Life Is a Journey | Rev. John Riley

We rise up. Are you ready to rise? Yes. Are you ready to feel that experience, that feeling, that experience that’s up on the screen here today. That joyous – you’ve made it to the top. Anybody ready? Yes. Yes. All right. We got a few. That’s good. So, on the other side of it, do you feel like you’re always climbing? Does it feel like you’re climbing a very steep mountain? Does it feel like you’re struggling? Does it sometimes feel like you’re climbing that mountain and not getting anywhere? Does anybody feel that way? Yeah, me too. Sometimes I feel that way as well. So today, what we’re going to do is we are going to give work on some tools that we have for our spiritual mountaineering gear. Tools that you can put into that bag. Are you ready for that? Because life is a journey, isn’t it?

Making a Positive Difference In The World

Life is a climb sometimes. And sometimes, when we get to the top, it feels magnificent, and sometimes we feel like we’re stuck. So today, we’re gonna work on that. And in addition to that, I would love to have you think about not only can you identify with how to get yourself up to the top, to your highest good, to that peak, to that goal, but how you can lift all of humanity up. How can you help bring up and lift everyone else up? Because that’s really what we are here to do. You know, spirituality is all about community. It’s about creating community, and it’s about living in a culture and creating culture. And, you know, what’s culture and community other than beings coming together with a common set of values being com comings together with a common purpose, a common set of beliefs, and operating instructions.

That’s what creates culture. And here our goal is to help us lift that culture of humanity, to raise the collective consciousness, if you will, by raising ourselves up. So would you do that with me today? It’s really part of our evolutionary purpose. Thank you. For those of you who said yes. It’s really a part of our evolutionary purpose here at Unity Palo Alto, is to help transform lives and to inspire people to, to do to make a positive difference in the world, to do good things in the world. And now is the time to do that. Not tomorrow, not three weeks from now. Not when I’m, what is it? 101 and a half <laugh>. But now, right, John? Gotcha.

So I have a story to tell you. When I, years ago when I was in High Tech, this is probably, gosh, I don’t know, maybe 20 years ago or so, I was in High Tech and I had a good friend who was a colleague of mine. And his name was Brian. And Brian was just the light, right? Brian was the nicest guy. I I was in the product management group in the engineering department, and Brian was a product manager there. And so when I first joined, he was the first one to help me along. You know, he, he was always there, always smiling, always upbeat. Do you know someone like that? Brian was so cool. You know, this was back in the time…when…do you remember Austin Powers?

I’m a nerd. So he gave me two little Austin Powers dolls. One was Austin Powers and one was Dr. Evil. And when you slam him down, they say something like, “yeah, baby.” My favorite was Dr. Evil, when you slash ’em down. And he says, “$1 million dollars.” So for me, Brian was always, you know that key and that grounding personality, that person that I can come into work and regardless of what was happening, regardless of how steep the climb was that day, and there were some pretty steep climbs, he was always there to lift me up. Well, a few years into our relationship, into our knowing each other, while we were working together, Brian was playing softball with his, his, he had, he was on a softball team, I think he was playing second base. So he was out there at second base working hard, and all of a sudden, he collapses and Brian gets taken to the hospital, and it turns out he has cancer. He had no idea. And four days later, he made his transition.

So in that time, I thought, “you know, I should go see him. I should go see him.” But I was afraid to in that time, well, you know, having this, you know, spiritual thought, you will rise up. And he did, but just not in the physical sense. And so I missed my friend, and it’s something I didn’t know I was gonna go here, but I’m going here, deal with it. So it’s something that you know is within us, or that, you know, that we, that’s buried down in there. And when you start to open it up to heal it, it just starts pouring out. And that’s normal. We all know that, right? That’s normal. That’s okay. So this is, okay, I’m telling myself this is myself preaching to me. So this is, okay. And I went through the next, you know, year or so with those little dolls.

Don’t Resist the Steep Climbs in Life

Actually, I don’t know if I still have ’em. I think they’re somewhere, but I wouldn’t get rid of them. And I think my kids and I would play with them, I’d throw ’em at them, and they’d throw ’em at me, and I get to hear the sayings. And it just reminded me of my friend Brian. And so along this journey, there will be some steep climbs. Yeah. And it’s okay. It’s okay to be afraid of them. It’s okay to feel you know, fear and it’s okay to be sad about them. And even amongst all of those things, we can still rise up and we can still walk the path that we’re here to walk the calling that is calling us. I think each of us has a calling for us to express and to experience a greater expression of this, what we call the Divine, which Rusty called that Christ consciousness, right? That, that goodness that’s within us to express a little bit more of it. And so today, our, in our toolkit I’ve got the three Ds. This is for you Joe, where are you, Joe? The three Ds of spiritual mountain climbing. Are you ready for our three Ds are alliteration for the day. Be deliberate, be diligent, be delightful.

