The War Against My Self

"Innocence is strength, and nothing else is strong.  No one is strong who has an enemy, and no one can attack unless he thinks he has." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 23, Introduction,1:2, 5

The news lately doesn't bear repeating.  There appears to be so much anger and hatred teeming everywhere, so much unfairness and senseless violence. 
My question to myself is, "Who is seeing this?" 
I am seeing both victims and enemies. 
I am seeing both villains and innocents. 
I am seeing this. 
And as ACIM reminds me, no one can attack (and seeing a world like this is an attack on Self, on the Christ that I Am!) unless he believes in enemies and victims.  So how do I give up this War Against My Self? (ACIM Chapter 23)

"Walk you in glory with your head held high, and fear no evil. The innocent are safe, because they share their innocence [see it everywhere, in everyone and everything]. Nothing they see is harmful, for their awareness of the Truth releases everything from the illusion of harmfulness.  And what seemed harmful now stands shining in their innocence, released from sin and fear and happily returned to Love.  They share the strength of Love because they looked on innocence."

To those of us who deeply cherish our belief in suffering and death, this is a challenging section of the Course.  To accept the responsibility that my awareness of the Truth releases everything from the illusion of harmfulness can seem impossible.  But remember, forgiveness (the release of everything from the illusion of harmfulness) is our only function here.  Remember, the Course says very plainly and literally, "I will forgive, and this will disappear."

These are not pretty words to read and then put away.  They are the Truth, and so encompass everyone and everything as the Reality of All.  When we forgive, nothing is really happening.  We are simply letting go of all the seemingly harmful ideas and concepts we held about ourselves and the world around us.  When the concepts are shed, it's like the veil is lifted, and the Beauty and Joy of Truth is revealed as All, literally All that is ever happening.

Awakening to Truth is not escapism, and it is not for those who still think there is truth in the world of images and concepts.  It is the Way given to us by Buddha, by Jesus, by all the Awakened Ones throughout the seemingly endless stories of the world.  In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells his disciple Arjuna, "Fear Not. What is not real, never was and never will be. What is real, always was and cannot be destroyed."  A Course in Miracles says the same thing in the Introduction, where it says quite plainly: "This Course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:  Nothing Real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.  Herein lies the Peace of God." 

While we struggle with judgments about the appearance of things, with stories of villains and victims, of good and bad, we cannot see the Truth.  We are covering the face of Christ with masks and veils, and cannot remember Who We Are. We are valuing our conditioned beliefs over our commitment to knowing the Truth. The good news is that we can forgive literally everything we see, knowing that right where the evil seems to be, there is only our God-Self, only Goodness and Infinite Love.

"Brother, the war against yourself is almost over.  The journey's end is at the place of peace.  Would you not now accept the peace offered you here?  This 'enemy' you fought as an intruder on your peace is here transformed, before your sight, into the giver of your peace.  Your 'enemy' was God HimSelf, to Whom all conflict, triumph, and attack of any kind are all unknown." A Course in Miracles; Chapter 23, Section I, 4:1-5

We're All God's Teachers

"A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one.  His qualifications consist solely in this: somehow, somewhere, he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's.  Once he has done that, his road is established and his direction is sure.  A light has entered the darkness.  It may be a single light, but that is enough.  He has entered an agreement with God even if he does not yet believe in Him.  He has become a bringer of salvation.  He has become a teacher of God." -- ACIM; Manual for Teachers 1.1:1-8

A Course in Miracles repeatedly reminds us that we are all teachers and messengers for God. In the Manual for Teachers it points out that whenever we see that minds are joined, we acknowledge this teaching function of forgiveness and atonement that is the miracle.  And so our bodies are given a different purpose.
 
"The central lesson is always this: that what you use the body for it will become to you.  Use it for sin or for attack, which is the same as sin, and you will see it as sinful.  Because it is sinful it is weak, and being weak it suffers and it dies.  Use it to bring the Word of God to those who have it not, and the body becomes holy.  Because it is holy it cannot die.  When its usefulness is done it is laid by, and that is all.  The mind makes this decision, as it makes all decisions that are responsible for the body's condition.  Yet the teacher of God does not make this decision alone.  To do that would be to give the body another purpose from the one that keeps it holy.  God's Voice will tell him when he has fulfilled his role, just as It tells him what his function is.  He does not suffer either in going or remaining.  Sickness is now impossible to him." -- ACIM; Manual for Teachers 12.5:1-12

Focusing on forgiveness and Oneness rather than the next meal, the car that needs fixing, or the job we have to do... this is the shift we make as we accept our true function in the world.  In the Bible, Jeshua ben Joseph is quoted as saying, "Take no thought for what you will say, what you will eat, what you will wear... but seek first the Kingdom, and all these things will be given."  In other words, when we fulfill our natural function of Oneness with God and with each other by practicing the miracle of forgiveness, the world we're dreaming naturally reflects Wholeness as fulfillment in every moment, in the form of what we seem to be needing or doing.

The Course calls the perception of unfilled needs sickness and sin.  It's the out-picturing of our imagined separation from the Wholeness of God.  The good news is that as we accept this Oneness and forgive our perceptions of separateness however they show up, we find that we never lacked anything at all.

