The beliefs of the Temple of Light Centre for Spiritual Living - Part II

The Temple of Light Centre for Spiritual Living, located at 4-6 Fairway Avenue in Kingston, was founded by Reverend Dr Elma Lumsden in 1979. It sees itself as “a religion taught by scientific principles” whose purpose is to “awaken humanity to its spiritual magnificence”.

Proponents envision creating a world “that works for everyone”, while their mission is to “provide spiritual tools for personal and global transformation”. Their beliefs are in harmony with the basic tenets of all the world’s great religions, the Temple of Light said.

Yet it mainly subscribes to the Science of Mind philosophy developed by Dr Ernest Holmes, founder of the church, who believed that “the inner experience of God gave entry to the power of God and that changing the way we think about our conditions causes the power of the universe to change those conditions to make our lives better”.

The Science of Mind philosophy identifies the spiritual principles that apply equally to everyone in every situation, and it teaches us how to use them to our advantage. It is based on 10 core concepts that serve as the organising principles of the universe.

God is not detached from the universe. God is the source of it all and is all that it is. Thus, “everything in the universe is made of the God-substance and is a unique, individualised expression of God”. We are, therefore, a microcosm of God, and, like God, we express ourselves in three aspects: spirit, soul, and body”.

This is called the ‘triune nature’, which is a ‘creative nature’. The world came into being because God thought about it. “Likewise, all human accomplishments originate in thought. Our human thinking process is a reflection of the divine creative Process in microcosm.”

Like with thought, we can use prayer to draw goodness to ourselves. Everything that is good ‘is eternally available and ready to flow into human experience’ by means of prayer. “Through affirmative prayer, or spiritual mind treatment, we increase our consciousness of good eternally flowing to us. And, to everyone, the universe has already provided in abundance everything that we will ever need’.

The spirit is whole and balanced, encompassing all the opposites of our existence. We decide which elements of it, positives or negatives, we want to experience. “The same principle that brings us freedom, prosperity, and joy also allows us to experience bondage, lack, or misery, according to our consciousness.”

Likewise, for every visible form, there is an invisible counterpart. “This means that what we receive corresponds to what we imagine and believe we can receive.” This is the Law of Mental Equivalents. There is also the Golden Rule, the Law of Cause and Effect, which says, “what we do to others will be done also to us”.

Before real spiritual growth can be achieved, we must forgive, since “human forgiveness is the process that frees us to live in the eternal now. The Science of Mind teaches that the ultimate goal of life is complete emancipation from all discord of every nature and that this goal is sure to be attained by all.”

Life is never-ending

In stark contrast to two fundamental tenets of Christianity is the belief that life is never-ending and that Christ is not a person. Thus, there is the ‘Universal Truth’ – that there is no death as we know it. When the body expires, it is a change of one form of life to another.

Death then, and all the beliefs surrounding it, “is a human concept” to which they do not subscribe. “As in birth, the invisible becomes visible, so in dying, the visible again becomes invisible. Life continues on another plane when the body has outlived its usefulness.”

Jesus Christ, His death, and resurrection are fundamental beliefs of the Christian Church. He is its Saviour, Messiah, Redeemer, the one who Christians are striving to be like. Yet The Temple of Light is saying that “Christ is not a person, but a principle, a Universal Presence”.

“This is the concept of the Cosmic Christ, which is present within every person. Each human individual partakes of the Christ nature to the degree that he or she recognises the Cosmic Christ within and lives out of that revelation. Jesus of Nazareth was a human individual who revealed the ‘Christ Nature’ to the highest degree ever known.

From October 25 to 27, The Temple of Light will be hosting a three-day masterclass at Jewel Dunn’s River Resort and Spa in St Ann. Under the theme, ‘Life is Precious, Handle with Prayer’, the event will focuse on helping participants “to unlock an abundant life through the power of affirmative prayer”.