“Nerding Out” On Classical Music

Helene Grimaud - pianist and lover of wolves

“I’ve loved being able to nerd out with you over classical music!” This is a statement made to me by a patient care assistant as she joined me in listening to Helene Grimaud play Beethoven on the piano. Turns out this young woman had played the piano all her life, played violin with her college Orchestra, and loved everything classical. She was lamenting the fact there was no place to hear opera in this area. I was able to introduce her to the Opera in the Ozarks, a training ground for professional opera singers. Even though there are only three or four performances left in this season, she’s hoping to catch one. I tell you this because every interaction we have is important. Why was I listening to piano music when she came into the room, rather than an audiobook with my headsets? As I understand divine guidance, or going with the flow, it’s because it was all part of the soup of consciousness. This young woman felt as though she had given up her musical aspirations, but I shared with her that I once went 12 years without touching a keyboard, and it felt great to come back. Just as it’s feeling great to come back from the current hiccup in my life.

“There is a place in you where this whole world has been forgotten; where no memory of sin and of illusion lingers still. There is a place in you which time has left, and echoes of eternity are heard. There is a resting place so still no sound except a hymn to Heaven rises up to gladden God the Father and the Son. Where Both abide are They remembered, Both. And where They are is Heaven and is peace.”
A Course in Miracles T-29.V.1:1-5

“Japhet (Noah’s son). A type of spiritual peace, flowing from the understanding that God is the divine Principle of all existence, and that man is His idea, the child of His care.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health 589:8-11

Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity

The Light Above My Bed 

This is my second full day in the physical rehabilitation hospital. Their signs tell me that they are in the top 4% in the nation (by many standards) and from what I’ve witnessed today, I’d put them at the top! What an interesting, knowledgeable, kind, compassionate, encouraging group of young people I’m getting to know! The art on the walls of this facility is quirky and beautiful. (My room has photos of peanuts doing odd things, and a hugely detailed lady bug on an iris). The walls are in contrasting colors of calm, the rest is glass, which shows off state-of-the-art equipment and inspiring quotes. Seeing the world through the lens of forced hospitalization is different, without a doubt. We create our own bubbles, and when forced into a new one, we see through new eyes.


“Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of humanity:

‘Sweet are the uses of adversity;

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.’

Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, — a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of God’s care. Spiritual development germinates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 66:1-16

“There are two diametrically opposed ways of seeing your brother. They must both be in your mind, because you are the perceiver. They must also be in his, because you are perceiving him. See him through the Holy Spirit in his mind, and you will recognize Him in yours. What you acknowledge in your brother you are acknowledging in yourself, and what you share you strengthen.”
A Course in Miracles T-5.III.3:1-5

Peaceful and Joyful

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

This writing was originally from ten years ago. I repeat today as it expresses my feelings.

At this time last year, I was in the hospital. The first few days, I requested that no visitors be admitted and I was at peace with the decision, happy to be listening to Mind rather than talking mindlessly. Numerous times a day, nurses and/or doctors would ask if there was anyone they could call for me, or if I’d like to visit with a counselor or pastor or someone. I assured them I was fine. I was fine because I realized that I was one with Love, without fear or worry, accepting the perfect peace that resides within. I think of those days occasionally when people tell me they are lonely and wish they had someone with which to share their lives. I feel I’m sharing everything with everyone, right now, right here, in the middle of the night without another human voice within range of my ears. I feel that way because the unity of Spirit is a never-ending giving and receiving. Accepting this fact, I feel complete, and there is no end to the peace and joy!

"To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear,--this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 423:8-11

“There is no end to all the peace and joy, and all the miracles that I will give, when I accept God’s Word. Why not today? Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever. It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You. Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love.”
A Course in Miracles W-355.1:1-8

Nature Voices Divine Love

 

Art by Abbott Henderson Thayer

Forgive Me - Poem by Mary Oliver

Angels are wonderful but they are so, well, aloof.

It’s what I sense in the mud and the roots of the

trees, or the well, or the barn, or the rock with

its citron map of lichen that halts my feet and

makes my eyes flare,

 feeling the presence of some spirit, 

some small god,

 who abides there.

If I were a perfect person, I would be bowing

continuously.

I’m not, though I pause wherever I feel this

holiness, which is why I’m so often late coming

back from wherever I went.

Forgive me.

~ Mary Oliver

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 240:1-9

“Forgiveness turns the world of sin into a world of glory, wonderful to see. Each flower shines in light, and every bird sings of the joy of Heaven. There is no sadness and there is no parting here, for everything is totally forgiven. And what has been forgiven must join, for nothing stands between to keep them separate and apart. The sinless must perceive that they are one, for nothing stands between to push the other off. And in the space that sin left vacant do they join as one, in gladness recognizing what is part of them has not been kept apart and separate.”

