Weekly Prayer Posts 2023

Religious Symbols

2024 Weekly Prayers
2022 Weekly Prayers

12/30/2023

Dear Light Group,

A new year typically arrives with hopes for a fresh start, better living, and an uplifting life. Most of these hopes are centered on our experiences of the material world – health, wealth, and a pleasant life.

The life of the Spirit promises us much, much more than that. The life of the Spirit takes us to a realm where our material desires are as nothing compared with the bliss, Light, and cosmic consciousness of Spirit.

That newness that we seek at the turn of a year is at its deepest level a desire to be reborn in Spirit. Instead of seeing that rebirth as a one-and-done, Saul on the road to Damascus type of totally life-changing experience, perhaps we could view it as daily baptisms in Spirit, some of them seemingly mundane, some not.

Many of us take a shower early in the morning, and that starts our day with a basic purification of body and spirit – and what is baptism if it isn’t a purification of body and spirit? Immersion in water opens the pores of our skin, flushes out toxins, and calms and balances our energies.

If we then pray or meditate, we are giving ourselves an opportunity to be immersed in – baptized by – the wisdom and peace of Spirit.

On those days when we are able to go deeply into this Spirit, restlessness subsides, our consciousness is calmed, and we experience the radiant Light and Joy and Peace of the Divine. When that happens, we have been led from immersion in the material world – the world of desires, selfhood, and indulgence in the senses – to immersion in the kingdom of Spirit. Then it is not just our body that has been cleansed – baptized – but our consciousness. We now see with the inner eye of Spirit, and we now hear the sound of Spirit vibrating in all creation. Then we know that our true nature is not that of an isolated human body. Our true nature is that of a ray of Spirit. That ray of Spirit knows only an ever-new Joy and an ever-new Love. Feeling the vibration of Spirit in every unit of space – in our physical bodies, in the Earth, in all of the planets, throughout the universes – we become one with the Divine.

Shall we give ourselves the opportunity to start the new year immersed in – baptized by – Spirit? If that interests you, you might want to pray, “Thank you, God, for baptizing me in Thy Light. Thank you, God, for immersing me in Thy Light. Thank you, God, for cleansing me of habits and desires that divert my attention from Thee. Thank you, God, for untangling the knots in my heart. Thank you, God, for redirecting my attention from flowing outward and onto sensory phenomena to flowing inward and onto Divine perception. Thank you, God, for revealing to me the Peace that passeth all understanding. Thank you, God, for baptizing me in Thy Light, Peace, and Joy. Thank you, God, for revealing to me that it is Thy Light, Peace, and Joy that permeates all creation. Thank you, God, for revealing to me that it is Thy Light, Peace, and Joy that is my true essence. Thank you, God, for revealing that this Divine essence is in everyone and everything. Remind me, Lord, every day of the coming year and every day for the rest of my life, that it is this Light, Peace, and Joy that is my Divine nature. Baptize me every day, Lord, in this Thy Light, Peace, and Joy. Bless me with this Light, Peace, and Joy all the days of my life. Bless all creation with this, Thy Light, Peace, and Joy, forever. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

All the best for a wonderful, Spirit-filled New Year!

Love and Light,
Tully

12/23/2023

Dear Light Group,

If we can get past the densely materialistic way in which it is celebrated, Christmastime can be experienced as period when the energies of planet Earth are uplifted and the ethers are filled with the Light, Love, and Joy of the Christ.

At the time of Jesus’ birth, those energies were experienced most powerfully by common people: it was shepherds – not priests or the intelligentsia – who were visited by the angel of the Lord and had the glory of the Lord surround them and who heard a multitude of the heavenly host praising God: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Similarly, if we, too, can approach this time with the simplicity and humility of those shepherds and have a focus on God (rather than materiality), then we, too, can experience something of the Divine glory of Christmastime. With peace in our hearts, we, too, can feel good will toward all people.

In that spirit and in our tuning in to the true spirit of the birth of Jesus, the rebirth of the Christ consciousness within each of us can occur. Jesus told us, “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” If that is the case, then as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we have a special opportunity to tune in to the Intelligence and Power of the Divine, reflected in the universal Christ consciousness.

To get into that spirit, you might want to try a prayer such as, “God, take me back to the time of Jesus’ birth. Let me experience the purity and power and glory of that moment. As you bring that experience to me, Lord, let this Divine power and glory shine from my heart to all people, that they, too, may be touched by Thy Light, Thy Love, and Thy Peace. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

12/16/2023

Dear Light Group,

We see much humility and purity around the birth of Jesus. He was born of a virgin in what amounted to a barn. The wise men gave him gold, a symbol of purity. His mother expressed humility beautifully:

My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
For he hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden: for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He that is might hath done to me great things; and holy is His name.
And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation.
He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away.
He hath helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy,
As He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.

In addition to the humility that Mary expresses (“the low estate of His handmaiden”), parts of Mary’s Magnificat could be read not just as praising God but as a prescient statement of what her son Jesus, as the Son of God, would do. Jesus indeed would “show strength,” “scatter the proud,” “put down the mighty from their seats,” “exalt them of low degree,” “fill the hungry with good things,” and “send the rich away empty.”

As we give homage to Jesus this Christmas season, let us remember the themes of humility and purity. The Second Coming of Christ is the rebirth of the Christ spirit in each one of us. That birthing cannot happen if we are proud, angry, jealous, greedy, restless, judgmental, or fearful. Instead, we need the humility and purity of heart that Jesus and Mary had.

To access that purity of heart, you might want to try a prayer such as, “We give thanks, Lord, for Jesus and his wonderful purity of heart. We give thanks, Lord, for Mary and her purity and humility. Help us to remember, Lord, that You created us in Your image and likeness. That image and likeness in which we were created is pure. In that image and likeness, our hearts are pure. In that image and likeness, our hearts shine with Your pure Light. In that image and likeness, our hearts shine with Your pure Love. With that pure heart, we are secure in our knowledge that we are one with Thee. With that pure heart, there is no fear. In that pure heart, there is no anger, pride, jealousy, greed, or judgment. With that pure heart, we are freed of the entanglements of life on Earth. We are free to be one with Thee. We are free to be one with Thy Light. Centered in Thy Light, we hold to this Light for the benefit of all beings. Centered in this Light, we expand the Light, that the Joy of creation may expand and expand. We give thanks, Lord, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

12/09/2023

Dear Light Group,

’Tis the season of gift-giving. It is wonderful to get into this spirit, especially when we are happy and loving and giving. It’s thrilling to give a child a gift that lights up their eyes and makes them happy or to give an adult a gift that uplifts them and makes their life more enjoyable.

But beyond a material gift is the gift of our individual spirit.

At its purest, our spirit is singing a song of beauty and unconditional love. That love is not human love but a love that is a selfless, stainless, universal, unconditional creative force of love. In that love, our sense of self, our sense of being a separate reality dissolves. Instead, we enter the sea of Light, the essence of essences, the source of all sources, the source of all life and existence. We enter a state of being in and because of the Light. In that state, we have no desire but to be in this loving, powerful, and incredibly beautiful Light.

In this Light, we realize that every soul at every instant is being showered with love and compassion.

In this Light, we are shown the extent to which our own actions are ones of love and compassion. In this Light, we see that our acts of love and compassion are like stones thrown into a pond: the waves of love and compassion touch others who in turn create their own waves of love and compassion that ultimately touch all humans and all physical reality.

In this Light, we are made aware that the greatest of our actions are not the ones that result in our owning something special or having known someone famous or being successful or being given awards, titles, or accolades by others.

Instead, the Light shows us that the greatest of our actions are those motivated by selfless love. The Light shows us that one act of selfless love has far greater worth than any title or award or wealth.

Once we are in this Light, once we are in this Love, we feel we can never express enough of this loving force in every choice we make, in every action we take.

So during this season of gift-giving, let our greatest gifts be ones of absolute love, connectedness, and harmony with all of humankind and all of existence.

To get into the spirit of that loving gift-giving, you might want to try a prayer such as, “The Light Is. The Light is the source of sources, the source of all life and existence. Into that Light I dissolve myself. Immersed in that Light, I am free. I am free to be loving. I am free to be the Light. In that Light, I have no desire but to give and give and give of this Light. In that Light, I harmonize with everyone and everything. In that Light, I have love and compassion for all. I that Light, my love and compassion spreads in waves, touching everyone and everything. In that Light, the song of my spirit touches everyone with Peace and Beauty and Harmony. All praise be to Thee, O Lord, for this, Thy song of Peace and Beauty and Harmony, radiating out, blessing everyone and everything. All praise be to Thee, O Lord, for Thy gift of the Christ, for bringing the true reflection of Thy being on Earth. All praise be to Thee, O Lord, for touching our hearts with the love of the Christ. Let this Love go forth, for the good of one and all. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

12/02/2023

Dear Light Group,

What are we celebrating with Christmas? Is it just the birthday of one spiritual master, Jesus? Or is there something more?

In the Bible, Jesus mostly referred to himself as the Son of man. It was others who referred to him as the Son of God. The distinction here is between Jesus as incarnate Messiah and the Christ Consciousness that he embodied. That all-pervading Christ Consciousness was not limited to the physical body of Jesus or any other human being. Nor was that Christ Consciousness born with Jesus or eliminated when he was crucified. It was before Jesus, and it is here now.

So what should we celebrate this Christmas season? It is certainly appropriate for us to use this occasion to remind ourselves of the Divine qualities of Jesus and to be inspired by what he said and how he lived. Every time I read the New Testament, I marvel at how magnificent Jesus was, at how he took our understanding of Divinity leaps and bounds beyond what it had been, at how he laid out a higher path for living that, even to this day, many of us struggle to achieve.

But we can go beyond celebrating the birth and life of Jesus. We can use this occasion to awaken the loving Christ Presence in our own consciousness. We can use it to invite the Christ Spirit to manifest itself in us. We can use this season of joy and goodwill to deepen our connection to the ever-living, ever-loving Christ Spirit.

The entire cosmos celebrates this season for the Light that permeates all space. Shall we join the cosmos in this celebration?

If you would like to do so, you might consider a prayer such as, “Thank you, Christ Spirit, for blessing our planet through Jesus. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for uplifting us through Thy presence in Jesus. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for Thy presence here, now, on Earth. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for Thy presence here, now, in me. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for Thy presence here, now, in everyone and everything. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for revealing our oneness in Thee. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for Thy Joy. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for Thy Love. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for being reborn in me. Thank you, Christ Spirit, for being reborn in everyone and everything. Thank you, God, for the Christ Spirit. Thank you, God, for the Light of the Christ permeating the cosmos. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

11/25/2023

Dear Light Group,

As daylight gets shorter and the days get colder, we still have something to look forward to: celebrating the birth of the Christ. Beyond the razzle-dazzle of Christmas are lessons from the birth of Jesus that still resonate, that still have meaning for the birthing and maturing of the Christ in each one of us.

There is the story of the wise men who visited with King Herod before seeing the baby Jesus in a manger. Herod asked that, once they had found Jesus, on their return home, they stop by and let him know where Jesus had been born. But the wise men were on to Herod, and they returned home another way. In a similar fashion, we, too, are returning home another way. We are not following the ways of the masses. We are not allowing ourselves to be lured by access to power and fame and instead are heading into the Light.

