Monitoring world news with prayer
Walter Jones
spirituality.com host: Today we’ll be talking with Walter Jones, who is a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science, and is a Trustee of The Christian Science Publishing Society, which publishes The Christian Science Monitor, a daily newspaper. He is also a member of The Christian Science Board of Directors of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, here in Boston, Massachusetts.
Walter has a strong background in broadcast journalism. He was a television anchor, producer, and reporter for ABC and NBC affiliates in Iowa. He has been a producer and reporter for Monitor Radio and also producer and host of the radio edition of The Herald of Christian Science. So he’s had a lot of experience monitoring the news, and we’re really glad to have him with us today.
Walter, do you have a few comments you’d like to make to get us started?
Walter Jones: Sure, I’d be happy to. You know, to my sense, it’s not unnecessary or even optional to monitor the news. It’s a part of good citizenship to be informed. But the question is, Do we take in this information passively or actively? To be passive, just taking in the fears and opinions expressed, can weigh down thought and lead to cynical or callous thinking, being resigned to fearful outcomes—you know what I mean?
spirituality.com host: I do.
Walter: But if we’re actively monitoring world events with prayer, conscious of God’s presence and power and of God-derived outcomes in the world, our thoughts will be uplifted to see more of what comes from God, such as caring, justice, humanity—hope for a better world.
It would seem, as perhaps many of the listeners may think at times, that there are so many reasons to be afraid in the world—new uncertainties regarding leadership in the Mideast, for instance—in Israel and among the Palestinians; the war on terror; extremist talk and actions around the world; kidnappings and suicide bombings; development of nuclear weapons. Too often this news is filling thought, and it appears to present overwhelming evidence of vulnerability and tragedy in the world. There’s financial news that sometimes seems to cause anxiety, and other things closer to home—mine-worker deaths, child abuse, reports of medicine-resistant disease. So how do we deal with this? That’s the question. Through prayer, I’ve come to know—formerly as a reporter and now, today, as a Christian Science practitioner—through prayer, we can challenge what we and others may be feeling or seeing as a result of these many things that try to grab our attention.
And I guess, going back to when I used to sit in the newsroom and monitor the police scanner, the thought occurred to me, I can either be helplessly listening and just … events are unfolding, and I’m feeling there is nothing I can do; I eventually had to go and report on some of these things. Or, right when I hear it, I can weigh in on the side of health, on the side of an expectation of justice and humanity, of safety, that can break through right where there seems to be the greatest danger.
And so, I guess I’ve come over the years to feeling how important it is to challenge those thoughts that try to crop up that make us fearful or angry, that make us think that inhumanity and injustice are givens, and the thoughts of danger or feelings of vulnerability; and to turn the focus to spiritual building blocks that can help one gain hope.
There’s a hymn that is a favorite that talks about “God is working His purpose out” (Arthur C. Ainger, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 82). So striving through prayer to shift our focus more to what God is doing in this world …. As I have been working, formerly as a journalist and now as a practitioner, it seems to me oftentimes where we need to begin is in overcoming fear—that no matter what the situation is, fear would try to sometimes just wash over thought.
I had an experience as a youngster that has been so real in my experience, that that’s where I turn—back to that feeling that I had when I was afraid. And what was it that helped me? I was reading the Bible that day, and it turned out that I landed on Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”
And I thought about that for a moment, and I said to myself, These certainly are extreme situations that are being addressed here. And yet there’s a promise here that I was being drawn to: that there is a refuge, there’s a strength. I love the phrase, “a very present help in trouble.” And it goes on to say, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
So that was helpful in that situation. And oftentimes the psalms provide some helpful reassurance as I’m reading and monitoring the news, or just going about my day.
spirituality.com host: Well, that’s really helpful. And we have a lot of questions from people who are wanting to hear more of what you’ve got to say. This one is from Gloria, who’s writing from Danville, Connecticut. She says, “I get so overwhelmed by all the various news stories I could be praying about. How do I even begin, as in, what should be my first step before I even choose what to focus on?”
Walter: Boy, that’s an awfully good question, because sometimes I have found that one just kind of stays with the news. It’s so helpful to monitor it. But as we are listening and watching and checking it online, we want to make sure that we’re just not soaking it in, but that there is a point where we say, Now that’s what’s coming to me. Now what do I know?
And the thing that I’ve often turned to is that reference from the Bible, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Cultivating a sense of stillness, stopping the parade of thoughts that would try to just conjure up these thoughts and fears that we were talking about, and having that stillness, so that we can begin to shift the focus to getting a sense of perhaps there is something more real going on here. And we can, in a very real sense, begin to feel more of God’s presence right there where the conditions or situation seems dire or fearful.
spirituality.com host: Fred in New Hampshire is asking, “Seeing that the news is traditionally negative, shouldn’t we consider not filling our thought with all that negativity?” In a way, you’ve been answering that.
Walter: That’s right.
spirituality.com host: He says, “How do you scan the news and then reaffirm that God is Love, especially with all the death and destruction that fills the headlines?”
Walter: Well, that’s a real good point. And what I try to do before I scan the news is to give some attention to what I am knowing about God’s presence and power. And that’s always helpful, rather than just going right into it—because we can just be taken along for a ride that begins to really shift our thought.
Also there is, as a Christian Scientist, a Bible Lesson (found in the Christian Science Quarterly) that we read every day. And what I like to do is to read that first, and so I can begin to get a greater sense of life that is the very expression of God—a sense of power that is not something that comes from potentates or terrorists, but a power that engulfs and embraces all of God’s ideas. A safety that is not fragile, but that really has a substantial nature to it. And we can’t step away from that safety—can’t be some place where it doesn’t embrace us or reach us.
And so if I begin that way, then as I am reading the news, I’m a little more alert to perhaps there is a perspective based on who God is, and who we are in expressing God, that is more real in that situation.
The other thing that I mentioned a moment ago that is very important—I had a friend who used to even read The Christian Science Monitor and was looking for issues, and felt by the time she got to the end of the story, she said, “How do you begin to deal with these things?” because she was reading through the whole story, and that was a point that I mentioned to her. We want to make sure that the first time something comes up that challenges our sense of who we are as God’s child, and presents a picture of vulnerability, that’s a good time to begin prayer.
spirituality.com host: So even take the moment to stop and just reaffirm that God is present? That kind of thing?
Walter: That’s right. Yes. I’ve found that very helpful.
spirituality.com host: This person isn’t giving their name, but they’re from Washington, DC, and they say, “Sometimes I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders, as the saying goes, when I look at the individual situations all over that need help and attention. The big picture is overwhelming. How can I get a perspective that makes the world manageable?”
Walter: To me, that is in the little things of life, in everyday life. There have been lots of experiences in my life, I’m sure yours, as well, and many of our listeners’, where maybe it was just a simple thing that we were able to have a breakthrough in feeling a greater sense of peace or an assurance.
I had an experience as a child in which some bullies pushed me into a pit of water. And rather than becoming fearful in that situation, I thought what was interesting as I look back on it, instinctively, I remained calm, and felt that there was an answer. I mean, I just went right to the solution of getting out. Sometimes thought can feel overcome for a moment in those kinds of experiences. And yet because I felt calm from the praying that I did as a young child, from reading the Bible, from reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, I was able to begin to kind of feel a step that was in this flat wall of the pit and got myself out. And I just never felt any reaction or any sense of anger or a concern about those people who had pushed me.
So it’s in the everyday experiences of life that we begin to form and shape a perspective that we can then bring to the bigger things.
spirituality.com host: And so those help us keep from being overwhelmed, because we’ve sort of had some practice.
Walter: Yeah, exactly. Right.
spirituality.com host: Ricky from London is asking, “How are you praying for kidnapped journalist Jill Carroll? What can we do to help?”
Walter: Well, you know, one thing that I would say at the outset here, there has been an unprecedented rallying in connection with Jill around the world. And it’s obvious that so many people are linked in prayer—fellow journalists, people in all walks of life. There have been many, many news stories that have been pointing to this situation, and just the weight of the prayers are supporting release and freedom.
I was grateful for what the Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor, had last Thursday in what we call, “A Christian Science perspective on daily life.” It’s one of the pages, actually, in this case, 18, which said, “Prayers for a reporter in Iraq.” And it talked about a number of ways in which this individual was praying. And I would just point out to the listeners, this might be something that you could take a look at from the ThursdayMonitor.
