Unapologetic Manifestation: Focusing Your Mind

If you asked me, what was the most important Unity book written and published in the latter part of the 20th century, I would unhesitatingly respond that it was: Discover the Power Within You: A Guide to the Unexplored Depths Within, by that great Unity teacher, Eric Butterworth.

Eric Butterworth was the Senior Minister of a leading Unity church in New York City. His congregation grew so large that on Sunday mornings his spiritual center met in the central concert hall of Lincoln Center. It was the same concert hall in which Leonard Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic.

In Discover the Power Within You, Rev. Eric taught that the divine dimension is present in every person as a “depth potential” or “Christ in you.” We are a ray of

God‘s life at the core of our being, he believed.

In this book, Rev. Eric insists that Jesus was a fully human being who discovered and expressed the divine potential that is available to all, making him the example rather than an exception to humanity.

Oprah Winfrey said that this book changed her life. If you have not read it, I would strongly recommend that you do so, and if it has been a while since you last read it, I would suggest that you read it again.

All of the above got me to thinking about the following question: What will be the most important Unity book of the early part of the 21st-century? I have come to the conclusion that it could easily be a book which has just been published. It is: Unapologetic Manifestation: 5 Steps to Create the Life You Want. It’s author is Rev. Ken Daigle.

Rev. Ken is the Senior Minister of Unity of San Francisco. He has just stepped down as Chair of the Board of Unity World Headquarters. It was under Ken’s leadership that Unity World Headquarters and Unity Worldwide Ministries became one unified organization. When it came down to the final vote on this issue, over 90% of Unity leaders voted in favor to do this. Ken played a very important role behind this positive step taking place.

As most of you know on the weekend following Easter, Ken came up to Sacramento to give the message at our Sunday Experiences. Following that, he led a wonderful workshop about UNAPOLOGETIC MANIFESTATION. Currently, we are holding Wednesday night classes, which go into greater detail concerning how UNAPOLOGETIC MANIFESTATION can become an integral part of your life — and a key asset for Spiritual Life Center.

SLC is one of the very early places where things are being done to make UNAPOLOGETIC MANIFESTATION come alive. My hope is that SLC can be a major example which will help people and spiritual centers in other communities experience positive transformation because of Ken‘s work.

I believe that so many positive things are happening at SLC, and Ken’s book and classes can help us build the consciousness required to take SLC to an even higher level.

So I would like to write a series of blog posts devoted to UNAPOLOGETIC MANIFESTATION. My blog posts should in no way be seen as a substitute for reading and studying what I believe will become the most important Unity book of the early part of the 21st century.

But I do believe that some of the things I will be talking about in this series of blog posts could help in coordination with Ken’s work. To start the ball rolling, let me first simply state what Ken’s five steps are to create the life you want.

These steps include:

1. FOCUS YOUR MIND;

   
   

2. SHIFT YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS;

   
   

3. TAKE CONCRETE STEPS;

   
   

4. SHARE YOUR JOURNEY; and,

   
   

5. BE OPEN.

Second, let me clearly put on the table that when Ken talks about abundance, he does not just mean abundance in terms of finances. As a former economist, I, of course, believe that finances are important. But Ken is talking about abundance in all areas of our lives, including health, relationships, careers, a sense of meaning and purpose, etc.

When it comes to focusing the mind, I go back to a path breaking novel by James Joyce. In Joyce’s Ulysses, the Irish writer captured the stream of consciousness which floats in and out of our minds every day. The last chapter in the book is a stream of consciousness soliloquy by Molly Bloom. She is in an unhappy marriage with one of the central characters of the novel, Leopold Bloom.

Molly is lying down in bed trying to go to sleep, and Joyce captures the ins and outs, the dead ends and the highways, and the labyrinths and mazes of her mind. Yes, so often our thought patterns are highly convoluted and vague.

Rev. Dr. Paul Hasselbeck, was one of Unity‘s leading metaphysical teachers. Unfortunately, Rev. Paul recently made his transition. But Rev. Paul always used to say (joking around with the phrase about Las Vegas), “What is created in vagueness stays in vagueness.”

What has God/the Universe to do with such convoluted thoughts? What are our real desires and goals? Quite frankly, do we even know what our real desires and goals are? Given this mental chaos that often exists in our minds, is it any wonder why so many of us are so often only manifesting on a level of but one small step above chaos?

Let me step into my Jewish roots for a moment. In eastern European Judaism, it is very rare for a mother and father to name their child after a living relative. The reason is that there is a folk way/myth that the angel of death is a bit of a “schlamme” (I.e. in Yiddish— a simpleton). Therefore, if I name my son “Rick,” there would be a good chance that when the angel of death came for me, he would take my son “Rick Jr.” and not me.

In the case of the angel of death, the solution was to give a child a name that was different from all other living family members. In the case of UNAPOLOGETIC MANIFESTATION, the suggested solution is:

• Go in to prayer and meditation and try to figure out what your Higher Power and you both really want.

• Write down and journal about what your Higher Power and you really want for you.

  
  

• This process should help you come up with a clear list of priorities. Focus your mind on this list.

  
  

• If you do the above, you will stop sending conflicting signals to God/the Universe.

Focusing our minds is a critical step in manifesting what we want for ourselves, our spiritual communities, and our larger society. Focusing our minds takes work. But we can do it with Spirit’s help.

Many blessings,

Rev. Rick