Author Archive for Richard Ingersoll

There Goes the Neighborhood: The Good Samaritan Story

Published
by
Richard Ingersoll
on August 1, 2008
in Spirituality
. 0 Comments
by Drs Bil & Cher Holton

(Luke 10:25-37)

As we researched for this article, we Googled the words “Good Samaritan” and the request brought us over 281,000 references of the Good Samaritan on the Internet. There were thousands of hospitals and medical centers named Good Samaritan, hundreds of Good Samaritan awards, scores of charitable trust funds named Good Samaritan, and a multitude of newspaper articles on Good Samaritan heroics and helpfulness. But what is the source of all these references?

Let’s take a peek at the Biblical Good Samaritan story, and then look at it metaphysically, to introduce the real main character to you. You may want to read the whole story before going with this article. When you’re finished, come on back. We’ll wait for you!

Let’s start by taking a look at a few specific verses from Luke 10:25-37, to provide some historical background.

* v27: The legal expert answers easily, citing the passages from the Torah (Deut 6:5 and Lev 19:18). He wanted to prove he was a student of the law that he was up on his Torah.

* v29: He desired Jesus’ approval to abide by the letter of the law and to restrict who he considered a neighbor. It would be like asking for permission not to help a member of a hate group who was injured (like a neo-Nazi or a clansman.) The Greek work for neighbor is plesion which is interpreted as “the close one.” It referred to people similar to you in social status, religious faith, ethnicity, etc. The lawyer hoped that’s what Jesus meant.

* v30: In this verse, the phrase “a certain man” derives from the Greek Word anthropostis, which means somebody/anyone. Jesus was not going to give the lawyer a way out. The road between Jericho and Jerusalem was dangerous and notorious for bandits. Jericho was below sea level.

* v32: The law was if a person touched a dead body or came into contact with the blood of someone unclean, they would be defiled for seven days and unable to carry out their assigned religious responsibilities.

* v33: The Jews hated the Samaritans. Samaritans were the descendants of those Jews who stayed in northern Israel after it was conquered by Assyria in the 8th Century B.C. They were uncircumcised, intermarried Gentiles, and refused to acknowledge the temple in Jerusalem.

* v37: The lawyer probably paused before he responded to Jesus’ question. He, like other Jews, detested the Samaritans so much he was unable to bring himself to say the word Samaritan. He said, “He that showed mercy.” And Jesus responded, “You got that right.” We’re paraphrasing, of course.

For Jesus, there were no untouchables in the Kingdom of God. And the point He wanted to get across to the lawyer - and to us - is to not let our religion take the place of our spirituality or compassion. If the only point of Jesus’ parable had been nothing more than promoting a sense of civility and goodwill, it would have been a good message. But it has a much deeper meaning. Let’s take a metaphysical look, so we can add a higher consciousness perspective to the story.

* Lawyer = our inclination to use the letter of the law to justify our behavior

* Injured Man (the main metaphysical character) = human consciousness; the thoughts, feelings, and actions in each of us

* Jerusalem = Heart-centered consciousness of peace and spirituality

* Jericho = Materially-focused desires which spring from the ego’s fears and selfishness

* Robbers = our selfish, destructive thoughts that deplete our body of its energy and vitality

* Priest and Levite = religious inclinations which fail to see the connection between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law

* Samaritan = the Christ of us

* Oil and wine = oil is love; wine is abundant life

* Inn = pure, receptive Divine thoughts

* Host = the Holy Spirit

* 2 denarii = the cost to us for reconnecting the human personality with Spirit

* Neighbor = our physical body and emotions which are impacted by our thoughts

The metaphysical implications of this parable are straightforward. When we decide to leave the peace and serenity of our spirituality (Jerusalem) and follow the temptations of our material sense consciousness (Jericho), we rob ourselves of our strength and vitality. Our error thinking can take us over dangerous emotional and physical ground, oftentimes resulting in life-threatening illnesses.

Our wholeness will be restored when we ramp up our consciousness (the Inn) and accept the wisdom and support that comes from our Christ Nature, which provides comfort through the Holy Spirit.

So you see the parable is not about the Samaritan at all. It is about all people.

* It is about our relationship with the Christ of us.

* It relates to our falling in and out of a state of grace.

* It reminds us of our awesome and unfailing connection to Spirit.

* It encourages us to have Christ thoughts in order to make Christ choices.

* And — it assures us that we shall be comforted.

About the Author:
Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

Set Your Goals the Easy Way

Published
by
Richard Ingersoll
on July 28, 2008
in Goal Setting
. 0 Comments
by Dick Ingersoll

What do top-caliber athletes, thriving businessmen, and all types of achievers in varied fields have in common?

They all have successfully learned the essentials of goal setting.

Your goals afford short and long-term motivation and focus. A strong center point will help point out your strengths and opportunities for enhancement. This will help you establish the skills that you need to develop. Similarly, it helps you plan and organize your resources to get the most out of your life.

You need to set clearly defined short and long-term goals to be able to calculate your progress and attain personal satisfaction. Charting your advancements will also eliminate the feeling of long and pointless grind towards attaining your goal. Your self-confidence and level of proficiency will also improve, as you become more conscious of your capabilities while you go for your goals.

