Clarity in Communications

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

Many times in these writings, I have mentioned communications and the need to be clear when speaking and writing. Listening is an important part of communicating, as is reading comprehension. I bring this up today because of confusion from things I have recently written. Last night, a friend from the west coast called me and said, “I didn’t know Joan Baez was from Arkansas.” Of course, I replied that I did not know that either! He referenced a Facebook post I had made comparing our local Crow Johnson Evans to the legendary Joan Baez. So I opened the post and we read it together and he saw that I had not stated anything of the sort. Then today someone told me they thought my recent daily writing about Frances Xu was implying she had committed suicide. Admittedly, I was a bit illusive about her death. (For clarification, she had multiple brain tumors.) Since that wasn’t the important part of her story, I didn’t stress the details, and I apologize for any confusion. These two misunderstandings bring an awareness of the need to increase my clarity level while writing. And, once again, I thank those who tell me they don’t know what I’m talking about! Namaste…

“Misperceptions produce fear and true perceptions foster love, but neither brings certainty because all perception varies. That is why it is not knowledge. True perception is the basis for knowledge, but knowing is the affirmation of truth and beyond all perceptions.” A Course in Miracles T-3.III.1:8-10

“Ears. Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding. Jesus said, referring to spiritual perception, “Having ears, hear ye not?” (Mark viii. 18.) 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 585:1-5

Doing Our Best?

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

The last one of the Four Agreements (ancient Toltec wisdom as interpreted by Don Miguel Ruiz) is, “Do Your Best”. For years, I was comforted by thinking that everyone was doing the best that they could. This "best" may not have been what I thought was best, but it was the best they could do at their stage of development. I managed to think that even someone like Hitler thought he was doing a good thing. I truly believed that everyone was working towards being the best that they could be, truly wanting to better humanity and their environment, and they were simply ignorant of how to do those things. Now, I've come to think that is not so. Many people are willfully ignorant and seem to revel in it. They witness pain and suffering and find selfish ways to blame the sufferer. They turn their back on animals in pain, giving shadowy excuses for their behavior. Is this the best that they can do? If I could find some reason for their lack of empathy, perhaps I'd still think they were doing the best that they can. But it seems too many people are ruled by a love of money and power; wanting no more than fame and flattery. My heart has been broken by everyone from Bill Clinton to Bill Cosby. We're all just tired. But we must continue to strive to do better. Namaste...

"The best sermon ever preached is Truth practiced and demonstrated..." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 201-1

“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

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