Do I Really Want To Go Outside?

my 90-year-old bridge partner

As mentioned before in these writings, I have truly enjoyed this year of semi-isolation and lack of activities. Admittedly, there was a bit of angst when I heard the news that our duplicate bridge clubs were starting up again, our book club meetings are happening, and other face-to-face gatherings are looming on the horizon. But after a lunch out with a friend, two book club meetings, and enjoying another monthly gathering which has resumed, a few realizations have come to my mind. There is a special type of mental stimulation which has been missing from my days. Talking to women about our book club read, The Book of Longings, caused me to realize there is no substitute for conversation with intelligent, caring people. And although I love online bridge and have become a more skilled player through the extra time spent playing from the coziness of my home, I am now remembering a bridge pro telling us that you could be on a desert island and become a chess expert, alone, by yourself — but not so with bridge. In bridge, you have the nuances of people’s demeanor to take into consideration when planning play and defense. Also, there is a certain diversity of thought which will not happen in my world without sitting at a table with conservative thinkers for a few hours a couple of times a week. So with these realizations, I’m looking forward to seeing how my perceptions and understanding has changed since we were last together. I am, indeed, looking forward to these new-old adventures!

"Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 57:18-21

Love-Based Business

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photo credit: Aaron Springston

I wrote this a few years back and do not remember the name of the movie. If anyone knows, please tell me!]

I saw a movie in which a character was hit in the head, had a blood clot, and became happy all the time. Since happiness cannot be contained and overflows with no expectations, wonderful things began to happen. He ran a very large, profit-oriented company which had always catered to the prospering of the business, not the contentment of the employees. He built a daycare center, gave everyone raises in salary, and began to see money as a tool rather than a goal. Then his children became angry because the company wasn't making as much money and they were afraid. While he recognized what was important in life, his children wanted him to go back to his money-based way of living, fearing they wouldn't have enough. He was living Love; they were living fear. We see it every day, don't we? I vow today to support every act of Love-based living I encounter. While we can't set out to eradicate fear, we can scatter joy and happiness, and watch Love blossom.

"As human thought changes from one stage to another of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, — from fear to hope and from faith to understanding, — the visible manifestation will at last be man governed by Soul, not by material sense." Mary Baker Eddy quote - Science & Health Page 125:12-16

Things Which Unite

 From a series about what paintings in museums are doing during the pandemic :)

While flipping through a magazine this lazy Sunday afternoon, I saw an article entitled, Five Ways To Feel Closer To Others. They are: (1) Read to a loved one. (2) Be a good neighbor. (3) Shower friends with small presents. (4) Start a gratitude chain. (5) Hang on to what you’ve learned. It seems our awareness of these things has intensified during the pandemic isolation of the past year. More time at home has, hopefully, increased reading to our loved ones. I live in a neighborhood where we often ask each other if anything is needed when going to the market. I hope more people are communicating with their neighbors to this extent! My way of showering friends with small presents has been to send, by snail mail, cards, short notes, and articles from my favorite news magazine. It’s nice to receive “real” mail, don’t you think? The magazine's idea of a gratitude chain is interesting. By this, they mean for family and friends to start a group email with gratitude expressed and shared regularly. Then we have, “hang on to what you’ve learned” — hum, what does that mean? They are saying we must be attuned to each others’ nonverbal cues. It’s easy to be distracted during conversations, not realizing what a person actually means. In this day and age of instant communications and misinterpreted conversations, I want to be more aware of reading the messages from people's eyes, their tone of voice, or posture — the things we must notice in order to see what’s behind the mask. Thanks for listening while I talk these things out and think of ways I can be more effective in daily interactions. We all want to be closer to others, even when we’re far away!

“Revelation unites you directly with God. Miracles unite you directly with your brother. Neither emanates from consciousness, but both are experienced there. Consciousness is the state that induces action, though it does not inspire it. You are free to believe what you choose, and what you do attests to what you believe.” A Course in Miracles Text - Revelation, Time, and Miracles

Words From Thich Nhat Hanh

 

art from Raphael Lopez - copyright 2016

"When it is raining, we think there is no sunshine. But if we fly high in an airplane and go through the clouds, we rediscover the sunshine again. We see that the sunshine is always there. In a time of anger or despair, our love is also still there. Our capacity to communicate, to forgive, to be compassionate is still there.

