The Arts During a Pandemic

Painting for Opera in the Ozarks
 by Diana Harvey

Seemingly, one of the downsides of our current isolation is not being able to visit museums and attend concerts. But other avenues for the arts have opened up, which may include more people -- or at least a different audience -- than they garnered before this shift in our habits. Art galleries and museums are providing virtual tours in ways which had only been cursorily explored in the past. Interactive venues have exploded on the internet now that more people have the inclination to travel virtually. Having always been more of an armchair tourist than a traveling one, I love this idea! I can go to the Louvre and look at art or take a class in something I'd never considered knowing more about. Then I can pop over to the Smithsonian and see what's going on there, then come back to Crystal Bridges before having dinner in the comfort of my own home. Opera is also enjoying a different audience as performers stand on their front porch and serenade the neighborhood, while their phones broadcast a video to anyone who wants to tune in. No, it's not the same, but it's what we have, and it's not all bad. Change is good, don't you think? I sure do!

"Even though you aver that the material senses are indispensable to man's existence or entity, you must change the human concept of life, and must a length know yourself spiritually and scientifically. The evidence of the existence of Spirit, Soul, is palpable only to spiritual sense, and is not apparent to the material senses, which cognize only that which is the opposite of Spirit." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 359: 11

Journalistic Integrity

The Christian Science Monitor was started in the early 1900s, purposefully to counteract the yellow journalism which was running rampant inthose times. Believe it or not, the lies and confusion in the news was as bad then as it is now — we just hear more of it now! In these tumultuous days, we need news we can trust. When a sitting president of this country tells untruths, is called out about it, and then takes governmental action to quash truth, this is blatant fascism. To say social media is disallowing free speech because Twitter is putting a rejoinder on his comments with a link to the truth, is to sorely misinterpret the meaning of freedom. For this same man to “retweet” a post from another politician saying that the only good democrat is a dead one — well, this is not acceptable behavior for anyone, much less our so-called leader. Anyone who is confused by televised news, printed news, internet news, I beg of you, please subscribe to the Christian Science Monitor. They have daily updates which come to your email, and a weekly physical magazine which will leave you feeling good after you find out what’s happening in the world. Don’t get me wrong: they tackle tough subjects, but in an honest manner which gives hope for us all. I don’t know about you, but I need every bit of hope I can find!

​"His home relations unfolded a wealth of affection -- a tenderness not talked but felt and lived. His humanity, weighed in the scales of divinity, was not found wanting.​ His public intent was uniform, consistent, sympathetic, and so far as it fathomed the abyss of difficulties was wise, brave, unselfed. May his history waken a tone of truth that shall reverberate, renew euphony, emphasize humane power, and bear its banner into the vast forever." Mary Baker Eddy writing about President McKinley - Miscellany Page 291

The Freedom of Shared Knowledge

Roots and Refuge is the name of a farm in central Arkansas. The young mother of this family has a forthright way of sharing which I find very appealing. She and her husband have six children and a four-acre plot where they grow all their food, raise chickens and goats, and share their knowledge and joy with us on a regular basis via their YouTube channel. I enjoy her weekly garden tours, where she tells us what's ready to harvest or plant. I love when she shares how she finds her clothing at online thrift stores. Today I watched her tell us how to become sustainable, and it doesn't have to do with selling what she grows, but rather eating and preserving it, while cutting back on expenditures, and being happy because you have everything you need. The main reason I love watching her is that she just talks. She is full of joy and learns something new every day, which she happily shares with us. Cooking, carpentry, gardening, raising animals, visiting her mother, picking blackberries in the woods -- what fun to go through a day with Jess! She talks about what she knows, and is not afraid to admit when she is wrong. Come to think about it, these are characteristics which my favorite people have, too! Whether you make videos, write books, or just talk freely about what you know to be true, you're adding to the goodness in our world and are much-needed at this time. Keep up the good work!

"Every step towards goodness is a departure from materiality, and is a tendency towards God, Spirit." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 213:11

Perpetuating the Dream or Waking Up

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

As recently as a few month ago, if you were having a discussion with someone about the environment and our effect on it, we were likely to hear that it's impossible to get people to quit driving so much, traveling by airplane, indulging in the many luxuries to which we've become accustomed. But today, that's a different story. For instance, in Boston, Massachusetts, car travel has dropped by 75%. I read an article about a man who rides his bicycle everywhere and he says he can often pedal 10 miles without seeing another car. And without those cars on the road, more people are willing to ride bicycles, which will cause them to be healthier, which will result in less visits to doctors, which will mean fewer prescriptions given -- and on and on, until we are back to the way we were meant to be before corporation began to manipulate us into lifestyles we were promised were much better than the old. Whew! What a relief! And this domino effect goes on and on. People are discovering they don't need to color their hair, which is in and of itself a poison to our systems. And manicures -- don't get me started on that! Bottom line is we're waking up to many truths we have been ignoring, don't you think? And after people's display of hedonism last weekend, seems it may take another whack up side of the head for us to "get it". I think we will. This causes me to want to sing the song from Hair: This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius! 

"Better the suffering which awakens mortal mind from its fleshly dream, than the false pleasures which tend to perpetuate this dream. " Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 196:6

Givers of Knowledge

The Rockies - PC: Aaron Springston

The Giver of Stars is a delightful novel by JoJo Moyes. This book is historical fiction based on the Pack Horse Librarians of Appalachia during the 1930s. With a grant from the WPA, a few women began traveling the hills with books for the people who lived there. Most had no job, and the few who did were slaves to the coal mining industry. Not only was this an enjoyable read, but it started a deep reflection on what it means to people without access to information (or perhaps with access to too much information!) to have the ability to read and learn to think deeply. In this book, many people were upset that there was access to anything other than cooking and children's books. They felt if women were educated, then they would want more from life, and that would be very inconvenient for most of the men. What caused me to think hard about all this is our current situation where so many feel that anyone with an education is not to be trusted. Perhaps some feel if we know how to access information we might notice that the great and powerful Oz behind the curtain is nothing more than a man creating an illusion. When I was a child, everyone thought well of educated folks, respecting doctors and preachers and teachers. Knowledge is powerful and the wonderful thing is anyone is able to have it. A problem we have right now is so many seem to think it's unimportant. Let's double down on being the change we wish to see!

"Mortal thought does not at once catch the higher meaning, and can do so only as thought is educated up to spiritual apprehension. To a certain extent this is equally true of all learning, even that which is wholly material." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Pae 349:26

Living Love

"Finding Their Voice"
sculpture by Ken Starbird

Righteous indignation: There's a lot of it going around, don't you think? Maybe I notice it so much because it's alive and well-established within me. Maybe I'm too quick to jump on my high horse and adopt a holier-than-thou attitude. It seems there are so many injustices which need righting. Many people think that forgiveness is looking the other way and doing nothing. I see forgiveness as looking past the illusion of separation from God to the realization of our unity. With this view, I can set aside my stories of right and wrong and open thought to the reality of Love, of God. Some wonder what good this could possibly do in a world so rife with confusion. If everyone lived Love, wouldn't that make a difference? I don't think anyone would deny the perfection of that world! There is a voice audible to anyone willing to listen. Forgiveness, the releasing of illusions, allows this voice to be heard. In our unity, our release is everyone's gift. There is no you, me, and God. There is only One. What a joy to be finding our voice!

“The voice of God in behalf of the African slave was still echoing in our land, when the voice of the herald of this new crusade sounded the keynote of universal freedom, asking a fuller acknowledgment of the rights of man as a Son of God, demanding that the fetters of sin, sickness, and death be stricken from the human mind and that its freedom be won, not through human warfare, not with bayonet and blood, but through Christ’s divine Science.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 226:5-13

A Return to Love

image taken from BodhiTree.com

Sunday's New York Times simply tells us there are almost 100,000 people who have died from this virus, and then it lists names, which cover the front page. I wouldn't think this would be a controversial thing, but apparently it is. Steve Grant, who has worked for KY3 out of Springfield for decades, posted The Times page to his Facebook page. And then the craziness was let loose. People started telling us how many people die in car wrecks and from heart disease. Then others brought up abortion and want to know why we are upset about this virus when we voluntarily kill babies. Then there's the crowd who think it's all a hoax, and others who go off the deep end simply because they've been waiting for a reason to do so. I don't get it, not at all. If people are hurting, we should offer a helping hand. If people are sad, we can comfort them. If people are frightened, let's offer them hope. Does it do any good to say, "So what? Such and such happened and it was worse than this!" I don't understand where our compassion has gone. I could speculate on the events which have brought us to this emotionally-stunted place, but I'd rather think about how we can return to Love. 

“But peace isn’t determined by circumstances outside us. Peace stems from forgiveness. Pain doesn’t stem from the love we’re denied by others, but rather from the love that we deny them.” ― Marianne Williamson, Return to Love