Question: How can I cultivate a personal relationship with God or the Divine? Seeking 

Dear Seeking,

A great question and one I believe we are all seeking the answer to as we live our lives with the intention that we find peace, love and understanding of “what’s it all about.”  It’s a journey of awakening and awareness, possibility, courage and choice.

Ernest Holmes, founder of Science of Mind, teaches that it is not about seeking a deity outside of yourself but awakening to the presence of the Divine that already exists within you and as you. God is the “Universal Spirit” – an infinite, intelligent, creative, loving presence that is the very essence of every individual. Therefore, your relationship with God is actually a relationship with your own true, spiritual self.

Practice this constant recognition. Instead of trying to “get” God to come into your life, practice becoming aware that you are already “in” God and that God is “in” you … and in everything and most importantly in everyone. There is not a place, person or thing where God is not. Consider God not as an entity but as energy, and energy is in all things.

You can do this by living in the now … in the here and now in the Goodness of God and by seeing the Divine in everything – in your daily surroundings, in the beauty of nature, in other people and in your own experiences. By knowing, accepting and affirming the presence, power and wisdom of God as your own life, you deepen your conscious connection and move your mind away from limitation and toward the infinite potential of the Divine.

When you become aware of the divinity within you, you develop a direct personal connection with the Divine and find that your path in life is uniquely your own and that you have the power of choice – one great gift we have been given. This gives you power to create your life as you wish, to find peace, to be creative, to be abundant, healthy, to be love in relationship with others, with life itself.

Meditation, affirmative prayer, intentional living, making conscious choices, changing your perspective from “I am a person seeking God” to “I am a spiritual being, an expression of God, waking up to my own nature” will cultivate and grow your understanding of God and your own personal relationship with the Divine.

If you wish to know more about Ernest Holmes and the philosophy of Science of Mind, visit a Center for Spiritual Living, a place where you learn to “change your thinking, change your life” and you develop a deeper understanding of God and your relationship to this power for good in your life.

Many blessings as you continue on this journey of life; enjoy the adventure of possibilities.

Laney Clevenger, RScP Emeritus
CSL-La Crescenta