Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Find it for yourself

Excellent magazine: Relevant. Hip and spiritual. Great place to take the pulse of spirituality in the rising generation.


"Prayer Defined" by Kyle Lake in the most recent issue resonated with me. I've been talking to lots of people about prayer lately, and beginning to develop my own convictions about it. And Lake confirmed some of what I’m thinking.


If we are going to push toward a real, whole-life, interactive relationship with God, we must be willing to cut ties with misunderstandings—perhaps misunderstandings we picked up along the way or even misunderstandings we were explicitly taught.


Very true. But how do we uncover misunderstandings and correct them? This is key to me for spiritual growth. You have to stop believing what other people have told you and figure it out for yourself.


This doesn't mean the other people were wrong; rather, they were right for themselves. But only you will know if what they say or have experienced applies to you. You've got to work it out for yourself.


I'm continually grateful for the time I spent several years ago reading the Bible and Science and Health. I read both books straight through, determining to glean for myself what they meant for me. I systematically and frankly rejected everything anyone else had told me and insisted I would find my out for myself what these books had to say.


I took nothing for granted. I refused to blithely say, Oh, I understand that. Rather, every idea the books presented was grist for the contemplation mill. And I discovered that some of what other people had said did indeed apply to me, and I could put it into practice in my own life. I also found that lots of what I'd heard was actually nonsense to me, and I didn't find these things in the actual writings.


I began to develop my own working definitions of certain terms, realizing they were *my* definitions and I didn't need to impose them on anyone else. But as long as these definitions were based on an accurate reading of the books, I felt I was building on solid ground.


For example, my definition of prayer has developed and continues to develop. For me, through my reading and experience, I've come to believe that prayer includes some essential elements: a connection with the Higher Power, a deeper discovery of what that Power is, and a transformation of thought. I don't feel like I'm done when I'm praying unless that transformation of thought takes place. I know it when I feel it; I miss it if it's not there. To me, prayer is just words unless I'm transformed in some way.


But that's just me. I love what Lake says about prayer later in his essay:


[T]he persistent, silent awareness of God that threads through your day, even in the most mundane times—on a bike, in a journal, after the movie, in the car—they all count. Not only do they count, but that fluid, seamless life with God you exhibit has actually been God's hope all along.


I'm convinced God wants us to know Him. But we don't get to know Him through others' conclusions. We've got to do the spade work to get the direct connection. God is best friends forever with each of us. What does it take to get to know a best friend?


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Tuesday, November 29, 2005

We are like Him


I have a friend who's in the hospital suddenly. Yesterday when I prayed about this, the passage from I John came to mind:

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

--I John 3:1-3

This passage is read at the end of every Christian Science Sunday church service, as a correlation to the scientific statement of being.


Yesterday, the Bible passage just rang in my thinking. "Now are we the sons of God." "We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." "Every man…purifieth himself, even as he is pure."


To me, it's talking about reflection. We not only see Him, but we are like Him. The image and likeness. Of God, the Divine, the Holy Spirit, infinite Love, all knowing Mind.


The writer says "Now," meaning this is all available to us now, we just need to see it. To me, the "shall be's" are not about the future, but about increasing our skill at seeing. He shall appear to us as soon as we're ready to see Him. This happens increasingly every day; it's not some far-off future time. At least not to me.


So when I think of my friend in the hospital, I'm striving to see him as reflecting Him. I thought of the passage this way:


Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we are indeed the creations of God. The material world doesn't see who we really are, because it can't see Him. Beloved, now are we the sons and daughters of God, and although it doth not yet appear to us what that really means, we know that, when we do see Him, we'll find that we ourselves are like Him; for in seeing Him, we see ourselves. And every one of us that strives for this seeing perfecteth himself, even as He is perfect.


It's still resonating with me. Today's a day of seeing as God sees.


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Monday, November 28, 2005

Great weekend

This was a weekend of family—just my little family, me and the kids. And church friends, and movies, and games.

  • My son slaughtered me at Monopoly, the three of us were fairly even at Clue and Rummikub, and then we tried out this new game called LCR. All fun.
  • Went to four church services, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. My daughter gave a surprise testimony at the Thanksgiving service, very nice. She's acclimating well to school and wanted to share a key moment of spiritual growth.
  • Had a Brazilian friend to Thanksgiving dinner. Didn't cook the bird enough, but it was still good. Lotsa mashed potatoes left over. Lotta talking.
  • Attended an open house for a young friend back from the Air Force Academy. Chatted it up with kids and grownups from church. Good Sunday School classes all around, I'm a teacher, they're students.
  • Movies: Home Alone, Love Actually, and the new Pride & Prejudice at the theater. TV DVDs: Star Trek (of course, a family favorite, Season 3) and Desperate Housewives (a new obsession).
  • Son spent lots of time building card castles, became quite the architect. Daughter spent lots of time reconnecting with friends. Everyone happy and full by the end of the weekend. Daughter also achieved clean laundry.
  • Phone call from niece, she's engaged! So, a total family get-together to look forward to, sometime in 2006.


I tell ya, I can't complain. And I'm so glad we're maturing into just enjoying each other. Now, picking out and getting ready to order Christmas presents for everyone gives the occasion to appreciate each person's unique loveliness, and I realize the substance of our family is so solid and unshakable.


