Bathed in Beauty and Light

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

I remember a time when so-called new-age thought was not often spoken of in the media, nor anywhere other than the privacy of our homes. Now, these new-old ideas are seen and heard everywhere. Every day we are witness to more proof that this shift in consciousness is happening now -- and we're talking about it! Thanks, Oprah! And even when these ideas are fictionalized, as in best-selling novels such as "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown, these possibilities are easily translated into plausible realities. This shift in consciousness allows us to embrace peace and harmony. Through a change in perception, we are understanding the truth of our being, and demonstrating that knowledge. This unfolding of consciousness is being realized in our own individual way. Every instance of pure peace we feel, each yielding of our personal sense to spiritual sense, brings us closer to living this realm of Love. We have always known this reality, but the knowledge has been forgotten. We are all needed at this time, to calm the tumultuous collective thought which fights the idea of such freedom! 

“Forgiveness paints a picture of a world where suffering is over, loss becomes impossible and anger makes no sense. Attack is gone, and madness has an end. What suffering is now conceivable? What loss can be sustained? The world becomes a place of joy, abundance, charity and endless giving. It is now so like to Heaven that it quickly is transformed into the light that it reflects. And so the journey which the Son of God began has ended in the light from which he came.

“Father, we would return our minds to You. We have betrayed them, held them in a vise of bitterness, and frightened them with thoughts of violence and death. Now would we rest again in You, as You created us.”

A Course in Miracles W-249.1:1–2:3

“God fashions all things after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 516:9-13

Disowning Falsity

Utah Salt Flats - photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

The workbook lesson from A Course in Miracles which states, “Whatever suffers is not part of me”, may sound like a heartless statement.  Actually, it does not deny the feelings we have, in favor of a hardness which excludes emotion. On the contrary! It expresses a pure Love which allows us to pass through the hard times, with a firm understanding of the beauty of Truth. Losing a loved one is difficult in many ways, but I feel that the myths we have concocted surrounding death do more harm than good. We say things like, God took her to be with him because she was so good. What lies we tell ourselves in the name of kindness! As we begin to understand divine reality, we are able to let loose the stories we tell ourselves, in favor of the Truth which sets us free. I'll always remember reading the story of the woman who loved Kahlil Gibran, "Beloved Prophet". One part tells of how she sat at his funeral, with a smile on her face. When asked how she could do such a thing she replied that she had never felt closer to him. Eternal Life — never born, never dying -- Life eternal. 

“A blundering dispatch, mistakenly announcing the death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's real death would bring. You think that your anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another dispatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and you learn that your suffering was merely the result of your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. You will learn at length that there is no cause for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood. Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 386:16-25

“I have disowned the truth. Now let me be as faithful in disowning falsity. Whatever suffers is not part of me. What grieves is not myself. ⁵What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. What dies was never living in reality, and did but mock the truth about myself. Now I disown self-concepts and deceits and lies about the holy Son of God. Now am I ready to accept him back as God created him, and as he is.

“Father, my ancient love for You returns, and lets me love Your Son again as well. Father, I am as You created me. Now is Your Love remembered, and my own. Now do I understand that they are one.”

A Course in Miracles W-248.1:1–2:4

The Holiest of All Spots

Those who live by the ancient precept of “an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth”must have a tough time being happy. Students of metaphysical science are learning that forgiveness is not some sort of divine pardon, but rather a yielding within ourselves to the purity of divine Mind. Without the impediments of holding on to personal memories of wrongdoing, resentment, and pain, we are freed to live in a new way. This yielding includes the release of things which we think have been done to us, and things which we believe have been done to others, along with actions by people everywhere in the world. My prayer today is for the grace to choose again, to Love Out Loud, and to live the precepts which Jesus taught. Namaste …

“And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 497:24-28

“Sin is the symbol of attack. Behold it anywhere, and I will suffer. For forgiveness is the only means whereby Christ’s vision comes to me. Let me accept what His sight shows me as the simple truth, and I am healed completely. Brother, come and let me look on you. Your loveliness reflects my own. Your sinlessness is mine. You stand forgiven, and I stand with you.”

A Course in Miracles W-247.1:1-8

Love Has No Sense of Hatred

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

“Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you." This Mary Baker Eddy quote is one of my favorites, which I've always thought of as meaning that the human hatred others feel cannot reach me when I'm wearing the armor of divine Love. I now see that it includes the hatred I may feel toward others, also. It's very easy for me to think that I don't hate anyone or anything. Actually, it's a word I have pruned from my vocabulary and simply do not use. BUT if I am irritated by another's actions or words, or if I replay a past situation in my mind which caused anger in the past, or if I allow criticism to gnaw at me and I think of retaliatory statements which could have been said -- isn't that human hatred? Wearing this cloak of Love calms these nagging feelings and thoughts. I know that if I'm wearing the protection of Love, hatred cannot enter from inside or out!

