Honoring the Light Bearers

At this sacred time of honoring the return of the light in many faith traditions, we are all called to be a candle bringing light in our worlds. This week we honor our blog contributors for sharing their light and they in turn honor the light brought into their lives by favorite spiritual teachers.

The talented North Carolina-based artist and educator Tim Botta pays tribute to our inner light with the holiday-themed portrait of Ernest Holmes, founder of Religious Science, at right, specially created for this blog. His work can be seen at TimBotta.com.

Rabbi Hoffman: What Our Broken Places Teach Us

By Harv Bishop

Kabbalist and teacher of mystic Judaism, Rabbi Howard Hoffman says that in Israel Hanukkah candles are placed on the ground, not prominently in windows, in order to invite us to integrate our dark and wounded places into the totality of our being. Our broken places can be our greatest teacher and our place of choice. At the level of human personality, he teaches, we are all a mixed bag of good and bad, instinct and empathy. It is only from the place of our inner-Divinity that we can treat ourselves and others with compassion. We are asked to do self-examination and integration gently and with compassion “as if by the light of candle” not the strong beam of a search light that presumes we can find and eradicate our every human frailty. Our behavior is part of who we are, he says, it is not  all we are. Through coming to know our pure soul we can accept all parts of ourselves and make better choices. Through acknowledging and healing our unique shadows, we open a door in consciousness that helps heal all people.

Neville: Imagining Creates Reality

By Mitch Horowitz

One of the most important spiritual teachers in my life is Neville Goddard (1905-1972), who espoused one radical premise: Your imagination is God. Neville, as he was known, took New Thought to its most complete and all-encompassing expression, teaching that Scripture is a symbolic blueprint to each individual’s self-realization as Christ. As you are reading these words, Neville taught, you are not Tom or Jane, but rather an individual expression of the creative essence of the universe – the Ultimate Mind. Each of us is a slumbering branch of the Creator, and we are here to realize our true nature. Neville challenged people to test the simple premise that imagining creates reality. If an individual will begin testing this idea in his own life, he is on the way to realizing his Christ-like potential. Neville’s philosophy is probably the closest New Thought analog to the most radical theorizing found today in quantum physics. Moreover, Neville himself was a compelling persona: In hundreds of speeches, and more than ten books, he restated his core thesis without it once growing stale. As a speaker, writer, and personage, Neville epitomized elegance, grace, and precision. He communicated as a conductor conducts a symphony, balancing many different elements around one epic theme: the God-like nature of your own mind.

Mitch Horowitz is a writer, speaker, narrator and award-winning historian with a lifelong interest in man’s search for meaning. His newest book on Neville,  Infinite Potential: The Greatest Works of Neville Goddard is available via Amazon.

Seth: To Sir with Love

By Sara Victoria Emory

The seeker inevitably faces moments when her quest resembles the proverbial blind men’s encounter with the elephant.  Many teachers have afforded me invaluable insights into the nature of reality. All inspire gratitude, yet if I were to name one it would be Seth, for whom the gifted trance medium Jane Roberts spoke for over 20 years. The Seth Material enhanced my ability to grasp everything from quantum physics to Toltec dreaming practices to the fundamental truth expressed in New Thought literature – that consciousness creates reality. His teachings about the physics of that process, the nature of probabilities and parallel worlds, multiple expressions of our greater self and the simultaneity of what we perceive as linear time, are invaluable to anyone whose search inspires the cry, ‘What’s going on here, anyway?’  The elephant is surely a wondrous beast. Yet, Seth provides a framework within which to approach the vastness of its mystery.

Sara Victoria Emory is a New York based-writer and lifelong student of metaphysics and the mysteries. She is a contributor to the HarvBishop.com anthology New Thought (R)evolution available via Amazon.

Christian Larson: Put Teachings into Practice

By Rev. Steve Walling

Christian D. Larson (1874-1954) had a profound influence on New Thought in general and through Ernest Holmes, Religious Science. So much of what can be found in Holmes’s writings reflects Larson’s thought and teaching. Holmes was a student of Larson and they became friends. Larson contributed to Science of Mind magazine and Science of Mind courses. I find that he often provides a deeper understanding to the philosophy and teachings of Science of Mind. Larson emphasizes the necessity of putting the New Thought teachings into practice to prove the truth of what the student is learning. This is a must in order to overcome the subconscious resistance to change.

Rev. Dr. Steve Walling is senior minister at the Spiritual Awareness Center, Madera, California, and host of New Thought Talk. He is a contributor to the HarvBishop.com anthology New Thought (R)evolution.