Center for Spiritual Living Midtown

How To Live Forever - Rev. Paul Gonyea

The truth is, no one who is healthy and happy and loving every moment of life wants to die. So the point of teachings like this one is to learn how to be healthy, fulfilled, prosperous, creative, curious and loving and loved, all the time, so that if the opportunity to live a longer life presents itself, we’ll be ready. That way, instead of worrying about living forever, we can begin to put our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual energy into what I like to call “forever living,” instead of “living forever.”

NO Source? KNOW Source? - Rev David Barrett

There are many times in our lives where we sense that there is not enough money to go around, not enough love coming at us, we are weak, and work seems to be a dead end. But that is the best time to realize what our source is. Money doesn't come from my job, love doesn't come from another person, health is ever available with or without medical insurance, and our careers are more than our jobs. We need to KNOW, and KNOW that we KNOW, what our Source is.

Sometimes You Have to Say No! - Rev. Paul Gonyea

Whenever our past experiences start to negatively affect our present decisions, that’s the time we need to look at how we are saying NO. That’s when we should say, ‘This is not an idea or a memory or a feeling I need or desire in my life. It’s over and done, and I give it no power. I release it back to the nothingness from whence it came.’ And then we can let it go, not with anger and resentment, but with blessing and release. Not with judgment and criticism and self-righteousness, but with forgiveness and understanding. That is how we break the bonds that tie our old behaviors and beliefs to us, and finally move forward, free to create something new and better.”

You Got Another THINK Coming!

Rather than focusing this to the people out there in our lives, this is a focus to remind OURSELVES. It’s an announcement that we can do better thinking in any situation. When we feel cornered, or angered, or just don’t know what to say, we can announce to ourselves that there is a different way to THINK, a better way to THINK, a wise way to THINK.

Why Is Everybody So Angry - Rev. Paul Gonyea

If we find ourselves constantly relating to the world in an angry or resentful way, we don’t need to justify it or claim it as our own; we just need to admit that it’s there, and try to understand the reason behind it. In The Course In Miracles, there’s a statement that says, “You are never angry for the reason you think you are.” That’s very true. Anger is not a cause, it’s an effect. It’s not a disease, it is a symptom of a consciousness that’s out of balance. When something upsets us, we shouldn’t think of ourselves as “being angry.” We shouldn’t say “I’ve always had a bad temper.” Instead, we should think of it as “experiencing anger.” You see the difference? In one case, we have the emotion. In the other case, the emotion has us. Making that distinction allows us to exercise our power of decision. It allows us to consciously direct our physical response until it is back in line with our inner wisdom, back in harmony with our spiritual nature. It allows us to use the Divine Power working through us to heal something that could otherwise tear us apart.

Einstein at CSL Midtown - Rev. David Barrett

What if Albert Einstein were a guest speaker at CSL Midtown? What would he say? Is our teaching really that different than anything that he has ever said? Did he ever think religion and science were two separate entities? He said, "There is no true science which does not emanate from the mysterious. Every thinking person must be filled with awe and wonder just by looking up at the stars." Come experience just what that 'awe and wonder' is.

A Higher Class of Problems

People who live their life ‘large’ have already demonstrated that they can handle the simpler problems. That’s how they got where they are. As we learn to handle the problems that come up in our life, life doesn't necessarily get easier. It just gets more interesting, more exciting. The more we demonstrate our ability to overcome simpler problems, the more we grow. And the more we grow, the more opportunities we will get to deal with life on a more challenging level. Our level of problems indicates our level of belief in ourselves. And our level of belief in ourselves indicates our level of belief in this power we call God.

How Free Are We in Our Freedom

We celebrate freedom this holiday weekend and it is a great weekend to celebrate. There is a freedom even greater than the celebration of a national freedom, and it is in Universal Freedom. When you truly understand the word “Freedom”, you will no longer feel bound by any person, place, or situation.

How to Control A Control Freak - Rev. Paul Gonyea

It’s true that we need to take control of our life. If we don’t, we end up reacting to everything going on outside of us, which makes us anxious, resentful, frustrated, jealous and unhappy. To make good use of the Power of Life, to use our inner spiritual strength and capabilities, we definitely need to be proactive instead of reactive. But the control we need to exert the most is not a psychological and physical control of external events and circumstances, which is the direction we usually go — it’s the mental and spiritual control of our own ability to choose, which is something very different. It’s the ability to choose those people and things and situations we do or do not want to have in our life, and the ability to decide what we can do about it in our own consciousness, at the level of cause.

Standing In A Powerful Place

We stand in a powerful place this very moment. We stand between Love and Law, we stand between Jachin and Boaz, and we stand between Passover and Shavout…. All meaning the same thing, all of it being said for thousands of years. Let us recognize the powerful place, and activate it.