IDENTITY

 "The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal." 

--Science and Health, p. 70--

Look at each flower, not one is alike.

Innocence:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning … whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.  

–The Bible, James 1:17, 25—

Possess your soul with patience.

--John Dryden--

He cried bitterly.  He had been caught stealing.  At the police station, the boy spoke of his boyhood: When his mother went to the outdoor market, she balanced a basket on her head and carried him in a pouch on her back.  Passing stands piled high with food, she would bend down to look at some items.  That’s when the little boy picked up whatever he fancied and threw it into the basket.  The child’s wrong behavior was not corrected and continued as he grew up.  He excused it because he was poor.

When I heard of this incident, I knew how important it was for the boy to acknowledge his wrongdoing and not to repeat it.  But I thought, “Didn’t his tears speak of his rebellion against dishonesty?  Didn’t his spiritual innocence call out to be recognized?”

The Science of Christ brings to light man’s true nature as innocent – as the spiritual idea of the one pure Mind, God.  This real identity, loved and practiced, gives one spiritual strength to overcome fear, sin – any irreverence for good.  An insight into our spiritual nature initiates moral transformation by denying evil a base of operation – and so begins to regenerate thought and life.  We recognize infinite Mind as the exclusive cause of man and therefore the source of his purity.  We realize that because Mind’s innocence is by reflection man’s innocence, man’s innocence is intact.  Humanity’s struggle to be free from evil, and its yearning for something better, testify to the inherent innocence of man.  --An excerpt from the article Innocence—man’s true heritage, by Eva-Maria Hogrefe, C. S., 

published in the Christian Science Sentinel, 

May 29, 1995— 

The most important thing for a young man is to establish a credit – a reputation, character.

--John D. Rockefeller—

A brief discussion:

In a Group @ the professional network LinkedIn:

The Christian Science Monitor

Can a camp experience help young people find their own voice?

For example, separated by foster care, brothers and sisters bond @ Camp to Belong. 

(An article in The Christian Science MONITOR 

-- A WEEKLY REVIEW OF GLOBAL NEWS & IDEAS, May 23, 2011, p 40.)

Eva-Maria Hogrefe •The article tells the moving story of children who had learned early on in their lives, the value of belonging – especially in the context of bonding with siblings they had lost sight of. One training manager for the Oregon Department of Human Services, said, “The kids who do get bonded get more connected. They do find their voice, in terms of themselves, of what they advocate for themselves.” 

Have you been a camper under similar-, or completely different circumstances? And did you discover your own voice (the strength of your own individuality) because of the experience?

Robert Weiss • YES: It can. I went to several summer camps, mostly as a camper. Camping helps you find out more about hidden talents & abilities that enable you to stand firmer in your growth of character...An example for me was softball, I found out that I could pitch and also play good outfield positions. Later on, as a counselor, I was a canoeing instructor and found out that I could be a leader of kids.....

Eva-Maria Hogrefe • THANK YOU Robert! It’s great to hear of your experience – and yes, as you’ve said, camp is character building, and encourages one to see what is possible. I once read that understanding more often than not follows doing rather than precedes it.

Is your identity defined by a job, 

or possessions, or family and friends?  

But what if all those disappear?  

Where is your identity?  Is it lost?  

No!  How could you ever lose 

something that is permanently yours?

--Eva-Maria-- 

Song of Myself

This hour I tell things in confidence,

 I might not tell everybody but I will tell you.

Shall I pray? Shall I venerate and be ceremonious?

I have pried through the strata and analyzed to a hair,

And I counseled with doctors and calculated else and found no

      sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones.

In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barleycorn less,

...

And I know I am solid and sound,

To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,

All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.

And I know I am deathless,

I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter’s compass,

I know I shall not pass like a child’s carlacue cut with a burnt stick at night.

I exist as I am, that is enough,

If no other in the world be aware I sit content,

And if each and all be aware I sit content.

--Walt Whitman (1819-1892), an unabridged republication of “Song of Myself”

 from the first 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass--

Right motives give pinions to thought,

 and strength and freedom to speech and action.

--Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 454--

A talent can be cultivated in tranquility;

a character only in the rushing streams of life.

--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe--

heavenly inspiration

a study of a Cadwall Drake duck -- acrylic on canvas (1986) -- by Eva-Maria Hogrefe

[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want.

[LOVE] maketh me to lie down in green pastures;

[LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters.

[LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense];

--Science and Health, p. 578—

Man is God’s reflection, needing no cultivation,

 but ever beautiful and complete. -- Science and Health, p. 527--

HE HATH MADE EVERYTHING 

BEAUTIFUL IN HIS TIME:

--The Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:11—

Gisbert's garden July 2011

Song of Love

Beloved, let us love: for Love is God;
In God alone hath love its true abode.


Beloved, let us love: for they who love,
They only, are His sons, born from above.


Beloved, let us love: for love is light,
And he who lovesth not dwelling in night.


Beloved, let us love: for only thus
Shall we behold God who loveth us.


