California Free Press

Let’s Proclaim our Joy, Love and Peace

Dear friends,

When Descartes said “I think, therefore I am” he got it backwards. It ought to be “I am, therefore I think.” But no one knows how. No one knows how matter becomes conscious or how consciousness becomes matter, but we live with the truth of it all the time. Our lives are proof that matter is conscious and that consciousness takes form.

Ideas shape our reality. Our everyday experience is a moving picture of ideas that are in temporary form. They are the past revealed. What if we, who are conscious, decided to reshape our reality with some new ideas? Would we want things to be a little better, somewhat improved or would we go for a real transformation? My sense is that we all think too small, too locally, hold too narrow a view of what is possible.

As we move out of the calendar year into a blank slate, as it were, what would we like to see in our world? Can we begin to imagine it? See it in our mind? What if we could get together and vision a world that is a joy to experience for all of humanity? We do not need to see the details. We need to feel the energy. Our part is to live, right now, as if it were already so. The energy of joy, of celebration, can be brought up from the depths of our consciousness at any time. Those energies are qualities of Being inherent in us. We do not create joy and love and peace. We live them. Let’s do what we can today to raise the level of expectation for our world. Let’s proclaim our joy and let it be seen.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspiritualliving.com   You can donate to us via pay pal

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Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Dear friends,

The man Jesus was a tough love kind of guy. He got so angry he withered a fig tree! He threw the money-changers out of the temple. He was what we might call a radical healer. He was friends with misfits and harlots. He walked with lepers, which was unheard of in those days.  He showed a kind of fearlessness that is rare in our time. Jesus was not a hippie. He was a mystic, probably a great Yogi.

According to some biblical scholarship* his mother Mary belonged to a healing circle of women who called themselves “the virgins.” He came by his desire to transform the world via her. His father was a carpenter. He built things. The young boy, Jesus, must have been deeply imprinted by his earthly parents. His lasting gifts to the world are those of healing and building. His words are those of every great spiritual teacher.

They all teach: Find the Source within. Let your ego take a back seat to your Spirit. Take care of your mind, feed it good thoughts. Be compassionate to those who seem lost. Do not be attached to worldly possessions, but be willing to follow a high calling. Let go of things as they happen. Forgive and move on. Love your neighbor and Love your Source and Love your Self.

Before Jesus the rule to live by was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”  Jesus introduced love and forgiveness into the collective unconscious. We are still trying to bring his advice into our shared reality.  This time of year is the celebration of courage, love, power and forgiveness whether you are a Jew, Christian, a Religious Scientist, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or someone who has never been to a church or temple. It is time to celebrate being human and to welcome our own awakening to the simplest of truths: “The Father and I are One.” (God is within.) We are its hands and feet. Let’s try again to walk the high road.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.califroniafreepress.net

*For more about this read ”The Gnostic Gospels” by Elaine Pagels.

A Choice Worth Making

Dear friends,

When was the last time you made a choice and then blamed someone else for it? It is a shockingly common tactic, one we would expect to have ceased in our youth. But no, people are quick to grab onto anything but their own responsibility for their choices. We do what gives us some satisfaction in the moment, whether it be ego or our true self.   There is never blame if our choice is motivated by self-love.

Spiritual maturity is a praise-response to life. It is not a complaint department. Praise, like love and joy, wants to be conspicuous. It wants to be seen and heard and expressed. If we are in a state of resistance to what is in our immediate experience, we might try to find the praise response inside and let it out!   We can clean up much negativity in our life with some praise. We do not have to agree with everything that is going on, but we can certainly find much to praise.

Whatever we say is missing in our family, our workplace, our church, our synagogue, our team, we are not bringing. We need to give it into the mix and let it meet its counterpart in the others. We can be a quickening agent, which was what teachers like Jesus and Buddha were. In this Holy-days time, try bringing what you miss with you wherever you may be.  You might be surprised at how powerful you really are. It is a choice worth making.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Relish the Joys and Sorrows of Human Experience

Dear friends,

Habits are sometimes ways of reassuring ourselves that we are in control and safe in this wild universe which is constantly moving and evolving. We place a great deal of value on a fixed idea of Reality. We have created a need that quite possibly does more harm to our mental health than good.   We want to feel solid and permanent in this life but that is the last thing we are. Our bodies are energy systems, activated by breath. They are temporary structures that give our Self a way to experience time and space, which is a real treat to the formless Soul.

But we think our body is us and we rush to protect it; to feed it and clothe it and keep it warm or cool as the climate demands, to medicate the fears and ritualize things.  While we rightfully care for and tend to its daily needs, there is a paradox here. We must also allow the body to change, to grow, to mutate, as it were, to become some new version of itself. There comes a time, in old age or in sickness, when we must give it back into the field from whence it came. That is the ultimate letting go. The one who has found her/himself outside the body will have little difficulty doing this.   They might be a bit nostalgic, but they will not mourn the form.

The closer we are to seeing ourselves as a natural occurrence in the journey of Love and Intelligence, in and out of the invisible realm, the more we can enjoy our time here in the visible. We can relish in the joys and sorrows of human experience. We are more likely to praise change than fear it. We are freer with our compassion and forgiveness. We are more alive when we are not afraid of death.  

Just some thoughts in this winter-time of darkness, which is the deepening time.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Life is Not a Contest and It is Not a Rehearsal

Dear friends,

Everywhere on the internet and tv, you see lists of the ‘Top Ten’ in this or that.   The greatest athlete, the most beautiful person, the sexiest man in the world, etc. It must be having a negative effect on young people. If you are not ‘good enough’ to get on The List, then why try at all? If you love to paint but seem to have no natural gift for it, why bother? But, why not?   Why not do what you love and take yourself out of the running to be the best at it. Just be you at it.

Life is not a contest and it is not a rehearsal. It is all here, right now. Whatever we pursue, we can improve our skills. Some study, some practice, but mostly our enjoyment of it will lift us a bit higher level in how we express it. But that is not the goal. Our personal enjoyment of anything is downplayed in our culture. We are supposed to excel, get really good at it or be better than anyone else. Let’s let that nonsense go and jump in to something we might love doing, like a child running out to play.

I know a man in Canada, who is about 6’10”. He is really tall and very big. He is also brilliant and extremely informed politically, coming from a family in public service. But in the past few years he took up pottery making! Those huge hands are turning out some beautiful things. But what I find so lovely is his delight in it. I see his posts on Facebook and it makes my heart happy to see him so engaged with his avocation. He is not trying to win awards, he is making pots!

What if we give ourselves the gift of playing this year. Is it learning the ukulele, or singing in a group, or skateboarding or line-dancing? There is something in each of us that wants to break out of the ”I’m not good enough” mantra. Let’s do it this year! You are enough to do what your heart desires. Say Yes!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingBakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

The Beautiful Transformation

Dear friends,

What if you passed away today? Would you want people to remember you based on what you did or said yesterday?   If you have been behaving in a way that is beneath your true self, that will be your legacy.  You will be remembered for your unkind words, your ego-based anger, your low self-esteem.   Seriously, would your leaving the planet cause a collective sigh of relief or would it be cause for grief?

I truly hope those who are reckless with their words will clean up their act before it is too late. We see it in world leaders, but also on the school playground, in offices and even in spiritual communities. People can be so mean when they are unhealed. And that is the real source of bullying. The need to build up one’s own ego can lead to all kinds of ugly behaviors. Let’s know the truth about those in our midst who are on a rampage of lies and innuendo.

Know for them:

Behind the façade of personality, there is a Being of light and loveliness; there is a real self that is incapable of anything but love.   That self is now the lead consciousness in this person. They are susceptible only to their higher nature.   Gone is any personality quirk that wants to hurt others. Now there is only joy, love, peace and celebration of our Oneness. With great love for the soul that is now coming through, we know the wounds are healed, the old is gone and right now, they are released from the prison of ego-based demands. It is a beautiful transformation.   I am grateful to know this truth.

