Intuition or Paranoia?

 

Butterfly Pavilion Broomfield, Co

Photo credit: Aaron Springston 

The past few days have been introspective for me. I’m pondering how to know if what I’m interpreting as an intuitive feeling is indeed that, or if it’s paranoia on my part. Usually these questions bring either peace or an uneasiness, and in that way I know if it’s a divine thought or human angst coming to my attention. But for the past two days, I’ve had no idea. Perhaps all the unrest within me comes from the unrest running through so many at this time. So I’ve taken a few days to disconnect with things, making more time to study and pray. Meditation connects us with true feelings more than “hecatombs of gushing theories”, as Mary Baker Eddy says. I used to question many things pertaining to knowledge or belief. For instance, if I think something is going to happen, and it does, I used to wonder if I was prescient or if I was creating my own reality by thinking it into existence. Ha! I’ve realized those are dead-end thought processes and have learned not to go there. But this nagging feeling that something is amiss in a situation keeps coming back to me. Perhaps one more day of hands in garden soil and eyes on fireflies will bring the peace I know is mine for the accepting. Namaste …

“Angels are pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love, no matter what their individualism may be.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 298:28-30

“Watch with me, angels, watch with me today. Let all God’s holy Thoughts surround me, and be still with me while Heaven’s Son is born. Let earthly sounds be quiet, and the sights to which I am accustomed disappear. Let Christ be welcomed where He is at home. And let Him hear the sounds He understands, and see but sights that show His Father’s Love. Let Him no longer be a stranger here, for He is born again in me today.” 

A Course in Miracles W-303.1:1-6

New Beginnings

Marianne Williamson’s Morning Meditation

“Today I say yes to new beginnings

Our very cells respond to the thoughts we think. With every word, silent or spoken, we influence the body’s functioning. We participate in the life of the universe itself. If my consciousness grows lighter, then so does everything within and around me. This means, of course, that with every thought, I can start to re-create my life. In saying yes to new beginnings, I begin to bring them forth.

Today I am open to a life reborn, arisen from the ashes of my wounded self and any limits born of circumstances that are no more. I am willing to be renewed and repaired by the spirit of God’s love. I am willing to forgive.

Amen.

Today I say yes to new beginnings”


“Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontaneously, even as light emits light without effort; for ‘where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 262:24-27

“Give thanks for mercy and the Love of God. Rejoice in the power of forgiveness to heal your sight completely. Be confident that on this day there is a new beginning. Without the darkness of the past upon your eyes, you cannot fail to see today. And what you see will be so welcome that you will gladly extend today forever.”
A Course in Miracles W-75.9:3-7

Pay Attention

 

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

I was reading Mary Oliver today and these words jumped out at me: “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” This is the full paragraph:

“Yes! No! How necessary it is to have opinions! I think the spotted trout lilies are satisfied, standing a few inches above the earth. I think serenity is not something you just find in the world, like a plum tree, holding up its white petals. The violets, along the river, are opening their blue faces, like small dark lanterns. The green mosses, being so many, are as good as brawny. How important it is to walk along, not in haste but slowly, looking at everything and calling out Yes! No! The swan, for all his pomp, his robes of glass and petals, wants only to be allowed to live on the nameless pond. The catbrier is without fault. The water thrushes, down among the sloppy rocks, are going crazy with happiness. Imagination is better than a sharp instrument. To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” 

Mary Oliver - Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays

“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

“To be in the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention on it. As long as you believe you can attend to what is not true, you are accepting conflict as your choice. Is it really a choice? It seems to be, but seeming and reality are hardly the same. You who are the Kingdom are not concerned with seeming. Reality is yours because you are reality. This is how having and being are ultimately reconciled, not in the Kingdom, but in your mind. The altar there is the only reality. The altar is perfectly clear in thought, because it is a reflection of perfect Thought. Your right mind sees only brothers, because it sees only in its own light.” 

A Course in Miracles T-7.III.4:1-10

Love Without Attack

I have started writing this daily paragraph numerous times this evening, and the words I see on the screen sound maudlin. And so I shall embrace the sadness I feel and focus on this which was written two years ago. Namaste, dear ones …

In these writings, the function of holding the peace, or holding the space of love, or something along those lines, is often mentioned. Sometimes readers ask what that means and why I think it's necessary to do anything of the sort. I've been asking myself this question while people dear to me are having some tough decisions to make and are facing uncertainty in the midst of change. I have the deep feeling that it is my purpose to stake out a neutral space and hold it as an oasis of peace. Sometimes that space is invaded by fear and sadness, but that doesn't mean it has been spoiled. The recognition that reflecting Love is our native state, and that other emotions are human diversions, is the way I reclaim this neutral, loving attitude, and hold it steady for any who wish to join in the peace. While I agree with those who tell me there is a spiritual solution to every problem, I am learning there never was a problem to begin with, and that this basic understanding is the solution.

