Harmony

Art by J. Clement Wall

Peace is a state of mind. We can feel the epitome of peace in the midst of turmoil, or we may be in an outer oasis of stillness but, due to our tumultuous state of mind, be anxious and upset. It helps me to know that we are all, each and every one, the reflection of Spirit. With this realization, I am able to see everything through the eyes of divine Love. This is not to say that I'm always calm. Sometimes I forget I am the idea of God, and that everyone else is, too. At those times, who knows how I may be interpreting events! In a state of forgetfulness, I am at the mercy of material belief, being swayed by thought systems which were put in place long before my appearance in this world. But when I remember the spiritual Truth of creation, things appear differently to me -- and there is peace.

“Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:10-14

“Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them. By being united this mind goes out to everyone, even without the awareness of the miracle worker himself. The impersonal nature of miracles is because the Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations with their Creator. As an expression of what you truly are, the miracle places the mind in a state of grace. The mind then naturally welcomes the Host within and the stranger without. ⁶When you bring in the stranger, he becomes your brother.” 

A Course in Miracles T-1.III.7:1-6

The Function of Truth

Do you ever feel as though there’s too much information (and disinformation) floating around in our atmosphere? It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of facts which present themselves to us every moment of every day. We don’t even have to search for them; they find us. I remember when I was growing up and television and radio commercials were just coming into fashion. We were warned about subliminal messages hidden beneath the surface, and the brainwashing effects of repetitious phrases and tunes. The first political candidate’s commercial was for Eisenhower in the 50s, which, to those of us born in that decade, seems like yesterday. The bombardment of political misinformation is too much for many of us to handle, so we choose our favorite commentator and believe their words. I would like to encourage everyone to not give up! Please, find a trusted source for facts and read whenever possible. 

“To my sense, the most imminent dangers confronting the coming century are: the robbing of people of life and liberty under the warrant of the Scriptures; the claims of politics and of human power, industrial slavery, and insufficient freedom of honest competition; and ritual, creed, and trusts in place of the Golden Rule, ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.’”
Mary Baker Eddy - from the article Insufficient Freedom written in 1900 for the New York World.

“The function of truth is to collect information that is true. Any way you handle error results in nothing. The more complicated the results become the harder it may be to recognize their nothingness, but it is not necessary to examine all possible outcomes to which premises give rise in order to judge them truly.”

A Course in Miracles T-8.VIII.6:7-9

Bad News Is Not The Norm

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

An editorial lead caught my attention recently: “Bad news is NOT the norm”. The writer explains that newspapers tend to report on things which are out of the ordinary. In other words, a supermarket getting robbed is more unusual than a supermarket not getting robbed. So when people continually read bad news, they may think that it is happening everywhere, whereas it is actually abnormal, rather than a regular occurrence. We hear of terrible things happening around the globe, including closer to home. Yet every day wonderful things are happening; they are simply not reportable because they are not unusual. This writer is the editor for a feature called Points of Progress. She tells how progress in one place may not be progress in another. Progress is contextual. And it doesn’t travel in a straight line. It may be three steps forward, two back. But overall, the progress is happening. At times, we may think that evil actions are overcoming goodness, but that is when it’s important for us to focus on the loving, caring actions of those around us. We must love as passionately as some hate. What we put our attention upon, grows.

“The first step toward freedom involves a sorting out of the false from the true. This is a process of separation in the constructive sense, and reflects the true meaning of the Apocalypse. Everyone will ultimately look upon his own creations and choose to preserve only what is good, just as God Himself looked upon what He had created and knew that it was good. At this point, the mind can begin to look with love on its own creations because of their worthiness. At the same time the mind will inevitably disown its miscreations which, without belief, will no longer exist.”
A Course in Miracles T-2.VIII.4:1-5

The categories of metaphysics rest on one basis, the divine Mind. Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul. These ideas are perfectly real and tangible to spiritual consciousness, and they have this advantage over the objects and thoughts of material sense, — they are good and eternal.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 269:13-20

Flowers

Art by Mia Tarney

“The earth laughs in flowers.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson - (from) Hametreya, 1803-1882.

“There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you. All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head.”
A Course in Miracles W-156.4:1-

“Mortals have a modus of their own, undirected and unsustained by God. They produce a rose through seed and soil, and bring the rose into contact with the olfactory nerves that they may smell it. In legerdemain and credulous frenzy, mortals believe that unseen spirits produce the flowers. God alone makes and clothes the lilies of the field, and this He does by means of Mind, not matter.” 
Mary Baker Eddy Science & Health Page 212:17-24

Calm, Exalted Thought

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

“In the Native American tradition, one member of the tribe assumes the role of '’Faithkeeper'. This person's role is to remain at peace, centered in spiritual vision, no matter what events befall the tribe. Even if everyone else in the tribe slips into pain, fear, or dissension, the Faithkeeper is the one person the tribe can rely on as a lifeline to the Presence. This is our role now.”

