Cascading Thoughts …

Art by Kaoru Yamada

In our little village, the death of a woman in childbirth has taken my thoughts down the perilous path of motherhood. The magnificent movement of growing a baby within her body, of birthing that baby into the world, of feeding that baby — these things are huge events which we taken as everyday occurrences rather than the miracle they are. Wait, what am I saying? Everything is a miracle when you pay attention! Although our Eureka Woman had loving care and support in every way, her passing has caused me to think of the pain women often endure due to lack of proper care during their pregnancies and births and the parenthood which follows. Many instances of impossible pregnancies come to mind, and then I think of the people who insist that these gestations come to full term and the consequences suffered by the women. My book club is currently reading The Frozen River. The story tells of an 18th-century midwife in the cold and cruel atmosphere of a Maine winter. Perhaps that is why I am feeling the distress of the thousands, perhaps millions, of women who are misunderstood and maltreated. This book has caused me to feel what a frightened, misinformed young woman might experience. It causes me to wonder how much disinformation many of our young people are being given today. I also wonder at the misplaced values being espoused when they talk of traditional” marriages and “moral” politicians. May we all mentor a child, befriend a young mother, help our neighbor in any way possible — and vote for freedom in all of the coming elections!

“Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. Peace is. This is the prerequisite for knowledge only because those who are in conflict are not peaceful, and peace is the condition of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom. Knowledge can be restored only when you meet its conditions. This is not a bargain made by God, Who makes no bargains. It is merely the result of your misuse of His laws on behalf of an imaginary will that is not His. Knowledge isHis Will. If you are opposing His Will, how can you have knowledge? I have told you what knowledge offers you, but perhaps you do not yet regard this as wholly desirable. If you did you would not be so ready to throw it away when the ego asks for your allegiance.”
—A Course in Miracles T-8.I.1:1-10

“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.

“The women at the cross could have answered Pilate’s question. They knew what had inspired their devotion, winged their faith, opened the eyes of their understanding, healed the sick, cast out evil, and caused the disciples to say to their Master: ‘Even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.’”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 48:25-6

Dispelling the Reign of Discord

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

I know a number of people who have moved out of our country, saying they could no longer be happy here under this frightening regime. One man’s wife died, to mortal sense, and he moved to South America in an effort to find peace. He is a fine writer and posts his ideas to social media on a regular basis. Today he told us how he doesn’t have the energy to interact with others in the way they expect. These are some of his words: “I’m carrying grief that doesn’t resolve into something useful. Grief for my wife, whose absence still rearranges the physics of every day. Grief for my country, watching itself fracture while mistaking noise for power. And grief for what I can see unfolding with awful clarity: Americans being maneuvered into fighting one another in a war that serves interests far outside their lives or country.” The grief we feel about the changes we see happening in our country is affecting our mental and physical well-being. We are learning that all healing begins in our mind. This is wonderful news, as we are being called upon to be healers in a way we have never considered before these past few years. But I know we’re ready for this, because we’ve been practicing all our lives. 

“This brother who stands beside you still seems to be a stranger. You do not know him, and your interpretation of him is very fearful. And you attack him still, to keep what seems to be yourself unharmed. Yet in his hands is your salvation. You see his madness, which you hate because you share it.  And all the pity and forgiveness that would heal it gives way to fear. Brother, you need forgiveness of your brother, for you will share in madness or in Heaven together. And you and he will raise your eyes in faith together, or not at all.”

A Course in Miracles T-19.IV-D.12:1-8

“As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflection of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting government of the universe. 

“The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, — assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and death; but the great facts of Life, rightly understood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, — the actual reign of harmony on earth.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 121:28-8

In Lieu of Flowers …

 

Art by Miho Hirano 

On this warm winter day, I’ve been thinking about good friends who have passed from this realm of life, which happens almost on a weekly basis nowadays. Two childhood friends’ birthdays were today, which caused me to ponder where they have gone. Is their energy floating around the universe? Does it come back to material life in some form? Are they in an alternate universe? Are they simply gone? I’ve never feared this thing we call death and think of it as a great adventure. The sentiments expressed in this little essay by Shawna Lemay say what I hope others will do for me — and I wanted to share it with you …

“In Lieu of Flowers - by Shawna Lemay

Although I love flowers very much, I won’t see them when I’m gone. So in lieu of flowers:  Buy a book of poetry written by someone still alive, sit outside with a cup of tea, a glass of wine, and read it out loud, by yourself or to someone, or silently.

Spend some time with a single flower. A rose maybe. Smell it, touch the petals. 

Really look at it. 

Drink a nice bottle of wine with someone you love.

Or, Champagne. And think of what John Maynard Keynes said, ‘My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.’ Or what Dom Perignon said when he first tasted the stuff: ‘Come quickly! I am tasting stars!’

Take out a paint set and lay down some colours.

Watch birds. Common sparrows are fine. Pigeons, too. Geese are nice. Robins.

In lieu of flowers, walk in the trees and watch the light fall into it. Eat an apple, a really nice big one. I hope it’s crisp. 

Have a long soak in the bathtub with candles, maybe some rose petals.

Sit on the front stoop and watch the clouds. Have a dish of strawberry ice cream in my name. 

If it’s winter, have a cup of hot chocolate outside for me. If it’s summer, a big glass of ice water. 

If it’s autumn, collect some leaves and press them in a book you love. I’d like that. 

Sit and look out a window and write down what you see. Write some other things down. 

In lieu of flowers, 

I would wish for you to flower. 

I would wish for you to blossom, to open, to be beautiful.”

~ Shawna Lemay

One Or Two Things …

 One or Two Things 

written by Mary Oliver 

Don’t bother me.

I’ve just

been born.

