Beloved Community

LIVING AUTHENTICALLY IN CHALLENGING TIMES

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“Whatever happens, stay alive. Don’t die before you’re dead. Don’t lose yourself, don’t lose hope, don’t lose direction.

Stay alive, with yourself, with every cell of your body, with every fiber of your skin. 

Stay alive, learn, study, think, read, build, invent, create, speak, write, dream, design.

Stay alive, stay alive inside you, stay alive also outside, fill yourself with colors of the world, fill yourself with peace, fill yourself with hope.

Stay alive with joy. 

There is only one thing you should not waste in life, and that’s life itself.”

~Virginia Woolf

Lots to be concerned about in the world today. While I don’t want to minimize any of it, I do want to remind you that it is more important that you not minimize yourself – your wisdom, your strength, your grit – during these times.

As far as I know, there has never been a time in human history when there were no challenges, no difficult people, no people who saw things differently, no natural disasters, no storms.

What makes these times different is our access to nearly instantaneous information about most, if not everything on the planet. This abundance of information is available on devices we carry with us throughout our day. We don’t have to go to a special place to access this information, or wait for the morning or evening editions of the newspapers, or the network television news, or for our neighbors to fill us in. It’s all streaming in the present moment.

Now, I know that a fair amount of this information is not accurate, sometimes because all the information is not available yet, sometimes because of innocent mistakes, and sometimes because of deliberate withholding or falsification. So, some of what we get isn’t true.

Of course, it has always been the case that false or mistaken information existed, and in each technological era there have been challenges in determining what is accurate and true.

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”

~ John Lubbock 

Which brings me to the topic of the post – how do we live a good and positive life in challenging times?

I think the answer is pretty much what it has always been, do your best to develop a healthy self-concept – to see yourself with radical honesty and to experience your own inner genius. Then, bring that awareness to the challenges the times.

Finding and living from that authentic center happens emotionally:

“Emotional intelligence is about so much more than recognizing, naming, honoring, feeling and expressing your authentic emotions. It also consists of alchemizing and transmuting them, releasing the heart wall, healing the emotional body and developing emotional regulation skills.”

~ Mary Amhasnaa

It happens in recognizing the validity of your own story:

“Never for the sake of convenience or acceptance give up the authenticity of your journey.”

~ Bishop Yvette Flunder

The authentic center brings with it your authentic voice:

“The voice of doubt, shame, and guilt blaring in our heads is not our voice. It is a voice we have been given by a society steeped in shame. It is the ‘outside voice.’ Our authentic voice, our ‘inside voice,’ is the voice of radical self-love!”

~ Sonya Renee Taylor, The Body Is Not an Apology

And the realization of the authentic self carries us through our suffering:

“Jung observed that a neurosis is always found in the flight from authentic suffering. Naturally, no one wants to suffer, but Jung’s observation suggests that there is a distinction between authentic and inauthentic suffering.”

~ James Hollis

When I am centered in the realization of my authentic self, I find qualities such as love, courage despite fear, clarity of purpose, the ability to see people as they are, and the recognition of what is mine to do. It brings me into my own power.

“Power is about presence. It’s the energy of knowing that you are who you are and speaking and acting from your authentic self. It doesn’t matter what your work is; it is your presence that’s the power…the expression of who you are.”

~ Marion Woodman

We are called in these times, in our times, to be immense. To face our fears and demand that humanity become The Beloved Community. Perhaps not in this time, or even our own lifetimes, but the seeds which have been planted by countless ancestors need to be nurtured and kept alive even as we plant more seeds day by day.

The point of this essay is this:

SPIRITUAL BELIEF WITHOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AND STABILITY IS DANGEROUS TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS.

We must develop our emotional intelligence along with our spiritual growth, doing this by beginning with our inner work, our spiritual practices, to recognize and call forth our inner power, wisdom, and love to be applied with clarity to the challenges we face. And by seeking psychological and emotional development, if not via our spiritual community, from other trusted sources.

From this place of realization of who we authentically are, we speak truth to power; we stand for fairness, justice, and equality; and we act in accordance with what we know to be right.

“The question is not why are we so infrequently the people we really want to be, but why do we so infrequently want to be the people we really are. Living a life of fulfillment that offers something of value to the world starts with radical self-knowledge, self-awareness and self-acceptance. Our task is to be who we are at the deepest level of being.”

~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Dance

As always, your comments are welcome. Please share with others who may be interested.

Copyright 2026 – Jim Lockard

WE ARE IN A TIME OF POLYCRISIS – WHAT IS BEING CALLED FORTH FROM WITHIN?

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“If you’ve been feeling confused and as though everything is impacting on you all at the same time, this is not a personal, private experience. This is actually a collective experience.”

~ Adam Tooze, Historian

According to Wikipedia, a polycrisis (from the French polycrise) is a situation in which multiple, distinct crises (economic, environmental, geopolitical, social, or technological) occur simultaneously and interact in ways that amplify each other, producing outcomes more severe than the sum of the individual crises.

There has been a barrage of bad news for several decades now; some of it accurate some not, some a result of the increase in media promoting ideology and the explosion of social media platforms. We are all affected by the state of humanity and the planet, some more than others. But we are all in a state of psychological and spiritual challenge – needing to find something greater within ourselves to bring forth to express in these times.

Some see this time of polycrisis as leading toward an evolutionary jump – as has been the case so often in history. The late futurist, Barbara Marx Hubard saw it this way.

“Many see looming catastrophe, but few of us have realized that this crisis is driving us toward positive change, a quantum transformation.” 

~ Barbara Marx Hubbard

“There is a system within nature that seems to lead to a crisis of one form of development that begins to become chaotic, begins to come into greater disorder and greater breakdown, and there is a pattern in these quantum jumps in which the system jumps to a higher order.”

~ Barbara Marx Hubbard

While this certainly may be the case, it does not lessen the pressure that we face. These evolutionary jumps often leave many behind, generate chaos, even wars and death. Any evolutionary leap requires some chaos, some destruction of the status quo, often suddenly and powerfully. Evidence shows us that evolution is careless of the individual in its endless drive toward something more. Evidence also shows us that what we have been doing is insufficient for the present and for an increasingly challenging future. So, what are we to do?

