Saturday, April 7, 2007

Lesson 98:

I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation…

How joyous certainty feels!
Would we gladly offer the expenditure of a mindset of fear and insecurity, defensiveness and vigilant planning for one of certainty attended by continual joy and happiness? It is such a joy to be released from the compulsion to “need to think; to think I need to know, and/or understand something ’out there’ that perhaps I’m missing… Today’s lesson gives this freedom to our Willing to decide to accept what has been done, replayed now for this one aspect of the Son’s mind that forgot. The part we think we play; of me or you, with different names or stations or seeming ideas, all are utilized perfectly as one choice to accept the Atonement through accepting but God’s plan and nothing else. For the price of giving up ‘figuring-it-out”~ heck yeah, I’ll take it… Here’s how it goes:

‘Today is a day of special dedication... We take a stand on but one side today. We side with truth and let illusions go. All our doubts we lay aside today, and take our stand with certainty of purpose, and with thanks that doubt is gone and surety has come” … ~ Somewhere, somehow within, we know we have found what we’ve been searching for, intangible as it may seem within the framework of this world, yet growing in vital essence behind the scenes… You know what I mean…
For once can we take the side that has no sides? Will we take the leap of faith from “my way or the highway” …and take the ‘High’ way and trust… One thought of resolve opens the gates revealing the golden path… “I WILL ACCEPT MY PART IN GOD’S PLAN FOR SALVATION”… This moment of pure resolve is the leap of faith that places us on the path of certainty… And our trust fuels impetus to reveal the value of what this statement represents: that it’s an investment of immeasurable worth, where everyone benefits and no one loses … “We have a mighty purpose to fulfill, and have been given everything we need with which to reach the goal. Not one mistake stands in our way. For we have been absolved from errors… The guiltless have no fear, for they are safe and recognize their safety”...
Five minutes given every hour to remember the solid ground on which we took our stand today… “I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation…” for the Holy Spirit to do the rest, and carry out the plan through all of us… Five minutes of willingness to accept my part in God’s plan for salvation~ YES!
And, I don’t have to know what that means, how it looks, what will happen, yada, yada… All that is built into the plan, and the Holy Spirit has blueprint… I but dedicate my self to truth by giving my 5 minutes an hour to recall to my mind the stance I joined the Holy Spirit in for truth, and my trust brings me to acceptance without reservation…
The Plan is set and the outcome is as certain as God…
It’s easy to feel the truth of this, from this holy ground where we have laid aside all doubts and let certainty of purpose take its place. Would I miss any of my five minutes intervals in this comforting place of surety? Could I be bought off with petty worry or regret to take its place, now that I have glimpsed the gift of Heaven? I think not! It seems quite impossible just this instant of resolve, eh? Imagine what five minutes every hour invested in this security will do…
Just as the lesson says …” Is it not worth five minutes of your time each hour to be able to accept the happiness that God has given you? Is it not worth five minutes hourly to recognize your special function here? Is not five minutes but a small request to make in terms of gaining a reward so great it has no measure? You have made a thousand losing bargains at the least… Each hour today give Him your tiny gift of but five minutes… He will give the words you use in practicing today's idea the deep conviction and the certainty you lack”… ~Now that is the deal of a lifetime ~ a sure bet, as they say… let’s not pass it up ~ let’s not trade it in on petty distraction, conflicts and confusions to resolve ourselves, before we all accept the inevitable, ‘our part in God’s plan for salvation’, to be done through our acceptance of it offered us today.

…”Here is an offer guaranteeing you your full release from pain of every kind, and joy the world does not contain. You can exchange a little of your time for peace of mind and certainty of purpose, with the promise of complete success... And since time has no meaning, you are being asked for nothing in return for everything. Here is a bargain that you cannot lose. And what you gain is limitless indeed!”
I love good deals… I don’t know about you, but I have often prided myself on recognizing a ‘great’ deal when I see one and taking it~ Timing can be everything ~ and Now is the time~ God’s plan for salvation sets its timing in eternity… and each moment we accept His gift, we join Him there, building our sure and solid footing as we gather in brotherhood, re-member-ing our Self, for as long as any part of us remains lost and alone and seemingly apart and uncertain, to be gathered into the Certainty of God Himself ~all by merely accepting our part in His plan for salvation… “Do not lose one chance to be the glad receiver of His gifts, that you may give them to the world today”... Believe me ~ this is the best deal ever!! I’M IN ALL THE WAY!!!
And there’s no where else I’d rather be! … No fantasy of happiness can touch the constant joy of accepting my will as God’s Will. And His Will is perfect happiness. We but choose the truth, one lesson’s practice at a time, and completion with Him full joy is inevitable… Who could ask for anything more? I am joined with you in taking the ‘deal’ and accepting our part in God’s plan for salvation, today… for the return to eternity… Heaven is the decision we must make … and this is the moment of truth…

