Founder, Dr. Masters’ Weekly Mystical Insights

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

Spiritual Healing and Medical Treatment Mystically Viewed

We live in a world of dualities—of peace and war, pleasure and pain, wealth and poverty. Is it any wonder then, that there is an ongoing conflict between proponents of spiritual and natural healing versus the majority of the medical establishment? 

Recently, Dr. Oz, host of one of the most popular medical shows in the United States, has come under attack by some of his medical peers. Although Dr. Oz is very respected as a surgeon, some have gone so far as to accuse him of presenting quackery on his telecasts. In recent years, many physicians like Dr. Oz have branched out into alternative and complementary healing modalities as an adjunct to their practice, but they have had to suffer the contempt of their traditional, allopathic peers.  So it is not just a matter of conflict between traditional allopathic medicine and those who practice spiritual healing, but it is also a matter of conflict within the ranks of the medical community itself. 

[Read more…] about Spiritual Healing and Medical Treatment Mystically Viewed

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

Beyond Thinking

“You Are What You Think” or “Thinking Makes It So”

Since the advent of what can be described as New Thought Metaphysics, the saying “You are what you think” has been accepted by many.  To scores of people it forms the nucleus of positive spirituality.  It is the foundation of all positive-thinking movements, whether of a spiritual or self-help nature. The concept is that if you think positively, your life will be positive; but the reverse will be true if you think negatively.  Carrying this concept still further into the psychic realm of interacting energies, there is the so-called law of attraction.

We know that each soul will awaken to certain levels of understanding with every passing lifetime. Souls who are currently in a level of “You are what you think” are basically content that they have achieved some sort of absolute spirituality upon which to base their lives. And, from their previous perspectives of life, they have.  There is, of course, a wide gap between power-of-thought metaphysics and religions based upon the precepts of hell and damnation.  Therefore, to those who have made this giant leap, it would seem that they have possibly arrived at some pinnacle of spiritual wisdom.  Plus, from this position, emerges still another popular saying: “Your thinking makes it so,” which suggests that the power of thought can manifest one’s needs or desires. 

[Read more…] about Beyond Thinking

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

Readiness for Mystical Freedom

The Christ Mind that was in Jesus spoke the words, “And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.”  These words have been subject to many scholarly, theological interpretations, but they are truly revealed through mystical awareness.  That Truth is that there is but One Life in the Universe, and that everyone and all things are part of this One Life—the Creative Universal Presence, or God.  The Truth of being set free mystically refers to being free of the false sense of personal ego identity, so that one’s soul may experience and benefit from its oneness with Spirit, or God.

Understanding this may present a problem:

The problem may be that you already know the mystical description and accept it, but perhaps only on an intellectual level. Knowing and accepting something on an intellectual level is knowing and accepting something by your false personal ego identity—by that illusionary part of yourself that is divided from the Whole, the One Life, or God.  The intellectual acceptance by the personal ego is a ploy or game that this false sense plays to pacify the soul into thinking it is progressing spiritually.  If the ploy or game works, then one’s spiritual existence goes into limbo. The false personal ego identity may then choose to philosophize with other false personal ego identities about the nature, mysteries, and realities of life, but might never get past philosophizing or intellectualizing about reality.  One then becomes a scholar of mysticism, but not a mystic.  One speaks of the Truth, but rarely experiences or lives it, except during momentary lapses by the controlling false personal ego.

[Read more…] about Readiness for Mystical Freedom

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

Rituals – Till God Fills the Void that Never Was

Since the beginning of recorded time, various religious and spiritual groups have engaged in rituals.  To many, rituals form some sort of bridge between themselves and the Divine, or God.  From very simple people living meagerly in huts to the so-called captains of industry at the top of skyscrapers, very few people are immune from finding themselves engaged in some form of religious ritual.  In many religions, rituals take up a great deal of the followers’ time. 

To the vast majority of souls occupying this earth plane of existence, some sort of ritual is practiced in accord with the general theology espoused. The question should be asked—if so much time is taken in the practice of rituals, are they of any real value?  Is there anything to be gained from rituals, or are they just part of pomp and circumstance to impress the masses? 

[Read more…] about Rituals – Till God Fills the Void that Never Was

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

Mystically Living in a Threatening World

News occurs instantly and constantly throughout our world, both about our planet and our fellow inhabitants being threatened in so many ways. We hear about threats, such as:

• Superbugs increasingly resistant to antibiotics!
• Stays in hospitals becoming riskier!
• Planetary pollution of the oceans and waterways! 
• Electrical energies flooding the airwaves, affecting energy fields of the human body!
• Fears of terrorism mounting worldwide!
• Predictions of a failing U.S. economy and its impact on world economies! 
• A resurgence of the threat of nuclear annihilation!  