We know that we humans can rise to challenges, no matter how difficult. Communities come together when the river rises or the hurricane hits; people rush into danger to save complete strangers. One thing to know is that we all have within us this strength and compassion – our Soul contains everything we need to survive and thrive. We need to learn to bring it forth consciously and consistently.

“Often a collapse, a breakdown, a depression — some sort of unsolvable crisis is required before the soul’s message is heard.”

~ Phil Rockstroh

Some of us may require some significant breakdown before we can see the issue, deal with the threat, or listen to the soul. In our current state of polycrisis, there are certainly an ample number of seemingly unsolvable crises unfolding.

“In moments of spiritual crisis we fall back upon what worked before – through the reassertion of our old values in belligerent ways.”

~ James Hollis

Our calling is to transform ourselves, our communities, and our societies. To accomplish this, we must heal ourselves of our limited conditioning, to do regular practices which support this healing, and to engage in our communities and society as an imperfect, but largely healed person. This necessitates confronting our inner demons, our repressed shadow elements, and any sense of our own unworthiness. All of this is on our agenda, and unless we attend to it in a loving, disciplined, and compassionate manner, we will be stuck where we are, unable to bring the best our ourselves to the challenges we face.

It also requires us to grieve what we have lost and what we are consciously giving up to allow us our spiritual growth. We will need to say goodbye to some of our own sacred cows; to release what does not serve our growth, and to grieve properly.

‎”Wake up! Your word is all powerful. Your consciousness is one with Omnipotence. Your thought is infinite. Your destiny is eternal and your home is everlasting heaven.”

~ Ernest Holmes

The critical role of spiritual community in this process is to teach the teaching and to provide a container for development along the painful path of self-realization and awakening. Our church community needs to develop as well, particularly the spiritual leaders and teachers who will need to be capable of the tough love and compassion necessary for this transformation to occur. The Beloved Community will only be realized when enough of us have done the work of realizing who we are and then fully accepting our divine nature.

Whatever and how many crises are touching our lives, we must know that we have within us the capacity to survive and thrive.

“Our culture makes it hard to get in touch with the genuine dimensions of our despair, and until we do, our power of creative response to planetary crisis will be crippled. Until we can grieve for our planet and its future inhabitants, we cannot fully feel or enact our love for them. Such grief is frequently suppressed, not only because it is socially awkward, but also because it is both hard to credit and very painful. At the root of both these inhibitions lies a dysfunctional notion of the self, as an isolated and fragile entity.”

~ Joanna Macy

Join me in affirming:

This is my year of resurrection! I willingly release what no longer serves me in my spiritual growth and commit to the path of awakening and self-realization beginning now.

I know that the True Me is contained in my fullness in the Soul of my being. I commit to doing the work to reconnect with this source of wisdom, healing, and love within me. I am becoming the best version of me, which is enough to live the life of my dreams AND to be a constructive element in every community to which I belong.

I begin now and revisit this statement every day as I do my spiritual practices. As I do this work moment by moment each day, I envision myself whole and complete.

And so it is.

Copyright 2026 – Jim Lockard

TRANSFORMATION: HOW TO MOVE TOWARD SIGNIFICANT INDIVIDUAL CHANGE

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“Whatever leadership used to be — it used to be. Now, it has to be something different. Now, we all have to be more than we were. The kind of leadership that I want to explore may not be identifiable as leadership at all.  I am interested in a kind of mutually alert care and attention to the well-being of all people and ecological systems. This kind of leadership cannot be found in individuals, but rather between them. It cannot be found in organizations, nations, religions or institutions, but rather between them. I have called it Liminal Leadership to highlight the relational characteristics.”
~ Nora Bateson

The transformation of organizations (LINK to previous post) begins with the transformation of individuals. As individuals develop to new levels of complexity with expanded values systems, they can influence the organizations which they lead or to which they belong. In this post, we will explore what is needed for individual development of leaders, but anyone in an organization can lead or influence regardless of their title or position.

As Nora Bateson points out above, we are in a time where transformative change or change on a grand scale is needed. We may not recognize the kind of leadership that is needed now because it is not familiar to us. We will not recognize the transformed organizations in our future as familiar either. We are moving toward whole system changes, from what we have known to something which both transcends and includes what is familiar. We can no longer rely on strategies of the past to take us where we are being called to go. We must learn to presence (LINK) an emerging future, as C. Otto Scharmer tells us:

“The ability to shift from reacting against the past to leaning into and presencing an emerging future is probably the single most important leadership capacity today. It is a capacity that is critical in situations of disruptive change, not only for institutions and systems, but also for teams and individuals.”
~ C. Otto Scharmer

LEADING FROM AN EMERGING FUTURE

The idea of evolutionary leadership has been around for a few decades but is only now gaining significant attention. An evolutionary leader is one who has developed mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to be someone who presences the qualities of authentic leadership in such a way as to recognize the need for transformative change. In today’s world, it means presencing calmness and competence in the face of chaos, conflict, and disruption. It also means having the breath of vision to see the big picture and the depth of confidence and openness to welcome and encourage the participation of others.

“Fear of loss is part of the arrested state. Our nervousness in the face of chaos is what would make it impossible for the caterpillar to pupate into a butterfly. Chaos is the ground-force of creative potential.”
~ Jon Freeman on Facebook

“To think creatively is to walk at the edge of chaos.”
~ Robert Grudin

When we are in fear, we are paralyzed at least to some degree. We will be unable to respond effectively to challenges. A common version of this in Spiral Dynamics terms is when leaders are centered at Green, but are either immature, unhealthy, or both in that values system. This may show up as being paralyzed and unable to make needed changes because someone or some group will be upset by the changes. When centered at Green, we are very feelings oriented and will expend a lot of energy trying to keep everyone from being upset. Since all change is likely to upset someone, you can see how this situation can lead to negative outcomes.

Spiral Dynamics Levels of Existence

The degree of personal development needed to fully embody evolutionary leadership will vary from person to person, however it will involve both time and dedication. It is not a weekend seminar fix. Here are some qualities and characteristics of evolutionary leaders in spiritual settings. These are in addition to normal management and interpersonal skills required to lead spiritual organizations or ministries. There are also qualities which are consistent to movement into 2nd Tier levels (Yellow & Turquoise) on the spiral in here. You are unlikely to find most of these included in the curriculum of your spiritual organization.

