Healing Laughter

June At a Eureka Drumming

Photo by Richard Quick

Laughing Yoga. I had never heard of this until today, when talking to a lifelong friend on the phone. While relating a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my driver’s license and get a replacement car title for my friend, we began to laugh so hard the therapeutic aspects were immediately noticeable. She told me her sister had given her a calendar (perhaps semi-facetiously) about laughing yoga. This inspired us to relate a couple of other ridiculous incidents and we laughed for the better part of 15 minutes. What a wonderful way to end a day! Try it, you’ll like it!

“The world will end in peace, because it is a place of war. When peace has come, what is the purpose of the world? The world will end in laughter, because it is a place of tears. Where there is laughter, who can longer weep? And only complete forgiveness brings all this to bless the world. In blessing it departs, for it will not end as it began.”
—A Course in Miracles M-14.5:2-8

“The good in human affections must have ascendency over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happiness will never be won. The attainment of this celestial condition would improve our progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambition.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 61:4-9

What My Illusions Hide

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

A good friend struggled with depression all her life. She felt her existence was a series of horrible events, occasionally interrupted by happy times, which inevitably ended in pain. In an attempt to escape the pain, she turned to alcohol, drugs, and God. But the judgmental God she saw made deals with her, and never deemed her worthy of favor. She often recounted events from the past, and they seemed to affect her every action. We can escape this trap by accepting that we are actually the holy reflection of divine Love, a/k/a God. Any feeling of hopelessness and sadness can disappear in an instant! By releasing our material history, we are free to learn the reality of our spiritual self, which is unending, uninterrupted good. It's a beautiful thing to witness someone realize the nothingness of their personal history and to see the wondrous peace which lies within. My dear friend never felt this light. I think of her often … 

"Immortal ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious results."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 259:26-31

“As I share the peace of the world with my brothers, I begin to understand that this peace comes from deep within myself. The world I look upon has taken on the light of my forgiveness, and shines forgiveness back at me. In this light I begin to see what my illusions about myself kept hidden. I begin to understand the holiness of all living things, including myself, and their oneness with me.”
—A Course in Miracles W-57.5:3-6

Believe It To See it

Rock Formation in Peru

Markawasi, Peru is high in the Andes Mountains in South America. At this site, there are hundreds of figures, faces, and various shapes which may be seen in the living stone. There is much speculation concerning the origin of these fabulous monuments, yet some people cannot see them. As shown by time-lapse photography, these illusive figures are more obvious at some times of the day than at others. I would suppose it also is predicated (as so many things are) on whether we want to see or not. While watching a documentary on this subject, I was repeatedly reminded of its metaphorical relationship with our spiritual study. The very first Wayne Dyer book I discovered jumped out at me because of its title: When You Believe It, You'll See It. This is the exact opposite of our material basis of truth: When I see it, I'll believe it. These stone faces are easily overlooked if you don't want to see. With these thoughts as my inspiration, I shall go through this day seeing my holiness enveloping everything. And while many things are beyond my ability to see, that's okay, because knowing they're there is enough for now.

"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 492:7-11

“From my holiness does the perception of the real world come. Having forgiven, I no longer see myself as guilty. I can accept the innocence that is the truth about me. Seen through understanding eyes, the holiness of the world is all I see, for I can picture only the thoughts I hold about myself.”
—A Course in Miracles W-58.1:2-5

Inevitable Consequences of Separation

Art by Marianne Faguy

“Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world. It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real, and suffered out of its allegiance to them.” 

—A Course in Miracles W-41.3:1-2

“The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love.

It may look paradoxical to you, but it's not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of another person, without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other.

They allow the other absolute freedom, because they know that if the other leaves, they will be as happy as they are now.

Their happiness cannot be taken by the other,

because it is not given by the other.”

~ Osho

“Today's idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience. Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.” 

—A Course in Miracles - Workbook Lesson #41

“Wilderness: Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence.” 

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 597:16-19

Ten Qualities Which Can Change The Future

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

While Nate Hagens is primarily known for his studies about oil and other forms of energy, he has recently come up with a list of 10 qualities which can change the future. I found them all thought-provoking, but particularly loved this one. “Measure your worth in something other than money”. He say that more money tends to seek more money and it pulls everything into this monetary vortex, until nothing else is left on the scoreboard. From this acknowledgement, he asks us to measure our worth by things such as saving an animal’s life, mentoring a child, helping neighbors and friends. This may seem simplistic to those of us who have been doing this for years, but to someone who believes their worth is found in what they have and how much money they make, it is a revolutionary way of thinking.

“Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections, and should never weigh against the better claims of intellect, goodness, and virtue.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 57:15-18

“A miracle is a service. It is the maximal service you can render to another. It is a way of loving your neighbor as yourself. You recognize your own and your neighbor’s worth simultaneously.”
—A Course in Miracles T-1.I.18:1-4

I Am An Eternal Reflection Of Love

Photo credit: Steve Shogren

Why can’t we all just be happy? I’ve heard this question voiced numerous times, and I’ve probably asked it a time or two myself. People may tell you that poverty and abuse keep many people from being happy. On the flip side, what of people who have everything a person could want, but are terribly unhappy? When I was a teenager, a friend of the family had a series of unfortunate events occur in her life. In a three-year period, her husband passed on, their house burned down, and then her daughter was in a car accident which left her in a coma for over a year before she died. And she had also lost an infant daughter years before. This woman lived well into her 80s, always happily helping others, and I was told she died with a smile on her face. At the time, I wondered how she did it. I see now that she knew the open secret of Life. With each loved one who passes on, with each beloved animal I’ve known and loved through the years, something is growing more certain within me: they haven’t gone anywhere. Never born, never dying. If there was a beginning, then there must be an end. Seeing myself as a blessed eternal creation of Love brings me joy!

“Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing you see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will you value like unto this, nor hold so dear. Nothing that you remember that made your heart sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you. For you will see the Son of God. You will behold the beauty the Holy Spirit loves to look upon, and which He thanks the Father for. He was created to see this for you, until you learned to see it for yourself. And all His teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with Him.”
—A Course in Miracles T-17.II.1:1-9

“As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 516:2-8

Inward Listening

Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

It appears that many people want others to tell them what to do. We seem to flock to those who are willing (even eager) to guide us through the maze of life. Perhaps the reason is, if we’re doing what someone else tells us, then we can blame them if it doesn’t work out! I’m only partly joking about that. Sometimes we fear making decisions for ourselves because we don’t think we are informed enough to do so. At that point, we either throw up our hands and don’t do anything, or ask someone else what they’re going to do, so we can do the same. Perhaps we don’t trust our own inner guidance, because we have so often mistaken our busy little mind for the calm voice of divine Mind. We are told in Workbook Lesson #49 of A Course in Miracles: “God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.” Let’s not expect a big, booming human voice to come down from above, but a still, small certainty in the deepness of ourselves, leading us to the expression of Life, Truth, and Love!

“It is quite possible to listen to God’s Voice all through the day without interrupting your regular activities in any way. The part of your mind in which truth abides is in constant communication with God, whether you are aware of it or not. It is the other part of your mind that functions in the world and obeys the world’s laws. It is this part that is constantly distracted, disorganized and highly uncertain.”
—A Course in Miracles W-49.1:1-4

"Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout creation, and the immortality of man and the universe."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 507:24-28

Reinterpreting Material Vision

Not a real photo

“Gut feelings" are often discounted as being invalid, for numerous reasons. Some say they are simply paranoid thoughts, others may think of them as wishful thinking, but few think of them as divine vision. In this familiar world of ours, we must reinterpret everything we see. Looking at our surroundings with human eyes, hearing with mortal ears, brings to us a false projection of reality. Discord and inharmony are but misinterpretations we are perceiving. Through right identification and reinterpretation, we see with a pure vision. As an example, when we see train tracks coming together in the distance, we immediately reinterpret that into the truth of the situation. We know that those tracks aren't coming together, and that it will not be dangerous to travel on the train which carries us toward that end. We have been taught to translate many similar situations, and we do not fear them. The metaphysical studies we've embarked upon are doing the same thing: teaching us to recognize misidentification and translate it into Truth. Translating our erroneous thoughts is a present possibility!

