Checking Out Ladies Home Journal

The August 2011 edition of Ladies Home Journal contains an interview with Dana Delany, a character on Body of Proof. The part was intended for a 35 year old women but Delany, who is 55, got the role. How does she stay beautiful and young? By liking who she is. Delany said, “I also find that the less I focus on the external, the more attractive I am. When you stop thinking about what you look like you naturally look better.”

Also in the August edition was an article on finding more time in our day, or rather about no longer falling prey to the time suckers of staring into the fridge, checking emails and Facebook, worrying about what to wear, or watching TV. Time can be spent better. There are plenty of healthy activities to join in on and we all have talents that need developing.

Focusing on the internal, or our spiritual nature, comes with benefits. We don’t need to give the world, or other people’s opinions about who we should be, so much attention. Uniqueness, beauty, balance, health, strength, love-ability, and joy were created, and we were created to image these forth.

August 2011 edition

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” (Matthew 6:28-29, NIV)

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Got Married Back in the Olden Days

These are the flowers Doug sent me for our wedding anniversary, yesterday. A dozen roses, very beautiful. I would insert a picture of us on our wedding day, but we got married back in the olden days when they didn’t have digital cameras. And, I don’t have a scanner to scan the yellowing photo.

Doug and I are still going strong. But, being married hasn’t always been easy. The best advice that helped me see past the marriage troubles,  is advice that I found in the Bible, although because practical wise advice is available to the universe, I’m sure this advice is found elsewhere. The advice is basically, what God joined together, don’t bother separating; which coincides with, don’t bother putting together what God didn’t.

Now, what God put together isn’t particular human beings.  God is divine Spirit and deals with spiritual ideas and spiritual beings, therefore God put together compassion, humor, joy, appreciation, aplomb, tenderness, courage, and strength. God did not put together anger, arrogance, resentment, or impatience. And, because it is impossible to add a bit of anger to God’s creation, when I feel angry toward Doug, I back off and peace comes.

Doug has been living 3000 miles away from me since last October. He got a job in Seattle. I’ve been holding down the fort here in upstate New York. Thankfully, the advice I just mentioned above holds true even through space. In fact, divine Science teaches there is no space in Love, God.  Marriage signifies an individual and collective path of spiritual unity with divine Love.

Flooding in the World

Reading about the current flooding, especially the Mississippi River flooding, I can’t help but be reminded of a friend’s interpretation of the Biblical story of Noah and the Ark and the great flood. Noah was told by God to build a huge Ark and load it with his family, animals, and tons of food, because God decided to flood the earth to drown out the rampant sin going on.

My friend thought, If God only reveals goodness, and God is All-in-all, then the flood had to be a flood of goodness, a flood of love drowning out resentment and indignation.

For some reason this made sense to me. And, then one evening while cooking dinner, rather wearily, one of the children wanted my attention. I consciously was aware of impatience being triggered in my mind, and all of a sudden a flood of patience overcame me. I wasn’t specifically asking God for patience, but I did feel Christ (not a human man, but spirit) actively working in consciousness and that evening I responded. I gave the appropriate amount of attention to the child, finished dinner and the evening went better than fine.

So, how does this recollection of Love flooding us with patience help with the present flooding going on in the south? It doesn’t help, physically. But, all practical physical help comes from a mental impetus, a thought, therefore, I figure, a thought of Love’s flooding is better than the thought that the south is being punished as if God could send something bad. Spiritual thoughts are powerful, useful and lead to practical action when sent out to the universe.

Hard and Soft Sciences Affected Positively by Divine Science

Discoveries made in the physical “hard” sciences have no doubt changed the way we think about our universe and bodies. We no longer are stuck on a flat earth, but can fly. Discoveries made in the social and behavioral sciences have also changed the way we think, especially about cultures, religions, and even ourselves as a person with relationships. A thoughtful purpose can guide an event instead of events being caused by genes or habits.

