Tuesday, November 17, 2009

More on my Credo


I was reading "The Story of Unity" by James Dillet Freeman and this came flowing out into my notebook.

God is in you. God is in me. Our true nature is God. You can never be separated from God. No one can. When it seems that a separation has taken place, it is like; not listening to your parents, tuning them out. We tune out God. We take on a will of our own, sometimes called ego. But disconnection from God (or your parents for that matter) will always feel unhappy. Comes in the form of depression or stress. Does that sound like a common complaint of our culture?
My solution is to tune back into God.
"How?" you ask.
BY going into the Stillness of Now. Some call it meditation or wordless prayer. Be still and know God.(a paraphrase of Psalm 46:10) Give up thought. (Eckhart Tolle) Even for a little while.For in that stillness is the source of wisdom. Anyone, in partnership with God, has wisdom.
Religion may catch up with Science soon and declare that all life is interconnected. Family. That's all life: birds, animals, fish, trees, cacti, insects. Mosquitos?
For now, ponder the fact that God is in you. Your true self is GOd. Stop the thought stream in your mind and be still. Know God.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

My Unity Credo Seminar Answers

Photo is of the fountain in the garden of the Unity of the Huachucas.
I know what I know and I don't need to know why, means the person has faith in their beliefs.
My beliefs are based on modern writings rather than the bible. Some of my favorite authors in this field are: Wayne Dyer, Deepok Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, Mike Dooley, Neale Donald Walsch...
For me, God is Divine Presence or Divine Spirit.
and
Humans are an expression of God's creative spirit; with an evolving free-will, subject to domination of mind's ego-fears, but capable of enlightenment by allowing the consciousness of our true nature of oneness with Divine Presence.
Prayer is a communion of our hearts to align with Divine Presence - holding the light of healing and goodness in focus, especially when praying for others.
Sin is error and unhappiness. It is ego-based self-interest actions.
'The Christ' is the embodiment of enlightened consciousness.
Redemption or salvation is the act of being brought back into oneness with Spirit.
Grace is an ease of being, a peacefulness way of action.
I become still, focus on my breathing and say a mantra like: Breath in life. Breath out love. Heal. Prosper. Bless.
Putting "There is no evil" (the bumper sticker) into a positive statement = "It's all good" makes sense to me because our lives in physical form is a becoming, a learning, so that everything that happens in that life guides us to union with All That Is.
"Everything that happens, happens for a reason" is one aspect of the Law of Attraction. God works through all actions for a wider application than we can see.
I believe that my higher self observes my life in form as it is happening. This observer tests my ideas until they either drop away or become my beliefs.
Divine Order is Spiritual Law. For example; seed + soil + water + light = new life.
Since all Life is one and Divine Spirit fills everything, to me, 'meeting God' means bringing my consciousness in touch with the divine or sacred and can be done at anytime and will be done when we leave this life form behind.
I have come to the beliefs I have now through a slowly intensifying study of spiritual writings, poems, philosophy & attendance at religious centers like Unity and Science of Mind. For me churches are social places and dogma is to be questioned.
10 description words for God: Love, Life, Health, Goodness, Happiness, Beauty, Truth, Abundance, Empathy, All.
The form of good for which there is no opposite is Life.
For me, prayer works. Absolutely.
For me the Bible is a collection of essays, poem songs, stories and lessons. I like more of a cohesiveness in my reading. Not to say that individual passages aren't moving or wise, but for me, it needs a deep editing and the name 'Holy' removed.
When I want to experience the Stillness that is Divine Presence I try to become totally absorbed in the moment.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

A Cat's Change of Life




Early one morning, Tucson's eastbound traffic was slow through the busy intersection even when the light was green. In the northbound lanes, I saw a cat. It was running in a crouched position, weaving between the cars and trucks. I pulled the car over just past the intersection.

I jumped out, ran into the intersection, and tried to herd the cat toward the curb. I was murmuring,"It's all right, baby. Let me help you. Stop running honey. I'm just going to help you," and amazingly, she did. We were still in the road. I reached down and scooped her up. I grasped her back feet with my left hand and wrapped my whole right arm around her. I hurried back to my car. The whole thing hadn't taken any longer than the time it takes for the light to change.

The cat was a beautiful, mature, adult female Himalayan. She sat shaking beside me. I petted her head and spoke calmly to her as I drove off. I would have liked to keep her myself but I had a dog and he was all I could handle. Besides, someone out there already loved this beautiful cat. Except for her fear, she was in good shape.

