I HAD A SUGGESTION....

                             I Hear You Knockin!  (Click for Audio)

“You went away and left long time ago
Now your knocking on my door
I hear you knocking
But you can't come in
I hear you knocking
Go back where you been”

The words of that old song by Dave Edmunds kept going through my mind as I watched still

another pharmaceutical commercial during the evening news television broadcast recently. Commercial after commercial… offering up an array of frightening symptoms of one physical malady after another, each message planting seeds of doubt and worry to the receptive and unsuspecting thought.
I have seen and experienced the effect of some of these messages… “Do I have those symptoms, could that be what I have? I think I may have those symptoms, that horrible condition!”

Oh, the power of Suggestion!!! Suggestion is probably appearing in a venue near you… TODAY… TONIGHT… TOMORROW!!! See if you can identify and unmask him!!

Targeting a marketing pitch to a receptive client is very important in marketing and sales.  The motto seems to be to “Plant the Seed of Need! Then provide a solution or fix!” In other words… SUGGEST!!!

We should pity the physician who has to eventually answer to the fears and concerns resulting from the suggestive messages and eventually calm and overcome the patients’ concerns.

Pharmaceutical commercials are just one type of aggressive "suggestion" that we face from the media every day. Not all are fear based.  Some are enticements. Images of new

flashy cars, beautiful luxurious homes, scenes played out of beautiful men and women finding the good life in often far fetched circumstances, the allure of wealth and happiness based on material “things”, planting the seeds of discontent with our sometimes humble lives.

While many of these enticements are innocent enough, they often influence us to do what is not in our best interests, such as an enticing ice cream commercial often gets my interest and suddenly I need an ice cream “fix”!!

As a guy who really doesn’t NEED any more ice cream and has felt the influence of all of the above "suggestions", that old song, “I Hear You Knockin’ But you Can’t Come In” has relevance. Those lyrics magically appearing in my thought at some of the most tempting moments have saved me, helped me to close the door on intrusive thoughts and brought me back to more rational thinking,  guarding my thought.                 

 When I was a young boy, a well-known hypnotist came to town and put on a show. This “mesmerizer” was very convincing as he went through his act, choosing one person after another from the audience. These folks, ordinary Main Street moms and dads, middle America Ohioans, arrived with innocent and open minds, eager to see what was coming next. There was no defense for them, as they were subject to every suggestion that the hypnotist made. 

One older lady who was told that she was very thirsty immediately began showing signs of light distress and drank several glasses of water while we watched, fascinated. When the hypnotist woke her up she had no idea of what she had done.

Another volunteer selected was a very distinguished looking, middle-aged man, bald and rather rotund. The

suggestion was made to him that he was a chicken and he immediately he began running around the stage clucking, waving his arms as though they were wings.  It was  a really good chicken imitation which I am sure he could never have imagined he would ever be doing in front of an audience.

From that very moment, even as a young boy, I knew that I never wanted to be put to sleep by suggestion in that way, nor be fooled into believing something that was not true. AND, most "suggestions" don’t come as easily identifiable as does a tuxedoed Hypnotist!! They come subtly as our own thoughts!!

Mesmerism, or hypnotism involves the mesmerizer making suggestions and his clients becoming absolutely mesmerized by him, convincing enough for them to act out the role that has been suggested.

Abbé Faria was one of the disciples of Franz Anton Mesmer, an early experimenter in what was called “animal magnetism” in the late 1700s. Faria continued with Mesmer’s work and conducted experiments to prove that “no special force was necessary for the production of the mesmeric phenomena such as the trance, but that the determining cause lay within the subject himself;” In other words, that it worked purely by the power of suggestion.

Certainly we need no hypnotist to be affected.  We are bombarded by hypnotic suggestions every day, sometimes every moment.

