Think I'm taking a week off...

Just a quick post to let anyone who's interested know that it looks like I'm taking this week off from blogging. (I just figured that out.) Hope you all are enjoying some time off as well!

Happy New Year,
Laura
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Happy happy joy joy

Wasn't sure I was going to blog today, but then got the idea from a friend's blog to post a picture of our family Nativity scene.


Can you sort of see the starlight shining from above?

I grew up with a creche like this, although it was ceramic. It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw, and I spent time with it every year. This year, my kids and I were playing a twenty-questions game about Christmas, and the question came up: What is your favorite Christmas decoration? My daughter immediately said, "The Nativity." So she set it up, as you see it, this year.

Here's another photo we took after the recent ice storm from the coziness of our living room:


It's a straight up and down vertical picture--the drips actually tilted that way.

I hope everyone has a beautiful, starlit, sparkly Christmas.

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The world without us

I've mentioned this book before, and hope everyone reads it: The World without Us by Alan Weisman. It was so thought-provoking to me on many levels, and has given me a new passion—this planet Earth.

The book posits how long it would take Earth to reclaim itself if humans no longer existed. I found much of the research troubling, because apparently we've been altering the planet since we could stand on two feet. However, there is much to hope for as well, for nature is strong, and many people of good will are working assiduously to rectify the damage we've done.

One thing that surprised me is the author's discussion of how various religions look on the Earth in their theologies. Basically, most teach that the Earth is here to serve humanity, so if humanity is gone, it doesn't matter what happens to Earth. This caught in my throat. Is this really the case? Do I believe that?

So I've been thinking about it deeply. We talk so much about making the world better for our children. What about irrespective of our species? Do we have an obligation to the rest of life and formation? Or is it just for our own benefit that we should make adjustments?

What I've come to believe in reading this book in combination with my study of Christian Science is that this Earth as we're experiencing it now is our collective demonstration of our sense of reality. While this is what we've got to work with, it's our task to uplift and preserve it, as well as use it wisely. It's the same as our caring for our bodies. If our individual body is our individual temple, as the Bible defines it, then our collective body, this Earth and the universe, are our collective temple, and we need to respect it accordingly.

This Earth is the medium in which we are expressing our divine natures. We owe it the expression of our highest selfhood. It is paramount, then, that we tend and care for it effectively, even as we tend and care for our own bodies. It is a duty we perform out of love for all life.

I can't shake this conviction and am letting it shape me. I'm in the chapter on Physiology now in Science and Health, and every time Mary Baker Eddy talks about the body (very frequent in this chapter), I'm letting that sentence apply to the planet. I'll write about some of that research with you next week.

I also just wanted to share the final intriguing few paragraphs of Weisman's book, which come after a discussion of humanity's possible flight from this damaged planet to the stars:

[R]adio waves don't die—like light, they travel on. The human brain also emanates electric impulses at very low frequencies: similar to, but far weaker than, the radio waves used to communicate with submarines. Paranormalists, however, insist that our minds are transmitters that, with special effort, can focus like lasers to communicate across great distances, and even make things happen.

That may seem far-fetched, but it's also a definition of prayer.

The emanations from our brains, like radio waves, must also keep going—where? Space is not described as an expanding bubble, but that architecture is still a theory. Along its great mysterious interstellar curvatures, perhaps it's not unreasonable to think that our thought waves might eventually find their way back here.

Or even that one day—long after we're gong, unbearably lonely for the beautiful world from which we so foolishly banished ourselves—we, or our memories, might surf back home aboard a cosmic electromagnetic wave to haunt our beloved Earth.

Our thought holds the key to all this. We can think of thoughts as cleansers or pollutants. What are we thinking about our planet and ourselves?

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Me? You mean me?

The journey lately has taken a surprising turn down a highway that is bringing me unexpected vistas. You know, the scenic route. I feel like I've been given permission to do something I've never dared before.

It crystallized for me when I was studying about Jesus in Atonement and Eucharist a few weeks ago, and it was a big enough idea that I couldn't write about it right away. So now here it is.

Jesus had this life of service, success, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension. As I read about his trajectory in living God's will for him, for the first time I felt connected to every part of his career (in my own small way). In my life, I've served with an incredible team, experienced some success at getting the message out, then lost all that we'd achieved in a symbolic "crucifixion." I felt keenly the death of something I loved that we had worked hard to build, but then was gifted with an uplifting sense of resurrection (remarkably, the actual events happened a few years back on the days leading up to Easter). I learned that the true elements of all that we'd done remain intact and are continuing forward, and I've seen that abundantly since.

In reviewing this trajectory lately, it seemed the only part left to experience was the ascension. What did that mean to me today?

I've always thought of ascension as something that happens in the afterlife—we can't expect glory and grace here. This life here, I thought, is always flawed and meant to be a struggle. Now I'm thinking that perhaps this is old theology.

When taking this to the Divine as one big question mark, what came to me is this startling idea that I've been working with ever since. I felt the message come somewhat in this form:

Laura, you've spent your entire spiritual career finding out about Me. You've done a good job, you've served Me and gotten to know Me. You've built a strong foundation of understanding. Now it's time to find out about My creation. Now it's time to find out about you.

