Complete. Perfect.

Spiritual resource to share: new-old inspiration
Well, this is my last in the series of "Complete" posts.  So to sum it all up, what does it mean to be complete? It has a lot to do with understanding that we are the expression of God, aka the children of God.

Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration." (From The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany p. 242:8 )

Accepting this and the principle that we are made in the image and likeness of God ( ie perfect), our very being is based on a perfect principle of God, who is Truth and Love.

So what is the basis of perfection?

Perfect means: Having all parts present………
So this means: YOU ARE WHOLE

Perfect means: Having everything that is required…………
So this means: YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED

Perfect means: Complete in moral excellencies…………….
So this means: YOU ARE NATURALLY KIND, GENEROUS, ACCURATE, HONEST, UPRIGHT

Perfect means: Perfect Love…………………………………
So this means: YOU ARE LOVED, LOVABLE, LOVELY and LOVING

Perfect means: Exactly fitting the need in every situation………….
So this means: YOU ARE IN YOUR RIGHT PLACE and SITUATION; YOU HAVE A MISSION AND A PURPOSE IN LIFE

Perfect means: Entirely without flaws or blemish……………
So this means: YOU ARE COMPLETE, CERTAIN, CONFIDENT, SURE, and PURE

From this basis of wholeness, we can meet any challenge with increased confidence.  We have all we need to meet any discord, disease, or lack.  And that is something for which we can be completely grateful!

Complete. We have infinite value.

Spiritual resource to share: our own worthiness

As part of the Complete series, I wanted to answer the question:

Is there a belief that we are blameworthy or unworthy?

Feeling unworthy is a definite distraction to experiencing life fully.  So how does the idea that we are blameworthy or unworthy get traction in our thought?

Of course if you have committed a wrong, there is a need to correct that - and that is a big topic, worthy of its own blog posting - not to say its own sermon, book or seminar.  But I want to look at those times where there is a nagging doubt about one's own self-worth.

Much of Christendom relies on the Adam and Eve story in the book of Genesis to be the basis for their theology.  Modern day Eves operate on this paradigm that they did something wrong and deserve to be blamed, that they have set up the archetype of woman as temptress, and that they came to life only because their husbands sacrificed a rib for them.  Modern day Adams operate on a paradigm in which they have to admit that they were duped, that they have to till the soil (and not like it) and that their primal origin was actually dirt.  This story is similar to other creation stories and may be an easy way to answer the difficult questions about the origins of evil and erratic behaviour of both men and women, but it does not allow for healing or a satisfying or sustainable sense of self.

However, looking at the first chapter of Genesis, there is a whole new way of seeing ourselves:  made in the image and likeness of an all-powerful and all-loving God.  Male and female are created at the same time.  This highest creation is pronounced good.  (See the end of Genesis chapter 1).  This ultimate goodness, this pure concept of living Love is our origin. 

If this is our framework for finding meaning and well-being in our lives, what can we find? 
With our standpoint of purity goodness and love, we find we can heal, in a degree, just as Jesus healed.

Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.

There is much in the Bible that helps us affirm this perfect and loved view of ourselves. Psalm 139 is one of my favorites and includes this line:

Ps 139:14

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

The bigger question is: can we accept that we are loved, cherished, considered precious? Or that we have infinite value because we are the beloved children of Love itself! Answering "Yes!" to this question will deliver an emphatic "NO!" to the question: is there a belief that you are blameworthy or unworthy?

Accepting that you have no inherent lack, and that you are created wholy good and complete,  puts you on the right track for claiming the peace and confidence and poise you were always meant to have.

Complete. We are not in process.

Spiritual resource to share:  the right starting point 

As the third part in this Complete series, I wanted to answer this question:

Is there a mistaken assumption that we need to go through something ( like a process, a period of suffering, a certified procedure) in order to be complete?

Do any of these comments sound familiar?

• Once I get my degree, then I will be able to do more.
• If only I had more background on the Bible, then I would be able to contribute more.
• Once I get over this cold, then I can get my work done.
• Of course I am suffering now, I had to stay up all night to get the project done.

What is similar in all these comments is a sense that one lacks something now, and has to go outside of self in order to gain something.  This lack - of time, of health, of intelligence, of skill - is a shaky place to try to build on.

Mary Baker Eddy writes:

Man is God's reflection, needing no cultivation, but ever beautiful and complete.

The starting point here is that we are already complete.  Then it follows that our lives are the revealing of that completeness.  This eliminates the stress of believing we have to move ourselves from a position of a "have-not" to a "have." And this replaces it with a sense of exploring what God has already given us.

When facing a challenge, we can approach it with eyes open to what we already do have.

More education is definitely helpful, but now you can claim the intelligent ideas that God is constantly giving to you as ample to meet the need at hand.

Health is more contagious than disease, and disease is cured in proportion as our understanding of Life, God's supremacy increases.

Ideas from God are constant, and we kind find that accomplishing our tasks require less time when we are more open to the ideas that are already present.

Our primal origin to intelligent good and robust Life is our starting point and these lead to good and timely solutions.  We find that we are complete, having all we need at all times, when we start out by seeing ourselves as the reflection of God, of infinite Love, Truth and Life. 

Complete. We are not vulnerable.

Spiritual resource to share:  life answers to difficult questions

Being complete and at peace is
our natural state of being

As part of the Complete series, I wanted to answer this question:

Is there the thought that life includes vulnerability? a subtle argument that we are flawed? an unconscious acceptance that we are at fault and we should expect bad things to happen to us as if this type of punishment was justified?

After I had gone through a difficult time in my life, I called a Christian Science practitioner (a healer) and asked her point blank:  "Is there something wrong with me?  If you could just tell me what is wrong wth me, then I will gladly fix it, and I could get on with my life."

She paused and said slowly, "There is nothing wrong with you."

This shocked me.  It also made me realize how deeply imbedded was the idea that there was some hidden subtlety that had caused the one difficulty that I just emerged from.

But even deeper still, was her conviction that I was not inherently flawed.  She saw - what I was learning to accept -  "the perfect man."  Mary Baker Eddy explains this in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (See S&H 476:28 ) 

"Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick."

As I grew to understand God as invariable Love,  and as a purifying and transformative Truth about my life,  I grew to accept that I was a direct result of Life, of God.  And as I grew to accept that the very nature of my being is a reflection of God, I could affirm with authority my own goodness and virtue.  I grew to see that I was created in the image and likeness of God - pure and free - and that was my natural state!

However, just as an engine that is miscalibrated cannot function, neither could God's creation function if it were flawed.  But God's creation does function, so it follows that it cannot be flawed.

Yes!  This all made sense!  I saw myself more clearly as a child of God.  Whatever was discordant or irritating or painful was not in the original plan, and needed to be rooted out.  Actually, I saw that whatever was unGodlike could not attach itself to me.  So the self-doubt or the belief that I could be vulnerable or lacking in anyway was flushed away in light of the freeing Truth that I was created complete.  I realize that I have the strength, confidence and authority to heal, to live life fully and to be  joyful! 

And if this is true for me, it is true for everyone.  Wonderful!
  

"Even the wind is veined with light."*

Spiritual resource to share: seeing the light

To understand God is to understand the allness of Her power, the intimacy of His might. This story gives an insightful glimpse of the nature of this enlightened understanding.


The wind, the rain and the light were talking one day. "Oh the darkness is creeping up on us. It seems to be everywhere." said the wind. Then the rain went to investigate, but came back with the same report. So the wind and the rain only sporadically showed themselves, fearing the darkness.


But the light couldn't believe it. It went to the most hidden places in the crevices of the caves and it went to the deepest parts of the ocean. It went into the night sky. It wasn't afraid to go anywhere.


"I simply cannot see any darkness anyhere." said the light. And the light stayed constant and true.

Happy light-filled weekend everyone!


*poet Tom Sexton
photo by Gabe Korinek - copyright 2008

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

totally, absolutely perfect - revisited

This blog was written close to a year ago. I have found myself going back to this blog many times - in fact, so many times, I thought it was worth a second viewing!

Spiritual resource to share: contemplation

I have been working this idea of what it means to be perfect over and over the last few weeks, so I thought I would share it here. Large as that idea is, I'll share just a few gleanings.

Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Unless you fully perceive that you are the child of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demonstrate and no rule for its demonstration." (From The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany p. 242:8 )

Accepting this and the principle that we are made in the image and likeness of God ( ie perfect), I reason that our very being is based on a perfect principle of God, who is Truth and Love.

So what is the basis of perfection?
(This follows the format of "Perfect means….. So this means…. ")

Perfect means: Having all parts present………
So this means: YOU ARE WHOLE

Having everything that is required…………
YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED

Complete in moral excellencies…………….
YOU ARE NATURALLY KIND, GENEROUS, ACCURATE, HONEST, UPRIGHT

Perfect Love…………………………………
YOU ARE LOVED, LOVABLE, LOVELY and LOVING

Exactly fitting the need in every situation………….
YOU ARE IN YOUR RIGHT PLACE and SITUATION; YOU HAVE A MISSION AND PURPOSE IN LIFE

Entirely without flaws or blemish……………
YOU ARE COMPLETE, CERTAIN, CONFIDENT, SURE, and WELL INFORMED

So when we work out a problem from the standard of perfection, we are not looking for perfect matter, but for that principle of harmony out of which all human activity is expressed. The starting point is not matter. The starting point is perfect God, perfect man.

For example - struggling to get to the right weight to look just perfect is very different from understanding that your very nature right now includes beauty, balance and radiance. Out of that understanding comes an expression that may come in any form, but beauty, balance and radiance will naturally be expressed.

The study and application of this idea goes on and on. (There simply is no end to understanding infinite God, infinite Truth, Life and Love!) I hope this gives you a thoughtful nudge to contemplate what is infinitely good and infinitely perfect in our lives today.







To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, or email this article to a friend.

not feeling inspired enough?

Spiritual resource to share: completeness
Have you ever had a morning that starts out...well, not as inspiring as you wanted? You have done everything you normally do for your spiritual study, but you feel there is something more. I have been working with this thought from Science and Health:

Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud.

To me, it means it doesn't take hours of study, fulfilling a schedule of readings, or logging on a certain amount of time for reflection. Spiritual study is about connecting with inspiration. And it just starts with one idea.

This one idea, even if it seems modest - like gratitude for a kind comment, a humble prayer of praise, or remembering a healing - has deep spiritual roots. It reflects God's omnipotence and has an eternal heritage. It points towards more possibilities for good. This one idea shines and blossoms. It fills you up completely with what is needed for the day.

Just one idea. Complete and satisfying for the day! What one idea has filled you up?




To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.