Arise, Shine

Almost every morning when I wake up, I hear a scripture passage from Isaiah that I learned at an early age: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." And it amuses me to see that this is how dogs act when they wake up. Have you ever watched a dog wake up? They almost always get up, shake themselves, and exude pure joy.

Humans tend to do the same until a certain age. My younger grandchildren usually wake up joyful and trusting in the goodness of the day ahead. As they get older, this seems to change. As we get older, this seems to change.

But I have found that it hasn't really changed. I have discovered what my dogs and all scripture has been telling me all along... that Who I Am never changes. As it says in the Bible, "The Holy One of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps." 

Who We Are never changes, whether we appear to be sleeping or waking, and Self is always light and joyful. Pure Being delights in being.  Sometimes we seem to fall asleep to Who We Are, and we forget to shine.  At such times we can learn a lot from dogs.  Get up, shake yourself Awake, and exude the Joy that you are!

So when I hear, " Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee," I know that this is eternally so. That every holy instant, and every holy morning of existence, this is the Truth.

Impossible Things

"There is no use trying," said Alice. "One can't believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day.  Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." -- from Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

"It is through the holy instant that what seems impossible is accomplished, making it evident that it is not impossible." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 15, Section VI, 14:1

Trying to understand the notion that all is Mind, and that Mind is the only Substance that exists, is like trying to tell the Emperor that he isn't wearing any clothes.  We have a very vested interest in the world we have projected, and we have no real desire to have the Truth revealed to us.  We like to play at seeking the Truth, but we don't really want to find it.  Like Alice, we have already judged that one can't believe such impossible things.

In moments of true quiet, moments of present awareness when walking in the woods or by the ocean, we feel an unexplainable contentment and joy. These holy instants reveal what is True, and what has always been True.  We are Infinite Mind, infinitely Aware, infinitely Perfect, infinitely Whole, infinitely Loving and Aware of the Perfection of Self.  These instants of awareness are the storehouse of every so-called miracle.  Perfection can only see the perfect.  Wholeness can only see the whole and holy.

The practice of mindfulness touches on this, but as commonly practiced mostly limits us to being mindful of a body and limited self image.  It can help quiet the mind, which can lead to glimpses of awareness.  But we can practice mindfulness of Mind, of Awareness ItSelf.  What A Course in Miracles calls the holy instant is this moment by moment mindful awareness of our True Self, which is Infinitely Loving and Aware.  

Self is Mind, and Mind is Self.  There is no other.  And as ACIM reminds us, "Ideas leave not their Source."  We are like waves in the ocean of Mind, and we cannot be other than Mind.  What we call matter does not matter; it doesn't exist in the sense that we imagine it does.  If Mind is all, then we have simply misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misjudged the world.  We have forgotten Who We Are, and so we have forgotten the Reality of all things.

Letting go of these judgements, interpretations, and misunderstandings is what the Course calls forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the bridge to Awareness, because once the mind is cleared of the clutter, Truth is radiantly Present.  Forgiveness and miracles go hand in hand, since we cannot be aware of the miracle of Perfection that is already here, as long as we insist on the imperfections we think we see.  Like Alice, we have already decided that perfection is impossible.  But like Alice, we can let the rabbit holes in our lives reveal the Truth to us. We can forgive and jump in... we can let go of what we think we know.  And we can let the Awareness of Truth in each holy instant set us free to experience the impossibly possible Goodness of Life and Truth and ever-present Love.

"There is nothing outside you.  That is what you must ultimately learn, for it is the realization that the Kingdom of Heaven is restored to you.  For God created only this, and He did not depart from it nor leave it separate from Himself.  The Kingdom of Heaven is the dwelling place of the Son of God, Who left not his Father and dwells not apart from Him.  Heaven is not a place nor a condition.  It is merely an awareness of perfect Oneness, and the knowledge that there is nothing else; nothing outside this Oneness, and nothing else within.  What could God give but knowledge of Himself?  What else is there to give?  The belief that you could give and get something else, something outside yourself, has cost you the awareness of Heaven, and of your Identity." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section VI

With God, all things are possible. -- Matthew 19:26

The Illusion of Differences

"This world seems to hold out many purposes, each different and with different values.  Yet they are all the same.  Again there is no order; only a seeming hierarchy of values." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 20, Section VIII, 8:8-10
 
I have had several conversations with friends in the past week about wanting something different in their lives.  Of course, this is a familiar feeling and story for all of us.  Something is perceived as wrong or lacking or uncomfortable or simply unsatisfying, and so we think that something different is the answer.  Not this, but that.  Not here, but there.  Not now, but someday.  Not that person, but this person, or no person.  Something different, which will hopefully be something better.

