Moving Through The Day

Dinner Salad

How many tears of frustration have I shed today? Let me not count them! My every move must be analyzed, watched, planned. There can be no mindless moves, nor rushed actions. This is a study in being in the present moment. I’ve always thought I lived in the Now, but how little did I know! A few times today I found myself thinking, “I can’t do this“. Eventually, I caught myself in this negative thought and started turning it around to something like, “Yes, this is difficult, but I’ll think of it as a little mini-workout, feeling every muscle stretch out, every move, enjoying what seems so difficult.” And so it is. As I enjoy my freshly-made salad this evening, while watching a favorite series called Stick, I am grateful for the cooler weather coming soon. I am thankful for the showers of rain we have had today, and the bees and hummingbirds I see flying in my garden. What could be better?

“Who could maintain that lessons such as these are easy? Yet you have learned more than this. You have continued, taking every step, however difficult, without complaint, until a world was built that suited you. And every lesson that makes up the world arises from the first accomplishment of learning; an enormity so great the Holy Spirit’s Voice seems small and still before its magnitude. The world began with one strange lesson, powerful enough to render God forgotten, and His Son an alien to himself, in exile from the home where God Himself established him. You who have taught yourself the Son of God is guilty, say not that you cannot learn the simple things salvation teaches you!”
A Course in Miracles T-31.I.4:1-6

“This Science of being obtains not alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here and now; it is the great fact of being for time and eternity.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 285:3-6

Love Fulfills Itself

I’m home, happy, and tired. So I give you these words:

LET THESE BE YOUR DESIRES - KAHLIL GIBRAN

"Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself

But if your love and must needs have desires,

Let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook

That sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart

And give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer

For the beloved in your heart

And a song of praise upon your lips."

KAHLIL GIBRAN

“These are the forms which never can deceive, because they come from Formlessness Itself. Forgiveness is an earthly form of love, which as it is in Heaven has no form. Yet what is needed here is given here as it is needed. In this form you can fulfill your function even here, although what love will mean to you when formlessness has been restored to you is greater still. Salvation of the world depends on you who can forgive. Such is your function here.”

A Course in Miracles W-186.14:1-6

“One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 340:22-29

Make Room For The New

Photo courtesy of Gabe Carlson

“You have no obligation to be

the same person you were minutes ago.”

–Alan Watts

“You wish to have proof of

A world beyond this one?

See how the old leaves fall and

Makes room for the new.

A new day, a new night, a new garden,

Even a new trap to fall into. 

A new thought in each breath.

Newness is a wonder.

It surely is a treasure.

Did you ever wonder

Where the new comes from? 

Where the old disappear to?

The world is a flowing stream,

It looks enclosed and unchanging,

But the old flows away and

The new arrives.”

—Rumi 

“To be free of all authority, 

of your own and that of another, 

is to die to everything of yesterday, 

so that your mind is always fresh, 

always young, innocent, full of vigour

and passion. 

It is only in that state that 

one learns and observes.”

–Jiddu Krishnamurti 

“This course is a beginning, not an end. Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him. He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. His certainty is yours. 

You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.”

A Course in Miracles W-ep.1:1-9

“Truth has no beginning. The divine Mind is the Soul of man, and gives man dominion over all things. Man was not created from a material basis, nor bidden to obey material laws which Spirit never made; 

his province is in spiritual statutes, in the higher law of Mind.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 307:25-30

The Wonder of Every Little Thing

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

You know that feeling when your electricity or water has been out for a few hours — or longer! — and it comes back on? You’re ecstatic, elated, grateful! That is how I felt today as the physical therapists gave me a date and time of release from this lovely facility of rehabilitation. I’ve been happily making plans all day and imagining the feeling of my cats’ fur and the sound of their purrs. The bliss of watching fireflies rise out of my mess of a cottage garden is a heavenly thought. The memory of watching a sunset from my back deck brings a kind of peace to my mind like nothing else. I’m looking forward to every little thing, and I am feeling great happiness — elation, even!

“As you can hear two voices, so you can see in two ways. One way shows you an image, or an idol that you may worship out of fear, but will never love. The other shows you only truth, which you will love because you will understand it. Understanding is appreciation, because what you understand you can identify with, and by making it part of you, you have accepted it with love. That is how God Himself created you; in understanding, in appreciation and in love.”
A Course in Miracles T-7.V.9:1-6

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 240:1-9

Undoing Error — or When Pigs Fly!

