Transformational Forgiveness

For years, two of my friends have been pretending the other doesn’t exist, but recently they  expressed sorrow to each other for the breach in their friendship. As with everything, this could not have been orchestrated any better than by the happenstance which came from forgiveness. They have both been experiencing ill health, depression, and substance abuse. Most  of their friends have kept on keeping on, being kind and helpful to them both, holding the space for Love to bridge the chasm. Any healing is cause for celebration, don’t you think? I was a court reporter for three decades and the saddest development I saw in those years was the way families would fight over stuff -- land, pots and pans, various material possessions. Any rift brought about because someone wants something someone else has — well, it’s a tragedy, in my opinion. May we all witness healing in our relationships, both individual and collective. Let’s celebrate these moments!

“When the final physical and moral effects of Christian Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, Science and material sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the earth.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 288:9-18

“The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. And They come quickly to the living temple, where a home for Them has been set up. There is no place in Heaven holier. And They have come to dwell within the temple offered Them, to be Their resting place as well as yours. What hatred has released to love becomes the brightest light in Heaven’s radiance. And all the lights in Heaven brighter grow, in gratitude for what has been restored.” 

A Course in Miracles T-26.IX.6:1-6

Other Worlds in Our Midst

Fabulous Food From Donna

The last Thursday of the month is my favorite day because it’s our book club meeting. This month’s book was the highly acclaimed Demon Copperhead, written by Barbara Kingsolver. Her writing is a complex work of art, and this time she takes us to Appalachia. We are immersed in a world foreign to most of us; a world of poverty, foster child care malfunctions, drug addiction, and the longing which goes along with these situations. We are introduced to characters we would love to sit on the porch with, and others we’d be fearful to meet on the street. The star of this tale, Demon, (Daemon at birth) is smart, resilient, and likable. Rarely do our Novel Women come across a book that we all like, and this one we all loved. Kudos to Barbara Kingsolver for writing this masterpiece, for which she recently received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction — actually she won the women’s prize. She says she’s a bit perturbed (my words) that there’s still a need for a “women’s” category. Another reason I love this author: she spares no words and suffers no fools, but she notices every detail around her and loves louder than anyone I know!

“Jesus illumines them [writings of the new testament], showing the poverty of mortal existence, but richly recompensing human want and woe with spiritual gain. The incarnation of Truth, that amplification of wonder and glory which angels could only whisper and which God illustrated by light and harmony, is consonant with ever-present Love. So-called mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the weary ones sigh when needing something more native to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual evil.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health page 501:7-18

“Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something ‘outrageous,’ do it because it does not matter. Refuse, and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you. It is only you, therefore, who have made the request outrageous, and every request of a brother is for you. Why would you insist in denying him? For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both. He is asking for salvation, as you are. Poverty is of the ego, and never of God. No ‘outrageous’ requests can be made of one who recognizes what is valuable and wants to accept nothing else.” 

A Course in Miracles T-12.III.4:1-8

To Say or Not To Say

Art from Judy Clement Wall

What do you do when you hear someone say something racist, sexist, ageist -- something that lays like a rock in your memory? When I was a child, I distinctly remember other children saying mean things to and about a girl. She didn't seem to have much going for her. To our way of thinking, she wasn't pretty or smart. But I liked her. I was only 8 or 9, and I was afraid to refute the words of a wad of kids who felt the need to be mean to her. I never forgave myself for that. But I hope I'm rectifying it now! After that time, I began to speak up in the face of injustice. Of course, I went overboard and sometimes would challenge others and defend things that didn't need my defense. Hopefully, I'm learning when my words are needed, as opposed to keeping my mouth shut and letting someone dig a hole for themselves! Whatever the case, the above art from Judy Clement Wall inspires me to love every one and every thing. May I have the wisdom to know what to say and when to say it -- or not!

