™

EXTRA

Beca Lewis
Art of Perception
Art of Perception, Beca Lewis
The opinions expressed in any articles in this publication are those of the individual authors and may not necessarily by shared by the
publishers of No Limits.
No Limits EXTRA
Any financial or health advice given in No Limits may not be right for your particular case and you should seek your own profession is published by No Limits For Me
opinion before acting on said advice.
Copyright © — The publisher, authors and contributors reserve full copyright of their work as featured in No Limits magazine™.
No part of this publication may be copied or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the www.nolimitsforme.com
publisher. No Limits magazine is protected by trademark.

CONTENTS:
The Art of Perception
Who Is Driving Your Car?
"So Totally You"
Reacting To Illusions
Like Water
For The Love Of God
My Mother’s Spoon
The Ultimate Partnership
The Cat and The Trash
What He Didn't Say
Concentric Circles Of Love
There Is Plenty Of Room
Boldly Love Where Your Love Has Never Gone Before
The Prod And The Carrot
Cha-Ching Clarity About God
The Bee And The Hummingbird
Re-Set Perceptions To Re-Set Your Life
Mist-Perception
Stuck, Inertia, And The Fire Within
Prisoners of Perception
Choose Your Perception
Boundaries That Set You Free
At The Ready
God By Any Other Name
Disguising Ourselves As Human
BecaLewis.com
The Art of Perception
"The spiritual life is a call to action. But it is a call to ... action without any
selfish attachment to the results." -- Eknath Easwaran
I love this idea. That Life itself is a call to action. However, there are two
pitfalls that cause us to often fail at this idea, and do the opposite; take
no action. Not the action of conscious non-action, but no action.
The first pitfall is that as humans we think we “know better” than the
infinite that is Life Itself, and two, we think we are human and as a human
we are co-creators and creators.
Taking action without being attached to the outcome is a science and an
art. It is the scientific fact that there is no intelligence in matter and the
only intelligence is in Infinite Mind as physicists have proven.
The art of it comes into play as we attempt to live what appears as a
human life while knowing that we aren’t human and that we are spiritual
ideas.
This surely is an art isn’t it? Isn’t this a portion of what Henry David
Thoreau meant when he said, “It is something to be able to paint a
particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects
beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very
atmosphere and medium through which we look. To affect the quality of
the day--that is the highest of arts.”
It’s the part of this quote “to carve and paint the very atmosphere and
medium through which we look” that carries with it a significant message.
This is a statement about perception.
If we begin with the perception that we are human and “better” than Life
itself, or that we have a control over Life Itself, well, we all know the
amount of pressure, and stress that results from this point of view. It is
inescapable.
No matter how many pressure and stress reduction techniques that we
learn, they will only dampen down the underlying fear this point of view
produces. How can we affect the quality of our day, if we have not been
an artist with our own perception?
Choosing the perception of human, it may appear that we create a life
that we love. Choosing the perception that we are Life Living Itself, there
is an immeasurable difference. One carries with it stress, one releases
us to the freedom of living as our USB, or Unique Spiritual Blessing.
Our thinking does not make it so. It is our perception about a subject that
makes it so. This is a subtle difference in statement, but it makes a huge
difference in the outcome. One causes stress and guilt, the other relief
because it knows that what may appear one way is only because we are
seeing it that way through our trained perception.
We can shift our perception in every moment and affect the quality of our
day. We can be an artist with our perception and choose the highest
understanding we have at this moment of what it means that all that there
is - is “Life Living Itself and Love Loving Itself.
Imagine that. Just imagine it.
I implemented this type of shift of perception as we searched for a home,
and went through the process of buying one. Most of the time I was able
to stay in “I Am statements,” like I AM Home Itself and therefore there is
no need to worry about this outcome or try to make it happen.
Sometimes I could feel the fear and stress rush in and tell me it would
never work (forget the reasons they are not important). Then when it
looked as if it was going to work, I still had to stay in the I AM Home point
of view, or the fear of “oh my gosh, what have we gotten ourselves into”
would rush in.
That human habit is always waiting at the door of our mind. It may hide
in the bushes, but it is there, and at the first crack in the doorway it will
push its way in and try to settle into every corner of our consciousness.
But, it can be removed immediately by a perception shift, and Truth can
fill the spaces of our consciousness so there is no room for fear to sit
down or hang out.
To be an artist of perception takes practice, just as an artist of anything
takes practice. But one day we will all witness that the artist is actually
Love, Life, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle, Truth living and loving Itself and
that we are the consequences of that action.