Then there is the story of the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold represents purity, and it is by purifying our thoughts and emotions that we prepare our body temple and our hearts, minds, and souls to receive the Christ.

There is also the story of Jesus’ father, Joseph, being warned in a dream that Herod intended killing Jesus and that Joseph should take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt. Egypt here symbolizes protection, and until the Christ spirit within us becomes fully mature, we need to protect ourselves from those who would undermine and destroy the baby Christ within us.

Protection, purity, and going another way are themes to the growth of the Christ spirit within each one of us. In the run-up to Christmas, let us build on those themes to enhance the coming of the Christ within us.

In so doing, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for visiting me with Thy wisdom, that I may know Thy Truth and Thy way of Love and Peace. Thank you, God, for leading me in another way, the way that leads back to Thee. Thank you, God, for the birth of the Christ spirit within me. Thank you, God, for purifying my thoughts and emotions, that I may be ready to receive the Christ spirit. Thank you, God, for protecting the child Christ within me, that it may thrive and grow. Thank you, God, for the growth of the Christ spirit within me, that I may become an ever more complete representative of Thy Love, Truth, and Peace. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

11/18/2023

Dear Light Group,

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, let’s get into the spirit by giving thanks to God.

As an added incentive for doing so, you might consider what Jim Goure told us, that saying, “Thank you, God” over and over and over – whether the circumstances were pleasant or not – would lead to God consciousness. That makes sense, doesn’t it? If we give thanks to God for everything, then we end up seeing God in everything, and isn’t that the very definition of of God consciousness?

With that in mind, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for me. Thank you, God, for for this life. Thank you, God, for the Divine Goodness vibrating in every cell of my being. Thank you, God, for the Divine Goodness that I bring to others. Thank you, God, for the Divine Goodness I bring to my home. Thank you, God, for the Divine Goodness I bring to the city where I live. Thank you, God, for my loved ones. Thank you, God, for the Divine Goodness they have brought me. Thank you, God, for the teachers I have had in life. Thank you, God, for the beauty of Thy nature kingdoms. Thank you, God, for the challenges I have had in life. Thank you, God, for America. Thank you, God, for our freedoms. Thank you, God, for the freedom to pursue Thee in my own way. Thank you, God, for the nations and peoples of Earth. Thank you, God, for the peoples of all nations learning from each other. Thank you, God, for Thy presence in all people and in all things of nature. Let us all welcome Thee into our hearts, that we may know Thy Joy and Love and Beauty. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Warmest best wishes for a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Love and Light,
Tully

11/11/2023

Dear Light Group,

Jesus lived at a time of brutality and extreme emotion, and yet he stayed centered in the Divine and continued to act compassionately. The Romans had not reserved crucifixion just for Jesus. The road to Jerusalem was lined with crucifixes and crucified individuals. It was the Roman way of telling people (particularly the Jews) not to get out of line. It wasn’t just the Romans who were after Jesus. On multiple occasions the Pharisees became enraged at what Jesus said and sought to do harm to him. And yet Jesus did not allow his emotions to become entangled; he exhibited no hatred towards the Pharisees and the others who sought to do him harm. Instead, after a mob repeatedly called for his crucifixion and after having been brought to Calvary to be crucified, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

What an extraordinary act of compassion, to pray for the forgiveness of those who have called for your death and for those who are about to kill you. To be in such a state of gentleness and compassion at a moment of maximum harm to oneself would require that one be completely centered in the Divine and that one have tremendous love for mankind.

At our own global moment of heightened emotion, let us take inspiration from Jesus. We, too, can be so centered in the Divine that we, too, can come from a place of gentleness, compassion, and love for humankind.

In that spirit, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Keep me centered in Thee, Lord, that I may at all times and in all places represent Thy gentleness and compassion. Keep me centered in Thy gentleness and compassion, Lord, that I may not get swept up in the emotions of the moment. Instead, Lord, in a world that hurts, let me radiate Thy gentleness and compassion. In the Spirit of the Christ, I Am. In the Spirit of the Christ, I am centered in the Divine. In the Spirit of the Christ, I am centered in Divine Peace. In the Spirit of the Christ, I am centered in Divine Love. In the Spirit of the Christ, I am centered in Divine Joy. This Divine Peace, Love, and Joy embraces all people. Divine Peace, Love, and Joy embraces planet Earth. Divine Peace, Love, and Joy embraces everyone and everything. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

11/04/2023

Dear Light Group,

In troubling times such as ours, it can be helpful to remember the verses of the psalmist, David, who sang,

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,
Though waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

Be still, and know I am God.

In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Being still and staying centered in God during intensely emotional times can be extremely difficult. But do it we must.

When the daily news is filled with stories of savagery and violence and death, it can be hard to remember that, though we “walk through the shadow of death,” the Divine is still with us. But remember we must.

When it is hard to find goodness and mercy while others are screaming hatred, we may feel challenged to remember that we dwell in the house of the Lord. But step up to the challenge we must.

In the spirit of remembering who we are and what we are about, you might want to try a prayer such as, “I live in the house of the Lord. In this house is Goodness and Mercy. Goodness and Mercy are the essence of the Lord. Goodness and Mercy are my essence. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy throughout my body. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy throughout my mind. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy throughout my entire being. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy throughout my home. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy to all my loved ones. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy to everyone I see. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy throughout America. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy throughout all nations. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy to all people who fear. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy to all people engaged in conflict. I radiate this essence of Goodness and Mercy throughout planet Earth. When I am still, Lord, I know that I live in Thine house of Peace, Light, and Joy. Lord, hear our plea: transform this a planet into a house of Peace, Light, and Joy. I give thanks, Lord, for letting me dwell in Thine house of Peace, Light, and Joy – forever. May this, Thine house that I live in, expand to encompass everyone on Earth, that all may live in Thine house of Peace, Light, and Joy – forever. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

10/28/2023

Dear Light Group,

We have a fundamental mission at United Research to pray for peace. With the conflict in the Middle East being red hot – and getting hotter – this is a time for us to step up our prayer efforts.

This is not just an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It involves the world. Iran reportedly helped Hamas plan its attack on Israel, and its proxies in Syria and Iraq have been attacking U.S. troops in those countries. The U.S. has responded with air strikes. Qatar, a country on the Arabian Peninsula, had been providing funding to Hamas to meet the humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza. Qatar also hosts a U.S. military base. Qatar has been acting as an intermediary in an effort to get Hamas to release hostages. Egypt borders Gaza and does not want a stream of Palestinian refugees streaming into Egypt. Jordan borders the West Bank, and it, too, does not want a stream of Palestinian refugees pouring into its country. Muslims throughout the world are enraged at Israeli air strikes. The United States is committed to defending Israel. China does not want a broader conflict because this might cause oil prices to spike at a time when it is contending with several substantial economic problems. Russia is gleeful because this takes the heat off of Russia for its war in Ukraine and allows Russia to revert to its preferred mode of blaming the U.S. for everything. Europeans have not been fans of Israel but had to express dismay at the savagery of the Hamas attack on Israel. With Israeli air strikes on Gaza and the resulting deaths of Palestinians, Europeans are calling for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Is your head spinning yet?

This is a complex mess. Our job is to stay focused on the Light.

In your own centering in the Light, you might want to try a prayer such as, “I see the Light in everyone. I see Peace in everyone. I see the Divinity in everyone and everything. I see the Light in Hamas. I see Peace in Hamas. I see the Divinity in Hamas. I see the Light in Israel. I see Peace in Israel. I see the Divinity in Israel. I see the Light in the United States. I see Peace in the United States. I see the Divinity in the United States. I see Light in all the nations affected by the conflict in the Middle East. I see Peace in all the nations affected by the conflict in the Middle East. I see the Divinity in all nations affected by the conflict in the Middle East. The Creator in me changes the consciousness of war, fear, dying, killing, and being killed to Light, Love, Peace, and Joy. The Creator in me replaces the war consciousness around planet Earth and in all the peoples of Earth with Peace. The Creator in me creates Peace in every atom, every cell, every gene, and every kingdom on Earth. Earth releases all of its past to the Light. Earth releases its consciousness of killing to Light. Earth releases its consciousness of war to the Light. Earth changes the vibrations of war to Light. The war consciousness of Earth is changed to Light. The Creator in the people of Earth fills them with Love, heals them, and directs their lives to Light. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

10/21/2023

Dear Light Group,

During times of crisis Jim Goure would always bring us back to center. At times that are hurtful, at times that hurt the heart, at times when we see killing and savagery – such as what we are seeing in Israel and Palestine now – Jim would bring us back to the Divine. Jim would say, “Everything is for the glory of God.”

That can be a hard message to swallow, and many people would reject it outright.

Jim would note that there could be a tendency to either withdraw or to want to strike back, and he would say, “It is hard for us to see that [everything is for the glory of God] when so many people lose their lives.” But his guidance was, “The key is for us – not to add to the negative, the judging, or the hate – but to get into the consciousness that out of this is glory for God….It is an awakening for man. Out of this man will be increased in Light….Because the world is saying, ‘We must become civilized. We must advance. We must stope killing. This is senseless.’”

Jim would go on to say that, “Our holding to the Light and not judging is so important. We need to change our consciousness to, ‘Let’s help all of man at this point in time.’ All of man is hurting over this incident. So let us help him. What does he need? What does all of man need when he despairs, when he cries? He needs Light. He needs Love. Out of Light and Love comes Peace. When an understanding of Light and Love comes in, Peace is right there. There is a feeling of, ‘It wasn’t lost and hopeless after all.’”

In that spirit, you might want to try a prayer such as, “The Creator in me fills me with Light and Love. The Creator fills all those involved in the Middle Eastern violence with Light and Love. The Creator changes the consciousness of man so that he becomes aware of the Good coming from events in the Middle East. The Creator changes the negative thoughts and negative emotions of recent events in the Middle East to Light and Love. The Creator changes the consciousness of aggression to Light and Love and Peace. The Creator changes the consciousness of killing to Light and Love. The Creator creates Light and Love in, through, and around Earth. Earth is filled with Light and Love. Man’s consciousness is changed to Light and Love. And that’s the way it is. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

10/14/2023

Dear Light Group,

United Research was founded with the objective of establishing world peace through prayer. Over fifty years later, we still find ourselves in a world with wars. There is war in Ukraine. There now is war in the Middle East.

Hear what Jim Goure had to say about war and peace: “Let us accept our responsibilities of being the Light of the World. Let us accept the responsibility of changing the mass consciousness of war to Light, Love, Peace, and Joy. When there is Joy, we cannot kill; we can only give Love.”

The way to change the mass consciousness of war, said Jim, was through prayer: “Prayer reaches the hearts and souls of everyone.”

Here are affirmations that Jim gave us for changing the consciousness of war:

• Earth releases all of its past to the Light. Earth releases its consciousness of killing to Light. Earth releases its consciousness of war to Light. Earth changes the vibrations of war to Light.
• The Creator in me changes the consciousness of war, fear, dying, killing, and being killed to Light, Love, Peace, and Joy.
• Speak with the authority of the Creator: The war consciousness of Earth is changed to Light.
• The Creator in me changes the war consciousness in the astral Earth to Light and Love and Peace.
• The consciousness of the Middle East is changed to Light.

