Saturday, February 17, 2007

“There is nothing to fear”…

Lesson 48:

“There is nothing to fear”…

Truly!

Nothing…

The Course says: ”If you knew Who walks beside you along the way fear would be impossible.” This ‘memory of God’, referred to in the lesson, the Source of all strength, and peace, and Christ is the experience received of the miracle … The ONE relationship; the whole perspective, the all in all sameness to oneness. Ours is a holy union beyond what words can speak … Yet the experience IS… It is every moment ~ a rich depth of knowing, of unfailing certainty, of abiding Love, which is my Self and all; sure and stable and unending…I am not alone and I am unafraid…you are not only with me, but are my Self…we are the One!

Right now, in this deep place of peace within my mind, I feel dis-identified with the concept of fear ~Funny to think of in this space , how very much of my so-called life has been devoted to conquering, avoiding, denying, and allegedly repairing the outward destruction left by my belief in it… Yet, it still was nothing… ‘We believe what we see and experience, because we see and experience what we believe’

Its like a record of a beautiful melody, scratched in one small place and unable to correct itself, after a while the constant replay of the scratch of error, grates on the mind, intensifies the focus on the play and replay of the of error… And at some point this seems to become all reality; this tiny scratch (tiny tic of time, tiny mad idea) forged to deny the whole and the whole-melody of the host of heaven awaits…

The Atonement plays past the error and corrects it back to the One melody.

The message of the Atonement is that the past is over and gone and in fact, never happened.

Symptom removal is but a reflection of a shift in perception, and when the mind is wholly aligned with the Holy Spirit's Perspective there is no perception of fear, or separate persons, places, events, things, circumstances or situations.... this linear, situational thinking was the problem that has already been corrected by the Holy Spirit. Our task, the only task of the sleeping mind, is to accept this correction; to accept the atonement for ourselves. And this correction is Now, for always, already. Time and Eternity cannot co-exist.... It's quite simple, really~ if it's not Love, it's fear ~but fear can't be in the mind of God, Who created like itself~ So, it is not ‘real’!~All effects then reverse, being corrected by His, strength when the mind is turned back to Christ... This is the only Choice that can be truly made ~the choice (this choice aspect being the operative ~ choose once again)~ Choose Christ and fear is impossible.)

“It cannot be difficult to do all that Christ has appointed for you, for it is Christ Who does it” ~through us ~until the realization dawns that We are the One.
I am deeply in the Love with you ~we are Christ… Christ sees no fear ~but only Christ; everywhere in every thing. You are my Self, and We are the One. Our joining carries the power of All of Heaven! We can Trust in this and watch the fears of the ego dissolve into the Light of Christ ~ In fearlessness and Love flowing on and on…

Friday, February 16, 2007

Tagged with Love ~ how yummy is that?!!!

The tag is… “Most of all today, I love”…

Now this is a trick statement, yes? Love is all- encompassing and today, this moment, I am so gratefully and powerfully aware of God’s Love, the core of my being, the fabric of all being, is the only reality. I love that any deviation from this awareness is answered as a call for love, which is a form of love, via the Atonement, n’est pas? Love it. Forgiveness lessons? Bring ‘em on. Love transforms them all. And the transformation~ ah, what a sight to see! The best game in dreamtown, yes? and I love that you, my new friend, tagged me. LOVE: YOUR IT!

NOW TAGGING:

Lucas

Randi

Tyler

Crystal

Ahhhhhhhhh, lean back~ God is the strength in which we trust~

Lesson 47:

“God is the strength in which I trust…”

I used to really pride myself on my strength… my ability to handle any situation… pull myself up and press on… put my shoulder to the wheel… Not always mind you, of course not. But I’m smart and I know how to work hard…

Then the ‘grand- disillusionment’ of my life, of all my best efforts, hit me square in the face with unbearable inadequacy, impotency ~ the empty loneliness of nothingness which was all that I had made of myself. I could not trust myself. ~ Not at all. And I had no strength from which to draw. … Here’s how it went down…

