The First Firefly

It’s surprising (to me, at least) that we are only a month away from the longest day of the year. As I sat on my front deck at dusk, feeling the strong breeze blowing in the promise of rain, my thoughts were perfectly in the moment. As I enjoyed the smells and sights of my sweet cottage garden, complete with two cats playing and rolling around joyfully, a firefly appeared inches from my eyes. The first sighting of the year for me! These little insects are the most magical of all the inhabitants in my yard. In that moment, I felt all the joy I’ve experienced in three decades in this home. I saw my children playing, all the dogs and cats which have graced me with their presence, the friends who have passed through my doors — and so much more, although it was as though time was collapsed and I felt it all at once. I’m still rather breathless from the experience! And I am grateful …

“Each flower shines in light, and every bird sings of the joy of Heaven. There is no sadness and there is no parting here, for everything is totally forgiven. And what has been forgiven must join, for nothing stands between to keep them separate and apart.”
—A Course in Miracles T-26.IV.2:2-4

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 240:1-9

A Revolution of Thought

Park Hang-Ryul

“Beyond Me” - 2009

Perhaps humanity has been led astray, and we are truly not like this. Maybe we have become accustomed to the behaviors we witness and exhibit, never stopping to question if this is the way it must be. I've never been a fan of ritual and dogma, and in my advancing years I find little use for these things. Honesty and integrity dictate that we follow our heart, speak truth, act with compassion, and never fear the consequences! Many of us are stuck in our ways, doing the same things every day, thinking the same thoughts (with a few exceptions), and blindly believing what keeps us comfortably non-curious. Yes, we may have an inkling that something is wrong, thinking perhaps we could be happier, more fulfilled, more peaceful. We may go to therapists to advise us on what to do. Maybe we ask friends for advice. Or we simply tell ourselves to be glad that things aren't worse than they are. The time for this madness to cease is now! We are waking up, and it's not an easy revolution!

“Another change will come as to the nature and origin of man, and this revelation will destroy the dream of existence, reinstate reality, usher in Science and the glorious fact of creation, that both man and woman proceed from God and are His eternal children, belonging to no lesser parent.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 529:5-12

“The ego makes illusions. Truth undoes its evil dreams by shining them away. Truth never makes attack. It merely is. And by its presence is the mind recalled from fantasies, awaking to the real. Forgiveness bids this presence enter in, and take its rightful place within the mind. Without forgiveness is the mind in chains, believing in its own futility. Yet with forgiveness does the light shine through the dream of darkness, offering it hope, and giving it the means to realize the freedom that is its inheritance.”

—A Course in Miracles W-332.1:1-8

Hope For Resolution

A friend of mine is the conductor/teacher of the Lakeside Junior High School Choir. Today they performed at Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art. Their program was entitled, Hope for Resolution. The message of this beautiful grouping of songs and narration was unity: listening to those next to us, hearing them with new ears, while standing in the shared space of our humanity. There were many musical pieces and moments which moved me deeply, but one phrase, spoken by narrator, Sharon Keck Parker, caused me to pause the program and contemplate what I was hearing. “When we stop waiting for hope and decide to become it, we find that we do not have to surrender who we are, we simply join a larger song; reaching out to one another until every voice rings in concert, and the world finally finds its peace.” If anyone wants to hear this inspirational performance, go to youtube and look for their choir and the title of the program. After writing these words, I feel led to listen again!

“Vision depends upon today’s idea. The light is in it, for it reconciles all seeming opposites. And what is light except the resolution, born of peace, of all your conflicts and mistaken thoughts into one concept which is wholly true? Even that one will disappear, because the Thought behind it will appear instead to take its place. And now you are at peace forever, for the dream is over then.”
—A Course in Miracles W-108.1:1-5

“With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 469: 30-5

No Retribution in Love

In the movie, “Gandhi”, a Hindu man comes to the Mahatma and tells him that he is going to hell because he has killed a little boy. He is asked, Why did you do this? He replies, Because the Muslims killed my little boy. Gandhi tells him there is a way out of this hell, and that is to find a little Muslim boy whose parents have been killed and raise this child as his own — as a Muslim. Forgiving ourselves is often the hardest thing to do. It helps to know that we are the image of Love, the idea of God, the expression of Spirit. It’s easy to see that Love would not condemn and has no need to forgive. Namastè.

“No final judgment awaits mortals, for the judgment day of wisdom comes hourly and continually, even the judgment by which mortal man is divested of all material error.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 291:28-31

“God does not believe in retribution. His Mind does not create that way. He does not hold your ‘evil’ deeds against you. Is it likely that He would hold them against me? Be very sure that you recognize how utterly impossible this assumption is, and how entirely it arises from projection. This kind of error is responsible for a host of related errors, including the belief that God rejected Adam and forced him out of the Garden of Eden. It is also why you may believe from time to time that I am misdirecting you. I have made every effort to use words that are almost impossible to distort, but it is always possible to twist symbols around if you wish.”
—A Course in Miracles T-3.I.3:4-11

Can Fiction Lead to Truth?

