July 6, 2012 - What Blesses One Blesses All

"Aaron in South Africa"
photo by Heather Magnan

A Course in Miracles Lesson #187

“I bless the world because I bless myself.”

If we have something and give it away, our material belief is that we don't have it any longer. The truth as we are learning through these studies tells us that giving will increase what we possess. We are also learning that things represent thoughts. And we also are learning that when we give ideas away they become stronger in our own mind. The form is often changed in what we have given and what we receive, but it never leaves us lacking. While reading today's lesson, I’m remembering something from a few years back. I had loaned a friend quite a bit of money. After asking her to start paying me back, she wrote me a letter saying that this money would come back to me in some form since the laws of the universe demand it. It was a beautifully eloquent letter, detailing many metaphysical principles. But this response didn't seem to be of assistance in meeting the obligations knocking on my door. After a while I quit thinking of this situation as a loaning of money, un-repaid, but as a gift to a friend. This came to mind a year so or later when my gallery was on the verge of closing. Within a week's time, friends and people I barely knew had given me more than $17,000. What a perfect demonstration of what we're pondering today! Whether giving ideas and watching them multiply, or giving material things and seeing them as representations of Love, we can be assured of returns when we freely give.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes,--Spirit, not matter, being the source of supply.”

Science & Health, Page 206:15-18

July 5, 2012 - Accepting function is not arrogance

A Course in Miracles Lesson #186

“Salvation of the world depends on me.”

"Couple in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston

"Salvation of the world depends on me." We have been deceived into thinking that accepting this statement as truth would be the epitome of arrogance on our part. Me?? How could that be possible? I'm so ... fill in the blank with how you believe yourself to be unworthy. Yet the first sentence in this lesson tells us that these words will take away all arrogance from every mind. Mortal mind, or ego, tells us these falsehoods about ourselves, which cause us to be, alternatively, puffed up with our goodness or deflated by our badness. The humble acceptance of our part in this whole shows the pointlessness of such feelings. When listening to divine Mind, God, many avenues of expression are shown to us. We may be prompted to speak to people we've never interacted with before, in ways we never dreamed we'd speak. Let us not fear our function, whatever that revealed function may be! Let's listen carefully and constantly, in order to hear the full prompting. So often I think divine inspiration is coming through loud and clear, and then find I only listened part-way and proceeded to fill in the blanks with what I wanted to happen. And so I vow today to listen 100%, putting vain imaginings away! I know my function is forgiveness. Listening will show me what that means today, every moment, every day.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Millions of unprejudiced minds--simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert--are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences.”

Science & Health Page 570:14-18

July 4, 2012 - Freedom through peace

"London, England, 2006"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #185

“I want the peace of God.”

The first two sentences in today's lesson say it all: "To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything." How easy it is to say we want the peace of God. But do we live as though we mean that? That is the question! I am often asked how I expect to pray for the world if I don't know what horrors are happening out there. Even though I don't watch or hear mainstream media news, I do have a few sources of information. My favorite is documentary films. Recently I've watched "Taking Root", telling us about the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. I've received an understanding of how lack of water and forests affect the people, and how things have gotten to the point they're at today. It leads my thought to the personal responsibility we each must take for the environment around us, and ourselves individually. The Christian Science Monitor is a wonderful resource which can be found online or in a weekly print publication. This is a stellar newspaper which Mary Baker Eddy started in the early 1900s, whose mission was and is to "injure no man, but to bless all mankind". Often people tell me that opposites are necessary. For instance, I've been told we wouldn't appreciate peace without unrest, and what would happiness be if we didn't know its opposite, and that we can't know light if we haven't experienced darkness. When these views are voiced, I'm always tempted to say, "Hogwash", or something similar in meaning!! And this seeming need for dualism is what keeps us from wholeheartedly wanting and accepting the peace of God which is ours. If we have peace, how would we recognize it without some sort of struggle to bounce it off of? Let's not think of these things when recognizing the peace of God, which has neither beginning nor end, and is ours now, in this eternity – simply for the acknowledging of it.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.

Science & Health Page 45:16-21

July 3, 2012 - Animal Communications

"Heather in St. Louis'
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #184

“The Name of God is my inheritance.”

