Building a Bridge

"Recognition is the power, and every state that you have ever recognized you have embodied. That which you are recognizing as true of yourself today is that which you are experiencing." -- Neville Goddard

"To your most holy Self all praise is due for what you are, and for what He is Who created you as you are. Sooner or later must everyone bridge the gap he imagines exists between his selves. Each one builds this bridge, which carries him across the gap as soon as he is willing to expend some little effort on behalf of bridging it. His little efforts are powerfully supplemented by the strength of Heaven, and by the united will of all who make Heaven what it is, being joined within it. And so the one who would cross over is literally transported there. Your bridge is builded, stronger than you think, and your foot is planted firmly on it. Have no fear that the attraction of those who stand on the other side and wait for you will not draw you safely across. For you will come where you would be, and where your Self awaits you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section III, 8:1-5, 9:1-3

Building a bridge between the self I imagine myself to be and the true Self that I really am... recognizing that I am imagining that I embody the state of who I think I am... this is huge. In new thought circles, people often speak of the power of imagination... but what we are really talking about is the imagined self, the imagined gap, the imagined state of being separate from our God-Self. And this is the dead end that all of us must sooner or later turn back from. Sooner or later we all must see that we are looking at our own consciousness, always and only our own imagined self projected outward.

The bridge we are building is really the willingness to see that we made it all up. We have never been separate from God, our True Self, nor could we ever do anything to separate ourselves. It's all made up.

So in this virtual world of virtual experiences, we make decisions over and over that are based on outer experiences and aimed at outer results. We keep trying to change, pandering to the reflection in the mirror, which has no life of its own. It's just a projected reflection. Like hamsters on wheels we spin and spin, choosing this way of spinning now and then we try that way of spinning, always trying to develop a better way to spin. But sooner or later we grow weary of spinning, and want to see what would happen if we just stopped. Who or what would we be without the spinning that our imaginary world seems to require?

Building this bridge between our imagined, separate self and our True Self requires, as ACIM reminds us, some effort. This is simply because we made it all up and maintained the illusion through enormous expenditures of time and attention... and it's going to take some refocusing of our holy mind and attention to build our virtual bridge home. And returning our whole heart and mind to God is the way the bridge is built.

"Having no other gods, turning to no other but the One Perfect Mind... man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 467, Lines 13-16