I thought about the animal shelter, but they weren't open yet. Then I remembered my friend Sharron who lives a block from the SPCA shelter. I decided to see if she would be willing to take the cat off my hands and take her to the shelter when it opened. By the time I got to her house the cat had stopped shaking and Sharron said she'd take her.

Ididn't see Sharron for a couple of months. After we caught up on our news, I started thanking her for taking the cat to the shelter that day. She told me, "As it turned out, I didn't take the cat to the shelter. That weekend I was going to my Mother's in New Mexico ( a 300 mile drive) to surprise her on her eighty-second birthday. I decided to give her the pretty cat as a birthday gift. When I got there I carried the cat into the house, when mom reached out to hold her, the cat leaped to the floor and scurried under the sofa. Mom didn't see the cat for weeks. She named her Tiffany, talked to her, put out food, cleaned her litter box, but the cat didn't show herself until one day when Mom was knitting, she came out, jumped up on the sofa, and curled up on an afghan. She'd finally recovered from her change of life."

"Change of life is right," I agreed. "I don't know how many she's had, but we witnessed her transition into this one, didn't we?'

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Prayer


Here is a topic I've had trouble with since my Sunday School days as a child. This is from the writings of Myrtle Fillmore, although it reads like something out of 'The Secret' or some other new spiritual thinking.


"Sometimes we pray to a God outside of ourselves. [but]

"It is the God in the midst of us that frees and heals. With our eye of faith we must see God in our flesh, see that wholeness for which we are praying in every part of the body temple. 'Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you? ... glorify God therefore in your body.'

"... We commune with God-Mind within our own consciousness. Prayer is an exercise to change our own thought habits and our living habits, that we may set up a new and better activity, in accord with the divine law rather than with the suggestions we have received from various sources. We do not prove that we expect our prayers to be answered by going on doing the things we have been doing.

"Prayer, then, is to change mind and heart so that God's omnipresent good may fill our mind and heart and manifest in our life. If we do not keep on thinking in accord with the prayers we have made, we do not get good results. For all thought is formative; all thought has its effect in our life. When some of our thought energy is expended in negative beliefs and feelings, and we show that we have old mental habits in the subconscious mind, we get those old negative results - even when we are praying daily and when others are praying for us."

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

From my current reading


"In Cold Pursuit" (a mystery set in Antarctica) by Sarah Andrews who, by the way, is a professional geologist and a licensed pilot.


This quote from pg. 291 is a woman scientist that the main character meets out on the ice while investigating two unusual deaths:

"There is no such thing as race. All research done in the past half century has said the same thing: We are all one race with only minor variations, but the mixing is spread all across the globe, the result of constant intermarriage, not just this tribe splitting off from that .

[Perhaps] you've heard about mitochondrial Eve? Each woman on this planet, including you and me, carries the same genetic coding in our mitochondria, with only minor, minor variations that have built up over the millenia. In a manner of speaking, we are all daughters of one ancient mother. We all carry her heritage. We are sisters."

Monday, October 19, 2009

Myrtle Fillmore


Birth: Aug. 6, 1845 Pagetown, Morrow County, Ohio, USA
Death: Oct. 6, 1931, USA
Co-founder of the Unity School of Christianity. She was born Mary Caroline Page. She suffered from chronically poor health. She married Charles Fillmore, and together, they discovered a set of principles regarding healing and prosperity. Through the application of these spiritual principles, Myrtle was miraculously cured. The Fillmores founded the Unity School of Christianity, an organization now more commonly known as Unity. In addition to the many Unity churches worldwide, Unity also operates an internationally acclaimed prayer network known as Silent Unity. Myrtle Fillmore passed away in 1931 at the age of 86.
Here's a synopsis of some of Mama Fillmore's thoughts on Healing
Life is a form of energy and has to be guided and directed by intelligence.
Teach your body by talking to each part, telling it to be full of vigor and energy, full of sweet, pure, wholesome energy of God.
For example, "My legs are active and strong!"
"My eyes are young, clear, bright eyes because the light of God shines through them."
"My heart has the pure love of Jesus Christ flowing in and out with each beat; a joyous pulsation."
Keep on, silent or aloud, declaring the words of truth: My body is free and unlimited Spirit. My organs are centers of life and energy.
And I am watchful of what I say and think.
I think and speak only kind, loving, true words.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Do your life stages stay with you or not?


Egg

caterpillar


Cocoon

Butterfly



My daughter, Sharon, found this question intriguing:
When the Butterfly emerges does the caterpillar cease to exist?

