If You Can Keep Your Head …

I’ve always liked this poem by Rudyard Kipling.. As I read it today, it strikes me these are great characteristics for a president of the United States!

If - By Rudyard Kipling

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, 

But make allowance for their doubting too;

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, 

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; 

If you can meet with triumph and disaster 

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken 

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, 

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings 

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew 

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you 

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on’;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch; 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; 

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run— 

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 

And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!”

“Evasion of Truth cripples integrity, and casts thee down from the pinnacle.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 448:10-11

“Today we practice true humility, abandoning the false pretense by which the ego seeks to prove it arrogant. Only the ego can be arrogant. But truth is humble in acknowledging its mightiness, its changelessness and its eternal wholeness, all-encompassing, God’s perfect gift to His beloved Son. We lay aside the arrogance which says that we are sinners, guilty and afraid, ashamed of what we are; and lift our hearts in true humility instead to Him Who has created us immaculate, like to Himself in power and in love.”

A Course in Miracles W-152.9:1-4

Discerning Truth

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

I heard about a teacher who gave a test and instructed the students to use whatever means they had at hand to answer the questions. In other words, they could do an internet search, call a friend — anything! Some people questioned why he would do such a thing, saying that the students wouldn’t learn anything. The teacher had something very profound to say about his reasons. In this day and age, we have all the answers at our fingertips, but there are also many wrong answers waiting for us to find them. His test had to do with teaching students how to do research and arrive at correct answers. I, personally, think this is a fabulous idea! Teaching and learning are not the same as when I was a child, nor should they be. Times have changed drastically and the way we approach education must move along with our circumstances. Judging by the number of people who swear that foolishness is truth, I would love to see more classes being given in how to do research in the 21st century. We also would be well-served to learn how to listen to our intuitive Self, or divine Mind. I love thinking about things in different ways and am grateful to those who bring new ways of thinking to my attention!

“Reality can dawn only on an unclouded mind. It is always there to be accepted, but its acceptance depends on your willingness to have it. To know reality must involve the willingness to judge unreality for what it is. To overlook nothingness is merely to judge it correctly, and because of your ability to evaluate it truly, to let it go. Knowledge cannot dawn on a mind full of illusions, because truth and illusions are irreconcilable. Truth is whole, and cannot be known by part of a mind.”
A Course in Miracles T-10.IV.2:1-6

“When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 205:32-3

Coming Together In The Light

Photo Courtesy of Blake Lasater

I see a world built on honesty in every endeavor. All liars will be uncovered and replaced with honorable human beings who value lives more than cash. Schools will teach children to love learning, rather than to spit out rhetoric. Religious institutions will be there to help those in need, finding ways to supply their material needs while feeding their spirit. We will be allowed to know what Spirit is, rather than simply repeating religious beliefs which manipulate and punish. We'll know about the good in ourselves as well as our neighbors and love ourselves more as a result. Then we see the value in making art -- music, painting, creativity of all kinds -- and understanding how those practices allow us to be whole, rather than automatons which spit out facts and figures. I see a world where we can trust ourselves enough to stand up for what benefits all, not just those in our tribe. Let's build back a world where all its resources are kept intact and nurtured, using the things which never run out, realizing the sun shines on us all equally, and is here for our supply. We will know the value of every living creature, realizing that the loss of one leaves a hole in the music of the earth. We will be proud of knowledge, science, learning of any and all sorts. We will see that we can understand God, because we are Its reflection and that source lies within us. I have a dream …

"St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens and earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the spiritual idea and consciousness of reality."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 573:19

“Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perspective. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.”
A Course in Miracles W-pII.2.4:1-6

Reborn With a New Perspective

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater 

In this time of great change, it’s easy to long for the comfort of ritualistic actions and old habits. How nice it would be if we simply floated along, happily enjoying yesterday’s fruits. But life doesn’t seem to be that way. We wake up every morning and experience things in different ways. Changing thoughts bring on changing circumstance. I hope we can all hold onto each other and know that this is a good thing. Personally, I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but I relish the possibilities!