Adapting these affirmations, this Saturday (and on succeeding days), you may want to try this prayer: “I release any conflicts within myself to the Light. I release conflicts that I may have with others to the Light. Earth releases its past to the Light. Earth releases its consciousness of war and killing to the Light. Reveal Thy Peace, O Lord. Reveal Thy Peace to me, O Lord. Reveal Thy Peace, O Lord, that is in the hearts and minds and souls of all people. Help us to release our war consciousness, O Lord, and infuse this Earth with Thy Peace. And now, in the consciousness of the Divine, I pray, ‘The Creator in me creates Peace, Love, and Light in the leaders of Israel. The Creator in me creates Peace, Love, and Light in the Palestinian leaders. The Creator in me creates Peace, Love, and Light in the Iranian leaders. The Creator in me creates Peace, Love, and Light in the Middle East. The Creator in me creates Peace, Love, and Light in the leaders of all nations. The Creator in me creates Peace, Love, and Light in the peoples of Earth. The Creator in me creates a planet of Peace. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.’”

Love and Light,
Tully

10/07/2023

Dear Light Group,

A promise that is always kept is that if we call upon the Divine, the Divine will respond. The response may not be immediate and it may not be exactly what we wanted or anticipated, but it will come.

The fullness of the response often depends on the fervency of our prayer, the frequency of that prayer, and the clarity of our intentions. A casual prayer – the equivalent of tossing a coin in a fountain for good luck – rarely yields much, but a prayer filled with warmth and intensity is much more likely to generate a response.

The tricky part can be the clarity of our intentions. This means getting our ego and our material desires out of the way and truly being in the spirit of “not my will but Thy will be done.”

A suggestion that Jim Goure had for ensuring clarity of intentions was to say, “Thank you, God,” over and over, no matter what the circumstances. This is not always the easiest mindset to maintain, especially when hurtful things happen. But if we are able to maintain that mindset, then we see God in everything, and isn’t that the definition of superconsciousness?

Another approach to superconsciousness is to repeat, over and over, “Reveal Thyself.” That, again, is a prayer that will yield a knowing that God is in all things – and beyond all things.

If our needs are more basic – health, finances, safety – then it is fine to pray for those needs. But to the extent we can, we have been guided by Jim and others to aspire to God-knowing – and beyond that to being the Creator in action, creating Good for the wellbeing of everyone and everything.

In the spirit of knowing that our prayers will be responded to, you might, this Saturday, want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for hearing me. Thank you, God, for responding to the call of my soul. Thank you, God, for my physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Thank you, God, for Thy essence within me. Thank you, God, for oneness with Thee. Thank you, God, for the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of my loved ones. Thank you, God, for the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of all people. Thank you, God, for the wellbeing of the nature kingdoms. Thank you, God, for my being a vehicle of Thy goodness, that others may be uplifted and freed to know Thee and Thy goodness. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

9/30/2023

Dear Light Group,

I had a sense that Jim Goure perceived one of his missions was to bring people home to the Light. This was important for those who had a strong connection with Jesus, particularly those who were around Jesus while he was in the physical.

Jim would bring us back time and again to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: “Ye are gods,” and “Ye are the Light of the world.” Jim (and Jesus) were pleading with us to recognize the Divinity within ourselves and use that Divinity to expand the Good in one and all.

Reading between the lines, I wondered if Jim weren’t under a mandate from Jesus: Love those who were with me. They are lost. Bring them home.

I suspect that following that mandate was not always easy for Jim. People can be exasperating. And yet he opened his heart – and his home – to all comers.

That call to come home is still being made. We are still being called to return to the heart of the Divine.

In that heart of the Divine is the Love, the wholeness, the completeness that we seek.

Knowing that great spiritual masters are still with us – guiding us, protecting us, loving us – let us this Saturday enter the House of the Lord. To facilitate your entrance into that House, you might want to try a prayer such as: “I enter the House of the Lord, as I am, with all my beauties and all my shortcomings. As I enter the House of the Lord, I am greeted by an indescribable abundance of Love. As I enter the House of the Lord, I feel the power and the glory of the Lord. As I enter the House of the Lord, I am greeted by the saints and masters who have gone before me. I know, as I am surrounded by their Love and Joy, that there is no greater mission while I am on Earth than giving this Love and Joy to everyone and everything. Refreshed and renewed, I give thanks for the guidance and the Love of Jesus and Jim, and I go forth, blessed by Love and Joy and radiating this Love and Joy to one and all. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

9/23/2023

Dear Light Group,

Psalm 121 begins, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”

It’s a challenge these days to do as David, the psalmist, did, to lift up our eyes to the Lord. We are bombarded with emotion-laden news, most of it designed to make us feel that “the other guy” is making a mess of things.

Whatever our emotional, personal, political leanings, it is important to remember what David told us in Psalm 121: “The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand: The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”

Psalm 121 reminds us that our ultimate sanctuary is not in anyone or anything earthly. It is in the Lord, and that Lord shall preserve us from all evil and will preserve us for evermore.

With that in mind, let us this Saturday “lift up our eyes” to the Lord. In so doing, you might want to try a prayer such as, “I lift my eyes to Thee, O Lord. You are my sanctuary. It is in Your Love, Light, Peace, and Truth that I put my faith and my trust. I merge my consciousness with Your all-pervading Light. You and Your all-pervading Light are the only true reality. All else is like the flickering images on a movie screen – an engaging drama, but not ultimate reality. Turning away from the drama, I see only You. Turning away from the drama, I know there is only You and Your Light. Turning away from the drama, I know there is only the Love, Your Love, your all-pervading Love. Turning away from the drama, I feel surrounded by Your Light and Your Love. Keep me centered in this, Thy Love and Thy Light. As the drama plays out, always be with me, Lord, that I may always stay centered in Thy consciousness of Love and Light and that I may all the days of my life remember to “Praise the Lord, o my soul.” Amen.

Love and Light,
Tully

09/16/2023

Dear Light Group,

Jim Goure pleaded with us to step outside of our limited human mindsets, merge our consciousness with that of the Divine, and become the Creator in Action. He would cut us off when we made excuses: “But I don’t have enough time.” “But I have an ache or a pain.” “But my spouse doesn’t want me to….” Whatever limitations we thought we had, he wanted us to move beyond them. He gave us prayer techniques for overcoming our challenges. He put his all into making us feel loved, so we felt it was safe to move beyond our perceived limitations.

On the other side of limitations was the Creator. On the other side of limitations was the unlimited power and goodness of the Creator. All we had to do was engage that Creator in prayer.

The key to effective prayer was to come from a place of pure love, not ego. That is not always easy. We can feel so passionately about something that it is hard to get our ego and our ego desires out of the way. To be totally nonjudgmental, to come from a space of pure love, is essential, but can be a challenge.

Clearly there is a need. Clearly there is a world crying out for love, for Divine Love. So let us do our utmost this Saturday to enter that space of Divine Love and be the Creator in Action, for the good of all.

In doing so, you might want to try a prayer such as, “I feel Your Love within me, Lord. I feel Your Love in the wind and the rain and the sun and the trees and the flowers. Thank you, Lord, for surrounding me with Thy Love. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all may feel this Love. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all peoples of all nations may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that the leaders of all nations may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that Vladimir Putin may feel that he is loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all Russians may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, Volodymyr Zelensky may feel that he is loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all Ukrainians may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that Xi Jinping may feel that he is loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all Chinese people may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that Joe Biden may feel that he is loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all candidates for president of the United States may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all Americans may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all leaders of all nations may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that all citizens of all nations may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that the nature kingdoms of Earth may feel that they are loved. Expand Thy Love, Lord, that Mother Earth may feel loved and respected and appreciated. Thank you, Lord, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

09/09/2023

Dear Light Group,

Before I knew about the Light Center, before I met Jim Goure, an uncle of mine would send me cassette tapes of Jim’s lectures. At first, those lectures didn’t do much for me. Why was Jim Goure saying there was no karma when all the other spiritual leaders I had been listening to said there was karma? Why was my uncle, who I thought had good taste in spiritual matters, sending me these tapes of Jim Goure lectures?

But finally, on my own, I sent away for the tape of a Jim Goure lecture simply entitled “Love.” Then it clicked. As I listened to that lecture, I thought, “Wow, this man really knows how to love.” I was hooked.

I have listened to that lecture many, many times over the years, and what has struck me in subsequent listenings is the portion of that lecture where Jim described what God is…and what God is not. He said that when he looked inwardly at how other people were praying, he saw their image of God was of a man with white hair and a beard with a sword in one hand to strike them if they were bad and a staff in another hand to bless them if they were good.

Jim said this is not who God is. God is not a person, not a human-like entity. God is way beyond that.

Then Jim reminded us of what Jesus had said in the Bible, that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. To that, Jim added two other attributes of God that are mentioned in the Bible, love and light. So God is not some old man with white hair waiting to nail us if we’ve been naughty or praise us if we’ve been good. God is Love, Light, Truth, and Spirit. We worship God – not when we pray to some mythical entity that is external to us – but when we enter into the Spirit that is within each one of us. The essence of that Spirit is multifaceted, but at its core is Love, Light, and Truth.

The Love essence of God is always there. We are always loved by God, no matter who we are or what we have done. That loving God is simply waiting for us to let go of the veils of illusion that been hiding us from this Love. Once that happens, we see that this Love is way beyond anything we have known with our human consciousness. Way beyond brotherly love. Way beyond even the love of a mother for her child. This Love is so magnificent, so abundant, so overflowing that it has been likened to trying to capture the waters of Niagara Falls with a tin cup.

So let us, this Saturday, enter the Spirit of God so that we may know this Love ever more fully. In doing so, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for Thy Spirit. Thank you, God, for allowing me to enter Thy Spirit. Thank you, God, for allowing me to know Thee and Thy Love. Thank you, God, for allowing me to feel Thy Love in every cell of my body. Thank you, God, for allowing me to know that it is Thy Love sustaining all that exists. Thank you, God, for enabling me to see that there is only Thy Love in all that is. Thank you, God, for making me a vehicle of Thy Love. Let this, Thy Love, pour forth from my being at all times and at all places, that all may know and feel and express Thy Love. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

08/31/2023

Dear Light Group,

One of my favorite songs is What a Wonderful World, by Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong. I’ve copied below the lyrics to that song, and if you like, there is a link, at the very end, to a YouTube video in which you can hear Satchmo singing those lyrics.

It’s easy to get so wound up fretting about the problems of the world and our own problems that we forget what a wonderful world it is.

Beyond the beauties of this world, which Satchmo sings about so magnificently, are deeper meanings to our world. The universe has provided us with a world to work with. It is a world in which we can exercise our spirituality. Whether we like what we see or not, the universe is presenting us with opportunities to be, to be the spiritual beings that we are. This is our world. We – humanity collectively – created it. Some of it is spectacularly beautiful. Some of it is mankind’s collective karma returning with hard lessons. Through it all, there is this haunting question, “Who are you?”

