I’ll Meet You There!

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

On this New Year’s Eve, I sit and reflect on celebrations of days past. In my early life as an adult, I looked forward to raucous celebrations of drinking and dancing with friends and strangers. We thought that was the secret: communion through partying. Gradually, I grew into motherhood and felt that the contentment of little ones’ warm bodies was what I had been born to experience. Life seemed complete. In recent years, I feel the need to experience the community I love from the privacy of my own home. It seems to be all I need. The circle of loved Ones is ever-present. The close-knit relationships which have been fostered through the years fill me with contentment. The Love I’ve learned to recognize as ever-present brings me joy. I feel this new year is waiting for us to fill it with something we’ve never known before. Our world seems to be breaking down so it can be rebuilt. The Disappearance of the Universe?  Whatever is happening, I’m thrilled to be an integral part of it! “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there.” Rumi

“So will the year begin in joy and freedom. There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. Make this year different by making it all the same. And let all your relationships be made holy for you. This is our will. Amen.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.XI.10:8-14

“Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, — this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony. The purification of sense and self is a proof of progress. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health Page 323:32-7

Make Room For The New

Photo Courtesy of Blake Lasater

“You have no obligation to be

the same person you were minutes ago.”

–Alan Watts

“You wish to have proof of

A world beyond this one?

See how the old leaves fall and

Makes room for the new.

A new day, a new night, a new garden,

Even a new trap to fall into. 

A new thought in each breath.

Newness is a wonder.

It surely is a treasure.

Did you ever wonder

Where the new comes from? 

Where the old disappear to?

The world is a flowing stream,

It looks enclosed and unchanging,

But the old flows away and

The new arrives.”

—Rumi 

“To be free of all authority, 

of your own and that of another, 

is to die to everything of yesterday, 

so that your mind is always fresh, 

always young, innocent, full of vigour

and passion. 

It is only in that state that 

one learns and observes.”

–Jiddu Krishnamurti 

“This course is a beginning, not an end. Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him. He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. His certainty is yours. 

You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.”

A Course in Miracles W-ep.1:1-9

“Truth has no beginning. The divine Mind is the Soul of man, and gives man dominion over all things. Man was not created from a material basis, nor bidden to obey material laws which Spirit never made; 

his province is in spiritual statutes, in the higher law of Mind.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 307:25-30

An Ancient Journey

Don't we all love new beginnings? Every symbolic new beginning which we experience gives us hope that there truly will be one — this time. We yearn for peace and plenty, purity of heart and environment, and joy Sometimes we catch glimpses of what it could be like. I felt a big shift on New Year's Eve in the year 2000. There was a palpable expectation of change, and now, two-and-a-half decades later, I feel it is upon us. A true new beginning is at hand -- your hand and mine, today, right now. Let’s not be distracted by ego-based taunting, urging us join in the game which is being enacted all around us. By giving energy to the lower propensities, we remain stuck in this muddle of material belief. Raising thought above what cries out so loudly for attention, we allow ourselves a new beginning in every situation. Ah, ever-flowing forever — now!

“The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only, — that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 502:24-27

"Be not afraid. We only start again an ancient journey long ago begun that but seems new. We have begun again upon a road we travelled on before and lost our way a little while. And now we try again. Our new beginning has the certainty the journey lacked till now. Look up and see His Word among the stars, where He has set your Name along with His. Look up and find your certain destiny the world would hide but God would have you see."
A Course in Miracles C-ep.3.

Expressions of Love

Celebrating Holidays With A Dear Friend

Many people think of winter as a time of new beginnings. The winter solstice signifies a time of dying and being reborn, and that feels good to me. Visiting with friends, old and new, is energizing in and of itself. When that is coupled with spiritually uplifting conversations, beautiful music, and all the other nurturing events clustered into a few scant days, most of us are floating on Cloud 9 before the end of the year. Throw in a few sappy holiday movies and I’m in heaven. Of course, a seer once told us the kingdom of heaven is within us, and we’ve celebrated that knowledge ever since! As we grow in our understanding of the metaphysical Truth which Jesus was here to teach us, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a reflection of divine Love. Realizing everything is either an expression of love or a call for love allows us to release attack thoughts about others and enjoy the peace of a quiet mind. Namaste, dear Friends …

“The peace of God is shining in you now, and from your heart extends around the world. It pauses to caress each living thing, and leaves a blessing with it that remains forever and forever. What it gives must be eternal. It removes all thoughts of the ephemeral and valueless. It brings renewal to all tired hearts, and lights all vision as it passes by. All of its gifts are given everyone, and everyone unites in giving thanks to you who give, and you who have received.”
A Course in Miracles W-188.3:1-6

