"His Grace the answer is to all despair, for in it lies remembrance of His Love. His gift of Grace is more than just an answer. It restores all memories the sleeping mind forgot; all certainty of what Love's meaning IS." - A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 168, 2:3, 3:5-6
I have seemingly had little work and few new clients for nearly 6 months now. Work is a topic I have been praying about regularly... not just to have it (and I've applied for countless 'jobs'), but to see what errors in my own mind and heart I am seeing reflected in the world. I pray to understand and forgive and heal this seeming lack for all of us, since I know we are One Mind and One Heart. And I know from my direct experience of God that this is not being done TO me (or anyone else). God has given us everything... but I can only receive what I accept. What do I accept as true about work? What do I accept as true about myself? What do I accept as true about God? Do I think these are different subjects, unrelated? Since God is All, they must be One.
In listening to my own thoughts and words on this topic, I realize that even when I talk about changing my perceptions, I say, "I'm working on... (fill in the blank)." Hmmm... Why is it that we associate the word 'work' with words like 'hard' or 'effort' or 'struggle' or 'a work in progress?' Where has all this efforting gotten us? What about the word Grace? What about the Joy of living and moving and having our being in God? What about Grace without cost?
We are created in the image of God. In God we live and move and have our being. This is beyond question, since it is a direct experience NOW. If it's not your direct experience, I urge you to spend time in silence and allow yourself to remember Who You Are, as a reflection of God, as a transparency for God. Never take anyone else's word for this. That's like reading the menu but never actually eating the feast. And Grace, the expression of remembering Who We Are, is the effortless flow of Awareness that pours from this fountain of Joy at the core of our Being. As the quote above reminds us, it's the catalyst for remembering the Love that We Are. Grace has no price and no cost. It's always pouring from within our Being, and requires no effort, no 'work' on ourselves. It is the effortless remembrance of what has always been. We have only to accept it.
As I remember minute-by-minute and day-by-day that Grace has no cost, I soften and open and allow Love to move in my life. I continue to receive unexpected donations for the Sanctuary and for my Spiritual Direction and ACIM Classes. New clients call out of the blue. My books sell more copies and my CD project takes wing as more and more people pre-order. I am loved and nurtured and supported in my work, without efforting. Grace has no cost... we don't have to earn it or be good enough or do it right. We just have to return to our right Mind.
However and wherever we find ourselves, we are in the midst of God. Right where we are is holy ground. That's Grace for you. Grace without cost.
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prayer. Show all posts
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Real Freedom
"Think of the freedom in the recognition that you are not bound by all the strange and twisted laws you have set up to save you. There are no laws except the laws of God. This needs repeating, over and over, until you realize it applies to everything. There is no loss under the laws of God. Payment is neither given nor received. Exchange cannot be made; there are no substitutes; and nothing is replaced by something else. God's laws forever give and never take. Hear Him Who tells you this, and realize how foolish are the 'laws' you thought upheld the world you thought you saw." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 76, 3:1, 6:1-2, 9:3-6, 10:1
How did your day begin today? Is your mind clear and clean of all thoughts of what has been or what will be? Is your mind free? The realization that none of our man made laws or rules has any real effect or hold on us is the beginning of real freedom.
Jesus walked the earth with this liberated awareness. He didn't always wash his hands before he ate. He healed on the Sabbath, to the horror of the other rabbis. He hung out with people who were social and political outcasts. He precipitated food and coin and wine out of thin air when needed, seemingly from out of nowhere. He didn't work for a living, and told his disciples that to follow him meant "the son of man has nowhere to lay his head." He didn't need to own anything, because he knew that the Allness of God is omnipresent. He knew that God's laws forever give, and never take. He knew that in the awareness of Allness, whatever is needed is already present.
Questions arise for us: "How can I be expected to live like this? I have to be practical, don't I? It's not freedom to live in fear of what tomorrow will bring, is it?" The Voice of Christ speaks quietly but firmly in answer to our fears: "Peace, be still. Beloved, I am with you always, and all that I have is thine. Not some, but ALL that I have, infinitely and forever, unchanging and always."
Each of us must face these conditioned fears of lack and loss in our own lives, in our individual circumstances. Some might look bigger or scarier than others... some might seem inconsequential in the scheme of things. But don't be fooled. There is no hierarchy of illusions, and there are no projected beliefs that are more or less important than any others, or any more or less true or real. They are all made up, learned, conditioned... all mental constructs without any substance. We may live and move in the world as if they were true, but when we remember God and our true life in God, we remember the infinite freedom in which we live and move and have our being. We are always safe, always fulfilled, and always home. Where else would we be, since God is All?
Every day my prayer is to return to the Truth of Being... that there is only God, and God is All and only Good. That God is Love, and only Love. My prayer is for a deeper awareness of what the omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence of Spirit IS... and for a deeper knowing of the nothingness of all our projected fears and lacks and limitations that make up the so-called laws of the projected world... an illusory world of thought-forms, dreams and imagination without substance. In Reality there is nothing but God, and we live and move and have our Being in God's Oneness. What does that make us?
"Here is the perfect statement of my freedom. I am under no laws but God's. I am constantly tempted to make up other laws and give them power over me. I suffer only because of my belief in them. They have no real effect on me at all. I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws save God's. And His are the laws of Love and Freedom." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 88, 3:2-8
How did your day begin today? Is your mind clear and clean of all thoughts of what has been or what will be? Is your mind free? The realization that none of our man made laws or rules has any real effect or hold on us is the beginning of real freedom.
Jesus walked the earth with this liberated awareness. He didn't always wash his hands before he ate. He healed on the Sabbath, to the horror of the other rabbis. He hung out with people who were social and political outcasts. He precipitated food and coin and wine out of thin air when needed, seemingly from out of nowhere. He didn't work for a living, and told his disciples that to follow him meant "the son of man has nowhere to lay his head." He didn't need to own anything, because he knew that the Allness of God is omnipresent. He knew that God's laws forever give, and never take. He knew that in the awareness of Allness, whatever is needed is already present.
Questions arise for us: "How can I be expected to live like this? I have to be practical, don't I? It's not freedom to live in fear of what tomorrow will bring, is it?" The Voice of Christ speaks quietly but firmly in answer to our fears: "Peace, be still. Beloved, I am with you always, and all that I have is thine. Not some, but ALL that I have, infinitely and forever, unchanging and always."
Each of us must face these conditioned fears of lack and loss in our own lives, in our individual circumstances. Some might look bigger or scarier than others... some might seem inconsequential in the scheme of things. But don't be fooled. There is no hierarchy of illusions, and there are no projected beliefs that are more or less important than any others, or any more or less true or real. They are all made up, learned, conditioned... all mental constructs without any substance. We may live and move in the world as if they were true, but when we remember God and our true life in God, we remember the infinite freedom in which we live and move and have our being. We are always safe, always fulfilled, and always home. Where else would we be, since God is All?
Every day my prayer is to return to the Truth of Being... that there is only God, and God is All and only Good. That God is Love, and only Love. My prayer is for a deeper awareness of what the omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence of Spirit IS... and for a deeper knowing of the nothingness of all our projected fears and lacks and limitations that make up the so-called laws of the projected world... an illusory world of thought-forms, dreams and imagination without substance. In Reality there is nothing but God, and we live and move and have our Being in God's Oneness. What does that make us?
"Here is the perfect statement of my freedom. I am under no laws but God's. I am constantly tempted to make up other laws and give them power over me. I suffer only because of my belief in them. They have no real effect on me at all. I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws save God's. And His are the laws of Love and Freedom." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 88, 3:2-8
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sailing on Light
"Light carries not just energy but also momentum -- a story told by every comet tail, which consists of dust blown by sunlight from a comet's core." -- Setting Sail into Space, Propelled by Sunshine; by Dennis Overbye for the NY Times, November 10, 2009
"Being must be extended. The Kingdom is forever extending because it is in the Mind of God. Your Self-fulness is as boundless as God's. Like His, It extends forever and in perfect peace. Its radiance is so intense that It creates in perfect joy, and only the whole can be born of Its Wholeness." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section IX, 2:6, 4:1, & 6:7-9
Sometimes I read a phrase or even a word, and I'm transported or returned. Sometimes it will be a passage of music or the eyes of a friend. Whatever the symbol, whatever the reminder, it returns me momentarily to my Self. It can be anyone, anywhere. It IS everyone, everywhere. And the awareness of expansion, of inclusive vision, IS our natural state. So when I read the above quote in the NY Times this morning, it worked in consciousness like yeast in a loaf of bread...
We are such expansive Beings, living and moving and having our Being in the Mind of God. We are emanations of that Light, in relationship with It like the sunbeam is to the sun. The notion that light has not just energy but momentum is pregnant with meaning for us. It means that just by being what it is, light creates. It means that the simplicity of Being is our vital and essential function, and that function has energy and momentum. We are. We radiate. We extend. Just like our Source.
Unlike our material experience with its limited life spans, ideas expand and extend without limit when they're shared. We're spiritual creations, ideas in the Mind of God, and are blessed with each other to allow the Love and Light that is the core of our Being to extend and emanate forever. As it says in Christian liturgy, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen." We're still always and only talking about the Oneness and Allness of God. The Son emanates from the Source, and Spirit extends, expands, communicates and expresses. To paraphrase the quote from the NY Times, the Allness of Being (God) extends ItSelf through energy and momentum that are forever One with their Source.
What does this mean for us? Or is this just a beautiful abstraction? Oh, it's so much more than that. It's an affirmation of the simplicitiy of Being, a reminder that all our human machinations are beside the point. That whatever we do, wherever we find ourselves in our human drama, Who we are is untouched and eternal and forever emanating the Light of God. It's not ours to decide. It's not ours to do. It's simply ours to BE.
Let there be Light. I Am as God created me. I Am Being, sailing on Light, extending as the Light and Love of God. No other prayer is needed.
"God is All in all in a very literal sense. All being is in Him Who IS all Being." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section IV, 7:4-5
"Being must be extended. The Kingdom is forever extending because it is in the Mind of God. Your Self-fulness is as boundless as God's. Like His, It extends forever and in perfect peace. Its radiance is so intense that It creates in perfect joy, and only the whole can be born of Its Wholeness." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section IX, 2:6, 4:1, & 6:7-9
Sometimes I read a phrase or even a word, and I'm transported or returned. Sometimes it will be a passage of music or the eyes of a friend. Whatever the symbol, whatever the reminder, it returns me momentarily to my Self. It can be anyone, anywhere. It IS everyone, everywhere. And the awareness of expansion, of inclusive vision, IS our natural state. So when I read the above quote in the NY Times this morning, it worked in consciousness like yeast in a loaf of bread...
We are such expansive Beings, living and moving and having our Being in the Mind of God. We are emanations of that Light, in relationship with It like the sunbeam is to the sun. The notion that light has not just energy but momentum is pregnant with meaning for us. It means that just by being what it is, light creates. It means that the simplicity of Being is our vital and essential function, and that function has energy and momentum. We are. We radiate. We extend. Just like our Source.
Unlike our material experience with its limited life spans, ideas expand and extend without limit when they're shared. We're spiritual creations, ideas in the Mind of God, and are blessed with each other to allow the Love and Light that is the core of our Being to extend and emanate forever. As it says in Christian liturgy, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen." We're still always and only talking about the Oneness and Allness of God. The Son emanates from the Source, and Spirit extends, expands, communicates and expresses. To paraphrase the quote from the NY Times, the Allness of Being (God) extends ItSelf through energy and momentum that are forever One with their Source.
What does this mean for us? Or is this just a beautiful abstraction? Oh, it's so much more than that. It's an affirmation of the simplicitiy of Being, a reminder that all our human machinations are beside the point. That whatever we do, wherever we find ourselves in our human drama, Who we are is untouched and eternal and forever emanating the Light of God. It's not ours to decide. It's not ours to do. It's simply ours to BE.
Let there be Light. I Am as God created me. I Am Being, sailing on Light, extending as the Light and Love of God. No other prayer is needed.
"God is All in all in a very literal sense. All being is in Him Who IS all Being." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section IV, 7:4-5
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Bring It to Truth
"Salvation is no compromise of any kind. To compromise is to accept but part of what you want; to take a little and give up the rest. Salvation gives up nothing. It is complete for everyone. Let the idea of compromise but enter, and the awareness of salvation's purpose is lost because it is not recognized. Compromise is the belief that true salvation is impossible. It would maintain you can attack a little, love a little, and know the difference. Does this make sense? This course is easy just because it makes no compromise. Yet it seems difficult to those who still believe that compromise is possible." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 23, Section III, 3:1-7,9, 4:1-2
I often have what I call morning dreams. I've found that one way to 'hear' the Voice of the Holy Spirit, my High Self, is when I'm led to fall back asleep after my morning reading and prayer time. When this happens, there is often a very symbolic dream, with the Voice speaking clearly and stating the issue.
So there are two lessons confronting me this morning... and I see them mirrored everywhere. One is becoming single-minded. This is what ACIM calls right-minded, or miracle-minded. No compromise. It shows up in daily life as focus, as not getting lost in the myriad of details and tasks that each day seems to bring, but maintaining focus and attention on what is truly important to me. This is simply another story line in the dream... but the reason this one matters is that by maintaining discipline and focus, by becoming single-minded, I am remembering that I am cause and not effect. So what I do is actually not important... but it is very vital that I remember that I am the dreamer, and not just another aspect of the dream. When what I say I want and what I find myself thinking about and doing are different things, I am being dishonest with myself and also playing the victim within the dream. "I am not the victim of the world I see." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 31)
The second lesson is about not trying to remember the truth. When I try to remember truth, gather glimpses of truth, read bits of truth to try and inspire myself, and try and bring these glimpses to bear in my dream, I am kidding myself. This is what ACIM calls trying to bring truth to our illusions. This is the pseudo-spirituality of the world, and it simply maintains the status quo of the dream. What must happen daily, hourly, holy instant to holy instant, is to bring our illusions to Truth. This is done through our function of forgiveness... bring it to Truth, and we always remain at peace, knowing that nothing but God ever happened. Bring bits of so-called truth to our dream, and we are always striving, always seeking for knowledge, always trying to figure it out. The ego's dictum is 'seek but do not find.' ACIM clearly tells us that "Truth will correct all errors in my mind." Truth already IS true... we don't have to remember it to make it so. We don't have to do anything but willingly bring our illusory dream world back into its source, our own mind... and there ask the Holy Spirit, our High Self, to correct it. We can't ask that they be fixed 'out there.' There is nothing out there. It's all projection, the hall of mirrors that pretends to be life. It's all in our own mind. "Truth will correct all errors in my mind." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 107)
So whatever it is that seems to happen... bring it to Truth. Ask that your perception be healed, that Truth correct your perception. Then rest in God. Whatever seems to trouble you... bring it Truth. Ask that your perception be healed, that Truth correct your mental distortions. Then rest in God. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms." (The Bible; Deuteronomy 33:27) "For in Him we live and move and have our Being." (The Bible; Acts 17:28)
We are immortal Spirit, created in the image and likeness of God. Like the sunlight emanates from the sun, we shine; we radiate from the Mind of God. And all the dreams in the dream we call life have never changed us, have never done anything at all. Dreams are still dreams, and have no real effects. Forgiveness reveals this, each time we bring our illusions to Truth.
"The Truth about you is so lofty that nothing unworthy of God is worthy of you. Choose, then, what you want in these terms, and accept nothing that you would not offer to God as wholly fitting for Him. You do not want anything else." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 9, Section VII, 8:4-6
I often have what I call morning dreams. I've found that one way to 'hear' the Voice of the Holy Spirit, my High Self, is when I'm led to fall back asleep after my morning reading and prayer time. When this happens, there is often a very symbolic dream, with the Voice speaking clearly and stating the issue.
So there are two lessons confronting me this morning... and I see them mirrored everywhere. One is becoming single-minded. This is what ACIM calls right-minded, or miracle-minded. No compromise. It shows up in daily life as focus, as not getting lost in the myriad of details and tasks that each day seems to bring, but maintaining focus and attention on what is truly important to me. This is simply another story line in the dream... but the reason this one matters is that by maintaining discipline and focus, by becoming single-minded, I am remembering that I am cause and not effect. So what I do is actually not important... but it is very vital that I remember that I am the dreamer, and not just another aspect of the dream. When what I say I want and what I find myself thinking about and doing are different things, I am being dishonest with myself and also playing the victim within the dream. "I am not the victim of the world I see." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 31)
The second lesson is about not trying to remember the truth. When I try to remember truth, gather glimpses of truth, read bits of truth to try and inspire myself, and try and bring these glimpses to bear in my dream, I am kidding myself. This is what ACIM calls trying to bring truth to our illusions. This is the pseudo-spirituality of the world, and it simply maintains the status quo of the dream. What must happen daily, hourly, holy instant to holy instant, is to bring our illusions to Truth. This is done through our function of forgiveness... bring it to Truth, and we always remain at peace, knowing that nothing but God ever happened. Bring bits of so-called truth to our dream, and we are always striving, always seeking for knowledge, always trying to figure it out. The ego's dictum is 'seek but do not find.' ACIM clearly tells us that "Truth will correct all errors in my mind." Truth already IS true... we don't have to remember it to make it so. We don't have to do anything but willingly bring our illusory dream world back into its source, our own mind... and there ask the Holy Spirit, our High Self, to correct it. We can't ask that they be fixed 'out there.' There is nothing out there. It's all projection, the hall of mirrors that pretends to be life. It's all in our own mind. "Truth will correct all errors in my mind." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 107)
So whatever it is that seems to happen... bring it to Truth. Ask that your perception be healed, that Truth correct your perception. Then rest in God. Whatever seems to trouble you... bring it Truth. Ask that your perception be healed, that Truth correct your mental distortions. Then rest in God. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms." (The Bible; Deuteronomy 33:27) "For in Him we live and move and have our Being." (The Bible; Acts 17:28)
We are immortal Spirit, created in the image and likeness of God. Like the sunlight emanates from the sun, we shine; we radiate from the Mind of God. And all the dreams in the dream we call life have never changed us, have never done anything at all. Dreams are still dreams, and have no real effects. Forgiveness reveals this, each time we bring our illusions to Truth.
"The Truth about you is so lofty that nothing unworthy of God is worthy of you. Choose, then, what you want in these terms, and accept nothing that you would not offer to God as wholly fitting for Him. You do not want anything else." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 9, Section VII, 8:4-6
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Our Treasure House
"My treasure house is full, and angels watch its open doors..." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 316, 1:4
"We find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes... Spirit, not matter, being the Source of supply." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 206, Lines 15-18
In moments of peace, resting in God, there is such an indescribable sense of wholeness and peace, of divine fulfillment and contentment. "My treasure house is full" is an apt description... or as the Psalmist said, "My cup runneth over." This has nothing to do with material structures or economic ups and downs. This sense of wholeness and fullness is Who We Are.
This treasure of wealth and wholeness is not dependent on anything at all... in fact, it is often most readily turned to and recognized when we feel most separate from it. As William Shakespeare said, "Sweet are the uses of adversity, which like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head; and this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." Our challenges drive us to remember Who We Are.
Let's keep this in mind, regardless of economic swings or financial challenges. God is All, and our treasure house remains full, eternally.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." -- The Bible; Psalm 23:6
"God is lavish, unfailing abundance; the rich, omnipresent Substance of the universe." -- John Randolph Price
"We find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes... Spirit, not matter, being the Source of supply." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 206, Lines 15-18
In moments of peace, resting in God, there is such an indescribable sense of wholeness and peace, of divine fulfillment and contentment. "My treasure house is full" is an apt description... or as the Psalmist said, "My cup runneth over." This has nothing to do with material structures or economic ups and downs. This sense of wholeness and fullness is Who We Are.