For me, there are so many ways in which my thought has been drawn—one is psalms. As I said, psalms are very meaningful to many people. Whenever there appears to be a sense of exposure or vulnerability to something that would seem to be causing a bad event, a favorite of mine is to look at Psalm 91, the first verse: “He that dwelleth”—where are we dwelling right now? And to overcome the sense that we can be dwelling in a place of great danger if we’re really sure of God being our refuge. Anyway, the psalm says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” And it goes on to talk about Him covering thee “with his feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.” And furthermore, “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;” it talks about His angels having “charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”
So having a real tangible sense—I pray this for everyone. Our thought can't be drawn into perpetrators and kidnappers and evildoers. And if we can cultivate a real sense that right now, in all parts of the world, there is God’s presence, there is the likeness that stems from God that is tangible and real in each one of our experiences; that each one can listen for God’s direction. Those are very helpful thoughts to me. And I have become very used to, in Christian Science, thinking of God as divine Love, and that right now the presence of Love is with each one of us. And that because of Love being the ever-presence, then that can eliminate the fears and the concerns that would try to suggest that there is a definite presence of something else in various pockets or places in the world.
The other thing that often is very helpful when one prays is not to react. I heard a friend of mine once say, when asked, “You know, as you’ve been going about your life as a Christian Science practitioner, what’s been most helpful to you?” And this person said, “Don’t react.” When we react, then we are building up something, perhaps, by making it feel even more impressive, even more dangerous—and that’s not to say in every situation in the world that we wouldn’t have a great deal of compassion and support and understanding of what somebody would be wanting to know and feel more of God’s presence. It’s not being kind of a Pollyanna experience.
But if we react to anything going on in the world that would suggest an evil outcome, then we are not supporting the idea of prayer being the approach we take. And perhaps we’re missing the mark from feeling a greater sense of God’s presence.
At any rate, there are a lot of ways that we’ve heard that people are praying. And in fact, on the websites csmonitor.com or spirituality.com, they have talked about ways in which people are praying, haven’t they?
spirituality.com host: Yes. Both sites now have, and we’ll be adding some more to our website in a day or so.
From Rob, who’s writing from Turkey. He says, “Can all the world’s problems be solved just by thinking differently, knowing the truth about them? Aren’t actions more important than right thinking?”
Walter: Well, actions come out of right thinking. And that’s the real power of right thinking, that it leads us to act in a way that’s more caring. In a way that has more humanity to it. There’s a point that Mary Baker Eddy makes in her book, Science and Health, that means a lot to me. She says, “What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds.”
Well, that’s a prayer to act in a way that’s more graceful, that’s more patient, that has more meekness to it, and love; that is doing good. And if all of us … you know, we’re all linked together in this planet earth, and as each one of us prays to feel a greater sense of loving one another, of being more graceful, that’s a very real help.
spirituality.com host: Yes, and I think one of the points you were making earlier about right action tied to prayer is that if you are praying, then you may not do something a certain way. For example, if you’re not reacting …
Walter: That’s right.
spirituality.com host: … then you won’t react in anger. You may still need to do something to correct a situation, but you’ll do it differently. And that will lead to a different outcome.
Walter: Yes, exactly. Right. It begins one by one, individual by individual.
spirituality.com host: Priscilla in Beverly, Massachusetts, is saying, “How can we know the truth about conditions in far-off places? Do we have to know all the facts?” I think she’s talking about praying—how can we pray without knowing all the facts?
Walter: Well, it certainly is true that sometimes it’s helpful to know a few details, but I think sometimes we’re drawn into knowing so many details that it makes, perhaps, the situation feel more real to us. If one begins to … well, for instance, there have been some sad situations in mines and with mine workers, and there’s been an outpouring of prayer and support for those people. And there’s now an effort in the state, and perhaps in Congress, to look at laws that can ensure more safety. One doesn’t need to know all the details to pray, to know that because of God people can be safe. Mrs. Eddy points to God as the source of life, and therefore, to affirm in our prayers that life—while it may feel at some times to have all sorts of reasons why it might feel fragile—that there’s a natural link, a spiritual link, between God and His children that is expressed in life that doesn’t have to be, and in a very real sense, isn’t, fragile.
spirituality.com host: This is a question that comes from Joanna in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and she’s going back to your introduction where, she says, “You mentioned spiritual building blocks. Can you give an example?”