Understanding Core Values

So deliberate, deliberate. When you’re deliberate, you’re doing something consciously and intentionally. So in our spiritual principles,, our fifth principle is daily practice. Put it into work daily, because it’s how we live life. Everything is spiritual. And when we live from these principles, right, we’re expressing more of it in the world. And, we can move through the world more intentionally. The key here is focused first, not on the doing, but on the being in every situation. Hmm. Focused first. Not on the doing, but on the being in every situation. So a situation comes up, how are you going to be in it? And we have a choice when we practice, right? We have a choice when we practice. Now in the quantum living class, we have something called our Q card. And it’s basically our core values. And our board of trustees works on our core values and our personal mission statement each year at our board retreat.

And we develop our own set of core values individually so that we know that we can…we bring that to our board meeting so that we can be on our card, so to speak, during the meeting, so that when things come up, we focus first on the “being in every situation.” Now I’ve been doing this, you know, evaluating my core values probably for 16 years now or so, and they change along the way cuz my priorities change or my consciousness about them, my realization about the changes. But my core values begin with self-awareness because it’s with self-awareness that we can see when we are reacting, doing, being, and how we’re showing up. That underpins everything. The core foundation is love and faith, sorry, love, and wisdom.

Be Deliberate!

And the next two are faith and will and, finally, open-hearted. So these are the values that I try to bring with me to every situation. And sometimes I’m, I hit it out of the park. It’s like I scale that mountain, and I’m up there at the view, and it’s like, ah, that was awesome. And sometimes I don’t. But the key here is to really understand what core values really mean to you, because I’ve been teaching this for a long time now. And the key to getting back into that spiritual oneness, that spiritual isness, that spiritual sense or that Christ consciousness is to remember your core values, but not just intellectually, but know how they show up for you. Know, what it looks like. What does it look like to be will. Now will is one of the 12 powers that Charles Fillmore developed out of one of the apostles or one of the disciples.

Anybody remember which disciple? Matthew! Thank you very much. Sarah Ann. Sarah Ann gets the gold star. Ding. Matthew is the disciple that represents Will. Now how does will show up for me? Well, for me will is the, the energy that moves my feet forward Will, is the energy and, and the decision to step into something, even when I’m afraid, even when I’m sad, even when I’m a little bit lost, will is the, the ability to keep going forward. Now I added to “will” – I hyphenated it? It isn’t that clever. Not that I can only have seven values, but I hyphenated it. So it’s now authentic-will because there’s the will-of-the-ego, right? There’s the will-of-the-pain-body, and then there’s the will-of-the-divine-consciousness, the Christ within me, the higher good, that spark of Divinity. And that’s what I call my authentic self.

Be Diligent! 

That’s who I truly am. So my authentic will…just gave me a new lens to see through it. How will I show up today? And how will I move through this day authentically with that? Will we choose how we can make a difference in the world by how we are going to be in the world? The next is diligence. Be diligent. Now, diligence means being, you know, having care and consciousness, being conscientious, that’s a really long word. Being conscientious, right? So when we’re living in the world, spirituality takes diligence. It takes the willingness to care how we show up in the world, to bring forward these spiritual principles and practices to use them in our life. Every day.

Be diligent in seeking your highest good. You know, so often we, we get up that we’re starting up the mountain and it’s like, yeah, no, I’m gonna just go around this corner and hide in a cave for a little bit. Not our highest good. Always be seeking our highest good. And if you don’t know what that is, just move within prayer. And me. Prayer and meditation and affirmative prayer and affirm divine light is illumining me. My purpose is made clear and it will be. So when we let go of the ego trying to drive the bus and just allow Spirit to move through us and as us, the way becomes clear. Cuz each of us has a different way of expressing that good positive influence in the world. Bring your values, values with you when you, when you climb. Because when it gets steep and rocky, the values will help you become centered.

So many times we’re just, you know, screwing up the mountain. Instead, just take a moment to get centered in this. And sometimes we’re heading up the wrong mountain, right? Sometimes we realize, you know, that’s not where I wanted to go. This isn’t, this is no longer from my highest good. It got me to where I’m at now. What’s the next hill over? Let’s shift gears and move over. See, that’s the problem with trying to predict and control everything in our lives, right? That’s typically the human nature. We try to predict what’s gonna happen and control it so that everything happens the right way. But sometimes chaos happens. Have you heard of the word chaotic? The chaotic process that in the chaos there is order. That if you just allow that change to come, allow whatever that is inside you wanting to emerge, then you get back on track quicker, then you get you, it’s easy to diverse the mountain and get up on the other hill right there.

There are times when you just have to let go and not hold on so hard to what we think we have to do, but rather let it go and then turn within and let Spirit guide us. What is my next path? And it may be the difficult part, getting out of the cave and heading up the hill, but being diligent allows us to, to move through that. And so that’s where being on our card, on our core values is really helpful. When we slip and slide, it’s just noticing I’m slipping and sliding. It’s okay, just get back on my value of love, get back on my value, which expresses as self-compassion. Compassion for others was expresses as kindness with which expresses as accountability. So that I slip off my card, I take the time to make things right, I’m accountable for what I do. So be diligent in your exploration. 

