Expressions of Joy

 

Twenty years ago, it seems I spent much more time every day in prayerful study and contemplation than I do now. Or maybe that’s not so. When I stop to think about it, nowadays every interaction is an expression of Love, with a fearlessness which grows daily. These seeds were planted and are still being nurtured by moment-to-moment expressions of joy. No matter what we do on a daily basis, this Love can be expressed in many ways – actually, in every way! And by loving yourself, you’re loving everyone. By living fearlessly, you’re spreading this confidence to all. I will go forth with loving gratitude today and expect only Good.

“If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit, we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action. Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. 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 260

Good Friends

I got a phone call this evening from a couple of old friends who had spent the day together, hiking in the snowy woods and enjoying each others’ company. We got to know each other 30 years ago when our children became friends. There is nothing like sharing laughs with people you really, truly like; women with whom you’ve shared years of memories and good times. We can tell each other anything, including the good, bad, and even ugly. I feel so fortunate to know women like these two, and particularly fortunate because the years have brought close connections from many directions. The gratitude I feel for all of you is boundless! Thank you for Being …

 "You rest within the peace of God today, and call upon your brothers from your rest to draw them to their rest, along with you. You will be faithful to your trust today, forgetting no one, bringing everyone into the boundless circle of your peace, the holy sanctuary where you rest. Open the temple doors and let them come from far across the world, and near as well; your distant brothers and your closest friends; bid them all enter here and rest with you." A Course in Miracles W-pI.109.8.

 

On Joy and Sorrow

Kahlil Gibran - 1883-1931

     Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
     And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
     And how else can it be?

     The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
     Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
     And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

     When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

     When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
    
     Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
     But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

     Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

     Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
     Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
     When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall." 

Kahlil Gibran

Bring in a New World With Joy!

Our friend, Shanna, often posts thoughts which come through John Smallman. I particularly liked every word she put on Facebook today. In it, he speaks of 2021 being a time of “stuff” coming up, and 2022 is the year of it falling away. What does that mean to you? To me it means the reality of our existence will be emerging without all the disguises we have given ourselves. We can live joyously as expressions of Love, leaving behind false idols. While reading the words of “Saul through John Smallman”, I kept imagining the people who use software to make themselves look better in photographs they post online. Most of us have been taught to pretend in order to get along in the world. We don’t speak plainly, because we may be ostracized from polite society. On the flip side, we think we should be offended if someone doesn't agree with us. These reactions are learned behaviors; not honest feelings and thoughts. Joy is the key to facilitating the new world we all long for! As Shanna’s post ends: “Be You! There is no one else you can be, and give thanks for your magnificent and divine purpose as a human on Earth now, brilliantly and beautifully assisting in the collective awakening process. That is why you are precisely where you are…” Every thought is important. Be happy!

“Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 571:18-21

Ordinary Things ...

 

Having spent the day doing ordinary things with my good friend, Richard, the first thing I saw online upon getting back home was this wonderful sentiment. It says it all ...

“Love never loses sight of loveliness. its halo rests upon its object. One marvels that a friend can ever seem less than beautiful." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:3

Meaning of Life?

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

We hear many statements regarding our right to privacy. This privacy which people value is more than giving out email addresses or putting photos on social media. People seem to value keeping their thoughts and beliefs private, their emotions secret, their inner-most desires to themselves. For the past decade or so I have bared my soul through this daily writing, not to mention the sharing I do on Facebook. I openly tell of my love as candidly as regurgitating my shame, probably eliciting comments from others of "too much information"! But that's okay, because by talking through times of turmoil, I heal my mind and heart -- hopefully giving someone else permission to do the same for themselves. A couple of days ago, I mentioned inexplicable events with inanimate objects and how I've wondered about the metaphorical meaning. I've begun to question my sanity in the ongoing series of happenings, but I don't think I'm "losing it", although something is happening. Am I being contacted by aliens or loved ones who have passed? Am I being directed to do something? I'm not sure what it's about, but it has crossed my mind that I may be close to passing on from this plane. If that happens, it's okay with me. If I'm hanging around here a while, that's okay, too. But please know my life is an open book and I'm happy when/if you talk about me! Love to all...

