Here we are, beginning again in the circle of time. I invite anyone who is interested to join in the ongoing study of A Course in Miracles which begins again on Wednesday, January 6, 2010. You can always get updated information about the calls on my website, at http://www.sundarya.com/ACIMteleclasses.htm. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. And so we begin again.
Beginners mind is a mind that has released its need to know. Beginners mind is a mind that has emptied itself of past associations, so it can see Reality as it is. Beginners mind, the innocent mind, is the return to zero, to nothing... and then everything that emerges from this sacred space is pure Inspiration from Source, from our True Self, from God. As we are willing to let go of everything, of all our human constructs and identities, they are translated and transformed into instruments of Light.
A Course in Miracles begins with these statements of Principle: "There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not 'harder' or 'bigger' than another." (ACIM; Chapter 1, Section I, 1:1-2) This means there is no human identity or concept that cannot be released and therefore translated, no human experience that will not become a miracle when it is forgiven and all past meanings released. There is no order of difficulty, and therefore there are no exceptions. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." (The Bible; Isaiah 1:18) This is reasonable; this is rational; this is Principle.
"Miracles are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement. Atonement works all the time and in all dimensions of time." (ACIM; Chapter 1, Section I, 25:1-2) No exceptions, and omni-directional, omni-dimensional. No exclusions. And so this completed chain of forgiveness leaves us washed clean, erased of human concepts, white as snow. Beginners mind.
"Miracles represent freedom from fear. 'Atoning' means 'undoing.' The undoing of fear is an essential part of the Atonement value of miracles." (ACIM; Chapter 1, Section I, 26:1-3) And so the miracle is the undoing of what never was... the erasing of illusory and transient memories and concepts from the mind... and we find in the sacred space the miracle of beginners mind, and the Freedom and Love of our True Self.
"Miracles honor you because you are loveable. They dispel illusions about yourself and perceive the Light in you. They thus atone for [undo] your errors by freeing you from your nightmares. By releasing your mind from the imprisonment of your illusions, they restore your sanity." (ACIM; Chapter 1, Section I, 33:1-4) Released from past associations, from the many memories and stories that populate our split mind... released from all self-concepts, we find our Self again. This is my prayer for us all as we begin again in 2010.
"Spirit is in a state of Grace forever. Your reality is only Spirit. Therefore you are in a state of Grace forever." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section III, 5:4-6
Showing posts with label Human. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Human. Show all posts
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
All We Could Ever Want
"No call to God can be unheard nor left unanswered. And of this I can be sure; His answer is the one I really want." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 358
There are calls and answers bombarding us every day. At work, at home, at church, and even on the internet we are called on to help, to assist, to serve. At home, at work, at church, and through our internet connections, we also call on others to help, to assist, and to serve. But calling out to God is not like this. We think God should respond like a 'good' human. And we humanly act like we expect God to help, to assist, or to serve us in our need as we see it.
How could this be possible? Our God-Self knows that the projections we see are phantoms... they are all made up. Our real need is to awaken from the grip of our own delusions. Jesus knew this, and in his compassion told us quite plainly that "God is no respecter of persons, for he makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good." In other words, the sun shines... that's what it does, without judgment as to who or what it shines on and through. The sun gives life by being what it is. God IS... Being IS... Awareness IS... that's what it IS and what it does, without judgment or interference. God IS life and love and goodness itself, and by Being in God, we too have all life and love and goodness. It's only the cloud projections of our own thought-forms, our own stories, which hide this from our awareness.
What then, does our quote mean when it reassures us that "No call to God can be unheard or unanswered?" To really understand this, to really glimpse it, is freedom.
In many, many posts here on this blog we've repeated the Truth that sets us free... we are created in the image of God... perfect, whole, and completely spiritual, as God is Spirit. The Truth that answers us when we call can only answer spiritually and always and only reminds us of the Truth... that we are perfect, whole, and holy... perfect reflections of the Love of God. That any imagined need is met in this knowing. That imagined needs arise out of forgetting Who We Are. The Grace and Love of God, our true Source and Ground of Being, is truly our sufficiency in all things.
Which brings us to the second part of the above quote... that "of this I can be sure; His answer is the one I really want." We can always be sure that the remembrance of the Truth of Being, of our eternal perfection and goodness and love, is all we ever really wanted, and all we could ever want.
"God hides nothing from His Son, even though His Son would hide himself. You will never lose your way, for God leads you. When you wander, you but undertake a journey that is not real." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section III, 5:1, 3-4
There are calls and answers bombarding us every day. At work, at home, at church, and even on the internet we are called on to help, to assist, to serve. At home, at work, at church, and through our internet connections, we also call on others to help, to assist, and to serve. But calling out to God is not like this. We think God should respond like a 'good' human. And we humanly act like we expect God to help, to assist, or to serve us in our need as we see it.
How could this be possible? Our God-Self knows that the projections we see are phantoms... they are all made up. Our real need is to awaken from the grip of our own delusions. Jesus knew this, and in his compassion told us quite plainly that "God is no respecter of persons, for he makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good." In other words, the sun shines... that's what it does, without judgment as to who or what it shines on and through. The sun gives life by being what it is. God IS... Being IS... Awareness IS... that's what it IS and what it does, without judgment or interference. God IS life and love and goodness itself, and by Being in God, we too have all life and love and goodness. It's only the cloud projections of our own thought-forms, our own stories, which hide this from our awareness.
What then, does our quote mean when it reassures us that "No call to God can be unheard or unanswered?" To really understand this, to really glimpse it, is freedom.
In many, many posts here on this blog we've repeated the Truth that sets us free... we are created in the image of God... perfect, whole, and completely spiritual, as God is Spirit. The Truth that answers us when we call can only answer spiritually and always and only reminds us of the Truth... that we are perfect, whole, and holy... perfect reflections of the Love of God. That any imagined need is met in this knowing. That imagined needs arise out of forgetting Who We Are. The Grace and Love of God, our true Source and Ground of Being, is truly our sufficiency in all things.
Which brings us to the second part of the above quote... that "of this I can be sure; His answer is the one I really want." We can always be sure that the remembrance of the Truth of Being, of our eternal perfection and goodness and love, is all we ever really wanted, and all we could ever want.
"God hides nothing from His Son, even though His Son would hide himself. You will never lose your way, for God leads you. When you wander, you but undertake a journey that is not real." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section III, 5:1, 3-4
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Webs We Weave
"Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear." -- Mahatma Gandhi
"If the mind, which is the instrument of projection and is the basis of all activity, subsides, then the perception of the world as an objective reality ceases. On scrutiny as to what remains after eliminating all thoughts, it will be found that there is no such thing as mind or physical world apart from thought. Just as the spider draws out the thread of the cobweb from within itself and withdraws it again into itself, in the same way the mind projects the world out of itself and absorbs it back into itself." -- Ramana Maharshi
There are a lot of beautiful spiders around right now. They are spinning huge, elaborate webs everywhere, in the woods and by the barn, anywhere they can connect the dots. I love watching them, especially early in the morning with dew or frost on them, when they sparkle like something precious and brilliant. Ironic that they are really for the capturing of prey and the feeding of a predator... a symbol of our human belief that someone or something must lose in order for another to gain. As A Course in Miracles reminds us, "There is but one mistake; the whole idea that loss is possible, and could result in gain for anyone."
That two wise and brilliant spiritual minds used webs to illustrate the human mind, and that I just happened to read both quotes on the same day is such a delicious synchronicity. The image of our human projection being like a spider spinning its web and then withdrawing it back into itself is a perfect illustration of what happens when we fall asleep at night. Where are all the images, people, sounds, etc.? They cease to exist when the mind is at rest. This is the experience and testimony of wise women and men throughout the ages. But it frightens us when we awaken without thought or identity. We fear losing... whether it's our name, our ideas about life, or our sanity, the loss of human memory is a big cultural demon. The dread word Alzheimer's is everywhere. What would Carl Jung have to say about that?
Some blessed souls, like Byron Katie, Gangaji, Eckhert Tolle and a host of others, have awakened without identity and without fear. Though they sometimes take on new identities in order to serve, they remain awake to Self. The key to seems to be the absence of fear.
My mother has dementia... she remembers very little, and what remains is like an old recording worn thin. The characteristic of her disease is constant fear. That is the real disease... a fear so great that there is complete withdrawal from self-awareness, and therefore from the possibility of awakening. The only gift I have to give her is my silent and continual awareness that every imagined fear and loss that she is running from has been forgiven and released, gradually withdrawing into the belly of the spider of fear in her gut, a web of her own creation. I see her innocence. I see beyond the web.
What webs of fear are you weaving in your life? Where do you fear lack and loss? Where are you hiding from Love and its Light? What good news that the webs we weave are simply our own cobwebs, and can be withdrawn and released at any time! The Truth remains self-evident without the cobwebs. Love remains, unchanging and sure, the only justice God knows.
"The miracle of justice can correct all errors." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 26, Section II, 4:1
"If the mind, which is the instrument of projection and is the basis of all activity, subsides, then the perception of the world as an objective reality ceases. On scrutiny as to what remains after eliminating all thoughts, it will be found that there is no such thing as mind or physical world apart from thought. Just as the spider draws out the thread of the cobweb from within itself and withdraws it again into itself, in the same way the mind projects the world out of itself and absorbs it back into itself." -- Ramana Maharshi
There are a lot of beautiful spiders around right now. They are spinning huge, elaborate webs everywhere, in the woods and by the barn, anywhere they can connect the dots. I love watching them, especially early in the morning with dew or frost on them, when they sparkle like something precious and brilliant. Ironic that they are really for the capturing of prey and the feeding of a predator... a symbol of our human belief that someone or something must lose in order for another to gain. As A Course in Miracles reminds us, "There is but one mistake; the whole idea that loss is possible, and could result in gain for anyone."
That two wise and brilliant spiritual minds used webs to illustrate the human mind, and that I just happened to read both quotes on the same day is such a delicious synchronicity. The image of our human projection being like a spider spinning its web and then withdrawing it back into itself is a perfect illustration of what happens when we fall asleep at night. Where are all the images, people, sounds, etc.? They cease to exist when the mind is at rest. This is the experience and testimony of wise women and men throughout the ages. But it frightens us when we awaken without thought or identity. We fear losing... whether it's our name, our ideas about life, or our sanity, the loss of human memory is a big cultural demon. The dread word Alzheimer's is everywhere. What would Carl Jung have to say about that?
Some blessed souls, like Byron Katie, Gangaji, Eckhert Tolle and a host of others, have awakened without identity and without fear. Though they sometimes take on new identities in order to serve, they remain awake to Self. The key to seems to be the absence of fear.
My mother has dementia... she remembers very little, and what remains is like an old recording worn thin. The characteristic of her disease is constant fear. That is the real disease... a fear so great that there is complete withdrawal from self-awareness, and therefore from the possibility of awakening. The only gift I have to give her is my silent and continual awareness that every imagined fear and loss that she is running from has been forgiven and released, gradually withdrawing into the belly of the spider of fear in her gut, a web of her own creation. I see her innocence. I see beyond the web.
What webs of fear are you weaving in your life? Where do you fear lack and loss? Where are you hiding from Love and its Light? What good news that the webs we weave are simply our own cobwebs, and can be withdrawn and released at any time! The Truth remains self-evident without the cobwebs. Love remains, unchanging and sure, the only justice God knows.
"The miracle of justice can correct all errors." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 26, Section II, 4:1
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Other Road
I love when a quote works in awareness, like a zen koan. This quote from Krishnamurti has that effect: "You can't ever see what to do, you can see only what not to do. The total negation of that road is the new beginning, the Other Road. This Other Road is not on the map, nor can it ever be put on any map. Every map is a map of the wrong road, the old road."
A Course in Miracles puts it this way: "Nothing the world believes is true. It is a place whose purpose is to be a home where those who claim they do not know themselves can come to question what it is they are." (WB 139, 7:1-2)
The mind boggles at this. This world is a negation, like darkness, nothing in itself. Seeing the absolute absurdity of this is the beginning of awareness. Our human minds that imagine themselves separate from other minds collectively spin this web of negation... imagining ourselves to need this, to seek that, to achieve it, acquire it, or make it. The very act of seeking, achieving, or acquiring means we're following the map of the world, whether we think it's spirituality we're acquiring or whether we think it's material achievement. There is absolutely no difference. If we think we have a map, a structure, a path to follow that will save us or make us better, then we're simply spinning a different version of the same negation.
The trackless desert is an archetypal image in all wisdom traditions. The willingness to release all our seeking and all our maps and head into what seems like an endless desert with no distinguishing features and no way to tell where you are... this seems the height of folly. Yet this is the image that describes what is really going on. All of our signs and directions and efforting are simply mirages... an avoidance of Reality. We have to be willing to walk the desert of our own making, to become aware of the negation that is our human experience, so that we can finally see that a negation is just that.... nothing at all. And we don't need plans or maps or defenses to be what we effortlessly are, or to see what has always been true. We don't need to be told who we are. We just need to see, to really see what is not true. When the negation is brought to awareness, the unchanging Reality is effortlessly seen and experienced.