“There is no sadness where a miracle has come to heal. And nothing more than just one instant of your love without attack is necessary that all this occur. In that one instant you are healed, and in that single instant is all healing done. What stands apart from you, when you accept the blessing that the holy instant brings? Be not afraid of blessing, for the One Who blesses you loves all the world, and leaves nothing within the world that could be feared. But if you shrink from blessing, will the world indeed seem fearful, for you have withheld its peace and comfort, leaving it to die.”
A Course in Miracles T-27.V.4:1-6

“Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264:24-27

Pinions of Light

Baby on a Half-Shell at Meow Wolf

In Christian Science, prayer is an affirmation of Truth and a denial of erroneous thought. By consistently turning in humble quietness to hear the inner guidance which is always there, we are enabled to look through the material pictures which we thought to be truth. The law of Love is so gentle that it is often not discerned in the face of the harshness of human existence. By the realization that God is All, that anything unlike God, good, is a material illusion perpetrated by thought, we are able to see through the darkness into the reality of Light. In this illumination, everything is seen differently. The strength which comes from this Truth is manifest in every aspect of our experience. Join with me in demonstrating this Truth! Something as simple as finding a lost object can show you how seeing in light clears the way for true sight. For instance, if you've lost your keys, instead of rushing about looking every possible place they could be, try seeing in the light. Sit down, quiet your mind, know that you are One with this light, and see what thoughts come to you. What fun it is to simply know where to go and what to do!

“The brain can give no idea of God's man. It can take no cognizance of Mind. Matter is not the organ of infinite Mind. As mortals give up the delusion that there is more than one Mind, more than one God, man in God's likeness will appear, and this eternal man will include in that likeness no material element. As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine Principle of man dawns upon human thought and leads it to ‘where the young child was,’ even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes. Thus the whole earth will be transformed by Truth on its pinions of light, chasing away the darkness of error."
Mary Baker Eddy-Science & Health Page 191:1-15

“Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communication of the created with the Creator. Through prayer love is received, and through miracles love is expressed.”
A Course in Miracles- T-1.I.11:1-3

Independence of Thought

On this day of celebrating freedom and independence, I pause to think how difficult it is to keep my mouth shut — and wonder when I should and should not do so! For instance, someone was talking about Dunkin’ Donut coffee pods and how much they like them. I nearly told them how horrid pods were for the environment, and then wanted to rant about coffee production killing songbirds. Then someone was talking about television and I almost began a lecture on hypnotism and mind control by corporations. So I sit and ponder where to draw the line on this one. If I saw someone torturing an animal (or other living creature), I would step in and stop them. If someone was dumping their waste into a river, I would speak up and attempt to do something to change it. But what if someone is looking at life from a different perspective than mine, even if I feel it to be harmful? Do I have the right to impose my ideas on them? I know I must walk the talk and change the world by changing myself, but sometimes it’s difficult to keep quiet! Happy Independence Day...

“Watch carefully and see what it is you are really asking for. Be very honest with yourself in this, for we must hide nothing from each other. If you will really try to do this, you have taken the first step toward preparing your mind for the Holy One to enter.”A Course in Miracles Chapter 4: III.8

“Students are advised by the author to be charitable and kind, not only towards differing forms of religion and medicine, but to those who hold these differing opinions. Let us be faithful in pointing the way through Christ, as we understand it, but let us also be careful always to ‘judge righteous judgment,’ and never to condemn rashly.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 444:14-19

Questioning Some Things

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

What are your feelings when you hear someone justify their actions by stating that someone else did the same or “worse”? Do you cringe when you hear mention of woman being made from a man’s rib, and she should be subservient to him? Does the extreme duality of the majority of religion cause you to wonder if they know the meaning of One? When someone is feeling hurt by another’s actions, why is it so difficult to speak out and tell them? These are a few of the questions which came to my attention today. I, of course, could expound on my opinions concerning these dilemmas, but I’m trying to listen for the deeper question here. As all things are a product of fear or love, what would the loving response be in these scenarios? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

“Comparison must be an ego device, for love makes none. Specialness always makes comparisons. It is established by a lack seen in another, and maintained by searching for, and keeping clear in sight, all lacks it can perceive. This does it seek, and this it looks upon. And always whom it thus diminishes would be your savior, had you not chosen to make of him a tiny measure of your specialness instead. Against the littleness you see in him you stand as tall and stately, clean and honest, pure and unsullied, by comparison with what you see. ⁷Nor do you understand it is yourself that you diminish thus.” 

