Inundated by Conviction

The moment the plane touched down in Siem Reap, Cambodia, everything David Ault knew about the world, about himself, shifted. It was January 2004, just 30 years after the Khmer Rouge slaughtered more than 1 million Cambodian people. Landmines littered the country, and “the devastating impact of those was visible wherever you went,” Ault says, “even amidst the beauty of sacred sites and nature.”

Until he led a group of 15 on a tour of Cambodia and Thailand, he knew nothing about those countries. For many in his group, visiting Cambodia was their first experience seeing the extent to which the world divides itself between the haves and the have-nots.

In Cambodia, Ault and his group looked for ways they could make a difference when they saw the extreme need firsthand. They sought ways they could maximize their opportunity to address the greatest need. They were on Tonle Sap Lake in the dry season, where the most vulnerable would congregate in a makeshift village. “Our conversation evolved into deciding to feed the kids there,” he says, “which became an elaborate endeavor.”

Before they could embark on their quest, they had to get a message to the village matriarch. With her approval, they pooled their money and spent $85 at the local food markets. “For $85, we stuffed our vans to the gills with food,” he recalls.

Seeing the response, Ault says, “Inside of me, I had a visceral, primal feeling, like my chest cavity would just burst. I couldn't keep my demeanor, so I crawled into a pontoon boat and started to wail, not from pain but from a recognition that I am them and they are me. There was no 'other.' We were all connected and united.”

“My motivation in this work is coming to the awareness by which we do what we do with what we have wherever we find the need.” He also is clear about why so much of this work happens in other parts of the world. “This is a testament to how far a U.S. dollar can go and how much good it can do,” he explains.

Ault is crystal clear in his intention: “Simply put, at our foundation, Kaleidoscope, we've been inundated by the conviction: You can't care about some of it; you have to care about all of it.”

—Excerpted from the January 2024 Science of Mind magazine

There Is Work To Be Done

In the January 2024 Science of Mind magazine, writer Raymont Anderson argues that if the grand rising of the next highest version of Science of Mind and Centers for Spiritual Living is upon us, then this rising “calls us to increase our visibility so we can experience a greater global life-affirming impact. This grand rising invites each of us to rise in relevance, rise in reach and rise in relationship.”

He asserts that there is a “global 911 call that has largely gone unanswered by us.” He further says, “Manifesting a world that works for all requires us to ask how Science of Mind benefits humanity. Our invitation is to go beyond the surface of our theological, philosophical spiritual responses.

“Yes, we understand God is oneness individualizing as each of us. Yes, we understand that love is transformative and that prayer is effective.” He challenges us to this path by noting, "There is an entire world crying out for our relevance and calling for us to step in, step up and serve. Are we ready, willing and able to answer that call?”

Anderson posits that “we have not done what we can to the degree that we must.” His approach to this year's theme, “A Grand Rising,” is that we must answer this call to action. “It's a call to serve,” he writes, “a call to boldly and visibly participate in establishing effective life-affirming structures, aligned with principle, that not only support all of our relationships but also set the people free physically, emotionally, economically, psychologically, spiritually and systemically.”

He recounts the Bible story of Lazarus, in which, once Lazarus arose, Jesus said, “Unwrap him and let him go,” for there was work to be done. So, too, for us. We must unwrap what binds us for there is work to be done.

There is nothing in the world that can take the place of love, friendship, appreciation and cooperation in our lives. …
I do not believe there is a single fact in human
history or a single manifestation in the universe that
is or could possibly be anything other than a
manifestation of the One Divine Mind,
the One Universal Presence,
the One Infinite Spirit.

— Ernest Holmes