More on Connecting to the Creativity Within

At the end of his 1989 book, The Concentric Perspective (TCP), Eric Butterworth says: "What avail is it to give the finest gift if you do not give the gift of yourself?  The ultimate gift to you is God's gift of the creative flow in which you are the image and may become the likeness of the whole being of God" (p. 113).  This quote may be one of the keys to understanding EB's views on creativity.  Throughout his works, EB expresses his desire that each person know his/her connection to the Christ presence within.  He also emphasizes repeatedly that each person is divine and that each person can do what Jesus did.  And one of the things that Jesus did was to connect deeply and compassionately with other people, to walk among them and to share his wisdom.  This could be considered Jesus's great gift.

In fact, EB suggests that all people are infinitely creative, if they would just allow themselves to be.  He also encourages people to know that all the infinite substance they need to create is already within them.  These are the divine ideas that come from what he and other Unity theologians call God-Mind.  He reminds his readers in TCP that all people "live and move and have [their] being in infinite Mind.  There is no way that you can can get more of infinite Mind in you, for infinite Mind is present in its entirety at every point in space.  There was no more of infinite Mind in Jesus, or in Buddha, or in Shakespeare, or in Einstein than there is present in you this moment and every moment of your life" (p. 79).  These are greatly encouraging and even inspiring words.  Yet, how many people are daunted by the idea that they have the same amount of creativity in them as Shakespeare?

It might be helpful to offer here that all these people are famous, but that EB is not talking about using one's creativity for fame.  Some people feel a desire to create something and yet shy away from it because they think, "How could this be any good?  I did it.  Who would pay any attention to me?"  EB's emphasis is on expressing the divine within.  This is key.  The divine within has many forms of expression.  Let's consider just a few:  In nearly every neighborhood, anywhere one goes in this country, there is always at least one home that has a beautiful garden.   Nearly every family has one person who is the best baker, best storyteller, best dressed or best comedian.  Someone is master decorator and someone else is a master painter.  People all over the world have jobs in which they create a product, design a system or negotiate a deal.  Each of these people expresses his or her creativity.  Most of them are not famous and never will have their names on the front page of a major daily newspaper.  The goal is to express one's divine creativity and find joy in it, not to become famous.

In The Creative Life, EB's last book, published in 2001, EB says that one's goal should be change her mind-set, to know that she is "one with God and that all [her] works are good" (p.4).  In this final work, EB uses the Creation Story from Genesis to help people live more creative lives.  This is his advice for applying the seven days of creation to one's own life:

1. "Let there Be Light": Light represents illumination.  The light allows each person to recognize God as the source of his/her supply.  The light allows each person to develop self-awareness and appreciation of one's inner wisdom.  EB wants each person to look through "God-colored glasses" to realize that God is within.
2. "Let there Be a Firmament": Firmament represents faith.  Through faith, each person affirms the reality of the divine ideas within him as his own divine inheritance.  A person needs to have faith in his own ability to create before the creation can become manifest in the world.  As EB is fond of doing, he uses the image of turning up a rheostat; when the rheostat is fully turned up, the light is brightest.  When a person is centered in his faith, he is connected to the divine energy needed to create.
3. "Let the Dray Land Appear": Dry land represents imagination, which EB calls the "I AMaging" process.  Through imagination, a person forms and shapes her own desired good from the divine ideas within her.  EB says that this is seeing from an image that is unique to each particular person.  EB also urges one to avoid worrying because worry blocks the creative flow developed within one's imagination.
4. "Let there Be Two Great Lights": The two great lights, the sun and the moon, represent one's will and understanding.  As a person develops spiritual understanding, he must become willing to be guided to create from the image he has seen.  In allowing himself to be guided, a person understands what he is to create and has the will to make it manifest.
5. "Let the Waters Swarm with Living Creatures": The swarm represents discernment or discrimination or judgment.  By being discerning about what actions she takes, a person can make wise decisions about her life and about how to create what she understands her creation to be.  EB specifically notes that many people have a "swarming" of ideas and urges that they be patient with the creative flow, trusting and allowing time to be guided and directed as each discerns.
6. "Let Us Make Man in Our Image":  The creation of man in our image represents the wisdom and love that exist within each person.  They symbolize each person's inherent wholeness, and within each person wisdom and love unite to allow a person to manifest his desires and express himself fully.  This is one of the places that EB says that each person must "evolve" what has "been involved" in him (p. 113).  To EB, this also is the expression of the Christ presence within, the same presence that Jesus expressed and which EB encourages each person to express also.
7. "God Rested": God resting represents the Sabbath.  By resting and allowing oneself to "be" instead of "do," a person can realize and feel assured that her desires are being fulfilled and that she can go forward to manifest the creative ideas which she has discerned are hers to create.  EB especially notes that one does not need to attend church on Sunday or synagogue on Saturday to experience a Sabbath.  In fact, he encourages taking many restful moments, which he calls "creative intermissions."

