Rev. Dr. Paul Hasselbeck's Advice By Rev. Dr. Rick Belous I had, and met, many wonderful teachers at Unity Institute and Seminary. But one of the most outstanding teachers at Unity Village was, and is, Rev. Dr. Paul Hasselbeck. Rev. Paul is the former Dean of Spiritual Education and Enrichment at Unity World Headquarters. He is one of the leading modern metaphysicians in the Unity movement. Several years ago Rev. Paul led a workshop-- and spoke at a Sunday service-- at Unity Center of Tulsa. He has a passion for expressing metaphysics in current and practical ways. Rev. Paul believes that our goal in life should be "to become the best Christs we can possibly be." I agree with him. If this sounds sacrilegious or blasphemous, then let me remind you that in the Gospel according to John, Jesus said, "You shall do greater things than me!" You may think that this a great goal, but this is a goal way beyond your abilities. That may seem to be true. However, you have the ability to complete a successful "end run around" anything that seems to block your path." You can accomplish this by doing a few things, including: --Realizing that you will need much more than your ego to accomplish this goal. --Being willing to move beyond your ego. --Understanding to fobiles, character defects, and error thoughts that are blocking your path.(This may take an effort at journaling, written prayer letters, etc,) --Being willing to turn your life over daily to that Divine Spark inside of you. (This Divine Spark has been called by many different names down through the ages, including: The Christ within, Buddha nature, the Atman, the Great Spirit,Higher Self, Higher Power, etc.) --Taking the time to do daily morning prayer and meditation, --Doing nightly inventories on how you spent the day and reacted to people, places, and things. Do you need to make any amends? --Remember the laughing Buddha said that he had lingering fobiles, characet defects, and error thoughts inside of him. We can realize that similar to the Luaghing Buddha it may take some time for many of our character defects to leave us entirely. But Spirit is patient with us, and we can be patient with ourselves too. --Note the progress that we do make and give God a thank you for our growth. I believe that Rev. Paul is correct in the goal that he has picked. Don't give up hope. Seek joy in each advance and victory-- no matter how small! Many blessings, RickRev. Dr. Rick BelousSenior MinisterUnity Center of Tulsa