The illusion of differences is the ego's maintenance plan.  This body is different from that body, that car is different from this car, that job is definitely different than this job!  And on and on and on and on...  there's no end to the ego's litany of needed improvements (translation: differences).

A Course in Miracles gives us many simple and direct ways of seeing through this chaos.  One of my favorites is: "Make this year different  by making it all the same." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 15, Section XI, 10:11

And how can we make it all the same, when the very nature of our lives seems to be the constant focus on shifting challenges and victories,  failures and successes, pleasures and pains?  I had a glimpse of this yesterday while filling the water tank for the horses.  I only had a few minutes between coaching calls, and went out to make sure the water tank was full.  It was a summer mid-afternoon, with rain clouds in the distance, but no air stirring.  My focus on the details and differences dropped, and there was crystalline, All-Inclusive Awareness.  Silent but Alive.  Still but including all movement.  Awareness ItSelf.   Then the water tank began overflowing and my awareness contracted to take care of business.  This is the way of it as we practice letting go of differences.  I can focus on the water tank, knowing that The Self that I Am is the Reality of even this seeming.  I have only to drop the contracted focus, and my True Self that is Everything, and knows ItSelf as the All where all differences fall away.  No matter, just pure Awareness, pure Spirit, pure Mind that includes All.

To the Unified Mind, there are no differences!  Perception is a contracted point of view, happening IN you, not TO you.  YOU ARE THE SEER AND THE SEEN.  There are no differences.  And forgiveness, the dropping of the addictive need to project differences, is our unified purpose.  A Unified Mind with Unified Purpose returns us to the Awareness of Perfect Oneness (Heaven!) that is Our Reality.
  
"I will forgive, and this will disappear."  A Course in Miracles; Workbook 193, 13:3
 

The Truth About You

"The Truth about You is so lofty that nothing unworthy of God is worthy of you.  Choose then what you want in these terms, and accept nothing that you would not offer to God as wholly fitting for Him/Her.  You do not want anything else." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 9, Section VII, p.8:4-6 

Well, it has been exactly six months since my last blog... that is the longest I have gone without posting since this blog began over 7 years ago.  And yes, since time is illusion, I know that the Voice speaks to all of us daily, with or without symbols like this blog.  However, we all seem to have a story of being less than good, other than God.  Thank Goodness for the Truth about you (and me), which is beyond measure, beyond all judgement.  The story of 'me' fears this Infinite Glory, because it fears everything.  It judges and measures and compares because, "The ego cannot survive without judgement, and is laid aside accordingly." (ACIM; Ch.4, II, 10:3).  To help understand this, remember that the ego is story.  And what is a story without protagonists and antagonists, after all?

In this world of stories, a dream world of continual judgment and conflict, how can we know the Truth?  A Course in Miracles puts it so very simply:  "How can God's Son awaken from the dream? It is a dream of judgement.  So must he judge not, and He will awaken." (ACIM; Ch.29, IX, 2:3-5)

I urge you to try releasing all judgement in every situation, in all circumstances.  Since God is All, and we live and move and have our Being in and as that All, then there can be nothing but God, nothing but Good.  So the only thing we are ever letting go of, or releasing (another word for forgiveness), is a false sense of things, a story that is the projection of a sleeping mind.  What remains, and is ever-present behind every projection, is the Truth.  The Truth of a villain or a hero or a rock or a tree is the same, because there is only the One Self, only God.  It is always the Truth About You.

"You are surrounded only by Him.  What limits can there be on You Whom He encompasses?" -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section VI, p.10:6-7

Please join us for ACIM Teleclass to study A Course in Miracles, every Sunday evening at 7:30 pm CT. 

