"To be in the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention on it." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section III, 4:1
A long time ago, one of the greatest teachers the world has ever known told us that if we would simply seek what he called the Kingdom of God, and make it our number one priority, then everything else would fall into place. His words, as quoted in The Bible, were, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." For years I have turned to this Biblical passage when in distress or in seeming need. The 'added things,' the things of this world, have always shown up... though often (O.K., usually) not in the ways or forms I would have expected. Similarly, as a long-time student of A Courses in Miracles, I have turned to the Workbook Lessons like, "There is no will but God's" and "God's Will for me is perfect happiness." Over the years my very human fear and distress over happenings in the world and especially in my personal life have always been stilled by these Truths. So imagine my surprise at reading, for perhaps the hundredth time, the passage above, and finding myself absolutely humbled.
As always, this 'revelation' is nothing new. I simply saw it anew. And that is what Awakening is... seeing with eyes that no longer focus on the separate and limited, but allowing the focus to expand to Wholeness. With full attention. All the time. Not just grudgingly giving that attention at certain times of day, or when things seem less than perfect. So I am humbled to realize that I regularly give the Kingdom less than my full attention. And also relieved, because I can see how foolish I have been, and how simple is the solution!
When we fall in love in this world, it seems so easy to give our full heart and mind to the beloved, whether that is an amorous partner or a new child or grandchild... or even a pet. But how many of us have ever sustained that expanded attention? Once we know that person is here and part of our life, we tend to take them for granted much of the time. Sometimes it takes a near loss to remind us how important they are to us, and to jolt us into full attention again. Well, I have been taking the Beloved for granted, in a much larger sense. And although this doesn't matter from the perspective of eternity, it matters to me and my quality of life NOW... just as our neglect of our loved ones negatively impacts our human lives. So I am simultaneously humbled and grateful for the resulting awareness of how simple our lives are meant to be. "Seek first the Kingdom..." "Focus your full attention on it..." "All these things will be added..."
Vigilance and full focus aren't a chore... they are our natural state of Awakened Awareness, which effortlessly remains aware of the Allness of Self, and yet focuses on all that lives and loves, providing and sustaining all. "When you have given up this voluntary dis-spiriting, you will see how your mind can focus..." (ACIM; 4, IV, 6:3)
"You need be neither careful nor careless..." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section VII, 1:4
"Those who choose freedom will experience only its results." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 20, Section IV, 4:1
Showing posts with label Vigilance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vigilance. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Building a Bridge
"Recognition is the power, and every state that you have ever recognized you have embodied. That which you are recognizing as true of yourself today is that which you are experiencing." -- Neville Goddard
"To your most holy Self all praise is due for what you are, and for what He is Who created you as you are. Sooner or later must everyone bridge the gap he imagines exists between his selves. Each one builds this bridge, which carries him across the gap as soon as he is willing to expend some little effort on behalf of bridging it. His little efforts are powerfully supplemented by the strength of Heaven, and by the united will of all who make Heaven what it is, being joined within it. And so the one who would cross over is literally transported there. Your bridge is builded, stronger than you think, and your foot is planted firmly on it. Have no fear that the attraction of those who stand on the other side and wait for you will not draw you safely across. For you will come where you would be, and where your Self awaits you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section III, 8:1-5, 9:1-3
Building a bridge between the self I imagine myself to be and the true Self that I really am... recognizing that I am imagining that I embody the state of who I think I am... this is huge. In new thought circles, people often speak of the power of imagination... but what we are really talking about is the imagined self, the imagined gap, the imagined state of being separate from our God-Self. And this is the dead end that all of us must sooner or later turn back from. Sooner or later we all must see that we are looking at our own consciousness, always and only our own imagined self projected outward.
The bridge we are building is really the willingness to see that we made it all up. We have never been separate from God, our True Self, nor could we ever do anything to separate ourselves. It's all made up.
So in this virtual world of virtual experiences, we make decisions over and over that are based on outer experiences and aimed at outer results. We keep trying to change, pandering to the reflection in the mirror, which has no life of its own. It's just a projected reflection. Like hamsters on wheels we spin and spin, choosing this way of spinning now and then we try that way of spinning, always trying to develop a better way to spin. But sooner or later we grow weary of spinning, and want to see what would happen if we just stopped. Who or what would we be without the spinning that our imaginary world seems to require?
