Week #6 of the “Songs of Life” Series
SONG LYRICS
We were born before the wind
Also, younger than the sun
‘Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sailed into the mystic
Hark now, hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly
Into the mystic
Yeah, when that foghorn blows
I will be coming home
Yeah, when that foghorn blows
I wanna hear it
I don’t have to fear it
And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
Then magnificently we will float
Into the mystic
When that foghorn blows
You know I will be coming home
Yeah, when that foghorn whistle blows
I gotta hear it
I don’t have to fear it
And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float
Into the mystic
MESSAGE
[Rev. Dr. Whittington to Charity Lockhart, the soloist who sang “Into the Mystic”]: Thank you so much! Wow!
So today is part six of a five-part series. [Congregation laughs] I’m glad you all caught that; thank you! [Laughs] Wanted to make sure you were awake and would get that.
I love Rev. Richard’s “Songs of Life” series that he does. And he just finished one last week. And I decided since I was going to be here today, let’s just carry it on to yet one more week and sail “Into the Mystic.”
And again, thank you for taking us there, Charity, so beautifully! And band! Thank you! You did it! You did it!
So how many of you know who wrote that song? Who? [Congregants shout out: “Van Morrison!”] Thank you! Van Morrison wrote that song! How many of you consider yourself Van Morrison fans? I know I’ve got a couple of them right there; there they are! Right? Alright! How many of you have no idea who Van Morrison is? Okay; you’re young. No, you’re not so young … you don’t remember him? Sorry!
So Van Morrison — his big breakout song came in 1967. Okay, that’s a couple of years ago, I admit. And it was called “Brown Eyed Girl.” That’s the one he made very popular, that made him famous. And then he went on to write a million other songs. Well, maybe not a million, but a lot of songs.
And I always thought I was a Van Morrison fan … because I know five of his songs! [Congregation laughs] I thought I was a big fan! And then I went with some dear, dear, sweet precious friends, about three weeks ago, I think — four weeks ago — to see him, and I realized I’m maybe not the big fan that I thought, because it was 45 minutes into the concert before I recognized a single song. [Congregation laughs] A fan would have known those songs before we got there. But I didn’t!
But I will tell you: when he sang “Into the Mystic,” oh my! It floated me away to that beautiful place just like you [directed to Charity Lockhart] took us to this morning.
Here’s an interesting little factoid about the song. According to a survey by the BBC — British Broadcasting Corporation — it is the most popular song for surgeons to listen to while performing surgery [congregation murmurs] because of its — and I’ll quote, “cooling, soothing vibe.” I love knowing that!
And it’s actually a song about a sailor. On the surface level, it’s a song about a sailor who’s looking forward to coming home to his love, who is on shore. And normally a foghorn symbolizes or signals danger, but in this case the foghorn signals that he’s coming home. That’s the surface level of that song.
But you know, what we do in this series — what Rev. Richard does and I’m going to do today — is we go deeper … we go underneath the surface meaning of the song. And I could take every line of that song and probably … not probably; I couldtake every line of that song and come to a deeper meaning of it. But then we’d be here until about 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock this afternoon, and I suspect some of you have something you need to do after.
So I’m going to take three of the lines. And we’re going to look at: What could be a meaning deeper than what we think it’s about? So the lines we’re going to use are the very, very first one, which is:
“We are born before the wind;
Also, younger than the sun …”
That’s going to be our first one. Our second one is:
“When the foghorn blows, I will be coming home.”
And the third one is:
“Let your soul and spirit fly.”
Let’s see what could be a deeper spiritual meaning for those three lines in this great classic Van Morrison song.
The first one:
“We were born before the wind;
Also, younger than the sun.”
Aw! To me that says we are eternal beings. We are eternal beings: actually no beginning, no end. Our souls are eternal: born before the wind; younger than the sun. We are eternal! And in that eternal being-ness of our souls, we yearn; we long; we have a deep desire to connect with the Infinite Eternal One. Let’s call that … I don’t know, what’s a good word? Oh, I know: God! That’s a good word! [Congregation laughs] Let’s call that God.
We have this longing, just like that song. “Into the Mystic” is a song of longing, of yearning, right? Well, we have a longing and a yearning in our soul to connect with the Eternal Infinite One.
I went to a therapist in 1988 … for many years, but for the first time in 1988. Because the only thing I really wanted in my life which I could not create — and actually made a big fat mess of — was relationships. A relationship. I just really wanted one that would work, not a whole bunch that didn’t, which is what I had. I wanted one that would work. And so I decided I perhaps needed to do a little work on me.
