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I
woke up this morning with the sun out shining in
I found my mind in a brown paper bag but then
I tripped on a cloud and fell eight miles high
I tore my mind on a jagged sky
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed in
I watched myself crawling out now, as I came crawling in
I got up so tight I couldn't unwind
I saw so much, I broke my mind
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
Somebody painted April fool in big black letters on a dead end sign
I had my foot on the gas as I left the road and blew out my mind
Eight miles out of Memphis and I got no spare
Eight miles straight up downtown somewhere
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
Lyrics from: Nick Cave & The Badseeds - I Just Dropped In (To
See What Condition My Condition Was In)
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If you are old enough to remember these lyrics, then you have
probably experienced situations and conditions in Life that troubled
your mind. We are in the age where "mind-altering" drugs
are advertised and used in greater measure than ever before in history.
The lyrics of the song above "appear" to be written from an
"altered state" but of course, I don't know that for sure.
Drug use in the 60s was much publicized by the media and even became
part of the films and music that we watched and listened to. Many
used "illegal" drugs for the experience of it ... to get
"high" ... to transcend the conditions in their world.
Here we are in 2004, and many
people turn to "drugs" both prescription and otherwise, in
order to "ease" their minds ... to lessen the tension and
anxiety that they are experiencing. Prozac has become a household
word as has the names of many similar drugs. These drugs are not
taken to get "high" ... for the experience, but to cope with
life. As with so many things that people turn to for relief or to
create more "ease" in their life, these drugs are limited in
their effects ... because the "cause" is not physical ... it
is spiritual.
Many people would never
consider the idea that the "cause" of everything that we
experience is "spiritual" ... and that in Truth ... every dis-cord
... every dis-ease of the mind ... is related to the Spirit ... not the
physical. Too many of us automatically think that the
"cure" can be affected with a pill ... a drug. And no I
am not saying that we must cease to use drugs ... what I am saying is
that we must "work" to be healed. And healing is the
business of God ... not doctors or the pharmaceutical companies.
If we have a headache ... take an aspirin ... but if we want to avoid
future headaches ... turn to God. God Is Love ... Love heals and
nothing else can ... never could and never will ... God and God alone Is
the healing Power and Presence that we must incorporate into our daily
living in order to eliminate discord and dis-ease from our lives.
Many studies have been done
regarding the benefits of prayer and meditation and the results have all
confirmed that both are necessary to our mental and physical health.
If we do not stay "prayed-up" to use a vintage term ... we are
subject to continuing physical and mental problems. Prayer and
meditation remove us from the conditions of the world ... and the
problems in our lives ... and brings us into the realm of spiritual
wholeness ... but ... there is work to be done because for most of us it
takes effort to begin a consistent daily spiritual practice. As a
minister, I come across people every day who have not prayed or
practiced any form of meditation ... and each of them have issues in
their lives that are problematic or discordant. And even when I
suggest that they begin a spiritual practice of sitting in the Silence
10-15 minutes each day ... they don't do it ... they want a "quick
fix." Just like the people who continue to take the pills or
the drugs. Why? Because we have been so brainwashed by the
medical and pharmaceutical industries that we have forgotten the healing
Power of God. To many people testimonials of healing are just
coincidences ... or they believe that it only happens for a few people.
And then there are those who just truly do not have any real faith in
the healing Power of God.
In Religious Science, unlike
Christian Science, we believe that God works through all channels to
heal; drugs, doctors, psychologists, etc. ... but just because we get
"relief" from these things does not mean that they are to be a
permanent part of our lives ... or that we can always depend on them
when we have reoccurrences of the same problems. We cannot make
gods of drugs, doctors etc. ... "I, I Am the Lord, thou shalt have
no gods but me." In other words ... God, Infinite Presence
... is where we will find our healing ... our permanent healing.
As we begin a daily spiritual practice ... and stay with it .. we too,
will be able to look back at the conditions in our lives and realize
that all we ever needed was God ... Infinite Presence ... Infinite Love
.... no matter what condition our condition was in.
And
So It Is!
Maximum Love,
Rev.
Hank Bates
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