"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty... that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." -- Ode on a Grecian Urn; by John Keats
I made a commitment when I started this blog, to only post when guided to do so, only when inspiration moves me. So over a month has gone by since my last post, and I was beginning to think (as egos do) that maybe I'm not supposed to do this anymore, and that's O.K. And then this morning I heard the title for today's blog. That's how it happens. I hear the title, or a quote, and understand more truly each time how Idea and its fulfillment are One. Every idea is like a seed... it has its own blueprint built in. And when we allow it to unfold organically, it always reveals more of Truth.
Beauty is an aspect of God that is dear to us. But like Truth and Love, we have distorted and confused it with human notions and projections. As an aspect of God, Beauty is an eternal quality, not subject to form or to the comings and goings of illusory time. Beauty is a quality, not a form. And because it's an aspect of God, it's everywhere, and for all.
Our human concept of beauty is based (like all ego concepts) on the scarcity principle. In other words, if it were everywhere, it would be common, and therefore not beautiful or special. If everyone had money, then no one would be rich (or special). If everyone had (fill in the blank), then no one would be special. You can see a pattern here.
But I grew up in rural Missouri in this dream we call life. And I knew at an early age that Beauty is abundant, and everywhere. In the barn, in the chicken house, in the garden, in the cornfield, in the hammock, in the yard, in the kitchen, in the bathtub... my early life flowed with a harmony and beauty that radiated not from form, but from Being. It was only with great human effort that I was civilized (ha!) enough to see that I must surely lack something, and that something could only come by wanting what everyone else seemed to want... an education (ha!), boyfriends (ha!), recognition and fame for my 'special' talent (ha!), and lots and lots of money which would set me apart from everyone else. What a crock. But who was I to argue with the rest of my seeming world? And how was I to know (yet) that I had created all of it? I did not want to know that my own thoughts and feelings and beliefs about who I am seemed to create incarnation after incarnation, story after story, serial adventures where I was first victim and then victimizer... and all of them, all of them, based on the belief in separation from God, on scarcity and specialness.
All of that is obviously very entertaining, since it has kept my attention and allegiance for countless incarnations. And yet... here I am. And my memory of Truth and Beauty are as clear in my quiet moments now as they were in the beginning, "when the morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy." (The Bible; Job 38:7) It is obvious in moments of quiet Oneness that nothing has ever happened. Nothing has ever been more or less. Nothing has ever been less than Perfect and Beautiful.
Awareness of Beauty awakens us to the Truth and Love of God within the dream. The brushstrokes of Beauty have nothing to do with what is done, or who does them. The brushstrokes of Beauty are tangible Truth...reminders of Who We Are, as the Truth of Being is remembered. We can follow the brushstrokes back to remembrance... that Who We Are remains One with God, flawless and perfect, eternal and whole, harmonious and secure.
"This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the Truth. This small step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stride through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness into Beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 17, Section II, 2:1-3, 6
Showing posts with label Organic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Organic. Show all posts
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Happiness IS
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." -- Abraham Lincoln
"Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same." -- Francesca Reigler
"God's Will for me is perfect happiness." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 101
I had to laugh this morning when the first two quotes arrived in my Inbox, from two different sources. The thought that we can 'make' ourselves miserable is such an arrogant thought. And all of us have experienced feeling miserable and then having the feeling lift, like fog dissipating. It has no more substance than fog, either. God's Will for us is perfect, unchanging happiness. The third quote has always been one of my favorite workbook lessons from A Course in Miracles. It may also be one of the most misunderstood.
We usually think such things as, "Well, if God's Will for me is perfect happiness, why is this happening?" or "Why don't I have what I want?" or even "Then why does unhappiness even exist? Why do I ever feel unhappy?" To our seemingly separated selves, these are perfectly legitimate questions. But notice that they are not really questions, but statements of ego beliefs. They state that unhappiness exists, somehow against God's Will. They state that happiness is dependent on circumstances, people, or things being as we wish, again seemingly against God's Will. They state that there is a reality other than God's, in opposition to God.
Anyone who has ever experienced being happy for no good reason knows that it is not dependent on anyone or anything. All of us have, if only for a moment, glimpsed our greater Reality. Happiness is not even an attitude... it's our natural state of being. But calling it an attitude is about as close as the ego can come in this delusional state we call life.
What God Wills simply IS. What God Wills is forever, unchanging and unchangeable. What God Wills is eternal. This means that happiness is an organic aspect of our being that naturally radiates from us, not to us. Happiness IS, just as Love IS, just as Joy IS, just as Peace IS... these are attributes, radiant aspects of God that we reflect in this world simply by Being Who We Are. We don't have to do anything or be anything other than Who We Are. We don't have to say positive affirmations or get rid of negative thoughts. We simply have to forgive and release all thought of 'other than God.' Those are the clouds that hide our radiance. Who We are quite naturally remains when all else is forgiven and released.
The incredible lightness of being that we experience in our moments of rest and release are glimpses of the Truth about us. Happiness IS. Let's stop trying to find it where it isn't.
"God's Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and suffering is causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood your Self. Fear not the Will of God. But turn to it in confidence that It will set you free from all the consequences sin has wrought in feverish imagination. Say: God's Will for me is perfect happiness. There is no sin; it has no consequence." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 101, 6:1-7
"Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same." -- Francesca Reigler
"God's Will for me is perfect happiness." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 101
I had to laugh this morning when the first two quotes arrived in my Inbox, from two different sources. The thought that we can 'make' ourselves miserable is such an arrogant thought. And all of us have experienced feeling miserable and then having the feeling lift, like fog dissipating. It has no more substance than fog, either. God's Will for us is perfect, unchanging happiness. The third quote has always been one of my favorite workbook lessons from A Course in Miracles. It may also be one of the most misunderstood.
We usually think such things as, "Well, if God's Will for me is perfect happiness, why is this happening?" or "Why don't I have what I want?" or even "Then why does unhappiness even exist? Why do I ever feel unhappy?" To our seemingly separated selves, these are perfectly legitimate questions. But notice that they are not really questions, but statements of ego beliefs. They state that unhappiness exists, somehow against God's Will. They state that happiness is dependent on circumstances, people, or things being as we wish, again seemingly against God's Will. They state that there is a reality other than God's, in opposition to God.
Anyone who has ever experienced being happy for no good reason knows that it is not dependent on anyone or anything. All of us have, if only for a moment, glimpsed our greater Reality. Happiness is not even an attitude... it's our natural state of being. But calling it an attitude is about as close as the ego can come in this delusional state we call life.
What God Wills simply IS. What God Wills is forever, unchanging and unchangeable. What God Wills is eternal. This means that happiness is an organic aspect of our being that naturally radiates from us, not to us. Happiness IS, just as Love IS, just as Joy IS, just as Peace IS... these are attributes, radiant aspects of God that we reflect in this world simply by Being Who We Are. We don't have to do anything or be anything other than Who We Are. We don't have to say positive affirmations or get rid of negative thoughts. We simply have to forgive and release all thought of 'other than God.' Those are the clouds that hide our radiance. Who We are quite naturally remains when all else is forgiven and released.
The incredible lightness of being that we experience in our moments of rest and release are glimpses of the Truth about us. Happiness IS. Let's stop trying to find it where it isn't.
"God's Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and suffering is causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood your Self. Fear not the Will of God. But turn to it in confidence that It will set you free from all the consequences sin has wrought in feverish imagination. Say: God's Will for me is perfect happiness. There is no sin; it has no consequence." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 101, 6:1-7
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Subjective States
"You are a mirror of Truth, in which God Himself shines in perfect light. To the ego's dark glass you need but say, "I will not look there because I know these images are not true." Then let the Holy One shine on you in Peace, knowing that this and only this must be." -- A Course in Miracles
"Watch your mind carefully for any beliefs that hinder Peace, and step away from them. Judge how well you have done this by your own feelings, for this is the one right use of judgment." -- A Course in Miracles
I had someone ask me why I write this blog every day. It's a legitimate question. ACIM says the most important question you can ask about any endeavor is, "What is it for?" If I think I will get anything out of it or convince anyone of anything, it is all ego and so much hot air. My answer to them is: I have no idea why I'm writing the blog. But I can tell you what it is for. The Voice said write, and so I write. When nothing comes from that Awareness, I don't write. I refuse to force myself to do it, or to write just to fulfill a role. It either comes from Self or not at all. So occasionally I will miss a day or two, until I hear to write again. At some point the blog will stop, like all things in the world do. Until then, I am following and writing.
This is a different experience than the subjective states of mind that have plagued me as a writer in the past. Feeling up or down, on or off, with it or out of it... these subjective states determined my focus and productivity. Interestingly, writing this blog has none of that... whatever is up for the day, whatever emotions might arise, whatever situations occur, they are all just part of what is written about, used as compost for the organic process of awakening that is taking place. The Voice always leads us in this way. Whether it says to garden or write or run or simply to sit, it will always lead us back to an awareness of our true Self.
ACIM says that all the emotions that come and go are just judgments on what we are projecting... change our minds about what it is all for and the insubstantial emotions pass pretty effortlessly. Feelings, on the other hand, are our gage of Who we are listening to and following. Peace is the litmus test. Where there is Peace, regardless of how you tell the story, regardless of what emotions come and go, you are following the One. Remember, the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place nor a condition, but merely an Awareness of perfect Oneness... and Peace is the condition of this Awareness.
I remember one of the poems by Robert Louis Stevenson that my mother used to quote to me: "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." But the thing is, no number of things ever does make us happy. The subjective states that come and go even when we get what we think we want are the way of it. How many times have you been lulled into complacency by thinking that this time everything is different? That this time you will be happy forever? How long did that last?
