Back in the early 80’s, when I was teaching Sunday School during the Halloween season for the Honolulu church, the movie “Friday the 13th” had just been released and was quite popular. Many of the children in my class had seen it, and I was shocked their parents had let them. I asked them “Weren’t you scared?” and they said “Yes! It was so much fun!”
Years later I heard a talk given by Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones, in which he shared an airplane experience. They were going through terrible turbulence, and many people had gotten sick, and even more were afraid the plane was going to crash. Dr. Dennis was beginning to be afraid as well, when suddenly a small child’s voice came through the screaming. Every time there was a big rough patch the child yelled “Whee!” as if it was enjoying a carnival ride!
During the Halloween season all the ghosts, goblins and scary monsters come walking down our streets, or through our offices. I’ve always been the one with the princess gown – even as an adult I dress as a high priestess or something pretty and peaceful.
If we think about it, whether we’re pretty or pretty scary, we ‘dress up’ all the time. We cover our fears and our perceived limitations. We become something else because we don’t think we’re enough or think the world is out to get us. We want deep inner peace but we’re afraid to do the work to get there.
What if we approached our fears as little children – what if we looked at them not as something insurmountable and scary – but something that’s fun!
Ernest Holmes, founder of our faith tradition and author of many books including The Science of Mind writes: “Peace comes from the absence of fear, from a consciousness of trust, from a deep, underlying faith in the absolute goodness and mercy, the final integrity of the universe in which we live, and of every cause to which we give our thought, our time and our attention.”
I believe the children I mentioned above hadn’t had any world experiences to make them afraid. They still trusted their universe. They knew nothing could hurt them. We can get back to that consciousness. The Master Teacher Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” He could have been talking about our inner child. By wearing our costumes to cover up fear, we’ve been hindering ourselves from living in peace.
It’s time – instead of feeling we’re being tricked by the world, let’s have a treat – an absence of fear, a consciousness of trust, and a deep, underlying faith in the absolute goodness and integrity of the universe in which we live.
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