One of my students shared a terrific experience she had recently which proved the mental nature of encounters with others, in this case, with bees!
She loves bees. She loves nature. She loves.
In her community, a swarm of bees had gathered on a tree in the middle of her town. Because of the swarm’s proximity to the public and people walking up and down the street, she wanted to act quickly to remove them before someone sprayed and destroyed the creatures.
Acting on short notice, she had only a bucket and her garden gloves to work with.
Climbing into the tree with a short sleeved shirt and face exposed, she began the process of pulling thousands of buzzing bees into her container.
She was not naïve about the act and prepared her thought ahead of time to be safe. She filled her thought with pure positive love for the bees.
She said that she quietly spoke to them while moving them down, expressing her love and care for their well being and assuring them they were safe and had nothing to fear.
Countless bees lit on her body, on her face, on her arms, moving about, curious and searching for direction and home. But she worked on without fear and concern.
When almost finished, the swarming mass in her bucket realized the queen was not there and they all flew back up into the tree where the queen still sat. And she had to start all over again. But she did without resentment or complaint. She kept on loving the swarming brood until she finished the task, queen and all, and was able to take them home to an empty hive she had waiting for them.
After the task was done, she had 2 mild stings on one arm that were quite harmless to her. The bees were rescued and in a place no one minded.
As she told the story, I saw in her face all the love and care she had for these special creatures. She had no fear of them, and they had no fear of her. They had no reason to attack her because they felt safe in her presence.
And the same rule applies to all people we encounter. Enemies often attack because they see someone or something they fear. But if there is no reason to fear, they lose fear themselves, and see no reason to act in defense.
Love, love, love… It’s the route to peace and harmony amongst all God’s creatures.
Jesus got it right when he taught, “Love your enemies.” Why? Because, as he knew, love has no enemies.
I liked the part where they all flew out and she had to start all over and was able to keep loving and be patient to complete the task. I’ve often been good at loving initially but not so much if things got complicated.
This is so helpful!
Thanks for sharing.
Hi, Evan! Just want you to know I absolutely love all of your internet columns. This one, however, was so touching I had to respond. What a wonderful example of unconditional love…& Love! Just shows what an influence one person’s thought can be!
Michele K.
Thanks Michele! I appreciate it.
Only good buzzing around…
Sorry Evan, although I have enjoyed your blog, this story is disturbing as it shows a propensity of some Christian Scientists to disregard common sense and put themselves in danger. The story is more of an illustration of God protecting fools and little children more than anything to do with a higher spiritual idea. This line of reasoning is similar to the “snake handlers” in some rural churches, only it looks like the Christian Scientists are doing it with bees!
Well, first I got “annoyed” at the comment from the person who found the story disturbing, especially since it appears twice! But, fairly quickly I realized, here’s my chance. I can just love him, or her, or whomever. Not react, be disturbed. No different than the bees. Of course, as the author in the story pointed out, we have to be prepared in thought. I’m not ready to run save bees yet, but I realize my continued growth in “being Love’s image and likeness” will lead me to that state, and then it won’t be reckless human reaction, but Divine impulsion.
Thanks Evan and Anonymous for the opportunity.
Sancy
To disturbed,
Thanks for you honesty! I will add though, that you are disturbed because you have a great fear of bees, and not because bees should be feared. They are more harmless than you realize when loved. I know from experience. We used to have hundreds of hives on our farm when I grew up. It wasn’t my favorite activity, but once in a while I had to help move the hives. And, watching an experienced beekeeper, and following his lead, I could get my thought very calm, love the bees, and walk right up into the middle of swarming thousands of bees and be totally untouched. I’ve seen beekeepers do it frequently, and totally safe.
So, the story I share is not the act of a naive thought or far fetched. She knew what she was doing, and leaves a moral and spiritual lesson for others to learn from.
Truly touching! I was there when you verbalized this story and it is even better hearing about it the second time. The key, as you said, is preparing her thought so fear had no place whatsoever to lodge itself. Thanks, Evan. This means a great deal to me.
Mary
The difference between the bee handler and the snake handler is motive. The snake handler is doing it to prove a point, whereas the bee handler was doing it out of love for the bees.
This is a wonderful story, Evan. It reminds me of when I was in college … I had a favorite outdoor place where I would go to sit and pray. One spring, I noticed some bees had built a home underneath the bench where I would sit … but understanding that these beautiful little creatures were included in the infinite All of God’s creating, I never felt any fear, and we shared that space without harm to each other. I have also encoutered unexpected confrontations with poisonous snakes (while hiking) where fear never entered my thought, and harmony was the result. For the person who felt disturbed by this story, I would like to suggest a non-CS book entitled “Kinship With All Life” which illustrates a wonderful example of how all living beings can get along in perfect peace… although, for me, the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures articulates it even better! : )
This person did not HAVE to move the bees. Would it be wise to go on a hike knowing there were swarms of poisonous snakes and try to remove them without proper protective clothing just to save the snakes when it is not your duty to do so? My point is that it is not wise to head into a bee hive without protective clothing as this person did in a sleevless shirt and exposed face whether one is a Christian Scientist or not. For example, there is a very large alligator in a lake where I live. I love alligators and I have even demonstrated disarming an aggressive dog with love who was bent on attacking me (so I know the concept of loving the little animals) but it is not my duty to try to remove the alligator, even though I love him. We will call the professionals for that who come properly equipped and who have the experience and credentials. This just seemed to be a very bad example to prove the point. Are all those people wrong when they tell me, “Christian Science also means common sense”? If you guys think I am wrong, then I will go get the alligator myself. I was able to demonstrate no fear and no enemies when the dog was trying to attack, I bet I can get the alligator.
Yes, she DID have to remove them. Divine Mind showed her that they needed help, and directed her on how she could rise to the occasion. She was fully equipped with intelligence and fortified with humility and great moral courage. She wasn’t acting impulsively; she was acting with spiritual intuition. Her motives were totally pure.
This is to me an example of how God speaks to us individually, in just the right time and with an unmistakably clear message. He gives us the “common sense” (really spiritual sense) to perform each needed task with patience and accuracy, as this woman demonstrated.
Readers might want to refer to a recent Q&A on spirituality.com (see right side of home page), where several respondents proved that divine Love renders creatures harmless.
Oh, and let me add, please: Last week I phoned my uncle, a Christian Scientist in southern California, to wish him Happy Father’s Day. We always talk about animals in our visits! This time he told me that in his early adulthood he and his first wife were amateur beekeepers. He shared with me an account of rescuing a swarm of bees and placing them in new hives without the use of any beekeepers’ protective gear — identical to this woman’s account. He simply loved the bees. And he wasn’t stung once.
Ok, well Divine Mind is telling me that this alligator needs help too. Since you guys are so much more spiritually enlightened than me, which one of you is willing to volunteer to come “LOVE” him out of this lake?
I love this story because –
I had a fear of bees for 30-odd years – I was stung in my last year at school and seemed to react rather badly to the sting. Result – because I was afraid of them I tried to avoid them until one day driving home from a holiday one flew into the car and landed on my thigh (unbeknown to me), I brushed my hand across my lap and it stung me. We were in the middle of nowhere, I made my husband stop the car, managed to control my panic enough to phone a friend on my mobile to ask for CS treatment. Her words to me were along the lines that that little creature couldn’t keep my from doing anything I needed to ( I was first reader at the time and this happened on a Thursday) – suddenly I realized that all those years I’d given bees an aweful lot of ‘power’ – I chuckled to myself and the whole situation changed – no swelling, no mark – but best of all no more fear of bees ! I’ve been stung a couple of times since with no effect.
And as for the alligator – ‘in our Father’s house are many mansions’ .. there’s the right mansion for each of us – we don’t encroach on someone else’s or live in the one that’s not right for us. A dear CS friend was led to pray along these lines when his property was invaded by termites – and they left his property for a vacant field nearby !!
Thanks for a super blog, Evan, and a wonderful opportunity to share inspiration and helpful ideas and support each other along our journey ‘from sense to Soul’….