It is rare if people do not go about their daily business feeling threatened in one or more ways—whether this threat is conscious or festering slightly beneath the surface level of awareness. Most individuals live against a threatening backdrop, and are concerned for those they dearly love.

[Read more…] about Mystically Living in a Threatening World

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

Why Life? The Purpose of It All

What’s the meaning . . . the purpose to it all? 

With the exception of philosophers, theologians, and a few deep thinkers, most people live their lives without questioning—why?  Be it ever so briefly, why does tend to surface in most people’s lives at the time of some life-changing event which greatly impacts their emotions, such as a transition (that is, death), a painful or crippling illness or accident, the tragedies of war, and similar experiences which shake the foundations of an otherwise structured life. 

When things are going right, a person gets caught up in the positive quality of life and feels no need to question.  However, when things go painfully wrong, a person questions.  If life contains so many experiences that are filled with pain and sorrow, why live at all? 

[Read more…] about Why Life? The Purpose of It All

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

The Effectiveness and Non-Effectiveness of Spiritual Practices

Do prayers, visualizations, affirmations or other spiritual practices really work, or if they only work sometimes, why? 

This question is repeatedly asked by many—by those who ask for prayer, and by those who pray or use some other spiritual practice for themselves or others.  With the progression in spiritual awakening, the answers change. 

As an example, in the old-time, basic fundamentalist religion, prayer for most people is a pleading, begging, or hoping for some desired result.  As a person moves in spiritual awareness to a higher plane of consciousness or understanding—such as that of New Thought or basic metaphysics—the pleading and begging cease, and prayer becomes an affirming that, through God’s Power, the desired effect is already so. 

[Read more…] about The Effectiveness and Non-Effectiveness of Spiritual Practices

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

Living in and by Mystical Grace

Every day that we awaken from sleep, it is by Grace. To take a breath and to be alive is not by an act of personal ego will, but because of Grace. Some people may argue that the will of their personal egos caused them to survive some difficult time in their lives, but it was not—that was only the illusion. In truth we survive by Grace; it was not yet our cosmic time to surrender our physical existence in the Ultimate Cosmic Scheme of Things, where nothing is by chance or coincidence, and where all is perfectly orchestrated in a harmonious cosmic melody.

So often the phrase, “by the Grace of God,” is used by people, but what is its meaning? Its obvious meaning is that something has happened or will happen because Universal Presence or God allowed it to happen or will allow it to happen. Grace then could be thought of as the Will of God—not the personal ego’s will—having supreme or ultimate power over all things and human existence, and even life itself.

[Read more…] about Living in and by Mystical Grace

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

The Jesus Complex…

Uncertainty, war, fear, confusion, ill health, loneliness—these are just a few of the reasons people often welcome someone who might claim to be Jesus in the physical flesh.  The Christ Mind that was in Jesus warned that there would be those who would appear in his name.  And certainly, there have been.  For reasons already stated, people who are particularly hurting are open and vulnerable to someone handing them a business card with the single name of Jesus on it. 

Of course, it takes more than a business card.  It takes giving the outer appearance of what people would believe Jesus should look like.  If you have ever seen any movie about the life of Jesus, you know that the actor who gets the role looks like what people have—from childhood’s conditioning—believed him to look like.  If there were a casting call by a movie producer for an actor to play Jesus, the requirements might be as follows: 

[Read more…] about The Jesus Complex—or Claims to Be Jesus—Mystically Understood

Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.

The Sacredness of Silence

There’s a Mystical expression that goes, “He who speaks more knows less, and he who speaks less knows more.”  If one encounters religious zealots, they are very likely to speak at great length and volume about their beliefs.  A person who is advanced in spiritual awareness knows to remain silent and let the zealot ramble on.  With awareness, one knows that to try to enlighten such a person at that level of awareness would do no good.  It would only end in a meaningless debate.  There’s nothing to be gained.  It is better to remain silent, being content to know that in some future lifetime every zealot will awaken to a much greater realization of spiritual truth. 

All who have studied deeper forms of meditation—for the purpose of experiencing mystical union with God—do all they can to enter into the Silence of the Absolute.  Only when the mind can be totally quieted can Absolute Presence be known.  As long as thinking occupies the mind, God cannot.  Thoughts and thinking are all activities of the false sense of personal ego identity.  Even those thoughts that dwell on God are still part of personal ego consciousness.  As long as the personal ego is active—even in the loftiest of ways—God’s Presence remains unknown. 

[Read more…] about The Sacredness of Silence