The Key to Happiness

“You made this up.  It is a picture of what you think you are; of how you see yourself… Have you not wondered what the world is really like; how it would look through happy eyes?  The world you see is but a judgment on yourself.  It is not there at all.” – A Course in Miracles; Chapter 20, Section III, 4:3-4, 5:1-3

A friend recently asked me about the practice of forgiveness as the Course teaches it.  It’s not really forgiveness as the world thinks about it, because it’s not about anything ‘out there’ at all.  It’s a mental process, because everything I experience is in my mind, and then projected outward.  And while our minds appear to sleep, there is a great need for reminders that the nightmares we project have no real effects.  “What God has created follows His Laws, and His alone.  Nor is it possible for those who follow them to suffer the results of any other source.” (ACIM 20, IV, 3:6-7)  This means our insane projections, though scary, can have no real effects.  Of course, as long as we’re asleep, we’re stuck in a nightmare thinking it’s really happening.  So forgiveness is the way out of the dream.

Forgiveness as the Course teaches it makes use of the Holy Instant, the “little breath of eternity that runs through time like golden Light that is all the same; nothing before it, nothing afterwards.”  The reality of God and the Holy Spirit (which is our reality) is always, now, and forever.  “The past takes nothing from it, and the future will add no more.  Here then, is everything.  This gift returns the laws of God to your remembrance.” 

Because our reality in God is already perfect, whole, and complete, there really is only one purpose to everything… to awaken from the dream we made up.  So the Course reminds us repeatedly that forgiveness is our only function.  Don’t bother judging the seeming situation, since trying to judge a dream is insane… it’s all made up.  Practice forgiveness, and wake up to Perfection.  Practice forgiveness, and be Happy.

“God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.” --  A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 101

Here is an example of how the function of forgiveness unfolds in the mind.  Use your own words, and be specific and thorough with each individual person, situation, or feeling you are examining.  Once you experience the deep peace this process brings, don't try and fill the clean and open space with concepts and stories again.  Remember that it’s the false concepts and beliefs in your mind that project as the world you think you see.  So step back and let Truth arise and lead the way.  Ask the Holy Spirit whenever you need to make a decision.  BE peace.

This feeling (fear, anger, hurt, pride, jealousy, frustration, pain, hopelessness or whatever the unsettling emotion may be) that I feel toward and about you and this situation seems to be about:

(Take time to be honest about this, in detail)
 

I see that every aspect of this is a projection of my belief that I am separate from God and everyone and everything, which means I think I’m separate from this situation and from the All, the Everything that is God, which includes all Goodness and Love and Perfection and Completeness.  Because I think I’m separate, I’m projecting false images of conflict and pain and lack instead of radiating the Wholeness and Peace that I am.  I’m projecting false images of lack and limitation instead of radiating the perfect Love and Completeness that I am.
 

I see that it’s impossible to be separate from the Love of God, which is Everything and All.   I have never been separate and my fear is all made up and projected as false images.  Everyone and everything that seems to be involved is also eternally One with the Love of God, and so everyone and everything that seems to be in conflict is actually all Good and only Good, Perfect, Innocent and Complete.
 

And so I forgive myself and everyone and everything for what never even happened!  I let it go, and overlook all the seeming ‘evidence’ of lack and pain and suffering.  I look instead to the Holy Spirit, and I give all these images to the Holy Spirit to be dissolved in my perception throughout imaginary space and time.
 

I know that as I release these images to the Holy Spirit, they are completely undone throughout the dream (past, present, and future… which are all made up, too)... the false concepts and images dissolve in the Light like the dreams they are, and now I know none of it ever happened in reality.  All that remains is the Holy Instant of Light and Love.  There is only God, only innocence and peace, only the clean and open space of Spirit… the Light, Perfection, Peace, Love, and Joy that is our eternal Home. 
 

By being honest about our thoughts and feelings in this way, and giving them to the Holy Spirit, we let Truth correct all such errors in our minds (which is where it all appears to be happening!).  We can then step back and let our Wholeness (holiness) lead the way, and the symbols and projections in the dream we call life begin to reflect this Wholeness.  Innocence and Peace, Joy and Happiness… these are the Reality behind everything.  And forgiveness is the way to remember the Reality behind it all. 
 