"Oneness and sickness cannot coexist.  God's teachers choose to look on dreams a while.  It is a conscious choice.  For they have learned that all choices are made consciously, with full awareness of their consequences.  The dream says otherwise, but who would put his faith in dreams once they are recognized for what they are?  Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God's teachers.  They watch the dream figures come and go, shift and change, suffer and die.  Yet they are not deceived by what they see.  They recognize that to behold a dream figure as sick and separate is no more real than to regard it as healthy and beautiful.  UNITY ALONE is not a thing of dreams.  And it is this God's teachers acknowledge as behind the dream, beyond all seeming, and yet surely theirs." -- ACIM; Manual for Teachers 12.6:1-11

We're all God's teachers.  UNITY ALONE is all that is ever taught, and all that we ever need to learn.

Truth

"Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone.  It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply.  It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all.  And so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 92, 5:3-6

"And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." -- The Bible; John 8:32

What is Truth?  John Keats waxed poetic on this subject while pondering things that come and go... his "Ode on a Grecian Urn" faces his own mortality in the frozen images on an ancient vessel, and in his poetic way he discovered that the ideas and images embedded in the ancient urn are exactly like the images in any given life, the faces and bodies and scenery and relationships.  What is true about any of them?  Keats put it this way, as if the urn itself were speaking: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty... that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."  Keats was spiraling upward in his quest for Truth.  He saw that is exists not in the physical, but in the silent spiritual.  He saw that Beauty and Truth are synonyms for the One, and are not dependent on the physical or the form of things that come and go, but that everything reflects Beauty and Truth when it is truly seen, beyond form.

Jesus said we can and will know the Truth.  He said it is our very freedom.  The Bible, A Course in Miracles, Buddhism, Vedanta... they all use the word Truth as a synonym for enlightenment and our Real Being.  Some use the word God, others Self or Atman, but the meaning is One.

A Course in Miracles puts it very bluntly: "The Truth is true, and nothing else is true."  In this world where all truth seems relative, such a statement can seem as cryptic as a zen koan.  But let's look at mathematics.  No matter how you turn it, 2+2 will always and forever equal 4.  It is an unchanging truth, a mathematical principle.  In the same way, the Truth of Being underlies everything that seems to appear and seems to disappear.  It is the unconditioned awareness of Self, an all-inclusive awareness that is always here, always available, and is the very ground of Being.  It is the Source and the Substance of all that is.

So why bother even talking about such things?  We know 2+2 equals 4, but we don't think about it when we're picking out 4 apples or oranges at the store.  Talking about Truth is just philosophy, impractical and not grounded in 'real' life. 

Well, our daily life isn't always as benign as picking out a few apples.  Its very impermanence drives us inward, seeking to understand and to know, and this is a gift.  All struggles and challenges are really our best friends, because they move us beyond the complacency of everyday comforts to the inner awareness that is the Truth of Being.  This awakening to Self, to the Oneness of God, is our only purpose for being here.  This is the Truth that sets us free.

"Salvation is the recognition that the Truth is true, and nothing else is true.  Truth cannot have an opposite.  As God created you, you remain unchangeable, with transitory states by definition false.  And that includes all shifts in feeling, alterations in conditions of the body and the mind; in all awareness and in all response.  This is the all-inclusiveness which sets the Truth apart from seeming falsehood." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 152

Self to Self

Wow, it's been nearly a month since I posted last.  I have had many inspired thoughts, but no inspiration to write about it.  This morning I read a great quote from Margaret Laird that expresses this perfectly: "There was a time I believed that I read or listened to others to find out what others thought.  Now I know I read and listen to another's speaking to discover what I am [the I AM] thinking.  We cannot expect to find Truth outside of our own awareness."  This past month, I spent a lot of time looking inward, listening to the Voice of I Am, and inquiring deeper into the appearance of things.  It's been fruitful, though challenging.

The challenge is the deeper recognition that duality in all its forms is only appearance, and that appearance is always and only my own conceptualization of what appears.  Mary Baker Eddy said, "Can you see an enemy, except you first formulate this enemy and then look upon the object of your own conception?"  Without those concepts, duality (subject and object consciousness) dissolves or resolves (words are inadequate here) into Truth, which is experienced as Oneness, a unity, a whole, with no opposites or contraries or negations. 

This going deeper involves seeing that everything we perceive in the phenomenal world is a duality:  I perceive goodness, but it is my concept of goodness, which is based on the opposite of what I perceive as badness.  I perceive supply, or income, but it is my concept of income, based on the opposite of what I conceive as lack or poverty.  I perceive kindness, but it is my concept of kindness, based on what I conceive of as unkind or hateful or spiteful.  I'm really just wandering around in a world of concepts, rather than experiencing Goodness, Supply, or Kindness (Love), which are a unity without opposite because they are All-Inclusive.  We can't conceive of Oneness.  But we can become Aware of It, since It is the Truth of everyone and everything. 

A Course in Miracles puts it this way: "When you decide upon the form of what you want, you lose the understanding of its purpose.  Wholeness has no form because it is unlimited."  In duality thinking (which is all thinking), what we lose is the Awareness of Wholeness.  And as we gradually glimpse the deeper meaning of the oft-misunderstood Biblical statement: "Take no thought," we become explorers of this dawning Awareness, which includes everything but is not defined by any of it.  It heals and blesses, but not for any reason we could give conceptually.  It simply IS the Reality of All.

