Spiritual Psychology

Josh Reeves presents his Sunday talk, Spiritual Psychology. Perhaps the greatest promise of Science of Mind is not only in the existence of a higher power but by also improving our relationship with this Power, we can change our lives for the better. This Power is present and willing if we are present to it, ready for renewal.

Transcript

Every January here at Mile High Church,

We go back to basics.

So we have a five-week series Michelle and I are sharing with you spiritual practices for healing Thriving and peace of mind sound good and in these series We want to give you the opportunity to go a little bit deeper.

And so on our watch page You'll find that there's some curriculum you can do it on your own We have small groups that gather you can do it within your family if you're interested in these small groups email small groups at mile high church org and I'll get you some more info and I also encourage you to sign up on our website for something called our daily pearl It's just a little quote of inspiration for your day great spiritual practice and this month will go along with our series There's an old joke about a man who goes to see his psychiatrist and and The psychiatrist says what's what's going on today?

And he says well my my problem is is that my brother thinks he's a chicken Well,

The psychiatrist says have you thought of turning him in and the man says yes,

But there's just one problem What is that?

The doctor said and the man says I need the eggs and I often think of that Joke when I see the pessimist trying to knock down the optimist When I see the realist trying to criticize the idealist When I see the atheist trying to knock down the religionist There's nothing wrong with being in those things.

But the truth is we all need the eggs.

There's this nature in Our human psyche to seek out the truth Even in the midst of the most challenging to understand mystery There's a very part of our human nature that seeks myth Story that wants to understand and what that requires I think in a mature Culture is a willingness to be open at the top to be willing to study life and to be willing to change our mind Evolve and to grow what this calls for is an ethical spirituality that reflects our values freedom inclusivity equality and a spirituality that Is willing to embrace wisdom from all?

Different areas and I believe that the science of mind and spirit represents This teaching that's why I'm a part of it.

That's why I'm a minister in it That's why I'm so joyful to get to share about it today.

Our founder and his home says of it Let us then approach the science of mind the science of spiritual psychology With awe but not with fear With truly a humble thought but not with a sense that we are unworthy Let us approach it normally happily willing to accept glad to experiment hoping and believing that as the result of our efforts We shall each derive a great good a sound understanding of the natural laws of life as they apply to the individual And his relationship to the whole universal scheme of things spiritual psychology Isn't that a good term for what we teach that were a spiritual psychology?

Because we're so built around this thing called mind or consciousness and psychology without spirituality has a tendency to reduce mind consciousness thought to biology To what happened to you in your past or what concerns you about your future,

But when we add Spiritual to it.

We also see that our mind our consciousness is connected to the possible That our minds aren't just machines processing but they're creative It's in the creativity of our mind that we also in our teaching believe that We're our minds are also related to the infinite that through our mind We're also related to the infinite that through our consciousness through our soul.

We touch the divine Spirit and it moves through us and we have a little name for this practice Change your thinking change your life if you can change your thinking about something you can change your life Gosh,

If I change my perspective about my job I might just enjoy it more if I change my story about my partner or my spouse I might just heal my relationship if I can do a little work each day to improve my self-image I might be healthier and happier and More fulfilled.

I invite you this morning first day of 2023 to become aware of that part of your life that could use some changing that can use Some transformation.

Can you think about what it is?

I'll wait.

Have you got it Linda?

Have you got it?

Randy you got it?

Steve you got it?

Okay,

And I also invite you to ask yourself if there's a an area of your life Where you're leaving God out is it time to allow a greater spiritual?

Possibility into this area of your life to stop behaving like a demurge That thinks that you have control and so understand this area and its negativity and how it's bothering you that nothing could be changed Changed or transformed.

Are you willing to let a greater spirit reveal itself in this situation?

Want to pause here and take a tangent?

It's our back to basic series And so I'd like to share a little history about how this teaching got to be the way that it is Today,

Our founder is named Ernest Holmes.

He founded the Institute of Religious Science in 1927 he passed away in 1960 we don't see him as a messianic figure here,

But just a really spiritually dialed in guy who is a great synthesizer of all sorts of information a Wonderful mystic now one thing to understand about our teaching is that at its very heart?

It is inspired and informed by the teachings of Jesus We are not a traditional form of Christianity and I'll explain why in a moment But everything that we do is centered on the incredible teachings of Jesus One way I like to explain our teaching to people sometimes is to say that we're Christianity without the health We're Christianity without the hell.

We don't practice the belief in hell It's perfectly fine if anyone does but what that means to us is first and foremost We don't believe God has an opposite We believe that the God the love of God the grace of God the creativity of God cannot be opposed It stands alone and therefore we are all one We are all united in spirit It also means although we see the incredible transformation that can take place when one takes the spirit of Jesus the Spirit of Christ in Their hearts we don't require salvation because we don't see anything to be saved from other than our own limited thinking and lastly that means that we don't require anyone to be exclusively a member of a single faith So that it opens us up to see that there is wisdom in all faiths and we can encourage people to follow their spiritual path Whatever it is It reminds me of Martin Luther King jr Who said of Gandhi a Hindu that he was the greatest Christian practicing Christian that ever lived now next to the teachings of Jesus the most influential thinker on Our philosophy and on Ernest Holmes was Ralph Waldo Emerson great 19th century writer and lecturer really brought forth the inventiveness the creativity of the American mind and his fountains move into poetry and art and film such an important figure not just in America,

But to spiritual philosophy and Everything that you hear in our teaching can be traced back to Emerson.

Here's some things that he said Life is a train of moods like a string of beads and as we pass through them They prove to be many colored lenses which paint the world their own hue and each shows only what lies in its focus He also said is not prayer also a study of truth a sally of the soul into the unfound infinite within man is the soul of the whole The why silence the universal beauty to which every particle is equally related The eternal one if you believe in fate to your harm believe it at least for your good Have you have you heard of pro-noia?

Do you know what pro-noia is?

Paranoia being that practice of fearing that everyone and everything is against you pro-noia being the practice of believing that everyone and everything is for you and working towards your good a contemporary of Emerson's was a guy named Phineas Quimby and Phineas Quimby was a clockmaker and he was a mesmerist which was like an early form of hypnotism we were just learning and beginning to theorize about this thing called the subconscious or the unconscious mind and Quimby developed a theory He was a religious man as well that by knowing the spiritual truth Aligning your consciousness with the spiritual truth.

You could experience physical as well as psychological healing powerful theory and when he died it kind of created two branches one of his students was Mary Baker Eddy who founded the religion of Christian science one of the great religions founded in America first founded by a woman very Revolutionary and you know to be frank to kind of a rigid a very rigid form of Quimby's theory The other thread was kind of all over the place.

But what it did is it took Quimby's theory of spiritual healing and combined it with the philosophy of Emerson and So grew about many different faiths including divine science unity school of Christianity and our faith religious science Something that's unique about religious science is its commitment to what we might call the golden thread The wisdom that we can find in all faiths that is common and we can integrate into our lives So what is our teaching it is?

Centered in the heart of the teachings of Jesus inspired by the philosophy of Emerson and the emerging values of America focused on prayer and pragmatism Seeking the wisdom of all the great religious traditions so that we can live a great life and help improve the life of others Sound good.

Yeah,

So let's get back to the the pragmatic part This changing our lives part.

I'll be talking about this in the intention workshop today after service,

But I invite you to ask yourself right now Are you open to?

2023 being the best year of your life Easy for some of us with the challenges of the last few years.

So that's good now I'm not saying it's gonna be the best year of your life What I'm asking you is are you open to it and check to see if there's some part of you that says no way This past year was so much better.

I'm faced with so many struggles right now There's no way this can be the best year and all I'm asking you is to be open Be open to 2023 being the best year of your life and I have the practice for you to do it It's called change your thinking change your life change your thinking change your life now for some of us That sounds pretty broad because it is broad.

So I want to give a few specific ways of Practicing it today and to give and offer some habits that we can practice throughout this whole year that will uplift and transform our lives the first is change your habit change your experience That's part of what change your thinking change your life means change your habit change your experience and any good behaviorist will tell us that if you want to change something it's not just about getting rid of the bad habit it's about replacing it and filling in good habits in your life There's a wonderful wonderful book called tiny habits by B.

J.

Fogg We already sold out in our bookstore so it must have been effective in the first service but they'll have it next week You can go to Amazon learn how to do Amazon smile and give to Mile High Church through our give page but you can get the book there and it's a powerful book and an initial habit that he invites all of us to practice he calls the Maui habit he developed it in Maui it's very simple it goes like this when you wake up in the morning and put your feet on the ground declare today is going to be a great day when you get up in the morning and put your feet on the floor say today is going to be a great day that's it that's the habit and one of the things that's brilliant about Fogg's work is he recognizes what he calls anchors these things that we do in our everyday life no matter what get out of bed brush our teeth I hope eat meals drop the kids off at school put the kids into bed lay our head on the pillow and this is the perfect space he says to build these tiny habits that can create healing and well-being in your life and you can take that phrase it's going to be a great day and make it however affirmative you want to make it but I've been practicing it for a few months and here's what I've noticed the first is it's so great to begin my day with an affirmation now I can't say that I wake up with negative thoughts but there are certainly days where I'm not thinking as positively as today is going to be a great day so it's great to start off on a good fit the other thing is it's like a little win it's a little victory I did my tiny habit first thing when I woke up in the morning and Fogg talks about this as well it creates a momentum that helps you make even healthier choices and take bigger strides throughout your day to improve your life that's the tiny habit third is when I'm practicing these tiny habits this affirmation I can catch myself in the day is every day a great day maybe not but when I'm grumpy or in a place of blame or victimhood I get to remind myself what I told myself in the morning that I'm choosing to have a great day and making that choice makes all the difference change your habit change your experience another way to say change your thinking change your life is change your story change your conclusion change your story change your conclusion I think it's also the nature of our psyche as well to create story because we want to connect and find the truth fictional or non-fictional we just want to get to the truth and yet the unfortunate truth is is too many of us have limited our lives because of the stories we tell ourselves many of us see ourselves at the end of the story of our lives because of a negative story when the truth is we are simply stuck on the page at the end of a chapter that we don't yet know how to move on from and if we could just stop and pause and ask ourselves is this a true story the story about blame about so and so about how I can't get past my struggles about how the world or the country is this way or that way if I could just open up to a different story being possible I might just change the page and move forward in my life and live in a new and profound way and so a little practice the next time you catch yourself telling yourself a story that gives you negative vibes that doesn't make you feel good simply ask yourself is this a true story is this story different from someone else's perspective if I looked at this like a journalist or detective just the facts ma'am would the story be different is perhaps God telling a different story here that I've yet to hear or become open to how can we open ourselves up to that greater story taking place in our lives to ask ourselves is this story bringing me closer to what the real truth is or taking me away from what the truth can be the great Martin Fisher once said what is a conclusion it's that place where you got tired of thinking let's open up expand and see what's new that can emerge if you were confused or didn't like my whole Emerson Phineas explanation of our teaching here's another simple way to say what our teaching is I'll put it in one word Oprah we're kind of the church Oprah right and Mile High Church and in our teaching we love Oprah if we found out Oprah was coming to Mile High Church it would be like the Pope was visiting we would put out red carpets there would be delegations we would have pictures of Oprah everywhere because we love Oprah and she's probably more responsible than any individual out there bringing aspects of our teaching out into the world and that's one reason why we love her the other is she's a perfect example of what it means to change your thinking and change your life here's a young woman that grew up in a boarding home she was abused physically,

