Death penalty under scrutiny

I thought this was good news today:

Justices Stay Execution, a Signal to Lower Courts

Essentially, the Supreme Court has signaled to stay all executions until they can figure out how they feel about a particular method of execution, that of lethal injection. Is it "cruel and unusual" or not?

So, no one will be being executed for the time being. I'm glad about this, because I believe in Life. The opposite of Life, to me, should not be used as a solution to anything. I'm not saying that I wouldn't end a human life if I had to—if someone were immediately threatening a small child, for example—but to have it be so institutionalized and calculated, not to mention unfairly applied to non-whites, just seems unevolved to me. I think the US is one of the few countries that still practices this form of punishment.

Also, I've always thought that the death penalty just postpones the reckoning for ourselves and the individual. By choosing to punish with death, we eject from our ranks those who still need redemption. And, if you believe in an afterlife, as I do, you've got to ask: What are things like on the other side with all these unredeemed criminals running around? Are we just shunting our problems onto the next realm?

I'd rather face up to the fact that we're in this together. That the anti-social among us are a product of their context, and we have a responsibility to collectively improve that context so that anti-social behavior happens less and less. It's a tougher, longer road than simply excising those whose actions make us angry and vengeful. Are we gaining the spiritual strength to love and redeem even these? Are we gaining the wisdom to devise consequences that teach rather than punish?

This current issue is a legal wrangle in the courts, but it reflects I believe our country's ambivalence toward the death penalty. I hope it's an indication of a growing movement to find another way.

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Identity and individuality

This comment came in on my posting about selfhood a couple weeks ago, and I meant to share it here. Thanks, Amanda!

To me, the concept of unique spiritual identity and individuality, as explained in Christian Science have been of IMMENSE value. It gets us past the negative sense of self-immolation "you are nothing, worthless", etc. and allows us to find something much more valuable. It allows us to replace the counterfeit, superficial "me", with something much more real and lasting and of real value: our real spiritual essence, which is fully identifiable, distinct and unique. Our genuine spiritual identity is also good, useful and precious to God and discoverable and expressable by us! What a gift! The alternative to this concept of a clear spiritual identity can sometimes seem to be a kind of nihilistic nothingness, or with a kind of amorphous "absorption into deity". The concept of God as "infinite individuality" is huge!

I am so grateful to Mrs. Eddy for discovering and expressing this specifically, as well as everything else!
Thanks
Amanda

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Quick update and worshipping women

Good Monday morning everyone!

First, just an update: you'll recall the looming driver's instruction from a few weeks ago. Well, it turns out the kid is a natural. All those years of Grand Theft Auto (a computer game) have paid off. He has better spacial acuity and sensitivity to his surroundings than I do along with really fast reaction time. What he doesn't have is a detailed knowledge of the law. ("Um, yes, you do need to come to a complete stop at stop signs, even if there's no traffic.") We're working on that. So just a word to the wise—if your adolescent has been squealing his or her wheels for years in high-speed online chase scenes, they will be able to keep you from getting hit but may need to understand that in a real car, you do need to pay attention to things like lanes and traffic lights.

Second, and totally unrelated, I found this wonderful Sanskrit quote on a friend in India's blog:

Where women are worshipped, goddesses dwell.
Where they are not worshipped, all actions are fruitless.

This just hit me on many levels! As I've mentioned, I'm writing a book on Rome, and of course women back then were totally marginalized, at least on paper. No voting rights, difficult property rights, no possibility of any career besides marriage (for the upper classes). Even today, communities that don't value women suffer from lack of progress.

But also the quote told me that even here, womanhood, the feminine essence of divinity, needs deeper appreciation. To worship womanhood is to uplift all of us to divine status. To ignore or downgrade or marginalize it is to affect the creative potential of the entire surrounding society.

As I think through the potential for my own life, I'm realizing I need to appreciate more the womanhood I express. I don't focus on it much in the day-to-day fight for survival and having to be two parents to my kids. This may be the time to explore this side of my nature more thoroughly. Which would explain why that passage somehow meant so much to me—time to embrace the Divine as feminine.

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Let it out!

This simply made me weep this morning. I saw it first on beliefnet's JWalking. Please watch it!

And it's fitting in perfectly with something I've been cherishing, and that is finding your voice and expressing it. Notice how the man's talent transcends the most cynical of judges. Notice the looks on their faces, the awe, the sublime joy as something so priceless is shared. Notice audience members leaping to their feet. I'm still weeping. [My friend emailed me: "The guy (Paul Potts) won the entire British competition, and already has a bestselling opera CD out. His career in opera is all set!!"]

I went to a book signing / party last night for a book I edited called Look What I Found Underneath the Bed. It's a fascinating window into the urban black scene, the "dangerously funny" story of a young man coming of age and learning to fend for himself. He takes a job in the moving industry to earn the $10,000 he needs in one summer so he can go to college in the fall. I loved working with this author. He has so much to say, and nothing is going to keep him from saying it.

What's inside you, placed there by the Divine, struggling and panting to get out?

Let it out!

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Q: Treatment a la Laura

This question came in from Lisa in Georgia:

Laura, when you are giving a treatment, do you have to be physically present with the person whom you are treating and do you have them participate in some way?

I'm glad for this question because it gives me the opportunity to describe where I am with the practice these days.

First, let me give some information about Christian Science practitioners in general. There are practitioners who are in what's known as the "full time practice," many of whom are available for calls any time day or night. I've worked with full timers who can take up the prayerful work on my behalf, without my having to come see them or really do anything for the healing. Other times, I've had to dig in myself along with the practitioner's prayers. It depends more on where I am in my spiritual journey than what the practitioner is like. Each case is different.

"Part time practitioners" also provide non-present prayerful treatment and can either do all the work on your behalf or suggest ways you can participate. They're just not as available 24/7 the way full timers are. Perhaps they also have other jobs or families, etc.

As for me, I think I'm creating some kind of new category that might just be me alone. My practice has segued into more of a coaching role, stemming from this Weblog—kind of resembling a Sunday school teacher for adults. While I do pray for those who call me, I'm consistently requiring their full participation in the healing. In other words, with my encouragement, they're the ones achieving the spiritual growth needed for the healing to take place.

I give ideas on how to think more clearly, tips on how to quiet thought, concepts from my knowledge of human nature to bring perspective to the problem. Also, I've been told that I'm incredibly easy to talk to. I don't get shocked by anything—bring it on!

While I don't have to be physically present with a person, I do require that they make the healing a priority and that they do the spade work necessary. When I sense a person needs something other than I can provide, I refer them to another practitioner in their local area.

So, if you want to talk something through, if you want some pointers on where to go next on your journey, if you want someone to make you laugh at the problem and rise above it, I'm here for you. I'll help you see that you have within you all that you need to face and overcome whatever issues are on your plate.

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Fellow-citizens with the saints

The fact that many people enjoy privileges that others don't just because of how and where they're born has cropped up in my life a lot lately.

• I'm researching the Roman Empire for a book, and it turns out there was a distinct line between what Roman citizens got and what everyone else got. Crucifixion, for example, was a typical punishment for just about anything—unless you were Roman. If you were Roman, no matter what you did, the worst punishment was exile. They didn't practice capital punishment on citizens. I was surprised at that.
• I went to a meeting of the mentors for the Mazie Foundation last night, and heard about the intense, insurmountable difficulties some of the students are facing due to soon-to-expire visas and lack of citizenship. Their futures are getting cut off before they even get started.
• I told my son the other day not to take for granted the advantages he has just because he's white, male and American.

I can't pretend to any level of expertise on the larger political question of immigration. The town I live in is wildly diverse, with large populations both legal and otherwise from Brazil, Russia, Cambodia, India, and in a larger sense, I would hope each one is striving for legality. But when faced with a particular individual, like the student in the Mazie program, who has a dream and has to overcome huge obstacles I never had to face to achieving it, I just want the situation to be a bit more fair.

