Perceiving Change

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Have you ever felt that you're a victim of life's circumstances? Someone I know repeatedly falls into similar types of dramatic victimization. He spends his waking hours worrying about what will happen in the future and blaming others for what has happened in the past. His perception of the world is one of expecting the worst in every case scenario. How can we break free of this debilitating way of thought ""From new perception of the world there comes a future very different from the past."[ACIM workbook lesson #314] Could it possibly be so simple? It hasn't been easy for me to change the way I think and to allow myself to live with no expectations, but the concept is certainly simple enough. As with any new skill we learn, it's a matter of practice. Every day is yet another chance to live this new/old thought as the expression of Love!

“The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 128:11-19

New Perceptions

 

Crescent Hotel - Eureka Springs

It's my understanding everyone sees a rainbow differently, according to where they are when they view it. Isn't that a perfect metaphor for everything from politics to the clothes we put on our bodies? Where I am, in thought, is how I will perceive something. Things which I may think of as being for the good of everyone, someone else may see as the downfall of society. It's just a matter of how you look at it. A line from a movie comes to mind in which an octogenarian tells us that life is like a ride on a roller coaster. She says that some people think the ride is frightening and stressful; others see it as fun and exciting. I love this reminder, and there are so many times in our experience where we could go either way with our perception of a situation. A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #313 states: "Now let a new perception come to me." How exciting to look at everything through new eyes as we go through the day!

“The human mind will sometime rise above all material and physical sense, exchanging it for spiritual perception, and exchanging human concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man will recognize his God-given dominion and being." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 531:10-14

One Mind

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

If I told someone I want to give up the thoughts I think and think the thoughts of divine Mind, they might assume I am involved in a cultish-type of group. But I think of it as just the opposite! If I am making decisions based on past events and learned behaviors, then I have no freedom of thought. I am living by material restrictions and repeating thoughts dictated by human opinion, my own included. My desire to live as an idea of the one Mind opens me to an expansion of thought and action which has no limit. What an exciting world this is, when we go beyond set boundaries dictated by past education and see our way to a deeper education, facilitated by divine Love!

"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

Pondering Judgment

 

Leatherwood Trail

Eureka Springs, AR

Pondering judgment causes me to think of ancient Toltec wisdom as shown to us by Don Miguel Ruiz in the Four Agreements. Two of these agreements lead us easily to non-judgment: "Don't make assumptions" and "Don't take anything personally". These suggestions always come to mind when I'm tempted to take offense by someone's statements or to apportion blame in any way. If I don't take anything personally, then I need make no assumptions as to others' motives. If I make no assumption about why someone says or does something, then I won't be thinking they are attacking me or anyone else. With the realization that there is no judgment in divine Love, no condemnation in the one Mind, no censure from Spirit, we are able to stop doing those things to ourselves and those we perceive as others. Our thoughts of separation are free to cease as we embrace Unity!

“The earth’s diurnal rotation is invisible to the physical eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead of the earth from west to east. Until rebuked by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this false testimony of the eye deluded the judgment and induced false conclusions.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 121:17-22

What, Me Worry?

Aaron riding Leatherwood Trail

 From the moment we stand up and toddle we hear, Be careful, don't fall!! We instill fear and worry in our children even before they're born, don't we? Most mothers-to-be are worried about a myriad of things, and have been taught to believe it's necessary to do so. Everywhere we turn, there is something to fear. When I was a kid, the only things I was warned about in the woods were snakes, poison ivy, and perhaps an occasional wild carnivore. Nowadays, everything from ticks to the sun may attack us, and we go to great lengths to protect ourselves, putting poisons on our skin to avoid something we perceive to be worse. This is yet another example of the material illusions we have made for ourselves.  As I go through this day, I will notice what learned behaviors are ruling my life, holding me in fear rather than Love. The words of a great teacher come to mind: Perfect Love casts out fear!

“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.”Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health  Page 261:4-7

Forgotten Truth

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

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 Mind? And what if, after we find what we've forgotten, we allow it to come forth and live with us, as us? In the process, we truly forgive ourselves for all of it, allowing thought to stay in the realm of Oneness, releasing guilt and fear, living only in Love. What if ...

“For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its unlikeness, mortality.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 491:3-6

“Within me is the Holiness of God. Within me is the memory of Him.” https://acim.org/acim/en/s/729#1:7-8 | W-309.1:7-8)

Timesless Thoughts

Eureka Springs, AR

 Time is an interesting concept. It passes differently depending on whether we’re in a dentist’s chair or having fun with loved ones. 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. I’m reminded of some favorite quotes about this thing we call time. Deepak Chopra said: "Time is something we have made up so everything doesn't happen all at once." Albert Einstein came to believe that time was not only 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." I love novels having to do with time and its elasticity. 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. Sleeping dreams, waking dreams, alternate realities, time travel — Beam me up, Scottie!

“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