With some thought my answer is: the caterpillar spins a cocoon that gives way to, or becomes, a chrysalis which after the correct amount of time, bursts its tight bound prison to become the butterfly. If you think that you are all of your stages, the child, the young person, and the young adult who grew day by day into the person you are now, then the butterfly is caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly all at the same time, simply in one form or another; but if you believe that you have left the child behind and are only what you are right now, then the butterfly may also have replaced the caterpillar, and the chrysalis who have ceased to exist.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

To See The Past


The Isle of Iona in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland is a place where the past and present are not so separate as they seem in other places. The site of a sixth century monastery that was founded here by Saint Columbus, who arrived on the Isle in 563 AD, it seems to be the focus for glimpses of the past.

One incident from the 1960s relates that the artist, John MacMillan saw Vikings attack the ancient abbey as if in the present. He describes that he was walking downhill toward the sea and thought of calling on friends whose cottage was on his way, but looking ahead along the hill, he realized the land was empty. Neither his friends' nor their neighbor's cottage was where they should be.

Disoriented he thought to look out to sea for his bearings. There he saw Viking long ships setting anchor in the bay. He watched as they came ashore, attacked the abbey, set it on fire, plundered the cattle, loading them on board, up-anchored and sailed away. This historical incident is recorded as having taken place in the tenth century, but John MacMillan had seen it in the twentieth as though it were happening in the present.


Apparently, the abbey has a strong presence of the past about it, for a decade later, Tommy Frankland reported another incident. A group of scholars, young and old, were meeting in the library of the Bishop's House. Tommy Frankland and some of the others noticed an elderly clergyman standing by an open window that looks out towards the Sound of Iona. The gentleman stood absolutely still, his whole being focused on the quiet bay.

A little later, Tommy saw the same gentleman outside, walking purposefully toward the ebbing sea. Then without hesitation, he walked straight into the water.

He was waist deep before Tommy reached the shore. "Come back, Reverend! Come back. It's dangerous!"

Finally, the gentleman turned. He seemed only then to realize that he was in the water. Slowly and with some difficulty, he made his way back to shore.

The Reverend told them that he had seen the Columba Abbey from the library window as it must have looked a thousand years ago. He came down to the shore to get a better look and seeing a causeway that led to it he decided to walk out on it.

Though the abbey finished it's restoration in 1967 the causeway is no longer there, so when he heard Tommy calling as if from a distance, the vision left him and he found himself wading in the sea.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Dream Haunting


Years before Sir Harold Boulton ever heard of Ballachulish House, his mother would speak of a beautifully situated estate that she often thought and dreamed about. So familiar was this dream house that she could describe any part of it in detail.

Sir Boulton was invited to the Ballachulish House one year when his mother, now elderly, was visiting him and he asked to have her invited along as well.

As they approached the grand house, she realised that this was the house, quite literally, of her dreams. She surprised the owner, Lady Beresford, by telling her about a staircase that had long ago been bricked up and was out of sight or knowledge of the current owners.

In her own turn, Lady Beresford surprised the woman by telling her that she recognized Mrs. Boulton as the little lady ghost who had been haunting Ballachulish House for years.


Story taken from information in Gazetteer of Scottish & Irish Ghosts by Peter Underwood, published 1972

Friday, October 9, 2009

Another of my fables: To Keep Them Warm



Once upon a time, a loving wife and mother, Annie McVee, died of a sudden illness, leaving two children; Harold and Eleanor, aged five and seven. They had only their hard-working father, Alex McVee, to look after them. The children helped with chores but their father had much work to do on the farm. He worked from dawn to dusk. He and the children missed their wife and mother, Annie, very much.

One Alex McVee's friends in the village was Tommy. He had an older sister, Jane, who never married. When this sister was quite young, she had lost an eye. Several red-hot embers from her family's fireplace flew out and hit her face when her little brother Tommy had carelessly tossed a log on the fire she was sitting next to. Their mother's comment at the time had been, "Thank goodness the ember didn't strike the boy." Jane's missing eye had disfigured her face and made her bitter, although she was known as a hard worker in the village.

Encouraged by his friend, the father married the sister with one eye (Jane) so that the children would have a mother and the meals and the house would be taken care of.

As a new stepmother, Jane treated the children meanly, perhaps because her own mother had treated her meanly. "Children cannot be pampered, if they are to grow up responsible," was a favorite expression of hers. She had learned it verbatim from her mother, of course.

The stepmother also resented the first wife's precious things. For example, one of the children's mother's treasures had been a large supply of blankets and linens. As new wife, Jane stored these blankets away in her hope chest under lock and key.

The nights got colder as Summer turned to Autumn. The one-eyed mean stepmother refused to bring out the warm blankets for the children's bed. All they had on their bed was a few worn out rags. When winter settled in, they huddled together shivering with the cold, until they fell asleep.

