The Joy of an Uncharted Journey

 

After a Metafizzzie Meeting

I inherited some recordings from metaphysical meetings we held a number of years ago. One of the weekly meetings included a discussion where people told how they came to live in Eureka Springs. In this joyous conversation everyone had a different story, but there was a common denominator: they had not consciously made the decision, but in various ways had been led to be here. There was something at work which had nothing to do with human will. People talked about divine guidance, serendipity, blind luck — it all involved a will which had nothing to do with logic or human understanding. The events which led to us being in the same room talking about metaphysics, God, Life, Love — all the while laughing and openly expressing joy — seemingly came about by chance. Life is wonderful when we don’t have to know what’s going to happen next!

“Will, as a quality of so-called mortal mind, is a wrong-doer; hence it should not be confounded with the term as applied to Mind or to one of God’s qualities.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 597:24-26

“Follow the Holy Spirit’s teaching in forgiveness, then, because forgiveness is His function and He knows how to fulfill it perfectly. That is what I meant when I said that miracles are natural, and when they do not occur something has gone wrong. Miracles are merely the sign of your willingness to follow the Holy Spirit’s plan of salvation, recognizing that you do not understand what it is. His work is not your function, and unless you accept this you cannot learn what your function is.” 

A Course in Miracles T-9.IV.6:1-4

The Art of Spiritual Healing

Lothar, Jim, and Jenny at a Sunday Salon

It could be said that metaphysical treatment is "denying error and declaring Truth". There is no set way to go about this process. When we glean a bit of spiritual Truth, we often think we can repeat this over and over, as a sort of mantra, and this will heal us. Often we can talk ourselves out of symptoms -- but usually this is a temporary hypnotic fix. We can tell ourselves that disease is an illusion and that it's no part of us, but until we know the reason why, it's nothing more than further illusion. When we find ourselves beginning to understand that disease cannot be in matter because there is no matter for disease to manifest in, then -- and only then -- are we coming close to understanding this Truth of which we speak. It may seem impossible to make this shift in thought, but I love the baby steps leading to it! One of my favorite scientists, Lothar Schafer, led us to see the unreality of matter in his book Infinite Potential: What Quantum Physics Reveals About How We Should Live. I invite you to travel with him in this adventure!

“If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor bury the morale of Christian Science in the grave-clothes of its letter. The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 366:30-9

‘Miracles praise God through you. They praise Him by honoring His creations, affirming their perfection. They heal because they deny body-identification and affirm spirit-identification.” A Course in Miracles T-1.I.29:1-3

Love For Lent

 

The lenten season means many things to many people. Some of us choose to see this as a time to give up behaviors which do not bring peace, dedicating this time to reconciling actions which have been less than conducive to harmony. For instance, something may be standing in the way of getting along with a neighbor, or perhaps angry words have broken a friendship. There are many things considered to be impediments to living a loving life. Today social media has told me about a multitude of ways to change my actions and become a better person. These memes, together with a homily given by a priest in a service where I provide musical accompaniment, have made me realize only one thing is needed, and that is to Love more. When someone espouses an inane or insane idea, I will love the spiritual reality of that person, not the erroneous material sense they are expressing. Every moment of the day, we have a choice: react from fear, or respond with Love. Let's find out what happens when we return to Love!

“The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear: Teach only love, for that is what you are.” 

A Course in Miracles T.6.2

“A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he teaches in order to show the learner the way by practice as well as precept. Jesus’ teaching and practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was the precious import of our Master’s sinless career and of his demonstration of power over death.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 26:19-25

Purr-fectly calm

 

“I have lived with many Zen masters — all of them cats.” Eckhart Tolle

“Can you imagine what it means to have no cares, no worries, no anxieties, but merely to be perfectly calm and quiet all the time? Yet that is what time is for; to learn just that and nothing more. God’s Teacher cannot be satisfied with His teaching until it constitutes all your learning. He has not fulfilled His teaching function until you have become such a consistent learner that you learn only of Him. When this has happened, you will no longer need a teacher or time in which to learn.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.I.1:1-5

“Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious — as Life eternally is — can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony.” 

Mary Baker Eddy Science & Health Page 495:16-24

Spiritual Aridity?

 

Photographer unknown

At a giddy gathering of friends last week, someone mentioned the phrase “spiritual aridity”. To the best of my sketchy memory, I had never heard this term before and it intrigued me. Upon looking it up, its general religious use is rather condemnatory in nature. Many religious leaders use the term quite frequently to chastise their congregations, while some seers are saying that God sends spells of unbelief to test their faith, and — well, I was rather disappointed in seeing what an internet search brought up. When I heard this term in the midst of stimulating conversation, it immediately brought to my thoughts the lack of Spiårit which is being bandied around and sold as religion. It seems many mainstream religions are spewing false ideology, and when I thought of something which was spiritually arid, this came to mind. As I ponder this, it comes to me that the majority of people who love their church are not believing in false prophets. The religions we hear about the most, the ones which are selling themselves through commercials, billboards, and other media blitzes, are the ones which disappoint me. To all the open-hearted, helping-handed folks, I applaud you! Don’t be afraid to love right out loud!

“Millions of unprejudiced minds — simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert — are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, and never fear the consequences.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 570:13-17

“The Thought of God surrounds your little kingdom, waiting at the barrier you built to come inside and shine upon the barren ground. See how life springs up everywhere! The desert becomes a garden, green and deep and quiet, offering rest to those who lost their way and wander in the dust. Give them a place of refuge, prepared by love for them where once a desert was. And everyone you welcome will bring love with him from Heaven for you. They enter one by one into this holy place, but they will not depart as they had come, alone. The love they brought with them will stay with them, as it will stay with you. And under its beneficence your little garden will expand, and reach out to everyone who thirsts for living water, but has grown too weary to go on alone.” 

A Course in Miracles T-18.VIII.9:1-8

Truth is a Savior

“Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man's purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. We came not into this life by exile, but we came as innocent creatures of God, to learn how to worship the holy and eternal spirit and seek the hidden secrets within ourselves from the beauty of life. This is the truth which I have learned from the teachings of the Nazarene.”

Kahlil Gibran

“When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 205: 32-3

“Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all. And so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.” A Course in Miracles W-92.5:3-7

Awesome

 

“Try and let your knowledge be sideswiped by awe” — These words are part of a poem I sent out yesterday. The act of “collapsing in wonder” (also taken from the poem) is being reinforced regularly in my daily life. Today I heard a video about stress relief and the main suggestion was to feel awe everyday. Dacher Kelter, the man being interviewed, mentioned that in London, where he is from, no one ever looks up at the sky. An act as simple as laying down on the ground and looking at clouds and birds, connecting with the earth, is the best way to relieve stress. He used the word “awe” time and time again in his explanations of getting past stressful feelings and embracing happiness and peace. Feeling awe, collapsing into wonder, these sound like simple acts which anyone could do. But apparently the majority of us do not. So when we are talking to someone who is sad, or overwhelmed by life, or anxious, or worried, or tired of it all, let’s take them outside for a look around — really looking and getting lost in the wonder. It’s the best feeling of all!

Here is a link to the interview, if you’re interested!

https://youtu.be/NO_GdfSe9To

“It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 247:24-27

“There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you. All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head.” 

A Course in Miracles W-156.4:1-4