Resting in Peace — Here and Now

From Hippie Peace Freaks

To rest in peace frees us from all planning and worry. To give away all belief in — and living from — past experience, clears the way to knowing Truth. To know Truth means to know ourselves, and to demonstrate Principle in our every thought and action. Although I find this spiritual practice invigorating, not everyone feels the same. I know people who think they would be giving away their individuality if they let go of their personal history. I find the opposite to be true. When I lose a sense of personal responsibility, when I release the beliefs I've had about certain circumstances, there is a pure, empty space in thought. This space allows a recognition of what has always been there: Love. Divine Love. This is our power: the ability to accept the good which is there for us, the ability to rest in God. 

“This is the day of peace. You rest in God, and while the world is torn by winds of hate your rest remains completely undisturbed. Yours is the rest of truth. Appearances cannot intrude on you. You call to all to join you in your rest, and they will hear and come to you because you rest in God. They will not hear another voice than yours because you gave your voice to God, and now you rest in Him and let Him speak through you.

A Course in Miracles W-109.4:1-6

“…when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 387:8-12

Giving and Receiving

“Novel Women” book club members with 

the children’s book shelf they provide 

at a local food bank

Most of the people I know are givers. They give of their time and money to causes they support; they give love and affection to family and friends; they give of themselves generously, always stepping up when anyone is in need. But many of these wonderful people aren't comfortable receiving compliments, or taking a helping hand when they're having problems, or accepting a gift when they're in need. Why do they give so freely, but are uncomfortable accepting others’ offerings to them? This duality in thought is negated with the understanding of today's lesson, which tells us that giving and receiving are one in truth. "One thought, completely unified, will serve to unify all thoughts." [A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #108] This unification is the spiritual Principle which governs everything, when seen for what it is: Truth. Today I will open my heart to receive all the good which is innately mine, and this reception opens avenues to share in unexpected ways. I will offer to others everything I want for myself: peace, happiness, joy, contentment, satisfaction, grace, love. Freely I have received, freely I give!

“To give and to receive are one in truth. Vision depends upon today’s idea. The light is in it, for it reconciles all seeming opposites. And what is light except the resolution, born of peace, of all your conflicts and mistaken thoughts into one concept which is wholly true? Even that one will disappear, because the Thought behind it will appear instead to take its place. And now you are at peace forever, for the dream is over then.”

A Course in Miracles W-108.1:1-5

“Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 79:30-32

The Immune System of the Universe

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

I heard an interesting analogy concerning the body's immune system and the world's ability to heal itself. Each and every one of us is a cell in the immune system of the universe. Every thought we think is either contributing to the unified health of our planet or to the propagation of fear and terror. Every prayer, every meditation, every reaching out through inward listening — everything is magnified exponentially. We have the power to change the world through ourselves! Every interaction brings us closer to a world of love or a world of fear. This love which heals us personally spreads through the web of Oneness. In the same way that we take personal responsibility for ourselves, our health, our well-being, we can take responsibility for a return to Love. It makes a difference, what we do and what we think. We never know when an interaction with someone else will make the difference in that person's life which turns them away from reactive fear to healing love. The truth which corrects all errors in our mind is our ascension into heaven within. Never doubt that you matter, that you make a difference.  Allow silence and listening to guide you to your role in being the change you want to see. 

“What can correct illusions but the truth? And what are errors but illusions that remain unrecognized for what they are? Where truth has entered errors disappear. They merely vanish, leaving not a trace by which to be remembered. They are gone because, without belief, they have no life. And so they disappear to nothingness, returning whence they came. From dust to dust they come and go, for only truth remains.”

A Course in Miracles W-107.1:1-7

"Immortal ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious results." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 259: 27-31

Listen, With An Open Mind

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #106 advises us to "be still and listen to the truth". We are also told that for every five minutes we spend listening, a thousand minds are opened to the truth we hear. Don't you feel we are very close to a tipping point in spiritual discernment? Every thought we have is important, especially during difficult times. When events occur which bring forth strong negative emotions in people, it is even more important to hold our thoughts to this truth which is heard in silence. Listening, hearing, receiving, and giving the Truth which is God — this is our job today and every day!

