This is the fourth in a series of blogs on warmth and sincerity:
This is where we connect dots between definite experiences of warmth and sincerity. We take it a step at a time. Every single step with warmth and sincerity.
I want to tell you about my cousin, Darry. He is an artist and lives further upstate.
Darry and his wife recently returned home after living in Israel for four years.
The country Israel is an ancient enclave for not only cultural and religious diversity, but also for conflict and harshness.
Even interfaith relationships are like fresh eggs in a basket, high in nutrients, yet fragile and easily broken.
Darry told me that Israel “Does feel like a different world in some ways. The Israelites are dealing with centuries of distrust, and generation after generation of retaliations.”
Darry is a Christian. When in Israel, he worked a few days at a local school, with a Jewish lady and an Arab woman.
I know, this sounds like a bad joke in the making, but it’s not. This group became friends, or as Darry said, “We were friendly toward one another. But we subconsciously played down the friendliness, and hoped nothing would ruin it.”
You see, the Jewish woman’s nephew had been killed in a hostility against Muslims. Trying to escape that which contradicts friendliness, the Jewish and Arab women came together in a conversation with the idea of having Darry draw a portrait of the nephew.
Due to language barriers, this conversation required translation.
The Arab woman spoke enough English to explain to Darry, that the two women had pooled together 400 shekels to pay him to draw the portrait.
Darry would never have taken money from the women for such a project, but in all sincerity, he explained that his style of art would not be appropriate for a portrait.
Just as human beings have differing lifestyles and religions, we also have differing styles of art.
But, styles aren’t the issue. They don’t influence warmth and sincerity. It’s the other way around.
Warmth and sincerity influence our styles and traditions. They influence our actions and communications, which it what happened in my cousin’s situation.
The Arab translated tactfully to the Jewish woman what Darry had said. Warmth and sincerity prevailed all around. But even better, a respect grew, between them.
They began eating lunch together, asking one another questions, getting to know one another and themselves better. Darry said it all reminded him of what he heard his mom say; there is no separation in divine Mind.
Divine Mind is another word for the unified force, or God.
I’ll read from my latest book, from science and religion to God, a briefer narrative of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health. “Connectivity exists in divine Mind.”
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