Building this bridge between our imagined, separate self and our True Self requires, as ACIM reminds us, some effort. This is simply because we made it all up and maintained the illusion through enormous expenditures of time and attention... and it's going to take some refocusing of our holy mind and attention to build our virtual bridge home. And returning our whole heart and mind to God is the way the bridge is built.
"Having no other gods, turning to no other but the One Perfect Mind... man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 467, Lines 13-16
"To your most holy Self all praise is due for what you are, and for what He is Who created you as you are. Sooner or later must everyone bridge the gap he imagines exists between his selves. Each one builds this bridge, which carries him across the gap as soon as he is willing to expend some little effort on behalf of bridging it. His little efforts are powerfully supplemented by the strength of Heaven, and by the united will of all who make Heaven what it is, being joined within it. And so the one who would cross over is literally transported there. Your bridge is builded, stronger than you think, and your foot is planted firmly on it. Have no fear that the attraction of those who stand on the other side and wait for you will not draw you safely across. For you will come where you would be, and where your Self awaits you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section III, 8:1-5, 9:1-3
Building a bridge between the self I imagine myself to be and the true Self that I really am... recognizing that I am imagining that I embody the state of who I think I am... this is huge. In new thought circles, people often speak of the power of imagination... but what we are really talking about is the imagined self, the imagined gap, the imagined state of being separate from our God-Self. And this is the dead end that all of us must sooner or later turn back from. Sooner or later we all must see that we are looking at our own consciousness, always and only our own imagined self projected outward.
The bridge we are building is really the willingness to see that we made it all up. We have never been separate from God, our True Self, nor could we ever do anything to separate ourselves. It's all made up.
So in this virtual world of virtual experiences, we make decisions over and over that are based on outer experiences and aimed at outer results. We keep trying to change, pandering to the reflection in the mirror, which has no life of its own. It's just a projected reflection. Like hamsters on wheels we spin and spin, choosing this way of spinning now and then we try that way of spinning, always trying to develop a better way to spin. But sooner or later we grow weary of spinning, and want to see what would happen if we just stopped. Who or what would we be without the spinning that our imaginary world seems to require?
Building this bridge between our imagined, separate self and our True Self requires, as ACIM reminds us, some effort. This is simply because we made it all up and maintained the illusion through enormous expenditures of time and attention... and it's going to take some refocusing of our holy mind and attention to build our virtual bridge home. And returning our whole heart and mind to God is the way the bridge is built.
"Having no other gods, turning to no other but the One Perfect Mind... man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 467, Lines 13-16
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Mind of the Thinker
"Every idea begins in the mind of the thinker. Therefore, what extends from the mind is still in it, and from what it extends it knows itself." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section III, 1:1-2
"Your Godlike mind can never be defiled. The ego never was and never will be part of it, but through the ego you can hear and teach and learn what is not true." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section III, 1:6-7
What a house of mirrors we live in. We always and only see what is in our own consciousness... the projection of what is not true, when we insist on pretending to be separate from God and each other... or the reflection and extension of Reality, when we return in Awareness to what IS and has always been. Either way, we are always seeing, hearing, and experiencing the contents of our own mind.
As we become more aware of this, our attention returns to the mind of the thinker. We become more vigilant about what is occupying our minds and hearts. This doesn't mean we need to become positive thinkers. Positive thinking is elitist, exclusionary thinking, and always leads to war in some form, internal or external (no difference). Inclusive awareness, on the other hand, includes all thoughts and transforms them by the simple act of acceptance, which is a form of love. It allows all things to be as they are, and thus reveals the Reality of God at the core of All that Is. Nothing is what it appears to be. God is All.
The Allness of God and our Oneness with God are only seen and accepted when the mind ceases to contract into separate thoughts, but rather expands into the inclusive Awareness of Oneness. Then the mind of the thinker and the Mind of God in which we live and move and have our being are seen to be eternally One and the same.
"Hear then the one answer of the Holy Spirit to all the questions the ego raises. You are a child of God, a priceless part of His Kingdom, which He created as part of Him. Nothing else exists, and only this is Real." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section IV, 6:1-2
"Your Godlike mind can never be defiled. The ego never was and never will be part of it, but through the ego you can hear and teach and learn what is not true." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section III, 1:6-7
What a house of mirrors we live in. We always and only see what is in our own consciousness... the projection of what is not true, when we insist on pretending to be separate from God and each other... or the reflection and extension of Reality, when we return in Awareness to what IS and has always been. Either way, we are always seeing, hearing, and experiencing the contents of our own mind.