It's almost an instinctive reaction from within my heart somewhere—that desire for everyone to have the same opportunities as everyone else. I suppose it stems from a conviction that in the eyes of the Divine, we are all equally valued, cherished, delighted in, essential. Not one is meant to fall by the wayside neglected. Each of us is a divine being, a creation of Spirit, who has the totality of infinite Spirit to reflect and express. So why can't human institutions and structures embody that more?

Perhaps there's a belief in limitation that we need to overcome. I've heard people say there are limited resources, limited jobs, limited housing units, limited health care facilities. If these go to those who are here illegally, what will be left for those here legitimately? But many of those here legally don't want those jobs or houses. Needs are being met that advance the standard of living of particular individuals, even if it's not a standard that someone in my socioeconomic sphere would want. It's complicated to sort out humanly.

So I need to take it higher. The Bible talks about being "fellow-citizens with the saints." I love that image. Here's the passage:

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God (Eph. 2:19).

My prayer this morning then is that even as we're sorting out what to do humanly, we remember that we're not only fellow-citizens with each other, but also with the saints. God is watching over His saints, not to make some more privileged than others, but that all will fully express Him in liberty, safety, abundance.

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God keeps these boys safe

You know how when teenaged boys act on impulse and try things they know they're not supposed to? And then this impulsive action puts them in physical danger? But somehow they manage to survive it? And they learn a sharp lesson?

This is the kind of weekend I had. Without going into too many details, let's just say I had up-close-and-personal experience with this kind of eventuality. My son seems to fall in the "I have to learn by doing" category. And learn he did. When we talked about it afterward, I told him he could tell God loves him for two reasons: he didn't get hurt (well, not too badly), and he did get caught.

I'm amazed at the capacity of divine Love to keep people safe even in the face of their own experimentation. When I look back on my own teenage years, there were plenty of opportunities for disaster to strike, but it didn't. I credit my mother's prayers, and the basic goodness of myself and my friends.

For we were all basically good kids, just curious and energetic and bored. I see this now in the kids I know. Unfortunately, I also see many of them not learning from their bad moves, but continuing to repeat them even when the results are poor. I also see many of them developing a cagey ability to hide everything from their nearest and dearest. This saddens me, because I know it just makes the recovery process longer and more difficult.

So I'm grateful this morning that for some reason, my son never gets away with anything. I know everything as soon as it happens. We then talk about it. This weekend, for example, the primary purpose seems to have been to teach him what to do when he's upset about something—and what not to do. He should avoid drowning his sorrows, so to speak, with unhealthy activity and irresponsible associates. He should instead find something constructive to do, and we talked about what those things might be. And, we shared lots of hugs.

They're all good kids. And God is paying attention. As parents, we are God's agents in this transaction, and we need to pay attention as well. Close, non-judgmental, non-furious, patient, loving, understanding attention. And trust that this attention, in combination with the child's inherent goodness and the Divine's watchful eye, will keep them safe.

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Q: Baptism and communion

This question came in from Bill, a reader in Australia:

i have only been to the christian science meetings here a few times and i'm having a hard time understating why mary baker eddy had a completely different view than most other bible believing churches regarding baptism, communion, etc. please explain your reason for believing she was right!

That's an interesting question, I had to think about it for a while. Why do I think MBE's take on baptism, communion, and other rituals is right?

I have to say first that it's not that I think the others are wrong. I think there's a lot of validity in rituals that have meaning for the people participating in them. If your baptism ritual involves water, if your communion involves bread and wine, these symbols can open your heart to the spiritual meaning.

The problem for me comes when the rituals become *all* that's happening. When people assign the ritual itself spiritual import, or think the Almighty is influenced by participation in the ritual. For example, does participating in a water baptism actually send a message to the Divine that a creation of His is now sanctified? He sanctified it already, upon creation. I guess I don't believe human rituals have an effect on our true being. At most, they are our own outward indication of something we're realizing from within.