“Forgiveness is the key to happiness.”  A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 121
 

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Perfect Happiness

"God's Will for me is perfect happiness." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 101

"I share God's Will of happiness for me." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 102

"There is no will but God's." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 74

Reason tells us that Omnipresent God, Source, our Infinite and Eternal Creator must be perfect, whole, and complete.  So if there is only One Infinite, Eternal Source, where did imperfection come from?  We seem to find flaws and problems and imperfection everywhere we look, especially in ourselves.  But if Omnipresent God is One, Perfect, and Whole, then I can only reflect God's Will, which is God's Being.  Omnipresent, Infinite and Eternal means there can be nothing else, no 'other' Will but God's.

Religionists who believe in sin and redemption will argue that it's some sort of holy test in which we are learning to become like God.  But where the heck did a creation unlike its Creator come from?  What would be its source?  Every suffering and sorrow in the world can be traced back to this belief in a bad seed, a seed that produces something totally unintended and unlike its source.  But look at the natural world.  Does a lettuce seed produce turnips???

Jesus once compared the Kingdom to a mustard seed.  He also told us the Kingdom of Heaven is already IN us.  A mustard seed already has everything that it is and will be within it.  Like all ideas in the mind of God it is self-full, complete and self-fulfilling.  Once planted, its happiness is that unfolding, that becoming, the extending of being in infinite variety, but always of the essence of its Creator.  It's never the form that is perfect... form is constantly changing and flowing into new form, in endless celebration of the perfection at the heart of it all.

What Jesus showed us is how to stop obsessing about form.  He demonstrated over and over that when you know God as your Self, and as the Self of everyone and everything, you see this perfection at the core of all Being.  And then the forms that change and flow are seen to reflect this perfection as they change and flow.  Perfection has nothing to do with your concept of perfection.  Perfection is Wholeness of Being, and Perfect Happiness... not something you 'have' but something you BE.  Something you already are and have always been. 

This seed of happiness that is the core of everything, is pure joy.  This bubbling well of joy that is in you and in me, IS perfect happiness.

"God, being Love, is also happiness."  A Course in Miracles; Workbook 103 

A Long Time Coming...

First, all links are working on the CD website, and I have also posted a new YouTube video.  Enjoy!  And don't forget to purchase mp3s or order the whole CD, and support the animals at The Claire Foundation Animal Sanctuary. 

All quotes today are from the Manual for Teachers in A Course in Miracles.  Where no reference is given, quotes are from section 10, "How is Judgment Relinquished?"

"And now must [you] attain a state that may remain impossible to reach for a long, long time.  [You] must learn to lay all judgment aside, and ask only what [you] really want in every circumstance." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 4, I, A, 7:7-8

Of course, time is an illusion.  What seems like a long time coming is just how it seems to us, as we cling to the remnants of personal judgment, guilt, and fear.  We cling to our personal judgments and conditioned self-image (which is nothing but a collection of judgments) because we think it is who we are... and it seems that giving up judgment would be the death of our identity and individuality.  In fact, the false identity keeps us blind to our true Self and individuality in God.

Every snowflake, every grain of sand is unique and individual... no two are ever the same.  And yet their only identity is in the collective.  A snowflake is nothing without the snowfall or the snowbank.  A single grain of sand is useless, but the sand dunes create shelter and habitat.  Each of us is unique, too, but not in the ways we imagine.  We each reflect God and only God in this world, each in a unique way that only has meaning within the Whole.  When we judge what we or anyone else should be, or what we should be doing or saying based on human perspectives (which are simply the memories we carry around as if they were true), we are projecting a false image over the face of Self... which is the face of Christ.

So how in the heck do we give up judgment?  How in the heck do we let go of who we think we are, or should be, or will be?  A Course in Miracles gives us clear direction:  "It is necessary... to realize not that he should not judge, but that he cannot.  In giving up judgment, he is merely giving up what he did not have.  He gives up the illusion; or better, he has an illusion of giving up.  He has actually become more honest.  Recognizing that judgment was always impossible [which of us could ever know or be aware of the full spectrum of possibilities or circumstances, past, present or future?], he no longer attempts it.  This is no sacrifice.  On the contrary, he puts himself in a position where judgment through him rather than by him can occur.  And this judgment [of the Holy Spirit] is neither 'good' nor 'bad'.  It is the only judgment there is, and it is only One: "God's Son is guiltless, and sin does not exist."     

