Hope … In Action

While hope, by itself, may be a prerequisite to enacting change, hope, by itself, lacks the action required to make that change happen. Dr. Jane Goodall, whose message of hope rings clearly from her books and her presentations, exacts action to make that hope a reality.

Her Roots & Shoots nonprofit organization invites young people to examine the world around them and to “Join Jane” in their efforts to create the world they envision. As she says, “You have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Founded in 1991, Dr. Goodall’s Roots & Shoots is a youth service program for young people of all ages. “Our mission,” its website says, “is to foster respect and compassion for all living things, to promote understanding of all cultures and beliefs, and to inspire each individual to take action to make the world a better place for people, other animals and the environment.”

The list of topic areas that young people can explore encompass the biggest challenges our world faces today:

1. Climate Change and Habitat Destruction
2. Industrial Agriculture and Extractive Industries
3. Invasive Species and Biodiversity Loss
4. Migratory Species and Pollinators
5. Peace and Conflict
6. Refugees and Displaced Humans
7. Wildlife Trafficking, Poaching, Pet and Bushmeat Trade

Young people can join a project already underway, or they can propose a new one based on their own passion. Along the way, the youth learn leadership skills, find out how to assemble their own team, offer suggestions that might not find an audience elsewhere. All options are on the table.

To learn more or to see if there’s a project that speaks to your passion, visit www.rootsandshoots.org.

— More information about Dr. Goodall’s message of hope and about Roots & Shoots is included in the November issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine.

A Prayer for Our Nation

On October 4, Imam Abdullah Antepli delivered the following opening prayer at the U.S. House of Representatives:

The Holy One,

As your creation, we call you by different names, experience you through multiple paths. Our human diversity is from you. As the creator of all, you made us different. Enable us to understand, appreciate and celebrate our differences. Teach and guide us to turn these differences into opportunities, richness and strength. Prevent us from turning them into sources of division, polarization, hate and bigotry.

The Most Merciful One,

This incredibly diverse nation of ours is one of the most successful attempts to understand your wisdom in creating us different. We are far from being perfect but came a long way in creating a multi-cultural, multi-religious and pluralistic society by making in America: “You will be judged by what you do, not by who you are” as one of our foundational promises.

The Most Compassionate One,

Help us to preserve our achievements in this regard. Do not let the destructive forces of division and exclusion erode our ideals, our firm commitment to diversity and pluralism. Empower us and these legislators to further improve the culture of inclusion and welcome to all in our nation and beyond.

The Most Forgiving One,

Even if and when we forget you, please do not forget us.

In your most holy and beautiful names we pray, Amen.

Honoring Our Veterans

“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” — Douglas MacArthur

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice between Germany and the Allied nations came into effect. In 1919, U.S. President Wilson proclaimed the day should be “filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory.”

Marked with parades and church services, Veterans Day offers us an opportunity to honor and thank all military personnel who served the United States in all wars. The classic remembrance is a period of silence lasting two minutes at 11 a.m.

Are there veterans in your own family? Among your friends? What are their stories? How will you honor them this year?

And to each of our military personnel, we offer our deepest gratitude for your service and your sacrifice to our nation.

What We Draw To Us

— Dr. Ernest S. Holmes

How simply Jesus tells us that whatever we need we shall receive, if we believe that we have it! Is it so hard, then, for us to believe that the divine gift is forever made? Prayer is a sincere desire of the intellect to enter into conscious union with the Divine Presence and to receive direct from it every good thing that makes life worthwhile.

My prayer today is one of affirmation. It incorporates a complete acceptance of the Divine beneficence and the eternal givingness of the Spirit. Today I lift high my cup of acceptance, knowing that the universal Horn of Plenty fills it to overflowing. This shall include everything I need, whether it be health, happiness or wisdom. Today my mind is open and my consciousness receives the Kingdom into itself.

“Every business, every place, every person, every thing has a certain mental atmosphere of its own. This atmosphere decides what is to be drawn to it.” — “The Science of Mind,” p. 296

— This text appears as the entry for November 8, entitled “Attraction,” in “365 Science of Mind: A Year of Daily Wisdom from Ernest Holmes.”