A New Voice

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

The Journey - By Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life you could save.”

― Mary Oliver

“Salvation is nothing more than ‘right-mindedness’ which is not the One-mindedness of the Holy Spirit, but which must be achieved before One-mindedness is restored. Right-mindedness leads to the next step automatically, because right perception is uniformly without attack, and therefore wrong-mindedness is obliterated. The ego cannot survive without judgment, and is laid aside accordingly. The mind then has only one direction in which it can move. Its direction is always automatic, because it cannot but be dictated by the thought system to which it adheres.”

A Course in Miracles T-4.II.10:1-5

“To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance 

of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to benighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ 

Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morning beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wisemen were led to behold and to follow this daystar of divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page vii:1-12

“Nerding Out” On Classical Music

Helene Grimaud - pianist and lover of wolves

“I’ve loved being able to nerd out with you over classical music!” This is a statement made to me by a patient care assistant as she joined me in listening to Helene Grimaud play Beethoven on the piano. Turns out this young woman had played the piano all her life, played violin with her college Orchestra, and loved everything classical. She was lamenting the fact there was no place to hear opera in this area. I was able to introduce her to the Opera in the Ozarks, a training ground for professional opera singers. Even though there are only three or four performances left in this season, she’s hoping to catch one. I tell you this because every interaction we have is important. Why was I listening to piano music when she came into the room, rather than an audiobook with my headsets? As I understand divine guidance, or going with the flow, it’s because it was all part of the soup of consciousness. This young woman felt as though she had given up her musical aspirations, but I shared with her that I once went 12 years without touching a keyboard, and it felt great to come back. Just as it’s feeling great to come back from the current hiccup in my life.

“There is a place in you where this whole world has been forgotten; where no memory of sin and of illusion lingers still. There is a place in you which time has left, and echoes of eternity are heard. There is a resting place so still no sound except a hymn to Heaven rises up to gladden God the Father and the Son. Where Both abide are They remembered, Both. And where They are is Heaven and is peace.”
A Course in Miracles T-29.V.1:1-5

“Japhet (Noah’s son). A type of spiritual peace, flowing from the understanding that God is the divine Principle of all existence, and that man is His idea, the child of His care.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health 589:8-11

Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity

The Light Above My Bed 

This is my second full day in the physical rehabilitation hospital. Their signs tell me that they are in the top 4% in the nation (by many standards) and from what I’ve witnessed today, I’d put them at the top! What an interesting, knowledgeable, kind, compassionate, encouraging group of young people I’m getting to know! The art on the walls of this facility is quirky and beautiful. (My room has photos of peanuts doing odd things, and a hugely detailed lady bug on an iris). The walls are in contrasting colors of calm, the rest is glass, which shows off state-of-the-art equipment and inspiring quotes. Seeing the world through the lens of forced hospitalization is different, without a doubt. We create our own bubbles, and when forced into a new one, we see through new eyes.


“Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of humanity:

‘Sweet are the uses of adversity;

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.’

Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, — a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of God’s care. Spiritual development germinates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 66:1-16

“There are two diametrically opposed ways of seeing your brother. They must both be in your mind, because you are the perceiver. They must also be in his, because you are perceiving him. See him through the Holy Spirit in his mind, and you will recognize Him in yours. What you acknowledge in your brother you are acknowledging in yourself, and what you share you strengthen.”
A Course in Miracles T-5.III.3:1-5

Peaceful and Joyful

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

This writing was originally from ten years ago. I repeat today as it expresses my feelings.

At this time last year, I was in the hospital. The first few days, I requested that no visitors be admitted and I was at peace with the decision, happy to be listening to Mind rather than talking mindlessly. Numerous times a day, nurses and/or doctors would ask if there was anyone they could call for me, or if I’d like to visit with a counselor or pastor or someone. I assured them I was fine. I was fine because I realized that I was one with Love, without fear or worry, accepting the perfect peace that resides within. I think of those days occasionally when people tell me they are lonely and wish they had someone with which to share their lives. I feel I’m sharing everything with everyone, right now, right here, in the middle of the night without another human voice within range of my ears. I feel that way because the unity of Spirit is a never-ending giving and receiving. Accepting this fact, I feel complete, and there is no end to the peace and joy!

"To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear,--this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 423:8-11

“There is no end to all the peace and joy, and all the miracles that I will give, when I accept God’s Word. Why not today? Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever. It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You. Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love.”
A Course in Miracles W-355.1:1-8

Nature Voices Divine Love

 

Art by Abbott Henderson Thayer

Forgive Me - Poem by Mary Oliver

Angels are wonderful but they are so, well, aloof.

It’s what I sense in the mud and the roots of the

trees, or the well, or the barn, or the rock with

its citron map of lichen that halts my feet and

makes my eyes flare,

 feeling the presence of some spirit, 

some small god,

 who abides there.

If I were a perfect person, I would be bowing

continuously.

I’m not, though I pause wherever I feel this

holiness, which is why I’m so often late coming

back from wherever I went.

Forgive me.

~ Mary Oliver

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. 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 240:1-9

“Forgiveness turns the world of sin into a world of glory, wonderful to see. Each flower shines in light, and every bird sings of the joy of Heaven. There is no sadness and there is no parting here, for everything is totally forgiven. And what has been forgiven must join, for nothing stands between to keep them separate and apart. The sinless must perceive that they are one, for nothing stands between to push the other off. And in the space that sin left vacant do they join as one, in gladness recognizing what is part of them has not been kept apart and separate.”

A Course in Miracles T-26.IV.2:1-6

No Defense Against Truth

Agapanthus - flowering beauty in France

Courtesy of Geneva Currin 

I’m not sure I’d ever felt fear until last night. Childhood nightmares, fear of parents disappearing, many things I thought were fearful had, of course, been experienced. But last night, waking up in the dark, realizing I had no legs, finding the call button for the nurses was not near — I have officially felt fear. But there are no degrees of fear any more than there are degrees of love. I think this phase of my life will be spent truly trying to know the peace of God. The all-encompassing ego, or mortal mind, has been something I’ve denied, I’ve ignored, I’ve tried to overcome, but I haven’t seen it as nothingness trying to be everything. If this self-importance has not shown me the error of my way, I don’t know what will. Having always had somewhat of a superiority complex – as I’ve described it, jumping up on my high horse — I feel it becoming less substantial in my mind. I’m ready to go forward without this defense against truth.   

“What is the ego? Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something. In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real. Yet could God’s Son as He created him abide in form or in a world of form? Who asks you to define the ego and explain how it arose can be but he who thinks it real, and seeks by definition to ensure that its illusive nature is concealed behind the words that seem to make it so.”

A Course in Miracles C-2.2:1-5

“Every one must see or feel for himself in order to be convinced; but I am satisfied that any who will lay aside their preconceived notions, and deal honestly with themselves and the light they have, will come to a knowledge of the truth as illustrated in the teachings and life of Jesus Christ; that is, that Mind, or Soul, or whatever you may be pleased to call it, is the real Ego, or self, and that mortal mind with its body is the unreal and vanishing, and eventually goes back to its native nothingness.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings 468: 27

Different Types of Prayer

When I first began to play the organ for churches other than my childhood Christian Science Society, I did not understand many of the terms used in their services. There were different types of prayer, different reasons for communion, ways of thinking about sin, with which I was unfamiliar. Jesus was God and Mary was Mother of God — foreign thinking for me. But now, after a decade of watching three beautiful congregations of Methodists, Presbyterians, and Catholics, I think I get it. We all need comfort and love. Many of us are at peace when we see that all our needs are already supplied, and it’s up to us to accept divine Love. Some of us feel like sinners and need absolution in order to survive and thrive. Many want the communion of like-minded folk, to walk hand-in-hand with a tribe, to have someone to call on in times of need. But the bottom line is we all want to feel and share the Love which is God. Because there is no other love, not in reality. Whatever you do which expresses kindness and charity, whatever brings you comfort, whatever helps you see yourself as One with All That Is — Keep on doing it! And don’t be afraid to think outside of your comfort zone.

“The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page vii: 13-15

“Right perception is necessary before God can communicate directly to His altars, which He established in His Sons. There He can communicate His certainty, and His knowledge will bring peace without question. God is not a stranger to His Sons, and His Sons are not strangers to each other. Knowledge preceded both perception and time, and will ultimately replace them. That is the real meaning of ‘Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,’ and ‘Before Abraham was I am.’ Perception can and must be stabilized, but knowledge is stable. ‘Fear God and keep His commandments’ becomes ‘Know God and accept His certainty.’”
A Course in Miracles T-3.III.6:1-7

The People Around Us

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

These last few days in the hospital have been wonderful, because of the beautiful young people I have met. Every nurse, tech, doctor — they have all been incredibly interesting. There’s the young woman who just read a novel for the first time in her life, and she loved it. Having been a life-long reader, I made some recommendations to her and she was very excited to try one author in particular. And the young father who became a nurse because his wife was one, and when he heard the stories of her days, he wanted to make a difference in that way, also. They live on a hill which was secluded and has become developed. He has a dream of living somewhere like Eureka Springs. Then there’s the sweetest young woman whose daughter has autoimmune problems. We spent a long time discussing the deterioration of America’s food supply chain. A 20-year-old assistant who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 15. She had many tips for my year-old grandson who has just been told the same. The exotically-beautiful nurse, who left teaching to become a nurse, was particularly inspiring to me. The ambulance drivers, in their 20s, who lament the fact they must live with their parents, because after car payments and insurance, there is not enough money left over to think of purchasing a home. I have received insights into their lives, hopes, their desire to dream of more. I’m going to sleep thinking of my sweet little abode, my incredible friends, my children, and all the beauty I see all around. Namaste …

“The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you reproducing it? Then you are haunted in your work by vicious sculptors and hideous forms. Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually. The result is that you are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your life-work, and adopt into your experience the angular outline and deformity of matter models.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:12-24

“Today’s idea takes another step toward quick salvation, and a giant stride it is indeed! So great the distance is that it encompasses, it sets you down just short of Heaven, with the goal in sight and obstacles behind. Your foot has reached the lawns that welcome you to Heaven’s gate; the quiet place of peace, where you await with certainty the final step of God. How far are we progressing now from earth! How close are we approaching to our goal! How short the journey still to be pursued!”
A Course in Miracles W-194.1:1-6

Loving My Rose-Colored Glasses

“Wonderment”

A creation from Sandy Wythawai Starbird

[this is a writing from a few years ago]

This is a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: “We can live as though nothing is a miracle or as if everything is a miracle.” I, personally, have always leaned toward the side of wonderment, looking at life with rose-colored glasses and being tickled pink at the ever-changing miracle of life, as witnessed by trees and flowers and flowing water and all of nature. Today I’m enjoying the miracle of driving a car! Following a lower-leg amputation over two years ago, I didn’t drive for more than six months. The situation reminded me of when you lose electricity in your home for a period of time, then when it’s restored you’re so mindfully grateful! When I’m driving, I can actually feel my foot, although intellectually I know it’s the prosthetic one. People tell me this is “phantom pain”. I think of it as a gift of Life. I'll nurture the feeling, and other inexplicable ones which are showing me Truth in all its forms and functions. I will continue to recognize the miracle so I can give it away!

“The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 560:11-16

“What is temptation but a wish to make illusions real? It does not seem to be the wish that no reality be so. Yet it is an assertion that some forms of idols have a powerful appeal that makes them harder to resist than those you would not want to have reality. Temptation, then, is nothing more than this; a prayer the miracle touch not some dreams, but keep their unreality obscure and give to them reality instead. And Heaven gives no answer to the prayer, nor can a miracle be given you to heal appearances you do not like. You have established limits. What you ask is given you, but not of God Who knows no limits. You have limited yourself.
A Course in Miracles T-30.VIII.3:1-8

Choosing Knowledge

When we feel ill, it seems difficult, perhaps impossible, to understand what is going on. We may fall into the ego’s trap of believing that death is an escape. I think I’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that I know something. In my years of writing this column, my goal has been to introduce people to this way of thought. The function has not been to challenge anyone’s thinking by writing the words I know to be true. I’m afraid I’ve fallen into level confusion and am counter productive in my writings and practice of divine metaphysics. Many of my friends are working with me to regain the joy of God rather than choosing pain. Many other friends do not understand that it’s time for me to choose knowledge, rather than inanity. I do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I am choosing love over fear. This may involve turning away from erroneous thought and seeing through love rather than reacting to fear. I’m not sure where this line of thinking is leading me, but we shall find out!


Lesson 190

I choose the joy of God instead of pain.

1. Pain is a wrong perspective. ²When it is experienced in any form, it is a proof of self-deception. ³It is not a fact at all.⁴There is no form it takes that will not disappear if seen aright. ⁵For pain proclaims God cruel. ⁶How could it be real in any form? ⁷It witnesses to God the Father’s hatred of His Son, the sinfulness He sees in him, and His insane desire for revenge and death.

2. Can such projections be attested to? ²Can they be anything but wholly false? ³Pain is but witness to the Son’s mistakes in what he thinks he is. ⁴It is a dream of fierce retaliation for a crime that could not be committed; for attack on what is wholly unassailable. ⁵It is a nightmare of abandonment by an Eternal Love, which could not leave the Son whom It created out of love.

3. Pain is a sign illusions reign in place of truth. ²It demonstrates God is denied, confused with fear, perceived as mad, and seen as traitor to Himself. ³If God is real, there is no pain. ⁴If pain is real, there is no God. ⁵For vengeance is not part of love. ⁶And fear, denying love and using pain to prove that God is dead, has shown that death is victor over life. ⁷The body is the Son of God, corruptible in death, as mortal as the Father he has slain.

4. Peace to such foolishness! ²The time has come to laugh at such insane ideas. ³There is no need to think of them as savage crimes, or secret sins with weighty consequence. ⁴Who but a madman could conceive of them as cause of anything? ⁵Their witness, pain, is mad as they, and no more to be feared than the insane illusions which it shields, and tries to demonstrate must still be true.

5. It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. ²Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way. ³There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach down and bring oppression. ⁴No one but yourself affects you. ⁵There is nothing in the world that has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. ⁶But it is you who have the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognizing what you are. ⁷As you perceive the harmlessness in them, they will accept your holy will as theirs. ⁸And what was seen as fearful now becomes a source of innocence and holiness.

6. My holy brother, think of this awhile: The world you see does nothing. ²It has no effects at all. ³It merely represents your thoughts. ⁴And it will change entirely as you elect to change your mind, and choose the joy of God as what you really want. ⁵Your Self is radiant in this holy joy, unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable, forever and forever. ⁶And would you deny a little corner of your mind its own inheritance, and keep it as a hospital for pain; a sickly place where living things must come at last to die?

7. The world may seem to cause you pain. ²And yet the world, as causeless, has no power to cause. ³As an effect, it cannot make effects. ⁴As an illusion, it is what you wish. ⁵Your idle wishes represent its pains. ⁶Your strange desires bring it evil dreams. ⁷Your thoughts of death envelop it in fear, while in your kind forgiveness does it live.

8. Pain is the thought of evil taking form, and working havoc in your holy mind. ²Pain is the ransom you have gladly paid not to be free. ³In pain is God denied the Son He loves. ⁴In pain does fear appear to triumph over love, and time replace eternity and Heaven. ⁵And the world becomes a cruel and a bitter place, where sorrow rules and little joys give way before the onslaught of the savage pain that waits to end all joy in misery.

9. Lay down your arms, and come without defense into the quiet place where Heaven’s peace holds all things still at last.²Lay down all thoughts of danger and of fear. ³Let no attack enter with you. ⁴Lay down the cruel sword of judgment that you hold against your throat, and put aside the withering assaults with which you seek to hide your holiness.

10. Here will you understand there is no pain. ²Here does the joy of God belong to you. ³This is the day when it is given you to realize the lesson that contains all of salvation’s power. ⁴It is this: Pain is illusion; joy, reality. ⁵Pain is but sleep; joy is awakening. ⁶Pain is deception; joy alone is truth.

11. And so again we make the only choice that ever can be made; we choose between illusions and the truth, or pain and joy, or hell and Heaven. ²Let our gratitude unto our Teacher fill our hearts, as we are free to choose our joy instead of pain, our holiness in place of sin, the peace of God instead of conflict, and the light of Heaven for the darkness of the world

(ACIM, W-190.1:1–11:2)

Unity of Spirit

Kahlil Gibran’s writing on God — from “The Madman”

“In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips, I ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying, ‘Master, I am thy slave. Thy hidden will is my law and I shall obey thee for ever more.’

But God made no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away.

And after a thousand years I ascended the holy mountain and again spoke unto God, saying, ‘Creator, I am thy creation. Out of clay hast thou fashioned me and to thee I owe mine all.’

And God made no answer, but like a thousand swift wings passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the holy mountain and spoke unto God again, saying, ‘Father, I am thy son. In pity and love thou hast given me birth, and through love and worship I shall inherit thy kingdom.’

And God made no answer, and like the mist that veils the distant hills he passed away.

And after a thousand years I climbed the sacred mountain and again spoke unto God, saying, ‘My God, my aim and my fulfilment; I am thy yesterday and thou art my tomorrow. I am thy root in the earth and thou art my flower in the sky, and together we grow before the face of the sun.’

Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness, and even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that runneth down to her, 

he enfolded me.

And when I descended to the valleys and the plains, God was there also.”

Kahlil Gibran

“My holiness shines bright and clear today. Today I wake with joy, expecting but the happy things of God to come to me. I ask but them to come, and realize my invitation will be answered by the thoughts to which it has been sent by me. And I will ask for only joyous things the instant I accept my holiness. For what would be the use of pain to me, what purpose would my suffering fulfill, and how would grief and loss avail me if insanity departs from me today, and I accept my holiness instead?

“Father, my holiness is Yours. Let me rejoice in it, and through forgiveness be restored to sanity. Your Son is still as You created him. My holiness is part of me, and also part of You. And what can alter Holiness Itself?”

A Course in Miracles W-285.1:1–2:5

“The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind’s creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness — yea, the divine nature — appear in man and the universe never to disappear.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 509:24-28

Wonder and Awe

“Try and let your knowledge be sideswiped by awe” — These words are from a poem I love. The act of “collapsing in wonder” (also taken from the poem) is being reinforced regularly in my daily life. There’s a video about stress relief and the main suggestion is to feel awe everyday. Dacher Kelter, the man being interviewed, mentioned that in London, where he is from, no one ever looks up at the sky. An act as simple as laying down on the ground and looking at clouds and birds, connecting with the earth, is the best way to relieve stress. He used the word “awe” time and time again in his explanations of getting past stressful feelings and embracing happiness and peace. Feeling awe, collapsing into wonder, these sound like simple acts which anyone could do. But apparently the majority of us do not. So when we are talking to someone who is sad, or overwhelmed by life, or anxious, or worried, or tired of it all, let’s take them outside for a look around — really looking and getting lost in the wonder. It’s the best feeling of all!

Here is a link to the interview, if you’re interested!

https://youtu.be/NO_GdfSe9To


“It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 247:24-27

“There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you. All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head.”
A Course in Miracles W-156.4:1-4

News For My Friends

 

Dear Friends,

I am currently in our local hospital and they will be sending me to a larger one soon. I have everything I need, and more. 

A friend has been bringing me “real” food and wlll be my advocate for the move to Rogers. 

As a cherished Sufi friend wrote me: “Would you like to be on the international list for healing prayers (Sufi service)?  I really don't need any details - they can interfere with seeing a person in their perfection.” This is absolutely how I feel about material situations, so I am hesitant to put too much in this note of explanation. I know inquiring minds want to know more. So I’m going to write a separate note, with more details than I’m comfortable giving, for the analytical minds in our circle of loving Beings. 

I have known I had a problem for a couple of months. There is only one explanation I can think of for why I haven’t attended to it: I was hoping I’d wake up dead one morning. Please, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a death wish. I love every facet of my life, and look forward to each day. But rather than face the apocalyptic events happening around us, rather than facing the extensive medical treatment i knew would be needed, I hoped for nature to take its course. And I suppose it has, because it looks as though I have to “stay calm and carry on”. 

And so I shall…

Thank you for the Love you are continually radiating towards me. Please know I’m sending it back!

Eternally, 

Marsha

For Years My Heart Inquired

                              

Hafiz Translated by Dick Davis

“For years my heart inquired of me

                   Where Jamshid's sacred cup might be,

And what was in its own possession

                   It asked from strangers, constantly;

Begging the pearl that's slipped its shell

                   From lost souls wandering by the sea.

Last night I took my troubles to

                   The Magian sage whose keen eyes see

A hundred answers in the wine

                   Whose cup he, laughing, showed to me.

I questioned him, "When was this cup

                   That shows the world's reality

Handed to you?" He said, "The day

                   Heaven's vault of lapis lazuli

Was raised, and marvelous things took place

                   By Intellect's divine decree,

And Moses' miracles were made

                   And Sameri's apostasy."

He added then, "That friend they hanged   

                   High on the looming gallows tree—

His sin was that he spoke of things

                   Which should be pondered secretly,

The page of truth his heart enclosed

                   Was annotated publicly.

But if the Holy Ghost once more

                   Should lend his aid to us we'd see

Others perform what Jesus did—

                   Since in his heartsick anguish he

Was unaware that God was there

                   And called His name out ceaselessly."

I asked him next, "And beauties' curls

                   That tumble down so sinuously,

What is their meaning? Whence do they come?"

                   "Hafez," the sage replied to me,

"It's your distracted, lovelorn heart

                   That asks these questions constantly."

“When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, — called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, — is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 108:19-29

“All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize yourself, your brother or God. To recognize means to ‘know again,’ implying that you knew before. You can see in many ways because perception involves interpretation, and this means that it is not whole or consistent. The miracle, being a way of perceiving, is not knowledge. It is the right answer to a question, but you do not question when you know. Questioning illusions is the first step in undoing them. The miracle, or the right answer, corrects them. Since perceptions change, their dependence on time is obvious. How you perceive at any given time determines what you do, and actions must occur in time. Knowledge is timeless, because certainty is not questionable. You know when you have ceased to ask questions.” 

A Course in Miracles T-3.III.2:1-11

I’m a Dreamer …

"Imagine" by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today... 

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace... 

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one 

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world... 

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

“Love is priestess at the altar of Truth. Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 454:21-23 

“The Holy Spirit teaches thus: There is no hell. Hell is only what the ego has made of the present. The belief in hell is what prevents you from understanding the present, because you are afraid of it. The Holy Spirit leads as steadily to Heaven as the ego drives to hell. For the Holy Spirit, Who knows only the present, uses it to undo the fear by which the ego would make the present useless. There is no escape from fear in the ego’s use of time. For time, according to its teaching, is nothing but a teaching device for compounding guilt until it becomes all-encompassing, demanding vengeance forever.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.I.7:1-7

Life is a Meditation

Photo credit: Blake Lasater Family

How do you integrate your spiritual practice into daily life? When asked this question, I had to pause and think about it. Since I don’t have any rituals which would be defined as “spiritual practice”, I suppose they are asking about the moments I stop to commune with the Universe — times when waiting in line at the grocery, or staying calm while choir direction is happening, or clearing my mind to listen for inspiration in the daily Wordle! Hum, I guess life IS a spiritual practice, don’t you think? When I find myself turning a situation around and ‘round in thought, or when I replay possible scenarios of how things may transpire, that’s the time for a mental reminder to just stop it! Spiritual practice, for me, can be defined as getting out of my own way and listening for the inner voice which could be called intuition, or God. While some may think going to church once a week constitutes a spiritual practice, most folks I know have a moment-to-moment awareness which is guided by Love. How do you know if you’re life is directed by Spirit or ego? If you’re at peace, it’s God; if you’re upset and unhappy, it’s ego!

“Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 1:10-14

“It is impossible to accept the holy instant without reservation unless, just for an instant, you are willing to see no past or future. You cannot prepare for it without placing it in the future. Release is given you the instant you desire it. Many have spent a lifetime in preparation, and have indeed achieved their instants of success. This course does not attempt to teach more than they learned in time, but it does aim at saving time. You may be attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. Enormous effort is expended in the attempt to make holy what is hated and despised. Nor is a lifetime of contemplation and long periods of meditation aimed at detachment from the body necessary. All such attempts will ultimately succeed because of their purpose. Yet the means are tedious and very time consuming, for all of them look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness and inadequacy.”
A Course in Miracles - T-18.VII.4:1-11

Peace to the Struggling Heart

Scala Dei Turchi White Wall - Italy

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

Often things are not the way we think they should be, but we can still be happy and at peace. What happens within you is entirely yours; what happens around you is never yours alone. How often do you hear someone say: He/She pushes my buttons! This means, of course, that someone “makes you angry or upset”. Is this really possible? How we react to someone else is either peaceful or tumultuous, and we have that choice to make in every moment. When I was a child, I didn’t like to have conversations when I first woke up in the morning. My mother thought this was a flaw in my character and tried to change me. Looking at this now, I see that silence in the morning works best for many of us. If I start out the day with inane conversation, or news stories hand-picked to feed my fears, the timbre of the day has been set, making it difficult to center myself in the peace which is always a present possibility. Similarly, when I don’t sleep well at night, it’s because I haven’t been able to shut down my thoughts. Although I am not a fan of ritual, morning and evening quiet meditations work for me. We are all individuals, and through an examination of your feelings, habits, and demeanor, you can discover what works for you, too!


“Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 45:16-21

“O my brothers, if you only knew the peace that will envelop you and hold you safe and pure and lovely in the Mind of God, you could but rush to meet Him where His altar is. Hallowed your Name and His, for they are joined here in this holy place. Here He leans down to lift you up to Him, out of illusions into holiness; out of the world and to eternity; out of all fear and given back to love.”
A Course in Miracles C-4.8:1-3

Only Good Can Come Of This?

Disapproving Looks

Photo credit: Richard Quick - 2015

A long-time friend will be experiencing a tough few weeks of treatment for a disease. We met over forty years ago and one of our bonds was that we had both been raised in Christian Science, but neither of us were living by its principles at the time. I had a long talk with her today, and as we were winding up our phone call, something came to me which I had on my computer as a screen saver for years. “Only Good Can Come Of This”. It didn’t matter if what was happening in my life seemed good or bad, I held to this thought. It seems like a naive statement in the face of the government turmoil we are witnessing. Robbing the poor to pay the rich: only good can come of this? It’s difficult to see how this could be possible. A friend having cancer: only good can come of this? Another hard sell. But ultimately, the metaphysical principle at work is that the only way to change the world is to change our mind about it. I must believe that most of us are kind, loving, and working to make a better world. We are now beginning to understand, William Shakespeare’s statement: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” As we go into this day of celebration of our nation’s freedom, let’s find ways to reaffirm our solidarity for the continuation of our country’s noble goals. We are One in Love.

“The first step toward freedom involves a sorting out of the false from the true. This is a process of separation in the constructive sense, and reflects the true meaning of the Apocalypse. Everyone will ultimately look upon his own creations and choose to preserve only what is good, just as God Himself looked upon what He had created and knew that it was good. At this point, the mind can begin to look with love on its own creations because of their worthiness. At the same time the mind will inevitably disown its miscreations which, without belief, will no longer exist.”
A Course in Miracles T-2.VIII.4:1-5

“The history of our country, like all history, illustrates the might of Mind, and shows human power to be proportionate to its embodiment of right thinking. A few immortal sentences, breathing the omnipotence of divine justice, have been potent to break despotic fetters and abolish the whipping-post and slave market; but 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 225:14-22