This is not a bad thing. If our illusions didn't shift and change as they do, we would never bother to wake up, and would wander the dream of subjective illusions for eternity. So our job is simply to forgive our illusions and be happy and at peace with whatever is arising. Have fun when it's fun. Cry when you need to. Be real and honest with yourself and others. And know that none of it is a measure of Who You Are or has anything to do with your Real Self, anymore than dreaming you are a street person or a king during your night dreams has any real effect when you wake up.
Subjective states come and go. You don't.
"Let nothing disturb thee. Let nothing dismay thee. All things pass. God never changes. Patience attains all that it strives for. He who has God finds he lacks nothing. God alone suffices." -- Theresa of Avila
"Watch your mind carefully for any beliefs that hinder Peace, and step away from them. Judge how well you have done this by your own feelings, for this is the one right use of judgment." -- A Course in Miracles
I had someone ask me why I write this blog every day. It's a legitimate question. ACIM says the most important question you can ask about any endeavor is, "What is it for?" If I think I will get anything out of it or convince anyone of anything, it is all ego and so much hot air. My answer to them is: I have no idea why I'm writing the blog. But I can tell you what it is for. The Voice said write, and so I write. When nothing comes from that Awareness, I don't write. I refuse to force myself to do it, or to write just to fulfill a role. It either comes from Self or not at all. So occasionally I will miss a day or two, until I hear to write again. At some point the blog will stop, like all things in the world do. Until then, I am following and writing.
This is a different experience than the subjective states of mind that have plagued me as a writer in the past. Feeling up or down, on or off, with it or out of it... these subjective states determined my focus and productivity. Interestingly, writing this blog has none of that... whatever is up for the day, whatever emotions might arise, whatever situations occur, they are all just part of what is written about, used as compost for the organic process of awakening that is taking place. The Voice always leads us in this way. Whether it says to garden or write or run or simply to sit, it will always lead us back to an awareness of our true Self.
ACIM says that all the emotions that come and go are just judgments on what we are projecting... change our minds about what it is all for and the insubstantial emotions pass pretty effortlessly. Feelings, on the other hand, are our gage of Who we are listening to and following. Peace is the litmus test. Where there is Peace, regardless of how you tell the story, regardless of what emotions come and go, you are following the One. Remember, the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place nor a condition, but merely an Awareness of perfect Oneness... and Peace is the condition of this Awareness.
I remember one of the poems by Robert Louis Stevenson that my mother used to quote to me: "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." But the thing is, no number of things ever does make us happy. The subjective states that come and go even when we get what we think we want are the way of it. How many times have you been lulled into complacency by thinking that this time everything is different? That this time you will be happy forever? How long did that last?
This is not a bad thing. If our illusions didn't shift and change as they do, we would never bother to wake up, and would wander the dream of subjective illusions for eternity. So our job is simply to forgive our illusions and be happy and at peace with whatever is arising. Have fun when it's fun. Cry when you need to. Be real and honest with yourself and others. And know that none of it is a measure of Who You Are or has anything to do with your Real Self, anymore than dreaming you are a street person or a king during your night dreams has any real effect when you wake up.
Subjective states come and go. You don't.
"Let nothing disturb thee. Let nothing dismay thee. All things pass. God never changes. Patience attains all that it strives for. He who has God finds he lacks nothing. God alone suffices." -- Theresa of Avila
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Faithfulness
"To give up all problems to One Answer is to reverse the thinking of the world entirely. And that alone is faithfulness. Nothing but that really deserves the name. Yet each degree, however small, is worth achieving. True faithfulness, however, does not deviate." -- A Course in Miracles
One answer to all perceived problems, whatever the appearance, whatever the issue, whatever the person, place, or thing involved? In this world of complexity and conundrums, this seems more than impossible... it seems naive and totally removed from reality at best, and downright idiotic at worst. We respect complicated, interesting people and music and books... we respect jobs and tasks that are difficult and demanding. We feel like we've really done something when we face a challenge successfully. We build muscle by applying progressive resistance. So how can the above definition of true faithfulness be applicable to anything other than a fantasy existence, a kind of pseudo-spirituality that is totally removed from reality?
I love that A Course in Miracles is so clear and unequivocal. There is no mistaking what it says. You either give everything, your Whole Mind and Heart to Truth, or you give nothing. It's all of a piece. Commitment is not wishy-washy... it's totality. Without this Wholeness of Mind, hearing the Voice and resting in God is impossible. And so true faithfulness is the clarity that choice is always total. The appearance of delaying a choice is already a choice for the illusion of a divided mind and soul. The real and only answer to every situation is One.
Faithfulness is remembering with one's whole Being that All things are echoes of the Voice of God. Remembering that we cannot judge... we can merely believe our made-up stories about it all. Faithfulness is seeing through God's eyes, hearing only His Voice. Faithfulness is listening only to God's Voice.
"Let Him be Judge of everything that seems to happen to you in this world. His lessons will enable you to bridge the gap between illusions and the Truth. He will remove all faith that you have placed in pain, disaster, suffering, and loss. You will no longer doubt that only good can come to you who are Beloved of God, for He will judge all happenings and teach the single lesson that they all contain. He will reinterpret all you see, and all occurrences, each circumstance, and every happening that seems to touch on you in any way from His One frame of reference, wholly unified and sure. For your life is not a part of anything you see. It stands beyond the body and the world, past every witness for unholiness, within the Holy, Holy as ItSelf. In everyone and everything His Voice would speak to you of nothing but your Self and your Creator, Who is One with Him."
One answer to all perceived problems, whatever the appearance, whatever the issue, whatever the person, place, or thing involved? In this world of complexity and conundrums, this seems more than impossible... it seems naive and totally removed from reality at best, and downright idiotic at worst. We respect complicated, interesting people and music and books... we respect jobs and tasks that are difficult and demanding. We feel like we've really done something when we face a challenge successfully. We build muscle by applying progressive resistance. So how can the above definition of true faithfulness be applicable to anything other than a fantasy existence, a kind of pseudo-spirituality that is totally removed from reality?
I love that A Course in Miracles is so clear and unequivocal. There is no mistaking what it says. You either give everything, your Whole Mind and Heart to Truth, or you give nothing. It's all of a piece. Commitment is not wishy-washy... it's totality. Without this Wholeness of Mind, hearing the Voice and resting in God is impossible. And so true faithfulness is the clarity that choice is always total. The appearance of delaying a choice is already a choice for the illusion of a divided mind and soul. The real and only answer to every situation is One.
Faithfulness is remembering with one's whole Being that All things are echoes of the Voice of God. Remembering that we cannot judge... we can merely believe our made-up stories about it all. Faithfulness is seeing through God's eyes, hearing only His Voice. Faithfulness is listening only to God's Voice.
"Let Him be Judge of everything that seems to happen to you in this world. His lessons will enable you to bridge the gap between illusions and the Truth. He will remove all faith that you have placed in pain, disaster, suffering, and loss. You will no longer doubt that only good can come to you who are Beloved of God, for He will judge all happenings and teach the single lesson that they all contain. He will reinterpret all you see, and all occurrences, each circumstance, and every happening that seems to touch on you in any way from His One frame of reference, wholly unified and sure. For your life is not a part of anything you see. It stands beyond the body and the world, past every witness for unholiness, within the Holy, Holy as ItSelf. In everyone and everything His Voice would speak to you of nothing but your Self and your Creator, Who is One with Him."
Monday, January 21, 2008
Hearing One Voice
"The Holy Spirit is the Communication Link between God the Father and His separated Sons. If you will listen to His Voice you will know that you cannot either hurt or be hurt, and that many need your blessing to help them hear this for themselves." -- A Course in Miracles
"When you hear only One Voice you are never called on to sacrifice... the Holy Spirit is One, and anyone who listens is inevitably led to demonstrate His way for all." -- A Course in Miracles
What are the voices we listen to and follow every day? There are the voices of our parents, living or dead. The voices of our children are with us, whether we speak with them today or not. The voices of those we have disagreed with, argued with, judged in any way. The voices we hear in line at the store, the voices we hear on television or radio, the voices of revered teachers or mentors... the list goes on and on. Within the dream we call life, there is no unity in the voices we hear. They each seem to represent a unique and separate point of view. We listen with a sense of compulsion to the voices from the past, as if we owe them loyalty and our very lives. We listen with fascination to each new voice, especially the new ones... maybe this voice knows the way. Maybe this voice will give me something more.
Actually, there is absolutely no real difference in any of the voices we follow through the maze every day. Some dreams are more entertaining than others, some give us a temporary sense of power or vanity, some give us the illusion of love and acceptance, stories of specialness and exclusion, some give us feelings of powerlessness and need... but there is no real difference. A dream voice is still a dream voice, and not anything or anyone at all. Does this sound like a stretch to you? Then let's look at it another way, to see that it really is the way of it. Not one voice we hear in the world is true.
If you are trying to make a decision in your everyday life, and you research several different points of view about it, then finally make a decision based on the one that seems most valid, do you ever know for sure? Don't questions always arise when something happens that seems to contradict your choice (which it always will)? We stick by many of our choices stubbornly, because we have an addiction to being right about the voices we listen to... that is a law of the ego, the individual self. But A Course in Miracles tells us this is not our true will... and there is a way to listen to what we really want, in a unified fashion. We can listen to One Voice, the Voice of our True Self.
In A Course in Miracles, Jeshua ben Joseph says it this way: "The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. His is the Voice that calls you back to Where You were before and will Be again. It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is the final lesson that I learned, and God's Sons are as equal as learners as they are as Sons. You are the Kingdom of Heaven, but you have let the belief in darkness enter your mind and so you need a new light. The Holy Spirit is the radiance that you must let banish the idea of darkness."
Listening to One Voice, hearing only that One Voice... in all spiritual traditions we are given the same instruction, to love God, the One, with all our our heart and mind and soul and strength. Listening to something or someone is giving them the value of your attention, giving them credence. And there is only One Voice that is worth anything at all. Hearing that One Voice is the only thing worthy of total commitment and trust.
