Our very own Gaines Steer recently organized an interview with a reporter from The Daily Tar Heel, an independent student newspaper of UNC, to write an article about our Outdoor Sacred Spaces. A spirited UNC student journalist named Ella interviewed Gaines Steer, Mark Smith, Katja Sage and Rev. Victoria a couple of weeks ago to get an indepth story about the Medicine Wheel, Labyrinth and Serenity Trail with a sprinkling of details about Unity Center of Peace as a spiritual community. We are thrilled to present the the final piece that is published on their website.
Unity Center of Peace is envisioning that this article will bring students and others to our sacred grounds who will become interested in participating in our events!!
Well done Gaines! And thank you!!
262 Hits
0 Comments
262 Hits
Shortly after we played the Lullaby by Billy Joel music video, Facebook knocked many of you off the livestream. They eventually took the feed down. We are so sorry about that. Lesson learned for us. Because my talk was a two-parter, I wanted to post the talk here so you don’t miss anything. 
Metamorphosis is a sacred moment! It describes the incomprehensible transformation between a precursor life form and its successor. When a caterpillar is prompted to attach itself to a limb and start spinning its chrysalis, it doesn’t know that it will literally dissolve physically and then somehow the molecules in the resulting goo will reshape it into a gorgeous winged being that will touch deeply the hearts of humans whom it will later encounter. 
As beings who have staked most of our learning and experiencing in the physical dimension over however many years we’ve been embodied in this incarnation, we identify all too readily with what we see when we look into the mirror and think back to what we remember from childhood or judge the hidden messages In what we think others are saying and doing when we’re around. 
This morning, I found a meditation written and posted by Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron called, "Staying in the Middle." She wrote, 
A few days ago, our best friend got news that her thirty something son who lives with his wife and kids in another country dropped dead. What!!?? Shocking!!! 
One of the primary shifts of awareness that accompanies spiritual growth in Unity is learning where power lies in Truth. We learn, for example, to trust our ideas and words to create physical manifestation—not what most of us grew up learning, but absolute Truth nevertheless. 
This is the First time in history that all of humanity is fighting a war from the same side, all of us friends sharing a common enemy. 
A crisis gives us the opportunity to know ourselves better. Every time we expérience a crisis, of course, we have changed since the last crisis in our life — so we are getting to know a new self. 
It was beautiful this morning
During these special weeks of "lockdown," I’ve heard some new expressions from people of how they’re feeling—expressions of extreme well-being that used to be very unusual. 
I know my thoughts and words create my experiences. They have incredible power. The more trusting and loving my thoughts are, the higher my frequency of vibration and the more joyful experience I attract from one minute to the next. 
I look within. They’ve grown!
I don’t think I’ve needed to learn so much so fast for decades—probably since I was a toddler learning to propel myself forward on two feet! It is said that learning is one of our soul’s main reason for coming to earth. I probably haven’t felt so vibrantly alive since infancy. 
This afternoon, one of our spiritual groups in Paris met on Zoom. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn what is going on half way across the world, as we are beginning to learn how our awareness is changing over this time. 
One wonderful trend I became aware of over Easter Weekend is how humans everywhere, brilliantly inspired, are taking advantage of the unusual restrictions that prevail right now to invent new ways to have fun together, even when they can’t travel, perhaps as they regularly do—certainly as they might want to do. 
As we start looking forward, after Easter, to being able to think about after the pandemic lockdown, I’ve heard people talk longingly about "getting back to normal." 
Perhaps you, like me, have seen a movie or three about the story of Jesus of Nazareth—or perhaps attended a Christian “Stations of the Cross “ service. Both are ways to focus our minds and hearts in the cosmic emptiness that lies in the middle between the spiritual mileposts of degeneration and regeneration—the process of evolving from one dimension to the next. 
Think back to our topic a few days ago, about the spiritually inclusive nature of the word “I”. Affirmations need to be in the present tense and use the pronoun I—not because you or I (or anyone) has any spiritual Importance as a single embodied being. We don’t. I am the embodied expression of the whole Universe, though—and all good, all flow, is always happening in the Absolute, 5th dimension.
Reflect for a moment on how life was before you started to self-isolate at home (the last 2-6 weeks for most people)? Compare what you expected and thought back then with your expectations now. Can you even remember? To be serious, take the time to list 4-5 expectations that have vanished for you. 
Most humans are reacting most of the time. If we reflect on this process, it becomes clear that energetically, when we react to something, we hold its energy and vibration in our consciousness. We know from the power of ideas and words, that the thoughts and feeling we welcome into our consciousness keep the same energy reproducing in our experience. When we are reacting anxiously to a threat, we are inviting more of that threat to persist in our lives. This vibration and attracting then perpetuates itself in our life. 
“I am a Miracle of Life. I am a Living expression of divine strength and wholeness! “
So, how happy are you managing to be in the midst of Covid 19? 
Bluebird — Waiting
A couple of days ago, a friend sent the beautiful message below to a classmate whose mother had just left the earthly plane. 
Today, I want to put on my hat as a classical homeopathic practitioner. 
Over this weekend, I invite you to join with me in envisioning and enjoying in our imaginations the image of ourselves, of all those we love, and a huge throng of others as well fully accepting their power to live whole, healthy and free. We are all one, and we express that divine oneness with the name God gave to Moses from the Burning Bush in the book of Exodus: “I Am”.
On Sunday, March 20, in my talk, I promised that I would publish this meditation affirming our spiritual powers of Faith, Power, Strength, and Will, all of which we can use to strengthen us in body, mind, and spirit during the present pandemic. We can be safe by using common sense in our actions and also holding in our minds images of strength and power. I invite you to join me every day in saying and thinking the meditation reprinted here:
By experiencing this time of uncertainty we learn about Oneness. A large part of our human genome consists of genes for various micro -organisms – bacteria, viruses, fungi, and many other life forms that are PART OF OUR OWN HUMAN GENES. This oneness with other beings protects us from most potential damage from infection. What an elegant concept! Divine Order! 
Today, I would like to share with you, the prayer of Mooji, a widely known teacher of Advita Vedanta, who grew up in Jamaica and whose present ashram is in Portugal. He is teaching that the current pandemic, though it seems fearsome, is actually the loving gift of the Universe to strengthen humanity and to give us the opportunity to rethink how we are living, so we discover how we are poisoning not only the world around us but also our own lives with our obsession over material success and personal power. 
How many people do you know who aren’t just a little scared right now? The antidote to fear is to replace anxiety producing thoughts by imagining repeatedly what we actually want to see rather than what we fear, even if that’s a challenge. First, we need to remember our good and loving God/ Universe. Then we need to state positively what we want to experience, and deny all power over our minds to any negative ideas. 
