Centre for Conscious Living

March 1, 2009 11:00 am
Centre for Conscious Living, 612 Valour Road Winnipeg
Rev. Cam J. Hamoline

This is a pretty interesting one. I was looking for a Presbyterian church just off Portage and got turned around navigating side streets. When I saw a traditional-looking church building I parked and went inside without a second thought. Upon sitting down and looking at the bulletin, I realized that I wasn't in a Presbyterian church.

Billed as an "Inclusive Spiritual Centre," I wasn't sure what to expect as this service got underway. It was in a small traditional old building with stained glass windows depicting New Testament scenes. Middle-aged was the dominant demographic with a few older folks and a healthy proportion of young kids. I was the only youth I could see. The small sanctuary was pretty full, probably about 100 people.

The front of the church was set up for a band and indeed, the service started with music. And I've gotta comment on it. This was unlike any church band I've ever heard. They avoided stereotyped, overdone and overly "uplifting" songs in favour of songs with music and a general themed message. The musicians were fantastic (there was a bass solo and I nearly cheered) and the music was great.

Onwards. I wasn't sure (and still am not) exactly what the Centre for Conscious Living is all about. The opening "Affirmative Prayer Treatment" recognized that there existed a higher being called "God," though She was never mentioned again through the service. Their website is an interesting read, they recognize Jesus in some capacity but as an example of the spiritual beings we all are, rather than the exception. They consider the notion of "Bible" to include ALL religious texts, which is an intriguing (and I think fantastic) notion.

Rev. Hamoline seems like a boring speaker, a bit monotonous and prone to over-simplifying. But he ended up getting his message across very well. He spoke primarily about the value of emotion. He noted that all emotion is positive, anger and sorrow included, because it brings us a message about ourselves. He encouraged introspection with an interesting analogy, which I'm going to paraphrase quickly:

"Once a woman was looking out her window and saw her neighbour outside in the street, bent over and searching intently for something. The woman went outside and asked, "what are you looking for?" Her neighbour replied, "I've lost my ring." The woman asked, "where did you lose it?" Her neighbour replied, "I lost it in the house, but I'm looking out here because the light is much better."

Often when we look inwards we find ourselves grasping around in the dark and choose instead to look uselessly outward, because the "light is better." Food for thought.

The service ended with more music and as usual I had to run so I didn't really get the chance to socialize. I'm very interested to see what this church or centre is all about, and i hope to return.

http://www.livingconsciously.ca/