As I sank within my mind, actually to escape my life~ its self ~(I knew ~no external escape was possible for me. I had tried the entire spectrum form best ness to worst ness and failed. What I found was the horror of this blackness, this loneliness of nothingness, this terrifying erase-ment of ‘me’. The fear seemed to be within and without, breathing heavily on me… But even beneath that, even more encompassing, was the ugly meanness of “guilt" ~so powerful was this force ~it seemed to rule the world and certainly it ruled me! From where did it come? I somehow knew it had been there in my mind from the beginning of time~ How could I not have been aware of it? How have I survived it? Only questions, no answers...

And then, and yet, as I kept sinking down; sinking further to escape this seemingly unbearable experience, the sinking itself seemed to be transport me or transcending perhaps… It seemed to dissolve me to a place of never-ending peace~ where ‘I’ was not there… a peace so deep and so complete that I could not remember any thing I thought or was before, nor did it occur to me, to… Only all of everything ~one~.

For me, it was surely my trusting in my own strength that brought me to my knees, so to speak~ and this surrender allowed me to look upon the horrors of my mind, so long denied. It brought me to a place of honesty which prior to, I had no idea of the l level of with I speak right now… I thought I knew a few things, about spirituality, about God~ thought I knew about love, trust and the like…but, from where I was placing my trust, ~I did not!~

I did not know what was valuable and what as not, although I thought I did. I used my seeming understanding and limited experiences in this realm to actually give value in my mind to the totally meaningless by feeling I could control it, myself, and desired outcomes because it didn’t matter. What I had done was take the few glimpses of these 'spiritual understandings' and listen to the interpretations, the ego’s angle on the whole thing (my so-called life) ~the seemingly compelling voice of my ego... slippery, seductive, sneakily I added my ego to the mix... Which seeing as these are two exclusively and opposite thought systems, well there ya go~ hell…

~ I had to reject one in favor of the other…Significantly, I did. (Once belief has been given to a thought system, it becomes reality. That is its purpose. And one cannot see from within the thought system... Correction can only be made at the level where the error occurred ~ the mind.)

~Choose once again... And again ~ I did…~

~The miracle of forgiveness happens to the mind that asks… I notice.

…God is the strength in which I trust… and there was never a time when any thing else has given me any strength, nor anything else I could trust.

…But oh, from here, NOW…I trust ~I trust the glorious experience of a forgiven Self, a forgiven world ~where every single thing is constructed according to God's plan for Atonement…

Today, I trust you, my brothers who are one with me… the strength of God is truly behind every seeming event and circumstance and it is easy for me to see now that ‘everyone’ is doing their part perfectly…

So simply…God is the strength in which I trust~ and rest assured ~resting in the timelessness of the eternal now ~regardless of what may seem to come on the screen today, we can rest assured, and trust. It is God’s strength holding us in its arms… Ahhhhhhhhh, lean back… can’t you feel it…PEACE~~REST WITH ME HERE TODAY in this exquisitely peaceful resting place where you and I are one and we are as God created us...

Overflowing gratitude and love…

Thursday, February 15, 2007

GOD IS THE LOVE IN WHICH I FORGIVE…

Lesson 46:

“God is the Love in which I forgive…”

Any unease~ from thinking something ‘needs to be done’ to ‘I prefer this’, to ‘I wish I or you didn’t or hadn’t…’ ~anything that doesn’t “let all things be exactly as they are” is a red flag or rather a beacon of light showing me my un-forgiveness, ~showing me what I have given reality to through my belief in it, therefore, reinstituting in my mind, the belief that there could be any thing outside of my One Self in God, as God created me… ~It was a long time coming to this~ First, there ‘were others’ and 'myself', to be forgiven by me. ~Others: better or worse, people I had wronged and had wronged me, those who had done the unforgivable ~ mostly myself.
Hey, this is twisted; but back when I started this conscious reevaluation of my life through ACIM, I actually thought it was some kind of loyalty to God to see myself as “guiltiest-should have known and acted better-est” ~Now I can laugh at the quaint absurdity of that ‘specialness’ idol ~equal to all the many others I have sought to replace God/my Self/the Son of God with. All of them are the same~ defiling the Alter where God placed Himself… Only this Alter matters to me now And truly, it has been and is forgiveness ~forgiveness of every, single not-love thing. That forgiveness has shown me the eternal light of love that is the only thing I am. …And, there you are…
This is what ‘accepting the atonement for myself’ looks like in my life… I really like the way it looks… Like it says in chapter 9 of the text:

