Mind Is …

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

A number of my friends and acquaintances have become mentally lost this year. Some had a slow progression, but one particularly good friend has had a rapid fall into dementia. It’s a mystery why these things happen, and there are as many theories as there are people. A book I mentioned a few weeks ago, Super Brain, addresses the loss of brain cells and the ability to regrow them. It also speaks to reasons we slowly lose our mental capabilities due to lack of intellectual exercise. Physical reasons for disease is generally what we look at, but more and more we are realizing how mind affects the body. Various testing situations show that the brain can be physically manipulated, too. I want to know the difference between the brain and the mind. Questions such as: What is consciousness? Where does intuition come from? What is divine Mind and how does it affect what we think of as our mind? These are the questions I love to contemplate. My study of books by Margaret Laird, Max Kappeler, Joel Goldsmith, Mary Baker Eddy, and others, are the reason I find every day to be an exciting adventure. We can never know everything about the inner world we call spirituality, and this brings me great joy!

“The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates. Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something, — for lust, dishonesty, selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery, murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all the etceteras that word includes.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 330:25-32

“You also believe the body’s brain can think. If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth; or that you held the world within your hand, securely bound until you let it go. Yet this is no more foolish than to believe the body’s eyes can see; the brain can think.

“It is God’s strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. ²His strength denies your weakness. It is your weakness that sees through the body’s eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself; the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. These are seen through eyes that cannot see and cannot bless.” A Course in Miracles W-92.2:1–3:4

Miracles Occur Naturally

Painting by James Yale

I love this quote attributed to Albert Einstein: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Through various religious teachings, most of us think of a miracle as divine power setting aside a material law, allowing something otherworldly or supernatural to occur. What if a miracle is simply a correction of our limiting beliefs, opening us to divine Mind and the limitless Life which is our true heritage as a child of Love? By this remembrance, we heal our mind of separation, giving us a clarity of thought and sight before unknown. There is no special dispensation required. All are welcome to partake.

“The miracle introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order, establishing the Science of God’s unchangeable law. Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of divine power.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 135:6-10

“Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.” A Course in Miracles T-1.I.3:1-3

Share What Matters To You

Book written by the Fabulous Nikki Hanna

Almost everyone has felt lonely at some time in their life. I know a few people who think if they found a life partner they would be happy and never lonely again. I’ve always been at a loss to explain why this is not necessarily true, but today I ran across this quote by Johann Hari which describes what I want to say about the subject: “Loneliness isn’t the physical absence of other people, it’s the sense that you’re not sharing anything that matters with anyone else. If you have lots of people around you – perhaps even a husband or wife, or a family, or a busy workplace – but you don’t share anything that matters with them, then you’ll still be lonely.” So I could attribute the fact I feel surrounded by love and emotionally fulfilled to many life events, including being an only child, but with this quote in mind, and my propensity to live in the present, I’d like to state its cause to be these daily writings. When something strikes me as important, I write about it and share it with you. Daily events, wonderful books, important documentaries, memorable movies — I tell you about it. And I am grateful … 

“No one can change the law of Christian metaphysics, the law of right thinking, nor in any wise alter its effects. It is a forever fact that the meek and lowly in heart are blessed and comforted by divine Love. If the proud are lonely and uncomforted, it is because they have thoughts adverse to the law of love. Pride, arrogance, and self-will are unmerciful, and so receive judgment without mercy; but the law of metaphysics says, ‘Blessed are the merciful,’ and will allow no one to escape that blessedness, howsoever far he may stray, whatsoever lawlessness of hatred he may practise and suffer from.” Mary Baker Eddy - The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany Page 41:7-15

“The wish to see calls down the grace of God upon your eyes, and brings the gift of light that makes sight possible. Would you behold your brother? God is glad to have you look on him. He does not will your savior be unrecognized by you. Nor does He will that he remain without the function that He gave to him. Let him no more be lonely, for the lonely ones are those who see no function in the world for them to fill; no place where they are needed, and no aim which only they can perfectly fulfill.” A Course in Miracles T-25.VI.3:1-6

Gary Zukav, Creating Authentic Power

Gary Zukav and Linda Francis

The beloved author, Gary Zukav, recently experienced the sudden passing of his life partner, Linda Francis. The words he wrote about his renewed purpose touch me deeply. And so I include them here…

“The sudden return home to nonphysical reality of the soul of my spiritual partner, Linda Francis, has changed me in immediate ways.  

