November 10, 2014 - No Looking Back

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #314

“I seek a future different from the past.”

History was my least favorite subject in school. I always questioned why I needed to know these things. Of course, people told me I must know this in order to benefit from the good things and not to repeat the bad. This never felt right and it still doesn't! Now that we're realizing the possibility of living in an entirely new way through other-dimensional thought, my reluctance to read and study past events makes more sense to me than ever before. Understanding the nature of our Being negates the need to educate ourselves by way of past mistakes. Understanding of spiritual Truth, allows us to surpass what has been thought of as human limits. In giving up strong opinions, I am more able to ascertain spiritual perfection. I see a future of happiness and love.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.”

Science & Health Page 128:11-19

November 9, 2014 - In the Twinkling of an Eye

"Colorado Sunset"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #313

“Now let a new perception come to me.”

A  dear friend told a group of us about being terribly afraid of the dark. She said she had always been this way, to the point she had asked her husband to never leave her alone if it wasn't light. She told us that three days after he died, the fear she had always lived with left her. It was just gone! This story has stayed with me and come to mind often. What a beautiful demonstration of letting go! Just like that, in the blink of an eye, we can be past anything, no matter how long we have claimed it as a part of us. What gratitude I feel to this woman for sharing her story of shifting perception making a huge difference in experience! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The human mind will sometime rise above all material and physical sense, exchanging it for spiritual perception, and exchanging human concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man will recognize his God-given dominion and being."

Science & Health Page 531:10-14

November 8, 2014 - Practice

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #312

“I see all things as I would have them be.”

I have the chance today to "look upon a liberated world, set free from all the judgments I have made." Thank goodness, because I've been blaming the world for lots of stuff! I've recently pontificated on the fact that the world is selling us diseases. Everywhere we look there are certain well-publicized maladies blossoming. I've also been blaming the world for the proliferation of bigotry and closed-mindedness. I've been blaming the world for being willing to spend money on clothing and recreation, but not on art. I could probably find a few other things I've been blathering about, but that's enough for now.  It's difficult to get past ego's need to know everything and be special. It seems difficult to let go of beliefs and trust the divine Mind which flows through all that Is. But that's what I want to do, and so I'll continue to catch myself in judgmental thought, and ask holy Spirit what divine thought is on the subject. Spiritual sense awakens with practice!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The supposed existence of more than one mind was the basic error of idolatry. This error assumed the loss of spiritual power, the loss of the spiritual presence of Life as infinite Truth without an unlikeness, and the loss of Love as ever present and universal."

Science & Health Page 479:5-10

November 7, 2014 - Of Elections and Such ...

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #311

“I judge all things as I would have them be.”

Recently, in the USA, we've had some major elections. I've always thought our political system was just another way of dividing us. I don't watch network television, news in traditional forms, nor political debates and such. I glance through our local newspaper and occasionally watch Colbert and/or the Daily Show (comedy based on the news) to "keep up" with what's going on out there. I did vote a few days ago, but haven't made the effort to find out who won or lost. These results are seeping in to me by various means, but I have no strong opinions on the outcome. I am in total agreement with Mary Baker Eddy in today's  quote concerning politics. I haven't always been this way. I used to campaign, and get involved, and even cry when "my" candidate lost. I like the way I feel now so much more!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

 "I am asked, 'What are your politics?' I have none, in reality, other than to help support a righteous government;  to love God supremely, and my neighbor as myself."

Miscellaneous Writing Page 276:23-25

November 6, 2014 - Letting Go

Structure of Truth and Love

ACIM Workbook Lesson #310

“In fearlessness and love I spend today.”

I spent today in fearlessness and love, loosing some of the past I've been holding tightly. Our hundred-year-old edifice of the Christian Science church here in Eureka Springs has been a part of my life for more than 50 years. I've played the organ for services more times than I can count. I've sat in its sanctuary and soaked in the years of Love this structure has witnessed. It's a part of me. I've been trying to release it from the emotional bonds I've put on it. It's taken a number of years, but I believe it's done. Today I met with a newspaper writer who will be doing a story about its history and its possible future. I felt like it was more than a goodbye I said today. One of Mary Baker Eddy's definitions of church is, "The structure of Truth and Love." As I sat in its walls today, I felt that I Am that, too. We all are! The place you stand is holy ground. Makes me feel like dancing!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.”

Science & Health  Page 261:4-7

November 5, 2014 - What if ...

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #309

“I will not fear to look within today.”

Why would we fear to look within? Why would we fear seeing our true self? I think it's because we believe all the little horrible things we've done in our lives are what we'll be looking at. Perhaps we feel that to look within would involve some sort of life review which would require us to answer for every supposed sin we've committed. But what if we're looking within at our pure and perfect Self, as we are created by divine Mind? And what if, after we find what we've forgotten, we allow it to come forth and live with us? In the process, we truly forgive ourselves for all of it, allowing thought to stay on the good and the true, releasing guilt and fear, living only in Love. What if ...

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;" that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal."

 Science & Health Page 476:28-32

November 4, 2014 - It's a Present!

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #308

"This instant is the only time there is."

A quote from "Kung Fu Panda" came to mind when I saw today's lesson subject: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” And I'm also reminded of something Deepak Chopra said: "Time is something we have made up so everything doesn't happen all at once." Albert Einstein showed us that time is relative. Time spent in a dentist chair passes differently from time spent visiting with a dear friend. Later in life, Mr. Einstein came to believe that time was not just relative, but unreal! Here is a quote from him, written in a letter to a friend: "To those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future, is only an illusion, if a stubborn one." So why do we limit ourselves with time? We always think we're too young or too old, or this physical malady will pass with time, or that we simply don't have time to do the things we want to do. When I realize that I'm not a mortal living in what seems to be now, but an immortal living in eternity, then some major shifts in perception can take place. Only "time will tell" what happens with that realization!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the ‘Peace, be still’ to all human fears, to suffering of every sort”

Miscellaneous Writings Page 307