The most important aspect of EB's interpretation of the creation process is the idea that one "let" or allow the divine to flow from within.  Then the great gifts which live and move and have their being within each person can be expressed.  EB seemed to live his life by expressing his own creativity, and his wish is for others to do the same as they experience the Christ presence within.

Connecting to the Creativity Within

This blog is titled Creative Butterworth, because Eric Butterworth believed that each person has a creative nature that is an expression of his/her Christ nature. EB believed that anyone could create anything his heart desired. To EB, to deny one's creativity would be tantamount to denying one's breath. Nearly everyone would fight for dear life to breathe; yet how many people deny the creativity within? These next blogs take resistance and non-resistance to another level: the resistance of the wisdom within and the acceptance of one’s own divine creative nature?
For this discussion, a return to the 1969 Unity of All Life sets the stage: "The vastness of creation is whole. The Infinite Creative Spirit made it all possible; but there is no division, separation, or diminution of the Creator in the created. The Creator has expressed and fulfilled . . . Itself in the creation, which has no existence outside of the Creative Spirit that brought it forth. The whole is present at every point; therefore, all is totally and completely 'within' you all the time. It may be difficult to comprehend, but the Infinite I AM is the point in you where the whole becomes individualized as you" (p. 35). This is EB expressing a key Fillmorean theology: the Creator, whatever one may call it, is expressed in each and every person. It is the Creator's nature to be fulfilled within each of Its created. It is a concept so simple, and yet so complex, that many people find it difficult to grasp. Part of this is because many people grew up in traditional religions, which did not always encourage free thinking, especially about one's divinity.
EB believed that when Jesus referred to the Father within who does the work (John 14:10), he meant that each person could be a "channel for the expression of Infinite Intelligence and energy and love. We are using the same power, the same basic Infinite Mind stuff, whether we are rising to success or floundering in mediocrity . . . . The Infinite Creative Spirit in us is to each of us what we are to it. It invariably responds to us by corresponding with our mental attitudes" (p. 35). This relates in Unity to the Law of Mind Action and to the Power of the Word.
For instance, if a person thinks that she can start a gourmet and catering business because she loves to cook, she begins to think of herself as a gourmet caterer. She turns her thinking away from her boring, federal government job and begins to focus on food, cooking, and the creativity within. She affirms her ability to feed people delicious food prepared with love. She finds a location for sale that allows her to build a business. She makes mistakes, but she focuses on her abilities and surrounds herself with supportive, caring, wise, loving people who affirm her creativity and her ability to achieve the success she desires. She learns and learns and learns. Eventually her business grows larger, and she moves to a new, bigger shop. She continues to focus on her success. She hires a staff and earns hundreds of thousands of dollars. And even when running the business day-to-day becomes too much for her, she believes in her ability to share her love of delicious food with the world. She begins to cook on television, showing others how to prepare delicious food and how to entertain. More important, she helps others realize that they, too, can express their creativity by cooking and sharing their culinary creations with others. And because of her belief in her own creative power, the world knows this woman as Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Had this highly successful entrepreneur and gourmet guru stayed at her boring government job, thousands of people never would have experienced the beauty, wisdom and inspiration of her creativity. Yet, because she expressed her creative spirit, she allowed so many others to follow in her footsteps. She used the same basic power that is in each person to express her creative self.

