The Way of Gentleness

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A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #265 states: “Creation's gentleness is all I see.”  Although this gentleness is everywhere, we’re often distracted by the universal belief in harshness, seeing it as the way of the world.  More and more, we're noticing animals showing us the way of gentleness, by way of their interactions with each other. As we begin to understand Oneness, we're seeing that when violence is done to or by one, it's done to or by all. It is a noble and possible goal, to allow our thoughts to change from fear and anger to Love and gentleness. Many people are holding with the old paradigm, and some say it's necessary for heinous acts to be committed, and also retaliation in kind. On the other hand, multitudes of us are reaching out in kindness, realizing the error of harshness in its many forms, innately knowing that it is possible for the lion to lay down with the lamb. Every thought is important as we rush toward a new way of living. Filling our lives with beauty and joy helps us find the pathway, and show others the way!

“The fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal and divine Principle, Love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy-Science & Health Page 511:2

“Creation’s gentleness is all I see. I have indeed misunderstood the world, because I laid my sins on it and saw them looking back at me. How fierce they seemed! And how deceived was I to think that what I feared was in the world, instead of in my mind alone. Today I see the world in the celestial gentleness with which creation shines. There is no fear in it. Let no appearance of my sins obscure the light of Heaven shining on the world. What is reflected there is in God’s Mind. The images I see reflect my thoughts. Yet is my mind at one with God’s. And so I can perceive creation’s gentleness.

“In quiet would I look upon the world, which but reflects Your Thoughts, and mine as well. Let me remember that they are the same, and I will see creation’s gentleness.”

A Course in Miracles W-265.1:1–2:2

Surrounded By Love

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Do you recall a time when you felt swaddled in Love? Perhaps it was immediately following the birth of a child or grandchild, or maybe it was watching a sunset, or seeing whales in the ocean — well, there are many times when we feel totally encompassed in the Love which is more than the everyday I-love-this-dessert type of love. The images our ego projects and calls love are a shadow of the divine Love of which we speak today. We all have believed the false image of love which this life has taught us. The songs we sing, the movies we watch, the things we expect from love, these do not begin to tell us what it means to be surrounded by Love. As we begin to see ourselves as a creation of Love, it becomes possible to see everyone and everything as the same beautiful substance. This sight is tested every moment in this crazy, old world. I look forward to the challenge!

“When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: 'Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.' Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness is cognizant only of the things of God.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 276:4-11

“I am surrounded by the Love of God. Father, You stand before me and behind, beside me, in the place I see myself, and everywhere I go. You are in all the things I look upon, the sounds I hear, and every hand that reaches for my own. In You time disappears, and place becomes a meaningless belief. For what surrounds Your Son and keeps him safe is Love itself. There is no source but this, and nothing is that does not share its holiness; that stands beyond Your one creation, or without the Love which holds all things within itself. Father, Your Son is like Yourself. We come to You in Your Own Name today, to be at peace within Your everlasting Love.

“My brothers, join with me in this today. This is salvation’s prayer. Must we not join in what will save the world, along with us.”

A Course in Miracles T-264.1:1–2:3

A Purer Vision

Moonset in the Ozarks

Photo courtesy of Susan Luddy

The commentary in today's Course in Miracles lesson asks us to "Let all appearances seem pure .. that we may pass them by in innocence ..." Wow! I want to do that, don't you?  This is a perfect time for me to practice seeing with a pure vision, rather than my faulty material vision. Thousands of motorcycles are in town for a gathering in our area. In the past, I've seen them as a nuisance, disrupting peace and quiet in our serene village. I vow today to see with holy vision, pure and true.  Om ~~~~~~~~~~

“My holy vision sees all things as pure. Father, Your Mind created all that is, Your Spirit entered into it, Your Love gave life to it. And would I look upon what You created as if it could be made sinful? I would not perceive such dark and fearful images. A madman’s dream is hardly fit to be my choice, instead of all the loveliness with which You blessed creation; all its purity, its joy, and its eternal, quiet home in You.

“And while we still remain outside the gate of Heaven, let us look on all we see through holy vision and the eyes of Christ. Let all appearances seem pure to us, that we may pass them by in innocence, and walk together to our Father’s house as brothers and the holy Sons of God.”

A Course in Miracles W-263.1:1–2:2

“When we learn that error is not real, we shall be ready for progress, ‘forgetting those things which are behind.’”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 353:22-24

Together

Aspens - photo by Aaron Springston

William Blake said: "I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine Love". I understand this to mean that the perfection we are learning to see as ourselves also is everyone else. I often tell people “We’re all in this together”, but I think I’ll change it to “We are all this – together!” I love the study of the Science of Being! Every day, every moment, revelations in thought bring me a deeper understanding of how this Truth sets us free. I am learning more of what it means that God is Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. It's joyous to expand understanding, including myself in that definition, as a reflection of All that Is!

“So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances are no more contingent now on time or material structure than they were when ‘the morning stars sang together.’ 

Mind made the ‘plant of the field before it was in the earth.’ The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind’s creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness — yea, the divine nature — appear in man and the universe never to disappear.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 509:20-28

“Let me perceive no differences today. Father, You have one Son. And it is he that I would look upon today. He is Your one creation. Why should I perceive a thousand forms in what remains as one? Why should I give this one a thousand names, when only one suffices? For Your Son must bear Your Name, for You created him. Let me not see him as a stranger to his Father, nor as stranger to myself. For he is part of me and I of him, and we are part of You Who are our Source, eternally united in Your Love; eternally the holy Son of God.

“We who are one would recognize this day the truth about ourselves. We would come home, and rest in unity. For there is peace, and nowhere else can peace be sought and found.”

A Course in Miracles W-262.1:1–2:3

Cleaning Out Clutter

Photo courtesy of Kailey Jones

Most people I know are getting rid of things they don’t need. We’re letting go of items which are cluttering up our house and material surroundings. More importantly, we're clearing out thoughts and beliefs which no longer are needed in our new-found perception of reality. As with our surroundings, we look through the accumulation of years and decide what to release and what to keep. Sometimes we keep more than we had planned, but with our mental clutter, there is very little which needs to stay. Just as we accumulate more and more books and music and all sorts of things, we also accumulate erroneous beliefs. Isn't it just as easy to hold on to Truth as it is error? Now is the time to do just that!

“Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 227:24-29

“God is my refuge and security. I will identify with what I think is refuge and security. I will behold myself where I perceive my strength, and think I live within the citadel where I am safe and cannot be attacked. Let me today seek not security in danger, nor attempt to find my peace in murderous attack. I live in God. In Him I find my refuge and my strength. In Him is my Identity. In Him is everlasting peace. And only there will I remember Who I really am.

“Let me not seek for idols. I would come, my Father, home to You today. I choose to be as You created me, and find the Son whom You created as my Self.”

A course in Miracles W-261.1:1–2:3

No Dead Ends

Great Salt Flats - Utah

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

I Am the experience and expression of God. We are learning what that means — and it's a wonderful adventure! For too many years, high officials of churches have tried to tell us that we are mortal sinners and the only way we can gain favor with God is to go through them, performing odd penances and other rituals which I feel certain have nothing to do with the Oneness we are embracing. God Is; I Am. There really isn't anything else to say, but yet there is so much! We have questions that seem unanswerable, but perhaps that's because we have been told there are things we must simply accept, because we can't understand. Through the study of divine metaphysics, we find there are no unanswerable questions. I’m finding there are no dead ends; no statements I must simply believe, relying on blind faith alone. God is as close as I am to myself, and all answers lie within, available for the asking -- and, most importantly, for the listening! Remembering what is true leaves me with a powerful peace. I am most grateful.

“Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the mental molecule to infinity. This divine Principle of all expresses Science and art throughout His creation, and the immortality of man and the universe. Creation is ever appearing, and must ever continue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 507:24-28

“Let me remember God created me. Father, I did not make myself, although in my insanity I thought I did. Yet, as Your Thought, I have not left my Source, remaining part of Who created me. Your Son, my Father, calls on You today. Let me remember You created me. Let me remember my Identity. And let my sinlessness arise again before Christ’s vision, through which I would look upon my brothers and myself today.

“Now is our Source remembered, and Therein we find our true Identity at last. Holy indeed are we, because our Source can know no sin. And we who are His Sons are like each other, and alike to Him.”

A Course in Miracles W-260.1:1–2:3

Doing the Most We Can

Ozark Milky Way - photo by Richard Quick

I love to sit on my back deck, where nothing exists other than a forest and the insects and birds talking to me. My gratitude for this peace is all-encompassing. Of course, we are conditioned to feel guilty when we are happy in spite of other people’s misery and fear, so the thought crossed my mind that I should feel bad for others. But this was quickly corrected, because I know that no matter how awful I feel about the plight of another, it will do nothing to improve their lot. This does not mean that I have no compassion for them, but that I correct the picture of despair in my thoughts and see them according to the first book of Genesis rather than the second: God created everything and it was good. That is the spiritual reality of Life. So rather than dwelling on images burned into my retina by my knowledge of world events,  I translate them into the purity of creation in its natural state: Love.  The compassion I feel for all of the earth is not dimmed by my turning away from the material picture; rather it expands to include everything in the panoply of this Love, unmarred by fires and earthquakes and pandemics and political unrest. This is the least I can do for my earthly family — or perhaps it’s the most.

“The notion of a material universe is utterly opposed to the theory of man as evolved from Mind. Such fundamental errors send falsity into all human doctrines and conclusions, and do not accord infinity to Deity. Error tills the whole ground in this material theory, which is entirely a false view, destructive to existence and happiness.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 545:1

“Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable. What else could blind us to the obvious, and make the strange and the distorted seem more clear? What else but sin engenders our attacks? What else but sin could be the source of guilt, demanding punishment and suffering? And what but sin could be the source of fear, obscuring God’s creation; giving love the attributes of fear and of attack?

“Father, I would not be insane today. I would not be afraid of love, nor seek for refuge in its opposite. For love can have no opposite. You are the Source of everything there is. And everything that is remains with You, and You with it.”

A Course in Miracles W-259.1:1–2:5