A Course in Miracles  T-24.II.1:1-7

“Human thoughts have their degrees of comparison. Some thoughts are better than others. A belief in Truth is better than a belief in error, but no mortal testimony is founded on the divine rock. Mortal testimony can be shaken. Until belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual understanding, human thought has little relation to the actual or divine.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 297:21-28

Cultural Pragmatics

 

Photo credit: Mark McGee

My favorite weekly news magazine has a regular segment on linguistics, in which I read a discussion about “cultural pragmatics”. In Iceland, some of our favorite polite phrases are thought of as just the opposite. Please, thank you, you’re welcome: these are all thought of demeaning in various ways. For instance, if you say, Could I please borrow your car? This question, with the inclusion of “please”, implies that this is a big favor that not everyone would agree to; secondly, it is thought of as humbling yourself before a person who has the power to grant your request or not. And so Scandinavian countries have come up with the word “tack”, which reflects their ideals of equality, self-sufficiency, consensus seeking, and conflict avoidance — along with a desire to not be indebted to other people. So, in essence, requests are made with the expectation that they will be done, not that you’re asking a favor, hence no need for thanks when it is granted! I love seeing the interpretations and different ways of perceiving words and actions!

“Gratitude is a lesson hard to learn for those who look upon the world amiss. The most that they can do is see themselves as better off than others. And they try to be content because another seems to suffer more than they. How pitiful and deprecating are such thoughts!” A Course in Miracles W-195.1:1-4

“If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pronounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and remember our blessings. While the heart is far from divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingratitude of barren lives.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 3:27-2

You Are Alive — So Live!

Art by Jimmy Lawlor

“WHAT IF? 

[words from Donna Ashworth’s ‘To The Women’]

What if you’re never ready?

What if, this is as close to being ready that you’ll ever actually be?

What if, the biggest regret you have when you look back on your life, is that you wasted time waiting, waiting to be better, when you were already so very much enough?

What if, the last thought you have when your life comes to an end, is that you didn’t do enough living whilst you were alive?

My friend, this is it.

This is your life, right here, right now.

And let me tell you something, somebody somewhere went to sleep last night assuming tomorrow would be a new day.

And it wasn’t.

Today is the day.

Every day is the day.

Life waits for no one.

Seize the moment, seize the day.

Dance like nobody’s watching.

Watch the sunset.

Eat the delicious cake.

Put your bare feet on the cool grass.

Be alive.

Be ALIVE.

Put your hand on your chest and feel that heartbeat pulsing through your body.

That’s all you need to be ready.

That is truly all the purpose you ever really need.

You, my friend, are alive.

So live.”

From ‘to the women’ by Donna Ashworth

“We honor you today. Yours is the right to perfect holiness you now accept. With this acceptance is salvation brought to everyone, for who could cherish sin when holiness like this has blessed the world? Who could despair when perfect joy is yours, available to all as remedy for grief and misery, all sense of loss, and for complete escape from sin and guilt?” 

A Course in Miracles W-162.5:1-4

“‘Now,’ cried the apostle, ‘is the accepted time; be hold, now is the day of salvation,’ — meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salvation, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is the time for so-called material pains and material pleasures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible in Science.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 39:18-25

Transformational Forgiveness

For years, two of my friends have been pretending the other doesn’t exist, but recently they  expressed sorrow to each other for the breach in their friendship. As with everything, this could not have been orchestrated any better than by the happenstance which came from forgiveness. They have both been experiencing ill health, depression, and substance abuse. Most  of their friends have kept on keeping on, being kind and helpful to them both, holding the space for Love to bridge the chasm. Any healing is cause for celebration, don’t you think? I was a court reporter for three decades and the saddest development I saw in those years was the way families would fight over stuff -- land, pots and pans, various material possessions. Any rift brought about because someone wants something someone else has — well, it’s a tragedy, in my opinion. May we all witness healing in our relationships, both individual and collective. Let’s celebrate these moments!

“When the final physical and moral effects of Christian Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, Science and material sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the earth.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 288:9-18

“The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. And They come quickly to the living temple, where a home for Them has been set up. There is no place in Heaven holier. And They have come to dwell within the temple offered Them, to be Their resting place as well as yours. What hatred has released to love becomes the brightest light in Heaven’s radiance. And all the lights in Heaven brighter grow, in gratitude for what has been restored.” 

