August 31, 2011

ACIM Lesson #243
“Today I will judge nothing that occurs.
 
I will be honest with myself today. I will not think that I already know what must remain beyond my present grasp. I will not think I understand the whole from bits of my perception, which are all that I can see. Today I recognize that this is so. And so I am relieved of judgments that I cannot make. Thus do I free myself and what I look upon, to be in peace as God created us.
 
[ACIM prayer for today]
Father, today I leave creation free to be itself. I honor all its parts, in which I am included. We are one because each part contains Your memory, and truth must shine in all of us as one.”
 
[Marsha's thoughts]
It seems we're expected to judge everything all the time. Which political party is right? Is it good or bad for Wal-Mart to come to town? Is one friend's opinion better than another's? The list is endless. How is it possible to "judge nothing that occurs"? This practice is a constant meditation with me, and I must admit I often feel like a failure at it. (Which in itself is a judgment!) But this basic metaphysical precept is necessary for us to continue in our quest to know God, to know ourselves. And so I will continue to realize my opinion is simply that: an opinion, not a Universal Truth. I thank Mr. Shakespeare for a thought that is on one of the first pages of Science & Health: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
 
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established.”
Science and Health, p. 467:9-13
 
(I would prefer a quote which I couldn’t find. This is a paraphrase: I truly have no politics other than to pray for a righteous government, love my neighbor as myself, and to love God above all else.)