A Spiritual Reflection for April Fool’s Day

 

A Monthly exploration in spiritual awareness: April 1, 2026

 

 There is a peculiar vibe to April Fool’s Day, though at first glance it may seem like nothing more than a socially accepted excuse to play pranks, tell harmless lies, and glue a coin to the sidewalk just to watch a stranger attempt to pick it up with increasing determination.

But if we look a little deeper, past the rubber snakes, fake spilled coffee, and mysteriously “broken” computer screens—we might discover something quietly profound hiding beneath the laughter:  Most of us spend a great deal of our lives trying not to look foolish.  We want to appear competent, composed, intelligent, and in control. We curate our words, rehearse our responses, and sometimes even practice facial expressions in the mirror (don’t worry—no judgment here). We build identities that say, “I know what I’m doing.” And yet, if we’re honest, life has a way of humbling that illusion. You confidently send an email … to the wrong person.  You wave enthusiastically … at someone who wasn’t waving at you.  Y

Life, it seems, has a sense of humor.  And April Fool’s Day gives us permission, just for a moment, to stop resisting that reality.

Can we call it a Divine Sense of Humor?  If the universe has a personality, one suspects it might include a quiet chuckle. Consider the paradoxes of life:

• We grow stronger through struggle.
• We find ourselves by losing certainty.
• We learn wisdom by first being wrong, sometimes spectacularly so.

It’s almost as if we are designed to be fools before we become wise. There’s something deeply spiritual about that. Because to grow, we must first admit: “I don’t have it all figured out.” And that, in many ways, is the holiest confession a person can make.

If your ego had a least favorite day of the year, April Fool’s Day would be a strong contender. Why? Because the ego thrives on being right, being admired, being taken seriously. But April Fool’s Day gently (and sometimes not so gently) invites us to loosen our grip on all of that.

It asks:

• Can you laugh at yourself?
• Can you handle being wrong … playfully?
• Can you be seen as imperfect without collapsing?

In a way, it’s a spiritual exercise disguised as a joke. Because the ability to laugh at oneself is often a sign of inner freedom.

Interestingly, humor requires a kind of vulnerability. To laugh freely is to let go of control. To play along with a joke is to risk looking silly. To tell a joke is to risk it falling completely flat (and we’ve all been there). But joy often lives on the other side of that risk. And spiritually speaking, joy is not trivial, it is essential. It reconnects us to the present moment. It softens the heart. It reminds us that life is not only about striving, but also about being.

Now, to be clear, there are two kinds of fools. There is the joyful fool, who brings laughter, humility, and connection. And there is the careless fool, who causes harm, embarrassment, or cruelty in the name of humor. April Fool’s Day invites us to choose wisely between the two. Because true humor uplifts, it doesn’t wound. True playfulness connects; it doesn’t divide. A good rule of thumb: if everyone can laugh, it’s probably a good joke. If only one person is laughing … it might be time to rethink the plan.

Perhaps the greatest joke of all is this: We spend so much time trying to perfect ourselves …
only to discover that our imperfections are what make us relatable, lovable, and real. So maybe April Fool’s Day is not about making fools of others. Maybe it’s about making peace with the fool within us. If you can laugh at yourself today, not harshly, but kindly, you’ve already gained something valuable. Because humility is a quiet kind of wisdom. And joy, even when it arrives disguised as a prank, is still joy.

So go ahead, be a little foolish today. You might just find that in letting go of the need to be perfect, you become something far greater: fully alive!

 Keep the faith!

Rev-Bates

 En Espanol:  Rev Bates en español, El Camino a Una Vida Maravillosa

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Money, Money, Money – Prosperity

 A Monthly exploration in spiritual awareness: March 1, 2026

        Let me be very direct with this: Money is not unspiritual. Lack is not holy. Poverty is not enlightenment.

The great spiritual teachers of the New Thought tradition understood something powerful: supply is spiritual in origin. And money is simply one of its visible effects.

Wallace D. Wattles taught that there is a Thinking Substance from which all things are made. Dr. Joseph Murphy taught that the subconscious mind responds to belief. Joel Goldsmith taught that supply is not something you get — it is something you awaken to.

