Explore the gifts available to us all around death and dying when Mary Brogdon presents a Home with God by Neal Donald Walsch book study. This group on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. this summer. For more information about location, email Mary at media@cslcv.org.

Here’s what Mary has to say about the book study:

The purpose of this book study is to generate a Big Conversation about death and dying. ( Google Big Talk vs Small Talk) I also want to use this conversation between the author, Neale Donald Walsch and God to unlock some of the mystery surrounding the event we call death and what happens after we die.

In our society, people are so afraid of death, for themselves as well as for anyone that they care about, that they don’t want to talk about it, they don’t even want to think about it. As a result, they procrastinate about making plans for the end of this life, which is a huge disservice to those around them at the end of life.

By not thinking about death, not talking about it, not reading about it, and by trying to shield our children from the perceived pain of it, there is a tendency to remain ignorant about death, and thereby perpetuate the fear of death. Knowledge is power, right?

So my purpose for sharing this book is to open the conversations that we have within our families about death. I’ve heard many people say that when they wanted to talk realistically to their adult children about their plans for end-of-life-care, the children have said, “No, I don’t want to hear that!”
When a person on his/her death bed acknowledges acceptance that death is getting close, their loved one will often say something like, “No, don’t say that. You’re not dying.” Denial can be a healthy thing, but it can also rob us of our chance to share in a moment of meaningful conversation with someone we love and a precious memory to hold in our heart when the person is gone.

When it comes to conversations with our healthcare providers, we make requests of them that ‘everything possible’ be done to save a life, even when “saving a life” may not be “life-giving.”

It says in Home With God “If you look upon every event in your life—including death—as a gift, you will see it as a treasure that will serve you always, and lead you to joy. If you look upon any event, including death, as a tragedy, you will mourn it forever, and receive nothing from it but everlasting sorrow.
“Which brings us to The Fifth Remembrance: Death is never a tragedy. It is always a gift.”

And that is where we’ll begin this week’s discussion.

What if the path to your most fulfilling life has already been written by the universe, and all you needed to do is awaken to it and accept it? As per Dr. Michael Beckwith, there are no extra people on this planet. Each and every one of us is born for a special reason, a unique purpose which only we can fulfill. The best part is — The Universe is ALWAYS friendly and is constantly working for us to realize our unique purpose.

Still, most people ignore the call of the Universe.

Why?

Because we are too busy striving for dreams and ambitions that are often limited by societal trends, by painful experiences, or by past programming.

We only have a limited idea of our true potential, and thereby our goals and ambitions are no where near what we can truly achieve.

Aidan Greaney, Religious Science licensed Practitioner and leader of our Center’s Visioning team, is facilitating a Visioning class created by Centers for Spiritual Living that draws on the experience and wisdom of Dr. Michael Beckwith. Dr. Beckwith originally developed Visioning as an alternative to modern goal-setting techniques. About the Visioning course, Dr. Beckwith says it “…teaches you how to manifest your soul’s Deepest longings.”

The Visioning class covers the history along with visioning sessions designed to uncover life purpose, life’s work, health and well-being, prosperity, and relationships. The class also covers visioning for spiritual community and for planet Earth.

Here are the details:
Cost: $160 for credit; love offering for non-credit
When: Sundays, 12:30 – 2:30 pm
Length of course: 8 weeks
Starts: July 1

Study the Spiritual Path with Dr. Heather

Dr. Heather starts a new class in April that takes us back to the Science of Mind basics. This class is based on curriculum Dr. Heather created with a team of ministers in the 1990s and, because it’s filled with wisdom and insight, she is ready to bring it back.

Here is what Dr. Heather has to say about this classic class:

The first part of the course is “The Spiritual Path” and introduces the metaphysical student to the basics of spiritual study including affirmation, meditation, and prayer. In addition to the basics, there are some great activities and processes which anyone can incorporate into their daily practices. During this first eight weeks, students will learn spiritual mind treatment/affirmative prayer.

The second 8 weeks continues to emphasize prayer and is titled “The Nature of Effective Prayer.” Affirmative prayer is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. When we change the consciousness of a thing, we change the entire experience of it. For example, before studying Science of Mind I would often take a victim mind-set when it came to illnesses. Like many people I had two or three colds a year. I was subject to the race consciousness of “flu” season. Since studying the Science of Mind, I have come to understand that nothing happens to me, everything happens through me, by means of me. This is a powerful idea.

If everything comes through me, I must allow or invite the idea of “flu” into my life. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, rarely is the thing we are experiencing a result of thinking about the illness. In other words, I didn’t get a cold because I thought about “colds;” but rather, when we feel stressed and overextended, we can let a ‘flu” or “cold” into our lives.

• We will learn to pay attention to our thoughts, and make intelligent, self-supporting changes to our thoughts and feelings.
• We will learn to write and use powerful affirmations which will start the creative process by planting a new idea.
• And we will learn to meditate. By getting still and being comfortable with silence, we will more ably hear the voice for God within ourselves.

People’s lives will be transformed. People who are senior students, those who have taken foundation courses many times before, will heighten their awareness of self. And those people who take the class as their very first step down the spiritual path will awaken to their own inner magnificence. People make life-long friendships in Science of Mind classes. You will learn to pray for other people as well as yourself. There is so much good for you… and you ought to have it! I would love to see YOU at class.

Dr. Heather’s class will be offered on Tuesdays, beginning April 3rd, at 6:30 pm. Cost for credit is $240, or you can take the class without credit for a love offering.