Founder, Dr. Masters’ Weekly Mystical Insights

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

The Kingdom of Heaven Mystically and Psychologically Understood

Throughout the New Testament, there is more said by Jesus about the Kingdom of Heaven by far than about any other subject of which he spoke. This of course makes sense when one considers that he told the disciples to go forth into the world and teach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. The reason for all of this was that Jesus’ whole presentation of spiritual reality rested upon the concept and the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven.

About 2,000 years ago, during his lifetime on earth, Jesus told people, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He also stated, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” Above all else that Jesus communicated to people was the importance he placed on the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus put this emphasis on the Kingdom of Heaven because more than anything else, it was the greatest spiritual value that he could bring to people.

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

Release a Negative Past and Open to a Positive Present and Future

Two thousand years ago, Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is here and now.” He did not say that this best of all worlds would arrive the next day, month, year, decade, century or eon of time into the future. He proclaimed that the promise of the best of life and living was right there and then; right now.  

Two thousand years later, in the hustle and bustle of modern, contemporary cities and lifestyles, people hurry about daily, as if engaged in a race in which the winners take the grand prize. The rush is toward what can be, rather than what already is, which seems to lack an element that kindles the fires of a person’s soul.

Because of this, countless individuals in today’s world are merely going through the motions of living out their lives rather than actually living. What could have been appears to be merely a vague image in the wind, filled with the darkness of despair. For some people, it seems that the mental flickerings of what were a few bright moments in their past are all that remain. Even these, for the most part, left them with unconvincing vibrations. Their physical bodies may be present, but their minds linger in the past of “bygone days.” What is and can be are colored gray by their minds yielding their priorities to what has been.

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

Many Lives, Many Loves: Have You Loved Someone Before?

Has the thought ever occurred to you, “Have I loved this person in another lifetime?” If you are one of the two thirds of the world’s population that believes in reincarnation and the living of many lifetimes, you may very well have asked this question.

Nothing in life is by coincidence, although on the surface some things may appear to be simply by chance. There is a law of cause and effect that is constantly at work throughout nature, inclusive of meetings and relationships of a personal nature between two people.

It does not matter how short or how long the relationship turns out to be, whether it is measured in mere minutes or an entire lifetime. People meet people and fall in love with them, or at least imagine themselves to be in love. From a deeper spiritual perspective, what is actually taking place is the living out of a karmic tie between two people.

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

Improving Communication in Love

There can never be enough information conveyed about communicating in love. When one asks the question, “How’s your love life?” it should be understood that one’s love life is based mostly on communication. However, in love, communication is not limited to a verbal exchange, but also to the physical, and most importantly, the spiritual levels.

A love relationship can be defined as marriage or a bond with a significant other. How well you are communicating on all levels defines how well your love relationship is going. Either type of love connection is dependent on the quality of all levels, if it is to be a positive experience for both people.

The key level in relationships is the spiritual. If there is a spiritual bond or connection between two people that is real, then their relationship is part of their soul’s purpose in this lifetime. In such a case, it is as if their relationship has received the blessing of God.

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

Rising Above It

Throughout one’s adult life, numerous issues must be experienced, some of which are difficult and challenging to say the least. No one who has ever walked this planet has lived a life unscathed by tough and trying experiences. Metaphysically and spiritually we understand and look upon problems as an avenue for spiritual growth and understanding.

Naturally, no one wishes to invite problems into one’s life; however, no one can avoid them. The truth is that they tend to force issues in our lives, or may bring something to a head that has long since needed to be addressed. If problems, even the most difficult, can be looked upon as blessings in disguise, then it is more possible to see the spiritual reality or meaning of what is taking place in our lives.

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

All Channel Living

The majority of people live limited lives because of limitations they place upon themselves. Although many would argue that life has struck them cruel blows and that is why their options are limited, others can be found who have risen above such conditions to have fuller and more complete lives. It is therefore not so much our circumstances that limit us, but it is rather the reactions of our mind to such conditions, based upon the state of consciousness that dominates our thinking.

