The Spiritual Forum

2020 vision is the term used to describe normal vision acuity, or clarity. It’s 2020 and a good time to commit ourselves to seeing more clearly. Clarity helps us see through the muck of our own stuff. It distinguishes reality from our story about it. It shows us what is really happening as well as what we do and don't know. It reveals our part in our own life dramas and also who our friends are. It is also a gift we can employ to keep us focused on what is important and avoid falling prey to distractions. And ultimately, the highest expression of Spiritual Clarity is when we see God in all things.

As a New Year begins, we have the opportunity to let go of thoughts, beliefs, habits, grievances and behaviors that no longer serve us, and then set our intentions from a new, 'cleared out' space. We do this symbolically through the ritual of the Burning Bowl. In this episode, we share our experience of letting go of blocks and setting intentions for the New Year. Be inspired to perform this ritual yourself as you discern who you want to be in the world and what blocks need to go.

Every Christmas season we can pause and reflect on how a new Light is being born in us. How will we live more completely as our God Self? The characters and events in the timeless Christmas story reveal meaningful symbols for us to ponder. Their journey is full of ups and downs and also risks and disappointments. It's not a short or easy journey, but it is one of purpose, where eventually a new Light is born that is a gift for all people. Metaphysically, their journey is our journey. In this episode, we take a deep dive and find ourselves in the story of new birth. A star is born, and that star is each one of us!

Metaphysically speaking, an angel is a spiritual idea direct from God. We may see them, hear them or experience them as bright ideas that come to us. Dreams are another way we can experience the 'voice of Spirit.' In a dream, our psyches use recognizable symbols to show us what is happening or what needs our attention. Angels and dreams guide us in profound ways when we are open. In this episode we follow the Christmas story’s use of angels and dreams and share how these voices of Spirit guide, inspire and inform us.

In our own way, we are each chosen to do what we are called to do. Using the Christmas story as allegory, we share in this episode what happens for us when we receive a "You are highly favored" call from Spirit. Like Mary in the story, the choice to surrender our personal will to Divine Will is the choice to be active as our Divine/Higher Self. From this place, we live a purposeful life, acting on inner guidance, and authentically expressing who we have come here to be. We each hold the potential to bring into manifestation a new Light for all people.

In the documentary, A Prayer for Compassion, filmmaker Thomas Jackson traverses the globe on a quest to seek answers to the question, “Can compassion grow to include all beings?" Interviewing dozens of people from multiple faith traditions, he finds the common theme among all faith traditions is Compassion, and being compassionate toward animals, while generally overlooked today, is a key teaching of every tradition. In this episode we share our experience of this ground-breaking film, what/who inspired us and how we were changed by it.

Before you do anything, do you visualize it? Do you anticipate its perfect fulfillment? Do you stand in Faith knowing only a Good outcome? When you want to attract something into your life, do you give thanks, knowing it is already yours? In this episode we talk about the joy of living in expectancy, the impact of giving thanks in advance and how doing so is energetically different from being grateful for what already is.

The Universe operates in accordance with law. Some laws are physical; some are spiritual. Just as we participate in the law of gravity and manifest the presence or absence of bodily injury depending on our understanding, we participate in spiritual laws and manifest the presence or absence of prosperity, joy and abundance, depending on our understanding. It is up to us. In this episode we share about The Law of Circulation and how when we give freely of our time, energy, knowledge or money, it will come back to us multiplied. There are many factors that feed into how successfully we experience this law. Giving wisely and freely without guilt, self-sacrifice, duty, coercion or strings attached, opens a space in our consciousness to receive. There is a Flow to the Universe and Abundance is its natural state.

By all appearances, we live in a very divided nation these days. The political divide has intensified in ways that sadly cause people to disconnect with friends and family, or stay connected but only by keeping ideas silenced. It is nearly impossible to have a conversation about politics today without a huge fallout. But we don't have to be a part of the division that we see. By our consciousness and actions, we can be Uniters. In this episode we learn how we can hold a vision of Unity for our nation, foster Understanding and connection in places where there is none, and recognize how it all applies to living spiritually.

Early in our lives most of us learned to wear any number of 'masks' for the purpose of gaining/rejecting love/attention from others or to protect ourselves. We then became so used to wearing them that over time, they seemed to become us. Yet when we look honestly, we find they aren't us.They are tools of our conscious and unconscious minds and when we decide to remove them, we reveal more of our True Nature (aka Higher Self, God Self, Inner Christ, Authentic Self, etc.). On the spiritual path, we continually awaken to how our ego is structured to keep us from awakening to our Divine Self. In this episode we share about the masks we have worn and our process of taking them off.