“Moral courage is ‘the lion of the tribe of Juda,’ the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in ‘green pastures, . . . beside the still waters.’”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 514:10-14

“Bring this light fearlessly with you, and bravely hold it up to the foundation of the ego’s thought system. Be willing to judge it with perfect honesty. Open the dark cornerstone of terror on which it rests, and bring it out into the light. There you will see that it rested on meaninglessness, and that everything of which you have been afraid was based on nothing.”
A Course in Miracles T-11.in.3:7-10

Rest …

Art by Albena Vatcheva

Rivers in the Ocean

Rest - written by Jeff Foster

“Rest, weary one.

Lay your head down.

You have travelled far.

I have no clever words for you.

No system to teach.

No image to maintain.

You’ll find no philosophy here.

No answers to your many questions.

I offer only presence.

Sanctuary.

A bed. 

A meal. 

A small kindness to repay yours.

I am no better than you.

My guru is life.

My lineage is love.

I do not separate the enlightened from the unenlightened.

I teach nothing I do not live.

I quote not from books but from the cracks in the heart. 

I see your fragility yet I see your immense power.

You are not broken.

Don’t let them tell you that you are broken.

We met long ago when dust settled to form worlds.

I think I saw your courage then.

Close your eyes; 

I will keep watch tonight.”

~ Jeff Foster 

“Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 234:4-8

“Real freedom depends on welcoming reality, and of your guests only the Holy Spirit is real. Know, then, Who abides with you merely by recognizing what is there already, and do not be satisfied with imaginary comforters, 

for the Comforter of God is in you.”

A Course in. Miracles T-11.II.7:7-8

Loving Our Community

 

St. James Episcopal Church in Eureka Springs

Photo credit: Richard Quick

Our small village has experienced two heart-breaking events in the last couple of days. An historic church, well-known for reaching out to those in need, had a major fire in the wee hours of the morning. The edifice housed the only pipe organ in our town, beautiful stained glass windows, and a kitchen which has fed the hungry while building community through a program called “Sunday Suppers”. The night before, there was another fire just outside of town in which three  members of a family perished. We feel as though the fabric of our town has been rent. Many times today I’ve stopped to consider the fine line between compassion and a gruesome imagining of events leading to these situations. In both of these tragedies, I’ve been contemplating how to care for those in need, how to love actively, and ways to care about their plight without exacerbating the fear and grief many are feeling. Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: I plan on making these caring actions the focus of my study in days to come. I do know that love lifts us above the feelings of hopelessness which a simple rehashing of events with others brings to us. I shall return to love every time I’m tempted to feel fear. Namaste.

“Only the sane can look on stark insanity and raving madness with pity and compassion, but not with fear. For only if they share in it does it seem fearful, and you do share in it until you look upon your brother with perfect faith and love and tenderness. Before complete forgiveness you still stand unforgiving. You are afraid of God because you fear your brother. Those you do not forgive you fear. And no one reaches love with fear beside him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-19.IV-D.11:2-7

“The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 367:3-9

Support Groups

I heard a program on National Public Radio where people were interviewed who had been involved with hate groups, and now are in recovery. There were white nationalists, neo-nazis, Islamic terrorists. Some wanted out because they realized they were wrong, others had wives who gave them ultimatums when they saw their children behaving in the same way. Whatever the reason, they all had something in common: they couldn’t leave without help from a  support group. It was very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. These people said they were addicted to the feelings, the strong emotions, which were aroused when they screamed messages of derision toward others. Listening to these dear people talk about their experiences — how and why they were drawn to such a destructive group of people, the way it made them feel, why they had to get away from them — I was struck by how much we truly are all the same. Sometimes we lose our way and think that pain is pleasure, hate is love, and ugliness is beauty. I’m going to double down on my efforts to scatter joy and love my neighbor. It is, indeed, important!

"...fear demands the sacrifice of love, for in love's presence fear cannot abide. For hate to be maintained, love must be feared; and only sometimes present, sometimes gone. Thus is love seen as treacherous, because it seems to come and go uncertainly, and offer no stability to you. You do not see how limited and weak is your allegiance, and how frequently you have demanded that love go away, and leave you quietly alone in 'peace.'" 

