For those of you who really want to remember Self, the Christ... for those of you who really want to be a blessing and a healing presence... I urge you to make a very simple but real commitment this year. A Course in Miracles is a tool that can help keep you sane, and can return you to sanity when you forget. But like any tool, you have to pick it up and actually use it for it to be useful.
"The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Intro
"The workbook is divided into two main sections, the first dealing with the undoing of the way you see now, and the second with the acquisition of true perception." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Intro
Simple, logical... in order to put clean sheets on the bed, I first have to take off the dirty sheets. I have to clear my mind first, before I can reveal the True Thoughts that are always available. ACIM calls this process forgiveness, and in the early lessons of the Workbook it prepares us for what true forgiveness is. It leads us always to begin taking 100% responsibility for our thoughts and perceptions and the meanings we ascribe to them. It also leads us to remembering that we made all of it up (thank God!). And so, we make the only change that leads to real change... we change our minds about Who We Are and Who our brothers are.
This year, I urge you to make a real commitment to doing the lessons in the Workbook and actually applying them to everyone and everything. Why put off what will bring you real and lasting joy and peace? And if you need support in this, you can always contact me.
Sending all of you so much love, joy, peace, and abundance... Happy New Year!
Mary Alberici
Showing posts with label Willingness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willingness. Show all posts
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Waiting for God
"I have no cause for anger or fear, for You surround me. And in every need that I perceive, Your Grace suffices me." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 348
We're conditioned from an early age to listen to our parents, our teachers, our friends, our church... in other words, we look to the outer world for information, direction, and validation. Learning to listen within and wait for God's appointments and direction seems counter intuitive, and even crazy. Interesting defense, isn't it? The ego (the fictional aggregate of mental constructs we call a self, imagining we're separate from God and each other) is the very definition of insanity... a delusional defense against the whole. So it calls what is true, false, and insists that the unreal has substance and validity. That's how projection works. It's also the justification for fear and anger and all the insanity the ego insists is real.
Only take a moment to consider rationally... God, the very Ground of Being, is everywhere... pure and eternal Life and Love without form or condition. We live and move and have our Being in God. So how could we look anywhere other than God for what is essential and true? How could we look anywhere other than God for Who We Are? There is nowhere else. There's nothing out there but projected ideas based on a mistake... the mistake that somehow walling ourselves off from the whole will give us what we want and keep us safe. And when has that ever been the truth? Safe from what? What else is there but God, the All in All?
Waiting for God doesn't involve the future... it involves a present willingness to be still, to listen each holy instant in unceasing mindfulness. This doesn't involve effort or struggle or even a technique or practice. Once the willingness is given by the mind, the beauty of our true Self takes over. Stillness, one-pointedness, awakened awareness, pure joy and unshakable peace... these are all attributes we find to be our own, as natural as breathing. More so.
Waiting for God means we're willing to release the false and embrace the True. And we at last remember the Grace that enfolds and surrounds us and suffices us in all things.
We're conditioned from an early age to listen to our parents, our teachers, our friends, our church... in other words, we look to the outer world for information, direction, and validation. Learning to listen within and wait for God's appointments and direction seems counter intuitive, and even crazy. Interesting defense, isn't it? The ego (the fictional aggregate of mental constructs we call a self, imagining we're separate from God and each other) is the very definition of insanity... a delusional defense against the whole. So it calls what is true, false, and insists that the unreal has substance and validity. That's how projection works. It's also the justification for fear and anger and all the insanity the ego insists is real.
Only take a moment to consider rationally... God, the very Ground of Being, is everywhere... pure and eternal Life and Love without form or condition. We live and move and have our Being in God. So how could we look anywhere other than God for what is essential and true? How could we look anywhere other than God for Who We Are? There is nowhere else. There's nothing out there but projected ideas based on a mistake... the mistake that somehow walling ourselves off from the whole will give us what we want and keep us safe. And when has that ever been the truth? Safe from what? What else is there but God, the All in All?
Waiting for God doesn't involve the future... it involves a present willingness to be still, to listen each holy instant in unceasing mindfulness. This doesn't involve effort or struggle or even a technique or practice. Once the willingness is given by the mind, the beauty of our true Self takes over. Stillness, one-pointedness, awakened awareness, pure joy and unshakable peace... these are all attributes we find to be our own, as natural as breathing. More so.
Waiting for God means we're willing to release the false and embrace the True. And we at last remember the Grace that enfolds and surrounds us and suffices us in all things.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Will to Awaken
"The real world is the state of mind in which the only purpose of the world is seen to be forgiveness. No rules are idly set, and no demands are made of anyone or anything to twist and fit into the dream of fear. Instead, there is a wish to understand all things created as they really are. And it is recognized that all things must first be forgiven, and then understood." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 30, Section V, 1:1 & 4-6
I've been thinking a lot this year about the seeming process of awakening, and the shedding of the false self that is required. As St. Paul put it, "I die daily" so that "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This beautiful thought is beloved in Christianity, but is also largely revered as a poetic and idealistic sentiment, not as a literal process that requires our willingness. Even those charismatic Christians who see it as literal still hang on to the notion of a little self that is saved by the God/Man, Jesus Christ. They don't see that this simply perpetuates their false view of themselves as separate from God, weaker and imperfect.
And whose will was it that these imperfect creatures exist? Certainly not God, Who creates all things in His Holy Mind and so eternally extends HimSelf. The Spirit of God did not and could not create imperfection. How could the imperfect exist in the absolute harmony and perfection of God, the eternally One and Whole? So what seems imperfect must be an imperfect perception only, a false sense of what eternally IS.
The will to awaken is the willingness to constantly release each and every perception that arises, and give it to the part of our mind that remains aware of our eternal Oneness with God... the Holy Spirit. This is what forgiveness is... and this is the process of Atonement, the interlocking chain of forgiveness that results in the Awakening of the One Son of God, even within the dream separation.
So what is the will to awaken? And why do so very few seem to have it? ACIM tells us that "The Call is universal. It goes on all the time everywhere. Many hear it, but few will answer. Everyone will answer in the end, but the end can [seem] a long, long way off." -- (ACIM; Manual for Teachers 1.2:4-5 & 7-9) In other words, we have a vested interest still in the dream. After all, it's our dream... and we continue to question how these very beautiful and desirable parts could need our forgiveness and release. Can't we just forgive all the bad stuff and keep these parts we like, the parts that we're comfortable with, the parts that speak to us of tradition and continuity within the dream?
Our teacher and guide is uncompromising. Jeshua said, "A man must lose his life in order to save it." Yikes. This is not what our egos want to hear.
How do we find the will to awaken? How do we release the mental resistance that flails about and questions our very sanity? I'd like to tell you there's an easy way through this passage, but the Truth is that the only way out is through. You will pass through this fire, and you will not be burned.
On the other side of all seeming turmoil is the perfect peace of realizing that there never was a problem... we have always been right here, safe in God. On this side, we simply keep giving our perceptions to the Holy Spirit and following the directions of the Voice within. This perfect trust will be reinforced as we are willing to follow the Holy Spirit's Voice instead of our own fearful imaginings. Forgive and follow the Voice. Forgive and follow the Voice. This is the will to awaken.
"A major hindrance in this aspect of learning is the teacher of God's fear about the validity of what he hears. And what he hears may indeed be quite startling. It may also seem to be quite irrelevant to the presented problem as he perceives it, and may in fact confront the teacher with a situation that appears to be very embarrassing to him. All these are judgments that have no value. They are his own, coming from a shabby self-perception which he would leave behind." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 21. 5:1-5
I've been thinking a lot this year about the seeming process of awakening, and the shedding of the false self that is required. As St. Paul put it, "I die daily" so that "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This beautiful thought is beloved in Christianity, but is also largely revered as a poetic and idealistic sentiment, not as a literal process that requires our willingness. Even those charismatic Christians who see it as literal still hang on to the notion of a little self that is saved by the God/Man, Jesus Christ. They don't see that this simply perpetuates their false view of themselves as separate from God, weaker and imperfect.
And whose will was it that these imperfect creatures exist? Certainly not God, Who creates all things in His Holy Mind and so eternally extends HimSelf. The Spirit of God did not and could not create imperfection. How could the imperfect exist in the absolute harmony and perfection of God, the eternally One and Whole? So what seems imperfect must be an imperfect perception only, a false sense of what eternally IS.
The will to awaken is the willingness to constantly release each and every perception that arises, and give it to the part of our mind that remains aware of our eternal Oneness with God... the Holy Spirit. This is what forgiveness is... and this is the process of Atonement, the interlocking chain of forgiveness that results in the Awakening of the One Son of God, even within the dream separation.
So what is the will to awaken? And why do so very few seem to have it? ACIM tells us that "The Call is universal. It goes on all the time everywhere. Many hear it, but few will answer. Everyone will answer in the end, but the end can [seem] a long, long way off." -- (ACIM; Manual for Teachers 1.2:4-5 & 7-9) In other words, we have a vested interest still in the dream. After all, it's our dream... and we continue to question how these very beautiful and desirable parts could need our forgiveness and release. Can't we just forgive all the bad stuff and keep these parts we like, the parts that we're comfortable with, the parts that speak to us of tradition and continuity within the dream?
Our teacher and guide is uncompromising. Jeshua said, "A man must lose his life in order to save it." Yikes. This is not what our egos want to hear.
How do we find the will to awaken? How do we release the mental resistance that flails about and questions our very sanity? I'd like to tell you there's an easy way through this passage, but the Truth is that the only way out is through. You will pass through this fire, and you will not be burned.
On the other side of all seeming turmoil is the perfect peace of realizing that there never was a problem... we have always been right here, safe in God. On this side, we simply keep giving our perceptions to the Holy Spirit and following the directions of the Voice within. This perfect trust will be reinforced as we are willing to follow the Holy Spirit's Voice instead of our own fearful imaginings. Forgive and follow the Voice. Forgive and follow the Voice. This is the will to awaken.
"A major hindrance in this aspect of learning is the teacher of God's fear about the validity of what he hears. And what he hears may indeed be quite startling. It may also seem to be quite irrelevant to the presented problem as he perceives it, and may in fact confront the teacher with a situation that appears to be very embarrassing to him. All these are judgments that have no value. They are his own, coming from a shabby self-perception which he would leave behind." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 21. 5:1-5
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Willingness to Give
"To have all, give all, to all." -- A Course in Miracles
"Supply is infinite, but there must be receptivity. We can have all the supply we will give. But that is where the barrier is... we must have the willingness to give. That is where the lack and limitation is." -- Joel Goldsmith
The issue of supply, of income, is a very popular topic for all of us, and for the media. There seems to be a lack of supply for a lot of us at any given moment. So the question that arises is this: how can there be a lack of anything in what is infinite and ever-present and ONE? This apparent conflict is the age-old struggle of the illusory separate self to maintain its apparent existence through fear and self-created lack. This illusion can be illustrated by the following story:
A little boy was given a package of cookies to take to school and share with his classmates. But the little boy, fearing there wouldn't be enough for him, chose to hide them in his desk and have a few each day for himself. Was there a lack of cookies in that classroom? No, but it appeared that only one child had cookies. The reality was, they were given to him to SHARE... and if he opened his desk and shared them, all the children would have cookies. And where would more cookies come from? From the same place... because the little boy's parents loved giving, too. And many of the other children would then ask their parents for cookies or treats to share, too. Sharing is fun, and much more natural than hoarding.
So when the little boy was afraid, he hoarded. When he trusted in the love that gave him those cookies to share, he shared and experienced an abundance of cookies and other treats. And so it is with us.
Does this seem too simplistic? It's simple alright, but not easy to be willing to pour yourself out to all of life. Our egos resist, insisting that we can't, or we won't have enough. We're not talking just about money, or about anything specific. We're talking about the unwillingness to give that is the nature of the egoic, illusory self that hoards and takes in the name of I, me, mine. Our true Self gives without condition, pours out of the infinity of Being. "We must begin to pour, to start the outflow. The damming up of supply results from our failure to pour in some manner." -- Joel Goldsmith
So what is it that we are unwilling to unconditionally give? Our time? Our love? Our presence? Our attention? Our honesty? Our devotion? Our commitment? Our money? Our unwavering support? Our talents and abilities? Our acceptance and approval? Our forgiveness? Our companionship? Our diligence? A non-judgmental listening ear? If we are lacking in any of these, it is certain that it is our own unwillingness to give that is appearing as the illusion of lack. All of these are IN us... we ARE the infinity of God pouring forth in the world. We can only appear to lack what we are unwilling to give.
"The subject of supply plays a major role in our lives. Until we begin to live as if we are One with God, as if all the Father has is ours, and act that out by sharing our resources, sharing forgiveness, cooperation, understanding, patience, whatever it is... until we are willing to give in this way, spiritual consciousness has not yet touched us." -- Joel Goldsmith
"Supply is infinite, but there must be receptivity. We can have all the supply we will give. But that is where the barrier is... we must have the willingness to give. That is where the lack and limitation is." -- Joel Goldsmith
The issue of supply, of income, is a very popular topic for all of us, and for the media. There seems to be a lack of supply for a lot of us at any given moment. So the question that arises is this: how can there be a lack of anything in what is infinite and ever-present and ONE? This apparent conflict is the age-old struggle of the illusory separate self to maintain its apparent existence through fear and self-created lack. This illusion can be illustrated by the following story:
A little boy was given a package of cookies to take to school and share with his classmates. But the little boy, fearing there wouldn't be enough for him, chose to hide them in his desk and have a few each day for himself. Was there a lack of cookies in that classroom? No, but it appeared that only one child had cookies. The reality was, they were given to him to SHARE... and if he opened his desk and shared them, all the children would have cookies. And where would more cookies come from? From the same place... because the little boy's parents loved giving, too. And many of the other children would then ask their parents for cookies or treats to share, too. Sharing is fun, and much more natural than hoarding.
So when the little boy was afraid, he hoarded. When he trusted in the love that gave him those cookies to share, he shared and experienced an abundance of cookies and other treats. And so it is with us.
Does this seem too simplistic? It's simple alright, but not easy to be willing to pour yourself out to all of life. Our egos resist, insisting that we can't, or we won't have enough. We're not talking just about money, or about anything specific. We're talking about the unwillingness to give that is the nature of the egoic, illusory self that hoards and takes in the name of I, me, mine. Our true Self gives without condition, pours out of the infinity of Being. "We must begin to pour, to start the outflow. The damming up of supply results from our failure to pour in some manner." -- Joel Goldsmith
So what is it that we are unwilling to unconditionally give? Our time? Our love? Our presence? Our attention? Our honesty? Our devotion? Our commitment? Our money? Our unwavering support? Our talents and abilities? Our acceptance and approval? Our forgiveness? Our companionship? Our diligence? A non-judgmental listening ear? If we are lacking in any of these, it is certain that it is our own unwillingness to give that is appearing as the illusion of lack. All of these are IN us... we ARE the infinity of God pouring forth in the world. We can only appear to lack what we are unwilling to give.
"The subject of supply plays a major role in our lives. Until we begin to live as if we are One with God, as if all the Father has is ours, and act that out by sharing our resources, sharing forgiveness, cooperation, understanding, patience, whatever it is... until we are willing to give in this way, spiritual consciousness has not yet touched us." -- Joel Goldsmith
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Inclusive Vision
"There is no place for hell within a world whose loveliness can yet be so intense and so inclusive it is but a step from there to Heaven. To your tired eyes I bring a vision of a different world, so new and clean and fresh you will forget the pain and sorrow that you saw before." -- A Course in Miracles; T31, VIII. 8:3-4
"Truth is not fragmentary, disconnected, unsystematic, but concentrated and immovably fixed in Principle. The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action." -- Retrospection and Introspection by Mary Baker Eddy; p.93, lines 11-16
I love that the words 'intense' and 'inclusive' are used in the same sentence, in the above quote from ACIM. It is no easy task to return our minds to inclusive thinking. It requires focus and willing discipline... the willingness to surrender our fragmented , selfish ideas to the inclusive vision of our High Self, the Holy Spirit. It requires the focus to notice when we're not doing that. It requires the willingness to Awaken.
All of this is done in consciousness. Notice Mary Baker Eddy points out that lifting our thought in this way is done through stillness and strength, through stationary power. It's never about the outer, which is only the image-making projection of what lies in consciousness. What appears without is projected, and therefore illusory. As Mrs Eddy says in her scientific statement of being: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; p. 468, lines 9-10)
I was reminded of this in a very dear way by a friend. I was in the process of sending out a letter about some business matter. My friend commented that by sending out the letter in this way, I am in effect acknowledging that I see it happening to me, taking place 'out there,' and that I somehow need something else to happen 'out there.' She suggested that I write a letter in consciousness, thanking the recipients for having already met the requirements... in effect, forgiving their debts... and for the opportunities and income that have resulted for so many. All of this taking place in consciousness. Not out there. The letter will never be sent. Its purpose is not to get anything to happen 'out there.' There is no 'out there!' The purpose of the letter is to return my mind to Wholeness, to the realization, in stillness and stationary strength, that it is all taking place in consciousness, where every imagined problem, separation, or need is seen to be nothing. Whose consciousness? My dream is occurring here in my mind... and in the stillness I remember that there is only One Mind. I can release and forgive my aberrant dreams, the scattered dreams that see separate, fragmented selves.... and I can again welcome the inclusive, expansive vision of my High Self, the Holy Spirit. This all-inclusive vision is the Holy Spirit's gift to us when we are willing to once again be still.
Inclusive Vision is not about manipulating or trying to change the dream. It's about returning our mind and heart to what is true. There is only One, only God, only GOOD. Inclusive Vision returns us to the Wholeness of our right Mind. It is the Grace of God made manifest, on earth as it is in the Heaven of Oneness.
"In returning and rest you shall be saved. In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." -- The Bible; Isaiah 30:15
"Truth is not fragmentary, disconnected, unsystematic, but concentrated and immovably fixed in Principle. The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action." -- Retrospection and Introspection by Mary Baker Eddy; p.93, lines 11-16
I love that the words 'intense' and 'inclusive' are used in the same sentence, in the above quote from ACIM. It is no easy task to return our minds to inclusive thinking. It requires focus and willing discipline... the willingness to surrender our fragmented , selfish ideas to the inclusive vision of our High Self, the Holy Spirit. It requires the focus to notice when we're not doing that. It requires the willingness to Awaken.
All of this is done in consciousness. Notice Mary Baker Eddy points out that lifting our thought in this way is done through stillness and strength, through stationary power. It's never about the outer, which is only the image-making projection of what lies in consciousness. What appears without is projected, and therefore illusory. As Mrs Eddy says in her scientific statement of being: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; p. 468, lines 9-10)
I was reminded of this in a very dear way by a friend. I was in the process of sending out a letter about some business matter. My friend commented that by sending out the letter in this way, I am in effect acknowledging that I see it happening to me, taking place 'out there,' and that I somehow need something else to happen 'out there.' She suggested that I write a letter in consciousness, thanking the recipients for having already met the requirements... in effect, forgiving their debts... and for the opportunities and income that have resulted for so many. All of this taking place in consciousness. Not out there. The letter will never be sent. Its purpose is not to get anything to happen 'out there.' There is no 'out there!' The purpose of the letter is to return my mind to Wholeness, to the realization, in stillness and stationary strength, that it is all taking place in consciousness, where every imagined problem, separation, or need is seen to be nothing. Whose consciousness? My dream is occurring here in my mind... and in the stillness I remember that there is only One Mind. I can release and forgive my aberrant dreams, the scattered dreams that see separate, fragmented selves.... and I can again welcome the inclusive, expansive vision of my High Self, the Holy Spirit. This all-inclusive vision is the Holy Spirit's gift to us when we are willing to once again be still.
Inclusive Vision is not about manipulating or trying to change the dream. It's about returning our mind and heart to what is true. There is only One, only God, only GOOD. Inclusive Vision returns us to the Wholeness of our right Mind. It is the Grace of God made manifest, on earth as it is in the Heaven of Oneness.
"In returning and rest you shall be saved. In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." -- The Bible; Isaiah 30:15
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Bring It to Truth
"Salvation is no compromise of any kind. To compromise is to accept but part of what you want; to take a little and give up the rest. Salvation gives up nothing. It is complete for everyone. Let the idea of compromise but enter, and the awareness of salvation's purpose is lost because it is not recognized. Compromise is the belief that true salvation is impossible. It would maintain you can attack a little, love a little, and know the difference. Does this make sense? This course is easy just because it makes no compromise. Yet it seems difficult to those who still believe that compromise is possible." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 23, Section III, 3:1-7,9, 4:1-2
I often have what I call morning dreams. I've found that one way to 'hear' the Voice of the Holy Spirit, my High Self, is when I'm led to fall back asleep after my morning reading and prayer time. When this happens, there is often a very symbolic dream, with the Voice speaking clearly and stating the issue.
So there are two lessons confronting me this morning... and I see them mirrored everywhere. One is becoming single-minded. This is what ACIM calls right-minded, or miracle-minded. No compromise. It shows up in daily life as focus, as not getting lost in the myriad of details and tasks that each day seems to bring, but maintaining focus and attention on what is truly important to me. This is simply another story line in the dream... but the reason this one matters is that by maintaining discipline and focus, by becoming single-minded, I am remembering that I am cause and not effect. So what I do is actually not important... but it is very vital that I remember that I am the dreamer, and not just another aspect of the dream. When what I say I want and what I find myself thinking about and doing are different things, I am being dishonest with myself and also playing the victim within the dream. "I am not the victim of the world I see." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 31)
The second lesson is about not trying to remember the truth. When I try to remember truth, gather glimpses of truth, read bits of truth to try and inspire myself, and try and bring these glimpses to bear in my dream, I am kidding myself. This is what ACIM calls trying to bring truth to our illusions. This is the pseudo-spirituality of the world, and it simply maintains the status quo of the dream. What must happen daily, hourly, holy instant to holy instant, is to bring our illusions to Truth. This is done through our function of forgiveness... bring it to Truth, and we always remain at peace, knowing that nothing but God ever happened. Bring bits of so-called truth to our dream, and we are always striving, always seeking for knowledge, always trying to figure it out. The ego's dictum is 'seek but do not find.' ACIM clearly tells us that "Truth will correct all errors in my mind." Truth already IS true... we don't have to remember it to make it so. We don't have to do anything but willingly bring our illusory dream world back into its source, our own mind... and there ask the Holy Spirit, our High Self, to correct it. We can't ask that they be fixed 'out there.' There is nothing out there. It's all projection, the hall of mirrors that pretends to be life. It's all in our own mind. "Truth will correct all errors in my mind." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 107)
So whatever it is that seems to happen... bring it to Truth. Ask that your perception be healed, that Truth correct your perception. Then rest in God. Whatever seems to trouble you... bring it Truth. Ask that your perception be healed, that Truth correct your mental distortions. Then rest in God. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms." (The Bible; Deuteronomy 33:27) "For in Him we live and move and have our Being." (The Bible; Acts 17:28)
We are immortal Spirit, created in the image and likeness of God. Like the sunlight emanates from the sun, we shine; we radiate from the Mind of God. And all the dreams in the dream we call life have never changed us, have never done anything at all. Dreams are still dreams, and have no real effects. Forgiveness reveals this, each time we bring our illusions to Truth.
"The Truth about you is so lofty that nothing unworthy of God is worthy of you. Choose, then, what you want in these terms, and accept nothing that you would not offer to God as wholly fitting for Him. You do not want anything else." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 9, Section VII, 8:4-6
I often have what I call morning dreams. I've found that one way to 'hear' the Voice of the Holy Spirit, my High Self, is when I'm led to fall back asleep after my morning reading and prayer time. When this happens, there is often a very symbolic dream, with the Voice speaking clearly and stating the issue.
So there are two lessons confronting me this morning... and I see them mirrored everywhere. One is becoming single-minded. This is what ACIM calls right-minded, or miracle-minded. No compromise. It shows up in daily life as focus, as not getting lost in the myriad of details and tasks that each day seems to bring, but maintaining focus and attention on what is truly important to me. This is simply another story line in the dream... but the reason this one matters is that by maintaining discipline and focus, by becoming single-minded, I am remembering that I am cause and not effect. So what I do is actually not important... but it is very vital that I remember that I am the dreamer, and not just another aspect of the dream. When what I say I want and what I find myself thinking about and doing are different things, I am being dishonest with myself and also playing the victim within the dream. "I am not the victim of the world I see." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 31)
The second lesson is about not trying to remember the truth. When I try to remember truth, gather glimpses of truth, read bits of truth to try and inspire myself, and try and bring these glimpses to bear in my dream, I am kidding myself. This is what ACIM calls trying to bring truth to our illusions. This is the pseudo-spirituality of the world, and it simply maintains the status quo of the dream. What must happen daily, hourly, holy instant to holy instant, is to bring our illusions to Truth. This is done through our function of forgiveness... bring it to Truth, and we always remain at peace, knowing that nothing but God ever happened. Bring bits of so-called truth to our dream, and we are always striving, always seeking for knowledge, always trying to figure it out. The ego's dictum is 'seek but do not find.' ACIM clearly tells us that "Truth will correct all errors in my mind." Truth already IS true... we don't have to remember it to make it so. We don't have to do anything but willingly bring our illusory dream world back into its source, our own mind... and there ask the Holy Spirit, our High Self, to correct it. We can't ask that they be fixed 'out there.' There is nothing out there. It's all projection, the hall of mirrors that pretends to be life. It's all in our own mind. "Truth will correct all errors in my mind." (ACIM; Workbook Lesson 107)
So whatever it is that seems to happen... bring it to Truth. Ask that your perception be healed, that Truth correct your perception. Then rest in God. Whatever seems to trouble you... bring it Truth. Ask that your perception be healed, that Truth correct your mental distortions. Then rest in God. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms." (The Bible; Deuteronomy 33:27) "For in Him we live and move and have our Being." (The Bible; Acts 17:28)
We are immortal Spirit, created in the image and likeness of God. Like the sunlight emanates from the sun, we shine; we radiate from the Mind of God. And all the dreams in the dream we call life have never changed us, have never done anything at all. Dreams are still dreams, and have no real effects. Forgiveness reveals this, each time we bring our illusions to Truth.
"The Truth about you is so lofty that nothing unworthy of God is worthy of you. Choose, then, what you want in these terms, and accept nothing that you would not offer to God as wholly fitting for Him. You do not want anything else." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 9, Section VII, 8:4-6
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Past Has Never Been
"You are invulnerable because you are guiltless. You can hold on to the past only through guilt. For guilt establishes that you will be punished for what you have done, and thus depends on one-dimensional time, proceeding from past to future. No one who believes this can understand what 'always' means, and therefore guilt must deprive you of the appreciation of eternity. You are immortal because you are eternal, and 'always' must be now." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 13, Section I, 8:1-2
"By accepting your guiltlessness, you learn that the past has never been, and so the future is needless and will not be." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 13, Section I, 9:1
O.K., so today's blog is sort of a continuation of yesterday's thoughts about eternity. The ideas of past and future, of right and wrong, of guilt and innocence... these polarized ideas perpetuate the myth of separation from God, dissecting eternity into segments of time and experience, blinding us to the meaning of 'always.' Forgiveness, the release of all preconceptions and judgments, all mental constructs about a given person or situation, returns our mind to an expanded state, the right-mindedness that can directly experience 'always' and eternity. "Always has no direction."
We often think we're forgiving someone or something else, someone separate from 'me.' That is never the case. We're always and only forgiving ourselves, since the holographic dream we each experience is a projection of our own guilt in our own mind. The fact that guilt is such an individual and private judgment, a private matter, is the best evidence that it is not real. We can never know what's truly in the mind of someone else in the dream... because they're not there. Our perception of others is really a projection of our own mind. We are the projector. As Byron Katie likes to say, "No two people have ever met." :-)
The beauty here is that the past has never been! No matter what our projections are now or have been, it never happened! The miracle is that through our willingness to let go of our projections, our willingness to return to right-mindedness, we can actually experience the Truth of this. The past has never been. The linear concept of time has been dissolved in the dream. The miracle is forgiveness, the healing of our own mind. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." -- The Bible; Isaiah 1:18
"The miracle is a learning device that lessens the need for time. It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval not under the usual laws of time. In this sense it is timeless. The miracle is the only device at your immediate disposal for controlling time." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I, 47:1-3 & 48:1
"Forgiveness offers everything I want." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 122
"By accepting your guiltlessness, you learn that the past has never been, and so the future is needless and will not be." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 13, Section I, 9:1
O.K., so today's blog is sort of a continuation of yesterday's thoughts about eternity. The ideas of past and future, of right and wrong, of guilt and innocence... these polarized ideas perpetuate the myth of separation from God, dissecting eternity into segments of time and experience, blinding us to the meaning of 'always.' Forgiveness, the release of all preconceptions and judgments, all mental constructs about a given person or situation, returns our mind to an expanded state, the right-mindedness that can directly experience 'always' and eternity. "Always has no direction."
We often think we're forgiving someone or something else, someone separate from 'me.' That is never the case. We're always and only forgiving ourselves, since the holographic dream we each experience is a projection of our own guilt in our own mind. The fact that guilt is such an individual and private judgment, a private matter, is the best evidence that it is not real. We can never know what's truly in the mind of someone else in the dream... because they're not there. Our perception of others is really a projection of our own mind. We are the projector. As Byron Katie likes to say, "No two people have ever met." :-)
The beauty here is that the past has never been! No matter what our projections are now or have been, it never happened! The miracle is that through our willingness to let go of our projections, our willingness to return to right-mindedness, we can actually experience the Truth of this. The past has never been. The linear concept of time has been dissolved in the dream. The miracle is forgiveness, the healing of our own mind. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." -- The Bible; Isaiah 1:18
"The miracle is a learning device that lessens the need for time. It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval not under the usual laws of time. In this sense it is timeless. The miracle is the only device at your immediate disposal for controlling time." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I, 47:1-3 & 48:1
"Forgiveness offers everything I want." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 122
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Steady and True
"All things pass... God never changes." -- Theresa of Avila
"God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 473, Lines 8-10
It does no good to believe in God. All belief is just more illusion to shed, to get to the unshakable Truth that lies hidden only by our unwillingness to let go. We might take baby steps by professing a belief in God, but that is far from the experience of the Reality. The steady and true, unshakable knowing that comes from the experience of the Omnipresence of God is what we all are yearning for. And it's right here, right now.
It's the human will that fosters belief, that keeps us blind to the overwhelming Presence of God that is always here, always now. Mary Baker Eddy said, "The human will maketh and worketh a lie, hiding the Divine Principle of Harmony." All beliefs are man-made and consist of lies, since God is the only Reality... and the Divine is far beyond belief. Beliefs are attempts to define and limit the Infinite. Thank Goodness it's not really possible.
The unfailing and infinite Love of God that enfolds and sustains us is the Ground of Being and our very Self. This Truth of Being is Self-evident the moment we stop and are still. "Be still and know that I am God." It requires only the willingness to let go of all beliefs, the limits and stipulations we've placed on ourselves and the world. As A Course in Miracles says, we have to be willing to question even our most cherished beliefs. Behind it all, eternal and sure, is our Awareness of Self... forever One with God, and forever steady and true.
"The Will of God is One, and All there Is." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 20, 6:9
"God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 473, Lines 8-10
It does no good to believe in God. All belief is just more illusion to shed, to get to the unshakable Truth that lies hidden only by our unwillingness to let go. We might take baby steps by professing a belief in God, but that is far from the experience of the Reality. The steady and true, unshakable knowing that comes from the experience of the Omnipresence of God is what we all are yearning for. And it's right here, right now.
It's the human will that fosters belief, that keeps us blind to the overwhelming Presence of God that is always here, always now. Mary Baker Eddy said, "The human will maketh and worketh a lie, hiding the Divine Principle of Harmony." All beliefs are man-made and consist of lies, since God is the only Reality... and the Divine is far beyond belief. Beliefs are attempts to define and limit the Infinite. Thank Goodness it's not really possible.
The unfailing and infinite Love of God that enfolds and sustains us is the Ground of Being and our very Self. This Truth of Being is Self-evident the moment we stop and are still. "Be still and know that I am God." It requires only the willingness to let go of all beliefs, the limits and stipulations we've placed on ourselves and the world. As A Course in Miracles says, we have to be willing to question even our most cherished beliefs. Behind it all, eternal and sure, is our Awareness of Self... forever One with God, and forever steady and true.
"The Will of God is One, and All there Is." -- A Course in Miracles; Manual for Teachers 20, 6:9
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Everyday Miracles
"Seek and find His message in the holy instant, where all illusions are forgiven. From there the miracle extends to bless everyone and to resolve all problems, be they perceived as great or small, possible or impossible." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section VII, 11:1-2
"There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I,1:1
Every day is filled with miracles. Everywhere I look, every day, there are miracles everywhere. The miracle of healed perception reveals the Allness of God in every single aspect of creation. Busy or resting, talking or silent, indulging in preferences or moving through aversions, there is absolutely no difference, not the slightest difference at all. The ego's conceptual sense of things is made up of mental constructs that I project, like a movie, with no reality of its own, and absolutely no influence on Reality at all. God remains, All-in-All.
A Course in Miracles reminds us that we remain eternally as God created us... a perfect idea in the Mind of God, Holy and Eternal as God. We are the Holy Son of God, and we are One. It is the dreaming mind that imagines itself separate, projecting dreams within dreams and getting lost in our dreaming. It doesn't matter at all if the dreams are ones we like or ones we don't. If we make the outcome of dreams our goal, we are lost in the dream. The Bible tells us to "Awake, thou that sleepest!"
Every perception in this dream world hides a miracle, the spiritual Reality of God. Every perception. The most mundane task is transformed into a Holy Sacrament when we forgive and release our perceptions, revealing the miracle of God in all that is. Everyday miracles are always right here and right now.
"The sleep of forgetfulness is only the unwillingness to remember Your Forgiveness and Your Love." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section VII, 12:4
"There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 1, Section I,1:1
Every day is filled with miracles. Everywhere I look, every day, there are miracles everywhere. The miracle of healed perception reveals the Allness of God in every single aspect of creation. Busy or resting, talking or silent, indulging in preferences or moving through aversions, there is absolutely no difference, not the slightest difference at all. The ego's conceptual sense of things is made up of mental constructs that I project, like a movie, with no reality of its own, and absolutely no influence on Reality at all. God remains, All-in-All.
A Course in Miracles reminds us that we remain eternally as God created us... a perfect idea in the Mind of God, Holy and Eternal as God. We are the Holy Son of God, and we are One. It is the dreaming mind that imagines itself separate, projecting dreams within dreams and getting lost in our dreaming. It doesn't matter at all if the dreams are ones we like or ones we don't. If we make the outcome of dreams our goal, we are lost in the dream. The Bible tells us to "Awake, thou that sleepest!"
Every perception in this dream world hides a miracle, the spiritual Reality of God. Every perception. The most mundane task is transformed into a Holy Sacrament when we forgive and release our perceptions, revealing the miracle of God in all that is. Everyday miracles are always right here and right now.
"The sleep of forgetfulness is only the unwillingness to remember Your Forgiveness and Your Love." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 16, Section VII, 12:4
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Path Home
"What we see is not what is really there. We see only our concept of what is there." -- Joel Goldsmith
"You have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 24, 1:2-3
"I see nothing as it is now." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 9
Now can always and only mean one thing. God. God is omnipresent, forever, and Now. So whatever our conceptual sense of things in the moment, it is never true. Good, bad, right, wrong, all concepts. Not truth. The subtler our egos get, the more we hide our ego machinations behind spiritual concepts, the more true this is.
How willing are we to question our every concept? As A Course in Miracles reminds us, the only question we need to ask ourselves is 'What is it for?' In other words, why am I saying this, doing this, wanting this? The ego can only be exposed by such self-inquiry. Self-discomfort is all ego. And it is easy to let go of, once we see it for what it is.
Beneath the grandiosity of the ego lies our true being, forever One with God, forever at peace and needing no ego-gratification. This is the narrow path Jesus spoke of... the path Home. In truth, we never left.
"I will be still an instant and go Home." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 182
"You have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 24, 1:2-3
"I see nothing as it is now." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 9
Now can always and only mean one thing. God. God is omnipresent, forever, and Now. So whatever our conceptual sense of things in the moment, it is never true. Good, bad, right, wrong, all concepts. Not truth. The subtler our egos get, the more we hide our ego machinations behind spiritual concepts, the more true this is.
How willing are we to question our every concept? As A Course in Miracles reminds us, the only question we need to ask ourselves is 'What is it for?' In other words, why am I saying this, doing this, wanting this? The ego can only be exposed by such self-inquiry. Self-discomfort is all ego. And it is easy to let go of, once we see it for what it is.
Beneath the grandiosity of the ego lies our true being, forever One with God, forever at peace and needing no ego-gratification. This is the narrow path Jesus spoke of... the path Home. In truth, we never left.
