Spirituality

By the Reverend John Powell

My body, my mind and my spirit

Spiritualism is a very hard term to define. What I think of the course is a lot easier. This course was put together with a lot of heart, research, tears and love. When we live in a world of materialism, we tend to put the things of the spirit on the back burner. Those who do so, Do so at their own peril.

As we study the thought processes that have influenced ourselves and mankind, we are struck with the overwhelming depth of mans search to define himself and his reason for being. Socrates looked at the world and wondered if what he was seeing was the reality or if the reality was something that was not or could not be understood. As a side note he began to believe that which he could not see and called it faith. Sigmund, on the other hand, looked within himself and searched for the forces that drive or what he felt drove the behavior of himself and man. Hitler looked at the world around him and felt he could cure the evils of the world by changing the world to an image he believed was perfect. Newton, Einstein, and other scientist of the world take the world apart in an effort to learn what makes it tick and to see if they can improve it by tinkering with its parts. Priest, ministers and instructors in faith believe that the spirit of man can be found through rules or faith in a belief system.

Are these things, and people involved, part of a spiritual world? I believe so. Passion for the ideas that make us believe in who we are and why we exist, to me, define the spirit of the human being.

Now last, what does it mean to me? As a frail human in the temple of my frail body, I have learned that my existence is spiritual. I am fully aware of the frailty of my worldly temple. Realizing, even with the best of intentions, that I have hurt people And I have lived a life that far under-exceeded my and others expectation of me, I have needed something to calm my mind and body. In my opinion, the spirit that I share with the universe is the only glue that holds my temple and that of the totality of souls together in harmony.

Thank you for an interesting course.

John Powell.

Ordained: April 13, 2000

*******************************

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

The Universal Life Church offers hand-fasting ceremonies, funeral ceremonies and free minister training.

As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church  minister supplies. Since being ordained with the Universal Life Church for so many years and it's Seminary since the beginning, I've watch the huge change and growth that has continued to happen.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Spirituality Course

Defining Spirituality by Rev. Robert Nelson Essay for Defining Spirituality            Much of the course was focused on a review of the major philosophies of the Western world.  It presents Quantum Mechanics, especially Werner Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, the idea that physical forms can only be predicted with probability, is used as an argument for a spiritual worldview.  The course argues that atoms exist everywhere at once in both time and space and that God is in every atom of the Universe.  It also extrapolates from Quantum Mechanics the idea that science requires both faith and imagination.                 The course mentions far too many philosophical approaches to be addressed in this short essay but it is useful as a tool for bridging the world views between the spiritually minded and the more secular or scientific approaches.  Unfortunately much of the course is presented as an argument between those two world views: e.g. Plato versus Aristotle.  This opposition is neither natural nor inevitable.  The Muslim theologians, for example, did not fall into this dichotomy.                 The other problem with presenting these issues as an argument between two world views is that ministry is seldom, if ever, an issue of a logical argument as in a scientific presentation or a court room.  This points to the clear omissions of the course.  The course focuses mostly on epistemology (with a few comments on theodicy) but ignores the areas of logic and rhetoric.  Logic is the branch of philosophy which deals with proof (originally as in a courtroom).  Rhetoric is the branch of philosophy which deals with persuading people to take action and so focuses much more on emotions.  The latter type of communication is of course much more important in ministry.  Nevertheless the information is useful in bridging worldviews, especially if we remind ourselves that ministry is not an intellectual exercise. ******************** Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary. Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary. Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Spiritual Development

The Doctor of Spiritual Development Course by Dr. David Crouch has provided me with many tools and insights to further my personal growth. I feel that personal growth is an on-going process and I look forward to applying what I have learned from the course into my personal and professional life. I learned a good deal about how to manifest reality. I thought it was useful that understandable language was used to provide information on how to live life from a place of Intent, Mindfulness, and Purpose. Crouch was able to tie together many modalities which all express the reality that energy follows thought. The lessons on clarity and getting rid of the internal clutter were especially beneficial for me as these are areas where I have struggled with in the past. 

Having been involved in a body-oriented personal growth psychotherapy practice for the last three years, I appreciate the mention of the sub-modalities which help to provide awareness of how the mind communicates with itself in the form of images, sounds, and sensations. I have experienced this many times before. I liked how Crouch broke down the different sub-modalities and provided questions to focus awareness for each.

 I also found it useful that guidelines are provided for how to write out a specific plan for creating positive changes – manifesting change – in my life. I have been able to learn how to envision a future in which my desired objective is a present reality for me. One of my desired objectives included having a space to practice Reiki and to have a healing center and I am happy to say that I am now starting a business with another person. Right now I can see that this business is successful and feel in my heart that the universe will provide what it takes to make it so if I hold in clarity my vision for the success as already happening. I am excited to see how it all enfolds and to be part of the journey with the destination in mind.

