Legislating Morality

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

The Ten Commandments were created to tell people what is right and what is not. I prefer Jesus's two great commandments, love your neighbor and God, because when we look to Spirit to guide and govern every action, there is no need for a multitude of laws to tell us how to and how not to do everything. For instance, laws which attempt to tell us how to and how not to love. There's a television series called "Big Love" which takes a look into the everyday lives of Mormon polygamists. In the United States, polygamy is illegal. When we hear accounts of cruel men with 20 wives and 100 children, it seems this decree is just. But when the beauty of deep Love is illustrated in a multiple-marriage situation, it seems not only plausible but admirable. In any situation, love needn't be legislated, it must be truly expressed. We all know of situations where children, animals, all things living, are abused by others, and no law we make stops those horrors. We can't legislate morality, but the powers that be continue to try to do so. Each and every one of us has the ability to govern ourselves in a manner which blesses all the world. I realize it sounds simplistic, but maybe it shouldn't be so difficult to just be nice. Namaste, dear Ones...

“The serpent of God’s creating is neither subtle nor poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its adroitness, for Love’s ideas are subject to the Mind which forms them, — the power which changeth the serpent into a staff.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 514:4-9

Just The Way Things Ought To Be ...

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Walking meditations, sitting meditations, music meditations, mantras, chants, drumming — Most of us practice some form of quieting the mind, some way of slipping into the gap between thoughts and experiencing inner knowing. The ability to visit this space at a moment's notice is integral in our ability to transcend the miasma of mortal, material thoughts which present themselves to us constantly. In many ways, we see the harmony evidenced by this way of living. I love people's reactions to synchronicities! When something happens in perfect concourse with another event, creating wonderful circumstances for everyone and everything involved, we call this synchronicity. As an example, I once had an appointment for a haircut. I forgot about this appointment until a day past its time. I e-mailed my haircutter, apologizing and asking for another appointment. She responded that when she started reading the note her heart dropped because she had forgotten to tell me she needed to cancel the appointment due to a family emergency in another state, and then her heart lifted again because I hadn’t been there to find out she wasn’t! How's that for synchronicity? Some people don't see this as anything other than pure chance. Others think of it as supernatural and want to avoid it or, alternatively, to seek its return. Some of us see it as a natural way of life when listening past the roaring of material beliefs to the spiritual voice of Truth. Whatever our mode of listening to Spirit, let's do it as much as possible, until we realize that's all there is.

“The effects of Christian Science are not so much seen as felt. It is the 'still, small voice' of Truth uttering itself. We are either turning away from this utterance, or we are listening to it and going up higher. 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. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 323:28-8

A Cell in the Universe

 

I heard an interesting analogy concerning the body's immune system and the world's ability to heal itself. Each and every one of us are a cell in the immune system of the universe. Every thought we think is either contributing to the unified health of our planet or the propagation of fear and terror. Every prayer, every meditation, every reaching out through inward listening is magnified exponentially. We have the power to change the world through ourselves. Every interaction brings us closer to a world of love or a world of fear. The Love which heals us personally spreads through the web of Oneness. In the same way that we take personal responsibility for ourselves, our health, our well-being, we can take responsibility for a return to Love. It DOES matter what we do and what we think. We never know when an interaction with someone will make the difference in that person's life which turns them away from reactive fear to healing Love. The Truth which corrects all errors in our mind is our ascension into heaven within. Never doubt that you matter, that you make a difference.  Allow silence and listening to guide you to being the change you want to see! 

"Immortal ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious results." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 259: 27-31

What is Spiritual Healing?

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

When people ask me to pray for them, they most often think I will be asking God to help them. This could not be further from the truth. The prayer which I utilize affirms the reality of our Being, combined with a listening to hear what needs to be affirmed. It's not asking for a condition to be changed, but knowing that there is no condition in you as the One Mind’s reflection. Our mortal mind often insists that this material existence is the reality of our being, and any glimpse we may have of our spiritual perfection is but a mirage. The opposite of this scenario is true and our realization is what brings harmony. This is not a mind-over-matter type of healing. So when you ask me to pray for you, I'll never say or think anything similar to: Please, God, heal Mary's cold. But I will say, What do I need to know about this situation? This is what Jesus was telling us, and why his teachings were revolutionary. We are not material, we are spiritual. What is material existence anyway? Physicists have found it is 99-point-something percent empty space! So what keeps us in the shape we’re in, even though our cells are replaced constantly? Thought! And this is why I find the study and practice of divine Science fascinating.

