Rat Wins Award for Animal Bravery

photo credit: Richard Quick

I’ve often mentioned the book, “Kinship With All Life” by J. Allen Boone. Its principles are dear to my heart and, I feel, pertinent in our daily lives. A story has recently come to us about a rat in Cambodia. Rats have often gotten a bad rap, as they are thought of as dirty and creepy, yet those who live with them report something entirely different. They are reportedly smart and affectionate, almost as easily trained as dogs. Recently a little rat named Magawa has won a British charity’s award for animal bravery. For the past seven years, he has been finding unexploded bombs in Cambodia. These land mines are a serious problem in 59 countries, with more than 7,000 deaths occurring in 2018 because of people stepping on them. The award this rat received has only gone to dogs in the past, but a rat can safely discover more mines because he is light enough to not set them off when sniffing them out. So here’s to new ways of doing things, and a big shout out to Magawa and the Belgiums who trained him for this most important mission!

"All of God's creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harmless, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand verity was a source of strength in the ancient worthies." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 514:29

Changing Responses

photo credit: Aaron Springston

All the insecurities, the feelings of loss and lack, the guilt and blame, all these things are losing their reality to us as we begin to understand there is no reason to hold on to them. Now that we see the unreality of these beliefs within ourselves, it's hard not pointing them out to others when they present themselves! But I am trying to change my response when presented with negativity, fear, anger, and hate. After a snide racial comment from a terse-lipped woman, I said, "Keep smiling!" Upon which she gave me a fake smile, and I gave her a small Namastè bow and left. When someone asked my advice about their unhappiness, (knowing through experience that none of us can fix any other of us) my only suggestion was to concentrate on what brings joy and fulfillment, and the unhappiness and emptiness will be lost in its face. We live what we've learned, giving to others from our receiving. I trust today will bring opportunities to practice this art.

“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...To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives.” Science & Health Page 248:12

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

photo credit: Aaron Springston

In this time of great change, it’s easy to long for the comfort of ritualistic actions and old habits. How nice it would be if we simply floated along, happily enjoying yesterday’s fruits. But life doesn’t seem to be that way. We wake up every morning and experience things in different ways. Changing thoughts bring on changing circumstances. I hope we can all hold onto each other and know that this is a good thing. Personally, I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but I relish the possibilities!

“The image of Spirit cannot be effaced, since it is the idea of Truth and changes not, but becomes more beautifully apparent at error’s demise.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 542:5-7     

New Beginnings?

 photo credit: Aaron Springston

Don't we all love new beginnings? Every symbolic new beginning we experience gives hope that there truly will be one this time. We yearn for peace and plenty, purity of heart and environment, joy, satisfaction. Sometimes we catch glimpses of what it could be like. I felt a big shift on New Year's Eve in the year 2000. There was a palpable expectation of change, and now, two decades later, I feel it is upon us. A true new beginning is at hand -- your hand and mine, today, right now. Let’s not be distracted by ego-based taunting to play the game being enacted all around us. I will look through the temptation to stay stuck in this muddle of material belief by giving energy to the lower propensities. Raising thought above what cries out so loudly for attention, I'll see the beginning in every situation. If there is no end, can there be a beginning? Ah -- ever-flowing forever. Now!

“The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only, — that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 502:24-27

The Origins of Our Discontents

 I'm reading this book by Isabel Wilkerson. We have learned prejudice throughout the years. Here are a couple of quotes from this enlightening book. Have a beautiful Sunday. Know thyself!

“In our era, it is not enough to be tolerant. You tolerate mosquitoes in the summer, a rattle in an engine, the gray slush that collects at the crosswalk in winter. You tolerate what you would rather not have to deal with and wish would go away. It is no honor to be tolerated. Every spiritual tradition says love your neighbor as yourself, not tolerate them.”

“Throughout human history, three caste systems have stood out. The tragically accelerated, chilling, and officially vanquished caste system of Nazi Germany. The lingering, millennia-long caste system of India. And the shape-shifting, unspoken, race-based caste pyramid in the United States. Each version relied on stigmatizing those deemed inferior to justify the dehumanization necessary to keep the lowest-ranked people at the bottom and to rationalize the protocols of enforcement. A caste system endures because it is often justified as divine will, originating from sacred text or the presumed laws of nature, reinforced throughout the culture and passed down through the generations.”

A New Earth

 Before I started this daily, I looked at Facebook. A woman had asked a question earlier in the day and I had responded in part that I saw this as an opportunity to create a new way of living. She asked specifically what I meant by that, and I quickly responded. As I proofread it, I realized I couldn't write anything I like more this evening, so here it is. :) 

Mongolia - photo credit: Aaron Springston 

I see a world built on honesty in every endeavor. All liars will be uncovered and replaced with honorable human beings who value lives more than cash. Schools will teach children to love learning, rather than to spit out rhetoric. Religious institutions will be there to help those in need, finding ways to supply their material needs while feeding their spirit. We will be allowed to know what Spirit is, rather than simply repeating religious belief which manipulates and punishes. We'll know about the good in ourselves as well as our neighbors and love ourselves more as a result. We then see the value in making art -- music painting, creativity of all kinds -- and understanding how those practices allow us to be whole, rather than automatons which spit out facts and figures. I see a world where we can trust ourselves enough to stand up for what is right and just for all, not just those in our tribe. Let's build back a world where all its resources are kept intact and nurtured, using the things which never run out, realizing the sun shines on us all equally, and is here for our supply. We will know the value of every living creature, realizing that the loss of one leaves a hole in the music of the earth. We will be proud of knowledge, science, learning of any and all sorts. We will see that we can understand God, because we are Its reflection and that source lies within us. Whew! Thanks for asking!

"St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens and earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the spiritual idea and consciousness of reality." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 573:19

The Hope Flag Project

Eureka Springs has a wonderful project happening right now! A Hope Flag Project, sponsored by our community center and the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. There are detailed instructions on either of their websites, but basically you can pick up small, hangable blank flags and decorate them with messages of hope and love. I think this is just what we need, don't you? Four years ago, eight years ago, we were filled with hope before our elections. It's been difficult to find any this year, but we each individually are filled with love and are searching for hope in every nook and cranny of our existence. So let's make our own, with flags, with letters, and with our actions. Write letters to the editor, make positive social media posts, call your friends and tell them good news, cook dinner for your neighbor, send a note to an old friend. Today's message from me can fall under the category of "don't let the bastards get you down"! There are lifeboats of goodness waiting for us, but we must recognize them and reach for them. Help your friends if they're caught up in the downward tide. Give them something to hold onto, no matter how small it may seem. Together these messages are powerful. Together we can do it...

"Man walks in the direction towards which he looks, and where his treasure is, there will his heart be also. If our hopes and affections are spiritual, they come from above, not from beneath, and they bear as of old the fruits of the Spirit." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 451:14