June 20th, 2018
Visualize to Realize
Todd Davis, Guest Speaker
Good Morning!! Happy Father’s Day!! Or as they say in Great Britain, Happy Fathering Day! We are continuing in Eric Butterworth’s book Spiritual Economics, specifically, Chapter 3 is “The Law of Visualization.”
I used to see creative visualization as sitting down to meditate, picturing the desired conditions and items in my life such as a new car, a higher income, a fulfilling career, countless tropical vacations & a 7000 square foot house in the mountains with a winter home in Florida, Hawaii or Nebraska to boot! I saw it as literally shaping Divine Substances by doing treasure mapping. This is a misrepresentation of the Spiritual Law as stated by Eric Butterworth in Spiritual Economics.
If I hold up my billfold and say, “Money, money, money, manifest thyself & in rich abundance,” it is unlikely to get fatter. If creative visualization isn’t “working”, it’s because there are underlying issues that need to be healed. It’s not “one & done”. If the law doesn’t appear to be working there are perhaps underlying childhood issues that are not related directly to money. There is more work to be done. It is a journey that I have spent my entire adult life exploring. It is just a journey after all.
I always thought superficially that I was a bright person. However, deep inside, I did not think so; I thought I was not capable of holding a professional job. The issue had nothing to do with money and everything to do with my self-identity. I decided to take a series of online IQ tests and discovered that I was in fact very bright! Two weeks from that time, I had an interview for my first professional job. Within four weeks of that I was offered the position in hotel sales and I took it!
It’s not about your thoughts creating some sort of cosmic energy, utilizing the Law of Attraction. My holistic financial counselor explained that your thoughts, beliefs and emotions lead to your behavior. Your behavior is the bridge to the experiences and outcomes and is oftentimes subconscious. This is guided by the identity factor. It’s also about aligning yourself with Christ Energy. It’s not about money, it’s about people, because money is connected to people. It is also connected to Christ Consciousness.
Worrying is also a form of visualization. We all visualize on a regular basis whether we are aware of it or not. Worry is a habit at which I am quite skilled and working to change.
I now see creative visualization as becoming aware. Seeing and observing what is going on inside of me, noticing my body and its responses, my feelings, my thoughts, my experiences and memories. I also see it as being aware of what is going on around me; just observing, not judging. In both cases it’s about seeing things and circumstances in a new way. I like to call it “Artful Seeing.”
Many years ago I saw a counselor once a month and his name was Dave. One day I walked in and greeted him, sat down in the chair, put my hands behind my head and looked up and saw a dollar bill on the ceiling. I asked Dave, “Why is there a dollar bill on the ceiling?” He told me he had it up for a month and only 15% of the people who came to his office as clients noticed the dollar bill on the ceiling during their entire appointment. When he told me this, I was very surprised, because I noticed it right away. I was surprised that so many people would not notice the dollar bill on the ceiling when it was truly obvious to me right away. This is an illustration of being aware.
Here is how Butterworth describes it on page 62 of Spiritual Economics:
The law of visualization works. Now, of course, this all requires mental discipline. Positive thinking is the popular term. However we do not mean sitting around mouthing a lot of cheerful platitudes, such as “Everything is going to be all right.” The fact is everything will not be all right until you achieve a consciousness of all-rightness. Much so-called positive thinking is little more than wishful thinking, voicing a lot of Pollyanna words that you really don’t believe. You say them because that is what you think a Truth student should do. But positive thinking does not make creative power, nor does it change either God or conditions. It is a matter of synchronizing yourself in mind with the flow of the Infinite. The ideal, of course, is to think the kinds of thoughts that lead to the kinds of conditions that you want to see manifest in your life.
The whole positive thinking thing encompasses Strength and Power, which are two of Unity’s 12 Powers. It is about speaking up and taking a stand. It is about setting clear boundaries with others. And it is about feeling empowered.
I want to ask you if you see anything different about the platform. Five congregants raised their hand. I then asked the question “How many noticed anything different before I asked the question?” And one person raised her hand. It was an old fashioned metronome! I then took the metronome and told the story about teasing my sister with it, asking her if it “ticked her off?” That was a no-brainer!!! HA HA!
Prosperity and abundance are: love, creativity, experiences (both enjoyable and challenging), heart connections, freedom, compassion, peace-making, humor and making the ordinary extraordinary.
“All things are possible to them who believeth” Mark 9:23 (KJV)
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 1:2 (KJV)
“Prosperity” comes from a Latin root meaning to go forward hopefully. It is a certain attitude towards life. Spiritual economics is about your spiritual well-being, not monetary wealth.
In Chapter 3, Butterworth talks about sight and how we see. That is what is the most important thing about sight. How we see, not what we see. What do we do about what we see? I was invited on a Fam (familiarization) trip in 2010 to Puerto Vallarta. This was an all expense paid trip, including the airfare. I could not believe I was approved to do that since it seemed like a fancy, upscale trip. In the days before my departure, I felt agitated and irritable and did not know why. I tried to go to sleep the night before and couldn’t fall asleep. I got up and had a heartfelt talk with myself stating that I deserved the trip and it was ok to take it. I realized my subconscious had not accepted this trip, even though I knew I was going, something in my realized I was invited in good faith and of course, should go. The city spends thousands of dollars a year for planners to tour their city. After the realization I slept well and took the trip and thoroughly enjoyed it. Had I not had the realization, I know I would not have enjoyed it as much. This is the spiritual law!
In closing, I would like to share words of wisdom that Ira and Julie Levin shared in a song.
I have enough.
I am enough.
I am more than enough!
Maya Angelou said, “ My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive:
and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style”
Blessings on the Path,
Todd
With deep gratitude from Rev. Deb