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For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under
heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to
pluck up that which is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time
to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a
time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast
away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to mend; a time to keep silence, and a time
to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for
peace.
- Ecclesiastes 3, The
Holy Bible, The Torah
"We
often think what we require is money, friends and physical healing.
After these things, do those, who are outside a knowledge of the Law,
seek; and they do well, for we need all these things. But they
are the effects of right relationships to life. All people
need some form of healing. Most people are unhappy, few have any
realization of permanent peace. We seek fragments, when the whole
is at hand.”
- Dr. Ernest Holmes,
The Science of Mind, page 447
"A
Time for Everything" from The Book Of Ecclesiastes was written
about three centuries before Jesus. It is included in the
"Wisdom" Books of The Holy Bible and in The Eleven Books of
The Writings (Kethuvim) in The Torah. Although some words reflect
the primitive culture of the time, the wisdom is also apparent. It
is commonly thought that the author is King Solomon. Unless read
with the spirit of discernment, it is morbid and does not give us a
sense of the love and grace of G-d that has come to our awareness from
the philosophies of the science of mind and the Master Mind Jesus.
But, there is value beyond the mere words when we meditate on them in
the light of faith and trust in the Ultimate Good, G-d.
Let's take a look at the "wisdom
statements" that can heal, bless and prosper us by first agreeing
with this statement: "For everything there is a season, and a
time for every purpose under heaven" ... and for many people, this
can be a challenging lesson. In our culture we have been taught
that the longer certain things last; i.e. relationships, marriage, jobs,
the greater achievement they are and should be valued more. But,
this, as many people have experienced is not always the case.
Staying in any of these after they have lost their appeal to us,
benefits no one. Yet, we can be assured that there was a purpose
for them even though they were only for a season. To stay in a
relationship, a marriage, or a job, after they have served their purpose
can bring us misery and also misery for those around us. We truly
never know why some things are just for a season, but no amount of
guilt, shame, or religious dogma, can make something good forever, when
its season has passed. As someone wrote, "when the horse is
dead, get off."
"A time to be born, and a time to
die" ... this seems so obviously true that we might wonder why it
was included in the wisdom writings, but that which is behind the words
make it worthy of our examination. We mourn the death of those we
love, and some of us even fear for our own death. As surely as we
live, we shall die to the physical, but never will our spirit die, for
our spirit is the indwelling Presence of G-d. The Master Mind
Jesus looked to Nature to discover a greater awareness of Life, and so
can we. If we look at the life of the caterpillar, we can see that
it must die as the life of a caterpillar in order to be transformed into
the beautiful butterfly ... and in doing so it transcends the limitation
of crawling and takes flight above all crawling creatures. Death
to the physical, allows our spirit to take flight in order to continue
its eternal quest for a life with purpose. Death merely means our
season here on earth has passed and we must move onward. Our
mourning then, reflects our awareness of the absence of those we love
here and now, but let us not think of them as dead, for that can never
be the truth either for them, or for us. We must always remember
that we don't go on to an eternal life, we are now part of an eternal
life.
"A time to weep and a time to laugh,"
... we know that our weeping is merely our way of releasing that within
us that we cannot fully comprehend. No scientist nor theologian,
no religion nor any philosophy, can fully explain the great Mystery of
Life. So weeping gives us release from that which we cannot
explain or fully understand. Our Creator has used genius far and
above anything we can understand in order to create us in Its image and
likeness, yet we have also been given the gift of the human experience
which includes of course, both tears and laughter. Both are
mentally and spiritually cleansing and healing, sometimes all at the
same time. As Dr. Holmes writes, "all people need some form
of healing." And we might add, and healing can take a myriad
of forms.
"A time to love and a time to hate, a time
for war and a time for peace" ... and even though these words
may not make us "feel good" ... there is evidence in the human
experience that makes them true for the time of King Solomon and also
today. Let us remember that these words were written three
centuries before the Radical Jesus gave us the awareness of our unity
with one another. The Master Mind Jesus tells us in Matthew
5:43-48 "You
have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate
your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully
use you, and persecute you; That you may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you
love them which love you, what reward have you? do not even the
publicans the same? And if you salute your brothers only, what do
you more than others? do not even the pagans do so?"
Dr. Holmes writes in The
Science of Mind: "We
seek fragments, when the whole is at hand." King Solomon
wrote his words to a primitive people who
believed
that the Earth was flat, that God is up in the sky and hell is below us.
Their worship was motivated by fear rather than by Grace and Love.
Their relationship with G-d was based on fragments rather than
wholeness. The Radical Jesus declared that we can realize
wholeness, but only through a heightened awareness of the Power of Love:
"Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect." And in this seeking to be a perfect expression
of Love, of G-d ... there will be no time for hate ... and eventually no
time for war.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev.
Dr. Henry Lee Bates
Visit Rev. Bates BLOGS: Living
the Science of Mind
Rev
Bates en Espanol
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