Reciprocal Interactions With Nature

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

“Nature becomes aware of itself through you, and you become aware of your stillness through nature.” Eckhart Tolle told me this today through one of his short and sweet youTube videos. It caused me to reminisce about my favorite nature documentaries."Wings of Life" is described as a love story from flowers to pollinators. Another reason this movie stayed with me is that its narrator is Meryl Streep. She tells us that the flowers multiply in beauty, with gratitude to the bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and bats. This gratitude turns my thoughts to things which fill my heart: people, music, nature -- movies like this one! In line with my quest to be with those who help my being, I will stay with entertainment which brings beauty and grace to life, turning away from inanities and programing designed to disturb the senses. Life is good, and I am grateful…

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Look with peace upon your brothers, and God will come rushing into your heart in gratitude for your gift to Him.” 
— A Course in Miracles T-10.V.7:7

"This is what is meant by seeking Truth, Christ, not 'for the loaves and fishes,' nor, like the Pharisee, with the arrogance of rank and display of scholarship, but like Mary Magdalene, from the summit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and the perfume of gratitude, with tears of repentance and with those hairs all numbered by the Father.” 
— Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 367:10-16

When Women Were Dragons

During a rare, sleepless night, I read a review of a new book: When Women Were Dragons, written by Kelly Barnhill. The book is dedicated to Christine Blasey Ford, as its inspiration came when listening to her testimony during the Brent Kavanaugh hearings for his Supreme Court appointment. The book, set in the mid-1950s, tells the story of  700,000 married women turning into dragons. This “dragoning” is triggered by too may years of women staying quiet, not asking questions one does not ask, not expressing emotions they are not supposed to feel. How many things would you never speak aloud? The review ends with this statement (which makes me want to start reading the book right now!). “The novel’s central questions and concerns link it to today. The suffocating silence concerning all things female exacts a high price, not simply on women, but on all of society. The welcome truth, as Barnhill sees it, is that the urge toward transformation can’t be contained — whether that change is physical and fire-breathing or mental and emotional. As one character admits, ‘I want to be bigger than myself.’” I’m ready, how about you?

“The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 96:15-20

“There can be no conflict between sanity and insanity. Only one is true, and therefore only one is real. The ego tries to persuade you that it is up to you to decide which voice is true, but the Holy Spirit teaches you that truth was created by God, and your decision cannot change it. As you begin to realize the quiet power of the Holy Spirit’s Voice, and Its perfect consistency, it must dawn on your mind that you are trying to undo a decision that was irrevocably made for you. That is why I suggested before that you remind yourself to allow the Holy Spirit to decide for God for you.” A Course in Miracles T-6.V-B.6:1-5

Mysteries Too Marvelous …

 Tijana Lukovic, "Wolf Moon"

 

Mysteries, Yes

by Mary Oliver

“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous

 to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the

mouths of the lambs.

How rivers and stones are forever

in allegiance with gravity

while we ourselves dream of rising.

How two hands touch and the bonds will

never be broken.

How people come, from delight or the

scars of damage,

to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always, from those

who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say

‘Look!’ and laugh in astonishment,

and bow their heads.”

“Listen,—perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotten; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar, like a song whose name is long forgotten, and the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered. Not the whole song has stayed with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a place or anything particular. But you remember, from just this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where you heard it, and how you loved those who were there and listened with you.” A Course in Miracles T-21.1.6:1-3 

A Thousand Treasures

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

What blesses one blesses all. Divine Love does not look fondly on one and turn away from another. Love is boundless and blesses the world as it blesses me — and it blesses me as it blesses the world. Love has never left us. It has nothing to do with form, it is everywhere. I must let go of meanings I have placed on divine Love and allow it to Be. Acknowledging the reality of our Being, affirming our goodness as the experience of God, knowing that everyone is created as a manifestation of divine Mind, these are some of the ways we bless ourselves and everyone else. Join me in falling in love today -- with Life!