Whenever we're confronted with decisions or problems, it may seem excruciatingly hard not to judge it 'practically'... but there is nothing practical about the world of suffering that arises from these false projections we call judgments.  Each of us will "lay it down happily the instant he recognizes the cost.  All of the ugliness he sees about him is its outcome.  All of the pain he looks upon is its result.  All of the loneliness and sense of loss; of passing time and growing hopelessness; of sickening despair and fear of death; all these have come of it [judgment].  And now he knows that these things need not be.  Not one is true.  For he has given up their cause, and they, which never were but the effects of his mistaken choice, have fallen from him.  Therefore lay judgment down, not with regret but with a sigh of gratitude.  Now are you free of a burden so great that you could merely stagger and fall down beneath it.  And it was all illusion.  Nothing more."

I am writing this blog today because giving up judgment has seemed to be a long time coming for me.  I thought I was a very judgmental person, even very recently.  I thought I had to struggle to somehow 'overcome' judgment.  But Grace has a way of correcting our false perceptions of ourselves in the unlikeliest of circumstances.  I am so grateful for every false judgment I ever thought I made... because I now know that it was all made up, including all self-judgment.  Every circumstance has become a happy dream, another way to remember God, and my Self.

"His sense of care is gone, for he has none.  He has given it away, along with judgment.  Now he makes no mistakes.  His Guide is sure.  And where before he came to judge, he comes to bless.  Where now he laughs, he used to come to weep." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 10, 5:7-13

God's Will

First I want to let my readers know that I have a CD for sale, with proceeds going to The Claire Foundation Animal Sanctuary.  All the hymns on it are Acappella, and recorded live at St. Vincent's-in-the-Vineyard.  You can hear cuts from it on my YouTube channel.  Thanks for supporting the animals!  And FYI, you can download individual mp3s for only $1.99 each.

Now for the quote that inspired today's blog:
"God's Will is One, not many.  It has no opposition, for there is none beside it." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 19, IV, 3:5-6

It's hard to find a phrase that instills such varied reactions as 'God's Will.'  For many of us, it conjures pious, judgmental comments made after natural disasters or sudden deaths.  For almost everyone it raises a sense of unease and fear... because hey, who the heck knows what God's Will for us is?  It could be bad, it could be something punitive so we can 'learn our lessons.'  Isn't that how most human parents operate?  Don't we unconsciously model our ideas of God after our human notions of authority?

So this quote can be hard to take in.  We may hear it, but gloss over it.  God's Will is ONE, not many.  IT HAS NO OPPOSITION, because there isn't anything else.  Only God.  We live and move and have our being IN THIS ONENESS.  So logically there isn't my will and then God's Will imposed on me from without.  There is only God, only God's Will, appearing AS me, and AS you.  That we have convinced ourselves and each other that we are separate bodies and lives is irrelevant, because it's not true. 

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the movie "The Matrix."  A little psychic boy is bending spoons with his mind, and offers Keanu Reeves' character the chance to try it.  He isn't having much luck, and the little boy simply says, "Don't try and bend the spoon.  Know that there is no spoon."  And then of course, the spoon bends.

Joel Goldsmith told a similar story.  He was traveling and arrived at his destination only to hear that his luggage had been lost.  He spent the next couple of days practicing scientific prayer, knowing that what belonged to him could never be lost, etc.  But his luggage did not show up.  Finally in meditation the answer came to him... there was no lost luggage!  There are no opposites or oppositions in all God's Kingdom, there is only God!  Of course, his luggage then 'showed up' unexpectedly.

Jesus taught us this Truth when he said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom (the Oneness of God) and all else will be added unto you."  We just have it upside down and backwards, thinking that cause and effect lie within the world, in our actions and reactions, or even in our thoughts.  If there is no Will but God's, it also holds that there are no real Thoughts but God's.  Everything else is the dreaming of the mind that imagines itself to be separate.  And no matter what we imagine in our dreaming, we remain safe in God, eternally.

There is great peace in this awareness.  "Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals.  As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His." (ACIM; Workbook 74, 1:5-6)  We don't have to struggle humanly to figure it all out.  God's Will is always Love, Goodness, Happiness, Peace, Abundance, Joy, and endless Life.  And as we trust God with each holy instant of our lives, we are led by Grace. 

