Know Better, Do Better

Over five decades ago my favorite album of all time was released: Abbey Road by the Beatles. It’s amazing to watch a lifetime pass in a heartbeat, and it’s taken my thoughts to the simple ways my parents taught me to live. Even though it wasn’t very exciting to be an only child of older Christian Science parents, I am extremely grateful for the education I received at their hands. For years we bought nothing other than flour and sugar; everything else was raised or grown to be canned or frozen for the winter. I learned how to grow food and how to drive an old Chevy truck with three gears in the column. This lifestyle taught me to love reading, and many hours were spent hiding in the back field with my dog and a book. But I also remember that my parents fell for the “poison is safe” rhetoric pushed on us by the pesticide companies. I have vivid memories of my daddy with one of those hand-pump sprayers full of poison, chasing the flies away from the watermelon at a picnic. They also showed me how to be content, to know a loving God, and to be grateful for everything. This is why I look back at my life with a smile of thanks. I’m certain they would have learned to be better steward

“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." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 225:8-12

Moving Through the Fire

 

Crescent Hotel Balcony

Photo by Stephen Shogren

I want to write about the Ukrainians and their fear and pain. I want to write about a past president and his cohorts, and what they do in the name of greed and power. I want to write about my acquaintances, who are still defending the dishonesty in our government; also the conservatives who have realized there is no conservation in their chosen political party. I want to write about the pain of those who love goodness and truth. I want to write about those who cry out for full disclosure, no matter who may fall in this facing of facts, knowing this is the only way to reclaim the lofty ideals this country was built upon. I want to write about the slaves who were abused by our early ancestors, and the aftermath of our self-righteous bigotry. But I’d rather write about the new earth this cleansing fire will bring us, the beauty left in the aftermath of this torment, and the love we have not forgotten.

“How willing are you to forgive your brother? How much do you desire peace instead of endless strife and misery and pain? These questions are the same, in different form. Forgiveness is your peace, for herein lies the end of separation and the dream of danger and destruction, sin and death; of madness and of murder, grief and loss. This is the ‘sacrifice’ salvation asks, and gladly offers peace instead of this.” A Course in Miracles T-29.VI.1:1-5

“Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recompense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of existence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 97:32-3

Someday You’ll Join Me …

Dawn of Hope - by Daniel Gerhartz 

 “You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. 

I hope someday you'll join us. 

And the world will live as one.” 

John Lennon - Imagine, 1971.

Tribes and Oneness

While talking to a friend about the tribes people associate themselves with, I paused to think about the cocoon I feel cozy within here in Eureka Springs.  There are any number of groups of people I feel a deep kinship toward, but there is no limiting identity with any particular one. I remember when my boys and I moved here almost three decades ago. It was to attend the Clear Spring School. One of the mothers told me this school was a way of life, and I soon found out what she meant. We worked together to raise money to keep the school viable, and leaned on each other for child care and support in every avenue of life. This was a total-immersion situation unlike any other I’ve encountered. From that new beginning, I have been involved with and loved our metaphysical group and my Eureka Thyme family; now I feel a deep kinship with the three congregations where I play keyboards and the choirs I accompany, along with the duplicate bridge community, our Course in Miracles group, and my book club. Every day our lives expand to include others we meet. And the practice of non-duality we study opens us to our universal family fluttering just out of sight! Life is Good! 

“Groups of people who have shared spiritual Love are bound together for eternity.” Joel Goldsmith

“Peace is extended from you only to the eternal, and it reaches out from the eternal in you. It flows across all else. The second obstacle is no more solid than the first. For you want neither to get rid of peace nor limit it. What are these obstacles that you would interpose between peace and its going forth but barriers you place between your will and its accomplishment? You want communion, not the feast of fear. You want salvation, not the pain of guilt. And you want your Father, not a little mound of clay, to be your home. In your holy relationship is your Father’s Son. He has not lost communion with Him, nor with himself. When you agreed to join your brother, you acknowledged this is so. This has no cost, but it has release from cost.” A Course in Miracles T-19.IV-B.4:1-12

