Lift Your Voice and Love Loudly!

Art by J. Clement Wall

JudyClementWall.com

What do you do when you hear someone say something racist, or sexist, or ageist -- something that lays like an ugly splotch in your memory? When I was a child, I distinctly remember other children saying mean things to and about a girl. She didn't seem to have much going for her. To our way of thinking, she wasn't pretty or smart. But I liked her. I was only 8 or 9, and I was afraid to refute the words of a mob of kids who reveled in being mean to her. I never forgave myself for that. But I hope I'm rectifying it now. After that time, I began to speak up in the face of injustice. Of course, I sometimes went overboard and would challenge others, trying to defend things which didn't need my defense. Hopefully, I'm learning when my words are needed, as opposed to keeping my mouth shut and letting someone dig a hole for themselves! Whatever the case, this chalkboard art from J. Clement Wall speaks to how I feel today. "Lift Your Voice & Love Loud"! May I have the wisdom to know what to say and when to say it -- or not!

“Truth has no consciousness of error. Love has no sense of hatred. Life has no partnership with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 243:25-29

“Light cannot enter darkness when a mind believes in darkness, and will not let it go. Truth does not struggle against ignorance, and love does not attack fear. What needs no protection does not defend itself. Defense is of your making. God knows it not. The Holy Spirit uses defenses on behalf of truth only because you made them against it. His perception of them, according to His purpose, merely changes them into a call for what you have attacked with them. Defenses, like everything you made, must be gently turned to your own good, translated by the Holy Spirit from means of self-destruction to means of preservation and release. His task is mighty, but the power of God is with Him. Therefore, to Him it is so easy that it was accomplished the instant it was given Him for you. Do not delay in your return to peace by wondering how He can fulfill what God has given Him to do. Leave that to Him Who knows. You are not asked to do mighty tasks yourself. You are merely asked to do the little He suggests you do, trusting Him only to the small extent of believing that, if He asks it, you can do it. You will see how easily all that He asks can be accomplished.”
A Course in Miracles T-14.VII.5:1-15

Take a Stand For Truth

How many people need to repeat truth before everyone begins to see it? Supposedly, Mark Twain jokingly said a lie would travel around the world while the truth was still lacing up its boots. I'm not sure that's true today with the internet connecting everyone in its web. I'd bet the truth will travel just as fast if enough people speak/write it! It seems Aristarchus first noticed the sun was stationary somewhere around 300 B.C., then it took a few centuries before Copernicus revealed this truth, with a mathematical model in the 1500s. Even then, Copernicus was so afraid of religious leaders, who thought everything was centered around them, that he didn't tell anyone until he was on his deathbed. Sound familiar? What about the earth being flat, railroad tracks coming together, mirages, and other such illusions? How long did it take for us to understand what was happening? While most of us know these things, I saw a horrifying statistic recently which said that 1/4 of the people still believe the sun revolves around the earth every 24 hours. Hearing things like this make it even more important for each and every one of us to speak out about things we know to be true. Research is easier than ever and more fun than it was 50 years ago. So pick a fact, study up, and tell everyone you know!

"Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, has wisely said, 'Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly, they say they have always believed it.’”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 104:8

“When you lack confidence in what someone will do, you are attesting to your belief that he is not in his right mind. This is hardly a miracle-based frame of reference. It also has the disastrous effect of denying the power of the miracle. The miracle perceives everything as it is. If nothing but the truth exists, right-minded seeing cannot see anything but perfection. ⁶I have said that only what God creates or what you create with the same Will has any real existence. This, then, is all the innocent can see. They do not suffer from distorted perception.”
A Course in Miracles T-3.II.3:1-8

“No Kings”

With the upcoming peaceful “No Kings” protest on Saturday, I feel compelled to repeat this past writing about love and joy dissipating anger:

A long time ago, I was leaving my art gallery at the end of the day, walking down the sidewalk to my vehicle, when I heard the old Louis Armstrong song, What a Wonderful World. There was a young man in Basin Park, sitting with his guitar and singing this song. I stopped to listen and was completely enthralled; lifted out of myself and the worries of the day. I stood across the street from him, loving what was happening on this cool summer evening. Out of the corner of my ear (so to speak) I heard some ruckus, but it wasn’t really registering with me. As the song ended, I heard some voices shouting obscenities. When I looked toward the noise, they were looking right at me! But my mind had risen to a place of pure Love while listening to the song and feeling the words, and so I just stood there, smiling, with no thought of anything other than what a wonderful world it is. There were three young people sitting on a wall in the park and as I happily looked back at them, it was as though they deflated. Where before they had been angry and loud, their anger disappeared right before my eyes. I waved happily at them and went on my way. This was proof that Love conquers hate. I saw it happen. So don’t lose hope, dear friends. Allow yourselves to be overtaken by Love and watch it spread!


“Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 571:18-21

“Today the lights of Heaven bend to you, to shine upon your eyelids as you rest beyond the world of darkness. Here is light your eyes can not behold. And yet your mind can see it plainly, and can understand. A day of grace is given you today, and we give thanks. This day we realize that what you feared to lose was only loss.”
A Course in Miracles W-129.8:1-5

The Holy Relationship

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Relationships are assignments made with the purpose of triggering each other’s wounds. These wounds are mainly from childhood, and we’ve probably been replaying a version of them all our lives. In order to have maximum growth, we must face them and heal them, which cannot be done unless they’re opened up and brought to the surface. And so we meet someone, fall in love, have a mountaintop experience, then trip and fall down the hill. From that point, we can work on climbing back up, or stay where we’ve landed. In the exhilaration of romance, we have seen the truth of each other’s innocence; after a while, we get to see each other’s messed-up-ness. We may look at it in a sacred context and recognize the spiritual meaning and purpose, or we can focus on the hurt and allow our egos to separate us. Whether we live together in bodies, or live separately but remain together in heart, it makes no difference, as relationships are of the mind. I keep reminding myself that all crises are an invitation to rise to the occasion. It’s quite a trip, don’t you think?

"The holy relationship, a major step toward the perception of the real world, is learned. It is the old, unholy relationship, transformed and seen anew. The holy relationship is a phenomenal teaching accomplishment. In all its aspects, as it begins, develops and becomes accomplished, it represents the reversal of the unholy relationship. Be comforted in this; the only difficult phase is the beginning. For here, the goal of the relationship is abruptly shifted to the exact opposite of what it was. This is the first result of offering the relationship to the Holy Spirit to use for His purposes." 

A Course in Miracles T-17.V.2:1-7 

“The power of the human will should be exercised only in subordination to Truth; else it will misguide the judgment and free the lower propensities. It is the province of spiritual sense to govern man. Material, erring, human thought acts injuriously both upon the body and through it.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 206:4-9

Speculation Abounds

Photo of unknown origin

We live in a speculative society, don’t you think? I remember a neighbor calling me and saying: Do you know what’s going on with the pig people? (This was in reference to the folks who have a pot-bellied pig here in town, prompting much ado until the city council finally declared them a farm animal and prohibited them.) “No”, I said, “I do not”. Whereupon she launched into a speculation of what may have happened, based on the fact there was yellow tape on the sidewalk in front of their house. And now, as I am listening to the Rachel Maddow show, I am again struck by the endless speculation of our species! Perhaps I simply have an under-active imagination, but I’d rather just wait and find out what has happened when the dust settles. I don’t think I have a point to this writing. If you have any thoughts about this, let me know!

“This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness.”
A Course in Miracles C-in.1:1-3)

“The divine Science of man is woven into one web of consistency without seam or rent. Mere speculation or superstition appropriates no part of the divine vesture, while inspiration restores every part of the Christly garment of righteousness.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 243:25-29

The Human Craving For Something Higher

Christopher Fischer’s Peony Garden

Quantum physics is helping us to understand that form isn't as solid as we've been told. With that understanding, it becomes clear that many limitations we've placed upon ourselves are nothing more than beliefs in material laws. Limitations are discarded when an athlete breaks a record in the Olympics, or if someone performs a seemingly-impossible feat, such as lifting a car off a trapped loved one. We've all heard people tell tales we think of as supernatural, such as falling great distances and feeling as though they landed on a cushion, or so-called incurable diseases disappearing. Now, I'm not suggesting we exchange one human belief for yet another, but rather that we look to divine Mind to tell us the truth of our being — and that we allow ourselves to be led in paths we wouldn't have considered otherwise. Thought is shifting so rapidly at this time! Let's not be afraid to look beyond the illusion!

“A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence the unsatisfied human craving for something better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a material belief in a physical God and man. ”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 258: 1-6

“You on earth have no conception of limitlessness, for the world you seem to live in is a world of limits. In this world, it is not true that anything without order of difficulty can occur. The miracle, therefore, has a unique function, and is motivated by a unique Teacher Who brings the laws of another world to this one. The miracle is the one thing you can do that transcends order, being based not on differences but on equality.”
A Course in Miracles - T-14.X.2:4-7

Decisions, Decisions …

Photo credit: Gerry Toler

Many of us have difficulty making decisions. We make lists of pros and cons, look at the situation from all directions, think we have it figured out, and then something changes and we must start again. Usually I don’t worry about making choices, because I’ve learned that trusting intuition is the way to go. Rather than becoming anxious about what is the right thing to do and wondering if I’m going to make a mistake, I turn toward the choice which brings a peaceful smile. Sometimes we come up against a situation where nothing feels right. When this happens, I like to trust being kind rather than right. But what if neither course of action seems kind or right?? Perhaps I would go to Chapter 30 in A Course in Miracles text, the section on Rules for Decision: “Today I will make no decisions by myself. This means that you are choosing not to be the judge of what to do. But it must also mean you will not judge the situations where you will be called upon to make response. For if you judge them, you have set the rules for how you should react to them. And then another answer cannot but produce confusion and uncertainty and fear.”
A Course in Miracles T-30.I.2:2-6

“The science of music governs tones. If mortals caught harmony through material sense, they would lose harmony, if time or accident robbed them of material sense. To be master of chords and discords, the science of music must be understood. Left to the decisions of material sense, music is liable to be misapprehended and lost in confusion. Controlled by belief, instead of understanding, music is, must be, imperfectly expressed. So man, not understanding the Science of being, — thrusting aside his divine Principle as incomprehensible, — is abandoned to conjectures, left in the hands of ignorance, placed at the disposal of illusions, subjected to material sense which is discord. A discontented, discordant mortal is no more a man than discord is music.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 304:22-4