The Truth About Myself

Photo courtesy of Randal Thompson

A number of acquaintances seem to be incapable of making a decision. It seems as though they are reluctant to express an opinion until they hear someone else say it out loud. It’s as though they need confirmation that their beliefs about a situation are worthy, and so they wait for someone else to say that they think that way, too. This need for validation is not a rare condition. I believe I may have suffered from it at points in my life. Our study and practice of divine metaphysics leads us past the temptation to feel so self-important that we're afraid to be wrong. While it's usually thought of as low self-esteem which causes indecision, it seems to me that it's valuing your own forever-believed image of yourself over your true image as the likeness of God. Releasing many long-practiced ways of life facilitates our recognition of this, and with this peaceful understanding, we are freed. This spiritual sense allows us to speak without fear. I love listening to divine Mind rather than chasing in circles with mortal mind! It's more interesting, it frees me from worry and doubt, it leads me in fascinating paths, and it brings me peace. 

"Human belief has sought out many inventions, but not one of them can solve the problem of being without  the divine Principle of divine Science. Deductions from material hypotheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science because they are not based on the divine law."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 273:4-9

“What can I seek for, Father, but Your Love? Perhaps I think I seek for something else; a something I have called by many names. Yet is Your Love the only thing I seek, or ever sought. For there is nothing else that I could ever really want to find. Let me remember You. What else could I desire but the truth about myself?” 

A Course in Miracles W-231.1:1-6

Life’s Lessons …

Every moment can be a learning experience, if we’re paying attention. Two things happened today which I took as profound life lessons. A decades-old friend was telling me she was thinking about going to the food bank because of a change in her income. As we talked about this, I mentioned it was fortunate we had such great distribution centers in our town. I also remembered that I had a bag of non-perishable food in the back of my vehicle which I’d been carrying around for a couple of weeks without dropping it off at Flint Street. It struck us simultaneously that I could pass it on directly to her and save us both a trip! The lesson in this is that what may seem like procrastination could be a prompt in a needed direction! Also, never be ashamed to tell your friends your needs; perhaps they are a source of supply. The second lesson is much simpler. I broke my favorite salad plate due to not being mindfully aware of my actions. It reminded me that every moment is important. I want to be ever-more aware of my actions and how they may affect someone else. I don’t care about my plate, but I do care about people I may hurt through my thoughtlessness. And so I shall try to be present in every moment, and I am most grateful for life’s reminders!

“The one Ego, the one Mind or Spirit called God, is infinite individuality, which supplies all form and comeliness and which reflects reality and divinity in individual spiritual man and things.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 281: 14-17

“Father, I seek the peace You gave as mine in my creation. What was given then must be here now, for my creation was apart from time, and still remains beyond all change. The peace in which Your Son was born into Your Mind is shining there unchanged. I am as You created me. I need but call on You to find the peace You gave. It is Your Will that gave it to Your Son.”

A Course in Miracles W-230.2:1-6

Love Leads the Way

“The Road Not Taken“ by Sonia Lera Preston

Many of us have a hard time seeing ourselves as Love. A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #229 tells us: “Love, which created me, is what I am.” We may think there are events in our lives which are so unlovely that we could not possibly be the reflection of Love. Many great sages have instructed us on how to save ourselves from the horror of past events. Thich Nhat Hanh and Mahatma Gandhi showed us how to rise above our feelings of guilt. No matter how this advice is worded, it comes down to one basic concept: extend Love to others; to everything and everyone. This is our atonement, to see the Oneness of all that Is and realize that nothing can ever occur which will separate us from divine Love. By giving love to the world, we give it to ourselves. And then we feel major changes within. We can forgive ourselves, even as we are forgiven, because we were never condemned. 

"Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action. Love is priestess at the altar of Truth. Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept. 

Patience must 'have her perfect work.'" 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 454:18-24

“I seek my own Identity, and find It in these words: ‘Love, which created me, is what I am.’ Now need I seek no more. Love has prevailed.  So still It waited for my coming home, that I will turn away no longer from the holy face of Christ. And what I look upon attests the truth of the Identity I sought to lose, 

but which my Father has kept safe for me.”

A Course in Miracles W-229.1:1-5

We Can Choose Again

Photo courtesy of Alden Stallings

One of the most wonderful things about the teachings of A Course in Miracles is the recognition of our ability to "choose again".  If we have fallen into fear-based actions, we are not required to continue on that path. It seems that a major impediment to releasing these mistaken dreams is our desire to keep all the good dreams, while letting go of the bad. I really want to get rid of memories of painful, fearful circumstances, but I'd rather hold on to lots of nice ones! Is there any difference? Isn't it all a material dream of pain and pleasure, life and death, duality after duality? Spiritual sense sees only perfect oneness, wherein there is no condemnation or reason for blame. I want to see with spiritual eyes, and that is the key to this sight: a desire to do so. If we don't want to release painful thoughts, we won't. If we want to relive hurts and betrayals, we will. In conversations, it is repeatedly brought to my attention how much people cherish being right. It seems to be a great source of satisfaction. But isn't being right or wrong simply a perception? My personal gauge is a feeling of peacefulness. Does a decision to act in a certain way bring a feeling of peace? If it does, then I go forward with that action.  Many decisions seem to be dictated by dogma on our part. We might think: This is the way it's always been for me, and I like it that way, and I'm going to keep it that way. And so we do. Even if the repetitive actions bring us sadness and conflict, we have decided that this is "right" and we must stick by our guns (what a horrible saying that is!) — and so we continue on in this way, whether it brings peace and happiness or the opposite. Let's remember to see ourselves as God sees us today, knowing that we are guiltless, sinless, and pure.