The issue, of course, that is raised by a "famous person story" is that people deny or pooh-pooh another's success when they doubt their own innate ability to express creativity. Naysayers are easy to find. "She had money." "She had the lucky breaks." "She was smarter than I am." But EB would have none of this kind of talk. He did not deny that people might not attain their goals right away, but he said that "there is really no failure but surrender" (UAL, p. 37). Thus, people fail at expressing their creativity when they give up, believing that they must attain a certain status or place in society, or have some kind of possession or level of affluence. He said, "We have mistakenly thought of success as 'getting there,' arriving at a particular state or station" (UAL, p. 37). For some, it is like climbing a ladder that gets longer and longer because one never reaches the top. And then one may feel a sense of futility, as EB noted, wondering what life really means, because the person is working toward a dream that is not his. Instead of climbing the ponderous ladder of success, whatever that may be, EB recommended viewing success as a progression, rather than as a "static point." He noted that "the progression may not necessarily be in outward achievements with greater rewards. It may come in the form of increase of the creative process in what the person is doing" (UAL, p. 38).

This is each person's point of power: his/her ability to believe in the creative power within. This is what gives life meaning, not the struggle to achieve a goal one does not desire. EB may sound tough when he noted that one uses the same power to achieve personal success or to flounder in mediocrity. But the floundering in mediocrity in this case is not meant to be unkind, but to show that each person has his/her own choice. Granted, not all of people who enjoy cooking want a show on the Food Network. But each person who loves to cook has the opportunity to express his/her creative nature, not because it means great financial success or fame, but because the person feels an inner sense of fulfillment and joy, the contentment that comes with doing something well that one loves doing. This is what it means to express the Creative Spirit within.

More on EB's Theology of Non-Resistance

In continuing to explore EB's theology of non-resistance, it is important to remember how much he recommends flowing with the flow of life. In his book, In the Flow of Life (IFL), EB reminds readers that all people "come into the world as living souls of infinite potentiality to be discovered and released, for life is lived from within-out" (p. 11). In addition, he quotes from 2 Timothy 1:6, "'I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you.'" For some people, this may be a huge concept to grasp and an even greater one to put into practice.


When Master Teachers, such as Jesus and Buddha, as well as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, emphasized the power of non-resistance, they were in no way diminishing themselves or anyone else. They were focused on the truth within them, as well as the truth within others. Their focus was on what they were "for" rather than what they were “against." The difference is important. For if a person is fighting against something, EB would contend that their focus is "with-out" rather than "within." Thus, a key to non-resistance is that people (or organizations) focus on what they believe, what resonates within them, what moves them to action. And the importance is not the cause we are fighting against, but the people involved; because as has been noted on this blog previously, nothing and no one is against anyone.

Buddhist monk Pema Chodron, in her book Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living, gives a powerful illustration of this:
"In the '70s, there was a famous photograph in which the National Guard were all lined up with their guns at an antiwar rally. A young woman had walked up and put a flower in the end of one of the guns, and the photo appeared in all the newspapers. I read a report in which the soldier who had been holding the gun--who later became a strong peace activist--said that he had never before experienced anything as aggressive as that young woman coming with her flower and smiling at everybody and making this big display. Most of the young guys in the National Guard were already questioning how they got on that particular side of the fence anyway. And then along came this flower child. She never looked in his eyes; she never had any sense of him as a person. It was all for display, and it hurt" (pp. 175-176).

Chodron's point is essential to understanding non-resistance and helps readers grasp EB's approach in particular. The woman of whom Chodron speaks made a great display of resisting war, but she did not remember or acknowledge (according to this account) the people involved on this "side of the fence." She focused her efforts, in essence, gave her attention to, being against the war and used the flower as a guise for emphasizing peace. In IFL, EB describes a concept of giving that includes his version of one of the Beatitudes, "'Blessed are the meek for they give way to the flow of the eternal givingness of God'" (p. 100). Givingness here means to allow, to let flow and to be in the flow, with everyone and everything. EB says, "When the giving is inner centered, it is impersonal. The emphasis is not on the gift itself or to whom or what it is given, but on the inner source of love and substance from which it is given. The act of giving is a giving way to the flow that spring forth from the wellspring of all-sufficiency" (p. 103). And while this certainly can be advice about prosperity, it has an deeper message. Because when people fight against a war, big oil companies, a boss, someone they believe to be their enemy, they are focused on what they perceive outside of themselves, not what is flowing within them. They fail to give way to the life that flows within the other person as well. They give energy to what they dislike and what they are against, rather than what the truth is and what they are working for. Imagine if that same woman had given every soldier a flower and perhaps a hug or verbal thanks for serving a cause they believed in. Imagine if the flower children and the soldiers had had a conversation about what they all believed in. Might their conversation ultimately have revealed that each of them was working for peace although they saw it differently? Might they have realized that they were in the same flow if both sides had acknowledged the One Power and One Presence within each other?

Allow me to share a personal example, lest my blogging sound completely theoretical. At one time in my life, I and one other woman were "let go" from our positions at a small publishing house. I was an editor and she was a marketer. The company decided to decrease its publishing and so no longer needed our services. I had never "lost" a job before and went through a week or two of shock, not fully understanding what had happened to me. At night I dreamt that the company called me and said it made a mistake, that they really did need me to work for them. I called people I knew, spending hours trying to figure out what I had done wrong. I said nasty things about the company, probably including, "How could they do this to me." And then an older, wiser friend shared that maybe it was time for me to move on. She actually used the word "flow" and suggested that I use the time I had to focus on my own growth, to do some things I wanted to do, to relax and to explore other opportunities that better suited me. So I took more time to meditate, I took long walks with my dog, walked to the market for strawberries and croissants (which made me feel luxurious) and connected with old friends. I got into a flow with the universe and rather than worrying about when I would find a new job, I focused within to discern what I wanted to do next and how I could be of greater service. I slowly realized that the company had done what it needed to do to take care of itself. While it hurt to be "let go," I also understood that it was not personal and in many ways, this was very freeing. It allowed me to take outer action--sending our resumes, networking, following up on leads (this was in the days before e-mail)--after I had taken time to focus within. Eventually, I received many phone calls, then several interviews and five job offers. When I chose the new job, it was a job where I felt I could best serve with my skills and talents. I was promoted twice in that job before it was time to move into the flow again.

My point, and EB's as well, as to remember to get into--and stay in--the flow. EB said, "Whatever the conditions may be or the caliber or character of the people . . . the important thing is you are there. It is good to affirm: Wherever I am, there let me be. This means: Be a channel for the flow of the infinite creative process. If you get and stay in the flow, you will not let the attitudes and antics of other persons squeeze you into their mold; you will let the Spirit within you sustain you with all that you need of love and understanding and of the ideas and creativity to . . . be a bigger person in the process" (p. 90). Being a bigger person here means knowing that one is in the flow of life. It means letting go of resistance to what is and allowing everything to be. It requires acceptance of situations--even when they are unpleasant--and acknowledgement of others as Divine--even when they say, do and/or believe things with which one doesn't agree. If people remain non-resistant and flow with life, then they allow their givingness and gifts to come from within and they work for what they truly believe in. As EB said, this is when they can "stand in strength" rather than "sit in weakness." This is when they can "stand in love" (p. 93), which ultimately allows for compassion and peace.