“Truth has no consciousness of error. Love has no sense of hatred. Life has no partnership with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 243:25-29

“Let me not think that I can find the way to God, if I have hatred in my heart ²Let me not try to hurt God’s Son, and think that I can know his Father or my Self. Let me not fail to recognize myself, and still believe that my awareness can contain my Father, or my mind conceive of all the love my Father has for me, and all the love which I return to Him.”

A Course in Miracles W-246.1:1-3 

A Peaceful Mind

Ozark Sunset

Although I know that peace is a choice within my own self, I want to share it with everyone, everywhere. It has taken a lifetime to grasp this concept: The only thought I can change is my own! After years of trying to change loved ones, it was my children who finally taught me the meaning of Oneness. It was shown to me as I watched the household mood change its tone, as my moods changed from calm to frantic. Holding to peace within myself is all I can do — and it’s the most I can do! Jumping on the bandwagon of resentment, or the other negative emotions of the collective, may seem impossible to avoid. But we are discovering it is possible to simply witness these things, without becoming a part of them. While I can't change what anyone else is thinking or feeling or experiencing, I can adjust my vision of reality. Every thought is important! We’re all in this together, in every way, at every moment. And so today I will make an effort to see through the eyes of Love, excluding nothing, no matter how inflammatory things may seem!

“Your peace is with me, Father. I am safe. Your peace surrounds me, Father. Where I go, Your peace goes there with me. It sheds its light on everyone I meet. I bring it to the desolate and lonely and afraid. I give Your peace to those who suffer pain, or grieve for loss, or think they are bereft of hope and happiness. Send them to me, my Father. Let me bring Your peace with me. For I would save Your Son, as is Your Will, that I may come to recognize my Self.

“And so we go in peace. To all the world we give the message that we have received. And thus we come to hear the Voice for God, Who speaks to us as we relate His Word; Whose Love we recognize because we share the Word that He has given unto us.”

A Course in Miracles W-245.1:1–2:3

“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

The Cement of a Higher Humanity

“I am in danger nowhere in the world." This statement [ACIM Lesson #244] is particularly comforting to me in the face of the fear which is associated with the presidential elections this year. In a recent conversation with friends, I learned that people are afraid to put out signs in support of Kamala Harris. For the last eight years, we have heard about instances where certain factions of people have retaliated toward people who dare to speak out against the tyranny of Donald Trump. I had not realized how timid we had become, and now that I see the extent of our fear, I’m feeling empowered to be fierce in taking a stand for honesty, morality, and decency.  When I am relying on my own knowledge and beliefs, I may be afraid of many things, seeing possible dangers around every corner.  Returning to Love releases illusions of fear, enabling us to see Truth, to live Love, in safety. I know many of you are thinking of horrible things you personally have witnessed; things which make this seem like a frivolous statement. In the material world we witness, this certainly is true. In the realization that true substance is that which does not change, we see that reality is spiritual, not material. And that is freedom!

“Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.” 

Mary Baker Eddy Science & Health Page 571:18-21

“I am in danger nowhere in the world. Your Son is safe wherever he may be, for You are there with him. He need but call upon Your Name, and he will recollect his safety and Your Love, for they are one. How can he fear or doubt or fail to know he cannot suffer, be endangered, or experience unhappiness, when he belongs to You, beloved and loving, in the safety of Your Fatherly embrace?

“And there we are in truth. No storms can come into the hallowed haven of our home. In God we are secure. For what can come to threaten God Himself, or make afraid what will forever be a part of Him?”

A Course in Miracles W-244.1:1–2:4

I Will Be Honest With Myself

“Today I will judge nothing that occurs." This ACIM workbook lesson comes at a perfect time for me. A man I shared my life with sent me a message, and I'm extremely tempted to judge what he said. While I have moved past what we had 30 years ago, he continues to bring up things in detail that I would rather not contemplate. I tell myself that I have better things to think about. This implies that he does not. That is a judgment. Every thought I have had about this communication feels unnecessary. As I sit and contemplate his words and my reactions, I realize that it simply is what it is. There is no reason for me to think about it as good or bad; it just is. Once again, I turn to the ancient Toltec wisdom as interpreted by Don Miguel Ruiz in "The Four Agreements": I will not make assumptions, and I will not take anything personally. I'm so grateful to be learning to rely on divine Mind and release the circular thoughts of mortal mind! It is only my thoughts I can change, my opinions I can interpret, and my forgiveness which will release me from the past. Namaste …

“It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health Page 467:9-13

“I will be honest with myself today. I will not think that I already know what must remain beyond my present grasp. I will not think I understand the whole from bits of my perception, which are all that I can see. Today I recognize that this is so. And so I am relieved of judgments that I cannot make. Thus do I free myself and what I look upon, to be in peace as God created us.

“Father, today I leave creation free to be itself. I honor all its parts, in which I am included. We are one because each part contains Your memory, and truth must shine in all of us as one.”

A Course in Miracles W-243.1:1–2:3