Love Without Expectations

ACIM Workbook Lesson #343

"I am not asked to make a sacrifice

To find the mercy and the peace of God."

What if all I need do to find peace is to stop thinking habitual, limiting thoughts? Let's say someone wants to change a personal relationship which we've had for some time. An example is when my son was 14 and he told me he didn't belong here, in this town, going to this school. My first thoughts were ones of blame -- toward myself and him. Why would he want to leave? What have I done to cause him to feel this way? Looking back, I see that his going away to school was the best thing that could have happened for both of us, but at the time it felt devastating. Living with the certainty that all is well, yielding to the intuitions given by divine Love, allows relationships to ebb and flow with nourishing experiences.  What a joy it is to give up personal agendas and preconceived notions of how things should be,  welcoming Love without the expectations we so often have of others! I feel no sense of sacrifice in this trade-off!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“…divine Principle never repents, but maintains the claim of Truth by quenching error. The pardon of divine mercy is the destruction of error.” Science & Health Page 329:24-26 

Knowing the Truth

"Self and self"
created by Sandy Wythawai Starbird

ACIM Workbook Lesson #342

"I let forgiveness rest upon all things,

For thus forgiveness will be given me."

I am amazed that it is so difficult to accept myself for what I truly am! In Christian Science, this acceptance is often called "knowing the Truth”; in A Course in Miracles, it is known as forgiveness. Of course, there are many other ways to define this, but it's all semantics. What it boils down to is not just talking about this Principle, but really, truly knowing it! We are not material, we are spiritual. Spiritual perception is reality; material illusion is just that. I can talk about this until the cows come home, but it doesn't make it true in this reality I’ve created unless I quit talking and begin knowing! Our learned behavior is strong, but not as strong as Truth. Ego, mortal mind, wants us to stay with what seems real. I've convinced myself it is real and it seems impossible to release this fallacy, but I shall hold to the Truth of spiritual reality until the false falls away. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things. The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth. Spiritual facts are not inverted; the opposite discord, which bears no resemblance to spirituality, is not real. The only evidence of this inversion is obtained from suppositional error, which affords no proof of God, Spirit, or of the spiritual creation. Material sense defines all things materially, and has a finite sense of the infinite."

Science & Health Page 207:27-4

No Defense in Love

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #341

"I can attack but my own sinlessness, and it is only that which keeps me safe."

From today's introduction to the next workbook lessons: "A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false." Today starts a ten-day study of "What is a Miracle?" The need to defend and attack cannot come from the reflection of God. Divine Love does not need to defend itself or fear anything, as it knows nothing of such things. The world we live in was made to hide the innocence which is our Being. Viewed through the miracle of forgiveness, we see a world different than one viewed through the eyes of revenge and retribution. I may see a dream of darkness, but Truth is light. You may be interested in reading more. If so, here is a link: http://acim.org/Lessons/lesson.html?lesson=341

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love."

Science & Health Page 494:15

Relaxing Into Silence

photo credit: richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #340

"I can be free of suffering today."

Perhaps you know someone who feels they are following their path, who works hard to make a living in this way, yet seems to fail at every turn? I have a friend who is fearfully wondering why this is, and so I ask her: Are you desiring success or are you finding ways to understand your Being as the expression of God? Are you joyful in everything you do? Are you grateful for every little thing which brightens your day? It seems to me that people are dropping their negative reactions and unfounded beliefs, but often are floundering because they have nothing to fill the void left from this letting go. I feel that some sort of active spiritual practice is necessary to facilitate a joyful existence. So my advice is to go to Sufi dances, or practice yoga, or study the teachings of something you feel demonstrates Truth. But most importantly, meditate. Make time to relax into the silence, regularly and as often as possible. And don't forget that five seconds of stillness, caught in between activity is priceless!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual." Science & Health Page 265:25-30

A Crysalis State of Thought

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #339

"I will receive whatever I request."

Years ago, I had an acquaintance who was in a horrendous automobile accident. The first thing he said to me when I spoke with him afterwards was, I always knew I’d be in a bad wreck. There are people who would say this statement was a premonition of the future; others would say he caused the situation because he thought about it with intense energy. Other thought systems may blame a person for their illnesses and the trauma in their lives, perhaps saying they have chosen these paths for themselves to make up for a past life or to learn something they need to know. This is why I love our teachings so much: It just doesn’t matter! We are learning what our true self is, without the beliefs and fears and supposititious realities we believe to be truth. And that is all that matters! We are learning to know ourselves as the experience of Mind, the reflection of Love, the interpretation of Truth. What a peaceful path to walk! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Faith is higher and more spiritual than belief. It is a chrysalis state of human thought, in which spiritual evidence, contradicting the testimony of material sense, begins to appear, and Truth, the ever-present, is becoming understood." Science & Health Page 297:20-24

Exalted Thought

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #338

"I am affected only by my thoughts."

It is estimated that we have more than 50,000 thoughts every day. As I heard Wayne Dyer tell us in one of his outstanding talks, the problem with this is that the thousands of thoughts we have today are the same ones we had yesterday! Waking up from the circular thinking in which we are trapped requires an honesty we’re not accustomed to practicing. I know habitual thought is not an easy habit to break, but the desire to do so is the first step. Just like changing any behavior, you have to want to change or you never will. How can we begin to think differently? We can’t simply stop thinking, but we can exchange the trivial musings for substantial ideas. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” As I go through this day, I’ll often ask myself: What would Eleanor think? Namastè, each and every One! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.” Science & Health Page 299:1-11

United in Mind

"Thailand"
photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #336

"Forgiveness lets me know that minds are joined."

[Today’s lesson is so beautifully perfect that I am simply going to post it here!]

“Forgiveness is the means appointed for perception's ending. Knowledge is restored after perception first is changed, and then gives way entirely to what remains forever past its highest reach. For sights and sounds, at best, can serve but to recall the memory that lies beyond them all. Forgiveness sweeps away distortions, and opens the hidden altar to the truth. Its lilies shine into the mind, and call it to return and look within, to find what it has vainly sought without. For here, and only here, is peace of mind restored, for this the dwelling place of God Himself.

In quiet may forgiveness wipe away my dreams of separation and of sin. Then let me, Father, look within, and find Your promise of my sinlessness is kept; Your Word remains unchanged within my mind, Your Love is still abiding in my heart.” [ACIM workbook lesson #336]

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes for destruction. The more material the belief, the more obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its domain, dominates all matter, and man is found in the likeness of Spirit, his original being."

Science & Health Page 97:14-20