A Curious Mind | Rev. John Riley

The Power of Community and Togetherness

Good morning, unity Palo Alto. Good Morning. How you feeling? Good. All right. That was magnificent. Thank you. Margot Russell and Ronnie, we are so blessed here today. Yes. Yes. Before I begin my talk, I want to say what an amazing dinner with friends that we had on last Sunday. Felix, would you put the picture up so we can see that Beautiful, that beautiful event. Well, there are only two pictures I took him real quickly. But look at, we had so much when we had about 45 people there, it was amazing to feel the energy, feeling people coming back together again. So thank you. The, to the guys who put it all together. Kent Whitfield, Eric Armstrong, rest of Gaylord, Doug Caulfield, Paul Sano, Paul Clow. Paul Goodwin, the Pauls. We’re gonna name everyone. Paul after that, go and take that down, if you will. So if, if you are here, all of you guys who helped put it on, would you please stand so we can give you a round of applause and a blessing. Stay standing. Stay standing.

Reuniting in Joy: Embracing Togetherness, Connection, and Celebration

You know how this rolls here. Paul, Paul, Canton, Rusty, and everyone else who was involved. We love you. We bless you. We appreciate you. And we behold the light in you. And so it is what a fantastic experience it was. Just to feel the vibration. Doesn’t it feel good to get back together again? You know, it’s been, we’ve been through a thing and we’re still going through a thing. Yeah. But it does feel good. It feels good to begin to, you know, get back together with friends face-to-face. Yeah. To feel good about, you know, getting to, going to coffee, face-to-face, teaching face-to-face. Anybody hear a teacher? I’ve, I’ve noticed, yes. Getting back in front of students being, having that connection. How about celebrating birthdays?

Embracing the New Normal with Open Hearts

How about celebrating births? We have a fact. We’re going to have a blessing for Dylan. Benji Franzen right here after the service. And you’re all welcome to that. And Brenna will tell us more, but it just feels, ’cause then doesn’t it feel really good to be driving in traffic again? Oh yeah. Okay. That’s one that I’d really like to, you know, pass by. I would really like to transcend that. Anyone want to transcend that experience of driving in traffic? Yeah. Traffic is back. So there’s some things that are different and some things that are the same. And as we get back together, get back to it, we’re noticing that not everything that was happening before is the same, even though we’re getting back to it. There’s still some differences out there. It still feels a little bit different. Are you experiencing that too? Some of you yes. Raise your hands that way I can get a better sense. Oh, a lot of you. Okay. It’s just a very quiet day. So some of the things that we would love to have back the old way, the old things, some of the things that we really enjoyed aren’t coming back.

Finding Healing in Transition

Some of the things that we really liked aren’t coming back. And in some sense, there’s some sadness in that. There’s some loss in that. Wouldn’t you agree? There’s some, there’s some grieving in that process. Now, some of the things that we really loved are coming back with joy and enthusiasm with robustness. And those are the things that we’re excited about. Yes. So what is it in your life that you are discovering isn’t there that you’d like it to be? That just isn’t a part of the, the culture anymore, or the direction that the culture is moving into sometimes feels like it’s changing. And what is in that, in you that you are grieving? And it’s important for us to acknowledge that because otherwise, what are we doing? We’re stuffing it down. We’re ignoring it. And that grief is something that we have to experience and allow so that we can be present to it.

The New Era of Consciousness

So we can allow it to release, so that we can experience a sense of lightness and freedom so we can experience our own forgiveness. And there are new things happening in our culture that we’re not even aware of that. And some of them are wonderful, and we’re starting to experience that. Raise your hand if you’ve experienced something new since this last since we’ve started to get back together. Yeah. And, and some of those are good things, aren’t they? So there’s, there’s this idea that, you know, things are changing, that the world is changing. We are seeing the observation of it. And just take a moment to acknowledge what’s in your heart. What, what lifts you up and what you’re sad about. Because it’s all just a process of moving through it. There is a new era emerging. There is a new consciousness that’s beginning to emerge now.

