Free Will?

 

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

I'm beginning to see that I have no will of my own if I'm simply regurgitating well-rehearsed lines from the history of my life. Glimpses of freedom come from throwing off chains I’ve bound myself with throughout a lifetime of fears and learned behavior. Listening for Mind (with a capital M) is beginning to take precedence over knee-jerk reactions to life’s circumstances. A friend told me a story about how his misperception of things caused a rift in a relationship. He thought his stepmother had never liked him, then one day he found out she was almost deaf. With this realization, he saw that the actions he had interpreted as slights to him were actually moments of confusion on her part. Now, viewed from this understanding, he sees their relationship as a loving one. Today I will quietly listen for that still, small voice which frees me from long-held beliefs which have been created by my ego-driven mortal mind. Clarity, consideration, compassion — three things of which we can never have too much!

“Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else. God’s being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 480:2-4

“The Garden of Eden, or the pre-separation condition, was a state of mind in which nothing was needed. When Adam listened to the ‘lies of the serpent,’ all he heard was untruth. You do not have to continue to believe what is not true unless you choose to do so. All that can literally disappear in the twinkling of an eye because it is merely a misperception. What is seen in dreams seems to be very real. Yet the Bible says that a deep sleep fell upon Adam, and nowhere is their reference to his waking up. The world has not yet experienced any comprehensive reawakening or rebirth. Such a rebirth is impossible as long as you continue to project or miscreate. It still remains within you, however, to extend as God extended His Spirit to you. In reality this is your only choice, because your free will was given you for your joy in creating the perfect.” 

A Course in Miracles T-2.I.3:1-10

Embrace All Living Creatures

 

Gustave Caillebotte - The Yerres, Rain, 1875

Rainy days with nowhere to go are my favorites of all days! Today was one of those times, and I enjoyed catching up on reading and puttering around the house. This quote was at the center of my day’s studies: "A human being is a part of the whole called by us 'the universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical illusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening the circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

“At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 571:15-21

“The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power to do whatever it is asked. Attack thoughts cannot enter such a mind, because it has been given to the Source of love, and fear can never enter in a mind that has attached itself to love. It rests in God. And who can be afraid who lives in Innocence, and only loves.” 

A Course in Miracles W-199.2:1-4

For the Love of a Book

 

Art from Natacha Einat

Most of us have favorite books from childhood; many of us have a favorite book which we enjoy revisiting throughout our lives. Recently I decided to reread Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. I haven’t read it straight through since I took class instruction in the late 1990s, and I’m amazed by how much I’m enjoying it! I read it first thing in the morning, and it’s sometimes difficult to stop and go about the day’s activities. Almost every page has an ah-hah moment, a sentence or paragraph which I read multiple times with increasing wonder. Today’s find was: “Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error is wholly destroyed, there will be interruptions of the general material routine. Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end, — until the final spiritualization of all things. ‘The darkest hour precedes the dawn.’” (Page 96:4-11) I find comfort in this prophecy.

“Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perspective. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.” 

A Course in Miracles W-pII.2.4:1-6)

Equinox Transition

Unknown artist

I’m not a follower of astrology, but these words about the Equinox caught my attention and appreciation!

“As the Sun crosses the celestial equator, an intriguing energetic shift occurs in the world. It is the time of the Equinox, marking the transition from the long slumber of winter to the spirited rebirth of spring. Hence, as seen in the natural world with the changing seasons, the Equinox symbolises renewal, shedding old layers and opening up to new beginnings. 

As well as the Equinox, we have the Aries New Moon... a globally momentous time for setting intentions and manifesting our desires, however, it requires careful attention to our thoughts and emotions. By setting clear intentions that align with our compassionate elevated emotional state, we can tap into the electromagnetic properties of Neptune’s unified quantum field of manifestation and create a whole new destiny for ourselves...” 

excerpted from website linked here: Read more here: https://angstoic.com/ and on Substack: https://angstoic.substack.com/p/igniting-the-spark-of-inception-the?fbclid=IwAR1sNiyCkYc-tp9hQGJrsplTiXWW83vXx3qj2HIrXtmr7FVEcMfwaPOJ5AE

“The attraction between native qualities will be perpetual only as it is pure and true, bringing sweet seasons of renewal like the returning spring.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures - Page 57:11-14

