Did you know that the City of Tucson signed a Charter for Compassion proclaiming the ethics and practice of compassion as one of the intentions of our city and citizenry on April 7, 2015? Rev Teresa Cowan of Sacred Space led the effort creating opportunities for community-wide small group book studies using Karen Armstrong’s Twelve Steps of the Compassionate Life. CSLT participated in the initial wave of these book studies through the leadership of our own Keith Gorley, who facilitated one of the initial book groups at our Office and Education Center. Keith has facilitated a number of these books groups for us. Read about the Charter for Compassion at charterforcompassion.org

Compassion is a word that gets thrown around a lot. What does it mean, exactly? Concern for the suffering of the misfortunes of others might entail sympathy, empathy, understanding, care and concern; love for all sentient beings is part of it, too. At the heart of it is a desire to reduce the suffering of others. In Semitic languages, the word for compassion is related to the Arabic word for “womb”. The physiological connection with womb evokes the idea of maternal affection that, some hypothesize gave birth (pun intended) to our human capacity for unselfish, unconditional altruism. Some scientists have theorized that humans, born with our big brains, are more dependent on maternal attentiveness and care than any other species, and that the co-evolution of qualities of compassion with our big brains allowed us to flourish as a species.

An often-undervalued aspect of compassion is the practice of self-compassion. The biblical order of “love yourself as your neighbor” implies a love of self. If this seems a difficult idea to imagine, we can imagine what it feels like to feel compassion for ourselves by drawing on the warmth of friendship that we know exists between ourselves and those we love, and then direct it toward ourselves. Truthfully, we cannot give to others what we cannot embody ourselves.

The experience and expression of compassion exists, at least potentially, in every human being and can become a healing force in our own lives as well as our world.

Did you know that CSLT has a Compassionate Heart team?

Its members continue to make themselves available to provide such things as transportation to and from doctor’s appointments and grocery stores; they also often provide meals when needed, conduct hospital visits, send cards and sometimes flowers, and help fill out paperwork for assistance, as well as provide many other services. Mostly they gratefully provide helping hands and caring hearts. They do not replace the need for continuous care, regular medical transportation, or skilled nursing care.

We also have a small amount of donated monies available for urgent medical or personal needs, which can be requested by a congregant. The request form, and all instructions for its use and access, is available on our tucsoncsl.org website under Organizational Documents.

What a wonderful opportunity to join this team and be of service! Please contact Wendie Arison if you would like to become part of this great team, or make use of the services we provide.

As the Buddhist prayer puts it so simply:
May all beings be free from suffering, know peace, and be happy.

Namaste, Janie Hooper

The One Cause back of all never changes, but It constantly creates forms; and so we perceive a changing form within that which is changeless. — Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind 578.

In our book discussion of David Richo’s book, Five Things We Cannot Change…and the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them, a most important question was asked: “Who should we believe, Ernest Holmes or David Richo?”

In The Science of Mind philosophy we read over and over again that we create our reality by our thinking. “You can tell what you believe by looking at your life” is a popular maxim. From the New Testament we read the words of Jesus, “It is done unto you as you believe.” We are encouraged to look at our underlying beliefs, our unconscious mind, to determine what we believe about ourselves and the conditions of our lives. In a flawless world, we would experience perfect health, financial abundance, and healthy relationships by believing these conditions are our reality. “As above, so below.”

Many years ago, when I was a new student of the Science of Mind and totally convinced of my power to shape my reality, several people that I loved transitioned in quick succession. Because I was a ‘newbie’ in this philosophy, I somehow thought I had caused these deaths of the people dear to me. My minister at the time, Dr Christian (Sorensen) looked me straight in the face and said, “You aren’t that powerful. Everyone is on their own path. Other people’s lives are not yours to control or direct.”

David Richo points out quite dramatically again and again that life happens to us: quite succinctly, “Stuff Happens.” The first “thing we cannot change” is the fact that nothing, absolutely nothing, stays the same. Romances change and get better as they mature, or they end in sorrow and bitterness. Marriages often end in separation or divorce. People lose jobs and friends. Even brand new cars will need repair and eventually need to be replaced. New houses need constant upkeep to keep from falling into a state of disrepair.

The most difficult life event for most of us to deal with is the death of someone we love. Richo writes, “Grief, the yes of tears, makes possible an acceptance of reality and its conditions, including an ending in death.” He goes on, “Grief readies us eventually to give up clinging to the past and to move toward closeness with new others who offer approximations of what we have lost.”

I have this short saying in my kitchen where I read it several times a day: “Life is not the way it is supposed to be. It is the way it is. The way we choose to cope with it is what makes the difference.” (Author unknown)

Each life experience, no matter how painful, is a chance to learn something of value. This is where Ernest Holmes reminds us that how we choose to perceive any situation, no matter how joy-filled or how painful, is what creates our reality. If I see any event as proof that I am being victimized, I remain a victim. If I see the same event as a chance to learn a valuable lesson, I will learn that lesson and move upward.

Regarding the question of whom we should believe, Ernest Holmes or David Richo, the answer is both of them. I am blessed to be in this community where we are taught the tools that enable us to rise above the “stuff” that life presents us, and to become more as we spiral upward beyond the events that shape our reality.

–Pat Masters

As you are aware, we circulate 5% of our contributions back into the Tucson community in support of organizations that support self-determined living. You might wonder why we do this, even in months when we seem to have just enough, or not even quite enough, to cover our own expenses. As a Center, we believe and practice the Law of Circulation. This means that we put our money where our mouth is. In The Science of Mind (p. 498, pp. 1), Ernest Holmes wrote, “There must be an outlet as well as an inlet, if there is to be continual flow.”

Lynne Twist wrote extensively about the right use of resources in her book, The Soul of Money. One of her big ideas was the idea of sufficiency and what ‘enoughness’ really looks like. She wrote (p. 120), “In the context of sufficiency, appreciation becomes a powerful practice of creating new value in our deliberate attention to the value of what we already have.” By selecting local charities that support self-determined living from our present experience of sufficiency in the contributions we have received, we deliberately recognize the value of what we have to share, here and now.

During December we heard from the three charitable organizations that you had recommended during our congregational solicitation in November. On January 6, during Sunday Services, those present will vote for the charity we will support with a percentage of our Sunday offerings in 2019.

Sister Jose Women’s Center is dedicated to the care and nurturance of homeless women within our community. They provide respite and basic needs as well as assistance with housing, social services, health advocacy and pre-employment readiness. Women reach out to women with dignity, respect and compassion. For more information, visit: srjosewomensshelter.org

Old Pueblo Community Services offers a full continuum of services from Outreach to Supportive Housing. ‘Housing First’ places people, regardless of their history, in housing first. By removing the chaos of living on the streets or in shelters, vulnerable individuals engage in services and go on to live stable independent lives. This promotes individuals’ re-entry into the community as viable contributors. For more information, visit: helptucson.org

Youth On Their Own strives to eliminate barriers to education and empower Arizona’s homeless youth to stay in school. For over 30 years, we provide continuing support in support of high school graduation for persons in this unique demographic by providing financial assistance, basic human needs, and one-on-one guidance. With the help of our supporters nationwide, we have empowered over 16,000 homeless youth to remain in school and pursue opportunities for self-sufficiency. For more information, visit: yoto.org

Be sure to attend the Sunday services on January 6 to vote on the charity you prefer that we support in 2019.

  -Dick Laird

Almost every time I read something fiction, I think I’m taking a break, and I usually learn something useful. The series by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory that begins with The Outstretched Shadow is pure fantasy — elves, unicorns, dragons, goblins, a couple different kinds of mages (a.k.a. wizards to us muggles), a classic good-versus-evil story — is rich and deep with mythology and morality that I can use.

What caught my imagination in this moment was this idea of a ‘mage price’, the cost to a wizard of enacting a magical spell. In this story, there are the High Mages and Dark Mages, who typically create their magical spells using other people’s vital energy without asking permission; an Elf Mage, who bonds with a dragon, the dragon who bonds with him offers his vital energy and immortality to the elf mage; and Wild Mages, who pay personal mage prices for every magical spell they cast, and who often ask others to share in the energetic cost of the magical spell. Sometimes the mage pays for a spell with his or her life, acting out the old adage, ‘The good of the many is more important than the good of the one.’ (By the way, I’m not sure I completely agree with that adage. Likely, more on this in a future post, because it bugs me.)

