Be A Garden

 

photo credit: Blake Lasater

Why are some people able to move through trauma in their lives while others remain stuck in the horror of it all? Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is acknowledged and treated in our society, but what causes it? I heard an analogy today which ​helped me understand​. Every day we hear and see things we can’t forget. We can be like a garden and turn it into fertilizer which will help us grow and flourish, or we can wear the filth and suffer the consequences. I don’t say this to minimize anyone’s pain. On the contrary, I think we should acknowledge our feelings and go forward. The worst case I personally know is a man who was in the Tet Offensive in Vietnam half a century ago. He killed people until he couldn’t feel his arms, then took a break and did it some more. When I knew him well, this horror was fresh in his mind and memory. To a lesser degree, I’ve known other veterans who were consumed by the terrible things they had done. They wore the dirt, not proudly, but obviously, as they slowly committed suicide with alcohol and drugs. We can all help our friends come through trauma of various sorts, helping them to be free and wise rather than trapped in sadness by the pain. Memories don’t disappear because we want them to go away, but we can change them into stepping stones to bring us to higher ground. Let’s turn our own painful memories into a rich organic fertilizer and watch what happens!

“Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 60: 24-28

True Likeness of Love

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Living a heart-centered existence has been my purpose for quite some time. When we live with a focus on Love, some people may think we are foolish, but the cynical outlook of my youth is what feels foolish to me today. Turning away from discord can be difficult, but I’ve begun to see how reality is created through our thoughts. I remember once when I was in a monthly meeting of gallery owners in our town and the talk turned to theft in their shops. I turned my attention away from the discussion and was looking into a corner, thinking about something else, when suddenly I noticed everyone had stopped talking. I looked up and saw they were all looking at me! Someone asked me what I thought about this situation and I honestly told them that thievery was not a part of my existence and I didn't want to make it a reality by giving it energy. One of the women said, Good for you! And the discussion continued in a different vein. Knowing the energy-creating power of emotions, I will not hesitate to wander away from discussions centered on fearful beliefs or angry reactions. But, rather, they must be countered with the Love which is our natural state of being!

“The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 515:4-8

Sheer Poetry

"Buffalo Blues" painting by Carol Dickie

 

Beside The Buffalo - by Rosalie Toler

"Alone on a rock with a

   book

I do the friendly thing

I read poetry to the

   river,

and the water molds it

   to a new rhythm.

Williams — Whitman —

   Dickinson,

I hurl their polished   

   syllables

away on the current.

Do people downstream

   hear them coming?

I wonder.

Maybe some fisherman,

casting his own lines,

   will feel the rush,

sense the lure of purling

   words leaping,

matching riff with riffle.

Or maybe some rugged

   kayaker,

etching his watery v’s,

will shoot rapids

   through them,

unaware that part of

   the thrill

is sheer poetry."

Rosalie Toler

Little George, Traveling Evangelist

 ​​

Lucy Havens, with statue of Little George

Many things remind me of my half-brother, Little George Havens, travel​ing evangelist. He was quite short and very flamboyant. I can still hear him singing, to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic, "The circuit ridin' preacher traveled through the mire and mud; preached about the fiery furnace and of Noah and the flood". What a character he was! He spent his life spreading the word of God as he knew it. And he helped countless people find hope along the way. But did he ever listen for the still, small voice, or did he just recite what he had come to believe as truth? That, I can't say. We can only know our own heart, and so today I will examine ​the motives in ​my ​interactions​ with people​. Lying to myself is as bad as lying to others. I shall listen​​…

“Millions of unprejudiced minds--simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert--are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 570:14-17

A Little Rumi for Sunday

 

photo credit: Richard Quick

Two Kinds of Intelligence - a poem by Rumi

“There are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired,

As a child in school memorizes facts and concepts

With such intelligence you rise in the world.

There is another kind of tablet, one

Already completed and preserved inside you.

This other intelligence does not turn yellow or stagnate.

It’s fluid, and it doesn’t move from outside to inside

Through the conduits of plumbing-learning.

This second knowing is a fountainhead

From within you, moving out.”

Why Am I Vaccinated?

photograph of a family in front of the fountain at 

The First Church of Christ, Science Mother Church in Boston. Getty Images

 Having never had a flu shot or any other preventative measure which is readily available to us in the 21st Century, I found it interesting that my decision to receive the Covid vaccine was made so easily. As a lifelong Christian Scientist, I’ve spent decades studying and remembering the truth of my Being. It is easy to know, intellectually, that I am created as the image of God; that as a spiritual being I am only living the illusion of materiality. The reason I’ve written more than 3,000 entries in this blog is my own personal attempt to understand these ideas and witness how daily living unfolds with this realization. So why am I vaccinated when my main goal in life is to accept the unreality of material life and understand the truth of my spiritual identity? The healing power of this way of thought involves seeing true substance in place of the illusion which bombards us at every moment. While I still strive to translate what I see into what I know, the constant flood of material evidence has become etched in my mind. In asking myself what the loving response is to these circumstances, the decision was to vaccinate, wear a mask, social distance, and pray for a deeper understanding. As when I had an amputation a few years back, this does not mean that I am giving up on divine metaphysics, but that circumstances are taking me higher than ever before. I pray and listen for answers, moment-by-moment, during these interesting times!

"Question: What is the scientific statement of being?
Answer: There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 468:8-16

All Together Now

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

We have insisted on separating ourselves from each other by setting up divisions such as nationality, gender, and religion. It seems as though it should be simple to accept our unity as an idea of divine Mind. We all have a song to sing, and we are all  part of the grand symphony of life. To rejoice in being One with everyone, to live from love rather than fear and its imaginings, is to humbly accept the goodness we inherently are. I pray to turn away from the illusion of material problems as I wholeheartedly accept my function as a reflection of Spirit, seeing that image mirrored in everyone I meet.

"The world believes in many persons; but if God is personal, there is but one person, because there is but one God. His personality can only be reflected, not transmitted. God has countless ideas, and they all have one Principle and parentage. The only proper symbol of God as person is Mind’s infinite ideal" Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 517:15-20