"Projection makes perception. The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. It is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. Perception is a result and not a cause." - A Course in Miracles, Chapter 21, Introduction, 1:1-8
"Miracles do not affect another mind. They always change your mind. There is no other." - A Course in Miracles, Chapter 21, Section V:3:10-12
We seem to jog daily on a treadmill of false responsibility. We are responsible for our homes, our jobs, our finances, our families, our pets, our understanding or lack of it. We feel responsible for both our seeming successes and failures, and feel guilty about all of it because it's never enough. We are constantly practicing hyper vigilance to protect what we think we want to keep, and to find ways to eliminate what we think we want to get rid of or eliminate from our lives and the world. This is always a zero sum game. No one ever wins in this world of constantly swinging perception and opinion. False responsibility is a zero sum game.
What are we truly responsible for? Our own mind and focus. Not our thoughts, which are the beginning of projection. But our awareness. Thoughts arise from what we are holding in awareness. Inspired thoughts arise from an awareness of Truth. False thoughts (judgments and guilt) arise from an external focus on our own projection, so that it appears to be happening to us. "
"Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can represent the lower or bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience. One makes [projects] the physical, and the other creates [extends] the Spiritual [as we hold it in awareness!]. Miracles are examples of right-thinking, aligning your mind with Truth as God created It. The Holy Spirit is the mechanism of miracles." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I, 12:1-3, 36:1 and 38:1
In the passage called "Responsibility for Sight" in A Course in Miracles, we are given this beautiful explanation:
"I am responsible for what I see.
I choose the feelings I experience,
and I decide upon the goal I would achieve.
And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for,
and receive as I have asked."
-- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 21, Section II, 2:3-5
Once this is clearly recognized and owned, the power of choice is restored to the mind. Only judgments and guilt about our own projections keep us from the bliss of every holy instant. The choice is always between external focus (judgments and guilt about our own projections) and the recognition that there is nothing out there to judge or feel guilty about. It was always and only my own projection that obscured the ever-present reality of Love. God, Love is All. That is the Truth that is revealed in the crystalline Awareness of the holy instant, whenever we take responsibility for the only choice there is to make.
"There is nothing outside you. That is what you must ultimately learn, for it is the realization that the Kingdom of Heaven is restored to you. 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, 1:1-2 & 5-6
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Friday, May 24, 2019
Being Perfect
"The children of God are entitled to the perfect comfort that comes
from perfect trust. God and His creations are completely dependent on
Each Other. He depends on them because He created them perfect." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 2, Section III, 5:1, 6-7
"Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect." -- The Bible; Matthew 5:48
Who are we, that we should be entitled to all this, and more?
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, NOW we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." -- The Bible; 1 John 3:1-2
How many times a day do our thoughts about ourselves and others shift and change? From liking to not-liking, from kindness and acceptance to judging and blaming, from grandiose aspirations to morose regrets, we are like mental yo-yo's in the ever-shifting concept of self and other. These images are not who we are! They are mental constructs, projections with no substance.
The good news is that Being Perfect has nothing to do with who and what we imagine ourselves to be as bodies and personalities. Being and Perfection are the Reality of God, which is Principle. Like an axiom in mathematics, it is a given, an unchanging Principle. This is our Spiritual Reality! Our Reality is forever perfect and unchanging in the Mind of God, radiant with Love and Light and Life. Unchanging. Joyous. Free of all limits. Pure Love. Encompassing all with our Love and Light and Life. Being Perfect is our natural state.
"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
"Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect." -- The Bible; Matthew 5:48
Definition of the word perfect:
- being entirely without fault or defect
- absolute; unequivocal
- faithfully reproducing the original
- lacking in no essential detail; complete
Who are we, that we should be entitled to all this, and more?
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, NOW we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." -- The Bible; 1 John 3:1-2
How many times a day do our thoughts about ourselves and others shift and change? From liking to not-liking, from kindness and acceptance to judging and blaming, from grandiose aspirations to morose regrets, we are like mental yo-yo's in the ever-shifting concept of self and other. These images are not who we are! They are mental constructs, projections with no substance.
The good news is that Being Perfect has nothing to do with who and what we imagine ourselves to be as bodies and personalities. Being and Perfection are the Reality of God, which is Principle. Like an axiom in mathematics, it is a given, an unchanging Principle. This is our Spiritual Reality! Our Reality is forever perfect and unchanging in the Mind of God, radiant with Love and Light and Life. Unchanging. Joyous. Free of all limits. Pure Love. Encompassing all with our Love and Light and Life. Being Perfect is our natural state.
