Superstition

Arrival - acrylic by William Haskell

 “Superstition was rising everywhere. People like to see human life as an upwardly sloping line towards knowledge and tolerance. But I have to say that has never been my experience. It isn’t in this century, and it wasn’t in that one. The lesson of history is that ignorance and superstition can rise up in almost anyone at any moment, and what starts as doubt in a mind can swiftly become an act in the world." Matt Haig - from How to Stop Time

“Superstition and understanding can never combine. When the final physical and moral effects of Christian Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, Science and material sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 288:9

Music is Divine

 

"The human sigh for peace and love is answered and compensated by divine Love. Music is more than sound in unison. The deaf Beethoven besieges you with tones intricate, profound, commanding. Mozart rests you. To me his composition is the triumph of art, for he measures himself against deeper grief. I want not only quality, quantity, and variation in tone, but the unction of Love. Music is divine. Mind, not matter, makes music; and if the divine tone be lacking, the human tone has no melody for me." Mary Baker Eddy - Message to the Mother Church, 1900, P11:8

Live Justly; Love Mercy

 

Many people are “daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief”. I have a friend who hides in mindless television. She refuses to watch the news as she feels it’s too horrid, but she immerses herself in yucky CSI shows and such. Even though I don’t understand her way of thinking, it’s better than hiding in a bar and living with the consequences, as do some I know. Another friend stays away from society and watches cooking shows 10 or 12 hours a day, topping it off with nightly movies. Both of these women are compassionate, loving people, yet they feel helpless when it comes to facing the injustice which is running rampant. There are far more people in the world who love than hate, but it’s easy to become bruised when you love, and easier to become more angry when you hate. That is why I loved the above statement when I saw it on Facebook: “Live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly now. You are not expected to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” 

“You who feel threatened by this changing world, its twists of fortune and its bitter jests, its brief relationships and all the ‘gifts’ it merely lends to take away again; attend this lesson well. The world provides no safety. It is rooted in attack, and all its ‘gifts’ of seeming safety are illusory deceptions. It attacks, and then attacks again. No peace of mind is possible where danger threatens thus.

“Be still a moment, and in silence think how holy is your purpose, how secure you rest, untouchable within its light.” A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #153

A Great Secret

 'Tis the season! I am reminded tonight that many people are feeling bad for many reasons. Usually, I'm oblivious to these feelings unless someone points them out to me, as was done this evening during our celebration choir dress rehearsal. I came home and almost immediately fell asleep on the couch. I'm going to bed now with this Mary Baker statement in my mind.

Namaste...

"I have learned a great secret.

I have learned how to demonstrate, I have learned how to make Science a thing of life, not of words.

I am going to tell you what the secret is, and it is wonderful.

It is this: Not to see or hear or repeat any kind of imperfection.

It is seeing and hearing and repeating good only, at all times and under all circumstances, and in spite of everything that appears to the contrary.

I make this resolve every morning, when I first open my eyes, and I renew it every hour of the day.

I see perfection in myself, in my friends, in my so-called enemy, in my affairs and in world affairs.

I take my radical stand for the perfection of God and everything and for everything and everybody [It] has created. I look upon the world with God's eyes and see it just as [Love] sees it, and I refuse to see it in any other way.

I stop a dozen times a day, and renew the resolve, and make sure that I am not repeating error or giving way to criticism. I watch my thoughts about people, the lame, the old, the unloved to sense that I pass in the street, stray animals; I except nothing. I have taken my radical stand for perfection and I will not, absolutely will not, relax this perfect standard.

The result has been simply marvelous. Try it and you will find that you forget your glasses; they will become unnecessary.

You will be seeing with God's eyes, [Mind's] perfect sight, and you will behold a perfect universe, the outward condition of your inward thinking. To change the picture you must change the sight that produced the picture." 

By Mary Baker Eddy

Play Bridge!

 

A friend stopped for a visit today. She was on her way to apply for a job at a local restaurant. She is doing this because she needs interaction and stimulation. As she put it, if it weren’t for her husband’s doctors’ appointments, she wouldn’t know what day it was. I further contemplated this situation when I saw an episode of Boston Legal, wherein Betty White plays a character who has outlived all her friends and feels she has no purpose, nor anything which brings enjoyment. As she said, “What am I supposed to do? Go skiing?”  Most things I love to do are well-suited to a sedentary lifestyle, particularly the card game of bridge. I highly encourage everyone to cultivate this skill because you are guaranteed a lifetime of companionship and mental stimulation. Many of the best bridge players in the world are in their 80s and 90s. This activity successfully puts the young and old on the same playing field. Not just young and old, but all social and economical parameters are bypassed in this activity. Warren Buffett can sit at the same table with a penniless teenager and they will be equals. This game has also bridged the limits put on us by the pandemic. It has evolved into an online activity which is better than actually sitting at the table! And if you’re lucky enough to have bridge players within walking distance, you could play in your homes every day, in person. If not, get on the iPad and enjoy games with friends or strangers; competitively or casually. You can learn the game from home, too — so ask me if you’re interested!

"Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections, and should never weigh against the better claims of intellect, goodness, and virtue. 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 

Falling Gently

 

I've been listening to Alan Watts quite a bit recently. Here's some sage advice from him -- and a photo of him and his cat :)

"When a cat falls out of a tree, it lets go of itself. The cat becomes completely relaxed, and lands lightly on the ground. But if a cat were about to fall out of a tree and suddenly make up its mind that it didn’t want to fall, it would become tense and rigid, and would be just a bag of broken bones upon landing.

In the same way, it is the philosophy of the Tao that we are all falling off a tree, at every moment of our lives. As a matter of fact, the moment we were born, we were kicked off a precipice, and we are falling, and there is nothing that can stop it.

So instead of living in a state of chronic tension, and clinging to all sorts of things that are actually falling with us because the whole world is impermanent, be like a cat." ~ Alan Watts

Invest in Bonds

 

Framework for Longevity — By: Michael J. Castori

“What is the secret of Longevity


Invest in bonds

Bond with love


Parental marital filial people spiritual


Love thy neighbor as thyself


No greater love hath man
Than he give up his life for another

Bond with nature


With its broad range of animal plant and mineral life


With its sun moon stars land sea and air


And all the creatures thereon and therein


With its solitude music challenge reverence

Bond with a positive mindset


Aim high and you won’t hit low


If things go your way don’t get too high


If things go against you don’t get too low

Bond with an upbeat lifestyle


Engage in spiritual intellectual social recreational pursuits


That guarantee health strength and daily bread


Woo the positive spurn the negative

Bond with existence


An existence that you deem worthy of your worship


Daily lift up some thought word and deed


To Him to Her to It

On each future birthday


Check your investments
If you can look at each bond and say


“Been there Done that”


You will end up dancing on the top rung


Of Longevity’s ladder”

By: Michael J. Castori