This week, guest speaker [Nadene Rogers](https://humanityknows.com/) teaches about never giving up but always giving over. On the theme of surrender, we learn how to let go of our identity to find ourselves, to let go of the roles we play and the masks that we wear. We give ourselves over to who we are being and how we are feeling and what we are thinking in every moment. We give ourselves over to that which is so much bigger than we are. We need to embrace our humanity to know our divinity.

This week, Dr. Patrick teaches from the ideas of [Shariff Abdullah](http://shariff.commonway.org/) and his work for societal transformation. There are three stories that are alive on the planet. The first story is the Keeper Society, who live in harmony with all of life. They are the indigenous people on the planet. The second story is the Breaker Society. These are the ones "creating a world that is best for me". They predict and control. They represent separation. The third story is the...

In the system of Spiral Dynamics, the first tier is all about action. In the second tier, the theme is being. And as we move into the second tier, into yellow, we begin evolving from separation to inter-being. To facilitate this evolution, we accept what is, we honour what has been, and we understand that our actions may not shift things immediately. We must take heart that others are answering the call and are taking action to be part of this paradigm shift.

Guest speaker Elizabeth Manuel speaks about the important link between prayer and happiness. Prayer is not an act of overcoming God's reluctance, but should be an act of acceptance of Its highest willingness. Through prayer, we recognize a Spiritual Law and put ourselves in alignment with it. Prayer is constructive, because it enables us to establish closer contact with the fountain of wisdom, and we are less likely to be influenced by appearances around us or to judge according to experience.

Guest speaker [Rev. Patrick Harbula](http://livingpurposeinstitute.com/patrick/) speaks about living for the joy of it. Life is not just something to be endured. It is to be lived in joy, in a fullness without limit. We have a song to sing, we have a joy to bring to the world, and love and peace and happiness. Joy is not the opposite of sadness (that's happiness). Joy is an ever-present pervasive spiritual quality. A deep inner peace. A connectivity. As long as we don't resist life's...

Continuing his teaching on the Spiral Dynamics framework of human evolution and change, Dr. Patrick discusses the mechanisms behind the emergence of a new paradigm. Each paradigm shift is a reactive, adaptive response to the inadequacies of the previous world view. Namely, our move from survival to shamanic thinking, to tribalism, to individual warrior consciousness, to the rule of law, to innovation and democracy, to meaning and balance, etc. First-Tier thinking is about sourcing our...

Our youth, returning from summer camp, share their stories of transformation and personal self-empowerment through shadow work and re-cognizing their self worth while being fully supported in a loving, intentional community of others.

There's a power for good in the Universe, available to everyone, and we can use it. Dr. Patrick continues introducing Spiral Dynamics, a system that looks at the patterns of cultures. The first tier is about _doing_. The second tier is about _being_. This week, Dr. Patrick covers the Second Tier. There is not a process of adjusting reality to the conditions that need to be changed, but of adjusting the condition that needs to be changed to a reality that already exists. In other words, we...

Enlightenment is not about magic. It is about seeing clearly. In this week's talk, Dr. Patrick introduces the First Tier of Spiral Dynamics, a system that looks at the patterns of cultures. The first tier is about _doing_. The second tier is about _being_.

Life mirrors back to us what we are. Our consciousness precedes our experience. So are we keeping our commitments? Do we expect the Universe to behave any differently towards us? In the practice of the Power of Eight, we "power up" through the heart connection. We are energetically connected, and when we set an intention as a group, doing so through unconditional love, we step into the Mystery and into the Unknown. This allows the Power That Creates Worlds to do Its work in us and through...

What is a miracle? According to Einstein, a miracle is "spooky action at a distance". Virtual entanglement: We are connected whether we realize it or not. For every action that we take, even if no one witnesses it, it matters. Every action matters. Caring for one another is caring for ourselves. Praying for one another takes us out of the spin of ourselves. There is miraculous power that we hold inside to heal our own lives that gets unleashed ironically the moment we stop thinking about...

What is a miracle? A miracle is an event or an action that apparently contradicts scientific law. Dr. Patrick introduces Lynne McTaggart's [_The Power of Eight_](https://lynnemctaggart.com/the-power-of-8/), a book that looks at harnessing the miraculous energies of the small group to heal others, to heal our lives, and the world. This books documents the transformative and miraculous changes that have taken place through the power of group intention and offers very compelling evidence of the...

