January 8, 2014 - Truth or Memories?

"Mark in the Altai Mountains"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #8

 “My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.”

It's really quite amazing how many thoughts can run through my mind in a minute or so! Our exercise today asks us to simply sit quietly, with eyes closed, and acknowledge the thoughts that come to us. We are asked to say to ourselves, "I seem to be thinking about (fill in the blank)", and to continue doing that for a bit, then conclude with, "But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts." What? I thought I was thinking them right now! And that is the purpose of this exercise: to realize that the things going through our mind are not real ideas, but  thoughtless ideas. As long as we believe what we're thinking is important, we are blocking any progress in allowing truth to enter. And about the time you acknowledge this, your ego-mortal-mind will jump up and tell you that's ridiculous. Hence, the necessity for exercising our spiritual muscles! Hope you're having as much fun with this as I am!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Our false views of matter perish as we grasp the facts of Spirit. The old belief must be cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the inspiration, which is to change our standpoint, will be lost." Science & Health Page 281:28-1 

January 7, 2014 - Seeing with New Eyes

"Mountaintop Moment in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #7

“I see only the past.”

The preparation to accept Truth mainly consists of learning how to forget meanings we have placed on things. In yesterday's writings, I mentioned a man named Joe Hutto who spent a year living with wild turkeys and seeing the world from their perspective. I related the understanding he gained to the knowledge we are gleaning in our metaphysical studies. Today's lesson brings to mind something he said about the baby turkeys. Without teaching of any sort, the young birds innately knew which creatures and situations in the woods were potentially harmful to them. Instinctual behavior is resting within us all, but we, as humans, have found ways to override this knowing with beliefs based on what others tell us and what we have learned from past experiences. It seems our domesticated animals have also lost their inner knowing, to some extent, picking up on our human fears and doubts.  With these thoughts in mind, I will strive to be more like a young wild animal, with no preconceived notions about what is presented to me today. I will listen for Truth in each situation, doing my best to hear.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The history of error or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction to the true.” 

Science and Health, Page 521:29-2

January 6, 2014 - Unreality Revealed

"Illusions in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston 

ACIM Workbook Lesson #6

“I am upset because I see something that is not there.”

Have you seen a documentary entitled, "My Life as a Turkey"? I found it to be profound in many ways, but today I relate it to our practice of seeing the unreality in everything we have come to think of as real. For more than a year, Joe Hutton lived with a flock of 16 wild turkeys, which he incubated and bonded with while they were still in the eggs. He didn't just live with them as you and I might. He was with them 24 hours a day to the exclusion of seeing any humans. He spent his days walking the woods as part of the flock, seeing through their eyes, speaking their language, striving to match their awareness of nature and their ability to live totally in the moment. The dedication and love expressed by this man is wonderfully inspiring to me. By his all-encompassing need to understand nature, to be a part of it without any of the learned beliefs he has acquired in his life, he has shown me what is possible when a discipline is approached with a "single eye". It is this singularity of purpose which we are learning to recognize in our study of both A Course in Miracles and Christian Science. I want to know God as much as Joe wanted to know turkeys. He gave it his all, and so will I!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Befogged in error (the error of believing that matter can be intelligent for good or evil), we can catch clear glimpses of God only as the mists disperse, or as they melt into such thinness that we perceive the divine image in some word or deed which indicates the true idea, — the supremacy and reality of good, the nothingness and unreality of evil." 

Science & Health Page 205:15-21

January 5, 2014 - Unnecessary Conflict

"Utah Sunrise"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #5

“I am never upset for the reason I think.”

We think in terms of something upsetting us. Then we usually build up reasons why we are justified in this upset. Today we are asked to forget about any reason for feeling hurt, or angry, or irritated. I recently watched a movie called "Where Do We Go Now?". It's set in a small village in Lebanon. It starts out with a group of women, Christian and Muslim, making their weekly visit to the side-by-side cemeteries where their husbands and sons are buried. This movie is a combination of musical comedy and tragedy. I won't give away the ending as you may want to enjoy this fine film, but I will say that these women find a unique way of stopping their men from fighting over religious beliefs. When I think back on their fighting about what I deem to be nothing, I wonder if they are truly upset over what they think they're upset about! It seems that sometimes we're upset because things are changing, ideas are causing us to see everything in a new light, and we're afraid of the necessary shifts which are staring us in the face. In living true to our heart, let's not fear change or what others think of us for leaving behind anything which binds us to anger in any form. The harmony we long for is waiting for us!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Harmony in man is as beautiful as in music, and discord is unnatural, unreal." Science & Health Page 304:20-21

January 4, 2014 - What Do My Thoughts Mean?

ACIM Workbook Lesson #4

“These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].” 

I heard Wayne Dyer tell us that the average human has around 50,000 thoughts a day. Unfortunately, he said, those thoughts are the same ones we had yesterday! I think this realization makes it easier to see the meaningless-ness of our thoughts. They are, for the most part, by-rote responses to circumstance. Recently I told you that I've been having vivid dreams and wake up wondering what they mean. Today's practice of seeing the lack of meaning to our thoughts is just what I need! It doesn't matter what these dreams mean, because it's all meaningless material interpretation I'm wondering about. By seeing the non-sense of this exercise I've been involved with, I'm freed to forget about it and seek to establish spiritual sense in place of these illusions. I look forward to a universal epiphany of understanding that thought is, in its truest form, Spirit. That time of viewing reality as spiritual, not material, is visible to all who want to see. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Thought will finally be understood and seen in all form, substance, and color, but without material accompaniments. The potter is not in the clay; else the clay would have power over the potter. God is His own infinite Mind, and expresses all."

Science & Health  Page 310:6-10 

January 3, 2014 - Deeper Knowing

"Breckenridge, Colorado"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #3

“I do not understand anything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place].”

The more educated we are, the more difficult it seems to be to admit that we don't understand anything -- don't you think? We are taught from childhood that it's good to know things, to understand everything, and to be able to figure out anything we don't know or understand. Let's not think of this admission of not understanding anything as a dumbing-down process. On the contrary! We're simply learning to look within for an innate knowledge which resides there. The workout we're engaged in is designed to develop spiritual sense. It's difficult, if not impossible, to recognize Spirit if we think we know and understand everything through our material senses. While the knowledge we've amassed can serve us well in this world, let's not allow it to preclude a deeper knowing which is only audible when the material senses are stilled.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"God's ideas reflect the immortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal, erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguishing between the false and the true. Understanding is a quality of God ..." 

Science & Health Page 505:26-2 & 506:5

January 2, 2014 - Changeable Beliefs

"Loveland Pass, Colorado"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #2

“I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me.”

While walking in a cemetery, I was struck by how individuals would look at the grave markers and their possible meaning. There is a plot which has a mother and father and six children, all of whom died before reaching adolescence. In another part of the maze, there is a grave totally covered with crystals of varying sizes. The only thing the marker says is their surname. As I pondered the stories behind these stones and markers, I realized how very true it is that the meaning of anything is exactly what we give to it. Perhaps that's why we like to be in groups, such as churches or families, so there will be others who know where we're "coming from". And maybe that's why we're afraid to step outside of long-held beliefs. To me, the realization that we can give up belief and all walk together in Truth is far more unifying than wandering through changeable illusions. What heady heights await us!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The only fact concerning any material concept is, that it is neither scientific nor eternal, but subject to change and dissolution."

Science & Health Page 297:16-19