"I will be still an instant and go Home." -- A Course in Miracles, Workbook Lesson 182
Friday, August 1, 2008
One Self
"The eye by which I see God is the same as the eye by which God sees me. My eye and God's eye are one and the same... one in seeing, one in knowing, and one in loving." -- Meister Eckhart
"I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 95, 11:2
How do you see yourself? Take a moment and make a list of the attributes that pop into your mind. How do you see your family? How do you see your neighbors, and your friends? How do you see your 'enemies', those pesky people who look at the world so differently than you do? How do you see your pets? How do you see the wounded and the afflicted? How do you see the evil and the power-hungry? Take the time to do some very honest soul-searching here. How do you see us all? For "God has not many Sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less?" (ACIM; Chapter 29, Section VIII, 9:1-2)
This is worth your time and diligence. Expose the habitual projections, the hidden arrogance and specialness, the separating and segmenting that our judgments attempt day after day. Write it all down. Look at it in the light. Then remember that, "The Holy Spirit is not delayed by your mistakes. He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. They are attempts to keep you unaware you are one Self, united with your Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace. This is the Truth, and nothing else is true." (ACIM; Workbook 95, 8:1-2, 10:1-3)
The remembering of Self as one has holographic effects in the dream. Every image in the dream is just that... an image held in mind and thought. When you waken from a dream, it vanishes. When you remain in a dream, but are Awake in the dream, the dream reflects your Awakened Awareness. This is omni-directional, since past and future are simply illusory extensions of present consciousness in the dream.
How do you see yourself now? Look at your written descriptions of how you see self and the world. ALL of it is how you see your self now. But as you begin to "Feel this one Self in you, and let It shine away all your illusions and your doubts," you begin to see your self as "complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the Truth about your Self." (ACIM; Workbook 95, 13:3, 12:3)
"You are one Self, and it is given you to feel this Self within you, and to cast all illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy Truth in you. Do not forget today. We need your help; your little part in bringing happiness to all the world." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 95, 14:1-2
"I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 95, 11:2
How do you see yourself? Take a moment and make a list of the attributes that pop into your mind. How do you see your family? How do you see your neighbors, and your friends? How do you see your 'enemies', those pesky people who look at the world so differently than you do? How do you see your pets? How do you see the wounded and the afflicted? How do you see the evil and the power-hungry? Take the time to do some very honest soul-searching here. How do you see us all? For "God has not many Sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less?" (ACIM; Chapter 29, Section VIII, 9:1-2)
This is worth your time and diligence. Expose the habitual projections, the hidden arrogance and specialness, the separating and segmenting that our judgments attempt day after day. Write it all down. Look at it in the light. Then remember that, "The Holy Spirit is not delayed by your mistakes. He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. They are attempts to keep you unaware you are one Self, united with your Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace. This is the Truth, and nothing else is true." (ACIM; Workbook 95, 8:1-2, 10:1-3)
The remembering of Self as one has holographic effects in the dream. Every image in the dream is just that... an image held in mind and thought. When you waken from a dream, it vanishes. When you remain in a dream, but are Awake in the dream, the dream reflects your Awakened Awareness. This is omni-directional, since past and future are simply illusory extensions of present consciousness in the dream.
How do you see yourself now? Look at your written descriptions of how you see self and the world. ALL of it is how you see your self now. But as you begin to "Feel this one Self in you, and let It shine away all your illusions and your doubts," you begin to see your self as "complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in you come through to teach the world the Truth about your Self." (ACIM; Workbook 95, 13:3, 12:3)
"You are one Self, and it is given you to feel this Self within you, and to cast all illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy Truth in you. Do not forget today. We need your help; your little part in bringing happiness to all the world." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 95, 14:1-2
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Full Disclosure
"Covering iniquity will prevent prosperity and the ultimate triumph of any cause. Ignorance of the error to be eradicated oftentimes subjects you to its abuse." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 446, Lines 30-32
"I will there be Light. Let me behold the Light that reflects God's Will and mine. I will there be Light. Darkness is not my will." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 73, 10:2-3, 11:3-4
"And do I want to see what I denied because it is the Truth? This final question, which is indeed the last you need decide, still seems to hold a threat the rest have lost for you. Forget not that the choice of sin or Truth, helplessness or Power, is the choice of whether to attack or heal. For healing comes of Power, and attack of helplessness. And if you choose to see a world without an enemy, in which you are not helpless, the means to see it will be given you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 21, Section VII, 5:14, 6:5, 7:1-2, 9:4
I woke up this morning with a vague sense of dis-ease. And I just sat with it, allowing thoughts to arise and not attaching to any of them. I find it funny that there is not one thing wrong with my life at this point, that everything is flowing and very good from a human perspective, and yet this sense of something missing still arises. A Course in Miracles repeatedly reminds us that this is what the false self is made of... the need to generate more, and it doesn't even matter more of what. This requires the need for something more. The need for something more requires a this and a that. Oneness is not conducive to desire and suffering.
So as I watched this dog and pony show unfold in my own delusional thoughts, I realized that the normal tendency is to cover up what is really going on with activity or with projection... as in, "look what he/she is doing!" So that we can dissociate from our need to be separate and feed our appetite for more. I just got a huge rush as I wrote that sentence. Herein lies the key.
Sometimes the appetite for more shows up as the need to do stuff around the house, fixing, rearranging, redecorating, feng-shui-ing... just so it's more something. Sometimes the appetite shows up as a compulsive need to hear more of other people's stories to try and get what they have, or to try and help them, acting wise as if we know something they don't. Sometimes the appetite shows up as a need to stay within the familiar (more of this, please), so that we are never really outside our comfort zones. I could go on and on here, since the ingenuity of the ego's desire for more is legion. It is especially sneaky in the so-called spiritual arena, where the appetite shows up as the desire to hear other people's stories about spiritual stuff, or to read more, or to try a new person or path. But even the desire to help others is this appetite for more in disguise... wanting to appear to be more spiritual, even to ourselves. This is truly delusional. Since God is All, who is there to be spiritual, or non-spiritual?
A Course in Miracles puts it bluntly: "One illusion cherished and defended against the Truth makes all Truth meaningless, and all illusions real." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 22, Section II, 4:4) So the question of seeing ourselves with full disclosure becomes imperative for Awakening. Where am I hiding this lust for more that keeps the illusion of a separate self spinning with abandon? In the lust for food, for new experiences, for new people, for new stories? Or the lust for isolation and safety? Or the lust for 'harmless' pleasures like movies and books? This is the last unanswered question: do I want to see? Do I really want to know?
Wanting is not bad... it's a mistake. The mistake is that something more of anything will ever satisfy and complete the ego. The mistake is that this subterfuge keeps you caught in the illusion of a life, a separate material self with a so-called spiritual side. You remain as God created you, not as you imagine yourself. And yet your dream life is lived as you imagine you. As Jeshua ben Joseph put it: "Ye are Sons of God, and yet ye die like men." We choose this illusion of separation and suffering because we want more. It's the wanting that kills us. It's the wanting that perpetuates the illusion of self that lacks something. It's the Seven Deadly Sins played out as my life, and your life, and the lives of everyone who comes into this dream world. Grandiose saga or utter tragedy, a story of earthly love or of darkest revenge, the mechanism and the end result is always the spinning of illusion, and more illusion. More. Always more.
I can Awaken in any given moment, and see myself as God created me: Perfect, Whole, Complete in every way, now and always. All that is necessary is the desire for full disclosure. In the face of discomfort, dis-ease, dis-satisfaction, be ruthlessly honest: do I want to see what I denied because it is the Truth?
"Now must you choose between your Self and an illusion of yourself." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 22, Section II, 6:6
"I will there be Light. Let me behold the Light that reflects God's Will and mine. I will there be Light. Darkness is not my will." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 73, 10:2-3, 11:3-4
"And do I want to see what I denied because it is the Truth? This final question, which is indeed the last you need decide, still seems to hold a threat the rest have lost for you. Forget not that the choice of sin or Truth, helplessness or Power, is the choice of whether to attack or heal. For healing comes of Power, and attack of helplessness. And if you choose to see a world without an enemy, in which you are not helpless, the means to see it will be given you." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 21, Section VII, 5:14, 6:5, 7:1-2, 9:4
I woke up this morning with a vague sense of dis-ease. And I just sat with it, allowing thoughts to arise and not attaching to any of them. I find it funny that there is not one thing wrong with my life at this point, that everything is flowing and very good from a human perspective, and yet this sense of something missing still arises. A Course in Miracles repeatedly reminds us that this is what the false self is made of... the need to generate more, and it doesn't even matter more of what. This requires the need for something more. The need for something more requires a this and a that. Oneness is not conducive to desire and suffering.
So as I watched this dog and pony show unfold in my own delusional thoughts, I realized that the normal tendency is to cover up what is really going on with activity or with projection... as in, "look what he/she is doing!" So that we can dissociate from our need to be separate and feed our appetite for more. I just got a huge rush as I wrote that sentence. Herein lies the key.
Sometimes the appetite for more shows up as the need to do stuff around the house, fixing, rearranging, redecorating, feng-shui-ing... just so it's more something. Sometimes the appetite shows up as a compulsive need to hear more of other people's stories to try and get what they have, or to try and help them, acting wise as if we know something they don't. Sometimes the appetite shows up as a need to stay within the familiar (more of this, please), so that we are never really outside our comfort zones. I could go on and on here, since the ingenuity of the ego's desire for more is legion. It is especially sneaky in the so-called spiritual arena, where the appetite shows up as the desire to hear other people's stories about spiritual stuff, or to read more, or to try a new person or path. But even the desire to help others is this appetite for more in disguise... wanting to appear to be more spiritual, even to ourselves. This is truly delusional. Since God is All, who is there to be spiritual, or non-spiritual?
