The conversation is everywhere

Had an invigorating meeting with a couple friends from my networking group last week, Steve and Debbie, a financial advisor and life coach respectively. How is it that every conversation with these folks that’s supposed to be about our businesses winds up on spirituality? Answer: everyone’s on a spiritual journey! It’s amazing.

Steve had some powerful things to say. He tries to live his life “leaving the smallest possible physical footprint, but leaving the largest possible spiritual footprint.” To him, this includes being mindful about things like recycling and earth-friendly habits, along with spreading peace in his work and family life. He feels it's important to keep the Sabbath, and attributes a lot of society’s ills to breaking the commandment, “Thou shalt not covet.”

Debbie is earnestly trying to help her clients by encouraging that spiritual spark. She’s wrestling with how to do this more professionally, yet finding that there’s no quicker way to get results for those who are trying to better their lives. She thinks she may just have to face up to it and make it a key part of her coaching strategy. More power to her!

I, of course, wound up talking not so much about my editing business, but about my healing practice and this Weblog. When discussing the “thou shalt not covet” commandment, it occurred to me that the opposite of coveting is gratitude. And here I was, talking about this spiritual concept with my new friends, outside of any church or religious environment. (We were at Panera Bread, if you were wondering!)

I read a poll the other day on a spirituality Website asking something like, Where do you find the most inspiration? The choices were things like:

• In private meditation or prayer,
  
• In religious or church settings,
  
• In reading inspirational material,
  
• In discussion groups.
  

I know I find inspiration in all of these things, but today I’m especially grateful for discussion with others. One-on-one, small groups, across generations, between genders—I love experiencing the resonance of bouncing ideas off each other.

And I’m finding that very few people are outside of this conversation. Almost everyone has learned something and has something to say, and those for whom it’s not top of mind will formulate something given a little encouragement. Everyone’s interested.

What have your spiritual discussions been like lately?

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Embrace your confusion

Last week I met with Mary, a life coach in the networking organization I belong to for my writing/editing business. Talking with her truly inspired me.

She asked me about my career goals (because that’s her thing), and I realized in answering that I must be smack dab in the middle of some sort of transitional period. In addition to my very active (for me) healing practice, I’m also writing and editing small business websites, correspondence, resumes, bios, family memoirs, and a novel (when I can get to it!), maintaining three weblogs, launching a new site with some friends, serving as chair of the executive board at my church, raising a kid, and starting to date again. I’m not sure where any of it is leading or what it will add up to.

So I’ve been characterizing this time as scattering seeds. Small business counselors will advise you to narrow your focus and carve out a niche, but I can’t yet. This is the year of planting. I’m not sure what will sprout and grow, but I have to water all of it for now to see what will happen.

Mary laughed and pulled out a 4x6 laminated card from her wallet. She’s part of a women’s group where they each take a card each week as sort of an inspirational theme. This one said:

Embrace your confusion
Let there be peace in not knowing all the answers.

Haha! Hit home with me!

How can there be any peace when you’re in a time of transition? When you don’t know what the future holds? Well, the funny thing is, we only ever just *think* we know what the future holds. Change can happen at any time. We’re perpetually at a point of possible radical change. What keeps us steady?

For example, a year and a half ago, I was blissfully settled in a life I loved. Everything worked like clockwork. Issues were brewing, both at work and on the family front, but I remained happily unaware. I floated along uninterrupted—until a sudden and abrupt change, just about a year ago, turned everything on its head. The life I loved—shattered, over, in the past, just like that.

I needed peace badly, but couldn’t find it in human circumstances. I had to turn straight to the all-knowing divine Mind. At first I was angry about the macro-implications of what had happened. The change affected not just me, but many others. So I had to move into my cocoon in a more micro way, to see that divine Mind, which is Love, was still caring for me personally. Little things tipped me off, like a physical healing when I needed it and the success of some initial ideas.

It took some time, but as my confidence grew that I would never run out of ideas from Mind, my peace was restored, along with my happiness. Now I feel like there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than bouncing out of bed every morning to see what the day brings. I have no idea what it will be, but know it will be great. Every day brings me a gift of a new friend, or an inspired conversation, or the opportunity to comfort. It’s astonishing.

The other people, too, who were affected by the change, have moved on to brilliant new next steps. None of which any of us would have done without the change. So the change was a gift, really.

Thank God we don’t know all the answers. Thank God we don’t control all the outcomes. For how would we gain the blessing of newness if we were never forced to change?

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Letter update

I’ve talked a bit about a letter I had to write. Well, the letter was written and sent, and none-too-well received. Which is understandable given the circumstances, yet it still upset me to have this feeling of conflict hanging over my head.

So I allowed myself to stew for a couple days. The posting about friendship stems from that mood—I’m so grateful for my best friend! Once I calmed down though, I really wanted to pray about this but found it difficult.

Ultimately, it was an email from one of my blog readers who has since become a friend that helped me. When I first posted about the letter, I got this email:

Just wanted you to know that I have had to do in the past what you are doing today with your letter. In my case, the letter itself ended up not having a huge effect, I don't think...but the prayer started things slowly rolling in the right direction.

I have really gotten a lot of help from your idea that Principle fills all space. Somehow, it's more on target for me than "Principle is everywhere." Principle is already where that letter needs to go.

That last sentence stuck with me, I've even written about it before. “Principle is already where that letter needs to go.” I have to admit I’ve mostly thought of this other person as irresponsible and unwilling to do the right thing. But the idea that Principle, another name for the Divine in Christian Science, is right there at the other end refutes that image.

Principle to me indicates there is an underlying spiritual law that cannot be broken. This law is Love and Truth. Nobody has more or less of that law, since we are all the outcome of the enactment of that law. How can any creation of Principle be unfair or reprobate?

So the other day when stressing about the conflict feeling, my friend’s words came to me again. I just relaxed into them. Principle is already there. What a relief! And I could let it go, to a degree, and know that the logic of events will take its course, governed by Principle. And I could continue to understand and forgive even while taking action toward what’s right.

I know some folks think I’m the one giving as the writer of this blog, but never forget that I’m getting so much in return! Your reading and being helped by these ideas helps me, too.

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One Christ

This one goes out to a new friend I made via instant messaging yesterday.

Along with Science and Health, there’s another book by Mary Baker Eddy that I often turn to for spiritual guidance. It functions as the source document for the church organization she founded, but it’s so much more than that. Known as The Manual of The Mother Church, it’s full of not only organizational aspects, but also wise words of direction and discipline. And, it’s very short—only about 140 pages. I try to read it through a couple times a year.

Once, I ached with longing for a man who’d rejected me. I’d really thought this guy was perfect for me. We shared the same faith and the same professional interests, he was funny and cute, and even said he wanted to adopt my son. It felt like all my problems were over, just having him in my life.

But then the relationship ended. Where was my knight in shining armor now? You know that great song, Where have all the cowboys gone? by Paula Cole:

Where is my John Wayne
Where is my prairie son
Where is my happy ending
Where have all the cowboys gone

Captured my feelings exactly. Who would save me now?

Many passages from the Bible and Science and Health helped me through this time. I didn’t often turn to the Manual for inspiration in times like this, but I must have been reading it as an assignment from church or something. And I read this:

One Christ. SECT. 7. In accordance with the Christian Science textbooks, — the BIBLE, and SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES, — and in accord with all of Mrs. Eddy's teachings, members of this Church shall neither entertain a belief nor signify a belief in more than one Christ, even that Christ whereof the Scripture beareth testimony.

--Manual

I realized suddenly that with all my longing, I was giving this guy too much power (power that frankly he hadn’t wanted, which contributed to our breakup). I already had a Savior, and it is Christ. When I joined the church, I committed to having only one Savior, one Christ.

To me, this means the divine inspiration from God that comes to each of us in our hours of need. Jesus Christ embodied this inspiration and showed us how to connect with it. The Christ continues to bless us with God’s guidance and love, coming right into our hearts when we most need it. It’s a spiritual knight-in-shining-armor that empowers us to face and solve our own problems with strength. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” says Paul.

I began to look for ways the Christ was saving me already, in my happy home, my good job, my continued spiritual growth. Christ was handling it all for me already. And, I had to stop assigning this power to any human man, no matter how cute. I could see that this pattern of looking for salvation from a guy had followed me through many relationships, and I had to cut it out. It put too much pressure on the guys, and tended to extinguish any affection they felt for me.

I can’t tell you now how often I’ve been aware of the Christ in action on my behalf since then—it’s countless times. Aligning myself with that spiritual protection and confidence has brought me answers and direction I couldn’t have found through a human being. It’s enabled me to act quickly when the need warranted it, to be decisive, to find sustenance, to feel comforted.

Think about it. What are we looking to to save us today? And do we know it’s already here?

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A friend in need

Which do you think is more helpful: a friend who takes your side when you’re in the middle of something, or a friend who helps you to see the other side?

I find that I need both. My very best friend since high school and I have the first kind of relationship. She’s seen me go through a lot, and whenever I need help, she’s 100% on my side. She understands my point of view and validates me. I find this very very comforting when in crisis, because it actually helps me to let go of my own angry feelings. Having someone understand rather than argue with me allows me to see the other side myself. In fact, sometimes after talking with her, I begin to defend the other side! Because feeling understood helps me be understanding.

So that works best for me when I’m in crisis. It doesn’t work so well to have someone at that point try to talk me out of my feelings. When the person I’ve called for help advocates immediately for the other side, I feel judged.

However, after I’ve calmed down, when my suffering eases, it’s of course essential to have the intelligent analysis of someone who cares about me to encourage me to widen my perspective. And sometimes I need that encouragement to get myself out of myself. Having my angry or hurt feelings be *too* validated by someone else can keep me mired in them. The only way to get past it is to let it go, which I can’t do if I stay too connected. So I recognize the constructive nature of honest attempts to help me see the other side. Just not when I’m wildly upset.

So what does this mean spiritually?

I’m reminded of Mary Baker Eddy’s counsel:

The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.

--Science and Health

I try to do this in my practice. When someone calls me, I do my best to lead with Love. So many people out there praying desperately are convinced there’s something wrong with them, that they’re doing something wrong, that they’re being punished. I would give anything for each one to know how much God loves them and is on their side. Sometimes the words come to me to say, “There’s nothing wrong with you.” And often this is like a balm on deep wounds of self-condemnation. Only when that is eased can we begin to discuss the next spiritual step to be taken.

God is the friend in need. God understands, He knows your heart of hearts, and why you made the choices you did. Divine Love gives you full credit for doing your best given whatever circumstances you were facing. And then, when the dust settles, Love is there to uplift your perspective, to raise your eyes to the next promise on the horizon.

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God fills

I like to play with verbs. Verbs make things happen.

Case in point: the verb “fills.” I got caught on it the other day when considering the spiritual idea that God fills all space.

Usually when this idea comes around, it’s to acknowledge that wherever you are, God’s already there. Spirit, Love, Mind, Truth already fill all space.

But this time, the word “fills” came to me more like how you fill a cannoli. Something that was once empty becomes filled. To me, this is how the Divine reaches the human. If there’s an empty space, God fills it. Injects it with love, with purpose, with encouragement, with comfort. And, by being filled with God’s goodness, anything unlike God no longer has any room. Inject goodness, eject evil.

Another way to look at it is that perhaps we’re the filling. Meaning, if there’s an empty spot, like a job opening or a family relationship, maybe God fills it with us. I like to think of myself sometimes as the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle that God is putting together, placing me right where I’m needed to complete the picture. There’s a wholeness that comes from being willing to move where God leads. And I get to companion with other pieces to create the whole.

Today, while I’m praying about areas that seem like voids in my life, issues I’m confused about or the general uncertainties of life, I think I’ll turn it on its head. Instead of emphasizing my need to be filled, I’ll pray to be the filling.

Something to consider:

Unfathomable Mind is expressed. The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space. That is enough!

--Science and Health

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Mind's ideas

Another great conversation in Sunday school yesterday, about Mind. The kids already felt very connected to this concept, so we had lots to discuss. They’ve drawn on this concept for help with school and decision-making, and, perhaps because it’s Mind, it always made logical sense to them. The concept is a very powerful tool for spiritual growth.

Mind, in Christian Science, is one of the names for God. Thinking of God as Mind implies a bunch of things: Mind fills all space, Mind is all-power, there is only one Mind.

My question to the kids was, “What does a mind do?” We ratcheted through a series of answers, like “understands,” “guides,” “creates,” etc. But in trying to zero in on the one thing a mind does that makes it a mind, we got to, “Mind thinks.” It’s not a mind if it doesn’t think.

And what does Mind think? When a mind thinks, it’s having ideas. When God thinks, He’s having ideas. And when God does it, those ideas become reality. There’s no delay between conception and creation. Mind’s ideas instantly and perpetually exist. To me, it’s the “God spake, and it was so” concept from Genesis. What He says, goes.

And what are the characteristics of those ideas? The idea reflects the Mind that created it. Quite literally, an idea is Mind’s reflection, in both meanings of the word. (To reflect: to mirror, or to think on.) And Mind, as a synonym for God, includes the other synonymous concepts, such as Life, Truth, Love. Any idea of Mind is then a compound idea, reflecting all the facets of the Creator.

Some of you may know where I’m heading with this. What’s meant the most to me when considering Mind’s ideas is understanding the compound complete nature of these ideas, how they have sprung forth from Mind already complete and enacted, fully realized and comprehended. And, as the teachings of Christian Science make clear, those ideas are us.

We are, each of us, an idea of the one Mind. Mind had an idea, and it is YOU.

Today, as I think on this further, I’m seeing that ideas that we have—new innovative ideas, loving caring ideas, intelligent insightful ideas—are not per se the ideas of Mind. They are a function of the fact that we are the idea of Mind. Meaning, God conceptualized us as idea, and all the ideas we have are a further outgrowth of our being the idea of God. We experience and participate at the same time.

Creation becomes then the interplay of all Mind’s ideas. We play off each other, resonate with each other, combine and uplift in a million million different infinite ways. In the mortal seeming, individuals can conflict; spiritually they never can, and never do, because they all reflect God. It’s like the ongoing improvisation of the coolest rock band ever—always new, always harmonious, always exciting.

You who are reading this and I who am writing it are one in Mind today. How can we play together?

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"No good is, but the good God bestows"

Yesterday I spent some time with one of my favorite passages:

All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.

--Science and Health

Sometimes in life, I try to make my own good. I’ll want things to go a certain way or I’ll push for an outcome that I’ve decided is desirable. Sometimes I’m frustrated in the attempt; at other times, unfortunately, I get what I want. In both instances, I learn something about disappointment.

But when I remember, “No good is, but the good God bestows,” my perspective changes. That bestowing is like a gentle rain, quenching the parched earth. It’s showering on us continually, bathing us in Love, cleansing and purifying us. I lift my face to it and feel its tender touch.

One time, when there was a particular young man I had my eye on, I had the sense to pray along these lines first. I liked him, but stopped pursuing him when I realized that all good comes from God. If it was from God, nothing could keep me from it. If it wasn’t from God, I didn’t want it. So I lifted my face to God, and felt the good already coming to me.

Well, I didn’t get that guy, but I did get an impulse of inspiration and comfort from this realization. *All* good is from God. If other people are being good to me, that’s God working through them. God expresses Himself through good. This realization helped me to see that good was already all around me, coming at me from all directions. I didn’t need to expect it or want it from just one human source. I had all I wanted already.

To have grown savvy enough to be able to say, “That looks good and it might feel good, but if it’s not from God, it’s not really good and I don’t want it,” has been a huge strength. Our eyes and ears fool us into defining harmful or self-destructive things as good. Once the veil is ripped, however, and we know the source is not God, we can turn from it.

I don’t need to know why something is harmful anymore. I don’t need to talk myself out of things like I used to. Now, it’s a simple matter of discerning, Is this from God? Many things do not pass that test, so then I just shrug them off. It’s a waste of time to yearn for anything not from God, because not only is the yearning painful but even getting it turns into disappointment. The good stuff from God is fulfilling and satisfying—why would I want anything else?

“No good is, but the good God bestows.” Let it rain.

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Fill your thought

Plant kind loving thoughts so thick in a row

That the thoughts that are weeds have no room to grow.

I still remember my Sunday school teacher teaching us that little couplet. I can see her sitting there, much bigger than me, at our round formica table, as she looked down with her sweet motherly smile and helped us memorize the words. I must have been about five because the perspective is of me looking up into her face. And I can hear her gentle voice, which had kind of a quiver in it, reciting the words over and over.

There’s a lot of spiritual wisdom in the idea behind those words, with the power to solve or prevent a multitude of problems. Keeping your thought filled keeps unwelcome thoughts from entering.

I was talking with someone about this discipline yesterday, and she said, It’s so hard! And I said, Yeah, it’s hard if you resist it. If you just agree to it, it’s actually uncomplicated and easy.

I remember another day about 12 years ago, when I decided to think only Godlike thoughts the entire day. I picked the day the night before, and put a reminder by my alarm clock. Then, on waking, I commenced. It was a normal day; I had kids to raise and had to go to work. But I made the commitment to not letting any negative or untrue suggestion about myself or the people around me hold sway.

