Love Wedded to Its Own Idea

I know any number of married people who exude happiness and delight in their relationships. It's a joy to be in their company! And so when I say that many of us are realizing freedom through the ability to live our lives any way we choose, setting aside age-old dictums of how we need to live, I most certainly am not saying these happily married couples should separate!  The freedom of which I speak is one which comes through the recognition of ourselves as a reflection of divine Love. In this realization there is no need for seeking validation or security in material circumstance. I mentioned yesterday that I will be marrying a wonderful man this year. We will not be living in the same state. Actually, we will be more than 600 miles away from each other for a few years, at least. But nothing is unchanging in this lifetime, so we’ll be waiting with hearts wide open to see what's coming next!

“The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares. Then thought gently whispers: ‘Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness into the true sense of Love, and behold the Lamb’s wife, — Love wedded to its own spiritual idea.’” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:28-4

“Such is my will for you and your brother, and for each of you for one another and for himself. Here there is only holiness and joining without limit. For what is Heaven but union, direct and perfect, and without the veil of fear upon it? Here are we one, looking with perfect gentleness upon each other and on ourselves. Here all thoughts of any separation between us become impossible. You who were prisoners in separation are now made free in Paradise. And here would I unite with you, my friend, my brother and my Self.” A Course in Miracles 20:III-10

Limitless

photo credit: Alden Stallings

ACIM Workbook Lesson #199 “I am not a body. I am free.”

Have you ever dreamed you could fly? My favorite freedom dream is one of running fast, sometimes leaving the ground and floating in mid-stride. Although I haven't had this recurring dream for some time, I can still feel it. As I watch people dance and use their bodies in other life-affirming ways, I marvel at the beauty and grace expressed in these activities. Just as physical boundaries are broken and new records set, there is more to come in this so-called physical existence. We are learning of the limitlessness of divine Mind’s ideas, of which we are One. What is your highest ideal of freedom? 

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "This mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man and seek the true model." Science & Health Page 408:22-26

Leaving It Behind

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #163  "There is no death. The Son of God is free."

Some people may think of these ideas as platitudes designed to placate some of us with Pollyanna thoughts and wishful thinking. Personally, I see these teachings as much more. Actually, I see them as everything. A well-known author and seer wrote a book declaring there is a spiritual solution to every problem. He was much decried by many serious metaphysical students because he seemed to be admitting there are problems and then trying to solve them. I saw it as using the title to get people to read the book, and then showing them a purer way to think about all of this. Everything we see or read is interpreted by our brain based on past experience. This is what I so badly want to leave behind. This is the freedom I seek. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your consciousness.” Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 407:26-29

Free!

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #278

“If I am bound, my Father is not free.”

Sometimes the miasma of materiality seems overwhelming. It's easy to feel bound by illnesses and injuries, financial burdens, grief. Our lives appear to have a beginning and an end. Physicists tell us of a perspective called quantum entanglement, in which particles separate yet remain connected, reacting to stimuli in the same way even though they no longer occupy the same space. In a book by Dan Cowan, Mind Underlies Spacetime, he explains, "...this direct connectedness occurs because each real entity is already everywhere." How perfectly this explains Oneness! This omnipresence is our perfect identity, without boundaries. We are free!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The admission to one's self that man is God's own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.”

Science & Health Page 90:24-25

October 6, 2014 - Truth Frees

Aaron in Moab

ACIM Workbook Lesson #279

“Creation's freedom promises my own.”

When we are told we are free, we have an idea of what that means. What of our imagined bondage? I know I live with limiting beliefs every day, and it often seems impossible to be released from them. As children we are told not to talk to strangers, to be careful lest we fall, to be afraid of God, to live in certain ways in order to gain the approval of others -- the list goes on. We think a multitude of rules and beliefs must be obeyed in order to survive and thrive, and when we start to realize most of these so-called rules have nothing to do with our true existence, it can be frightening -- and exhilarating! The freedom of our true creation is seen through a change in our perception of reality. Taking ourselves out of the prison of preconceived notions allows the Love we are to show through our actions in sublime ways. And we glimpse freedom.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Omnipotent and infinite Mind [God] made all and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes and subsequently correct them.”