And so it is.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Greet This Day With Optimism and Joy

Dear friends,

The exterior of my apartment building is being painted. Consequently, my windows are covered with a kind of thick film. It makes seeing out impossible. I realized today how much I depend on those windows to connect with the morning! It brought to mind the treatment of prisoners who never see the light of day, locked away in concrete cells. That is a kind of punishment in itself. I also thought of those people who are free but who also have covered their eyes and cannot see the light.   They are the haters, the ones who have not healed their wounds and who want to hurt others who seem free and full of life.

Their used to be a saying in New Thought about the “walking wounded.” Easy to spot, they are against just about everything. The only way they can feel powerful is to destroy something. These folks are to be met with compassion, although it can be difficult to see through their behaviors to the hurt child within. But that is what spirituality asks of us. Love them and let them go.

This is the path of the spiritual warrior. To be strong is not to fight. It is to bring some light into the darkness. Take the film off your own eyes and greet this day with optimism and joy.   The Source of all Good is ever-present and cares for those who do no harm. If you find yourself attacking others just because it makes you feel big, watch out. That hurt child running amok will ultimately destroy your relationships, your health, your prosperity. Take the high road. Bring that kid up to date. All is well, right now. The sun is shining this morning.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

prayer is a radical response to life

Dear friends,

Matthew Fox* said “prayer is a radical response to life.” It is the Yes response. Why pray if what we desire is impossible to achieve? We have already said yes to it or we would not go through the small ritual that is prayer or, in New Thought, Spiritual Mind Treatment. Here is the important truth: a No response is also a kind of prayer, given that our beliefs tend to materialize.

What are you saying Yes to today? Equally important, what are you denying to be possible? Yes, to Love in the world as a guiding principle? Yes to the release of old resentments? Yes to increased prosperity? Can we then set an intention to allow our desire to come through us?   How would that look? Increase happens by means of our participation in the very thing we thought was missing!

So many people live in the “what is missing” level of consciousness. I heard a minister say “whatever you think is missing in our church, you didn’t bring with you.” Wow. That is how it works. We are the answer to our own prayer. We are the conduit that Spirit travels through on its way into a new form. Let’s review our radical responses as we approach the end of the year and walk into 2019. If there are more No responses than Yes ones, we need to do something about it! We cannot let them fester in our mind and expect a new experience.

As Emerson wrote; “Prayer is the perception of life from the highest point of view.” (paraphrased slightly)   The highest point of view is always YES!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

*Fox is author of ‘On Becoming a Mystical, Magical Bear.”

I Love This Life I Am Living

Dear friends,

The cause of our pain is not the outer world although we could make quite a case for that. Emotional pain comes from perception and almost always it is active in us before we attach it to a person or group. Anger is stored up in us and leaks out inappropriately. There is always someone or some entity to blame for our feelings.   The solution to releasing unresolved anger is forgiveness. We must forgive ourselves for holding on to it, thinking we need to protect our hearts. There may have been an initial experience that seems to be the source of it, but actually it has been allowed to become a new cause to the effects we feel, now.

The opposite of blame is praise. We want to fill our mind with Praise. We start with praising Life, praising Beauty, praising Nature, praising Love. Then we extend it to ourselves. We praise our good intentions, our softer perceptions, our capacity for love. We praise the One Life that is all life, that is our real source of everything.  We praise our willingness to release old “stuff” and to embrace possibility.

What does praise sound like? It begins with “I love.” IE: I love this life I am living. I love the beauty all around me. I love my friends and neighbors. I love my home. I love my new thoughts. I love being me! I love those who I sought to blame. I love how I can move on and be happier right now! I love Spirit that makes all things new, beginning with the content of my mind.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

 

Keep Love Alive!

Dear friends,

Love does not hurt. What hurts is the perceived loss of love. But it cannot truly be lost. Love is part of our spiritual DNA and can be alive and expressive or dormant and passive. It often seems to be enlivened by the arrival of some other person or an object that is most pleasing to us. But can we awaken love in ourselves if there is no significant other? Yes, it takes many forms when it is not attached to anyone else. Compassion is a form of love and so is gratitude.

Love happens when we allow ourselves to feel oneness with Life, when we recognize the beauty that is everywhere, as we notice the desire in us to unite with the world in a way that makes it a better place for everyone. Love is the energy of reaching out, offering help, lifting up. Love is giving in support of great ideas. Love is generosity. Love is our greatest resource.

Ernest Holmes spoke about Love as the energy of cohesiveness. His famous saying that “love brings together that which belongs together and maintains it in harmony and balance.” Yes, as long as love is the active force in any situation, there is stability; there is the energy that continually makes the relationship new. It is our own withdrawal of love (of compassion, gratitude, generosity, oneness with) that causes the disintegration of what Love has produced. With Love, everything holds together and keeps extending itself beyond what it has previously created.

Keep Love alive!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Something Else Besides

Dear friends,

There is the world and all it’s beauty and there is Something Else. There is change and chaos and upheaval and there is Something Else. There is you and your life with its joys and sorrows and there is Something Else, ever present, behind it all, running through it all. The beginning place of all life is rooted in it.   Where would it be found if not at the beginning place of awareness? If not within our own deeper mind, where could it possibly be?

It was in us when we emerged into the world of form. We carried it into this personalized experience. We are its vehicle, so to speak. My life and your life are the opportunities for the Something Else to become seen and known in time and space. In religious language it sounds like “In the beginning there was God and God is all there is, appearing to be everything else!”

Matthew Fox, the author of ‘The Coming of the Cosmic Christ’ suggests the beginning point of self-discovery and the return of the Christ is within our own Being.   He teaches the way in to it is meditation. Through the avenue of silence and stillness, we feel the Presence. That is all it takes for us to experience the “happy for no reason” state of mind that is so beneficial to the body, to our relationships, to our work, to our world. The mystics of ancient days, like Rumi, knew it intimately. He sang about the realization of his own awakening with these words: “I didn’t know I was all you.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

Thank you Maren Elwood for creating our beautiful new website!

www.californiafreepress.net

A Belated Thanksgiving Message

Dear friends,

Part of a lyric of an old song: “if you’re worried and cannot sleep, count your blessings instead of sheep, and you’ll fall asleep, counting your blessings…”

What blesses you today? Gratitude is the emotion of feeling blessed.

Today I am grateful for artists, musicians, and writers. They give us beauty and rhythm and glorious sounds and words that take us into other worlds. I am grateful for scientists and inventors and architects. They discover, enlighten us, bring meaning into our lives, build structure and provide shelter. I am grateful for doctors, nurses, first responders. They serve to protect us from disease, discomfort, pain and loss.

I am grateful for teachers and librarians, publishers, filmmakers. They insure the future with information and motivation through the avenue of story. I am grateful for the great thinkers of the past who are no longer alive but whose work is our legacy. People like Jesus, Buddha, Einstein, Jobs, Helen Keller, Meister Eckhart, Tesla, Madame Currie and Lincoln . Thousands of lives have been dedicated to the betterment of humanity. I am grateful for my immediate family and the extension of it through dear friends. I am grateful today for my own passion to bring New Thought spirituality into the mainstream of our collective perception. I am grateful for my Center where we celebrate the possible, heal the past and awaken our hearts to our own wholeness.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  

www.cslbakersfield.com (launching Dec 2)

www.carol-carnes.com  

www.californiafreepress.net

Let’s Get Creative About Our Own Lives

Dear friends,

Ernest Holmes: ‘we each have immediate access to the Intelligence of the Universe.’   He was clarifying the statement “we have the mind of Christ.” He went on to say we give it outlet through inspiration or through bitter experience. The Intelligence of the Universe knows only to replicate what has our attention and mental energy.

In the coming days, as we move toward a New Year, let’s make it more of an intentional journey. First, let’s reflect on this past year. Was there a kind of theme to it? Would you want it to continue into 2019? Is it something to build on or is it better to release it right now? When we let something go, we replace it. Most often, we do not give the new idea enough care and feeding to set it as an intention.

Let’s spend some time each day until the New Year dawns, boldly stating what we desire, expect and are willing to be changed by, in 2019. If our idea is not something that requires any change in us, then we are likely going to repeat last year. If the new idea for living does not scare us a bit, it is not new!   It is only the ego, the habituated thinker, that is frightened. That is a good sign. It means we have stepped up a level in our perception and the old ideas are being uprooted. There could be a little resistance!

