Do It Now

Baking Bread, 1889 - by Andre Zorn

“I've seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write... and you know it's a funny thing about housecleaning... it never comes to an end. Perfect way to stop a woman. A woman must be careful to not allow over-responsibility (or over-respectabilty) to steal her necessary creative rests, riffs, and raptures. She simply must put her foot down and say no to half of what she believes she D‘should’ be doing. Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.” 

—Clarissa Pinkola Estes

After reading the above quote this morning, I visited with a woman I’ve known for decades, but had not seen for quite some time. As she admired the art on my walls, she mentioned how she regretted not taking the time to paint. She told me of her childhood talent and dreams, and how the busy-ness of life had gotten in the way of what she loved. Do it now, Friends. It’s not too late …

“The miracle is much like the body in that both are learning aids for facilitating a state in which they become unnecessary. When spirit’s original state of direct communication is reached, neither the body nor the miracle serves any purpose. While you believe you are in a body, however, you can choose between loveless and miraculous channels of expression. You can make an empty shell, but you cannot express nothing at all. You can wait, delay, paralyze yourself, or reduce your creativity almost to nothing. But you cannot abolish it. You can destroy your medium of communication, but not your potential. You did not create yourself.”
—A Course in Miracles T-1.V.1:1-8

“Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind conceiving them; but the intelligence, existence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God, who is the divinely creative Principle thereof.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 513:1-21

Falling In Love With The Earth

Photo credit: Don Matt

While watching Blue Jays at my window suet feeder, a memory floated in from childhood. My parents and some of their friends and I were out in the woods when I noticed the most beautiful birds in the trees. Excitedly, I asked what kind they were. The friend of my folks’ said, “Oh, those are just damned old Blue Jays. We use them for target practice.” I was confused and a little bit scared, not understanding why anyone would have such a low opinion of something so beautiful. I can’t remember if I ever asked my kind-hearted mother about this, but I know the man’s words stayed with me these past decades. Today I have pondered why some birds are more valuable to humans than others, why some people are to be honored and respected more than others, and what we can do to allow our neighbors to join us in loving harmony with All that Is. I’ve been watching videos from a series entitled “Growing a Greener World”. It showcases different people who are growing food. Some have raised beds in small back yards, and others are forming community farms in New York City. All of these episodes on youTube share a commonality: love of the Earth and everything on it. Let’s fall in love with the earth, then it will be easy to treat it kindly and nurture it back to health.

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

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 240:1-9

“Forgiveness turns the world of sin into a world of glory, wonderful to see. Each flower shines in light, and every bird sings of the joy of Heaven. There is no sadness and there is no parting here, for everything is totally forgiven. And what has been forgiven must join, for nothing stands between to keep them separate and apart. The sinless must perceive that they are one, for nothing stands between to push the other off. And in the space that sin left vacant do they join as one, in gladness recognizing what is part of them has not been kept apart and separate.”
—A Course in Miracles T-26.IV.2:1-6

Be a Living Ray of Love

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

Cynicism hides the light of the world very effectively. As a small child, I freely expressed joy in everything and to everyone, but slowly and thoroughly this joy was quieted by rules and other forces of conformity. By the time I was a teenager, cynicism had taken over my every action. This is a definition of cynicism: "An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others." During the 60s and 70s, although it was heralded as the Age of Aquarius, the free love that permeated our atmosphere was actually a charade of the Love I had felt as a small child. We made fun of those who weren't like us, and by doing so became unsure of what we were. There was an attitude of disdain which came with our superiority. We knew our government was wrong, as were our parents, most teachers, and the majority of our peers. It's no wonder that a major magazine's cover declared that God was dead, because materialism and cynicism had killed any expression of real Love. I was convinced that to have children would be a travesty, as this world was no place for humans to be. Nearly half a century past those turbulent times, I see wonderful changes in all of us. Everyone I know realizes that Love is a force within us which can't be quieted; that fear can never be as powerful as Love; that there is no reason to pretend only the foolish think this way. More people every day are waking up to the Truth of their being, living the salvation of realization, and not allowing anything to hide this light. Any day now everyone will awaken to their function as a living ray of this Love, and we won't be afraid of it. It is our heritage! We have denied it as long as we can. Truth is alive within us and it only takes recognition to bring it to fruition. Let's live our salvation today!

