Jews and Christian Science

I think I was a Christian Scientist even before I ever heard of the actual denomination. As a kid, I knew that I could influence "reality" by how I thought/prayed about it.

I practice Christian Science in my daily life. I don't say that I'm great at it; in fact, sometimes I fall far short of the ideal. Often, even. But sometimes I have a mental breakthrough and pray rightly, and healing results in me or someone else.

I'm not gonna try to explain CS here but to tell a brief story that I just read in an e-mail from a friend. It was a testimony recently in the Mother Church in Boston, by a respected member of the CS community:

"I spoke for a few hours last week with a Jewish Rabbi. He told of coming from Israel a couple years ago to see his father here in the US because the doctors said a disease had progressed to the point his dad had only days to live. After visiting with his dad the Rabbi took a walk to clear his thought and he walked by a CS Reading Room. He walked in and had a discussion with the attendant.

"This happened a couple of days in a row and to make a long story short, his dad was healed in those few days. It caused quite a commotion with the doctors and the family.

"The Rabbi is now quietly sharing this revelation he has found in [the book] Science and Health with friends and acquaintances in Israel, feeling CS is the answer for him and his country. A Jewish Rabbi can discover and demonstrate this revelation so decisively in today's world. To him it's a simple matter, spelled out on pages 360-361 of Science and Health, where the book talks of the Jew and Christian finding common ground in divine revelation."

I know some Jews will brush off this story as propaganda from the Jews for Jesus folks. However, I know the man who told the story and trust him. 

Druthers

On the whole, I think this afternoon, I may prefer to be a woman.

Unencumbered by male vanity and arrogance, impossible dreams and missions.

The females I see and read are, on the whole, superior to the males. 

Better authors, for one thing; more readable, more humane, more sensitive and peace-loving.

Women seem to contain this giant unspeakable...SECRET that their quiet subtle smiles leak.

Unknowable by a male such as myself, I can only look at their physical attributes and lust for what is contained within.

Sobbing quietly, I withdraw into myself and find....

DROOD, mystery of

DROOD, a recent novel of immense size by Dan Simmons, purports to tell the story of the relationship between Charles Dickens and fellow author Wilkie Collins (THE MOONSTONE, WOMAN IN WHITE, etc.). Told through Collins' narration, it reveals some biographical details of Dickens (he walked fast, about 4 mph, on daily strolls of 10-20 miles), was somewhat vain, etc. But about Collins the book is savage: according to this, Collins, an opium and morphine addict, hated just about everyone and loved nobody--except, perhaps, Dickens...with whom he had a serious case of competitive envy and ended up plotting to kill Dickens...and did, in an opium dream.

Which reveals the most serious flaw in the book: we cannot believe much of what Collins tells us. In fact, it seems that Dickens had mesmerized Collins (aided by the daily doses of opium) into believing in the existence of a supernatural creature named Drood.

Drood and Collins introduce us to many scenes of horror: rotting corpses, hideous murders, scary things in the dark, etc. But none or all of it may be real. 

I couldn't read the whole book: I read the first 150 pages, then skipped and rambled through the rest until reading the last part, where Collins dies in a horror-filled dream.

Pfui.

Peace I ask of thee, O river

Penny was feeling sad this morning, overcome by too many responsibilities, until she remembered a song she learned at Girl Scout camp in the Fifties. She started to sing it and I started to tear-up. We don't know the source of the song but here are the words and one among many URLs:

http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/songbook/songs6/S6_21.htm

Peace I ask of thee, O river, peace, peace, peace.

When I learn to live serenely, cares will cease.

From the hills I gather courage, vision of the day to be,

Strength to lead and faith to follow, all are given unto me.

Peace I ask of thee, O river, peace, peace, peace.

The Dibble and Me

Saturday morning we went to the beach road between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. Many volunteers gathered there to plant beach grass. The beach grass was in clumps as provided from a nursery and it had to be separated and one stalk dropped into a hole punched in the sand.

Punching holes in the sand was the job for Guys like me carrying Dibbles. A dibble is a shovel-sized pole--on its end a fork consisting of two tines, 12 inches apart. I moved along, punching two holes at a time, while my wife and another lady followed and planted beach grass. 

After a couple hours we decided to leave because so many other volunteers showed up. It was a great day to be out working.

