September 05, 2012 - What, me suffer?

"Aaron"
unknown photographer

A Course in Miracles Lesson #248

“Whatever suffers is not part of me."

I am reminded of a family friend from long ago. She was a wonderful, spiritually-aware person who showed me the Truth of the above statement. Over the course of a year, her husband passed on, her daughter was in a car wreck which left her in a coma for months before she died, and her house burned down. While I know she felt grief, I'm not sure there was despair. She always had a twinkle in her eye and a generous heart. When she herself passed on some 20 years later, I am told she went with a smile on her face. I often think of her. "Whatever suffers is not a part of me". This is not a heartless statement. It doesn't deny the feelings we have in favor of a hardness which excludes emotion. On the contrary! It's a pure Love which allows us to pass through the hard times with a firm understanding of the beauty of Truth. I've always found it cleansing to totally wallow in sadness, to experience everything there is to feel there. And when the grief has been spent, I'm free to see that nothing can touch my true Self or change the reality of Love.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“A blundering dispatch, mistakenly announcing the death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's real death would bring. You think that your anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another dispatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and you learn that your suffering was merely the result of your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. You will learn at length that there is no cause for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood. Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.”

Science & Health Page 386:16-25

September 4, 2012 - Forgive and See

"Aaron in Zion National Park"
photo by Heather Magnan

ACIM Lesson #247

“Without forgiveness I will still be blind."

The sight which comes with forgiveness is our topic today. And we are told that sin is the symbol of attack. The topic of sin and forgiveness is a tough one. I feel this is because they are not a part of our real Being, and so we recoil at the words.  And that’s what this lesson today is about: the nothingness of sin and the meaning of forgiveness. I think of sin as being anything

-- anything at all  -- which separates us from the Love which is God. And since we are the image and likeness of God, there can be no separation other than in our belief. This thing we call forgiveness isn't some sort of divine pardon, but a yielding within ourselves to the purity of our thought, without the impediments of holding on to memories of wrongdoing, resentment, and pains of all sorts.  This yielding includes the release of things which we think have been done to us, and things we think we have done to others. So let's choose again, rest in Love, and go and sin no more!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Sin was, and is, the lying supposition that life, substance, and intelligence are both material and spiritual, and yet are separate from God,”

Retrospection and Introspection (p. 67).

September 3, 2012 - Love All

"St. Louis Zoo"
photo by Aaron pringston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #246

“To love my Father is to love His Son."

One of my favorite Mary Baker Eddy quotes is, "Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you." I've always thought of that statement as meaning that the human hatred of others cannot reach me. I now see that it procludes the hatred I may feel toward others, also. It's very easy for me to think that I don't hate anyone or anything. Actually, it's a word I have pruned from my vocabulary and simply do not use. BUT if I am irritated by another's actions or words, or if I replay a past situation in my mind which caused anger in the past, or if I allow criticism to gnaw at me and I think of retaliatory statements which could have been made -- isn't that human hatred? Wearing this cloak of Love calms these nagging feelings and thoughts. I know that if I'm wearing the armor of Love, hatred cannot enter from inside or out!

"God is universal; confined to no spot, defined by no dogma, appropriated by no sect. Not more to one than to all, is God demonstrable as divine Life, Truth, and Love; and His people are they that reflect Him -- that reflect Love."

Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896 Page 150

September 2, 2012 - Peace is Mine

A Course in Miracles Lesson #245

“Your peace is with me, Father.  I am safe."

"Making Camp in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston

Today's lesson tells us: "Your peace goes there with me. It sheds its light on everyone I meet." Sometimes this peace seems easier to realize than at other times.  We all have periods in our lives when everything feels fragile, and our safety and peace are overshadowed by anxiety and fear. Perhaps there's something to be said for the old self-help adage of "fake it until you make it"! If I extend peace and Love to all I meet, whether I feel it or not, but simply go through the motions with a sincere desire to know peace and pass it on, at some point the mist of sadness lifts. I remember one day I was walking the dogs and met a new neighbor on the street. She immediately started telling me how horrible things were in her life, giving vivid examples, until she had started yelling at me. I wasn't feeling particularly happy at that moment and the temptation was to walk away or perhaps retaliate. But instead I said to myself: You've got to say something nice to this woman! And so I thought about what I truly admired about her and said, You have beautiful hair! Well, she burst into tears and we hugged and went inside and had tea and a nice, loving conversation. By insisting on the Truth of our being, we both demonstrated the healing peace of that realization.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.”

Science & Health Page 264:24-27

September 1, 2012 - Where does our safety come from?

 A  Course in Miracles Lesson #244

“I am in danger nowhere in the world."

"Aaron in Zion National Park"
photo by Heather Magnan

Reading the above affirmation of our safety in any situation reminds me of a profound example of this Truth. A young woman was abducted from her college campus, tied up and blindfolded, and taken to a remote area. Throughout this trip, the woman continuously affirmed the One ever-presence which we all reflect. She affirmed this not only in relation to her well-being but also for the perpetrator.  After quite a while, the man stopped the car and apologized to the woman, at which point she shared some thoughts concerning the truth of his being. Then they proceeded back to her apartment so she could give him a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. I'm sure we all have stories of instances of protection through seeming divine intervention. Let's not think of this as intervention, but as the way things really are; not a setting aside of material danger, but an understanding of the divine Principle of all being. By this, we rest in the assurance that all is well. This knowledge has enabled me to peacefully know my son is safe during numerous travels. He's been away from home since he was 14, and flitting around the globe on his own since he was 19. Friends have wondered how I can be so calm and free from worry about him. It's because I know where his safety lies -- as does he.

Mary Baker Eddy poem:

Mother's Evening Prayer

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;

         O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,

Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight!

         Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye

         Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:

His habitation high is here, and nigh,

         His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,

         For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!

Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear

         No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;

         In that sweet secret of the narrow way,

Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:

         "Lo, I am with you alway," — watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;

         No night drops down upon the troubled breast,

When heaven's aftersmile earth's tear-drops gain,

         And mother finds her home and heav'nly rest.

(Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 4, 5)

August 31, 2012 - Judging Nothing

"Happy or Sad? - World Cup 2006"

A Course in Miracles Lesson #243

“Today I will judge nothing that occurs."

It seems as if we're expected to judge everything all the time. Which political party is right? Should there be a deer hunt in downtown Eureka Springs? What's wrong with our educational system and what can be done to fix it? The list is endless. How is it possible to "judge nothing that occurs"? This practice of non-judgment is a constant meditation with me, and I must admit I often feel like a failure at it. (Which in itself is a judgment!) This basic metaphysical precept of letting go and letting God, realizing that we of our own selves know nothing, facilitates giving up judgment because how can we judge what we do not know? And so I will continue to make note that my opinion is simply that: an opinion, not a Universal Truth. I thank Mr. Shakespeare for a thought that is in the front of Science & Health: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established.”

Science and Health Page 467:9-13

August 30, 2012 - Centering Thought

"Salt Lake City Sunrise"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #242

“This day is God's. It is my gift to Him."

What's the first thing you think in the morning? It's easy to immediately start making plans for the day, thinking of what to do first and how to do it. Obviously there are many things to be attended, but as often as not our plans must change -- due to a multitude of factors. To give this day to God is to listen for intuition to lead the way. Starting our day with clear, spiritual thought allows this intuition to be heard more easily, without that back-and-forth volley we fall into when weighing the possibilities of our actions. I'm not sure how people manage who must begin to speak to others when they first wake up. As a child, I found it upsetting to be forced to talk first thing in the morning. Even then, I innately knew that silence, a certain centering, needed to occur before facing the cacophony of daily life. But even with this centering of thought, there is still that first moment upon awakening and that last thought before falling asleep at night. Through our studies, we have many quotations on which to call to start and end our day. I have no ritual to these moments; no set prayers or by-rote actions, but simply a clearing of thought and acceptance of what comes. The practice of turning every thought away from worrying and wondering "what-if" is sufficient to supply me with everything I need to walk this path. And it's exciting to see what will unfold!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come naturally into Spirit through better health and morals and as the result of spiritual growth.”

Science & Health Page 485:13-16