Revival isn’t a word you hear at all in my denomination. We talk more about spiritual enlightenment than revival. About self-realization and the inner work it requires. About the power of changing our thoughts. About manifesting, creating with, unfolding, and relying on the Christ Mind within us. And all of this is good. But we don’t talk about revival, and I think it’s time! Even though all I really know about a revival is what I’ve seen in movies.
I’m talking about the kind of revival that takes place in the individual minds and hearts of each one of us. I’m calling for a widespread inner revival that renews countless minds and changes them. Charles Fillmore wrote that a change of mind is the very first requisite of the new life in Christ.
A month ago I was driving home from the Unity Southwest Regional Conference in La Quinta. While there I’d heard a powerful presentation by Rev. Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Change Our World. His book has been endorsed by six Nobel Laureates and several prominent theologians. The pictures I had seen during his presentation of the suffering of people, animals, and our planet Earth filled my mind and my heart as I drove. I prayed out loud, “Lord, we need to wake up! The Christ Mind within each of us has been overshadowed by the greed and the love of power of the ego. Why don’t we see that what affects any of us affects all of us? Why do we turn a blind eye to the suffering of our brothers and sisters, of our animals, of our planet? Help us, God! We need to wake up!”
Has the Intellect Become Our God?
Einstein once said, “We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.”
This seems to have already happened. We live in a world where intellectual understanding is valued more than spiritual understanding. And yet, spiritual understanding is the higher wisdom within us that we must wake up to. Though we have believed the intellect is the source of our wisdom, it is not; it is the instrument of the Christ Mind within us. Big difference! And it takes a revival within us to understand this.
In the book of Romans, St. Paul writes explicitly about the heartless condition of the hearts of the people. He knew that without an inner revival, the mind is solely under the influence of the intellect, or what he called “the carnal mind,” and its belief of separation from God and from one another. Under that influence we make choices that cause suffering to others and to ourselves. Of course – and again before we have been “revived” – the ego or carnal mind insists that this is not true!
We Need an Inner Revival
Paul has an answer for us; each one of us needs our own inner revival.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.— Romans 12: 2
And what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God? The answer is that it is good and acceptable and perfect for all of life, all people, all life forms. If God’s good will was only for some, it would be none of these. However, the power of the ego is so tenacious that we are not able to realize this – let alone prove it – until we have been transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Our world desperately needs this kind of revival, a widespread spiritual renewal and awakening. For without it, the world will continue to look as it does today: war, poverty, suffering, injustice, inequality. Religion is a way to transformation, but the way requires each of us to do the inner work and allow Spirit or the Christ Mind to think through us.
How can you have a revival?
- Quiet the intellect by learning meditation and practicing it daily.
- Question what you think you know – about anything.
- Put away thoughts that have no compassion or kindness and reach for something higher.
- Ask daily for spiritual understanding.
- Remember to “put on Christ” and the way of Christ Love.
- Use as a measuring stick for all decisions: “Is this in alignment with God’s Good Will for everyone?”
- Be grateful that God’s presence is within you now and is showing you the way.