What is the distinction between traditional Christian Science and the teachings of Emma Curtis Hopkins and Emilie Cady?
Basically, Emilie Cady didn't go there at all. She found her path through her training as a holistic physician, attendance at revival meetings, participating in study groups around Emma Curtis Hopkins' teachings, and her own reading of the Bible. Her ideas became the foundation of Unity teachings precisely because they were so clearly NOT Christian Science but were so clearly expressed that all could understand and practice them.
 
Emma, on the other hand, studied with Mary Baker Eddy and worked for her for a while, called her own teachings Christian Science until MBE made it clear that no one outside her organization would be permitted to do so, and actually taught and published lessons that were very similar to MBE's for the first couple of years. We have published books based on her notes for 1887 and 1888 that are virtually indistinguishable from MBE's CS. 
 
Emma's initial move away was to include references to what she called "other mystical writers" and to accept what is now called NeoPlatonism: the existence of everything in an ideal form ready for us to attune ourselves to experience it. In Lesson 2 of Scientific Christian Mental Practice she goes further away when she contradicts MBE's teachings on 2 points:
    1, That there is no intelligence in matter; Emma argues that if God is omnipresent and God is Intelligence then Intelligence must be omnipresent and that includes all forms of matter. She also says that matter, as such, is not Real, but transitory. That is, eternal spiritual Substance is taking a form for the moment that meets a consciousness and will change as that consciousness changes. 
   2, The denial of sensation; Emma states that if all sensation were delightful then no one would argue against its existence, that the issue is with our perception, not with the object being sensed; if God is Good and God is omnipresent, then all that is Good is omnipresent and therefore what we sense must be Good.  
 
 
What’s the difference between praise and gratitude?
Gratitude is a heart opening brought about by deep appreciation in the moment, and may be triggered by contemplation of the past or the present or potential futures. Gratitude opens the way for more opportunities to experience gratitude.
 
Praise is any and all descriptions of what is. Emma says, literally, that "all description is praise". Praise opens the way for more of what is being described., which is why we're careful about what we describe. Praises may also arise from a state of gratitude, as reflected in the Psalms and many hymns, where words can't describe the depth of our appreciation for what we're experiencing, but still we try.

 

I recently received an email from a student who was concerned that by listing the ways that good things are present or would be appreciated, we may be "placing other  gods before" the One, Infinite, Source of All that Is. Here is my response:
I get the sense that in your thinking, an object is not Source/Spirit, a person or event may or may not be Spirit, a quality may or may not be Spirit - and that is, indeed, what the culture teaches us. But what Emma Hopkins and Emilie Cady understood is that it's ALL ONE SPIRIT/SOURCE/SUBSTANCE. Every thing, person, experience, or quality we perceive is our brain-limited version of Spirit showing up for us. So, they're telling us, when we name anything, any person, any state of being, any feeling as our Good, we are naming Spirit, and by naming Spirit in that form, we are inviting Spirit to take that form in our perceptions.

When Hopkins and Cady encourage us to acknowledge the good and claim it for ourselves they are offering a way of experiencing all that we call good by identifying all that we call good and  ourselves as the same thing -- Spirit, the Source, the underlying power and intelligence of all that is. They say that we can have it without feeling required to DO anything to achieve or experience it. We identify with that experience, that physical form, that quality, and because we ARE it already (for we could not wish, desire, or imagine it if we weren't), we then begin to perceive it in our lives. We no longer seek it, because we realize we ARE it, and the form that is here and now is Spirit in expression - so it is Good. The lamp is Good, the food is Good, the body is Good, the person over there is Good, their healed body is Good...I name it Good to get out of the habit of naming things as not okay and  reinforce my understanding that all is Spirit/Source/Substance taking whatever form I call good, that all I perceive is what I have thought and felt before now, and is my very loving, cooperative Spirit Self showing up as my world for me.

I received an email this week asking me about whether the body really needs to be weened off of medications "slowly and gently".  This was my reply...

Yes, in Truth, no medication is ever needed and there is no need to be limited by anything material. However, the way I think of it,

• the body is what the brain tells it to be;
• the brain has been programmed by our childhood and adult experiences and decisions;
• that programming has trained the brain to block input from the mind;
• as we learn to let the mind have more and more access to the brain, the brain gives the body new messages;
• the mind, our spirit, soul-Self, is infinite and unbounded;
• so the new messages move the body toward unlimited health, unbounded strength, and immunity to whatever is happening in the material world

For someone with training and experience in the medical world, stopping a medication will usually include "a need to wind down safely and slowly". For another (say, a guru in India) that's not an issue; nothing physical can have a deleterious effect on the body.
 