"He leadeth me in paths of righteousness, for His Name's sake." -- Psalm 23

"Today I will recognize that all this has not occurred.  I am safe because there is no will but God's." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 87, 3:5-6

Repeat the Sounding Joy!

"Metaphysics is above physics, and matter does not enter into metaphysical premises or conclusions.  The categories of metaphysics rest on one basis, the Divine Mind.  Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 269, Lines 11-15

"There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day.  It is a thought of pure joy; a thought of peace, a thought of limitless release, limitless because all things are freed within it." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 16.6:1-2

Joy to the World!  It's the time of year that we hear that phrase (and the word joy) a lot.  To most people, though, it seems like just a word.  Ask yourself, what is joy?  Don't most of us think about personal gratification, about getting something we want?  We think of enjoyment, good consumers that we are.  But joy is a metaphysical reality, and has nothing to do with physical enjoyment or gratification.  Joy is pure BEING... or to quote Paramahansa Yogananda, "God is ever-new Joy."  So Joy is an attribute of God, and of our Being as we reflect our Source.

I lost a beloved canine companion this week... Claire, my soul-friend for nearly 15 years (http://www.clairefoundation.ws/).  As her transition drew near, the cats and other dogs would check on her frequently, and lay quietly nearby.  I noticed that the sadness I felt at seeming to lose her was transformed shortly before she passed.  The very air felt lighter and freer.  The Divine Idea that Claire IS had expanded and was free... and I could FEEL the joy she felt, that she feels.  The Christmas Carol sings: "While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy!"  That's what it felt like... that all of creation was a little lighter, a little brighter, through her passing.  The joy of remembering Who We Are... and the Christ is born again.

Thank God for all of creation, to remind us... the rocks and hills and plains, the animals, and each other... repeat the sounding Joy! 

"God's Will for you is perfect happiness, because there is no sin, and suffering is causeless.  Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 101, 6:1-2

Understanding Forgiveness

"Love must give, and what is given in His Name takes on the form most useful in a world of form. These are the forms which never can deceive, because they come from Formlessness ItSelf. Forgiveness is an earthly form of love, which as it is in Heaven has no form. Yet what is needed here is given as it is needed. In this form you can fulfill your function even here, although what love will mean to you when formlessness has been restored to you is greater still. Salvation of the world depends on you who can forgive. Such is your function here." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 186, 13:5, & 14: 1-6

"Do as God's Voice directs. And if It asks a thing of you which seems impossible, remember Who It Is that asks, and who would make denial. Then consider this; which is more likely to be right?" -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 186, 12:1-3

Forgiveness is primary to being able to hear the Voice for God, a.k.a. the Holy Spirit, the part of our Mind that remains Awake and Aware of the Allness of God and our Oneness with God. Whatever images and stories are claiming time and attention have to be forgiven and released, to leave the mind clear and open to remembering. Understanding the importance of forgiveness is the biggest challenge, since our human self is always all about 'me'. Forgiveness cleans the slate, and returns the mind to natural, organic Self, which is formless and all-inclusive. From this unconditioned Awareness, we are able to hear the Voice. Why is this important? Because the Holy Spirit is our Translator and Guide through the maze of the dream we call life. The Voice of the Holy Spirit will encourage and inspire and guide us to forgive every aspect of the world. We have to be willing to forgive, and turn to the Holy Spirit for help. But it is the Holy Spirit who translates and removes the hurtful perceptions that have blocked our Awareness of God.

Removing all the obstacles to Awareness (true forgiveness) is our only function within the dream. We have to let go of all the thousands of ideas and stories that populate our separated minds, and return our minds to Oneness. These illusory ideas, with no more substance than a mist that blurs our vision, still give rise to the experience of illusion and to all the illusory world of separate bodies with separate interests.

Understanding forgiveness isn't about an academic or intellectual understanding. We're talking a qualitative shift here, not a quantitative one. We begin to truly understand as we experience the quality of release that true forgiveness brings. We are always letting go of limits, which are all illusions. God is our Life without limits. God is our Reality, and the Ground of Being.

True forgiveness is the purest form of Love that this world offers. It gives away all the obstacles to remembering Who We Are, all the illusions of separateness, and returns us whole-heartedly to innocence and peace. Understanding forgiveness is an experience, and it comes as we practice it, day in and day out releasing all that is not true... and revealing the Love at the heart of All.

"If God's Will for you is complete peace and joy, unless you experience only this you must be refusing to acknowledge His Will. His Will does not vacillate, being changeless forever. When you are not at peace it can only be because you do not believe you are in Him. Yet He is All in All. His peace is complete, and you must be included in it. His laws govern you because they govern everything." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 8, Section IV, 1:1-6

Happiness IS

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." -- Abraham Lincoln

"Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same." -- Francesca Reigler

"God's Will for me is perfect happiness." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 101

I had to laugh this morning when the first two quotes arrived in my Inbox, from two different sources. The thought that we can 'make' ourselves miserable is such an arrogant thought. And all of us have experienced feeling miserable and then having the feeling lift, like fog dissipating. It has no more substance than fog, either. God's Will for us is perfect, unchanging happiness. The third quote has always been one of my favorite workbook lessons from A Course in Miracles. It may also be one of the most misunderstood.

We usually think such things as, "Well, if God's Will for me is perfect happiness, why is this happening?" or "Why don't I have what I want?" or even "Then why does unhappiness even exist? Why do I ever feel unhappy?" To our seemingly separated selves, these are perfectly legitimate questions. But notice that they are not really questions, but statements of ego beliefs. They state that unhappiness exists, somehow against God's Will. They state that happiness is dependent on circumstances, people, or things being as we wish, again seemingly against God's Will. They state that there is a reality other than God's, in opposition to God.

Anyone who has ever experienced being happy for no good reason knows that it is not dependent on anyone or anything. All of us have, if only for a moment, glimpsed our greater Reality. Happiness is not even an attitude... it's our natural state of being. But calling it an attitude is about as close as the ego can come in this delusional state we call life.

What God Wills simply IS. What God Wills is forever, unchanging and unchangeable. What God Wills is eternal. This means that happiness is an organic aspect of our being that naturally radiates from us, not to us. Happiness IS, just as Love IS, just as Joy IS, just as Peace IS... these are attributes, radiant aspects of God that we reflect in this world simply by Being Who We Are. We don't have to do anything or be anything other than Who We Are. We don't have to say positive affirmations or get rid of negative thoughts. We simply have to forgive and release all thought of 'other than God.' Those are the clouds that hide our radiance. Who We are quite naturally remains when all else is forgiven and released.

The incredible lightness of being that we experience in our moments of rest and release are glimpses of the Truth about us. Happiness IS. Let's stop trying to find it where it isn't.

"God's Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and suffering is causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood your Self. Fear not the Will of God. But turn to it in confidence that It will set you free from all the consequences sin has wrought in feverish imagination. Say: God's Will for me is perfect happiness. There is no sin; it has no consequence." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 101, 6:1-7

Comfort and Joy

"The fulfillment of spiritual selfhood takes place within, not without, although it becomes apparent without. There is no mistaking the man or woman who has found inner joy and satisfaction, who is at peace with himself and the world. Even though such a person might come to a place where some outer circumstance throws him off balance for a time, he quickly recovers from it because he realizes that the outer is not of too much importance." -- from God, the Substance of All Form, by Joel Goldsmith

"God's Will for me is perfect happiness." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 101

Hello to all of you... it has been a little over a month since I last posted... a busy month indeed. The appearance of busyness, at any rate. Beneath it all is a current of quiet joy and an invisible comfort that is always here. When I get caught up in the current of life, there is a discontentedness that alerts me... I'm not happy when I go unconscious and forget. This little mechanism is invaluable to me. Restlessness and discontent no longer means that the outer world needs to be changed. It means that I need to go within and remember Who I Am. When I do, all is indeed very well. And the outer story becomes completely irrelevant and completely precious at the same time.

Where are you looking for comfort and joy? There is only one place that it will ever be found... and that is within your very own consciousness. As A Course in Miracles reminds us, "... You can't have what you're not willing to be." You are the embodiment of spirit, of the very Being of Spirit. And when you forget that, you look for comfort and fulfillment, for joy and happiness in the people and circumstances around you. It is not there.

So whenever that lovely alert system tells you that you are feeling discontented, whenever you think someone or something else needs to change, reverse yourself. Be still, and become Aware of what is always here. You remain as God created you, and will forever be living and moving and having your very Being in God. Comfort and Joy and Goodness and Mercy, all the days of our lives.

"Seek not outside yourself. For all your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting where is must be found." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, VII, 1:6-7