November 8, 2012 - Take Possession of Your Body

"November Fall Day in the Ozarks"
photo by Sandy Wythawai Starbird

ACIM Workbook Lesson #312

“I see all things as I would have them be.”

We seem to have enacted laws of illness for ourselves. The common cold (as it's called!) is a perfect example of this, along with all the other disease we take for granted as being unavoidable. We think that certain symptoms appear then progress through phases, either to disappear or to become chronic. Do we have a choice in this progression? Many people, including myself, think that we do. A year ago today, I awoke with a runny nose and scratchy throat. I know it was a year ago because I first wrote about it last year on this date. It was a rainy day in late fall. Although the leaves were exceptionally beautiful at the time, something spectacular happened as the brown oak leaves evolved into glorious gold. I spent most of the day in a back room which overlooks the forest. As the rainy day progressed, so did the symptoms of this so-called cold . I would occasionally pick up Science & Health, open it at random, and ponder a passage as I enjoyed the exquisite fall colors. Around dusk, the rain stopped and something wonderful happened. The air seemed to be golden! The trees glowed and the sky was purple/pink. As I walked through our neighborhood, I realized two things: I didn't have a camera with me, and there were no more cold symptoms.  I'm glad my friend took this photo which is included today, and I'm glad to demonstrate the Truth of our Being as written of below by Mary Baker Eddy.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. 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."

Science & Health Page 393:10-15

November 7, 2012 -One Unified World

"Eureka Springs Fall"
photo by Randal Thompson

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #311

“I judge all things as I would have them be.”

I write this on the eve of a day of decisions for the people of the United States of America. I don't know who our president will be when we read this in the morning. And I don't care. Please don't take this to mean I haven't had my preferences based on numerous policies and choices which these candidates have told us they will enact or uphold. But I have never understood why we should have two or more political parties if everyone is for the good of all. This shift in consciousness we are incorporating into our lives on a moment-by-moment basis through these and other teachings -- these ideas which are showing us the truth of what we are -- this is all that matters. As with events in our daily lives, it is impossible to make a set of rules and follow them no matter what. We must have the flexibility to change and evolve in thought as circumstances unfold before us. We have come to believe we must have rules to protect ourselves from numerous forces. In the realization that there is only one force, one omniscient, omnipresent God, we are acknowledging and recognizing our Oneness. This unfoldment can take many faces, but if we're only expressing the Love that is God, there is nothing other than peace, justice, the innate goodness which we truly are, being expressed in every action -- for the Good of All.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself;' annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,--whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.”

Science & Health Page 340: 23-29

November 6, 2012 - I Spend This Day in Love

"Aaron and Friends World Cup 2010"

ACIM Workbook Lesson #310

“In fearlessness and love I spend today.”

The love we feel for friends and family is a foretaste of the possibilities of all-encompassing Love. This omniscient Love is what we are left with when all material belief and opinion is gone from thought. Recently, two of my son’s friends from forever came by to visit. It was as though they’d been with us every day. The time spent in our home was a sweet reminder of days gone by. At the time my children were growing up, I spent much more time every day in prayerful study and contemplation than I do now. Or so it seemed! But when I stop to think about it, every interaction is expressing this Love with a fearlessness that grows more complete every day. These seeds were planted and are still being nurtured by moment-to-moment expressions of Love. No matter what we do on a daily basis, this Love can be expressed in many ways – actually, in every way! And by loving yourself, you’re loving everyone. By living fearlessly, you’re spreading this confidence to all. I will go forth with loving gratitude today and expect only Good.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit, we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action. Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. 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 260

November 5, 2012 - Election Decisions

"Aaron Listening in the Woods"
unknown photographer

ACIM Workbook Lesson #309

“I will not fear to look within today.”

