Believe You Are That Light

—by Ernest Holmes

And we must awaken ourselves — rediscover that lost paradise, that child who was not afraid of the Universe in which he lived, that child who did not deny himself or his God, that child who had not listened to the dull, monotonous tune of condemnation, until he had isolated himself in fear from the Universe in guilt and, being antisocial, became anti-spiritual, and finally, for his own self-protection in the world that hurts so much, must regret until nature relieves him, which it always will — because limitation and want and lack and pain belong only to the lower order of perception.

There is a place on the side of the mountain we are ascending where, like the burden of the pilgrim, there is an ascent which, having gone beyond the peaks that obstructed the light around us, reaches an apex where no longer any shadows are cast. This is the light that is spoken of that lighteth every man ’s path.

And as you believe that you live, believe you are that light. As you believe in the possibility of your own soul, believe it is God. As you believe in God, believe in yourself.

—Excerpted from the February 2021 issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine

The Black Family:

Representation, Identity and Diversity

In 2021, Black History Month celebrations will focus on the theme of “The Black Family.” According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which started Black History Month, “The Black family has been a topic of study in many disciplines…. Its representation, identity and diversity have been reverenced, stereotyped and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time.”

The website adds, “The family offers a rich tapestry of images for exploring the African American past and present.”

The association this year features a number of virtual events focused on Black families from a range of viewpoints. On Sunday, February 20, there will be a marquee event featuring a discussion of “Finding Our Roots in African American History: A Conversation with Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham.”

Get more information on these events and others at https://asalh.org/festival/.

Our Opportunity to Show Up as God

In the February 2021 issue of Science of Mind magazine, Rev. Ogun Holder delves into the nature of grief — a topic especially timely given the ever-increasing numbers of people dying from COVID-19. He posits that grief, like everything else we experience, offers us the opportunity to show up as God.

“Grief hurts,” Holder writes, “and it just might be the pain of our hearts cracking wide open, further than we thought possible. Grief lets us experience the depths of love that connected us to the ones we lost. And the more it hurts, the more we loved and were loved by them.”

He adds that grief paves the way for healing, for making peace with the parts of ourselves so closely connected to those we’ve lost. “Grief invites us to reconcile our desire to find constant contentment with the inevitability of impermanence. Grief humbles us into surrender, the ultimate path to God.”

Read more about Holder’s belief that grief is a spiritual practice in the February magazine.

Correction

In the January 8, 2021, issue of this newsletter, we included a piece by Rev. Dr. Jesse Jennings, “Three Reasons for Hope.” In the first reason for hope, we omitted a word, thereby perhaps confusing readers. The paragraph in context should read:

I believe things will be all right for three reasons. One is we know things are now not all right, so we have some inner ideal already, some mental/emotional equivalent of peace, happiness and mutual respect to which our experience is not presently conforming.