Parenting oneself---the creative process by means of each one of us---is never-ending. So it is today on Mother's Day that we celebrate the part of us that is the feminine face of God, because that is in fact the creative part of thought, the thought process that puts whatever ideas we might have into form. The idea from Stoicism known as _Amor Fati_ represents the [immense power of learning to love our fate](https://dailystoic.com/amor-fati/). _Amor Fati_ is to not only accept everything...

The divine impulse is always to grow---to evolve and change. Periods of dormancy are normal, but when we cling to the past and refuse to grow, we stagnate. Every moment is our opportunity to challenge ourselves to awaken to a new experience, to transform and be the best version of ourselves.

Life is an adventure in which we never know what is going to happen just beyond the turn of the road. But too often our today is filled with regrets over the past. If we could convince ourselves that the limitations of the past need not be carried into the future, what a happy outlook we should have. Today is the only day in which we live. And yesterday has forever passed. The change that we need to make within ourselves must be made today. We have to live each day as though it were complete...

How old is old? And when does a person get too old to enjoy life? Could a person be as young at 80 as he is at 18? Some of the scientific minds today are telling us that while time exists, age does not. That, in reality, time is not a way of measuring years and months and days, but rather, a measure of experience in a limitless life. God's Mind is the only mind there is. And God is eternal. The whole proposition in this we believe because God lives in us and we are able to think because the...

The intellect is not the creative factor in the universe. Rather, it is feeling that is creative. God speaks to the heart through a language of feeling, a feeling which is affirmative. The best psychological balance is between the intellect and the heart, because the intellect can give a certain definite form to feeling. But unless the feeling is there, the intellect will have merely provided the empty mould. We want not only to feel but to think. We wish not only to think but also...

We are here to transform lives, starting with the journey of rediscovering the truth for ourselves. **Accept yourself as you are in this moment. Let how you are right now be okay.** Once we learn to be authentic, we can explore ourselves and figure out what resonates with _this one_. This expands outwards to the whole world. Second, we learn open-hearted living. We impact those around us by being our authentic self and living with an openness. We create ripples!

How do we do Easter as metaphysicians? We interpret scripture metaphorically and metaphysically. There is a meaning upon the words. It's all Spirit, it's all God. In this dualistic world that we fall asleep in, what is happening is that this Icon, this Idea, is giving Itself to the world to bring forth the light of Radiance into the world and to reveal that nothing is separate from Divinity. Jesus' story of death and resurrection is a story of new orientation. When the self has been...

Following [Derek Rydall's _Emergence_](https://derekrydall.com/), Dr. Patrick leads us through an exercise of activating our "emerginations", to help us discover and process our soul's purpose. He then gifts us with a Rumi poem about breaking up the soil, a metaphor on how breaking our old patterns is necessary to cultivate the life energy of our soul. "Our spirit needs to follow the changes happening in the spacious place it knows about. There, the scene is always new, a clairvoyant river...

To the scientific mind, the will of God is manifest in the immutable laws of the universe. For the overzealous religious, their definition of the will of God appears to come through some special revelation giving birth to a certain spiritual system of thought which forever after is to be taken dogmatically and accepted without question, a truth and a faith once and for all delivered. But it is evident that God's will and God's nature must be identical. If the nature of God is limitation and...

We, like all others, are seeking the joy of living. This urge is in every individual; it is in every thing. Life has entered into us and, with it, the irresistible impulse to create. Socrates called it Spirit. Jesus called it Father in Heaven. Some ancients called it Atman. Why not just call it Me? The Complete Me. This is the Infinite Presence, and we are It.

This Sunday, Rev. Tammie Banting considers the difference between and the merits of worshipping the God we believe in or the God Who Is. The God who is believed in is, at times, some part of the God Who Is. Therefore whatever God we believe in---provided we believe this God is already in us---must respond to us at the level of our belief. It is done unto each of us as we believe. The principle is infallible. The practice is what we make it. She also asks whether we see Dr. Patrick as an...

Belief is a certain way of thinking, it is an activity of consciousness. Faith is an affirmative mode of thought that says "I can" as opposed to "I can't" or "I shall not". > Prayerful communion ascends to that place Where unity has not yet become variety, Where the unformed One is ready to take any specific shape. In this act of communion, the individual Becomes co-partner with the Eternal And gives birth to time, space, and conditions. -- Dr. Ernest Holmes Dr. Patrick weaves...

In today's talk, Dr. Patrick touches on the artist's mentality, the experience, and how to take offense the right way. Spirituality is a rather elusive thing. We can touch it through an artist's mentality. The Artist feels beauty, senses its presence, and to a degree communes with it. In the same way, we can find a communion with the Invisible Harmony, the Supreme Being, the Mind, the Heart of God, or the Creative Essence.