Saturday, August 25, 2007

Lesson 238:

On my decision all salvation rests…

It’s not personal. That’s the design. God placed his plan for salvation from the dream of separation, where it could not be lost, within the Self…

For the longest time I just couldn’t get that. Much of my so-called life and its spiritual journey have been fraught with unworthiness. I judged myself as a person, while God saw me as His Son.

Through accepting the Atonement for myself, I began to see that the way God, the Father, saw me; perfect, sinless, and worthy, could be my only identity, for I could not be apart from Him, and be... This, by reason, tells me that I cannot be apart from you in any way and remember who I am… for we are one…

Vision or judgment is my choice, but never both…

So, therefore, it is essential that I move beyond the personhood concept, to see you as my brother, which is to say, to see that you and I are one; every decision I make effects the whole. The happy news is that by deciding for the Atonement for myself, the Holy Spirit within my mind opens the vision of brotherhood instead of personhood, for me. And here, is where salvation rests. Here, the simplicity of a single purpose can be seen. And the holy, verses the special, relationship; communication through the Holy Spirit of minds joined, where bodies loose their meaning, takes the forefront of purpose. Fear and unworthiness dissolve into meaninglessness when we are joined only for God’s plan for Salvation; which is to say, joining our will, joined in Gods Will for perfect happiness for us, now…

“No one who has a single purpose, unified and sure, can be afraid”. (T-20.1.7)

Vision shines the thread of eternity through every situation and encounter and we see that must be joined in will, and in this joint will we are all united, and abide in peace. I love the simplicity this reason brings to mind and the resulting peace. Deciding to accept the Atonement for our self is the way to peace allowing us to look with love on every thing we perceive.

It is a constant reminder of how much our Father loves us and trusts us, whom He created as His Son.

“Father, Your trust in me has been so great, I must be worthy. You created me, and know me as I am. And yet You placed Your Son’s salvation in my hands, and let it rest on my decision. I must be beloved of You indeed. And I must be steadfast in holiness as well, that You would give Your Son to me in certainty that he is safe Who still is part of You, and yet is mine, because He is my Self”.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Lesson 237:

Now would I be as God created me…

Christ is my eyes today, and He the ears that listen to the Voice for God today. Father, I come to You through Him Who is Your Son, and my true Self as well. Amen.

Umm, this is the perfect touchstone to broach the day, is it not? We remember, or rather, place at the forefront of our mind, the fact; that we are, and only can be, as God created. From this vantage, one has set the mind right; answering to the call for joy which is the Holy Spirit within the mind, as the single guide for today’s perception and expression of life.

Now we lean back and trust…

At this stage of the curriculum, we have consistently, continually, practiced the art/habit of engaging with God… and we recognize that our bad habit of misdirection and distraction from the truth; getting caught up in body-mind fantasies and being right, etc., was just part of the ‘one error’ that has already been corrected, through the Atonement; which the miracle has shown us through our forgiveness…

So on a very intimate level, we are prepared for this day, where we forget what we made of ourselves and universe and allow Christ within to give us our experience, instead...

Imagine if you will, that you see only love, as far as your eyes can see, in every circumstance or situation, you see only the exchange of love unto itself; the call and the answer, equal in their joyous exchange. Imagine being the light that shines on and through… Imagine that everyone you come in contact with feels like family; the warmest of familiar safety and belonging you have ever felt. Imagine that you have a direct and permanent line to the Voice of Truth and you are certain in every way… Imagine that you are the gift, the giver, and the receiver of life itself…

Today, we will have this day, for it is already given:

Now would we be as God created us…

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Lesson 236:

I rule my mind which I alone must rule…

Ya know, coming to understand that I do indeed rule my mind, whether I want to be accountable for it or not, changed everything for me. At first, just getting that no one else, nor any circumstance, could make me feel any way... I decide. And ah, a little slice of freedom… Then, as I began examining every belief I held, looking for its origin and finding but a circular web of misbelieve all designed support its illusive self and to deflect me from seeing its unreality, I really began to feel the power of the mind.

