I Don’t Have to Agree With My Thoughts

Creation from Sandy Wythawai Starbird

The first thought you have in the morning sets the feeling of the day. I’ve said this many times in these writings, and I always try to awaken with the recitation of a spiritual truth and a happy thought. But this morning I woke up with the words of a power-hungry man in my head, complete with the vision of his maniacal face imprinted in my memory. It was a great comfort to go to the Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson for today, which reminded me that “I am not a victim of the world I see.” And then Coreen Walston and Nouk Sanchez helped me understand how it is possible to hear awful things, without feeling victimized. Coreen said: “Let everything just move through, peacefully, noticing thoughts as they pass through our awareness, without agreeing with them or colluding with them.” Thank you, sister Coreen! Later in the day I heard Joe Dispenza talking about quantum physics, explaining why our thoughts affect everything around us. He mentioned that our brain can’t tell the difference in something that has actually happened and something which we are imagining happening. This all seems to tie together and I’ve been pondering it all day. Your comments will be appreciated!

“Have faith in only this one thing, and it will be sufficient: God wills you be in Heaven, and nothing can keep you from it, or it from you. Your wildest misperceptions, your weird imaginings, your blackest nightmares all mean nothing. They will not prevail against the peace God wills for you. The Holy Spirit will restore your sanity because insanity is not the Will of God. If that suffices Him, it is enough for you. You will not keep what God would have removed, because it breaks communication with you with whom He would communicate. His Voice will be heard.”
A Course in Miracles T-13.XI.7:1-7)

“The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas.”
MaryBaker Eddy - Science & Health Page 123:11-15

The Double Threat of Defensiveness

After watching a documentary called “The Fight Before Christmas”, I have a better understanding of how people manipulate facts to turn them into half-truths. In this film, a man in Idaho wants to decorate his house to the hilt, including live camels and other excesses. He plans to have people come from far and near to enjoy hot cocoa and sing carols. His neighbors think this is a bad idea. He does it anyway. Well, this seems like a straightforward situation, but the decorating man calls news media and starts a campaign against what he calls his anti-Christian neighbors. He turns the whole scenario into an attack against himself, claiming to be an innocent man who is only trying to save Christmas. Well, this story has twists and turns and unkind actions on both sides. But what struck me about it was how easy it was for him to portray himself as a victim and set his neighbors up to be grinches and horrid people. I’m not sure why I’m writing about this, other than it has stuck with me. I keep feeling the neighbors’ sense of hopelessness in the face of a pointless attack. Also, it turns out this guy wanted to run for political office and was trying to make a name for himself. Which he has done. 

“The world gives rise but to defensiveness. For threat brings anger, anger makes attack seem reasonable, honestly provoked, and righteous in the name of self-defense. Yet is defensiveness a double threat. For it attests to weakness, and sets up a system of defense that cannot work. Now are the weak still further undermined, for there is treachery without and still a greater treachery within. The mind is now confused, and knows not where to turn to find escape from its imaginings.” 

A Course in Miracles W-153.2:1-6

“Evil thoughts, lusts, and malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen, from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 231:31-3

Empathy: A Beautiful Act of Rebellion

On the podcast, Politics Girl, the host, Leigh McGowan interviews an authoritarian expert, Andrea Chalupa. She began her interview by saying that the only way through these trying times is to embrace our inner strength, and that will give us the super power we need. In order to recognize and grow this strength, we must cultivate a daily practice which we hold as sacred. You may already have a morning study of prayer and meditation. Perhaps you spend time in nature, finding your center with the trees and animals. Yoga and/or Tai Chi is a way to find inner peace and connection with all that Is. Do not fall into despair because you feel overwhelmed by all this “shock and awe”. Ms. McGowan made this grand statement: “In an age of cruelty, empathy becomes a beautiful act of rebellion.”
I love that …

“The changelessness of Heaven is in you, so deep within that nothing in this world but passes by, unnoticed and unseen.The still infinity of endless peace surrounds you gently in its soft embrace, so strong and quiet, tranquil in the might of its Creator, nothing can intrude upon the sacred Son of God within.”
A Course in Miracles T-29.V.2:3-4

“Practice, not profession, — goodness, not doctrines, — spiritual understanding, not mere belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence, and call down blessings infinite.”
5Mary Baker Eddy - Pulpit and Press Page 9:26-29

Giving Peace and Happiness

Art by Peter Max

Sometimes we feel as though our peace has been taken from us by external events. I remember years ago when I took a course in Oneness Blessing. This process appeals to me because there is no need to delve into all the reasons we are not peaceful. When becoming a Oneness Blessing Giver, you first go through an intense day of releasing the past. We started with rectifying our relationships with our parents. And this is not done by counting all the ways we feel we have been wronged, or that we have wronged them. It is a release of guilt and blame, then a replacement of the space left with the realization of divine Love. When you are given this Oneness Blessing you can expect to feel happiness. After completing my training, I gave a blessing to my son, and he immediately started to laugh. I asked why: was he nervous? No, he said, he just felt happy. And that is what this transmission of divine Love is all about: feeling happy and sharing the peace of God. The best gift of all!

“This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace. The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 96:12-20

“Holy child of God, when will you learn that only holiness can content you and give you peace? Remember that you learn not for yourself alone, no more than I did. It is because I learned for you that you can learn of me. I would but teach you what is yours, so that together we can replace the shabby littleness that binds the host of God to guilt and weakness with the glad awareness of the glory that is in him. My birth in you is your awakening to grandeur. Welcome me not into a manger, but into the altar to holiness, where holiness abides in perfect peace. My Kingdom is not of this world because it is in you. And you are of your Father. Let us join in honoring you, who must remain forever beyond littleness.”
A Course in Miracles T-15.III.9:1-9

Translation Into Heaven

The divisions we are witnessing among everyday people are heartbreaking. Ten years ago, I didn’t hesitate to say anything to anybody. The assurance which comes from naivety is a thing of the past with me. Nowadays, it’s become second nature to censor my opinions about certain subjects. And in that light, I wonder at people who seem to bait others with their social media posts. Perhaps they still think that if people with differing ideas about important topics only knew what they thought, then they would see the light and change their mind. And that is what I’ve learned in the last decade: I really, truly cannot change anyone’s thoughts but my own. While I still drive around with a “,la” hat on my dash, I wouldn’t bring up a political topic at my duplicate bridge games for anything! But when I hear about injustice and bigotry being whitewashed into acceptable behavior, it will be translated in my thoughts; translated into how divine Love, God, sees such things. And guess what? Love does not see it, because “…it is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity”.

“The destruction of the claims of mortal mind through Science, by which man can escape from sin and mortality, blesses the whole human family. As in the beginning, however, this liberation does not scientifically show itself in a knowledge of both good and evil, for the latter is unreal.

On the other hand, Mind-science is wholly separate from any half-way impertinent knowledge, because Mind-science is of God and demonstrates the divine Principle, working out the purposes of good only. The maximum of good is the infinite God and His idea, the All-in-all. Evil is a suppositional lie.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 103:6-17

“This is a very simple course. Perhaps you do not feel you need a course which, in the end, teaches that only reality is true. But do you believe it? When you perceive the real world, you will recognize that you did not believe it. Yet the swiftness with which your new and only real perception will be translated into knowledge will leave you but an instant to realize that this alone is true. And then everything you made will be forgotten; the good and the bad, the false and the true. For as Heaven and earth become one, even the real world will vanish from your sight. The end of the world is not its destruction, but its translation into Heaven. The reinterpretation of the world is the transfer of all perception to knowledge.”
A Course in Miracles T-11.VIII.1:1-9

Less Segregation; Stronger Democracy

Good Friends — Marsha and Richard

“Blueprint, the Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society”, is a book written by Nicholas Christkis, a professor at Yale. His basic premise is that love, friendship, cooperation, and teaching have been hardwired into human beings, but we tend to deploy these qualities selectively, only toward those who are like ourselves. He says America is an unprecedented social experiment, testing whether we humans can share these behaviors more broadly. This statement of his feels especially true: “The less segregated we are — not just racially, but by ideology, religion, income, and education — the stronger the democracy.” His conclusions I’m sure are many, but one discussed in this review is that we need to overcome the urge to tribalism, if we are to have a diverse democracy. He believes that political tides can push against our innate desire for love, friendship, and cooperation, “but only for a while.” I am thrilled to read of this and other messages of hope! 

"It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man wlll be established." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 467:9

“The Holy Spirit was given you with perfect impartiality, and only by recognizing Him impartially can you recognize Him at all. The ego is legion, but the Holy Spirit is one. No darkness abides anywhere in the Kingdom, but your part is only to allow no darkness to abide in your own mind. This alignment with light is unlimited, because it is in alignment with the light of the world. Each of us is the light of the world, and by joining our minds in this light we proclaim the Kingdom of God together and as one.” 

A Course in Miracles T-6.II.13:1-5

Athirst in the Desert

I am a fan of Facebook. I’ve never enjoyed the other facets of social media, and only used them to promote my gallery when it was open. That was my original reason for signing up for Facebook: business promotion. But now, I enjoy it because it keeps me up to date on local events, it informs me of who may have passed away in the night, I get to see my friends’ gardens who live far, far away — not to mention Wordle comparisons!  I think of it like driving a car: it’s not the ideal form of transportation, but isn’t it fun! I unfollow disagreeable people, allowing into my feed only happy things. Some of my friends post their political opinions, and I sometimes look at what people have to say about it (for instance, Steve Grant at KY3 in Springfield). It’s shocking in its ferocity. I’m happy to see and hear the many religious leaders who are reiterating Jesus’s words of peace. My gratitude for them is immense. May we never be silenced when speaking truth …

“The way out of conflict between two opposing thought systems is clearly to choose one and relinquish the other. If you identify with your thought system, and you cannot escape this, and if you accept two thought systems which are in complete disagreement, peace of mind is impossible. If you teach both, which you will surely do as long as you accept both, you are teaching conflict and learning it. Yet you do want peace, or you would not have called upon the Voice for peace to help you. Its lesson is not insane; the conflict is.”

A Course in Miracles T-6.V-B.5:1-5

“Millions of unprejudiced minds — simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert — are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, and never fear the consequences.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 570:14-18