Reflecting Pure Light

photo credit: Aaron Springston

I watch  friends and acquaintances in the multitude of roles they play. I see shopkeepers living on Eureka-time in a laid-back tourist town. Then there are professions which could be taken as stressful, and it's interesting to note which are so and which aren't. You've probably already thought of the myriad of "types" of people you know. In reflecting on this, it seems it doesn't matter whether they are in a profession which handles what we think of as life-or-death situations, or whether they check groceries, make music, create art, live a philanthropic life, or do anything they please on a regular basis. No matter how they spend their time, some are uptight and some are calm and cool. It's simply a matter of how they choose to respond to events around them. Some of these people are pure light, reflecting Love in their every action. Some of them really want to be happy, and often pretend they are so, but deep in their eyes (and obvious in their actions) fear, guilt, lack are seen. Then there are those who dash about from one activity to another, rushed and hurried, running from something that perhaps isn't recognized even by them. I translate these actions as varying degrees of remembrance. Some don't know there's anything to remember, and when they get hints, it frightens them and they retreat into well-known beliefs and actions. Almost everyone I know has caught a glimpse of Truth and are eager to remember more. Once we touch this Oneness, we want to feel it all the time. There's nothing else quite like it! 

“Man is the family name for all ideas,--the sons and daughters of God. All that God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting goodness and power.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 515:16:24

Revelation and Progress

photo credit: Aaron Springston

A friend and I were recently talking about our children and how wonderful they are and how glad we are to know them. She said she didn't know how her boys had turned out so great, as she had moved them around frequently when they were young, and many of her ways wouldn't have been advocated by the so-called experts in childrearing. Yet because she was honest with her children, and she always loved them fully without judgment, they are wonderful human beings and super parents in their own right. My boys also are wonderful, but the physical circumstances of their childhood was entirely different. They attended a beautiful independent school in a small town, had a full-time mom and every-other-weekend dad, and made lifelong friends while learning about the world from their small neighborhood. There are some things my friend and I had in common raising these boys. We didn't place limitations and judgments on them. We encouraged their light to shine and made sure they knew what that meant. We weren't afraid to teach them about God, but we didn't threaten them with this knowledge. Now that they're adults, we have the pleasure of watching their light shine, fearless and loving, giving forth what they have received.

"Light: Symbol of Truth; revelation and progress." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 591:23-24

I Want to Be Happy

photo credit: Aaron Springston

I want to feel good. I want to be happy. Don't we all want these things? While feeling good and being happy may sometimes seem illusive, they are the product of the realization of our true being as Love and the expression of it. When I'm feeling unhappy, I’ve found  the way out is to do something for someone else. As more of the world is waking up to this, there are more writings concerning how we can continue to accept our enlightened state by realizing true consciousness. To share with others in this awakening is exciting! We are all doing it to some extent, aren't we? Look at the groups we are involved with in conversation: book clubs, spiritual meetings of various sorts, salons, chat rooms, virtual discussions, blogs -- the possibilities are endless! Every encounter I have with another, ever thought I have, each and every one is shared with the universe. I vow to choose wisely, even when I think I’m talking to myself!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"It is essential to understand, instead of believe, what relates most nearly to the happiness of being. To seek Truth through belief in a human doctrine is not to understand the infinite." Science & Health Page 285:32-4

Our Essence as Love

photo credit: Richard Quick

What is love? As a personal value, love changes and shifts. Friendships end over disagreements, marriages fall apart, societies struggle with how to remain cohesive while accepting those who think differently. In reality, Love is unchanging. This Love changes our material expectations and perceived shortcomings, when we allow it. There was a time when two people I care for did not get along with each other. Seeing them both as expressions of Love helped them to see themselves this way, too. Seeing myself as complete allows a shift to occur in the way I treat others — and myself. All problems, large and small, are symptoms of a basic misconception that we are fallen humans separated from Love. The understanding that we are Love, wholly and purely, starts a domino-effect process which inevitably includes everyone in this shift of thought, away from the unreal belief in what we think we are to the pure comprehension of  our essence as Love.

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come.”

Science & Health Page 280:4-7

Go Where the Music Takes You

photo credit: Richard Quick

Music is an aid which opens our thought to things we may have forgotten or, perhaps, never have known. I love to sit with an all-encompassing symphony orchestra, opening my mind to only the music, until at some point I feel there is nothing else in the world. I recall Wayne Dyer talking about muscle testing using different items. An organic banana allowed full strength in his son, whereas holding a CD of raucous music left him much weakened. Each of us enjoys different kinds of music, and there are many levels of this enjoyment. Something we would enjoy with friends at a party may not compare to the quiet strains of Bach, which take us deeper within ourselves prior to meditation or writing. Find the music which opens you to hearing the messages Life, Truth, and Love are offering you. Surround yourself with this river of salvation and see where it takes you!

“Mozart experienced more than he expressed. The rapture of his grandest symphonies was never heard. He was a musician beyond what the world knew.This was even more strikingly true of Beethoven, who was so long hopelessly deaf. Mental melodies and strains of sweetest music supersede conscious sound. Music is the rhythm of head and heart. Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing either discord or harmony according as the hand, which sweeps over it, is human or divine.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 213:19-29

Just Write

Paulo Coelho is one of my favorite authors. In his book, "Aleph”, and others, he takes us on a spiritual journey which shows that we are indeed not alone in either our fears or our realizations of Truth. This novel is described as his most personal, and from the little I know of Mr. Coelho's life, our main character seems to have many common characteristics with his creator. When he writes of spiritual progress feeling stagnant, I ache for him. These  sentences ask for remembrance: "It isn't what you did in the past that will affect the present. It's what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future." What a vibrant, hopeful statement! And now is the time. What you do right now is the pivotal point in your life. Let go of any and all grievances of any kind. Notice your thoughts as they peek out at you during the day. Are they reinforcing old, often-painful beliefs, or are they leading you out of them?  I find novels such as those written by Mr. Coelho to be delightful. I urge each of you to write! Write in blogs, write letters to the editor, keep a journal -- anything and everything which solidifies our yearning to know Oneness needs to be written. It deserves a voice which contains no fear, no shame, only honesty.

“It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its in‐articulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 278:1-11

Harmony - June 7, 2018

Conflict resolution. Conflict transformation. How much time and energy do we spend in attempting to negate conflict between others and/or within ourselves? We can make lists of the merits of our choices, we can role play and put ourselves in others' places in a situation, we can enlist therapists to help us out. There are lots of ways to search for the door out of conflict. I have found the only true way to leave it behind is to realize that such a thing does not exist anywhere other than in my thought. Anyone who has ever tried to calm fighting siblings knows the process can be daunting no matter how you approach it! I'll always remember a time when my boys were around 8 and 10 years of age. Their disagreements had advanced to the point where I saw no way out other than to give one of them away! One day, during a particularly intense bout, I gave up and sat down in my bedroom to have a good cry. Next to my chair was a stack of Christian Science Sentinels, the weekly publication which gives us practical metaphysical writings. I reached down and pulled one from the middle of the stack and opened it up to an article about brothers fighting! I don't remember anything about the content, other than it was just what I needed for the situation. And I remember the solution had to do with having no strong opinions. By letting go of my I'm-right-you're-wrong attitude, I was able to lead them to the same way of thought, by living it, not just telling them what they should do. Living Love creates bridges which bring us together in peace. Trust that your function and your happiness are your heritage, and don't be afraid to open up and see what unexpected ways it will be manifested.

“God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience. Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 106:7-10