The Guest of God

Over the years, many friends have told me they don't feel like they belong here. I think we all, at some time or another, have felt this way. What if, rather than us not belonging here, this "here" we speak of isn't what we think it is? What if we don't belong in this crazy world, but the world we see isn't reality? Perhaps our true home is something we've sensed is there, similar to seeing a movement out of the corner of your eye, but when you look directly at it, it's not there.  For years I grasped at straws while ignoring these glimpses. We're not strangers in a strange land when we realize true substance isn’t what we can physically touch. So let's be still a moment and ask to know what that home we desire so badly truly is. When we’re not afraid to remember, shift happens!

“Your Kingdom is not of this world because it was given you from beyond this world. Only in this world is the idea of an authority problem meaningful. The world is not left by death but by truth, and truth can be known by all those for whom the Kingdom was created, and for whom it waits.” 

A Course in Miracles  T-3.VII.6:8-11)

“If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms. Your good will be evil spoken of. This is the cross. Take it up and bear it, for through it you win and wear the crown. Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 254:27-30

Can’t Bully a Wave

“Have you ever tried to bully a wave in the ocean?” This is the question a 104-year-old Buddhist nun asks her great-granddaughter in a beautiful novel titled, A Tale For the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. The two went into a store to get food for a picnic on the beach. A group of gangster girls were hanging around outside the store and harassed them as they went in. When they came out, the old woman bowed deeply to the group of young women before walking away. After they got onto the train to go to their destination, the older woman wondered aloud if it was a holiday of some sort, mentioning that the girls were all dressed so brightly and seemed so happy. The granddaughter tried to explain that they were gang colors, and that they were being derisive in their words and laughter. The grandmother didn’t see it that way and asked her young charge if she had ever tried to bully a wave, explaining that no matter how much you hit at it or yell into it, it stays what it is. That is its function, and that is our function. I love that!

“The peace of God is everything I want. The peace of God is my one goal; the aim of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life, while I abide where I am not at home.” A Course in Miracles W-205.1:2-3

“The history of error is a dream-narrative. The dream has no reality, no intelligence, no mind; therefore the dreamer and dream are one, for neither is true nor real.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 530:26-29

Projecting a Quiet Mind

Image from Alexandra Bochkareva Photography

 “The world is a reflection of our internal state. If we dwell on turmoil, anger and confusion then that is how the world will be perceived to an individual. A quiet mind and and an open heart are important attributes to project into the world.” Ram Dass 

“Progress takes off human shackles. The finite must yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of action, thought rises from the material sense to the spiritual, from the scholastic to the inspirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. All things are created spiritually. Mind, not matter, is the creator. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 256:1-8

“Peace, then, be unto everyone who becomes a teacher of peace. For peace is the acknowledgment of perfect purity, from which no one is excluded. Within its holy circle is everyone whom God created as His Son. Joy is its unifying attribute, with no one left outside to suffer guilt alone. The power of God draws everyone to its safe embrace of love and union. Stand quietly within this circle, and attract all tortured minds to join with you in the safety of its peace and holiness. Abide with me within it, as a teacher of Atonement, not of guilt.” A Course in Miracles T-14.V.8:1-7

Thinking Makes It So …

 

Unknown photographer

A friend once said to me: “You can’t help what goes through your mind; it’s what you do with it that’s important.” As she always got upset when I talked about perception and how things are as we see them to be, I didn’t think I should tell her I disagreed with her statement. I do think we can keep rampant negative thoughts out of our head. I also think we can stop ourselves from flitting from one memory to another, flowing through a tangent of remembrances and idle repetitions. Through these spiritual studies, we are practicing training our mind away from blame and guilt, away from circular, meaningless thought, and hence allowing our function as the expression of divine Mind to flow through us, beautifully blossoming for others to share and experience. On this perfect day, I will work toward cleansing my thoughts of unnecessary chatter, while opening myself to my function as the reflection of Love!

“Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. Hold onto nothing. Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God.” 

A Course in Miracles W-189.7:1-5

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. 

Science & Health Page ii:4

Truth Through Fiction

Photo credit: Alden Stallings

An upside down world seems normal to us. We have become accustomed to believing the testimony of our physical senses is reality, while we discount the feelings gained through what we think of as otherworldly intuitions. Many of my favorite authors write about metaphysical concepts, using the genre of fiction to allow them to take this new/old thought all the way without empirical evidence in support. And I applaud this method! What better way to introduce ideas to a skeptical audience than through the entertainment field? Dan Brown is an expert at this form of writing. He brings us thought-provoking concepts without asking us to accept them as true, such as in "The Lost Symbol". Paulo Coelho gently hits closer to home in his books. Two of my favorites are "The Alchemist" and "The Aleph". These and other novels are softly preparatory for the life-changing concepts presented in A Course in Miracles textbook and also by Mary Baker Eddy's writings. Without prior opening of our thought, the ideas contained in these teachings can be jarring indeed! Let us not fear stepping through doors which are waiting to show us a deeper understanding!

"Divine metaphysics explains away matter. Spirit is the only substance and consciousness recognized by divine Science. The material senses oppose this, but there are no material senses, for matter has no mind. In Spirit there is no matter, even as in Truth there is no error, and in good no evil. It is a false supposition, the notion that there is real substance-matter, the opposite of Spirit. Spirit, God, is infinite, all. Spirit can have no opposite." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 278:3-11

“Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can represent the lower or bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience. One makes the physical, and the other creates the spiritual.”

A Course in Miracles T-1.I.12:1-3

The Joy of an Uncharted Journey

 

After a Metafizzzie Meeting

I inherited some recordings from metaphysical meetings we held a number of years ago. One of the weekly meetings included a discussion where people told how they came to live in Eureka Springs. In this joyous conversation everyone had a different story, but there was a common denominator: they had not consciously made the decision, but in various ways had been led to be here. There was something at work which had nothing to do with human will. People talked about divine guidance, serendipity, blind luck — it all involved a will which had nothing to do with logic or human understanding. The events which led to us being in the same room talking about metaphysics, God, Life, Love — all the while laughing and openly expressing joy — seemingly came about by chance. Life is wonderful when we don’t have to know what’s going to happen next!

“Will, as a quality of so-called mortal mind, is a wrong-doer; hence it should not be confounded with the term as applied to Mind or to one of God’s qualities.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 597:24-26

“Follow the Holy Spirit’s teaching in forgiveness, then, because forgiveness is His function and He knows how to fulfill it perfectly. That is what I meant when I said that miracles are natural, and when they do not occur something has gone wrong. Miracles are merely the sign of your willingness to follow the Holy Spirit’s plan of salvation, recognizing that you do not understand what it is. His work is not your function, and unless you accept this you cannot learn what your function is.” 

A Course in Miracles T-9.IV.6:1-4

The Art of Spiritual Healing

Lothar, Jim, and Jenny at a Sunday Salon

It could be said that metaphysical treatment is "denying error and declaring Truth". There is no set way to go about this process. When we glean a bit of spiritual Truth, we often think we can repeat this over and over, as a sort of mantra, and this will heal us. Often we can talk ourselves out of symptoms -- but usually this is a temporary hypnotic fix. We can tell ourselves that disease is an illusion and that it's no part of us, but until we know the reason why, it's nothing more than further illusion. When we find ourselves beginning to understand that disease cannot be in matter because there is no matter for disease to manifest in, then -- and only then -- are we coming close to understanding this Truth of which we speak. It may seem impossible to make this shift in thought, but I love the baby steps leading to it! One of my favorite scientists, Lothar Schafer, led us to see the unreality of matter in his book Infinite Potential: What Quantum Physics Reveals About How We Should Live. I invite you to travel with him in this adventure!

“If we would open their prison doors for the sick, we must first learn to bind up the broken-hearted. If we would heal by the Spirit, we must not hide the talent of spiritual healing under the napkin of its form, nor bury the morale of Christian Science in the grave-clothes of its letter. The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 366:30-9

‘Miracles praise God through you. They praise Him by honoring His creations, affirming their perfection. They heal because they deny body-identification and affirm spirit-identification.” A Course in Miracles T-1.I.29:1-3

Love For Lent

 

The lenten season means many things to many people. Some of us choose to see this as a time to give up behaviors which do not bring peace, dedicating this time to reconciling actions which have been less than conducive to harmony. For instance, something may be standing in the way of getting along with a neighbor, or perhaps angry words have broken a friendship. There are many things considered to be impediments to living a loving life. Today social media has told me about a multitude of ways to change my actions and become a better person. These memes, together with a homily given by a priest in a service where I provide musical accompaniment, have made me realize only one thing is needed, and that is to Love more. When someone espouses an inane or insane idea, I will love the spiritual reality of that person, not the erroneous material sense they are expressing. Every moment of the day, we have a choice: react from fear, or respond with Love. Let's find out what happens when we return to Love!

“The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear: Teach only love, for that is what you are.” 

A Course in Miracles T.6.2

“A musician demonstrates the beauty of the music he teaches in order to show the learner the way by practice as well as precept. Jesus’ teaching and practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was the precious import of our Master’s sinless career and of his demonstration of power over death.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 26:19-25

Purr-fectly calm

 

“I have lived with many Zen masters — all of them cats.” Eckhart Tolle

“Can you imagine what it means to have no cares, no worries, no anxieties, but merely to be perfectly calm and quiet all the time? Yet that is what time is for; to learn just that and nothing more. God’s Teacher cannot be satisfied with His teaching until it constitutes all your learning. He has not fulfilled His teaching function until you have become such a consistent learner that you learn only of Him. When this has happened, you will no longer need a teacher or time in which to learn.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.I.1:1-5

“Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious — as Life eternally is — can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony.” 

Mary Baker Eddy Science & Health Page 495:16-24

Spiritual Aridity?

 

Photographer unknown

At a giddy gathering of friends last week, someone mentioned the phrase “spiritual aridity”. To the best of my sketchy memory, I had never heard this term before and it intrigued me. Upon looking it up, its general religious use is rather condemnatory in nature. Many religious leaders use the term quite frequently to chastise their congregations, while some seers are saying that God sends spells of unbelief to test their faith, and — well, I was rather disappointed in seeing what an internet search brought up. When I heard this term in the midst of stimulating conversation, it immediately brought to my thoughts the lack of Spiårit which is being bandied around and sold as religion. It seems many mainstream religions are spewing false ideology, and when I thought of something which was spiritually arid, this came to mind. As I ponder this, it comes to me that the majority of people who love their church are not believing in false prophets. The religions we hear about the most, the ones which are selling themselves through commercials, billboards, and other media blitzes, are the ones which disappoint me. To all the open-hearted, helping-handed folks, I applaud you! Don’t be afraid to love right out loud!

“Millions of unprejudiced minds — simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert — are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, and never fear the consequences.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 570:13-17

“The Thought of God surrounds your little kingdom, waiting at the barrier you built to come inside and shine upon the barren ground. See how life springs up everywhere! The desert becomes a garden, green and deep and quiet, offering rest to those who lost their way and wander in the dust. Give them a place of refuge, prepared by love for them where once a desert was. And everyone you welcome will bring love with him from Heaven for you. They enter one by one into this holy place, but they will not depart as they had come, alone. The love they brought with them will stay with them, as it will stay with you. And under its beneficence your little garden will expand, and reach out to everyone who thirsts for living water, but has grown too weary to go on alone.” 

A Course in Miracles T-18.VIII.9:1-8

Truth is a Savior

“Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man's purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. We came not into this life by exile, but we came as innocent creatures of God, to learn how to worship the holy and eternal spirit and seek the hidden secrets within ourselves from the beauty of life. This is the truth which I have learned from the teachings of the Nazarene.”

Kahlil Gibran

“When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 205: 32-3

“Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all. And so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.” A Course in Miracles W-92.5:3-7

Awesome

 

“Try and let your knowledge be sideswiped by awe” — These words are part of a poem I sent out yesterday. The act of “collapsing in wonder” (also taken from the poem) is being reinforced regularly in my daily life. Today I heard a video about stress relief and the main suggestion was to feel awe everyday. Dacher Kelter, the man being interviewed, mentioned that in London, where he is from, no one ever looks up at the sky. An act as simple as laying down on the ground and looking at clouds and birds, connecting with the earth, is the best way to relieve stress. He used the word “awe” time and time again in his explanations of getting past stressful feelings and embracing happiness and peace. Feeling awe, collapsing into wonder, these sound like simple acts which anyone could do. But apparently the majority of us do not. So when we are talking to someone who is sad, or overwhelmed by life, or anxious, or worried, or tired of it all, let’s take them outside for a look around — really looking and getting lost in the wonder. It’s the best feeling of all!