As we become more aware of this, our attention returns to the mind of the thinker. We become more vigilant about what is occupying our minds and hearts. This doesn't mean we need to become positive thinkers. Positive thinking is elitist, exclusionary thinking, and always leads to war in some form, internal or external (no difference). Inclusive awareness, on the other hand, includes all thoughts and transforms them by the simple act of acceptance, which is a form of love. It allows all things to be as they are, and thus reveals the Reality of God at the core of All that Is. Nothing is what it appears to be. God is All.
The Allness of God and our Oneness with God are only seen and accepted when the mind ceases to contract into separate thoughts, but rather expands into the inclusive Awareness of Oneness. Then the mind of the thinker and the Mind of God in which we live and move and have our being are seen to be eternally One and the same.
"Hear then the one answer of the Holy Spirit to all the questions the ego raises. You are a child of God, a priceless part of His Kingdom, which He created as part of Him. Nothing else exists, and only this is Real." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section IV, 6:1-2
Saturday, June 14, 2008
What Hinders You?
"For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation." -- The Bible; Romans 4:15
"I saw that the law of mortal belief included all error, and that, even as oppressive laws are disputed and mortals are taught their right to freedom, so the claims of the enslaving senses must be denied and superseded." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 227, Lines 3-7
"The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 227, Lines 26-27
"There are no laws but God's. There is no loss under the laws of God. Payment is neither given nor received. Exchange cannot be made; there are no substitutes; and nothing is replaced by something else. God's laws forever give and never take. The laws of God make free." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 76, 9:1, 3-6, 7:5
It took me a long time to realize that human laws are all made up. We live in a world of human constructs based on the belief in a punitive God, and the corollary belief that humans have to be limited or they will screw up and do evil things.
Human law is all about what we must not do. Even laws that say we must do certain things, like pay taxes or stop for red lights, are based on not running into somebody and not being a bad citizen. They are all some version of 'thou shalt not.' This is insanity. And by looking around at our world, we can see, plainly, it just doesn't work.
The good news that Jesus brought is that there are no laws but God's... and God's law is the Law of Love, and Love alone. God is All, and His Love is All. He told us that "God is no respecter of persons. He makes his sun (His Love) shine on the evil and the good." We don't have to earn God's Love by toeing the line. His law is One. "Thou shalt love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength; and your neighbor as your Self. This is the Law." It can't get much simpler.
Yet the simple can be the most challenging. Who among us is willing to leave our old ways, to shift focus from the material laws we have believed and valued, to the Truth of Being in the Allness of God's Love? Who among us is willing to question the so-called laws of health, behavior, and livelihood that we have been taught? Who among us is willing to love, not our personal lives and the people and things that populate our personal world, but God as All, above All?
What laws seem to hinder you? Are they the laws of diet and health? Are they the laws of being a 'good' person? Are they the laws of success and failure? Are they they the laws of human love and relationships? Whatever the human laws we believe in, they are the limits of our life. And when we don't live up to these self-imposed laws, even if no one else knows, we suffer. They are laws of fear and punishment... even the ones in the disguise of love and attachment. If there are no other laws but God's Love, what are all these things that get our heart and mind and soul and strength every day? What are all these things we think demand our time and allegiance? And what do we think will happen if we don't obey these laws of matter and material life? Thou shalt not fail to do this, because if you don't, something horrible will happen! Thou shalt not fail to do that, because you if you don't, you will never be happy! Thou shalt not fail to please them, because if you don't, you will be a bad, bad friend, a bad person. Thou shalt not fail to obey the rules of matter, because if you don't, you will die! Held hostage to the belief in so many fictional laws, we can't see that we are not just the prisoner, we are the jailer and the jail.
Your freedom depends on the courage and the vigilance to question even your most cherished beliefs, your most valued illusions. Whenever you take the time to question the many laws of behavior that seem to hold you hostage, you will always discover there is nothing there but unquestioned beliefs. What hinders you? Your own fear of self-inquiry and self-discovery. And nothing else. For God's Love is All, and the only Law there is.
"So I would liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that I seek. For thus do I obey the Law of Love, and give what I would find and make my own." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 349, 1:1-2
"I saw that the law of mortal belief included all error, and that, even as oppressive laws are disputed and mortals are taught their right to freedom, so the claims of the enslaving senses must be denied and superseded." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 227, Lines 3-7
"The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 227, Lines 26-27
"There are no laws but God's. There is no loss under the laws of God. Payment is neither given nor received. Exchange cannot be made; there are no substitutes; and nothing is replaced by something else. God's laws forever give and never take. The laws of God make free." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 76, 9:1, 3-6, 7:5
It took me a long time to realize that human laws are all made up. We live in a world of human constructs based on the belief in a punitive God, and the corollary belief that humans have to be limited or they will screw up and do evil things.
Human law is all about what we must not do. Even laws that say we must do certain things, like pay taxes or stop for red lights, are based on not running into somebody and not being a bad citizen. They are all some version of 'thou shalt not.' This is insanity. And by looking around at our world, we can see, plainly, it just doesn't work.
The good news that Jesus brought is that there are no laws but God's... and God's law is the Law of Love, and Love alone. God is All, and His Love is All. He told us that "God is no respecter of persons. He makes his sun (His Love) shine on the evil and the good." We don't have to earn God's Love by toeing the line. His law is One. "Thou shalt love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength; and your neighbor as your Self. This is the Law." It can't get much simpler.
Yet the simple can be the most challenging. Who among us is willing to leave our old ways, to shift focus from the material laws we have believed and valued, to the Truth of Being in the Allness of God's Love? Who among us is willing to question the so-called laws of health, behavior, and livelihood that we have been taught? Who among us is willing to love, not our personal lives and the people and things that populate our personal world, but God as All, above All?
What laws seem to hinder you? Are they the laws of diet and health? Are they the laws of being a 'good' person? Are they the laws of success and failure? Are they they the laws of human love and relationships? Whatever the human laws we believe in, they are the limits of our life. And when we don't live up to these self-imposed laws, even if no one else knows, we suffer. They are laws of fear and punishment... even the ones in the disguise of love and attachment. If there are no other laws but God's Love, what are all these things that get our heart and mind and soul and strength every day? What are all these things we think demand our time and allegiance? And what do we think will happen if we don't obey these laws of matter and material life? Thou shalt not fail to do this, because if you don't, something horrible will happen! Thou shalt not fail to do that, because you if you don't, you will never be happy! Thou shalt not fail to please them, because if you don't, you will be a bad, bad friend, a bad person. Thou shalt not fail to obey the rules of matter, because if you don't, you will die! Held hostage to the belief in so many fictional laws, we can't see that we are not just the prisoner, we are the jailer and the jail.
Your freedom depends on the courage and the vigilance to question even your most cherished beliefs, your most valued illusions. Whenever you take the time to question the many laws of behavior that seem to hold you hostage, you will always discover there is nothing there but unquestioned beliefs. What hinders you? Your own fear of self-inquiry and self-discovery. And nothing else. For God's Love is All, and the only Law there is.
"So I would liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that I seek. For thus do I obey the Law of Love, and give what I would find and make my own." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 349, 1:1-2
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Vigilance
"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." -- The Bible; Matthew 6:33
"When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 495, Lines 14-16
"The question is: are we willing to put in the hours of devotion; are we willing to make the effort required to train ourselves to be conscious of the Presence of God, instead of seeking some form in which God is to appear? There is the whole secret. It is up to us." -- Joel Goldsmith
"Belief does not require vigilance unless it is conflicted. If it is, there are conflicting components within it that have led to a state of war, and vigilance has therefore become essential. Vigilance has no place in Peace. It is necessary against beliefs that are not true, and would never have been called upon by the Holy Spirit if you had not believed the untrue. When you believe something, you have made it true for you. When you believe what God does not know, your thought seems to contradict His, and this makes it appear as if you are attacking Him. While you believe two totally contradictory thought systems share truth, your need for vigilance is apparent." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section VI, 7:3-8, 8:11
It has taken a lot of seeming time and apparent attention, i.e. a lot of vigilance, to experience the lie of the world as fragmented and lacking and suffering. It takes a lot of vigilance to keep up the illusion of this fictional world that is the opposite of God, the antithesis of Good. What is this supposed power made of, if not God? And when we drop our guard for even a moment, where is it? Isn't it funny how moments of Peace and Reality sneak up on us in spite of ourselves? They are the ground of our True Being all along, always the Truth. What comes and goes and comes to pass is the fiction, the sleight of hand. Let it go.
To be vigilant only for God requires an act of will at first, simply because we have worked so long and hard to NOT be aware of the Truth. As the old Rodgers and Hammerstein song goes, we have been 'carefully taught' to believe and value the cultural fictions of the world. So even though resting in God and our Awareness of the Kingdom of Self is the most natural, effortless thing in the world, the closest we come to Reality while in the world... still, in order to reverse ourselves within the dream it requires not only willingness, but vigilance and commitment.