Also, there have been lots of arguments over the course of history about the outward rituals that have little to do with the spiritual meaning. Wars have been fought over the significance of the bread, for example. Thousands—millions—have died fighting over whether baptism leads straight to salvation or if deeds are also required. Human nature gets hung up on the outward expressions far too easily. You can find fault with someone who does things differently than you do. It's hard to find fault with something that's happening within.

For that reason, I've always loved how MBE stripped the rituals of any material expression, making them entirely spiritual. It's hard to fight over that. Here are a couple definitions from Science and Health:

BAPTISM. Purification by Spirit; submergence in Spirit. (p. 581)

Our baptism is a purification from all error. ... Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one God. Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven," is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspiration of Love, the draught our Master drank and commended to his followers. (p. 35)

Christian Scientists have baptism and communion, which is celebrated daily, hourly, moment-by-moment. These spiritual practices are intense, personal, deeply transformative, and ongoing. They're not one-time or periodic events. It's our obligation to continually submerge ourselves in Spirit, to dig deeper into the Truth, to commune wholeheartedly with God.

What do baptism and communion mean to you?

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Wonderful things from Sense of Wonder

As promised, here's what Pam of Sense of Wonder had to say about recent postings (you may remember I wrote about her here):

Hi Laura, I was very interested in your entry today about self expression. I agree with what you are saying about squelching individuality and I also feel that a person cannot suppress that beautiful individual expression that is bursting to come out. You can't hold that back. It is like flood-tides of Love. I think after a while the person becomes unhappy and has to do something about it. And then hopefully they listen to their inner wisdom and know how to do it.

I am enclosing an attachment of something I wrote for parents and students about Creative Expression.

I think about self expression a lot, so if I think of anything else I will send it along. The program that I do is all about expressing oneself and finding one's own niche.

More coming.....

Much love, Pam

Here's the attachment:

Sense of Wonder Creations

Creative Expression

Everyone has creative talent. Each person is a unique, original individual and has inherent potential and ability. In an atmosphere of love and vast amounts of encouragement young people feel free to explore, discover and put their ideas into form without comparison or negative critique. This opens the door to uninhibited creativity and new ways of seeing.

Creativity: At the National Conference of Creativity at the University of Michigan, educators agreed that "all children are creative, but it lessens markedly as adulthood approaches." This discouraging trend can be avoided. We try to show our students how to recognize any belief or mental block that would hinder their inspiration and creative imagination. Lack of freedom, intimidation, peer pressure, or feelings of inadequacy can be challenged and overcome. Children and adults can learn to reject anything that would obstruct the natural flow of abundant ideas.

Ways of Seeing: When drawing, painting, or sculpting from life, we show students how to study an object or scene and observe it carefully. Looking at something for a long time one can always find something new, but looking isn’t really "seeing." Really seeing something with your heart and soul brings your artist's lens into the focus of resolution and discernment.

The Process: In a society bombarded with games and entertainment producing instant gratification, accomplishing a simple task is often lost to impatience and frustration. Capturing interest and cultivating new "ways of seeing" brings patience, peace and joy to the creative journey. Cherishing the process leads to greater mastery of skill and this proficiency is fulfilled with an original idea being brought to fruition.

• love and encouragement
• safe, comfortable atmosphere
• exploration and discovery
• non-competitive
• creativity
• ways of seeing
• enjoying the process

Then she wrote to me again yesterday, addressing the email to "Hi Laura self and Self":

Yes, that is it... Self and self.

I am always talking about Self with the young people who come through Sense of Wonder and I really love the challenge of putting it in the language they can understand. For instance the comments on Creative Expression are simplified and the semantics are changed for the general public. We also talk about their behavior too, being kind, giving, patient, loving. It is amazing and thrilling to me to see how many "Sunday School"

ideas I can talk to them about. It touches their heart and appeals to their true nature and they will get very quiet and listen even if they are being wild and crazy.