Who, indeed, are we? Are we helpless humans eternally buffeted by the hurricanes of existence? Or are we Divine beings, centered in Spirit, unshakeable, unflappable, always giving and giving and giving of Divine Love, Light, Truth, and Spirit to everyone and everything.

Staying centered in Spirit is much easier said than done. There is so much in our makeup and there are so many distractions that keep pulling us back from Spirit consciousness to human consciousness.

But that is why we gather in prayer, to return to our Divine essence. If you would like a prayer to help you remember that essence, you might try this: “Thank you, God, for this wonderful world. Thank you, God, for reminding me that it is always You. It is you in the wind and the rain. It is You in the heat and the cold. It is You in the sunshine and the darkness. It is You in the stars and the rolling waves. It is You in me. It is You in everyone and everything. No matter what happens in this world, keep me centered in Thee, O Lord. No matter what other humans may do, keep me centered in Thee, O Lord. No matter what may happen with the weather, keep me centered in Thee, O Lord. No matter what disruptions occur – whether by man or nature – keep me centered in Thee, O Lord. Always remind me, Lord, that Thy essence is my essence. Always remind me, Lord, that Thy Light, Love, Truth, and Spirit is my essence. Keep me centered in Thy Light, Love, Truth, and Spirit. Keep me centered in this, my Divine essence, all the days of my life. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

08/25/2023

Dear Light Group,

There is much in the Bible that puts Jesus at a distance. He stands before large crowds and gives sermons. He goes to the desert and fasts for forty days. He goes up the Mount of Olives to pray. He ascends to sit on the right hand of God. Not much intimacy here.

Then there is his sharp tongue: “O ye hypocrites.” “O ye of little faith.” “O ye generation of vipers: how can ye, being evil, speak good things?” To his beloved disciple, Peter, he said, “Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me.” Even his own mother didn’t seem escape his sharp tongue: “Woman, what have I to do with thee?”

He also appears to have had a bit of a temper: he cursed the fig tree, he whipped the money lenders, he got angry with his disciples.

And yet, there are those moments with Jesus, one-on-one with another person, where he would show a depth of compassion that takes your breath away. One of those moments was with the Samaritan woman at the well. He asks her for a drink of water. She is taken aback – Jews looked down on Samaritans – and she says, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? Jews have no dealing with Samaritans.” There is a bit of back and forth, and then Jesus tells her, “Whosever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” The Samaritan woman says, “Sir, give me this water.” Jesus tells her, “Go, call thy husband,” to which the Samaritan woman responds, “I have no husband.” At which point, Jesus commends her honesty. He intuitively has seen that she has been sleeping around (“thou hast five husbands”) and that the man she is with now “is not thy husband.” For her humility and her honesty, Jesus evidently opens her inner, spiritual eye, and she says, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet” and “Is this not the Christ?” Jesus had been telling people to worship the Father: a personalized God was as much as most people could comprehend. But with the Samaritan woman, he went deeper, much deeper than he had with others, telling her to worship the Father “in Spirit and in Truth…God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.”

What a powerful moment this must have been. A woman who may not have thought much of herself – allowing herself to be passed from man to man – has her spiritual eye opened and is given the key to worshipping God – “in Spirit and in Truth” – which to this day we are still learning.

These intimate, deeply compassionate moments – these one-on-one happenings – are repeated several times in the New Testament: Jesus healing the man born blind. Jesus healing the crippled. Jesus healing the mentally disturbed. Jesus sensing the hunger of the crowd and feeding the five thousand.

All of this is to say; our God is a caring God. Our God cares about each one of us. In a world that can seem indifferent to us and what we are experiencing, there is always the warmth, the caring, the compassion of the Divine – for each one of us.

If you would like to tune into this intimate, caring God, you might try a prayer such as, “Thank you, Divine Spirit, for your presence in me. Thank you, Divine Spirit, for your warmth and your caring. Thank you, Divine Spirit, for your compassion. Thank you, Divine Spirit, for the peace that comes from knowing that You are here and that You are always with me. Thank you, Divine Spirit, for lifting me up by Thy Truth and Thy Love. Let this, Thy Spirit, expand and be present for everyone and everything. Let us all be surrounded by such Love that we seek nothing but Thee. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

08/19/2023

Dear Light Group,

In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln spoke of the “mystic chords of memory” and of being touched by the “better angels of our nature.” Although he put these words in the context of wanting to preserve the Union, they could also be applied to a different kind of union, the union of each one of us with the Divine.

The “mystic chords of memory” inside us, however faint or strong they may be, are reminders of our divinity. Through the ups and downs of daily life, through challenges and diversions, there is, tucked deeply within us, a knowing, a memory of our divinity and an aching desire to return to that divinity. We may not like our situation and may not even like the ways in which we occasionally behave, but there are always, whispering inside us, “the better angels of our nature,” reminding us of our divinity, inviting us back to the Divine.

One of those “better angels of our nature” who spoke to us with great emotion at one Advance was Jim Goure, who, speaking directly from the heart of God, told us,

I am in you.
I have been in you since before the world was.
I am..that Light in you.
It is filling you.
And there never has been a time I am not with you.
There never has been a time I am not centered in you.

I center you.
I expand you.
I am you.

I am Love in you.
I am that Love in you that is in the world.
Before world, in the world, and now.
I am the Love in you of the universe.
I am the Light of you in the universe.
I am in the stars and the rolling wave.
I am you.

You cannot separate me from you, ever.
Speak, and I am there.
There never has been a time I am not there.
I am you.

And I love you.
I love you.
I love you.

If you would like to go deeper into this consciousness of the Divine telling us “I am you” and in so doing tune in to the better angels of your own nature, you might try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for reminding me of who I am. Thank you, God, for returning me to Thine heart of Love. Thank you, God, for centering my consciousness in Thine spirit of Peace. Thank you, God, for reminding me that there is only Thee. Thank you, God, for reminding me that no matter what happens, there is always Thy Love. Thank you, God, for reminding me that Thy Love and Thy Peace and Thy Joy and Thy Beauty permeate everything. Thank you, God, for keeping me centered in this knowing that Thy Love, Peace, Beauty, and Joy are in everyone and everything. Always keep my consciousness centered in Thee, O Lord, that I may live all the days of my life knowing that it is Thee and only Thee that is in everyone, in everything, and in me. Amen”

Love and Light,
Tully

08/12/2023

Dear Light Group,

One characteristic of spiritual masters is their warmth. You feel they care deeply about you, about who you are and about your individual well being. You feel the warmth of their smile when they greet you. You see the love in their eyes, and you feel that love is being sent directly to you.

Jim Goure certainly had that warmth. So did Jesus. So have many other spiritual masters.

But if those spiritual masters sense that we are putting them on a pedestal or that we are becoming too dependent on them or that we are basking in their warmth while engaging in frivolous, egoistic behavior, in a blink of an eye, that warmth can turn very cold.

All of us at one point or another feel rejection or isolation or simply the indifference of the rest of the world, and at those times we have a hunger, a yearning for the warmth we once felt from a spiritual master.

But the question before us now is this: How do we develop that same warmth? How do we become the warmth for others? And if we are already expressing that warmth, how do we magnify it, how do we embrace even more people in our warmth?

If you are interested in magnifying the warmth within you, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for having touched my heart with Your warmth. Thank you, God, for Jesus and Jim and other masters who have touched our hearts with their warmth. Calm our hearts, Lord, and fill them with Thy warmth, that we, too, may be emissaries of Thy warmth and comfort and Love and Peace. Expand the warmth in our hearts, Lord, that it may encompass all of creation, so that we may live all the days of our lives in this, Thy warmth and Love, and that we may give and give and give of this warmth and Love to everyone and everything. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

08/05/2023

Dear Light Group,

At numerous points in the Old Testament, God expresses exasperation with the Israelites. Here is an example from Exodus: “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation.’”

Reflecting this exasperation, Moses in Deuteronomy is quoted as saying to the Levites, “For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord – and how much more after my death?….For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will befall you in the latter days because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”

The question before us today is, after all these millennia, after the hundreds of prophets and saints sent for our salvation, are we still a rebellious, stiff-necked people? Do we still prefer to wander in the wilderness of unrestrained desires, of greed, lust, anger, sloth, and envy – or are we determined to move on, to step it up, to make a concerted effort to return to the House of the Lord? Observing modern society, you wonder.

But this is a question not only for society at large but for each one of us. Are we truly ready to rise above the fray and stay focused on what we know in our hearts is the only route to sustained happiness, joy, bliss? Or are we, too, a bit stiff-necked and rebellious, continually regressing too old habits of thought and behavior that remove us from the Lord? Are we going to continue identifying with our physical bodies and the concerns of our little selves and the gyrations of this material world – or are we going to see that this whole world is Light and that underlying everything is the presence of God?

To help us stay “on beam,” as a friend used to say, you might want to consider this prayer: “I lay aside all of my defenses. I lay aside everything I use to defend my personal identity. I know there is no identity worth having except that of the Divine. I know there is nothing worth seeking but the Love, Joy, Beauty, and Peace of the Lord. Cleanse me of old thought patterns and behaviors, Lord, that I may be open to receiving Thee and Thy Love, Joy, Beauty, and Peace. Let this Love, Joy, Beauty, and Peace live in my heart, mind, and soul, that at all times and in all places I may reflect Thee and Thy goodness and Thy Love, all for Thy greater glory. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

07/29/2023

Dear Light Group,

It is the human connection that keeps us going. It can inspire us. It can pull us out of a funk. It can uplift us.

These connections can arise in a family, among friends, within members of a congregation. Whatever the source of the connection, it is important for us to feel supported.

Those of us who are into the Light have a particular need for connections and for a sense of being supported. There isn’t much in the way of support from society at large for taking this path.

Although those of us associated with this weekly Light prayer group are dispersed throughout the country, it can help us if we feel connected with each other.

You might want to enhance that sense of connection with a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for this connection with other Light beings. Thank you, God, for helping me to feel the love in this prayer group and to feel the love individual members of this prayer group have for me. Thank you, God, for this return of love, flowing through me, to each and every member of this prayer group. Thank you God, for the love from our prayer group expanding outward, touching all other individuals on a spiritual path. Bless and protect them, that they may have the strength to fulfill their Divine missions and return to the heart of Divine Love within Thee. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

07/22/2023

Dear Light Group,

When we read about angels in the Gospels, it tends to be during a momentous event or when humans – even highly advanced ones – might need support. The angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. The angel of the Lord visited shepherds maintaining a vigil at night over their flock of sheep, telling them that a savior, Christ, had been born. As an adult, Jesus was tempted three times by the devil, and after the third time, when Jesus said, “Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, ’Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve,’” angels came and “ministered unto” Jesus. At the pool of Bethesda, blind, withered, and impotent people gathered, waiting for the angel who periodically stirred the pool’s waters. It was believed that whoever was the first to enter the water after the angel had stirred it would be healed. It was there that Jesus healed a lame, impotent man who was unable to get to the water on his own. Shortly before his trial and crucifixion, Jesus prayed in the garden, “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done,” at which point an angel from heaven appeared, strengthening him. After Jesus had been crucified, there was an earthquake, and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the doorway of the sepulcher where Jesus had been buried. Mary Magdalene was disconsolate and was standing weeping outside the sepulcher where Jesus had been buried, and looking into the sepulcher, she saw two angels who asked her why she was weeping; she turned and saw Jesus.

