Living Your Life to Its Fullest | Rev. John Riley

So part of my Sunday sabbatical, I know people are gonna ask, and did you go anywhere? And not really, not this time because school is in full force and the kids are in football and dance and I’m the Uber. They don’t tip well.  Just saying. 

But I did do some day trips here and there. I went to the coast. I went for hikes in the woods and I did some things like that. I did a lot of writing, I did a little bit of reading, a little bit of study I did… And the main thing was to really just kind of disconnect, to disconnect from the day-to-day so that I can re-immerse myself in spirit, re-immerse myself, empty the cup, so to speak, so I can be filled up again. And one thing that happened this last week, my mom came to visit. She’s on her west coast tour.  She lives now in Irvine with my sister and they’re on a cruise. And so, mom’s up with me for a week and I’ll be taking her down to see our cousin Joyce for next week. And it was just a wonderful experience. And I had this idea of having mom and I on stage and she could read some poetry and I can, you know, banter a little bit.  That way, I didn’t really have to write a talk.  She told me I had to write a talk.

She wasn’t quite feeling up to it today. I almost said, “you know, Mom, come on, you’re only 93.” But then she would’ve pulled the mom card and then there you know, there would’ve been a, that whole son, mother, you know, that argument that we all have. No, Okay. It’s just me arguing with my 93 year old mother. So, but what I did bring is a poem from her that she wrote this week. She had been writing – she writes almost every day, pretty much every day. And she sends a lot of her poems to me through text. And she sent me a series of poems that were just four lines each, but they were all about living full out this idea of living full out and what does that really mean? And then when she got here, she wrote a new one. And so I’d like to read the new one to you. Are you ready? This is Living Full Out, by Joyce Riley: 

Life, it seems, is a balancing act
between dreams and so-called facts.
So daily, I practice doing my part by living
and dreaming with the whole of my heart,
with no fear and without a doubt,
I live and give and love full out.

So just take a deep breath and breathe that in. One of the things my mom asked me is – she read the litany of poems that she has sent me that I handed to her is like – she’s like, “Well, they’re all the same. I wonder sometimes why, why do I keep writing them? Cause they all, it’s, I’m always saying the same thing.” And what I told her is twofold. The first part of it is because we need to hear it, because we need to hear it in different ways, because we need to hear it over and over again, that message that God loves you, that message that God is great, that message that God is the loving principle that flows in through and, as each one of us source substance, divine intelligence. Whatever definition you want to give it, I give it different names depending on how I’m referring to that allness of life.

Get Out of the Daily Grind 

We have to hear it because we forget, because we get caught up in the daily grind. We get caught up in the minutia, we get caught up in the details. Anybody get caught up in the details this week? Yeah. No matter what you’re doing, there’s always something. Even if it’s trying to figure out, no, what am I supposed to do today, we tend to get caught up in the doing, and we forget about the being. We start with the doing. And then that leads us to having something. And then that gives us our definition of being.

And that’s a typical way of looking at things. That’s what Ken Wilbur might say is first tier thinking, right? Thinking from that state of, I’m not enough, I don’t have it yet. Second tier thinking would be going the other direction. We start from beingness and from that beingness that knowing that divine essence within us, we have, we recognize what we have in life. That’s what brings us and draws us to life. And then from that overflowing abundance we do. That’s second tier thinking. That’s living from your abundance as Unity might call it. So, what I like to do is I read her poems and then I write, I sit down and I, and I go line by line. Life it seems as a balancing act between my dreams and so called facts. So each day something comes along, each day there’s some circumstances. Each day there’s some things happening. Each day there’s stuff that’s going on that tends to pull us off balance that tends to drag us in one direction or another. And so life is a balancing act. Life is a process of, of living consciously, of being aware of when am I being pulled off balance and bringing ourselves back.

I am having exactly what I am being in this situation. I am having exactly what I am being in this situation. So whatever you’re having, whatever situation, whatever idea, whatever thing that’s going on with you, whatever thing that you’re seeming to have or not have in life is exactly in reflection of your being, of your state, of consciousness, of your awareness. We took the Keys to the Kingdom class before I left. You were in that Jho, remember what we talked about in that idea of living from your abundance, living as source, meaning it’s not a class about getting stuff, it’s about developing that inner resource. And it was wonderful to see how people took that and really applied it and began to unpack it for themselves. Because it takes someone unpacking. Our culture is built on doing, right. The cultural norm is, so what do you do when you meet somebody?

