Every Single Thought!

"Every thought you have contributes to truth or illusion; either it extends the Truth or it multiplies illusions.  You can indeed multiply nothing, but you will not extend it by doing so." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 16, 2:3-4

Today's blog post is very short.  Perhaps it will help you (as it helped me through the writing of it) to rest and to trust.

The above passage from A Course in Miracles  is most comforting to me, although to my conditioned self it does at first seem overwhelming.  What's comforting is that when I lose myself in my daily routine, or am momentarily shocked or fearful because of seeming events, I haven't really done more than multiply zero.  And no matter how large a number you multiply by zero, the result is still nothing. 

Similarly, I don't have to do anything to extend the Truth except be Aware.  When I'm Aware, I see that the infinite, all-encompassing Truth of Being is all that is ever going on.  It extends because it IS.  I am safe because I am living and moving and having my being in, as, and through the Infinite Self.  I acknowledge this Presence, and It extends through me.

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." -- The Bible; Proverbs 3:6

Full Focus

"To be in the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention on it." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section III, 4:1

A long time ago, one of the greatest teachers the world has ever known told us that if we would simply seek what he called the Kingdom of God, and make it our number one priority, then everything else would fall into place.  His words, as quoted in The Bible, were, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you."  For years I have turned to this Biblical passage when in distress or in seeming need.  The 'added things,' the things of this world, have always shown up... though often (O.K., usually) not in the ways or forms I would have expected.  Similarly, as a long-time student of A Courses in Miracles, I have turned to the Workbook Lessons like, "There is no will but God's" and "God's Will for me is perfect happiness." Over the years my very human fear and distress over happenings in the world and especially in my personal life have always been stilled by these Truths.  So imagine my surprise at reading, for perhaps the hundredth time, the passage above, and finding myself absolutely humbled. 

As always, this 'revelation' is nothing new.  I simply saw it anew.  And that is what Awakening is... seeing with eyes that no longer focus on the separate and limited, but allowing the focus to expand to Wholeness.  With full attention.  All the time.  Not just grudgingly giving that attention at certain times of day, or when things seem less than perfect.  So I am humbled to realize that I regularly give the Kingdom less than my full attention.  And also relieved, because I can see how foolish I have been, and how simple is the solution!

When we fall in love in this world, it seems so easy to give our full heart and mind to the beloved, whether that is an amorous partner or a new child or grandchild... or even a pet.  But how many of us have ever sustained that expanded attention?  Once we know that person is here and part of our life, we tend to take them for granted much of the time.  Sometimes it takes a near loss to remind us how important they are to us, and to jolt us into full attention again.  Well, I have been taking the Beloved for granted, in a much larger sense.  And although this doesn't matter from the perspective of eternity, it matters to me and my quality of life NOW... just as our neglect of our loved ones negatively impacts our human lives.  So I am simultaneously humbled and grateful for the resulting awareness of how simple our lives are meant to be.  "Seek first the Kingdom..."  "Focus your full attention on it..."  "All these things will be added..."

Vigilance and full focus aren't a chore... they are our natural state of Awakened Awareness, which effortlessly remains aware of the Allness of Self, and yet focuses on all that lives and loves, providing and sustaining all.  "When you have given up this voluntary dis-spiriting, you will see how your mind can focus..." (ACIM; 4, IV, 6:3)

"You need be neither careful nor careless..." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section VII, 1:4
"Those who choose freedom will experience only its results." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 20, Section IV, 4:1

"I am under no laws but God's." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 76

It's finally really spring.  The crocus started blooming three weeks ago, and now the daffodils are in full bloom and the spring grass is greening.  It fills me with a sense of beauty, renewal, and gratitude for new beginnings in this world.  But for many people this beautiful spring weather has been apparently deadly, with tornadoes and thunderstorms and hurricane force winds in epic proportions.  Is this the handiwork of a loving God?  It would appear we're all under the crap shoot laws that govern the weather, which quite frankly can be very unloving.  Can these chaotic laws be real?  Can it be that we're misinterpreting the very nature of reality and what the projections that pass for real mean?

