11/17/13 Sunday Service with Guest Speaker Chris Bache and Musician Lilly Russ from Agape in L.A.

Audience: I can see.

Audience: I forgot to be me. No man.

Audience: I know that life is meant for living free.

Audience: Look inside and find a place where you say, "I am."

Margaret Hiller: Jennifer, please, me and y'all, she's moving back to the area. So welcome back. Welcome back to your neighborhood. We want to welcome everybody here today, so we are going to now stand again and sing. Rise up, you.

Margaret Hiller: Follow. Oh, oh, I have a church announcement. The first order of business after "Rise Up" is to turn off your cell phone. Please. Cell phones interfere with our sound system, and we're already having to deal with two poles that interfere with the sound system. So let's make it a little kinder and turn off our cell phones. Okay, let's all take a deep breath, and if it feels comfortable for you, close your eyes and allow ourselves to be fully present in this place that has been dedicated for a very long time to opening hearts, awakening minds. It's been dedicated for a long, long time to take us into the core of our being, where we know our magnificence. We know that we are the light of the world, where we can access our joy, our peace, our wisdom, our creativity, and our faith, and our strength, and our commitment to keep growing, keep deepening, keep awakening. So we give thanks for this place, all those who came before us, those who had the vision to establish such a movement called Unity. So today, we once again open our hearts and minds to feel our unity, our oneness with all of life, all of humankind, with the One Presence known by many names. The service is turned over to spirit. And so it is, and so we let it be. Okay. Here we are. We're now going to do together the Lord's Prayer, translated from the Aramaic language of Jesus. All together, please. Father, Mother, Birther and the Breath of all, create a space inside of us and fill it with your presence. Let oneness now prevail. Your one desire then flows through ours as energy fills all forms. Give us this day our physical and spiritual nourishment and untangle the knots of error behind us. As we release others, do not let appearances make us forgetful of the source, but free us to act appropriately. From age to age, through you, flow the glorious harmonies of life. May these words be verbal statements through which our future grows. Let's take a deep breath every Sunday when we gather together like this and we say these words. I hope you can feel the power, the incredible presence of spirit that happens within us and around us when we say this in a conscious way, not rote, not just like ho-hum, but really connecting with the words. It's a powerful thing. Okay, for all of you who I don't know yet, and maybe you don't know me yet, my name is Margaret Miller. I'm privileged to serve as a spiritual leader here at Unity. And I'd also like to introduce our morning team. It takes a village to have a church service. Our ushers this morning are Carl O'Brien and Terry de Mario. They're back there on the bench. And our readers and ushers on video this morning is Funny on Healy. Sound is Melody. And our music team: Ryan on saxophone, you have the chair taking the rest after that. So, and our singers this morning are Marley and Ann, Lori and Mary, Lou, Paula, Patty and Dave back there is Ozzy on his flute and harmonica. Bill on the piano, Kevin on his guitar, Dan on drums, Tom on drums. And then, that doesn't speak to your board of directors. Charles, staff administrator, all the people, the volunteers, many people that it takes to create this experience. Okay, we're going to sing another song. Lily's going to help us with this one too. I want to tell you a little bit about Lily Russ. Lily is originally from Georgetown, South Carolina. She's going to be doing that West Coast thing that a lot of people here did at one time or another, and she sounds like she's going to be making her way back home. So we're glad about that. And she thinks she performs all over the place, doing plays and special events. And you also are with the Agape International.

Audience: Agape International Spiritual Center. But I'm not in the choir, but I've—

Margaret Hiller: I've been sitting there, and I speak there, and a lot of y'all know Agape from Michael Beckwith's work and Ricky Byars's work, so welcome. Okay, y'all, we are going to sing another song. When we do, we're going to pass the duo Kansas. This is not our regular offering. This is for your loose change, and it goes to help folks in our community who need a little extra support from time to time. And we are going to stand when you're ready, and we're going to sing a song that we used to sing in the Pentecostal and charismatic church, and my other one, "Peace Like a River."