Pioneer in Christian Healing, Mary Baker Eddy, in her Book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, realizing that disease is fear made manifest on the body, wrote:

 “Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously. When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forgetting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance.”( 1 

The Bible describes  “planting suggestions” in a parable  about a farmer who planted good wheat seed but an enemy came along and planted tares, or bad seed,

among the wheat. To me this parable typifies the bad “suggestions” being planted in our thought to battle the good seeds in our thought. Some Bible scholars agree that in the story in Matthew 13, the enemy who planted the seed was actually the farmer himself, unwittingly letting the evil, the temptation, the bad seed take root.

These downward pulling hypnotic “suggestions” aren’t a new thing! Jesus was tempted by that “knocking at the door” after some long period of meditation and prayer, alone on a mountain when intrusive thoughts identified as “Satan” suggested that Jesus could turn rocks into bread, throw himself off of a mountain, even be King of the Jews. Jesus, realizing that Life is Spiritual,  quickly identified the thoughts as evil "suggestions", and "Satan" disappeared.

Recently. I went through a rather lengthy siege of attacks from "suggestions". It seemed like one thing after another came to me and as soon as I prayed and overcame one thing another, even more serious,  hit me. There seemed to be no consistency, rhyme or reason in the attacks. The problems ranged from not being able to form sentences, not able to voice the words that were in my thought,  to instability in standing and walking, back pain, loss of vision, extreme anxiety, and so on and so on.

Letting down my guard,  my reactions ranged from fear of the symptoms, to the thought that I was passing on, to mental confusion and looking for a cause on one side… to laughing out loud when I realized (as one who has practiced Christian Science healing for many ailments and life problems for fifty years),  how utterly ridiculous the whole scene was. These material suggestions were so exaggerated,  I was acting like a tennis player running around the court hitting back the ball… backhanded, forehanded, in bounds and out of bounds!!! 

Then I remembered Mary Baker Eddy's clear direction in times of distress:  "Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man." (2.

Apparently I was believing the "suggestions".  It became clear that the more I looked at myself, my body, my personal situation for health and happiness while suffering from a deep sense of loneliness after the recent loss of my spouse, the more problems I would find.

Then, after a short while of listening for God's guidance, that old song,  a reminder to "stand porter at the door of thought"  came to me once again and I sang out loud… "I hear you knockin’, but you can’t come in”.  Remembering that we are here to reflect God's infinite goodness and Love replaced the fear and negated the suggestion.   And “the devil”, identified, disappeared.”

Whatever your religious or moral beliefs and convictions, we can all be alert to these "suggestions" and consider where they are coming from. Understanding that the only real, true, inspired and eternal Truths are from our Father, we regain our sense of  health and happiness.     Keep Singing!!!!!

(1.   Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures... Mary Baker Eddy   page 392

(2.    IBID  393

PURSUING OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

The news report showing a picture of a well-known CEO who left a major company some weeks ago said that he “resigned to pursue other opportunities”.    Sometimes these articles say “She left to spend more time with her family” or “He left due to ill health.”  For those of us who have been there, we know that he was probably terminated. 

I know so well the feeling of “pursuing other opportunities”, the standard phraseology for “we dumped him”!! I have been in the same wing-tip shoes, not as a top-level CEO but just as a person who was trying to do a good job but, through political circumstances, found that I was being separated from the company.

I didn’t leave my job to pursue “other opportunities” or any of the above “make everyone feel good” reasons. I was 

T E R M I N A T E D!!!!!!

The position I had held was a responsible one, managing a large operation, multiple million-dollar projects, pressure, deadlines, long hours. To an observer it appeared that I held a very good position, but in all honesty, I was not enjoying it. 

 

As I passed by a local country club golf course each morning on the way to the office, workers were mowing the grass, tending the fairways and the greens, and my thoughts turned to how fortunate they were, how I would love to have a job that was well-defined, that had less pressure, that was something I would really enjoy. But nonetheless like so many others, feeling chained to a position, I dutifully drove on to the office and faced the task each day. 

The job loss was a shock, of course, but after a

short period of feeling 

sorry for myself, blaming the company, my manager, bristling with all of the self 

justification arguments that people conjure up, I finally woke up. This was getting me nowhere.

From that moment I knew that whatever else I did, my new and most important job was being the full-time representative of my Father, God, who “owns the company” so to speak. In the end, I report only  to Him, and it is a lifetime, an eternal position!! I saw that my job had resulted in my neglecting the most important thing, listening to God, I had fallen behind in staying in tune with my spiritual heritage.  I quickly saw that this termination was really a blessing, a reminder that the important thing is to listen.

So, I got up every morning, put on my suit and tie, prepared for work expectantly, since someone might want me to start immediately!  Then, each morning, I asked God to lead me, to point me in the direction that I should walk that day. A Bible companion book I rely on, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures has this assurance: Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds.*   I have found that prayer is actually a process of listening, not telling. God, the spiritual source of our being, has ALREADY supplied us with all good, and prayer, when we LISTEN, brings us into harmony with what God has ALREADY done, FULL EMPLOYMENT! 

Those thoughts that just seem to pop up in thought have an actual intelligent source, divine Mind, God. Jesus pointed out a practical fact about existence and employment when he said:

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” **  THAT was my inspiration. By virtue of my “being” I was taken care of by the Father.

I did make phone calls and sent out resumes, but not with the feeling of desperation or discouragement, even after some weeks, but patiently seeking the right path. I prayed to know that my true employment was in reflecting Godlike qualities no matter what other human activities were required;  that sometimes obstacles lie in our path but that they are opportunities to overcome and to grow.   Moses had to go through the Red Sea as part of his search for a homeland; David had to go fight a giant named Goliath; Daniel’s work was interrupted when he was sent to the lions den. I too had my task, why should I complain? 

Many people go from job to job over the years thinking of  their life of work as a "sentence”,  as punishment!! 

Breaking out of the rut, enables many to finally realize that life does not have to be years of a “nose to a grindstone” experience, but can provide opportunities to be inspired and to inspire others, to be fulfilled and to fulfill the dreams of others, to give of our very best talents. We find avenues to share undiscovered talents and abilities, hidden for years beneath the layers of convention, of “fitting in’, following the expected, sometimes the mundane and often the boring existence laid upon us.

Looking back over their careers, people of all walks of life have found that their most precious memories are not of business or professional success, wealth earned, status gained, but fond memories of people who have helped and been helped along the way, treasured moments of friendship and comradeship, cherished instances of comforting someone, or being comforted during troubled times.

How do we do that? By realizing that whatever our daily work includes, our real and eternal employment is serving as proof of God’s presence, the outcome and reflection of God, just as rays of the sun serve to convey the Sun’s qualities to earth. The Sun’s rays do not get up every morning and wonder what their job is, or if they will lose their job!! Their job is to shine, to reflect the qualities of their creator, the Sun, they are there to warm the earth, to feed the crops and animals and all life with sunlight. And our task is to shine as rays of love and comfort to the world.   Continuous employment!!

           

With this new inspiration, I let go of the worry, the “what will other people think” thoughts, the disappointment in self, the questioning of why and, with joy, pursued "Other Opportunities!"

God had a plan and a path and it unfolded to me in tangible ways. I was led to form a business with my next-door neighbor and this led to eventual employment by a major corporation in the same industry.

When we are employed by God, when we see our life not as a daily drudge, carrying out human activity to earn a paycheck, nor walking towards old age, but see our role as individuals who are living to reflect goodness, mercy, tenderness, selflessness, lending a hand to those in need, our employment is full-time and overflowing.   In that same textbook, Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy observes: To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings"!!! ***

God is looking for applicants. No experience necessary.

*      Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures - Mary Baker Eddy

**    The Bible  Matthew 6:28

***  Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures - Mary Baker Eddy