Are You Lonely? Disconnected? Feeling Separate? | Rev. John Riley

Well good morning. Are you feeling separate? Are you feeling alone? Are you feeling a little bit disconnected? Today we’re going to continue our spiritual journey of discovering that consciousness and raising our consciousness so that we can feel that connection with that one Presence and one Power, so that we can know that one connection, so that we can know that we are never alone.

Raising Consciousness

Now, we’ve been on this journey. We started last week of raising consciousness, of connecting our self to that which is greater than us, connecting ourselves to that idea. We began last week with the Zen proverb about the teacup and the idea of emptying our teacup, emptying ourselves of our beliefs, emptying ourselves of our stale consciousness, of our stale beliefs, our thoughts, our stories, so that we can be open and receptive for something new, for something greater.

Today we’re going to use that concept as we go into this idea of opening to and celebrating this divine consciousness, this idea. So first we are going to begin with a test – hang on one second here. Are you ready? Get your pen. So, what I want you to do is, I’m going to read a few terms and then I want you to just see how they land in you. See, feel, how they land in your body, what your brain starts to say, what stories start to get conjured up? Feel what emotions start to come up when I say these terms. Ready? God, isness, Yahweh, divine love, Jehovah, Elohim, Holy Spirit, the father, divine intelligence, divine mind, divine spark, higher consciousness, higher power, the universe, Agape, father-mother-God, source, Spirit, loving presence.

Now, through those words did you notice, you probably noticed that there were some words that really resonated with you, or a word or two that was like, “Ah, there it is. I heard my word”. If you didn’t hear your word how did you feel about it? I’m guessing that there were some words that may have sparked a little bit of maybe a little bit of indigestion, maybe a little tension, maybe a little something in there. And I think what’s important about this is recognizing when we have, when you have this separation, this idea of, “Oh that’s not it”. And you hear a word like God, which many in our community are like “Wait a minute that sounds like that guy up in the sky who judges and blesses people at a whim”. It sounds like you know, when we heard Jehovah or Holy Spirit or maybe the father it might have sounded like a religion that you grew up in that wasn’t very comfortable for you. You might have — other words might have come to mind at the time as well and just notice how we experience those. Because what we are doing is we are experiencing it more from the sense of separateness than from what we in Unity teach about God.

Divine Mind, Spirit, Substance, Presence

Even in Unity we have different terms. We have the idea of God as principle, divine mind, spirit, substance and presence. We use different terms to describe what we’re thinking about and what we are experiencing in the moment because God is much more than a one syllable word — that divine idea, that idea that the allness of life, the sum and substance of all that life is, the source, the creative power, the unchanging principle of spiritual law, the entirety, the allness of life, love and wisdom, divine wisdom.

When we talk about in Unity God as being omnipotent — not omnipotent, that is, a being that is omnipotent, but the principle of omnipotence that is all-knowing. God is not wise but God is all wisdom. It’s all wisdom in the universe. That which is greater than what we can imagine, that’s why we look at it from different perspectives or different words depending on what we want to draw upon in the moment, what we want to bring into our lives. And so, when we hear words that may not resonate with us, like Jehovah, or isness perhaps, or the father, whatever the word is for you, just recognize that there is something within you to be healed, whether that is a past experience or not. And when we are coming into this idea of raising our consciousness, to really understand and realize that oneness, that sense of allness in life that we’ve got to empty our teacup of what we think God is. We have to let go of the stories. We have to let go of the past and we have to be in the present moment so that we can be filled with that essence, be filled with Spirt, be filled with life, be filled with wisdom.

The Wisdom of the Universe

So one of our practices is about emptying the teacup, emptying your teacup everyday as we move into our time of meditation and affirmative prayer, emptying our sense of that restriction, that box that we put God in, because that’s really what we’re doing when we think “God is this. And there is my little box. And that is all I can experience from because that’s what I’m holding to be true”. But if I let go of that and just open my heart to the wisdom of the universe, open my heart to the ever-flowing life and love and wisdom, open my heart to experience and be filled by something new, then we have a new experience of this thing called allness, Source, the infinite flow of life, love and wisdom.

The Kingdom of Heaven

Now, the challenge is we get stuck in our dualities. We live in a society and in some of the religions that we have in the world come from this place of dualism. There’s good and there’s evil. There is God and there’s the devil. There’s us and there’s Heaven, there’s hell and we’re all separate from it. God is out there somewhere. But Jesus was very clear about where God is. He says, “The kingdom of heaven is within you”. The kingdom of heaven is among you and so we are like a daily word said, we are in the heart of God as God is in our heart. When we come to life with that experience and that understanding, then we can breathe into that and see things differently.

