No Neutral Thoughts

Our hearts cry for children, animals, adults, trees, insects — all of life is in need of our higher thoughts and positive actions. When we see a heartbreaking situation and translate it into Love, we are helping. Everything we say or do is either a reflection of Love or of fear, and fear seems to attach itself to us with every new travesty we witness. Fearful responses get us nowhere and only cause the situation to be more solidified in our thoughts. We are flexible and easily-influenced, but we are also smart and intuitive. The choices we have may seem overwhelming sometimes, but when we realize there is only one real choice, Love, it becomes easier to see truth. We all want to be loved, to be safe, to be comfortable, to be at peace. It may seem as though hatred spreads like wildfire, but Love puts out the flames of hatred as surely as light brightens a dark room. It may hurt our eyes at first, but those reflective organs are made to adjust. I hope you can do something joyous today. Love as strongly as some are fearing, because it's an incredibly strong and unstoppable force, one which we hold right here in our hearts.

“Neutral thoughts are impossible because all thoughts have power. They will either make a false world or lead me to the real one. But thoughts cannot be without effects. As the world I see arises from my thinking errors, so will the real world rise before my eyes as I let my errors be corrected. My thoughts cannot be neither true nor false. They must be one or the other. ⁸What I see shows me which they are.” 

A Course in Miracles W-54.1:2-8

“Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christendom with chains.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 95:28-3

We’re Ready!

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

The Age of Aquarius. Harmonic Convergence. The Shift. Ascension. Activating DNA Strands. What do these things have in common? They are events which herald a change in thought which has been happening for as long as I can remember. We have been seeking and hoping that a way will open for us to understand, to experience, the meaning of Life, and to demonstrate this reality. A Course in Miracles helps us see that the world we experience is meaningless. You may wonder why anyone would want to see a meaningless world.  I'm not sure we would, but that's certainly what we're doing. As we begin to glimpse the difference in spiritual realities and material illusions, we see that the world we hold in place through belief and misperception is meaningless. In order to see spiritual reality, we must give up the beliefs and illusions we have created. A single glimpse of this world of Love is enough to make me want to throw open the door to more! 

“Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that pictures them can have no meaning. What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it produces. Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing.”

A Course in Miracles W-53.1:2-5

"Spiritual attainments open the door to a higher understanding of the divine Life." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 10:15-16

Choose Again, That I May See

Grand baby Torin at Train Museum

We who are practicing metaphysicians often hear words such as: "Get real! Face facts! Pull your head out of the sand!" I usually just smile and say, "You may be right", and politely wander away. Trying to explain my actions to the spiritually-deaf ear would be akin to explaining purple to a blind child. But if I were asked to do that, it would have to be done through feeling the color and allowing that sight to pass to the sightless. And so rather than explaining -- or worse, arguing! -- I will feel the spiritual reality of Love, while allowing the material argument to pass through and be gone. I have not always been so easy to get along with! Recently, I've had a chance to spend time with an old friend who will be moving far, far away. A number of years ago, she and I had an altercation which was deeply interconnected to many aspects of our friendship. If either she or I had held onto the past, we wouldn't share the palpable Oneness we feel today. As A Course in Miracles tells us: it's not a choice of seeing past or present, but a choice to see or not to see. Where I've chosen to shade my thoughts with unreality, I will choose again, flowing in Oneness with All That Is.

“If I see nothing as it is now, it can truly be said that I see nothing. I can see only what is now. The choice is not whether to see the past or the present; the choice is merely whether to see or not. What I have chosen to see has cost me vision. Now I would choose again, that I may see.” 

