Abolishment of War

“The man of imagination, maintaining the absolutely neutral position of Principle, with no pro-this or anti-that, is the one who will discover steps and techniques for communication leading to the abolishment of war.” 

We Are the World We Walk Through (or Christian Science, Re-explored) by Margaret Laird 

“The memory of God comes to the quiet mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for a mind at war against itself remembers not eternal gentleness. The means of war are not the means of peace, and what the warlike would remember is not love. War is impossible unless belief in victory is cherished. Conflict within you must imply that you believe the ego has the power to be victorious. Why else would you identify with it? Surely you realize the ego is at war with God. Certain it is it has no enemy. Yet just as certain is its fixed belief it has an enemy that it must overcome and will succeed.” A Course in Miracles - T-23.I.1:1-9

The Body Cannot Contain You

 

Grotto spring - Eureka Springs AR

Photo credit: Aaron Springston 

What do you think of when you hear the words, "There is no death"? You may think of someone living on in your idea of heaven, continuing in much the same way as we knew them. We find it comforting to think we will see them again, continuing our lives as before they left us. I, personally, think of the change we call death as a grand adventure. Who knows for sure what this change will bring? Some even have an idea that the afterlife is whatever you think it is: if you believe in a traditional heaven and hell, so it is; if you see everything as eternal energy, so be it. You probably have some ideas and intuitive feelings about this, too. I’ve been examining these concepts lately, and I'm comfortable with what I’m feeling.

“When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you who are life.” A Course in Miracles - The Lessons of Love

“If the belief in death were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that there is no death, this would be a ‘tree of life,’ known by its fruits. Man should renew his energies and endeavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learning the necessity of working out his own salvation.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 426:12-16

The Solace of Music

 In times of trouble, people turn to music for solace. You may have seen the video of a little girl singing "Let It Go"in the Ukraine. It was wonderfully moving when Yo Yo Ma played Ukraine's national anthem at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Then there is the man who moved a piano into a German train station to welcome refugees. There's a video of a woman joining him in "We Are The Champions" as she is fleeing her country. Music expresses joy, sorrow, elation, or horror. We use music to celebrate or console. We all have individual needs for soul soothing these days. Reach out and embrace the music which provides you solace and joy...

"Mental melodies and strains of sweetest music supersede conscious sound. Music is the rhythm of head and heart." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 213:24

Peace on Earth

 Peace on Earth - by Renie Britenbucher

I read a letter from Sigmund Freud to Albert Einstein, wherein he wrote to him asking if there was a way to free humankind from the threat of war. Mr. Freud has quite a bit to say about this subject, but one phrase which brought pause is, “...the lust for aggression and destruction”. I had never thought of it that way, and it caused me to take notice. Part of his conclusion is as follows: “The upshot of these observations, as bearing on the subject in hand, is that there is no likelihood of our being able to suppress humanity's aggressive tendencies. In some happy corners of the earth, they say, where nature brings forth abundantly whatever man desires, there flourish races whose lives go gently by, unknowing of aggression or constraint. This I can hardly credit; I would like further details about these happy folk.” In our world, we see famine and harsh conditions in many places. I question whether this is the way creation is supposed to evolve. I’m pretty sure when we follow the laws of nature, life as we know it would become Life as we wish it were! Namaste ...

"Heaven: Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality, bliss, the atmosphere of Soul." Mary Baker Eddy, Science & Health, Page 587

Rainy Nights

Eureka Springs, AR - photo credit: Richard Quick 

 RAINY NIGHTS -- BY IRENE THOMPSON

I like the town on rainy nights

When everything is wet –

When all the town has magic lights

And streets of shining jet!

When all the rain about the town

Is like a looking-glass,

And all the lights are upside-down

Below me as I pass.

Everything Is Waiting For You

 

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

Everything is Waiting for You by David Whyte

"Your great mistake is to act the drama

as if you were alone. As if life

were a progressive and cunning crime

with no witness to the tiny hidden

transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny

the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,

even you, at times, have felt the grand array;

the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding

out your solo voice You must note

the way the soap dish enables you,

or the window latch grants you freedom.

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.

The stairs are your mentor of things

to come, the doors have always been there

to frighten you and invite you,

and the tiny speaker in the phone

is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into

the conversation. The kettle is singing

even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots

have left their arrogant aloofness and

seen the good in you at last. All the birds

and creatures of the world are unutterably

themselves. Everything is waiting for you."

“I am come as a light into a world that does deny itself everything. ²It does this simply by dissociating itself from everything. ³It is therefore an illusion of isolation, maintained by fear of the same loneliness that _is_ its illusion. ⁴I said that I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. ⁵That is why I am the light of the world. ⁶If I am with you in the loneliness of the world, the loneliness is gone.” A Course in Miracles T-8.IV.2:1-7

Love Your Enemies?

All of us, individually and collectively, can find things to be upset about. Humanity is roiling with the pain of events. I wrote yesterday about the emotionally unsettled feelings of the male of our species. For centuries, women have felt put upon because of injustice perpetrated by men. Native Americans, black people, Asians — well, I’m not sure there are any groups of people who have not been tyrannized by their fellow beings. What I am sure of is that it does not need to affect our behavior today, right here and now. Forgiveness means releasing anything and everything from past experience or psychic memory. How do we not hold it against a person who has brought misery to us? What of the genocide, the destruction of art and beauty, the raping of the land? Loving someone who perpetrates such travesties seems impossible, as well it should be. Their actions come from a deranged mind. But following the instruction to love your neighbor as yourself does not mean to love the material, ego-based human. It means to love the true man, the spiritual being which is the creation of the divine Mind. And since we change the world through our own thoughts, every time I see someone committing heinous acts, I will translate the situation in my mind. We are not material; we are spiritual. What if everyone realized this? What a wonderful world …

“The metaphysician, making Mind his basis of operation irrespective of matter and regarding the truth and harmony of being as superior to error and discord, has rendered himself strong…” Science & Health Page 423:18-21

"The Holy Spirit is the Mediator between the interpretations of the ego and the knowledge of the spirit. His ability to deal with symbols enables Him to work with the ego’s beliefs in its own language. His ability to look beyond symbols into eternity enables Him to understand the laws of God, for which He speaks. He can therefore perform the function of reinterpreting what the ego makes, not by destruction but by understanding. Understanding is light, and light leads to knowledge. ⁶The Holy Spirit is in light because He is in you who are light, but you yourself do not know this. It is therefore the task of the Holy Spirit to reinterpret you on behalf of God. A Course in Miracles, T-5.III.7:1-7