Infinite Possibilities!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIs Workbook Lesson #251

“I am in need of nothing but the truth."

Ask a group of people “What is truth?” and you will receive as many answers as there are people asked, don’t you think? You’ll hear talk of “my truth” and “your truth”, but hardly ever does Truth with a capital “T” come into the conversation. I’m beginning to understand that Truth is always unfolding as individual intuition and inspiration. This Truth doesn’t stand still in one spot and ask to be defined. It’s not opinion or belief, but rather the ideas heard within ourselves when listening for divine Mind which is the source of all. Leaving behind mortal mind’s ego definitions of the truth of our being opens the door to infinite possibilities! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive.” Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 453:12-13

Adventures Unlimited

"Mongolia" photo credit, Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #250

“Let me not see myself as limited." 

Thinking of ourselves as unlimited contradicts everything we've been taught. From our first steps, we're told to be careful or else something dire will happen. Quantum physics is helping us to understand that form isn't as solid as we've always believed. With that understanding, it becomes clear that many limitations we've placed upon ourselves are nothing more than beliefs in material laws. Limitations are set aside when an athlete breaks a record in the Olympics, or if someone performs a seemingly-impossible feat like lifting a car off of a trapped loved one. We've all heard people tell tales we think of as supernatural, such as falling great distances and feeling as though they landed on a cushion, or so-called incurable diseases disappearing. I'm not suggesting we exchange one human belief for yet another, but that we look to divine Mind to tell us the truth of our being and that we allow ourselves to be led in paths we wouldn't have considered otherwise. Thought is shifting so rapidly at this time! Let's not be afraid to listen.

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence the unsatisfied human craving for something better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a material belief in a physical God and man.” Science & Health Page 258: 1-6

Bathed in Beauty and Light

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #249

“Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss."

I remember a time when so-called new age thought was not often spoken of in the media or anywhere other than the privacy of our homes. Now these new-old ideas are seen and heard everywhere. Every day we are witness to more proof that this shift in consciousness is happening now -- and we're talking about it! Thanks, Oprah! Even when these ideas are fictionalized, as in best-selling novels such as "The Lost Symbol", the possibilities presented are easily translated into plausible realities. This shift in consciousness allows us to naturally embrace peace and harmony, and we each support this realization in our own individual way. Every instance of pure peace we feel, each yielding of our personal sense to spiritual sense, brings us closer to living Love, which is where we always have been, but we've forgotten. We are all needed at this time, to calm the tumultuous collective thought which fights the idea of such freedom!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light."

Science & Health Page 516:9-13

Freedom Through Truth

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #248

“Whatever suffers is not part of me."

"Whatever suffers is not part of me" could possibly be taken as an unfeeling, heartless statement. I see it as an expression of pure Love which allows us to pass through illusions into the reality of good, God. The death of a loved one is difficult in many ways, but I think the myths we have concocted surrounding this passage may do more harm than good. We tell children they'll see grandma in heaven. We say things like, God took her to be with him because she was so good. These words are spoken in the name of kindness. As we begin to understand divine reality, we are released from the stories we tell ourselves in favor of the Truth which sets us free! I'll always remember reading the book, "Beloved Prophet", which is the story of Kahlil Gibran and the woman who loved him. She sat at his funeral with a peaceful smile on her face, and when asked asked why she wasn't upset, she responded that she had never felt closer to him. What a lovely realization of Oneness and eternity!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sensation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity of all material things; and that immortal cravings, “the price of learning love,” establish the truism that the only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot suffer."

Science & Health Page 108:5-11

Forgive and Live!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #247

“Without forgiveness I will still be blind."

Do you have an incident from childhood which has stayed with you, perhaps even affecting the way you live today? I know someone who, as a young child, caught her mother in a compromising position with a man other than her father. She refuses to marry. I know a man who found his father dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. His whole life is a series of dramatic events which he blames on that incident. I'm sure you know many stories, too. The Disappearance of the Universe, a book by Gary Renard, speaks to these events such as these, and more. When we let go of beliefs, we can turn loose our history, too. I love hearing stories of people who live through horrendous-seeming events and remain not only happy but proactive. This thing we call forgiveness isn't some sort of divine pardon, but a yielding within ourselves to purity of thought, without the impediments of holding on to memories of wrongdoing, resentment, and pain of all sorts. This yielding includes the release of things which we think have been done to us and things we think we have done to others. So let's choose again, rest in Love, and go forward, with joy!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “As the crude footprints of the past disappear from the dissolving paths of the present, we shall better understand the Science which governs these changes, and shall plant our feet on firmer ground.”  Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 223:4-7

Protected by Love

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Lesson #246

“To love my Father is to love His Son."

"Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you." This Mary Baker Eddy quote is one of my favorites, which I've always thought of as meaning that the human hatred others feel cannot reach me when I'm wearing the armor of divine Love. I now see that it includes the hatred I may feel toward others, also. It's very easy for me to think that I don't hate anyone or anything. Actually, it's a word I have pruned from my vocabulary and simply do not use. BUT if I am irritated by another's actions or words, or if I replay a past situation in my mind which caused anger in the past, or if I allow criticism to gnaw at me and I think of retaliatory statements which could have been said -- isn't that human hatred? Wearing this cloak of Love calms these nagging feelings and thoughts. I know that if I'm wearing the protection of Love, hatred cannot enter from inside or out!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and son, are one in being.”  Science & Health Page 361:16-18

A Peaceful Mind

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #245

“Your peace is with me, Father.  I am safe."

Although I know that peace is a choice within my own self, I want to share it with everyone, everywhere. It has taken quite a while to grasp the concept that the only thought I can change is my own! After years of trying to change loved ones, I think it was my children who finally taught me the meaning of Oneness. They showed me this as I watched the household mood change its tone along with my emotions. Holding to peace within myself is all I can do — and that’s a lot! Jumping on the bandwagon of resentment or other negative emotions can seem impossible to avoid, but it’s possible to simply witness these things without becoming a part of them. While I can't change what anyone else is thinking or feeling or experiencing, I can adjust my vision of reality. Every thought is important! We’re all in this together, in every way, at every moment. And so today I will make an effort to see through the eyes of Love, excluding nothing, no matter what!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.” Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 264:24-27