Nothing Else at All

"Mind reaches to itself.  It is not made up of different parts, which reach each other.  It does not go out.  Within itself it has no limits, and there is nothing outside it.  It encompasses everything.  It encompasses you entirely; you within it and it within you.  There is nothing else, anywhere or ever." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section VI, 8:5-11

I've been undergoing a lot seeming outer change.  Travel, work, new friends, many holy encounters that are very much outside the box.  But the one constant is the reassurance of the Holy Spirit, the still, small Voice of Self that always says there are no real differences.  There's nothing any different now than before, nothing any different here from there, nothing any different anywhere at all.  In fact, it becomes more apparent there is only Mind Awake, and there is never (and never has been) anything else, anywhere, ever.

Mind Awake reveals the complete illusory nature of time and space and all the differences that masquerade as the material world.  Each seeming challenge resolves and melts into nothingness.  Each seeming judgement reveals itself as nothing, which is what forgiveness is.  Each person, place, and thing reveals the Love that shines within Mind Awake, the only Reality.  And all that was ever needed was my full attention.

Ironically, my full attention has nothing to do with the seeming individual human mind.  It has nothing to do with busyness or thinking or any seeming distractions.  No matter what the human mind is immersed in, Mind Awake remains eternally Present and unchanged.  I don't have to do anything at all.  Because Mind is not made up of different parts that need to wake up.  Mind encompasses me and all that I seem to think or do or be.  Each Holy Instant reveals full Presence and the Light of Self.  Nothing to do, nothing to change, and nothing else at all.

"When peace comes at last to those who wrestle with temptation and fight against the giving in to sin; when the Light comes at last into the mind given to contemplation; or when the goal is finally achieved by anyone, it always comes with just one happy realization; "I need do nothing." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section VII, 5:7

Hallucinations

"What if you recognized this world is an hallucination?  What if you really understood you made it up?  What if you realized that those who seem to walk about in it, to sin and die, attack and murder and destroy themselves, are wholly unreal?  Could you have faith in what you see, if you accepted this?  And would you see it?  Hallucinations disappear when they are recognized for what they are.  This is the healing and the remedy." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 20, Section VIII, 7:3-7, and 8:1-2

Like all spiritual scriptures, A Course in Miracles can be read on multiple levels, which results in what the Course calls level confusion.  Just like church, any spiritual teaching can be used to make the user more comfortable in their own illusions.  They just seem shinier and holier than other illusions.  In Truth, they are all made up.  All hallucinations' only value (including the Bible and the Course!) is whether they assist the mind in waking up to its own hallucinations and letting them go. I love A Course in Miracles because it reminds us of this repeatedly.  But it's so easy to gloss over those passages and latch on to the comfortable ones, isn't it?

In The Bible Jesus told us that we have to lose our lives to find Life.  He wasn't talking about the cross, although that was an extreme example and symbol of the teaching.  He was talking about losing the little self, the identification with a separate self with separate ideas and separate agendas.  He was talking about the compulsion to identify that self with a body that needs special care and special protection.  He was talking about the little self with its constant planning and schemes for pleasure and self-reliance.  He was talking about life as usual.

Nobody wants to hear this.  What little self, with its vested interest in an identity, wants to hear that it is an hallucination?  Who wants to hear that all our cherished values and ideas about how life works are all made up, and simply not even there?  Who wants to hear that we are the mentally ill, every last one of us?  This seems like a no-brainer to the little self... just focus on what you believe to be true, and live as if it is true, and ignore the fact that it keeps not being true. This is the nature of the world, where every hallucination comes to pass. 

But we have another choice!  When we change our mind about the purpose of the world, it isn't about perpetuating the hallucinations, but about letting them go.  And when the only purpose of the world becomes the healing of the mind, then every single hallucination dissolves, and the Light of the Self that is always here is revealed. 

"Is it harder to dispel the belief of the insane in a larger hallucination as opposed to a smaller one?  Will he agree more quickly to the unreality of a louder voice he hears than to that of a softer one?  Will he dismiss more easily a whispered demand to kill than a shout?  And do the number of pitchforks the devils he sees carrying affect their credibility in his perception?  His mind has categorized them all as real, and so they are all real to him.  When he realizes they are all illusions they will disappear." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers, 8, 5:2-7

In the Light of Self that remains, there is only God, only One Self.  All hallucinations are simply the opportunity to awaken from the insanity of self-preservation.  And this is not death, but Life!