We went through our rough times, sure, especially when my siblings and I were younger. A series of starter marriages, clashes with the folks, etc. Now it just feels like we're through all that and can just love each other without all the pressure. My folks can look around at their family—four kids, nine grandchildren, many children-in-law—and know they done good.


I guess I’m waxing philosophic on this today, in awe of the diversity and richness life presents to us. What a gift. What a great feeling.


So yeah, it was a great weekend. How was yours?


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Friday, November 25, 2005

The perfect moment

There's something I've never confessed in here before… I'm a Star Trek fan. A big one. Mostly The Next Generation, but I've enjoyed my share of the original series, the other spin-offs, and the movies as well.


In the movie "Star Trek: Insurrection," the Enterprise visits a race blessed with apparently infinite life. They're human, but they've been living on a planet that slows metabolism to nothing, or something like that. So they live hundreds of years. And this slowing of time allows them to develop an unhurried, peaceful outlook that surpasses the norm.


At one point, Picard (my hero) strolls along with Anij, the planet's leader. He asks her how their mental abilities developed. She teases him, "Always the explorer. If you stay long enough that will change. You stop reviewing what happened yesterday, stop planning for tomorrow. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever experienced a perfect moment in time?"


"A perfect moment?"


"When time seemed to stop and you could almost live in that moment?"


He thinks, and says, "Seeing my home planet in space for the first time."


"Yes. Exactly. Nothing more complicated than perception. You explore the universe. We've discovered that a single moment in time can be a universe in itself, full of powerful forces. Most people aren't aware enough of the now to even notice."


"I wish I could spare a few centuries to learn."


"It took us centuries to learn that it doesn't take centuries to learn."


I find this to be deeply metaphysical, and accurate. This week in my prayers, I spent some time in the perfect moment. I hope I can describe it to you.


I was thinking about perfection, what that means. Complete clarity, total confidence, joy, peace, love. All the spiritual qualities we recognize as worthy, rolled into one experience. And I realized this was only a thought away. I could experience perfection in my consciousness.


So I sat at my desk and experienced it. In my thinking, in those moments, nothing was real to me but perfection. I cleared the decks, so to speak, mentally, and allowed in no thought that wasn't in line with perfection. As the idea of infinite perfect Mind, I am connected to that Mind. I'm made in Mind's image and likeness.


I found myself thinking, "I can think like God thinks. I can see like God sees. I can feel like God feels." Then this changed to, "I can think what God thinks. I can see what God sees. I can feel what God feels."


I'd always thought of perfection as something in the future, something we strive to attain. But the other day, I gained a deeper understanding that perfection is not in the future—it's now. At any moment, I can have a perfect thought, fill the space in my consciousness with perfection, and experience it fully. I can even carry this frame of mind into my daily life, a moment at a time.


Just sitting with my kids yesterday for the Thanksgiving holiday, playing some games and watching a movie, was perfection. I could look at them both and feel only joy. I could see them as God sees them, beloved, happy, intelligent, successful. It's like our whole futures together were right then.


Explore the perfect moment. It's there, waiting for you.


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Thursday, November 24, 2005

Thanksgiving prayer

The prayer below was shared by my friend Rev. Dr. Deborah Clark, minister at Edwards Church in Framingham, Mass. at the interfaith Thanksgiving service I attended on Tuesday night. I wish you a glorious day of thanksgiving, wherever you may be reading this from.

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We give you thanks, Holy Creator,
For the wondrous diversity of your creation—
  • Rainforest and desert,
  • Snowstorm and sunshine,
  • Ant and whale.
We give you thanks for the wondrous diversity of your people—
  • For the beauty of our many colors, sizes, and shapes.
  • For the richness of our languages,
  • For the different ways you have revealed your truth to us.
Teach us to value all your creation.


We give you thanks, Majestic One,
For the freedom to worship you.

  • For music which awakens us to your beauty,
  • For scripture which teaches us how to live,
  • For prayer which assures us of your presence,
  • For community which strengthens our faith.
May we worship you with our whole selves.


We give you thanks, Source of blessing,
For the gift of each other.

  • For the love and encouragement we offer one another,
  • For the chance to learn from one another,
  • For the ways we challenge each other to move beyond our narrow vision.
May we treasure one another.


We give you thanks, You who call us,
For the opportunity to serve.

  • For your commandment to love our neighbor,
  • For the ways you call us to share your truth,
  • For hands and minds and hearts and talents,
  • For the capacity to make a difference,
  • For friends and neighbors who work beside us.
May we serve you faithfully.


We give you thanks, Source of all that is possible,
For promises not yet come to fruition.

  • For the dream of peace,
  • For the vision of a world where no one goes hungry.
  • For gifts yet to be developed,
  • For the capacity to learn and grow and change.
Help us move toward your future with hope.


We give you thanks, Source of life, for all your wondrous gifts.
Awaken us to deeper gratitude every day of our lives. Amen.


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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Interfaith Thanksgiving

Last night I went to an interfaith Thanksgiving service—how inspiring! It was a rich feast of spiritual community and ideas, just flowing abundantly. (For my international readers, Thanksgiving is celebrated once a year in the US, on the fourth Thursday in November, so the actual holiday is tomorrow.)