Me? Find out about me? I can't quite describe how profound this sense of spiritual "permission" has been. This, to me, is feeling like ascension. Like the hard part of life is behind me, and I won't have to re-do it. I've been through the wars, the sacrifice, the tears. I learned what I needed to learn. It's now about going forth and expressing, here and now, not waiting for some afterlife to experience the glory, but *now.*

I feel both mature and tested, and new and reborn. And I have this adventure ahead of me, partnering with the Divine to have my own genuine nature revealed.

And I never knew that besides glory and grace, ascension is also filled with gratitude.

The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness — yea, the divine nature — appear in man and the universe never to disappear. Science and Health

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Political compass

A blog I read Transylvania Dutch had an interesting feature today: the Political Compass.

With this compass, you indicate whether you agree or disagree with a bunch of statements, and find out where you fall on a quadrant of left / right, authoritarian / libertarian. Here are a few samples of the statements:

• If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.
  
• It is regrettable that many personal fortunes are made by people who simply manipulate money and contribute nothing to their society.
• There are no savage and civilised peoples; there are only different cultures.
• Mothers may have careers, but their first duty is to be homemakers.
• You cannot be moral without being religious.
• A same sex couple in a stable, loving relationship, should not be excluded from the possibility of child adoption.

Here's my result.

I apparently fall somewhere between Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, and The Dalai Lama. I'm nowhere near any of the current American political candidates, who, according to Transylvania Dutch, all fall in the upper right quadrant. Stalin is way in the upper left, Hitler right at the axis at the top.

What's interesting to me about this is how many of my choices were informed by my spiritual outlook. I have convictions about the worth of the individual and the nature of reality that make me believe certain ways. I'm also gaining some convictions about the role of government in thwarting unrestrained corporate power.

It's all in the name of discovering who I am. More on this tomorrow.

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Winter storm

Picture driving along at your usual fast clip after visiting your daughter in Brooklyn, New York, headed back to New England, when just ahead you start seeing grey clouds and precipitation right around Hartford, Connecticut. Picture everything grinding to a slow crawl as snow accumulates on the road surface, with no plows in sight, nor any salt, nor any sand. Picture frequent flashing lights and overturned vehicles of all shapes and sizes on the side of the road as your own tires struggle to gain traction. Picture eventually being only guided by the red lights of the vehicle ahead of you, and positioning yourself behind the largest truck you can find because its 18 wheels and huge tires are more likely to clear an adequate path for you. You figure if you can still read its 3 Sigma logo on the back, you're okay.

In Connecticut, the most traveled lane is the far right, so you stick to it with the truck. You pray for the signs leading to the Mass Pike, and they take an inordinate length of time to appear. Your windshield wipers are pumping at their highest speed, yet it's still like looking through bubble wrap. You have to keep going, because if you stop anywhere, you'll simply be buried in snow. You have just enough gas to get home, no food, and a little water. When you pull off at a rest area to grab some pretzels and Raisinettes, by the time you get back to the car it's covered in three inches of wet, sticky, uncooperative whiteness.

Your wheels spin helplessly as you get back on the road. The Pike signs finally appear, you go through the toll booth, and your windshield wipers, which have accumulated a few too many molecules of ice, give one last whimpering swipe and then shudder to a halt. You stop under an underpass with cars and trucks whizzing by you to attempt to fix them, no luck.

Fortunately, this is Massachusetts, so the most traveled lane is the far left, where you can go as fast as you can handle. You blast the defrost on as high and hot as it will go to melt the precipitation gathering on the windshield, and you quickly discover that if you accelerate to 50-plus miles per hour, the very wind pressure will move the moisture away so that you can see. However, you're driving this way when all the other cars and trucks around you are at a crawl, the unplowed, unsalted, unsanded snow is about a foot deep, and red lights appear before you at a moment's notice.

White knuckled on the steering wheel, you press forward, aware that this is possibly the most dangerous driving you've ever done—more so than the narrow winding mountain roads on the California coast or the surface streets of Los Angeles during the riots. But you have to get home. You breathe deeply and stay focused. You pray for the other cars as you pass them, for your momentary encounter to be uneventful and safe. You pray that the driving you have to do doesn’t endanger anyone else. You pray that the nice officer will understand if he pulls you over to ask what the hell you're doing. But it turns out they actually have more important things to do.

Soon, you have only ten miles to go. Then six, then four. Then at last you see your exit to Framingham. You settle in behind some red tail lights and let them guide you down streets and through intersections all the way to your steep, slick driveway, where, mercifully, you can still slide right into the garage. And you're home.

That was my Thursday, how was yours? I really miss California right about now…

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The "be yourself" hymn

I'm traveling today and tomorrow, so won't be posting again until Monday. Thought I'd leave you with this poem, kind of an interesting counterbalance to the mortals/immortals conversation and the last poem I featured (they share facing pages in the words only hymnal I have).

Hymn 20, Christian Science Hymnal
by Kate Colby

Be true and list the voice within,
Be true unto thy high ideal,
Thy perfect self, that knows no sin,
That self that is the only real.

God is the only perfect One:
My perfect self is one with Him;
So man is seen as God's own son,
When Truth dispels the shadows dim.