Suzanne Sullivan


We all have the ability to fulfill this role, and every day I see more people stepping into a calm space. I think it has to do with the realization that everything we do is inspired by love or by fear. While we watch the results of fearful reactions, it’s easy to acknowledge that we don’t want to live within that sphere of retribution and revenge which often results. The greedy and self-centered actions of many leaders is being spotlighted and called out. My goal is to seek out those who are acting from Love, looking at the spiritual solutions which translate fear-based policies which have been set in place for decades. We’ve lived with fear for so long that it is now being manifested in every phase of our lives. People are now afraid of turning around by pulling into my driveway on my dead-end street. We read about unprovoked violence and pattern our lives based around these horror stories. Let’s all start telling the happy, joy-filled life stories we see in our daily lives. Rather than conversations centering around illness and violence, let’s talk about the good stuff!!

“Listen in deep silence. Be very still and open your mind. Go past all the raucous shrieks and sick imaginings that cover your real thoughts and obscure your eternal link with God. Sink deep into the peace that waits for you beyond the frantic, riotous thoughts and sights and sounds of this insane world. You do not live here. We are trying to reach your real home. We are trying to reach the place where you are truly welcome. We are trying to reach God.

A Course in Miracles W-49.4:1-8

“Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:8-1

An Ode We Owe

 

Photo courtesy of Carol Dickie

‘An Ode We Owe’ - By Amanda Gorman 

“How can I ask you to do good,

When we’ve barely withstood

Our greatest threats yet:

The depths of death, despair and disparity,

Atrocities across cities, towns & countries,

Lives lost, climactic costs.

Exhausted, angered, we are endangered,

Not because of our numbers,

But because of our numbness. We’re strangers

To one another’s perils and pain,

Unaware that the welfare of the public

And the planet share a name–

–Equality

Doesn’t mean being the exact same,

But enacting a vast aim:

The good of the world to its highest capability.

The wise believe that our people without power

Leaves our planet without possibility.

Therefore, though poverty is a poor existence,

Complicity is a poorer excuse.

We must go the distance,

Though this battle is hard and huge,

Though this fight we did not choose,

For preserving the earth isn’t a battle too large

To win, but a blessing too large to lose.

This is the most pressing truth:

That Our people have only one planet to call home

And our planet has only one people to call its own.

We can either divide and be conquered by the few,

Or we can decide to conquer the future,

And say that today a new dawn we wrote,

Say that as long as we have humanity,

We will forever have hope.

Together, we won’t just be the generation

That tries but the generation that triumphs;

Let us see a legacy

Where tomorrow is not driven

By the human condition,

But by our human conviction.

And while hope alone can’t save us now,

With it we can brave the now,

Because our hardest change hinges

On our darkest challenges.

Thus may our crisis be our cry, our crossroad,

The oldest ode we owe each other.

We chime it, for the climate,

For our communities.

We shall respect and protect

Every part of this planet,

Hand it to every heart on this earth,

Until no one’s worth is rendered

By the race, gender, class, or identity

They were born. This morn let it be sworn

That we are one one human kin,

Grounded not just by the griefs

We bear, but by the good we begin.

To anyone out there:

I only ask that you care before it’s too late,

That you live aware and awake,

That you lead with love in hours of hate.

I challenge you to heed this call,

I dare you to shape our fate.

Above all, I dare you to do good

So that the world might be great”

Amanda Gorman

“The understanding of Truth and Love, the Principle which works out the ends of eternal good and destroys both faith in evil and the practice of evil, leads to the discernment of the divine idea.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 561:1-3

“If you would look upon love, which is the world’s reality, how could you do better than to recognize, in every defense against it, the underlying appeal for it? And how could you better learn of its reality than by answering the appeal for it by giving it? The Holy Spirit’s interpretation of fear does dispel it, for the awareness of truth cannot be denied. Thus does the Holy Spirit replace fear with love and translate error into truth. And thus will you learn of Him how to replace your dream of separation with the fact of unity. For the separation is only the denial of union, and correctly interpreted, attests to your eternal knowledge that union is true.” 

A Course in Miracles T-12.I.10:1-6

Stand Strong

Photo courtesy of Don Matt 

“We’re weakening the world by talking about others’ weaknesses.” One of my favorite Indian gurus made this amazing statement (which I heard on youtube). She stopped me in my tracks with that one! She also spoke about a trait most of us exhibit. Let’s say we have a disagreement with a good friend. We tend to want to tell the story to someone else, relating the circumstances and hoping to find someone to take our side. If that person joins you in worry, anxiety, or fear about the situation, then you have just added to the problem. So she suggests we be very careful about who we discuss things with. If it’s someone who is going to worry for you, don’t do it! She also says we should never endorse anyone who is blaming others for their pain. If you agree with them and commiserate, you have just gotten tangled up in their story. It takes practice to be compassionate, yet not exacerbate the situation. But it’s a worthy effort!

“Attempts to conciliate society and so gain dominion over mankind, arise from worldly weakness. He who leaves all for Christ forsakes popularity and gains Christianity. Society is a foolish juror, listening only to one side of the case. Justice often comes too late to secure a verdict. People with mental work before them have no time for gossip about false law or testimony. To reconstruct timid justice and place the fact above the falsehood, is the work of time.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 228:22-30

“Miracles are natural signs of forgiveness. Through miracles you accept God’s forgiveness by extending it to others.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.I.21:1-2