But each morning of this first week of winter, when the children woke up, they found themselves wrapped cozy and warm in their mother's blankets. Their stepmother was livid. She screamed at them and smacked them up side their heads in frustration. But she knew in her heart that the only key to the chest, where the blankets were locked, was safely hidden under her own pillow. She, of course, had a very warm blanket on her bed.

Then one cold winter's night young Harold fell asleep quickly but Eleanor could not. She was so cold, bitter cold, and she lay awake shivering, deep into the night.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened, and Eleanor saw a lady dressed in a long shimmering white dress. As the ghostly lady approached, the lock on the chest sprang open and she brought out two blankets and wrapped the children in them.

The lady leaned down to kiss the children and as she did Eleanor recognized her mother.

Eleanor whispered, "Mother?" but the lady in white turned away and vanished into the darkness.

When Eleanor told her family what she had seen, the stepmother relented and allowed the children to have warm blankets on their bed.

They didn't exactly live happily ever after, because no one does, but the children were on better terms with their stepmother for those short years that children live at home with their parents.


Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Dan Brown's Lost Symbol introduces Noetics to me


I've just finished reading Dan's latest blockbuster: The Lost Symbol.

Fabulous, my friends. A gotta read!
The book sold one million copies the first day, or so the e-zine ishift said in their article they sent me on my gmail.

The book's setting is in the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C.

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building.

When Langdon's mentor, Peter Solomon—a Mason —is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is plunged into the world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations.

Add Peter's beautiful sister Katherine who has a secret lab in the Capital Building catacombs where she is studying Noetics.

The heroic duo, Robert Landon and Katherine Solomon, finally take out the mad, bad guy, after, of course, enduring pain and torture. What is left in this popular fiction blockbuster is amazing and delightful; a new science called Noetics.

As I understand it Noetics is the scientific study of human consciousness that proves that enlightenment is not a personal matter but an evolutionary potential that has the power to change our world from the inside out. And I say, None too soon.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Today is drifting away


The first day of a new month, and one of my favorites at that: October. First things first, of course; coffee and toast. Quick visit with my daughter Sharon who lives down the street, then get dressed, comb flyaway hair.
Now John and I head out for the Senior Center to get our vouchers for seven free lunches. Petey the Chihuahua comes along for the ride and a walk in Vista Park afterwards.

These lunches are redeemable at the Copper Queen Hospital Cafeteria. Now that might not sound like a place to get great food, but it is. Chef Evan, knows how to prepare good food. The cafeteria part makes it hard sometimes to keep the food fresh but we go as close to opening as possible: 11:30AM.

A typical menu for the week includes things like Chile Relleno Casserole, Carrot Ginger Soup, Apple Pork Chops, Spaghetti Squash, JoJo Potatoes, and Wild Rice Pilaf. The lunch includes, soup or salad, choice between two main courses, beverage, and dessert. Free. Sponsored by the Arizona Council on Aging.

So that was the day's beginning. Back home by 10AM. Didn't go to the cafeteria since it's Thursday: hamburger day, so I made a brunch of pancakes, sausage and a fried egg. I got the mail and decided to get on the computer and check my email since the cat, ole Koochareeno, wasn't using my chair. Like Sharon's cat, Turtle, the computer chair is their favorite place to nap, so we have to catch our time when we can.
It is now 3:30PM and what I want to know is - Where the f__k did the time go?

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

My poem Dream Ride

This is from a dream I had and woke up remembering
so I wrote it down, polished it up, and
here it is:




Dream Ride

There appeared a ring of fire.
Inside the fire was a field of sunflowers.
In each sunflower appeared the human face
of everyone I’ve loved who’s died.
I spoke my love to each one.

The fire died down to embers,
faces and flowers faded away.
In the red light a shape appeared,
a black horse with stars on her back.
She reared and spread her wings.

I crossed the embers on bare feet
and mounted that black angel horse.
I sat in the glow of stars on her back.
Again she reared and lifted from the grass.
Together we rose into the air.

We flew toward the gibbous crescent moon,
then orbited into its full light.
Ablaze in moonlight, we disappeared.
On earth many saw a falling star.
We rode on in Spirit form.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Prose that reads like Poetry



I paraphrased and titled this piece of Elizabeth Kubler Ross:



Our Purpose


Whether or not we understand fully who we are
or what happens when we die;
it is our purpose as human beings
to look within ourselves,
to find and build our individual
strength and understanding.


And then reach out to others,
with love, acceptance, and patient guidance;
in hope of what we may become together.


