Peace, a State of Mind

 ​

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

I've heard it said that the older we get, the less things bother us. In earlier years, when I was bothered by everything, it was impossible to imagine that this was so. While it seems to be true now, I see plenty of people riper in years who are much-bothered all the time! My conclusion is that peace is a state of mind. As we cultivate an awareness of the presence of Love within ourselves, it becomes natural to turn to that gentleness in times of seeming turmoil. This peace is always there, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Today I look forward to relishing its gentle presence every moment.

“Mind demonstrates omnipresence and omnipotence, but Mind revolves on a spiritual axis, and its power is displayed and its presence felt in eternal stillness and immovable Love.” Mary Baker Eddy - From Retrospection and Introspection Page 88-89

Disappearance of the Universe

 ​

Utah Salt Flats - photo credit: Aaron springston

Do you have an incident from childhood which has stayed with you, perhaps affecting the way you live today? I know someone who, as a young child, caught her mother in a compromising position with a man other than her father. She refuses to marry. I know a man who found his father dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. His whole life is a series of dramatic events which he blames on that incident. I'm sure you know many stories, too. The Disappearance of the Universe, a book by Gary Renard, speaks to these types of events and much, much more. When we release our beliefs, we can turn loose our history, also. I love hearing stories of people who live through horrendous-seeming events and remain not only happy but proactive. This thing we call forgiveness isn't some sort of divine pardon, but a yielding within ourselves to purity of thought, without the impediments of holding on to memories of wrongdoing, resentment, and pain of all sorts. This yielding includes the release of things which we think have been done to us and things we think we have done to others. So let's choose again, rest in Love, and go forward, with joy!

“The more material a belief, the more obstinately tenacious its error; the stronger are the manifestations of the corporeal senses, the weaker the indications of Soul.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 144:10-13

The Holiest Spot

 

my front yard

"Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you." This Mary Baker Eddy quote is one of my favorites, which I've always thought of as meaning that the human hatred others feel cannot reach me when I'm wearing the armor of divine Love. I now see that it includes the hatred I may feel toward others, also. It's very easy for me to think that I don't hate anyone or anything. Actually, it's a word I have pruned from my vocabulary and simply do not use. BUT if I am irritated by another's actions or words, or if I replay a situation in my mind which caused anger in the past, or if I allow criticism to gnaw at me and I think of retaliatory statements which could have been said -- isn't that human hatred? Wearing this cloak of Love calms these nagging feelings and thoughts. I know that if I'm wearing the protection of Love, hatred cannot enter from inside or out!

“The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love.” A Course in Miracles

How Solid Is Matter?

 

photo credit: Christopher Fischer

​Quantum physics is helping us to understand that form isn't as solid as we've been told. With that understanding, it becomes clear that many limitations we've placed upon ourselves are nothing more than beliefs in material laws. Limitations are discarded when an athlete breaks a record in the Olympics, or if someone performs a seemingly-impossible feat like lifting a car off of trapped loved ones. We've all heard people tell tales we think of as supernatural, such as falling great distances and feeling as though they have landed on a cushion, or so-called incurable diseases disappearing. The first Wayne Dyer book I read was "When You Believe It, You'll See It!" I was so excited to see that mainstream thought was shifting! Now, I'm not suggesting we exchange one human belief for yet another, but rather let's look to​ward​ divine Mind to show us the truth of our being, allowing ourselves to be led in paths we wouldn't have considered otherwise. Thought is rapidly shifting at this time. Let's not be afraid!

“A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence the unsatisfied human craving for something better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a material belief in a physical God and man. ” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 258: 2-6

May Peace Be With Me

 ​

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

Although I know I can't force my way of thinking onto others, I would love to share peace with everyone, everywhere. It has taken quite a while to grasp the concept that the only thought I can change is my own. After spending years trying to change thoughts and actions of husbands and friends, I think it was my children who finally taught me the meaning of Oneness, as I would watch the mood of the household change with my emotions. This caused me to understand that holding onto peace within myself is the least and most I can do. Jumping on the bandwagon of resentment and other negative emotions always seemed impossible to avoid, but I don’t find it as difficult nowadays to simply witness things without becoming a part of them. While I can't change what anyone else is thinking or feeling or experiencing, I can adjust my own vision of reality. Every thought is important! We are all in this together, in every way, at every moment. Today I will make an effort to see everything through the eyes of Love!

“Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264:24-27

The Worst Thing We Ever Did

photo credit: Aaron Springston

A Poem by Chelan Harkin from 'Susceptible to Light'

"The worst thing we ever did

was put God in the sky

out of reach

pulling the divinity

from the leaf,

sifting out the holy from our bones,

insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement

through everything we’ve made

a hard commitment to see as ordinary,

stripping the sacred from everywhere

to put in a cloud man elsewhere,

prying closeness from your heart.

The worst thing we ever did

was take the dance and the song

out of prayer

made it sit up straight

and cross its legs

removed it of rejoicing

wiped clean its hip sway,

its questions,

its ecstatic yowl,

its tears.

The worst thing we ever did is pretend

God isn’t the easiest thing

in this Universe

available to every soul

in every breath."

~ Chelan Harkin from 'Susceptible to Light'

What Facilitates Change?

 ​

"No Looking Back" - art of Sandy Starbird

I’m tempted to tell you about all the attack thoughts I've been having lately toward corporate polluters and political liars -- 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. But I ask: Have any of the material manipulations in all of history 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

“There is no point in trying to change the world. It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. Here you are changing the cause. The effect will change automatically.” A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #23