Images of Thought

 

Art by Oleg Shuplyak

There’s a video of a woman sitting at a table. She is asked to hold her right arm out, resting it from elbow to hand on the table surface. They erect a barrier so she cannot see her hand, and then they place a rubber hand and arm in front of her, which she can see, with the elbow ending at her body. Then the person sitting on the other side of the table uses a soft paint brush to stroke both her hand and the rubber hand. The woman admitted feeling a little odd, because she was beginning to experience sensation in the rubber hand. When the person moved the brush to the rubber thumb, stroking it but not her actual hand, she jerked back because the feeling was so strange. Then the man across the table pulled out a hammer and hit the rubber hand. You can imagine how the woman reacted! This demonstrated how, in a matter of two minutes or less, a rubber hand became a human hand in the mind of this woman. This is, in essence, what we've done with everything around us. Belief becomes our reality -- and very quickly! So today I will practice moving away from beliefs and opening my mind to the reality of 4th-dimensional thought!

"Mortals evolve images of thought." "Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it with all material conceptions."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 86:13 and 86:29:1

“It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not recognize them as nothing. You think you think them, and so you think you see them. This is how your ‘seeing’ was made. This is the function you have given your body’s eyes. It is not seeing. It is image making. It takes the place of seeing, replacing vision with illusions.” 
—A Course in Miracles W-15.1:1-7

Breaking the Chain of Darkness

Created by Deborah Martin

For a Facebook Post 

Have you ever caught yourself saying or doing something which surprised you? — and not in a good way! Recently I did just that. While chastising someone for their actions, suddenly I realized that while pointing a finger, three were pointing back at me. It’s something to know, intellectually, that what bothers us about “other people” is what bothers us about our own selves. But when the emotional, spiritual implications of that action suddenly hits you in the head (so to speak), it’s a different feeling entirely. It’s an opening of the heart and a humble asking for divine guidance on how to think about the situation. And, of course, that guidance came through quickly and thoroughly. The following ACIM quote is what found its way to me. The whole section will be pondered soon. Namaste, my friends …

“The guilty always condemn, and having done so they will still condemn, linking the future to the past as is the ego’s law. Fidelity to this law lets no light in, for it demands fidelity to darkness and forbids awakening. The ego’s laws are strict, and breaches are severely punished. Therefore give no obedience to its laws, for they are laws of punishment. And those who follow them believe that they are guilty, and so they must condemn. Between the future and the past the laws of God must intervene, if you would free yourself. Atonement stands between them, like a lamp shining so brightly that the chain of darkness in which you bound yourself will disappear.”
—A Course in Miracles T-13.IX.1:1-8

“Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for the immortal. Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 296:4-9

No Neutral Thoughts

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

Every thought is important: it gives rise to perception, and it either extends truth or multiplies illusion. A well-known story, which you may have heard, illustrates this. A grandfather is talking to his grandson about anger. He tells him that we all have a peaceful wolf and an angry wolf living inside us, and the one that grows is the one we feed. While I find this to be an exemplary tale illustrating a truth of this material existence, it does nothing to speak to the metaphysical truth we are learning: There is no angry wolf. As A Course in Miracles workbook lesson #16 states, "you can multiply nothing but you can't extend it". Our thoughts which feed an angry wolf have no power as they're feeding something which does not exist. We are learning that erroneous thoughts can seem real and may even seem to grow, but that's impossible because Truth trumps error every time.

“Besides your recognizing that thoughts are never idle, salvation requires that you also recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war; either love or fear. A neutral result is impossible because a neutral thought is impossible. There is such a temptation to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant, trivial and not worth bothering about that it is essential you recognize them all as equally destructive, but equally unreal. We will practice this idea in many forms before you really understand it.”
—A Course in Miracles - W-16.3:1-4

"Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body. It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought." 

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 114:23-27

Awakening Intuitive Faculties

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

I belong to a Facebook group called “ACIM Meets Christian Science & Infinite Way”. There are many spiritual messages they post which bring about good discussions and deep thoughts. Today’s posting from Jill brought the realization that structured study is required. I am grateful for this reminder!

“GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR SPIRITUAL STUDIES.

“Quotes from Yogananda's: Talks and Collective Essays.
“The awakening of one's intuitive faculties is necessary to fully grasp and absorb spiritual teachings. The best time for spiritual study is after practicing meditation, when one is calm and therefore more intuitively receptive. A restless mind or a highly intellectual mind, cannot absorb truth. All truth must be assimilated, not just kept on the intellectual plane.

“Before you begin to read, choose a quiet restful place. The ability to pay reverent attention to what you are reading, makes you more receptive to the truths in each sentence. The capacity to calmly focus your attention, is an aspect of concentration that will also help you to progress.

“Read every word carefully and inwardly digest the message. Do not allow yourself to be distracted. Permit each thought to filter through your mind. In this way you will absorb the knowledge in the text more thoroughly.

“Keep the body and the mind motionless. Now absorb everything I say unto your soul, and absorb deeply the spirit behind my words.

