No Matter Where You Go, There You Are

“Maybe the only enemy is that we don’t like the way reality is now and therefore wish it would go away fast. But what we find as practitioners is that nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. If we run a hundred miles an hour to the other end of the continent in order to get away from the obstacle, we find the very same problem waiting for us when we arrive. It just keeps returning with new names, forms, manifestations until we learn whatever it has to teach us about where we are separating ourselves from reality, how we are pulling back instead of opening up, closing down instead of allowing ourselves to experience fully whatever we encounter, without hesitating or retreating into ourselves." 

 Pema Chödrön, in "When Things Fall Apart"

“Your whole perspective on the world will shift by just a little, every time you let your mind escape its chains. The world is not where it belongs. And you belong where it would be, and where it goes to rest when you release it from the world.Your Guide is sure. Open your mind to Him. Be still and rest.” 

A Course in Miracles W-128.7:3-8.

“The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 128:11-19

We’ve Been Deceived

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

We’ve been played. All of us want the same things in life — safety, enough sustenance, a home, people we love who love us — but we’ve been convinced that we’re different and some of us are “bad”. All of the name-calling and blame-shaming has had its desired effect. We have turned against each other. For the last decade or so, we’ve all been looking over our shoulder before we speak our mind. We’ve been convinced that we’re alone in our thought systems. We’ve been confined to our little bubbles of friendships and family. Sometimes even our friends and family think differently than we do, and we have been afraid of them, too – or worse, repelled by them. While most of us could name a few things we’d like to change in our country, in our society, I don’t know of anyone who wants to throw away our beautiful ideas of democracy. Maybe it takes a complete change in order to tweak a few things. But I don’t think so. Let’s work together, for the good of all. Just the way our founders dreamed we would.

“Appearances can but deceive the mind that wants to be deceived. And you can make a simple choice that will forever place you far beyond deception. You need not concern yourself with how this will be done, for this you cannot understand. But you will understand that mighty changes have been quickly brought about, when you decide one very simple thing; you do not want whatever you believe an idol gives. For thus the Son of God declares that he is free of idols. And thus is he free.”
A Course in Miracles T-30.IV.6:1-6


A lie has only one chance of successful deception, — to be accounted true. Evil seeks to fasten all error upon God, and so make the lie seem part of eternal Truth. Emerson says, “Hitch your wagon to a star.” I say, Be allied to the deific power, and all that is good will aid your journey, as the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. (Judges v. 20.) Hourly, in Christian Science, man thus weds himself with God, or rather he ratifies a union predestined from all eternity; but evil ties its wagonload of offal to the divine chariots, — or seeks so to do, — that its vileness may be christened purity, and its darkness get consolation from borrowed scintillations.”
Unity of Good page 17:1-12

The Strength of Your Conviction

 

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

I had no time to Hate -

Because

The Grave would hinder me -

And Life was not so 

Ample I

Could finish--Enmity -

Nor had I time to Love -

But since

Some Industry must be -

The little Toil of Love -

I thought

Was large enough for Me.

Emily Dickinson

“Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found, arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 94:14-16

“Fantasy is a distorted form of vision. Fantasies of any kind are distortions, because they always involve twisting perception into unreality. Actions that stem from distortions are literally the reactions of those who know not what they do. Fantasy is an attempt to control reality according to false needs. Twist reality in any way and you are perceiving destructively. Fantasies are a means of making false associations and attempting to obtain pleasure from them. But although you can perceive false associations, you can never make them real except to yourself. You believe in what you make. If you offer miracles, you will be equally strong in your belief in them. The strength of your conviction will then sustain the belief of the miracle receiver. Fantasies become totally unnecessary as the wholly satisfying nature of reality becomes apparent to both give and receiver. Reality is ‘lost’ through usurpation, which produces tyranny. As long as a single ‘slave’ remains to walk the earth, your release is not complete. Complete restoration of the Sonship is the only goal of the miracle-minded.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.VII.3:1-14

Content or not …

Creation of Sandy Wythawai Starbird

After watching the movie, Brad's Status, I'm seeing people in a different way. In this movie, Brad -- played by Ben Stiller -- is dissatisfied with his life. He thinks all his friends are better off than him, in every way. When he sees that they're not really, he decides they're not even his friends, but only pretending. Everyone he meets, he imagines enriching his life, then quickly imagines them using him and throwing him away. He thinks his son is going to Harvard and gets very excited thinking about his success; then he imagines his son making fun of him on national tv and he resents the imagined success. This goes on and on with every situation, until finally someone he has just met calls him on his self-pity. I won't tell you how it ends in case you want to see this film. But I did have the realization that many people I know feel exactly the same way as Brad. What causes some people to be happy with what's right in front of them, and others to want everything to be different? I don't know the cause, but I do know the cure: Gratitude for every little thing you see and do. I think being happy might just be a learned behavior. We tend to think of it as some sort of divine dispensation, but nothing can give you what you do not want. This movie has given me much to ponder. Namaste, my friends ...


"Many theories relative to God and man neither make man harmonious nor God lovable. The beliefs we commonly entertain about happiness and life afford no scatheless and permanent evidence of either. Security for the claims of harmonious and eternal being is found only in divine Science." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 323:5

“Imagined slights, remembered pain, past disappointments, perceived injustices and deprivations all enter into the special relationship, which becomes a way in which you seek to restore your wounded self-esteem. What basis would you have for choosing a special partner without the past? Every such choice is made because of something ‘evil’ in the past to which you cling, and for which must someone else atone.”
A Course in Miracles T-16.VII.1:3-5

What Unites Us

This evening my book club celebrated reading and discussing our 200th book! Our book was one I read in 2021, and I will repeat what I wrote about it then:

Photo of book club circa 2017

Dan Rather’s book, What Unites Us, is one which I highly recommend. He is old enough to remember what life was like in the aftermath of the great depression, times before we had government programs to help people in need, along with the suffering which was thought of as normal. When someone lost their job, it felt like death, because there was not another job to be found. Neighbors would do what they could for each other, and when little Dan asked his mother why they were helping the people across the street (thinking perhaps it was pity which inspired his folks to give) he was told it wasn’t because they felt sorry for them, but because they understood the feeling of being in need. He writes of empathy building community. In the last three decades, I’ve watched our little town band together to help people in every kind of need that you can imagine. I have been the recipient of that kindness more than once, and it has built empathy within me, too. When we don’t blame people for their misfortune, we don’t judge their circumstances, but simply meet their need, whatever it may be. It seems so simple, and it is a beautiful thing to watch in action. I wish everyone in our country could read or listen to this book by Mr. Rather. Good will multiplies exponentially, don’t you think? Let’s go forth and multiply!

“Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them. By being united this mind goes out to everyone, even without the awareness of the miracle worker himself. The impersonal nature of miracles is because the Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations with their Creator. As an expression of what you truly are, the miracle places the mind in a state of grace. The mind then naturally welcomes the Host within and the stranger without. When you bring in the stranger, he becomes your brother.”

A Course in Miracles T-1.III.7:1-6

“Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:10-14

Ranting and Raving and Forgiving

I went off on a rant today when an old contrarian friend from the west coast called me to question the veracity of a Rumi quote which I often use at the bottom of my emails. With the horror show which is happening within our American democracy, it’s easy to become overwrought. After pontificating for five minutes or so, then rationally talking to him about whatever-the-heck he was asking, I deep cleaned my kitchen. Looking back on this situation, I am recommending to myself (and you) to find physically-demanding outlets for the frustration which builds up knowing what is happening to us. It is heartbreaking. But it also tells me how desperate we the people are for change. More on that another day. For now, I highly recommend the cathartic activity of cleaning …

“Attack is always physical. When attack in any form enters your mind you are equating yourself with a body, since this is the ego’s interpretation of the body. You do not have to attack physically to accept this interpretation. You are accepting it simply by the belief that attack can get you something you want. If you did not believe this, the idea of attack would have no appeal for you. When you equate yourself with a body you will always experience depression. When a child of God thinks of himself in this way he is belittling himself, and seeing his brothers as similarly belittled. Since he can find himself only in them, he has cut himself off from salvation.”

A Course in Miracles T-8.VII.1:1-8

“Should the world’s sin and sorrow round thee rave, Pierce thou the dark with Truth’s undaunted ray, Send out its light of joy to help and save, That more and more shines to the perfect day.”

Christian Science Hymnal Page 172 Verse 3

The Faces of Loneliness

I listen to audiobooks while I do chores and cook, and I’ve heard numerous thought-provoking books. For instance, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. The concepts presented are fascinating. A young 19th-century girl laments her life, wishing she had more freedom, and that she wasn’t being forced into a marriage. She makes a pact with the “old gods”, but she wishes for the wrong thing and ends up living forever, but no one can remember her once she’s out of their sight. The life of isolation she is thrown into is haunting, frightening, and sad. Her plight brings to mind the many present-day people who are lonesome. I listen, trying to understand what brings on their feelings of wistful longing. Or is it even longing? I’m not sure, but I’d like to empathize. Another audiobook, What Alice Forgot, is about a woman who has a head injury and forgets the last ten years of her life. The lack of connection she feels with family and friends is sort of the flip side of Addie’s isolation. It takes my thoughts to different aspects of loneliness and the perceptions associated with this feeling of lack. I heard an interview today with a young man talking about loneliness and the effect it has had on many of his friends. They have become members of violent white nationalist groups because they feel a kinship in banding together against people. Let’s reach out to others, giving a kind word to sad, perhaps frightening, people. We never know when a kind word will change a life …

“The ego thought system must hide our awareness of our oneness in God in order to make the image of having a separate life for ourselves alone appear real to us. In order to experience this false thought system, we must be willing to set up barriers against remembering God’s oneness through denying our natural awareness of Love’s eternal presence. To experience this thought system of separation, we dream up a world where separate bodies rule the universe. In this dream, we, as separate individuals, are the judge of what is real and what is denied. We build up images of a kingdom that we rule alone and God’s oneness is sacrificed.” 

A Course in Miracles, Chapter 26, Section I

“Abiding in Love, not one of you can be separated from me; and the sweet sense of journeying on together, doing unto others as ye would they should do unto you, conquers all opposition, surmounts all obstacles, and secures success.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings Page 137:7-11