For example, when someone did something at work that would typically have irritated me, I instead thought of that person as God’s child, as His loved creation. I thought of myself as the loved child of God, too. And I knew then that it was impossible for us not to get along. My irritation evaporated, I could smile, and could work in harmony with one I now considered a friend.

I kept it up all day. I was amazed at how I felt afterward, so light and so energized. And I learned the possibilities of genuinely staying connected to Spirit all day long. Did I keep it up ever after? Not really! But I think my overall proportion of time spent contemplating Spirit increased dramatically starting about that time. And certainly it helped me gain the skill of recognizing un-Spirit-like thinking much quicker.

Your thoughts are your own. You decide what you’re going to think or not think. How empowering is that!

Here’s Mary Baker Eddy’s take on the same subject, written to her students but I hope helpful to anyone:

Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited.

--First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany 210:2

It’s not just about helping ourselves, but we can actually help others with this discipline. Try it, for five minutes, an hour, a day. Let me know how it goes!

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Partnership in miracles

My son and I attended a bar mitzvah this weekend. We went to one last year that I wrote about here. I’m glad to say I was actually invited this time. We had a great time!

I wanted to share something the rabbi said in his address to the congregation during the ceremony. The Torah reading was the single most important event in the Hebrew Testament: leaving Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea (actually, I was reminded, the Sea of Reeds). The rabbi shared a story from a midrash in the Talmud.

Apparently there’s a tradition that a particular newly-freed Hebrew, in anticipation of the sea’s parting, began to wade into the water. He got up to his ankles and said, I know the sea’s going to part! He got up to his knees and said, I know the sea’s going to part! He got all the way up to his nose, and still kept wading. And it was at that moment Moses raised his staff and the sea began to part.

In praising this man’s faith, the rabbi at the bar mitzvah said, “A miracle is a partnership.” He made the point that we participate in the miracles in our lives, we aren’t just spiritual bystanders.

I love this idea. And I think it applies to all spiritual growth. Do we just sit passively waiting for divine Love to bless us? Or do we run out to meet it, headlong, with faith? What is required of us in order for the blessings to come? Are we willing to immerse ourselves, even up to our noses?

What miracle do we want to partner on today?

From Science and Health:

The miracle introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order, establishing the Science of God's unchangeable law.

--p. 135

The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love.

--p. 494

The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man.

--p. 560

MIRACLE. That which is divinely natural, but must be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science.

--p. 591

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Happy Valentines Day

In years past, when I worked in an office, traditionally I’d arrive at work early and put little Scooby Doo or Spiderman Valentines and some candy on everyone’s desks. This morning, I’m thinking of my blog readers, so here ya go!

And here’s a selection of some former blog entries on love and relationships.

• "How do I stop loving him?"
• Feeling Love
• Single? Be married now!
  

To me, today is about feeling special to someone, knowing that when that someone looks at you they feel a warmth and love especially for you. And, even though I don’t have a romantic relationship going right now, I still feel that special love. To me, today is about remembering that I’m special to God.

Divine Love is delighted with you. Enjoy the feeling!

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Why die?

I got this question over the weekend:

In her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy says, "Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death." (p. 475). Why did she die? I am not ridiculing, just trying to ask an honest question in seeking to understand the harmony between her/your belief and the reality of life. Thank you.

Fair question. And there are a number of ways to approach answering it. (I hope anyone else who has thoughts on this will also comment!)

The sentence quoted comes from a larger section of Science and Health, the question-and-answer “What is man?” in Recapitulation. In the first part of that section, Eddy speaks to man as made in God’s image and likeness. This is a view of man that flies in the face of materiality. So, when she concludes, “Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death,” she’s speaking of *that* man.

“The reality of life” the questioner mentions above I take to mean this mortal seeming. This material day-to-day. But the you and I that we see when we look at each other is not the man Mary Baker Eddy is talking about in the beginning of that section of Science and Health. The mortal body *does* die. That’s what makes it mortal. The immortal idea, man, never dies.

So for me, a deep understanding of Christian Science—indeed even being the founder of it—does not prevent each of us from going through the transition known as death. This mortal body has got to go, we’ve got to leave it behind.

But the important point for me is that while the body may die, *we* don’t. The immortal man that we are continues intact. We wake up, I’m fairly sure, outside of this body but still very much alive. We continue on our spiritual journey, learning, growing, achieving ever-increasing understanding.

