What are you seeing?

A story sent to me by a reader...

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.

Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days, weeks and months passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.

He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed. It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, 'Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.'

“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Paul

Eyes are for seeing

A reader forwarded a comical email to me for fun. It's rather silly, but the message has a way of sticking in thought if improved eyesight was a recent prayer.

Here it is:

THE EYES

If you rearrange the letters, it spells

THEY SEE

What image do you portray?

Have you ever noticed that some people suffering hardship attract all kinds of support, love and attention, and others don’t? Could it be the attitude of the sufferer that makes the difference?

A reader forwarded the below link to a video that is profoundly thought-provoking on the subject of self-pity, charity and seeing the good even when that good is not so obvious.

It’s about 5 minutes long, and you have to watch the whole clip to get the message.

The Story of a Sign

Sight is mental

Would you like to improve your vision? Any sight issues you're grappling with?

I'd like to introduce a video that will rapidly expand your understanding of the mental nature of vision.

As a prelude, it's helpful to understand that a fundamental teaching of Christian Science is the truth that “All is Mind.” In this universe of Mind, faculties of sense are spiritual, not material. They are part of the eternal spiritual life the divine creator has given us. In the spiritual life which we possess now, sight and hearing are dependent upon Mind, not upon matter, for existence and continuity.

This may sound like a far-out concept to grasp to the mundane human mind believing that matter is the all-and-all of the universe. But indications of its truthfulness pop up in the most unexpected places. And this web-video a reader alerted me to, is one of those instances.

Check it out. It’s shy of 10 minutes in length, and reveals unmistakably the mental nature of sight.

This artist’s abilities prove that things are thoughts, and readily discerned by the mind that is receptive to them.


Extraordinary people – The artist with no eyes

How transient a sense is mortal sight, when a wound on the retina may end the power of light and lens! But the real sight or sense is not lost. Neither age nor accident can interfere with the senses of Soul, and there are no other real senses. Mary Baker Eddy

To understand that Mind is infinite, not bounded by corporeality, not dependent upon the ear and eye for sound or sight nor upon muscles and bones for locomotion, is a step towards the Mind-science by which we discern man's nature and existence. Mary Baker Eddy

Are you prepared?

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

~ Henri L. Bergson

The right kind of light

Light is light, right?

Wrong.

There are different kinds of light, I’ve learned from my family’s recent visit to the Lewis and Clark caverns in Montana. And depending upon the light you’re relying upon to see, you take in different sights. It’s quite an amazing concept to consider from a metaphysical point of view.

The Lewis and Clark caverns are a series of caves, tunnels, and caverns that weave deep into the mountainside of southern Montana. The cathedral rooms and openings along the way are filled with geological wonders and marvels.

When we began the tour, rock formations were all different shades of brown, from pure luminescent light shades to deep dark chocolate. But near the end of the trek, the guide suddenly announced how thrilled she was to show us the next cathedral room because it had the latest in lighting technology installed. The light most nearly approximated sunlight of any artificial light they could put in, she explained.

As we entered the room, we all oohed and awed because hues of red that we had never seen before were dripping from the walls. No more dull brown! The room was radiant with color. They were the same type of rocks but different light, and an incredibly different view. She pointed out that incandescent light, which was used in all the previous rooms, does not allow one to see all the colors there are to see in those dark settings. Use the right kind of light, and you get the right kind of view, we learned.

I pondered the lesson for everyday life.

I wondered, “How often do we walk through life in boredom and dullness of thought because we’re looking at the scene about us through a lacking light?” By lacking light, I mean a light that does not reveal the full picture.

For example, Christian Science teaches that we are living in the Kingdom of heaven now. Most people don’t believe this because they look at life from a material point of view. They believe that matter is real and defines their existence, and this false belief would be a “lacking light” that paints a picture of dullness and depravity to their sense of things, realized. It’s not the truth, but nonetheless, to the one who believes the illusion, to the one who walks in the lacking light, that’s what he sees. And the Kingdom is not apparent to their view.

Another person could walk through the same environment they did, but experience great joy and health because they look at the environment with a more inspired light.

We need to be mentally walking in the right light, the Light of Truth, to see the Kingdom all about, I decided.

Material light, artificial light, even sunlight, is not adequate to reveal the Kingdom. The Kingdom is Spirit, found in Mind, and the light of Christian Science reveals the eternal Life we possess from living in this Kingdom as children of God. I filled with gratitude to have this light of Christian Science to walk in.

As Jesus preached, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

How close is your hand?

Very very close.

And that’s how close the Kingdom is.

So, I decided to pay more attention to what light I mentally walked in. No more lacking light for me! I protested. I could choose to walk in the light of Spirit.

So, I’d recommend to anyone, “Walk in the divine light today, the light of Truth, and you’ll see a spectacular array of spiritual wealth, substance, and joy-producing phenomena all around. This infinite good was there all along, but it takes the light of Christian Science to see it. And you have that light. It’s readily available in Science and Health.

Enjoy the view!

Avoid the blindness of materialism

While headed to Yellowstone Park for a vacation, my family stopped at the Lewis and Clark caverns in southern Montana. Wow! What an incredible panorama of rock formations these caves have to offer. If you’re ever driving through the area, I highly recommend taking the tour.

At one point in the tour, our group was 325 feet below the surface of where we entered the caverns. It’s an amazing and long winding trip that takes one through several runs, cathedral rooms, down beaver alley (a sit down on your bottom and slip down the narrow glistening smooth rock-slide that has been shaped to the angular outline of the human buttocks from much use), to the pristine pool of water, to hundred of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, slow flow water, bacon, water falls and much more.

In one room, as typical with most cave tours, the guide had us turn off all lights and cover all luminescent objects, including the blinking lights on kid’s sneakers. When the room went pitch dark, everyone oohed and awed at how dense the darkness was. You could not see your hand in front of your eyes, it was so pitch black. Then our leader lighted a single candle in an old-fashioned mining lantern, and she told us the story of Ralph Pierny (sp?).

Ralph had been a CCC (civil conservation corp) worker back in the 1930s when the cave was being prepared for tours. Ralph had other plans though, that stepped out of the bounds of his responsibilities. He was going to steal some of the stalactite formations to take back home to Ohio and sell for personal profit.

One Friday, after work was finished for the week, he snuck back into the Cavern alone to loot his booty. Deep in the Caverns, busily about his dishonest deed, the single candle he had brought with him burned out. And there he stood in absolute darkness with no other means of light.

The guide explained that the human mind cannot compute darkness and begins to hallucinate after a period of time. We all tried to imagine what we would do if stuck in that cavern 300 feet below the surface of the ground with absolutely no light.

In the dark, we could not see anything. We didn’t know what direction to turn, where the alley out was located, what rocks to avoid tripping on, what holes in the ground to avoid. We couldn’t do anything. We’d be stuck, maybe forever! And that’s exactly the situation that Ralph found himself.

Three days passed for Ralph, until Monday morning when roll call was taken outside, and the work party realized Ralph was missing. They sent a search party into the cave, and found him alive, a bit dehydrated, but otherwise, quite fine. Ralph confessed his criminal intent and said he never wanted to experience that again. At times he was lying on the floor and thought he was standing up, the darkness was so confusing, he relayed.

I pondered the guide’s statement of “the human mind cannot compute darkness,” for days afterward.

I thought about different kinds of darkness the human mind often faces other than pitch black in a cave, like immorality, greed, and self-centeredness.

How was Ralph so stupid to take only one candle, I wondered? I decided it was because he was blinded by his dishonest intent. And this is true with all crimes. The criminal eventually, if not from the start, makes major errors in judgments and calculation because he is walking in mental blindness to some degree.

I thought about the blindness of dense sensualism--thought so engrossed in physical sensation that it loses touch with Spirit. I considered the blindness of selfishness, hate, anger, rampant consumerism, and materialism, the belief of living in matter. When thought is absorbed into the belief that happiness, life, mind, and substance is in the flesh, it loses touch with reality, and starts floundering around as if in darkness, just like Ralph trying to find his way out of the cave without light. He could not.

We need light to find direction and stay alive, I concluded. We need a shining hope outside of ourselves to survive.

Ralph could not save himself. He needed help.

We need help too. We need God to save us from the darkness of mortality. Christ is the light God sent to deliver us from evil, and Christian Science is the Christ-light shining brilliantly today leading mankind out of the pit of error into the glorious dawn of Truth.

I’m grateful to know my Light. I’m grateful to know my Light will never burn out or forsake me. I’m grateful to know the Light is wherever I am, even before I get there, and will never fail to lead me to where I need to be.

The story of Ralph Pierny has been a powerful teaching tool for our children who heard and experienced the account firsthand on the cavern tour. My wife and I quickly jumped on the opportunity to illustrate the various types of darkness for them to avoid in coming decades as they learn to lead ethical and spiritually progressive lives.

I will not soon forget the saga of Ralph Pierny either!

The error, which says that Soul is in body, Mind is in matter, and good is in evil, must unsay it and cease from such utterances; else God will continue to be hidden from humanity, and mortals will sin without knowing that they are sinning, will lean on matter instead of Spirit, stumble with lameness, drop with drunkenness, consume with disease, — all because of their blindness, their false sense concerning God and man. Mary Baker Eddy

How perceptive are you?

My wife and I needed to replace the wood stove on the lower level of our cabin in the Blue Mountains this year for it has become a safety hazard. So, last Tuesday we visited a stove store in Elgin, Oregon, to buy a replacement, and we learned the most fascinating information about what the trained eye can perceive that the untrained eye ignores.

The man who does the work was not in, but his wife greeted us and was a most gracious and a knowledgeable help.

She asked us several questions about the condition and state of our chimney to determine how much work needed to be done before the new stove could be installed. We were clueless on how to answer most of her questions, and began to wonder how many delays would transpire before the replacement could be made.