Butterworth's Theology of Non-Resistance - (Re)Continued

It has been suggested by some in Unity that although many Unity truth students learn five main principles that there really is only one. This one is the first Unity principle: "There is One Presence and One Power in the Universe {and some add, "in my life"}, God the Good," to which I also add Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence. As Reverend Dr. Gary Simmons and Rima Bonario, president and founder of Your Wisdom Works, LLC, note in their work, The Art & Practice of Living with Nothing and No One Against You, "there cannot be two opposites at work -- one which we like, and one which we don't. To think in this way immediately creates an 'other' to be avoided, or an 'enemy' to be vanquished rather than the experience of oneness or wholeness. . . . When you find yourself in situations where people, things and circumstances feel as though they are against you, your life can become very uncomfortable. . . . You have been taught to believe that when life is difficult, or when circumstances trigger pain, the problem is in the situation or person who is in your way. But how can that be if there is only One Presence and One Power and it is Good?" (p. 9).

This is the same point that Eric Butterworth made repeatedly in various works. How can anything be against us if the One Presence and One Power that we affirm in our lives is Good, with a capital G? While Simmons and Bonario published this text in 2009 and are reaching a whole new audience of Unity and other New Thought students, consider what EB was saying to the generations living and learning in 1969 in his book, Unity of All Life. In his chapter, "From Horizontal to Vertical Thinking," EB gives readers techniques and ideas to use as they learn new ways of thinking. He suggests that "life can become to us only what we permit it to be through us, and that the becoming is the passing of the wholeness of Spirit into expression in our lives through the form of thought that we give it" (p. 60). In other words, people have ideas and perceptions. Those ideas and perceptions become experiences of wholeness and acceptance, or as Simmons and Bonario note, conflicts and arguments.

As noted in previous entries on this blog, EB wants his readers to understand that they are responsible for their thoughts and how they choose to view what happens to them. It is not what happens to a person, but how the person responds to a situation or other person that makes the difference. EB says, "Man's pattern of thought is the mold through which the stuff of Universal Mind flows into manifestation in his experience. Thus, the creativity of the universe may flow into a mold of twisted, distorted thought, and by the same law that would manifest perfection in accord with a perfect mental mold, it will manifest distortion in accord with this distorted mental state" (p. 60). In simpler terms, if one operates with the idea that someone or something is against her, this is the distorted experience she will have. However, if the same person believes in her own wholeness and connection to Universal Mind, the One Presence and One Power, then she will move through the experience with ease because s/he will know in accord with her perfect mental mold that nothing and no one is against her.

While this certainly sounds simple in theory, EB also is emphatic when he says, "Experiences do not cause thoughts" (EB's italics, p. 63). He explains that whatever happened to a person is "history" and "completely external." The experience or incident "may happen around you or even to you, but of itself it does not happen in you. Your mind is your domain. Here you are the master. You think what you want to think, or what you have habitually thought. Your thoughts about the incident, positive or negative as they may be, are your reaction to it. But the incident did not make the thought. . . . There is no possible way in which an outside condition or person or experience can form your thought. You make the thought, for it is your mind. The thoughts and feelings that arise in you are by your choice" (pp. 63-64). Now to some, particularly a person who is suffering, this statement can be a big slap in the face. One can imagine the response: "I didn't do this. I didn't make this happen!" The tone might be one of upset and anger, and this person might be gearing up for a fight. But EB would remind this person that she has a choice. And this is where the title of the chapter is explained.

EB defines horizontal thinking as "thought that deals with conditions, experiences and persons as they are. It works with available information and insight into past performance, which leads to a logical judgment of their meaning and character. It deals with facts. It is thinking about the problems . . . and thus having a problem-oriented state of mind" (pp. 64-65). With horizontal thinking then, a person is focused on what has happened. For instance, consider yesterday's (May 6, 2010) rapid plunge of nearly 1,000 points in the stock market. A horizontal thinker might have obsessed about the losses in her portfolio. If she was not a day-trader, able to be at the computer every second moving her money around, she might have worried continually about how to pay for her child's college education, her mortgage, her retirement or the car she had just purchased. And even if she was a day-trader, she might have moved money quickly, without careful consideration, because she was focused on the problem of losses and which stocks would fall the least before the market closed.