“If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor bury the morale of Christian Science in the grave-clothes of its letter.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 295:5-15

Peace Through Forgiveness

 

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A sweet friend has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, which carries a prognosis of a few months to live. As usual, when these things happen to our friends, I am remembering the good times we’ve had, recalling all the lovely memories we have made. This dear woman was never happy. She found it impossible to let go of old hurts and resentments, making it impossible for her to go forward and carve out the life for herself she wanted so badly. My hope for today is that anyone who is feeling angry or hopeless can see their way past whatever is holding them in pain. Forgiveness is my wish for you today. May you have peace…

A Course in Miracles - Lesson 122

“What could you want forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world? Do you want care and safety, and the warmth of sure protection always? Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep, abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?

All this forgiveness offers you, and more. It sparkles on your eyes as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day. It soothes your forehead while you sleep, and rests upon your eyelids so you see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and attack. And when you wake again, it offers you another day of happiness and peace. All this forgiveness offers you, and more.”

Thought is Communication

 

I had an appointment today, so I grabbed a book to keep my brain on a higher plane while waiting. I took along Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements. The last words I read before heading back home were: “Gossip is blackmail at its very worst, because it is pure poison. We learned how to gossip by agreement. When we were children, we heard the adults around us gossiping all the time, openly giving their opinion about other people. They even had opinions about people they didn’t know. Emotional poison was transferred along with the opinions, and we learned this as the normal way to communicate.” Upon arriving back home and getting settled in, the first thing I saw when opening up Facebook was the above quote from David Hoffmeister: “Your thoughts are powerful, and any time you think of another person, you communicate. It’s like prayer … It is within your own thinking that you have all your relationships and communications.” In between seeing these two powerful statements, I delivered something to a housebound friend who often talks about people. As I write this, I realize how powerful our thoughts are and how relatively easy it is to fall into thinking badly of others. It is also possible to turn those thoughts around, seeing a person as the pure reflection of divine Love. With this purer sight, I realize they are doing the best they can, as am I. Namaste…

"Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it with all material conceptions."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 86:29:1

Choosing to Feed Martin

This is an essay by my favorite author in my favorite news magazine. I have never put one on this blog, but it touched my heart deeply. The Christian Science Monitor - Robert Klose 

The immigration debate is political. My choice to feed Martín is not. - By Robert Klose

For the past couple of years I’ve been volunteering to help Guatemalan refugees who have made their way to, of all places, northern Maine. I translate, connect them with social services, negotiate difficulties their children are encountering in school, and generally help them adjust to an environment that couldn’t be more alien to them (think snow).

While this looks like good work, and I believe that it is, not everyone would agree. I was recently approached by someone who extolled the benefits of a southern border wall to stem the flow of the type of immigration that I, in this man’s opinion, was abetting. “You’re part of the problem,” he told me.

I don’t want to dismiss my detractor’s criticisms out of hand because, truth to tell, he’s not wrong. I acknowledge that there are immigration laws, and that, when people follow the law, things tend to run more smoothly. So why do I do what I do? Let me explain by way of example. The other day I took 17-year-old Martín to a thrift store so he could buy some warm winter clothing. Martín doesn’t speak English, and Spanish speakers are few and far between in my part of Maine, so he stayed very close to me. I told him that he could pick out anything he liked, but that he should prioritize a heavy coat and boots. When we got to the cashier he opened his wallet, but there was only $2 in it. I assured him that the clothing was my treat, and he beamed.

Once in the car, Martín told me more than I previously knew about his personal story: the long walk from Guatemala to Mexico, crossing the U.S. border, being detained, making his way to Maine with neither family nor friends for comfort and encouragement. As we drove along, his narrative unwound in a matter-of-fact fashion, begging neither sympathy nor approval. 

And then something happened that gave me pause.  

We were stopped at an intersection where a disheveled, middle-aged man was holding up a sign that read, “Homeless. Please help.” Martín intuited the man’s need and, turning to me, asked, “Does that man have a home?” I told Martín what the sign said and watched as he pulled out his wallet, extracted his $2 – all the money he had – and reached out the window to give it to the man.

In that moment of elucidation there was much that I suddenly understood. I still acknowledged that, at some level, the man who had told me I was part of the immigration problem was right. But I can’t get my head around that monumental issue that has stymied legislatures for years. In short, I can’t take care of everybody. But I could take care of the young man sitting next to me by providing him with warm clothing, just as he had, in small measure, taken care of the homeless man by handing him his last couple of bucks.

I think that, once I divorce politics from the better angels of my nature, the issue becomes clear: If somebody comes to my door and tells me he’s hungry, I would not first ask him if he was here legally, any more than I would ask an accident victim if he was wearing a seat belt. The only question that would matter in that case is, “Are you OK?”

Just as I was considering this, I paused in my ruminations to ask Martín if there was anything else I could do for him.

Always hesitant to inconvenience me, Martín pulled himself together and said, "I’m hungry."

And so I fed him."

Robert Klose - CS Monitor March 10, 2021