Walter: Well, the first one that I really feel is so important is to cultivate the feeling of God’s presence, that that’s more compelling than whatever the situation might be. And I felt that when I was involved as a passenger in a traffic accident. I was in high school, and a number of us were going out on what was going to be a wonderful afternoon and day in the Chicago area, north of that, at a beach.
And on the way, the car that we were all in, apparently got off the side of the road a little bit and got into some oil or something. And all of a sudden, before anybody knew it, we were going from side to side, turning sideways, hitting those posts on the side of the road—first on one side, and then flipped over, and then on the other side. And I don’t know how long this lasted. But just coming out of my voice was the thought—and loud enough for others to hear—“God is right here.” It just felt like it came out of the depth of my being. It was, to my best sense, involuntary. It wasn’t something that I was consciously, overtly saying, trying to help other people or myself, but it just came out.
And after we came to a stop, nobody was injured. The car was certainly better before, but all of us were safe. And somebody remarked, hearing that statement, “God is right here,” and apparently that was helpful to that individual. But it’s cultivating this sense, right in the midst of what appears to be danger, that God is right here, and therefore, what can we know as a result of that? That perhaps we can just claim right now that we can be safe.
The other thing that I think about is, What are we truly conscious of right now? Are we more conscious of what seems to be playing out in front of us? What’s playing out in front of you all who are listening? Or are we more conscious of spiritual qualities that come from God? Are we more conscious of the nature of God as the all-loving, all-wise? Are we more conscious of a sense of manhood that perhaps is, or feels like it is, trying to do harm? Or more conscious of an idea of each one of us as God has created us? There’s a statement that Mary Baker Eddy makes in Science and Health that I find very helpful when she says, “Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought.” That’s often very helpful. It helps us see that we can be conscious of what the nature of true manhood and womanhood is—that it’s derived from God, as opposed to something that is self-created or that is forged by some of the more tragic things in this world. That likeness is present, and we can see more clearly that likeness around us as we do that, as we steadfastly cling, as she says before that, “to God” and to “His idea.”
spirituality.com host: That’s really helpful. I was just thinking about sometimes I’ll read the news and maybe some politicians have done something that isn’t so great. And I’ll think, Oh, they’re all like that. But what you’re saying is, Don’t think that.
Walter: That’s right.
spirituality.com host: “… cling steadfastly to God and His idea.” Great. Thank you. That’s very helpful. Dan in Houston, Texas, is saying, “You said you used to prayerfully respond to news when you were a journalist. Do you have any examples of how prayer brought a healing response, either to you or to others involved, while you were working on a story?”
Walter: Well, one that I’m thinking about is the police scanner one day that was just very expectant that an outcome of death was happening out on the road. And I remember … you know, this was an emergency, and naturally, I had to, as a reporter in that city, grab my camera and head out that way. I was a reporter that did it all: took pictures, did the reporting.
And even before I’d left the office, I was just assuring myself that I didn’t have to expect the outcome that was being suggested here. You know, when we are looking at a line, we can either extend that line or not. And the line that was suggested, what was reported, was a case of extreme harm with the expectation of death. And I just was resisting that that could be what’s played out here. And I spent a good deal of time just dwelling on the safety, the spiritual link of God and His children, and that this was not a situation where someone was cut off, where life had to be snuffed out. But that there was a linking of God and His children that just could not be denied. And by the time the next transmission happened a little bit later, we found that indeed that full scenario wasn’t happening, that death was not the case. And I’m so grateful.
spirituality.com host: That’s super. This is from Elene in Boston, and she’s asking, "There are many reputable newspapers covering world news today. What special role does The Christian Science Monitor play in news coverage?” And then her second question is, “Why do Christian Scientists publish it?”
Walter: Well, those are both really good points and questions. Why is the Monitorpublished? There are a number of things that one could point to. One could point to an overall sense that presenting the news is something that can be progressive; that can be solution-oriented; that cannot injure, but bless; that by bringing to light things that need to be seen or known or that can be helpful, that that does lead to more understanding. It can lead to seeing other possibilities and other solutions than, perhaps, what might be reported elsewhere.
It came out of the experience of the Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. Throughout much of her life she was just really focusing on and tracking what was going on in the world. And I’ve come to feel, watching her experience, and also my own, that what is it that leads us to do that? It’s caring about people all over the world. It is caring beyond ourselves for a greater sense of justice and peace and health and solutions to some of the thorny problems that happen in the world. And in my experience, seeing what Mary Baker Eddy expressed throughout her life—it was a life that I feel was most caring at all times. In fact, she had thought of starting a newspaper much sooner than she eventually did. And she started other magazines. And eventually, in 1908, she decided that was the moment. She felt impelled to ask those who were her closest workers to start a newspaper. And it has done some good work in blessing mankind ever since.
spirituality.com host: She also says, “There are many reputable newspapers, but what special role does The Christian Science Monitor play in news coverage?”
Walter: To my sense, sometimes the news can feel pretty heavy, as we’ve been talking about. And I think what the Monitor does is that it highlights reasons for hope. There was a series a little bit ago that was really focusing on the peacemakers, presently, of this world. And in fact, I was monitoring television news this morning just thinking about this event, and it seemed to be one tragic thing, after another. And yet, there is lots to be hopeful about. Nothing is without hope. Nothing is totally without any solutions if we feel, if we know, that the source of ideas, the source of finding a way, is a Father-Mother God who is the very source of wisdom. And so I’ve always found that the Monitor has an ability to present reasons for hope. And yet it’s not unmindful of some of the tough things going on in the world. And it’s a voice that brings these forward so that they can be understood, and, by many people, prayed about.
So I think it brings a light to situations, and it opens up thought to possibilities.
spirituality.com host: One of the things I’ve always loved is, I believe it’s the Monitor’smotto, which is “… to injure no man, but to bless all mankind” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353).
Walter: That’s right.
spirituality.com host: And that certainly gives it a broad scope for helping the world, doesn’t it?
Walter: Oh, it sure does! In fact, that is a thought that certainly has come riveting to thought in connection with what’s going on in Iraq, and the situation with Jill Carroll, that the whole intention of the Monitor is not to injure, but to bless—to bring to light. And so, it certainly is the object, as Mary Baker Eddy said, of the Monitor to not injure, but to bless.
spirituality.com host: And now we have another good question that’s come to us from Michigan. The person hasn’t given their name, but their question is, “How do you see God’s man and really love a person like Osama Bin Laden so much that it makes a difference?”
Walter: Boy, that’s an awfully good question. Sometimes one wonders what can one person do? How can one, in the face of what appears to be an intention to harm a broad spectrum of the world, what can one person do?
And yet, it begins with one. It builds with others. It goes forward more broadly. You know, Jesus talked about the two great commandments, loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. If that becomes the priority throughout the world, there would be no ability for anything else to be going on. And so it begins with one who is just so striving to live that love for another, that caring for another. And that’s certainly a part of what the Christian Science Bible Lessons are drawing attention to for Christian Scientists that read them. It’s certainly a very tangible thing that one finds in the Bible, in the New Testament, as Jesus was going about his healing ministry; that there was a sense of forgiveness that was a love for everyone that could see right through and not be impressed by the obvious or most apparent sense of manhood or womanhood that was trying to present itself to him.
And because of that spirituality that he lived, that oneness with God that he just knew and felt that it was literally transforming the world, one person after another, and it brought about healing.
And so here is something that I have found is helpful for me to dwell on, to become conscious of my spirituality, of my oneness with God—not that I’m striving to be equal with Jesus. That’s not something that any one of us would say about ourselves or about another. And yet there’s an example here that we’re striving to live to some degree of Christliness, of oneness with God, that can open up in our lives and can open up more broadly within others’ lives the kind of Christliness that can cut through some of the suggestions of vulnerability and unhealable situations and bring healing.
Jesus was so conscious of his oneness with God that we refer to him as Christ Jesus, Jesus the Christ. And as I think about that sense of the Christ that is still with us today—Mary Baker Eddy makes a reference to the Christ by saying, “Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness.”
And just knowing that Christ was so real in the Gospels through Jesus’ example—Mrs. Eddy has made the point that the Christ is still here today, and that each one of us can listen to that voice of good, that divine message from God to men, and that can transform our lives, as well.
spirituality.com host: Thank you so much for that. And it sort of ties in with what comes next, which is from Cindy in New Jersey. She says, “In both this country and abroad, the concept of true believers and infidels seems to fuel division and the idea that God favors certain groups or beliefs. How can we better understand the idea of one God and His children as one family, with no favorites?” And in a way, your comments just now were leading up to that.
