Spirit Quest Course

I have really enjoyed this course but it took longer than I expected.  Being a single mother and trying to work and study it was not always easy to meditate and read the course work 3 times.  But I got there in the end. 

Since starting this course it has taken me on a journey.  I found a new partner who is spiritually minded and a Reiki healer and we have become engaged.  I have also given up alcohol and feel more comfortable in my sobriety. 

I have used some of the tools now in my new business. I have become a Self Discovery Coach and built a website  www.discoveringyou.co.uk  to help people go within to find all the answers.  I have coached 2 people who were suffering and I guided then to do meditation and look for the answers from within. 

I have started some great workshops where I do guided meditations and have used some of the techniques such as the roses and golden sun to aid me in this. I really needed the grounding cord information for this work.  I believe that meditating is where we will get all our answers.  I also use the Angel cards which always give people great answers.  I have a larger scale workshop planned in a few weeks in the local Hairdressers and have had to ask for some help from my friend a Reiki healer and another who is into Angel cards to assist me.  I will be doing a lot of goal setting and getting people to create there future and I will be opening and closing the evening with guided meditations.

Everything in this course I could relate to.  I have steered away from Reiki and working with healing energies as I feel it is my path to work with the mind.  I do more work with the subconscious mind.   I use the meditations, affirmations, positive thinking and creative visualisation.  Forgiveness is also something I apply to my work now.  I believe we create everything and if we don’t forgive this will fester and becomes an illness. 

I must say there was really nothing in this course that I didn’t believe in.  I had some knowledge of some of course but it was fabulous to read it through in a different perspective. 

I would like to thank ULC for everything they have given me.  And I wish you all the love and joy you could wish for. 

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church  minister supplies. Since being ordained with the Universal Life Church for so many years and it's Seminary since the beginning, I've watch the huge change and growth that has continued to happen.

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Spiritual Awareness

Doctor of Spiritual Awareness Final Essay
by Justin Oles

Having already completed most of the spirituality courses offered by the Seminary, to include the Master of Spirituality course, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this course.  After all what would the change from “master” to “doctor” actually entail.  I think it entails mostly a more profound, indirect and more open and thought provoking look at the topic.  It also entails more breadth and depth to the topic.  The Doctorate course covers everything from healing and energy use and gathering to spirits, haunting and basic exorcism.  Major tenets of the course listed below.  Firstly, to never do any magical act; whether it be healing, scrying, or helping someone without their permission.  Secondly, advice against the rookie mistake of using your own energy for the purpose of magic, with examples and practicals on how to gather energy from other sources and use it properly.  In addition that our thoughts are what controls things on this plane of existence as well as on the others.  Our thoughts and will are what creates magic, not the fanciful movements of our hands or wands.  Lastly, to be careful with dealing with spirits, while explaining the basic fact that no spirit that will contact you is outside your power to deal with, while some can be tricky and can often put up a fight that requires brains and not brawn to beat.

One of the unfortunate facts about this course is that it presents some ideas that will make no sense if you haven’t taken other spirituality courses.  This is not really an issue since it is listed as a doctorate level course and the implications therefore would be that you should take the masters level courses first.  One complaint along those lines is that while the ascended masters are spoken of in passing throughout the course an explanation of whom and what they are was saved for the final lesson.  While I am sure the author has a valid reason for this it would make more sense to me logically to have an explanation of the terminology before the term is use for the first time, or at a minimum a brief explanation included with the first use of the term.  Once again, having taken many different courses from the seminary previously I had an understanding of the meaning of almost all terms, someone who has less experience or training may find it difficult to become fully engrossed in and truly understand the lessons based on this fact alone.

One good thing about the course was the breadth and depth.  While this is a doctorate level course and I was expected it to drill down more specifically as such it ended up being a good overall view of spirituality with the thought processes of an upper level course but with the specificity and breadth of a primer course.  This worked simply because it was able to make you curious enough to do more research on your own.  The only drawback of this being the author has to give over some control of where that curiosity brings you rather than control the entire journey through the course.

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.
The Universal Life Church offers handfasting ceremonies, funeral ceremonies and free minister training. 
 

Four Gospels Course

 Rev. David Mavity

The Four Gospels Essay

“For what is now called the Christian religion existed even among the ancients and was not lacking from the beginning of the human race until 'Christ came in the flesh'. From that time, true religion, which already existed, began to be called Christian.”(Saint. Augustine).

