"There's no getting around it — we live in an insecure world. I mean, if you haven't got some sense of the divine."

"I wobble a lot — one minute I feel safe, then mortal mind whips up something, maybe out there or maybe just a memory or ghastly vision."

"That's what mortal mind does to mimic divine Mind."

"What?"

"Like something that's inevitable or overwhelming — something that sweeps away tired concepts. It can have a good result if we don't let dualism seize the agenda. We can let God be in charge as the only power and presence. We are His constant image, every second — so we might as well let that shine through current human concepts."

"We were going to cheerfully claim security for everyone."

"Haiti kind of knocked my prayers for a loop."

"It's daunting but we're called as students of Christian Science to specifically not become aghast at whatever mortal imagery comes up."

"The really powerful prayer is 'It never happened'."

"You'd better explain that."

"In heaven — absolute harmony — there are no earthquakes or other tragedies. God is the Life living each one of us. Now from the standpoint of God — where our prayers need to reach — heaven is the only possible earth. Getting behind that fact should help people, no matter how awful the material picture is."

"How was your trip?"

"I loved it! But there were some challenges..."

"Like getting through security?"

"No — that went fine — just the usual. One thing I did have to learn was not to drift with the prevalent mood around me. There was a 4 hour delay taking off from Miami for Salvador and I got into the boredom and nervous exhaustion everyone else seemed to be suffering from. But then, once I got some Science going and knew we were all already infinite, everywhere — why it wasn't 10 minutes and they started loading the plane."

"What's that hymn — ' I need thee every hour...'"

"Exactly. And I had to relearn that lesson a few more times. For instance, when I arrived at our apartment in Salvador, no one was home. I tried the landlady and she too was out. So I sat down on the steps and thought I guess I'll just have to wait. But the heat was intense and I was very tired, so — finally — I reached out to God with a kind of wordless half trust and it came to me to go ring our apartment bell again. I did and one of my friends opened the door and welcomed me with a big hug."

"So I'm getting that we have to stay in conscious alignment with God if we want to bring out harmony and security."

"I think that's it. In reality we're already totally there but if we're allowing ourselves to droop into dualistic or material beliefs, we'll live in a hypnotic state alternating between good and evil."

"A seeming hypnotic state."

"Okay — seeming, but for all practical purposes that seeming will be very real for us.""I had something come up on a project I was working on with three others. Two of them are life partners and one day they got into a horrendous fight, with lots of shouting, slamming doors and so on. I know their psychology pretty well, so I really wanted to get in there, point out the early life motifs and mediate. But I resisted and just stayed quiet and prayed to see the divinity of us all. The other member of the team was quite worried about the outlook for the project — as was I if I let myself buy into the swirl of sense data.

"Finally I was getting hungry and suggested we all go down for dinner. As we did, I rounded a corner on the staircase and there were our two warriors in a loving embrace 'Oh, we made up'. Our other team member said 'Thank God! The children were worried.' We all had a good laugh and that was that."

"I looked up the word ' security' and it comes from two root words meaning 'without care'. Understanding that we reflect God, we can be carefree."

"I wish I could feel that way about my piano teacher. I'm so attracted to him but he panics when I try to get close. He even blocked me on Facebook."

"You told me he was straight."

"Well, two psychics told me he's really Gay and he's attracted to me."

"Maybe down deep he is — but it might take a lifetime for him to unblock his identity."

"How can we pray to help him do that?"

"I don't think we can pray that way, but we certainly can pray to support the recognition of your divinity and his."

"Love is reflected in love."

"So it's Love seeing itself."

"That sounds right.""Tell us more about what happened on your trip."

"I wanted to participate in the Bonfim festival in Bahia Brazil."

"What is it?"

"On the second Thursday of January every year Bahianos dressed up in white and dance 8 kilometers from a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary otherwise known as Yamanja in Candomble all the way to a church dedicated to Jesus also known as Oxala."

"What's up with the two names?"

"The missionaries made the slaves convert to Christianity when they got to Brazil but they quickly synchronized their African gods to the Christian ones."

"Did you dance all the way?"

"Maybe half — I got a cab for the rest. For 200 years the church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim was shut tight against what the hierarchy saw as the onslaught of paganism. The Candomble people would put on their Sunday best and march up the hill to the church hoping to enter but the doors were bolted shut."

"Whew — we're talking dysfunctional relationship!"

"Well, two years ago a local man took over a head priest of the church and last year he opened an upper window, released a dove and even extended the crucifix out through the window."

"Sounds like crumbs! "

"That's exactly what two professors of anthropology we talked to said. They'd been raised in Catholicism but shucked it for pure African religion. But look — the poor priest would be out on his butt if Rome found him getting too intimate with Candomble."

"What was the atmosphere of the march like?"

"Joy — loud joy. The crowd grew huge as we marched up to Bonfim. I kind of freaked at all the people but I never felt unsafe. There were police everywhere but really I found the people so kind and friendly, that was my safety. Of course I did my work as any Scientist should do to understand the perfection of everyone."

"Did you go to any Candomble temples?"

"Yes, one. The Pai de Santo gave me a 'consulta' where he intuited my protector gods, Oxala and Ogum. Oxala is the creator of the universe and is identified with Jesus while Ogum is the war god, identified with Mars or perhaps St. George."

"How'd you feel as a Christian Scientist getting into Candomble?"

"Well, I did have to stay conscious of the real bottom line. But we have to do that with everything from astrology to finances to health to church membership. The world is filled with other gods."

"That's a good place to end. We need a topic for the next month."

"Why don't we use the Christian Science Lessons in February as our study guide and see what comes up?"

"What would you call the topic?"

"The Lesson"

"That could be broadened out to include day to day lessons, not just the texts printed in the Quarterly."

"Right — good!"

"Looks like everyone agrees? Okay — The Lesson."