“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. The purification of sense and self is a proof of progress.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 323:32-5

“If you will lay aside the ego’s voice, however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts that give you nothing that you really want; if you will listen with an open mind, that has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty Voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in Its messages.”

A Course in Miracles W-106. 1:1

Extending the Limitless to the Unlimited

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

I love these words from A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #105: "True giving is creation. It extends the limitless to the unlimited, eternity to timelessness, and love unto itself." To live our lives from this perspective allows us to express love freely, with no fear of it being rejected or misinterpreted. We can gently reach out to people we've just met with heartfelt expressions of empathy and compassion. We bloom in unexpected ways when "extending the limitless to the unlimited". It's ours to give and to receive, in an eternal loop of Love. There's no way to measure how far the ripples of our joy and peace may extend. My cup runneth over!

"The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 506:11-14

“God’s peace and joy are yours. Today we will accept them, knowing they belong to us. And we will try to understand these gifts increase as we receive them. They are not like to the gifts the world can give, in which the giver loses as he gives the gift; the taker is the richer by his loss. Such are not gifts, but bargains made with guilt. The truly given gift entails no loss. It is impossible that one can gain because another loses. This implies a limit and an insufficiency.” 

A Course in Miracles W-105.1:1-8

Joy, Peace, Happiness

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

Joy and peace and happiness are my birthright. These things are what belong to me in truth. These gifts do not need to be earned. We needn't barter with a faraway god in order to experience them. We don't need to wait until we die, we don't have to do a certain number of good deeds, we don't need to take communion, it's not necessary to belong to a church. We have been hoodwinked into believing that we must strive all our lives to attain something which seems unattainable. The conflict of the world is so great that we can't make our way through the maze to the prize we know must be hiding somewhere. We are learning that we can confidently clear the altar of our mind, freeing our thought from fear and pain, and embracing our function as forgiveness, thereby healing our mind and allowing us to find what has always been there: joy and peace and happiness!

“God has built a higher platform of human rights, and He has built it on diviner claims. These claims are not made through code or creed, but in demonstration of ‘on earth peace, good-will toward men’.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 226:14-17

“Today’s idea continues with the thought that joy and peace are not but idle dreams. They are your right, because of what you are. They come to you from God, Who cannot fail to give you what He wills. Yet must there be a place made ready to receive His gifts. They are not welcomed gladly by a mind that has instead received the gifts it made where His belong, as substitutes for them.” 

A Course in Miracles W-104.1:1-5

In Search of Happiness

“Hector and the Search for Happiness" is a movie which introduces us to a man who is a psychiatrist in search of happiness. He goes to China, Africa, and the U.S. asking people what happiness means to them -- and, of course, finds out what happiness means to him. Ultimately, there is nothing outside of ourselves which is going to make us happy. One of the people Hector meets along the way asks how many of us remember a moment in childhood when happiness was a state of being; when everything, inside and out, was all right. That says it all, don't you? What does it take to be happy? Allowing our natural state as a creation of divine Love to shine forth! To quote A Course in Miracles Lesson #103: "God, being Love, is also happiness. and it is happiness I seek today. I cannot fail, because I seek the truth.” Love and happiness are our divine heritage as the expression of God. God is Love, and so are we!

“Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 60:28-1

“Happiness is an attribute of love. It cannot be apart from it. Nor can it be experienced where love is not. Love has no limits, being everywhere. And therefore joy is everywhere as well. Yet can the mind deny that this is so, believing there are gaps in love where sin can enter, bringing pain instead of joy. This strange belief would limit happiness by redefining love as limited, and introducing opposition in what has no limit and no opposite. 

A Course in Miracles W-103.1:1-7