Below are the basic tenets from which Rev. Carol shares her wisdom. While there is overlap with Unity principles, these are beliefs that Rev. Carol has integrated as her own over many years.
One Presence, One Power, One Truth
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There is one ultimate Presence and one Power, which is Infinite Intelligence, Love and Wisdom, and the animating force under all of Creation, both visible and invisible. We call it by many names including God, Spirit, Great Mystery, Absolute Truth, Divine Intelligence, Light, or Source Energy. Our rights to life and freedom are inherent birthrights granted by God/Spirit not by the whim of manmade power structures, and are inalienable. While evil exists, it does not have enduring power.
We Are Divine in Nature
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We are made of the same energy, image and likeness of God. Our divine nature calls us to do the least harm possible, love one another and continually widen our circle of compassion to include every being. It also calls us to love ourselves as sovereign beings and maintain healthy boundaries. Some of us understand our inner divinity and strive to live it. Some just get it intellectually. Most of us are completely in the dark. Our realization of our true nature is blocked by layers of cultural conditioning/programming as well as trauma and our own limiting beliefs. To fully experience our divinity, we must unlock these programs that keep us trapped in limited consciousness and question the structures we’ve been taught. As master teacher Jesus reminds us, “You are the Light of the world!”
We Create Our Experience of Life
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While we don’t have full control over what happens in our lives, we do have control over who we choose to be in the face of it. We can choose to be a victim or a master. To become a master, we must do deep healing and shadow work. When we do our inner work, we learn to feel our feelings — not have them dominate our lives or dwell in a repressed place in our psyches. We integrate the parts of us that have been exiled and act out via projection. With integration we engage in less projection and our reactions become responses. We are ultimately responsible for our own soul’s experience and evolution.
We Start With Ourselves
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The outer world is a reflection of our own consciousness. When we see qualities that we want to change in another, we start by finding that quality in ourselves and transforming it there. This can be as small as a realization or as large as doing deep shadow work and integrating our exiled parts. We utlimately only have control over ourselves. This does not mean that we tolerate or excuse bad behavior, abuse or any form of evil.
We Practice our Truth
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The spiritual path is about moving from our identification with the personal (ego) to the Divine Self. This is the evolution from suffering (separation, victimization and projection) to empowerment (overcoming/manifesting) to being (sovereignty/Oneness). We move along this path through spiritual practice, which ultimately is about moving closer to the Divine. This includes the inner practices of prayer, meditation, healing, and bodywork, and the outer practice of doing no harm (not stealing in all its myriad ways) and living as generosity, forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, peace, love, etc.
Texts and Teachers
Rev. Carol references the Bible in addition to other texts and teachers. She looks at the Bible allegorically, in historical and cultural context, and as a story about the evolution of our own spiritual lives. Additionally, her understanding of Jesus is that he is the man who fully lived all of the tenets stated above as a “Christed being.’ He is not the exception but the great example of what living as our full God potential looks like. His call to people, “Follow me,” is a call for us to be on the path to who we are created to be - our full potential as human and spiritual beings.