"Give up this frantic and insane attempt that cheats you of the joy of living with your God and Father [Unified Self], and of waking gladly to His Love and Holiness that join together as the Truth in You, making you One with Him.  When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing.  There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried down a quiet path in summer.  Only your own volition seems to make deciding hard.  The Holy Spirit [the Voice of Self] will not delay in answering your every question what to do.  He knows.  And He will tell you, and then do it for you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 14, Section IV, 5:6, and 6:1-6

Who in their right mind would let hallucinations run their life?  Who would let an hallucination decide for them?  That's what we do every day, every hour, and every minute that we live as if we were a separate self with separate desires and separate needs.  But as we forgive the fictions and let them go, we find the One Self is ever-present, and All that has ever been.  This One Self, this Infinite Love, is all we ever need to dispel the dreams and Awaken to Joy.

THIS is the Glory

"You are not saved from anything [there is nothing but God], but you are saved for glory [the extending of the Light of God that we are].  Glory is your inheritance, given you by your Creator that you might extend it." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section IV, 1:4-5 (brackets hold the whispers of Holy Spirit about this quote)

Last night I dreamed about a trio of friends, a girl and two boys.  They were part of some much larger community, a typical hierarchical organization of some sort, which was transitioning from an old building and format to a much newer building and organization.  It was a big deal, with a new head administrator and gala celebration in the works.  And as in all group situations, everybody wanted to be in charge, everybody had personal ideas and preferences, and everybody had an agenda.  Somehow (in the way of dreams) my characters decided to kill off the new administrator and take his place, since no one really knew him yet.  The ringleader took on that appearance and persona, with the other two going along and making sure everyone believed it.  Then ensued a series of such ‘take-overs’, where one of them would kill someone else off and morph into that appearance and persona to take their place.  I kept wanting to wake up, but felt powerless to do so until the impostors were somehow ‘safe’.  I kept hoping they would just be happy with what they had done, but they kept it up until they started killing each other off to be in charge.  I only woke up when my dog-alarms woke me, and I felt hung-over and desperately bad and guilty, as if ‘I’ had been the one doing all the killing, posturing, and deception.  And of course, I had been the one.  What other one could there be? Whose mind dreamed this? 

The Course says in the Manual for Teachers that it takes great learning to understand that ALL things, events, encounters, and circumstances are helpful.  Our nightmares are gifts that bring the buried guilt to the Light to be forgiven.  What is the source of this guilt?  Nothing real, but a lifetime (or lifetimes) of believing the impossible… that we are separate and in competition with many others and with God.  Who knows how many dreams we have projected onto the screen of the sleeping mind, with casts of thousands of players, some seemingly innocent and some obviously guilty.  But all simply perpetuate this insane desire to kill off what gets in the way of our seeming preferences, and to cast as innocent our desire to do so.  All the while we are generating the smoke screen of many separate and sleeping parts, when there is only the One, and that One forever Awake and Aware.

This compulsion to create multiple forms and meanings and needs and versions is hell.  Heaven is the unified Awareness of our Eternal Self, the Oneness of Perfect Wholeness and Love without limits.  This is not boring sameness, but Infinite Creation, Infinite Bliss.  The extension of Love is Our only Purpose, and this Love has no object and no agenda.  It is eternally free and isn’t limited to or by imagined forms.  It doesn’t need to get rid of anything, or change anything, or keep anything. 

Every Sunday in my little church, we sing these words:
“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: World without end, AMEN, AMEN.”

Glory is the sheer joy of reveling in the Truth, the Source, the One, that shines and extends and includes ALL.

The Son is ALL that extends in and as the Awareness of that One.

The Holy Spirit is the extension of this Glory even within the dream, as the Awakening and Quickening of this Awareness.

This Glory, this ALLNESS, this Quickening of Awareness of Self is the only Purpose of every dream, whether by night or by day (because make no mistake, everything sensed with the body is a dream).  How is this Purpose lived?  By shedding every judgment, every preference, every personal agenda, every belief in limits and limitations of form.  THIS is true forgiveness and the Atonement.  THIS is the Glory.