Now, as you're doing the clearing work, however, as you release and replace more and more of the brain’s programming, you will find that fewer and fewer of those old programs apply and more and more of your spirit-Self is your experience.
 
So, as you go along, if you're paying attention to what you're thinking, and that thinking is focused on the spiritual reality of you, rather than the past experiences of the physical-emotional body, AND you can trust yourself to deal with any issues that may come up, you can feel free to do whatever feels right in the moment. 

Be aware, though, that the brain's programming runs deep, so you may find there are ups and downs along the way, as you make the shift from one state of being/consciousness to another.

The second weekend of April this year was amazing! 
The full moon April 6 had all kinds of astrological and Wiccan overtones regarding the end of darkness and the emergence of new light, and was also the marker for the Jewish holy days of Passover (Pesach), honoring their deliverance out of bondage in Egypt, and the holiest of Christian days called Easter, honoring the resurrection of Christ out of the darkness of death. On Saturday Buddhists honored Wesak, the awakening of Prince Gautama into the Buddha, as he succeeded in overcoming the darkness of all his  demons and so was free and able to share his experience with others. And all of that is happening in the middle of the Muslim month of fasting called Ramadan, by which Arab nations have, for millennia, left behind old ways and entered into a new life, and during which the blessed prophet Mohammed experienced the revelations that became the Q'uran.

Whew! Billions and billions of people, all over the world, honoring the process of coming out of darkness into the Light! That's got to be making a difference in the collective consciousness of humanity!

Before this weekend happened, though, several people shared with me that they or their loved ones have been diagnosed with a mental condition that has become known as Alzheimer's disease.  Talk about darkness!
I thought I'd share with you all what I've shared with them...

First, such diagnoses are always so hard... sympathizing and sad you're having to deal with that! Having said that, though, there are several levels to approach the situation.
At the level of matter and the body:

• all diagnoses are someone's perception of material and behavioral indicators, based on their training and the current cultural norms;
• the presence of certain measures are high correlations, but not necessarily causative;
• the name alzheimer's has become a cultural blanket covering all kinds of ways that people have retreated from their current world - as is autism.

At the level of the mind:

• our individual mind is part of the infinite mind; there's no way that any of us can truly be cut off from the immediate and real full wisdom and understanding that is the divine, infinite mind;
• any experience to the contrary of that Truth is the result of past programming and current misunderstanding, based on current cultural norms;
• we can change old programming by focusing on images and feelings of Love and Well-being, and dissolving the thoughts that seem contradictory.

At the level of the metaphysical:

• the appearance of any dis-order is just that, an appearance that has emerged from a belief and the emotional baggage associated with that belief;
• Louise Hay says that the root of Alzheimer's is "refusal to deal with the world as it is; hopelessness; helplessness; anger;" and her response is "there is always a new way for me to experience life; I release and forgive the past and I move into joy."
• the Truth is that we all are experiencing the life that we have chosen by what we've been focusing on - which has usually been our fears - and that can change the instant we replace those fears with the intensely felt realization of Love's constant unfolding presence;
• as any one of us feels the Reality of Truth, those around us who are resonating with us may know that same Reality.

So, this is what I know.
In the One Mind, the Unity of all Life, all Wisdom, all Joy, all Truth, only well-being is possible. All else is a dream or nightmare and we can awaken from that nightmare by turning our attention, again and again, to the divine Light that surrounds and enfolds us now, feeling it at work in our lives. And, as we do so, the people around us begin to experience that Light, that Love, that Wisdom, and are freed from any nightmares of hopelessness, helplessness, regret, or guilt. And as we FEEL the Presence in our mind and body, they begin to feel it working within them to undo any past ideas or thought forms that were shaping their experience. As we accept the Power working in, through, and as us, we are no longer deceived by the media or the people who believe in the discord and disease of the nightmare, but are freed to experience more Light, more Love, more Well-being in our own lives. As our True Self becomes the focus and guide for our mind and body, moment-by-moment, our experience becomes more and more heavenly, and we are surrounded by people, places, and things that reflect the divinity that we truly Are.
So, in this time and place, with this diagnosis, I refuse to be caught up in the nightmare of the cultural norm, and I claim and accept the Truth, that all mind is one beautifully wise, knowing and remembering mind, that all being is well-being, and that the people I know and love are well and whole and on the path of their fulfillment. For so it is, and so I say Ah-men.

Copying these lines a few times, saying them aloud, and repeating the treatments in Emma Hopkins' Lessons 7 and 8 until you feel their power working through you would be very helpful right now. And this is not something that you do once. You do it until you KNOW it is handled and complete - which may take several hours, or even overnight (but you won't be drained by the process, as you'll be energized by divine Power!). And, if the symptoms remain or show up again, you do it again.

Charles Fillmore used to say "Pray first, and if that doesn't take care of it, call the doctor." So, if you and your beloved are convinced that the only real way to address the symptoms is with medication, which usually is evident by not seeing a cessation of symptoms after wholeheartedly doing this work, then by all means, use the meds and whatever else feels like it can help.

And keep doing the treatment, getting to the place where you KNOW without a doubt that you and your beloved are whole and well and living a full, wonderful life NOW.
​
I trust that those who have a need will find these words and use them...

   About 25 years ago, the man who wrote the Tao of Physics wrote an amazingly different book, called The Web of Life. He’s a physics professor at Berkeley, named Fritjof Capra. He had also written a book called The Turning Point, on where we were in history, which I had found as interesting as his physics book. About that time I was working with a woman on a systems text who had worked with him. I was asked to coordinate a conference of systems people in 1990 that was focused on the future, so I took the chance to reach out to professor Capra through her and ask him to be the keynote speaker at this conference.  When he heard it was a gathering of systems people he said he didn’t think he’d fit. I said not to worry, his Turning Point and his integration of eastern and western philosophy in The Tao of Physics was perfectly in alignment with our conference theme and he’d be just fine. He finally agreed, came, did his talk, and was very well received. Of course, he received a copy of our program and our proceedings as part of our thank you. I left my career as a systems scientist for the ministry a few years later and never heard from him again.
   A few years later, when The Web of Life came out I was blown away. The man had paid attention! He had integrated what we were talking about at that conference with his own understanding of how the universe works and said it in a way that any intelligent reader could make sense of! Wonderful!
   A few years later, I was asked to tea with one of my more “mature” former students – a retired engineer from IBM – and he said “I was participating in a class in Berkeley and one of our instructors was Fritjof Capra. When I asked him how he had come to do all this work in systems, he said “This woman in Portland called me and asked me to speak at a conference…”  Needless to say I was delighted – and, once more, blown away.
   Capra has since come out with a number of systems-thinking books, including A Systems View of Life, for which I am truly grateful… we need as many systems thinkers in the world as possible.
   Now, why am I telling you this story today?
   Because you who believe that there is One Power, One Presence, accept that we are all part of the Web of Life.    
​   Whew! There is only One. That One is Good. Here is only One, Good. Everywhere is only One. Everything, everywhere is the One that we call God, the Good, omnipotent.  
   So that means all beings are Good. They can’t not be! We might misunderstand them. They might be being Good in places we’d rather they were not, or ways we can’t see as Good right at the moment, but they MUST BE GOOD.

​"Apparently there is an After-Life" ~ Raymond Moody
Have you noticed how many people are talking about, writing about, and interviewing others about, Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) lately? Interest in the subject has got to be at an all-time high; of all my talks on YouTube, the one I did for the Florence Unitarians on this subject back in 2017 is the most viewed (LINK).
Is it just that the work of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Brian Weiss, Raymond Moody, and half a dozen other psychotherapists made this topic acceptable - or are many more people, in fact, experiencing another plane of existence?
Yesterday, in my Course In Miracles class, we read again the words in Chapter Two: “'Heaven and Earth shall pass away' means that they will not always exist as separate states." Wow. Not destruction but union! No more separation! Is it possible? Placed in context, it's clear that the narrator of the Course, who identifies as Jesus Christ, is telling us that what we call Heaven is our natural state of being and what we call Earth is the experience we have been projecting around us as our minds have become culturally conditioned to think that we are separated from the Source of our life and wellbeing. In short, they are not 2 different life spaces, but rather 2 different ways of experiencing life.
So that means that what we call NDEs are not the journeys of our souls into another set of dimensions of space-time, but are rather experiences of our true life, our actual state of being, from which we are generating this dream we call birth, life, and death on Earth.
The folks who describe their NDEs tell us that, in the life which we call Heaven, unconditional love and acceptance, and an intensity of life without decay, light without darkness, and blissful joy, are the norm. There is no duality, no contrast, no conflict, no sense of "not okay" when they are in that state of being, that state of awareness.
They tell us that there is a sense of "travelling to" that state, often through the darkness of deep space, but only a few describe an equivalent journey back "into" their Earthly body. Usually it's a sudden "thump" and they're opening their eyes in the Earth world they had "left."
In the Vedic tradition of Hindus and Buddhists, there is a concept, satchitananda, which can be loosely translated as "love-bliss-consciousness". People in that tradition are encouraged to find that state of being and live in it and from it as much as possible. Entering into the meditative state of samadhi is a way get there. And, not too surprisingly, the people who achieve it often describe their experience as one of unconditional love, joyful bliss, and an intensity of life and light everywhere, with no sense of duality or conflict among the various aspects of being.
Is there a connection?
Is it possible that who we are is, truly, "not human beings but spiritual beings having a human experience" (to quote Wayne Dyer)? Is it true that when we are "awake" and active in this body we are actually in a dream-state in our heavenly bodies, generating this life experience? 

