As I was sitting contemplating how grateful I am, the first words of this poem by Rabindranath Tagore came to me.Tagore wrote it in 1900 before India’s Independence. He originally wrote it in his native tongue. It was published in English in 1912.
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms from the depth of truth
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
I envision living free from fear, fully confident about my right to be here, knowing that I am making a difference because I live in the wholeness and unity of the One Life.
When I remember who I am, my mind is free of fear.
When I remember to practice what I know, I am vitally alive.
And when I forget that we are all one, that Divine Life is within each one of us, I am tempted to live as if the effects in my life were causes. When I do that, I react. I do not consciously choose what I want.
As a minister of the Science of Mind, I want to minister to all beings — not just one group or another.
Yet as a human being, I have opinions and concerns. Some of those opinions may upset some of my congregation. I have been blessed to live here in the United States since 1993. I prayed wholeheartedly for Peace for months after the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on 9-11 and for the first several years when we started fighting. I have kept my opinions to myself for the most part. (I did support marriage equality and some people didn’t like it. They left our Center.)
Now I am concerned about our climate change. How shocked I was to find out that here in the United States, Climate Change is a political issue! In my heart it is a scientific fact and a global concern.
Although I applied for citizenship last May, I am not yet a citizen. As a non-citizen, I felt I should not speak out about my concerns, but when I saw that Climate Change disappeared from the Government Website, I was deeply troubled.
For those of you who are students of metaphysics, you know that doing anything from a place of concern or anxiety, is going to produce exactly what you are anxious about. It will have the opposite effect from what you want. So what is the spiritual solution?
First, the master teacher Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” So first become aware of the peace that passes understanding that is the nature of Divine Mind and It is everywhere. In that peaceful place of unity, envision what you do want. I see people caring for their environment and using resources wisely. I remember the idea of thinking globally and acting locally.
So first I meditate and pray. First, I remember that the nature of life is unity and that I live in a perfect universe. I remember that Divine Intelligence is everywhere present, even when I can’t see it.
Then I take the action that I can take. I begin locally with myself and my home environment. I unplug appliances. I turn off lights. I lower the temperature. I reduce the number of things I buy that are packaged. And I pray!
In the 70’s and 80’s, John Denver wrote music that spoke to my heart. He performed this one in Russia on his world tour. I think it is just as relevant today as it was when the album was released in 1983.
It’s about time…and the time is now!
