Cultural Pragmatics

 

Photo credit: Mark McGee

My favorite weekly news magazine has a regular segment on linguistics, in which I read a discussion about “cultural pragmatics”. In Iceland, some of our favorite polite phrases are thought of as just the opposite. Please, thank you, you’re welcome: these are all thought of demeaning in various ways. For instance, if you say, Could I please borrow your car? This question, with the inclusion of “please”, implies that this is a big favor that not everyone would agree to; secondly, it is thought of as humbling yourself before a person who has the power to grant your request or not. And so Scandinavian countries have come up with the word “tack”, which reflects their ideals of equality, self-sufficiency, consensus seeking, and conflict avoidance — along with a desire to not be indebted to other people. So, in essence, requests are made with the expectation that they will be done, not that you’re asking a favor, hence no need for thanks when it is granted! I love seeing the interpretations and different ways of perceiving words and actions!

“Gratitude is a lesson hard to learn for those who look upon the world amiss. The most that they can do is see themselves as better off than others. And they try to be content because another seems to suffer more than they. How pitiful and deprecating are such thoughts!” A Course in Miracles W-195.1:1-4

“If we are ungrateful for Life, Truth, and Love, and yet return thanks to God for all blessings, we are in sincere and incur the sharp censure our Master pronounces on hypocrites. In such a case, the only acceptable prayer is to put the finger on the lips and remember our blessings. While the heart is far from divine Truth and Love, we cannot conceal the ingratitude of barren lives.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 3:27-2

You Are Alive — So Live!

Art by Jimmy Lawlor

“WHAT IF? 

[words from Donna Ashworth’s ‘To The Women’]

What if you’re never ready?

What if, this is as close to being ready that you’ll ever actually be?

What if, the biggest regret you have when you look back on your life, is that you wasted time waiting, waiting to be better, when you were already so very much enough?

What if, the last thought you have when your life comes to an end, is that you didn’t do enough living whilst you were alive?

My friend, this is it.

This is your life, right here, right now.

And let me tell you something, somebody somewhere went to sleep last night assuming tomorrow would be a new day.

And it wasn’t.

Today is the day.

Every day is the day.

Life waits for no one.

Seize the moment, seize the day.

Dance like nobody’s watching.

Watch the sunset.

Eat the delicious cake.

Put your bare feet on the cool grass.

Be alive.

Be ALIVE.

Put your hand on your chest and feel that heartbeat pulsing through your body.

That’s all you need to be ready.

That is truly all the purpose you ever really need.

You, my friend, are alive.

So live.”

From ‘to the women’ by Donna Ashworth

“We honor you today. Yours is the right to perfect holiness you now accept. With this acceptance is salvation brought to everyone, for who could cherish sin when holiness like this has blessed the world? Who could despair when perfect joy is yours, available to all as remedy for grief and misery, all sense of loss, and for complete escape from sin and guilt?” 

A Course in Miracles W-162.5:1-4

“‘Now,’ cried the apostle, ‘is the accepted time; be hold, now is the day of salvation,’ — meaning, not that now men must prepare for a future-world salvation, or safety, but that now is the time in which to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is the time for so-called material pains and material pleasures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible in Science.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 39:18-25

Transformational Forgiveness

For years, two of my friends have been pretending the other doesn’t exist, but recently they  expressed sorrow to each other for the breach in their friendship. As with everything, this could not have been orchestrated any better than by the happenstance which came from forgiveness. They have both been experiencing ill health, depression, and substance abuse. Most  of their friends have kept on keeping on, being kind and helpful to them both, holding the space for Love to bridge the chasm. Any healing is cause for celebration, don’t you think? I was a court reporter for three decades and the saddest development I saw in those years was the way families would fight over stuff -- land, pots and pans, various material possessions. Any rift brought about because someone wants something someone else has — well, it’s a tragedy, in my opinion. May we all witness healing in our relationships, both individual and collective. Let’s celebrate these moments!

“When the final physical and moral effects of Christian Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, Science and material sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the earth.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 288:9-18

“The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. And They come quickly to the living temple, where a home for Them has been set up. There is no place in Heaven holier. And They have come to dwell within the temple offered Them, to be Their resting place as well as yours. What hatred has released to love becomes the brightest light in Heaven’s radiance. And all the lights in Heaven brighter grow, in gratitude for what has been restored.” 

A Course in Miracles T-26.IX.6:1-6

Other Worlds in Our Midst

Fabulous Food From Donna

The last Thursday of the month is my favorite day because it’s our book club meeting. This month’s book was the highly acclaimed Demon Copperhead, written by Barbara Kingsolver. Her writing is a complex work of art, and this time she takes us to Appalachia. We are immersed in a world foreign to most of us; a world of poverty, foster child care malfunctions, drug addiction, and the longing which goes along with these situations. We are introduced to characters we would love to sit on the porch with, and others we’d be fearful to meet on the street. The star of this tale, Demon, (Daemon at birth) is smart, resilient, and likable. Rarely do our Novel Women come across a book that we all like, and this one we all loved. Kudos to Barbara Kingsolver for writing this masterpiece, for which she recently received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction — actually she won the women’s prize. She says she’s a bit perturbed (my words) that there’s still a need for a “women’s” category. Another reason I love this author: she spares no words and suffers no fools, but she notices every detail around her and loves louder than anyone I know!