This World of Light

"This world of Light, this circle of brightness is the real world, where guilt meets with forgiveness.  Here the world outside is seen anew, without the shadow of guilt upon it.  Here are you forgiven, for here you have forgiven everyone.  Here is the new perception, where everything is bright and shining with innocence, washed in the waters of forgiveness, and cleansed of every evil thought you laid upon it.  Here is your innocence waiting to clothe you and protect you, and make you ready for the final step in the journey inward.  Here are the dark and heavy garments of guilt laid by, and gently replaced by purity and love." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section IX, 9:1-7

"Freedom must be impossible as long as you perceive a body as yourself.  The body is a limit.  Who would seek for freedom in a body looks for it where it can not be found.  The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power to do whatever is asked... It has been given to the Source of Love... It rests in God." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 199

Love, Light, Limitless Awareness... all of these are words, symbols twice removed, that have been used to describe the experience of our unified Self, the Field of Light and Love and Intelligent Awareness that is called God.  The Christ is the Light of this Awareness, and the Holy Spirit is Its Voice.  But it is the Christ Light that we speak of here.

This Light is the only Body we have.  It is formless, but includes everything.  It has no boundaries or limits, and is the only Reality behind every appearance in the world of projection.  It is the only Reality wherever we appear to be, wherever we appear to go, whatever we appear to do.  It is the only Reality of ALL, because it is literally ALL.  There is no other Cause, and no other Effect. 

The Christ Light is our only Mind.  It's not a physical light, since all seeming physicality is ephemeral projection.  This Light is pure Awareness, boundless Love, and limitless Mind.  It is Mind Awake.

A Course in Miracles repeatedly reminds us that "I am not a body.  I am free." (Workbook Lesson 199) And what in the collective delusion we call form is ever free?  The illusion of time seems to hold everything in form in bondage, as does the very nature of everything that comes and goes.  The fixation of the so-called egoic mind cannot even conceive of Freedom.  It is always trying to be free from.  Awakening occurs when the fixation loosens through constant forgiveness and release, when the mind opens and finds no boundaries at all.  True Freedom is not subject/object.  True Freedom is One, and is limitless and boundless, without a beginning and without an end.  It shines, and shines forever.  It is the Real World of endless Light and Love.

"This world of Light, this circle of brightness is the REAL WORLD."  Yes, where guilt meets with forgiveness all seeming boundaries and limits are released, and our eternal, unified nature of pure Innocence and Freedom is remembered.

"You are God's Son.  In Immortality you live forever.  Would you not return your mind to this?" -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 199, 8:1-3

The Least of These: Animals & A Course in Miracles

There are many places in A Course in Miracles where the voice of Jesus speaks to us directly.  I open and close this blog posting with two of those passages, like book-ends that echo His message.

“I assure you that I will witness for anyone who lets me, and to whatever extent he permits it.  Your witnessing demonstrates your belief, and thus strengthens it.  Those who witness for me are expressing, through their miracles, that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation in favor of the abundance they have learned belongs to them.” -- ACIM Chapter 1, Section IV, 4:6-8

“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” -- Matthew 25:40 

Who are the least of these?  In the world of ideas and projections in which we live, the least of these refers to everything that lives, especially the ones we tend to overlook as less important.  And the reality of even the least of these is the Christ-Self that is the Truth of Being for everything that lives.  Do we extend our spiritual practice to knowing the Christ in all that lives?  Or do we overlook the least of these?

“In His Thoughts, which have no opposite, we understand there is One Life; and that Life we share with Him and with all creation, whom He created in a unity of Life that cannot separate.” – ACIM Workbook Lesson 167

When people think about practicing the principles from A Course in Miracles and bearing witness to the Christ in all, they usually don’t think about animals.  But there are many passages in the Course that clearly show that Life doesn’t mean human life.  Since we’re pure Spirit, not bodies at all, it is easy to see that the Oneness of this Spirit includes all… literally all.

