Ones and zeros, by Dr. Raymont Anderson

I’ve been thinking about us, Tom. Look how binary is the form, the nature of things. Ones and zeros. Light and dark. Choice and its absence. Anderson and Smith.
~Agent Smith, Matrix Resurrections

This quote from the newest Matrix film reminded me that in New Thought, we often talk around duality in lieu of Oneness. And while it is very often this is for good reason; it causes us to forget that there is power in understanding and harnessing the energy of duality. Taoists, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong practitioners understand this power; balancing Yin/Yang. They know it is not “either-or” but “both-and” that generates healing and manifestation. The computer programmer understands that the two-symbol system of "0" and "1” referred to as Binary code, is the very thing that allows them to create anything virtually!

In all meditation resources, the breath is vital in the process. Breathing/respiration consists of both inhalation and exhalation. Two parts of one whole breath are the necessary interconnected aspects of our meditative practices.

Love and Law are not two separate powers or forces even though many argue that “Science of Mind” is more Law than Love and “Unity” is more Love than Law. Both/And invites us to find (temet nosche “know thyself”) and embody this singular dual energy.

“For the only God you and I will ever know is the One we embody. Never forget that.” ~Ernest Holmes

Within our Centers, there is a great amount of unaddressed and unhealed trauma. There exists an abundant amount of “toxic positivity,” people-pleasing, codependency, projection, othering, and ultimately a greater reliance on fear than faith. Our Centers, pulpits, and communities are made up of people who are vastly complex individuals at various points along the healing spectrum.

Just like any hospital, right?

Many medical professionals have various health challenges themselves. Physicians needing healing. Our invitation is to take a very serious look at what we desire to experience (a world that works for all) and to then put Principal to work, embodying our Spiritual Imperative, and live it as a daily activity. We needn’t deny the human over the divine but rather embrace Both And!

From something as simple as a “0” and a “1” the complexity and diversity of all that can exist is created. Infinite creative potential found in understanding and mastering 2 symbols, 2 expressions of one Power.

Dr. Raymont Anderson

As a lifelong learner with a passion for self-development, personal transformation, transmutation, and transfiguration, he lives his bliss as a teacher, minister, author, visual artist, ASL Performing Artist, mentor, father, grandfather, and more, by giving people applicable tools and practices that enable them to live a more fulfilled life; recognizing, realizing, and materializing their Full Divine Potential!.

​His mission is: To live, move, and be an *A.C.T.I.V.E. member of society who serves to Educate, Elucidate, Emancipate, Awaken, and Empower people and communities.

*[Authentic, Compassionate, Transparent, Inspired, Vibrant, Empowered]

As an Ordained Centers for Spiritual Living Minister, he currently serves as the Spiritual Director of The Center for Spiritual Living Greater Baltimore.

Prophetic Zeal: A New Call to Action, by Rev. Dr. Raymont Anderson

If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority … If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause [people] everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will . . .

~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The prophetic zeal of New Thought is the Spiritual Imperative to remain consistently and consciously Open at the Top, to engage the world of effects and conditions as active emissaries of Love and Law who are effectively manifesting and stewarding a world that works for all.

If we are honest, this is terrifying to many of us because it demands that we do the work. It demands that we move our feet, that we move beyond the metaphysical malpractice of “solo spirituality.”

44 …‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ ~Matthew 25

It is the understanding that I live in an apartment building and if your unit is burning, it makes no sense whatsoever for me to say, “It’s not my fire so it’s not my concern.” “I don’t believe in fire, that’s not in my consciousness.” “This teaching is about me doing my spiritual practices and you doing yours, your apartment is on fire, that is for you to work on, not me.” Sounds ludicrous and yet we say things like this all the time when it applies to poverty, racism, homophobia, sexism, etc.

We affirm, “there is only One Life,” and somehow, we want to compartmentalize that life as if what happens in one place has little to no effect on another.

“…Spirit is in everything, and if it is unbroken, and if it is undivided and does not express itself in fragments but in a totality,…” ~ Anatomy of Healing Prayer

The Good Samaritan demonstrates this Prophetic Zeal. He saw a person in need and he did what was his to do.

Are we as a movement ready to do the same?

Are you ready?

Rev. Dr. Raymont Anderson

As an Ordained Centers for Spiritual Living Minister, he currently serves as the Spiritual Director of The Center for Spiritual Living Greater Baltimore.

