Points of View

photo credit: Alden Stallings

ACIM Workbook Lesson #39:

"My holiness is my salvation."

My iPad died this morning. This may not be more than an inconvenience for many people, but I felt like I’d lost a friend. Every task I attempted today seemed stymied in one way or another. Finally, I realized that my off-centered-ness probably stemmed from the fact that I had neglected to set my intention first thing in the morning as I usually do. This activity could be called prayer, or meditation, or study — I think it encompasses all these things, and I had done none of them. Now, I am not trying to imply that if I had started my day recognizing my holiness, that my iPad wouldn’t have died. BUT I certainly would have looked at the situation differently from the grief which I felt! So I started my day over, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. Suddenly I remembered that a year or so ago a friend on the west coast had told me he never used his iPad and if I ever needed it, I could have it. And so I called him and it will be in the mail tomorrow. This feels like salvation to me! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“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.”

Science & Health Page 509:24-28

Expanding Thought

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #38:

"There is nothing my holiness cannot do"

I love the first two sentences of today's ACIM lesson: "Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind." Haven't you always felt this to be true? Isn't that the appeal of Harry Potter books and movies? We know -- we just know! -- that there is more to all this than meets the mortal eye.  I get very excited when pondering these concepts! I'm so grateful to live in an age when we can write and talk about such topics. It hasn't been that long ago that people were thought subversive and perhaps crazy to speak of these concepts. I will spend today celebrating no limits to thought and dedicating myself to expansion!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth." 

Science & Health Page 95:28-32

We Are The World

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #37

"My holiness blesses the world."

Have you seen the movie or read the book, “The Hundred-Foot Journey”? It’s very beautiful for many reasons. We are shown lovely French countryside, exquisite food, and a wonderful acceptance of and by people who are learning about their Oneness. When we accept our holiness, we do so by realizing that we are the expression of God. When we see this truth, we understand that we are not alone, as we are all the reflection of divine Mind. How can we express racial prejudice, or any other form of hatred and fear, when we know these things? I am freed by the understanding that the act of seeing everything in its spiritual reality is my function. It is everyone's function! By our realization of spiritual Truth, we see that everything is already complete and whole. I look forward to seeing more of this expanding vision which awaits us, just beyond the horizon of our material views.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model?" "We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives." 

Science & Health Page 248:15-17 and 26-29

Overwhelming Gratitude

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #36

"My holiness envelopes everything I see."

In the 1970s, I spent a good deal of time in a bar called The Swingin' Door. I fell in love with Texas music and more than one musician. It was an interesting time in popular music history, with the Beatles still stirring our souls and disco bringing a canned cadence to music most of the people in my circles shunned. We were all sure we knew the secret to happiness, and holiness had absolutely nothing to do with it. As years passed in a blur, we found the alcohol and drugs no longer brought satisfaction. It took years for me to realize that holiness was found within and reflected outwardly in everything. What a long and interesting road it's been to this point. The gratitude I feel for Life is overwhelming!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree, will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character."

Science & Health Page 492:7-11

Expansive Ideas of Mind

photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook lesson #35

"My mind is part of God. I am very holy."

Stepping outside our ideas of who and what we are can be an interesting experiment — and we are asked to stand back and do so in today’s lesson. The reason for this is that we cannot possibly understand what it means to be part of divine Mind, accepting our holiness, as long as we’re seeing ourselves as all the beliefs we have built up over a lifetime. These beliefs we hold about ourselves may be positively grandiose or absolutely debased, it matters not, as they all veil our unity with divine Love. Time and again in these studies we have been and will be asked to give up all our beliefs about ourselves as a person, exchanging them for the expansive ideas of Mind. We are asking Holy Spirit who we truly are, and there is no reason to fear Love’s answer!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science.”

Science & Health Page 469:30-5

Peace in the Valley

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #34:

"I could see peace instead of this."

Family disputes, contentious work situations, people reacting from fear and anger -- Even if we're not directly involved in these scenarios, we are given the opportunity to "see peace instead of this". We are learning to sit quietly, with Love, and watch how spiritual truth brings healing. Peace is inherent in every seemingly volatile situation, and a calm glow is brought forth when Love is felt within our own self. By practicing peace, we are allowed to witness its inevitable spread through everything it touches. We can all recount situations where we have witnessed harmony restored through calm assertive behavior. I remember a time when three angry young people were drained of aggression as I stood in front of them smiling and thinking of their perfection as an expression of God. This instance has strengthened my vow to keep on looking at the world through those proverbial rose-colored glasses!

   

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose 'light shall we see light;' and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.”

Science & Health Page 510:9-12

Another Way to See

EurekaGras Parade

ACIM Workbook Lesson #33:

"There is another way of looking at the world."

This lesson asks us to look at things around us and then to look at our thoughts. This is to be done casually, with no judgment, only noticing. Okay. I'm looking around the room. The first thing I see is a lamp which was bought at a Clear Spring School benefit auction. Interestingly, it was donated by Victorian Reflections, a shop which occupied the space my art gallery was in for years. This lamp has a story and it brings back lots of memories and feelings within me, all lovely to remember. When I close my eyes and follow my thoughts, a long trail has opened up with memory links galore! I could follow them and spend a great deal of time living in the past, or I can simply see it for what it is and ask myself why that lamp makes me smile. It represents to me light, beauty, happy times with children and friends. Whether this exercise brought me lovely thoughts or caused distress makes no difference, because they both need to be released. This doesn't mean that I must never feel the Love reflected by this lamp and its connections. That feeling is mine all the time. This release thins the barriers I've built against Spirit. It helps me become more transparent and allows good, God, to be my only sight. What an adventure this is!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought shall be real to you,--the material or the spiritual? Both you cannot have. You are bringing out your own ideal. This ideal is either temporal or eternal. Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you try to have two models, then you practically have none. Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the real and the unreal."

Science & Health Page 360:13-21