“Now is the time for so-called material pains and material pleasures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible in Science. To break this earthly spell, mortals must get the true idea and divine Principle of all that really exists and governs the universe harmoniously. This thought is apprehended slowly, and the interval before its attainment is attended with doubts and defeats as well as triumphs.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 39:23-30

“Father, I was mistaken in myself, because I failed to realize the Source from which I came. I have not left that Source to enter in a body and to die. My holiness remains a part of me, as I am part of You. And my mistakes about myself are dreams. I let them go today. And I stand ready to receive Your Word alone for what I really am.”

A Course in Miracles W-228.2:1-6

Lift the Sackcloth From My Eyes

We are, each and every one, the home of light and joy and peace — whether we remember it or not. It would seem that events conspire to keep us from this peace. We’re rockin’ along being joyful and light, then bam! — something blows up on our car, or a loved one does something we think is awful, or our business falls apart, or — well, as we often say, it’s always something. I find comfort during those times by reminding myself that I don’t have to know what’s going to happen; I simply need to remember that the best possible outcome is there waiting for me to discover it. It’s not going to benefit anyone or anything if I innumerate every possible outcome, worrying about the pros and cons until I’m worn out and feeling hopeless. Instead, I will rest in the knowledge that creative Mind is the principle which governs everything with the light of Love!

“Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sackcloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-winged dove descending upon you. The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:23-30

“Father, it is today that I am free, because my will is Yours. I thought to make another will. Yet nothing that I thought apart from You exists. And I am free because I was mistaken, and did not affect my own reality at all by my illusions. Now I give them up, and lay them down before the feet of truth, to be removed forever from my mind. This is my holy instant of release. Father, I know my will is one with Yours.”

A Course in Miracles W-227.1:1-7

We All Have a Purpose

Characters from the hit series, Ted Lasso

Most of us have friends experiencing maladies of a physical, mental, and/or emotional nature. We all have roles to play in the care and comfort of these friends. My main focus has always been seeing through the material illusion to the spiritual truth. But recently I’m finding myself called to address, one-on-one, situations with people who need help in various physical ways. Of course, every situation is individual and many factors come into consideration. Whereas, I may be able to joke with one friend about her memory loss, another one might be in denial, or take offense to me making “light” of it. One friend and I can laugh about cancer and the effects of chemotherapy, but another might burst into tears at the thought of their possible demise. Our conversations with others cannot be a one-size-fits-all response, and a good amount of empathy is required in any given moment. I’ve never been one to ignore the elephant sitting in the middle of the room; I like to talk to it and ask if there’s anything I can do for it. And so I am finding ways to commiserate and care, without exacerbating the problem by heaping on excess sympathy. Every day brings new ways to express Love!

“Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way. There will be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When you read this, remember Jesus' words, ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’ This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 573:27-2

“My home awaits me. I will hasten there. If I so choose, I can depart this world entirely. It is not death which makes this possible, but it is change of mind about the purpose of the world. If I believe it has a value as I see it now, so will it still remain for me. But if I see no value in the world as I behold it, nothing that I want to keep as mine or search for as a goal, it will depart from me. For I have not sought for illusions to replace the truth.”

A Course in Miracles W-226.1:1-5

Nobody’s Right If Everybody’s Wrong …

I read a rather long article about Friedrich Nietzsche. It seems everyone, no matter their political persuasion, can make a case that he is writing just for them, supporting their views, and inspiring them to further heights of egotistical thought. While reading this, other instances came to mind of how songs and/or books can be perceived to suit our views. I was talking to a woman whose political attitudes are very different from mine, and she mentioned the song, “For What It’s Worth”, saying how perfectly it expressed what she felt about the current political scene. This well-known 1960s song  has been thought of as a protest song, beloved by liberal hippies for decades. Here is a verse:

“There’s battle lines being drawn. 

Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong. 

Young people speaking their minds, 

Getting so much resistance from behind. 

It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound? 

Everybody look what’s going down.”

I’ve heard of something similar happening with the novel 1984, which white supremacists quote as part of their rhetoric. Orwell’s use of the term “doublespeak” seems to jive with “alternative facts”, and somehow everything is turned around to fit anyone’s point of view. From 1984: “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.” 

I think of these instances as showing that we are more alike than different. Of course, it could be just the opposite! Haha! 

“The question, ‘What is Truth,’ convulses the world. Many are ready to meet this inquiry with the assurance which comes of understanding; but more are blinded by their old illusions, and try to ‘give it pause.’ ‘If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.’

“The efforts of error to answer this question by some ology are vain. Spiritual rationality and free thought accompany approaching Science, and cannot be put down. They will emancipate humanity, and supplant unscientific means and so-called laws.” 

Mary Baker Eddy -  Science & Health Page 223:14-24

“Brother, we find that stillness now. The way is open. ³Now we follow it in peace together. You have reached your hand to me, and I will never leave you. We are one, and it is but this oneness that we seek, as we accomplish these few final steps which end a journey that was not begun.”

A Course in Miracles W-225.2:1-5