“We are sometimes led to believe that darkness is as real as light; but Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal sense of the absence of light, at the coming of which darkness loses the appearance of reality. So sin and sorrow, disease and death, are the suppositional absence of Life, God, and flee as phantoms of error before truth and love.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 215:15-21

“When you wander, you but undertake a journey that is not real. The dark companions, the dark way, are all illusions. Turn toward the light, for the little spark in you is part of a light so great that it can sweep you out of all darkness forever. For your Father is your Creator, and you are like Him.”
—A Course in Miracles T-11.III.5:4-7

The Way We Look at Things

Photo by Blake Lasater

Wayne Dyer told us that we can't feel bad enough to make anyone feel better; we can't be confused enough to un-confuse one person; we can't get sad enough to bring joy to a single being on this planet. These statements were made in a talk having to do with wanting to feel good, and they can be found in his book The Secrets of the Power of Intention. Our intentions multiply, so when we hear about an injustice and become depressed, or overwhelmed by the situation, we are doing nothing to assist those in need, But we are doing something to bring sadness into our own lives. I know one dear woman who cares so much for the earth and its inhabitants that she cries every day, more than once, when hearing  tragic stories about events. This is what Wayne Dyer means when he says, "You can't feel bad enough to make anyone's life better." Lowering our own vibrational energy lowers everyone's, and raising our level of joy affects the world in kind. There are many things we can do physically to help those in need, and we will find our individual path to do so. But as many well-known seers have said in different ways: When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.

“You are indeed essential to God’s plan. Just as your light increases every light that shines in Heaven, so your joy on earth calls to all minds to let their sorrows go, and take their place beside you in God’s plan. God’s messengers are joyous, and their joy heals sorrow and despair. They are the proof that God wills perfect happiness for all who will accept their Father’s gifts as theirs.”
—A Course in Miracles W-100.4:1-4

“The true idea of man, as the reflection of the invisible God, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses as is man’s infinite Principle. The visible universe and material man are the poor counterfeits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal things (verities) are God’s thoughts as they exist in the spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the opposite of the real or the spiritual and eternal.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 337:20-28

Yes!

You remember the old saying, you don’t miss your water till your well runs dry? Well, we have been without electricity for six hours now, and the electric company predicts some may be out all day tomorrow. I have a heated poncho that my son gave me for Christmas, which is adding to my cozy comfort. That, along with hand warmers tucked in here and there, is keeping me quite toasty. I’m most grateful for a service our electric company provided last year, in which extra insulation was added to my house. I’m grateful to have cozy cats to sit with me. I’m grateful my son took off work to be here during this exceptionally cold weather. I’m grateful we purchased a mini generator, which enables us to charge our phones and do other minor electrical things. I’m grateful for the incredible moonlight we had tonight, which made it almost as bright as daylight! Life is good , even when it’s  not going as easily as we like. Oh yes, and I’m grateful for our library which has downloadable audiobooks for us! I had quite a variety on my phone. And when that electricity does come back on, I will be grateful to be able to send this message to you.

Trust Issues

Trust issues. These words used to be heard only in reference to a romantic break-up, but now it seems to be a national topic. People we have learned to trust suddenly feel frightening — i.e., policemen, politicians, preachers. Sometimes we have a tough time trusting our friends and loved ones. I know people who speak in derogatory terms about their children and their spouses. What is this thing we call trust? Does it truly originate in someone else, or does it come from within ourselves? Perhaps we don’t trust others because we don’t trust ourselves, or do we not trust ourselves because we don’t trust others? It all seems terribly complicated, so I’m questioning my beliefs and understanding surrounding trust: what it means, where it starts, where it ends. Perhaps it’s like love, and there is no beginning nor end, although there often appears to be a finite amount to be allocated. I suppose I’m looking at this from a material view and I should practice what I preach, looking beyond human feelings and fears into the infinite realm of Love. Be gentle with yourselves when you become caught up in the drama of daily life. Turning to "higher ideals of life and its joys" (as quoted below) is where I want to live today.

