Let It Go

Mongolia - photo credit: Aaron Springston

Some painful memories seem to stay with us. Throughout the years, certain events have re-played regularly in my mind. Although these reruns are mostly gone now, there are current events which seem to beg me to take offense. They jump up and down asking to be retold, wanting to hold me to them with emotions. To hold a grievance, you must live in the past. I remember a line from a little book by Alan Lightman called "Einstein's Dreams". He tells us that those who live in grievances past are condemned to live there alone. Habitually recounting what used to be, or wishing for what never was, or wanting what could have been, these thought processes are symptoms of holding on to the past. So today I will hold thought to a return to Love -- a figurative return, as I remember that I never left, and neither has anyone else. This Love replaces all grievances in my thought, and by this process I am safely and peacefully at One with God and all.

“The circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:27-30

“’Now’ has no meaning to the ego. The present merely reminds it of past hurts, and it reacts to the present as if it were the past. The ego cannot tolerate release from the past, and although the past is over, the ego tries to preserve its image by responding as if it were present. It dictates your reactions to those you meet in the present from a past reference point, obscuring their present reality.” ACIM Chapter 13:IV:5

Trust Yourself

The world we live in teaches us we should try to defend against every contingency which may come up -- i.e., get your inoculations, take out insurance for every possible disaster, check your blood pressure, teach your children not to talk to strangers -- the list goes on and on. Our acceptance of good as the only reality is where our safety lies. Is it possible to protect our mortal selves from every material malady which may befall us? Of course not. But we can be aware of the still, small voice which is always guiding us in our every action, when we listen. Trust yourself! Listen to your instinctual prompts; this is where safety lies. I now see that defensive behavior is nothing more than trusting in suppositional evil more than the Truth. When we trust the Eternal, a peace always dreamed of is actualized, and we find ourselves imparting that peace to others, through our living of it.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Instead of tenaciously defending the supposed rights of disease [and other seeming threats], while complaining of the suffering disease brings, would it not be well to abandon the defense, especially when by so doing our own condition can be improved and that of other persons as well?” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 348:21-25

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