Unity in Times of Turmoil

The people of Ukraine have discovered their unity in surprising ways. One woman’s church was hit by a Russian missile. She told of people coming to clean up the debris and salvage what could be saved. She said neighbors who were self-proclaimed atheists were working side by side with the parishioners of the Transfiguration Cathedral. She was crying tears of joy because of the newfound camaraderie with her neighborhood. The reporter who wrote the article interviewed many older citizens who had always spoken the Russian language, but have recently learned to speak Ukrainian in solidarity with their fellow countrymen. There is a youth camp in Odesa where it’s recognized that children need to be children, and here they are free to laugh and play. At the same time, they realize many of these kids are emotionally troubled by what they have experienced, and they address the problems head on. In reading the many instances of people becoming stronger and more compassionate because of the daily battles, there was a realization that the people of the United States are finding ways to stand in solidarity, too. It’s been a tough decade. We’ve been lied to, manipulated, mocked, and it has been relentless. We need each other. We need to recognize our similarities while we heal and find our footing again. There is much work to be done, but let’s not forget to share joy with our neighbors. It’s cleansing and energizing!

“If you would look upon love, which is the world’s reality, how could you do better than to recognize, in every defense against it, the underlying appeal for it? And how could you better learn of its reality than by answering the appeal for it by giving it? The Holy Spirit’s interpretation of fear does dispel it, for the awareness of truth cannot be denied. Thus does the Holy Spirit replace fear with love and translate error into truth. And thus will you learn of Him how to replace your dream of separation with the fact of unity. For the separation is only the denial of union, and correctly interpreted, attests to your eternal knowledge that union is true.”
—A Course in Miracles T-12.I.10:1-6

“Unity of spirit gives new pinions to joy, or else joy’s drooping wings trail in dust.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 58:2-4

How Can I Help?

Characters in Ted Lasso

Most of us have friends who are experiencing maladies of a physical, mental, and/or emotional nature. We all have roles to play in the care and comfort of these friends. My main focus has always been on seeing through the material illusion to the spiritual truth. But recently I’m finding myself called to address, one-on-one, situations with people who need help in various physical ways. Of course, every situation is individual and many factors come into consideration. Whereas, I may be able to joke with one friend about her memory loss, another one might be in denial or take offense to me making “light” of it. One friend and I can laugh about cancer and the effects of chemotherapy, but another might burst into tears at the thought of their possible demise. Our conversations with others is not a one-size-fits-all response, and a good amount of empathy is required in any given moment. I’ve never been one to ignore the elephant sitting in the middle of the room; I like to talk to it and ask if there’s anything I can do for it. And so I find myself finding ways to commiserate and care without exacerbating the problem by heaping on excess sympathy. Every day brings new ways to express Love!

“‘Many are called but few are chosen’ should be, ‘All are called but few choose to listen.’ Therefore, they do not choose right. The ‘chosen ones’ are merely those who choose right sooner. Right minds can do this now, and they will find rest unto their souls. God knows you only in peace, and this is your reality.”
—A Course in Miracles T-3.IV.7:12

“The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother’s need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another’s good. Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality — infinite Life, Truth, and Love.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 518:15-22

Effects Without a Cause

 

Creation of Sandy Wythawai Starbird

When listening to a YouTube audio recording of Joel Goldsmith from the early 1960s, time and again the subjects he broached were things which have become major disruptions today. As an overview of the many specifics, he says that if all the people in universities were studying ways to save humanity rather than ruin it, the world would be a utopia. He mentions marketing and the selling of needless and/or harmful things to us; he talks about war and how we’ve convinced ourselves it’s okay to kill others, if it’s to protect ourselves; he dares to say religious doctrine is leading us down hopeless paths. And here we are today, ruled by marketing and media, killing each other at an alarming rate, watching environmental disruptions roil up all around. As I write this, I know that no matter how upset I become about events, it will do nothing to rectify what has been done. I am reminded of a Paulo Coelho quote which goes something like this: We cannot change the past, but what we do in the present redeems the past and changes the future. I’m going to listen to more Joel Goldsmith tomorrow and keep an open heart and mind, trusting myself to recognize paths of righteousness. 

“The plans you make for safety all are laid within the future, where you cannot plan. No purpose has been given it as yet, and what will happen has as yet no cause. Who can predict effects without a cause? And who could fear effects unless he thought they had been caused, and judged disastrous now? Belief in sin arouses fear, and like its cause, is looking forward, looking back, but overlooking what is here and now. Yet only here and now its cause must be, if its effects already have been judged as fearful. And in overlooking this, is it protected and kept separate from healing. For a miracle is now. It stands already here, in present grace, within the only interval of time that sin and fear have overlooked, but which is all there is to time.” 

—A Course in Miracles T-26.VIII.5:1-9

“Speaking of the origin of mortals, a famous naturalist says: ‘It is very possible that many general statements now current, about birth and generation, will be changed with the progress of information.’ Had the naturalist, through his tireless researches, gained the diviner side in Christian Science, — so far apart from his material sense of animal growth and organization, — he would have blessed the human race more abundantly.” 