We also talk about there being "No better or best" and that goes for Art and Individuals. Everyone and everyone's expression is unique, individual and different and they all blend together like notes in a symphony, different colors in nature... harmonious beautiful, inspiring. No comparison which helps to lift the motivation for doing better to be truly wanting to express God's qualities to the best of one's own understanding of their relationship with God. God and man the standard of perfection.

Thanks for your great blog site. I love reading all your thoughtful entries. Have a lovely birdsong day.

lots of love, Pam

Isn't she great? Such a feast of ideas. I hope everyone finds a piece of that "sense of wonder" in their day today.

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The necessity of selfhood

A couple readers wrote in response to yesterday's posting about Ego vs. ego, the first being the Divine and the second being what is called in Christian Science "mortal mind." What's I like about the Christian Science teaching is that it clearly states that the mortal mind ego is not us. We're taught to separate out any mortal characteristics and embrace the immortal, which is our true being.

It's important to have that clear, I think, when talking about your own selfhood. The traditional Christian teaching (that I'm reading in the books I'm editing) that selfhood is inherently sinful leads to the teaching that selfhood should be dispensed with entirely. You wind up then with no self at all, which is the part I find disturbing.

So it's bothering me that there's a systemic teaching that is leading people to a limited, guilty conclusion. You're a sinner, so don't even bother to figure out what you want or what's unique about you—just dissolve yourself and do what God is telling you. Serve others without any thought to your own self-actualization.

And for some reason, this is making me think there are political and social ramifications to presenting Christianity in this way. It can stop people in their tracks as far as their own individual progress is concerned. It can lead others to take advantage of this form of "selflessness" for their own gain. Is this making sense?

I just want to put my stake in the ground then for saying I don't believe individual self-actualization and Christianity are incompatible. I think truly following Christ leads to a deeper understanding of the Divine and our own perfect image-and-likeness expression. I believe it's the intention of the Divine that we understand God and thereby ourselves, and that in understanding our own true being we also understand more spiritually. We are not inherently blocked from selfhood—we are made for it.

A bit more on this tomorrow from my artist friend Pamela...

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Self expression and divine will

Reprieve: In case you're wondering, there were no driving lessons over the weekend—on Friday when we went to get the permit, the computers were down and he couldn’t take the test. And I was sort of looking forward to it! On to Monday…

There is a subject I’m starting to be disturbed about, and I hope I can write about this in a way that doesn't sound critical. Many of you know I'm a freelance editor, and I've been editing a lot of books lately for an online self-publishing company. Because of my strong background in the Bible, I've been assigned many of the books by Christian writers.

I find myself wanting to share Science and Health with all of them, although I can't because the work isn't set up in such a way that I have direct contact with the authors. What I am learning more about is the wide range of theory Christianity has evolved. It struck me this weekend that some of it has been downright damaging.

In particular, an author put forth the concept (complete with the assumption that all her readers would agree with it) that one needs to subsume one's own sense of selfhood in order to hear and obey the will of God. Only as we rid ourselves of self do we come close to what Jesus taught us to do.

I found myself at first objecting to this personally, perhaps because of the life coaching I've been doing. (I'm editing the works as objectively as I can, however.) In the coaching, I'm being encouraged to discover more about my authentic self and to listen to it—to get over my fears and limiting beliefs and fully self express. This hasn't conflicted with my concept of Christian Science, because I believe we each have a unique identity that needs and deserves expression. If we don't discover our own uniqueness, we'll most likely just imitate others in our desire to be virtuous or right.

But beyond that, I'm starting to believe strongly that we need to both discover what God is in His infinitude and greatness and also our own unique reflection of that greatness. We owe it to God, really, since to fully express Him in the way that He has appointed is to do His will.