"Life is deathless. Life is the origin and ultimate of man, never attainable through death, but gained by walking in the pathway of Truth, both before and after that which is called death." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 487:3

Wildness is a Necessity

 

John Muir Trail - photo credit: Aaron Springston

​“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.” John Muir - Our National Parks, 1909.

"Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens -- all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light." Mary Baker Eddy, Science & Health Page 240

Spinning Your Wheels?

Almost two decades ago our friend, Jim Young, was spinning his wheels. His little black Volvo would spin out at the slightest provocation. He changed tires and did all the things a person would do to alleviate this problem, but nothing worked. Being a deep thinker, Jim asked his Self if there was something he needed to know; something this situation was attempting to show him. He soon realized he was spinning his metaphorical wheels and there was indeed something he needed to be doing. To date, he has been the conduit for 30-some-odd books, he has numerous youtube videos, and recently launched a podcast. I thought of this today when my car and my heater suddenly quit working, then suddenly started again. A month or more ago, my vehicle failed to react when I turned the key. Just nothing. Then after a minute or two, it started and I didn’t think much more about it. A couple of weeks ago, a similar thing happened with the heat in my home. I called to get a repairman, but before he arrived it spontaneously began fulfilling its purpose. And now this morning, both of these events happened again! I think I’ll pay attention this time. I’ll let you know later what insights I learn from this! 

"Learning is joyful if it leads you along your natural path, and facilitates the development of what you have."  --  A Course in Miracles - T-8.II 

“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 - Science & Health Page 506:12-14

Harmony or Discord?

Rotterdam Symphony

One of us may think something is beautiful, and another may not. It's my understanding that some people do not enjoy music, and may even find it off-putting. How can this be? It seems so odd, as I sit here listening to the Rotterdam Symphony performing Tchaikovsky ‘s Nutcracker. But I listened to a book by Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia, which documents many instances of people's ability to hear and/or play music changing after traumatic physical events. I thought it was pretty cool when someone woke up from a coma and wanted to do nothing but play the piano, even though they had never played before. On the other end of the spectrum, it was horrid for the man who heard dissonance when playing the violin he had dearly loved before a car accident. This has caused me to wonder about what I think I see and hear, and the possibility that others don't see or hear the same thing. I've written before about everyone seeing a rainbow differently, depending on where they are in respect to it. I know that someone may tell me something and I can take it totally opposite of how it was meant. But to hear music differently? We are, indeed, an interesting species! 

"Material beliefs and spiritual understanding never mingle. The latter destroys the former. Discord is the nothingness named error. Harmony is the somethingness named Truth." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 176

I Am That

 

I Am That 

There is only one mistake you are making:


you take the inner for the outer and outer for the inner.


What is in you, you take to be outside you


and what is outside, you take to be in you.


The mind and feelings are external,


but you take them to be intimate.


You believe the world to be objective,


while it is entirely a projection of your psyche.


That is the basic confusion . . .

By: Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
"The inharmonious belief does not create an inharmonious condition. The belief of lack is the lack. The belief of disease is the disease. That is why the body seems to change as man's thinking changes. It is simply as beliefs of disease and imperfections fall away, and our thinking is corrected and held true to Truth, so that mental chaos and confusion no longer cloud our vision, we see the body as God sees it, as it eternally is. Then it stands revealed to us in its beauty and its glory, the temple, not made with hands. All that our ignorance does is to affect our vision, or view of things. It does not change anything that God has made.

'We do not handle substance through our personal thought to change it. We only see according to our thought, our degree of enlightenment. Walt Whitman said, "The world is jagged and broken,  to him who is jagged and broken," to him whose mental realm is dark. If one's thought is ignorant and unenlightened, it changes his vision as a cloud of mist. As he looks through the cloud he sees this world, the body, all things, distorted, abnormal and wrong.

