May 29, 2015 - Pollyanna, Lost and Found

photo from Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #149

Review of: #137 "When I am healed I am not healed alone." #138 "Heaven is the decision I must make." The main thought to hold to in this review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.” 

I received and am using my “new leg”! My first reactions were not good. I knew it would be hard work to get used to it and do the physical therapy they wanted me to do, and I rebelled, mentally. Although I was willing to be compliant with everyone’s requests, my heart wasn’t in it. And so I found the prosthetic to be heavy and hot and unwieldy and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Suddenly, I realized what I was doing. What had happened to my Pollyanna attitude? So I changed my thought. Where I had been thinking of it as heavy, I now see it as protective and secure. The heat and confinement of it is now a cozy, swaddled  feeling. The unwieldiness of it is just another opportunity to exhibit beauty and grace, perhaps not in a traditional way, but it’s a fun challenge! What a difference this has made in my progress! After all, “heaven is the decision I must make.”

Mary Baker Eddy quote:    

"God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual law."

Science & Health Page 273:21-22

May 28, 2015 - Down the Rabbit Hole!

photo supplied by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #148

Review of: #135 "If I defend myself I am attacked."

#136 "Sickness is a defense against the truth." The main idea to hold to in this review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.”

These two review topics take us all the way down the rabbit hole! If you simply want feel-good, improve-your-relationships, make-more-money types of reading material, I suggest you stay away from this. And I don't mean that in an ugly way. I've found that a momentary recognition of the Truth of Being leads me to want more, but I've known many people who don't want to go there. And that's cool, too. The present beliefs we espouse and demonstrate in daily life are comfortable to us, and it can be hard to let them go. Sometimes we have held on to stubborn memories of the past for so long that we can't seem to dig our way out and up. These things can be frightening, especially if we've convinced ourselves we don't like change. So if you start to become afraid while trying on the new thoughts you are now having, realize that Love is all there is. Sing a Beatles song or two! Do anything you can to cultivate joy. Live life fully in the whirlpool of divine Love! Go all the way down the rabbit hole, knowing every step is sure when you walk with Love.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Mind, supreme over all its formations and governing them all, is the central sun of its own systems of ideas, the life and light of all its own vast creation; and man is tributary to divine Mind.”

Science & Health Page 209:5-8

May 27, 2015 - What is of Value?

"Green Ozarks"
photo by Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #147

Review of: #133 "I will not value what is valueless." #134 "Let me perceive forgiveness as it is." The main thought to hold to in this review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.”

"I can forgive but I'll never forget." How often have we heard those words? I can honestly say that nothing stands out in my mind which seems unforgiveable. I think the realization that we're all doing the best we can in any given situation has been a freeing thought for me.  Perhaps recognizing what is of value and what is valueless is a factor in forgiveness, also. Nothing is of value if it's changeable and transient. Reality is that which does not change. Nothing else really matters. I spoke with a distant relative who told me she was so sad that I “didn’t have anybody”. I had to laugh, knowing that the mind which thinks with the divine has Everybody!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Everything good or worthy, God made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make, -- hence its unreality."

Science & Health Page 525:20-22

May 26, 2015 - Feelings

photo by Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Lesson #146

Review of: #131 "No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth." #132 "I loose the world from all I thought it was." The main thought to hold to in this review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.”

How do we know if our actions express divine consciousness or if we're simply doing things because we think we should? I read a book which contained a good test to help us know the difference. Doing involves planning and following steps to get us from here to there. Being, on the other hand, doesn't mean that we just sit around and do nothing, but that we follow our feelings while staying in the present moment. The author, Anita Moorjani, says that she can tell the difference by looking at the emotions behind her everyday decisions. If her actions are the result of fear, she is in the doing mode But if everything she does is driven by passion and a zest for living, then she is Being. As an example, she gives the process of buying a house. There are many steps and plans you might make when deciding between two places, but the ultimate decision would be how you feel about one of them. Let’s listen to our hearts today as we go about the business of life. By doing so, we will live Life!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The divine Mind supports the sublimity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.”

