We’ve made a riddle out of simplicity. — Ernest Holmes

I love this quote by Ernest Holmes, mystic and Founder of the Religious Science movement. Our teaching is so simple and yet we continue to complicate it and our lives with our mental confusion. Keeping it simple, I believe is a spiritual practice. It means in each moment to take a breath, center and look for the simple truth in every situation. In other words, whatever we are confronted with comes with the answer. It’s right in front of us if we un-clutter our thinking long enough to listen and truly hear.

Listening includes asking this question. “What do I need to know here?” Can I listen without preconceived ideas of what the answer should be? Can I truly listen and hear? This simple question, “What do I need to know here?” is a doorway to the simple answer rather than a further complication which, indeed, furthers the problem and magnifies it into another problem. I’ve noticed for the last twelve years of running a Center and my ministry that I still often create complexity when none is required. It’s not that life is complicated; it is that we create mental riddles to solve what Spirit already made clear.

So what is the simple truth? Staying on Principle and taking the time to think Principle through will most definitely keep it simple. Principle is: God is all there is. Life mirrors consciousness. We are each fully equipped to know what is ours to do in every situation that confronts us.

Simplicity is not naïveté; it’s spiritual clarity. My mentor and friend Dr. James Mellon shared a simple truth with me. He even had the words on the wall in his office to remind himself of this simple truth: “God is speaking no matter who is talking.” Translated into simple terms it means that every situation pleasant or challenging is Spirit presenting Itself for recognition. Who is this Spirit? It is us. It may be showing up as some unhealed place within us that is demanding our attention. The challenge is that we do not pause long enough to inquire into this simple truth. Instead, we charge ahead either trying to be right or projecting our wound outward onto the challenge, whether it is a person or experience we are having.

The answer is always Love. However, acting from love does not mean we lie down to become a doormat. Anyone who has ever raised children or had the responsibility for another human being as a caretaker might understand what I am saying. Acting from love is not passive. It is strength, clarity and our nonnegotiable Beingness. Love does not require collapse. Love stands. Love knows. Love means that we act from wisdom, not appeasement. I know that at times in my past, I have been guilty of acting from appeasement. I was taught “Don’t rock the boat.” However, when I am in a boat filled with conflict, it might need some rocking to shake things out to truth.

Here are three simple steps to assist. In every challenging situation the first step would be to Center and do a Spiritual Mind Treatment for clarity and decision. Who are you? Who is this other person or what is being revealed in this experience that is needing attention within yourself. DECIDE. Then, act from that place. Bring your clarity into the situation. The third step might be the most difficult. It’s about letting go. Once you’ve done everything you can do, step back and allow the Law to operate. It is the supreme Intelligence of the Universe that knows how to bring everything forward for the solution. It will bring forth our next right step once we’ve made a decision in consciousness.

This teaching is simple:

1. We are individualized expressions of the One.
2. We are 100% responsible for our experience.
3. We are pure consciousness, the I AM Presence in form.

The riddle begins when we overthink, doubt ourselves and look outside instead of within. So, throughout our day, we do have a choice to remember who we are and act accordingly.

• When confused Ask: “What do I need to know here?”
• When overwhelmed Return: “Keep it simple.”
• When uncertain Know: “Love leads me.”

Perhaps Life hasn’t been complicated at all—only our thinking has. As the wise James Allen once wrote, “As a Man Thinketh” …so be it. Keep it simple.

Rev. Dr. Rita Andriello-Feren, Author, Founding Spiritual Director CSL Kaua’i, Founder of the Red Dress Movement, Co-Host of the From Woo Woo to Wow Wow! Podcast
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