“As you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourself and others, you must join the great crusade to correct it; listen to my voice, learn to undo error and act to correct it. The power to work miracles belongs to you. I will provide the opportunities to do them, but you must be ready and willing.”
—A Course in Miracles T-1.III.1:6-8

“The material senses and human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic God, instead of infinite Principle, — in other words, divine Love, — is the father of the rain, ‘who hath begotten the drops of dew,’ who bringeth ‘forth Mazzaroth in his season,’ and guideth ‘Arcturus with his sons.’”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 257: 15-21

We Are More

Art by Jane Newland

 “Don't abandon yourself. Not when you're sick. Not when you're tired. Not when you've lost the thread, the thought, or the thing you thought defined you. 

You will die many times in one life and create yourself anew. This is natural. This is a gift. I've died a few times now here in this world. The person I was: gone. 

Throw that older skin into the water. Give it to the sky. Step into what wants to emerge now. Nothing can hold you back when you are willing to be yourself.”

Jeannette Enchinias

"[We are] more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God."

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 258:9-12

“Perception is not an attribute of God. His is the realm of knowledge. Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge. Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind. With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge. That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it. Therefore, that is its function in truth.”

—A Course in Miracles W-43.1:1-7

The Appropriate Non-Response

Once at a party, someone leaned in close to me and said something derogatory about another person. Remembering Olympia Dukakis in Steel Magnolias when she said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say about anybody, come and sit by me”, I wanted to say just the opposite and ask this person to go away! But I also wanted to see her comments through the light of Love and interpret them purely, rather than through my personal judgment of the words. So I just smiled at her. Wondering how to respond to her, I reached out to Holy Spirit, but nothing came to thought. Rather than nervously babbling something meaningless, or condemning her as I am wont to do, I remained silent. This experience helped me understand that a response is not always necessary. Seeing them in the light of Love seemed more appropriate than condemning them. And it felt good, too. 

“The manifestation of God through mortals is as light passing through the windowpane. The light and the glass never mingle, but as matter, the glass is less opaque than the walls. The mortal mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that one which has lost much materiality — much error — in order to become a better transparency for Truth. Then, like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides the sun.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 295:16-24

“In order to see, you must recognize that light is within, not without. You do not see outside yourself, nor is the equipment for seeing outside you. An essential part of this equipment is the light that makes seeing possible. It is with you always, making vision possible in every circumstance.”
—A Course in Miracles W-44.2:

A Revolution of Truth

In a world where we are being fed lies, it’s extremely difficult to figure out what is truth. Media spreads deception and distrust, dividing people in ways which seem irreparable. Bias doesn’t frighten me, but intentional lies do. Many of us remember the early days of television, bringing with it a new type of advertising, and consumerism became flagrant. It has reached an apex now, in which nearly everything we hear and see is designed to sell us something. We must continue to be vigilant in what we allow into our thoughts, not only for our own good, but for the collective. Repeating stories which create divisions through feelings of superiority or inferiority, that’s playing the game which has been created for us. It’s important to use our education, our intuition, our spiritual knowledge, every bit of common sense we still have, to discern truth. A Christian Science treatment is often referred to as “knowing the Truth”. It is in reference to knowing the Truth of our being, not the beliefs we’ve come to think of as facts. We need not be the victim of propaganda or other forms of hypnosis. “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach me”. This statement from Mary Baker Eddy is all we need to keep in mind. When we are filled with Love, there is no room for anything else.