"It is possible even in this world to listen to One Voice. If you are part of God and the Sonship as One, you cannot be limited to the self the ego sees. His Voice will direct you very specifically. You will be told all you need to know." -- A Course in Miracles
"When you hear only One Voice you are never called on to sacrifice... the Holy Spirit is One, and anyone who listens is inevitably led to demonstrate His way for all." -- A Course in Miracles
What are the voices we listen to and follow every day? There are the voices of our parents, living or dead. The voices of our children are with us, whether we speak with them today or not. The voices of those we have disagreed with, argued with, judged in any way. The voices we hear in line at the store, the voices we hear on television or radio, the voices of revered teachers or mentors... the list goes on and on. Within the dream we call life, there is no unity in the voices we hear. They each seem to represent a unique and separate point of view. We listen with a sense of compulsion to the voices from the past, as if we owe them loyalty and our very lives. We listen with fascination to each new voice, especially the new ones... maybe this voice knows the way. Maybe this voice will give me something more.
Actually, there is absolutely no real difference in any of the voices we follow through the maze every day. Some dreams are more entertaining than others, some give us a temporary sense of power or vanity, some give us the illusion of love and acceptance, stories of specialness and exclusion, some give us feelings of powerlessness and need... but there is no real difference. A dream voice is still a dream voice, and not anything or anyone at all. Does this sound like a stretch to you? Then let's look at it another way, to see that it really is the way of it. Not one voice we hear in the world is true.
If you are trying to make a decision in your everyday life, and you research several different points of view about it, then finally make a decision based on the one that seems most valid, do you ever know for sure? Don't questions always arise when something happens that seems to contradict your choice (which it always will)? We stick by many of our choices stubbornly, because we have an addiction to being right about the voices we listen to... that is a law of the ego, the individual self. But A Course in Miracles tells us this is not our true will... and there is a way to listen to what we really want, in a unified fashion. We can listen to One Voice, the Voice of our True Self.
In A Course in Miracles, Jeshua ben Joseph says it this way: "The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. His is the Voice that calls you back to Where You were before and will Be again. It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is the final lesson that I learned, and God's Sons are as equal as learners as they are as Sons. You are the Kingdom of Heaven, but you have let the belief in darkness enter your mind and so you need a new light. The Holy Spirit is the radiance that you must let banish the idea of darkness."
Listening to One Voice, hearing only that One Voice... in all spiritual traditions we are given the same instruction, to love God, the One, with all our our heart and mind and soul and strength. Listening to something or someone is giving them the value of your attention, giving them credence. And there is only One Voice that is worth anything at all. Hearing that One Voice is the only thing worthy of total commitment and trust.
"It is possible even in this world to listen to One Voice. If you are part of God and the Sonship as One, you cannot be limited to the self the ego sees. His Voice will direct you very specifically. You will be told all you need to know." -- A Course in Miracles
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Getting Rid of It
"The world you perceive is a world of separation... you have no control over this world you made. It is not a world of will because it is governed by the desire to be unlike God, and this desire is not will. The world you made is therefore totally chaotic, governed by arbitrary and senseless 'laws,' and without meaning of any kind. For it is made out of what you do not want, projected from your mind because you are afraid of it." -- A Course in Miracles
Regular readers will remember this quote from Thursday's blog. It has been sticking with me, showing all the exceptions I seem to have in mind to its truth. "Without meaning of any kind" is a pretty unequivocal statement. Surely there is meaning in my new-born grandson's smile. Surely there is meaning in my study of Truth. Surely there is meaning in... fill in the blanks.
A Course in Miracles is full of what Jeshua ben Joseph called 'hard sayings.' He always said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." In other words, it is not for the wishy-washy seeker of truth. You either are willing to hear, or you are not. You can't have it both ways. A man cannot serve two masters.
The good news is that we only need a small willingness that what we regarded as meaningful be wrong. ACIM never says the real world is meaningless. It says that the projected world we call home is meaningless, chaotic, and unstable. Who could argue with that, really? Even what we most love can morph in an instant into ash. Is this meaning? Could this be love? No wonder we walk around with such fear. Like a Halloween fun-house, the projected world is an ever-shifting illusion that is totally unpredictable, and pretty darn scary.
I can see how even the things I think I want in this world are based on what I don't want. I can see how meaningless this makes even moments of pleasure, that are as fleeting as a cloud passing across the sky. I can see how getting rid of Oneness and finding uniqueness and specialness is the great preoccupation of the world. An entire universe based on the attempt to get rid of what IS. If this is not an insane and meaningless preoccupation, then I don't know what is.
So what IS meaningful? A Course in Miracles reassures us, "God did not create a meaningless world." The problem lies with our preoccupation with the meaningless. We simply won't be still and leave a clear and open space for what is Real and True to be revealed as effortlessly present, as Meaning ItSelf. We simply won't let go of what we think we know and who we think we are long enough to SEE what IS.
My grandson is no less precious without my story about him... he is more precious, more real, because I am experiencing Being directly, rather than through a projected filter or story. My search for Truth is no less comforting without making it all noble and spiritual... it is more precious, more real, because I am experiencing Being directly, and the journey is its own delight, without making it anything special at all. The world is more precious as we realize we were mistaken in our projections... and that getting rid of it is not possible. It is our very Self.
"I am the Holy Home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides." -- A Course in Miracles
Regular readers will remember this quote from Thursday's blog. It has been sticking with me, showing all the exceptions I seem to have in mind to its truth. "Without meaning of any kind" is a pretty unequivocal statement. Surely there is meaning in my new-born grandson's smile. Surely there is meaning in my study of Truth. Surely there is meaning in... fill in the blanks.
A Course in Miracles is full of what Jeshua ben Joseph called 'hard sayings.' He always said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." In other words, it is not for the wishy-washy seeker of truth. You either are willing to hear, or you are not. You can't have it both ways. A man cannot serve two masters.
The good news is that we only need a small willingness that what we regarded as meaningful be wrong. ACIM never says the real world is meaningless. It says that the projected world we call home is meaningless, chaotic, and unstable. Who could argue with that, really? Even what we most love can morph in an instant into ash. Is this meaning? Could this be love? No wonder we walk around with such fear. Like a Halloween fun-house, the projected world is an ever-shifting illusion that is totally unpredictable, and pretty darn scary.
I can see how even the things I think I want in this world are based on what I don't want. I can see how meaningless this makes even moments of pleasure, that are as fleeting as a cloud passing across the sky. I can see how getting rid of Oneness and finding uniqueness and specialness is the great preoccupation of the world. An entire universe based on the attempt to get rid of what IS. If this is not an insane and meaningless preoccupation, then I don't know what is.
So what IS meaningful? A Course in Miracles reassures us, "God did not create a meaningless world." The problem lies with our preoccupation with the meaningless. We simply won't be still and leave a clear and open space for what is Real and True to be revealed as effortlessly present, as Meaning ItSelf. We simply won't let go of what we think we know and who we think we are long enough to SEE what IS.
My grandson is no less precious without my story about him... he is more precious, more real, because I am experiencing Being directly, rather than through a projected filter or story. My search for Truth is no less comforting without making it all noble and spiritual... it is more precious, more real, because I am experiencing Being directly, and the journey is its own delight, without making it anything special at all. The world is more precious as we realize we were mistaken in our projections... and that getting rid of it is not possible. It is our very Self.
"I am the Holy Home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides." -- A Course in Miracles
Friday, January 18, 2008
Peace
"What is the Peace of God? No more than this; the simple understanding that His Will is wholly without opposite... The Will of God is One and all there is. This is your heritage. The universe beyond the sun and stars, and all the thoughts of which you can conceive, belong to you. God's Peace is the condition for His Will. Attain His Peace, and you remember Him." -- A Course in Miracles
Oneness. Allness. Infinite Wholeness. All-encompassing Divine Love. Bliss. As the above quote says, the simple understanding that there is nothing else, no opposite anywhere, ever. This is the Peace of God. No exceptions enter, for what could be outside this Oneness? No opposites exist, for what could oppose Allness?
We all have glimpses of peace. Restful evenings listening to the frogs, quiet moments with a cup of tea, crystalline moments of pause in the midst of strenuous activity, and the nurturing times gazing into a warm fire after a hard day. From our limited perspective, these are very good times. But they are all laced with the knowledge that they are a time apart, and that they are temporary. The world is based on this very tension, the dance of opposites and contrast.
There is no contrast in the Peace of God. It is Omnipresent and is not dependent on anything. We have only to remember that God IS, and that God's Will IS, wholly without opposite. We need do nothing. Just rest in this, our true happiness and our true Self. This is not some alien will forced on us from without. This is an inside job.
Knowing this Oneness as our true Self is the most practical thing we can do in the world. It releases us from a false sense of separation and responsibility about it all. It allows our true nature of Wholeness to become our way of Being in the world. And our lives reflect this Wholeness effortlessly, through our Awakening and the Awakening of those around us. The joy of this is beyond measure, and cannot be measured externally by circumstances or conditions.
The Peace of God is Home. Nothing else but Home will ever satisfy us. The fake peace we have settled for up until now is not worthy of us. As ACIM reminds us, "Nothing unworthy of God is worthy of you."
"The absence of perfect peace means but one thing: You think you do not will for God's Son what his Father wills for him. Every dark lesson teaches this, in one form or another. And each bright lesson with which the Holy Spirit will replace the dark ones you do not accept, teaches you that you will with Father and His Son." -- A Course in Miracles
Oneness. Allness. Infinite Wholeness. All-encompassing Divine Love. Bliss. As the above quote says, the simple understanding that there is nothing else, no opposite anywhere, ever. This is the Peace of God. No exceptions enter, for what could be outside this Oneness? No opposites exist, for what could oppose Allness?
