Unity Bookstore Book Review
The "I" of the Storm
By Gary Simmons
Have you ever wondered what your life would be like without conflict? No irritation with bad drivers, no fights with your kids or relatives? No bad days at the office due to coworkers or a cranky boss? Well, that’s exactly what Gary Simmons teaches us in his amazing book, The I of the Storm.
Hurricanes have, at the very center, the eye, where everything is in perfect equilibrium. There is peace, calm and stillness. The author suggests that the “I” of the storm is the same for us. We can only experience the wholeness and spiritual essence of ourselves, as God meant us to be, at our center, where there is no turmoil, no resistance.
This starts with knowing that no one is against you. Everything that is “for” you or “against” you has its roots within you. Nothing in the universe is against you or your purpose. We only feel as if something or someone is against us because of our defensiveness and separation from wholeness—our center. This is where we experience Spirituality, God, the I Am.
We make our lives mean what they mean. The way we relate to an experience is the way that experience becomes. However, from our wholeness we can learn to see how we are looking at life. Whatever the experience was, it is not “out there,” but within ourselves. We can choose to see the situation differently. Choice is such a wonderful blessing!
Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). This is how we can learn to live out of our wholeness, as a child of God.
The I of the Storm is a very deep and thought- provoking work of art. It might take you deeper into your own wholeness. Gary Simmons is an ordained Unity Minister. In 1993 he began his work in the field of conflict management. He is a fourth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and integrates spiritual principles and martial arts philosophy.
Namaste! Susan Collins
Youth Director/Volunteer Coordinator
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What Do You Have To Lose?
A short time ago in our newspapers, there was the story of a young woman who was told that, if after being hypnotized, she could arise from her chair and walk over to a small table and pick up a large sum of money lying there, she could have the money for her own. She was not able to do this, and of course she did not receive the money. Someone asked her how it felt to lose such a large sum of money, to which she replied, “It was not mine to lose!”
This is an old principle of Truth, but it bears much repetition and re-emphasis in our daily living. Nothing is really man’s in this world to lose, but he has everything to gain, provided he seeks such things for the purpose of using them with the knowledge that they are not his to lose and that his acquirement of them is not his gain, but God’s, who gave them. Even man’s life is not his to lose – that’s the reason Jesus Christ tried so hard to get man to do the things with his life and his body that would honor God and preserve life.