Thinking back to the enrollment card last January, it was then that I set my intention to live the Fourth Way as an oblate within The Church of Conscious Harmony.
I received my Work Partner and was assigned my Journey Group.
I found the Work Partner relationship to be an essential routine that helps keep me grounded to the Journey School and my Oblate intentions. The daily aims over the year have been transformative to me. With non-critical self-observation and the intent to focus on Work practices and Journey School homework assignments, this relationship has born great fruit. We discuss our observed identities, roots, and established mechanical programs for affection, control, and happiness. Anchoring these programs with my partner helps me to non-identity with these false identities. If I can better understand their source, I can move my consciousness away from fear and toward God.
The daily calls with my work partner help my being elevate from walking sleep to awakened consciousness, clearing the way for God's love and grace to help me transform. Participation with my Journey Group is a vital weekly connection to our community which deepens our weekly Thursday night lessons.
My aim this year has been around working on my useless acting out from fear. Fear is the opposite of love. And, in fear, I can't experience love. God is always present and in me, but fear sets my attention in the wrong direction, and I end up missing the mark. When I fear, I believe that I, not God, am in control.
I could pick any Journey School email or Thursday night class and pick out one or more Work ideas presented that have offered me tools to help me raise my being from fear towards love. Fear has so many deep roots that have captured my being for as long as I can remember.
The most effortless action, but the hardest initially, to accomplish a transformation from fear is tithing. As long as I preach to myself that my money is mine, I am lying to myself. Any gift of talent that has offered value to others in the world has been given to me by God's grace. Sure, I think I have "worked and studied" hard and followed the societal steps to feel secure in my financial balancing act, as the A influences in life are very good at telling me. But who is responsible for my money? Is it me, or is it God's grace?
This year has helped me see that anything is possible in God, and that includes knowing that God's gifts are endless and that my primary talents on this planet will sustain those who depend on me. Yes, I have "earned" my income, but in no way am I the source. And in no other way can I more feely claim this truth than in tithing. Tithing turns me away from fear and toward God, where anything and everything is possible. Tithing turns me away from scarcity to abundance. So ironic, so out of A influences, and yet so freeing!
What do you see as your future with the Journey School?
When I was in college, the curriculum always came to some end and required effort to receive a degree's final certification. I see no end with the Journey School, as there is no end to God or my growing relationship with God. We could practice the same Work ideas every year, and I suspect they would land on me differently each time. There is no graduation ceremony from the Journey School. How profound!
With God's love and mercy, I will meld myself in love in this universe. With my asking, God will help me find my talents to be most useful in serving others. The love and involvement of all our community are essential to my staying on the Journey.
This journey is bringing more selfless service and joy to my life, and I am so grateful to the Journey School for its leadership and faculty who deliver such heartfelt wisdom and guidance.
Martin Field
If you already have a tithing relationship with The Church of Conscious Harmony, we thank you. If your spiritual journey has been enriched by The Journey School, we invite you to donate here as a way of expressing your gratitude and participating in the great law of Reciprocal Maintenance.
