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
 

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 Guilty Identity

"Temptation has one lesson it would teach, in all its forms, wherever it occurs.  It would persuade the holy Son of God he is a body, born in what must die, unable to escape its frailty, and bound by what it orders him to feel."-- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, Section VIII, 1:1-2

Do you regularly find things about yourself or your surroundings that are lacking, or should be different?  Are you ashamed of things you have done or even are doing?  Are you judgmental of what others are doing, mentally shaming them?  All of these mental attitudes and actions are part and parcel of the guilty identity we learn as part of a separate self, living in a separate body in this world.  Do you know anyone who is free of this?

Even very happy people react and become apologetic if someone else is upset.  This is the conditioned guilty response.  "I am so sorry," we say, as if we could do something about it.  Or as if we should. 

A Course in Miracles helps us understand that guilt is how a sense of body awareness and a separate self is maintained.  Without the judgment and guilt, there is only the unified Mind, where all things exist in the Light of Awareness and Love, pure transparencies for God.  Without judgment and guilt, there is an Awareness of Oneness, which is All Good and only Good.  Perfect Oneness is our natural state, which is always and only God, reflecting and radiating the Light of Goodness and Love.

It's interesting, don't you think, that a small upset or affront to our egoic identity can send us into a seeming tail spin, can make us so agitated and fearful that it seems as if a huge thing has really occurred.  When in such a state, it's impossible to conceive of a unified Mind that radiates peace and joy.  And yet we are always and only reacting to our own judgments and guilty verdicts, the story of a separate body-self and the fearful 'others'.  And even in the midst of this story of separation and loss, all we have to do is forgive our judgments and let them go.  Right where all seems hopeless or angry or sad or lost or any other version of guilt, there is pure joy and perfect love.  Right where the problem seems to be, there is only Love, which is the only Law of God.  

"There are no laws but God's... there is no loss under the laws of God.  Payment is neither given nor received.  Exchange cannot be made; there are no substitutes; and nothing is replaced by something else.  God's laws forever give and never take." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 76, 9:1, 3-6

The story of the crucifixion and resurrection of God's Son is the story of everyone's life.  The guilty identity that we have carefully protected for so long is not real.  It can only seem fearful and shameful and wrong when we hang on to our 'laws' of judgment and refuse to forgive. A Course in Miracles gives us many ways to approach forgiveness, and all of them involve letting go of human laws of judgment and thus realizing what has always been true. The guilty identify was all made up, and has never been at all.  This realization is the resurrection of the Son of God.

"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.  You are as God created you, and so is every living thing you look upon, regardless of the images you see.  What you behold as sickness and as pain, as weakness and as suffering and loss is but temptation to perceive yourself defenseless and in hell.  Yield not to this, and you will see all pain, in every form, wherever it occurs, but disappear as mists before the sun."-- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, VIII, 5:1-4, and 6:1-3

The Beauty of Holiness

"Worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness." -- Psalm 29

"Your purpose is to see the world through your own Holiness." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 37, 1:2

We are taught at a very early age to see differences.  These differences are quickly sorted into good and bad, right and wrong, desirable and undesirable.  And as we get older,, the compulsion to avoid the so-called bad and seek the imagined good is the only thing that motivates us (and the entire world!).

Ironically, this endless seeking to avoid pain and seek pleasure doesn't work.  It may appear to work for short periods of time, but all you have to do is look around.  We continue to pretend it works because the alternative is too fearful to the mind.  We avoid looking at the Truth, because we have carefully and methodically been living in the thought system we inherited from our parents or from our social peers.  And all of it is made up.  We make it up daily, as we obey the so-called rules and judgments we have so carefully constructed.

The first glimmers of hope come when we realize that everything is Mind.  What you are aware of is what you experience, even when it is all made up.  Who is experiencing this pain, or this pleasure?  Certainly it seems to be a body, but Who is aware of this body?  And certainly this awareness seems to come and go, but whenever you check, it is always here.  Whenever you become aware of Awareness, it is always here.  Mind Awake is pure Awareness.  And the only Awareness is that of Wholeness, which is what Holiness is.  And it is pure Beauty, pure Love, and pure Joy.

One of the first Bible verses I learned as a child was the famous Shema: "Hear, O Israel:  The Lord your God is One.  And you shall the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."  To be in alignment with the world of differences, this is interpreted as being something we have to do.  We have to work at being good, work at loving God.  But after studying A Course in Miracles for many years I have gradually come to know that it is a statement of fact.  God is One Mind, and that Mind is Who We Really Are.  This Mind is Whole, Holy, and wholly Loving.  It can only be known when the need to pretend that everything is separate and different falls away.  And this need falls away when we want to know the Truth more than we want to hang on to the carefully constructed ideas and judgements of the world around us.

As the earlier quote reminds us, our purpose here is to finally see the world through our own Holiness.  As we begin to see that there is only Mind, we begin to accept that this One Mind is our true vision.  This begins the process of mental housecleaning that The Course calls forgiveness.  And as the mirror of the mind is swept clean of the compulsion to judge and see differences, all that remains is the Beauty of Holiness. 