Action is the movement of the spiritual essence we call God. Therefore

action is what we are too. It’s easy to allow ourselves to take action when
we know that the outcome is not ours to decide, and that it will be better
than we imagined.
Who Is Driving Your Car?
I was traveling a familiar route, one that in the past 8 years I have
traveled over and over again, yet I kept noticing things I had never seen
before. I noticed the steepness of the hill and curves in the road. What
was different this time? On other trips I was the passenger, and this time
I was the driver.
I was in a high school’s guidance office talking to the school about doing
a seminar for them. Hanging on the wall of the office was a poster that
said, “ You are the author of your own life story.”
Isn’t this the same idea as driving our own car? If we knew that we are
the authors of our own life story, like driving our own car, we would notice
more about what was happening in, and as, our life.
But we don’t notice. Instead we act as if we are passengers in our life.
We act as if someone or something outside ourselves has authored our
life story. We blame others for the life we lead, or make excuses for
ourselves because of the “outside” forces that have put us in any
situation that we don’t like.
It doesn’t matter how much we decide that someone else is driving our
car, or authoring our lives, they aren’t. The truth is we are always the
author our own life story, we are always the driver of the car of our life,
but rarely are we completely conscious of the story, or what road we are
traveling. We are unaware of the perceptions we have agreed to that
appear as our life.
In order to fully see the road of life that we are driving we must be aware
of the point of view from which we are authoring our life story. We need to
become aware if we have chosen the point of view of personal power, or
the point of view of One Cause and One Creator.
There is no way to actually “write” a life story that won’t implode at some
point if we begin with the point of view that we have any personal power
other than to “power” to choose to shift our perception.
Not many of us are willing to accept this though, and none of us are all
the time. When life works well on some level we figure that there is no
reason to give up our human personality. After all, individuality as
personality is a celebrated and honored quality in the world today.
Why would we give it all up? Usually we wait to give it up when we are
prompted by suffering of some kind, which forces us to examine our point
of view and perceptions. If we are suffering enough we may decide to “let
go and let God.” If we are lucky we find joy in that letting go, because the
sooner we are willing to give up how we think things should be, and shift
to the awareness of the Intelligent Mind that creates only from Love, the
happier we will be.
As I drove my car home I realized that if we always let someone else
drive our car, or choose the intent of our life, we will always miss some
information that can only be experienced when we are the driver, or
consciously choose our own life, our own point of view, our own intent for
our life.
It’s easy to get distracted from this awareness through the human habit of
fixing people, places and things and letting other people’s ideas and
perception and the worldview become ours. It may feel easier to agree
with others than it is to choose our own perception based on our own
awareness of Spiritual Principles, but sooner or later we will find that this
shift of perception is a necessity for happiness.
As we make that shift we will discover for ourselves the fact that
abundance, love, happiness, joy, health, and love is not our responsibility
to create, it is how it is. Our responsibility is to shift to this awareness,
and then live what we have discovered to be true, the best that we can in
every moment.
Then our life “story” will be more rewarding than we could have humanly
perceived and believed could be possible.
The work is not in the doing, but in The Shift® from what we have been
taught, believe and perceive to be true (the worldview) to who and what
we really are and then accepting it and living it.
"So Totally You"
There is an old butterfly story that goes like this: Three caterpillars
watched as a butterfly soared above them. One said, “Just look at that
fellow giving himself airs!” The second said, “How I would like to be able
to fly like that.” The third one said, “ That’s me!”
When our granddaughter Cassi turned six, all day long on her birthday
she celebrated her life. There was not one moment in the day when she
wasn’t thrilled with the day, the presents, the attention, and the joy of it
being her day and it being all about her. Del and I had bought her a
birthday card that listed a number of wonderful qualities about her. When
we read the card to her she said, “ That is so totally me! How did you
know?”
There was a man with two sons. One son left home to live on his own.
The other son stayed home and worked with his father. The first son
spent all his money on “riotous living” and ended up without anything at
all. He decided to return home and ask forgiveness and become a hired
servant of his father so at least he would have food to eat.
His father, seeing him coming, ran to meet him and celebrated his return.
His other son felt slighted and angry. After all he had stayed home and
was faithful. His father turned to him and said, “Son, thou art ever with
me, and all that I have is thine.” (Luke 15:31)
The devil was having a yard sale. All the tools of his trade were laid out
for others to buy. A man strolled through the yard and noticed there was
one tool that was old and dirty and dingy, but was priced much higher
than the other tools He asked the devil if he had made a mistake on his
pricing. “No”, the devil replied, “That tool is my most important one
because no one knows it is from me.” “What is it?” asked the man. The
devil replied, “Discouragement.”
Do you see the common thread in each of these stories? It is up to you
to decide which version of events you will see and experience. The third
butterfly and Cassi already knew what the second son did not. They
acted from the understanding of what it means when our “Father” has
said to us, “ All that I have in thine.”
How often do we look at a situation and discount it. If it is someone
else’s good we either judge it or condemn it thinking it is not ours. If
others want to celebrate the joy of having us in their lives we discount it
thinking that is required of us to be “humble.”
We have unwittingly purchased and used the Devil’s tool of
discouragement. We have looked at the gifts that have been given us
and discounted them.
Have you ever given a present, waited for the joyful reaction but didn’t
receive it because the recipient was not willing to fully accept the gift as
theirs? Then you know that this is not what has been asked of us.
All that we see is ours. Not ours to dominate and bring under our rule,
but ours to acknowledge as the qualities of God present in our lives. If it
appears as something outside of ourselves, it is up to each one of us to
remember that what we see outside is the inside projected. We would
not be able to see what we were not already aware of internally or
subjectively.
If you yearn for beauty, it is because you already know beauty within. If
you desire abundance it is because you know what abundance feels like.
If you wish for love, it is because you already feel love.
When we attempt to narrow infinite abundance into the specific way we
want to receive it, or events to happen just as we have envisioned them,
we miss the gift. Too often we have unwrapped the package of doubt
instead. There is a quick test to find out if doubt has invaded your home.
Just remember, there is no joy in doubt.
But there is joy is seeing all the beauty, abundance and love around us
and saying, “That is so totally me!”
Reacting To Illusions
Standing in the shower I glanced up and saw what I thought were drops
of water leaking from the top of the shower structure. Since our days in
our new home have been about “fix and repair” my first reaction was, “Oh
no, not another thing to fix.”
Then I looked again and saw that what I was seeing was the reflection of
the shower hooks on the ceiling. There was nothing to react about, the
problem was an illusion.
Here’s the thing that we often forget. All problems are an illusion. Uh
huh, I know. We all know the many ways that problems do not feel like
an illusion. But that doesn’t make them real.
This includes the often said, but almost always misinterpreted, statement,
“There are no accidents.” Yes, that’s right. There are no accidents.
They are an illusion. Not that an accident leads to something good as
often stated.
No, there are no accidents. Yes, because we have a choice of how to
react to what appears as an accident (the illusion) then that learning, that
growth, that awareness, can and often does, lead us to good.
But, an illusion is an illusion whether it is drops of water on the ceiling or
an accident, or mistreatment, hunger, lack, sickness or an accident, they
are all illusions.
In each case where an illusion tempts us to believe that it is real, we
have a choice of reaction or replacement. We can react to the illusion or
replace what the outside is telling us to be true with what we know to be
True within.
Where does this statement that “anything that is not good is an illusion”
come from? It comes from the Principle that you know and accept. It is
the Principle that God is Love and Love is omnipresent and omniscience.
This statement, this Principle, leaves absolutely no room for something
other than Love as the only Reality.
The next question is, “Doesn’t Love give us these “accidents” and bad
things in order to teach us?” No. Omnipresent Love couldn’t know
anything other than Love. It doesn’t know us as humans needing to be
taught a lesson. Divine Love isn’t a glorified human personality.
It is a human interpretation of love that Love punishes, denies, or takes a
break. Divine Love, as a Principle of being, knows nothing about
anything other than Love Loving. This means that if we are not seeing
direct evidence that Love is omnipresent, then we are being hypnotized
by the illusion; remember that it is only an illusion of the non-presence of
Love.
Feelings of fear, anger, hate, discouragement, despair, not knowing, lack,
unhappiness, and doubt all stem from that illusion of the lack of
omnipresent Love.
In the shower I looked again at what appeared as something “bad” and
saw my mistake. In life, we need to look again at the illusion
representing itself as real, and see that right there is also the evidence
that it is an illusion.
It takes practice, but that is only because we have practiced so long in
the illusion of lack that we have to rebuild our awareness of Truth. Within
each of us is an already present awareness that right where lack appears
to be is the direct experience of Love Loving Itself.
Either Love is omnipresent, or it isn’t. Since what we determine and
perceive is Reality is our personal reality, is what we experience, then
whether we actually believe that Love is omnipresent, or have a direct
experience that it is, or even if we don’t believe it, why not choose that
perception that it is.
Since our perception is our reality, why not choose the big R Reality
where God, Divine Love, Infinite Intelligence with Its constant care and
provision is the Truth of being? I’d rather be practicing that point of view,
and living in that state of mind, then the one that demands constant, fix
and repair. Wouldn’t you?
Like Water
As I prepare to write about the power of water, a gentle mist immediately
rises outside my window, reminding me of all the ways that water — as
power — appears. This mist softens the edges of all that I can see and
only the clear sounds of birds singing can be heard.
Ah, to be like more like water — flowing, gentle, patient and ultimately
always effective in carrying out its purpose. And it accomplishes this by
just being water. Not attempting to be a tree, or a flower, or the wind. It
simply is all the qualities of itself — water.
Not like “us.” Putting aside for the moment that we don’t act like
ourselves, but instead act as if we are human; we believe we are
powerful. And we, in that belief, attempt to achieve our purposes through
our own personal power.
We learn behavior techniques, sales techniques, and personality
techniques to become more skilled at “making things happen.” Or we
use learned family behaviors and society behaviors to get what we want
and need.
It doesn’t matter how big or small our purpose may be, we believe by
using our own personal power we can overcome all obstacles and
situations in order to create and achieve it.
Water adapts to the situation. This morning it is the gentle mist, last night
is was a hard pouring rain. I have lived by a lake and watched its calm
surface mirror the entire universe in perfect reflection. Beneath its
surface it cares for millions of lives. As a stream it carves out beautiful
canyons built simply because it flows. As a river it replenishes itself as an
ocean. As a drop of water in a flower it supplies a thirsty bird. In its
abundance it waters the flowers and trees.
Flowing, gentle, patient, and powerful; water brings itself to every living
thing and thereby fulfills its purpose.
As I sit in meeting rooms, glance at TV, read the news, watch people
interacting, and watch myself in all these situations, I don’t see flowing,
gentle, patient or powerful. I see ego, unconscious and conscious, trying
to make things happen, setting goals and putting rules and laws in place
in order to achieve a purpose.
Yet the result of “us” attempting to be powerful always produces the
opposite effect. It may appear we have accomplished a purpose, but it
will not last and at what cost?
I was in a meeting where a young man told how in 3 years he had made
almost a million dollars. It was sad. He has used extreme personal
power and ignored all else and didn’t care.
Many other young men sat in that room listening to him asking
themselves why didn’t they do that, could they, should they? I know
because of few of them asked me what I thought of the talk and instead
of answering I asked them what they thought. As they responded I heard
the sadness and despair this — so-called — inspirational speech had
produced. But what about love they were asking?
Yes, what about love? Have we forgotten about love, omnipresent Love,
the only real “power”? Have we forgotten that we were made in the
image and likeness of Love? Have we forgotten that there is only One?
If we remembered who we really are, and who each person we see, read
about, and know; really is wouldn’t it be easier to be more like of the
qualities of water? And if we did that wouldn’t we be more aware each
day that Grace is our life and allow that awareness to guide us?
No purpose to achieve but this one; to come out of the world of personal
power in our thinking and into the awareness of Love and Grace as our
lives and let that knowing supply all that we want and
need.
For The Love Of God
When words are spoken some people see pictures. I am one of those
people. When I was a child I was often taken aback by what people said
because it translated immediately into a literal visual expression.
Sometimes it was funny, and sometimes is scared me. The saying,
“Catch you later” always invoked the picture of me flying through the air
to be caught by the other person - later. It always gave me a “start” until I
collected myself and realized they didn’t mean it literally.
When I was about eleven I was walking through the living room while a
TV show played in the background. Out of the corner of my eye I saw
someone on the TV sneaking around a barrier with a rifle, and the
announcer said, “You asked for it!”
“Whoa,” I was stunned. What had I done that meant I had asked for
being stalked by a man with a rifle? Of course I realized in a second or
two it was TV and they weren’t talking to me, but it made quite an
impression.
Words are what make up our thoughts and we all know the importance of
paying attention to what we are thinking. But we often hear words or
phrases and don’t really take the time to know what we are hearing or
saying.
Sometimes we are misled by our own impulses, like mine to see literal
pictures, but often it is because we are so used to hearing something we
don’t stop to see what it really means.
Which brings me to the phrase, “For The Love Of God.” This phrase
popped into my head as I thought about Valentines Day. I was thinking
how we take one day a year to express our love, but wouldn’t it be great
if everyday was about Love, for the Love of God.
Yet, as I heard that phrase I realized that it is usually said from one
another person to another with another phrase following it that says
something like, “Why don’t you pay attention,” “ Can’t you be more like
your sister?” “ Don’t you have any sense?”
But, when we say “For The Love Of God What Is Wrong With You!” aren’t
we missing something? Wouldn’t the Love Of God be more about “ For
The Love Of God Do You Know How Wonderful You Are? Or even more
accurately said, “As The Love Of God Do You Know That You Are The
Loved Of Love?”
The bathroom night-light was not lighting up. Since there was only one
outlet in the bathroom I had a plug with six outlets plugged into it, and of
course the night-light was taking up one of those outlets.
I removed the six-outlet plug and reset the one outlet. We checked the
fuses, which were fine. So I plugged the six-outlet plug back in and
tested the night light. Nope didn’t work. I tried all six outlets, nope didn’t
work.
My conclusion? That the six-outlet plug was broken so I threw it away.
Then I replaced the bulb in the night light for good measure and plugged
it back in. Didn’t work. Tried it in every outlet in the house, and it still
didn’t work.
It took me way too long to realize that my original conclusion was wrong.
There was nothing wrong with the six-out plug; it was the night-light itself
that was broken.
The phrase, “For The Love Of God” is not broken so there is no need to
throw it away. It is the many other phrases that we tack onto it that make
it appear to not work.
If we could say to ourselves these words, “With every task I undertake,
for the love of God I do this,” and then replaced the word “God” into a
quality of God to match the task, then wouldn’t Love be the order of the
day?
“For the love of Beauty I clean my house. For the love of Order I balance
my checkbook. For the love of Innocence I protect my children.”
With variations of the phrase, “For The Love of God,” as our mantra,
every day would be about and for Love. We could celebrate this fact with
hearts, flowers and candy once a year, but every day would be “For The
Love Of God.” Imagine where our thoughts would be then, and what a
difference that would make.

