Identity as Living Love

Parade in Eureka Springs, AR

Photo by Richard Quick

A Course in Miracles tells us that the body is a communication device; that it is a tool to be used and then laid aside when its use is over. In this world, we have mistaken the body for our true identity. If we no longer see our body as either good or bad, but rather as a totally neutral thing, it can be realized as what it is in truth: an extension of Love. A dear man reminded me of something a mutual friend said about Love: there is no unconditional love, only Love. If there are conditions, it’s not really Love! Today I shall think of my body in this way, too, without conditions and limitations, but only as the Idea it is!

“Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love.” 

Mary Baker Eddy  - Science & Health Page 477:20-22

“My true Identity abides in You. Father, I made an image of myself, and it is this I call the Son of God. Yet is creation as it always was, for Your creation is unchangeable. Let me not worship idols. I am he my Father loves. My holiness remains the light of Heaven and the Love of God. Is not what is beloved of You secure? Is not the light of Heaven infinite? Is not Your Son my true Identity, when You created everything that is?

“Now are we one in shared Identity, with God our Father as our only Source, and everything created part of us. And so we offer blessing to all things, uniting lovingly with all the world, which our forgiveness has made one with us.”

A Course in Miracles W-283.1:1–2:2

I Will Not Be Afraid of Love Today

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

A friend from the west coast visits our village once a year. We were having a conversation and he told me he has decided he is incapable of love. Now this is the kind of statement I relish, because I know we're going to have a great conversation! I started out asking him if he's ever loved an animal. "Sure," he says, "but I can't love another person." After asking him a barrage of questions, I dropped the major Truth that he refuses to accept: There is only one Love, expressed in whatever way we choose. This is a man whose company I enjoy for his love of music, his passion for quantum physics, and his never-ending interest in things he doesn't understand. He went away pondering that there is no such thing as an inability to love, only a decision to choose something else instead. I look forward to our next conversation!

“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.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 454:21-23

“I will not be afraid of love today. If I could realize but this today, salvation would be reached for all the world. This the decision not to be insane, and to accept myself as God Himself, my Father and my Source, created me. This the determination not to be asleep in dreams of death, while truth remains forever living in the joy of love. And this the choice to recognize the Self Whom God created as the Son He loves, and Who remains my one Identity.

“Father, Your Name is Love and so is mine. Such is the truth. And can the truth be changed by merely giving it another name? The name of fear is simply a mistake. Let me not be afraid of truth today.”

A Course in Miracles W-282.1:1–2:5

Is It True?

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

How would you feel if everyone defined you by the “worst” thing you ever did in your life? At a celebratory event, I did just that. I saw a young woman, whom I remembered from her teen years. Although I didn’t know her well, I remembered a particularly unfortunate event in her younger life. That would have been all right if I had turned it around and remembered her as the innocent child that we all truly are. I shared my ugly memory of her with the woman sitting next to me, and later with someone else. I’ve felt regret ever since.  When something keeps coming back to my mind, I know it needs examination. I’m remembering “The Work” by Byron Katie. Before I repeat something in the future, I shall ask myself these questions: “Is it true?  Can you absolutely know that it's true? How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought? Who would you be without the thought?” For someone like me who is “into” the truth, I sure fell into the ditch on this one! 

“When examined in the light of divine Science, mortals present more than is detected upon the surface, since inverted thoughts and erroneous beliefs must be counterfeits of Truth.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 267:19-22

“I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts. Father, Your Son is perfect. When I think that I am hurt in any way, it is because I have forgotten who I am, and that I am as You created me. Your Thoughts can only bring me happiness. If ever I am sad or hurt or ill, I have forgotten what You think, and put my little meaningless ideas in place of where Your Thoughts belong, and where they are. I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts. The Thoughts I think with You can only bless. The Thoughts I think with You alone are true.

“I will not hurt myself today. For I am far beyond all pain. My Father placed me safe in Heaven, watching over me. And I would not attack the Son He loves, for what He loves is also mine to love.”

A Course in Miracles W-281.1:1–2:4

Where Learning is a Joy …

Kindergarten, Clear Spring School, 1994

The Clear Spring School has been a recurring topic in these writings for the last 13 years. And this month we celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary! What a joyous celebration it has been, with the school’s founders, its supporters, its teachers, and many students who came together to express gratitude for the ongoing stellar educational opportunities which have been provided for five decades. This little “miracle in the woods” — as the school has been dubbed by many who marvel at its amazing history — is the epitome of a village raising its children. When my boys  and I moved here 30 years ago, specifically for the school, I was amazed by the atmosphere of caring expressed by teachers and parents. We helped each other car pool to school, fostered friendships by helping each other with childcare outside of school, enjoyed soccer weekends, camping trips — well, it truly does take a village to raise a child! And many of those children we all raised were there to share in their gratitude and hope for the future of this sweet idea, which was brought to physical reality all those years ago, and which continues to evolve and flower to this day. The goodness we see in students echos back the limitless possibilities we dreamed for our children. And a beautiful world is manifested right before our eyes!

“What limits can I lay upon God’s Son? Whom God created limitless is free. I can invent imprisonment for him, but only in illusions, not in truth. No Thought of God has left its Father’s Mind. No Thought of God is limited at all.⁵No Thought of God but is forever pure. Can I lay limits on the Son of God, whose Father willed that he be limitless, and like Himself in freedom and in love?

“Today let me give honor to Your Son, for thus alone I find the way to You. Father, I lay no limits on the Son You love and You created limitless. The honor that I give to him is Yours, and what is Yours belongs to me as well.”

A Course in Miracles W-280.1:1–2:3

“Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health Page 123:12-15

Creation’s Freedom

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

When we are told we are free, we have images of what that means, and perhaps these imaginings cause us to wonder about our perceived bondage. I know I live with limiting beliefs every day, and it often seems impossible to be released from them. We think a multitude of rules and beliefs must be obeyed in order to survive and thrive, and when we start to realize most of these so-called rules have nothing to do with our true existence, it can be frightening -- and exhilarating! The freedom of our true creation is seen through a change in our perception of reality. Taking ourselves out of the prison of preconceived notions allows  Love (of which we are a reflection) to show through our actions in sublime ways. And we glimpse freedom!

“The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind’s creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness — yea, the divine nature — appear in man and the universe never to disappear.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health Page 509:24-28

“Creation’s freedom promises my own. The end of dreams is promised me, because God’s Son is not abandoned by His Love. Only in dreams is there a time when he appears to be in prison, and awaits a future freedom, if it be at all. Yet in reality his dreams are gone, with truth established in their place. And now is freedom his already. Should I wait in chains which have been severed for release, when God is offering me freedom now?

“I will accept Your promises today, and give my faith to them. My Father loves the Son Whom He created as His Own. Would You withhold the gifts You gave to me?”

A Course in Miracles W-279.1:1–2:3

Feeling the Freedom

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

Do you feel that you are free? The complications of daily life can sometimes feel overwhelming. It's easy to feel trapped by illnesses and injuries, financial burdens, grief. We want to help our loved ones in times of trouble, and perhaps we feel helpless. Physicists tell us of a perspective called quantum entanglement, in which particles separate yet remain connected, reacting to stimuli in the same way even though they no longer occupy the same space. In a book by Dan Cowan, Mind Underlies Spacetime, he explains, "...this direct connectedness occurs because each real entity is already everywhere." How perfectly this explains Oneness! This omnipresence is our perfect identity, without boundaries. Our ACIM Workbook Lesson tells us that if we are bound, our [Creator] is not free. That sounds like an impossibility to me. Let’s celebrate our freedom today!

“The admission to one's self that man is God's own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 90:24-25

“If I am bound, my Father is not free. If I accept that I am prisoner within a body, in a world in which all things that seem to live appear to die, then is my Father prisoner with me. And this do I believe, when I maintain the laws the world obeys must I obey; the frailties and the sins which I perceive are real, and cannot be escaped. If I am bound in any way, I do not know my Father nor my Self. And I am lost to all reality. For truth is free, and what is bound is not a part of truth.

“Father, I ask for nothing but the truth. I have had many foolish thoughts about myself and my creation, and have brought a dream of fear into my mind. Today, I would not dream. I choose the way to You instead of madness and instead of fear. For truth is safe, and only love is sure.”

A Course in Miracles W-278.1:1–2:5

A Universal Shift

A universal shift in thought is upon us, and we're each feeling it in our own way. Through the understanding that our true identity is spiritual and that we’re not bound by material beliefs, we are coming to a tipping point in humanity. Mass media and collective human consciousness tell us what to expect from material laws of cause and effect. Just think about how many things have been "proven" untrue which we learned as "fact" at some point. We can laugh when we see old advertisements proclaiming that lard makes families happy, or that cigarettes are good for you, but many of us are frightened by giving up the crutches we have relied on for years. Today I will notice the appearance of long-held beliefs telling me what is good and bad for me. I hope to listen with divine Mind  for Truth and allow for shifts in actions!

“Laws of nature are laws of Spirit; but mortals commonly recognize as law that which hides the power of Spirit. Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obedience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made for any lesser loyalty. Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength. Submission to error superinduces loss of power.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 183:19-25

“Let us not worship idols, nor believe in any law idolatry would make to hide the freedom of the Son of God. He is not bound except by his beliefs. Yet what he is, is far beyond his faith in slavery or freedom. He is free because he is his Father’s Son. And he cannot be bound unless God’s truth can lie, and God can will that He deceive Himself.”

A Course in Miracles W-277.2:1-5