Last night we watched a film on Netflix about Bishop Carlton Pearson. The film was called “Come Sunday.” Bishop Pearson is featured in our November Science of Mind Magazine. Without giving away the whole story, he had a moment of clarity, where he realized that the God he was preaching about his whole life no longer made sense to him. God is love and we are all already saved. This caused quite the stir and his life changed in drastic ways. However, he could not go back to his old way of thinking.

He is on my mind because I realize how much courage it takes to change. I can only imagine the dark nights of the soul that this man went through when his whole world came tumbling down around him because he dared to go against everything that he professed for over forty years. He’s not the first, and it reminds me of the story of Paul on the road to Damascus when he was struck by the Light and had to turn his ways around. It is not easy to change.

So what does this have to do with me? I love the Faith and Philosophy of the Science of Mind because it encourages us to change. It encourages us to know that there is always more. It encourages us to open up to expansion. There isn’t one way to God because God is within, and we each have a different relationship to that within. We can only know God through our own understanding. That understanding is always changing, expanding, growing. Change doesn’t mean that what we once believed wasn’t true; it’s just not true for us now. There is a big difference.

Bishop Pearson came to realize that we are all already saved. At first he didn’t know what to do with that knowing that came through him. This is the essence of our teaching. We are all already perfect, whole, complete. The essence of the Universe is one of wholeness. We do not have to be saved. At first, some of us do not know what to do with that information or if we really believe it.

However, for myself, I cannot go back to my old way. Instead, I always seek to prove the new way. I’ve done it by opening up to my perfection. I’ve allowed it to come through with self-love, forgiveness and my realization of my unity with the whole of life. Yes, this might be just as difficult as getting down on our knees and repenting, or as easy as just saying yes to it. It’s up to us.

Some of us make life a struggle. We are used to it being difficult.  What if, for just a day, we were to just relax and rely on something extraordinary that breathes us, supports us all the time and moves us in knowing. Our intuition will guide and direct us. We are always protected and things always, always work out for our highest good. We know what that highest good is because when we follow it, doors open. We are no longer alone struggling. More wisdom comes and questions get answered. Even in dark moments, the path shines with light.

The way of the heart and listening to the inner voice as Bishop Pearson did is not an easy road to begin with. It might ask us to give up everything we once believed as true. We might feel we are alone for a moment. However, what is the alternative? We can each answer that question and listen for our own answer.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita