This has been an interesting fall in homeschooling. First, I want to share a quick update~ We’ve been doing exercises to make learning disabilities fall away, which is simply amazing. Over the past several weeks I’ve watched my daughter “wake up”, and as I gradually increase the difficulty, her brain zeroes in to the task at hand with increasing accuracy and speed. If I had a whole extra life, I think I’d go into studying the brain because this is simply fascinating. You can see her hit a spot she doesn’t get, and then back up and work it through. She grows still, her face intent, her eyes narrow. She offers an answer, a false start in one direction and then in the other, each try closer to the correct answer, and then bang! She’s got it. SO COOL! and then I get to watch her navigate her world that much more effectively, solving other types of problems by herself! I cannot describe my joy in watching her self-confidence grow. My thanks again to Barbara Arrowsmith for writing her book.
Part of the process is learning to make sense of symbols, so we’ve been re-reading the parables of Jesus. (Interestingly, we are also reading Emerson for our literature book and I’m surprised to find how much they dovetail.)
This leads me to the things I’ve been pondering and what I wanted to write about. I think the conversation about truth begins with a look within one’s heart, and “listening” to what bubbles up to the surface. The best writing, music, and art, I believe, happens when an authentic truth has been tapped into. All the fancy brushstrokes in the world won’t elevate an image that isn’t inspired by something larger than the artist. It is as though the person dives into the world of Spirit and finds a revelation, a bit of the puzzle, as it were. On returning to the surface, pen or paintbrush is taken up first to explain what was found to oneself, and then to share with others. Since we are all given our unique pieces of the puzzle, only when we all share can we put it together and have the truth begin to emerge. I imagine that this is the work of ages, and each of us is contributing what it is given us to contribute.
I hear a disturbing amount of divisiveness these days in our country… I think it is really important for us to listen carefully both to each other and to our own hearts and be careful in deciding what is true. How does it go? “…One nation, indivisible….”