Here is a link to the interview, if you’re interested!

https://youtu.be/NO_GdfSe9To

“It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 247:24-27

“There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you. All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head.” 

A Course in Miracles W-156.4:1-4

Collapse in Wonder

The Window (1970)

Vladimir Vladimirovich Zhivotkov

Here’s another social media share from Ramona. Plus, it reminds me of yesterday’s Mary Oliver.

Susceptible to Light 

By Chelan Harkin 

“You don't have to believe in God

but please collapse in wonder

as regularly as you can

try and let your knowledge

be side swiped by awe

and let beauty be so persuasive

you find yourself willing

to lay your opinions at her feet 

Darling, you don't have to believe in God

but please pray

for your own sake

great prayers of thanks 

for the mountains, the great rivers

the roundness of the moon

just because they're here at all

and that you get to know them

and let prayer bubble up in you

as a natural thing 

like song in a bird

You don't have to have

a spiritual path 

but do run 

the most sensitive

part of your soul 

over the soft curves 

of this world

with as much tenderness

as you can find in yourself

and let her edgeless ways

inspire you to discover more 

just find a way

that makes you want to yield

yourself

that you may be more open

to letting beauty fully

into your arms

and feel some sacred flame

inside of you that yearns toward

learning how to build a bigger 

fire of love in your heart

You don't have to believe in God

but get quiet enough to remember

we really don't know a damn thing 

about any of it

and if you can, feel a reverence to be part 

of This Great Something

whatever you want to call it

that is so much bigger

and so far beyond 

the rooftops of all

our knowing.”

Written by Chelan Harkin - Susceptible to Light

“The sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth. Man, made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God’s dominion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 516:16-22

“All this beauty will rise to bless your sight as you look upon the world with forgiving eyes. For forgiveness literally transforms vision, and lets you see the real world reaching quietly and gently across chaos, removing all illusions that had twisted your perception and fixed it on the past. The smallest leaf becomes a thing of wonder, and a blade of grass a sign of God’s perfection.” 

A Course in Miracles T-17.II.6:1-3

The Attentive Soul

“Ten times a day something happens to me like this - some strengthening throb of amazement - some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”

― Mary Oliver

“Hence the eternal wonder, — that infinite space is peopled with God’s ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 503:15-17

“To be in the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention on it. As long as you believe you can attend to what is not true, you are accepting conflict as your choice. Is it really a choice? It seems to be, but seeming and reality are hardly the same. You who are the Kingdom are not concerned with seeming. Reality is yours because you are reality. This is how having and being are ultimately reconciled, not in the Kingdom, but in your mind. The altar there is the only reality. The adfaltar is perfectly clear in thought, because it is a reflection of perfect Thought. Your right mind sees only brothers, because it sees only in its own light.” 

A Course in Miracles T-7.III.4:1-10

Structures of Truth and Love

 

Today was World Sound Healing Day and we had quite a celebration here in Eureka Springs! Four of our local musicians came together in Heart of Many Ways to bathe us in beautifully woven sounds, which included violin, harmonium, Tibetan and crystal bowls, and many other interesting tinkly instruments. It was particularly moving for me as it was held in the edifice which was built as a Christian Science Church in 1914. My parents began attending services there when I was eight years old. I learned to play the organ in this beautiful building when I was 11. A few years back, we donated the “structure of Truth and Love” to a non-profit organization which is dedicated to serving spiritual groups who do not have their own place to meet. There are affiliates from the Sufi tradition, Native Americans, a Jewish organization, and there is always room for anyone who wants to hold an event, such as today. The loving energy generated today would make Mary Baker Eddy very happy, of this I am certain. Namaste…

“Church: The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 583:12-12

“A church that does not inspire love has a hidden altar that is not serving the purpose for which God intended it. I must found His church on you, because those who accept me as a model are literally my disciples. Disciples are followers, and if the model they follow has chosen to save them pain in all respects, they are unwise not to follow him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-6.I.8:5-7

An Offering of Contentment

 

Art by Lucy Almey Bird

For years my fondest wish was to be content. For decades, it seemed this was an out-of-reach dream. I didn’t find peace by myself, nor when married, or in a roomful of friends, or with a comfortable companion. It felt as though something was missing and I couldn’t find it. Then circumstances brought me to Eureka Springs and a serious study of Christian Science. Every day brought a deeper understanding of my relationship with everyone and everything by way of the universal flow of infinite Love. Years of running a business in a tourist town showed me I needn’t agree with everyone in order to empathize and feel compassionate when faced with disagreeable attitudes. Raising children taught me to feel the joy of learning, while developing patience in trying circumstances. Being associated with spiritual groups has shown me that diversity of thought is a wonderful thing. The peace and contentment I feel this evening has been learned through surrender to not knowing everything — perhaps not even anything. Thank you greatly …

“Better is the frugal intellectual repast with contentment and virtue, than the luxury of learning with egotism and vice.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 452:15-17

“Be not content with littleness. But be sure you understand what littleness is, and why you could never be content with it. Littleness is the offering you give yourself. You offer this in place of magnitude, and you accept it. Everything in this world is little because it is a world made out of littleness, in the strange belief that littleness can content you. When you strive for anything in this world in the belief that it will bring you peace, you are belittling yourself and blinding yourself to glory. Littleness and glory are the choices open to your striving and your vigilance. You will always choose one at the expense of the other.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.III.1:1-8

Purveyors of Love

 

Art by Lucy Campbell

“Dedicate your life to being a purveyor of love, and mystical companions will appear on your path – to collaborate, encourage, and guide you.” These words from Marianne Williamson were posted on the Cosmic Dancer Facebook page today, along with this photo. The mystical companions I’ve met in this parenthesis in eternity we call a lifetime take my breath away when I pause to think about them. You are all very dear to me and I love you so much!! Thinking about this causes songs to float through my mind — I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together, Thanks For The Memories, Hakuna Matata … 

“To all who share the Love of God the grace is given to be the givers of what they have received. And so they learn that it is theirs forever. All barriers disappear before their coming, as every obstacle was finally surmounted that seemed to rise and block their way before. This veil you and your brother lift together opens the way to truth to more than you. Those who would let illusions be lifted from their minds are this world’s saviors, walking the world with their Redeemer, and carrying His message of hope and freedom and release from suffering to everyone who needs a miracle to save him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-22.IV.6:1-5

“The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings, and its government is divine Science. Man is the offspring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of Mind. Man understands spiritual existence in proportion as his treasures of Truth and Love are enlarged.” 

Mary Baker Eddy- Science and Health Page 264:32-4

Ram Dass Wisdom

Photo credit: Gabriel Carlson

“Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we're so deeply interconnected with one another. Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is the supreme creative act.”

Ram Dass

Living Love

 

Photo and song from movie, Babe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pExCByqi0NU

I’ve spent the last day joyfully celebrating the miracle of connectivity between people. Sometimes we meet someone and it seems as though we’ve known them forever, or perhaps you know a married couple who have been together for decades and still enjoy each others’ company, or maybe you have a childhood friend who has been a part of your life for as long as you can remember. These musings brought back memories of a woman I was friends with for 50 years. We learned to play the trumpet together, and we had shared memories of playing reveille for school flag raising and taps for soldiers’ funerals. I played the piano at her wedding and she held my hand through divorces. Our ties were deep and filled with Love. When she was in hospice care, I visited her for the last time. She was having a hard time talking, so we sat quietly and looked into each others eyes. Every moment we ever shared was relived in the space of a few seconds. It was a miraculous communication and I was reminded of Mr. Hoggett singing to Babe in the movie by the same title. And so I sang it to her, and I did his dance in my imagination. Namasté, sweet Friend! 

“We think of an absent friend as easily as we do of one present. It is no more difficult to read the absent mind than it is to read the present. Chaucer wrote centuries ago, yet we still read his thought in his verse. What is classic study, but discernment of the minds of Homer and Virgil, of whose personal existence we may be in doubt?” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 81: 2-10

“Your mind will elect to join with mine, and together we are invincible. You and your brother will yet come together in my name, and your sanity will be restored. I raised the dead by knowing that life is an eternal attribute of everything that the living God created. Why do you believe it is harder for me to inspire the dis-spirited or to stabilize the unstable? I do not believe that there is an order of difficulty in miracles; you do. I have called and you will answer. I understand that miracles are natural, because they are expressions of love. My calling you is as natural as your answer, and as inevitable.” 

