We’re Ready!

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

The Age of Aquarius. Harmonic Convergence. The Shift. Ascension. Activating DNA Strands. What do these things have in common? They are events which herald a change in thought which has been happening for as long as I can remember. We have been seeking and hoping that a way will open for us to understand, to experience, the meaning of Life, and to demonstrate this reality. A Course in Miracles helps us see that the world we experience is meaningless. You may wonder why anyone would want to see a meaningless world.  I'm not sure we would, but that's certainly what we're doing. As we begin to glimpse the difference in spiritual realities and material illusions, we see that the world we hold in place through belief and misperception is meaningless. In order to see spiritual reality, we must give up the beliefs and illusions we have created. A single glimpse of this world of Love is enough to make me want to throw open the door to more! 

“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

"Spiritual attainments open the door to a higher understanding of the divine Life." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 10:15-16

Choose Again, That I May See

Grand baby Torin at Train Museum

We who are practicing metaphysicians often hear words such as: "Get real! Face facts! Pull your head out of the sand!" I usually just smile and say, "You may be right", and politely wander away. Trying to explain my actions to the spiritually-deaf ear would be akin to explaining purple to a blind child. But if I were asked to do that, it would have to be done through feeling the color and allowing that sight to pass to the sightless. And so rather than explaining -- or worse, arguing! -- I will feel the spiritual reality of Love, while allowing the material argument to pass through and be gone. I have not always been so easy to get along with! Recently, I've had a chance to spend time with an old friend who will be moving far, far away. A number of years ago, she and I had an altercation which was deeply interconnected to many aspects of our friendship. If either she or I had held onto the past, we wouldn't share the palpable Oneness we feel today. As A Course in Miracles tells us: it's not a choice of seeing past or present, but a choice to see or not to see. Where I've chosen to shade my thoughts with unreality, I will choose again, flowing in Oneness with All That Is.

“If I see nothing as it is now, it can truly be said that I see nothing. I can see only what is now. The choice is not whether to see the past or the present; the choice is merely whether to see or not. What I have chosen to see has cost me vision. Now I would choose again, that I may see.” 

A Course in Miracles W-52.4:2-6

"Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem of Truth's garment."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 270:22-27

Reverse Our Feeble Flutterings

Upon awakening, I had about 20 inane and/or insane thoughts before I realized what I was doing. "What day is this and where am I supposed to be?", was quickly followed by a chain of remembrances which took me from a lovely cooking store to my childhood home, then zoomed over to a friend's house and a remembered conversation, before zipping back to a neglected household chore. This illustrates why it is so important to guide first thoughts of the day to paths of Spirit. Without this discipline, I could spend all my time with meaningless thoughts which create turmoil rather than peace within.  I have found that leading first thoughts to Truth helps to keep my mind in tune for the rest of the day, rather than thinking of all the material insanity which comes at me from every direction once I leave the sequestered world of my home. Often we feel bombarded by thoughts of fear and hostility, lack and disease, error and disharmony. What if our thoughts of peace and harmony could quiet the seeming turmoil of the world? Then would it be worth the effort to pull our thoughts away from inanity and hold steadfastly to the ideas of divine Mind? Everything we think or speak or do is shared. How important then to see the reality of it all, rather than the beliefs we are taught by the repetition of them. Join me in taking a stand for Truth, and experience the transformational power!

“I have judged everything I look upon, and it is this and only this I see. This is not vision. It is merely an illusion of reality, because my judgments have been made quite apart from reality. I am willing to recognize the lack of validity in my judgments, because I want to see. My judgments have hurt me, and I do not want to see according to them.” 

A Course in Miracles W-51.2:2-6

“We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God’s creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings — our efforts to find life and truth in matter — and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the God like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 262:9-16

Our Journey

Art From Catrin Welz-Stein

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do 

we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go 

we have come to our real journey.”