True to our God whose name is Love,
We shall fulfill our Father's plan;
For true means true to God above,
To self, and to our fellow man.

Love to all,
Laura

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Greed's hypnotism

I'm reading a deeply sobering, on the verge of depressing book, The World without Us by Alan Weisman. You'll hear more about it later. For now, its challenging outlook has been something I've been taking to my Science and Health reading.

Basically, Weisman's book demonstrates that man has been altering his environment since before he could stand on two feet. It's just what we do. I'd always thought humanity's strength lay in its ability to adapt to the environment. Now, I'm seeing that our survival rather has stemmed from our ability to adapt our environment to suit ourselves. It's starting to bug me.

There's one particularly horrifying section about the oil industry in Houston and how its sprawling network of enormous pipes and refineries spreads for miles and miles and miles. I had no idea, of course, of the scope of this industry. Up here in New England, all I ever see is the end result—my being able to put gas in my car at a tiny neighborhood station. My need for gas contributes to that southern behemoth blight on nature.

So here are some passages from Science and Health that I’m reading with a new light, all from the chapter Animal Magnetism Unmasked:

The planets have no more power over man than over his Maker, since God governs the universe; but man, reflecting God's power, has dominion over all the earth and its hosts.

The mild forms of animal magnetism are disappearing, and its aggressive features are coming to the front. The looms of crime, hidden in the dark recesses of mortal thought, are every hour weaving webs more complicated and subtle. So secret are the present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on the subject which the criminal desires. p. 102

I'm starting to see the primary crime as greed. Once we've gone beyond necessities, human nature compels us to capitalize on market forces to make as much as we can, as fast as we can. This "crime," hidden or not so hidden in the "dark recesses of mortal thought," becomes admirable as we all look up to those who manage to make a lot of money. It "ensnares the age into indolence," meaning, we let it grow and grow until it takes us over, stripping us of the dominion over the planet and making us its victims. Greed wants us to be apathetic first, then to feel helpless. Well, we're not helpless.

The malicious form of hypnotism ultimates in moral idiocy. The truths of immortal Mind sustain man, and they annihilate the fables of mortal mind, whose flimsy and gaudy pretensions, like silly moths, singe their own wings and fall into dust. p. 103

Greed is destroying itself. As we awaken to the results of excessive greed, we will unify and put a stop to it. This is getting my prayers. Moral idiocy, i.e., aggressive manipulation of our shared environment for personal or corporate gain, will be recognized and resisted. Strength of character will emerge as the primary human characteristic, rather than greed or ineffectiveness. It's really the only way we will survive. And actually, that's rather marvelous—that the finer qualities will become necessary for survival.

The hypnotizer employs one error to destroy another. If he heals sickness through a belief, and a belief originally caused the sickness, it is a case of the greater error overcoming the lesser. This greater error thereafter occupies the ground, leaving the case worse than before it was grasped by the stronger error. p. 104

Again, I think of greed as the hypnotizer. You can always have more, better, bigger. There's no limit to what you can have. It's right and good for you to own and consume as much as you could ever want, never sated, always desiring, always grasping and demanding. This image has enthralled us in the West, and we've exported it to other regions that are now beginning to imitate our consumption along with getting our diseases and adopting our lifestyle. "The greater error" is occupying the ground, "leaving the case worse than before it was grasped by the stronger error." This came upon us unawares, like a thief in the night, but now it's time to fight it.

God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience. Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love. p. 106

What to do? I think part of the answer lies in this last passage. Self-government, reason and conscience. Asking ourselves, each of us, do we need everything that we think we need? Are we willing to sacrifice the convenience that has sprung from greed's hypnosis? Are we "properly self-governed" through divine Mind, or acting at the whim of the mortal seeming around us?

This is what I'm wrestling with today.

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Q: Mortals vs. immortals

This query came in from Jayne:

We are taught that everyone is a child of God.. yet… we frequently read that mortals are not the children of God..... sounds a little confusing... are good people immortals... and bad people mortals.... who are these mortals who are NOT the children of God????? I am looking for some answers and hope you can explain... Thanks Jayne

Thanks for the question, Jayne! I'll give you what I believe, and I hope others will weigh in as well.

This question reminds me of Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats:

31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Matt 25:31-46

At first glance this does seem to imply that individual people will go one direction or another. But for me, what this story means is that each person's good *qualities* will be rewarded, and their evil tendencies purged. We're both the sheep and the goats. In other words, in this mortal seeming, we appear to be both mortal and immortal.

No human being is unadulterated good or evil. We all express goodness and perfection, and we all experience fear and sin. When we enact our better natures through good deeds, love, intelligence, inspiration, we are aligned with the immortal reality of our being. When our fears or desires get the better of us and we slip into regrettable behaviors or thought patterns, we are too close to the mortal and need to be awakened to the truth.

Because immortality is real and mortality is not, every mortal tendency is eventually purged in the alchemy of spiritual growth. What remains for all eternity is only the gold of our character, the immortal qualities that were always inherent in us as God's creation.

How should we then regard our fellow beings? With compassion, seeing the gold and helping it to shine through, rather than accepting only the mortal as the real. There are no "good" people who are immortal and "bad" people who are not. Each one's good qualities are immortal, and the bad (the self-destructive, the harmful, the useless) are burned away.

