Rational and irrational fear

Fascinating cover article in TIME this week: Why we worry about the wrong things. Here are some excerpts:

We pride ourselves on being the only species that understands the concept of risk, yet we have a confounding habit of worrying about mere possibilities while ignoring probabilities, building barricades against perceived dangers while leaving ourselves exposed to real ones. … Shoppers still look askance at a bag of spinach for fear of E. coli bacteria while filling their carts with fat-sodden French fries and salt-crusted nachos. … At the same time, 20% of all adults still smoke; nearly 20% of drivers and more than 30% of backseat passengers don't use seat belts; two-thirds of us are overweight or obese. … Sensible calculation of real-world risks is a multidimensional math problem that sometimes seems entirely beyond us. And while it may be true that it's something we'll never do exceptionally well, it's almost certainly something we can learn to do better. …

"There are two systems for analyzing risk: an automatic, intuitive system and a more thoughtful analysis," says Paul Slovic, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. "Our perception of risk lives largely in our feelings, so most of the time we're operating on system No. 1." …

These two impulses—to engage danger or run from it—are constantly at war and have left us with a well-tuned ability to evaluate the costs and payoffs of short-term risk, say Slovic and others. That, however, is not the kind we tend to face in contemporary society, where threats don't necessarily spring from behind a bush. They're much more likely to come to us in the form of rumors or news broadcasts or an escalation of the federal terrorism-threat level from orange to red. It's when the risk and the consequences of our response unfold more slowly, experts say, that our analytic system kicks in. This gives us plenty of opportunity to overthink—or underthink—the problem, and this is where we start to bollix things up. …

[After citing many forms of risk response] Finally, and for many of us irresistibly, there's the irrational way we react to risky behavior that also confers some benefit. It would be a lot easier to acknowledge the perils of smoking cigarettes or eating too much ice cream if they weren't such pleasures. … With enough time and enough temptation, we can talk ourselves into ignoring almost any long-term costs.

To me, this article draws a clear distinction between rational fear and irrational, and gives many important clues as to how to stay in the rational realm. Of course, in a spiritual sense, all actual fear can be considered irrational. If you are trusting the Divine fully and completely, if you are aligned with the one Mind that governs all creation, there is nothing to fear.

So I'd like to pose the idea that "rational fear," or the ability to accurately calculate risk and thereby avoid trouble, *is* a function of Mind, whereas "irrational fear" or being thrown by every suggestion that comes your way, is not. "Rational fear" in this sense becomes a form of good judgment; "irrational fear" is allowing yourself to be buffeted by rumors and conjecture.

I'm especially intrigued by the article's statement (at the end of the excerpts above) that we can talk ourselves into ignoring almost any long-term costs if the harmful activity is pleasurable. Here is a terrific working definition of sin.

Activities are sinful if they include momentary short-term gratification that ignores the long-term harmful effects. Sin *harms* you. It's not that the activity is bad in and of itself, or that you're bad for wanting it. Everybody likes pleasure. It's those pleasures that have harmful long-term effects we need to avoid—and it takes good judgment ("rational fear") to know to avoid them. Golly, how many good parents throughout time have wished they could instill that good judgment in their kids at birth!

Anyway, this article is exciting me because it deconstructs so thoroughly and rationally that most agitating of emotions—fear. Take a look, let me know what you think.

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Sharing lights up the world

We tend to think that the world's great luminaries were especially anointed. Somehow people like Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Lincoln, Mary Baker Eddy, Mohammed, Jesus, Buddha, received a special influx of light that propelled them into center stage of humanity's growth and progress. But what if the primary difference between these role models and others is simply that they spoke up?

We know that a lot of them were faced with a choice early in their careers. Should they take the safe route and keep their heads low, while still enjoying the benefits of their enlightened outlooks? Or should they stand up and be counted, telling others of what they'd learned and thereby putting themselves at risk?

Clearly, the ones who have gone down in history all chose to speak up. They shared their revolutionary ideas, often making themselves a focal point for the backlash. Yet they willingly did this, eyes wide open, in order to make the world better for the rest of us.

I sometimes wonder if there haven't been throughout history countless other "might-have-beens" who instead of coming forward took the less risky road. After all, spiritual light is universal. I believe it fills all space and is available to all. Doesn't it make sense then that the light of Truth has touched more than the few who came forward? What about the others? Perhaps they got caught up in family or in career. Perhaps their own inspiration frightened them. Perhaps they simply didn't think they alone *could* make a difference.

What if that's true of each one of us? What if we, here, today, are ourselves the next wave of spiritual progress for all humanity? What if you and I, here and now, hold in our hands the possibility of bringing increased light and joy to the world?

I would say then that it's essential that we speak up. Whatever light we've been given is magnified if we direct it outward and share it.

This sharing is precious enough to be directed by the Divine. Spirit will tell us when and how to share, and who will be most receptive. The point is to make ourselves available for this service. To include in our daily prayers not just clarity about ourselves and benevolence for those we love, but also a willingness to be an instrument of the Divine to the stranger. How can I help your little ones today, Lord, we might ask. Send me those whom I can help.

And then, when that dear one crosses our path, we can offer the "cup of cold water" of comfort and reassurance that they need. We can share our stories of enlightenment and healing. We can tell what we've learned about God and ourselves and reality.

I'm feeling passionate about this in the holiday season this year. I've been so blessed, I want all the world to share in it. I want to walk in the footsteps of those courageous luminaries who went before, holding high a little candle flame of my own.