Wow. Hanging in the balance... we're like Shrodinger's Cat, a metaphor the quantum theorist came up with to explain how things work at a quantum level: if a cat were in a box with 2 things, one of which will kill it, you don't know if it's alive or dead until you open the box - and in a quantum universe both things are true until you look. More importantly for us, though, both things are true until we believe one of them is. 

So what's that got to do with this election? Everything!  As long as it hangs in the balance we have the opportunity to think, feel, and KNOW the truth about it. And when we truly do, we will see the results.

I heard a man tell a story about how he got a phone call at work saying that his family had been in a skiing accident a couple hundred miles away. He had been going to join them the next day, but of course he immediately left work and began to drive up to be with them. The whole way he chose, over and over again, to focus on images of their happy, healthy, playful selves, not allowing himself to consider any possibilities of injury. He filled his mind with memories and possibilities of hugs and good times. When he arrived, the hospital workers expressed some puzzlement: his wife and kids had been in a really awful accident, but there were only minor scratches an bruises and they were ready to go home.

This is what is possible for all of us, here, now, today, and always - in all situations!

Here's the talk I gave to the Florence Unitarian Universalists, recorded Friday, Nov 6:

A high wind blew from the NE across Oregon the other night, carrying smoke from dozens of wildfires with it. The next morning, this is what a friend's view of her yard and the ocean beyond looked like. Really. No filters on the camera - and no fire within miles!

Today it's better here. Looks like a smoggy day in 1970s LA with the sun an orange disk through the haze. The power was back on this morning so I've vacuumed the first layer of ash that blew through the cracks with the 70+ mph winds the other night, but everything feels gritty and I wear a mask outside to filter our the ash, breathing in thru the nose behind the mask and out thru an uncovered mouth - much easier on the lungs when walking. But friends and family are now being evacuated from the fires that the wind started - all over the state.
  And, of course, I'm looking at the meaning behind the experience. What's really going on here? What in our consciousness is being made manifest in our experience?
  And, again, there are so many levels!

•   First level of possible explanation - every other region of the continent has had major disasters this year and now it's time for the Pacific Northwest to get its share. Ouch! Don't like that one much! But it is part of our belief system, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were at least part of what's happening here.
•   Second level, additional possibility - there's been a huge immigration to Oregon of Californians running away from wildfires. - and guess what! What we resist (or run away from) persists, and they brought what they were avoiding with them. We Oregonians bought into their distress and to some extent are now experiencing the effects of that. Don't like this one much either, but it is how things work: we get what we accept as real and get more of what we have emotions around.
•   Third level - as the veil is thinning between dreams and reality, people's fears are becoming their experience immediately and in spades. With the media focusing on all the fires in California, as well as the fires in the "riots" happening in cities when protesters, police, and inciters clash, it's not too surprising that such things are in peoples' minds, and must therefore become their experience. 

  All of these possible explanations are based on the fact that we experience what we believe and focus on. And that is, I'm sure, a big contributor to the level of distress being experienced.
  But there's something more, something even deeper, happening here. As I was cleaning up the ash that covered the surfaces of my little house, and looked out the window at the smoke-filled air this morning, I felt a flashback to times when I've been "cleansed by smoke" and thought of the cleansing effect of fire. Perhaps that's what's really happening in all this. If we could but see it and understand it, we might be able to take this whole experience to a new level.

  The cover of my latest ebook reflects this. It's a picture a friend took at a "fire puja" a cleansing ceremony, a time of release and renewal. The light and the heat and the intensity of the experience are all part of the process of letting go of attachments to things of the past and beginning to create - or become - something that's more fully who we are capable of being. 
   What if all this fire and ash, and all the smoke in the air is just that?
   What if we are being cleansed?
  What if we are being prepared to become something more than we've allowed ourselves to be thus far?
    What if ...?
   I'm certain that this is the time when all of us are being called to live and love and see life at a whole new level of being. Knowing that I accept the gift of this smoke and receive the cleansing and opening to new possibility that it offers. 