Thoughts?

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"Mawwage"

Does anyone else get that reference to The Princess Bride? It's a funny scene where the main character, the Princess, is being forced to marry the evil Prince, and the Impressive Clergyman who stands up to perform the ceremony has a speech impediment. So he starts off his comments with, "Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us togethew today. Mawwage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam…" (If you really want to waste some time, you can read the entire script here.)

I just finished the chapter on Marriage in Science and Health. Of course, I've read it untold millions of times before, yet it still had something new to tell me. This time, I was attracted to all the instances, especially in the beginning of the chapter, where Mary Baker Eddy talks about blending and harmony. Maybe it's because I had just participated in a Sing-Along Messiah over the weekend, but choral music was on my mind, so those concepts leapt off the page at me.

She uses words like: union and unity, conjoining naturally, spiritual oneness, harmony, unity of spirit, blending, mingling, being the center, compromise, welding indissolubly, etc. She uses opposite concepts for things to avoid like: severance of fleshly ties, discord, narrowness, jealousy, incompatibility, etc.

I was especially struck by this passage:

Tones of the human mind may be different, but they should be concordant in order to blend properly. p. 58

This so reminded me of the choral singing. Each tone, each voice, is different, but they can blend in ways that are miraculous and uplifting. It gave me something more to look for in a relationship. Do the tones blend? The tone of my human mind and of the other. Can I hear that tone, and does it resonate to something higher?

I'd love to hear from those of you who found that concordant tone in your partner. How does it resonate for you in your daily life?

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Q: Comma power and evaluating the media

Dennis sent in this intriguing question:

"Novels, remarkable only for their exaggerated pictures, impossible ideals, and specimens of depravity, fill our young readers with wrong tastes and sentiments" (Science and Health, p. 195).

Was Mrs. Eddy against all literature, or was she speaking of just trashy novels? I noticed that you have Wuthering Heights in your library so I assume Christian Scientists are not against all fiction.

Jesus spoke in parables so I assume He would not be against fiction with a lesson. What is your take on this?

Dennis R.

This is certainly grist for the conversation mill, isn't it? One person's literature is another's trash. What I'd like to focus on first are two commas in MBE's statement—the one after the word "novels" and the one before the word "fill."

MBE wrote her book in a time when authors were much looser in their use of the comma. In contemporary writing, commas appear for very specific purposes. We're so used to this that we read older texts with what would be today's meaning. I believe this doesn't result in an accurate reading of the older texts.

For example, in the passage in question. Today, I believe she'd write that sentence without those two commas. My opinion is that the phrase from "remarkable" to "depravity" is meant to be a qualifier for the novels she's discussing. Meaning, she's only talking about novels like that. She's not casting aspersions on *all* novels, nor is she saying that all novels carry those characteristics. Those commas, however, make us, readers of today who are used to commas meaning exactly that, think that she's against all fictional literature.

Try reading the sentence without those two commas and with a slight edit: Novels [that are] remarkable only for their exaggerated pictures, impossible ideals, and specimens of depravity fill our young readers with wrong tastes and sentiments. I think this is closer to what she meant and how it applies to today. It also makes a lot more sense as a recommendation, since it would be hard to believe that a well-read and cultured woman such as MBE would tell her readers to eschew all literature. She *wrote* fiction herself as a young woman.

I am in no way suggesting any alteration is needed to Science and Health—we each need to approach it with our own individual inspiration. I think, however, in our reading of it, we need to gain a knowledge of the context of the times in which it was written, and then expand the meaning to find its relevance for today. For example, today I would add television, film, radio, magazines, the Internet—really any media—to the arenas regarding which I should be discriminating and which I should shield my children when appropriate. (Hence the "discussions" I've had with my son about Grand Theft Auto.)

As far as evaluating the media, the core criteria for me is: does it uplift or degrade my self-definition or my definition of others? Some of most violent films ever made (Saving Private Ryan, Children of Men) uplifted my outlook, while some of the most well-made and award-winning (Silence of the Lambs, Jaws) left me only horrified. So now I look for the uplift.

Thanks for your question, Dennis! What does everyone else think?

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Take your time and think for yourself

My daughter recently sent me this passage from Mary Baker Eddy's Unity of Good, so I thought I'd pass it along:

…[A]t the present crude hour, no wise men or women will rudely or prematurely agitate a theme involving the All of infinity.

Rather will they rejoice in the small understanding they have already gained of the wholeness of Deity, and work gradually and gently up toward the perfect thought divine. This meekness will increase their apprehension of God, because their mental struggles and pride of opinion will proportionately diminish.

Every one should be encouraged not to accept any personal opinion on so great a matter, 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.

"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.

Let us respect the rights of conscience and the liberty of the sons of God, so letting our "moderation be known to all men."

Unity of Good, p. 4–5

In short, take your time and think for yourself. Thanks, honey!

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Bonding with the team

Spent most of the weekend at a retreat for a new position as assistant director of my networking organization. I'm now over four chapters, and at the retreat had to develop goals for the year.

