Tuesday, February 27, 2024

A Wider Sphere of Thought


Photo credit: Arthur Bruno

I've never understood political conflict.  It seems to me that if everyone is for the good of all, what in the world is there to be conflicted about? I simply do not know why we have these clashes, and certainly have no desire to talk about these disagreeable scenarios. Times of major elections in our United States bring out interesting opinions from unexpected places. I try not to listen to any of it, holding to the knowledge of our true selves as the expression of Love, while looking past all the rhetoric and seeming idiocy. If God is the Mind with which I think, and that Mind is (and can only be) light, no fear nor condemnation is necessary. With this realization, we could stop trying to change others' thoughts to what we think they should be. Knowing that every thought which is a reflection of divine Mind grows exponentially, I find cause for continuing the quest to be a clean mirror. 

"This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 265:10-15


“Let me not look to my own eyes to see today. Let me be willing to exchange my pitiful illusion of seeing for the vision that is given by God. Christ’s vision is His gift, and He has given it to me. Let me call upon this gift today, so that this day may help me to understand eternity.” 

A Course in Miracles W-59.2:3-6

Monday, February 26, 2024

Perceiving My Holiness


“The perception of my holiness does not bless me alone. Everyone and everything I see in its light shares in the joy it brings to me.” This is part of today’s five-lesson review in A Course in Miracles. We are learning that this holiness is our true state of being as reflections of Love. This Love is realized through forgiveness in its purest sense. When I assert this truth about myself, I affirm it for everyone. Many of us think that such a statement about ourselves is arrogant; something to be avoided. What if the opposite is true, and it’s arrogant to think we can do everything through our individual, human intellect and reasoning?  Perhaps true humility is acknowledging our holiness, allowing divine Mind to guide us, knowing we are all One. 


 “My holiness is my salvation. Since my holiness saves me from all guilt, recognizing my holiness is recognizing my salvation. It is also recognizing the salvation of the world. Once I have accepted my holiness, nothing can make me afraid. And because I am unafraid, everyone must share in my understanding, which is the gift of God to me and to the world.” 

A Course in Miracles W-58.4:1-5


"We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we desire holiness above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this, that we may walk securely in the only practical road to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 11:22-32

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Living From Truth

Photo by Aaron Springston


I have often been asked if Christian Science is a cult. Having been affiliated with this  life since childhood, it’s easy for me to say 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 categorization. I'm sure Course in Miracles students often get the same type of questions, as a quick search of the internet indicates. What we do ask of ourselves is a radical reliance on God, a wholehearted acceptance of Love as the only power, and the desire to let Spirit lead every action. Both of these schools of thought ask us to give up material beliefs and rely on Truth. And this may not be as difficult as it seems. Shouldn't it be easy to allow spiritual principles to guide our actions, rather than accepting material rules which make no sense? Living from the Truth within, rather than made-up rules of material existence, this is the free thought which will lead into harmonious peace for 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. I will understand that peace, not war, abides in it. And I will perceive that peace also abides in the hearts of all who share this place with me.” 

A Course in Miracles W-57.4:2-4


"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

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Connected — or Not!

Real Connections

I’ve been contemplating our connectivity and, also, our lack of connection. Many people say that we are suffering from loss of connections with real people; that we have given ourselves over to technology, thinking we are making connections when we're actually just passing time. I wonder if the face-to-face conversations we have are any more "real" than the computer relationships we sustain. So far, my conclusion is that any relationship can be shallow or deep, and how we connect makes no difference. Admittedly I don't sit on my front porch with neighbors, watching the sunset and chatting. It seems the great majority of one-on-one communications I do have consist mainly of mindless chatter. On the other hand, friendships I keep up with on the computer tend to be more substantial. No one emails me and tells me gossip about mutual friends or the details of their gallbladder operation. Although I have received no great insights about how changes in communications have affected friendship or global affairs, I do know that we have more opportunities to enjoy each other than ever before, and I want to take advantage of every moment of it!

“God is in everything I see. Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged. Behind every veil I have drawn across the face of love, its light remains undimmed. Beyond all my insane wishes is my will, united with the Will of my Father. God is still everywhere and in everything forever. And we who are part of Him will yet look past all appearances, and recognize the truth beyond them all.” 

A Course in Miracles W-56.4:1-6


“Here let a word be noticed which will be better understood hereafter,--chemicalization. By chemicalization I mean the process which mortal mind and body undergo in the change of belief from a material to a spiritual basis.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 168:30-2

Friday, February 23, 2024

The Vanishing Sense-Dream



Hillspeak - Eureka Springs, AR
Photo by Blake Lasater

Wouldn't it be great to live in a world where losing is impossible, where love lasts forever, where hate does not exist, and vengeance has no meaning? It would be grand if we never had misunderstandings, because communications were clear and precise, without the burden of forming words to tell others what we mean. There would be no hard feelings between people, as we wouldn't blame others for thinking differently than we do, because we know that at our core all of us are One. The world we have created is wonderful in many ways, but there are also horrors beyond words, and that causes people to lose faith in this thing we call God. We have created an un-God-like world and blame an unknown deity for what we think we cannot change. What if we're wrong and what we see is not true creation? Imagine that!!

“That which material sense calls intangible, is found to be substance. What to material sense seems substance, becomes nothingness, as the sense-dream vanishes and reality appears." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 312:3-6


“What I see is a form of vengeance. The world I see is hardly the representation of loving thoughts. It is a picture of attack on everything by everything. It is anything but a reflection of the Love of God and the Love of His Son. It is my own attack thoughts that give rise to this picture. My loving thoughts will save me from this perception of the world, and give me the peace God intended me to have.” 

A Course in Miracles W-55.2:1-6

Thursday, February 22, 2024

No Neutral Thoughts




Our hearts cry for children, animals, adults, trees, 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 attach itself to us with every new travesty we witness. Fearful responses get us nowhere and only cause the situation to be more solidified in our thoughts. 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, one which we hold right here in our hearts.

“Neutral thoughts are impossible because all thoughts have power. They will either make a false world or lead me to the real one. But thoughts cannot be without effects. As the world I see arises from my thinking errors, so will the real world rise before my eyes as I let my errors be corrected. My thoughts cannot be neither true nor false. They must be one or the other. ⁸What I see shows me which they are.” 

A Course in Miracles W-54.1:2-8


“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


Wednesday, February 21, 2024

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

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