Connected by Light

The Lantern Bearers

By Maxfield Parrish

So-called hate groups have increased by a large percentage in this country over the past few years. A man named Tony McAleer describes himself as being beaten and bullied as a child; bitter and isolated as a teenager. He became involved in one of these groups while seeking a connection with others. To quote him: "When you're starving and somebody keeps feeding you what you think are your favorite foods, even though it's junk food, there's going to be a while where you're not going to get up from the table." He continued to practice violence and anger until after the birth of his daughter. He said that was the first time in his life he had felt connected to another human being, and he started to want to change. He has now organized  a group called "Life After Hate" and is helping others to build relationships with people. He says if we are to counter these groups, we must get to a place where empathy outweighs fear. That is what we are realizing through these studies, too. "Light and joy and peace abide in me" -- and in everyone!

“Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love, and not a vitalizing property of matter. Science reveals only one Mind, and this one shining by its own light and governing the universe, including man, in perfect harmony.."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 510:27-1

“Why would you not be overjoyed to be assured that all the evil that you think you did was never done, that all your sins are nothing, that you are as pure and holy as you were created, and that light and joy and peace abide in you? Your image of yourself cannot withstand the Will of God. You think that this is death, but it is life. You think you are destroyed, but you are saved.” 

A Course in Miracles W-93.4:1-4

Unfolding Infinity

Bicknell Young is one of my favorite spiritual authors. This fascinating man was the nephew of Brigham Young, the renowned Mormon leader. I can only imagine his family's surprise when he discovered the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy in the late 1800s, and then went on to gain fame speaking and writing about Christian Science during the next few decades. He's the proverbial person, dead or living, whom I'd choose to sit down with for an evening of conversation. These sentences about Spirit are part of what pique my interest to know more about him. “Consciousness is Spirit. It does not become spiritual nor is it spiritualized. Nor does the evolution of consciousness mean a rising above or a purification from anything; it is the ceaseless unfoldment of infinity." Thank you, Mr. Young!

“Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 277:20-22

“Your wholeness has no limits because being is infinity.” 

A Course in Miracles T-7.VIII.7:5

A

Epitaph

 

“Epitaph"

 by Merrit Malloy

When I die

Give what’s left of me away

To children

And old men that wait to die.

And if you need to cry,

Cry for your brother

Walking the street beside you.

And when you need me,

Put your arms

Around anyone

And give them

What you need to give to me.

I want to leave you something,

Something better

Than words

Or sounds.

Look for me

In the people I’ve known

Or loved,

And if you cannot give me away,

At least let me live on your eyes

And not on your mind.

Hands touch hands,

By letting

Bodies touch bodies,

And by letting go

Of children1

That need to be free.

 

Love doesn’t die,

People do.

So, when all that’s left of me

Is love,

Give me away.”

“When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you who are life.”

 A Course in Miracles | T-6.V-A.1:1-4

“If the belief in death were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that there is no death, this would be a ‘tree of life,’ known by its fruits. Man should renew his energies and endeavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learning the necessity of working out his own salvation.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 426:12-16

The Chaotic Dream

 

Unknown photographer

It can be difficult to understand how salvation and forgiveness are a part of this material dream, and that there is, in reality, nothing from which to be saved nor forgiven. A distinction between illusion and reality is essential to this understanding. Even a bit of understanding may not preclude a desire to hold onto unreality. I was shown an illustration of this reluctance while sleeping. I had a long and elaborate dream involving not being able to find, nor help, a loved one who was in trouble. There was snow so deep it couldn't be passed, along with many other impediments which produced anxiety and distress in my slumber. The dream seemed to go on forever, and I kept trying to climb out of it. But when I woke up, my first thought was of going back to sleep to see how the dream would end! As I was sliding back into sleep, the thought came to me that this wasn't necessary. Why should I care how it ended? Couldn't it end any way I wanted it to?? As I came back to conscious awareness, it occurred to me that this was a perfect analogy, illustrating our desire to hold onto illusions. From this perspective, I will notice my actions and thoughts today, looking at them from all sides to see if they are coming from divine Mind or my own personal ideas of how things should be.

