A.R.E. Meeting for 11/27/17

Welcome William, who has been active in "group work" previously.  And thanks to Bill for being the leader in November.

The review of the Meditation chapter was completed as suggested to begin the Study of ASFG Book II. We completed the reading and discussion of Meditation in the "Red Book." And we read the three remaining experiments in our meditation chapter of "Experiments in a Search for GOD:"

  Experiment 1) Choose a specific time and place for meditation.  Keep it each day.

Experiment 2) What people in your life do you think the least of?  Write down their names. What parts of yourself do you think the least of.  Write down those parts. Work each day on treating these people and these parts of yourself as you would treat GOD. Pray for these individuals and parts of yourself each day. 

Experiment 3) Choose and write down one attitude, habit or physical condition which could be eliminated by conscious effort and which you feel may be a hindrance in your spiritual search. Then decide on a constructive attitude or way of behaving that could replace that hindering one (and write down the replacement). Work each day on manifesting that replacement attitude or behavior.  Record situations in which you are successful in manifesting this replacement attitude or behavior.

Have a good week. 

You're invited to join me in meditation at 6:55 each morning.  We're looking forward to seeing you next Monday!

Sylvia 

A.R.E. Meeting for 11/20/17

Interesting discussion on our experiments.  Our choices for our experiments this coming week are on p. 13-14 & p. 15 in the Experiments in a Search for God ...Book 1.

 1) At the beginning of each meditation period, take a few moments to become aware that there is consciousness within each cell of your body. Suggest to or ask your body to join the mind and spirit in this period of seeking. 

 2) Use  the prayer of protection given in the readings at the beginning of each meditation period. Make a special point of experiencing the inner meaning of the prayer as you use it and not just saying it by rote. 

We also read in our "Red Book," the same pages with three or more different page numbers depending on which book and edition each person had, in the Meditation chapter, either the last chapter of book ll, or the first chapter of ASFG Book I, under heading III, preparation For Meditation, (not, A., nor 1,2, 3, but (finally) B. The Mental Body, 1. The Purging of Self, and 2. Attunement of Self to the Whole, down to C. The Spiritual Body, where we will begin reading next week.

Safe travels to those going out of town. We're looking forward to seeing you next week, to learning  which experiment you chose, how the experiment went for you, and whether you'd like to report on the outcome of this week's experiment.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Sylvia

A.R.E. Meeting for 11/13/17

Greetings.  Let's welcome Connie and Donna who attended our meeting their first time tonight. It's good to welcome each of you. Our leader for the month of October is Bill Mitchell.

Last week and this week our lesson is on meditation, a review for Book II of the meditation chapter.  We read and reviewed and discussed the I. Introduction to Meditation, II. Meditation and Prayer,  2. Meditation defined, 3. Will prayer answer for meditation? III. Preparation for Meditation, The physical body, I. A knowledge, cleansing, and consecration of physical body 2.  A study of the glands. B. The Mental Body 1. The purging of self 2. Attunement of self to the Whole.

Last week and this week our choice of experiments is from the book Experiments in A Search for God, keyed to ASFG, Book one, chapter one on pages 10 and 11.

"Each individual entity, whether aware of same or not, sets before self an ideal in the material world, in the mental world, in the spiritual world." Edgar Cayce reading 1011-1.

 If we set our ideal in spiritual principles, we have a source of direction stronger than any outside force. Our decisions in life are based on a standard that comes from within. The ideal becomes the measure of how we choose to focus energy and attention physically, mentally, spiritually. It is helpful to determine what our ideals and life directions have been before actually choosing and holding up a spiritual ideal for ourselves.

Even if you've never determined what your ideals are, it will begin to be obvious to you if you complete the following exercise each day for a week.  Before going to bed, Write down what you did, thought, or experienced that day that was valuable.

1) I was praised for the report I finished today.

2) I got 2 tickets to the play I've wanted to see

3) leisurely family time at dinner

4) good prayer and meditation intervals today.

The patterns you recognize at weeks end show you the ideals you have  been living.

Experiment  (1) At days end, write down what you thought, did, experienced the past 24 hours you feel was especially valuable.

Experiment 2a) Since prayer is the concerted effort of our physical consciousness to become attuned to the consciousness of the creator, and; the first stage of meditation is the effort to awaken within the conscious mind an awareness corresponding to the superconsciousness, then, we can pray effectively and awaken and attune the consciousness mind to the divine within.

Experiment 2b) As an activity separate from your meditation period, each day have a period of prayer. (Whatever form is meaningful to you that day--petitionary-gratitude, confessional-forgiveness, praise--). A sincere-effective prayer practice can be an invaluable aid to our meditation--to be able to hold in silence the awakening and an attunement of the conscious mind to the Divine, to the ideal, and then ultimately, to transformation.

Gratefully yours,

Sylvia