What? You’re afraid I’ll have a heart attack on the bus? No. It turns out she felt guilty leaving me on the corner of Mason and O’Farrell to catch my shuttle bus back to Los Angeles, where I am dropped off in North Hollywood.
Long story short. She offered to pay for a private limo service to whisk me in luxury from door to door. And for the first time, I actually felt “elderly,” like I needed to be looked after. I know the hair has gone gray and I’ve slowed down a bit, but “elderly?” Nah! Gotta think youthing! Gotta create a mental atmosphere around strength, vitality, radiant good health! And what would Ernest Holmes say to this unexpected offer?
Accept, absolutely! Tootling down I-5 in a sleek, black chauffeur driven Cadillac is a joyous experience. And a lovely gift. To put this in perspective, I had decided to pay for six months of vocal lessons for my granddaughter, who watches The Voice and wants to sing. We even wrote up a mini-contract, where she would practice so much each day. Three generations of women...lovingly looking out for each other. All good.
Then there’s the bad. My daughter was quite sad about the election. My advice? The antidote to despair is action. Look into the local political party. Possibly run for office. She has natural leadership abilities. When the kids were in pre-school she was president of the board. Now that the kids are in elementary school, she’s president of the PTA. She’s a great fundraiser and runs a junior scout group.
So how does this relate to Religious Science?
The answer may be in the writings of Walter Starcke. We see the good, the bad, and the ugly all around us. Whether it’s the recent election or personal losses we’ve endured, Walter Starcke puts it in perspective. It’s necessary to find a realistic balance between living in the Absolute and the Relative world, he says, -- to find the balance between our humanity and our divinity.
It's not a matter of “one or the other,” but rather, discovering the key to doing both at the same time. God is ever present--he says. God is all there is. It’s in the bad and the ugly, as well as the good. The human and the divine are one and the same. Even Christ was flawed, and we can learn from his mistakes.
In the very controversial Martin Scorsese film, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” based on a book of the same title, Jesus struggles with his divinity. He is tempted with the possibility of living a regular, happy, human life -- marrying Mary Magdalene, having a family, and being free from the weight of being the savior.
Instead of being crucified, instead of being the son of God, he experiences being a man. On his death bed, he realizes his mistake, and remedies the situation.
If we can accept failures, weaknesses, and the bad or the ugly in life as opportunities for expansion, growth and learning, we can evolve our own Christ consciousness. Knowing we are divine as well as human, knowing we are energized by spirit, knowing we can develop a positive mental atmosphere around things that concern us, we can work toward, and we can create, a world that works for everyone.
And so it is.