How do you write about this?  How do you speak of It?  Which is why I haven't been inspired to write much over the past month.  And then I read Margaret Laird this morning, as she explained that the only reason anyone writes is to know their own mind.  So I'm writing this morning, to clarify for myself this deepening Awareness of Self.

To paraphrase Margaret Laird again, the individual living Self-consciously as Mind (Unconditioned Awareness, Oneness... concepts fail here) evolves an apparent ego-image never afraid for itself, never taking thought for itself as 'I', as well as a physical body that is self-restoring as long as it is apparently needed.  The ego-image which evolves from this Awareness (that the only 'I' is the Mind of Unconditioned Awareness, our very Self) never reacts to concepts and situations, but always acts with intelligence.  It has no power to save itself, fix itself up, or transcend itself.  The Mind (the Unconditioned Awareness of 'I' that is Self) is its existence and its power for constant newness and freshness.  In this Light everything takes on the loveliness of perfection, beyond all concepts.

Of course, all of this exercise in giving voice to the unspeakable is just a smokescreen... the inclusive Reality is that only the 'I' is writing and reading this, and only the 'I' knows its Self.  There's only One.

"The world can teach no images of you unless you want to learn them.  There will come a time when images have all gone by... It is to this unsealed and open mind that Truth returns, unhindered and unbound.  Where concepts of the self have been laid by is Truth revealed exactly as it is." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, Section V, 17:1-4

The Illusion of Time

"Each day should be devoted to miracles.  The purpose of time is to enable you to learn how to use time constructively.  It is thus a teaching device and a means to an end.  Time will cease when it is no longer useful in facilitating learning." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I, 15:2-4

"Time is a belief of the ego, so the lower mind, which is the ego's domain, accepts it without question.  The only aspect of time that is eternal [real] is now." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section III, 6:4-5

The illusion of time seems to be the thickest veil we project across reality, to obscure the eternal.  We may question a lot of the world's thinking, but my kids still appeared to grow up, my hair still appeared to turn white, and the seasons still appear to come and go... along with these bodies we seem to live in.  We still seem to have deadlines and appointments to keep.  How can we say this is not real, when our very lives appear to be slaves to time and its seeming power over us? 

This morning I had a very interesting learning experience.  I thought I had somewhere that I had committed to be, and it involved getting up very early (5 a.m.) and taking care of all the animals here at the Sanctuary so that I could leave the house by 7 a.m.  No problem, usually.  But this morning I woke up and felt like I shouldn't go.  I prayed about it... in other words, I forgave and released my belief in time and the part of me that didn't want to go... but still couldn't get a clear 'go' or 'don't go'.  I knew that in reality it didn't matter what I do... it matters only what the whole situation symbolizes, since that's all it really is.  So I gave it to the Holy Spirit, my true Self, and forgave the whole notion of time and space and went back to bed.

When I woke up, two interesting things happened.  One, I checked my e-mail and discovered that I 'miraculously' wasn't supposed to be there today, even though I clearly had it down in my calendar!  And second, the wind had blown the barnyard gate off its latches... but only one horse was out, and she came right back in when I went out to feed them... no chasing involved.  Now all of the horses could have run... but they didn't.  And I could have driven to St. Louis and not been there when the gate blew off, and all the horses could have run off and been who knows where when I got home this evening.  But I was here.  So all I said was, "Thank you, Holy Spirit."  

Now I don't think it matters at all whether it's about appointments or horses.  They are symbols in the dream, and what they stand for in my dream is the awakening of the Son of God.  By releasing it all to the Holy Spirit, by making no decisions by my egoic self, the meaning of all of it is changed.  Now they are learning symbols, pointing to the timeless and eternal, the unchanging and Real.  "Thank you, Holy Spirit, that only God is the meaning of everything."  And God is everywhere, everything, always, and forever... wholeness, fulfillment, joy, love, and peace, this very now.

Jeshua ben Joseph gave us many ways to see past the illusion of time and impermanence.  He said, "Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven." (The Bible; Matthew 18:3)  The complete dependence of a child, without any thought of yesterday or tomorrow.  They simply know that they are loved and cared for NOW.

A Course in Miracles tells us that, "Except ye become as little children" means that unless you fully recognize your complete dependence on God, you cannot know the real power of the Son in his true relationship with the Father.  The specialness of God's Sons does not stem from exclusion, but from inclusion." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section V, 3:4-5)

We live and move and have our Being in God, and live as currents of thought and Being within the Mind of God.  This Being is eternal and infinite and ALL, as God Is.  Our Being is not exclusive, but inclusive of the entire Kingdom that is the Mind of God.  The Sons of God are ONE, and without limit... whether appearing as horses, gates, or people.  And the illusion of time has no meaning or power or reality in the Infinity of God.

"You cannot understand yourself alone.  This is because you have no meaning apart from your rightful place in the Sonship, and the rightful place of the Sonship is God.  This is your life, your eternity, and your Self.  It is of this that the Holy Spirit [always] reminds you.  It is this that the Holy Spirit [always] sees." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section III, 8:1-5

The Will to Awaken

"The real world is the state of mind in which the only purpose of the world is seen to be forgiveness.  No rules are idly set, and no demands are made of anyone or anything to twist and fit into the dream of fear.  Instead, there is a wish to understand all things created as they really are.  And it is recognized that all things must first be forgiven, and then understood." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section V, 1:1 & 4-6

I've been thinking a lot this year about the seeming process of awakening, and the shedding of the false self that is required.  As St. Paul put it, "I die daily" so that "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."  This beautiful thought is beloved in Christianity, but is also largely revered as a poetic and idealistic sentiment, not as a literal process that requires our willingness.  Even those charismatic Christians who see it as literal still hang on to the notion of a little self that is saved by the God/Man, Jesus Christ.  They don't see that this simply perpetuates their false view of themselves as separate from God, weaker and imperfect. 

And whose will was it that these imperfect creatures exist?  Certainly not God, Who creates all things in His Holy Mind and so eternally extends HimSelf.  The Spirit of God did not and could not create imperfection.  How could the imperfect exist in the absolute harmony and perfection of God, the eternally One and Whole?  So what seems imperfect must be an imperfect perception only, a false sense of what eternally IS.  

The will to awaken is the willingness to constantly release each and every perception that arises, and give it to the part of our mind that remains aware of our eternal Oneness with God... the Holy Spirit.  This is what forgiveness is... and this is the process of Atonement, the interlocking chain of forgiveness that results in the Awakening of the One Son of God, even within the dream separation.

So what is the will to awaken?  And why do so very few seem to have it?  ACIM tells us that "The Call is universal.  It goes on all the time everywhere.  Many hear it, but few will answer.  Everyone will answer in the end, but the end can [seem] a long, long way off." -- (ACIM; Manual for Teachers 1.2:4-5 & 7-9)  In other words, we have a vested interest still in the dream.  After all, it's our dream... and we continue to question how these very beautiful and desirable parts could need our forgiveness and release.  Can't we just forgive all the bad stuff and keep these parts we like, the parts that we're comfortable with, the parts that speak to us of tradition and continuity within the dream?

Our teacher and guide is uncompromising.  Jeshua said, "A man must lose his life in order to save it."  Yikes.  This is not what our egos want to hear. 

How do we find the will to awaken?  How do we release the mental resistance that flails about and questions our very sanity?  I'd like to tell you there's an easy way through this passage, but the Truth is that the only way out is through.  You will pass through this fire, and you will not be burned. 

On the other side of all seeming turmoil is the perfect peace of realizing that there never was a problem... we have always been right here, safe in God.  On this side, we simply keep giving our perceptions to the Holy Spirit and following the directions of the Voice within.  This perfect trust will be reinforced as we are willing to follow the Holy Spirit's Voice instead of our own fearful imaginings.  Forgive and follow the Voice.  Forgive and follow the Voice.  This is the will to awaken.

"A major hindrance in this aspect of learning is the teacher of God's fear about the validity of what he hears.  And what he hears may indeed be quite startling.  It may also seem to be quite irrelevant to the presented problem as he perceives it, and may in fact confront the teacher with a situation that appears to be very embarrassing to him.  All these are judgments that have no value.  They are his own, coming from a shabby self-perception which he would leave behind." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 21. 5:1-5

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

Our Name and Our Inheritance

"This is a Course in how to know your Self.  You have taught what you are, but have not let what you are teach you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section III, 4:1-2

"Repeat the Name of God and call upon your Self, Whose Name is His.  Repeat His Name and all the tiny nameless things on earth slip into right perspective." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 183, 5:1-2

It is becoming clearer and clearer each day.  The only thing that matters is remembering and remaining anchored in Who I Am.  All problems, issues, and challenges point to one thing only: the false self.  Only the false self, the conditioned persona, can be victim of illusions.  The True Self remains changeless, all powerful and all loving, lacking nothing, confronted with nothing other than Self, in the heaven of endless Oneness and Completion.  It is such a joy-filled ride, awakening.  Such a kick to relax and realize I Am, and have always been, right here in God, God appearing as and through me, always new, always expanding, yet always complete and whole.  There really aren't words in our vocabulary to describe this Beingness and this process of Awakening.  Many have tried, simply because the joy of it can't contain ItSelf, and wants to be shared with Self.  So forgive me the inadequate symbols, and listen instead to the Truth that shines unimpeded through these words.

The news that we are One and the same as God is not new.  Even the Bible has it stated quite clearly:  "I say,"You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince." (The Bible; Psalm 82:6-7)  Because we insist on embracing the false identities of separateness and lack and limitation, we die as if we're NOT sons of God, NOT One and forever Whole.  And why do we insist on hanging on to a fiction of self that seems to suffer and die?  Because it seems safer in our insanity to pretend we're small and at the mercy of our own dream, than to take responsibility for our choice to live in endless illusion, in a shadowy world of projection and skewed perception.  Because for as long as the dream has seemed to be, people have been threatened by the Truth of Who We Are.

Look at the following passage from The Bible:  "Jesus replied, "I have shown you many good works from the Father.  For which of these are you going to stone me?"  The Jews answered, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God."  Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your own law, "I said, you are gods?" (The Bible; John 10:32-34)

We stone ourselves now, each time we let the inner voice that says, "Who do you think you are?" or "What are you, God?" throw us back into unworthiness and guilt.  We are the Sons of God, and God has ONE SON.  That is US... not separate little selves, but the Self we are collectively, with all of creation.  This Self has a Voice that speaks so clearly in our hearts and minds that it can never be mistaken or forgotten, unless that is what we want and what we choose. 

