A CLEARER VIEW

Rev. Erwin J. Deiser, Pastor
Expressing Peace, Love, Joy, Beauty, and Wisdom

JANUARY/APRIL 2009

Volume 14 - Issue 5

Welcome to our newsletter

This is our forum for expressing the spiritual growth our members and leader have had and want to share with you. Expressing God as peace, joy, beauty, love, prosperity and wisdom is the main objective of this publication. Contact Rev. Erwin if you are interested in contributing an article.

Board of Trustees

Rev. Erwin Deiser, President

Glenn Andersen, Vice President

Phyllis Deiser, Secretary/Treasurer

Janice Giaconia, Member

Alicia Dombey, Member

Rev. Carol Przelomski, Member

Practitioner

Rev. Erwin J. Deiser

Rev. Carol Przelomski

Sound

Glenn Anderson

Meditation Leader

Rev. Carol Przelomski

Our Location

Guided Meditation

Meditation Leader
Rev. Carol Przelomski
Every Sunday morning
10:00 a.m. to 10:20 a.m.

Take twenty minutes to lift your consciousness and remind yourself that you are the presence and power of God made manifest as individual being and that all things are possible as you unify yourself with the One Spirit. CD's are available for purchase.

Weekly Life Lesson

Presented by
Rev. Erwin Deiser
Every Sunday morning
10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

A guide to everyday practical spirituality. Complete Sunday morning with a healing meditation and a life lesson you can bring to the 9:00 to 5:00 world and be spiritually fortified 24/7. Lessons CD's are available for purchase.

NATIVE AMERICAN SMUDGING CEREMONY
AT CHURCH / SUNDAY MARCH 2, 2009.

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"To be ambitious for wealth and yet always expecting to be poor; to be always doubting your ability to get what you long for, is like trying to reach east by traveling west".
~Baudouin

“Living Large” is my plan that I have written about many times before and this may be a concept that offends some people in these hard economic times. I’ve seen some sayings like, “Living Real”. Personally, I like “Live Real Large”. My point in this is that regardless of the “externals” we still need to do the internal work to get and stay in a place that “knows” we can choose to live the good life as we define it. It’s not about money. I am not advocating living it up in the sense of flamboyance and spending beyond your means, because really, so many did that (including our government), it is what got us to this point in the first place. I am however advocating living your life. Period. End Stop. YOUR LIFE. Not your child’s, parent’s, friend’s, coworker’s life.

As Rev. Deiser has us sing on Sundays, “Row YOUR BOAT”. There is YOUR Business, MY Business, and God’s Business. Whenever I get down about something I ask myself, “Am I minding my own business?” An example I will share, I recently learned of someone close to me getting married at the justice of the peace with few attendees. My initial reaction was shock and temporary hurt at not being included. My second reaction that stands is, “what difference does it make to me? He didn’t offend me. He did it his way. This is not MY BUSINESS. Now I can move on.”

Secondly, I am advocating living your life consciously. Actively. With flair and color. Be involved. Have fun! Live large but first develop the large consciousness to support the lifestyle. Yes, I know sometimes it’s easier to meddle in other people’s business because it takes the focus off our own situation. Maybe that’s entertaining to you. If you spend more time in “other people’s business” while neglecting your own business, you are in trouble. Pain. Suffering. Anxiety. Yep, it’s yours to claim. Tend your own garden.

In these tough times, it’s all too easy to “live down” to the “bad economy”. I want to remind people to “Live up” to their own definitions and expectations of what makes life worth living and makes life good. Make = Creation.

Some friends recently told me they were joining a poker tournament, their “new retirement plan” they joked. Later when I asked how it went, they said they decided not to go because the entry was too expensive and the odds weren’t good they would come home with money. Now, it is THEIR business (smile) and choice to play poker or not. However, I propose that if you have something you enjoy doing, where you can meet new people, play a game you enjoy (PLAY=FUN), and you can afford it, consider ways to continue fitting it in.

A friend of mine told me he thinks twice about purchases lately in the context of, “can I eat it?” and if I were starving would I regret the purchase later. To me, this is buying into the fear in an extreme way. Yes, many people are “there” and I understand that every cent spent has to be accounted for and each pre-purchase decision considered and weighed. However, take stock of your own situation. Get real. Keep moving and keep living. I think this “bad economy” is like our immune system telling us something is wrong and giving us a wake up call. Actions lead to consequences. We have learned a great lesson.

We cannot conspicuously consume the world’s resources mindlessly, with flagrant disregard, without their being some consequences. It is against our spiritual law. We believe in reap what you sow. It cannot work in reverse. We have heard this many times, many different ways, in our teachings. Be-Do-Have. That is the order. Believe, Achieve, Receive. Conceive, Believe, Achieve. However you think of it in your own terms, this is the natural law. It is spiritual law. Apparently, it even governs economic law. (What have we learned!?). The good news is that all things are temporary and impermanence was first a topic I wrote on as a difficult time with my Dad and Grandma passing. Now I embrace the temporary and impermanence brings me peace. I don’t like listening to experts on the “situation” but I overheard in a waiting room the other day a man that predicted this back in 2006 (they showed the clip from when they first interviewed him) and asked him what he thinks now. He said the government is doing exactly as he feared they would with the bail out. He said, “We need to push through the pain and learn the lessons of this recession. “Printing paper” devalues the dollar and ultimately leads to an inflationary depression”. Now, I am not an expert but my interpretation, we will go from “no jobs” (broad sense not literal), to “no money” and then money not worth the paper printed on. What place does this have in our spiritual practice?

This reminds me of another concept from class. Parents often try to “protect” their children from the consequences of bad behavior. I live in FL and have been following the “Tot Mom” case and it just came out that this girl stole from her grandparents, which is disturbing, but for me, with my relationship with my grandpa in particular, this really struck a nerve. The story unfolds with her grandma realizing someone stole from her and going to file the police report until she sees her granddaughter’s signature on the checks. She then doesn’t pursue it or press charges. The granddaughter continues her life of Riley, partying and spending, and yes, she continues stealing from her grandparents (which is the least of her problems now). The point of all this is that when we try to “soften the blow” we often inadvertently “enable” (and overused word in my opinion but it makes the point). Some lessons we just have to learn. We have to allow others to learn their lessons. We have to experience it. They have to experience it. We cannot live someone else’s life for them. Remember the Rev. Deiser talk about putting your jacket on someone else’s shoulders. It didn’t fit. It has never worked. It cannot work. I will end this the way I began. Live your life. Live it Up. Live it LARGE.