Growth

"When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we [often] blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade, using reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“Accept with gladness what you do not understand, and let it be explained to you as you perceive its purpose work in it to make it holy. You will find many opportunities to blame your brother for the ‘failure’ of your relationship, for it will seem at times to have no purpose. A sense of aimlessness will come to haunt you, and to remind you of all the ways you once sought for satisfaction and thought you found it. Forget not now the misery you really found, and do not breathe life into your failing ego. For your relationship has not been disrupted. It has been saved.” A Course in Miracles - T-17.V.8

“Teach them that their being is sustained by Spirit, not by matter, and that they find health, peace, and harmony in God, divine Love.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 416:32-2

Simple Joys

 

Today I visited with a sweet nonagenarian who is living in a full-care facility. She has taken a few falls and is very confused, along with having some hearing problems. She and I first met when I was organist for the Methodist congregation here in Eureka Springs. When the pandemic was upon us, she and her daughter (whom she lived with at the time) stayed in strict isolation, and they lived out in the woods. I began writing notes to her on a regular basis, sent by snail mail, and she responded with delight. On my visit with her today, she told me fantastical tales of her youth, and her life when living in California. I don’t know what was true and what was fantasy, and the great thing is it doesn’t matter! She enjoyed telling me and I enjoyed hearing her do it! She asked me numerous questions, such as: What was the best day of your life? Do you have enough money? How is your nutrition? (Direct quotes here) I took her a cookie from one of our local cookie makers. I have never seen anyone so happy over a cookie!! It takes very little to bring joy into another’s life, and it brought me joy to watch her. She caused me to think of things I had not considered. And I am grateful …

“Love never loses sight of loveliness. Its halo rests upon its object. One marvels that a friend can ever seem less than beautiful. Men and women of riper years and larger lessons ought to ripen into health and immortality, instead of lapsing into darkness or gloom.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 249:3-7

⁶Even at the level of the most casual encounter, it is possible for two people to lose sight of separate interests, if only for a moment. ⁷That moment will be enough. ⁸Salvation has come.” A Course in Miracles - M-3.2:6-8

Making Sense of Things

“Discovery and Revelation: Religion, Science, and Making Sense of Things” is a new exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. In this relatively small space, they examine the intersections of religion and science in American culture. Three prompting questions frame the exhibit: “What does it mean to be human? What do we owe each other? What is our place in the universe?” You will find the Apollo 8 flight manual and Charles Darwin’s 1860 book, “On the Origin of Species”. It is meant to spur on some thinking! Reading about it certainly got me to thinking. I did not know there was something called Thomas Jefferson’s Bible, one in which he had excised all references to Jesus’ healings and metaphysical teachings. There is a portrait of Henrietta Lacks, the woman whose cells were used after her death, without her or her family’s permission. Corporations have made billions of dollars from these cells, with nothing benefiting her family. In the portrait she is holding a Bible and the question is asked: What do we owe each other? The purpose of this exhibit and its fascinating items and facts is not to answer any questions, but to cause us to ask some of ourselves and our beliefs. In the center of the exhibit there are eight figures with the question,” Can religion be scientific?” Of course, the discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, is one of those eight. I look forward to finding more information on this!

“Jesus established what he said by demonstration, thus making his acts of higher importance than his words. He proved what he taught. This is the Science of Christianity. Jesus proved the Principle, which heals the sick and casts our error, to be divine.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 473:26-31

Lions and Lambs and Humans — oh my!

 

Unknown photo source

In this lifetime, I’ve learned quite a bit from and about animals. When I was young, the general attitude was that only humans had “souls”. Perhaps this was started to justify our treatment of them. I’m not sure. Maybe it was simply an innocent mistake. It was also taught in subtle and obvious ways that cats and dogs didn’t get along; that they were natural enemies, if you will. I think we’ve all seen animal friendships which transcend these antiquated ideas! One of the most powerful moments I’ve witnessed was my house cat touching noses with a deer. They communed for a few minutes, while I watched in wonder. The things we believed about animals have changed, and it’s comforting to know we humans can see each other in a new light also. We need only accept each other for what we truly are, reflections of divine Love, to bypass the immaterial illusion of angry, divisive people who cannot get along because of opposing thought systems. Loving one another as God loves us shouldn’t be difficult. Let’s get out of our own way and allow that Love to shine from each of us, without setting parameters of who or what will receive it. Namaste …