Limitations about oneself and one’s life are generally caused by a comprehension of oneself that is born of and exists on an intellectual level of self-comprehension. Intellect, by its very nature, is limited in what it can know, comprehend and correctly evaluate. In essence, people see themselves only at the limited level of understanding of the intellect.

The pictures presented by the intellect to oneself are thus also limited, and not at all representative of the vaster picture that could be produced if one were to go deeper into one’s mind, beyond the surface levels of intellectual comprehension. Limitations caused by leaving one’s life to intellectual evaluation can include the factors discussed below.

People may believe that they are capable of only what they have thus far experienced in life. Perhaps some believe they have the capacity for more than what they already have a background in, but not significantly more. The attitude is, of course, most prevalent as a person weighs factors in regard to their material and financial livelihood.

When a person truly lives by the Spiritual concept that all channels are open to them, they become aware that God’s good is operating in their life. The conscious mind becomes a receptacle for a Universal Flow of Consciousness that fills it with many different possibilities of what a person may do to improve their life at any given moment.

A person is guided on a step-by-step process that brings improvement. Because one is being guided, God’s Mind may have a grander picture in store than one’s present state of mind can comprehend. And so, it must be pointed out that in many instances a person may feel that God is guiding them from Point A to Point B, when in truth it is a steppingstone to bringing them to Point C.

Therefore, an open channel that seems to start originally in one direction may be God’s way of positioning a person closer to where they will eventually be, but cannot intellectually comprehend at the moment.

Having all channels open requires a state of mind that is open to that which is new. Clinging to the past in the mind causes it to cling to the old. Certainly there are many memories that the average person may hold as dear in his mind. This is fine, providing that such memories do not so rule the mind that they cause it to live in the memory of what has been, rather than being open to what can be.

Hostility, anger and resentment toward others will also keep the mind living the old, rather than experiencing the new. Consult God’s Presence to help you understand, and in that understanding, forgive, so that you may move forward and be open to new channels.

Place NO limits on what you can be, have, experience and know.

Visualize the intellectual level of the mind as a dull radiance in your mind’s eye or imagination. Begin affirming: “All channels are open to me.” As you do, mentally imagine that God’s Presence is sending rays of bright light into the conscious level of your mind, illuminating it with guidance, creativity, wisdom, power and love.

While in a relaxed, concentrated, meditative state of mind, repeat the following thoughts to yourself as many times as it takes for you to feel that the thoughts have been accepted by the subconscious part of your mind:

• “All channels for God’s Good are open to me, and flowing to me now.”

• “I release all the ways, attitudes, and thoughts that I have outgrown and open myself to God’s many channels for new ways for me to grow.”

Dr. Paul Leon Masters

Reference:

“All-Channel Living,” The Theocentric Way of Life. 1:1.

Theocentric Psychology® is a registered trademark. Please avoid unauthorized use of Dr. Masters’ unique ideas and concepts without written permission to do so.

Intro and ending music © “Night Radiance” by Maxim Kornyshev  
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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

Establishing New Patterns of Thought

When a person begins to feel that life is a negative rut, then indeed there is a need for change. Change must come, or life evolves into endless days of inner turmoil, where one seems stuck in quicksand, spinning one’s mental and physical wheels. A person feels unable to move one’s life out of the quagmire in which one finds oneself. It is as if one’s life does not seem to be able to advance beyond a certain point and that point is far from what one needs or wants in order to feel that life is worth living.

In this state of mind, a person may find it difficult to know what to do, because it is one’s very state of mind that can be likened unto a jailer who has imprisoned his thinking into such a pattern, that he cannot comprehend the proverbial forest from the trees.

In this state of mind, individuals may feel almost helpless to help themselves, having tried patterns that already exist in their mind to change things, but failing through the use of those very thinking patterns. Nothing will ever change in people’s lives until they themselves make a change. The change must begin within themselves, and the change must begin in the way they think; to change from negative thought patterns that are producing nothing, to positive thought patterns capable of breaking the chains of mental slavery that prevent people’s lives from improving.

