Unspeakable Peace

Commaraderie at Book Club

“Maybe we will drown or burn or starve one day, but until then we get to choose if we’ll add to that destruction or if we will care for each other.” This is a quote from the book, Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy. Tonight was my favorite night of the month: book club meeting! The weather was a perfect 70-degrees for dining outside and visiting with dear friends. When there is turmoil at every turn in this world we have made, the oasis we find with friends and loved ones is rejuvenating. The opening quote is much like the teachings of  A Course in Miracles: everything is a choice between fear or love — and if you don’t like your choice, choose again! Happy Autumn everyone …

“Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and only this, that we may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing pain with joy, or fear with love.”

—A Course in Miracles W-339.1:9

“Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.”

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264: 24-27

A New and Glorified Trust

Art by Elena Wuest

I heard myself say to someone, "We could all choose to have animosity toward our parents, either actual or imagined." But now that I think about it, isn't all animosity imagined? We like to think that some outside influence has forced us to feel hurt or angry, but is that true? Aren't we just setting ourselves up as a victim to say that someone else "made us angry"? After all, I don't have to react with a specified emotion; I can choose to see any given situation as a calm witness, rather than as an upset personality, can't I? It's tempting to say things such as: He/she pushes my buttons. By blaming outside influences for our actions, we can pretend we're victims of life's circumstances. We're so accustomed to looking for help outside of ourselves that we also blame outside influences for our reactions, thinking we have no choice. Truth shows us that we are more than we believe we are. We aren't mortal victims, but spiritual beings with unrealized abilities and power. It's time to wake up!

“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 299:7-11

“Suffering is an emphasis upon all that the world has done to injure you. Here is the world’s demented version of salvation clearly shown. Like to a dream of punishment, in which the dreamer is unconscious of what brought on the attack against himself, he sees himself attacked unjustly and by something not himself. He is the victim of this ‘something else,’ a thing outside himself, for which he has no reason to be held responsible. He must be innocent because he knows not what he does, but what is done to him. Yet is his own attack upon himself apparent still, for it is he who bears the suffering. And he cannot escape because its source is seen outside himself.”
—A Course in Miracles T-27.VII.1:1-7

Undisciplined? Or Remembering My Purpose …

Looking back over the last six decades of my life, there were many times of major confusion, and even more instances of minor tailspins. In retrospect, these were nothing more than times when I forgot to listen for omnipresent guidance. My purpose is unfolding every moment, and all I need to do is show up and be willing -- willing to be open-hearted, open-minded -- with no expectations of how things should be. It's tempting to think of this as undisciplined, and others may be critical of this attitude. I can attest to the fact that wandering around in college for five years perfectly prepared me for freelance court reporting. And thirty years of taking down and transcribing depositions was an incredible education, which paved the way for running an art gallery for ten years. All those things brought me to where I am today, and none of it could have been planned. Today, I think of this as listening and following. Back then, I didn't think of it at all…

“Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:18-21

“Let me remember what my purpose is. If I forget my goal I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus conflicted in my actions. No one can serve contradicting goals and serve them well. Nor can he function without deep distress and great depression. Let us therefore be determined to remember what we want today, that we may unify our thoughts and actions meaningfully, and achieve only what God would have us do this day.
—A Course in Miracles W-257.1:1–2

Doing The Most We Can

Enhanced photo by Aaron Springston

I love to sit on my back deck, where nothing exists other than the forest and sky, with the insects and birds talking to me. My gratitude for this peace is all-encompassing. Of course, we are conditioned to feel guilty when we are happy in spite of other people’s misery and fear, so the thought crossed my mind that I should feel bad for others. But this was quickly corrected, because I know that no matter how awful I feel about the plight of another, it will do nothing to improve their lot. This does not mean that I have no compassion for them, but that I correct the picture of despair in my thoughts and see them according to the first book of Genesis rather than the second: God created everything and it was good. That is the spiritual reality of Life. So rather than dwelling on images burned into my retina by my knowledge of world events, I translate them into the purity of creation in its natural state: Love. The compassion I feel for all of the earth is not dimmed by my turning away from the material picture; rather it expands to include everything in the panoply of this Love This is the least I can do for my earthly family — or perhaps it’s the most.

