August 8, 2012 - Choose Peace

A Course in Miracles Lesson #220 (review)

“I am not a body. I am free,

For I am still as God created me.”

Specific review: (#200) “There is no peace except the peace of God.”

"Buzzards in Eureka Spring"
photo by Marsha Havens

In reading and pondering the above words, my mind turns to events in the past where I had the choice of either living peace or doing what I thought would defend my "cause".  A few years ago, I became embroiled in a controversy concerning turkey vultures roosting in our wooded town. Mosts of them were congregated in our neighborhood, in a hollow between two residential streets. Some of my neighbors were convinced that the birds were dangerous and needed to go away. Through their efforts, sonic cannons were going to be fired with the hope of sending the birds somewhere else. At this point in my life, I try not to have strong opinions about anything. But for some reason, I chose to jump up on my high-horse and start gathering signatures on a petition to stop the cannons. Eventually the whole neighborhood was up in arms over this and most of them were not speaking to me. At a particularly hostile point, the realization came that I had made the wrong choice. I had not chosen the peace of God, but my own self-righteous reasoning, and no one was the better for it. The vulture known as buzzard is called the "peace eagle" by the Cherokee people. It is named this because it's the only bird which does not kill. And so I quietly backed away from the situation. This doesn't mean that I stopped being an advocate for the birds, but I did change my actions. From an approach which was mainly on the material plane, rabble-rousing and trying to change things, I shifted to quietly seeing the Truth of everyone and everything in the situation, knowing that we are all reflections of divine Love.  By affirming that divine order is ever-present and that I didn't need to do anything other than allow that order to guide my thoughts, any sense of personal responsibility was released.  If you're wondering what happened, they did shoot off the sonic cannons, the birds left temporarily, and within a short time they came back. Everyone is speaking to each other again, and we seem to be closer than ever for the conflict. Isn't it wonderful that we can always choose again!!

Mary Baker Eddy quotes:

“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.”

Science & Health Page 261:4-7

August 7, 2012 - I Am Free

"Drumming in Eureka Springs"
photo by Richard Quick 

A Course in Miracles Lesson #219 (review)

Central Theme:

“I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me.”

 Specific review: (#199) “I am not a body. I am free.”

We all have heard of instances where people have bypassed material laws of physical possibilities and performed some heroic act, such as lifting a car off of a loved one. While today's lesson is telling us that our true being is not this body, that we are actually Spirit and all that implies, most people balk at the thought that the physical body should conform to spiritual laws. As today's lesson tells us, the body's purpose now is unambiguous. Once we have freed thought from the enslavement of the limitations of the body, then it is free to perform its function as your servant. These words, "I am not a body, I am free", were beautifully demonstrated during a drumming in Basin Park on Saturday evening. This drumming goes on for two hours, as does the dancing and other freedom-from-limitation activities such as hula-hooping. In the 100-degree heat, a large group of people vigorously played hand drums, danced, and joyfully expressed themselves with no thought of anything other than the primal energy surging through their bodies. The illusion of age plays no factor in this timeless activity, with small children and so-called senior citizens keeping pace with Angelo, the beautiful African man who leads these love-ins. The joy spreads much farther than we can see! Let's all find activities which raise our level of happiness in this way and practice them regularly! Sing and dance while doing housework! Find the joy in every activity. As Wayne Dyer tells us, "If you drop a pen and don't enjoy picking it up, drop it again."  (For a taste of the spirit of Eureka, do a search on drumming in Eureka Springs on youTube)

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The inharmonious belief does not create an inharmonious condition. The belief of lack is the lack. The belief of disease is the disease. That is why the body seems to change as man's thinking changes. It is simply as beliefs of disease and imperfections fall away, and our thinking is corrected and held true to Truth, so that mental chaos and confusion no longer cloud our vision, we see the body as God sees it, as it eternally is. Then it stands revealed to us in its beauty and its glory, the temple, not made with hands. All that our ignorance does is to affect our vision, or view of things. It does not change anything that God has made.

