Alive and Kicking

 The swing dance called The Lindy Hop is happy, energetic, and a bit silly. While there are steps, it’s a free-form interpretation of music which is impossible to watch without smiling! There is a documentary called "Alive and Kicking", which celebrates this form of swing in particular. It’s a dance crossing all boundaries we have set for ourselves, freeing the dancer to live in the present, absolutely, while letting spirit move them into magical movement.  One of the statements a dancer made was, “It’s impossible to hate someone you’ve danced with.” Wouldn’t it be great if problems and disagreements could be neutralized by swing dancing? What a wonderful world it would be...

"Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 57:18-21

Keeping Quiet and Uncovering Error

 

It's sometimes difficult to know when to speak, when to act, or when to be quiet. It’s not always easy to remain silent about something we have passionate feelings toward. Sharing what we’re learning is a good thing, but pushing our attitudes on others, particularly if they’re not ready to hear them, serves no purpose. I recently had a lovely day with old friends who have very strong opinions about a number of things in this life. It was an opportunity to step back and ask myself if I wanted to express my opinions and engage in sport-arguing by joining in the contentious conversation, or if I would choose to enjoy listening while maintaining inner peace. I didn’t feel the need to make my views known or to correct what I feel is wrong, choosing rather to be led by Love. And I am grateful!

“Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, involves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality." Mary  Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 298:13-15

Many of One

 

Photo Credit: Aaron Springston

“Conscious human individuality is not individual as one of many but infinite as many of One.” [Margaret Laird] The enormity of Oneness may seem more than we can fathom, but knowing we are an individual reflection of goodness, and united therein, seems much more manageable! Realizing our spiritual nature as the experience of divine Love opens a new world in which I am not a victim of mortal mind and its manifestations. I am unafraid to take a stand for harmony and peace, knowing that it is our birthright as reflections of Mind.

“As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science and Health page 264:13-16

Safety

 

photo credit: Christine Panas

People often talk about childhood experiences of playing freely in their yards, streets, and parks, with no fear of dangerous people or circumstances. It is thought by many that those days are gone, never to be revisited. I am reminded of an international news reporter who stated that in many war-torn countries life goes on peacefully outside of particular areas where violence is occurring. We all have the desire to be safe, to be happy, to be secure and loved. We cannot change others, but we can change ourselves. By replacing fear with the armor of Love, we can live without defense. By living Love, we are acting as the ministers of God, spreading truth with our actions. It all comes back to Love.  Namaste ---

“People go into ecstasies over the sense of a corporeal Jehovah, though with scarcely a spark of love in their hearts; yet God is Love, and without Love, God, immortality cannot appear.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 453:14-15

Forget About Enlightenment

 

Forget about enlightenment

Sit down wherever you are

And listen to the wind singing in your veins. 

Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones. 

Open your heart to who you are, right now, 

Not who you would like to be, 

Not the saint you are striving to become, 

But the being right here before you, inside you, around you. 

All of you is holy. 

You are already more and less 

Than whatever you can know. 

Breathe out, 

Touch in, 

Let go.

By: John Welwood

Zen Masters

 

There are many disciplines which teach us how to deal with material circumstances. They are lovely reminders of how to improve what we call the human condition. Many tell us that we're humans having a spiritual experience, but very few tell us that we're actually spiritual. In divine metaphysics we learn that everything is an idea of God. I am a spiritual idea right here and now! And you are, too! And so are all those who don't realize their inherent goodness. I'm going to pick a person who seems to fall into this category and concentrate on their true Being as an expression of divine Love. This feels like a Science project, don't you think? I shall record the results!

"It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind …one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood…will be established." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 467:9-13

A New-Old Earth

 

photo credit: Blake Lasater

"A new species is arising on the planet. It is arising now, and you are it!" These lines end the Eckhart Tolle book, A New Earth. I wish it could be required reading for every person on this old earth! The beautifully clear way he explains how we cling to old belief​​, allowing ourselves to be influenced by fear, by the past, by illusion, is both inspiring and illuminating. Mr. Tolle's book gives numerous examples of seeing differently. I wish to dedicate every moment to seeing this new world, allowing the disappearance of old beliefs and hypnotic thoughts to provide a transparency for the arising of our new way of Living. What an exciting time for humanity!

“The Revelator tells us of “a new heaven and a new earth.” Have you ever pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 91:1-4

Imagining Heaven

 

I heard well-known author and speaker, Marianne Williamson, say that worry was a lot like praying for something horrible to happen. Holding thought to the best possible outcome, without outlining what that outcome is, feels right to me. Whatever I put my attention on grows! Years of trying to plan my life (and that of those around me!) has taught me the futility of this. I now vow to listen for divine Mind’s ideas to lead me in the paths of Love. I don’t always hear this guidance above the cacophony of material existence, but I’m learning how to tune in to that still, small voice, and for this I am grateful.

“Life is divine Mind. Life is not limited.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 469:4-5

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Answered Prayer

 

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

How surprised would you be if your prayers were answered? I have a friend who tells me she's given up on God because she's never seen any proof. Upon questioning her, it turns out she has a laundry list of things she asks for regularly, and none of her wishes have come true. Once again, I feel we often confuse divine Love with Santa Claus. We may be asking some guy in the sky for special dispensation, rather than recognizing that this Principle is an eternal activity which we can plug into at any time. It's kind of like electricity: It's there, but it doesn't supply our needs unless we know how to utilize it. I’m learning the secret to plugging in is to not want anything! By not delineating what we think we need, but rather keeping our thoughts tuned to the divine Mind, all our needs are supplied. The nature of this Oneness ​brings what we need to us, and goes out to others, without us telling It about what that is!

“How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinite, and then we try to give information to this infinite Mind.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 3:17-22

Potent Grace

 

unknown photographer

There are many definitions given in the dictionary for the word grace. It is a noun, a verb, and an adverb, so it covers a lot of ground. The definition I want to focus on is this: "Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people." This grace which is ours shows itself in many ways. Perhaps it is seen in our kindness to others, and in theirs to us. It is emerging in the synchronicities we see in daily life. It is active when everything works together to bring order to our activities. Perhaps it is demonstrated in an apology, or an act of benevolence, a charitable deed, or an acceptance of someone's opinion which is opposite of ours. Grace is mine today, simply for the knowing of it.

“To see the world in a grain of sand,

And heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.”

William Blake

“Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other means and methods.” 

Mary Baker Eddy Science & Health Page 67:23-24

Addictions, empathy, freedom

photo credit: Blake Lasater

 
I know numerous people who are living with addictions. Having been there myself with a variety of substances, I empathize and wish I could reach out and pull them from the quicksand. But no one can do that for anyone else. My beloved Kevin died from advanced alcoholism nine months ago today, and my dear friend Jane recently got home from two months in the hospital, and is working to recover from liver failure. Everyone perceives themselves differently, and these two people have helped me see these differences, and face my attitudes toward them and others who are struggling. Before knowing Kevin, my thinking toward addicts was probably ​more ​self-righteous than compassionate. Watching Jane struggle toward sobriety and healing is inspiring, yet frightening. Today I can’t help but feel gratitude to Kevin for passing quickly. What took him 40 years to cultivate was never admitted out loud, just as he never told me how horrible he felt all the time. The true compassion I have felt toward him since his death has changed my life. As a wise man once said, “We can’t change the past, but what we do in the present can rectify the past and change the future.” I will remember this when regrets try to push their way into my thoughts. And I’ll love more actively, right out loud.

“Nothing around you but is part of you. Look on it lovingly, and see the light of Heaven in it. So will you come to understand all that is given you. In kind forgiveness will the world sparkle and shine, and everything you once thought sinful now will be reinterpreted as part of Heaven. How beautiful it is to walk, clean and redeemed and happy, through a world in bitter need of the redemption that your innocence bestows upon it! What can you value more than this? For here is your salvation and your freedom. And it must be complete if you would recognize it.“ A Course in Miracles - T-23.in.6:1-8

The Miracle of Grace

 In 2016, then-president Barack Obama gave the eulogy at a memorial service for nine people who were murdered by a lone gunman in a church in South Carolina. Twice he repeated the words, amazing grace. Then he slowly started to sing the old hymn. The whole room began to sing along. In a lifetime of political rhetoric and drama, it was the most moving and heartfelt moment I have ever witnessed from a public figure. It is grace which allows us to embrace those who persistently speak words with which we disagree. It is grace which permits us to look beyond the actions of those whose lives run counter to the standard we have set for ourselves. It is grace which keeps us looking inward for peace while others shout for revenge. "Twas blind, but now I see."

"The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 494:15

True Communication

photo credit: Aaron Springston

From the moment we come into this form, we are taught what things are called, what those names represent, and the meaning we should place on them. These names and meanings tend to separate us from each other: they de-unify us. We think of learning as knowing what these things are, and we study to find out everything about them. In this world we have made, we need these symbols, these names, in order to convey information, yet we keep getting glimpses of true communication -- and, if you're like me, you want more! Watching birds fly in formation is but one way we glimpse a higher form of knowing. Rather than learning more about the illusion of names and notions, I'd rather work toward understanding the reality of a shared unity, via divine Mind. The knowledge that the confusion we are faced with in daily life is not true creation is a key to the door of Truth, wherein we find peace.

