For Healing, Welcome Truth

Many new-age thought systems try to find reasons for disease, then work to get rid of the "problem" which is causing you to be unwell. This is something which has no place in quantum thought.  When Mary Baker Eddy realized the nothingness of matter and the substance of Spirit, not many were willing to imagine the possibility until they saw physical proof. The healing which comes about through this understanding is not a manipulation of matter, but a yielding of erroneous belief to the Truth of creation by divine Mind. The Catch-22 is that if you are trying to heal something, you can't. But if you're knowing the Truth of existence, and that knowledge becomes more than just wishful thinking, the changeability of matter is shown in ways which we think of as healing. Knowing that there is nothing to be healed, that all is perfectly reflected as a creation of divine Mind, therein lies the healing. Going to the core of yourSelf and recognizing that your consciousness is One with Spirit, that is what brings an all-encompassing joy and peace which makes us happy to release false belief. Once that is gone, Truth shines forth in all Its magnificence! 

“A correct view of Christian Science and of its adaptation to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen. Works on metaphysics leave the grand point untouched. They never crown the power of Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against physical enemies, — even to the extinction of all belief in matter, evil, disease, and death, — nor insist upon the fact that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 116:11-18

“Sickness is a defense against the truth. No one can heal unless he understands what purpose sickness seems to serve. For then he understands as well its purpose has no meaning. Being causeless and without a meaningful intent of any kind, it cannot be at all. When this is seen, healing is automatic. It dispels this meaningless illusion by the same approach that carries all of them to truth, and merely leaves them there to disappear.”

A Course in Miracles W-136.1:1-5)

“Truth has a power far beyond defense, for no illusions can remain where truth has been allowed to enter. And it comes to any mind that would lay down its arms, and cease to play with folly. It is found at any time; today, if you will choose to practice giving welcome to the truth.”

A Course in Miracles W-136.14:1-3

Truth Needs No Defense

Photo credit: Jerry Dupy

Many of my friends are social activists. They have worked for years to improve our environment, politics, and the multitude of things in need of advancement. Some have told me they are tired of the fight. I am extremely grateful to each and every one of you who work to clean up rivers, who are passionate about producing uncontaminated food, who stand up to various tyrants and declare, "The emperor has no clothes!" Not a single person has told me that they're tired of the physical effort involved in these projects; it's the butting up against thought stuck in strong opinion, or fueled by hate and fear. That is what is frustrating to them. This is where our metaphysical advice can be helpful: Don't try to change anyone else's mind, only your own. More and more of us are witnessing Truth brought to seemingly impossible situations, and we're finding that new avenues of action appear when this is done. There is no need to defend ourselves nor to proclaim our own strong opinions in support of this Truth. Knowing it, within our own selves, is sufficient!

“As when an acid and alkali meet and bring out a third quality, so mental and moral chemistry changes the material base of thought, giving more spirituality to consciousness and causing it to depend less on material evidence.”  

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 422:14-18

“Without defenses, you become a light which Heaven gratefully acknowledges to be its own. And it will lead you on in ways appointed for your happiness according to the ancient plan, begun when time was born. Your followers will join their light with yours, and it will be increased until the world is lighted up with joy. And gladly will our brothers lay aside their cumbersome defenses, which availed them nothing and could only terrify.” 

 A Course in Miracles W-135.20:1-4

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