“When you have seen this real world, as you will surely do, you will remember Us. Yet you must learn the cost of sleeping, and refuse to pay it. Only then will you decide to awaken. And then the real world will spring to your sight, for Christ has never slept. He is waiting to be seen, for He has never lost sight of you. He looks quietly on the real world, which He would share with you because He knows of the Father’s Love for Him. And knowing this, He would give you what is yours. In perfect peace He waits for you at His Father’s altar, holding out the Father’s Love to you in the quiet light of the Holy Spirit’s blessing. For the Holy Spirit will lead everyone home to his Father, where Christ waits as his Self.” A Course in Miracles T-12.VI.5:1-9

No Idle Thoughts

Our hearts cry for the children, the animals, the adults, the trees, the insects — all of life is in need of our higher thoughts and positive actions! When we see a heartbreaking situation and translate it into Love, we are helping. Everything we say or do is either a reflection of Love or of fear, and fear seems to try to attach itself to us with every new travesty we witness. Fearful responses get us nowhere and only cause the situation to be more solid in our thought. We are flexible and easily-influenced, but we are also smart and intuitive. The choices we have may seem overwhelming sometimes, but when we realize there is only one real choice, Love, it becomes easier to see truth. We all want to be loved, to be safe, to be comfortable, to be at peace. It may seem as though hatred spreads like wildfire, but Love puts out the flames of hatred as surely as light brightens a dark room. It may hurt our eyes at first, but those reflective organs are made to adjust. I hope you can do something joyous today. Love as strongly as some are fearing, because it's an incredibly strong and unstoppable force which we hold right here in our hearts.

“Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christendom with chains.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 95:28-3

“Besides your recognizing that thoughts are never idle, salvation requires that you also recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war; either love or fear. A neutral result is impossible because a neutral thought is impossible.” 

A Course in Miracles W-16.3:1-2

Skills of Observation

 

"The manual arts develop the skills of observation, problem solving and hypothesis, while also creating a sense of the dignity of all labor and empathy toward those who perform it." These words, from Doug Stowe, echo in my mind. Manual arts of all kinds develop skills which many modern-day activities simply cannot. Some parts of our brains are not used by anything other than this translation of thoughts into things. As someone who learned to play the piano and type on a toy typewriter before I began formal education, I hold those skills responsible for the ease with which many of us learned once we began school. There was a period of time I did not touch a musical keyboard for 12 years, and as a result I became quite dull. As a matter of fact, that's when I took up duplicate bridge, back in the 80s, when I realized my brain had slowed down appreciably. An intensive exercise of its capabilities brought me back to a point where I didn't feel quite so slow, but I don't think those synapses opened up again until I began playing keyboards in the mid-90s. To practice skills which cause the brain and hands to work together (cursive writing?) is an important part of our growth, one which I feel develops critical thinking skills, especially when combined with reading and discussion of ideas. Thank you, Doug, for bringing these things out for us to ponder and, hopefully, help others to understand!

"If the soft palm, upturned to a lordly salary, and architectural skill, making dome and spire tremulous with beauty, turn the poor and the stranger from the gate, they at the same time shut the door on progress." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 142:11

“Innocence is incapable of sacrificing anything, because the innocent mind has everything and strives only to protect its wholeness. It cannot project. It can only honor other minds, because honor is the natural greeting of the truly loved to others who are like them.” 

A Course in Miracles T-3.I.6:1-3

Influences

Unknown photographer

These words of Paramhansa Yogananda were posted to Facebook by a friend. 

“The company you keep is important. If you leave your coat in a room where people are smoking, pretty soon it will smell of smoke. If you leave it outside in the garden, later on, when you bring it indoors, it will carry with it the fragrance of fresh air and flowers.

Such is the case with the mind. Your garment of thoughts absorbs the vibrations of those with whom you mix. If you mingle with pessimists, in time you will become a pessimist. And if you mingle with cheerful, happy people, you yourself will develop a cheerful, happy nature.

Environment is stronger than will power. Whether one becomes a saint or a sinner is, to a great extent, determined by the company he keeps.”  Paramhansa Yogananda

“Your influence for good depends upon the weight you throw into the right scale. The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable. Evil is not power. It is a mockery of strength, which erelong betrays its weakness and falls, never to rise.

We walk in the footsteps of Truth and Love by following the example of our Master [Jesus] in the understanding of divine metaphysics. Christianity is the basis of true healing. Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 192:21-30

“It is as needful that you recognize you made the world you see, as that you recognize that you did not create yourself. They are the same mistake. Nothing created not by your Creator has any influence over you. And if you think what you have made can tell you what you see and feel, and place your faith in its ability to do so, you are denying your Creator and believing that you made yourself. For if you think the world you made has power to make you what it wills, you are confusing Son and Father; effect and Source.” 

A Course in Miracles T-21.II.11:1-5