“God gave you all there is.  And to be sure you could not lose it, did He also give the same to every living thing as well.” -- ACIM Chapter 29, Section VIII, 9:7-8

In 2007 I founded a 501c3 animal sanctuary which is currently home to over 40 animals, large and small.  Since then this has been much of my practical application of A Course in Miracles, seeing the Christ in all of that lives, and using the Atonement principle of Oneness to care for all the animals.  Yes, I have continued to teach the Course and to take on private clients.  But the animals and farm have been my training ground.  Learning to live in a state of miracle-readiness and allowing the Divine Mind to continually reflect the means for care and support has been a real stretch for me.  Through many challenges I've learned that there can be no compromising when it comes to the actual practice of miracle principles.  As the Course frequently reminds us, we can’t live in two worlds.  So realizing that the animals aren’t bodies, that they are pure spirit, and that none of us is dependent on anything but pure Spirit for our daily care, is a continual practice that leads to joy and remembrance of Who I Am.   And as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Consider the lilies of the field… they neither toil nor gather, yet even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”

The hardest part of this spiritual practice has been coming out of the closet.  There have been so many demonstrations of physical and financial miracles over the past six years, but I have kept them very private and not shared these stories with very many people.  I thought my reasons were humility and practicality until I heard a YouTube video by David Hoffmeister about spiritual honesty.  And I realized that my reasons were linked to my own fear of joining with others, my own judgments and fears about disapproval and criticism, which sounded something like this: "I mean, people probably won't think an animal sanctuary is too weird, but one based on the spiritual principles of A Course in Miracles?  In the Midwest?  And really, who else will be interested in this?  It’s pretty rough, certainly nothing fancy… and it’s a lot of hard work, with so many things needing to be done.  And there are so many animal organizations asking for help, people aren’t interested in another non-profit.  They’ll either think this endeavor is very naïve or extremely presumptuous, or both!"  My limiting beliefs and fear of joining in the form of judgments went on and on… and on… and on…

Thanks to that YouTube video by David, and through a lot of self-inquiry about all these judgments and beliefs (and forgiveness of those I've dredged up thus far),  I’ve realized the necessity of spiritual transparency for Awakening, and how important it is to bring our own hidden fears, judgments and beliefs to the Light.  To truly Awaken, the last thing we want to do is hold things in or hide them, because then they continue to project themselves as a world of separation, and the dream goes on and on.  So for purposes of Awakening, mental privacy is not a necessary thing, but an egoic construct that acts like a veil over our awareness.  Only a body needs privacy… the Christ Mind is One with all, and welcomes all.  Coming out publicly with the spiritual nature of this Sanctuary, welcoming the input and support of all, is direct and loving guidance from Holy Spirit.  Welcoming others and their ideas, including those who might want to visit and experience this Sanctuary and join in living the Course more deeply is also part of Holy Spirit's guidance. 

“God hides nothing from his Son, even though His Son would hide himself.” -- ACIM Chapter 11, Section III, 5:1

 “…the recognition that there is nothing you want to hide even if you could… brings escape from fear.  When you have become willing to hide nothing, you will not only be willing to enter into communion but will also understand peace and joy.” – ACIM Chapter 1, Section IV, 1:3-5

So this blog is an invitation for input, participation and support to any who care to join me in witnessing to Christ in this way, through these words, in this place, in whatever capacity.  Through volunteering, through visiting, through sharing of resources, through simple phone or e-mail conversations… all are welcome.  There is no plan and no agenda.  But as David Hoffmeister points out, we all need Mighty Companions to share in this Great Awakening, as we daily listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and deepen our witness to the Christ in all that lives.

“The miracle is a sign that the mind has chosen to be led by me in Christ’s service.  The abundance of Christ is the natural result of choosing to follow Him.” -- ACIM Chapter 1, Section V, 6:1-2 

Click here to learn more about The Claire Foundation Animal Sanctuary.

Do Not Reconsider

"In everything be led by Him, and do not reconsider.  Trust Him to answer quickly, surely, and with Love for everyone who will be touched in any way by the decision.  And everyone will be.  Would you take unto yourself the sole responsibility for deciding what can bring only good to everyone?  Would you know this?" -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 14, Section III, 17:4-8

A friend asked why, when forgiveness is practiced, it sometimes seems to not be working... in other words, why there is still no peace with the situation, or why there is still fear, etc. The answer lies in the passage above... "In everything be led by Him, and do not reconsider."  All of us have the experience of going through the motions of forgiveness, of completely giving over the situation to Holy Spirit, and then continuing to think about it and what we will do.  This is reconsidering. 

