Center for Spiritual Living Midtown

Celebrating CSL Midtown’s Anviversary, Who Are We and Why Are We Here? Rev David Barrrett, Rev Paul Gonyea, Rev Bob Deen

We celebrate the 7th anniversary of the founding of CSL Midtown Atlanta. Join us as we honor our founders, celebrate our sustainability, and recognize the importance of New Thought in our world.    We will have brief talks by our Founding Ministers, Rev. David Barrett and Rev. Paul Gonyea, and Affirmative Prayer by Founding Minister Rev. Angela Harmon. Dr. Bob Deen, our current minister, will lead the celebration. 

The Way of Acceptance - Rev Paul Gonyea

One thing acceptance does is keep us from trying to force things to be a certain way when they aren’t. We may have to accept sometimes that things are not the way we’d like them to be. We also might not always be quite as smart, or good, or hard-working, or compassionate or generous or passionate as we would like to think we are. That’s OK. We can always be more than what we are now. But first we have to accept who we are and where we are, and accept that participating joyfully and deliberately in the process of our personal evolution is much more important than whatever results we achieve.

Trust Me - Rev Paul Gonyea

here are a lot of other words that come to mind when we talk about trust; words like respect, and acceptance, and sharing and communication. Words like friendship, and honesty, and forgiveness and confidence. And all these things definitely come into play.
But the word that actually makes it possible for us to completely open ourselves up to another person, without fear or suspicion, is “oneness.” In other words, a truly trusting relationship can only exist as a relationship between equals. Two people, or two countries, or two religions or two political parties, will only begin to trust one another when they learn to see each other as an extension, or a reflection, of themselves

Listen to the Radio. - Rev Paul Gonyea

In both a physical and a metaphysical sense, we are all extremely sophisticated transmitters and receivers. We constantly have thoughts coming into us, from somewhere, and we are constantly expressing many of those thoughts outward through our words and actions. Not only that — we are also completely immersed in what the physicists use to call “the Cosmic ether.” That means there’s energy everywhere. At any given moment, there are all sorts of different waves going through us — light waves, both visible and invisible; sound waves both audible and inaudible; and all sorts of other energy, including radio, television, streaming music and cell phone signals. And most of this is stuff we can’t even see, even though it still affects us twenty-four hours a day. But we also have come to understand that this is not just a one-way street; a lot of these things we can affect simply by using our intelligence to direct the laws that govern their existence.

New Beginnings! Rev Paul Gonyea & Rev. Dr. Bob Deen

As the center embarks on new beginnings we celebrate the retirement of Rev. Paul Gonyea one of the two founding members of CLSMidotwn. We wish him much success in all of his future endeavors. We know we will see you around the center after you have time to transiton. We love a you Paul! The center also has the pleasure of welcoming
Rev. Dr. Robert Deen as our new senior minister who carries forth wisdom of the Kennedy Schultz lineage and brings a extended breadth of knowledge from CSL, and more the eminates from his diverse spiritual background. We WELCOME you Rev. Bob!

The Rhythm of Life - Rev Paul Gonyea

Every enlightened teacher tells us there’s a natural rhythm to the process of creation. Just like a heartbeat, it changes when the demands made upon it change, but it’s still a natural rhythm that keeps things flowing smoothly. When we use it consciously, it starts with desire, which is an inner drive for something greater. Then it moves to awareness, where our mind starts to pay attention not only to what is, but to what could be. Then we begin to see ways in which those things we desire could actually happen. And finally we take action by moving forward, then stepping back. We do it by working, then resting. We do it by focusing, then meditating. There has to be a rhythm to our efforts, or we’ll exhaust ourselves, or we’ll get fixated on one single way of accomplishing our desire.

Ready, Willing, and Able - Rev Paul Gonyea

In these New Thought teachings, I think too many of us get caught up in thinking we can just visualize the end result and have it show up, without our having to do any work in the interim. If that’s what we’re thinking, then that means we don’t understand how the universe works. Because mental and spiritual work is not a shortcut around the creative process. It just looks like a shortcut to us because we’re so used to obsessing on our past, complaining about the present, and worrying about all the possible disasters that might befall us in the future, before we finally get around to doing what we need to do. It’s a wonder we get anything productive done, and a lot of people don’t.

Nothing But The Truth - Rev Paul Gonyea

The Truth of Life doesn’t really change, but our relationship to it does. When we were children, our parents taught us certain limited Truths to protect us. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t stay out after dark. Then, as we got older, we got a new set of Truths. It’s a tough world out there. Life is a struggle. People are out to cheat you. As we became more and more involved in society, we started collecting even more Truths from all sorts of different directions: Our friends. Our schools. Our religious institutions. What we didn’t realize was, first of all, that these Truths were not really THE truth — they were just the beliefs of the people who gave them to us. And second, they had nothing to do with the Truth of our being — they had nothing to do with the Divine Truth already within us that was ready to set us free.

The Red Hot Rock - Rev Paul Gonyea

Scientists are finding out more and more how resentment affects us. People who tend to blame other people for their problems experience a much greater incidence of serious illness. People who do not get along with others tend to die at a significantly earlier age. People who are constantly angry about a wide variety of things, especially if they keep that anger locked inside, not only have a much greater risk of cancer and heart disease, their recovery rate is also very poor, unless they also make a radical change at the mental, emotional and spiritual level. That’s where the real damage occurs. Because it’s the mind and spirit that create and sustain the body. That’s where the healing ultimately has to come from.

A Piece of the Puzzle. - Rev Paul Gonyea

When something happens in my experience, or someone does something that I don’t like, and I ask the universe, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ I have to accept that this experience still fits into my life somewhere, somehow, because (1), It happened, and (2), I was there! It may not seem to fit where I am at the time, but it will definitely fit where my life is going, as a lesson or a tool that can help me in the future. I can plan on it. And if something appears to be missing in my life, and I really do need it (like money, or a relationship, or a better job), I can be sure that it’s around me someplace; I just haven’t figured out yet what it looks like. The good news is, all I have to do is relax and keep on putting things together, and it will show up when it needs to show up.