Correcting Twisted Views

Aurora Borealis in the Ozarks

Photo courtesy of Catherine Reed

One of the great things about the study of divine metaphysics is the never-ending opportunity to put esoteric ideas into practice in daily life. There are no dead ends when translating life through Love. But occasionally I run up against a situation which causes me to question my understanding and wonder if I could practice what I preach under such terrible circumstances. An acquaintance shared with me something which happened to her half a century ago: Her husband killed their 10-month-old baby. Although he spent time in prison, had a terrible life and horrid death, she cannot forgive him, and does not want to release herself from the ordeal. When she remarried and had another child, she left a good, kind man because of fear that he would do the same thing as her past husband. She has spent her life in fearful dread. Her situation has stayed with me as I delve into A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #134, “Let Me Perceive Forgiveness As It Is”. Do I understand forgiveness? It brings me peace to know I will find help from the ideas presented in this lesson. And I am grateful …

“Let us review the meaning of ‘forgive,’ for it is apt to be distorted and to be perceived as something that entails an unfair sacrifice of righteous wrath, a gift unjustified and undeserved, and a complete denial of the truth. In such a view, forgiveness must be seen as mere eccentric folly, and this course appear to rest salvation on a whim.

This twisted view of what forgiveness means is easily corrected, when you can accept the fact that pardon is not asked for what is true. It must be limited to what is false. It is irrelevant to everything except illusions.”

A Course in Miracles W-134.1:1–2:3

“When false human beliefs learn even a little of their own falsity, they begin to disappear. A knowledge of error and of its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which destroys error, until the entire mortal, material error finally disappears, and the eternal verity, man created by and of Spirit, is understood and recognized as the true likeness of his Maker.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 252:7-14

Do I Value What Is Valueless?

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #133 states: "I will not value what is valueless." How do we know if something is valuable? One of the "tests" for recognizing if something is valuable is to ask yourself: Is what I’m valuing changeable? What does not change? Certainly everything physical does, often quite rapidly. Love, with a capital "L" doesn't change, although many of the fleeting things we call love tend to lessen, even turning into other not-so-nice emotions. Some people think that jealousy is part of love. Some believe that overprotective, controlling behavior symbolizes their love. Strangely, people even kill in the name of love. And so the second part of our litmus test comes into play: This thing that we value, do we feel guilt in association with it? So now we have two tests to check for the reality of what we value: does it last and do we feel guilty in any way. I'm looking around the room right now and asking myself what do I value. Many things bring a smile to my heart; I enjoy looking at them and remembering happy feelings I associate with them -- but value? No, I don't value anything in here as much as I value the love friends and family. And I have no fear of change or loss, as how can I value something which is not real? 

“Everything good or worthy, God made. Whatever is valueless or baneful, He did not make,--hence its unreality. In the Science of Genesis we read that He saw everything which He had made, ‘and, behold, it was very good.’ The corporeal senses declare otherwise; and if we give the same heed to the history of error as to the records of truth, the Scriptural record of sin and death favors the false conclusion of the material senses. Sin, sickness, and death must be deemed as devoid of reality as they are of good, God.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 525:20-27

“You do not ask too much of life, but far too little. When you let your mind be drawn to bodily concerns, to things you buy, to eminence as valued by the world, you ask for sorrow, not for happiness. This course does not attempt to take from you the little that you have. It does not try to substitute utopian ideas for satisfactions which the world contains. There are no satisfactions in the world.”

A Course in Miracles W-133.2:1-5

What Keeps the World in Chains?

Photo credit: Arthur Bruno

A friend asked me how I have time for these metaphysical studies, telling me they are too busy for this. I asked them how much time they spend each day in thinking meaningless thoughts, reviewing past conversations, fantasizing about the future in various ways, replaying events from their lives and giving them different outcomes, visualizing how things could have been different if only they had done something else. We've all been there. We tell ourselves that we must live in the "real world" and that leaves little time for spiritual quests. With a slight shift in thought, it becomes apparent that reality isn't what we've always believed it to be. When this happens, we don't need to set aside specific time in order to practice a spiritual discipline. Without the downer of constantly repeating what we don't want in our lives, by refusing to dwell in fear and dread, we have a lot more time to hold thought to "the enduring, the good, and the true". (S&H Page 261:4) By allowing this new way of thinking to become a present reality, I am coming a step closer to understanding where Mrs. Eddy was standing when she said, "The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness." Every glimpse I have of this divine reality is a moment of freeing the world from the bondage of my thoughts. What a gift!

“What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs? And what can save the world except your Self? Belief is powerful indeed. The thoughts you hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth. A madman thinks the world he sees is real, and does not doubt it. Nor can he be swayed by questioning his thoughts’ effects. It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom comes to him at last.”

A Course in Miracles W-132.1:1-7

"In the Apocalypse it is written: 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.' In St. John's vision, heaven and earth stand for spiritual ideas, and the sea, as a symbol of tempest-tossed human concepts advancing and receding, is represented as having passed away. The divine understanding reigns, is all, and there is no other consciousness."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 536:1-9

Truth Is Waiting To Be Known

 

"No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth." [A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #131] Truth is always there, waiting for us to acknowledge it. No one is ever turned away. As I think of the things we do in life — the food we eat and how we obtain it, the modes of transportation we utilize, the lies we tell ourselves every day — the realization comes to me that we are craving simpler ways of doing everything. We want to eat fresh food in season. We want to heat our homes and travel without sucking the life out of the earth. What does this have to do with "seeking the truth"? In opening ourselves to the Truth that is waiting for us to remember it, solutions to unsolvable situations appear. Different ways of approaching things in our lives, from healthcare to relationships, are illuminated in thought and we wonder why we never saw it that way before. This is the secret: (if there is one!) If I am seeking to receive something, be it material or spiritual, I am closing the door to truth. But if I am seeking in the humble single-mindedness of Love, as Mary Magdalene did, (as illustrated in the MBE quote below) then Truth becomes visible. How will you see it? That, I do not know. This adventure is quite an individual trip! However truth is seen in your world gives you a glimpse into the Oneness of which we speak. This pearl of great price, recognized and known, is the Truth I accept today.