On this day before a major election in the United States, most people are receiving an onslaught of commercials delineating reasons they should vote for various political candidates. Although I've taken myself out of this loop of communication, an occasional one slips through when I'm in a public setting. The intensity of the attacks on character and actions is surprising and unsettling to me. While I have made up my mind concerning who I plan to vote for, I've felt it's important to listen to the "other side" before voting. I have read about what the candidates espouse in their overall plans, and reluctantly have listened to a couple of youtube videos which a relative has sent me, telling why my ideas are wrong. This is a nice intellectual exercise, but it does nothing to show me Truth. That can only be found from going within. Mary Baker Eddy once told a reporter her only politics were to pray for a righteous government, to love her neighbor as herself, and to love God above all else. This last imperative is where I find Truth within. By giving away all beliefs concerning personality and past experiences, through the desire to know God, Truth is revealed in a sureness of inner knowing. With this knowledge, there is no reason for the material listenings I have done concerning the "facts" surrounding the political candidates. I think we've all seen that these so-called facts are no more than wishful dreams. Part of listening to Love includes prayerful affirmations that everyone, including our candidates, hears with this divine ear. Through this knowing, their actions will express the Love of God for the good of All. Be still and know ...

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you;' that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy. Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself spiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfect nor material.”

Science & Health Page 476-28-8

November 4, 2012 - That's Why They Call It The Present

"Mark in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #308

"This instant is the only time 

there is."

A quote from Kung Fu Panda came to mind when I saw today's lesson subject: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present.” And I'm reminded of something Deepak Chopra said, too: "Time is something we have made up so everything doesn't happen all at once." Albert Einstein showed us that time is relative. Time spent in a dentist chair passes differently from time spent doing something we think of as pleasurable. Later in life, Mr. Einstein came to believe that time was not just relative, but unreal! Here is a quote from him, written in a letter to a friend: "To those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future, is only an illusion, if a stubborn one." So why do we limit ourselves with time? We always think we're too young or too old, or this physical malady will pass with time, or that we simply don't have time to do the things we want to do. When I realize that I'm not a mortal living in what seems to be now, but an immortal living in eternity, then some major shifts in perception are taking place and only "time will tell" what happens then!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the ‘Peace, be still’ to all human fears, to suffering of every sort”

Miscellaneous Writings Page 307

November 3, 2012 - Thy Will Be Done

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #307

“Conflicting wishes cannot be my will.”

Marsha in Mad Hatter Ball Hat

To be wide open, with no expectations, frees us in many ways. This state of Being opens us to the demonstration of the One absolute will. I'm reminded of an occasion where I really wanted to assert my own will. I was going about my business when the thought came to me, "Go to the Mad Hatter's Ball". Well, I didn't want to do this! I don't go to balls, I don't dress up in outrageous garb, and I most certainly don't pay cash money for doing what I don't want to do!  A week or so later, (to my chagrin!) I was given two tickets to the ball. What am I going to wear? A stop by the Doggie Thrift Shop answers this question, and I leave with a wonderful hat, in a style I love, with crazy red polyester curls. So it seems as though I'm going, and at this point I acquiesce. And then while talking to someone in the post office about the event, the postal worker behind the counter tells me she's been working on a hat for three years and asks if I want to wear it. Perhaps, I tell her (as I'm already pretty attached to my hat with the red hair.) This is a long story to tell about a concept so simple that it requires no thought: Do whatever you hear/feel is the thing to be doing. There's no right or wrong with this yielding to intuition. I don't know why I needed to be at this event, but everything came together beautifully and I had a great time, and even won first prize in the wildest hat contest. Maybe I needed to be there to stretch my so-called comfort zone a bit. The possibilities are endless, and I don't have to know anything other than this: Thy will be done. And It is done.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“We cannot serve two masters nor perceive divine Science with the material senses.”

Science and Health Page 167:11-12

November 2, 2012 - Return Home

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #306

“The gift of Christ is all I seek today.”

"South Africa"
photo by Aaron Springston

What do you think of when you hear the word "repent". Many connotations have been given this word by religion and dogma. I don't think of it as having anything to do with confessing sins in order to receive absolution, nor to do with being sorry for things, and nothing to do with guilt, and certainly it's not begging for forgiveness. I like a definition heard long ago: "return home". When we allow ourselves to see, hear, and feel with spiritual sense, we are returning to our original state of being, and remembering we never went away. So this idea of repenting, or returning home, is only a matter of letting loose anything which is unlike Love. We are the image and likeness of God. God is Love. We are Love. This is a state we cannot leave, but we can lose sight of this perfect peace. Today I will see the Love that is God, the Love that I am, in everything and everyone.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of ‘the mind of the Lord,’ as the Scripture says.”

Science & Health Page 291:13-18