Author: Nick Hilton

My “soul” is not some mysterious, ethereal entity that hovers around my physical being. My soul is what I really am: the true me. My thinking mind presents this or that fragmentary impression of myself to me of what I seem to be, often influenced by the opinions and judgements of others, but what I am is something pure, multifaceted, constantly developing, and whole. My actions – how I live my life in thoughts, words and deeds – reflect the state of my soul. Daily inventory of my actions and the content of my mind in my meditations reveal the progress I am making in my soul’s improvement, which is the purpose of my life.

Jesus of Nazareth is called the Christ because He is anointed with the “chrism” — the pure and effective grace of God. So intent on instructing humanity and improving the lives of others that he submitted to torture and death, His mission still remains: to exemplify the nature and actions of a loving, merciful God and to call each and every one of us to be His constant followers.

I do not think that Pythagoras had in mind the kind of music that we actually hear, sing or dance to when he imagined the “music of the spheres” 2500 years ago. He was not suggesting that the celestial bodies that surround us in their orbits moved to any sound. The pattern of natural life — the emergence of order from chaos and randomness — has rhythm, sequence, harmony.  It is this music, the song of God, that we can hear in the stillness when we are listening within. It is there, in our hearts, beckoning us to sing or to dance along with God’s composition in our own harmonious voices and movements. It is always playing. Listen.

Human beings are unique in this world for being capable of sin. There is God; and there is not-God, which the developing universe is gradually overcoming, as light gradually overcomes darkness. But not-God exists as egotistical desire and selfish motivation only in the mind of mankind. It is evident in our harmful behavior toward ourselves, one another, and our environment. We have “instincts gone awry,” creating unnatural desires and driving us by a perverse power to choose to ignore or even to thwart the working out of God, the natural order. Salvation is the state of being in which all of our thought, decisions and actions are in tune with the Universal Truth.

O Lord God, who art throughout and within everything, by Whom everything in Creation is a manifestation of Your majesty and power, hear my prayer. For without You my soul is hopeless and desolate; without You I am lost and alone. But with You, in Your infinite and eternal presence there is no mistake, no unhappiness, no confusion. Grant therefore O Lord that I may dwell this day and all my days in  constant awareness of You and so order my thoughts, my words and my actions so as to prosper Your will throughout the world. Amen.

Joel Goldsmith writes: “Rightly speaking, there is not God and you, but God is ever manifest as you.” (The Infinite Way; pg. 102.)

His philosophy or religion goes somewhat beyond the positivist, mystical Christianity of other twentieth-century spiritual thinkers to assert that our difficulties in this life are always and only a matter of our seeing or thinking mistakenly. If we are in fear, or pain, or remorse; if we are ill or depressed; if we are not happy and at peace, it is because we are perceiving incorrectly, or holding on to false beliefs about the nature of our lives. What is not perfect is an error of understanding. If we are able to see clearly we will know that we are part of the eternal perfection and that all is well, everywhere, now and forever.

As we mature naturally and spiritually we become more and more convinced that we are living for a purpose. This conviction underlies our motivations, our outlook and our actions. It provides the meaning, the true significance, that drives our will. The purpose of our lives, we come to realize, is to partake in and to participate in the unfolding goodness of Creation. Of course we do not always see that our purpose is clear, or that we are successful in achieving it. It is not that we understand, but we learn to live as if we understood.

“Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.”

Fear not – in the sense of horror or dismay – but rather feel awe for the majesty and power of creation. Be inspired by thinking of God. His commandments are simple, while keeping them is not easy: bring goodness, mercy, understanding and peace to every place and every situation in ordinary life. This is the whole duty of every man and every woman.

Conversion happens in our hearts first, then in our minds. Our wandering, unsteady minds do not initiate these profound changes that bring peace, understanding and charity. Our feeling nature perceives God and then converts our thinking; then we are able to understand God’s truth. Our sensitivity to Grace compels us to find meaning in the scriptures, writings and teachings of our guides and spiritual predecessors.

Christian tradition gives us the Holy Trinity as a symbol to illustrate a way to conceive of the nature of God.

First, Cause, out of nothing, by Himself created, and by Himself responsible for creation of everything after, is the Father.

Then, His Creation itself, by which the Father is recognized, adored and ultimately glorified in the form of human consciousness, is the Son, in which the Father is shown.

And then, always apparent in reality as a continuous, unifying principle, the underlying sanctity of all experience, the Holy Spirit.