To access angelic spirits, we needn’t wait for such drama; we needn’t wait for saviors or encounters with Satan or moments of anguish. We can invite the angelic kingdom into our lives now. Think of what you would most like help with and pray to the angelic kingdom for assistance with that. It could be health-related; it could be for comfort in troubling times; it could be for help with enlightenment. Again, just focus on whatever is of greatest importance to you now.

If you would like a prayer to help you connect with the angelic kingdom, you might try this: “Thank you, angelic friends, for always being with me. Help me to appreciate your presence and your beauty and your dedication to following the will of God. Thank you, angelic friends, for protecting me and for guiding me back to the heart of God. Thank you, angelic friends, for reminding me that it is not this physical world that matters but the world of spirit. Hear my prayer, angelic friends, and help me with this matter that is of greatest importance to me. Thank you, angels for being my friend and for being with me now, bringing comfort, love, and guidance. Thank you, God, for this Thy beloved angelic kingdom. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

07/15/2023

Dear Light Group,

Jim Goure said that when he was young and was called upon to recite a Bible verse, he would say, “‘Jesus wept.’” This line was from the Book of John, and it comes after Jesus has been approached by one of the Marys (not Mother Mary). This Mary was the sister of Lazarus, who had just died, and she has just dropped to Jesus’s feet. Weeping, she says to Jesus, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

Jim’s sense was that Jesus wept, not because Mary was weeping or because others around her were weeping or because Lazarus had died, but because of Mary didn’t get it. She had been around Jesus for some time. She had heard his basic message: “The kingdom of heaven is within. Ye are the Light of the world.” But she still wasn’t convinced of her own divinity, of her own ability to heal. So Jesus “groaned in spirit and was troubled.” He groaned about mankind’s inability to get it, to see the Divine within and get on with it, to get on with the basic commandment (maybe the only commandment): Be Divine.

So here we are, two thousand years later, still struggling to get it, to stay focused, to not be distracted from our basic mission: Be Divine.

Let us this Saturday heed the call of Jesus and other masters. Let us tune in to their magnetic vibration, drawing us back into the Divine, pulling us back into the heart of God.

To get into this mindset of returning to the heart of God, you might try a prayer such as, “Thank you, Jesus, for showing us the way. Thank you for your immense heart, filled with love, drawing us back into the heart of God. It is now time for us to grow up and step into our Divinity. It is time for us to let go of our little selves and step into the Greater Self. As we merge into the bliss and peace and power of the Divine, our own hearts expand, bringing blessings of love and compassion to all creation. All glory be to Thee, O Lord. We sing praises unto Thee. All glory be to God. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

07/08/2023

Dear Light Group,

From the upper deck of my house, I have a view of a good portion of the city in which I live, and this afforded me the opportunity last night to see multiple fireworks displays celebrating the Fourth of July. What a wonderful symbol of our nation (and ourselves) fireworks are: a burst of freedom, followed by the light.

I was reminded today of how precious this freedom is: I read in the paper about a man in China who recently was sentenced to seven years in prison for merely having criticized the Communist Party regime in a blog.

We are among the fortunate few in America. We constitute only four percent of the world’s population, and we few are blessed to live in one of the freest nations on Earth. Billions of people live under authoritarian regimes. Hundreds of millions live in poverty. Tens of millions live in countries at war.

So, we are freer than most, but free to do what? This is the question each of us must answer.

Let us give thanks this Saturday for the freedom to pursue the Divine. In doing so, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for this life, free and well-favored. Thank you, God, for the free will you have granted me. Let me use this freedom wisely, Lord. Guide me to use my freedom to pursue Thee, O Lord. Free me from the bondages of the past. Liberate me, Lord, from any anger, fear, doubt, jealously, or greed that I may feel. Keep me from straying outside your path of love and kindness. Liberate me to be the Light that I am. Let this Thy Light shine through me, that all may be blessed by Thy Love. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

07/01/2023

Dear Light Group,

When I read the Gospels, I marvel at how spectacularly fresh and elevating the words of Jesus are. It is stunning to contrast Jesus and what he said and did with what was said and done in the Old Testament. The Old Testament, yes, has much wisdom, but it also is filled with stories of deceit, betrayal, fratricide, and mass violence. Then along comes Jesus, who, in the Sermon on the Mount, says, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time” – meaning, the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets. Jesus proceeds to turn upside down what the old timers said and offer us a fantastically more elevating way of being.

But every once in a while Jesus himself sounds a bit like one of those prophets of old. The role of a prophet is to get us to straighten up and fly right, and the language they use to do so can seem stern and foreboding. Listen to what Jesus said: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married…until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Jesus is saying that people ignored Noah’s warning and went about their daily lives – eating, drinking, and marrying – and didn’t realize their mistake until it was too late. And so it was while Jesus was in the physical: an ignorance-drunk generation ate, drank, married, and ignored Jesus, losing the opportunity for their own salvation and elevation in the Spirit of the Divine.

Is this what we see now? Is an increasingly secular society eating, drinking, and making merry – all the while being swept away by a flood of ignorance?

Whatever is going on in society at large, we have been admonished by Jesus the prophet to, “Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass….Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”

The basic message is this: “Be vigilant and watch out for the tricks of the fickle mind. Don’t be fooled by the behavior and mindset of the masses. Continually monitor whether your thoughts are centered on God…or whether they are being distracted by the things of this world. Stay centered on God through prayer and meditation. Pray and meditate without ceasing. This is the way to liberation and salvation.”

In this spirit, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for bringing me back to Thee. Thank you, God, for reminding me of the Light and Love within my heart. Keep me focused on Thee and Thy spirit of goodness and truth. Radiant One, You shine within me and outside of me; even in darkness You shine. Focus Your Light within me; make it useful. Clear my mind and emotions of busy distractions, and keep me from entering the realm of forgetfulness. Keep me from being tempted by false appearances. Don’t let surface things delude me. Free me from what holds me back. Untangle the knots within. Absorb my frustrated hopes and dreams, Mend my heart, that I may with compassion help others mend their hearts. Free me to walk your path with Joy. Create a shrine inside me of wholeness, so I may hear Thy voice and feel Thy Peace within me. Create a shrine of wholeness within me and within everyone, and from this divine union, let us birth a new world of Peace. Create a shrine of wholeness within me and within everyone, and from this divine union, let us bless this earth with universal fruitfulness. Create a shrine of wholeness within me and within everyone, and from this divine union, let us embrace all creation with Thy Light, Love, and Peace. To You belongs all glory, O Lord. May this prayer be the ground from which all my actions grow. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

06/24/2023

Dear Light Group,

One of the attributes of advanced spirituality is clairvoyance, and Jesus had clairvoyance in spades.

One of Jesus’ more dramatic moments of clairvoyance came at what I like to imagine as an intimate time with his disciples. Anyone deep into spirituality who has the privilege of being near an advanced being cherishes every opportunity to be close to them. You feel transported in their presence. Seemingly magical things happen around them. They say fascinating, illuminating things.

One day Jesus came out of the temple – presumably this was the Temple in Jerusalem – and his disciples, I assume in an effort to impress Jesus, wanted to show him the buildings of the temple compound. Was Jesus dazzled by those buildings? No way. With crystal clear clairvoyance, Jesus told his disciples, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” This indeed is what happened just a few decades after Jesus’ resurrection: the Jews rebelled against their Roman overlords, and the Romans proceeded to destroy Jerusalem – and that included the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, only one section of which still stands, now known as the Wailing Wall, a place of Jewish pilgrimage to this day.

That clairvoyance on the part of Jesus had specificity. Another moment of clairvoyance was more general in nature, and its truth has extended well beyond the time of the Romans. Again, there was an intimate gathering of disciples around Jesus on the Mount of Olives. The disciples asked Jesus, “Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?” Jesus began his response by warning the disciples not to be deceived by charlatans who “shall come in my name…and shall deceive many.” Then he gave a much broader prophecy: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation…and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places….Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Haven’t we seen this in our own lifetimes? Wars (in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in Africa), pestilence (the COVID pandemic), and earthquakes (thousands a year, the most recent devastating one occurring in Turkey and Syria).

What was Jesus’ advice to his disciples (and to us) in being confronted with these events? Keep your cool. Keep your spiritual cool. “See that ye be not troubled.”

He also gave us this perspective: “for all these things must come to pass.” One way of interpreting this is that wars, pestilence, and earthquakes are mankind’s karma coming home to roost. Greed, selfishness, prejudice, and cold-hearted cruelty generate a deluge of negative vibrations that are released into the ethers and return to generate new catastrophes.

If this is the way of the world, what are we to do? Again, we can start by keeping our cool: “See that ye be not troubled.” If we know that things are working their way out in Divine order, then we needn’t get demoralized by the latest catastrophe. We have better things to do. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God.” “And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

Our “work” is the work of the Divine, and our “reward” is the joy of merging our consciousness with that of the Divine. As we do that, as we merge our consciousness with the Divine, we mitigate the negative karma on Earth, and we uplift others.

To get into that consciousness, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for reminding me that Thou art with me at all times and in all places. Center me in Thy Joy and Thy Peace and Thy Love. Let this, Thy Joy, Peace, and Love radiate to everyone on Earth. Uplift everyone, Lord, to a consciousness of Thy Joy, Peace, and Love. Uplift this planet, Lord, to Thy Joy, Peace, and Love. Let Thy Joy, Peace, and Love permeate every cell and atom on this planet. And always keep me centered in Thy Joy, Peace, and Love. Come quickly, Lord, with this my reward, Thy Joy, Peace, and Love. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

06/17/2023

Dear Light Group,

Towards the end of his life, Jesus told his disciples, “Yet a little while is the Light with you. Walk while ye have the Light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the Light, believe in the Light, that ye may be the children of Light.” Previously, when he had taught in the temple at Jerusalem, Jesus had said, “I am the Light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life.”

So there he was, nearing the end of his physical life, telling his disciples that only for a little while longer would the Light of Christ Consciousness continue to manifest in his body. He was telling them to step it up, to make the most of his remaining time in the physical, to hasten along the path in the aureole of his divine presence, lest the darkness of delusion descend on them and they miss their chance to enter the kingdom of Divine consciousness.

And so it is with us. Every moment is an opportunity for us to be in the Light. Every moment is an opportunity for us to walk in the Light. Every moment is an opportunity for us to hasten along the path that leads to the kingdom of Divine consciousness.

There is a myriad of things distracting us from this path. The demands of others. The news. Text messages. Emails. Social media. The people at work. The people at home. On and on go the distractions.

But always calling us back to the center is our reminder from Jesus, “Yet a little while is the Light with you. Walk while ye have the Light, lest darkness come upon you.”

So as we go about our day, let us remember that we, too, are that Light. We are not our problems. We are not this problematical world. We are the Light, and that Light we is more glorious than anything else.

