May 13, 2014 - Nothing is Lost

ACIM Workbook Lesson #133

"I will not value what is valueless."

"Groups of people who have shared spiritual Love are bound together for eternity." is a quote from Joel Goldsmith. These words float into my mind often. There are so many people who live in our little town whom I feel I've always known. One person who I immediately knew when I saw her is Sandy Starbird. She and her husband, Ken, are artists in the gallery I run. They moved to this little town in Arkansas from the west coast of the USA, without ever having been here before. They were led here and knew it was where they needed to be They were similarly attracted to Eureka Thyme, the art gallery which has provided them with a home for their incredibly original works of art. The ACIM workbook lesson today tells us to not value what is valueless. To discern what is valueless we are asked if it is changeable and if we feel any form of guilt surrounding it. My friendship with Ken and Sandy, their relationship with each other, is true Love in its purest form. I'm beginning to understand this Oneness which I've talked about for years. The Love which we all share as the experience of God is everywhere, and I value that recognition. I don't need to worry about losing anything to change, because how can I lose something which is not real? And on the flip side of that coin, how can I lose anything which is real? 

Mary Baker Eddy quotes:

“Everything good or worthy, God made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make,--hence its unreality.”

Science & Health Page 525:20-22

May 12, 2014 - A Glimpse is Freeing

ACIM Workbook Lesson #132

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

Often we feel there isn't time to study the Principle we long to embrace. We tell ourselves that we must live in the "real world" and that leaves little time for spiritual 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 way of thinking to become a present reality, I am coming a step closer to understanding 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 freeing 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, 2014 - No failure

ACIM Workbook Lesson #131

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

I'm often tempted to resort to chants and affirmation when I am seeking a specific outcome in life. Many people see nothing wrong with this approach -- and perhaps even a lot of right in it! I've come to think of this approach as nothing more than mental manipulation, a form of hypnotism, which may create a temporary change, but is not a lasting solution to anything. If I'm not going to try to talk life into doing what I want it to, what am I going to do? I'm going to seek Truth, only Truth, and in this seeking of One Thing, I will find everything. It's not my job to delineate what that is. Releasing what I think I know, surrendering projected outcomes, and totally relying on Truth, God, I trust that everything I need will be added unto me. I don't even need to think about what these things are. Because whatever the outcome is, it will be far better than anything I could have planned. Truth is waiting for me to clear the mist which is hiding it. For this, I am most grateful.

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, 2014 - Love or Fear

photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #130

"It is impossible to see two worlds."

There is a world of Love, and there is a world of fear. I cannot see them both at the same time. This seems like an easy choice, but fear is often insidious and I may not realize that's what's guiding my choices. I can't know the world of Spirit when I'm thinking from the standpoint of mortal sense. I can't love my neighbors when I'm judging them. I can't hear that "still, small voice" when my thought is full of chaotic chatter. These dualities represent the two worlds we wish to embrace simultaneously, but find we cannot. Everything I do, or say, or think, places me firmly in one world or the other. Moment by moment, I choose what to accept as truth. By consistently turning thought away from mortal concepts and looking to spiritual interpretations, I am choosing the world I want to see. And if I'm not comfortable with what I'm seeing, guess what? I can choose again!

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, 2014 - Perceptions

"Buffalo Blues"
painting by Carol Dickie

ACIM Workbook Lesson #129

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

A dear friend of mine is an artist who describes her painting style as abstract naturalism. When you look at her paintings, they are clearly recognizable as trees and barns and other ordinary sights, yet they are other-worldly in her perception  and interpretation of light and shadow and color.  She is having a major art show at a museum in a neighboring city. When viewing 30+ paintings at one time, I was transported to Carol's world. The show was entitled, "An Artist's Journey" and began with a painting she did as a small child and ended with a series of paintings she calls "Fishing With My Father". In walking through the rooms, reading Carol's descriptions of her journey, I was transported to another world. I am reminded once again that we need not leave this world to see a world full of harmony and beauty and peace. It's all in how we look at it!

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

May 8, 2014 - More Than Meets the Eye

Photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #128

"The world I see holds nothing that I want."  

The topic of today's ACIM lesson is one of those which could cause you to say, "Thanks, but no thanks!!" But before you close the door, really think about what this means. It isn't asking you to give up enjoyment of everyday life. On the contrary! It's asking you to look past the world which is the creation of mortal mind, to the world of divine Mind. By setting aside the unrealities of belief, we are breaking the same kind of thought barriers which had to be set aside for humanity to realize the world was round. When asked to see everything with new eyes, to dare to stretch past belief and learned behavior, we may be frightened or confused. In this state of mind, our "ego" can tell us that it's all just nonsense and it's better to stay with what is well-known. But is it? If you feel -- really feel, deep inside, that there must be more to this existence than meets the human eye, then you will want to know what that is. We are capable of so much more than we realize. The veil is getting thinner! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"In the material world, thought has brought to light with great rapidity many useful wonders. With like activity have thought's swift pinions been rising towards the realm of the real, to the spiritual cause of those lower things which give impulse to inquiry. Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect." 

Science & Health Page 268:1-9

May 7, 2014 - One Love

ACIM Workbook Lesson #127

“There is no love but God's”

Many self-help books talk of the many faces and facets of love. In divine metaphysics, there is no division in Love. Love does not judge. No one is more worthy than another. No one is more able than another when it comes to expressing Love. Love may not appear to be a factor in the world we witness daily. We see love that's variable and hate that is solid. But we are learning the unreality of changing love and abiding hate. Reality is the Love which is God. Today's ACIM workbook lesson asks us to affirm this often today: "I bless you, brother, with the Love of God, which I would share with you. For I would learn the joyous lesson that there is no love but God's and yours and mine and everyone's." My awareness of this true Love allows me to experience it. It is always present, and I'm learning to be, too.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His love.”

Science & Health Page 340:12-14