This statement is often taken by many to be a Christian claim of vast superiority over

every other faith, but a careful study of the Gospels will show that Augustine, himself a

Neo- Platonist, meant that Christianity is one great Teacher’s view of a very old and

universal philosophy, as well as a reformation of His own faith, Judaism. I see this as one

of the true beauties of Christianity, when properly understood.

A thinking and reflective Christian is a follower of a Rabbi who fully understood His

connection with God, his understanding of all people as His brothers and sisters, and the

realization of the inherent presence of God within ourselves. (In certain esoteric traditions,

Jesus is considered the only human to have reached the level of “Ipsissimus” [he who is

most like himself,] which reflects his knowledge of the Divine within.) An informed

Christian will also understand his/ her faith as a very simple philosophy, very similar to

other faiths, and should be able to converse amicably with those of other religions, seeing

the points on which they can agree. A famous Christian occultist, the Rev. Ann Davies,

once observed that “a Cabalist (Christian adept/ mystic) can enter any church, synagogue,

or temple, and worship fervently, because he understands the universality of true

religion.” Augustine’s quote essentially says that the Christian religion is another view of

the  “perennial philosophy.”

***

I believe that if I was able to go back in time, and talk to just one person, I’d ask Jesus

“did you intend to start a new religion?” I believe his answer would be a horrified “no.”

He was trying to explain the relationship of God to man, establish a simple way for man

to “reconnect” with his creator, and reform what had become a corrupted system. I also

believe he would explain Christianity as a philosophy, a new approach to his own

religious tradition, a “new way.”

The Gospels demonstrate a very simple doctrine of Christian philosophy, and act as a

guide on how to live, act, and treat your fellow man, as well as a “hidden doctrine,”

which I’ll touch on later. Basic Christianity lays out thusly:

1.     Love God. We are his children, and He loves us all, equally.

2.     Love you neighbor. Since all people are equally loved by God, they are your brothers and sisters.

3.     There is karmaic retribution, for all deeds done, whether good or bad.

4.     “The Kingdom of God is inside you.” (Luke 17:21. Compare to Thomas 3) This is the secret, or esoteric doctrine.

We can see that Jesus’ focus was on love, for God and your fellow man, as well as a

cosmic sort of punishment for not following this teaching.

***

Jesus taught using metaphor. It is a clever technique, as He designed them to be

understood by the common people in one sense, and by his disciples and the more

enlightened in another, knowing that not all were prepared for the full import of His

message- “milk for babes, meat for strong men.” (1 Corinthians 3:2) The standard New

Testament doesn’t explain this esoteric doctrine, although it makes it clear that the

disciples were privy to it. We can get a clearer understanding by looking at the first 3

statements in Thomas:

1. “And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

-Jesus made it abundantly clear that we are all immortal, and proved it with His Resurrection. Knowing this, really knowing this, frees us.

2. Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all.

- He is discussing humanity’s search for the Divine. Most consider God to be something “out there,” the classic old, bearded man sitting on a throne in the sky. Where did Jesus say the Kingdom of God is? Pretty disturbing to those who believe that God is “out there.” 

3. Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you. 

When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty." 

-These three statements really hold the key to understanding Jesus’

message and living a Christian life. If all people are your brothers and

sisters, little sparks of the divine in human bodies, how could you possibly

hate them or treat them badly? 

***

Understanding these basic points in the Gospels and Christian philosophy

properly is not only key for anyone of that faith, but especially for a Christian 

minister, and particularly for a U.L.C. Christian minister who understands the

ideas of Universal Life  and “We Are One.” We meet, talk to, and counsel

(without even knowing it) people of different religions (or none) every day . It is

crucial, if our ministry is primarily a Christian one, that we understand the

universal nature of the teachings in the Gospels. Mainstream Christianity’s biggest

mistake has been in treating Jesus as an exception, rather than an exemplar- a big

brother, elder, teacher and counselor with the very simple, beautiful, and universal

message carried in the Gospels. It is our duty to follow His example.

Exemplar.

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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. I have been a proud member of the ULC for many years and the Seminary since its inception.

The Universal Life Church offers handfasting ceremonies, funeral ceremonies and free minister training.

As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge selection of Universal Life Church  minister supplies. Since being ordained with the Universal Life Church for so many years and it's Seminary since the beginning, I've watch the huge change and growth that has continued to happen.

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar