Protests of Truth

2,000 form peace sign for
John Lennon's 75th birthday

Mary Baker Eddy refers to prayer in many ways, but the one which keeps coming to my thought tonight is a reference to prayer as "deep and conscientious protests of Truth". The protests which we are seeing in every nook and cranny of the world today are, at their highest, this protest of Truth, don't you think? The people who are showing anger, those who are taking advantage and stealing anything they can, people who are there to bring turmoil and violence -- Well, I am reminded of the old African way of dealing with someone who has committed a crime. They surround the person and tell them everything good they know about them, even if it takes days -- especially if it takes days! While a crowded street in a city is not the place you can surround someone and tell them all the good they've done in the world, it certainly is the spot where you can mentally surround them with Love, and keep hitting them with it until they feel it! Most of us have had the experience of seeing Love change things -- whether it be a situation with another person, an interaction with an animal, or nursing a plant back to health, Love is the healer. So when we hear and see heartbreaking incidents, or horrifying images, let's not slip into the ditch, but rather rise up in thought, remembering everyone's true Being as a child of divine Love. Love is the liberator!

"It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, -- of man's likenss to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love." Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health - Prayer - Page 12:10

Education Reform -- and other things

Clear Spring School

Almost every day I think of something wonderful we're learning from this isolation. Today's thought was how the closing of schools can be a very good thing. Most of us have known for years that our education system is faulty. Our teachers aren't paid enough, we think the arts are not important, everyone must learn to standardized tests so the districts can receive their money to keep running -- the list goes on. Now that parents are trying to help their children continue an education at home, not only are they seeing how some of the problems they thought were with the school are actually with them, the parents themselves, hopefully they are also seeing the holes in the education we're forcing upon our youth. When we look back on our own primary and secondary schooling, do we see things which were simply not true being peddled as gospel? Why did we stop teaching civics? Perhaps if more people knew what a republic was, we would have one! When someone tells our kids that government is bad or good, do they have any idea what government was meant to be in this country? Do they know what we the people did to our native Americans? Do we know -- really know -- about slavery and its aftermath? I am looking forward to education reform being one of the many changes we shall see in the near future. Don't give up! Take heart, because there are more people with an actual education than with a 24-hour-a-day news channel education.

"The law of the divine Mind must end human bondage, or mortals will continue unaware of man's inalienable rights and in subjection to hopeless slavery, because some public teachers permit an ignorance of divine power -- an ignorance that is the foundation for continued bondage and of human suffering." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 227:7

Herein Lies the Peace of God

Moon Over Utah
photo credit: Aaron Springston

A friend sent me an article entitled, "The 10 Protests That Changed the Course of History Forever", by Geraldine Cremin. After Kevin read them he said to me: They're all the same. From Gandhi's salt march in 1930 to to Selma in 1964, he is absolutely correct. They are all about the same thing. Their common denominator is treating your fellow human being as you would want to be treated: fairly, kindly, unselfishly. Why is it so dad-gummed difficult to do this?? Is it learned behavior from decades of our ancestors putting on airs and pretending to be better than someone else? If it's as simple as that, let's just stop it! One of the many reasons I love A Course in Miracles is the workbook lessons in which we learn how to release long-held beliefs and look at things as they are, without our preconceived ideas coloring everything and everyone around us. I leave you with the introduction to this marvelous book. Namaste, Friends...

     "This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.

     This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:

Nothing real can be threatened.

Nothing unreal exists. 

Herein lies the peace of God." 

Taken from A Course in Miracles Textbook Introduction

Tell Your Story!

Storytelling Workshop circa 2015

Have any of your friends been telling the stories of their lives? I've noticed a number of people doing this, and I think it's grand! How often have we wished our parents and grandparents had documented events from their lives. It's a lot easier now than it was 50 years ago, for sure. Today I received a newsletter from a delightful couple I feel I've always known. They are telling of how they first met, married, moved into a home -- and all in delightful detail, with pictures! I'm happy to find out more about people I love and like, and am grateful they are sharing in this manner. Also today, a dear woman whom I've known all my life, but never really well, made a post to Facebook about a time in her life when she auditioned for a spot with a voice teacher whom she admired. The openness of her writing brought tears to my eyes through my smile. I think telling our stories is very important. Start a blog, make a digital record of any sort, write emails to grandchildren -- or heck, start an old-fashioned, on-paper journal!  I have one friend who has written one version of her life story for her family, and another for everyone else -- ha! Do whatever you think is best, but don't be afraid to do it!

"The mine knows naught of the emeralds within its rocks; the sea is ignorant of the gems within its caverns, of the corals, of its sharp reefs, of the tall ships that float on its bosom, or of the bodies which lie buried in its sands: yet these are all there. Do not suppose that any mental concept is gone because you do not think of it. The true concept is never lost. The strong impressions produced on mortal mind by friendship or by any intense feeling are lasting, and mind readers can perceive and reproduce these impressions." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 87:19

The Habit of Stubborn Gladness

The Art of J. Clement Wall
judyclementwall.com

I do not personally know J. Clement Wall, but I follow her on Facebook and love her uplifting art. Her words and the new art which she posted today say what I would like to, so I'm going to quote her here. Everyone, please find some gladness today. We all need that from you.

"I painted this little guy a few days ago, but it hasn't felt like the right time to post it. In the midst of chaos and unrest, my whimsical art sometimes feels out of place. There's so much to be sad and angry and anxious about right now. I feel sad and angry and anxious all the time. But...

I also find myself stubbornly searching out beauty, kindness, generosity. I believe we are at a moment when real change is possible - by choosing love, by choosing not to be silent in the face of racism, falsehoods, and callous disregard for the well being of others. More than ever, it's time to decide who we are, and what kind of world we want to live in. We aren't powerless. We can do and be better." J. Clement Wall 

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