Learn Something

I could not find the Wayne Dyer quote which has been floating around the edge of my memory all day. It's something like this: no matter how bad you feel for the hungry children, that won't feed them. It will probably jump out at me soon, and I'll write what I've been thinking about. But in the meantime, I found this that I like a lot!

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then—to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you. Look at what a lot of things there are to learn—pure science, the only purity there is. You can learn astronomy in a lifetime, natural history in three, literature in six. And then, after you have exhausted a million lifetimes in biology and medicine and theocriticism and geography and history and economics, why, you can start to make a cartwheel out of the appropriate wood, or spend fifty years learning to begin to learn to beat your adversary at fencing. After that you can start again on mathematics until it is time to learn to plough.”
― Wayne W. Dyer, Your Erroneous Zones

Channeled Writing

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

​Channeled writings: What do you think? The first time this term was explained to me, I thought: well, of course! The concept was something I understood, having always known the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. Of course, she called her ideas “divinely inspired”. She also said she had to study her book because she did not write it. Talk like this caused Mark Twain to devote an entire tome to the cause of trying to prove she did not write Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures. When God is defined as she saw It — Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love — it is obvious that all ideas are from this Source. When we talk about someone being “in the zone”, or “getting out of their own way”, we mean that materiality is taken away from the equation, allowing Spirit to shine through. So when I hear that someone is channeling a particular person to birth an idea, it makes me squirm in a non-specific way. I suppose it goes back to this passage we call death. I don’t think there is a place with our husbands and dogs waiting for us to join them. So how could it be that a particular person is sending messages to the material plane? Perhaps it’s a matter of terminology, as ethereal concepts so often are. Maybe people are thinking of Jesus and The Christ as being one and the same, and I do not. I have said numerous times that we must not allow semantics to get in the way of Truth. Truth is found in many places, in many forms. My prayer for today is for me to not judge the letter, but imbibe the Spirit. Namaste...

“Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:18

Enriched Perceptions

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Shadows on my Living Room Wall

I read an interview where a number of people tell of changes in their lives during this past year. It was a fascinating read because everyone had reasons their experiences were enriched by the different things they are doing since they are not so busy going places. One woman talked about light, and how she now noticed the shifting shadows around their house at different times of the day and during the four seasons. To quote her: “I walk the same route almost every day, and I can appreciate the nuances of the sunlight hitting the bark on the trees, the filtering of morning light through the leaves, the subtle changes of the seasons. I expect this awareness to last beyond the months of quarantine. The other things I have realized: My windows desperately need cleaning!” The photo I’ve included is something I noticed in my living room on Christmas Day. This shadow on the wall is exceptional because there was no sunshine coming through, but was coming in from the back of the house and being reflected back by a mirror. It shows my Christmas stick, with decorations, and the objects around it, including the lace curtains covering the window facing the street. If I had not been so quietly present, I most likely would not have seen this fleeting shadow. Wish I could relate to you more ways people have shifted perceptions; ways they hope to keep in their experience in the future!

"The sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 516

All iIn The Way You Carry It

 

Innocence and Experience

creations of Sandy Starbird

I am thankful for my friends. You who are the kindest, wisest, wittiest, most compassionate, most thoughtful -- you know who you are, and I am eternally grateful. Much love...

Heavy 

by Mary Oliver

"That time

I thought I could not

go any closer to grief

without dying

 

I went closer,

and I did not die.

Surely God

had His hand in this,

 

as well as friends.

Still I was bent,

and my laughter,

as the poet said,

 

was nowhere to be found.

Then said my friend Daniel

(brave even among lions),

“It is not the weight you carry

 

but how you carry it—

books, bricks, grief—

it’s all in the way

you embrace it, balance it, carry it

 

when you cannot, and would not,

put it down.”

So I went practicing.

Have you noticed?

 

Have you heard

the laughter

that comes, now and again,

out of my startled mouth?

 

How I linger

to admire, admire, admire

the things of this world

that are kind, and maybe

 

also troubled—

roses in the wind,

The sea geese on the steep waves,

a love

to which there is no reply?"

Heart Songs

 

​One thing I’ve discovered during this pandemic is that, without commercials, there are actually some good shows on television. I have fallen in love with Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. It’s the most innovative musical I’ve ever seen, with wonderful actors and fine writing. The main character’s parents are Mary Steenburgen and Peter Gallagher. At the end of the first season, the dad character dies. Having seen that event before Kevin’s passing, I didn’t have the heart/nerve to watch more. After his memorial today, I watched the next episode, which supposedly takes place six weeks after the character’s death. Watching their struggle to start living again, I realized how much I have shut down during the last four weeks. I appreciate the insights and wonderful stories I heard from Kevin’s friends all around the country during our Zoom chat today. It has helped, talking to people who loved him. In the television show I’ve referred to, Zoey hears people singing what they’re thinking. She calls them “heart songs”. It’s easy to avoid things we deem too painful to face. I’d really like to pull the covers over my head and sleep until spring. Hum — maybe just until the temperature is over zero degrees?

“Ill-arranged notes produce discord. Tones of the human mind may be different, but they should be concordant in order to blend properly. Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, — these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 58:5  

One Foot in Front of the Other

 

statues and photography by Dale Johnson

Perhaps it’s because we’ve had a frigidly cold week, with even lower temperatures to come in the next few days. Maybe it’s because we haven’t had much sunshine during these introspective days. Could be because Kevin’s been gone four weeks, it’s Valentine’s Day, and we’re having his Zoom memorial. Whatever the reason, I’m depressed. Today we had a recording session for one church and an actual service at another, and I thought about lying and saying I was sick and couldn’t do it. But I’m glad I didn’t. Sharon sang an incredibly beautiful solo and I played better than usual, and the sun even shone for a few minutes! So I’m happy I got out of the house. I’m not telling you this to cause worry or ask for help; it’s just the way it is today. I’m writing this with Tina Turner singing the Lotus Sutra in the background. Sanskrit chants will lull me to sleep tonight and I’ll wake up with 528 hertz frequencies to facilitate healing. I can’t keep from thinking this ennui is good for me; it will help me develop empathy, which Kevin often said I needed to do. Whatever the case, I know it won’t leave me where it found me. Much Love sent to all this day...

“Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, — this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony. The purification of sense and self is a proof of progress.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 323

 photo credit: Aaron Springston

Snowy Night by Mary Oliver

Last night, an owl

in the blue dark

tossed

an indeterminate number

of carefully shaped sounds into

the world, in which,

a quarter of a mile away, I happened

to be standing.

I couldn’t tell

which one it was –

the barred or the great-horned

ship of the air –

it was that distant. But, anyway,

aren’t there moments

that are better than knowing something,

and sweeter? Snow was falling,

so much like stars

filling the dark trees

that one could easily imagine

its reason for being was nothing more

than prettiness. I suppose

if this were someone else’s story

they would have insisted on knowing

whatever is knowable – would have hurried

over the fields

to name it – the owl, I mean.

But it’s mine, this poem of the night,

and I just stood there, listening and holding out

my hands to the soft glitter

falling through the air. I love this world,

but not for its answers.

And I wish good luck to the owl,

whatever its name –

and I wish great welcome to the snow,

whatever its severe and comfortless

and beautiful meaning.