However, as Ernest Holmes wrote “Spiritual thought force has power over all material resistance.” Let’s get creative about our own life. Let’s trust the Universal Intelligence to respond to our best new ideas.

p.s. This Sunday Dec 2, I will be speaking about “Name Your Year.” If you are not local, it will be on You Tube next week.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.carol-carnes.com

www.californiafreepress.net

We Have Boundless Possibilities

Dear friends,

     Forgiveness is always a good idea. It tends to affect the forgiver in the most positive ways, clearing our path forward.   We simply cannot make good progress in our emotional life while dragging along the dead weight of resentments. At this time of the year we often mistakenly think the New Year will bring wonderful experiences to us, simply because it is new! But no, consciousness is what goes into our tomorrows and it is the predictor of the quality of our life.

     We do spring cleaning of our homes, so why not a winter cleansing of our interior life?   What is lurking around in our mind that really has no good use, other than to keep anger alive? Perhaps it is sadness or regret? The error is to assume we have no power over it. But of course it is powerful only because it is ignored. If we have the intention to be clear of past hurts so that our life can reflect our true nature, then we can look at those less than beautiful thoughts and determine for ourselves if they are beneficial or not. Once we decide to let them go, healthier ideas will begin to surface.

     Self-reflection is a high spiritual practice. It is always about removing what is covering our inner light, as it were. There is a joyful, playful, loving, creative core self that is never disturbed, damaged, nor diminished by the pain we may have known. He or she is perfectly intact, ready to take the lead in our unavoidable expression of who we think we are. Are we a victim of ignorance, or are we a self-aware, self-actualizing being of boundless possibility?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.centerforspirituallivingbakersfield.com

www.carol-carnes.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Keep Yourself in Optimal Well-Being

Dear friends,

   There is a bit of a lull between Thanksgiving and the Holidays. Most people will fill it with shopping. What if we used this time to pause and reflect on 2018 and all that we created for ourselves this past year? Are we pleased with what we have allowed into our experience? If not, what can we do right now to make 2019 what we truly desire?

   One of the requirements of any business at the end of the year is to take an inventory of products as yet unsold. Can we do something similar by checking in with our own mind to see what is still there that may be old and outdated? The most powerful thing we can do is to claim our recent experience as the product of our mind. I know, sometimes we cannot make that link, but just assume it is true that consciousness produced it all. Just for now, own it.

     When we claim the power of our mind, we have ceased to be the victim of the times, the past or the collective belief system. We are not shaped by the world, rather, our world is shaped by us. There is a deeper or higher mind within us that sometimes takes the lead and assists us in maintaining our wholeness. That is when we cannot see how we had anything to do with what is current in our life, but we trust it is for our Good. There is no Power that teaches us lessons. There is only the universal Life Force coming through us to be shaped by us in order to keep us in optimal well-being. That would include our health, our prosperity, our love, our peace, our joy and our creativity.

     It is possible that all we need right now to make our world a better place are some new ideas!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.carol-carnes.com

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Life Is For Us, Never Against Us

Dear friends,

The great comedian, W.C. Fields said “a dead fish will float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.”

     What is the level of our aliveness today? Are we able to meet the challenges and see opportunity? Do we claim the unseen help that is always available once we engage it? Have we forgotten that this life is not trying to hurt us, but is always supportive of our higher inclinations? Our degree of aliveness is determined by how much we believe in the power we hold within our own mind, and if we know our mind is a personification of a universal Mind.

     Recently, a group of scientists announced their certainty that the universe itself is conscious.   Perhaps that is what we have been calling God. There is a responsiveness to our own aliveness from the Source of it.   What we determine to be ours to do or to create is metaphorically pushing us upstream, into success and fulfillment.   As long as we are swimming, the current carries us forward.

     There is a real joy in the experience of being helped by an invisible power. It seems magical, sometimes, how facts appear to support our truth. There are dazzling synchronicities and unexpected turns of events that we could not have predicted, but which are perfect for our particular journey. Ernest Holmes always said “Life is for us, never against us.” That is the one principle we need to remember no matter what is our current situation. It is as true of humanity as it is individuals. We are headed upstream. We are being pushed. We will arrive together.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com   www.carol-carnes.com

www.californiafreepress.net

The Joy of Serving the Higher Idea

Dear friends,

     The more we try to normalize negativity, the more we feel we can do nothing about it.   That is what we do when we blame anything in our lives on other people. “well, if only they would behave differently…then I could…….” Worse is the perception “that’s just the way it is with humans.” Or the ever-popular “what did you expect ?” In a sense we have given up on possibility, on love, on peace, on prosperity.   We have accepted the current experience as the last word on the subject. It never is.

     Actually, what we believe now is the first word on the subject and is the start of a series of effects. Our word is Cause to our experience. But we are not talking about an idle thought; we are speaking of a dynamic faith in the hidden potential in every one of us. Our word leads to our actions, to our way of being in the world. It becomes an alive energy and it is portable. Wherever we may be, our deeper beliefs are present. This is what we bring to the world; nothing but our perception of who we are and what is possible.

     Think well of our fellow humans. Judge not by the ignorance they may be operating under; know there is an open door in every mind that is the exit point for all we want for our world.  In New Thought spirituality, we are about calling out the truer nature of ourselves and each other through the awakening of the intellect to the principle of co-creation, and by healing the heart of its sense of woundedness. This is true social activism. What we do is then charged with cheerful expectancy and the joy of serving the higher idea.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.cslbakersfield.com (launch date Dec 2, 2018)

www.carol-carnes.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Look for the Good and Praise it

Dear friends,

Marcus Aurelius: “take care that you don’t treat humanity the way it treats human beings.”

     It is incredulous to me that human beings, the expression of the Spirit, are daily maligned, slaughtered, robbed, starved and more by other human beings, usually acting as “humanity” or some version of superiority. The cultish behavior of so many, the willingness to surrender one’s better self, the mob mentality, is running rampant in this world. Yet, we must have faith in humanity to awaken to its higher inclinations; to love, to unite with, to bless, to prosper together, to celebrate this Life we are living.

     We must be the champions of human potential; insist on it, speak about it, stand up for it and act as if it were so. Always, the spiritual approach to lasting change is to begin with oneself. How are we representing humanity, the expression of the Spirit? Are we railing against what we see or are we seeing through it to the greater possibility within it?

     Look for the Good and Praise it. That is from long ago but very apt today. Be for humanity, not against it. Be for freedom and peace, not merely against war. Be for equality and justice, not simply angry about the inequality and injustice we can identify. Our attention must be on what we know is possible and to call it out with our own behavior. We model what we wish to increase in our world. How else could it happen? To paraphrase another old saying “consciousness is contagious.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.carol-carnes.com

www.cslbakersfield.com  

www.californiafreepress.net

We are Responsible for the Quality of Life Here on our Little Planet

Dear friends,

     This is late today because I have been having computer problems all morning. It turned out to be a connection problem.   Isn’t that always the case? If it is not properly drawing current, nothing works!   The same is true for us as well.   We “plug in” through the right use of mind. It all begins with the declaration of our unity in the field of possibility. A religious person might say our oneness with God.

     How to stay connected? It has to do with a spiritual practice that is regular and intentional. Next is paying attention to how we react to the experience we are having, which would include the images on television. Do we make an effort to see through the appearance and to judge it righteously? By that I mean, can we see the bigger picture, place the event in the context of a larger something happening?

     As terrible as the suffering of humanity is right now, I do believe something more is coming through. We are experiencing the effects of our past ignorance and our refusal to consider that we are responsible for the quality of life here on our little planet, and in fact, the planet itself. We have dumbed down our relationship to the Whole and thereby we have caused the suffering we see right now. It is up to us to make the changes necessary to put things to rights. It is not too late but it is a right now project.   Let’s stay connected to the Source and claim our power!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com (web launch on Dec 2, 2018)

www.californiafreepress.net

We Draw From the Well of Abundance

Dear friends,

     Meister Eckhart of the 11^th century said “God is a great underground river that no one can dam up and no one can stop.” It is a lovely image which connotes movement and energy. Perhaps it is like molten lava out of which new worlds are built. The river of Spirit flows within our own Being to be directed by us as we tap into its resources and express them.

     In other words, there is, as one example, a river of Love moving in us. If we would allow it, it would take us somewhere we have never been; perhaps into compassion and unconditional acceptance of difference. It might act as cause to how we care-take the planet. There is a river of supply, as well, to be used by us to facilitate our expression. We draw from the well of abundance when we have passion and a willingness to work to achieve our goals.

     Meditation is a way to move into the river of possibility and to float in it. Done regularly, we develop a sense of being one with something that enlivens greater love and peace in us. Spiritual practice is never about getting things, it is always a way in to what is already ours by definition of our unity with Source. We discover the resources within and begin to reveal them in our daily activities. Life gets better because we have claimed our truer identity.

     Sit still. Go down into the river. See what comes back with you.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  

www.carol-carnes.com (note the hyphen)

www.californiafreepress.net

Science and Religion Shall Walk Hand in Hand

Dear friends,

     We have heard from spiritual teachers that “the day will come when science and religion shall walk hand in hand.” However, the religion that science will partner with is not the religion of the West, but the mystical traditions of Eastern philosophies. Last night I awoke in the wee hours and feeling wide awake began to scan my bookshelf. I took out The Tao Of Physics which I haven’t read in 25 years. By Fritjof Capra, this is the definitive statement on the topic.

     The New physics demands the inclusion of the Feminine in our very masculine world view. We have been operating with only half of our natural being! It is crucial in these times that we stem the tide of rampant toxic masculinity. It is not about men and women (although we are each affected) as much as it is about the direct experience of our own spiritual wholeness, and the science that supports it. The Feminine values that have been almost completely ignored by western religion and old paradigm science are desperately needed in our perception of reality and our relationship to the universe.

   What Quantum physics and Eastern Philosophy have in common is the “unity of all things” viewpoint. From the cosmic to the atomic, everything is one something particularizing itself. It is in deep meditation that we begin to feel the truth of that astonishing truth. ( We knew it before we learned to talk and before we were talked out of it!) What this does to the thinking mind is to enliven our love, our sense of unconditional acceptance of difference. We know that we are one with Nature and our decisions must be in accord with her well-being. We perceive that we are immersed in Cause and all that it can do must come through us if we are to experience its Presence . We know that our personhood is both masculine and feminine and each one is necessary for the full expression of our true nature. Imagine how different the world would be if that were a shared perception by all of humanity.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.carol-carnes.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Evoking the Connection with Boundless Possibility.

Dear friends

     Rupert Sheldrake, the scientist who is known for his work with Morphic Resonance said, in a talk with Matthew Fox, “because the mind is not localized in the brain” but exists in a field, intentional thoughts could have definite effects on the course of Nature. Including positive thinking, he was also referring to real prayer, which declares the existence of a higher presence that is in some way responsive to our intentions. That is an apt description of what 21^st century prayer is all about. In modern New Thought we call it spiritual mind treatment. We are giving our own mind a treatment of spiritual truth, in order to dispel limited ideas which commonly occur as we look at the world as it appears to be.

     It stands to reason that a higher presence would co-respond to higher ideas that speak of its nature and our unity in it. Our prayers are not always answered because we are assuming we must earn the favor of a remote power that sits in judgement of our request. Science is telling us a different story of the cosmos, one which New Thought has been telling for decades and others told in the ancient world. Our minds are the extension of pure intelligence and absolute love. We are the way the extension continues into time and space and therefore, becomes personal experience.

     The New Science and spirituality are actually one thing. They direct us to think above our experience, to declare what we intend over what already is. The Higher presence does not fix anything.   It re-creates the original image and likeness of wholeness that precedes all form. When we sit down to commune with our Source, we are evoking from within our own mind the connection with boundless possibility. Let’s be very intentional about what we drop into the Field of co-creation.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com (being recreated !)

www.californiafreepress.net

Let Your Spirit Encompass All the Children of the World

Dear friends,

     It has become impossible for me to do a Spiritual Mind Treatment for myself or my children without including all the children of the world and all of humanity. If there is one aspect of the chaos we are experiencing that is useful, it is our understanding that we are all in this together; that we are the way and the means through which Spirit expresses and we have everything we need to turn things around.

     There is great power in numbers. It has been proven that when 1% of any population is meditating regularly, the crime rate drops and a greater peace permeates the environment. That is one thing we could be doing together that would have a direct impact in our own neighborhood. It has to be regular, though, or the benefits are not measurable.

     Spiritual self-reliance is not a selfish ego-driven state of mind. It is the awareness that what we think, feel, allow or promote have effects in the world. Our power is great and must be managed. The great problem in the world today is that those despots do not know what internal power they possess; they fight for external power, and that is the way oppression and violence begins.

     Do not underestimate how much your internal state of mind affects the world in which you live. Let’s make a concerted effort, together, to stabilize our own inner life and to continue to know the truth about humanity, its origins and what is possible. It is never too late to start an evolution!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  

www.cslbakersfield.com (launch date Dec 2, 2018)

www.californiafreepress.net

Life Demands That We Get Back in the Game

Dear friends,

     It is always difficult when we blame others for our own experience. We miss the opportunity to grow beyond whatever produced the situation in which we find ourselves. It is never about anyone else, not really. How we react to anything comes from deep within our own self-identity.   It might seem that the other person has triggered our reaction but really, we were just waiting for an opportunity to let it out!

     Forgiveness is the act of taking self-responsibility for what is happening in the moment. After all, we are the only one who is always present in our personal experience. Bless the thing and move on. Call it a blessing and get going in a new direction. It is not easy to do when there is a real tragedy involved. When we lose a loved one to violence, do these spiritual principles prevail? As hard as it is to see, the answer is yes. The day will come when we simply must forgive and let go. The grieving process is necessary for most of us and is to be honored. But it cannot go on forever.

     Life demands that we get back in the game, as it were. Our gifts and our love and our compassion are needed in this world.  We are at our best when we allow them to take the lead and direct our actions. Real positive change comes, not from anger, but from a deep belief in the ultimate Good in all people. We find ways to bring it out, see it in everyone, but begin with ourselves.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Insist on the Higher Nature of Humanity

Dear friends,

     We are each born into a collective “soul”, that is, the shared beliefs of our group.   We come into a family, a culture, perhaps a religion, a country, a world that has already decided what is reality.   We are quite influenced by them as children and might take the tribal beliefs into adulthood, or we rebel against them. The important aspect of collective beliefs is that they are always subject to creativity.   It usually only takes one mind who perceives a new way of describing reality, and will not be silenced, to get the group to shift.

     Called revolution, it is an evolution of possibility. Two events may occur in the midst of us trying to awaken our loved ones to new ideas. They could reject us and we may feel ostracized in a deeply spiritual way, as if we do not belong with them, or we might realize we can still love them, think differently, but need to move on, regardless. In extreme cases revolutionaries are threatened with violence or banished forever. Common examples are the mistreatment of adult children who “come out” to their parents with devastating results. Being homosexual simply is outside of the reality of such people, although with time, and as the culture shifts, they may see things differently.

     In the early days of American culture, women and black people were not considered full humans. They were known as creatures. We could not own property or vote. Of course the African Americans were actual slaves and that was commonly seen as acceptable. Today it is a horrifying idea! Yet, in some parts of the world women still suffer at the hands of men who deem them objects to be done with as they desire. People of color are yet the recipients of mass prejudice.  

     Having said all that, we can change things for the better. But we need to speak up, act out, vote and make our voices heard. Everything we detest about society today is nothing but a cluster of ideas that began in fear. Think up!   Affirm! Declare! We must use our minds to envision and insist on the higher nature of humanity. It’s in everyone of us.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakrersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Get in Sync with Mother Nature

Dear friends,

     The one thing about humans that keeps hope alive is our innate capacity for changing our ways. It was evident in the abolishment of slavery; women granted the right to vote; the legalization of same-sex marriage; passing of laws that guaranteed reproductive rights; conservation of national parks; the end of child labor. We have changed our ways innumerable times for the betterment of our shared reality. But we are a bit overdue right now for some major shifts in our collective perception of what is acceptable human behavior.