Audience: I have peace by river in my soul.

Audience: I've got joy, mountain.

Audience: Life, I'm like the ocean in my soul.

Margaret Hiller: This morning, I would like to invite all the children, tall and less tall, up here. Chris, would you hold my hand? Yeah, I'm coming ready to take notes. I'm taking notes. Hey, everybody.

Margaret Hiller: I want to know everybody's name. There's only one person up here whose name I know right now, and that's Elijah. And is it Caleb, and is it Tristan? Yes, wow. Okay, so Caleb and Tristan and Elijah, sorry, and our teachers this morning are Miss Pan and Miss Rachel. Hey, Rachel, so there is a very special holiday coming up. Anybody know what it is? Thanksgiving.

Audience: What happens on Thanksgiving? And it's all about love, that's what I want. Ah. Oh, you know, we have a guest speaker today, but if we didn't, Thanksgiving is all about love. I'm so glad. And is it a time when we give thanks? What if? What do we give thanks for?

Margaret Hiller: What's included, Caleb, in everything? What do you think? What do we have to be grateful for? Someone come up closer if you want to say something in the microphone. We want to hear it now. What do we have to be grateful for? What about your new hobby? What about being able to go to school? Is there something where you can't go to school? Do we give thanks for living near the beach? Yes, you know what I give thanks for? I give thanks for my fig trees and the birds that come to my bird feeders.

Audience: And I do things like life and for God.

Margaret Hiller: So one of the things that we are very, very grateful for is that you, you guys, come here to remind us that we are the light of the world, to remind us that you have a lot to teach us and remind us of. We're really glad that you're here. That's one of the biggest things I'm grateful for today, that all of you are here because each one of us have a part in telling the wonderful story of our human family, waking up and realizing that we really can be love and kindness in the world. We can make a world that works for everybody. That's what we learn about when we come here, and you're a part of that. So let's all stand. We're going to give thanks for you, doing our blessing, and it is going to be up on the screen, and I'm going to ask you to turn towards all these people out here and put through with your hands. Remember, love and blessing comes through our hands, our words, our eyes, our presence. So you're going to bless all of them out there, and they're going to bless you right back. Okay. We love

Audience: you, we bless you, we appreciate you, we behold Christ in

Audience: you, and we love you just the way you are.

Margaret Hiller: Okay. Now we've got just a few announcements to begin with right now, and that is, our meditation class is fabulous. I am so grateful to be a part of this community and this kind of meditation class. So it will continue through December 10, and our contemplative service is Wednesday night at , and then we continue on into the Peace Chapel for the Oneness Blessing. And tonight, my sister Pam and I are going to be going to this. I'll be one of the speakers, and any of you are welcome to go. It's the Day of Remembrance for people who've been killed in hate crimes because of their sexual orientation. That's tonight, PM at Dance Plaza. Now, this is a really important thing. It's time to decorate our sanctuary for the holidays, and Sue, Sue, stand up. She's the first one to sign up for this beautiful project. We're going to have a Christmas tree back here, a giving tree for Hope House, the homeless kids in Myrtle Beach High School, and then we have a tree over here for Regency Hospice. So if you would like to participate in creating the wonderful energy of the holidays here, then please see Sue. And Sue, that sign up sheet is on my desk. So if you want to sign up, see Sue after service. Please do and that's it.

Audience: There's one more, Margaret. I'm sorry I forgot to do a slide. We are starting a new book in our Wednesday Book Group, which is a fabulous group. So anybody who didn't want to come in the middle of the book a week from Wednesday, we're starting a new one.