  • Recommit to your spiritual practices. The advantage we in New Thought have is our spiritual awareness and the realization of our divine nature. Establish or deepen your practice to bring these elements into a stronger place in your consciousness. The goal is to automatically respond from your best self more and more.
  • Prioritize your emotional and spiritual intelligence (EQ & SQ) – the capacity to be fully present as your authentic self has never been more important. This is more about EQ & SQ than it is about IQ.
  • Also, work on your own individuation process (LINK). This means working to align every aspect of your mind – from the soul (deepest) through the subconscious (beliefs) and the conscious (thinking/feeling). Individuation involves the revealing and healing of the shadow (LINK) and other issues which keep your ego supporting your fears and not your passions. Being flexible and nimble is the key; being controlling (stemming from fear) doesn’t serve the needs of today. Therapy may be helpful here – seriously.
  • Study evolutionary leadership (do a search on the term for resources – I recommend Ecosia.org (LINK) who plant trees when you do searches).
  • Find some evolutionary partners – colleagues who are also on this pathway, even if they are not in New Thought. Connect with them regularly to discuss your thoughts, progress, frustrations, etc.
  • Find out what the futurists are thinking, writing, and saying. There are many people whose work is exploring what is happening and how it affects where we are heading. These include futurists (LINK) and cultural anthropologists (LINK). The purpose of this is both to inform you about trends which are affecting spiritual community and to get you outside of your siloed information gathering.
  • Read poetry. Write poetry. The coming times are better met by a poetic mind than by an analytical one.
  • The ability to be open to new ideas must be balanced with a clear sense of what is in harmony with your vision and what is not. The challenge for some is to learn to say ‘yes’ more often, the challenge for others is to say ‘yes’ less often.
  • If you are in leadership, make your vision (the organization vision) part of your everyday conversation. Get used to referring to it and make sure that everything that is done is in support of that vision. Don’t have a vision, or don’t have a compelling or relevant one? Then do a process to create one in the community or organization. Then make it a part of everyday life.
  • Remember that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” ~ Peter F. Drucker. I am surprised that many leaders don’t really pay attention to the culture of their organization or simply are not aware of it. Knowing the culture is essential, especially when it needs to change. When you strategize in ways that are not in coherence with the culture, the strategies will fail. Leaders must presence the vision all the time.
  • And since we don’t know what the future has in store in terms of models for ministry or spiritual community, we should be working to develop a healthy sense of trying things, having them not work or not last, and then trying other things. Make everything a pilot project. Realize that no decision is final. Model being open, flexible, and comfortable with uncertainty.

The good news is that we have within us everything we need to move through these challenging and transformative times. We need to call it forth – inwardly in the latent capacities which lie within us and outwardly in the vast array of resources and information available to us. This is our high calling in this moment.

“To know that you live in world in which you will change and be changed is to hold an idea of self gently enough to be reshaped, without breaking those around you. Every organism does this as seasons change. Life requires nothing less than infinite reshaping. This is grace. The alternative is a bet hedged against life itself; a zombie bargain for sameness.”
~ Nora Bateson

Your comments are welcomed.

Copyright 2025 – Jim Lockard

My books relate to these ideas and are available at all Amazon websites.

TRANSFORMATION: HOW TO MOVE TOWARD SIGNIFICANT ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

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“If you are an organization that is about transformation, but you do not evolve you are not about transformation.”
~ Lola Wright

There is lots of talk about the need for change these days and a lot of concern about the apparent fragility of our New Thought organizations and many of our ministries (LINK to earlier post). Let us look at how we might facilitate the transformational change required of us in the near and medium future.

It is important to note that at the same time that we are facing the impact of declining attendance and revenues in many of our ministries, we are facing a time of great need for spiritual support and renewal in our society. The question becomes how do we presence* ourselves to respond to the increasing demands across the spectrum of ways in which we exist as a movement? How do we stand, as Nora Bateson suggests:

“The practice of stance not strategy is next. While the tendency is to contemplate replacement forms of order, it may be more appropriate now to consider how to prepare to be in chaos more creatively. Re-visioning order is pre-emptive, and in a sense off-topic. Systems as we know them are in transformation.”
~ Nora Bateson

The chaotic nature of being in a time of rapid systems change denies us the luxury of predicting what forms our organizations and ministries should take even in the near future. Evolution, in biology as well as in its application to cultural change, takes us from something that is to something that wasn’t. Examples: we were a society without social media, then we were a society with it. We were a society where the average person went to weekend worship, then we were a society where people did other things on weekends.

We are in liminal** space, a time of great turbulence as new evolutionary values systems emerge and where there is the inevitable pushback from elements in society who have not evolved in harmony with the larger systems’ evolutionary process. We are called to step into the evolutionary flow, even though that may be uncomfortable and may require releasing ideas, things, and processes which we value. We should consider no decision final and no program untouchable; make everything a pilot project!

“I am sensing confusion between reforming and transforming. I doubt seriously that reforming is enough. It just sort of seems to keep happening…and since I will keep devoting each day to task of showing up with all that I can, I thought I would share this dangerous noticing with you who share in these efforts. May we swim deeply and off script.”
~ Nora Bateson

In these liminal times, those in leadership and those who support them must have the courage to release old forms and be nimble enough to try new things as called for, which themselves may be discarded quickly if they do not work or become irrelevant. This is a stance in leadership which may feel more comfortable in a Silicon Valley startup than in ministry. In ministry, a large part of our work is supporting those who struggle in one way or another. It is a greater challenge to be innovative regarding the forms of and within our ministries alongside the need to be a steady supportive presence. But what choice do we have today?

“Anything from the past, like an idea of what man of this or that culture might or should have been, is now archaic, and the transformation we are experiencing is really of the whole sense of humanity; what it means to be a cultured and world-related human being. This is a whole new thing. And so we have all of us to leave our little provincial stories behind. They may guide us as far as structuring our lives for the moment, but we must always be ready to drop them and to grasp the new experience as it comes along and interpret it.”
~ Joseph Campbell

From “Sunrise,” an interview with the late Michael Toms on the New Dimensions radio program

Joseph Campbell said those words nearly 50 years ago. The transformation he referenced has been speeding up. Since then, the emergence of significant pushback to the progressive direction of society, which was making things more diverse and equitable, has greatly complicated the situation.