Friday, April 6, 2007

Lesson 97:

I AM SPIRIT…

I AM SPIRIT: which is in a state of grace forever… This is my only reality in truth…It is the state in which I reside now, forever, always, already… Here, now, I am limitless, yet so fine tuned that all time and timelessness reside within my Self… This is the truth that I denied… Here is the truth I ask to see when I accepted the Atonement for myself; which means excluding nothing and including all my aspects of my Self; the Sonship as One… I am spirit~ because it is the truth…
Within this lesson, are all lessons answered… May we let go our ‘will’ and give ourselves over to Spirit, if even for an instant? For just this instant, may we share His Holy Name in full acceptance that only the truth is true? We are Sprit, and that is reality ~
…Well, not really even ‘we’, huh? …“’We’ can’t handle the truth!!” …That (the truth) is the Holy Spirit’s function and it has already been done… Might we, right now, as Eastertide, give an instant to the truth, and allow that vision be restored to us at last~ Let us give just a few minutes of time to timelessness itself, to the Holy Spirit (being the holiness of the spirit within) whose function it is to hold this holy state of grace for us, till we slip beneath our fantasies in favor of the truth… Can’t t you feel it, right now, this instant… the eternal peaceful embrace of grace? Ahhh…
Reality is only spirit… Therefore, we are in a state of grace forever. It is ours to experience any instant we desire it, and nothing else…
Let us give our tiny gift of time for this remembrance today … Is it really so much to ask to remember from time to time throughout the day, to invest our faith in truth which is represented in these symbols: <>… when the return is ultimately, complete restoration of our mind to LOVE? It’s a good deal, n’est pas?
We give our faith to the Holy Spirit to fulfill His function, so we can fulfill ours. And we get in return, our claim in God’s plan for salvation and recognize we have a part to fill. It is a part unparalleled to anything we dreamed up so far and equal to the spirit that we are… “spirit are we, the holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive and free to save the world”…
Through our willingness to remember, as often as we can, just one thing: , we release ourselves and the Holy Spirit takes the baton, so to speak, and proceeds to visit the memory of the God’s Love forever now, within and without, to every mind open to receive… Imagine the simplicity of the plan… Its all one mind… we can’t lose… it’s all one, so it all ours… (Feels a lot better than “us and them”)
It’s quite spectacular to drop back in faith, into the great trust fall of “salvation by way of God’s plan”, and begin to release the desire to build intellectual-understanding constructs to funnel experience through, yes? Ahhh, what a glorious witness of spirit, now…
All glory to God, to Spirit, the holy Son of God forever together as one and eternally free…

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Lesson 96:

