Pray without ceasing
That is our quest,
To know only goodAnd negate all the rest.
God is with us
Holding our hand,To know this is solely
Is certainly grand.
We are God’s chosen
To which it is clear,
To dwell in His presence
And know He is near.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Everpresence
By Howard L. Mead Jr.
Pray without ceasing
And negate all the rest.
To know this is solely
Is certainly grand.
We are God’s chosen
To which it is clear,
To dwell in His presence
And know He is near.
Pray without ceasing
And negate all the rest.
To know this is solely
Is certainly grand.
We are God’s chosen
To which it is clear,
To dwell in His presence
And know He is near.
It's about time
By Tom Taffel
"Time, the world's greatest illusions"
Do you all remember the song…?
What's it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give
or are we meant to be kind?
When I asked if anyone had the time…you didn’t ask me: “the time for what?” You gave me a number, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. I was about to finish my question, “Does anyone have the time -- to become more patient, loving and kind?” You had the time -- and you gave it to me -- a number -- but that wasn’t what I was hoping you would give me. So what’s it all about? For right now, it’s about TIME…………and, it’s ABOUT time!
The very first sentence in “Science and Health” reads: “The time for thinkers has come.” So let’s take the time to think about the word “moment.”
A moment in sports can go by in an instant; but when someone asks you to wait in the car for a just a moment while they run an errand, a moment can feel like an eternity. They say the length of a moment is determined by which side of the bathroom door you happen to be standing?
The word “moment” comes from Latin “momentum” meaning motion and movement. Originally, the word “moment” had nothing to do with time. A moment is a weight… “a particle sufficient to turn the scales.” A moment is a turning point, a moving power.
Moments in nature can be negative, destructive and disastrous. Earthshaking events, such as earthquakes, lightening and tsunamis take but a moment. But it only takes a moment to change your thought from bad to good and from fearful to peaceful. To be “in the moment” is to be at peace. To be present in the moment, is to be present with the Lord.
An “INSTANT”
An instant, according to Webster, is an infinitesimal or very short space of time. Through chemistry and technology, we have instant coffee, instant cameras and instant replays. My answer to the theoretical question, “How long is an instant” would be: an instant is as long as it takes to re-affirm our connection with God.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING AND BECOMING
We use time to become something …rather than to be something. For example: it takes time to become an expert, knowledgeable, skilled or even a “seasoned” Christian Scientist. But it does not take time to be loving, caring, kind, and to be a healer.
“TIME IS MONEY”
How do you spend your time and do you spend your time wisely? Well, you can always start spending your time on forgiveness, our most time-consuming task while on this earth…and there’s no time like the present to get started. Teaching and living, true forgiveness, is our chief function here on earth. Forgiveness is the very key to our happiness. When you hear the argument: “I don’t have enough time,” remember, not having enough time is like not having enough love, because we always have time for the things we love.
THERE IS NO TIME
There is no time in Spirit. There is no time in Love. There is no time in Truth. I’d like to suggest that time is a meaningless concept when contemplating the infinitude of Love, Spirit, Soul, Mind, Life, Truth and Principle. In “Science and Helath,” 468:28-29 – Mrs. Eddy states: "Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity." So, are you in time or are you in eternity? You decide…every day, every moment … where you want to be. You could say: “Time is eternity misunderstood, whereas eternity is time understood correctly.” Our holiness does not exist in time…it exists in Eternity. The birth of Christ wasn’t in the past, two thousand years ago, nor will it be two thousand years from now…it’s going on right now in consciousness…right now…the only time there is. The birth of Christ is timeless; it’s a present blessing and extends forever.
One of the many functions of time is to limit and to separate -- separate the past from the present from the future. (The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.) But as Albert Einstein pointed out, “….the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Granted…time is a helpful tool in establishing a human sense of order. Timing prevents everything from happening all at once -- causing chaos. Without time and timing, several aircraft might occupy the same airspace at the same time. So we need time and timing to establish a human sense of order here on earth.
Why does time seem to go hand-in-hand with anxiety, fear and change? Because time promotes the very anxiety and fear which wants…rather than has … that fears loss, rather than celebrates everlasting good. Fear, anxiety, disquiet, worry and change are all rooted in time. If someone is expected at a certain time, and they are late, we begin to worry. It’s as if God’s loving care might expire at a certain time. Have you ever noticed how people who are late -- are usually much happier than the people who have to wait for them? Time is the grandest of all illusions and for me to try and define time would be like … asking a fish to define the water in which it lives. It’s something we just have to learn to live with until we can outgrow the concept.
IN GOD’S OWN TIME
My Sunday School teacher was new to Christian Science when she and her husband retired and bought a small dairy farm with a small herd of cows, in upstate New York. Her husband fell one night and broke his wrist. They called a C.S. practitioner, who, sensing his fear and anxiety, reassured him with comforting, yet specific truths, and ended the call by saying: “It’s not yet milking time.” One hour later, he called the practitioner to tell her that he still was not healed and that the cows had to be milked at 5AM. Again she allayed his fear and reassured him: “It’s not yet milking time.” Another hour passed and again he called. The practitioner held to the absolute healing certainty of the truths she had given to him earlier, and – (treating the treatment) -- ended the call with: “It’s not yet milking time.” Well, at 4:30AM, he awoke, dressed and milked his cows. I’ve never forgotten: “It’s not yet milking
time” – and I try to remember that it’s always time to re-affirm that God’s plan is orderly, ordered and in perfect order.
Mrs. Eddy tells us in “Science and Health,” that “There is a divine influence, ever present in human consciousness.” Time and space are not a divine influence, but order is ever-present in human consciousness. We just need to listen and act upon it. It’s always present…and what a present it is…what a gift!
There is no time element in Truth…but there is a time element in every false belief, because every false belief involves time, space matter and fear. Take this false belief as an example: “For how long a period of time did people believe the earth was flat?” For this false belief, time is relevant and has meaning. On the contrary, time has no meaning or relevance to truth. The same question posed in terms of the truth: “How long has the earth been round?” is meaningless because time holds no sway over truth, because there is no time in Truth or Truth in time -- because Truth is timeless. Since the earth has always been round, the truth is unaffected by the mistaken belief that it was flat. The rules of mathematics are un-affected by our mistakes.
“MINUTES vs. MOMENTS”
A minute is an objective, measurable fixed amount of time. A moment is nebulous and subjective. “Just a moment” is indefinite … “Just a minute” is definite. Minutes are simply moments we can get a handle on.