A Course in Miracles helps us see beyond the seeming reality of projected sensory experience:
"Think you that you can bring truth to fanstasy, and learn what truth means from the perspective of illusions?  Truth has no meaning in illusion.  The frame of reference for its meaning must be ItSelf." -- ACIM; Chapter 17, Section I, 5:1-3

It's sort of like trying to map the terrain while you're walking in a valley.  You're going to have major distortions from that perspective.  The only way to see the big picture and map it properly is to view it from above.  Similarly, the only way to know what's True is to see the world through the eyes of Truth, or the expanded awareness that is called Spirit, or God. 

"The natural man does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." -- The Bible; 1 Corinthians, 2:14

It's foolishness to tell anyone that everything I see is my projection, and that every projection is simply a contracted way of seeing.  Only from the perspective of the expanded awareness of Spirit doesn the Truth become evident to us.  We mostly choose to remain in the contracted awareness that subjects itself to systems with chaotic laws and punitive judgment.

Every day we willingly put ourselves into contracted systems, ways of seeing the world.  Sometimes we call those systems pleasure, sometimes pain.  We submit to rules and laws that seem unavoidable, because we have a vested interest in the world we see and experience (it is, after all, the one we're pretending is real).  We're no different than my oldest grandson, who day after day submits to the sometimes physically punishing rules and requirements of being a football or basketball player because he loves it.  And he does, as the world defines love.  Just as each of us loves our situation, whether we say we do or not.  We simply wouldn't be where we are if we didn't.

I know, I know.  How can I say that I LOVE struggling for health, or money, or approval, or (fill in the blank)?  How can I say that I LOVE watching the world at war with itself?  How can that be LOVE?  Well, because Love is all that exists, what we're experiencing in these situations are a false sense of what IS.  And because we're really not capable of anything but Love, even the things we think we hate are simply a warped (distorted) sense of what IS.  To the closed mind, everything looks closed, right or wrong, good or bad, black or white.  To the unsealed and open mind, everything is Love.

The laws of God, as A Course in Miracles calls the Reality of things, can only be Love, and thus can only be Loving.  There isn't anything else.  So when we're experiencing a false sense of being, a sense of lack or limitation or suffering, our mind is self-limiting by believing in the apparent sense of things we're convinced must be true or real.  We're willingly participating in a system of made-up rules... laws that limit us and so (we think) keep us safe and normal... even when they seem to kill us.  At least we're like everyone else, right?  At least we're not being weird. 

What happens if we're willing to entertain the scandalous thought that it's all made up?  That every problem, every fear, every pain, every death is a false sense of what IS?  Or even more scandalous, that it's all a form of self-limiting very like being a football player... we are self-limiting by willingly taking on the rules of the game and culture, whatever it may be.  There is nothing outside of mind.  Whose mind is experiencing the limitation?   So whose mind has willingly adopted those rules (laws) as real?  Where are all the situations and relationships taking place, if not in your own (or in my case, my own) consciousness?

The fact that we have never been subject to any law but Love is the key to liberation.  Nor could we ever be.  Love IS.  You are subject only to the laws of your own consciousness in this world.  But in Reality, you are both subject and object, completely One with the Love that is All in All.

"There are no laws but Gods.  God's laws forever give, and never take." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 76, 9:1 & 6

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

Hoarding

"Hoarding: Amassing money or valued objects and hiding or storing it away, typically in a carefully guarded way." -- The New Oxford American Dictionary

"Hoarding: Gathering things together in the external. This is a vain effort to avert an imagined lack or shortage in the future." -- from The Revealing Word by Charles Fillmore

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." -- The Bible; Matthew 6:19-21

I didn't particularly want to write about this topic today.  It sort of chose me, as the topic of hoarding has been in my face lately, and there are no accidents in consciousness.  So I am looking more closely at the literal and metaphysical teaching here, because I know it's always pointing me to what is True.

As many of you know, I run an animal sanctuary on my farm.  I'm very careful not to take more animals than I can care for, and I've largely outgrown the notion that it's my job to save all the creatures of the world.  So I don't have the hoarding mentality of some animal rescue workers.  But recently a no-kill shelter nearby was shut down and all the animals taken because they developed a hoarding mentality... in other words, they kept taking animals even when they had no room for them.  They thought that saving their bodies meant something.  And I used to feel that it was about saving bodies, too.  