New Era of Consciousness Amidst Acceleration

I say beginning, but it’s been happening now for the last a hundred years. It’s been slow, it’s been slowly moving along. But then the pandemic came and the pandemic acted as an accelerant. And now things are happening faster and faster and faster. And so change is among us. Now, how many of us just love change? Paul, Bridget, four of us, five of us, six of us. Oh yeah. Okay. Come on. Either you’re committed or not. You’re in or you’re out. Not everybody loves change. And the reason that is true is because our brains are wired to make you think everything is fine. Everything is the same. Don’t look at change, don’t worry, you’re safe. So we’re wired to see what the patterns are in life. We’re wired not to see the change, but we’re wired to see the patterns. That’s why I get so excited in the fall.

Embracing Change in the Emerging Era of Consciousness

‘Cause All of us sudden, it’s like one day all of the trees in the, in the parking lot turn bright orange and yellow and fluorescent. It’s like boom, all of a sudden because they didn’t see gradually, oh, there’s one leaf, there’s another leaf hiding in there. Right? We, we tend to look at things as the same and to pattern our lives so that we feel comfortable. So they’re not worried about it. But this is a time when we need to really lean into change. We really need to lean into this expression of consciousness that is emerging and it is emerging, whether we like it or not, we can accept it or we can fight against it. It doesn’t care. It’s emerging. This new consciousness. Now, Jim Lockhard, he’s an author in a new thought luminary. And he talks about this time as being in a liminal space.

Co-Creating the Future

We’re in a liminal space. And liminal means we are at the position at or on both sides of a boundary or a threshold. So one era is going out and another era is coming in. And here we are right in the middle of it. Right in the middle of this change. Here’s what he has to say about that liminal experience. We’re in a liminal space, a place between two stages of being. We know what the stage we are leaving. We were rapidly leaving was like, but the next stage must be co-created by all of us as we move forward, co-created by all of us. Yes, things are changing. Yes, the world around us is changing. Yes, we love it to stay exactly the same. It was yesterday or 20 years ago, or 40 years ago. We love it for it to be consistent for us.

The Inner and Outer Journey of Transformation

But in order for us to move forward in our spiritual growth and our experience of life is that we must be accepted and lean into that change a little bit in order us to, for us to move forward. That’s the outer expression of life. You get that? In order us to, for us to take one step forward, that outer expression of life, we must first move inward. We must move inward because everything begins in mind. And our process is mind, idea, expression. Everything begins first in mind and divine mind. You might say there’s, there’s these new consciousness emerging. And then we get some ideas about it. We starts formulating this is what it means, and that’s what it means. We give meaning to it. We, we give meaning to, oh, I don’t like it this way. And I love it that way. And then we express from that understanding.

Hatching into a Brave New World

So we have to, in order for us to usher in a brave new world, in order us for us to create a world that works for all, for us to move through this change in consciousness, this new era with ease and grace, we must first move back in all of life is that cycle. We move in and then we move out. That’s our practice. We go into meditation and affirmative prayer, and then we express it out into the world. And if we did that on a regular basis, and you know, I’m talking daily, I’m talking, you know, every few minutes, move within, connect with Spirit, connect with that presence and power that’s within you, and then express. If we just did that one thing, what would life be like? So as we start to move into this idea of change, we need to understand that we must lean into it and be open to what’s happening. C ss Lewis once said, we are like eggs at present. Look at all you little eggs out there. We’re like eggs at present. And you cannot go indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

Cracking Open to a New Era of Beingness

I know, take a nice deep breath on that one. You, if, if you think about that egg that you left on the counter, that raw egg that you left on the counter for three weeks, what’s it gonna be when you open it up? Yeah, it’s not gonna be pretty. But that’s where we are at. We are either growing, we’re either open to that change. We’re either open to moving forward and living in that new era and beginning to express and discover what it’s going to be like and bring our light to it. Or we’re going to revert. We’re gonna become isolated. We’re gonna become shut in. We’re not going to venture out. We’re gonna become more fearful. So which direction do you want to go? That’s a rhetorical question because we all want to grow. We all want to experience joy, but it’s not always easy. We must learn to lean into the change and allow this new experience of us to hatch as, as Lockhart said, it’s a, it’s a new era of beingness. It’s how we are showing up in here and how then how we show up out there. The liminal space that we’re in, we can all feel the effects. We feel it personally, as we talked about earlier. And we feel that as a spiritual community, we feel that as a group coming together. And what, what’s, you know, all we we’re always saying, it wins everyone coming back.