Margaret Hiller: Okay, so the new book will be Daring Greatly by Brené Brown, and so that will be happening probably a couple of Wednesdays from now. Okay, all right, so let's take a deep breath, and once again, we are reading this morning out of How to Speak Unity. If you've never heard of How to Speak Unity, you can buy a book of different terms about Unity, and one of the words that this author, Temple Hayes, defines is the word "being." And so this is what Unity teaches. Are we human beings or human doings? In our culture, we have created a belief that levels of busyness equal levels of importance. We need a 12-step group for that. To achieve this sense of importance, we often push ourselves past our natural limits. We were created as human beings rather than human doings. Let's all say that together, we were created as human beings rather than human doings. It is imperative that we remember to take time to simply be. Incorporating regular routines such as meditation or walks in nature rejuvenates our spirits and lowers our stress. That's a good thing. What some of us were doing last Saturday at the Maine Earth Spiritual Center. We were walking in nature. Nature is free to us and allows us to connect with our inner stillness. Or the Book of Psalms we read, my remember, be still and know I am. So part of what we try to do here, and what we hope to do, is to create a space of stillness and peace, even within the atmosphere of singing and teaching and listening and learning and encouraging one another. It's all about healing, and we give thanks for that. Okay, now we're going to read our Unity Statement of Purpose. Please, all of us together. I am the consciousness of Unity Christ Church, a unified board and congregation, nurturing spiritual growth, inspiring creativity, sharing time, talents, treasures, and expanding awareness of divine awesome. And Lily, we invite you back to do a song for us. Thank you very much. You.

Audience: Good morning, everybody.

Audience: I just need to tell you briefly about this song. So the song that I'm getting ready to sing to you was a dream. I was asleep, and Beyoncé was singing this song in my dream. Wow. And I always have to give people space to laugh. There was a man, and he had moved, was very distraught. Apparently, something tragic had happened in his life, and he had moved into mental illness, and he began to walk around the middle of a water tower, and Beyoncé lived on the second floor, and she could see the man in the water tower, and she looked out of her window and started singing this song to him. Then she invited the man into her house and started stroking his hair and singing these words into his eyes. And I woke up, and I just kept singing the song. And so there will be a point in the time while I'm singing that I will ask you to look into somebody's eyes and say these words:

Audience: In your night and when your eyes start feeling. Take a breath.

Audience: Comfort you.

Audience: It dreams have died and no one knows how you feel

Audience: inside, where you can hide, you.

Audience: Oh, find somebody to sing.

Audience: The party, your dreams have died and no one knows how you feel inside. Come to you can hide for

Margaret Hiller: you. Moon, beautiful. Thank you. Okay, I would like to welcome everybody and make a special note of welcoming first-time visitors. So if you're here for the first time, would you please, if you want to stand, give us your name and where you're visiting from? Yes, ma'am. Pat Chene, Washington, DC, welcome.

Margaret Hiller: You're here with Lily from Georgetown, welcome Georgetown from California.

Margaret Hiller: He let people in from California. Who else is here? And I'm here from Los Angeles,

Audience: California, but I was born in Georgetown, and this is my first time back since 1987 I've.

Margaret Hiller: Been curious to know if you see any changes. Yes. Ma'am. Cindy Perry, I live in Murrells Inlet. Welcome. I'm Jane, and I live in Myrtle Beach. Welcome. You. Okay, and anybody back who hasn't been here in a long, long time, and we might just want to make a special note that you're here. Yes, ma'am, welcome. Welcome back. My soul never left. Welcome. Welcome anybody else?

Audience: Yes, I'm Carl Bellaserra. We just moved here from the Washington, DC area, and I was here in September, so I'm back. Good. Welcome

