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A major lesson for all of us
to learn and to practice
consistently is revealed in the
words of Ernest C. Wilson,
long-revered as "Dean" of Unity
ministers:
"This or what
in Thy sight is
better!"
Ernest was tackling the
subject of our human tendency to
try to bring our good into form
by imaging a specific
answer instead of letting
ourselves be created "in the
image of God!"
The modern metaphysical or
Truth movement, of which Unity is
a part, is dedicated to teaching
human beings to be positive,
optimistic, and expectant instead
of negative, pessimistic, and
doubtful about the things we
desire and pray for.
Perhaps a "funny"
Truth-movement story might cast
some light on what I'm going to
be writing about: a Truth student
and a Truth teacher were talking
one day. The student had been
influenced by the teaching that
we can visualize and affirm
anything we want, and it will
come to pass. She said that she
had a certain man in mind and was
doing the requisite prayer work.
The teacher asked her, "What
would you do if he turned out to
be the wrong man?", and the
'know-it-all' student immediately
said, "Oh, I would just use
denials and get rid of him!"
(This is a true story told to me
by the teacher!)
The student may have been able
to use the power of mind just as
she described, but the question
remains, Was she using
mind in the right or best
way?
Ernest wouldn't seem to think
so. If he had a specific goal in
mind, his attitude was to trust
God to bring about a better
answer than the one he had
thought of! (Unity's principle of
let go and let God !) Way
back in my early years in Unity,
I began to speak of God as the
initiator and that God has
never lost the initiative!
Ernest's prayer follows this
principle. If God is the
Initiator of our good - all of
it! - there never comes a time
when we need to tell God what to
do!
One of Unity's best teachings
is that we never need to change
God-Mind, but our own mind, that
is, our consciousness - our state
of mind.
Unity uses affirmation
essentially to transform our
consciousness from negative to
positive, and the real Unity
teaching is not to decide on some
specific desire and insist
upon having it, demanding it of
God!
"THIS OR WHAT
IN THY SIGHT IS
BETTER!"
If my idea isn't good enough,
I'm willing to let it go, and
trust You, God, to bring about
what is really my
good!
May Rowland, the wonderful
long-time Director of Silent
Unity -Unity's worldwide prayer
ministry - used to have a prayer
drill that began with the words
"Spirit has a plan."
What she meant by this was the
same thing Ernest had in mind:
Trust God (Spirit) to work out
what is best for you!
My way of utilizing this
teaching is to realize that
Spirit or God is the totality of
life working through all things
and all persons to bring about
the very best answers to our
prayers.
To understand this, think of
life as follows: Doesn't it make
sense that the totality of life
is in a better position to
compute right answers to life's
problems and propositions than
just one individual expression of
that life could? If I insist that
I, as one individual, have to
come up with all the answers,
this is to put unnecessary
pressure on me. To paraphrase
Ernest's prayer, the answer could
(in this particular instance)
come through me, but I'm open to
all the rest of God's channels.
The important thing is to stay
open to the answers coming from
all directions, through the
totality of life!
Don
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