“This is how systems change happens. Many contexts are simultaneously shifting in increasing rapid response to other changes. Logic and structures of old patterns are dissolving in response to response to response – within personal, societal and ecological complex systems. All at once.”
~ Nora Bateson

In my opinion, what is needed to generate transformation in organizations today are leaders who have the vision, emotional intelligence, evolutionary outlook, interpersonal skills, and patience to guide their organizations or ministries through times of chaotic change. The following points should be considered (I’m using “organization” to refer to ministries as well):

  • What is the current culture of the organization – is it open to change?
  • Does the organization have an overarching vision (such as The Beloved Community) and a clear mission statement?
  • Are the vision and mission part of everyday discourse in the organization?
  • What are the major shifts occurring (internally and externally) which affect the organization?
  • What are the “sacred cows,” or highly valued forms or processes of the organization?
  • Have any of the sacred cows become obstacles?
  • Are the key leaders (those with influence in the group) presencing the values of innovation, transparency, and compassion?
  • Are leaders open to questions and input from members of the organization?
  • Are leaders curious about the world beyond the organization?
  • Do current leaders have good relationships with others in similar positions with whom they can seek and provide mutual support?
  • Are board or leadership council members well prepared for their roles?
  • Are board or leadership council members provided all the tools and information to perform their decision making and oversight responsibilities? Does this happened in an ongoing way?
  • Is it easy to make changes in form and process when necessary?
  • Is the organization nimble and able to respond to new developments quickly and in meaningful ways?
  • Are leadership qualities appreciated and developed in organizational members by current leaders? Is there a leadership development program? Is it diverse?

“The old models are not working; the new have not yet appeared. In fact, it is we who are even now shaping the new in the shaping of our interesting lives.”
~ Joseph Campbell

Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine, p.xiv

We are in a time when all of this must be included in the organization’s planning and operations in addition to the regular functions and managing of priorities. Each situation, each organization, is different and the alchemy of the people present, the internal and external cultures, and the specific mission means that there is no new standard model. Pretty much everything will be a custom build.

The goal is to have a compelling vision and mission which attracts people who find it relevant and want to support it with their time, talent, and treasure. For the New thought organizations, this means providing vision and mission and support which, in turn, attracts support from its constituencies – ministries and individuals.

“The liminal realm in which we live is where the shifts are. Our integrity from one moment to the next, from one conversation to the next is everything. To take the risk of trusting each other is revolutionary, and evolutionary. Are we trustworthy?”
~ Nora Bateson

All of this must be done in an atmosphere of trust and integrity. We must be able to disagree and trust one another, able to question any idea or practice without being judged to have anything but good intentions. In the next post, I will explore the personal aspects of transforming into truly evolutionary and integral leadership.

“And now we welcome the new year.
Full of things that have never been.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

*Presencing: a state of being expressing one’s authentic values so as to set an example of embodying those values. (see Jablonsky, et al)

**Liminal: Liminal spaces are transitional or transformative spaces, and such places are often associated with a forlorn atmosphere, a disconnection from the concept of reality, and a fluid or sometimes neglected aesthetic. They are the waiting areas between one point in time and space and the next.

Your comments are welcomed.

Copyright 2025 – Jim Lockard

My books relate to these ideas and are available at all Amazon websites.

COMING TO TERMS WITH THE NEED FOR TRANSFORMATION

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“When the batteries in the remote control are dead, you always press harder. It’s human.”
~ Hervé Le Tellier

“In a time of destruction, create something.”
~ Maxine Hong Kingston

“Real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.”
~ Alan W. Watts

I wrote the following words in a post in January 2018:

“We are called to a different way of being. The signs of the present moment are telling us that our old ways of thinking and being are inadequate for the emerging future. We in New Thought are challenged to use our spiritual technologies more rigorously to create a consciousness of compassion, love, empowerment, and success which is beyond what we have seen before. We are called to an evolutionary response to self-transformation and to the transformation of our movement. How will we respond?” (LINK)

It wasn’t the first time I had written or spoken about the increasing urgency of the need for transformative change, big change, in our society and within our New Thought Movement. I have often felt like a Cassandra (LINK), but I guess that is my nature. Our tendency to see everything as “good” sometimes causes us to lose track of what is happening.

Here we are, in 2025, still slipping down the slope created by remaining relatively constant in a rapidly changing world. A combination of longing for the apparent successes of the past and a lack of role models and way showers for success in an uncertain future have essentially paralyzed us. Most of our ministries struggle to make ends meet, attendance continues to drop, and our organizations see revenues continue to drop, reflecting the drop in revenues experienced by most ministries.

Indeed, the pain in our organizations is increasing, and revenues are critically low in some cases. Without significant and transformative change in the immediate future, they will not be able to continue. We are failing to turn our anxiety into laughter.

Stop looking at your future through your present problems.”
~ Raymond Charles Barker

Is New Thought still needed in the world? I think so, don’t you? Are the current forms of New Thought organizations and ministries needed now and in the future? That is another question. The current versions are not delivering the teachings of New Thought as effectively as needed. There are several reasons for this, including some which are beyond our capacity to change (such as the state of the larger society), however, we are capable of significant change for the better. The question has never been our capability; it was our willingness to step into a larger arena.

What would a New Thought organization look like if we were starting from scratch today?

The good news is the healing has already begun, as noted by the legendary Stanislav Grof in the quote below. The challenge is to know how to process this healing.

“The manifestation of emotional and psychosomatic symptoms is the beginning of a healing process through which the organism is trying to free itself from traumatic imprints and simplify its functioning. . .. when properly understood and supported, this process can be conducive to healing, spiritual opening, personality transformation, and evolution of consciousness.”
~ Stanislav Grof

Shift Magazine, June-August 2004

We do not exhibit symptoms until we are ready to heal; this is true of individuals and communities. Whether that healing happens depends on the degree of realization of our own true nature. It is not what we believe so much as what is the state of our heart – the seat of wisdom and inner knowingness which defines us at any given time. We often settle for moving from thought to belief, which can lead to some surface level of change, but we can believe things which are not true. The real shift happens when we move from belief to knowing, which means a change of heart, a change of our deepest self-definition. It is the alchemy of transformation which goes beyond belief to knowing.

“Transformational prayer, therefore, is an alchemical process. We get cooked in prayer into a tasty stew. Then we get served up for supper to whomever or whatever is in of feeding in the moment . . .”
~ Regina Sarah Ryan

Praying Dangerously

This means that alchemical change or transformation requires that something die. An old belief system, an old self-definition, an old organizational culture – things which may have served a purpose, but which have become burdens in our ongoing developmental process.

“Every transformation demands as its precondition ‘the ending of a world’ – the collapse of an old philosophy of life.”
~ C.G. Jung

Man and His Symbols

When we cling to what is to be released, we consciously or unconsciously block our development. We eliminate the possibility of transformative change in our lives and our communities. We don’t want to face the “ending of a world,” even if we understand that such endings are necessary. We cling to what needs to be released, preventing us from making room for the new.

For our movement and its ministries to heal and to thrive, we must deeply heal individually in sufficient numbers to make a difference. We must transform alchemically to a sufficient degree to be capable of facilitating the necessary whole-system changes. We must plant the seeds for generations to come just as the New Thought founders planted the seeds appropriate to their time.

Everyone will not or cannot do this work to the depth necessary. But that is always so. It will be sufficient if enough do the work to create a critical mass in consciousness for collective progress. I invite you to join me in being one who does.

But what if we try and fail?

We are already failing.

“I’ve never seen any life transformation that didn’t begin with the person in question finally getting tired of their own bullshit.”
~ Elizabeth Gilbert

There will be more on this topic in coming posts, including the fact that you will not fully learn the way to this deep transformation in your New Though spiritual community.

I invite your comments below. Please share with others as appropriate.

#TheBeloved Community #AWorldThatWorksForEveryone

Copyright 2025 – Jim Lockard

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NAVIGATING POLITICAL CURRENTS AND FINDING OUR AUTHENTICITY

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Eight years ago, I wrote a blog series on the tendency for progressive spirituality to attract those who are progressive politically. It was called “Does Progressive Spirituality Translate into Progressive Politics?” (LINK)

Now that we are once again preparing a Trump Administration, it might be time to revisit this concept. The conclusion I came to in the previous series was that yes, the degree of progressive vs. conservative presence in the spiritual principles taught, along with the cultural evolutionary stages present in the spiritual community or organization, would predict the predominant political worldviews present. For example, in most (not all) fundamentalist spiritual communities the predominant politics are conservative, and someone with progressive views might find those views unwelcome. And, in most (not all) spiritual communities with a progressive spirituality, someone with conservative political views may find those views unwelcome.

There are conversations going on in New Thought circles about how to respond to those who support Donald Trump. Some who do so (including ministers) report that they feel their political views are unwelcome in their community or within the larger organization. Among those who are conservative politically, there is particular concern with the statements and positions on issues taken by Centers for Spiritual Living over the years. The statements and positions are seen as supporting progressive or liberal political agendas and are seen as taking sides in the political arena.

All of this causes concern among many of the spiritual leaders and among organizational leadership. The desire to have everyone feel at home in their community, organization, and the teaching is strong, as one would expect. The likelihood of this happening given the current state of political discourse, however, is vanishingly small.

There are two main reasons for this:

  1. Most positions taken by New Thought organizations on social issues are based on humanitarian values and spiritual principles. These tend to coincide with values and positions on the progressive side of the political spectrum. Examples are positions taken on marriage equality, on gun violence, and on trans rights.
  2. For the past four decades, Americans have been subjected to what are in effect lessons on how to adhere to the values of one’s political party, including never to compromise, never to admit you are wrong, and to always attack the position of the other party. These lessons, on cable news, talk radio, in print, and on social media have had a profound effect on political discourse in America. They have largely focused on fear and resentment and making those with whom you disagree into enemies.

We now have so much vitriol in our media and social media that people are often afraid to engage with others in everyday life. We have become highly sensitized to different ideas and opinions we may encounter. Expecting that conversations within our spiritual communities about politics would automatically be different is unrealistic.

“People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for.”
~ Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird 

If you want to facilitate conversations among people with different political worldviews, it is important to have strong facilitation skills. Such conversations, if they occur, will likely need to be managed if they are to remain civil. Ideally, conflict is allowed, but abuse is not. How and where to draw that line and having the presence to influence others to comply with important ground rules are essential skills for a facilitator.

“The liminal realm in which we live is where the shifts are. Our integrity from one moment to the next, from one conversation to the next is everything. To take the risk of trusting each other is revolutionary, and evolutionary. Are we trustworthy?”
~ Nora Bateson

We live in a time when agreement, even upon facts, can be very challenging. If I am unwilling to hear anything from members of a certain group, or to hear facts or opinions which do not agree with my worldview, then can I have the integrity to be in authentic conversation? And when I have learned to deny any attempt to convince me otherwise, when I attack whoever presents me with information contrary to my beliefs, how does the conversation progress? And to this point, what skill level would someone facilitating such a conversation need to express to guide the energy of the group?

And even if civility is present and there is a sense of openness to hearing different viewpoints, is that likely to lead to agreement on things like engaging in social justice projects, welcoming people in marginalized groups into the community, and related issues? Probably not.

We can avoid social justice initiatives, outreach, or discussing controversial matters, or encouraging people different from the current makeup of the membership to attend. Practicing avoidance is happening now in many ministries by spiritual leaders who don’t want to upset anyone – apparently deciding that the resulting appearance of peace is worth ignoring serious issues and failing to engage in good works if there is a hint of controversy.

Is it the job of a spiritual leader to make everyone agree? Or to make sure that everyone likes each other? I don’t think so. And what is the purpose of these conversations? Is it to get those who disagree to change their minds? If so, is that appropriate?

My belief is that the best way to attract people is to be authentic. For New Thought spiritual communities, that means being consistent and focused in teaching our timeless principles to help people in their spiritual self-development. It also means taking positions on issues where there is a spiritually sound position to be taken. It means not doing what is unauthentic, such as teaching material that is not related to New Thought – people can get that elsewhere or avoiding controversy when it arises.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
~Jesus, Matthew 11:15

We do not serve people well by diluting our message or by refraining from supporting good works in an effort to get people to stay. When we are authentic in our practices and presentation of our principles, we attract the right people – those who are ready to learn and who will do so with enthusiasm. People who recognize that to learn is to change and to change is going to be both uncomfortable and joyful, if not at the same time. People who want to express greater love and compassion and who want to live lives of contribution to something greater than themselves.

