A Little Rumi for Sunday

 

photo credit: Richard Quick

Two Kinds of Intelligence - a poem by Rumi

“There are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired,

As a child in school memorizes facts and concepts

With such intelligence you rise in the world.

There is another kind of tablet, one

Already completed and preserved inside you.

This other intelligence does not turn yellow or stagnate.

It’s fluid, and it doesn’t move from outside to inside

Through the conduits of plumbing-learning.

This second knowing is a fountainhead

From within you, moving out.”

Why Am I Vaccinated?

photograph of a family in front of the fountain at 

The First Church of Christ, Science Mother Church in Boston. Getty Images

 Having never had a flu shot or any other preventative measure which is readily available to us in the 21st Century, I found it interesting that my decision to receive the Covid vaccine was made so easily. As a lifelong Christian Scientist, I’ve spent decades studying and remembering the truth of my Being. It is easy to know, intellectually, that I am created as the image of God; that as a spiritual being I am only living the illusion of materiality. The reason I’ve written more than 3,000 entries in this blog is my own personal attempt to understand these ideas and witness how daily living unfolds with this realization. So why am I vaccinated when my main goal in life is to accept the unreality of material life and understand the truth of my spiritual identity? The healing power of this way of thought involves seeing true substance in place of the illusion which bombards us at every moment. While I still strive to translate what I see into what I know, the constant flood of material evidence has become etched in my mind. In asking myself what the loving response is to these circumstances, the decision was to vaccinate, wear a mask, social distance, and pray for a deeper understanding. As when I had an amputation a few years back, this does not mean that I am giving up on divine metaphysics, but that circumstances are taking me higher than ever before. I pray and listen for answers, moment-by-moment, during these interesting times!

"Question: What is the scientific statement of being?
Answer: There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 468:8-16

All Together Now

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

We have insisted on separating ourselves from each other by setting up divisions such as nationality, gender, and religion. It seems as though it should be simple to accept our unity as an idea of divine Mind. We all have a song to sing, and we are all  part of the grand symphony of life. To rejoice in being One with everyone, to live from love rather than fear and its imaginings, is to humbly accept the goodness we inherently are. I pray to turn away from the illusion of material problems as I wholeheartedly accept my function as a reflection of Spirit, seeing that image mirrored in everyone I meet.

"The world believes in many persons; but if God is personal, there is but one person, because there is but one God. His personality can only be reflected, not transmitted. God has countless ideas, and they all have one Principle and parentage. The only proper symbol of God as person is Mind’s infinite ideal" Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 517:15-20

Miracle = Primal Order

 

unknown photographer

I love this quote attributed to Albert Einstein: “There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as if everything is a miracle.” Because of various religious teachings, most of us think of a miracle as divine power setting aside a material law, allowing something otherworldly or supernatural to occur. What if a miracle is simply a correction of our limiting beliefs, opening us to the divine Mind and the limitless Life which is our true heritage as a child of Love? By this remembrance, we heal our mind of separation, giving us a clarity of thought and sight which was before unknown. I am very grateful —

“The miracle introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order, establishing the Science of God’s unchangeable law. Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of divine power.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 135:6-10

Trust Issues?

 

Grand Canyon

photo credit: The Lasater Family

Trust ​issues. These words used to be used only during a romantic break-up, but now it ​seems to be a national ​topic. ​Things we have learned to trust suddenly feel frightening — i.e., policemen, politicians, preachers. Sometimes we have a tough time trusting our friends and loved ones. I know people who speak in derogatory terms about their children and their spouses. What is this thing we think of as trust? Does it truly originate in someone else, or does it come from within ourselves? Perhaps we don’t trust others because we don’t trust ourselves, or do we not trust ourselves because we don’t trust others? It all seems terribly complicated​, so I’m questioning​ my beliefs and understanding surrounding trust: what it means, where it starts, where it ends. Perhaps it’s like love, and there is no beginning nor end, although​ there often appears to be a finite amount to ​be allocated. I suppose I’m looking at this from a material view and I should practice what I preach, looking beyond human feelings and fears into the infinite realm of Love. ​​Be gentle with yourselves when you become caught up in the drama of daily life. Turning to "higher ideals of life and its joys" (as quoted below) is where I want to live today. 

“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 299:7-12

Expanding Consciousness Through Music

 

photo taken in Mexico

by Richard Quick

Music ​opens our ​mind to things we may have forgotten​,​ or​ ​perhaps​ have​ never  known. I love to sit with ​a ​symphony orchestra, opening my mind to only the music, until at some point I feel there is nothing else in the world. I recall Wayne Dyer talking about muscle testing using different items. ​Holding an organic banana ​near his heart ​allowed full strength in his son, whereas holding a CD of raucous music left him much weakened. ​We all enjoy music in many forms, and ​on multiple​ levels. Something we would ​like with friends at a party may not compare to the quiet strains of Bach, which take us deeper within ourselves prior to meditation or writing. Find the music which opens you to hearing the messages Life, Truth, and Love are offering you. Surround yourself with this river of salvation and see where it takes you!

“Mozart experienced more than he expressed. The rapture of his grandest symphonies was never heard. He was a musician beyond what the world knew.​ ​This was even more strikingly true of Beethoven, who was so long hopelessly deaf. Mental melodies and strains of sweetest music supersede conscious sound. Music is the rhythm of head and heart. Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing either discord or harmony according as the hand, which sweeps over it, is human or divine.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 213:19-29

We Are the Essence of Love

 

What is love? As a personal value, love changes and shifts. Friendships end over disagreements, marriages fall apart, societies struggle with how to remain cohesive while accepting those who think differently. In reality, Love is unchanging. This Love changes our material expectations and perceived shortcomings, when we allow it. There was a time when two people I care for did not get along with each other. Seeing them both as expressions of Love helped them to see themselves this way, too. Seeing myself as complete allows a shift to occur in the way I treat others — and myself. All problems, large and small, are symptoms of a basic misconception that we are fallen humans separated from Love. The understanding that we are Love, wholly and purely, starts a domino-effect process which inevitably includes everyone in this shift of thought, away from the unreal belief in what we think we are to the pure comprehension of our essence as Love.

“From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come.”​ Mary Baker Eddy - ​Science & Health Page 280:4-7