'We do not handle substance through our personal thought to change it. We only see according to our thought, our degree of enlightenment. Walt Whitman said, "The world is jagged and broken,  to him who is jagged and broken," to him whose mental realm is dark. If one's thought is ignorant and unenlightened, it changes his vision as a cloud of mist. As he looks through the cloud he sees this world, the body, all things, distorted, abnormal and wrong.

'If the mental atmosphere is dark and dense, we see but dimly and are not able to perceive the perfection that is. Man does not by mental effort bring God into manifestation, neither does he through wrong thinking prevent God's manifestation. God IS and God is manifest, and it is not in the power of unenlightened personal thought or mental effort to obstruct or hinder the activity of God, or to mar or to deface the perfection of God's creation."

From a statement copyrighted by Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy at the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C. January 19, 1886

August 6, 2012 - Waking Up

"Happiness at Real Salt Lake"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #218 (review)

Central Theme:

“I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me.”

Specific Review: (#198) “Only my condemnation injures me.”

We stand aghast at injustice. It seems rampant everywhere we look. How have we allowed corruption to reign supreme? Why is our food poison, our water scarce, what we value meaningless? How has this happened while we stand by believing that everything is as it should be? Why do we allow it to happen? The recognition of our unity is a major turning point in our evolution. With the knowledge that everything is connected, that what affects one affects all, we are prompted to stand up and make the change within ourselves that we would like to see in the world. This interconnectedness of All that Is first was shown to me by my Beagle, Harry. He was so sensitive to feelings around him that the mildest irritation about anything on my part would send him to the farthest depths of the closet, where he would remain until I had "cleared my energy field" -- so to speak. And now I watch my moods and thoughts affecting the demeanor of customers in my business. If I am tense and irritable, that's what I draw to myself. Seeing that there are only two choices, Love or fear, helps lead me from the blindness which has held us all helpless for so long. We have within our Being the ability to change the world. True evolution is the evolution of consciousness.  What a wonderful thing, to see through awakened Thought! To wake up from the hypnosis we have allowed ourselves to fall under is a very exciting proposition, isn't it? Reality, as we have accepted it, is falling away to reveal a way of life we have thought of as impossible. Love is the liberator. Embrace the change which is moving from human intellect back into the space of the heart. Open yourself to the divine and live as you were created. Accept your reality as the reflection of God, with no fear, only Love guiding your every action. The time is now to live Love and all that implies!

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 49:16-22

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

August 4, 2012 - Divinely Inspired or Ego-Oriented

A Course in Miracles  Lesson #216 (review)

Central Theme:

“I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me.”

 Specific review: (#196) “It can be but myself I crucify.”

"Mark in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron  Springston 

In the last two lessons, we've been releasing the past and the future, so it only makes sense that we address the present, too! I've never understood how/why people are rude to others. It has never made any sense to me, and I've always thought that they must be making a special effort to be mean, as it seems natural to be nice. Lately, I think I'm beginning to understand. It seems that most of the time I'd rather not speak to anyone, for any reason. I'm so happy just being in my cozy little home, that it's quite an effort to get out and be interactive in any way. While I don't feel I'm being rude, I'm certainly not being as friendly as I used to be.  And I like to think I'm not being mean to anyone, but there is at least one person I can think of who probably sees me as just that! I've been examining the motives in my actions toward her. It's my responsibility to see that the employees of my gallery support the loving atmosphere for which we've become known. People often walk in the door and breath a sigh of relief, as they feel the peace which radiates from the hundreds of pieces of art within our space. I have allowed a disruption to live within these walls. It hasn't been a big one, but it's enough that I've known something must change. And when I didn't have the fortitude to facilitate this change, I became angry at myself, which I manifested toward her. So in attacking this dear woman who is doing the best that she can, I have nailed myself to the cross of my own making. I've always loved the expression, "hoisted on your own petard". It seems I'm doing just that! So today I will see us all as free of any imaginary attacks or perpetrations of thought. I will hold no grudge against anyone, including myself, and move forward, knowing forgiveness and salvation for all. When confronted with any thought, in order to ascertain if it is divinely inspired or ego-oriented, I rely on how it makes me feel. Does this thought bring peace and harmony within, or does it cause me to feel the opposite? Enough said. And so today I will release the present also, when it is no more than ego-induced angst.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from illusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts, proceeding from the brain or from matter, are offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material beliefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal.”