But what if this same person used EB's method of vertical thinking? Vertical thinking, he says, is "thought that deals with experiences and facts in a dynamic rather than static way. The facts are not denied, but neither are they worshiped. They represent the degree to which we have demonstrated the whole. The vertical thinker knows there is always 'more' in the man and in the knowledge accumulated by the man. He is open to the influence of the intuitive. He deals with conditions, experiences and persons not as they are but as he is, and he uses them as the challenge to a greater discovery of that isness. . . . He thinks through problems to the whole Spirit that is only being partially expressed. Thus he develops a solution-oriented state of mind" (p. 65).

If the same person mentioned before is a vertical thinker, her experience of yesterday's stock market plunge would have been different. While she certainly may have acknowledged in the moment that the value of her portfolio was declining, she likely also affirmed the power of the One Presence, as well as her belief in a never-ending supply of abundance. As a vertical thinker, she may not even have been watching her portfolio because her trust in that supply would mean that she had faith in the market's ability to correct itself (which it always does, in its own way), as well as in her ability to make adjustments after the initial plunge. As a vertical thinker, she also might have stepped back with some curiosity about what such a rapid plunge would mean and thought about what else was going on. This is what EB means about the whole Spirit being only partially expressed. If our vertical thinker believes in the power of One Presence, she knows that she does not have all the information, but that she has the wisdom within herself through her intuition, as well as her knowledge of finance, to act at the right time.

Thus, the difference between the horizontal thinker and the vertical thinker is not the fact of the stock market's plunge, but how they reacted to its occurrence. They did not cause the plunge; they may not even have bought or sold stock that day. But since they were invested in the market and they likely understood that the market, by its very nature, can go up and down, they each had a choice about how they would experience what occurred. The horizontal thinker focused on the problem of losing money and may have felt that the market was against her. The vertical thinker focused on the truth that there is infinite supply in the Universe, despite appearances to the contrary. She would have known that the market was being erratic, because sometimes that is just the nature of the market. As EB is so fond of saying in many of his books, all kinds of things will happen, but each person decides what s/he will do about them and whether s/he will remember that there is only One Presence and One Power.
{To Be Continued}

Butterworth's Theology of Non-Resistance - Continued

As we continue to explore EB's theology of non-resistance, let's see what one of Unity's foremothers, Imelda Octavia Shanklin, says about non-resistance in her classic book, What Are You?, first published in 1929.  The last chapter of this book is titled, "Nonresistance."  Here Shanklin specifically defines what nonresistance is: "Nonresistance is stronger than resistance; its practice requires more mind capacity than is required for resistance; its appeal is to the divine thing in you.  It is the essence of God (p. 142).  . . . The essence of nonresistance is unity.  You are not isolated from the rest of the universe.  You are an indispensable part of the universe . . . . The practice of nonresistance becomes easy when you take the attitude toward the universe in entirety and toward each entity of the universe in particular that the universe takes toward you" (p. 146).

In Unity of All Life (UAL), EB explores this idea in the chapter "From Futility to Meaning."  In a discussion about the question Why, EB explains what he calls "the why of resistance."  He says that this why is an "expression of rebellion against some undesirable situation.  It does not really want to know the Truth.  It prefers to consider itself the victim of an evil 'frame-up.'  There may be a feeling that a thing came about by God's will for some inscrutable reason of His own.  Or there is the feeling that great injustices are perpetrated on helpless humanity by the forces 'they say' are out to get you.  This 'Why?' is a loud 'how dare you to do this to me' directed against life in general" (p. 33).  EB goes on to say that the resistance is implicitly criticizing God.  But by criticizing God, if such a thing were actually possible, EB says that those who resist just don't understand the nature of "the Infinite" and their own ability to be one with life.  Thus, if a person accepts his/her part of a divine universe, as a divine being in it, then there is nothing to resist.  The belief that God did something to us implies that God is "out there somewhere" (many people point upward) who is capricious and might be angry at us if we don't obey the rules (whatever they are).  EB says, "The question. 'Why doesn't God . . .?' presupposes a duality, God 'out there' and man 'down here'" (p. 34).