"When Pigs Fly" by Michael Sowa

Review #6 in A Course in Miracles Workbook is very exciting to many of us! “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” My little mortal mind, or ego, wants me to believe this is foolishness. How can I be lying here in this hospital bed if I am not a body? Because we were not created as bodies, but as Spirit. That is what Jesus was here to teach us: We are spiritual, not material. We are all capable of much more than we have been led to believe. I never understood why people didn’t shout hallelujah and do what that delightful man instructed: The things I do, you can do also — and more! But for some reason, that did not happen. Nor did it happen when various seers tried to take us to Truth. But it is happening as more and more of us realize the kingdom of heaven resides within our own selves. It’s not some place in the sky, but right here and now. The more of us realize this, the more of us will realize this! We are free!

"Question: What is the scientific statement of being?
Answer: There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 468:8-16

“A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time’s limits. Yet it paves the way for the return of timelessness and love’s awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.”
A Course in Miracles W-pII.13.1:1-6

Let Us Not Fight Our Function

A friend recently shared with me a book: Women Who Love Books Too Much by Brenda Knight. A quote from the end of the introduction: “A great book or poem is, at its zenith , an expression of the divine. For you, for me, for the women portrayed here, to read, and to write is to live!“ This book is a tribute to women throughout recorded time who have dared to write, to be creative, to be political. May we never be silent, nor afraid we’re not good enough, or frightened of our own power.
Namaste …

“The manifestation of God through mortals is as light passing through the window-pane. The light and the glass never mingle, but as matter, the glass is less opaque than the walls. The mortal mind through which Truth appears most vividly is that one which has lost much materiality--much error--in order to become a better transparency for Truth. Then, like a cloud melting into thin vapor, it no longer hides the sun.”
Mary Baker Eddy-Science & Health Page 295:14-24

“Let us not fight our function. We did not establish it. It is not our idea. The means are given us by which it will be perfectly accomplished. All that we are asked to do is to accept our part in genuine humility, and not deny with self-deceiving arrogance that we are worthy. What is given us to do, we have the strength to do. Our minds are suited perfectly to take the part assigned to us by One Who knows us well.”
A Course in Miracles W-186.2:1-7

Watch Out For Those Lower Propensities!

Graphic of Unknown Origin

Being too tired to write this evening, I give you one from the past which jumped out at me!

I’ve noticed myself (and others) mindlessly repeating things we have heard, whether it be truth or rumor, good news or a horrid happening, or simply inanities. In the volatile atmosphere of our emotionally-charged country, it is particularly important to scatter joy and express kindness. Kindness goes hand-in-hand with compassion, but that doesn’t mean we must exacerbate others' pain by adding our own to it. I’ve heard it said that worry is much like praying for something bad to happen. With this in mind, I will try to only see, hear, and repeat good. This does not mean I will ignore injustice in all its many faces, nor does it mean that I'll turn my back on someone in need. It does mean when I hear of yet another travesty against mankind and the environment, I will see it through different eyes, translating it into what can occur to move us into our true selves as images of the divine. Planning to refrain from rehashing horror stories, or engaging in inane conversations, or telling my own stories which top the bad things others have experienced, these are things I can and will do at every opportunity. Every thought matters, and ours may be the one which turns it all around!

“Dismiss all foolish magical beliefs today, and hold your mind in silent readiness to hear the Voice that speaks the truth to you. You will be listening to One Who says there is no loss under the laws of God. Payment is neither given nor received. Exchange cannot be made; there are no substitutes; and nothing is replaced by something else. God’s laws forever give and never take.”
A Course in Miracles W-76.9:2-6

“The power of the human will should be exercised only in subordination to Truth; else it will misguide the judgment and free the lower propensities. It is the province of spiritual sense to govern man.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures, Page 206:2-7

Compass of the Heart

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

As I read stories of Lakota wisdom, I am reminded of a book I read years ago, called “The Art of Hearing Heartbeats”, by Jon-Phillip Sendker. The main character loses his eyesight when he’s a young boy. One of his mentors tells him that the true essence of things is invisible to the eyes. He says the eyes distract us, as they love to be dazzled, and that we rely too heavily on them and neglect our other senses. The other senses to which he refers are more than hearing or taste or smell. “I’m talking about the organ within us, for which we have no name. Let us call it the compass of the heart.” I love that don’t you?

