February 22, 2014 - Throw Open Wide the Door!

"Great Wall of China"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #53

The Age of Aquarius. Harmonic Convergence. The Shift. Ascension. Activating DNA Strands. What do these things have in common? They are events which herald the change in thought which has been happening for as long as I can remember. We have been seeking and hoping that a way will open for us to understand, to experience the meaning of Life, and to demonstrate this Reality. In today's ACIM workbook five-lesson review, there is much talk of seeing a "meaningless world". You may wonder why anyone would want to see a meaningless world.  I'm not sure we would want to see a meaningless world, but that's certainly what we're doing! As we begin to glimpse the difference in spiritual realities and material illusions, we see that the world we hold in place through belief and misperception is a meaningless world. God did not create a meaningless world, and to see the world as God did create it, we must give up the beliefs and illusions we have created. These exercises we're doing are designed to prepare us to accept the knowledge which wakes us up to this unseen Reality. A single glimpse of this is enough to make me want to throw open wide the door! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Spiritual attainments open the door to a higher understanding of the divine Life." Science & Health Page 10:15-16

February 21, 2014 - Get Real!

photo by Heather Magnan

ACIM Workbook Lesson #52

Today is the second in a ten-day review of the first lessons.

Metaphysicians often hear words like these: "Get real! Face facts! Pull your head out of the sand!" I usually just smile and say, "You may be right", and politely wander away. Trying to explain my actions to the spiritually-deaf ear would be akin to explaining purple to a blind child. But if I were asked to do that, it would have to be through feeling the color and allowing that sight to pass to the sightless. So when someone doesn't understand where I'm coming from, rather than explaining -- or worse, arguing! -- I will feel Love, which is the spiritual reality. I have not always been so easy to get along with! A number of years ago, a dear friend and I had an altercation which was deeply interconnected to many areas in our friendship. If either she or I had held onto the past, we wouldn't share the palpable Oneness we feel today. As this lesson tells us, it's not a choice of seeing past or present, but a choice to see or not to see. Where I've chosen to shade my thoughts with the unreality of inharmony, I will choose again and flow in Oneness with God.

 Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem of Truth's garment."

 Science & Health Page 270:22-27

February 20, 2014 - Learning to See

"Ozark Moonset"
photo by Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook lesson #51:

Today we begin a ten-day review of the first lessons. For a guide to this review, and a short description, go to this link: http://A Course in Miracles.org/Lessons/lesson.html?lesson=51 

The first 50 lessons in A Course in Miracles workbook show us how to determine the difference in reality and illusion. We have learned that what we see with material sense is colored with belief and judgment. We have been experimenting with dropping the meanings  placed on things, thereby allowing spiritual facts to become evident.  Everything I see is colored with judgment, both my own and that of others. This judgment has given me whatever meaning I've placed on anything. As these meanings make no sense  -- because they have been interpreted through erroneous thoughts and beliefs -- they cannot be understood. When we learn to look through these illusions, we free ourselves to see Truth. If we accept that our thoughts mean nothing, we allow ourself to release the self-importance we've attached to things. When we are able to release these thoughts, we can replace them with the inner knowing which is God. We also have been asked to see that when we become upset, it is never for the reason we think. In order to justify these incomprehensible beliefs which we have set up, we make up a complex defense system of attacks and retreats, which only serve to leave us in a state of disharmony. I don't want this crazy fantasy to be my life! I want to follow the leadings of Love, to hear through Spirit, to see with Soul, to live Life!

Mary Baker Eddy quotes

“Spiritual perception brings out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in deed and in truth.” 

Science & Health Page 203:13-16

February 19, 2014 - Through the Eyes of a Dog

ACIM Workbook lesson #50:

“I am sustained by the Love of God.”

Love with a capital "L", love so pure that it just IS, seems impossible when thought of with all the caveats we place on human feelings and emotions. Once again, this Love is something animals are helping us to experience. Their loving looks are pure in ways which our human love often seems to lack. I look to my dog(s) to show me the way to express and  feel the Love that is God. In order to recognize that "I am sustained by the Love of God", I must give up all previous notions of what love is. I certainly want to. I want to know this Love that is God and allow it to sustain me constantly, not just when I don't know what to do and reach out in desperation. A taste of It is all it takes for me to want to throw off the shackles and swim in a sea of all-sustaining Love. May the eyes of a beloved dog remind me of that.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Psalm XXIII 

[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want. [LOVE] maketh me to lie down in green pastures: [LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters. [LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: [LOVE] leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for [LOVE] is with me; [LOVE'S] rod and [LOVE'S] staff they comfort me. [LOVE] prepareth a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: [LOVE] anointeth my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [LOVE] for ever.

Science & Health" Page 578: 3-18

February 18, 2014 - I'm Listening!

At Crystal Bridges Museum
"I'm Listening!"

ACIM Workbook Lesson #49:

"God's Voice speaks to me all through this day."

When someone says that God is speaking to them, it is often thought that they are schizophrenic or unbalanced in some way. With the understanding that divine Mind is the creator of all things spiritual, and that ideas are a product of this Mind, then it is easier to understand that we can and do hear God's voice all the time. The cacophony in our mind often drowns out the voice of the divine Mind. By training ourselves to quiet this constant chatter -- which we have become accustomed to accepting as a normal aspect of our material existence -- we allow peaceful inner knowing to be heard. Do you remember the last time you "just knew" something, but didn't follow through with it, pushing your intuition aside in favor of what we call common sense? These knowing moments might be minor in nature, or they may be something which could result in a major shift in events. To know our spiritual nature as an idea of divine Mind is to know that the intelligence of the universe is ours for the listening. Listening with spiritual sense is to hear God's Voice all through the day!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout creation, and the immortality of man and the universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source. Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas material. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind is All and reproduces all--as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind's infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product." Science & Health Page 507:24-4

February 17, 2014 - Separation Anxiety?

"Aaron in Colorado"
photo by Heather Magnan

ACIM Workbook Lesson #48:

"There is nothing to fear."

Fear stems from the idea that we can be separated from joy and love, from peace and security. I remember when my son left home for a boarding school at the age of fourteen. I was so sad that I felt I'd never laugh again. I literally couldn't imagine happiness, as everything I looked at reminded me he was gone. After a week or so of living in this maudlin state, I realized I was thinking of him as though he were dead. This led me to examine that avenue. What if he was dead? Wouldn't the love we felt still be alive? Of course, I would miss being around him, enjoying his company -- just as I was missing him with 300 miles of physical separation. A Rumi quote helped break this illusion: "Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. For those who love with heart and soul there is no separation." What is it which allows us to be together no matter where we seem to be? The Love which we are as the reflection of the one God is a connection which cannot be broken by any set of material circumstance. When I'm really feeling the security of divine Love, I'm reminded of the way a baby is swaddled in a blanket. Divine Love swaddles us in its ever-present protection. While we may seem to face uncertainties and losses, "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God." (ACIM text)

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.' Here is a definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science."

Science & Health Page 410:17-21

February 16, 2014 - Strength to Birth New Thought

Ozark Sunrise
photo by Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #47:

"God is the strength in which I trust."

Mary Baker Eddy spent years writing, revising, and editing the revelation of divine Science which was published in 1875. Helen Schucman received the message of A Course in Miracles and committed years of her life to its transcription, which was presented in book form in 1976. Where does the strength come from which enabled these women to facilitate a world-wide change in thought? I know that Mrs. Eddy ascribed full credit to God. She understood that no matter how erudite and learned she had become, (despite no formal education), that there was no way mortal mind could know the divine realities of which she wrote. At least once she stated that she had no idea what Science & Health said, and that's why she read it daily. Some would describe both of these books as being "channeled" writing. I think there's much to be said for the notion that everything is channeled! Loosing the bonds of materialism lets us see in ways we didn't know existed. This freedom allows us to be a perpetual channel for Truth. Trusting that this flow is never-ending, and that we have the divine strength to allow ourselves access, those are the things we are learning about. Thank you Mary, and Helen, and every other honest seeker of Truth who has demonstrated the fortitude to birth new thought. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The revelation of Truth in the understanding came to me gradually and apparently through divine power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled: 'Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful.'"

Science & Health Page 109:22-27