Millions of unprejudiced minds — simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert — are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences.

--Science and Health

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A love that transcends centuries

As I mentioned last week, I went down to visit my daughter in New York City over Thanksgiving. One of our stops in Manhattan was the Museum of Biblical Art (thanks for the suggestion, Marc!). We caught the last day of a magnificent exhibit of The Saint John's Bible in Context, along with being able to view many other ancient Bibles.

The Saint John's Bible was awesome. Even one plain page of this calligraphic illuminated Bible is a priceless work of art—the fact that they're doing the calligraphy for *every* page and including gold-emblazoned illustrations amazes me. We learned that parchment is actually animal skin, specially treated, which is why it's transparent. We learned that this particular Bible is achieving its perfect balance through computer generated layout and spacing, even though the pages are then hand-drawn with actual quills. The best of both worlds working together.

Here's a thumbnail of my favorite page (click it to see a larger image):

The text below it is: "The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court: and the glory of the Lord filled the temple." The colors just made me see the glory of the Lord filling the temple! The entire image looked like it was moving, shimmering, alive with the Spirit.

But I think what moved me the most was another Bible, in the back of the exhibit, dated I believe from the 1100s. It was also a hand-scribed masterpiece, although smaller. It was open to a page in Ecclesiastes, and the page had notes on it. I mean notes like you or I would make—underlinings, comments in the margins, little symbols pointing to particular passages.

Not only did some monk, or many monks, write out this Bible by hand almost a thousand years ago, but another monk got his hands on it and studied it closely, making notes for his own spiritual advancement. I'm picturing these guys in their Franciscan robes huddled over the pages by candlelight, wrestling to purify their souls with the ancient Latin words.

And there I stood, in 21^st century Manhattan, gazing in wonder at their handiwork. The city screamed and clattered around us just outside the museum doors. I had swiped a small plastic card through a machine to gain entrance to a series of hooked together conveyances that took me in twenty minutes on a trip underground that would have taken them an entire day to walk, if there were a bridge. We would soon leave the building and return the way we came to a room that stood fifteen floors above the ground, and we'd heat our dinner in a little white box that made whirring noises and beeps. I imagined showing all this to my monk friends, and realized our world would be unimaginable to them. It would probably seem like magic—wonders beyond the scope of their experience.

Yet they and I shared one common bond—a love of the Bible. This love transcends the time that separates us. These monks are my brothers on the same spiritual journey that is going on today. And who knows where these dear souls are now on their journey in the afterlife. Perhaps they've seen wonders by now that eclipse anything in our world. Certainly their earnest fidelity to the Word must have opened the way for them.

I'm so thankful for their work in keeping the Bible alive through those Dark Ages so that we have it today. I hope to meet them someday to thank them personally.

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Soaring higher

Have you ever watched a flock of birds in flight? This weekend for some reason was full of these sightings for me. My daughter and I saw many flocks of birds over Brooklyn and while driving back to Massachusetts. It's been a mild fall, so perhaps now they're migrating.

The birds would swoop and soar, changing color simultaneously from dark to light as their wings shifted orientation toward the sun. One especially huge flock seemed to go from solid to aeroform from moment to moment. The shapes would merge and expand effortlessly. Total harmony of movement, total unity, but dependent on each bird doing its part.

This coincided with some prayerful work I'd been doing on God's will. Sometimes I find myself on my spiritual journey trying to puzzle out what God wants me to do. Does He want me to do this or that? Usually I'm the most puzzled when there's something in particular that *I* want to do, and I'm trying to noodle out whether God wants me to do it, too. It's that feeling of wanting something so badly that you just want it to be right, for a change.

Lately, though, it's that hungry feeling I've begun to suspect is the problem. I can't figure out God's will by asking whether He agrees with me or not. What I need to do is get my own will out of the way entirely. I need to silence that human will, put it aside, sacrifice it. Then God's will is simply what's happening. My willfulness keeps me from seeing God's will.

It's like the birds. We are ideas in the flock of Mind, and it's Mind that enables us to sing and soar. We spread our wings and fly on the currents of Mind. If we start thinking too much—left now, or right?—we might find ourselves colliding. But when we release our own will and simply feel the current, harmonious flight becomes natural and safe.

God's will is that we exist in harmony, that we move through creation frictionless and free. My own will often puts me at odds with others. I want God to justify my position, to tell me that I'm doing the right thing. Funny, He seldom does. His message to me is instead, Peace, dear one. Trust Me.

Letting go of one's own will implies trust. Do we trust enough to know that the divine will is to give us all that we could ever want? Abundance and joy beyond our imagining?

I suppose recognizing what willfulness feels like is the first step in eradicating it, so at least I've got that going for me. And knowing that infinite Mind *wants* me to fly comforts me. I'll be able to soar higher on the winds of Mind than I ever could on my own.

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Unusual but still great

I'm thinking carefully now… this may be the first Thanksgiving morning in my entire live I've woken up in a house with no one else in it. Huh. I'm like… tasting it, putting it on for size. Interesting to be so cut loose.

It's not a bad feeling, maybe because it was the plan for today. Later, I'll drive down to my daughter's college in the Big Apple to spend a wild New York few days with her. (I may not be posting tomorrow, but I will be checking email.) My son is staying out at his school because it's such a short weekend. My daughter will drive back up with me and stay until Monday. I also have some good friends in town for the weekend that I'll be able to see once I'm back up here.

So it will be a busy weekend. But for right now, I'm alone with my thoughts.

And those thoughts are peaceful. It's been a great year. I've learned a lot, I've been blessed, I've gotten good ideas when I needed them and had the courage to act on them. Health is good, bank account reasonably stable, and this dear little house still feels like a comfortable sanctuary.

Thanksgiving to me is a day to put all wants aside and just exist in the haves. I want nothing today, I have everything now.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Meeting you is definitely one of this year's "haves." You are a part of my gratitude today.

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Loving country and community

Last night was the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service here in Framingham, always very inspiring to me.

One thing I'm grateful for is that over the last year and a half, I've gotten to know my community more. Since I’m no longer commuting "into town" each day, I've made connections right here in my own backyard that I really cherish.

Last night showed to me how deep this has gone. Two years ago when I went into that service, I knew no one. This year, I ran into many people I've gotten to know, and we had a nice time chatting. The funny thing is, we've all been attending the service year after year, so we could have been friends all along. I'm grateful we're friends now.

I wanted to share a couple items on the program that spoke to me. The theme was more patriotic this year than in other years. And I have to say, I do love my country. With all its faults, and I promise you I'm not blind to them, I'm so grateful for this land in which I live. It's a gratitude and love that makes me want to be part of the solutions.

Enjoy, and hope your preparations for the holiday are going beautifully!

The New Colossus

Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

America the Beautiful

First two verses: Katharine Lee Bates, 1893
Second two verses: Miriam Therese Winter, 1993

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law!

Indigenous and immigrant, our daughters and our sons;
O may we never rest content till all are truly one.
America! America! God grant that we may be
A sisterhood and brotherhood from sea to shining sea.

How beautiful, sincere lament, the wisdom born of tears,
The courage called for to repent the bloodshed through the years.
America! America! God grant that we may be
A nation blessed with none oppressed, true land of liberty.

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Holiday greetings

Tomorrow is the biggest travel day annually in the United States, as families gather from all points to celebrate Thanksgiving.

While to many the holidays are a joyous time of reconnecting, there's often an undercurrent of "not this again." Uncle Joe will spill something, the younger cousins will tear around the house, someone will get mad about the sleeping arrangements, some of the teasing will go a little too deep. Instead of being able to enjoy the day, old hurts may come up as though they were yesterday.

So I'd like to add something to your holiday preparation this year, beyond packing or travel or to-do lists or cooking. Greet each person you'll be seeing mentally before you see them, as though you were meeting them for the first time.

After all, if it's been a while since you've seen each other, that person will have grown and so have you. And even if it's someone you see every week, since the last holiday they will have made progress and may have some newly acquired wisdom to share.

Make this holiday a joyous celebration of the now. What's happening with them now? What do they do for fun, what have they accomplished recently, what are their current goals, what can you appreciate about them now?

I find this helps keep the past at bay. By refusing to let the past determine how I interact with people today, I express more lively interest and can appreciate them more. I put on a smile of approval rather than a scowl of "there they go again." I wait, anticipating the growing feeling of love that can come from family gatherings.

My mental greeting might go like this:

Hello, dear one! It's been a while since we've seen each other, so I look forward to finding out what's up with you today. I know you've grown, as have I. I know we'll spend many warm, loving hours comparing notes, learning from each other, and just being together. You are, as you have always been, not just my biological relative or in-law, but also a child of the Divine, wholly perfect and coming into your own daily. As a member of both your human and divine family, I want to know you better and appreciate you fully. Here's a hug from the bottom of my heart.

To all my online family, have a happy holiday and safe travels.

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Be who you want to be

Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
… For use almost can change the stamp of nature.

Hamlet, Act Three, Scene IV

This weekend I found myself in several conversations with some teenaged friends. The question I asked was, "What kind of man or woman do you want to be?"

They gave some interesting answers. Some had thought it through and had a general idea, others were very specific about their career and educational goals, and others frankly didn't care—their current life was enough for them to handle, thank you.

But I hope it got them thinking anyway. It sure got me thinking! Because my basic point—and I think this applies to all of us, not just teenagers—is that you can shape who you want to be and then be that. The human personality we've been saddled with is just as open to healing and redemption as the body is. You can be the better man (or woman) if you want to be.

Have you ever thought about healing your personality? Perhaps you get upset too often, or angry, or you're afraid of certain things. Perhaps there's too much sadness or shyness or brusqueness. Do you have to live with those things and their effects forever? Can you break the cycle and try something new?

Yes, you can! I love the Shakespeare passage above in this regard. Let's say you currently think of yourself as impatient. The next time something irritates you, *act* with patience instead. Respond to the situation with a calm, measured, understanding tone. See the results you get. Are they better results than you got with impatience? You're more likely to be patient next time.

We can clothe ourselves in the qualities we want to express whenever we'd like. Nothing is keeping us from expressing the "good we know but do not" (to paraphrase Paul again). Nothing but our own limited self-concept. And we can change that around as quickly as changing our mind.

The reason this works, and that it's not just an act, is that in truth we all have each and every good quality because they're all sourced in the Divine. These good qualities are eternal and we're meant to express them. We were *created* to express them as the image and likeness of Spirit, omnipresent good.

The rough edges we'd like to sand off aren't divine, but mortal. Since they're mortal, they have a beginning and an end—they're not a permanent part of our true being. And voila—since they're going to end anyway, we can go ahead and make them end *now.*

I'll sometimes make a game of it. I'll think, This week is the week I'm going to assume more kindness, or intelligence, or joy. And I'll look for opportunities during that week to choose those qualities instead of their mortal opposites. It's fun to see the results, and to realize I *do* have a choice.

What kind of man or woman do you want to be? Play the part—and see if it doesn't become the reality.

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A lid for every pot

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Went to dinner last night with a new good friend Lee. I love so many things about her—her upbeat attitude, her spiritual sense.

I also happen to know her husband—great guy. So I asked her, "How did you know Ken was the one?" She said she met him one night at a Jewish singles dance, and by the end of the evening she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. They had a lot to work through, and some severe challenges to face together, and there are still times he bugs the hell out of her. But she knew he was the one she was willing to do all that with.

I'm always amazed at good marriages. Having never had one myself, when I get to know strong couples I feel sometimes like an anthropologist on a study of another form of human being. How do they do it?

Lee said it's about open, honest communication and helping each other heal the wounds of the past. Another husband I know said it's about forgiving disappointments and holding your tongue when necessary. Others have talked about having fun together and just being generally easy-going.

A good girlfriend of mine says, "There's a lid for every pot"—a saying I find hopeful! Here's a little Q&A from Mary Baker Eddy with a first sentence that never fails to make me smile:

What do you think of marriage?

That it is often convenient, sometimes pleasant, and occasionally a love affair. Marriage is susceptible of many definitions. It sometimes presents the most wretched condition of human existence. To be normal, it must be a union of the affections that tends to lift mortals higher.

--Miscellaneous Writings, p. 52

Lifting each other higher. Another wife I know spoke to me about her marriage as helping each other grow spiritually. I liked that, and I could see how this couple does that for each other.

So, what's the secret sauce? You folks out there who have great marriages, how do you do it? Inquiring minds want to know!

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One being, or two?

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This came in from ObiDon in response to the recent entry that included St. Paul's "the good that I would I do not" musings:

[Laura's commentary on the Bible passage.] "To me, Paul's talking about the human selfhood when he's discussing sin. The physical body, the fleshly form. This can never achieve perfection—it's limited by definition to matter. But the inward man, the spiritual identity, is sinless, whole, pure, perfect, according to the law of God. The Christ, the divine manifestation of Truth, reveals the inward man and resolves the dilemma."

[ObiDon's question]: ok, through prayer I can perceive the inward man, my spiritual identity, and see it as perfect...but just HOW does that affect and heal the physical body, which is limited to being less than perfect? Eh?

Seems to me an answer may lie in that there are two ways of looking at one's connection to spiritual reality.

One way is to think of yourself as having two identities, a physical one and a spiritual one. The spiritual one is real and permanent, the physical one is temporary and fading. I think Paul was working through this concept of identity in the passage I quoted the other day. It's like he's talking about two distinct beings, his "members," and the "inward man."

Another way to look at it is to see oneself as *one.* I am one, whole, being, and my experience is shaped by the totality of my concept of that being. I am not two parts warring against each other. I am one whole, with an increased spiritual sense evangelizing the more limited aspects as I grow. At any point on my spiritual journey, I am experiencing more of my true nature and shedding the things that are less than perfect.

Paul description is accurate inasmuch as it's what most of us feel—a dichotomy, a good side and a bad side, if you will. But the second perspective is a description of what makes it possible to heal.

You could think of it like this: You may come to a point in your progress where you're faced with a discordant physical condition. This reveals that, in some way, the world thought around you or your own concept includes some belief that you are susceptible to that condition. But even though the physical body can never be perfect, it is available for improvement. As your concept improves, again either through uncovering a belief in your own thought or in understanding more deeply the nature of world belief, the body improves as well. You're not trying to heal a bad physical body. You're healing your concept of yourself, in thought, and the body falls in line because it is an externalization of the internal consciousness that governs it.

When I'm deeply in prayer for healing, it's the second perspective that helps me most. To me, we're not trying to achieve perfection physically—we can't, physicality will always be limited. But physicality is the canvass at this point on which we paint our improved consciousness. Increased physical harmony is a natural step as we grow spiritually, and heralds the time when we will lay physicality aside entirely.

I'd be delighted to hear from anyone if the above makes sense. And please, I hope further conversation ensues. What do you think?

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Turning lives around

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Today I'd like to point you to a piece I wrote that was just published on SpiritOnTheJob.com:

Jesuit Social Services: Turning lives around

I had the privilege of speaking with Julie Edwards at the recent ISAW awards in New York. Her warmth and energy and love just radiated the entire weekend. Hope you enjoy the interview.

Also, don't forget you have an open invitation to visit SpiritOnTheJob, to write for it, to participate in the discussion boards, to list in the classifieds and to check out the events.

Have a great Wednesday!

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Learning about yourself

Reminder: This weekend is the monthly Spiritual Open House conference call, Sunday Nov. 19 at 4pm Eastern. Invitations will go out soon, so sign-up if you'd like information on how to dial in.

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I am so eager to see my kids again. I'll see my daughter over Thanksgiving, and then we'll all be together for Christmas.

One of the first things I ask them whenever we've been apart is, "What have you learned about yourself?" I love to hear their tales of self-reliance and good judgment, their ability to be a good friend and to succeed at whatever comes their way.

Often they're telling me something I already knew about them, and now they've discovered it, too. Sometimes they surprise me, and I get to appreciate something about them I hadn't seen before. This is also very cool! They are breaking through limitations and learning they are each more than they thought.

Seeing life as an opportunity to learn about oneself has helped me enormously, especially when I've made a mistake. I'll go out there, try something new, blow it, and learn something. If I've learned something, it's not a total loss. And then, I'll try again and do better the next time.

