Mark Anthony Lord is an internationally recognized spiritual leader and the author of The Seven Living Words - An Illuminated Perspective on the Seven Last Words of Jesus. A gifted and dynamic speaker, he offers fresh perspectives on sacred wisdom teachings.

Guy Spiro: Mark, what was your evolutionary arc to getting where you are?

Mark Lord: I was raised a Catholic boy outside of Detroit. Like all the families around us, we just went to church every Sunday and did the things that everybody else was doing. But, it didn’t resonate inside. I was feeling very separate, ashamed and guilty. As I grew up, I left the Catholic Church and discovered some wonderful addictions…

[laughter]

That took me out of my spiritual path, quite far, but also led me to my spiritual path.

GS: Ah, yes, if excess is a road to wisdom then some of us must know quite a lot.

[laughter]

ML: That’s when I started really delving into spirituality and redefining God for myself. Moving from having an external, male, punishing, separate, fickle God to developing a connection with an unconditionally loving presence that was not only outside of me, but within me. That is how it began. I became insatiable about studying spirituality and meditation and took every class I could find, which led me to ultimately becoming a minister. I studied under Michael Bernard Beckwith out of Agape in Los Angeles. After I graduated, I discovered that Chicago was calling me back. I got a divine inspiration, an amazing vision for the Center for Spiritual Living, to build in Chicago. And so I came back in August of 2003 and the spiritual center is just over four years old now.

GS: What has the growth process been like?

ML: The growth process has been amazing. We opened with probably about forty–fifty people and currently have just over three hundred on a Sunday. Ever since we opened our doors, it’s just been phenomenal. CSL is not religious, but it is very deeply spiritual. We do meditation. We teach prayer. Prayer is our major tool for transformation. Our Sunday celebrations are just a total blast.

GS: What typically goes on during a Sunday service?

ML: We have amazing music. The house band rocks. Every Sunday I do a talk. We reference the spirituality of old, if you will, the ancient wisdom. We also welcome and study the spiritual teachers of our day, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Michael Beckwith, many others. We know that spirit speaks through everyone. We not only study the teachings of Jesus, but the teaching of Buddha, Lao Tzu. We really embrace the brilliant One Light that is inherent in all and we love to dabble with it all and to reference it all, leading us to our own inner connection to spirit. That is ultimately what we are seeking. We can read books all day long, but people have to have their own personal revelation and experience of God.

GS: The distinction between religion and spirituality.

ML: What happens is that people get attached to the messenger instead of the message. They make the person who is pointing to God the focus. It’s like walking into a restaurant and seeing this amazing salmon on the menu with the perfect sauce and it just makes your mouth water, but instead of ordering the salmon, you eat the menu. That’s what so many people are doing. They are attached to the messenger, when really the messenger is pointing to the love that is within us.

GS: I also had problems with organized religion as a young boy. I remember sitting in church thinking, now wait a minute. Everyone in this room is going to heaven and everybody else is going to hell? Come on. Even as a little kid ...

ML: Little kids have common sense. It sort of gets beaten out of us. It gets overshadowed by the rules and the dogma. So we are not about dogma, we are the exact opposite. We are a spiritual community that knows that you have inherent within you the wholeness of your perfection, your purpose. We’re about helping you reveal the glory of God in and as your life. We just give you tools and ways to access that, and help you through studying and practices that help you to discover everything yourself.

GS: You’ve recently published an interesting book. Talk about that a little bit.

ML: It is called The Seven Living Words. It’s based on the seven last words that Jesus says on the cross.

GS: By that you mean the seven last things he says.

ML: The seven last sayings. The first is, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is the first word. The seven last words are a brilliant blueprint guiding us all to move through a transformation of resurrection in our own lives. Crucifixion, metaphysically, simply means crossing out. Jesus does the ultimate demonstration of this. He is crossing out his belief that he is a body. He is releasing his attachment to form so that he can step into his cosmic Christ consciousness. That was the journey he took. We are all are on that journey, but we are doing the small work of crossing out false beliefs, crossing out fears, crossing out ways of thinking that don’t support us on our spiritual journey. The book is a guidebook to release and cross out, through those seven steps, to your own expanded consciousness, which is another way to say enlightenment.

GS: Talk about the sayings.

ML: There is, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” The living word for that is forgiveness.

     There is, “You shall be with me in paradise.” That is when Jesus is speaking to the men hanging to the left and right of him. Metaphysically that means speaking to the past and the future. He represents being in the middle, being in the now moment. That is where God is. That is where all transformation takes place. The second step helps us get into the now, present moment, where we can access the power that we are calling upon. We can’t do it in the future. We can’t do it in the past.

     There is also, “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.” He is speaking to his mother Mary and one of his apostles. The living word of that is oneness. It is calling us to release any belief in separation, any belief in us versus them. There is one power here. There is only one and it is good. It is a very profound, deep message and we can’t exclude anyone from the kingdom of heaven. We can’t exclude a single person from our own evolution and awakening of spirit. It is unconditioned love. It is who we are. It is who everyone is.

     I love the middle word, which is “My God, why have you forsaken me?” That is right in the middle, and in the middle of the journey, it gets scary. There is the dark night of the soul, the darkest hour before the dawn when we feel forsaken, where we are uncertain. We get half way through and we are thinking, “Oh my God, what if this is the wrong way to go?” The fear comes up. Right in the middle, he gives voice to it, telling us that not only is it okay, it’s important for us to sit in that part of us that feels forsaken. To give it voice and let it come to the light and be healed. That is the transforming step right in the middle.

     Then we move into, “I thirst.” Inherent in us is a vision for our lives, a blueprint, a perfection of God, a divine plan, and when we get out of the way, it starts to inform and to lead us. This is a paradigm shift away from getting from the world to creating and giving to the world. Our purpose is encoded right in the center of our being. When we experience this thirst inside, it moves us from that dark night of the soul toward our next expansion, our next level of enlightenment.

     Then, “It is finished,” is the sixth word, which is completion. I love this one, too, because metaphysically the teaching is, it is our word that calls the path done. The universe lovingly lines us up and waits for us physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually to be in alignment. When all those aspects of ourselves are in alignment, we say it is finished. Then we get the stamp of saying, this is really done. “It is finished” represents when everything in us is lined up and ready to go.

     That is when we move into, “Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” That is surrender, the seventh living word. That is really what we are all here to do. I think our spiritual work is to let go. The more we let go, the more the perfection of our life unfolds. There is such an effortless way to be in this world, but we get in the way at every turn until we go through this process.

GS: Nice work, Mark.

ML: I am humbled to have this inspiration come through me and to be able to turn it into a book. Individually, people take the journey. It’s a book designed for people to do in groups. It’s designed to do in classes. The book walks people through their process and supports them along the way.

GS: It is such a privilege to be a conduit for this kind of stuff.

ML: Oh man, isn’t it. I have such a good life.

[laughter]

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The Center for Spiritual Living, 3036 N. Ashland Chicago, IL 60657, provides many opportunities for commuinty and celebration, both on Sundays and during the week. Please contact them with any questions you may have about the Center for Spiritual Living or their events and classes. Phone 773-248-LOVE (5683), or email info@chicagocsl.org. Their website is www.ChicagoCSL.org.

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