The World Perceived Differently

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

In these volatile times, perhaps you've witnessed anger spreading quickly with regard to current events. I’m convinced that peace spreads just as quickly as anger! I once had a demonstration of peace quelling anger -- visibly, quickly, thoroughly. I was leaving work in the early evening and, as I started down a stairway across from Basin Park, a man sitting on a bench began to sing the beautiful Louis Armstrong song, "What a Wonderful World". I stood at the top of the stairs listening to him, and was filled with on overwhelming sense of happiness and buoyant peace. These feelings were so encompassing that I barely noticed voices shouting to my left. When the man finished singing, I glanced over at three people sitting on the wall and shouting obscenities directly at me. It was as though I couldn't comprehend what they were doing, and I just kept smiling and looking directly at them, with this incredible feeling of Love still growing inside of me. As I watched the young people and their angry faces, it seemed that they were deflating like balloons. All of their anger was seeping out of them; I watched the visible shift in their demeanor. I joyfully waved at them and went down the stairs. I'll never forget that palpable feeling of light displacing darkness. I'll bet they haven't either!

“Peace is the bridge that everyone will cross, to leave this world behind. But peace begins within the world perceived as different, and leading from this fresh perception to the gate of Heaven and the way beyond. Peace is the answer to conflicting goals, to senseless journeys, frantic, vain pursuits, and meaningless endeavors. Now the way is easy, sloping gently toward the bridge where freedom lies within the peace of God.

A Course in Miracles W-200.8:1-4

"Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264:24-27 

Who Are You?

Sitting on my porch, enjoying flowers and fireflies, encouraging seedlings to grow, enjoying the rosy twilight sky: this was my perfect evening. Shortly thereafter, a friend from the west coast called and asked me what I thought the definition of a bohemian is. Hum — something I’ve never thought about! And this is why I enjoy this particular 80-year-old, retired airplane mechanic: he makes me think. The reason he was asking is (according to him) he needs a definition of himself, so he can tell people what he is. He is in flux because he’s been breaking ties with organizations he’s enjoyed most of his life — i.e., the national rifle association, among others. Even though he wants to step outside of “tribalism”, he craves a word to define himself. What a delight to find that the current Course in Miracles workbook lesson is “I am not a body. I am free!” How many of us cling to long outgrown ideas about ourselves and other things? I suggested to him that he do things which bring him joy, letting the definitions fall where they may. I thank my friend for prompting me to reexamine my definitions of myself. It’s a good feeling to think I’m a lover of life!

“Freedom must be impossible as long as you perceive a body as yourself. The body is a limit. Who would seek for freedom in a body looks for it where it cannot be found. The mind can be made free when it no longer sees itself as in a body, firmly tied to it and sheltered by its presence. If this were the truth, the mind were vulnerable indeed!”

A Course in Miracles W-199.1:1-5

“If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipotence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we would gain, we are not ‘absent from the body’ and ‘present with the Lord’ in the demonstration of Spirit.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 14:1-5

I Am Grateful

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

Perhaps you think you should be appreciated more, or maybe you know someone who is always "fishing for compliments". Both of these mental mud puddles fall under the category of expecting something which you already have. When you appreciate yourself, when you are grateful for the wonder which is you, that's all you need. And it is an all-encompassing gratitude! This recognition is one of the after-effects of releasing the bonds of materiality. The more we let go of expectations and beliefs, the more opportunity there is for Truth to take their place. We needn't do anything but clear the way! And I am grateful for glimpses of reality. 

“The world must thank you when you offer it release from your illusions. Yet your thanks belong to you as well, for its release can only mirror yours. Your gratitude is all your gifts require, that they be a lasting offering of a thankful heart, released from hell forever. Is it this you would undo by taking back your gifts, because they were not honored? It is you who honor them and give them fitting thanks, for it is you who have received the gifts.”

A Course in Miracles W-197.3:1-5

“Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 3:21-26

The Prison of Condemnation

It seems impossible to stay away from thoughts of condemnation. While it may be tempting to jump up on our high horse and expound on the rightness and/or the wrongness of external events, this desire is only from the standpoint of belief. Mortal mind, ego, tells us that certain situations are real, and then tells us we must do something about it. So we go off on a tangent, telling people how they should change their ways, feeling certain that everything will be better when they do so. Much like the internet, we have an instant, constant connection with each other through our Oneness as spiritual beings. It's akin to flipping on the light switch in a dark room. If we don't know that's possible, we continue to sit in the dark. But when we listen with quiet expectation that divine Mind will supply us with all we need, we may just find ourselves walking over to that unknown element and turning on the light! 

