The Dream of Conflict

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The days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day are traditionally times of parties and gatherings where family and friends enjoy the connections which tie us together. This year, in particular, we have some major disagreements about the way our government should be conducted. This is a perfect time to turn to our Course in Miracles Workbook Lessons for guidance. In addition to advising us to “blast the room with love before you walk in”, Marianne Williamson has given us some important pointers for these trying times. She ends with these: “In A Course in Miracles it says that if we’re judging someone, we’re wrong even if we’re right. We think we’re going to understand someone to see whether or not they’re worthy of our love, but until we love them we will never understand them. Seek to be a vessel of love at the table more than anything else. Speak your truth without withholding respect for the truths of others. Be nice to people; it makes all the difference.” For the past two weeks, I’ve become dependent on unpacking of our daily lesson with Nouk and Coreen. Here is the link, in case anyone needs a boost of good vibes! 

https://youtu.be/9h1CuyrBkuk?si=k7hNA98jAl8IHlqY

“Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here. Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. For only then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears.

“Father, forgiveness is the light You chose to shine away all conflict and all doubt, and light the way for our return to You. No light but this can end our evil dream. No light but this can save the world. For this alone will never fail in anything, being Your gift to Your beloved Son.”

A Course in Miracles W-333.1:1–2:4

“The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 288:3-7

Thankful For This Day

As a child growing up in Berryville, Arkansas, we didn’t watch very much television. We received one channel, the NBC affiliate out of Springfield, Missouri. When a favorite yearly event would take place, such as The Wizard of Oz or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, it was cause for great excitement in my small world. Unfortunately, my parents insisted I accompany them to the Thanksgiving morning service at a nearby Christian Science Society. As a participant in our local marching band, I was eager to see bands from all over the country in this annual event. But alas, after a few minutes of the televised parade, we would be out the door for a dreaded day with old people. While that’s the way I felt decades ago, now things have turned around. I can’t think of many things I’d rather NOT do than watch the Macy parade, either in person or on television. Now I love the study of divine metaphysics, particularly in the company of old people! I hope each and every one of you are doing exactly what you’d like to do today. Happy giving of thanks, today and every day!

“The ego makes illusions. Truth undoes its evil dreams by shining them away. Truth never makes attack. It merely is. And by its presence is the mind recalled from fantasies, awaking to the real. Forgiveness bids this presence enter in, and take its rightful place within the mind. Without forgiveness is the mind in chains, believing in its own futility. Yet with forgiveness does the light shine through the dream of darkness, offering it hope, and giving it the means to realize the freedom that is its inheritance.

“We would not bind the world again today. Fear holds it prisoner. And yet Your Love has given us the means to set it free. Father, we would release it now. For as we offer freedom, it is given us. And we would not remain as prisoners, while You are holding freedom out to us.”

A Course in Miracles W-332.1:1–2:6

“The human mind, imbued with this spiritual understanding, becomes more elastic, is capable of greater endurance, escapes somewhat from itself, and requires less repose. ... It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 128

My Will is Yours

Photo credit: Kailey Jones

When did you last tell a lie? Perhaps it was a “polite” lie, designed to protect someone’s feelings, or maybe a “white lie” to cover an embarrassing situation. But what about a lie told to benefit yourself, without caring who it hurts or what harm it causes? And what of cheating? Maybe you moved your Monopoly piece too many squares during family game night, but how about taking goods and services from people, then refusing to pay for them? I don’t know many, if any, people who do this. Everyone I interact with has a higher sense of integrity and a moral standard which precludes such actions. Actually, most people I know would never consider lying or stealing or cheating, be it a small indiscretion or grand theft. It always comes as a surprise to me when I witness blatant misconduct in public officials, movie stars, ministers — anyone, anywhere. I remind myself constantly that everything is either expressing Love or calling out for love. And so I shall not look the other way, and I will do my best to answer that call. Namaste...

“Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations, which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we get clearer views of Principle. Break up cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views of humanity." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 239:5

“There is no conflict, for my will is Yours. How foolish, Father, to believe Your Son could cause himself to suffer! Could he make a plan for his damnation, and be left without a certain way to his release? You love me, Father. You could never leave me desolate, to die within a world of pain and cruelty. How could I think that Love has left Itself? There is no will except the Will of Love. Fear is a dream, and has no will that can conflict with Yours. Conflict is sleep, and peace awakening. Death is illusion; life, eternal truth. There is no opposition to Your Will. There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.

“Forgiveness shows us that God’s Will is One, and that we share it. Let us look upon the holy sights forgiveness shows today, that we may find the peace of God. Amen.”