This one is another "Author Unkown" I found it in a 1961 edition of Friendship magazine put out by Ideals Publishing Company:



May Evening Find Me Gentle


Give me a few friends who will love me for who I am
or am not.
Keep ever burning before my wandering steps
the kindly light of hope.
And though age and infirmity overtake me
and I come not in sight of the castle of my dreams,
teach me still to be thankful for life
and time's old memories that are good and sweet.
And may the evening twilight find me gentle still.


Monday, September 28, 2009

I Am Sky poem written last night while trying to read

Clouds flow through me
day and night.
Stars shine in me
night and day.
I am Sky.
In the presence of water
I am sacred.
In the stillness of trees
I am in awe.
In the grace
of the godly Now,
I am.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

How did the cake come out?

Well, the one with 6 eggs and without 6 tsp. flavorings. Not so hot. Maybe literally. I don't think the 275 degree setting was hot enough. There was an air bubble under where I did the toothpick test, so it came out clean enough, but it wasn't really done all the way through. Now why couldn't I have just thrown all those cracked eggs out? Why add good cake flour and sugar first. Ah well.



The other cake, the one with the butterscotch sauce, that one came out good. The good people at Unity of the Huachucas liked it well enough to eat all but 4 pieces in the 9"x13" pan. John, who seldom eats sweets, had a good size piece when I got home and pronounced it, "Good." A man of very few words, my John.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

How Do I get Myself In These Situations?


I'm putting away the heavy whipped cream and butter that I bought at Safeway (for a sauce that goes with the chunky apple cake I baked yesterday for the potluck at church tomorrow) , so I have the refrigerator door open. While doing so, I decide to have a couple eggs for lunch so I open the egg shelf door.

That's when the cat decides he needs my attention. He starts to rub up against my ankles, which, since I am busy thinking about getting out the eggs, startles me, and yes, you guessed it, I drop the carton of eggs on the floor.

It was a carton of 18 and there were 12 left before the accident. 4 were lost to the not so clean floor and I wiped them up with a kitchen towel. At least that spot looks pretty clean now. As for the rest of the eggs, 6 were cracked and I saved them to a bowl, and 2, apparently thick-shelled eggs go back onto the egg shelf. Now I think to myself, I want to use these 6 eggs in the bowl, so I look up a cake recipe that uses 4 eggs and start making the cake.

Now I know I should have done the cups and spoons that were soaking in soapy water in the sink first, but, I didn't. I wanted to get the cake in the oven and over with before the day got warm. What I really wanted was to go lay back on the couch and read my book, but can't waste eggs and don't trust leaving them out of their shell for too long. So, I start the cake.

John comes in the kitchen and without checking if there were clean cups (out of my way) in the cupboard (there were), he reaches over my greased cake pan and grabs his black cup out of the sink of cold soapy water and trails the soapy water over my greased pan.

Thoughts of a solitary life in a remote place go through my head.

I whine to John, "Jahahn, you got soapy water in my greased pan!"

"Sorry."

Silence you could cut with a cake knife.

Finally, John comes over to check the damage and I tell him, "I'll live," and re-grease the pan. I continue with the cake ingredients, But, I forgot the flavorings it called for, all 6 tsp. full. And I put all 6 of the broken eggs into the batter. The recipe said to bake at 275 degrees for 1 hour 45 minutes. (odd, eh?)

We'll see how the cake comes out.







Friday, September 25, 2009

My Photos of Cochise County Fair Sept 24th

Here's the midway.
We didn't go in but turned left to
the exhibits and animals, like we always do. I'm almost ashamed to admit that neither John nor I spent one cent. The admission was free, being Senior Citizen's Day, and we didn't want anything.




I sat for an hour at least watching this cookware demonstration. It was beautiful stuff, excellently made, but,
when you see me spend 1,695.00 (sale price) for a set of 5 pans with lids, you'll know I've won the sweepstakes and the lottery too.






Hey, Arlene, here's the Quilt exhibit -






Inside the main exhibit hall.








and The Magician - the children loved him.

Obviously I'm Into Photographs So Here's Some More

In Warren, this looks like an Old Man of the Andes cactus. Tallest one I've ever seen in a private garden.


This looks like lavender to me, but
I don't really care. It sure is pretty.
It's in Warren again, yes.








This is a favorite garden of mine on W. Vista in Warren facing the park. The elderly gentleman there gets this vine going every year.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Local flora and fauna photos

Three photos taken Sept. 22, 2009 in the Bisbee neighborhood of Warren. Summer seems to be going out in a blaze of blooms. Crisp days, waning bugs, and what the heck is Halloween candy doing on the shelves so early? It sure won't be fresh by the end of October.