“Condemn and you are made a prisoner. Forgive and you are freed. Such is the law that rules perception. It is not a law that knowledge understands, for freedom is a part of knowledge. To condemn is thus impossible in truth. What seems to be its influence and its effects have not occurred at all. Yet must we deal with them a while as if they had. Illusion makes illusion. Except one. Forgiveness is illusion that is answer to the rest. 

A Course in Miracles W-198.2:1-10

"I am asked, 'What are your politics?' I have none, in reality, other than to help support a righteous government, to love God supremely, and my neighbor as myself." 

Mary Baker Eddy Miscellany 276:23

The End of Error

 

Photo Credit: Blake Lasater

At this point in the Course in Miracles workbook lessons, we are repeatedly told that we are on the brink of realizing salvation, revelation, heaven. The belief systems we have put into practice throughout the years may begin to talk back to us in protest of our new way of thinking. Fear not! We have the tools to stand fast in our knowledge. We have each other as reminders in support. We have inner knowing to tap into for verification on our path. We can move onward, upward, inward, fearless and secure in Love.

“This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace. The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 96:12-20

BUILDING A MATRIX OF LIGHT FOR THE NEW WORLD

“Now that you rise at last out of the miasma of Earth consciousness into the glorious expanse of freedom, I Am here with you, ready to gift you with the awareness that freedom comes in the transfer of your life energy and awareness into consciousness rather than thought. All of the feeling that is alive and yours must shift now from emotion to the true divine feeling of My living and beating heart. The currency that you use for life must now become energy, not thought or emotion and certainly not materiality which is the deepest form of the illusion that is you.”

From The Messages From God - Circle of Light

“There is no Thought of God that does not go with you to help you reach that instant, and to go beyond it quickly, surely and forever. When the fear of God is gone, there are no obstacles that still remain between you and the holy peace of God. How kind and merciful is the idea we practice! Give it welcome, as you should, for it is your release. It is indeed but you your mind can try to crucify. Yet your redemption, too, will come from you.”

A Course in Miracles W-196.12:1-6

 

Separate From No Living Thing

My grandchildren live 800 miles away. No matter what distance lies between us, I am extremely grateful for the technology which allows me to get a glimpse into their daily lives. I go with them, virtually, to the park, on bike rides, and to their backyard to work in their sweet garden. It would be easy to feel sorry for myself, lamenting the fact that I can’t hold them in my arms, smell their sweet little heads, and play cribbage games with my son. But I’d rather be grateful that we are happy and whole, loving each other as much as if we were living together. My daughter-in-law’s family lives close to them, and I have never witnessed a closer-knit family. There is nothing I would wish for my son more than the beautiful family he has found, and the children which have joined them. As today’s Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson says: “Love is the way I walk in gratitude.” Nothing could more closely express the way I feel today!

“We thank our Father for one thing alone; that we are separate from no living thing, and therefore one with Him. And we rejoice that no exceptions ever can be made which would reduce our wholeness, nor impair or change our function to complete the One Who is Himself completion. We give thanks for every living thing, for otherwise we offer thanks for nothing, and we fail to recognize the gifts of God to us.”

A Course in Miracles W-195.6:1-3

“It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.”

Mary baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 247:24-27

What, Me Worry?

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Worry is like praying for something horrible to happen. I heard well-known author and speaker, Marianne Williamson, say this in a video chat. Holding thought to the best possible outcome, without outlining what that outcome is, feels right to me. Whatever I put my attention on grows! Years of trying to plan my life (and the actions of those around me!) has taught me the futility of this exercise. I now vow to listen for divine Mind’s ideas to lead me in the paths of Love. I don’t always hear this guidance above the cacophony of material existence, but I’m learning how to tune in to that still, small voice. And for this, I am grateful.

“What worry can beset the one who gives his future to the loving Hands of God? What can he suffer? What can cause him pain, or bring experience of loss to him? What can he fear? And what can he regard except with love? For he who has escaped all fear of future pain has found his way to present peace, and certainty of care the world can never threaten.He is sure that his perception may be faulty, but will never lack correction. He is free to choose again when he has been deceived; to change his mind when he has made mistakes.”

A Course in Miracles W-194.7:1-8

“Adhere to the divine Principle of Christian Science and follow the behests of God, abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page  495:28-31