Science & Health Page 511:5-6

May 25, 2015 - Unseen Realities

photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #145

Review of: #129 "Beyond this world there is a world I want.  #130 "It is impossible to see two worlds." The main thought to hold to in this review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.”

This is a time of rapid change in thought. Most everyone I meet senses that something important is in the air. As we are becoming aware of unseen realities, we're also experiencing more of ourSelves. We're doing things we never considered possible in the past. We are all waking up to new ways of living -- or is it  old ways of Being?! When my mind 'holds only what I think with God', the world I see and experience is one of common ground amongst everyone and everything. We are not different, you and I. We may have convinced ourselves that the material differences we see in each other make us separate, as well they may. But look past all of that to your heritage as an expression of divine Mind. Release preconceived notions about how things are or should be. Let's allow ourselves this freedom of thought -- and see where it takes us!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“When will the ages understand the Ego [note capitalization], and realize only one God, one Mind or intelligence?”

Science & Health Page 204:19-20

May 24, 2015 - Breath of Life

photo from Chris Fischer

ACIM Workbook Lesson #144

Review of: #127 "There is no love but God's." #128 "The world I see holds nothing that I want.” And the main thought to hold to in this review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.”

One of our review topics opens the door to passionate discussion: 'The world I see holds nothing that I want'. That sentence could be interpreted as saying I shouldn't enjoy the beautiful life which unfolds every day. For instance, today was the most glorious day, with perfect temperatures and mild breezes energizing me as I played in the flower garden. Everything from cooking and cleaning to playing Scrabble with an old friend was blissfully full of joy and love. How could that not be something that I want? The other part of our review tells us, 'There is no love but God's'. Everything I experienced today demonstrated the spiritual reality of my existence. Not everyone would enjoy digging in the dirt, and scrubbing the floor, and chopping vegetables, and being outscored in a game of Scrabble! But it was my experience unfolding in an individual way which reflected this Love which is God, allowing”my mind [to] hold(s) only what I think with God". It's living Love which brings the experience. A great thing about this is that we won't ever be at the end of these experiences! It's an eternal unfolding of Love, God. This unfoldment brings unpredictable adventures in harmony when we listen and follow the still, small voice within. Although it's all a joy to experience, it's not the activity which I desire, it's the Love being expressed by it. So I can truthfully say, 'The world holds nothing that I want', because what I want is to know Love, allowing experience to unfold. I can hardly wait to start another day, fresh with the full breath of Life creating my every moment.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source…”

Science & Health Page 276:4-8

May 23, 2015 - Still, Small Voice

photo courtesy of Chris Fischer

ACIM Workbook Lesson #143:

Review of: #125 "In quiet I receive God's Word today." #126  "All that I give is given to myself." And the main thought to hold to in these review: “My mind holds only what I think with God.”

Two things which, in reality, do not exist -- mortal mind, as termed by Mary Baker Eddy, and ego as it's called in ACIM -- want you to think you would no longer be you with the admission that you are One with all that Is. What if free will does not exist unless you DO give up what you think of as individuality and embrace Oneness? I'm beginning to see that I have no will of my own if I'm simply regurgitating well-rehearsed lines from the history of my life. I'm starting to glimpse the freedom which comes from throwing off the chains I have bound myself with through a lifetime of fears and learned behavior. A dear friend related a story about thinking his stepmother had never liked him. Then one day he found out she was practically deaf, and the actions he had interpreted as slights to him were actually moments of confusion on her part. He now sees their relationship with the freedom of understanding. Today I will quietly listen for that still, small voice which frees me.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or Mind, governing all existence; man and woman unchanged forever in their individual characters, even as numbers which never blend with each other, though they are governed by one Principle. All the objects of God's creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material.”

Science & Health Page 511:11-19