"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
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Joy for the New Year
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed... and all went to be taxed, every one to his own city." -- The Bible; Luke 2: 1-3
As I was listening to a reading of the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, it was as if a translation was going on in my awareness. The world of Caesar, in this story, is the illusory material world with all its laws and limitations that seem to bind us and burden us. The tax is the need to bow down to these laws, to sacrifice to them and obey them and suffer because of them. Whether these are laws about bodies or laws about finances (and taxes!) or laws about relationships, the result is the same. We are on a treadmill trying to keep up and we feel guilt if we don't measure up. So we stay on that treadmill trying to fix it, to change it, or to succeed in it. Sometimes we just feel the need to punish ourselves or someone else for not measuring up to those insane laws. It's all the same thing, and the end result is a dizzying sense of burden and unease and guilt, even in the best of times.
Then, in the midst of this story of all the world bowing down to Caesar and paying taxes in tribute, Mary goes into labor. There is of course no room for this innocence in the insanity of guilt and need that is the world of Caesar. No room in the inn, which is where that world says we must stay. But in this amazing story of joy and deliverance, Mary gives birth to baby Jesus (Emmanuel, God with us!) right where she finds herself, which in the world's view is the lowliest of circumstances. This birth is taking place right where we are, wherever we are! No special circumstances needed! The birth pains come from our clinging to stories of wrongness, guilt, blame, lack, and limitation. The actual birth is the act of forgiving, of letting go of the burden of believing we are subject to laws of guilt, lack, and limitation. And the baby (God with us!) is the dawning Awareness of our Eternal Innocence and abiding as expressions of the One Love and Light that is God. We are that new born Awareness, expressing Love and Joy and Peace. We are the Christmas Story. This new day, and every new day.
As 2018 approaches, we don't need health or relationship or financial or political or ecological miracles to experience security and fulfillment. "Perfect security and complete fulfillment are my inheritance." (A Course in Miracles; Workbook 56:1:5). True miracles are born of our perfect innocence (ALL of us!) and Infinite Love (ALL of us!) as pure Awareness. This Awareness is God expressing in the world of Caesar, and is the only miracle we ever need. This pure and innocent Awareness reveals the true hope and joy we all bring to the new year as Emmanuel, God with us! We are the Christmas Story. This new day, and every new day!
"There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day. It is a thought of pure joy; a thought of peace, a thought of limitless release, limitless because all things are freed within it." (A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 16:6:1-2)
"When they saw the star [when the Awareness of Emmanuel, God with us! dawned], they rejoiced with exceeding great Joy!" -- The Bible; Matthew 2:10
As I was listening to a reading of the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, it was as if a translation was going on in my awareness. The world of Caesar, in this story, is the illusory material world with all its laws and limitations that seem to bind us and burden us. The tax is the need to bow down to these laws, to sacrifice to them and obey them and suffer because of them. Whether these are laws about bodies or laws about finances (and taxes!) or laws about relationships, the result is the same. We are on a treadmill trying to keep up and we feel guilt if we don't measure up. So we stay on that treadmill trying to fix it, to change it, or to succeed in it. Sometimes we just feel the need to punish ourselves or someone else for not measuring up to those insane laws. It's all the same thing, and the end result is a dizzying sense of burden and unease and guilt, even in the best of times.
Then, in the midst of this story of all the world bowing down to Caesar and paying taxes in tribute, Mary goes into labor. There is of course no room for this innocence in the insanity of guilt and need that is the world of Caesar. No room in the inn, which is where that world says we must stay. But in this amazing story of joy and deliverance, Mary gives birth to baby Jesus (Emmanuel, God with us!) right where she finds herself, which in the world's view is the lowliest of circumstances. This birth is taking place right where we are, wherever we are! No special circumstances needed! The birth pains come from our clinging to stories of wrongness, guilt, blame, lack, and limitation. The actual birth is the act of forgiving, of letting go of the burden of believing we are subject to laws of guilt, lack, and limitation. And the baby (God with us!) is the dawning Awareness of our Eternal Innocence and abiding as expressions of the One Love and Light that is God. We are that new born Awareness, expressing Love and Joy and Peace. We are the Christmas Story. This new day, and every new day.