Rediscovering the Beloved Community

Well, we have about 40 people online. We have about 40, 50 people here. People are doing their thing who says they’re not back, right? We’re looking at it from that lens of what we used to think of church and seeing it through that lens of lack. It’s no longer here. How would the idea of, you know, we used to have bulletins. I’m not gonna ask the question ’cause then I’ll be compelled to create a bulletin, right? We used to have ushers, we used to do all of these different things that created something. It was very interesting because I was reading another, I forget the name, but another luminary who looks at Christianity as a whole. And he was saying, you know, the church has become like a country club. Everyone take a nice deep breath, right? Someone bring me my martini. Someone bring me my spiritual practice so that I don’t have to do anything. And really, it’s not about the church being a service, it’s about the church being the community, the beloved community. It’s about us coming together.

The Church in a New Era of Consciousness

Now, historically, when a new era emerged, and this is going back thousands of years, looking at the how the, the eras, the different eras and consciousness emerged and the reactions that churches had to it. The churches were the last to hear. The churches were the loudest to complain. How about those kids in their iPhones? I can’t believe it. The churches were dragged kicking and screaming into the new culture because culture changed. And historically the church didn’t want to change. And then what happens? Well, we’ve got together and we decided that God now wants, no, I don’t. Church changed, didn’t it? And church is changing again today. You know, this phenomena of wins. Everyone coming back is not just us. It’s all over every denomination. It’s all over the planet. In fact, I was in a dialogue with Jim Locker and he told us that in France where he now lives, only 1% of the population goes to church regularly. 1%. So if you think we have it bad, right? The state is buying churches left and right because they can’t stay open on their own. So it’s not about what’s the church doing wrong or right. It’s about where are we as a community and where are we getting our sense of community. And community is so important for our health.

Leading with Open Hearts in a New Era

There’s tons of studies out there, but it, it’s really showing us that we need to connect with one another. And how can we connect with one another in a way where we feel safe, where we feel comfortable, and where we can grow spiritually. And so the way I believe is that we need to be open and curious because we are at the front of this emerging era. I think for the first time, at least the, the historians say at the first time, we’re aware that the era is changing. In the past it just changed and dragged everyone along with it. But now we’re able to actually look at the past and have that inform our present day and see that things are changing. And if we know that we are, and are open and curious to it, we can be at the front end of this emerging era. Instead of being dragged through it kicking and screaming. We could be the ones to lead people through it with ease and grace. We can be the ones to help people discover that inherent sense of self, that higher self that’s within them, that’s within each other, and be able to connect with each other, connect with the planet, connect with the earth, connect with all of humanity and all of creation in a different way, in a way that we look at some cultures and they have already done that.

Cultivating Self-Awareness and Oneness in a New Era

But you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. You can’t go around saying, well, ai, we’re just gonna ignore it ’cause it’s here. And more things will come. So how can we embrace what we are creating and refocus what we are creating so that we create something that is useful and helpful for all people. That raises the consciousness for all people. And maybe it will mean change down the road and maybe we’ll be able to do it with ease and grace if we are here to lead it into that greater. And this new era is requiring a greater sense of self-awareness, a greater sense of connection with each other, and connection with Spirit source, the ness, the universe, whatever you want to call it. The isness, that that which is greater than us, that which we are innately a part of. We are an individualized expression of it. So let’s be more of that, that idea of oneness. And I, I think we’ve had that idea of oneness for some time, but it’s been an intellectual understanding and we experience it here and there. But as a whole, we’re not there yet. And there are few people who really understand that we need to continue to move in that direction. And the more we experience that and grow and lean into it, the more that will raise up and raise us up spiritually. So we need to do this through what we call here at Unity Palo Alto.