“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 299:7-12

“There is a distance you would keep apart from your brother, and this space you perceive as time because you still believe you are external to him. This makes trust impossible. And you cannot believe that trust would settle every problem now. Thus do you think it safer to remain a little careful and a little watchful of interests perceived as separate. From this perception you cannot conceive of gaining what forgiveness offers now. The interval you think lies in between the giving and receiving of the gift seems to be one in which you sacrifice and suffer loss. You see eventual salvation, not immediate results.”
—A Course in Miracles T-26.VIII.2:1-7

One Decision at a Time

Art: Ruth Evans Art

From Mary Reynolds’ “We Are the ARK”

“It’s time to go to work to save the sovereignty of our land, our water, our air, and all the creatures we share this planet with. The earth has become a barren green, brown, and scorched desert, but we can be the ones to create the island oases in this desert. These oases will be the seeding grounds for our new story. They will be sanctuaries for as many creatures as we can fit into them, safe havens for the magic and abundance in the natural world. They will become the ark for the flood of extinction that is already upon us. 

We are the last frontier and the last generation with enough time left to save this planet, by the skin of our teeth.

One person can effect such big change in this world, 

simply by inspiring change all around them.

One person, one patch of land, one decision at a time.

~ Mary Reynolds from “We Are the ARK - Returning Our Gardens to Their True Nature Through Acts of Restorative Kindness”

“The Garden of Eden, or the pre-separation condition, was a state of mind in which nothing was needed. When Adam listened to the ‘lies of the serpent,’ all he heard was untruth. You do not have to continue to believe what is not true unless you choose to do so. All that can literally disappear in the twinkling of an eye because it is merely a misperception. What is seen in dreams seems to be very real. Yet the Bible says that a deep sleep fell upon Adam, and nowhere is their reference to his waking up. The world has not yet experienced any comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. Such a rebirth is impossible as long as you continue to project or miscreate. It still remains within you, however, to extend as God extended His Spirit to you. In reality this is your only choice, because your free will was given you for your joy in creating the perfect.” 

A Course in Miracles T-2.I.3:1-10

“Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 96:21-24

Rewriting Childhood

I read a review for a book, The Anxious Generation. It seems that around 2010 the mental health of adolescents plunged. The rates of suicide, depression, anxiety, and self-harm more than doubled in some instances. Social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, has written this book which not only examines causes, but gives more than a dozen mechanisms to facilitate the “great rewriting of childhood”. This plague has hit many countries, not only ours. It started when we forsook a play-based childhood for a screen-based one. Most people my age had a childhood based on playing outdoors, enjoying nature, or even working on the farm. When my adult friends are subject to depression, I suggest gardening, walking, helping others. I’m interested in reading this book and seeing what his four rules are for “setting us free” from the “collective action problems” that trap us. This is a time for recognizing what we’ve done wrong and setting it right. I’m in!

“We have repeated how little is asked of you to learn this course. It is the same small willingness you need to have your whole relationship transformed to joy; the little gift you offer to the Holy Spirit for which He gives you everything; the very little on which salvation rests; the tiny change of mind by which the crucifixion is changed to resurrection. And being true, it is so simple that it cannot fail to be completely understood. Rejected yes, but not ambiguous. And if you choose against it now it will not be because it is obscure, but rather that this little cost seemed, in your judgment, to be too much to pay for peace.”
—A Course in Miracles T-21.II.1:1-5

“Mankind must learn that evil is not power. Its so-called despotism is but a phase of nothingness. Christian Science despoils the kingdom of evil, and pre-eminently promotes affection and virtue in families and therefore in the community.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 102-30-1

