".....suddenly, I am free."

Spiritual resource to share:  freedom from imprisonment

             

Celebration!


The world is celebrating with relief the rescue of the Chilean mine workers.  One of The Christian Science Monitor's headlines on this story reads: Chile mine rescue unites a fractured world, and I find I am all to ready to join in on the joy!

What is it about this story that so profoundly resonates with each of us?

Being freed from any bondage – be it in a tight prison of rock or of fear; of doubt or of shame; of lack, of political manipulation or of pain. We can all be freed!

What hope this unleashes, what power it reveals! We all have the possibility of breathing in fresh new insights and having accessible to us once again – an infinite sky of possibilities!

Virginia Thesiger’s poem “The Healing”* sings this freedom perfectly!

After so long, so long
in my tight prison,
with my familiar shackles
heavy on head and heart;
after so long, so long, suddenly I see the bars
with the eyes God gave me,
touch the chains
with the hand God made me,
and suddenly, suddenly
(Oh but my heart flies out of the dream
like a singing bird!)
suddenly I am free.

*Ideas on Wings © The Christian Science Publishing Society

There is a God - revisited

Spiritual resource to share: a response to atheism

Omnipresent by Sonja Maneri

This post was first written about a year and a half ago. The ideas and the articles included  still offer fresh thought today.  Enjoy!

I've read that there is a group who is now sponsoring bus ads in certain parts of the country that say “There is no God.” I obviously disagree. And this bit of news gave me pause to consider why I disagree.

I understand God to be, not a changeable benevolent uber person, but a force, a power. I understand that we are made in the image and likeness of God, not that God is made in the image and likeness of man. God is Love. God is Truth. God is intelligence. So to say that there is no God is like saying there is no Love. There is no Truth. There is no intelligence. Sorry. Can't go there.

I see mankind's yearning for Truth and Love every day. And I see individuals' responses to Truth and Love result in bodily systems improving, relationships mending and anxiety melting. A natural sense of balance, of harmony – expressed physically, mentally, socially and even financially! – is restored.

And the irony of it is that people who make these claims probably are intelligent loving individuals who feel a need to share some sense of their Truth, which in this case is that they feel that there is no God.

There is a fascinating article from The Times Online in which an atheist describes why he believes Africa needs God. (Read As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God by Matthew Parris.) As I was reading, I found myself agreeing with a number of points.

The article did a brilliant job of defining one’s own consciousness as a belief system, a philosophical/spiritual framework and a structure of thought. He explained the structure of the rural African thought and how the Christian thought powers through “the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset” a mind-numbing type of group–think. He recognized what I also recognize to be the effects of Christianity:

It brings spiritual transformation, it unifies us and makes us less selfish. Christianity feeds hope and enlivens and energizes our work. It gives us that holy curiosity that Albert Einstein cautioned us never to lose. It liberates the individual from hierarchy and group think by giving direct access to a source of unconditional Love, of Truth and intelligence.

Others may argue that the Christian thought is made up of fairy tales and satisfies those who are childish and simple. To me, I see that Christianity, as explained in Christian Science, brings out what is inherently natural to all of mankind. It explains the science of being. The very practice of Christianity operates out of a belief system that uncovers the most primitive and root forms of who we all are – the very image and likeness of Love. It is what keeps life going.

So is God only needed in Africa? I think that wherever there is a belief system that includes limitation, elitism, oppression, or fear - that God is needed there. And sometimes these systems exist in our very own churches, sometimes whole cultures are awash in these systems. These exist in the US as much as in Malawi.

The author writes: “When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds - at the very moment of passing into the new - that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old.” Sometimes I feel the same way when explaining my Christian Science perspective to one who feels that God doesn’t exist. We may not have a common language. But I believe we have a common spirit and a common need to make sense of the world we live in and a common need for Truth and Love and intelligence. This need goes deeper than language or affiliation with a group.

And the answer to this need is a felt presence of peace and joy. And no doubt the atheist, the African, the Christian, and all of mankind have felt this and recognize this presence at some time. To me, this presence is God.  It is the very life-force that nourishes and sustains us all.

A spiritual response to bullies and being bullied

Spiritual resource to share: other's articles!

I have been praying about the recent reports of suicides, most recently of the suicides of a number of young men who had been bullied.