Margaret Hiller: Anybody back row, bench? Anybody? Okay, going once, going twice, and here we are, welcome. Everybody. Okay, we are going to now read the Daily Word. This is one of our oldest publications, and we have a beautiful affirmation up here this morning. And the word is comfort, right? You know, in the South, in Jacksonville, you say comfort. And then my voice teacher drilled it into my brain, comfort. And I see that you sing that word just like that. You sing your comfort song. God is my comfort and my refuge. Let's say that together. God is my comfort and my refuge. Beautiful. And the daily word goes on to say, this life is full of joy and sorrow, but no condition is beyond the comfort of spirit, whatever my experience, even before I voice my prayer, the comfort I seek is available to me. I have what I need for any situation I ask, and I receive. No request is too great or too small. Each one invites answers, abundance, and comfort to arise within me. All that I need is available for me to claim in this very moment. Spirit in me is my comforter, inspiration, and guidance to manifest what I need. Gratitude fills my heart as I know my needs are met. I am sheltered in the loving embrace of the Divine Presence. Peace fills my heart and soul. God is my comfort and my refuge. And from the Book of Hebrews, "We who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us." And again, our affirmation: God is my comfort and my refuge. Okay, now, for those of you, how many of you were here yesterday in the workshop? Look around. There were really a lot of people here yesterday. I heard as people were coming in this morning saying, this is one of the best workshops they've ever been to, not just here, but any of their workshop journeys. So thank you, Chris. Dr. Chris Fish is family. He's a part of the neighborhood, partly because his mother-in-law is our own Ann Marie, and our bookstore manager, and she first brought to us the word of Chris and his books. He comes to us after over 30 years of being a professor of religious studies, philosopher, teaching at Jonestown State, and he's former Director of Education with Institute of Noetic Sciences. Two of his books are down in the bookstore, and he brings to us wonderful wisdom and insight. So he is our speaker this morning, and for those of us who want to stay after service, he's going to do a brief Q&A, so you can plan to go to the bathroom real quick, get some water, and come back upstairs after service. Okay, so this is the title of his talk today, and we are going to go into a meditation song, and then Chris is going to take over from there. Okay, alrighty. So let's all stay seated, and let's dim the lights.

Audience: I take the time. It takes me down the road so slowly, and I can't ask. Bring my thing and die, but as a folk, I surrender in the cry, Holy, Holy. Oh.

Audience: What a beautiful place I live my life to see your face. I live my life to so bright

Audience: I cannot see. Who would you hope who isn't? Who would you

Audience: hold? Who is me? Somebody? Help me. Help you, please. As I fall down on my knees and I cry, Holy, holy. Holy.

Audience: Holy to see your faith. Live my life to see your

Audience: face. Face, my

Audience: place

Audience: To see

Audience: Yo there you

Chris Bache: Good morning, everybody. I've been told I have to remember to hold this mic close up to my face, so if I drop off, you just shoot your hand up and remind me it's a pleasure to be here with you. Today was Labor Day, I think Labor Day weekend when I was here last with you, it's nice to be back. So the topic today I like to talk with you about is no fear of death. And so begin with meditation.

Chris Bache: Sit on the ground, nice and solid, feel a chair underneath you, close your eyes, and settle into your breathing,

Chris Bache: and in your mind's eye, see all of us in the room in one large circle, just transpose us into a circle.

Chris Bache: Take your left hand and put it on the shoulder and in your mind's eye, put it on the shoulder of the person next to you, so that we're all together, touching each other, sharing touch, sharing the energy of our lives.

Chris Bache: Feel that circle and

Chris Bache: now bring to mind someone you've loved who's died, and see them stand. Standing behind you

Chris Bache: for more than one and let them put their hand on your shoulder, a hand and

Chris Bache: we've all lost someone, so now we have two circles. Second circle is probably larger than the inner circle. So it.

Chris Bache: Now they have also known death, love, separation from someone they love. So imagine, bring to mind in your mind's eye, someone that the person you loved also lost, and let them stand behind them in the third circle and put their hand, touch the second circle.

Chris Bache: Wearing older clothes of their time in history, men and women, old and young and

Chris Bache: it now that third generation, they were separated from someone in death. So we're going to let the process repeat itself and repeat itself, adding ring, touching our shoulders, touching their shoulders and touching each other until the ring goes back through time,

Chris Bache: spreading out through history.

