I Am Determined to See

Creation of Sandy Wythawai Starbird

Looking back on the past five or six decades, it’s hard to understand the extremes I have gone to in order to NOT see the truth of my being. We, as humans, clutter ourselves with any number of trivial pursuits in order to keep from acknowledging and seeing this Truth. We may occupy our time with busy-ness in order to keep it from sneaking in. There was a time in my life when I was a semi-hermit. I read five or six books a week, but nothing of import; lots of horror stories and historical romances. Time spent with others was in a bar, talking about politics, gossip, and other mind-numbing topics. I went to extremes to keep from thinking about the reality of my being. We may use television, the internet, anything that will totally occupy our minds to keep from seeing past the illusions. What is it which we refuse to see? I think it’s the essence of what I Am, the meaning of Life, and our function as the expression of divine Love. There are many ways to define this sight, but only one way to see. We must have the desire to want sight and the willingness to let illusions disappear. "I am determined to see!" (ACIM)

“The question, 'What is Truth', convulses the world. Many are ready to meet this inquiry with the assurance which comes of understanding; but more are blinded by their old illusions, and try to 'give it pause'. The efforts of error to answer this question by some ology are vain. Spiritual rationality and free thought accompany approaching Science, and cannot be put down. They will emancipate humanity, and supplant unscientific means and so-called laws.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 223:14-24

“It is surely clear that you can both accept into your mind what is not there, and deny what is. Yet the function God Himself gave your mind through His you may deny, but you cannot prevent. It is the logical outcome of what you are. The ability to see a logical outcome depends on the willingness to see it, but its truth has nothing to do with your willingness. Truth is God’s Will. Share His Will and you share what He knows. Deny His Will as yours, and you are denying His Kingdom and yours.”
—A Course in Miracles T-7.X.2:1-7

A Different Kind of Vision

Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.”
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“The world you see must be denied, for sight of it is costing you a different kind of vision. You cannot see both worlds, for each of them involves a different kind of seeing, and depends on what you cherish. The sight of one is possible because you have denied the other. Both are not true, yet either one will seem as real to you as the amount to which you hold it dear. And yet their power is not the same, because their real attraction to you is unequal.”
—A Course in Miracles T-13.VII.2:1-5

"Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a diviner sense, harmony is the real and discord the unreal. We may well be astonished at sin, sickness, death. We may well be perplexed at human fear; and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions of evil. But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 563:1-7

Saved By Love

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

While working as a free-lance court reporter for more than three decades, I often witnessed people's desire for an eye-for-an-eye vengeance. I've also seen that when they get whatever form of retribution they seek, they feel no better about the situation. Why is vengeance considered to be a good thing in our society? It seems to me it should be one of Dante's deadly sins, something we would want to negate, or at the very least, hide under the table. But, no, we want to put it on the front porch and proudly tell others of the vengeance we seek. A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #21 tells us: "Today's idea accurately describes the way anyone who holds attack thoughts in his mind must see the world. Having projected his anger onto the world, he sees vengeance about to strike at him. His own attack is thus perceived as self defense." Let’s remember that our safety lies in our defenselessness -- and our happiness, too!

"Truth destroys error, and Love destroys hate. Being destroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 339:2-4

“What I see is a form of vengeance. The world I see is hardly the representation of loving thoughts. It is a picture of attack on everything by everything. It is anything but a reflection of the Love of God and the Love of His Son. It is my own attack thoughts that give rise to this picture. My loving thoughts will save me from this perception of the world, and give me the peace God intended me to have.”
—A Course in Miracles W-55.2:1-6

Escaping Our Attack Thoughts

“No Looking Back”

Creation from Sandy Wythawai Starbird

It can be difficult to free ourselves from the prison of attack thoughts. It seems normal and natural to think and talk about things which we neither agree with nor like. It can occupy the majority of our thoughts, and we often think it might facilitate a change if we talk about it enough. This fertilization of attack thoughts can be found everywhere from coffee shops to churches, and it doesn't do a single thing to change the world. We are told in A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #23 that the only way out of fear is by giving up attack thoughts. If this world we see is an effect, the only way to change the hallucination is to alter the cause: our thought. Some may ridicule this idea. For those who do, I only ask this: Have any material manipulations ever, in all of history, affected a change? Did our civil war free the slaves? It was a beginning, of course, but many people stayed in bondage long past when laws were enacted. It takes a change of thought to bring freedom. Let's free ourselves today -- and forever!

“The despotic tendencies, inherent in mortal mind and always germinating in new forms of tyranny, must be rooted out through the action of the divine Mind."
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 225:22-28

“I can escape from this world by giving up attack thoughts. Herein lies salvation, and nowhere else. Without attack thoughts I could not see a world of attack. As forgiveness allows love to return to my awareness, I will see a world of peace and safety and joy. And it is this I choose to see, in place of what I look on now.”
—A Course in Miracles W-55.3:1-5

Fireflies

My favorite time of day is dusk, when the fireflies rise up from the cacophony of my cottage garden, as I sit on the porch and listen to night creatures begin their songs. So I looked up poetry about them, and of course my favorite was by Mary Oliver.

Fireflies

At Blackwater

fireflies

are not even a dime a dozen–

they are free,

and each floats and turns

among the branches of the oaks

and the swamp azaleas

looking for another

as, who doesn’t?

Oh, blessings

on the intimacy

inside fruition,

be it foxes

or the fireflies

or the dampness inside the petals

of a thousand flowers.

Though Eden is lost

its loveliness

remains in the heart

and the imagination;

he would take her

in a boat

over the dark water;

she would take him

to an island she knows

where the blue flag grows wild

and the grass is deep,

where the birds

perch together,

feather to feather,

on the bough.

And the fireflies,

blinking their little lights,

hurry toward one another.

And the world continues,

God willing.

—Mary Oliver

“Thus will each gift to Him be multiplied a thousandfold and tens of thousands more. And when it is returned to you, it will surpass in might the little gift you gave as much as does the radiance of the sun outshine the tiny gleam a firefly makes an uncertain moment and goes out. The steady brilliance of this light remains and leads you out of darkness, 

nor will you be able to forget the way again.”

—A Course in Miracles W-97.6:1-3

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. 

The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light.” 

—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 240:1-9

Are You Ready?

Photo Courtesy of Don Matt

Today a fellow truth seeker sent me a short video of channeled wisdom, pertaining to the quickly-moving changes we are experiencing in this parenthesis in eternity. (The link to this video is at the end of my writing, if you would like to hear it) The spoken words reminded me of Esther Hicks, in both cadence and content, which caused me to think back to the ways I have been preparing for the Shift. In the 1970s, we were opening our consciousness to the Age of Aquarius, reveling in psychedelic meditations, which led the way to understanding what Love (with a capital L) was all about. That was a slippery slope and it was easy to become lost, as I witnessed many do. We moved through the decades with many brave people opening our little minds to the one Consciousness. When the year 2,000 was upon us, some people thought the world was ending because the Mayan Calendar was almost over. As many told us (including St. John), it was a new era, a new beginning; not the end of everything. It was the end of thinking in old ways, the beginning of realizing new/old thought, as many seers through the ages had been telling us was possible. If you want a sampling of these beautiful ideas, pick up Wayne Dyer’s book, Wisdom Through the Ages. I also discovered a practice called Oneness Blessing. The training originally took a few weeks, but at some point they decided things were moving too fast and we needed to speed up our understanding, our ability to transmit divine Love to the world. I took this abbreviated course and was lifted to new places through the experience. I tell you all this to ask if you are ready for this change? The following video explains that you may be feeling trepidation in these days, and why you need not fear. Much Love sent to you!

“The new beginning now becomes the focus of the curriculum. The goal is clear, but now you need specific methods for attaining it. The speed by which it can be reached depends on this one thing alone; your willingness to practice every step. Each one will help a little, every time it is attempted. And together will these steps lead you from dreams of judgment to forgiving dreams and out of pain and fear. They are not new to you, but they are more ideas than rules of thought to you as yet. So now we need to practice them awhile, until they are the rules by which you live. We seek to make them habits now, so you will have them ready for whatever need.”
—A Course in Miracles T-30.in.1:1-8

“Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea.”
—Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 323:32-2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWTdT5LUkJA

The Sun Blazes For Everyone

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

Sunrise

by Mary Oliver

You can

die for it--

an idea,

or the world. People

have done so,

brilliantly,

letting

their small bodies be bound

to the stake,

creating

an unforgettable

fury of light. But

this morning,

climbing the familiar hills

in the familiar

fabric of dawn, I thought

of China,

and India

and Europe, and I thought

how the sun

blazes

for everyone just

so joyfully

as it rises

under the lashes

of my own eyes, and I thought

I am so many!

What is my name?

What is the name

of the deep breath I would take

over and over

for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is

happiness, it is another one

of the ways to enter

fire.

From: New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver

“In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy. Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests. Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are.” 

A Course in Miracles W-24.1:1-6

“If men would bring to bear upon the study of the Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so-called pains and pleasures of material sense, they would not go on from bad to worse, until disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but the whole human family would be redeemed through the merits of Christ, — through the perception and acceptance of Truth.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 202:5-13