Definition of Reflection
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6: a thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation
7: consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose
To think deeply in a focused attentive way on some thought or idea is to reflect upon it. Meditating - reflecting - upon that thought or idea means you are considering all of its many aspects. You ponder them. You pay specific attention to them. You are consciously alive with them. This gives you insight and understanding of the thought or idea. It awakens in you a deep appreciation. The thought or idea becomes alive to you.
Don't you think that when Mrs. Eddy talks about you as the reflection of God, of divine Mind, that this sense of reflection is included? Not just the passive reflection of a mirror, but the actively engaged reflection of Mind. This is an aspect of reflection. This is how God, divine Love, considers His creation. This is how God, divine Love, thinks about you. Specifically. Attentively. Deeply.
You are consciously alive to your Father-Mother God. And by reflection, your Father-Mother God is alive to you.
"And Love is reflected in love."
Showing posts with label Reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reflection. Show all posts
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Aspects of Reflection (Part 1)
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
Isn't a mirror a good metaphor for God's will being done in earth as it is in heaven?
Think about it: a mirror creates an exact image of what is before it. Spiritually speaking then, you (as God's image and likeness) are an exact spiritual reflection of God. That means God's will - His purpose, His desire, His mandate - is mirrored in you, reflected in you, by you, as you.
Mrs. Eddy says this:
"Your mirrored reflection is your own image or likeness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also. If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours. Now compare man before the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God."
"...so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God." God's will done in you as it is in heaven. God's desires awakening in you as they are already truly awake in heaven. God's perfect lovely qualities active as you, as the true heavenly you, as they are in heaven.
What would this feel like? what would your life look like? How would you feel, think, act, if you understood and accepted that, by reflection, God's will is really already yours? already active as your deepest spiritual yearning? already alive as your most natural native desire to live and help others live? to love and be loved?
But what if this "mirror" is dirty? What if it's covered in sin, sickness, and death? What if there's hatred, abuse, heridity, failure, guilt, dispair scratched on its surface?
Well, that's just it: it's only on the surface of the mirror. That "dirt" never touches God or His reflection. Just as if you had toothpaste on your bathroom mirror: that toothpaste never once touches you - or your reflection. It only appears to.
So just the same, if God is intact, then you - by reflection are also intact. If the mirror (the mental state) you're seeing your reflection in is material (limited to the perceptions of the physical senses and emotions) then you're looking at yourself through a dirty mirror. You are going to think that "toothpaste" is on you. You are going to think that something is horribly wrong with you. That you have immense amounts of work to do to become whole. That there might be a long recovery from "toothpaste-itis". That maybe you are unredeemable, scarred, fatally flawed, a lost cause.
But that is never the case. That is only the view you get when you think that the toothpaste on the mirror is actually you - and not seeing that you are actually perfectly fine, and that it's just the mirror (the mental state) that needs a little spiritual Windex.
... and isn't this also exactly the case when we look at those around us? when we see them as anything less than God's own likeness?
You already know that if you change your thinking - your perspective - you begin to see things (life, love, yourself, others) differently. If you walk up the hill, you see a wider view. So likewise, if you turn away from the tooth-pastey mirror and instead start looking at yourself and the world in the mirror of Divine Science - the divine understanding of God, the divine way God sees His creation, then your "mirror" (your thinking) goes "up" - it also gets a wider perspective. It sees beyond its previous limits. You begin to see yourself more clearly, more correctly, more according to God's perspective, God's point of view of you, God's view of the whole world. If you're honest, you will begin to see that, wow, you DO look just like how God made you and all creation: whole, spiritual, holy, loved! In short, the toothpastey view gets cleaned up.
Then comes the fun part: living from that higher, that more spiritual perspective. And practicing that keeps your mirror clean and your toothpaste on your toothbrush, where it belongs.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God - and God's perfect will and perfect viewpoint - is omnipotent, supreme.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
Isn't a mirror a good metaphor for God's will being done in earth as it is in heaven?
Think about it: a mirror creates an exact image of what is before it. Spiritually speaking then, you (as God's image and likeness) are an exact spiritual reflection of God. That means God's will - His purpose, His desire, His mandate - is mirrored in you, reflected in you, by you, as you.
Mrs. Eddy says this:
"Your mirrored reflection is your own image or likeness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also. If you speak, the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours. Now compare man before the mirror to his divine Principle, God. Call the mirror divine Science, and call man the reflection. Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original. As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God."
"...so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God." God's will done in you as it is in heaven. God's desires awakening in you as they are already truly awake in heaven. God's perfect lovely qualities active as you, as the true heavenly you, as they are in heaven.
What would this feel like? what would your life look like? How would you feel, think, act, if you understood and accepted that, by reflection, God's will is really already yours? already active as your deepest spiritual yearning? already alive as your most natural native desire to live and help others live? to love and be loved?
But what if this "mirror" is dirty? What if it's covered in sin, sickness, and death? What if there's hatred, abuse, heridity, failure, guilt, dispair scratched on its surface?
Well, that's just it: it's only on the surface of the mirror. That "dirt" never touches God or His reflection. Just as if you had toothpaste on your bathroom mirror: that toothpaste never once touches you - or your reflection. It only appears to.
So just the same, if God is intact, then you - by reflection are also intact. If the mirror (the mental state) you're seeing your reflection in is material (limited to the perceptions of the physical senses and emotions) then you're looking at yourself through a dirty mirror. You are going to think that "toothpaste" is on you. You are going to think that something is horribly wrong with you. That you have immense amounts of work to do to become whole. That there might be a long recovery from "toothpaste-itis". That maybe you are unredeemable, scarred, fatally flawed, a lost cause.