The Illusion of Differences

"This world seems to hold out many purposes, each different and with different values.  Yet they are all the same.  Again there is no order; only a seeming hierarchy of values." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 20, Section VIII, 8:8-10
 
I have had several conversations with friends in the past week about wanting something different in their lives.  Of course, this is a familiar feeling and story for all of us.  Something is perceived as wrong or lacking or uncomfortable or simply unsatisfying, and so we think that something different is the answer.  Not this, but that.  Not here, but there.  Not now, but someday.  Not that person, but this person, or no person.  Something different, which will hopefully be something better.

The illusion of differences is the ego's maintenance plan.  This body is different from that body, that car is different from this car, that job is definitely different than this job!  And on and on and on and on...  there's no end to the ego's litany of needed improvements (translation: differences).

A Course in Miracles gives us many simple and direct ways of seeing through this chaos.  One of my favorites is: "Make this year different  by making it all the same." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 15, Section XI, 10:11

And how can we make it all the same, when the very nature of our lives seems to be the constant focus on shifting challenges and victories,  failures and successes, pleasures and pains?  I had a glimpse of this yesterday while filling the water tank for the horses.  I only had a few minutes between coaching calls, and went out to make sure the water tank was full.  It was a summer mid-afternoon, with rain clouds in the distance, but no air stirring.  My focus on the details and differences dropped, and there was crystalline, All-Inclusive Awareness.  Silent but Alive.  Still but including all movement.  Awareness ItSelf.   Then the water tank began overflowing and my awareness contracted to take care of business.  This is the way of it as we practice letting go of differences.  I can focus on the water tank, knowing that The Self that I Am is the Reality of even this seeming.  I have only to drop the contracted focus, and my True Self that is Everything, and knows ItSelf as the All where all differences fall away.  No matter, just pure Awareness, pure Spirit, pure Mind that includes All.

To the Unified Mind, there are no differences!  Perception is a contracted point of view, happening IN you, not TO you.  YOU ARE THE SEER AND THE SEEN.  There are no differences.  And forgiveness, the dropping of the addictive need to project differences, is our unified purpose.  A Unified Mind with Unified Purpose returns us to the Awareness of Perfect Oneness (Heaven!) that is Our Reality.
  
"I will forgive, and this will disappear."  A Course in Miracles; Workbook 193, 13:3
 

The Miracle

"Judgment is the weapon I would use against myself, to keep the miracle away from me." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 347

The miracle.  How often are those two words repeated in ACIM, always pointing to the wholeness and perfection that exist without an opposite.  It isn't really anything, doesn't really do anything, never changes and never opposes.  The miracle is what is revealed with a shift in awareness from physical sight (projection) to Spiritual Sight (extension).  It reveals the Spiritual Reality that is all there is, or ever will be. Only the perceptual mechanism of judgment made a world other than perfect and whole appear to exist.  When judgment is forgiven and released, only the innocence of Spiritual Perfection is here.  Only One, only God, only pure Spirit, Mind Awake and Aware of Its Infinite Beauty.

So why would any aspect of mind judge?  Why would any aspect of this Infinite I Am attempt to hide from Self-Awareness?  What part of One Self imagines that there is another to defend against or hide from?  How foolish this all sounds, and yet how familiar.

The great reversal, as ACIM calls the process of mind awakening to Itself, can seem long indeed.  Judgment is used in many forms, in many disguises, always to justify our addiction to the contracted mental state we call a self.  But no matter what we call this upside down perception, these inverted and projected images have no relationship to Reality.  They don't need to be changed or understood.  They simply need to be forgiven and released.

When all judgment is finally put aside, projected images fall away and reveal the miracle of One Spiritual Self abiding and unchanging, All-Loving and All-Whole, Encompassing all that appears to be with pure and radiant Joy.  This is the miracle, the coming of the Christ Child... your own Beloved Self.

"And the angel said unto them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." -- Luke 2:10

This or That

"Peace is impossible to those who look on war.  Peace is inevitable to those who offer peace." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 11:4, 1-2

How then do we offer peace?  In our Wednesday night ACIM Tele-class we were talking about judgment.  We discovered that we even judge our spiritual experiences, those moments of Revelation that seem all too rare. This one was amazing, that one wasn't real, etc. Interestingly, it's the very judging and labeling of our experiences that makes peace seem fleeting and impossible.  To the mind asleep and dreaming, every person, place, thing, or phenomenon is either/or.  Everything is either this or that to the mind dreaming in duality.  The categories of this or that are irrelevant.  It's the categorization of every aspect of life that makes peace impossible... because where there is either/or, there is war.

Into this impossible situation comes the Teacher of God, the Voice that speaks in each and every seemingly separate mind.  The Voice is One, and has One judgment that is Its' function: "We are One, not many.  We are Whole, not parts.  We are Peace.  We are Joy.  We are Love Itself.  There is nothing else... There is no either/or..."  Over and over the Voice echoes in our minds, behind every image of incompleteness, every image of conflict, every competitive or ambitious urge, behind every call to struggle and war with the images or people and situations we project and then think we see: "Nothing Real can be threatened.  Nothing unreal exists.  Herein lies the Peace of God." -- A Course in Miracles; Introduction, 2:2-4

This Peace extends infinitely and eternally.  This means It isn't subject to our imagined concepts of time or space or circumstance.  This means that when we remember our only function is forgiveness, we can forgive and release every imaginary obstacle to the awareness of this eternal Peace, Whose other name is Love.  We are literally swimming, floating, flowing, Being as this Peace, this Love.  We have no other existence.