Walter: That’s right. You know, I had an experience that, to me, made this very real. I was traveling in Africa for the first time. And I’ve often said that there was nothing in my experience that prepared me for the experience that I had in Africa.
And here’s one example. I was waiting for a plane in a given country, and we were going to travel to a nearby country. And I found out after a period of time, that even if people had a boarding pass, they weren’t guaranteed to get on. I don’t know if you’ve experienced that in Africa?
spirituality.com host: Well, not in Africa, but I know what you’re talking about.
Walter: So I hadn’t realized that previously, but all of a sudden, fights broke out in the line. Here we are in the airport, and there’s fighting not far from where I was and where some of my fellow travelers were—there were just a few of us.
And the first thought that came to me was, “Should I be here? Should I leave? Should I get out of here?” The next thought I’m thankful for was, “Our Father,” from the Lord’s Prayer. And I didn’t say the whole Lord’s Prayer, I just thought about those two profound concepts, “Our Father.” And I just began to see that each one, those that seemed in a state of turbulence and that were fighting, each one of us—we were of different nationalities—but each one of us had one Father; that His presence and the fact that we all shared that same Father became so real as I was thinking there. I kind of looked away. I just was striving to see something different.
And as I turned back to this situation, I realized that the fighting was stopping, and eventually stopped altogether.
I think that’s a very important point that the listener mentioned, about cultivating a sense of oneness, of there being a Father of All, a Father-Mother, and that rather than there being favorites, that there is God, divine Love, who is impartial and universal in expressing love for His children, in embracing all of us, in not favoring one or the other, but loving all and caring for all equally.
spirituality.com host: Mark is in Detroit, and is asking, “Should we be praying for individuals or for situations? Is it better to focus on spiritual support for one person even if we don’t know anyone specific, rather than for healing of a country or political issue?”
Walter: So the question is, is it better to focus on one rather than the whole country?
spirituality.com host: It seems like it, yes.
Walter: Well, certainly in some situations that seem intense, it can be helpful to dwell on “… all whom your thoughts rest upon …” this is a point that Mary Baker Eddy has made “… are thereby benefited” (Miscellany, p. 210). So as one’s thought is drawn to a person, it can be helpful to lift up our thought.
And yet, there also can be a wonderful sense of seeing that there’s not a particular nation or city that is without hope, that is out of God’s care. I remember being in one city in America where somebody once said to me as I traveled there, “Now this is the exact opposite of the …,” I can’t remember exactly how he worded it or what it was. I think he was trying to make the point this was the exact opposite of the Middle East, the place where Jesus was, or something like that. And I never checked to see whether that was actually geographically the same.
But after he said that, he had a feeling that in this particular place, it was a place of evil. And others felt that way, others that he was familiar with. And I felt it wasn’t important whether it geographically was some place or another. But for one to harbor the sense that there is a place that is just, in its essence, evil, or that evil can grow in a given place, that’s where I think it’s so helpful to know, What is in each place? There’s a sense in Christian Science that God fills all space, based on the omnipresence, the omnipotence, of God. So that, to me, was something that I turned to. What do I know about the nature of God? And that would also help one to see that God does not favor one people, one nation. That there is a sense of God’s ever-presence—everywhere present.
spirituality.com host: And I love what you’re saying about that there’s no place where evil can develop, because, since God is there and God is ever-present, there’s no place for it, right?
Walter: Yeah, that’s right.
spirituality.com host: Amy, who’s writing from Los Angeles, California, says, and she’s quoting from Science and Health—she says, “How do we stay ‘undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses’?”
Walter: Well, probably what I would say to you, since you’re reading from Science and Health is: “Pray without ceasing.” This is precisely what we’re striving to do. And you know I think sometimes it is tempting because of what appear to be the jarring things that are happening around us to say, You know what, I just don’t want to know about it. I don’t want to read the news. I want to keep myself free of that, so that I can just dwell on something else. And yet if we’re doing that, then we really aren’t involved with and a part of an effort to help and to heal. It’s so helpful for us to cultivate that caring sense that would like to make things better, based on the reality of God.
spirituality.com host: That’s helpful. And this question from June sort of follows up on what you were talking about with the miners. She’s writing from Los Altos, California. She says, “How do we pray for the lives of others when they seem to be the victims of accidents, such as the miners in West Virginia?”