As 2018 approaches, we don't need health or relationship or financial or political or ecological miracles to experience security and fulfillment. "Perfect security and complete fulfillment are my inheritance." (A Course in Miracles; Workbook 56:1:5). True miracles are born of our perfect innocence (ALL of us!) and Infinite Love (ALL of us!) as pure Awareness. This Awareness is God expressing in the world of Caesar, and is the only miracle we ever need. This pure and innocent Awareness reveals the true hope and joy we all bring to the new year as Emmanuel, God with us! We are the Christmas Story. This new day, and every new day!
"There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day. It is a thought of pure joy; a thought of peace, a thought of limitless release, limitless because all things are freed within it." (A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 16:6:1-2)
"When they saw the star [when the Awareness of Emmanuel, God with us! dawned], they rejoiced with exceeding great Joy!" -- The Bible; Matthew 2:10
Friday, November 24, 2017
True Thanksgiving
"I rest in God." - A Course in Miracles; Workbook 109
"...the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence." - The Bible: I Kings 5:4
It's hard to believe it has been nearly a year since I've written a blog post. This has been a year of constant challenge in the apparent world, both collectively and individually. And the miracle is the ease with which each challenge has been met in consciousness. As we become aware of each false appearance/projection, and forgive/release the appearance/projection, the ever-present Joy and Peace of Reality is always right here. Always. Our Reality is in God, Who is Pure Spirit.
There is no anthropomorphic being outside of us to save us or to give us anything. God is a word used to denote the origin of all things, and it is only our sexist and misogynistic apparent world that has given this word its destructive meaning. We are told in scriptures around the world that God = Spirit = Good = Love. Pure Spirit, Perfect Awareness of Perfect Oneness, Love and Goodness without Limit, Pure Joy... THIS is the Origin of All Things. And we remain IN this vast ocean of Love and Goodness. It's our Reality.
Whenever the projected insanity seems too much, we simply need to return in consciousness to this expansive and perfect Reality that we share. There is nothing holding you back but your own unwillingness to let go of everything you think you know about the world. Let all the projections go, and be very thankful that you can let them go. This is why A Course in Miracles reminds us over and over again that "forgiveness offers everything I want." (ACIM Workbook 122). True thanksgiving is remembering this and living it on a daily basis.
True thanksgiving is remembering to forgive and rest in God. There is nothing else to do or be done at all. For out of this One Self arises all that is good and true and perfect. True thanksgiving is pure joy, and blesses All.
"Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest shall ye be saved. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." - The Bible: Isaiah 30:15
"...the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence." - The Bible: I Kings 5:4
It's hard to believe it has been nearly a year since I've written a blog post. This has been a year of constant challenge in the apparent world, both collectively and individually. And the miracle is the ease with which each challenge has been met in consciousness. As we become aware of each false appearance/projection, and forgive/release the appearance/projection, the ever-present Joy and Peace of Reality is always right here. Always. Our Reality is in God, Who is Pure Spirit.
There is no anthropomorphic being outside of us to save us or to give us anything. God is a word used to denote the origin of all things, and it is only our sexist and misogynistic apparent world that has given this word its destructive meaning. We are told in scriptures around the world that God = Spirit = Good = Love. Pure Spirit, Perfect Awareness of Perfect Oneness, Love and Goodness without Limit, Pure Joy... THIS is the Origin of All Things. And we remain IN this vast ocean of Love and Goodness. It's our Reality.
Whenever the projected insanity seems too much, we simply need to return in consciousness to this expansive and perfect Reality that we share. There is nothing holding you back but your own unwillingness to let go of everything you think you know about the world. Let all the projections go, and be very thankful that you can let them go. This is why A Course in Miracles reminds us over and over again that "forgiveness offers everything I want." (ACIM Workbook 122). True thanksgiving is remembering this and living it on a daily basis.
True thanksgiving is remembering to forgive and rest in God. There is nothing else to do or be done at all. For out of this One Self arises all that is good and true and perfect. True thanksgiving is pure joy, and blesses All.
"Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest shall ye be saved. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." - The Bible: Isaiah 30:15
Thursday, December 22, 2016
No Greater Love
"Do not interpret against God's Love, for you have many witnesses that speak of it so clearly that only the blind and deaf could fail to see and hear them. This year determine not to deny what has been given you by God. Awake and share it, for that is the only reason He has called to you. His Voice has spoken clearly, and yet you have so little faith in what you heard because you preferred to place faith in the disaster you have made. Today let us resolve to accept the joyful tidings that disaster is not real and Reality is not disaster. Reality is safe and sure and wholly kind to everyone and everything. There is no greater love than to accept this and be glad. For Love asks only that you be happy, and will give you everything that makes for happiness."- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 16, Section II, 8
No greater Love than to accept happiness. Wow.