Through the pain and disorientation of frightened parts of my personality, a new and surprising life emerged – a life without the boundaries that previously confined me.  

The love that Linda and I cultivated for twenty-nine years is the foundation of it, the launch pad of a new orientation that thrills me.  

The possibility of this love first entered Linda’s consciousness when she heard the words, ‘He is the One’ while walking by a stream at the small event we were both drawn to attend, and suspecting that they might refer to me.   

The possibility of this love first entered my awareness when I found myself HAPPY to see her arrive in my small community of Mt. Shasta, California.  

In our years together we became aware, through the many experiences of frightened parts of our personalities and loving parts of our personalities, of our love as very special for us.  

The depth and fullness of it filled us with gratitude and awed us.  We discussed these experiences and the miracle of them.

Then Linda fell to our kitchen floor with a stroke and her body died three days later.  

Through the disorientation, disbelief, pain, and fear of frightened parts of my personality, I began to realize a new orientation.  

Things that were important to me before lost their importance.  

The reality of creating authentic power repeatedly as Linda’s body lay dying was my only way of remaining sane.  

Creating authentic power brought me back again and again to what I was experiencing with Linda in an ICU room with loving nurses and my love for her.  

It allowed me to drive home to our home without Linda for the first time.  

As friends and neighbors brought me food and cared for me, my new orientation began to show itself to me through tears and confusion – my only intention for my life now is to love people.

I thought that was the case before Linda’s soul returned to nonphysical reality, but the actuality of it, the reality of it, the solidness of it was new for me.  

Interest in people, care for people, and desire to support them in recognizing the frightened parts of their personalities and moving beyond the control of them filled me.  

When a spiritual partner from Southeast Asia emailed me, ‘We can be sure that whatever Linda’s mission was, it has been completed.  Which means that whatever development remains for you, it is something which you can only complete without her,’ I knew he was right.  

I am beginning to experience the spiritual “development that remains” for me, and I am grateful for it.

Can you think of a realization about yourself that might, to your surprise, to your shock, move you beyond the frightened parts of your personality – such as superiority, inferiority, anger, jealousy, addiction, and more – that prevent you from loving?  

Why wait for the experience of the soul of a Beloved returning home to nonphysical reality, or of an unpleasant neighbor, or whatever the compassionate Universe will provide you in order to launch you beyond the limitations of the life you are now living?  

Ask your intuition.  

Open your heart.  

Consult your soul.  

Sooner or later you will move beyond the limitations of your present perceptions into the wildness and unrestrained expansion of your boundless heart.

Love, 

Gary”

Natural Meditations

Ozark Morning - photo by Blake Lasater

On Meditating, Sort Of, by Mary Oliver

Meditation, so I’ve heard, is best accomplished

if you entertain a certain strict posture.

Frankly, I prefer just to lounge under a tree.

So why should I think I could ever be successful?

Some days I fall asleep, or land in that

even better place — half asleep — where the world, spring, summer, autumn, winter —

flies through my mind in its hardy ascent and its uncompromising descent.

So I just lie like that, while distance and time

reveal their true attitudes: they never

heard of me, and never will, or ever need to.

Of course I wake up finally

thinking, how wonderful to be who I am,

made out of earth and water,

my own thoughts, my own fingerprints —

all that glorious, temporary stuff.” 

By Mary Oliver

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 240-1-9

“You may be attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. Enormous effort is expended in the attempt to make holy what is hated and despised. Nor is a lifetime of contemplation and long periods of meditation aimed at detachment from the body necessary. All such attempts will ultimately succeed because of their purpose. Yet the means are tedious and very time consuming, for all of them look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness and inadequacy.” 