I think because I have the basic spiritual understanding that this human personality is not all there is to me, I'm more able to forgive its failings. I do my best to improve it, almost as an external separate entity, but at my core I am myself, the idea of divine Mind, perfect already. The perfect reality that is my identity will never be fully expressed humanly, so there will always be room to grow in that arena. So I'm constantly learning more about that which is already established.

What I'm mostly learning is the *how.* I know the *what*—Mind's idea—but the implementation becomes the challenge. I say with Paul,

14 we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

--Romans

Can't you just see Paul sitting in his little cell noodling this out? I see him with a pen to his lips, perplexed and working it out bit by bit. It must not have been entirely clear to him at first either. To me, Paul's talking about the human selfhood when he's discussing sin. The physical body, the fleshly form. This can never achieve perfection—it's limited by definition to matter. But the inward man, the spiritual identity, is sinless, whole, pure, perfect, according to the law of God. The Christ, the divine manifestation of Truth, reveals the inward man and resolves the dilemma.

Learning about yourself is about unveiling the spiritual identity. If the human self needs some adjusting, you can almost treat it as a small child—with compassion and patience. Sometimes I'll think about the human personality I'm dealing with (my own) and say, "Poor thing, it's afraid, or hurt," or whatever. And I'll regard it almost from the outside, and reassure it with Truth.

In the end, there are not two of us, there's only one—the spiritual one. The outward, physical is the temporary and finite. It will go, and we will remain.

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How you can learn to heal

From the chapter Recapitulation in Science and Health:

Question. — Will you explain sickness and show how it is to be healed?

Answer. — The method of Christian Science Mind-healing is touched upon in a previous chapter entitled Christian Science Practice. A full answer to the above question involves teaching, which enables the healer to demonstrate and prove for himself the Principle and rule of Christian Science or metaphysical healing.

Incredible weekend. Visited a local Christian Science association, and the ideas and conversations have really jump-started my prayer.

This association is made up of the students of a particular Christian Science teacher. Each teacher has their own association of students, which meets once per year. Once a teacher has passed on, as mine did over twenty years ago, you have the option to visit other associations for your annual spiritual feast. This is the first time I'd ever taken advantage of this privilege, and I suspect it won't be the last!

I remember class instruction like it was yesterday. My teacher was very clear about keeping the experience free from distractions, so we didn't watch TV during class or read newspapers, etc. The two weeks stand alone to me as a singular memory unconnected to any other. It's still very present for me when I recall the material covered and how inspiring it was.

The course is based on the Q&A chapter in Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health, Recapitulation. We spent the first four days on God alone, focusing on the seven synonyms found in the first question in the chapter. I remember right after the lesson on Love, I walked back to where I was staying on a cloud. Everything around me appeared bathed in Love. Each person on the street glowed with the presence of Love. Even a street person I saw embodied to me that day his eternal heritage as a child of Love.

This weekend, the value of class instruction hit home for me anew. For me, class brought all that I'd learned on my spiritual journey up to that point into focus. Since then, the teaching has been the foundation of all the progress I've made. If you haven't looked into it yet, I encourage you to do so. There are teachers all over the world, and any one of them would love to hear from you.

Well, I have 13 pages of notes to attend to from the meeting this weekend. And you know a lot of it will show up here in this blog!

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Firsts

This election has a lot of things to have an opinion about (thanks for getting out the vote!). I'll limit mine to a hearty approval of several firsts:

• The first female Speaker of the House
  

• The first black governor of Massachusetts, and only the second nationally since Reconstruction

• The first Muslim in Congress

Aside from the fact that this means we're increasingly adding diverse voices to the chorus that is democracy, to me it also indicates a gradual opening of thought to the possibilities for everyone. Some might argue that it's been too gradual, but I'd respond, Well, at least it's happening.

When you think about it, the story of human history is all about firsts. Isn't history class often about who did what first? The first people to use paper, the first people to make silk, the first people who traversed the Aleutians. Once somebody does it, there it is, available for other people to do it, too.

Remember breaking the four-minute mile? I mean, I don't remember it personally. If you can believe it, it happened over 50 years ago. Roger Bannister made that historic run on May 6, 1954. Once he did that, though, John Landy ran even faster six weeks later.

Wikipedia says this:

The four minute mile, in athletics, is the running of a mile (1,609.344 metres) in under four minutes. It was once thought to be impossible but has now been achieved by many male athletes. Those who do may be known as 'four-minute men'. In the 1940s running a four minute mile was thought to be the physical limit of the human body. However, it is now the standard of all professional middle distance runners, and in the last 50 years the 4 minute barrier has been lowered by almost 17 seconds.

The point is, everyone thought it was impossible. But then somebody did it. Then suddenly more and more *could* do it. Now, apparently, it's become a standard.

To me, this is about giving your consent. To achieve the impossible, we must first give our consent to doing it. One lonely soul does it first, then others see the possibilities and pick up on it. We herald the first one even as we strive to emulate it.

"Impossibilities never occur," declares Mary Baker Eddy. "One instance like the foregoing proves it possible …" She's talking about an old woman who appeared young, and the sentiment is universally true. (Science and Health)

The first to fly a plane. The first to swim the Channel. The first to walk on the moon. Considered impossible—crazy even. But firsts make headlines.

What's impossible in your life? Maybe you could be first, too. First, know that you *can.*

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Bumps in the night

My house is noisy. Creaks, bumps, scampers, and clicks are ongoing. Late at night, the sounds can be quite distracting.