Thank God we are neither this nor that.  We are the All, the Everything... the All-Loving, All-Encompassing, Infinitely Joyous Peace that we mentally tried to distance ourselves from by calling it 'that'.  Such machinations have never, and will never succeed.  We offer Peace because we ARE the Peace of God, forever One and forever extending the Light of Love that shines from the heart of Peace. 

This Holy Christmas Season, please don't get caught up in judging the world and its inhabitants as this or that.  Let's forgive this madness, and see every Radiant aspect of Life as the Peace and Joy and Love that is its Reality.  Whether it appears as big or little, cheap or expensive, good or bad, old or young, cold or hot, enjoyable or miserable, even alive or dead... these are just illusory judgment-veils, instigators of war.  Peace remains untouched and radiant throughout Creation. 

"Like to the sun and ocean your Self continues, unmindful that this tiny part regards itself as you.  It is not missing; it could not exist if it were separate, nor would the Whole be whole without it.  It is not a separate kingdom, ruled by an idea of separation from the rest.  Nor does a fence surround it, preventing it from joining with the rest, and keeping it apart from its Creator.  This little aspect is no different from the Whole, being continuous with It and at One with It.  It leads no separate life, because its life IS the Oneness in which its being was created.  Do not accept a little, fenced-off aspect as yourself." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section VIII, 6:1-6

Hallucinations

"What if you recognized this world is an hallucination?  What if you really understood you made it up?  What if you realized that those who seem to walk about in it, to sin and die, attack and murder and destroy themselves, are wholly unreal?  Could you have faith in what you see, if you accepted this?  And would you see it?  Hallucinations disappear when they are recognized for what they are.  This is the healing and the remedy." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 20, Section VIII, 7:3-7, and 8:1-2

Like all spiritual scriptures, A Course in Miracles can be read on multiple levels, which results in what the Course calls level confusion.  Just like church, any spiritual teaching can be used to make the user more comfortable in their own illusions.  They just seem shinier and holier than other illusions.  In Truth, they are all made up.  All hallucinations' only value (including the Bible and the Course!) is whether they assist the mind in waking up to its own hallucinations and letting them go. I love A Course in Miracles because it reminds us of this repeatedly.  But it's so easy to gloss over those passages and latch on to the comfortable ones, isn't it?

In The Bible Jesus told us that we have to lose our lives to find Life.  He wasn't talking about the cross, although that was an extreme example and symbol of the teaching.  He was talking about losing the little self, the identification with a separate self with separate ideas and separate agendas.  He was talking about the compulsion to identify that self with a body that needs special care and special protection.  He was talking about the little self with its constant planning and schemes for pleasure and self-reliance.  He was talking about life as usual.

Nobody wants to hear this.  What little self, with its vested interest in an identity, wants to hear that it is an hallucination?  Who wants to hear that all our cherished values and ideas about how life works are all made up, and simply not even there?  Who wants to hear that we are the mentally ill, every last one of us?  This seems like a no-brainer to the little self... just focus on what you believe to be true, and live as if it is true, and ignore the fact that it keeps not being true. This is the nature of the world, where every hallucination comes to pass. 

But we have another choice!  When we change our mind about the purpose of the world, it isn't about perpetuating the hallucinations, but about letting them go.  And when the only purpose of the world becomes the healing of the mind, then every single hallucination dissolves, and the Light of the Self that is always here is revealed. 

"Is it harder to dispel the belief of the insane in a larger hallucination as opposed to a smaller one?  Will he agree more quickly to the unreality of a louder voice he hears than to that of a softer one?  Will he dismiss more easily a whispered demand to kill than a shout?  And do the number of pitchforks the devils he sees carrying affect their credibility in his perception?  His mind has categorized them all as real, and so they are all real to him.  When he realizes they are all illusions they will disappear." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers, 8, 5:2-7

In the Light of Self that remains, there is only God, only One Self.  All hallucinations are simply the opportunity to awaken from the insanity of self-preservation.  And this is not death, but Life!

"Give up this frantic and insane attempt that cheats you of the joy of living with your God and Father [Unified Self], and of waking gladly to His Love and Holiness that join together as the Truth in You, making you One with Him.  When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing.  There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried down a quiet path in summer.  Only your own volition seems to make deciding hard.  The Holy Spirit [the Voice of Self] will not delay in answering your every question what to do.  He knows.  And He will tell you, and then do it for you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 14, Section IV, 5:6, and 6:1-6

Who in their right mind would let hallucinations run their life?  Who would let an hallucination decide for them?  That's what we do every day, every hour, and every minute that we live as if we were a separate self with separate desires and separate needs.  But as we forgive the fictions and let them go, we find the One Self is ever-present, and All that has ever been.  This One Self, this Infinite Love, is all we ever need to dispel the dreams and Awaken to Joy.