There was also a lot of bonding and inspiration with the AD team of about 25. The first night, we had to break up into teams of six and perform an intense wellness relay. The team as a whole had to 1) run a mile, 2) do 200 each of sit-ups, pushups and jumping jacks, 3) run 8 flights of stairs (5 levels each), 4) answer some wellness related questions, and 5) build a bridge out of newspaper. In 20 minutes. It was crazy! Everyone had to do at least a little of each thing. I'm proud to say that I knocked myself out. I was exhausted but feeling very energized by the end.

The start of the retreat included an introduction by the executive director, an amazing woman. She said two things that really struck me:

• If you're confused, you're about to learn something.
• If you're frustrated, you're about to have a breakthrough.

Aren't those cool? Confusion and frustration are usually so uncomfortable we get caught on the sensations. But what if we saw them both as opportunities that would inevitably lead to a positive outcome? I loved that.

Later, I shared something I'd heard lately (but can't remember where, if you recognize it, please tell me):

If you want to get something you've never had,
you've got to do something you've never done.

The weekend left me with the feeling that anything is possible.

How was your weekend?

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Jesus was himself

I'm on the chapter Atonement and Eucharist in Science and Health, and, as I've mentioned, I'm bringing my questions about self-discovery to the reading. So, here I am facing this chapter about Jesus and his mission. And it occurred to me: Jesus was always himself.

Here are some Mary Baker Eddy insights from my reading so far:

Jesus acted boldly, against the accredited evidence of the senses, against Pharisaical creeds and practices, and he refuted all opponents with his healing power. p. 18

The Master forbore not to speak the whole truth, declaring precisely what would destroy sickness, sin, and death, although his teaching set households at variance, and brought to material beliefs not peace, but a sword. p. 19

He rendered "unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved, not by spirits but by Spirit. p. 20

"Despised and rejected of men," returning blessing for cursing, he taught mortals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not, well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness. p. 20

Neither the origin, the character, nor the work of Jesus was generally understood. Not a single component part of his nature did the material world measure aright. p. 28

Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does for man. p. 26

What I'm appreciating these days is that Jesus had a mission of his own to complete, and he did it. Unflinching, he faced what he needed to do. Because of what he did, I don't have to do it. I have a mission of my own that I need to complete as fully as he did.

This to me is becoming one way that I can emulate him. As a Christian, I'm committed to following Jesus and his teachings, to learning as much as I can about healing, to living the spiritual lessons he taught us. In addition to this, I can follow his example by discovering and then expressing the unique nature I've been given.

The Creator created only one Jesus. The Creator created only one me. Jesus did his job; I must also do mine.

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Eat pray love

Just finished the book Eat pray love by Elizabeth Gilbert, which was recommended to me by my life coach, and it turns out almost every important woman in my life has read it already (not sure about you, Mom?). Loved it, loved it, loved it. If you have read the book, you'll love the 10 Frequently Asked Questions on her Website.

First, for fun, I want to quote my favorite funny passage. She's going to visit Naples during her time in Italy, and her friend gives her an essential bit of information.

…[B]efore I left Rome, [Giovanni] gave me the name of a pizzeria in Naples that I had to try, because, [he] informed me, it sold the best pizza in Naples. I found this a wildly exciting prospect, given that the best pizza in Italy is from Naples, and the best pizza in the world is from Italy, which means that this pizzeria must offer … I'm almost too superstitious to say it … the best pizza in the world? Giovanni passed along the name of the place with such seriousness and intensity, I almost felt I was being inducted into a secret society. He pressed the address into the palm of my hand and said, in gravest confidence, "Please go to this pizzeria. Order the margherita pizza with double mozzarella. If you do not eat this pizza when you are in Naples, please lie to me later and tell me that you did."

So [my friend] Sofie [from Stockholm] and I have come to Pizzeria da Michele, and these pies we have just ordered—one for each of us—are making us lose our minds. I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza, almost an affair. Meanwhile, Sofie is practically in tears over hers, she's having a metaphysical crisis about it, she's begging me, "Why do they even bother trying to make pizza in Stockholm? Why do we even bother eating food at all in Stockholm?"

I was reading this passage while sitting with my son to get his driver's permit back in October, and I subsequently made a fool of myself laughing out loud and making him then read it. Great book, laced with fabulous writing and introspective humor.

And, also, a deep spiritual journey. The trajectory Gilbert travels resonated so thoroughly with my own that I can almost imagine myself on that island in Bali at the end of mine, too. Except mine will be the beach in Malibu.

Interestingly, though, this is the first book I'm recommending where I'm not going to go into great detail about each revelation as it came. It's like that pizza place—you have to experience it for yourself.

See you in Naples.

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Encouragement from the Universe

Today I wanted to share some great notes I got from "The Universe," that daily encouraging email I've subscribed to. These thoughts meant a lot to me.

For every fork in the road, there are often two paths to choose from... the one you "should" take and the one you want to take.

Take the second. Always take the second.

I did,
The Universe

The choice is always simple enough, clear your plate if you want dessert.

From the kitchen,
The Universe

Do you know how to give folks what they most, most, most want from you, without even asking them what it is?

In all regards, just be yourself.

That's what they were after when they manifested you into their lives.

Whoa!
The Universe

I love it!