 

The butterfly’s loping flight

carries it through the country of the leaves

delicately, and well enough to get it

where it wants to go, wherever that is, stopping

here and there to fuzzle the damp throats

of flowers and the black mud; up

and down it swings, frenzied and aimless; and sometimes

 

for long delicious moments it is perfectly

lazy, riding motionless in the breeze on the soft stalk

of some ordinary flower.

 

The god of dirt

came up to me many times and saidany wise and delectable things, I lay

on the grass listening

 

to his dog voice,

crow voice,

frog voice; now,

he said, and now,

and never once mentioned forever,

 

which has nevertheless always been,

like a sharp iron hoof,

at the center of my mind.

 

One or two things are all you need

to travel over the blue pond, over the deep

roughage of the trees and through the stiff

flowers of lightning—some deep

memory of pleasure, some cutting

knowledge of pain.

 

But to lift the hoof!

For that you need

an idea.

“All who believe in separation have a basic fear of retaliation and abandonment. They believe in attack and rejection, so that is what they perceive and teach and learn. These insane ideas are clearly the result of dissociation and projection. What you teach you are, but it is quite apparent that you can teach wrongly, and can therefore teach yourself wrong. Many thought I was attacking them, even though it was apparent I was not. An insane learner learns strange lessons. What you must recognize is that when you do not share a thought system, you are weakening it. Those who believe in it therefore perceive this as an attack on them. This is because everyone identifies himself with his thought system, and every thought system centers on what you believe you are. If the center of the thought system is true, only truth extends from it. But if a lie is at its center, only deception proceeds from it.”

A Course in Miracles T-6.V-B.1:1-11

“Divine Science does not put new wine into old bottles, Soul into matter, nor the infinite into the finite. Our false views of matter perish as we grasp the facts of Spirit. The old belief must be cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the inspiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be lost.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 281:27-1

Friendship

Scout the Cat, Maggie the Dog, Friends

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Determine now to see all these people as friends. Say to them all, thinking of each one in turn as you do so: I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me and come to know myself.”
A Course in Miracles W-68.6:1-3

“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 266:5-12

Forever Fiercely Good

At a time when egos are raging out of control, running over anyone or anything in their path, I ask for guidance and find it every day — when I am willing to accept it. But my ego also jumps up and down, telling me my judgment is righteous and I deserve — no, I am obligated to condemn and seek justice from every ugly-acting person I witness. How do I do anything else? It is difficult to see the way, and I am grateful for this writing from A Course in Miracles, which showed itself to me first thing this morning.

“Everyone here has entered darkness, yet no one has entered it alone. Nor need he stay more than an instant. For he has come with Heaven’s Help within him, ready to lead him out of darkness into light at any time. The time he chooses can be any time, for help is there, awaiting but his choice. And when he chooses to avail himself of what is given him, then will he see each situation that he thought before was means to justify his anger turned to an event which justifies his love. He will hear plainly that the calls to war he heard before are really calls to peace. He will perceive that where he gave attack is but another altar where he can, with equal ease and far more happiness, bestow forgiveness. And he will reinterpret all temptation as just another chance to bring him joy.”

A Course in Miracles  T-25.III.6:1-8

For Renee Nicole Good Killed by I.C.E. on January 7, 2026 - by Amanda Gorman

They say she is no more, 

That there her absence roars, 

Blood-blown like a rose. 

Iced wheels flinched & froze. 

Now, bare riot of candles, 

Dark fury of flowers, 

Pure howling of hymns. 

If for us she arose, 

Somewhere, in the pitched deep of our grief, 

Crouches our power, 

The howl where we begin, 

Straining upon the edge of the crooked crater 

Of the worst of what we’ve been. 

Change is only possible, 

& all the greater, 

When the labour

& bitter anger of our neighbors 

Is moved by the love 

& better angels of our nature. 

What they call death & void, 

We know is breath & voice; 

In the end, gorgeously, 

Endures our enormity. 

You could believe departed to be the dawn 

When the blank night has so long stood. 

But our bright-fled angels will never be fully gone, 

When they forever are so fiercely Good.

Poem by Amanda Gorman

The Fruits of Judgment

Leading With Love

Decades ago, when the “moral majority” began its judgmental march to stamp out all that is liberal and based in free thought, we didn’t think it could possibly take hold of enough people to shape our society. We thought that they were a silly fringe group with prejudiced ideas, and there was no reason to take them seriously. Well, through the last 45 years we have seen what repetition of lies and hateful rhetoric can do to shape a society. It has made a certain faction of people believe that they are right and everyone else is wrong.  They have elected politicians which push their policies, our Supreme Court has been stacked with judges more interested in material positions than the rule of law, and our supreme leader is a dictator who wants to dominate everyone but has no idea why. When a young woman was murdered in cold blood yesterday by the Gestapo, we were overwhelmed with dismay. Many of us are depressed, more of us are angry, a few of us are doing our best to see through the illusion. When I see people yelling in anger, or being brutal while drunk on their power, I do my best to see them as they were created, not as they have become. I have never seen harsh words negate harsh words, nor violent actions create peace. We all have something we can do to tip the balance away from fear and toward Love. It doesn’t matter how small the act may seem to you. Your actions are exponentially powerful. Don’t stop believing …

“The symbols of hate against the symbols of love play out a conflict that does not exist. For symbols stand for something else, and the symbol of love is without meaning if love is everything. You will go through this last undoing quite unharmed, and will at last emerge as yourself. This is the last step in the readiness for God. Be not unwilling now; you are too near, and you will cross the bridge in perfect safety, translated quietly from war to peace. For the illusion of love will never satisfy, but its reality, which awaits you on the other side, will give you everything.”

A Course in Miracles T-16.IV.2:1-6

“The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates. Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something, — for lust, dishonesty, selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery, murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all the etceteras that word includes.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 330:24-32