“For The Love of God,” let’s practice “For The Love Of God” and prove to
ourselves that it is not broken.
My Mother’s Spoon
We were visiting my Mom when she showed me the spoon that she
wants me to have someday. It was purchased just a few days after I was
born by my grandmother, Mimi. At the time we were a small family. It was
just my Dad, my Mom, and me, and all three of us were struggling for life.
My Dad had been in an accident and had been given 9 hours to live, and
my Mom and I had struggled for life during my birth.
Mimi had come to help out. At the time of the spoon purchase we were all
on the mend and she and my Mom wanted to make some spaghetti.
Mom told me that Mimi said to her, “Let’s get a really good spoon, one
that can handle a lot of spaghetti and will last a long time.” They did.
As I write this Dad is now 86, way outliving that nine hour prediction, and
that spoon looks as good as the day it was purchased. It is not
glamorous, but it is beautiful, and useful. It’s exactly what Mimi wanted. It
has a hole in the handle, a large spoon surface and whatever it is made
of has remained, as it was that first day.
It would be hard to pick better qualities to aspire to, strong, sturdy, and
useful. It is also beautiful because it is consistent with its intent and
purpose to be sturdy, strong and useful. I am sure that as the next
generation uses that spoon it will only gain in its beauty because even
more people have come to rely on it to be exactly what it was intended to
be.
Too bad we are not more like that spoon. We tend to make our life
purpose complicated. When Del and I ask people what they most want
they often give a big purpose answer like, “to bring peace to the world.”
Complicated. Why not peace to one person at a time, by being exactly
what we have been “designed” to be.
The spoon doesn’t have a desire to be a fork. It would make a terrible
fork or knife. But as a sturdy, useful, consistent and clean line spoon, it’s
a given. It takes no work on its part. It just is. Perhaps this is too simple of
a symbol to apply to our lives and ourselves? I don’t think so.
The problem often lies with our having no idea exactly what we were
“intended” to do or be. Or, even if we do know, we think it isn’t possible.
Most people live someone else’s life and intent. Sometimes that “other
person” is ourselves from the past, or even the future. We live how we
think it is “supposed” to be, or what is “expected” of us.
But, like the spoon, our purpose is actually very clear when we begin with
the qualities of who we are and respect and honor that they are unique
and necessary to the world.
It is an interesting phenomenon that in our culture those that clearly
express their uniqueness are honored as celebrities of one kind or
another. We can see this in our highly paid actors and athletes. The more
uniquely that they express themselves, the more attention and money we
shower on them. Even those unique individuals such as artists, writers,
and thinkers that we may not shower celebrity status or money on, we
celebrate and remember in other ways.
The opposite is true in our daily lives. We try to fit in. We follow those
with more authority. We stifle the creative and thoughtful desires to live
our lives differently. This is hard to do. It is much harder too live the
wrong life, than it is to live our life as our unique qualities.
This is like my mother’s spoon trying to live life as a fork. Why not let life
be easy? Why not live who we really are, knowing that those that have
“use for” our type of spoon, will appreciate, love, honor and support our
intent and purpose.
The Ultimate Partnership
“Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent,
omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the
universe.” Mary Baker Eddy
A step into a study of partnering becomes an exercise in an increased
awareness of how we are all one when we begin with the ultimate
partnership between the Principle of infinite Mind, and its idea: man and
the universe.
Mind knows itself through its ideas, and ideas cannot exist without the
Mind that knows it. This is perfect partnership. This partnership cannot
be split into separate identities or existences; it begins and forever
remains one.
In nature everything reflects the principle of this oneness as partnership.
For example; every flower partners with a multitude of ideas like air, sun,
and water which assist it to grow and flourish. If we try to name all the
partners a flower has we find that the list is endless. When we reverse
that list we discover their equality and inseparableness. That’s just
flowers; try everything else we see and the partnership between Mind
and its idea becomes crystal clear.
Of course, our worldview training makes us think that we don’t have to
choose to partner, or that we are lonely without partners. And yet we are
in the ultimate partnership with the entire intelligence universe caring for
us, as we care for it.
There is no escaping partnership, but believing that we are separate
humans we can certainly try to, resulting in the experience of imperfect
partnerships. But, that is just a misperception.
We think we have a choice about partnership and we do, but not the one
we think. We have a choice to hide from the awareness of partnership,
but that doesn’t change the fact that each one of us is in a variety of
partnerships at all times.
We partner with the person checking us out at the store, with the
mailman, with our garden, with our home, with our body, with our
business or job, with our food, with our cars, with our family and with the
children of the world; we are always in partnership.
We each have a partnership with the earth, with our purpose, and with
our personal being. We care for these ideas, and they care for us. It is a
dynamic, ever present awareness that the well-being of our partners is
essential for our own well-being.
Beginning every partnership choice and participation with the premise of
equality and inseparability each partnership in our life reflects to an
increasing degree an accurate representation of the divine Principle of
Love loving itself.
After a couple danced together beautifully one of the judges said to the
man, “You are so generous to your partners. You give them everything,
you are so present for them, and they make you better and that is what
you need for a great partnership.”
The dancers referred to the twenty of them who had been chosen for the
competition as family, but dancing with their partners had a different
quality and concept. Without each partner being entirely present for each
other in every way there would have been no dance at all, or at the least
a boring one, or at the most a dangerous one.
The “secret” here is the choice to be absolutely present in a partnership;
to be as dedicated to the well-being of our partner as we are to
ourselves.
I watch the birds in our yard as they partner together. They are
constantly caring for each other; while one eats the other keeps watch.
They call to each other constantly throughout the day; one calls and the
other answers, much like the thumbs up sign of the scuba diver. They
demonstrate a quality of communication that is a foundation of good
partnerships.
The dynamics of partnership enriches each participant because of its
requirement to be awake and aware and present for each other. It
provides a sense of security and safety and freedom knowing that
another has our welfare in mind as we have theirs in mind.

Many of us hesitate to fully participate in partnership because we have

been in partnerships that appear to not have worked out. But,
relationships are about partnering and no matter how much we may try to
escape them, they are the foundation of life.

Acting from the awareness that Principle and its idea is one our personal
partnerships grow and flourish. Accepting that we are the idea of the
Principle of Love we will wisely choose those partnerships that are based
in equality and care.

All partnerships are born from the essence of the ultimate partnership,
the one between the divine, God, Principle, Mind and its idea – each one
of us as one, never separate, never alone, always and forever one as
Love loving itself. Knowing this fact we can rejoice in the quality of the
ultimate partnership present in and as our lives and experience for
ourselves the consistent availability of perfect partnerships.
The Cat and The Trash
“Love is always present and cannot remain forever unseen.” That was
the point of view we were maintaining in spite of the fact that the
evidence before us told us otherwise.
The first problem we had is that we appeared to have lost a client’s
beloved cat. We had been told that the cats could easily sneak out of the
house so we were doubly careful to make sure that when we visited them
they were still in the house when we left. Yet one cat was missing the
next day when we came back, and a door that we thought we had closed
was now open.
We looked everywhere. But, what we didn’t do was first change our “point
of view “or “state of mind” perception. Instead we started with the thought
and perception that we must have somehow made a mistake and the
consequences were unthinkable. Fear and guilt were our state of mind
even though we could see that the open door (which we later found out
the cat had done) did not lead to the outside.
So we searched that day, the next and the next. We even called the cat’s
owner and asked where she could hide and after searching all those
places we still couldn’t find the cat. After the first day we did attempt to
start from the correct point of view that “Love is always present and
cannot remain forever unseen” but the state of mind of fear and guilt that
we could have made a mistake kept the cat hidden from view.
We did start with the correct point of view perception that “Love is always
present and cannot remain forever unseen” but the state of mind
perception of sadness and wishing remained with us in varying degrees
each day.
It wasn’t until the very last moment that the value of letting go was
evident in a tangible way. Our trailer was packed, the car was ready to go
and still there were two big bags of “stuff” that had to go the trash which
meant each of us had to carry one to the dumpster.
They were so big that I could barely see over the top and so heavy we
kept bumping into each other as we walked. On reaching the dumpster
we simultaneously heaved them in and turned to walk back to the car.
The difference was amazing. We were light, free and able to easily walk
together.
The symbol of carrying trash and letting it go can’t be missed. How much
“stuff” do we carry around that keeps us from being with other people? It
wasn’t easy to go through everything we owned and let most of it go.
Every time we thought we were done with getting rid of things, there was
more to do. But each time we did we were more aware that in reality
nothing was gone, just our perception that we had to hold on to it in order
for it to be available.

Finally during one visit Del sat down on the couch and flooded his
thinking with the thought that “Love is always present and cannot remain
forever unseen” and I called for help from a friend to get my own
perception on track. As I was on the phone and Del was on the couch
the cat peeked around the corner to let us know it was there. It was fear
and guilt that blocked our view of what was already present.