When we first moved in, I was okay with it as long as there were other people in the house. But in the summers when the kids were gone, I'd sometimes wake up from some noise and lie there in bed anxiously straining to hear what was going on in the corridor or on the roof. In those groggy middle-of-the-night hours, my vivid imagination would run away with me, and, heart pounding, I'd wait for the malevolent intruder who never came until I fell back into a fitful sleep.

It almost seems silly to write about it now, but at the time it was quite distressing. Ruined sleep is no joke. And I began to wonder if this sweet little house that I loved were really the right place for me.

Unfortunately, I tended to forget about the situation once the day had started, so it took a long time for it to occur to me to pray about it. And in daylight, it was so easy to be rational about it. We're just talking about imagination, right? Nothing was really wrong, after all. But in the night, the shivers were very real.

"NIGHT. Darkness; doubt; fear," reads Science and Health. Yep, that's about right. It's like I was experiencing night, pure and simple.

The situation resolved two ways. First, the prayer way. One night I did manage to pull myself together enough to call out to God, my strong protective Father, for help. That night, God was a personal presence to me, a Friend I could call on, a Comforter looking over me. It's funny how God can be what you need Him to be in whatever circumstance.

I could almost feel the divine hand on my brow, smoothing away the fear. And He said, in His wonderful warm voice, "Darling, there's no one in My creation who wants to harm you."

Ah! What a lovely thought! Even if there were an actual *person* responsible for all the noises, that person was still a child of God and had no desire to hurt me. Laughing a bit, I realized I was praying for someone imaginary because of course no one had ever been there. But still, it was incredibly comforting.

I remembered this thought every time I woke up for the next several weeks. I'd lay back in God's loving arms, and fall gently back to sleep. Eventually there were no more night-shivers at all.

The second resolution has to do with me getting to know my house better. Now that I'm spending more time alone as an empty nester, I'm beginning to recognize the noises during the day that were getting so magnified at night. The bump of acorns dropping on the roof, the scamper of squirrels, the creak of adjusting floorboards, the tick of the heat coming on. Normal sounds of a 100% normal house.

A little story perhaps. That moment of comfort stays with me, though.

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Snap the fingers and wake up

I've been pretty mad at someone lately. Some of his words and actions have been to me reprehensible, and I simply can't see how he could be behaving that way.

Yesterday I took this anger to prayer. I'm not comfortable being this angry for this long, so I wanted to find some sort of answer that could lift me out of it. And the answer was to gain a deeper understanding of hypnotism.

Hypnotism? you ask. What's that got to do with it?

In articulating the truths of Christian Science to the world, Mary Baker Eddy came up with some brilliant, crystal clear words and phrases for God and His goodness. Words and phrases denoting evil, which she considered to be ultimately unreal but which we still must guard against, proved more problematic. She needed to formulate descriptions that emphasized both evil's ultimate unreality and its need for destruction, along with revealing the particular forms evil takes so we can recognize it and fight it. Formulating these descriptions can't have been easy, and I'm grateful to her for doing so.

Frankly, in my study of Science, I've found it easier to understand the good stuff. So, over the years, it's been the words and phrases for evil that I've on occasion had to stop and examine more fully to understand them for myself. Terms such as malpractice, mortal mind, animal magnetism, personal sense have all been grist for this deeper study mill. Yesterday, it was hypnotism's turn.

In reading some of the passages about hypnotism in Science and Health (and surprisingly, there aren't that many), I found that at its core, it's the yielding of one's thought to an outside influence that is not divine. It's letting oneself believe something that is not true, based on false evidence or suggestion. The actions you take as a result are a function of the false belief, so in order to correct the actions you must first see through and stop yielding to the false.

Once the concept of hypnotism was in my thought regarding the person I'm mad at, something fairly obvious occurred to me. Our disagreement stems from the fact that we both believe different things about a certain event in the past. He thinks one thing happened, I think something else happened. All his actions and words since then have been consistent with his belief, as have mine.

My own opinion is based on my speaking with some of the people involved. His, to my mind, is based on the influence of those around him who have a vested interest in his believing the way he does. Once I realized in prayer yesterday that I've been regarding him as under this outside—you might say hypnotic—influence, I saw that I had some clearer thinking to do.

Here's a passage from Science and Health that helped me:

We say that one human mind can influence another and in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that we govern our own bodies. The error, mesmerism — or hypnotism, to use the recent term — illustrates the fact just stated. The operator would make his subjects believe that they cannot act voluntarily and handle themselves as they should do. If they yield to this influence, it is because their belief is not better instructed by spiritual understanding. --p. 402:20-28

If my friend (as I now found myself calling him) had yielded his mentality to an outside influence, it was because he didn't know any other way. Yet I can know that every individual has the capacity to think for themselves. I can also forgive the wrongs done while under hypnotic suggestion, because I know they're not the person's true intent.

And then I flipped all this back on myself. Was I allowing myself to be hypnotized by this person's subsequent actions? Was I allowing this to influence my opinion of him?

I began to see more clearly that the opposite of hypnotism is thinking for yourself. No one and nothing can make me think anything I've not consented to. My thought, my consciousness, is my own domain and I can fill it with whatever ideas and concepts I choose.

In truth, the only genuine thinking is that which is aligned with the Great Thinker, divine Mind. Anything not coincident with divine Mind must be false, a deceiver, to be rejected. Mind holds the only reality to be conceived. Anything outside of infinite Mind—well, frankly, that's a oxymoron, for if Mind is infinite, there is no outside. Any belief to the contrary is a false *hypnotic* suggestion.