What I didn't realize until I got home was how tired I was. It continued this morning, when after church I went to help clean a park of dead sticks. I was able to work for only an hour. Pooped. 

I have to admire all the volunteers on Martha's Vineyard. Intelligent hard-working people. We're happy to be among them.

Who Am I?

Which comic kid best represents the Me of Me?

Charlie Brown or Calvin.

(Both comics are expired, now, but I'm not.) Now approaching the Golden Years, I still contain within myself the young boy I was and am.

A younger friend, Christina Bone, 

seems to be going through a crisis of Selfhood on her Facebook page, and I can only assure her that as far as my experience is authentic, the doubt persists and we may as well enjoy and comment on the adventure. 

So... Calvin? 

or Charlie Brown? (In previous panels he confessed his most secret desire to Lucy, who swore not to laugh: which was for everyone to call him "Flash"...)

I'm in the Comics!

See me in action at

http://tinyurl.com/aq91dt

MY NEW WEBSITE!

At last, after almost a year of hesitation, doubt, whimperings, I've put up a website that contains some funny stuff AND a free download of my novel about Hitler. 

Yes, Adolf Hitler, der fuehrer, der head of the Third Reich. Hitler is dead and my novel purports to explain how he died. Or, Who Killed Adolf HItler? Four kids, using Invisibility Bubblegum and a Lucky Indian Head Penny. 

No more info here, you gotta read it. I think it's fun and interesting. If you think so, please let me know. If you don't think so, I'd appreciate hearing that from you too. But be gentle, please.

Yes, just go to: 

http://web.mac.com/donhinkle/Penny_Crusade-Kill_Hitler/Adolf_Hitler_the_Anti-Hero.html

 or, the shorter version: http://tinyurl.com/3tzap7.

And I'll do the same for you someday.

warning: there's a graphic novel called I Killed Hitler, by a Norwegian artist named Jason. It's interesting too. And gets many more hits on Google than I do.

If you have a website, please consider putting a link to mine because that helps influence Google.

"No Doubt" It's a Lie

My wife used the expression "No doubt" in a statement to me a short while ago.

It's one of the few times when I didn't get a feeling of irritation at the words.

Most of the time, when I read the phrase, it's in a context that I know consciously and unconsciously is false--a deliberate lie.

It's used in politics often to seek to force a response in the reader. 

If the statement is true, there's no reason to use the words "no doubt".

Check it out.

Watching TV

In our home we needed internet service so we booked with Verizon, which also offers Direct TV service and we took that offer too. It included 3 months free of some channels that only show movies. 

Result: I've spent more time in past 8 weeks watching more television than ever before, even when I was depressed. I just turn it on and click until I find a movie that looks fun. I have seen some interesting ones that I never would otherwise see.

But my wife dug out an old poster I drew years ago when our 2 girls came home from school and embedded themselves in front of the TV set. She fastened it to the front of our screen, for me.

Great New Dog!

Here's our great new ex-Seeing Eye shepherd, named River. He's posing beside our stuffed shepherd "Buddy". 

Now we can say of our home, "A River runs through it."

He's very patient and understanding, and a fresh coating of his fur is everywhere in the home.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Silence Becomes Me

I've been writing "stuff"--stories, reportage, etc.--ever since I could spell, but in the past year or so I've been silenced. Our dear "keeper" Shepherd, Prudence, passed on in Feb. 2007 and I'm thinking perhaps that was the silencer put on my loud mouth. 

But yesterday a phone call from The Seeing Eye told us we could adopt a 5-yr-old Shepherd; it took us maybe half an hour to decide YES, and next week we drive down to NJ to claim him. 

As he helps us recover from our caninical loss, perhaps I'll recover my literary voice.

We shall see.

THE SEA IS A HARSH MISTRESS

The previous entry explained how I went scalloping with Bob Huss. I should have mentioned that each edible scallop is a finger-nail sized blob perhaps one-eighth inch thick. And how rich they are: eating a small portion of a morning's catch, fried in butter, was equivalent in latent energy to a buffalo steak.

This morning, which happens to be my birthdate anniversary, I retrieved a phone call from Bob Huss (after a great breakfast at The Black Dog) inviting me to join him and two other friends-- the noted how-to author Lynn Herrick and Steve Wilkerson, both initiates to the fine art.

On my wife's wise advice I dressed warmly: silk underwear, lined pants, warm shirtings, and a full rain suit, PLUS heavy rubber boots. 