Goal setting involves a decision about what you really want to achieve. After this, you need to break it down into smaller and manageable targets that you must finish to achieve your lifetime goals.

Other people further breakdown these objectives into daily and weekly goals. This gives the assurance that you will always be heading towards your life plan. Every day gives the opportunity to complete a certain goal.

Some pointers that should be taken into consideration in setting goals are the following:

Understand that outlook plays a really big role in setting and achieving your goals. You must ask yourself, “Is there something preventing you from reaching your simplest goals? Does your behavior deter you or put your plans into disarray?” The immediate thing to do is to deal with the issue by changing your outlook and behavior. It may include a visit to a doctor or mental health professional to help you control your emotions.

Practice good time management. Career failures are often attributed to bad time management. Pursuing a career requires a lot from you; this becomes a key part of your life. Decide how far you want to advance in your chosen career.

Seek constant progress. Nonstop learning is one of the main keys in reaching your goals. If your goals require you to have a certain kind of degree, specialization, or skill, make plans to get the proper education.

Seek support. Include your family and close friends in your plans. They can be a source of help, especially during difficult times.

Be flexible. Always look-over your plans and be ready for contingencies.

Be logical and consider necessary resources. Personal financial situations play a huge role in the achievement of your goals.

Physically gifted individuals’ achieve| sports-related goals like being part of the National Basketball association or National Football League. Part of being sensible is to figure out your physical capabilities. Physical boundaries could be overcome with proper planning.

Have fun. As the saying goes: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Taking a break or having fun should be part of your plans.

There you have it. You can start achieving your lifetime goals by preparing a ten-year plan. Break down this plan to five-year plans and twelve-month plans. The twelve-month plan can be further broken down into semester, monthly, weekly and daily plans. It is just an issue of organization.

The fundamentals of goal setting should not be so difficult once you get to be familiar with them.

About the Author:
Dick Ingersoll is an incessant student, and is fired up to share what he is learning with others. He has pulled it all together for you at: Simple Goal Setting

Action and the Law of Attraction

Published
by
Richard Ingersoll
on July 28, 2008
in Inspirational
. 0 Comments
by Dick Ingersoll

When you begin working with the Law of Attraction more proactively, you may wonder whether you need to take physical action in addition to your mental and emotional exercises. The answer to this will vary depending upon who you ask.

There are those who claim that no action is needed; just directing the right frequency of thought and emotion toward a desired outcome is enough. Then there are those who believe that action is always required, because action is the medium through which all wants are manifested.

In my experience, it can undoubtedly work either way. Depending on the situation, you may or may not find yourself needing to take certain measures toward your goals.

Here is an uncomplicated process to help you know for sure:

Take care of the internal work first. Focus on getting your thoughts, emotions, beliefs and expectations centered with what you want. Don’t worry about “how” it’s going to come about, just focus on putting forth the right frequency of energy to attract it. You can do this by meditating, imagining, establishing, and making a vision board, and so on.

Completely let go. Once you are in alignment with your desire, turn it over to the universe. Don’t worry about whether it will appear, or put yourself in a panic trying to come up with a strategy. Take a step back from it and let it ferment for a little while. The length of time is up to you, but I recommend at least a week or two.

Tune into your intuition. During this letting go period, turn your attention inward regularly. Tune into your intuition and find out if there is something you can do to bring this desire into your life. You may or may not obtain any insights about it. If you do get a hunch or nudge to do something specific, by all means go for it. If not, constantly pay attention for any opportunities that might appear later. Don’t try to push or hurry the process along, because you’ll most likely end up causing more interruptions. These things have a tendency of appearing at exactly the right time, regardless of how we try to mess it up!

The truth is there is no right way or wrong way to use the Law of Attraction. Interestingly, the way it works often seems to correspond with your beliefs.

If you believe you have to take action to attract your desires, guess what? You probably will. Likewise, if you believe that you do not necessarily have to take action, the universe will find a way to deliver your desires without a bit of additional effort on your part.

However, there are instances when you will be urged to take action even if you originally didn’t believe you’d have to do so. When this happens, simply follow where your heart leads. The actions you are urged to take will ALWAYS be for your highest good, and they’ll usually be quite enjoyable! Discover how to put faith into your intuition for assistance anytime you want to attract something, and you will be shown the way to get it as quickly and easily as possible - whatever that may call for.

About the Author:
Dick Ingersoll is an eternal student, and is excited to share what he is learning with others. He has pulled it all together for you at: Simple Meditation

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

Published
by
Richard Ingersoll
on June 20, 2008
in Spirituality
. 0 Comments
by Drs Bil & Cher Holton

Everyone has the same life purpose: We are here to fully express the Christ within.

We have all got the same decision to make: We can choose to accept our Divinity and follow the guidance that comes from our Christ Consciousness — or not.

There is only one story in the Bible: That story is about how we use more won’t power than will power when it comes to “demonstrating our divinity.”