Time and Sports
Sports are usually based on some time parameters. Consider for a moment…
Time out … Out of time ...Taking up time ... Taking time off … Plenty of time ... In time … Beating your time ... Marking time … Time’s Up … Running out the clock.
…And here are some….TIMELY EXPRESSIONS:
All in good time … Take your time … Waste of time … In the nick of time … Time frame … Time warp … Test of time … Doing time … Your time has come … On time … Lifetime … For the time being … I’m having the time of my life … Are we having a good time yet? --- Is this a bad time for you? … There’s no time like the present … Go with the times … All in due time … Time flys … Time waits for no man … (But what about a woman). And what about this gem: “Time heals all wounds.” Now I ask you how can time heal anything? Time has nothing to do with healing and everything to do with forgetting, but forgetting is not the same as healing. Forgetting is like sweeping the error under the rug. And for you New Yorkers, exactly how long is a “A New York Minute?”
So consider, if you will, these thoughts about a time long past: Once upon a time … A long time ago … Before my time … Behind the times … For old time’s sake … Now, if you were to ask me to give you the time – I could give it to you - because I have time on my hands! My watch keeps pretty good time….Is there “pretty bad” time? I have all the time in the world. Let’s see, there’s geological time, and there’s real time…(as opposed to artificial time?)
The Bible tells us that “The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.” The operative word is “quick” not gradual or in due time. God’s power is not gradual, time-based or dependent on history. Just as light replaces darkness instantaneously…regardless of how long or how dark it has been -- darkness does not influence the light…but light extinguishes darkness.
TIME AND SPACE vs. HERE AND NOW
Albert Einstein, one of the most influential men the world has ever known and also a student of Christian Science indicated as part of his “Theory of Relativity” that time and space are relative to the observer and not a fact of being. For me, time is a learning experience …Someday, it will no longer be useful, but for now, let me share an experience Bill and I had in 1994 while sailing aboard the “Crystal Harmony” from San Francisco to Alaska – where we had to resolve the human conflict of time and space with the divine facts about being in our right place, at the right time.
Two ships were scheduled to anchor in Sitka, Alaska at the same time; our ship, the “Crystal Harmony” and Regent’s new ship the “Mariner.” Bill and I were granted special visitation privileges to visit, inspect and have lunch aboard the “Mariner” while anchored in Sitka Harbor. Because both ships were at anchor in the middle of the bay, we had to take a tender from ship to shore – change tenders and then tender back out to the other ship. So we checked each ship’s tender schedules carefully — coordinating schedules with precision timing.
We finished lunch aboard the “Mariner” just in time to catch the tender back to the dock so we could board the last tender back to our ship, the “Crystal Harmony,” when all was not harmonious and discord became very real. One of the two tenders had to be taken out of service, resulting in a 40 minute delay … forcing us to “miss the boat.”
Our precision timing had failed us, and now we were going to miss our ship’s sail away from Sitka Harbor. We hadn’t brought a credit card for an overnight hotel or for air transportation to our next port of call. We were up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Each passing moment brought increased anxiety, fear, doubt and anger as precious minutes slipped away. How could this happen --- and what were our alternatives? Adam H. Dickey tells us in “God’s Law of Adjustment” that there is a law of God which can adjust any material circumstance, but, what was that law? In Christian Science we know that it’s not as important to uncover the error – as the Truth --- which the error is trying to hide. After quieting my fearful, agitated thought, I affirmed with conviction that we were in our right place and that we couldn’t be outside of God’s control because He is the master of details. He knew exactly where we were and where He wanted us to be. Mortal limitations involving time and space do not exist in the Divine Mind, so we could never be outside of His care and loving control.
But the situation was growing darker by the minute. There didn’t seem to be any human solution at hand. Time was running out.
When the tender finally arrived -- we could see the “Crystal Harmony” preparing to set sail. I humbly asked God for guidance: “Dear God, what would You have me do…What would You have me say….and to whom?” I listened and completely shut my mental chatter and pre-conceived plans. Listening to the still small voice is joyous – it’s a taste of eternity. So, I spoke with our pilot, explaining the predicament in which we found ourselves and how we needed to be dropped off at the other ship rather than be taken all the way back to the dock as we were about to miss our sail-away. He was most sympathetic, but explained he was bound by maritime laws, company rules and regulations which prohibited him from calling on another company’s vessel. There was no insurance for such an operation, and even if there were, he was running 40 minutes behind schedule. I had to trust that God was in charge and His law was supreme, present, active and available.
So…….I took a deep breath and calmly asked the pilot if he could just come alongside the “Crystal Harmony” and let us step off the tender -- without -- tying up – an extremely dangerous, risky and highly illegal operation. He recognized our sincere need for help and radioed both ships’ operational officers for special permission to perform this dangerous procedure in very choppy water. Well, it seemed like an eternity, but just in the nick of time, permission from both ships was granted and we were able to make the “flying” switch between vessels. God never takes us halfway, He takes us all the way. As Violet Hay concludes her poem, (affectionately known as “The Airman’s Hymn”) – “I love thy way of freedom Lord”
Till time and space and fear are naught
My quest shall never cease,
Thy presence ever goes with me
And Thou dost give me peace.
TIME, SPACE, MATTER and FEAR:
Time, space, matter and fear are indivisible, an integral part of the mortal dream of human existence – each designed to limit, constrict and kill because time is the stopwatch of mortality. Time sets and re-sets limits and limitation. Eliminate them from your thought, and healing is instantaneous; in fact, there is no need for healing because without time, space, matter and fear, there is nothing to heal.
Every mortal concept has a time, space, matter, fear component. Medicine cannot work without time, space, matter and fear, but if you try to mix them with Christian Science treatment, you have an oil and water combination. They are incompatible. You cannot homogenize them and get a whole and lasting result.
Here’s my favorite Albert Einstein quote: “To those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future, is only an illusion, if a stubborn one.” (Jim Holt, “Time Bandits,” The New Yorker, Feb. 28, 2005, p.85). There is no time in reality -- -- -- whether we’re talking about the present, the past or the future. The present isn’t any more spiritual than the past or the future. When, (exactly), did the present begin? When will the present end and become the future? Let’s not turn reality into metaphysical goulash by sandwiching the eternal present between the past and the future because inherent in that thought-process you have a natural beginning and end to the present -- because we are viewing a spiritual concept, (“the eternal present”), through a material lens.
