A Portal or a Hole?

 

In honor of Indigenous People’s Day, I repost this writing from White Eagle, Hopi …

"Bird at Heart"
creation of Sandy Starbird

“This moment humanity is going through can now be seen as a portal and as a hole. The decision to fall into the hole or go through the portal is up to you.
If you repent of the problem and consume the news 24 hours a day, with little energy, nervous all the time, with pessimism, you will fall into the hole. But if you take this opportunity to look at yourself, rethink life and death, take care of yourself and others, you will cross the portal. Take care of your homes, take care of your body. Connect with your spiritual House.

When you are taking care of yourselves, you are taking care of everything else. Do not lose the spiritual dimension of this crisis; have the eagle aspect from above and see the whole; see more broadly.

There is a social demand in this crisis, but there is also a spiritual demand -- the two go hand in hand. Without the social dimension, we fall into fanaticism. But without the spiritual dimension, we fall into pessimism and lack of meaning. You were prepared to go through this crisis. Take your toolbox and use all the tools available to you.

Learn about resistance of the indigenous and African peoples; we have always been, and continue to be, exterminated. But we still haven't stopped singing, dancing, lighting a fire, and having fun. Don't feel guilty about being happy during this difficult time.

You do not help at all being sad and without energy. You help if good things emanate from the Universe now. It is through joy that one resists. Also, when the storm passes, each of you will be very important in the reconstruction of this new world.

You need to be well and strong. And for that, there is no other way than to maintain a beautiful, happy, and bright vibration. This has nothing to do with alienation.

This is a resistance strategy. In shamanism, there is a rite of passage called the quest for vision. You spend a few days alone in the forest, without water, without food, without protection. When you cross this portal, you get a new vision of the world, because you have faced your fears, your difficulties.

This is what is asked of you:
Allow yourself to take advantage of this time to perform your vision-seeking rituals. What world do you want to build for you? For now, this is what you can do -- serenity in the storm. Calm down, pray every day. Establish a routine to meet the sacred every day.

Good things emanate; what you emanate now is the most important thing. And sing, dance, resist through art, joy, faith, and love."

Raising Children

Photo courtesy of Don Matt

While reading an article titled, “Raising a Good Person in Fractured Times”, many memories came flooding in from long ago. When my boys were 5 and 7, we moved to Eureka Springs and they began to attend a small independent school, The Clear Spring School. This article repeatedly referred to “moral support” and how necessary it is in the process of raising children. Shortly after we began at this small school, Hillary Clinton published her book It Takes A Village: and Other Lessons Children Teach Us. This book presents a vision for the children of America. It focuses on the impact individuals and groups outside the family have, for better or worse, on a child's well-being, and advocates a society which meets all of a child's needs. What I witnessed here in our small village was exactly that: the families helped each other, we filled in for each other when one mom was working and there was a soccer game, we weren’t afraid to discipline each others’ children — we cared. May we never forget we all look at the same moon …

“Always remember we are under the same sky, looking at the same moon."
Maxine Lee

“One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself;’ annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science. & Health Page 340:23-30

“You can do much on behalf of your own healing and that of others if, in a situation calling for help, you think of it this way:

I am here only to be truly helpful.

I am here to represent Him Who sent me.

I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me.

I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me.

I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal.”

A Course in Miracles T-2.V-A.18:1-6

Go Easy On Yourself

 

We are, each and every one, the home of light and joy and peace — whether we remember this Truth or not. It would seem that events conspire to keep us from this peace. We’re rockin’ along being joyful and light, then bam! — something blows up on our car, or a loved one does something we think is awful, or our business falls apart, or — well, as we often say, it’s always something. I find comfort during these times by reminding myself that I don’t have to know what’s going to happen; I simply need to remember that the best possible outcome is there waiting for me to discover it. It’s not going to benefit anyone or anything if I innumerate every possible outcome, worrying about the pros and cons until I’m worn out and feeling hopeless. Instead, I will rest in the knowledge that creative Mind is the principle which governs everything with the light of Love!

“Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sackcloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-winged dove descending upon you. The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:23-30

“Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust implicitly your willingness, whatever else may enter. Concentrate only on this, and be not disturbed that shadows surround it. That is why you came. If you could come without them you would not need the holy instant. Come to it not in arrogance, assuming that you must achieve the state its coming brings with it. The miracle of the holy instant lies in your willingness to let it be what it is. And in your willingness for this lies also your acceptance of yourself as you were meant to be.” 

