Sunday, January 27, 2008

~NOW is always the moment to see the face of Christ…

Lesson 27:

“Above all else I want to see…”

Above all else

I want to see.

I’m not interested in seeing ahead, only in seeing who’s doing the seeing…in seeing inside my seeing… seeing and having faith simultaneously, trusting that Now is always the moment to see the face of Christ… the sacred reunion of One Son~ the Self that is my ‘true face’ reflected in what you are.

Above all else I want to see..

This is it all right…pure life ~One life ~ the one I share with God.

I’m thinking again about the section in the course, “This Need Not Be” where it says, ‘If you cannot hear the Voice for God, it is because you do not choose to listen’… If I cannot see the face of Christ it is because I do not choose to see above all else… then he says, ‘Your mind is filled with schemes to save the face of your ego, and you do not see the face of Christ. The glass in which it ego seeks to see its face is dark indeed. How can it maintain the trick of its existence except with mirrors? …But where you look to find yourself is up to you…’ …above all else I want to see~

A little bit further down in this same section, Jesus says, “You are a mirror of truth, in which God Himself shines in perfect light. To the ego’s dark glass you need but say, “I will not look there because I know these images or not true. Then let the Holy One shine on you in peace, knowing that this and only this must be. His Mind shone on you in your creation and brought your mind into being. His Mind still shines on you and must shine through you. You ego cannot prevent Him from shining on you, but it can prevent you from letting Him shine through you.”…Above all else I want to see…

As with Jesus’ appeal this same section, I ask my self to look honestly, so I can see. …Look honestly…’what have I thought that God would not have thought? What have I not thought that God would have me think?’ My thinking makes my seeing; I want only to see the Truth. “I’m willing to see what I denied…because it is the truth.”

Awaken and be glad’‘Above all else I want to see’…many countless symbols reflect for me the goal to awaken. “Vision is given freely to those who ask to see,” It seems to me that Vision creates its own morality, its own imperatives…

When we are asleep to what we are, and a veil of denial covers our sight, we can so readily give in to the constant harangue of the ego’s voice…

When I think I’m/you are really here, or that ‘this” is really happening,

I cannot know integrity and cannot be a reliable source for interpreting what I think I see because I have, as the Course says here, allowed myself to be ‘deceived by the temptations of the ego due to voluntary dis-spiriting…easily disengaged and risen above through developing the habit of engaging with God and His creations… by actively refusing to let the mind slip away’…

Above all else I want to see… this small expression of willingness is enough. It seemed it would take tremendous courage and tenacious stamina~ yet, it is simply a miracle. And one I am not in charge. I could never do it! But thank God, I don’t have to. That’s not my job. It turns out; I’m not even the one who does the looking…it is my small gift of willingness and the mighty power of God through the Holy Spirit in my mind… see, above all else I want to see~ and…

“Truth is restored to you through your desire, as it was lost to you through your desire for something else… Vision is given freely to those who ask to see.” ~Above all else I want to see…

~Just that simple and lay wait in trust…

We Are Christ and we are in this together, you and I and we are not alone~

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Lesson 20:

“I am determined to see…”

The lesson says, “Your decision to see is all that vision requires… What you want is yours... “So simple, yet…begging the accountability for what ~ I want the Truth and I am determined to see. Coming to experience the reversal of all the thoughts that seem to make life what it is for me~ from the way it was seemingly hard-wired in this ‘person’ called Danét~ has been so critical to my experiencing peace; reversing the upside-down idea that “something out there” is causing me to see what I think I see and realizing that “what I think is causing what I seem to see”. My choice in this world, is a film of sameness – directed by the Holy Spirit ~ or one of differences – directed by the ego. I remember when it clicked for me about the ‘real’ cause and effect relationship…I thought I thought I understood/saw… and that whole idea turned out to a defense against seeing. This awareness showed me the fallacy of my attempts to bring ‘truth to illusion’ instead of the other way around. I began to see that if I do not like how I am feeling about something that seems to be going on in my so-called life, was to see that the solution could only lie in going to the source of my unhappiness: the decision in my mind to choose the ego’s attack instead of the Holy Spirit’s forgiveness. It’s easy enough to see, ~if the screen reflects an unloving film, it can only be that I went to the wrong source and therefore, chose an unloving film. BINGO~ I choose once again…

It is my determination to see that allows me to have the alternative… The ensuing peace from turning to the Holy Spirit is what is then extended, and remains always with me, regardless of what appears to be external… I am so grateful.

I am thinking about that often referred to metaphor, but can’t be too often remembered allegory: The one about sitting in a movie theater, when the picture on the screen suddenly begins to mess up. No one in the theater would, (nor would expect the management) to rush to the screen and try to remedy the problem there. We would go instead to the usually unseen or unnoticed projection booth in the back of the theater, where the fault lies either in the movie projector or the film itself passing through the projector. Only then could the problem of the poor image on the screen be truly solved…In this analogy, the screen, represents our external lives and behavior, the projection booth represents our minds, and the projector itself represents the mind’s capacity to project (or extend) the film, which in turn represents either the thought system of the ego of the Holy Spirit, depending on our choice. …The problem never rests on the form or the behavior of what we perceive or experience (the image on the screen), bur always on the content in our minds, the thoughts with which we choose to identify (the film running through the projector).

“God has one Son, and he is the resurrection and the life. His will is done because all power is given him in Heaven and on earth... In your determination to see is vision given you…You can see them differently, and you will. What you desire you will see. Such is the real law of cause and effect as it operates in the world.

We are joined together you and I. We are the Son, experiencing ourselves as the Sonship; at home in God, dreaming of exile. So often we find ourselves with an astonishing awareness, as we are coming into a ‘determination to see’, where we want to settle with what the great poet David Whyte says in one of his profound poems about the inner journey: “at least we are all exiled together”. And sometimes we settle here for a while, afraid to really see and loose all identity with who and what we now believe we are. NOTE: This ‘we’ is me, I’m sure you see…. This feeling of recognizing exile yet feeling comforted in ‘not being alone’ is an oxymoron isn’t it. Exile is the very quintessence of aloneness, yes? This is the very fabric of the ego/man-made world… the deep, pervasive, existential background of the dream. This is it! This is the best and only comfort the ‘ego’ has to offer.

It is our ‘determination to see’ that opens us up to noticing, and then to listening~ to the background behind the background; “THE CALL TO JOY”… umm, yummy ~film at eleven…

Saturday, January 19, 2008

~'The One and not alone: lesson 19

Lesson 19;

"I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts…"

I am so humbled by the holographic nature of the Course, the thorough, all encompassing theoretical structure of the text ~the simplicity and uncompromising tenacity of the workbook lessons… All ~ to assist the reversal of my up-side down thinking and allow for the undoing that lets me integrate the principles of the Courses’ message through my practice of forgiveness. (And, I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts).
Over the years I have tried to be a perfect student, do the lessons perfectly, (I failed) and what it showed me was that I had an authority/authorship belief structure to forgive… I have used the Course’ metaphors and symbols (and so many others) like a drug to comfort myself~ rather than look deeply, at times.

I see now that that has been because I frightened myself off from looking~ really looking~ at the unconscious fearful beliefs which remained unquestioned and hidden (**ego deflection device~ always at the ready**).

The beauty of this system is that all these tactics turn out to be part of the gig…the experience of my ‘private thoughts ~ up for review and reversal~ all loop back around and show me the opportunity to forgive this as well… ~though the tendency to want to judge myself severely instead has certainly raised its head ~forgive, again~… Yet, the consistent experience of inner peace comes only when nothing remains assumed to be real and true. Every thought, assigned equal status brings me only peace, in looking at my thoughts and accepting that I am not alone in experiencing the effects of them; I see they’re all the same. It turns out that only exceptions bring the illusion of conflict, and it is becoming more and more obvious to me that ~Truth has no exceptions.
“The idea for today is obviously the reason why your seeing does not affect you alone.”(L19)

