Acceptance

photo credit: Alden Stallings

ACIM Workbook Lesson #342 "I let forgiveness rest upon all things, For thus forgiveness will be given me."

I am amazed it’s 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.” Science & Health Page 205:32-3

Remembering Innocence

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #341 "I can attack but my own sinlessness, and it is only that which keeps me safe."

In these studies, we are learning to give up beliefs we hold about the meaning of everything. As we do this, we are able to see things as they are rather than as we have decided they are! I read an interesting idea put forth by Helen Wright in Your Divinity Revealed. She says that what most of us think of as "thinking" is no more than rearranging our prejudices. This has come to mind often while I've tried to remain opinion-less and open-minded in dialogues with those who have different political and moral ideas than those I’ve adopted as my own. This past year has been extremely challenging for me, and utilizing divinely metaphysical thought is more important than ever. Today’s lesson reminds me to remember my innocence, for therein lies my safety. This innocence will be reflected back to me as I express unity with divine Love, releasing judgment and fear to make room for it. Namastè.

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love." Science & Health Page 494:15

Be Glad!

photo credit: Arthur Bruno

ACIM Workbook Lesson #340 "I can be free of suffering today."

"Be glad today! Be glad! There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today." This is sage advice from today's Course in Miracles workbook lesson. While doing laundry, I was visiting with a good friend who mentioned that he knew someone who really disliked doing laundry. He told me that she has all sorts of rules for the way it must be done and he opined that perhaps this was a cause for her dislike. When I saw the aforementioned words from today's lesson, I also thought about someone asking me what I did for fun and their surprised reaction when I told them everything I do is fun! Relating these events reminds me of Wayne Dyer's words: If you drop a pen and don't enjoy picking it up, drop it again!! Let us all remember as we go through the day, whether our tasks be mundane or one of those moments which feels like a gift -- be glad!!

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

Only One Thing I Desire

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #339 "I will receive whatever I request."

I was reminded recently of a meeting in which a woman confided a situation of abuse from her childhood. Some of the people in the metaphysical meeting we were attending insisted that she had chosen this scenario, whether to rectify something from a past life or for some other reason. This woman became very upset to think that a little girl would be tortured and want such a thing. Today's workbook lesson reiterates that no one desires pain, but often we are confused about what we would want. Without going into the possibility of past lives, or reincarnation and retribution, I remind myself that all I want is One Thing. My only desire is to know God, and everything else will be attained without my delineation of what that is. I also remind myself not to judge others in any way, as we are all on an individual path. That's what it's all about, after all. We are the experience of God, and there are no outlines as to what that means!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Materialists contradict their own statements. Their belief in material laws and in penalties for their infraction is the ancient error…”

Science & Health Page 389:22-24

What Am I Thinking?

PC: 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

Protected

PC: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #337 "My sinlessness protects me from all harm."

First of all, let's define sin as anything which separates us from the Love which is God. When my children were small, we'd often talk about how they could experience the safety which comes from listening to intuition. When driving a car, I often hear an inner prompting to slow down or sometimes to speed up, once to even stop completely. So when my children began driving, I naturally talked to them about this listening which insures we are where we need to be. That split second which puts you in the same place as a car crossing into your lane, or the moment a deer is stepping into your path, these are the situations which are avoided by listening to intuition. And what allows us to hear this inner direction? First it takes a willingness to hear it, of course. And the recognition of our Oneness with All that Is creates an open heart, willing to know God. To the so-called logical mind, this listening to intuition makes no sense, and so we don't pay attention. Think how many times you've said to yourself that you felt like you should or shouldn't have done something -- after the fact, after you refused to listen because you decided it was just your imagination. And if you do pull to the side of the road due to a "feeling", there's usually no proof that it was necessary. So living this way of life does develop a certain trust in yourself. What could be better than that!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"In reality there is no mortal mind, and consequently no transference of mortal thought and will-power. Life and being are of God. In Christian Science, man can do no harm, for scientific thoughts are true thoughts, passing from God to man." Science & Health Page 103:29-32

New/Old Insights

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #336 "Forgiveness lets me know that minds are joined."

After listening to a program on National Public Radio called Invisibilia, I am even more certain we are coming to see the truth of our being. The first segment of this show dealt with emotions and how we are not truly the victim of our feelings, but rather that our emotions create the world around us. They told a story of a truck driver who hit a car which had spun out of control in a rainstorm. He was overwhelmed with guilt about the incident and the ensuing death of a young girl. He sued the people whose daughter had died, stating that it was their fault for the uncontrollable guilt and pain he was experiencing. The facts of this case are beside the point to me, but the findings of a behavioral scientist caught my attention. She says we are born only knowing pleasant or unpleasant feelings, along with arousal or calm. Everything else, she states, are leaned behaviors and within our control. This woman is extremely compassionate to the pain we all feel upon, for instance, the death of a loved one. Yet she acknowledges degrees of pain and examines why we react in these different ways. Fascinatingr! I highly recommend this beautiful program.

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