THIS is the Glory

"You are not saved from anything [there is nothing but God], but you are saved for glory [the extending of the Light of God that we are].  Glory is your inheritance, given you by your Creator that you might extend it." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section IV, 1:4-5 (brackets hold the whispers of Holy Spirit about this quote)

Last night I dreamed about a trio of friends, a girl and two boys.  They were part of some much larger community, a typical hierarchical organization of some sort, which was transitioning from an old building and format to a much newer building and organization.  It was a big deal, with a new head administrator and gala celebration in the works.  And as in all group situations, everybody wanted to be in charge, everybody had personal ideas and preferences, and everybody had an agenda.  Somehow (in the way of dreams) my characters decided to kill off the new administrator and take his place, since no one really knew him yet.  The ringleader took on that appearance and persona, with the other two going along and making sure everyone believed it.  Then ensued a series of such ‘take-overs’, where one of them would kill someone else off and morph into that appearance and persona to take their place.  I kept wanting to wake up, but felt powerless to do so until the impostors were somehow ‘safe’.  I kept hoping they would just be happy with what they had done, but they kept it up until they started killing each other off to be in charge.  I only woke up when my dog-alarms woke me, and I felt hung-over and desperately bad and guilty, as if ‘I’ had been the one doing all the killing, posturing, and deception.  And of course, I had been the one.  What other one could there be? Whose mind dreamed this? 

The Course says in the Manual for Teachers that it takes great learning to understand that ALL things, events, encounters, and circumstances are helpful.  Our nightmares are gifts that bring the buried guilt to the Light to be forgiven.  What is the source of this guilt?  Nothing real, but a lifetime (or lifetimes) of believing the impossible… that we are separate and in competition with many others and with God.  Who knows how many dreams we have projected onto the screen of the sleeping mind, with casts of thousands of players, some seemingly innocent and some obviously guilty.  But all simply perpetuate this insane desire to kill off what gets in the way of our seeming preferences, and to cast as innocent our desire to do so.  All the while we are generating the smoke screen of many separate and sleeping parts, when there is only the One, and that One forever Awake and Aware.

This compulsion to create multiple forms and meanings and needs and versions is hell.  Heaven is the unified Awareness of our Eternal Self, the Oneness of Perfect Wholeness and Love without limits.  This is not boring sameness, but Infinite Creation, Infinite Bliss.  The extension of Love is Our only Purpose, and this Love has no object and no agenda.  It is eternally free and isn’t limited to or by imagined forms.  It doesn’t need to get rid of anything, or change anything, or keep anything. 

Every Sunday in my little church, we sing these words:
“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: World without end, AMEN, AMEN.”

Glory is the sheer joy of reveling in the Truth, the Source, the One, that shines and extends and includes ALL.

The Son is ALL that extends in and as the Awareness of that One.

The Holy Spirit is the extension of this Glory even within the dream, as the Awakening and Quickening of this Awareness.

This Glory, this ALLNESS, this Quickening of Awareness of Self is the only Purpose of every dream, whether by night or by day (because make no mistake, everything sensed with the body is a dream).  How is this Purpose lived?  By shedding every judgment, every preference, every personal agenda, every belief in limits and limitations of form.  THIS is true forgiveness and the Atonement.  THIS is the Glory.

It Really Is That Simple

"The Law of Existence is Perfection.  Not moving toward or away from anything, not trying to add anything, but every whit Whole.  Everything else is perception, point of view, and is not the Wholeness and Perfection of Being.  Every point of view is the out-picturing of a belief in non-perfection.  If beliefs didn't get uncomfortable, I'd have no reason to give them up." -- Betty Albee

"Altars are beliefs, but God and His creations are beyond belief because they are, beyond question." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section V:C, 7:2

When I was first introduced to Betty Albee's statement a couple of years ago (that every perception is the projection of a belief in non-perfection) I glossed over it. It didn't resonate, and seemed too abstract for me at the time.  But I have come to realize it is a simple statement of Truth that I didn't want to hear.  As the Course reminds me: "You have made many ideas that you have placed between yourself and your Creator, and these beliefs are the world as you perceive it." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section VII, 4:4

The Laws of God. the Laws of Truth, are Perfection, Wholeness, Abundance, Innocence, Peace, Joy, Love and All ideas of Goodness and Perfection without an opposite and without limits or possibility of change.  These Laws are not imposed from without, but are actually our very Being.  We can put I Am in front of any one of them and be telling the Truth.  And the Course reminds us that these Laws of Oneness are the only Reality there is: "I am under no laws but God's.  I am constantly tempted to make up other laws and give them power over me.  I suffer only because of my belief in them.  They have no real effect on me at all.  I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws save God's.  And His are the Laws of Freedom." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 88

Now if your eyes haven't glazed over and you are actually contemplating the Truth presented here, you are beginning to feel the joy that only a glimpse of true Freedom can bring. I am perfectly free of the effects of ALL the beliefs and concepts, the rules and limitations... they are all made up!  In other words, "Concepts are learned.  They are not natural." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, Section V, 7:1-2 

So we find that we are only under the influence of our own belief in imperfection, which is the same as saying we believe God has been rendered imperfect, separated from creation, and our point of view (our perception) reflects this illusion.  It's crazy, but it's these false perceptions that make up the world as we know it. "Illusions are but beliefs in what is not there." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section III, 4:9

Please don't take my word for it.  There are so many teachers of non-duality that are more eloquent in explaining all this.  What you need is proof.  And the proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes.  If you start with "God IS" and "God is ALL"(ALL must include all) and work from there, you will always find that imperfection and all the world of projection is an impossibility. "How simple is salvation!  All it says is what was never true is not true now, and never will be.  The impossible has not occurred, and can have no effects.  And that is all." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, Section I, 1:1-4

There is only One Self.  God IS, and we are the Light of God... that's our Reality.  Miracles light the mind that begins to forgive and release all human concepts and beliefs and points of view. "You are a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of your Creator.  Everything else is your own nightmare, and does not exist.  Only the creations of Light are real." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I, 24:2-4 

Salvation really is that simple. 

"Let us be still an instant, and forget all things we ever learned, all thoughts we had, and every preconception that we hold of what things mean and what their purpose is.  Let us remember not our own ideas of what the world is for.  We do not know.  Let every image be loosened from our minds and swept away." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, Section I, 12:1-4

This World of Light

"This world of Light, this circle of brightness is the real world, where guilt meets with forgiveness.  Here the world outside is seen anew, without the shadow of guilt upon it.  Here are you forgiven, for here you have forgiven everyone.  Here is the new perception, where everything is bright and shining with innocence, washed in the waters of forgiveness, and cleansed of every evil thought you laid upon it.  Here is your innocence waiting to clothe you and protect you, and make you ready for the final step in the journey inward.  Here are the dark and heavy garments of guilt laid by, and gently replaced by purity and love." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section IX, 9:1-7

"Freedom must be impossible as long as you perceive a body as yourself.  The body is a limit.  Who would seek for freedom in a body looks for it where it can not be found.  The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power to do whatever is asked... It has been given to the Source of Love... It rests in God." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 199

Love, Light, Limitless Awareness... all of these are words, symbols twice removed, that have been used to describe the experience of our unified Self, the Field of Light and Love and Intelligent Awareness that is called God.  The Christ is the Light of this Awareness, and the Holy Spirit is Its Voice.  But it is the Christ Light that we speak of here.

This Light is the only Body we have.  It is formless, but includes everything.  It has no boundaries or limits, and is the only Reality behind every appearance in the world of projection.  It is the only Reality wherever we appear to be, wherever we appear to go, whatever we appear to do.  It is the only Reality of ALL, because it is literally ALL.  There is no other Cause, and no other Effect. 

The Christ Light is our only Mind.  It's not a physical light, since all seeming physicality is ephemeral projection.  This Light is pure Awareness, boundless Love, and limitless Mind.  It is Mind Awake.

A Course in Miracles repeatedly reminds us that "I am not a body.  I am free." (Workbook Lesson 199) And what in the collective delusion we call form is ever free?  The illusion of time seems to hold everything in form in bondage, as does the very nature of everything that comes and goes.  The fixation of the so-called egoic mind cannot even conceive of Freedom.  It is always trying to be free from.  Awakening occurs when the fixation loosens through constant forgiveness and release, when the mind opens and finds no boundaries at all.  True Freedom is not subject/object.  True Freedom is One, and is limitless and boundless, without a beginning and without an end.  It shines, and shines forever.  It is the Real World of endless Light and Love.

"This world of Light, this circle of brightness is the REAL WORLD."  Yes, where guilt meets with forgiveness all seeming boundaries and limits are released, and our eternal, unified nature of pure Innocence and Freedom is remembered.

"You are God's Son.  In Immortality you live forever.  Would you not return your mind to this?" -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 199, 8:1-3

The Least of These: Animals & A Course in Miracles

There are many places in A Course in Miracles where the voice of Jesus speaks to us directly.  I open and close this blog posting with two of those passages, like book-ends that echo His message.

“I assure you that I will witness for anyone who lets me, and to whatever extent he permits it.  Your witnessing demonstrates your belief, and thus strengthens it.  Those who witness for me are expressing, through their miracles, that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation in favor of the abundance they have learned belongs to them.” -- ACIM Chapter 1, Section IV, 4:6-8

“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” -- Matthew 25:40 

Who are the least of these?  In the world of ideas and projections in which we live, the least of these refers to everything that lives, especially the ones we tend to overlook as less important.  And the reality of even the least of these is the Christ-Self that is the Truth of Being for everything that lives.  Do we extend our spiritual practice to knowing the Christ in all that lives?  Or do we overlook the least of these?

“In His Thoughts, which have no opposite, we understand there is One Life; and that Life we share with Him and with all creation, whom He created in a unity of Life that cannot separate.” – ACIM Workbook Lesson 167

When people think about practicing the principles from A Course in Miracles and bearing witness to the Christ in all, they usually don’t think about animals.  But there are many passages in the Course that clearly show that Life doesn’t mean human life.  Since we’re pure Spirit, not bodies at all, it is easy to see that the Oneness of this Spirit includes all… literally all.

“God gave you all there is.  And to be sure you could not lose it, did He also give the same to every living thing as well.” -- ACIM Chapter 29, Section VIII, 9:7-8

In 2007 I founded a 501c3 animal sanctuary which is currently home to over 40 animals, large and small.  Since then this has been much of my practical application of A Course in Miracles, seeing the Christ in all of that lives, and using the Atonement principle of Oneness to care for all the animals.  Yes, I have continued to teach the Course and to take on private clients.  But the animals and farm have been my training ground.  Learning to live in a state of miracle-readiness and allowing the Divine Mind to continually reflect the means for care and support has been a real stretch for me.  Through many challenges I've learned that there can be no compromising when it comes to the actual practice of miracle principles.  As the Course frequently reminds us, we can’t live in two worlds.  So realizing that the animals aren’t bodies, that they are pure spirit, and that none of us is dependent on anything but pure Spirit for our daily care, is a continual practice that leads to joy and remembrance of Who I Am.   And as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Consider the lilies of the field… they neither toil nor gather, yet even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”

The hardest part of this spiritual practice has been coming out of the closet.  There have been so many demonstrations of physical and financial miracles over the past six years, but I have kept them very private and not shared these stories with very many people.  I thought my reasons were humility and practicality until I heard a YouTube video by David Hoffmeister about spiritual honesty.  And I realized that my reasons were linked to my own fear of joining with others, my own judgments and fears about disapproval and criticism, which sounded something like this: "I mean, people probably won't think an animal sanctuary is too weird, but one based on the spiritual principles of A Course in Miracles?  In the Midwest?  And really, who else will be interested in this?  It’s pretty rough, certainly nothing fancy… and it’s a lot of hard work, with so many things needing to be done.  And there are so many animal organizations asking for help, people aren’t interested in another non-profit.  They’ll either think this endeavor is very naïve or extremely presumptuous, or both!"  My limiting beliefs and fear of joining in the form of judgments went on and on… and on… and on…

Thanks to that YouTube video by David, and through a lot of self-inquiry about all these judgments and beliefs (and forgiveness of those I've dredged up thus far),  I’ve realized the necessity of spiritual transparency for Awakening, and how important it is to bring our own hidden fears, judgments and beliefs to the Light.  To truly Awaken, the last thing we want to do is hold things in or hide them, because then they continue to project themselves as a world of separation, and the dream goes on and on.  So for purposes of Awakening, mental privacy is not a necessary thing, but an egoic construct that acts like a veil over our awareness.  Only a body needs privacy… the Christ Mind is One with all, and welcomes all.  Coming out publicly with the spiritual nature of this Sanctuary, welcoming the input and support of all, is direct and loving guidance from Holy Spirit.  Welcoming others and their ideas, including those who might want to visit and experience this Sanctuary and join in living the Course more deeply is also part of Holy Spirit's guidance. 

“God hides nothing from his Son, even though His Son would hide himself.” -- ACIM Chapter 11, Section III, 5:1

 “…the recognition that there is nothing you want to hide even if you could… brings escape from fear.  When you have become willing to hide nothing, you will not only be willing to enter into communion but will also understand peace and joy.” – ACIM Chapter 1, Section IV, 1:3-5

So this blog is an invitation for input, participation and support to any who care to join me in witnessing to Christ in this way, through these words, in this place, in whatever capacity.  Through volunteering, through visiting, through sharing of resources, through simple phone or e-mail conversations… all are welcome.  There is no plan and no agenda.  But as David Hoffmeister points out, we all need Mighty Companions to share in this Great Awakening, as we daily listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and deepen our witness to the Christ in all that lives.

“The miracle is a sign that the mind has chosen to be led by me in Christ’s service.  The abundance of Christ is the natural result of choosing to follow Him.” -- ACIM Chapter 1, Section V, 6:1-2 

Click here to learn more about The Claire Foundation Animal Sanctuary.

Daily, Effortless, and Natural...

"Each day should be devoted to miracles." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I, 15:1

Brushing my teeth is a daily, effortless and seemingly natural activity.  But it is actually a learned behavior, and it is obviously a bodily activity.  Nearly everything that is considered natural in our conditioned state is learned behavior associated with protecting or defending the body or a personal identity.  When A Course in Miracles tells us that miracles should be daily, effortless, and natural, it is not referring to learned or bodily activity.  The miracle is a state of mind that has always been here, unseen by the conditioned, sleeping mind.  It is the state of One-mindedness.  The recognition that there is only One that includes All, in perfect Love and perfect Security and Fulfillment. 

"Every loving thought the Son of God ever had is eternal.  The loving thoughts his mind perceives in this world are the world's only reality." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 11, Section VII, 2:1-2

Just as each day should be devoted to miracles, we're told that they are the natural, effortless expressions of the Love that we are.  It is because Love is really All there is, that all miracles are all the same.  All expressions of Love are maximal.  So there is no ordering or ranking in Love, only the outpouring, extending, embracing qualities that are so far beyond our conditioned notions of love.  The fact that we don't perceive or experience this daily is why forgiveness is our only purpose and function here within the dream we call life.  We forgive each dual meaning, each limiting perception, every limitation we have placed on any aspect of creation, and allow the miracle to be revealed.  It is always here, waiting only for our attention and willingness to let go of the mental obstacles we have cherished instead.

"The real world can actually be perceived.  All that is necessary is a willingness to perceive nothing else.  For if you perceive both good and evil, you are accepting both the false and the true and making no distinction between them.  The ego may see some good, but never only Good." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section VII, 2:6-8 & 3:1

Everything we see in our supposedly normal and natural state is divided.  There is always a flip side, a duality.  Even the good that we do, we do because we want to avoid what we believe is not good.  We equate protection and defense with love, though it is not.  If we are protecting and defending anything, it is because we think there is something 'other' to defend it from.  And there can never be two in perfect Love.  Only through unified vision, through the Awareness of the Oneness of Self can Love be known.