So what do we really want? As Joel Goldsmith's quote asks, what are we devoted to? Whatever gets the lion's share of our time and attention is where we believe the power is... these are the idols that populate our personal pantheon of false gods. Idols are illusions that we are devoted to. Devotion is time and attention. So what do we really want? And are we willing to reverse ourselves?
No one else can make this decision for us. We may be long-time veterans of spiritual paths and still be primarily devoted to physical forms and results. We may be very intellectually aware of the 'truth', and yet we use it only to re-enforce our human identities, to make ourselves more comfortable. It's not that this is bad or wrong. It's that, except for short term illusions, it's not possible. The nature of illusions are that they are unstable and temporary.
The reason Jesus and Joel and Mrs. Eddy all tell us to 'seek first the Kingdom,' to have no other gods or devotions, is of the utmost practicality. By giving our mind and heart only to God and the Divine Ideas that continually radiate through us as His children, we reflect only the Good and Eternal even in this world of illusion. Only God is Real, only Divine Love is the currency of Life and so it is the currency of our True Devotion. This devotion and commitment means that we have no other gods, no other needs but to know God, and thus our True Self, aright. And the Good that is then reflected in our life and world is the icing on the cake... the added things spoken of in Scripture. But the shadow or reflection can never be mistaken for Reality.
"Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section V, C
"When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 495, Lines 14-16
"The question is: are we willing to put in the hours of devotion; are we willing to make the effort required to train ourselves to be conscious of the Presence of God, instead of seeking some form in which God is to appear? There is the whole secret. It is up to us." -- Joel Goldsmith
"Belief does not require vigilance unless it is conflicted. If it is, there are conflicting components within it that have led to a state of war, and vigilance has therefore become essential. Vigilance has no place in Peace. It is necessary against beliefs that are not true, and would never have been called upon by the Holy Spirit if you had not believed the untrue. When you believe something, you have made it true for you. When you believe what God does not know, your thought seems to contradict His, and this makes it appear as if you are attacking Him. While you believe two totally contradictory thought systems share truth, your need for vigilance is apparent." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 7, Section VI, 7:3-8, 8:11
It has taken a lot of seeming time and apparent attention, i.e. a lot of vigilance, to experience the lie of the world as fragmented and lacking and suffering. It takes a lot of vigilance to keep up the illusion of this fictional world that is the opposite of God, the antithesis of Good. What is this supposed power made of, if not God? And when we drop our guard for even a moment, where is it? Isn't it funny how moments of Peace and Reality sneak up on us in spite of ourselves? They are the ground of our True Being all along, always the Truth. What comes and goes and comes to pass is the fiction, the sleight of hand. Let it go.
To be vigilant only for God requires an act of will at first, simply because we have worked so long and hard to NOT be aware of the Truth. As the old Rodgers and Hammerstein song goes, we have been 'carefully taught' to believe and value the cultural fictions of the world. So even though resting in God and our Awareness of the Kingdom of Self is the most natural, effortless thing in the world, the closest we come to Reality while in the world... still, in order to reverse ourselves within the dream it requires not only willingness, but vigilance and commitment.
So what do we really want? As Joel Goldsmith's quote asks, what are we devoted to? Whatever gets the lion's share of our time and attention is where we believe the power is... these are the idols that populate our personal pantheon of false gods. Idols are illusions that we are devoted to. Devotion is time and attention. So what do we really want? And are we willing to reverse ourselves?
No one else can make this decision for us. We may be long-time veterans of spiritual paths and still be primarily devoted to physical forms and results. We may be very intellectually aware of the 'truth', and yet we use it only to re-enforce our human identities, to make ourselves more comfortable. It's not that this is bad or wrong. It's that, except for short term illusions, it's not possible. The nature of illusions are that they are unstable and temporary.
The reason Jesus and Joel and Mrs. Eddy all tell us to 'seek first the Kingdom,' to have no other gods or devotions, is of the utmost practicality. By giving our mind and heart only to God and the Divine Ideas that continually radiate through us as His children, we reflect only the Good and Eternal even in this world of illusion. Only God is Real, only Divine Love is the currency of Life and so it is the currency of our True Devotion. This devotion and commitment means that we have no other gods, no other needs but to know God, and thus our True Self, aright. And the Good that is then reflected in our life and world is the icing on the cake... the added things spoken of in Scripture. But the shadow or reflection can never be mistaken for Reality.
"Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 6, Section V, C
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