Example:
| aspect of my concept of God: | I think God is responsive to sincere prayer |
| specific ways I can express this concept: | 1. have a prayer time each day2. share my enthusiasm for the power of prayer with those who are receptive |
 | 4What is My Ideal? |
“Our ideals are ever present; they are either consciously or unconsciously the bases for the motivating forces in our lives.”
An ideal is not merely a metaphysical concept; it is something that we live with each day. It is the direction in which we are moving in consciousness. Even a person who is blindfolded and is wandering about aimlessly is facing in some direction at any given moment. Similarly, the person who is just wandering through life has, at any given moment, a direction. Unfortunately, for many people that direction is continually changing or dependent on circumstances and the opinions of others. If we think of an ideal as a life-direction, then we can understand what the readings mean when they say that everyone has ideals, even if they haven’t consciously set them.
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.
1011-1
Often it is something of which we are unconscious that motivates our attitudes and behavior. We might prefer to believe that we are firmly in control of our lives with our conscious minds; and yet, psychology has repeatedly demonstrated that there are motivating forces in our lives of which we are unconscious. An important initial step in healing and attunement with the divine is to become aware of these forces. When we allow them to direct our lives, they are our ideals, even though they may not be leading us to a more balanced way of life.
Experiment: This is an observation experiment and its purpose is to help you become more aware of what your ideals or directions have been in various parts of your life. At the end of the day take a few minutes to consider the experiences that stand out in your mind from the past 24 hours. Recall the things you thought or did in each experience. Then, for each experience, write down the conscious or unconscious force within yourself that might have led you to have that particular experience.
Examples:
| experience 1: | I got mad at Mr. Simpson and spoke to him in a rude and angry way. |
| directive force within me: | I had been holding resentments toward him for several things he has done to me in the past. I was unaware of how I was holding these resentments when the experience happened today. |
| experience 2: | I was helpful and patient with a friend who stopped by and was having some personal problems. |
| directive force within me: | I had had a good meditation earlier in the day in which I got in touch with wanting to be a blessing to others. |
As you specify these conscious or unconscious directive forces in your experience, you are becoming aware of what your ideals have been. Most people find that their ideals are changing from experience to experience. Our work later in this chapter will be to specify the highest ideal that we know and attempt to have that ideal direct us consistently.
“… We must understand the meaning of ‘The Oneness’ and merge our physical and mental ideals with the spiritual ideal of the soul.”
A fundamental assumption in the readings is the oneness of all force. We are all unique and special creations, and yet behind our individuality there is the one source of all life, which is God. The notion of oneness is also important to the way in which we see the body, mind and soul aspects of man. There is a unity behind this three-part way of seeing ourselves, and that unity is especially important as we consider ideals. In our daily lives our most obvious attempts to manifest ideals are through the mind (e.g., ideal mental attitudes) and through the body (e.g., ideal physical activities). And yet we cannot effectively work with ideals if we ignore the fact that we are also spiritual beings. Because of the oneness of body, mind and soul, our mental and physical ideals must be grounded in a spiritual ideal. It is for this reason that we are encouraged to set a spiritual ideal first.
What is a spiritual ideal? It is the state of consciousness—the state of awareness—that we would like to have directing every aspect of our lives. The readings use many words to describe qualities that might be a part of that awareness: peace, harmony, contentment, brotherly love, understanding, patience, faith, hope and service, to name just a few. You will want to consider other qualities that for you are a part of the spirit in which you want to live your life.
Then we are asked to choose one word (or a short phrase) that will personally represent or call to mind that highest state of awareness. In doing this, we set a spiritual ideal.
… thy spiritual concept of the ideal, whether it be Jesus, Buddha, mind, material, God or whatever is the word which indicates to self the ideals spiritual.
5091-3
As we set mental and physical ideals that are consistent with this spiritual ideal, we demonstrate our awareness of the oneness of body, mind and soul.
Experiment: Take time each day in prayer and meditation to ask yourself this question: “What qualities make up the highest awareness that I would like to have directing my life?” Each day record the answers that come to your mind.
At the end of the week have a special quiet time in which you consider all of the qualities you have listed. Allow a state of awareness to emerge in your consciousness that would combine and integrate all these qualities. When you feel that you are in touch with this state of awareness, choose a word or short phrase to represent this state of consciousness, which is your spiritual ideal (e.g., “God,” “oneness with Christ,” “love”).
“When in our relationship to our fellow man we are so perfected in the Christ Consciousness that each word, thought and deed brings blessings to those we contact, then we may be sure that our ideal is the true one.”
The focus of the Search for God material is the necessity to bring the qualities of the infinite into finite, physical expression. Our spiritual ideal needs to be applied in relation to every person and situation we contact in our daily lives. That application is through (1) our thoughts and attitudes (mental ideals) and (2) our words and activities (physical ideals). The readings define mental and physical ideals in this way:
… write the ideal mental attitude, as may arise from concepts of the spiritual, relationship to self, to home, to friends, to neighbors, to thy enemies, to things, to conditions.
… What is the ideal material, then? Not of conditions, but what has brought, what does bring into manifestation the spiritual and mental ideals. What relationships does such bring to things, to individuals, to situations?
5091-3
It is important to note that the definition of the physical ideal includes the phrase “not of conditions.” This seems to indicate that our physical ideal is not so much the conditions that we desire (e.g., a new home, a different job) but instead it is how we intend to act in relation to the conditions we have right now. Different material conditions may be needed; however, the principle is that we allow necessary changes to take place by first doing the best we can with what we have.
Once we have set mental and physical ideals for various aspects of our lives, we have a powerful tool for awakening the qualities of our spiritual ideal. We all have days in which we feel out of touch with that highest awareness that we wish to have directing our lives. In such situations we can re-awaken that state of consciousness as we apply specific ideal mental attitudes and ideal physical activities that have arisen from our spiritual ideal. The teaching from the readings is that in the application comes the awareness.
Experiment: