ICYMI (in case you missed it): If you'd value more PEACE of mind during this 2nd week of Advent, Maryann Hackworth shared a beautiful meditation. At this hectic time of year, how often is your mind filled with anxious thoughts or worriesome stories that run on like a ticker tape at the bottom of the news on CNN? Is the plot of your story strangely repetitive? If you'd like a "time out", watch Maryann's talk!
“Know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness
underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain.
This is freedom, salvation, enlightenment." - Eckhart Tolle
Second Week of Advent: PEACE: **Source: https://www.unity.org/article/our-deepest-gifts-four-themes-advent
Most renditions of the Christmas story begin with the angel Gabriel telling Mary she is to bear a son. But in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus’ birth story parallels John the Baptist’s. Months before visiting Mary, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce that Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son to be named John.
Because he is so old, Zechariah questions whether paternity is possible, like Mary’s initial response to her improbable pregnancy. (Yet) while Mary’s question is answered, Zechariah is chastised for doubting, then struck mute for the duration of his wife’s pregnancy. The situation and the question are the same, but Mary gets encouragement while Zechariah gets silenced. Why?...
“All manifestations of life originate in the Silence,” the Society of Silent Unity wrote in Unity, Vol. 17 (Unity Tract Society, 1902). “The thoughts that rise in you and come to the surface in deed and act, are they not from the Silence?” …
Muting the perpetual cycle of thought is a gift that brings greater peace. For Zechariah, muteness was imposed. We are called to mute our own thoughts … With quiet minds and open hearts, we find rest in the peace that surpasses all understanding.
It’s why (many have) come to believe Zechariah’s muteness was not a punishment but a gift. It’s a gift we are all invited to give as well as receive. We invite you to consider at least five (5) minutes in the Silence right now. Maryann can lead you if that's helpful - start at timestamp 55:04 in the 12/10/23 video. Surely the gift of PEACE is worth five (5) minutes today?
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