A Course in Miracles W-331.1:1–2:3

From Depression to Gratitude

One of my favorite Buddhist gurus, Rick Hanson, shared this quote from Leonard Cohen: “I know your burden’s heavy as you wheel it through the night. The guru says it’s empty; that doesn’t make it light.” Wow! The last few days, I’ve felt as though I was wheeling a heavy burden. After sleeping as many hours as possible, only waking to slog through necessary duties, today was a wholly different experience. Everything was a joyous event, from washing my vehicle, filling up with gas, doing laundry, shopping for food, visiting with a friend — for every little thing, I was grateful. The gratitude I felt often was expressed through verbal outbursts, sometimes tears, always a calm joy running through every movement and activity. Yes! Let’s not be afraid of dark feelings of depression; rather, follow your heart and do what you must do. For me, it was excessive sleep and a pulling away from unnecessary activity. Keep on keeping on, until you’re able to rise in gratitude! “The mind that is made willing to accept God’s gifts has been restored to spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of God united with its own.” ACIM #330 

“I will not hurt myself again today. Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. Why should we attack our minds, and give them images of pain? Why should we teach them they are powerless, when God holds out His power and His Love, and bids them take what is already theirs? The mind that is made willing to accept God’s gifts has been restored to spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of God united with its own. The Self which God created cannot sin, and therefore cannot suffer. Let us choose today that He be our Identity, and thus escape forever from all things the dream of fear appears to offer us.

“Father, Your Son cannot be hurt.  And if we think we suffer, we but fail to know our one Identity we share with You. We would return to It today, to be made free forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we were.”

A Course in Miracles W-330.1:1–2:3

“Error begins by reckoning life as separate from Spirit, thus sapping the foundations of immortality, as if life and immortality were something which matter can both give and take away.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 539:3-7 

Satisfied Aspirations

Art: Duy Huynh Studio

I spent years searching for love, grasping at brightly colored baubles and bangles, not realizing that I am Love and nothing can be more beautiful and complete than that. Seeing wholeness and unity, where I once saw separation, has brought the contentment which was so elusive. The false contentment found in marijuana and alcohol was an illusionary peace used as a hiding place for a while, but eventually I had to emerge and face what it was which kept me restless. When nothing ever seems to be enough, perhaps it's because we need it All, and that Allness can only be found in one place, a place not present in changing, temporal life. This study which teaches me the meaning of reality also fills me with a calm before unknown, and I am very grateful!

“Who hath found finite life or love sufficient to meet the demands of human want and woe, — to still the desires, to satisfy the aspirations? Infinite Mind cannot be limited to a finite form, or Mind would lose its infinite character as inexhaustible Love, eternal Life, omnipotent Truth.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 257:24-29

“I have already chosen what You will. Father, I thought I wandered from Your Will, defied it, broke its laws, and interposed a second will more powerful than Yours. Yet what I am in truth is but Your Will, extended and extending. This am I, and this will never change. As You are One, so am I one with You. And this I chose in my creation, where my will became forever one with Yours. That choice was made for all eternity. It cannot change, and be in opposition to itself. Father, my will is Yours. And I am safe, untroubled and serene, in endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so.

“Today we will accept our union with each other and our Source. We have no will apart from His, and all of us are one because His Will is shared by all of us. Through it we recognize that we are one. Through it we find our way at last to God.”

A Courser in Miracles W-329.1:1–2:4

Upside Down Perceptions

Photo from National Geographic

 Fear

by Khalil Gibran

It is said that before entering the sea 

A river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,

from the peaks of the mountains,

the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,

she sees an ocean so vast,

that to enter

there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.

The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back. 

To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk 

of entering the ocean

because only then will fear disappear

because that’s where the river will know

it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,

but of becoming the ocean.

“Every concept which seems to begin with the brain begins falsely. 

Divine Mind is the only cause or Principle of existence. Cause does not exist in matter, in mortal mind, or in physical forms.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 262:28-32

“I choose the second place to gain the first. What seems to be the second place is first, for all things we perceive are upside down until we listen to the Voice for God. It seems that we will gain autonomy but by our striving to be separate, and that our independence from the rest of God’s creation is the way in which salvation is obtained. Yet all we find is sickness, suffering and loss and death. This is not what our Father wills for us, nor is there any second to His Will. To join with His is but to find our own. And since our will is His, it is to Him that we must go to recognize our will.

“There is no will but Yours. And I am glad that nothing I imagine contradicts what You would have me be. It is Your Will that I be wholly safe, eternally at peace. And happily I share that Will which You, my Father, gave as part of me.”

A Course in Miracles W-328.1:1–2:4

Empty Conceptions of Deity

Photo attributed to Agneta Cristea 

How surprised would you be if your prayers were answered? I have a friend who tells me she's given up on God, because she's never seen any proof. Upon questioning her, it turns out she has a laundry list of things she asks for regularly, and none of her wishes have come true. Once again, I think we often confuse divine Love with Santa Claus. We may be asking some guy in the sky for special dispensation, rather than recognizing that this Principle is an eternal activity which we can plug into at any time. It's kind of like electricity: It's there, but it doesn't supply our needs unless we know how to utilize it. I’m learning the secret to plugging in is to not want anything! By not delineating what we think we need, but rather keeping our thoughts tuned to the divine Mind, all our needs are supplied, often before we know what they are …

“How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinite, and then we try to give information to this infinite Mind. We plead for unmerited pardon and for a liberal outpouring of benefactions. Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 3:17-27

“I need but call and You will answer me. I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith. For God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself. Let me but learn from my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me. This is the faith that will endure, and take me farther and still farther on the road that leads to Him. For thus I will be sure that He has not abandoned me and loves me still, awaiting but my call to give me all the help I need to come to Him.

“Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my experience, if I but test them out. Let me attempt therefore to try them, and to judge them not. Your Word is one with You. You give the means whereby conviction comes, and surety of Your abiding Love is gained at last.”

A Course in Miracles W-327.1:1–2:4