The Natural Order of Things

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

The miracles we seek are the natural order of things, and they are ours for the knowing of that Truth. Most, if not all, of our holiday celebrations are based on myth, and they are often quite odd and far-fetched. I suppose they are based on history of some sort; remembrances of past events. Usually, they involve a lot of drinking and so-called celebrating, and there is often some type of nationalism involved. Like this St. Patrick's Day craziness -- what's up with that? Perhaps it's because we want to believe in magical beings which give us happiness and abundance. We tend to think these things are somewhere outside of us, and we can find them if only we get lucky enough to be at the end of the rainbow. Some people think everything will be great if they give their lives to Jesus. And let's not forget about those birthday wishes coming true if we blow out all the candles! Maybe we celebrate so hard because we innately know all this good is ours simply for the acknowledgement of it, but we don't understand how to do that.  So we dance, drink, celebrate. We try so hard to find what is already ours, not realizing it is waiting for us to be still and know it. The miracle IS God's law. Now that's something to celebrate!

"A miracle fulfills God's law, but does not violate that law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than the miracle itself."

Mary Baker Eddy -Science & Health Page 134:31-32

“You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive miracles because of what God is. And you will offer miracles because you are one with God. Again, how simple is salvation! It is merely a statement of your true Identity. It is this that we will celebrate today.”

A Course in Miracles W-77.1:1-6

Free As A Bird

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

We live in a world where many laws are enacted to protect us, such as wearing motorcycle helmets and seat belts in cars. Yet the items we find in our grocery stores are filled with chemicals and other things which can barely be classified as food. We are told to use pesticides on ourselves, our gardens, our pets, even though the rates of autoimmune disease and cancer climbs steadily. There are laws forcing us to immunize our children and our pets, yet what began as a life-saving procedure has been contaminated with odd chemicals and industrial waste. It seems impossible to get away from the multitude of horrors which are spoon-fed to us from every direction. And yet, I truly think there IS a spiritual solution to all the things which seem impossibly horrible. So I shall continue to study, continue working to rise above the miasma of erroneous thought, and strive to see past the hideous forms we seem to manifest. These things have nothing to do with the laws of Love, the creations of divine Mind, the Principle which we yearn to serve. May we live in the “glorious liberty of the children of God”! (MBE) 

“Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 227:24-28

“We have observed before how many senseless things have seemed to you to be salvation. Each has imprisoned you with laws as senseless as itself. You are not bound by them. Yet to understand that this is so, you must first realize salvation lies not there. While you would seek for it in things that have no meaning, you bind yourself to laws that make no sense. Thus do you seek to prove salvation is where it is not.” 

A Course in Miracles W-76.1:1-6

The Light Has Come

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

Mahatma Gandhi famously said to a rioting crowd: “I am a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, a Jew — and so are you!” In Galatians we are told of the teachings of Jesus: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female…”  We are all the same One, and we are free! Perseverance in dropping false testimony of the material senses is celebrated today: The light has come! Of course, it has always been there, waiting for us to notice it. Critical mass tipping point isn't 51%, because just a taste of goodness spreads exponentially. The light has come! Thinking that we need a tribe in order to prosper, or that family is necessary for us to feel whole, or that a religion is needed to see God, these are all beliefs we have come to rely upon. Knowing and seeing the truth of our being has nothing to do with belief, dogma, or creed. The light has come! Let's join our thoughts today in the realization that Love is all that is enduring. Other things pass away, but this light of Love cannot be extinguished. The light has come!

“The light has come. You are healed and you can heal. The light has come. You are saved and you can save. You are at peace, and you bring peace with you wherever you go. Darkness and turmoil and death have disappeared. The light has come. Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster. There are no dark dreams now. The light has come. Today the time of light begins for you and everyone. It is a new era, in which a new world is born. The old one has left no trace upon it in its passing. Today we see a different world, because the light has come.” 

A Course in Miracles W-75.1:1–2:7

“Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy. Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine 'powers that be.' Such is the true Science of being. Any other theory of Life, or God, is delusive and mythological.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 249:6-10

Peace in Time of Turmoil

Looking back in my blog for posts from the past which correlate to today’s Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson, I found this from 12 years ago. For new readers, this concerns an art gallery I ran in downtown Eureka Springs.

For the past few weeks, there have been repairs to the "underground" going on in front of my gallery. Eureka Springs is unique in many ways. One of those ways is the fact that certain streets were raised in order to allow the flow of water and mud to pass underneath them during rain storms. In effect, there is empty space under some of our sidewalks and streets. An underground wall in front of Eureka Thyme is in the process of being repaired right now. We are a tourist town, and the month of March has traditionally been the start of the "season", with spring break in surrounding areas bringing us masses of people to us. The weather is warm, the flowers are blooming, and my gallery is closed. The attached photo shows how far they are from finishing these repairs! Numerous people have said they can't believe how calm I'm being about all of this. What good would it do to be otherwise, I ask? But today's lesson is much needed and I will often repeat these words from it: "I am at peace. Nothing can disturb me. My will is God's. My will and God's are one. God wills peace for His Son." Throughout this seeming ordeal, I have held to the spiritual fact that all involved in this endeavor will be open to hearing intuition guide them. Every time the situation crosses my mind, I will turn to the words of today's lesson and also the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. This week's Christian Science Lesson is entitled "Matter" and its elucidation of what reality is soothes me. And all is well.

