One Goal

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

I heard myself say to someone, "We could all choose to have animosity toward our parents, either actual or imagined." But now that I think about it, isn't all animosity imagined? We like to think that some outside influence has forced us to feel hurt or angry, but is that true? Aren't we just setting ourselves up as a victim to say that someone else "made us angry"? After all, I don't have to react with a specified emotion; I can choose to see any given situation as a calm witness, rather than as an upset personality, can't I? It's tempting to say things such as: He/she pushes my buttons. By blaming outside influences for our actions, we can pretend we're victims of life's circumstances. We're so accustomed to looking for help outside of ourselves that we also blame outside influences for our reactions, thinking we have no choice. Truth shows us that we are more than we believe we are. We aren't mortal victims, but spiritual beings with unrealized abilities and power. It's time to wake up!

"Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 481:2-4

“God is the only goal I have today. The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way. If sin had not been cherished by the mind, what need would there have been to find the way to where you are? Who would still be uncertain? Who could be unsure of who he is? And who would yet remain asleep, in heavy clouds of doubt about the holiness of him whom God created sinless? Here we can but dream. But we can dream we have forgiven him in whom all sin remains impossible, and it is this we choose to dream today. God is our goal; forgiveness is the means by which our minds return to Him at last.

“And so, our Father, would we come to You in Your appointed way. We have no goal except to hear Your Voice, and find the way Your sacred Word has pointed out to us.”

A Course in Miracles W-256.1:1–2:2

Calm Waters Bring Clarity

“This day I choose to spend in perfect peace.” The daily workbook lesson from the beautiful teachings of A Course in Miracles is exactly what I need to hear, to read, to ponder, to live — especially today! It is a constant meditation for me to stay calm, to not jump up on my high horse, to keep from pontificating about things in which I believe strongly. The following words of Mary Baker Eddy’s dovetail beautifully with peaceful choices. “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.” Science & Health Page 92:12-20

“This day I choose to spend in perfect peace. It does not seem to me that I can choose to have but peace today. And yet, my God assures me that His Son is like Himself. Let me this day have faith in Him Who says I am God’s Son. And let the peace I choose be mine today bear witness to the truth of what He says. God’s Son can have no cares, and must remain forever in the peace of Heaven. In His Name, I give today to finding what my Father wills for me, accepting it as mine, and giving it to all my Father’s Sons, along with me.

“And so, my Father, would I pass this day with You. Your Son has not forgotten You. The peace You gave him still is in his mind, and it is there I choose to spend today.”

A Course in Miracles W-255.1:1–2:3

Quieting the Voices in My Head

Buffalo River - photo credit: Ashley Elliot 

The weather has been delightfully cool here in Northwest Arkansas. After a long, hot summer, it carries a feeling of new beginnings in the fresh air. The rushes of gratitude I’ve been experiencing are exhilarating!  So I was particularly surprised to awaken this morning with regrets for past actions filling my thoughts. Not just one or two events either, but a barrage of hurtful words and acts from the last seven decades were glaring at me. It even crossed my mind that I might be passing away, and that this might be my “life-passing-before-my-eyes” event. (I say this jokingly, but it did occur to me.) As I sat on my porch, greeting the warm sun and watching the world awaken, it came to me that perhaps I’ve been judging others. Maybe I had this onslaught to help me feel compassion for those whom I might be dismissing as foolishly self-centered in their repetition of the past. And so I spent a few moments forgiving myself for any and everything. And now I see A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #254: “Let every voice but God’s be still in me.” A peaceful thought for today and everyday …

“Let every voice but God’s be still in me. Father, today I would but hear Your Voice. In deepest silence I would come to You, to hear Your Voice and to receive Your Word. I have no prayer but this: I come to You to ask You for the truth. And truth is but Your Will, which I would share with You today.

“Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. When such thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and then we let them go. We do not want what they would bring with them. And so we do not choose to keep them. They are silent now. And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love, God speaks to us and tells us of our will, as we have chosen to remember Him.”

A Course in Miracles W-254.1:1–2:6

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens,--all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 240:1-9

Discovering Revelations

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

“I have decided to find myself a home in the mountains, somewhere high up where one learns to live peacefully in the cold and the silence. It’s said that in such a place certain revelations may be discovered. That what the spirit reaches for may be eventually felt, if not exactly understood. Slowly, no doubt. I’m not talking about a vacation.

Of course, at the same time I mean to stay exactly where I am.

Are you following me?”

Mary Oliver

“It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. This must I accept. For thus am I led past this world to my creations, children of my will, in Heaven where my holy Self abides with them and Him Who has created me.”

A Course in Miracles W-253.1:1-6

“The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good, ‘rejoicing the heart.’ Such is the sword of Science, with which Truth decapitates error, materiality giving place to man's higher individuality and destiny."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 265:31-5

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