~ Wendell Berry

“Put not your faith in illusions. They will fail you. Put all your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. This is the answer to whatever confronts you today. Through the Love of God within you, you can resolve all seeming difficulties without effort and in sure confidence. Tell yourself this often today. It is a declaration of release from the belief in idols. It is your acknowledgment of the truth about yourself.”

A Course in Miracles W-50.4:1-8

“Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests [Its] love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 340:12-14

Where Truth Abides

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

I’ve noticed in the past few years 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. I think 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 fear making decisions for ourselves because we don’t think we are informed enough to do so. At that point, we either throw up our hands and don’t do anything, or ask someone else what they’re going to do, so we can do the same. Perhaps we don’t trust our own inner guidance, because we have so often mistaken our busy little mind for the calm voice of divine Mind. We are told in Workbook Lesson #49 of A Course in Miracles: “God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.” 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!

“It is quite possible to listen to God’s Voice all through the day without interrupting your regular activities in any way. The part of your mind in which truth abides is in constant communication with God, whether you are aware of it or not. It is the other part of your mind that functions in the world and obeys the world’s laws. It is this part that is constantly distracted, disorganized and highly uncertain.” 

A Course in Miracles W-49.1:1-4

"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

The Illusion of Separation

Maternity Shoot in Colorado

February 2024

It seems as though things that we fear all have to do with lack and separation. Fear stems from the idea that we can be separated from joy and love, from peace and security. I remember when my son left home for a boarding school at the tender age of fourteen. I was so sad, I felt I'd never laugh again. I literally couldn't imagine happiness, as everything I looked at reminded me he was gone. After a week or so of living in this maudlin state, I realized I was thinking of him as though he were dead. This led me to examine that avenue. What if he was dead? Wouldn't the love we felt still be alive? Of course, I would miss being around him, enjoying his company -- just as I was missing him then, with 300 miles of physical separation. A Rumi quote helped break this illusion: "Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. For those who love with heart and soul there is no separation." What is it which allows us to be together no matter where we seem to be?  Love. The Love which is our essence is a connection that cannot be broken by any set of material circumstance. When I'm really feeling the security of divine Love, I'm reminded of the way a baby is swaddled in a blanket. Divine Love swaddles us in Its ever-present protection.

“Nothing real can be threatened.

Nothing unreal exists.

Herein lies the peace of God.”

A Course in Miracles T-in.2:2-4

"The Apostle John says: 'There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.' Here is a definite and inspired proclamation of Christian Science."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 410:17-21

A Problem Set in Conflict …

Blue Spring, Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Photo by Arthur Bruno

In a world where we are being fed lies, it’s extremely difficult to figure out what is truth. Media spreads deception and distrust, dividing people in ways which seem irreparable. Bias doesn’t frighten me, but intentional lies do. Many of us remember the early days of television, bringing with it a new type of advertising, and consumerism became flagrant. It has reached an apex now, in which nearly everything we hear and see is designed to sell us something. We must continue to be vigilant in what we allow into our thoughts, not only for our own good, but for the collective. Repeating stories which create divisions through feelings of superiority or inferiority, that’s playing the game which has been created for us. It’s important to use our education, our intuition, our spiritual knowledge, every bit of common sense we still have, to discern truth. A Christian Science treatment is often referred to as “knowing the Truth”. It is in reference to knowing the Truth of our being, not the beliefs we’ve come to think of as facts. We need not be the victim of propaganda or other forms of hypnosis. “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach me”. This statement from Mary Baker Eddy is all we need to keep in mind. When we are filled with Love, there is no room for anything else. 

"The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. ... It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 128

“In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved. In conflict there can be no answer and no resolution, for its purpose is to make no resolution possible, and to ensure no answer will be plain. A problem set in conflict has no answer, for it is seen in different ways. And what would be an answer from one point of view is not an answer in another light. You are in conflict. Thus it must be clear you cannot answer anything at all, for conflict has no limited effects. Yet if God gave an answer there must be a way in which your problems are resolved, for what He wills already has been done.” 

A Course in Miracles T-27.IV.1:1-7