"Sooner or later must everyone bridge the gap he imagines exists between the selves.  Each one builds this bridge, which carries him across the [imaginary] gap as soon as he is willing to expend some little effort on behalf of bridging it.  You will go through this last [imaginary] undoing quite unharmed, and will at last emerge as your Self." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section III, 8:2-3 & IV, 2:3)

There is no gap!  How can there be any separation in what is eternally whole and One?  If there is One God, and we are gods, then each of us must be a transparency for the One, and for nothing else.  All that is required, as ACIM reminds us, is to expend a little effort to remember as we go about our lives.  For nothing else is real, and we are not who we thought we were.  The Christ, the Son of God, reflects only God.  This is our name and our inheritance.

"The Name of God is my inheritance.  God's Name reminds me that I am His Son, not slave to time, unbound by laws which rule the world of sick illusions, free in God, forever and forever One with Him." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 204, 1:1-2

Beginning Again

"Behold, I make all things new." -- Revelation 21:5

Beginning again each day, each newborn day, we carry with us an entire world of past associations.  We know how to brush our teeth, how to shower, how to make our tea, from memories of our childhood, or from our dentist, or from our parents or grandparents.  Everything we do carries ghosts of the past.  We're not really beginning again.  We're repeating the past, with twists and turns, day after day.  We're reacting to our own conditioned beliefs and ideas, our own mental constructs about how the day should be, what we should be doing, and who we should be doing it with.  It's the wheel of endless action and reaction.  We may resolve something today, but tomorrow it will rise again in a slightly different form.  The grass will need cutting again.  The dishes always need washing.  And our teeth always need brushing. 

How do we find peace in a world that is an endless chain of reaction to form and belief and thought?  How do we begin again?

Over 2000 years ago Jeshua ben Joseph said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." (John 3:3) How are we born again?  How do we begin again?  Let's read more of this same passage: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit." (John:5-6) It's clear that we are talking about consciousness here... being born again in consciousness.  The spirit is invisible, and unattended to by the physical, material man.  Being born again, really beginning anew is an act forgiveness and release of the past, an act of consciousness.  It doesn't have anything to do with the forms that seem to populate our world, although the forms will reflect these shifts in awareness.

A Course in Miracles teaches that all such shifts in perception come through forgiveness, through letting go of all past referral.  The miracles that result are actually perceptual shifts that occur as our mind is changed.  ACIM puts it this way: "To be born again is to let the past go, and look without condemnation on the present.  If you would have it past and gone, you must not see it now."   How the heck do we do that???  ACIM goes on: "Time can release as well as imprison, depending on whose interpretation of it you use.  Past, present, and future are not continuous, unless you force continuity on them.  You can perceive them as continuous, and make them so for you.  But do not be deceived, and then believe that this is how it is.  You would anticipate the future on the basis of your past experience, and plan for it accordingly.  Yet by doing so you are aligning past and future, and not allowing the miracle, which could intervene between them, to free you to be born again.  The miracle enables you to see your brother [and thus yourself] without his past, and so perceive him [and yourself] as born again." - ACIM Chapter 13, Section VI, 3:5-6 and 4:1-7, 5:1

Beginning again is a conscious act of forgiveness... but the release and perceptual shifts that result from our conscious acts of forgiveness are effortless and free.

"Judgment and condemnation are behind you, and unless you bring them with you, you will see that you are free of them.  Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the only things that are forever true." - ACIM Chapter 13, Section VI, 6:1

The Forgiveness of Sins

"Which is easier to say: "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Arise and walk"?  But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins (then he said to the paralytic), "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." -- The Bible; Matthew 9:5-6

"I believe in the Holy Spirit [the Voice for Our True Self, One with God], the holy [whole, or One] catholic [universal] church, the communion [Oneness] of saints [those Who Remember our Oneness], the forgiveness of sins [the release of all that appears separate from God], the resurrection of the body [the redefinition of its purpose, the return to God], and the life everlasting [the only Life there is].  Amen." -- The Apostles Creed, with my translation (-:

One of my soul-friends recently asked me to help her to move beyond a literal interpretation of church liturgy.  But when I was inspired to write this during morning prayer, I had no idea how to approach it or even what to say.  I've learned, though, to trust the movement of inspiration, which simply means "filled with spirit."  The Holy Spirit, the only real part of our mind, the Voice for Self that has never lost its Awareness of Self as One with God, always inspires and guides us as we listen... and will always translate the words and symbols of our lives to help us return our whole mind to Self, and to God.

This morning I was contemplating a Workbook Lesson from A Course in Miracles: "Let me not forget my function."  In this lesson, we are told to examine each and every thought that arises, and to realize that each one represents a goal, an activity, a function that we have decided is necessary for life and salvation.  This can be as mundane as thinking we have to eat, that we need to clean our house, or as complicated as looking for employment or relief from suffering through a medical procedure.  We are then gently reminded that these are false goals, and have no real meaning of themselves.  Our only function is the One God gave us.  This lofty function is simply that we are forever Being a transparency for God, Being One with God in every aspect and every way.  That is our eternal reality, and cannot change.  It is incorruptible. 