We associate love with sacrifice. We think love involves denying happiness for ourselves to give someone else happiness. We don't notice that this belief is based on separation and duality. And in duality, someone wins and someone loses.
In the Awareness of Love, there is unity and there is Oneness. In Oneness there is no sacrifice, because there is wholeness and happiness everywhere, always. The thought of sacrifice is meaningless when Oneness is accepted and known. Only our stubborn belief in the disaster of our projected world prevents accepting and knowing what is eternally Present and True. This is why we can let it all go in any Holy Instant we choose. We give the world and everything in it all the meaning that it has. Like a movie, without an audience it is nothing.
"You have never given any problem to the Holy Spirit He has not solved for you, nor will you ever do so. You have never tried to solve anything yourself and been successful. Is it not time you brought these facts together and made sense of them?" -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 16, Section II, 9:1-3
I love the irony in the above quote, because it calls lightly to us to laugh at the absurdity of it all, rather than make it all seem so heavy and real. Instead of sitting in the dark in this theater of the absurd, we can Awaken.
"This is the year for the application of the ideas that have been given you. For the ideas are mighty forces, to be used and not laid idly by." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 16, Section II, 9:4-5
It is up to us to allow the Truth to permeate all our thoughts, all our actions, and all our perceptions. What we do comes from what we think, and what we think arises from the ideas we habitually focus our awareness on. This is all there is to it. We are giving our awareness to Truth, or we are sitting in the dark theater, focusing only on the grim illusions we have projected because we prefer them to Love.
"This year invest in Truth, and let it work in peace." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 16, Section II, 9:7
We who have treasured our painful and crazy perception of a world gone mad, can also forgive it and let it go. How hard is it to let steam rise and disappear? Letting go of illusions is no harder than this! Simply bring all your insane beliefs to the Holy Spirit and let them go. And allow the Truth to reveal the Love that is All, and Everything. Let Truth work in peace. There is no greater Love than to accept this, and be glad!
Have a blessed and holy holiday, and an Awakened New Year!
Saturday, September 10, 2016
The Rule of Law
"You will attack what does not satisfy, and thus will not see you made it up. You always fight illusions. For the Truth behind them is so lovely and so still in Loving gentleness, were you aware of it you would forget defensiveness entirely, and rush to its embrace." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section IV, 1:2-3
Only One. One Love, One Life, One Mind, One Self. There are multiple workbook lessons in a Course in Miracles dedicated to this thought, and it is repeated over and over again in the Course, in different ways. There are no laws but Gods. There is no will but Gods. There is no love but Gods. My mind is part of Gods Mind, and I am very holy. Only One. Always One.
Our suffering all comes from the belief in other. We believe there is God, good, certainly... but then there is that which is other than God, other than good, the human creations of sin and suffering and lack and limitation. In our arrogance, we dream of a life other than God. And we suffer from those beliefs, from the dream of a separate life with the rule of law that seems to support man made values and roles that are always selfish and self-serving, and always shifting and changing to hide their nothingness. The rule of law in the world as we dream it has no meaning and no consistency. It is all made up, and based on nothing.
"Reality observes the laws of God, and not the rules you set. It is His laws that guarantee your safety. All illusions that you believe about yourself obey no laws. They seem to dance a little while, according to the rules you set for them. But then they fall and cannot rise again. They are but toys, my child, so do not grieve for them. Their dancing never brought you joy. But neither were they things to frighten you, nor make you safe if they obeyed your rules. They must be neither cherished nor attacked, but merely looked upon as children's toys without a single meaning of their own. See one in them, and you will see meaning in them all. See none in them, and they will touch you not." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section IV, 4
So whenever I look out on a world that seems to have gone mad... whenever I seem to see beliefs and laws that are so selfish and unfair it boggles the mind... whenever I am tempted to despair at the bluster and noise and rampant fear... I need only remember that there is only One Creation, and that is Gods. In it all things are held in perfect Love, in perfect Oneness that is eternally safe and secure, right where the insanity seems to be. The real meaning of it all is God, the All-Good. When I project other, I have given this meaning based on false human assumptions, rather than resting in the One Self, the One Loving meaning that all creation shares.