When we weave these teachings together, we begin to see a profound truth:

Money does not come from effort alone. It comes from alignment.

1. There Is a Spiritual Substance That Responds to Thought

Wallace D. Wattles said in The Science of Getting Rich:

“There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made… and a thought, in this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.”

This is not fantasy. It is spiritual law.

You are not separate from this Thinking Substance. You think within it. You move within it. You impress it with your consciousness.

The world we experience is not first physical — it is mental and spiritual in origin.

When you hold an image of lack, you cooperate with lack.
When you hold an image of supply, you cooperate with supply.

But Wattles was very clear: it is not mere wishing. It is sustained, grateful, certain thinking.

Money responds not to need — but to creative thought.

Need is contraction.
Creation is expansion.

And supply flows through expansion.

 2. The Subconscious Mind Accepts What You Believe

Dr. Joseph Murphy deepened this understanding in The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. He taught that your subconscious mind does not argue with you. It does not debate. It accepts your repeated beliefs as instructions.

If you say:
“Money is hard to get.”
“There’s never enough.”
“I always struggle.”

The subconscious says: “So be it.”

But if you say:
“Money flows to me in expected and unexpected ways.”
“I am aligned with divine supply.”
“I deserve prosperity.”

The subconscious says: “So be it.”

The subconscious mind is the soil. Conscious thought is the seed. Emotion is the water.

You must plant prosperity consciously and emotionally until it becomes natural.

Murphy often encouraged people to affirm with feeling before sleep — when the subconscious is most receptive.

Why?

Because manifestation is not about convincing the world.
It is about impressing your own deeper mind.

Money follows inner conviction.

3. Supply Is Already Present — You Must Awaken to It

Joel Goldsmith brings us to a deeper, more mystical level.

He said:

“Supply is spiritual and infinite. It is already established within you.”

Goldsmith warns us not to treat God (Source)— or Spirit — as a vending machine.

We do not pray to get money.
We realize our oneness with infinite supply.

This is subtle but essential.

If you seek money from a place of fear, you affirm separation.

If you realize supply as your nature, you dissolve fear.

Goldsmith teaches that the kingdom of God (Spirit) — the infinite source — is within. That means:

You are not trying to attract something foreign.
You are allowing what is already yours in consciousness to appear outwardly.

Manifestation is not pulling something in.
It is removing resistance.

 4. The Three Steps to Manifesting Money Spiritually

Drawing from these three masters, we can see a pattern:

Step 1: Think Creatively, Not Competitively (Wattles)

Wattles insisted that you must never think in terms of competition or scarcity. The supply of creative substance is infinite.

When you think:
“There isn’t enough.”
“I must take from someone else.”
“I must struggle.”

You align with limitation.

Instead think:
“There is more than enough.”
“My prosperity blesses others.”
“I create value.”

Money comes through service — through increasing life for others.

Creative thought + purposeful action = visible supply.

Step 2: Impress the Subconscious with Certainty (Murphy)

Daily affirmations are not rituals — they are reprogramming tools.

Say slowly, calmly, with feeling:

“I am one with infinite abundance.”
“Money circulates freely in my life.”
“I give and receive joyfully.”

Feel what it would feel like to be financially at peace.

Your subconscious responds to feeling, not force.

Do not strain.
Impress gently, consistently, faithfully.

Like water shaping stone.

 Step 3: Realize Oneness with Infinite Supply (Goldsmith)

Sit in silence.

Not asking.
Not begging.
Not visualizing desperately.

Simply recognizing:

“I and the Father (Source) are one.”
“I live, move, and have my being in infinite supply.”

Feel the presence of completeness.

In that realization, fear dissolves.
In that dissolution, manifestation becomes natural.

5. Remove the Blocks to Money

If money has not been flowing, the issue is not punishment. It is not fate.

It is usually one of these:

• Guilt about having more than others
• Fear of losing money
• Belief that spirituality and wealth conflict
• Habitual focus on lack
• Resentment toward wealthy people

You cannot condemn wealth and attract it.
You cannot resent prosperity and embody it.

Bless wealth wherever you see it.

Say inwardly:
“That prosperity is evidence of divine supply in action.”

When you bless others’ abundance, you release your own resistance.

 6. Gratitude Multiplies Supply

Wattles said gratitude is the great multiplier.

Gratitude harmonizes your mind with the creative substance.

Murphy said gratitude impresses the subconscious with fulfillment.

Goldsmith said gratitude recognizes spiritual completeness.

Every day, give thanks for money you already have — even if small.

Say:
“I am grateful for every dollar that comes to me.”
“I am thankful that supply is increasing.”

Gratitude shifts you from lack to alignment.

And alignment attracts form.

 7. Inspired Action Is Necessary

Manifestation is not passivity.

Wattles emphasized efficient, purposeful action.
Murphy encouraged intelligent decision-making guided by inner belief.
Goldsmith spoke of action flowing from spiritual awareness.

When you are aligned inwardly, you will be led to:

• New ideas
• New connections
• New opportunities
• New courage

Follow them.

Money often arrives through channels you could not have predicted.

Do not limit supply to one source.

Infinite supply has infinite pathways.

 8. The Feeling of Wealth Must Precede the Fact

Here is the great secret:

You must feel wealthy before you appear wealthy.

Not reckless.
Not delusional.
But inwardly secure.

The wealthy consciousness says:
“There is always more.”
“I am supported.”
“I am safe.”

When you live from inner sufficiency, outer sufficiency follows.

This is law.

 9. A Practical Daily Practice

Let me leave you with a simple daily practice:

Morning

• Affirm abundance.
• Visualize successful service.
• Give thanks in advance.

Midday

• Refuse negative money talk.
• Bless others’ prosperity.

Evening

• Before sleep, impress your subconscious gently:
  “Infinite supply now expresses itself in my life.”

Weekly

• Sit in silent realization of oneness with infinite source.

Do this consistently.

Not anxiously.
Not desperately.
But faithfully.

10. The Spiritual Purpose of Money

Money is not the goal.

Freedom is.
Expansion is.
Contribution is.

Money is a tool of expression.

When it flows through you, it blesses you and others.

Remember:

You are not trying to get money.
You are aligning with divine supply.
You are impressing the subconscious with abundance.
You are awakening to oneness with infinite source.

And as within — so without.

Lastly,

The law does not fail.
Consciousness creates.
Belief manifests.
Realization reveals.

You are not separate from supply.

You are its expression.

And as you awaken to that truth,
money will no longer be chased —
it will be welcomed.

 Keep the faith!

Rev-Bates

 En Espanol:  Rev Bates en español, El Camino a Una Vida Maravillosa

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Divine dis-content

  A Monthly exploration in spiritual awareness: February 1, 2026

                  There is a subtle danger in contentment when it hardens into complacency. Many spiritual teachers have warned that comfort can become a quiet captivity of the soul. Thomas Merton wrote that we often confuse peace with stagnation, mistaking the absence of conflict for spiritual maturity. Ernest Holmes taught that life is forever unfolding, pressing us toward greater expression of Spirit, and that to resist this expansion is to deny the very nature of Life itself. Even Jesus’ parable of the buried talent reminds us that safety and satisfaction can become a form of fear — a refusal to risk growth, creativity, and deeper love. Contentment that closes the heart becomes a prison, not a sanctuary.

                  The Buddha named this attachment — clinging to pleasant states and avoiding discomfort — as a primary cause of suffering. When we become attached to “being comfortable,” we unknowingly chain ourselves to what is familiar, limiting awareness and compassion. Eckhart Tolle echoes this in modern language: the ego prefers predictable comfort over living presence, even if that comfort is quietly empty. The Tao Te Ching teaches that life flows like water; when we dam the river for the sake of stability, the water stagnates. Spirit is movement, not maintenance. Growth always carries uncertainty, but stagnation carries a slow diminishment of vitality.

                   Yet true spiritual contentment is not passive; it is alive, awake, and creative. Joel Goldsmith spoke of resting in the ever-present Christ or divine consciousness, which continually reveals new dimensions of being. William James observed that human consciousness evolves through fresh experiences and expanded perception. When we allow contentment to become a stopping place rather than a grounding place, we trade wonder for routine and inspiration for habit. We may appear peaceful on the surface, but inwardly we have quietly accepted smaller dreams, narrower compassion, and diminished expectation of divine possibility.