You have to believe this. We are more than our anger; we are more than our suffering. We must recognize that we do have within us the capacity to love, to understand, to be compassionate. If you know this, then when it rains you won’t be desperate. You know that the rain is there, but the sunshine is still there somewhere. Soon the rain will stop, and the sun will shine again. Have hope. If you can remind yourself that the positive elements are still present within you and the other person, you will know that it is possible to break through, so that the best things in both of you can come up and manifest again."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh, Your True Home, Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh

Whatever Suffers Is Not A Part Of Me

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Every Friday, I post one of Kevin's writings on Facebook. People enjoy them and I think of it as a memorial to him. A woman asked me today why I did it, suggesting I was holding on to grief and suffering. I assured her I was not suffering. The exchange caused me to look back on my writings concerning this topic. I like this one from 2013:

"Whatever suffers is not a part of me -- A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #248." This is not a heartless statement. It doesn't deny the feelings we have in favor of a hardness which excludes emotion. On the contrary! It's a pure Love which allows us to pass through the hard times with a firm understanding of the beauty of Truth. Losing a loved one is difficult in many ways, but I really think the myths we have concocted surrounding death do more harm than good. We say things like, "God took her to be with him because she was so good." What lies we tell ourselves in the name of kindness! As we begin to understand divine reality, we are able to release the stories we tell ourselves in favor of the Truth which sets us free. I'll always remember reading in "Beloved Prophet" the story of the woman who loved Kahlil Gibran. She sat at his funeral with a smile on her face. When asked how she could do such a thing she replied that she had never felt closer to him. Never born, never dying -- Life eternal. Hallelujah!

“A blundering dispatch, mistakenly announcing the death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's real death would bring. You think that your anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another dispatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and you learn that your suffering was merely the result of your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. You will learn at length that there is no cause for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood. Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 386:16-25

Marsha Havens

Veritable Ideas or Illusion?

 

photo credit: Richard Quick A friend made a passing comment about the erroneous thoughts we glom onto in daily life. He said that once you hear something, it's a part of you -- a part of your consciousness, if you will. I certainly know how difficult it can be to release any thought -- whether I have decided to think of it as truth or rumor. He is so right that once it's in you, it's difficult to let out -- but not impossible! The key to this release is realizing what you are. As long as I see myself as a material human, a victim of life's circumstances and cable news, then yes, it is difficult, even impossible, to release the hold of falsehood. When I start to glimpse that I am not this body, that I am Idea -- an Idea of God! -- then, and only then, am I freed from the bombardment of daily illusions and the lies of material sense. Looked at from this perspective, my goal is not to release anything, it is to understand my Being as an expression of divine Mind, an emanation of divine Love, the experience of divine Life! I will not think of this as an impossible task, but as a reachable Truth.

“How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from illusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts, proceeding from the brain or from matter, are offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material beliefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another are called spirits.” 
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 88:9-16

Is The Past Over In My Mind?

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Toni, Brud, Marsha - circa 1985

Someone posted photos on Facebook of our 10th class reunion in 1980. I was reminded of this statement from A Course in Miracles: “The past is over. It can touch me not." In my observations of these get-togethers, everyone seems to be pretty much the same as they always have been. The mean girls are still that way, the flirty girls are still flipping their skirts, and the cool kids are still hiding their feelings. While I've always enjoyed these gatherings, I tend to either wander away with an old friend or, perhaps, drink a bit too much and ask the cowboys to dance. I love this ACIM quote: “Unless the past is over in my mind, the world must escape my sight." I want to live in the present, in a world full of divine Love and Truth. Reliving illusions can be fun, much like watching a movie. But I'd rather wake up in a new world everyday, excited about the adventures it holds!

“As the crude footprints of the past disappear from the dissolving paths of the present, we shall better understand the Science which governs these changes, and shall plant our feet on firmer ground.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 224: 4-7