Re-establishing Right-Mindedness

During the years I worked with the public, I learned to say "you may be right about that" when someone said something with which I disagreed. It's a good way to say absolutely nothing, yet somehow not agree. But now there are too many injustices being perpetuated all around us to be silent. When I hear someone say that healthcare is not a right, it's a privilege, I must say that it is a privilege for the privileged at this point in time, and that is not right. When someone tells me they've worked hard for what they have and if someone can't take care of themselves then they haven't worked hard enough, I wonder what sect they come from, because the man for whom Christianity was named did not teach this. When someone tells me a woman's body is everybody's business and we should dictate its purpose, I can't even fathom where that idea originated. People who think oil is more important than the natural state of things, when they find fault with the power of the sun and wind and water, I wonder what corporation they are bowing down to. When I am told we can't feed the world by organic means and we must use pesticides and genetically modify our foods, I know the brainwashing which got them to this way of thinking -- because I've seen it develop in my lifetime. I could go on and on, as I'm sure you could, too. But the bottom line is I will no longer be saying, "you may be right about that", when I know darn well they are not. 

"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

“I have already said that miracles are expressions of miracle-mindedness, and miracle-mindedness means right-mindedness. The right-minded neither exalt nor depreciate the mind of the miracle worker or the miracle receiver. However, as a correction, the miracle need not await the right-mindedness of the receiver. In fact, its purpose is to restore him to his right mind. It is essential, however, that the miracle worker be in his right mind, however briefly, or he will be unable to re-establish right-mindedness in someone else.” 
—A Course in Miracles T-2.V.3:1-5

Take a Break, Then Continue

Take heart. When I read those words in the statement from Mary Baker Eddy quoted below, I did just that. Take Heart. Take Heart! Sometimes it seems the world is trying to wear us down, making us pull the covers over our heads and declare that we've had enough; we surrender. When I feel that way, I know it's time to take a break. Getting into fresh air, communing with animals and trees, is probably the best break possible for me. Any connection with anything not electronic seems to do the trick, don't you think? Although listening to joyous music, preferable something which brings up memories of dancing and laughing, is also a good cleansing for me. Whatever it is you do -- yoga, exercise, gardening, dog walking -- be sure you do it. I can't remember who said, Don't let the bastards get you down! But it was good advice. We can't always be strong, and that's okay. Take a break, but then come back and continue the good fight, spreading truth and love everywhere you go and in everything you do! Never surrender!! 

“Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way. There will be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When you read this, remember Jesus' words, 'The kingdom of God is within you.' This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.” 

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 573:29-2

“Stand still an instant, now, and think what you have done. Do not forget that it is you who did it, and who can therefore let it go. Hold out your hand. This enemy has come to bless you. Take his blessing, and feel how your heart is lifted and your fear released. Do not hold on to it, nor onto him. He is a Son of God, along with you. He is no jailer, but a messenger of Christ. Be this to him, that you may see him thus.” 
—A Course in Miracles S-1.III.5:1-9

The Light of Holiness

Art by Adrian Borda

“Therefore, dark past,

I'm about to do it.

I'm about to forgive you

for everything.”

~ Mary Oliver

I’ve been having recurring dreams about a man I loved. He was the smartest, funniest, most messed-up man I’ve ever known. We met late in life and I felt he was the “love of my life”. Neither one of us was particularly easy to get along with — for various reasons. The four years we knew each other were an extremely turbulent time for us personally, and the world in general. He died five years ago and recently I’ve been dreaming of him almost every night. This has caused me to examine my feelings about him and the time we shared. While I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, there is much forgiveness needed in my thoughts and memories. I am always happy to review the ACIM workbook topic which reminds me to “behold my brother in the light of holiness”. As I examine the grudges I’m holding and the guilt I’m feeling, I pray to release them from my being and know that “I am saved because the past is gone”.