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 548: 18-25

Uplifting Interactions

Communing With Art at Meow Wolf

Sometimes we meet someone with whom we feel an immediate kinship. We experience a “meeting of minds”, so to speak. We find that it doesn’t matter if there are spaces in which we differ in beliefs or understanding, because we respect them and enjoy hearing their thoughts. There have been times when hearing particular ideas (from people with whom I seemingly share no common ground) have caused me to want to flee or lash out. This is a reaction I’ve worked hard to neutralize, as it helps no one and causes me to fill my thoughts with irrelevant discord. It helps to remind myself that we are all made up of the same “stuff”. Our material bodies are remarkably similar to each other, and our spiritual selves are absolute in Oneness. And so today I will look for the middle of the road when interacting with people. It really doesn’t matter the topic, it can always be an uplifting and informative conversation. As my daddy always said, “If I can’t learn something from the dumbest man I know, then I’m just not listening.” Ha!

“Today we will accept our union with each other and our Source. We have no will apart from His, and all of us are one because His Will is shared by all of us. Through it we recognize that we are one. Through it we find our way at last to God.”
—A Course in Miracles W-329.2:1-4

“Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sackcloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-winged dove descending upon you. The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.” 
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:25-30

The Matter With Things

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

The lifework of Iain McGilchrist has captured my attention. His book, “The Matter With Things”, and the multitude of youTube interviews he has given, are deeply profound. For the first time, I’m beginning to understand some interesting patterns of thought in society. Many of us have become ruled almost entirely by the left brain. This side of our thinking organ is necessary because it is logical and literal. But the right side is ruled by intuition, and both sides are needed for us to be fully-functioning people. When we decide music and art are not necessary, when we shut down our creative side, we become more willing to believe what we are told, without question. Dr. McGilchrist gives the example of two people in a car. The driver is being directed by GPS and the map on the screen is showing that they are at a particular intersection. The passenger says, “Wait a minute! That’s not where we are. Look out the window.” But the driver refuses to even look because he is positive he is being told the truth. This is the difference in being ruled by the right and left brain. In my lifetime I’ve watched many things disappear from our educational system, including free play and civics. It’s easy to believe things have gone to hell and we can’t do anything about it. Some of us “think different”.

“When you say you are acting on the basis of knowledge, you are really confusing knowledge with perception. Knowledge provides the strength for creative thinking, but not for right doing. Perception, miracles and doing are closely related. Knowledge is the result of revelation and induces only thought. Even in its most spiritualized form perception involves the body. Knowledge comes from the altar within and is timeless because it is certain. To perceive the truth is not the same as to know it. “
—A Course in Miracles T-3.III.5:7-13

“Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and reflects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color. It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 247:21-27

Recognizing Our Innocece

Photo courtesy of Datura Böes

Righteous indignation: There's a lot of it going around, don't you think? Perhaps I notice it because I'm expressing it, too. Maybe I'm too quick to jump on my high horse and adopt a holier-than-thou attitude. Some people think of forgiveness as looking the other way and doing nothing, but we are learning that forgiveness is seeing past the illusion of separation to the reality of our unity. With this view, I can set aside my stories of right and wrong, opening thought to the reality of Love. Some people wonder what good this could possibly do in a world rife with confusion. If everyone lived Love, opening themselves to listen for guidance on how to understand and practice this type of forgiveness — well, just imagine the utopia! There exists a voice audible to anyone willing to listen. Forgiveness, the releasing of illusions, allows this voice to be found. In our unity, one release is everyone's gift. There is no you, me, and God. There is only One. What a joy to be finding our voice!

"In the Apocalypse it is written: 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.' In St. John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spiritual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed human concepts advancing and receding, is represented as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 536:1-9

“The blameless cannot blame, and those who have accepted their innocence see nothing to forgive. Yet forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. It is the reflection of God’s Love on earth. It will bring me near enough to Heaven that the Love of God can reach down to me and raise me up to Him.”
—A Course in Miracles W-60.1:3-6

The Beauty of All Art

The Church at Auvers

Vincent van Gogh

For those of you who are in a book club, I highly recommend “Mona’s Eyes” by Thomas Schlesser.  (You’ll enjoy it whether you discuss it with others or not!) This entertaining and informative book takes us through 52 works of art, as seen through the new eyes of a 10-year-old girl and her extremely educated and knowledgeable grandfather. We could have talked about these painters and their subjects for days! I had the privilege of hosting this group of Novel Women in my home, and that, in and of itself, is a most wonderful thing. The great food and camaraderie of old friends is cause for celebration! Throw in a good book discussion and my gratitude overflows …

“Portraits, landscape-paintings, facsimiles of penmanship, peculiarities of expression, recollected sentences, can all be taken from pictorial thought and memory as readily as from objects cognizable by the senses. Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed before the artist can convey them to canvas.”

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 86:25-32

“Let us join in celebrating peace by demanding no sacrifice of anyone, for so you offer me the love I offer you. What can be more joyous than to perceive we are deprived of nothing” 

—A Course in Miracles T-15.XI.8:2-3