Who we are, collectively, is seamless Wholeness. As ACIM reminds us, "Wholeness has no form because it is unlimited." (T. 30; III, 3:2) We are a collective emanation from the Mind of God, of Pure Spirit: "God has not many Sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less?" (T. 29; VIII, 9:1-2) Maps, directions, goals, religions, everything the world advocates, all of it, are attempts to negate that wholeness, to say that something more than everything is needed or wanted. We really are wandering in the desert with manna all around us. We really are like ostriches with our heads in the sand.
We have a way to wake up in the midst of this. We take the pathless path, the journey with no destination, no map. A Course in Miracles explains that forgiveness (the releasing of all our judgments, the maps that make up the world) is the process of asking for the miracle of healed perception. Who are we asking? Our very God-Self. What are we asking for? The awareness of the nothingness that our judgments have seemed to hold in place. We are giving ourselves permission to see the negation, and to remember our Self. And the miracle of healed perception is that we then walk within this dream with new awareness of Wholeness, each time we choose to forgive and remember. This is the Other Road.
A Course in Miracles puts it this way: "Nothing the world believes is true. It is a place whose purpose is to be a home where those who claim they do not know themselves can come to question what it is they are." (WB 139, 7:1-2)
The mind boggles at this. This world is a negation, like darkness, nothing in itself. Seeing the absolute absurdity of this is the beginning of awareness. Our human minds that imagine themselves separate from other minds collectively spin this web of negation... imagining ourselves to need this, to seek that, to achieve it, acquire it, or make it. The very act of seeking, achieving, or acquiring means we're following the map of the world, whether we think it's spirituality we're acquiring or whether we think it's material achievement. There is absolutely no difference. If we think we have a map, a structure, a path to follow that will save us or make us better, then we're simply spinning a different version of the same negation.
The trackless desert is an archetypal image in all wisdom traditions. The willingness to release all our seeking and all our maps and head into what seems like an endless desert with no distinguishing features and no way to tell where you are... this seems the height of folly. Yet this is the image that describes what is really going on. All of our signs and directions and efforting are simply mirages... an avoidance of Reality. We have to be willing to walk the desert of our own making, to become aware of the negation that is our human experience, so that we can finally see that a negation is just that.... nothing at all. And we don't need plans or maps or defenses to be what we effortlessly are, or to see what has always been true. We don't need to be told who we are. We just need to see, to really see what is not true. When the negation is brought to awareness, the unchanging Reality is effortlessly seen and experienced.
Who we are, collectively, is seamless Wholeness. As ACIM reminds us, "Wholeness has no form because it is unlimited." (T. 30; III, 3:2) We are a collective emanation from the Mind of God, of Pure Spirit: "God has not many Sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less?" (T. 29; VIII, 9:1-2) Maps, directions, goals, religions, everything the world advocates, all of it, are attempts to negate that wholeness, to say that something more than everything is needed or wanted. We really are wandering in the desert with manna all around us. We really are like ostriches with our heads in the sand.
We have a way to wake up in the midst of this. We take the pathless path, the journey with no destination, no map. A Course in Miracles explains that forgiveness (the releasing of all our judgments, the maps that make up the world) is the process of asking for the miracle of healed perception. Who are we asking? Our very God-Self. What are we asking for? The awareness of the nothingness that our judgments have seemed to hold in place. We are giving ourselves permission to see the negation, and to remember our Self. And the miracle of healed perception is that we then walk within this dream with new awareness of Wholeness, each time we choose to forgive and remember. This is the Other Road.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
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
"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
Friday, February 27, 2009
Beauty and Truth
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty... that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." -- Ode on a Grecian Urn; by John Keats
I made a commitment when I started this blog, to only post when guided to do so, only when inspiration moves me. So over a month has gone by since my last post, and I was beginning to think (as egos do) that maybe I'm not supposed to do this anymore, and that's O.K. And then this morning I heard the title for today's blog. That's how it happens. I hear the title, or a quote, and understand more truly each time how Idea and its fulfillment are One. Every idea is like a seed... it has its own blueprint built in. And when we allow it to unfold organically, it always reveals more of Truth.
Beauty is an aspect of God that is dear to us. But like Truth and Love, we have distorted and confused it with human notions and projections. As an aspect of God, Beauty is an eternal quality, not subject to form or to the comings and goings of illusory time. Beauty is a quality, not a form. And because it's an aspect of God, it's everywhere, and for all.
Our human concept of beauty is based (like all ego concepts) on the scarcity principle. In other words, if it were everywhere, it would be common, and therefore not beautiful or special. If everyone had money, then no one would be rich (or special). If everyone had (fill in the blank), then no one would be special. You can see a pattern here.
