A Course in Miracles Lesson #181
“I trust my brothers, who are one with me.”
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| "Joy at Great Wall of China" photo by Aaron Springston |
How easy it is to condemn others for their actions! As I look at my inner thoughts toward people, I see that I am projecting my fears and insecurities outward onto everyone today. The woman with the little boy whose sticky handprints dot my gallery's window, the couple who ignore my greeting and look through me as though I'm not there, the countless people who seem alternatively bored and critical -- they all combine to cause me to take today's lesson to heart and hold it there. These lines from the workbook lesson #181 speak to the critical assessment I'm throwing at everyone: "When you attack a brother, you proclaim that he is limited by what you have perceived in him. You do not look beyond his errors. Rather, they are magnified, becoming blocks to your awareness of the Self that lies beyond your own mistakes, and past his seeming sins as well as yours." I'll always remember how this was brought home to me one day during a parade. I was standing outside by the door watching the festivities. A fellow shopkeeper on our street was telling me about a rude couple and how the woman had refused to speak to her because (in her opinion) she had tattoos and was a lesbian. She then pointed out the couple, who were walking down the sidewalk. They went into my gallery. I followed them in and began a conversation with the man. I asked him why he wasn't watching the parade. He gruffly said that they were on vacation and they had a schedule to keep; that they didn't have time for fun! He actually said this, in all seriousness. I persisted in talking to him and found out that his wife had lost her voice the year before. She was an attorney, and having been a court reporter myself for years, I know just how much lawyers like to talk! This was the woman the fellow shopkeeper had judged as being rude to her because she didn't respond verbally to a greeting. This so perfectly showed me how our own perceptions are put onto others, and how totally off the mark they can be! Once again, I vow to look past all notions I may have about my brothers, seeing their real Being as the image and likeness of God.
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“I saw the love of God encircling the universe and man, filling all space, and that divine Love so permeated my own consciousness that I loved with Christlike compassion everything I saw.”
"We Knew Mary Baker Eddy" Page 68