Fifteen spiritual communities in town were represented. Hosted at Temple Beth Am, the service included readings, prayers and inspiring messages from First Parish, St. Stephen Parish, the Lutheran Church, the Islamic Center of Boston, First Church of Christ, Scientist (my little church), Baha'is, First Baptist Church, First Assembly of God, the United Methodists, Plymouth Church UCC, Edwards Church UCC (if you go to the staff page you can see my friend Debbie, their minister), St. Andrew's Episcopal, the Salvation Army, the Sons of Mary Missionary Society, and the Armenian Church of the Holy Translators. (For a special treat, read the welcome message on the Armenian church homepage—it's something all churches should aspire to.)


The evening started with the sounding of the shofar calling us to prayer. That sound always moves me, it makes me feel connected to the centuries of humanity's growth Spirit-ward. We sang and did responsive prayers from all different traditions. The Gratitude for Diversity of American Culture prayer (which you can read if you scroll about 3/4ths of the way down the linked page) resonated with me fully, especially in light of the work I've been doing tutoring immigrants in English.


And the evening was capped off with an address by Rev. Sandra Bonnette-Kim. It was a wonderful message about showing appreciation for those we love. She offered the thought, based on research apparently, that it's not that we feel love and therefore we act loving, it's that in performing loving acts, our loving feeling will grow. I loved that!


What moved me most was the coming together of all these traditions in fellowship. The service opened with the quote from the Roman orator Cicero: "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."


And another powerful idea was from a Jewish theologian (I apologize for not noting his name) that when we reach spiritual totality, all prayers will become unnecessary, except the prayer of gratitude.


It was a great kickoff to my favorite holiday of the year. Spending time on gratitude is probably the most health-giving and joyous discipline we can adopt. The air is singing with it this week, and I love the song.


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Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Another embrace of the infinite

I love this from Discover magazine -- it's from an interview with famous physicist Stephen Hawking of the University of Cambridge. The interview, in the October 2005 issue, discusses M-theory, a theory broader in range than supergravity or string theory. But this M-theory is actually a network of theories, which work in some circumstances but break down in others.


Are you disturbed by the possibility that there is no single ultimate theory?
H: Some people will be very disappointed if there is no ultimate theory that can be formulated as a finite number of principles. I used to belong to that camp, but I've changed my mind. I'm now glad that our search for understanding will never come to an end, and that we will always have the challenge of new discovery. Without it, we would stagnate.


The challenge of new discovery. I feel that way about spirituality! It's a journey that never ends, *should* never end. And knowing that, I get a lot less stressed about what I'm learning *today.* I can take it one day at a time knowing that truly I have all eternity to continue on the path.


Because, after all, what we're talking about is infinite. The Divine is truly infinite -- can we expect to figure it all out in a day, a year, a human lifetime? Not! And how great that this adventure will never end!


I did think in my younger days that achieving ultimate perfection would be boring. Like, nothing would ever happen, we'd just float there in stasis or something. So I tried a lot of things humanly that seemed interesting at the time. They were deadends -- ultimately boring in themselves, because the same old same old would play out over and over again.


Now, the more I learn about spiritual reality, the more amazing the goal of realizing perfection is becoming to me. I'm sure now there will be infinite vistas to discover, infinite beings to become friends with, infinite joy to explore and experience.


So what is today? It's a start. It's a step on an infinite path. No need to look back, full speed ahead!


Some ideas from Science and Health:


The admission to one's self that man is God's own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea. This conviction shuts the door on death, and opens it wide towards immortality. The understanding and recognition of Spirit must finally come, and we may as well improve our time in solving the mysteries of being through an apprehension of divine Principle. At present we know not what man is, but we certainly shall know this when man reflects God.


The days of our pilgrimage will multiply instead of diminish, when God's kingdom comes on earth; for the true way leads to Life instead of to death, and earthly experience discloses the finity of error and the infinite capacities of Truth, in which God gives man dominion over all the earth.

The compounded minerals or aggregated substances composing the earth, the relations which constituent masses hold to each other, the magnitudes, distances, and revolutions of the celestial bodies, are of no real importance, when we remember that they all must give place to the spiritual fact by the translation of man and the universe back into Spirit. In proportion as this is done, man and the universe will be found harmonious and eternal.

Material substances or mundane formations, astronomical calculations, and all the paraphernalia of speculative theories, based on the hypothesis of material law or life and intelligence resident in matter, will ultimately vanish, swallowed up in the infinite calculus of Spirit.


Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual, — they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite, — in order that sin and mortality may be put off.


Beholding the infinite tasks of truth, we pause, — wait on God. Then we push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured, and conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory.




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Monday, November 21, 2005

Default settings

My friend Al threw out an intriguing concept this weekend—default settings. You know, when you get a new computer program, and you can set all the defaults.


Like in Word, which I'm typing in right now to write this blog entry. You can set the default font to Times Roman, or the page margins to 1.5 inches, etc. And from then on, whenever you create a document in Word, those settings will appear in the document. To change your documents, you can either change each feature in each newly created one, or you can go back to the template and change the defaults to your new preference.


I actually did this last week, in Word. I had by mistake changed the bullet default, and kept getting this weird symbol that I had to adjust every time I started a bulleted list. At first, it was easier to just change the document I was in, so I could get the immediate job done faster. But last week, it irritated me enough that I stopped what I was doing and hunted around until I could figure out how to change the default. Now, the bullets I want come up automatically.


