The Immortal Truth of All Things

Unknown origin of image

The admission to ourselves that everything we see is colored by beliefs and judgments is a large realization indeed! Being aware of this is an important step in clearing the way for spiritual sense to be recognized. Sometimes standing up to illusion and stating metaphysical truth seems necessary. While waiting in line at the food market recently, I was having a conversation with the woman behind me. She was telling me how she had moved here from Washington D.C. and she couldn't get used to the fact that people were so nice. She said she kept expecting a variety of horrible things to happen (which she listed with rising fervor). I told her she could allow herself to change her thoughts about this, as odds are they won’t happen. She adamantly told me that people were horrible everywhere and they would not change. Not having a desire to get into that with her I simply said, "The change I'm talking about happens within YOU. That's the only place it can occur; you can't change anyone else." She stopped and looked thoughtful. Although I left at that point, a seed was planted. I imagine her being happy in our sweet little town…

“Like every lesson that the Holy Spirit requests you learn, the miracle is clear. It demonstrates what He would have you learn, and shows you its effects are what you want. In His forgiving dreams are the effects of yours undone, and hated enemies perceived as friends with merciful intent. Their enmity is seen as causeless now, because they did not make it. And you can accept the role of maker of their hate, because you see that it has no effects. Now are you freed from this much of the dream; the world is neutral, and the bodies that still seem to move about as separate things need not be feared.” 

A Course in Miracles T-28.II.10:1-6

"To corporeal sense, the sun appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand still; but astronomical science contradicts this, and explains the solar system as working on a different plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to Science, to the immortal truth of all things." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 493:2-8

No Neutral Thoughts

St. Elizabeth and Valerie - Eureka Springs, AR

Photo credit: Richard Quick

Every thought is important: it gives rise to perception, and it either extends truth or multiplies illusion. A well-known story, which you may have heard, illustrates this. A grandfather is talking to his grandson about anger. He tells him that we all have a peaceful wolf and an angry wolf living inside us, and the one that grows is the one we feed. While I find this to be an exemplary tale illustrating a truth of this material existence, it does nothing to speak to the metaphysical truth we are learning: There is no angry wolf. As A Course in Miracles workbook lesson #16 states, "you can multiply nothing but you can't extend it". Our thoughts which feed an angry wolf have no power as they're feeding something which does not exist. We are learning that erroneous thoughts can seem real and may even seem to grow, but that's impossible because Truth trumps error every time.

“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. There is such a temptation to dismiss fear thoughts as unimportant, trivial and not worth bothering about that it is essential you recognize them all as equally destructive, but equally unreal. We will practice this idea in many forms before you really understand it.”

A Course in Miracles - W-16.3:1-4

"Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body. It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 114:23-27

Images of Thought

Art by Oleg Shuplyak

I witnessed an experiment in a video. A woman sitting at a table was asked to hold her right arm out, resting it from elbow to hand on the surface. They erected a barrier so she couldn't see her hand and then they placed a rubber hand and arm in front of her, which she could see, with the elbow ending at her body. Then the person sitting on the other side of the table used a soft paint brush to stroke both her hand and the rubber hand. She stated she was feeling a little odd because she was beginning to experience sensation in the rubber hand. When the person moved the brush to the rubber thumb, stroking it but not hers, she jerked back because the feeling was so odd. Then the man across the table pulled out a hammer and hit the rubber hand. You can imagine how the woman reacted! This demonstrated how, in a matter of two minutes or less, a rubber hand became a human hand in the thought of this woman. This is, in essence, what we've done with everything around us. Belief becomes our reality -- and very quickly. So today I will practice moving away from beliefs and opening my thought to the reality of 4th-dimensional thought!

"Mortals evolve images of thought." "Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it with all material conceptions."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 86:13 and 86:29:1

“It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not recognize them as nothing. You think you think them, and so you think you see them. This is how your ‘seeing’ was made. This is the function you have given your body’s eyes. It is not seeing. It is image making. It takes the place of seeing, replacing vision with illusions.” A Course in Miracles W-15.1:1-7

The Stars Called You Home

Art by Lucy Claire

Donna Ashworth wrote the following beautiful words. I share them with you this cold winter day.

“This poem was written a few days ago in honour of a friend taken tragically. The amazing Lucy Claire kindly drew a piece to accompany the words and we both hope it speaks to many of you - to help say the words within your hearts.”

THE STARS CALLED YOU HOME

By Donna Ashworth

“The stars have called you home, love. 

Up high, so far away. 

I think they missed your brilliance,

they couldn’t let you stay.

You’ve shone that light of yours, love. 

on all the lives you touched. 

We’ve known your joy for years and years,

I guess they thought ‘enough’.

They need your light up there now. 

This world grows ever dark. 

Your passion will rain down like love, 

dripped into every heart. 

The stars have called you home,

now we’ll miss you, every day. 

And every night we’ll scour the skies, 

to watch you, where you lay.

And when dark clouds are gathering, 

and air’s too cold to breathe.

The life you lived will warm our bones, 

and your star will help us see.”