A Course in Miracles puts it bluntly: "One illusion cherished and defended against the Truth makes all Truth meaningless, and all illusions real." (A Course in Miracles; Chapter 22, Section II, 4:4) So the question of seeing ourselves with full disclosure becomes imperative for Awakening. Where am I hiding this lust for more that keeps the illusion of a separate self spinning with abandon? In the lust for food, for new experiences, for new people, for new stories? Or the lust for isolation and safety? Or the lust for 'harmless' pleasures like movies and books? This is the last unanswered question: do I want to see? Do I really want to know?
Wanting is not bad... it's a mistake. The mistake is that something more of anything will ever satisfy and complete the ego. The mistake is that this subterfuge keeps you caught in the illusion of a life, a separate material self with a so-called spiritual side. You remain as God created you, not as you imagine yourself. And yet your dream life is lived as you imagine you. As Jeshua ben Joseph put it: "Ye are Sons of God, and yet ye die like men." We choose this illusion of separation and suffering because we want more. It's the wanting that kills us. It's the wanting that perpetuates the illusion of self that lacks something. It's the Seven Deadly Sins played out as my life, and your life, and the lives of everyone who comes into this dream world. Grandiose saga or utter tragedy, a story of earthly love or of darkest revenge, the mechanism and the end result is always the spinning of illusion, and more illusion. More. Always more.
I can Awaken in any given moment, and see myself as God created me: Perfect, Whole, Complete in every way, now and always. All that is necessary is the desire for full disclosure. In the face of discomfort, dis-ease, dis-satisfaction, be ruthlessly honest: do I want to see what I denied because it is the Truth?
"Now must you choose between your Self and an illusion of yourself." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 22, Section II, 6:6
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A Brighter Day
"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God." -- The Bible; Revelation 12:6
My whole life I have been withdrawing from one thing or another. Always, like the woman in Revelation, I have withdrawn to a quiet wilderness in one form or another, a place where I can breathe and hear the Voice again. This "place prepared of God" doesn't have to be literal, in the external. It can and must eventually be the wilderness within... the unexamined stories and assumptions that make up your particular life stream. Within your unexamined stories, hidden by them, is the "place prepared of God." It's always with us. Immanuel, God with Us. Always.
There is of course nothing wrong in withdrawing, nor is there anything right about it. It is simply one way of gaining perspective, of seeing through the dream. The only danger lies when we think it is the external act that is the point. The external matters not at all. Its only significance is that it may seem to lead us to the "place prepared of God" within us.
There is nothing to fear in the dream, and certainly nothing to run and withdraw from. And yet there is a need felt by every heart for silence and a deeper knowing. We long for home, for the deepening awareness of God that is our True Self. We have an innate longing for clarity and Truth. Sadly we settle for substitutes, distortions of truth. Just as we substitute for real nutrition with processed foods that don't nourish the body, we substitute for our Spiritual Reality with manufactured truths, dreams and idols that leave the soul starving.
So how do we withdraw from the world of half-truths, this world of slow spiritual starvation? How do we find the "place prepared of God" that is our salvation from the nonsense we have perpetuated in the name of being 'good' or 'practical' or whatever? How do we find our way when our own stories and manufactured values are designed to obscure the way? They are the ego's insurance policy that we will never walk away. Because, so the story goes, if you walk away you will be bad, or irresponsible, or cruel, or thoughtless, or crazy, or (fill in the blank).
What stories bind you? What keeps you from withdrawing, from gaining the perspective that distance will bring you? They are now and always your own creations... they are all made up. Not one of them has any power or any hold on you other than your own determination to be right in choosing them. Give it up. Would you rather be right than happy?
A brighter day dawns when we are willing to withdraw every single day to the "place prepared of God," to spend time listening to a different Voice. This Voice speaks always of Love and Goodness. This Voice never blames, and gently guides us in paths of Good for All. This Voice has no favorites, and no exceptions from its Love. This Love is All-in-All. And yet this Love appears to be obscured by our unexamined stories of praise and blame. And so we flee into the wilderness of our own stories, braving the savage wildness to find our "place prepared of God." It's here, always here. But we have to brave the wilderness to find it.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." -- The Bible; Psalm 30:5
My whole life I have been withdrawing from one thing or another. Always, like the woman in Revelation, I have withdrawn to a quiet wilderness in one form or another, a place where I can breathe and hear the Voice again. This "place prepared of God" doesn't have to be literal, in the external. It can and must eventually be the wilderness within... the unexamined stories and assumptions that make up your particular life stream. Within your unexamined stories, hidden by them, is the "place prepared of God." It's always with us. Immanuel, God with Us. Always.
There is of course nothing wrong in withdrawing, nor is there anything right about it. It is simply one way of gaining perspective, of seeing through the dream. The only danger lies when we think it is the external act that is the point. The external matters not at all. Its only significance is that it may seem to lead us to the "place prepared of God" within us.
There is nothing to fear in the dream, and certainly nothing to run and withdraw from. And yet there is a need felt by every heart for silence and a deeper knowing. We long for home, for the deepening awareness of God that is our True Self. We have an innate longing for clarity and Truth. Sadly we settle for substitutes, distortions of truth. Just as we substitute for real nutrition with processed foods that don't nourish the body, we substitute for our Spiritual Reality with manufactured truths, dreams and idols that leave the soul starving.
So how do we withdraw from the world of half-truths, this world of slow spiritual starvation? How do we find the "place prepared of God" that is our salvation from the nonsense we have perpetuated in the name of being 'good' or 'practical' or whatever? How do we find our way when our own stories and manufactured values are designed to obscure the way? They are the ego's insurance policy that we will never walk away. Because, so the story goes, if you walk away you will be bad, or irresponsible, or cruel, or thoughtless, or crazy, or (fill in the blank).
What stories bind you? What keeps you from withdrawing, from gaining the perspective that distance will bring you? They are now and always your own creations... they are all made up. Not one of them has any power or any hold on you other than your own determination to be right in choosing them. Give it up. Would you rather be right than happy?
A brighter day dawns when we are willing to withdraw every single day to the "place prepared of God," to spend time listening to a different Voice. This Voice speaks always of Love and Goodness. This Voice never blames, and gently guides us in paths of Good for All. This Voice has no favorites, and no exceptions from its Love. This Love is All-in-All. And yet this Love appears to be obscured by our unexamined stories of praise and blame. And so we flee into the wilderness of our own stories, braving the savage wildness to find our "place prepared of God." It's here, always here. But we have to brave the wilderness to find it.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." -- The Bible; Psalm 30:5
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Inner Voice
"The experiences that come to us when we live in obedience to the inner Voice are miracles of beauty and joy. Let us not be afraid to follow that Voice even if at first we are so poorly attuned to it that we do not hear it correctly. There is no need to be afraid of mistakes or even of failures. Any mistakes which may be made by a person who is obedient to the still, small Voice will be few, and he can quickly pick himself up again and soon be wholly immersed in the Spirit of God. Mistakes of the personal sense are not fatal; not one is forever. Success in God is forever, but human failure is only the illusion of a day." -- Joel Goldsmith
"The 'Divine Ear' is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to Whom each need of man is always known and by Whom it will be supplied." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 7, Lines 23-26
Oh, what a misunderstood and abused phrase: the Inner Voice. It is a made-to-order tool for the ego, a perfect way to do what we want by 'following guidance.' We can follow our fears and say, "I heard a 'no,' so I am not doing it." Or we can indulge in fantasy and say we are following our hearts. The personal self is a maze of vested interest and self-justification. Which voice are you listening to? How can you know?
The Inner Voice is not personal. It is closer than personal. It never indulges the personal self, yet it always leads us in ways of utter fulfillment. Yes, this seems like a paradox. But if we can even for a moment release all need to define or justify or weave a story about whatever the Voice says, the transmission is clear and we can simply trust that within the big picture, even the little self is fulfilled.
One way to know which voice you are following is this: how much of your time and attention goes into the comfort and indulgence of the personal self? In other words, how much time and attention goes into taking care of the physical body (this includes your 'personal' environment, care of the home, gardens, and yard, your car, your family, your animals, your stuff), of the emotional body (intimate relationships, talking on the phone to friends, e-mails, escapist reading or watching movies, recreational eating and drinking, even playing music and other artistic endeavors, wanting to be humanly good or successful, etc.), or of the mental body (our work, our so-called spiritual reading, study, thinking, trying to figure it out, rationalizing, etc.)? All of these are feeding aspects of the illusory notion of a personal self. All of these take up pretty much 100% of the time in our dream, even those of us who are supposedly on 'spiritual' paths.
So how is it possible in this world to hear a different Voice? We are so accustomed to the strident demands of the illusory self, the contrived fears and lusts and indulgences, the fragmented and split allegiance and attention, that we mistake them for the real. In A Course in Miracles Jeshua ben Joseph tells us: "The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Joy. He is the Call to Return with which God blessed the minds of His separated Sons. It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn this. Hear only this through the Holy Spirit within you, and teach your brothers to listen as I am teaching you. The Holy Spirit is the call to Awaken and be glad." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section II
You see, the alleged personal self is never glad. It is reactively pleased when it gets something it wants, and reactively displeased when it doesn't. But it is incapable of joy. Joy has no edges, no boundaries. It's not attached to anything. It IS. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Joy, is the Voice that is your True Self. It is not personal because YOU are not personal. Who you are has no edges, and no personal interests. Who you are is not limited to the vested interests of one tiny speck of creation. Who you are is Infinite, Limitless, Omnipresent Love.