As an aside, I want to make it plain that I don’t personally believe in the mythology of good-versus-evil as a Reality. I do believe we each can (and do) have experiences and might want to perceive them as evil. There’s a huge difference. I would never say that to someone in the middle of a deep, dark, miserable, ugly, unpleasant or unwelcome experience. That feels unkind and completely inappropriate to me. If we are truly immortal beings, which I firmly believe we are, then any human experience — no matter how painful, lengthy or ghastly — is temporary, and provides fodder for learning a bit more about who we are, if we choose to see it that way. In my mind, this is a Truth whether evil is a person or an organization who is acting in a way we perceive as dastardly or destructively, an illness, an event, or anything that we perceive is against us. What if every single experience of our lives actually serves to increase our understanding, or our ability to be compassionate or aware? What if every single experience or event is truly for us? That means we can never be victimized in our lives, or actually be a victim of any person, place, experience or thing. Sometimes, this is hard to wrap my mind around and I’m certain it is true.

Now, back to mage prices… We teach that it is completely appropriate for us to live lives that we choose. We teach that choice is invisible (intention, willingness, determination) and consequence is visible (the desired object, outcome or experience). We teach that Law is impartial, delivering to each one of us precisely according to our actual beliefs. Whatever I truly believe is possible for me to have, achieve or accomplish, I can have, achieve or accomplish. I just have to be willing to give up any and all limiting ideas I have about accepting the thing or experience I choose. There’s the catch, the mage price.

One of the delicious experiences in the “Foundations of the Science of Mind” course is that each student is asked to state a goal they desire to achieve by the end of the 13-week class. The same is true, to a lesser extent, in the Power of Eight groups. Some people struggle with getting definite and concrete about what they wish to claim. It feels so much safer to claim something intangible or unmeasurable. (We want to say we are just being magnanimous.) It feels risky to state a personal goal. It feels vulnerable. What if I get it? How will I have to change for this new reality to show up for me? What if I get it, and don’t like it? What if I don’t get it? So many questions!

We have to be willing to give up the comfortableness of who and what we have been to step into lives we choose. This is true for each of us individually, and it is true for us as a community. About ten weeks ago on a Sunday morning, I asked each of us to consider what we wanted to become, and whether we were willing to grow into a center big enough, and powerful enough, to accomplish our desires. I know myself as willing to pay the mage price, and give up my limiting beliefs, for this accomplishment. Are you?

A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it. — Marcus Aurelius

       -Rev. Janis

We are awakening to the realization that the Universe is perfect and complete. It gives. It is love. It is good and wills ONLY GOOD to all alike. (Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind 465.2)

During this time of year we can be bombarded by advertisements for the “perfect gift” for that “perfect someone.” Advertisements for diamond jewelry, advertisements for automobiles, advertisements for fabulous vacations, advertisements for the latest toys all appear to guarantee us the perfect holiday for our family members, our friends, and our co-workers. I was surprised to notice this year that there are still advertisements for the “perfect” chia pet! I thought (hoped!) they had gone the way of Pet Rocks and Mood Rings.

About ten years ago, I was feeling frustrated by the fact that since I no longer lived in the community where my children and grandchildren lived, I felt out-of-touch with what each of them might consider the “perfect” gift. I called my son and suggested that since we all have plenty of what we want and need, instead of giving one another material gifts, we could donate to charities of our choice in honor of our family.

He passed the idea along to my grandchildren (each of whom was a teenager or older), and they were willing to give it a try. Building on that, last year my family gave me my most perfect gift: ten days of random acts of kindness. Each of my children and grandchildren chose a day in which they would perform a random act of kindness in honor of our family. Gifts of food, socks, dental and other hygiene products were given to homeless people, meals were bought for strangers, boxes of fresh produce were distributed to the community food pantry, toys and games were purchased and delivered to the cancer ward for children in Santa Barbara. Dozens of Subway Sandwiches were purchased and distributed to a group of homeless women in Ventura. One grandson paid for the groceries of the man in line behind him at the grocery store. When the clerk told the man his groceries had been paid for by a young stranger, he looked around and asked, “Where is the hidden camera?”

Each day I received an email describing what random act of kindness had been performed. Needless to say, each email made me very proud, and brought me to tears as I read the accounts of what each had done.

I love the Dr. Seuss story of the Grinch who tried to steal Christmas from the residents of Whoville. Even though he stole every decoration, every tree, every gift, and all of the food for their Christmas feast, the people still gathered together in the Village Square and sang Christmas songs of love and gratitude. The music touched the Grinch’s too-small heart, causing it to grow to normal size, and he realized the truth of the Spirit of Christmas: “The true meaning of Christmas cannot be bought in a store.”

In each of Rev. Janis’ Sunday reminders this December, she encouraged us to remember we are the Light of the world, already perfect and complete, just as we are. That is gift enough.

    —Pat Masters