The notes for this week encompass the meetings of February 4 and 11.

Session One

"We got into this topic because of questions about why Yaweh allowed Cain to survive. Yaweh's a dualistic god-image, so we shouldn't expect consistency or be surprised at things attributed to him. But it seems to me there's a hint of absolute Truth here."

"Tell us!"

"Well, justice is a human concept — just like Yaweh — and it'll be harmonious only as we base it in a fixed principle, as Plato said."

"In Christian Science we'd base justice on Principle, which is a name for God."

"Right."

"Better yet, we should be the Principle that never heard of injustice or problems of any sort."

"But what about Cain surviving?"

"I guess if I'm being Principle, I'd have no problem making space for a sinless person — known on the belief level as an ex-sinner, perhaps."

"There was such an interesting interview with Ramsey Clark on NPR. The interviewer asked about his being invited to defend Sadaam Hussein: 'How could you deal with someone so evil?' He responded that he never calls anyone evil: 'Yes we all do awful things, but when you start calling people evil you're getting ready to crush them.'"

"I went to Queer Dharma the other night. It's a group of Gay Buddhists who meet monthly. The discussion centered on desire and passion. The idea came up that we need to reflect on our sense perceptions before acting on them. We should give ourselves a gap between sensing, thinking and acting so we can feel our way to spiritually infused living."

"That reminds me of a conversation I had with a practitioner this week about relationships. I was bemoaning my lack of a romantic attachment. I'd say we got to the same conclusion the Buddhists did — no matter how attractive someone seems to the senses, proceed prayerfully. She asked, 'Haven't you ever gotten involved with someone very desirable who turned out to be a bore? And then you can't get rid of them!'"

"I went to a Jungian workshop last weekend on reconciling Spirit and shadow. The leader was a Buddhist practitioner and he gave us some techniques for understanding and integrating those seemingly divergent energies. We did a brief meditation and he introduced the alchemical idea that a poison can be converted into a panacea. That's certainly in line with Mrs. Eddy's many instructions about flipping error into its opposite. That reading I brought in from page 293 of Science and Health illustrates the point. Our lecturer also talked a lot about the Buddhist concept of emptiness, Frankly I couldn't understand it fully."

"Emptiness is fullness. In Christian Science we are infinite idea including all other ideas. We're the infinite emptiness of extension and it's filled with God being the one Ego."

"That sounds like our favorite movie What the Bleep Do We Know?"

"Oh something came up this week about that movie. I don't want in any way to detract from its value, but one of its talking heads, David Albert, said his views as presented in the movie were 180 degrees different from what he said in his four-hour taping for the filmmakers. Apparently he feels the movie advocates trying to change one's thought to change one's life. He says it's a much deeper discipline than that. We all know people who do Christian Science like that, tinkering with thought. Reality is what we need to access and allow to hold sway."

"That would change your thought!"

"Yes, indeed, but it wouldn't be some human ego trying to tell God what to do."

"By the way, another guy in the movie, Jeffrey Satinover, is a noted homophobe. I thought I'd heard of him and he turns out to be one of those shrinks who thinks he can change a person's sexual orientation using Judeo-Christian claptrap. Just Google his name and see for yourself!"

"Eek — talk about ego inflation!"

"Yeah. I guess when we discover the immense power of Christian Science or Quantum Physics we want to bend it to our personal wishes rather than let it unfold broader views of the reality we actually are."

"Oh good, you made it! How's the patient?"

"He's in the ER and doing okay. The doctors say he has double pneumonia. I called a practitioner as soon as he called me to help him over to the hospital. The people there are really kind. He's in good hands but they say it'll be a while before they can get him a room."

"Give me the details. I'll go up tomorrow and check on him."

"Is there something we can know scientifically?"

"I've been working with the Greek word pneuma or Spirit. That's what's revealing itself as his being and the being of all."

"He's not in the hands of mortals but in the hand of God."

"Does anyone have anything else on justice?"

"Not that but did you all watch the Evangelicals on the Larry King show?"

"I did. A couple of them seemed almost Christian but the others were loonies. I've heard some people call them the Rapture Right."

"There was one interesting point for me. I think it was one of your loonies who stated that you have to believe Jesus Christ is the only son of God in order to get to heaven. Ridiculous on the literal level, but its scientific interpretation opened to me. You have to understand God as the only being of man in order to demonstrate our present heavenly existence. That got me ready for the State of the Union speech last night."

"So what did you see there?"

"Just that the state of man's unity with God is intact, that each of us is infinite Love and eternal Life in operation."

"Our time's pretty much up. May I suggest we carry our topic Justice over for another week?"

"Okay."

"Good. I've got lots more to say."

Session Two

"Last week we saw that justice has to be grounded in Principle, God or it's a dualistic flip flop kind of thing without real value."

"I'd say when we feel ourselves caught up in some version of injustice and want to go with one side or the other we need to brush through the human opinions to find the healing divine Principle right at hand."

"There was lots in the news about justice this week. I'll mention a couple of stories. The Economist of February 5, 2005 had two interesting leaders. One titled 'Justice in Darfur' points out the US is in no position to push for legal remedies since it doesn't accept the International Criminal Court. The other, 'Anti-social behaviour in Britain' questions how far Britain will go with so called anti-social behavioral orders or ASBO's which can be used to jail difficult people without a court appearance. Use of the new device is drifting towards Guantanamo absurdity. One man imitating a werewolf was put away for four months."