“As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.”Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264:13-19

“You who perceive yourself as weak and frail, with futile hopes and devastated dreams, born but to die, to weep and suffer pain, hear this: All power is given unto you in earth and Heaven. There is nothing that you cannot do. You play the game of death, of being helpless, pitifully tied to dissolution in a world which shows no mercy to you. Yet when you accord it mercy, will its mercy shine on you.”
A Course in Miracles W-191.9:1-4

Namaste

Alaska - photo credit: Aaron Springston

Heart connections run deep. Sometimes we notice they’ve developed over decades; often they happen in an instant. Here in the rehab hospital, where I am strengthening myself to go home and begin life with below-the-knee amputations, I love each and every person I’ve met. But occasionally there is something deeper which occurs when our eyes meet. We seem to know each other and are getting reacquainted. A few moments ago when the night nurse came on for her shift, we gleefully clasped hands upon seeing each other again. There are a few others, including physical therapists and the rest of the staff. There’s one nurse who is obviously an evangelical Christian. When I was having a problem yesterday, I announced to the team that I wasn’t afraid to die and it was okay. This particular woman grabbed my hand and said something like, “when you know Jesus Christ, you’re not afraid of the hereafter.” I smiled at her, put one hand on my heart and held the other up in true Paula White fashion. We are now sisters. What a whirlwind this life is!

“In the temple, Holiness waits quietly for the return of them that love it. The Presence knows they will return to purity and to grace. The graciousness of God will take them gently in, and cover all their sense of pain and loss with the immortal assurance of their Father’s Love. There, fear of death will be replaced with joy of life. For God is life, and they abide in life. Life is as holy as the Holiness by which it was created. The Presence of Holiness lives in everything that lives, for Holiness created life, and leaves not what It created holy as Itself.” 

A Course in Miracles T-14.IX.4:1-7

“And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 497:24-27

Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence is fascinating, for many reasons. Reality is something which metaphysical students examine frequently. What seems real to our human senses, quantum physics explains is mostly thin air. I’ve heard it said that reality is that which does not change. Looked at from that angle, reality must be spiritual, because matter always changes. The phenomenon we have called A.I. has changed our perceptions of reality quite quickly in the past few years. Social media has manipulated our opinions in a way which would be amusing, if it were not so frightening. At first we saw our friends and loved ones believing outlandish claims. From baby owls riding on their mother’s backs, to believing beloved political and movie stars are working for the downfall of society, many of us have “drunk the KoolAid”. Social media bots are affirming our fears and stoking our anger. Now it’s creating interesting stories about people we follow, and making us believe our heroes are doing things like saving babies from floods. All of this may seem unimportant, but it’s shaping our thoughts and beliefs. So we get back to the metaphysical principles of recognizing reality versus illusions. It is more important than ever!

“Fantasy is a distorted form of vision. Fantasies of any kind are distortions, because they always involve twisting perception into unreality. Actions that stem from distortions are literally the reactions of those who know not what they do. Fantasy is an attempt to control reality according to false needs. Twist reality in any way and you are perceiving destructively. Fantasies are a means of making false associations and attempting to obtain pleasure from them. But although you can perceive false associations, you can never make them real except to yourself. You believe in what you make. If you offer miracles, you will be equally strong in your belief in them. The strength of your conviction will then sustain the belief of the miracle receiver. Fantasies become totally unnecessary as the wholly satisfying nature of reality becomes apparent to both giver and receiver. Reality is ‘lost’ through usurpation, which produces tyranny. As long as a single ‘slave’ remains to walk the earth, your release is not complete. Complete restoration of the Sonship is the only goal of the miracle-minded.”

A Course in Miracles T-1.VII.3:1-14

“As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the other. How important, then, to choose good as the reality! Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else. God’s being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss. ’Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 480:31-5

A New Voice

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

The Journey - By Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life you could save.”