“As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264:13-19

Set Your Table With a Spotless Cloth

Flat Earthers, Hoarders, Agoraphobics -- I've been thinking about people who exhibit what could be called aberrant behavior. I have friends who are afraid to lose their past because they wouldn't know who they are; then there are those afraid of the future, hence they're afraid of everything. I think about personas I've tried on through the years: a survivalist in the early 80's; my mother said the only thing that "saved me from being a hippie" in the 70s was that I liked to be clean (little did she know it has nothing to do with outer accoutrements!); for a summer I even wanted to be a go-go dancer -- ha! There are many identities we can cling to, and it's certainly difficult to keep from mentioning one or more when asked "who are you?" In the new year, my word for the year shall be "truth". It doesn't matter to me what may happen as the result of truth telling; I simply want everything to be out in the open. While pondering that, I realize that the proclivities we identify with are part of what we have decided upon as our own personal truth. As part of my new, more-open thought, I resolve to not fault anyone for thinking in ways I find to be odd or disconcerting. We all have different expressions of the divinity we are, and it is not my place to pass judgment. (Although I'm not sure what's up with people who think the earth is flat!) Happy end-of- the-year, end-of-an-era, to everyone. Here's to Truth!

"Love, too, would set a feast before you, on a table covered with a spotless cloth, set in a quiet garden where no sound but singing and a softly joyous whispering is ever heard. This is a feast that honors your holy relationship, and at which everyone is welcomed as an honored guest. And in a holy instant grace is said by everyone together, as they join in gentleness before the table of communion. And I will join you there, as long ago I promised and promise still. For in your new relationship am I made welcome. And where I am made welcome, there I am." 

A Course in Miracles T-19.IV.A.16. 

“Thus we arrive at Truth, or intelligence, which evolves its own unerring idea and never can be coordinate with human illusions. If Soul sinned, it would be mortal, for sin is mortality’s self, because it kills itself. If Truth is immortal, error must be mortal, because error is unlike Truth. Because Soul is immortal, Soul cannot sin, for sin is not the eternal verity of being.

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 467:32-7

Seeing the Face of Christ in Each Other

The Big Jesus

Also Known As: Christ of the Ozarks

In Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Photo credit: Ron Lutz

I’ve never understood wars, and so-called religious wars are particularly incomprehensible. As a youngster, upon hearing of the disputes between the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, I thought there must be something incredibly important to cause so much death and destruction. As an adult, I discovered it was basically a disagreement of semantics. When I began playing organ for the Catholics and Methodists a few years back, I learned many things about mainstream religion. As I’d only been exposed to Christian Science services before this, I had no idea what other churches thought of communion, Jesus, death, and the concept of God in general. I could go on and on about this, but there’s no reason to do so. The main thing I discovered is that there is basically no difference in the Protestants and Catholics — certainly nothing to precipitate years of battle. And now we have denominations breaking apart over human rights. What a waste of time and energy, when we could simply follow Jesus’ two great precepts. Let’s love one another actively, and love God with every thought and action. Happy Holidays EVERYONE!

“The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his own statements: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life;’ ‘I and my Father are one.’ This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does for man.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 26:10-18

“The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. So he became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God. The man was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his self from Self, as all illusions do. Yet who can save unless he sees illusions and then identifies them as what they are? Jesus remains a Savior because he saw the false without accepting it as true. And Christ needed his form that He might appear to men and save them from their own illusions.”
A Course in Miracles - C-5.2:1-6

Peace is our Gift to Each Other

Art by J. Clement Wall 

Praying for peace — I think we are all doing this in our individual way. It is extremely painful to see the ravages of war. It’s difficult to face and understand the unrest within the United States over more things than I care to count. With this in mind, I offer you quotes on peace today.   Namaste …

"We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate - thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising."

 Maya Angelou

"Peace is our gift to each other." 

Elie Wiesel

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures." 

John F. Kennedy

"There is no time left for anything but to make peace work a dimension of our every waking activity." 

Elise M. Boulding

"Every year at this time, an important phrase marks the season: peace on earth and goodwill towards men. It's so common we sometimes forget about what it really means - that we strive for a world without war, a society where we respect and help our neighbors, a place where we protect and uplift our most in need. This isn't a phrase we should live by for one day or one month. It's a set of values that must bond and motivate us every day." 

Dennis Kucinich

“We cannot give what we do not have: We cannot bring peace to the world if we ourselves are not peaceful. We cannot bring love to the world if we ourselves are not loving. Our true gift to ourselves and others lies not in what we have but in who we are.”

Marianne Williamson

"The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress." 

Mary Baker Eddy 

“Illusion meets illusion; truth, itself. The meeting of illusions leads to war. Peace, looking on itself, extends itself. War is the condition in which fear is born, and grows and seeks to dominate. Peace is the state where love abides, and seeks to share itself. Conflict and peace are opposites. Where one abides the other cannot be; where either goes the other disappears. So is the memory of God obscured in minds that have become illusions’ battleground. Yet far beyond this senseless war it shines, ready to be remembered when you side with peace.” 