Chris Bache: Feel the enormity of the community of those who are united in death.

Chris Bache: Now, in your mind's eye, bring to mind the next generation, the children in front of you.

Chris Bache: And put your hand on their shoulder,

Chris Bache: and then in your mind's eye, picture their children, and then their children, and again, put their hand on their shoulder, and then they put their hand on the next generation's shoulder and on the next generation's shoulder, those who have died and those who will.

Chris Bache: Feel the enormity of this community, and we just started out from the people in this room.

Chris Bache: And feel the naturalness of the coming and going of life, just the natural simplicity of the cycle of birth and death, sharing life experience and letting it go.

Chris Bache: Reaching back as far as we can imagine, reaching forward as far as we can see, as far as we can imagine, the community of life.

Chris Bache: Feel in your heart your oneness with this community,

Chris Bache: and relax into

Chris Bache: the utter simplicity of this truth.

Chris Bache: Okay, wiggle your fingers and toes, bring your awareness back into your body and back.

Chris Bache: Everybody back. We didn't lose anybody.

Chris Bache: So many things are changing the world around us, so many exciting developments, so many powerful transformative processes taking place in our life, and for me as an academic, one of the great transformative changes taking place in universities is around this topic of death and around the research which is changing our relationship to death, because up until about 30 years ago, many people believed in life after death, and many people had faith in life after death, but not many people had knowledge, but they would consider, you know, knowledge of that reality. And today, this is changing. Now we have so many areas of research which seem to be penetrating the veil of death, and so this pervasive terror which haunts the modern worldview ever since the rise of science in the 17th, 18th, 19th century, with this vision that the physical world is the only world that's real, and it all came about through chance, screened by necessity, and there's no meaning to life. And when we die, when our brain dies, you know, our consciousness just disappears. What a horrible philosophy. But that is the orthodoxy that's taught in the university where I teach, and which is taught in universities around the world, and it is all outdated. Even though it's gospel, it's all passé, it's fading. So what I'd like to do is just give you a sample of 12 books that I think give us interesting insights into this larger cycle of life. Because if you're afraid of dying, you really don't know what life is about. If you're afraid of dying, you've got it all backwards. When really it's when you're born, that's when the hard work begins, but when you die, that's when recess come, that's when graduation takes place. So if you're afraid of graduation, then you don't know what you're doing. So let's get clear on what we're doing here. So today, I just wanted to talk about 12 books, and I've tried to identify the books which I've shared with my students through the years, which have meant the most to them around the topic of death in four areas. One, reincarnation research, the cycle of life. Second, near-death episode research, what it's like becoming third, life between life therapy, which is the fastest growing area in hypnotherapy, a subdivision of past life therapy, and fourth, psychedelic research. Now, I know you may be surprised to hear that one mentioned here, because we have a whole lot of negative conditioning about psychedelics. We all kind of went through the Reagan era and just say no, and we kind of forgot that for several thousands of years, human beings have been gathering in sacred circles, using sacred memories, medicines to remember, help them remember who they are and recover their place in the universe. So that's the context for it. So I just want to give you three books or pick three books in each of these areas. So, oh, okay, keeping an eye on the clock, here we go. Three books in reincarnation research, and I apologize for putting my own in the list. We already have it. Otherwise, Other Selves by Roger Wilber, who is a past lives therapist, is now, he just passed about a year and a half ago, and he's so he's in the bleacher seats. If I am asked, what's the best single book by one author who is a past lives therapist, person, I always say, who is Roger Wilber? He says he's a wonderful writer. He's good. He's got a good, solid grasp on the history of the tradition. He's a wonderful therapist. He takes you into the act of helping people recover what I call their deep memory, helping people recover the deeper sense of who they are. Helping them remember who they were before they were born, helping them trace down the knots that they find in their present life. Where did those knots come from? Some of them come from their childhood. Some of them come from a previous life or a life before their most recent previous life. He just untangles it beautifully. And then Carl Bohm, who's a nurse who wasn't really interested in past lives therapy until her child started having night terrors. Her child started having fears come up in his dreams. And like any good mother, she got involved in helping him untangle those dreams, and helping him uncover what was scaring him. And it turned out what was scaring him was the memory of a previous life that was beginning to bubble up inside his soul. And he helped her. She helped him accept that memory, live it. And then the bad dreams stopped, and she got involved, and she began to put something up on the web, and hundreds and hundreds of people began to contact her. And she started working with children and with parents of children who basically have these memories bubbling up. So she became a significant writer and a player in the field, and this is a wonderful book. It's filled with lots and lots of case histories of children remembering their former lives. And she talks to parents and helps them understand that this is a totally natural, innocent thing, and how to help your child if your child starts to have these memories which are not all negative, sometimes they're very positive, ecstatic memories, helping the children integrate those memories into the larger, because what we're doing is remembering our soul. That's the soul that's holding all of those lives and life cycles. The first book I wrote, which as an academic, this was my response to Ian Stevenson's work. His studies on small children from all over the world, when they begin to talk, they remember their previous lives. And he's been able to document this. I think Stevenson is the Charles Darwin of reincarnation theory, and this is my reflection on his research, bringing it forward, making it available, and then asking the question, so what if reincarnation is a fact of life? What are the ramifications of living in a reincarnation universe? And I think they're profound ramifications, because if you don't understand reincarnation, you don't understand what's happening. It's impossible to understand the logic of life, or the wisdom of life, or the intelligence of the Creator. If you think that we only live in life one time, that's like taking a Sherlock Holmes novel, pulling one chapter out of the middle of the novel, reading it, and trying to understand what's going on. You have to sort of think large. You have to learn to think in the perspective of God. If God would spend 13.7 billion years evolving a galaxy, why would God only invest 100 years in the soul? So reincarnation, the cycle of life, dissolves the fear of dying when you understand that dying is followed by a rest and is followed by a return, which is followed by life, which is followed by death, which is followed by resting, and then is followed by return, this wonderful cycle of life. What's it like to die? We know what it looks like on the outside. It's kind of unpleasant to look at from the outside, but what's it like to experience it on the inside? Well, let's ask people whose heart has stopped. Let's ask people whose brain waves went flat, and yet our medical technology pulled them back. Now we have millions and millions of people who have gone through this experience since the Korean War, where we began to develop trauma medicine. Here are my three favorite books in this area.

