This past Tuesday, I flew from Gold Coast to Sydney, rented a car, and drove north 80 kms to Gosford for a lecture that evening. I was greeted by an earnest little band of Christian Science workers setting up for their evening event.
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| Preparing for the evening event in Gosford |
I got prepared and was all ready to go, but people were arriving late, so I took a walk around the block to collect my thoughts and enjoy the outdoor air.
And then I had a most inopportune experience…
A kamikaze fly started attacking my face. He was an ornery determined pest. I swatted it away, but it wouldn’t give up. Bzzz, bam, bang into my nose and cheek it went. I don’t know what its problem was, but it was starting to get me a little upset. I swatted it away again, but no use. Bzzzz…back it came again stronger than ever snapping into my nostrils and buzzing all around my face.
What’s the deal with you? I exclaimed out loud.
This time I was quite perturbed and I gave it another big swat. But I hit my nose and it started to bleed. A lot!
“Oh great! Just what I need 15 minutes before the lecture starts,” I protested.
I tilted my head up because I had no Kleenex and I didn’t want to get blood all over my lecture clothes. That might have caused quite a scene when I returned.
“Okay,” I said to myself. “This needs to be healed fast. No, really fast!”
Fear started to well up within, but I caught it quickly and rebuked it with a strong, “There is nothing to be afraid of. God governs every activity of my being and keeps it all under control. There is no out-of-control bleeding. There is no injury, no hurt, no harm, no mistake, no accident. I’m okay. I’m alright. I am not in trouble. I am an oasis of peace and harmony, and there is no reason to doubt that I will not be perfectly ready to give this lecture on time without hindrance of any kind.”
I calmed down quickly. The fly disappeared. It took two or three minutes, but the bleeding stopped. I headed back to the auditorium, collected myself a bit inside, then went in to greet people and start the talk.
Once I entered the auditorium and focused on the audience, I forgot all about the incident until the next day when I recounted my blessings from the evening before.
There is always a spiritual lesson to be learned with every experience we have. When my nose started to bleed, I quickly searched for that lesson, and all I could think of was, “This is a reminder to you to never get mad about anything, no matter how irritating it is, because anger is out of control thinking which leads to out of control actions which leads to injury and suffering.” And the relevance I found at the moment was my topic for the evening: “Families and relationships; finding the love that makes them work.”
This healing I had 15 minutes before the lecture put my consciousness into a very peaceful place. I had successfully overcome some evil belief that was trying to upset my thought in what appeared to be a totally unconnected way—through that darn fly! But I learned the lesson quickly and let love take me over.
I’m guessing that this healing modified my perspective and allowed my thinking to be a clear transparency for some specific message of love someone in the audience that night needed to hear.
By the profound and sincere responses many shared afterward, I know many people were touched in deep and significant ways by the lecture message.
I particularly enjoyed chatting with one man who admitted that he is not a Christian Scientist, and had been quite critical of it in the past, but had thoroughly enjoyed the lecture, greatly benefited from it and was going to start practicing many of the points made. He was deeply grateful.
Another newcomer, clutching his new copy of Science and Health, told me how the lecture helped him figure out how to assist his sister through a traumatic trial.
I was told the manager of the theatre, not a Christian Scientist, by her own admission, sat outside the door and soaked in every word.
And I could go on…but the evening was a success. Lives were touched, hearts were reached, new inspiration gained, and I made it through gloriously without giving another thought to that errant fly!
Interesting how God provides such a wide variety of ways to learn our lessons. He knows what we’re ready and willing to learn at the time, for sure.
Because I’ve learned to love, respect and admire flies, they no longer bother me. But even if they did, I could no more use that little red fly swatter you so handily provided for us than I could use a hammer on my dog’s head if he got a little feisty. 🙂
Last summer I had the chance to love a fly when he was buzzing around the head of a speaker. At first, my prayers (and those of others, I am sure) didn’t seem to have an effect, but when the speaker mentioned the words “the brotherhood of man” I took that to heart (as I’m sure everyone else in the room did). The next time I looked, probably only seconds later, the fly had vamoosed. 🙂
Evan, you might enjoy reading the slim volume KINSHIP WITH ALL LIFE by J. Allen Boone. Chapters 28 through 34 are devoted to the author’s communication with Freddie the Fly.
At first, Boone considered the fly a nuisance. But when he started watching the little creature, he discovered a wellspring of curiosity and kind feelings in his heart, and from there the adventure began.
Recounts Boone, “I found that I could allow nothing discourteous, inconsiderate or otherwise detrimental to get into my mental attitude toward him; the instant I did, our relationship went out of balance.
“There was no emotionalism, or sentimentality, or wishful thinking in all this. I simply was compelled to realize that as I identified Freddie as either intelligent or unintelligent, good or bad, friendly or unfriendly, co-operative or unco-operative — that is precisely how he behaved. For Freddie was nothing more or less than the state of my own consciousness about him being made manifest in our outward experience.
“When my thinking about him was on a high level, as from one gentleman to another, all our mutual affairs functioned harmoniously. When occasionally I forgot and slanted my thinking down at him in a derogatory way, down went our relationship situation too; and down it would remain until my attitude had changed for the better.
“As my tutor, companion and fellow adventurer, Freddie the Fly had complete freedom of the house with full permission to do whatever he pleased. He could have taken this freedom anyway, but nevertheless I extended it to him as a mark of my admiration and respect. He was a model guest. He always knew what was expected of him and never once failed to conduct himself with thoughtfulness and consideration.
“The more I was able to see beyond the physical form of Freddie the Fly, the easier it became to recognize him as a fellow expression of the Mind of the Universe. I could then listen with him as well as to him. And again I realized that all living things are individual instruments through which the Mind of the Universe thinks, speaks, and acts. We are all interrelated in a common accord, a common purpose and a common good. We are members of a vast cosmic orchestra, in which each living instrument is essential to the complementary and harmonious playing of the whole.”
Bet you can’t wait for your next encounter with a fly, so you can try this yourself, huh, Evan? 🙂
maybe should consider turning off the comments section. As anyone can say anything here….also I have noticed that Even has responded to comments lately….i maybe mistaken…but maybe when he did , it just caused more commentary…sometimes…maybe an online argument was in the beginning of starting…..so some bloggers…decide to “turn off” the comment section.(this was mainly due to eliminating SPAM comments, especially for a popular blog that alot of folks read).
But Freddie was not allowed to get on Boone’s skin. He would sit on his face in the mirror.
Evan, very interesting. I liked what you said about anger. (And the fly swatter image.)
Thank you for the comment on anger. I needed that today!
Elaine in Virginia
God is guiding all the comments as well as Evan’s ideas. I much appreciated the reminder of the book Kinship With All Life. It was an important and pivotal book in my youth… showing me how to quiet the mind and listen for the still small Voice… and how lessons come from animals as well as from persons— and they are all expressions of God speaking to us in ways that meets our needs.
Thank you Evan for such a thoughtful and practical post! I love its clarity and the healing realized. I also appreciated the comments.
As you open Science and Health, it says-
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Mrs. Eddy quotes Shakespeare.
Then in “Love Your Enemies” (Misc. pg. 8) she says –
“Can you see an enemy, except you first formulate this enemy and then look upon the object of your own conception?”
I think the first Anonymous was spot on!
Thank you to all. xoxo
I would never turn of the comments. The variety of contributions add great richness to this blog and give everyone a chance to share their thoughts, which are often so helpful to the rest of us. Keep them coming. They are so good.
I am enjoying your trips a lot. They are learning experiences all around. You are in good company. Our church held a lecture with Paul Stark Seeley. A fly cavorted around his face the whole time he was speaking. It made a few forays into and through his mouth. I gasped, but not Seeley. He was cool, totally poised. Never moved a hand to recognize, or swat. He won. So many people kept coming, he agreed to give a second lecture.
