September 20, 2011

ACIM Lesson #263

“My holy vision sees all things as pure.”

“Father, Your Mind created all that is, Your Spirit entered into it, Your Love gave life to it. And would I look upon what You created as if it could be made sinful? I would not perceive such dark and fearful images. A madman's dream is hardly fit to be my choice, instead of all the loveliness with which You blessed creation; all its purity, its joy, and its eternal, quiet home in You.”

“And while we still remain outside the gate of Heaven, let us look on all we see through holy vision and the eyes of Christ. Let all appearances seem pure to us, that we may pass them by in innocence, and walk together to our Father's house as brothers and the holy Sons of God.”

                                                                    [Marsha's thoughts]

Photo by Richard Quick

In reflecting upon "my holy vision which sees all things as pure", many instances come to mind when I have seen with these eyes, and quite a few jumped out as existing only in material messes. I am refusing to dwell on the latter, dismissing their unreality with a smile, and seeing no need to revisit them further than a nod in passing. Just today I've been presented with a circumstance which seemed to have no good resolution, with someone being left out regardless of the good intentions involved. Shortly after I allowed about a hundred possibilities to run through thought, I caught onto the futility of these intellectual choices and settled into a quiet space of listening. Almost immediately an interesting possibility came to mind! A very exciting option for all involved! And who knows where this will lead these two dear people when the idea is presented to them? Not me personally, that's for sure. But I have complete trust that the situation will be viewed through the pure vision of our real Being, allowing all the seeming problems to disappear into their actual nothingness.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The age has not wholly outlived the sense of ghostly beliefs. It still holds them more or less. Time has not yet reached eternity, immortality, complete reality. All the real is eternal. Perfection underlies reality. Without perfection, nothing is wholly real. All things will continue to disappear, until perfection appears and reality is reached. We must give up the spectral at all points. We must not continue to admit the somethingness of superstition, but we must yield up all belief in it and be wise. When we learn that error is not real, we shall be ready for progress, ‘forgetting those things which are behind.’”

Science & Health Page 353:13-24

September 19, 2011

ACIM Lesson #262
“Let me perceive no differences today.”


[ACIM prayer for the day]
“Father, You have one Son. And it is he that I would look upon today. He is Your one creation. Why should I perceive a thousand forms in what remains as one? Why should I give this one a thousand names, when only one suffices? For Your Son must bear Your Name, for You created him. Let me not see him as a stranger to his Father, nor as stranger to myself. For he is part of me and I of him, and we are part of You Who are our Source, eternally united in Your Love; eternally the holy Son of God.”

[ACIM commentary]
“We who are one would recognize this day the truth about ourselves. We would come home, and rest in unity. For there is peace, and nowhere else can peace be sought and found.”

                                                                                     [Marsha's thoughts]

To the uninitiated in divinely metaphysical thought, the first sentence above might appear to be saying that Jesus is being singled out when One Son is referenced. And he is, but in the inclusive sense that we All are! This consciousness which Jesus tried to show us IS that true being which we speak of so often. This one Mind, Life, Truth, Love -- God, if you will -- cannot be split between you and me, it cannot shine from one and not the other. William Blake says it well: "I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine Love." which means that the perfection we are learning to see as ourselves also is everyone else. I often tell people “We’re all in this together”, but I think I’ll change it to “We are all this – together!” I love the study of this Science of Being, as every day -- every moment -- revelations of thought bring us to the understanding of how this Truth sets us free!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science.”

Science and Health Page 469:30–5

September 18, 2011

ACIM Lesson #261

“God is my refuge and security.

I will identify with what I think is refuge and security. I will behold myself where I perceive my strength, and think I live within the citadel where I am safe and cannot be attacked. Let me today seek not security in danger, nor attempt to find my peace in murderous attack. I live in God. In Him I find my refuge and my strength. In Him is my Identity. In Him is everlasting peace. And only there will I remember Who I really am.”

“Let me not seek for idols. I would come, my Father, home to You today. I choose to be as You created me, and find the Son whom You created as my Self.”