Mentally,

Sexually,

Traumatized she was growing up a young black woman in a culture that told her she could only accomplish so much because of those two facts and eventually she got to live with her father,

Vern who actually passed away this past summer she shared that her father was her bridge over troubled water in her life and she said that her father taught her work ethic values,

How to focus and commit yourself to your goals and that's just what Oprah did she developed an interest in media and focused on that and got on the news and before she knew it she was hosting a show in Illinois called AM Chicago the lowest rated show,

Morning show and then eventually they would change the name of it to the Oprah Winfrey Show and the rest is history but not only did she get to learn and was so blessed to have her father she was able to open up to a new story in her life she would share,

You don't become what you want you become what you believe how powerful of her to overcome the stories that were issued to her by the people that abused her by the limits in the society that she may have seen around her by so much negative self-image that came through what she experienced to open up to what could God's story in my life be what is spirit's story for my life and I ask you,

What is God's story for your life what is spirit's story for your life or at the least,

Just be open to a new story emerging that just possibly,

And this is my greatest sin I may not always be right change your story,

Change your conclusion and lastly today,

Change your world view,

Change your world change your world view,

Change your world now one aspect for many people who practice our faith is this idea to see reality as you would like it to be and to see if reality conforms to that law of attraction,

Law of circulation and this is all very well and good but there's another layer to it which is learning and dedicating ourselves to seeing reality not as we'd want it to be,

But as it is and to find such glory in the experience of seeing the world as it is life as it really could be that all of the blessings we seek become a natural by-product of seeing the world as it is in its beauty,

Yes even in its flaws but in its magnificence to stop right here and right now and take a deep breath damn,

I'm alive it's a miracle,

Folks,

To be alive to be here,

To be present give yourself the miracle of opening up to the possibilities that that means to live a thriving life,

To be committed to what you value to live profoundly to have the courage to be who you really are Holmes tells us,

Our thinking doesn't change reality at all some people think it does but it never flattened the world when they thought it was flat it only flattened their experience on a round one take that,

Flat earthers when someone knew it was round,

They could navigate it that's part of our charge in our spiritual practice to unflatten our consciousness and to learn to navigate on this round world to not just limit ourselves to the fact that we are on this hurling gas ball flying through space seemingly with no destination in mind but to open up that this world of ours is so precious and is also held by grace and that you are a production of what it is and has something that it needs,

That spirit needs to bring forth the blessings of who you are and again,

We receive all the blessings and the byproduct of that is it blesses everyone around us as well so that when we put our head on the pillow at the end of each night we can say,

Thank you light change your thinking,

Change your life means change your world view and change your world I've touched upon three habits in my talk today that I want to reiterate in closing sorry the first habit,

BJ Fogg's Now We Habit when you wake up and put your feet on the ground say,

Today is going to be a great day second habit,

Throughout the week or the day and you'll be amazed at how many stories you tell yourself by the way,

When you're paying attention to this when you tell yourself a story that makes you not feel good stop,

Ask yourself,

Is this a true story?

Be honest with yourself,

Is this a true story?

Or is there more to the story that could be told if I let go of this final conclusion is this a true story?

And lastly,

When you put your head on your pillow at night say,

Thank you life,

Thank you life think about the things that you're grateful about that happened during the day think about the things that you want to be grateful for tomorrow but end the day in that gratitude which for me is the only true lens in which to view this incredible thing called life this precious gift we've all been given let us appreciate it and utilize it fully

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