“The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.” 
Mary Bakker Eddy - Science & Health Page 96:15-20

“Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perspective. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.” 
A Course in Miracles W-pII.2.4:1-6

The Breath of Freedom

Gender equality has always been difficult to achieve. Many have reasons, excuses, for why it's impossible. Legislators insisted it was to protect women, when they refused them the rights which were "granted" to men. These inalienable rights spoken of in the Constitution of the United States have been interpreted time and again, and usually they are deemed as applying to the male sex; for a long while, only to white males, then gradually evolving to include everyone. I watched the movie based on Ruth Bader Ginsberg's work to achieve women's equality in a man's world. It's called "On the Basis of Sex". Remembering how life was when I graduated from high school in 1970 is like remembering a dream. The cages we were crammed into were meant to keep the male animal in control, and it worked pretty well -- at least on the surface. But seeds had been planted; seeds of freedom which we are still nurturing. One of Jesus' main men informed us there are no bond nor free, no gentile nor jew, no male or female -- yet to this day we can't seem to figure that out! I take that back: many of us know these things, and that's why it's up to us to keep affirming the Truth of our being, and doing everything possible for others to see, too. Thank you, RBG!!

"...oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the breath of freedom come from the cannon's mouth. Love is the liberator."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 225

“You are a perfect creation, and should experience awe only in the Presence of the Creator of perfection. The miracle is therefore a sign of love among equals. Equals should not be in awe of one another because awe implies inequality.”
A Course in Miracles T-1.II.3:3-5

Addicted to Strong Emotions

I heard a program on National Public Radio where people were interviewed who had been involved with hate groups, and now are in recovery. There were white nationalists, neo-nazis, Islamic terrorists. Some wanted out because they realized they were wrong, others had wives who gave them ultimatums when they saw their children behaving in the same way. Whatever the reason, they all had something in common: they couldn’t leave without help from a support group. It was very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. These people said they were addicted to the feelings, the strong emotions, which were aroused when they screamed messages of derision toward others. Listening to these dear people talk about their experiences — how and why they were drawn to such a destructive group of people, the way it made them feel, why they had to get away from them — I was struck by how much we truly are all the same. Sometimes we lose our way and think that pain is pleasure, hate is love, and ugliness is beauty. I’m going to double down on my efforts to scatter joy and love my neighbor. It is, indeed, important!

"...fear demands the sacrifice of love, for in love's presence fear cannot abide. For hate to be maintained, love must be feared; and only sometimes present, sometimes gone. Thus is love seen as treacherous, because it seems to come and go uncertainly, and offer no stability to you. You do not see how limited and weak is your allegiance, and how frequently you have demanded that love go away, and leave you quietly alone in 'peace.'"
A Course in Miracles T-29.2.7.

“Pale in the presence of his own momentous question, ‘What is Truth,’ Pilate was drawn into acquiescence with the demands of Jesus’ enemies. Pilate was ignorant of the consequences of his awful decision against human rights and divine Love, knowing not that he was hastening the final demonstration of what life is and of what the true knowledge of God can do for man.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 48:25:32

To Say Or Not To Say

What do you do when you hear someone say something racist, sexist, ageist -- something that lays like a rock 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 wad of kids who felt the need to be 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 went overboard and sometimes would challenge others and defend things that 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, the above art from Judy Clement Wall inspires me to love every one and every thing. May I have the wisdom to know what to say and when to say it -- or not! 

“Moral courage is ‘the lion of the tribe of Juda,’ the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in ‘green pastures, . . . beside the still waters.’”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 514:10-14

“Bring this light fearlessly with you, and bravely hold it up to the foundation of the ego’s thought system. Be willing to judge it with perfect honesty. Open the dark cornerstone of terror on which it rests, and bring it out into the light. There you will see that it rested on meaninglessness, and that everything of which you have been afraid was based on nothing.” 
A Course in Miracles T-11.in.3:7-10