 [Marsha's thoughts]

We all are in the process of lightening our load. I see us getting rid of unneeded things in so many ways. All the clutter in our surroundings and inner self must go! The last time I changed residences was 16 years ago. At that time, I got rid of every possession I didn't feel was absolutely necessary. It was a freeing act which facilitated dropping the sad and perhaps guilt-filled memories from the past decade of combined illness, death, divorces, and other drama-filled events. And so I know it is part of the process, this freeing of ourselves from outer shackles in order to spur us to let go of inner turmoil. Or is it letting go of the inner turmoil which spurs getting rid of “stuff”? This letting go seems to involve a reciprocal effect, in that the more we let go of either, the more we let go of the other! Recently, I’ve noticed that the simplicity of the surroundings I chose many years ago has disappeared. Just as we accumulate more and more books and music and all sorts of things, so we also accumulate so-called emotional baggage. Now is the time to take more positive action toward this cleansing which allows the Source of all true refuge and security to be realized in its totality. I Am, God Is, I Am…

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being.”

Science& Health Page 227:24-29

September 17, 2011

ACIM Lesson #260

“Let me remember God created me.”

ACIM Prayer:“Father, I did not make myself, although in my insanity I thought I did. Yet, as Your Thought, I have not left my Source, remaining part of Who created me. Your Son, my Father, calls on You today. Let me remember You created me. Let me remember my Identity. And let my sinlessness arise again before Christ's vision, through which I would look upon my brothers and myself today.”



“Now is our Source remembered, and Therein we find our true Identity at last. Holy indeed are we, because our Source can know no sin. And we who are His Sons are like each other, and alike to Him.”

[Marsha's thoughts]

In today's remembering of our true creation, I think of reminders of the Truth of our Being. Many moments of perfect peace and joy stand out in memory, and it's easy to think replicating them is what this study is all about. And maybe it is! But that's beside the point. As there is only one cause, God, the effects we experience can only be from this original Cause. Each experience we have is individual, as this Cause is infinite. Today I will remember not to limit God through my expectations. I know people who feel they must meditate for hours a day in order to feel the presence of God. Some may think they can only have this experience in a certain place. One of my favorite books is "Practicing the Presence" by Joel Goldsmith. A central point of his writing is that the only way to experience true Being as the image and likeness of God is through silent communion. This listening Within doesn't need to be long, but it does need to be thorough. Through that thoroughness, it eventually becomes perpetual. And so today I surrender thoroughly and experience what that yielding brings.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout His creation, and the immortality of man and the universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source. Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas material. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind is All and reproduces all--as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product. The only intelligence or substance of a thought, a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it. Mind is the Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which governs all.”
Science & Health Page 507:24-8

September 16, 2011

ACIIM Lesson #259

“Let me remember that there is no sin.”

“Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable. What else could blind us to the obvious, and make the strange and the distorted seem more clear? What else but sin engenders our attacks? What else but sin could be the source of guilt, demanding punishment and suffering? And what but sin could be the source of fear, obscuring God's creation; giving love the attributes of fear and of attack?”

[ACIM prayer for the day]
“Father, I would not be insane today. I would not be afraid of love, nor seek for refuge in its opposite. For love can have no opposite. You are the Source of everything there is. And everything that is remains with You, and You with it.”

"Olive Tree"
Charcoal by Susan DeRosa

[Marsha's thoughts]
How often we feel we've transgressed some material law and are being punished for it! I had a situation today where this seemed so. After completing a few hours of bookkeeping work on my little eBook, the elderly machine decided it couldn't stay turned on for more than a minute or so and also wouldn't connect to the internet. It seemed the completed work would have to be redone because there was no way to get it off the pitiful Linux-based system. To complete my punishment, I had been prompted to do this monthly chore for the first time on the iPad, but was in a rush and didn't want to try something new, so stuck with what was familiar, even though I had a "feeling" it should be done another way. I had allowed a separation in thought from God by not listening and following up on this inner prompt. Everything I needed to do was waiting for me to accept it, but egotistical knowing once again pushed the still, small voice aside. I again felt punished when thinking of the extra time and effort all this would entail. But instead of thinking of possibilities and time schedules, I quietly went about doing other things and after an hour or so it came to me to try again with a totally cooled down computer. And it stayed on for long enough to print the information to paper. I tell you all this to illustrate that when we totally surrender our plans, we are led in harmonious ways. Also, it's never too late to choose again and find solutions. This way of total Trust always takes us where we need to be in any situation.


Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“Question: Is there no sin?
Answer: All reality is in God and His creation, harmonious and eternal. That which He creates is good, and He makes all that is made. Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not true, because they are not of God.”
Science & Health Page 472:23-30

September 15, 2011

ACIM Lesson #258
“Let me remember that my goal is God.”



“All that is needful is to train our minds to overlook all little senseless aims, and to remember that our goal is God. His memory is hidden in our minds, obscured but by our pointless little goals which offer nothing, and do not exist. Shall we continue to allow God's grace to shine in unawareness, while the toys and trinkets of the world are sought instead? God is our only goal, our only Love. We have no aim but to remember Him.”


ACIM Prayer for today:
"Our goal is but to follow in the way that leads to You. We have no goal but this. What could we want but to remember You? What could we seek but our Identity?"

Dancing on Cosmic Jello
from Sandy Wythawai Starbird

[Marsha's thoughts]
Many of us have gone through life feeling there is something missing; that there's an empty place which can never be filled. When we discover that it's not something lacking in us that we must find, we get very excited! This "training of our minds" which is spoken of in today's lesson is not some sort of system of mind control, it's not hypnotism or cult-like obedience -- on the contrary! We train our minds to recognize and release all the "senseless aims ... and pointless little goals" which have become life practices, learned behaviors which come at us from a multitude of sources. Then we are able to see what they have obscured: the only Source from which all reality flows. The insights and answers which appear in our lives are often thought of as serendipitous, which implies an element of luck. This is yet again something we have made up to explain the inexplicable. But spiritual sense needs no explanation. A mere glimpse through these eyes is enough to convince us of our true Identity.


Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God. It shows the superiority of faith by works over faith in words. Its ideas are expressed only in ‘new tongues;’ and these are interpreted by the translation of the spiritual original into the language which human thought can comprehend.”
Science & Health Page 209:31-4

September 14, 2011

ACIM Lesson #257

“Let me remember what my purpose is.”


“If I forget my goal I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus conflicted in my actions. No one can serve contradicting goals and serve them well. Nor can he function without deep distress and great depression. Let us therefore be determined to remember what we want today, that we may unify our thoughts and actions meaningfully, and achieve only what God would have us do this day.”


ACIM prayer for today:
“Father, forgiveness is Your chosen means for our salvation. Let us not forget today that we can have no will but Yours. And thus our purpose must be Yours as well, if we would reach the peace You will for us.”

[Marsha's thoughts]
I love the first sentence in the commentary above: "If I forget my goal, I can be but confused ..."! Looking back over the last half-century, I see many times of major confusion, and lots of minor confusions which flutter around constantly, asking for more room to spread their wings. I like seeing them from this standpoint, that these confusions are nothing more than times when I've forgotten that my Life is Spirit. So then I wonder, What is this purpose I am to remember? It's unfolding every moment, and all I need do is show up and be willing. Willing to be open-hearted, open-minded -- just open! -- with no expectations and no plans of how things should be. It's tempting to think of this as undisciplined, and others may be critical of this attitude. But I can attest to the fact that wandering around in college for five years perfectly prepared me for free-lance court reporting, and thirty years of dipping into the minds of every type of humanity while in that profession was a great background for the things I'm doing today. And none of it could have been planned. Today I think of this as listening and following. Then, I didn't think of it at all …


Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“Jesus urged the commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before me," which may be rendered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life,-- even God, good. He rendered "unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved, not by spirits but by Spirit."
Science & Health Page 19:29-5