“The notion of a material universe is utterly opposed to the theory of man as evolved from Mind. Such fundamental errors send falsity into all human doctrines and conclusions, and do not accord infinity to Deity. Error tills the whole ground in this material theory, which is entirely a false view, destructive to existence and happiness.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 545:1-5

“Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.”
—A Course in Miracles W-23.1:4-5

Trusting Your News Source

When the leader of a country repeatedly tells his constituents that the news outlets they are trusting are not trustworthy, a number of things happen. Some people throw up their hands and believe nothing can be trusted, which leads to a fear of our government officials, the election process, and ultimately any agency in charge of helping us. Many of us have been checking the veracity of what we are being told, but it is a laborious, time-consuming effort. And not everyone has the computer skills necessary to unravel the web of deceit which has been purposefully woven. Most of us have news sources which we trust, but how do we know if they are truly trustworthy? Even if they are accurate, some news is often not reported and the information may be an important foundational element of the “whole story”. With all this in mind, I have downloaded the app for Ground News. Within this source is all the news, with a gauge of how much coverage is being given by left/center/right sources, and the ability to click and receive a synopsis or a link to each and every story listed. There are typically 20-30 source stories for each headline and synopsis, which can be accessed if you so desire. This is a huge time saver and gives us the ability to stay informed and retain our sanity. Finally some good news!

“To my sense, the most imminent dangers confronting the coming century are: the robbing of people of life and liberty under the warrant of the Scriptures; the claims of politics and of human power, industrial slavery, and insufficient freedom of honest competition; and ritual, creed, and trusts in place of the Golden Rule, ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.’”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings Page 266:1-9

“If data are meaningless there is no point in analyzing them. The function of truth is to collect information that is true. Any way you handle error results in nothing. The more complicated the results become the harder it may be to recognize their nothingness, but it is not necessary to examine all possible outcomes to which premises give rise in order to judge them truly.”

—A Course in Miracles T-8.VIII.6:5-9

Clearing Out Clutter

Photo courtesy of Kailey Jones

Most people seem to be getting rid of things they don’t need. We’re letting go of items which are cluttering up our houses and material surroundings. More importantly, we're clearing out thoughts and beliefs which no longer are needed in our new-found perception of reality. As with our surroundings, we look through the accumulation of years and decide what to release and what to keep. Sometimes we keep more than we had planned, but with our mental clutter, there is very little which needs to stay. Just as we accumulate more and more books and music and all sorts of things, we also accumulate erroneous beliefs. Isn't it just as easy to hold on to Truth as it is error? Now is the time to do just that!

“Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 227:24-29

“… no form of exercise is urged, except a deep relinquishment of everything that clutters up the mind, and makes it deaf to reason, sanity and simple truth.”
—A Course in Miracles W-rVI.in.3:8

Together

William Blake said: "I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine Love". I understand this to mean that the perfection we are learning to see as ourselves, also is everyone else. I often tell people “We’re all in this together”, but I think I’ll change it to “We are all this – together!” I love the study of the Science of Being! Every day, every moment, revelations in thought bring me a deeper understanding of how this Truth sets us free. I am learning more of what it means that God is Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. It's joyous to expand understanding, including myself in that definition, as a reflection of All that Is!

“So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances are no more contingent now on time or material structure than they were when ‘the morning stars sang together.’ Mind made the ‘plant of the field before it was in the earth.’ The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind’s creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness — yea, the divine nature — appear in man and the universe never to disappear.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 509:20-28

“We who are one would recognize this day the truth about ourselves. We would come home, and rest in unity. For there is peace, and nowhere else can peace be sought and found.”
—A Course in Miracles W-262.2:3