“Atonement is for all, because it is the way to undo the belief that anything is for you alone. To forgive is to overlook. Look, then, beyond error and do not let your perception rest upon it, for you will believe what your perception holds. Accept as true only what your brother is, if you would know yourself. Perceive what he is not and you cannot know what you are, because you see him falsely. Remember always that your Identity is shared, and that Its sharing is Its reality.
I ask myself, ”Can I see only the guiltless… only innocence…totally give up my rights to the “having been wronged, ‘secialness’?” Yes must mean not no. Being honest with myself has not been easy ~ It’s amazing how one cherishes trumped-up importance.
Yet the truth beyond (which these symbols called A Course in Miracles point to) sang to me the whisper of the ancient song whose melody I found I longed to remember and hear and sing brilliantly~ kept getting stronger… So, the necessary ‘upturning of my beliefs’ fell into rhythm. And with it, the forgiving mechanism and questioning every value I ever held… Finally, innocence is all I want to see … Having is known by sharing…
The Course says so many gorgeous things in this arena, I just want to shout them all ~ all at once… Here's a little reference in chapter 30.V-VII…

God is the love in which I fulfill my function of forgiveness. This is my only purpose in this world. And it turns out, it’s the only thing I want ~our purpose together as the one Son of God… only a purpose unifies, and those who share a purpose have a mind as one…
GOD IS THE LOVE IN WHICH I FORGIVE…
One of the most useful mantra-type tools I’ve used has been to keep in my mind the simple fact that by my conscious election or not, every encounter is a holy encounter, an opportunity for both love and forgiveness. Through this practice, I have truly seen that God is the Love in which I forgive… And as one comes to value guilt-less and love more, one can look forward to these exchanges, for the good of all… I wouldn’t miss it for the world! Not the world~and certainly not for a few ‘precious’ moments of seeming specialness, moments of time, stolen temporarily from eternity. No, eternity is mine NOW! Whenever two Sons of God meet, we are given another chance … Each encounter is a holy encounter~ As we see each other we will see ourselves. And HERE is our chance…NOW…
I look at all my thoughts in this so-called life, whether seemingly inside my mind or projected out …these are all holy encounters… all the love of God in which I forgive…thank you my brothers, who are one with me…

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

God is the Mind with which I think…

LESSON 45:

God is the Mind with which I think…

“Nothing real can be threatened.

Nothing unreal exists.

Herein lies the peace of God.”

This is the introduction to A Course in Miracles~ and, in my experience, THE TRUTH: ONE TRUTH ~ONE LOVE ~ONE MIND ~The One I share with God…

… and only this is true. All the senseless thoughts are just that ~ senseless images I have made projected out ~thus misusing of my extension component natural of creation ~ to deny the truth. Deny the truth and believe the lie…what does it take to make it possible to believe the impossible? In chapter 2 of the text, in the section called “The Origins of Separation” details the process the mind went through:

“The inappropriate use of extension, or projection, occurs when you believe that some emptiness or lack exists in you, and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead of truth. This process involves the following steps:

First, you believe that what God created can be changed by your own mind.

Second, you believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking.

Third, you believe that you can distort the creations of God, including yourself.

Fourth, you believe that you can create yourself, and that the direction of your own creation is up to you.

These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation, or the "detour into fear." None of this existed before the separation, nor does it actually exist now. Everything God created is like Him. (T-2.I.2)

So, the time is NOW (the closest approximation to our eternity in God) in which we change our mind.

