Friendship

Scout the Cat, Maggie the Dog, Friends

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Determine now to see all these people as friends. Say to them all, thinking of each one in turn as you do so: I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me and come to know myself.”
A Course in Miracles W-68.6:1-3

“Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank? Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love. When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 266:5-12

Forever Fiercely Good

At a time when egos are raging out of control, running over anyone or anything in their path, I ask for guidance and find it every day — when I am willing to accept it. But my ego also jumps up and down, telling me my judgment is righteous and I deserve — no, I am obligated to condemn and seek justice from every ugly-acting person I witness. How do I do anything else? It is difficult to see the way, and I am grateful for this writing from A Course in Miracles, which showed itself to me first thing this morning.

“Everyone here has entered darkness, yet no one has entered it alone. Nor need he stay more than an instant. For he has come with Heaven’s Help within him, ready to lead him out of darkness into light at any time. The time he chooses can be any time, for help is there, awaiting but his choice. And when he chooses to avail himself of what is given him, then will he see each situation that he thought before was means to justify his anger turned to an event which justifies his love. He will hear plainly that the calls to war he heard before are really calls to peace. He will perceive that where he gave attack is but another altar where he can, with equal ease and far more happiness, bestow forgiveness. And he will reinterpret all temptation as just another chance to bring him joy.”

A Course in Miracles  T-25.III.6:1-8

For Renee Nicole Good Killed by I.C.E. on January 7, 2026 - by Amanda Gorman

They say she is no more, 

That there her absence roars, 

Blood-blown like a rose. 

Iced wheels flinched & froze. 

Now, bare riot of candles, 

Dark fury of flowers, 

Pure howling of hymns. 

If for us she arose, 

Somewhere, in the pitched deep of our grief, 

Crouches our power, 

The howl where we begin, 

Straining upon the edge of the crooked crater 

Of the worst of what we’ve been. 

Change is only possible, 

& all the greater, 

When the labour

& bitter anger of our neighbors 

Is moved by the love 

& better angels of our nature. 

What they call death & void, 

We know is breath & voice; 

In the end, gorgeously, 

Endures our enormity. 

You could believe departed to be the dawn 

When the blank night has so long stood. 

But our bright-fled angels will never be fully gone, 

When they forever are so fiercely Good.

Poem by Amanda Gorman

The Fruits of Judgment

Leading With Love

Decades ago, when the “moral majority” began its judgmental march to stamp out all that is liberal and based in free thought, we didn’t think it could possibly take hold of enough people to shape our society. We thought that they were a silly fringe group with prejudiced ideas, and there was no reason to take them seriously. Well, through the last 45 years we have seen what repetition of lies and hateful rhetoric can do to shape a society. It has made a certain faction of people believe that they are right and everyone else is wrong.  They have elected politicians which push their policies, our Supreme Court has been stacked with judges more interested in material positions than the rule of law, and our supreme leader is a dictator who wants to dominate everyone but has no idea why. When a young woman was murdered in cold blood yesterday by the Gestapo, we were overwhelmed with dismay. Many of us are depressed, more of us are angry, a few of us are doing our best to see through the illusion. When I see people yelling in anger, or being brutal while drunk on their power, I do my best to see them as they were created, not as they have become. I have never seen harsh words negate harsh words, nor violent actions create peace. We all have something we can do to tip the balance away from fear and toward Love. It doesn’t matter how small the act may seem to you. Your actions are exponentially powerful. Don’t stop believing …

“The symbols of hate against the symbols of love play out a conflict that does not exist. For symbols stand for something else, and the symbol of love is without meaning if love is everything. You will go through this last undoing quite unharmed, and will at last emerge as yourself. This is the last step in the readiness for God. Be not unwilling now; you are too near, and you will cross the bridge in perfect safety, translated quietly from war to peace. For the illusion of love will never satisfy, but its reality, which awaits you on the other side, will give you everything.”

A Course in Miracles T-16.IV.2:1-6

“The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates. Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something, — for lust, dishonesty, selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery, murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all the etceteras that word includes.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 330:24-32

St. John’s Vision …

Photo by Blake Lasater

The idea that we are transcending the thoughts which bind us, evolving to another stage of consciousness, is very exciting! The possibility of stepping out of habitual thought and living in the present moment can be frightening to those of us who are accustomed to living for the future. Perhaps, with the busy-ness of our thinking, we have lost the connection with our sense of being; with the intelligence which is more than thoughts in our head. Now is the time to move into another stage of evolution, one which allows consciousness to release our addiction to circular thinking. For humanity to continue its evolution, we must transcend the mind, going beyond the compulsion to think and realizing a deeper level of being. This evolutionary transformation of consciousness is no longer a luxury, but a necessity if we are to survive. Giving up the beliefs and interpretations which we have assigned to everything clears the way for the thought-expanding ideas which will lead us to exactly where we need to be, doing what needs to be done. What an exciting time to be alive!