“Let me forget my brother’s past today is the thought that leads the way to You, and brings me to my goal. I cannot come to You without my brother. And to know my Source, I first must recognize what You created one with me. My brother’s is the hand that leads me on the way to You. His sins are in the past along with mine, and I am saved because the past is gone. Let me not cherish it within my heart, or I will lose the way to walk to You. My brother is my savior. Let me not attack the savior You have given me. But let me honor him who bears Your Name, and so remember that It is my own.

“Forgive me, then, today. And you will know you have forgiven me if you behold your brother in the light of holiness. He cannot be less holy than can I, and you cannot be holier than he.”

A Course in Miracles T-288.1:1–2:3

“Spiritually to understand that there is but one creator, God, unfolds all creation, confirms the Scriptures, brings the sweet assurance of no parting, no pain, and of man deathless and perfect and eternal.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 69:13-16

The Seeds of Peace

Mother Teresa was once asked to join a march against the war in Vietnam. She responded that she wouldn’t march against war, but she would march FOR peace. I was reminded of this today when my favorite historian, Heather Cox Richardson, mentioned the monks walking across the United States for peace. They are not protesting the policies of the regime which is working to take over our country, or trying to rid our land of the masked goons who are ruthlessly abusing people, but rather they are reminding us that we have the seeds of peace in us, and that we have the keys to the future. She advises us to look to them as an example of what we can do. Pick one thing and concentrate on that. For example, choose one cabinet member who is particularly offensive in your view — for example, the wrestling woman in charge of education or the alien in charge of health — and write letters or organize others to work to remove them from their unelected positions. Don’t forget those wonderful seeds of peace in us which we can spread. And knowing we have the keys to the future is incredibly empowering in these times of extreme change. 

“The unforgiving mind is full of fear, and offers love no room to be itself; no place where it can spread its wings in peace and soar above the turmoil of the world.”

A Course in Miracles W-121.2:1

“Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 45:16–21

“Why I Remain an Optimist” - MLK

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

This is an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr last essay:

“People are often surprised to learn that I am an optimist. They know how often I have been jailed, how frequently the days and nights have been filled with frustration and sorrow, how bitter and dangerous are my adversaries. They expect these experiences to harden me into a grim and desperate man.

They fail, however, to perceive the sense of affirmation generated by the challenge of embracing struggle and surmounting obstacles. They have no comprehension of the strength that comes from faith in God and man.

It is possible for me to falter, but I am profoundly secure in my knowledge that God loves us; he has not worked out a design for our failure. Man has the capacity to do right as well as wrong, and his history is a path upward, not downward.

The past is strewn with the ruins of the empires of tyranny, and each is a monument not merely to man’s blunders but to his capacity to overcome them. While it is a bitter fact that in America in 1968, I am denied equality solely because I am black, yet I am not a chattel slave. Millions of people have fought thousands of battles to enlarge my freedom; restricted as it still is, progress has been made.

This is why I remain an optimist, though I am also a realist, about the barriers before us. Why is the issue of equality still so far from solution in America, a nation that professes itself to be democratic, inventive, hospitable to new ideas, rich, productive and awesomely powerful?

The problem is so tenacious because, despite its virtues and attributes, America is deeply racist and its democracy is flawed both economically and socially. All too many Americans believe justice will unfold painlessly or that its absence for black people will be tolerated tranquilly. Justice for black people will not flow into society merely from court decisions nor from fountains of political oratory. Nor will a few token changes quell all the tempestuous yearnings of millions of disadvantaged black people.

White America must recognize that justice for black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society. The comfortable, the entrenched, the privileged cannot continue to tremble at the prospect of change in the status quo.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If your brothers are part of you, will you accept them? Only they can teach you what you are, for your learning is the result of what you taught them. What you call upon in them you call upon in yourself. And as you call upon it in them it becomes real to you. God has but one Son, knowing them all as one. Only God Himself is more than they but they are not less than He is. Would you know what this means? If what you do to my brother you do to me, and if you do everything for yourself because we are part of you, everything we do belongs to you as well. Everyone God created is part of you and shares His glory with you. His glory belongs to Him, but it is equally yours. You cannot, then, be less glorious than He is.”
—A Course in Miracles T-9.VI.3:1-11

