With the realization of our Divinity, we no longer give primacy to current appearances of circumstances and conditions. So one of the primary objectives of the support is to turn our focus from the outer to the inner, the place of "first cause". The author / teacher, US Anderson, in his book Three Magic Words, expresses the objective well. (Note: The emphasis is mine - not the original author's)

"He who would use faith must use it to rise above negative circumstance, and he must never fall victim to that which goes on around him. Refuse to be trapped into believing that the cause of anything exists on the physical plane. Have complete confidence in the fact that first cause is mental and first cause once set in motion must inevitably manifest itself in the physical world. Do not deny negative circumstance. Simply have faith in what you believe and refuse to accept negative circumstances as final."

"When the ego goes and God-consciousness comes, thought is immediately followed by the thing, for there remains nothing to overcome. All conceptions of limitation and lack and guilt and pain and shame and remorse are cast out with the ego. Nothing but God remains, and whatever God knows is created."

It's the most common of human experience that we're so afraid to take that leap of faith to give up worry and concern over our problems, isn't it? Fixated upon the appearances, we seem to find it almost impossible to ignore current conditions and circumstances and focus only upon what we desire. This is easy to understand; after all, there is not yet five-sense evidence in support of that which we desire. And as first cause is mental (the focus of our thoughts), we are only giving the circumstances that power of final reality, or more accurately, the appearance of such. The higher Truth is that there is no such thing as fixed reality; it is only an appearance, and appearances are fleeting, constantly changing as convictions change. So CS is about helping people to turn attention away from the appearances of current outer conditions, encouraging them to "remember" that negative circumstances are never final reality. In the CS group, we are always reminded that experience is only effect, that it changes, indeed, must change, by changing the cause. This is law.

This is probably the single most important principle of all. In fact, those of us who understand that all of the sacred teachings are really describing these metaphysical principles, realize that the teachings of the Master known as Jesus, were practically all about this idea of maintaining faith in that not yet seen. And as importantly, that "these things and more you too can do". But it seems that the great challenge for us in this physical experience is to ignore our five sense data and keep "thine eye" single focused upon that which is already done within Divine Mind (though not yet manifest in our lives).

Group Consciousness

What I've discussed to this point serves as background information and provides insights that led to the conception of CS groups. I want to describe in more detail the actual groups. I must begin however, by discussing the phenomenon of collective wisdom. There's been a lot of research and study done in the field of collective (or group) consciousness. What it has shown, amongst other things is that under the right conditions, an intelligence and wisdom that is far more than that of any of the individual members emerges within the group. Group participants often report the feeling of an intelligent presence in which they are all immersed; it almost seems palpable, like the air is thick with this energy. This collective intelligence / wisdom is rather astounding to all of the members of the group for they find themselves expressing things that they can hardly believe they are capable of. Phenomenal insights and solutions to problems begin to flow. This wisdom and intelligence seems to take over and the members experience a remarkable deeper awareness that transcends anything they ever would have achieved individually.

This phenomenon of collective wisdom doesn't occur simply with any group of people sitting around casually yakking. There are some particular conditions that must be present. One is that there should be a focused intention such as a problem that the group is to solve through free and open discussion. Another is that the members must set aside all biases and preconceptions. Also the members must feel totally free to speak authentically, and do so. And there must be a feeling of full equality amongst the participants, which is to say that there is not an authority figure / hierarchical dynamic. Under these parameters, as the group begins to discuss the issue / problem that is the focus, this remarkable transcendent wisdom, far beyond that of any individual member begins to emerge.

You might recognize that most of the prerequisites require in one sense or another, that the participants forego or relinquish their ego. Actually this is magnificently fitting for the overall purpose of CS groups anyway. This is so clear if we go back to the Andersen quote. To wit: "When the ego goes and God-consciousness comes, thought is immediately followed by the thing, for there remains nothing to overcome".

Now, a general overview of the CS group. I should point out that it is beyond the scope of this paper to attempt to present a detailed description of subjects such as the training of facilitators, for example. Also, in order to assure that an upward spiral of energy is maintained from meeting to meeting, there is a prescribed sequence of discussion topics, though the dialogues themselves are allowed to flow as they will, within the guidelines that support collective wisdom.