Now, I do stop for every turtle I see on the road.  And if I see an animal in need, I do my very best to find help for it.  If someone calls me with an animal that has been abandoned or abused and I don't have room, I help them find someone who does.  But the caring for these beautiful creatures has taught me that bodies don't mean so much... they come and go.  But the spirit, the divine idea of each creature is so perfect and permanent.  The divine idea of every animal that's ever lived or died here remains, in all its perfection.  Their being is my being.  Their spirit nurtures and teaches my spirit.  We are quite literally One.  I've come to realize that real Sanctuary is of and for the Spirit.  It can't be lost, nor can it ever be lacking.

Hoarding shows up in so many ways.  We are a culture of hoarders.  Our medical communities hoard bodies... keeping a body alive becomes more important than the Reality of Being, the Spirit that is the essence of each person.  It's easy to see this kind of hoarding in nursing homes and hospitals.  

Our financial communities hoard money, of course.  But not just money.  What is hoarded is the destructive idea of competition and winning, of having or being more because of what is accumulated.  Again, the form of hoarding is pretty secondary... it's the thought that I am more, or validated, or better because I've collected some paper or metal or some iou's.  We're like a culture of little children playing a really bad game of Monopoly.  And our sports and media cultures hoard everything from celebrity to information.

Even those of us without much money manage to hoard.  We may hoard friends or relationships, memorabilia from our families, old photographs, old books or writing or ideas that we think we might want to look at 'later.' We may hoard old musical instruments or guns or tea cups or anything in the name of 'collecting.'  I've seen street people with shopping carts full of hoarded junk that they think they might need sometime.  And those of us with clutter have to acknowledge that clutter is a form of hoarding.  If we're not hanging on to the clutter for some reason, why haven't we cleaned it up?  What is it for?  What is any of it for?

A Course in Miracles says that 'more' is the motto of the human ego... and that it doesn't even matter more of what.  Hoarding is the nature of the self that thinks it is a body.  And I've come to discover that the worst form of hoarding is the hoarding of concepts, because we don't see ourselves doing it.  We tell the same stories, using the same concepts of self, over and over and over... and these concepts we hoard are always false ideas about a self that's in a body.  We're carefully taught these stories, these concepts, by parents and teachers and media.  But we're willing slaves to this hoarding... we eagerly accumlate the false sense of identity it gives us, even when that identity is tied to a seemingly miserable or flawed self.  We hoard these false self-concepts because we think it's who and what we are, and that we would somehow be lacking existence and life without them.  That this fear is largely unconscious makes it the most insidious form of hoarding.

So by now we've all reached the same conclusion... that simply living in this world means we're hoarders.  We're all trying to accumlate a sense of self that is safe, healthy, financially sound, and autonomous... and in our efforting, we'll settle for a self that is fairly safe, sort of healthy, getting by financially, and isolated from other scary people.  It's this very efforting that Jesus referred to in the above quote from Matthew.  It's this very efforting that hides the Presence of the Kingdom from our Awareness, right here and right now.

A safe and autonomous self can never be.  Only bodies appear separate, and we are not our bodies.  Where would a separate self be, in Oneness?  Nothing and nowhere.  But our Self, our infinitely unique and varied Self, is always safe and whole and uniquely expressing, in and as each of us.  We are Spirit, and we are One, and we are individually unique and precious in this Oneness.  Animals can be animals and still be One with me.  You can be uniquely you and still be my Self.  I can let go of literally everyone and everything and still be One with it All.  Nothing is lost or lacking in Oneness, ever.  This is the nature of our God-Self, and of the Kingdom.  And this awareness is the end of hoarding, and the beginning of our Real Life in and as Spirit.  

"Take no thought, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'Wherewithal shall we be clothed?'  But seek ye first the Kingdom of God... and all these things shall be added unto you." -- Matthew 6:31-33

The Awareness of Being One

"All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation." -- Mary Baker Eddy

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

I love the way Life continually presents us with opportunities to see Truth everywhere.  Truth being, of course, simply another name for Oneness.  Discovering that Good is the Reality of this Oneness, no matter how it appears, is so flipping exciting I have a hard time writing about it coherently.  After all, we've all heard this a million times:  "It's all good," we say hopefully... all the while noticing how not good it appears to be.  