"The perception of Goodness is not knowledge, but the denial of the opposite of Goodness enables you to recognize a condition in which opposites do not exist.  And this is the condition of Knowledge. Without this awareness you have not met its conditions, and until you do, you will not know it is yours already." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section VII, 4:1-3

We are always forgiving duality.  Whenever we perceive something in opposition to something else, we forgive.  We bring to Awareness the compulsion or belief that is the origin of the duality we are perceiving.  And it dissolves in the Light of Awareness.  It was never there.  Only the miracle of Love remains.  This is our only purpose, regardless of the scripts our lives seem to follow.  The Real world is the forgiven world, seen through the unified eyes of Love.  Daily, effortless, and blessedly natural.

"The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept the Atonement for himself." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 2, Section V, 5:1

Sharing and Ownership

"There are no strange images in the Mind of God, and what is not in His Mind cannot be in yours, because you are of One Mind, and that Mind belongs to Him.  It is yours because it belongs to Him, for to Him ownership is sharing.  And if it is so for Him, it is so for you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 10, Section IV, 6:2-4

It's always amazing to me that after all these years, I still find sections of the Course that blow me away, as if I've never read them before.  And this in spite of the heavy underlining and highlighting that shows I did indeed read it and find it important.  But how could I miss the import of the statement, "It is yours because it belongs to Him, for to him ownership is sharing."  There's no putting a spin on this statement.  And then this morning I read in Workbook Lesson 106, "Thus does salvation start and thus it ends: when everything is yours, and everything is given away, it will remain with you forever."  It doesn't say some things are given away... it states everything.  And promises that because we give it away, we have it forever.

This is obviously not the way the world seems to work, and it certainly is not the way we have been taught to understand giving and receiving.  It's radical and blunt... whatever we have must belong to all, because to God ownership is sharing, and so it must be for us.  The Course tells us over and over in so many ways that to have, we have to give.  Not giving to get, but giving because it's Who We Are... the outpouring of unconditioned and unconditional Love that simply extends for eternity.

I've always had the tendency to be idealistic and non-materialistic, as a child of the 60's and a life-long lover of the Spiritual.  I remember as a youth being inspired by the book, Stranger in a Strange Land, with its message of Love without limits and sharing without boundaries.  But all of my ideas and concepts through the years still centered on the notion of me in a body, and other people in the form of their bodies, attempting to share and love in a world of limitation and competition.  It never works.  These are the strange images the opening quotation refers to... images of discrete forms that seem to divide and limit the Oneness of Spirit.  But no such strange images exist in the Real World.

The Course reminds us that we are not bodies... we are pure Spirit, the image and reflection of God:  "I am as God created me." (ACIM Workbook Lesson 110) and "Spirit am I, a holy Son of God; free of all limits, safe and healed and whole; free to forgive, and free to save the world." (ACIM Workbook Lesson 97, 7:2)  The dream world of strange images seems to come and go, seems to enjoy or seems to suffer.  But consider all your night dreaming over the years.  You have had dreams of every description, and have lived and died many times and in many ways.  You have defied the seeming laws of the world, and failed and triumphed again and again.  And yet, what real effects have any of those dreams had?  Not one dream was ever cause of anything, and none of the seeming effects survived your waking.  No dream analysis has ever done anything except give us a new story to tell.  Our 'past lives' in dreams have absolutely no effect.. they are just dreams. 

The really good news is that our supposed waking life is another layer of dreaming.  "Hear the one answer of the Holy Spirit to all the questions the ego raises: You are a child of God, a priceless part of His Kingdom, which He created as part of Him.  Nothing else exists and only this is Real.  You have chosen a sleep in which you have had bad dreams, but the sleep is not real and God calls you to awake.  There will be nothing left of your dream when you hear Him, because you will awaken.  Your dreams contain many of the ego's symbols, and they have confused you.  Yet that was only because you were asleep and did not know.  When you wake you will see the Truth around you and in you, and you will no longer believe in dreams because they will have no reality for you." (ACIM Chapter 6, Section IV, 6:1-7)

Our Reality is the unified Oneness of Spirit, the unconditioned Awareness of One Self, One Mind, One Life and Love.  Competition and ownership cease to have meaning in Oneness, for who would have more than another?  Who in Oneness could possibly know anything other than perfect sharing with All?  And what could be lacking in All? Our dreaming mind has imagined a self that is split into infinite pieces, projecting infinite dreams of competition, striving, ownership, and struggle... always in the vain attempt to reclaim for the split self the sense of wholeness and completion that seems to be lost in separation.  The joke is that we never lost the Wholeness and Perfection we seek.  And we regain our memory of our True Self by giving... as we give, as we share, as we no longer seek to divide and keep divided bits of life to ourselves through ownership, we re-discover the infinite Being that we are.