But that is never the case. That is only the view you get when you think that the toothpaste on the mirror is actually you - and not seeing that you are actually perfectly fine, and that it's just the mirror (the mental state) that needs a little spiritual Windex.
... and isn't this also exactly the case when we look at those around us? when we see them as anything less than God's own likeness?
You already know that if you change your thinking - your perspective - you begin to see things (life, love, yourself, others) differently. If you walk up the hill, you see a wider view. So likewise, if you turn away from the tooth-pastey mirror and instead start looking at yourself and the world in the mirror of Divine Science - the divine understanding of God, the divine way God sees His creation, then your "mirror" (your thinking) goes "up" - it also gets a wider perspective. It sees beyond its previous limits. You begin to see yourself more clearly, more correctly, more according to God's perspective, God's point of view of you, God's view of the whole world. If you're honest, you will begin to see that, wow, you DO look just like how God made you and all creation: whole, spiritual, holy, loved! In short, the toothpastey view gets cleaned up.
Then comes the fun part: living from that higher, that more spiritual perspective. And practicing that keeps your mirror clean and your toothpaste on your toothbrush, where it belongs.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God - and God's perfect will and perfect viewpoint - is omnipotent, supreme.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The Adorable One (part 2)
"Hallowed be Thy name."
Adorable One.
The Oneness of God is His power. There is no "other." No other god before Him, no other power, no other attraction, no other Ego. God is the One, and the only One to be adored - respected, loved, listened to, reflected, worshipped.
When you look in the mirror, what does your reflection look at? You. Only you. You could say that your reflection has 100% focus on you. It doesn't look away - in fact, it can't look away. It can't be distracted. It can't look at something or someone else unless you do. In a way, you could say of your reflection, that you are its adorable one.
So should God be able to say of you - if you are His reflection (and you are). And then since you are His reflection, its natural for you to focus on God, to listen to Him, to let His light shine in you and through you, reflecting Him as He is. This is how you hallow His name, His nature, because you focus completely on Him, you seek only to know and reflect Him, shine forth what you know and feel of Him. You then are adoring the One God, the Great I Am, the only I or Us.
And this Adorable One is conscious of you - and of everyone. He knows you by name. He loves you, deeply, perfectly, completely. When you feel and understand this, then you begin to feel and understand that "Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present." Everpresent where? In consciousness. Here, right where you are, right now.
Feel and understand this. Think about how naturally you want to live in accordance with Love's all-harmonious nature. Feel this as your authentic being. Know that this enables you to comprehend that "as in Heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme." This is a communion that awakens you to your unity with God, divine Love, that gives you grace for today, feeds your famished affections - and enables you to feed the famished affections of everyone around you. This is Love being reflected in love, Love forgiving you of all your so-called mortal history, all those heavy debts of false beliefs about yourself and others, all those temptations to think that you are "special" and separate. Love's forgiveness awakens you to what's already always true, delivering you from the so-called duality of good and evil, the Adam dream of wilfull, ignorant, or even seemingly fatal mistakes.
How? because our Adorable God is One. He delivers us. How? Because He is the only real power there is. And our Father-Mother God is the only presence there is, the only substance, the only intelligence there is - the only Life, Truth, Love, the only glorious All.
And He is focused on, reflecting on, you. You are His image, His likeness, His reflection, His precious child.
Hallowed be Thy name, dear Father-Mother God. You are the Adorable One.
Adorable One.
The Oneness of God is His power. There is no "other." No other god before Him, no other power, no other attraction, no other Ego. God is the One, and the only One to be adored - respected, loved, listened to, reflected, worshipped.
When you look in the mirror, what does your reflection look at? You. Only you. You could say that your reflection has 100% focus on you. It doesn't look away - in fact, it can't look away. It can't be distracted. It can't look at something or someone else unless you do. In a way, you could say of your reflection, that you are its adorable one.
So should God be able to say of you - if you are His reflection (and you are). And then since you are His reflection, its natural for you to focus on God, to listen to Him, to let His light shine in you and through you, reflecting Him as He is. This is how you hallow His name, His nature, because you focus completely on Him, you seek only to know and reflect Him, shine forth what you know and feel of Him. You then are adoring the One God, the Great I Am, the only I or Us.
And this Adorable One is conscious of you - and of everyone. He knows you by name. He loves you, deeply, perfectly, completely. When you feel and understand this, then you begin to feel and understand that "Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present." Everpresent where? In consciousness. Here, right where you are, right now.
Feel and understand this. Think about how naturally you want to live in accordance with Love's all-harmonious nature. Feel this as your authentic being. Know that this enables you to comprehend that "as in Heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme." This is a communion that awakens you to your unity with God, divine Love, that gives you grace for today, feeds your famished affections - and enables you to feed the famished affections of everyone around you. This is Love being reflected in love, Love forgiving you of all your so-called mortal history, all those heavy debts of false beliefs about yourself and others, all those temptations to think that you are "special" and separate. Love's forgiveness awakens you to what's already always true, delivering you from the so-called duality of good and evil, the Adam dream of wilfull, ignorant, or even seemingly fatal mistakes.
How? because our Adorable God is One. He delivers us. How? Because He is the only real power there is. And our Father-Mother God is the only presence there is, the only substance, the only intelligence there is - the only Life, Truth, Love, the only glorious All.
And He is focused on, reflecting on, you. You are His image, His likeness, His reflection, His precious child.
Hallowed be Thy name, dear Father-Mother God. You are the Adorable One.
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