"A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this: somehow, somewhere, he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's. Once he has done that, his road is established and his direction is sure. A light has entered the darkness. It may be a single light, but that is enough. He has entered an agreement with God even if he does not yet believe in Him. He has become a bringer of salvation. He has become a teacher of God." -- ACIM; Manual for Teachers 1.1:1-8
A Course in Miracles repeatedly reminds us that we are all teachers and messengers for God. In the Manual for Teachers it points out that whenever we see that minds are joined, we acknowledge this teaching function of forgiveness and atonement that is the miracle. And so our bodies are given a different purpose.
"The central lesson is always this: that what you use the body for it will become to you. Use it for sin or for attack, which is the same as sin, and you will see it as sinful. Because it is sinful it is weak, and being weak it suffers and it dies. Use it to bring the Word of God to those who have it not, and the body becomes holy. Because it is holy it cannot die. When its usefulness is done it is laid by, and that is all. The mind makes this decision, as it makes all decisions that are responsible for the body's condition. Yet the teacher of God does not make this decision alone. To do that would be to give the body another purpose from the one that keeps it holy. God's Voice will tell him when he has fulfilled his role, just as It tells him what his function is. He does not suffer either in going or remaining. Sickness is now impossible to him." -- ACIM; Manual for Teachers 12.5:1-12
Focusing on forgiveness and Oneness rather than the next meal, the car that needs fixing, or the job we have to do... this is the shift we make as we accept our true function in the world. In the Bible, Jeshua ben Joseph is quoted as saying, "Take no thought for what you will say, what you will eat, what you will wear... but seek first the Kingdom, and all these things will be given." In other words, when we fulfill our natural function of Oneness with God and with each other by practicing the miracle of forgiveness, the world we're dreaming naturally reflects Wholeness as fulfillment in every moment, in the form of what we seem to be needing or doing.
The Course calls the perception of unfilled needs sickness and sin. It's the out-picturing of our imagined separation from the Wholeness of God. The good news is that as we accept this Oneness and forgive our perceptions of separateness however they show up, we find that we never lacked anything at all.
"Oneness and sickness cannot coexist. God's teachers choose to look on dreams a while. It is a conscious choice. For they have learned that all choices are made consciously, with full awareness of their consequences. The dream says otherwise, but who would put his faith in dreams once they are recognized for what they are? Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God's teachers. They watch the dream figures come and go, shift and change, suffer and die. Yet they are not deceived by what they see. They recognize that to behold a dream figure as sick and separate is no more real than to regard it as healthy and beautiful. UNITY ALONE is not a thing of dreams. And it is this God's teachers acknowledge as behind the dream, beyond all seeming, and yet surely theirs." -- ACIM; Manual for Teachers 12.6:1-11
We're all God's teachers. UNITY ALONE is all that is ever taught, and all that we ever need to learn.
Showing posts with label Unity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unity. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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
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
Saturday, October 18, 2008
The End of Longing
"The ego sees all dependency as threatening, and has twisted even your longing for God into a means of establishing itself." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 11, Section V, 6:8
All definitions of longing agree that it is the strong desire for something unavailable or distant. It could be defined as "I want..." rather than, "I am." Whether the longing is for some experience, some person, some place, or some thing in the world, it is always something separate, not immediately available, and distant. Some have sublimated all such longings into the longing for God... but this is ego, insisting that it is separate and distant and distinct from God. Some have celebrated human longing, and followed it as far as it will lead. This too is ego, feeding a contracted sense of self that imagines its own autonomy and demands its desires be fulfilled.
All longing is the attempt to fill a need or resolve a difference... and only the imagined self has needs or sees differences. The real Self is whole and complete, a state of awareness where "differences have disappeared, and Love looks on ItSelf." (A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 28, 5:2) ACIM reminds us again and again that in reality, having and being are one and the same. You can't have what you're not willing to be. So the experience of longing, "I want..." has no meaning in reality. As God said to Moses, "I Am that I Am."
In our Awareness of perfect Oneness, there is nothing missing. Here in the dreamworld we call life, even when we love there is something missing, and the inevitable longing for completion is a constant companion. Longing can never be fulfilled in the dream. The end of longing is remembering God. Remembering our Oneness with God is remembering our eternal Self. The end of longing is the acceptance that (always and forever), I Am.
"Let all things be exactly as they are. Only reality is free of pain. Only reality is free of loss. Only reality is wholly safe." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 268, 2:2-4
All definitions of longing agree that it is the strong desire for something unavailable or distant. It could be defined as "I want..." rather than, "I am." Whether the longing is for some experience, some person, some place, or some thing in the world, it is always something separate, not immediately available, and distant. Some have sublimated all such longings into the longing for God... but this is ego, insisting that it is separate and distant and distinct from God. Some have celebrated human longing, and followed it as far as it will lead. This too is ego, feeding a contracted sense of self that imagines its own autonomy and demands its desires be fulfilled.
All longing is the attempt to fill a need or resolve a difference... and only the imagined self has needs or sees differences. The real Self is whole and complete, a state of awareness where "differences have disappeared, and Love looks on ItSelf." (A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 28, 5:2) ACIM reminds us again and again that in reality, having and being are one and the same. You can't have what you're not willing to be. So the experience of longing, "I want..." has no meaning in reality. As God said to Moses, "I Am that I Am."
In our Awareness of perfect Oneness, there is nothing missing. Here in the dreamworld we call life, even when we love there is something missing, and the inevitable longing for completion is a constant companion. Longing can never be fulfilled in the dream. The end of longing is remembering God. Remembering our Oneness with God is remembering our eternal Self. The end of longing is the acceptance that (always and forever), I Am.