At the same time we were packing to move across country. Although we

still knew that “Love is always present and cannot remain forever
unseen” we were having trouble letting go of how we “thought” life should
be for us and moving on to something else. Lots of “stuff” had to go, lots
of physical stuff, and lots of thinking stuff.
What He Didn't Say
He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” * It
astonished those who heard him speak. They expected him to speak
words of condemnation, and he did not. Recently I realized that there
was something else we might have expected him to say and he didn’t.
It occurred to me after thinking through a few recent conversations that
they all had something in common. It was the belief of the person I was
speaking to that they must have done something wrong to be
experiencing the situation that they were in. They were suffering and
blaming themselves.
And that is what Jesus didn’t say from the cross. He didn’t blame himself
for the situation he found himself in. It appears ludicrous to think that he
would have doesn’t it? But think about it; isn’t that what we commonly
do? We find ourselves in situations and blame ourselves for poor
decisions, wrong choices, not noticing, not being smart enough, not
loving enough, the list is endless isn’t it?
The difference lies in the premise of our thought and the perception we
choose. Jesus chose and demonstrated the Christ perception. He based
his thought on One God, omnipotent Love. From that point of view he
saw through what appeared to be hate, fear and sorrow and saw instead
the Reality of their and his Spiritual being.
There could be no other result then his rising from what appeared to
others as a grave. In Truth he was never part of what was perceived as
his suffering to those who had not yet understood what he had taught.
We too can begin with the premise of One God, omnipotent Love. We too
can choose to see with the Christ perception. We too can practice
seeing others and ourselves as we are, not as we or they, appear to be.
When we find ourselves in situations where the temptation is to condemn
ourselves for what appears as wrong choices, or lack of wisdom, or not
loving enough, or not seeing the truth of a situation, we can do one of two
things. We can either identify with what we have uncovered, and then live
in the result, or we can release it knowing that it is not of Truth. In the
latter choice it is easy to forgive as we see clearly there is nothing to
forgive. It is easy not to condemn, as there is no one to condemn.
A worldview perception is like a guest who has come to visit with their
baggage. Perhaps we invited them or perhaps they came on their own.
But once in our home they made themselves comfortable and we
accepted their presence. One day we realize that it is time to ask them
to go, and when they leave they take their baggage with them.
This is the same with unwanted perceptions. When we ask them to go,
the baggage of blame, guilt and fear goes with them. The worldview
perception must become an unwanted guest. It is time to ask, or
demand if necessary, that it leave your house (your consciousness) and
take its baggage with it.
Blaming ourselves for our situation is like an email virus that arrives
telling you to open it to save yourself from the email virus. If you fall for
it, you get the virus. The email telling you about the virus is the virus.
The thought telling you about blame, guilt and fear is the blame, guilt and
fear.
Delete it!
The result of choosing the Christ perception instead of accepting
worldview perception will be the rolling back of the stone that blocks the
way to living life fully. As we rise from the belief of death in its many forms
we find ourselves free and “so far above all mortal strife.” *
It takes work to stop being tempted by the worldview perception and
choose instead the Christ or Spiritual Perception, but think about it, what
could be more important or reveal a greater glory?*
Quotes:
Bible: Luke 23:24
Poem “Christmas Morn” by Mary Baker Eddy: written 1898
Concentric Circles Of Love
The great artist Van Gogh said to his brother, “ I tell you, the more I think,
the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love
people.”
I wonder if he would mind if I took away the word “people” so that it would
simply end with the word “love.”
Wouldn’t this expand the picture? Instead of thinking that we can only
love those people, places and things that look exactly like us, we could
expand the idea of love to include everyone and everything.
On our dining table is a dish with rocks and water in it. Sitting on top of
those rocks and water are some blooming narcissus bulbs. Every time I
look at them I marvel at their beauty and their promise that spring isn’t
that far away.
It is a concentric circle of love.
The dish by itself would have been empty and fairly boring. Filled with
rocks and water, it still would have not been much to look at. Add the
bulbs to the dish, rocks, and water and they now all have a purpose. At
the same time, without the rocks, water, and dish the bulbs would not be
blooming.
And that concentric circle of love expands. As we see the flowers we are
filled with joy at their beauty and we pass on those lovely spring feelings
to each other and then to another, and another and another.
We are all like a stone thrown into the water, concentric circles expanding
to include and touch everything.
Recently I saw a video of a crow that loved and cared for a kitten who
could have died without him. And the kitten reciprocated by loving him
back. This love continued even after the kitten turned into a cat and
found a home. Each morning the crow waited for him by the door until he
came out to play.
What if the crow would have looked at the kitten and thought, “He doesn’t
look like me and besides I am supposed to use him for food.” Instead, he
showed love and got love back, and that shared love has been a
continuing expanding circle to everyone who sees and hears about it.
For Christmas Del gave me a whole pack of DVD’s that he called “happy
movies” because each of them ends with love. One of those movies is
called “Stardust.” In this movie the heroine shows the hero that true love
does not need proof of its love. It doesn’t required sacrifice and sorrow. It
doesn’t love for prestige. As they live this truth, the world they find
themselves in transforms.
In another movie “Enchanted” the heroine is so infused with love that her
point of view expands into and through everyone and everything she
meets. She shifts the world that she was un-lovingly thrown into. Without
blame, and by being only love, she too transforms that world around her.
Concentric circles of love. We are all at the center and the cause of
concentric circles.
We get to choose whether that circle will be one of love or of the
multitude of other names for what is not love. The opposite of love hides
behind words like sorrow, blame, despair, upset, anger, or revenge, but it
is always just the opposite of love, and only has power because we
choose it instead of love. That concentric circle does not end well – for
anyone.
In order to be a concentric circle of love we have to start with the love of
ourselves. Starting there it is easy to be a stone of love that begins the
circle of love that expands to transform the world.
Like the crow that loved the kitten, we have to begin by being happy with
ourselves, content with who we are. We love by not looking at what we
don’t have (how does a crow feed or hug a kitten), but what we do have.
We have the capacity to love because that is the essence of our being.
None of us can do anything alone. Like the flowers in the dish we must
have each other’s support, and encouragement. Without each other we
will feel empty and unfulfilled. Try as we might we cannot stop the
concentric circle that extends from what we do and say. It is our choice
whether we expand love, or the opposite of love.

As we choose love that concentric circle will bring into each of our lives
the fullness of what it means to love and be loved and together we can
enjoy the sweet fragrance of the unique blooms called us.

It doesn’t matter if we are the cat or the crow. The crow had to give love
to something he wasn’t supposed to love, and in return the cat had to
accept love from something he wasn’t supposed to trust.

If they can do it, we can too! Like the women in “Enchanted” and
“Stardust” we can shift the world we were “sent to” into the world we
know it really is, love.
There Is Plenty Of Room
The dawn chorus of birds singing of their freedom and the beauty of a
new day has begun outside my window. It fills the space with the songs
of celebration of loving life. The trees are completely leafed out spreading
out as far as they can reach, and the stream flows freely.
This expansive outreach of life is a far cry from the condensed
expression of living so commonly found within our own lives.
Once many years ago, desperate for answers as to why it felt as if I was
always sacrificing one area of my life for happiness in another, I asked for
help. The answer I received was simple. I was told, “There is plenty of
room in the world for you.”
It was the same concept and advice I heard in my dance lessons, “Take
up space. Use the entire room. Use every level of the space given. Be
seen!”
Or the same advice art teachers always give, “Use the whole paper!”
There is plenty of room in the world for you too to live expansively as
yourself. Nature apparently needs no such advice; it simply provides the
example of what living life fully looks like.
But, how do we do this? Our programming within the worldview is to not
take up space, to not live life in celebration, to not live as the gift that we
are; to learn lessons through suffering, to lose what we love, to never be
safe.
The worldview is about “never enough” and the fear that concept
produces. This programming invades every moment of our lives, from
which we can sometimes get a momentary release, but it often feels as if
we can never fully escape from it.
For over a month I was dealing with a virus problem within my websites.
I could fix the problem so it disappeared, but I couldn’t find the core of the
issue to make it stop coming back. The virus was taking the form of a
script that had entwined itself through everything.
I asked for help and found it. The simple, elegant, and effective solution
was provided by an expert who wrote a “good script,” and that good
script crept through every page and “ate” the bad script.
The same solution can be applied to our “bad script programming.” Send
a “good script” through it to dissolve it forever. No need to waste time
fixing it once and then having to fix it over and over again. No need to
sacrifice one area of our life to be happy in another. No need to limit our
expression of ourselves.
The script is so easy; you may think it won’t work. But, it will because it
is based on universal principles of omnipresent good, that “what we
perceive to be reality magnifies,” or said differently;”Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there
be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8
Say this: “I love my life.” Four simple words, easy, elegant, and effective.
You may say, “But I don’t love my life.” But, that is part of that
programming. When my websites were infected they were not visible,
they were hidden from view by the bad script. Once that script was
cleared out they were visible again. They never went anywhere.
In the same way, the life you love is always present. Say, “I love my life”
with feeling and discover the truth of this for yourself.
Say this “good script” in every moment of your life no matter what is
going on. I guarantee that it works. Turn it on and keep it running.
It took a week for the good script to crawl through my websites to destroy
the bad script, so be patient while these four words work in your life.
In the mean time you can trust in the outcome and celebrate the joy of
life as freely as the birds that call to you in the dawn. The sun always
rises. Love is always Life. There is plenty of room in the world for you!
Boldly Love Where Your Love Has Never Gone Before
“You don’t know what love is.” That’s what Ginny said to Forest in the
movie “Forrest Gump”. At the end of the movie when he told her, “ I do
know what love is Ginny,” we all knew that he did.
“Love always shows up.” That’s what someone said to me years ago
when I was questioning another’s love for me. That person didn’t show
up for me, but Forrest did for Ginny. He consistently loved without the
question “what’s in it for me.” Instead he boldly loved, without guilt or
need, because he knew himself and was clear about his intent and
purpose.
A few years ago I wrote an article called “Disguising Ourselves As
Human.” But, it’s more than just disguising ourselves as human. We
disguise ourselves in much more basic ways.
We disguise ourselves as our jobs, our past, our family, our race, and our
sex: the list is endless. And every one of these disguises keeps us from
completely showing up for those we love, beginning with ourselves.
When we show up for other people as part of our disguise it is not love, it
is escape.
Life gives us moments that we can seize to learn more about boldly
loving instead of escaping to “good deeds.” Once, after a fall, I had to
move very slowly and even sit down all day and let Del take care of me.
It was hard. I am used to getting up, doing things, keeping busy, helping
out, seeing what others need, and in general escaping in my disguise as
efficient and caring. Letting Del take care of me revealed my disguise to
myself — I am sure he already knew.
When I was in my early 20’s I read a quote by Dag Hammarskjold, the
Secretary General of the United Nations that I have never forgotten, but
often forget to apply. Mr. Hammarskjold was awarded the Noble Peace
Prize posthumously in 1961. I tell you this so there can be no
misunderstanding about his meaning. He said, “It is more noble to give
yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the
salvation of the masses.”
We make love much more complicated. We escape from this kind of
bold love through our disguises and in our “duties” to mankind and
others. We mistake big events as something important and miss out on
the small events that mean so much more. Loving boldly is about loving
consistently in everyday life.
Mr. Hammarskjold also said, “The “great commitment” is so much easier
than the ordinary, everyday one--and can all too easily shut our hearts to
the latter. A willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice can be associated
with, and even produce, a great hardness of heart. “
It is oh so easy to hide in the excitement of a big plan, and it is oh so
dangerous to forget that real love is simple, powerful, effective,
consistent, and ultimately the victor over every circumstance that would
claim otherwise.
Look into your life. Is it what you meant it to be? Do you know who loves
you? Do you love boldly and consistently in the little things? Are you
making choices based on success measured by money, fame or guilt?
As we face situations, both large and small, it is a focus on the boldness
of love that will heal any situation. Boldness that stems from the principle
of Love does not begin in fear. It flows from an unshakable awareness of
its ultimate power over all that does not appear as love. If we are not
afraid for ourselves, we are not afraid for others.
Showing up as Love is what we will do naturally. Focusing on what is true
Love, we can easily see what is not. We will demand that it be corrected
within ourselves first and as a result we will not accept anything less than
true bold love in others. We will stop making decisions that are based on
fear, greed, or personal need.
Forest may have said, “life is like a box of chocolates” but his love held
no surprises; he lived boldly and consistently and acting from love he
always “showed up.”
The Prod And The Carrot
It was the right height and width. The drawers slid open effortlessly.
Everything about it was perfect, except for one small thing. It was the
wrong color.
As hard as I tried to “make” the color work the file cabinet that I wanted,
and felt I desperately needed, was the wrong color.I was tempted to buy
it anyway. I lingered in the store for a long time wishing that if I looked
again somehow the cabinet would have become the right color, or that I
could do something to make it work.
But, I knew this temptation to buy the file cabinet was a decision that
would never pay off. I knew that I might use the file cabinet, but it would
always be slightly irritating to me, or I would have to spend an inordinate
amount of time trying to make it fit in. I knew it never would be exactly
what I wanted and someday I would get rid of it and start again. We didn’t
buy it.
Later that day a client described to us the man she was dating. He was
almost perfect. Everything about him was just what she wanted
everything except for that “one thing” that didn’t fit at all into the kind of
life she was designing for herself. She knew he had a problem. But, she
was having trouble walking away. After all, he was perfect except for that
“one thing.” She was lingering in the “store” hoping that it wasn’t true, or
that perhaps it would be worth taking the time to help him change.
It’s the prod or the carrot that keeps us in the store tempting us to make a
choice that we know is not the right one. We are prodded by the fear that
we will never have what we really want, and perhaps we don’t deserve it
anyway. The prod of fear attempts to convince us that if we miss this
opportunity another will never come again.
If the prod doesn’t work then there is always the carrot of possibilities.
We move forward, the carrot dangling before us, thinking that just
perhaps it will work, perhaps we can control the situation, and imaging
how it “could be.” Many of us have been addicted to the carrot of
possibilities, the carrot of “if only.”
But, we need to know that both the prod and the carrot is a trick. At best
they waste our time. In the worst situations they can destroy lives. Both
the carrot and prod are born from the worldview perception of not
enough, at least not enough for us personally. Others have it, but we
don’t and we want it. We deserve it after all. This point of view allows the
prod and the carrot to rule our lives and to thrive in the world.
Once I wanted a new couch. I had the qualities in mind of the perfect
couch for my living room. I couldn’t find a couch that completely matched
the qualities; so I got rid of the couch I had and sat on the floor for years.
Getting the “perfect couch” became a symbol of not settling for what
wouldn’t be the perfect qualities for my life. It was a new experience for
me, but it felt great.
Choosing to not settle for the wrong couch helped me later when a
companion presented himself to me with many qualities that appeared to
be just right. Except for those few “small things.” This time I knew the
value of saying “no” so I sat without a companion for years too.
But I wasn’t lacking anything that I needed. At the same time I had all that
a couch represented to me. I was comfortable in my home and on my
floor. I also had all the companionship I needed. I felt loved and
protected and cherished by many dear friends and family.
When we succumb to the prod and carrot and choose what is not
completely right it actually puts our true possibilities on hold. The wrong
file cabinet or couch or companion fills the space where the “right” one
would fit. Trying to fill what we need from the outside with the prod and
the carrot will always be less than perfect.
The Shift® begins from the inside with an understanding that the qualities
of what we want, need, and desire are already present and perfect in our
lives. It takes practice to release the outside pull, but it can be done.
Begin small. Choose the perfect file cabinet or couch.
The file cabinet I ended up with doesn’t look like a file cabinet, but works
better for what I need right now. The couch I eventually found not only
lasted me for years, but also my daughter’s family. And Del, as the true
companionship I waited for, is the revelation of Divine Love’s presence in
my life.
It will always work out this way when we, “Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart; and lean not unto thine own [worldview] understanding.” (Proverbs
3: 5)

