Images in Thought

"New Zealand"
photo credit: Dan Campbell

ACIM Workbook Lesson #15

“My thoughts are images that I have made.”

The world seems so real that it’s easy to get caught up in the image-making story. This topic reminds me of an experiment I witnessed in a video. 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

The Error of Belief

photo credit: Dan Campbell

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. 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 that means 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

Peaceful Reality

photo credit: Dan Campbell

ACIM Workbook Lesson #13

“A meaningless world engenders fear.”

When we say no to Spirit, we believe that something outside — some cause other than divine Mind — is creating circumstances. We give this outside cause reality and make it and its effects real — but they are meaningless, and this false creation engenders fear. Today we realize that mind cannot create beyond itself and, by this realization, go beyond the fear we are creating in our confusion. Most of us who read these writings live in the United States, which is a country that drops a bomb on someone, somewhere, on an average of every 20 minutes. When I look at this fact and its effects, I feel dismayed. I am not attempting to find a way to accept this fear and what it stands for, but I am looking for a way to transcend this way of seeing the world and, thereby, bring meaning to the meaningless events created by the ego, or mortal mind. This day I will look toward the reality of Love for peace within myself, finding meaning there.

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “History teaches that the popular and false notions about the Divine Being and character have originated in the human mind.”  Science & Health Page 357:19-21

I'll Meet You in the Field!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #12

“I am upset because I see a meaningless world.”

Today's lesson asks us to witness events without giving them any meaning. By not assigning meaning to everything, we allow ourselves to see the Truth which is hidden by our personal interpretations. This exercise is designed to help us see that the world has no meaning, other than what we apportion to it. When we allow Spirit (God) to manifest through us -- which is our native state as the experience and expression of divine Mind -- we open ourselves to the field of all possibilities. We then become a blank slate for Love to write on. Who's to know where this will lead us? To quote the Persian poet, Rumi: "Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there".

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Alas for the blindness of belief, which makes harmony conditional upon death and matter, and yet supposes Mind unable to produce harmony! So long as this error of belief remains, mortals will continue mortal in belief and subject to chance and change.” Science & Health Page 486:18-22

I Dreamed of Utopia

"The Lantern Bearers"
by Maxfield Parrish

ACIM Workbook Lesson #11

“My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.”

I vividly remember a sleeping dream from a few years ago. In it, we had no need to speak, as we knew each others' thoughts. We had no fear, as our thoughts were uncluttered and pure. Everywhere I looked there were happy people, busy at tasks which would benefit everyone. There was no need for television or radios, as we knew everything, and it was Good. At one point, I thought I was lost in the woods, but that was impossible because others sensed my confusion and were there immediately to lead me to a safe and beautiful home. While traveling on a road, suddenly the way was filled with huge boulders and ancient fallen trees, but to the left side there was a field filled with beautiful flowers, and a pathway leading to my destination. All needs were met before I knew of them. And there was the most wonderful sense of peace. I will hold to these beautiful feelings today, while seeing the meaningless basis of my ego-driven thoughts and desires. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Sleep and apathy are phases of the dream that life, substance, and intelligence are material. The mortal night dream is sometimes nearer the fact of being than are the thoughts of mortals when awake. The night-dream has less matter as its accompaniment. It throws off some material fetters. It falls short of the skies, but makes its mundane flights quite ethereal.” 

Science & Health Page 249:24-30

Wiping Out Error

photo credit: Gerry Toler

ACIM Workbook Lesson #10 “My thoughts do not mean anything.”

It may seem insulting to yourself, demeaning even, to think all day long that your thoughts do not mean anything. But this exercise is helping us to release the untrue thoughts of separation, freeing us to welcome divine Mind’s all-encompassing Idea. Are there some instances in your life where you felt you said or did the wrong thing, and this situation repeats in your thought all too often? Maybe you think you don’t look good, or aren’t smart enough, or made wrong decisions, or were gullible, naive, or just plain foolish. These thoughts mean nothing, and releasing them leaves us with a clean slate, allowing Truth to rewrite our story. The goal is to be just as Love created us, allowing any other thoughts to return to the nothingness from which they came. What a beautiful, peaceful day we shall have!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: 

“Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but wipes it out in the most effectual manner.”  Science & Health Page 11:17-18

Undoing False Ideas

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #9

“I see nothing as it is now.”

“Are all the topics as random as the first ones have been”? This is the question I was asked by a person who recently began receiving my daily writing. I realized that her question made a good point, which is addressed in the text of the current workbook lesson: "the recognition that you do not understand is a prerequisite for undoing your false ideas." We are accustomed to expecting that everything we learn is for a specific purpose, and when we encounter concepts such as these, they may seem to be random, even meaningless. And that is the point, isn't it? By relieving ourselves of the beliefs we have accumulated, we're opening thought for something different. I've heard it said that what we think of as thinking is merely the rearranging of our prejudices. Hum -- that's something to think about! What an exciting adventure we have awaiting us each day, as we begin to glimpse the difference in what we seem to know through material sense and the reality of Spirit.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“We must silence this lie of material sense with the truth of spiritual sense.” Science & Health Page 318:12-13