"The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. ... It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 128

“In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved. In conflict there can be no answer and no resolution, for its purpose is to make no resolution possible, and to ensure no answer will be plain. A problem set in conflict has no answer, for it is seen in different ways. And what would be an answer from one point of view is not an answer in another light. You are in conflict. Thus it must be clear you cannot answer anything at all, for conflict has no limited effects. Yet if God gave an answer there must be a way in which your problems are resolved, for what He wills already has been done.”
—A Course in Miracles T-27.IV.1:1-7

Swaddled By Love

It seems as though things that we fear all have to do with lack and separation. Fear stems from the idea that we can be separated from joy and love, from peace and security. I remember when my son left home for a boarding school at the tender age of fourteen. I was so sad, it felt as though I'd never laugh again. I literally couldn't imagine happiness, as everything reminded me he was gone. After a week or so of living in this maudlin state, the realization came that I was thinking of him as though he was dead. This led me to examine that avenue. What if he was dead? Wouldn't the love we felt still be alive? Of course, I would miss being around him, enjoying his company -- just as I was missing him then, with 300 miles of physical separation. A Rumi quote helped break this illusion: "Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. For those who love with heart and soul there is no separation." What is it which allows us to be together no matter where we seem to be? Love. The Love which is our essence is a connection that cannot be broken by any set of material circumstance. Feeling the security of divine Love is similar to a baby swaddled in a blanket. Divine Love swaddles us in Its ever-present protection.

“Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
—A Course in Miracles T-in.2:2-4

"The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.' Here is a definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 410:17-21

Reversing Our Feeble Flutterings

Upon awakening, I had about 20 inane and/or insane thoughts before realizing what I was doing. "What day is this and where am I supposed to be?", was quickly followed by a chain of remembrances which took me from a lovely cooking store to my childhood home, then zoomed over to a friend's house and a remembered conversation, before zipping back to a neglected household chore. This illustrates why it is so important to guide first-thoughts of the day to paths centered in Spirit. Without this discipline, I could spend all my time with meaningless thoughts, which create turmoil rather than peace within. I have discovered that guiding first thoughts to spiritual truth helps to keep my mind in tune for the rest of the day. Often we feel bombarded by feelings of fear and hostility, lack and disease, error and disharmony. What if our thoughts of peace and harmony could quiet the turmoil of the world? Then we would happily expend the effort to pull our thoughts away from inanity, holding steadfastly to the ideas of divine Mind!  Everything we think or speak or do is shared. How important then to see the reality of it all, rather than the beliefs we are taught by the repetition of them. Join me in taking a stand for Truth, and experience the transformational power!

“I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. This is not vision. It is merely an illusion of reality, because my judgments have been made quite apart from reality. I am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because I want to see. My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to them.”
—A Course in Miracles W-51.2:2-6

“We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God’s creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings — our efforts to find life and truth in matter — and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 262:9-16

To See, Or Not To See

We who are practicing metaphysicians often hear words such as: "Get real! Face facts! Pull your head out of the sand!" I usually just smile and say, "You may be right", and politely wander away. Trying to explain my actions to the spiritually-deaf ear would be akin to explaining purple to a blind child. But if I were asked to do that, it would have to be done through feeling the color and allowing that sight to pass to the sightless. And so rather than explaining -- or worse, arguing! -- I will feel the spiritual reality of Love, while allowing the material argument to pass through and be gone. I have not always been so easy to get along with! Recently, I've had a chance to spend time with an old friend who will be moving far, far away. A number of years ago, she and I had an altercation which was deeply interconnected to many aspects of our friendship. If either she or I had held onto the past, we wouldn't share the palpable Oneness we feel today. As A Course in Miracles tells us: it's not a choice of seeing past or present, but a choice to see or not to see. Where I've chosen to shade my thoughts with unreality, I will choose again, flowing in Oneness with All That Is.

