Peace in the Valley

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #34:

"I could see peace instead of this."

Family disputes, contentious work situations, people reacting from fear and anger -- Even if we're not directly involved in these scenarios, we are given the opportunity to "see peace instead of this". We are learning to sit quietly, with Love, and watch how spiritual truth brings healing. Peace is inherent in every seemingly volatile situation, and a calm glow is brought forth when Love is felt within our own self. By practicing peace, we are allowed to witness its inevitable spread through everything it touches. We can all recount situations where we have witnessed harmony restored through calm assertive behavior. I remember a time when three angry young people were drained of aggression as I stood in front of them smiling and thinking of their perfection as an expression of God. This instance has strengthened my vow to keep on looking at the world through those proverbial rose-colored glasses!

   

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose 'light shall we see light;' and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.”

Science & Health Page 510:9-12

Another Way to See

EurekaGras Parade

ACIM Workbook Lesson #33:

"There is another way of looking at the world."

This lesson asks us to look at things around us and then to look at our thoughts. This is to be done casually, with no judgment, only noticing. Okay. I'm looking around the room. The first thing I see is a lamp which was bought at a Clear Spring School benefit auction. Interestingly, it was donated by Victorian Reflections, a shop which occupied the space my art gallery was in for years. This lamp has a story and it brings back lots of memories and feelings within me, all lovely to remember. When I close my eyes and follow my thoughts, a long trail has opened up with memory links galore! I could follow them and spend a great deal of time living in the past, or I can simply see it for what it is and ask myself why that lamp makes me smile. It represents to me light, beauty, happy times with children and friends. Whether this exercise brought me lovely thoughts or caused distress makes no difference, because they both need to be released. This doesn't mean that I must never feel the Love reflected by this lamp and its connections. That feeling is mine all the time. This release thins the barriers I've built against Spirit. It helps me become more transparent and allows good, God, to be my only sight. What an adventure this is!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought shall be real to you,--the material or the spiritual? Both you cannot have. You are bringing out your own ideal. This ideal is either temporal or eternal. Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you try to have two models, then you practically have none. Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the real and the unreal."

Science & Health Page 360:13-21

Living From the Heart

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIs Workbook Lesson #32:

“I have invented the world I see.”

I often wonder if we are hesitant to live from the heart because we worry others will think we're foolish. When we insist on seeing as Mind sees, rather than through the interpretations of human belief, we are often looked at askance! I remember once when I was in a monthly meeting of gallery owners in our town and the talk turned to theft in their shops. I turned my attention away from the discussion and was looking into a corner, thinking about something else, when suddenly I noticed everyone had stopped talking. I looked up and saw they were all looking at me! Someone asked me what I thought about this situation and I honestly told them that thievery was not a part of my existence and I didn't want to make it a reality by giving it energy. Someone said, Good for you! And the conversation continued in a different vein. With that in mind, I will not hesitate to wander away from discussions centered on fearful beliefs or angry reactions, all the while facing them with the Love which defines our being!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts." Science & Health Page 261:4-7

Not a Victim

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

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 if we choose, 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 such as: 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

Divine Mind is All

photo credit: Alden Stallings

ACIM Workbook lesson #30:

"God is in everything I see because God is in my mind."

I like to leave the word "in" out of the above statement, so that it reads: God is everything I see because God is my Mind. This way of living which we're studying is showing itself everywhere, isn't it? From so-called new-age thought, to the divine sciences, to wonderful books such as "The Celestine Prophecy" and "The Lost Symbol" -- everything is pointing us toward Truth. Seeing with the eyes of Spirit is our birthright. We are realizing this every day in a myriad of ways! When we acknowledge that we want to experience spiritual reality, we open our mind to infinity. We can turn to this certainty of thought, and by opening ourselves to All That Is, we are led in paths perhaps less traveled, but most wondrously rewarding!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"In: A term obsolete in Science if used with Spirit or Deity." Science & Health  Page 588:22-23

See What??

photo credit: Alden Stallings

ACUN Workbook Lesson #29:

 "God is in everything I see.”

To see God in everything entails utilizing a sight other than one to which we're accustomed. The material basis of our thought leaves little room for seeing spiritually. This is why our study includes so many exercises which help us to let go of learned beliefs concerning the purpose of everything we see with our material eyes; to release what we think we know about those things.  When we are able to do that, then we leave the way open for spiritual sight. Then we see that God is everywhere, because God Is. This Is-ness is omnipresent, no matter what we think about it, so we don't have to make anything happen; we need only take off our blindfolds and see Truth.  This is why it helps me to think of God as Love.  For me, it's easy to see the idea of Love being expressed in everything, as Love is everywhere, just as sunshine is. And if something happens to obscure that light, such as clouds, I know it's still there, just as potent and perfect as ever. No matter how I perceive things to be with these material eyes and thoughts, the true idea of Spirit, God, Love, is there waiting for me to remember it.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light.” Science & Health Page 516:10-13

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Saw Things Differently

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

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 stop  looking at a thing and begin seeing the consciousness which sustains it. When we start asking what things are rather than telling them what they are, interesting answers may be coming our way! For instance, in one of my favorite novels, "The 100-year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared”, the main character doesn't make plans, but follows his intuition and ends up in some very interesting situations. Whether he's spending a few years in jail or crossing the Himalayas on foot, he doesn't interpret new circumstance from past experience, but views them as they are and does what needs to be done. "Above all else, I want to see things differently." (ACIM)

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