Verified by 
Cross-Cultural Psychology
What People Magazine, Bob Dylan, and Healing Have in Common
Help comes to us in many ways, from many places. Sometimes we just have to look.
Posted March 31, 2020
I don't know much, but I do know this: If you're looking for God, you'll find Him. Not that God is like some missing sock in the electric dryer of life. God, after all, is Life. He's much bigger and more dependable than a sock. And God shows up, as it were, in the strangest places sometimes. I should know.
Once I found Him in a copy of People magazine.
Maybe I should explain.
I'd been in this really crummy relationship and was desperately trying to pray my way out of it. But in spite of my efforts, I felt like I was stuck in romantic fly paper, unable and, frankly, unwilling to break free.
Then one day, flipping through a copy of People magazine while waiting for a haircut (beauty salons so rarely have copies of Emily Dickinson poetry—now why is that?), I found a statement by Norman Mailer, of all people. He was commenting on his twenty-fifth Harvard reunion, but it was as if he were speaking directly to me: "Nothing is more devastating to the human spirit than a chronic, ambivalent relationship that keeps one forever from saying goodbye."
Wow, did that make my hair stand on end. (Good thing I was due for shampoo and trim.) I read what he said, several times, and in an instant I knew I was healed. It wasn't that his idea was so revolutionary, but Mailer's words reminded me of something I had learned as a student of Christian Science: That I really had only one relationship—with God. That our one Divine relationship is the basis for all our human relationships—it doesn't exclude them, it grounds them. And my relationship with God wasn't the least bit ambivalent.
As simple as that, the spell was broken. Thank you, God. And I guess I have to add, thank you, Norman Mailer. Never in my life did I imagine I'd utter those four words together. But hey, we're all the children of God, right? Right?
Then there was the time I suddenly felt afraid and lightheaded, right in the middle of a church service, of all places. I needed comfort and healing, and so I prayed.
What came to thought? A psalm? A hymn? Noooo, a line from a Bob Dylan song covered by The Byrds. Yep, The Byrds. In the midst of my panic I thought of this refrain: "You ain't goin' nowhere." Which made me laugh (OK, chuckle—after all I was in church); which made me feel less afraid; which made me feel less afraid; which made me feel better and ... what can I say?
Healed by The Byrds and Bob Dylan. That's God for you. He's everywhere all the time, being His sweet omnipotent Self.
(Actually in hindsight, knowing what I know now not only of Dylan's forays into Judaism and Christianity, but also Roger McGuinn's sincere born again convictions, it really does make sense that this song would help me out.)
Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, said it well: "God's law is in three words, 'I am All;' and this perfect law is ever present to rebuke any claim of another law" (No and Yes, p. 30).
It's been said—a few million times I suppose—that God works in mysterious ways. What that means to me is He works with what He's got on hand. Like when Jesus turned to God to feed the multitudes with the loaves and fishes. Was there something inherently special about bread and flounder? I don't think so. Jesus made do with what was available. It could have been pancakes and bananas—anything that met the need.
Now, popular culture is not really my thing. For starters, it's way too big. I like little movies, small novels, cozy restaurants, and quiet concerts in tiny halls. But I truly believe that when it comes to pop culture, God's got the upper hand. It doesn't get in God's way. It shouldn't get in God's way. It shouldn't get in ours. The only thing wrong with pop culture is it's so darn popular—and popularity is a skewed ruler at best. It doesn't measure up in the long run. We shouldn't look to popular culture for answers to anything, except perhaps The New York Times crossword puzzle. But we also shouldn't be surprised if our answers to life's deeper questions sometimes come wrapped in the guise of popular culture.
Admittedly, I prefer finding my answers in the Bible. But God finds us where we are, in a laundry room, in a Christian Science Reading Room, in any room, as long as we are making room in our hearts and lives for Him (and even when we're not. See Saul, I mean Paul.)
If we're seekers, then by definition we're finders. Help is always on the way. And I don't mean The Beatles movie. Well, I don't just mean The Beatles movie.
(adapted from an article published in the January 29, 2001 issue of The Christian Science Sentinel)