― Mary Oliver

“Salvation is nothing more than ‘right-mindedness’ which is not the One-mindedness of the Holy Spirit, but which must be achieved before One-mindedness is restored. Right-mindedness leads to the next step automatically, because right perception is uniformly without attack, and therefore wrong-mindedness is obliterated. The ego cannot survive without judgment, and is laid aside accordingly. The mind then has only one direction in which it can move. Its direction is always automatic, because it cannot but be dictated by the thought system to which it adheres.”

A Course in Miracles T-4.II.10:1-5

“To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance 

of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to benighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ 

Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morning beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wisemen were led to behold and to follow this daystar of divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page vii:1-12

“Nerding Out” On Classical Music

Helene Grimaud - pianist and lover of wolves

“I’ve loved being able to nerd out with you over classical music!” This is a statement made to me by a patient care assistant as she joined me in listening to Helene Grimaud play Beethoven on the piano. Turns out this young woman had played the piano all her life, played violin with her college Orchestra, and loved everything classical. She was lamenting the fact there was no place to hear opera in this area. I was able to introduce her to the Opera in the Ozarks, a training ground for professional opera singers. Even though there are only three or four performances left in this season, she’s hoping to catch one. I tell you this because every interaction we have is important. Why was I listening to piano music when she came into the room, rather than an audiobook with my headsets? As I understand divine guidance, or going with the flow, it’s because it was all part of the soup of consciousness. This young woman felt as though she had given up her musical aspirations, but I shared with her that I once went 12 years without touching a keyboard, and it felt great to come back. Just as it’s feeling great to come back from the current hiccup in my life.

“There is a place in you where this whole world has been forgotten; where no memory of sin and of illusion lingers still. There is a place in you which time has left, and echoes of eternity are heard. There is a resting place so still no sound except a hymn to Heaven rises up to gladden God the Father and the Son. Where Both abide are They remembered, Both. And where They are is Heaven and is peace.”
A Course in Miracles T-29.V.1:1-5

“Japhet (Noah’s son). A type of spiritual peace, flowing from the understanding that God is the divine Principle of all existence, and that man is His idea, the child of His care.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health 589:8-11

Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity

The Light Above My Bed 

This is my second full day in the physical rehabilitation hospital. Their signs tell me that they are in the top 4% in the nation (by many standards) and from what I’ve witnessed today, I’d put them at the top! What an interesting, knowledgeable, kind, compassionate, encouraging group of young people I’m getting to know! The art on the walls of this facility is quirky and beautiful. (My room has photos of peanuts doing odd things, and a hugely detailed lady bug on an iris). The walls are in contrasting colors of calm, the rest is glass, which shows off state-of-the-art equipment and inspiring quotes. Seeing the world through the lens of forced hospitalization is different, without a doubt. We create our own bubbles, and when forced into a new one, we see through new eyes.


“Thou art right, immortal Shakespeare, great poet of humanity:

‘Sweet are the uses of adversity;

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.’

Trials teach mortals not to lean on a material staff, — a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine of joy and prosperity. Sorrow is salutary. Through great tribulation we enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of God’s care. Spiritual development germinates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 66:1-16

“There are two diametrically opposed ways of seeing your brother. They must both be in your mind, because you are the perceiver. They must also be in his, because you are perceiving him. See him through the Holy Spirit in his mind, and you will recognize Him in yours. What you acknowledge in your brother you are acknowledging in yourself, and what you share you strengthen.”
A Course in Miracles T-5.III.3:1-5

Peaceful and Joyful

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

This writing was originally from ten years ago. I repeat today as it expresses my feelings.

At this time last year, I was in the hospital. The first few days, I requested that no visitors be admitted and I was at peace with the decision, happy to be listening to Mind rather than talking mindlessly. Numerous times a day, nurses and/or doctors would ask if there was anyone they could call for me, or if I’d like to visit with a counselor or pastor or someone. I assured them I was fine. I was fine because I realized that I was one with Love, without fear or worry, accepting the perfect peace that resides within. I think of those days occasionally when people tell me they are lonely and wish they had someone with which to share their lives. I feel I’m sharing everything with everyone, right now, right here, in the middle of the night without another human voice within range of my ears. I feel that way because the unity of Spirit is a never-ending giving and receiving. Accepting this fact, I feel complete, and there is no end to the peace and joy!