A spiritual healing response is demanded here.  I had planned to write a blog about this, but found Evan Mehlenbacher's interview on "A spiritual approach to bullying"

Evan's article is so thorough, it is well worth while to read it through.  He approaches the topic from the point of view of those who have been bullied and those who have bullied others; bullying when it happens with young kids, in organizations, in workplaces, in the military, or even in nightmares; how to protect and pray about bullying, and more.

Throughout the article, the power of love is explained and shown as an effective way to rid ourselves of any bullying tendency, and to strengthen our efforts in healing bullying.

Here is an excerpt:

...some of the different forms that bullying can take—for example, name calling, spreading gossip, or rumors about people. It could be making faces, it could be obscene gestures. A little more aggressive—on the level of verbal abuse, malicious teasing, or threats.


It could be physical in the form of hitting, kicking, pushing, choking, to get our way or to get someone to submit to our will. It could be less obvious, such as excluding someone from a group that they would otherwise be a member of.

In the workplace, it could be sexual harassment or just workplace harassment. In relationships, it could be a form of date or marital violence, child abuse. On a larger scale it could be the use of physical force in the form of war, terrorism. In the community, it could be gang attacks.

And they even have what’s called cyber bullying now, where, through the use of e-mail, slandering people, spreading malicious rumors, or just spamming you with a huge amount of overload e-mails. It takes many different forms.

But the bottom line is the bully is striving for power and control over a situation, and they work through fear and manipulation. They usually have no remorse about what they’re doing and show little sympathy.

The good thing is, it’s not normal behavior. This is not the way God created any of us. No one was born a bully. And that’s what we need to remember today. That’s why we can be healed of bullying and its effects, because it’s not ingrained into anyone’s behavior to be that way.

And so healing is possible. We can experience a transformation of character there and bring out more of the loving child of God that was put there to begin with.

... I’ve learned how to deal with bullies. I’ve learned a lot of spiritual lessons. And one of them is that love is a power that can transform an ugly situation to a better situation. It can not only protect us from being abused by the bully thought, it can also liberate the bully from the thoughts that cause them to act that way in the first place.

This is an important article.  And please continue with me and many others in healing this imposition on us all.
 
Again, click here to see the whole article

We're talking about a revolution

Spiritual resource to share: books

“…. Therefore, man is not material, he is spiritual.” So concludes Mary Baker Eddy’s scientific statement of being. And to me this explains the paradigm shift going on today.


There seems to be a shift going on in science (example: notes on quantum physics), in theology (example: see Phyllis Tickle’s book The Great Emergence) and in medicine (example: see Dr. Larry Dossey’s work). The number of books and studies that point to this shift can be mind-boggling. I would LOVE to hear of other books and articles that you are all reading and if you are finding this transformational shift going on as well.

Recently, I went to a professional conference on Christian Science healing ( aka Christian Science Association) which renewed and deepened my understanding of Mary Baker Eddy’s discovery of Christian Science as a “revolutionary science”.

Revolutionary science was explained in the context of yet another book on my list of must reads – Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (also see an outline and study guide for your own personal use).


A revolutionary science is a bold replacement of an old paradigm of thought with a new one – providing a new way that challenges long held assumptions. It totally changes the way a person sees the world. Is this not Christian Science?

The nature of spirit and matter, mankind’s inherent search for meaning and sustainable health and well-being are shifting to a more practical and primitive spiritual basis. And we are right in the middle of it! What a ride.

neutralizing acidic thinking

Spiritual resource to share: the alterative of Truth

When we talk about power, we are talking about a big concept.
When we read (from Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy)

"The three great verities of Spirit, omnipotence, omni-presence, omniscience, -
Spirit possessing all power, filling all space, constituting all Science, --contradict forever the belief that matter can be actual"

we are talking about a concept so huge and all encompassing that there is not room in thought for anything but Spirit, God.

And I think that is the point. And I think that that is how we can neutralize acidic thinking.

Acidic thinking is that type of thought that agitates and irritates, that denigrates and weakens and finally pulverizes itself into nothingness.

Acidic thinking may include a whole host of self-destructive elements that can be replaced with the truth of being:

• disgust - a failure to see the Christ; replaced with God's true image and likeness
• anger - a sense of powerlessness and reaction - replaced with understanding God's omnipotence
• sarcasm - trying to undermine the natural sweetness and goodness of life - replaced by perfect Love
• distrust - doubting the power of God, good replaced withthe fact that good is not helpless and that all things function under the impulse of purity and Love
• envy - a belief in limitations replaced by an understanding of infinite possibilities to do good and to be good
• revenge - a belief of chaos and many small egos replaced by knowing one God, trusting one Truth
• disdain - a form of hatred replaced by selflessness and yielding to Love's government

Life, God is a self-sustaining force that only knows itself. It is omniscience. God knows all.
We are under God's government as readily - similar to how we see that we live under the law of gravity.