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How to find companionship

My read-through of Science and Health continues illuminating. One of the issues I'm bringing to the reading is the desire for companionship. This passage jumped off the page at me with new meaning:

If my friends are going to Europe, while I am en route for California, we are not journeying together. We have separate time-tables to consult, different routes to pursue. Our paths have diverged at the very outset, and we have little opportunity to help each other. On the contrary, if my friends pursue my course, we have the same railroad guides, and our mutual interests are identical; or, if I take up their line of travel, they help me on, and our companionship may continue. Science and Health

Seems to me this paragraph is putting forth two important criteria for choosing our companions, especially the most intimate ones.

1. Need to be going in the same direction
2. Need to be on the same time-table

If these two criteria are met, we can help each other on the journey.

I've been finding lately that even for the many terrific people that I've enjoyed getting to know, if we're not going in the same direction or on the same time-table, the relationship won't go that much further. And in thinking back, I can see that it was trying to force myself or another person to change pace or change direction for the sake of staying together that led to emotional mess.

So this one paragraph has clarified for me what to look out for. I love meeting new people, and have been known in the past to talk myself into some really inappropriate situations just because I like someone. Then, I'd get hurt when it didn't work out. Now, I can just ask myself these two questions about direction and timing. It's so much simpler than trying to figure out why he doesn't like me or won't do what I want. I don't need to take it personally when a relationship doesn't blossom—it's all about direction and timing. The best relationship will feel natural and easy because we'll be moving down the same road at the same pace. I can wait for that.

This reading of Science and Health is truly helping me. I'm feeling safer every day because I'm gaining a deeper understanding of concepts I can fully trust.

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Q: Couple questions and Happy Thanksgiving!

Just thought I'd answer a couple quick questions before the long weekend.

Dennis R. asked if my Science and Health reading includes the Bible lesson or is in addition to it. It's in addition to it. I'm reading Science and Health straight through just for the purpose I've described in posts earlier this week. The Bible lesson is a different study for me.

Obidon asked about Monday's posting: "How do you determine your values?"

This is a big question! I have to admit first that it took me months to gain the courage for life coaching. I got into it gradually. For my writing business, I had worked with several life coaches on their Websites. They would describe their services—helping people get to their core values and live authentically—and it would petrify me. I'd move off of my standard questions designed to give me an understanding of their businesses to questions like, "What if a person is too scared to be coached? Does anyone find out horrible things about themselves? What if their dreams are just too big that they can never attain them?" The whole thing fascinated me, but frightened me.

Eventually, though, I helped one of my very good friends with her site, and her approach was gentle enough and I trusted her enough that we bartered editing for coaching. And she started with getting me to articulate my values.

For example, the simple one we all hope for, which is to only do things we love. I wanted to stop doing things that drain me and instead devote all my time to things that I love doing and that energize me. Over the years I'd absorbed an external value that doing things you don't love is somehow virtuous and you'll get your reward later. My coach helped me see that this isn't *my* value, but one imposed from outside. My own value is to do things I love exclusively.

Once I knew that, I began to pay attention to those things I do in my life that I don't love. I began to notice the things that drained my enthusiasm rather than inspired me. Just noticing was a big step. Then, it became time for a conscious decision of whether I'd keep doing them or not. Some things I still have to do, to keep cash flow going, but at least I'm aware of the need to replace that income as soon as possible. Other things I'm trying out to see if they're going to be helpful in the long run.

One thing I noticed *always* energizes me is talking with people about spirituality, specifically helping them on their spiritual journey. When I'm talking with someone and helping them think through a situation, time flies by for me and I leave the conversation more in love with the Divine than ever. So that's an activity I'll always keep.

Determining one's own values is a very individual thing. What makes you, yourself, happy? Not what makes your family happy, or your church, or your boss, but *you.*

It is the will of the Divine that you be happy. Give yourself permission to discover for yourself how to fulfill that divine directive. It will be different for each of us, but it will be amazing and fabulous across the board. What a world it would be if every person lived according to their own light rather than continuing to enact the values of others!

I'm grateful that you are you and I am me, and together our perfect expression teaches us about the infinite nature of the Divine. Happy Thanksgiving!

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It's a book about me

I've read Science and Health my whole life. It's always helped me through every tough situation, and it's encouraged me in the good times as well. I've thought of it as a book *for* me. Now, on this read through, I'm seeing it for the first time as a book *about* me.

Check this out:

We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are.

Science and Health, page 8

That in a nutshell is what my journey is all about these days. What is the affection and purpose of my heart? Who am I really? And there's Mary Baker Eddy, telling me it's okay to explore these things and figure it out. In fact, she says I "should" do this self-examination. It's not self-indulgence, it's essential to the spiritual journey.

Which of course makes sense, and I could have figured this out for myself. But I'm one who has always needed a light to guide me, and Science and Health has always been that light. Sometimes I resist turning the light on because somehow I get the weird idea that I won't like what I see. But when I finally crack open that book one more time, I find only encouragement and love.

I have a little reminder in Outlook that pops up to remind me to do my fifteen minutes of reading every day. I've never been so eager to drop everything to do a task on my to-do list before. It's like talking with a best friend who knows you better than anyone else ever has or will. How great that MBE took the time to write a book about me, so many years ago!

