The World As A Place Of Freedom

 

photo credit: James DeVito

I have often been asked if (or perhaps told that) Christian Science is a cult. Having been affiliated with this way of life since childhood, it assuredly is not. I've never been controlled by anyone, or asked to worship anyone, or any of the other criteria necessary to qualify for this category of action. And I'm sure that Course in Miracles students often get the same thing, judging from what a quick search of YouTube videos reveal! What we do ask of ourselves is a radical reliance on God, a wholehearted acceptance of Spirit as the only power, to recognize that Love leads every action. This is the goal I set for myself at every moment. And this is why I see such a strong interaction with these two disciplines: they both ask us to give up material beliefs and rely on Truth. This may not be as hard as we'd like to make it out to be! Think back on the so-called laws of life you have adopted in the past. Shouldn't it be as easy to allow spiritual principles to guide your actions as it is to accept material rules which make no sense? For example, why should being cold and wet give you a cold? What silly admonitions we have heard about things that will cause us to "catch cold". This is only one example, but I'm sure you can think of many you have heard and lived by in your life. This quote from ACIM Lesson 34 says it all: "When I see the world as a place of freedom, I realize that it reflects the laws of God instead of the rules I made up for it to obey." And the rules of God are simple to hear when we have cleared out the cacophony which hides them from our thought. To live from the Truth within rather than the made-up rules of material existence, this is the freedom which will lead into harmonious peace for all. 

"The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through many generations human beliefs will be attaining diviner conceptions, and the immortal and perfect model of God's creation will finally be seen as the only true conception of being." Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 260:7-12

When a Dog Runs Up

 

In Memory of Daffy the Dog

When a Dog Runs Up (by Hafiz)

"Start seeing everything as God, but keep

it a secret.

Become like the man and woman who are

awestruck and nourished

listening to a golden nightingale sing

in a beautiful foreign language while God,

invisible to most, nests upon its tongue.

Hafiz, who can tell in this world that

when a dog runs up to you wagging its

ecstatic tail, you lean over and whisper in

its ear,

“Beloved, I am so glad you are happy to

see me! Beloved, I am so glad, so very glad

you have come!”

Offering Peace

 

Imagine seeing an image of an automatic weapon and the words: "Give peace a chance. I'll cover you if it doesn't work out." Where did we ever get the notion that we could be protected from violence by violence? I read an article from a few years back in which President Jimmy Carter was telling us the time for peace is now. He also asked on-point questions such as, why have we decided that killing people keeps people from killing people, and why do governments wage wars to enforce peace. There are a multitude of ways we seem to think violence will end violence. I look back over the last few decades and it is astounding how often teachers and parents and authority figures think they can control others with threats and corporal punishment. Violent little boys grow up to be violent little men. Let's just stop it -- stop it now!

"Peace is impossible to those who look on war. Peace is inevitable to those who offer peace. How easily, then, is your judgment of the world escaped! It is not the world that makes peace seem impossible. It is the world you see that is impossible. Yet has God's Judgment on this distorted world redeemed it and made it fit to welcome peace. And peace descends on it in joyous answer. Peace now belongs here, because a Thought of God has entered. What else but a Thought of God turns hell to Heaven merely by being what it is? The earth bows down before its gracious Presence, and it leans down in answer, to raise it up again. Now is the question different. It is no longer, 'Can peace be possible in this world?' but instead, 'Is it not impossible that peace be absent here?'" ACIM M-11.4

A Voice as Loud as I'm Willing to Listen

photo credit: Richard Quick

In the past few years, I've noticed that many people want others to tell them what to do. We seem to flock to those who are willing, even eager, to guide us through the maze of life. Perhaps it’s because if we’re doing what someone else tells us, then we can blame them if it doesn’t work out! (I’m only partly joking about that) Sometimes we are afraid to make decisions for ourselves because we don’t trust that we are informed enough to do so. At that point, we either throw up our hands and don’t do anything, or we ask someone else what they’re going to do so we can do it, too. Perhaps we don’t trust our own inner guidance because we have so often mistaken our busy little mind for the calm voice of the divine Mind. We are told in the textbook of A Course in Miracles that “His voice is as loud as I am willing to listen.” Let’s not expect a big, booming human voice to come down from above, but a still, small certainty in the deepness of ourselves, leading us as the expression of Life, Truth, and Love! Trust yourSelf! 

"Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout creation, and the immortality of man and the universe." Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 507:24-28

Trust YourSelf

 

photo credit: Blake Lasater

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. 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 of Being. 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.

“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

A Million Light Years of Being

•  [Art Diana Sudyka]

By J. L. Stanley​

[taken from Cosmic Dancer]

​  ​

"When they ask to see your gods

your book of prayers

show them lines

drawn delicately with veins

on the underside of a bird's wing

tell them you believe

in giant sycamores mottled

and stark against a winter sky

and in nights so frozen

stars crack open spilling

streams of molten ice to earth

and tell them how you drink

a holy wine of honeysuckle

on a warm spring day

and of the softness

of your mother who never taught you

death was life's reward

but who believed in the earth

and the sun

and a million, million light years

of being."

​~ J.L. Stanley

Gratitude as a Reset for Thought

There was an interesting editorial in the Christian Science Monitor which talked about gratitude in times of crisis. Gratitude was expressed for health care professionals working to contain and treat the current virus outbreak, among other things. The essay mentioned how gratitude helps put a focus on the good in a situation, dampening fear. It helps people form stronger bonds across borders and through their differences. It encourages generosity. I found it particularly interesting that they referred to expressing appreciation as a kind of reset for thoughts, saying that it allows calm reflective thinking, which is just what we need to bring a healing perspective during these times. These wise words can certainly be applied to many situations in our current atmosphere, don't you think? I'm going to practice this as a way of turning around fearful or defensive thinking when it occurs. If someone is expressing a thought which I find abrasive, I will find something to be grateful for about them. When a politician has upset me with his actions, I shall try to follow my own advice. Whatever the case, I love thinking about gratitude as a "reset"!!

"Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 3:25-26