The Gospel of Love

"Dancing With Your Shadow Self"
creation of Sandy Wythawai Starbird

A Course in Miracles Workbook lesson #142: Review of: #123 "I thank my Father for His gifts to me." #124 "Let me remember I am one with God." And our main thought to hold in these review lessons: "My mind holds only what I think with God."

I love “Dancing With The Stars”! I began watching it a couple of years ago and have found it to be entertaining and, also, a lovely reminder that we all have the same fears and insecurities, along with the same possibility of greatness. Through this twice-yearly show, which lasts a number of weeks, I have gotten to know some of the most amazing people. There is a beautiful 72-year old singer, a woman who dances like no one’s watching and exhibits the joy of a young child. I have been particularly inspired by a man missing an arm and a leg, and he made it to the finals of this demanding show. One season we were introduced to the offspring of well-known movie stars, a young woman who was convinced by the media that she wasn’t pretty. They said horrid things about her and she had no idea how beautiful and graceful she was, but she has discovered her gifts by way of dancing in this show. What a heart-expanding experience it is for these participants, as well as all who watch them discover more about their true Self. They inspire me to spread my wings!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The human sense of Deity yields to the divine sense, even as the material sense of personality yields to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite Principle and infinite idea, — as one Father with His universal family, held in the gospel of Love.” Science & Health Page 576:31-4

Clearing the False Image

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #141: Today begins a review of the last 20 lessons. Our main theme is: “My mind holds only what I think with God"  Review of: #121 “Forgiveness is the key to happiness” #122 “Forgiveness offers everything I want.”

A couple of years ago, I spent time in the offices of a company where I was being fitted for a prosthetic leg. While sitting in the waiting room, I met a number of angry and sad people. One woman blamed her husband for wrecking the motorcycle she was riding on, another woman condemned herself for a lifestyle which brought about the loss of a limb, a man was angry because he couldn’t continue his former way of living. I never asked anyone questions; these stories came pouring forth. Of course, not everyone was unhappy. There was a guy who used this circumstance as a way to pick up women. He’d been married five times and was looking forward to the sixth! I sat there smiling and doing my best to think loving thoughts toward everyone. They probably thought I was on heavy drugs — haha! Forgiving is the undoing of the denying of Love. Forgiving clears the false image and opens my mind to Love. If I can manage to live this forgiveness within myself, I am extending it to a world in need of Love. Namastè!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind. Mind's infinite ideas run and disport themselves. In humility they climb the heights of holiness.” Science & Health Page 514:6-9

Remembering Who We Really Are

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #140: “Only salvation can be said to cure.”

Almost everyone has something they wish could or would be cured. Perhaps it’s an addiction to cigarettes, or maybe you have a relationship which is painful and you wish for resolution. Of course, there are the myriad of physical maladies which we are bombarded with daily, many of which are manifest in us or those we love. The multitude of magic potions given us to deal with these conditions are proof that none of them are a healing cure, only a temporary stop-gap put into place while we falter towards salvation. And this salvation spoken of is “the day when separation ends and we remember Who we really are.” (ACIM) Today let’s remember that illusions are not true, and we needn’t feel guilty for denying their veracity!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “Salvation: Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all.” Science & Health Page 593:20-21

Unity of Mind

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #139:

"I will accept Atonement for myself."

Atonement is one of those words which may trigger uncomfortable feelings. Visions of atoning for sins can be rather frightening, especially when we may have committed these sins without even knowing it! This is the way the concept of atonement has come to be interpreted by many, but we are learning to define sin as anything which separates us from the Love which is God. Simple, huh? Atonement is accepting our Oneness as the expression and experience of God. It may sound like a form of sacrilege to say you're one with God, but I think it's sacrilege not to! To acknowledge God as the only Cause, and to see ourselves as the effect of that Cause, is to accept our at-one-ment with All that Is. What could be more humble? I will accept this reality today, and see everyone I meet in this light. Namasté!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Atonement is the exemplification of man’s unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, and Love."

Science & Health Page 18:1-3

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