But I grew up in rural Missouri in this dream we call life. And I knew at an early age that Beauty is abundant, and everywhere. In the barn, in the chicken house, in the garden, in the cornfield, in the hammock, in the yard, in the kitchen, in the bathtub... my early life flowed with a harmony and beauty that radiated not from form, but from Being. It was only with great human effort that I was civilized (ha!) enough to see that I must surely lack something, and that something could only come by wanting what everyone else seemed to want... an education (ha!), boyfriends (ha!), recognition and fame for my 'special' talent (ha!), and lots and lots of money which would set me apart from everyone else. What a crock. But who was I to argue with the rest of my seeming world? And how was I to know (yet) that I had created all of it? I did not want to know that my own thoughts and feelings and beliefs about who I am seemed to create incarnation after incarnation, story after story, serial adventures where I was first victim and then victimizer... and all of them, all of them, based on the belief in separation from God, on scarcity and specialness.
All of that is obviously very entertaining, since it has kept my attention and allegiance for countless incarnations. And yet... here I am. And my memory of Truth and Beauty are as clear in my quiet moments now as they were in the beginning, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy." (The Bible; Job 38:7) It is obvious in moments of quiet Oneness that nothing has ever happened. Nothing has ever been more or less. Nothing has ever been less than Perfect and Beautiful.
Awareness of Beauty awakens us to the Truth and Love of God within the dream. The brushstrokes of Beauty have nothing to do with what is done, or who does them. The brushstrokes of Beauty are tangible Truth...reminders of Who We Are, as the Truth of Being is remembered. We can follow the brushstrokes back to remembrance... that Who We Are remains One with God, flawless and perfect, eternal and whole, harmonious and secure.
"This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the Truth. This small step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stride through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness into Beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 17, Section II, 2:1-3, 6
I made a commitment when I started this blog, to only post when guided to do so, only when inspiration moves me. So over a month has gone by since my last post, and I was beginning to think (as egos do) that maybe I'm not supposed to do this anymore, and that's O.K. And then this morning I heard the title for today's blog. That's how it happens. I hear the title, or a quote, and understand more truly each time how Idea and its fulfillment are One. Every idea is like a seed... it has its own blueprint built in. And when we allow it to unfold organically, it always reveals more of Truth.
Beauty is an aspect of God that is dear to us. But like Truth and Love, we have distorted and confused it with human notions and projections. As an aspect of God, Beauty is an eternal quality, not subject to form or to the comings and goings of illusory time. Beauty is a quality, not a form. And because it's an aspect of God, it's everywhere, and for all.
Our human concept of beauty is based (like all ego concepts) on the scarcity principle. In other words, if it were everywhere, it would be common, and therefore not beautiful or special. If everyone had money, then no one would be rich (or special). If everyone had (fill in the blank), then no one would be special. You can see a pattern here.
But I grew up in rural Missouri in this dream we call life. And I knew at an early age that Beauty is abundant, and everywhere. In the barn, in the chicken house, in the garden, in the cornfield, in the hammock, in the yard, in the kitchen, in the bathtub... my early life flowed with a harmony and beauty that radiated not from form, but from Being. It was only with great human effort that I was civilized (ha!) enough to see that I must surely lack something, and that something could only come by wanting what everyone else seemed to want... an education (ha!), boyfriends (ha!), recognition and fame for my 'special' talent (ha!), and lots and lots of money which would set me apart from everyone else. What a crock. But who was I to argue with the rest of my seeming world? And how was I to know (yet) that I had created all of it? I did not want to know that my own thoughts and feelings and beliefs about who I am seemed to create incarnation after incarnation, story after story, serial adventures where I was first victim and then victimizer... and all of them, all of them, based on the belief in separation from God, on scarcity and specialness.
All of that is obviously very entertaining, since it has kept my attention and allegiance for countless incarnations. And yet... here I am. And my memory of Truth and Beauty are as clear in my quiet moments now as they were in the beginning, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy." (The Bible; Job 38:7) It is obvious in moments of quiet Oneness that nothing has ever happened. Nothing has ever been more or less. Nothing has ever been less than Perfect and Beautiful.
Awareness of Beauty awakens us to the Truth and Love of God within the dream. The brushstrokes of Beauty have nothing to do with what is done, or who does them. The brushstrokes of Beauty are tangible Truth...reminders of Who We Are, as the Truth of Being is remembered. We can follow the brushstrokes back to remembrance... that Who We Are remains One with God, flawless and perfect, eternal and whole, harmonious and secure.
