February 13, 2015 - Seeing Lightly

"Zion National Park"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #44

"God is the Light in which I see."

I got a phone call from someone saying she had heard about my “situation” and wanted to commiserate. I found out that meant she wanted to tell me all about her physical maladies and have me tell her about mine. That is not what I choose to do! Seeing everything in Light, in God, is happiness and peace. Reflecting that Light to others allows us to share this harmony. When viewing others as the image and likeness of God, this light is easily seen as the essence of everyone. A few simple words, expressing what we are seeing, brings joy to those we come into contact with every day. A compliment shared with someone in the market or library may be just the encouragement they need at that moment. Shining the light of Oneness from within brings with it big blessing! I make the choice in whether I want to see darkness or light.  Today I will be feeling the joy which comes from seeing everything through Light, and giving heart-felt expression to that joy, blessing the world.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Spiritual vision is not subordinate to geometric altitudes. Whatever is governed by God, is never for an instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence and Life." 

Science & Health Page 215:11-14

February 12, 2015 - Pure Sight

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #43:

"God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him."

Today we are pondering the differences in our personal perception and universal knowledge. Our perception, as we well know, is colored by belief and what we think of as knowledge. Knowledge is Truth. This Truth, with a capital T, is God. This from today's A Course in Miracles lesson, "You cannot see apart from God because you cannot be apart from God." This statement solidifies our understanding of Oneness and allows us to assert these facts fearlessly as a reflection of God. A neighbor told me of her physical maladies and made the statement that we always tend to think of the worst thing that could happen. While it would be rude to tell her that she should stop doing that and that it is possible to see with the vision of God, that is what I thought. I can’t change how she sees everything, but I can certainly change what I think about it! As I go through this day, I will notice how I am seeing and remember that God is my Source and that my heritage is pure sight.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Man is more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal. Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God."

Science & Health Page 258:9-12

February 11, 2015 - Reinterpretation

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #42:
“God is my strength. Vision is His gift.”

"Gut feelings" are often discounted as being invalid for any number of reasons. Some say they're paranoid thoughts, others may think of them as wishful thinking, but few think of them as the vision of God. I'm reminded today that we must reinterpret everything we see. When we look around, what the human eye sees, what the human ear hears, is the false projection of Truth. Discord and inharmony is misinterpretation by us. Through right identification and reinterpretation we see with the "vision [which] is His gift". As an example, when we see train tracks coming together in the distance, we immediately reinterpret that into the truth of the situation. We know that those tracks aren't coming together and that it will not be dangerous to travel on the train which carries us toward that end. We have been taught to translate many similar situations and we do not fear them. The metaphysical studies we've embarked upon are doing the same thing: teaching us to recognize misidentification and translate it into Truth. God appearing as individual being is right interpretation. Translating erroneous thought is our job!
Mary Baker Eddy quotes:
“Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”

Science & Health Page 393:12-15

February 10, 2015 - Heaven Within

"Shibori Dancer"
creation of
Sandy Wythawai Starbird

ACIM Workbook Lesson #41 

“God goes with me wherever I go.”

Sitting quietly with today's topic, many thoughts run through my mind. I smile at them and reach deeper within for silence. All great teachers, such as Jesus, tell us the same thing: The kingdom of heaven is within. For years I knew this, but did not understand it. Without understanding, it’s nothing but blind belief. I suffered all the symptoms of separation from God: depression, anxiety, worry, a sense of helplessness and loneliness. I also went through the typical material means to quiet these feelings. None of them worked. It took a major wake-up call to break the spell, and I am so grateful to have answered it. When thinking that "God goes with me wherever I go", it's very easy to visualize a little angel on our shoulder, or someone walking beside us. Hence the importance of going deep within, silencing the multitudinous beliefs we have acquired in this existence. Knowing ourselves as consciousness, melded like a drop of water in the ocean, or a ray of sunshine with its source -- that's the feeling we're hoping to remember. I say remember because it's something we've always known, but perhaps have forgotten. Peace, joy, happiness: these are ours in the kingdom of heaven within, no matter what the outward circumstances may appear to be. Take a deep breath and feel the Oneness! 

Mary Baker Eddy quotes:

“Existence, separate from divinity, [divine] Science explains as impossible.” 

Science & Health Page 522:10-11

February 9, 2015 - Happiness No Matter What ...

"Beaver Bridge"
photo by Steve Shogren

ACIM Workbook Lesson #40:

“I am blessed as a Son of God."

Why can’t we all just be happy? I’ve heard this question voiced numerous times, and I’ve probably said it myself a time or two. People may tell you that life’s circumstances keep some from being happy. They think that if someone is living in poverty and/or abusive conditions, their happiness is squelched. I don’t believe this to necessarily be true any more than it’s opposite: if you have everything in the way of material needs and wants, you are assured happiness. When I was a teenager, a woman who was a friend of my parents had a series of things happen which we would think of as bearers of sadness. In a three-year period, her husband passed on, their house burned down, and then her daughter was in a car accident which left her in a coma for over a year before she died. Oh — she had also lost an infant daughter years before. This woman lived into her 80s, always helping others, and died with a smile on her face. I often wondered how she did it. I see now that she knew the open secret of Life. With each loved one who passes on, with each beloved animal I’ve known and loved through the years, something is growing more certain within me. They haven’t gone anywhere. Never born, never dying. If there’s a beginning, then there must be an end. That thought brings a certain smile.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Man is, and always has been, God's reflection."

Science & Health Page 471:17-18

February 8, 2015 - Remembering Wholeness

"Wyoming"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #39:

"My holiness is my salvation."

"No one needs practice to gain what is already his." We tend to forget that holiness is and always has been ours simply for the acknowledgement of it. Many things in our daily life teach us the opposite. I’m sure there are many people sitting in churches this morning listening to a preacher telling them that they are sinners and must repent — or variations on that theme. Perhaps some of you were taught this interpretation of Jesus’s words, too. Let's not put our attention on trying to forget these beliefs, but instead let's concentrate on remembering our wholeness as the image and experience of God! Seeing everything as complete leaves no room for missing pieces or lack of any kind. Where there is no blame, there is no guilt. No guilt equals salvation!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The rule is already established, and it is our task to work out the solution. Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own work? His work is done, and we have only to avail ourselves of God's rule in order to receive blessing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.”

Science & Health Page 3:4-11

February 7, 2015 - No Restrictions in Time and Place

Yannick Nezet-Seguin

ACIM Workbook Lesson #38:
"There is nothing my holiness cannot do"

"Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind." This is easy enough to know intellectually, but some days it just seems impossible to experience. Today has been one of those days when I'd just as soon stay in bed. I'm feeling a bit down, perhaps because I had hopes of being able to travel to either Chicago or Ann Arbor to see the Rotterdam Symphony in a couple of weeks. Through these writings, I've become friends with a wonderful man who plays the violin for this orchestra in The Netherlands. They have a conductor who is so dynamic that his passion bursts forth even on youTube videos.  I can only imagine the feeling of facing this group of musicians in person! Today I shall ponder what this lesson is telling me. I will study the works of Mary Baker Eddy and open myself to the field of all possibilities, trusting that I am exactly where I need to be at all times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk5Uturacx8

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
"Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth."

Science & Health Page 95:28-32