A Dreamy Reality

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

Our true identity is so much more than we imagine. In this time of shifting perception and actualized reality, we humbly and happily accept our identity as a spiritual being! To illustrate this awakening, let's take as a metaphor the act of falling asleep in our favorite chair. We may succumb to blissful sleep, which includes both sweet dreams and nightmares. Anything is possible in our dreams, so maybe this falling into sleep is more prescient than we realize. Maybe it allows us to experience what seems impossible in daily living, and by it we realize the limitlessness of our true Selves. Today I'm not going to worry if my waking dream of material existence seems fraught with limitations and unwanted beliefs, because I know these can be transformed in the "twinkling of an eye". My true Self, with its shimmering, brilliant purity and limitless Love may seem like a dream, but I will look past mere belief to the depth of spiritual reality. 

“My Self is holy beyond all the thoughts of holiness of which I now conceive. Its shimmering and perfect purity is far more brilliant than is any light that I have ever looked upon. Its love is limitless, with an intensity that holds all things within it, in the calm of quiet certainty. Its strength comes not from burning impulses which move the world, but from the boundless Love of God Himself. How far beyond this world my Self must be, and yet how near to me and close to God!”

A Course in Miracles W-252.1:1-5

“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 299: 7-12

Nothing But The Truth

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

We may feel alone in the desert when we speak truth to error. When we take a stand for morality and goodness in our political system, we might feel we’re the only one who sees through the illusions. Maybe you've been verbally attacked for telling people the truth about GMOs and organic food. Perhaps a friend has berated your efforts to recognize and change racism. And what of data mining? Are we being controlled every time we get on our computer? Heck, the CEO of Facebook tapes over the camera on his laptop in an effort to insure privacy. I mention these things because it’s very important to speak truth, to take a stand for morality, and never fear potential consequences. Don’t be afraid to speak up for goodness and honesty. You may find out you’re not alone!

“Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness, error, Truth's opposite, has no might. Evil is but the counterpoise of nothingness. The greatest wrong is but a supposititious opposite of the highest right." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 329:21

“I am in need of nothing but the truth. I sought for many things, and found despair. Now do I seek but one, for in that one is all I need, and only what I need. All that I sought before I needed not, and did not even want. My only need I did not recognize. But now I see that I need only truth. In that all needs are satisfied, all cravings end, all hopes are finally fulfilled and dreams are gone. Now have I everything that I could need. Now have I everything that I could want. And now at last I find myself at peace.”

A Course in Miracles W-251.1:1-9

New Paths Appearing

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Everything we’ve been taught is contradicted by seeing ourselves as free from limited beliefs. Many of our first memories are of being told to be careful, lest something dire will happen. Quantum physics is helping us to understand that form isn't as solid as we've been told. With that understanding, it becomes clear that many limitations we've placed upon ourselves are nothing more than beliefs in material laws. Limitations are discarded when an athlete breaks a record in the Olympics, or if someone performs a seemingly-impossible feat — such as lifting a car off of trapped loved ones. We've all heard people tell tales which we think of as supernatural, such as falling great distances and feeling as though they landed on a cushion, or so-called incurable diseases disappearing. Let’s look to the divine Mind to show us the truth about ourselves, then we will explore paths we wouldn't have considered before. Thought is shifting rapidly at this time! Let's not be afraid to listen to the still, small voice leading us down paths which before were invisible.

“A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence the unsatisfied human craving for something better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a material belief in a physical God and man.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 258: 1-6

“Let me not see myself as limited. Let me behold the Son of God today, and witness to his glory. Let me not try to obscure the holy light in him, and see his strength diminished and reduced to frailty; nor perceive the lacks in him with which I would attack his sovereignty.

“He is Your Son, my Father. And today I would behold his gentleness instead of my illusions. He is what I am, and as I see him so I see myself. Today I would see truly, that this day I may at last identify with him.”

A Course in Miracles W-250.1:1–2:4

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