A Course in Miracles W-52.4:2-6

"Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem of Truth's garment."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 270:22-27

Reverse Our Feeble Flutterings

Upon awakening, I had about 20 inane and/or insane thoughts before I realized what I was doing. "What day is this and where am I supposed to be?", was quickly followed by a chain of remembrances which took me from a lovely cooking store to my childhood home, then zoomed over to a friend's house and a remembered conversation, before zipping back to a neglected household chore. This illustrates why it is so important to guide first thoughts of the day to paths of Spirit. Without this discipline, I could spend all my time with meaningless thoughts which create turmoil rather than peace within.  I have found that leading first thoughts to Truth helps to keep my mind in tune for the rest of the day, rather than thinking of all the material insanity which comes at me from every direction once I leave the sequestered world of my home. Often we feel bombarded by thoughts of fear and hostility, lack and disease, error and disharmony. What if our thoughts of peace and harmony could quiet the seeming turmoil of the world? Then would it be worth the effort to pull our thoughts away from inanity and hold steadfastly to the ideas of divine Mind? Everything we think or speak or do is shared. How important then to see the reality of it all, rather than the beliefs we are taught by the repetition of them. Join me in taking a stand for Truth, and experience the transformational power!

“I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. This is not vision. It is merely an illusion of reality, because my judgments have been made quite apart from reality. I am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because I want to see. My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to them.” 

A Course in Miracles W-51.2:2-6

“We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God’s creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings — our efforts to find life and truth in matter — and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 262:9-16

Our Journey

Art From Catrin Welz-Stein

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do 

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go 

we have come to our real journey.”

~ Wendell Berry

“Put not your faith in illusions. They will fail you. Put all your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. This is the answer to whatever confronts you today. Through the Love of God within you, you can resolve all seeming difficulties without effort and in sure confidence. Tell yourself this often today. It is a declaration of release from the belief in idols. It is your acknowledgment of the truth about yourself.”

A Course in Miracles W-50.4:1-8

“Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests [Its] love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 340:12-14

Where Truth Abides

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

I’ve noticed in the past few years that many people want others to tell them what to do. We seem to flock to those who are willing (even eager) to guide us through the maze of life. I think it’s because if we’re doing what someone else tells us, then we can blame them if it doesn’t work out! I’m only partly joking about that. Sometimes we fear making decisions for ourselves because we don’t think we are informed enough to do so. At that point, we either throw up our hands and don’t do anything, or ask someone else what they’re going to do, so we can do the same. Perhaps we don’t trust our own inner guidance, because we have so often mistaken our busy little mind for the calm voice of divine Mind. We are told in Workbook Lesson #49 of A Course in Miracles: “God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.” Let’s not expect a big, booming human voice to come down from above, but a still, small certainty in the deepness of ourselves, leading us as the expression of Life, Truth, and Love!

“It is quite possible to listen to God’s Voice all through the day without interrupting your regular activities in any way. The part of your mind in which truth abides is in constant communication with God, whether you are aware of it or not. It is the other part of your mind that functions in the world and obeys the world’s laws. It is this part that is constantly distracted, disorganized and highly uncertain.” 

A Course in Miracles W-49.1:1-4

"Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout creation, and the immortality of man and the universe." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 507:24-28

The Illusion of Separation

Maternity Shoot in Colorado

February 2024

It seems as though things that we fear all have to do with lack and separation. Fear stems from the idea that we can be separated from joy and love, from peace and security. I remember when my son left home for a boarding school at the tender age of fourteen. I was so sad, I felt I'd never laugh again. I literally couldn't imagine happiness, as everything I looked at reminded me he was gone. After a week or so of living in this maudlin state, I realized I was thinking of him as though he were dead. This led me to examine that avenue. What if he was dead? Wouldn't the love we felt still be alive? Of course, I would miss being around him, enjoying his company -- just as I was missing him then, with 300 miles of physical separation. A Rumi quote helped break this illusion: "Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. For those who love with heart and soul there is no separation." What is it which allows us to be together no matter where we seem to be?  Love. The Love which is our essence is a connection that cannot be broken by any set of material circumstance. When I'm really feeling the security of divine Love, I'm reminded of the way a baby is swaddled in a blanket. Divine Love swaddles us in Its ever-present protection.

“Nothing real can be threatened.

Nothing unreal exists.

Herein lies the peace of God.”

