Bathed in Beauty and Light

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #305 “There is a peace that Christ bestows on us.”

What is the second coming? This is the question A Course in Miracles has been exploring recently. We're learning that it's an internal awakening. It involves seeing and feeling the never-beginning, never-ending Truth of our being. This burgeoning understanding has brought me the peace which intellectual reasoning never did. I see the world as a loving place, filled with people who care about each other and their environment. In the past, people would tell me, on a regular basis, why they felt the world was a hate-filled place of irrevocable turmoil. Now it's a rarity. Have they changed or have I? Is there a difference if we're all One? Love = Peace = Harmony. Feel the Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light.”

Science & Health Page 516:9-13

Glimpses of Possibilities

ACIM Workbook Lesson #304 “Let not my world obscure the sight of Christ.”

Throughout the ages, we've been given glimpses of unrealized possibilities. As attested by powerful mythological and fictional characters, we have longed for the ability to change what seems to be the reality of situations in and around our personal existence. The world tells us that we are victims of circumstance, with life experiences being changed at the whim of happenstance. Every time we hear a story telling of something we think is impossible, but which contains an outcome so beautiful we wish and hope it is true, let's contemplate the fact that there are no limits. Who knows what we're capable of doing? We seem to exceed expected outcomes in every avenue of existence. Wasn't it said that running a mile in less than four minutes was impossible? Today I set free any thought of limitation, any assumptions I may have as to what's what, and by doing so open the inner door to new sight!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Corporeal sense, or error, may seem to hide Truth, health, harmony, and Science, as the mist obscures the sun or the mountain; but Science, the sunshine of Truth, will melt away the shadow and reveal the celestial peaks.”

Science & Health Page 299:26-30

Releasing Connotations

photo credit: Alden Stallings

ACIM Workbook Lesson #303 “The holy Christ is born in me today.”

These writings often contain words which elicit negative reactions in many of us. Within myself, I have watched them dissipate by letting go of preconceived meanings and learned dogma. "The Christ is born in me today" is the acknowledgement that the presence of God is within. Please, please, change these words into whatever feels right to you. And please, please don't allow these words' connotations to turn you away from the Love which you are. If you feel disoriented and sort of happily confused, don't fear that either! This giddiness is part of the shift to the beautiful realization of God within! Embrace it and be free!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“CHRIST: The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.”

Science & Health Page 583:10-11

Joyfully Shifting!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #302 “Where darkness was I look upon the light.”

Haven't we all had times when we were recounting an event and someone insists that the details are different than what we remember? Our perceptions are nuanced by expectations and personal experiences, including our understanding of these teachings. A mere hundred years ago, the things we speak of today would have been thought of as blasphemous. What a relief to openly speak about quantum theory and metaphysics without fear! Any bookstore will have an abundance of books by people looking “upon the light”, and they give us confidence to admit that we see it, too! Remember the story of ”the emperor has no clothes"? If everyone were pretending not to see and feel this paradigm shift, then we might stay silent, too. But they're not! We are joyfully acknowledging this shift, and we're shouting it from the pinnacle of our understanding. We look upon the light!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, — this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony.” Science & Health Page 323:32-4

Hearing Consciousness

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #301 “And God Himself shall wipe away all tears.”

People feel that someone is not reacting appropriately unless they cry profusely upon a loved one's death. They may even go so far as to say that the dry-eyed person isn't grieving, and that this will come back on them in various ways unless they release their sorrow through active sorrow. Kahlil Gibran had a life-long platonic love affair with a woman named Mary Haskell. When he died, she was peacefully smiling while greeting the mourners at his funeral. No one understood how this could be. At one point, she quoted words which he had written her: "You listen to so much more than I can say. You hear consciousness. You go with me where the words I say can’t carry you." How could she be sad when the love they shared had always been experienced through thought rather than physical expression? She understood what we are learning about the true reality of our Being.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.” Science & Health Page 573:28-2

The Waters of Mortal Mind

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #300 “Only an instant does this world endure.”

This is the last of ten lessons which ask the question, "What is the real world?" Is reality what we are told it is by the daily news? Is it what we learn in school? I remember how surprising and embarrassing it was to find out that most of the American history we studied in lower school classes was no more than a myth perpetuated by men who wanted it to be that way. We are beginning to understand that spiritual Truth is not to be found within the religious institutions of our world. It seems that every day another illusion is being uncovered, dissipated by truth. Happily leaving behind our stories of duality and erroneous thought frees us to discover truth. Listen, Love, Live!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“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.”

Science & Health Page 454:21-23

Truth Within

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #299 “Eternal holiness abides in me.”

A friend made a comment pertaining to the erroneous thought we sometimes glom onto in daily life. He said that once you hear something, it's a part of you -- a part of your consciousness, if you will. Even if we hear something and know it’s not true, it can be difficult to get it out of our mind. While I admit that it can be difficult to forget something, I do not think it’s impossible! The key to this letting-go is realizing what you are. As long as I see myself as a material human, a victim of life’s circumstances, then, yes, it is difficult, even impossible, to release erroneous thought. When I start to glimpse that I am not this body, that I am Idea, then, and only then, am I freed from the bombardment of daily illusions and the lies of material sense. Looked at from this perspective, my goal is not to release anything; it is to understand my Being as an expression of divine Mind, an emanation of divine Love, the experience of divine Life! I will not think of this as an impossible task, but as a reachable Truth.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from illusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts, proceeding from the brain or from matter, are offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material beliefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal.” Science & Health Page 88:9-14