--Horatius Bonar--

No one has ever seen God.  But if we love each other, 

God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
 

--The Bible, I John 4:12 -- the New Living Translation which is copyrighted by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.--

WOMAN

Self-realization:

In my late teens, I was introduced 

to a powerful little book, 

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 

by Mary Baker Eddy.  

The study of it became an enormous help to me, 
both in my professional life as a photographer, 
artist, and entrepreneur, and in raising a family. 
With all the demands placed on me, whenever a person 
would approach me with a problem, I’d carefully listen, 
and then offer my prayer.  Often they would later come 
back and share their healing with me.

I learned that for me the most effective way of helping
others was ... to apply what I gleaned from those two books 
[the Bible and Science and Health] about God’s love and 
His will of good for each of His children.  

As I pondered the riches of God’s goodness, I couldn’t help 

but feel inspired about the divine order of all things.  Reflecting 

on it nurtured my confidence in my God-bestowed abilities.  

I witnessed God’s, divine Mind’s, order in my own life, as well.  

And people turned to me in their need.

The following Bible passage has inspired me: 

“The Lord God 

gives me the right words to encourage the weary, 

Each morning he awakens me eager to learn his teachings”  (Isa. 50:4, Contemporary English Version).

--An excerpt from an article by Eva-Maria Hogrefe, C. S.,

published by the Christian Science Publishing Society, January16,2006--

“Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity,--

these constituents of thought, mingling,

constitute individually and collectively

true happiness, strength, and permanence.”

 -- Science and Health, p. 58 --

I would like to do whatever it is that presses the essence from the hour.

–Mary Oliver— 

    

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for

her price is far above rubies.

She reacheth out her hand to the poor; yea, 

she reacheth forth her hand to the needy.

Strength and honour are her clothing; and 

she shall rejoice in time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom; and

in her tongue is the law of kindness.”

--The Bible, Proverbs 31:10, 20, 25, 26--

To understand everything is to forgive everything 

 --French proverb--

Mary Magdalene, a true disciple --

I often have asked myself why that elusive woman, Mary Magdalene, according to the Gospel of John 20:11-18, was the first witness of the risen Savior? I feel this extraordinary experience must have grown out of a defining quality of her character, a love for Love, which in its purest state reflected a powerful spiritual love for her Master Teacher, Christ Jesus.

We feel for her when we envision a scene related in Luke 7:37-50: With tears flowing, in meekness Mary stands silently.  Simon the host forgot to give due respect to his honored guest, Jesus of Nazareth. But Jesus “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), is not offended, for he loves the Pharisee as he loves those who, cold of heart, leave love behind, as does Judas, the moral dwarf of deceptive mien.  But Mary, he loves as she loves him; with a love so profound that he taught her on sacred ground that Love is Life!

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, eloquently observed: “Love that is Life - is sure and steadfast.  … the true sense of being goes on.

 Doing unto others as we would that they do by us, is immortality's self.  Intrepid, self-oblivious love fulfils the law and is self-sustaining and eternal” (Miscellany, 275).  Eddy could not have known the full story of Mary Magdalene, because at the time she wrote her masterpiece Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (published in 1875), some of the newly discovered Scriptural manuscripts (1896), were stored away in archeological archives in Germany, and not yet translated from the original texts, until published in 1955.   However, in her intuitive wisdom, she put the Biblical account of Mary in Science and Health, at the beginning of the chapter on the Christian Science Practice: How a woman uninvited entered, and how Jesus regarded her compassionately, with divine insight and ineffable affection, and she, reverent, contrite, expressing meekness and love.  The question is posed, “…was her grief sufficient evidence to warrant the expectation of her repentance, reformation, and growth in wisdom?  Certainly… ” (363).  Jesus’ wise thoughts and kind words bring comfort and healing from the indivisible presence of an all-powerful divine Love.  Eddy introduces thus the Christ-principle of Mind-Healing.

To gain a better understanding of the spiritual stature of Mary Magdalene, I researched Eddy’s writings, the Gospels of Luke and John, and Harvard scholar Karen King’s Women In Ancient Christianity: The New Discoveries--neglected texts and new findings, concerning women's important role in early Christianity.  In Eastern Orthodox churches, Mary Magdalene is not seen as a penitent, but instead as a woman who lived a decent life even before she followed Jesus.   King wrote: “Chief among these is Mary Magdalene, a woman infamous in Western Christianity as an adulteress and repentant whore.  Discoveries of new texts from the dry sands of Egypt, along with sharpened critical insight, have now proven that this portrait of Mary is entirely inaccurate.”

These 19th and 20th century discoveries of Christian texts go back to the second and third century—and they brought new information to light.  From the Bible we know that Mary, a Jewish woman, accompanied Jesus on his journeys and supported his ministry, (see Luke 8:1-3).  The new findings show Mary as a favored disciple, a prominent member of Jesus’ inner circle, and the only woman named.  In response to an especially insightful question, Jesus says of her, “You make clear the abundance of the revealer!” (Dialogue of the Savior, 140 17-19.) 

