Being True to Self

Sergei Arsenievich Vinogradov - 

At the Dacha in Summer, 1869-1938

Most of us have at least one friend who is always in motion. I know a woman who won’t let her children have a moment of peace because she feels like it’s a waste of time to not be involved in some type of activity. She herself is a whirlwind of doing and going. The following Thich Nhat Hanh quote caused me to think of her. I wish I could tell her it’s okay to simply be. As Wayne Dyer often reminded us: We’re human beings, not human doings!

“We have a tendency to think in terms of doing and not in terms of being. We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time. But that is not true. Our time is first of all for us to be. To be what? To be alive, to be peaceful, to be joyful, to be loving. And that is what the world needs most.”

Thich Nhat Hanh 

“Listen in deep silence. Be very still and open your mind. Go past all the raucous shrieks and sick imaginings that cover your real thoughts and obscure your eternal link with God. Sink deep into the peace that waits for you beyond the frantic, riotous thoughts and sights and sounds of this insane world. You do not live here. We are trying to reach your real home. We are trying to reach the place where you are truly welcome. We are trying to reach God.” 

A Course in Miracles W-49.4:1-8

“Spirit is symbolized by strength, presence, and power, and also by holy thoughts, winged with Love. These angels of His presence, which have the holiest charge, abound in the spiritual atmosphere of Mind, and consequently reproduce their own characteristics. Their individual forms we know not, but we do know that their natures are allied to God’s nature; and spiritual blessings, thus typified, are the externalized, yet subjective, states of faith and spiritual understanding.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 512:8-16

I’ve Always Wanted To Be That Woman

Art by Jonas Peterson

From Donna Ashworth’s book “Life” …

“I’ve always wanted, very much, to be that woman.

The old one, with the hair like silver that seems to radiate its very own source of light.

The one with the knowing smile that hints at humour ever present and a life that’s been full of belly laughter.

The woman with the deep lines in her weathered skin, lines etched out by adventure, by joy, by fear and by growth.

I imagined how I’d float rather than walk because I no longer bear the weight of the world on my shoulders and I marvelled at how my days would be full to the brim with resting and noticing the world around me.

I would not care for thoughts of guilt because by then I would have learned that resting is doing, and is very important indeed.

There I would be reading, gardening, eating food I had grown and passing my little nuggets of wisdom down, to anyone who wanted to listen.

The contented crone.

The final phase of the journey of womanity.

No chasing youth for me,  

I will be languishing, loudly, in the joy of my age and my luck at having got so far.

I’ve always wanted, very much, to be that woman.

Join me, if you like.” 

Donna Ashworth From her poetry book ‘LIFE’

“Even Shakespeare’s poetry pictures age as infancy, as helplessness and decadence, instead of assigning to man the everlasting grandeur and immortality of development, power, and prestige.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 244:28-32

“Child of God, you were created to create the good, the beautiful and the holy. Do not forget this. The Love of God, for a little while, must still be expressed through one body to another, because vision is still so dim. You can use your body best to help you enlarge your perception so you can achieve real vision, of which the physical eye is incapable. Learning to do this is the body’s only true usefulness.” 

A Course in Miracles T-1.VII.2:1-5

Love, Honor — Obey?

I recently heard a term which was new to me: “Tradwife”. This stands for traditional wife and is a movement which, on the surface, sounds very Donna Reed-ish and perhaps rather appealing. It is not. I learned of the Tradwife movement through an interview with Tia Levings, who has written about her experiences. She is uniquely qualified for this because she was educated in an evangelical school, married an abusive man who believed these principles, escaped from that way of life, recovered, and is a fabulous writer who can tell us what is happening in far too many homes. Some people yearn for the simplicity of life in years past, but perhaps they are confused as to what made it lovely. Then again, was it? When I hear elected officials defending misogynistic, racist, homophobic views, I must stand up and “just say no”. We mustn’t go back to those times when women and people of color were treated as less than white men. And when some are telling us this is Christianity and we must “obey” the rules as they are interpreting them, it’s time to take a stand and raise our voices for all that is good and pure and true!

“The ego literally lives by comparisons. Equality is beyond its grasp, and charity becomes impossible. The ego never gives out of abundance, because it was made as a substitute for it. That is why the concept of ‘getting’ arose in the ego’s thought system. Appetites are ‘getting’ mechanisms, representing the ego’s need to confirm itself. This is as true of body appetites as it is of the so-called ‘higher ego needs.’ Body appetites are not physical in origin. The ego regards the body as its home, and tries to satisfy itself through the body. But the idea that this is possible is a decision of the mind, which has become completely confused about what is really possible.”
A Course in Miracles T-4.II.7:1-9

“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. The confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact that Truth is real and error is unreal. Error is a coward before Truth. Divine Science insists that time will prove all this. Both truth and error have come nearer than ever before to the apprehension of mortals, and truth will become still clearer as error is self-destroyed.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 367:30-9

Happiness

Désiré François Laugée, 1882

"There are random moments - tossing a salad, coming up the driveway to the house, ironing the seams flat on a quilt square, standing at the kitchen window and looking out at the delphiniums, hearing a burst of laughter from one of my children's rooms - when I feel a wavelike rush of joy. This is my true religion: arbitrary moments of nearly painful happiness for a 

life I feel privileged to lead.”