With this in Truth mind, the prod and the carrot can never trick us again.
Cha-Ching Clarity About God
Have you ever had a cha-ching moment? It’s the moment when a new
view of what has always been present becomes apparent to you; when
something you have been trying to understand flashes through your
thinking in an entirely different way and as it does so you “get it!”
We have all had those moments when everything lines up and clarity
appears. It is like a slot machine that has a guarantee of a pay off if we
just continue to put those quarters into it.
In this case we get paid in clarity which is much more valuable than
money. With clarity we can see the obvious which was just a moment
before hidden from view. This clarity reveals the presence of any form of
supply that is needed for our daily life.
After building the deck on the side of our house the door was installed
into my office. Now I can see a view that was always there, but was not
visible to me.
Recently we held a celebration of my dad’s life. The speakers were
those who knew him within his field of work. They shared stories and
antidotes and as we listened we all had a new view of my dad.
A different view comes about in many ways, but is always a gift and one
that is meant to be used. My door is meant to be opened and walked
through or it is useless. An expanded view of someone else reveals new
views of both them and us and makes a substantial difference in the
quality of our lives.
A subject that deserves clarity is the concept of matter versus spirit. The
worldview is that we are material, and someday we will be spiritual. The
process of how this happens doesn’t matter as much as the idea that we
are one thing now, but someday we will become another.
This view or perception acts like the wall in my office. It doesn’t allow us
to see what is on the other side. It hides from view the outcome of
knowing the Truth that God is Spirit and we are the image and likeness of
God.
When we define God as the man in the sky (a glorious example of this is
seen in the movie “The Invention of Lying”) we are not talking about the
God that is Spirit. The “man in the sky” god is created from the view that
we are material, or human, and that god is a glorified version of
ourselves, made in our own image.
It’s our choice really which view of God we wish to accept and live with as
our reality. For me, I choose the open door view and the idea that God is
spiritual and infinite Love. Within this view we are also spiritual, now and
always and not just in the future when we have worked through our
humanness.
But to get to this cha-ching moment of clarity about ourselves and God
we have to practice, just like you have to drop the quarters in the slot
machine to win.
One way I practice is during my morning walks. As I walk I remind myself
as often as possible that, “Everything I am seeing is not material it is
spiritual and since God is Spirit and One then everything I am seeing is
God.”
This contemplative practice of shifting perceptions results in my seeing
things I never saw before, or seeing them in an entirely new light. It is
this view that sets us free.
With this view, the world shifts to match our perception. We have more
direct experiences that prove that our lives are the action of God. We
find that we no longer need to or desire to control what appears as
material. We let go and see the infinite power and abundance that is the
Truth of the essence of ourselves and God.
The door in my office needs to be used. The view is beautiful, but the
door is useless as a door unless I open it and walk through.
To experience those cha-ching moments takes the continual action of
putting new ideas and perceptions into the machine of our daily lives and
then enjoying with gratitude the cha-ching moment of clarity that opens
up a new view of big r Reality.
Let’s celebrate these moments, and then take that clarity and expand on
it until one day we know and experience in every moment that glorious
new view of ourselves, each other, and God.
The Bee And The Hummingbird
We were sitting on our deck under the table umbrella on a beautiful
summer morning. A bee flew past and then up into the point of the
umbrella, and there he stayed. He buzzed around the top looking for a
way out. As he tired he would rest on the fabric. Rested, he would once
again try to get out through the top of the umbrella, which was
impossible.
Of course, we could easily see that if he would simply back up or fly
down he would see that he wasn’t actually trapped at all, he could fly out
in any direction. But, he didn’t. He had trapped himself. As we watched, a
hummingbird flew under the umbrella straight at the bee. It hovered right
by him, almost poking him with his beak, and then turned and showed
him the way out from beneath the umbrella.
Did the bee follow? No. He continued to struggle with the top of the
umbrella until Del took the umbrella off the post, turned it upside down,
and the bee flew up and away.
How often do we do this in our life? We “fly” into a situation and then try
to get out of it in a direction that will never work. If we would pause, or
back up, or look around we would see there is always a different way out.
Sometimes a friendly “hummingbird” will come right up to us and try to
get our attention so we can follow her to freedom.
In the song, Me and Bobby McGee, there is the phrase; ”Freedom’s just
another word for nothing left to lose.” There are two ways to look at this
sentence. One is that once everything is gone there is nothing left to
lose, or once you realize that you have nothing that can be lost you are
free.
In the movie, Star Wars, Jedi Master Yodi tells Anakin that, “The fear of
loss is the path to the dark side.” Afraid of losing something, we trade in
our freedom for something with which we are familiar. In the case of the
bee, the top of the umbrella became very familiar because he was used
to “flying up” to get away. But this familiarity and his unwillingness to let
go of how “he” thought it should be, placed him in his own personal
prison.
We all put ourselves in a personal prison. Just like the bee, it is the prison
of our own thinking. When we think we need something, or want
something we are bound to it. Not by the thing itself, but by our thinking
that we need it and don’t yet have it. The only thing that ever needs to be
“fixed” is our perception.
It is our point of view that is always the trap, and at the same time it is
always the open door. When we choose, and then stay with, a point of
view that all we have is what we can gather around us and own, that
work provides income, that companionship provides love, and that the
loss of anything means we no longer have it, we are trapped within our
own personal prison.
If we choose the point of view that the things that we have gathered, the
income we receive, and the love that we have, are all an outcome and
proof of the fact that we are the evidence and knowing of the One God
which is the Infinite Intelligence that Is all, than we are freed from our
prison. This point of view knows that where we are – so is all that we
need.
There is a story about a boy in Sunday school. The teacher asked the
children if they would be afraid if they found themselves alone in the
middle of the ocean. All of them said, “yes” except one small boy. He
said, “No I wouldn’t be afraid.” The Sunday school teacher asked him,
“Why not?” He said, “Because God would be there with me.” The
Sunday school teacher asked him, “How do you know for sure He would
be there?” The boy replied, “Because I was there.” This point of view is
the key to freedom. The small boy knew that where he was, God was,
and therefore there was nothing to fear or to lose.
We all have a friendly “hummingbird” that has shown us the way out of
any trap that we have flown into. There are people in the past and
present that dedicated their lives to show us the way to freedom. We just
have to become aware of them, watch where and how they got out, and
follow their example. It would be so much easier to follow them then to
wait until our whole world is turned upside down before we can be set
free.
Re-Set Perceptions To Re-Set Your Life
Core values, family history, worldview agreements, and personal habits
all entwine together to present a picture we call our life. Our lives are like
a movie that goes on and on because we go on about it.
We stand in the middle of this movie, like characters on the screen, and
try to change it or simply live well within it, using of course our core
values, family history, worldview agreements, and personal habits to do
so.
If these ideas all come together to form a pretty picture then life is good,
when they don’t then life is not so good. When the worldview script of
lack and discouragement appears as everyone in the movie suffering,
then getting out of the movie called our life can seem impossible.
Standing in the middle of this life, or picture or movie, and trying to
change it for the better or even survive will only have a temporary impact,
because of one very key fact. The movie and the movie viewer are one.
This is not a whimsical idea. This is fact. From the book Biocentrism:
“Moreover, if one accepts that the external world occurs only in Mind, in
consciousness, and that it’s the interior of one’s brain that’s cognized “out
there” at this moment, then of course everything is connected with
everything else.” (Robert Lanza MD with Bob Berman)
This means it is absolutely possible to change our lives because our lives
are the out-picturing of (but not the creation of ) what we believe and
perceive to be true. It also means that there is only one way to both
permanently make a change and that is to shift our perception from
within.
But what if we want more than just a better life? What if we want to be
what we really are, what if we want to experience ourselves as the
outcome or idea of the infinite Mind, or omnipotent Light? What then?
To do this we must re-think reality and re-set our perception altogether.
We must stop identifying ourselves as human, stop believing what the
five senses tell us and listen instead to the quiet voice within; stop acting
as if the movie and script are real, stop wanting the story to get better,
and want instead to let go and live as the idea of God.
This is a radical thought and decision. It demands a root change. It
demands that we reset our perception, or follow the biblical word “repent”
which means turn around and walk the other way; turn away from the
movie playing in our heads which results in what we call our lives.
Turn away from identifying ourselves as human and re-set our thinking
and perception. It demands that we let go of how we want it to be, think it
is, and then follow through with action and commitment to Truth.
This radical shift demands that we turn away from trying to fix things and
people; turn away from our story and turn instead to the fact that what
exists in our lives is and who we think we are is one and the same.
This is not a half way decision, it is a complete shift. Yes, it may appear
to take time to reset habits and beliefs, but that too is only set within our
agreement of what is true.
It may appear that others need to change first. Again, not true. What
appears as they, or that, is really our own perception. There is no way to
separate the thinker from what it is thinking.
Our responsibility then is not to create, control, or to make happen. Our
responsibility is to stop separating ourselves from the ever present
infinite intelligent flow or force we call God; it is to let go and be what we
are, which in turn re-sets what we experience as our lives.
As we do this we should expect more beauty, peace, abundance, grace,
happiness, love and all the other fruits of good to be more present in and
as our lives.
Not because we worked at becoming good and wise humans, but
because we gave up the story and returned home by turning within and
consistently listening and following the still small voice, by paying
attention to the symbols that prove the presence of God, and continually
re-setting our perceptions to match our current, highest and best
understanding of the Divine.
Mist-Perception
As we drove to work one morning we were celebrating the fact that it was
a beautiful sunny spring day. Suddenly it wasn’t. Within seconds we were
surrounded by fog. We could barely see 20 feet in front of us. Cars
slowed down, car lights flicked on, and everyone became very alert and
careful as they continued to drive. Within minutes we had driven out of
the fog, and once again it was a beautiful sunny spring day.
Isn’t life like this? We are happily living a fulfilling and abundant life and
then suddenly our wealth, our health, our love, or our happiness seems
to disappear. What is the difference between hitting the fog on the road
and hitting the fog in our lives? Nothing except our point of view and state
of mind: and that is everything.
Here’s what we don’t think when we hit fog in the road. “Yikes,
everything in the world is gone. What shall I do to bring it back?” It never
occurs to us to think this way. We know for certain that the world as we
know it has simply been momentarily hidden. This point of view results in
a state of mind of caution, patience, and gratefulness. We take the action
of slowing down, turning on headlights, and carefully driving until we are
out of the fog. We don’t have the state of mind that we are responsible to
bring the world back and the fear, panic, responsibility, and ego that
accompany this state of mind.
As I walked home from the bank my state of mind relaxed enough to
momentarily think from a spiritual point of view of omnipresent Love. As I
did so it occurred to me that I should check my statement again. When I
did, I discovered that the bank had credited a $200 deposit as only $2.00.
The fog had lifted and revealed that nothing had changed.
Fog is a mist. In our life it is a mist that clouds over Truth. It reality it is a
missed-perception. No matter what the need may appear to be: money,
health, love, companionship, or simply feeling happy, we can know that
all that we need is present, always has been, always will be. Our
perception produces the world that we live in. It doesn’t create it. Our
perception, our point of view, simply allows us to see only what we
believe to be reality.
As people all over the world appear to struggle with not enough, as we
wonder where the rent money, tax money, health, love of our lives,
companionship, hope, and peace will come from, we can continue to
drive with our headlights of clarity on and maintain our awareness of
Truth, knowing that the fog will lift and the world will appear as it really
has been all along.