A Course in Miracles T-in.2:2-4

"The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.' Here is a definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 410:17-21

A Problem Set in Conflict …

Blue Spring, Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Photo by Arthur Bruno

In a world where we are being fed lies, it’s extremely difficult to figure out what is truth. Media spreads deception and distrust, dividing people in ways which seem irreparable. Bias doesn’t frighten me, but intentional lies do. Many of us remember the early days of television, bringing with it a new type of advertising, and consumerism became flagrant. It has reached an apex now, in which nearly everything we hear and see is designed to sell us something. We must continue to be vigilant in what we allow into our thoughts, not only for our own good, but for the collective. Repeating stories which create divisions through feelings of superiority or inferiority, that’s playing the game which has been created for us. It’s important to use our education, our intuition, our spiritual knowledge, every bit of common sense we still have, to discern truth. A Christian Science treatment is often referred to as “knowing the Truth”. It is in reference to knowing the Truth of our being, not the beliefs we’ve come to think of as facts. We need not be the victim of propaganda or other forms of hypnosis. “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach me”. This statement from Mary Baker Eddy is all we need to keep in mind. When we are filled with Love, there is no room for anything else. 

"The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. ... It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 128

“In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved. In conflict there can be no answer and no resolution, for its purpose is to make no resolution possible, and to ensure no answer will be plain. A problem set in conflict has no answer, for it is seen in different ways. And what would be an answer from one point of view is not an answer in another light. You are in conflict. Thus it must be clear you cannot answer anything at all, for conflict has no limited effects. Yet if God gave an answer there must be a way in which your problems are resolved, for what He wills already has been done.” 

A Course in Miracles T-27.IV.1:1-7

No Forgiveness Necessary

Photo credit: Stephen Shogren

Living in acknowledgement of our unity shows us a new paradigm, a different perception of what we call reality. The opposite of unity, separation, can be described as anything which separates us from Love. Our separation becomes very apparent on occasions such as Valentine's Day. Numerous people I know expressed their disgust for this sweet day of celebration, supposedly because they are not "in love". Someone even said, "Happy too-bad-you're-not-in-love Day!" I had to burst out laughing, because I feel very much in Love! Every moment is an adventure in experiencing the Love which is my Source. I revel in waking up each day and spending time aligning my thoughts with divine Mind/Love. Through this centering, I feel as though I'm having a love affair with all of life. Yes, situations occur which tempt me to revert to a judgmental way of living, and that’s okay. It seems that recognizing this behavior, and reinterpreting my responses, are an important part of learning the metaphysical precepts I’m studying. With enough practice, I hope to have no need to forgive, because I have not condemned. 

“God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.” 

A Course in Miracles W-46.1:1-5

 "'God is Love.' More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or unsought, is to misunderstand Love ..." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 6:17-21

Expressions of Love

 

Graphic created by Aaron Springston

On this day when we celebrate love, I am reminded of the amazing ways people are expressing Love all over the world. It's wonderful to hear stories of individuals who see a need and find a way to meet it! I read a story about a man who started a website to track refugees, in order to help others identify people in need and give assistance. Another man has dedicated his life to saving dogs by transporting them to areas of the country where they can find homes. I have vowed to find at least one incidence of good every day -- and good news is everywhere when we’re looking for it! I'm going to take time today to think of all the people I know who are expressing Love and living a life of grace. This grace doesn't need to be expressed in large ways, it only needs to be heartfelt and sincere. Happy Valentine's Day to us all!!

“Love alone can impart the limitless idea of infinite Mind.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health  Page 510:18-19

“Where, then, are your real thoughts? Today we will attempt to reach them. We will have to look for them in your mind, because that is where they are. They must still be there, because they cannot have left their source. What is thought by the Mind of God is eternal, being part of creation.” 

A Course in Miracles W-45.3:1-5 

“Every concept which seems to begin with the brain begins falsely. Divine Mind is the only cause or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter, in mortal mind, or in physical forms.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 262:28-32

Light Passing Through a Windowpane

Photo courtesy of Alden Stallings

At a recent function, someone leaned in close to me and said something derogatory about another person. I was reminded of Olympia Dukakis in Steel Magnolias when she said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say about anybody, come and sit by me”.  I wanted to say just the opposite and ask this person to go away! But I also wanted to see her comments with the light of Love and interpret them purely rather than through my personal judgment of the words. So I just smiled at her. I was standing there asking Holy Spirit what to say in response, but nothing came to thought, so I didn’t nervously babble something meaningless, nor did I condemn her as I am wont to do. This experience helped me understand that a response is not always necessary. I hope to remember on a daily basis that light is within, not without. My work is to become a clearer transparency from which this light may flow!