Here’s what I have come to. This entire cosmos could not exist without my mind. The universe, world of bodies and things and diversity and change, are but the out picturing of my mind. I’m not talking about just in a perceptual framework of existence, I am saying, at all… Every idea I have summoned which seeming resides in this so-called life, I have looked deeply into and found that its solidity and structure dissolve into nothing but appearance by the mere act of looking. And behind each, I have found but my own true face…

The Self, which is beyond description here, but stands as the gateway to beyond, to some reality my mind is not savvy to, folds in on itself to what I can only refer to, in the context of this course, as Spirit; where timeless, structure less, changeless, oneness Love, simple is

This empty fullness is an experience of such peace and completion; one can hardly comprehend how we got so upside down in the illusion. Let alone fight to stay deluded… Save it to say, that it easily reveals the magnificent power of the mind… yes? Now, we see that mind is the activation agent of spirit, supplying its creative energy, as the Course states in the clarification of terms section at the end of the Course, which I’ll again refer to...

And another passage in the text that I love, that I refer to now, as I so often do, because of the impact it was for me, is from chapter 21:

I am responsible for what I see.

I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the

goal I would achieve.

And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and

receive as I have asked.

It is so freeing and powerful to take accountability for everything we experience in this world, forgive the false and decide with the Holy Spirit.

This is all we need do to rule our mind; change our mind about the world and therefore change the world, seeing Christ reflected in everyone and everything.

I rule my mind which I alone must rule…

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Lesson 235:

God in His mercy wills that I be saved…

The truth, which is what we are, doesn’t need saving. We are the very being of truth, and rest eternally in God… the Oneness…

It is the mind, in wild imagination, which has twisted itself into substituting belief for reality; false for true, image for identity, hell for Heaven…

The message here is: ‘relax, God in His mercy, wouldn’t leave restoration of mind to the idea that got itself into the belief in separating, in the first place’… Salvation is for the seeker which has forgotten its being is the local of the truth it requests, as well as the very exploration itself…

No, in Truth, nothing has changed. Time plays only with itself; in the realm of imagination, taken to be the truth by repetitious attention to it. No, nothing has changed. In oneness all is complete; needing no supports or substantiations. It is the experience of the wholeness we seek and have forgotten we are. Salvation is the return route to this experience. And God’s plan for salvation is the only way…

To even glimpse it requires one must be willing to accept silence as the teacher. This is tough for the mind to grasp, for it is limited to the realm of the mind, which by definition is limited. One must be wholly willing to go beyond, absolutely~ accepting the absolute. There is no compromise in this. One can’t stay comfortable and be open at the same time… To be open means to want nothing else… actually to cease all, and be…

We are talking here about the holy instant of release; where, for an instant salvation has been wrapped up and only love has meaning…. And as the mind fogs back over, we reach salvations tools, and forgive like crazy; reaching for the easily access point of the memory of this pure, whole Love, through the new perception forgiveness gateways…

We question every belief we ever held, tendering it against the touchstone of the holy instant, and in its glowing light, beliefs seem small and transparent and easily let go. In every brother and circumstance, we recognize our holiness within and beyond. We place our trust in Him knowing we are as God created… we place our faith in our sure remembrance of the truth through the plan which He established as our own…

Father, Your holiness is mine. Your Love created me, and made my sinlessness forever part of You. I have no guilt nor sin in me, for there is none in You.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Lesson 234:

Father, today I am Your Son again…

This is a day in which we ‘lean into’ the reality of the truth. Of course we are God’s Son, today and ever more; in truth, where time and space exist not at all and wholly unaffected by a day in time, we have our being in God.

