January 18, 2015 - A Foretaste of Eternity

"Altai Mountains"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #18

"I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing."

The realization that we're not alone in our seeing of Truth is a great incentive to see it more! Every glimpse I catch of what I Am is a foretaste of eternity. Every taste savored of eternity whets my appetite to leave belief and dogma behind and make room for spiritual reality to fill its void. I don't fear that this leaving will cause me to be an automaton or puppet for something wanting to control me. It will simply allow me to be more of me. Divine Mind's expression is as idividual as your experience of it. Think of your favorite spiritual seer and how different he is from another metaphysical maven, even though they espouse the same Principle. Divine Love flows through us all, and manifests Itself in a myriad of ways. The way I see it, our Oneness allows us to experience everything there is, but individually through our own expression. The more we understand and see, the more everyone does, too. And what keeps us all from experiencing horrible things together? Their unreality!!

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

January 17, 2015 - Can I Be Neutral?

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #17
"I see no neutral things".

It's difficult to discern if I'm receiving an intuition about a person, place, or thing, or if I'm simply being wary because of past experiences with something similar. I'm in a bit of a quandary concerning a person who has placed himself in a position of leadership in my world. Just looking at him, I immediately think of motorcycle ruffians, self-declared bigots of varying sorts, and perhaps even gestapo. I get a good feeling from him in many ways -- but is this just because I want to see the good in everyone and insist on it? Does he have a hidden agenda of which I want no part? Am I just being a bigot myself to think these things? It can be hard to tell, and there's no way I can personally know such a thing. I see no neutral things and it's impossible for me, the material, mortal, ego-riddled Marsha to tell the difference. But the true Self, stripped of past experiences, beliefs, and bias, knows without a doubt what is Truth. I'm going to look for her today.
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
"To corporeal sense, the sun appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand still; but astronomical science contradicts this, and explains the solar system as working on a different plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to Science, to the immortal truth of all things."

Science & Health Page 493:2-8

January 16, 2015 - Every Thought

"Sunset in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #16
“I have no neutral thoughts.”

We are reminded today that "Every thought you have contributes to truth or illusion: either it extends truth or it multiplies illusion." In talking with an acquaintance, it was brought home to me what a Pollyanna attitude I have! His outlook on life is that it must be endured; that we're miserable most of the time and we should not only put up with it, but we should embrace it. Now, I'm not sure he realizes that this is his attitude! I found myself mentally contradicting everything he said -- and this was not because I want to be difficult or to put him down in any way, but to protect myself from his rapidly-multiplying and negative illusions. He wanted to give me graphic details of an operation he recently had, and he was also offering pity towards my situation. In the past, I might have made up an excuse to cut our conversation short, perhaps saying that someone was at the door. But I felt it was important to break the illusion within myself by telling him that I really didn't feel put-upon in any way, that I felt that life was an adventure and I was smack dab in the middle of a good one, and that I had many thank you notes to write and I must be getting to them. I am very grateful to everyone whose thoughts "contribute to Truth"!! Namaste ----
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
"In divine Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed matter is but the subjective state of what is termed by the author mortal mind."

Science & Health Page 114:27-31

January 15, 2015 - Who Made My Thoughts?

"Aaron on the Slopes"

ACIM Workbook Lesson #15 
“My thoughts are images that I have made.”

Often it seems our thoughts are not our own but are provided courtesy of advertising and the endless play of horrible events some people like to perpetuate in thought. I know a few people who speculate on what awful things can happen in any given circumstance — and I try to steer clear of them! During the last month, I have been thrown into a world I’ve never experienced: the medical milieu. Now that I have doctors’ appointments and am experiencing one of my pet peeves, prescription drugs, it would seem natural to trade stories with others in similar situations. That is not the world in which I choose to live. A friend said to me today, upon hearing of the wonderfully good results of a recent vascular procedure, that I must know ‘the secret’ and stated that perhaps some day he, too, could learn it. The secret is that there is no secret! It’s an open secret which anyone can experience, if you choose good rather than its opposite. It’s hard for some to believe that these current events in my life are strengthening my metaphysical experience, but I’m seeing more clearly every day!