A Course in Miracles

Peace Like A River — Happy Christmas Day

Joni Mitchell - photo by Joel Bernstein

"God's answer is some form of peace. All pain is healed; all misery replaced with joy. All prison doors are opened. And all sin is understood as merely a mistake."
A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #359

Peace like a river. As I read the above words. this is what keeps coming to mind. Peace like a river. On this beautiful Christmas morning, I allow all imprisoning beliefs to leave my mind, while welcoming Love through the Science of the Christ. The Christ that we celebrate today flows through each and every thing there is. It leads us to healing in all thought and deed. It keeps us happy, safe, wholly directed by eternal Truth to green pastures and quiet repose. Peace like a river, flowing before and around us, pulling and pushing wherever we need to be. I won't fight the flow. I'll float and rest in the Christ consciousness which we celebrate today. This Spirit which permeates everything is recognized by me for what it is: God's answer.

“Christmas to me is the reminder of God's great gift, — His spiritual idea, man and the universe, — a gift which so transcends mortal, material, sensual giving that the merriment, mad ambition, rivalry, and ritual of our common Christmas seem a human mockery in mimicry of the real worship in commemoration of Christ's coming.

“I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth's appearing.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellany 262:20-30

“Let no despair darken the joy of Christmas, for the time of Christ is meaningless apart from joy. 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? Such is the message of the time of Christ, which I give you that you may give it and return it to the Father, Who gave it to me. For in the time of Christ communication is restored, and He joins us in the celebration of His Son’s creation.”
A Course in Miracles T-15.XI.8:1-5

The Birth of Truth

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

Many people have told me they don't like Christmas. What they mean, of course, is that they don't like the way Christmas is promoted by the media and corporations. It seems there is too much emphasis on buying unnecessary things —  and going into debt to do so. We all know people who are over-stressed, for various reasons, during this beautiful time of the year. And so the words of Mary Baker Eddy which are quoted below are what I will concentrate on today. Spending the day quietly listening, in peace and joy, today and every day, is all I want. This is the gift which is ours for the claiming of it, anytime, anywhere. Happy Christmas to All...

“I celebrate Christmas with my soul, my spiritual sense, and so commemorate the entrance into human understanding of the Christ conceived of Spirit, of God and not of a woman—as the birth of Truth, the dawn of divine Love breaking upon the gloom of matter and evil with the glory of infinite being.

“I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, eloquent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception of Truth’s appearing." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellany Page 262

“In this season (Christmas) which celebrates the birth of holiness into this world, join with me who decided for holiness for you. It is our task together to restore the awareness of magnitude to the host whom God appointed for Himself. It is beyond all your littleness to give the gift of God, but not beyond you. For God would give Himself through you. He reaches from you to everyone and beyond everyone to His Son’s creations, but without leaving you. Far beyond your little world but still in you, He extends forever. Yet He brings all His extensions to you, as host to Him.”

A Course in Miracles ACIM, T-15.III.7:1-7

Oneness Blessing

Art by Peter Max

Years ago, I took an intensive course in giving the Oneness Blessing. At the time (probably 20 years ago), the training had been intensified and done in two days, as opposed to the two weeks that it had taken before. Our instructor told us this was because it was necessary to get as many conduits of divine Love open as quickly as possible. The time was now because great changes were coming and we needed to be prepared. Looking back at that time, I can’t help but wonder if we took our obligation seriously enough. I don’t feel that I did. Having always been a procrastinator, it seems I put off opening my heart 100%, thinking that what I was doing was “good enough”. I urge everyone who works with positive energies — and you know who you are! — to go forward, fearless in our Giving. Truly, what the world needs now is Love, sweet Love. Let’s do it!

“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

“Holy child of God, when will you learn that only holiness can content you and give you peace? Remember that you learn not for yourself alone, no more than I did. It is because I learned for you that you can learn of me. I would but teach you what is yours, so that together we can replace the shabby littleness that binds the host of God to guilt and weakness with the glad awareness of the glory that is in him. My birth in you is your awakening to grandeur. Welcome me not into a manger, but into the altar to holiness, where holiness abides in perfect peace. My Kingdom is not of this world because it is in you. And you are of your Father. Let us join in honoring you, who must remain forever beyond littleness.”
A Course in Miracles T-15.III.9:1-9

Certainty of Purpose

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

As the year draws to a close, our busy-ness tends to increase until we are, perhaps, in a tizzy all the time, much like the spinning dreidel which is a staple of many celebrations. I witnessed a friend in such a dither today. As I watched her, I realized she was taking personal responsibility for everything around her. She felt put-upon and over-loaded with duties and chores. She breathlessly rushed about feeling that no one but her would know what to do about any number of things. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly and deeply, hoping it could spread to her, but she wasn’t receptive. She was no more able to accept the peace that was hers, as the expression of Spirit, than she was able to trust that everything would be done with or without her — or not! It’s easy to slip into believing that we’re the only one who knows how to do certain things, thinking that everything will fall apart without us. I have found, time and again, that to stand with divine Love “in peace and certainty of purpose” will allow perfect results to transpire! So take a deep breath and trust the Universe!