Negative: A person decides that anything goes, or that they will do anything necessary (even if unscrupulous or harmful to others) to get what they want. In effect, they will be giving their soul away for what they feel they can obtain, i.e., giving away the beauty of God’s Peace and Love, which is the most precious of life’s gifts.

Positive: A person decides to turn all frustrations over to God, really turn them over, not just pretend to do so, whether to oneself or to others, which is the case in most people who claim to turn over their lives to God. In so doing, a person realizes that the changes which must take place in the mental patterns of their mind are changes that are of the nature of God, i.e., being loving, understanding, compassionate, giving; motivated by wisdom or the Mind of God.

A person must stop clinging to what seems safe and secure in the existing patterns of their thinking. It must be seen that it has gained them nothing but frustration, so why cling to pain? It is clear that what a person clings to is not of God, or they would not feel so miserable. Misery is of human origin, and only God’s Presence within a human being can bring about improvement.

The mortal, or human part of the mind, is miserable because it lives illusions, not seeing, or refusing to see, the reality of what can be done to make a change. It clings to its own patterns of illusions, in which life seems like an endless negative maze of experiences from which there is no escape. The reality is that through GOD, one outgrows the maze in consciousness, and steps out of it into a new positive pattern of living conducive to productivity and fulfillment.

If a person turns their life over to the Presence of God, life then becomes a series of upward steps. A person ascends a stairway to the Presence of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, or Higher Self-Awareness of Universal Life and their place within it, as it relates to this present physical lifetime.

All of life’s outer experiences are outward displays of steps in the ascension of consciousness simultaneously taking place within an individual. All physical experiences are viewed as valuable, since all are part of learning and refining process for the mind and soul.

Although valuable, no one experience or series of experiences of human life must be allowed to create a permanent pattern of thinking and living. Instead, each valuable experience must be comprehended to be another upward step in the ascension; to be appreciated, but not to be clung to or to become a permanent goal of life.

God patterns life to be constantly moving to perfection, or the “word made flesh”, or God’s manifestation in human form. While this may be far from being perfected in one who is aspiring in this life, the goal still remains, as does the nobility of its purpose.

What is being shared here is identical to what Christ shared 2000 years ago when he said, “He who hath put his hand to the plow, let him not look back.”

Related to what is being stated, the parallel is one of having made a choice to travel God’s pathway. Do not look back or attempt to cling to old patterns of thought, but instead be committed to God and committed to allowing God to change your thinking, or, as stated Biblically, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Of course any change brought about by God will be for a person’s improvement and growth, but it must also be realized that it will not fit into the same pattern of thinking. Thus, the goals of one’s life that were in the old pattern may not be retained.

When a person chooses to follow God’s Path through this life, especially in using this power to break away from old patterns, there must be a willingness (love) to share one’s good fortune with others.

Only in this way is the mystical truth of Universal Oneness, or God’s Love, demonstrated. When good brought about by God is shared, then God continues to provide because the mystical contact between God’s Love or Presence and the human part of the mind continue, and in this way God can persist in intuitively guiding a person to still further good.

Dr. Paul Leon Masters

Reference:

“Establishing New Patterns of Thought,” The Theocentric Way of Life. 1:5.

Theocentric Psychology® is a registered trademark. Please avoid unauthorized use of Dr. Masters’ unique ideas and concepts without written permission to do so.

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

Healing Through the Laying On of Hands

Spiritual Healing is a reality that cannot be denied. So many people today, who at one point, were diagnosed as incurable by medical physicians, are healthy once again because of an involvement with the practices of spiritual healing. There are numerous ways to practice Spiritual Healing, yet down through history, the practice of the laying on of hands has possibly been used and applied the most frequently.

The reason for this is obvious when one considers that whenever a person has an ache or pain, it is almost an instinctive reaction to place one’s hands on the area of the body where the pain exists. Similarly, there is almost an instinctive reaction to place one’s hands on a part of a loved one’s body that is in pain or uncomfortable. And more than that, there seems to be some justification for this, as in most cases the pain and discomfort appear to ease up or even dissipate altogether. To some degree, the physical action of laying on of hands visibly supports the idea that a healing is in progress.

