Heaven Within

ACIM Workbook Lesson #138 “Heaven is the decision I must make.”

Years ago, I knew a young woman who would often fall to her knees and beg God to forgive her and not send her to hell. At the slightest transgression, she would verbally do this! She wouldn’t always kneel during this entreaty, but even a simple verbal request was a surprising event for everyone in her presence. She also would tell me I was going to hell for numerous reasons, one of which was because I didn’t believe in it. She told me that was the devil’s greatest victory, convincing people there was no such place. I remember mentioning that Jesus told us the kingdom of heaven was within, and she said yes, that it was within Jesus; not us. Nowadays, I would probably tell her this was the ego’s biggest victory to think this was so. I might have a discussion with her about duality and the belief that there must be an opposite for everything. I could even tell her that the acceptance of Truth obviates any need for choosing heaven or hell, because there is only Truth with no opposite. Hum — maybe I should just decide this for myself and let it Be!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man.” Science & Health Page 560:12-15

“HEAVEN: Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul." Science & Health Page 587:25-27

The Bow of Promise

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #137 “When I am healed I am not healed alone.”

These teachings we're studying are so pure we may think we'll never be sick again, we'll never be unhappy again, we'll never have a need which is not immediately met. It's easy to feel this way when our first exposure to divine metaphysics is accompanied by immediate release from a physical malady. Of course, when this happens, we are very grateful for the relief it brings. Christian Science has been propounded as a healing Science since its discovery in 1865. This is because knowledge of the Truth of our being replaces erroneous thought and allows harmony to prevail. The discovery of this healing Principle was hailed by many to be the great turning point in the evolution of thought for all humanity. So what happened to stall this rise to freedom? While we could speculate for pages, I'll posit that it is, purely and simply, fear. Christian Science is the demonstration of divine Love.  It is the realization that nothing else truly exists, which allows all erroneous thought to disappear into its "native nothingness". It is not physical healing we're looking for, but a greater understanding of Truth, of God. As this understanding is attained through the opening of our thought to it, many adjustments take place simultaneously. I can't tell you how this unfoldment will bring freedom. I don't know what it will bring to enrich your life from moment to moment. But I do know it's a "bow of promise on the cloud"!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity. This exalted view, obtained and retained when the Science of being is understood, would bridge over with life discerned spiritually the interval of death, and man would be in the full consciousness of his immortality and eternal harmony, where sin, sickness, and death are unknown. Time is a mortal thought, the divisor of which is the solar year. Eternity is God’s measurement of Soul-filled years.”

Science & Health Page 598:23-2

No Meaningful Intent in Sickness

"Sequoia National Park"
pc: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #136:

“Sickness is a defense against the truth.”

Yesterday we pondered the defenses we set up to supposititious attacks. "If I defend myself I am attacked." This is the statement we endeavored to understand. Basically, if anything is a perceived danger and we make plans to counter-attack, we have set ourselves up for a continuous battle: my will against the world. Releasing this and being led by Truth, there is no need for defense. When looked at with our new knowledge of the defense/attack relationship, today's lesson that sickness is a defense against the truth holds some very interesting aspects for us to examine! First of all, let's be aware of something: We tend to take these statements personally, getting upset at the idea that we are "causing" our own illnesses. Please put that thought aside and try to see this without any kind of judgment. This is what we practiced for the first 50 lessons this year: looking at things as meaningless, not placing our preconceived notions on anything, being free to be led by spiritual sense. The topics we're studying are very important to overall understanding of our relationship with All That Is. I urge you to read the Course in Miracles for yourself. It is readily available online or at your library. I strongly encourage you to read Science & Health, with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. Let me tease you with this first paragraph of today's ACIM lesson: “No one can heal unless he understands what purpose sickness seems to serve. For then he understands as well its purpose has no meaning. Being causeless and without a meaningful intent of any kind, it cannot be at all. When this is seen, healing is automatic. It dispels this meaningless illusion by the same approach that carries all of them in truth, and merely leaves them there to disappear.” With this and the below Mary Baker Eddy quote to hold in thought, what an adventure we have in store today!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“That mortal mind claims to govern every organ of the mortal body, we have overwhelming proof. But this so-called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield to Truth. It would wield the scepter of a monarch, but it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored to make this book the Aesculapius of mind as well as of body, that it may give hope to the sick and heal them, although they know not how the work is done. Truth has a healing effect, even when not fully understood.” Science & Health Page 151:31-8

Spiritual Activism

Central Park, NYC
photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #135 "If I defend myself I am attacked."