To enter into this consciousness, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Praise be to God for the Light. Praise be to God for the kingdom of Divine consciousness. Let me always walk in the consciousness of the Light. Let me experience this Light in all things. Keep me always on this path of Light, O Lord, that I never may stray into darkness. Keep me centered in Thee, O Lord. Keep me centered in Thy Light, and let this Light always radiate from within me to everyone and everything, that all may be blessed and uplifted by Thy Light. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

06/10/2023

Dear Light Group,

There is a myriad of things distracting us from this path. The demands of others. The news. Text messages. Emails. Social media. The people at work. The people at home. On and on go the distractions.

But always calling us back to the center is our reminder from Jesus, “Yet a little while is the Light with you. Walk while ye have the Light, lest darkness come upon you.”

Love and Light,
Tully

06/03/2023

Dear Light Group,

The heart feels and enjoys, and at a higher level, it can be the center of Divine Bliss. But for many people, there is a covering over the heart. That covering can be one of fear, of pain, of despair.

Realizing there was this covering, Jesus told us, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God….In my Father’s house are many mansions….I go to prepare a place for you.”

Jesus was telling us, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. In God, there is nothing to fear, and there is no pain. There is only the Bliss of the Divine. That Bliss is endless (there are ‘many mansions’), and I have prepared a place for you in that endless Bliss.”

We need to do our part to enter one of those mansions of Bliss, and that involves stilling the restlessness of the heart and being focused on Divine Consciousness, regardless of troubles. We tend to get agitated when we our desires are thwarted or when we are confronted with something towards which we feel an aversion. That makes us feel that our world is imperfect.

But our souls, having been made in the image and likeness of the Divine, are perfect. We feel that perfection, that Divinity, when our hearts are calm.

We can achieve that calmness of heart if we can experience life with some detachment. One way to do that is to view life’s events as being part of a cosmic motion picture. If we see everything as part of a cosmic drama whose purpose is to draw us and everyone else back to the Divine, then there is less turbulence in our hearts, and we are better able to settle down and secure ourselves in Christ Consciousness.

To do that, you might want to try a prayer such as: “In the center of my heart is the Bliss of the Divine. This Bliss has always been there and will always be there. The shimmering Joy of this Bliss vibrates throughout my heart. This shimmering Joy radiates from my heart to the hearts of Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Mother Mary, and all other masters. Joy and Bliss from their hearts radiates back to my heart. Now there is an expansion of the Bliss and Joy in my heart that fills and surrounds everyone on Earth. There is an expansion of the Bliss and Joy in my heart that fills and surrounds our solar system. There is an expansion of the Bliss and Joy in my heart that fills and surrounds this universe. There is an expansion of the Bliss and Joy in my heart that fills and surrounds all of creation. I stay centered in this Bliss and Joy. This Bliss and Joy is everywhere and in everyone. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

05/26/2023

Dear Light Group,

During my two-month stay in the Asia-Pacific region, I was often in a country whose population is much younger than that of the United States. For example, the median age in the Philippines is 26. In the United States it is 38.

In virtually every country I went to, the standard of living is considerably lower than that of the United States, and yet the young people there seem full of hope and eager to learn.

Returning to the U.S., where we have so many advantages relative to the rest of the world, it seems many young people are a bit unmoored. What to do about it?

My suggestion is that we pray about this. If you are game for this, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Lord, bring Thy Light and Thy hope to the young people of America. Show them Thy way and Thy path to Joy. Bring them to people who will give them hope and show them Thy way of Love, Compassion, and Joy. Thank you, Lord, for Thy tender care for the young people of America. Thank you, Lord, for Thy tender care for the young people of the world. Bless all young people with knowledge of Thee and Thy ways. Lift them into Thy heart and fill them with Thy Love, that all the days of their lives may be in service to Thee. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

05/19/2023

Dear Light Group,

Among my favorite Jim Goure lectures is a talk entitled, “One World, One God.” In that lecture, he describes an experience he had on a trip to Florida with his wife Diana. The two of them stayed at the home of an acquaintance who evidently had statues and other objects representative of different religions that had been prevalent in different parts of the world during different periods of history.

At some point in his stay at this person’s Florida home, Jim went in to a deep meditation where he connected and spoke with representatives of those religions, including Jesus. It sounded as though he also spoke with representatives of ancient religions, such as the ancient Egyptians, as well as representatives of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Confucianism.

What came to Jim during this meditation was how we have separated ourselves from each other through our commitments to a particular religion. For example, he noted how many Christians feel they have the one, true religion and how those who follow other religions just don’t get it.

This separation, said Jim, has not been healthy for mankind: it has lead to war and other tragedies.

In his deep meditation, as he connected with the representatives of the various religions, all of them came to an agreement that we need to move beyond this separation and recognize that there is one God and that we are one with that God.

Although he was advocating a dissolution of any sense of separation, Jim did say he was quite impressed with one group, and that was the American Indian; in particular he singled out the American Indian medicine men as being highly spiritual.

There might be guidance for all of us in this experience of Jim’s. Certainly we want to move beyond a sense that “my religion is better than your religion” and instead recognize the essential oneness of all of us. But I keep coming back to how impressed he was with Indian medicine men, and I keep wondering if their wisdom might be beneficial for all of us. Their love of Mother Earth and their reverence for the nature kingdoms could be a source of insights for how all of us can interact with those nature kingdoms in a more respectful, loving way. It could also help us ground ourselves. The turbulence and rapidly changing nature of the world in which we live leaves many people feeling disoriented, confused, lost. The grounded nature of American Indian medicine men could help us slow down, center ourselves, and focus on what really matters.

If you would like to tune in to this energy, you might try a prayer such as, “Thank you, Amercian Indian medicine men, for holding the Light for Mother Earth. Thank you for staying centered on your mission of reverence for the nature kingdoms. Thank you for staying focused on your mission. Teach us, friends, how we can stay centered, even in the midst of personal and planetary turbulence. Teach us your reverence for all life. Teach us to walk in the spirit of the Great Spirit all the days of our lives. Lead us home, into the heart of the Great Spirit. Thank you for your friendship, for your dedication, and for your love of Earth. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

05/12/2023

Dear Light Group,

It is good to remind ourselves that beyond the turbulence and unrest that we may perceive in the world and in our own lives, there is the bliss of the Divine.

Each one of us and every thing quivers with Light, and then all merges into one luminescent sea of Light and Bliss. In this consciousness, we are no longer confined to our physical bodies and the distractions of our little world. Our field of awareness becomes vast. In this consciousness, we embrace all that is. In this consciousness, everything becomes transparent: through our inner sight and knowing, we experience sap flowing in trees, the movement of animals on land and in the air, the motions of humans near and far. Everything in our panoramic vision – trees, birds, flowers, furniture, humans – vibrates with Light and then merges into a luminescent sea.

Every pore of our body radiates Light. We have never felt so alive.

The Spirit of God, we realize, is endless bliss. A swelling Love in us envelops cities, countries, continents, Earth, the solar system, and all that is.

We come to realize that the center of this blissful Light and Love is within our own hearts. This immortal Bliss and Love pulses through us at all times and all places.

If you would like a prayer to deepen this reminder, you might try: “Thank you, Lord, for having created me from the limitless Joy of your Being. Thank you, Lord, for having lifted every sorrow and every form of sensory bondage. Thank you, Lord, for having melted all of life, death, love, hate, melancholy, and happiness into the vast sea of Your Bliss. Thank you, Lord, for transporting our sense of past, present, and future into the ever-present, ever-flowing Bliss of Thy Being. Thank you, Lord, for transmuting all anger, greed, lust, attraction, and aversion into the vast ocean of Thy Love and Light. Thank you, Lord, for reminding me that from Joy I came and into Thy Joy I melt. Thank you, Lord, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

05/06/2023

Dear Light Group,

Jim Goure told the story of a gentleman who came to him and talked about the path he was on. The path was to pursue the Light. But in the mind of this gentleman, it was as if the Light were at the end of a long path or tunnel. Meanwhile, Jim observed, the Light was all around this gentleman.

The moral of that story is that we spiritual people sometimes make things too difficult for ourselves. We don’t have to follow a tortuous path to find God. The Light, or God, is all around us – at all times, in all places, under all circumstances. It is simply a matter of switching our allegiance from being consumed with our selves and our false perceptions of what is needed to find the Divine.

It is simple, but is it easy? There is much tugging at us for our attention, whether it be the distractions of our daily lives or some of the wild things playing out on the world stage. The point is that we don’t need to make things more difficult for ourselves than they are; we don’t need to create lengthy paths to the Divine. We just need to remember that the Divine is here now.

To get into this frame of mind, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for the remembrance of Thee. Thank you, God, for reminding me of your presence right here, right now. Thank you, God, for reminding me that your Love is filling and surrounding me – right here, right now. Thank you, God, for reminding me that your Love is filling and surround my loved ones – right here, right now. Thank you, God, for reminding me that your Love is filling and surrounding everyone on Earth – right here, right now. Thank you, God, for centering me in this Love. Thank you, God, for centering me in the Peace that passeth all understanding. Thank you, God, for this oneness with Thee. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

04/28/2023

Dear Light Group,

There was a Tibetan meditation master who came to the U.S. in the early 1970s. One thing he talked about in his lectures was “Big joke.” He was a bit of a jokester himself, and a friend of mine described his use of language as “finger painting” – meaning, it often left you wondering, “What the heck did he mean by that?”

What I think he meant by “Big joke” was that we run around absorbed in ourselves and promoting ourselves and worried about ourselves and trying desperately to grasp onto what we’re attracted to and avoid like crazy what turns us off – when, in fact, our selves are not real. Our physical bodies are certainly impermanent, and there is so much interdependence in life, why are we working ourselves into a frenzy?

When we stop the frenzy and the self-absorption, we start to see the beauty of life. The green of the trees and the colors of flowers and the sounds of birds all become so much more vivid.

When we really slow it down, we come to realize that we are surrounded by the most fantastic love. The Love of the Divine is all around us and in us and in everyone and everything. The “Big joke” is that we run around frantically trying to give pleasure to ourselves when all the time there is nothing we need to do: the greatest love there is is with us at all times and in all places.

Let us this Saturday tune into that Love. In doing so, you might try a prayer such as, “I know you are here, Lord. I know your Love is here. Show me this Love, Lord. Let me see and feel Your Love in all with whom I meet. Let me see and feel Your Love in all that is. Center me, Lord, in this, Thy Love. Knowing this Love, I feel the joy of living. Know this Love, I feel the joy of life. Knowing this Love, I know the Joy of Your Being. Thank you, Lord, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

04/15/2023

Dear Light Group,

I am currently in Asia, and one of my activities here is to teach a course on The Return of Geo-Politics.

As I teach this course, I hear considerable nervousness among the people in East Asia about rising tensions in the South China Sea, specifically over fears that a war might break out between China and the United States over Taiwan.

Whatever the potential for such a conflict, it is important for those of us with a spiritual focus to stay centered in Divine Peace, the peace that passeth all understanding.

