We're All This Together

ACIM Workbook Lesson #318 “In me salvation's means and end are one.”

We're all in this together, although it appears as though we all see things through different eyes. We seem to be satellites, rotating around something unseen, sometimes floating in unison, often bumping into each other and throwing our orbit out of sync — but we're all in this together. Let's leave out the word "in": We're all this together. This togetherness sometimes manifests itself as groups of people who commingle for the joy of being with each other. We may have book clubs,  study groups, sewing circles, and various groups of people who come together in communion. This fellowship has been sought-after since the beginning of time. Personally, I have no interest in being a part of any group simply to be with others. There must be a communication which surpasses the ordinary. I want stunning honesty, inspiring exchanges, Love shared. From this demonstrated Oneness with each other as the experience of God, salvation is realized as the means, the end, the Only.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

 "Knowing the Science of creation, in which all is Mind and its ideas, Jesus rebuked the material thought of his fellow-countrymen: 'Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?' How much more should we seek to apprehend the spiritual ideas of God, than to dwell on the objects of sense!"

.Science & Health Page 509:28-3

Listening

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #317 “I follow in the way appointed me.”

Often we think the "still, small voice" will come to us through loud speakers. Only once have I heard an actual voice telling me what to do. Usually it's in the form of avenues opening up in unexpected ways, sometimes over and over until I notice. Through the years, I've learned to recognize the difference in material desire and spiritual guidance. The time I heard a voice, it said: Take the job! It was such a surprise that I looked over my should and said, What? Usually these guiding lights are more subtle, perhaps presenting something again and again until I pay attention. We are learning, aren't we? Whether it feels too right to ignore, or it's something we wish we could ignore, I think we're finally waking up, don't you?

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“All the evidence of physical sense and all the knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to Science, to the immortal truth of all things.”

Science & Health 493:6-8

Gifts of Love and Light

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

ACIM Workbook Lesson #316 “All gifts I give my brothers are my own.”

Sometimes these concepts are not only difficult to comprehend but they may, at first, sound downright silly! Yesterday we pondered that everything anyone gives is mine; now we are told that everything we give is ours, too. How can that be? Ideas like this cause our mortal mind, also known as ego, to jump up and say that if this is true, evil can be spread to everyone, also. And if that is so, how can we keep from feeling doomed? But it's not true because the only thing which is One is what God created. God did not create anything unlike itSelf, so what we term "evil" is actually unreal, as it is only found in the mortal mind, never in divine Mind. And so there is a choice! I can live as though one or the other is true. As Einstein said, You can live as though everything is a miracle or as if nothing is. My choice is easy on this one!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “The sun, giving light and heat to the earth, is a figure of divine Life and Love, enlightening and sustaining the universe.” Science & Health Page 538:11-13

Scatter Joy!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #315

“All gifts my brothers give belong to me.”

Every kind word spoken, every heart overflowing with Love, every freeing thought of forgiveness, enriches me and everyone in the world, whether we acknowledge it or not. There are many movements based on spreading love and kindness. One of my favorites was started by Charley Johnson in Utah. It's based on the book and movie, Pay it Forward. As part of his vision, there are bracelets which read Pay it Forward. When someone thanks you for a kindness you've done, you take off your bracelet and give it to them, asking them to do the same for someone else. Let me know about instances you've witnessed which scatter joy!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The sun, giving light and heat to the earth, is a figure of divine Life and Love, enlightening and sustaining the universe.”

Science & Health Page 538:11-13

Stuck in a Time Warp?

photo credit: Stephen Shogren

ACIM Workbook Lesson #314 “I seek a future different from the past.”

Often it takes a big shake up to force us to change ways of thought and actions which have become ingrained within us. It seems comfortable, easy, and safe to stay within the bounds of what we know. Looking back on the past decades, I see where I would have been stuck in mundane and perhaps even destructive living had it not been for events which shocked me into new ways. I am most grateful for the times when life seemed good, when I rested in cozy contentment, but then changes were facilitated by seeming tragedy. The move from by-rote living to Upper Case Living takes courage, but to “seek a future different from the past” insures that we shall have one!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.”

Science & Health Page 128:13-19

New Perception

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

ACIM Workbook Lesson #313 “Now let a new perception come to me.”

A dear friend told a group of us about being terribly afraid of the dark. She said she had always been this way, to the point she had asked her husband to never leave her alone if it wasn't light. She told us that three days after he died, the fear she had always lived with left her. It was just gone! This story has stayed with me and come to mind often. What a beautiful demonstration of letting go! Just like that, in the blink of an eye, we can be past anything, no matter how long we have claimed it as a part of us. What gratitude I feel to this woman for sharing her story of shifting perception making a huge difference in experience! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The human mind will sometime rise above all material and physical sense, exchanging it for spiritual perception, and exchanging human concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man will recognize his God-given dominion and being."

Science & Health Page 531:10-14

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #312 “I see all things as I would have them be.”

If I tell folks I want to give up the thoughts I think and think the thoughts of divine Mind, they might assume I am involved in a cultish-type of group. But I think of it as just the opposite! If I am making decisions based on past events and learned behaviors, then I have no freedom of thought. I am living by material restrictions and repeating actions dictated by human opinion, including my own. My desire to live as an idea of divine Mind opens me to an expansion of thought and action which has no limit. What an exciting world this is, when we go beyond set boundaries dictated by past education and see our way to a deeper education, facilitated by divine Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The supposed existence of more than one mind was the basic error of idolatry. This error assumed the loss of spiritual power, the loss of the spiritual presence of Life as infinite Truth without an unlikeness, and the loss of Love as ever present and universal." Science & Health Page 479:5-10