With all that great growth ahead of us, another question might be: Why would we want to stay here? Okay, we have work to do, children to raise, a desire to make a difference and contribute. I myself want to accomplish many things before I move along. But I don’t think the point of spiritual demonstration is to stay here, mortal, indefinitely. The point is to embody more of my spiritual nature, step-by-step. I can’t rush the process, but I wouldn’t want to thwart it either.

So I think my answer to the original question is twofold. First, I think Mary Baker Eddy’s work was done. She’d made her contribution. Her mission was complete. Second, and on a deeper level, I don’t believe she’s dead. Her *body* is dead and buried, don’t get me wrong. But she herself continues, probably still being the "sturdy pioneer" for those around her.

Thoughts?

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Rage against the dying of the light

This just relates a lot to some things I've been thinking about lately, so here ya go...

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

To me it's about not accepting evil, and in fact being angry at it and directing our anger in the right direction. I wrote something about that here.

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Lost

My newest obsession is the TV series Lost. I’m watching Season 1 while rowing in the morning, and I tell ya, it’s making me bounce right over there to workout. (Season 2 will just have to wait until it’s on DVD, so don’t tell me anything.)

As you may know, it’s a series about a group of people marooned on an island after a plane crash. The island has many strange qualities, including creatures that don’t belong there (like polar bears) and some kind of supernatural effect on the people who live there.

The show so far (from what I’ve watched) has included healing, redemption, humanity, heroism. But they’re on a desert island, for goodness sake. I wondered why no one was praying.

I felt the same way about Cast Away with Tom Hanks. Although a great movie, the main character (stranded on an island for four years) never turns to a higher power, unless you call Wilson the volleyball his version of god.

And I ask myself, what would I do? I think I’d be praying every minute. And the first thing I’d look for in the wreckage would be my books—the Bible and Science and Health, which I always take with me on plane flights.

Anyway, even though I was enjoying Lost, that question was floating in my mind. Then I watched the episode that ends Disk 3—“Whatever the Case May Be.”

In a subplot they don’t even mention in the episode summary, young rock musician Charlie is dealing with the aftereffects of the trauma he went through the episode before. He’s clearly shellshocked, and most people leave him alone to deal with it. But the older black woman (whose name I forget, she’s a minor character) approaches him and gruffly makes him get moving.

As the episode ends, he comes to her by a campfire distraught and asking for help. And she says, I’m not the one who can help you. He sits beside her weeping, and she puts her hand on his back and begins to pray gently, out loud, to the Heavenly Father. It’s a simple prayer of gratitude along the lines of, Father, we thank thee for your great goodness. We leave them sitting together praying.

And I have to admit I wept as well. To me, that’s true. In a crowd of 46 people stranded on an island, I know that most of them would be turning to prayer, perhaps secretly at first but then together. I know I would.

I love fiction because it helps us see fact more clearly. In learning about made-up characters, I explore my own character.

If you were on a desert island, what would you do?

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Companions on the journey

What is it about opening up to others and getting support that is so powerful?

I went to that women’s prayer group again this week—what a healing experience. In the course of the discussion, I felt led to share something that had been plaguing me. It was a hard story to tell, and I was a little scared to share it. But this group was so loving and supportive.

Having their support didn’t change the situation or remove it from my prayer “to-do” list, but it did strengthen me personally and restored my faith in the path down which Spirit is leading me. Their words of wisdom and kindness gave me some needed courage.

Of course, I still have to pray myself and see it through, and it may be a long process. Nothing can take the place of my own digging in and working it out. Yet having companions on the journey is such a sweet gift.

And I ask myself, am I a companion on other people’s journeys? Do I extend myself outside of my own comfort zone with caring and compassion, truly listening to another and being present with them?

My brother, who has left the church of our youth and is now active in another denomination, tells me that his concept of the Christian church is all about being a community of seekers, supporting each other. He’s finding that community in his place of worship, and it commits him fully to what he would call “the body of Christ.”

We are the body of Christ, and I mean all who are seeking to connect, to bless others, and to grow spiritually. I think it goes beyond denomination because I believe Christ to be the source of *all* goodness, whatever form it takes.

So again, I ask myself, am I doing my bit to support the entire body?

I felt a part of something greater than myself the other night with the women’s group. In my weakness, I gained strength. My prayer this week is to keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities to share that strength with others.

