Unity Community

Imagination Can Save The World

As we continue exploring the Twelve Spiritual Powers with Unity, we come to June--the month designated for the spiritual power of Imagination. Its corresponding affirmation is : 

I envision good unfolding in every area of my life!

As part of the celebration, our choir sang “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory (starring Gene Wilder from 1971).  

“If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it.
Anything you want to, do it!
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing To it”

Artwork from creativechick.com called "Kiss My Face"

Both the affirmation and the song lyrics point to the power of imagination in how we experience the world. But imagination is more than just a pair of rose colored glasses or pleasant daydreams of the future. It’s the basis of goal setting and using the Law of Attraction. (Click here for an explanation of The Law of Attraction that I wrote for The DailyOM.com) It’s the beginning of the creation of your life – which is why imagination is part of what we call create-ivity. It may be your most powerful tool.

Most people think of imagination in terms of art. In art, we can create worlds that may not exist in what we know as “reality”, but they do exist...once we create them! In books and movies, on stage and in paintings, etc. they become real, or at the very least, a shared vision. If you’ve ever seen Cirque du Soleil, you know that fantastical worlds can be created for us to enter, if only for a few hours at a time. Walt Disney created an entire kingdom, no, empire, from his imagination, and it has become part of the mythology of our day.

Myths and stories guide us under normal circumstances, but imagination can actually save your life.  In the book La Prisonniere, also called Stolen Lives, a family that was imprisoned in the Moroccan desert for 20 years managed to stay alive and fairly sane because one of them was a storyteller. Then their imaginations helped them to devise an escape plan, and to eventually reclaim their freedom.

In the movie “What Dreams May Come” (1998) that I just caught again on cable, your imagination and what you believe is possible is how you create your own heaven, or your hell. So in this case, your imagination might even save your soul.

Sculpture called “Industry” from Queen's University, Belfast.--->

With your every thought you are using your imagination, whether the vision you hold is positive or negative, creative or destructive, or in the past or future. So imagination has a myriad of real-world applications as well – from designing a building to inventing machinery, from making a meal to theorizing the existence of the atom or black holes.

We are also using our imaginations negatively when we imagine the worst, have low expectations, or cling too much to our worst case scenarios instead of entertaining the possibilities and coming up with creative solutions.

The best illustrations I’ve seen on how imagination can shape our world are from the films The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know? Check them out, and then come join us at Unity Community Church in Reseda, California as we discuss further applications of our wild and wonderful imaginations!

Malayna Dawn is UCC's webmaster as well as a freelance writer and author. Acting as a modern-day shaman she aims to help people navigate their way through their inner and outer worlds using symbolism, stories and metaphor. Entertain the possibilities and make life an enjoyable adventure by reading her blog, Symbolic Themes  or her novel, Echoes Across Time! 

Breathing Inspiration

From freelance writer Malayna Dawn, webmaster for Unity Community Church and member-at-large.

^{Photo from Jendala.com & item is available for sale!}

I recently downloaded a bunch of music, and then I noticed a pattern.  There seem to be a lot of songs about breathing. I’ve got “Breathe”, “Breathe In”, Keep Breathing” , “Breathe In Breathe Out” and “Breathe Me”. 

I must admit, I wondered what the Universe might be trying to tell me, or where my inner guidance is trying to draw my attention. 

So I took a deep breath.  Ahhhhhh.  And I started thinking.

I remembered a few quotes from Tom Hanks films that talk about how to go on when life becomes painful.

From Castaway
“I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?”

From Sleepless in Seattle
“I'm gonna get out of bed every morning... breathe in and out all day long. Then, after a while I won't have to remind myself to get out of bed every morning and breathe in and out..."

When people are stressed out, we tell them to take a deep breath. That simple act of focusing on our breathing centers us in the here and now. We ground ourselves in our physical reality and recall our minds from their wanderings into the future or past, uniting our minds and bodies to live fully in the now moment.

When we are in a state of resisting what the moment brings, we hold our breath. When shocked, we gasp. When we are amazed, it takes our breath away. When relieved, we exhale a sigh of relief. Our emotions are tied to our breathing.

Following our breathing is the doorway to meditation.  We feed the cells of our bodies, relax into a natural rhythm and receive inspiration. The word “inspiration” comes from the same root as “respiration”. We are enlivened not only physically, but spiritually from breath of God and the whispers of angels and muses in our ears.

Breathing is our connection to the natural world around us. We take in the oxygen from the atmosphere…the exhalation of trees after they’ve converted the carbon dioxide we’ve expelled. The molecules of everything around us becomes part of us, moves through us, nourishes us, touches and changes us. Because of this exchange, it behooves us to take care of our environment, and those around us. We are connected by the air we share.

And most obvious – breath is life. If we are breathing, and we know it, we’re alive! Breathing is a full mind-body-spirit experience.  

Of course, in the medical world, breathing is an important indicator of life and death. This points to another reason I may have found myself with several songs about breathing – I found most of them on the soundtracks of the TV medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy! 

 

For more spiritual lessons from pop culture and the world around us, visit Malayna Dawn on her website or her blog, Symbolic Themes.  For a spiritual adventure, check out her novel Echoes Across Time.

Talk Topic- “Pilate’s Wife and I Don’t Know”

Steve Keener, Sunday's speaker, was inpsired to do some research on Pilate's wife. He found a book called ‘Women in the Bible’ that said there are 38 words referring to her in the Bible; yet there are volumes of information about her on the internet.  

In trying to make sense of it all, he took a break to listen to a tape his wife, Jackie, wanted him to hear. The tape was by Unity minister, Rev. Richard Rogers, on a series about the movie, “What the Bleep Do We Know”, (which addresses how we live with Science and Spirituality in our lives). He was reminded about the need to stretch our minds beyond what we have ever believed before. He then realized that it was OK not to know everything about Pilate’s Wife and why she was so important.

We are engaged in a constant process of letting go of old beliefs and entertaining new ones.  We are never finished.  

The first step in any intuitive process is for the student is to be willing to admit ‘they don’t know’ and become willing to unlearn everything they had been told is true. The point is not to be afraid of the unknown (it is safe not to know), but be in a state of awe.

If you are finding it hard to accept that most of what we have been told and have believed our whole life isn’t true, just think about what people have believed in past centuries, like the world is flat.  It’s OK not to know, and if we can’t say it out loud, we can at least admit it to ourselves and feel safe in the not knowing, and instead be open to infinite possibilities.