My teacher gave a lecture tour throughout England and Europe. She soon had a suitcase full of fleas. She tried several tactics, but couldn’t get rid of them. In Paris, she finally did what she said that she should have done first-pray. What are fleas? Minor irritations! Then I won’t have any minor irritations!
The fleas disappeared completely.
Hi,
Can anyone apply the fly to physical un-wellness? For instance, if loving the fly makes me and the fly harmonious, would it apply that loving what a physical ailment can teach me makes my body harmonious? I am new to CS. I am experiencing being un-well. I am caught between wanting my ailment to ‘go away’ and then thinking, on the other hand, ‘wait, my physical ailment isn’t it at all, it’s my thinking that needs correcting and my ailment is showing me that.’ So is my ailment my friend?
Thanks, Pam
Hi again,
I think I may have the answer to my own question. The thing that is showing up in my body is like a foe. You could say it is an evil thought in my consciousness that is making itself visible in my body. But the Truth Is, there’s no foe because All Is God. I thought there was an enemy in the world and so I experienced it in myself (i.e. – in my body) through my apparent ailment. But that’s not it. My ailment isn’t it, isn’t the Truth, it is a mistake I made in my thinking. There’s no foe. And knowing this Truth and Loving this Truth, is what heals me of my ailment. I’ll know that I really do know this when my ailment goes away.
Short version of this story: My apparent ailment would be evidence of a foe, except that there is no foe. There’s no foe. Therefore, there’s no ailment.
Pam
Hi Pam,
Your second answer is much better. That’s the idea. Any evidence of evil, including a disease, is a lie about God’s creation. Disease is an outward objection of an inward false belief. So, when thought is improved with Truth, and the false belief is dropped, the outward evidence necessarily disappears too.
Hi Evan,
Thank you so much for your response, especially during the busyness of your present travels! I had gone back to your blog several times, wondering if there might be a response, and this morning yours was there. I so appreciate it.
I am getting the message and it is this – STICK WITH IT, STICK WITH GOD!
It doesn’t matter what my body is showing me. All that matters is that I train my focus on God and keep it there.
Like the guy in the Bible (I new to the Bible too, anyway the guy who MBE talks about) who will not let God go until he receives God’s blessing… Here it is:
‘And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.’
Staying my course with God, with Truth, my thought IS improved, (as you said to me in your response this morning), and my thought improved, the false belief is dropped, resulting in the outward evidence of my un-wellness disappearing too.
I don’t have to work on my health. I don’t have to problem solve. All I have to do is focus on God, STAY WITH HIM.
Thanks again Evan for your response. Happy Travels!
With Love and Gratitude,
Pam
My CS dedicated mom taught me to love all creatures, including insects. I continue to rescue spiders and flies from my house to release them outside. I talk to them all. A clear plastic container and a stiff piece of paper are tools for capture. Once though I was able to get a fly to climb on my finger for a ride to the door and freedom. They all have a divine purpose as expressions of life.
From the April 4, 2012, blog of Educare: The Unlearning Institute:
“Once on a 3-day solo-vision quest in Utah, a fly landed on my knee as I sat in deep stillness in a dark red canyon. As I cherished and felt its beauty and oneness with Life, it let me gently stroke its back three times. When it flew up and landed on my knee again, this time facing me, I very slowly moved my finger up to it. It stepped forward and took its leg and gently stroked my fingertip. Ever since then my purpose has been to see the Oneness of all life through an affectional consciousness.”
And from an April 4th Wednesday testimony at church: A man told of being healed of asthma when he was unable to breath and a fly landed on his hand and started cleaning itself. The man so enjoyed looking at the fly and realizing that the fly wasn’t worried over whether or not he would be able to breath or run or fly — well, you know where those thoughts led to!
Each fly is an individual with a mission to fulfill: not to be a pesky pest to humans or horses, but to awaken a receptive fellow-being to the goodness and harmony that resides in each spiritual idea — and in each relationship that God forms between His ideas, from the infinitesimal to the infinite!
We’re sure you and God’s sweet flies are spiritually sympatico by now, Evan! Is it time to retire that red swatter! 🙂