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Psalm 23

Okay, at the risk of being completely boring, I have yet another psalm to write about. But this psalm reading is simply blowing me away. And hey, this is a big one, even though it’s short.

Yesterday was Psalm 23 day. (As you know, I’m reading a psalm a day when I sit down to pray.) I read it through once and thought, that’s nice, and was ready to move on, when it occurred to me to challenge myself and see if I had it memorized. I mean, I’ve read it a million times, haven’t I?

So I took the next ten minutes or so to memorize the thing. I did *not* have it memorized, but now I definitely do. For once I had it committed to memory in a cursory fashion, I then used it as a jumping off point for all whom I was praying for that day.

First was me, of course. I do pray for myself first before anyone else, to see myself as an agent for God on the behalf of those I hope to bless. So I closed my eyes and prayed with the 23^rd Psalm, just for me. And you know, it actually covered just about everything that’s on my mind about my family and job and future and bank account. I was mightily comforted by the end.

Next on my list was church. I’m now chairman of the executive board at my church, and the board as a group has committed to praying for church every day. So as I mentally recited the psalm, I replaced all the “me”s and “I”s with “we” and “us.” “He maketh *us* to lie down in green pastures…” etc. Really powerful stuff, made me feel a new unity with my fellow members.

So I was pretty jazzed by the possibilities here when I turned to the individuals on my prayer list. And this was even more fun grammatically, for I made all the “me”s into “you,” as though I were talking to the person, and made all the “thou”s that refer to God into “He.” So, “He preparest a table before you in the presence of your enemies,” etc. Such a settled sense of peace came over me, I felt such confidence for folks.

The tenderest time though was applying this psalm to my children, whom I also pray for every day. Thinking of my radiant daughter as having her soul restored by the Divine and of my adventurous son being led on the paths of righteousness gave my mother’s heart some needed encouragement.

So here’s that psalm for your perusal today. Also, don’t miss the version in Science and Health if you’ve not read it lately.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

--Psalm 23

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The opposite of hate

This week the subject in Sunday school was love and hate.

One of the kids has a friend who thinks you can’t have love without hate. But is that really the case?

What is hate anyway? I wrote a bit about what is love the other day, so this discussion felt a bit like a follow up. I think hate falls in the same category as cold or dark. These things are only words to describe the absence of something else. Cold, as that fictional account attributed to Einstein says, is the absence of heat. Dark is the absence of light. As my friend Mario says, we don’t ever turn on the darkbulb. When light or heat are on the scene, dark and cold are wiped away. They don’t even put up a fight. They just can’t exist in the presence of the other.

So what is the one thing that wipes away hatred? I have to say that I don’t think it’s love. I think love has a different role in this equation. It’s the catalyst that motivates us to find the opposite. But to me, the opposite of hate is understanding.

I’ve found that it’s impossible to hate when I’ve taken the time to understand someone. To empathize with their point of view, to see things from their perspective. I may still not like what they’re doing and I may still want to stop them, but I don’t hate them anymore.

To me, it’s understanding on a human level that wipes away hate. And we’re motivated to gain understanding of the other by the fact that we’re the image and likeness of divine Love, which knows no hate.

But there’s also understanding on a spiritual level. One of my favorite sections in Science and Health is the scientific translation of mortal mind.

Hatred is in the first degree, depravity. Compassion and such like is in the second degree, and that’s where I’d put human understanding, or empathy. Spiritual understanding is in the third degree, the apex of the translation out of mortality. Note the headings in the margins: unreality, transitional qualities, reality. Hatred is nothing, and we transition out of it to the reality of spiritual understanding—and love.

To truly understand another spiritually is to see them as Love’s perfect creation despite what they may be doing or saying. Despite how we might disagree with them or how they irritate us. To see the disagreement or irritation as temporary, not a part of our spiritual natures, and to cease reacting to them. Instead, choosing to respond to the truth about the other, and to love unconditionally.

No one said this was easy. But it gets easier if we make it a habit. I’m reminded of when I was about eight, and my big sister told me that if I hated so-and-so from school, I couldn’t really love Mom. She was making the point that any hate at all in our thinking makes us incapable of totally loving even those most dear to us. This shocked my grade-school sensibilities, because I knew I loved Mom. And I wanted to love her as best as I could. So I made it a habit then and there to eject hate from my thinking whenever it came up. The only way I could do this was by letting the Love that I was trying to express lead the way to understanding of those who had raised my ire.