"The stories that interested me were about nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea. The US is treating both as pariahs; why would they renounce nuclear weapons?"

"Here's a thought. Look through the belief in nuclear power and destruction and find the Nucleus or Center of Being. It's God — one infinite divine Nucleus uniting and controlling us all. The belief in power is just mimicking the real power."

"What about slavery? PBS is having a series on it and there are new books out. One is Bury the Chains, by Adam Hochschild and the other is Though the Heavens May Fall, by Steven Wise. They show how a relatively small group of reformers changed society's view of slavery."

"I keep thinking about reparations for the descendants of slaves. Is it just? I go back and forth. The Germans paid surviving Jews."

"There's a law in Chicago that makes reparations mandatory if a business or its ancestor companies engaged in slavery. J.P. Morgan Chase recently had to pay up."

"I suppose all we can do here on these troubling legal and political questions is to keep our mind focused on the equity and fairness of Principle. One thing seems sure — far better than a money settlement for the past is a vivid realization of present perfection."

"We could use a fervent reform group, such as the slaves had, to argue for Gay rights. Everywhere there seems to be retreat. I read an opinion piece in the Advocate of February 15, 2005 called 'The Present Danger', by Richard Goldstein. He says the Democrats, led by Bill Clinton, are preparing to drop us on our head in their quest for power."

"Wonderful. But here's a perfect case for sticking with Right is Might. "

"It's like you were saying: don't get caught on one horn of the dilemma but stay centered in Divinity."

"I was reading the Bible this week and discovered that Jesus's connection to Adam was through Adam's third son, Seth, not Cain. It's in Luke 3:38. Then I looked at Genesis. Noah traces back to Seth, so Cain's offspring perished with the Flood."

"I guess the mythology is saying that Yaweh does finally remove evil. The workings of the human belief eventually must eliminate evil."

"Hmm. That's certainly not what I'd expect from the human belief, but you know Mrs. Eddy said something about the universe collapsing into chaos if there was even the slightest evil in it."

"We need to think much more about your discovery in Luke and its implications."

"One thing that interests me about injustice is that there's always a victim and a perpetrator."

"But there's usually some element of error on each side. It takes two to tango. If I'm a Christian Scientist I need to proceed carefully with any litigation. If I pray scientifically first, a trial might not be necessary."

"And if it is necessary, I should make sure vengeance isn't driving it. Let the courts simply right a wrong."

"A friend says we have to honor our ugliness, not approve it, but be aware of it."

"If we could really do that half our feelings of victimhood and animosity would evaporate. It's the old speck in thy brother's eye business."

"There's an issue with frivolous lawsuits."

"I wouldn't use that term. It's one of those heavily tested Republican propaganda phrases. But I agree there are some pretty foolish, unjustified lawsuits. Like the lady who spilled McDonalds coffee in her lap as she struggled to drive."

"Or the folks who couldn't help themselves when Philip Morris beckoned — or Sara Lee, for crying out loud!"

"As a recovering foodie and cigarette fiend I have to agree such lawsuits are bogus."

"What about the Ford Pinto and Vioxx victims? They surely are entitled to something — or more likely their surviving family members are."

"There I agree with you. They are entitled to economic damages, but the punitive settlement — shouldn't it go to the state? The way this country works, if there were no punitive damages, the producers would constantly put out defective dangerous products."

"Look. We have to keep ourselves in alignment with Deity to avoid faulty products. Right after I got interested in Christian Science, one day I was eating a fishstick and got a large bone stuck in my throat. I was rushed to the hospital and the bone was removed. Perfect court case, right? I decided no. I could see my life stretching before me, stumbling from victimhood to victimhood, perhaps collecting millions in the process, or maybe just buckling under some well foreseen calamity. It seemed an awful life. So I just went with the reality of being and scientifically denied the whole thing and any effects."

"How's our friend in the hospital?"

"He's much better. They got him up and walking yesterday. He's far less hallucinatory."

"What? I didn't know that."

"It was the tranquilizer they were giving him. He's almost back to normal."

"He's getting practitioner help. When I was up there yesterday a doctor came in and started throwing around scary concepts. When she left we rolled our eyes and dismissed the whole thing as nothing. He was wonderful. He said something like, 'Oh well, I just keep feeling my oneness with God no matter what they say.' I told the practitioner and we agreed to see everyone — patients, doctors, nurses, orderlies, visitors — as having one Mind."

"We're getting close to the end of the meeting but I still don't think we've addressed the position of Gay people in this society with all the right wing barracudas circling."

"Lots of heavy duty injustices have been referred to this evening but I like what our friend in the hospital said after the doctor left. What was it?"

"I just keep at-one with God no matter what."

"I've been thinking about something Mrs. Laird said too. It goes like this: 'I'm my brother's keeper if I realize there is but one Ego and live infinite individuality.' That'll promote freedom and justice for all."

"I'm glad our friend has the comfort and clear seeing of a practitioner in the circumstances. There are still many practitioners who won't touch a medical case. They call that 'radical reliance.'"

"Odd, really. Mrs. Eddy was never that severe. She saw the value of medical treatment in certain cases and even took morphine to handle pain."

"Aha! Do we have a topic? Radical reliance?"

"You and your topics. Do you ever think of anything else? But sure, it's okay with me."

"Okay everybody?"

"Yes."

"Fine."