Interestingly, this level of healing could take place even with a person who has no interest whatsoever in Metaphysical or Spiritual Healing. Perhaps we should all remember that the hands (like all things in physical reality), although they appear solidly composed of bone and tissue, can be regarded as energy fields. In the same way, the entire human body can be regarded as an energy field. Thus, when the hands come into contact with a certain part of the body, the true reality of what is taking place is that the energy field of the hands is coming into contact with the energy field of that part of the body being healed.

Another way to look at this is that the God-energy field of the hands is affecting and healing the God-energy field of the body, whether one’s own or another’s. Of all Spiritual Healing practices, there has been ample healing from the laying on of hands to give validity to the preceding thought. It would therefore be time wasted to speculate as to its authenticity — time that would be far better spent on becoming acquainted with the process itself, for the purpose of helping oneself or others.

Thought is energy, and that energy stimulates energy factors in one’s hands. During the laying on of hands, the more concentrated one’s thoughts are on the Healing hands—as God’s Instruments of Healing—the more energy activity is stimulated in the hands and in the part of the body being touched by the hands. Primary concentration, therefore, should be focused on the Presence of God in one’s hands, for God’s Healing Light flows through one’s hands into the part of the body (and its energy field) being touched and needing healing. Further, the effect is not confined to the surface touch contact, since one is dealing with an energy level which can reach deep into the body. A great deal of justification for the reality of an energy flow from the hands has come, in recent years, from experiments with Kirlian photography.

The Presence of God is frequently thought of as Light because this is the way those who have experienced God’s Presence during meditation (or otherwise) describe it. Many people who have experienced the Light that is God within them have suggested that they experience that Light as located at the upper center of the body, near the physical heart. Still others experience it as completely filling the inner screen of the mind with Light. In Eastern teachings on such matters, the first may be thought of as the heart chakra, while the second experience is the Third-Eye chakra. In Western mysticism, the heart chakra may be presented as the Sacred Heart, as depicted in the many pictures of the Christ that is Jesus.

Healing or relief can be obtained in many instances with only the outer levels of the self-healer or professional practitioner’s mind at work. However, the impact or power of the healing energy from one’s hands on the body can be intensified if, in addition to visualizing God’s Light as flowing through one’s hands, one remain at all times as open as possible to receiving guidance from the Mind of God within.

Additionally, common sense would certainly suggest that if the practitioner were first in a higher state of inner spiritual consciousness, the intensified awareness of the Presence of God within would strengthen the flow of healing energy present during contact. If helpful for you, consider positive affirmations such as the following for healing: “From the heart of the Universe located in the spiritual heart of my body, the Healing Light that is the Presence of God flows through my arms into my hands, and through my hands to that part of the body that my hands touch. For any relief and healing now received, I thank the Healing Presence of God … And So It Is!” Ideally, the meditative consciousness achieved would continue during the healing practice itself—and be experienced by both the healer and the client.

Finally, and most importantly, the practice of the laying on of hands for spiritual healing is an act of Loving, by God to His/Her Creation and by the Love of God in the professional practitioner for a body containing God’s Presence that is in need.

Dr. Paul Leon Masters

Reference:

“Healing Through the Laying On of Hands.” The Theocentric Way of Life. 1:10.

Theocentric Psychology® is a registered trademark. Please avoid unauthorized use of Dr. Masters’ unique ideas and concepts without written permission to do so.

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

Higher Guidance – Or, How to Let God Fill in the Details

So much of the stress that is experienced in modern-day society is as a direct result of not knowing what to do in one’s life at any given moment. In today’s rapidly changing world, more than ever people need to know what to do in their lives, and once they do know—how to manifest it.  Or, even if there is some knowledge of what should be done, there exists a void for most people as to how to do it.

Down through recorded history, the greatest guidance has come from inspired thought and thinking. First, an inspired thought, or the original idea, emerges from within oneself as to what to do in one’s life. This is followed by a series of ideas as to how to put the original idea into action and how to see it through to fruition.

