An Indissoluble Spiritual Link

Eureka Thyme Gallery Show - circa 2005

Today marks the 30th anniversary of when my boys and I moved into our home in Eureka Springs. On this beautiful first day of 2025, Carol Peacock and I went for a long drive and enjoyed lunch at the only restaurant we found open. It was a day in which we remembered connections, while relating stories from our past. Four years ago, Carol’s good friend from forever dropped dead while working at Ermillio’s, a local Italian restaurant. I later purchased his old classic Jeep, and this is the vehicle we used today, while enjoying our mini-road trip. It felt like a tribute to her dear friend, Cliff, while being a celebration of friendship in general. This year my “focus word” will be connections. I’m seeing their importance more clearly, and realizing that many (if not all) of our world’s problems would be resolved if we had more book clubs, front porch visits with neighbors, and all the other forms of communications which may have fallen away in our lives. May we never forget we’re all in this together …

“Matter cannot connect mortals with the true origin and facts of being, in which all must end. It is only by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and  find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 491:11-16

“There is nothing to fear. How safe the world will look to me when I can see it! It will not look anything like what I imagine I see now. Everyone and everything I see will lean toward me to bless me. I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend. What could there be to fear in a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven me?”

A Course in Miracles W-60.3:1-6

The Infinite Has No Beginning

As we wake up to a time we call 2025, I wish you each the peace, joy, and love which is innate to our being! For the last year, in these writings, I have focused on the daily workbook lessons of A Course in Miracles and tried to center my thoughts around them. In the upcoming 365 days, my focus will be on current events, daily activities, and the positive results I see happening in our world.  

I have been following the videos of Coreen Walson and Nouk Sanchez. These two women “unpack and promote the deeper, holographic teachings of ‘A Course in Miracles.’” If anyone wants daily inspiration, they have videos of the workbook lessons. You can find their fabulous interpretations and discussions on youtube under the heading of “A Course in Miracles - Daily Lessons Unpacked”.

As we move through what promises to be an interesting time, please feel free to comment on my daily emails or the entries on my blog. We’re all in this together!

“So will the year begin in joy and freedom. There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. Make this year different by making it all the same. And let all your relationships be made holy for you. This is our will. Amen.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.XI.10:8-14

“The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only, — that is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 502:24-27

Make Room For the New

A new year symbolizes beginnings. Enjoy these words, and please send me whatever may be coming to your attention!

Photo by Aaron Springston

“You have no obligation to be

 the same person you were minutes ago.”

–Alan Watts

“You wish to have proof of

A world beyond this one?

See how the old leaves fall and

Makes room for the new.

A new day, a new night, a new garden,

Even a new trap to fall into. 

A new thought in each breath.

Newness is a wonder.

It surely is a treasure.

Did you ever wonder

Where the new comes from? 

Where the old disappear to?

The world is a flowing stream,

It looks enclosed and unchanging,

But the old flows away and

The new arrives.”

—Rumi  

“To be free of all authority, 

of your own and that of another, 

is to die to everything of yesterday, 

so that your mind is always fresh, 

always young, innocent, full of vigour

and passion. 

It is only in that state that 

one learns and observes.”

–Jiddu Krishnamurti 

“This course is a beginning, not an end. Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him. He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. His certainty is yours. 

You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.”

A Course in Miracles W-ep.1:1-9

“Truth has no beginning. The divine Mind is the Soul of man, and gives man dominion over all things. Man was not created from a material basis, nor bidden to obey material laws which Spirit never made; 

his province is in spiritual statutes, in the higher law of Mind.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 307:25-30

Restored to Sanity

Aaron at the Great Wall of China

"We are restored to sanity, in which we understand that anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy." [ACIM] As the end of this year draws near, many of us reflect on past events and plan ways to improve ourselves in the year to come. In the past few weeks, I have allowed myself to slip into thoughts of fear, complete with the negativity which it breeds. What a comfort it is to know that we are all here to walk hand in hand to the light! When we stumble on the way, there are others who will lift us up. This Oneness we speak of so often doesn’t exclude anyone. It matters not if we know this fact or not, because the unity of Mind provides a constant stream of divine ideas, just waiting for us to imbibe. I am extremely grateful to know that we’re all together on this path, sometimes faltering, sometimes running, but always moving toward understanding! 

“We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you reproducing it? Then you are haunted in your work by vicious sculptors and hideous forms...To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:12

“We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to His holy Son. We are forgiven now. And we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to God, and found it was a dream. We are restored to sanity, in which we understand that anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. We have been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. Nothing more than that. And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the truth?”

A Course in Miracles W-fl.in.5:1-7

Only Good Can Come of This

Photo by Aaron Springston

At times, I find myself so caught up in being "in charge" of things that I forget I'm really not! When you stop and think about it, aren't most things redefined moment-by-moment? There may be snow storms, or people not doing what they were going to do, or perhaps loved ones need attention in various ways -- well, you've been there yourself and you know what I mean! Making the decision to live by intuition and spiritual insight works for me. I don't like to worry about what-ifs, making contingency plans to cover alternate possibilities. Even when events are not going the way I had hoped, it's a great comfort to know that "only good can come of this". A good friend once helped me through fearful challenges by presenting me with those six words, and they come to mind often: Only good can come of this. 

“From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are ideas of Mind. Mind [Love] creates and multiplies them, and the product must be mental.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 280:4-8

“And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own. For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete.”

A Course in Miracles W-fl.in.3:1-6

Beautiful Meaning

Painting by Carol Dickie

Snowy Night by Mary Oliver

“Last night, an owl

in the blue dark

tossed

an indeterminate number

of carefully shaped sounds into

the world, in which,

a quarter of a mile away, I happened

to be standing.

I couldn’t tell

which one it was –

the barred or the great-horned

ship of the air –

it was that distant. But, anyway,

aren’t there moments

that are better than knowing something,

and sweeter? Snow was falling,

so much like stars

filling the dark trees

that one could easily imagine

its reason for being was nothing more

than prettiness. I suppose

if this were someone else’s story

they would have insisted on knowing

whatever is knowable – would have hurried

over the fields

to name it – the owl, I mean.

But it’s mine, this poem of the night,

and I just stood there, listening and holding out

my hands to the soft glitter

falling through the air. I love this world,

but not for its answers.

And I wish good luck to the owl,

whatever its name –

and I wish great welcome to the snow,

whatever its severe and comfortless

and beautiful meaning.”

“His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. It is His way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself appointed. In the dream of time it seems to be far off. And yet, in truth, it is already here; already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. Let us together follow in the way that truth points out to us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way, but find it not.”

A Course in Miracles W-fl.in.2:1-6

“You may know when first Truth leads by the fewness and faithfulness of its followers. Thus it is that the march of time bears onward freedom’s banner. The powers of this world will fight, and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass the guard until it subscribes to their systems; but Science, heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on. There is always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth’s standard.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 225:5-13

Connected in Silence

Photo credit: Richard Quick

The final five workbook lessons in A Course in Miracles stress the use of few words. Having watched a documentary entitled "Thrive", I'm tempted to use many words and talk of things we can do to facilitate change — such as, shopping locally with small businesses, supporting organic farmers, and other ways of living in a state of awareness. But instead, I'll focus on something this film stressed as what we can do in order to heal our world: be quiet. We are urged to find our core of strength through silence, which connects us to everyone. This fits right in with the reminder to use few words. This film  could be thought of as frightening, but I see it as a reminder that every thought and action counts. Let's join together in silence and see where it leads us!

"It is only by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 491:12-16

“This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace. And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request. And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son.”

A Course in Miracles W-361-365.1:1-5