Is Loneliness the Absence of Others?

Almost everyone has felt lonely at some point in their lives. Many people attribute their loneliness to lack of a life partner, but I’ve always questioned this belief. Having never been sure why I feel this way, this quote by Johann Hari helps explain my view on the subject: “Loneliness isn’t the physical absence of other people, it’s the sense that you’re not sharing anything that matters with anyone else. If you have lots of people around you – perhaps even a husband or wife, or a family, or a busy workplace – but you don’t share anything that matters with them, then you’ll still be lonely.” Perhaps this is why I’ve never been lonely, although I’ve been partnerless for the majority of my life. Feeling surrounded by love, through friendships and from my children, sharing heartfelt ideas has always been possible. After reading the aforementioned quote, I’m thinking my lack of loneliness could be partially attributed to these daily writings! When something strikes me as important, I write about it and share it with you. Daily events, wonderful books, important documentaries, memorable movies — I tell you about it. And I am grateful for this never-ending circle of communicants.

“No one can change the law of Christian metaphysics, the law of right thinking, nor in any wise alter its effects. It is a forever fact that the meek and lowly in heart are blessed and comforted by divine Love. If the proud are lonely and uncomforted, it is because they have thoughts adverse to the law of love. Pride, arrogance, and self-will are unmerciful, and so receive judgment without mercy; but the law of metaphysics says, ‘Blessed are the merciful,’ and will allow no one to escape that blessedness, howsoever far he may stray, whatsoever lawlessness of hatred he may practice and suffer from.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany Page 41:7-15

“The wish to see calls down the grace of God upon your eyes, and brings the gift of light that makes sight possible. Would you behold your brother? God is glad to have you look on him. He does not will your savior be unrecognized by you. Nor does He will that he remain without the function that He gave to him. Let him no more be lonely, for the lonely ones are those who see no function in the world for them to fill; no place where they are needed, and no aim which only they can perfectly fulfill.”
A Course in Miracles T-25.VI.3:1-6A

Why Am I Seeing an Illusion?

Photo credit: Christopher Fischer

Having always believed that if people knew truth, they would understand truth, I’m having a personal crisis accepting that this is not true. Having spent years saying anything I want to say, with no worries about whether people think I’m insanely deluded, I’m beginning to see why Jesus was crucified. Wildly implausible religious beliefs are not only revered, but cherished. And so if I tell someone that the Mind of God knows nothing about our supposed sins, at best I’ll receive a blank stare or a roll of the eyes. While my personal goal is to release any beliefs that God is out there somewhere, watching and listening to my every thought and action, ready to reward or punish according to how I deem it should be done, many people are afraid to accept the new/old idea which denies these material beliefs. I want to understand God, realize unfolding consciousness, see Truth through the mirage. I cannot erase that mirage, because it is not there. But I can understand why I’m seeing an illusion, and thereby erase my fear of it. It takes a constant, conscious effort to understand there is no separation between this thing we call God and ourselves. I really want to do that …

“Millions of unprejudiced minds — simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert — are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, and never fear the consequences. What if the old dragon should send forth a new flood to drown the Christ-idea? He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night. In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be understood. Those ready for the blessing you impart will give thanks. The waters will be pacified, and Christ will command the wave.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 570:14-25

“Peace be to you who have been cured in God, and not in idle dreams. For cure must come from holiness, and holiness can not be found where sin is cherished. God abides in holy temples. He is barred where sin has entered. Yet there is no place where He is not. And therefore sin can have no home in which to hide from His beneficence. There is no place where holiness is not, and nowhere sin and sickness can abide.”
A Course in Miracles W-140.5:1-7

Upper Case Living

Painting by James Yale

Everything we do, say, and think, plants us firmly in either the world of fear or the realm of Love. Moment by moment, we choose what we accept as the truth. A number of years ago, through my daily writings, I became friends with a man in the Netherlands. He has studied Christian Science for decades, and at some point added A Course in Miracles. While I have been familiar with the work of Mary Baker Eddy all my life, there are facets of her writings which I am now looking at with new eyes. In the early 1900s, a group of people explored the supposition that Mrs. Eddy had written a new language, a spiritual language, centered around the seven synonyms for God, which are well-known to readers of Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures. By a thorough understanding of these capitalized words, (Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love) we are able to apply them to all experiences, allowing them to be spiritualized in thought and realized in the demonstration of Oneness. By consistently turning thought away from mortal concepts and utilizing spiritual interpretations, we are choosing the world we want to see. A close friend once wrote an essay entitled, "Upper Case Living". I will think of it as I choose the world I see today!

“What Truth is comes to view individually as intuition, inspiration. Truth is forever unfolding as individual self-conscious being, and our opinions (abstractions) are constantly becoming obsolete. Truth cannot be locked up in a strong-box; it is Infinity. When confined, Truth ceases to be Truth, and becomes an abstraction. Truth defines itself operationally by disposing of beliefs and theories. It is a way of life and cannot be argued about." "The man of today is intelligence; he is pure Mind” We Are the World We Walk Through” by Margaret Laird C.S.B

“A miracle is a correction introduced into false thinking by me. It acts as a catalyst, breaking up erroneous perception and reorganizing it properly. This places you under the Atonement principle, where perception is healed. Until this has occurred, knowledge of the Divine Order is impossible.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.I.37:1-4

We Are Capable Of More Than We Know

Jesus was here to teach us many things, not the least of which was how to be nice to each other. His two commandments were to love God above all else and to love our neighbor as ourselves. I've often thought that we need to love ourselves more, as it seems many of us are expressing a lack of love for ourselves in our actions toward others. Jesus was also instructing us that we are capable of much more than we know. We are not powerless victims of circumstance. He tells us that the things he does, so can we -- know the Truth and be free!Power and dominion have become ugly words because of the things done to others by ruthless people. True power and dominion have to do with peace and grace and Love, as expressed through the healing power within. We are capable of more than we know. Let's not be afraid to express that power in healing every ill which seems so real to our material sense. We are spiritual Beings, expressions of God, perfect and whole, needing nothing to be added or taken away for that perfection to show forth and bless all of humankind. More on this theme tomorrow …

“What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs? And what can save the world except your Self? Belief is powerful indeed. The thoughts you hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth. A madman thinks the world he sees is real, and does not doubt it. Nor can he be swayed by questioning his thoughts’ effects. It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom comes to him at last.”
A Course in Miracles W-132.1:1-7

“In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow,--thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea,--perfect God and perfect man,--as the basis of thought and demonstration.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 259:6-15

All Is Infinite Mind

Ceramic Creation from Ken Starbird 

For several months, I’ve been doing a deep dive into books and audio files from my most-beloved  teachers of scientific metaphysics. Of course, the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and A Courser in Miracles are the basis of my studies, and I always refer to them as my gold standard. But Joel Goldsmith has been calling me, and I particularly love his talks from the         1960s, particularly ones in Hawaii. They are exquisitely thorough! Margaret Laird’s Christian Science Revisited (a/k/a We Are The World We Walk Through), is an all-time favorite and I find something new every time I pick it up.  Helen Wright’s book, Finding Your Divinity, introduces the concept of advanced meaning within Mrs. Eddy’ synonyms for God: Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. Ms. Wright learned this way of looking at Mrs. Eddy’s writings from studying with John Doorly and Max Kappeler.  Which takes me to the voluminous audio files of Mr. Kappeler. What a treasure trove this is! And then I opened my morning youTube offering  from Coreen and Nouk, delightedly finding the beautiful ACIM lesson entitled, When I Am Healed I Am Not Healed Alone. My serious study of these concepts began 30 years ago with Christian Science Class Instruction,  and I trust my teacher has clarified some things within her understanding, as have I. I write this as an introduction to a few days of writings on this subject. May we all enjoy this beautiful spring day!

“Sickness would prove that lies must be the truth. But healing demonstrates that truth is true. The separation sickness would impose has never really happened. To be healed is merely to accept what always was the simple truth, and always will remain exactly as it has forever been. Yet eyes accustomed to illusions must be shown that what they look upon is false. So healing, never needed by the truth, must demonstrate that sickness is not real.”

A Course in Miracles W-137.4:1-6

"Question: What is the scientific statement of being?

Answer: There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."

Science & Health Page 468:8-16

Big Questions

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

A number of my friends and acquaintances have become mentally lost in these past few years. Some had a slow progression, and some seemed to fall off a cliff into dementia. It’s a mystery why these things happen, and there are as many theories as there are people. A book I listened to, Super Brain, addresses the loss of brain cells and the ability to regrow them. It also speaks to reasons we slowly lose our mental capabilities due to lack of intellectual exercise. Physical reasons for disease are generally what people explore, but more and more we are realizing how mind affects the body. Various testing situations show that the brain can be physically manipulated, also. I want to know the difference between the brain and the mind. Questions such as: What is consciousness? Where does intuition come from? What is divine Mind and how does it affect what we think of as our mind? These are the questions I love to contemplate. My study of books by Margaret Laird, Max Kappeler, Joel Goldsmith, Mary Baker Eddy, and others, are the reason I find every day to be an exciting adventure. We can never know everything about the inner world we call spirituality, and this brings me great joy!

“The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates. Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something, — for lust, dishonesty, selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery, murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all the etceteras that word includes.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 330:25-32

“You also believe the body’s brain can think. If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth; or that you held the world within your hand, securely bound until you let it go. Yet this is no more foolish than to believe the body’s eyes can see; the brain can think.

“It is God’s strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. ²His strength denies your weakness. It is your weakness that sees through the body’s eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself; the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. These are seen through eyes that cannot see and cannot bless.”
A Course in Miracles W-92.2:1–3:4

Spread Love!

Art created by Marghanita Hughes

Having grown up in the same area where I presently live, and never straying farther than a nearby university town, I know a lot of people. Old friends, new friends, and everything in between are about the best thing that can happen to us on this sweet earth! Every friendship is individual, but they all have a commonality: love. The compassionate caring which wells up when we hear of friends’ hardships, or the joy for their happy times, these reactions feel like a primal instinct to me. Hearing stories of friends’ lives at class reunions, my heart swells with a deeper understanding of the people I’ve known for six-plus decades. Laughing with old friends over memories fills me with happiness. It’s nice to know people who start to giggle at the mention of a single word. Childhood friendships run deep. One of the saddest plights of humanity is the loneliness of isolation. Next time you’re going to a meeting, any meeting which involves people gathered together for the common good, invite a shut-in neighbor, or an acquaintance who rarely participates in events, anyone you think would enjoy meeting new people. Spread the love!

“It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 467:9-10

“You look still with the body’s eyes, and they can see but thorns. Yet you have asked for and received another sight. Those who accept the Holy Spirit’s purpose as their own share also His vision. And what enables Him to see His purpose shine forth from every altar now is yours as well as His. He sees no strangers; only dearly loved and loving friends. He sees no thorns but only lilies, gleaming in the gentle glow of peace that shines on everything He looks upon and loves.”
A Course in Miracles T-20.II.5:1-6