Wholly Sinless

ACIM Workbook Lesson #201

"Grand Tetons"
photo by Aaron Springston

Central Theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #181 "I trust my brothers, who are one with me."

This past week, it has appeared that things are slipping out of harmony around me — and it’s not my fault! (I say this with laughter:) There have been problems with getting the correct modem for internet service, my car is having issues, there are ego-related matters occurring with a group I  care about very much — I think I’ll stop right there and see how this relates to “trusting my brothers who are one with me.” One sentence which seems to apply to these situations is: “When you attack a brother, you proclaim that he is limited by what you have perceived in him.” Although I haven’t been casting stones at those involved in the hold-ups and mix-ups, it would be easy to do so, and so I will use today’s lesson to see all of this another way. When my focus goes beyond so-called mistakes, I will see a wholly sinless world.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good."

Science & Health Page 518:15-19

Peace - July 19, 2015

photo courtesy of Alden Stallings

ACIM Workbook Lesson #200

“There is no peace except the peace of God.”

Peace is a spiritual attribute. While we may perceive peace as changeable, that is only our material perception of it. As our topic today tells us, "There is no peace except the peace of God." Now, this statement may bring to mind a picture of a big Buddha ohm-ing away up in the sky, because that's the way we've come to think of deity -- something outside of us, looking down on us, watching over us, giving us things. But that's not the God we're beginning to know as Life, Truth, Love. This divine Mind, infinite Spirit, eternal Soul is you and me. As I learn to recognize the difference in material belief and spiritual truth, life becomes easier. The peace that is God is mine right now for the acceptance of it. We can't lose it, because it's eternally available no matter what the outward circumstance!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul.”

Science and Health Page 390:10-11

Whisking Away Unreality

photo courtesy of Alden Stallings

ACIM Workbook Lesson #199

“I am not a body. I am free.”

We have had the privilege of hosting a group of Buddhist monks in our village. They created a beautiful mandala on the top floor of one of our historic hotels. As I always like to look up definitions of words in order to spur inspiration, I looked up the meaning of mandala and found this interesting psychoanalytic slant for the term: “a symbol in a dream, representing the dreamer's search for completeness and self-unity.” How interesting! The recognition that we are not a body and that we’re free dovetails with many aspects of the mandala, so I will ponder them today, reaffirming what my true Self is and whisking away what it is not!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"I am the image and likeness of God; no mortal mind can confine this image in a mortal body, harm or touch it in any way, Mind has set me free from every error. Divine Love fills every avenue, flows through every channel and removes every obstruction."

[This is an excerpt from an article entitled "Body" by Mary Baker Eddy, filed in the Congressional Library, January 19, 1886, found by Lyda Sandifer Hord]

Turn on the Light!

photo from Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #198

“Only my condemnation injures me.”

It seems impossible to stay away from thoughts of condemnation. While it may be tempting to jump up on our high horse and expound on the rightness and the wrongness of external events, this justification is only from the standpoint of belief. Mortal mind, ego, tells us that we know this is real and we must do something about it. But listening and allowing ourselves to be led is much more productive than going off on a tangent and telling people how they should change their ways and everything will be better. The internet is known as the world-wide web, and that is quite an analogy for the Oneness which we share as spiritual beings. The instant and constant connection we all have with each other through our unity is there for the recognition of it. It's akin to flipping on the light switch in a dark room. If we don't know that's possible, we continue to sit in the dark. But when we sit with quiet expectation that our inner knowing will supply us with all we need, we may just find ourselves walking over to that unknown element and turning on the light! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The condemnation of mortals to till the ground means this, — that mortals should so improve material belief by thought tending spiritually upward as to destroy materiality.”

Science and Health Page 545:7-10 

One in Gratitude

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #197

“It can be but my gratitude I earn.”

We tend to project our own feelings onto God, don't you think? I guess it's part of our illusionary training to see Source as anthropomorphic, and so it's easy to put conditions and limitations on forgiveness and gratitude. Seeing myself as a reflection of God is a great first step in developing spiritual sense, but it's easy to think that God is a reflection of me! I may feel that I can never forgive certain things because they're just too bad. But God "is of purer eyes" than to see these things. So there is nothing to forgive when I'm living in Oneness. My beliefs may tell me I'm grateful that things aren't as bad as they could be, but God's creation is only good. And so anything unlike God, good, is unreal. Mortal mind, or ego, would tell me many other stories, but I choose to listen to Truth. My gratitude, your gratitude, God's gratitude -- it's all One and the same, as is the Love which conveys it!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible."

Science & Health Page 180:25-27

Upward and Inward

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #196

“It can be but myself I crucify.”

At this point in the Course in Miracles workbook lessons, we are repeatedly told that we are on the brink of realizing salvation, revelation, heaven. The belief systems we have put into practice throughout the years may begin to talk back to us in protest of our new way of thinking. Fear not! We have the tools to stand fast in our knowledge. We have each other as reminders in support. We have inner knowing to tap into for verification on our path. We can move onward, upward, inward, fearless and secure in Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quotes: “Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.” S&H Page 96:21-24

The Gratitude Walk

photo from Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #195

“Love is the way I walk in gratitude.”

I am loving this workbook lesson today! Having had a prosthetic device for a couple of months which is enabling me to walk unaided, after a few months of not being able to do so, I am particularly grateful to be walking -- and especially to be walking in gratitude! Today's ACIM topic is not about being grateful to God, but because of God! God is Love. To experience and demonstrate this Love, nothing is required of us other than our awareness of it. When facing circumstances which feel difficult, I will look at them through the lens of Love, honestly wanting to know the Truth of the situation. In gratitude I open my eyes to whatever may be revealed!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are.”

Science & Health Pages 8:28-31