I remember a time when Ed Rabel, Unity Minister and a former teacher at Unity Village in the ministerial program, was teaching the students when Bill Fischer, Director of Ministerial Training, was away. Ed was taking the students for speech assignments. The top four or five students were scheduled to give their talks in front of their classes. The talk that they were to give was based upon a question: “If you had just ten minutes to speak to all the people on the earth, what would you say?”

Just think about that for a moment. What would you say if you had just ten minutes to speak to all the people on the earth? What would your message be? 

Ed Rabel said the students he heard “Blew it!” Their response to the question was to try to reach out to all the people of the earth and tell them of some great and wonderful philosophical theory. In doing this they did “blow it,” because only that which you experience is true for you. You cannot take in someone else’s knowledge; you can only gain knowledge for yourself.

So if you were speaking to everyone on earth it would have to be something that people could find for themselves, work with, and experience from within their own being. You can’t really tell anyone else how things are. You can express from the depth of your own being that which is true for you, and in that way you speak with authority about your own experience. You can share that with someone else; and you can share ways for the other person to experience for themselves. But borrowed knowledge is not true knowledge. So when you speak with borrowed knowledge you don’t really come across, you don’t really reach a person.

This is what Ed Rabel was really saying, that the students blew it in regard to that. They were trying to get across a great message of God and what they believed about God, but speaking in a way that was not necessarily based upon their own experience. It was based upon knowledge that they had taken in from borrowed sources. They were not being real.

When I asked you the question “Hello there, is that really you?” I’m asking you for your personal statement to the world, not only in your ten minutes to speak to the earth, but in every moment you relate to life. Is it really you? Or is it something borrowed? Is it something borrowed from your past, from what your parents and your teachers and your ministers have said to you? Or is it something that really stems from the depth of your own being? Is it really you? What are you, really? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Have you ever asked the deepest part of your own being that question? And have you listened until you receive the answer from within yourself rather than from someone else? Who are you? What are you? What is your purpose?

We often relate to people and situations in a comparative sort of way. To our children we are parents, to our fellow workers we are fellow workers or maybe competitors, to our parents we are children, to our spouse we are husband or wife, if we are a salesperson we are a salesperson to our customers, or if we are a customer we are a customer to the salesperson. We tend to relate our own being to what we are in contrast to other people, rather than finding the depth of ourselves.

We’re not really being ourselves; we’re not really living our own lives. But when we get in touch with our real self there is no sense of separation, because we find we are one with God and one with everyone else.

So our work is to really get in touch with that one true self. In a sense of separation, we tend to get into battling with what seems to be, and by battling with what seems to be we’re not able to get in touch with ourselves. 

If you were to fly from west to east in the late afternoon or evening you would be flying into the dark. You would see the darkness approaching. It wouldn’t matter if you tried to battle the darkness that was coming, it wouldn’t have any effect upon it. But it would have an effect if you turned on the light in the cabin. In your inner life, too, you may try to battle the darkness, to push it away. But darkness is only an absence of something, and how can you fight something that is not? 

What would you consider as darkness in your life? Perhaps ignorance of Truth would qualify as darkness. Do you accomplish anything by fighting an ignorance of Truth? No. If you battle the ignorance of Truth, if you battle negativity or anger or resentments or fears, if you battle any of those things, what are you doing? You are giving power to it, and you are fighting an absence of something. Darkness is simply an absence of something. And just as you do in the outer, you’ve also got to turn on the light within yourself.

You can’t battle the darkness, but you can bring light into your life when you begin to work from within the reality of your own self. But in order to work from that reality you have to get in touch with it. We get in touch with it through prayer.

Prayer is the way to get in touch with the positive aspect of your being; prayer is a beautiful way to bring light into your life. Meditation is a way to bring light into your life, to get in touch with the one presence and one power. We cannot battle the darkness but we can bring in light.

In Unity we affirm, “There is only One Presence and One Power in all the Universe, God, the good, omnipotent.” So that’s what you have to focus on to bring light into your life – there is only one presence and one power.

What about when doubt comes in? If you struggle with the doubts that come, then again you’re trying to battle something that has no reality. You can just observe the doubts and recognize them, but still have a sense of faith and trust in the truth of the one presence and one power.

So you need to get in touch with that which is real within yourself. When you do that, then you can relate to everyone in a positive sense and in love. You can release all resentments, you can release all fears, you can send blessings of love and peace and truth to all those who are struggling simply by getting in touch with the truth of your own being and by living out the reality of your own life.

There is the presence of God within you which, recognized and brought forth, comes forth as grace in your life and changes everything. It helps you to release the past, to let go of anything you may have been or done or said or not said, and begin to live from right where you are now in a totally different way. And again, you only get in touch with the reality of this through your prayer and meditation, through getting still and getting in touch with yourself.

So what would you tell someone if you had ten minutes to speak to all the earth? What would you say to help them get in touch with themselves, their real selves? What would you say? What have you experienced in your search for Truth and your application of Truth principles that you can share with someone else to help them find something relevant within themselves?

Leave your comments below in response to the question. I’d love to hear from you.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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Hello Folks,

Here’s another great blog post from Karl Moore, www.karlblog.com:

Yesterday I was in town and decided to visit a coffee bar.

There was a magazine on the table, and an article caught my eye titled: “Secrets of Success!”

The article was a series of interviews with some of the country’s top entrepreneurs, and it proved quite a fascinating read.

What was clear from the people featured in the article was that they had all experienced failure before becoming successful.

In some cases, they had failed big time – often ending up with absolutely nothing before building up the successful businesses that they have today.

What’s also interesting is that most mentioned that without experiencing failure, they wouldn’t be the successful figures that they are now.

It turned out to be quite an inspiring coffee break.

As I see it, failure is simply experience. But it’s also so much more!

When something doesn’t work out, it presents an opportunity to learn from that experience. And in the failure are the clues for success – ways to do something bigger and better next time round!

So, if you’re experiencing failure in some part of your life right now, acknowledge it as experience and look for those clues that can make you more successful next time.

And think on … The only people who do not fail are those that aren’t doing anything!

It’s true!

So, if the going is tough at the moment, grab some extra inspiration by watching this video:

(Visit www.karlblog.com to view the video – under the heading Failure is Just Experience.)

 Remember – you’re not failing – just experiencing!

Have a positive day!

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-seven years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at Spiritual Solutions. Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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