Trivial Pursuits

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #20

"I am determined to see"

Today's topic has prompted me to look back on the past five or six decades and think about the extremes I have gone to in order to NOT see. We, as humans, clutter ourselves 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-numbing 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!" (ACIM)

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

Every Thought is Important

ACIM Workbook Lesson #19

"I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts."

Would it bother you to think that there are no private thoughts? There are many things we think of as coincidence which are leading us to the truth of our connectivity, but we insist on finding reasons it can't be true. That's all right, because we are also seeing ways in which our thoughts pass to others with no spoken words. Think of the times someone comes to mind just before the telephone rings and it's them calling you.  Animals are also a proving ground for telepathic communication, allowing us to experiment with giving well-known commands mentally rather than verbally.  On a personal level, if we say we want world peace, yet fill our thought with violent movies and dooms-day conjectures, are we truly choosing peace? Every thought is important. A peaceful tipping point 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 a new world. Let's live as though every thought DOES make a difference and choose Love over fear!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established.” Science & Health Page 467:9-13

Never Alone

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #18

"I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing."

Yesterday I expressed my desire to be alone in communion with Spirit. Today we are asked to realize what an impossibility that is! The connection of everything through the omnipresence of our source cannot be denied. It can be ignored, but that doesn't make it go away. So every modicum of my "seeing" is experienced everywhere in this infinite web of eternal Life. And everyone's remembering of Truth is mine, too. I no longer allow into my experience those who habitually recount pain and injustice perceived in their lives. As one who used to take almost everything personally, I fully appreciate how it can consume thought, and how we seem to want commiseration with our feelings. I find myself being with those who help my Being, and loving the peace!

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

Imagine ...

Mt. Superior - Utah
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #17

"I see no neutral things"

When I start my daily writing, I look back at the previous years and see if anything bears repeating. Imagine my surprise when I read the entry from four years ago and saw that all the things I had imagined as perfection have come true! Well, the things concerning myself, personally, but not the things pertaining to the world -- at least not yet! Here is the entry in its entirety: What I would give to live alone on a mountaintop, with no neighbors or roommates, with no job to go to or money to think about. What a nice life it would be to meditate, take long walks at any time of day, only cook when I want to, and not have social obligations. What a relief to not hear news or commercials from the media in any form. How nice to not go to church or board meetings or think about marketing of this town and its artists.  And wouldn't it be sweet for non-profits to have all they need, for no one to be hungry, for everyone to know the true source of their well-being and not be afraid to shout it from the rooftops! Human thought has changed drastically through the centuries. It's changing now, too. I embrace it!!

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 [the knowledge of Christ-consciousness], to the immortal truth of all things." Science & Health Page 493:2-8

No Neutral Thoughts

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #16

“I have no neutral thoughts.”

Every thought is important as it gives rise to perception, and it either extends truth or multiplies illusion. A well-known story many of us have heard illustrates today's subject. A grandfather is talking to his grandson about anger. He tells him that we all have a peaceful wolf and an angry wolf living inside us, and the one that grows is the one we feed. While I find this to be an exemplary tale illustrating a truth of this material existence, it does nothing to speak to the metaphysical truth we are learning: There is no angry wolf. As today's lesson states, "you can multiply nothing but you can't extend it". Our thoughts which feed an angry wolf have no power as they're feeding something which does not exist. So we are seeing that erroneous thoughts can seem real and may even seem to grow, but that's impossible because Truth trumps error every time.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body. It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought."

Science & Health Page 114:23-27

Belief Becomes Reality

"Ancient Enigma"
sculpture by Ken Starbird

ACIM Workbook Lesson #15

“My thoughts are images that I have made.”

I witnessed a thought-provoking experiment. A woman sitting at a table was asked to hold her right arm out, resting it from elbow to hand on the surface. They erected a barrier so she couldn't see her real hand and then they placed a rubber hand and arm in front of her, which she could see, with the elbow ending at her body. Then the person sitting on the other side of the table used a soft paint brush to stroke both her hand and the rubber hand. She stated she was feeling a little odd because she was beginning to experience sensation in the rubber hand. When the person moved the brush to the rubber thumb, stroking it but not hers, she jerked back because the feeling was so odd. Then the man across the table pulled out a hammer and hit the rubber hand. You can imagine how the woman reacted! This demonstrated how, in a matter of two minutes or less, a rubber hand became a human hand in the thought of this woman. This is, in essence, what we've done with everything around us. Belief becomes our reality -- and very quickly. So today I will practice moving away from beliefs and opening my thought to the reality of Spirit!

Mary Baker Eddy quotes:

"Mortals evolve images of thought." "Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it with all material conceptions."

Science & Health Page 86:13 and 86:29:1

Divine Mind's Creation

photo credit: Mawuena Davies

ACIM Workbook Lesson #14

“God did not create a meaningless world.”

The last few days we've been seeing the world as meaningless and examining how that affects us. Today we are asked to see that this meaningless world was not created by God. This means that everything in this material world is not a creation of God. People become confused or disillusioned when they see so much unlike good in this world, often deciding there is no God. Some may explain the situation by blaming something called the devil for bad things, but then there is a conflict in their mind because God is not all-powerful in this scenario.  Some may say that God created both good and bad to give us choices, and this is a testing ground we live in. The possibilities are limitless when it comes to trying to make sense of the confusion surrounding spiritual beliefs! In our study, we're seeing that God did create everything, and it is all good, but that this creation is spiritual, not material. When we distance ourselves from the concept that life is in matter, we are able to realize that we actually have a divine origin. We can then understand that we are not governed by mental influences over which we have no control, and this realization frees us to live the Love which is our true heritage as the children of God!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“When will the error of believing that there is life in matter, and that sin, sickness, and death are creations of God, be unmasked? When will it be understood that matter has neither intelligence, life, nor sensation, and that the opposite belief is the prolific source of all suffering? God created all through Mind, and made all perfect and eternal.” Science & Health Page 205:7-13