"Let all things be exactly as they are. Only reality is free of pain. Only reality is free of loss. Only reality is wholly safe." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 268, 2:2-4
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
What is One is One
"Awareness of dreaming is the real function of God's teachers. They watch the dream figures come and go, shift and change, suffer and die. Yet they are not deceived by what they see. They recognize that to behold a dream figure as sick and separate is no more real than to regard it as healthy and beautiful. Unity alone is not a thing of dreams." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers, 12. 6:6-10
"As they advance in their profession, they become more and more certain that the body's function is but to let God's Voice speak through it to human ears... to let the thought of unity come in, and what is One is recognized as One. The teachers of God appear to share the illusion of separation, but because of what they use the body for, they do not believe in the illusion despite appearances." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers, 12. 4:2, 5-6
Oneness seems the simplest of concepts, and the most easily disproved by the ego. I remember arguing with my sister after reading Allan Watts in the late 1960's. How can we be one? You're there and I'm here. Ridiculous concept! Then I had my first psychedelic experience and reframed that opinion. I discovered, with and without hallucinogens, that Oneness has nothing to do with concepts and everything to do with Reality. I remembered.
It has been many years since that experience of remembering, and there have been many benchmarks along the way. None of them matter. What matters is what is revealed as old ideas and self-concepts fall away. I remain as God created me, One with God and every aspect of creation, and have never been anywhere but safe and whole and free in the Field of intelligent, loving Oneness that we call God. I dream a dream of separation and judgment. I Awaken, and remember. Perhaps I seem to dream again, but I remain Awake in the dream. And so, all that enters my consciousness Awakens, too. It's my dream. As A Course in Miracles reminds me, "My mind is part of God's, and I am very holy. There is nothing my holiness cannot do."
What is One is forever One. No dream of fear or hate or separation or even misguided human love and attachment can change our Reality of Oneness with God and All that Is. Peace and Joy and Freedom and true Love without limits or boundaries is our Reality. It doesn't shift and change with circumstance, and isn't dependent on bodies or imaginary human laws and supposed limitations. What is One is One. And nothing else.
"Truth must be All-Inclusive, if it be the Truth at all. Accept no opposites and no exceptions, for to do so is to contradict the Truth entirely. Salvation is the recognition that the Truth is true, and nothing else is true." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 152, 2:6-7, 3:1
"As God created you, you must remain unchangeable, with transitory states by definition false. And that includes all shifts in feeling, alterations in conditions of the body and the mind; in all awareness and in all response. This is the all-inclusiveness which sets the Truth apart from falsehood, and the false kept separate from the Truth, as what it is." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 152, 5:1-3
"As they advance in their profession, they become more and more certain that the body's function is but to let God's Voice speak through it to human ears... to let the thought of unity come in, and what is One is recognized as One. The teachers of God appear to share the illusion of separation, but because of what they use the body for, they do not believe in the illusion despite appearances." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers, 12. 4:2, 5-6
Oneness seems the simplest of concepts, and the most easily disproved by the ego. I remember arguing with my sister after reading Allan Watts in the late 1960's. How can we be one? You're there and I'm here. Ridiculous concept! Then I had my first psychedelic experience and reframed that opinion. I discovered, with and without hallucinogens, that Oneness has nothing to do with concepts and everything to do with Reality. I remembered.
It has been many years since that experience of remembering, and there have been many benchmarks along the way. None of them matter. What matters is what is revealed as old ideas and self-concepts fall away. I remain as God created me, One with God and every aspect of creation, and have never been anywhere but safe and whole and free in the Field of intelligent, loving Oneness that we call God. I dream a dream of separation and judgment. I Awaken, and remember. Perhaps I seem to dream again, but I remain Awake in the dream. And so, all that enters my consciousness Awakens, too. It's my dream. As A Course in Miracles reminds me, "My mind is part of God's, and I am very holy. There is nothing my holiness cannot do."
What is One is forever One. No dream of fear or hate or separation or even misguided human love and attachment can change our Reality of Oneness with God and All that Is. Peace and Joy and Freedom and true Love without limits or boundaries is our Reality. It doesn't shift and change with circumstance, and isn't dependent on bodies or imaginary human laws and supposed limitations. What is One is One. And nothing else.
"Truth must be All-Inclusive, if it be the Truth at all. Accept no opposites and no exceptions, for to do so is to contradict the Truth entirely. Salvation is the recognition that the Truth is true, and nothing else is true." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 152, 2:6-7, 3:1
"As God created you, you must remain unchangeable, with transitory states by definition false. And that includes all shifts in feeling, alterations in conditions of the body and the mind; in all awareness and in all response. This is the all-inclusiveness which sets the Truth apart from falsehood, and the false kept separate from the Truth, as what it is." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 152, 5:1-3
Thursday, June 5, 2008
What is a Grievance?
"Love holds no grievances. My grievances hide the light of the world in me." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 68 & 69
"With your own wrists manacled, it is hard to break another's chains." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 449, Lines 1-2
What is a grievance? A Course in Miracles says that, "You who were created by Love like ItSelf can hold no grievances and know your Self. To hold a grievance is to forget Who You Are. To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body. To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death. It seems to split you off from your Source and make you unlike Him. It makes you believe that He is like what you think you have become, for no one can conceive of His Creator as unlike himself. Shut off from your Self, which remains aware of Its likeness to Its Creator, your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its sleep appears to be awake. Can all this arise from holding grievances? Oh, yes! For he who holds grievances denies he was created by Love, and his Creator has become fearful to him in his dream of hate." (ACIM; Workbook 68, 1:1-7, & 2:1-4)
Whew. That pretty much covers life as we know it, doesn't it? The symptoms of holding a grievance are clearly given in the above quote: seeing ourselves as physical beings; seeing ourselves as ruled by our ego reactions and emotions; seeing ourselves as separate and cut off from Love; seeing death as a part of life; seeing others, including God and His world, as punitive and vengeful, when it is always and only our own grievances we are projecting and seeing. An isolated mind sees only its lonely and miserable self. Thank God it's all made up. Thank God it's not Who We Are.
We can awaken from dreams. We can wallow in them and remain fascinated by them as long as we choose... but we can awaken. Forgiveness of grievances is the key. No matter what appears 'wrong' in our life and world, we can forgive and let the dream go. God created nothing unlike HimSelf. And as ACIM says, "God is still Love, and this is not His Will." Mary Baker Eddy calls grievances 'sins.' To sin is to 'miss the mark.' We miss it completely when we project our separated mind as emotional baggage, physical suffering, and death. We let it go by forgiving, and having the courage to hold fast to what is True. "God is still Love, and this is not His Will."
The willingness to indulge our grievances, to nurse them as if they were precious to us, is the greatest sin of all. We miss the mark completely, and are lost in the dream. The courage to forgive and let them go, to allow the Holy Spirit in us to do Its perfect work, is our only task in the world. There is not one illusion of suffering that will not fall away in the presence of true forgiveness. What is Real is always effortlessly Present. "My grievances hide the Light of the world in me." And yet, "God is still Love, and this is not His Will."
So no matter what lies before us today, no matter what form our seeming problems take, we know that they are simply some form of grievance we are hanging onto, projected out so it doesn't seem like we are doing it at all. The good news is that we can forgive. We can ask for Light, and for courage to forgive and forgive again, seventy times seven, to infinity and beyond. We can be willing to bare our hearts and minds to God, and cleanse them of all selfish desires and self-interest. We can return Home to Self.
What is a grievance? It is the unwillingness to be Whole, the desire to be special and separate, fragmented and wounded and autonomous to the end. We may only have this little identity, but we insist that at least it is ours. And we nurse and cherish it and struggle to maintain it against every perceived grievance, not recognizing that every grievance (every person, place, or situation) is a fragment of Self that must be welcomed Home through forgiveness. And that everything we truly long for lies in this Re-membering of the Son of God.
It is impossible to really care about anyone or anything when we are drowning in our own grievances. We can't be a true friend or a true lover or a true parent when our grievances rise like a wall between us and what we supposedly love. Until we forgive every grievance, until we release our stories of grievances (no matter how self-righteous and subtle), we will continue to project our own stories of sin and suffering onto other people and situations, and onto our own bodies.
What is a grievance? It is the insistence that we are not the cause of the world we see, and that guilt lies outside of us. As ACIM puts it, "You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere else. When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place. In understanding this you are saved." Truth remains, quietly shining in the part of your Holy Mind that has never slept. The world is not as we imagine it, for as God's True Creations we remain forever Whole and Loving and Free.
"Love holds no grievances. I would wake to my Self by laying all grievances aside and wakening in Him." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 68, 7:5-6
"With your own wrists manacled, it is hard to break another's chains." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 449, Lines 1-2
What is a grievance? A Course in Miracles says that, "You who were created by Love like ItSelf can hold no grievances and know your Self. To hold a grievance is to forget Who You Are. To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body. To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death. It seems to split you off from your Source and make you unlike Him. It makes you believe that He is like what you think you have become, for no one can conceive of His Creator as unlike himself. Shut off from your Self, which remains aware of Its likeness to Its Creator, your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its sleep appears to be awake. Can all this arise from holding grievances? Oh, yes! For he who holds grievances denies he was created by Love, and his Creator has become fearful to him in his dream of hate." (ACIM; Workbook 68, 1:1-7, & 2:1-4)
Whew. That pretty much covers life as we know it, doesn't it? The symptoms of holding a grievance are clearly given in the above quote: seeing ourselves as physical beings; seeing ourselves as ruled by our ego reactions and emotions; seeing ourselves as separate and cut off from Love; seeing death as a part of life; seeing others, including God and His world, as punitive and vengeful, when it is always and only our own grievances we are projecting and seeing. An isolated mind sees only its lonely and miserable self. Thank God it's all made up. Thank God it's not Who We Are.
We can awaken from dreams. We can wallow in them and remain fascinated by them as long as we choose... but we can awaken. Forgiveness of grievances is the key. No matter what appears 'wrong' in our life and world, we can forgive and let the dream go. God created nothing unlike HimSelf. And as ACIM says, "God is still Love, and this is not His Will." Mary Baker Eddy calls grievances 'sins.' To sin is to 'miss the mark.' We miss it completely when we project our separated mind as emotional baggage, physical suffering, and death. We let it go by forgiving, and having the courage to hold fast to what is True. "God is still Love, and this is not His Will."
The willingness to indulge our grievances, to nurse them as if they were precious to us, is the greatest sin of all. We miss the mark completely, and are lost in the dream. The courage to forgive and let them go, to allow the Holy Spirit in us to do Its perfect work, is our only task in the world. There is not one illusion of suffering that will not fall away in the presence of true forgiveness. What is Real is always effortlessly Present. "My grievances hide the Light of the world in me." And yet, "God is still Love, and this is not His Will."
So no matter what lies before us today, no matter what form our seeming problems take, we know that they are simply some form of grievance we are hanging onto, projected out so it doesn't seem like we are doing it at all. The good news is that we can forgive. We can ask for Light, and for courage to forgive and forgive again, seventy times seven, to infinity and beyond. We can be willing to bare our hearts and minds to God, and cleanse them of all selfish desires and self-interest. We can return Home to Self.
What is a grievance? It is the unwillingness to be Whole, the desire to be special and separate, fragmented and wounded and autonomous to the end. We may only have this little identity, but we insist that at least it is ours. And we nurse and cherish it and struggle to maintain it against every perceived grievance, not recognizing that every grievance (every person, place, or situation) is a fragment of Self that must be welcomed Home through forgiveness. And that everything we truly long for lies in this Re-membering of the Son of God.
It is impossible to really care about anyone or anything when we are drowning in our own grievances. We can't be a true friend or a true lover or a true parent when our grievances rise like a wall between us and what we supposedly love. Until we forgive every grievance, until we release our stories of grievances (no matter how self-righteous and subtle), we will continue to project our own stories of sin and suffering onto other people and situations, and onto our own bodies.
What is a grievance? It is the insistence that we are not the cause of the world we see, and that guilt lies outside of us. As ACIM puts it, "You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere else. When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place. In understanding this you are saved." Truth remains, quietly shining in the part of your Holy Mind that has never slept. The world is not as we imagine it, for as God's True Creations we remain forever Whole and Loving and Free.
"Love holds no grievances. I would wake to my Self by laying all grievances aside and wakening in Him." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 68, 7:5-6
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Moral Courage
"Moral courage is 'the lion of the tribe of Judah,' the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in 'green pastures, beside the still waters.' In the figurative transmission from the Divine Thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and perseverance are likened to 'the cattle upon a thousand hills.' They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and keep pace with highest purpose. Tenderness accompanies all the might imparted by Spirit. The individuality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the millennial estate pictured by Isaiah: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 514, Lines 10-25
"I am the Holy Son of God HimSelf. I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain, cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 191, 7:3-4
I love the thought of moral courage. It is like a shot of vigor, like standing in the face of whatever seems to be with calm assurance that all is, and has forever been, very well. It is a complete letting go of the seduction of arguing for lack, limitation, and mortality as real. As the Son of God, we emanate and radiate God, and only God. A ray of sun radiates sunlight, and only sunlight. A Course in Miracles says it this way: "Ideas leave not their source."
As the Son of God, we cannot be unlike God... therefore we cannot suffer, cannot be in pain, cannot be inflamed or depleted, cannot suffer lack, loss, or limitation of any kind. We radiate all the attributes of God, and only God. Moral courage is the willingness to simply Be as God created us, without any need to embellish. No needs at all.
I have had some experiences lately that have given me the opportunity to experience this more fully. The willingness to fully engage with whatever God asks of me in any moment, without judgement or rationalization, without argument or trying to change it... this is the moral courage Mary Baker Eddy speaks of, like the lion roaming the forest without fear, in perfect freedom. And this lion truly isn't carnivorous, and exists peacefully with every other idea. There is no competition among the radiant thoughts of God. "And a little child shall lead them." As the Son of God, I am also like a little child, walking without fear among all people and all experiences, and willing to go wherever my Father leads me. Like that ray of sunlight, I shine where I am shone.
There is no self-consciousness in Being the Son of God, because there is no separate self that needs to look a certain way or appear this way or that. There is One Self, shining through the prism of Life as myriad colors and expressions, Infinite Love and Variety, all so very Good. As Yogananda put it, "God is ever-new Joy." There's nothing dull about being as God created me.
So moral courage is the willingness to Be as God created us, not as we imagine ourselves. "Stand and see the salvation of the Lord." Truly, there is nothing else.
"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. You play the game of death, of being helpless, pitifully tied to dissolution in a world which shows no mercy to you. Yet when you accord it mercy, will its mercy shine on you. 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, 9:1-4, & 10:1-2
"I am the Holy Son of God HimSelf. I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain, cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 191, 7:3-4
I love the thought of moral courage. It is like a shot of vigor, like standing in the face of whatever seems to be with calm assurance that all is, and has forever been, very well. It is a complete letting go of the seduction of arguing for lack, limitation, and mortality as real. As the Son of God, we emanate and radiate God, and only God. A ray of sun radiates sunlight, and only sunlight. A Course in Miracles says it this way: "Ideas leave not their source."
As the Son of God, we cannot be unlike God... therefore we cannot suffer, cannot be in pain, cannot be inflamed or depleted, cannot suffer lack, loss, or limitation of any kind. We radiate all the attributes of God, and only God. Moral courage is the willingness to simply Be as God created us, without any need to embellish. No needs at all.
I have had some experiences lately that have given me the opportunity to experience this more fully. The willingness to fully engage with whatever God asks of me in any moment, without judgement or rationalization, without argument or trying to change it... this is the moral courage Mary Baker Eddy speaks of, like the lion roaming the forest without fear, in perfect freedom. And this lion truly isn't carnivorous, and exists peacefully with every other idea. There is no competition among the radiant thoughts of God. "And a little child shall lead them." As the Son of God, I am also like a little child, walking without fear among all people and all experiences, and willing to go wherever my Father leads me. Like that ray of sunlight, I shine where I am shone.
There is no self-consciousness in Being the Son of God, because there is no separate self that needs to look a certain way or appear this way or that. There is One Self, shining through the prism of Life as myriad colors and expressions, Infinite Love and Variety, all so very Good. As Yogananda put it, "God is ever-new Joy." There's nothing dull about being as God created me.
So moral courage is the willingness to Be as God created us, not as we imagine ourselves. "Stand and see the salvation of the Lord." Truly, there is nothing else.
"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. You play the game of death, of being helpless, pitifully tied to dissolution in a world which shows no mercy to you. Yet when you accord it mercy, will its mercy shine on you. 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, 9:1-4, & 10:1-2
Monday, March 31, 2008
Keeping It Simple
"Miracles are seen in Light. The body's eyes do not perceive the Light. But I am not a body. What am I?" -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 91, 6:2-5
"What you think you are is a belief to be undone. But what you really are must be revealed to you. The belief you are a body calls for correction, being a mistake." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 91, 6:7-9
"We learn in the Scriptures, as in Divine Science, that God made all; that He is the universal Father and Mother of man; that God is Divine Love: therefore Divine Love is the Divine Principle of the Divine Idea named man; in other words, the spiritual Principle of spiritual man." -- Prose Works by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 186, Lines 13-17
Let's keep it simple. We are One with God, Who is our Source, and in Whose Mind we live and move and have our being. This means that we are pure Spirit. When Aware of our Oneness with God, our world mirrors the perfection of that union, even in the dream of a material existence. This is because we can easily see, in the Light of Awareness, that it is only a dream, and can be seen however we choose. But when suffering from the delusion of separateness, we are in darkness. There is no light in which to see the unreality of a material self, and so we see only projections of our own guilt and error. This includes all sickness, suffering, lack, loss, and death. There is no one else to see or not to see. We are it.
You see yourself as human, "a ridiculous parody on God's creation; weak, vicious, ugly, and sinful, miserable and beset with pain. Such is your version of yourself; a self divided into many warring parts, separate from God." (ACIM; Workbook 95, 2:1-2) It takes a lot of self-honesty to admit that this is simply a ploy; and at the heart of the ploy is the fear of the enormity of the Love that is Your Self.
In keeping it simple, there is only one thing to know: if we see ourselves as less than perfect and innocent and holy in any way, we are still afraid of the Truth. Through self-forgiveness we are able to gradually let these false ideas and projections of self go like the nothing that they are. And through our willingness to BE as God created us, we Remember.
So here is the crux of the matter. Are you willing to BE as God created you? Are you willing to stop repeating the lies that keep you endlessly a victim of your own story? Are you willing to Remember Who You Are? A Course in Miracles tells us: "Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. They are attempts to keep you unaware that you are One Self, united with your Creator, at One with every aspect of creation, and unlimited in Power and in Peace. This is the Truth, and nothing else is true." (ACIM; Workbook 95, 10:1-3) Or as Mary Baker Eddy wrote: "Whatever appears to be law, but partakes not of the nature of God, is not law, but is what Jesus declared it, "a liar, and the father of it." God is the Law of Life, not of death; of health, not of sickness; of good, not of evil. It is this infinitude and oneness of Good that silences the supposition that evil is a claimant or a claim. The consciousness of Good has no consciousness or knowledge of evil; and evil is not a quality to be known or eliminated by Good." (Miscellaneous Writings; Page 259, Lines 3-11)
Keeping it simple, simply remember that you are as God created you. There are not two selves, the good you and your evil twin. You did not create yourself, and no amount of stories and manufactured identities will make your limited, material self-concepts real.
"Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images aside; go past the list of attributes, both good and bad, you have ascribed to yourself." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 94, 4:1
"I am as God created me." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 94
"What you think you are is a belief to be undone. But what you really are must be revealed to you. The belief you are a body calls for correction, being a mistake." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 91, 6:7-9
"We learn in the Scriptures, as in Divine Science, that God made all; that He is the universal Father and Mother of man; that God is Divine Love: therefore Divine Love is the Divine Principle of the Divine Idea named man; in other words, the spiritual Principle of spiritual man." -- Prose Works by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 186, Lines 13-17
Let's keep it simple. We are One with God, Who is our Source, and in Whose Mind we live and move and have our being. This means that we are pure Spirit. When Aware of our Oneness with God, our world mirrors the perfection of that union, even in the dream of a material existence. This is because we can easily see, in the Light of Awareness, that it is only a dream, and can be seen however we choose. But when suffering from the delusion of separateness, we are in darkness. There is no light in which to see the unreality of a material self, and so we see only projections of our own guilt and error. This includes all sickness, suffering, lack, loss, and death. There is no one else to see or not to see. We are it.
You see yourself as human, "a ridiculous parody on God's creation; weak, vicious, ugly, and sinful, miserable and beset with pain. Such is your version of yourself; a self divided into many warring parts, separate from God." (ACIM; Workbook 95, 2:1-2) It takes a lot of self-honesty to admit that this is simply a ploy; and at the heart of the ploy is the fear of the enormity of the Love that is Your Self.
In keeping it simple, there is only one thing to know: if we see ourselves as less than perfect and innocent and holy in any way, we are still afraid of the Truth. Through self-forgiveness we are able to gradually let these false ideas and projections of self go like the nothing that they are. And through our willingness to BE as God created us, we Remember.
So here is the crux of the matter. Are you willing to BE as God created you? Are you willing to stop repeating the lies that keep you endlessly a victim of your own story? Are you willing to Remember Who You Are? A Course in Miracles tells us: "Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. They are attempts to keep you unaware that you are One Self, united with your Creator, at One with every aspect of creation, and unlimited in Power and in Peace. This is the Truth, and nothing else is true." (ACIM; Workbook 95, 10:1-3) Or as Mary Baker Eddy wrote: "Whatever appears to be law, but partakes not of the nature of God, is not law, but is what Jesus declared it, "a liar, and the father of it." God is the Law of Life, not of death; of health, not of sickness; of good, not of evil. It is this infinitude and oneness of Good that silences the supposition that evil is a claimant or a claim. The consciousness of Good has no consciousness or knowledge of evil; and evil is not a quality to be known or eliminated by Good." (Miscellaneous Writings; Page 259, Lines 3-11)
Keeping it simple, simply remember that you are as God created you. There are not two selves, the good you and your evil twin. You did not create yourself, and no amount of stories and manufactured identities will make your limited, material self-concepts real.
"Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images aside; go past the list of attributes, both good and bad, you have ascribed to yourself." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 94, 4:1
"I am as God created me." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 94
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Warped and Uncorrected
"When you maintain that there must be an order of difficulty in miracles, all you mean is that there are some things you would withhold from Truth. You believe Truth cannot deal with them only because you would keep them from Truth. Very simply, your lack of faith in the Power that heals all pain arises from your wish to retain some aspects of reality for fantasy. If you but realized what this must do to your appreciation of the whole! What you reserve for yourself, you take away from Him Who would release you. Unless you give it back, it is inevitable that your perspective on Reality will be warped and uncorrected." -- A Course in Miracles
I remember reading in Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi back in the early 1970's, that everything we see in this world is like a movie, and we are playing all the parts... including the director, producer, and the projector. We are it. And all we have to do is look at the nature of the whole movie and we can see that we make Tim Burton look warm and fuzzy. Our vision and perspective is definitely warped and uncorrected.
Even if we are currently enjoying a comfortable existence, safe and secure, all we have to do is watch the news to be aware that huge portions of this movie are really awful. We can project it out there and pretend that we are blessed and protected, and the other poor schmucks are just living out bad karma, or they haven't learned the Law of Attraction, or some other such nonsense. We make ourselves feel better because they have it so bad. Woh.
What kind of God would create a set-up like this, we ask? Well, a god we projected, made in our own image. Made up, illusory power. Like everything we have projected, it's all smoke and mirrors. In Reality, ACIM says, "I Am the Holy Son of God Himself. His Son can suffer nothing, and I am His Son." God did not create the world we think we see. Thank Goodness. But God did create All That Is. And in order to see Reality, we have to give up the smoke and mirrors. We have to give up our stubborn insistence on giving our tinker toy world the status of reality, and welcome the Truth. "Truth will correct all errors in my mind."
How long will we insist on seeing a painful and dying world? How long will we stick out heads in the sand of imaginary comforters and ignore the Truth? How long will we insist on suffering in our sleep, when all along we live and move and have our Being in unimaginable Love and Bliss? ACIM tell us to, "Be willing then, to give all you have held outside the Truth to Him Who knows the Truth, and in Whom all is brought to Truth. He will accomplish it, not you." Are we willing?
This day, and every day, I give my warped and uncorrected perceptions to the Holy Spirit, the part of my mind that remains in eternal Awareness of Who I Am. And as I am willing to give it, all is forgiven and healed.
"Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely... Nothing that you remember here that made your heart sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you. For you will see the Son of God. You will behold the Beauty the Holy Spirit loves to look upon... This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling in the open sun... This little step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stride through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness into Beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its Perfection." -- A Course in Miracles
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
One Answer
"To give up all problems to One Answer is to reverse the thinking of the world entirely." -- A Course in Miracles
"When this Power has once been experienced, it is impossible to trust one's own petty strength again. Who would attempt to fly with the tiny wings of a sparrow when the mighty power of an eagle has been given him?" -- A Course in Miracles
One problem, one solution. A Course in Miracles makes it so clear and so simple that only the deliberately delusional could call it confusing. Our problem is always some version of a separated self, exiled from God, surrounded by the idols that are our individual projections and illusions, in the deceptive forms of people, places, and things. Our One Answer is always remembering that God is One, not many... and that there is no place or time or situation where God is NOT. One Power, All Power... One Intelligence, All Intelligence... One Love, All Love... and everything that appears as 'other' is simply, well, NOT.
So what are you certain of? We may think we are certain our bodies are real, for example... but where is the body you were so sure of when you were a teenager? Where is the body you were so sure of yesterday? If it dissolves and vanishes like a dream, as if it never existed... then how can you call it real? Where are the 'great' civilizations of the past? All that remain of them are the stories we tell... no reality in stories. All stories are simply, well, STORIES.
What is True is always True. It is a principle on which we can stand. ACIM says, "The Truth is True, and nothing else is true." Can't get much clearer than 'nothing else.' Nothing means, well, NOTHING.
Bodies are not true. Personalities are not true. Feelings come and go like weather and so are not true. Judgments are simply mental constructs and so not true. Possessions are not true. Time and space come and go and are not true. What comes and goes and dissolves like smoke and mirrors is simply, well, NOT.
The One Answer to whatever confronts us today and all days is this knowing. "Hear O Israel, the Lord Your God is ONE." This Truth lights the Way, corrects all projections and errors, and escorts us safely through every fire and every challenge within the world of dreams. There is nothing else.
"All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem. If you could recognize that your only problem is separation from God, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you would see its relevance. There is only one problem, and One Answer." -- A Course in Miracles
"When this Power has once been experienced, it is impossible to trust one's own petty strength again. Who would attempt to fly with the tiny wings of a sparrow when the mighty power of an eagle has been given him?" -- A Course in Miracles
One problem, one solution. A Course in Miracles makes it so clear and so simple that only the deliberately delusional could call it confusing. Our problem is always some version of a separated self, exiled from God, surrounded by the idols that are our individual projections and illusions, in the deceptive forms of people, places, and things. Our One Answer is always remembering that God is One, not many... and that there is no place or time or situation where God is NOT. One Power, All Power... One Intelligence, All Intelligence... One Love, All Love... and everything that appears as 'other' is simply, well, NOT.
So what are you certain of? We may think we are certain our bodies are real, for example... but where is the body you were so sure of when you were a teenager? Where is the body you were so sure of yesterday? If it dissolves and vanishes like a dream, as if it never existed... then how can you call it real? Where are the 'great' civilizations of the past? All that remain of them are the stories we tell... no reality in stories. All stories are simply, well, STORIES.
What is True is always True. It is a principle on which we can stand. ACIM says, "The Truth is True, and nothing else is true." Can't get much clearer than 'nothing else.' Nothing means, well, NOTHING.
Bodies are not true. Personalities are not true. Feelings come and go like weather and so are not true. Judgments are simply mental constructs and so not true. Possessions are not true. Time and space come and go and are not true. What comes and goes and dissolves like smoke and mirrors is simply, well, NOT.
The One Answer to whatever confronts us today and all days is this knowing. "Hear O Israel, the Lord Your God is ONE." This Truth lights the Way, corrects all projections and errors, and escorts us safely through every fire and every challenge within the world of dreams. There is nothing else.
"All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem. If you could recognize that your only problem is separation from God, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you would see its relevance. There is only one problem, and One Answer." -- A Course in Miracles
Monday, February 18, 2008
The Circle of Atonement
"The Circle of Atonement has no end. Joy is Its unifying attribute, with no one left outside. The Power of God draws everyone to Its safe embrace of Love and Union. Stand quietly within this Circle, and attract all tortured minds to join with you in the safety of Its Peace and Holiness. Judge not except in this Quietness which is not of you." -- A Course in Miracles
Quietness that is not of me. Quietness that has Joy as its unifying attribute. Quietness that is Love and Oneness ItSelf. This all-embracing, inclusive stillpoint, the Oneness that We Are, is the Atonement. A Course in Miracles tells us that "everyone has a special part to play in the Atonement, but the message given to each one is always the same; God's Son is guiltless. Your only calling here is to devote yourself, with active willingness, to the denial of guilt in all its forms."
There are several unequivocal points here. When it says 'your only calling here,' there is no way this can be misinterpreted. Only means only. And when it says that calling is to devote oneself, devotion means complete and utter commitment. And when it says with active willingness, it closes the backdoor (the con of separating the earthly life from Truth) that the ego likes to keep open. Active willingness means active in all parts of one's imagined life, not just the occasional foray into Truth. So here, in this one sentence, is it all laid out in perfect simplicity and clarity. My only calling in this world is to devote my heart, mind, soul, and strength (and all other imagined resources) to knowing the Innocence and Oneness of All, and thereby remembering God, my One Self. This is the Atonement. And this is why ACIM says over and over and over that forgiveness is my only function here. Only the mind that has released all imagined grievances can see the Truth... that All is One and forever Innocent and Free of anything unlike Love.
So we have the answer to the great preoccupation of the ego: what am I supposed to do? And we are given clear instructions to "judge not except in quietness which is not of you." So we know that our job is the easiest one in the world... to forgive, to release, and to listen to the Voice for God. Everything else is given us.
The hard part is the devotion and active willingness. We have given our devotion and our willingness to the world of illusions for so long it has become an ingrained, conditioned pattern of behavior. And it takes great willingness to shift your entire world; heart, mind, soul, and strength; your entire devotion and all your resources; your entire identity. Again, you don't have to DO it... in fact, who you think you are is incapable of it. As we are told, we DO have to be actively willing to turn our entire world over to the Voice for God, and to devote our world to this. And we DO have to be willing to listen and follow the Voice. The willingness to forgive and release it all and to follow the Voice... this is our only calling and function. Period.
You and I are the hands and feet and voice of the Atonement... every minute of every day we are willing to forgive, release, and listen to the Voice. You don't get a more important purpose and calling than this. Our willingness to be true to this and only this is crucial. Together, we ARE the Circle of Atonement.
"Merely by Being What It Is, does Truth release you from everything that It is not. The Atonement is so gentle you need but whisper to It, and all Its Power will rush to your assistance and support. You are not frail with God beside you. Yet without Him you are nothing." -- A Course in Miracles
Quietness that is not of me. Quietness that has Joy as its unifying attribute. Quietness that is Love and Oneness ItSelf. This all-embracing, inclusive stillpoint, the Oneness that We Are, is the Atonement. A Course in Miracles tells us that "everyone has a special part to play in the Atonement, but the message given to each one is always the same; God's Son is guiltless. Your only calling here is to devote yourself, with active willingness, to the denial of guilt in all its forms."
There are several unequivocal points here. When it says 'your only calling here,' there is no way this can be misinterpreted. Only means only. And when it says that calling is to devote oneself, devotion means complete and utter commitment. And when it says with active willingness, it closes the backdoor (the con of separating the earthly life from Truth) that the ego likes to keep open. Active willingness means active in all parts of one's imagined life, not just the occasional foray into Truth. So here, in this one sentence, is it all laid out in perfect simplicity and clarity. My only calling in this world is to devote my heart, mind, soul, and strength (and all other imagined resources) to knowing the Innocence and Oneness of All, and thereby remembering God, my One Self. This is the Atonement. And this is why ACIM says over and over and over that forgiveness is my only function here. Only the mind that has released all imagined grievances can see the Truth... that All is One and forever Innocent and Free of anything unlike Love.
So we have the answer to the great preoccupation of the ego: what am I supposed to do? And we are given clear instructions to "judge not except in quietness which is not of you." So we know that our job is the easiest one in the world... to forgive, to release, and to listen to the Voice for God. Everything else is given us.
The hard part is the devotion and active willingness. We have given our devotion and our willingness to the world of illusions for so long it has become an ingrained, conditioned pattern of behavior. And it takes great willingness to shift your entire world; heart, mind, soul, and strength; your entire devotion and all your resources; your entire identity. Again, you don't have to DO it... in fact, who you think you are is incapable of it. As we are told, we DO have to be actively willing to turn our entire world over to the Voice for God, and to devote our world to this. And we DO have to be willing to listen and follow the Voice. The willingness to forgive and release it all and to follow the Voice... this is our only calling and function. Period.
You and I are the hands and feet and voice of the Atonement... every minute of every day we are willing to forgive, release, and listen to the Voice. You don't get a more important purpose and calling than this. Our willingness to be true to this and only this is crucial. Together, we ARE the Circle of Atonement.
"Merely by Being What It Is, does Truth release you from everything that It is not. The Atonement is so gentle you need but whisper to It, and all Its Power will rush to your assistance and support. You are not frail with God beside you. Yet without Him you are nothing." -- A Course in Miracles
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Completion, Unity, and Peace
"Forgive all thoughts which would oppose the Truth of your completion, unity, and peace." -- A Course in Miracles
"God's Will for me is perfect happiness." -- A Course in Miracles
God is Love. All scriptures, everywhere, concur on this point. How then, can we ever believe that Love can be unloving? Only in this topsy-turvy world, where everything shifts and changes into its opposite could this appear to be true. What is soft and gentle becomes hard and unyielding, and vice-versa... water turns to ice, then melts... the pliancy of youth becomes the brittleness of age... and on and on and on. In this world, we rationalize it and call it love anyway, saying we simply can't know the mystery of it all. Does Love hide itself in pain and suffering?
These are questions that plague every soul sooner or later. The problem lies in the mind which is asking the question. We think God made the world we see. But ask yourself, honestly... could Love create something unlike ItSelf? Even in the human world, we know that children are born with the attributes of their parents. How could Love create what is not Love? It is like expecting a dog to give birth to a cat!
So if God didn't make the world we see, who did? The field is narrowed, my friend, to you and I. Who is seeing this world? And who suffers from seeing it? And who but you tells the story of this world, over and over and over?
A Course in Miracles tells us that forgiveness and salvation are one and the same. "Forgive what you have made," it tells us, "and you are saved." We have woven the web of the world we see in our own minds, a story of cause and effect apart from Love ItSelf. This can never be... but we will not see the Truth until the mind that asks the questions is willing to question itself. Only the unquestioning mind stays in bondage to its illusions. Once the questioning begins, the grand undoing is inevitable. The undoing of what never was. Thank God our completion, unity, and peace has remained, and will remain, unquestionable.
"There is a special message for today which has the power to remove all forms of doubt and fear forever from your mind. If you are tempted to believe them true, remember that appearances can not withstand the Truth these mighty words contain: Salvation is my only function here. God still is Love, and this is not His Will." -- A Course in Miracles
"God's Will for me is perfect happiness." -- A Course in Miracles
God is Love. All scriptures, everywhere, concur on this point. How then, can we ever believe that Love can be unloving? Only in this topsy-turvy world, where everything shifts and changes into its opposite could this appear to be true. What is soft and gentle becomes hard and unyielding, and vice-versa... water turns to ice, then melts... the pliancy of youth becomes the brittleness of age... and on and on and on. In this world, we rationalize it and call it love anyway, saying we simply can't know the mystery of it all. Does Love hide itself in pain and suffering?
These are questions that plague every soul sooner or later. The problem lies in the mind which is asking the question. We think God made the world we see. But ask yourself, honestly... could Love create something unlike ItSelf? Even in the human world, we know that children are born with the attributes of their parents. How could Love create what is not Love? It is like expecting a dog to give birth to a cat!
So if God didn't make the world we see, who did? The field is narrowed, my friend, to you and I. Who is seeing this world? And who suffers from seeing it? And who but you tells the story of this world, over and over and over?
A Course in Miracles tells us that forgiveness and salvation are one and the same. "Forgive what you have made," it tells us, "and you are saved." We have woven the web of the world we see in our own minds, a story of cause and effect apart from Love ItSelf. This can never be... but we will not see the Truth until the mind that asks the questions is willing to question itself. Only the unquestioning mind stays in bondage to its illusions. Once the questioning begins, the grand undoing is inevitable. The undoing of what never was. Thank God our completion, unity, and peace has remained, and will remain, unquestionable.
"There is a special message for today which has the power to remove all forms of doubt and fear forever from your mind. If you are tempted to believe them true, remember that appearances can not withstand the Truth these mighty words contain: Salvation is my only function here. God still is Love, and this is not His Will." -- A Course in Miracles
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