When Al and I were discussing this, it was actually in the context of spiritual growth. He mentioned having to change some of his mental "default settings." (He's a Web designer.) "That's cool," I said, "can I put it in my blog?" :)


To me, this had universal spiritual applicability. How many habits of thought do we indulge in purely by default? Are we aware of our default positions in response to certain stimuli? And are those defaults really what we want?


Years ago, I was very sensitive to being teased. I would leap to the conclusion that I wasn't being taken seriously, and I would respond defensively.


Most examples of this happened when I was with my extended family. Habits of conversation had developed over decades. It was like we were playing out the same emotional script over and over; different words maybe, but the same emotions.


When I wasn't with my family, though, I was maturing. Spiritual growth was teaching me how to love better and how to see the good in others. So for one Christmas gathering, I determined to see things differently and to try to not play out those same scenes. I determined I was going to keep uppermost in thought that everyone there was a child, not of this particular human family, but of the Divine, and each expressed the divine Love that fills all space. I would try to express that Love.


The gathering started out harmoniously enough. After a celebratory meal, the 'rents went to bed and my siblings, their spouses and I sat around a table kvetching into the night. And then the inevitable happened. Someone said something to me that offended me.


I could feel my hackles rise, and I was about to respond angrily. But I caught myself and really listened to what the person had said and how they'd said it. Sure, it wasn't the most loving or gracious thing to say, but it suddenly struck me that he was just trying to be funny. It was his way of kidding around.


So, I did the unthinkable. I laughed. Default setting—changed.


Everyone relaxed. One of my sisters piped up and said something nice about me. And that to me was a miracle—I'd never given anyone else a chance to defend me before, and I learned for the first time they were ready to do so. I left the whole conversation feeling loved in a new way.


Since then, this has become my default setting for good natured kidding—actually even for more ill-tempered joking. I laugh it off and just let the conversation turn, rather than escalating it into a pitched battle. And sometimes I get the gift of someone saying something nice. Very precious.


Changing default settings may take some digging, but it's worth it. Then, you're set for going forward.


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Friday, November 18, 2005

The spirituality of Harry Potter

Nice piece on Harry Potter on beliefnet.com today. It encapsulates a lot of my feelings about the books and brings me a few new ideas.


I do love Harry Potter. Some ideas of my own:

  • Harry puts himself at risk for others, for no possible gain to himself.
  • Harry is immune from the dark side—he's never once tempted by the Voldemort obsessions. (He has his own, it's true, but they're different.)
  • Harry's friends see him for who he is, not as the "celebrity" everyone else wants a piece of.
  • There's a lot of fidelity, nobility, intelligence, camaraderie, expressed in these books.


I'm kind of a fan of morality. I know morality is relative, meaning there are areas of gray and things are not always black and white. But I believe you can find a higher way, a better way, and do that, even if it's not a perfect solution. And to me, the absolute undergirds those choices.


Okay, example. I think this was the most moral choice I ever made, where clearly the way was going to be harder but I really didn't feel I could do anything else. And that was the decision to have my son.


It didn't really feel like a decision, it was that clear to me. I mean, I didn't seriously consider any other options, such as abortion or adoption, although the latter did fly through my mind on occasion. What I did think about a lot was how in the yay would I be able to survive?


There's a strength that comes from doing what you believe is the right thing, even if you're completely on your own. And that's because sometimes it connects you more deeply with that absolute I'm talking about—with Truth, with the Divine. In my case, with no human help to lean on but still a certainty about what I had to do, I had only one place to do, and that was Up. And that strength and support was instantly available to me.


So to me, morality is shored up by spirituality. You can't have one without the other. Those who make right choices, often the harder choices, those who put off instant gratification for the greater good, those who are able to put another's welfare before their own—they are spiritually-minded, even if they never call it that. One of the axioms of theater is: Actions reveal character, not speech. It's fascinating to me that it's your actions that reveal your true spirituality, not what you profess. So I see a lot more spirituality around me than those who evaluate based on creed or dogma.


Anyway, my point, you ask? To me, Harry Potter is spiritual. Not overtly, not because it's trying to be—far from it. But naturally, in showing through action how spiritual values are played out in a "real" person's life. Even if Harry is a wizard, he doesn't get out of having to show his true colors—his true humanity.

Humanity is the outward expression of the spiritual; morality is spirituality in action.


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Thursday, November 17, 2005

Trust -> willingness -> understanding

I've written before about willingness, how it's an essential element to spiritual growth. Yet I'm noticing that it's hard to be willing unless you have another essential element, and that's trust.


And trust to me is more than blind faith. People have heard my stories on occasion and have remarked, "You must have so much faith." But I really think I have very little faith. I don't believe much unless it's been proven to me.


That's why I always mess up those religion or belief tests—like this one (which said I should investigate Islam). I say I believe in a higher power but also that I only believe what can be proven. This seems like a contradiction to most, but to me they perfectly coincide. This is because my Christian also includes Science. Somehow Christian Science doesn't get into the tests. :)


Anyway, what do I have if I don't have faith? Trust. I've had enough happen in my own life that convinces me there's something to what Mary Baker Eddy wrote, and I can demonstrate it. So when I'm faced with the next challenge, I have a background to draw on of other times when spiritual direction has helped me. I've been building on it over the years.


What I've gradually learned is how to distinguish spiritual inspiration from just random thinking. Often it feels like it comes out of left field, but it always presents a higher way, a way of trust or compassion. Like the "turn away" idea from yesterday's entry. This impulse felt different than my panicked thoughts, it surprised me and got me thinking along new lines. And, because I had a background in things like this happening, I trusted it. If I hadn't trusted, I might not have been so willing to try it out. (Even then it was a struggle.)


But then trust, which led to willingness, led to understanding. I got it, and the healing followed. That experience left me with increased understanding, which contributes to the trust I feel now, and so on and so on.


This is why I seldom expect the people who call me for help to *already* have all their ducks in a row. They're often calling because they have some faith they can be healed, but sometimes the trust and willingness still have to be developed. They lean on my trust for a time as they gain their own, even as I leaned on the practitioners in my life as I grew. In this way we help each other.


You can expect to *know,* not just believe. You can expect truth to be provable, not just believable. Then, trust -> willingness -> understanding -> healing.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Instant healing

People ask me about instantaneous healing, if I've ever experienced it. I wrote about some examples here and here, and I wanted to share another time today.


I guess this was about ten years ago, when I was new in the Christian Science practice out in LA. My son was about four, and he had a fever. The kind where the person sort of moans and seems to come in and out of consciousness. I anxiously hovered over his bed, constantly feeling his forehead and frightening myself with worst-case scenarios.


My prayer at that point could only be called feverish. What do I do? What do I do? I thought frantically. As I sat there beside him, fixated on his precious little face, I desperately tried to reached out in prayer. The tiny thought came, Turn away.


I didn't—couldn't—listen at first. Turn away? He needed me to be observing him constantly. I had to watch in order to be a good mom. But that little thought became more insistent. Turn Away.


Are you crazy? I answered back. What if something happens while I'm not looking? Yet still the thought persisted, and it said, You don't have to *go* anywhere, just turn away.


So I did what I still remember as one of the hardest things I've ever done. Still sitting on the edge of the bed, I steeled myself and turned my back on my feverish baby boy.


This oriented me toward the window, with the clear blue Southern California sky filling the view. I tried to calm myself and pray, and then Something Else took over.


LOVE. It was like the word LOVE filled the sky, like some infinite skywriter was emblazoning LOVE across all creation. LOVE streamed into that room and filled every corner. LOVE warmed me and calmed me, it was the only reality I experienced. LOVE got my whole attention, I lived it fully in those moments. LOVE was all that existed for me. LOVE was fact; all else was fiction.


With LOVE being all, there was no room for anything else. While I sat there quietly rejoicing in LOVE's presence, it took care of everything else for me. Fear—gone. Stress—gone. Anxiousness—gone.


Fever—gone.


After a time, perhaps the most holy half-hour I've ever spent, I came back to earth and turned toward to my son. But this time I myself was radiant with love. I couldn’t have felt fear even if I wanted to.


And I discovered he was fine. He was sleeping peacefully, no vestige of a fever. He took a little nap and was up and himself by the time his sister got home from school.


Love is the healer. Not logic or ruminating or paying penance or any of those things that slow us down. For instant healing, go direct to Love.


If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one visit, and the disease will vanish into its native nothingness like dew before the morning sunshine.

--Science and Health


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Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Adjusting the blueprints

Be sure to put yourself on Frappr!
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My friend Chris send me this article, fascinating stuff:


FINDING MY RELIGION

Bruce Lipton, cell biologist and author of "The Biology of Belief," says it's our beliefs, not our DNA, that control our biology


Here's a quote:


What do you see as the implications of this discovery in terms of our everyday lives?


The implication is that this basic idea we have that we are controlled by our genes is false. It's an idea that turns us into victims. I'm saying we are the creators of our situation. The genes are merely the blueprints. We are the contractors, and we can adjust those blueprints. And we can even rewrite them.


I love this fresh articulation of something Christian Science has been saying for over a century. We control our body with our thought, not the other way around.


It takes some rigor to learn how to do this in the face of physical claims in the opposite direction. I've achieved the most regular success with this tactic in the area of the common cold.


Frequently, especially in times like now when the mornings dawn clear and cold, I awake with some stuffiness. At that point, I always make a decision: am I going to live with stuffiness all day, or am I going to dispense with it? So I tell myself, This is not going to get any inroads today. I just refuse to have a runny nose today. Instead, I will live a day of health and freedom. So nose, just knock it off. And it does.


This works not because I have some superbrain that communicates in a unique way. Rather, in taking that stand, I am aligning myself with divine Mind and its understanding of my being—the Super Mind, if you will. That Supreme Creator has the ultimate knowledge of what's true about me, and when I align myself with that knowledge, I experience the power that can destroy illness and bring freedom.


"Adjusting the blueprints," as Lipton says, is reliable and effective when it is in accordance with the Creator's will for us, which is always good. Otherwise it would just be one person's opinion over another's about what is good. Aligning ourselves with the Divine ensures increased harmony and constant good.


From Science and Health:


The scientific government of the body must be attained through the divine Mind. It is impossible to gain control over the body in any other way.