Living Your Dream

So, it’s really that idea of coming from that place first of knowing your oneness with God, knowing your oneness with the allness of life because life responds to you, the universe and life just responds to you. And it says, “Yes.” So, I am having exactly as I am being. So if you want something different, be something different. So daily, I practice doing my part by living my dream with the whole of my heart. Practice being daily, practice being this daily. 

Now, that can show up as strengthening your own weekly Sabbath. Whatever practice you currently have is looking at it from a more, from a different perspective. Looking at it not from, “oh, I think I’ll meditate today” or “oh, I think I’ll go for a hike” or “oh, I think …”  to a “no, this is a non-negotiable Spirit”, is putting God first, putting Spirit first, opening your heart. That’s a non-negotiable. What would your life be like if you made it non-negotiable, if you started every day by opening your heart, that lovely idea that God is kindness, what if you had that idea of just starting at that point? So strengthen your spiritual practice, your spiritual Sabbath. Take a break from the routine, the striving, the efforting, your fixed beliefs, your crystallized thinkings. Open your heart to Spirit. 

When I began my sabbatical, I was in that space of, okay, and now what do I do? I’m not going to the Himalayas.  So what do I do on a sabbatical? I know I’ve got, you know, I’ve, maybe I’m thinking of this and I gotta, maybe I’ll do some reading and I’ll write every day. And my wife Tiffany kinda looks at me and says, “You know, John, why don’t you just do nothing?” Huh? That’s novel. That’s unique. It’s always started doing nothing. Anybody feel the discomfort of being in the nothing. Have you ever felt that discomfort? Yeah. And what happens when we get into discomfort, we wanna run the other way. Well, forget this, I’m gonna go weed. I’m supposed to do nothing. Okay, I’m gonna go do Xbox. Another way of running away, just because it’s occupying my thoughts in mind. 

So at some point I got a little tired. I’m like, “okay, let me, let me, let me do a little spiritual work here. Let me, let me look. What – how can I get?” Cause, I kind of felt stuck, you know? Yes, I’ve got dreams, I’ve got goals, I’ve got these things. But I kind of felt like…all right, you know…what do I do now? So, I went, of course, back to Unity and went back to the Lessons and Truth. It’s one of my most beloved books by Dr. Emilie Cady, which was written, I think in 1929. It was a series of articles that they published in the Unity Magazine back then. Modern Truth, I think it was once a month. And then they took them together and made a book out of it.

Find Your Path 

And it is one of it’s quintessential Unity in metaphysics. It just talks about, you know, the core of what we believe. And I went online to a site that I can search on. And I found, you know, the annotations that went along with that book, because I was feeling lost. Okay, what do you do when you – how do you get unstuck? And so I typed in, “How do you get unstuck?” And I was directed to this book by Emilie Cady and I started reading it again. And it’s just like, Oh, duh!

Open your heart to Spirit. She talks about this as the secret place of the most high, the secret place of the most high, which is within you. The secret place of the most high – as she puts it, “is the point of mystical union between you and Spirit, the place within you where we know God consciously, because we feel the presence within us.” We actually feel the presence of Spirit within us. And the more we focus on that feeling of Spirit, we begin to realize that there’s no separation. If you look at that idea of that secret place in the most high, that’s your true, authentic Self. That’s what Unity would call the Christ consciousness that’s within you, the spark of divinity that’s within you, that higher self. I had somebody – I heard – one of my colleagues was talking about it. She said, “This is your authentic self.” That’s your authentic self.

And it made so much sense because everything else is a persona. You know, I want to show up today kind and compassionate. I want to, you know, be that person that’s a persona. That ego says, “Hey, I want to express these divine qualities.” My authentic self is already that. I wanna show up today as you know, the power of will and faith and wisdom so that I’m doing the right things. As ego saying, okay, in individuality, saying, “Okay, here’s how I’m going to express God today as God, here’s how I’m going to be as Source, as Spirit.” And the truth of who you are, your authentic self is that divine nature that’s already there. And so she gave me – you know, the tools of getting back into the secret place of the most high. It’s the turning within. It’s what Unity calls affirmative prayer.