A Course in Miracles T-26.IX.6:1-6

Other Worlds in Our Midst

Fabulous Food From Donna

The last Thursday of the month is my favorite day because it’s our book club meeting. This month’s book was the highly acclaimed Demon Copperhead, written by Barbara Kingsolver. Her writing is a complex work of art, and this time she takes us to Appalachia. We are immersed in a world foreign to most of us; a world of poverty, foster child care malfunctions, drug addiction, and the longing which goes along with these situations. We are introduced to characters we would love to sit on the porch with, and others we’d be fearful to meet on the street. The star of this tale, Demon, (Daemon at birth) is smart, resilient, and likable. Rarely do our Novel Women come across a book that we all like, and this one we all loved. Kudos to Barbara Kingsolver for writing this masterpiece, for which she recently received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction — actually she won the women’s prize. She says she’s a bit perturbed (my words) that there’s still a need for a “women’s” category. Another reason I love this author: she spares no words and suffers no fools, but she notices every detail around her and loves louder than anyone I know!

“Jesus illumines them [writings of the new testament], showing the poverty of mortal existence, but richly recompensing human want and woe with spiritual gain. The incarnation of Truth, that amplification of wonder and glory which angels could only whisper and which God illustrated by light and harmony, is consonant with ever-present Love. So-called mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the weary ones sigh when needing something more native to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual evil.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health page 501:7-18

“Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something ‘outrageous,’ do it because it does not matter. Refuse, and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you. It is only you, therefore, who have made the request outrageous, and every request of a brother is for you. Why would you insist in denying him? For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both. He is asking for salvation, as you are. Poverty is of the ego, and never of God. No ‘outrageous’ requests can be made of one who recognizes what is valuable and wants to accept nothing else.” 

A Course in Miracles T-12.III.4:1-8

To Say or Not To Say

Art from Judy Clement Wall

What do you do when you hear someone say something racist, sexist, ageist -- something that lays like a rock in your memory? When I was a child, I distinctly remember other children saying mean things to and about a girl. She didn't seem to have much going for her. To our way of thinking, she wasn't pretty or smart. But I liked her. I was only 8 or 9, and I was afraid to refute the words of a wad of kids who felt the need to be mean to her. I never forgave myself for that. But I hope I'm rectifying it now! After that time, I began to speak up in the face of injustice. Of course, I went overboard and sometimes would challenge others and defend things that didn't need my defense. Hopefully, I'm learning when my words are needed, as opposed to keeping my mouth shut and letting someone dig a hole for themselves! Whatever the case, the above art from Judy Clement Wall inspires me to love every one and every thing. May I have the wisdom to know what to say and when to say it -- or not!

“Moral courage is ‘the lion of the tribe of Juda,’ the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in ‘green pastures, . . . beside the still waters.’”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 514:10-14

“Bring this light fearlessly with you, and bravely hold it up to the foundation of the ego’s thought system. Be willing to judge it with perfect honesty. Open the dark cornerstone of terror on which it rests, and bring it out into the light. There you will see that it rested on meaninglessness, and that everything of which you have been afraid was based on nothing.”
A Course in Miracles T-11.in.3:7-10

Rest …

Art by Albena Vatcheva

Rivers in the Ocean

Rest - written by Jeff Foster

“Rest, weary one.

Lay your head down.

You have travelled far.

I have no clever words for you.

No system to teach.

No image to maintain.

You’ll find no philosophy here.

No answers to your many questions.

I offer only presence.

Sanctuary.

A bed. 

A meal. 

A small kindness to repay yours.

I am no better than you.

My guru is life.

My lineage is love.

I do not separate the enlightened from the unenlightened.

I teach nothing I do not live.

I quote not from books but from the cracks in the heart. 

I see your fragility yet I see your immense power.

You are not broken.

Don’t let them tell you that you are broken.

We met long ago when dust settled to form worlds.

I think I saw your courage then.

Close your eyes; 

I will keep watch tonight.”

~ Jeff Foster 

“Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 234:4-8

“Real freedom depends on welcoming reality, and of your guests only the Holy Spirit is real. Know, then, Who abides with you merely by recognizing what is there already, and do not be satisfied with imaginary comforters, 

for the Comforter of God is in you.”