“God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, Page 307

“God’s is the only Will. When you have recognized this, you have recognized that your will is His. The belief that conflict is possible has gone. Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals. As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His.” 

A Course in Miracles W-74.1:1-6

Filling A Hole in the Soul

Watching the movie A Star is Born, with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, has left me an emotional wreck. I’m remembering all the alcoholic drug addicts I’ve known, along with all the incredibly talented Texas musicians I’ve loved. Whew! And this has led me to think about this thing we call will power. I’m not sure there is such a thing in our material sense of things. We say addiction is a disease, and that’s probably true, as it’s an acute sense of dis-ease which is felt in the throes of addictive behavior. An ex-heroine addict once told me he was trying to fill the “God hole” in his life. The religions he has tried to love did not fill his need, and he repeatedly turned to drugs. At one point I was addicted to many substances, and it was the illness of a child which caused me to want to change enough to struggle to do so.  The study of the Science of Christ satisfied the longing in my life. My discovery of A Course in Miracles closed the deal in my search for a happy existence.  For this, I am thankful with all my heart. 

“The power of the human will should be exercised only in subordination to Truth; else it will misguide the judgment and free the lower propensities. It is the province of spiritual sense to govern man. Material, erring, human thought acts injuriously both upon the body and through it."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 206:4-9

“Your picture of the world can only mirror what is within. The source of neither light nor darkness can be found without. Grievances darken your mind, and you look out on a darkened world. Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts your will, and lets you look upon a world of light. We have repeatedly emphasized that the barrier of grievances is easily passed, and cannot stand between you and your salvation. The reason is very simple. Do you really want to be in hell? Do you really want to weep and suffer and die?” 

A Course in Miracles W-73.5:1-8

Follow Your Heart

St. Patricks Day Parade

Photo credit: Richard Quick

Pierre Dulaine wanted to be a ballroom dancer. After years of performing, he became a teacher. He was determined to bring ballroom dancing to the classrooms of New York City. No one wanted him to do this. Administrators, teachers, and especially students thought it was a horrid idea. He persisted and now his way of teaching is integral in more than 500 schools around the world. His idea is that if you can dance together, you can get along. He paired up kids by height, with no regard to nationality or gang affiliation or anything else. When these kids are dancing, they are happy and everything else falls away. It doesn't matter if their families have feuded for years or if someone hurt the other's feelings the day before. These students are being taught respect for themselves and others through dance. They must hold each other and cooperate in movement. They are taught to look into each others' eyes and learn the confidence to do so in daily life. Pierre Dulaine was led to do something everyone thought to be foolish and a waste of time. He has followed his heart and brought a gift of Love and peace and grace to thousands by doing so. 

"Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:18-21

“The light of truth is in us, where it was placed by God. It is the body that is outside us, and is not our concern. To be without a body is to be in our natural state. To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are. To see our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on God’s plan for salvation, and to accept it instead. And wherever His plan is accepted, it is accomplished already.”

A Course in Miracles- W-72.9:1-6

Seeking Salvation Where It Is

Emma Stone & Colin Firth in

Magic In The Moonlight

The topic for today’s Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson, “Only God’s plan for salvation will work”, could be misinterpreted as meaning that there is some sort of predestined plan which we must follow in order to achieve happiness and fulfillment. What we are learning has nothing to do with blindly following something we don't understand. We are learning to understand we are the expression of God, and until we realize what that means, we have no hope of trusting what we hear within our being. But mortal mind (the thoughts which come to us from material teachings and long-held beliefs) tells us that to listen to anything other than "logic" is foolishness. And so we plant our feet on the shifting sands of materialism and think we're doing the best we can under impossible circumstances. I watched a Woody Allen movie, Magic in the Moonlight, in which Colin Firth plays a magician who is out to expose a beautiful, young spiritualist/medium as a fraud. His character is an interesting one, absolutely certain there is no such thing beyond what we physically experience. After watching this delightful romantic comedy, I'm seeing their characters through Woody's eyes, as he is positive humans are doomed to a life of misery, perhaps with moments of joy. This is one of the traps we have set for ourselves, thinking that something else is going to bring salvation to us, never guessing that it's already ours! But Mr. Allen is dancing closer to Truth with every autobiographical movie he gives us. What fun to watch his journey! 

“God’s plan for salvation works simply because, by following His direction, you seek for salvation where it is. But if you are to succeed, as God promises you will, you must be willing to seek there only. Otherwise, your purpose is divided and you will attempt to follow two plans for salvation that are diametrically opposed in all ways. The result can only bring confusion, misery and a deep sense of failure and despair.” 

A Course in Miracles W-71.5:1-4

"Salvation is as eternal as God. To mortal thought Jesus appeared as a child, and grew to manhood, to suffer before Pilate and on Calvary, because he could rench and teach mankind only through this conformity to mortal conditions; but Soul never  saw the Saviour come and go, because the divine idea is always present." Mary Baker Eddy - Unity of Good: 59:13-18