Tuesday: Good News
“If it Looks Good...”
by Dr. Susan Nettleton
"If it looks Good, it is Good." Emma Curtis Hopkins, one of the early metaphysical teachers in this country, taught people to experience spiritual healing by looking beyond the power of illness and difficulty to the Reality of God-life within. Yet, she taught the simple acceptance of what looks good, is good. In modern life, we are bombarded by the superficial appearance of things that appeal to us, that at first impulse, we can't do without, or that we magically hope will "fix it" for us. But when we look a little deeper, educate ourselves more, gather some facts, we learn what first seemed good, can be harmful, or more problematic. The more knowledgeable we are about the economic world, the less trusting we are. Living spiritually means returning to a state of innocence and trust, not of the material world, but of the Spiritual Reality that underlies and sustains everythingthat is. It means understanding the world has illusions and deceptions, but if we develop the capacity to See the Real, when good comes to sus, we will recognize it and accept it.
“NEWS”
BY DR. LARRY MORRIS
There's old news and there's new news; there's good news and there's bad news—what kind of news do we want to hear? A dictionary compiler once received an irate letter from a critic who demanded to know why he put so many negative words in his dictionary. There were an equal or larger number of positive words, but the critic could only see the negative words. Sometimes we seem to see the negative as the only news in our life. We say to our friend, "This is bad and this is bad and that is worse." Yet we don't have to emphasize the negative aspects of life if we don't choose to. There's always an equal, if not larger, number of positive things happening in our lives every day. We are selective beings, and we always, always, always have a choice as to how we will see our lives right now. If we break an egg we can either have a mess or an omelet. Right now can be the best time in our life, if we but choose to see it so.
“EXAGGERATION”
BY DR. LARRY MORRIS
A newspaper once erroneously printed a front page headline that Mark Twain, the great American author, had died. On seeing the headline, Twain wrote a quick letter to the editor of the newspaper saying, "News of my death has been greatly exaggerated." As human beings, we have a tendency to exaggerate our triumphs and our defeats, our gifts and talents, and our shortcomings and defects. Albert Camus once said that we must tell the truth and we must never tell more than the truth. A Hollywood producer once went by the box office of a theater that was previewing his latest movie. He asked the man at the box office how the movie was doing. The man complained, "This is the worst movie we've ever shown here. The movie has only made $14.00." Very depressed, the producer goes to a restaurant where he runs into a friend. "How's your new movie doing?" the friend asked. "Don't ask," the producer says. "No come on tell me, how's it doing?" Finally the producer gives in and says, "It's only made $28.00."
“TELLING THE TRUTH”
BY DR. LARRY MORRIS
Albert Camus said we should always tell the truth, but we should never tell more than the truth. It is easy to deceive or mislead both ourselves and others by exaggerating or blowing things out of proportion. As human beings, we have the tendency to exaggerate both cur gains and our losses. We say, "Oh, this is the worst ever" about some momentary experience of frustration or disappointment. And no matter how insignificant an apparent profit, we can oive it undue importance. It is helpful to tell things as they really are rather than exaggerating them. A movie producer once stopped by the box office and asked the attendant how ticket sales were going on his new movie. "Oh," moaned the attendant, "this is the worst movie ever. We've only made $8.00 in ticket sales!" Deeply depressed, the producer went home. A friend called him and asked how the new movie was doing. “I don’t want to talk about it," said the producer. "Oh, come on, how is it doing?” "Don't ask." "Come on, tell me." "Well if you must know," said the producer, "It's made $16.00."