“Jesus illumines them [writings of the new testament], showing the poverty of mortal existence, but richly recompensing human want and woe with spiritual gain. The incarnation of Truth, that amplification of wonder and glory which angels could only whisper and which God illustrated by light and harmony, is consonant with ever-present Love. So-called mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the weary ones sigh when needing something more native to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual evil.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health page 501:7-18

“Recognize what does not matter, and if your brothers ask you for something ‘outrageous,’ do it because it does not matter. Refuse, and your opposition establishes that it does matter to you. It is only you, therefore, who have made the request outrageous, and every request of a brother is for you. Why would you insist in denying him? For to do so is to deny yourself and impoverish both. He is asking for salvation, as you are. Poverty is of the ego, and never of God. No ‘outrageous’ requests can be made of one who recognizes what is valuable and wants to accept nothing else.” 

A Course in Miracles T-12.III.4:1-8

To Say or Not To Say

Art from Judy Clement Wall

What do you do when you hear someone say something racist, sexist, ageist -- something that lays like a rock in your memory? When I was a child, I distinctly remember other children saying mean things to and about a girl. She didn't seem to have much going for her. To our way of thinking, she wasn't pretty or smart. But I liked her. I was only 8 or 9, and I was afraid to refute the words of a wad of kids who felt the need to be mean to her. I never forgave myself for that. But I hope I'm rectifying it now! After that time, I began to speak up in the face of injustice. Of course, I went overboard and sometimes would challenge others and defend things that didn't need my defense. Hopefully, I'm learning when my words are needed, as opposed to keeping my mouth shut and letting someone dig a hole for themselves! Whatever the case, the above art from Judy Clement Wall inspires me to love every one and every thing. May I have the wisdom to know what to say and when to say it -- or not!

“Moral courage is ‘the lion of the tribe of Juda,’ the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in ‘green pastures, . . . beside the still waters.’”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 514:10-14

“Bring this light fearlessly with you, and bravely hold it up to the foundation of the ego’s thought system. Be willing to judge it with perfect honesty. Open the dark cornerstone of terror on which it rests, and bring it out into the light. There you will see that it rested on meaninglessness, and that everything of which you have been afraid was based on nothing.”
A Course in Miracles T-11.in.3:7-10

Rest …

Art by Albena Vatcheva

Rivers in the Ocean

Rest - written by Jeff Foster

“Rest, weary one.

Lay your head down.

You have travelled far.

I have no clever words for you.

No system to teach.

No image to maintain.

You’ll find no philosophy here.

No answers to your many questions.

I offer only presence.

Sanctuary.

A bed. 

A meal. 

A small kindness to repay yours.

I am no better than you.

My guru is life.

My lineage is love.

I do not separate the enlightened from the unenlightened.

I teach nothing I do not live.

I quote not from books but from the cracks in the heart. 

I see your fragility yet I see your immense power.

You are not broken.

Don’t let them tell you that you are broken.

We met long ago when dust settled to form worlds.

I think I saw your courage then.

Close your eyes; 

I will keep watch tonight.”

~ Jeff Foster 

“Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 234:4-8

“Real freedom depends on welcoming reality, and of your guests only the Holy Spirit is real. Know, then, Who abides with you merely by recognizing what is there already, and do not be satisfied with imaginary comforters, 

for the Comforter of God is in you.”

A Course in. Miracles T-11.II.7:7-8

Loving Our Community

 

St. James Episcopal Church in Eureka Springs

Photo credit: Richard Quick

Our small village has experienced two heart-breaking events in the last couple of days. An historic church, well-known for reaching out to those in need, had a major fire in the wee hours of the morning. The edifice housed the only pipe organ in our town, beautiful stained glass windows, and a kitchen which has fed the hungry while building community through a program called “Sunday Suppers”. The night before, there was another fire just outside of town in which three  members of a family perished. We feel as though the fabric of our town has been rent. Many times today I’ve stopped to consider the fine line between compassion and a gruesome imagining of events leading to these situations. In both of these tragedies, I’ve been contemplating how to care for those in need, how to love actively, and ways to care about their plight without exacerbating the fear and grief many are feeling. Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: I plan on making these caring actions the focus of my study in days to come. I do know that love lifts us above the feelings of hopelessness which a simple rehashing of events with others brings to us. I shall return to love every time I’m tempted to feel fear. Namaste.

“Only the sane can look on stark insanity and raving madness with pity and compassion, but not with fear. For only if they share in it does it seem fearful, and you do share in it until you look upon your brother with perfect faith and love and tenderness. Before complete forgiveness you still stand unforgiving. You are afraid of God because you fear your brother. Those you do not forgive you fear. And no one reaches love with fear beside him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-19.IV-D.11:2-7

“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 367:3-9