Fearless-ness

What if for the experience, or the thrill of it, you venture into dangerous areas or 

undertakings, for example, crossing a dessert, climbing the Himalayan Mountains, trekking through the Brazilian Jungle, canoeing difficult rivers, and so on. A Survival Coach shared in an article published in The Christian Science Monitor that it is vitally important to know how to handle fear, especially not to become panicky once you find yourself in difficult situations. --Eva-Maria

By looking a tiger [or a leopard] fearlessly in the eye, Sir Charles Napier sent it cowering back into the jungle.  An animal may infuriate another by looking in the eye, and both will fight for nothing. A man’s gaze, fastened fearlessly on a ferocious beast, often causes the beast to retreat in terror. This latter occurrence represents the power of Truth over error,-- the might of intelligence exercised over mortal beliefs to destroy them; …

--Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by

Mary Baker Eddy, p. 378

How do we avoid panic?

I’d say we first would have to learn what we can trust and rely on.  Fear is not trustworthy and certainly not something we should lean on.  It has the tendency to inflame the human senses, stimulating dreadful imaginations and superstitions, anxieties, and erroneous and too often hateful notions.  And these beliefs and emotions we do not want to trust but need to be free of.

“The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the manifestations of which are health, purity, and self-immolation, must deepen human experience…”

Fear can make us wishful, fear can make us cautious.  In certain circumstances wishful thinking or caution may be helpful, but even then we need to practice good self-management and not to let errors of every kind get the upper hand.

Fear in its heat-producing, mesmerizing, and also paralyzing nature, is the devil, and the devil, or more precisely called devilish notion, is fear.  No good comes from it.  We need to be wise, and alert, and not susceptible to the fear of human thinking > as if driven by something odious and out of control running like wild horses.

The divine Principle, God, is able, i.e. He is more than able, to every emergency – by stilling the distracting fear, and as we whole-heartedly listen to Principle, (Mind’s all-knowing presence in our lives), we are guided with great love and benevolence into salvation and safety.  The Science of Mind leads us into freedom from fear--… and it does not leave us there but reveals how it maintains us under all circumstances.  And we’ll be able to see the good results of fearless-ness in tangible ways immediately.

--Eva-Maria

Submit yourselves therefore to God. 

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

--Scriptures, James 4:7

Error is opposed to life.

We can, and ultimately shall, rise as to avail ourselves in every direction of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go on until we arrive at the fullness of God’s idea, and no more fear that we shall be sick and die.

Inharmony of any kind involves weakness and suffering, -- a loss of control over the body.

--Science and Health, p. 406

                    photo by Eva-Maria

On my travels in India, an exotic, beautiful Land

where life is a bustle, streets filled with people and cows,

 buses overcrowded, taxis constantly honking,

children laughing and screaming,

and monkeys sitting on walls or housetops watching the goings-on,

just waiting for an opportunity to swoop down for a handout –

 it may look to a visitor as if chaos were prevailing,

but a flow of unseen order underlies India’s busy street-life.

Don’t grieve over what doesn’t come.

Some things that don’t happen

Keep disaster from happening.

-Rumi    

                                              

  

Perfect Love casts out fear!

I will fear nothing

except myself, when I try

to deceive my conscience.

--Paramahansa Yoganands

a sketch by Eva-Maria 

Moral courage is “the lion of the tribe of Judah,” the king of the mental realm.  Free and fearless it roams in the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in “green pasture, … beside the still waters.”   In the figurative transmission from the divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and perseverance are likened to “the cattle upon a thousand hills.” They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and keep pace with highest purpose.  Tenderness accompanies all the might imparted by Spirit.  The individuality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the millennial estate pictured by Isaiah:

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together;

And a little child shall lead them.

Understanding the control which Love held over all, Daniel felt safe in the lions’ den,

and Paul proved the viper to be harmless.

--Science and Health, p. 514

TRAIN OF THOUGHT

By Eva-Maria Hogrefe

Published in the Christian Science Sentinel  November 1, 2004

I recall one night when I woke up frightened and confused. For some reason I felt intuitively that my son was in danger. I had no apparent reason for this overwhelming fear. And although I felt an urgent need to pray for him, I was so upset that I couldn't.  Fear has a tendency to inflame the imagination, and my imagination was running wild.

So there I was, struggling in the stillness of the dark, trying to find an inner composure that would allow me to pray.

Suddenly, softly, and far off in the distance, I heard a nightingale sing. As I listened, a message from God came and calmed my anxiety: "God is simultaneously with you, and your son, and with all of His creation."

I was aware that the God of love, whom I'd trusted all of my life, was just as trustworthy as ever at that moment. I also saw just how tyrannical fear is. It mesmerizes us into thinking that we are at the mercy of some negative force beyond our control. Deluded, we believe we're trapped. I once read that the only tyrant anyone should accept in this world is the still, calm voice within—that is, the divine intelligence that speaks to us wisely, unceasingly.

As I meekly listened to wisdom, I recognized the answer to healing my fear was in my love for God. He is All. He encompasses everyone, everywhere. And He is good. I knew that my son's link with God, as well as my own, was secure. I could see how this spiritual connection defined us as strong, alert, and peaceful.

To this day, specific parts of my prayer that night remain memorable: "O Father-Mother, I thank You for knowing that I'm in the peace of Your presence. This peace is embracing all Your children, including my son and me. You are giving us the strength to know that we are whole because we live in You."

I remember thinking about a passage in Science and Health that says, "All that God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting goodness and power" ( p. 515). And so I could say with confidence, "I know that You are guiding my son—Your child—and that Your blessings are always with him. Thank you, God!"

The weakness I'd felt before was giving way to a calm strength. And to my great relief, my fear for my son's safety disappeared. This to me was a sure sign that God was with me—and also with my son, at that very moment, wherever he was. Infinite intelligence and Love can never be confined by time or distance.

A week or so later, I received a letter from my son. He wrote that at the very hour when I had been struggling and praying for him, he had been traveling on a train for 48 hours, and had just reached his destination. Because the train was overcrowded, he hadn't been able to get to the exit fast enough, especially since he was carrying some heavy luggage. By the time he reached the door, the train had begun to move out of the station, and was picking up speed. He didn't realize how fast the train was moving, and jumped out the door, luggage and all, landing flat on his back, his bags thrown far away. People nearby were shocked at what they saw, and came running. But my son said they were surprised he had no serious injuries. He got up, collected his belongings, and moved on.

As I read his letter, I was sure that prayer had made a difference that night. And I was awed at how God's wisdom had involved me—I felt that through my prayer I had seen His care for my son's safety. Even though fear had confronted me, divine Love had awakened me to think intelligently about God and His child.

In one of his moments of great need, Jesus said, "I am not alone, because the Father is with me" ( John 16:32). He showed the whole human family how important it is to trust that God is present and powerful in our lives. Perhaps you and I only have a glimpse of His love for us; yet it is enough to help us in our need. It is enough to give us the peace we so urgently are looking for.

God, who in His might and power is also a tender Father-Mother, and Guardian, is keeping watch over each of His-Her children. I like to think your prayers and mine are so full of the power of Love that they are helping to secure the safety of all the children of the world. The prayers of God-loving people everywhere can bring immeasurable blessings. That includes comforting those near and far who are in anguish and grief over the loss of loved ones. In the midst of sorrow, or fear, Love will come and gently give of Her peace "which passeth all understanding" ( Phil. 4:7).

--Eva-Maria

Love is fragrant with unselfishness ……….