Just as the human concept of the present isn’t any more spiritual than the human concept of the past or the future, the eternal present is timeless and it’s the foundation upon which reality rests.
Here are the four progressive phases of time and space as I see them: 1) Time and space are real. 2) Time and space are relative--in the mind of the beholder. 3) Time and space are false beliefs. 4) Time and space are unreal, a hoax, a grand illusion.
I would like to suggest that without the time and space paradigm, we open up a universe without limits, full of unlimited potential, possibilities and intentionality.
SLEEPING THROUGH TIME
Is time more real in our internal world or in our external world? What happens to our concept of time when we’re asleep? When asleep, time becomes malleable and distorted, without limitations or constrictions, because thought is unencumbered by the laws of matter. When asleep, the laws of time, space and gravity are suspended because they have no power over our thinking. Have you ever considered time to be the interval between two events … such as life and death? We mark that time interval in birth-years, which equates to how many revolutions around the sun we have made…and based on how many revolutions around the sun we’ve made….that number determines our prospects for so many human conditions. Look what time does to our appearance, our health, our long-term financial security. Not a pretty picture when you think of structures which crumble with time, that oxidize in time, that disintegrate with the passing of time.
Now, I’m not suggesting you throw away your watches and possibly miss your flights back home. You don’t want to “over-steer your spiritual headlights,” nor be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good. But don’t let yourself become a slave to the limitations of time or make a god out of it. If it’s true that, “I am the world through which I walk,” than I take with me my concept of time through my world -- and it becomes my servant, not my master.
All the dimensions of “now” are supported by God’s law of order, control and perfection. “Now” are endless possibilities, possible…not yesterday, not tomorrow, but right now. Remember, the nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow!
Now is the time between your thoughts and you can change your mind….[your choices], anytime….because you are responsible for what you see…and you choose the feeling you experience, and you decide upon the goal you wish to achieve….and everything that happens to you is the result of what you have asked. God knows the desires of your heart. So be careful for what you ask!
To paraphrase Mrs. Eddy’s poem: “Satisfied” -- “Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, Ayont [time’s] thrall: There Life is light, and wisdom might, And God is All.”
I would like to leave you with this thought from Misc. Writings 230:6 - "If one would be successful in the future, let him make the most of the present." So remember: There’s no time like the present.
"Time, the world's greatest illusions"
Do you all remember the song…?
What's it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give
or are we meant to be kind?
When I asked if anyone had the time…you didn’t ask me: “the time for what?” You gave me a number, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. I was about to finish my question, “Does anyone have the time -- to become more patient, loving and kind?” You had the time -- and you gave it to me -- a number -- but that wasn’t what I was hoping you would give me. So what’s it all about? For right now, it’s about TIME…………and, it’s ABOUT time!
The very first sentence in “Science and Health” reads: “The time for thinkers has come.” So let’s take the time to think about the word “moment.”
A moment in sports can go by in an instant; but when someone asks you to wait in the car for a just a moment while they run an errand, a moment can feel like an eternity. They say the length of a moment is determined by which side of the bathroom door you happen to be standing?
The word “moment” comes from Latin “momentum” meaning motion and movement. Originally, the word “moment” had nothing to do with time. A moment is a weight… “a particle sufficient to turn the scales.” A moment is a turning point, a moving power.
Moments in nature can be negative, destructive and disastrous. Earthshaking events, such as earthquakes, lightening and tsunamis take but a moment. But it only takes a moment to change your thought from bad to good and from fearful to peaceful. To be “in the moment” is to be at peace. To be present in the moment, is to be present with the Lord.
An “INSTANT”
An instant, according to Webster, is an infinitesimal or very short space of time. Through chemistry and technology, we have instant coffee, instant cameras and instant replays. My answer to the theoretical question, “How long is an instant” would be: an instant is as long as it takes to re-affirm our connection with God.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING AND BECOMING
We use time to become something …rather than to be something. For example: it takes time to become an expert, knowledgeable, skilled or even a “seasoned” Christian Scientist. But it does not take time to be loving, caring, kind, and to be a healer.
“TIME IS MONEY”
How do you spend your time and do you spend your time wisely? Well, you can always start spending your time on forgiveness, our most time-consuming task while on this earth…and there’s no time like the present to get started. Teaching and living, true forgiveness, is our chief function here on earth. Forgiveness is the very key to our happiness. When you hear the argument: “I don’t have enough time,” remember, not having enough time is like not having enough love, because we always have time for the things we love.
THERE IS NO TIME
There is no time in Spirit. There is no time in Love. There is no time in Truth. I’d like to suggest that time is a meaningless concept when contemplating the infinitude of Love, Spirit, Soul, Mind, Life, Truth and Principle. In “Science and Helath,” 468:28-29 – Mrs. Eddy states: "Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity." So, are you in time or are you in eternity? You decide…every day, every moment … where you want to be. You could say: “Time is eternity misunderstood, whereas eternity is time understood correctly.” Our holiness does not exist in time…it exists in Eternity. The birth of Christ wasn’t in the past, two thousand years ago, nor will it be two thousand years from now…it’s going on right now in consciousness…right now…the only time there is. The birth of Christ is timeless; it’s a present blessing and extends forever.
One of the many functions of time is to limit and to separate -- separate the past from the present from the future. (The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.) But as Albert Einstein pointed out, “….the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Granted…time is a helpful tool in establishing a human sense of order. Timing prevents everything from happening all at once -- causing chaos. Without time and timing, several aircraft might occupy the same airspace at the same time. So we need time and timing to establish a human sense of order here on earth.
Why does time seem to go hand-in-hand with anxiety, fear and change? Because time promotes the very anxiety and fear which wants…rather than has … that fears loss, rather than celebrates everlasting good. Fear, anxiety, disquiet, worry and change are all rooted in time. If someone is expected at a certain time, and they are late, we begin to worry. It’s as if God’s loving care might expire at a certain time. Have you ever noticed how people who are late -- are usually much happier than the people who have to wait for them? Time is the grandest of all illusions and for me to try and define time would be like … asking a fish to define the water in which it lives. It’s something we just have to learn to live with until we can outgrow the concept.