Unity in a Changing World

We’re calling it conscious living and leading, conscious living and leading. And so we’re going through this experience on an individual level, on a cultural level, and on a global level. And the great thing, the thing I love about Unity is that it’s a safe space. It’s a safe space where we can come and be who we are. We welcome people from all walks of life. It’s a safe space to come and, and explore my beliefs. And you know, you may not agree with me and that’s okay. And this is what we teach, is that you are here and you can be here even if you disagree with me. So that we can all learn from each other, grow and continue to move forward. It’s kind of like a spiritual proving grounds, right? We’re drive testing all of our, our our spiritual cars and enjoying that, join the curves. It’s a place for us to come together and, and connect. And we had a wonderful getting back together with a dinner. And we love to the board loves to, we’re we’re looking for ways in which we can do more community activities and do more things to, in along the way to include as we grow. Because there will be some things that we bring with us that are very helpful, like community dinners. That was a fabulous experience. Yes, yes. And there will be things that we need to transcend, that we need to let go of, that we need to just say it’s okay. And as we are going through our grief of losing those things, hoing those ideas, allowing, allowing those ideas that say we have to have this, otherwise it’s just not church.

Building a Thriving Community

We have to have this because this is what worked 40 years ago. We have to have this because this is what they did a hundred years ago and everybody was fine. Then as we start to let go of those things and we start to feel that sense of loss, it’s an opportunity for us to let go and to hospice. Even that idea within us to allow it to move through us and go easily and gracefully. Dr. Maya Angelou once said, stepping into a brand new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation which is not nurturing to the whole woman. Moving through a difficult path is difficult, but it’s not as hard as holding onto that which is falling away and wishing it was back, being angry, it was back, whatever it is. Allowing that to let, allowing us to let go so that we can feel whole and be whole within us. Now, back in March, the board of trustees got together and our idea was, what if we can just come together as a community? What if we can do things to build community? And so we had things like the, the dinner with friends. We’ve, we have things like pick a parties. We have things like the the lunch brunch, which didn’t even come from the board. We have these ideas to come together for us to just dip our toes into getting back to it. But community cannot be created by the minister as much as I demand it, as much as I decree make it. So, number one, that’s a different, that’s a different show. Community cannot be created by the board.

Embracing Change and Unity at Palo Alto

Community. Community can only be created by us, by all of us, by the community, by a group of men who decided we’re gonna put on a, a dinner for friends, you know, by Rusty who got a group of guys together and said, let’s go do this. By a group of people who said, let’s throw a party and here’s a party I’m gonna create by someone who said, let’s get every fourth Sunday of the month. Go outside and share lunch together. Bring our own lunch, have a brunch, and we’ll talk the community, the sacred community, the beloved community. That’s what we are here to create at Unity Palo Alto. It’s to great that yes, we have teachings, yes, we have great spiritual principles. I think yes, they are empowering. They will help you discover that spiritual magnificence within you and they will help you transform your life if you choose to use them. And the way we learn about them is so much more powerful when we learn it together, when we practice together, when we share our ups and downs about it, when we share our doubts about it, when we discuss what we agree or don’t agree with that crazy, crazy guy on the stage. And we have to make a decision.

Transforming Together at Unity Palo Alto

We have to make a decision that we are going to make this change together. So over the next I I want you to just tell you a little bit more about the board, because what the board is committed to do it’s changed too. We have grown and we are trying something new. We are using the book the 15 15 conscious Commitments of Spiritual Leaders. No 15 conscious Commitments of, what is it, rusty? Do you know it? Off the top of your head? 15 commitments of conscious leadership. 15 Commitments of conscious Leadership. Hey, there it is on my next slide, because being on the board isn’t just about dollars and di and dinners. Oh dang. I thought I was gonna get a better response on that one. I should have left that one on the slide. 15 commitments of conscious leaders. So each board meeting, we devote a time, 30 minutes to discuss one of those commitments. How is it showing up for us personally and how can we use it as a board to help us raise our consciousness as a board to help us be that spiritual stewardship, to be that leadership. And so we devote time each month to to diving into those. Now the 15 commitments of conscious leaders. There are 15 commitments. And it’s a very simple and powerful model. It’s a horizontal black line. You’re either above the line coming from our higher self, coming from that greater self within us, or we’re below the line coming from our self-consciousness, our fear, our our, our self-centered ego. So it’s very simple.