Elizabeth Berg -The Art of Mending

“Elusive happiness, or happiness in changing form that shifts with time and place, is an illusion that has no meaning. Happiness must be constant, because it is attained by giving up the wish for the in constant. Joy cannot be perceived except through constant vision. And constant vision can be given only those who wish for constancy.” 

A Course in Miracles T-21.VII.13:1-4

“Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real enjoyment.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 60:29-3

Truth’s Opposite Has No Might

Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

It seems there are any number of errors to correct in this world. It’s quite a relief to discover that I only need to correct them in my mind, not in the fearful and angry minds I witness around me. If I look at things with horror, or disgust, or anger, or fear, I have become a part of them and share in them. If I look on the people perpetrating said acts as Love’s reflection, there is forgiveness. By making such statements in public, I run the risk of someone telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about — and, perhaps, they wouldn’t be using words quite so kind! There is a young woman who makes videos about these teachings. She is often verbally attacked in the comments section of YouTube. If the speaker and her supporters are willing to give these derogatory words energy in retaliation and defense, they are accepting attacks within themselves. But if we send forth forgiveness, realizing we are all One in Truth, then we give the gift of Love — and receive it ourselves. Therein lies correction!

“Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness, error, Truth's opposite, has no might.” 

Mary Baker Eddy- Science and Health Page 367:3-1

“It is essential to remember that only the mind can create, and that correction belongs at the thought level. To amplify an earlier statement, spirit is already perfect and therefore does not require correction. The body does not exist except as a learning device for the mind. This learning device is not subject to errors of its own, because it cannot create. It is obvious, then, that inducing the mind to give up its miscreations is the only application of creative ability that is truly meaningful.”
A Course in Miracles T-2.V.1:7-11

Externalized Thoughts

Nothing can be imaged forth in form unless it exists in consciousness. What?? I know, I know. You may say you had never heard of such and such disease until you got it. Well, collective consciousness counts, too. Yikes! So how do we keep from contracting every disease and imaging forth all the horrors of the world? This is exactly what Gary Renard tells us in "The Disappearance of the Universe" and what Mary Baker Eddy means by "there is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter". When we put more faith in matter than Spirit, then, yes, we are subject to every little quirk of the universe. But the realization of Truth puts us under no governance but that of divine Mind, God. It may seem that it would be impossible to come out from under the tent of materiality in favor of Spirit. I've had enough glimpses to know it is indeed very possible, but it takes work. When you listen to detailed stories of disease, it become embedded in consciousness. I'm never surprised when something jumps out of that vast forever, but I do negate it in thought -- to the best of my ability. And practice does make perfect, so I won't give up!

“Disease is always induced by a false sense mentally entertained, not destroyed. Disease is an image of thought externalized. The mental state is called a material state. Whatever is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is imaged forth on the body.” 

Mary Baker Eddy-Science and Health 411:21-26

“Wrong-mindedness listens to the ego and makes illusions; perceiving sin and justifying anger, and seeing guilt, disease and death as real. Both this world and the real world are illusions because right-mindedness merely overlooks, or forgives, what never happened. Therefore it is not the One-mindedness of the Christ Mind, Whose Will is one with God’s.” 

A Course in Miracles C-1.6:1-3

Dickinson

Emily Dickinson has always held a certain fascination for me. The image of her I created from high school English was of a solitary, rather plain, young woman sitting in her room writing poetry which no one read. There’s a fun series based on her life which is on Apple TV. I enjoy watching this interesting program, set in the mid-1860s, but utilizing modern music and mores in the most surprising ways. She is portrayed as beautiful with multi-faceted desires, leading a fairly normal life for the time period. But the words which flow from her mind to her pen are exquisite in their emotion and are a constant source of interest. The time she spent in solitude is what I dream about, with her thoughts resting in a meditative state, and then whirling with the beautiful expression of her words. Oh, Emily, how I’d love to be a friend of yours!

“Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry, and the power of expressing them. Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent. We are all capable of more than we do. The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phenomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 89:18-24

“A messenger is not the one who writes the message he delivers. Nor does he question the right of him who does, nor ask why he has chosen those who will receive the message that he brings. It is enough that he accept it, give it to the ones for whom it is intended, and fulfill his role in its delivery. If he determines what the messages should be, or what their purpose is, or where they should be carried, he is failing to perform his proper part as bringer of the Word.”
A Course in Miracles W-154.5:1-4