The above quote from ACIM helps... there is nothing outside Oneness, and nothing else within.  How could there be?  So with only the One, there is only, well... the One!  All Good, only Good... in Principle and in manifestation.

The thing is, this all sounds good, but I see riots in Egypt and people going hungry and pets being mistreated, etc., etc., etc.  I see my bills mounting and donations falling short.  I see people judging one another and arguing over things that don't matter.  So how does Oneness even matter, in Principle or in manifestation? 

Again, A Course in Miracles helps to discern the false from the True: "Perception is a mirror, not a fact.  And what I look on is my state of mind reflected outward." (ACIM Workbook 304, 1:3-4)  Obviously, when the mind is unaware of Oneness, it projects duality in person, place, and thing.  The awareness of Oneness is the Principle that reflects the wholeness and perfection that is Reality.  The awareness of Oneness reflects the All-Good in all ways.

I have experienced, and continue to experience, many miracles of healed perception.  Always what occurs is that I have, at least momentarily, accepted the One Mind as All.  This is the healing... and the healed mind reflects wholeness, abundance, and endless Good in all possible forms.  As I mature spiritually, it becomes more and more comforting to rest in the awareness of Being One, which is the miracle for everyone and everything, in every situation.  There is nothing else.  The seemingly hidden Presence of Good awaits only our recognition.

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him [Biblical speak for the One] and He shall direct thy paths." -- Proverbs 3:6

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

Meaning and Emptiness

Good Sunday morning to you... or whenever you happen to be reading this post.  I know those of you who subscribe via e-mail often receive it the next day.  The good news is that it's all good.  Which brings us to the topic that inspired this post... meaning and emptiness. 

A Course in Miracles tells us that there is nothing the world fears more than meaninglessness.  We fear emptiness so much that we make up stories and meanings to fill every perceived space.  The first few lessons in the ACIM Workbook begin to help us understand how this compulsion works.  "Nothing I see or think means anything.  I've given it all the meaning it has." But first, let's look at the supposed emptiness we fear.

In eastern spiritual traditions, from Buddhism to Taoism to Sufism and Hinduism, emptiness is equated with divinity.  In Hawaiian ho'oponono, zero is equated with the divine.  From a scientific standpoint, when I was in high school they taught that outer space was a vacuum, and that a vacuum tube was one where every bit of air was sucked out of it... so that of course meant that outer space was a void, with nothing alive in it.  Ha!  Now we know that there is a Field, often called Einstein's Field, of scalar energy that is the real content of every bit of space and everything else.  The thing is, scalar energy can't be measured because it doesn't do anything.  It's also called still point or standing wave energy.  It is the apparent source of everything, the Field out of which all that is arises, but it's a... well, it's a zero. 

You can also understand scalar energy from the concept of phase cancellation, an acoustical principle which simply says that two sound waves that are polar opposites cancel each other out when played simultaneously... in other words, both sounds are playing, but nothing is heard.  They are reportedly using this principle to address noise pollution in the Japanese subway system.  Scalar energy then is a more all-embracing understanding of this principle.  Everything in the supposedly 'material' world is energy, or appears to be... and so every energy has a frequency and can be measured.  And every measurable frequency has a polar opposite frequency.  When these two opposites are brought together, the result is zero, stillpoint, or what they call a standing wave.  My understanding of what is really happening is that when opposites are brought together, Reality is briefly glimpsed... the Reality of Spirit behind everything that seems to exist.

Why do we so fear the Truth that everything is really Spirit... not just spiritual, but literally Spirit?  Because we think that makes the material world we continually project meaningless, or evil, or wrong?  It doesn't... it just means we're making believe.  Or is it because, like little children, we don't want our playtime interrupted?  I've learned to notice carefully the perceptual temper tantrums I seem to experience.  They clue me in on what aspect of my own dream I'm using to hide from Reality.