We in spiritual leadership often fall into the false beliefs that there aren’t enough such people, or that we are insufficiently prepared to lead and teach them. Or the equally false belief that everyone is ready to learn and grow right now. Yet the world around us is telling us, with increasing volume, that what we have been doing for the past half century isn’t working any longer; that we cannot be all things to all people; we cannot keep everyone happy and be authentic to our principles. We cannot pretend that the “real” world ends at our doorstep.

It takes courage to insist that authentic adherence to spiritual principles be the only guideline for what happens in a ministry. It also takes years of commitment to inner work to develop the consciousness and the level of competence necessary to do so with clarity and compassion. But when it is present, it is a powerful attractor.

The mission is to teach others how to do that in their own lives using New Thought principles and practices. Everything else we do either supports or distracts us from the mission. When this is done well, the conversations become less necessary as things are made clear.

“When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light.
If only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.”
~ Amanda Gorman

“The Hill We Climb”

Copyright 2024 – Jim Lockard

NEW THOUGHT: TRANSFORM OR COLLAPSE – Part 2

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“If we enter into it, that chaos can resurrect us into a higher wisdom, rooted in the wisdom of the creative process. The chaos that we fear is the very thing that can free us.”
~ Marion Woodman

Transformation is not for the faint of heart. It requires one to realize their power to surrender and to vision in a chaotic environment. The chaotic environment is upon us now, and growing more chaotic as time goes on. This chaos is driven by increasing rates of change in our society as well as the pushback to that change. In Part 1 (LINK) I wrote about how these dynamics are affecting New Thought organizations and ministries. In this post, I will address how it affects individuals and what we need to be to survive and thrive in these times.

“We suffer from the delusion that the entire universe is held in order by the categories of human thought, fearing that if we do not hold to them with the utmost tenacity, everything will vanish into chaos.”
~ Alan W. Watts,

The Wisdom of Insecurity

We have constructed our lives in concert with others and in the process, come to believe that the structures, both physical and cultural, which we have built are necessary for our survival. But the dynamics of the world around us are saying something different. They are saying that it is time to break out of the shell of the status quo as the snake sheds its too-small skin, and trust that there is something new for us.

These times of chaos are calling something forth from within us, something that has not yet emerged, but exists within us as latent potential. We are being called to individuate, which is to come into ourselves more and more fully.

“Jung’s individuation process is usually experienced after middle age or toward the end of life. It is not a withdrawal from life, but life itself–a way between man-the-seen and his soul-the-unseen. It is a way of transformation toward experiencing the wholeness.”
~ Maude Oakes

As we come to realize our wholeness more fully, by doing our spiritual practices and studying the great wisdom teachings, we become the version of ourselves which is necessary to traverse this liminal time of chaos and co-create what is beyond. This means that the more fully realized we become, the more we can engage with whatever is in our path – the positive and the negative.

‎”The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.”
~ Joseph Campbell

Spiritual realization, individuation, does not mean that we have no problems. It means that we can face much larger problems and grow as a result. It means that we are very difficult to knock off balance. It means that we know our own power. We stay present to whatever is happening, and we hold firm in our truth.

“To stay with shakiness — to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness — that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic — this is the spiritual path.”
~ Pema Chödrön

When Things Fall Apart

“What I’ve noticed about the people whom I consider to be awake is this: They’re fully conscious of whatever is happening. Their minds don’t go off anywhere. They just stay right here with chaos, with silence, with a carnival, in an emergency room, on a mountainside.”
~ Pema Chödrön

The time we are in requires nothing less than the best that we have to offer, the highest and deepest version of ourselves. True compassion can only come with the realization of our power, and compassion will be needed in the near future. Compassion means Truth expressed as Love and Power. It means the ability to stay balanced in chaos, to speak the truth, and to act with wisdom and love. Our beloved New Thought Teachings give us an advantage in this process, for that is exactly what they are designed to provide.

This is what it will take to lead spiritual communities and organizations from this time forward to truly create The Beloved Community. I am sure that New Thought principles will survive, however, the organizations and ministries will need to transform in order to survive in a sustainable manner.

“One must have chaos within oneself in order to give birth to a dancing star.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Copyright 2024 – Jim Lockard

Note: for those who have followed me as @JimLockard on Twitter/X, I am migrating that account to Bluesky Social LINK: https://bsky.app/.

Look for me there as @jimlockard.bsky.social – I look forward to connecting.

THE DIVINE PLAN AND HUMAN ERROR

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“We believe in divine patterns, and not divine plans.”
~ Ernest Holmes, Anatomy of Healing Prayer

“God doesn’t plan things, God is all that is.  An infinite purpose is a mathematical, logical, philosophical, and spiritual contradiction!  Therefore, by reason of the very nature of Reality it is necessary that the Divine impregnates the human and lets it alone to discover itself; however, the human is still subject to the law of its being.”
~ Ernest Holmes, Seminar Lectures

I will get to the election, but first some background. A common mistake in New Thought circles is to fail to fully understand the nature of the creative process, especially as it pertains to any plan or intentionality on the part of of the Universal (God, Spirit, Creative Intelligence, Infinite, etc.). This mistake can be seen when something negative or upsetting occurs, and the experience is attributed to a “divine plan” or that whatever happens is for the “highest and best.”

Such a belief is not consistent with New Thought teachings. It is more akin to fundamentalist belief in a micromanaging personal deity who directs and controls whatever happens, hence whatever happens is part of the “divine plan.” This error when it appears in New Thought students is rarely addressed, so it tends to continue to occur. As Ernest Holmes noted, “God doesn’t plan things, God is all that is.” It is our actualization of specific experience out of the infinite possibilities of Spiritual Potential that determines what happens in our realm of being.

“God is life; we make that life into living. God is love; we make divine love into loving. God is substance; we take the substantial reality and bring it through into the manifest world.”
~ Myrtle Fillmore

It is our individualized intelligence which actualizes some of the pure potential of the Infinite in our experience or into form. To the degree that we are in alignment with our inner divine qualities (Peace, Power, Beauty, Joy, Wisdom, Love, Light to name some), we use our individualized intelligence to direct the Energy of Life into positive outcomes, or we use it to turn negative outcomes around to whatever degree is possible.