When you have once conquered a diseased condition of the body through Mind, that condition never recurs, and you have won a point in Science. When mentality gives rest to the body, the next toil will fatigue you less, for you are working out the problem of being in divine metaphysics; and in proportion as you understand the control which Mind has over so-called matter, you will be able to demonstrate this control.


If we follow the command of our Master, "Take no thought for your life," we shall never depend on bodily conditions, structure, or economy, but we shall be masters of the body, dictate its terms, and form and control it with Truth.


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Monday, November 14, 2005

Good news

I was looking at all the news today and over the weekend, and hoping I'd be inspired to respond in some way, but was coming up dry. Then saw this email in my inbox, from Rev. Myron in Lake Charles, Louisiana. You'll remember Myron's church first committed to taking in and helping others right after Katrina, and then her town was itself hit with Rita. She's been continuing to help throughout.

We received a thank you letter from one of the families we were able to help. Because we could not have helped this family if so many had not sent their contributions, I want to share it with you all. I wish I had an email address for all of the generous people who have been helping. This is a thank you to everyone who sent, boxes of goods, money, and prayers.


"It is hard to express on paper the immense gratitude my family and I feel for the most generous gift you have given to us. We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love we have received from both friends and strangers. As I write strangers though I am reminded of what I have read in Myron’s sermons “we are all children of God” so I believe that makes none of us strangers and all of us family. With everything that is happening in this world today it is hard to tell your children that everything will be ok. Knowing that there are people in this world who are still so genuinely good makes it easier for me and my husband to look them in the eye and say that although bad things may happen, good will always triumph. I can’t remember how many times I have started this letter to try to express my thanks. ... I had read something in a book a few years ago that just reached out and grabbed me. I copied the saying down and hung it on the fridge. When my family and I returned after the storm and were trying to salvage what we could, I saw this piece of paper lying on the floor. Moving the debris, I saw it was my saying. I figured if it survived Rita it was meant to be read by me again. It said 'Be kind to everyone you meet, because you never know when you are meeting an angel and just not aware of it.' We have met an angel in each one of you. Thank you, having people like you in this world makes it a better, brighter place. With love and Gratitude, The Bates family."


I love the confidence of this parent, who now knows she can look her children in the eye and say everything will be all right because there will always be people of good will in the world, motivated by Love to give when people are in need. And I just want to be grateful for those people today, quietly going about doing good, blessing when they can, and giving in practical ways when the need arises. What would the world be like if we didn't do that?


Myron's footnote to her email had this from A Course in Miracles, it seems appropo:


...and go your way rejoicing in the endless love of God.

Love to all of you today.

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Friday, November 11, 2005

A whole lotta nothin'

This question came in from Franklin yesterday:


Hello,

I have been doing some reading about christian science because I knew nothing of it as an organization or anything about its founder.

While reading I somewhat agreed with the basics. However I got a rather odd feeling that there was a attitude or state that didn't seem quite right to me.

I have several times read the term malicious animal magnetism. I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean.

Have you any knowledge of what this is and what it accomplishes?


Ah, animal magnetism. To me, it's an important concept to grasp, but not to make too big a deal out of. Too often people obsess about it and it turns into some sort of evil being that's out to get you. It's actually synonymous with nothingness.


But it is important to face evil in its various (powerless) forms, since prayer can be more effective if it's specifically targeted. Kind of like not scattering your fire. So the various names for evil (nothingness) that Mary Baker Eddy developed (error, mortal mind, animal magnetism, etc.) are tools we can use to destroy evil. They absolutely do not have any substance or identity of their own. Mary Baker Eddy talks about "talking something up to talk it down." Evil in all its forms must be seen as nothing for scientific prayer to work. Evil is nothing because it’s the suppositional opposite of the Divine, which is entirely good.


Okay, that being said, I'm going to talk about the snake, animal magnetism. But remember it's nothing. It has no substance, no identity, no mind. And I'm going to use an example from my own life, because I'm no expert on the totality of the subject. I just know how I've faced it myself.


There was a time in my life where I was in the grip of an obsession. Of course, knowing my track record, it was over a guy. I thought I loved this guy, but he'd rejected me. I *could not* get him out of my mind. It didn't help that I saw him frequently, although this clearly had no effect on him! But I'd come away from every sighting shaken and hurt.


The desire for him just hung on and hung on and hung on. And I didn't do much to fight it, I kind of wallowed in self-pity and depression. This to me is an example of animal magnetism. One form of animal magnetism is false attraction to something it would be harmful for you to have. I mean, the guy'd already called it quits. Why would I want to be with someone that didn't want to be with me? Magnetism includes a hypnotic element, kind of like being charmed by a snake. I was fixated on the snake, and didn't want to break free. That's also characteristic of animal magnetism—it masquerades as our own thinking, our own desires.


This went on for a long time, a couple years at least. I grew to be able to fake it totally in public, but the undercurrent of desire remained in my private heart, eating away at me. You know what broke me out of it? It was a friend, asking me to pray for her, not only about having similar feelings, but she actually had them about the same guy. (She was unaware of my history about him when she asked.)


I took her prayer request straight to God and asked Him if He really wanted me praying for her since I was still struggling with the problem. And the answer was, It's time to heal this for you both.