Animal communication has always been fascinating to me. We can do away with the words we have designated as meaningful, all symbols we have created to separate us one from the other. Dogs, for instance, don't care if we're speaking Chinese or German, and when we realize this we're on our way to true communication. Animals respond to the images they pick up from thought. If you call your dog to you, but see him running away, then he's most likely going to run away. At some point, your sweet dog will become accustomed to the name you have given a particular action, and begin to respond to it, becoming a part of the scenario we have created for it and ourselves. But in their natural state, and ours, we all respond to the thoughts around us. I often tell my employees that every thought they think is going into the atmosphere of the gallery. If you are smiling and friendly on the outside, but teaming with turmoil on the inside, there is an uncomfortable feeling surrounding you. True communication is clearly shown by a flock of birds, turning together in the sky as an expression of the One. Try practicing with your dog while walking, thinking which way you want to turn before you tug on the leash. Expand that practice with the wildlife eating your flowerbeds! Or tell those ants to leave your house, in the way that J. Allen Boone does in "Kinship With All Life". Experiment with different ways of communication. What an adventure!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“In the Scriptural allegory of the material creation, Adam or error, which represents the erroneous theory of life and intelligence in matter, had the naming of all that was material. These names indicated matter's properties, qualities, and forms. But a lie, the opposite of Truth, cannot name the qualities and effects of what is termed matter, and create the so-called laws of the flesh, nor can a lie hold the preponderance of power in any direction against God, Spirit and Truth.”

Science & Health Page 177:15-24

July 2, 2012 - Just Call

"South African Sunset"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #183

“I call upon God's Name and on my own.”

The crux of what I'm gleaning from today's lesson is that it doesn't matter what you call it, as long as you call it! It also seems to be about beginning to "get" our true relation to God as Its image and likeness. It has also caused me to think about people's reactions to the word "God". Often you will see shades pulled closed in the eyes of those who hear you say this word. And so, over time, we may stop saying it and go with such words as Source, All that Is, et cetera. For myself, what I will stress in thought today are the synonyms given for God by Mary Baker Eddy. These seven words build upon each other and totally define Deity. Each word alone does not do the job, but when you start learning the magnitude of these synonyms, there is an overwhelming Allness which starts to be understood. Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. These seven words combine to give us a gift. This gift grows more each moment as it is accepted and practiced within your mind. Through this material insight, we are able to see a bit of our spiritual reality. Translate the word God in any way it feels correct within yourself. If you'd like more to chew on concerning these synonyms for God, there is a wonderful book I've recently been introduced to: "Your Divinity Revealed: The Seven-fold Revelation of Your Being", by Helen M. Wright. I highly recommend it!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Question: What is God?

Answer: God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.

Question: Are these terms synonymous?

Answer: They are. They refer to one absolute God. They are also intended to express the nature, essence, and wholeness of Deity. The attributes of God are justice, mercy, wisdom, goodness, and so on.

Question: Is there more than one God or Principle?

Answer: There is not."

Science & Health Page 465: 8-17

July 1, 2012 - There's no place like Home

Fantasy Photography by Melanie Myhre

A Course in Miracles Lesson #182

“I will be still an instant and go home.”

Although I realize today's subject has nothing to do with the physical presence of home, it causes me to realize how I cherish that space. There is absolutely no place I'd rather be. If I suddenly had a month to do anything I wanted with no obligation, I would remain at home. I'd putter in the garden, I'd read, I'd sit on the back deck and watch the birds and wildlife -- I'd do all the things I do every day, but more of it!! Often I feel I'm in a cocoon of peaceful harmony. My dog loves to hang out and do nothing with me. Although my children are grown, the one who is with me on weekends loves to stay in his downstairs "man cave" and rarely leaves our end-of-the road haven. We live in the type of neighborhood where we freely call on one another for things as simple as borrowing an egg; as complex as fixing a car. It's a lifelong dream to be living this exact life, and I couldn't be happier. And so it seems natural to "be still an instant and go home". This lesson is asking us to quiet all the hubbub in our existence for just an instance, in order to feel the peace of God which is ours. And so I will today pause for many instants. I will sink deeper into the wonder of Truth, knowing all else is but a made-up dream of existence. When I hear anything which might cause me to think in a defensive way, I'll remember what is true and what is imagined. If the world has decided to live in an attack mode, defending against everything which it deems to be harmful, I will do my part in bringing in the dawn of Truth by accepting spiritual reality and rejecting material myth. An instant is all it takes to feel the presence of God!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“As mortals begin to understand Spirit, they give up the belief that there is any true existence apart from God.”

Science & Health Page 282:30-32

June 30, 2012 -Trust Yourself

A Course in Miracles Lesson #181

“I trust my brothers, who are one with me.”

"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