I have a metaphysical obligation to stop allowing myself to be hypnotized by my friend's outward actions, and instead to fill my thought with only good about him. I need to have the humility to see that I've been influenced by the false as much as anyone else. But I have the spiritual authority to end this influence now. I can stop it in its tracks and no longer let it accompany me on my journey.

Like the hypnotist's snapping fingers, I can break the spell and wake up.

Some more thoughts from Science and Health (and sorry, the online search for the book isn't working, so I can't provide the links):

If you believe in and practise wrong knowingly, you can at once change your course and do right. --p. 253:18-19

In no instance is the effect of animal magnetism, recently called hypnotism, other than the effect of illusion. --p. 101:29-31

As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind. It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful. This belief has not one quality of Truth. --p. 103:18-23 (to .)

The Christian Scientist demonstrates that divine Mind heals, while the hypnotist dispossesses the patient of his individuality in order to control him. No person is benefited by yielding his mentality to any mental despotism or malpractice. --p. 375:11-15

The hypnotizer employs one error to destroy another. --p. 104:22-23

Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body. It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. --p. 114:23-27

The human thought must free itself from self-imposed materiality and bondage. --p. 191:16-17

Spiritual rationality and free thought accompany approaching Science, and cannot be put down. --p. 223:21-22

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Real heroes

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

Went to see Flags of our Fathers last night, the Clint Eastwood helmed new war movie.

First: mini review. This is the story of the guys who raised the flag on Iwo Jima in WWII. They become celebrities overnight, and the Department of the Treasury uses them to raise war bonds. They keep being called "heroes" however, and they don't feel they deserve it.

It's impossible not to compare this film with Saving Private Ryan, and I think if this one had come out first it would have been hailed as massively groundbreaking. Perhaps because it was filmed in washed-out color near to black and white, and perhaps because Eastwood's point was different, it didn't resonate as much with me as Private Ryan did. But it's clearly phenomenal filmmaking.

Warning: much gore and violence. In the Private Ryan battle scene, the individual acts of violence were non-stop, very very sudden and quick. You could feel the soldiers' survival instincts kick in, and they moved fast rather than lingering on any one death or maiming. In Flags, again perhaps because the battle itself was different, the gore was lingered on more. The battle scenes were interspersed throughout the film, setting up the irony between Iwo Jima and the subsequent war bonds tour. The back and forth had me wincing, unusual for me in a film of this kind.

And, the message. The message in Spielberg's film was more subtle, a brief moment in the film's dialog near the end. In Eastwood's, it was right in the narration. While I don't fault the sentiment, I wonder if the point could have been made with less of a hammer.

Okay, enough review. Now to the message itself, actually a very powerful one and I suppose it's good that people hear it loud and clear.

"They might have been fighting for their country,
but they were dying for their friends—
the man in front of them, the man right behind them."

The question becomes, what makes a hero? The theme of course made me think instantly of Jesus' statement in the Gospel of John:

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

--John 15:13

It's occurring to me, is this the definition of hero? I think of mothers sacrificing every day for their children, of husbands protecting their wives, of police and firefighters risking all to save another, of our soldiers overseas. The moment of heroism comes when you forget self in order to bless another.

Interestingly, it's that forgetting of self that keeps most heroes from believing they were being heroic. Often they'll say, it was no sacrifice, or I wasn't trying to be a hero. And it seems that would go with the territory. Heroism implies a sharp focus on thinking about the other to the exclusion of all else. You do what needs to be done for the moment, but you may then go back to feeling afraid or tired or stressed. So you don't give yourself credit for the heroism that you really deserve.

I'm sitting here, thinking back, and there is a time or two where I might have qualified as heroic. Not in the sense of putting myself in physical danger, but maybe emotionally or professionally. Hmm. I'll need to think about that more.

When have you been heroic? Are you giving yourself enough credit?

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Tasty treats

Okay, I was all set to break my fast being inspiring myself this morning, but then I did my rounds of other people's blogs and found a feast. Please sample this buffet:

• From l.ementary, Releasing Money Fear: This blogger in Eugene, Oregon, discovers how to claim abundance.
  

• Evan's got a pairing of posts with cool visuals about the size of the Earth relative to the stars. And he asks the question: Is our concept of God big enough? Part I and Part II.
  

• Travis weighs in with a great quote: "I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future." He makes it his own with a career discussion.
  

• And finally, don't miss Red Fork Hippie Chick's piece about running a marathon "Laying Aside Every Weight": Should she or shouldn't she?

I also spent a large part of the weekend finishing up the blog Category Search, found in the right navigation and on del.icio.us. All posts are present and accounted for, Sir! So poke around, there's some good stuff in there. The category GreatestHits includes my favorites and the ones you've responded to most.

Bon appetite!

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Harmony's selfhood

Just got back from a morning meeting that went much longer than expected. And in that meeting, which was with a true spiritual pioneer that I know, we talked about harmony.

I've written before about harmony, in the sense that to me the goal of spiritual progress is to increase harmony, whatever we perceive that to be. Harmony for one person might be learning how to stand up for themselves in a fight, for another it might be leaving self behind and not fighting. It depends on your perspective what you think increased harmony is, and we can strive to achieve it with increased spiritual understanding.

This can make it seem like harmony is relative or subjective. Yesterday in my study I read this startling sentence from Mary Baker Eddy:

God is harmony's selfhood.