Salvation comes from my one Self…

The mind is the activating agent of spirit, supplying its creative energy. So in this world in which we seem to exist, and where we find ourselves learning and unlearning, etc., we exist as ‘Mind/mind’, and experience ourselves as the ‘self’ the mind dictates, (Spirit or ego). Spirit is the Thought of God, which He created like Himself. The unified spirit is God’s one son, or Christ. Here is the Self/self~ accessed in the Mind. The ego is the belief that ‘other’ could exist and separate from the whole: the subject-object split, the either-or, the ‘which-one’, the ‘choice’ to be made. Spirit is the part of the mind that is still in contact with God through the Holy Spirit, Who abides within the mind that remains forever inseparable from its Source, yet resides as well within consciousness and therefore sees the ‘other’ part as well. Here’s where consciousness was born~ to make possible this choice.
The course is consistent in its message throughout, and right in the beginning it tells us about this dynamic, and builds and expands on it as we grow it acceptance and willingness… e.g.: “Whatever is true is eternal, and cannot change or be changed. Spirit is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect, but the mind can elect what it chooses to serve. The only limit put on its choice is that it cannot serve two masters. If it elects to do so, the mind can become the medium by which spirit creates along the line of its own creation. If it does not freely elect to do so, it retains its creative potential but places itself under tyrannous rather than Authoritative control. As a result it imprisons, because such are the dictates of tyrants. To change your mind means to place it at the disposal of Authority”. (T-1.V.5)… “Of your ego you can do nothing to save yourself or others, but of your spirit you can do everything for the salvation of both. Humility is a lesson for the ego, not for the spirit. Spirit is beyond humility, because it recognizes its radiance and gladly sheds its light everywhere. The meek shall inherit the earth because their egos are humble, and this gives them truer perception. The Kingdom of Heaven is the spirit's right, whose beauty and dignity are far beyond doubt, beyond perception, and stand forever as the mark of the Love of God for His creations, who are wholly worthy of Him and only of Him. Nothing else is sufficiently worthy to be a gift for a creation of God Himself.” (T-4.I.12)
Consciousness is the receptive mechanism, which receives messages from the Holy Spirit or the ego… This is the state of ‘existence’. Here ‘manifestation’ is possible and illusion takes form, seemingly giving life to perception through projection to mimic the natural expression of creation through extension. Consciousness came into being after the apparent separation… prior to that, the ‘need to do-something with itself, understand itself, multiply and replenish itself’, did not exist.
Being IS known and forever knowing itself by sharing ~extending itself forever to itself. This self is ‘the Self’ which we are re-turning our minds toward today and what the curriculum of miracles is all about. We return to the “Self” by forgiving or looking past the ‘other-belief’ projected out for our reflection, and looking beyond to the Self. This is the self-same Self that we were extending/sharing with, prior to the taking notice of the interference of a ‘tiny, mad idea’. It is a calling to mind the memory of creation in a world made up and believed in.
We commence to slough the dead scales of mis-belief or make-believe that have seemingly imprisoned our will and sentenced us to death by distraction… and in-stead, accept salvation from this Self… “Then seek Its Thoughts, and claim them as your own. These are your own real thoughts you have denied, and let your mind go wandering in a world of dreams, to find illusions in their place. Here are your thoughts, the only ones you have. Salvation is among them; find it there”...

“Salvation comes from my one Self. Its Thoughts are mine to use.”
It turns out that we re-visit our S/self in every situation, every thought and every person we encounter… they are us… all to be re-turned to the Self… this is our salvation. ~Let it be NOW! ~

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Lesson 95:

I am one Self, united with my Creator...

“I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace… You are one Self with me, united with our Creator in this Self. I honor you because of What I am, and What He is, Who loves us both as One… One Self, united and secure in light and joy and peace… God's Son, one Self, with one Creator and one goal; to bring awareness of this oneness to all minds, that true creation may extend the allness and the unity of God… One Self, complete and healed and whole, with power to lift the veil of darkness from the world, and let the light in us come through to teach the world the truth about our Self…. One Self, in perfect harmony with all there is, and all that there will be… One Self, the holy Son of God, united with our brothers in that Self; united with our Father in His Will… We feel this one Self within, and let It shine away all illusions and doubts. This is the Self, the Son of God Himself, sinless as Its Creator, with His strength within and His Love forever ours. We are one Self, and it is given us to feel this Self within, and to cast all illusions out of the one Mind that is this Self, the holy truth within…” (W-L95)
Ahhhh… easily we rest in the One Self. Is there any symbolic construct of mind that is a cleaner representation, or expressed more beautiful than this ~ nor that pierces through the structure of ‘denial of self’, and speaks to the truth within so resonantly? I don’t know…
I only feel your heart beating as mine as the Father and Son… A state for which I cannot will to escape, for I can only behold and accept the truth: the magnitude and glory born to me through The One Self … This is the only mind construct I am identified with in this holy instant… I am humbled (at the ground of my being) in honor of my part in salvations name… And I am compelled by what I Am to allow my part to be done through me… Thank you my brothers, who are one with me, for joining in this one purpose, unified and sure, here in the meeting place of self with Self… I am forever in your debt (a fact I’ll happily not forget)…
This is truth’s lesson within the context of the Course curriculum: One Self. It is the crucial base from which it goes forth… It is the construct of the Atonement; for which miracles, each a microcosm of the healing and wholeness and reversal of the mistaken thought system given over to the Correction…

Light and joy and peace abide in us for we are One Self: united with our Creator, at One with every aspect of creation and limitless in power and in peace our Self...

WE ARE THE ONE!!! ~

All honor you because of What you are and What I am, and What He is, Who loves us both as One. All Glory to God and His One Self!!!

