The Sun Blazes For Everyone

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

Sunrise

by Mary Oliver

You can

die for it--

an idea,

or the world. People

have done so,

brilliantly,

letting

their small bodies be bound

to the stake,

creating

an unforgettable

fury of light. But

this morning,

climbing the familiar hills

in the familiar

fabric of dawn, I thought

of China,

and India

and Europe, and I thought

how the sun

blazes

for everyone just

so joyfully

as it rises

under the lashes

of my own eyes, and I thought

I am so many!

What is my name?

What is the name

of the deep breath I would take

over and over

for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is

happiness, it is another one

of the ways to enter

fire.

From: New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver

“In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy. Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests. Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are.” 

A Course in Miracles W-24.1:1-6

“If men would bring to bear upon the study of the Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so-called pains and pleasures of material sense, they would not go on from bad to worse, until disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but the whole human family would be redeemed through the merits of Christ, — through the perception and acceptance of Truth.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 202:5-13

Rightly Directed Reason

Photo Courtesy of Blake Lasater

If you heard someone say they want to give up strong opinions, because they keep the field of infinite possibilities from becoming reality — well, you might wonder about their cognitive capacity! Knowing how society expects us to set goals, to defend strongly what we think is right, and to define the purpose of everything around us, it is difficult to step outside those parameters and say we “want to withdraw the goals [we] have assigned to the world”. But that is the beginning of understanding our purpose. Many goal-oriented purposes for our lives are engrained in our thoughts. These personal-interest ideals are established through a Pavlovian education which begins early in life, and is reinforced constantly as we live. In order to learn the truth of our being, it is necessary to give up these things and see how their usefulness depends on the meaning we have given them. Only then can we allow divine Mind to guide and divine Love to govern. 

“You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals. These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you. This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what anything is for. As a result, you are bound to misuse it. When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.”
—A Course in Miracles - W-25.2:1-5

“Reason, rightly directed, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the experiences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Science of man’s eternal harmony breaks their illusion with the unbroken reality of scientific being.
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 494:19-24

Breaking Up Of Material Belief

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

The realization that all attack comes from within is an eye-opener! When we worry about lack of money, or possible illness, or what our neighbors might think, these are thoughts which seem to attack our physical vulnerability. Actually our invulnerability as an expression of divine Principle cannot be attacked, but we certainly can think of ourselves as weak victims of life's circumstances. Through a conscious choice to reject the unreality of material existence and claim our heritage as powerful spiritual beings, unafraid to stand up and declare our Oneness with divine Love and all Its creation, we are able to transcend the fears we have thought to be inevitable. I love the new world which is being revealed through this understanding!

“This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace. The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 96:12-20

“The possibility of freedom has been grasped and welcomed, and the means by which it can be gained can now be understood. The world becomes a place of hope, because its only purpose is to be a place where hope of happiness can be fulfilled. And no one stands outside this hope, because the world has been united in belief the purpose of the world is one which all must share, if hope be more than just a dream.”
—A Course in Miracles -T-30.V.2:5-8

In This World, But Not Of It

Beautiful Friends Somewhere Under the Rainbow

I’ve been contemplating the idea of belonging — belonging to book clubs, belonging to churches, finding “your tribe”. I think of numerous people I know who feel they don’t belong anywhere. We shouldn’t feel we belong in this world, because we are in it but not OF it. Having been taught this concept from the time I was taken in by people who were old Christian Scientists, apparently I’ve always known it to be true. None of the other children were as different as I was, yet it never bothered me. Not only having old parents, but a Mexican mother (when no one else had anyone other than Donna Reed types), playing piano in public from a very early age, making grades that were too good, being the teacher’s pet — well, if I’d realized how that would/should make me a pariah, I probably would have felt I was one! A memory comes up of a day when children ganged up on me and another girl and chased us around the playground throwing rocks at us. It did not bother me emotionally, although there were a few physical bruises. Hum … Definitely not of this world! I wish I could find a way to pass on this extreme self-confidence to others. Maybe that’s why I write these daily messages …

“For perfect effectiveness the Atonement belongs at the center of the inner altar, where it undoes the separation and restores the wholeness of the mind. Before the separation the mind was invulnerable to fear, because fear did not exist. Both the separation and the fear are miscreations that must be undone for the restoration of the temple, and for the opening of the altar to receive the Atonement. This heals the separation by placing within you the one effective defense against all separation thoughts and making you perfectly invulnerable.”
—A Course in Miracles T-2.III.2:1-4

“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 529:6-12

The Face of Divine Love

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

Acknowledging that everything and everyone we look upon is the face of divine Love takes our perception to another level. With this sight, we do not need to see race or nationalities nor gender, there are no political parties for which to wave flags, and no enemies to fight against, nor allies to side with. I see beautiful things happening in our world. Long-held beliefs are being released in favor of an open-hearted acceptance of everyone as they are, not as we want them to be. Change can seem difficult, but our new perceptions of Life are a conscious choice by which we break free of habits and old thought patterns which have held us in bondage for far too long. Let’s celebrate our new-found sight today!

“Now there are no distinctions. Differences have disappeared and Love looks on Itself. What further sight is needed? What remains that vision could accomplish? We have seen the face of Christ, His sinlessness, His Love behind all forms, beyond all purposes. Holy are we because His Holiness has set us free indeed! And we accept His Holiness as ours; as it is. As God created us so will we be forever and forever, and we wish for nothing but His Will to be our own. Illusions of another will are lost, for unity of purpose has been found.”
—A Course in Miracles M-28.5:1-9

“Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action. Love is priestess at the altar of Truth. Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept.” 
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 454: 20-23

Co-Exist

A few readers of my “dailies” have asked why I don’t address the political situation in our country. Upon reflection, I feel that I do. Everything is connected by way of Mind, and the multitude of forms we experience are projections of illusion. So with our goal of purifying thoughts of unnecessary dogma, belief, and fear, we are left with Love and Its infinite manifestations. So, yes, I do address the current situations, but not from the point of being a problem identifier. Some of us need to look through the other end of the telescope, with the lens of Love. No matter how we perceive things with these material eyes and thoughts, the true idea of Spirit, God, Love, is there waiting for us to glimpse it.

“One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself;’ annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health Page 340:23-29

“Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged. Behind every veil I have drawn across the face of love, its light remains undimmed. Beyond all my insane wishes is my will, united with the Will of my Father. God is still everywhere and in everything forever. And we who are part of Him will yet look past all appearances, and recognize the truth beyond them all.”
—A Course in Miracles W-56.4:2-6

Juneteenth

The people of our country celebrate many things, some of which are made-up holidays to promote the sale of goods and/or services. Ah, what a fun, capitalistic society we have become! But today we celebrate June 19th, which is by definition: “Juneteenth — first observed in Texas and now recognized throughout the United States — celebrates a historic freedom moment for Black Americans. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the long-overdue news that all enslaved Black people were free. This news came through Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger’s General Order No. 3, issued more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863.” And so today we celebrate the acknowledgement of freedom, which many, to this day, do not recognize. Let us ponder the following words from Mary Baker Eddy and look for instances to liberate others through Love!

“A few immortal sentences, breathing the omnipotence of divine justice, have been potent to break despotic fetters and abolish the whipping-post and slave market; but oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the breath of freedom come from the cannon’s mouth. Love is the liberator.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 225:16-22 [circa 1865]

“I have no purpose for today except to look upon a liberated world, set free from all the judgments I have made.”
—A Course in Miracles W-312.2:1