                Liberation comes when contentment becomes gratitude without resignation, peace without paralysis, acceptance without surrendering growth. Rumi wrote, “Why are you so busy with this or good or bad, you are in the river of love, yet you carry water in a cup.” The invitation of Spirit is not merely to be satisfied, but to be continuously transformed. The prison of contentment opens the moment we choose curiosity over comfort, faith over familiarity, and expansion over ease. Then contentment becomes not a cell, but a doorway — a steady foundation from which the soul keeps reaching toward greater light, deeper truth, and more generous love.

Keep the faith!

Rev-Bates

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Race Mind / Collective Consciousness & You

 A monthly exploration in spiritual awareness: January 1, 2026

                        Race Mind—also called Collective Consciousness—is the shared mental atmosphere of humanity, formed by centuries of beliefs, fears, hopes, prejudices, and expectations. It is not a personal mind, yet it powerfully influences personal experience. Ernest Holmes described it as the “subjective mentality of the race,” a vast reservoir of accepted ideas that silently shape behavior, culture, and even physical conditions. Whether we are aware of it or not, each of us is born into this mental environment, much like breathing air already conditioned by what has gone before. Race Mind explains why certain ideas feel “normal,” why fear can spread quickly through societies, and why progress often meets resistance even when reason supports it.

                      Dr. Joseph Murphy emphasized that the subconscious mind does not reason; it accepts what is impressed upon it by repetition and authority. When ideas are widely believed—about health, aging, race, limitation, or conflict—they become embedded in the collective subconscious and are passed from generation to generation. Joel Goldsmith referred to this as the “mesmeric influence” of the world mind, a hypnotic suggestion that says suffering, lack, and conflict are inevitable. Much of human struggle comes not from personal failure, but from unconsciously accepting these collective assumptions as truth.

                      William James, one of the fathers of modern psychology, recognized that consciousness is not isolated but participatory. He wrote that the individual mind is part of a larger stream of consciousness, influencing and being influenced by it. This insight bridges psychology and spirituality: every thought we accept strengthens either the fear-based patterns of Race Mind or the higher patterns of wisdom and compassion. As Holmes taught, “We are not victims of our environment, but of our belief in it.” To awaken spiritually is to realize that we can think independently of the race belief, choosing truth over tradition, love over fear.

                      The great spiritual teachers agree that liberation begins with awareness. When we observe Race Mind without identifying with it, its power diminishes. By consciously affirming higher truths—peace, unity, abundance, and divine intelligence—we withdraw our consent from collective fear and contribute to the healing of the whole. As each individual transcends limitation in thought, the collective itself is subtly transformed. In this way, personal awakening is never personal alone; it becomes a silent service to humanity, lifting the race consciousness one awakened mind at a time.

                      Another powerful expression of Race Mind in our time is the unprecedented volume of false information, conspiracy theories, and so-called “alternative facts” circulating through media and social platforms. Never before has collective belief been shaped so quickly or so emotionally. Repetition, sensationalism, and fear-based narratives bypass reason and embed themselves directly into the subconscious, exactly as Dr. Joseph Murphy warned. When large numbers of people accept distorted ideas as truth, those ideas take on the appearance of reality, influencing behavior, elections, public health, and human relationships. Joel Goldsmith would describe this as intensified world hypnosis, where appearance is mistaken for reality and noise replaces inner discernment.

                      Spiritual maturity in such an environment requires vigilance and inner stillness. Ernest Holmes taught that Truth is known by its alignment with Principle, not by popularity or volume. William James likewise emphasized the necessity of critical awareness, reminding us that belief without examination is a psychological vulnerability. To rise above the confusion of modern Race Mind, one must cultivate discernment, grounding thought in wisdom, compassion, and direct inner knowing. By refusing to emotionally react to every claim and by consciously choosing clarity over fear, we not only protect our own consciousness but help stabilize the collective, demonstrating that Truth does not need amplification—it needs recognition.

Keep the faith!

