GREAT MORNING BELOVED!
“The Wizard of Oz – Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.”

We start this weeks’ Lesson with a question: when the Wizard gives the Tin Man a heart-shaped watch on a chain (in the movie, not the book…the book it was a satin shaped heart), he tells the Tin Man; “a heart is judged not by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”
What does that mean? Do you agree?

Does it mean someone like Mother Theresa, who was always doing good didn’t really have a heart? What about the egotist who gives to charity only to have a building named after him? Is his heart big or small?

Is public opinion the judge for heart size? Because the people of Emerald City love the Wizard, is his heart bigger than the Tin Man’s who is loved by Dorothy, the Scare Crow and the Lion?

Here’s the real question: is the heart judged by how deeply you are loved by others? Or is the depth of your love the true measure of a heart?

How deeply you are loved by others reveals the depth and sincerity of your love for them.

No one loves the Wicked Witch because she has no love for anyone. She didn’t even morn her sister.

The Wizard is loved by the people of Emerald City, as long as he protects them. The Wizard’s love for the people is not genuine; it’s conditional. Only if he can remain in power. And he’ll ‘love’ Dorothy and her crew only if they can bring the Wicked Witches broomstick to him.

So, he has a heart only by virtue of the fact that he is loved by others.

How much you are loved by others is equal to how deeply you love.

If your love for others is selfless, you are much more deeply loved than a person whose love is selfish and motivated by greed.

Having a heart requires more than compassion. It is necessary to serve others with unselfish love.

Dorothy and the Scare Crow meet a Tin Woodman, who was once an ordinary being of flesh in love with a beautiful Munchkin maiden. Unfortunately, however, he was under a spell cast by the wicked Witch, so he kept chopping off parts of himself and being repaired by a tinsmith until he became the first fully bionic man, with a completely mechanical body. In the process, he lost his heart and thus is no longer able to love the Munchkin maiden; now he wants a heart so he can love again

When Dorothy and the Scare Crow find the Tin Man and get him oiled and moving again, he tells them to bang on his chest…it’s hollow!

A suggestion that many people never seek or heed their inner essence and consequently fail to grasp their true potential. WE here at Unity believe and strongly suggest that it is our own responsibility to work toward re-membering who and what we truly are…connected to Source, to the Divine Mind that we call God, Spirit, even Universe.

The Tin Man longs to be ‘tender,’ ‘gentle.’…”I could be kind-a-human, if I only had a heart”

He puts out the fire the Wicked Witch throws at the Scare Crow and then vows to help get Dorothy to the Wizard whether he gets a heart or not.

So, his altruism is already showing he has an enormous heart. He is showing if you want to be blessed with a heart, you must give with your heart.

“Give and you will receive.”

Helping others get what they want is the easiest way to get what you want.

“When you give from your heart, sympathetically, unconditionally, without expecting anything in return, you receive happiness in abundance.”

Love is a life force that must continue circulating; keep the energy flowing. Keep love in perpetual motion.

And our intention is vitally important. There must not be an ulterior motive. We cannot try to manipulate anyone or create indebtedness.

Only create happiness. The most precious gifts you can give are spiritual gifts: compassion, sympathy, affection, appreciation, and love.

Love, as we know, can hurt too. The heart can be broken, especially when you see someone you love being hurt.

The Tin Man cries when his friends fall for the poppy fields sleep effect. And again, when he sees where Dorothy is being held prisoner, the dark and terrible witch’s castle. And of course, then he rusts and must be oiled again.
Being overly sensitive, attached, can be paralyzing.

Love must be allowed to flow to empower you to serve others. Allowing love to bottle up, to become stagnant, interrupts the energy flow of the universe.

How can that happen? when we’re indulging in personal interests at the expense of ‘others’ … we realize that we’re sacrificing kindness to others (being a victimizer) or ourselves (being a martyr or victim); we need the oil of shared interests to loosen up our rigid thinking and find the real heart-felt comfort that transcends ego’s artificial comfort zones.

The Tin Man doesn’t realize how he gives so selfishly and instinctively. He touches the lives of nearly everyone he meets with genuine generosity and loving kindness.

Do you know anyone like that?

And that is what having a heart is all about the Wizard tells him as he is handed his ‘heart’.

As Dorothy prepares to leave, the Tin Man realize he will no longer be able to receive the joy of giving love to her.

He laments, “Now I know I have a heart because it’s breaking.”

How much you are loved by others is determined by how much you love.

Simply, ‘what goes around, comes around.’