June 1, 2012 - Hiding from Truth

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #152

“The power of decision is my own.”

"Truth or Shadow"
photo by Aaron Springston

I have mentioned before that much inspiration is derived from a monthly meeting of our book club. We have grand discussions and I, personally, walk away with much insight into this life which perhaps would never have occurred to me without these sweet gatherings. Our most recent meeting centered around a book of historical fiction which looks at the life of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife: The Paris Wife. Apparently they led quite a hedonistic life, and we had an interesting conversation centered around this. We pondered why people forsake all conventional rules and indulge in wild behavior usually involving consuming mass quantities of alcohol. One of our astute members put forth the opinion that we are trying so hard to put off the shackles of human behavior which is stifling and not serving us in the first place that we go overboard in trying to affect a change. Bingo! This is exactly what we're doing in these metaphysical studies, but without the drugs and alcohol. We're seeing that life as we know it is not working. We want a change. But we don't just want to shut out our dissatisfaction by passing out drunk, we want to do something about it! A quote from today's workbook lesson is this: "Truth can have no opposite. Nothing but the truth is true, and what is false is false." That's quite a straightforward statement, but we don't always recognize what this Truth is.  We think that all the falsities are as much a part of our existence as is the Truth, and we end up very confused and think there is no way out of this circular life of dualistic beliefs we have accepted. I once heard Deepak Chopra say he thought it was a good sign that we had so many people experiencing substance abuse, because this meant they were searching for God but had no idea how to find It. That's what we're learning today: how to fill that God-hole by recognizing that we can make the decision to do so. To accept the truth of our being, our relationship to God, annuls falsity. Hallelujah!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The point for each one to decide is, whether it is mortal mind or immortal Mind that is causative. We should forsake the basis of matter for metaphysical Science and its divine Principle.”

Science & Health Page 195:11-14