We met at Bob's boat and after a few minutes, the engine cranked, we cast off mooring lines and were at sea in the bracing morning breeze at about 40 deg. F, and without shock absorbers, so that each time the boat hit the trough between two waves we felt it.

In about 15 minutes, we entered the lagoon, which is separated from Vineyard Haven hahbah by a draw bridge. Quieter waters and shallower. A few commercial scallopers were at work, so Bob guided our craft to an empty section of the lagoon and we cast off the heavy metal draggers. 

Results were disappointing, however, as we mostly got empty scallop shells. The crabs and starfish had been as busy as crows in a cornfield. We got some, though. Then the boat's engine shut itself off. Bob attempted restarts unsuccessfully. 

We were adrift. Fortunately the breeze blew us close to shore. There was a small sandy shelf. The boat entered two feet of water but wouldn't go closer, though Bob wanted her beached. Lynn was in the bow, but only wore sneakers, so I leaped gracefully up on the rail, dangled a leg and let most of my body follow. 

My left boot was in the water but my right foot was stuck on the rail.

Bob said, "Put both feet over, Don."

I said, "I understand the theory but the practice eludes me."

Steve reacted quickly, grabbed the foot and lifted it over the rail...at which point I dropped.

As I fell backwards all of 3 feet into the water below, I screamed "CALYPSO!!" in homage to the final Pirates of the Caribbean movie. 

"Are you okay?" Lynn asked.

"I'm fine, but soaked," I replied. Indeed I felt water inside all my clothing and my boots.

But I lurched to my feet and helped pull the boat onto the sandy shelf.

Shortly after that, Bob managed to restart the engine. They conveyed me to a boat dock near the drawbridge, and I squished along the dock and awaited my wife to come pick me up. Fortunately the water against my skin and inside the clothes acted like an insulator and kept me from freezing

After a hot shower and fresh clothes I felt invigorated by my Adventure at Sea and am ready for more. Next time, I'd like to stay dry. 

Old Man and the Sea

Yes, I've officially become a member of the hallowed fraternity of Scallopers.

Today, an Island friend took me on his small boat and we hunted bay scallops.

Yes, I wore special underwear as well as a fleece vest and my Black Dog cap. The temperature of outside air was moderate, but on the sea as we boated to Vineyard Haven Lagoon, it sank. Chilly. 

After arriving, my friend (Bob Huss) showed me what to do. He had two very heavy Draggers--heavy metal chains forming a basket, hooked to a heavy metal hook. Connected to the boat by long strong ropes. 

We threw the Draggers o'erboard and Bob advanced the boat a hundred yards or so, with the Draggers dragging on the bottom. Then he paused the boat and we hand-over-handed the ropes (like ringing a church bell) until the Draggers--even heavier now with content--were aboard. Then we dumped the contents and searched for Scallops.

We found many crabs, which eat the Scallops, and lots of other thingies from the bottom as well as seaweed aplenty. The catches were scarce on scallops so we had to do it about a dozen times. By that time, my arms were so weak I couldn't lift the Dragger to the boat without Bob's help. Finally we had about a bushel and headed for port.

Then Bob showed me how to shell the scallops. A bit like cutting oysters, using a similar knife. I wonder what the early Americans used since they lacked metal knives. Special stone tools?

The photo shows me with my portion of the catch, which was liberal since Bob easily shucked 4 times what I did. I plan to cook them with butter...

and they are delicious!

Real Magic

My hypothesis is: that books about magic are really about, in a broad sense, religion and about God or divine powers. Magic is a metaphor for spiritual power.

For example: in the book of Exodus, Moses confronts Egypt's Pharoah and does a trick that divine inspiration told him to do. Pharoah calls his court magicians and orders them to duplicate it. They do, but Moses trumps their tricks. Moses proceeds to do more "magic" that just dumfounds the Egyptians.

In more modern times, magicians often try to duplicate religious magic: for instance, turning water into wine was one that Christ Jesus did originally. Tricks of levitation were probably demonstrations again from the Bible of Jesus ascending. I think that these and other magics were part of theatrical presentations about the gospels.

In the super-popular Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings books, magic is a power that can be used for good or evil--like the "Force" in the Star Wars movies and as most religions hold, the eternal battle between God and the Devil. 

We all possess some "magical" or God-derived powers. Use them well.