I’m grateful to my sis for her insight—I became a little less self-centered that day. I still think her point is valid. To get rid of hate, we need to turn on understanding, powered by the energy of Love.

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"Let the words of my mouth..."

[sorry so late today! blogger was down this morning...]

Psalm 19 is another favorite.

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.

2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

--Psalm 19

I love the structure of this poem. It starts with the heavens, which actually speak and praise God. And we hear about the sun in the heavens, making its circuit in the sky. The Principle that upholds the sun in its path is the law of the Lord, which we hear about as testimony, statutes, commandments, fear of the Lord (which I read as respect), and the Lord’s judgments. All these together are worth more than the world’s wealth or sustenance. And these laws, if we pay attention, warn us and keep us safe.

But then I love the twist ending… what about the things we miss or don’t understand? The things we might be doing wrong unknowingly? God Himself will protect us even from this.

The earnest prayer of the final verse is one of my favorite Bible passages. I pray this often when I’m in despair about my own gracelessness. In those “open mouth, insert foot” moments where I wish I could have been more loving or tactful. I pray this prayer to find a place of peace so that I can be led to know what to do to make things right.

For sometimes I just gotta say what I need to say. It just comes out, often to those closest to me, and my words cause pain. To re-dedicate my mouth and my very thoughts to God, to yearn to be acceptable to divine Love, becomes my strength—and my redeemer.

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God the dragon

Whenever someone asks me what my favorite animal is, I always say “dragon.” I love how they’re strong and wily. Especially the dragons in the Wizard of Earthsea series. These dragons hold the key to power because they speak the ancient language of creation. The words don’t just describe reality, they create reality. And, if the dragons will talk to you, this means you’re worthy of learning that language yourself.

So imagine my surprise when my Psalm reading had a dragon in it. As I wrote a few weeks ago, I’m starting to read a psalm whenever I sit down to pray. And there it is, Psalm 18 has a dragon.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

--Psalm 18:6-19

God: an avenging dragon coming to my rescue, breathing fire on my behalf, drawing me out of the water of my fear, and setting me down in a “large place” because He delights in me. What a powerful image! He doesn’t just send some meek little angel to comfort me, He comes blasting out of the very hills to rush to my side and deliver me.

Do we think of God as our champion? I’m starting to. Truth with its flaming sword, Spirit with its inexhaustible energy, Love with its infinite affection—don’t these add up to a Being that will come to our defense when we need it? And oh, how we need it!

Be not afraid—He’s coming to save you.

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Love the attacker

An interesting discussion ensues on Live Journal about Christian Science. It started with the posting from someone who feels Christian Science treatment is dangerous if it leads people to eschew medical care. The community is now discussing the posting.

I posted this:

when I get questions like the poster's, I really try to dig to what they're really upset about. and almost always, it turns out there is some unfortunate circumstance with someone they cared about. so in the end it turns out they're hurting. and my best response has been to be present for their wounds and sometimes to say, "I'm sorry that happened to you." People cover their hurt with anger sometimes, and then out of concern that whatever it was doesn't happen again, they try to persuade others to avoid what they perceive as the cause of the problem. they actually turn out to be earnest concerned people trying to help. there's many spiritual qualities there!

I'd like to know from the original poster what happened in their lives, and try to help them heal that for themselves. they've not yet found peace. can we help them?

sure there are those who simply want to attack, but I'm not sensing that here. my prayers today will include the hope for healing for all who are hurting, even those who blame Christian Science.

This outlook has enabled me to keep from getting angry whenever someone voices a strong opinion against Christian Science. There’s always more to the story. People feel strongly about things when they’ve had some personal experience with it. It’s hard to get all upset about something distant. So my question always is, What’s behind all this? And by listening and not getting defensive, I often finally find out.

Then my next step is to acknowledge their feelings. To show some understanding about the hurt. Then perhaps, after some healing has taken place, the door becomes open to share some of how Christian Science has helped me. Usually once the person has been listened to with respect, they’re more able to respect that my love for Christian Science is sincere and based on experience as well. And we can part ways amicably, and some bitterness has been reduced.

I believe it’s important to remember that it’s not just what we say about Christian Science but how we say it that leaves the impression. Our love for Christian Science doesn’t absolve us from showing love to the attacker, whomever it may be. The surprise of having an attack be met with love is often enough to turn the tide to mutual understanding. And isn’t that a form of healing?

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