Evolving Out of Not Enough

Where am I today? Can I look at myself and say in this moment, where am I? Am I above the line or am I below the line? In general, if I’m above the line, I commit to being open, curious, and I’m committed to learning and growing. ’cause If we’re not being hatched, we’re going bad. And we know that we’re below the line when I’m committed to being closed, defensive and committed to being right.

So it’s not a matter of if because we’re all of those things. That’s called being human. It’s called being a decent egg. But in the moment, if we have the self-awareness, where am I in this moment? What things bring me down, make me closed, make me defensive, make me committed to being right. What are those things so that we can understand ourselves more so that we can then lift ourselves up to be open, curious, and committed to learning and growing. It’s a simple and powerful tool, but not easy. And so September, for us as a spiritual community, we are laying the groundwork for this. I’m gonna be talking about different aspects of this. During September, laying the groundwork for our fall enrichment program, our fall enrichment program is entitled, evolving Out of Not Enough. Now, can anybody say they don’t need a little bit of that? Kent doesn’t need a little bit of that Kent. And I need a lot of that. Okay, I should speak for myself.

Unity Palo Alto’s Journey Forward

So we are laying the groundwork for this fall program, and if you would like to see the board in action the last Sunday of the month, the 24th is our board meeting here at 1130 in the Yes Hall, it’s a great opportunity for you to see how the board operates. Lunch will be provided. If you’re curious about our finances, this is the right opportunity for you to understand where we’re at financially. If you’re curious about what the board talks about or how we interact, this is the perfect opportunity to come and see your board in action. We have a fabulous board. It’s an amazing group of people. And I’m so blessed by each one of us now in our fall enrichment program that begins October 1st, the week of October 1st. And the way it works is, and we are going to be, we are asking people to open their homes. And I think we have five or six right now, small groups ready or have said yes. And so if you would like, if you have a space where you can invite people in that’s great. We’re the small groups are probably gonna be around 10 people max. And what do we do?

Unity Palo Alto’s Fall Enrichment Program

We come together to learn to talk each week. We’ll get a little study guide each week we’ll be based on the talk and we’ll have deeper questions to help you dive deeper into how you experience in life. And then have a discussion about how you experience life. And at each meeting we’ll have a time for prayer, for connection, for community. And we’ve done this for 40 years. Yes, yes. It’s a little different. There’s no book attached to it this time. It’s just simply the talks. But there are some special people that are working on it. Rusty and I are gonna be working on it. Martha Creek will be one of the speakers during the middle of it. So there’s a lot going into this. And our goal is for us to really get together so that we can deepen our experience of this evolution that is happening. And so if you’d like to become a host, I’ll have the signup sheet out in the somewhere. You just have to mentally figure out where it is. No, I’ll have it where the hospitality is, which is in the Yes hall Party. It’ll be at the pickup party table. Thank you Spirit.

Leading the Way in a New Era

So here, here’s our practice. There’s a question. Yes. Got it. Can you tell us what the responsibility of the host, the responsibility of the host is to provide a space? Would they be leading that? They will not be leading. Everyone’s going to lead. So everyone has the opportunity to take a role, to take a role as the timekeeper, to make sure everyone has the time to talk, to take a role as leading the prayer. And there’ll be a little prayer in there that you can say, or you lead your own to take the time to, you know, to make sure that everyone has what they need. And so the host is there to pro provide the space is some hospitality, or you can ask people to bring it, but it’s really to provide the space. And if you don’t have a space, you can check our calendar and maybe hold one here at, at the center. Thank you. Great question. Well, you’re organizing the space here. You’ll organize the chairs and things like that. So you’ll create the, the, you’ll create the space when you get here. ’cause Everything’s in the closet. So if you’re hosting it here and you’re the host, then your responsibility is to create a welcoming environment. Pretty straightforward. So here’s our spiritual practice. Are you ready? Oh gosh, that was, it was like crickets. Like crickets, right?