I think she wrote it about you, too. Take a look and see.

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Time for a read-through

It's funny how spiritual messages come. I've told you I'm working with a life coach, which is a truly great experience that I'd recommend to anyone trying to figure out how to be more happy, empowered and fulfilled.

One of the key points is articulating and then living in line with your own values. Not the values of your family or friends or church or job, but your own internal, authentic values. It's been interesting to me to discover my own values. Yet, I'm still being guided by the Divine. These values are not in conflict with anything of the Spirit. I have my own unique expression, and that's where the individuality comes in.

I've found myself considering experimenting here and there with new activities, some that even seem a little risky (i.e., writing a novel), and then laugh to have things subsequently happen so slowly that there's no risk at all. I feel like divine Love understands where I need to go and is helping me get there safely and joyfully.

So my life coach picked up on my own internal value of pursuing spirituality. And, she noticed that I wasn't making as much time for it as I have in the past. She suggested 15 minutes a day of dedicated thought surrounding spirituality. I remembered that in other times of my life when I've been in transition, I've picked up a clean copy of Science and Health and read it straight through. I did this during my two pregnancies and at other points of career change or spiritual growth. I started a new one on Friday.

It's already soooo fruitful, and I'm on page 4. I listed inside the front cover those issues I'm wrestling with right now: things like values, companionship, self-expression, etc. Then I started to read, bringing all those issues to the reading. And, I got caught on the frontispiece even! Those long-time familiar words had a new, exciting ring to them as never before.

Ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.

— John viii. 32

There is nothing either good or bad,
but thinking makes it so.

— Shakespeare

Oh! Thou hast heard my prayer;
And I am blest!
This is Thy high behest: —
Thou here, and everywhere.

— Mary Baker G. Eddy

Science and Health iii
(some emphasis added)

I added the phrase "about myself" to a few parts of this. Knowing the truth about myself will make me free—a wide freedom that does not constrict in any way. There is nothing either good or bad about myself but thinking makes it so, so perhaps I should get a little more out of my head and more into my heart.

And then the prayer by Mary Baker Eddy told me that God hears my desires and blesses me. This is His high behest—His divine will—that I be blest. And the declaration that wherever I go, there He will be. He is here, and everywhere.

I am scribbling and scribbling notes from this new perspective all through the margins in this clean Science and Health. It's an adventure of thought. I am blest!

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Love, hate; light, dark; life, death

Another recommendation from last Saturday's talk was to re-read I John in its entirety. Always a worthy study.

This time when reading all five chapters I was struck by the juxtapositions of opposites. Light, dark; love, hate; life, death. This would bother me, I suppose, if I didn't also have Mary Baker Eddy's take on real, unreal. If something is genuinely real, its opposite (I mean a true opposite, not just a pairing) must be unreal. One cannot exist where the other is. These are true opposites.

When I John says in chapter one, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all," we have a statement implying the unreality of darkness, not just its absence, since God is all.

So then when we get to the section about Love, there we have Love equated with God, meaning it is all, it is the only real, it fills all space, and we are in it. We are Loved. We're not just loved in an abstract distant way—Love actually created us, we are the emanation of Love, Love is the essence that launched us forth.

Likewise, we exist in Light, since God is Light. We exist in Life, since God is Life. "He that hath the Son hath life," says the fifth chapter, "and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." Does this mean there are some who are excluded? Not to me. No one "hath not the Son." Not one. Every being that has life, that manifests existence, has a connection to the Christ, the divine sense of Sonship. The opposite condition, i.e., no connection to Christ, also has no connection to Life, so therefore it must be unreal, because Life fills all space and its opposite does not exist.

You are in love, light, life. No opposite state exists. Embrace it!

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Never alone

I'm taking a page from my friend Kate's blog, and sharing a favorite song—Never Alone, from the soundtrack of the 1980 movie, Fame:

I've seen the lightning flashing and heard the thunder roll
I've felt sin's breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul
I've heard the voice of Jesus when telling me to fight on
He promised never to leave me, no, never alone

Never alone, never alone, oh, never
Never alone, never alone
He'll never leave you alone

The world's fierce winds are blowing, temptations sharp and keen
I felt a peace in knowing my Savior stands between
He stands to shield me from danger when earthly friends are gone
He promised never to leave me, no, never alone

Never alone, never alone, oh, never
Never alone, never alone
He'll never leave you alone

When in affliction's valley, I'm treading the road of care
My Savior helps me to carry my cross when heavy to bear
My feet entangled with briars, ready to cast me down

He'll never leave you alone
Oh, He'll never leave you alone

I'd been rocking to that song in my car for the week prior to the association I attended on Saturday, so one section of the address really stood out to me. It was about the fact that we are never alone.

There are those who would argue the point with me, I'm sure. But what I got from the talk on Saturday is that we're never alone in the search. Parts of it may feel like we're struggling alone, but we're all in this together. The Divine constantly accompanies us, and can be relied on to either be a direct presence or to send us friends when we need them.

I think the only times this hasn't worked for me was when I was insisting within myself to handle everything on my own. When I didn't think I needed anyone else, or that I had to prove something, or that I wasn't worthy. Those times did indeed feel very lonely, like the whole world rested on my shoulders and could pull me down.