Science and Health Page 206:28–30

September 5, 2014 - Eternity

"Utah Salt Flats"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #248

“Whatever suffers is not part of me."

The words, "Whatever suffers is not a part of me" could be taken as an unfeeling, heartless statement.  I don't see it as  denying the feelings we have in favor of a hardness which excludes emotion. On the contrary! I see it as an expression of pure Love which allows us to pass through illusions into the reality of good, God. The passing of a loved one may be difficult in many ways, but I really think the myths we have concocted surrounding death do more harm than good. We tell children they'll see grandma in heaven. We say things like, God took her to be with him because she was so good. What lies we tell ourselves in the name of kindness! As we begin to understand divine reality, we are able to let loose the stories we tell ourselves in favor of the Truth which sets us free. I'll always remember reading "Beloved Prophet", the story of Kahlil Gibran and the woman who loved him. She sat at his funeral with a peaceful smile on her face. When asked why she wasn't upset, she responded that she had never felt closer to him. What a lovely realization of Oneness and eternity!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“A blundering dispatch, mistakenly announcing the death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's real death would bring. You think that your anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another dispatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and you learn that your suffering was merely the result of your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. You will learn at length that there is no cause for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood. Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.”

Science & Health Page 386:16-25

July 4, 2014 - Celebrate!

photo by Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #185

“I want the peace of God.”

This is a day of celebration in the United States. On July 4th we celebrate Independence. Today's lesson tells us that if we want the peace of God, it is ours if we sincerely want it. The reason for this is that peace is our birthright as an expression of God. Today I will celebrate my independence from thoughts which bind me to old ways; from thoughts which bring neither peace nor freedom. I will throw off the shackles of belief and celebrate the freedom which living Truth brings. I won't concentrate on what I am not, but what I Am. I Am a creation of divine Mind, a reflection of divine Love. Woo-hoo!! Let the celebration begin!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"A few immortal sentences, breathing the omnipotence of divine justice, have been potent to break despotic fetters and abolish the whipping-post and slave market; but oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the breath of freedom come from the cannon’s mouth. Love is the liberator."

Science & Health Page 225:16-22

November 17, 2013 - Freedom in Self

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #321

“Father, my freedom is in You alone.”

I know any number of married people who exude happiness and delight in their relationships. It's a joy to be in their company! And so when I say that many of us are realizing freedom through the ability to live our lives any way we choose, setting aside age-old dictums of how we need to live, I most certainly am not saying these happily married couples should separate!  The freedom we speak of today is one which comes through the recognition of ourselves as a reflection of divine Love. In this realization there is no need for seeking validation or security in material circumstance. As I examine past life choices, I see that I've always been happier living alone than I was sharing a home with parents, spouses, or even children. Realizing that the one thing I have desired is to know God, and that this is not going to be facilitated by anyone other than my Self -- this, to me, is freedom! It's quite a delightful trip, this waiting with heart wide open to see what's coming next!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Marriage should signify a union of hearts. Furthermore, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he declared that in the resurrection there should be no more marrying nor giving in marriage, but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul rejoice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wisdom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and perpetual peace."

Science & Health 64:17-25

November 17, 2012 - Heritage of Freedom

"Bird at Heart"
Sandy Starbird

ACIM Workbook Lesson #321

“Father, my freedom is in You alone.”

An old Kris Kristofferson song, "Me and Bobby McGee", has the line: Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. That seems forlorn on the face of it: I've already lost everything and have nothing left and so I guess that's supposed to be freedom. But then again, there's something to be said for nothing left to lose! Does it have to imply loneliness and emptiness? I don't think so. By not counting on another person, or yourself, or anything other than God to supply everything you need, there is an ultimate freedom in not worrying about what, who, where you'll be -- or anything else! Then you can happily follow that inner knowing which supplies you with the freedom to be open to anything and everything, without wondering or questioning your own motives or those of others. It's quite a delightful trip, this waiting with heart wide open to see what's coming next!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The enslavement of man is not legitimate. It will cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his God-given dominion over the material senses. Mortals will some day assert their freedom in the name of Almighty God. Then they will control their own bodies through the understanding of divine Science. Dropping their present beliefs, they will recognize harmony as the spiritual reality and discord as the material unreality.”