Eric Butterworth, a Unity Minister and author, who wrote in his book Practical Metaphysics describes metaphysics as this. “Practical metaphysics is the persistent attempt to relate to the reality beyond appearances but as a dimension of that experience.” In other words, we always keep the concept of the whole. We don’t go so far as to lose sight of the whole experience. So in the experience, we have the concept of the whole. Here is what I’m experiencing in life in this present moment and that’s not the all of it. Even in the present experience when we’re feeling separate, when we’re feeling this disconnection, when we’re feeling alone, the reality is we’re never alone for God is always within us in our heart, in our spiritual heart.

Part of our dualism comes from the idea of intellectually having this concept of God and being stuck on the words and being stuck on what we’ve learned in the past. And so, we need to let go of that intellectual concept enough so that we can move into our heart and open that to a new experience, open to receive and to celebrate that which is within us, to receive and celebrate that which we are here to express.

Once, Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of heaven, when the kingdom of God was going to arrive. Jesus said to them, it’s not a place. We’re not going to say “Oh look, there it is, there it is.” No. It’s here. It’s within you. It’s now. That kingdom of God is always within us and we are within that kingdom of God and when we recognize that, and align with that, and just know that, then we can experience a greater truth. Our cup, our teacup will expand to be filled with a greater understanding of the allness of life, love and wisdom. “The kingdom is the whole that is present even in the part”, Butterworth continues, “The kingdom is the oak tree that is present even in the seed. It’s the Christ that’s present even in the disbelieving person. It’s the allness of God that is present in the individual at the point of where that person is”. It’s that divine pattern that is the truth of us, that place in us that is untouched, that is pure, that place that in us that knows God, that knows that peace that passes all understanding.

And so, the practice is when we are in these experiences that seem to draw us out, that seem to draw us away, that seem to separate us from that idea of good, whatever that idea we thought should be – oh, there’s that “should” word – “Life should be like this. My friends should be like that. My partner in my relationships, boy, they should really believe what I believe. It’ll just make things a whole lot easier”. In those moments when we’re feeling disconnected with each other, when we’re feeling disconnected from our passion perhaps, when we’re feeling alone, when we’re feeling separate, that’s when we need to turn within because that feeling of connection, of deep and abiding presence, is there waiting just for us to return to it.

A New Experience of God

And so, the first step is to empty our cup of what we think is, empty our cup that story so that we can assume it and open ourselves up to a new definition and a new experience of God. When we go through the day, I invite you to practice this week, is just empty your cup. “Here’s what I think God is. I’m going to empty that and then I’m going to go into that idea of meditation and affirmative prayer. I am going to open my heart in contemplative prayer. I am going to open my heart in the stillness and in the silence. I am going to just open my heart and allow it to be filled, allow that inner resource to come bubbling forth, allow that loving presence to comfort me, allow that divine wisdom to guide me, allow it to be my truth so that I can celebrate that in my life.” And then as we go out in life, I invite you to look for it all around us. For it’s in the giant oak tree, that divine pattern. It’s in the tiny ant that’s crawling on that giant oak tree, in that divine pattern. It’s in you and it’s in me.

A Spiritual Eachness in the Allness

Now, we all look a little bit differently, don’t we. As Butterworth says, we are all a spiritual eachness in this allness. We are one and connected and yet we are an individualized expression, an eachness of that divine pattern. And so often we are looking at our flaws, instead of our inner beauty. We’re so often looking at our relationships and what’s wrong with them instead of the love that flows within us and between us. So often we are looking at that part of us that feels separate. And yet, if we look instead at the divine pattern that lies back of each person, that lies back of the story, that lies behind and within creating that essence, we can look past the stories. We can look past our own limitations, our own thoughts about what’s right or wrong about me, what’s right or wrong about you, and we can feel a greater sense of connection with each other. We can feel a greater expression and experience of Spirit in our lives, a deeper sense of connection and know without a doubt that we are never alone. For God as a loving presence is always there. We are always guided for God as divine wisdom is always there. We are always one in the allness of life.

Let’s move to our affirmation. Our affirmation is on the screen. I’m going to read it once and then invite you to affirm it with me.

Today, I claim, energize, and celebrate the joy and love of the divine in all life.

Would you affirm that with me? Together:

Today, I claim, energize, and celebrate the joy and love of the divine in all life. 

And as you feel that, as you experience that, allow that to be your guide for the day, for this week. Every day empty your cup of what you think God is, of what you think spirit is and open yourself to a greater expression of that joy, of that divine love, of that harmonizing energy within our conscious so that we can rise, so that we can have a greater experience of that allness of life.