January 31, 2015 - Unrealized Abilities

"Great Wall of China"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #31:
"I am not the victim of the world I see"

I heard myself say to someone, "We could all have animosity toward         our parents , either actual or imagined." Hum -- isn't all animosity imagined?? We like to think that some outside influence has forced us to feel hurt or angry, but is that true? Aren't we just setting ourselves up as a victim to say that someone else "made us angry"? After all, I don't have to react with a specified emotion; I can choose to see any given situation as a calm witness rather than as an upset personality, can't I? It's tempting to say things like, He/she pushes my buttons. By blaming outside influences for our actions, we can pretend we're victims of life's circumstances. We're so accustomed to looking for help outside of ourselves that we also blame outside influences for our reactions, thinking we have no choice. Truth shows us that we are more than we believe we are. We aren't mortal victims, but spiritual beings with unrealized abilities and power. It's time to wake up to Truth!
Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss." Science & Health Page 481:2-4

January 30, 2015 - Seeing Within

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #30:
"God is in everything I see because God is in my mind."

Seeing everything as a part of us by looking within rather than without is the point of today's exercise. And this is not limited to what we can see with our eyes in the limited proximity of them. Close your eyes and see what pops into your thought and include that in your knowing. We are working toward changing sight to vision. I look at my sweet dog and see my experience of him. I close my eyes and envision all the Love expressed by all the dogs I have known. I feel the Love expressed by my parents and children and friends. I can feel the warmth of a spring day, smell the earth and flowers, see past my limiting thoughts to the ideas of Soul. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "It is the illumination of the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the capacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the divine Mind." Science & Health Page 85:2-6

January 29, 2015 - Everything I See

ACIM Workbook Lesson #29: 

"God is in everything I see". 

A dear friend, Patricia Robinett, has recorded these daily workbook lessons, which can be found on youTube by searching for Auntie Patricia.  She also posts them on her Facebook page. Before starting to write, I went there to listen to this lesson. Following her post, someone had asked if God is in "rapists, pedophiles, and murderers". Mary Baker Eddy tells us that the word "in" is obsolete if used in reference to Spirit, or Deity. So just a slight change in thought would render the statement to be that God is Everything.  Where does that leave evil? "Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is unreal, temporal." (MBE) Evil is a mortal belief, often seeming vividly real. But it's not, because the only true reality is spiritual. To see past the material miasma to the spiritual Truth takes practice. And that's what we're doing today. I'm so glad we're doing it together!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Principle, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and there is no other self-existence. He is all-inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and individuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all is Spirit and spiritual."

Science & Health Page 331:18-25

January 28, 2015 - Seeing Differently

"Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #28:
"Above all else, I want to see things differently."

Today's lesson asks us to give up any notion we have concerning the meaning of anything and everything. By doing this, we cease to look at a thing and start to look at the consciousness which sustains it. With enough practice, we can see everything as God revealed. When we begin asking what things are rather than telling them what they are, interesting answers may be coming our way. For instance, the way we, as a society, punish wrong-doing: Does our present system of retaliation and retribution actually accomplish anything? In reading a book, "The Buddhist and the Terrorist", an alternative to the treatment of a murderer is explored. This book is one of many which encourage me to see differently, to see myself as God sees me, to continue asking mySelf how that sight is gained and kept, to practice the Presence in every moment.
Mary Baker Eddy quote: "The objects cognized by the physical senses have not the reality of substance. They are only what mortal belief calls them." Science & Health Page 311:26-28

January 27, 2015 - I want to see!

photo by Heather Magnan

ACIM Workbook Lesson #27

"Above all else I want to see." 

Today I look forward to having the single-minded exercise of wanting to see. Yesterday was spent tying up loose ends with the closing of my gallery. I became sadder as the day progressed. I've been told that attachment brings with it a loss of self when that to which we attach ourselves is gone. I don't feel a loss of self, but a sadness that the beauty, grace, and just pure fun associated with that business is no longer going to be. I will miss it. So today I will bring thought back to my purpose of desiring one thing: to know God. In the act of returning thought to Love whenever it is tempted to fall into sadness, I will see new views, which would only be hidden by a desire to look back. I am grateful for the spiritual study which keeps my eye single!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love,which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation;6and when we subordinate the false testimony of thecorporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere." Science & Health Page 516:4-8

January 26, 2015 - Nothing Unreal Exists

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #26
"My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability."

The realization that all attack comes from within is an eye-opener! In the introduction of A Course in Miracles textbook is the following statement: “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.” At first glance this may seem to make no sense! But when you think of reality as being the creation of divine Love, the reflection of God (Love), and this is all that is real, then anything unlike God, good, is nonexistent -- hence its unreality is exposed. When we worry about lack of money, or possible illness, or what our neighbor might do, these are thoughts which seem to attack our invulnerability.  Actually our invulnerability as an expression of God cannot be attacked, but we certainly can think of ourselves as weak victims of life's circumstances. Through a conscious choice to reject the unreality of material existence and claim our heritage as powerful spiritual beings, unafraid to stand up and declare our Oneness with God and all Its creation, we are able to transcend the fears we have thought to be inevitable. I love the new world which is being revealed through this understanding!
Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God. Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust decrees, and the bias of education enforces this slavery." Science & Health Page 380:32-4

January 25, 2015 - I Wonder ...

"Wonderment"
by Sandy Wythawai Starbird 

ACIM Workbook Lesson #25

"I do not know what anything is for".

Being in the business of selling art gives me lots of practice in realizing "I do not know what anything is for"! Often I've advised prospective buyers to go with how the piece they're considering makes them feel. Does it bring a smile to your face? Will it add beauty and grace to your life? If it does these things, then don't miss your chance for that! And from the other side, the artists we represent bring forth their art from Love. One of our artists describes her style as abstract naturalism. Her love of nature glows forth in every painting she brings to canvas. Another artist births what she sometimes calls primal images. These fabric creations are profoundly moving. For me, they elicit emotions which perhaps have been hiding for years. But this is neither here nor there. When this art is made, it is not examined for what it does for either the artist or the appreciator of it. When I put it on the wall, it is not placed there because of how much money it will bring. My exercise today is to allow everything to Be, with Love expressed all around, and to let its real meaning and purpose come forth without my personal sense being projected onto it. How fun it is to listen while deeper meaning seeks my awareness!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The chief difficulty in conveying the teachings of divine Science accurately to human thought lies in this, that like all other languages, English is inadequate to the expression of spiritual conceptions and propositions, because one is obliged to use material terms in dealing with spiritual ideas. The elucidation of Christian Science lies in its spiritual sense, and this sense must be gained by its disciples in order to grasp the meaning of this Science."

Science & Health Page 349:13-21