Grief Without Suffering

 

Photo credit: Blake Lasater 

My thoughts turn to a family friend from long ago. She was a wonderful, spiritually-aware person who showed me the truth in Workbook Lesson #248 from A Course in Miracles: “Whatever suffers is not part of me”. Over the course of a year, this friend’s husband passed on, her daughter was in a car accident which left her in a coma for months before she died, and her house burned down. While I know she felt grief, I'm not sure there was despair. She always had a twinkle in her eye and a generous heart. When she herself passed on some 20 years later, I am told she went with a smile on her face. I often think of her. "Whatever suffers is not a part of me" is not a heartless statement. It doesn't deny the feelings we have, nor does it bring a hardness which excludes emotion. On the contrary! It's a pure Love which allows us to face hard times with a firm understanding of the beauty of Truth. After walking through the grief, we're free to see that nothing can touch our true Self or change the reality of Love. My heart is with everyone in the midst of grief today. Namaste …

"If grief causes suffering, convince the sufferer that affliction is often the source of joy, and that he should rejoice always in ever-present Love." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 377:3

Cosmic Time

We all have experienced the relativity of time passing. Time spent in the dentist’s chair passes much slower than time laughing and talking to friends! Years ago, it seemed we had sped up time with all of the rushing about we do. Even youngsters think time  passes quickly. Then the pandemic came and time took on a whole new persona, don’t you think? It seems to be both slow and fast at the same time! I can’t tell you if something happened a couple of months ago or last year — unless there is a definitive event involved. When we were told that big cosmic changes were on the way, I don’t think anyone could have predicted the world we are now experiencing. And individually we are feeling both torn and united. We have loved ones dying, being hospitalized, breaking bones, losing their homes, losing their minds. And somehow there seems to be greater clarity than ever. It’s an impossible thing for me to define, but we need to talk to each other when we become afraid. Love is stronger than fear, and we only need a reminder of that to bring us back to true reality. Namaste, dear friends …

“The miracle minimizes the need for time. In the longitudinal or horizontal plane the recognition of the equality of the members of the Sonship appears to involve almost endless time. However, the miracle entails a sudden shift from horizontal to vertical perception. This introduces an interval from which the giver and receiver both emerge farther along in time than they would otherwise have been. The miracle thus has the unique property of abolishing time to the extent that it renders the interval of time it spans unnecessary. There is no relationship between the time a miracle takes and the time it covers. The miracle substitutes for learning that might have taken thousands of years. It does so by the underlying recognition of perfect equality of giver and receiver on which the miracle rests. The miracle shortens time by collapsing it, thus eliminating certain intervals within it. ¹It does this, however, within the larger temporal sequence.” A Course in Miracles - T-1.II.6:1-10 

“You may know when first Truth leads by the fewness and faithfulness of its followers. Thus it is that the march of time bears onward freedom’s banner. The powers of this world will fight, and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass the guard until it subscribes to their systems, but Science, heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on. There is always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth’s standard.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 7

Passing By The Thoughts Of The World

Kailey on the John Muir Trail

Having fallen asleep on the couch at 7 p.m. and waking up six hours later, this is the first thing I happened to read. I like the way it sounds and feels …

“Doing those deeply unfashionable things—slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting—is a radical act now, but it is essential. This is a crossroads we all know, a moment when you need to shed a skin. If you do, you’ll expose all those painful nerve endings and feel so raw that you’ll need to take care of yourself for a while. If you don’t, then that skin will harden around you.” 

Katherine May - Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, 2020.

“If you are doing the exercises correctly, you should experience some sense of relaxation, and even a feeling that you are approaching, if not actually entering into light. Try to think of light, formless and without limit, as you pass by the thoughts of this world. And do not forget that they cannot hold you to the world unless you give them the power to do so.” A Course in Miracles W-44.10:1-3 

A World Blessed With Peace

 

Let it go. Just breathe. We hear these instructions when learning how to break the hold of distress and open ourselves to peace. It took me years to realize that someone or something wasn't "making" me upset, it was my perception and interpretation and reaction to things which caused these feelings. Even with this realization, it's sometimes difficult to avoid being caught up in the craziness of the world. When I find myself becoming agitated about anything, I will remind myself to "let all the world be blessed with peace through us." After all, I can't change anything but my own self, and how wonderful that it’s the most important thing for me to do!

"Peace be to me, the holy Son of God. Peace to my brother, who is one with me. Let all the world be blessed with peace through us."

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #360

"Let us learn of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of Spirit, the kingdom of heaven,—the reign and rule of universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain forever unseen." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 208:20-24

Keep On Keeping On

 “Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... 

Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” 

Shel Silverstein

"Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 454:18

A Song of Gratitude

 

The resilience of life is astounding. I’ve watched a beloved friend go into an angry depression after the death of her 30-year-old son. When the isolation of the pandemic arrived, she became agoraphobic and started drinking every day. This went on until she was nearly dead and ended up in the hospital and rehab for two months. After coming back home and getting stronger, she was ready to return to the humanitarian practices she had always excelled at doing. And then the house/apartment where she lived burned and she was left with no possessions, not even her beloved cats. Now, almost a month later she has moved into a sweet little place in the woods of Eureka proper, happily planning her future. She hopes to help with homeless cats and people lost in alcoholism. Gratitude is what has brought her through these last three years of personal hell. Every little kindness offered by others, every beautiful flower springing from the bare earth, the moon, the stars, friendship — she is grateful. Namaste, dear Friends …

"Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech." Mary Baker Eddy -Science & Health Page 3:25-26

“What is Heaven but a song of gratitude and love and praise by everything created to the Source of its creation?”A Course in Miracles - T-26.IV.3:5

With Love, To Lin Wellford

Lin Wellford and her rock paintings

 

When a dear friend passes on, we feel a void. It’s as though the world is off balance without their physical presence on it. Lin Wellford was a friend to many, an adamant advocate for nature and wildlife, an exquisite artist, a fine human being.  I share with you excerpts from a note she wrote me last year, when my life partner died. By sharing our memories, the world comes into balance again. You are loved sweet Friend …

“I know you are well prepared to traverse the experience of sudden loss. Beliefs are so powerful and comforting and necessary. Having dealt now twice with the unexpected death of a loved one, I've grappled with the little memories and expectations of a future that must be gently laid aside. It's a major housekeeping task, in my mind not unlike the work of labor to bring another soul into life. Only harder in some ways because of all the history, good and not-so-good, the miles traveled, the moments shared. It feels to me like each small thing that pops up must be felt and honored and then cauterized the way a wound needs tending.  It's wearying work because it comes and goes and what may set off a 'grief storm' is hard to anticipate.

Thank you for guiding me towards ACIM, which is now part of my lifelong journey and something I am forever grateful for. I know you will make your way through this experience, that you are well loved and comforted by a huge and varied community.  Just wanted to tell you I am among that network of people who care about you and are sending peace and energy for the days ahead.” Lin 

“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