May the light and love and cleansing Spirit of Life fill you and your world, lifting all of us to new heights of being in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

​Recently there’s been a flood of descriptions of dreams, visions, and Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) in which Jesus is telling people to pray for Trump and Barr to turn around a potential disaster that is expected this fall: a new wave of distress and with it, a heavy-handed military presence eliminating our freedoms – going beyond the methods that were tested and proven effective this past spring.
I’ve been listening very carefully to what’s being said for they hold a kernel of a much deeper process going on, and hold clues to my own development.
Both religious and non-religious (but spiritual) people are getting these messages, in various countries. They’re all being told in multiple ways that another wave of distress is coming this fall, and it could be worse than what we’ve been through. Many are being encouraged to deepen their spiritual practice and stock up on supplies to minimize its effects. Bible-based Christians are getting a very clear political message as well:

• They’re being told that Donald Trump’s election stopped a political and economic plan that is designed to enslave all Americans in a dark future that will enable a very few powerful people to live well and free.
• They’re being told that we’ve been through one, but more waves of distress are coming (some say a third one is on the way; some say 2 more); with the radical shift in political and social expression, with the 2018 election being the 1st wave of disruption; the CoVid-19 pandemic a second wave, and the oncoming flu season with possibly a new strain could be another, as could violent reactions to the elections being met with military force.
• They’re being told “Trump is turning people to God” and needs their prayers to continue to do this important work.
• They’re being told to earnestly pray for Trump and his Attorney General, Bill Barr, to put an end to the evil and corruption that has, for years, been everywhere in the media and government.
• They’re being told that undoing Roe v. Wade will return America to its blessed state.
• They’re being told that the passionate action of Jesus’ Church is the only thing between humanity’s glory and its degradation into slavery.

 To address all this they’re being encouraged in these visions to do four things:

1. Pray for the current leaders of the nation;
2. Let go of any tendencies to turn away from Jesus’ teachings, including the belief that individuals can do anything without divine support;
3. Stock up on essentials to help those who will be in need as the next wave of distress hits;
4. Vote in the November election for the people who they know will do the right thing, which for the “religious right” means will undo Roe v. Wade, which they’ve believed since 9/11 has put a curse on the US because the government is supporting the killing of innocent beings.

 And they have accepted these images and instructions at face value and are sharing them with the world.

I’ve spent the better part of the last couple months digesting all of this: listening, observing, noting consistencies and differences, comparing what I’ve perceived with other sources of information and, finally, going inside to find my own spiritual guidance. It hasn’t been easy, and some of it hasn’t been pleasant, but I think I’m beginning to get the deeper understanding that can guide us all. There are, of course, multiple levels of interpretation of these visions, and I’m outlining them in a new book about Apocalypse, which I hope to complete by the end of the month.
There are also multiple levels of interpretation for the instructions received, the primary one being: use the power you have to bring Heaven (a state of being in which beauty, love, and harmony are the norm) and Earth (a state of being in which attachment to material things is a constant source of distress) together. ​

In these changing times, with uncertainties in the job market, the stock market, and the climate, many people are focusing their fears on money, as if money were the source of their wellbeing. Totally understandable. We’ve been taught in many ways that our survival, much less our ability to have nice things and go nice places, is a function of how much money we receive and can spend.
On top of that it’s built into the culture that we live in to think that only if we’re working hard can have (do we deserve) the funds that allow us to live well. Otherwise we’ll suffer – and, worse, be dependent on others.
Well, there’s much more to our relationship with money than that. When I teach my “Money Workshop” I offer the following chart and explain the whats and whys and wherefores of each box. 

I won’t do that here, but you may find it useful to explore it and see where you are – and have been – and where the folks who advise you are, as well. I think you will hear what they have to say in a very different way when you understand the age/stage they’re operating from when they’re sharing their current wisdom.
And, if you’re on the journey from Middle Years to Elder, you may also find the following piece from Eric Butterworth’s Spiritual Economics useful:

• I am secure, for I know who I am: a richly endowed extension/expression of the Source of All that is.
• I am secure in all I do for I know my oneness with the divine process.’
• I am secure in all I have, for I know my treasure is in my mind, not in my things.
• I live my life from day to day as if the divine supportive substance were as exhaustless and dependable as the air I breathe, which it most certainly is.

Blessings of Peaceful Prosperity be upon us all! ​