IN GOD’S OWN TIME
My Sunday School teacher was new to Christian Science when she and her husband retired and bought a small dairy farm with a small herd of cows, in upstate New York. Her husband fell one night and broke his wrist. They called a C.S. practitioner, who, sensing his fear and anxiety, reassured him with comforting, yet specific truths, and ended the call by saying: “It’s not yet milking time.” One hour later, he called the practitioner to tell her that he still was not healed and that the cows had to be milked at 5AM. Again she allayed his fear and reassured him: “It’s not yet milking time.” Another hour passed and again he called. The practitioner held to the absolute healing certainty of the truths she had given to him earlier, and – (treating the treatment) -- ended the call with: “It’s not yet milking time.” Well, at 4:30AM, he awoke, dressed and milked his cows. I’ve never forgotten: “It’s not yet milking
time” – and I try to remember that it’s always time to re-affirm that God’s plan is orderly, ordered and in perfect order.
Mrs. Eddy tells us in “Science and Health,” that “There is a divine influence, ever present in human consciousness.” Time and space are not a divine influence, but order is ever-present in human consciousness. We just need to listen and act upon it. It’s always present…and what a present it is…what a gift!
There is no time element in Truth…but there is a time element in every false belief, because every false belief involves time, space matter and fear. Take this false belief as an example: “For how long a period of time did people believe the earth was flat?” For this false belief, time is relevant and has meaning. On the contrary, time has no meaning or relevance to truth. The same question posed in terms of the truth: “How long has the earth been round?” is meaningless because time holds no sway over truth, because there is no time in Truth or Truth in time -- because Truth is timeless. Since the earth has always been round, the truth is unaffected by the mistaken belief that it was flat. The rules of mathematics are un-affected by our mistakes.
“MINUTES vs. MOMENTS”
A minute is an objective, measurable fixed amount of time. A moment is nebulous and subjective. “Just a moment” is indefinite … “Just a minute” is definite. Minutes are simply moments we can get a handle on.
Time and Sports
Sports are usually based on some time parameters. Consider for a moment…
Time out … Out of time ...Taking up time ... Taking time off … Plenty of time ... In time … Beating your time ... Marking time … Time’s Up … Running out the clock.
…And here are some….TIMELY EXPRESSIONS:
All in good time … Take your time … Waste of time … In the nick of time … Time frame … Time warp … Test of time … Doing time … Your time has come … On time … Lifetime … For the time being … I’m having the time of my life … Are we having a good time yet? --- Is this a bad time for you? … There’s no time like the present … Go with the times … All in due time … Time flys … Time waits for no man … (But what about a woman). And what about this gem: “Time heals all wounds.” Now I ask you how can time heal anything? Time has nothing to do with healing and everything to do with forgetting, but forgetting is not the same as healing. Forgetting is like sweeping the error under the rug. And for you New Yorkers, exactly how long is a “A New York Minute?”
So consider, if you will, these thoughts about a time long past: Once upon a time … A long time ago … Before my time … Behind the times … For old time’s sake … Now, if you were to ask me to give you the time – I could give it to you - because I have time on my hands! My watch keeps pretty good time….Is there “pretty bad” time? I have all the time in the world. Let’s see, there’s geological time, and there’s real time…(as opposed to artificial time?)
The Bible tells us that “The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.” The operative word is “quick” not gradual or in due time. God’s power is not gradual, time-based or dependent on history. Just as light replaces darkness instantaneously…regardless of how long or how dark it has been -- darkness does not influence the light…but light extinguishes darkness.
TIME AND SPACE vs. HERE AND NOW
Albert Einstein, one of the most influential men the world has ever known and also a student of Christian Science indicated as part of his “Theory of Relativity” that time and space are relative to the observer and not a fact of being. For me, time is a learning experience …Someday, it will no longer be useful, but for now, let me share an experience Bill and I had in 1994 while sailing aboard the “Crystal Harmony” from San Francisco to Alaska – where we had to resolve the human conflict of time and space with the divine facts about being in our right place, at the right time.
Two ships were scheduled to anchor in Sitka, Alaska at the same time; our ship, the “Crystal Harmony” and Regent’s new ship the “Mariner.” Bill and I were granted special visitation privileges to visit, inspect and have lunch aboard the “Mariner” while anchored in Sitka Harbor. Because both ships were at anchor in the middle of the bay, we had to take a tender from ship to shore – change tenders and then tender back out to the other ship. So we checked each ship’s tender schedules carefully — coordinating schedules with precision timing.
We finished lunch aboard the “Mariner” just in time to catch the tender back to the dock so we could board the last tender back to our ship, the “Crystal Harmony,” when all was not harmonious and discord became very real. One of the two tenders had to be taken out of service, resulting in a 40 minute delay … forcing us to “miss the boat.”
Our precision timing had failed us, and now we were going to miss our ship’s sail away from Sitka Harbor. We hadn’t brought a credit card for an overnight hotel or for air transportation to our next port of call. We were up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Each passing moment brought increased anxiety, fear, doubt and anger as precious minutes slipped away. How could this happen --- and what were our alternatives? Adam H. Dickey tells us in “God’s Law of Adjustment” that there is a law of God which can adjust any material circumstance, but, what was that law? In Christian Science we know that it’s not as important to uncover the error – as the Truth --- which the error is trying to hide. After quieting my fearful, agitated thought, I affirmed with conviction that we were in our right place and that we couldn’t be outside of God’s control because He is the master of details. He knew exactly where we were and where He wanted us to be. Mortal limitations involving time and space do not exist in the Divine Mind, so we could never be outside of His care and loving control.
But the situation was growing darker by the minute. There didn’t seem to be any human solution at hand. Time was running out.
When the tender finally arrived -- we could see the “Crystal Harmony” preparing to set sail. I humbly asked God for guidance: “Dear God, what would You have me do…What would You have me say….and to whom?” I listened and completely shut my mental chatter and pre-conceived plans. Listening to the still small voice is joyous – it’s a taste of eternity. So, I spoke with our pilot, explaining the predicament in which we found ourselves and how we needed to be dropped off at the other ship rather than be taken all the way back to the dock as we were about to miss our sail-away. He was most sympathetic, but explained he was bound by maritime laws, company rules and regulations which prohibited him from calling on another company’s vessel. There was no insurance for such an operation, and even if there were, he was running 40 minutes behind schedule. I had to trust that God was in charge and His law was supreme, present, active and available.
