In My Mind

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook lesson #30: "God is in everything I see because God is in my mind."

Seeing everything as a part of us by looking within rather than without is the point of today's exercise. This looking is not limited to what we can see with our eyes. We are asked to close our eyes and see what pops into our thought, too. We are working toward changing sight to vision. I look at my sweet dog and see my experience of him. I close my eyes and envision all the Love expressed by all the dogs I have known. I feel the Love expressed by my parents and children and friends. I can feel the warmth of a spring day, smell the earth and flowers, see past my limiting thoughts to the ideas of Soul. As explained by a sentence in today’s lesson: “Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not depend on the body's eyes at all.” I look forward to seeing everything as a reflection of unlimited Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "It is the illumination of the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the capacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the divine Mind." Science & Health Page 85:2-6

Everything I See

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #29: "God is in everything I see.”

A few readers of my “dailies” have asked why I don’t address the political situation in our country. Upon reflection, I feel that I do. Everything is connected by way of Mind, and the multitude of forms we experience are projections of illusion. So with our goal of purifying thoughts of unnecessary dogma, belief, and fear, we are left with Love and Its infinite manifestations. So, yes, I do address the current situations, but not from the point of being a problem identifier. Some of us need to look through the other end of the telescope, with the lens of Love. No matter how we perceive things with these material eyes and thoughts, the true idea of Spirit, God, Love, is there waiting for us to glimpse it.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light.” Science & Health Page 516:12-13

I Want to See Differently

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #28: "Above all else, I want to see things differently."

Today's lesson asks us to give up any notions we have concerning the meaning of anything and everything. By doing this, we are able to 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. The desire to see things differently is the beginning of doing so — and we begin the adventure!

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

I Want To See

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #27: "Above all else, I want to see."

Today someone said to me, "There are only two powers, and she’s chosen the wrong one." Wow. Once we have split power into a loving God and Its evil twin, some seriously hard-to-let-go images have taken hold in our mind. So when I'm thinking of today's lesson throughout the day, I won't concentrate on the myriad of ways we've constructed to cloud our vision, but I'll ask to see with true sight, as God sees. If I wonder how that view can be mine, I'll go to the definition of God given us by Mary Baker Eddy, which is quoted below after a passage from a T. S. Eliot poem, “Little Gidding”. “We shall not cease from exploration, / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.”

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Question.--What is God?

Answer.--God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love." Science & Health Page 465:6-8

Unfounded Decrees

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #26

"My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability."

Today many of us may feel attacked and quite vulnerable. The realization that all attack comes from within is an eye-opener! I often feel I’m defending myself when I attack others, but I’m not. This is not a defense against anything, only my acceptance of  perceived attack and the resultant retaliation. When I realize I cannot be attacked from anywhere other than within myself, I can release these defenses I have built in protection of what I believe. Through a conscious choice to reject the unreality of material existence and claim our heritage as powerful spiritual beings, unafraid to stand up and declare our Oneness with divine Love and all of Its creation, we are able to transcend the fears we think is inevitable. I love the new world which is being revealed through this understanding!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God. Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust decrees, and the bias of education enforces this slavery." Science & Health Page 380:32-4

No Offense Taken

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #25

"I do not know what anything is for.”

Part of me is offended to think that I don’t know what anything is for! I’ve spent a few decades learning about things and figuring out how they fit into life, and my ego doesn’t want to give up all the beliefs in which it has invested so much. It’s tempting to say this doesn’t make sense, that I don’t understand it, but then I see what yielding to the understanding that everything works together for good allows me to do. I can relax into the living of divine Mind, the imaging of divine Love. By seeing God as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love, then seeing ourselves as the image of God, we know we can live as Mind, reflecting Love in everything. From this point, it’s not a huge stretch to admit to myself that I don’t know what anything is for, because by doing so my mind is freed of false meanings, allowing awareness of Truth and the living of this Love. And I am content at last.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The chief difficulty in conveying the teachings of divine Science accurately to human thought lies in this, that like all other languages, English is inadequate to the expression of spiritual conceptions and propositions, because one is obliged to use material terms in dealing with spiritual ideas."

Science & Health Page 349:13-18

Opening to Mind

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #24: "I do not perceive my own best interests.”

Today’s lesson is a step in opening the mind so that learning can begin, a step in seeing that there is a need for another way of looking at everything. This is not a need for another action, or a change in the world; rather it is a sincere and humble desire to allow divine Mind to show our mortal mind the nothingness of perception. To quote a passage from today’s workbook lesson: “If you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. But in the presence of your conviction that you do know what they are, you cannot learn. The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin.” It’s always difficult to admit that we don’t know things — at least it is for me! We need not seek for our identity, as the reality of our being is right here and now, in all its perfection, waiting for us to find it!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“John saw the human and divine coincidence, shown in the man Jesus, as divinity embracing humanity in Life and its demonstration, — reducing to human perception and understanding the Life which is God.” Science & Health Page 561:16-20