The flight attendant ran down the aisle while the pilot sternly advised all passengers to return to our seats and buckle our seatbelts. As I sat there on this flight, seatbelt buckled, with the plane jerking back and forth, up and down, I turned my thought to God.
After a few minutes, I looked up and noticed my fellow passengers. One woman seemed to be praying through her evident concern. The man beside her was on his computer going about his business as if nothing unusual were happening, while yet another man was resting peacefully. A couple nearby were laughing as though they were casually visiting on a park bench. Another man seemed to be dealing with a lot of fear.
I thought, “We are all on the same plane, going through the same turbulence, but I see all kinds of different responses.” It was clear to me that, while the situation was the same for all of us, our thoughts about the situation and what we were bringing to it determined how we handled it.
I’m finding that what we hold in our consciousness determines our experience.
In my daily application of ideas I’m learning through study of the Bible, I’m finding that what we hold in consciousness determines our experience. And the Bible tells us that God is Mind, the only source of true thoughts, and He is good, so He must give us only good thoughts. In Second Timothy we read, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (1:7). Some synonyms I’ve found for sound are flawless, intact, strong, sane, stable, vibrant, perfect, and whole.
Whether we’re on a flight or on the ground, we sometimes experience turbulence, the suggestion that a human circumstance could take away our peace, joy, health, or security—that we could have a consciousness and experience apart from God, good. We all encounter turbulent situations. And just like some of the people on that plane ride, we can be unconcerned. But more than that, we can claim our God-given—our divine Mind-given—right to dominion over our thoughts and therefore over our experiences.
No matter what “plane” we’re on, no turbulence can move us from the peace and power of God.
Christ Jesus said, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). We could read this as: “The turbulence—fear, harm, disruptions—of this world comes and finds nothing in me.” Jesus stilled tempests and healed chronic and fatal disease by exercising his divine Mind-given dominion. We also can exercise our God-given consciousness and experience increased harmony, health, joy, understanding, abundance, and peace in our lives. There is no other God, no other power, no other Mind than the divine Mind, so there is no so-called mentality that can shake us away from our “sound mind” and secure understanding. If a thought isn’t something God, divine Love, knows, we can, in the spirit of Love, reject it! No matter what “plane” we’re on, no turbulence can move us from the peace and power of God, the source and maintainer of harmony.
In Isaiah we read, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (45:22). I’ve been thinking of this passage like this: Focus, hold thought steadfastly, on trusting God, good—Life, Truth, Love—and be free, liberated, made whole, everyone, everywhere. I am your Life, your Mind. All is well. You’re safe, always. That’s all there is; there is nothing else, I promise.