We all have glimpses of peace. Restful evenings listening to the frogs, quiet moments with a cup of tea, crystalline moments of pause in the midst of strenuous activity, and the nurturing times gazing into a warm fire after a hard day. From our limited perspective, these are very good times. But they are all laced with the knowledge that they are a time apart, and that they are temporary. The world is based on this very tension, the dance of opposites and contrast.
There is no contrast in the Peace of God. It is Omnipresent and is not dependent on anything. We have only to remember that God IS, and that God's Will IS, wholly without opposite. We need do nothing. Just rest in this, our true happiness and our true Self. This is not some alien will forced on us from without. This is an inside job.
Knowing this Oneness as our true Self is the most practical thing we can do in the world. It releases us from a false sense of separation and responsibility about it all. It allows our true nature of Wholeness to become our way of Being in the world. And our lives reflect this Wholeness effortlessly, through our Awakening and the Awakening of those around us. The joy of this is beyond measure, and cannot be measured externally by circumstances or conditions.
The Peace of God is Home. Nothing else but Home will ever satisfy us. The fake peace we have settled for up until now is not worthy of us. As ACIM reminds us, "Nothing unworthy of God is worthy of you."
"The absence of perfect peace means but one thing: You think you do not will for God's Son what his Father wills for him. Every dark lesson teaches this, in one form or another. And each bright lesson with which the Holy Spirit will replace the dark ones you do not accept, teaches you that you will with Father and His Son." -- A Course in Miracles
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Love
"Everyone who believes the ego is salvation seems to be intensely engaged in the search for love. And since the ego teaches that it is your identification, its guidance leads you to a journey which must end in perceived self-defeat. For the ego cannot love... The ego will therefore distort love, and teach you that love really calls forth the responses the ego can teach. Follow its teaching, then, and you will search for love, but will not recognize it. Do you realize that the ego must set you on a journey which cannot but lead to a sense of futility and depression? The Holy Spirit offers you another promise, and one that will lead to Joy... The Holy Spirit's Love is your strength, for yours is divided and therefore not real... Only Love is strong because it is undivided." -- A Course in Miracles
An undivided love seems unfathomable to my human self, even as a mother and grandmother. Even knowing the unconditional love that I feel and consciously extend even when it hurts, it is certainly not undivided. There is always a sense that I am extending love in spite of something hurtful. And the very belief that there is something hurtful is my own dividedness, the separation itself.
A Course in Miracles says,"The world you perceive is a world of separation... You have no control over this world you made. It is not a world of will because it is governed by the desire to be unlike God, and this desire is not will. The world you made is therefore totally chaotic, governed by arbitrary and senseless 'laws,' and without meaning of any kind. For it is made out of what you do not want, projected from your mind because you are afraid of it." Yikes. This gives me great pause... because this means that EVERYTHING I perceive is made out of what I do not want, including and most especially the things and people I think I like and want. Yikes indeed.
The world as I know it all proceeds from the original lie, the thought that I could ever be separate from God and special in my separateness... the desire to be special and set apart. Since ideas can never be apart from their source, even the most beautiful projections in this world are based on that original lie, and are therefore unstable, changing, and simply illusory in nature. Nothing is what it seems.
The good news is that what ACIM calls the Real World can be perceived instead of what I have made. This is the miracle that exists for every thought and projection I have. As Jeshua ben Joseph said, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Because ideas can never be apart from their source, I can never be other than in the Mind of God, my true Source, my true Self. And every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, every True Idea, is the Love and Joy that sustains me in reality.
Love is not something I do, or something I give, or something I get. Love is Who I Am. I have never been anyplace but Home in Divine Love. Thank God. And the Holy Spirit, the Voice of my True Self, is my guide and my strength and my sufficiency in every circumstance and relationship within this dream we call life.
"You who have tried to learn what you do not want should take heart, for although the curriculum you set yourself is depressing indeed, it is merely ridiculous if you look at it. You need only offer God your undivided attention. Everything else will be given you." -- A Course in Miracles
An undivided love seems unfathomable to my human self, even as a mother and grandmother. Even knowing the unconditional love that I feel and consciously extend even when it hurts, it is certainly not undivided. There is always a sense that I am extending love in spite of something hurtful. And the very belief that there is something hurtful is my own dividedness, the separation itself.
A Course in Miracles says,"The world you perceive is a world of separation... You have no control over this world you made. It is not a world of will because it is governed by the desire to be unlike God, and this desire is not will. The world you made is therefore totally chaotic, governed by arbitrary and senseless 'laws,' and without meaning of any kind. For it is made out of what you do not want, projected from your mind because you are afraid of it." Yikes. This gives me great pause... because this means that EVERYTHING I perceive is made out of what I do not want, including and most especially the things and people I think I like and want. Yikes indeed.
The world as I know it all proceeds from the original lie, the thought that I could ever be separate from God and special in my separateness... the desire to be special and set apart. Since ideas can never be apart from their source, even the most beautiful projections in this world are based on that original lie, and are therefore unstable, changing, and simply illusory in nature. Nothing is what it seems.
The good news is that what ACIM calls the Real World can be perceived instead of what I have made. This is the miracle that exists for every thought and projection I have. As Jeshua ben Joseph said, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Because ideas can never be apart from their source, I can never be other than in the Mind of God, my true Source, my true Self. And every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, every True Idea, is the Love and Joy that sustains me in reality.
Love is not something I do, or something I give, or something I get. Love is Who I Am. I have never been anyplace but Home in Divine Love. Thank God. And the Holy Spirit, the Voice of my True Self, is my guide and my strength and my sufficiency in every circumstance and relationship within this dream we call life.
"You who have tried to learn what you do not want should take heart, for although the curriculum you set yourself is depressing indeed, it is merely ridiculous if you look at it. You need only offer God your undivided attention. Everything else will be given you." -- A Course in Miracles
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Hearing One Voice
"If you will listen with an open mind... then you will hear the mighty Voice of Truth, quiet in Power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in Its messages. Listen, and hear your Father speak to you through His appointed Voice, which silences the thunder of the meaningless, and shows the way to Peace to those who cannot see... Be not afraid today to circumvent the voices of the world... Hear one Voice today." -- A Course in Miracles
I'm late posting today. It's my birthday, and I self-indulgently slept in and had a glorious morning of allowing myself to be loved and pampered. The rest of the day promises to be a continuation of this hedonism. And what, you may well ask, does this have to do with listening to God's Voice?
So often I have had judgmental thoughts that only certain actions and certain ways of being are 'spiritual.' But as ACIM reminds me, it is never about externals. It is all within the realm of mind, and Truth can only be revealed here. It is our thoughts that have to be corrected. Externals are truly irrelevant. In truth there is no world as we imagine it. Not one thought we hold about the world or that the world holds about us is true. Not one relationship is true as we imagine it. Only the still, small Voice in the midst of things guides us truly though the maze of our own imaginings. Only the Voice guides us in deciding so that only awakening is served. To listen to any other voice, the voice of any imagined self, is to suffer. And as God is One, His Voice speaks of Oneness and Joy without limits. It guides us to awaken to Who We Are, as Love ItSelf. Whatever It reveals, wherever It leads, It is always a blessing and always Loving.
So when I hear the Voice say, "Go back to sleep," I listen. When I hear the Voice say, "Sit back down and read this," I listen. When I hear the Voice say, "Take time and enjoy yourself," I listen. When I hear that I am His Very Self, I listen with Joy and tears of gratitude. No story of my little ego-self holds the slightest interest in comparison with this feeling of Home and Wholeness.
So on this, my supposed birth day, I am more aware than ever of my only need... to listen and hear only One Voice. Today and every day this Voice is Loving me, as me. My true Self.
"Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind objects to making this teaching practical." -- Mary Baker Eddy
I'm late posting today. It's my birthday, and I self-indulgently slept in and had a glorious morning of allowing myself to be loved and pampered. The rest of the day promises to be a continuation of this hedonism. And what, you may well ask, does this have to do with listening to God's Voice?
So often I have had judgmental thoughts that only certain actions and certain ways of being are 'spiritual.' But as ACIM reminds me, it is never about externals. It is all within the realm of mind, and Truth can only be revealed here. It is our thoughts that have to be corrected. Externals are truly irrelevant. In truth there is no world as we imagine it. Not one thought we hold about the world or that the world holds about us is true. Not one relationship is true as we imagine it. Only the still, small Voice in the midst of things guides us truly though the maze of our own imaginings. Only the Voice guides us in deciding so that only awakening is served. To listen to any other voice, the voice of any imagined self, is to suffer. And as God is One, His Voice speaks of Oneness and Joy without limits. It guides us to awaken to Who We Are, as Love ItSelf. Whatever It reveals, wherever It leads, It is always a blessing and always Loving.
So when I hear the Voice say, "Go back to sleep," I listen. When I hear the Voice say, "Sit back down and read this," I listen. When I hear the Voice say, "Take time and enjoy yourself," I listen. When I hear that I am His Very Self, I listen with Joy and tears of gratitude. No story of my little ego-self holds the slightest interest in comparison with this feeling of Home and Wholeness.
So on this, my supposed birth day, I am more aware than ever of my only need... to listen and hear only One Voice. Today and every day this Voice is Loving me, as me. My true Self.
"Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind objects to making this teaching practical." -- Mary Baker Eddy
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The World of Ideas
"Ideas leave not their source, and their effects but seem to be apart from them. Ideas are of the mind. What is projected out, and seems to be external to the mind, is not outside at all, but an effect of what is in, and has not left its source. Perception's laws must be reversed, because they are reversals of the laws of Truth. The laws of Truth forever will be True, and cannot be reversed; yet can be seen as upside down. And this must be corrected where the illusion of reversal lies. It is impossible that one illusion be less amendable to Truth than are the rest. No illusion has any truth in it." -- A Course in Miracles
"Spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which cannot be lost nor separated from its divine Principle." -- Mary Baker Eddy
"Cause and effect are One, not separate. God wills that you learn what always has been true: that He created you as part of Him, and this must still be true because ideas leave not their source. Such is creation's law; that each idea the mind conceives but adds to its abundance, never takes away." -- A Course in Miracles
I find it truly fascinating that some people think ideas are intellectualizations, and that reality is living life spontaneously, without thinking about it. "You think too much," is something I have heard a lot of over the years. Has it ever occurred to you that eating is an idea that dawns on you as an urge, and that the urge arises because of the idea that people need to eat? And that there are scientifically documented cases of people who lived for years NOT eating? So what is eating or anything else except an idea, a mental construct?