A Course in. Miracles T-11.II.7:7-8

Loving Our Community

 

St. James Episcopal Church in Eureka Springs

Photo credit: Richard Quick

Our small village has experienced two heart-breaking events in the last couple of days. An historic church, well-known for reaching out to those in need, had a major fire in the wee hours of the morning. The edifice housed the only pipe organ in our town, beautiful stained glass windows, and a kitchen which has fed the hungry while building community through a program called “Sunday Suppers”. The night before, there was another fire just outside of town in which three  members of a family perished. We feel as though the fabric of our town has been rent. Many times today I’ve stopped to consider the fine line between compassion and a gruesome imagining of events leading to these situations. In both of these tragedies, I’ve been contemplating how to care for those in need, how to love actively, and ways to care about their plight without exacerbating the fear and grief many are feeling. Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: I plan on making these caring actions the focus of my study in days to come. I do know that love lifts us above the feelings of hopelessness which a simple rehashing of events with others brings to us. I shall return to love every time I’m tempted to feel fear. Namaste.

“Only the sane can look on stark insanity and raving madness with pity and compassion, but not with fear. For only if they share in it does it seem fearful, and you do share in it until you look upon your brother with perfect faith and love and tenderness. Before complete forgiveness you still stand unforgiving. You are afraid of God because you fear your brother. Those you do not forgive you fear. And no one reaches love with fear beside him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-19.IV-D.11:2-7

“The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 367:3-9

Support Groups

I heard a program on National Public Radio where people were interviewed who had been involved with hate groups, and now are in recovery. There were white nationalists, neo-nazis, Islamic terrorists. Some wanted out because they realized they were wrong, others had wives who gave them ultimatums when they saw their children behaving in the same way. Whatever the reason, they all had something in common: they couldn’t leave without help from a  support group. It was very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. These people said they were addicted to the feelings, the strong emotions, which were aroused when they screamed messages of derision toward others. Listening to these dear people talk about their experiences — how and why they were drawn to such a destructive group of people, the way it made them feel, why they had to get away from them — I was struck by how much we truly are all the same. Sometimes we lose our way and think that pain is pleasure, hate is love, and ugliness is beauty. I’m going to double down on my efforts to scatter joy and love my neighbor. It is, indeed, important!

"...fear demands the sacrifice of love, for in love's presence fear cannot abide. For hate to be maintained, love must be feared; and only sometimes present, sometimes gone. Thus is love seen as treacherous, because it seems to come and go uncertainly, and offer no stability to you. You do not see how limited and weak is your allegiance, and how frequently you have demanded that love go away, and leave you quietly alone in 'peace.'" 

A Course in Miracles T-29.2.7.

“Pale in the presence of his own momentous question, ‘What is Truth,’ Pilate was drawn into acquiescence with the demands of Jesus’ enemies. Pilate was ignorant of the consequences of his awful decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for man.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 48:25:32 

If You Can Keep Your Head …

 

I’ve always liked this poem. As I read it today, it strikes me these are great characteristics for the President of the United States!

If - By Rudyard Kipling

“If you can keep your head when all about you

   Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,   But make allowance for their doubting too;

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

   Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,   

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

   If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; 

If you can meet with triumph and disaster   

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken   

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,   

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

   And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings   

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew  

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you   

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on’;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

   Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch; 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;   

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run—   

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 

And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!”

“Evasion of Truth cripples integrity, and casts thee down from the pinnacle.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 448:10-11

“Christ calls to all with equal tenderness, seeing no leaders and no followers, and hearing but one answer to them all. Because He hears one Voice, He cannot hear a different answer from the one He gave when God appointed Him His only Son.” 

A Course in Miracles - T-31.II.7:5-6

Thank you, RBG!

Gender equality has always been difficult to achieve. Many have reasons, excuses, for why it's impossible. Legislators insisted it was to protect women, when they refused them the rights which were "granted" to men. These inalienable rights spoken of in the Constitution of the United States have been interpreted time and again, and usually they are deemed as applying to the male sex; for a long while, only to white males, then gradually evolving to include everyone. I watched the movie based on Ruth Bader Ginsberg's work to achieve women's equality in a man's world. It's called "On the Basis of Sex". Remembering how life was when I graduated from high school in 1970 is like remembering a dream. The cages we were crammed into were meant to keep the male animal in control, and it worked pretty well -- at least on the surface. But seeds had been planted; seeds of freedom which we are still nurturing. One of Jesus' main men informed us there are no bond nor free, no gentile nor jew, no male or female -- yet to this day we can't seem to figure that out! I take that back: many of us know these things, and that's why it's up to us to keep affirming the Truth of our being, and doing everything possible for others to see, too. Thank you, RBG!! 

"...oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the breath of freedom come from the cannon's mouth. Love is the liberator." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 225

“You are a perfect creation, and should experience awe only in the Presence of the Creator of perfection. The miracle is therefore a sign of love among equals.Equals should not be in awe of one another because awe implies inequality.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.II.3:3-5