Tag: freedom

What is controlling our thinking?

Published on by lindseybiggs2 Comments

bieszczady-1001894__180One night, while laying in bed trying to go to sleep, I found myself ruminating about an upcoming project that didn’t require me to be organizing every detail that moment. What I did need was a feeling of peace, rest and trust in God’s all-power.

What do we do when we feel like our thinking is being hijacked from our naturally happy, healthy, restful selves?

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.1

the-stones-263661__180Mary Baker Eddy, a spiritual teacher and healer, called this influence “error” — it is simply an error to believe that God is not in control; it is simply an error to believe that God’s reality is not harmonious, perfect and that you are not included in it right now.

You are valuable! You are special!

Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid2;

To be at one with divine consciousness is to know that God is controlling and working out every detail of your experience.

You are an active component of one “stupendous whole”.

As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good.3

love-1120294__180Sometimes I wonder: “Really, me? My tiny, insignificant problem in the grand scheme of things? Is God really working that out?” Well the answer that comes is YES —not because my problem is of huge significance but because my being is at one with the whole being— the whole of creation, God’s perfect universe. If I claim and accept that he isn’t governing me than I am claiming and accepting that I am separate from God and the rest of His creation. Impossible!

sea-989677__180As I lay in bed that night, I saw clear that it was error (subtly or aggressively) influencing me to over-analyze without relying on God, good, to guide each step of the way through divine inspiration. The moment I realized the error that was influencing my consciousness, I turned my thought to Christ; I thought about the Bible story of Christ Jesus walking over the waves to his disciples who were in the boat.

Jesus taught us to walk over, not into or with, the currents of matter, or mortal mind.4
It was clear to me that I had a choice to make: I could believe that God is all and is the only true law caring for every want and detail I could possibly imagine or I could stay in the boat of believing that there is lack, limitation, rush, stress, and fear that God has no ability to reject.

 

Thinking about the Master’s nonjudgmental compassion for Peter in reaching out his hand to help Peter when he started to sink helped me see the divine Love that I really wanted to take a stand for. I could see that I was being urged to “walk over the waves” – the downward pull of material thinking — to trust in God’s love.

The unnecessary ruminating stopped in those moments. I slept peacefully and awoke feeling a greater sense of freedom and refreshment. (In the following weeks, the project even evolved in such a way that the details I would have planned that evening would been obsolete, so I was saved from wasted time.) Divine inspiration, trust, and not human will, was needed to take the lead.

. . . let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.5

So, if you find yourself fretting about something, know that Christ is present to help you break the cycles of negative/limited thinking; Christ enables you to see who you really are, your perfect relationship with God who is unfolding every perfect detail to bless everyone.

___

1 Romans 8:6 NIV
2 Luke 12:7 NIV
3 Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany, p. 165:16-18
4 Mary Baker Eddy, Unity of Good, p. 11:3-4
5 James 1:4 NKJV

Freedom from fearful thoughts

Published on by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

Lately I’ve found thoughts of accident, disaster, and tragedy harassing me. I’m not generally a fearful or paranoid person, so this was unusual. The way I’ve been dealing with this is through prayer.

The Bible states:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8, 9 NIV)

So all I have to do is think about & focus on the things that are divine, good & true. Recognizing that these negative thoughts are not my mind is a huge help. St. Paul also says to have that mind which is in Christ. That Mind is God — the one intelligence or consciousness. God’s thoughts are pure, holy, peaceful & good. When I am governed by & listening to him, there isn’t any room for thoughts that are bad.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, wrote:
“…keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited.”

I’m so grateful that we all have the tools at hand to find mental and physical freedom.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”

Published on by lindseybiggs1 Comment
The following excerpts by Christie Hanzlik, C.S.  are from Let Your Light Shine on UNREALITY to Reveal Reality! (a Christian Science Bible Lesson study guide) 

Plato, a Greek philosopher, created his “Allegory of the Cave” roughly 400 years before Jesus’s ministry, but, in many ways, we can see it as an early glimpse of Christ’s promise to all mankind that we can be free from material bondage.   In fact, we can use the allegory to understand Jesus’s necessary role in revealing and demonstrating reality to mankind.
 
Whereas Plato may have left the story with the prisoners unable to understand the true nature of reality, Jesus proved that people could understand it.  Without Christ Jesus’s amazing demonstration of spiritual vision and communication, the “world outside the cave” would remain a garbled confusion to those feeling imprisoned by matter.   Christ Jesus was necessary to bring the Divine revelation to humanity.
 
Jesus understood God’s love for us so well that he could, unlike the freed prisoner in Plato’s allegory, communicate and demonstrate the truth about the “world outside the cave.”  His role was to show us the way out of the cave so we could see and prove for ourselves that we are not prisoners. He was the way shower.  And true Christianity, as Jesus taught it, is the movement and spread of the absolute truth that we are not prisoners chained in a cave of matter.
 
Jesus saw clearly that the “shadow wall”-matter-is not the true picture of reality even if it may seem to present mesmerizing sights and sounds and smells. He understood the “world outside the cave”-spiritual reality-and his purpose was to reveal this truth to all mankind.  Jesus asked us to let our light shine and to continue sharing his message of salvation-freedom from the chains of matter. Once we know about the “world outside the cave,” we cannot go back to not knowing it; and it’s natural for us to want to share it with others.