“Seek not within the world to find your Self. Love is not found in darkness and in death. Yet it is perfectly apparent to the eyes that see and ears that hear love’s Voice. Today we practice making free your mind of all the laws you think you must obey; of all the limits under which you live, and all the changes that you think are part of human destiny. Today we take the largest single step this course requests in your advance towards its established goal.”  A Course in Miracles — W-127.6:1-5

“Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 571:18-21

Living Peace

St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church

Eureka Springs, AR 

Photo credit: Richard Quick

I play the organ for three congregations in our community. When I first began playing for the Catholics seven years ago, I had never been to any service other than Christian Science gatherings. I had no idea people thought Jesus was God. There were many creeds and rituals which I found fascinating, and I learned to translate them into expressions of love and peace. All the congregations I have played for have at their core the desire to help others, and to bring an end to suffering. Today, Father Joseph’s message was to love everyone, whether you agree with them or not. He stressed that God was Love and loved everyone no matter what their race, religion, political party, gender, or other tribal separation. He said it in such a heartfelt understanding of its truth that I’m still riding high on his words. I was feeling the love as I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from afternoon mass. A man and his wife were there with their four children and they caught my attention when the man shouted to his son to get his f***ing hands off things unless he had money to buy it. As we passed in the aisle, I pointedly made eye contact with the man, and hopefully I was smiling. His eyes were devoid of any emotion. How I wish he had heard and taken to heart the beautiful message I had just experienced at mass. I pray that we may be kind whenever possible, and know that it is always possible. Namaste …

“The world I see is hardly the representation of loving thoughts. It is a picture of attack on everything by everything. It is anything but a reflection of the Love of God and the Love of His Son. It is my own attack thoughts that give rise to this picture. My loving thoughts will save me from this perception of the world, and give me the peace God intended me to have.” A Course in Miracles -W-55.2:2-6

“Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264:24-27

When I Am Among the Trees - Mary Oliver

 

Ota Janeček - Aged Trees, 1981

WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES 

By Mary Oliver

“When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, ‘Stay awhile.’

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, ‘It’s simple,’ they say,

‘and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine.’”

Mary Oliver

Am I Pro-Life?

 

My Grandson

I have listened to the abortion debate all my life. Fifty years ago the lawmakers of our nation decided to allow what had always been an illegal, frightening, and dangerous act. My breaking point on the current debate came when someone posted to a local chat board that they were glad their mother had not aborted them. What about the flip side of this question? Perhaps you were born BECAUSE your mother had an abortion at some point prior to the pregnancy which resulted in you. If that other fetus had been brought to term, it’s very likely (for numerous reasons) that mom’s life circumstances would have been such that you, as you know yourself, would not exist. I pray that anyone who is fighting for the so-called right to life will consider that scenario. I call on my Christian friends to contemplate what the words “never born, never dying” actually mean. What exactly is eternal life? Perhaps the commandment “thou shalt not kill” actually was written as “thou cannot kill”. We, with all our intellectual hubris, need to give up our strong opinions, because they close our mind to anything else. If you think I’m going to hell for killing a baby, so be it. Let God deal with it. It is, purely and simply, no one’s business other than mine. As I told a pollster when they called on the phone and asked the loaded question: Are you pro-life? Yes! I assured them. BUT, I believe a woman should be able to have an abortion if she chooses. They immediately hung up the phone. Namaste…

“Question: What is Life?

Answer: Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit. Life is without beginning and without end. Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite; eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of matter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal. Matter is a human concept. Life is divine Mind. Life is not limited. Death and finiteness are unknown to Life. If Life ever had a beginning, it would also have an ending.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Pages 468:26-6

“This beginning is usually associated with physical birth, because it is hard to maintain that the ego existed before that point in time. The more ‘religiously’ ego-oriented may believe that the soul existed before, and will continue to exist after a temporary lapse into ego life. Some even believe that the soul will be punished for this lapse. However, salvation does not apply to spirit, which is not in danger and does not need to be salvaged.” 

A Course in Miracles - T-4.II.9:4-7