Here is a yummy piece David Hoffmiester shared, apropos to pass on right now…”Until the mind accepts complete forgiveness, the ego will seem to interpret the world from its personal perspective. Right-mindedness sees that nothing is personal because it sees the false as false. It sees that none of the images are true and that all value and meaning are of the Holy Spirit's Purpose. Everything
is an exercise in discernment, in experiencing only a right-minded interpretation of the world. Healing is right-mindedness and sickness is the attempt to make something personal.
The Holy Spirit uses the symbols of the world to lead to the forgiven world, and therefore none of the symbols mean anything "in and of themselves." To adore and worship a symbol is the attempt to make an idol and value something specific. Yet
specifics were made to take the place of Abstract Love, and no thing can substitute for God's Divine Love. Specialness is the attempt to separate out a person, place, thing, time, or event and hold it as more valuable than the whole. The ego therefore lifts up certain specifics as better than other specifics, thereby denying that all specifics are meaningless. This error seems to take many forms, though the forms do not matter. In right-mindedness error is impossible, for by definition error is the ego and the ego isn't real. This is the healing recognition that the Holy Spirit offers.
M
ake no attempt to make anything special if you want constant peace and happiness. You are the One. There is nothing outside You. Such is the Truth. Specialness seeks for scraps of value in the things of the world. Specialness seeks for special people, special techniques, special rituals, special places, and special events. Specialness emphasizes form because it knows not Love, Which is Spirit. Yet nothing specific is sacred. Who You are as Spirit is sacred, and the world was made to push the sacred out of awareness and distract the mind with meaningless specific bits of trivia and nothingness.”
~joyouslyonemind~

Friday, January 18, 2008

~Never alone~lesson 18

Lesson 18:

“I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing…”

I look about me, with this body’s eyes and it is impossible, anymore, for me to take for granted what I think I see.. I only see my interpretation~ my “accepted version” of what every particular thing is. I witness that everything I seem to see; every encounter with others, any exchange of any kind has been designed by this “packaged” interpretation. I see only what I expect to see. Furthermore, the body’s eyes were made to see what the blueprint of the separation…
...It turns out ~ I’m blind! Yes! But, finally, simply, gratefully, I accept that…. The thing about accepting that I'm blind is that I also accept that I require assistance to see what things are and where I am going. Turns out, too, perfectly, that right here within me, is this assistance; ‘Holy Spirit spectacles’, so to speak, designed to sharpen the mind for vision, in order to see a new world.

For so many years I relied on the analytical abilities of my mind to take what my eyes seemed to see and to seemingly assess what ‘the reality’ of the situation was. Truly, applying these very lessons from the Course in my life, regardless…. offered the miracle of sight, and the possibility that I was wrong about what I thought, saw and assessed. The script was written; all that the one mind that allowed for the ‘tiny mad idea’ to have a play, dictated every possibility and the Atonement corrected it. Every possibility played out and was answered the instant it was made. The rote interpretation was answered by the re-interpreter placed indelibly within for as long as the regurgitation of the past fancies itself within the mind of God’s Son…

From my wrong mind or ‘packaged sight, I can contribute only to the idea of problems; needing solutions…being the victim or the hero… it’s a merry-go-round I happily let go by now… Like John Lennon’s song…rather “watch the wheels go round”. The course says there is really only one problem ~ we think we are separate from God and therefore, each other…and, there is only One answer ~ we’re NOT~ “forgive and see this differently…forgive and this will disappear…”

How grateful I am to have this curriculum, these lessons, to train my mind, and therefore ours (after all I’m not alone in experience the effects of my seeing)…um yummy…

I ask myself, “How am I seeing this, through the eyes of the ego, or through Christ’s vision?” (Since it can only be one of those options). ~Best to ask my vision guide to show me what I’m seeing… saves time, gives peace…

The part in the text under the heading “The Justice of God” keeps pushing its way to the front of my mind…

“I. The Link to Truth

It cannot be that it is hard to do the task that Christ appointed you to do, since it is He Who does it. And in the doing of it will you learn the body merely seems to be the means to do it. For the Mind is His. And so it must be yours. His Holiness directs the body through the mind at one with Him. And you are manifest unto your holy brother, as he to you. Here is the meeting of the holy Christ unto Himself; nor any differences perceived to stand between the aspects of His Holiness, which meet and join and raise Him to His Father, whole and pure and worthy of His everlasting Love.