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Lesson 94:

I am as God created me… I am His Son eternally…

These simple statements are symbols that sweep me into the current of the purpose they represent and carry me into the presence of truth ~of God… So attractive is this idea, it is virtually irresistible... Can’t you just feel the appeal of the return to self? The desire to surrender to the current and be completely swallowed by the Self, the Son that God created as Himself, carries with it the mighty power of truth itself... Actually... resistance is futile… NOW is the closest approximation to eternity at our disposal while we still dream of a world and cosmos and time and space. NOW is where forgiveness surrenders us into itself and allows us to we see the face of Christ in every seeming sight and sound and person, place or thing as we look out upon a forgiven world where all is ONE. Ultimately, this lesson is the only one we learn; all others are merely part of the return to this one: “I am as God Created me”. This is our Fathers completion in Himself. Ours is to remember Him through the means He gave for our return to the eternal Now.
Why not give up every idea we ever made of who we are and what meaning is and no longer hold the past that we made up, against the presence of the eternal now? NOW is the eternal destination, the current, and the means for which to experience it. I love what the Course says about this in the section called ‘The Present Memory’. It is such a beautiful read and perfect companion to today's lesson experience...
We are as God created us… We are His Son eternally…
Can we slip past the idols and self-images and beliefs and concepts and values we have made, for just an instant… and dump out into the vast infinite eternity of peace and safety, in the still embrace of love?... This instant let us wholeheartedly accept the Atonement for ourselves and wait in silent expectancy for the truth… Feel the inevitability of God the Father and His Holy Son….
This is the experience where purpose and means are brought together in a single unified recognition of Reality… This one thing only could be all of all in truth. We but allow this holy recognition of our Self, but one instant, and trust is easy from here…
He has called and we have answered… We now but trust that the means for our full return to the eternal Self, whom God created as Himself, have been placed within every seemingly split off aspect of the mind that identified with a tiny mad idea and thought that separation of any sort, could be real... and further fantasized a world apart to house this idea, peopled by constructs and beliefs to substantiate its flimsy, fleeting existence. Certainly, the holographic composition of Creation is not without all the power of it Source… here, or ever… We but trust this Holy Source and allow the truth to reveal itself as we surrender completely to this one thought “I am as God Created me”… This IS the thought we think with God! This is the Way, the Truth and the Life…
What a relief… How can anything but gratitude be our middle name? I join with you in the praise of our Father and Creation as One: the effect and Cause have been brought together through the Atonement and ministered to the sleeping brothers by miracles…full return is as inevitable as God… We are the eternal Son Whom God created and we are not alone, being One… alwaysforevernow…

Monday, April 2, 2007

Lesson 93:

Light and joy and peace abide in me…

Talk about a lesson in honesty… Do I desire the truth and only the truth? Do I want only to know my Father’s Will for me? Do I, as the lesson states, want to experience the Self God created as His Son instead of the self I made?
I will answer by my experience with my participation and application of the simple instruction suggested in the lesson:

“In our longer exercise periods today, which would be most profitable if done for the first five minutes of every waking hour, begin by stating the truth about your creation:
Light and joy and peace abide in me.
My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
Then put away your foolish self-images, and spend the rest of the practice period in trying to experience what God has given you, in place of what you have decreed for yourself”.

Here’s where the true feedback takes place. Do I give the first five minutes of the hour to God’s plan for salvation? Do I give 5 minutes an hour? Do I remember to acknowledge the lesson every hour? Am I vigilant only after God’s kingdom and spend a mere five minutes of falsehood to purchase the remembrance of my timelessness?
Feedback in the form of assistance to salvation comes in many ways. The purest is to simply observe without judgment or justification, the actuality of what is taking place and the thoughts and motivations behind it are easily seen. Of course, one must desire to see~ first…
So much of my so-called life I lived in the fantasy I had of myself in regard to my intentions in a situation, particularly where morality was on the table, while reality judged me by my actions, based on the thoughts of what I believed I was. It is the most basic form of feedback, yes? Here’s how I found out not only what a liar I was, but how willing I was to seduce myself with intentions rather than facts, then make justifications and ‘future plans’ to medicate the horrible feelings of failure and disillusionment I felt at betraying the deep-seated moral code that made me make a commitment to myself in the first place. Gawd, what a depressing vicious cycle, makes one want to slit one’s throat… thank heaven there is no real throat to slit… I found this out by simply giving up on life as I made it. Yes, just like that, for one pure instant, I was completely willing to be wrong about everything I ever thought or believed or even thought I knew~ I wanted to be shown instead…
Instantaneously, everything disappeared to reappear as light, and joy and peace… and no-thing had any real substance at all… save that it was all me~ the Self~
And subtly, yet significantly, the world of form took on a new meaning and therefore a new experience. Things like remembering to do my lesson per the suggested criteria, no longer failed me. What was important began replacing what wasn’t based on some kind of internal purpose. Gratitude for this, redefined the way I saw everyone and situation. With sight came the acknowledgment of the possibility that it was Christ with whom I was experiencing life… and my choice for death-through-judgment left… for my eternal sinlessness is guaranteed by God… it’s everywhere in all things, for it is the Self of light and joy and peace that is the Son of God…
Bingo: “The self you made is not the Son of God. Therefore, this self does not exist at all. And anything it seems to do and think means nothing. It is neither bad nor good. It is unreal, and nothing more than that. It does not battle with the Son of God. It does not hurt him, nor attack his peace. It has not changed creation, nor reduced eternal sinlessness to sin, and love to hate. What power can this self you made possess, when it would contradict the Will of God?”

I want only my Father’s Will for me… I accept His plan for salvation~ the Atonement: “Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought; — you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself”.

Light and joy and peace abide in me.
My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Lesson 92:

Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one…

Light and strength are one as truth is one and as such, these characteristic of the One Truth, must be true for all as is the nature of truth and oneness…
I am as God created me… and nothing can oppose the Will of God… Everything else has just been an error and not only easily corrected, but literally, nothing at all… The specially designed ‘self’, invested with so much blood sweat and tears were merely a dream of otherness, while we remain as God Created us. We, the Son of God, are completely unaffected by the question; this ‘tiny mad idea’ that ask the impossible… Can we sit with that fact and sink beneath it to residence?...
Can we sink beneath the idol fantasy of subject and object split, to the light within today, where light and joy and peace abide? Can we but trust the deep appeal this message brings and suspend all judgment prior to investigation, to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal our Self to us? Just for today; for this hour, for this minute… for this Holy Instant where all truth abides…

”This holy instant would we give to You… Be You in charge. For we would follow You, certain Your direction gives us peace…” (W-L361-365)
This grouping of the lessons for the next little while, are systematically inviting us into the ‘meeting place’ of self with Self. They rest in this one pure idea, “I am as God created me and here in the light resides strength… This is the TRUTH and in the light, we see.
Only the truth is true and what is false does not exist at all. No fantasy can add anything to the truth nor take anything away, nor even compete with residence within our minds. Only the thoughts we think with God are real. And fantasies (life as the ego belief designs) merely make shadowy images which come to pass and cannot stay, and actually, were over long ago, along with the entire cosmic dream. Let us not replay this old decrepit film again, today. Rather, let us follow the gentle voice of Strength itself, the meeting place where, for an instant we abide awake, and recognize ourselves as dreamer of the dream. Here all our dreams of struggle, sacrifice, of scarcity and competition are already replaced by the light and joy and peace inherent in What We Are.
Let us rest in this quiet surety awhile… And when we seemingly engage the so-called world today, let it be the happy dream of a forgiven world, where everywhere we look we see but Christ, every encounter is a holy one, where we recognize our Self in each and every one. Light and joy and peace abide is us; the ONE HOLY CREATION, whom God Created by extending Himself… His innocence and purity must then be ours for Him to be complete.
Let us accept the amusing silliness that our little, miniscule contribution of nothingness, dreamed up as the ego thought of separate special-nesses for the error it was, and see that it was in the past, which was only a construct of time useful only till this moment where we remember ‘all is One’.
Let this be the holy instant we remember the correction given by God and accepted by His Son. Today, this moment and instant, while these constructs of time still seem to have effect in our minds, let us allow the Holy Spirit free reign to heal all misperception until ALL perception melts into the light within and joy and peace and love abound…

“We are God Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In us is His Creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In us is Love perfected, fear impossible and joy established without opposite. We are the Holy Home of God Himself. We are the Heaven where is Love resides. We are His Holy Sinlessness Itself, for in our purity abides His Own…” (W-14.1-6)
Let us not waste another instant deciding… let us accept the Atonement and be free… ~All glory to God and His holy Host~ forever and ever ~ amen