May 15, 2013 - What Are We Defending?

"South African Sunset"
photo by Heather Magnan

ACIM Workbook Lesson #135

"If I defend myself I am attacked."

I love this lesson, as it pertains to absolutely everything. (But I guess they all do!) Let's think of the more obvious ways we defend ourselves. Perhaps we are watchful of what we say and do, planning responses and activity based upon accepted behavior. Maybe we use hand sanitizer and take vitamin-c pills during so-called cold and flu season. I often wonder why we focus so intently on that which is not reality, rather than developing and demonstrating spiritual sense. In this life, we tend to feel attacked by everything from ice cream to nuclear weapons, and we defend ourselves in various ways, insuring the attack our thought insists upon. As an example, let's take ice cream. Most everyone enjoys ice cream, but lots of us think of it as attacking us with fat and cholesterol and sugar, things which we must defend ourselves against if we are to be healthy. We are told in both A Course in Miracles and Christian Science that the body performs best when given the least thought. 'The body ... need merely be perceived as quite apart from you, and it becomes a healthy, serviceable instrument through which the mind can operate until its usefulness is over.' (ACIM) Another point I love in this lesson is: 'A healed mind does not plan. It carries out the plans that it receives through listening to wisdom that is not its own. It waits until it has been taught what should be done, and then proceeds to do it.' (ACIM) What a freedom it is to realize we needn't be in charge of everything! To wake up in the morning, open to Spirit, God, we are led in ways that wouldn't be obvious if we weren't listening. Of course, there are often parameters involved in our day, but that doesn't preclude our being open to thought about ways to "think outside the box". Life is an adventure, and a harmonious one when we leave behind the desire to plan every moment of it!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"One says: 'I take good care of my body.' To do this, the pure and exalting influence of the divine Mind on the body is requisite, and the Christian Scientist takes the best care of his body when he leaves it most out of his thought ..."

Science & Health Page 383:5-9

May 14, 2013 - What is forgiveness?

"Beaver Bridge"
photo by Steve Shogren

ACIM Workbook Lesson #134

"Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.

In our material world, forgiveness has many faces. Perhaps someone tells us they're sorry and we say, That's all right. Or maybe someone has done something which stays on our mind as a transgression until we finally decide to forgive them, while thinking that we won't or can't forget. This is not what we're talking about today. Our topic involves the release of illusions, the acknowledgement that there is no reality in sin. I think of sin as anything which separates us from the love which is God. I often think of the ancient Toltec wisdom as interpreted by Don Miguel Ruiz in his book, The Four Agreements. One of these agreements asks us not to take anything personally. This request speaks to "forgiveness as it is". He goes so far as to state that even if someone shoots you in the head, it's not your problem, it's theirs! What an interesting thought! This forgiveness acknowledges no blame in the first place, holds no grudge as there is no blame, and requires no forgiveness because there was no blame or grudge. As we learn to see life through spiritual sense, forgiveness takes on a different meaning for us. It becomes a peaceful acknowledgement of reality, and facilitates a letting go of the belief in separation. No blame, no guilt, all is forgiveness.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being.”

Science & Health Page 63:5-1

May 13, 2013 - What is of Value?

"South Africa - 2010"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #133

"I will not value what is valueless."

One of the "tests" given in today's lesson for recognizing if something is valuable is to ask yourself if what you're valuing is changeable. What does not change? Certainly everything physical does, often quite rapidly. Love, with a capital "L" doesn't change, although many of the fleeting things we call love do tend to change, grow, lessen, and even turn into other not-so-nice emotions. You will meet people who think that jealousy is part of love. Some believe that overprotective, controlling behavior symbolizes their love. Strangely, people even kill in the name of love. So the second part of our litmus test comes into play. This thing that we value, do we feel guilt in association with it? So now we have two tests to check for the reality of what we value: does it last and do we feel guilty in any way. I'm looking around the room right now and asking myself what do I value. Many things bring a smile to my heart, many things I enjoy looking at and remembering emotions I associate with them -- but value? No, I don't think I value anything in here as much as I value the love of my dog, and mine for him. The more I understand the Love that is mine through the inheritance I share with everything as a reflection of God, the more there is to value as I recognize its existence everywhere. And the less I have to worry about losing things to change. After all, how can I lose that which is not real?

Mary Baker Eddy quotes:

“Everything good or worthy, God made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make,--hence its unreality. In the Science of Genesis we read that He saw everything which He had made, "and, behold, it was very good." The corporeal senses declare otherwise; and if we give the same heed to the history of error as to the records of truth, the Scriptural record of sin and death favors the false conclusion of the material senses. Sin, sickness, and death must be deemed as devoid of reality as they are of good, God.”

Science & Health Page 525:20-27

May 12, 2013 - There is No World

"Sculpture at Crystal Bridges"

ACIM Workbook Lesson #132

"I loose the world from all I thought it was."

Often we feel there isn't enough time to study the spiritual Principle we long to embrace. We tell ourselves that we must live in the "real world" and that leaves little time for esoteric quests. With a slight shift in thought, it becomes apparent that reality isn't what we've always believed it to be. When this happens, we don't need to set aside specific time in order to practice a spiritual discipline. Without the downer of constantly repeating what we don't want in our lives, by refusing to dwell in fear and dread, we have a lot more time to hold thought to "the enduring, the good, and the true" (S&H Page 261:4) By allowing this "new world" of thought to become a present reality, I am coming a step closer to knowing where Mrs. Eddy was standing when she said, "The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness." Every glimpse I have of this divine reality is a moment of loosing the world from the bondage of my thought. What a gift!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"In the Apocalypse it is written: 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.' In St. John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spiritual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed human concepts advancing and receding, is represented as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness."

Science & Health Page 536:1-9

May 11, 2013 - Ever-present Truth

"Super Moon at Boardman Pass"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #131

"No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth."

Truth is always there, waiting for us to acknowledge it. No one is ever turned away. As I think of the things we do in life, the food we eat and how we obtain it, the modes of transportation we utilize, the lies we tell ourselves every day, the realization surfaces that we are craving simpler ways of doing everything. We want to eat fresh food in season. We want to heat our homes and travel without sucking the life out of the earth. What does this have to do with "seeking the truth"? In opening ourselves to the Truth that is waiting for us to remember it, solutions to unsolvable situations appear. Different ways of approaching things in our lives, from healthcare to relationships, are illuminated in thought and we wonder why we never saw it that way before. This is the secret -- (if there is one!) If I am seeking to receive something, be it material or spiritual, I am closing the door to truth. But if I am seeking in the humble single-mindedness of Love, as Mary Magdalene did, then Truth becomes visible. How will you see it? That, I do not know. This adventure is quite an individual trip! However truth is seen in your world gives you glimpses of this Oneness of which we speak. This pearl of great price, recognized and known, is the Truth I accept today.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"This is what is meant by seeking Truth, Christ, not 'for the loaves and fishes,' nor, like the Pharisee, with the arrogance of rank and display of scholarship, but like Mary Magdalene, from the summit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and the perfume of gratitude, with tears of repentance and with those hairs all numbered by the Father.”

Science & Health Page 367:10-16

May 10, 2013 - Which World Do I Choose?

"Bryce Canyon"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #130

"It is impossible to see two worlds."

Today we are reminded that we cannot see a world of love and and a world of fear at the same time. We cannot know the world of Spirit when we are thinking from the standpoint of mortal sense. We cannot love our neighbors when we are judging them. These dualities represent the two worlds we wish to embrace simultaneously. But this can't be. Everything we do, say, think, places us firmly in one world or the other. Moment by moment, we choose what we accept as truth. We are learning how to allow our true Self to come forth. One of those ways is remaining receptive in order to experience the guidance which is always available to us. By consistently turning thought away from mortal concepts and utilizing spiritual interpretations, we are choosing the world we want to see. A dear friend once wrote an essay called, "Upper Case Living" in which everyday words are elevated to a holy level when experienced as Spirit. I will think of it as I choose my world today!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way. There will be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When you read this, remember Jesus' words, 'The kingdom of God is within you.' This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.”

Science & Health Page 573:29-2

May 9, 2013 - Truth

"Buffalo Blues"
painting by Carol Dickie

ACIM Workbook Lesson #129

"Beyond this world there is a world I want."

The uninitiated in this way of thought may surmise the above sentence refers to a world which appears at the change we call death. The "beyond" spoken of here is made manifest through the death of old beliefs and a rebirth in new thought. As we struggle to lose habitual, erroneous thought, it is inspiring to notice the ease with which trees, plants, animals, insects perform their function. Looking beyond the limited world we have made for ourselves, we see reality. We discover long-buried instincts, which have been hidden behind learned behaviors and age-old beliefs. By this listening, we are led to do whatever needs to be done, without angst or excessive planning. I recall being taught in grade school that humans were the only living beings that did not have instincts. The teacher said that we only have learned behaviors. What appears when we peal back the façade of materiality? Truth.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“How true it is that whatever is learned through material sense must be lost because such so-called knowledge is reversed by the spiritual facts of being in Science. That which material sense calls intangible, is found to be substance. What to material sense seems substance, becomes nothingness, as the sense-dream vanishes and reality appears."

Science & Health Page 312:1-6