Inward Listening

Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

It appears that many people want others to tell them what to do. We seem to flock to those who are willing (even eager) to guide us through the maze of life. Perhaps the reason is, if we’re doing what someone else tells us, then we can blame them if it doesn’t work out! I’m only partly joking about that. Sometimes we fear making decisions for ourselves because we don’t think we are informed enough to do so. At that point, we either throw up our hands and don’t do anything, or ask someone else what they’re going to do, so we can do the same. Perhaps we don’t trust our own inner guidance, because we have so often mistaken our busy little mind for the calm voice of divine Mind. We are told in Workbook Lesson #49 of A Course in Miracles: “God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.” Let’s not expect a big, booming human voice to come down from above, but a still, small certainty in the deepness of ourselves, leading us to the expression of Life, Truth, and Love!

“It is quite possible to listen to God’s Voice all through the day without interrupting your regular activities in any way. The part of your mind in which truth abides is in constant communication with God, whether you are aware of it or not. It is the other part of your mind that functions in the world and obeys the world’s laws. It is this part that is constantly distracted, disorganized and highly uncertain.”
—A Course in Miracles W-49.1:1-4

"Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout creation, and the immortality of man and the universe."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 507:24-28

Reinterpreting Material Vision

Not a real photo

“Gut feelings" are often discounted as being invalid, for numerous reasons. Some say they are simply paranoid thoughts, others may think of them as wishful thinking, but few think of them as divine vision. In this familiar world of ours, we must reinterpret everything we see. Looking at our surroundings with human eyes, hearing with mortal ears, brings to us a false projection of reality. Discord and inharmony are but misinterpretations we are perceiving. Through right identification and reinterpretation, we see with a pure vision. As an example, when we see train tracks coming together in the distance, we immediately reinterpret that into the truth of the situation. We know that those tracks aren't coming together, and that it will not be dangerous to travel on the train which carries us toward that end. We have been taught to translate many similar situations, and we do not fear them. The metaphysical studies we've embarked upon are doing the same thing: teaching us to recognize misidentification and translate it into Truth. Translating our erroneous thoughts is a present possibility!

“As you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourself and others, you must join the great crusade to correct it; listen to my voice, learn to undo error and act to correct it. The power to work miracles belongs to you. I will provide the opportunities to do them, but you must be ready and willing.”
—A Course in Miracles T-1.III.1:6-8

“The material senses and human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic God, instead of infinite Principle, — in other words, divine Love, — is the father of the rain, ‘who hath begotten the drops of dew,’ who bringeth ‘forth Mazzaroth in his season,’ and guideth ‘Arcturus with his sons.’”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 257: 15-21

We Are More

Art by Jane Newland

 “Don't abandon yourself. Not when you're sick. Not when you're tired. Not when you've lost the thread, the thought, or the thing you thought defined you. 

You will die many times in one life and create yourself anew. This is natural. This is a gift. I've died a few times now here in this world. The person I was: gone. 

Throw that older skin into the water. Give it to the sky. Step into what wants to emerge now. Nothing can hold you back when you are willing to be yourself.”

Jeannette Enchinias

"[We are] more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God."

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 258:9-12

“Perception is not an attribute of God. His is the realm of knowledge. Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge. Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind. With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge. That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it. Therefore, that is its function in truth.”

—A Course in Miracles W-43.1:1-7

The Appropriate Non-Response

Once at a party, someone leaned in close to me and said something derogatory about another person. Remembering Olympia Dukakis in Steel Magnolias when she said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say about anybody, come and sit by me”, I wanted to say just the opposite and ask this person to go away! But I also wanted to see her comments through the light of Love and interpret them purely, rather than through my personal judgment of the words. So I just smiled at her. Wondering how to respond to her, I reached out to Holy Spirit, but nothing came to thought. Rather than nervously babbling something meaningless, or condemning her as I am wont to do, I remained silent. This experience helped me understand that a response is not always necessary. Seeing them in the light of Love seemed more appropriate than condemning them. And it felt good, too. 