In a third realm of sciences, divine Science, has also been found to change the way we think. Divine Science is synonymous with spiritual science or Christian Science or Mind-science. The factor that distinguishes divine Science from the hard or soft sciences is that the human mind surrenders to divine Mind, an infinite universal spiritual Mind. The hard and soft sciences never get out of the fluxing materialist virtual reality whereas divine Science reveals an unchanging reliable spiritual reality.

We read in a textbook of divine Science, Science and Health, “The effect of this Science is to adapt the human mind to an improved attitude from which it may yield to the peace of divine Mind.” For the interrelated human mind and body to yield to divine Mind does not mean we lose our identity or our sense of reality and discovery, but does mean the way we think will change according to a universal reality. As the human mind adjusts to spiritual thoughts, it opens up to clearer discoveries of health, holiness, and harmony.

Divine Science can be studied just as the hard and soft sciences are studied. We can apply principles that were discovered during a long history of empirical research, such as experiencing a less stressful mind and body after forgiving people who piss us off. We can feel divine Mind, Love, at work in our lives, instead of rankle at conniving and conflicting human minds. We can express divine Mind, Soul, on our life journey and find an ability to circumvent obstacles much easier. We can become more and more familiar with divine Spirit and spirituality in others and in ourselves and change the way we think about life and love. We can discover ongoing life and love controlled by intelligence.

Religion and Science Evolve in Excellence

Religion had a way, often unscrupulously, of dominating over science until the 19^th century, when the general populace had a mental growth spurt, no longer fitting into the automatic acceptance of canon handed down by a church coterie. People adapted to the idea of thinking for themselves, of research and discovery. Coincidentally, research and discovery expanded the human ability to develop refined ideas and put them into practice through the sciences. Paradoxically, the sciences became a domineering force in the 20^th century, but not without generating the same problems religion generated. Basically, neither religion nor science can tout supremacy because they both are in constant flux and inextricably bound to the evolution process.

Granted, the evolution process involves extinction, however, neither religion nor science will become extinct before the false convictions they propagate are extinguished; number one falsity being that religion or science is the source of truth, they aren’t. Religion and science are venues in search of truth.

Religion and science play a role in developing public opinion, but when the core value of evolving in excellence is neglected, temptations set in. Both are guilty of interpreting data to confirm presuppositions and biases, of stockpiling knowledge that has no practical application, and of spawning new complex moral, ethical, and scientific problems for every answer they come up with. Even though they both can claim past successes, religion and science need to live in the now and deal with today’s issues. Religion and science are not responsible “for” humanity, but are to be responsible “to” humanity.

As excellence in religion and science evolves, these venues will be found to be mutually reinforcing. Whether it is a leap in faith, or an educated leap in faith, that leads to the discovery of new ideas, the commitment to the core value of excellence in research, intent, healthy skepticism, and ongoing inquiry will ensure those ideas are implemented to benefit humanity.

The Hot Topic of Spirituality

Spirituality is a hot topic that gets our attention until human life yanks it back to the stubborn fact of a materialist world. Here are a few tips I’ve found helpful to stay balanced when walking the tight rope of spirituality.

1. Be wise, but not cowardly: Because wisdom is a relative state in any society, it must be infused with practicality and insight to be useful. Trust your ability to express the all-wise God. Don’t’ mess with clever clichés which are cowards that live in royal solitude and ambitiously pursue a personal social agenda that serves no end. Be wise. Wisdom is the grasp on Life, Truth, Love. Actually, wisdom is Truth’s grasp on Us.
2. Be sober but not infatuated: Sobriety is not a state of sedateness, a.k.a. pious attitude. Sobriety is a state of being able to keep within the bounds of honesty and progress. And, in all honesty, having a fascination for spirituality will not secure spirituality, just like being infatuated with Brad Pitt and Angelino Jolie won’t secure quality acting skills or fame.  Seriously pursue your spiritual journey even when it goes against the trend of what we are use to, but do it with moderation.
3. Don’t take yourself so seriously: It helps to remember not to take your personal self so seriously as if spirituality depends on it. Be mindful of divine Spirit, God, and thankfully acknowledge every teeny tiny spiritual experience until you see they mass together and make for a great force in life.

With that said on the ongoing topic of spirituality, I’ll go clean the bathroom now!