A Course in Miracles T-29.2.7.

“Pale in the presence of his own momentous question, ‘What is Truth,’ Pilate was drawn into acquiescence with the demands of Jesus’ enemies. Pilate was ignorant of the consequences of his awful decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for man.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 48:25:32 

If You Can Keep Your Head …

 

I’ve always liked this poem. As I read it today, it strikes me these are great characteristics for the President of the United States!

If - By Rudyard Kipling

“If you can keep your head when all about you

   Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,   But make allowance for their doubting too;

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

   Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,   

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

   If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; 

If you can meet with triumph and disaster   

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken   

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,   

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

   And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings   

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew  

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you   

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on’;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

   Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch; 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;   

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run—   

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 

And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!”

“Evasion of Truth cripples integrity, and casts thee down from the pinnacle.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 448:10-11

“Christ calls to all with equal tenderness, seeing no leaders and no followers, and hearing but one answer to them all. Because He hears one Voice, He cannot hear a different answer from the one He gave when God appointed Him His only Son.” 

A Course in Miracles - T-31.II.7:5-6

Thank you, RBG!

Gender equality has always been difficult to achieve. Many have reasons, excuses, for why it's impossible. Legislators insisted it was to protect women, when they refused them the rights which were "granted" to men. These inalienable rights spoken of in the Constitution of the United States have been interpreted time and again, and usually they are deemed as applying to the male sex; for a long while, only to white males, then gradually evolving to include everyone. I watched the movie based on Ruth Bader Ginsberg's work to achieve women's equality in a man's world. It's called "On the Basis of Sex". Remembering how life was when I graduated from high school in 1970 is like remembering a dream. The cages we were crammed into were meant to keep the male animal in control, and it worked pretty well -- at least on the surface. But seeds had been planted; seeds of freedom which we are still nurturing. One of Jesus' main men informed us there are no bond nor free, no gentile nor jew, no male or female -- yet to this day we can't seem to figure that out! I take that back: many of us know these things, and that's why it's up to us to keep affirming the Truth of our being, and doing everything possible for others to see, too. Thank you, RBG!! 

"...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

“You are a perfect creation, and should experience awe only in the Presence of the Creator of perfection. The miracle is therefore a sign of love among equals.Equals should not be in awe of one another because awe implies inequality.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.II.3:3-5

Ramona - She Gathered

 

The beautiful Ramona

When I saw this writing from Donna Ashworth, I immediately thought of my wonderful friend, Ramona McNeal. Her friends and family know she is all this and much more! Thank you for being in our lives …

“SHE GATHERED by Donna Ashworth

She gathered beautiful things along the way to pass on, but not clothes or jewels. 

She gathered starlight when she couldn’t sleep… and sprinkled it on her stories so that the children of her children would listen in wonder and remember with delight.

She gathered lessons, learned at rock bottom, and shared them with strangers and friends alike,  to save them the need to sink so far themselves.

She gathered precious, life-giving laughter, and regaled the world with the humorous reminiscing of her follies, her foibles and her mishaps.

She gathered things that may not have caught anyone’s eye in auction, but when examined closely, became true treasure maps, to this life’s gold mines.”

Donna Ashworth 

From ‘I Wish I Knew’

“The body is beautiful or ugly, peaceful or savage, helpful or harmful, according to the use to which it is put. And in the body of another you will see the use to which you have put yours. If the body becomes a means you give to the Holy Spirit to use on behalf of union of the Sonship, you will not see anything physical except as what it is. Use it for truth and you will see it truly. Misuse it and you will misunderstand it, because you have already done so by misusing it. Interpret anything apart from the Holy Spirit and you will mistrust it. This will lead you to hatred and attack and loss of peace.” 

A Course in Miracles T-8.VII.4:3-9

“The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun. As the physical and material, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright and imperishable glories.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 246:15-21

Born Again in New Perspective

Thanks to Peter Coffman for editing my photo

In this time of great change, it’s easy to long for the comfort of ritualistic actions and old habits. How nice it would be if we simply floated along, happily enjoying yesterday’s fruits. But life doesn’t seem to be that way. We wake up every morning and experience things in different ways. Changing thoughts bring on changing circumstance. I hope we can all hold onto each other and know that this is a good thing. Personally, I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but I relish the possibilities!