Memory is an ability we developed to keep the past in our minds. I has truly blessed to learn and then come in to the glorious recognition that memory can be used to remember NOW ~to remember God in our mind ~

To re-member and re-cognize that only God could be ‘the mind in which I think… and to deny all the senseless thoughts and mad ideas with which you have cluttered your minds ~till now… this has been the most amazing, rewarding experience for me…

I’ll tell you what, there is no more spectacular witness than to truly commit to vigilant 24/7 mind-watching; to watch the mind’s brilliance and the ingenious, elaborate schemes it’s capable of… It’s effectively imposing in fact… Frankly, I haven’t found a more interesting or rewarding pastime ~nor any thing I’d rather do (thank God ~since here, is where my salvation lies). The ego’s ingenuity is rather remarkable… This is making me think about the part in chapter 7 of the text where He’ talking about how the ego doesn’t really “know” anything ~Here it is:

The ego cannot afford to know anything. Knowledge is total, and the ego does not believe in totality. This unbelief is its origin, and while the ego does not love you it faithful to its own antecedents, begetting as it was begotten. Mind always reproduces as it was produced. Produced by fear, the ego reproduces fear. This is its allegiance, and this allegiance makes it treacherous to love because you love. Love is your power, which the ego must deny. It must also deny everything this power gives you it gives you everything. No one who has everything wants the ego. Its own maker, then, does not want it. Rejection is therefore the only decision the ego could possibly encounter, if the mind that made it knew itself. And if it recognized any part of the Sonship, it know itself. (T-7.VI.4)

…Ahhh… the power of the mind… Happily, I have learned to look beyond the ego’s ingenuity to the reparation of that very ingenuity by the Holy Spirit ~the Mind I share with God… now that is Something to behold! The miracle comes gently to the mind willing to accept nothing else… Only the truth is true. ‘Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them’…

Through the simple practice of exercises such as this lesson, we learn to observe, not believe, the ego thoughts, and turn our minds back to our origin in God…

“Under all the senseless thoughts and mad ideas with which you have cluttered up your mind are the thoughts that you thought with God in the beginning ~and this Foundation on which it rests is wholly changeless… My real thoughts are in my mind. I would like to find them.”

This is where we can use that well developed ability of denial ~ deny anything that is not of God. Anything not loving and eternal is mind asleep and not happening in reality at all…beneath that dream, are our real thoughts, the ones we think with God…

I love that only thoughts I think with God are ‘real’ thoughts, and the proper use of denial is to deny all else (it’s hard to totally give up a skill you’ve spent a lifetime perfecting, eh…) God is the mind in which I think… How blessed Love eternal is… One Mind~ the mind we share with God…

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

“God is the light in which I see…”

Lesson 44:

“God is the light in which I see…”

These are the mind-training exercises that really are the experience of the undoing. It is so critical to give oneself over completely to them. “You cannot be totally committed, sometimes… Reality cannot be partly appreciated.” (T-7.VII.1.4.7)

This is the complete turning around of the mind back to its true Source in God. It reverses the ego order of cause and effect and reestablishes the natural order of God~ of our Self ~of creation… it is not merely an intellectual exercise. It’s so important not to stop at the seemingly intellectual understanding of where these exercises (well actually, the entire Course) are taking us.

Intellectual understanding can be a major trap. Because we can actually think we know… after all it feels good, and right…does it not? This is a trap because this “knowing” closes the mind from learning/experiencing. I spent years in this semi-satisfactory place in my mind… thinking I knew ~ when I didn’t know…not knowing ~ until I knew…

The intellect is not the mind. It is an ability of the mind. It derives all its power from the direction of the Self ~ deriving its very vitality and creation from its Source. “God is my Source…The Light in which I see…”

The light of understanding comes when we allow our intellect to be at the service of the Holy Spirit, who has a unified purpose for all our abilities.