     It is election day in America. We will, hopefully, vote for those who seem to be on board with a higher vision for what we must and can change right now to turn the momentum away from self-destruction into loving respect for all life and what that means in our policies and decisions. It applies to each of us as well. What are we voting for in our behaviors? Are we living up to what we demand in our leaders? Are we modelling the very things we say must happen?

     Our daily choices are, metaphorically, a vote for something. What we praise, we tend to protect. Do we praise the air, the water, the sun and the rain? Do we praise the animals and the land and the rivers and plains? Seriously, how removed from the natural world have we, ourselves, become. Let’s get in sync with Mother Nature; praise her, love her, support her, protect her. Vote for her with our actions. We know what we need to do. Let’s go out and vote.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net 

Unfreeze Your Heart and Let the Sun Shine In

Dear friends,

     Matthew Fox, one of our greatest spiritual teachers today, said “lack of forgiveness is being frozen. Forgiveness is movement.” Our hearts must move if we are to thrive and remain alive with eager anticipation of our future. If we become fixated on getting even or in anger, we freeze the mind in a way that rules out possibility. We get stuck, as it were, in images of the past and some perceived slight or wrong done to us. We are the only one who is negatively affected by our refusal to move on.

     Fox also said that forgiveness is not altruistic. It is something we do for ourselves, no one else. We open up the floodgates to that magnificent field of infinite possibility. We seem to be at our most creative when we are open, trusting and full of open spaces.   A lack of forgiveness is counter-productive. How to know if you have truly forgiven? By being happy anyway. By living a life of love and joy. By understanding the motivation behind the others unkind or violent actions; it is always pain masking as false power.  

     The opposite of frozen is melting. Love melts the heart, leaving us in the flow of its energy. This kind of Love begins with self-respect, that is, a reclaiming of our spiritual wholeness, despite our past experiences. We declare ourselves to be completely new right now.

Try this:   I am free to Love, to celebrate my life, to succeed and prosper in radiant joy and vitality.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.csl.bakersfield   (under construction)

www.californiafeepress.net

A Story Unfolding in Time and Space

Dear friends,

     Our life is a story, unfolding in time and space. It has a beginning, a middle and a completion. Chapter by chapter, we move in and out of relationships; express various aspects of our nature, develop new talents and skills, have great highs and some down times, but always we are opening to the world, offering our gifts, receiving the gifts of experience. A life well lived is one we wish could continue, never coming to completion. But that is not in the Divine plan.

     Last night Ericka Luckett moved out of our realm and into the not-yet-known beyond.   She is one of the most extraordinary people we have ever had in our midst. We were fortunate to be in the circle of love she created with her songs, her music, her quiet presence. Personally, I always felt she might not be here as long as we would like. She seemed, as they say, “too good for this world.”   But while she was here, she made our stories richer. Gratitude is what I feel today.

     And so, her Lisa will be a solo voice. I know she will sing again and her song will contain the gifts that Ericka brought into her story. Forever one, they are truly inseparable.

     Let’s take a look at our own story today. Is it unfolding into greater good all the time? Does our life represent the Spirit in human form? Most of us will not come up to Ericka’s level, but the attempt will be well received.

Farewell Ericka, thank you for the experience of you.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Apathy is Our Only Enemy

Dear friends,

     One thing we must never do is think nothing will get any better. Everything can be completely different in the blink of an eye, so to speak. It is easy to adopt the stance of powerlessness when it seems as if someone or something else is controlling us. But that is always a temporary arrangement that we have got ourselves into, usually by giving up our authority. We always have a vote in what kind of life we are willing to live. It begins with how we believe things happen. When we really understand that everything comes as an idea, first; then, if it meets no resistance, will become something we can point to and give a name.

     One of the tenets of New Thought spirituality is “spiritual thought force is greater than any resistance to it.” This means what we believe to be true with deep conviction must come about in our experience. I believe that pure Intelligence and Absolute Love are guiding and directing the people right now. I believe wisdom always triumphs over ignorance. I believe that we are on the brink of a whole new way of being together on planet earth. I believe nothing can stop truth, beauty, liberty and justice for all from manifesting in new and equitable ways. I believe my vote counts.

     In the fifth grade my teacher said “apathy is our only enemy.” I never forgot that, once I learned what apathy meant! Indifference is deadly. Please exercise your spiritual thought force and get yourself to the polling place. Believe in the Power that Makes All Things New. It is here, in us, awaiting our direction.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes   

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Trust in Change!

Dear friends,

     Life is so different today than when I was young. Here I am at the car dealership getting some service while I use their internet, eat some yoghurt and enjoy their coffee. It is a clean garage and I can see what they re doing through a large plate glass window. So different from the old filthy garages with the naked girls on the calendar on the wall. Some changes are definitely for the better but the thing to remember is, things will change! Everything must evolve, grow or die. Those who resist it are destined to be very unhappy.

     Being uncomfortable is a sign that we have hit our growing edge. There is an opportunity to move forward in some way; mentally, emotionally, spiritually. We might prefer to stay exactly where we have been with our definite ideas about how things ought to be or how to feel about something. Yet, our discomfort is an signal to look within and ask ourselves a few questions such as “ How long have I believed this or that? Is it true today? Would it serve me to upgrade my ideas a bit? What do I fear losing if I let this go and adopt a new way of seeing things?”

     We can be sure there is a fear of loss of some kind when we defend our stance but everything around us indicates we may be out of date! Being current means being in the flow of creative energy. It will take us forward if we allow ourselves to be available to new ways of being in the world. Trust change! It is the most natural activity in the universe!

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

The Power that Makes All Things New

Dear friends,

     Ernest Holmes, in his book “This Thing Called You” wrote that we must “eliminate the idea of good and evil as entities opposing each other and realize there is but One Life Principle.” That Life Principle can be used in any way we choose. I try not to use good and bad or even positive and negative in reference to current events. I prefer possibility or limited, thinking. We have limited what is possible for humanity by thinking of some as good and others as evil. That pits us against each other, which does not move us forward or solve our problems.

     The problems we share have come about through limited ideas of what is possible.   Thinking like that causes us to beg, steal and decimate the land. We will fight over just about anything we feel is in short supply; oil, water, air, food, love, money, land etc. etc. etc. We may think the “evil-doers” are the enemy but really it is our collective misunderstanding of the laws of the universe as they apply to us.

   The notion of good and evil as powers in opposition is a metaphor for the tendencies of mind to react to appearances rather than respond from deep spiritual truth. We have to believe that humans are capable of stunning awakening and a complete turn-around from what is now the norm. We are operating in ignorance, but that is something that can be removed quickly.   Let’s do our part in holding to the truth and acting as if it were so. How? Gratitude, generosity, compassion, kindness and knowing the Power that Makes All Things New is leading, guiding and directing the whole of humanity into the creation of a world that is a safe haven for all.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Let the Music Come Through

Dear friends,

     There are many ways to listen to music; on vinyl records, CD’s, on your phone, on radio or tv, in a live concert. However we access it, music is always music. It is the vehicle for its transmission that determines the quality of the sound.  Imagine if the Source of all Life were singing your personal song of love and joy, abundance and vitality, peace and creativity. All you need do is tune into it and provide the clearest “channel” for those qualities to be shaped by you. It is the condition of the channel that is the key.

     If our mind is so cluttered with limiting ideas, we are, in a sense, refusing to hear the song of the Spirit which is forever attempting to be used by us.   Many spiritual traditions teach mindfulness and meditation as ways to clear the mental field. We become, in a sense, more available to God when we allow it entrance. It is we who must prepare ourselves to receive the gifts that are forever trying to come through us. They do not happen to us, although in this time space dimension, it appears that they do.   They are generated from within each one of us.

     One of the best ways to clear the mind throughout the day is gratitude. Be thankful all the time for the smallest things;   a smile from a stranger, a red balloon, a child’s laughter, a soft breeze, the warmth of the sun, rainfall or the beauty of snow on the trees. Be grateful that you can be grateful! Our most important activity is the care and feeding of our mind. Give it the good, the true and the beautiful and soon the music will come through you.