And we are capable of directing that Energy of Life into negative, even catastrophic outcomes. We can do harm to ourselves, to others, to systems and institutions, in the short or long term, and that harm can be irreparable. The decision to respond to a text while driving and the death(s) and wreckage that results are an example of irreparable harm.

“We are centers or points in a Cosmic Universal Consciousness which is the Origin of all things.  On the scale of our individual lives we reproduce the Divine Order in Its entirety. The whole Divine nature is reproduced in us, but we are ignorant of the fact.  Our thought is creative, but in our ignorance, we use it destructively.”
~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

When we try to make everything positive, even deep loss or tragic decisions, we essentially refuse to differentiate between what is good and bad, positive and negative. We make the error of transposing the eternal perfection of the Universal Spirit existing in Oneness with the relative experience of being in the physical universe of duality. Duality may arise from Oneness, but it doesn’t look or feel like Oneness, ever. Duality is the realm of the opposites, where most evolutionary growth comes through the destruction of what currently exists.

This error of transposition may allow us to live in denial of the reality of our situation, which may seem like a comfort, but it also robs us of the full capacity to call forth our inner qualities to shift our situation. There is no divine plan. There is no deity with a personality. There is no life without psychic, emotional, and physical pain. We have access to an Infinite Intelligence, but we must actualize that intelligence through and into a dualistic reality.

“We have shown that man’s nature is the same as God’s Nature; we should have no intellectual difficulty in realizing that an Infinite Intelligence could not make an automatic individuality, and this explains why man suffers on his road to self-discovery.  His suffering is not God-ordained, because he creates his own experience as he becomes individualized.”
~ Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

“We have on the one hand the evolution of the individual life under the guidance of Divine Providence, which leads to harmony.  In contrast there is the freedom to live under the false guidance of a sense of being separated from Good, which leads to disaster and chaos.”
~ Ernest Holmes, Living The Science of Mind

The redemptive factor here is that no matter how bad things get, some degree of healing is possible. But there is no real possibility of healing without acceptance of the error and a willingness to atone for any harm done, to the degree that is a possibility. When we live in accordance with our spiritual principles, we are not excused from pain, indeed, we may be inviting it. But we experience that pain from a deep acceptance of the healing principles of the Divine within. We know that we are more than our pain, that the Spirit we actualize is unharmed and unharmable, and that there is always greater potential to actualize.

“So you look for patterns because that’s what humans do to try and make sense of things. In hope of some divine order. And you look in movies and songs and the things that you read for symbols, points and swirls that match your own. But the only real pattern there is, is the one you make when you hold up a mirror. And reflect.”
~ Iain Thomas,
“I Wrote This for You”

We live, move, and have our being in a universe which evolves via chaos and destruction. Our physical bodies can exist because earlier in time, stars, galaxies, and other celestial bodies collided, exploded, and dissipated creating heavier (more complex) elements in the process. This made life and complex organisms possible. The energy and matter in our universe grows and evolves through stress and chaos.

We are born into our life experience via the stress of leaving our mother’s body, a stress that prepares us (and mother) for what lies ahead. To imagine that spiritual growth, or any growth for that matter, would be free of stress, uncertainty, and chaos is to be willfully ignorant of the reality of our own existence.

The result of the US elections will lead to a great deal of pain, chaos, and uncertainty for many, including many who made the choice to select the next administration to govern them. The geopolitical world has become more dangerous for everyone. The ecological imbalances driving the climate crises are not going to be effectively addressed for some time, and time is of the essence. Iconoclastic worldviews, with their attendant racism, ethnic hatred, sexism, homo- and trans-persecution, general fears and mistrust have been given room to express and expand.

As in all things, this pain will not be evenly distributed, but it will be widespread. If we look at the decision as a collective one, we can see that it arose from a failure to confront the collective shadow of a nation, a culture, and some failed principles; but also from a very rational fear on the part of many about the direction of the world and their nation. No collective decision is universal, just as no individual decision is made without some internal doubt.

The redemptive possibilities of this decision are enormous. The deeper the hole you dig, the more opportunity to rise higher. But this decision will do real harm – it already has – and the willingness to atone seems to be missing from those who voted otherwise, and will not likely arise for some time, if ever, in those who are elated about the result. The reality is that had the other side won, there would have been harm there as well, but I think of a lesser degree and with greater hope of positive action.

Now, there is a collective need to mourn for many, a need to go within and do some serious self-reflection for all, and an ongoing need to practice the principles of New Thought for those of us who have been fortunate enough to find them and integrate them into our lives.

“There is a system within nature that seems to lead to a crisis of one form of development that begins to become chaotic, begins to come into greater disorder and greater breakdown, and there is a pattern in these quantum jumps in which the system jumps to a higher order.”
~ Barbara Marx Hubbard

As always, your comments are welcomed. Please share this with those who may be interested. Know that I hold you, dear readers, in my heart.

Copyright 2024 – Jim Lockard

A reminder: I authored the Daily Guides in the current edition of Science of Mind Magazine. Here is a link to download the guides:

SoM_Nov2024_Daily_Guides.pdf

And explore the magazine on-line or in hard copy. It is worth your time.

DON’T PANIC – IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE

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“Panic lacks perspective.”
~ Charles M. Blow, NYTimes

“Anxiety is the great killer of love. It creates the failures. It makes others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you. You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with his panic.”
~ Anaïs Nin

“To stay with shakiness – to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness – that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic – this is the spiritual path.”
~ Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart

We are well into a cycle of disruption. Human cultural evolution has pushed us to new heights of awareness and technology while simultaneously putting humanity, in fact much of life on earth, into grave danger. Those who have not been able to keep up with the progress made are reacting angrily, trying to smash the systems which heretofore have sustained them – not from a place of wisdom about redirecting our efforts toward sustainability, but from a place of fear. Fear is increasingly driving the ship of state across the world.

In past weeks, the actions of the US Supreme Court and the surprise elections in France and the United Kingdom show the degree to which fear is rising. Blatant power grabs which are being supported by a growing percentage of the populations of western democracies. Promises to protect “us” from invasions by “them” are increasingly a winning electoral practice. The politics of regression are on the rise and the politics of progression are fading in so many places.