“Dreams are chaotic because they are governed by your conflicting wishes, and therefore they have no concern with what is true. They are the best example you could have of how perception can be utilized to substitute illusions for truth. You do not take them seriously on awaking because the fact that reality is so outrageously violated in them becomes apparent. Yet they are a way of looking at the world, and changing it to suit the ego better. They provide striking examples, both of the ego’s inability to tolerate reality, and of your willingness to change reality on its behalf.” A Course in Miracles T-18.II.2:1-5

"... Is there any more reality in the waking dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream? There cannot be, since whatever appears to be a mortal man is a mortal dream. Take away the mortal mind, and matter has no more sense as a man than it has as a tree. But the spiritual, real man is immortal." Mary Baker Eddy -Science & Health Page 250:22-27

Our Divine Nature

Graphic of unknown origin

During a conversation, I was asked how I could have managed a certain emotional time without some form of psychological therapy. I hadn't considered that as an option, but in retrospect, I see that it was because I accepted reality over illusion. The reality is that I am as God created me. The illusion is a false sense developed from the stories which could affect how I feel about myself and others. Let's say, for instance, you find out about something which happened in the past. This new knowledge changes many material truths you have always a  believed, including your name, age, and heritage. What reaction would you have? Perhaps your initial response would be anger. People would say this is a normal reaction to betrayal. With the realization that you are as Love created you, this situation is seen to have absolutely nothing to do with your true self, allowing the hurtful illusion to dissipate as mist hit by sunlight. Our hurt feelings, our fears, can disappear into their native nothingness, being replaced with the Truth. Anything other than our true creation is changeable, and so today I choose unchanging, eternal Truth!

“True light is strength, and strength is sinlessness. If you remain as God created you, you must be strong and light must be in you. He Who ensured your sinlessness must be the guarantee of strength and light as well. You are as God created you. Darkness cannot obscure the glory of God’s Son. You stand in light, strong in the sinlessness in which you were created, and in which you will remain throughout eternity.” 

A Course in Miracles  W-94.2:1-6

“In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 259:6-9

Mostly, I Want to Be Kind

Someone wrote in a social media post: “I love the word tribe.  It implies togetherness, friends, protection and so much more.  Everyone needs their tribe.” This is a concept I’ve never understood, but the past few years have brought a desire to know more about this way of thought. Does everyone feel it? I suppose to an extent, even I do. Although I can say I never had a particular group of friends when growing up, nor felt a particular kinship with a church, and have never wanted to join clubs, it’s true that some alliances seem to form themselves. I love my book club meetings, along with a few spiritual gatherings throughout the years. Of course, there are friends and relatives I love madly. So to an extent I can understand tribalism, but not in the way people feel the need to be part of a larger group. Hopefully, I can stay off of my “high horse” while seeking deeper understanding through compassion for that which seems incomprehensible. Namaste…

“Forgiveness-to-destroy has many forms, being a weapon of the world of form. Not all of them are obvious, and some are carefully concealed beneath what seems like charity. Yet all the forms that it may seem to take have but this single goal; their purpose is to separate and make what God created equal, different. The difference is clear in several forms where the designed comparison cannot be missed, nor is it really meant to be.” A Course in Miracles S-2.II.1:1-4

“Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank? Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love. When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 266:6-12

Spring Time

 

Colorado - ph0t0 credit: Aaron Springston

Time is on my mind this evening … :)

“How amazing time is, and how amazing we are. Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration. Yesterday we complained of time and feared it, but today we love and embrace it. Indeed, we have begun to perceive its purposes and characteristics, and to comprehend its secrets and enigmas.” 

Kahlil Gibran

“Breaking away from the mutations of time and sense, you will neither lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own identity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 261:24-30

“Time is your friend, if you leave it to the Holy Spirit to use. He needs but very little to restore God’s whole power to you. He Who transcends time for you understands what time is for. Holiness lies not in time, but in eternity. There never was an instant in which God’s Son could lose his purity. His changeless state is beyond time, for his purity remains forever beyond attack and without variability. Time stands still in his holiness, and changes not. And so it is no longer time at all. For caught in the single instant of the eternal sanctity of God’s creation, it is transformed into forever. Give the eternal instant, that eternity may be remembered for you, in that shining instant of perfect release. Offer the miracle of the holy instant through the Holy Spirit, and leave His giving it to you to Him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.I.15:1-11