So…….I took a deep breath and calmly asked the pilot if he could just come alongside the “Crystal Harmony” and let us step off the tender -- without -- tying up – an extremely dangerous, risky and highly illegal operation. He recognized our sincere need for help and radioed both ships’ operational officers for special permission to perform this dangerous procedure in very choppy water. Well, it seemed like an eternity, but just in the nick of time, permission from both ships was granted and we were able to make the “flying” switch between vessels. God never takes us halfway, He takes us all the way. As Violet Hay concludes her poem, (affectionately known as “The Airman’s Hymn”) – “I love thy way of freedom Lord”
Till time and space and fear are naught
My quest shall never cease,
Thy presence ever goes with me
And Thou dost give me peace.
TIME, SPACE, MATTER and FEAR:
Time, space, matter and fear are indivisible, an integral part of the mortal dream of human existence – each designed to limit, constrict and kill because time is the stopwatch of mortality. Time sets and re-sets limits and limitation. Eliminate them from your thought, and healing is instantaneous; in fact, there is no need for healing because without time, space, matter and fear, there is nothing to heal.
Every mortal concept has a time, space, matter, fear component. Medicine cannot work without time, space, matter and fear, but if you try to mix them with Christian Science treatment, you have an oil and water combination. They are incompatible. You cannot homogenize them and get a whole and lasting result.
Here’s my favorite Albert Einstein quote: “To those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future, is only an illusion, if a stubborn one.” (Jim Holt, “Time Bandits,” The New Yorker, Feb. 28, 2005, p.85). There is no time in reality -- -- -- whether we’re talking about the present, the past or the future. The present isn’t any more spiritual than the past or the future. When, (exactly), did the present begin? When will the present end and become the future? Let’s not turn reality into metaphysical goulash by sandwiching the eternal present between the past and the future because inherent in that thought-process you have a natural beginning and end to the present -- because we are viewing a spiritual concept, (“the eternal present”), through a material lens.
Just as the human concept of the present isn’t any more spiritual than the human concept of the past or the future, the eternal present is timeless and it’s the foundation upon which reality rests.
Here are the four progressive phases of time and space as I see them: 1) Time and space are real. 2) Time and space are relative--in the mind of the beholder. 3) Time and space are false beliefs. 4) Time and space are unreal, a hoax, a grand illusion.
I would like to suggest that without the time and space paradigm, we open up a universe without limits, full of unlimited potential, possibilities and intentionality.
SLEEPING THROUGH TIME
Is time more real in our internal world or in our external world? What happens to our concept of time when we’re asleep? When asleep, time becomes malleable and distorted, without limitations or constrictions, because thought is unencumbered by the laws of matter. When asleep, the laws of time, space and gravity are suspended because they have no power over our thinking. Have you ever considered time to be the interval between two events … such as life and death? We mark that time interval in birth-years, which equates to how many revolutions around the sun we have made…and based on how many revolutions around the sun we’ve made….that number determines our prospects for so many human conditions. Look what time does to our appearance, our health, our long-term financial security. Not a pretty picture when you think of structures which crumble with time, that oxidize in time, that disintegrate with the passing of time.
Now, I’m not suggesting you throw away your watches and possibly miss your flights back home. You don’t want to “over-steer your spiritual headlights,” nor be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good. But don’t let yourself become a slave to the limitations of time or make a god out of it. If it’s true that, “I am the world through which I walk,” than I take with me my concept of time through my world -- and it becomes my servant, not my master.
All the dimensions of “now” are supported by God’s law of order, control and perfection. “Now” are endless possibilities, possible…not yesterday, not tomorrow, but right now. Remember, the nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow!
Now is the time between your thoughts and you can change your mind….[your choices], anytime….because you are responsible for what you see…and you choose the feeling you experience, and you decide upon the goal you wish to achieve….and everything that happens to you is the result of what you have asked. God knows the desires of your heart. So be careful for what you ask!
To paraphrase Mrs. Eddy’s poem: “Satisfied” -- “Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, Ayont [time’s] thrall: There Life is light, and wisdom might, And God is All.”
I would like to leave you with this thought from Misc. Writings 230:6 - "If one would be successful in the future, let him make the most of the present." So remember: There’s no time like the present.
Let childlike trust be yours today
By Dee Mahuvawalla
The words in the title are from Hymn 139, which remind us of the importance of childlike trust and how vital it is to exemplify this quality in our day-to-day affairs. I found myself asking “What is childlike trust?”
Our today is big with blessings “Let us endeavour to cherish this childlikeness whose “beginning will be meek, its growth sturdy, and its maturity undecaying,” (S&H 463:15-16)
The words in the title are from Hymn 139, which remind us of the importance of childlike trust and how vital it is to exemplify this quality in our day-to-day affairs. I found myself asking “What is childlike trust?”
Looking up the word trust, I found the following meanings –
“Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing; custody; care; something committed into the care of another; the condition and resulting obligation of having confidence placed in one; one in which confidence is placed; to have or place reliance; depend on - as in Trust in the Lord”. ( www.answers.com}
Mary Baker Eddy writes in our textbook, “ Jesus loved little children because of their freedom from wrong and their receptiveness of right. While age is halting between two opinions or battling with false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards Truth. .” (S & H Page 236:28)
Under the marginal heading “childlike receptivity” Mrs. Eddy continues, – “Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, — this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony. The purification of sense and self is a proof of progress. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."” (S & H Page 323:32)
Some of the qualities of childlikeness are: –innocence, purity, imagination, humor, spontaneity, joy, kindness, receptivity, freshness, wonder, obedience, creativity, honesty, teachability, innovation, resilience, energy, reliance, and intelligence. These are the qualities we all express at every stage in our lives. They are ageless and timeless. They cannot wax or wane, they are our birthright. “They are not subject to growth, maturity, and decay”.
These qualities remind us of our innate and intact childlikeness and trust. In a passage from Miscellaneous Writings, wherein Mrs. Eddy writes,
“When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father-Mother God for bread, it is not given a stone, — but more grace, obedience, and love. If this heart, humble and trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the bread of heaven, health, holiness, it will be conformed to a fitness to receive the answer to its desire; then will flow into it the "river of His pleasure," the tributary of divine Love, and great growth in Christian Science will follow, — even that joy which finds one's own in another's good””. Misc.127:11
In Mrs. Eddy’s writings, she places great emphasis on the word “let”. In Science and Health she uses the word “let” 87 times, in her Other Writings it appears 185 times, and in the Manual it appears 4 times. For example, “ Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence. Let the "male and female" of God's creating appear. Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine "powers that be." Such is the true Science of being”. (S&H 249:1-10)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Hearty Harvest
By Dee Mahuvawalla CS
I am expectant of a full harvest,
I am expectant of a full harvest,
That God has prepared for His children
This rich “table in the wilderness”
Is laid with Soul’s infinite resources to enjoy.