A Course in Miracles tells it like it is:  "It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to picture is not there.  This idea can be quite disturbing and may meet with active resistance in any number of forms.  Yet that does not preclude applying it.  No more than that is required for these or any other exercises.  Each small step will clear a little of the darkness away, and understanding will finally come to lighten every corner of the mind that has been cleared of the debris that darkens it." (ACIM Workbook Lesson 9, 2:1-5)  The debris is always and only our own stories, beliefs, and meanings.  There is nothing else 'darkening' our minds.

One of my grandsons, Tripp Michael, is now three years old.  It's nearly impossible to keep his room clean, because as soon as you put all his leggos, cars and trucks away, he compulsively empties them all out onto the floor again.  He wants them where he can see them, play with them or not, and manipulate them as he sees fit.  More likely than not, he simply ignores them then... but he wants them when he wants them.  I love this, because it's such a mirror for what I do, what we all do mentally, and why true forgiveness is so challenging for us. 

We empty our minds temporarily when we meditate, but we really are just compartmentalizing, like stuffing those leggos in a corner until we want them.  We may go through the motions of giving our perceptions to Holy Spirit to be corrected, but we really just hope for spiritual brownie points as we cling to our ideas about what seems to be going on.  We really are like small children with our own perceptions.  We cling to them as if they were who we are.   They are not.

I began this post by pointing out that it's all good.  I should clarify.  I use goodness not in the sense of a judgment, good or not good.  Good is a synonym for God.  It's all God.  It's all Spirit.  There is nothing else.  The world as we imagine it is actually nothing at all.  And this is what we fear most.

But fear not, for I bring you Good News, tidings of Great Joy (also a synonym for God).  Your imagined sins and your imagined brownie points are all forgiven you (they never happened)... and behind every perception, every meaning, every belief lies the immeasurable Reality, the all-embracing Love that lives us, forever.  Our Reality is safe in this supposed emptiness.  So don't try to fill the emptiness with new or different stories, or seek for meaning in them.  Rest in the Silent Expansiveness of your True Self.  And then let Self lead your life, and give a new meaning to all that seemed to be.

I'm closing this post with a quote from the biblical book of Revelation... not only because it is an often misunderstood quote, but because ACIM defines revelation as the actual experience of God, which is beyond words or meaning.  And so it is.

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.  And He that sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said unto me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." -- The Bible; Revelation 21:4-5

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

A New Creation

"Therefore if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!" -- The Bible; 2 Corinthians 5:17

"Let me remember that there is no sin.  Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable.  What else could blind us to the obvious, and make the strange and distorted seem more clear?" -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 259, 1:1-2

It's very early morning, after a rainy night.  The earth smells fresh and clean, and breathes with peace, the way I feel after an early morning shower.  Everything feels new, although most would argue that it is the same world I went to bed looking at last night.  That is not my experience.  

Every minute of every day we are awakening to a new creation.  And only the thoughts of limitation and adjustment that we insist on bringing with us obscure each holy instant of release and freedom.  A Course in Miracles calls these limiting thoughts and conditioned beliefs 'sin'.  And then reminds us that it's all made up.  There is no sin.  There is only mind that imagines itself separate from its Source, and therefore separate from everything that is.

What does it mean to be 'in' Christ?  ACIM puts it this way: "Christ is God's Son as He created Him.  He is the Self we share, uniting us with one another, and with God as well.  He is the Thought which still abides within the Mind that is His Source.  He has not left His holy home, nor lost the innocence in which He was created.  He abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God." -- ACIM; Workbook Part II, 6.

This is our Reality, our true Self.  To be a new creation in Christ is simply to remember Who We are as God created us.  And how does this make all things new?  "The Holy Spirit reaches from the Christ in you to all your dreams [false perceptions], and bids them come to Him, to be translated into Truth."  This is the process of forgiveness which ACIM calls the Atonement.  "For when forgiveness rests upon the world and peace has come to every Son of God, what could there be to keep things [seeming] separate, for what remains to see except Christ's face?" -- ACIM; Workbook Part II, 6.

So every minute of every day we are awakening to Who We Are.  This awakening feels like rebirth, again and again, and we literally are become a new creation.