“This is what is meant by seeking Truth, Christ, not 'for the loaves and fishes,' nor, like the Pharisee, with the arrogance of rank and display of scholarship, but like Mary Magdalene, from the summit of devout consecration, with the oil of gladness and the perfume of gratitude, with tears of repentance and with those hairs all numbered by the Father.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 367:10-16

“Heaven remains your one alternative to this strange world you made and all its ways; its shifting patterns and uncertain goals, its painful pleasures and its tragic joys. God made no contradictions. What denies its own existence and attacks itself is not of Him. He did not make two minds, with Heaven as the glad effect of one, and earth the other’s sorry outcome which is Heaven’s opposite in every way.”

A Course in Miracles W-131.7:1-4

We Cannot See Two Worlds At Once

 

After the Storm - photo credit: Beth Reaves

There is a world of Love, and there is a world of fear. I cannot see them both at the same time. This seems like an easy choice, but fear is often insidious and I may not realize that's what's guiding my choices. I can't know the world of Spirit when I'm thinking from the standpoint of mortal sense. I can't love my neighbors when I'm judging them. I can't hear that "still, small voice" when my thought is full of chaotic chatter. These dualities represent the two worlds we wish to embrace simultaneously, but find we cannot. Everything I do, or say, or think, places me firmly in one world or the other. Moment by moment, I choose what to accept as truth. By consistently turning thought away from mortal concepts and looking to spiritual interpretations, I am choosing the world I want to see. And if I'm not comfortable with what I'm seeing, guess what? I can choose again!

“The visible universe and material man are the poor counterfeits of the invisible universe and spiritual man.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 337:22-24

“Fear has made everything you think you see. All separation, all distinctions, and the multitude of differences you believe make up the world. They are not there. Love’s enemy has made them up. Yet love can have no enemy, and so they have no cause, no being and no consequence. They can be valued, but remain unreal. They can be sought, but they can not be found. Today we will not seek for them, nor waste this day in seeking what can not be found.

A Course in Miracles W-130.4:1-8

Replacing the Vanishing Sense Dream

Photo by Aaron Springston

“Beyond this world there is a world I want.” [A Course in Miracles Lesson #129] The uninitiated in this way of thinking may perceive today's lesson to be referring to a world which will appear when we pass from this material realm through the change we call death. This "beyond" which is spoken of is seen through the death of old belief and a rebirth in new thought. As a child I was taught in school that all animals have instincts except humans; that everything is a learned behavior with us. While marveling at the expansive instinctual behavior of numerous species, I remember thinking how silly that seemed. Didn't we have instincts, too? Why would we be left out of this amazing system of knowing? Why could animals easily have babies and humans couldn't? Why did animals not fear death and we do? At every new wonder learned in science class, I asked myself why we were different from every living thing on earth. It didn't seem right. And, as we are coming to understand, it is not. As we try to lose learned beliefs in order to allow inner knowing to shine forth, it is inspiring to notice the ease with which trees, plants, animals, and insects perform their function. Looking beyond the world we have made for ourselves, we see reality. We find that we do have so-called instincts, which we become aware of when we release the barriers we have built to this inner knowledge. "This is the world of time, where all things end."[ACIM] Let's look beyond this world into the world of Being, where time neither ends nor begins, and everything simply Is.

“Beyond this world there is a world I want. This is the thought that follows from the one we practiced yesterday. You cannot stop with the idea the world is worthless, for unless you see that there is something else to hope for, you will only be depressed. Our emphasis is not on giving up the world, but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying, filled with joy, and capable of offering you peace. Think you this world can offer that to you?” 

A Course in Miracles W-129.1:1-4

“How true it is that whatever is learned through material sense must be lost because such so-called knowledge is reversed by the spiritual facts of being in [the] Science [of the Christ]. 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 312:1-6

Is That All There Is?

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

The topic of today's A Course in Miracles workbook lesson is one of those which could cause you to say, "Thanks, but no thanks”!! But before you close the door, really think about the meaning of it: “The world I see holds nothing that I want”. It isn't asking you to give up enjoyment of everyday life. On the contrary! It's asking you to look past the world which is the creation of mortal mind, to the world of divine Mind. By setting aside the unrealities of belief, we are breaking the same type of thought barrier which had to be set aside for humanity to realize the world was round. When asked to see everything with new eyes, daring to stretch past belief and learned behavior, we may be frightened or confused. In this state of mind, our "ego" can tell us it's all just nonsense and we’d best stay with what is well-known. But is it? If you feel -- really feel, deep inside — that there must be more to this existence than meets the human eye, then you will want to know what that is. We are capable of so much more than we realize. The veil which hides reality is getting thinner!

"In the material world, thought has brought to light with great rapidity many useful wonders. With like activity have thought's swift pinions been rising towards the realm of the real, to the spiritual cause of those lower things which give impulse to inquiry. Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect."  

Mary baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 268:1-9

“Today we practice letting go all thought of values we have given to the world. We leave it free of purposes we gave its aspects and its phases and its dreams. We hold it purposeless within our minds, and loosen it from all we wish it were. Thus do we lift the chains that bar the door to freedom from the world, and go beyond all little values and diminished goals.”

A Course in Miracles W-128.5:1-4