Time of the Season

Art by Judy Clement Wall

Do you ever feel guilty about feeling good? I don’t usually, but recently I had a moment of regret for being happy and contented. A number of us had enjoyed an hour of musical meditation and then went out to lunch at a wonderful restaurant. On the way back to my cozy, safe home, probably to take a nap, I suddenly thought about the people of Ukraine and their frightening plight. A number of possible horrid images flooded into my thoughts. Quickly I corrected these useless images, realizing that it makes no difference how bad I feel, it’s not going to help anyone. But I have used that moment as a reminder to help my neighbor, and to do everything I can to extend Love to the world. My guilt will not improve any situation, but my joy will. This realization helps me extend Love and healing to everyone, knowing that my happiness and contentment allows me to do this. I pray that we may love so passionately that it spreads exponentially all over the world!

“He will withhold no blessing from it, nor limit it in any way. He will join to it all the power that God has given Him, to make each little gift of love a source of healing for everyone. Each little gift you offer to your brother lights up the world. Be not concerned with darkness; look away from it and toward your brother. And let the darkness be dispelled by Him Who knows the light, and lays it gently in each quiet smile of faith and confidence with which you bless your brother.” 

A Course in Miracles - T-22.VI.9:7-11 

“Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264:14-17

Art, In All Its Forms, Is Necessary

Tsagaglalal​ - creation of Sandy Wythawai Starbird​

Ask anyone why art is essential and you may hear that it's not. But ask someone else and you might hear that it's necessary for the survival of our species. I've come to feel that art is the answer to our current problems, concerning beliefs and the inability to assimilate facts. Any society which wants to suppress its people tries to eliminate art in its various forms. In the United States, we have been taught to believe that art is a luxury which is not necessary in our children’s education. This has caused many people to think that anyone who appreciates art is highfalutin in some way; perhaps even defined as elitist for their love of beauty and critical thinking. I ask that we stop and remember the Coal Miner's Daughter, Loretta Lynn. She was as down-home as a person could be, and her songs praise the evolution of thought and the revolution for women. She understood the pointlessness of sending our loved ones to war. Her stories rival those which have come through great authors, and her melodies are as pure as our finest composers bring forth. Art in the United States is fabulously diverse, and is representative of our country far more than corporations and politicians. We could list pages of writers and musicians and artists in all their glory, and they have all opened us to something more than we were before we heard or saw their creations. Yes, I think the answer to every question is art!

"Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 507:28

“You are being blessed by every beneficent thought of any of your brothers anywhere. You should want to bless them in return, out of gratitude. You need not know them individually, or they you. The light is so strong that it radiates throughout the Sonship and returns thanks to the Father for radiating His joy upon it. Only God’s holy children are worthy channels of His beautiful joy, because only they are beautiful enough to hold it by sharing it. It is impossible for a child of God to love his neighbor except as himself. That is why the healer’s prayer is: Let me know this brother as I know myself.”
A Course in Miracles T-5.in.3:1-8

Distorted Vision?

Photo Credit: Aaron Springston

I can't imagine making the huge decisions world leaders are called upon to make every single moment of every single day. There are too many pros and cons to think about assimilating by yourself. And that's why they need trusted advisors; people who accumulate facts and are able to fairly report them for group discussions, which then result in informed decisions. No one is an island. That saying comes to mind often when I see someone who thinks they know everything and no one's opinion other than theirs is of value. We, individually, are a microcosm of the world. We each have decisions to make every day, whether it's something as small as what type of tea to have with breakfast or one of the milestones of life. We watch our city officials struggle with budgets and opinionated city council members, knowing some will side with one and some with another. It's difficult to understand, because if we all want what's best for humanity, there simply should not be so much dissention. Maybe our perceptions are colored by the manipulations of the few who are out to pad their pockets with cash, under the guise of helping everyone else. Maybe we're lulled by apathy, thinking somebody will take care of things so we needn’t pay attention. Whatever the case, we can all hold a higher thought when confronted by injustice. I feel we're at the tipping point of a new world. Don't give up!

"Unconstitutional and unjust coercive legislation and laws, infringing individual rights, must be 'of few days and full of trouble.' The vox populi, through the providence of God, promotes and impels all true reform; and, at the best time, will redress wrongs and rectify injustice. Tyranny can thrive but feebly under our government. God reigns, and will 'turn and overturn' until right is found supreme." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings - Page 80

“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 giver 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

The Joy of Learning New Things

“Beginners, The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning”. Tom Vanderbilt has written a delightful book relating the joy he has experienced through learning new things. He took singing lessons and sang with a choir; he learned to surf, taking his whole family to Costa Rica for this endeavor; he learned to juggle, draw, and create jewelry. Tom isn't looking for something to crow about on social media, but rather he wants skills he can relax into and slowly develop over his lifetime. He says, "It's about small acts of reinvention, at any age, that can make life seem magical." He's also interested in finding out more about the process of learning. He believes the key to learning new things is shifting the focus off yourself. He uses juggling as an example: you don't look at the balls, but rather the apex of where they are thrown. He has learned that time slows down when you stop thinking. He has found that doing these things brings him "an immense and almost forgotten kind of pleasure." I love the idea of learning new things, simply for the pleasure of learning them, don't you?

“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 128:14-19

“Each day should be devoted to miracles. The purpose of time is to enable you to learn how to use time constructively. It is thus a teaching device and a means to an end. Time will cease when it is no longer useful in facilitating learning.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.I.15:1-4

Cooking With Love

Have you noticed that when you feel like cooking, the food seems to turn out tastier? When my boys were young, they joked that I should write a cookbook called “Just Barely Edible”. And they were correct! I was usually rushed, having other things I would rather be doing, and the meals were perfunctory at best. I heard one of my “gurus” talking about people’s emotions going into food, and one of the reasons so many people are angry is that their food is being prepared by fearful, angry people. There is only one place in town where I truly enjoy eating out, and when I pause to think about it, the owner/chef is a very calm and joyous person. Our food supply chain is questionable, too, and it seems the vegetables from happy farmers taste better than mass-produced factory farm output. Our thoughts are important and where we spend our dollars reflects those thoughts. Have a beautiful day, dear Friends …

“Did the careless doctor, the nurse, the cook, and the brusque business visitor sympathetically know the thorns they plant in the pillow of the sick and the heavenly homesick looking away from earth, — Oh, did they know! — this knowledge would do much more towards healing the sick and preparing their helpers for the ‘midnight call,’ than all cries of ‘Lord, Lord!’”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 364:32-6

“Put out your hand, and see how easily the door swings open with your one intent to go beyond it. Angels light the way, so that all darkness vanishes, and you are standing in a light so bright and clear that you can understand all things you see. A tiny moment of surprise, perhaps, will make you pause before you realize the world you see before you in the light reflects the truth you knew, and did not quite forget in wandering away in dreams.”
A Course in Miracles W-131.13:1-3

Obedience to Authority?

Van Gogh’s Chair - 1888

Obedience to Authority, a book written by a man named Stanley Milgram, contains ideas worth examination. This man performed a number of experiments during the 1970s. He was prompted by the horrors perpetrated during Hitler’s reign, wanting to know why people would hurt or kill others for no reason other than being told to do so. He made subjects believe they were administering shocks to someone when questions were answered incorrectly. Sometimes they even believed that someone had passed out from the pain, yet they continued to hit the shock button when the subject didn’t answer right away. They didn’t know it was a set up; they thought they were hurting someone else badly, but continued to do so. These obedience experiments are cited in university classes and are referred to time and again when atrocities occur around the world. I think now is an excellent time to think about the reasons for this blind obedience. Perhaps it’s time to revisit Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience?

“The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page Vii:14-20

“The ego’s laws are strict, and breaches are severely punished. Therefore give no obedience to its laws, for they are laws of punishment. And those who follow them believe that they are guilty, and so they must condemn. Between the future and the past the laws of God must intervene, if you would free yourself. Atonement stands between them, like a lamp shining so brightly that the chain of darkness in which you bound yourself will disappear.”
A Course in Miracles T-13.IX.1:4-8

Providing Knowledge and Understanding

Christa Case Bryant recently became editor of the Christian Science Monitor. Her first editorial reminded me of the original purpose of the daily newspaper, which was founded in 1908. The newspaper became a weekly news magazine a few years back, and maintains its daily presence by way of the internet. At the turn of the last century, our country was being gutted by robber barons, and yellow journalism was rampant. No one knew what to believe and propaganda ruled the day. Now, as then, there’s a great hunger for journalism to speak the truth. As the new editor states: “Our goal is not to tell you what to think, but to give you the essential knowledge and understanding you need to come to your own well-reasoned views.” It will carry on its mission, as Mary Baker Eddy stated in the first issue: “The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” For more information, please visit their website.

“Smart journalism is allowable, nay, it is commendable; but the public cannot swallow reports of American affairs from a surly censor ventilating his lofty scorn of the sects, or societies, of a nation that perhaps he has never visited.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings 297:10-14

“As we give thanks, the world unites with us and happily accepts our holy thoughts, which Heaven has corrected and made pure. Now has our ministry begun at last, to carry round the world the joyous news that truth has no illusions, and the peace of God, through us, belongs to everyone.”
A Course in Miracles W-151.17:2-3