Walter: Yes. That’s something that would seem to want to gain our attention, and so many times. I guess, for me, when I am striving to deal with something, like a suggestion of accident, that is trying to tell us that our lives are just the result of randomness or they’re the result of chance. And as I’ve been praying to understand more of the nature of God, and more of the nature of His children, this is one of the issues that I’ve really tried to handle on a daily basis, because all too often, this idea of accident—how many times in the news do we hear that on a daily basis—local news or even the news that’s happening all over the world?
So if we can just focus sometimes on these underlying suggestions that what’s really happening is randomness. Randomness that is kindness, I’m okay with. You know, there’s a bumper sticker that talks about that.
spirituality.com host: Yes.
Walter: But a suggestion that somehow we are just random specks within a universe in which ultimately there is no hope—that is not what I would support, and that’s certainly not what comes out of the Bible, what comes out of Mary Baker Eddy’s writings. And so I strive to reverse those claims of randomness and chance, and see the consistency, the constancy, that is God and His care for His children. There are no gaps in that. All of a sudden, He doesn’t turn His head, because there’s an ever-presence here, there’s a grace from God that supports and embraces all of His children.
spirituality.com host: Laurie in Palm Springs is saying, “Is prayer only reactive? Can we only pray in response to events and tragedies? Or is there a way to pray preventively?” That’s a kind of neat question.
Walter: That’s a very neat question. I’ll give you one example that came to me, but there are lots of them that I’m sure you could talk about, and I could talk about. But I remember one day we were on the expressway going 65 miles an hour, and all of a sudden, I got a feeling of danger. And so as I always do, I was just drawn to pray. I went immediately to striving to understand why I and my family could be safe. That safety was not something that could be taken away, that we weren’t in the lap of danger, but that we were in the arms of God. And I was praying about that for, I think, about 15 minutes or so. I wasn’t driving, so I was free to be able to really devote myself to this.
And all of a sudden, out of the left, came a deer running right at our car, and jumped. And as the deer was jumping, it appeared to be heading for the front of the car, but of course, as we were traveling very fast, it went over the back of the car, and neither the deer nor we were harmed.
spirituality.com host: Excellent!
Walter: And I just was so grateful for that idea—not of danger, but I was alerted to something to pray about. And we were all safe.
spirituality.com host: Oh, that’s marvelous! This is a statement from Alice in Illinois. She’s saying, “In thinking about terrorists, abductors, heads of state, politicians, etc., I try to hold to what Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health: ‘God creates and governs the universe, including man. The universe is filled with spiritual ideas which He evolves, and they are obedient to the Mind that makes them.’ And there is no other Mind.”
Walter: Yeah, the oneness of Mind—there is no other Mind—is exactly right. When one really holds to the knowledge, as we learn in Christian Science, that God can be known as divine Mind, the source of all ideas, that God is divine Love, the source of all loving thought—that is really a very helpful thing to pray, because so often, the thought is that would try to gain our attention, Golly, there are so many minds, or, there’s one mind that’s just invariably pitted against another.
I remember one person that I was praying with used to call on a daily basis saying, “Well, this is what mortal mind is trying to tell me today, the carnal mind.” That was his humorous way of saying that perhaps there’s more that we can do to affirm the nature of divine Mind, and that we’re not at the mercy of many minds. So that’s a wonderful thought, and just a wonderful prayer.
spirituality.com host: From RB in Indiana, “Can we, and should we, pray for world leaders? Is it right for us to do this? How best can we do this?”
Walter: Well, it’s something that Mary Baker Eddy did and encouraged others to do. So often thought is drawn into kind of thinking about our opinions concerning world leaders, or sometimes we seem to focus on what appear to be frailties of even the most caring leaders around the world. And yet from my sense, if we’re praying about a person who has been put in authority, then we’re striving to see, Where does that authority come from? Power is in God, and ideas come from God, and therefore, the leader can hear God’s direction, can hear the ideas that are helpful, that can produce a greater sense of help and usefulness around the nation.
There definitely is a sense of what I would say is impersonally praying, as opposed to, perhaps, praying specifically for that individual. There are lots of situations where one might, in an emergency, in situations where there is a shooting of a president—and there have been a number of those situations—where people are just drawn to pray for the individual in an emergency.