How can you manifest the Christ in you except to look on holiness and see Him there? Perception tells you are manifest in what you see. Behold the body, and you will believe that you are there. And every body that you look upon reminds you of yourself; your sinfulness, your evil and, above all, your death. And would you not despise the one who tells you this, and seek his death instead? The message and the messenger are one. And you must see your brother as yourself. Framed in his body you will see your sinfulness, wherein you stand condemned. Set in his holiness, the Christ in him proclaims Himself as you.

Perception is a choice of what you want yourself to be; the world you want to live in, and the state in which you think your mind will be content and satisfied. It chooses where you think your safety lies, at your decision. It reveals yourself to you, as you would have you be. And always is it faithful to your purpose, from which it never separates, nor gives the slightest witness unto anything the purpose in your mind upholdeth not. Perception is a part of what it is your purpose to behold, for means and end are never separate. And thus you learn what seems to have a life apart has none.

are the means for God; not separate, nor with a life apart from His. His life is manifest in you who are His Son. Each aspect of Himself is framed in holiness and perfect purity, in love celestial and so complete it wishes only that it may release all that it looks upon unto itself. Its radiance shines through each body that it looks upon, and brushes all its darkness into light merely by looking past it the light. The veil is lifted through its gentleness, and nothing hides the face of Christ from its beholders. You and your brother stand before Him now, to let Him draw aside the veil that seems to keep you separate and apart.

Since you believe that you are separate, Heaven presents itself to you as separate, too. Not that it is in truth, but that the link that has been given you to join the truth may reach to you through what you understand. Father and Son and Holy Spirit are as One, as all your brothers join as one in truth. Christ and His Father never have been separate, and Christ abides within your understanding, in the part of you that shares His Father's Will. The Holy Spirit links the other part-the tiny, mad desire to be separate, different and special-to the Christ, to make the oneness clear to what is really one. In this world this is not understood, but can be taught.

The Holy Spirit serves Christ's purpose in your mind, so that the aim of specialness can be corrected where the error lies. Because His purpose still is one with both the Father and the Son, He knows the Will of God and what you really will. But this is understood by mind perceived as one, aware that it is one, and so experienced. It is the Holy Spirit's function to teach you how this oneness is experienced, what you must do that it can be experienced, and where you should go to do it.

All this takes note of time and place as if they were discrete, for while you think that part of you is separate, the concept of a Oneness joined as One is meaningless. It is apparent that a mind so split could never be the Teacher of a Oneness which unites all things within Itself. And so What is within this mind, and does unite all things together, must be its Teacher. Yet must It use the language that this mind can understand, in the condition in which it thinks it is. And It must use all learning to transfer illusions to the truth, taking all false ideas of what you are, and leading you beyond them to the truth that beyond them. All this can very simply be reduced to this:
What is the same can not be different, and what is one can not have separate parts.” (T-25.I.1-7)

I am just sitting here weeping tears of joy… I am so moved by the beauty and profundity of Course…of this passage…this day…this moment…with you…~all gratitude and glory to God… ~amen~

Thursday, January 17, 2008

~The view from within:lesson 17~

Lesson 17:

“I see no neutral things…”

…because I have no neutral thoughts…

I notice a background of comfort abiding me as I am going through the lessons with ya all, this time around.
It used to be, back in the beginning, I was always feeling afraid I would forget throughout the day –that I would do too few practice periods to “get it”, that I would be unconsciously sabotaging and defeating myself. Of course, all that came to pass. …And now; well, now I notice I can’t forget, really. “I see no neutral things,” (or whatever the lesson) answers every question the day seems to ask.
That happens is the miracle; the shift in perception from thinking I have any idea about what I think I see, to realizing that, that very idea of thinking I know, is the very deflector the ego is using at the time, to avert me from using the mirror of my thoughts for my function of forgiveness. The Danét character, doesn’t know. And, alas, the One Who does know, has been invited to reinterpret my so call life, by my willing commitment to the curriculum set forth in God’s plan for salvation… (even if that little ‘I’ thinks I fail to remember something I deem important… the Holy Spirit always has my back!
It is a comfort to realize that regardless of what I might think I think… the Holy Spirit is reaching me at the perfect match possible to my available willingness for the maximum benefit at this time, without increasing fear or reproducing time. I feel cuddled in a sense of timeless safety, while I let the past be undone: I watch the past images drift by, not ever really lodging themselves anymore; while I take instruction from within. Furthermore, I am not alone and we are One…
So what, if it is, that I, Danét, see no neutral things because I have no neutral thoughts…That works for me… I merely happily watch the production from Here, Now,~ and not know ‘what’s going to happen or what it means when it does, and wait… Thanks for joining me above the battleground. It seems David Whyte, a delicious poet I love is present in my mind this morning, as well …His depiction from
Tilicho Lake

In this high place
it is as simple as this,
leave everything you know behind.

