Mark Wenz
According to Inuit tradition, these are the Seven Sacred Teachings, also known as the Seven Grandfather Teachings:
• Wisdom is the cherishing of knowledge;
• Love is knowing peace;
• Respect is honoring all of Creation;
• Bravery is facing foes with integrity;
• Honesty, which is also righteousness, means being honest first with yourself—and then with others—in word and action;
• Humility is to know yourself as one of many sacred parts of the Creation;
• Truth is to know all of these things.
(The Seven Sacred Teachings | Northwestern Polytechnic, nwpolytech.ca)
This paradigm aligns with many of the teachings of Unity, which encourages its members to educate themselves, think critically, and look at learning as a lifelong process; which encourages its members to attain peace through meditation and affirmative prayer; which fosters respect for all of God’s creation and our planet’s fragile ecosystems; which encourages its members to treat others—no matter their beliefs or actions—as children of the same source (God) from which all of us originate; which teaches honesty in words and actions and the awareness that all of God’s creatures originate from the manifestation of God’s presence; and which seeks the truth for each individual without dictating the “proper” way to discover that truth. Like all philosophies that help people to evolve spiritually, Unity doesn’t exist in a vacuum but draws from several other philosophies, both ancient and new.
At Unity Church of Sun Lakes, our pastor, Reverend Jeanne MacLaughlin, has also delineated a slightly different Sacred Seven:
• Meditation to attain a state of consciousness that allows us to listen to our intuition;
• Visioning, which asks us to identify the ways we want and need to evolve;
• Visualizing, which is manifesting that evolutionary progress by seeing it unfold in our minds;
• Affirmative Prayer, which encourages us to recognize all the blessings in our lives with gratitude;
• Affirmations (such as “I am strong,” “I am capable of changing my reality,” or “I am a loving and giving person”) and Denials or Release Statements, which encourage us to let go of any negative messages that may still play in our minds from our past experiences;
• Sacred Service, which encourages us to serve others, especially those in need; and
• Tithing, which asks us to put our money into causes and organizations that are helping people reach their potentials and creating planetary evolution.
These truths and strategies will help us all be the change we want to see. Feel free to join us in this quest for truth, peace of mind, and spiritual satisfaction at Unity Church of Sun Lakes. Services have been suspended throughout August but will begin again on Sept. 8 in the Arts & Crafts Room at Sun Lakes Country Club. We hope to see you there!