And in the US, it goes beyond that – there is a plan already made public, called Project 2025 (LINK1) (LINK2), which would effectively usher in an authoritarian state, minority rule, and make future elections anything but competitive. The US Supreme Court decisions (LINK) of the past weeks are effectively a part of this plan. Here is a brief synopsis and some of the links contain access to the full document:

Project 2025 is a remarkably detailed guide to turning the United States into a fascist’s paradise. The primary document of Project 2025, [Democracy Docket (LINK)] explains, lays out what is essentially a “Christian nationalist vision of the United States, one in which married heterosexuality is the only valid form of sexual expression and identity; all pregnancies would be carried to term, even if that requires coercion or death; and transgender and gender-nonconforming people do not exist.”


It’s a terrifying vision of what American life could look like, but what’s most concerning about Project 2025 is its playbook for the first 180 days of a hypothetical second Trump term. “The time is short, and conservatives need a plan,” the playbook states. “The project will create a playbook of actions to be taken in the first 180 days of the new Administration to bring quick relief to Americans suffering from the Left’s devastating policies.”

Among the numerous troubling suggestions laid out in the playbook is a detailed plan to essentially purge the federal workforce of tens of thousands of workers in favor of hiring ones who will adhere to the conservative principles of Project 2025. Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official whose director of Project 2025’s Presidential Transition Project, told the Associated Press the 180 day transition plan is a “clarion call to come to Washington… People need to lay down their tools, and step aside from their professional life and say, ‘This is my lifetime moment to serve.’”
Project 2025 is the brainchild of The Heritage Foundation, the 50-year-old conservative think tank that’s among the most influential right-wing organizations in the country. In its nearly half century of existence, The Heritage Foundation has used its resources, influence and money to push its conservative agenda in just about every facet of American life: anti-abortion advocacy, voter suppression, anti-climate policies, and anti-LGBTQ advocacy. 

What has this got to do with spirituality?

The answer is everything. If my spirituality is how my life is lived from the inside-out, then politics and the resulting policies of government and other institutions reflect how the societal environment in which I live my life is co-created. When I mentally divorce my spirituality from the politics of the society in which I live, I also fail to approach politics from a spiritualized perspective. There is little question that those who support Project 2025 are out of alignment with the spiritual values of New Thought. Who represents our values in the political system? Do we leave that to others?

When I try to detach and to rise above the energy of my society, I may withdraw my talents and fail to support others who are adversely affected by the politics of the day. Or I may simply be unable to relate to the mindsets of some in the political discourse.

“The thing you have to understand about fascism is that you’ll never understand it. You don’t have a need for absolute power that becomes absolute obedience. You’re not a sadist. You feel empathy not hate. It’s about stopping it, not debating it.”
~ @umairh on Twitter/X

“That’s the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.”
~ Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner 

When we disconnect from the political realm, other than for a brief respite, our actions say that we do not believe everything is connected to everything else. What happens in the political realm determines the environments in which we live at the local, regional, national, and international levels. To absent ourselves because of discomfort turns that arena over to those who may not be bringing wisdom and compassion into the dynamic.

“Transformation occurs only when we remember, breath by breath, year after year, to move toward our emotional distress without condemning or justifying our experience.”
~ Pema Chödrön, The Places That Scare You

Barbara Marx Hubbard used to say that New Thought was the theology for the 21st Century. To be sure, our theology has not failed us, but to the degree that we cower from the fray of today’s critical political dynamics, our acceptance and practice of it has. It is time to recommit for many of us. We face a future of great challenge that will likely increase rather than diminish regardless of the outcome of the 2024 elections. We need to be ready to co-create transformation together.

AN AFFIRMATION:

Armed with a deep realization of who I am, I enter the realm of the politics of my society, from a place of love, wisdom, compassion, clarity, and determination. I strengthen my spiritual foundation daily through deep spiritual practices. I engage with others from a place of power filled with love. I do not hide, I do not cringe, I do not run away. I bring a clear presence of my divine nature to all that I do; I have and use my spiritual muscle to be a presence for good. From this place, I engage in the political system according to my calling, according to my talents, and the needs present. I find what is mine to do: I vote, I encourage others to do so, I volunteer to work at the polls, I march where appropriate. I am no shrinking violet, but a force to be reckoned with. I am co-creating #aworldthatworksforeveryone ! And so it is.

“When faced with great danger and when people panic and seek a false sense of safety, run towards the roaring and go where you fear to go. For only in facing your fears can you find some safety and a way through. When the world rattles and the end seems near, go towards the roar.”
~ Michael Meade

Copyright 2024 – Jim Lockard

ANNOUNCEMENT: Book Release

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I am very excited to announce to you, my blog readers, that my new book, BEING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY: Spiritual Leadership to Master Change, is now available on Amazon (all sites) in paperback and Kindle formats!

In the five years since I published Creating the Beloved Community, A Handbook for Spiritual Leadership, much has changed – including the rate of change and how change occurs. Readers of that book will recall that I predicted this kind of phenomena, but neither I nor anyone else could have predicted the ways in which patterns of change have developed. Now, in BEING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY, Spiritual Leadership to Master Change, I explore these changing phenomena and present ways for spiritual communities and organizations to respond and to master change.

The concept of The Beloved Community as envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Dr. Howard Thurman, and others forms the basis for the overall vision of this book. I see The Beloved Community as people on a spiritual pathway who seek a closer relationship with God (however named and defined) AND as people who will take their spiritual awareness into the world to be examples of love and compassion in action. The Beloved Community is about being truly dedicated to walking your talk – to being in full alignment with spiritual principles.

BEING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY (BBC) explores ways to be better spiritual leaders during times of great change, looks at stewardship (financial and otherwise), how to select leaders, and dives into the concept of evolutionary leadership. My target audience is anyone who is in spiritual leadership or who cares about it. BBC is an excellent companion to CREATING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY or can be a stand-alone volume.

Please feel free to share this with others who may be interested.

Link on Amazon.com:  https://www.amazon.com/BEING-BELOVED-COMMUNITY-Leadership-LEADERSHIP-ebook/dp/B0B2Q9F5XY/ref=sr_1_3?crid=KBMTDP7W52HU&keywords=jim+lockard&qid=1654076456&sprefix=jim+lockard%2Caps%2C306&sr=8-3

Copyright 2022 – Jim Lockard