“The voice of God in behalf of the African slave was still echoing in our land, when the voice of the herald of this new crusade sounded the keynote of universal freedom, asking a fuller acknowledgment of the rights of man as a Son of God, demanding that the fetters of sin, sickness, and death be stricken from the human mind and that its freedom be won, not through human warfare, not with bayonet and blood, but through Christ’s divine Science.”
— Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 226:5-1

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

Know Better, Do Better

I love watching gardening shows, and many favorite programs come from an Englishman named  Monty Don. Today I saw him taking young children to vegetable gardens and letting them experience how potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes are grown. They were fascinated and surprised to learn how food comes from the earth! As I witnessed the wonder on these children’s faces, it occurred to me that people are this way with any form of education. When we learn the truth of events which have been misrepresented to us, we may have many reactions. Perhaps truth first brings anger, because we are upset that we’ve believed lies. Hopefully, eventually we will be glad that we finally know the truth, and then we can move forward in life with a newfound peace. I see many folks refusing to admit that they have been fooled by our highest level of politicians. It’s difficult to accept that we have been duped by those we trusted. Let’s be kind to those who are beginning to see the light. We can help by extending love rather than many of the reactions which we are tempted to have. Remember, it’s easy to love those who love you first. It’s more of a challenge to see through the mirage of someone flinging insults at you. Don’t forget, when we change ourselves, we change the world. Namaste …

“What can be fearful but fantasy, and who turns to fantasy unless he despairs of finding satisfaction in reality? Yet it is certain that you will never find satisfaction in fantasy, so that your only hope is to change your mind about reality. Only if the decision that reality is fearful is wrong can God be right. And I assure you that God is right. Be glad, then, that you have been wrong, but this was only because you did not know who you were. Had you known, you could no more have been wrong than God can.” 

A Course in Miracles T-9.IV.10:1-6

“Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christendom with chains.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 97:28-6

The Heart of Life

“On Death - by Kahlil Gibran

You would know the secret of death.

But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.


In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.

Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?

Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?


For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?


Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”

“Question: What is Life?

Answer: Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit. Life is without beginning and without end. Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite; eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of matter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal. Matter is a human concept. Life is divine Mind. Life is not limited. Death and finiteness are unknown to Life. If Life ever had a beginning, it would also have an ending.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Pages 468:26-6

“When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you who are life.”

 —A Course in Miracles | T-6.V-A.1:1-4

Cascading Thoughts …

Art by Kaoru Yamada

In our little village, the death of a woman in childbirth has taken my thoughts down the perilous path of motherhood. The magnificent movement of growing a baby within her body, of birthing that baby into the world, of feeding that baby — these things are huge events which we taken as everyday occurrences rather than the miracle they are. Wait, what am I saying? Everything is a miracle when you pay attention! Although our Eureka Woman had loving care and support in every way, her passing has caused me to think of the pain women often endure due to lack of proper care during their pregnancies and births and the parenthood which follows. Many instances of impossible pregnancies come to mind, and then I think of the people who insist that these gestations come to full term and the consequences suffered by the women. My book club is currently reading The Frozen River. The story tells of an 18th-century midwife in the cold and cruel atmosphere of a Maine winter. Perhaps that is why I am feeling the distress of the thousands, perhaps millions, of women who are misunderstood and maltreated. This book has caused me to feel what a frightened, misinformed young woman might experience. It causes me to wonder how much disinformation many of our young people are being given today. I also wonder at the misplaced values being espoused when they talk of traditional” marriages and “moral” politicians. May we all mentor a child, befriend a young mother, help our neighbor in any way possible — and vote for freedom in all of the coming elections!

“Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. Peace is. This is the prerequisite for knowledge only because those who are in conflict are not peaceful, and peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom. Knowledge can be restored only when you meet its conditions. This is not a bargain made by God, Who makes no bargains. It is merely the result of your misuse of His laws on behalf of an imaginary will that is not His. Knowledge isHis Will. If you are opposing His Will, how can you have knowledge? I have told you what knowledge offers you, but perhaps you do not yet regard this as wholly desirable. If you did you would not be so ready to throw it away when the ego asks for your allegiance.”
—A Course in Miracles T-8.I.1:1-10

“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.

“The women at the cross could have answered Pilate’s question. They knew what had inspired their devotion, winged their faith, opened the eyes of their understanding, healed the sick, cast out evil, and caused the disciples to say to their Master: ‘Even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.’”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 48:25-6

Dispelling the Reign of Discord

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

I know a number of people who have moved out of our country, saying they could no longer be happy here under this frightening regime. One man’s wife died, to mortal sense, and he moved to South America in an effort to find peace. He is a fine writer and posts his ideas to social media on a regular basis. Today he told us how he doesn’t have the energy to interact with others in the way they expect. These are some of his words: “I’m carrying grief that doesn’t resolve into something useful. Grief for my wife, whose absence still rearranges the physics of every day. Grief for my country, watching itself fracture while mistaking noise for power. And grief for what I can see unfolding with awful clarity: Americans being maneuvered into fighting one another in a war that serves interests far outside their lives or country.” The grief we feel about the changes we see happening in our country is affecting our mental and physical well-being. We are learning that all healing begins in our mind. This is wonderful news, as we are being called upon to be healers in a way we have never considered before these past few years. But I know we’re ready for this, because we’ve been practicing all our lives. 

“This brother who stands beside you still seems to be a stranger. You do not know him, and your interpretation of him is very fearful. And you attack him still, to keep what seems to be yourself unharmed. Yet in his hands is your salvation. You see his madness, which you hate because you share it.  And all the pity and forgiveness that would heal it gives way to fear. Brother, you need forgiveness of your brother, for you will share in madness or in Heaven together. And you and he will raise your eyes in faith together, or not at all.”

A Course in Miracles T-19.IV-D.12:1-8

“As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflection of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting government of the universe. 

“The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, — assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and death; but the great facts of Life, rightly understood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, — the actual reign of harmony on earth.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 121:28-8

In Lieu of Flowers …

 

Art by Miho Hirano 

On this warm winter day, I’ve been thinking about good friends who have passed from this realm of life, which happens almost on a weekly basis nowadays. Two childhood friends’ birthdays were today, which caused me to ponder where they have gone. Is their energy floating around the universe? Does it come back to material life in some form? Are they in an alternate universe? Are they simply gone? I’ve never feared this thing we call death and think of it as a great adventure. The sentiments expressed in this little essay by Shawna Lemay say what I hope others will do for me — and I wanted to share it with you …

“In Lieu of Flowers - by Shawna Lemay

Although I love flowers very much, I won’t see them when I’m gone. So in lieu of flowers:  Buy a book of poetry written by someone still alive, sit outside with a cup of tea, a glass of wine, and read it out loud, by yourself or to someone, or silently.

Spend some time with a single flower. A rose maybe. Smell it, touch the petals. 

Really look at it. 

Drink a nice bottle of wine with someone you love.

Or, Champagne. And think of what John Maynard Keynes said, ‘My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.’ Or what Dom Perignon said when he first tasted the stuff: ‘Come quickly! I am tasting stars!’

Take out a paint set and lay down some colours.

Watch birds. Common sparrows are fine. Pigeons, too. Geese are nice. Robins.

In lieu of flowers, walk in the trees and watch the light fall into it. Eat an apple, a really nice big one. I hope it’s crisp. 

Have a long soak in the bathtub with candles, maybe some rose petals.

Sit on the front stoop and watch the clouds. Have a dish of strawberry ice cream in my name. 

If it’s winter, have a cup of hot chocolate outside for me. If it’s summer, a big glass of ice water. 

If it’s autumn, collect some leaves and press them in a book you love. I’d like that. 

Sit and look out a window and write down what you see. Write some other things down. 

In lieu of flowers, 

I would wish for you to flower. 

I would wish for you to blossom, to open, to be beautiful.”

~ Shawna Lemay