Awakening Curiosity

Alright, we’re gonna go with commitment number two, learning through curiosity. Here’s what happens. We’re going through life. We’re going through life, and then something happens, right? Whatever that something is. It could be a, a diagnosis. It could be, you know, a call from a friend. It could be something high, it could be something low, but something happens. And immediately we start drifting into the worst possible scenario. We start drifting into, you know, how can I fix this problem? So we start drifting into that lower self, below the line, we’re closed. We’re, we’re, we’re self-conscious. We’re starting to, you know, think that we’re, we have to be right. All of those things. And then we have the choice. Once we understand that, once we realize, hey, I’m drifting down below the line, I have a choice to move above the line, and I have choice to shift with curiosity, something’s happening. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder, write that down. You can quote me beyond this. I wonder what’s happening here. I wonder what’s here for me to learn? I wonder what’s going on with the other person. Maybe they need some more compassion, some understanding. I wonder what I can give to the situation that will lift people up. I wonder how I can become more open, where I can learn. Maybe there’s something here that I don’t understand.

Transforming Stories and Relationships

Maybe am I, am I striving to be right? I can take a step back and breathe and just allow something new to emerge. I wonder with that one question, that curiosity shifts us into an open mindset. It allows our curious mind to see what’s out there and then take that into discernment to see what’s right for you, rather than immediately demi dismissing it rather than immediately shutting it down. So here’s, here’s a story, A quick story. Now I wanna share. A few people have actually come up to me and asked me about my story, about my kids, and whether, you know, my kids like me telling stories or whether I ask them if it’s okay to tell stories about them. And I kind of just thought to myself, you know, maybe I need to take that question into discernment. So I decided until I decide what I’m gonna do there, I’m not gonna tell stories about my kids anymore. Is that okay?

A Path to Understanding and Connection

So Tiffany and I are driving down the freeway, she’s driving, and there’s these two kids in my back of my car. I have no idea who they are. I don’t know how they got there. They’re just there. I’m in the passenger seat. And one of them says, oh, we’re passing down 85 or passing by I two 80, right? Interstate two 80. Why is it called interstate? It doesn’t go between two states. It’s just right here. That’s ridiculous. Well, I kind of know the answer, but I wanted to, you know, so I take out my supercomputer outta my pocket, and I start, I wanna get all the details, you know, that’s gotta be right. So I’m looking up, you know, why is it called interstate? And then I realize I’m listening to them and, and they’re just arguing about how crazy people are who are naming roads, and why do they name it like that? And why didn’t they do it this way? By the time I got all my data, they’re like three conversations ahead. And I realized they weren’t being curious when they asked the question why they just posed a question so that they could, ’cause they have the same supercomputer in their pocket. They could look it up if they were really curious. They just wanted an excuse to complain. And I, and I’m like, okay, I closed my supercomputer, I put it in my pocket. At least they’re not complaining about each other. My job is done.

Leading Above the Line: Harnessing the Power of True Curiosity

So beware of false curiosity. This isn’t something that you’re looking for out there. This is something that we’re looking for in here. It’s not if, it’s when, when do I use curiosity as a way to complain? When do I use curiosity as a way to make an excuse for myself to revert to my old patterns or to do nothing at all? That idea of curiosity, if we’re using it incorrectly, is simply our way of being below the line. So we need to use it as a way to truly be open. And if you are self-aware and self authentic, you can ask the question, why am I, why am I doing this? What am I, what am I trying to stay away from? What am I rejecting in my life? What am I pushing away in my life? What is it that I, there’s your curiosity, getting back to what’s going on within me. So not using it as a way to prove that you’re right. Living and leading above the line.

Leading from Higher Consciousness

We lead from our higher self-consciousness, our higher state of consciousness. When we’re above the line, we’re more open, we’re more receptive, we’re more cl, we’re more intuitive. We have greater ideas, we’re more effective. Did I say that? We’re open, curious, and committed to learning. When we’re above the line, when we’re below the line, we are defensive and committed to being right. So are you in? Yes, yes. It’s simple. It’s not always easy. So don’t get too upset with yourself. And this isn’t about telling your partner, this is the way you should be. This is all self work. So just be gentle with yourself and allow yourself to be open and ready to receive. Felix, can we move to the affirmation, our affirmation for today?