I think we're ready. Are you ready to live? Are you ready to march together to be together? Are you ready to make permanent lasting changes not only in our own lives, but in our community? There's not a person in here that's too old, too young, too tired. We're all here for a reason, to make a difference and no longer live divided. We've been alone for a year. It's been over a year since we were in this sanctuary together. Thank God for our sister church Unity of Louisville, for hosting outdoor services for those that were able to attend. There were days when it was really cold and we were out there in our blankets with our hats and our scarves, but we were there and we were together.
There's been a lot of death, a lot of sorrow, a lot of unrest, not just in our families, but in the larger community. It is time for change. And I know that change is hard, but the only way we can move through and grow is to move in to the challenges and move through it. I don't know about you all, but I like to move through it with ease and grace. The only way I know how to do that is to follow spirit.
Do we want to get back to normal? I hear this a lot and I don't. I don't want to go backwards to what we were in the past. I want to go forward into something new and dynamic that works as that love showing up in Unity. How do we do that? I don't have all the answers, but I know that there are a lot of folks out here that have answers collectively. When we come together, we know that there are unlimited possibilities for Unity. We see that multiplied a hundred fold with joy and enthusiasm, because we all want that peace. The truth is love, together as one, one people, humanity moving forward into those new possibilities. That's exciting, right?
Living in the flow is not always easy to do. You might have to stop really quick and shift and change without even thinking about it. How many of you guys have done that recently? I do this a lot, I I'll have a vision, I'll have something set, and I'm like, "Okay, this is where this is going to go?" Spirit says, "Oh, no, we're going to do this." And I'm like, "Okay, got it." It's not easy because I tend to listen to spirit and don't always communicate really well out in humanity. Y'all noticed that recently. It created some unease. And that's okay, it's growth, and that's good.
How do we continue to move into that higher realm of consciousness? Many of you are probably familiar with spiral dynamics, right? The adult stages of consciousness, Kim Weber's work. The world right now is evolving at a different rate than it ever has before. We're continuing to shift from that integral self into that holistic self. What does that mean? The integral self started shifting about 50 years ago, which means that we were beginning to really use that heart and head moment and lead with our heart instead of our head. We are shifting out of that intellectual self into that heart land.
It's also the stage in which we begin integrating all the different stages of consciousness. We're looking for that spiral health, that oneness. We're addressing our inner clarity. A lot of times we're really clear about what we don't want. Are we really clear about what it is we do want? That's the key to the shift. What is it that your heart desires? Find it and follow it, it will lead you to magical places. It will lead you to new possibilities. It will lead you to your new life, especially coming out of this last year and integrating back into society.
Some of us have continued to work. We've continued to be part of our families. I have. We have been blessed by that, but others have not. We really have to begin to work, to move outward again into society, because we're really pulled in. We can't let that stop us because that's what happens.
Look for that clarity of the vision for yourself. It changes as we age, as our families grow up and move away, jobs change, pandemics come in and go out, and they might come back in again. I don't know how familiar you are with the world pandemic. I have a daughter that lives in Canada and last week they shut down again for another month. There are still many, many places that are going through the start and stop of life. We're just starting again. We don't know what tomorrow brings, but whatever it is, it's going to be good because it's going to be a reminder of our need to follow our dreams and vision from spirit.
The holistic self started about 30 years ago. This is that oneness, that unity, where our collective individualism becomes our purpose. That deep experience of oneness is the yearning, the quest to restore joy to our lives. How many of you guys want to restore the joy in your lives? Some of you may have never lost it. There are moments when I don't see it and want to thrive. We don't want to just exist. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to just exist as an individual or as a community or as humanity. I don't want us just to exist. I want us to just thrive and know that God is our source and there are unlimited possibilities. We can and do have the power to create whatever it is that is our vision. If we have clarity and follow spirit through the process, without fear, but with joy, that's when we do our own deep inner work. We work with that intuition, knowing the paradox and power of radiance, and we dance with life and we've all done it.
We do this in a split second sometimes. Then we go back down. It's being able to keep in the higher self and that higher consciousness. That's our goal, to shift our own energy into that joyful, restorative life, allowing us to overflow the love and ripple the joy into the world. When we are in that spiral and we're coming upward, we carry others with us. Some of you guys let people know that Unity is open this week. That's why we have so many people here today. Leslie, Allen, and Steve got on the phone, as well as some other folks and called you guys and said, "Hey, we're excited. We're open. This is our home. And we're back." It's up to the rest of us to do the same thing. Invite not just those that you know from Unity, but also invite your family. They may say no, and that's okay, but let them know that they're welcome here. If they're not ready to step back in yet, they can watch us online and they can be a part of a new generation of Unity, whatever that's going to look like, because we get to create it.
What this all means is that we are seeing past our cultures. We are seeing past the limitations in our vision. We are seeing a world united as one humanity, which brings new perspectives. The new technology that we've been able to utilize this last year in live streaming is going to take us to new dimensions without us even being aware of it. The potential is unlimited for us to grow, not only as individuals, but as a community. I get pretty excited about it because these perspectives are challenging all of our systems. That's why we have social unrest in the world - not only in the United States - but it's prevalent right now in the United States because of our culture that we were built on. We have to shift that and change it. We don't have a choice. It has to go. We have a new paradigm coming in and it's not going to be easy for any of us.
Our board took a stand and said, "Okay, let's look at everything we do. We're going to look at it through that lens of equity, inclusion, and diversity." That's not easy, but it's good because it's going to make us grow. We're all going to be challenged by it. I've been challenged a few times already, and we're just now coming back together. It'll come in and through this year. Fear and isolation, the social injustice around the world. We are opening to healing.
Those old wounds that we have for letting our child inner child come out and play. Are you willing over these next few weeks to let your inner child come and play? That's really where we need to be. When we look at things through the eyes of a child, we see the magic. How many of you lost the magic of living? Let's get back into that magic, do the eyes of that inner child and see God's paintbrush flowing all around us, vibrantly, bringing color and life into our being and into our community.
We know that when we follow that paintbrush of life into the good, there are no limits and we can draw whatever it is we choose to create. It's ours to do. Jesus said, "Our oneness will convince the world that God sent him to us and that God loves us. His community here on earth. I give you a new commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." John 13:34-35.
I'm going to leave you with one other verse. It's from Psalms 1:33, "How very good and pleasant it is when we live a kindred life together in unity." That's the blessing of Unity. How very good and pleasant it is when we live a kindred life together in Unity. What are you willing to create for yourself and others? As we come into Unity, into this new dynamic of living, I love you. I bless you. I behold the living spirit as you.
Namaste.