Go into the room within yourself, close the door, close the door to your outer senses. Close the door to your thoughts, to your emotions. They’ll bubble up. They’ll be there. They’ll float by. But, don’t let them grab you. Just let them be floating by. You know, in meditation we use a mantra or a focus, a mindful meditation. We might be focusing on our breath – transcendental meditation, we might be focusing on a mantra. Unity, you might focus on an affirmation. I am at peace, I am whole. And we do that because it gives the brain, the monkey mind, something to do. You gotta give the monkey mind some peanuts, right? Otherwise, it’s gotta be doing what other monkeys do. Whatever that is, I don’t know. I’m not gonna go there. But you have to give that thinking brain something to do so that it can be quiet. So we can learn to slow down until you get to the point of silence. And silence is just being and sitting in that awareness of the allness of life, feeling the energy well up within you.

Finding Answers

And if you ever have a question about what is yours to do, just ask. Bring that question into the silence and you will receive an answer. You may not like it. Ego may be saying, “Yeah, but I got other things to do.” But the answer will come. That’s the second lesson for my mom. Why should she continue to write? Because the messages keep coming because God keeps speaking, because she keeps – she’s in tune. So keep writing. So she and I talked about it. We’re starting a little company. We’re gonna create a series of books and study guides and workshops and things. So she and I are…and she in 93, she’s quite the task master. So, we’ve been working on that. I’ve been, working on that for about five years now. She’s actually been writing five years worth of poetry.

And she’s like…you know, have you ever said that to someone?.. Had that, “Hello, I’m your mother.” Oh, dang it, living from the secret place of the most high without fear. And without a doubt, I give, I live, I give and I love full out. You hold that vision of what you receive in your heart with love and without a doubt, without questioning it. That’s the thinking mind, right? That’s the ego. That’s the, well, hang on a second, that’s our shadow self saying you’re not ready for that yet. And that’s where the power of faith comes in. Your power of faith is your ability to say, “Yeah, I don’t know how it’s gonna get done, but I’m gonna walk in that direction anyway. I don’t have the full roadmap, but I know in my heart that this is the path for me. So I’m gonna move in that direction.”

Faith says, “Do it.” Will– the power of Will. One of the 12 powers that the Fillmore’s came up with is the action of actually walking the path of taking that step. So with Will and Faith, I live and give and love full out. Let’s start with love. How do we, how can we come to life with more love? I love it how I read a tweet, I think yesterday His Holiness of the Dai Lama said, “you know, basically to be love is to be kind and compassionate and amazing.” That the daily word today is kindness. That that is an attribute of this divine essence of love. And what unity… And what I want you to know is that we should be, oh, I said “should.” It’s $5 into the, into the in into the, yeah, into the facilities. Thank you Nancy, into the facilities fund. $5

Now I forgot what I was saying – love, love. And starting with yourself and having self love, having self-compassion, having self love, knowing that God loves you. God loves me. Can you say that with me? “God loves me.” And having that love for yourself, having that self-compassion so that you treat yourself with kindness so that you’re, sourcing your, your love, your kindness, your happiness from God. You’re drawing upon it from God so that you are filled up and able to give from that perspective, able to give from the overflowing kindness and compassion that you already have that’s being, having and doing versus not sourcing that inner love, that inner strength, but giving love on the other side. Giving kindness and compassion by doing, because we’re sourcing everyone else for kindness and compassion. I’m gonna be kind to you and I expect you to be kind back to me and have compassion for me. And guess what happens when we don’t?

It’s okay. We all know when we’re giving from that place of expecting to receive. When we’re giving from that place of I’ll be kind to you. I wanna do my best Gollum. We’ll, we be kind to – I can’t do it right now, my mouth is too dry. We be kind to them if they be kind to us, right? It’s giving, expecting something in return so that I can have and then I can be happy. And my being happy is based on your giving to me versus the other way around. I’m happy cause I am one with the infinite flow of life, love and wisdom. I feel uplifted and filled by the presence of Spirit. And from that overflowing joy I’m giving to the world. From that overflowing joy, I’m giving kindness and compassion and love to the world.

Eckhart Tolle in his book, A New Earth, wrote, “Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.” That which we think we lack, we are not giving to the world. If there’s something that you are feeling is lacking in your life, then give from that place. Draw from that inner resource of inner love, Divine love, Spirit love, however you want to call it. Fill yourself up and give to the world. And the more you give from that experience, the more you will see how much love and kindness and joy is really in the world and in your life. And you will see Spirit moving in and through every person.