“The idea for today is, of course, the reason why a meaningless world is impossible. What God did not create does not exist. And everything that does exist exists as He created it. The world you see has nothing to do with reality. It is of your own making, and it does not exist.”
A Course in Miracles W-14.1:1-5

“Human capacity is slow to discern and to grasp God’s creation and the divine power and presence which go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin. Mortals can never know the infinite, until they throw off the old man and reach the spiritual image and likeness.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 519:11-16

False Belief Engenders Fear

Photo credit; Aaron Springston

When we believe that something outside ourself is creating circumstance, we give this outside cause reality and make it and its effects our reality. This false belief engenders fear. “A meaningless world engenders fear because I think I am in competition with God." So often we act as though we're in charge and that we must tell God what we want in order for it to be done. We bargain and cajole to get our way, then get angry with God when we don’t get what we want. We blame God when anything less than our idea of good comes our way. We thank God when we get our way, perhaps in a boastful or self-satisfied way. All these actions are symptoms of the separation we feel. Allowing everything to be meaningless is similar to letting go of an addiction! Interesting symptoms show up, as could irritableness when giving up caffeine. Today I repeatedly found myself thinking less than charitable and loving thoughts toward people I barely know. While reading on social media about problems the daughter of an old friend was having, I thought to myself that she had brought them on herself. I immediately stopped and questioned my motives, uncovering the remembrance of a perceived painful period of antagonism between people I love. And then I stepped back and remembered the reasons I love and appreciate these dear old friends. Let's not be afraid of any rogue thoughts which may seem to assault us, but rather acknowledge them as symptoms of a clearing away of self to allow our Self to be demonstrated.

“History teaches that the popular and false notions about the Divine Being and character have originated in the human mind.”  

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 357:19-21

“The emptiness engendered by fear must be replaced by forgiveness. That is what the Bible means by ‘There is no death,’ and why I could demonstrate that death does not exist. I came to fulfill the law by reinterpreting it. The law itself, if properly understood, offers only protection. It is those who have not yet changed their minds who brought the ‘hell-fire’ concept into it. I assure you that I will witness for anyone who lets me, and to whatever extent he permits it. Your witnessing demonstrates your belief, and thus strengthens it. Those who witness for me are expressing, through their miracles, that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation in favor of the abundance they have learned belongs to them.” 

A Course in Miracles T-1.IV.4:1-8

Real or Insane Thoughts?

“Black Cat With Tulips and Apple Blossoms”

Art by Maud Lewis 

Often when we’re upset, we have a desire to blame someone or, alternatively, to avoid the situation altogether. Today's ACIM Lesson #12 asks us to witness events without giving them any meaning, neither good nor bad, thereby leaving ourselves blank to see what ideas come through in place of our personal feelings. If we give no meaning to anything, if we see a meaningless world, and then become upset by this void, we may be tempted to try to figure out why this is happening. If we find this exercise upsetting, let's not act upon these feelings; instead, let's witness what happens without placing an interpretation on it. When we allow Sprit (God) to manifest through us -- which is our native state as a reflection, the image and likeness of God -- we open ourselves to the field of all possibilities. We can become a blank slate for Love to write on. Who's to know where this will lead us? To quote Rumi: "Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there".

“The objects cognized by the physical senses have not the reality of substance. They are only what mortal belief calls them. Matter, sin, and mortality lose all supposed consciousness or claim to life or existence, as mortals lay off a false sense of life, substance, and intelligence. But the spiritual, eternal man is not touched by these phases of mortality.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 311:26-32

“My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world. Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that pictures them can have no meaning. What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it produces. Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing.” 

A Course in Miracles W-53.1:1-5

A Meaningful World

Image by Laura Iverson

I had a sleeping dream of Utopia. There was no need to speak, as we knew each others' thoughts. We had no fear, as our thoughts were uncluttered and pure. Everywhere I looked there were happy people, busy at tasks which would benefit everyone. There was no need for television or radios, as we knew everything, and it was Good. At one point, I thought I was lost in the woods, but that was impossible because others sensed my confusion and were there immediately to lead me to a safe and beautiful home. While traveling on a road, suddenly the way was filled with huge boulders and ancient fallen trees. But to the left side there was a field filled with beautiful flowers, and a pathway leading to my destination. All needs were met before I knew of them, and there was the most wonderful sense of peace. I will hold to these beautiful feelings today, while seeing the meaningless basis of my thoughts and desires.

“Since the thoughts of which I am aware do not mean anything, the world that pictures them can have no meaning. What is producing this world is insane, and so is what it produces. Reality is not insane, and I have real thoughts as well as insane ones. I can therefore see a real world, if I look to my real thoughts as my guide for seeing.” 

A Course in Miracles W-53.1:2-5

“Sleep and apathy are phases of the dream that life, substance, and intelligence are material. The mortal night dream is sometimes nearer than are the thoughts of mortals when awake. The night-dream has less matter as its accompaniment. It throws off some material fetters. It falls short of the skies, but makes its mundane flights quite ethereal.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 249:24-30