I have also been able to apply what I have learned about changing my personal history. The lessons provided me with further validation of the benefits of this. I worked for years to find the seed, and am currently changing the seed, getting to watch a new plant grow from the seed. I have been releasing all that has been stored in the body and gaining access to the unconscious to change my past, present, and future. I found this lesson particularly helpful for what I have been working through for the last 6 months. I also believe this knowledge will be helpful in my profession as a counselor. So much of life can get tied up in the past and there is so much freedom in changing our perceptions and in being released from those patterns.

Overall, I feel this course is very informational, easy to read, and provides a great understanding of how to successfully manifest change and continue developing spiritually. That is what it is all about as far as I am concerned.

Jamie Downs

**********************

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. 

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers and lots of free online sermons for your use. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.
 

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Metaphysical Healing

Summation of the Metaphysical Healing Course

By Susan Wallace

Full Circle

The idea of coming “full circle” in strategies for creating health and balance within clients is growing daily.

Each culture in history has had its concept of healing powers and rituals used by the people of that culture. With modern medical models the more technically advanced societies have turned away from ancestral healing traditions.

While modern medical models provide dramatic results, they are still limited because there are many cases where a client full recovers against all odds while other cases where a client dies even though a procedure has been perfectly performed. Those who daily work in the modern medical setting see these situations of life and death. They also experience clients relating their interactions with the energetic or spiritual realms during the times the client is in the hospital.

Such experiences compiled over time are causing modern medical workers to consider “the more” that is at work in healing.

I am trained and certified in energetic healing and have for the past 25 years pursued the knowledge that is commonly regarded as non-traditional when compared to medical and spiritual contemporary ideas.

This acquisition of learning (fueled by a subtle knowing) increased when I became so ill I was unable to continue working. Nothing modern medicine could do changed or improved my condition. It wasn’t until I spent my time actively practicing alternative therapies that my health began to improve. I came to understand that my spirit/soul was so unbalanced that my health failed. This situation gave me the time to use the alternative healing skills I was learning. It also gave me the opportunity to grow spiritually, seek further understanding and skills in energetic healing.

Now on a path of seeking knowledge, applying it to myself and finally to others, I find myself engaged in things that suit my personality and can help others by direct application or through teaching and/or mere exposure to metaphysical ideas.

While on this newer path, I have been blessed to have a friend who is a nurse at a leading hospital. She also offers healing touch to her clients. She has first-hand experience having a foot on each side of the issues of health/illness, and life/death as she follows emergency patients from intake to release. Her strong belief in Christianity brings yet another aspect to her healing techniques.

This course in metaphysics brought me the knowledge of the strong movement of organization and validation of spiritual healers in South Africa. I was completely unaware of this activity and found it interesting and enlightening. The cooperation between seemingly opposite medical models is breathtaking. I am awed by the scope of work and efforts put forth to create such an alliance. The time for cooperation has truly arrived.

Reading about the hurdles and opposition Dr. Lee overcame through the years shows me that God/Universe can move everything aside and empower those struggling for positive change when the time is right.

Dr. Lee’s work and efforts, I believe, are a powerful beginning to meld regular and spiritual medicine in today’s world. When the standard approach to health is holistic we will all benefit greatly. When working for wellness rather than tamping down symptoms or surgically removing parts of our bodies becomes the norm I believe we will see dramatic miracles daily. The connectedness to our Source is necessary for true health.

The metaphysical joined with the traditional will create a world full of balanced beings in touch with their Creator. This synergistic approach will create the much needed health for all beings and our planet. This harmonious world is just a thought away!

*******************************

The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

Spirituality Course

The Spirit-Quest course is just what I needed. From the very first lesson I received, my life started to change for the better. From the first lesson, I realized I needed to make a list of spiritual goals such as losing weight and quit smoking in order to be healthier and to be able to respect my body as well as my spirit better since I believe that my body is a temple that should be treated very well. With the lesson on forgiveness, I needed to learn how to forgive people including myself. I had built up anger and resentments through my life which cause me to have temper tantrums and anger outbursts. After writing some letters to the people that I felt anger and resentful towards, a lot of that anger and resentful feelings just disappeared. 

Another lesson I gained a lot from was the lesson that dealt with competition, both physical and spiritual. I was an athlete from elementary school through my sophomore year in high school. I was always driven to win that game that we were playing. But I was always telling myself and other people how much better I was than them which are spiritual competition which isn’t good. I realize that now after taking this course that I am no better and no worse than anyone else that I know or will come to know. Because of this spiritual competition, I spent a lot of time being isolated and separated from people and God. 

