Choose Kindness

 

Art by Jeremy Lipking - 1975

Having planned on discussing healing for a few days, I was rather disappointed when two things happened today which ask for my attention. This morning I was preparing to go to the laundromat (which I’ve done for almost three decades). As I was almost out the door, a couple of motorcycles inadvertently came down our dead-end street. I glanced out the window at them as they looked around, obviously lost. As they turned in the middle of the road and headed back toward wherever it was they were going, a neighbor came out and began to shout at them. It was a very ugly scene with much cursing and many foolish statements shared. I wished I could apologize to the two couples on the big, loud bikes, but rather silently wished everyone peace and went on my clothes-washing mission. While I was meditating the laundry, a woman came in with her bedspreads and a few other heavy items. She didn’t know how to operate the machines and she was obviously a greenhorn at this activity. I talked her through it and we had a sweet conversation. I felt an immediate kinship with this woman and, although I probably will never see her again, I feel we are friends. It’s difficult for me to understand why anyone would choose ugly commentary over kindness. I know we receive what we give, so let’s go forth and scatter joy today! Namaste …

“Beauty, wealth, or fame is incompetent to meet the demands of the affections, and should never weigh against the better claims of intellect, goodness, and virtue. Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science &. Health Page 57:15-21

“To be wholehearted you must be happy. If fear and love cannot coexist, and if it is impossible to be wholly fearful and remain alive, the only possible whole state is that of love. There is no difference between love and joy. Therefore, the only possible whole state is the wholly joyous. To heal or to make joyous is therefore the same as to integrate and to make one. That is why it makes no difference to what part or by what part of the Sonship the healing is offered. Every part benefits, and benefits equally.” 

A Course in Miracles  T-5.in.2:1-7

Don’t Blame Yourself

Columbine - photo by Aaron Springston

Many of my friends are experiencing emotional and physical upsets. This has caused me to ponder healing and its meaning. Today I went to my blog and searched for healing topics from the past 12 years. It’s interesting how understanding changes as consciousness unfolds. I’m going to post a writing today from a few years back. In the days to come, I shall probably continue my musings in this vein …

A friend recommended that I read, “Dying to be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing”, by Anita Moorjani. One of the important points made in this book is something which is recognized in our studies: Sickness is not your fault. Often new-age teachings tell us that past thoughts and actions create karma which returns to us in terrible ways. Ms. Moorjani assures us that this is not the case. Although many factors may be involved in physical illness, blaming yourself and seeking absolution has nothing to do with true healing. The recognition that you are Love, the knowledge that you are connected to everything, the joy which comes from acceptance of yourself just as you are -- this understanding of your being is what allows the body to be well. It doesn't matter what caused it, what "stage" the problem has advanced to, what mortal predictions are on the table -- nothing matters but the acceptance of yourself as a product of Love. When feeling the purity of Oneness, all material thought must be silenced. We can stop striving and start Being. When slipping into this space of pure Love, nothing else matters. And all is well.

“A correct view of Christian Science and of its adaptation to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen. Works on metaphysics leave the grand point untouched. They never crown the power of Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against physical enemies, — even to the extinction of all belief in matter, evil, disease, and death, — nor insist upon the fact that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 116:11-18

“To heal is to make happy. I have told you to think how many opportunities you have had to gladden yourself, and how many you have refused. This is the same as telling you that you have refused to heal yourself. The light that belongs to you is the light of joy. Radiance is not associated with sorrow. Joy calls forth an integrated willingness to share it, and promotes the mind’s natural impulse to respond as one. Those who attempt to heal without being wholly joyous themselves call forth different kinds of responses at the same time, and thus deprive others of the joy of responding wholeheartedly.” 

A Course in Miracles T-5.in.1:1-7

Peace to the Struggling Hearts

“Blessed are those who do not fear solitude,

who are not afraid of their own company,

who are not always desperately looking for something to do,

something to amuse themselves with,

something to judge.”

Author ~ Paolo Coelho

“Blessed are you who learn that to hear the Will of your Father is to know your own. For it is your will to be like Him, Whose Will it is that it be so. God’s Will is that His Son be one, and united with Him in His Oneness. That is why healing is the beginning of the recognition that your will is His.” 

A Course in Miracles T-11.I.11:6-9

“Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 26:14-21

Divided We Fall

 

David French has written a book entitled, "Divided We Fall", which addresses our need to reduce friction in politics. He recommends embracing three ideals: justice, mercy, and humility. Mr. French has close-up experience in racial issues as he and his wife adopted a child from Ethiopia ten years ago. They live in Tennessee. They found out how ugly people can be. To quote him: "Between slavery and Jim Crow -- 345 yars of legally enforced racial discrimination defended by violence -- it's going to take a long time to unwind the effects of that." He warns against claiming to know exactly how to do that, and warns against arrogantly spurning those who disagree with your approach.  He states: "The quest for justice, untempered by civility and untempered by mercy, can tear us apart." This seems to be the wall many of us are discovering with our friends and neighbors: How to be civil and merciful, while also helping to neutralize the bigotry and racism which seem to be so deeply ingrained in our society. He further explains, "Walking into a public policy debate with humility, knowing that you don't have all the answers, is going to foster a degree of mercy and kindness. And that doesn't mean that you back away from the quest for justice. It just means you're approaching it from the proper mindset." I hope to learn more about the mindset of peaceful communication and the calm assertion of truth. Namaste...