“If I see nothing as it is now, it can truly be said that I see nothing. I can see only what is now. The choice is not whether to see the past or the present; the choice is merely whether to see or not. What I have chosen to see has cost me vision. Now I would choose again, that I may see.”
—A Course in Miracles W-52.4:2-6

"Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem of Truth's garment."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 270:22-27≤≤

Shielded From Illusions

The selling of disease is big business in the United States. While it has been for as long as I remember, it’s much more aggressive than before the onslaught of technology. Nowadays, pharmaceutical companies have permeated the airways with advertisements for medications to treat diseases which we may never have heard of. As a child, all they sold us was the common cold and perhaps headaches – maybe pop-pop-fizz-fizz for the relief of an upset stomach — but nowadays, it’s much more serious. We must “Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results...” It doesn’t take much for the power of suggestion to become our reality. Almost everyone I know is ill with something. Even if they had never heard of it before, the power of the collective is visible all around us. Join me in being diligent in shielding ourselves daily from the illusions of the world. And the way to do that is to wrap ourselves in Love. Let’s wrap ourselves from the inside out, so thoroughly there is no room for fear to enter. 

“We weep because others weep, we yawn because they yawn, and we have smallpox because others have it; but mortal mind, not matter, contains and carries the infection. When this mental contagion is understood, we shall be more careful of our mental conditions, and we shall avoid loquacious tattling about disease, as we would avoid advocating crime. Neither sympathy nor society should ever tempt us to cherish error in any form, and certainly we should not be error’s advocate.”
—Mary BakerEddy -Science & Health Page 153:25-2

“Miracles enable you to heal the sick and raise the dead because you made sickness and death yourself, and can therefore abolish both. You are a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of your Creator. Everything else is your own nightmare, and does not exist. Only the creations of light are real.”
—A Course in Miracles T-1.I.24:1-4

Glimpsing the World of Love

Photo Courtesy of Blake Lasater

The Age of Aquarius. Harmonic Convergence. The Shift. Ascension. Activating DNA Strands. What do these things have in common? They are events which herald a change in thought which has been happening for as long as I can remember. We have been seeking and hoping that a way will open for us to understand, to experience, the meaning of Life, and to demonstrate this reality. A Course in Miracles helps us see that the world we experience is meaningless. You may wonder why anyone would want to see a meaningless world. I'm not sure we would, but that's certainly what we're doing. As we begin to glimpse the difference in spiritual realities and material illusions, we see that the world we hold in place through belief and misperception is meaningless. In order to see spiritual reality, we must give up the beliefs and illusions we have created. A single glimpse of this world of Love is enough to make me want to throw open the door to more!

“Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that pictures them can have no meaning. What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it produces. Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing.”
—A Course in Miracles W-53.1:2-5

"Spiritual attainments open the door to a higher understanding of the divine Life." 

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 10:15-16

Lifting Consciousness Into Truth

Our hearts cry for children, animals, adults, trees, insects — all of life is in need of our higher thoughts and positive actions. When we see a heartbreaking situation and translate it into Love, we are helping. Everything we say or do is either a reflection of Love or of fear, and fear seems to attach itself to us with every new travesty we witness. Fearful responses get us nowhere and only cause the situation to be more solidified in our thoughts. We are flexible and easily-influenced, but we are also smart and intuitive. The choices we have may seem overwhelming sometimes, but when we realize there is only one real choice, Love, it becomes easier to see truth. We all want to be loved, to be safe, to be comfortable, to be at peace. It may seem as though hatred spreads like wildfire, but Love puts out the flames of hatred as surely as light brightens a dark room. It may hurt our eyes at first, but those reflective organs are made to adjust. I hope you can do something joyous today. Love as strongly as some are fearing, because it's an incredibly strong and unstoppable force, one which we hold right here in our hearts.

“Neutral thoughts are impossible because all thoughts have power. They will either make a false world or lead me to the real one. But thoughts cannot be without effects. As the world I see arises from my thinking errors, so will the real world rise before my eyes as I let my errors be corrected. My thoughts cannot be neither true nor false. They must be one or the other. What I see shows me which they are.”
—A Course in Miracles W-54.1:2-8

“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 95:28-3

The Body Cannot Contain You Who Are Life

Photo courtesy of Chris Flanagin

During a nap this afternoon, I had the most wonderful dream! A lifelong friend and I were taking a writing workshop with the prolific writer, Stephen King. It felt really good, and I didn’t want to wake up. But my phone was notifying me of something happening in the material world, plus it was time to do other things. The text message informed of the untimely passing of a friend’s son. After speaking with a couple of people and shedding a few tears, I found myself imagining what his loved ones were feeling, how they were reacting, how they would go forward with their lives. Suddenly, Wayne Dyer’s words came to me. To paraphrase them, he tells 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. Once this realization comes, the next step is asking myself what can I do to help the situation. And so the last hour has been spent reading quotes about Life from my go-to books. Here are a couple of quotes, which have brought about the positive “vibes” I’m sending to anyone who is grieving. Namaste …

“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

“In proportion as the belief disappears that life and intelligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of being are seen, and their only idea or intelligence is in God. Spirit is reached only through the understanding and demonstration of eternal Life and Truth and Love.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 279:16-21

The Vanishing Dream

River Otters Relaxing

Photo from Don Matt

Wouldn't it be great to live in a world where losing is impossible, where love lasts forever, where hate does not exist, and vengeance has no meaning? It would be grand if we never had misunderstandings, because communications were clear and precise, without the burden of forming words to tell others what we mean. There would be no hard feelings between people, as we wouldn't blame others for thinking differently than we do, because we know that at our core all of us are One. The world we have created is wonderful in many ways, but there are also horrors beyond words, and that causes people to lose faith in this thing we call God. We have created an un-God-like world and blame an unknown deity for what we think we cannot change. What if we're wrong and what we see is not true creation? Imagine that!!

“That which material sense calls intangible, is found to be substance. What to material sense seems substance, becomes nothingness, as the sense-dream vanishes and reality appears."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 312:3-6

“What I see is a form of vengeance. The world I see is hardly the representation of loving thoughts. It is a picture of attack on everything by everything. It is anything but a reflection of the Love of God and the Love of His Son. It is my own attack thoughts that give rise to this picture. My loving thoughts will save me from this perception of the world, and give me the peace God intended me to have.”
—A Course in Miracles W-55.2:1-6

Why Read The Odyssey?

What is the purpose of studying the humanities? If you’re going to college, you want to be able to get a job when you get out — don’t you? In an era when plumbers make more cash than music teachers, is there a reason for reading The Odyssey and exploring the maze of great writing? Daniel Mendelsohn explains it this way: “When your father dies, your accounting degree is not going to help you at all. But having read great authors IS going to help you.” Perhaps this is the reason so many people are having a difficult time coping with the everyday events of life. What if not reading books has more of an impact on society than we’ve realized? The arts open up avenues in our brain which allow us to develop critical thinking and empathy, things which many folks seem to be missing. As Anika Prather puts it: “We’re always on this journey of self-discovery and eventually coming back to the roots of ourselves.” Those roots need to be grounded in something solid: nature, humanity, Love. And our journeys change us, readying us to do more, to do better, to love more purely. Happy reading, dear Friends!

“A miracle is a correction introduced into false thinking by me. It acts as a catalyst, breaking up erroneous perception and reorganizing it properly. This places you under the Atonement principle, where perception is healed. Until this has occurred, knowledge of the Divine Order is impossible.”
—A Course in Miracles T-1.I.37:1-4

“The history of our country, like all history, illustrates the might of Mind, and shows human power to be proportionate to its embodiment of right thinking.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 225:14-1