For Life to be self-sustained, there can be no element of limitation, weakening, conflict or chaos. If it were so, Life would self-destruct, and thus would not be life.

But Life, God is omnipotent , always present. So these elements of limitation and dis-ease have no room to become a reality. In reality - disease and any type of destruction do not exist. They cannot, because they are ultimately self-destructive. SO why do they seem to exist? These are fabrications. These fabrications seem to exist because thought is giving its consent to an entity that has no reality - similar to believing in ghosts. There are no ghosts, but it is a fearful thing if you believe there are.

God's all power, all presence, omniscience lead us to the ultimate conclusion that matter (anything born of limitation, destruction, separation from good, divisiveness) cannot be actual.

The all pervasive love of the all-powerful God as Truth neutralizes acidic thinking whose pretensions may seem to govern one's body, one's family or one's organzitions.

Health is restored to bodily functions, and harmony is restored to families and organziations when we understand that this perfect Love maintains itself in perfect balance -- and we are evidence of that all encompassing fact.

La Silla de Familia --- The Family Chair

Recurso espiritual de compartir: el consuelo y paz de Dios

Tengo un recordatorio dulce de ternura de Dios y todo-presencia que me gustaría compartir con ustedes.

Cuando mi más joven (Gabe) era un niño y bebía su leche, mi más viejo (Micah) tenía tres años. Cuando esto vino el tiempo para una alimentación, Micah y yo nos sentaríamos en una silla de gran tamaño cuando sostuve a Gabe. Mi hijo mayor se sentó silenciosamente y sostuvo los pies de su hermano y hablaríamos. A veces éramos tranquilos. La silla consiguió ser conocida como la Silla de Familia..

La tranquilidad y la satisfacción entonces me recuerdan de las mismas calidades espirituales que están disponibles a cada uno de nosotros cuando rezamos.

Cuando rezamos, nos sentamos en un espacio con el cuarto en el pensamiento para cada uno amamos. Estamos en las armas de Amor. Somos seguros. Escuchamos y aprendemos de paz de Dios, gracia y permanencia. Aprendemos que Dios es Todo. Confiadamente recibimos aquel alimento de Dios que nos refuerza y hace que nosotros crezcamos. A veces nos hablamos a Dios. A veces somos tranquilos y sólo escuchamos. Somos colocados y en nuestro lugar derecho.

'Tome de nosotros ahora la tensión y la tensión, y deje a nuestras vidas pedidas admitir la belleza de Su paz.' - John Greenleaf Whittier

English version.........................................................................................

Spiritual resource to share: God's comfort

I have a sweet reminder of God's tenderness and ever-presence that I would like to share with you.

When my youngest (Gabe) was an infant and still nursing, my oldest (Micah) was three. When it came time for a feeding, Micah and I would sit on an oversized chair as I held Gabe. My older son would sit quietly and hold his brother's feet and we would talk. Sometimes we would just be quiet. The chair got to be known as the Family Chair.

The quietness and nourishment being given at that time stays with me. I see in it the same spiritual qualities that are available to each of us when we pray.


When we pray, we sit in a space with room in thought for everyone we love. We are in the arms of Love. We are safe. We listen and learn of God's peace, grace and permanence. We learn that God is All. We trustingly receive that nourishment from God that strengthens us and causes us to grow. Sometimes we talk to God. Sometimes we are quiet and just listen. We are settled and in our right place.  God is holding our feet.




"Take from us now the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace." - John Greenleaf Whittier




To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

How forgiveness oils the mechanism of work

Spiritual resource to share: forgiveness

Any work project needs a strong clear sense of vision and direction to be successful so that whatever mishaps occured can be absorbed in the strength of that vision. It works kind of like the old adage "the unity of the cause erases all flaws."

In looking at one of my work groups, I was surprised to see how much a role forgiveness had in making it all work. Forgiveness added the oil to the mix. It made all the parts of the project hum. Humility also was important, with humility kind of opening the door to humor and apology.

I was in one work group in which all four of us had distinctive functions with counterparts we were supervising in the field. In some cases, we had the same person in the field doing two or more functions and thus reporting to two different people in our work group.

The need for collaboration is important for any project to work. And so it was with ours.
We were all ( in the office and in the field) very clear on the vision. But there were times when I, or someone else, either forgot to do a needed task, or did someone else’s task. It was those times, that I greatly appreciated the freedom to address these mishaps in a way that felt safe, and not threatening. I forgave my fellow workers as they would forgive me. In humilty, we recognized that what we wanted to accomplish was still in front of our thoughts and we could move forward and make any needed adjustments.

In addition, the work that we were doing was pioneering work. It had never been done before. There were a lot of unknowns as we moved forward. What moves me more than words can say is the ability to forgive that came from all of us. And there was ample opportunity for that as some of the steps were delayed, postponed, questionable or needed to be changed. We buoyed ourselves up with gratitude for the good achieved and heart felt appreciation for the talents and the incredible amounts of time each one of us brought to the project.

It is interesting to note Mary Baker Eddy's request for each of the members of The Mother Church that she gives in her Church Manual. Surprisingly, this is good counsel for anyone involved in a group endeavor:

A Rule for Motives and Acts (Church Manual p.40)
Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment should impel the motives or acts of the members of The Mother Church. In Science, divine Love alone governs man; and a Christian Scientist reflects the sweet amenities of Love, in rebuking sin, in true
brotherliness, charitableness, and forgiveness.

With this group, I felt free to explore new methods and means of doing things. Not that I felt that if I screwed up I could just be forgiven and then go and do something foolish again! But this kind and adventurous atmosphere removed a subtle sense of being judged and criticized behind one’s back. That type of thinking can paralyze action.

In an atmosphere of love, forgiveness and good-hearted give and take, we were able to accomplish some downright wonderful stuff. Forgiveness added grace to our endeavors and kept the vision for our work in sharp focus.







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Purity - a fixed fact

Spiritual resource to share: permanence

“I felt like I was coming home,” Barbara says. “I felt like everything would be okay.”
This comment is from an article written by a woman who commented on her first thought when starting to read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy in an effort to re-gain her peace and equilibrium after a rape incident. (See article here.)

Her triumph reminded me of an incredible friendship I had with a friend who was going through therapy due to incest. During our friendship, I learned more about the power and fixity of purity that has stayed with me ever since.

When I first heard of the situations my friend had endured, I was shocked and furious. She was getting help through the therapy and was a determined young woman. I so wanted to help her.

I remember researching what I could do legally to help her. I got acquainted with many of the local resources dealing with women, sexuality and abuse. I worked in the school system at the time and even produced a cable television program on this issue that included interviews with area social service agencies, call-ins and production staff. The issue exhausted me, angered me, while at the same time I wanted to be strong for my friend.

I knew that all of these human footsteps were important and helpful. But what I needed, and my friend needed, was something much more deeply spiritual.

We must have talked and walked around a nearby lakes dozens of times. I prayed throughout our friendship and on one of our walks, I started sharing some of the spiritual ideas that I was learning:

1. Our very being is spiritual - it is the spiritual elements in life that move us, give us our identity, cause us to grow.
2. Our very being is pure - undefiled, untouched. This is a fixed fact and is unalterable.
3. Nobody can touch our spiritual being - our spiritual identity. Just as no one can change the idea of the numeral nine, no one can change the idea or spiritual being that is you and me.
4. Our identity is not that of a victim, of a vulnerable person who lacks strength, intelligence, courage. These suggestions are shadows that fluctuate and flee in light of the purity that is ours.
5. Violence, perversion, coercion -- these are not our fault. It is not brought about by some perceived lack in ourselves. It is born of ignorance and dies of ignorance. It has no power, presence, influence or reason unless we give it to them.
6. The most loving thing we can do for one another is to not believe in the shadows, but affirm one another's light -- one's primitive purity.

I also relied heavily on some tried and proven foundation stones for my life.

• We are safe.
• We are loved.
• We are pure.
• The battle between good and evil is not ours, but God's.
• God is good and good is ALL-powerful, and we are His loved children, Her cherished offspring.

My friend and I exchanged many spiritual ideas for months. She remained strong and significant and healthy changes were made in her life.