But in this dream we call life, the way we remember this Self Who is One, the way we return our whole mind to God, is through forgiveness.  The forgiveness of sins is the letting go of every goal, every judgment, every function that we have decided is necessary or good or worthy... the letting go of every fear and every effort and every personal love or hate... the forgiveness of our desire to be separate and live in a world of appearances, where we are at the mercy of the gods of this world... and most of all, forgiveness for our worship of the personal: self-control, self-love, self-aggrandizement, power over others, money, food, medicine, human love and approval, or of any form that seems to say that there is any power or cause that is real or necessary other than God.

Jesus told us that we have power on earth to forgive sins.  Jesus asked us which is easier, to say 'your sins are forgiven,' or to say 'get up and walk?'  He showed that when you really know Who You Are, you can just say 'get up.' But if you don't fully remember Who You Are and you just say 'get up and walk,' the person who's getting up probably will still be ascribing the ability to do it or not to a body, to medicine, or to some physical circumstance.  But if you say 'your sins are forgiven you' and are aware of the Oneness of God and the Oneness of our minds, then you are released immediately from ascribing power or ability or cause to anything other than God...  God, in whom we live and move and have our Being... God, in whom there is no darkness, no sickness, no lack, and no suffering.

In the final words of The Apostles Creed, as quoted above, we affirm "I believe in... the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."  We've already talked about the forgiveness of our allegiance to false gods and illusory powers.  But what about the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting?  We are told in 1 Peter: 1:23: "...having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever."  When we forgive, we are resurrected from the illusory Adamic dream of separation from God and the death and suffering it demands. Through forgiveness we Awaken to One Self, safe in God, forever One with All, forever One with infinite Life and Love.  This is the reality that our forgiveness reveals... and the resurrection of the body means the body has been given a new purpose that is incorruptible, as we Awaken through the Word of God, the Voice of the Holy Spirit in us.  As we are a transparency for the eternal and perfect, the world (including our body), reflects only God.

This does not mean, of course, that our bodies will reflect egoic notions of perfection.  It means they will reflect true perfection, which is spiritual and inclusive and whole.  The body's new meaning is as a communication device, a transparency for Truth through forgiveness.  And like all devices, it can be laid down when it is no longer useful.  Our true Self, our incorruptible Being, lives on, uninterrupted.

We have the power to release the whole world, through the forgiveness of sins.  And as we forgive, we Awaken. 

"Forgiveness offers everything I want." - A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 122 

The Narrow Gate

I have been in correspondence with a lovely soul who is about to lose her home, and is desperately worried about her two dogs.  She contacted me hoping to send them to my animal sanctuary (http://www.clairefoundation.ws/) if the foreclosure goes forward.  My first concern is helping her to keep her family (including her animals) together, so I offered to help them look at possibilities.  Her answer was very sweet and honest... she doesn't really think it's possible, and after looking at my website (http://www.sundarya.com/) she very politely and sweetly told me that her beliefs are very different than mine.  She doesn't believe there are many paths to God... and she believes that the narrow gate mentioned in Matthew 7:14 is literally Jesus Christ.  I replied thanking her for the honesty and kindness with which she framed her words.  And then I said that I have been an inclusive Christian all my life, and that I don't imagine there is that much different about us.  And I told her that in my experience, that narrow gate is the practice of inclusivity, seeing as God sees without judgment, excluding no one and no thing.

I haven't heard back from her yet, but I'm sure I will.  She is a sweet soul following her spiritual guidance as she is led.  But I started thinking about how cultural and institutional collective beliefs can act as blinders to Truth.  So let's start by looking at a couple of the verses she quoted, and talk about them without blinders.

First of all, the quote from Matthew 7:13-16: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  Ye shall know them by their fruits."  O.K., this narrow gate thing... how many Christians are there in the world?  And how many of those actually believe in the Allness and Inclusivity of God?  So which gate is narrower... the exclusive, my way or the highway theology... or loving and embracing all that is, as God does?  No contest here what these words imply.  And the false prophets, the ravening wolves, seem to be those individuals and institutions which wish to grasp power and control of people's minds and hearts by peddling fear and exclusivity.

The narrow gate, the razor's edge, the eye that is single, the path that is no path... these are a few of the ways different spiritual teachings have talked about the expanded state of awareness that leads to the direct experience of God and Self.  It's not easy to have a unified mind and heart in this duplicitous and fragmented world.  But we only fit through the narrow gate by shedding every thought and concept and identity, and returning our minds and hearts to the unified perception of Self... of the Christ, the Allness of God, and our inseparable Oneness with the Divine.

The Father is Greater

Recordings of the 2010 ongoing study of A Course in Miracles are available at http://www.sundarya.com/ACIMteleclasses.htm
For those of you who value your privacy, please know that I have no way of knowing who downloads these recordings, no record of it.  They are freely offered, and you are encouraged to share them with others if you choose.  And now for today's blog... 

"There are two parts to the statement ["I and my Father are One"] in recognition that the Father is greater." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section II, 4:7

Using this quote and this terminology may get me into hot water with some of my friends, who feel that using the male 'Father' image perpetuates patriarchal stereotypes.  And I agree with them to a point.  But the larger point is that A Course in Miracles and much of the non-dual teaching that is available in the world is written using our very patriarchal language, but has nothing to do with gender.  The Truth can use any symbol and point beyond it to what is True.

This statement is not about gender.  It's about individuality and Wholeness.  We have come to accept that God is All.  We have come to accept that we are One with Allness.  But what happens to me then?  What is my individuality, my uniqueness in this world?  Am I nothing at all?  Yes and no.

This question preoccupies our egos, our false sense of individuality.  The ego thinks it's only something in comparison to something 'other,' something or someone else that is separate and apart from self.  This is the illusion of false identification.  On the other hand, the infinity of God can only express ItSelf as infinite uniqueness, infinite possibility.  Uniqueness is an attribute of all aspects of the Infinite Oneness of God.   Every snowflake is unique, every fractal image new, to infinity and beyond.  But the snowflake only exists as an aspect of snow.  It's not separate, but it is unique. 

Specialness is the false identification of the ego.  It's as if that snowflake tried to imagine itself as separate from the rest of snow, endlessly competing with and comparing itself to other snowflakes, and trying to exist forever as a separate thing.  It's not true for the snowflake and it's not true for us as individuals.  Often, that delusion only becomes painfully clear when we are confronted with challenges to our own self-images.  Self-image is a good word here, because all images are projections, and self-created in consciousness.

So we return to the statement by Jesus, "I and my Father are One."  We are One with our Creator.  If we are One, why speak of Father and Son?  Because it's important to see that we are expressions within the One, and each expression is unique.  But to catch a snowflake is not to experience snow.  The infinity of the Father is unfathomable to us, just as the depth of a snowbank would be unfathomable to a single snowflake.  Our task, should we choose to accept it, is to value the uniqueness of each expression of the One, while forgiving and releasing all thoughts and beliefs that interfere with our awareness of the Wholeness and Oneness of our True Self. 

We did not create ourselves.  We are not the source, but we are One with Source.  It's in our complete awareness of and dependence on God, the All-Encompassing, All-Loving Good that is our Source, that we find our true Self.  It's in letting go of the false that we find the True.  Jesus called our Source the Father, and was always very clear that he did nothing of himself, that Jesus the man was not the source.  He said, "Of myself I do nothing.  God doeth the work."

To say the Father is greater is not as the ego mind imagines it.  It's not a hierarchy, and not a competition.  It's our assurance of Source and our eternal Home.

"You are the means for God; not separate, nor with a life apart from His.  His Life is manifest in you who are His Son.  Each aspect of HimSelf is framed in holiness and perfect purity, in love celestial and so complete it wishes only that it may release all that it looks upon unto ItSelf." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 25, Section I, 4:1-3   

See No Evil

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." -- 17th Century Japanese Proverb

Sometimes the oddest things inspire me.  This proverb, which comes from a carving above the door of the Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko, Japan, has been a part of our culture as long as I can remember.  It's one of those things that everybody says, but nobody actually does.  There was a hilarious movie (See No Evil, Hear No Evil with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder) that played on that very thing.  Part of their promo line was, "The blind guy couldn't see it.  The deaf guy couldn't hear it."  Obviously when you're blind, you have no choice but to see no evil... or anything else.

But of course this proverb refers to a deeper meaning, one that is embedded in collective consciousness, even though we choose to ignore it.  There is no real evil.  There is only an upside-down projection, and our reaction to those projections (after all, the word 'evil' is the word 'live' spelled backwards!).  Action (projection) and reaction to our own projections maintains the momentum, and is the karmic wheel of suffering referred to in eastern philosophy.  

Another way to put it is in terms of quantum physics.  There is nothing there until we look at it.  It is only energy, waves of energy, until we look and project that something is there.  This is called the complementary principle, and says that it is the observer that creates the appearance (particles) upon observation (projection).  Until then, everything remains pure potential, pure unconditioned energy.

Jeshua ben Joseph, whose birth we're celebrating at this time of year, said it this way: "Resist not evil." (Matthew 5:39)  And later in the Bible we're told to "Overcome evil with Good." (Romans 12:21) You could paraphrase this to say, you can't fight evil by seeing it (that is what gives it the illusion of reality!)... but you can dissolve the reality of illusion by knowing this Truth and seeing only the Good, which is another name for God. 

I found this passage in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy: "We must learn that evil is the awful deception and unreality of existence.  Good is not helpless; nor are the so-called laws of matter primary, and the law of Spirit Secondary.  There is but One primal cause [GOD, Who is All-Good].  Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only Cause.  The spiritual Reality is the scientific fact in all things." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 207, Lines 9, 20, and 27

The scientific fact in all things is Spiritual Reality.  Quantum physics couches it in different terms, but says the same thing.  It really is the scientific reality... and spiritual wisdom has been telling us this in all cultures and all languages for all of recorded history.  This everyday proverb is a good example. 

But how?  How do we do this?  Well, how do you see anything differently?  You can change your mind about a person, so that one who was previously someone you liked or even loved, you now find offensive, or vice versa.  What changed?  Your mind.  Who changed it?  You did.  You can change your mind about most anything, and do on a daily basis.  The problem is not the ability to change how we see things.  It's what we're basing those choices on.

We are constantly looking 'out there' for reasons and validity, not remembering that it's our projection in the first place... we're reacting to our own mental constructs, not reality.  These 'false gods' give us the illusion of not being responsible... but at what price?  If we base our changing mind on trying to manipulate or change something 'out there', we're basing our choices on phantoms, on illusions, the false gods and idols of the world we've projected  by our split mind.  However, if we first understand the Truth of Being, that we live and move and have our being in the Allness and Oneness of God, of All-Good, then that's all we can project and see.  We begin to take responsibility for sight, and understand the Biblical injunction to "Choose this day whom you shall serve."

A Course in Miracles happily reminds us, "The images you make cannot prevail against what God Himself would have you be.  Be never fearful of temptation [evil] then, but see it as it is; another chance to choose again." (ACIM Chapter 31, Section VIII, 4:1-2)  And again, "You are as God created you, and so is every living thing you look upon, regardless of the images you see." (ACIM Chapter 31, Section VIII, 6:1)  We have a choice about what we project and therefore see in this world... but no choice in Reality.  Our Reality is safe in God.  To see no evil in this world is the result of remembering that Truth. 

"Nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life IS God." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 228, Line 5

"Learn then, the happy habit of response to all temptation to perceive yourself as weak and miserable with these words:  I am as God created me.  His Son can suffer nothing.  And I am His Son." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, Section VIII, 5:1-4

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    

Angels

"He will give his angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways." -- The Bible; Psalm 91:11

"The Thought God holds of you is like a star, unchangeable in an eternal sky." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section III, 8:4

I've always been fascinated and comforted by the thought of angels, as many of us are.  I've even had a couple of actual encounters with what I believed at the time to be angelic beings.  And there have been many, many times that I felt an 'overshadowing,' like a comforting Presence in the midst of sorrow or suffering.

What I've come to accept is that all forms and beliefs are made up, mental constructs by human egos trying to maintain a separate identity by looking for something outside to react to and believe in and be rescued by.  But the content of everything is always angelic... We are the eternal Thoughts of God, always in a divinely circulating activity of Oneness.  Only the Thoughts of God exist.  God creates all that is Real by extending the Oneness that we are.  

We rest in the Mind of God in perfect peace and perfect joy.  And when we forget Who and Where we are, the angel Thoughts of God hold us, sustain us, and bring us gently back to ourselves.  That these aspects of Self appear sometimes as glorious beings of Light is perfect... they are symbols of the Light and Truth of God, as we are.  That angels resonate so deeply in our collective consciousness shows how very much aware we all still are of our true Home and our true Self. 

I will continue to believe in and see and even have conversations with angels in this life.  They symbolize all that is Real to me, just as my conversations with Jesus and the Holy Spirit help return me to my right Mind again and again.  And yet I know that beyond this dream we call life, there is our True Life, which needs no symbols and no reminders... and that Life is our eternal Being in God.  So thank God for all the precious symbols and reminders in the dream.  Thank God for Angels.

"Wholeness needs no form because it is unlimited." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section III, 3:2

I wrote a little parable about our journey through the dream we call life, called "Follow the Star."  You can click on the title to go to that link. 

The Choiceless Path

I just read a book about the idea that everything is already decided, predestined. It posits that choice is just an illusion. Of course, it was based on the assumption that material life is our reality, and that it has life and substance and meaning. But what if predestination simply refers to our spiritual Reality?

While walking in this dream we call life, we seem to move in endless reaction to the world around us. Sir Isaac Newton described it with his Third Law of Motion: "Whenever a first body exerts a force F on a second body, the second body exerts a force -F on the first body. F and -F are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction." This endless action and reaction, whether physical or emotional or mental, is what constitutes the sowing and reaping Jesus talked about, or the wheel of samsara referred to in Eastern philosophy, the wheel of karma. In this endless spinning of action and reaction, it seems the only real choice is the choice to get off the wheel. But how do we do that? This has been the quest of wise women and men throughout time.

I like to think about it this way: even a wheel has to be spinning in space. What is the space that contains the wheel? What is the "I" that contains all my ideas about the world? Moving our attention to the unchanging, limitless Self that holds it all, we realize what Lao Tzu meant by these words: "There is a Being, whose name I do not know. It surrounds everything with Its Love, like a garment. I do not know Its name, and so I call it Tao, the Way... and I rejoice in Its Presence."

I call this Presence God, or our True Self... but you can use whatever name is big enough, inclusive enough for you. Names and symbols shift and change, but God remains unchanging, as do we. Consider the following quote from A Course in Miracles: "As God created you, you must remain unchangeable, with transitory states by definition false. And that includes all shifts in feeling, alterations in conditions of the body and the mind; in all awareness and in all response." (A Course in Miracles; Workbook 152, 5:1-3) This is not the action and reaction of Newton or karma, but is the unchanging, choiceless Reality that holds everything in Its embrace.

Our true Life is not as we imagine it to be when we're bouncing around like ping pong balls in endless reaction to the people and circumstances of our lives. The choiceless, effortless Path is revealed as we come to realize that "The choice you fear to lose you never had." (ACIM; Chapter 27, Section III, 7:4) Only through forgiveness do we find release from the imagined cause and effect of the material dream, from the wheel of samsara. And in the quiet light of forgiveness we see the eternal, choiceless Love that is our true Life.

"In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 27, Section IV, 1:1