This habit of reconsidering is so ingrained that it's easy to forget that you are choosing to do it.  Like all habits, it is a choice that has been relegated to the subconscious so it's automatic.  But like all choices, it can be brought to awareness, so you can change your mind.  It simply involves the choice to stay present with your own mind.

"You do not guard your thoughts carefully enough.  You are not used to miracle-minded thinking, but you can be trained to think that way.  All miracle workers need that kind of training.  Miracle working entails a full realization of the power of thought in order to avoid miscreation.  The miracle worker must have genuine respect for true cause and effect as a necessary condition for the miracle to occur." -- ACIM; Chapter 2, Section VII

Open your mind and heart to the Holy Spirit, the part of your Self that has never gone unconscious.  Give everything over to the Holy Spirit, which is your very own sane Christ Mind.  Let this Presence of pure Divine Love decide for you.  Let this Divine Love care for you.  Let this Divine Love take care of all the details.  And because it is your true Self, you will always know if there are actions to take or words to be spoken.  You can absolutely trust this Self, which is all-loving because it is pure Love.  This Love is You, the Holy Son of God. 

Reconsidering is a deliberate decision to forget Who You Are, in an attempt to maintain autonomy, to stay separate.   Never doubt the power of your own holy mind to choose... and it is really good at hiding.  When the Son of God chooses to hide, he convinces even himself that he is lost.  It reminds me of small children when they first learn to cover their face and play peek-a-boo.  When their face is covered, they are convinced no one can see them either!  Such is the power of the mind!

Only when we insist on reconsidering can we not experience the ever-present Peace and Joy forgiveness reveals.  Which really means we have still not made the decision to stop hiding.  Our Reality remains ever-present, simply awaiting our decision to Awaken.

"This is the only thing that you need do for vision, happiness, release from pain, and the complete escape from sin, all to be given you.  Say only this, but mean it with no reservations, for here the power of salvation lies:
          I am responsible for what I see.
          I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide
              upon the goal I would achieve.
         And everything that seems to happen to me
              I ask for, and receive as I have asked.
Deceive yourself no longer that you are helpless in the face of what is done to you.  Acknowledge but that you have been mistaken, and all the effects of your mistakes will disappear." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 23, Section II, 2:1-7

The Blessed Residue

"Every loving thought that the Son of God ever had is eternal.  The loving thoughts his mind perceives in this world are the world's only reality." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section VII, 2:1-2

"In Heaven there is no guilt, because the Kingdom is attained through the Atonement, which releases you to create.  The word 'create' is appropriate here because, once what you have made is undone by the Holy Spirit, the blessed residue is restored and therefore continues in creation.  What is truly blessed is incapable of giving rise to guilt, and must give rise to joy." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section V, 2:1-3

I woke up in the wee hours last night, inspired to search my mind for unforgiveness.  I woke up with a new understanding of hidden places and grievances.  I realized that every expectation of person, place, or thing is only in my mind, is all made up, and is a grievance.  Every person or organization that I want or expect something from, every animate or inanimate form I look to for anything at all is a fictional mental veil across the face of Christ.  I experienced a flood of gratitude for each insight, and pure joy at letting it all go.  And then I heard the Voice speak the words "blessed residue."  I knew that I was to write about these words, and remembered reading them in the Course, so I asked if I should write them down or look them up.  I was told to go back to sleep, that I would remember.  And I did.

Love is the blessed residue.  When everything is forgiven, there is only the innocence of pure Love.  When everything is forgiven, even the things you thought were problems are revealed as pure, innocent Joy.  This is a spiritual alchemy that has been written about by mystics throughout time.  The irony is that we already know this, but pretend that we don't.  If we open our minds even slightly, the floodgates open and we can no longer pretend that the minutiae of our world is true or even really there.  So we practice tunnel vision on worldly problems and details, and even spiritual questions, clinging to them as if they were our safety and survival.  This is their only reality.  "I have given everything I see... all the meaning that it has for me." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 2)

An utter dependence on Love and the Holy Spirit is our true safety and security.  We can safely give our every question and care to the Holy Spirit and know that Love can only give and expand and increase in joyous intensity.  This is true creation.  "Love created me like ItSelf," we are reminded in ACIM Workbook Lesson 67.  We have only to give over (forgive) each thought, each judgment, each expectation to the Holy Spirit to be undone.  And the blessed residue, which is pure Love and our true Self, is restored to creative awareness.  It was here all along. 

