Not being judgmental does not mean not using common sense to speak up or act honestly when we see people we care about or people we serve doing things that are contrary to living at peace, in harmony with life.  Syd says "a non-judgmental mind is a mind at peace."  That refers to things like personal judgments -- resentments, attitudes towards certain types of people or negativity, things that carry a bad feeling.  But, for example, if you know someone you love is using dangerous drugs, the loving thing to do is to exercise your judgment that you will not encourage drug use or overlook it.  It would make no sense to support the person's drug use to avoid looking judgmental.

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People often express confusion about Sydney Banks' advice to "just be yourself; be ordinary."  They hear it as if it means "mediocre" or "not realizing your potential."  Actually, the deeper meaning of "ordinary" is "part of the order of things," and that is what we point to with the Principles.  Everyone comes into life with extraordinary gifts: the divine universal energy of Mind powers us to be able to create Thought and become Conscious of our Thoughts as our reality.  To be ordinary is to be comfortable in your understanding of the order of things and the power you have to use these gifts to create the life you want.  That's special, but it's available to all people, so it's ordinary.

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It's that time of year again when we're all expected to be joyful and enthusiastic, and a lot of people just feel stressed, pressured, and anxious about doing all the things they think they have to do for the holidays. We forget that we're making it up. It's our own thinking about holidays, our own exaggerated ideas of what we need to get done, our own pressure to make everything perfect for friends and family, that creates a lot of worried, stressful thinking. We don't lose our natural resilience during the holidays; we simply forget to depend on it and get caught up in thinking and planning and striving. When we start feeling the tension build, it's a good time to stop, clear our heads, and quiet down. It all works out.

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(We are re-sharing a podcast from last year during the holiday season because it feels timely to us to remind ourselves and all of us that love and understanding are the answer to to human suffering and the problems of the world.)

The universal energy of creation finds expression in human beings through our ability to think and experience our thinking.  It moves from perfect formlessness into the forms we create via thoughts.  We "see" thoughts come to life as our personal reality.  We remember our thoughts, which become our personal "library."  But each moment is a moment in which we choose to recall and reconsider memories or bring fresh thoughts from formless energy to form, so every moment offers the possibility of a fresh start.  When we discover our true spiritual nature, formless energy at the essence, we are in touch with pure, unconditional love and understanding, the source of life and the forms we give love in it.

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People tend to define themselves according to the outside world.  We try to "be" something or someone, pursuing the ideas we and others have made up about ourselves, and react to events and people.  The Principles show us we are guided by our spiritual power of Thought and, when we have peace of mind, by the quiet wisdom beyond our personal knowledge.  Once we find stillness of our own minds, we act with the certainty, strength, and confidence wisdom brings.  We fearlessly follow opportunities life presents us.  We are at ease.  We gain the perspective that allows us to understand others, and find peace with differences, rather than fighting for the illusions of our own thinking.

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We are often asked, "Why is my child hanging out with 'bad' friends?" Or "Why do I keep falling for abusive men?" Or "Why do I keep doing business with people who cheat me?"  Those questions arise from one deeper question: "What is it about the state of mind I live in that attracts me to the 'wrong' people?"  Everyone lives in a range of feeling and understanding that they would call "normal."  People who live at the same level we do feel safe and familiar.  So our own security and peace of mind determine our associations.  As we change, some drift away and others are drawn in.  If we want "better" friends, we deepen our own understanding and find more peace of mind.  Then it happens naturally.

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Everyone has guilty thoughts. Some people get stuck in guilt and never lose the feeling. Others experience guilt and make amends if possible, or learn from the experience it's related to and move on. Guilt is a feeling that informs us we have done or said something that we realize was not right or caused harm. It is healthy to experience the feeling, reflect on the source, and clear it up. It isn't healthy to go on and on harboring guilt over things from the past which we cannot resolve or change. We act on the thoughts that make sense to us at each moment in life, given our state of mind and level of consciousness. The gift of growth in understanding is to see beyond thoughts that no longer make sense.

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Psychology is a product of early 20th century interest in studying the soul and the mind.  The word psychology has its origins in Greek words meaning "the study of the soul."  As scientific methods -- focus on the measurable -- became the focus of study, Psychology abandoned the immaterial, immeasurable soul, calling it the purview of Religion, and focused on behavior, which is measurable.  With that, we lost the understanding that a soul at peace would generate different behaviors than a soul in turmoil.  We lost focus on the spiritual source of thought and started defining people by the outcomes of their thinking.  The Principles bring us back to the Source, a Feeling of deep connection to the universe.

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The essence of The Three Principles is that everything in the world originates from Spiritual Energy formed into thought.  The Principles belong to the Spiritual realm; they describe how the energy of life works and what creation is.  Often, when people hear "spirituality," they think religions, but religions are the form the energy of spirituality has taken.  Often people mistake spirituality for a learned behavior: they take certain actions or define themselves certain ways to show they're Spiritual.  But Spirituality is not a designation; it is a truth of life.  We are all spiritual beings; everything created arose from the Divine Intelligence of the Spiritual realm.  We discover our spirituality in a beautiful feeling of ease and contentment.

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