative, possessive and selfish. But by understanding and expressing a greater degree of divine Love we overcome our personal shortcomings. As divine Love moves in our hearts it heals what may be years of deep-seated habits of violence, anger, impatience, domination and fear. God's regenerative and purifying influence heals the wrong done to us and that which we have done to others.

 

M. B. Eddy points out the weakness and, sometimes, the wickedness of fleshly ties. She writes, "mortals, or the 'children of men' in material sense, are discordant and ofttimes false brethren." But then she adds that "Immortals, or God's children in divine Science, are one harmonious family." (S & H 444:27)

 

It is encouraging and transformational to perceive that, in spiritual reality, we are Spirit’s offspring and not the "children of men.”

 

In spiritual reality there is one universal, divine family and this one is made up of God as Father-Mother and of man as His spiritual child. The human family is lifted higher in its capacity for good as we take in a sense of Soul’s spiritual family.

 

Soul is the one all-inclusive divine Principle, the infinite Mind, in whom all His spiritual children, or ideas, live in perfect harmony with each other. Every spiritual child, or idea, is unique in Soul and so loved and protected. This spiritual fact, accepted and lived, unfolds Soul’s intelligent grace in parents and children.

 

My father grew up an orphan and my mother was raised mostly by her grandparents. In spite of the lack of their own parents, their relationship with God made them very loving parents. Although my father’s early years as a parent were troubled by the tendency toward physical punishment as a form of parental discipline, through prayer and spiritual growth, he was freed from it. Christian Science taught my parents to see themselves as the beloved children of Father-Mother, God, and to accept His spiritual qualities as their God-given heritage. It healed them of certain negative personality traits and lifted them above the pains suffered while they were growing up. As they learned to know God as their true Father-Mother, they found His grace sufficient to illumine them as parents and in their continual individual growth.

 

Spiritual wisdom can heighten our understanding of effective parenting.  It corrects a heavy sense of responsibility, or impatience, or control.  When we perceive that our children are spiritual offspring of Soul, we feel a richer and deeper spiritual relationship to them.  Our intercommunication is more effective and rewarding when are listening and expressing divine Mind’s guidance.  We then feel more of Love’s effortless joy and peace.

 

Children develop best emotionally, intellectually and spiritually when they learn to have a loving and trust-filled relationship with God. In fact, spirituality is innate to children. Parents just need to cherish and encourage it. By turning to boundless Intelligence-Love for everything we find the confidence and understanding that triumphs over problems, including physical illnesses.

 

One could say that a true sense of family, and of parenting, is a sense of unity with perfect Love-God. Love-Mind can be the head of the household.

 

Parents, as well as children, can reflect Love’s healing intelligence and grace.

 

Expressing Invincible LOVE

Expressing Invincible LOVE

 

By

 

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

 

What anchors us, opens up the petals of our mind and heart, and fructifies our relationships? It is unselfish, generous grace.  It is love for those who are unlovable, and it is caring for the sake of caring.

 

To love obsessively, selfishly, romantically, and religiously is the product of a fearful, narrow and self-centered mind-set.  Therefore, it is harmful.

 

But profound, genuine and trustworthy affection has a divine source.  It renews us, replenishes our earth, and transforms our society and institutions.  It communicates and spreads LOVE’s love.

 

Because this love is spiritual it powers surprising resurrections of soul, mind and body.  LOVE’s love rises up with overwhelming healing power. 

 

It proves that we are interconnected, spiritual beings.  We are the unbounded and universal outcomes of SOUL.

 

Also, to love this way is to be in rhythm with all-intelligent MIND-GOD.

 

LOVE's love makes us brilliant, responsible and mature.  It induces us to act boldly, generously and wisely to effect healing changes.

 

MIND’s love fills us with spiritual power, freedom and joy.

 

A Might-Enhancing Prayer

A Might-Enhancing Prayer

By

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” (NKJV, Romans 8:16).

 Eddy: “Man. The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind.”

“I am the outstanding oeuvre of the divine INTELLIGENCE-MIND. 

SPIRIT shields me with an innumerable, empyrean army of brilliant ideas and superlative forces (a celestial army of ‘angels’).  

TRUTH propels my health and accomplishments.   

LOVE is compounding my intelligence, opportunities and rewards. 

My body expresses the unhindered and magnificent health, vigor and elasticity of SOUL.  

Unsurpassed MIND-WISDOM unravels my mind and emotions.  It catapults me past ostensibly impossible obstacles.  Spiritual lucidness flows into my thought.

LIFE fuels my vitality and renews me.  It annuls others’ hateful malice and past traumas.

LOVE brings order and peace to internal and external turbulence. 

My SPIRIT-bestowed substance is immaculate and vigorous.   My spiritual wholeness is preeminent.  It elides illness, pain, bad genetics and decay.

I am endowed by PRINCIPLE-GOD with protean, intellectual abilities, adroit skills, and versatile talents. 

SOUL creates multiple channels for fulfilling expression and advancement.

