The Second Step to Creating a Future | Rev. John Riley

We are stepping out. Last week, we began our process because we are building our future. This is the time when we are building our future. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. Right here, right now in this present moment. 

Last week we talked about the idea of stepping in, of moving within because every process should begin by stepping in, every decision, every step, every move you make. Okay I’m not going to go there, or I’ll start breaking out in song again. But you should always begin by stepping in, stepping into that place within you where there is pure stillness, where there is, where you have access to and you can tune into the infinite source of life, love and wisdom. 

By stepping in, we tune into our resources, our spiritual resources that help us move throughout the day, that help us make those decisions, help us make wise and loving decisions for peace on earth, for goodwill, for equality and justice for all people. And so, having come from that space within, we tune into our why. Why? By why we mean, what is my purpose? 

Start With Why

Shall I tell you the story of why? Did I tell you the story last week? Okay, I will tell you the story why. I don’t remember, I’ve got to use props this time. This is a very complex diagram, so I want to make sure you understand it. So, why? Anybody familiar with the gentleman named Simon Sinek? Raise your hand if you know Simon Sinek. About a third, maybe a little less than a third, a quarter of the audience have heard of this gentleman. Well, he is an author. He is, as he puts it, an unwavering optimist. 

He has written several books and he wrote the book, Start With Why. Now, he did this after his investigation looking at successful businesses. What he discovered is that every business that is successful, every luminary that is successful, they all come from the same place — whether it’s Apple, Dr. Martin Luther King, whether it’s the Wright brothers — they all came from their place of why. Everyone else comes from the place of what. So, what he did was, he codified it. 

This is a very complex diagram, so I want to make sure you understand it here. I brought my markers. Oh, it’s small. It’s a small whiteboard. That’s okay. You can come up afterwards and take a picture of it. You still there? Just checking. Do you want me to start singing again? Okay so, here’s how it is. Here is the diagram. In the middle here is our why. In the middle here is our purpose, is what we’ve come to appreciate. Now, he says, most people understand the what. Most people understand what they do in life, most people. Some people know how, but very few people know why. 

The challenge is the normal human behavior is that we come out, we start with the what. We move into the why. I talked about my vacation. What are you going to do on vacation? We’re going to go see the sea turtles. We didn’t see the sea turtles, but you see what we do is, we start piling in all of the what’s and forget our why. Why am I going on vacation? I am going to relax. Maybe I am going for adventure. But when we come from the what, we are stuck in the what. 

What Simon Sinek talks about is the people who really understand their why. By why, that’s their purpose, our core belief system. That is the reason we are here. Who knew Simon Sinek was a metaphysician and a truth student? Anybody? I don’t think he knows that either but that’s what in Unity we call going to the center, going to source so that we can discover our true why. Our true why is knowing that we are, as Casey said, that infinite expression of love. We are here to express that and that’s our purpose. That is our why. To be that expression in our own unique and special way and we do it every day in our lives and when we do that and show up like that, then we create a world that works for all, then we create a world worth living, we create a life that is filled with adventure and rest and relaxation and challenges, but we have the tools to move through them. 

Coming from the Why to the What

The trick is coming from the why and moving out to the what. But most of us come from the what and try to move into the why. I am done with my diagram. Yes, thank you. Pass the basket. The singing and drawing of the pictures is all I need here. When we come from the what, what happens is we are stuck in the what. We are stuck with that decision. It’s like hey, here’s a great idea. Anybody have a great idea and then all of a sudden it’s like we have to try to fit it in? Someone asks why are we doing this and we try to find, we try to fit it into a why. 

We create a why about it and we are stuck in the what. Whereas if we came from the why, we have flexibility. We have oh, there’s a hundred different what’s that we can do. Let’s try this one. That one isn’t working, let’s go to the next one. But when we come from the what, guess who is involved. Ego. We are so tied into our what that we want to make sure it works. We have invested so much in it that we have to keep going. Otherwise, I am going to look like an idiot. But if you come from the why, then you can very easily see the path. What’s going to happen? What’s not? 

I had a meeting with a group of ministers and leaders around the region these last few days and one minister said, when covid hit and we had to close our church, I am the youngest one there. She was 77. She says, we’ve got 80- and 90-year olds and they don’t even own computers. So, if they came from the what, everyone else was saying, teach them how to use Zoom. Try to force-fit it. And she just knew intuitively that wasn’t the right what. But she came from her why. Why do we want to meet? Why do we want to continue? We have about 20 people in our congregation. Maybe we can just wait it out. Because we need that connection, we need that spiritual, that combined spiritual effort. We need to be together with people. We need to support each other as a spiritual community. 

Out of the blue, she looked in her inbox and there was an email from freeconferencecall.com and they have been doing conference calls — you remember phone calls — conference calls throughout the pandemic. They are not sure if they are even going to go back. In fact, they grew. People have joined them just by tuning in on a conference call because they were coming from their heart, their why. 

This is a very practical application of what the master teacher taught us. Seek first the kingdom of heaven, seek first the kingdom of God, that God consciousness, knowing your oneness with the allness of life, love and wisdom, knowing your oneness with source, knowing that God is in you like the ocean is in the wave. So, you can never be separate from that. 

When we come from that, any problem that we have is made easier in here. It may not be easier out there. There may be struggles in life. There may be challenges in life. It may not turn out the way you want it to turn out, but when you come from that God consciousness you are still moving in that essence of love. You are expressing that essence of love even in the challenges in life. So, seek first the kingdom of God.

And I asked, I had a request because we want to make it practical. So, we are looking at, here we are in our spiritual community, we are building our future and so start thinking about what’s your why for Unity Palo Alto. Gay Bridges took the assignment to heart. Thank you, Gay. Here’s what she wrote. 

“Hi John, I’ve been thinking about your question, why Unity Palo Alto. Every morning this week, before I get out of bed, I have pondered that question. The answer I keep coming back to is this. The messages of Unity help me lead a better life. When things in my life don’t go the way I planned, I learned tools to help me deal with these situations. I can focus, I can refocus and life proceeds more smoothly. I have more joy in my life.” — and it just so happens that her white stone word this year is joy – “Thanks for helping me on the path. Gay.” 

Did you hear that? What a great why for Unity Palo Alto, teaching you the spiritual lessons, helping you refocus on that inner why. Now did everyone copy this down? Do you need to take a picture of it? Can I move it? Okay, we will put it over here. Don’t worry, it’s right here. You can get your picture taken with it. Maybe not. After the service. Careful, it’s a hazardous place up here. 

Being Ready to Step Out

So, we begin with our why. We begin by centering ourselves. Now we are ready to step out. Now we are ready to move into life. In every situation, begin by stepping in and then stepping out because prayer is not enough. Prayer gets us in a consciousness of oneness. But then we are here to express that oneness, that consciousness out into the world. We are here to make a difference in the world, to create a life that is open and receptive for other people, to be a beneficial presence in the world. 

Imagine if you could help somebody feel better about themselves. I mean, just imagine if you came to life in every aspect of life, even the annoying knuckleheads that cut you off in traffic or that cut you off in the middle of the grocery store line or whatever it is. You know where your knuckleheads are. You’ve got your own knuckleheads. I have mine, my posse of knuckleheads. Even in the midst of all of that, to be that presence. 

When you come from your why, it allows you to step out in the idea of what if. It allows you to embrace the idea of what if. What if you could put a smile on someone’s face? What if you could put a smile on someone’s face just by walking by and smiling and saying good morning? What if you could put a smile on someone’s face by just answering a question? “How do I do this? Where do I go for this?” “Well, it’s right over here. Let me show you. Let me help you.” What if you could help somebody find what they are looking for? We are all seeking for something. We are all seeking and what we are seeking for is a deeper realization of that oneness, a deeper realization of that oneness, whatever you call it — Spirit consciousness, God, the isness, the universe — feeling that. 

And it comes through in multiple ways. Feeling that as a loving presence, feeling that as the infinite expression of life. We are all seeking that, and we are seeking that through each other. We are seeking that connection. We are seeking that willingness to be with each other. What if you can help somebody find what they’re looking for? What if you can lift someone’s heart by the expression of your voice? I know everybody loves my song this morning. Did it all lift your heart? Oh, Deborah’s too. You lifted my heart by your voice. 