Within The Centers for Spiritual Living Organization, he is serving as a recently appointed Commissioner on the Spiritually Motivated Social Engagement Committee which supports CSL's Spiritual Leader, Dr. Edward Viljoen (pronounced full-YOON), in formulating and expressing official CSL statements addressing world events. The SMSE also creates webinars and training on how to approach social and global issues based on CSL's teachings and values. Rev. Dr. Ray has been one of the members of the Cultural Integrity & Evolution Committee where he worked alongside several amazing individuals (Spiritual Mavericks), as we synergized with each committee and council represented within CSL to generate the themes to be used globally for 2020, 2021, and 2021. He also served briefly on the Diversity and Inclusion Commission. He has also been working with several people within New Thought as a whole, on creating resources for members of the Deaf, the BIPOC, and the LGBTQIA2+ community.

Ultimately the goal is to establish synergistic collaborations within the organization (Centers for Spiritual Living), within New Thought, and within various other Faith traditions, community organizations, and beyond so that everyone is seen, recognized, listened to, heard, valued, and given space to be themselves… so that everyone, however, the Divine expresses ItSelf as you: African American, Latine, Caucasian, Asian Pacific Islander, Deaf, hearing, Straight or LGBTQ2IA+, Differently Abled, Democrat, Republican, Independent, etc., understand their own Divinity.

He worked briefly on the steering committee for the CSL World Ministry of Prayer, in June 2020 during the Re-Imagine Summit, Rev. Dr. Ray had the distinct honor and pleasure of being on a global panel with several esteemed colleagues in the CSL movement.

What Do I Feel About All This?

... healing does not mean we simply bypass and feel good and great all the time.  Healing means we develop the ability to feel what we feel and do what we are called to do, pursue our spiritual imperative to transform the world, and speak Truth to power.  So give yourself the space to feel what you feel and then to heal.

Rev. Raymont Anderson

Our world is going through intense challenges and social stress, not only in Northern America but across the planet.  Yesterday, in the United States, the Rittenhouse verdict polarized and troubled an already polarized and troubled nation.  The words of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers point to the irreconcilable tragic nature of the shooting in that state: “No verdict will be able to bring back the lives of Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum,....No ruling today changes our reality in Wisconsin that we have work to do toward equity, accountability, and justice that communities across our state are demanding and deserve.”

My colleague Rev. Raymont Anderson of the Spiritually Motivated Social Action Committee reminded us on social media--before the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict was announced--that in the presence of so many urgent, tragic, important social and world issues, that we must stay present to whatever we are feeling so that we can move through them without being retraumatized and retriggered by them. 

Noting the examples of the murder trial of Ahmaud Arbery, the Rittenhouse trial, and the effort to reinstate Nazi ideology in many countries internationally, and other emotionally disturbing issues, Rev Anderson points to the appropriateness of feeling deeply traumatized and troubled by what we perceive happening in society.  If we are not present enough with what we feel, we may become vulnerable to retraumatizing ourselves and not giving ourselves the space, grace, and capacity to heal truly.  

How do I stay present with what I am feeling?  

For me staying present means I try not to run toward activities, food, other things that take me away from experiencing my feelings.  I try to witness my feelings without adding a meaning of good or bad to them.  I try to witness what I feel before I act.   James Crews is the author of The Path to Kindness who on his blog, tells the story of the first time he and a friend heard a grown man--a meditation teacher--call himself honey, with a hand placed over his heart to demonstrate how the students might be more gentle with themselves when their minds want to run away.

He writes: 

It’s been years

since we sat with legs twisted on cushions,

holding back our laughter, but today

I found myself crouched on the floor again,

not meditating exactly, just agreeing

to be still, saying honey to myself each time

I thought about my husband splayed

on the couch with aching joints and fever

from a tick bite—what if he never gets better?—

or considered the threat of more wildfires,

the possible collapse of the Gulf Stream,

then remembered that in a few more minutes, 

I’d have to climb down to the cellar and empty

the bucket I placed beneath a leaky pipe

that can’t be fixed until next week. How long

do any of us really have before the body

begins to break down and empty its mysteries

into the air? Oh honey, I said—for once

without a trace of irony or blush of shame—

the touch of my own hand on my chest

like that of a stranger, oddly comforting

in spite of the facts.