So which voice are you following today? The illusory personal, which always weaves deeper illusion as it goes, until we don't know where we are or how we got there? Or the only real Voice, the Voice for God, which brings Peace and quiet Joy and utter certainty of Self? The choice is not hard; but as Jesus said, it takes effort and great willingness to reverse ourselves in this way. The momentum has been in the direction of illusions for so long. The Inner Voice leads us in a new direction, and is the only trustworthy guide out of the pain and forgetfulness of the personal dream.
"Our meditation is a quietness, a stillness, a state of receptivity, in which we open our consciousness to the impartation of the Spirit. Then, when the Spirit answers--when we receive the impulse that gives us that sense or awareness that God is present--the Spirit which we have touched, lives our lives." -- Joel Goldsmith
"The 'Divine Ear' is not an auditory nerve. It is the all-hearing and all-knowing Mind, to Whom each need of man is always known and by Whom it will be supplied." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 7, Lines 23-26
Oh, what a misunderstood and abused phrase: the Inner Voice. It is a made-to-order tool for the ego, a perfect way to do what we want by 'following guidance.' We can follow our fears and say, "I heard a 'no,' so I am not doing it." Or we can indulge in fantasy and say we are following our hearts. The personal self is a maze of vested interest and self-justification. Which voice are you listening to? How can you know?
The Inner Voice is not personal. It is closer than personal. It never indulges the personal self, yet it always leads us in ways of utter fulfillment. Yes, this seems like a paradox. But if we can even for a moment release all need to define or justify or weave a story about whatever the Voice says, the transmission is clear and we can simply trust that within the big picture, even the little self is fulfilled.
One way to know which voice you are following is this: how much of your time and attention goes into the comfort and indulgence of the personal self? In other words, how much time and attention goes into taking care of the physical body (this includes your 'personal' environment, care of the home, gardens, and yard, your car, your family, your animals, your stuff), of the emotional body (intimate relationships, talking on the phone to friends, e-mails, escapist reading or watching movies, recreational eating and drinking, even playing music and other artistic endeavors, wanting to be humanly good or successful, etc.), or of the mental body (our work, our so-called spiritual reading, study, thinking, trying to figure it out, rationalizing, etc.)? All of these are feeding aspects of the illusory notion of a personal self. All of these take up pretty much 100% of the time in our dream, even those of us who are supposedly on 'spiritual' paths.
So how is it possible in this world to hear a different Voice? We are so accustomed to the strident demands of the illusory self, the contrived fears and lusts and indulgences, the fragmented and split allegiance and attention, that we mistake them for the real. In A Course in Miracles Jeshua ben Joseph tells us: "The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Joy. He is the Call to Return with which God blessed the minds of His separated Sons. It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn this. Hear only this through the Holy Spirit within you, and teach your brothers to listen as I am teaching you. The Holy Spirit is the call to Awaken and be glad." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 5, Section II
You see, the alleged personal self is never glad. It is reactively pleased when it gets something it wants, and reactively displeased when it doesn't. But it is incapable of joy. Joy has no edges, no boundaries. It's not attached to anything. It IS. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Joy, is the Voice that is your True Self. It is not personal because YOU are not personal. Who you are has no edges, and no personal interests. Who you are is not limited to the vested interests of one tiny speck of creation. Who you are is Infinite, Limitless, Omnipresent Love.
So which voice are you following today? The illusory personal, which always weaves deeper illusion as it goes, until we don't know where we are or how we got there? Or the only real Voice, the Voice for God, which brings Peace and quiet Joy and utter certainty of Self? The choice is not hard; but as Jesus said, it takes effort and great willingness to reverse ourselves in this way. The momentum has been in the direction of illusions for so long. The Inner Voice leads us in a new direction, and is the only trustworthy guide out of the pain and forgetfulness of the personal dream.
"Our meditation is a quietness, a stillness, a state of receptivity, in which we open our consciousness to the impartation of the Spirit. Then, when the Spirit answers--when we receive the impulse that gives us that sense or awareness that God is present--the Spirit which we have touched, lives our lives." -- Joel Goldsmith
Monday, June 16, 2008
Give Up the Search
"Keep quiet. Give up the search." -- Papaji
"The search the ego undertakes is therefore bound to be defeated. And since it also teaches that it is your identification, its guidance leads you to a journey which must end in perceived self-defeat." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 12, Section IV, 2:1-2
"There is no material truth. The physical senses can take no cognizance of God and spiritual Truth. Human belief has sought out many inventions, but not one of them can solve the problem of being..." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 273, Lines 2-6
Today's blog is short and to the point, in honor of Papaji's wisdom. He advised us all to keep quiet, and to give up the search.
All of us are seeking something. Some of us are seeking better health. Some of us are seeking better living conditions, better relationships, better something. Some of us may be searching for God, because we think It is something separate from us, that will make some emotional or physical pain go away. Some of us may be searching spiritually because of a vague but persistent dissatisfaction with life and the world. Regardless of who the seeker thinks she is, and regardless of the nature of the search and its object, it is all ego. It is hard to see that the nature of the search is always to seek, never to find.
When Jesus told us to "seek, and ye shall find," he was referring to this. The act of seeking externals always brings us to this awareness... that in the end, there is nothing to seek. So Jesus could say, unequivocally, that we will always and ultimately find the only thing there is to find... the Awareness of Self, forever safe and whole in God, right where we are.
Giving up the search means we are willing to stop seeking outside our self for meaning and fulfillment and God. It is the end of suffering.
"Seek not outside yourself. For all your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting where it must be found. What if it is not there?" -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VII, 1:6-8
"The search the ego undertakes is therefore bound to be defeated. And since it also teaches that it is your identification, its guidance leads you to a journey which must end in perceived self-defeat." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 12, Section IV, 2:1-2
"There is no material truth. The physical senses can take no cognizance of God and spiritual Truth. Human belief has sought out many inventions, but not one of them can solve the problem of being..." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 273, Lines 2-6
Today's blog is short and to the point, in honor of Papaji's wisdom. He advised us all to keep quiet, and to give up the search.
All of us are seeking something. Some of us are seeking better health. Some of us are seeking better living conditions, better relationships, better something. Some of us may be searching for God, because we think It is something separate from us, that will make some emotional or physical pain go away. Some of us may be searching spiritually because of a vague but persistent dissatisfaction with life and the world. Regardless of who the seeker thinks she is, and regardless of the nature of the search and its object, it is all ego. It is hard to see that the nature of the search is always to seek, never to find.
When Jesus told us to "seek, and ye shall find," he was referring to this. The act of seeking externals always brings us to this awareness... that in the end, there is nothing to seek. So Jesus could say, unequivocally, that we will always and ultimately find the only thing there is to find... the Awareness of Self, forever safe and whole in God, right where we are.
Giving up the search means we are willing to stop seeking outside our self for meaning and fulfillment and God. It is the end of suffering.
"Seek not outside yourself. For all your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting where it must be found. What if it is not there?" -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 29, Section VII, 1:6-8
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Incapable of Suffering
"Only the eternal can be loved, for Love does not die. What is of God is His forever, and you are of God. Would He allow HimSelf to suffer? And would He offer His Son anything that is not acceptable to Him? If you will accept yourself as God created you, you will be incapable of suffering. Your Father created you wholly without sin, wholly without pain, and wholly without suffering of any kind. If you deny Him you bring sin, pain, and suffering into your own mind. Your mind is capable of creating [illusory] worlds, but it can also deny what it creates because it is free." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 10, Section V, 9:1-5, 9-11
"Controlled by the Divine Intelligence, man is harmonious and eternal. Whatever is governed by a false belief is discordant and mortal. We say man suffers from the effects of cold, heat, fatigue. This is human belief, not the Truth of Being, for matter cannot suffer. Mortal mind alone suffers; not because a law of matter has been transgressed, but because a law of this so-called mind has been disobeyed. I have demonstrated this as a rule of Divine Science by destroying the delusion of suffering from what is termed a fatally broken physical law." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 184, Lines 16-
"There are no laws but God's. You are not bound by all the strange and twisted laws you have set up to save you. It is insanity that thinks these things. These are not laws, but madness. The body is endangered by the mind that hurts itself. The body suffers just in order that the mind will fail to see it is the victim of itself. The body's suffering is a mask the mind holds up to hide what really suffers. Only what it is meant to hide will save you." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 76
I am incapable of suffering. Here I sit, in the throes of what seems like a really bad case of the flu, listening to Truth and asking that my perception be healed. Not so I can stop suffering... I know that is not true, and I'm not trying to get rid of anything. I am asking that my Right Mind be in charge, that my perception be cleansed and translated... so I can see what IS, and remember what is always and eternally True. My mind, as a part of God's Mind, is very holy... and wholly incapable of suffering. The mind that thinks it's in a body thinks it is an effect of the body and of all things physical. It's the kind of closed feedback loop at which the ego excels. In this delusional story, the body tells the mind whatever it wants to hear, and the mind gives the body the illusion of reality. And on and on it goes.
So I'm choosing to see this little jaunt into illusory bodily suffering as the gift of sight... I am being given an opportunity once again to see the utter practicality of Jeshua ben Joseph's words and teachings. "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the Peace of God." (ACIM; Introduction, 2:2-4)
In the middle of the night, in what seemed to be feverish dreams and fitful sleep, I noticed my will... I felt determination, the proverbial girding of the loins in the face of appearances. I realized this is nothing at all. As it says in The Bible, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils. For wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isaiah 2:22) The physical is illusory; appearing healthy or appearing sick, it is nothing at all. Used only to communicate Truth, the body will be able to take me where I need to go, and do what needs to be done. And what else would I use it for? Like my car, it's not who I am. Like my car and my home, the body is not a measure of my worth or indicative of anything at all except the ego's preferences, its fears and its loves. No difference to the ego. Attachments and aversions are the same in motivation and result.