Then I brought out several pictures my wife had taken of the stove and its chimney. The woman looked at the pictures and pulled out one snapshot of the metal caps on top of the roof. The picture showed very little and looked quite meaningless to the casual eye, but she exclaimed, “Oh, Grant can figure out all the answers to our questions by looking at this picture.”

She explained that her husband could tell the age of the chimney, the quality of the piping, whether it needed to be swept or not from seeing that 6’ cap on top of the A-frame. Our jaws went a gap. I awed at how much knowledge an experienced eye could gain from such a small piece of evidence.

Then she blurted, “Maybe he knows your chimney already! Is your cabin located in a visible place from a main road?” And she further explained that he notices everyone’s chimney while driving to and from jobs. It was his work, “To know chimneys!” And we awed a bit more.

“Of course,” I later thought. “This man knows chimneys like a pianist knows the keys on a keyboard. He understands and finds meaning in minute details that the average person takes for granted.”

In seeking a spiritual lesson from this conversational exchange, I decided that we all should be just as observant of God’s presence at work in our environment as this chimney-sweep was of his neighbor’s stove-pipes. He needed to see only a few inches of evidence to deduce a huge sum of information not visible to the naked eye.

Do you notice your neighbor’s chimneys? Probably not, if it’s not your business to know chimneys.

But more importantly, do you notice your neighbor’s full blown God-given spiritual selfhood, even when it’s not obvious?

A simple good deed, a little smile, a kind gesture, a steadfast presence, is the “few inches of evidence” that indicate a much greater and grander spirituality underneath that is not always apparent to the naked eye because there are so many other things that would distract our attention.

But if we’re willing to look into the details, to study existence closely, we’ll find evidence of good where good doesn’t seem to exist because we aren’t paying attention.

I’ve learned through this that we mustn’t drive on through life ignoring the obvious. Signs of God’s presence are everywhere, but sometimes only noticeable in the smallest of details. Like the chimney-sweep trained to know chimneys inside and out, we can be a God-sweep, trained to know God’s wonderful creation inside and out from whatever vantage point we’re sitting.

Enjoy the view!

A story of love...

A story sent in by a reader…

It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman, in his 80's, presented to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.

The physician took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.

On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I asked him if he had a doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer disease.

As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him. "And you are still going every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said...

"She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."

I had to hold back tears as he left.


I love this story because it reminds me of what a student of Christian Science strives to do every day.

When presented with suffering and disease, we work to see beyond the evil presented to the spiritual truth God put there to begin with. We do not look to the senses for evidence of Truth. We look to God, and there, in Truth, we discover who the other person really is—perfect, just the way God made them.

Knowing the spiritual truth, regardless of what sense outlines, is true love in action.

Echo location

Here’s a mind-bending story about a young boy with no eyes who can see better than many people who have eyes.

A short video clip.

What do you see in others?

When being trained as a speaker for public audiences, I had a coach who never pointed out my faults when I rehearsed. She always focused on what I did well and encouraged me to do better. I was distressed about this approach at first because I wanted to know my mistakes and what I was doing wrong. But she refused to change her method. She constantly focused on my strengths and successes.

One time I observed another coach rip into a trainee with a list of errors she made along with corrections to make in her style and presentation. The trainee was crushed. She felt like a failure. She wanted to give up before she embarrassed herself again. She cried in the backroom afterward.

I suddenly gained an immense appreciation for the technique of my coach. My teacher knew that listing out errors and shortcomings demoralizes students and destroys their confidence. She knew that focusing on strengths and abilities builds confidence and increases success.

Lesson learned—an effective way to heal faults in other’s performance is to focus on what they do well. The love they feel from their supportive mentor inspires them to do better and grow out of their weaknesses.

Strong relationships are built in much the same way.

Have you ever been tempted to point out someone else’s faults? Let him or her know what they do wrong and why you don’t like it?

Does it help? Does it quickly harmonize the relationship? Not usually.

Honesty and forthrightness are certainly necessary for open communication, but what we are honest about makes all the difference.

God made each of us loving and lovable. It might not always look that way, but it depends upon our perspective. If we look at our partner through the eyes of error, we see faults. If we look at them through the eyes of Love, we see qualities to love.

There’s a saying: Building relationships is like living in California: don’t dwell on the faults!

Alan Cohen writes more about this in his article "The Addict and the Sage."

What happens to a structure set over a fault?

When an earthquake hits, it falls through the crack.

We don't have to dwell on other people's faults. It's more constructive to dwell on the spiritual truth about them and rejoice in what they do well.

God made your friend, student, spouse or co-worker perfect in Love. As you look at him or her through the lens of Love you'll see more of the good God put there in the first place. The more you see the positive, and work with them from the point of their worthiness, the shortcomings fall away or become a non-factor.

When "reviewing" other people's behavior in my mind, I think back to the approach of my favorite coach. I strive to focus on the good. Build up the good. Point out the strengths and successes.

We can trust the Mind of Christ to help our friend or family member figure out the rest, and leave us to still be their trusted confidant in the end.

"When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;" that is, Truth and Love reign in the real The kingdom man, showing that man in God's image is within unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick." Mary Baker Eddy