To say we have no self, then, or that our self is worthless, is to truncate the path of full expression. If this is a systemic policy, where Christians in a particular sect or movement are being discouraged from self discovery, then a whole swath of God's greatness is not being magnified. This is the part I found disturbing. Suddenly I'm beginning to think that theories I might find harmless on an individual level—meaning, I'm sure that particular person will find their way eventually—are actually damaging to humanity's progress if imposed on a systemic level.

Golly, I just want people to find the truth that works best for them, independent of institution or theory or opinion. I want truth to work on the individual consciousness unencumbered. I want self expression to be seen as expressing God, and for those witnessing that self expression to therefore rejoice.

Thoughts anyone?

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Answers to prayer

Saw a DVD of Evan Almighty the other night—very fun movie. If you've got kids, they'd love it. It's full of animals doing all kinds of clever and cute things. And, if they're familiar with the Noah story, all the better. The ark is HUGE.

It's a lighthearted movie, but here's one part I found thought-provoking. Morgan Freeman (God) is talking at a diner with the modern day Noah's wife, who doesn't know he's God, about her husband building an ark. She has fled the home, thinking her husband has just gone over the edge.

God says, "Most people miss the point of the Noah story—they think it's about God and anger. I think it's a love story. It's about believing in each other. Animals show up in pairs side by side, just like Noah and his family."

The wife responds, "But what about my husband building an ark? What do you do with that?"

God says, "It sounds to me like an opportunity. Let me explain. If someone prays for patience, does God give them patience? Or opportunities to be patient? Of if someone prays for courage, does God make them courageous? Or does He send them opportunities to be courageous? Or if someone prays for their family to be close [which she had done earlier in the movie], do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings? Or does He give opportunities to love each other?"

She then renews her commitment to her husband and returns home to support his ark building. The family gets closer.

I liked this concept. We attract lessons in what we need to learn in order to learn it. When it's time for us to overcome something or to grow stronger in something, our lives align with opportunities to do so. I don't think that's God necessarily because I don't think the Divine sees us as anything other than perfect already. But our own need to understand our own perfection places us into situations that allow us—perhaps force us—to see it more clearly.

It's a fun movie. If you see it or have seen it, let me know what you think!

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Love in the driver's seat

Boy, did I get great feedback yesterday! Thank you everyone. Here's a sampling, edited. You can read the entire messages at the bottom of yesterday's posting.

At 10/09/2007 08:10:00 AM, Remembering Truth said...

Thanks for your awesome blog about driving. I'm 18, and when I first started to drive... my dad always taught me to be "patient", "unemotional", and "loving".

He would ALWAYS tell me that I shouldn't drive if I was angry, upset, or frustrated... because it's really easy for "your frustration to overcome your focus on what you should be doing". He would also always tell me to be a "defensive driver"... and NOT an "offensive driver". And by this he meant.... "you're NEVER in 'too much' of a hurry".

So I guess my point is this... my favorite personal spiritual qualities that I always try to focus on (when driving specifically) are "patience", "love", "responding", "unemotional", "principled", "joyous", "unreactionary", and "peaceful".

I'm not a parent, but I've gone through the whole "being taught by a parent thingy" on how to drive... and that's what I've gotten out of it. Thanks to this... I've never gone over the speed limit... and I have never been pulled over by the cops. Which is always a good thing :-)!!!

At 10/09/2007 10:58:00 AM, Kate said...

as Faith Hill sings... "Just breathe..."

It really helps...don't hold your breath...I found it helpful to remember that I don't have to wonder if I will have the wisdom to know how to breathe each moment...and that she had all the wisdom she needed to know when to ease into merging traffic, when to ease off the gas, when to surge gently forward into a crosswalk...

At 10/09/2007 01:50:00 PM, Emily said...

Love.

I have two things I like to do in traffic (when I remember):

1. If someone cuts me off or makes a foolish move, of course I hit the brakes to keep from hitting him, but then I pause, mentally, and remember that he is not his mistake (rather than calling him a moron or whatever) and that God's children are always "cared for, watched over, loved, and protected," so neither he nor the drivers, cyclists, or pedestrians around him can be harmed by any mistakes he might make.