Expressing in Life

So, how can we put that into expression in life? How can we practice it? What if you can put a smile on somebody’s face when they come here to Unity Palo Alto? “A greeting team is calling for you.” What if you can help somebody find what they are looking for? We are all looking for that wisdom. What if you can help them find it? “The bookstore team is looking for you.” What if you could raise someone’s heart with your voice? “The choir is singing your song.” What if you could satisfy somebody’s craving after the service for coffee and snacks? Hmm. “The greeting team is looking for you.” 

We didn’t talk about the why here at Unity Palo Alto. But it really comes down to — sorry the how of Unity Palo Alto — but it really comes down to three things. We enrich. We give you spiritual enrichment, spiritual food that you can choose to take in and apply in your life. We give you ways to engage, to create that community, to create a spiritual community so that when you come here you feel open and welcome and you feel like you belong. As Casey said, you are in the right place at the right time right now. You are here. 

Two Facets of Empowerment

We also create ways to empower and there’s two facets. Empower your life with spiritual teachings so you can go out into the world and live them and practice them, like Gay did every morning. Woke up and just pondered the question. Just imagine what pondering the question does to your soul. It lifts you up. We empower you to create a spiritual community that you would like to create, for a community is nothing but a group of people here working together for each other. And that’s what we are. 

There are lots of opportunities for us to practice that, to put that into action. Today, out in the courtyard there’s some signup sheets if any of those things sounded interesting to you, if any of those things tugged at your heart. The bookstore, the choir, the greeters or, yes, the caffeine from the hospitality team. But what else do you want? What else do you want from your spiritual community? As you came in — Ann has a few more if you didn’t pick one up. It’s also online so if you are watching on the live stream or you are watching later on, go to unitypaloalto.org/live, scroll down and there will be a place where you can click, “Building our Future”.

And that will take you to an online version of this survey, starting with your why. Start there. Here’s my why, here’s that center that I am coming from, that place of Godliness that I’m coming from. And then, here’s my what. Here’s what I would like to do. In our past before the “C word”, what happened — I don’t remember what that pandemic thing was about — but before that we had pick-up parties. It was a wonderful way to get together. Are those important to you? We had different kinds of services. Maybe there’s different activities that you want. What would you like to create here as a spiritual community? What is your what? Make sure it comes from your why. 

If you are online, we have a new community that’s all online. What would you like from your spiritual community online? Is it a special class? Is it a special gathering time, some different form of connection? I invite you to fill that out. There is an opportunity then to give us some more information. 

Of course, the most important two questions, I’m willing to help and I’m willing to lead, because a spiritual community is nothing more than a group of people coming together to serve and support each other, to step out together, to create a world that is filled with life, love and wisdom. 

We do that through this — I love this quote from Philippians that Casey read today in the Daily Word — continue to work with that why and when you are thinking about the what’s, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable. Think on these things.” This is a great tool to know when you are coming from your why or when you are coming from your what. When you are coming from your what, you’re defensive, your ego is involved. You are getting all excited about it and you start to come up with excuses. 

Have you ever heard the term — of course we are in a spiritual center so maybe you have heard this idea – “well, that’s what Jesus would do” or “it’s because of the Christ consciousness” or “because it’s the right thing to do”. Well, it may be the right thing to do but if you are coming at it from that place of defensiveness and aggression and conflict and violence, then that is ego. You are coming from your what. When you feel yourself getting into that mode, the tool is just simply ask, you look at your what and say, “Why is this important to me?” And then you keep asking that, “Why is that important to me? Why is that important to me?” You keep going until it’s about six or eight times, you ask yourself why before you get to the core of what’s really important to you. Then from there you can say, “Okay, what other opportunities are there out there to express my why? Maybe this isn’t it. Maybe it is but maybe there are other ways in which I can bring this idea forward.” 

When you are coming from your why, it’s that idea of everything that is good and — I got to get the right words; I lost the page already — true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, the things that create goodness in the world, that create a life worth living.