Compassion Is An Act of Greatness

Photo courtesy of Don Matt

“Hummingbirds of Hollywood” is an episode in the PBS Nature series. Terry Maserati is a woman who rehabilitates hummingbirds. As I watched her care for these tiny creatures, many questions come to my thoughts. I wondered if people who watch this program will become more mindful of nature. Has this fabulous woman always cared about life to the extent she has exhibited with these birds for the last two decades? Will her love spread exponentially with every sweet little thing she saves? Can my heart survive the breaking open, the expansion, which comes from realizing the power of small acts? Are there any small acts? Watching this woman love these birds seems to be the most powerful action anyone could make. As she stated at the end of the program: “The truth is, when you show compassion, when you show love for something when you don’t have to, it’s an act of greatness, even if it’s a tiny little bird.” 

“Miracles are a kind of exchange. Like all expressions of love, which are always miraculous in the true sense, the exchange reverses the physical laws. They bring more love both to the giver and the receiver.”

A Course in Miracles T-1.I.9:1-3

“Christian Science commands man to master the propensities, — to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity and to overcome deceit with honesty.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 405:4-9

Honest as a Cat

Catrin Welz Stein – Midnight Cat

“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.” 

Ernest Hemingway

“Honesty does not apply only to what you say. The term actually means consistency. There is nothing you say that contradicts what you think or do; no thought opposes any other thought; no act belies your word; and no word lacks agreement with another. Such are the truly honest. At no level are they in conflict with themselves. Therefore it is impossible for them to be in conflict with anyone or anything.”

A Course in Miracles M-4.II.1:4-9

“Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations, which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we get clearer views of Principle. Break up cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views of humanity.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 239:5-10

Wasted Energy in Denying Truth

Photo from Aaron Springston

I’ve always been happy to have friends and family who are smarter and/or more knowledgeable than me. When someone tells me I’m mistaken about a “fact”, or that I’m interpreting something incorrectly, or maybe that my memory is faulty, I’m grateful for the correction. Much in the same way I’m thankful when someone tells me my skirt is stuck in my waistband, I’m glad if knowledge keeps me from spreading information erroneously. Apparently not everyone feels this way! Not only are we witnessing public figures fearing to say “I was wrong and I’m sorry”, but I’ve been noticing a situation with a loved one whose family has maligned him for decades. When did knowledge and the accumulation of information become something to be ridiculed? Metaphysical practitioners recognize that energy follows thought, so I’m not spending a lot of time replaying memories of behavior which I don’t want to manifest. But it sure is hard not to do so!

“We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are. If a friend informs us of a fault, do we listen patiently to the rebuke and credit what is said? Do we not rather give thanks that we are ‘not as other men’? During many years the author has been most grateful for merited rebuke. The wrong lies in unmerited censure, — in the falsehood which does no one any good.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 8:28

“You do not recognize the enormous waste of energy you expend in denying truth. What would you say of someone who persists in attempting the impossible, believing that to achieve it is to succeed? The belief that you must have the impossible in order to be happy is totally at variance with the principle of creation. God could not will that happiness depended on what you could never have. The fact that God is Love does not require belief, but it does require acceptance. It is indeed possible for you to deny facts, although it is impossible for you to change them. If you hold your hands over your eyes, you will not see because you are interfering with the laws of seeing. If you deny love, you will not know it because your cooperation is the law of its being. You cannot change laws you did not make, and the laws of happiness were created for you, not by you.” 

A Course in Miracles T-9.I.11:1-9

Finding Joy in Everyday Things

Graphic from Aaron Springston

Someone asked me what I do for fun, and I replied that everything I do is fun. They didn’t believe me, but it’s true. There are things I get to do which are pure joy: play bridge, play the organ/piano, study spirituality in its various forms, grow things, write this blog — and so on. Then there are those things which could be classified as chores. For instance, when washing dishes, I love the feel of warm, soapy water on my hands. Cooking is always an interesting experiment, and I never know what’s going to happen so it’s an adventure. Now, the more mundane things — cleaning floors and such — I try to make a form of exercise (because I don’t get enough and am always looking for ways to move more). Cooking, cleaning, and driving — these activities are an opportunity to listen to audiobooks. So they are enjoyed not only for the action, but I look forward to them as opportunities to “read”. Well, I could go on and on, but I think many of you know what I mean. It’s exciting to wake up in the morning, and it’s gratifying to go to sleep at night. Life is good. Every little bit of it. The Wayne Dyer graphic at the top of this post says it all, and I credit him with helping me realize that every moment is one to be savored. As he said: “If you drop a pen and don’t enjoy picking it up, drop it again!” Have a fun day everyone …

“In Science, all being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmonious in every action. Let the perfect model be present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized opposite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your consciousness.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 407:22-28

“Be still a moment, and in silence think how holy is your purpose, how secure you rest, untouchable within its light. God’s ministers have chosen that the truth be with them. Who is holier than they? Who could be surer that his happiness is fully guaranteed? And who could be more mightily protected? What defense could possibly be needed by the ones who are among the chosen ones of God, by His election and their own as well?”
A Course in Miracles W-153.10:1-6

It’s Time To Write A New Beginning

One of my friends expressed concern about getting old. So I’m revisiting this photo and a Donna Ashworth writing just for her. Maybe it’s for you, too! 