Stay tuned in, 

Carol Carnes  

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

You Have Innate Worth and Boundless Potential

Dear friends,

     Spirit never struggles. Life, if left in its natural state, never struggles. Grass grows through concrete with ease and the rain falls without restraint. Birds fly and ants build. Why do we struggle with money, with love, with health? Is it because we are holding to the notion that we are unworthy in some way? Is our past behavior shaming us today? Do we feel guilty about a decision? Are we afraid that others will be jealous if we succeed beyond what is average? Living with chronic lack of any kind is usually self-punishment. Of course I am speaking about those of us in a rich culture with many opportunities to do well. We are not dealing with famine or plague, are we?

    So much can be healed with a larger perception of our Source. This universe and everything in it is the visible evidence of an incredible intelligence in constant giving mode. That is, all we desire is inherent within its nature and you and I are of its nature.   We are not random acts of anything, but the visible expression of an outpouring of that intelligence. We are so constituted as to be lavishly supplied with whatever is necessary in the moment for our thrival! Struggle usually represents a feeling of being left out of that equation. We are not!   No one is. But our made up stories about the nature of reality have left a stain on our hearts and a dark place in the mind.

     Spiritual practice is about removing the stains and the darkness by bringing in the Light. And that means a change of perception; rethinking our place in the universe; being willing to step out of the law of averages into the Law of self-generation. We generate what we believe to be true of ourselves, our Source, our birthright.

Try this:   “I am free of the effects of past experiences that do not validate my innate worth and boundless potential.”

Stay tuned in,  

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Vote for the Kind of World You Want to Live in

Dear friends,

     Emerson wrote “a greater self-reliance, a new respect for the divinity in man, would work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men; in our religion, in education, in our pursuits, in our modes of living, our associations, our property, our speculative views.”

     He did not say things would merely get better or we would be a bit happier. He said it would be REVOLUTIONARY in all aspects of our life. We are living in a world that has practically NO sense of the divinity in humanity. The effects are devastating. It is changing however, thanks to things like New Thought spirituality, science, and the natural evolution of intelligence.

     This is election time so it feels right to invoke my favorite quote; “the God you believe in is your vote for the kind of world you want to live in.” What if the God we believe in were known to be within each and every person, all sentient life, indeed the universe itself? That would definitely be revolutionary. Existing power structures would tumble; the need to kill to get our good would cease; war would be obsolete; our biggest challenge would be to decide what to do with our boundless creativity.

     With respect for what we have been and done so far, it feels like we have been acting in a story ; a story where no one knew how things happen and so the drama of dealing with whatever befalls us, and fighting life, unfolds. But now we are ready to tell and live a new story. We are bored with pain and suffering as drivers of our plot. We are wanting a new game to play. Emerson had the answer. It all starts with where we believe the power to make all things new actually is and how we make use of it.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Life Is For Us And Never Against Us

Dear friends,

     Yesterday a lady ran a red light and collided with my car as I was inching forward to make a left turn. I was not hurt but my vehicle had to be towed to a body shop. The other driver was taken by stretcher to the hospital for observation. She was quite frail and elderly. At the same time a dear friend is in hospice preparing to leave this realm of life. As hard as it may be to accept, each experience is just life happening.   Things come and go. Is there some deeper meaning for us as we live in the midst of it? For me, everything comes back to “Life is for us and never against us.” When someone close to us makes that transition, it is a beautiful example of that simple truth. There is no loss, there is a new beginning for them. The loss is our wanting to keep everything the same. We cannot do it and be in harmony with Spirit, which is always on the move. To try is to induce pain.

     No one expressed it more eloquently than Emerson, when his young son died. He wrote how he had expected to be more devastated, that he might never recover.   But no, he said a calm peace came over him and sustained him. Of course he grieved but it was in the context of a larger perception of what life is. Our sense of who we are in this universe and what may be behind it, colors our every reaction or response to the changing effects of being human.  

     Allowing for the natural flow of life in and out of form is not cold or uncaring. It is simply the sweet sigh of awe and wonder at how effortlessly Spirit moves.   I suppose the meaning is to be fully present for all of it, knowing we are forever blessed, no matter how it looks.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.califoniafreepress.net

Love is the Best Thing in Life

Dear friends,

     Love is still the best thing in life no matter what the world is doing. It is alive and well in feast or famine, in good times and in trying times. People still find others to love and to hold close. Sometimes it is not a person but a memory or a beautiful bit of nature.   But love will not leave us, ever.   It is one of the gifts of the Spirit that help us to rise above mere existence into truly being alive.

     The sad idea that we have to be in some kind of committed one to one relationship to know love is so wrong. Love comes through our dedication to great ideas, or through music, art and words of inspiration. Love is the motivation behind everything that begins with a desire to make things better; the situation, the relationship, the world. Love is the grand and glorious reason we are here.

     To feel that we have no love is to deny our birthright. It is an egoistic point of view. It ignores our true nature. People who feel left out of love have a mistaken self-identity. We can only feel love when we express it to ourselves, first. “I love being me” is an affirmation of our origins; a statement of gratitude for the Source of our aliveness, our consciousness, our very being.   It is a true psalm of praise, not for our local self, but for the Spiritual Love that has become us.

Say it out loud this morning."I love being me!"   Look in the mirror and tell it! Repeat it like a mantra in the car, while you work. You might be very surprised at how much love is alive in you and available to be extended into your world.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  

www.csl.bakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

We Are Vehicles for the Future

Dear friends,

     There is an old jazz ballad, “Imagination” that has this line in it “imagination is funny, it makes a bee think of honey..” This reminded me of a line from one of Rumi’s poems: “the thirst in man’s soul is put out by the water itself.”   Another way to think of it; does the oak tree ‘pull’ itself out of the acorn or does the acorn push the oak tree out?   The idea of anything exists first in the quantum (spiritual) realm. It is already whole and complete. Al it needs is the vehicle to carry it into visibility and form.

     What this means to me in the context of New Thought spirituality is that you and I are vehicles for the future to be revealed. Our job is to make the idea part of us, our self-identity, as in “ I am love in action or I am wealth in motion or my body is the vitality of wholeness in form.”  The idea then “pulls” us into its vibration, so to speak, and we experience what it is, individually, in our own perception.

     We know the potential chicken is in the egg. But why does it come out of the shell unless there is the imagined chicken pecking around for worms pulling it out. Why would a baby leave the womb, which may be the safest, most serene place in the universe? Is the adult human being calling it forward? Does this distinction matter to us? It might help us to see how little we have to do to create a life worth living, or a world that works for everyone. Really, it is in allowing the fully orbed idea to draw us into it.   This is where our own mind is so important. We have to stay clear, stay in trust and be available to what is trying to happen.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Heed Mother Nature, Not Organized Religion

Dear friends,

     Rupert Sheldrake, the scientist who conceived of the theory of morphic resonance, saw our unconscious mind as a field and the conscious mind as creativity.   This is completely in line with New Thought spirituality that sees the vast unconscious as not only a field of possibility, but also our link with all other beings who share the field, collectively.   It is our conscious mind that selects what to draw from the field and to act on or feel or allow. Too often we allow our mind to draw only from the most recent deposits in the field, which would be our own personal history.

     The practice of inner silence is the vehicle that takes us into the deeper realms of the field; that is, to bypass our own stored up images and to access the infinite realm of potentialities. This is the best kept secret on the planet. This, alone, grants us power beyond any we have ever known.   This is the way the human leaps out of the mud into the blue sky, as it were, where anything is possible and whatever we choose to promote finds its way into our shared reality.

     Matthew Fox said when Augustine brought Original Sin into the theology of the day, he created a great wound that we have endured for over 1600 years. It is the loss of Grace and unconditional love that we are meant to know firsthand as the Presence of our Source. But as “sinners” we must bow down to priests and kings (and pay dearly ) to be granted Grace.   You can see what this has done to the power structures of the church. Today we are waking up to the fraudulent claims of those who would enslave us. Let’s get real with our perception of our place in the universe. It is in the lap of Mother Nature and she is singing us into consciousness.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakeersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Science and Spirituality Shall Join Hands

Dear friends,

     If, as quantum theory has shown, there is one undivided whole of which we are part, then our thoughts do not travel anywhere in time, but are instantaneously “caught” by whomever we are thinking about. The same is true of our WORD spoken in a deep faith of its veracity.   When we declare that our body is strong and vitalized with the consciousness of wholeness, it resounds instantaneously at the quantum level and is echoed by the Source itself, as a felt Yes!

