Tuesday, October 3, 2023

The Space Between Thoughts

Ozark Morning Photo courtesy of Mark McGee

It seems I can be perfectly calm and contented if I don’t talk to people! I’m sure many of you know what I mean. It’s easy to be unpleasantly surprised by the behaviors and reactions of others. When we see instances of people exhibiting their highest good, then witness the opposite in the next instant-- well, it gives pause. In this world, where we want to analyze everything and find answers to questions we don't even know how to ask, it's tempting to become angry in the face of divisive behavior, bullying actions, and accusations from those who should know better. But let's not, okay? Rather than react, let’s go to “the space between our thoughts”. There are many techniques for doing this, and people like to label the activity as prayer or meditation. It doesn’t matter what we call it, as long as we’re able to do it. I think this is one of the reasons I love duplicate bridge. When I’m playing, there is no room in my mind for worrying or wondering. It’s a single-minded enjoyment of mental gymnastics, and I love to lose myself in the world of cards, with nothing to think about but the coziness of something I know so well. I hope you don’t hesitate to lose yourself in a beloved activity! Namaste …

“It is impossible to accept the holy instant without reservation unless, just for an instant, you are willing to see no past or future. You cannot prepare for it without placing it in the future. Release is given you the instant you desire it. Many have spent a lifetime in preparation, and have indeed achieved their instants of success. This course does not attempt to teach more than they learned in time, but it does aim at saving time. You may be attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. Enormous effort is expended in the attempt to make holy what is hated and despised. Nor is a lifetime of contemplation and long periods of meditation aimed at detachment from the body necessary. All such attempts will ultimately succeed because of their purpose. Yet the means are tedious and very time consuming, for all of them look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness and inadequacy.” 

A Course in Miracles T-18.VII.4:1-11


"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 563:4

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