’Thy Self-realization shall blossom forth from thy soulful study.’” 

—Yogananda 

“This is a course in mind training. All learning involves attention and study at some level. Some of the later parts of the course rest too heavily on these earlier sections not to require their careful study. You will also need them for preparation. Without this, you may become much too fearful of what is to come to make constructive use of it. However, as you study these earlier sections, you will begin to see some of the implications that will be amplified later on.”
—A Course in Miracles T-1.VII.4:1-6

“Observation, invention, study, and original thought are expansive and should promote the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 195: 19-22

The Immortal Truth Of All Things

The admission to ourselves that everything we see is colored by belief and judgment is a large realization indeed! Being aware of this is an important step in clearing the way for spiritual sense to be recognized. Sometimes, standing up to illusion and stating metaphysical truth seems necessary. During a recent conversation, a woman was telling us that she couldn’t get over how nice everyone was here. She had moved here from Washington D.C., and said she kept expecting a variety of horrible things to happen (which she listed with rising fervor). I told her she could allow herself to change her thoughts about this, as odds are they won’t happen. She adamantly told me that people were horrible everywhere, and they would not change. Not having a desire to get into that with her I simply said, "The change I'm talking about happens within YOU. That's the only place it can occur; you can't change anyone else." She stopped and looked thoughtful. Although I left at that point, a seed was planted. I imagine her being happy in our sweet little town!

"To corporeal sense, the sun appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand still; but astronomical science contradicts this, and explains the solar system as working on a different plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to Science, to the immortal truth of all things."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 493:2-8

“Like every lesson that the Holy Spirit requests you learn, the miracle is clear. It demonstrates what He would have you learn, and shows you its effects are what you want. In His forgiving dreams are the effects of yours undone, and hated enemies perceived as friends with merciful intent. Their enmity is seen as causeless now, because they did not make it. And you can accept the role of maker of their hate, because you see that it has no effects. Now are you freed from this much of the dream; the world is neutral, and the bodies that still seem to move about as separate things need not be feared.”
—A Course in Miracles T-28.II.10:1-6

We Need Not Be Part Of The Problem

Image of Unknown Origin 

Someone asked how she can be compassionate if she doesn’t accept the reality of someone’s pain or loss. This is a very good question! A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #18 tells us that our minds are joined by way of divine Mind. So we can give people comfort without accepting, within our thoughts, that they have experienced a horrid event which is to be feared, or a sad event which will take time to release, or that changes are to be avoided. Crying with friends, holding their hand and offering comforting words, helping them to find joy again — these are ways we can show compassion. We help those in need, without becoming part of the problem. Nor do we make light of the situation. Never think that these teachings are meant to make us an automaton, which unfeelingly goes forward in some sort of metaphysical trance. We are all individuals with a purpose! Let’s not fear living life to the fullest!

“If I have no private thoughts, I cannot see a private world. Even the mad idea of separation had to be shared before it could form the basis of the world I see. Yet that sharing was a sharing of nothing. I can also call upon my real thoughts, which share everything with everyone. As my thoughts of separation call to the separation thoughts of others, so my real thoughts awaken the real thoughts in them. And the world my real thoughts show me will dawn on their sight as well as mine.”
—A Course in Miracles W-54.3:2-7

“There can be but one Mind, because there is but one God; and if mortals claimed no other Mind and accepted no other, sin would be unknown. We can have but one Mind, if that one is infinite. We bury the sense of infinitude, when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a place in this infinity, for evil can have no place, where all space is filled with God.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 469 17-24

Generic Man

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

A friend on the west coast wrote a note in return, shortly after reading last night’s daily message on connectivity. She is glad to have been introduced to the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, but wondered why her sentence structure couldn’t be more inclusive. The quote which caused her to comment was this: “Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established.” I fully understand her chagrin, as certain words and terms have “set my teeth on edge” from numerous spiritual writings. After pondering alternative wording the past few hours, I honestly cannot think of anything that sounds as beautifully inclusive. If we are truly all One, (as we are trying to understand)any different wording would cause even more division among humankind. Perhaps it’s the years of studying to give up belief, but I truly think of “mankind” as a generic term, along with the word “man”. In order to include all so-called races and genders, some changes in thinking are needed. And let it begin with me …

“Here are we one, looking with perfect gentleness upon each other and on ourselves. Here all thoughts of any separation between us become impossible. You who were a prisoner in separation are now made free in Paradise. And here would I unite with you, my friend, my brother and my Self.”
—A Course in Miracles T-20.III.10:4-7

“Masculine, feminine, and neuter genders are human concepts. In one of the ancient languages the word for man is used also as the synonym of mind. This definition has been weakened by anthropomorphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word anthropomorphic, in such a phrase as ‘an anthropomorphic God,’ is derived from two Greek words, signifying man and form, and may be defined as a mortally mental attempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The life-giving quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth. The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In divine Science, we have not as much authority for considering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 516:29-14