“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 Bakker Eddy - Science & Health Page 96:15-20

“Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perspective. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.”
A Course in Miracles W-pII.2.4:1-6

Communication, Cooperation, and Counting

Photo credit: Mark McGee

Once a month, I give an organ recital for a fabulous organization called Heart of Many Ways. Today, my performance was a duet with a flute player. I was a bit nervous about it because I had not played with another instrument since high school 50 years ago! When I have solo performances, I rarely prepare anything, but flip through music books and play what tickles my fancy. Playing alone, I can make mistakes and cover them up, add beats to measures, change the tempo whenever the spirit moves, and generally have a good time with little to no preparation. Playing with someone else, rules must be followed. As I had been out of town, and the flutist had other obligations, we only had an hour to prepare yesterday. Then we did eight beautiful duets today. During the practice period and performance, I realized three things are necessary for a successful melding of instruments. Cooperation, communication — and counting!! It was a good 

“Miracles make minds one in God. They depend on cooperation because the Sonship is the sum of all that God created. Miracles therefore reflect the laws of eternity, not of time.” A Course in Miracles T-1.I.19:1-3

“If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely upon Mind, which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if these so-called powers are real.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 144:3-5

Real Purpose

Different Type of Organ at Meow Wolf

My purpose is to forget the dreams of malice, revenge, hatred, and anger. These dreams of separation from our Oneness are simply that — dreams, with no relation to the reality we are coming to know. My self is the one Self we all share, so I may choose to accept this as my identity, or I can continue to choose the illusions of belief in separation. It’s not always easy to see this false identity as something I no longer want. It jumps up and down and insists that it is good and I am bad if I choose anything other than it. How grateful I am to have friends who support my decision to grasp for the heights of my Being, allowing the lower propensities to remain where they lie. Thank you greatly —

“Christian Science commands man to master the propensities, — to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with honesty.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 405:4-9

“To me, the purpose of everything is to prove that my illusions about myself are real. It is for this purpose that I attempt to use everyone and everything. It is for this that I believe the world is for. Therefore I do not recognize its real purpose. The purpose I have given the world has led to a frightening picture of it. Let me open my mind to the world’s real purpose by withdrawing the one I have given it, and learning the truth about it.”
A Course in Miracles W-55.5:2-7

I Have a Dream

Favorite Room in Meow Wolf — Denver, Colorado

I see a world built on honesty in every endeavor. All liars will be uncovered and replaced with honorable human beings who value lives more than cash. Schools will teach children to love learning, rather than to spit out rhetoric. Religious institutions will be there to help those in need, finding ways to supply their material needs while feeding their spirit. We will be allowed to know what Spirit is, rather than simply repeating religious beliefs which manipulate and punish. We'll know about the good in ourselves as well as our neighbors and love ourselves more as a result. Then we see the value in making art -- music, painting, creativity of all kinds -- and understanding how those practices allow us to be whole, rather than automatons which spit out facts and figures. I see a world where we can trust ourselves enough to stand up for what benefits all, not just those in our tribe. Let's build back a world where all its resources are kept intact and nurtured, using the things which never run out, realizing the sun shines on us all equally, and is here for our supply. We will know the value of every living creature, realizing that the loss of one leaves a hole in the music of the earth. We will be proud of knowledge, science, learning of any and all sorts. We will see that we can understand God, because we are Its reflection and that source lies within us. I have a dream …

"St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens and earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the spiritual idea and consciousness of reality."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 573:19

“Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perspective. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.”
A Course in Miracles W-pII.2.4:1-6

Discerning Truth

 

