Watching the News and Keeping the Faith

Many folks at Spiritual Life Center — and beyond — have asked me: "Rev. Rick, how do you listen to the news, which is so often just dreadful these days, and not wind up with a sinking heart and spirit?"

I had one gentleman come up to me and tell me, "After watching the news, all this Unity spiritual stuff just sounds like a bunch of happy babble."

I get the point, and things can sometimes seem very low. But I believe it is very important for all of us to be Keepers of the Flame during this difficult period. It is also important that we remember some key and important words from Unity cofounder Myrtle Fillmore. She urged us to "look beyond appearances."

For so many reasons, progress has never been a smooth upward spiral. In fact, long run progress looks more like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which often appears to be a roller coaster in the short and intermediate runs. 

Throughout human history, we often experience the following pattern: five steps forward, followed by four steps back; then three steps forward and two steps back. In many ways, I believe that we are currently going through "a four steps back period." 

Let me focus on one area which you might not have given a lot of thought to. Prior to my call to ministry, I was not only the chief economist for the United Way movement, but I also was an adjunct professor of economics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s there were some very bitter lessons that we had to learn in the areas of international trade and finance. Recently, it has seemed that we have forgotten many of those economic lessons.

However, I would point out that sometimes some of the best critical and creative thinking takes place during "four steps back periods." For example, in the 1880s Myrtle Fillmore was told that there was nothing more that medical science of her day could do to help her. She was also told that she would probably die soon. It was during this "four steps back period" that Myrtle Fillmore had her quantum spiritual leap forward that resulted in the Unity movement. 

So my advice is: 

• First, be spiritually centered;

• Second, go on and read, watch, or listen to the news;

• Third, be careful about which news sources you rely upon and how much time you spend consuming news; and lastly;

• Fourth, find ways that your interaction with the news can strengthen — and not diminish — your spiritual walk.

Here are some things and ways I have incorporated into my life to make the above four points come alive for me:

I start out my day with prayer and meditation. This is so important for me because I often do not awake as “Mr. Spiritual.” This prayer and meditation period at the very start of the day gives me a chance to muck out the stable or weed the garden before I interact with the outside world. It has become, in many ways, the most important part of my day, and so many positive things flow from this experience.

Then most mornings I pour a cup of coffee, settle into my chair, and turn on the news. The stories come fast — conflict, political shouting matches, disasters, and the latest outrage of the day. It’s easy to feel the heaviness of it all, to wonder where the Light is amid so much noise. Yet I remind myself: what I’m really watching is not a world gone wrong, but consciousness in motion — the process of awakening is often messy and always unfolding.

Unity’s Law of Mind/Action taught me that thoughts held in mind produce after their kind. So when the airwaves thrum with fear, I ask: what collective thoughts are we holding? And as I sit in contemplation after the broadcast, I ask what higher truth I can bring to balance it. I affirm peace, wisdom, compassion, not as naïve optimism, but as the foundations of transformation.

Some mornings, when the headlines ache, I remember that even Jesus looked at the troubled crowds and “had compassion on them.” He didn’t turn away; he saw beyond appearances to the divine potential within each person. Watching the news, I try to practice the same seeing — training my spiritual eye to look past the anger and confusion to the silent presence of Spirit at work.

I also try as best as I can not to demonize any person in a news story. I believe that I am much closer to who I truly came here to be when I can feel and express compassion. 

Meanwhile, after listening to the news, I ask myself: What is mine to do? Sometimes I believe that there is nothing for me to do. But other times I believe that there are some very important things that I can and should be doing, such as: actively supporting nonprofit organizations that are advancing causes that I deeply believe in; standing up and protesting, helping those who I can, writing, speaking, and praying. In fact, the news often has a powerful and positive impact on my prayer list. 

Perhaps that can be our shared spiritual practice in these times: not to withdraw from the world, nor to react in fear, but to watch, bless, and hold a higher vision. For even the most turbulent story is another call for love and compassion.

Many blessings,

Rev. Rick