Higher Enjoyments

Photo courtesy of Ramona McNeal

In the 1970s, I spent a good deal of time in a bar called The Swingin' Door. I fell in love with Texas music and more than one musician. It was an interesting time in popular music history, with the Beatles still stirring our souls and disco bringing a canned cadence to music, which most of the people in my circles shunned. We were all sure we knew the secret to happiness, and holiness had absolutely nothing to do with it. As years passed in a blur, we found the alcohol and drugs no longer brought satisfaction. It took years for me to realize that holiness was found within and reflected outwardly in everything. What a long and interesting road it's been to this point. The gratitude I feel for Life is overwhelming!

“Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health

“How can illusions satisfy God’s Son? Father, the truth belongs to me. My home is set in Heaven by Your Will and mine. Can dreams content me? Can illusions bring me happiness? What but Your memory can satisfy Your Son? I will accept no less than You have given me. I am surrounded by Your Love, forever still, forever gentle and forever safe. God’s Son must be as You created him.

“Today we pass illusions by. And if we hear temptation call to us to stay and linger in a dream, we turn aside and ask ourselves if we, the Sons of God, could be content with dreams, when Heaven can be chosen just as easily as hell, and love will happily replace all fear.”

A Course in Miracles W-272.1:1–2:2

Truth Knocks at the Portal of Humanity

Are we finally ready for the truth? I've heard it said that we, as a human race, can’t stand to hear the truth if it contradicts long-held beliefs. This is said about everything from extraterrestrial life to religious doctrine, but I think we are ready to hear it! People say that if the truth were known about everything, society would break down. It seems to me this might be a good thing, because our current belief systems don't appear to be functioning too well! Perhaps everyone's dissatisfaction stems from feeling we’re being lied to on many levels. A few centuries ago, a total eclipse of the full moon would cause many fear-based reactions when the orb turned red, disappeared, then reappeared. As the truth has set us free from that irrational fear, so it will in other ways, allowing us to joyfully look up and say “Wow, that’s beautiful!” I think we're ready, don't you?!

“Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page vii:13-15 

“Christ’s is the vision I will use today. Each day, each hour, every instant, I am choosing what I want to look upon, the sounds I want to hear, the witnesses to what I want to be the truth for me. Today I choose to look upon what Christ would have me see, to listen to God’s Voice, and seek the witnesses to what is true in God’s creation. In Christ’s sight, the world and God’s creation meet, and as they come together all perception disappears. His kindly sight redeems the world from death, for nothing that He looks on but must live, remembering the Father and the Son; Creator and creation unified.

“Father, Christ’s vision is the way to You. What He beholds invites Your memory to be restored to me. And this I choose, to be what I would look upon today.”

A Course in Miracles W-271.1:1–2:3

What’s Your Spiritual Practice?

How do you integrate your spiritual practice into daily life? This is a question someone asked me, which brought a smile. Since I don’t have any rituals which would be defined as “spiritual practice”, I suppose they are asking about the moments I pause to commune with the Universe — perhaps waiting in line at the grocery, or sitting at the bridge table after having decided what to bid on a hand and waiting to do so, or clearing my mind to see a word appear in the Words With Friends board. Hum — I think life IS a spiritual practice, don’t you? When I find myself turning a situation around and ‘round in thought, or when I replay possible scenarios of how things may transpire, that’s the time for a mental reminder to just stop it! Spiritual practice, for me, can be defined as getting out of my own way and listening for the inner voice which could be called intuition. While some may think going to church once a week constitutes a spiritual practice, most folks I know have a moment-to-moment awareness which is guided by Love. How do you know if your life is directed by Spirit or ego? If you’re at peace, it’s God; if you’re uneasy or unhappy, it’s ego!

“Lips must be mute and materialism silent, that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine Principle, Love, which destroys all error.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 15:11-13

“I will not use the body’s eyes today. Father, Christ’s vision is Your gift to me, and it has power to translate all that the body’s eyes behold into the sight of a forgiven world. How glorious and gracious is this world! Yet how much more will I perceive in it than sight can give. The world forgiven signifies Your Son acknowledges his Father, lets his dreams be brought to truth, and waits expectantly the one remaining instant more of time which ends forever, as Your memory returns to him. And now his will is one with Yours. His function now is but Your Own, and every thought except Your Own is gone.

“The quiet of today will bless our hearts, and through them peace will come to everyone. Christ is our eyes today. And through His sight we offer healing to the world through Him, the holy Son whom God created whole; the holy Son whom God created one.”

A Course in Miracles W-270.1:1–2:3

The Face of Love

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

I love A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #269: “My sight goes forth to look upon Christ's face.” This acknowledgement, that everything and everyone we look upon is the face of divine Love, takes our perception to another level! With this sight, we do not need to see race, or nationalities, nor gender; there are no political parties for which to wave flags, and no enemies to fight against, nor allies to side with. I see beautiful things happening in our world. Long-held beliefs are being released in favor of an open-hearted acceptance of everyone as they are, not as we want them to be. Change can seem difficult, but our new perceptions of Life are a conscious choice by which we break free of habits and old thought patterns, which have held us in bondage for far too long. Let’s celebrate our new-found sight today!