And I went to this therapist. And after 10 minutes of hearing my sad sob story about how ooooooh-ooooooh-ooooooh — all that! — she looked at me. She said, “Yeah, okay; here’s the deal. Yeah, you’re an emotional mess.” [Congregation laughs] “That’s a given, and I can help you with that. But you’re trying to fill a hole in you with a relationship that will never be filled by a relationship.”
Have I told you guys this story already? I might have. Okay; good. “Tell us again!” Okay; good!
And she said, “You need to go find a relationship with that which is bigger than you are and let’s call that God.” A therapist did that! How cool is that? And I thought, “I’m spending a lot of money here; I’d better take her advice.” And so I went out and I did some searching. And I found Religious Science, which is a sister denomination to Unity. And I never looked back. I found that connection. I filled that hole.
And as a little icing on the cake — a little “P.S.” to that story — I also found the perfect and most glorious relationship. So, you know, I got the whole package deal, and it was a good thing. [Laughs] It was a good thing.
We all yearn for that connection to the Divine.
Today we’re going to talk about — for our first line — how, when we make that connection; when we seek that connection, the way to do it is to move into the way of the mystic. I don’t want you to get all freaked out if you think, “I’m not a mystic! Don’t talk to me about ways of the mystic; mystics are gurus who sit up on high precipices and ‘Ohm’ and pray and meditate their whole life. They’re sages; they’re shamans. Those are mystics, not me! I’m just me.”
Well, I say that’s a misconception. I want to tell you a story about that. So there was a man who was a seeker. He wanted to find the mystics and he wanted to learn from them; he wanted to sit at their feet and study. So he sold everything he owned and he took out on a journey to where this group of mystics resided. It was a long way away. It was an arduous, difficult journey.
Along the way, he met some folks who were also seeking and searching. So they had a little merry band of people seeking. And finally they got there! They finally made it to this location where they mystics met. And they went into the temple, and they saw the mystics in their hooded robes sitting around the table. And they were so happy finally to be able to learn and to study. And as they walked up to the table, they were horrified to see that there was no one inside the robes. They were empty.
And at first, they were dismayed and disheartened and shocked. But then they came into an “Aha!” They realized that the robes were there for them to put on. Because they were the mystics they had been looking for. We are the mystics we’ve been looking for. And the way we step into — sail into — the mystic is to seek and create that connection with Source.
Rabbi David Cooper, who wrote a great book called God Is a Verb interviewed holy men and women: Buddhist monks; Native American shamans; Catholic priests. All over the world he traveled, and he interviewed these people. And he asked them the same question. He wanted to have them tell him: What are your mystical insights? What are your experiences?
And without exception, they told him the same thing. Now, they said it in different words; different focus for different times; for different people; for different cultures. But it was always the same thing. The message that every one of these teachers spoke about is that we each have something profound in us, and all we have to do is awaken to it; become present it; come alive to it.
Essentially, the mystic is one that recognizes that infinite eternal God lives in, as and through all things. And that mysticism is the practice of seeking; sensing; feeling and experiencing God within.
So we are all mystics when we get out of our heads and into our hearts! We are all mystics! So I want us to have an experience of opening both our heads and our hearts to the mystic that we are. And I want to do it by using some words from the founder of Religious Science, Ernest Holmes.
In my favorite Ernest Holmes book, which is This Thing Called You … How many of you have read This Thing Called You? Oh, look at you! I love seeing a few of you raising your hands! Yes! I love it! It’s a great book; pretty easy to read. As far as Ernest Holmes goes, it’s pretty easy to read. And it’s just profoundly beautiful, with lots of affirmative statements.
So we’re going to make some affirmative statements. Are you ready to do that? Tell me “Yes”! [Congregation: “Yes!”] Okay, my front row is ready; that’s good! [Congregation laughs] You guys are going to have to carry the rest of the room, because they’re not … But you will be ready!
So this is what I want you to do (should you desire): Put your hands on your heart; close your eyes; take a deep breath; and then say these words. I’ll chunk them down into small chunks. Say these after me:
“The Spirit within me is God.”
[With congregation]: “The Spirit within me is God.”
“The Living Spirit Almighty is within me now.”
[With congregation]: “The Living Spirit Almighty is within me now.”
“Spirit is the sustaining principle of my life.”
[With congregation]: “Spirit is the sustaining principle of my life.”
Take a deep breath. Bring that in; open your heart a little bit more!
“I open my consciousness to Its inflowing.”
[With congregation]: “I open my consciousness to Its inflowing.”
“I open my heart to Its love.”
[With congregation]: “I open my heart to Its love.”
One more time: “I open my heart to Its love.”
[With congregation]: “I open my heart to Its love.”
“As I sail into the mystic.
[With congregation]: “As I sail into the mystic.”
Take another deep breath. Let that land in you; feel that anchor in you. This is the way of the mystic.
Connect with the Eternal One, which we are. Come back to me; open your eyes. [Deep breath] We could end here. But I’m not done, so we’re not going to end here. [Congregation laughs]
I want to go to the second line to discuss this morning. The second line:
“When the foghorn blows, I will be coming home.”
Hmmm. What could that mean? Well, I think — it’s kind of obvious to me — when the foghorn blows, we’ll be coming home. When it is my time to leave this earthly experience, I will go home. I will go home to the One. I will become one again in all aspects of myself when it’s time.
I often say that this human experience — or I’ll actually say this earthly experience, because everything on the earth, not just human … Everything on this earth has a shelf life. It does! Until we evolve to the point of not leaving this planet and just, I don’t know, becoming a ball of light maybe? That’d be kind of cool! But we haven’t evolved to do that yet. And so for now, we have a shelf life. We are here for a finite time. Our souls are infinite, yes! But we are here for a finite period of time.
Now, I won’t say a ton about this; I don’t need to, because Rev. Richard already did. He talked about this on the second Sunday of this month when he looked at the Maroon 5 song, “Memories.” And it was a beautiful talk; a touching talk. And so my section of this talk is: go listen to Rev. Richard. Go listen to that on YouTube. Okay, I’m done. I’m done with this section now …
Other than to also say that, while we are here in this finite human, earthly experience, we are invited to live a life of love; of joy; of peace; of prosperity; of fulfillment; of satisfaction; of purpose; of fun!
I heard Edwene Gaines, a beautiful spiritual prosperity teacher once say that she thought that Earth was the party planet [laughs] … That we came here to learn how to have fun! So to live a life of fun and to live a life of freedom. And that just so happens to segue into our third set of lyrics, and what I think the meaning of those are.
The third set of lyrics to look at this morning are:
“Let your soul and spirit fly.”
Let your soul and spirit fly by living this fulfilled life of joy; of peace; of prosperity; of happiness; of fun; of freedom. Let your spirit soar and fly into that. Within every human heart, combined with the desire to know the Divine in a deeply personal and intimate level, is also a desire to express more than we’re expressing right now. And that’s not in an “I’m dissatisfied with now” kind of way. It’s in the “Because I am a finite expression of that which is infinite, there’s always more for me to express.”
So this lyric is calling us and our hearts are calling us to express; to be; experience; have — you decide — more than there is right now. Again, not from a place of dissatisfaction with where I am right now, but just a knowing that there is always in my finite world more.
So I’m teaching classes right now. I teach my own personal classes, women’s classes. Sorry, guys; they’re women’s classes. And right now we just started a new series, and we’re using the word dreams,
“D-R-E-A-M-S,” as an acronym for stepping more fully into that life and letting our soul and spirit soar.
So I’m going to use that this morning briefly. Just going to touch on each of those letters and what they could mean for you as you step more fully into your joy; your happiness; your love; your prosperity; whatever it is. Your purpose! Whatever it is your heart is calling you.
And so the first letter of dreams is a D. I hope you all knew that! You all knew that the letter is a D. And the D stands forDARE TO DREAM.
Dare to dream! So many times we put our dreams on the shelf. And okay; we’ll get to them. “I’ll do that, but not right now. I’m not ready. I’m not ready to do that. But I will!” Let’s go back to point number two: we are here for a finite period of time. Now is the time to dare your dreams!
I remember … I mean, we’ve all had the dream, right? That’s in our heart? Do you have one actually right now that … oooh, it’s kind of there, but you haven’t done anything about it yet. My invitation to you this morning is to dare to do that. Dare to step out! And move forward … And all the other letters I’m going to tell you in just a minute to manifest that dream.
I remember when I had in my heart … And some of you who are sitting in this room are not going to like this story. But take a breath, because it’s alright. When I had in my heart that it was time for me to leave my pulpit — I had a ministry for 22 years. [Congregant: “And you were great at it!”] Well, thank you. And it was time for me to leave it. I knew it in my heart and in my soul. I knew it! And yet, afraid? Would that be the right word? I’m not sure I was afraid to leave. I was afraid for my community if I left; I was afraid for myself if I left. Am I going to make it on my own? Not with this ministry behind me to support me in all sorts of ways, including literally? I don’t know; can I do that? Do I dare to dream that?