A Course in Miracles T-18.IV.2:1-9

Breathing Easier

How many of you feel you've been holding your breath for the last few years? Don't breathe: there are viruses floating around, waiting to be inhaled. Don't breathe: something awful is going to happen, but we're not sure what. Don't breathe: our election process seems to have been turned upside down. Don't breathe: social media is out to get you. Don't breathe: lies will permeate your being and you'll never know what is true and what is not. These years have also been ones of loss and grief. Many of us are suffering the grief of losing loved ones, and too many have lost jobs and homes, plus all of the little losses — they all seem to be weighing us down as, day by day, they accumulate. Perhaps, what has affected us the most is the uncertainty and isolation of the “pandemic” years, which seems to have carried over to the present time, to some extent. The past decade has been difficult, but something in the air feels expectant, hopeful, even joyous! I know I'm breathing easier with every passing minute. I hope you are, too!

"When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress. The struggle for Truth makes one strong instead of weak, resting instead of wearying one."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 426:8

“God is with me. He is my Source of life, the life within, the air I breathe, the food by which I am sustained, the water which renews and cleanses me. He is my home, wherein I live and move; the Spirit which directs my actions, offers me Its Thoughts, and guarantees my safety from all pain. He covers me with kindness and with care, and holds in love the Son He shines upon, who also shines on Him. How still is he who knows the truth of what He speaks today!”
A Course in Miracles W-222.1:1-5

Miracles Are Seen in the Light

Hill speak in Eureka Springs AR

Photo Courtesy of Blake Lasater

Every day, we are made aware of situations which seem to have no solutions. One of those is the practice of capital punishment. The proponents and opponents are often very vocal on this issue, and sometimes it seems they both have valid points. Ultimately, I know I wouldn’t feel better about a loved one’s death because someone else was put to death to “pay” for it. The eye-for-an-eye dogma of Moses was replaced by Jesus’ message of peace, facilitated by forgiveness. Is there a happy medium to be reached between these two ways of thought? There must be a better way than what we’ve settled for up to now. One Course in Miracles workbook lesson tells us that miracles are seen in light. We are told that light and strength are one. The strength we feel from seeing past an age-old belief is, indeed, a miracle!

“Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose ‘light shall we see light;’ and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health 510:9-12

“It is important to remember that miracles and vision necessarily go together. This needs repeating, and frequent repeating. It is a central idea in your new thought system, and the perception that it produces. The miracle is always there. Its presence is not caused by your vision; its absence is not the result of your failure to see. It is only your awareness of miracles that is affected. You will see them in the light; you will not see them in the dark.” 

A Course in Miracles W-91.1:1-7

Realities Supernal

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Time is on my mind today … 🌝

“How amazing time is, and how amazing we are. Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration. Yesterday we complained of time and feared it, but today we love and embrace it. Indeed, we have begun to perceive its purposes and characteristics, and to comprehend its secrets and enigmas.” 

Kahlil Gibran

“Breaking away from the mutations of time and sense, you will neither lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own identity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 261:24-30

“Time is your friend, if you leave it to the Holy Spirit to use. He needs but very little to restore God’s whole power to you. He Who transcends time for you understands what time is for. Holiness lies not in time, but in eternity. There never was an instant in which God’s Son could lose his purity. His changeless state is beyond time, for his purity remains forever beyond attack and without variability. Time stands still in his holiness, and changes not. And so it is no longer time at all. For caught in the single instant of the eternal sanctity of God’s creation, it is transformed into forever. Give the eternal instant, that eternity may be remembered for you, in that shining instant of perfect release. Offer the miracle of the holy instant through the Holy Spirit, and leave His giving it to you to Him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.I.15:1-11

Mostly, I Want To Be Kind …

Someone wrote in a social media post: “I love the word tribe.  It implies togetherness, friends, protection and so much more.  Everyone needs their tribe.” This is a concept I’ve never understood, but the past few years have brought a desire to know more about this way of thought. Does everyone feel it? I suppose to an extent, even I do. Although I can say I never had a particular group of friends when growing up, nor felt a particular kinship with a church, and have never wanted to join clubs, it’s true that some alliances seem to form themselves. I love my book club meetings, along with a few spiritual gatherings throughout the years. Of course, there are friends and relatives I love madly. So to an extent I can understand tribalism, but not in the way people feel the need to be part of a larger group. Hopefully, I can stay off of my “high horse” while seeking deeper understanding through compassion for that which seems incomprehensible. Namaste…

“Forgiveness-to-destroy has many forms, being a weapon of the world of form. Not all of them are obvious, and some are carefully concealed beneath what seems like charity. Yet all the forms that it may seem to take have but this single goal; their purpose is to separate and make what God created equal, different. The difference is clear in several forms where the designed comparison cannot be missed, nor is it really meant to be.” 

A Course in Miracles S-2.II.1:1-4

“Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank? Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love. When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 266:6-12