"To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear,--this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 423:8-11

“There is no end to all the peace and joy, and all the miracles that I will give, when I accept God’s Word. Why not today? Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever. It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You. Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love.”
A Course in Miracles W-355.1:1-8

Nature Voices Divine Love

 

Art by Abbott Henderson Thayer

Forgive Me - Poem by Mary Oliver

Angels are wonderful but they are so, well, aloof.

It’s what I sense in the mud and the roots of the

trees, or the well, or the barn, or the rock with

its citron map of lichen that halts my feet and

makes my eyes flare,

 feeling the presence of some spirit, 

some small god,

 who abides there.

If I were a perfect person, I would be bowing

continuously.

I’m not, though I pause wherever I feel this

holiness, which is why I’m so often late coming

back from wherever I went.

Forgive me.

~ Mary Oliver

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 240:1-9

“Forgiveness turns the world of sin into a world of glory, wonderful to see. Each flower shines in light, and every bird sings of the joy of Heaven. There is no sadness and there is no parting here, for everything is totally forgiven. And what has been forgiven must join, for nothing stands between to keep them separate and apart. The sinless must perceive that they are one, for nothing stands between to push the other off. And in the space that sin left vacant do they join as one, in gladness recognizing what is part of them has not been kept apart and separate.”

A Course in Miracles T-26.IV.2:1-6

No Defense Against Truth

Agapanthus - flowering beauty in France

Courtesy of Geneva Currin 

I’m not sure I’d ever felt fear until last night. Childhood nightmares, fear of parents disappearing, many things I thought were fearful had, of course, been experienced. But last night, waking up in the dark, realizing I had no legs, finding the call button for the nurses was not near — I have officially felt fear. But there are no degrees of fear any more than there are degrees of love. I think this phase of my life will be spent truly trying to know the peace of God. The all-encompassing ego, or mortal mind, has been something I’ve denied, I’ve ignored, I’ve tried to overcome, but I haven’t seen it as nothingness trying to be everything. If this self-importance has not shown me the error of my way, I don’t know what will. Having always had somewhat of a superiority complex – as I’ve described it, jumping up on my high horse — I feel it becoming less substantial in my mind. I’m ready to go forward without this defense against truth.   

“What is the ego? Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something. In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real. Yet could God’s Son as He created him abide in form or in a world of form? Who asks you to define the ego and explain how it arose can be but he who thinks it real, and seeks by definition to ensure that its illusive nature is concealed behind the words that seem to make it so.”

A Course in Miracles C-2.2:1-5

“Every one must see or feel for himself in order to be convinced; but I am satisfied that any who will lay aside their preconceived notions, and deal honestly with themselves and the light they have, will come to a knowledge of the truth as illustrated in the teachings and life of Jesus Christ; that is, that Mind, or Soul, or whatever you may be pleased to call it, is the real Ego, or self, and that mortal mind with its body is the unreal and vanishing, and eventually goes back to its native nothingness.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings 468: 27

Different Types of Prayer

When I first began to play the organ for churches other than my childhood Christian Science Society, I did not understand many of the terms used in their services. There were different types of prayer, different reasons for communion, ways of thinking about sin, with which I was unfamiliar. Jesus was God and Mary was Mother of God — foreign thinking for me. But now, after a decade of watching three beautiful congregations of Methodists, Presbyterians, and Catholics, I think I get it. We all need comfort and love. Many of us are at peace when we see that all our needs are already supplied, and it’s up to us to accept divine Love. Some of us feel like sinners and need absolution in order to survive and thrive. Many want the communion of like-minded folk, to walk hand-in-hand with a tribe, to have someone to call on in times of need. But the bottom line is we all want to feel and share the Love which is God. Because there is no other love, not in reality. Whatever you do which expresses kindness and charity, whatever brings you comfort, whatever helps you see yourself as One with All That Is — Keep on doing it! And don’t be afraid to think outside of your comfort zone.