Learning About Coral

My son, Dylan, told me about  a teacher who gave a test and instructed the students to use whatever means they had at hand to answer the questions. In other words, they could do an internet search, call a friend — anything! Some people questioned why he would do such a thing, saying that the students wouldn’t learn anything. He had something very profound to say about this. In this day and age, we have all the answers at our fingertips, but there are also many wrong answers waiting for us to find them. His test had to do with teaching students how to do research and arrive at correct answers. I, personally, think this is a fabulous idea! Teaching and learning are not the same as when I was a child, nor should they be. Times have changed drastically and the way we approach education must move along with our circumstances. Judging by the number of people who swear that foolishness is truth,  I would love to see more classes being given in how to do research in the 21st century. We also would be well-served to learn how to listen to our intuitive Self, or divine Mind. I love thinking about things in different ways and am grateful to my younger son for bringing these thoughts to me today!

“Reality can dawn only on an unclouded mind. It is always there to be accepted, but its acceptance depends on your willingness to have it. To know reality must involve the willingness to judge unreality for what it is. To overlook nothingness is merely to judge it correctly, and because of your ability to evaluate it truly, to let it go. Knowledge cannot dawn on a mind full of illusions, because truth and illusions are irreconcilable. Truth is whole, and cannot be known by part of a mind.” 

A Course in Miracles T-10.IV.2:1-6

“When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 205:32-3

Every Moment is Cause for Celebration

Fabulous Day at Meow Wolf

Denver, Colorado

Exciting days, routine days — what’s the difference? Truly, there is none. Every moment is cause for celebration! One of my favorite Wayne Dyer quotes is, “If you drop a pen and don’t enjoy picking it up, drop it again!” But of course, I think you’ll agree with me that some days feel enchantingly delicious with prospect and fruition. Some times in our lives feel full of possibilities and we eagerly go forward, ready to grasp all the wonder-filled moments. This day is Love’s and it is my gift to It!! Let me embrace every action with the same anticipation that I would expect from a day at Meow Wolf!

“In dreams we fly to Europe and meet a far-off friend. The looker-on sees the body in bed, but the supposed inhabitant of that body carries it through the air and over the ocean. This shows the possibilities of thought. Opium and hashish eaters mentally travel far and work wonders, yet their bodies stay in one place. This shows what mortal mentality and knowledge are.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 90:16-23

“Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. ³In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.I.3:1-3

Free Yourself From Memory

All the Flowers in the Universe

Art by Eli Halpin

“It takes a huge effort to free yourself from memory, but when you succeed, you start to realize that you’re capable of far more than you imagined. You live in this vast body called the Universe, which contains all the solutions and all the problems. Visit your soul; don’t visit your past.” Paulo Coelho, Aleph

Seeing this quote from one of my favorite authors caused me to think about something which has been happening recently: I’ve been regretting things from the past.  This is a practice I thought had been forsaken long ago, but I’ve found myself waking up in the morning and remembering things I would like to change. Self-examination is a good thing, and anytime anyone chastises me for an action, I examine my motives and double check to see if my thinking needs correction. But I don’t tend to have regrets and feel sad about past actions. As I write this, a quote comes to mind — perhaps from this same author, and maybe even the same book: “You can’t change the past, but what you do in the present rectifies the past and changes the future.” I’ve quoted this many times to other people, and it’s time to practice what I preach!

“We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are. If a friend informs us of a fault, do we listen patiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? Do we not rather give thanks that we are ‘not as other men’? During many years the author has been most grateful for merited rebuke. The wrong lies in unmerited censure, — in the falsehood which does no one any good.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 8:28-4

“In Him you have no cares and no concerns, no burdens, no anxiety, no pain, no fear of future and no past regrets. In timelessness you rest, while time goes by without its touch upon you, for your rest can never change in any way at all. You rest today. And as you close your eyes, sink into stillness. Let these periods of rest and respite reassure your mind that all its frantic fantasies were but the dreams of fever that has passed away. Let it be still and thankfully accept its healing. No more fearful dreams will come, now that you rest in God. Take time today to slip away from dreams and into peace.” 

A Course in Miracles W-109.5:1-8