Keep Listening!

“No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep. The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.” — Khalil Gibran

When reading this Gibran quote, I immediately thought of my dear friend, Jim Young. Since I have known him, scores of books have flown through him and onto pages. And I love them all. I can hardly wait to dip into this newly-released book. Here’s to you, dear Friend! 

“Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired, — yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 84:14-19

“God created every mind by communicating His Mind to it, thus establishing it forever as a channel for the reception of His Mind and Will. Since only beings of a like order can truly communicate, His creations naturally communicate with Him and like Him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-4.VII.3:7-8

Frances Xu - A Love Story

When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Most of us have heard these words, have we not? Frances Xu is a young woman who wasn’t sure what it meant “to go for God”, but she knew she was going to do it. Being clueless, but with a desire to be helpful, is the way she describes her journey with Spirit. When she heard a presentation by David Hoffmeister in Australia, she knew what she was meant to do. David invited her to a retreat they were giving in a month or so, but she had a home and husband and job and didn’t think it would be possible. She began watching his YouTube videos and decided she had to attend the next retreat. After doing so, she fully understood this was the most pure love she had ever felt. Now that she knew there was another way to live, she didn’t want to go back to the old one. So she closed her business, left her relationship, and sold her house. Her teacher had shown up and she was ready. She had found real freedom and love, and she was brave enough to accept it. Recently, this young woman passed from the physical world, into her true identity as Spirit. If you want to read the beautiful words she left us about this event, please go to Frances Xu - A Love Story

“We call it death, but it is liberty. It does not come in forms that seem to be thrust down in pain upon unwilling flesh, but as a gentle welcome to release. If there has been true healing, this can be the form in which death comes when it is time to rest a while from labor gladly done and gladly ended. Now we go in peace to freer air and gentler climate, where it is not hard to see the gifts we gave were saved for us. For Christ is clearer now; His vision more sustained in us; His Voice, the Word of God, more certainly our own.” 

A Course in Miracles S-3.II.3:1-5

“There is but one spiritual existence, — the Life of which corporeal sense can take no cognizance. The divine Principle of man speaks through immortal sense. If a material body — in other words, mortal, material sense — were permeated by Spirit, that body would disappear to mortal sense, would be deathless. A condition precedent to communion with Spirit is the gain of spiritual life.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 72:1-8

Healing Our Past, With Dogs

Photo of unknown origin

Interpersonal relationships can often feel out of control. Dogs and their people are the focus of Cesar Milan, a/k/a the Dog Whisperer. I love watching these shows and seeing how he helps people pinpoint their anxieties and understand how they are passing them on to their dogs. In watching Season 3, Episode 12 of his current show, “Better Human, Better Dog”, I was struck once again by the healing which can occur in our lives through understanding from whence the problem comes. An attack in a dog park triggered memories and fears for one woman, who had experienced an attack on her person in the past. She became nervously fearful, passing on her fright to her dog, which then responded with uncontrolled aggression. Every time they went out or anyone came to their home, she became anxious. Through Cesar’s peaceful, assertive presence, she was able to regain her calm, and then she could pass on this confident energy to her dog. I love seeing these examples of how traumas are faced and lives are healed. Much work is being done in the field of healing traumatic memories. It’s enlightening to watch this occur through recognition, acceptance, and release. It’s a fascinating study and I hope to learn more. 

“Casting out evil and fear enables truth to outweigh error. The only course is to take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God’s image.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 392:7-10

“It is enough to heal the past and make the future free. It is enough to let the present be accepted as it is. It is enough to let time be the means for all the world to learn escape from time, and every change that time appears to bring in passing by.” 

A Course in Miracles W-110.2:2-4

Renewing Your Mind

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

Do you think the study of divine metaphysics is difficult to understand? One person tells me he thinks it's incomprehensible, without years of study and training. Another says she's not smart enough to "get it". Yet another thinks she's not up for the hard work this way of living entails. I've been pondering these statements. Are they true? Does it take some special dispensation, some quantum gift from beyond, an unraveling of DNA, or perhaps years of study? Maybe we think it will take a long time to change our thought because it's taken us decades to solidify our present matter-based belief systems. The spiritual Truth we're uncovering has always been a part of us: It's our birthright as a child of God. What takes practice is leaving behind the erroneous teachings of a lifetime. The easy part is the realization that Truth is always within us, just waiting to be discovered. With this discovery comes a renewal of our mind, by pushing aside false beliefs and uncovering the truths we've always known. So, no, I don't think it's hard work. But it is dedicated work. It takes discipline to see and feel as Love. Not through Love, not with Love, but AS Love. That is our essence. That is our Truth. Let's keep it simple!

“Individuals are consistent who, watching and praying, can ‘run, and not be weary; . . . walk, and not faint,’ who gain good rapidly and hold their position, or attain slowly and yield not to discouragement.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 254:2-6

“Put not your faith in illusions. They will fail you. Put all your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. This is the answer to whatever confronts you today. Through the Love of God within you, you can resolve all seeming difficulties without effort and in sure confidence. Tell yourself this often today. It is a declaration of release from the belief in idols. It is your acknowledgment of the truth about yourself.” 

A Course in Miracles W-50.4:1-8

Celebrating Friendship

Lifelong Friends Celebrating 80!

After attending a dear friend’s 80th birthday celebration today, I came home and saw this poem posted on the Ravenous Butterflies social media page. Being with glorious elders this afternoon, I was particularly struck by many of these lines. It’s wonderful to be alive!

"When we are young, it’s the illusion of perfection

that we fall in love with. As we age, it’s the humanness

that we fall in love with- the poignant stories of

overcoming, the depthful vulnerability of aging, the

struggles that grew us in karmic stature, the way a

soul shaped itself to accommodate its circumstances.

With less energy to hold up our armor, we are revealed

and, in the revealing, we call out to each other’s

hearts....

Where we once saw imperfect scars, we now see evidence of a life fully lived.”

Jeff Brown

“The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun. As the physical and material, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright and imperishable glories.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 246:10-16

“Death is the central dream from which all illusions stem. Is it not madness to think of life as being born, aging, losing vitality, and dying in the end? We have asked this question before, but now we need to consider it more carefully. It is the one fixed, unchangeable belief of the world that all things in it are born only to die. This is regarded as “the way of nature,” not to be raised to question, but to be accepted as the “natural” law of life. The cyclical, the changing and unsure; the undependable and the unsteady, waxing and waning in a certain way upon a certain path,—all this is taken as the Will of God. 

And no one asks if a benign Creator could will this.” 

A Course in Miracles  M-27.1:1-7

The Right To Vote

In August of 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified giving women the right to cast a vote in elections. We tend to think of this as something that “just happened”, with men suddenly deciding to let the little ladies have what they want. Not so. It took nearly 70 years of hard work to win the right to vote. It was not given; they took it. At the time, the country was slipping into an economic depression, a global pandemic had claimed 600,000 lives in the U.S., racial unrest was boiling up all over the country, the KKK had come out of hiding, immigration was a contentious issue, and a nasty presidential race was underway with one candidate having the divisive slogan, America First. Sound familiar?? That was over 100 years ago, and against all odds the women persisted and won the vote. There is a lot more to this story, and it’s all fascinating! But for now, remember that it was not an easy ask, with lovely ladies dressed in white sweetly requesting to vote. It was a fight, it wasn’t an easy one, and they never backed down. The difference in then and now (as I see it), is that we have many more men on our side than they did then. Thank you...

“A feasible as well as rational means of improvement at present is the elevation of society in general and the achievement of a nobler race for legislation — a race having higher aims and motives.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 63:23

“Unless you think that all your brothers have an equal right to miracles with you, you will not claim your right to them because you were unjust to one with equal rights. Seek to deny and you will feel denied. Seek to deprive, and you have been deprived. A miracle can never be received because another could receive it not. Only forgiveness offers miracles. And pardon must be just to everyone.” A Course in Miracles T-25.IX.8:1-6

Here’s to Friends

Dina, Marsha, Carol

Having spent the day with long-time, dear friends at an art show one of them is hosting, my heart is too full to write just a little bit. So I’ll let Donna Ashworth express some of my feelings.

HERE’S TO THE FRIENDS

“Here’s to the friends, 

who give us grace to cancel the plans we made, when we were a different version of ourselves.

Here’s to the friends, 

who never say ‘I told you so’ but instead, sit down and get comfortable, to hear the entire story they predicted already.

Here’s to the friends,

who send little videos of the things they know bring basic joy to your day.

Here’s to the friends,

who have our secrets in their pocket, and keep them safely guarded.

Here’s to the friends,

who show up for the happy, and the sad. 

And see the importance in both.

Here’s to the friends, 

we just could not be without, on this rollercoaster ride.

Here’s to the friends, 

who bring in light, when light is scarce.

Here’s to you, 

and here’s to them,

we’re blessed indeed,

to have that friend.”

Donna Ashworth

From ‘Life’

“Love never loses sight of loveliness. Its halo rests upon its object. One marvels that a friend can ever seem less than beautiful.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:3-5

“How long is an instant? As long as it takes to re-establish perfect sanity, perfect peace and perfect love for everyone, for God and for yourself. As long as it takes to remember immortality, and your immortal creations who share it with you.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.I.14:1-3