A Course in Miracles T-26.IV.2:1-6

No Defense Against Truth

Agapanthus - flowering beauty in France

Courtesy of Geneva Currin 

I’m not sure I’d ever felt fear until last night. Childhood nightmares, fear of parents disappearing, many things I thought were fearful had, of course, been experienced. But last night, waking up in the dark, realizing I had no legs, finding the call button for the nurses was not near — I have officially felt fear. But there are no degrees of fear any more than there are degrees of love. I think this phase of my life will be spent truly trying to know the peace of God. The all-encompassing ego, or mortal mind, has been something I’ve denied, I’ve ignored, I’ve tried to overcome, but I haven’t seen it as nothingness trying to be everything. If this self-importance has not shown me the error of my way, I don’t know what will. Having always had somewhat of a superiority complex – as I’ve described it, jumping up on my high horse — I feel it becoming less substantial in my mind. I’m ready to go forward without this defense against truth.   

“What is the ego? Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something. In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real. Yet could God’s Son as He created him abide in form or in a world of form? Who asks you to define the ego and explain how it arose can be but he who thinks it real, and seeks by definition to ensure that its illusive nature is concealed behind the words that seem to make it so.”

A Course in Miracles C-2.2:1-5

“Every one must see or feel for himself in order to be convinced; but I am satisfied that any who will lay aside their preconceived notions, and deal honestly with themselves and the light they have, will come to a knowledge of the truth as illustrated in the teachings and life of Jesus Christ; that is, that Mind, or Soul, or whatever you may be pleased to call it, is the real Ego, or self, and that mortal mind with its body is the unreal and vanishing, and eventually goes back to its native nothingness.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings 468: 27

Different Types of Prayer

When I first began to play the organ for churches other than my childhood Christian Science Society, I did not understand many of the terms used in their services. There were different types of prayer, different reasons for communion, ways of thinking about sin, with which I was unfamiliar. Jesus was God and Mary was Mother of God — foreign thinking for me. But now, after a decade of watching three beautiful congregations of Methodists, Presbyterians, and Catholics, I think I get it. We all need comfort and love. Many of us are at peace when we see that all our needs are already supplied, and it’s up to us to accept divine Love. Some of us feel like sinners and need absolution in order to survive and thrive. Many want the communion of like-minded folk, to walk hand-in-hand with a tribe, to have someone to call on in times of need. But the bottom line is we all want to feel and share the Love which is God. Because there is no other love, not in reality. Whatever you do which expresses kindness and charity, whatever brings you comfort, whatever helps you see yourself as One with All That Is — Keep on doing it! And don’t be afraid to think outside of your comfort zone.

“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: 13-15

“Right perception is necessary before God can communicate directly to His altars, which He established in His Sons. There He can communicate His certainty, and His knowledge will bring peace without question. God is not a stranger to His Sons, and His Sons are not strangers to each other. Knowledge preceded both perception and time, and will ultimately replace them. That is the real meaning of ‘Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,’ and ‘Before Abraham was I am.’ Perception can and must be stabilized, but knowledge is stable. ‘Fear God and keep His commandments’ becomes ‘Know God and accept His certainty.’”
A Course in Miracles T-3.III.6:1-7

The People Around Us

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

These last few days in the hospital have been wonderful, because of the beautiful young people I have met. Every nurse, tech, doctor — they have all been incredibly interesting. There’s the young woman who just read a novel for the first time in her life, and she loved it. Having been a life-long reader, I made some recommendations to her and she was very excited to try one author in particular. And the young father who became a nurse because his wife was one, and when he heard the stories of her days, he wanted to make a difference in that way, also. They live on a hill which was secluded and has become developed. He has a dream of living somewhere like Eureka Springs. Then there’s the sweetest young woman whose daughter has autoimmune problems. We spent a long time discussing the deterioration of America’s food supply chain. A 20-year-old assistant who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 15. She had many tips for my year-old grandson who has just been told the same. The exotically-beautiful nurse, who left teaching to become a nurse, was particularly inspiring to me. The ambulance drivers, in their 20s, who lament the fact they must live with their parents, because after car payments and insurance, there is not enough money left over to think of purchasing a home. I have received insights into their lives, hopes, their desire to dream of more. I’m going to sleep thinking of my sweet little abode, my incredible friends, my children, and all the beauty I see all around. Namaste …

“The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you reproducing it? Then you are haunted in your work by vicious sculptors and hideous forms. Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually. The result is that you are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your life-work, and adopt into your experience the angular outline and deformity of matter models.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:12-24

“Today’s idea takes another step toward quick salvation, and a giant stride it is indeed! So great the distance is that it encompasses, it sets you down just short of Heaven, with the goal in sight and obstacles behind. Your foot has reached the lawns that welcome you to Heaven’s gate; the quiet place of peace, where you await with certainty the final step of God. How far are we progressing now from earth! How close are we approaching to our goal! How short the journey still to be pursued!”
A Course in Miracles W-194.1:1-6