'If the mental atmosphere is dark and dense, we see but dimly and are not able to perceive the perfection that is. Man does not by mental effort bring God into manifestation, neither does he through wrong thinking prevent God's manifestation. God IS and God is manifest, and it is not in the power of unenlightened personal thought or mental effort to obstruct or hinder the activity of God, or to mar or to deface the perfection of God's creation."
From a statement copyrighted by Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy at the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C. January 19, 1886

Loss is Gain

 

photo credit: Blake Lasater

My son and his wife recently had a baby. Little Torin decided to make an appearance a couple of weeks before his due date, so mom and dad weren’t quite organized for the event. Actually, when Kailey went into labor, they were moving furniture into the house and everything was topsy turvy. When they came home, someone mentioned that their life was “in shambles”. My son found this to be humorous because their life has never been better!! This serves as a perfect reminder to us all: no matter what is happening around us, it’s our perceptions which create our reality. Aaron only saw the beauty of his wife and child, not the mess surrounding them physically. We can all relate this truth to events in our own lives, can we not? A debilitating health situation can help us to look for new avenues to travel. When I lost my leg a few years back, there was a newspaper article written entitled “Havens’ New Walk”. I love this new way of walking as much as the last one! If not for this “loss”, I wouldn’t have the joys I’m now experiencing. And I am grateful…

“O make me glad for every scalding tear,

         For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!

Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear

         No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.”

From the poem, Oh, Gentle Presence — by Mary Baker Eddy 

A Clean Slate

 

No matter what you believe in, you can find a group of people who think the way you do. I recently heard a man explaining that more harm can be done by the truth than by out-and-out lies. WHAT?? The example he gave is a web page devoted to instances of black people physically attacking white people. Every day they post more instances of this violent behavior, along with rhetoric warning us of the consequences of “us” allowing “them” to “get by” with it. While these things actually happened, they are being presented in a way which may cause fear and suggest retaliation. Our learned behavior of tribalism is not conducive to peaceful living. The myriad of activities which pit us against each other, or set up sides for us to group together with like-minded people —- years of these practices have made us an adversarial society, and it feels wrong. So I’m going to visualize a world where we all trade our beliefs for a blank slate on which to see what is actually happening, without our biased perceptions interpreting everything. Let me know how a clean heart and head show you the world!

“Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science and Health Page 96:21

To Change or Not to Change

 

Time has always seemed elastic, but nowadays it’s pliable beyond past experience. To some of us, these days creep by in a fog of repetition; for others, they zip along, full of excitement and expectation. Looking at the few people on my street, it’s possible to imagine the world from our microcosm. One woman who was extremely social, living to dress up for parades, while participating in activities of three churches, seems depressed and lost without these events. One man fell deeper into drugs and alcohol and is now in rehabilitation, trying to save his life. Two neighbors have a thriving business, selling plants and doing landscaping. They are busier and seem happier than ever. Perhaps we’re all learning things about ourselves during these times of change, as we either acclimate to the "new normal", or try to stay with the ways of the past. Personally, I feel I’ve been practicing all my life for this seclusion. It’s nice, and when I must be active in the “outside” world, I need solitude to rejuvenate. We all have a role in the revolution of thought which we see unfolding. Much needs to be done, and we who are not afraid of change are leading the way. Exciting times, indeed!

“The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 584:4

Living Arrows Sent Forth

 Henri Cartier Bresson - Rue Mouffetard, 1954, ©MoMa.

My oldest son turned 35 today; two days ago he became a parent for the first time. I’m in love with a baby I’ve never met, and it’s a wonder-filled experience! Often, when I have too many things running around in my head, I turn to Kahlil Gibran. And he has guided me to peace today with this beautiful writing. I am grateful. Namaste…

“Your children are not your children.
They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. 
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth...."

by Khalil Gibran

“When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of God is within you;’ that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 476:28-32

Seeing Two Worlds?

 

Crystal Bridges exhibit - photo by Aaron Springston

The changes we have witnessed in our lifetime have been exciting and (to take a phrase from the ‘70s) mind blowing! Decades ago, when we were told about the Age of Aquarius and more recently when 2012 was explained as a shift in consciousness, I'm not sure we thought there would be any real change in our lives. People who are looking for purely material reasons to explain the huge changes in everything from politics to weather are feeling helpless and overwhelmed. When looked at from a different perspective, we see that changes are necessary in order to facilitate the realization of this new earth we are more-than-ready to embrace. As with any shift in thought, some are afraid and working to hold on to old ways. But it is impossible to "see two worlds". I choose Love!

