Life Choices

 

I have much to say about the idea in this photograph, but when I try to verbalize it, nothing feels right. So I leave you with your own thoughts today. Namaste …

“Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, — this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 323:32-4

The Matrix

 

Remember the hit movie, The Matrix? In it, there were some profound metaphysical principles addressed! My favorite scene is when Neo is in what appears to be a center for extraordinary behavior. He goes up to a person bending a spoon without touching it. Neo tries to bend the spoon with his mind, but cannot. He is told that the way to do this is through knowing the truth: The spoon is not there. This is what metaphysical healing is all about. The only cure is the understanding that there is no place where sickness can abide. In other words, the spoon is not there. Awakening to this knowledge brings with it the revelation that all which seems to be unlike good, God, has no reality. If we are attempting to change a material condition, it's just like trying to bend the spoon by the power of our mind. Only by the knowledge of its unreality is it seen for what it actually is: an idea. We are all ideas of the divine Mind. We are all One in this reality. What will this realization unfold in experience today? I am open with no expectations!

"The Science of Mind denies the error of sensation in matter, and heals with Truth. Medical science treats disease as though disease were real, therefore right, and attempts to heal it with matter. If disease is right it is wrong to heal it. Material methods are temporary, and are not adapted to elevate mankind." Mary Baker Eddy -Science & Health: Page 381:22-27

Growth in Grace

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

I remember a young woman who came into my gallery one evening and told me that she loved art, but that she didn't have any talent because she had been sexually abused as a child. I smiled at her and she said, No, really, every day for years and years! I told her I wasn't smiling about what she had said or what had been done, but I was smiling at the part of her which had never been touched by any of this. I told her everyone has tons of talent and for her to continue trying things until she found something she really loved -- and then keep on doing it! Her eyes lit up as she listed things she loved and wanted to do. By practicing kindness when faced with hardness of heart, meekness when those around us are aggressive, loving those who seem unlovable, and paying it forward at every opportunity, we acknowledge the grace which is our true heritage. By this, we learn what it feels like, not just what it means.

“What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 4:3-5

Looking Through the Mirage

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

"Let me remember that there is no sin.” This is the heading of A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #259.​ ​It certainly seems as though sin is tangible in our world. We look at the news and see things which seem too horrible to be anything other than evil and sinful. But, once again, this is the material illusion. The reality is God and Its reflective creation. This creation is spiritual, everlasting substance, unchanging goodness. That is why there is no sin, because it is unreal! This same revealing of reality exposes other material discord as nothing more than mist to be seen through and dispelled. There is no magic potion which allows us to look past the mirage of sin, and many reports of our senses seem real until we look through them to the other side -- and then what a treat we have in store for us! There, waiting to be recognized, is the reality of our Being, just waiting for us to discover!

“Question: Is there no sin?
Answer: All reality is in God and His [Its]creation, harmonious and eternal. That which He creates is good, and He makes all that is made. Therefore the only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not true, because they are not of God.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 472:23-30

A Higher Peace

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

I had a friend who died from cancer. She was very active; always busy doing things. I once asked her if she ever had any quiet time and she told me that she didn't want any, because then she would have to think. Many traumatic events had happened in her life, including the violent deaths of her parents and tragic passing of her children. Our thoughts can be occupied by many temporal things, such as collecting material possessions, or perhaps we simply need the busyness of daily life to keep us from thinking about painful memories. Whatever the case, we rarely allow ourselves the quiet we need in order to hear the still, small voice​ within​. We may fear the unknown, perhaps thinking the activities with which we keep ourselves busy can keep us from examining the cause of our pain, translating it, and releasing it. We may use alcohol and drugs to cover up the turmoil for a little while, but lasting peace only comes through knowledge of Love. Sometimes love is used as a soporific, placating our desire for an all-encompassing Love with no beginning nor end. Today I will remind myself to remember what I have forgotten, which is only found within.

“This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man’s absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 265:10-15

Remembering My Purpose

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

"If I forget my goal, I can be but confused ..." This is a phrase from A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #257, which is titled, “Let me remember what my purpose is.” Looking back over my last half-century, I see many times of major confusion, and lots of minor confusions. I now feel these times are nothing more than intervals when I've forgotten to listen for omnipresent guidance. My purpose is unfolding every moment, and all I need to do is show up and be willing -- willing to be open-hearted, open-minded -- just open! -- with no expectations and no plans of how things should be. It's tempting to think of this as undisciplined, and others may be critical of this attitude, but I can attest to the fact that wandering around in college for five years perfectly prepared me for freelance court reporting. And thirty years of taking down and transcribing depositions was an incredible education which paved the way for running an art gallery for ten years. All those things brought me to where I am today, and none of it could have been planned. Today, I think of this as listening and following. Back then, I didn't think of it at all…

“Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:18-21

What To Remember...

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

This is the 20th anniversary of a horrific event which happened in New York City. We refer to it as 9/11 and everyone knows what it means. A phrase became popular at the time and still persists today: never forget. The spirit in which this was stated didn’t feel right to me at the time, and I wasn’t sure why. Now, it seems like the remembering is based in retaliation and fear, and the seeds sown have not yielded a pleasant bounty. Today’s mass at the parish center of our local Catholic Church is the same one ​people will hear on Sunday morning at St. Elizabeth’s in downtown Eureka Springs. I wish everyone could hear it. Father Joseph simply asked that we sing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” (and let it begin with me). After the congregation finished, he made a short statement about what we needed to remember: to help those in need, to love one another, to give to the poor, to be kind. It was beautiful. This is what feels right in my heart: to remember to love. To never forget what is important and what facilitates change: love. To reach out to those in need of kindness and understanding. To comfort those who are sorrowing. Love. Never forget to love…

“From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come.​" ​Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 280:4-7