Changing Thought - February 3, 2018

I’m tempted to tell you about all the attack thoughts I've been having lately toward coal companies and chemical producers, but I won't. I won't do that because feeding your attack thoughts does nothing to take mine away. This fertilizing of attack thoughts can be found everywhere, from coffee shops to churches, and it doesn't do a single thing to change the world. If the world we see is an effect, the only way to change this hallucination is to alter the cause: our thought. Some may ridicule this idea, and for those who do I only ask them if any of the material manipulations in all of history have affected a change? Did our civil war free the slaves? It was a beginning, of course, but many people stayed in bondage long past when laws were enacted. It takes a change of thought. Let's free ourselves today -- and forever! 

"Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is a more difficult task. The despotic tendencies, inherent in mortal mind and always germinating in new forms of tyranny, must be rooted out through the action of the divine Mind." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 225:22-28

Safety Without Worry

My eldest son, Aaron, left for South Korea today. He is the video coordinator with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and they are off to the winter Olympics! I don’t worry about him when he travels. I remember Wayne Dyer saying that worry is like praying for something bad to happen, and I suppose my attitude is akin to his. I love that A Course in Miracles tells us that our safety lies in our defenselessness. I love that Mary Baker Eddy understood how to hold thought to good and, thereby, to bring it into our lives proportionately to its occupancy of our thoughts. I see Aaron protected and joyful in this endeavor, as does he. The preparations for the trip have been chaotic and seemingly not very well planned, but he knows he will face whatever is happening and do the things which need to be done. I look forward to hearing of his adventures!

“A healed mind does not plan. It carries out the plans that it receives through listening to wisdom that is not its own.” A Course in Miracles - Workbook Lesson #135

“Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate. They must renounce aggression, oppression and the pride of power. Christianity, with the crown of Love upon her brow, must be their queen of life.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 451: 2-7

Reflections of Truth

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

What is truth? Everywhere we look, it seems we have been and are being told lies. Religion, science, politics, the news media, advertisements, history — the list goes on. If we know something is a lie, why do we cling to it so adamantly? It seems we prefer to live in a world of lies rather than to take a step into the great unknown world of Truth. And then we ask, How do we know what is Truth in a world of lies? That, dear ones, is why we must listen within. The reality of our existence is covered up so thoroughly we have forgotten how to experience it. But we are remembering, aren’t we? Infinite Mind never hides Its voice! 

“As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.” Mary Baker Eddy -  Science & Health Page 516:2-8

Universal Peace

photo credit: Aaron Springston

How many times have you felt that we're on the verge of the realization of universal peace and harmony? I know I have a number of times. January 1, 2000 felt like a tipping point. Although I don't remember specific dates other than that one, I know there have been many occasions when it simply "felt like" this was it; that we would forget differences and only remember unity and the fact that we are all One. I felt this again today. Any unrest and dis-ease going on around me seemed like a cry for Love. Really, truly, I saw people reaching out for something secure in a material world full of insecurity and fear. We are all the same in the reality of Spirit. The "reign and rule of universal harmony which cannot be lost nor remain forever unseen" is waiting for us to cast off fear and embrace it!

"Let us learn of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of Spirit, the kingdom of heaven,—the reign and rule of universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain forever unseen." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 208:20-24

One Love

photo credit: Heather Peters

To feel Love from a source outside ourselves is impossible. To express a material sense of love is an illusion. God is Love, and we are Its manifestation. Hence, we are Love. The recognition that we are Love is liberation in and of itself! Mary Baker Eddy tells us, "Love looseth me and lifteth me a'yont hate's thrall". Can you guess she was a fan of Shakespeare? Old-fashioned language aside, she's saying that Love sets us free, lifting us above and beyond any hate we may perceive. I’ve mostly given up trying to change anyone, and usually I can resist the urge to want to fix others. I’ve come to see it's my purpose to show the way to freedom by living Truth. Through our actions and words we bring ourselves, and thereby everyone, to the realization that Love is the only reality. To live Love allows a release from past habitual thought and the pain we've chosen. Then there is no need for blame, guilt, nor forgiveness — and we are free!

“With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 469:30-5

Love Wedded to Its Own Idea

I know any number of married people who exude happiness and delight in their relationships. It's a joy to be in their company! And so when I say that many of us are realizing freedom through the ability to live our lives any way we choose, setting aside age-old dictums of how we need to live, I most certainly am not saying these happily married couples should separate!  The freedom of which I speak is one which comes through the recognition of ourselves as a reflection of divine Love. In this realization there is no need for seeking validation or security in material circumstance. I mentioned yesterday that I will be marrying a wonderful man this year. We will not be living in the same state. Actually, we will be more than 600 miles away from each other for a few years, at least. But nothing is unchanging in this lifetime, so we’ll be waiting with hearts wide open to see what's coming next!

“The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares. Then thought gently whispers: ‘Come hither! Arise from your false consciousness into the true sense of Love, and behold the Lamb’s wife, — Love wedded to its own spiritual idea.’” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:28-4

“Such is my will for you and your brother, and for each of you for one another and for himself. Here there is only holiness and joining without limit. For what is Heaven but union, direct and perfect, and without the veil of fear upon it? Here are we one, looking with perfect gentleness upon each other and on ourselves. Here all thoughts of any separation between us become impossible. You who were prisoners in separation are now made free in Paradise. And here would I unite with you, my friend, my brother and my Self.” A Course in Miracles 20:III-10

A Union of Hearts

When I think back on my marriages, I wonder if things would have been different if I had put as much effort into listening to divine Mind as I did into following the social morès of the day.

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Expectations abounded in every direction: what we would be doing in a few years, how many kids we would or wouldn't have, how we would grow together until we were some sort of perfect single being. All sorts of odd things go through your mind when you're young and you believe in the mid-1900s television version of marriage. And so I crucified myself time and again (and again!) with false expectations and blame. Would things be different today with the Knowledge I am beginning to attain? I think so. I plan on marrying in the fall. I didn’t think this would ever happen, but we are both going forward with no expectations this time, only wanting to continue expanding in thought, releasing the past, loving the moment!

“Marriage should signify a union of hearts. Furthermore, the time cometh of which Jesus spake, when he declared that in the resurrection there should be no more marrying nor giving in marriage, but man would be as the angels. Then shall Soul rejoice in its own, in which passion has no part. Then white-robed purity will unite in one person masculine wisdom and feminine love, spiritual understanding and perpetual peace." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 64:17-25

“Whenever any form of special relationship tempts you to seek for love in ritual, remember love is content, and not form of any kind. The special relationship is a ritual of form, aimed at raising the form to take the place of God at the expense of content. There is no meaning in the form, and there will never be.” A Course in Miracles Chapter 16:5-12