My harvest is abundant with blessings,
Which keep multiplying and overflowing;
I do not have to toil and spin,
For this harvest to unfold and win.
Burning the tares, garnering the wheat,
Is my hearty harvest forever to feast.
God’s vineyard invites you and me
“To gather, sow, and feed His sheep”.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Happy Birthing
By Dee Mahuvawalla CS
Birthing is a rhythmic unfolding
Birthing is a rhythmic unfolding
A time of gentle appearing
When anthems of prayer
Open the way.
Birthing is a time of reflection
Of Soul’s comfort and safety
A clear transparency
Of God’s creating.
Birthing is a labor of love
A relaxed and restful activity
Of trustful integrity
Blessing mother, baby and family
Birthing is painless action
Divine Mind’s momentum
A fruitful harvest
Of joyous expectation.
Birthing is a glorious celebration
A new birth –
“Opening the petals
Of a holy purpose.” [Science & Health 506:18]
Friday, November 12, 2010
“Oh, may you feel this touch”
By Dee Mahuvawalla CS
The words in the title of this article are from Mary Baker Eddy’s book, Miscellaneous Writings. In her article on “Angels” she writes “When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts. Oh, may you feel this touch.” [Mis. 306:23-26] Here the author invites us all to feel the soothing, comforting and healing touch.
This angelic touch is an answer to prayer. It is felt amidst chaos and confusion, loneliness and loss, pain and poverty, sickness or sorrow, regret or remorse, discord or destruction, bankruptcy or bureaucracy, tears or fears, and terror or trauma.
Mrs. Eddy felt this healing touch when she opened her Bible at random, and read the account to Jesus healing of the palsied man. Matthew 9:2 Upon reading this account Mrs. Eddy was instantaneously restored to life from the jaws of death. She writes in the textbook, “ When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, — called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, — is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter.” S & H [108:19-26]
The Bible is full of accounts of people “touched by an angel”. The following are some of the examples: an angel announces future of Ishmael at his birth. [Gen. 16:1-16]; Abraham entertains angels [Gen. 18:1-18]; Jacob wrestles with angel [Gen. 32: 1-32]; Daniel visited by Gabriel [Dan. 9:20-23]; Joseph advised by angel to protect Mary [Matt. 1:18-25]; Jesus ministered to by angels after temptation [Matt. 4 1-11], Jesus’ birth heralded by angels [Luke 2: 8-20]; Peter imprisoned, but released by angel [Acts 5:17-42]; John’s vision of angel with a little book [Rev. 10:1-11].
Right in the midst of our deepest despair, these angel visitants restore peace and provision – be it lessons from nature, a sermon or a song, “these crumbs of comfort” are timely and trusting. Mrs. Eddy writes “Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ's table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.” [S & H 234:4]. She further writes “The "still, small voice" of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound.” [S & H 559:8-10]
Christian Science teaches us that angels are “God’s thought passing to man” [S & H 581:4].
A stanza from a favorite hymn sums this up
“God's angels ever come and go,
All winged with light and love;
They bring us blessings from on high,
They lift our thoughts above,
They whisper God is Love.” [Hymn 9:2]
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The Gift of Beggers
By Marjorie Hamlin (with permission from the author)
Outside of our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, an ancient woman on crutches waited by the door with her hand outstretched. Every day I put my hand in hers as our eyes met. She never failed to return my smile, my grasp, and my "Sin chau" greeting.
Outside of our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, an ancient woman on crutches waited by the door with her hand outstretched. Every day I put my hand in hers as our eyes met. She never failed to return my smile, my grasp, and my "Sin chau" greeting.
John Cowper Powys has assured me that "No one can consider himself wholly civilized who does not look upon every individual, without a single exception, as of deep and startling interest." She was a beam of light in a shadowy doorway.
The last day of our visit to Vietnam, I found myself alone, on a busy street corner across from our hotel. Bicycles and motorbikes careened in front of me. We had been advised to walk straight through the teeming traffic without looking right or left. Let them avoid us. We had proved it possible, but tonight I was by myself, and felt inadequate to face the torrent of vehicles. As I hesitated on the curb, I felt a hand on my elbow, and looked down to see the smile of my small beggar friend looking up at me. She nodded her head toward the street, indicating that she would take me across. We moved slowly into the chaos together as she gently prodded me forward. When we reached the center of the crossing, I looked down at her again, and couldn't resist exclaiming,
"You have the most beautiful smile!”
She obviously knew little English, but must have recognized the tone, for she threw both arms and crutches around me in a genuine hug, while the traffic streamed by us on both sides. Then we moved on toward the sidewalk, where she pulled my face down, kissed me on both cheeks, and limped away, still smiling and waving back to me.
I had not given her a single coin. We had shared something vastly more important with each other. A warming of hearts in friendship.
Mother Teresa suggested, "If you cannot do great things, you can do small things with great love."
To look beggars in the eye and smile, thus acknowledging their existence, is a small thing. Putting a hand into another's outstretched hand and holding tight for a moment is also a small thing. Learning to use a greeting in the local language is not too difficult. Yet fear seems to distance us from one another, at our loss…
There are many reasons why giving money is not the best response to an outstretched hand. Many world rovers have discovered that the greatest gift we have to give while traveling is our time and friendship. Everyone needs recognition, to be seen as worthy of attention, to feel appreciated and loved.
Traveling with Americans in poorer nations, I have witnessed a variety of ways in which they deal with beggars. The most common response of tourists when faced with the poverty-stricken is to ignore their very existence, focusing eyes elsewhere. I have seen Americans push away an outstretched hand in angry annoyance. A few guilty tourists will hastily drop a few coins into a beseeching hand, and then execute a quick exit, in hopes that another twenty ragged pursuers won't immediately appear.
My life continues to be enriched by connecting with the humanity surrounding us. In astonishment, I discover that what I have been given is far beyond monetary value.
There was the legless man sitting by a road at the Pushcar Camel Fair in India. I sat down beside him, and we began to communicate in the kind of sign language and laughter one learns while vagabonding the world. Where does such joy come from? Moments before, we were total strangers, and suddenly we are cemented in a friendship born of our common existence in this world. His eyes shone as we exchanged names. Vidur confirmed what I have discovered, the special beauty of a new relationship. "Speak to the king, and the king will come forth."