But when I started to approach even my own difficulties with some humility, realizing that as tough as they seemed, they weren't the end of the world, that in the greater scheme of things my troubles were as nothing, I gained the perspective to resist taking myself so seriously. And, even in those times, I found the most comfort when I was comforting or caring for others.

That's what the address on Saturday said, actually. We find Love when we express Love. We understand Love by showing it to our fellow beings, not by receiving it from them.

I think it's a truism then, that we're never alone if we love.

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Doing your duty

On Saturday, I went to an association meeting (an annual event for those who have taken Christian Science class instruction), and the ideas flowed over non-stop. I'll be sharing some of what meant the most to me here over the next several days.

The opening discussion included the concept of duty. Like many others, I imagine, I'd always thought duty to be arduous, a chore, actual work—something I had to force myself to do. If I were virtuous enough, I'd do my duty without complaint, but it unless it felt like something I'd rather not be doing, it wouldn't truly be doing my duty.

Here's a definition from a very handy online 1828 Webster's Dictionary:

Duty: that which a person owes to another; that which a person is bound, by any natural, moral or legal obligation, to pay, do or perform.

Another definition online reads:

Duty: a moral compulsion for ethical action that is innate.

The discussion on Saturday included the ideas that a true duty can be thought of as fueled by love. It's a native expression of our own purpose. It's not, then, foreign to us, but totally natural. Hence, it's not a chore or a burden. It's Love in action.

This struck me in the context of the one thing I would consider in my life where I've fulfilled my duty, and that's in raising my children. It never felt like duty when I was doing it, however. I just did what I needed to do because I love them. Afterward, I look back and go, Wow, how did I do that? But while it's going on, it's not a burden. It might be tough, but it's not something I would ever turn from.

So when I think of all those we might consider who do their duty without question, i.e., soldiers, firefighters, police officers, teachers, pilots, it enlarges my gratitude for what they do when I remember that their fulfillment of their duty is an expression of Love. Not so much love of what they need to do, but love of their fellow beings.

It's also making me a hair more willing to do what I need to do. When I remember that I'm acting out of love, it's less about imposing my will and more about coming together with others to share ideas and make something better as a team.

Duty = Love. I think I can do my duty today.

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Q: How Christians pray

This comment came in from Bill, a reader in Illinois:

Recently, I've been told in no uncertain terms from a couple of very conservative Christians that prayers are going up to the ears of Jesus Christ as the mediator between man and God before they reach God as the Father. In fact all prayers are answered or not answered by Jesus. Of course, this way of viewing prayer is a physical human way of viewing prayer. Even so, prayer is practiced by many this way. I mean, Christians pray to Jesus as God, then Jesus decides if the prayer requests are worthwhile to send on up to the Father (the way I understand it).

I don't think it has registered with metaphysical Christians that this prayer process above is how most Christians pray. Is it worth commenting on?

I'm no authority on how the various sects of Christianity teach their adherents to pray. But on this praying to Jesus subject, I've often thought, "Hasn't the guy done enough for us already? Give him a break!"

Kidding aside, it seems to me the prayer theory Bill's highlighting assumes a few things:

1. God doesn't hear us directly, or care about us as individuals.
2. God's got too much to do, so can't answer every prayer.
3. God has set up the universe such that things could go wrong, but through prayer we can get Him to alter His own design for a better outcome.
4. God needs an administrative assistant to handle appointments and scheduling: i.e., Jesus.
5. God is essentially the same as human beings, only bigger.

Okay, yeah, to me, this isn't God. I couldn't worship that kind of being, any more than I could worship the Roman god Jupiter or the Greek goddess Artemis. That kind of being is one to bargain with, to try to get around, or to avoid, if possible. You'd want to stay out of its line of sight, actually, because who knows what it would throw at you.

So, who is God? Who is Love? Who is Life? Who is Mind? I'm talking about an infinite Being, wholly Spirit, with no—repeat, NO—human characteristics of any kind. A Being so totally transcendent that it defies time and space. A Being who, once understood, obliterates discord of every kind by the simple fact of its omnipresence.

When you pray to this God, you're not asking, you're understanding. You're aligning yourself with what already is. It's *you* that changes, not the Divine nor its creation. And all that's changing about you is your thought.

Let's all pray to that God today, and see what happens.

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Things that speak peace

Back in September, the JWalking blog started providing "Thin Places," inspiring images from around the globe. Here's what he wrote about them:

Celtic Christians had a term for those places or for those moments where the veil between heaven and earth was lifted or was thinner. They called those spots, those moments, "thin places." They worshipped there, they celebrated them. I'd like to celebrate them here as well.

So every day or so, he posts these offerings, and I always find them inspirational. What are your thin places?

Another inspiring source I wanted to share today is this one, from my own dear blogger.com:

Blogger Play

It's a slide show of every image being uploaded to blogger at that very instant. Sometimes I just turn it on and bask. You can start it and stop it, rewind if you want, change the speed, and access the blog the photo came from. You get a window into people's artwork, their families, their surroundings, their pets… It's just an amazing snapshot of the best of humanity. I find watching these images just smooths away any friction and gives me an increasing sense of joy.

So, enjoy!

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