The following illustration is an example of our on-and-off-again relationship. The story comes from the 8th Chapter of John’s Gospel, verses 2-11:

2. Early in the morning He came again to the temple: (When we are centered in Spirit, we begin each day connected to our Christ Nature. Jesus represents that aspect in us that understands our Christ potential and is our unfolding pattern of perfection.) All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them: (The more we intentionally “practice the Presence,” the more Divine wisdom we will receive.)

3. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand before all of them: (Our judgmentalness. which many times is really hypocrisy, is represented by the Pharisees. It tries to keep us stuck in the letter of the law so we remain in the tight box of dogma and doctrine. The personality attempts to discredit our receptivity to Truth principles, represented by the woman, by signaling out our failures.)

4. They said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery: (Guarded by its self-righteousness duplicity, our ego even manufactures ways to make us feel less spiritual, while at the same time hypocritically hiding behind its own shortcomings.)

5. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6. They said this to test Him, so that they might have some charge to bring against Him: (Moses as an adult represents that within us that identifies more with the letter of the law than the spirit of the law. Our judgmental nature tests our spiritual growth because it wants us to stick with the status quo.)

6. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the sand. (This signifies our Christ Self lowering itself into our sense chakra to purify it. We wake up to the fact that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.)

7. When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her.” (We remember that our old tapes have zero power over us.)

8. And once again He bent down and wrote on the ground: (Our ‘I Am’ Consciousness lowers Itself a second time to strengthen us and to lead us into a right relationship with our Christ Nature.)

9. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders: (When the Spirit moves, its incredible vibration dissolves even the strongest, most encrusted beliefs, assumptions and prejudices, causing them to lose their impact and disappear.) And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him: (Once we put the noise of our judgmentalness aside we stand firm in our awareness of our true nature).

10. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”: (When we permit that still, small voice to direct us, we have power over any and all negativity).

11. She said, “No one, Sir.”: (We can say emphatically, through affirmations and denials, that nothing can keep us from our good). And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”: (Our Christ nature sees only the good in us. Once we are consciously one with our God-Self, by going to our heart center, we will hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil. All we need to do is practice more will power than won’t power so we don’t miss the mark.)

This story is about you and us and everyone on the planet. It reminds us to remember the Truth of who we really are, so we can express and enjoy our innate Divinity, the Godness that is present at our birth.

About the Author:
Drs. Bil & Cher Holton are Spiritual Leaders at Unity Spiritual Life Center in Durham, NC, where they practice positive, practical, progressive Christianity. Visit their website at Unity Spiritual Life Center and sign up to receive a complimentary 4-week e-course.

a scientific explanation of the law of attraction

Published
by
Richard Ingersoll
on February 29, 2008
in Self Improvement
. 0 Comments
by Dick Ingersoll

Since the very successful movie The Secret came out, people across the world have taken a fascination with the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction states that we actualize reality through our thoughts and intentions. But does this “law” have any scientific verification?

Currently, the most misunderstood branch of science is quantum physics. Quantum physics examines the fabric of our reality and endeavors to explain how the micro affects the macro. Quantum physics is still largely immature, as we do not have the tools yet to see deep enough (small enough) into matter to know everything. However, what has been discovered so far is more than enough from which to grasp a functional understanding of the Law of Attraction.

One of the most compelling discoveries of quantum physics is that matter can behave like a particle or a wave. Permit me to explain A particle is solid matter - it is limited to being in one place at a time, and you can always identify its location. A wave, however, is not a finite point. The definition of a wave, as it relates to physics, is as follows: a progressive disturbance propagated from point to point in a medium or space without progress or advance by the points themselves, as in the transmission of sound or light. Sound confusing? Don’t worry, you don’t have to understand that, just realize that waves are not finite. Light and sound are examples of waves.

Now what quantum physics found is that when firing very small particles called electrons through two slits, if the electrons were observed while going through the slits, then they acted as particles. Each electron picked one slit, went through it, and hit the screen on the back. The result after firing hundreds or thousands of these was a two-slit pattern. However, if the electrons were NOT observed while going through the slits, they created a large interference pattern on the screen behind, which is the pattern caused by a wave. In addition, the pattern showed interference from the slits, which further proves that the electrons passed through the slits as a wave, and not as solid particles.

So what does that mean for us? When you consider the fact that electrons and other small particles are what our entire world is built out of, the implications are enormous. An observer actually alters objective events on a subatomic level. Our act of observation, thought, and emotion affect the world. When scientists attempted to watch an electron and decide where it would go, they found that wherever the observer anticipated it would show up is where it would show up. The implications of this are equally huge - our expectations, thoughts and beliefs literally form the world around us on a subatomic scale!

Obviously, the ability of our thoughts and beliefs to alter and create reality is precisely what the Law of Attraction is teaching us. Now that you have a little scientific background, maybe you can put your current beliefs aside and try it out. If someone told you that you could have all that you wanted, would that at least be worth a try to you? Suspend your disbelief, and be astonished!

About the Author:
Dick Ingersoll is sharing what he has learned from his studies in metaphysics, philosophy and spirituality at: Applying the Law of Attraction Library