This treasure of wealth and wholeness is not dependent on anything at all... in fact, it is often most readily turned to and recognized when we feel most separate from it. As William Shakespeare said, "Sweet are the uses of adversity, which like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head; and this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." Our challenges drive us to remember Who We Are.
Let's keep this in mind, regardless of economic swings or financial challenges. God is All, and our treasure house remains full, eternally.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." -- The Bible; Psalm 23:6
"God is lavish, unfailing abundance; the rich, omnipresent Substance of the universe." -- John Randolph Price
Friday, October 10, 2008
Power and Love and a Sound Mind
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." -- The Bible; 2 Timothy 1:7
"You who are dedicated to the incorruptible have been given, through your acceptance, the power to release from corruption." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 19, Section IV-C, 6:1
Wow, these are powerful passages. How can I read them and not be moved to move fearlessly in the world, to make a difference wherever I find myself? How can I read them and continue to indulge, even for a moment, in pandering to the alleged safety and security of a false, separate self?
A Course in Miracles reminds us that by accepting our true Origin and Source as Sons of God, we have the power to release from corruption... which is defined by Webster as a "departure from the original or from what is pure or correct." By remembering Who We Are, we remember the power and love and sound mind that are ours already, as emanations of the One Mind. God did not give the spirit of fear, and so it does not exist. What God did not create is simply not, and never was.
What does this mean for us in these turbulent times? So many are caught up in the currents of divisive election issues and economic fears. I have heard very well-meaning people say that none of it is real, so why bother to try and change any of it, or to actively participate? This is fear disguised with a not-so-effective defense mechanism of avoidance. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear..."
Gangaji, one of my mentors along the path, tells this story about her teacher, Papaji: "In 1947, India was in extreme crisis. Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs were killing each other. Enforced mass migration was causing anger, fear, and despair. The country was in chaos. At the same time, Papaji sat in bliss at Ramana Maharshi's feet, by the holy mountain of Arunachala. One day, after reading in the newspaper about the horrors, Ramana asked Papaji about his family and the dangers they were facing as they were forced to leave the Punjab and relocate to Hindu governed Lucknow. Papaji replied, "That is all just an empty dream. I am here, in the awareness of reality and the bliss of your grace." Ramana looked deeply into Papaji's eyes and said, "If it is all a dream, then what is the problem with going and taking care of your family? Go now and help them." Papaji left that very night for the Punjab, and was able to get all his family out in the nick of time. He got them on the last train allowed out."
Ramana peeled away the egoic defense mechanism of separation by avoidance. If you're avoiding something, you fear it, and you've made it something separate in your own deluded mind. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear..." We are called, each in our own way, to listen to what's going on in the world. We are called to listen to clients and friends and family, and we are always led in beautiful and surprising ways to act in the world with God's power, and love, and sound mind.
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." -- The Bible; Philippians 4:13
"You who are dedicated to the incorruptible have been given, through your acceptance, the power to release from corruption." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 19, Section IV-C, 6:1
Wow, these are powerful passages. How can I read them and not be moved to move fearlessly in the world, to make a difference wherever I find myself? How can I read them and continue to indulge, even for a moment, in pandering to the alleged safety and security of a false, separate self?
A Course in Miracles reminds us that by accepting our true Origin and Source as Sons of God, we have the power to release from corruption... which is defined by Webster as a "departure from the original or from what is pure or correct." By remembering Who We Are, we remember the power and love and sound mind that are ours already, as emanations of the One Mind. God did not give the spirit of fear, and so it does not exist. What God did not create is simply not, and never was.
What does this mean for us in these turbulent times? So many are caught up in the currents of divisive election issues and economic fears. I have heard very well-meaning people say that none of it is real, so why bother to try and change any of it, or to actively participate? This is fear disguised with a not-so-effective defense mechanism of avoidance. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear..."
Gangaji, one of my mentors along the path, tells this story about her teacher, Papaji: "In 1947, India was in extreme crisis. Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs were killing each other. Enforced mass migration was causing anger, fear, and despair. The country was in chaos. At the same time, Papaji sat in bliss at Ramana Maharshi's feet, by the holy mountain of Arunachala. One day, after reading in the newspaper about the horrors, Ramana asked Papaji about his family and the dangers they were facing as they were forced to leave the Punjab and relocate to Hindu governed Lucknow. Papaji replied, "That is all just an empty dream. I am here, in the awareness of reality and the bliss of your grace." Ramana looked deeply into Papaji's eyes and said, "If it is all a dream, then what is the problem with going and taking care of your family? Go now and help them." Papaji left that very night for the Punjab, and was able to get all his family out in the nick of time. He got them on the last train allowed out."
Ramana peeled away the egoic defense mechanism of separation by avoidance. If you're avoiding something, you fear it, and you've made it something separate in your own deluded mind. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear..." We are called, each in our own way, to listen to what's going on in the world. We are called to listen to clients and friends and family, and we are always led in beautiful and surprising ways to act in the world with God's power, and love, and sound mind.
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." -- The Bible; Philippians 4:13
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Presumptuous Sins
"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy Sight, O Lord, my Strength, and my Redeemer." -- The Bible; Psalm 19:13-14
What a prayer! Keep me from presumptuous sins! Webster defines presumptuous as meaning "overstepping due bounds; taking liberties."
It is presumptuous of me to imagine an existence apart from God. Pretty much everything we think and do in this world is an imagined separate existence... and so these presumptuous sins, these false ideas and ways of being, seem to have dominion over us as we live our imagined separate lives. The Psalmist declares that he will not let these lies have dominion over him, anymore... and without this imagined separate existence and its many false compulsions, he discovers what we also discover... that we are as God created us, and always have been... innocent and free of any separation or sin or transgression.
Now the joy pours out of the Psalmist's heart: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy Sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer." Letting go of all imagined separateness, there is only the Allness of God... and the Psalmist longs with all his heart to remember only his Oneness with God.
Innocence, joy, and remembrance of Oneness are all that we find, when we let go of all presumptuous sins. God is All.
What a prayer! Keep me from presumptuous sins! Webster defines presumptuous as meaning "overstepping due bounds; taking liberties."
It is presumptuous of me to imagine an existence apart from God. Pretty much everything we think and do in this world is an imagined separate existence... and so these presumptuous sins, these false ideas and ways of being, seem to have dominion over us as we live our imagined separate lives. The Psalmist declares that he will not let these lies have dominion over him, anymore... and without this imagined separate existence and its many false compulsions, he discovers what we also discover... that we are as God created us, and always have been... innocent and free of any separation or sin or transgression.
Now the joy pours out of the Psalmist's heart: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy Sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer." Letting go of all imagined separateness, there is only the Allness of God... and the Psalmist longs with all his heart to remember only his Oneness with God.
Innocence, joy, and remembrance of Oneness are all that we find, when we let go of all presumptuous sins. God is All.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Everything and Everywhere and Always
"Do you not realize a war against yourself would be a war on God? Is victory conceivable? And if it were, is this a victory that you would want?" -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 23, Section I, 2:1-3
"The memory of God comes to the quiet mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for a mind at war against itself remembers not eternal gentleness. The means of war are not the means of peace, and what the warlike would remember is not love." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 23, Section I, 1:1-3
"The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 265, Lines 28-30
Everyone who walks the planet is engaged in a personal war. This war consists of seeing their own person or some other person as not enough. Even those who temporarily like who they think they are stay engaged in this war, because they are fighting to keep an illusion intact. Impossible! Yet all our time and all our resources go to this war, so that we have spiritually impoverished ourselves. I suspect the Iraq War is simply a huge projection of this internal warfare, so that we can pretend it's out there. It's not.
The good news is that sooner or later we tire of the struggle. And if we're lucky, if we're ready, we stop for a moment. We simply stop the stories, stop the struggle, stop the external searching. And what is revealed in that Holy Instant is Real Joy, the Joy of Being. Who would have thought that simply Being, just Being is the Source of Everything we've ever wanted, and it's always right here! Ha! As Mary Baker Eddy said, this Joy is pure Spirit. It's our True Being and our True Home.
It's hard to see that self-blame, self-hatred, self-abnegation, self-glorification, and self-consciousness are all the same mistake. It's hard to see that fear and guilt and shame and anger and praise and blame are all the same. It's hard to see that all of them are a war against yourself and therefore against God... against your very Being. All of them are some version of singling out aspects of Self as acceptable and making war against other aspects. And it's only in the acceptance of our Wholeness that we can know Joy and Peace and Real Love. Only the Reality of Being will ever satisfy us. Only this is Real.
We can never know Wholeness and Joy through the story we're living. The body and sense perception are fictions of a separate self and part of the story line. "Material man is shut out from the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come into His Presence, and must dwell in dreamland, until mortals arrive at the understanding that material life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illusion." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 543, Lines 8-14) So the war against oneself is truly the attempt to keep and hold an illusion of a separate self, with all its dreamings and projections of grandiosity and failure.
The real irony, and the very good joke to all of this, is that none of it has ever had any effect on Who We Are! Just as a child having a nightmare remains safe in his bed at home until he awakens, we remain safe and Beloved in the Mind of God until we decide to wake up. And in our Awakening, the Radiance of Our True Being illuminates even the dream. When Jeshua ben Joseph showed us how to pray, he said, "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." We are destined to Radiate the Love and Joy of God in our earthly dream, just as we eternally Shine in the Kingdom of Heaven, the Mind of God that is Everything and Everywhere and Always.
"There can never be a difference in what you really are and what Love is. There is no Love but God's, and what He is, is Everything there IS." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 127, 4:1,4
"The memory of God comes to the quiet mind. It cannot come where there is conflict, for a mind at war against itself remembers not eternal gentleness. The means of war are not the means of peace, and what the warlike would remember is not love." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 23, Section I, 1:1-3
"The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 265, Lines 28-30
Everyone who walks the planet is engaged in a personal war. This war consists of seeing their own person or some other person as not enough. Even those who temporarily like who they think they are stay engaged in this war, because they are fighting to keep an illusion intact. Impossible! Yet all our time and all our resources go to this war, so that we have spiritually impoverished ourselves. I suspect the Iraq War is simply a huge projection of this internal warfare, so that we can pretend it's out there. It's not.
The good news is that sooner or later we tire of the struggle. And if we're lucky, if we're ready, we stop for a moment. We simply stop the stories, stop the struggle, stop the external searching. And what is revealed in that Holy Instant is Real Joy, the Joy of Being. Who would have thought that simply Being, just Being is the Source of Everything we've ever wanted, and it's always right here! Ha! As Mary Baker Eddy said, this Joy is pure Spirit. It's our True Being and our True Home.
It's hard to see that self-blame, self-hatred, self-abnegation, self-glorification, and self-consciousness are all the same mistake. It's hard to see that fear and guilt and shame and anger and praise and blame are all the same. It's hard to see that all of them are a war against yourself and therefore against God... against your very Being. All of them are some version of singling out aspects of Self as acceptable and making war against other aspects. And it's only in the acceptance of our Wholeness that we can know Joy and Peace and Real Love. Only the Reality of Being will ever satisfy us. Only this is Real.
We can never know Wholeness and Joy through the story we're living. The body and sense perception are fictions of a separate self and part of the story line. "Material man is shut out from the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come into His Presence, and must dwell in dreamland, until mortals arrive at the understanding that material life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illusion." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 543, Lines 8-14) So the war against oneself is truly the attempt to keep and hold an illusion of a separate self, with all its dreamings and projections of grandiosity and failure.
The real irony, and the very good joke to all of this, is that none of it has ever had any effect on Who We Are! Just as a child having a nightmare remains safe in his bed at home until he awakens, we remain safe and Beloved in the Mind of God until we decide to wake up. And in our Awakening, the Radiance of Our True Being illuminates even the dream. When Jeshua ben Joseph showed us how to pray, he said, "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." We are destined to Radiate the Love and Joy of God in our earthly dream, just as we eternally Shine in the Kingdom of Heaven, the Mind of God that is Everything and Everywhere and Always.
"There can never be a difference in what you really are and what Love is. There is no Love but God's, and what He is, is Everything there IS." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 127, 4:1,4
Friday, March 7, 2008
No Other Gods
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." -- The Bible, Exodus 20:3
“And what agreement hath the Temple of God with idols? For ye are the Temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” -- The Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:16
"My House shall be called of all nations a House of Prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." -- The Bible, Mark 11:17
"All idols of this world were made to keep the Truth within from being known to you, and to maintain allegiance to the dream that you must find what is outside yourself to be complete and happy. It is vain to worship idols in the hope of peace. God dwells within, and your completion lies in Him. No idol takes His place. Look not to idols. Do not seek outside yourself." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VI, 6:1-4
First, one more reminder: The weekly ACIM conference call every Saturday morning begins at 9 a.m. central time. All are welcome. The call-in number is 605-475-4333, and the access Code is 101546.
It's sometimes hard to see, let alone agree, that every belief in a power or motivation outside of oneself is an idol, a god whose graven image we worship; and this includes the people and things we think are good and those we think are evil, and everything in-between. They are idols, false gods, because we have invested what has no reality or life, our own dream, with the power to control or motivate the Son of God. This can never be. We have given it all the meaning it appears to have, and it is all made up. That's why, as ACIM reminds us, "You will weep each time an idol falls."
ACIM also asks us, "What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are. That is the only power they have." And what does the Temple of God, your BEING, have to do with idols? Nothing. Whether it's the belief that a particular person is good for you or bad for you or meant for you or wrong for you; or that money can buy peace of mind or cause you suffering or bring you anything at all; or that drugs can kill or hurt or cure or heal; or that a certain way of eating and exercise can create life and health... every false idea is an idol, a god that you live with daily and invest with great meaning and importance... and it's all made up. It's your belief in the BEING of a person or thing or activity, and not the person or thing itself, that seems to hurt or help. In Truth, it does nothing... except delay your return to your Father's House.
You are the Temple of God, the House of God. Not your body, which is just another idol... your BEING. And we have made of God's House a den of thieves by welcoming false ideas and encouraging them to set up booths for exchange of other false ideas throughout the Temple. When Jeshua ben Joseph threw the money-changers out of the Temple, he was throwing out false ideas of BEING. The thieves and money-changers are our own false beliefs, the idols and false gods that populate what A Course in Miracles calls "the great projection." The world that we see and invest with such power and importance is nothing but projection, and is all smoke and mirrors.
Of course, every Biblical and scriptural passage, without exception, is talking about ways of BEING. And we have even made scripture an idol, when we make it something outside of us that is literal and necessary for our 'salvation.' We might as well cast it in gold and prostrate ourselves before it. THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF US, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF GOD. And we are the Temple. We are IT.
We live and move and have our BEING in GOD. In the Oneness and Allness of Being, there is no outside. As I have said before, it's an inside job. :-))
"There can be no salvation in the dream as you are dreaming it." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section IX, 4:1
“And what agreement hath the Temple of God with idols? For ye are the Temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” -- The Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:16
"My House shall be called of all nations a House of Prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." -- The Bible, Mark 11:17
"All idols of this world were made to keep the Truth within from being known to you, and to maintain allegiance to the dream that you must find what is outside yourself to be complete and happy. It is vain to worship idols in the hope of peace. God dwells within, and your completion lies in Him. No idol takes His place. Look not to idols. Do not seek outside yourself." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VI, 6:1-4
First, one more reminder: The weekly ACIM conference call every Saturday morning begins at 9 a.m. central time. All are welcome. The call-in number is 605-475-4333, and the access Code is 101546.
It's sometimes hard to see, let alone agree, that every belief in a power or motivation outside of oneself is an idol, a god whose graven image we worship; and this includes the people and things we think are good and those we think are evil, and everything in-between. They are idols, false gods, because we have invested what has no reality or life, our own dream, with the power to control or motivate the Son of God. This can never be. We have given it all the meaning it appears to have, and it is all made up. That's why, as ACIM reminds us, "You will weep each time an idol falls."
ACIM also asks us, "What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are. That is the only power they have." And what does the Temple of God, your BEING, have to do with idols? Nothing. Whether it's the belief that a particular person is good for you or bad for you or meant for you or wrong for you; or that money can buy peace of mind or cause you suffering or bring you anything at all; or that drugs can kill or hurt or cure or heal; or that a certain way of eating and exercise can create life and health... every false idea is an idol, a god that you live with daily and invest with great meaning and importance... and it's all made up. It's your belief in the BEING of a person or thing or activity, and not the person or thing itself, that seems to hurt or help. In Truth, it does nothing... except delay your return to your Father's House.
You are the Temple of God, the House of God. Not your body, which is just another idol... your BEING. And we have made of God's House a den of thieves by welcoming false ideas and encouraging them to set up booths for exchange of other false ideas throughout the Temple. When Jeshua ben Joseph threw the money-changers out of the Temple, he was throwing out false ideas of BEING. The thieves and money-changers are our own false beliefs, the idols and false gods that populate what A Course in Miracles calls "the great projection." The world that we see and invest with such power and importance is nothing but projection, and is all smoke and mirrors.
Of course, every Biblical and scriptural passage, without exception, is talking about ways of BEING. And we have even made scripture an idol, when we make it something outside of us that is literal and necessary for our 'salvation.' We might as well cast it in gold and prostrate ourselves before it. THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF US, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF GOD. And we are the Temple. We are IT.
We live and move and have our BEING in GOD. In the Oneness and Allness of Being, there is no outside. As I have said before, it's an inside job. :-))
"There can be no salvation in the dream as you are dreaming it." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section IX, 4:1
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
God is NOT Insane
"To justify one value that the world upholds is to deny your Father's sanity and yours. For God and His Beloved Son do not think differently... So if he chooses to believe one thought opposed to Truth, he has decided he is not his Father's Son... This you believe. Think not that this belief depends upon the form it takes. Who thinks the world is sane in any way, is justified in anything it thinks, or is maintained by any form of reason, believes this to be true." -- A Course in Miracles, Text, Chapter 25, Section VII, 4:1-2, 4-7
Well, there you have it. Either God is nuts, or we are, or both. Reading contemporary metaphysics and theology, they're pretty much all true. How could any of it have any meaning when you are willing to actually question the premise that insanity in any form could exist within the Oneness and Allness of God? This is not a matter of theology. This is a matter of extreme delusion and psychosis, collectively. We are all collectively insane in our imagined separateness.
Within the Ocean there exist many currents, many forms, many ecosystems, and all come and go within the Oneness that is the Ocean. To call any of them true in themselves is insanity. A fish out of water is no longer a fish... it's sushi.
Let's say we're that fish. We think we are autonomous, and we choose to flop out onto dry land to see what it's about. Or we grab that hook dangling temptingly in front of us, sure that this one will be different! Yeah, this is it! Or we simply choose to swim in the same circle over and over and over again, hoping that we will stay safe, or that it will look different this time around. We tell ourselves how beautiful and safe it is in this little circle. Over and over the same story in re-enacted, with different fish and a different host of supporting actors and roles... but the outcome is always the same. What imagines itself as separate is all made up, and it comes and goes within an illusory world of delusion that sometimes looks like pleasure, sometimes like pain. In this world there really is no difference.
A Course in Miracles reassures us: "The Holy Spirit has the Power to change the whole foundation of the world you see to something else; a basis not insane, on which a sane perception can be based, another world perceived. And one in which nothing is contradicted that would lead the Son of God to sanity and Joy. Nothing attests to death and cruelty; to separation and to differences. For Here is everything perceived as One, and no one loses that each one may gain. Test everything that you believe against this one requirement, and understand that everything that meets this one demand is worthy of your faith. But nothing else."
In our insanity of imagined separateness, we think we have to compete and struggle against others and against the environment and even against our own tendencies and habits. It's constant war with someone or something. We thrive on it. We institutionalize it in our schools and athletic teams. We market it with our music and video games. We spiritualize it with our religions and metaphysics. And it's still the same old insane story. We imagine gods many, and we suffer the disillusionment of the inevitable. Our gods are not alive. They will always fail us because they are all made up.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." The Bible, Exodus 20:3. Not because we shouldn't, but because there aren't any. It's insanity and delusion to make imaginary gods out of our own stories. All that really exists is in God, and to imagine ourselves anywhere else is to suffer, like the fish imagining that he could want to be anywhere but in the Ocean in which he lives and moves and has his being.
Yes, we are all weaving in and out of insanity, waking up to Who We Really Are. We are the Son of God, and God is NOT insane. Thank God.
"Your special function is the special form in which the fact that God is not insane appears most sensible and meaningful to you. The content is the same. The form is suited to your special needs, and to the special time and place in which you think you find yourself, and where you can be free of place and time, and all that you believe must limit you. The Son of God cannot be bound by time nor place nor anything God did not Will." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 25, Section VII, 7:1-4
Well, there you have it. Either God is nuts, or we are, or both. Reading contemporary metaphysics and theology, they're pretty much all true. How could any of it have any meaning when you are willing to actually question the premise that insanity in any form could exist within the Oneness and Allness of God? This is not a matter of theology. This is a matter of extreme delusion and psychosis, collectively. We are all collectively insane in our imagined separateness.
Within the Ocean there exist many currents, many forms, many ecosystems, and all come and go within the Oneness that is the Ocean. To call any of them true in themselves is insanity. A fish out of water is no longer a fish... it's sushi.
Let's say we're that fish. We think we are autonomous, and we choose to flop out onto dry land to see what it's about. Or we grab that hook dangling temptingly in front of us, sure that this one will be different! Yeah, this is it! Or we simply choose to swim in the same circle over and over and over again, hoping that we will stay safe, or that it will look different this time around. We tell ourselves how beautiful and safe it is in this little circle. Over and over the same story in re-enacted, with different fish and a different host of supporting actors and roles... but the outcome is always the same. What imagines itself as separate is all made up, and it comes and goes within an illusory world of delusion that sometimes looks like pleasure, sometimes like pain. In this world there really is no difference.
A Course in Miracles reassures us: "The Holy Spirit has the Power to change the whole foundation of the world you see to something else; a basis not insane, on which a sane perception can be based, another world perceived. And one in which nothing is contradicted that would lead the Son of God to sanity and Joy. Nothing attests to death and cruelty; to separation and to differences. For Here is everything perceived as One, and no one loses that each one may gain. Test everything that you believe against this one requirement, and understand that everything that meets this one demand is worthy of your faith. But nothing else."
In our insanity of imagined separateness, we think we have to compete and struggle against others and against the environment and even against our own tendencies and habits. It's constant war with someone or something. We thrive on it. We institutionalize it in our schools and athletic teams. We market it with our music and video games. We spiritualize it with our religions and metaphysics. And it's still the same old insane story. We imagine gods many, and we suffer the disillusionment of the inevitable. Our gods are not alive. They will always fail us because they are all made up.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." The Bible, Exodus 20:3. Not because we shouldn't, but because there aren't any. It's insanity and delusion to make imaginary gods out of our own stories. All that really exists is in God, and to imagine ourselves anywhere else is to suffer, like the fish imagining that he could want to be anywhere but in the Ocean in which he lives and moves and has his being.
Yes, we are all weaving in and out of insanity, waking up to Who We Really Are. We are the Son of God, and God is NOT insane. Thank God.
"Your special function is the special form in which the fact that God is not insane appears most sensible and meaningful to you. The content is the same. The form is suited to your special needs, and to the special time and place in which you think you find yourself, and where you can be free of place and time, and all that you believe must limit you. The Son of God cannot be bound by time nor place nor anything God did not Will." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 25, Section VII, 7:1-4
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Spirit is All
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." This me is Spirit. Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual." -- Mary Baker Eddy
"Nothing is required of you except to lay all idols and self-images aside." -- A Course in Miracles
In the world of form, everything comes and goes. There is sometimes a story about who, what, where, and why, but the truth is, all that is made up. Thought forms come and thought forms go. What remains, what never changes, what has never been disturbed by any of it, is Spirit, our True Self that is eternally One and undivided.
We cannot make sense of form, since it is unreal, and like our night dreams the forms in everyday life come and go. The Truth that underlies all forms and illusions does not. As ACIM reminds us, "The Thought God holds of you is like a star, unchangeable in an eternal sky." This is true of every living thing.
What we love, in this world and beyond, is always Spirit. And this can never come and go, Being eternally HERE. Spirit is All.
"The Will of God is One, and All there Is. This is your heritage." -- A Course in Miracles
"Nothing is required of you except to lay all idols and self-images aside." -- A Course in Miracles
In the world of form, everything comes and goes. There is sometimes a story about who, what, where, and why, but the truth is, all that is made up. Thought forms come and thought forms go. What remains, what never changes, what has never been disturbed by any of it, is Spirit, our True Self that is eternally One and undivided.
We cannot make sense of form, since it is unreal, and like our night dreams the forms in everyday life come and go. The Truth that underlies all forms and illusions does not. As ACIM reminds us, "The Thought God holds of you is like a star, unchangeable in an eternal sky." This is true of every living thing.
What we love, in this world and beyond, is always Spirit. And this can never come and go, Being eternally HERE. Spirit is All.
"The Will of God is One, and All there Is. This is your heritage." -- A Course in Miracles
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Remembering
"As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and Son, are One in Being. The Scripture reads: "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being." -- Mary Baker Eddy
"Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all. Light is not of the world, yet you who bear the light in you are alien here as well. Light is the only thing you bring with you from Him Who is your Source." -- A Course in Miracles
Remembering Who we really are and where we really come from is called Enlightenment in all spiritual traditions. The forgetting and subsequent suffering, our imagined separation from Self is the unpredictable and painful process we call life. In fact it doesn't resemble our true Life at all.
If we all come from and so are One with God, as a drop of water is one with the ocean, then we can never be separate from those qualities that define our true Being. Oneness, Allness, Light, Endless Love and Joy without interruption, Infinite Life and Being that is all-encompassing. We can go unconscious and dream that we are 'other'... but never can we make it so in reality. Waking and remembering our Being as One is as certain as God.
ACIM reminds us, "This Light can not be lost. Why wait to find it in the future, or believe it has been lost already, or was never there? It can so easily be looked upon... It is not difficult to look within, for there all Vision starts. There is no sight, be it of dreams of from a truer Source, that is not but the shadow of the seen through inward vision. There perception starts, and there it ends. It has no source but this."
Enlightenment is allowing the Light of God to illumine and unify our inner Vision. We see only the Truth in All, Omnipresent and Radiant. When we attempt to see without this Light, we dream an endless dream where Truth is relegated to shadows, and the illusory world becomes a hiding place for the Sons of God. This is why the prayer, "Let there be Light," is such a true and powerful prayer.
Let there be Light. Let there be remembering throughout the dream that we call life. Let there be Light.
"What would you see? The choice is given you." -- A Course in Miracles
"Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all. Light is not of the world, yet you who bear the light in you are alien here as well. Light is the only thing you bring with you from Him Who is your Source." -- A Course in Miracles
Remembering Who we really are and where we really come from is called Enlightenment in all spiritual traditions. The forgetting and subsequent suffering, our imagined separation from Self is the unpredictable and painful process we call life. In fact it doesn't resemble our true Life at all.
If we all come from and so are One with God, as a drop of water is one with the ocean, then we can never be separate from those qualities that define our true Being. Oneness, Allness, Light, Endless Love and Joy without interruption, Infinite Life and Being that is all-encompassing. We can go unconscious and dream that we are 'other'... but never can we make it so in reality. Waking and remembering our Being as One is as certain as God.
ACIM reminds us, "This Light can not be lost. Why wait to find it in the future, or believe it has been lost already, or was never there? It can so easily be looked upon... It is not difficult to look within, for there all Vision starts. There is no sight, be it of dreams of from a truer Source, that is not but the shadow of the seen through inward vision. There perception starts, and there it ends. It has no source but this."
Enlightenment is allowing the Light of God to illumine and unify our inner Vision. We see only the Truth in All, Omnipresent and Radiant. When we attempt to see without this Light, we dream an endless dream where Truth is relegated to shadows, and the illusory world becomes a hiding place for the Sons of God. This is why the prayer, "Let there be Light," is such a true and powerful prayer.
Let there be Light. Let there be remembering throughout the dream that we call life. Let there be Light.
"What would you see? The choice is given you." -- A Course in Miracles
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Gift of Everything
"You do not ask too much of life, but far too little." -- A Course in Miracles
I have read the above quote for years, and have known that it does not refer to the things and people of life. But only this morning did my ears open to hear this in a new light. I was watching the rising sun enter a cold and barren world of 4 degrees. The sunlight revealed that the bitter cold had gilded everything with hoar frost, a shining world of crystalline beauty. I watched in awe and appreciation. And I somehow knew in that moment what the above quote refers to.
All my life I have wanted to be all-in-all... to audiences, to mates, to children, to friends... I have wanted to be the best at what I do, and be valued and cherished... and when I perceived myself as not being the best, at not being all-in-all, I walked away. I have had a contrary, competitive streak that didn't die easily. And it has often been all or nothing with me. I have wanted to be all-in-all to someone or as someone. Same difference.
What I saw in that shining moment this morning was that I had it all backwards... I have never really wanted to be someone in this world... it's just that I believed, as all of us do, that this is the most we can aspire to. The sane part of us knows we are destined for something more than what appears to be. I have not really wanted to be all-in-all to anyone, or even to everyone... I simply misinterpreted the longing. What I have always really wanted, what I have always longed to remember, is that I AM All-in-All.
How often have we claimed we just want to be loved for who we are? Or insisted that we love someone or something just the way they are, and called that unconditional love? We have imagined ourselves to be flawed and broken and imperfect and vulnerable... and in true upside down and backwards fashion, this is what we imagine needs to be loved. It's as if we are holding masks up to our faces and complaining because no one loves how we look! Complaining that no one loves the mask. And when some imagined someone plays the dream game with us and claims to love the mask and declares their devotion to it, we can't understand why we feel so anxious and dissatisfied. What a set-up!
ACIM puts it this way: "If you have the gift of Everything, can loss be real?" Since we live and move and have our Being in God, in the One, can anything other than All-in-All exist? And could we ever be happy imagining ourselves as dependent on someone or something 'other' for our happiness and value? Could we ever be happy living a lie? No wonder all illusions fail... they are simply not true, and all thought-forms appear and are gone, with no real effects. Thank God.
We have all been dreaming, and the dream has been long. We have imagined ourselves as separate from one another, and tried to re-attach ourselves within the dream, over and over. These dreams will never end, and will continue to give rise to other dreams as long as we choose to focus on them as if they are real and remain asleep in the dream. But the Voice for Reality, Our True Self, calls to us even in the dream. We can listen to the Voice and follow it Home... we can listen and Awaken. And we always Awaken to the gift of Everything.
"The end of suffering can not be loss. The gift of everything can be but gain." -- A Course in Miracles
I have read the above quote for years, and have known that it does not refer to the things and people of life. But only this morning did my ears open to hear this in a new light. I was watching the rising sun enter a cold and barren world of 4 degrees. The sunlight revealed that the bitter cold had gilded everything with hoar frost, a shining world of crystalline beauty. I watched in awe and appreciation. And I somehow knew in that moment what the above quote refers to.
All my life I have wanted to be all-in-all... to audiences, to mates, to children, to friends... I have wanted to be the best at what I do, and be valued and cherished... and when I perceived myself as not being the best, at not being all-in-all, I walked away. I have had a contrary, competitive streak that didn't die easily. And it has often been all or nothing with me. I have wanted to be all-in-all to someone or as someone. Same difference.
What I saw in that shining moment this morning was that I had it all backwards... I have never really wanted to be someone in this world... it's just that I believed, as all of us do, that this is the most we can aspire to. The sane part of us knows we are destined for something more than what appears to be. I have not really wanted to be all-in-all to anyone, or even to everyone... I simply misinterpreted the longing. What I have always really wanted, what I have always longed to remember, is that I AM All-in-All.
How often have we claimed we just want to be loved for who we are? Or insisted that we love someone or something just the way they are, and called that unconditional love? We have imagined ourselves to be flawed and broken and imperfect and vulnerable... and in true upside down and backwards fashion, this is what we imagine needs to be loved. It's as if we are holding masks up to our faces and complaining because no one loves how we look! Complaining that no one loves the mask. And when some imagined someone plays the dream game with us and claims to love the mask and declares their devotion to it, we can't understand why we feel so anxious and dissatisfied. What a set-up!
ACIM puts it this way: "If you have the gift of Everything, can loss be real?" Since we live and move and have our Being in God, in the One, can anything other than All-in-All exist? And could we ever be happy imagining ourselves as dependent on someone or something 'other' for our happiness and value? Could we ever be happy living a lie? No wonder all illusions fail... they are simply not true, and all thought-forms appear and are gone, with no real effects. Thank God.
We have all been dreaming, and the dream has been long. We have imagined ourselves as separate from one another, and tried to re-attach ourselves within the dream, over and over. These dreams will never end, and will continue to give rise to other dreams as long as we choose to focus on them as if they are real and remain asleep in the dream. But the Voice for Reality, Our True Self, calls to us even in the dream. We can listen to the Voice and follow it Home... we can listen and Awaken. And we always Awaken to the gift of Everything.
"The end of suffering can not be loss. The gift of everything can be but gain." -- A Course in Miracles
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
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