In this posts I talk about my personal experiences with the 5 Basic Principles of Unity and Prayer+Meditation.
First of all, some words on Unity. Unity is a spiritual philosophy based on holistic Christian concepts. Unity is based on five principles concerning God, goodness, thoughts, prayer and action. These basic ideas make up the Unity belief system. Unity is not considered a “mainstream” Christian religion. Rather it is classified under the “New Thought” genre.
The Five Principles
1.There is only one Presence and one Power active as the Universe and in my life. God the Good.
2. Our essence is of God; therefore we are inherently good. This God essence was fully expressed in Jesus, the Christ.
3. We are co-creators with God, creating reality through thoughts held in Mind.
4. Through prayer and meditation, we align our heart-mind with God. Denials and affirmations are tools we use.
5. Through thoughts, words, and actions, we live the Truth we know.
The Unity five principles support the spiritual seeker to understand what it means to live in true oneness, how to tap into and live our own divinity; how to use our thoughts to forge our best reality; how to stay in contact with the Divine within through prayer and meditation and what it means to live the Truth.
The first principle supports us to understand and embrace the idea that God is the source and creator of all. God is present everywhere and that God is all good. This principle also suggests that there is only Spirit. From a prayer and meditation point of view, I think it is essential, to experience the Divine Presence within ourselves for ourselves. Having an intimate knowing of the innate living Loving of God helps us embrace Life – particularly its ups and downs – itself easier. Meditating helps us consciously unfold and become more and more aware of God’s presence in all.
The second principle suggest that we are created in the image of God and the Spirit in God lives withing each of us. As we pray and meditate, we deepen our relationship with God and as a result, we become more aware of who we are in Spirit and as a unique expression of God. Then we start seeing the presence of Spirit within everyone we meet. As we start experiencing the goodness within, we start seeing Good in the world, too. (beyond the layers of drama and confusion)
The third principle teaches us that we are the creators of our own experiences. We are co-creators with God. Probably this is the hardest principle to embrace. We are often so unconscious of our ‘thinking’ that we do not realize how we generate the various experiences we have throughout our lives. Probably the first step is to look at our experiences as a mirror of our thoughts. As we close our eyes and turn within, we also open to see ourselves in our entirety: the Good and the Limitations, too. In our prayer we deny and let go of the limited and as we do that, we start seeing our greatness reflected back at us in our daily lives.
The fourth principle teaches us the importance of prayer and meditation. I wish this principle was the first principle because for me this principle helps unfold all the others. Through prayer and meditation, we align ourselves with God. The tools we use to do that are denials and affirmations. We use affirmative prayer to raise our awareness of God and all the Good that God is. With denials we elevate and free ourselves from our limitations.
Finally, the Fifth principle reminds us that knowing the Truth is not enough, we must live it though our actions. We live the Truth as we know it. Meditation and prayer help us discover the Truth and help the Truth unfold and evolve within. We can also connect with Wisdom, Understanding and Divine Guidance.
Picture sources TOP pic and Unsplash