“During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 96:31-4

We Are All Meant to Shine

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

The much-quoted "Our Deepest Fear" from Marianne Williamson's A Return to Love tells us that what we fear most isn't our inadequacies but our power. Here is the paragraph from the book: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Shine on, dear Friends!

[This is from a dialogue between matter and Spirit]

“I am Spirit. Man, whose senses are spiritual, is my likeness. He reflects the infinite understanding, for I am Infinity. The beauty of holiness, the perfection of being, imperishable glory,--all are Mine, for I am God. I give immortality to man, for I am Truth. I include and impart all bliss, for I am Love. I give life, without beginning and without end, for I am Life. I am supreme and give all, for I am Mind. I am the substance of all, because I AM THAT I AM.” Mary Baker Eddy-Science and Health page 252:32

Do Not Be Dismayed ...

 

art by Tijana Lukovic

With the new year comes hope -- hope for something better. But remember each one of us has the power to change our thoughts about the world, and therein we hold the key...

“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world.

All things break. And all things can be mended.

Not with time, as they say, but with intention. 

So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally.

The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”

L.R. Knost

New Day's Lyric by Amanda Gorman

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

New Day’s Lyric by Amanda Gorman

“May this be the day

We come together.

Mourning, we come to mend,

Withered, we come to weather,

Torn, we come to tend,

Battered, we come to better.

Tethered by this year of yearning,

We are learning

That though we weren't ready for this,

We have been readied by it.

We steadily vow that no matter

How we are weighed down,

We must always pave a way forward.

This hope is our door, our portal.

Even if we never get back to normal,

Someday we can venture beyond it,

To leave the known and take the first steps.

So let us not return to what was normal,

But reach toward what is next.

What was cursed, we will cure.

What was plagued, we will prove pure.

Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,

Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,

Where we weren't aware, we're now awake;

Those moments we missed

Are now these moments we make,

The moments we meet,

And our hearts, once all together beaten,

Now all together beat.

Come, look up with kindness yet,

For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.

We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,

But to take on tomorrow.”

— Amanda Gorman

Smile of the Great Spirit

 

A friend and I went to the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville, Arkansas. It was a beautiful space which took us on a journey through 14,000 years. It amazed me that there were textiles more than 1,000 years old! How could woven fabrics last so long? While I was intrigued by the pottery and other creations, it took my thoughts to spiritual insights we have gained from ancient cultures, and the understanding which is being shown us today. The days of believing in an “unknown God” will  be over, as we open our minds to the ideas Jesus (and others) have explained to us -- such as:  “The kingdom of heaven is within. The things I do, so can you — and more! You only need two commandments: Love thy neighbor, and love God.” The end of an era is coming, and many people are fearful — to the point of declaring that any thought other than traditional religious teachings are from the devil. Change is difficult, but as we look around us, we know shifts are necessary in almost every aspect of life. As a new year quickly approaches, I ask nothing of myself other than more understanding. On this last day of the year, may we all love ourselves more, so we can love our neighbors as we love ourself.

“Man is the expression of Soul. The Indians caught some glimpses of the underlying reality, when they called a certain beautiful lake “the smile of the Great Spirit.” Separated from man, who expresses Soul, Spirit would be a nonentity; man, divorced from Spirit, would lose his entity. But there is, there can be, no such division, for man is coexistent with God.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 477:26-3

Dimensionalism

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

​My friend in the Netherlands sent me writings on higher thought. When I saw the title of one, I couldn’t remember having heard the word before: dimensionalism. While this pamphlet has to do with aspects of divine Science, it gives an example to which we can all relate. If we are rowing a boat downstream, we may not see what is around the bend — a waterfall, perhaps? But if we are looking at the scene from above, we get the whole picture. As with many things in life, we see from our own perspective and it can be hard to visualize the whole picture. This doesn’t mean that the picture changes when we realize an aspect of it; but simply that we see what was always there. Perhaps we were brought up by people who believe the earth is a flat plane, and so we believe that, too. When something happens which causes us to see the truth of being, our world expands. The world didn’t change; we did. This principle applies to everything in life. I pray to not be close-minded to the wonders around me! 

“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