Look for the Good is a message that is repeated over and over in many spiritual philosophies.. I am reading the work of Emma Curtis Hopkins, the 19th & 20th Century mystic, teacher, author and healer, and this is one of the chief Principles she continually puts before us in her work. But, how do we look for the Good in everything and what does that mean exactly. I know what it doesn’t mean is spiritually bypassing. It means really taking a good look at our life. It is going to take really going deep within.

When I contemplate this idea deeply, I understand that looking for the Good does not mean that everything is all right all the time. It also doesn’t mean that we just placate ourselves with these words. Looking for the Good signifies that something greater is happening beyond what we see in the world of form. Something that we cannot necessarily understand in the moment, but if we continue to open up to the answers, they will come to each of us in our own unique way. If, instead, we keep dwelling on evil, evil will be what appears. If we keep saying we don’t understand, then we won’t understand. Can we get beyond this, still be actively engaged in assisting the world and still look for the Good.

I’ve come up with a way to do this for myself. When something so horrendous appears before me such as the recent massacre of our precious children in Texas, this is what I do. After repeatedly crying and raging over it, I come to a point where I realize that this is not helping the situation or those involved. I settle myself down. I focus on Love infusing and surrounding all involved. I focus on the knowing that those children are more than their bodies. I dwell on eternity. I focus on peace permeating those parents in their grief. I focus on knowing there is healing, there are solutions. I then find my place in the whole thing in the way of action. Sometimes that can be something as small as being kind and loving in my own life.

I believe what Emma Curtis Hopkins and other mystics are trying to tell us is that this earthly life is temporal. We are passersby. This is a great school for all of us. We are all in different grades. As the mystic and philosopher, Ernest Holmes put it, “We are here to prove that Spiritual Thought Force is greater than material resistance. Until we do that, we will continue to suffer.

We are going through a great transformation right now, a new birth. For any of us who know anything of childbirth, birth is messy. It’s painful, and when we are in the midst of it, sometimes we think it will never end. When we are in the midst of it, we cannot turn back. It’s impossible. We have to walk through it with the highest and best of ourselves.

I believe in the Good, and I will keep looking for it. It’s the only way I know to live in this world and to spiritually evolve, to assist. Looking for the Good means first looking for that Good in myself, loving myself. It points the way to the realization that the horrendous acts of violence are committed by those who have no idea of who they are. They drag the seeming innocent with them into their oblivion. Are we guilty of the same thing when we drag others into our unresolved issues, into our lack of love for ourselves? Can we look for the Good in ourselves and let it wash through all our places of self non forgiveness?

Yes, let’s make sure the gun control issues are solved. Let’s make sure mental health issues are addressed and given the importance they need. However, at the same time, let’s look for the Good every day. Let us sit in meditation and dwell on a perfect world. Let’s make it real for ourselves and bless it before we see it. Then, let’s get up from our own mind and live it everywhere we go. As the song by Jason Mraz goes:

“People done gone crazy, people done gone mad
People done forgot the superpowers we all have
We were born to love, not hate
We can decide our fate
And look for the good in everyone
And celebrate all our mistakes
If there’s a silver lining (silver lining)
You still have to find it, find it, find it.”

We have no choice. If we don’t, we will perish in our suffering. Everything is Mind and energy follows thought. Until we get this and truly live it, we’ll just be stuck in this spiral of creating from what we see in front of us. Unfortunately, what we see in front of us is not pleasant. In order to change that, get mad, scream and shout, take some kind of action, but only after you’ve Looked for the Good!

Love and Aloha,

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

Check out my new book on Amazon: “What Do I Need to Know?”