I invite you today to sit with your feelings and place your hand over your heart as a symbol of the love that is present despite the facts.  Sometimes when my mind wants to flee, I find it beneficial to repeat the word Love silently.  Love persists as the most powerful energy in the universe. Invoking Divine Love, one of the many names of the Divine, helps us stay connected to our Oneness so that we as a human race can embrace a new reality where equity and social justice are the norms in our society. 

I have faith that the consciousness of Oneness we call into awareness is what transforms and empowers us to co-create safe and healthy communities for all. I join Governor Evers in saying that we must be unwavering in our promise to build a [world] where every kid, person, and family can live their life free of violence and have every chance to be successful. 

Rev.Edward Viljoen, DD (Hon.)
Spiritual Leader, Centers for Spiritual Living

Request prayer from The World Ministry of Prayer

My peace is found at the heart of God. The heart of God, for me, is found at the very center of my being. It does not matter how closely the confusion of our outer world presses against me. I am not even disturbed by the confusion in my immediate environment. I know that the only way to counteract confusion is to bring peace into play. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, I give unto you.” These words of assurance stay with me, and I hear them re-echoing in the depths of my being.

 I surrender all of my fears – those nameless fears which have beset me for such a long time, dulling my pleasure and clouding with misery and apprehension all of my days. I am now through with fear. What, indeed, is there for a Divine and immortal being to fear. Certainly not people, for as I am a divine and immortal being, so is everyone, and everyone is my sibling. I recognize the one Life Principle, working in and through and inspiring the motives of everyone I contact.

 I do not fear sickness, disease or death, because the eternal and perfect Life animates my body and goes always about Its perfect work, healing and renewing that body. I am not afraid of want or lack, for the infinite Essence supplies me with everything I need all of the time. There is nothing for me to fear, for I am an inseparable part of God. I live in It: It lives in me; and I draw upon Its perfect peace.

 

My Peace is found at the heart of God.

Original text – Dr. Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind p. 558

Adapted for inclusive language – 2021-03-09

Learn More

Restorative Justice – Emphasizes accountability, making amends, and facilitates meetings between victims and offenders interested in repair

Racial Justice (eji.org) – Believes we need a new era of truth and justice that starts with confronting our history of racial injustice

Constant and Never-Ending Improvement by Rev. Dr. Raymont Anderson

There is a concept in Japan, “Kaizen,” which serves as a reminder that there is always room to improve oneself, room to grow, evolve, and expand. Is this any different from the teachings of Science of Mind and Spirit? When accepted, this concept can easily be recognized in, through, and as Spirit which is Eternally and Ever-expanding Consciousness, and if we apply and embody these words by Ernest Holmes, “God in me, as me, is me,” then we too are the individualization of this Consciousness that is Ever-expanding, evolving, spiraling upwards into greater and greater expressions of our Spiritual Magnificence.

Many children are quickly indoctrinated to become “normal,” yet normal typically means the dimming of their lights, the suppression of their creativity, and in effect a denial of their divine magnificence. These children grow up to be the adults who are too afraid, too timid, and too conditioned to move the light from under the bushel and place it on the lampstand. They have become too comfortable practicing the “best kept secret,” and too complacent with the status quo of Treating and placing our feet on the ottoman of inaction.

There is that Creative Divine Influx of The Universe that is expressing ItSelf in, though, and as each of us. And the wisdom, creativity, imagination, and ability to invent the structures, policies, and practices that manifest a World that works for All is and must be available to us in this moment, for that which God is, is breathing ItSelf as us and we state, “We believe in the direct revelation of truth through our intuitive and spiritual nature, and that anyone may become a revealer of truth who lives in close contact with the indwelling God.”

Are we ready and willing individually and collectively to accept the direct revelation of truth? To accept the invitation to think, speak, feel, and act from this embodied state of realization? To treat and move our feet in order to manifest and experience “a complete freedom from all discord of every nature, and that this goal is sure to be attained by all?”

Are ready and willing to be the living embodiment of This Ever-expanding Consciousness as it shows up in through and as us, the architects and construction team of a World That Works For All?!

While serving as the Senior Minister of CSL Greater Baltimore, Rev. Dr. Raymont Anderson is continually living his bliss as a father, grandfather, educator, visual and performing artist, author, and more. Among his many current activities, he is working on his third book and a series of paintings and illustrations.