"Salvation is a paradox indeed! What could it be except a happy dream? It asks you but that you forgive all things that no one ever did; to overlook what is not there, and not to look upon the unreal as reality. Such is the only rule for the happy dream." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section IV, 7:1-3 and 8:7
The real rule of law is this: "I am One Self, united with my Creator, at One with every aspect of Creation, and limitless in Power and in Peace." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 95)
In this awareness all lesser laws are revealed to be nothing at all.
Join us for our ACIM Teleclass each Wednesday evening. Call in information is always available at http://www.sundarya.com/acimteleclass.htm
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Undivided
"Only Love is strong, because it is undivided." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 12, Section V, 1:1
The current atmosphere in the world can only be described as fragmented, divisive, and competitive. How can we even conceive of a world where there is One Mind, One Purpose, where Love and Joy and Peace are our shared and constant state of Being?
A Course in Miracles tells us that our purpose becomes unified when we share a common goal. And when the goal is undivided, the means and end are in complete accord. "You need offer only undivided attention" to that goal, it reminds us. There's that word again... 'undivided.' The Course points out over and over again that this unification of purpose, regardless of seeming circumstances, is what allows our mind to return to sanity, to awareness of Oneness. Undivided.
So everything is returned to holiness and Wholeness by this simple unification of Purpose. No longer is the purpose of fixing dinner to feed a body. It is to remember that our true Self is pure, undivided Love, eternally Whole and Complete, and we participate in this world to joyously remember the Love that we are. This is our only Purpose. No longer do we interact with others to get something. Our holy Purpose is always to see the One Love that we are in all things and all Beings. Our holy Purpose is to let the Love that we are be the guiding Force in our lives, because only Love is strong in Oneness. Only Love is undivided.
In a world where unity has different meanings to different people in vastly differing cultures, Unity is still possible. But not out there. Only in the heart of each of us can Love be Love. Only by making this return to Oneness our only Purpose can we experience Oneness in the midst of seeming insanity.
So every time we are tempted to judge the world as it appears, let's remember to ask, "What is it for?" This reminds us that, in Truth, everything shares one purpose, without exception. This returns our undivided attention to the One Goal that all things share, and lets the undivided strength of Love be reflected in the most unlikely of places. Every time we remember to ask, "What is it for?" we always receive the same answer. Our unified Purpose is to remember that God, Love, is All. There is only God, only Love, no matter how it appears. Which means that right where I seem to be, as a separate self with separate agendas and purposes, there is only the One Self that we share in God. One Self, One Light, One Love, reflected everywhere. Undivided.
"You need offer only undivided attention. Everything else will be given you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 12, Section V, 9:4-5
The current atmosphere in the world can only be described as fragmented, divisive, and competitive. How can we even conceive of a world where there is One Mind, One Purpose, where Love and Joy and Peace are our shared and constant state of Being?
A Course in Miracles tells us that our purpose becomes unified when we share a common goal. And when the goal is undivided, the means and end are in complete accord. "You need offer only undivided attention" to that goal, it reminds us. There's that word again... 'undivided.' The Course points out over and over again that this unification of purpose, regardless of seeming circumstances, is what allows our mind to return to sanity, to awareness of Oneness. Undivided.
So everything is returned to holiness and Wholeness by this simple unification of Purpose. No longer is the purpose of fixing dinner to feed a body. It is to remember that our true Self is pure, undivided Love, eternally Whole and Complete, and we participate in this world to joyously remember the Love that we are. This is our only Purpose. No longer do we interact with others to get something. Our holy Purpose is always to see the One Love that we are in all things and all Beings. Our holy Purpose is to let the Love that we are be the guiding Force in our lives, because only Love is strong in Oneness. Only Love is undivided.
In a world where unity has different meanings to different people in vastly differing cultures, Unity is still possible. But not out there. Only in the heart of each of us can Love be Love. Only by making this return to Oneness our only Purpose can we experience Oneness in the midst of seeming insanity.
So every time we are tempted to judge the world as it appears, let's remember to ask, "What is it for?" This reminds us that, in Truth, everything shares one purpose, without exception. This returns our undivided attention to the One Goal that all things share, and lets the undivided strength of Love be reflected in the most unlikely of places. Every time we remember to ask, "What is it for?" we always receive the same answer. Our unified Purpose is to remember that God, Love, is All. There is only God, only Love, no matter how it appears. Which means that right where I seem to be, as a separate self with separate agendas and purposes, there is only the One Self that we share in God. One Self, One Light, One Love, reflected everywhere. Undivided.
"You need offer only undivided attention. Everything else will be given you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 12, Section V, 9:4-5
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