To access that Peace, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for reminding me that Thou and Thy Peace are behind everything. Thank you, God, for bringing to me the same consciousness that Jesus had when he said, ‘Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’ Center me, O Lord, in this, Thy Peace. Calm my heart. O Lord, that I may feel Thy Peace within my heart. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate from my heart to all the people of Earth. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate within the heart of President Biden of the United States. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate within the heart of Xi Jin Ping, the President of China. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate within the heart of Tsai Ing-Wen, the President of Taiwan. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate within the heart of Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate within the hearts of all people in China, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate in the hearts of all people in East Asia. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate in the hearts of all people on Earth. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

04/08/2023

Dear Light Group,

Easter is a most special time. With hundreds of millions of Christians around the planet praying and celebrating the resurrection of Christ, it is an opportune moment for us to tune in to the spirit of Jesus.

And what is that spirit?

Jim Goure counseled us to not get stuck with traditional ideas about Jesus. He said that Jesus had continued to grow in Spirit and had gone way beyond who he was when he was in the physical on Earth.

Each one of us, in our own way, has shown a dedication to the Light. Because of that dedication, there is a special place in the heart of Jesus for each of us.

Let’s use this Easter to feel the special love that Jesus has for us, a love that is unique to each one of us.

In doing so, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, Jesus, for revealing to me your Divine nature. Thank you, Jesus, for that special place that I have in your heart. Thank you, Jesus, for revealing to me why you have this special love for me. Thank you, Jesus, for helping me to recognize the divinity with myself. Thank you, Jesus for strengthening me. Thank you, Jesus, for your guidance. Thank you, Jesus, for helping to center me in love of the Divine. Thank you, God, for Jesus. God bless Jesus. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

03/25/2023

Dear Light Group,

The Book of John begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

That’s quite a statement. It equates the Word with God. It presumably means God is Sound. Not just any sound, but the sound of the Word.

And just what might that Word be? The Hindus believe that Word is Aum (or Om), which is similar to the Christian Amen.

At I write this, I am hearing the sounds of traffic, of a police siren, the tooting of car horns, the grinding of truck gears. Where, in all of this, is the Word, the Aum?

The early part of the Book of John says, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of man.” In essence, God is in all (even in the sounds of traffic). “I am here, sayeth the Lord.”

Recognizing the Divine in the mundane – in the sounds of traffic, in the swish of clothing, in the hum of the refrigerator – we indeed know God is our Life and Light. The more we know God is our Life and our Light, the more likely it is that we shall hear the Word, the Aum, at first from deep within ourselves, and then in all that is.

To harmonize ourselves with the Word, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for Thy holy Word. Thank you, God, for Thy holy Sound. Thank you, God, for Thy Sound resonating in my heart. Thank you, God, for Thy Sound resonating throughout my body. Thank you, God, for Thy Sacred Sound resonating throughout all creation. Thank you, God, for the Peace that comes from hearing this sound. Thank you, God, for the Joy that comes from being filled and surrounded with this Sound. Thank you, God, for expanding this Sound in the hearts and souls of all people. Thank you, God, for expanding this Sound in all that is. Thank you, God, for keeping Thy Word with us. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

03/18/2023

Dear Light Group,

A heart full of gratitude tends to be a happy heart. Being grateful uplifts us and helps us to see the goodness in life. At its most advanced levels, gratitude enables us to see God in everyone and everything.

A place to start expressing gratitude could be with people who have guided us, have been kind to us, have encouraged us, who have lit our way. This could include parents, siblings, teachers, friends, even strangers.

It could also include spiritual teachers and masters who have gone before us, such as Jesus. And what about those around Jesus while he was in a physical body? His disciples get a bit of a bum rap for not being very bright, but after the death and resurrection of Jesus, they went on to teach and heal and even raise from the dead. They also gave us the Gospels, their letters, and the Book of Revelation.

When the teachings of Jesus have become distorted or diluted, saints and masters have incarnated to bring us back to center. St. Francis, St. Anthony, and St. Teresa of Avila all showed us that the Christ was to be found within, as did Jim Goure.

So, spiritually we rest on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, and it might be worth our time this Saturday to recognize and give thanks for their efforts.

We could start our prayers by giving thanks for those who have helped us in this life and then move to prayers of gratitude for those who have gone before us. In doing so, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for my parents and other loved ones who have brought me life, love, guidance, and hope. Thank you, God, for the friends who have been there for me. Thank you, God, for teachers and coaches who have provided a guiding hand. Thank you, God, for those who have gone before me to light the way spiritually. Thank you, God, for Jesus and Jim and for Jesus’s disciples and for the saints known and unknown who have kept us true to Thee. Thank you, God, for everyone and everything and for helping me to see Thee in all the actors in Thy Grand Cosmic Drama. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

03/11/2023

Dear Light Group,

What is it that these spiritual masters see, and how is it that they got there?

Jim Goure at times would get overwhelmed with the love of the Divine. Yogananda was in a virtually continuous state of bliss. Ramakrishna would go into ecstasy meditating on Mother Kali. Mother Mary appeared to be expressing her own Divine ecstasy when she said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.”

Spiritual masters tend to make it sound easy. It’s just the flip of a switch. It’s just a matter of switching your allegiance. All you have to do is meditate and pray…without ceasing.

The “without ceasing” part turns out to be a bit of a challenge. Everyday thoughts, emotional outbursts, distractions of the senses divert our attention. The spiritual masters seem to tell us, “If you knew what we know, there is no way you would let that inconsequential nonsense disturb you. Just get on with it.”

If focus and continual prayer and meditation are the answer, what can we do about that this Saturday? A place to start would be simply to pray for focus and concentration.

If you agree that that could be of benefit, you might want to try a prayer such as, “I know the Light is there. I know the magnificent Love of the Divine is there. I know the Peace that passeth all understanding is there. Lord, keep me focused on Thy Light, love, and Peace. Open me wide to this Light, Love, and Peace. Keep me centered in this Light, Love, and Peace. Dissolve the knots within, that my way to Thee may be made clear. Protect me from the distractions that pull me away from Thee. Create your reign of unity within me now, that my desires may be one with Thine. Create Your reign of unity within me, that all of my thoughts and actions may be a blessing for Thy creation. Create your reign of unity within me now, that I may embody Thy Peace at all times and in all places. Create your reign of unity within me now, that I may be living proof of Thy Light and Thy Love. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

03/04/2023

Dear Light Group,

Towards the end of his life, Jesus told his most beloved disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

It must have been something to have been in the room with Jesus when he said that. He had told his disciples that he was leaving them, which might have caused some anxiety, but the power of his statement, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” was stupendous: how could they have not felt that what Jesus said was Truth; how could they have felt anything but tremendous Peace; how could they have felt anything but a tremendous love for Jesus?

But that was then, and here we are now, with no Jesus in our midst (at least not in the physical). Is it still possible to tap into the magnificent peace of which Jesus spoke?

Yes, it is. If we just let go of our past, let go of our concerns, let go of the magnetic attractions of the senses and then harmonize ourselves with some aspect of the Divine, then we can experience that greater Peace conveyed by Jesus.

There are many ways to harmonize ourselves with Divine Peace. One is to feel the elevating sound of Aum vibrating within us and feel it vibrating within all that is. Another way is simply to pray without ceasing. Yet another way is to meditate on emptiness.

Whatever approach you are most comfortable with, let us focus this Saturday on finding the Peace within. To do so, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for revealing to me Thy Peace within me. Thank you, God, for revealing Thy Peace within my loved ones. Thank you, God, for revealing Thy Peace within the plant, animal, and mineral kingdoms. Thank you, God, for revealing Thy Peace in the angelic kingdom that surrounds me. Thank you, God, for infusing the ground on which I step with Thy Peace. Thank you, God, for making all of my thoughts ones of Peace. Thank you, God, for infusing all of my actions with Thy Peace. Let this, Thy Peace, radiate out into the world, that all may know and feel Thy Peace. Let there be Thy Peace on Earth, in all people, in all creatures, in all that is. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

02/25/2023

Dear Light Group,

At various points in human history, God has sent avatars and masters to lift us out of the spiritual ditches we’ve gotten ourselves into. Typically, these avatars and masters arrive at a time when the essence of a religion has been drowned in a sea of dogma and sterile ritual and people are no longer living the mission of that religion. Buddha came at a time when there was a need for greater compassion and when people had to be reminded that there were consequences of their actions, that the unalterable law of karma meant that their non-virtuous actions would come back to bite them. Jesus came at a time when the priesthood had made Judaism so rigid and rule-bound that people barely felt they could breathe. Muhammed came at a time when the people of Mecca had become selfish and materialistic, and he sought to restore a sense of community and caring.

In more modern times, Yogananda arrived in America from India with a mission of bridging the divide between East and West and of showing that the teachings of Krishna (in the Bhagavad Gita) and the teachings of Jesus (in the New Testament) were essentially the same. Chogyam Trungpa arrived in America from Tibet with a warning that “the river of materialism has burst its banks” and a mission of reviving the true spirit of Buddhism.

There has been one problem with these masters, with these gifts from God: we’ve developed an expectation that someone Divine will come to save us. We look for a savior or at least a guru who will heal, enlighten, and save us.

Jim Goure saw things differently. His basic message to us was: You’re next. It’s your turn to Be Divine. Don’t look outside yourself for a guru or a savior. The great guru is within; it’s within you.

Pulling ourselves out of our daily concerns and our concerns about the state of the world can be a challenge, but we must do it. We must grow up and get on with our Divinity.

If you would like a prayer for getting on with it, you might try this: “I Am That. I Am that Light. I Am that Love. I Am that Peace. I Am that Joy. This Love, Light, Peace, and Joy is my Divine nature. At all times and in all places I am nothing less than this Light, Love, Peace and Joy. I am giving this Light, Love, Peace, and Joy to everyone and everything. This Light, Love, Peace, and Joy is the essence of my being. This Light, Love, Peace, and Joy is the essence of all creation. I am one with all creation. I am Light, Love, Peace, and Joy in all that is. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

02/18/2023

Dear Light Group,

There is much concern these days about the environment. Global warming is of particular concern, but there are also issues of contaminated soil, polluted aquifers, and the presence of toxic chemicals in our water, air, and food.

But do even the most fervent environmentalists have it right? We are where we are because we’ve viewed nature as something external to us, something to be exploited, manipulated, dominated. Even if we embrace and implement the most radical solutions to environmental issues, do we have it right – or are we still seeing nature as something external, as something that can be bent to the needs of humans?

Could we benefit from taking a step back and looking at how ancient cultures and indigenous peoples have related to nature? They have lived with a sense that man and nature are part of a unified whole, a unified field of energy, that there is one energy that permeates and gives life to everything, and that our role is to live in harmony with that unified energy.

In Taoism, they speak of The Way (the Tao), and a key theme in Taoism is: Man follows Earth, Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Tao. In other words, humans, earth, and heaven are one integrated whole, and the Tao, The Way, is all about living in harmony within that integrated whole. Similarly, the concept of chi is the notion that there is an energy that flows through everything. It brings life. It is the vital life force. It is central to the health not just of humans but of the planet. Practices such as Tai Chi are all about a healthy flow of chi within our bodies and an ability to live in harmony with the universal chi in the world around us.

Native Americans – the indigenous peoples of North and South America – have had a love of earth and of the nature kingdoms more deeply embedded in their souls than perhaps any other people. Living in harmony with the nature kingdoms is central to their culture and their way of life. Their prayers to the Great Spirit and their chants and dances and rituals are all designed to align them with the intent of the Great Spirit and to ensure that their relationships with the nature kingdoms are ones of harmony and balance.

