January 16, 2013 - Neutral Thoughts?

"Reflections"
photo by Heather Magnan

ACIM Workbook Lesson #16

“I have no neutral thoughts.”

We are shown today that no thought is neutral. To quote the Course in Miracles workbook lesson #16: "There is no more self-contradictory concept than that of 'idle thoughts'. What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle. Every thought you have contributes to truth or illusion: either it extends truth or it multiplies illusion. You can indeed multiply nothing, but you will not extend it by doing so." I love this last sentence as it elucidates the fact that error is nothing, and that we can multiply error, but we can't make it real. This fact gets lost in many myths we live by. We tend to make evil real, by stating its inevitability and proclaiming it to be a power equal to God, good. One story I love illustrates today's subject. A grandfather is talking to his grandson about anger. He tells him that we all have a peaceful and an angry wolf living inside us. 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 Truth we are learning: there is no angry wolf. And as we are told in the above quote, "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 doesn't exist. On the other hand, when we turn thought to Truth, we make a contribution and extension of it to all that Is. So we are seeing that erroneous thoughts can seem real and may seem to grow, but that's impossible because Truth trumps error every time.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"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. In divine Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed matter is but the subjective state of what is termed by the author mortal mind." 

Science & Health Page 114:23-31