July 22, 2013 - I Am Free

"Beijing, China"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #203

Central theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #183 “I call upon God's Name and on my own.”

Today's lesson reminds me of a youTube video from Eckhart Tolle called "The Flowering of Human Consciousness." This talk starts out with him asking us to pretend we have no name. He wants us to examine how this feels and see who we are without this part of our "story" in place. This is why I feel fortunate to have discovered that my personal history isn't exactly what I had been told it was. My parents had taken me shortly after my birth, moved to another state, and invented a history for their new baby.  Finding this out at the age of 37 enabled me to begin to see who I Am, in reality. My only parent is divine Mind. I have no birth date as I am eternal, without beginning or ending. Every single part of my material history is temporary illusion which can all be released in favor of Truth. This doesn't mean that I will lose my individuality. On the contrary! We are set free to be more of ourSelves when we release the limitations imposed by heredity, circumstance, and other material beliefs concerning our capabilities. We are also freed from the pain of guilt, blame, and other derogatory emotions. When we call on God's name, we are calling on ourSelf. Our sustenance, our comfort, are all found within. I am free!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Man's individuality is not material. This Science of being obtains not alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here and now; it is the great fact of being for time and eternity."

Science  & Health Page 285:2-6

July 21, 2013 - Likeness of God

"Germany 2006"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson # 202 

Central Theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #182 “I will be still an instant and go home.”

The spiritual sense we're developing enables us to interpret things without the material meanings we've attached to them. In line with our daily review, which instructs us to "be still an instant and go home", we are allowing ourselves to listen, rather than immediately thinking we know everything. To me, to "go home" means hearing the spiritual message which comes through loud and clear when we are able to quiet material sense. The freedom we experience when releasing beliefs about God also allows us to free ourselves from what we think we are. Knowing ourSelves as the likeness of God then becomes a present reality!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Man in the likeness of God, as revealed in Science, cannot help being immortal. Though the grass seemeth to wither and the flower to fade, they reappear. Erase the figures which express number, silence the tones of music, give to the worms the body called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine Principle lives on,--in the case of man as truly as in the case of numbers and of music,--despite the so-called laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Science & Health Page 81:17-24

July 20, 2013 - We Are One With God

"Christ of the Ozarks"
photo by Dale Johnson

ACIM Workbook Lesson #201

Central Theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #181 "I trust my brothers, who are one with me."

"Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus" is a documentary on life in the South of the United States. We are taken to small towns where people turn to drugs and/or religion when they've given up all hope of finding happiness. I watched in fascination, realizing for the first time what people find in so-called "holy-roller" churches. In their feverish love of God, they find the pleasure they crave. Others turn to mood-elevating drugs for the same reason. It's stated that everyone is "lonely for God" in these desolate towns. Another line which struck me was this: "He was just a regular ol' Southern lunatic. In his quest for union, he ended up being more separate then ever."  Wow. Yet there is such Truth in their longing! I longed with them as they jumped up and down, speaking in tongues and dancing in odd jerky movements. There wasn't much difference in the drunken barroom scenes on Saturday night and the gyrations of the Sunday morning. gatherings. They're all looking for the same thing. They want to fill the emptiness inside. They want excitement, fun, a way to pass time without really thinking about anything. I can't keep from thinking of how they would be set free with the knowledge of their true Being. The only way this can happen is if I realize it -- really realize it! --  not just intellectually, but with my heart.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good."

Science & Health Page 518:15-19

July 19, 2013 -Claim Peace!

"Utah Sunset"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #200

“There is no peace except the peace of God.”

Peace is a spiritual attribute. While we may perceive it as changeable, that is only our material perception of it. When I walked into work yesterday morning, the temperature inside was 93-degrees. The air conditioner was doing nothing to cool things down. I got a bit testy and thought I had lots of reasons to feel that way. But ultimately, whatever is going on around us has absolutely nothing to do with how we feel -- at least once we are able to separate Truth from erroneous belief! Yet once we get into a space of chagrin, it can be difficult to exchange it for peace. True peace, the peace that is God, is ours right now for the accepting. We can't lose it, because it's eternal. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul.”

Science and Health Page 390:7-11

July 18, 2013 - I Am not a body.

"Light Show"
photo by Heather Magnan

ACI M Workbook Lesson #199

“I am not a body. I am free.”

Today's idea that I am not a body is an intriguing thought to ponder! This idea is like a seemingly-unsolvable puzzle, one of those intricate knots with an object in the middle which you're trying to extricate. And then when you see the solution, you wonder what seemed so impossible about it! And if you put the puzzle away and don't look at it for a long time, you forget what you knew about it -- at least you forget until something reminds you of the answer. That's what these studies do for me: they remind me of what's been forgotten. "Mind has set me free from every error." Today I will look to divine Mind for discernment. Infinite intelligence is my heritage as a child of God. I pray to release all beliefs I have concerning reality, and allow inner knowing to show me Truth.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"I am the image and likeness of God; no mortal mind can confine this image in a mortal body, harm or touch it in any way, Mind has set me free from every error. Divine Love fills every avenue, flows through every channel and removes every obstruction."

[This is an excerpt from an article entitled "Body" by Mary Baker Eddy, filed in the Congressional Library, January 19, 1886, found by Lyda Sandifer Hord]

July 17, 2013 - Condemnation

"Washington, D.C. Drain"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #198

“Only my condemnation injures me.”

It seems impossible to stay away from thoughts of condemnation. While it may be tempting to jump up on our high horse and expound on the rightness and the wrongness of external events, this justification is only from the standpoint of belief. Mortal mind, ego, tells us that we know this is real and we must do something about it. But listening and allowing ourselves to be led is much more productive than going off on a tangent and telling people how they should change their ways and everything will be better. The internet is known as the world-wide web, and that is quite an analogy for the Oneness which we share as spiritual beings. The instant and constant connection we all have with each other through our unity is there for the recognition of it. It's akin to flipping on the light switch in a dark room. If we don't know that's possible, we continue to sit in the dark. But when we sit with quiet expectation that our inner knowing will supply us with all we need, we may just find ourselves walking over to that unknown element and turning on the light! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means this, — that mortals should so improve material belief by thought tending spiritually upward as to destroy materiality.”

Science and Health Page 545:7-10 

July 16, 2013 - Clearing The Way For Truth

"South Africa Sunset"
photo by Heather Magnan

ACIM Workbook Lesson #197

“It can be but my gratitude I earn.”

Perhaps you think you should be appreciated more, or maybe you know someone who is always "fishing for compliments". Both of these fall under the category of expecting something which you already have. When you appreciate yourself, when you are grateful for the wonder which is you, that's all you need. And it is an all-encompassing gratitude! This recognition is one of the symptoms of loosing the bonds of materiality. The more we let go of expectations and beliefs, the more opportunity there is for Truth to take their place. We needn't do anything but clear the way. And that is what these workbook lessons are designed to do.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible."

Science & Health Page 180:25-27