An upside down world seems normal to us. We have become accustomed to believing that the testimony of our physical senses is reality, while intuition is often discounted as being imaginary. Many of my favorite authors write about metaphysical concepts, and some of them use the genre of fiction to allow the leeway to take this new/old thought all the way, without the need for empirical evidence in support. And I applaud this method! What better way to introduce ideas to a skeptical audience than through the entertainment field? Dan Brown is an expert at this form of writing. He brings us thought-provoking concepts without asking us to accept them as true, such as in his book, "The Lost Symbol". Paulo Coelho gently hits closer to home in two of my favorite books, "The Alchemist" and "The Aleph". The enjoyment of these novels is softly preparatory for the life-changing concepts presented in A Course in Miracles and, also, Science & Health. Without prior opening of thought, the ideas contained in these books can be jarring indeed! We have been preparing for this opening of mind and heart for all eternity, and we are ready! 

“Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you. And you may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, and let illusions be your guide. Your holy brothers have been given you, to follow in your footsteps as you walk with certainty of purpose to the truth. It goes before you now, that they may see something with which they can identify; something they can understand to lead the way.” 
—A Course in Miracles W-155.9:1-4

"In Spirit there is no matter, even as in Truth there is no error, and in good no evil. It is a false supposition, the notion that there is real substance-matter, the opposite of Spirit. Spirit, God, is infinite, all. Spirit can have no opposite."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 278

Slow Down and Enjoy Life

Mount Timpanogos Goat - photo credit: Aaron Springston

What if life was “better” before the industrial age? We have been taught that people were worked to the bone simply providing for their daily needs, and once machines were invented, our lives became easier. According to Iain McGilchrist, who did extensive research for his book The Matter With Things, before the age of factories and machines, the average person had more than 180 days a year of leisure. Not only that, but they would take two or three-hour lunch breaks and do things which make life full and happy. So, although we have been taught that life became easier after industrialization, perhaps that is a myth along with much of our so-called history. Yes, there was much hard work involved in doing the wash and cooking and gardening and taking care of animals, but what of the difficult work we do today? Did washing machines and microwaves actually make life easier for us? In this age of technology and the monstrous creations it has spawned, we must make time to enjoy real things — such as, flowers and butterflies and walking in the woods. Finding enjoyment in interactions with our children — or people, in any way possible — is the way to true happiness. I highly recommend listening to Dr. McGilchrist’s latest video which you can find on youtube under the heading of “The Counterintuitive Need to Slow Down and Find Spaciousness”. It holds much wisdom for us to ponder.

“Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, — these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence.”
—Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 58: 7-11

“Today we seek no idols. Peace cannot be found in them. The peace of God is ours, and only this will we accept and want. Peace be to us today. For we have found a simple, happy way to leave the world of ambiguity, and to replace our shifting goals and solitary dreams with single purpose and companionship. For peace is union, if it be of God. We seek no further. We are close to home, and draw still nearer every time we say: There is no peace except the peace of God, and I am glad and thankful it is so.
—A Course in Miracles W-200.11:1-9

Cleaning the Windowpane

 

Art by Catrin Welz Stein 

What am I? This question has been asked from the beginning of recorded history -- and probably longer. Spiritual seers inform us that we are not a body. So if I am not a body, what am I? Intellectually, we can say that we are the reflection of God. We can tell ourselves and others that we're not material, we're spiritual. But then we'll stump our toe and declare that we can't be blamed if it hurts because we're not walking on water yet. We make jokes to explain why we aren't living the precepts which Jesus tells us are our heritage as children of God. But really, why is it that we've been so stunted in our realization of what all this means? Actually, we're not evolving slowly. There is no evolution involved in spiritual awakening, there is only getting rid of material belief and dogma. What we're doing now is cleaning the windowpane so the light has a transparency to flow through, rather than trying to look through thousands of years of grime which is hiding our illumination. What are we? We're finding out more every day, and that's the miracle! 

“Whatever I see reflects my thoughts. It is my thoughts that tell me where I am and what I am. The fact that I see a world in which there is suffering and loss and death shows me that I am seeing only the representation of my insane thoughts, and am not allowing my real thoughts to cast their beneficent light on what I see. Yet God’s way is sure. The images I have made cannot prevail against Him because it is not my will that they do so. My will is His, and I will place no other gods before Him.” 
—A Course in Miracles W-53.5:2-7

“The epoch approaches when the understanding of the truth of being will be the basis of true religion. At present mortals progress slowly for fear of being thought ridiculous. They are slaves to fashion, pride, and sense. Some time we shall learn how Spirit, the great architect, has created men and women in Science. We ought to weary of the fleeting and false and to cherish nothing which hinders our highest selfhood.” 

—Mary Baker Eddy Science & Heath Page 62: 32-6