Wholeness & Holiness

I took many Unity courses to become a Licensed Unity Teacher and one of them was called Healing and Prosperity in the Bible.  First we looked at the many many examples of healings, Jesus healing the blind, lame, possessed, sick.   And then we looked at all the stories of what we call prosperity. Feeding the 5,000, finding manna in the desert for each day, the widow and the oil.

When I was studying each of these prosperity stories I noticed that there was an essential part to each one - the element of shifting attention from lack to abundance, from poor me to gratitude, from seeing a problem to seeing possibility.  Every prosperity story demanded a change of mind. Looking with different intent. 

Removing our attention from the problem and placing it on Spirit – is a healing activity.  Healing is an act of restoration – of remembering our true nature.  It brings about within us a change in attitude, and with that a change in our actions.

If my relationship with money changes with how much I have – that is a tenuous relationship – one that shifts and changes according to my bank balance. I can heal that relationship by a change of mind.

So as I was studying these stories of healing and these stories of prosperity I saw that the line between prosperity and healing was blurred and really what I came to was that – its ALL about healing!

And as I explored this more deeply I could see that all healing takes place in the field of relationship.  Whether it is our relationships with people, relationship with money, our relationship with ourselves, our relationship with our planet…

We do not exist in isolation. Each of us is connected with other people, with our smaller and larger communities, with all life, plant and animal, with our physical environment.  No one acts without affecting themselves, the people and environment around them.

As I was preparing this 40 Day program I could think of 3 areas of healing that I wanted to include: healing ourselves: mind, body and soul, healing our relationships with each other - with our human family - and healing our relationship with this unique and precious planet we all live on.

Let’s start with ourselves.  Focusing on our own wellbeing is not a selfish act, it’s a good thing to bring ourselves into our healing process.  I guess that’s one of the reasons why I was attracted to Unity – a spiritual educational movement with practical application. I wanted my life to be different - to have more meaning, to have more joy, to experience my wholeness more fully.

One of the statements in the daily prayer is “I affirm that all life is created with sacred worth” and that includes us!

What is wholeness? Wholeness is the word from which healing and holy come. wholeness is our true nature. We cannot lose it, we cannot be separate from it. I think we often forget that. We are sacred, holy beings. Spiritually created in wholeness and perfection. there is nothing that can damage or affect our wholeness.

Does that mean we don’t experience illness? Of course not.

Does that mean that we won’t struggle….. or be free from adversity?  No.

But all these things are outside our true nature. They are things of the physical realm. And so of course, as human beings, we will experience it all. And what helps us through those times is remembering our true nature.

Physical healing is what got Myrtle Fillmore’s attention.  she had 6 months to live and in two years healed herself of tuberculosis.  Have you noticed how sometimes it takes something really big to get our attention?  Being close to dying is one of those ‘big things’.  It is a great tool for focus. And that’s what it did for Myrtle.  Her physical healing was the result of her changing her thinking.  Aligning herself with her true nature. 

She said, “The power that created you is always at work to restore you and to maintain you in wholeness.”

She brought about her own personal physical healing through her exploration into the power within……Not through hoping she would be healed, not through bargaining for her life, not from trying really hard.

Here are some of her words from the book Healing Letters – we have in the bookstore and in our lending library. I went to all the life centers of my body and spoke words of Truth to them words of strength and power. I asked their forgiveness for the foolish, ignorant course that I had pursued in the past. I did not become discouraged at their being slow to wake up, but kept right on, both silently and aloud, declaring the words of Truth, telling them that they were free, unlimited Spirit.

Do you hear her asking for anything? To be made well?  No.

Everything in God's world is working toward perfection. The restoring power of God in the midst of you is working quickly and harmoniously to rebuild you at all times.

Think of yourself as being the pure Life and Substance of Spirit made manifest. Keep your mind filled with joyous, constructive, beautiful, health-producing thoughts that maintain harmony in both mind and body. When your mind is peaceful, the healing energies flow through your whole being freely and abundantly.

And then a great reminder: Don’t be disturbed by the temporary disorder.  See it as the efforts of soul to make adjustments, bringing to the surface the things that need special attention.

Powerful words and thoughts we can apply to ourselves. These are not about physical healing, about being disease-free. These words are true no matter what we are applying them to – ourselves, others, our world.

How about healing our relationship with others? Any discord in our lives is having an effect on us. We may live with the illusion that holding a grudge or a resentment against someone is all about them – but that is impossible. these feelings that we are harboring are living in us.  Every time we think these thoughts of resentment we are feeding these feelings. We are keeping them alive and strong. Some perhaps we have held on to for years and wonder why we are still feeling the anger or animosity.  How could they ‘go away’ when we are fanning the flame of these feelings regularly.And have you ever run into the person you are holding resentment towards and they look so happy? Untouched by our long-held feelings.

There are many resources for clearing your mind and heart on these things. Forgiveness is a big one, there are others………..our release ceremony every January is one. The season of Lent was another.  But this is something really that should be happening every day. Do not carry these matters that weigh so heavily on your hearts. Carrying around these burdens doesn’t take away our wholeness but it clouds our ability to fully enjoy our wholeness.