When Vidur's smile lured me to join him, I was returning to our tent with my tape recorder replaying the exotic music that I had just captured of the dancing men of Pushkar. After mimicking the whirling skirts and sticks, I showed Vidur how my tape recorder worked. He motioned for me to give it to him. I hesitated only a fleeting moment. After examining it carefully, he began to sing a hauntingly beautiful song, indicating that he wanted me to take it home as a memory of our time together.
Why do we ever hesitate to share?
I did hesitate outside of a Vietnamese temple one day when a teenaged boy aggressively thrust a very deformed hand into my face. I pushed him away and entered the temple, where beggars were not allowed. Feeling pangs of guilt, I prepared myself to face him again when I emerged. I reminded myself of Jesus’s words, “As ye have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me."
Goethe came to mind as well, with his "To see a man as he is, is to debase him. To see him as he ought to be is to engrace him.".
I became determined to see the king, trusting the king to come forth. Sure enough, the hand was in my face again as I moved out of the temple. I looked past the ugliness into the determined boy's eyes, and asked him if he knew any English. He responded with a hesitant nod, so I started telling him how handsome he was, and how he could use his other hand, the good one, in the future. An education would help to lead him toward new creative ideas. Slowly his smile responded to mine and the misshapen hand totally disappeared as we became involved in a lively discussion in rather muddled English. I learned his name and age and dreams. He learned something about Americans.
When my transportation honked, we had to say goodbye. I reached into my pocket and retrieved a limp 2,000-dong note. I gave it to him, saying "This is not because you were begging, but because you are my friend, and I know you can start something good with it." He quickly put his good hand into his shirt pocket and pulled out a dime and two nickels. "What these?" he asked. I told him and we both laughed that his American coins had exactly the same value as the Vietnamese bill I had given to him. I reached out to put them back into his pocket, and this time he pushed my hand away, saying "No, you keep. We are friends."
After learning a greeting in any new language, I learn the word for "friend". I wear an elaborately beaded Masai necklace, given to me in Kenya as the result of my knowing the Swahili word for "friend". When Maria heard the word "rafiki", her skinny begging hand disappeared immediately, and she took my hand to lead me to her selling stall, where I was decorated with delight, and at no charge. Yet another friend had come into to my life. Maria and I had our picture taken together, and my daughter brought a copy of the photo back to Kenya a year later. When Maria saw it, she burst into tears, hugged my daughter and put one of her beautiful handcrafted necklaces around her neck. "Zawadi" (gift) she exclaimed. "Rafiki".
I continue to learn about giving from the world’s most hopeless. Rich in humanity, they have hearts yearning to be affirmed, and oh-so-ready to respond.
The great Russian writer, Dostoevsky, has told us "To love a person means to see him as God intended him to be."
Everyone is worthy.
Worth knowing!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
“Oh, may you feel this touch”
By Dee Mahuvawalla, CS
The words in the title of this article are from Mary Baker Eddy’s book, Miscellaneous Writings. In her article on “Angels” she writes “ When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts. Oh, may you feel this touch.” [Mis. 306:23-26] Here the author invites us all to feel the soothing, comforting and healing touch.
This angelic touch is an answer to prayer. It is felt amidst chaos and confusion, loneliness and loss, pain and poverty, sickness or sorrow, regret or remorse, discord or destruction, bankruptcy or beaurocracy, tears or fears, and terror or trauma.
Mrs. Eddy felt this healing touch when she opened her Bible at random, and read the account to Jesus healing of the palsied man. [Matthew 9:2] Upon reading this account Mrs. Eddy was instantaneously restored to life from the jaws of death. She writes in the textbook, “ When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, — called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, — is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter.” S & H [108:19-26]
The Bible is full of accounts of people “touched by an angel”. The following are some of the examples: an angel announces future of Ishmael at his birth. [Gen. 16:1-16]; Abraham entertains angels [Gen. 18:1-18]; Jacob wrestles with angel [Gen. 32: 1-32]; Daniel visited by Gabriel [Dan. 9:20-23]; Joseph advised by angel to protect Mary [Matt. 1:18-25]; Jesus ministered to by angels after temptation [Matt. 4 1-11], Jesus’ birth heralded by angels [Luke 2: 8-20]; Peter imprisoned, but released by angel [Acts 5:17-42]; John’s vision of angel with a little book [Rev. 10:1-11].
Right in the midst of our deepest despair, these angel visitants restore peace and provision – be it lessons from nature, a sermon or a song, “these crumbs of comfort” are timely and trusting. Mrs. Eddy writes “Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ's table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.” [S & H 234:4]. She further writes “The "still, small voice" of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound.” [S & H 559:8-10]
Christian Science teaches us that angels are “God’s thought passing to man”
[S & H 581:4].
A stanza from a favorite hymn sums this up
“God's angels ever come and go,
All winged with light and love;
They bring us blessings from on high,
They lift our thoughts above,
They whisper God is Love.” [Hymn 9:2]
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Under My Skin
By Dee Mahuvawalla CS
I’ve got the beauty of Soul
Under my skin,
Banishing all brokenness,
Sickness and sin.
I’ve got the quickening of Life
Under my skin,
Illuming my true worth,
Destroying records of time or birth.
I’ve got the propulsion of Principle
Under my skin,
Radiating face to face,
My life’s journey with His grace.
I’ve got Mind’s momentum
Under my skin,
Controlling, directing and healing
Thus harmony establishing.
I’ve got Spirit’s substance
Under my skin,
Uprooting and dissolving
All discord, disease, fear and guilt.
I’ve got Love’s loving and forgiving,
Under my skin,
Comforting gently
The betrayed, the lonely, or the lost sheep.
I’ve got Truth’s trust
Under my skin,
Steadfastly upholding
All faltering denying.
Clad under the armor
With His anointing,
I walk unfettered,
Blessed and free.
In His image and likeness
Jointly fitted together
Firmly knitted in His artistry
I portray my spiritual tapestry.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Constant pressure of the apostolic command
By Dee Mahuvawalla, CS
In the rat-race of the day to day living, mankind is constantly pressured by the cares of life. These pressures may appear to be financial, relationships, health, career, ageing, barrenness, lack, addiction, environmental or whatever. God is the GIVER of good, and has planted and created only good. Our God is a Deliverer, a Friend, a Restorer, a Rescuer.