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

“Evolution is a process in which you seem to proceed from one degree to the next. You correct your previous missteps by stepping forward. This process is actually incomprehensible in temporal terms, because you return as you go forward. The Atonement is the device by which you can free yourself from the past as you go ahead. It undoes your past errors, thus making it unnecessary for you to keep retracing your steps without advancing to your return. In this sense the Atonement saves time, but like the miracle it serves, does not abolish it. As long as there is need for Atonement, there is need for time. But the Atonement as a completed plan has a unique relationship to time. Until the Atonement is complete, its various phases will proceed in time, but the whole Atonement stands at time’s end. At that point the bridge of return has been built.”
A Course in Miracles - T-2.II.6:1-10

A Place of Rest.

Marsha at Meow Wolf - Denver, CO

Fear misshapes everything. Doug Myerscough has written a calming antidote for us, and I share it with you here.

“I want to speak quietly for a moment, because quiet is in short supply.

I can feel the fear moving through people — not as panic, not as hysteria, but as something thinner and more dangerous: a steady pressure, repeated often enough that it begins to feel like certainty. Very intelligent minds, turning the same thought over and over, until the thought begins to feel like the world itself.

This does not mean you are wrong.

It does not mean you are weak.

It means you are human, living inside a time that keeps asking your nervous system to do more than it was built to do.


Nothing has happened in the last few hours that requires your life to shrink.

Nothing has crossed some invisible line while you were looking away.

History does not usually announce itself by whispering only to the anxious.


Pause here, if you can.

Notice where you are sitting.

Feel the ordinary weight of the day — the floor beneath you, the light in the room, the body you are still inhabiting.


Fear has a way of pulling the future forward, laying it across the present like a shadow, until it becomes hard to tell what is happening now from what might happen later. But these are not the same thing, no matter how insistently they blur.

You are not required to solve what comes next.

You are not responsible for carrying the whole moment.

You are not responsible for stopping the machine. You are responsible for reducing its surface area in the lives you can touch.

Today is enough.


It is enough to eat something.

Enough to step outside, even briefly.

Enough to speak to one person in a voice that remembers warmth.


Vigilance does not have to feel like terror.

Awareness does not have to cost you your ability to live.


If your mind feels frayed at the edges, it is not because you are failing — it is because you care, and care, under repetition, can exhaust itself. There is no virtue in that exhaustion. There is no moral requirement to remain braced every hour of the day.


You are allowed to rest your attention.

You are allowed to turn the volume down.

You are allowed to keep your life intact.


Calm is not denial.

Calm is how we remain capable — of kindness, of judgment, of showing up tomorrow with ourselves still whole.


Nothing important will be lost if you step back for the rest of the day.

What matters most — your ability to remain present — is preserved that way.


We will take this as it comes.

Not all at once.

Not tonight.”

Written by Doug Myerscough


“Yet there will always be this place of rest to which you can return. And you will be more aware of this quiet center of the storm than all its raging activity. This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly. It is this center, from which the body is absent, that will keep it so in your awareness of it.”
A Course in Miracles T-18.VII.8:1-5

“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

The World Inside

Gazebo at Long Creek Herbs

Blue Eye, Missouri

Have you noticed that art — as in books, movies, plays and other narratives — always predicts new/old ways of thinking? Whether it be science fiction or historical stories, we seem to be living in a loop of events. I recently watched the movie, The Life of Chuck. It is delightful! Before you watch it and disagree, let me say that the first part of it is not quite so charming, but Part 2 gets into Chuck’s life and it was fabulous! Here is an intriguing quote:

“The human brain is so finite - no more than a sponge of tissue inside a cage of bone - but the mind within the brain is infinite. Its storage capacity is colossal, its imaginative reach beyond our ability to comprehend. I think when a man or woman dies, a whole world falls to ruin - the world that person knew and believed in. Think of that, kiddo - billions of people on earth, and each one of those billions with a world inside. The earth their minds have conceived”
― Stephen King, The Life of Chuck

“You also believe the body’s brain can think. If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth; or that you held the world within your hand, securely bound until you let it go. Yet this is no more foolish than to believe the body’s eyes can see; the brain can think.”
— A Course in Miracles W-92.2:1-4

“The theoretical mind is matter, named brain, or material consciousness, the exact opposite of real Mind, or Spirit. Brainology teaches that mortals are created to suffer and die. It further teaches that when man is dead, his immortal soul is resurrected from death and mortality. Thus error theorizes that spirit is born of matter and returns to matter, and that man has a resurrection from dust; whereas Science unfolds the eternal verity, that man is the spiritual, eternal reflection of God.”
— Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 295:25-3

A Peaceful Purpose

 

Walk For Peace - Buddhist Monks and dog, Aloka,

On Their 2300-mile trek in the United States

We all have a purpose to fulfill on this plane of existence. Years ago, I realized I am here as a portal for people to experience the light, the divine Love, which is central to our being. Whether your place is to open the door to spiritual truth, or to inform people as to the happenings in our material sphere, we all are a part of the whole picture. There are charlatans operating in every avenue of this material existence. And so if your spiritual guru — whether they are called preacher or adviser — leads you down dead-end roads and answers questions with a non-answer, such as, “you just have to believe”, know that you have choices. If you find out your favorite tea is proved to have pesticides and plastic particle residue, which you imbibe three times a day under the guise of a healthy drink — know that you have choices. While many of us turn away from tough situations in this corporeal world, we are doing ourselves an injustice by not speaking truth to error. You may worry about “level confusion” and so you refrain from weeding out inaccuracies which your friends are swallowing as truth. Perhaps it’s just the opposite and it’s your worldly purpose to stand up and just say no!

“By denying your mind any destructive potential and reinstating its purely constructive powers, you place yourself in a position to undo the level confusion of others. The message you then give to them is the truth that their minds are similarly constructive, and their miscreations cannot hurt them. By affirming this you release the mind from overevaluating its own learning device, and restore the mind to its true position as the learner.”
A Course in Miracles T-2.V.5:4-6

“Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:18-21

The Body Cannot Contain You

Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

Many meanings, both literal and metaphoric, come to mind when thinking of the word "death".  There is the death we experience when we are born into this existence. Suddenly, our spiritual sense is deadened by the deluge of materialistic stimuli which constantly bombard us. In this forgetting of Truth, life becomes very uncertain. We are victims of inharmonious circumstances, until we recognize ourselves as expressions of divine Mind, then we see glimpses of eternity. We may begin to imagine the unreality of time and space, and perhaps we've always suspected this.  These misunderstandings may fuel dissatisfaction which drives us to "feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace." (Browning)  We know there's something more, and we keep grasping at what it might be. We search for freedom from the belief that we are victims of circumstance. We have the choice of waking up! We will see through the veil we have hung to hide Truth. With this sight will come the understanding of Life as timeless!

“If the belief in death were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that there is no death, this would be a ‘tree of life,’ known by its fruits. Man should renew his energies and endeavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learning the necessity of working out his own salvation.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 426:12-16 

“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

The Love That Inspires Miracles

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

Do you believe that darkness is as real as light? Perhaps life’s circumstances have reinforced your ideas of evil and good. While one may seem as real as the other, we all know that opening a closet door lets in the light; the dark doesn’t escape and overtake light.  I'm sure you can think of circumstances which you think of as wonderful and someone else feels the opposite. Maybe you loved a musical performance and your spouse slept through it. And we all know people who find fault with everything, no matter what. Then there are those of us who are accused of having a Pollyanna attitude because we insist on seeing the good in situations. Albert Einstein described this well: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." The inspiration of Love sets us in the ideal stead to enjoy every moment in its true spiritual perfection. So I say, Pollyannas unite! Let's go forth and scatter Light!

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

“The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 560:11-15

We See What We Want

Photo Courtesy of Blake Lasater

I often wonder if we are hesitant to live from the heart because we worry others might think we're foolish. When we insist on seeing as divine Mind sees, rather than through the interpretation of human belief, we are often looked at askance! I remember once when I was in a monthly meeting of gallery owners in our town and the talk turned to theft in their shops. I turned my attention away from the discussion and was looking into a corner, thinking about something else, when suddenly I noticed everyone had stopped talking. I looked up and saw they were all looking at me! Someone asked me what I thought about this situation and I honestly told them that thievery was not a part of my existence and I didn't want to make it a reality by giving it energy. Someone said, Good for you! And the conversation continued in a different vein. With that in mind, I will not hesitate to wander away from discussions centered on fearful beliefs or angry reactions, while reinterpreting them with the Love which defines our being. 

“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts." 

Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 261:4-7

“You are not the victim of the world you see because you invented it. You can give it up as easily as you made it up. You will see it or not see it, as you wish. While you want it you will see it; when you no longer want it, it will not be there for you to see.” 

A Course in Miracles W-32.1:2-5

Let’s Live and Love Togeter

Robert Klose is a novelist and an essay writer for the Christian Science Monitor. In this weekly news magazine he wrote about his house being robbed by a neighborhood teenager. He asked the authorities if he could offer the thief an alternative to court-ordered punishment, and they agreed to it. And so he asked the boy to pay back the money and to meet with him one day a week for an hour. During that hour, they would work on his homework, and then 30 minutes would be spent talking about anything the young man chose. It was a good experience for them both. Although the boy learned many valuable things from these meetings, he has occasionally lapsed into illegal behavior and spent time in jail. But when he’s back in the neighborhood, he is respectful and visits his mentor. Last time they met, Mr. Klose thanked the young man for thinking enough of his neighborhood to let it continue in peace. They two of them agreed they were both “trying to be good”. We’re all looking for ways to help our communities, and mentoring someone in need seems a noble cause to me!

“We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:26-32

“Brother, we heal together as we live together and love together. Be not deceived in God’s Son, for he is one with himself and one with his Father. Love him who is beloved of his Father, and you will learn of the Father’s Love for you.”
A Course in Miracles T-11.VIII.11:4-6

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