Key to the healing was forgiveness - the ability to see the power of Love and the powerlessness of errant actions to take anything of substance away from what God has given us. Later, we both went on to graduate school and lost touch. But what remained is that unshakeable truth that I can now come home to -

• Our purity is a fixed fact.

walking the talk - loving one another

Spiritual resource to share: long term thinking with love

Farmer's Market in Monteverde

This question was posed to me by a friend: If there was one thing your prayers for the environment could change in people's attitude to how they lived their... lives, what would it be?

Answer: .......it would be to pray that we learn to love one another. This covers a lot of ground.

If we loved one another.....

...we would be more aware of our actions’ impact on the future.

...we would think in terms of us, not me.
...we would think in terms of what is good for the future, not immediate gratification for right now.
...we would be more thoughtful about the things we buy and how they are made, supporting fair trade practices.
...we would develop compassion as a way to see the world.
...we would be more patient with ideas and processes that take more time, but are more environmentally friendly.
...we would use kindness as a currency - perhaps buying less, saving more and sharing more frequently.
...we would understand that everyone has a backyard, and be careful where we throw our garbage.
...we would lose a sense of pride in possessions, and find more joy in teamwork.

I have seen this compassionate stewardship at work - loving one's neighbor as oneself - and it works beautifully! I have been impresed by a small mountain town in Costa Rica that attracts a surprsing number of visitors every year – Monteverde.

It was founded by Quakers in the 50s and is home to many Costa Ricans, educators and scientists, Quakers, and a steady stream of eco-tourists. The Quakers established several industries and institutions with a shared community aproach. As they developed their community, they probably asked questions like “Is this action good for the community?” “Does this enhance or detract from the natural resources already here? Are we giving credit and honor to those who have lived here before us?" The answers to those types of questions have helped to form the groups and industries that are running today.

I talked with one of the local residents who is one of the founding women of a rural women’s cooperative and there I found the same kind of spirit – putting the community’s well being above personal gain. Those who founded the cooperative started out by looking at how they could better empower women – many of whom had to stay at home.

Their leading questions may have been "How can we empower the women here – thus strengthen the famlies and the community?" "What skills do they have that can benefit them and benefit the communty?" The answers to those questions resulted in teh development of the cooperative in which making a profit is subservient to the larger goal of the community's well –being.

Loving your neighbor as yourself. It works here on a large scale. The individual is not absorbed, but is empowered. The community is strengthened by the long term commitment of caring for one another and caring for the earth.

In short, the equation is: love for one another in the short term + care and compassion = empowered people and strong communities and love in the long term.

what can 50 people do?

Spiritual resource to share: spiritual response to aggression

The numerous media reports on the small church of 50 people who proposed burning the Koran and the groundswell of the reaction against this protest have made me ask the question - what better thing could 50 people do?

Today's report says that the Koran burning protest is now called off. But to me, it is a call to affirm what is powerful and what is good.

Much has been written in the above mentioned reports about this small group of 50 people. This reminded me of something Mary Baker Eddy, discoverer and founder of Christian Science, said to her class of 65 students of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in 1889:

"We, today, in this class room, are enough to convert the world if we are of one Mind, for then the whole world will feel the influence of this Mind; as when the earth was without form, and Mind spake and form appeared." (Miscellaneous Writings p. 279)

Now to those of you who are new to this blog, I'll have to say that when Mary Baker Eddy talks about converting the world, she is not talking in terms of getting all people to change their denomination and become card carrying members of the Christian Science church. She speaks in far greater terms than those. She is speaking about converting the world from a material basis to a spiritual basis in which all can experience harmony, health and well-being - the influence of Mind.

One Mind is a concept Mary Baker Eddy describes often in her writings. She explains the power behind this idea:

"When we realize there is one Mind, the divine law of loving our neighbors as ourselves is unfolded..." (Science and Health p 205)
"Having one God, one Mind, unfolds the power that heals the sick..... " (Science and Health p 276)
"It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease, and the true brotherhood of man will be established." (Science and Health p 467)

Because we are of one Mind, we are brothers and sisters, we can heal, and we can end conflict.

In the US, tomorrow, September 11th, has been declared a day of service and remembrance. It is a helpful act that affirms what 50 people, and 500,000 people and even one person can do to demonstrate peace, harmony and well-being when we do it for one another.

Aggressive reactions and thoughtless acts stand to be corrected. They will either be forgettable or regrettable. They will have their flare of attention and then disappear. But those actions based on one God, one Mind, are what moves us all forward toward sustainable peace.












To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.