"This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the Truth. This small step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stride through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness into Beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 17, Section II, 2:1-3, 6
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Human Concept
"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 201
"I warn students against falling into the error of anti-Christ. The consciousness of corporeality, and whatever is connected therewith, must be outgrown. Corporeal falsities include all obstacles to health, holiness, and heaven. Man's individual life is infinitely above a bodily form of existence, and the human concept antagonizes the Divine." Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 309, Lines 18-24
The alleged human self is really just a concept, a projection and amalgam of belief. We have always been living and moving and having our Being in God, Who is Spirit and Life... which means that we are pure Spirit, too... and as Jeshua ben Joseph said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." He wasn't talking about a body.
Christ is the word for Emmanuel, God with us. Each of us is the baby Christ, unknown to the seemingly physical self encasing it. The belief that we are physical, that there is physical cause and effect and that we are subject to it, is the anti-Christ. We can't know Who we are as long as we insist on embracing the human concept. The baby Christ cannot mature and be fully re-membered while we embrace and defend our physicalness. As Mrs. Eddy said, the human concept antagonizes the Divine.
In my own life, I would describe this as spiritual warfare. Mrs. Eddy spoke a lot about this in her own life. Saint Paul spoke of spiritual warfare in high places, and that is exactly what this is... and the high place is our very consciousness. What and Who are we conscious of Being? Physical or Spiritual? Many separate ones, or the One? This cannot be a passive knowing, but must be consciously embraced. Passivity leads to the seeming reality of the physical, again and again. The physical illusion is what we have chosen up until now, and the momentum is with the familiar and the collectively agreed reality of the physical. The conscious Awareness of Truth is the only antidote for our habitually chosen illusions.
The human concept is not true. True humanity, the Christ, the Holy One of God, eternally exists in the Mind of God, and only here, only now. We reflect only what is true of God, our true Self, always. There is nothing else.
"Remember always that you cannot be anywhere except in the Mind of God." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 9, Section VIII, 5:3
"I warn students against falling into the error of anti-Christ. The consciousness of corporeality, and whatever is connected therewith, must be outgrown. Corporeal falsities include all obstacles to health, holiness, and heaven. Man's individual life is infinitely above a bodily form of existence, and the human concept antagonizes the Divine." Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 309, Lines 18-24
The alleged human self is really just a concept, a projection and amalgam of belief. We have always been living and moving and having our Being in God, Who is Spirit and Life... which means that we are pure Spirit, too... and as Jeshua ben Joseph said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." He wasn't talking about a body.
Christ is the word for Emmanuel, God with us. Each of us is the baby Christ, unknown to the seemingly physical self encasing it. The belief that we are physical, that there is physical cause and effect and that we are subject to it, is the anti-Christ. We can't know Who we are as long as we insist on embracing the human concept. The baby Christ cannot mature and be fully re-membered while we embrace and defend our physicalness. As Mrs. Eddy said, the human concept antagonizes the Divine.
In my own life, I would describe this as spiritual warfare. Mrs. Eddy spoke a lot about this in her own life. Saint Paul spoke of spiritual warfare in high places, and that is exactly what this is... and the high place is our very consciousness. What and Who are we conscious of Being? Physical or Spiritual? Many separate ones, or the One? This cannot be a passive knowing, but must be consciously embraced. Passivity leads to the seeming reality of the physical, again and again. The physical illusion is what we have chosen up until now, and the momentum is with the familiar and the collectively agreed reality of the physical. The conscious Awareness of Truth is the only antidote for our habitually chosen illusions.
The human concept is not true. True humanity, the Christ, the Holy One of God, eternally exists in the Mind of God, and only here, only now. We reflect only what is true of God, our true Self, always. There is nothing else.
"Remember always that you cannot be anywhere except in the Mind of God." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 9, Section VIII, 5:3
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Path Home
"What we see is not what is really there. We see only our concept of what is there." -- Joel Goldsmith
"You have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 24, 1:2-3
"I see nothing as it is now." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 9
Now can always and only mean one thing. God. God is omnipresent, forever, and Now. So whatever our conceptual sense of things in the moment, it is never true. Good, bad, right, wrong, all concepts. Not truth. The subtler our egos get, the more we hide our ego machinations behind spiritual concepts, the more true this is.
How willing are we to question our every concept? As A Course in Miracles reminds us, the only question we need to ask ourselves is 'What is it for?' In other words, why am I saying this, doing this, wanting this? The ego can only be exposed by such self-inquiry. Self-discomfort is all ego. And it is easy to let go of, once we see it for what it is.
Beneath the grandiosity of the ego lies our true being, forever One with God, forever at peace and needing no ego-gratification. This is the narrow path Jesus spoke of... the path Home. In truth, we never left.
"I will be still an instant and go Home." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 182
"You have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 24, 1:2-3
"I see nothing as it is now." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 9
Now can always and only mean one thing. God. God is omnipresent, forever, and Now. So whatever our conceptual sense of things in the moment, it is never true. Good, bad, right, wrong, all concepts. Not truth. The subtler our egos get, the more we hide our ego machinations behind spiritual concepts, the more true this is.
How willing are we to question our every concept? As A Course in Miracles reminds us, the only question we need to ask ourselves is 'What is it for?' In other words, why am I saying this, doing this, wanting this? The ego can only be exposed by such self-inquiry. Self-discomfort is all ego. And it is easy to let go of, once we see it for what it is.
Beneath the grandiosity of the ego lies our true being, forever One with God, forever at peace and needing no ego-gratification. This is the narrow path Jesus spoke of... the path Home. In truth, we never left.
"I will be still an instant and go Home." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 182
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
By My Spirit
"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." -- The Bible
"No law the world obeys can help you grasp Love's meaning. What the world believes was made to hide Love's meaning and to keep it dark and secret. There is not one principle the world upholds but violates the Truth of what Love Is, and what you are as well." -- A Course in Miracles
Whenever we are confronted with a situation, whether in relationships or at work or with finances... no matter what situation is in our face, we universally look for solutions. We feel there is something else we should do or say, some secret technique that will manipulate things to our liking, or some prayer mantra that will save us. We look to human principles and techniques for our salvation. What is so funny is that throughout human history people have been coming up with solutions that seemed to work for them for a while... just long enough to hook us into thinking, "This is it!" But then they don't work for the next one. On and off, on and off, working and not working, here and gone... the wheel of samsara, the nonsense of the dream spins and turns, disguising itself in the newest and most promising of ideas.
What all illusory solutions have in common is that they are an attempt to find power and authority in what is simply not true. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." A Course in Miracles says it this way: "All power is of God. What is not of Him has no power to do anything." No power to do anything in reality. Only a formula for sleeping and dreaming that we are powerful or powerless in the dream... and there is really no difference. When you awaken, it is all simply gone.
Awakening is why we're here. There is no other purpose. Whatever our path within the dream we call life, when this becomes its only purpose in our mind and heart it becomes a beautiful journey home. And whatever seems to confront us becomes some version of what ACIM calls the happy dream... because it always and only serves the Love that calls us to awaken, because It is Who We Are.
The decision to value Truth over illusions is not a minor one. It is the only decision you ever really make. And you make it not by struggling, not by analyzing, not by techniques or by more information... you make it by valuing what is True only, and being willing to question whatever arises from the standpoint of Truth. What remains when everything else is revealed as untrue and simply falls away? What remains is what is eternally Real and True. And it is revealed "not by might, not by power..." It is always and only by My Spirit.
"My mind is part of God's. I am very holy." -- A Course in Miracles
"No law the world obeys can help you grasp Love's meaning. What the world believes was made to hide Love's meaning and to keep it dark and secret. There is not one principle the world upholds but violates the Truth of what Love Is, and what you are as well." -- A Course in Miracles
Whenever we are confronted with a situation, whether in relationships or at work or with finances... no matter what situation is in our face, we universally look for solutions. We feel there is something else we should do or say, some secret technique that will manipulate things to our liking, or some prayer mantra that will save us. We look to human principles and techniques for our salvation. What is so funny is that throughout human history people have been coming up with solutions that seemed to work for them for a while... just long enough to hook us into thinking, "This is it!" But then they don't work for the next one. On and off, on and off, working and not working, here and gone... the wheel of samsara, the nonsense of the dream spins and turns, disguising itself in the newest and most promising of ideas.
What all illusory solutions have in common is that they are an attempt to find power and authority in what is simply not true. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." A Course in Miracles says it this way: "All power is of God. What is not of Him has no power to do anything." No power to do anything in reality. Only a formula for sleeping and dreaming that we are powerful or powerless in the dream... and there is really no difference. When you awaken, it is all simply gone.
Awakening is why we're here. There is no other purpose. Whatever our path within the dream we call life, when this becomes its only purpose in our mind and heart it becomes a beautiful journey home. And whatever seems to confront us becomes some version of what ACIM calls the happy dream... because it always and only serves the Love that calls us to awaken, because It is Who We Are.
The decision to value Truth over illusions is not a minor one. It is the only decision you ever really make. And you make it not by struggling, not by analyzing, not by techniques or by more information... you make it by valuing what is True only, and being willing to question whatever arises from the standpoint of Truth. What remains when everything else is revealed as untrue and simply falls away? What remains is what is eternally Real and True. And it is revealed "not by might, not by power..." It is always and only by My Spirit.
"My mind is part of God's. I am very holy." -- A Course in Miracles
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Being Human
"Today we practice making free your mind of all the laws you think you must obey; of all the limits under which you live, and all the changes that you think are part of human destiny." -- A Course in Miracles
"Idols are limits. They are the belief that there are forms that will bring happiness, and that by limiting is all attained. It is as if you said, "I have no need of everything. This little thing I want, and it will be as everything to me." And this must fail to satisfy, because it is your will that everything be yours. Decide for idols and you ask for loss. Decide for Truth and everything is yours." -- A Course in Miracles
"Hence Christianity and the Science which expounds it are based on spiritual understanding, and they supersede the so-called laws of matter." -- Mary Baker Eddy
Being human is what we have drilled into us from the time we enter the world. "You're only human," becomes the catch-all for limitation of every description. Being 'superhuman' is idolized with larger than life celebrities and sports figures. But even those Olympic athletes that inspire are limits placed on the rest of us... they are somehow special and apart as we revere them. So it’s easy to see that the definition of idols that A Course in Miracles uses is very apt. Idols are limits we place on ourselves, to keep our little kingdoms intact, at least in illusion.
When I come from a place limitation, of human apparancy, I find only evidence for that. When I come from knowing the Allness of God to be the only Truth and my only Home, the illusion of the human viewpoint becomes self-evident. The Allness of Love means that we are IN Love... and as ACIM puts it, "Love created me like ItSelf." So not one belief in human need or limitation can possibly be real, no matter what it looks like. The Bible passage, "Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils" refers to this. It's not that we are asked to withdraw from our apparent humanness... it's that when we see that we are not limited to the human we are a transparency for the Limitless which is our true home. "Man whose breath is in his nostrils" does not know himself as a Son or Daughter of God.
Being human is only another aspect of the dream... nothing special and nothing to be proud of or ashamed of. As ACIM reminds us, there is no hierarchy of illusions. We forgive our illusions and remember that Love created us like ItSelf... and there is no Will but God's. Only One.
"Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things." -- Mary Baker Eddy
"Idols are limits. They are the belief that there are forms that will bring happiness, and that by limiting is all attained. It is as if you said, "I have no need of everything. This little thing I want, and it will be as everything to me." And this must fail to satisfy, because it is your will that everything be yours. Decide for idols and you ask for loss. Decide for Truth and everything is yours." -- A Course in Miracles
"Hence Christianity and the Science which expounds it are based on spiritual understanding, and they supersede the so-called laws of matter." -- Mary Baker Eddy
Being human is what we have drilled into us from the time we enter the world. "You're only human," becomes the catch-all for limitation of every description. Being 'superhuman' is idolized with larger than life celebrities and sports figures. But even those Olympic athletes that inspire are limits placed on the rest of us... they are somehow special and apart as we revere them. So it’s easy to see that the definition of idols that A Course in Miracles uses is very apt. Idols are limits we place on ourselves, to keep our little kingdoms intact, at least in illusion.
When I come from a place limitation, of human apparancy, I find only evidence for that. When I come from knowing the Allness of God to be the only Truth and my only Home, the illusion of the human viewpoint becomes self-evident. The Allness of Love means that we are IN Love... and as ACIM puts it, "Love created me like ItSelf." So not one belief in human need or limitation can possibly be real, no matter what it looks like. The Bible passage, "Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils" refers to this. It's not that we are asked to withdraw from our apparent humanness... it's that when we see that we are not limited to the human we are a transparency for the Limitless which is our true home. "Man whose breath is in his nostrils" does not know himself as a Son or Daughter of God.
Being human is only another aspect of the dream... nothing special and nothing to be proud of or ashamed of. As ACIM reminds us, there is no hierarchy of illusions. We forgive our illusions and remember that Love created us like ItSelf... and there is no Will but God's. Only One.
"Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things." -- Mary Baker Eddy
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