“The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page vii: 13-15

“Right perception is necessary before God can communicate directly to His altars, which He established in His Sons. There He can communicate His certainty, and His knowledge will bring peace without question. God is not a stranger to His Sons, and His Sons are not strangers to each other. Knowledge preceded both perception and time, and will ultimately replace them. That is the real meaning of ‘Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,’ and ‘Before Abraham was I am.’ Perception can and must be stabilized, but knowledge is stable. ‘Fear God and keep His commandments’ becomes ‘Know God and accept His certainty.’”
A Course in Miracles T-3.III.6:1-7

The People Around Us

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

These last few days in the hospital have been wonderful, because of the beautiful young people I have met. Every nurse, tech, doctor — they have all been incredibly interesting. There’s the young woman who just read a novel for the first time in her life, and she loved it. Having been a life-long reader, I made some recommendations to her and she was very excited to try one author in particular. And the young father who became a nurse because his wife was one, and when he heard the stories of her days, he wanted to make a difference in that way, also. They live on a hill which was secluded and has become developed. He has a dream of living somewhere like Eureka Springs. Then there’s the sweetest young woman whose daughter has autoimmune problems. We spent a long time discussing the deterioration of America’s food supply chain. A 20-year-old assistant who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 15. She had many tips for my year-old grandson who has just been told the same. The exotically-beautiful nurse, who left teaching to become a nurse, was particularly inspiring to me. The ambulance drivers, in their 20s, who lament the fact they must live with their parents, because after car payments and insurance, there is not enough money left over to think of purchasing a home. I have received insights into their lives, hopes, their desire to dream of more. I’m going to sleep thinking of my sweet little abode, my incredible friends, my children, and all the beauty I see all around. Namaste …

“The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you reproducing it? Then you are haunted in your work by vicious sculptors and hideous forms. Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually. The result is that you are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your life-work, and adopt into your experience the angular outline and deformity of matter models.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:12-24

“Today’s idea takes another step toward quick salvation, and a giant stride it is indeed! So great the distance is that it encompasses, it sets you down just short of Heaven, with the goal in sight and obstacles behind. Your foot has reached the lawns that welcome you to Heaven’s gate; the quiet place of peace, where you await with certainty the final step of God. How far are we progressing now from earth! How close are we approaching to our goal! How short the journey still to be pursued!”
A Course in Miracles W-194.1:1-6

Loving My Rose-Colored Glasses

“Wonderment”

A creation from Sandy Wythawai Starbird

[this is a writing from a few years ago]

This is a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: “We can live as though nothing is a miracle or as if everything is a miracle.” I, personally, have always leaned toward the side of wonderment, looking at life with rose-colored glasses and being tickled pink at the ever-changing miracle of life, as witnessed by trees and flowers and flowing water and all of nature. Today I’m enjoying the miracle of driving a car! Following a lower-leg amputation over two years ago, I didn’t drive for more than six months. The situation reminded me of when you lose electricity in your home for a period of time, then when it’s restored you’re so mindfully grateful! When I’m driving, I can actually feel my foot, although intellectually I know it’s the prosthetic one. People tell me this is “phantom pain”. I think of it as a gift of Life. I'll nurture the feeling, and other inexplicable ones which are showing me Truth in all its forms and functions. I will continue to recognize the miracle so I can give it away!

“The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 560:11-16

“What is temptation but a wish to make illusions real? It does not seem to be the wish that no reality be so. Yet it is an assertion that some forms of idols have a powerful appeal that makes them harder to resist than those you would not want to have reality. Temptation, then, is nothing more than this; a prayer the miracle touch not some dreams, but keep their unreality obscure and give to them reality instead. And Heaven gives no answer to the prayer, nor can a miracle be given you to heal appearances you do not like. You have established limits. What you ask is given you, but not of God Who knows no limits. You have limited yourself.
A Course in Miracles T-30.VIII.3:1-8

Choosing Knowledge

When we feel ill, it seems difficult, perhaps impossible, to understand what is going on. We may fall into the ego’s trap of believing that death is an escape. I think I’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that I know something. In my years of writing this column, my goal has been to introduce people to this way of thought. The function has not been to challenge anyone’s thinking by writing the words I know to be true. I’m afraid I’ve fallen into level confusion and am counter productive in my writings and practice of divine metaphysics. Many of my friends are working with me to regain the joy of God rather than choosing pain. Many other friends do not understand that it’s time for me to choose knowledge, rather than inanity. I do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I am choosing love over fear. This may involve turning away from erroneous thought and seeing through love rather than reacting to fear. I’m not sure where this line of thinking is leading me, but we shall find out!