     Just as two electrons act as one, even when they are separated by thousands of miles, so do we and “God” interact as one. The wave and the particle are one action of an unbroken connection. For us this means when we speak our Word, the wave (The Whole) collapses into the particular experience we have desired.   As science delves deeper into the quantum realm, it will prove the words of the Master teachers, and there have been many. Most of their teachings were misunderstood, misinterpreted, watered down or dismissed. But the time has come when science and spirituality shall join hands.

     Meantime, do not abandoned your faith in the unseen, but do try to expand your sense of what it is. It is not a person, it is a Field; a responsive Field of pure consciousness.   It is what we arise from and into which we think. The response, like two electrons, is to mirror our desire, bringing it out of the invisible into the seen and felt world. It is a system of pure Intelligence and Absolute Love, guaranteeing the gift of individual expression and the advancement of the species.   As the ancients proclaimed “what you are looking for, you are looking with and at.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Get to NO and a YES Will Surely Follow!

Dear friends,

     In football, a player will be penalized if he interferes with a pass. In science, quantum physics was at first laughed at by the established scientific community. It interfered with their long held notions of a mechanistic universe. Voting for a new candidate to replace someone we deem ineffective is another kind of interference. People who have made great strides forward in any walk of life have had a moment when they interfered with the accepted way.

   It occurs to me that we also have to interfere with our own habituated thinking. If we seem to be headed into the same kind of situation that has limited us in the past, we have to look at how we have been thinking and interfere with it!   We do that with bold declarative statements, sometimes a resounding NO! will lead us into a much needed YES!

     If there is some area of your experience that needs to be upgraded, try this: (as an example) “I am done with struggling with money! I say NO to the belief in lack wherever it originated. I say YES to ongoing financial flow and prosperity.   I am well-supplied with whatever I require for my personal well-being.”

     Interference is a good thing. Almost every great cultural change has come about because someone or some group of humans had just had enough of the old ways and with a resounding NO went on the YES.   They interfered and their insistence convinced others to look at the situation and to rethink it. That’s how the Civil Rights Act came to be. It is how women got the vote. It is how anything that has made life better for humanity has come to be. Get to NO and a YES will surely follow.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Outer Space and Inner Space

Dear friends,

     The irony of wanting to “go into outer space” is that we are already there! Astrophysicist, Carl Sagan, remarked that that was just as important a question as Who am I? or Where am I? That question was answered in that iconic photo of our planet taken by astronauts on their way back from the moon. There we are, a blue pearl in a vast universe. Another photo shows us to be a tiny, almost imperceptible dot, in an immense Galaxy.

     We exist in something so mind-bogglingly huge that we are unable to feel part of it.   That is why we want to go there and it is also why we are so focused on life here. Many people think we are the only intelligent life forms, a point of view that is utterly ridiculous. But it is a way of coping with our apparent insignificance. Having said all that, does it detract one bit from our ability to invent, design, create, love and celebrate being alive? No, and furthermore, what if the universe were as much an event as a place? That would also describe us. We are a happening, yet also a physical form.

     There comes a time when we must simply accept the fact of our life; that we are a conscious being with origins in this universe. We are some extension of consciousness that pre-existed our birth.   We are one way that the event is kept moving. We are part of some cosmic celebration of Life itself. Personally, I love the idea of space travel but I am equally happy to visit Paris. There is a vast mini-universe right here with daily opportunities to prove that our existence is also something to celebrate. Let’s re-discover where we are and let’s begin with Who.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.calfiorniafreepress.net

Life is a Marathon. Approach the Finish Line Gladly.

Dear friends,

   The day will come when we will be asked to give up this life, hopefully, as Marcus Aurelius advised, without complaint. I believe it was Irma Bombeck who said something like wanting to slide into home base all used up. It can only happen if we see transition, not as a loss, but as a completion of one particular experience. Think about how you felt as a child when you had to leave the amusement park. You had a wonderful day, filled with wild rides and sugary food, but you were sleepy and ready to go home. It all comes to a point when we must get on with our particular journey and that always includes some kind of leaving.

     That happens while we are very much alive and well, too. We are made to leave the party, again and again. The moves we make in one lifetime are almost countless.   We move through sadness and pain, joy and sorrows. We leave friends and they leave us. Sometimes we feel forced into choices but we make the best of it and then the day comes when there is a good opportunity and we grab it; suddenly everything looks wonderful again.

     We make small moments and very dramatic ones but, always, we are the main character.   We often do not notice just how resilient and creative we really are. If today was your time to take your leave, could you do it without complaint?   Could you be grateful for everything and let it go? If we could begin to practice that right now, we might find the life we are now living to be filled with more joy than sorrow, more fun than work and more love than we ever thought possible.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Time to Rid Ourselves of Superstition

Dear friends,

     Does the rose think the soil is God or the bulb it sprang from? Maybe it is the sun or the rain that it worships? No, she simply gives forth her sweet aroma and reveals her beauty without questioning how it came to be. Unlike other life forms, it is almost impossible for a thinking human to not wonder what is the source of life. It seems we cannot resist inventing a story or a few thousand of them, to account for our existence. The most obvious choice is to make it (whatever it is) in our image and likeness. We gave it a personality much like a king or a benevolent dictator, since those were most likely the only models of power we had when all this began.

     Some people attribute Life to ‘aliens’ coming down to populate the earth. Not much is said about what the source of the aliens is! We simply do not know much about how matter becomes conscious or how consciousness becomes matter. The best we can do observe how things seem to come about and take note of patterns that precede the arrival of things. Over time, with diligent attention, we begin to see the link between what we think, feel and believe with what occurs for us personally. Inherent in that realization is a sense of being cared for or looked after, as if our capacity for happiness is built in to the system. That is when we feel a Presence, something in the atmosphere that is responsive to us.

       The saddest conclusion we can make is that our Source is not the same for everyone, or that we gain its favor by performing certain rituals or incantations, wearing clothes of a certain color, growing our hair or shaving our heads.    That kind of thinking causes violence and mayhem, caste systems, racism, sexism and apathy.  It leaves some people out of the equation and therefore not deserving of freedom and justice, prosperity and opportunity.   It is an insidious and ego-gratifying way to take power over others.

       In this day and age, isn’t it time we rid our collective consciousness of superstition, dogma and made up scenarios of what is our Source? Isn’t it time we included everyone in the story? We are here and Life is for us, never against us.   What can we do with that information?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com   www.californiafreepress.net

While You're Alive, Choose to Live

Dear friends,

     The fear of death is rather futile when considered this way; if there is nothing after physical demise, then we won’t even know it. If there is something, then great, a brand new experience awaits us.   It is the belief in a punishing God that bothers many people. The possibility of going to “hell” is frightening.  One of the many aspects of New Thought spirituality that is so healing is the insistence that Life is for us and never against us. That means a loving God or a Source that is invested in our Good. It does not punish nor reward but functions in time and space as a principle of natural consequences of our choices.

     The time to get right with the principle is now. We have full say in how we act in this life. Our capacity for love is as great as our use of it and the same is true of all the qualities we attribute to God. We seem to be extensions of It, not creations. Marcus Aurelius said “sunlight doesn’t pour out, it extends.   It’s rays are extensions of it.”   Just so, God did not create us and leave us to flounder around trying to survive; we are extensions of it and by continuing the extension through our actions, we reveal it here.

     The life we live now is Reality. What lies beyond will be nothing or something but need not concern us today. Our time here is a playground of possibility.   Shall we choose to be negative, angry, irritated most of the time, critical of everyone else or shall we choose happiness, fun, love and good relationships? What would keep us from making that choice? Certainly not fear of death. Perhaps fear of Life.

Stay tuned in,    

Carol Carnes  

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Identify Yourself as the Activity of God

Dear friends,

     It was early in my spiritual studies that it came to me; God is a verb and the only way it could be seen in action was by turning itself into another verb, a Be-ing. In order to guarantee a forward moving evolution, there had to be the experience of individuality. Thus, hidden within the I and the me of each one of us, is the activity of God. It is forever attempting to fully reveal itself as love, joy, peace, vitality, supply and creative intelligence, which turn themselves into human, individualized activities.

