The Blessed Residue

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

"In Heaven there is no guilt, because the Kingdom is attained through the Atonement, which releases you to create.  The word 'create' is appropriate here because, once what you have made is undone by the Holy Spirit, the blessed residue is restored and therefore continues in creation.  What is truly blessed is incapable of giving rise to guilt, and must give rise to joy." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section V, 2:1-3

I woke up in the wee hours last night, inspired to search my mind for unforgiveness.  I woke up with a new understanding of hidden places and grievances.  I realized that every expectation of person, place, or thing is only in my mind, is all made up, and is a grievance.  Every person or organization that I want or expect something from, every animate or inanimate form I look to for anything at all is a fictional mental veil across the face of Christ.  I experienced a flood of gratitude for each insight, and pure joy at letting it all go.  And then I heard the Voice speak the words "blessed residue."  I knew that I was to write about these words, and remembered reading them in the Course, so I asked if I should write them down or look them up.  I was told to go back to sleep, that I would remember.  And I did.

Love is the blessed residue.  When everything is forgiven, there is only the innocence of pure Love.  When everything is forgiven, even the things you thought were problems are revealed as pure, innocent Joy.  This is a spiritual alchemy that has been written about by mystics throughout time.  The irony is that we already know this, but pretend that we don't.  If we open our minds even slightly, the floodgates open and we can no longer pretend that the minutiae of our world is true or even really there.  So we practice tunnel vision on worldly problems and details, and even spiritual questions, clinging to them as if they were our safety and survival.  This is their only reality.  "I have given everything I see... all the meaning that it has for me." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 2)

An utter dependence on Love and the Holy Spirit is our true safety and security.  We can safely give our every question and care to the Holy Spirit and know that Love can only give and expand and increase in joyous intensity.  This is true creation.  "Love created me like ItSelf," we are reminded in ACIM Workbook Lesson 67.  We have only to give over (forgive) each thought, each judgment, each expectation to the Holy Spirit to be undone.  And the blessed residue, which is pure Love and our true Self, is restored to creative awareness.  It was here all along. 

"You have not lost your innocence.  It is for this you yearn.  This is your heart's desire.  This is the Voice you hear, and this the Call which cannot be denied." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 182, 12:1-4

The Key to Happiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Light of Strength

"The light of strength is constant, sure as love, forever glad to give itself away, because it cannot give but to itself.  No one can ask in vain to share its sight, and none who enters its abode can leave without a miracle before his eyes, and strength and light abiding in his heart." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 92, 8:1-2

Constant, sure, abiding... these are the shining attributes of the ever-present, unchanging Christ Self that is our Reality.  Vacillating, uncertain, always in flux... these are the attributes of the conditioned self, the egoic self-concept.  Sometimes in the midst of the egoic delusion, the only way to give ourselves over to the Holy Spirit and return to sanity is to gently remind ourselves that what is true doesn't shift and change, and so this (whatever version of egoic stuff is arising) must not be true.  It's like Ramana Maharshi asking, "Who am I?", and going through the process of elimination... "Not this, not this..."  All of 'this' that the mind can conceive is simply concept, not reality.  When the mind is wiped clean of all its concepts, what remains is the effortless light and strength of Mind Awake, which is pure Love.

Forgiveness is the process of washing the mind of concepts.  As we give over every thought, emotion, judgment, and experience to the Holy Spirit for healing, the mind becomes quiet.  In the Introduction to the Course, we are told that, "The Course does not aim at teaching the meaning of Love, for that is beyond what can be taught.  It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of Love's Presence, which is your natural inheritance." (ACIM; Introduction, 1:6-7)  Every single apparent block to awareness is a mental construct, a concept held as true in the sleeping mind.  "Salvation can be seen as nothing more than the escape from concepts." (ACIM; Chapter 31, V, 14:3)

As we forgive all concepts of a world and of a self, the mind becomes still, radiating only the light of strength and that is the ever-present reality of our true Self. 

"The power of decision is our own.  And we accept of Him that which we are, and humbly recognize the Son of God.  To recognize God's Son implies as well that all self-concepts have been laid aside, and recognized as false.  Their arrogance has been perceived.  And in humility the radiance of God's Son, his gentleness, his perfect sinlessness, his Father's Love, his right to Heaven and release from hell, are joyously accepted as our own." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 152, 10:1-5

As Common as Grass

"Therefore the Master says... I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes common as grass." -- Tao te Ching, p. 57; Stephen Mitchell Translation

"Miracles are natural.  When they do not occur, something has gone wrong." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I, 6:1-2

What seems to come naturally in our lives is evidently not really natural.  For example, babies aren't born with the ability to sing an Aria, or a pop song.  But singing feels natural to me.  If I inquire honestly though, it took a lot of practicing as a child and then as an adult to get to the point where it feels so automatic.  Reading the above quotations has me thinking about just what is natural, what is common and ordinary?  If Goodness and Miracles are actually what is common and natural, then we have done a bang-up job of obscuring the Truth with a lot of the un-natural and un-common.

A Course in Miracles explains that defenses are the costliest of habits.  They obscure the ever-present Goodness and perfection of our true Self.  And what are defenses?  They are thoughts, perceptions, habits, projections... all to distract the awareness and attention from the perfection of Self.  All with the common attribute of dividing and dissecting the awareness into multitudes of judgements about what is good, what is bad, what is me, what is them, what is here, what is there... and on and on and on.  It's the original and ultimate defamation of character. 

But what remains when these defenses are forgiven and released is the natural perfection of our Christ Self.  The miracle is natural because the Christ is our reality.  The miracle reveals what has always been effortlessly true, and so is the most natural thing in the world.  All that is required of us is the willingness to let our judgements go, to forgive our false witness to the Son of God.  We can twist ourselves into un-natural and un-worthy caricatures, but we can never make them true.  Who we are remains holy... wholly innocent and free, eternally One in the Mind of God.

"All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize yourself, your brother, or God." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 3, Section III, 2:1

A Special Form

"It is not difficult to understand the reasons why you do not ask the Holy Spirit to solve all problems for you.  He has not greater difficulty in resolving some than others.  Every problem is the same to Him, because each one is solved in just the same respect and through the same approach.  The aspects that need solving do not change, whatever form the problem seems to take.  A problem can appear in many forms, and will do so while the problem lasts.  It serves no purpose to attempt to solve it in a special form.  It will recur and then recur again and yet again, until it has been answered for all time and will not rise again in any form.  And only then are you released from it." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 26, Section II, 1:1-8

Everywhere I look there appear to be problems.  Problems facing our world, our nation, our families, our own lives and bodies.  Problems that appear to be different from one another, and that appear to have unique solutions.  Problems that grip the attention and leave no room for doubt in the reality of the perception.  There appear to be specific needs, specific lacks, specific things that don't work as they should.  And we argue with each others' assessments of what isn't working and what needs to be done.  Each thinks that someone else has to lose so that their perspective can be the true one.  It is this that is the antithesis of Truth.  And only Truth is the universal solution to every perception that is less than Whole, less than Holy.

"The Holy Spirit offers you release from every problem that you think you have.  They are the same to Him because each one, regardless of the form it seems to take, is a demand that someone suffer loss and make a sacrifice that you might gain.  And when the situation is worked out so that no one loses is the problem gone, because is was an error in perception that now has been corrected." (ACIM; Chapter 26, Section II, 2:1-3)

There are no special forms, just as there are no special cases or special relationships.  There is only One.  And this One is Whole, Holy, Complete.  This One cannot lack or try and take something from one to give another.  Oneness has no divisions and no direction.  Oneness is All... Everywhere, Always, Forever.  This One Thought is as close to Truth as our divided language can come.  And so it is all that is needed.  It is the Holy Spirit's answer to every so-called problem.

"You have no problems, though you think you have.  And yet you could not think so if you saw them vanish one by one, without regard to size, complexity, or place or time, or any attribute which you perceive that makes each one seem different from the rest.  Think not the limits you impose on what you see can limit God in any way." (ACIM; Chapter 26, Section II, 3:3-5)

And so it becomes obvious why we don't ask the Holy Spirit to solve ALL problems.  "Every problem is an error."  (ACIM; 26, II, 4:2) They are false perceptions, mere interpretations or points of view.  They are a fragmented and faulty picture.  But there are some false perceptions we choose to keep.  They are the 'limits' that we set to define reality.  They are all made up, but we lull ourselves into the group mind of the status quo, of the family or tribe with which we've identified.  This could be a family of origin, a political party, or a religion.  There are no real differences.  It's all made up.  Given to the Holy Spirit, our minds are made Whole and Holy again, and all differences disappear.  There is only One.  WE ARE ONE.

"Think then how great your own release will be when you are willing to receive correction for all your problems.  You will not keep one, for pain in any form you will not want.  And you will see each little hurt resolved before the Holy Spirit's gentle sight.  For all of them are little in His sight, and worth no more than just a tiny sigh before they disappear, to be forever undone and unremembered.  What seemed once to be a special problem, a mistake without a remedy, or an affliction without a cure, has been transformed into a universal blessing.  And in its place the Love of God can be remembered, and will shine away all memory of sacrifice and loss.  For it is not your Father's Will that you should offer or receive less than He gave, when He created you in Perfect Love." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 26, Section II, 7:1-7 & 8:6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Infinite Grace

"Whatever lies you may believe are of no concern to the miracle, which can heal any of them with equal ease.  It makes no distinctions among misperceptions.  Its sole concern is to distinguish between Truth on the one hand, and error on the other.  Some miracles may seem to be of greater magnitude than others.  But remember the first principle in this Course: there is no order of difficulty in miracles." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 2, Section I, 5:1-5 

"Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can represent the lower or bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience. One makes the physical, and the other creates the spiritual." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I, 12:1-3

Grace and miracles are synonymous, like all the attributes of Truth.  They each seem to highlight a facet of Being, but are in fact One.  Have you ever been in an airplane, looking down on what appears to be an infinite ocean of white, fluffy clouds? The sense of expansiveness and joy that such a sight arouses is not to be taken lightly.  That very 'sense' is closer to Reality than any bodily sight or sensation.  It points to the miracle that is Grace.

The thoughts that arise from this sense of Grace are wholly spiritual (and holy, too!).  The thoughts that arise from apparent physical sensations are completely projected and false... in other words, they generate a false sense of self and project a world to populate that false sense.  As the quote from ACIM emphasizes, Miracles/Grace represent your true thoughts, the only thoughts that reflect Reality... the only thoughts that arise from the unified Mind of our True Self, which we also call God.

What happens, then, when we completely forget the misperceptions and misconceptions of the false self? What happens when we allow the ocean of Infinite Grace, the Awareness of One Self, to completely occupy our minds and hearts?  What happens is that we allow Infinite Grace to live our lives.  We allow the Miracle of Love to reflect here in the earth-dream, as it is in the Heaven of our Awareness.

The Miracle of Grace has no limits and no cost.  It simply is, without condition or definition.  And yet it gladly flows through this computer keyboard, embracing us all as we read and write this.  That's what Infinite means.  As ACIM puts it, this is the act of creation, to flow and expand, to radiate without limit or condition.  Infinite Grace is our very Being.

"You were created only to create, neither to see nor to do." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 14, Section I, 4:4

Divine Mother

"Only the Love is Real." -- A Course in Miracles

My mother, Doris Lee Melise, passed away on Monday... she was 91 years old.  Although the last few years were pretty rough, Mom had a wonderful life, and was blessed with a huge extended family that adored her.  The memorial service is today, and it has me reflecting on the concepts and ideas of mother that I learned and unlearned through being her daughter, and through being a mother to my children and now a grandmother to my four grandsons.  One thing I know for sure... now that the sick and suffering image of Mom has passed on, all I can remember is the love... all I can remember is a loving and generous spirit... a stubborn Irish determination laced with pure love. 

So it's easy for me to image God as Divine Mother, as the supreme Love and nurturance of Spirit.  Our earthly relations are vital to us in this world, providing the relational settings and situations we have chosen.  But our true Source Mother remains, eternal and omnipresent, the very womb in which we remain, safe and secure, forever.  Divine Mother doesn't require us to grow up or separate, and can never leave us.  Divine Mother is a symbolic image of the One, the unchanging Love and absolute Principle of Oneness that is our true Self.

The one phrase that mom used to use whenever some drama arose in the family: "This too shall pass."  And that is the perfect expression for this earthly drama we call life.  But she also taught us what endures... the Love that embraces and connects.  We never lacked for the material, but most importantly we were fed on the spiritual our whole lives, so we always knew that the passing was not the important part.  Mom taught us that only the Love is Real. 

You can view a video tribute to my mother by clicking here, or on her name above.

The Awareness of Being One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Self to Self

Wow, it's been nearly a month since I posted last.  I have had many inspired thoughts, but no inspiration to write about it.  This morning I read a great quote from Margaret Laird that expresses this perfectly: "There was a time I believed that I read or listened to others to find out what others thought.  Now I know I read and listen to another's speaking to discover what I am [the I AM] thinking.  We cannot expect to find Truth outside of our own awareness."  This past month, I spent a lot of time looking inward, listening to the Voice of I Am, and inquiring deeper into the appearance of things.  It's been fruitful, though challenging.

The challenge is the deeper recognition that duality in all its forms is only appearance, and that appearance is always and only my own conceptualization of what appears.  Mary Baker Eddy said, "Can you see an enemy, except you first formulate this enemy and then look upon the object of your own conception?"  Without those concepts, duality (subject and object consciousness) dissolves or resolves (words are inadequate here) into Truth, which is experienced as Oneness, a unity, a whole, with no opposites or contraries or negations. 

This going deeper involves seeing that everything we perceive in the phenomenal world is a duality:  I perceive goodness, but it is my concept of goodness, which is based on the opposite of what I perceive as badness.  I perceive supply, or income, but it is my concept of income, based on the opposite of what I conceive as lack or poverty.  I perceive kindness, but it is my concept of kindness, based on what I conceive of as unkind or hateful or spiteful.  I'm really just wandering around in a world of concepts, rather than experiencing Goodness, Supply, or Kindness (Love), which are a unity without opposite because they are All-Inclusive.  We can't conceive of Oneness.  But we can become Aware of It, since It is the Truth of everyone and everything. 

A Course in Miracles puts it this way: "When you decide upon the form of what you want, you lose the understanding of its purpose.  Wholeness has no form because it is unlimited."  In duality thinking (which is all thinking), what we lose is the Awareness of Wholeness.  And as we gradually glimpse the deeper meaning of the oft-misunderstood Biblical statement: "Take no thought," we become explorers of this dawning Awareness, which includes everything but is not defined by any of it.  It heals and blesses, but not for any reason we could give conceptually.  It simply IS the Reality of All.

How do you write about this?  How do you speak of It?  Which is why I haven't been inspired to write much over the past month.  And then I read Margaret Laird this morning, as she explained that the only reason anyone writes is to know their own mind.  So I'm writing this morning, to clarify for myself this deepening Awareness of Self.

To paraphrase Margaret Laird again, the individual living Self-consciously as Mind (Unconditioned Awareness, Oneness... concepts fail here) evolves an apparent ego-image never afraid for itself, never taking thought for itself as 'I', as well as a physical body that is self-restoring as long as it is apparently needed.  The ego-image which evolves from this Awareness (that the only 'I' is the Mind of Unconditioned Awareness, our very Self) never reacts to concepts and situations, but always acts with intelligence.  It has no power to save itself, fix itself up, or transcend itself.  The Mind (the Unconditioned Awareness of 'I' that is Self) is its existence and its power for constant newness and freshness.  In this Light everything takes on the loveliness of perfection, beyond all concepts.

Of course, all of this exercise in giving voice to the unspeakable is just a smokescreen... the inclusive Reality is that only the 'I' is writing and reading this, and only the 'I' knows its Self.  There's only One.

"The world can teach no images of you unless you want to learn them.  There will come a time when images have all gone by... It is to this unsealed and open mind that Truth returns, unhindered and unbound.  Where concepts of the self have been laid by is Truth revealed exactly as it is." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 31, Section V, 17:1-4

A Real Commitment

For those of you who really want to remember Self, the Christ... for those of you who really want to be a blessing and a healing presence... I urge you to make a very simple but real commitment this year.  A Course in Miracles is a tool that can help keep you sane, and can return you to sanity when you forget.  But like any tool, you have to pick it up and actually use it for it to be useful.

"The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Intro

"The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the acquisition of true perception." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Intro

Simple, logical... in order to put clean sheets on the bed, I first have to take off the dirty sheets.  I have to clear my mind first, before I can reveal the True Thoughts that are always available.  ACIM calls this process forgiveness, and in the early lessons of the Workbook it prepares us for what true forgiveness is.  It leads us always to begin taking 100% responsibility for our thoughts and perceptions and the meanings we ascribe to them.  It also leads us to remembering that we made all of it up (thank God!).  And so, we make the only change that leads to real change... we change our minds about Who We Are and Who our brothers are.

This year, I urge you to make a real commitment to doing the lessons in the Workbook and actually applying them to everyone and everything.  Why put off what will bring you real and lasting joy and peace?  And if you need support in this, you can always contact me. 

Sending all of you so much love, joy, peace, and abundance...  Happy New Year!

Mary Alberici

Waiting for God

"I have no cause for anger or fear, for You surround me.  And in every need that I perceive, Your Grace suffices me." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 348

We're conditioned from an early age to listen to our parents, our teachers, our friends, our church... in other words, we look to the outer world for information, direction, and validation.  Learning to listen within and wait for God's appointments and direction seems counter intuitive, and even crazy.  Interesting defense, isn't it?  The ego (the fictional aggregate of mental constructs we call a self, imagining we're separate from God and each other) is the very definition of insanity... a delusional defense against the whole.  So it calls what is true, false, and insists that the unreal has substance and validity.  That's how projection works.  It's also the justification for fear and anger and all the insanity the ego insists is real.

Only take a moment to consider rationally... God, the very Ground of Being, is everywhere... pure and eternal Life and Love without form or condition.  We live and move and have our Being in God.  So how could we look anywhere other than God for what is essential and true?  How could we look anywhere other than God for Who We Are?  There is nowhere else.  There's nothing out there but projected ideas based on a mistake... the mistake that somehow walling ourselves off from the whole will give us what we want and keep us safe.  And when has that ever been the truth?  Safe from what?  What else is there but God, the All in All? 

Waiting for God doesn't involve the future... it involves a present willingness to be still, to listen each holy instant in unceasing mindfulness.  This doesn't involve effort or struggle or even a technique or practice.  Once the willingness is given by the mind, the beauty of our true Self takes over.  Stillness, one-pointedness, awakened awareness, pure joy and unshakable peace... these are all attributes we find to be our own, as natural as breathing.  More so. 

Waiting for God means we're willing to release the false and embrace the True.  And we at last remember the Grace that enfolds and surrounds us and suffices us in all things. 

My Only Need

"God has already done all things that need to be done.  And I must learn I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 337, 1:5-6

There has long been a virtual cult in self-help circles, a cult of the virtues of self-esteem.  And it's true that we can build our ego up and feel better about ourselves attitudinally.  But it's not real self love.  The love of an illusion of self can only give us the illusion of love, an illusion that comes and goes.  It's the same with loving (or hating) another person... loving (or hating) the illusion we've projected can only breed more illusion.

There is only one way to know the Truth... we have to release what isn't true, and see what is always here, always effortlessly present.  Like the huge dome of the sky, God is what is always here, regardless of the thought clouds and projections that come and go.  To accept that my real Self is One with God and all that Is... and that God is the Source and I am One with Source... and that creation is seamless, whole, and complete, no lack or limitation possible in all of God's Being... this acceptance allows me finally to simply BE.  I need do nothing. 

In this lies freedom... because it also means that I am free to do whatever arises through the spontaneous inspiration that emanates from our One Being.  I am not obligated or coerced or in bondage to anyone or anything.  I co-create with all of Self in joy and love.  Like the sun shines, we ARE.  My only need, and yours, is to accept this and live it.

Awake in the Dark

"There is nothing you can hold against reality.  All that must be forgiven are the illusions you have held against your brothers.  Their reality has no past, and only illusions can be forgiven.  God holds nothing against anyone, for He is incapable of illusions of any kind.  Release your brothers from the slavery of their illusions by forgiving them for the illusions you perceive in them.  Thus will you learn that you have been forgiven, for it is you who offered them illusions." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section VII, 9:1-6

I lay in bed in the dark, in the wee hours, unable to sleep.  Thought upon thought weaves through my awareness, everything murky and uncomfortable.  Nothing awful, mind you... simply the haziness of illusion, weaving itself in a downward spiral into stories and projections of judgment and separation.  None of it true.  How do I know that none of it is true?  Because it is restless, murky, and unclear.  There is no peace.  When a thought arises that is in alignment with the Reality of God, there is an immediate lightening in consciousness.  And that thought leads to another, and then another, on an upward spiral back to peace. 

Remembering that all my judgments are nonsense helps a lot.  "Forgive your brothers from the slavery of their illusions by forgiving them for the illusions you perceive in them."  Yes, I'm the perceiver... whenever I see a problem, I'm always the one naming it and weaving a story about it in my mind.  So I'm the only one who can forgive it.  "Thus you will learn that you have been forgiven."  Yes, all the judgments about me were in my mind, too.  They are all my stories. 

Everything is mind... mind asleep, or Mind Awake.  Mind asleep is not really doing anything or creating anything... simply dreaming, even when it seems to be awake.  Our One Mind Awake is the Source of All that is Real.  It is the Mind of God, and it is my real mind.  And yours.  And everyone's.  In Reality, there's only One of Us.

The One Awakened Mind, the Mind that created us and lives us, is joyous and free and at peace.  It has always been.  "The sleep of forgetfulness is only the unwillingness to remember." (ACIM; Chapter 16, Section VII, 12:4)

Why do we seem to prefer our dream stories and problems?  Why do we worship them with our time and attention, when only a little sigh of release will return us to sanity and peaces?  Forgiveness offers this and so much more.  "Remember that you always choose between Truth and illusions."  Minute by minute we get to choose.  So every holy instant is a new beginning.  Awake in the dark, I remember.

"Seek and find His message in the holy instant, where all illusions are forgiven.  From here the miracle extends to bless everyone and to resolve all problems, be they perceived as great or small, possible or impossible.  There is nothing that will not give place to Him and to His Majesty.  The Truth lies here and nowhere else.  You choose this or nothing." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section VII, 11:1-3, 6-7

Decisions, Decisions

In this so-called life, decisions make up every minute of every day.  Even my youngest grandson is choosing his state of mind minute by minute, second by second.  I can see the impulses arise and cross his little three-month-old face like clouds.  I can see the second he decides to smile instead of cry.  I can see him struggle to give voice (and I mean voice) to his discomfort.  Little Kai Joseph is just like us... choosing to react to external forms, or to interact with the Love that is in him and all around him, always.

We're not talking about will-power here.  That's the mistaken belief that we can exert control over our bodies and other forms in the external world.  As Mary Baker Eddy put it, "Will power is a product of belief... and is not a faculty of Soul.  Hence it cannot govern man aright."  And A Course in Miracles says it very simply: "There is no Will but God's."

So what are all the decisions we make every day?  We have to first remember that all decisions are of the mind, and have nothing to do with form.  My grandson's decisions may reflect in his face, but it's all in his mind.  Similarly, our minute-by-minute decisions are mental processes.  The illusion of a world arises from these mental projections.  "Perception is a mirror, not a fact.  And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward." (A Course in Miracles; Workbook 304, 1:3-4)

Decisions, decisions... how can we make decisions, then, if we're not in our right mind... if we think we've made a will other than God's?  Again, A Course in Miracles gives us a way out: "Let us today be truly humble, and accept what we have made as what it is.  The power of decision is our own.  Decide but to accept your rightful place as co-creator of the universe, and all you think you made will disappear.  What rises to awareness then will be all that there ever was, eternally as it is now.  And it will take the place of self-deceptions made but to usurp the altar to the Father and the Son." (A Course in Miracles; Workbook 152, 8:1-5)

Decisions are continuous, and we are always looking at only two choices, two mental states.  Our True Self, the Son of God Who is Peace and Love and Life and Reality... or an illusion of a separate self, which projects as fear and lack and limitation and death.  We know which we're choosing by our state of mind. 

"You who perceive yourself as weak and frail, with futile hopes and devastated dreams, born but to die, to weep and suffer pain, hear this:  All power is given unto you in earth and Heaven.  There is nothing that you cannot do.  Then let the Son of God awaken from his sleep, and opening his holy eyes, return again to bless the world he made.  In error it began, but it will end in the reflection of His holiness." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 191, 9:1-2 & 10:1-2

All in All

"Remember always that you cannot be anywhere except in the Mind of God." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 9, Section VIII, 5:3

Last night I was lifting my thought to God before sleep.  As I remembered that God is All, thought followed thought.  If God is All, then there is no such thing as someone in need of healing or supply... God IS the need and the healing and supply.  If God is All, then there is no such thing as me and God... God IS the life and being that I think of as me.  If God is All, then there is no such thing as other people, no such thing as strangers... God IS the life and being of all that is.  God is All in All.

My daily fragmented thinking can barely conceive of such Wholeness.  I think in separate terms, separate forms, and particular details.  My real Self, my God-Self, sees All as Self, All with One meaning... Love and Wholeness, Innocence and Holiness, Truth and Beauty and endless Perfection... these are One and the same, All in All.

When people call with pressing illness or other urgent needs, I have learned to relax into this Allness, and allow It to tell me what is true.  Regardless of circumstance or appearance, God is the correction, fulfillment, healing, and supply... God is the real Life and Being of everyone and everything.  God is All in All.

"The Will of God is One, and all there is." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 20, 6:9

Nothing But My Thoughts

"Father, Your Son is perfect.  When I think that I am hurt in any way, it is because I have forgotten Who I Am, and that I am as You created me.  Your Thoughts can only bring me happiness.  If ever I am sad or hurt or ill, I have forgotten what You think, and put my little meaningless ideas in place of where Your Thoughts belong, and where they are.  I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.  The Thoughts I think with You can only bless.  The Thoughts I think with You alone are true." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 281

It's all literally made up... nothing but thought-stuff... there is nothing I'm interacting with but my own thoughts.  There's no one to fight with, no one to blame, no one to look up to or to save me.  There's no one who knows more or less, or who has more or less than I do.  Reality is here, now, whole, and complete.  And it's always loving. 

This reminds me of an old Outer Limits episode, where this woman wakes up to her normal world with its normal shapes and forms, with one big exception... there's nobody there but her!  So she spends the entire time freaking out and panicking and trying to find the 'others' that must be 'out there' too.  This is particularly funny when you think about how our egos are always trying to get others to think and be like we want them to.  And they are!  They are! 

Does this mean that we are alone in all the universe?  Does this mean that I am just this isolated ego, imagining and dreaming over and over and over?  No... we live and move and have our being in God, in the One, in the Infinite and All-Good.  It's the dream of isolation and separation that is false, that is a projected misconception in a million different forms. 

In the dream of separation from each other and God, there is nothing real.  But there is Reality... and the one measure of the Real is that it is eternal, unchanging, infinite, boundless, all-embracing Love.  There is no place or time or living thing that is separate, wrong, flawed, lacking, or in need of change or adjustment.  What appears to be so is the false projected as if it were true.

There is only one lie:  that we are separate from the All.  And this is simply an error about who and where we are, a misconception.  And conceptions can be changed, to align more nearly to what is true.  Nothing but my misconceptions, my thoughts, can hurt me.  Nothing but my thoughts of separation and autonomy could project this illusion of a world that God did not create. 

The Thoughts of God remain in the Mind of God.  This is where we are, and where we will always be... One God, One World, One Beloved Self, perfect and holy and forever.

Blessing or Curse?

"The mind can think it sleeps, but that is all.  It cannot change what is its waking state.  It cannot make a body, nor abide within a body.  What is alien to the mind does not exist, because it has no source.  For mind creates all things that are, and cannot give them attributes it lacks, nor change its own eternal, mindful state.  It cannot make the physical.  What seems to die is but the sign of mind asleep." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 167, 6:1-7

I've been reflecting on what I seem to be seeing and hearing from people around me... stories of struggle with what is really happening or what is really true, with spiritual paths, with physical symptoms, with sticky relationship problems.  I know that all of it is my perception, and that nothing is as it appears.  And so I forgive and release these projections to Holy Spirit (which is another name for my True Self), ask for healed perception, and accept the healing of Atonement.  And as I do, I'm led to reflect on the blessing (or curse?) of this.  To the world around me, including clients, family and most friends, this non-dual view of the world would seem a curse... because I am no longer apparently in alignment with any popular thought-system in the world, including much of religious thought.  They might ask how I could possibly see such an (apparently) aberrant world-view as anything but a curse.

Upon reflection, I find it extraordinary that the Truth is aberrant to people.  We would rather see a world of opposites, with mysterious bad things happening without a source.  We would rather believe that bad stuff really does happen, and then try to forgive it even while we think it's real.  Do we think God creates bad things and punishes us?  Or do we think we somehow usurped the power of God and created it ourselves?!  Do we think all this crap is really happening?  And if it is really happening, what allegiance do we owe to a divine Parent who would treat us this way, or even allow it to exist as creator of all?  If it were an earthly parent, we would report them for child abuse.  But friends, God is the All-Good.  God is the Source of All, and All is Love and Light and Truth.  Where would the darkness or the mistakes come from?  What would be their source? 

"There are not different kinds of life, for life is like the Truth.  It does not have degrees.  It is the one condition in which all that God created share.  Like all His Thoughts, it has no opposite.  There is no death because what God created shares His life.  There is no death because an opposite to God does not exist.  There is no death because the Father and the Son are one." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 167, 1:1-7

There is no opposite to God... there cannot be God and anything.  Why would we not find this Truth comforting?  Why do we prefer a dream of opposition to God, of illusory suffering and death, of struggle and lack and limitation?  In India they call this compulsive dream 'samsara', which roughly translates to the wheel of suffering.  The wheel turns, the characters and situations seem to change, but the stories are all the same.  And every awakened soul who has walked this dream has come to tell us that it's our dream, and it's up to us to snap out of it.  With such good news, wouldn't we rather be happy than right?

A Course in Miracles offers simple yet elegant tools to awaken from the dream.  But we have to be willing to shed our fixation with the world as real.  It is not.  Often I awaken from my night time dreams to hear the Voice reassuring me that these dreams are just like my daytime dreams, and all of them are easily released and transformed.  This has been my experience.  There is no order of difficulty in miracles because only God is real, and nothing else is at all.  There is no hierarchy of illusions, and there are no steps to take to awaken.  Mind is asleep and believing its own dreams or it is awake in God.  And only one of these seeming choices really exists at all. 

While we dream, forgiveness and Atonement allow our dreaming perceptions to be healed and released, day by day.  More and more we walk through our life as one awakening from a deep sleep, where the dreams make no sense at all.  There is no real curse to be found, anywhere.  There is only our true Self in God, and endless blessing. 

"Let us today be children of the Truth, and not deny our holy heritage.  Our life is not as we imagine it." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 167, 10:1-2

The Will to Awaken

"The real world is the state of mind in which the only purpose of the world is seen to be forgiveness.  No rules are idly set, and no demands are made of anyone or anything to twist and fit into the dream of fear.  Instead, there is a wish to understand all things created as they really are.  And it is recognized that all things must first be forgiven, and then understood." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section V, 1:1 & 4-6

I've been thinking a lot this year about the seeming process of awakening, and the shedding of the false self that is required.  As St. Paul put it, "I die daily" so that "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."  This beautiful thought is beloved in Christianity, but is also largely revered as a poetic and idealistic sentiment, not as a literal process that requires our willingness.  Even those charismatic Christians who see it as literal still hang on to the notion of a little self that is saved by the God/Man, Jesus Christ.  They don't see that this simply perpetuates their false view of themselves as separate from God, weaker and imperfect. 

And whose will was it that these imperfect creatures exist?  Certainly not God, Who creates all things in His Holy Mind and so eternally extends HimSelf.  The Spirit of God did not and could not create imperfection.  How could the imperfect exist in the absolute harmony and perfection of God, the eternally One and Whole?  So what seems imperfect must be an imperfect perception only, a false sense of what eternally IS.  

The will to awaken is the willingness to constantly release each and every perception that arises, and give it to the part of our mind that remains aware of our eternal Oneness with God... the Holy Spirit.  This is what forgiveness is... and this is the process of Atonement, the interlocking chain of forgiveness that results in the Awakening of the One Son of God, even within the dream separation.

So what is the will to awaken?  And why do so very few seem to have it?  ACIM tells us that "The Call is universal.  It goes on all the time everywhere.  Many hear it, but few will answer.  Everyone will answer in the end, but the end can [seem] a long, long way off." -- (ACIM; Manual for Teachers 1.2:4-5 & 7-9)  In other words, we have a vested interest still in the dream.  After all, it's our dream... and we continue to question how these very beautiful and desirable parts could need our forgiveness and release.  Can't we just forgive all the bad stuff and keep these parts we like, the parts that we're comfortable with, the parts that speak to us of tradition and continuity within the dream?

Our teacher and guide is uncompromising.  Jeshua said, "A man must lose his life in order to save it."  Yikes.  This is not what our egos want to hear. 

How do we find the will to awaken?  How do we release the mental resistance that flails about and questions our very sanity?  I'd like to tell you there's an easy way through this passage, but the Truth is that the only way out is through.  You will pass through this fire, and you will not be burned. 

On the other side of all seeming turmoil is the perfect peace of realizing that there never was a problem... we have always been right here, safe in God.  On this side, we simply keep giving our perceptions to the Holy Spirit and following the directions of the Voice within.  This perfect trust will be reinforced as we are willing to follow the Holy Spirit's Voice instead of our own fearful imaginings.  Forgive and follow the Voice.  Forgive and follow the Voice.  This is the will to awaken.

"A major hindrance in this aspect of learning is the teacher of God's fear about the validity of what he hears.  And what he hears may indeed be quite startling.  It may also seem to be quite irrelevant to the presented problem as he perceives it, and may in fact confront the teacher with a situation that appears to be very embarrassing to him.  All these are judgments that have no value.  They are his own, coming from a shabby self-perception which he would leave behind." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 21. 5:1-5

The Judge of What You Are

"Let Him be Judge of what you are, for He has certainty in which there is no doubt, because it rests on Certainty so great that doubt is meaningless before Its Face.  Christ cannot doubt HimSelf.  The Voice for God can only honor Him, rejoicing in His perfect, everlasting sinlessness.  Whom He has judged can only laugh at guilt, unwilling now to play with toys of sin; unheeding of the body's witnesses before the rapture of Christ's holy face.  And thus He judges YOU." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 151, 8:1-4

Wow, in the last couple of days alone I have had five or six conversations with people who are judging themselves very harshly.  This is of course my own journey as well, so it's a wonderful opportunity to see my projections in living color. 

Who is the judge of who and what I am?  I've taken it upon myself to judge my inadequacies at every opportunity.  I've imagined I see the physical flaws, the mental limitations, the emotional vulnerability, the failures and the successes as I judge them.  These are the false perceptions that begin within and are projected without as a flawed and struggling world full of flawed and struggling people.  Whether I see them as enemies or friends is irrelevant.  I don't see them at all.  I see my projections, and nothing else.  "You cannot judge.  You merely can believe the ego's judgements, all of which are false.  It guides your senses carefully, to prove how weak you are; how helpless and afraid, how apprehensive of just punishment, how black with sin, how wretched in your guilt." -- ACIM; Workbook 151, 4:3-5

But we all know how very familiar and real this false sense of self and other seems to us.  The compulsion to live our life as this false self dictates is nearly overwhelming at times.  How do we stop this addictive and destructive behavior, this constant judging of everyone and everything, this constant assumption that we know who we are and what we're doing?  ACIM says we must learn to doubt the evidence of our senses rather than our Self.  As we cease to judge according to appearances, we "clear the way to recognize Self, and let the Voice for God alone be Judge of what is worthy of belief."

And so we come down to it, once again.  Forgiveness is our function here, not judgment.  We do not and cannot know the big picture while we walk about in this dream world.  But we can forgive and release our judgments to One Who Knows, and allow Him to lead the way.  "Let Him be Judge as well of everything that seems to happen to you in this world.  His lessons will enable you to bridge the [seeming] gap between illusions and Truth.  He will remove all faith you have placed in pain, disaster, suffering, and loss.  He gives you Vision which looks beyond these grim appearances and beholds the gentle face of Christ in all of them.  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." -- ACIM; Workbook 151, 9:6-7, 10:1-3

And what is the single lesson that everything contains?  "Let Him evaluate each thought that comes to mind, removing the elements of dreams, and give them back again as clean ideas that do not contradict the Will of God.  Give Him your thoughts, and He will give them back as miracles which joyously proclaim the wholeness and the happiness God wills His Son, as proof of His eternal Love."  -- ACIM; Workbook 151, 13:4, 14:1

The single lesson is always that the Son of God that we are remains in God, sinless and eternally perfect and beloved and loving.  And no dreams or fantasies have ever had the slightest effect on this Reality.

God is the only judge of what you are, and what I am, and what all creation is.  And the single judgment is always the Truth about the Son of God. 

"As each thought is thus transformed, it takes on healing power from the Mind which saw the Truth in it and failed to be deceived by what was falsely added.  All the threads of fantasy are gone.  And what remains is unified into a perfect Thought that offers its perfection everywhere.  Your ministry begins as all your thoughts are purified.  So are you taught to teach the Son of God the holy lesson of his sanctity." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 151, 14:2-4, 15:2-3