And it took a while for me to say finally, “Yeah.” That dream became so strong I had to answer it. And that will happen for us often. It will happen that it becomes so strong we cannot ignore it any longer. But sometimes we can ignore it. My invitation to you this morning is: don’t ignore it. Don’t ignore it!
And what I know is that, as you move forward in your dream — the dream that you dare to dream — even if there are people who are not happy about that. And I know I’m looking at faces that weren’t happy about that; I know that. It was the right thing, not only for me to do, but for everyone. Because I don’t think there’s anything called “private good.” I don’t believe in “private good.” I think if it is good for — and at a soul level good — for someone, then it’s good for the whole. Even if parts of the whole don’t think so in the moment.
So what is your dream that you have not dared to dream yet? I invite you this morning to think about that and get about the business of manifesting that dream.
And now I’m going to give you some other letter ideas on how to do that.
So the second idea is R. Dream. D-R. And that is to REALIZE YOUR WORTH and that you are worthy of that dream. Realize your worth! Awake to it; be present to it; come alive to it! It really is that simple! I didn’t say easy. But it is that simple!
And we want to make our value and our worth so complicated sometimes. We just want to make it a complicated. “Oh, but you don’t know my history and …” We’ve all got history. We’ve all got “stuff.” We were — a lot of us; many of us, if not all of us — told things about us that weren’t true that impacted our view of who we are. But let’s go back to point number one: Who are we? We are God in expression. That’s who we are! How can that not be worth something?
We want to make it complicated.
Here’s a story about how we make the simple so complicated. There was another Holmes — not Ernest Holmes, but Sherlock Holmes — and his sidekick, Dr. Watson. And they went camping. And it’s night and they’re sitting out. It’s time to go to sleep, and they’re lying down and they’re looking up at the sky.
And Holmes says to Watson, “So tell me, Watson, what do you see?
And Watson said, “I see millions and millions of stars.
And Holmes says to Watson, “So what does that tell you?’
And Watson said, “Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and probably billions of planets out there. And theologically, it tells me that God and His universe is infinite. And meteorologically, it tells me that we’re going to have a beautiful, clear day tomorrow.”
Well now, he was very, very happy with himself for coming up with those deep ideas on the spot. He thought he probably really impressed Sherlock. So feeling a bit self-satisfied, he said, “So, Sherlock; what does it tell you?”
And Sherlock said, “Well. Hmmm. It tells me that someone has stolen our tent.” [Congregation laughs]
We try to make the simple complicated, and it isn’t always that complicated.
Your worth, my friends, is not complicated! You are Spirit in expression and, therefore, you have innate worth and deserve your dreams. That is the bottom line. So we’re going to get to say that. Yay! You’re going to get to say another affirmation, because I know you want to! Here it is! We’re going to do it out loud!
“I am Spirit in expression…”
[Congregation:] “I am Spirit in expression …”
“And, therefore, have innate worth!”
[Congregation:] “And, therefore, have innate worth.”
“I deserve my dreams!”
[Congregation:] “I deserve my dreams!”
Alright; that was good! I want you to turn to somebody. Turn to somebody, look them in the eye, and say, “You are Spirit in expression …”
[Congregation:] “You are Spirit in expression …”
“And, therefore, you have innate worth.”
[Congregation:] “And, therefore, you have innate worth.”
“You deserve your dreams!”
[Congregation:] “You deserve your dreams!”
And now you’re going to say back, “Well, yes I am and, yes, I do!
[Congregation:] “Well, yes I am and, yes, I do!”
There we go! Realize your worth.
- E. The E of D-R-E-A-M-S. ENGAGE YOUR HEART AND YOUR MIND in those dreams. Engage your heart and your mind in those dreams. Just like we talked earlier about putting on the robe of the mystic, I want you also to put on the robe of your dreams. Put it on! Live from your dream.
I remember listening to Edwene Gaines, who I quoted already, one time talking about a trip. I can’t remember where she was going, but she wanted to take a trip. And she didn’t have the money to do it. She just didn’t have the funds; she didn’t have the means; the ways. But she was going to go on this trip. It was kind of an exotic trip.
And she decided, “What could I do to help me feel kind of more exotic or opulent?” She walked around her grocery store to think, “What could I do here to put on the robe of being this person who could take that trip?”
And she found a bottle of [laughs] bleu-cheese-stuffed olives. [Congregation laughs] And she thought, “Well, who does that? Only people who have opulence get bleu-cheese-stuffed olives.” So she bought them. And, of course, if we go through the rest of the story, she went on that trip.
So what can you do to put on — in your heart and your mind — can you put on the robe, if you will, of your dreams? Or particular dream? Do that! Mike Dooley, great teacher and manifestation teacher, once said if we would spend five minutes a day visualizing; feeling; getting into the place of seeing it and knowing whatever that dream is — being it — we would manifest that dream.
I like that! I like that a lot! And I think most of us don’t do that. Five whole minutes! But what if we did? But here’s the deal. I do have to add a little addition to that, as I always have to add additions to what people say. I don’t think we can spend five minutes a day doing that, and then 23 hours and 55 minutes negating it by thinking we can’t do it; we don’t know how to do it; how’s it going to happen; yuh-tuh-duh; and it’s not going to work. But if we engage our hearts and our minds about often and regularly, then we bring it to us.
- A. The A of D-R-E-A-M-S needs very little conversation. And I’m going to quote one quote, and that’s going to be it for this one. So it is: A stands for ACTION; TAKE IT! And the quote, which I know you all know where this came from, is: “Just do it!” Thank you! Thank you, Nike, for that one: Just do it! Take action! We must be engaged and involved in our lives and in bringing our dreams forth. We are involved, so we must take some action steps. What is yours? What action step have you not taken that would support a dream? Maybe this week is the time to take it.
Alright. M. Which actually I wish came before the A, because it fits better before the A. But that would be a very odd way to spell D-R-E-A-M-S. So I left it where it belongs. But it really does go before the A. So we’re just going to move it over there for now. And it is MAKE A COMMITMENT. Dead silence to that one. I must have a few commitment-phobes in the room. Do we have a few people who are like, “Don’t ask me to make a commitment! I can’t!” I see one, right? Sitting right back there! She’s laughing very hard right now! “I cannot make a commitment!” [Laughs] Yeah; we need to make a commitment.
The best statement I have ever read about commitment and what it does is from W. H. Murray, who was a Scottish mountaineer in the 50s. He led expeditions. And he wrote a book called The Scottish Himalayan Expedition. And there’s a quote in his book that is often quoted about commitment. What isn’t often quoted is how it starts, and I love how it starts. So I’m going to give you the beginning of it, and then you may recognize when I get to the more famous part. But here it is:
“… when I said that nothing had been done, I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money …”
Take action; there it is!
“We had put down our passage money and booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence.”
And here comes the more famous part:
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too.”
Oh! That gives me goosebumps … or, as a friend of mine says, “chilly chips.” That gives me chilly chips! [Laughs] That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too!
“All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance , which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: ‘Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!'”
Make a commitment to your dream!
Last one: the S. This is another one that might cause some of you to gulp. It is SURRENDER THE OUTCOME. Do we have any recovering control freaks in the room? [Congregation laughs] Do we have any non-recovering control freaks? That you’re just fully in your control addiction?
Right. Okay. Oh, I’ve got a hand right over here. Right? Yeah; I get that. I consider myself a recovering control freak. And it only rears its little head now and again. Not like it used to, but now and again,
Well, this one says the outcome isn ot, my friends, in our control. The outcome is never! It’s a false sense to think it’s in our control. It is not! It is not! So why don’t we just go ahead and surrender that to that infinite Wisdom and Intelligence and Power and Love that can sort this out way better than we can?
Yes, we do our part; we take our steps. And then we surrender the outcome [Deep breath] We surrender the outcome.
I love this little poem; you might have heard it. It’s called, “Let Go and Let God”:
“As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God, because God was my friend.
But then, instead of leaving God in peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.
At last, I snatched them back and cried, ‘How can you be so slow?’
‘My child,’ God said, ‘What could I do? You never did let go!'”
Surrender. [Laughs] We must surrender our dreams.
D-R-E-A-M-S.
So those are the three lines from this beautiful Van Morrison song, “Into the Mystic”:
“We were born before the wind;
Also younger than the sun.”
We are eternal beings and our soul yearns for connection to that infinite eternal Source that lives in us, as us and through us. And we become the mystic when we put the robe of the One who knows this on, and lives from it.
“When the foghorn blows, I will be coming home.”
Yeah, we’re eternal beings, and we have a shelf life here. So therefore let us:
“Let our souls and spirits fly.”
Because we deserve to live our dreams while we are here.
Those are the spiritual lessons found in “Into the Mystic.” Take them to heart, my friends; they will serve us all well. Namaste!
[Congregation applauds]
Copyright 2022 Unity of Phoenix Spiritual Center/Rev. Dr. Michele Whittington