January 23, 2015 - Escape tp Freedom

"London Morning"
photo y Aaron Springon

ACIM Workbook Lesson #23:
"I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts."

It can be difficult to free ourselves from the prison of attack thoughts. It seems normal and natural to think and talk about things we don't agree with or like. It can occupy the majority of our thought and we think it will facilitate a change if we talk about it enough. This fertilization of attack thoughts can be found everywhere from coffee shops to churches, and it doesn't do a single thing to change the world. We are told today that the only way out of fear is giving up attack thoughts. If the world we see is an effect, the only way to change this hallucination is to alter the cause: our thought. Some may ridicule this idea, and for those who do I only ask this: Have any material manipulations ever, in all of history, affected a change? Did our civil war free the slaves? It was a beginning, of course, but many people stayed in bondage long past when laws were enacted. It takes a change of thought to bring freedom. Let's free ourselves today -- and forever! 
Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is a more difficult task. The despotic tendencies, inherent in mortal mind and always germinating in new forms of tyranny, must be rooted out through the action of the divine Mind." Science & Health Page 225:22-28

January 22, 2015 - Love is Reflected in Love

Zion National Park
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #22
"What I see is a form of vengeance."

​Having been a court reporter for 30 years, I have often witnessed people's desire for this thing called vengeance. I've also witnessed that when they get whatever form of retribution they seek, it makes them feel no better about the situation.​ Why is vengeance thought of as a good thing in our society? It seems to me it should be one of Dante's deadly sins and something we would want to negate or, at the very least, hide under the table. But, no, we want to put it on the front page and proudly tell others of the vengeance we seek. As ACIM tells us:

 "Today's idea accurately describes the way anyone who holds attack thoughts in his mind must see the world. Having projected his anger onto the world, he sees vengeance about to strike at him. His own attack is thus perceived as self defense." May be remember that our safety lies in our defenselessness

​ -- and our happiness, too

!
Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Truth destroys error, and Love destroys hate. Being destroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness." Science & Health Page 339:2-4

January 21, 2015 - Seeing Softly

photo by Aaron Spriungston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #21
"I am determined to see things differently"

Seeing things differently was illustrated for me today. I went on a car ride with a person who saw the world entirely differently than I did. Every car that came up behind us was following too close; when a car pulled out onto the highway, it should have waited until she was past; people in front of her were going to slow; many others were simply guilty of being "idiots". I became more and more amused as the ride progressed. She has mentioned before that she's been in a number of vehicular accidents in the past, which have always been the other person's fault. So the question comes to mind: Is she driving defensively because of past events, or are events happening because she's expecting them? I'm not going to try to make this determination, but what I do know is the difference in our attitudes towards drivers. When someone pulls out onto the highway in front of me, I'm glad because they probably want to go faster than I do. If someone zooms up behind me, I find the nearest place to happily pull to the side of the road and let them past. If someone in front of me is going slower than I usually drive, I'm glad because I know I'm in the place I need to be. I won't go so far as to say this keeps me safer, but I know it makes me happier!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Seeing is no less a quality of physical sense than feeling. Then why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one? Education alone determines the difference. In reality there is none." Science & Health Page 86:20-24

January 20, 2015 - Throwing Away the Veil

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #20
"I am determined to see"

Today's topic has prompted me to look back on the past fifty years and think about the extremes I have gone to in order to NOT see. We, as humans, clutter our selves with any number of trivial pursuits in order to keep from seeing and knowing Truth. We may occupy our time with busy-ness in order to keep Truth from sneaking in. There was a time in my life when I was a semi-hermit. I read five or six books a week, but nothing of import;  lots of horror stories and historical romances. Time spent with others was in a bar, talking about politics, gossip, and other mind-humbing topics. I went to extremes to keep from thinking about the reality of my being. I see others using television, the internet, anything that will totally occupy their minds to keep from seeing. What is this we refuse to see? The Truth of our being, the Truth that is God, the essence which I Am, the meaning of Life and our function as the expression of divine Love. There are many ways to define this sight, but only one way to see. We must have the desire to want sight and the willingness to let illusions disappear. "I am determined to see!".

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “The question, 'What is Truth', convulses the world. Many are ready to meet this inquiry with the assurance which comes of understanding; but more are blinded by their old illusions, and try to 'give it pause'. The efforts of error to answer this question by some ology are vain. Spiritual rationality and free thought accompany approaching Science, and cannot be put down. They will emancipate humanity, and supplant unscientific means and so-called laws.”
Science & Health Page 223:14-24

January 19. 2015 - Never Alone

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #19
"I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts."

How often has someone come to mind, then the phone rings and there they are? Many things we consider to be coincidence are leading us to the truth of our connectivity, but we insist on finding reasons they can't be true. For instance, the 100th monkey theory is constantly being "debunked". But that's all right, because we are always witnessing ways in which our thoughts pass to others with no spoken words. Once again, animals are our proving ground. Try thinking well-known commands toward your dog, without using your voice, and watch what happens! Similarly, if we say we want world peace yet fill our thought with violent movies and dooms-day conjectures about everything, are we truly choosing peace? Every thought is important. That tipping point (which many say does not exist) is getting closer all the time. I feel that's why such violence and craziness is happening everywhere: fear of losing control, fear of change, fear of Love. Let's live as though every thought DOES make a difference!
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
"...Truth is the light which dispels error. As mortals begin to understand Spirit, they give up the belief that there is any true existence apart from God."

Science & Health Page 282:32-3

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