Mary Baker Eddy quotes: "Mortals evolve images of thought." "Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it with all material conceptions."

Science & Health Page 86:13 and 86:29:1

January 14, 2015 - Creation

photo by Mawuena Davies

ACIM Workbook Lesson #14
“God did not create a meaningless world.”

The last few days we've been seeing the world as meaningless and examining how that affects us. Today we are asked to see that this meaningless world was not created by God. This means that everything in this material world is not a creation of God. How can that be? We've been told that God created everything, is everything, and that it is good. But that can't be true, because we see so many things which aren't good! How can this be explained? Some choose to deny God, perhaps with thoughts of a devil which is as powerful as any god we've ever imagined. Some may say that God created both good and bad to give us choices in this testing ground we live in. The possibilities are limitless when it comes to trying to make sense of the confusion surrounding spiritual beliefs. In our study, we're seeing that God did create everything, and it is all good, but that this creation is spiritual, not material. Our true selves are spiritual; our material selves are but another belief, an illusion, which we are living. When we distance ourselves from the concept that life is in matter, we are able to realize that we actually have a divine origin. We can know that we are not governed by mental influences over which we have no control, but that we are free to live the Love which is our true heritage as the children of God.
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“When will the error of believing that there is life in matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of God, be unmasked? When will it be understood that matter has neither intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that the opposite belief is the prolific source of all suffering? God created all through Mind, and made all perfect and eternal.” Science & Health Page 205:7-13

January 13, 2015 - Why Am I Afraid?

photo by Richard Quick

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #13

“A meaningless world engenders fear.”

What is it about a meaningless world which would make us afraid? Today's lesson discussion tells us this: "A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God." So often we act as though we're in charge and that we must tell God what needs to happen. We bargain and cajole to get our way, then get angry with God when we don't. We blame God when anything less than our idea of good comes our way. We thank God when we get our way, perhaps in a boastful or self-satisfied way. All these actions are symptoms of the separation we feel. Allowing everything to be meaningless is similar to letting go of an addiction! Interesting symptoms may show up when we decide to give up the beliefs to which we have grown accustomed. To see everything without the meaning we have given it can be frightening, but it doesn't need to be. The more we practice giving up strong opinions, or by-rote actions, rituals, or other habitual behaviors, the more sensible it seems. While realizing the meaninglessness of these ways we've taken on as our story, let's not be afraid of any rogue thoughts of fear which may seem to assault us. They can be acknowledged as symptoms of a clearing away of self to allow our Self to be demonstrated. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The Hebrew Lawgiver, [Moses], slow of speech, despaired of making the people understand what should be revealed to him. When, led by wisdom to cast down his rod, he saw it become a serpent, Moses fled before it; but wisdom bade him come back and handle the serpent, and then Moses' fear departed. In this incident was seen the actuality of Science. Matter was shown to be a belief only. The serpent, evil, under wisdom's bidding, was destroyed through understanding divine Science, and this proof was a staff upon which to lean. The illusion of Moses lost its power to alarm him, when he discovered that what he apparently saw was really but a phase of mortal belief." 

Science & Health Page 321:5-18

Marsha Havens

January 12, 2015 - What's Meaningful?

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #12

“I am upset because I see a meaningless world.”

Today's lesson asks us to witness events without giving them any meaning. By not assigning meaning to everything, we allow ourselves to see the Truth which is hidden by our personal interpretations. When we allow Spirit (God) to manifest through us -- which is our native state as the experience and expression of God -- we open ourselves to the field of all possibilities. We then become a blank slate for Love to write on. Who's to know where this will lead us? To quote Rumi: "Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there".

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Nothing is real and eternal,--nothing is Spirit,--but God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense." 

Science & Health Page 71:1-5