Science & Health Page 88:9-14

Am I Living in the Future?

"Bryce Canyon"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #215

Central theme:

"I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me."

 Specific review: Lesson (#195): "Love is the way I walk in gratitude."

In yesterday's lesson, we released the past. In today's, we release the future. Although these two illusions of time and space are only that, we tend to live in one or the other most of the time.  For me, the future is even more difficult to release than the past.  Childhood fantasies of the way things could be, expectations projected onto loved ones, wondering what tomorrow will bring, all these thoughts can be haunting. But years of practicing the art of being open to Love with no expectations have brought interesting results! A big one that comes to mind is the evolution of a business I started called Eureka Thyme. At its inception, I imagined an herbal gift shop, hence its name. It quickly took on a life if its own and I chose to follow, by listening for inner knowing rather than sticking with what I had dreamed. Through this process, the business focus has shifted from locally-made herbal gifts to locally-created art and fine craft.  This happened through having no parameters for what I would sell there, other than it must be made with Love. And this flowing idea now blesses more than a hundred people who sell everything from handmade wooden toys to fine art! This eight-year process has shown me much in the way of listening and following. It takes practice to see the difference between pushing for what I want and being led by the Spirit that I am. Axioms such as "Let go and let God" may seem mundane, even ridiculous to some, but for me it's the only way. If I'd insisted on having what I wanted-- which was, I suppose, to be Martha Stewart of the Ozarks -- well. let's not go there! All I do know is it's wonderful just as it is, for which I'm most grateful.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, involves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality.”

Science & Health Page 298:13-14

"Giving it to God: What does that mean?"

"Crossing a River in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #214

Central theme:

"I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me."

Specific review: (#194) "I place the future in the Hands of God."

Today's advice is to place the future in God. Some of us tend to rebel when asked to let anyone be in charge of our future, so this notion of putting the future in God's hands may seem rather presumptive!  But there is no loss of individuality in this process. On the contrary, there is more freedom from allowing divine Mind to be in charge than there is with making decisions dictated by material belief and habit. I know someone who is involved in the messy settlement of her mom's estate. When she gets letters from the attorneys, she puts them in her bible and says she's giving it to God. This is not what we're talking about today! The willingness to radically rely on God opens the way for ideas and spiritual sense to lead us in ways we haven't known before. And things are allowed to "come up" from the depths of our emotional stores, allowing them to be acknowledged and released. That's what I call "giving it to God"! The past is gone. So why does it often seem to be with us?! Recently, I've had a shift in feeling toward my parents. They were beautiful, kind, generous people; this I've always acknowledged and appreciated. But those memories seemed to be dimmed by the stronger remembrances of their latter days. I had feelings of anger and betrayal, and guilt concerning my part in it all. I've realized that some things they did came from their love, colored by strong opinions about the way things should be. The things I did came from selfishness and fear. All these feelings fell out of me in a rush. Although I've never been into imagery, such as sending inharmonious thoughts into outer space, I thoroughly swept those feelings up off the floor and mentally dispelled them on the spot! With every release of well-rehearsed past events, or the quiet recognition of never-thought-of guilt or pain, peace becomes reality for me. And it doesn't matter if anyone was right or wrong, it doesn't make any difference what motives were involved, part of me has been emptied to be filled with the only reality: Love.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be emptied. Let us disrobe error. Then, when the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us.”

Science & Health Page 201:13-15