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.--