Science & Health Page 228:11-19

August 5, 2012 - I Am Gratitude

"Montana Trees"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #217 (review)

Central Theme:

“I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me.”

Specific review: (#197) “It can be but my gratitude I earn.

The last few days' reviews have brought us to many thresholds of release. We have released the past, the future, the present. Often I'm asked how this is to be done. How do we let go of a memory of an event which haunts us? How do we forgive an incident which seems unforgivable? The ultimate understanding is that it never happened; that it's an illusion,  a projection of thought from our mortal mind, and nothing more. But, I am asked, how do you see that reality when the seeming-reality keeps coming back, causing you to relive the painful memory of whatever it is? When my mind wants to replay a circumstance in all its glorified pathos, I recognize that I have a choice. I can choose again and not see that person, that event, in a way which causes me to feel yet more pain, anger, sorrow. I can think instead of the goodness, kindness, and love inherent in everyone, and allow its reality to form an image in my thought. I can play lots of games with myself in this way, and perhaps cajole myself out of thinking badly or sadly. But to get to the root of this circular dream, the answer may lie in the ideas we're studying today. "It can be but my gratitude I earn". I take this to mean, in part, that I needn't worry about what anyone else thinks about me. If I am being true to myself, to God, that is enough. There are instances from my past which I used to relish telling other people, replaying them in my mind at the slightest provocation. The realization that everyone is doing the best that they can, whether I want to think this is good enough or not, is all it took to relieve the burden I had placed on myself in regard to the attacks I insisted on sending out to others and myself. Gratitude is usually thought of as an outward action to be given, not received. But we have learned that what we give IS what we receive, and this is so with gratitude, also. Salvation often implies a thing to be sought after and earned through attrition of some sort. The salvation we speak of today is a realization that we are Love (God), that the thanks we give is a perpetual realization of this Being that we are, and by this knowing we live in Love and unending gratitude of All that Is.  This understanding brings us to the Truth of Being. This understanding of Truth is salvation, for which I am very grateful.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the words corresponding thereto have these two definitions, trustfulness and trustworthiness. One kind of faith trusts one's welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one's ‘own salvation, with fear and trembling.’ ‘Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!’ expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the injunction, ‘Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!’ demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God.”

Science & Health Page 23:21-31

October 6, 2011

ACIM Lesson #279
“Creation's freedom promises my own.”

Aaron in Mongolia

[Marsha's thoughts]

Isn't it interesting to think of preconceived notions! For instance, when we have acquaintances whom we haven't met, we may imagine them sitting in their living room as they talk to us on the phone. When a loved one tells us about an experience, we "see" them in that situation and fill in the picture in interesting ways. When we think about God, images may come to mind which may be no more than fairy tales and other myths remembered. When we are told we are free, certain images may come to mind. And so what of our bondage which is only imagined? I know I live in those beliefs every day and it often seems impossible to be released from them. As children we are told not to talk to strangers, to be careful lest we fall, to be afraid of God, to live in certain ways in order to gain the approval of others -- the list goes on. It seems to make sense that we must follow a multitude of rules and beliefs in order to exist on this plane, and when we start to realize most of these so-called rules have nothing to do with our true existence it can be frightening -- and exhilarating! The freedom of our true creation is seen through a change in our perception of reality. Taking ourselves out of the prison of preconceived notions allows the Love we are to show through our actions in sublime ways. An "ah-ha" moment can become an "ummmm" moment!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Omnipotent and infinite Mind [God] made all and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes and subsequently correct them.”

Science and Health Page 206:28–30