If we embrace the wisdom of these and other ancient and indigenous cultures, then we see that to rely solely on mechanistic, technological answers to our environmental issues will not be enough. Those approaches still view nature as something external. We need a spiritual component that recognizes we are part of a unified whole, that our role is to act in harmony with that unified whole, and that we are to seek guidance from the Great Spirit (or the Divine or the Tao) in ensuring that we are acting in harmony with the greater whole.

If you would like a prayer of harmony with the nature kingdoms, you might try this: “Thank you, God, for harmonizing us with Thy will. Thank you, God, for helping us to see that there is nothing outside of us, that we are part of Thy unified whole. Thank you, God, for helping us to see Thy nature kingdoms as being sacred. Help us to see, Lord, that it is Thy energy that permits all that is. Help us to know that it is Thy Love and Light that is in the rolling waves, in the whispering wind, in the rushing streams, in the beauty of flowers, in the majesty of pine trees, in the warmth of the Sun, in the mystery of the stars. Help us to live in harmony with all of Thy creation. Bring to us the inner peace and harmony that will enable us to see Thee in all that is. Bring to us inner peace and harmony so we are able to live all the days of our lives knowing our oneness with Thee and with all life. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

02/11/2023

Dear Light Group,

When he gave lectures, Jim Goure used to leave a small basket off to the side into which people could leave written questions. It was a helpful technique. People who were shy or who felt intimidated could write their questions on a slip of paper and then drop those question into the basket. It gave the person asking the question anonymity (although Jim’s answers would often leave you with the feeling that intuitively he knew who had asked the question). It was also a way for Jim to learn what was on people’s minds.

The questions typically related to a spiritual matter and often to something Jim had said in one of his lectures. But one time someone simply wrote, “Why?” Jim paused and then paused some more before answering that question. Finally, he said something like, “For the sheer joy of it all.”

My sense has been that the person’s question was something along the lines of, “Why life? Why death? Why this loopy world that we live in?”

I suspect that Jim paused as long as he did because, given the depth of the question, he wanted to go within and make sure that he gave a Divinely-inspired answer.

I’ve often thought of Jim’s response. There are times when I’ve felt that I’ve understood it, and I have embraced it. There are other times when I’ve rebelled against it. Joy? In this world? In this loony bin with all these crazy things going on? No way.

But other spiritual masters have said things similar to what Jim said. Their perspective is this: Our universe was created by the Divine, and it was created with immaculate Joy. This creation, this world is God’s drama. We have a role to play in this drama, and we are here to enjoy playing our role. The dual nature of our world – positive and negative, light and dark, hot and cold – is working with us to draw us back to the immaculate Joy that is the Divine. We are emanations of the Divine, of Spirit, and the Divine wants us to reunite with the Joy that is Spirit’s essence. God’s intention for us is to live on Earth with an awakened perception of this Joy of Spirit. We are to find the Divine within and to share that Divinity and the Joy of that Divinity with others. We are here to perfect ourselves in Divine Love and Wisdom and Joy and help bring others back to the Divine.

Shall we tune into this Joy that Jim and other spiritual masters have spoken of? In so doing, you might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for taking me to that place where there is only Thy Joy. Still my thoughts, calm my heart, quiet my senses, that I may know Thy all-pervading Joy. Show me Thy shimmering Joy in all that exists. Fill me with the Joy of Thy creative Spirit. Make me an instrument of Thy joyful Spirit, that I may magnetize others so that they, too, may know Thy Joy. And thus it is. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

02/04/2023

Dear Light Group,

Sometimes little gems come from the most unlikely places. Today I got an email from a company that quoted Academy Award-winning actor Michael Caine: “Use the difficulty.” As a young actor, Mr. Caine had been rehearsing a scene in a play when something went wrong. He was supposed to enter a door on stage, but the actors already on stage had thrown a chair, and that chair had lodged in the doorway. He told the producer, “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t get in.” He said, “What do you mean?” “I said, ‘Well, look, I can’t get in. There’s a chair in my way.’ He said, ‘Well, use the difficulty.’ So I said, ‘What do you mean, use the difficulty?’ He said, ‘Well, if it’s a drama, pick it up and smash it. If it’s a comedy, fall over it.’ This was a line for me for life: Always use the difficulty.” And that Michael Caine did. “Use the difficulty” became his philosophy of life. He used the difficulties in his life to his benefit. When his children came to him with something bad that had happened, he told them, “Use the difficulty.” Mr. Caine believed, “There is never anything so bad that you can’t use that difficulty. If you can use it one-quarter of a percent to your advantage, you’re ahead. You didn’t let it get you down. Also, an added philosophy is, avoid them if you can!”

What a wonderful way to go through life. The world is rarely how we would ideally like it to be. It rarely is the wonderful world of our dreams. But rather than mope or complain about our world, “Use the difficulty!” Use a difficulty, rather than seeing it as a blockage. Use the world as it is, rather than fuming about what it is not. See everything as workable, rather than judging things as unfavorable.

Maybe a little prayer action could help us take this to the next level. You might want to try a prayer such as, “Thank you, God, for freeing me from concepts of good and bad. Help me, Lord, to see Thee in all people and all things. Help me to see life’s happenings as opportunities to grow closer to Thee. Help me to always say, ’Thank you, God’ when I am confronted with a blockage. Help me to know that it is Thy loving hand guiding me through life. Help me to see that the universe is working with me to draw me closer to Thee. Help me to see the luminosity, to see the Light in all that is. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

01/28/2023

Dear Light Group,

More than two thousand years after Jesus gave it, the Sermon on the Mount is still a mind-blower. Set in the context of what had gone on before – the “thou shalt nots” of the Ten Commandments; the hundreds of laws of Moses, some of them quite harsh; the rigid, restrictive rules of the priesthood – Jesus flipped it all on its head. In the Beatitudes, he told us that we were blessed. We were blessed if we were mourned, if we were poor in spirit, if others reviled us. If we were in pain, at least we were open, open to hearing what the Christ had to say. The Lord could work with us then. Those who are self-righteous and stuck in their ways would not have that openness.

But Jesus wasn’t just being compassionate in the Sermon on the Mount. He was also pointing out a way for us to be. We were blessed if we were merciful, pure-in-heart peacemakers. The way to the Christ consciousness is to be merciful, compassionate, ourselves. The way to Christ consciousness is to live a moral, virtuous life – so that we be pure in heart. This will give us an inner peace that will enable us to be peacemakers.

It is in the peace, in the inner stillness that we shall know God. When we have calmed our hearts, when we have stilled our restless minds, when we have stopped being distracted by our senses – that’s when the Divine can reveal itself to us.

Let us, this Saturday, give thanks for the compassionate Christ, ever welcoming us into the arms of the Lord, that we may recognize that Spirit within ourselves, and in so doing act as compassionate peacemakers for others. You might want to try a prayer such as this: “Thank you, Lord, for opening me to Thee. Thank you, Lord, for the Christ making a home within my consciousness. Thank you, Lord for the stillness and the steadiness and the peace of this Christ within me. Thank you, Lord, for this Christ manifesting in everything that I think and do. Thank you, Lord, for the peace and the freedom that comes from being this Christ. Let the Light of this Christ shine, that all may see and feel Thy glory and Thy Love and Thy Peace. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

01/21/2023

Dear Light Group,

I’ve thought that Buddha was a wise man but a lousy marketer. The first of his Four Noble Truths is the Truth of Suffering. That Truth more or less states: Get a grip. Life is full of suffering. There is the trauma of emerging from the mother’s womb. Then there is sickness. There are relationships gone sour. There are the infirmities of old age. Then there is death. Don’t think you can escape this.

What a downer of an opening line for a religion. Lousy marketing. Much better to have opened with something more positive – or so I have thought.

But let’s see where we can take Buddha’s wisdom. For starters, how many of us have had at least a few moments of pain and suffering? Somebody hurt us. There was disease and discomfort at some point. We failed to get something we wanted badly.

Where has our consciousness been throughout this suffering? it’s been on me, on my self, on my ego – and this focus on the mortal body and our delusive world has only led us to a dark place.

Is there an alternative?

Yes, there is. The Buddha might have us think, “OK, if this is reality, if reality is that this is an ephemeral, ever-changing world where things arise and then fall away, then why get uptight about it? Just let go. There is no personal territory to defend. Ultimately, it’s all going to dissolve. So just let go.”

In that mindset, we feel free, and we have a sense of open space. Rather than huddling in our dark cocoon, we feel spaciousness and luminosity.

And then, as we continue to calm down, we feel, working deep inside us, the Loving Mercy of the Lord, gently, patiently, persistently, pulling us back to the Joy and Love and Light that is our spiritual birthright.

So, wherever our mindsets are, let us, this Saturday, tune into this Loving Mercy of the Lord that is working within our hearts, letting us know that we are loved and that there is a Merciful Lord, patiently drawing us back to Spirit.

In doing so, you might want to try a prayer such as, “I know you are with me right now, Lord. I know your Mercy and Compassion have always been with me, Lord. Help me to feel Thy comforting Mercy in my heart. Feeling this Mercy in my heart, I give thanks, Lord, to Thee, for anchoring this Mercy in my heart. Continue to expand this Mercy in my heart, Lord, that I may be an instrument of Thy Peace and Thy Compassion. Center me, Lord, in Thy Mercy, that the challenges of this mortal life do not distract me from my mission of Love, Light, and Peace. Continue to remind me, Lord, that it is Thy Mercy that is The One Truth. As I am buffeted by winds of mortal existence, Lord, keep me centered in Thy Mercy. Seal the gentleness and peace that I feel being surrounded by Thy Mercy, that I may at all times and at all place, give of this Mercy and give of this Peace to everyone and everything. And so it is. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully

01/07/2023

Dear Light Group,

The New Year is here, and with every New Year come resolutions and hopes for a more perfect world.

Dreaming about a more perfect world may have its benefits: it can help us create conditions that uplift humankind.

But what about flipping things around? What about taking the world as it is – warts and all – and saying, “This is my world. This is my kingdom. It has been created for me, for my benefit and for the benefit of others. Everything – the heat, the cold, the ice, the snow, the rain, the wind, the acts of bravery, the acts of cowardice, the acts of kindness, the acts of incivility – have all been created for my benefit. It is all there for me to grow. Now, what can I learn from that?”

In that mindset, we’re no longer uptight about the state of the world. There no longer is a barrier between us and the world. We no longer feel we need to fight against the world. We are no longer wrapped up in our selves. Instead, we see the world as sacred. There is immense spaciousness. There is vast openness and universality. We feel tremendous warmth and compassion. We feel liberated.

If you would like a prayer to accompany this sense of spaciousness, you might try, “Thank you, God, for helping me to see things as You see them. Thank you, God, for Your Divine drama. Thank you, God, for the lessons Your Divine drama has brought me. Thank you, God, for transforming my consciousness from little ego to Divine Self. Thank you, God, for merging my consciousness with Thy Divine Consciousness. Thank you, God, for revealing to me the Bliss that Is, Thy Bliss that is in all things at all times and in all places. Thank you, God, for making it so. Amen.”

Love and Light,
Tully