A Course in Miracles reminds us over and over that ideas leave not their source. In other words, a true idea can be traced directly to the One True Source. And every other idea can be traced back to the nothingness that is their source. The reason nothing can be really known and counted on in the world as we know it is that it is based completely on nothingness, on fabrications and obfuscations so grandiose that our eyes glaze over and we just accept it rather than face ourselves. It is a self-created set-up. It is all made up.
Into this grand game of self-hide-and-don't-seek, the miracle shines. ACIM says, "God gave to all illusions that were made another purpose that would justify a miracle, whatever form they took. In every miracle all healing lies, for God gave answer to them all as one. And what is One to Him must be the same." So regardless of what idea you are looking at... no matter what scary situation looks real, no matter what person seems separate and hurtful, no matter what body part is hurting... the miracle of returning the mind to Source reveals the Truth of our Being as eternally One and safe and Whole. Ideas leave not their Source. The Truth is true, and nothing else is true. The world of ideas is our salvation, because if we are willing to reverse ourselves and follow our ideas back to their source, we will always find our way Home. Thank God for our inquiring minds.
"A miracle can make no change at all. But it can make what always has been true be recognized by those who know it not; and by this little gift of Truth but let to be itself, the Son of God allowed to be himself, and all creation freed to call upon the Name of God as One." -- A Course in Miracles
"Spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which cannot be lost nor separated from its divine Principle." -- Mary Baker Eddy
"Cause and effect are One, not separate. God wills that you learn what always has been true: that He created you as part of Him, and this must still be true because ideas leave not their source. Such is creation's law; that each idea the mind conceives but adds to its abundance, never takes away." -- A Course in Miracles
I find it truly fascinating that some people think ideas are intellectualizations, and that reality is living life spontaneously, without thinking about it. "You think too much," is something I have heard a lot of over the years. Has it ever occurred to you that eating is an idea that dawns on you as an urge, and that the urge arises because of the idea that people need to eat? And that there are scientifically documented cases of people who lived for years NOT eating? So what is eating or anything else except an idea, a mental construct?
A Course in Miracles reminds us over and over that ideas leave not their source. In other words, a true idea can be traced directly to the One True Source. And every other idea can be traced back to the nothingness that is their source. The reason nothing can be really known and counted on in the world as we know it is that it is based completely on nothingness, on fabrications and obfuscations so grandiose that our eyes glaze over and we just accept it rather than face ourselves. It is a self-created set-up. It is all made up.
Into this grand game of self-hide-and-don't-seek, the miracle shines. ACIM says, "God gave to all illusions that were made another purpose that would justify a miracle, whatever form they took. In every miracle all healing lies, for God gave answer to them all as one. And what is One to Him must be the same." So regardless of what idea you are looking at... no matter what scary situation looks real, no matter what person seems separate and hurtful, no matter what body part is hurting... the miracle of returning the mind to Source reveals the Truth of our Being as eternally One and safe and Whole. Ideas leave not their Source. The Truth is true, and nothing else is true. The world of ideas is our salvation, because if we are willing to reverse ourselves and follow our ideas back to their source, we will always find our way Home. Thank God for our inquiring minds.
"A miracle can make no change at all. But it can make what always has been true be recognized by those who know it not; and by this little gift of Truth but let to be itself, the Son of God allowed to be himself, and all creation freed to call upon the Name of God as One." -- A Course in Miracles
Monday, January 14, 2008
Let There Be Light
"Your Father loves you. All the world of pain is not His Will. Forgive yourself the thought He wanted this for you... Then turn to Him and let Him teach you what need to learn to lay all fear aside, and know your Self as Love which has no opposite in you." -- A Course in Miracles
"And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was Light." -- The Bible
"Miracles are seen in Light." -- A Course in Miracles
There is a huge difference in Vision and projection. Vision is what is seen through the Light of the unified mind, through Oneness. Projection is based on the fragmented reflection of light, like all shadows. It is not the Light. Vision is the closest thing to the Light we can experience in this dream world we call life.
Unified Light casts no shadows. Omnipresent Light reveals only ItSelf. As the above quote from ACIM points out, only through this Vision do we remember our Self as Love without change or shadows or opposites. Love and Light without darkness.
As I was meditating last night, it dawned that there is really no other prayer so pure as 'let there be Light.' When I say this prayer, I simply asking for what IS to be restored to my awareness. I am asking for the shadows and hidden places to be illuminated with Awareness, and that the Beauty that I Am be restored to my Sight. I am simply asking to really SEE, perhaps for the first time. I am praying the only true prayer.
What is True and Real and Forever is what is revealed in Light. What is hidden in the shadow of our many projections is simply the idea of separation from the One, replicating like a computer virus. The fact that we project our fears onto God is simply a defense against the Truth. God is Love, and Light, and Truth. There is nothing to fear in Reality. Only our illusions keep us caught in this insane circle of shadows. Let there be Light.
"Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal sense of the absence of Light, at the coming of which darkness loses the appearance of reality." -- Mary Baker Eddy
"And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was Light." -- The Bible
"Miracles are seen in Light." -- A Course in Miracles
There is a huge difference in Vision and projection. Vision is what is seen through the Light of the unified mind, through Oneness. Projection is based on the fragmented reflection of light, like all shadows. It is not the Light. Vision is the closest thing to the Light we can experience in this dream world we call life.
Unified Light casts no shadows. Omnipresent Light reveals only ItSelf. As the above quote from ACIM points out, only through this Vision do we remember our Self as Love without change or shadows or opposites. Love and Light without darkness.
As I was meditating last night, it dawned that there is really no other prayer so pure as 'let there be Light.' When I say this prayer, I simply asking for what IS to be restored to my awareness. I am asking for the shadows and hidden places to be illuminated with Awareness, and that the Beauty that I Am be restored to my Sight. I am simply asking to really SEE, perhaps for the first time. I am praying the only true prayer.
What is True and Real and Forever is what is revealed in Light. What is hidden in the shadow of our many projections is simply the idea of separation from the One, replicating like a computer virus. The fact that we project our fears onto God is simply a defense against the Truth. God is Love, and Light, and Truth. There is nothing to fear in Reality. Only our illusions keep us caught in this insane circle of shadows. Let there be Light.
"Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal sense of the absence of Light, at the coming of which darkness loses the appearance of reality." -- Mary Baker Eddy
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Opportunity
"Truth and illusion have no connection. This will remain forever true, however much you seek to connect them. But illusions are always connected, as is Truth. Each is united, a complete thought system, but totally disconnected to each other. And to perceive this is to recognize where separation is, and where it must be healed. The result of an idea is never separate from its source." -- A Course in Miracles
"You are of your father, Satan, who is a liar and the father of all lies." -- The Bible
Every day, every minute, we are projecting the world we see. When we sleep at night, we seem to project other worlds. Waking or sleeping, not one thing we see or experience is true. As ACIM puts it so unequivocally, "Not one thing in this world is true." That pretty much narrows it down. As ACIM explains it, the whole concept of Satan and illusion are extensions of the insane thought that we could somehow be separate from God, from Omnipresent Allness. Even the thinking mind can see the craziness of this if we just stop for a moment. Only wanting the world we live in to be true could cause us to believe it for even a fraction of a second. It's craziness.
Jeshua ben Joseph told us that this insane belief in illusory matter with a power other than God is the source of all suffering. He called it Satan, our collective belief in matter, and reminded us that Satan is a liar and the father of all lies. Out of this one error, this one ridiculous thought, whole fictional universes have mushroomed. This is the original movie studio, where every drama and comedy and romance and epic have been acted and re-enacted, for our viewing pleasure. We are very attached to suffering and crying and lusting and dying. We love projecting and blaming and praising and idolizing. All the stuff that dreams are made of. We worship dreams.
Out of this insane mix of distractions that hide our real motivations, there is a Voice for sanity. The Holy Spirit, the part of our mind that is always in communion with reality, our true Home in God, is quietly reminding us that this is not our Home. We are reminded that even in the midst of the dream we have a choice, and this choice has nothing at all to do with generating new and better dreams. It has everything to do with forgiving our part in the illusion and letting it go. It has everything to do with waking up. It has everything to do with recognizing each twist and turn and person in the dream as an opportunity to remember Who We Are. Choose once again.
I have discovered, as Jeshua and all of my teachers have tried to tell me for years (funny, but I really didn't want to hear this part for the longest time!), that the closer you get to really remembering Truth and seeing through the illusion, the scarier the dreams can get. I don't think this is in any way personal. It's simply that you are closer to the source of the lie of the separated self, and like all lies it fights for its delusional and illusory life. Only lies need defense. The Truth just IS.
The opportunity in every moment, in every situation, is to become aware of where our allegiance lies. We are always caught up in the dream of our own making, or resting in our true Self, in Oneness with God. Every dream is an opportunity to choose once again.
"Choose this day whom you shall serve... for man cannot serve two masters." -- The Bible
"You are of your father, Satan, who is a liar and the father of all lies." -- The Bible
Every day, every minute, we are projecting the world we see. When we sleep at night, we seem to project other worlds. Waking or sleeping, not one thing we see or experience is true. As ACIM puts it so unequivocally, "Not one thing in this world is true." That pretty much narrows it down. As ACIM explains it, the whole concept of Satan and illusion are extensions of the insane thought that we could somehow be separate from God, from Omnipresent Allness. Even the thinking mind can see the craziness of this if we just stop for a moment. Only wanting the world we live in to be true could cause us to believe it for even a fraction of a second. It's craziness.
Jeshua ben Joseph told us that this insane belief in illusory matter with a power other than God is the source of all suffering. He called it Satan, our collective belief in matter, and reminded us that Satan is a liar and the father of all lies. Out of this one error, this one ridiculous thought, whole fictional universes have mushroomed. This is the original movie studio, where every drama and comedy and romance and epic have been acted and re-enacted, for our viewing pleasure. We are very attached to suffering and crying and lusting and dying. We love projecting and blaming and praising and idolizing. All the stuff that dreams are made of. We worship dreams.
Out of this insane mix of distractions that hide our real motivations, there is a Voice for sanity. The Holy Spirit, the part of our mind that is always in communion with reality, our true Home in God, is quietly reminding us that this is not our Home. We are reminded that even in the midst of the dream we have a choice, and this choice has nothing at all to do with generating new and better dreams. It has everything to do with forgiving our part in the illusion and letting it go. It has everything to do with waking up. It has everything to do with recognizing each twist and turn and person in the dream as an opportunity to remember Who We Are. Choose once again.
I have discovered, as Jeshua and all of my teachers have tried to tell me for years (funny, but I really didn't want to hear this part for the longest time!), that the closer you get to really remembering Truth and seeing through the illusion, the scarier the dreams can get. I don't think this is in any way personal. It's simply that you are closer to the source of the lie of the separated self, and like all lies it fights for its delusional and illusory life. Only lies need defense. The Truth just IS.
The opportunity in every moment, in every situation, is to become aware of where our allegiance lies. We are always caught up in the dream of our own making, or resting in our true Self, in Oneness with God. Every dream is an opportunity to choose once again.
"Choose this day whom you shall serve... for man cannot serve two masters." -- The Bible
Friday, January 11, 2008
Oneness and Allness
"To be alone is to be separated from infinity, but how can this be if infinity has no end? No one can be beyond the limitless, because what has no limits must be everywhere. There are no beginnings and no endings in God, Whose universe is Himself. Can you exclude yourself from the universe, or from God Who is the universe? I and my Father are one with you, for you are part of Us. Do you really believe that part of God can be missing or lost to Him?" -- A Course in Miracles
Oneness is beyond what our minds can grasp. We can think about it, we can conceptualize it, we can make up stories and fantasies about it... but the mind which dissects, measures, compares, and analyzes by holding things separate and apart can never know itself as a part of the One.
Oneness requires a widening of perception. This is what I call 'widening back', like climbing a mountain for the perspective it brings. This is only a step in knowing Oneness. From a larger perspective, we start to see that it might just be true that all is One, and that nothing is what it seems. But what is required to know Oneness is to let go of wanting to be separate.
This longing for autonomy is the source of all suffering. The Buddha said that desire is the source of all suffering... and what is desire but the longing for separate interests and special gratification? Even the desire to join with another person is based on individual preferences. In other words, we want what we want, as a separate being in a separated world. Who, what, and where are beside the point.
Desire is not bad or wrong. It's just that when you look at life from a separated mind, you suffer, subtly or obviously, sooner or later. Period. Because the separated mind is not Home. It's a lie, and not the Truth about Who You Are. How can Allness desire anything? How can Oneness desire more than its Allness?
The comfort in knowing the Allness of God and therefore our Self is beyond measure. As ACIM reminds us, we are forever free of all limits, safe and whole, and forever free to forgive our false perceptions and change our minds about the world.
"The ego made the world as it perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, the reinterpreter of what the ego made, sees the world as a teaching device for bringing you Home. Correct and learn, and be open to learning... You who made delay can leave time behind simply by recognizing that neither beginnings nor endings were created by the Eternal, Who placed no limits on His creation or upon those who create like Him. The laws of the Universe do not permit contradiction. What holds for God holds for you." -- A Course in Miracles
Oneness is beyond what our minds can grasp. We can think about it, we can conceptualize it, we can make up stories and fantasies about it... but the mind which dissects, measures, compares, and analyzes by holding things separate and apart can never know itself as a part of the One.
Oneness requires a widening of perception. This is what I call 'widening back', like climbing a mountain for the perspective it brings. This is only a step in knowing Oneness. From a larger perspective, we start to see that it might just be true that all is One, and that nothing is what it seems. But what is required to know Oneness is to let go of wanting to be separate.
This longing for autonomy is the source of all suffering. The Buddha said that desire is the source of all suffering... and what is desire but the longing for separate interests and special gratification? Even the desire to join with another person is based on individual preferences. In other words, we want what we want, as a separate being in a separated world. Who, what, and where are beside the point.
Desire is not bad or wrong. It's just that when you look at life from a separated mind, you suffer, subtly or obviously, sooner or later. Period. Because the separated mind is not Home. It's a lie, and not the Truth about Who You Are. How can Allness desire anything? How can Oneness desire more than its Allness?
The comfort in knowing the Allness of God and therefore our Self is beyond measure. As ACIM reminds us, we are forever free of all limits, safe and whole, and forever free to forgive our false perceptions and change our minds about the world.
"The ego made the world as it perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, the reinterpreter of what the ego made, sees the world as a teaching device for bringing you Home. Correct and learn, and be open to learning... You who made delay can leave time behind simply by recognizing that neither beginnings nor endings were created by the Eternal, Who placed no limits on His creation or upon those who create like Him. The laws of the Universe do not permit contradiction. What holds for God holds for you." -- A Course in Miracles
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
With My Whole Heart
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." -- The Bible, Proverbs 3:5-6
"It is impossible to see two worlds." -- A Course in Miracles
There is a wonderful freedom in these words. I either trust with my whole heart or not at all. I either see it or I don't. There is really no in-between, although most of us live our lives moving our feet in a rapid dance between multiple illusory worlds.
There is also a challenge in these words. Jeshua ben Joseph said, "Narrow is the path that leads to Life, and few there are that walk thereon." ACIM says it this way: "All are called, but few choose to listen." The fine art of rationalization that is the ego's way seems to fog it all over, until it simply looks like we are surrendering to the way it is (how spiritual!)... when we are really doing exactly what we want while looking innocent and vulnerable; keeping our feet in both worlds while looking like we're taking the high road. Our very human guilt and compulsion remains intact, carefully disguised in busyness and altruism.
The deepest message in all of this, though, is that I have to make a stand at some point. I am either choosing to identify with the conditioned self that isn't even real, remaining a character in my own stories, or to know my Self as One with God, knowing God as All in All, Omnipresent, and nothing beside this Oneness... really knowing that wherever I stand is holy ground. Once this stand is taken, what question could remain? What could there be that is other than All?
How is this final choice ultimately made? As ACIM reminds us, "The real and the unreal are all there are to choose between, and nothing more than these. The world you see is proof you have already made a choice as all-embracing as its opposite." As the proverb reminds me, only choosing with my whole heart will do.
"Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you try to have two models, then you practically have none. Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the real and the unreal." -- Mary Baker Eddy
"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me." -- A Course in Miracles
"It is impossible to see two worlds." -- A Course in Miracles
There is a wonderful freedom in these words. I either trust with my whole heart or not at all. I either see it or I don't. There is really no in-between, although most of us live our lives moving our feet in a rapid dance between multiple illusory worlds.
There is also a challenge in these words. Jeshua ben Joseph said, "Narrow is the path that leads to Life, and few there are that walk thereon." ACIM says it this way: "All are called, but few choose to listen." The fine art of rationalization that is the ego's way seems to fog it all over, until it simply looks like we are surrendering to the way it is (how spiritual!)... when we are really doing exactly what we want while looking innocent and vulnerable; keeping our feet in both worlds while looking like we're taking the high road. Our very human guilt and compulsion remains intact, carefully disguised in busyness and altruism.
The deepest message in all of this, though, is that I have to make a stand at some point. I am either choosing to identify with the conditioned self that isn't even real, remaining a character in my own stories, or to know my Self as One with God, knowing God as All in All, Omnipresent, and nothing beside this Oneness... really knowing that wherever I stand is holy ground. Once this stand is taken, what question could remain? What could there be that is other than All?
How is this final choice ultimately made? As ACIM reminds us, "The real and the unreal are all there are to choose between, and nothing more than these. The world you see is proof you have already made a choice as all-embracing as its opposite." As the proverb reminds me, only choosing with my whole heart will do.
"Either Spirit or matter is your model. If you try to have two models, then you practically have none. Like a pendulum in a clock, you will be thrown back and forth, striking the ribs of matter and swinging between the real and the unreal." -- Mary Baker Eddy
"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me." -- A Course in Miracles
A Future Undisturbed
"Your present trust in Him is the defense that promises a future undisturbed, without a trace of sorrow, and with joy that constantly increases, as this life becomes a holy instant, set in time, but heeding only immortality. Let no defenses but your present trust direct the future, and this life becomes a meaningful encounter with the Truth that only your defenses would conceal." -- A Course in Miracles
I remember reading years ago, in Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi," that God is ever-new joy. And then many years later hearing Gangaji say that there is no end to the deepening of Awareness of Self, of God. In the above quote from ACIM we are reminded once again that the joy we really are is constantly increasing, giving itself as only Love can. I find this so incredibly moving and comforting in my moments of forgetting. And as I allow myself to be comforted without defense, without any obstacles of thought, I am instantly Home in this expanding Love that is our real Life. Why would I defend myself against what brings me only joy and peace?
The answer to this lies in the conditioned fear of Love. Our whole world is constructed around it. It seems the chief tool for self-deception in this dream world is to act like we are seeking what we want to defend against. We keep looking, looking, and acting like we haven't a clue where it could be, or why we seem to find it and then lose it... so we have to look some more, until we despair of looking and declare that it never really existed. This could apply to most anything, because everything is just Love in disguise... and the disguise is of our own making.
I am not speaking theory here. Direct experience will show you that literally anything you are defending against is the Love you fear. If you are willing to try this as an experiment, the only thing you risk losing is your illusion of yourself and the world. So let's try it, O.K.?
Bring into your mind and heart whatever you most fear... it could be something you fear will happen, or something you fear to lose, or a person who troubles you. Whatever it is, allow all of this experience and the feelings that go with it into your awareness without resistance. Welcome it as you would an honored guest. At the same time, allow into your mind and heart whatever you think you most want... again, whatever it is, allow all of this experience and the feelings that come with it into your awareness without resistance, mingling now with what you most fear. There may be other things that rise into awareness as you do this, and welcome them too. Rest in this awareness of all of it within your own mind and heart. Just rest and let it all be. Now, I ask you... in this inclusive awareness, what is your experience?
When our true wholeness is experienced, all our illusions fall away, and only Love remains. A future undisturbed is the result of inclusion, not exclusion. Defenses never work because they are always and only trying to run from the Love that is Who We Really Are. And Who We Are is a given, and shines without effort and without obstruction in spite of our illusory attempts to disguise it and hide from it. ACIM calls this wholeness forgiveness, the letting go of all limited self-definition and the dissolving of the world as we know it. Only Love remains.
"Only perfect Love exists. If there is fear, it produces a state that does not exist." -- A Course in Miracles
I remember reading years ago, in Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi," that God is ever-new joy. And then many years later hearing Gangaji say that there is no end to the deepening of Awareness of Self, of God. In the above quote from ACIM we are reminded once again that the joy we really are is constantly increasing, giving itself as only Love can. I find this so incredibly moving and comforting in my moments of forgetting. And as I allow myself to be comforted without defense, without any obstacles of thought, I am instantly Home in this expanding Love that is our real Life. Why would I defend myself against what brings me only joy and peace?
The answer to this lies in the conditioned fear of Love. Our whole world is constructed around it. It seems the chief tool for self-deception in this dream world is to act like we are seeking what we want to defend against. We keep looking, looking, and acting like we haven't a clue where it could be, or why we seem to find it and then lose it... so we have to look some more, until we despair of looking and declare that it never really existed. This could apply to most anything, because everything is just Love in disguise... and the disguise is of our own making.
I am not speaking theory here. Direct experience will show you that literally anything you are defending against is the Love you fear. If you are willing to try this as an experiment, the only thing you risk losing is your illusion of yourself and the world. So let's try it, O.K.?
Bring into your mind and heart whatever you most fear... it could be something you fear will happen, or something you fear to lose, or a person who troubles you. Whatever it is, allow all of this experience and the feelings that go with it into your awareness without resistance. Welcome it as you would an honored guest. At the same time, allow into your mind and heart whatever you think you most want... again, whatever it is, allow all of this experience and the feelings that come with it into your awareness without resistance, mingling now with what you most fear. There may be other things that rise into awareness as you do this, and welcome them too. Rest in this awareness of all of it within your own mind and heart. Just rest and let it all be. Now, I ask you... in this inclusive awareness, what is your experience?
When our true wholeness is experienced, all our illusions fall away, and only Love remains. A future undisturbed is the result of inclusion, not exclusion. Defenses never work because they are always and only trying to run from the Love that is Who We Really Are. And Who We Are is a given, and shines without effort and without obstruction in spite of our illusory attempts to disguise it and hide from it. ACIM calls this wholeness forgiveness, the letting go of all limited self-definition and the dissolving of the world as we know it. Only Love remains.
"Only perfect Love exists. If there is fear, it produces a state that does not exist." -- A Course in Miracles
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Organic Patience
"Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and wait without anxiety. All he sees is certain outcome, at a time perhaps unknown to him as yet, but not in doubt. The time will be as right as is the answer. Patience is natural to those who trust." -- A Course in Miracles
As most of you know by now, when I use the word organic I am using it in the natural sense, something that arises and emerges spontaneously out of its own nature. Like a seed sprouting from within itself, without apparent cause or motivation or design. In this sense, trust and patience are like our true seed-selves. They are attributes of Self that echo Who We Really are within the many storied dream we call life. And they are organic in the sense that they are effortlessly present when we drop our stories of who, what, and where... and they seem to sprout within us and give us new vision and inspiration to carry on within this world of dreams.
Regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves, organic patience is a core resource we all have, an attribute of Self we all share. This gives us the ability to gaze on what we most resist and see through it, to know that it is not reality, and that Who We Are remains untouched and unchangingly Whole, Loving, and in Peace and Joy. The bliss of this is beyond measure. Who We Are is beyond measure.
ACIM tells us unequivocally, "Nothing the world believes is true." Impatience always arises out of the illusion that there is truth in what we see. If all is our own projection, and we have never been apart from God, from the One, then not one thing that appears within our dream world can be true. The Allness of God and our eternal Oneness with Him is our only reality. Within this One, our true Self, there can be no lack or suffering, no opposites at all. "What is all-encompassing can have no opposites."
Organic patience arises from the Awareness of our Oneness with God, and the certainty that arises from this intuitive knowing. Organic patience is this ancient knowing we have always carried within us. ACIM reminds us, "As God created you, you must remain unchangeable, with all transitory states by definition false. And that includes all shifts in feelings and alterations in conditions of body or mind."
"No longer doubt that only good can come to you who are beloved of God." -- A Course in Miracles
As most of you know by now, when I use the word organic I am using it in the natural sense, something that arises and emerges spontaneously out of its own nature. Like a seed sprouting from within itself, without apparent cause or motivation or design. In this sense, trust and patience are like our true seed-selves. They are attributes of Self that echo Who We Really are within the many storied dream we call life. And they are organic in the sense that they are effortlessly present when we drop our stories of who, what, and where... and they seem to sprout within us and give us new vision and inspiration to carry on within this world of dreams.
Regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves, organic patience is a core resource we all have, an attribute of Self we all share. This gives us the ability to gaze on what we most resist and see through it, to know that it is not reality, and that Who We Are remains untouched and unchangingly Whole, Loving, and in Peace and Joy. The bliss of this is beyond measure. Who We Are is beyond measure.
ACIM tells us unequivocally, "Nothing the world believes is true." Impatience always arises out of the illusion that there is truth in what we see. If all is our own projection, and we have never been apart from God, from the One, then not one thing that appears within our dream world can be true. The Allness of God and our eternal Oneness with Him is our only reality. Within this One, our true Self, there can be no lack or suffering, no opposites at all. "What is all-encompassing can have no opposites."
Organic patience arises from the Awareness of our Oneness with God, and the certainty that arises from this intuitive knowing. Organic patience is this ancient knowing we have always carried within us. ACIM reminds us, "As God created you, you must remain unchangeable, with all transitory states by definition false. And that includes all shifts in feelings and alterations in conditions of body or mind."
"No longer doubt that only good can come to you who are beloved of God." -- A Course in Miracles
Monday, January 7, 2008
Growing Up
"Undermining the ego's thought system must be perceived as painful, even though this is anything but true. This will not last. Be patient a while and remember that the outcome is as certain as God." -- A Course in Miracles
"I rest in God." -- A Course in Miracles
I woke up in the middle of the night with a nameless anxiety. When I turned to the Course to read, it opened to a section about the undoing of the ego and guilt. I noticed that none of the stories I was telling myself had any effect on this nameless, restless anxiety. It was as if it were water churning, and there was nothing to grab onto. Nothing at all.
As I went through the stories and illusions that could logically be disturbing my peace and forgave my projections one by one, I noticed that I still was not at peace. So I kept looking for the source of the disturbance. And I found nothing. This in itself was disturbing. I felt like a dog chasing its tail.
And then I remembered. I guess my mind exhausted itself in the chase, but there was just a little opening, and the Light shone through. Of course there was nothing there! As ACIM says, "All your sins have been forgiven because they carried no effects at all. They are not there."
Waking up is a lot like growing up. When we're little, we are constantly looking for the toys and activities that will please us and excite us. As we mature, these activities shift and change... but when we really grow up, we no longer look for self-gratification. We look for meaning in the people and activities around us. Of course we won't find it there. If we are lucky, we will be disillusioned by everything, disappointed in everyone... and it will drive us within, to face the reality that we made it all up. It was all like the toys we played with as children, where we arbitrarily assigned roles and meanings, and none of it was true. And in this grand undoing called Awakening, we ultimately find lasting meaning and joy in the remembrance of Self.
So the instant I remembered, I was completely at peace. In that Holy Instant, all the imagined tail chasing was seen through, as the smokescreen it was... another disguise of the ego-identity trying to preserve itself. The illusory ego is never the problem... it's just the conditioned self I have presented in the world. The problem is thinking that it and its problems are me, or that they are real at all.
The instant I remember, I am at rest in God.
"I rest in God." -- A Course in Miracles
I woke up in the middle of the night with a nameless anxiety. When I turned to the Course to read, it opened to a section about the undoing of the ego and guilt. I noticed that none of the stories I was telling myself had any effect on this nameless, restless anxiety. It was as if it were water churning, and there was nothing to grab onto. Nothing at all.
As I went through the stories and illusions that could logically be disturbing my peace and forgave my projections one by one, I noticed that I still was not at peace. So I kept looking for the source of the disturbance. And I found nothing. This in itself was disturbing. I felt like a dog chasing its tail.
And then I remembered. I guess my mind exhausted itself in the chase, but there was just a little opening, and the Light shone through. Of course there was nothing there! As ACIM says, "All your sins have been forgiven because they carried no effects at all. They are not there."
Waking up is a lot like growing up. When we're little, we are constantly looking for the toys and activities that will please us and excite us. As we mature, these activities shift and change... but when we really grow up, we no longer look for self-gratification. We look for meaning in the people and activities around us. Of course we won't find it there. If we are lucky, we will be disillusioned by everything, disappointed in everyone... and it will drive us within, to face the reality that we made it all up. It was all like the toys we played with as children, where we arbitrarily assigned roles and meanings, and none of it was true. And in this grand undoing called Awakening, we ultimately find lasting meaning and joy in the remembrance of Self.
So the instant I remembered, I was completely at peace. In that Holy Instant, all the imagined tail chasing was seen through, as the smokescreen it was... another disguise of the ego-identity trying to preserve itself. The illusory ego is never the problem... it's just the conditioned self I have presented in the world. The problem is thinking that it and its problems are me, or that they are real at all.
The instant I remember, I am at rest in God.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Listening to Truth
"If you will lay aside the ego's voice, however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts that give you nothing that you really want; if you will listen with an open mind, that has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty Voice of Truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in its messages. Listen, and hear your Father speak to you through His appointed Voice, which silences the thunder of the meaningless, and shows the way to peace to those who cannot see. Be still today and listen to the Truth." -- A Course in Miracles
I know the ego's voice very well. It is so familiar and so conditioned that I mistake it for myself. It is interesting to find that when it is silent, I am still here. When I settle into listening mode, and breathe and rest in the silence, I am here. No anxious thoughts, no stories about who or what or where. No restless needs. And yet, I am here. With nothing, I am here. Who is this I that remains?
As I continue to rest and listen, rest and open, rest and be... as I become the listening silence... I hear the silence as absolute peace and joy, a pure knowing of Self. I hear nothing, and yet it is Everything. It is Home.
Out of this joyous, expansive peace arises whatever needs to be known, whatever image or thought. Sometimes the Voice speaks audibly. Most of the time it speaks through thoughts and images. Always it is a vibratory experience unlike any in my everyday experience. Always it is like manna from Heaven. Everyday it is fresh and exactly what I need.
Who is this I that rests in the silence? This is Self, the part of me that remains One with God, One with All that Is, whether I am aware of it or not. This I can never be lost or suffer. This I listens only to Truth.
"Remember always that you cannot be anywhere except in the Mind of God." -- A Course in Miracles
I know the ego's voice very well. It is so familiar and so conditioned that I mistake it for myself. It is interesting to find that when it is silent, I am still here. When I settle into listening mode, and breathe and rest in the silence, I am here. No anxious thoughts, no stories about who or what or where. No restless needs. And yet, I am here. With nothing, I am here. Who is this I that remains?
As I continue to rest and listen, rest and open, rest and be... as I become the listening silence... I hear the silence as absolute peace and joy, a pure knowing of Self. I hear nothing, and yet it is Everything. It is Home.
Out of this joyous, expansive peace arises whatever needs to be known, whatever image or thought. Sometimes the Voice speaks audibly. Most of the time it speaks through thoughts and images. Always it is a vibratory experience unlike any in my everyday experience. Always it is like manna from Heaven. Everyday it is fresh and exactly what I need.
Who is this I that rests in the silence? This is Self, the part of me that remains One with God, One with All that Is, whether I am aware of it or not. This I can never be lost or suffer. This I listens only to Truth.
"Remember always that you cannot be anywhere except in the Mind of God." -- A Course in Miracles
Saturday, January 5, 2008
One We Remain
"Any relationship in which the body enters is based not on love, but on idolatry. Love wishes to be known completely and understood and shared. It has no secrets; nothing that it would keep apart and hide. It walks in sunlight, open-eyed and calm, in smiling welcome and in sincerity so simple and so obvious it cannot be misunderstood. Then lay aside the body and quietly transcend it, rising to welcome what you really want. And from His holy temple, look you not back on what you have awakened from. For no illusions can attract the mind that has transcended them, and left them far behind." -- A Course in Miracles
In both the Bible and A Course in Miracles, there are many statements that seem impossible to live. As a result, people throughout time have read these statements through the filter of trying to understand... in other words, trying to make it fit with what they already think is true. When read with an open mind and heart, there is simplicity and honesty and authenticity in these statements. The hard life, the difficult life, is the one we have tried so hard to believe... that we are a body that is mostly out of our control and that tells us what we want and when we want it. That our relationships revolve around a body and its resulting personality, and that people either 'love' it or 'like' it, or they don't. A body and a personality can be either good or bad, or a combination of both. But never can a body and a personality be One, with itself or with others. It's a set-up.
The organic life, the effortless life, is one where we don't identify with a body any more than we do with a car or a house. Where we don't identify ourselves through our so-called relationships, with people or with things, at all. Yes, we get in our car to go from point a to point b, at least for now. And yes, we seem to inhabit a body to move through the dream of time and space. Laying aside the body can be done in any instant we cease to identify with it. This is what ACIM refers to as the Holy Instant, time out of time, when we pause an instant and remember Who We Are. As the Workbook in ACIM reminds us again and again, "I am not a body. I am free. And I am still as God created me."
God created us One, and One we remain. Our illusions of bodies and their relationships and activities and problems and grandiose solutions all are self-created idols with the single purpose of hiding from that Oneness. And yet, when given to the Holy Spirit it is all reinterpreted as a means for Awakening. We are able to let it all go, and trust the organic and effortless unfolding of Self.
"You who are learning this may still be fearful, but you are not immobilized. The Holy Instant is of greater value now to you than its unholy seeming counterpart, and you have learned you really want but one. This is not time for sadness. Perhaps confusion, but hardly discouragement. You have a real relationship and it has meaning. It as like your real relationship with God as equal things are like unto each other. Idolatry is past and meaningless." -- A Course in Miracles
In both the Bible and A Course in Miracles, there are many statements that seem impossible to live. As a result, people throughout time have read these statements through the filter of trying to understand... in other words, trying to make it fit with what they already think is true. When read with an open mind and heart, there is simplicity and honesty and authenticity in these statements. The hard life, the difficult life, is the one we have tried so hard to believe... that we are a body that is mostly out of our control and that tells us what we want and when we want it. That our relationships revolve around a body and its resulting personality, and that people either 'love' it or 'like' it, or they don't. A body and a personality can be either good or bad, or a combination of both. But never can a body and a personality be One, with itself or with others. It's a set-up.
The organic life, the effortless life, is one where we don't identify with a body any more than we do with a car or a house. Where we don't identify ourselves through our so-called relationships, with people or with things, at all. Yes, we get in our car to go from point a to point b, at least for now. And yes, we seem to inhabit a body to move through the dream of time and space. Laying aside the body can be done in any instant we cease to identify with it. This is what ACIM refers to as the Holy Instant, time out of time, when we pause an instant and remember Who We Are. As the Workbook in ACIM reminds us again and again, "I am not a body. I am free. And I am still as God created me."
God created us One, and One we remain. Our illusions of bodies and their relationships and activities and problems and grandiose solutions all are self-created idols with the single purpose of hiding from that Oneness. And yet, when given to the Holy Spirit it is all reinterpreted as a means for Awakening. We are able to let it all go, and trust the organic and effortless unfolding of Self.
"You who are learning this may still be fearful, but you are not immobilized. The Holy Instant is of greater value now to you than its unholy seeming counterpart, and you have learned you really want but one. This is not time for sadness. Perhaps confusion, but hardly discouragement. You have a real relationship and it has meaning. It as like your real relationship with God as equal things are like unto each other. Idolatry is past and meaningless." -- A Course in Miracles
Friday, January 4, 2008
An Imagined Life
"Your life is not as you imagine it." -- A Course in Miracles
I have somehow always known that nothing is what it seems. From the time we are born we have an advanced radar system for navigating the half-truths we call life. The problem is that we are taught to discount it, and taught that there are others who are much wiser and more experienced than we are that we must listen to. The question to ask is: experienced at what? It takes no experience to know the truth. It only takes listening within. The very thing we have conditioned ourselves not to do.
How can we reverse ourselves in this? First, we must know that every person we encounter is a projected aspect of our own self. At the same time, they are only interacting with their own projection. So there is absolutely no point in trying to understand it 'out there.' Second, we must completely surrender the need to make decisions and order our lives around external feedback and guidance, and be willing to truly listen to the inner Voice. It is your true Self, the Voice of God speaking to you. ACIM says that "God is very quiet, for there is no conflict in Him." The still, small voice won't argue with you. You just have to keep quiet and listen.
Our lives are not as we imagine them. Thank God. But we find them being re-imagined through the lens of our true Self, when we let go of the conditioned external addiction. We find that an organic emergence takes place that fills our lives with meaning and purpose that does not come from without, or from the conditioned self at all. We find an effortless unfolding that is not our doing, but the grace of God.
"The Will of God is One, and all there is. This is your heritage. The universe beyond the sun and stars, and all the thoughts of which you can conceive belong to you." -- A Course in Miracles
I have somehow always known that nothing is what it seems. From the time we are born we have an advanced radar system for navigating the half-truths we call life. The problem is that we are taught to discount it, and taught that there are others who are much wiser and more experienced than we are that we must listen to. The question to ask is: experienced at what? It takes no experience to know the truth. It only takes listening within. The very thing we have conditioned ourselves not to do.
How can we reverse ourselves in this? First, we must know that every person we encounter is a projected aspect of our own self. At the same time, they are only interacting with their own projection. So there is absolutely no point in trying to understand it 'out there.' Second, we must completely surrender the need to make decisions and order our lives around external feedback and guidance, and be willing to truly listen to the inner Voice. It is your true Self, the Voice of God speaking to you. ACIM says that "God is very quiet, for there is no conflict in Him." The still, small voice won't argue with you. You just have to keep quiet and listen.
Our lives are not as we imagine them. Thank God. But we find them being re-imagined through the lens of our true Self, when we let go of the conditioned external addiction. We find that an organic emergence takes place that fills our lives with meaning and purpose that does not come from without, or from the conditioned self at all. We find an effortless unfolding that is not our doing, but the grace of God.
"The Will of God is One, and all there is. This is your heritage. The universe beyond the sun and stars, and all the thoughts of which you can conceive belong to you." -- A Course in Miracles
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