     It followed then, that the spiritual path is not to get somewhere but to come to a realization of our true nature. The question becomes, how much more love or joy or peace, vitality and creativity can I allow into my life? How do I bring it through me into action? What is stopping me from fully releasing these natural qualities into the realm of personal experience? "Consider the Lilies." I look at nature and see the only significant distinction between flora, fauna and humans, is that we look outward for our self-identity and the Lilies just bloom.

     It is quite the razors edge to be on, that of being in the world but not done in by it;   of caring about others but not be concerned to the point of despair; of getting involved yet remaining detached; of believing in the Good within everyone while allowing for varying levels of its expression. It is a practice and everyday affords us more opportunities to hone our awareness.

Try this: “My true self is my informant. It prompts me to do the right thing, know the higher truth, choose the best action.   I am its hands and feet, its mind and heart. I identify myself as the activity of God.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes  

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Imagine What We Could Do

Dear friends,

I had a funny dream last night.  I was giving a talk to a group of engineers. I told them that nothing would replace human ingenuity; that a robot might be able to build something but if he lost his hammer he wouldn’t be able to find it. Silly, right?  But it made me think of Emerson who wrote about our awe of the great cathedrals and the pyramids, and how we ought to consider how much greater are the hands that built them. 

Ernest Holmes, the founder of Science of Mind spirituality, would have said nothing we have ever done with our creative minds is as great as what we could do.  There is an infinite aspect to us.  We have no ceiling as far as our imagination is concerned.  The interesting point is that once we imagine something, the idea itself seems to show us how to get it done!

Thomas Troward taught that ideas are living entities;  they have the life force in them and contain the fully orbed form in potential, much like the oak tree is in the acorn. He said ideas that we invest with our enthusiasm and attention would naturally draw to themselves what was needed to take shape, like the nucleus of an egg, turning itself into a chicken.

Our part in the creative process is easier than we make it.  All we have to do is keep our enthusiasm, belief and trust in the process active and focused.  The idea knows how to generate in the outer world what belongs with it.  We call that part synchronicity.  I am constantly amazed at how Life has provided everything necessary to keep the creative process in full swing.  What would we like to see appear in our personal experience?  It is an idea.  Give it some life force. Create the mental space for it to lead from within. Clear the path it requires by removing all doubt or fear.

Try this:  My idea for greater levels of___________________is on the move right now, making itself into my experience.  I am its partner and I am its way. I keep the path clear.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes 

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Base Your Life on Intelligence and Love

Dear friends, 

    All sentient beings are the activity of intelligence and love. We have long held the erroneous belief that humans are the only intelligent species and the only one that loves. Now we know that such beings as bees communicate in their own language, as do whales and dolphins and birds and your family dog. The plant on the balcony will turn its face to the sun, knowing where it is. Not only are animals intelligent, they also show love and caring for their offspring.   They build things and they make tools.   It is astonishing to think we have had it so wrong for so long.

     Everything that lives is God in action and God is Intelligence and Love in perfect right relationship to give form to a spectacular display of diversity. You and I are such a form, God expressing itself in a way that has never been done. The Game of Life has always been a kind of hide and seek proposition. It is for us to discover the intelligence and love we possess and then to see what we can do with them.   We are fortunate if we had parents, a mentor or a culture that taught us of the creative power we hold, but that is not the case for most of us. We are told all kinds of nonsense about how or why things happen. We grow up, begin to doubt the stories, and start to play the Game.

     My own search for what could be called truth, began with a burning desire for it. I actually called out to God (something I doubted even existed) and in a matter of days I learned an ancient meditation technique that cracked open my mind and set me on a path of self-discovery that is still in motion.   I was led to a Science of Mind Center and from there to here, my life has been about sharing this truth with the world.   I am deeply grateful for everything in my life, including the parts that weren’t so lovely. It can be messy to undo beliefs, making room for new perceptions. We resist, fight and sometimes abandon the Game, only to return once again, ready to let Intelligence and Love have their way with us. That is the spiritual path and we are all on it in some way.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com

www.californiafreepress.net

Love Yourself Unconditionally

Dear friends,

     Are you enjoying yourself? By that I mean, your Self? Or are you, like most people, depending on others for your value? How much feedback do you really need to love yourself unconditionally? It is a balancing act to keep ourselves humble, yet confident and approving of our own way of being in the world. There is a healthy combination of the two and it is derived from spirituality.

     Humility is the natural condition of a mind that is aware of the miracle of their own existence; of the almost impossible odds of getting born at all; of the mysterious, yet palpable Presence of Something perfect that is behind it all. At the same time we have the right to think well of ourselves for managing to live with integrity, love and the ability to forgive and move forward.   That is not conceit, merely the acknowledgement that who we are is always greater than the situation we are in at the moment. We have made good choices.

     Have you ever noticed that you have a tendency to grasp onto any negative remark about you? That it seems more real than the compliments? That is an indication that we need to get back to our spiritual practice and sit with ourselves in silence. It is there we will find the warmth and appreciation we seek in the outer. Any one of us, no matter how schooled we are in spiritual truth, can revert, temporarily, to self-negation. It is in our best interest to pull our mind up to the higher level of awareness that “I am living in great love and peace, unbounded joy and passion. I am never separate from the Source of everything. It is always possible to love myself and others unconditionally. I do so ,now.” Not easy, but worth the effort.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.bakersfieldcsl.com (under construction)

www.californiafreepress.net

Defy Logic When It Is Illogical

Dear friends,

   The other day I went to the DMV to get a California drivers license. Well-meaning friends suggested I take a book because I would be there for hours. I took the advice of a DMV telephone representative and went on a Saturday afternoon, which seemed a crazy idea. Wouldn’t that be the busiest day of the week? However, I took her advice and I was in and out with a new license in under 45 minutes. Sometimes defying logic is the secret to great success!

     It may seem logical to fight against what is wrong or ill-conceived but what works best is to act as if it did not exist and do what we know in our hearts is the right thing. We are taught so many things that are not true that, if we do not come to that moment where we decide to trust ourselves, we will live without energy or passion, moving through life automatically.

   Emerson said something about this; “It is very easy to live by the opinion of the world.   It is very easy in solitude to be centered. But the finished one is s(he) who, in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” Isn’t he simply saying, let our spiritual understanding and our deepest knowing be the energy of our daily actions?

 Do not set our truth aside and fall into the hue and cry of the nay-sayers. Our lives are best lived in congruency. Do the right thing, be true to our self, defy logic when it is illogical, and trust our higher knowing. There is Reality and there is Appearance. Which one is our guide?

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.cslbakersfield.com 

www.californiafreepress.net

Opening Our Minds to Possibility

Dear friends,

     There was a fascinating program on TV recently about how the Dutch have conquered the potential for flooding. It was imperative that they do so since the Netherlands are largely under sea level. A huge storm could devastate the land, and indeed, had done so in the past. They built a series of truly innovative devices that divert the water and put it to good use. Using only the human mind, they are no longer victims of the weather. They are its partner.

     The secret seems to be in NOT fighting something but standing up to it and getting creative. Our minds are the conduit for what has not been previously known. When we decide to take charge of what seems indomitable, we soon discover that we are greater than it. Intelligence, put to creative use, trumps force every time.

     We would all agree that creation can be quite chaotic or messy. When the old forms come unglued, they turn into rubble. That is the stage where people fight to save the old ways. It is like trying to give away your child’s old toys and they simply will not let go of them without making a scene. Some of our cherished ideas have been really hard on some of us.   None of them, however, are more powerful than we are.

     The Dalai Lama once replied, when asked what is needed in our world, “Critical thinking.” We need to think beyond what we already know. That is as true of us as individuals as it is of the collective.   If God is “the Power that makes all things new” and if it lives within each one of us, then what do we need to do?   Activate the Power by opening our minds to possibility.

Try this: My mind is open to receive the very idea that is needed in this moment to create a brand new _________________________(fill in the blank)

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

www.blakersfieldcsl.com

www.californiafreepress.net