“In the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, we ask deep questions.  We ask, ‘What are you really focusing on?’  Your divine nature is our primary focus.  We call that the soul.  Your divine nature is your soul.  It is your God consciousness.  It is in a oneness.” – John Morton

This article comes from a sharing session John had with the Doctor of Spiritual Science Year 4 class of Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy in May 2023.

We are responsible to take care of ourself, each one of us.  Ask yourself, “Am I okay?  Is this working for me?”  There are all kinds of ways that would tell us if something is working, as well as all kinds of ways telling us it’s not working.  Be careful it’s not self-imposed limitations.  That is really the issue, the restrictions on what life “should” be, that cause us to have a disturbance.

If you would stop the pattern of how you think and change it to something like comfortable and pleasant, you would have more opportunity to be in the loving presence.  What is there to do?  Relax.  Calm down.

Every one of us knows what it is to be in fear of some kind.  It’s a normal, human condition.  So now what?  How do you want to address what is going on? There can be all kinds of concerns.  You might ask, “Does that mean I might get hurt, at least at my ego level?”

What are you protecting?  Your ego is not your true self.  Why get caught up in that?  If anything, it has come about through the god of opinion.  That is where the ego gets its information.  You can redirect how you program and construct yourself, including at the personality level.  You can say, “I’d like to be more trusting.  That could be one of the things I don’t seem to do too well.”

In the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, we ask deep questions.  We ask, “What are you really focusing on?”  Your divine nature is our primary focus.  We call that the soul.  Your divine nature is your soul.  It is your God consciousness.  It is in a oneness.  There are aspects of how the soul individualizes, and then how it has become something of the Lord God of creation.

How would we be attuned to that?  Be open.  It’s already present.  Let your consciousness move to a place where your mind is open.  You may still have concerns.  You can observe those, so your consciousness is going higher and becoming more expanded.  You can start being in something that is higher consciousness.  That is nice!

When we do spiritual exercise you might wonder, “Where are we going?” It’s relaxed, open and in a particular way called spiritual. You may ask, “What about all this other stuff going on?”  Relax and let go of that concern.

Maybe you’ve got the heat turned up in the oven cooking a turkey and it’s supposed to be done in 45 minutes.  You thought you could get some spiritual exercises done.  Do you have an alarm?  How are you going to know when it’s 45 minutes?  Maybe you set a timer.  This is practical spirituality.  If you are not going to be safe, do something to take care of that.

There may be a reason why you are not relaxed.  Sometimes that can be practical, like you’ve got a hose running.  If you keep it running, you’re going to have a flood and then a big water bill next month.  If you don’t want another big bill like that, then don’t use too much water.  It runs like that.

We are not able to control all things in the world.  That’s not really news.  Set a dedicated time and place to be with your God consciousness.  Create that in such a way that you don’t have things going on, particularly at the Basic Self level.

Learn how to take care of the space around you so it’s a safe space.  It’s a clear, quiet space.  Maybe at some point you go, “I don’t get that in this neighborhood.  This neighborhood doesn’t know what quiet is.”  Do you know what earmuffs or earplugs are?  Soundproofing?  You can do things to make it quieter where you are.

These are practical things.  If you keep doing all the 10% nitpicking things, when are you doing your spiritual exercise?  There is always going to be “another thing.”  Ad infinitum.  There will always be some little detail you could get involved with.  What is that worth to you?  Is it really important?

When we truly look, a lot of things are not very important.  Is what color of socks you are wearing important to God?  We often find out it’s up to us and what suits us.  That may not necessarily fit well in the world.  It doesn’t mean the world likes it or it is popular.

What do you do about that?  Take care of yourself.  If you stay out of trouble, unnecessary difficulties, and dis-ease, that’s going to play in your favor as unnecessary experiences you can steer clear of.  You are developing an ability to do this, through wisdom and life experience.  You’re learning how to handle your life so there is a lot more pleasantness, ease, enjoyment and sharing good times with others.  It can be this way.  Your intention, focus, what you actually do and how you process are important.

Work on a little more openness and relaxation in relation to what’s going on so you can observe it without having to make a decision.  If you are interpreting something as “wrong”, be careful.  We have an approach in MSIA called, “Check it out.”  There is a lot of value in checking things out.

This is how life revolves in this world.  How you play it is up to you.  When somebody like me comes along and asks, “How are you?  Are you having a good time?  Are you enjoying yourself?”  You can say, “Yes!  It’s fine.”

It’s an attitude of, “Whatever it is, there are some challenges.  But I just find a way to turn it into something I can laugh about.”  Even if it takes you a while, you are working on it.  You are going to laugh about it eventually.  It is going to be funny later.  And it is later.

God bless you.

Blessing of Courage to Walk with the Lord
From Blessings Here and Now

Lord God, we become before You,
blessed in Your presence and the joy of who You are
and who we are together in fellowship.

We ask that You touch each one of us now personally.
Bless every part of us.

Let us experience Your touch and the loving of who You are
in the depth of our being into every cell.

Lord, we give You permission and we invite You
into all aspects of our life,
knowing that where You go,
you bring the Holy Presence that is the sanctity and the purity.

We let go, and we release all that is past now.
We come forth with You to do what You do,
follow in Your way,
and walk with You stride for stride.

Give us Your courage, the depth of Your knowing,
that we may too, have the courage in the face of all that meets us,
knowing that Your will is done, as God’s will is done.
May we align with Your will, Lord, to do the blessings of the Christ.

We are grateful that You bequest us with a comforter
that is the Holy Spirit.
Now we come to the oneness of that companion.
The Holy Spirit is what we breathe and what we do in all of our ways.

Extend this blessing, dear Lord,
to all those who are open across the planet.
May all bear the Light and sanctify the place
where they may find themselves.

We give the prayers of the heart up to You, Lord,
knowing that You know no burden.

All is welcomed. All is forgiven.
In Your grace we ask that this extend
to those who are in ignorance and in darkness,
those who have forgotten themselves
in their fears, judgments, and the pains of their existence.
May we comfort them in the Spirit and soothe them in their troubles.

May we be part of that blessing that comes forth through Spirit
from the invisible into the visible — in the worlds beyond that is God,
this world and all the universes.

We do this by our faith and trust in You.
We know we are upon a time where we are not to tarry,
to look back, to cast our vision on what is forsaken.
We are in a time to go forth serving all,
loving all until that day
when we know ourselves in Your face.

Baruch Bashan