Lesson 190

I choose the joy of God instead of pain.

1. Pain is a wrong perspective. ²When it is experienced in any form, it is a proof of self-deception. ³It is not a fact at all.⁴There is no form it takes that will not disappear if seen aright. ⁵For pain proclaims God cruel. ⁶How could it be real in any form? ⁷It witnesses to God the Father’s hatred of His Son, the sinfulness He sees in him, and His insane desire for revenge and death.

2. Can such projections be attested to? ²Can they be anything but wholly false? ³Pain is but witness to the Son’s mistakes in what he thinks he is. ⁴It is a dream of fierce retaliation for a crime that could not be committed; for attack on what is wholly unassailable. ⁵It is a nightmare of abandonment by an Eternal Love, which could not leave the Son whom It created out of love.

3. Pain is a sign illusions reign in place of truth. ²It demonstrates God is denied, confused with fear, perceived as mad, and seen as traitor to Himself. ³If God is real, there is no pain. ⁴If pain is real, there is no God. ⁵For vengeance is not part of love. ⁶And fear, denying love and using pain to prove that God is dead, has shown that death is victor over life. ⁷The body is the Son of God, corruptible in death, as mortal as the Father he has slain.

4. Peace to such foolishness! ²The time has come to laugh at such insane ideas. ³There is no need to think of them as savage crimes, or secret sins with weighty consequence. ⁴Who but a madman could conceive of them as cause of anything? ⁵Their witness, pain, is mad as they, and no more to be feared than the insane illusions which it shields, and tries to demonstrate must still be true.

5. It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. ²Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way. ³There is no cause beyond yourself that can reach down and bring oppression. ⁴No one but yourself affects you. ⁵There is nothing in the world that has the power to make you ill or sad, or weak or frail. ⁶But it is you who have the power to dominate all things you see by merely recognizing what you are. ⁷As you perceive the harmlessness in them, they will accept your holy will as theirs. ⁸And what was seen as fearful now becomes a source of innocence and holiness.

6. My holy brother, think of this awhile: The world you see does nothing. ²It has no effects at all. ³It merely represents your thoughts. ⁴And it will change entirely as you elect to change your mind, and choose the joy of God as what you really want. ⁵Your Self is radiant in this holy joy, unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable, forever and forever. ⁶And would you deny a little corner of your mind its own inheritance, and keep it as a hospital for pain; a sickly place where living things must come at last to die?

7. The world may seem to cause you pain. ²And yet the world, as causeless, has no power to cause. ³As an effect, it cannot make effects. ⁴As an illusion, it is what you wish. ⁵Your idle wishes represent its pains. ⁶Your strange desires bring it evil dreams. ⁷Your thoughts of death envelop it in fear, while in your kind forgiveness does it live.

8. Pain is the thought of evil taking form, and working havoc in your holy mind. ²Pain is the ransom you have gladly paid not to be free. ³In pain is God denied the Son He loves. ⁴In pain does fear appear to triumph over love, and time replace eternity and Heaven. ⁵And the world becomes a cruel and a bitter place, where sorrow rules and little joys give way before the onslaught of the savage pain that waits to end all joy in misery.

9. Lay down your arms, and come without defense into the quiet place where Heaven’s peace holds all things still at last.²Lay down all thoughts of danger and of fear. ³Let no attack enter with you. ⁴Lay down the cruel sword of judgment that you hold against your throat, and put aside the withering assaults with which you seek to hide your holiness.

10. Here will you understand there is no pain. ²Here does the joy of God belong to you. ³This is the day when it is given you to realize the lesson that contains all of salvation’s power. ⁴It is this: Pain is illusion; joy, reality. ⁵Pain is but sleep; joy is awakening. ⁶Pain is deception; joy alone is truth.

11. And so again we make the only choice that ever can be made; we choose between illusions and the truth, or pain and joy, or hell and Heaven. ²Let our gratitude unto our Teacher fill our hearts, as we are free to choose our joy instead of pain, our holiness in place of sin, the peace of God instead of conflict, and the light of Heaven for the darkness of the world

(ACIM, W-190.1:1–11:2)