So it’s not that we need to ‘do’ anything about this intellectual understanding trap ~only to be aware of it and be vigilant to move just a little beyond the comfort of ‘getting-it’~ to allow for the experience to light our mind. “Truth can only be recognized and need only be recognized. Inspiration is of the Holy Spirit, and certainty is of God according to His laws.” (T-7.IV.1)

In the section in chapter 18 of the text called “A little Willingness” (a section very precious to me ~ given my addiction to trying to qualify), it says: “The holy instant is the result of your determination to be holy. It is the answer. The desire and the willingness to let it come precede its coming. You prepare your mind for it only to the extent of recognizing that you want it above all else. 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… 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…”

It is the experience we seek~ the ‘universal’ experience of Source extending ~of LOVE~ of Self~ and why it is so crucial to drop beneath our ‘understanding’ of our ideas of who and what we are so this recognition can occur… Lucky for us, we have this groovy mind-training Course and the Coolest Dude ever as our guide (Jesus), with the ready built template of ‘light dispelling darkness’ (Holy Spirit), already within our mind… D u d e…everything goes our way…

The course also says:

You have surely begun to realize that this is a very practical course, and one that means exactly what it says…This is not a course in the play of ideas, but in their practical application…This course is always practical… and it is the practical with which this course is most concerned”

… And how yummy is the practical practice, today, eh? ~How ‘bout we do it together, now:

Today we are going to attempt to reach that light….You cannot see in darkness, and you cannot make light… Light reflects life, and is therefore an aspect of creation. Creation and darkness cannot coexist, but light and life must go together, being but different aspects of creation... In order to see, you must recognize that light is within, not without (God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him)… You do not see outside yourself, nor is the equipment for seeing outside you. An essential part of this equipment is the light that makes seeing possible. It is with you always, making vision possible in every circumstance…

…Leave behind everything that you now believe, and all the thoughts that you have made up~ sink into your mind, letting go every kind of interference and intrusion by quietly sinking past them… You should experience some sense of relaxation, and even a feeling that you are approaching, if not actually entering into light… think of light, formless and without limit, as you pass by the thoughts of this world… What is needful is a sense of the importance of what you are doing; its inestimable value to you, and an awareness that you are attempting something very holy… Above all, be determined not to forget today…(“The holy instant is the result of your determination to be holy.”)

“There is a hush in Heaven, a happy expectancy, a little pause of gladness in acknowledgement of the journey’s end. For Heaven knows you well, as you know Heaven. No illusions stand between you and your brother now. Look not upon the little wall of shadows. The sun has risen over it. How can a shadow keep you from the sun? No more can you be kept by shadows from the light in which illusions end…

…Does it get any better than this…

Monday, February 12, 2007

“God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him…”

Lesson 43:

“God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him…”

ONLY THIS COULD BE TRUE! I am as God created me! And noting else is true or ever really happed at all. Turns out, the quickest way between two points is to SEE ONLY ONE POINT ~GOD… And forgiveness has given me this... Forgiveness is the way for me…

Ah, to look with gentle laughter upon what was once a “real” prison with me as prisoner and jailor~ And all the rest of ancient fear played over and over; an obsolete film reel, playing an obsolete film~ where I actually think I’m it… Ha! “The Comedy of Errors”, famous for its ability to enthrall… Ha! Just a movie…silly me… Ha! The long awaited, great cosmic belly laugh…

Ah, deep breath…

God is my Source~ I cannot see [at all] with out Him…

I have finally seen that any attempt to do so, is not really seeing at all. Any attempt to experience any thing but God’s love ~ extending…is no experience at all…. still we attempt the impossible… until we don’t.

There is no way to avoid the necessary steps that bring about the reversal of our thought system from one of fear, back to its natural thinking pattern ~LOVE~ thought by God, with God… God is our Source ~ we cannot think apart from Him. This reversal has to be addressed to the reality one believes oneself in and this is done through looking with the Holy Spirit from our Source… The answer, which is the one illusion, which finally ends all illusions…FORGIVENESS!

I am so drawn by eloquence as well as my experience to the forgiveness section in the Workbook entitled “What Is Forgiveness?”