Step toward the cold surface,
say the old prayer of rough love
and open both arms.

Those who come with empty hands
will stare into the lake astonished,
there, in the cold light
reflecting pure snow,

the true shape of your own face.

~ David Whyte ~


Wednesday, January 16, 2008

~Lotsa thoughts about zero idle/neutral thoughts~lesson 16

Lesson 16:

"I have no neutral thoughts…”

No, no, no, no, no… “I” do not. There is no private “I”, first off, like no private thoughts… God has but one Son and the thought of the possibility of the impossible {separation from Source} took the detour in to hell. The “I” referred here is the listening/applying/thinking “I”. “It” has no neutral thoughts because without joining it doesn’t exist… So, ”I” join with some fathering thought or adviser. Like it says in chapter 30 of the text, in the section called Rules for decision, “…you cannot make decisions by yourself. The only question really is with what you choose to make them. That is really all. The first rule, then, is not coercion, but a simple statement of a simple fact. You will not make decisions by yourself whatever you decide. For they are made with idols or with God. And you ask help of anti-Christ or Christ, and which you choose will join with you and tell you what to do…a fact as well. For you and your adviser must agree on what you want before it can occur. It is but this agreement that permits all things to happen.”

Now, given the primary principle the Course teaches that “ideas leave not their source”, the crucial fact; “ideas leave not their source,” which describes the reason for our (God’s One Son) being, how can we pretend that any thoughts could be without effect in the world from and for which they are intended. Recap: God extended His thought, fathering us. Without this ‘fathering’, we cannot be. He is the Source and we- the Son, are the effect and our sonship established Him as Father. With His extension of Himself creating all of what we are, along with that, came the fathership component. The Course speaks of our creations and mis-creation: of The tiny mad idea that seemed to enter the mind of the Son; fathered the entire cosmos of time and space: beginning and end/ birth and death, and all form and difference and every ‘what-if’ to ever come in time. Like it says in the beginning of the text: “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:

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

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

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

4)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”… All fear is basically reducible to the basic misperception that you have the ability to usurp the power of God...”) So pretty much, this world is the mis-creative thought that God’s creation could ‘usurp the power of God…. Ya know, it just sounds completely ludicrous right now…. Ah, the cosmic belly-laugh…

I love this part, below, from today’s lesson…

“There is no more self-contradictory concept than that of "idle thoughts." What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle. Every thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the truth or it multiplies illusions. You can indeed multiply nothing, but you will not extend it by doing so.”

Mind watching twenty-four seven, I mean really paying attention to my thoughts… that has been the challenge. The denial and distraction techniques so fundamentally interwoven into my (this worlds) basic make up,~ oh, their good –very good… I see so clearly now the design~ ”don’t look, keep busy, complain, blame, explain ~ compromise…”

One of the things I love most about the Course (Oh, who am I kidding? … I love every precious symbol of the Course, with all my heart and gratitude!) Anyway, something that has left me a sense of trust and security is that the Course is completely uncompromising, (as I have found that ultimately practicing the principle of Atonement is uncompromising). The Course says that compromise is the belief that salvation is impossible. Yeah, duh… that has always been the reason I sought compromise… no faith in Love, no faith in my brother or my self. In one place, the Course says that a miracle is an ‘act of faith – it is a recognition that your brother can do it – by calling to the one mind in him.’ …um, it feels good to trust…

And again, this is what makes the Course is so simple and possible, just because it makes NO compromise and all my difficulty is proportionate to my belief that compromise is possible.