So I went deep. I did what I needed to do to uncover the properties of this false attraction in my own thought, and I applied what I was learning to my friend's life in prayer. For the first time, I saw my desire for this man as false, as unproductive, and I admitted to myself that it was going nowhere. And I knew, both for myself and my friend, that our fulfillment came from our connection with the one true God, divine Love, who fills all space including the deep dark crevices in our hearts. I let that Love embrace us both, and felt its healing balm. This Love ejected the false desire, evaporated it really into its native nothingness.


My friend called me back a few days later and said she was free. She couldn't understand how the desire had started in the first place, it seemed so ridiculous now. And I too had stopped suffering over the issue. It never had made sense, and this was clear to me now. What a relief!


You can spot animal magnetism because it doesn't make sense, it poses as destructive desires, and its effect is a feeling of fixation. But. It's. Nothing. If you're going to go down the road of investigating evil and all its workings, protect yourself with the certainty of its nothingness. Then the way is clear for victory.


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Thursday, November 10, 2005

Persistent and consistent prayer

Sometimes healing happens quickly, other times it takes deeper study and prayer, other times it takes daily consistent and persistent watching of every thought. It's this last one I want to give an example of today.


Right after the birth of my daughter, I noticed a growth on my body in what was, shall we say, a very inconvenient location. It got in the way of a lot of stuff, including a normal physical relationship with my husband. And it was painful, and it scared me.


Those first few months after my first delivery are kind of a haze to me, it took me a while to feel myself again. But how I dealt with this physical problem remains clear to me.


I broke it down into three options:

  1. I could have the thing removed, perhaps by my midwife.
  2. I could remove it myself.
  3. I could pray about it.


The first two options kind of freaked me out at the time, so I thought I'd focus on prayer. And what I prayed was simple, although it took persistence.


At first, I wondered, is this some kind of punishment for doing something wrong, or is God telling me I need to stop being physical with my husband? This didn't make sense really but it did cross my mind. So the thought came to me as I prayed, God governs every aspect of my life. Even to the details. God governs.


That idea gave me peace. I decided to stick to that truth no matter what.


Whenever the growth came to my attention, which was several times a day at first, I would turn from it mentally. At first this was a terrified turning, but as I stayed the course, the turning became more confident and assured. Every time, I would think clearly, God governs every aspect of my life. I thought about those times God's government had been clear, at work, in the family, in life. I knew this would be one more example of this.


The trick was doing this every time the fearful thing got my attention. Every time. The more I did this, the less fear I felt, until eventually the fear evaporated. It took several weeks for the fear to go, and I also stopped noticing the problem after a time. So I don't know exactly when it went away, but of course it did. What I'm even more left with is a deep understanding that God governs every aspect of my life. I know this now, for certain, like I know I’m sitting here typing.


This experience gave me a new tactic for prayer. Now, when I'm dealing with something that tries to get my attention frequently, I use the attention-getting as a reminder to stop what I'm doing and clear the decks mentally. To embrace whatever spiritual idea is meaning the most to me at the time, and giving that idea more of an opportunity to transform and heal me.


The attention-getting is not to be feared or dreaded, it's an invitation to pay attention to God specifically. This has worked many times for me when the situation warrants it. And it keeps me hopeful and uplifted even when symptoms appear to be hanging on. They never last; they aren't strong enough. In the face of targeted spiritual effort, the beliefs of mortality always yield.


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Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Spirit's eureka moment

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Just when you thought you didn't know enough about Archimedes, another anecdote comes along:



Love that displacement property in action.


Yesterday I was thinking about success, what it means to be successful, etc. That "eureka" word kept coming into my head. so I looked it up this morning. The anecdote made me wonder, does Spirit ever surprise itself with its own creativity?


I mean, we're often trying to evaluate ourselves as to whether we're successful or not. Yesterday I was trying to think in terms of Spirit being the successful one, and we're its success story. I mean, we're here, we exist. Creation worked. So we're already the successful creation of divine Spirit.


And Spirit, being also divine Mind, all-knowing intelligence, doesn't make any mistakes. So where do we come off thinking that we could ever be anything less than a triumphant success?


I started trying to conceptualize the moment of my own creation. Spirit, Mind, coming up with this new idea, me, and being delighted with it. And because Mind is all-powerful, all it has to do is think something up, and it is so. So here I am, Mind's idea, Spirit's creation. And Spirit goes, Yay! I did it! I figured it out!


For sure, Spirit never doubts its own abilities. But somehow, I believe Spirit is delighted with the outcome of its grand thinking. I love knowing that my Creator is delighted with me. It gives me a sense of adventure about the day's tasks, a feeling that anything's possible. I am not limited, because I was set forth by the unlimited One.


I also have been digging more deeply into the concept of now, rather than thinking of myself as having a past, present and future. Creation is now, it's as fresh as ever. So I'm all I ever was and ever will be, a full-tilt success, a complete idea.


And it's my sincere belief this applies to you, too. Your Creator is delighted with you. Your success is an outcome of the divine success of creation.


You are Spirit's eureka moment.


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Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Testing, testing, part 2

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As promised, the LSAT story.