“The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and diseases among the human family. It does this by giving names to diseases and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought. A new name for an ailment affects people like a Parisian name for a novel garment. Everyone hastens to get it.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 196:31-5

Loving Kindness

 

photo credit: Jim Young

For several years I avoided one of my neighbors, who was 90-plus years old, because it seemed there was no such thing as a short visit. She would tell me things I didn't want to know about her family and other people, so I began to avoid her. One morning she was sitting on her porch and asked for my help. Her phone was not working and it's connected to a Lifeline button which she can push if she needs help. As it was going to take some time to get the phone company there to reconnect her, I told her I'd come over every hour and make sure she was okay. As we sat on her porch, she started talking about herself, from childhood through more recent times, and it was fascinating! She told me the happiest times of her life were picking cotton with her sisters in the 1930s on a farm in Mississippi. Every visit brought me new stories from her life. When she wandered into condemnation of others, I would simply tell her I had to go, but would be back soon and wanted to hear more stories about her -- not others. It was like watching a documentary -- and I'm glad I was tuned in! She’s gone now and although I’ve forgotten all of her gossipy news, I remember some delightful looks into her life experience — and I am grateful.

“The poor suffering heart needs its rightful nutriment, such as peace, patience in tribulation, and a priceless sense of the dear Father’s loving-kindness.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health Page 365:31-2

Those Who Help My Being

 

Be with those who help your being. I've always loved that thought, haven't you? More and more, I find myself reveling in the company of friends, and being even more content in solitude. This seeming conundrum feels similar to the realization that I'm not a body: It's both exhilarating and calming! I'm excited that I needn't be a victim of the false beliefs of material life. I'm content in knowing there is so much to realize in this unfolding life. Thinking back through the years and recognizing momentous friendships which have helped change my perspective from life to Life, I am grateful beyond words. The love I feel for these precious people is eternal, and with this knowledge comes a freedom which was before unknown.

"Mind has set me free from every error. Divine Love fills every avenue, flows through every channel and removes every obstruction." [This is an excerpt from an article entitled "Body" by Mary Baker Eddy, filed in the Congressional Library, January 19, 1886]

Peace That Is God

 

"Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love." Kahlil Gibran — Truth, beauty, love, are spiritual attributes. Peace is a spiritual attribute. While we may perceive peace as changeable, that is only our material perception of it. As I learn to recognize the difference in material belief and spiritual truth, life becomes easier. The peace that is God is mine right now for the acceptance of it. We can't lose it, because it's eternally available no matter what the outward circumstance!

“Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science and Health Page 390:10-11

No Separation

 

my wall at home 

We, as humans, make up thousands of designations in order to separate ourselves. We may be proud of our heritage, putting plaques on our walls ​reminding us that our ancestors came over on the Mayflower. We teach our children “where they came from" and tell them reasons they should be proud of this. We proclaim what state we hail from, what school we attended, which football teams we cheer for — the list goes on and on. I want to see past tribes and nations. I don’t want to think of myself as a Razorback or a woman. I don’t want to think of myself at all, but would rather rest in the knowledge that I am an Idea of God, individually expressing that in whatever way is my function!

“The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have learned from error, and man's real existence as a child of God comes to light.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 288:31–1

Passive Resistance

 

Quote from Martin Luther King Jr.’s Pilgrimage to Nonviolence - “The phrase ‘passive resistance’ often gives the false impression that this is a sort of ‘do-nothing method’ in which the resister quietly and passively accepts evil. But nothing is further from the truth. For while the nonviolent resister is passive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade his opponent that he is wrong. The method is passive physically, but strongly active spiritually.” Martin Luther King Jr.

“Let’s have love for our country, and the courage to serve her in this critical hour." Marianne Williamson

Disrobing Error

 

my parents -- Doc and Anita Havens - circa 1935​

A few years ago, I had a shift in thought toward my parents. They were beautiful, kind, generous people; this I've always acknowledged and appreciated. But those memories seemed to be dimmed by the stronger remembrances of their latter days. I had feelings of anger and betrayal, and guilt concerning my part in it all. I've realized that many things they did came from their love, although their actions were influenced by strong opinions about the way things should be. My regrets come from actions based in selfishness and fear. In acknowledging these memories (which may not be at all the way they actually occurred, as that’s how our ego remembers!) I feel as though they are falling out of me and I’m sweeping them away into the ethers. With every release of well-rehearsed past events, or the quiet recognition of rarely-remembered guilt and pain, peace becomes reality for me. It doesn't matter if anyone was right or wrong, it doesn't make any difference what motives were involved, part of me has been emptied to be filled with the only reality: Love.

“We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be emptied. Let us disrobe error. Then, when the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 201:13-15

A Cat's Reflection

Panda Cat - photo credit: Kevin Wright

This evening, while sitting in my easy chair, my cat jumped up on my lap. As I absentmindedly began to pet her, she started to growl. I looked at her and saw that her wrath was directed at the iPad screen. This device was next to me and leaned up against the arm of the chair, with its dark screen right in front of her nose. She was seeing her own reflection and thought it was another cat! This image of a sister cat so close to her, in her house, in her chair, brought up feelings of fear and anger. What a lesson! How often do I see a brother expressing an idea which raises my hackles, even though they are nothing more than a reflection of my own self? What bothers me about that guy over there? Could it be that I may be seeing my own reflection? Hum… I’m going to ​ponder this for a while. Happy weekend!

“Advancing to a higher plane of action, thought rises from the material sense to the spiritual, from the scholastic to the inspirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 256:3-8