Know that the Presence of Universal Mind, or God-Mind, is in you right this moment, as it has been all of your life and will continue to be for the remainder of your physical life and beyond it. Mystical research and wisdom through the ages have shown that both the original idea and the follow-through thinking in support of the idea  have come from the higher, deeper part of the human mind—that part of the mind that mystics have described as Universal Consciousness or Presence of God within the human mind.

Most people receive only occasional inspired thoughts in their lifetimes.  When this inspiration does occur, along with the follow-through, their lives are generally better as a result of it. However, in the majority of the time most people are not receiving any inspired ideas, and that explains why they do not live more fulfilled lives.  

A person may, of course, experience many good things in life without any feeling that they are being Divinely Guided.  Even so, while there may be brief moments of exhilaration, such moments are, for the most part, short-lived because the foundation of the happiness or seeming fulfilment is built upon a temporary and/or material concept of human existence.  However, if the foundation of their lives is built upon the incomparable Eternal, as with a person who is being guided by Universal Will and Intelligence instead of personal will and intellect alone, one intuitively knows, senses, or feels, that one’s life is being guided by God.

True Guidance comes from knowing how to let your God-Mind get through to your conscious mind with the original idea and subsequent follow-up ideas. Metaphysically and mystically speaking, God is the Ultimate True Self of yourself, and therefore wants to guide and inspire you. God manifests through creation of human beings and all of existence, and thus wishes the manifestation to be the best it can be for you and others. For this reason, the innermost God-Part of your mind wants to be the guide for the more surface, ordinary, or functional part of your consciousness. Yet, for many, God’s messages are not heard or felt.

How, then, do you receive the original, inspired idea and how do you receive follow-up ideas or thinking to support the original idea? Know that the Presence of Universal Mind or God Mind is in you right this moment, as it has actually been all of your life. Know also that it will continue to be within you for the remainder of your physical life—and beyond it. Stay present and stay open so that God’s guidance can reach through to you.

If you, however, know that the God-mind wants to get through but you are not sure of hearing the guidance, you might find it useful to question whether you are in fact aware of any blockages in your energy field, any need for change, growth, new direction, or new purpose in your life. Sometimes such a block may be in actuality the message for needed change. The key may be to remain thankful and open to receiving from God, and remain patient that it is coming because it is there. Perhaps the seeming withholding of guidance is itself a kind of guidance! Patience must be learned and practiced while waiting for new God-direction in your life.

It should therefore be understood that Higher Guidance from God may not be evident at all times in one’s life. Ideally, though, if one is open to receive it, Higher Guidance is always present.  It may not be making its Presence known to the conscious, surface, obvious, or human part of the mind, for any one of numerous reasons that only the God-Mind itself knows.

Each day, take a few moments to engage in Affirmative Prayer for Higher Guidance, such as affirming that you are already receiving God’s Guidance, rather than asking for it at some future time. As the Christ that was in Jesus advised, “According to your faith, be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29). If your faith expresses that God’s Guidance is being received already, then be assured that your attitude in this respect is allowing it to take place.

Realize, also, that although you affirm in your prayer that you are already receiving God’s Guidance, you may not be given the conscious awareness of what that guidance may be until God feels that circumstances and conditions are such in your life that you can truly receive such guidance, that is, at a time when it would be most apt to benefit you. A person who has developed even the least idea of how important timing can be in life can then perhaps best appreciate that an All-Knowing God would be infinitely more aware of timing in regards to when original ideas and guidance are to be released to the conscious mind.

Just remember, that if one truly does what one can—through Spiritual Practices—then all further Guidance, or God Inspiration, will assuredly come to completion, again and again. The Spiritual Practices that caused the original idea to surface from the Mind of God will similarly cause follow-through ideas to flow into your conscious mind with the details of how to bring it about.

Always keep in awareness that Universal Presence is Eternally in Control for the Ultimate Good of every soul.  And so, what will be, will be—because it already is.

Dr. Paul Leon Masters

Reference:

“Higher Guidance – Or, How to Let God Fill in the Details.” The Theocentric Way of Life. 1: 11.

Theocentric Psychology® is a registered trademark. Please avoid unauthorized use of Dr. Masters’ unique ideas and concepts without written permission to do so.