Rev-Bates

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New Year Reflection

Rev-Bates Weekly Message for Sunday December 28, 2025

Regarding the Change in Publication Schedule

                          For many years, it has been my commitment to share a weekly message with this spiritual community. Beginning January 1, 2026, I will be moving from a weekly message to a single, thoughtfully prepared message released on the first of each month. This change is not a step back, but a step deeper allowing more time for contemplation, meditation, and clarity, so that each message may arrive as a focused offering rather than something routine. I trust that this will support reflection, contemplation, and study with the ideas we explore together.

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New Year Reflection

                       The beginning of a new year is not merely a change on the calendar; it is a moment of conscious renewal. We are invited to pause, to release the weight of what has passed, and to remember that life is always unfolding from this present moment. The past year, whatever it held—has brought us wisdom, contrast, and growth, even where we did not immediately recognize it. As we step into this new year, let us do so with intention rather than expectation, grounded in the knowing that Spirit does not rush, does not repeat mistakes, and does not withhold good. May this year be approached not as something to survive or conquer, but as a field of possibility in which we align our thoughts, words, and actions with the highest good we can imagine—and then allow that good to reveal itself in ways beyond our imagination.Keep the faith!

Rev-Bates

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become a place where Love can arrive

 Rev-Bates Weekly Message for Sunday, December 21, 2025

                       A few days before Christmas, I invite you to move into a quieter space, one that exists beneath the noise of shopping lists and expectations. It is in this quiet, silent space that we align ourselves with the Spirit within us, our very soul.

                       Christmas, at its essence, is about the birth of possibility. It speaks to the moment when hope chooses to enter the world in an ordinary way, through vulnerability, humility, and trust. It reminds us that renewal rarely comes as spectacle; it comes as a small, steady awakening within the human heart. Every act of kindness, every choice toward compassion, is a way of letting that birth happen again.
                        As we approach Christmas, the invitation is simple: become a place where love can arrive. Release what hardens the heart—resentment, fear, the need to be right—and make room for what heals. If we can carry peace within ourselves, even briefly, we become messengers of it to others. And in doing so, something quietly wonderful is born—not once a year, but whenever we choose to live from love.

Keep the faith!

Rev-Bates

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Why The Human Species Is the Most Evil

 Rev-Bates Weekly Message for Sunday, December 14, 2025

                        This morning on the News there were reports of a terrorist attack on a Hannukah Party in Bondi Beach, a suburban community of Sydney, Australia, killing 11 people and wounding 29. Also, a report of a shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island, USA killing two and wounding nine. Here in Palm Desert, the Mayor Pro-Tem is proposing to ban the Pride Flag during Pride Month. Who does this flag hurt? Our State Assembly Member, Greg Wallis, a republican, has denounced the proposal. My conclusion after these reports and so many like them, is that the human species is the most evil. Why? And what can we do?

                       This morning’s news confronts us with images and numbers that pierce the heart—lives lost, families shattered, communities stunned by violence. When we witness such acts again and again, it can feel unbearable to reconcile human intelligence, creativity, and tenderness with our capacity for cruelty. The question naturally arises: How can a species capable of love also inflict such harm? From a spiritual—not religious—perspective, this tension points to a deep inner conflict within humanity itself. We are not inherently evil so much as profoundly divided within our own consciousness, often driven by fear, alienation, and the illusion of separation from one another.

                        Violence is born where empathy collapses. When individuals or groups lose the felt sense of shared humanity, others become objects, symbols, or enemies rather than living beings with inner lives as vivid as their own. Fear then seeks justification, ideology gives it language, and anger gives it permission. Spiritually speaking, this is not the triumph of evil but the absence of awareness—an eclipse of our innate capacity to recognize ourselves in one another. The tragedy is not only in the act itself, but in how disconnected a person must feel to commit it.

                      So, what can we do? We begin where all lasting change begins: within consciousness. Each act of compassion, each refusal to dehumanize, each moment we choose understanding over reaction weakens the conditions that give rise to violence. This does not mean passivity or denial of justice; it means addressing root causes as well as consequences. We can cultivate presence instead of rage, dialogue instead of demonization, and courage instead of despair. Spiritually, our work is to remember—again and again—that humanity’s darkest expressions are not its essence. The same species capable of terrible harm is also capable of profound healing, and the future depends on which capacity we choose to nurture.

Keep the faith!

Rev-Bates

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