“Each day a thousand treasures come to me with every passing moment. I am blessed with gifts throughout the day, in value far beyond all things of which I can conceive. A brother smiles upon another, and my heart is gladdened. Someone speaks a word of gratitude or mercy, and my mind receives this gift and takes it as its own. And everyone who finds the way to God becomes my savior, pointing out the way to me, and giving me his certainty that what he learned is surely mine as well.” A Course in Miracles W-315.1:1-5

“Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to multiply, — to manifest [Its] power.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 501:13-18

Ancestry

My son and grandson

 

Ancestry" by Fred LaMotte 

My DNA results came back.

Just as I suspected, 

my great great grandfather

was a monarch butterfly.

Much of who I am is still 

wriggling under a stone.

I am part larva, but 

part hummingbird too.

There is dinosaur tar in 

my bone marrow.

My golden hair sprang out 

of a meadow in Palestine.

Genghis Khan is my fourth cousin,

but I didn't get his dimples.

My loins are loaded with 

banyan seeds from Sri Lanka,

but I descended from Ravanna, 

not Ram.

My uncle is a mastodon.

There are traces of white people 

in my saliva.

3.7 billion years ago I swirled 

in hydrogen dust,

dreaming of a planet overgrown 

with lingams and yonis.

More recently, say 60,000 B.C.

I walked on hairy paws 

across a land bridge

joining Sweden to Botswana.

I am the bastard of the sun and moon.

I can no longer hide my heritage of

raindrops and cougar scat.

My mud was molded with your grandmother's tears.

I was the brother

who marched you to the sea 

and sold you.

I was the merchant from Savannah

and the cargo of blackness.

I was the chain.

Admit it, you have wings, 

vast and crystal,

like mine, like mine.

You have sweat, dark and salty,

like mine, like mine.

You have secrets silently 

singing in your blood,

like mine, like mine.

Don't pretend that earth 

is not one family.

Don't pretend we never hung 

from the same branch.

Don't pretend we do not ripen 

on each other's breath.

Don't pretend we didn't 

come here to forgive.

Who Is My Neighbor?

[image of unknown origin]

What is the definition of neighbor? That question was asked by the priest of a church where I play keyboards. American Heritage Dictionary lists these three definitions: “One who lives near or next to another. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. A fellow human.” The question was asked as a prelude to a sermon centered around the story of the Good Samaritan and how he helped the man in need whereas others passed him by. While we were instructed on how to help others, my thoughts turned to a dear friend who took a young woman and her child into her house. They had been living in a motel, trying to make ends meet with a minimal income, and when my friend met them, her heart opened and she brought them into her lovely home. I thought this was great, and it’s a good example of what we should all be doing for each other. But her family and friends did not think so. Most of her people thought she was being foolish to open her home to a stranger. And isn’t that where most of us stand on this issue? How many of us would welcome an immigrant family or any other people in need, unless they were friends or family? I know there are many instances where I am selfish and/or fearful. This homily and my neighbor’s actions are going to stay with me for a while, hopefully helping me to love humankind more actively. Namaste…

“If selfishness has given place to kindness, we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 9:11-16

“You respond to what you perceive, and as you perceive so shall you behave. The Golden Rule asks you to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This means that the perception of both must be accurate. The Golden Rule is the rule for appropriate behavior. You cannot behave appropriately unless you perceive correctly. Since you and your neighbor are equal members of one family, as you perceive both so you will do to both. You should look out from the perception of your own holiness to the holiness of others.” A Course in Miracles  T-1.III.6:1-7

What Is God?

South Africa Sunset

Photo credi: Heather Peters

If you ask a hundred people what they think God is, you will get almost that many different answers. Whether it’s an old man sitting in the sky and pointing a finger or an ethereal presence, years of propaganda have created an image in our thoughts, and that is what we envision today. This is one of the main reasons I prefer to think of It as divine Mind or infinite Love. It’s easier for me to depersonalize the God I have made in my own image, to turn the tables and allow myself to be the expression of Mind, the experience of Love. 

“Question. — What is God? Answer. — God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 465:8-10

“Listen and learn, and do not judge. It is to God you turn to hear what you should do. His answer will be clear as morning, nor is His forgiveness what you think it is.” 

A Course in Miracles S-2.III.6:9-11