In the Gospel of John, the risen Jesus explains his teaching to her, and then sends her as an apostle to the apostles to bring the good news. And thus she also is the first to announce the resurrection.  In addition, a perusal of Jean-Yves Leloup’s translation of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, reveals: “Mary’s identity as a prostitute stems from Homily 33 of Pope Gregory I, delivered in the year 591, in which he declared that she and the unnamed woman in Luke 7 are, … one and the same, and that the faithful should hold Mary as the penitent whore. …In fact, there is no direct reference to [a sinful woman]—or to Mary—as a prostitute anywhere in the Gospels.

“The Gospel of Mary offers the modern man and woman a new insight into the immensity of Christianity and the figure of Jesus. … Mary was considered as the foremost among the women who followed Jesus … the post-Resurrection time is one of decisive revelation, which included his communication of the mission given the disciples before his final departure” (v, xiv, xv, 8, 9).

In Science and Health (54), it says, “Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, [Jesus] defined Love.” Thus he lived and taught the healing Christ—the eternal Comforter or divine Science.  When the Comforter is more than a phrase but the very truth of Love to us, it heals our fears, including lack and despair.  Jesus healed Mary of those crucifying matter notions.  And she, in her fearless love for him, was first and last at the cross, and first at his tomb to witness the key event in Christianity -- the Resurrection – Christ Jesus’ highest proof of Love that is Life.

–Eva-Maria Hogrefe, C. S.

Mary of Magdala

“O gentle Mary, don’t cry.  Know,

For you, who have been sorely tried,

Brief will be your grief,

And doubt and fear will swiftly fly

When you embrace a matter-free thought keenly,

And follow me to learn of our Father’s power,

And trust in Him, in good, and love serenely

That spiritual perception, the healing path

Called Resurrection.”

She, bearing witness to Jesus, replied,

“I will not fear the darkest night, dearest Master.”

Forgotten were mind’s sore vexations as morning

Turned bright before her eyes.

Pure of heart, Mary was the first to behold

The risen, living Christ!

-- Eva-Maria Hogrefe

Published in the Christian Science Sentinel,

March 29, 2010—

Resolve to keep happy, and your joy … will form an invincible host against difficulty.  

Happiness cannot come from without.  It must come from within.   --Helen Keller—

YOUR JOY NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU

--The Bible, John 16:22—

The beautiful in character is also the good,

welding indissolubly the links of affection.

--Science and Health, p. 60--

SUBSTANCE

supply:

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

--The Bible, I Corinthians 2:12—

“… under the deific law … supply invariably meets demand …”

--Mary Baker Eddy,

Miscellaneous Writings, Question and Answers, p. 45-- 

One way to see it -- supply is there always, and that’s why we have a need for it.

With our spiritual moving forward our horizon is constantly expanding as we advance.  --Eva-Maria--

“Particularly in this era … wealth consists not of things but of thoughts.  The entrepreneur does not find values in a new product or a pool of oil or computer design.  He brings value to what was previously seen as worthless.  And this value springs from his own value: his courage, integrity, diligence, and faith … More than ever before in history, wealth is metaphysical rather than material … the world opens its portals, slough of limits and boundaries … with ever-widening spirals of possibilities.”

--George Gilders, The Soul of Silicon--

Oil painting (late 1960) -- HARVEST-- by Eva-Maria Hogrefe

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, 

but to reveal to him his own.” 

--Benjamin Disraeli--

“Foolish is the mind of man to make bogeys for itself and to live in terror of fear for things which lack the substance of truth.

I must think, and then speak.  I must consider what is to be done and then choose my time to do it.  Think.  Watch. Think again.   And then one step at a time to put things right.  As a mason puts one block at a time.  To build solid and good.  

So with thought.  Think.  Build one thought at a time.  Think solid.  Then act.”

--By Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley,

pages 117 & 120—

“Try to care for what is best in thought and action – something that is good apart from the accident of your own lot.

“Is there any single occupation of mind that you care about with passionate delight or even independent interest?

“What sort of earth or heaven would hold

any spiritual wealth in it for souls pauperized by inaction?

“… but for us who have to struggle for our wisdom, the higher life must be a region in which the affections are clad with knowledge. …Nothing is feebler than the indolent rebellion of complaint; and to be roused into self-judgment is comparative activity.”

--George Eliot, passages from Daniel Deronda, pages 395, 399, 400--

“Mortals suppose that they can live without goodness, when God is good and the only real Life.” 

--Science and Health, chapter Science of Being, p. 328--

“Man is not God, and God is not man.

“Man is idea, the image of Love; … He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas; the generic term for all that reflects God’s image and likeness; the conscious identity of being as found in Science, in which man is the reflection of God, or Mind … .” (See the Bible, Gen. 1:26.)

--Science and Health, p. 480 & 475--

"The following are some of the equivalents of the term man in different languages.  In the Saxon, mankind, a woman, any one; in the Welsh, that which rises up,--the primary sense being image, form; in the Hebrew, image, similitude; in the Icelandic, mind.  The following translation is from the Icelandic:-- And God said, Let us make man after our mind and our likeness; and God shaped man after his mind; after God's mind shaped He him; and He shaped them male and female.

In the Gospel of John, it is declared that all things were made through the Word of God, 'and within Him [the logos, or word] was not anything made that was made.'  Everything good or worthy, God made."

--Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 525--