“The manifestation of God through mortals is as light passing through the windowpane. The light and the glass never mingle, but as matter, the glass is less opaque than the walls. The mortal mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that one which has lost much materiality — much error — in order to become a better transparency for Truth. Then, like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides the sun.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 295:16-24

“In order to see, you must recognize that light is within, not without. You do not see outside yourself, nor is the equipment for seeing outside you. An essential part of this equipment is the light that makes seeing possible. It is with you always, making vision possible in every circumstance.”
—A Course in Miracles W-44.2:

A Revolution of Truth

In a world where we are being fed lies, it’s extremely difficult to figure out what is truth. Media spreads deception and distrust, dividing people in ways which seem irreparable. Bias doesn’t frighten me, but intentional lies do. Many of us remember the early days of television, bringing with it a new type of advertising, and consumerism became flagrant. It has reached an apex now, in which nearly everything we hear and see is designed to sell us something. We must continue to be vigilant in what we allow into our thoughts, not only for our own good, but for the collective. Repeating stories which create divisions through feelings of superiority or inferiority, that’s playing the game which has been created for us. It’s important to use our education, our intuition, our spiritual knowledge, every bit of common sense we still have, to discern truth. A Christian Science treatment is often referred to as “knowing the Truth”. It is in reference to knowing the Truth of our being, not the beliefs we’ve come to think of as facts. We need not be the victim of propaganda or other forms of hypnosis. “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach me”. This statement from Mary Baker Eddy is all we need to keep in mind. When we are filled with Love, there is no room for anything else.

"The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. ... It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 128

“In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved. In conflict there can be no answer and no resolution, for its purpose is to make no resolution possible, and to ensure no answer will be plain. A problem set in conflict has no answer, for it is seen in different ways. And what would be an answer from one point of view is not an answer in another light. You are in conflict. Thus it must be clear you cannot answer anything at all, for conflict has no limited effects. Yet if God gave an answer there must be a way in which your problems are resolved, for what He wills already has been done.”
—A Course in Miracles T-27.IV.1:1-7

Swaddled By Love

It seems as though things that we fear all have to do with lack and separation. Fear stems from the idea that we can be separated from joy and love, from peace and security. I remember when my son left home for a boarding school at the tender age of fourteen. I was so sad, it felt as though I'd never laugh again. I literally couldn't imagine happiness, as everything reminded me he was gone. After a week or so of living in this maudlin state, the realization came that I was thinking of him as though he was dead. This led me to examine that avenue. What if he was dead? Wouldn't the love we felt still be alive? Of course, I would miss being around him, enjoying his company -- just as I was missing him then, with 300 miles of physical separation. A Rumi quote helped break this illusion: "Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. For those who love with heart and soul there is no separation." What is it which allows us to be together no matter where we seem to be? Love. The Love which is our essence is a connection that cannot be broken by any set of material circumstance. Feeling the security of divine Love is similar to a baby swaddled in a blanket. Divine Love swaddles us in Its ever-present protection.

“Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
—A Course in Miracles T-in.2:2-4

"The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.' Here is a definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 410:17-21

Reversing Our Feeble Flutterings

Upon awakening, I had about 20 inane and/or insane thoughts before realizing what I was doing. "What day is this and where am I supposed to be?", was quickly followed by a chain of remembrances which took me from a lovely cooking store to my childhood home, then zoomed over to a friend's house and a remembered conversation, before zipping back to a neglected household chore. This illustrates why it is so important to guide first-thoughts of the day to paths centered in Spirit. Without this discipline, I could spend all my time with meaningless thoughts, which create turmoil rather than peace within. I have discovered that guiding first thoughts to spiritual truth helps to keep my mind in tune for the rest of the day. Often we feel bombarded by feelings of fear and hostility, lack and disease, error and disharmony. What if our thoughts of peace and harmony could quiet the turmoil of the world? Then we would happily expend the effort to pull our thoughts away from inanity, holding steadfastly to the ideas of divine Mind!  Everything we think or speak or do is shared. How important then to see the reality of it all, rather than the beliefs we are taught by the repetition of them. Join me in taking a stand for Truth, and experience the transformational power!

“I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. This is not vision. It is merely an illusion of reality, because my judgments have been made quite apart from reality. I am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because I want to see. My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to them.”
—A Course in Miracles W-51.2:2-6

“We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God’s creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings — our efforts to find life and truth in matter — and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 262:9-16