"Home of the Holy Spirit, and at home in God alone, does Christ remain at peace within the Heaven of your holy mind.  This is the only part of you that has Reality in Truth.  The rest is dreams.  Yet will these dreams be given unto Christ, to fade before His glory and reveal your holy Self, the Christ, to you at last." -- ACIM; Workbook Part II, 6.

Eyes and Ears

"Having eyes, see you not?  And having ears, hear you not?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand... ?" -- The Bible; Mark 8:18-19

During last night's ACIM teleclass, the subject of sense perceptions came up, along with Jesus' words about having eyes to see and ears to hear.  It's very clear to all of us that what we sense with the five senses, especially what we see and hear, is very real to us.  It seems very clear that the sensed object or situation exists first, and we sense it as an effect of the sense/cause.  But wait a minute... that means that we are an effect of something 'outside' or 'other'.  How can this be?  We are reflections of God, living and moving and having our being In and Through this reflection.  A reflection can only reflect the qualities and image of its Cause.  So what and where are the objects of our human senses?  What causes them?  What can exist outside the Cause of God?

Jesus performed many miracles that seemed to contradict what people's physical eyes and ears were telling them.  Even the disciples were hard pressed to explain this except in terms of the supernatural.  Jesus told them again and again, in parable and more directly, that our true eyes and ears are wholly spiritual, not physical... and that we can see only the reflection of God's Kingdom, the Truth of Being.  In Truth, there is only wholeness, abundance, harmony, and peace.  Jesus saw only the Kingdom everywhere, only the Truth of God reflecting as man.  And so there was a whole person where there had appeared to be a broken one.  And so there was bread for five thousand where only five loaves appeared to be.

This is a hard lesson for those of us who are heavily invested in the physical, in the sense world.  We have depended on our physical eyes and ears for so long, it's hard to trust what seems invisible.  It's hard to fathom that what we think we see might not really be there... that what we thought we heard was not there at all.  We know Jesus' words are true... but we mistakenly think he was talking about spiritual vision and hearing in addition to our physical eyes and ears.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

The things we see and hear with our physical senses are false perceptions; they witness to our imagined separation from God and each other, in effect telling us what we want to hear, to maintain the illusion of an autonomous existence.  This is not idle speculation; this is demonstrable Truth.  Jesus walked us through the ways to demonstrate this, and reminded us that the eyes and ears we really have are the Vision and Voice of God. 

"Perception's fundamental law: You see what you believe is there, and you believe it there because you want it there.  Perception has no other law than this." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 25, III, 1:3-4

See and Be Radiant

"Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, and the wealth of the nations shall come to you." -- The Bible; Isaiah 60:5

"Miracles are seen in Light.  It is important to remember that miracles and vision necessarily go together.  The miracle is always here.  Its presence is not caused by your vision; its absence is not the result of your failure to see.  It is only your awareness of miracles that is affected.  You will see them in the Light; you will not see them in the dark." -- A Course in Miracles; WB 91:1:1, 4-7

I had a really bad dream the other night.  It was so real, and so scary, and I felt so awful when I woke up.  I was so discouraged that I could hardly drag myself out of bed.  When I took a few moments to go within and examine my feelings, I realized that my emotional reaction was based on old (unsubstantiated) judgements that it was wrong to have such bad dreams... that I caused them somehow by not being spiritual enough, by not keeping my mind and heart stayed on God enough.  In other words, if I was good enough, my dreams would be good.  Isn't that the basis of all 'positive' thinking, too?  And of all the endless attempts to manipulate the dream, to make it better, to 'attract' something we think we want?  This all takes place in the dream.  It's all made up!

I finally noticed that I was making the dream something.  I was giving it a reality and meaning in my mind.  And it wasn't even really there!  All of that reaction and emotional turmoil over fiction!  Just like the first time I saw ET with my children, years ago when they were still little.  My daughter Joan and I couldn't stop crying after it was over... the pain of that image of being separated from what we love was overwhelming.  But it wasn't even really happening!  All of that suffering over fiction!

There's a pattern here that you may recognize.  We dream our dreams, both at night and in our daytime projections... and then we judge and categorize and attribute qualities to this nothingness.  We may be temporarily pleased or we may temporarily suffer, but either way we live as if these dreams are life.  And they are actually not... they are nothing, zero, like the dreams we have at night.  And we dream endlessly... because we cannot see the Truth, and the miracles that symbolize the Truth in the dream, without Light.  We are dreaming in the darkness of conditioned mind, the imagined mind of the mortal self who thinks it is weak and vulnerable and transient.  And all the while, in the darkness of conditioned, reactive mind, we suffer over fiction! 

God, our True Self, is All-in-All, and All Good, All Power, All Love, All Life.  No bad dream has ever changed the Reality of this Truth.  The miracle, the vision of Truth reflected in the dream, awaits our Light.  It is the Light of our own Awareness we bring... the forgiveness of the dream (it's a fiction!) and the acceptance that we are the Light of God here in the dream.  As we shine our awareness on the world, awake and aware of what is true, the miracle of the happy dream, which reflects the Goodness and Love of God, is revealed.  Then we really shall see and be radiant! 

"What you think you are is a belief to be undone.  What you really are must be revealed." -- A Course in Miracles; WB 91:6:7-8

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

Everything and Nothing

"We thank our Father for one thing alone; that we are separate from no living thing, and therefore One with Him.  And we rejoice that no exceptions ever can be made which would reduce our wholeness, nor impair or change our function to complete the One Who is HimSelf completion.  We give thanks for every living thing, for otherwise we offer thanks for nothing, and we fail to recognize the gifts of God to us.  We have been given everything.  If we refuse to recognize it, we are not entitled therefore to our bitterness." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 195, 6:1-3 & 9:2-3

"Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself.  Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, or every thought it judges worthy, and all ideas of which it is ashamed.  Hold onto nothing.  Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything.  Forget this world, forget this Course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 189, 7:1-5

I highlighted passages from the above quotes to make a point.  We have been given everything, literally... as Beings who live and move and have our Being in Oneness with the Infinite, everything is ours.  But to return to an awareness of the Everything that IS, we have to let go of the nothing that ISN'T. 

The easiest way to come to this awareness is to just be still.  Here I am.  I didn't create myself.  I am.  And so there is an 'I' that exists without effort, that is aware of what comes and goes, but never moves or changes in itSelf.  This 'I' holds everything in its awareness.  'I' have been given everything.  But as soon as the attention contracts to the specifics of thought, form, judgment, and analysis... as soon as the awareness zooms in and trys to grasp what it is aware of, the 'I' that is aware fades into the background, forgotten and seemingly obscured by the exclusiveness of individuated mind and its thoughts.  Only the unconditioned awareness of 'I' is capable of the inclusiveness that returns the awareness to the All, the Everything.

Allness is beyond the grasp of the individuated mind... the me that I think I am.  This me is preoccupied with survival and comfort, with being liked or loved, withdrawing into the safety of the familiar.  But resting in the Silence of 'I' for only an instant, the Inclusive Self returns to awareness.  Everything is Who I Am.  As they say in Advaita Vedanta, "I Am That."  And in the Bible it says, "I Am That I Am."  We have simply to be quiet and allow, "I Am" to rest in unspecific and unconditioned awareness.  And let the nothingness of daily thought and identity go.  What remains is the simple Truth of Being. 
 
"Nothing is so easy to recognize as Truth.  This is the only recognition that is immediate, clear, and natural." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section XI, 5:7-8

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 

Begin Again in 2010

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

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

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. 

Inclusive Vision

"There is no place for hell within a world whose loveliness can yet be so intense and so inclusive it is but a step from there to Heaven. To your tired eyes I bring a vision of a different world, so new and clean and fresh you will forget the pain and sorrow that you saw before." -- A Course in Miracles; T31, VIII. 8:3-4

"Truth is not fragmentary, disconnected, unsystematic, but concentrated and immovably fixed in Principle. The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action." -- Retrospection and Introspection by Mary Baker Eddy; p.93, lines 11-16

I love that the words 'intense' and 'inclusive' are used in the same sentence, in the above quote from ACIM. It is no easy task to return our minds to inclusive thinking. It requires focus and willing discipline... the willingness to surrender our fragmented , selfish ideas to the inclusive vision of our High Self, the Holy Spirit. It requires the focus to notice when we're not doing that. It requires the willingness to Awaken.

All of this is done in consciousness. Notice Mary Baker Eddy points out that lifting our thought in this way is done through stillness and strength, through stationary power. It's never about the outer, which is only the image-making projection of what lies in consciousness. What appears without is projected, and therefore illusory. As Mrs Eddy says in her scientific statement of being: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; p. 468, lines 9-10)

I was reminded of this in a very dear way by a friend. I was in the process of sending out a letter about some business matter. My friend commented that by sending out the letter in this way, I am in effect acknowledging that I see it happening to me, taking place 'out there,' and that I somehow need something else to happen 'out there.' She suggested that I write a letter in consciousness, thanking the recipients for having already met the requirements... in effect, forgiving their debts... and for the opportunities and income that have resulted for so many. All of this taking place in consciousness. Not out there. The letter will never be sent. Its purpose is not to get anything to happen 'out there.' There is no 'out there!' The purpose of the letter is to return my mind to Wholeness, to the realization, in stillness and stationary strength, that it is all taking place in consciousness, where every imagined problem, separation, or need is seen to be nothing. Whose consciousness? My dream is occurring here in my mind... and in the stillness I remember that there is only One Mind. I can release and forgive my aberrant dreams, the scattered dreams that see separate, fragmented selves.... and I can again welcome the inclusive, expansive vision of my High Self, the Holy Spirit. This all-inclusive vision is the Holy Spirit's gift to us when we are willing to once again be still.

Inclusive Vision is not about manipulating or trying to change the dream. It's about returning our mind and heart to what is true. There is only One, only God, only GOOD. Inclusive Vision returns us to the Wholeness of our right Mind. It is the Grace of God made manifest, on earth as it is in the Heaven of Oneness.

"In returning and rest you shall be saved. In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." -- The Bible; Isaiah 30:15

The Script is Written

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." -- The Bible; Genesis 2:1

"Christ's vision has one law. It does not look upon a body, and mistake it for the Son whom God created. It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin. It sees no separation. And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees. This can be taught; and must be taught by all who would achieve it." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 158, 7:1-5 & 8:1

Creation is finished. The script is written. We are complete. Our reality is a perfect Idea, a Light that can't be touched or changed or screwed up. Whew.

Alright, so most days it really doesn't feel like it. Most days we're caught up in the serial adventures of seeming... we seem to be limited by our body, by our circumstances, by life itself. None of this seeming is true at all, and is our own projection, cleverly designed by our longing for autonomy to distract and defend against the Truth. We want to be separate and special, and we want to stay that way, to defend our little scrap of nothing... even at the cost of Everything.

A Course in Miracles asks us this pertinent question: "How long can it take to be where God would have you be? For you are where you have forever been and will forever be. All that you have, you have forever." (ACIM; Chapter 15, Section II, 3:1-3) To relax and remember and BE takes no time and no effort at all. We remain, eternally, as God created us. Creation is finished. The script is already written!

We spend our days giving time and attention and resources to valueless habits and relationships. Through forgiveness, we sort the wheat from the chaff. And each of us begins to realize that "many, if not most of the things he valued before will merely hinder his ability to transfer what he has learned to new situations as they arise. Because he has valued the valueless, he will not generalize the lesson for fear of loss and sacrifice." (ACIM; Manual for Teachers 4.I.A. 4:3-4) We don't allow ourselves to remember what we already know, what we already are, because we don't want to 'lose' any of our cherished illusions. We fear the loss of nothing. So we exclude huge chunks of our life and relationships from Truth. We try to keep them separate.

The decision to use time only for Awakening is a monumental one. Are we willing to walk our talk? Are we willing to give our time and attention, our abilities and our relationships, and yes, even our money to the Holy Spirit to use solely for Truth? Everything has to be translated, since this is a world of illusion, a world of distorted perception of what we really are. Dissolving all illusion to reveal what has always been remains the only purpose of everything in this dream we call life. Because there really is nothing else. We remain perfect, as God created us, an idea beyond what can be touched. Creation is finished. The script is already written!

"Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. Yet there is a plan behind appearances that does not change. The script is written." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 158, 4:1-3