One spring when we lived in LA, I was working at an investment banking firm, making more money than I ever had before. But the analysts and principals of the company were making WAY more than I was. I began to get this feeling that I should be doing more, that my life was meant for greater things. So when I prayed about it, the answer came, How about an advanced degree? How about law school?


And I liked the way that sounded. So, step one, the LSATs.


I got on the schedule to take them in the fall, so I prepped all summer with prior tests, etc. The LSATs are like a series of word puzzles, here's an example:


Cars are safer than planes. Fifty percent of plane accidents result in death, while only one percent of car accidents result in death. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?

A) Planes are inspected more often than cars.

B) The number of car accidents is several hundred thousand times higher than the number of plane accidents.

C) Pilots never fly under the influence of alcohol, while car drivers often do.

D) Plane accidents are usually the fault of air traffic controllers, not pilots.

E) Planes carry more passengers than cars do.

--courtesy The LSAT Center


It was like you had to get into the groove of the LSATs, kind of meld yourself into their mindset, and then just perform. Obviously, the test has very little bearing on the law itself. (I think the answer is B, by the way.) [Edit: I put C by mistake this morning! that's what I get for writing before breakfast.]


The day of the test rolled around. When I prayed that morning, knowing I'd prepared as much as I could (unlike the calc exam before!), I just put it all in God's hands. Meaning, if He were guiding me to take this test, He had a plan for me, and that plan was only good. I would go into that test and glorify God.


It was a gorgeous sunny day in Southern California. I found the testing site, and saw that it was overflowing with eager young people all excited about going to law school. This made me happy, and it occurred to me to pray for all of them, too. That our country would be blessed with all this "legal energy."


There were strict rules during the test about completion. You were supposed to put your pencil down as soon as the timer said so. I finished the first section early, but noticed that many others in the room kept filling in circles after time had been called. The second time period ended before I had finished the section. I thought, I could quick fill in the circles, because any answer is better than no answer. But I thought, hey, if I want to be a lawyer, I really can't fail this first ethical test! So I put the pencil down, and didn't even go back to fill in later when I'd finished other sections early.


I truly enjoyed the entire test. Just felt fun to flex my intellectual muscles. And I guess I was right about feeling good, because I scored in the 97th percentile.


Now, you'd think that scoring that high meant that I was going to law school. But that's so not what God had in mind. Here's what happened:

  • I prayed about where to apply, and I was told UCLA. That's it. No Pepperdine, no USC, no Loyola. I said, well, okay then.
  • I applied, and was supposed to hear by April.
  • Around May, I got a letter I was on the wait list. Which made me laugh, because I hate to wait for anything.
  • Around June, our company had layoffs!!! And rather than have my subordinate get laid off, I offered to go, because I was possibly going to law school anyway.
  • So then I had to wait some more! And in the meantime, I kept praying. I couldn’t get a new job because of law school, my kids were out of town for the summer. I had three months to PRAY.
  • By the end of the summer, I was getting calls for prayerful help. My healing practice had snuck up on me. I. Loved. It.
  • When I got the letter from UCLA saying "not this time," I was so happy! And I knew what my new career was.


What did I learn from all this? Man, that what God has in mind is sooooo much better than our own plans. The non-stop adventure my life has been since then I wouldn't trade for anything.


So that's my LSAT story. Exams don't determine your future; God does.


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Monday, November 07, 2005

Testing, testing, part 1

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This is a testing double-header, second installment to come tomorrow.


Seems like finals time is approaching, and some folks I know are taking graduate school admissions tests, so I thought I'd share a couple stories about some famous exams in my day.


Here's an excerpt from an online talk I gave last year about this time (you can read the entire talk at the link):


When I was a freshman in college, I was taking this calculus course (so not related to anything I wanted to do, but required) and I was getting a D going into the exam. I had never gotten a D before in my life! And the professor was one of these that only talked to the blackboard, so no help there. What did this mean for the rest of my college career, when here I was my first semester, getting such a lousy grade? It was really depressing.


So a couple nights before the exam I was staring at all the study materials just feeling hopeless, when it occurred to me—you guessed it—to pray! I really put the idea of Mind to use that night. I saw myself as an expression of Mind, tried to more fully comprehend it. I mean, all that I needed to know already existed in Mind and if it was in Mind, I had access to it because Mind created me. Before, I had always leaned on my own intelligence—A+ student and all that. This time, I had to listen more humbly for guidance, and get calm.


So I prayed with the idea that this Mind fills all space, including all the space in my head! And I tried harder to lean on that. Well, something weird happened. I pulled out all the tests from the semester that I'd flunked or barely passed, and I started to understand them. Then I looked at a list of complicated theorems that I had to memorize and some just began to stand out to me, so I memorized those. It was the most effortless studying I'd ever done. As I saw myself embraced in Mind, I felt comforted and my confidence grew. Okay so, guess what happened? I actually enjoyed taking the exam! And one of those complicated theorems I memorized was in the toughest question. Well, I must have aced the thing, because I wound up with a B in the class.


That was—yikes!—25 years ago! But I still remember sitting for that exam, it really was a blast to take. I felt more like a conduit for Mind and less like an ordinary human intelligence trying to fake my way through it.


More recently, about ten years ago, I sat for the LSATs. I had this idea about going to law school that was a result of prayer, so of course the LSATs were a part of that. I'll tell you more about that tomorrow.


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