Fog in our lives does not change the fact that all we need is present now;
it simply hides it from view. When we shine the light of a point of view
that nothing is changed, that omnipresent Love is filling all space and
omnipotent Mind is constantly providing for us, the fog lifts to reveal what
has never been lost. This is what makes spiritual perception appear to
produce practical results.

Years ago I was balancing my check book and discovered that I had
about $200 less in my bank than I thought I had. Immediately I panicked.
Fog had appeared so often in my life at that time that my state of mind
was “oh no, not again” and I was full of fear and a sense of responsibility
for the mistake. I began to act from the ego thinking since I caused the
problem I must have to do something to fix it.
Stuck, Inertia, And The Fire Within
We installed a wood burning stove in our living room which we use to
heat our home. It works wonderfully well and it continues to provide
guidance as well as warmth. This week it demonstrated to me the
difference between “inertia” and “stuck” and how to dissolve both.
I never had a wood burning stove before; I thought that it would be just
like a closed stove. However, a wood burning stove has an air tight glass
door on it so you can see the flames. You can also feel the heat the same
as a fireplace, but because of the seal on the door the heat is not
dispersed up the chimney which makes it many times more efficient at
heating.
This means that you can’t just “throw” wood on the fire. You have to open
the sealed door which of course then allows the oxygen to flood into the
fire. Therefore, you have to pause before fully opening the door so that
the fire does not build too quickly from that rush of air.
One day it had warmed up outside so I hadn’t put any new wood on the
fire during the afternoon. That evening as I prepared to build the fire
again it appeared that all that was left was a few very small embers.
On this same day I was thinking about the difference between “inertia”
and “stuck”.
Because it appeared that there was no fire I wasn’t as cautious as usual
when I opened the door, but the moment I did the fire literally exploded
into flame. “That,” I thought, “is what becoming “unstuck” looks like.”
Like those embers all it takes is the swift infusion of oxygen or in our
case, Truth, and what has been silently and steadily burning within will
burst into bloom. It doesn’t take much.
On the other hand there is inertia. This can happen when we have let the
fire go out completely. Then it takes a lot of small tinder, coaxing, and a
long build up before the fire begins to burn efficiently again. That is what
inertia looks like.
We often think of inertia as not moving. But, really inertia is either a state
of rest or of motion that is resistant to change. We see this in our
everyday life all the time. It is our habits. It is the way we have always
done it, whether we are doing something or just standing still.
To change our state of being, like the fires, it takes an outside force
proportional to how ingrained the habit. How dead the fire is beforehand
determines how much force, or fuel, is needed to start it burning
efficiently again.
Approaching this from the right premise of spiritual perception, this would
mean that it would take more awareness and discipline of thought to
change a bigger, or more ingrained, habit of thought then a smaller one
when we are in the state of mind of inertia.
On the other hand, when we are “stuck” the desire and intent is already
burning. Then it takes just a small amount of “outside force,” or
awareness of Truth flooding into our consciousness to propel us out of
“stuck” and into Life.
Of course these two ideas are intertwined. Both states of mind called
“stuck” and “inertia” are misunderstood perceptions of the True nature of
Life which have become habits of thinking and acting.
However, understanding the difference between the two may help relieve
the frustration we sometimes feel when we have been steady students of
Truth and yet it feels as if the fire of our life has not yet begun to burn
efficiently.
There is great comfort and relief in knowing that the Infinite Principle
never experiences inertia, or stuck, or is even aware of our
misperception. It is always operating in the harmony and perfection of
graceful unfolding.
This means that as we add the fuel of awareness and perception and
diligently tend to the fire within, what appears as “stuck” or “inertia” will
dissolve into nothingness. Either state does not exist in the perfection of
the Truth of Being. As the mist dissolves we will experience our current
highest awareness of Love Loving Itself in practical ways far beyond our
human design and planning.

Open the door of your fire within and let in the Truth of who you are. it
doesn’t make any difference whether this action explodes your life into
bloom, or if you have to diligently build the fire. Sooner or later the illusion
or “stuck” or “inertia” will dissolve and the infinite abundance that is you
will stand revealed.
Prisoners of Perception
We are all the prisoners of our own perceptions. Here are 3 short stories
about the results of being locked up by worry, doubt and fear — and then
an alternative ending for each.
1. I walked around the counter at the airport to get a straw for my drink
and found a woman frantically mopping up her spilled coffee. She was
using the flimsy tissue paper that was used for wrapping pastries so the
mopping up process wasn’t working well. I reached for the napkins and
started helping. She looked up in surprise that I had found the napkins
saying that she had looked for them but didn’t see them. Her comment
was “I couldn’t see for looking.”
She was right. She couldn’t “see for looking.” Why not? Because her
state of mind blocked the view of the napkins that were in plain sight, it
was a state of mind of “worry, rush, and fear.”
2. There is an old story about the Devil’s yard sale. The Devil decided to
out of business (wouldn’t that be nice?) so he held a yard sale to get rid
of his old tools. As one woman walked around the yard she saw many
tools that appeared to be in great condition; tools that were labeled
“doubt,” “bad times,” “sadness” etc. However, one tool stood out because
it was so old and beat up and yet carried a large price tag. It was labeled
“discouragement”. “Why”, she asked, “ Is this tool so beat up and so
expensive?” The devil replied, “Because this is the one tool I always use.
It works best because no one suspects it’s me.”
It’s true we rarely do suspect that “discouragement” is a tool that The
Devil uses. Entertaining reasonable doubt, a cousin of discouragement,
seems like such a wise thing to do. But the point of view that remains in
discouragement is a prison within which we are incapable of taking
action. After all, with a state of mind of discouragement, we are never
sure if we are doing or saying or being the “right thing.”
3. Del and I were in a room full of people listening to how to get on radio
and TV shows. In the front of the room was a panel of key people to
whom only a few people in the audience were going to be able to pitch
their idea. Within moments a room full of seemingly intelligent and stable
grownups erupted as they made every effort to be noticed. Calling out,
“me, me, me,” and jumping up and down was a favorite method of getting
attention.
What motivated this behavior? A state of mind — a perception — called
“fear.” Fear that there wasn’t enough; fear that they wouldn’t have a
chance, fear that this was the only way to accomplish their goals.
In the prison of our own perceptions, we can’t see for looking, doubt
seems innocent, and fear motivates our actions. Each of us has our own
personal prison created out of all that we have been taught and accepted
about the worldview. Perception does rule! “What we believe to be reality
magnifies.” Let’s all break out of prison — now!
What if we knew, even if just for a moment, without doubt, that instead of
being material beings striving for perfection we are really Spiritual beings
already perfect? Even if we don’t fully understand this, even if it doesn’t
make sense, even if we aren’t sure its true, what if we imagined that it
was? What if we chose a Spiritual Perception? What then?
Here’s how a Spiritual Perception might have been used to alter each of
the three stories.
1. As the woman spilled her coffee and began thinking from a Spiritual
Perception her thoughts might have run something like this: “ I know that
everything is already created, therefore what I need is here for me right
now.”
Result: A dissolved worry state of mind, and what was needed would
have been immediately seen by her instead of being blocked by her
perception.
2. Here are two ways to keep doubt from putting us in prison. One:
become aware that the voice suggesting discouragement is not ours
(remember it’s the Devil’s tool), and Two: that God does not know or
send negative things or thoughts. A Spiritual Perception that God is
omnipresent, omniscience, and omnipotent Love eliminates the
possibility that there is anything other than Love and Good.
Result: Dissolved doubt and discouragement, as faith and understanding
lead the way instead. In our life this might appear as knowing what to do,
feeling the weight of the world lift, or previously unseen opportunities
appearing right in front of us. There are countless ways that Spiritual
abundance is revealed to us after the blindfolds of sense perception are
removed.

