Based on my talk at CSL Kaua`i 1/24/21

Last night I had a dream about tomatoes. Funny, since tomatoes are a big part of my upbringing. I grew up in an Italian-American household. I keep tomatoes on my counter (not my windowsill) all the time and use them daily. In this dream, the tomatoes on my counter had become overly ripe and moldy. I picked the box up with regret for not having used them in time and began to toss them in the garbage. However, I stopped myself and instead thought of throwing them outside, thinking that possibly a seed would grow into a plant and I’d have a tomato garden. Then I stopped again, knowing I hadn’t tilled any ground for a garden. My plants would likely not grow. That was it. That was the dream.

Upon meditating upon the metaphor for this dream, for dreams are metaphors to me, I realized that sometimes, I might not be using my Power of Spirit, tossing it aside, not trusting it at all. If I do not use it for good, I will lose it to the lesser ways of being in my life. It is impossible to not use it, because it is always working. If my mind does not stayed tilled with constructive thinking, I will grow those lesser things in my life.

I get to use my tomatoes for various things – in green salad, in Italian tomato salad with cheese, with my eggs or I even get to make sauce with them. I get to use the Power of the Law in any way I choose. I can use it in large ways or just simply remain small. I can forget that I have the Power and succumb to the world of conditions. I am the one in charge, not of creating the Law of Spirit, but using it and trusting it. I do not make tomatoes. There is a creative force that brings them into being when the seed is planted. My only job in that process is to till the soil and water it, so as to have the greatest and best tomatoes. Likewise, I must till my mind to think positively and to trust the Law of my being for the rest.

The 4th Chapter in the Introduction to the Science of Mind is called “How to Use It It.” It give us a concrete way to use the Power of the Law, and to bring the invisible into the visible. If we cannot prove that the invisible Principle is ours to use, we remain in theory. Just like a scientific principle must be proven for us to know it is a true principle, so must we work in the world of the invisible with spiritual principles. Dr. Holmes writes, “The apparent intangibility is lessened whenever and wherever anyone actually demonstrates the supremacy of spiritual thought force over apparent material resistance.” (51)

I can’t think of a better time than now to prove the supremacy of spiritual thought force over apparent material resistance. It is impossible to control the outside world, but we can move from the inside out by changing the thoughts that occupy our minds and then acting from that place. As we do that, we are actually constructively using the Law for a better life for ourselves and our planet.

First we must come to understand and trust the Law. Some will ask, “What is Law? If I do not know what it is, how can I trust it?”

“We are surrounded by an intelligent force and substance, from which all things come – the ultimate Essence, in the invisible and subjective world of all visible and objective forms and conditions. It is around us in its original state, ready and willing to take form through the impulse of our creative belief. It works by flowing through us. …We can use it correctly only as we understand and use It according to its Nature.”

In simpler terms, we are using it all the time. It is impersonal in that it always says yes. We are constantly creating our life through our use of it through our thoughts and beliefs. If we want to see it in action, look at our lives. “It is done unto us as we believe.”

Some might say, I believe in the good for my life, but I’m miserable. I would have to say that the Law is working perfectly for you. If you are miserable, more than likely you are weighing your good on some outside condition and creating more of it from that place. Also, you are firmly believing that your life is miserable. To get through this eye of the needle, we must consciously change our mode of reaction and thinking about whatever it is we want to change. We must entertain the idea that form can change and that life is innately harmonious, when we choose to think harmoniously. Practicing gratitude for our lives just as they are and gratitude for what we want them to become, is a good place to start.

So, how do we change a condition? Dr. Holmes says (and I, myself, have proven this), that “while wrong conditions exist, they could not remain unless there were someone to experience them. Consequently, the experience must be in consciousness. Change the consciousness and the false condition will disappear. … Cannot that which is conscious cast out that which has no consciousness?”

So, the way to start working with changing our lives is to start focusing on what we want to experience and keeping our thoughts in that direction. In my own life, I can say that there was a time when I believed myself to be poor. I didn’t have the material things I have today. I didn’t have the freedom I have today. My life shifted and it wasn’t 1, 2, 3! I took the time every day in every way to change my mode of thinking about myself and my life. “There is no process of healing, but there is generally a process in healing. This process is the time and effort which we undergo in our realization of the Truth.” I started doing Spiritual Mind Treatment to change my beliefs about myself and what I deserved.

And, it is not just a matter of changing our thought patterns. We must implicitly trust the Law, the Creative Force, to make it so for us. “The Law is the Law which puts the act into all action. It is the invisible actor, working through us to will and to do,” and Spiritual Mind Treatment will create the mold of our desire for our life. The Law has to fill it. So, we must believe in the Power of the Law and our Power to use it. We must believe that when we say something in earnest about ourselves or someone else, it matters. The Force is listening to our every feeling and making it so.

We do not become forceful or willful when dealing with this Power; we merely become receptive to the “purpose of the Universe.” What is that purpose? It is good. It is life-giving. It is abundance. It is perfection in health. The purpose of the Universe is harmonious. If it weren’t, we couldn’t survive. It is always bringing everything back to harmony, even in chaos. For myself, I want to get on the side of this great Power and start using it constructively.

So, taking this to an even larger, global scale, I must begin to strengthen the beliefs about what I perceive as the world I want to live in. I must get on the side of good, of love, of constructive thinking on solving the problems that face us. I must know that if I can dissolve those problems to thought, that I can change my thought about them and therefore out-picture good for our planet, also.

The last paragraph in Chapter 4 of the Introduction of the Science of Mind, bears repeating, “A new light is coming into the world. We are on the borderland of a new experience. The veil between Spirit and mater is very thin. The invisible passes into visibility through our faith in it. … This is in line with the evolution of the great Presence and nothing can hinder its progress. IT is useless, as well as foolish to make any attempts to cover this Principle, or to hold it as vested right of any religion, sect or order. The truth will out; the Spirit will make Itself known. Happy are we if we see these things which, from the foundation of the human race, have been longed for by all aspiring souls.”

It is up to us, each of us. As we each work out our own lives, we influence the collective. There is a Unity that binds us all together. We cannot reside in negativity and not affect the whole; we cannot reside in the Good and not affect the whole. There is one Mind, one Heart and one Love and we are all contributing to it with our Consciousness. We have the opportunity right now to prove this is true by finding the way to work together in consciousness and in action to heal the planet, each other and to manifest abundance for all.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Co-Spiritual Director, CSL Kaua`i