Man is spiritual, and is therefore unpressured. He is not matter to be pressured by other illusive beliefs of matter. Man has dominion over any material beliefs that can suggest malfunction or dysfunction of his true substance.
Mary Baker Eddy writes in our textbook, “Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate. They must renounce aggression, oppression and the pride of power. Christianity, with the crown of Love upon her brow, must be their queen of life.” [S&H 451:2]
The word “pressure” means “to force, as by overpowering influence or persuasion; to pressurize; the act of pressing; the condition of being pressed; the application of continuous force by one body on another that it is touching; compression; atmospheric pressure; a compelling or constraining influence, such as a moral force, on the mind or will: pressure to conform; peer-group pressure; urgent claim or demand: under the pressure of business; an oppressive condition of physical, mental, social, or economic distress; a physical sensation produced by compression of a part of the body. [Word origin from Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pressūra, from pressus, past participle of premere, to press. [www.answers.com]
Man is not matter or material. He is a spiritual idea “without a single element of error.” [S&H 463:12]. Hence man is never under pressure, he can never be oppressed, suppressed or depressed. His health reflects wholeness, is sound and resilient. His bodily functions are unobtrusive and effortless. He lives and moves through Spirit, not muscles or other material elements. He is only “under the constant pressure of the apostolic command” to glorify God in his body
Man is a compound idea of all right ideas; hence the belief of blood pressure cannot enter or touch his substance. E.g. one of the requirements for seniors to renew their driving license is medical examination. This renewal process, when spiritualized, is obeying the law of the land. It is a symbol of identification. It cannot cause any anxiety, confusion, pressure, or worry. Renewal represents newness, freshness, growth, beauty, fruition, fertility, joy, blooming, and productivity. Its not a source of dismay or pressure. “The attraction between native qualities will be perpetual only as it is pure and true, bringing sweet seasons of renewal like the returning spring.” [S&H 57:11]
Love circulates good, it never stagnates, pressures or clogs. It flows smoothly. Mrs. Eddy defines “RIVER. Channel of thought. When smooth and unobstructed, it typifies the course of Truth; but muddy, foaming, and dashing, it is a type of error.” [S&H 593:14-17]
TEMPLE. Body; the idea of Life, substance, and intelligence; the superstructure of Truth; the shrine of Love” [S&H 595:7]
Let us embrace this superstructure of Truth, as we go about our day to day experiences, and about our Father’s business, with joy, freedom, and gratitude.
The Psalmist says, “[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [LOVE] for ever.] [S&H 578:5,16]
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Divine Economy
Divine economy is stable and secure,
That which is incapable
Of discord, or being unsure-
God’s government forever, pure and assured.
That which is incapable
Of discord, or being unsure-
God’s government forever, pure and assured.
Divine economy is steadfast,
Neither waxing nor waning,
Inexhaustible and undeclining,
Gently ever-flowing.
Neither waxing nor waning,
Inexhaustible and undeclining,
Gently ever-flowing.
Divine economy is prosperous,
Free from want or woe,
Where superabundance of good is,
And no financial crunch or crisis can exist.
Free from want or woe,
Where superabundance of good is,
And no financial crunch or crisis can exist.
Divine economy is fruitful,
Its harvest full and abounds
With plenty, that surrounds-
And no chaos to confound.
Its harvest full and abounds
With plenty, that surrounds-
And no chaos to confound.
Divine economy is safe,
Untarnished or undimmed.
“Above error’s awful din, [S&H 307:31]
Free from deceit, greed, or sin.
Untarnished or undimmed.
“Above error’s awful din, [S&H 307:31]
Free from deceit, greed, or sin.
This divine economy is immutable,
Timeless and indestructible;
Continues to bless all mankind,
With its flourishing fruition.
Timeless and indestructible;
Continues to bless all mankind,
With its flourishing fruition.
Dee Mahuvawalla
Seeing ourselves as God made us
Have you ever dreamed that you could fly, where you have the ability to take off, soar over and look down on scenes below? I had such a dream recently and it was quite wonderful. I could move sideways and up and down. I could push myself off the ground and shoot into the air as if I had a personal rocket strapped to my back.
This dream, together with inspiration from the weekly Bible Lesson on “Substance”, helped shine some light on the area of human disability and dysfunction. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 mandated that buildings, public transportation, housing, employment – sectors that had previously been mostly inaccessible - would need to be made accessible to those with disabilities, that accommodations would need to be made for their needs. This act raised awareness in the rest of society of the obstacles and challenges faced by those who could not move about freely and independently, which was a good thing. Such awareness can be a double-edged sword, however, allowing entrance into thought of the notion that disability is a fact that can limit being or action, for others or ourselves. For me, there has been some acceptance that there will be a gradual loss of mobility as one ages or that joints may be stiff and painful.
In Christian Science, as the lesson on “Substance” made clear, we are learning to see ourselves as God made us – painless and free, unencumbered by what the material senses might report about our bodies or minds. From Science and Health, these sentences were striking: “It is a false supposition, the notion that there is real substance-matter, the opposite of Spirit” (p. 278) and “Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay” (p. 468).
Neither Christ Jesus nor Mary Baker Eddy accepted disability when they encountered it. Both of these great healers met claims of paralysis, insanity, deformity, blindness, even death, with absolute confidence, knowing that the power of God, Spirit, was fully capable of rectifying and restoring what seemed to be abnormal or absent functioning (see the gospel of Luke, chapters 5, 7, 8, 13, and 18 and Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Healer, index, pages 610-613).
Since, as we learn through our study and practice of Christian Science, our outward experience mirrors what we hold in consciousness, I’ve realized that what I accept about others, I’m accepting about myself and that what I affirm for myself, I’m affirming for everyone. To be a Christian disciple and healer means continuously acknowledging limitless being as the spiritual fact for everyone.
Issues of an aging or disabled body - or a violence-prone, out of control world - are set aside with the realization that we are capable of soaring above and beyond the limitations of human sense and reasoning, denying and defying whatever would suggest that we are less than the perfect reflections of perfect Mind, God: harmonious, peaceful, blessed.
Issues of an aging or disabled body - or a violence-prone, out of control world - are set aside with the realization that we are capable of soaring above and beyond the limitations of human sense and reasoning, denying and defying whatever would suggest that we are less than the perfect reflections of perfect Mind, God: harmonious, peaceful, blessed.
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