Title: “To be Free – Own Your Projections.”

Description: Jay McCormick shared that the basic tenant in A Course in Miracles is that we are seeing through a projection of our own belief and thus not seeing from true perception, or the right mind.  The psychologist Carl Jung classified 28 defense mechanisms our mind uses, the first and primary of which he described as “projection”.  One of the definitions the Merriam-Webster dictionary has for the word “Projection” is stated as: “The attribution of one’s own ideas, feelings, or attitudes to other people or to objects. especially : the externalization of blame, guilt, or responsibility as a defense against anxiety.”Attainment of true perception, a healed mind, free of anxiety and fear, is what can be described as the ‘first awakening’.  Yet a greater projection exists, the one of consciousness itself projecting as and into mind, creating a seeming world for all. In Hinduism, the tale of the God Indira was that he slept – as the flower of the world grew from his naval as but a dream.   This could be interpreted as our life here, the grand illusion of the experience of ‘something else’ other than Heaven, perfection, and love – the experience of the seeming world.

Rupert Spira states that consciousness is naturally one with all things, one with the totality of experience.  Awakening to consciousness is the ‘second awakening’ and final healing of all projection as consciousness re-cognizes itself as one.

Reading: Shiryl Kaplan read “The Natural Condition” by Rupert Spira from “The Transparency of Things: Contemplating the Nature of Experience.”

Weekly gathering is held every Sunday morning at 10:15am ET in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. Join us after the Gathering for our Fellowship Time, hosted by Kate Brennan.

Weekly gathering is held every Sunday morning at 10:15am ET in the Awakening Together Sanctuary.

Weekly gathering is held every Sunday morning at 10:15am ET in the Awakening Together Sanctuary.

Weekly gathering is held every Sunday morning at 10:15am ET in the Awakening Together Sanctuary.

Title: “Walking in Faith”

Description: Jay McCormick shares that,  “Walking by faith means not always knowing where you are being led – it means loving and trusting the Voice Within above my own voice.  It is making choices based not on reason and understanding, but on trusting THAT which calls us.  Both in times of great loss as well in times of choices that make a directional shift in your life, these are times when the faith we have is tested and with trust and willingness we can have confidence not based on a sure outcome, but a sure state of mind – peace.  This becomes the new measure of success, the currency of awakening, PEACE.”

Reading: Kathy Smith read from NTI Matthew, Chapter 11

Weekly gathering is held every Sunday morning at 10:15am ET in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. Join us after the Gathering for our Fellowship Time, hosted by Kate Brennan.

Reading: Rev. Jay McCormick read the Metta Sutta — Buddha’s discourse on Loving Kindness. (see below)

Karaniya Metta Sutta:

The Buddha’s Words on Loving-Kindness

This is what should be done By one who is skilled in goodness, And who knows the path of peace:

Let them be able and upright, Straightforward and gentle in speech, Humble and not conceited, Contented and easily satisfied, Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.

Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful, Not proud or demanding in nature.

Let them not do the slightest thing That the wise would later reprove.

Wishing: In gladness and in safety, May all beings be at ease. Whatever living beings there may be; Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, The great or the mighty, medium, short or small, The seen and the unseen, Those living near and far away, Those born and to-be-born — May all beings be at ease! Let none deceive another, Or despise any being in any state.

Let none through anger or ill-will Wish harm upon another. Even as a mother protects with her life Her child, her only child, So with a boundless heart Should one cherish all living beings; Radiating kindness over the entire world: Spreading upwards to the skies, And downwards to the depths; Outwards and unbounded, Freed from hatred and ill-will.

Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down Free from drowsiness, One should sustain this recollection.

This is said to be the sublime abiding. By not holding to fixed views, The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, Being freed from all sense desires, Is not born again into this world.

Reading: Shiryl Kaplan read selected quotes from a variety of sources including several Italian saints.

Reading:   Michelle Hojnacki read from NTI 1 Peter, Chapter 2