I know many people who consider themselves social activists. They have worked for years to improve our environment, politics, and the multitude of things in need of advancement. Some have told me they are tired of the fight. I am extremely grateful to each and every one of you who work to clean up rivers, who are passionate about producing uncontaminated food, who stand up to various tyrants and declare, "The emperor has no clothes!" Not a single person has told me that they're tired of the physical effort involved in these projects; it's the butting up against thought stuck in strong opinion, or fueled by hate and fear. That is what is frustrating to them. This is where our metaphysical advice can be helpful: Don't try to change anyone else's mind, only your own. More and more of us are witnessing Truth brought to seemingly impossible situations, and we're finding that new avenues of action appear when this is done. There is no need to defend ourselves nor to proclaim our own strong opinions in support of this Truth. Knowing it, within our own selves, is sufficient!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “As when an acid and alkali meet and bring out a third quality, so mental and moral chemistry changes the material base of thought, giving more spirituality to consciousness and causing it to depend less on material evidence.”  Science & Health Page 422:14-18

Love Is Alive

"Utah" PC: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #134 "Let me perceive forgiveness as it is."

Righteous indignation: There's a lot of it going around, don't you think? Maybe I notice it because it's alive and well-established within me. Maybe I'm too quick to jump on my high horse and adopt a holier-than-thou attitude. It seems there are many injustices which need righting. We have been told that forgiveness is looking the other way and doing nothing, but we are learning to see forgiveness as looking past the illusion of separation from God to the realization of our unity. With this view, I can set aside my stories of right and wrong, opening thought to the reality of Love. Some wonder what good this could possibly do in a world rife with confusion. If everyone lived Love, opening themselves to listen for guidance on how to do that — well, just imagine the utopia! There is a voice audible to anyone willing to listen. Forgiveness, the releasing of illusions, allows this voice to be found. In our unity, one release is everyone's gift. There is no you, me, and God. There is only One. What a joy to be finding our voice!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.” Science & Health Page 454:18-21

Unchangeable Values

Photo Credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #133

"I will not value what is valueless."

The ACIM workbook lesson today tells us to not value what is valueless. To discern what is valueless we are asked if it is changeable and if we feel any form of guilt surrounding it. Joel Goldsmith has said any number of things which have shaped my life, but this is one I’m reminded of often: “Groups of people who have shared spiritual Love are bound together for eternity.” I have friendships which run so deep I’m sure our essence has been together before. Having said this, I must note that it could not be any other way if we truly are One. There is no birth, no death, nothing other than an exchange of the energy which is divine Love, infinite Mind, endless Spirit. I revel in this shared Being!!

Mary Baker Eddy quotes:

“Everything good or worthy, God made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make,--hence its unreality.”

Science & Health Page 525:20-22

Tempest-Tossed Human Concepts

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #132 "I loose the world from all I thought it was."

Have you ever felt there isn’t time to study this way of thought? With a slight shift in thinking, it becomes apparent reality isn't what we've always believed it to be. When this happens, we don't need to set aside specific times to practice a spiritual discipline. Without the negative prayer of worry, by the refusal to dwell in fear and dread, we have more time to hold thought to "the enduring, the good, and the true". (S&H Page 261:4) By allowing this new way of thinking to become a present reality, I am stepping closer to where Mrs. Eddy was standing when she said, "The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness." Every glimpse I have of this divine Principle is a moment which frees the world from the bondage of my thought. What a gift!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "In the Apocalypse it is written: 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.' In St. John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spiritual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed human concepts advancing and receding, is represented as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness." Science & Health Page 536:1-9