Experiments in a Search For God. Mark Thurston

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      Experiment: Choose and write down the name of one person with whom you frequently feel frustrated or irritated because you don’t think that he behaves or believes in a way that would be best for his own growth. Each day for a week replace such thoughts and feelings of frustration or irritation with an affirmation that divine forces are active in that person’s life, God does care about that person, and He will guide him in the experiences which he needs. Make a record of situations in which you are able to experience this kind of faith in another person.

       “Faith is a bridge that spans the gulf from the seen to the unseen.”

      How can we experience spanning that gulf between the physical consciousness and the consciousness of the soul? No experience of this nature is offered to us more frequently than those in our dreams. Through dreams we can come to know ourselves as eternal spirit—a knowledge that characterizes faith. We find this promise not only in the readings, but in parallel sources such as the writings of Carl Jung.

       [Dreams are] a natural experience! It’s not an unnatural! Don’t seek for natural or supernatural! It is the natural—it is nature—it is God’s activity! His associations with man, His desire to make for man a way for an understanding!

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      “The dream is the little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul … All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man …”

      (Jung, Collected Works. Vol. 10, pp. 144-45)

      Jung goes on to suggest that through dreams we can not only recall a truer sense of our being but also find an inner self that offers profound wisdom. That inner self frequently presents a new perspective that can lead us out of a state of confusion or unbelief.

      “And in each of us there is another whom we do not know. He speaks to us in dreams and tells us how differently he sees us from the way we see ourselves. When, therefore, we find ourselves in a difficult situation to which there is no solution, he can sometimes kindle a light that radically alters our attitude—the very attitude that led us into the difficult situation.”

      (Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 10, p. 153)

      Experiment: Select a situation in your life in which you feel a need for greater faith to bridge the gulf between your conscious perspective and a deeper, more insightful awareness. Pray at night before retiring that you will have dream experiences which will strengthen your faith in this part of your life and lead to healing of any difficulty. Keep a careful record of any dreams you feel may come in response to this effort.

       “We must show by our actions in our daily lives that we believe, that we have faith, and that we know as we use that we have, more will be given.”

      One of the challenges of faith is to accept the circumstances that are given in any moment and trust that they are what is needed for growth—that what is required each day is provided. We find this principle in the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. The manna that was needed for each day was given; however, if their faith broke down, and out of a sense of fear they tried to collect more than was necessary, the food spoiled (Exodus 16:11-31).

      One interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer points to the same concept. As we say “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are asking that only that amount of creative energy be awakened from within which we can use in a constructive way this day.

      That which we have right now (be it the degree of our physical health, the amount of money we have in the bank, the number of friends we have, etc.) is a condition our own soul has created, uniquely tailored to fit our needs for growth in awareness. Any movement in consciousness can take place only from where we are, and so we are required to make the most constructive use we can of what we have. Once we have grown in awareness under those circumstances, we are free to accept new ones.

      Experiment: Select and write down an aspect of your life in the material world in which you find yourself desiring an increase (e.g., more free time, more friends, more appreciation from others). Then consider the current conditions and write down the ways in which you are challenged to grow by those conditions.

       Example:

desire:	more appreciation from others
challenges:	(1) to know within myself the things that I’m doing that are worthwhile(2) to do things out of love and not for praise from others

      Each day for the next week work with meeting the challenges offered by the current conditions. Record experiences in which you were able to accept and grow with what you have right now.

       “Do we know in whom we believe? If so, then the ideal or standard toward which we move becomes the basis for the activity of faith in constant action from the mental, imaginative and spiritual forces.”

      An important feature of the Search for God material is the fact that it forms a growth sequence. The concepts from one chapter build upon the concepts from previous ones. In this passage from the text we find a statement that links the experience of faith to the topic of the previous chapter: ideals. The hypothesis set forth is that faith (which is a knowing and experiencing of the reality of the unseen) is awakened by the activity of an ideal that has been set. Three forms of activity are mentioned: the mental, the imaginative and the spiritual. These three forms are also named as activities that are set in motion as we choose an ideal.

      As we find, there has been then, in this respect, rather the lack of setting an ideal to which that that is within self may be offered as a tribute, that may offer or find in the abilities of self a means of expression—see? for with an ideal, and not just an idea, there is the constant action from the mental, the imaginative, and the spiritual forces of an entity, to express or bring into manifestation that as would be a contribution to, a credit to, an active force of showing or manifesting, or bringing to light that as is viewed by self of that as is held as one’s ideal.

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      To experiment with this passage we can combine exercises that we have already practiced in earlier sections of this book. A useful activity for the mind is to write and apply an affirmation in daily life. The words of the affirmation should awaken a sense of our ideals for a particular aspect of life and also awaken an experience of faith. Using the imaginative forces we can set aside a brief period of time each day (separate from our daily meditation period) to consider our ideals for that aspect of life and imagine specific ways in which we could be applying them. This is not an analytical activity, but a relaxed reverie period in which we allow images to arise from the mind that are in accord with the mental and physical ideals we have set. Finally, we can experience a deeper sense of faith in a specific part of our lives by attuning ourselves through meditation and by expressing our desire for greater faith through prayer.

      Experiment: Select an area of your life in which you wish to experience greater faith. If you have not already set ideals for that part of your life, be sure to do this before continuing with the experiment. Write an affirmation for your mind to use in daily life. This affirmation should express the nature of your ideals and be used whenever necessary each day to awaken the experience of faith. Each day have a period of reverie and imagination concerning the application of these ideals. Also be sure to have a daily prayer and meditation period. This is a specific threefold experiment from the readings that links our understanding of ideals to our experience of faith. Record any meaningful experiences that arise from the application of this approach.

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