3. Most of the people in the seminar room were acting out of the
worldview, the earth game, that there is not enough, which produces a
“me first and only” attitude. If each person had been thinking from a
Spiritual Perception the room would have been calm, poised, supportive
of everyone and uplifting. In this Spiritual point of view everyone would
have known that they were not in charge of the outcome, that what they
needed was already provided, and that no one is ever left out.

Result: The appropriate action would have automatically taken place as

inspiration or Angel Ideas guiding each participant to the fulfillment of
their purpose.

With a Spiritual Perception, not only would the wardens of worry, doubt
and fear dissolve, but also the prison itself.

Perception rules. Prove it for yourself. Try magnifying only Good — God
and pay attention to the results. Be grateful for every brief glimpse of
Truth no matter how small. Gratitude is the oil that loosens every stuck
prison door.

Coming from a Spiritual Perception, the woman with the coffee would
have seen what she needed right in front of her, in this case napkins, the
Devil’s tool of discouragement would become useless, and fear would not
motivate our actions.

Choosing to think and act from a Spiritual Perception we would, “...walk

transparent like some holy thing.” * We would transform the worldview,
releasing everyone from the prison of sense perception into the freedom
of Spiritual Perception. I am ready for a prison break —will you join me?

* Mary Baker Eddy

Misc. Writings
Choose Your Perception
In the world of marketing one is supposed to come up with a “catch
phrase” or USP (unique selling proposition), so many, many, years ago I
condensed all that I was trying to say into this phrase: “What We
Perceive To Be Reality Magnifies.”
Years later, I am still using it because it is the clearest way to explain
what appears as reality is not. Perception is reality. But, whose
perception? This is much different than what is meant by the saying,
“What we focus upon creates reality,” which implies that we are creators
or at least co-creators. It’s easier than that, because perception is reality.
On the TV program “60 Minutes” a General spoke about war as a
perception. While a financial planner I knew very well that the stock
market is an agreed upon perception. The worldview that governs so
much of our lives, is an agreed upon perception. Everything that the five
senses tells us is a perception. Not a real thing, a perception. But this
perception blocks from view what is Reality.
Cleaning up perception is not creating a new world. It is seeing the world,
as it really is: completely and irresistibly, perfectly spiritual.
But, then what is spiritual? Is it a cleaned up material view, that attracts
what we want to us, and creates a more perfect life style? Is it
measurable energy that can be manipulated and used to benefit us?
No, that is a material perception. Spiritual is not measurable. Spiritual is
known from within, and is not measurable by the human senses. It is not
related to dogmas or human opinions. It is the 7 nouns of God in action,
Soul, Mind, Spirit, Love, Life, Principle, and Truth. It is the logic behind it
all.
As we become aware of the thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and perceptions that
color the world we see, we get to choose whether we want to continue
with the limited, chaotic, often cruel, and never fixable perception of the
worldview, or the elegant, logically, entirely loving, always supportive,
One Intelligent Mind, God’s perception.
Since what we perceive to be reality magnifies, why not choose to
magnify what God sees and knows? That perception is the perfect one,
containing all that is, holding every element of its idea called, world, man,
universe, animals, plants, every blade of grass, every grain of sand as
Itself in action.
The proof that there is a God is that you and I, and all that we know
exists. All questions about why and how are distractions. If our intent is to
know as God knows, then forget the human questions; let’s get down and
up to seeing as God sees.
Of course this involves discovering, uncovering, eliminating, dissolving,
and letting go of all perceptions that block our sight to the One Perceiver.
Assuming we are all willing to do this, since the intent is to see as God
sees, then the next step is to become aware of what we believe to be
reality and see if it is in alignment with the Truth of One Cause and
Creator.
This is not a judgment time; this is simply an awareness of the missed-
perception that we have held dearly. This is what The Shift® is all about.
This is what Del calls “dirt time.” As we make that shift and awareness
creeps in, lots of “stuff” appears that is not necessary to what we wanted
to see.
It’s like moving. As we take stuff out of closets and drawers and decide if
we want to move it to the next place, we are amazed to find what we
have not paid attention to what has been collecting in our home.
It’s the same with a state of mind. We hide past actions, hurts, and
sorrows in boxes and drawers and closets in our mind. As we move from
the past state of mind to the next one we get to decide what to take with
us.
When we move from a physical home we touch physical objects to make
the decision about what to keep. If we get caught up in why we have it,
thinking that it can’t be replaced, get mad at ourselves for not noticing it
before, or any other form of judgment, then we can be stuck in that
moving process forever. It’s not necessary to do this.
In the same way, as we exam our perceptions, ideas, and beliefs that we
have accumulated, it is not necessary to understand the why and how of
each one. It is not necessary to beat ourselves up for the mistaken points
of view that have lived in our thoughts. If we did this, we would never
move. That point of view would be our mental home for a long time.

What we can do instead is choose whether the object in our home, or the
perception in our thought, is how we want to live now. We can let go of
anything that isn’t the highest understanding we currently have of the
perfection of Love.

As we clean our home, what has always been there becomes visible. As
we clean our perception what has always been present becomes visible.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to
man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things
thru' narrow chinks of his cavern.” William Blake