‘“Rest in peace’ is a blessing for the living, not the dead, because rest comes from waking, not from sleeping. Sleep is withdrawing; waking is joining. Dreams are illusions of joining, because they reflect the ego’s distorted notions about what joining is. Yet the Holy Spirit, too, has use for sleep, and can use dreams on behalf of waking if you will let Him.”
A Course in Miracles T-8.IX.3:5-8

“When we reach our limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far; but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 387:5-12

Thought Objectified

Photo credit: Mark McGee

Sometimes events seem too much to bear. A friend’s son was violently killed during a vacation to a warm, beautiful part of our world. In reaching out to her, I’ve learned that the embassy is doing an efficient and caring job taking care of what must be done. I’m having a tough time separating myself from her grief, from imagining it as my own. Which brings a question to my mind: if we are One, why don’t all of our thoughts simply bounce around and become stuck to others. I am learning it is because the only reality is that which is from God, good. Anything else is erroneous thinking and illusion masquerading as truth. When I first heard these concepts, my learned beliefs rebelled against their veracity. It sounded heartless. But I know it is the ultimate expression of Love to embrace our world in spiritual reality. What else truly changes a situation other than seeing it differently? Every time my friends’ grief comes to mind, I shall embrace them in divine Love — even as my tears of sympathy fall. These things are not mutually exclusive.

“The artist is not in his painting. The picture is the artist’s thought objectified. The human belief fancies that it delineates thought on matter, but what is matter? Did it exist prior to thought? Matter is made up of supposititious mortal mind-force; but all might is divine Mind. Thought will finally be understood and seen in all form, substance, and color, but without material accompaniments. The potter is not in the clay; else the clay would have power over the potter. God is His own infinite Mind, and expresses all.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 310:1-10

“Death is the central dream from which all illusions stem. Is it not madness to think of life as being born, aging, losing vitality, and dying in the end? We have asked this question before, but now we need to consider it more carefully. It is the one fixed, unchangeable belief of the world that all things in it are born only to die. This is regarded as ‘the way of nature,’ not to be raised to question, but to be accepted as the ‘natural’ law of life. The cyclical, the changing and unsure; the undependable and the unsteady, waxing and waning in a certain way upon a certain path,—all this is taken as the Will of God. And no one asks if a benign Creator could will this.

‘In this perception of the universe as God created it, it would be impossible to think of Him as loving. For who has decreed that all things pass away, ending in dust and disappointment and despair, can but be feared. He holds your little life in his hand but by a thread, ready to break it off without regret or care, perhaps today. Or if he waits, yet is the ending certain. Who loves such a god knows not of love, because he has denied that life is real. Death has become life’s symbol. His world is now a battleground, where contradiction reigns and opposites make endless war. Where there is death is peace impossible.”
A Course in Miracles M-27.1:1–2:8

The Affection and Purpose of the Heart

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

“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

Love‘s Day!

A Day at Meow Wolf - Denver, CO

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 prospects and fruition. Some moments 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 I will happily delight in its possibilities. Let me embrace every action with the same anticipation that I would expect from a day at a fabulous museum! 

“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. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.I.3:1-3

If You Can Keep Your Head …

I’ve always liked this poem by Rudyard Kipling.. As I read it today, it strikes me these are great characteristics for a 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 minute

With 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

“Today we practice true humility, abandoning the false pretense by which the ego seeks to prove it arrogant. Only the ego can be arrogant. But truth is humble in acknowledging its mightiness, its changelessness and its eternal wholeness, all-encompassing, God’s perfect gift to His beloved Son. We lay aside the arrogance which says that we are sinners, guilty and afraid, ashamed of what we are; and lift our hearts in true humility instead to Him Who has created us immaculate, like to Himself in power and in love.”

A Course in Miracles W-152.9:1-4

Discerning Truth

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

I heard 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. The teacher had something very profound to say about his reasons. 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 those who bring new ways of thinking to my attention!

“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

Coming Together In The Light

Photo Courtesy of Blake Lasater

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

Reborn With a New Perspective

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater 

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

The Breath of Freedom

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

Addicted to Strong Emotions

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

To Say Or Not To Say

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

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