"You have not lost your innocence.  It is for this you yearn.  This is your heart's desire.  This is the Voice you hear, and this the Call which cannot be denied." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 182, 12:1-4

Level Confusion: The Projected World

"2. A sense of separation from God is the only lack you really need correct.  This sense of separation would never have arisen if you had not distorted your perception of Truth, and had thus perceived yourself as lacking.  The idea of order of needs arose because, having made this fundamental error, you had already fragmented yourself into levels with different needs.  As you integrate you become one, and your needs become one accordingly.  Unified needs lead to unified action, because this produces a lack of conflict. 
 3. The idea of orders of need, which follows from the original error that one can be separated from God, requires correction at its own level before the error or perceiving levels at all can be corrected.  You cannot behave effectively while you function on different levels.  However, while you do, correction must be introduced vertically from the bottom up.  This is because you think you live in space, where concepts such as 'up' and 'down' are meaningful.  Ultimately space is as meaningless as time.  Both are merely beliefs." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section VI, 2-3

The Projected World and the entire universe as we imagine it is simply mind-stuff, consciousness.  It all takes place in the mind and is seen as if it were ‘outside', making it the original virtual reality. But the appearing world is simply effect, a continual out-picturing of the mind’s desires, filtered through beliefs, thoughts, and emotions. The world has no objective reality... it is effect, not cause.

Even after you get in touch with the power of your own emotions and thoughts, you can believe things about your thoughts and feelings that aren’t true. Most people believe their thoughts are ineffectual or powerless, or that their feelings don't really matter, and so they are experienced as such.  We have been taught, and so believe, that the world mysteriously exists first and is thus the source and cause of our emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and ultimately, our desires.

There is little hope for real change in such a world where we have no control, and where the real cause remains mysterious. No wonder prayer as practiced by the world has no real effect. It is just a belief in magic, belief in a mysterious something outside ourselves and our world that may be called upon to rescue us. Forgiveness in such a world makes no sense, and has been mostly practiced out of a fear of an invisible, magical force that judges us.

Forgiveness as taught by A Course in Miracles is a belief too, because in the perfection of our True Self there is nothing to forgive.  We have never left the Mind of God.  But while we experience ourselves as split from Source, forgiveness has the power to release the false and hidden beliefs and blockages within the mind. This is the process of what the Course calls Atonement, the interlocking chain of forgiveness that is the correction for all false beliefs and thus erases their images or effects from the mind. Because the problem is not out there… it’s in the mind of the perceiver.

Atonement is the correction for false beliefs. When we practice true forgiveness and give our perceptions to the Holy Spirit for correction, we accept the Atonement and allow all layers of mind to be corrected, healed and aligned with Truth… so all that remains is Unification, One Mind, Wholeness. This is what Jesus called seeking first the Kingdom of God, and He promised that all else that we need will be given when this becomes our primary vocation in life.  The Course tells us plainly that forgiveness is our only function in the world (and that forgiveness, happiness, and joy are synonymous).

Why do we need forgiveness and the Atonement? Because we see the phenomenal world as the cause of our emotions, thoughts, and beliefs, and see our desires and prayers as attempts to countermand external causes.  Forgiveness is the reversal of the mind, where we discover happiness and joy as the core of our Being, and effortlessly radiate this state of mind outward,  to reflect only the Love that we are.

As we willingly accept the function of forgiveness as our only purpose here, we gradually shed the layers of indoctrinated belief, thought, and emotion. Yes, the world still appears to be here.  But as we become clear of the images generated by false beliefs, thoughts, and emotions, we reflect only the Light of Truth, the Light of Love, the Light of the One Mind rather than the lie of fear and separation. This is what the Course calls the Happy Dream of the Holy Spirit, which is the earthly experience of Awakening and Enlightenment. Level confusion has vanished in the unified Awareness of Self.  We now hear only One Voice, think only the thoughts of the One Mind, and so reflect this Light on earth, as it is in the Heaven of Enlightened Awareness.

"Heaven is not a place nor a condition.  It is merely an Awareness of perfect Oneness, and the knowledge that there is nothing else; nothing outside this Oneness, and nothing else within." -- A Course in Miracles; 18, VI, 1:5-6

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