“The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have learned from error, and man's real existence as a child of God comes to light.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health Page 288:31-1

“My sight goes forth to look upon Christ’s face. I ask Your blessing on my sight today. It is the means which You have chosen to become the way to show me my mistakes, and look beyond them. ³t is given me to find a new perception through the Guide You gave to me, and through His lessons to surpass perception and return to truth. I ask for the illusion which transcends all those I made. Today I choose to see a world forgiven, in which everyone shows me the face of Christ, and teaches me that what I look upon belongs to me; that nothing is, except Your holy Son.

“Today our sight is blessed indeed. We share one vision, as we look upon the face of Him Whose Self is ours. We are one because of Him Who is the Son of God; of Him Who is our own Identity.”

A Course in Miracles W-269.1:1–2:3

Let It Be

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

One of my friends has a particularly hard time letting “all things be exactly as they are”, which is the topic of A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #268. She plays events over and over in her mind, making suppositions about why things were said or done, and trying to find solutions to fix everyone involved. Recently, she received a phone call from a lifelong friend whom she hadn’t heard from in the past few years. She didn’t answer the call and was full of worries as to what she may have done wrong which caused her friend to break off contact with her. While I try not to laugh in the face of others’ distress, I couldn’t help myself this time! I quickly reminded her of The Four Agreements, in particular “don’t make assumptions” and “don’t take anything personally”. After a brief conversation, she returned to her home and called her old friend. And sure enough, she had done nothing wrong; her friend was going through a rough time and needed a friendly shoulder to lean on. How much easier life is without speculations and suppositions! 

“Let all things be exactly as they are. Let me not be Your critic, Lord, today, and judge against You. Let me not attempt to interfere with Your creation, and distort it into sickly forms. Let me be willing to withdraw my wishes from its unity, and thus to let it be as You created it. For thus will I be able, too, to recognize my Self as You created me. In love was I created, and in love will I remain forever. What can frighten me, when I let all things be exactly as they are?

“Let not our sight be blasphemous today, nor let our ears attend to lying tongues. Only reality is free of pain. Only reality is free of loss. Only reality is wholly safe. And it is only this we seek today.”

A Course in Miracles W-268.1:1–2:5

"Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a diviner sense, harmony is the real and discord the unreal.” 

Mary Baker Eddy — Science & Health Page: 563: 1-3 

Each Heartbeat Brings Peace

 

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Living the peace of God may seem like a fantasy to those who abide by the laws of materiality. It's a common belief that in order to live in peace a person must be delusional, sticking their head in the sand, or at least denying reality in favor of wishful thinking. But many of us see this state of mind in another way. As we learn about the Truth of our being, we are able to glimpse this peace, and the joy it brings. This joy spreads exponentially through our daily activities, as it is expressed through our actions and words. This state of mind does more for the world than all the preaching we may be tempted to do!

“My heart is beating in the peace of God. Surrounding me is all the life that God created in His Love. It calls to me in every heartbeat and in every breath; in every action and in every thought. Peace fills my heart, and floods my body with the purpose of forgiveness. Now my mind is healed, and all I need to save the world is given me. Each heartbeat brings me peace; each breath infuses me with strength. I am a messenger of God, directed by His Voice, sustained by Him in love, and held forever quiet and at peace within His loving Arms. Each heartbeat calls His Name, and every one is answered by His Voice, assuring me I am at home in Him.

“Let me attend Your Answer, not my own. Father, my heart is beating in the peace the Heart of Love created. It is there and only there that I can be at home.”

A Course in Miracles W-267.1:1–2:3

“Teach them that their being is sustained by Spirit, not by matter, and that they find health, peace, and harmony in God, divine Love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 416:32-2

A World Full of Saviors

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Today’s Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #266 ends by saying — and I paraphrase — that we have been given a world full of saviors, and we have been given the sight to understand what that means. When someone misinterprets our motives or actions, it seems natural to try to set them straight. A dear friend on the west coast called with accusations, and I foolishly tried to defend myself. I wasn’t trying to change his mind, only attempting to correct what I saw as his misinterpretation. This was a perfect example of what I do not want to do. Rather than hearing the words as a cry for love, I saw them as an attack and attempted to turn the situation into what I wanted it to be. The result was not harmonious! But after reading today’s lesson, along with the following Mary Baker Eddy words, I see him as one of the many saviors given me, and I am at peace. “Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.” Namaste, my friend …

“The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506: 11-14

 “My holy Self abides in you, God’s Son. Father, You gave me all Your Sons, to be my saviors and my counselors in sight; the bearers of Your holy Voice to me. In them are You reflected, and in them does Christ look back upon me from my Self. Let not Your Son forget Your holy Name. Let not Your Son forget his holy Source. Let not Your Son forget his Name is Yours.

“This day we enter into Paradise, calling upon God’s Name and on our own, acknowledging our Self in each of us; united in the holy Love of God. How many saviors God has given us! How can we lose the way to Him, when He has filled the world with those who point to Him, and given us the sight to look on them?”

A Course in Miracles W-266.1:1–2:3)