And yet many of us realize that God cannot "do" anything.  It is we who make choices and decisions about how we will live and more important, how we will deal with what happens to us.  One aspect of resistance could be seen in the concept of failure, which EB also discusses in this same chapter of UAL.  For some, success, as they define it, is a benchmark in itself.  Goals just become stepping stones on a road to the ever-undefinable success.  So as EB points out, people see failure as not achieving their goals and believe that they have failed themselves and/or others.  But as EB also explains, modern research has been called 'the art of successful failing'" (p. 37).  How many of us have been resistant even once to trying something new because we might fail.  This is almost being resistant to success.  If I do not try, I cannot succeed.  Or as we know the popular phrase: "Nothing ventured; nothing gained."  What if Edison had given up after the 500th time the lightbulb did not work?

As EB further explains, "Experiences are not good or bad of themselves.  They become to us what we see them as being.  We always have the choice tediously to go through them, or victoriously to grow through them.  And, more than we know, meaning in life comes from our right of choice, the choice to have faith, to believe in deeper realities, to see the larger horizon" (pp. 39-40).  Perhaps you've seen the motivational poster of a boat out to sea with the caption, "To explore new horizons, we must first lose sight of the shore."  We need to be nonresistant to change, the unknown, rocking waves, turbulent seas and yes, even, metaphorical seasickness if we want to achieve our own level of success, as we define it.  We would be foolish to believe that the sea is against us in a storm, when the sea is just being the sea.  We decide whether we are getting into the boat and whether we will heed the weather reports.  EB says, "The 'Why?' of a thing is never in the experience.  It is only in the person" (p. 40).  We decide how we will steer the boat and to which place we will sail.  And, most important, we can change course anytime we want because we can choose not only how we will live, but how we will react to what happens to us.

Near the conclusion of this chapter, EB explains that life is lived from the inside out, and that life cannot be lived the other way.  Yet, he believes, people are resistant to their experiences because this is how they live and furthermore because they "try to endow life with meaning through seeking meaning in experiences" (p. 41).  When we focus on what we want and then do not receive it, we often make this "failure" mean something.  And then we may get caught up in what EB calls the 'whirling circumference of life,'" (p. 41) to which we also endow meaning.  But just as Shanklin does, EB also reminds us that we are the ones who in and of ourselves have meaning.  As we see ourselves as part of a divine, abundant universe, we see ourselves, as EB says, "in the unity of all life.  This means that we must find ourselves in the whole, must realize that the whole of Spirit is within us.  It is not just a matter of 'finding God.' . . . It is more a matter of finding ourselves at the point of our own divinity" (p. 42).  And this is exactly where non-resistance comes in, for if I accept my divinity in this great and wonderful universe, it follows that I also must accept those moments when I have forgotten this inherent divinity and made choices or taken action that are not for my highest and best good.  

{To Be Continued}

Does Butterworth's Theology include a Theme of Non-Resistance?

As I have been reading and re-reading  Eric Butterworth's writings, I notice a recurrent theme of non-resistance.  So, I want to explore this further.  While the answer outright could be, "Of course, he does.  He includes a chapter on it in Discover the Power Within You (DPWY)."  But one chapter does not a theological bent make; hence, some exploration. 