However (t0 state the obvious), the mind has sufficient attention here in this illusion of world and time and space and peoples and things; full of doing and regretting, worrying/planning and forgiving. Salvation, here, is about where we place our faith. Having placed it in the observable, and found it wanting (usually culmination in disillusionment), one comes to request ‘another way’… Here, now (as in the beginning), it is given… And all manner of opportunity to see differently begins delivery…

When ready, one places one’s faith, wholeheartedly in, well, what looks like, we choose one idea beyond the tangible; one idea that feels us into an experience of our Self in the ultimate realm which could only be pointed to as ultimate Love. Of course it is a glimpse; a holy instant… but it is enough. (Enough to make nothing, just of this world, satisfy anymore…)

It is here, in this holy instant, that we make the decision we must make, for the answer has already been given. We choose once again; deciding to trust this instant of truth’s lead in deepest honestly, following it to its ultimate culmination… in God.

The gifts received along the way are the negation of all we once believed; reviewing, scrutinizing each under the light of truth and watching it dissolve into forgiveness, like sugar in hot water, making our drink from the cup of life, sweet and refreshing. Gratitude and oneness become a part of every experience and a natural outpouring from trusting truth as the guide…

Side note~ a friend shared this with me this morning and it seemed apropos to wrap up with... enjoy:

http://www.to22.net/projects/five.html

Monday, August 20, 2007

Lesson 233:

I give my life to God to guide today…

Who is the ‘I’ that gives my life? God is my life. I have no life but His. So the ‘I that gives’ is the part of the mind that is associated with the belief in decision. What we are addressing in ‘giving our life to God to guide today, is the part of mind that thought it could do something else; the part of mind which, in that ‘tiny tick of time’, spun out every possibility of the impossible idea that one could separate from oneself and father a life aside from His…

I have my being in God. Yet, there is a part of mind which dreams it makes decisions and today it decides for waking to the truth. Humility is for us. We pray in grateful appreciation for the truth. We pray to remember… we pray to forget this little self, dissolving into the grand chorus of God’s Love which is creation’s song... We are the Grandeur of our Father’s Love. And when we are not in touch with that simple fact, as our complete being, seeming steps for its remembrance are a built-in part of God’s plan for salvation, returning mind to Mind.

I have always loved the poetic poignancy of this particular prayer; have used it daily for long stretches of time, and could often be heard to say to brothers that if you still seem to be ‘suckin’ air in a body’, this prayer is for you… Please join me in reviewing it now:

“Father, I give you all my thoughts today. I would have none of mine. In place of them, give me Your Own. I give You all my acts as well, that I may do You Will instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained, and wasting time in vain imagining. Today I come to You. I will step back and merely follow You. Be You the Guide, and I the follower who questions not the wisdom of the Infinite, nor Love whose tenderness I cannot comprehend, but which is yet Your perfect gift to me”.

The body’s ears cannot hear, nor lips sing the glorious song of creation, yet when we still our minds, in a holy instant of release, it is there feeling like love, and we realize it has always been there; our true voice singing hallelujah to our Father and our Self…

I give my life to God to guide today, to return the mind to its up-right position for the remembrance that there could be no other way than God’s Will… which is perfect happiness….

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Lesson 232:

Be in my mind, my Father, through the day…

Aren’t the prayers in this section of the lessons, just so yummy and complete and satisfying? I love the feeling of safety and certainty and peace they seem to materialize from. Thank you for joining me in saving the world we see, through our acceptance and appreciation of salvation, now:

“Be in my mind, my Father, when I wade, and shine on me throughout the day today. Let every minute be a time in which I dwell with You. And let me not forget my hourly thanksgiving that You have remained with me, and always will be there to hear my call to You and answer me. As evening comes, let all my thoughts be still of You and of Your Love. And let me sleep sure of my safety, certain of Your care, and happily aware I am Your Son.”

I decide with the Holy Spirit in mind, and peace is mine. The world I drew-out with my perception just a minute ago, dissolves into the timeless presence which is my Self in God…

The world I draw-out now includes all and excludes none. Each thought I think; each act I seem to commit; each forgiveness I embrace, I do for all. Each encounter~ a holy encounter~ after all, ultimately, it is my Self I deal with, always. We are the one Self, which God created as Himself… It is this I hold in mind with my Father… for we are the One…