Chris Bache: The first two were written by David Ring, who was a professor at the University of Connecticut all his professional life. He's one of the founders of the near-death episode movement and the founder of the Journal of Thanatology. His first book documented the phenomena of near-death experiences. In his second book, Heading Toward Omega, he asks: What’s the meaning of these experiences? What are we supposed to learn about life from studying them? He decided the best way to do this was to study people who had the deepest near-death experiences since not all are equally profound. Some episodes are superficial, while others are very deep. He focused on those who went really deep—not just those who got out of their body and saw the light, but those who went into it, what he calls core experiences. His book contains many wonderful personal accounts from people worldwide. Chapter three features 13 deep near-death experiences. These stories touch your heart and soul. These people have gone into God, and it’s clear they’re touching something profound. It changed their life, mind, emotions, values, religion, priorities, and even their physiology.

His last book on near-death research is Lessons from the Light. He pulls together studies, including those on individuals who were blind from birth and could see during their near-death episodes. Chapter 13, titled "Returning to the Source," describes the spiritual odysseys within these experiences. Their stories are our stories, reminding us we've all been through this. It helps us remember and connect with the larger landscape of life.

Now, what if these experiences are just an endorphin rush or just fantasy? Pim van Lommel, a Norwegian psychiatrist, conducted one of the best scientific studies on near-death experiences. It's for those who skeptically want a critical, scientific, and philosophical perspective. His conclusion? Every attempt to explain away these experiences fails to do justice to the reality of the experiences. They withstand critical scrutiny. This is the book I recommend to my academic colleagues who are skeptical.

