Veritable Ideas or Illusions?

photo credit: Gerry Toler

A friend made a passing comment pertaining to the erroneous thought we glom onto in daily life. He said that once you hear something, it's a part of you -- a part of your consciousness, if you will. I certainly know how difficult it can be to release any thought -- whether I have decided to think of it as truth or rumor. He is so right that once it's in you, it's difficult to let out -- but not impossible! The key to this release is realizing what you are. As long as I see myself as a material human, a victim of passing thought and circumstance, then, yes, it is difficult, even impossible, to release. When I start to glimpse that I am not this body, that I am Idea -- an Idea of God! -- then, and only then, am I freed from the bombardment of daily illusions and the lies of material sense. Looked at from this perspective, my goal is not to release anything, it is to understand my Being as an expression of divine Mind, an emanation of divine Love, the experience of divine Life! I will not think of this as an impossible task, but as a reachable Truth.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from illusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts, proceeding from the brain or from matter, are offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material beliefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another are called spirits.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 88:9-16

A Present Possibility

I once thought of writing a book called The Celibate Marriage. My son assured me it would NOT be a bestseller! Many things inspired my thoughts on this subject, and some of them came from reading The Beloved Prophet. The subject of this book is the life-long relationship between Kahlil Gibran and a woman named Mary Haskell. When he passed on, she was peacefully smiling while greeting the grieving people at his funeral. No one understood how this could be. At one point, she quoted words he had written to her during their platonic love affair: "You listen to so much more than I can say. You hear consciousness. You go with me where the words I say cannot carry you." She didn't experience intense grief because she knew the love they shared still existed; it had always been experienced in thought rather than physical expression. She understood what we are learning about the true reality of our Being.

“Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way. There will be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When you read this, remember Jesus' words, ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’ This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 573:28-2

Exceeding Expected Outcomes

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

Throughout the ages, we've been given hints as to unrealized possibilities. As attested by powerful mythological and fictional characters, we have longed for the ability to change what seems to be the reality of situations in and around our personal existence. The world tells us that we are victims of circumstance, with life experiences being changed by the whim of happenstance. Every time we hear a story telling of something we think is impossible, but which contains an outcome so beautiful we wish and hope it could be true, let's contemplate the fact that there are no limits. Who knows what we're capable of doing? We seem to exceed expected outcomes in every avenue of existence. Wasn't it said that running a mile in less than four minutes was impossible? Today I set free any thought of limitation, any assumptions I may have as to what's what, and by doing so open the door to new sight.

“Truth never destroys God's idea. Truth is spiritual, eternal substance, which cannot destroy the right reflection. Corporeal sense, or error, may seem to hide Truth, health, harmony, and Science, as the mist obscures the sun or the mountain; but Science, the sunshine of Truth, will melt away the shadow and reveal the celestial peaks.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 299:24-30

Freed From Conflicting Wishes

photo credit: Aaron Springston

In the realm of the material world, we often have conflicting wishes concerning events. When someone in our immediate family has a problem, we tend to think of it as our own. We have been conditioned to think we can fix others, and if we don't try, we fear people will think we don't care. Then we're thrown into a quandary of feelings: love for our family, perhaps embarrassment over their actions, worry about what will happen to them, concern over what others will think -- the list can be endless! When we are able to release these feelings and see everyone as the spiritual creation they truly are, we begin to let go our sense of personal responsibility, while affirming their goodness as a reflection of divine Love. Before we know it, we're thinking something wonderful about them when they come to mind, and we're free from the conflicting wishes born of material sense.

“We cannot serve two masters nor perceive divine Science with the material senses.” Mary Baker Eddy quote: Science and Health Page 167:11-12

Heaven Within

"Montana" PC: Heather Peters

Why would we fear to look within? Why would we fear seeing our true self? I think it's because we believe all the little horrible things we've done in our lives are what we'll be looking at. Perhaps we feel that to look within would involve some sort of life review which would require us to answer for every supposed sin we've committed. But what if we're looking within at our pure and perfect Self, as we are created by divine Love? And what if, after we find what we've forgotten, we allow it to come forth and live with us? In the process, we truly forgive ourselves for all of it, allowing thought to stay on the good and the true, releasing guilt and fear, living only in Love. What if ...

“When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;" that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal."Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 476:28-32

Belief versus Knowledge

Photo credit: Heather Peters

Sometimes I find myself pontificating on the fact that the world is selling us diseases. It seems everywhere we look there are certain well-publicized maladies being pushed onto us. I've also been blaming the world for the proliferation of bigotry and closed-mindedness. I've been blaming the world for being willing to spend money on clothing and recreation, but not on art. I could probably find a few other things I've been blathering about, but that's enough for now. It's difficult to get past ego's need to know everything and be special. It seems difficult to let go of beliefs and trust the divine Mind which flows through all. But that's what I want to do, and so I'll continue to catch myself in judgmental thought, and ask what Love is thinking. Spiritual sense awakens with practice!

"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." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 479:5-10

A Stubborn Illusion

photo credit: Richard Quick

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” (Kung Fu Panda) I'm also reminded of something Deepak Chopra said: "Time is something we have made up so everything doesn't happen all at once." Albert Einstein showed us that time is relative. Time spent in a dentist chair passes differently from time spent visiting with a dear friend. Later in life, Mr. Einstein came to believe that time was not just relative, but unreal! Here is a quote from him, written in a letter to a friend: "To those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future, is only an illusion, if a stubborn one." So why do we limit ourselves with time? We always think we're too young or too old, or this physical malady will pass with time, or that we simply don't have time to do the things we want to do. When I realize that I'm not a mortal living in what seems to be now, but an immortal living in eternity, then some major shifts in perception can take place. Only "time will tell" what happens with that realization!

“Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment.” Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings Page 307