A Course in Miracles T-18.VII.4:6-11

All Things Are Helpful

 

Trip to Mongolia - photo credit: Aaron Springston

I picked up a key from someone today. It was needed to facilitate the learning of a top-of-the-line keyboard which I’m lucky enough to be playing in one of my church gigs. Learning this complex instrument is very exciting and I think about it a lot! When I picked up the key to the edifice where the Yamaha Clavinova resides, the secretary was lamenting the fact that they had a new computer and she was required to change the way she did things. She said, “I’m 78 and I don’t want to change!” Lives tend to fall into familiar patterns as we move through our days. We may find ourselves going to the same places, saying the same things, and thinking the same thoughts. These habits become comfortable. Even if we're experiencing disharmony, we often fear change. We may say, "Something told me I should do so-and-so". We often hear this calling, this inner voice leading us toward a different path than we're on, but we feel it takes courage to walk a road less or never traveled, and so we settle. To settle for anything which brings us less than joyful existence is to dishonor ourselves, which is to dishonor God. The next time I think I'm feeling this thing we identify as fear, I'll choose to interpret the emotion as excitement about what will come next!

“Had Blondin believed it impossible to walk the rope over Niagara's abyss of waters, he could never have done it. His belief that he could do it gave his thought-forces, called muscles, their flexibility and power which the unscientific might attribute to a lubricating oil. His fear must have disappeared before his power of putting resolve into action could appear.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 199:25-31

“Next, the teacher of God must go through ‘a period of sorting out.’ This is always somewhat difficult because, having learned that the changes in his life are always helpful, he must now decide all things on the basis of whether they increase the helpfulness or hamper it. He will find that many, if not most of the things he valued before will merely hinder his ability to transfer what he has learned to new situations as they arise. Because he has valued what is really valueless, he will not generalize the lesson for fear of loss and sacrifice. It takes great learning to understand that all things, events, encounters and circumstances are helpful. It is only to the extent to which they are helpful that any degree of reality should be accorded them in this world of illusion. The word ‘value’ can apply to nothing else.” A Course in Miracles M-4.I-A.4:1-7

Creative Thought

Creative, cool art by Kriste-lee

Today I had lunch in the home of a dear friend. Kriste-lee refers to herself as “the cut and paste queen of the geriatric set”. She takes beautiful fabrics and covers any and everything! This almost-80-year-old woman has no television nor computer. She has a little radio on which she occasionally listens to NPR news. She’s a voracious reader and is quite well-informed, which leads to wonderful conversations. Today as I sat in her colorful home, my thoughts turned to a time when I was in need. After a lower-leg amputation, I couldn’t get to my downstairs shower and only had a tub on the level where I was confined. This wonderful friend designed a canopy shower, brought a plumber with her, and turned my bathtub into a shower — with the curtain rod being one of her unique fabric-covered creations — Wow! The photo above not only shows her innovative design, but on the wall is one of her “paintings” — Star Dancers Resting, which is all fabric, cut and pasted to a canvas. Today I want to celebrate creative, kind people. Let’s not be afraid of allowing our talent to bring peace and joy to the world!

“As God’s creative Thought proceeds from Him to you, so must your creative thought proceed from you to your creations. Only in this way can all creative power extend outward. God’s accomplishments are not yours, but yours are like His. He created the Sonship and you increase it. You have the power to add to the Kingdom, though not to add to the Creator of the Kingdom. You claim this power when you become vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. By accepting this power as yours you have learned to remember what you are.” A Course in Miracles T-7.I.2:3-9

“All questions as to the divine creation being both spiritual and material are answered in this passage, for though solar beams are not yet included in the record of creation, still there is light. This light is not from the sun nor from volcanic flames, but it is the revelation of Truth and of spiritual ideas. This also shows that there is no place where God’s light is not seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are ever-present. Was not this a revelation instead of a creation?” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 504:11-14