2. If someone makes an obscene gesture at me -- which happens occasionally -- I respond with a peace sign. It always makes me laugh, and it helps keep my thought elevated so I don't get upset or angry about the other person's rude behavior.

At 10/10/2007 02:00:00 AM, RobertSF said...

One of my fondest memories of my father, with whom I was not close at all, was when I got my learner's permit and he let me drive on the turnpike for over 200 miles to pick up my brother from school. My father slept the whole way and that gave me more confidence and affection for him then anything else he could have done.

My mom also wrote to me and said to remind my son to "emerge gently." Ha!

Thanks again, everyone!

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He's turning 16

My son turns 16 this Friday, and here in Massachusetts, that means he can get his driver's permit. He gets home from school at 2:30, and he's got it on the schedule to get the permit at 2:35. His plan is to then drive all weekend. With me in the passenger seat.

I've already told him that grabbing the car door or dashboard is an instinctive reaction and will not necessarily be an indication of my confidence in his driving. And that loud exclamations of the colorful variety may not mean that I'm actually upset. We'll then just have to go over that particular skill again.

Not that he hasn't driven already. Did I ever tell you about the time a couple months ago when I was out for the evening with a friend and he took the opportunity to use the spare car key to take a lap around the neighborhood? And subsequently lopped off the side view mirror as he attempted to re-enter our one-car garage. He has since paid me back for the damage, but still flinches whenever I back out of the garage.

I'm trying to figure out gradual steps of skill building that I can weave together with words of wisdom. It might be like Sunday school with a captive audience—I may never have another opportunity like this to impose good solid values. So I thought I'd ask all you parents out there who have done this already, what are good spiritual ideas that drivers should always have at hand? What lessons did you learn when teaching your kids how to drive? How can I pray to make this all go as smoothly as possible?

And, I hope you'll be in the spiritual backseat with me this weekend!

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Today's loaves and fishes

I love these thoughts that came in response to yesterday's posting:

At 10/03/2007 01:53:00 PM, Anonymous said...

I believe God blesses every attempt to do right, as long as we are in earnest when we make that attempt. The best we can do is to follow our highest conception of right under the circumstances, and act on our impulses. It doesn't matter whether we're putting solar panels on our roof, buying a hybrid vehicle, or simply slowing down to 10 miles less than the posted speed limit or replacing some light bulbs with CFLs in order to decrease our negative impact on the global situation. I am reminded of the widow who gave the tiny donation, but was praised by Jesus as having given the most because it was all she had, and was given with gratitude and humility. I believe our trying to find solutions to common problems will be honored by God and multiplied like the loaves and fishes given so willingly, as long as we're truly doing the best we can to protect the environment and understand His plan for it.

Our efforts will be "multiplied like the loaves and the fishes." That idea gave me such peace! It reminds me of Y2K, which I wrote about here, and how unseen activity was actually solving the problem for all of us. I can bring out and dust off my prayer from that time—which was, that those in a position to do what needs to be done will know what to do and will do it, because Mind governs them and us and knows already what to do.

At 10/03/2007 09:36:00 PM, Kim said...

I love the idea of experiencing the unlimited within seemingly limited resources.

I know—this is my conviction—that once the idea is more generally accepted that we must turn around our consumption and look at our usage with an eye on the long term AND an eye on our neighbors (current and future), we are finding and will continue to find holistic and satisfying solutions.

The vision of a people's use of energy dependent on harmony with all things, sustainability, reusability, efficiency and longevity is thrilling to consider. It is noble, unselfish and touches on the sacred.

Say "Amen!" somebody!

I'll say Amen!

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Short-term vs. long-term good

I've been thinking about short-term vs. long-term a lot lately, mostly because of the research I'm doing into the climate change situation for a book I'm writing. You might also think of it as individual good vs. collective good.

For example, an impoverished family never is able to afford their own car. They take public transportation everywhere. As individuals, and in the short-term, they do not have the convenience of their own vehicle. Collectively, though, and for the long-term, they have a reduced "carbon footprint," meaning, they use less resources than others who do have cars. They contribute by not consuming as much.

On the flip side, there is a family who can afford every material doohickey and gizmo known to man. They may have a huge carbon footprint as individuals. But they can also afford to purchase and support new technologies such as hybrid cars or solar panels. In this way, they contribute to perfecting these technologies for mass production, so that everyone can reduce their consumption.

I'm reminded of Mary Baker Eddy's phrase, "whatever blesses one blesses all." Is it possible in this human existence to achieve this kind of balance, where consumption is actually beneficial? Meaning, by using someone else's goods and services, I will actually cause no harm? Does there always need to be waste and destruction for us to survive?

I’ve been taking this question to Spirit lately, because frankly, many of the projections for the future make me shake my head at the grim prospects. But, even if we haven't caused the massive changes that are taking place, we may still have a window to turn things around. And to me, that effort has to start mentally.

We have to take that spiritual equation of universal blessing and make it the standard by which we measure the solutions we devise. We need to move beyond thinking of short-term conveniences for ourselves individually to long-term benefits for the entire world. Once we become accustomed to the needs of the long-term and the collective, it's my belief that the short-term and individual will fall into line and become harmonious.

How is everyone else thinking about these issues?

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"Be true unto thy high ideal"

Ha! Remember how I said I was reading hymns on a regular basis now? Well, this is the one I just came to, and it fits so perfectly with what I was talking about yesterday, I had to post it:

Hymn 20, 416, Christian Science Hymnal

Kate L. Colby, Adapted

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.

"My perfect self is one with Him." There's a definition of authentic self!

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Our authentic self

I really like The Message Bible's take on the Golden Text from this week's Bible Lesson:

Truth lasts: lies are here today, gone tomorrow. (Pro. 12:19)

I had some conversations over the weekend about being who we truly are, about discovering our "authentic self." This comes up a lot when you're doing coaching or helping with identity issues. So, I've been exploring the spiritual underpinning of this idea.

What is our authentic self? As the opening passage implies, it's the only part of our being that will last. Truth always encompasses life, perfection, grace, intelligence, sinlessness, health, energy. Within that, Truth is expressed in infinite ways, by all of us. The truth of our being is all good and eternal.

Lies about our being are "here today, gone tomorrow." The lies can take many forms, not just the more blatant evil ones. They are not always conscious. For example, we may alter how we express our individuality because of wanting to please other people or to fit in. In my life, anyway, that always catches up with me, and I have some sort of burst of self-expression that isn't always graceful but does propel me forward. My true nature must be expressed.

And, it's not black or white. We're expressing the totality of the Divine, after all. Collectively, we are the complete expression. Individually, this can take an infinite variety of forms. It's all good. But, when we try to express someone else's good and not our own, even though it's still good, it may be a lie about who we are right now. It takes some courage to stick to our own expression in the face of possible misunderstanding or disapproval. Trying to squelch ourselves into a misshapen form can take a lot of energy, as well, that would be better spent expressing our own goodness freely.

It means a lot to me to remember that God likes my authentic self. After all, He made it. He likes what He made. What He made is the image of Himself. When I try to please other people or I make decisions based on what I believe others will think, I often squelch in the process what I'm hearing from the Divine. When I remember instead that I only need to please God, it's like my whole world opens up. I am joyous and inquisitive and energized and fearless.

And when I top that off with realizing that is the only selfhood I actually have—it's the Truth about me that will last—I am so grateful to be able to just express it. Sometimes it makes me so happy, I wonder if it's allowed! But in the end, it must be, because joy itself is infinite, and this bit of happiness I feel must be only the beginning of infinite joy.

I'll close with this passage from Science and Health, because I think it's a great explication of authentic selfhood:

The sinless joy, — the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness without a single bodily pleasure or pain, — constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual. (p. 76)

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