In DPWY, EB includes a chapter called "Your Thought is Your Life" (pp.73-87). One of the main ideas of this chapter is that through our thoughts we know and express our own divinity.  Thus, we can improve and enhance our lives by keeping our thoughts spiritually centered.  When EB explains Matthew 5:14-16, he recommends that we accept our own divinity and how we express it now.  As the writer of Matthew says, Jesus urged those who listened to the Sermon on the Mount to "so shine [their] light" rather than placing it under a bushel.  How sensible!  It makes no sense to put a light under a bushel for it diminishes the power of the light.  Thus, we diminish our own power by resisting our own light.  EB says, "You cannot hide spirituality. . . . 'Let your light shine'" (p. 77).  He further recommends that "being" is more important than "talking," referring to Ralph Waldo Emerson's belief that what we are speaks louder than what we say.  And how many of us resist who and what we truly are?  Don't many people fear that they are the "light of the world"?  How often have we ourselves hidden our own light under a "bushel" because we it was easier to resist our own nature and follow the crowd instead?

In In the Flow of Life (IFL), EB explains how we should allow ourselves to flow with life and to live in life's flow.  He says in the chapter, "The Art of Getting Along": "There is a flow of harmony and love everywhere, whether you are aware of it or not . . . . This is what the 'omnipresence of God' means.  You do not leave the presence of God or the flow of life and love when you are negative or resistant.  You leave the consciousness of the Presence.  But you are in the flow and the flow is in you every moment and in every experience. . . .   If you [feel as if you] are being pushed around, you are out of it. . . . [T]he desire to retatilate or incriminate is a state of your consciousness. . . . Jesus said, 'Love your enemies . . . that you may be sons of your Father' (Mt 5:44-45).  Which is to say: Stop resisting and start loving.  Get yourself back in the flow" (p. 84).

If we considered these ideas from an Non-Violent Communication (NVC) perspective, for example, we might understand that we have forgotten to connect to our own feelings and needs.  Often we don't know what we need or how we feel, because we have put our light away and forgotten who it is we truly came here be.  We get out of our own flow because sometimes we are so busy following someone else's path.  Then we feel angry, upset, despondent, depressed even, and feel unhappy with our lives, often declaring at the breaking point, as Peter Finch does from a balcony in the movie, Network: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"  And one could almost imagine EB right out there in the audience saying, "Good for you.  Get back into the flow.  Stop resisting your own nature."

Furthermore, if we look more closely at the quote from Matthew, we could "love" our enemy because s/he has shown us that we are disconnected from ourselves.  EB points out further on pages 84 and 85 of IFL that our feelings came about because there was chaos within us.  He uses an example of someone taking a seat that we wanted, but if we are out of the flow, this could easily be the same as someone cutting us off in traffic, taking a parking place or grabbing the last loaf of rye bread off the shelf.  The thing in itself isn't important; it is our reaction to it.  If we are aware of our light and are in the flow, we might say, "Oh, well, s/he must be in a big hurry this morning and need to get to work faster than I do."  If we imagine that the other person, as is suggested in Matthew, is also a child of God, we might realize that s/he is trying to fulfill his/her own needs and probably has nothing to do with us.  If we realize that our light is still shining brightly and that we are in the flow, how interesting it is that we still get to work on time, or we find another seat on the train, or we find another kind of bread that we like even better.  EB says that we could figuratively say, "'Thank you, for you have been instrumental in revealing to me that I am out of the flow'" (p. 85).  This is our opportunity, once again, to recognize the divinity within ourselves, and in everyone else, too.

In addition, EB suggests that while the "creative nonresistance" of St. Francis, Jesus or Buddha may not be easy, our reaction or over-reaction to a person's behavior or a situation could lead to more serious consequences.  In IFL, EB encourages us to do as Jesus did and pray for those "who despitefully use" us (p. 86).  And of course, the truth is, they did not use us.  They were completely focused on themselves.  If we can change our thoughts about the person and/or the behavior/situation, chances are we will recognize our need to get back in the flow and into a greater awareness of our own shining light.  Then we become non-resistant and allow things that might upset us to flow right on by.

{To Be Continued}

Welcome

This blog will explore some of the wisdom and wonder of Eric Butterworth, a 20th century theologian in the Unity Movement.