"This period is not essentially one of conscience; few feel and live now as when this nation began, and our forefathers' prayers blended with the murmuring winds of their forest home. This is a period of doubt, inquiry, good, and mysterious evil. But sin can only work out its own destruction; and reform does and must push on the growth of mankind." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings Page 237:16 

“It is this one intent we seek today, uniting our desires with the need of every heart, the call of every mind, the hope that lies beyond despair, the love attack would hide, the brotherhood that hate has sought to sever, but which still remains as God created it. With Help like this beside us, can we fail today as we request the peace of God be given us?” 

A Course in Miracles W-185.14:1-2

Unsatisfied Human Craving

 

Art by Andrea Kowch - “Without Measure” - 2022

Thinking of ourselves as unlimited contradicts everything we've been taught. Many of our first memories are of being told to be careful or else something dire might happen. Quantum physics is helping us to understand that form isn't as solid as we've been told. With that understanding, it becomes clear that many limitations we've placed upon ourselves are nothing more than beliefs in material laws. Limitations are discarded when an athlete breaks a record in the Olympics, or if someone performs a seemingly-impossible feat, such as lifting a car off a trapped loved one. We've all heard people tell tales we think of as supernatural, such as falling great distances and feeling as though they landed on a cushion, or so-called incurable diseases disappearing.  Now, I'm not suggesting we exchange one human belief for yet another, but that we look to divine Mind to tell us the truth of our being and that we allow ourselves to be led in paths we wouldn't have considered otherwise. Thought is shifting so rapidly at this time! Let's not be afraid …

“A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence the unsatisfied human craving for something better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a material belief in a physical God and man. ” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 258: 1-6

“You on earth have no conception of limitlessness, for the world you seem to live in is a world of limits. In this world, it is not true that anything without order of difficulty can occur. The miracle, therefore, has a unique function, and is motivated by a unique Teacher Who brings the laws of another world to this one. The miracle is the one thing you can do that transcends order, being based not on differences but on equality.” 

A Course in Miracles - T-14.X.2:4-7

I Am Free, As God Created Me

 

Photo by Aaron Springston

Our local meeting of A Course in Miracles is always uplifting and insightful. This evening we read through the reviews of Workbook Lessons 201-220, which are centered around the idea: “I am not a body, I am free. I am still as God created me.” The comments about these words prompted deep thought on their meaning, and I am grateful. When returning home from this delightful evening, I opened my mailbox and found a note from a dear friend. She tells me she has been diagnosed with bone cancer. Because I was still floating from our discussion on the true, spiritual nature we all share, it didn’t occur to me to be sad or to see her as anything other than the image and likeness of God. I have found through the years that telling someone “they are not a body, they are free”, does nothing for them other than make them think you’re a bit loony and, perhaps, turn them against learning what the statement truly means. I tend to listen to intuition, and a couple of weeks ago I ordered the book by Anita Moorjami titled “Dying To Be Me”. This is her journey through cancer and near death. She is now an inspirational speaker. I didn’t know why I ordered this book, but now I do. It’s for my friend.  The ideas in this book are the perfect starting point for the uninitiated in divinely metaphysical thought. I now know who I bought it for …

“In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow, — thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as the basis of thought and demonstration.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 259:6-14

“Be free today. And carry freedom as your gift to those who still believe they are enslaved within a body. Be you free, so that the Holy Spirit can make use of your escape from bondage, to set free the many who perceive themselves as bound and helpless and afraid. Let love replace their fears through you. Accept salvation now, and give your mind to Him Who calls to you to make this gift to Him. For He would give you perfect freedom, perfect joy, and hope that finds its full accomplishment in God.” 

A Course in Miracles W-199.7:1-6

Focus on the Moment

 

Grand-baby Torin living in the moment

I have a friend who occasionally comes to me for help with her computer. Today was one of those days. She had been trying to complete a simple task, and after two hours of failed efforts, she came to me. I signed in to her account and got it done quickly. And then we had a talk. I know this woman well or I wouldn’t have been quite as blunt about her plight. I told her she needed to concentrate on one thing at at time. She told me she had attention deficit disorder. What I didn’t tell her was that I think we all do, but we can train ourselves to focus. I suggested meditation for her, perhaps reading Ram Dass’s “Be Here Now” and/or Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” — and she broke in to tell me she had done that years ago. She knew all about it. I smiled and told her to come to me if she wanted any help in her experience of the present. This caused me to think back to the years I flitted from one task to another, never finishing anything and becoming quite frustrated in the process. It took years to figure out what I was doing, and it’s an ongoing process to stay calmly on track. I truly feel it’s the acknowledgement and awareness of what we’re doing, then deciding if that’s how we want to live. If you don’t like the way things went today, be happy in the knowledge you can choose again!

“Your distorted perceptions produce a dense cover over miracle impulses, making it hard for them to reach your own awareness. The confusion of miracle impulses with physical impulses is a major perceptual distortion. Physical impulses are misdirected miracle impulses. All real pleasure comes from doing God’s Will. This is because not doing it is a denial of Self. Denial of Self results in illusions, while correction of the error brings release from it. Do not deceive yourself into believing that you can relate in peace to God or to your brothers with anything external.” 

A Course in Miracles T-1.VII.1:1-7

“Materialists contradict their own statements. Their belief in material laws and in penalties for their infraction is the ancient error that there is fraternity between pain and pleasure, good and evil, God and Satan. This belief totters to its falling before the battle-axe of Science.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 389:22-27