"God gave you all there is.  And to be sure you could not lose it, did He also give the same to every living thing as well.  And thus is every living thing a part of you, as of HimSelf." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VIII, 9:7-9

Forgiveness Is the Miracle

"It must be true the miracle can heal all forms of sickness, or it cannot heal.  Its purpose cannot be to judge which forms are real, and which appearances are true.  If one appearance must remain apart from healing, one illusion must be part of truth.  And you could not escape guilt, but only some of it.  You must forgive God's Son entirely.  Or you will keep an image of yourself that is not whole, and will remain afraid to look within and find escape from every idol there.  Salvation rests on faith there cannot be some forms of guilt that you cannot forgive." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section VI, 7:1-7

Both the miracle and forgiveness are the state of mind that looks beyond appearances, that overlooks the ephemeral, projected world and sees everything through the eyes of Christ.  Forgiveness sees only perfection and innocence, and the miracle sees only the effects of that perfection everywhere.

"There can be no form of suffering that fails to hide an unforgiving thought.  Nor can there be a form of pain forgiveness cannot heal." -- Workbook 198, 9:5-6

Every form of pain and suffering is the projection of the belief in a separated world, a world that is imperfect, a world apart from God.  Because everything lives and moves and has its very being in God, where would this world be?  With the Holy Spirit's help, we look beyond such false concepts and projections, into the heart of Love, which is everpresent.  The Awareness of Love's Presence dissolves everything else.  This is the miracle of forgiveness.

"An unforgiving thought is one that makes a judgment that it will not raise to doubt, although it is not true." -- Workbook Part II, 1.2:1

It's hard to recognize our own unforgiving thoughts when the entire world we see is based on them.  There are so many things we are unwilling to question, because we have an investment in not seeing... our entire identity is wrapped up in our unquestioned thoughts and beliefs, the judgments that make up our thought process.  That's why problems and challenges are such a gift... they give us the opportunity to question everything, to realize that nothing is what we judged it to be.  They give us the miracle, when we are willing to see the Love and Perfection that are the Reality of everyone, everything, every seeming.

The Course says that all of our time, every day, should be devoted to forgiveness and miracles.  It can become a habit, just like the conditioned self and its serial narratives has been habit since we were children.  And each of us has a vital role to play, so our forgiveness is essential.  The Course reminds us that "the salvation of the world depends on me." (ACIM Workbook Lesson 186)  Forgiveness is the Miracle of remembering that we are the holy Son of God, the Christ, pure and innocent... and so is everyone and everything.  Forgiveness is the Miracle that returns us to this One Mind, this One Self, this One Love. 

"Forgiveness is the the only function meaningful in time.  It is the means the Holy Spirit uses to translate specialness from sin into salvation.  Forgiveness is for all... Each must do what is allotted him, for on his part does all the plan depend.  He has a special part in time for so he chose, and choosing it, he made it for himself.  His wish was not denied but changed in form, to let it serve his brother and himself, and thus become a means to save instead of lose." -- ACIM; Chapter 25, Section VI, 5:3-11

The Key to Happiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please join us for ACIM Teleclasses every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. central time.

Give All to All

"Only those who have a real and lasting sense of Abundance can be truly charitable.  This is obvious when you consider what is involved.  To the ego, to give anything implies that you will have to do without it.  When you associate giving with sacrifice, you give only because you believe that you are somehow getting something better, and can therefore do without the thing you give." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 4, Section II, 6:1-4

Whoa... this is really true, isn't it?  I pay my cable bill because I think I'm getting something for it.  I buy feed for the horses and dogs and cats because I think I'm getting a sense of satisfaction taking care of all these animals.  I give to my children because I think it gives me a sense of satisfaction and connection. 

Now the Course is not telling us to stop paying our bills or giving to our children.  But it is pointing out the way the egoic mind works.  Our conditioned self only gives to get.  Because getting is what the ego does to maintain the illusion of separate self, and to make sure guilt stays repressed and hidden.

"The ego never gives out of abundance, because it was made as a substitute for it.  That is why the concept of 'getting' arose in the ego's thought system.  Appetites are 'getting' mechanisms, representing the ego's need to confirm itself.  This is as true of body appetites as it is of the so-called 'higher ego needs'." -- ACIM; Chapter 4, II, 7:3-6

What is giving out of Abundance, then?  Abundance is an attribute of God, and therefore of our true nature since we exist as extensions of the Mind of God.  God has given us EVERYTHING, because God IS EVERYTHING... literally.  There is no other.  All means all.  So what exists that could be lost, or needed?  Giving out of Abundance is just being natural.  The Course gives the first teaching of the Holy Spirit as "To have, give all to all."  We know that we have because we have it to give. :-))

How do we make such a shift in perception?  How do we change our minds to such an extent?  Our self-concept, our egoic notion of a self, says we are limited, with limited resources, and only those that are careful with their resources have enough in this world.  In other words, our egoic notion of self-esteem is tied up with what we think we have acquired by what the Course calls the 'getting' mechanism.  "Self-esteem in ego terms means nothing more than that the ego has deluded itself into accepting its reality, and is therefore temporarily less predatory." (ACIM; II, 4, 6:8)  So we think we have by getting, and temporarily think we are safe, as long as we don't have to give.  Ha!

True Abundance is the Awareness of God.  The overflowing of Being that is our True Self, living and moving and having being in God.  By learning to listen only to the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit... by learning to walk in the Awareness of God's ever-Presence... we come to realize we are the Abundance of Spirit.  Giving is the only natural extension of this realization, because all giving is mental, and of the mind.  We are pure Spirit, reflecting the Mind of God.

"To have, give all to all." -- A Course in Miracles;  Chapter 6, Section V: A