A favorite book club photo from the past

“There comes a day, somewhere in the middle of every woman’s life, when Mother Nature herself stands behind us and wraps her arms around our shoulders, whispering

‘It’s time.’

You have taken enough now. It’s time to stop growing up, stop growing older and start growing wiser and wilder.

There are adventures still waiting on you and this time, you will enjoy them with the vision of wisdom and the companionship of hindsight, and you will really let go.

It’s time to stop the madness of comparison and the ridicule of schedule and conformity and start experiencing the joys that a life, free of containment and guilt, can bring.’

She will shake your shoulders gently and remind you that you’ve done your bit. You’ve given too much, cared too much, you’ve suffered too much.

You’ve bought the book, as it were, and worn the t-shirt.

Worse, you’ve worn the chains and carried the weight of a burden far too heavy for your shoulders.

‘It’s time’ she will say.

Let it go, really let it go and feel the freedom of the fresh, clean spaces within you. Fill them with discovery, love and laughter. Fill yourself so full you will no longer fear what is ahead and instead you will greet each day with the excitement of a child.’

She will remind you that if you choose to stop caring what other people think of you and instead care what you think of you, you will experience a new era of your life you never dreamed possible.

‘It’s time’ she will say…

to write the ending, or new beginning, of your own story.” 

Donna Ashworth

“Be confident that you have never lost your Identity and the extensions which maintain It in wholeness and peace. Miracles are an expression of this confidence. They are reflections of both your proper identification with your brothers, and of your awareness that your identification is maintained by extension. The miracle is a lesson in total perception. By including any part of totality in the lesson, you have included the whole.” 

A Course in Miracles T-7.IX.7:1-10

“Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 390:9-11

Would I Do It Again?

Today has brought me reasons to examine the choices we make. My main question for myself is: If I know something will be detrimental to my emotional and mental well-being, is there a reason I would choose to do it anyway? This contemplation has led me to revisit some “bad” choices I’ve made in my past. These are not regrets or obsessions, but a simple questioning of myself about why I did these things and if I would do them again. While I’ve decided I would indeed repeat the questionable behavior, I don’t think I would handle the consequences in the same manner. We are learning that everything we do is either done from love or it is a call for love, and I see how this pertains to these past events. And if I’m not happy with my choices, I’m grateful for the ability and opportunity to choose again. 

“As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the other. How important, then, to choose good as the reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else. God’s being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss. ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’ Like the archpriests of yore, man is free ‘to enter into the holiest, — the realm of God.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 480:31

“The only judgment involved is the Holy Spirit’s one division into two categories; one of love, and the other the call for love. You cannot safely make this division, for you are much too confused either to recognize love, or to believe that everything else is nothing but a call for love. You are too bound to form, and not to content. What you consider content is not content at all. It is merely form, and nothing else. For you do not respond to what a brother really offers you, but only to the particular perception of his offering by which the ego judges it.” A Course in Miracles T-14.X.7:1-6

Put Down Your Heavy Burdens

While listening to a friend recount details of a painful event from her past, I thought of a favorite book by Eckhart Tolle which contains a parable he often tells in his videos. In the book, A New Earth, he relates a story of two monks walking down the road. They see a young woman, dressed in white, attempting to cross the muddy roadway. One of the monks picks her up and carries her to the other side and they go on their way. A few hours later, the other monk says, You shouldn’t have carried that woman across the road; we don’t do that. The carrier responds: I put her down hours ago, but it looks like you’re still carrying her! It’s easy to carry grudges and supposed hurts inflicted on us, taking events out and reliving them at the slightest provocation. I’m ready to put these things down and stop blaming someone else for the burden I’m carrying. What a wonderful freedom!

“In Him you have no cares and no concerns, no burdens, no anxiety, no pain, no fear of future and no past regrets. In timelessness you rest, while time goes by without its touch upon you, for your rest can never change in any way at all. You rest today. And as you close your eyes, sink into stillness. Let these periods of rest and respite reassure your mind that all its frantic fantasies were but the dreams of fever that has passed away. Let it be still and thankfully accept its healing. No more fearful dreams will come, now that you rest in God. Take time today to slip away from dreams and into peace.”
A Course in Miracles W-109.5:1-8

“Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for the immortal. Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self. The old man with his deeds must be put off. Nothing sensual or sinful is immortal. The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 296:3-16