Dream, Dream, Dream …

 

Dreams - ceramic creation of Ken Starbird

Sleeping dreams are interesting things, don’t you think? As a child, I had a two recurring nightmares, and can still remember the feelings they brought forth. During years of waking up early, without the luxury of hitting a snooze button, I don’t remember many dreams. Now that I can wake up and go back to sleep for a while, I have more lucid dreams where I can think about what’s happening and even have some control of events. Many of my friends interpret their dreams and find meanings which extend to daily life. I don’t consciously do so, but often the nighttime events come back to thought during the day, and sometimes they seem to tell me to be aware. Then again, we should always be awake to events around us and intuition within us, so I rarely feel they are a portent of doom or goodness. I look forward to dreams where I get to visit with loved ones long gone from material sight. What do you dream about? Do you enjoy the experience? I hope so...  

“Dreams are chaotic because they are governed by your conflicting wishes, and therefore they have no concern with what is true. They are the best example you could have of how perception can be utilized to substitute illusions for truth. You do not take them seriously on awaking because the fact that reality is so outrageously violated in them becomes apparent. Yet they are a way of looking at the world, and changing it to suit the ego better. They provide striking examples, both of the ego’s inability to tolerate reality, and of your willingness to change reality on its behalf.” A Course in Miracles T-18.II.2:1-5

"... Is there any more reality in the waking dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream? There cannot be, since whatever appears to be a mortal man is a mortal dream. Take away the mortal mind, and matter has no more sense as a man than it has as a tree. But the spiritual, real man is immortal." Mary Baker Eddy -Science & Health Page 250:22-27

Imperfection?

One of my favorite essay writers is named Robert Klose. For the past 20 years or so, I’ve followed his single parenting of two adopted boys, accompanied him on many nature adventures in Maine, and realized we are kindred spirits. Today I read a piece of his called “Perfectly at home with imperfection”. He talks of going to buy a canoe and seeing one priced so low he had to ask, "What’s wrong with it?" The salesman replied, “She don’t float right”. “I’ll take it!”, he said. He found he had to sit to the left side to compensate, but he’s very happy with that. He also bought a window that had a bubble in the glass, and it shone like a jewel in the sunlight. He states that if you get something in perfect condition, you are often disappointed, perhaps even feel betrayed, when it gets a dent or imperfection from regular wear and tear. I’m with him on these things! As he said, “How wonderful is the world of the imperfect!”

"Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms its offspring after human illusions." Mary Baker Eddy 

Creating Compassion Through Education

A short documentary has been made about a ship, the SS Quanza, and the 83 mostly Belgium Jewish people who were trying to enter the United States in 1940. Many ships had been turned away at that time, with hundreds of their passengers returned to their homeland for extermination. This ship’s youngest passenger, Annette Yachmann, is still living and enjoying a happy life teaching writing at a community college in New York and being a grandmother. She recalls the horror of being trapped on the ship, but is grateful that she was with her mother. She is vocally rebelling against the treatment of children who are separated from their parents as they attempt to enter the United States. The maker of this film, Laura Seltzer-Duny, tells of Eleanor Roosevelt’s extraordinary efforts to bring these people into our country. She also documents the efforts of others who were integral in the humanitarian effort, including a married couple who were lawyers and used maritime law to stalls the ship’s return to Europe. The movie is called “Nobody Wants Us”. It was made with the hope of educating people on the plight of immigrants and the historical fate of those turned away.  Education is essential in creating compassion. This is a perfect example. Today I will look for ways to foster compassion, through education.  

"Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear." Mary Baker Eddy 

“Let us join together in a holy instant, here in this place where the purpose, given in a holy instant, has led you. And let us join in faith that He Who brought us here together will offer you the innocence you need, and that you will accept it for my love and His.” A Course in Miracles T-19.IV-D.9:6-7