Just to mention a fourth book, Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander, who had a profound near-death experience and wrote it down. It took guts for him as a neurosurgeon to write it because it's often believed neurosurgeons don't go to heaven.

Chris Bache: It’s a very brave and courageous book. Another area I’d like to address is life-between-life therapy. Michael Newton's work is notable. If there's one book I recommend to people who want to understand what happens when we die, it’s his Journey of Souls. Those who read it usually continue to Destiny of Souls. Michael Newton was a past-life therapist who stumbled upon this life-between-life state. He documented 600 cases, which led to his first book. He describes this period between death and birth. Michael eventually created an institute for professionals to be trained in this therapy.

His third book, Memories of the Afterlife, shares case histories from therapists who trained with him. Understanding both halves of the life cycle—from birth to death and death to birth—is crucial. There’s a social time in heaven, and we’re part of a soul cluster, evolving together. Some people have lived harmful lives and require special healing before returning. Michael’s work aligns with the mystical and spiritual traditions.

The difference now is that regular people, not just monks or nuns, go into these experiences. The secret knowledge is becoming public, becoming part of education. It changes lives. Understanding these processes reduces the fear of death and imbues life with deeper meaning.

Lastly, psychedelic research, sacred medicine work. The indigenous traditions call these not hallucinogens but sacred medicines. They help us remember who we are. This isn’t just about recreational use; I’m talking about serious psychotherapeutic work. Stanislav Grof, one of the co-founders of the transpersonal psychology movement, has written extensively on this. His books discuss the implications of psychedelics on consciousness and the psychology of death.

Chris Bache: Grof's first book, LSD Psychotherapy, is a technical manual on managing therapeutic sessions. After this, he wrote The Cosmic Game, exploring philosophical and theological ramifications. These aren't new ideas; we've seen them in mystical traditions. Psychedelics are one method among meditation and other practices to access deeper consciousness.

Chris Bache: His third book, Ultimate Journey, specifically addresses death from various perspectives. Ayahuasca is mentioned in these discussions. In Brazil, it’s used legally. Even in the U.S., groups have won the right to use it as a sacred medicine. If used wisely, these can be agents of deep transformation. My second book is part of this lineage. I write as a philosopher of religion. Psychedelics are crucial for understanding consciousness.

In therapeutic settings, touching your essence and the universe reduces fear of death. Dying becomes a friend, a graduation, the culmination of your life. Reading those 12 books will deeply enhance your understanding of life, reducing or eliminating fear of death.

Margaret Hiller: Thank you. What I hear you saying is that there’s much more to our lives than just living and dying—there’s a spectrum of experiences in and out of the body, surrounded by a community of heaven. The Bible calls this a great cloud of witnesses. Many of us can feel our heavenly friends, and I appreciate the research you’ve shared.

Margaret Hiller: Let’s take a deep breath. It's time for our opportunity to give tithes and donations to support this community. We are part of a beautiful spiritual community here. Some of us have other spiritual paths too. It’s a blessing to contribute.

Margaret Hiller: We have a blessing: "I am light flowing through me, blessing these gifts to radiate peace." Thank you for the music.

Margaret Hiller: Now for announcements: There will be events like our sacred walk and unity art day. We have sign-up sheets downstairs. Also, note that parking may be restricted due to repaving, so consider carpooling.

Margaret Hiller: Let’s all stand and make a circle. We're preparing for our Christmas decorations. If you want to help, there's a sign-up sheet. Let’s say our prayer for protection by James Dillet Freeman.

Chris Bache: "The light of God surrounds us, the love of God enfolds us, the power of God protects us, the presence of God watches over us. Wherever we are, God is and all is well."

Margaret Hiller: Now we sing our peace song as a prayer. Thank you. If you want to stay for a quick Q&A, we’ll meet back here.