Fear and Contagion

Good morning. What should I talk about today? The coronavirus, of course. It’s all over the news. Current statistics indicate it’s infected more than 100,000 in 91 countries, and killed more than 3,400 people. It started in China, most of the cases are from there, and it continues to spread.

Reactions range from Elon musk saying “It’s dumb.” to an online comment: “ We’re all doomed. DOOMED, I TELL YA. I THINK IT’S GOING TO BE AS BAD AS THE 1918 Spanish flu.” Now we have states of emergency in many places, including here in Los Angeles.

I hadn’t really gotten hysterical about it. Then I saw a chart with mortality rates by age group....and the biggest rate was for 80 and above: 21%. That’s the most susceptible group, especially with health conditions such as high blood pressure.

I experience high blood pressure. I’m over 80. Is there a target on my back? I needed to do something. “I’ll buy some hand sanitizer at CVS,” I thought, but they were sold out. A lot of products are sold out everywhere.

I got a couple extra bars of soap to have on hand, and I’m working on not touching my face. That’s actually hard, as I get little itches on my face and desperately want to scratch. Social distancing is the other recommendation...so I went to a brunch on Friday with some ladies I hadn’t seen for awhile, and we elbow bumped, instead of hugging or shaking hands.

But aside from that, and staying home a lot, I didn’t find a lot of useful advice out there. The media seems to be driving the hysteria about this much more than I remember from past flu seasons and the H1N1,SARS, and MERS epidemics. With the Ebola panic, I did buy some prepper stuff. But I’ve been healthy.

I saw this comment online: “Last cold season, 2018-2019, 12,469 died from the flu, 10,493 from the common cold, and over 4,000 from texting while driving. Where’s the outrage and sensationalism?” It IS kind of surreal. I’m wondering if this is because the virus is novel, so we have no built up immunity.

But what’s a Religious Scientist to do? I liked these comments from Rev. Ann Rea:

“Thoughts, fears and preparations around the coronavirus are already their own world-wide pandemic. The exponential growth of this energy and these thought forms are a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY for those of us who live, believe and teach the Principles of New Thought to elevate the world’s Consciousness.”

She suggests we enlist in focused work: to know the Truth, speak the Truth, think the Truth and BE the best version of the Truth we can, moment by moment, and not be distracted by effects and conditions.  Let’s apply collectively the principles of Science of Mind and embody the Force for Good to stop and dissolve the virus, seeding Oneness, Loving Kindness, Compassion and Gratitude in its wake.

We could do that through our Center’s Power of Eight prayer groups, by praying to dissolve the virus as well praying for our individual desires. We can join other Religious Science efforts through such mediums as Zoom calls to confront our fears and pray to heal our world physically, mentally, emotionally and gloriously as we know the spiritual Truth of our Being.

And so it is.

The Afterlife

In looking for a topic for this morning’s Creative Thought, I came upon “The Discovery,” a Netflix film  in which Robert Redford plays a scientist who has absolutely proven the existence of an afterlife, that part of our consciousness goes to another plane. 

The “afterlife” has been a topic of great interest since mankind first realized he was going to die. How weird and unfair!  What? We’re born, we’re alive, we think, we feel, we evolve, we mature, we experience all kinds of things, learn all sorts of things, work our way through various challenges...and then pouf!  It’s all over, and then what? Either something...or nothing.

The concept of an afterlife has been the bedrock of many religions, but based on faith.
Now, in the film, there’s scientific proof that there’s something more, right? But what?

That’s where the film falls down, because proving the afterlife existence is one thing, and very intriguing, but then ...what is it? what’s it like? Before I get too excited about proof of an afterlife, I want to know. What’s the big reveal?

As the film progresses, the professor is working on a secret project using an electronic gizmo wired to his head to record, by flatlining, what happens in moments after death. But he dies in one of his experiments, and his son, played by Jason Segal, carries on the investigation.

The story bogs down in a romance and an ending reminiscent of “Ground Hog Day.” After death, people are caught in a loop to  relive traumatic moments or poor choices, with opportunities to rectify past mistakes and make new choices. We’ve seen it before; nothing new here.

The film reviewers were pretty consistent. Brilliant premise, poor execution. They gave it a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes.

I was looking for a Science of Mind hook in the film. Ernest Holmes has a chapter on “Immortality” in his book, The Science of Mind.  The physical body passes but our spirit continues in its own individual stream of consciousness, forever expanding, he says.  Basically we make our transition; we go back to Source. Still, it's’ a mystery.

The television series, “The Good Place,” deals with the afterlife over four seasons. At the finale, characters who have arrived in actual heaven, where everything is absolutely perfect, find it boring. No challenges. No purpose. They can choose to go through a doorway, which ends their existence and simply allows their energy to rejoin the Universe.  Sounds rather SOM.  Back to Source.

So I came to this conclusion. Why focus on the “afterlife?” It’s a mystery and we have enough to think about, to do, be and have on this plane of existence. Life itself is pretty amazing. It’s a fantastic gift.  Yes, filled with challenges. Yet it’s often the challenges which help us to evolve and grow.

Holmes reminds as  to prepare NOT to die, but to live. Don’t dwell on death, but on life. Create your experience, Live your best life.

And when the time comes, “as the eagle, freed from its cage, soars to its native heights, so the soul, freed from the home of heavy flesh, will rise and return unto its Father’s house, naked and unafraid.”

And so it is.