Be Delightful! 

And then finally the fun one, you ready? Be delightful. Be delightful. Life is is a journey up the mountain and celebrate the climb every step of the way. Now, if you have a goal, here’s one way to practically apply this. If you have a goal in life anybody have a goal? I’m, I’m taking notes, you know? Yeah. So some of us have goals. Now have you heard the idea you have this goal? Now break that up into small parts. Have you heard that? Yeah, it’s pretty common. So when you hit that small part, that small, you know, check mark, what do you do? Okay, that’s done. Let me get onto the next one. Celebrate. What have we took the opportunity to celebrate? Ding Catherine gets the second star. What if we took the opportunity to celebrate, celebrate each step of the way, every small achievement. Because when you celebrate that gives you enthusiasm, that gives you self-confidence, that gives you the ability and the energy to keep moving forward to celebrate. It’s okay, you know, someone said, well that sounds very said to me. That sounds like pride and pride goeth before the fall. Yes, the pride of ego, right?

Goeth before the fall, but the pride of Spirit, that knowing that we are one with the infinite intelligence and that infinite intelligence is here to lift us up. That you are here, to shine and to experience life gloriously and to be that bright expression of light to the world. You are here to be the light of the world set upon the hill so that others may see you. So that we can lead humanity to a higher place so we can lead our friends and family to a higher place without telling them, you know, you really ought to go to Unity.  You should. Cuz you know what you got going on there. It just ain’t working for you. At least it isn’t working for me. Don’t worry about that. Just be, don’t be the doer. Just be Unity. Be that light. Because when you show up on your card, you know they can throw stones at you, but you are, have your spiritual armor on. You’re just like, “okay, I get it. It’s really not about me.” This is about your pain body. Be that experience in the world, and then others will see that. And Jesus had a wonderful saying, a wonderful phrase that he put at the end of a lot of his sayings cuz he talked, he taught in metaphor, he talked, taught in simile. And what he would say is, “let those who have to ears to hear, hear, let those who have ears to hear.” Because not everybody’s ready, right?

How Long Does Healing Take? 

We may be carrying, a great backpack filled with our, fears, our doubts, our wounds. And we’re carrying it with us up the hill. They’re not ready to let it go yet. And that’s okay cuz healing comes one step at a time. I’m gonna take a little bit out of my backpack and sit on the road and write a little note. Do not pick up for the next person that comes in – oh, someone lost us. I better carry it for them. Do not pick up. Just allow us, to let go of these wounds so that they can be healed within us and allow us to source our core values to source. Source, right? All of the core values, what they are, are ex different. It’s like a prism, and different refractions of this beautiful light that is God, that is Spirit that is within you.

Like the ocean is in the wave. You’re not separate from it. And yet we have these different experiences of it. So delight in that every step of the way. Delight for others, give others, you know, their some joy. Thank you for being here. Thank you for carrying that weight. Thank you for, you know let me help you. Lift up, lift you up, and thank you for lifting me up. Delight in others cuz that’s what we’re here to do as social beings, as we do it in community, is to delight in each other. We may not agree with one another all the time. There may be some things that we’re, there’s a hard no and a, and a and a really good yes. And we can honor both of those and still see that divine spark within someone else. Be delightful as you’re going up the hill.

Take your time. It’s not a race. This isn’t speed. Mountain climbing. Take one step at a time and then look around. Enjoy the dell that you found – I don’t know if there is a dell in a mountain? I don’t know… Enjoy the views along the way and see how the view changes as you rise up. Enjoy the rocks. See the minerals in the rocks. See the, see the patterns in the rock. Have you ever seen, been Yosemite and seen, you know, like half them and seen the beauty of, of just the rock itself? Enjoy the air, the crisp air around you. Enjoy the flowers that somehow bloomed on the face of that mountain. A little tiny flower. We all have these things in our lives. Celebrate every one of them and allow them to bloom within you.

I love this quote from Ecclesiastes chapter nine, verse seven. It says, “go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart. For God has already accepted your works.” Take a nice deep breath with that one. You are already accepted. What you need to do is accept yourself with your foibles, with your strengths. Allow that wholeness of you, that whole being within you to be accepted and to be honored and to be grateful. And that’s really the last step of being delightful, is grateful. Have you ever seen somebody that’s truly grateful? Anybody ever seen…somebody walk up to somebody? They’re just glowing, aren’t they? And you walk up to them, it’s like, oh, it just changes your own experience. It’s like, this person’s really grateful for life. This person has a glow to them and we get to reflect that glow back to them. So be delightful. In your journey up the hill, I’d like to move to our affirmation. Now I’m going to read the affirmation and then invite you to affirm it.