“The manifestation of God through mortals is as light passing through the windowpane. 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 295:16-24

“In order to see, you must recognize that light is within, not without. You do not see outside yourself, nor is the equipment for seeing outside you. An essential part of this equipment is the light that makes seeing possible. It is with you always, making vision possible in every circumstance.”

A Course in Miracles W-44.2:1-4

We Are More

Art by Jane Newland

“Don't abandon yourself. Not when you're sick. Not when you're tired. Not when you've lost the thread, the thought, or the thing you thought defined you. 

You will die many times in one life and create yourself anew. This is natural. This is a gift. I've died a few times now here in this world. The person I was: gone. 

Throw that older skin into the water. Give it to the sky. Step into what wants to emerge now. Nothing can hold you back when you are willing to be yourself.”

Jeannette Enchinias

"[We are] more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 258:9-12

“Perception is not an attribute of God. His is the realm of knowledge. Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge. Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind. With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge. That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it. Therefore, that is its function in truth.”

A Course in Miracles W-43.1:1-7

Pure Vision

Unknown Photographer

"Gut feelings" are often discounted as being invalid, for numerous reasons. Some say they're no more than paranoid thoughts, others may think of them as wishful thinking, but few think of them as divine vision. In this familiar world, we must reinterpret everything we see. Looking at our surroundings with human eyes, hearing with mortal ears, brings to us a false projection of Truth. Discord and inharmony are but misinterpretations we perceive. Through right identification and reinterpretation, we see with a pure vision. As an example, when we see train tracks coming together in the distance, we immediately reinterpret that into the truth of the situation. We know that those tracks aren't coming together and that it will not be dangerous to travel on the train which carries us toward that end. We have been taught to translate many similar situations, and we do not fear them. The metaphysical studies we've embarked upon are doing the same thing: teaching us to recognize misidentification and translate it into Truth. Translating erroneous thought is a present possibility!

“Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 393:12-15

“God is indeed your strength, and what He gives is truly given. This means that you can receive it any time and anywhere, wherever you are, and in whatever circumstance you find yourself. Your passage through time and space is not at random. You cannot but be in the right place at the right time. Such is the strength of God. Such are His gifts.” 

A Course in Miracles W-42.2:1-6

One is a Whole Number

Art by Marianne Faguy

“Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world. It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real, and suffered out of its allegiance to them.” A Course in Miracles W-41.3:1-2

“The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love.

It may look paradoxical to you, but it's not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of another person, without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other.

They allow the other absolute freedom, because they know that if the other leaves, they will be as happy as they are now.

Their happiness cannot be taken by the other,

 because it is not given by the other.”

~ Osho

“Today's idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience. Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.” 

A Course in Miracles - Workbook Lesson #41

“Wilderness: Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 597:16-19

I Am an Eternal Creation of Love

Beaver Bridge in Beaver, Arkansas

Photo by Stephen Shogren

Why can’t we all just be happy? I’ve heard this question voiced numerous times, and I’ve probably said it a time or two myself. People may tell you that poverty and abuse keep many people from being happy. On the flip side, what of people who have everything a person could want, but yet they are terribly unhappy? When I was a teenager, a friend of the family had a series of unfortunate events occur in her life. In a three-year period, her husband passed on, their house burned down, and then her daughter was in a car accident which left her in a coma for over a year before she died. And she had also lost an infant daughter years before. This woman lived well into her 80s, always happily helping others, and I was told she died with a smile on her face. At the time, I wondered how she did it. I see now that she knew the open secret of Life. With each loved one who passes on, with each beloved animal I’ve known and loved through the years, something is growing more certain within me: they haven’t gone anywhere. Never born, never dying. If there was a beginning, then there must be an end. Seeing myself as a blessed eternal creation of Love brings me joy!

“Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing you see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will you value like unto this, nor hold so dear. Nothing that you remember that made your heart sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you. For you will see the Son of God. You will behold the beauty the Holy Spirit loves to look upon, and which He thanks the Father for. He was created to see this for you, until you learned to see it for yourself. And all His teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with Him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-17.II.1:1-9

“As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 516:2-8