--Unity of Good p. 13

Harmony has a selfhood? This concept is really challenging me! There is the perceived increase of harmony on the human level: better health, freer supply, more loving relationships. Then there is the ultimate harmony on the spiritual level: perfection, joy, Love itself. This ultimate harmony has a selfhood, and it is God.

To me, this means that harmony is one with Mind, with Soul. Harmony is intelligent and self-expressive. Harmony is the law, which could also be said, Harmony is Principle. Harmony is Love, that benevolent force that governs our existence as its creation.

So harmony is not just a relative thing that depends on our perception, but has its own independent existence as divine Entity. I don't merely invoke harmony, I am created by it. My participation in harmony is not something I add to my life but something that increasingly unfolds.

One of the things I'm learning from this is that while sometimes the definition of increased harmony is obvious to me, other times I need to let it be revealed. And I can dwell in its presence without putting parameters on it. I can fill my thought with harmony and then witness its appearing in my life.

Have a harmonious weekend!

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We can already laugh about it

Some of you may remember I was going through a rough patch with someone close to me a few months ago. There were times when things seemed quite desperate, as this person struggled with depression and self-destructive behaviors. Things changed, though, when I "let go and let God," and the person decided for themselves to straighten up.

We've had a couple conversations recently that I just feel compelled to share because they both brought me to tears.

A few weeks ago, I asked this person how things were going, especially in regards to the depression. I asked if they were still experiencing the "black pit" they used to describe to me. The person said firmly, "I'm walking around the edge of that pit now, looking down at it and laughing."

I caught my breath at this with such gratitude in my heart.

More recently we were talking and comparing notes about life, when something from last spring came up. The person joked with me about it and I groaned ruefully, "Oh, man, let's not talk about that!" So they replied, "Hey, remember you said there'd be a time when we'd look back on all this and laugh? Well, we're laughing about it now!"

When I said that, I was thinking about ten years from now. But this is just a few short months later!

So I'm amazed and grateful.

You know, laughing is a great way to see that a healing has taken place. In the story about the ringing in my ears, it was laughter that sealed the deal for me. Other times I've expressed dominion over a problem by laughing at it. "Shakes head and laughs" is a strong positive way to respond to the attacks of evil even as we're doing something about it. It shows nothing is keeping you down.

I'm reminded of the passage from Sarah in the Bible, when she finally has the baby she's been longing for her entire life: "God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me." --Genesis

So find something that bugs you today and bring some laughter to it. A laugh or two can help put things in perspective and strengthen you to deal with it more effectively. And, like me, you may find that laughter brings you tears of joy.

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Every path is valid

Another interesting facet of spending time with people of differing beliefs and faith traditions (as I did at this weekend's ISAW Awards) is the strong temptation to evaluate the ideas you're being presented with to see if you agree with them.

I fall prey to this all too often. It's like this weird inner voice that wants to correct everything I hear. So, this morning I brought this with me to prayer.

What came to me is a renewed conviction that everyone's on their own path. I'm convinced we're all headed in the same direction, but how we get there, the images and rituals we use in the meantime, and the concepts we adhere to in our current limited perspectives, will be different. The paths are like spokes on a wheel, all headed toward the same center but divergent in other ways.

It's amazing, actually, that we can share ideas at all. Clumps of people on nearby spokes can talk to each other about what's meaningful to them and thereby encourage each other. When you try to jump clumps, though, honest convictions can sometimes feel like disagreements. And, because we've achieved our own light through honest endeavor and we'd like to help everyone else, we try to convince them that *our* path has things about it that *they* need to know and accept.

A lot of time this is well meaning, but it's not effective unless the recipient is at a place on their path where the ideas will resonate with them anyway. At those times, we have the privilege of being the conduit of Spirit in bringing a new idea to a fellow being. But trying to force it to happen just leads to a mess.

In the meantime, what I want to learn to do better is accept that the other person's path is valid for them. To not try to change it in any way, but to celebrate the spiritual progress that is meaningful to them. After all, we're all getting closer to each other as we near the center of that wheel. Eventually even the path that seems most different to me now will converge with mine and we'll be able to share the enlightenment we feel.

A lot of this percolating in my prayer came to me after happening on some passages from Mary Baker Eddy's Unity of Good this morning.

In this first one, she's discussing the reality or unreality of sin:

Every one should be encouraged not to accept any personal opinion on so great a matter [sin's reality or unreality], but to seek the divine Science of this question of Truth by following upward individual convictions, undisturbed by the frightened sense of any need of attempting to solve every Life-problem in a day. --Un 5:9

We don't need to solve "every Life-problem in a day." That's comforting to me as I struggle with this issue, and relieves me of the pressure of feeling I have to be "right" all the time.

This next paragraph follows the first:

"Great is the mystery of godliness," says Paul; and mystery involves the unknown. No stubborn purpose to force conclusions on this subject will unfold in us a higher sense of Deity; neither will it promote the Cause of Truth or enlighten the individual thought. -- Un 5:14

"No stubborn purpose to force conclusions"! Great phraseology. I can let go of any need to fix everyone else by recognizing it as a tendency to being intractable or stubborn.

The practical result of this for me is to watch what I'm thinking when someone shares their convictions with me. I need to embrace it as enlightening for them, and be grateful and supportive that they're moving along their path. And that's all I should be thinking.

I'll close today with this passage from Science and Health, also very meaningful to me over the weekend:

That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm. The Bible represents Him as saying: "Thou canst not see My face; for there shall no man see Me, and live." Not materially but spiritually we know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and proscriptive from lack of love, — straining out gnats and swallowing camels. --p. 140

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