And yet when one is praying about leadership, one is praying to know that the qualities that God gives, the moral qualities, the qualities that come out of the spiritual nature of all life, are within being, and that everyone possesses what God gives. And it can be within the thought, because of the oneness of Mind, as the previous speaker mentioned. It is within everyone from the president or prime minister of a country to people that are just going about their everyday lives in the financial district, in the home. Those qualities can be affirmed, and we can rally thought to know that those qualities are what are compelling, what are present, in the leadership of countries as well as in the body public.
spirituality.com host: That is just a wonderful answer. And we are almost at the end of our time. But I thought we might try to do two last questions. This one is a hard one, but it seemed like it would be fair to ask it. It’s from Madison, Ohio. “Wouldn’t some people just say you’re in denial of evil? How can you say that everything is so positive, when, as you’ve said, all the evidence in the news seems to say the opposite?”
Walter: I guess that’s where one goes to individual situations and experiences in one’s life. We certainly don’t want to be just taking a very glib sense, Everything’s going to be okay. It’s not just positive thinking. It is seeing in just the smaller things of everyday experience how one can feel a greater sense of God governing, of God being in control. And then working with that concept, so that we can see the genuineness in other situations. The last thing we want to do is just close our eyes to evil and just say, Well, instead of that, we’re just going to say that something else is going on.
But if one has seen the outcome of God’s protection in everyday life, then one is used to turning in that direction. I have tended to feel and say to others sometimes when they ask can we trust in prayer, “Well, this is what my experience has been. I’ve been able to rely upon it. It’s my first line of defense. And also I’ve found that it’s been helpful in praying with other people, not just myself—with my family, with those who have called for help.”
So when one has a track record of experience that points so compellingly and so genuinely to God being an ever-present help, from God being a shield and buckler, then you build on that. And before long, you can feel a sense of confidence that as other things that the world might say feel bigger, that feel more menacing, that this presence of God is a very real presence, and can bring release and freedom and help in every situation.
spirituality.com host: That’s a hard question, and I really appreciate your answer.
Walter: I appreciate it being asked, because we certainly don’t want to just ignore evil. We want to be conscious, though, of good, right where the evil seems to be real.
spirituality.com host: Yes. And then this last one is … I think we’ll need to interpret it a little bit. It’s from Mexico. And he says, “Do you think it’s possible or feasible for a nation such as the US to interact with other nations in a manner in keeping with the teachings of Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy, that is, to turn the other cheek, to do unto others, etc.?” And in a way, you answered that when you were talking about each of us building one on one, each person taking that step one on one.
Walter: Yes. That’s right. And this is looking at a nation in relationship to other nations. And you know, oftentimes, there is a need for humility, for a conscious sense of forgiveness, for the qualities that Jesus speaks about in the Sermon on the Mount. That’s a sermon that can be so helpful, because it points us to loving what appear to be enemies. It is really talking about love as being a powerful thing that can turn our thought away from anger, and other kinds of reaction. So it’s certainly a starting point to begin with those qualities. And there’s no reason why individuals or nations have to be in discord or in positions of not being able to get along, if you see a oneness of all of God’s children who are conscious of one Father-Mother God.
spirituality.com host: Well, this has just been a wonderful hour, Walter, and I’m so grateful you came. Do you have any final comments you’d like to make to summarize your thoughts?
Walter: I think that what I’d like to leave the listeners with is that we can respond in thought to the situations that try to come to us as we’re monitoring news situations. And that as we do this, as we were saying a little bit ago, as we practice being prayerful about what we hear, as opposed to wanting to gossip about it, some of the situations or feeling overwhelmed—if we’re prayerful, then that can still our thought. That can start by overcoming fear, and then we can begin to be conscious and ever more conscious of what spirituality would be suggesting, what the nature of God would be pointing out to us. And so we can be at peace as we are monitoring what comes to us.
So monitoring the news is a wonderful activity. You might say, it gives us daily employment. But don’t be overwhelmed, because God is present now, and you can draw on God’s power, God’s presence, with ideas that can bring a sense of hope. And then you can live those ideas and be a part of a solution and healing in this world.
spirituality.com host: Thank you so much.
And thank you all for joining us, for your prayers, and for asking your good questions.
Citations used in this chat
Science and Health
King James Bible