God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut

 

Kurt Vonnegut - pre-iguana days

Kurt Vonnegut was one of my favorite authors in the 70s. I am revisiting his fine novels and have just finished “Cat’s Cradle”. It did not disappoint, nor do these words of his which I saw today:

“In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write a famous author and ask for advice. Kurt Vonnegut was the only one to respond - and his response is magnificent:

 “Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:

I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don’t make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.

What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.

Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacals. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.

God bless you all!"

Kurt Vonnegut

Meeting Needs

When I first moved to Eureka Springs, a woman on my street was starting a business she called Good Works. Her main goal was to help women. Her impetus was knowing a young single mother who needed a place to live, and an older woman who owned a home and needed help. The idea seemed so logical and perfect, but never got off the ground because women were afraid to take a “stranger” into their home. The past few days, I’ve been telling you about my dear friend, Jean, who is in her 90s and recently lost her only son. He was much-needed around the house as Jean has broken her hip twice and is quite frail. Her husband is suffering from dementia and is unpredictable. They are now alone and desperately want to stay in their lovely lake home. My fondest hope is to get them together with someone who needs a place to live — hopefully with a cat! Help me put that intention out for them. Time is short, as another snow storm is on the way. 

“The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother’s need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another’s good. Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality — infinite Life, Truth, and Love.”   Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 518:15-23 

‘The Holy Spirit’s function is to take the broken picture of the Son of God and put the pieces into place again. This holy picture, healed entirely, does He hold out to every separate piece that thinks it is a picture in itself. To each He offers his Identity, which the whole picture represents, instead of just a little, broken bit that he insisted was himself. And when he sees this picture he will recognize himself. If you share not your brother’s evil dream, this is the picture that the miracle will place within the little gap, left clean of all the seeds of sickness and of sin. And here the Father will receive His Son, because His Son was gracious to himself.” 

A Course in Miracles T-28.IV.8:1-6)

Alone or Lonely

 

Photo credit: Richard Quick

I’ve been talking to someone about loneliness and the many forms in which it appears. The years I spent in bars wasn’t for the alcohol, but for the people, the easy connection found in those bottles. I’ve known folks who belong to enough clubs and groups to keep themselves busy all their waking hours. Many people can’t abide silence and constantly have a radio or other device playing, often simply for the company they feel it brings to them. Then there are those who marry to keep from being alone, many times not realizing the most lonely of individuals are often not alone. To sit quietly by yourself, happy, realizing there is a deeper connection than the busy-ness often used as a substitution for it — this is the open secret to happiness, the key to contentment, the welcoming element of eternal Love. “I am in you, and you in me, mutual in divine Love.” William Blake

“God goes with me wherever I go.

Today’s idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience. Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.” A Course in Miracles W-41.1:1-3

Caring Communities

 

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

Snow fell all night. This morning, there were numerous electrical outages in our area, due to the heavy, wet snow breaking supply lines and trees falling over and causing disruptions. Many people are without heat and water, but thanks to a caring community most needs are being met. In this day and age, when churches are getting a bad name for reasons we shan’t delve into, most small-town churches are lovingly serving their communities as they have for centuries. I have friends who are in their 90s and have recently suffered the loss of their only son. During the night, their electricity went out. They both fell down and neither one could help the other one. This morning, a fellow Presbyterian broke into their house and rescued them. These dear people are grieving and afraid about their future. This is what community is all about: being there for each other. Whether this caring is facilitated by a church or a bridge club makes no difference. We are all in this together; we all need help at some point in our lives. Most people won’t ask for it, whether from a false sense of independence or embarrassment. Let’s reach out to our neighbors, today and every day. Namaste …

“Child of God, you were created to create the good, the beautiful and the holy. Do not forget this. The Love of God, for a little while, must still be expressed through one body to another, because vision is still so dim. You can use your body best to help you enlarge your perception so you can achieve real vision, of which the physical eye is incapable. Learning to do this is the body’s only true usefulness.” 

A Course in Miracles T-1.VII.2:1-5

“Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with another in the history of religion. They are earth’s luminaries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals. Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated by lookers-on.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 37:9-15

Friendship

Scout and Maggie, chillin’

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Determine now to see all these people as friends. Say to them all, thinking of each one in turn as you do so: I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me and come to know myself.” 

A Course in Miracles W-68.6:1-3

“Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank? Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love. When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 266:5-12

The Joy Within Sorrow

 

Costa Rica - photo credit: Aaron Springston

A dear friend’s son died today. He was in his 60s and his mom is 94. I don’t know if it’s any easier for a parent to lose a child at any stage of their life, but I do know sometimes it’s tougher to live with them than lose them. After two decades of mental illness and alcoholism, she is tired. Her husband has been slipping into dementia the past few years. I think of him so fondly as he was the first excellent duplicate bridge player who was willing to partner with me when I returned to the game a few years back. He was a wizard with cards. My sweet friend has been holding her family together against all odds, and I hope she can relax more now, enjoying her husband of almost 70 years. It brings me joy to think of the happy, positive attitude she has sustained as long as I’ve known her. She knows the art of living: enjoy every moment, all the time, no matter what the appearance may be. Keep on singing, sweet friends …

“So-called mortal mind — being non-existent and consequently not within the range of immortal existence — could not by simulating deific power invert the divine creation, and afterwards recreate persons or things upon its own plane, since nothing exists beyond the range of all-inclusive infinity, in which and of which God is the sole creator. Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind. Mind’s infinite ideas run and disport themselves. In humility they climb the heights of holiness.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 513:27-9

“You have the right to all the universe; to perfect peace, complete deliverance from all effects of sin, and to the life eternal, joyous and complete in every way, as God appointed for His holy Son.” 

A Course in Miracles T-25.VIII.14:1

Life

 

Salt Flats - photo credit: Aaron Springston

Many meanings, both literal and metaphoric, come to mind when thinking of the word "death".  There is the death we experience when we are born into this existence. Suddenly, our spiritual sense is deadened by the deluge of materialistic stimuli which constantly bombard us. In this forgetting of Truth, life becomes very uncertain. We are victims of inharmonious circumstances, until we recognize ourselves as expressions of divine Mind, then we see glimpses of eternity. We may begin to imagine the unreality of time and space, and perhaps we've always suspected this.  These misunderstandings may fuel dissatisfaction which drives us to "feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace." (Browning)  We know there's something more, and we keep grasping at what it might be. We search for freedom from the belief that we are victims of circumstance. We have the choice of waking up! We will see through the veil we have hung to hide Truth. With this sight will come the understanding of Life as timeless!

“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 

“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 T-6.V-A.1:1-4