My ingenious ego-mind was always looking for a short cut. Which incidentally, upside-down as always, turns out to be a long way around with much sacrificing and suffering and loss, much proving of worthiness~ Turns out, FORGIVENESS IS THAT SHORT-CUT! Forgiveness erases the idea of separate-nesses; separate forms and bodies, people, personalities, and things, of specific circumstances and situations, of hierarchies and special ness of any kind, and blends with sameness; all the seemingly endless, forms and colors and meanings on the canvas into ONE picture ~sketched with One content, with One purpose. It is all the same~ illusion. It all asks for the same review. To be seen with our Source… that we might understand, so that naturally the light of understanding gives way to knowledge.

It is my function to forgive~ to offer my little willingness to be shown~ to look through the eyes of Christ by way of the Holy Spirit in my mind~ the Answer ~ given instantaneously by my Source, the instant the idea of this illusion seemed to arise.

I accept the Atonement for myself and you are all already there with me. Forgiveness is the way for me ~I let myself see the false as false~ and know that only truth is true. ONLY TRUTH IS TRUE. God is my Source ~ the Source of truth ~ I am as God created me ~this is the truth…

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world”… It’s so simple really, if it’s not absolute Love ~ it is a call for love ~ and it is all the same… all part of the experience of the forgiven world where CONSISTENT JOY RULES… All Glory to God, our Source~

Sunday, February 11, 2007

“God is my strength. Vision is His gift…”

Lesson 42:

“God is my strength. Vision is His gift…”

I am resting in the One Love~ God-Love ~watching… Watching the attempted busyness the little mind seeks to find its safety and strength in… its attempts at the petty judgments about what to do and where to go ~ looking for the ’right’-ness criteria for evaluation. This is how my ego mind tries to keep itself ‘pumped up’, trying to stay ahead of the inevitable deflation and ignorance.

…I no longer really identify with this personality set of ideas. ~forgiveness has replaced them with my Self ~ God’s Son… Indeed, where they were once ‘me’, I now rest above the battleground where God’s strength has accomplished the seemingly impossible ~and I have done nothing but ask for the truth ~ to ‘see what I denied, because it was the truth’ and then made welcome for whatever may seem to come.

Seeing the impossibility of God’s mind being somehow mistaken or something ‘accidentally’ or ‘wrong’, has allowed me to trust that we cannot but be in the right place at the right time “...

Resting in the Moment, Now, I see the ego’s antics~ laughable really~ beneath what looks to be just pathetic… ~Yet, beneath it all, beyond it all, within and without~ is the loveliness that vision shines ~
…And there it is …the simple truth. All strength is mine~ all power of God at the ready; all for all ~ all love equally shared, for all, as all, already… Here is a Silence upon Which the world cannot intrude, a serenity so still and gentle that the whisper of the Holy Spirit is the only thing I hear…. Aahhhh, the yummy tranquility of Heaven… ~this is my Home. Home is where the heart is and where the heart is, there is our treasure also, resting in the Heart of God. My strength is in that treasure of which I am a part which sees with the vision of Christ love.

What but this could I have ever wanted, and only this was what I sought, regardless of the convoluted forms it has taken in my so-called life.

God is my strength. Vision is His gift…

And having glimpsed such a Quiet, who would seek for anything else? It turns out all things do work together for good~ and the world of busyness dissolves into Quiet. The world of distractions ends as unified purpose zeros into a single-pointed awareness. The world of pain and sorrow and sadness and grief turn to joy, and unity and happiness and laughter! …What but the Love of God offers eternal Gifts such as these? Finally we come to accept that these are the only gifts we want and give them freely as they were given us…to keep them…

Why wait…even another moment of so-called time…right now, we sink deep into the mind and open to the truth “God is my strength. Vision is His gift.”…the experience waits for our welcome… "Love waits on welcome, not on time"… and with our welcome we bring Love into our constant awareness… to give ~ to keep~ with eternal love and gratitude ~