Let’s stop trying to perceive what is real through the narrow chinks of our
cavern. Let’s choose to see as God sees, Infinitely. Then there is no need
for a secret on how to create and achieve, because it will be clear to us
that all we need is already present and all that needs to be done, has
already been completed, in Reality.
Boundaries That Set You Free
“It’s not my job,” that’s what she would always say when someone would
ask for help with something outside the parameters of what she
perceived as her job description. Unbeknown to her we would all use that
phrase as a joke in the office whenever we didn’t feel like doing
something. We would laugh and do it anyway.
The movie “ March Of The Penguins” documents the awe inspiring “job”
that penguins are willing to do for love. They literally walk outside of their
comfort zone for 9 months a year in order to provide for their child. It is
their job, and they do that job without regret or desire for it to be different.
But, they have boundaries. There are limits that they know they must not
cross. Although they go without food for months, they know at some
point they must abandon their “job” and retreat back to the sea if the
boundary they have set is not met.
What is our job? Perhaps we too must step outside of our comfort zone
for love. But how far do we let that go? Do we let other people stay in
their comfort zone at the expense of our own ability to live?
It is boundaries that set us free. Inside the boundaries we are free to fully
give knowing that there is a limit. With no boundaries, or boundaries set
out too far for us to survive, we are prisoners of not only our own desires
to either please or be pleased, but also the prisoners of anyone who
abuses our willingness to be boundary less.
What is our job? Our job is to begin with the right premise of who we are.
All action that stems from the correct premise yields a result that benefits
everyone.
The 10 commandments are boundaries that set limits in all areas and
fullness of our lives. For example “thou shalt not kill” does not just mean
to not kill a physical body. It also means we may not kill another’s spirit.
This includes our own spirit. This includes not allowing another to kill our
spirit. This includes not allowing immorality to kill our sense of what is
right and wrong. There are many meanings to “thou shalt not kill.”
Beginning with the right premise of One Love always present and always
acting as Principle, and as always intelligent Infinite Mind and we as the
action of this One, than the 10 commandments and the “thou shalt not”
becomes a statement of “ thou will not be able to.” The human
boundaries will have vanished in the absolute knowing and
understanding that all that exists is Infinite Love and that is the ultimate
boundary. When we stay within these guidelines, within this boundary, we
are free of all limitations.
In the mean time, boundaries we set for ourselves are a statement of the
highest understanding that we have in each moment of that infinite
Intelligent Principled Love. We must set them. We must live within them.
We must not allow others, or ourselves for whatever reason, to displace
them.
It is often a misunderstanding of the requirements or desires of love that
keep boundaries from being set or kept. The One Love requires us to
Love as It does. Love loves Itself fully and completely without a need for
approval or another’s awareness of It to exist. It allows – because it
knows nothing other than Love - nothing that is not Love to be present.
Starting here, with this premise, our boundaries are not boundaries that
keep out or remove Love, but boundaries that keep us In Love without
limitation or expiration.
The statement the woman in our office would make of, “It’s not my job”
evolved from her unwillingness to step outside her comfort zone for
another. This boundary limited her ability to be more of an expression of
pure love in her life. It limited her ability to feel the exquisite sense of joy
that comes from unselfishly helping another. She did not begin from One
Love that can never be exhausted, so she set boundaries that did not set
her free.
If she had set her boundaries from within an understanding of One Love,
than that boundary would have set her free to help others, but not at the
expense of her own spirit. The penguins’ love is awe-inspiring in their
love for their young, their mates and ultimately in their acting from the
boundaries of Love that begins with Love only.
It’s not our job to do anything but Love as Love. Imagine the freedom
and safety that begins with this premise. Freedom and safety are two
qualities that appear to require opposite points of view, but when seen
from One Love can be seen as two qualities that are wedded as one. The
safety of the boundaries of One Love sets us free to live as and in the
unlimited abundance of Love.
At The Ready
“At the ready” is a point of view that I love to embrace to the fullest. It
means that in our house, if you need a pencil, a knife, a piece of paper,
or a light — no matter what you need at any moment, my intent is to have
provided it where you would expect it to be. No need to search for it. You
can expect that it is “at the ready.”
One morning as I observed the squirrels, birds and trees in our yard I
realized that they have a built in expectation that what they need is “at
the ready.” While I watched, I tried to imagine what it would feel like to be
a squirrel, bird or tree. As I did so, that peaceful “at the ready” feeling
became “my feeling.” As that feeling seeped into my thinking, I realized
that everything we need is also always “at the ready.” How could it be
otherwise? The Principle of Love must always provide perfectly for all
those that live in “Its home” as I attempt to provide in mine.
The difference between me and the squirrels, birds and trees is that I
think I have to be or do something in order for all that I need to be “at the
ready.” They don’t. Provision in all its forms is just how it is, not
something to acquire, understand or go to work for.
Here’s the problem. The point of view of “at the ready” is not what we
have been trained to perceive as reality. We have been trained in the
worldview. This worldview displays itself in two opposite forms, but with
the same basic error in the premise.
The first form is the point of view that there is not enough, in other words,
“lack”. It’s that perception that some have, and some don’t. That work of
some kind is required in order to receive, and that often in order to have
that work to provide well for us, it will mean we will have to compromise
what we feel is the right way to live. This point of view has two different
results: varying degrees of wealth or poverty. Wealth if we are good at
the ”game”, poverty if we aren’t.
The second form is the point of view that we have a right to be wealthy,
now. It is the “privileged” point of view. It is the perception that the world
owes us. This point of view also has two outcomes. It can appear in our
lives as either some form of laziness or personal debt. It is an, “I want it
and I want it now” lifestyle. And yes, both forms of this worldview and its
outcome can be found in most of all of our lives.
We can’t turn the point of view of “lack” into abundance, nor can we turn
the point of view of “privilege” into provision, although we can certainly
spend a huge part of our life attempting to do so. Both of these points of
view begin with the wrong premise, and that makes it inevitable that the
outcome will be wrong.
It is the same as if we held the point of view that 2 plus 2 equals five. If
we persist in living this wrong premise, we will experience a life in which
every mathematical problem we ever try to work out will always end with
the wrong answer.
Living within either form of the worldview will never bring the correct
answer to our lives. Instead we have to shift to the correct point of view of
“at the ready”. When we choose the correct premise that 2 plus 2 equals
four, we will arrive at the correct answer. When we shift to the correct
premise that the Principle of Love has provided everything “at the ready”
then the outcome of that perception, appearing as our lives, will also shift
to the correct answer without our effort in trying to make it happen.
Without effort does not mean without action. The squirrels, birds and tree
outside our window appear to live effortlessly within the “at the ready”
point of view. But, they do not live passively. They are consistently in
action, constantly, fully, living their lives as the unique expression of Life
that that they are.
Let’s live our lives in the expectation that all is “at the ready” and stop
wasting our time trying to live out of an incorrect point of view. Nothing
we can do will ever make a wrong premise come to the right answer. Nor
can we ever change the Truth of constant Love’s provision. That’s the
good news. We simply have to shift to the correct point of view and begin
to live actively as our personal, unique expression of Life Living Itself.
Our world will shift to reflect this correct premise effortlessly. It all begins
within, not without. Watch the squirrels, birds, and trees in your
neighborhood. You’ll see.
God By Any Other Name
Is there a God or isn’t there?
Haven’t we all asked ourselves this question? Hasn’t everyone wondered
at least once how God could allow the suffering, death, and intentional
evil in the world to exist? How could he let wars continue? How can he
be on both sides of a controversy?
Of course we have also looked at the other side. We have observed the
harmony and beauty of a flower, the flight of a bird, the majesty of a
mountain, and wondered where all that could have come from.
In the long-standing debate “is there a God” or “isn’t there a God,” don’t
we have to agree with both sides? The answer is: “no,” there isn’t a God
that allows evil to exist, and “yes,” there is a God that is The Principle of
what we are aware of as Life.
Perhaps part of the problem is the word God. Depending on what
framework of perception we grew up within, and have worked out for
ourselves, we either love this name of God or hate it.
If we could drop our preconceived ideas about what the word God means
perhaps we would find that we are all in agreement. Perhaps we would
also find a way to resolve our own internal struggle with why evil appears
to exist if God is Love.
What if we stopped seeing God in terms of a powerful human, that knows
both good and evil, and can be swayed by human prayer and opinion?
What if instead we saw God through a scientific perception as the Mind
Fabric of what we perceive as the infinite universe. What if God was The
Infinite Intelligence that both creates and holds it all together? What if
God was not in any way human, but instead is like the principle of math,
The Principle of what we call Life?
Don’t most of us blithely say that God is omnipresent, omniscience,
omnipotent and omniaction? Have we stopped to exam what this means
and implies? Isn’t this a scientific statement that leads us to the evidence
of God as The Principle of Life?
Could this God, The Principle of Life, be both good and evil? Wouldn’t
this idea of duality negate all those Omni’s? There can be no debate.
Either God is completely good or God is completely evil.
The original meaning of the word God is Good. Makes sense doesn’t it?
Because if God is evil, it stands to reason that eventually it would destroy
itself. So we can see that there cannot be a God that knows evil, or is on
both sides of a controversy, there can only be a God that is The Infinite
Principle of Life.
But what about what we experience as evil, lack, sorrow, and ill health?
All these are present in the worldview, the human god’s world, but not in
the Reality that is The Principle of Life all moving in perfect harmony.
Anything that doesn’t appear as Good is a distortion of Truth. Here’s
where we exercise what we call our “free will.” We choose. And our
choice determines our experience. We can’t be on both sides of the
fence, or serve two masters.
We get to choose the perception of Infinite Good, and when we choose
and live this perception, and make it the basis of our thought and then
our actions, what isn’t true will dissolve, revealing what is.
Much evil is done in God’s name. But that doesn’t make it God’s fault.
When we interpret God as if It was human, it will inevitably lead to both
good and bad consequences. One side will win and one side will lose.
We can always tell when we are living from the human god idea. We
start working hard at fixing things, making things better, being right,
getting healthy, getting rich, or just getting by. Our thoughts are filled with
either worry or competition. The human God starts with duality and
knows both good and evil.
Everyone knows what the results of this looks like in our lives and in the
world. So it’s not God that lets evil exist. We let it exist in the only place
possible, in our acceptance of duality and a human God. It only exists in
the same way that darkness exists before we turn on the light.
The answer is “no” there is no God that knows good and evil and “yes”
there is God that is omniscient Good. The more we begin with this Truth
and live in it, the more we make it the premise of our being, the more it
will dissolve anything that is blocking the view of the unlimited good and
abundance of omnipresent Infinite One. When we make this choice we
will experience our own personal evidence of the existence of God as All.

So make up any name you want to for God, because God by any name
is still all there Is, and it is Infinite Good.
Disguising Ourselves As Human
Have you ever seen someone disguise himself as a car seat? Sounds
silly doesn’t it, but there was a story in the paper, with the picture of a
man who was attempting to illegally cross the border into America by
disguising himself as a car seat.
As I stared at the picture in the paper I couldn’t help laughing. It was hard
to believe. I kept wondering, “How could he think he really looked like a
car seat, and why did he think he could get away with it?” And then it
struck me that we are just like that guy. We disguise ourselves as human
when in Reality we are Spiritual.
I had a vision of how those who are totally aware that we are Spiritual,
might stare at our human disguise and wonder, “what are they thinking?”
Isn’t it obvious that most of the time we are not thinking we are Spiritual?
We look in the mirror and see — human. A man disguised as a car seat
would have a heck of a time trying to do anything at all. Everything would
be an effort. We, disguised as a human, have the same problem.
About the same time that I saw the picture of the man disguised as a car
seat, my husband and I were visiting a new town trying to decide, “should
we move here?” We did all the “dirt work.” We circled the town from 5
minutes from the heart of it, to 20 minutes and then to 1 hour out. We
read, talked and thought about it. And the more we did, the more
confused and unhappy we become.
As two humans trying to make a decision the thoughts and discussion
went like this, “It’s bigger than we thought — it has much more to offer
than we thought—the kids would love it — the kids will have too big of an
adjustment — we don’t know anybody — think of all the great new
people we will meet” and on and on and on and on.
What do we do when disguised as a human in situations like this? We
could either be “stubborn” by seeing only one side of the issue saying,
“This is how it is,” or “open,” and see two sides, but then not be able to
decide which is most important.
Either way, the discussion and decision isolates or confuses, but doesn’t
really solve the problem. What would happen if we dropped the disguise,
looked in the mirror, and saw the reflection, thought, expression and
outcome of Divine Intelligence? Without the human disguise there would
be nothing to be confused about.
As Spirit the discussion might be something like this: “We know we are
always in our perfect place because Spirit is omnipresent and
omniscience. Home is the qualities of love, commitment, compassion,
honor, encouragement, safety, warmth, creativity, etc.”
We might continue by knowing that these qualities are Spiritual and are
all of what we are, now and forever. The result would then be the
practical representation of those qualities evident in our lives, expressed
as the perfect town, home, work etc.
Without the human disguise we would see that all we need to do is BE
Spiritual, following the still small voice as it guides us each moment of the
day. As a Spiritual being it would not be necessary to know exactly what
will happen, a month, a year, or a lifetime from now. It would not be
necessary to control any situation.
In our case, continuing to acknowledge the Spiritual qualities of home
brought us just two months later to another wonderful town that we called
home for the next few years.
It’s hard to wear a human disguise and try to cross a border into Heaven.
It’s much easier just to be what we really are, Spirit. Then it doesn’t
matter where we appear to live because we will be completely aware that
we are really always and forever living in Heaven with no border to cross.
About Beca Lewis
As an author and guide Beca Lewis is dedicated to bringing Universal
Spiritual Principles and Laws into clear focus, to shift material
perception to spiritual perception, which following the law "what you
perceive to be reality magnifies,™" adjusts lives with practical and
measurable results.

Beca developed an easy system to do this called The Shift® and has
been sharing how to use this system to expand lives, and bring people
back to the Truth of themselves for over 40 years.

She is the author of numerous ecourses, articles, and books including

A Woman’s ABC’s of Life: Lessons in Love, Life and Career from Those
Who Learned The Hard Way. Her book Living in Grace: The Shift to
Spiritual Perception outlines her complete system of The Shift®.

In addition Beca writes The Shift To Spiritual Perception Ezine and

additional articles for numerous newspapers and websites. She has A Woman’s ABC’s of Life
also written a series of children’s fables and she and her husband are
working on a book about their Search For Home: Letters From The
Road in America, and another series of books based on The Shift®
principles. In this book, the reader will discover the reason their life is
the way it is by answering for themselves these four simple questions.

Beca and her husband Del Piper are constantly working to develop new
ways to support and reach out to others. Much of what they have been
developed can be found for free at their membership site Perception
U.com. They also founded The Women’s Council with the intent of
“strengthening the connection to yourself, to others, and to the Divine.”
Living in Grace BecaLewis.com