SOUL-LIFE subsumes me and maintains my spiritual connectivity to all life.

I represent the perpetual, creative, dynamic expression of infinite LOVE-MIND.” 

 

 

Spiritual Unity with SOUL

Spiritual Unity with SOUL

By

Julio C. Rivas, CS

^7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute— you’re already there waiting! Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you. (The Message, Psalms 139:9-12)

Eddy: “This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that you cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind, nor life result in death.  The perfect man –governed by God, his perfect Principle – is sinless and eternal.”

We are SOUL’s immortal, outstanding, spiritual revelations.  Our human location and circumstances may change, but we are non-material, immaculate, flourishing, celestial identities in the ALL-IN-ALL of LOVE-SPIRIT.  We are LOVE-LIFE’s perpetual manifestations.  We are thriving with health, intelligence and rich purpose in the teeming universe of MIND.  Oneness with LIFE-LOVE and eternal oneness with each other’s spiritual selfhood is our dynamic reality.

MIND-Instigated Ethics

MIND-Instigated Ethics

 

By

 

Julio C. Rivas, CS

 

 

 It is common to read about the moral failures of people in positions of influence and power.  Since 2007 we have been inundated with news reports of widespread corruption throughout our social/economic institutions -- religious, educational, financial and government organizations.  One obvious example is the many large, high-powered financial institutions which have been found guilty and have agreed to pay billions of dollars in fines for ethical failures. 

 

 In spite of the commendable effort given to legislating and enforcing proper codes of conduct, it is helpful to remember that ethical behavior depends mostly on individuals doing what is right. 

 

What is most important is developing within us the moral sensitivity, judgment and courage which annuls temptation and illuminates complex situations.  It means nurturing a sense of right and wrong, and committing ourselves to living it even in the minutiae of our lives.  Then we are able to be a counterforce against the tides of corruption.  We may even be able to contribute to breaking an organization's long-held pattern of dubious practices.   

 

When thinking of ethics I also recall the deceptions and cover-ups I sometimes encountered in business.  Once, my team was offered juicy financial compensation to help deceive the financiers of a multi-million dollar project.  We refused, of course.  Other legitimate opportunities came our way. 

 

Our personal commitment to integrity enhances the quality of life for everyone.  It infuses families, institutions, government and commerce with trust, efficiency and higher levels of achievement. 

 

Our standard of trustworthy behavior should kick into higher gear when ethical laws are out of reach.  We cannot legislate morality.  The best such laws can do is provide and enforce guidelines.  Of course, this is most important for society’s progress.  But individual responsibility to what is honorable and right is more reliable. 

 

Even the Ten Commandments, if seen merely as a restrictive list of religious "don'ts," will have minor impact on personal behavior.  But when we learn to view them, along with Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, as a kind of "spiritual rudder" to guide and protect our lives, then they become inscribed into our hearts and minds.  We learn to appreciate them as expressions of divine intelligence and power.   

 

Love-God supplies man's every need and does so abundantly.  It is ignorance about Love's irrepressible goodness that leads us to consider taking dubious action.  Any temporary benefit derived from unethical practices is delusive.  Wrongful means eventually bring forth their own downfall and punishment.  Lasting prosperity can only come from Love’s intelligent direction. 

 

Truth-God is man's divine enhancer and his source of righteousness.  It is Principle-Truth who gives us the ability to do right.  As we move in rhythm with divine Principle, materialistic desires and wants are swept away by integrity, generosity and prosperity.  Spiritual acuity opens up new ways of doing things that reap marvelous results for us and for everyone.  We are often surprised at the rich bounty that appears.

 

What about dealing effectively with all the ethical "gray" areas?  Through communion with Mind we hone our spiritual “radar” and it enhances the quality of our judgments.  Situations which previously would have seemed complex and ethically unclear are illuminated by spiritual intelligence. 

 

In addition to making us faithful to honor and duty, Christly intuition helps us avoid even the appearance of impropriety.  To be entrusted with the confidence of others, as most of us are at some time or another, is a privilege.  It demands a high degree of personal discretion.  A spiritually-honed mind makes insightful assessments and decisions that raise others’ trust in us.

 

While it is important to "abstain from all appearance of evil" (I Thess. 5:22), we need not fear what cynicism and self-righteousness may lead others to think.  The divine Principle that we obey is also the divine Truth that disproves and disables false accusations.  Our integrity may be questioned or challenged, but as an expression of Truth, it will be victorious.

 

Mary Baker Eddy, a brilliant theologian, once wrote, "The man of integrity is one who makes it his constant rule to follow the road of duty, according as Truth and the voice of his conscience point it out to him. ... The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him ever the same,--at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen" (Miscellaneous Writings 147:14-16, 19-24).

 

We can draw hope and inspiration from knowing that we are not alone in our efforts to live with integrity.  There are millions who are striving to live the same way.  We constitute a victorious army of Truth. 

 

Mind’s divine laws undergird and advance our ethics and prosperity.