So I am at peace. Health and Peace are always present, eternal attributes of the Holiness and Wholeness of God's Son. I am as God created me, and this Truth is Eternal. As a radiation of the Love of God, I am incapable of suffering. And all the stories that judge what occurs as pleasurable or painful have no more meaning than a leaf blowing by in the wind. All the stories of suffering and lack and loss are simply elaborate ego devices... and without judgement, seen through the eyes of forgiveness, Truth and Joy and Self are always revealed. Without judgement, through the eyes of forgiveness, I am incapable of suffering.
"Here is the thought in which the Son of God is born again, to recognize himself. "I rest in God." Completely undismayed, this thought will carry you through storms and strife, past misery and pain, past loss and death, and onward to the certainty of God. There is no suffering it cannot heal. There is no problem that it cannot solve. And no appearance but will turn to Truth before the eyes of you who rest in God." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 109, 2:6, 3:1-5
"Controlled by the Divine Intelligence, man is harmonious and eternal. Whatever is governed by a false belief is discordant and mortal. We say man suffers from the effects of cold, heat, fatigue. This is human belief, not the Truth of Being, for matter cannot suffer. Mortal mind alone suffers; not because a law of matter has been transgressed, but because a law of this so-called mind has been disobeyed. I have demonstrated this as a rule of Divine Science by destroying the delusion of suffering from what is termed a fatally broken physical law." -- Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy; Page 184, Lines 16-
"There are no laws but God's. You are not bound by all the strange and twisted laws you have set up to save you. It is insanity that thinks these things. These are not laws, but madness. The body is endangered by the mind that hurts itself. The body suffers just in order that the mind will fail to see it is the victim of itself. The body's suffering is a mask the mind holds up to hide what really suffers. Only what it is meant to hide will save you." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 76
I am incapable of suffering. Here I sit, in the throes of what seems like a really bad case of the flu, listening to Truth and asking that my perception be healed. Not so I can stop suffering... I know that is not true, and I'm not trying to get rid of anything. I am asking that my Right Mind be in charge, that my perception be cleansed and translated... so I can see what IS, and remember what is always and eternally True. My mind, as a part of God's Mind, is very holy... and wholly incapable of suffering. The mind that thinks it's in a body thinks it is an effect of the body and of all things physical. It's the kind of closed feedback loop at which the ego excels. In this delusional story, the body tells the mind whatever it wants to hear, and the mind gives the body the illusion of reality. And on and on it goes.
So I'm choosing to see this little jaunt into illusory bodily suffering as the gift of sight... I am being given an opportunity once again to see the utter practicality of Jeshua ben Joseph's words and teachings. "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the Peace of God." (ACIM; Introduction, 2:2-4)
In the middle of the night, in what seemed to be feverish dreams and fitful sleep, I noticed my will... I felt determination, the proverbial girding of the loins in the face of appearances. I realized this is nothing at all. As it says in The Bible, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils. For wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isaiah 2:22) The physical is illusory; appearing healthy or appearing sick, it is nothing at all. Used only to communicate Truth, the body will be able to take me where I need to go, and do what needs to be done. And what else would I use it for? Like my car, it's not who I am. Like my car and my home, the body is not a measure of my worth or indicative of anything at all except the ego's preferences, its fears and its loves. No difference to the ego. Attachments and aversions are the same in motivation and result.
So I am at peace. Health and Peace are always present, eternal attributes of the Holiness and Wholeness of God's Son. I am as God created me, and this Truth is Eternal. As a radiation of the Love of God, I am incapable of suffering. And all the stories that judge what occurs as pleasurable or painful have no more meaning than a leaf blowing by in the wind. All the stories of suffering and lack and loss are simply elaborate ego devices... and without judgement, seen through the eyes of forgiveness, Truth and Joy and Self are always revealed. Without judgement, through the eyes of forgiveness, I am incapable of suffering.
"Here is the thought in which the Son of God is born again, to recognize himself. "I rest in God." Completely undismayed, this thought will carry you through storms and strife, past misery and pain, past loss and death, and onward to the certainty of God. There is no suffering it cannot heal. There is no problem that it cannot solve. And no appearance but will turn to Truth before the eyes of you who rest in God." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook 109, 2:6, 3:1-5
Friday, May 2, 2008
Intentions or Willingness
"Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust implicitly your willingness, whatever else may enter. Concentrate only on this, and be not disturbed that shadows surround it. That is why you came. If you could come without them you would not need the Holy Instant. The miracle of the Holy Instant lies in your willingness to let it be what it is. And in your willingness for this lies also your acceptance of yourself as you were meant to be." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section IV, 2:1-6, 8-9
"The Holy Instant is the result of your determination to be Holy. It is the answer." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section IV, 1:1-2
There is a lot of hype about intentions in contemporary spiritual books. From Wayne Dyer to Lynn McTaggert to Harry Palmer, there is a collective belief (which is not new) that we decide the course of the dream through supposedly conscious intention. Like most persistent lies within the dream, there is a kernel of truth in it, though well-hidden because it's upside down and backwards. All our intentions show us is our ego-agendas. But the one power of decision that we do have as the dreamer of a dream is to align ourselves with what IS, beyond all dreaming. This is the determination and willingness to BE as God created us, without interference from our very human, illusory agendas.
Like everything that is True, this makes no sense to our list-making ego-selves. If we don't do it, who will? If I don't choose to do something, nothing will get done! Right? Well, it's amazing but true that if one ant in the anthill stops or dies, the anthill still goes on. It's the same in all aspects of this dream we call life. Forms of people, places, animals, and things all come, only to pass. Everything and everyone is expendable in the dream. Haven't you ever asked yourselves why we work so hard to be somebody, to be important, to have money, to have security, when all those who have gone before us and achieved supposedly 'great' things have one thing in common: they are all dead, and all their great achievements go the way of all things within the dream. Even if we still tell stories about certain of these people, that is only to justify our own insane search for meaning within the dream. Talk about your no-win situation.
The mystery is that when we let go of planning and intending and goal-setting, and forgive all our illusions, the dream unfolds as if we had done a great deal of planning and intending. It's so funny to see yourself being completely fulfilled and happy in unexpected and blessed ways. Who would have thought? A Course in Miracles tells us that "humility will never ask that you remain content with littleness. But it does require that you be not content with less than greatness that comes not of you." (ACIM; Chapter 18, Section IV, 3:1-2) And Jesus said that "of myself I do nothing." The effortless life is not one in which we do no work and sit gazing at our navels. It's one in which we don't decide from our false ego-perspectives. Instead, we are willing to stop, to listen, and to follow. We are willing to be nothing, so that we can remember we are Everything.
"Do not attempt to give the Holy Spirit what He does not ask, or you will add the ego to Him and confuse the two. He asks but little. It is He Who adds the greatness and the might. He joins with you to make the Holy Instant far greater than you can understand. It is your realization that your need do so little that enables Him to give so much." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section IV, 1:6-10
"The Holy Instant is the result of your determination to be Holy. It is the answer." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section IV, 1:1-2
There is a lot of hype about intentions in contemporary spiritual books. From Wayne Dyer to Lynn McTaggert to Harry Palmer, there is a collective belief (which is not new) that we decide the course of the dream through supposedly conscious intention. Like most persistent lies within the dream, there is a kernel of truth in it, though well-hidden because it's upside down and backwards. All our intentions show us is our ego-agendas. But the one power of decision that we do have as the dreamer of a dream is to align ourselves with what IS, beyond all dreaming. This is the determination and willingness to BE as God created us, without interference from our very human, illusory agendas.
Like everything that is True, this makes no sense to our list-making ego-selves. If we don't do it, who will? If I don't choose to do something, nothing will get done! Right? Well, it's amazing but true that if one ant in the anthill stops or dies, the anthill still goes on. It's the same in all aspects of this dream we call life. Forms of people, places, animals, and things all come, only to pass. Everything and everyone is expendable in the dream. Haven't you ever asked yourselves why we work so hard to be somebody, to be important, to have money, to have security, when all those who have gone before us and achieved supposedly 'great' things have one thing in common: they are all dead, and all their great achievements go the way of all things within the dream. Even if we still tell stories about certain of these people, that is only to justify our own insane search for meaning within the dream. Talk about your no-win situation.
The mystery is that when we let go of planning and intending and goal-setting, and forgive all our illusions, the dream unfolds as if we had done a great deal of planning and intending. It's so funny to see yourself being completely fulfilled and happy in unexpected and blessed ways. Who would have thought? A Course in Miracles tells us that "humility will never ask that you remain content with littleness. But it does require that you be not content with less than greatness that comes not of you." (ACIM; Chapter 18, Section IV, 3:1-2) And Jesus said that "of myself I do nothing." The effortless life is not one in which we do no work and sit gazing at our navels. It's one in which we don't decide from our false ego-perspectives. Instead, we are willing to stop, to listen, and to follow. We are willing to be nothing, so that we can remember we are Everything.
"Do not attempt to give the Holy Spirit what He does not ask, or you will add the ego to Him and confuse the two. He asks but little. It is He Who adds the greatness and the might. He joins with you to make the Holy Instant far greater than you can understand. It is your realization that your need do so little that enables Him to give so much." -- A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18, Section IV, 1:6-10
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