A Course in Miracles T-4.IV.11:5-12

Held In Fear By The Past?

Cesar Milan, “The Dog Whisperer", (whom I mention often in these writings) tells us he rehabilitates dogs and trains people. He observes that dogs live in the moment. When he is helping people to understand a dog which seems maimed by past experiences in its life, he always tells us that feeling sorry for the animal is of no benefit. How can this be? The dog is hurting and we're being asked to deny that? Yes!! This is why we are learning that it's necessary to give up all beliefs -- not just those we deem to be "bad", but all material beliefs. By letting them go and replacing them with an openness of thought which allows us to hear the Truth of our Being, we experience the miracle which is the natural order of Life. It may not seem logical to say that we can simply release feelings of fear and anger. They can appear very real to us, but if we stop and examine them, do they have any purpose other than to bind us to the past? One dog Cesar worked with had slid into a glass door. The dog was now afraid to walk on any floor without a carpet. Upon investigation of its people's reactions, they had immediately reinforced the dog's fears by petting, and commiserating, and talking about what a horrible experience it had been. They held the dog in fear by acts they thought of as compassion. What Cesar explains is that dogs live in the moment, unless they're held in the past by everyone around them. I’m so grateful for every experience which helps me to discern between belief and reality -- especially when it's shown to me by a dog!

“When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, 'I am hurt!' Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 397:12-16

“The present now remains the only time. Here in the present is the world set free. For as you let the past be lifted and release the future from your ancient fears, you find escape and give it to the world. You have enslaved the world with all your fears, your doubts and miseries, your pain and tears; and all your sorrows press on it, and keep the world a prisoner to your beliefs. Death strikes it everywhere because you hold the bitter thoughts of death within your mind.“

A Course in Miracles W-132.3:1-5

One Step at a Time

During a lull in the rain today, I drove to do an errand. On the way, I saw a woman sweeping up leaves and debris from her front porch and sidewalk. This dear neighbor  has recently lost her son in a tragic bicycling accident. She also has been struggling with memory loss and cognitive problems. But there she was, sweeping her porch; doing what needs to be done, despite her sorrow and confusion. She inspires me to meet the challenges of my day with a smile and the quiet determination to see a task done. When I think about people I know and the difficulties they face simply getting out of bed in the morning, it makes me proud to call them friend. Consciousness unfolding is the stuff of God, and I’m so happy to share it with everyone! Namaste, my friends …

“Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 261:27-31

“A major contribution of miracles is their strength in releasing you from your false sense of isolation, deprivation and lack.” 

A Course in Miracles  T-1.I.42:1

Weaving Webs of Illusion

Photo credit: Robert Gonsalves

I’ve been thinking today about the illusions we create for ourselves and others. Perhaps we don’t want our children to know things about our past, or maybe there is a deep, dark secret we think would bring shame on our family, or perhaps it’s something as simple as not examining ourselves in the mirror because we can’t accept the physical changes we see. I remember years ago when I was helping a neighbor who was in denial about many things. I would take her with me to an empty church and play the organ for her, while other neighbors sneaked into her house to clean. She probably hadn’t cleaned her house or herself for years. She had two huge dogs which she fed chicken and rice, but she, herself, would only eat green beans and ice cream. Part of the illusion she had created involved taking down the mirrors in her house. Once someone took a photo of us in the front yard with her dogs. When I showed her the photo, she asked if one of the women was her. She had decided how things were in her life, and nothing was going to change her illusions. Sometimes we weave such a web that everything would fall apart without their false security. There is much to be considered here …

“We must look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things. Can we gather peaches from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading illusions along the path which Science must tread in its reformatory mission among mortals. The very name, illusion, points to nothingness.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 129:22-29

“Miracles honor you because you are lovable. They dispel illusions about yourself and perceive the light in you. They thus atone for your errors by freeing you from your nightmares. By releasing your mind from the imprisonment of your illusions, they restore your sanity.” 

A Course in Miracles T-1.I.33:1-4