I also learned to speak in the positive since that is what the universe hears. I am still working on improving my speaking in the positive since I have been speaking in the negative pretty much all my life. I liked the lesson on amusement. Since I work in a big grocery store, a lot of people come through so I sometimes try to amuse the customers as they check out. I am working on be more amusing and less sarcastic which at times is amusing when the time is right.

Another lesson that stuck out at me is the lesson on music. There are some songs that just vibrate with me just the right way. If I am having a bad day, music will be able to turn that around and I will finish that day out pretty happy since the music resonates with me real good. The lesson in asking the right questions was a great lesson for me. A lot of the times, I end up asking the question in a bad way and then I get a bad response to that question or don’t get the answer I was looking for. Sometimes, I will have a question but don’t ask it which is considered omission and also a case of not asking the right question. I also found some things interesting from the lesson about pain. The thing that I really liked about the pain lesson was the Emotional Cellular Release Therapy that was mentioned and described how emotions like anger and resentment are stored in our bodies in different places and if these emotions sit there long enough, they will create illness. The money lesson was a very important lesson to me because I am one of those people who would never worry about money and I would go out and shop to buy things because that is how I valued money. But since reading this lesson, the way I have valued money is not the way I want to value it anymore. I did some meditating on this and decided to come up with a budget to live within and the budget includes pay off my credit card bill which has a sizable (at least to me) balance on it. I am viewing money as a safety net for the future, my retirement, and for unexpected emergencies. I think that money does symbolize power and status, at least here in the United States. I am not after money for the status of having it or the power that might come with it. I am just using it as a safety net so that I can lead a decent life so I can help others in their lives too.

I found this course very worthy while and will keep each lesson that was e-mailed to me so I can review them more times in the future. There are a lot of great things that I have learned from this course. I will keep incorporating things from Spirit-Quest into my life. 

Rev. Michael Barth

********************************************

To ordain yourself with the Universal Life Church, for free, for life, right now, click on the Free Online Ordination link.

Rev. Long created the ULC seminary site to help ministers learn and grow their ministries. The Seminary offers a huge catalog of materials for ministers of the Universal Life Church. 

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Spirituality Course

Lesson 11

I find the concept expressed in this lesson very intriguing in view of its content to someone brought up with traditional Christianity. We have always been in this world and have difficulty in accepting that it is all an illusion. Our thoughts are too closely aligned to our world and the need to escape from the world is obvious. True prayer is the answer, I have no doubt, to bring us closer to God through the Holy Spirit, and to the real life that comes with that closeness. The prayer visualisations give me the chance to meditate upon the thoughts shown in each lesson, concentrating the mind more completely. I would recommend that the visualisations are followed closely to concentrate the mind on things beyond our immediate world.. This brings a closer union with God and should pave the way for miracles to happen.

I do not feel that I have yet experienced what I would call a miracle but I have found a certain peace and closeness in the Spirit. I am concentrating more on giving and receiving love and hope that, with a fuller knowledge of the Course, I may realise the light of miracles available to me.

Rev. Derek Kemp

**********************

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. 

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers and lots of free online sermons for your use. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.
 

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Spirituality Course

Comments on Lesson 13 – Dr of Spirituality Course

I must admit that I have found this a difficult lesson to consider. As a traditional Christian, I have always regarded death as something we all have to face at the end of our lives but now we discover that death does not exist! I can follow the theoretical reasoning for this but the practicalities are much more difficult. It needs much closer study and thought to come to an acceptance of this idea, but I hope that in the future I shall be able both to accept and put forward a reasonable explanation. I hope that buying the book on which this course is based will help towards greater understanding. At this stage , I would not like to try to explain this idea to someone else unless they had at least some knowledge of the subject of this lesson and an open mind to consider the impact of it.

My own view of death is of a door opening to reveal the light of Christ and the eternal presence of God into whose Kingdom we will all come eventually. This is how I would treat this matter if I  was involved  closely with a bereavement. I would  try to show that death is not the final end it looks like but a restarting of a life so infinitely better than the present one, however good that may seem to people now.

I realise that life lives in the mind as pointed out in the lesson and that life is love which cannot be destroyed and carries on as the spirit in the renewed life we shall lead in the future. We need to show love at all times as this brings out forgiveness allowing us to go forward in God's blessing having passed that forgiveness to everyone. I particularly like the homily and would use at least some of it should I be called upon to officiate at some future occasion. The prayer following in the lesson is more comforting than many of the prayers one finds in more traditional services and would be more acceptable, particularly if used at  a funeral service where those present and the families had no firm religious ties.

One must truly believe in the everlasting spirit in everyone, which is going to continue when this life is over, and pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance in our conversations on this subject to help us to put forward the Truth.

**********************

Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. 

The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers and lots of free online sermons for your use. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.  We enable people to use distance learning to improve their lives.

 

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar