Changing the Material Basis of Thought

Photo credit: Richard Quick

Many of my friends are activists. They have worked for years to improve our environment, politics, and the multitude of things in need of advancement. Some have told me they are tired of the fight. I am extremely grateful to each and every one of you who work to clean up rivers, who are passionate about producing uncontaminated food, who stand up to various tyrants and declare, "The emperor has no clothes!" Not a single person has told me that they're tired of the physical effort involved in these projects; it's the butting up against thought stuck in strong opinion, or that which is fueled by hate and fear, which is frustrating to them. This is where our metaphysical advice can be helpful: Don't try to change anyone else's mind, only your own. More and more of us are witnessing Truth brought to seemingly impossible situations, and we're finding that new avenues of action appear when this is done. There is no need to defend ourselves or proclaim our own strong opinions in support of this Truth. Knowing it, within our own selves, is sufficient!

“As when an acid and alkali meet and bring out a third quality, so mental and moral chemistry changes the material base of thought, giving more spirituality to consciousness and causing it to depend less on material evidence.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 422:14-18

“Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.” 

A Course in Miracles - W-23.1:4-5

Mother’s Day?

Around 1870, mothers from both sides of the Civil War came together in an attempt to stop the fighting brought on by what they called “irrelevant agencies”. In other words, stop sending our sons to their death for whatever-in-the-heck reasons you may come up with. Julia Ward Howe wrote this letter calling on women to come together. Finally, in 1907, Woodrow Wilson watered down the idea and made up Mother’s Day in an attempt to appease women. And so it goes …

“Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! Say firmly: ‘We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.

‘Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.’

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, ‘Disarm, disarm! The sword is not the balance of justice.’ Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each learning after his own time, the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.” 

Julia Ward Howe 

“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 T-23.I.12:1-9)

Have a Nurturing Day!

I didn’t teach my children to celebrate Mother’s Day. I suppose the world did, as I received a memorable note from Aaron one year. He listed 20 reasons why I was the best mother in the world. It was humorous and I loved it! My younger son, Dylan, regularly picks flowers from my garden (and his dad’s) for me. He knows I love flowers in the house and he thinks of me often. I’m not sure either one of my children know my birthdate, and that’s fine, too. I much prefer the Aboriginal idea of telling people when you’ve become a better person, then calling everyone together to celebrate! Why party because time has passed? With this said, have a happy Mother’s Day everyone. Please remember it’s not necessary to have borne a child in order to celebrate a nurturing spirit. Tend your flowers, love an animal, help your neighbor, cook a meal with loving attention, give of your time and energy to things which matter to you — the list is endless in ways your mothering nature can be shown! Namaste…

“Physical birth is not a beginning; it is a continuing. Everything that continues has already been born. It will increase as you are willing to return the unhealed part of your mind to the higher part, returning it undivided to creation.” A Course in Miracles T-5.IV.2:4-6

“Both sexes should be loving, pure, tender, and strong. The attraction between native qualities will be perpetual only as it is pure and true, bringing sweet seasons of renewal like the returning spring.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 57: 8-14

Is Healing Love a Cliché

Photo credit: Stephen Shogren

Love heals. We hear this so often, it's probably become somewhat of a cliché. We may think that nothing can heal the ills of the world, much less something as intangible as love. What if love were the most powerful force in the universe? Not just an emotion called love, but an omnipotent, gentle presence which is a synonym for Source. What if experiencing this Love was sufficient to heal every thought of evil or sickness or misery which has ever been imagined? Then we'd all be lining up to get some of this stuff, don't you think? And it's even easier than that. We only need get out of our own way to see what has always been there. Love heals.

“One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 598:23-25

“Who uses but Christ’s vision finds a peace so deep and quiet, undisturbable and wholly changeless, that the world contains no counterpart. Comparisons are still before this peace. And all the world departs in silence as this peace envelops it, and gently carries it to truth, no more to be the home of fear. For love has come, and healed the world by giving it Christ’s peace.” 

A Course in Miracles - W-305.1:1-4

Awareness of Love’s Presence

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Spending the better part of two weeks with my son, his fantastic wife, and their baby, has been a time of renewal for me. The past few years have been difficult for us all. We’ve experienced friends’ deaths, illnesses, and other emotionally draining events. It seems there’s no time to recover from one sadness before another is upon us. Even so, until I held my sweet grandson in my arms, I had not realized how bereft I was feeling. The rejuvenation of spirit this new child brought to my existence was surprising in its intensity. And the gratitude I feel for the rushes of love experienced from holding him have been an awakening from a slumber not realized. I suppose it’s easy to slip into a certain ennui and not know it. Perhaps this is something many others are not aware of feeling, because nothing has awakened them, such as a sweet new baby looking in their eyes. Let us not forget to be kind to each other. There’s no way to know how it could change a life. Namaste…

"When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts." 

~ Mary Baker Eddy

“The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.” A Course in Miracles T-in.1:6-7

Hitting the Road …

This was Torin’s first time to be outside sitting on the ground. He is not pleased. 😊 

Soon I will be traveling to Colorado to meet my grand baby! I love visiting with my son and his wife, so this will be extra special having their new addition there, too. My writings will be sporadic for the next two weeks. Please know you are in my heart…

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.” Kahlil Gibran

Happiness is Love. Full Stop.

Eureka Women - photo credit, Richard Quick

Arthur C Brooks has spent decades studying happiness. We all know that things which bring us pleasure in our early years are not necessarily what nurtures us in our later ones. In his recent book, “From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life”, this columnist for The Atlantic reports, “Those who are unhappiest later in life are often the strivers on a continual quest for money, power, pleasure, and prestige.” Mr. Brooks also teaches a class on happiness at Harvard Business School. He tells us what most of us already know: “The world gives you a bogus formula for happiness. No 1: Use people. No. 2: Love things. No 3: Worship yourself. And it actually seems right because it’s so close to the truth. It just mixes up the nouns and the verbs. The right formula, based on all of the best neuroscience, clinical, and social scientific research, is simply: Use things, love people, and worship the divine. You can boil down all of the studies of happiness to five words. Those words are: Happiness is love. Full stop.” 

"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

“Happy dreams come true, not because they are dreams, but only because they are happy. And so they must be loving. Their message is, ‘Thy Will be done,’and not, ‘I want it otherwise.’” A Course in Miracles Text Page 223

Reflections of Truth

unknown photographer 

Many, perhaps most, self-help books concentrate on how to change behaviors. The two disciplines I study focus on how to rid ourselves of barriers in our thoughts which keep us from being our true selves. What if everything we deem to be wrong about ourselves would simply melt away if we actually knew that we are the image and likeness of our Source? Mary Baker Eddy defines God as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. We are the reflection of these words. And they are capitalized because the same words with a small letter at the beginning would simply be the ego’s creations, mortal mind’s confusing interpretations  — of which there are many! When I notice myself falling into the little letter mode of thought, I try not to berate myself, but simply turn thought to a higher level than where the world continually encourages it to be. Let’s be gentle with our corrections, just as Love is. 

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. It is not necessary to seek for what is true, but it IS necessary to seek for what is false."

A Course in Miracles, Text, page 338

“Correct material belief by spiritual understanding and Spirit will form you anew." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health 425:24

Grief Without Suffering

 

Photo credit: Blake Lasater 

My thoughts turn to a family friend from long ago. She was a wonderful, spiritually-aware person who showed me the truth in Workbook Lesson #248 from A Course in Miracles: “Whatever suffers is not part of me”. Over the course of a year, this friend’s husband passed on, her daughter was in a car accident which left her in a coma for months before she died, and her house burned down. While I know she felt grief, I'm not sure there was despair. She always had a twinkle in her eye and a generous heart. When she herself passed on some 20 years later, I am told she went with a smile on her face. I often think of her. "Whatever suffers is not a part of me" is not a heartless statement. It doesn't deny the feelings we have, nor does it bring a hardness which excludes emotion. On the contrary! It's a pure Love which allows us to face hard times with a firm understanding of the beauty of Truth. After walking through the grief, we're free to see that nothing can touch our true Self or change the reality of Love. My heart is with everyone in the midst of grief today. Namaste …

"If grief causes suffering, convince the sufferer that affliction is often the source of joy, and that he should rejoice always in ever-present Love." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 377:3

Cosmic Time

We all have experienced the relativity of time passing. Time spent in the dentist’s chair passes much slower than time laughing and talking to friends! Years ago, it seemed we had sped up time with all of the rushing about we do. Even youngsters think time  passes quickly. Then the pandemic came and time took on a whole new persona, don’t you think? It seems to be both slow and fast at the same time! I can’t tell you if something happened a couple of months ago or last year — unless there is a definitive event involved. When we were told that big cosmic changes were on the way, I don’t think anyone could have predicted the world we are now experiencing. And individually we are feeling both torn and united. We have loved ones dying, being hospitalized, breaking bones, losing their homes, losing their minds. And somehow there seems to be greater clarity than ever. It’s an impossible thing for me to define, but we need to talk to each other when we become afraid. Love is stronger than fear, and we only need a reminder of that to bring us back to true reality. Namaste, dear friends …

“The miracle minimizes the need for time. In the longitudinal or horizontal plane the recognition of the equality of the members of the Sonship appears to involve almost endless time. However, the miracle entails a sudden shift from horizontal to vertical perception. This introduces an interval from which the giver and receiver both emerge farther along in time than they would otherwise have been. The miracle thus has the unique property of abolishing time to the extent that it renders the interval of time it spans unnecessary. There is no relationship between the time a miracle takes and the time it covers. The miracle substitutes for learning that might have taken thousands of years. It does so by the underlying recognition of perfect equality of giver and receiver on which the miracle rests. The miracle shortens time by collapsing it, thus eliminating certain intervals within it. ¹It does this, however, within the larger temporal sequence.” A Course in Miracles - T-1.II.6:1-10 

“You may know when first Truth leads by the fewness and faithfulness of its followers. Thus it is that the march of time bears onward freedom’s banner. The powers of this world will fight, and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass the guard until it subscribes to their systems, but Science, heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on. There is always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth’s standard.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 7

Passing By The Thoughts Of The World

Kailey on the John Muir Trail

Having fallen asleep on the couch at 7 p.m. and waking up six hours later, this is the first thing I happened to read. I like the way it sounds and feels …

“Doing those deeply unfashionable things—slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting—is a radical act now, but it is essential. This is a crossroads we all know, a moment when you need to shed a skin. If you do, you’ll expose all those painful nerve endings and feel so raw that you’ll need to take care of yourself for a while. If you don’t, then that skin will harden around you.” 

Katherine May - Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, 2020.

“If you are doing the exercises correctly, you should experience some sense of relaxation, and even a feeling that you are approaching, if not actually entering into light. Try to think of light, formless and without limit, as you pass by the thoughts of this world. And do not forget that they cannot hold you to the world unless you give them the power to do so.” A Course in Miracles W-44.10:1-3 

A World Blessed With Peace

 

Let it go. Just breathe. We hear these instructions when learning how to break the hold of distress and open ourselves to peace. It took me years to realize that someone or something wasn't "making" me upset, it was my perception and interpretation and reaction to things which caused these feelings. Even with this realization, it's sometimes difficult to avoid being caught up in the craziness of the world. When I find myself becoming agitated about anything, I will remind myself to "let all the world be blessed with peace through us." After all, I can't change anything but my own self, and how wonderful that it’s the most important thing for me to do!

"Peace be to me, the holy Son of God. Peace to my brother, who is one with me. Let all the world be blessed with peace through us."

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #360

"Let us learn of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of Spirit, the kingdom of heaven,—the reign and rule of universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain forever unseen." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 208:20-24

Keep On Keeping On

 “Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... 

Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” 

Shel Silverstein

"Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 454:18

A Song of Gratitude

 

The resilience of life is astounding. I’ve watched a beloved friend go into an angry depression after the death of her 30-year-old son. When the isolation of the pandemic arrived, she became agoraphobic and started drinking every day. This went on until she was nearly dead and ended up in the hospital and rehab for two months. After coming back home and getting stronger, she was ready to return to the humanitarian practices she had always excelled at doing. And then the house/apartment where she lived burned and she was left with no possessions, not even her beloved cats. Now, almost a month later she has moved into a sweet little place in the woods of Eureka proper, happily planning her future. She hopes to help with homeless cats and people lost in alcoholism. Gratitude is what has brought her through these last three years of personal hell. Every little kindness offered by others, every beautiful flower springing from the bare earth, the moon, the stars, friendship — she is grateful. Namaste, dear Friends …

"Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech." Mary Baker Eddy -Science & Health Page 3:25-26

“What is Heaven but a song of gratitude and love and praise by everything created to the Source of its creation?”A Course in Miracles - T-26.IV.3:5

With Love, To Lin Wellford

Lin Wellford and her rock paintings

 

When a dear friend passes on, we feel a void. It’s as though the world is off balance without their physical presence on it. Lin Wellford was a friend to many, an adamant advocate for nature and wildlife, an exquisite artist, a fine human being.  I share with you excerpts from a note she wrote me last year, when my life partner died. By sharing our memories, the world comes into balance again. You are loved sweet Friend …

“I know you are well prepared to traverse the experience of sudden loss. Beliefs are so powerful and comforting and necessary. Having dealt now twice with the unexpected death of a loved one, I've grappled with the little memories and expectations of a future that must be gently laid aside. It's a major housekeeping task, in my mind not unlike the work of labor to bring another soul into life. Only harder in some ways because of all the history, good and not-so-good, the miles traveled, the moments shared. It feels to me like each small thing that pops up must be felt and honored and then cauterized the way a wound needs tending.  It's wearying work because it comes and goes and what may set off a 'grief storm' is hard to anticipate.

Thank you for guiding me towards ACIM, which is now part of my lifelong journey and something I am forever grateful for. I know you will make your way through this experience, that you are well loved and comforted by a huge and varied community.  Just wanted to tell you I am among that network of people who care about you and are sending peace and energy for the days ahead.” Lin 

“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 - The Lessons of Love

“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

Withhold No Blessing

Photo Credit: Blake Lasater

Do you ever feel guilty about feeling good? I don’t usually, but recently I had a moment of regret for being happy and contented. A number of us had enjoyed an hour of musical meditation and then went out to lunch at a wonderful restaurant. On the way back to my cozy, safe home, probably to take a nap, I suddenly thought about the people of Ukraine and their frightening plight. Quickly I corrected this useless thought, realizing that it makes no difference how bad I feel, it’s not going to help anyone. It may remind me to help my neighbor, to do everything I can to extend Love to the world, but my guilt will not improve any situation. This realization helps me extend Love  and healing to everyone, knowing that my happiness and contentment allows me to do this. I pray that we may love so passionately that it spreads exponentially all over the world!

“He will withhold no blessing from it, nor limit it in any way. He will join to it all the power that God has given Him, to make each little gift of love a source of healing for everyone. Each little gift you offer to your brother lights up the world. Be not concerned with darkness; look away from it and toward your brother. And let the darkness be dispelled by Him Who knows the light, and lays it gently in each quiet smile of faith and confidence with which you bless your brother.” A Course in Miracles - T-22.VI.9:7-11 

This Need Not Be

Unknown photographer

 Dogfish by Mary Oliver (an excerpt)

You don’t want to hear the story

Of my life, and anyway

I don’t want to tell it, I want to listen

To the enormous waterfalls of the sun.

And anyway it’s the same old story – – –

A few people just trying,

One way or another,

To survive.

Mostly, I want to be kind.

And nobody, of course, is kind,

Or mean,

For a simple reason.

And nobody gets out of it, having to

Swim through the fires to stay in

This world.”

“If you cannot hear the Voice for God, it is because you do not choose to listen.” A Course in Miracles T-4.IV.1:1 

Renewal, Resurrection, Spring

 

Unknown photographer

Spring by Mary Oliver 

“Somewhere

a black bear

has just risen from sleep

and is staring

down the mountain.

All night

in the brisk and shallow restlessness

of early spring

I think of her,

her four black fists

flicking the gravel,

her tongue

like a red fire

touching the grass,

the cold water.

There is only one question:

how to love this world.

I think of her

rising

like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against

the silence

of the trees.

Whatever else

my life is

with its poems

and its music

and its glass cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness

coming

down the mountain,

breathing and tasting;

all day I think of her -—

her white teeth,

her wordlessness,

her perfect love.”

“My resurrection comes again each time I lead a brother safely to the place at which the journey ends and is forgot. I am renewed each time a brother learns there is a way from misery and pain. I am reborn each time a brother’s mind turns to the light in him and looks for me. I have forgotten no one. Help me now to lead you back to where the journey was begun, to make another choice with me.” 

A Course in Miracles w-rV.in.7:1-5

Choose Again

Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Spring Night, 1914.

 “The chief beauty about time

is that you cannot waste it in advance.

The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you,

as perfect, as unspoiled,

as if you had never wasted or misapplied

a single moment in all your life.

You can turn over a new leaf every hour

if you choose.”

Arnold Bennett

“In every difficulty, all distress, and each perplexity Christ calls to you and gently says, “My brother, choose again.”

A Course in Miracles T-31.VIII.3.2

Here and Now

Grant Haffner - Into the night, 1978.

 “It is easy to mourn the lives we aren't living. Easy to wish we'd developed other talents, said yes to different offers. Easy to wish we'd worked harder, loved better, handled our finances more astutely, been more popular, stayed in the band, gone to Australia, said yes to the coffee or done more bloody yoga.

It takes no effort to miss the friends we didn't make and the work we didn't do the people we didn't do and the people we didn't marry and the children we didn't have. It is not difficult to see yourself through the lens of other people, and to wish you were all the different kaleidoscopic versions of you they wanted you to be. It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out.

But it is not lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It's the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people's worst enemy.

We can't tell if any of those other versions would of been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.”

Matt Haig - The Midnight Library, 2020.