“…Besides your recognizing that thoughts are never idle, salvation requires that you also recognize that every thought you have brings either peace or war, either love or fear…”

The Course says ‘you will except the course completely… or not at all’… this was been a difficult pill to swallow for me (when in my wrong mind) yet, impossible to deny. ~ Love or fear, God or nothing…What God did not create can only be in my mind that thinks it thinks apart from His. Therefore it really has no meaning. It isn’t real _ but that doesn’t mean that it has no effects ~ this entire dream is the effect: a dream ‘made’ by just such an idle (idol) thought…

Joyously, I came to realize that the reason nothing in this world holds any appeal for me is because, in itself, it is meaninglessly representing a world made by idle thought, as a prison for oneness~ and then gave the key to the gatekeeper named denial.

‘Image making is not seeing’, as the Course says~ meaningless is nothing~ but because of this, I feel impelled to write upon it what I would have it be. Yet… why not let the Holy Spirit/ the Truth be written for me. …Beneath my words is written the word of God; “I am as God created me.” Words cannot describe the Truth of what I am. Yet, joyously I see that truth through accepting the Atonement for myself. This is my only purpose, I am realizing my function of forgiveness here, which words can speak of and teach ~ I wish only to exemplify His word in me…for you and I are one… “Teach only love for that is what we are”…foreverandever....


Tuesday, January 15, 2008

~the light of understanding lesson 15~

Lesson 15:

“My thoughts are images that I have made”…

It seemed for the longest time that this just kept turning out to be just so true on so many levels, yes? Every time I’d think I know what something is or means or that I‘ve got life all wired up right…. Then the light changes, my mood or circumstances seem to change…. and bingo~ disillusionment. It has actually been a release and frankly a relief to see that all my thoughts, beliefs, ideas about ‘life’ are just images I have made (and fickle images at that, it has turned out). It breaks ‘me’ open to the light of understanding (which turns out to be nothing I thought it was either) and so much of this apparent daily life seems surreal to me. Love is what seems to flesh out or bring life to the shadowy figures of my mind. I notice that everything about me seems not all that solid, kind of giving the feeling of “beam me up Scottie…”~ I notice the light beyond, within, and as…I am with this… and you are there with me…

“My thoughts are images that I have made”…

Yes. Tis true. Nothing is as the images would once have represented anymore. Everything I thought I thought I saw, and ‘knew’, but merely represented a level of so-called thinking, seemingly apart from God, and pictured out to give its flimsy stance some illusory validity. But I ask, “Can this be?” ~anything apart from all that is? Honestly, now… I think not. Period. Only the thoughts of God could be real. Period. The light has answered, of course, and the illusory nature of my thinking dissolved into a forgiven perspective where the lines around the images (nor really the images at all) are no longer drawn in the sand… (Sand, sands of time, eh?) The thing about choosing forgiveness which allows for vision, is that the very same identity constructs that seemed so solid before; the you, the me, the ‘individual-nesses’ of the world, seem to have been bathed (or maybe baptized is a better word) in the pure light of love, which shines truth from within and nearly dis-appears the ‘once-solid’ image/idea. This simple question, (Can this be?) asked from innocence and emptiness, has turned out to be a bridge from my past to Now, for me. And Now is the presence of God … allowing for the light of understanding. This light is simply more real than any image or thought I ever believed before. It’s irrefutable ~certain... And seeing that my thoughts are images that I have made allowed for me to look deeper, feel deeper, trust deeper… to the stillness of Love; the thoughts I think with God….the certainty that I am… ~Love and gratitude overflowing~

Monday, January 14, 2008

~ramblings triggered by lesson 14~

Lesson 14

“God did not create a meaningless world…”

Duh! How could all meaning, create meaninglessness? So, what is not of God must be a dream. This little tidbit (critical though it was/is) was not easy for me to allow revealing itself to me, let alone accepting. Yet the unmistakable significance beneath all seeming reality manifest as this world of form, is that “God is” … (ah, the still peace of that simple, all powerful recognition)… yummy, yes…. And within this Is-ness that is God, is all that is, yes? And God is love, yes…. Just breath, feel it. Yep, it’s unmistakable… formless, limitless, ever-present/eternally-now… OK, so, whatever isn’t this experience~ really simply isn’t… isn’t ‘real’ but merely an image within the dream of impossibility; the dream of separation from Source. Right now it seems so apparent ~ the grand illusion~ and the all of it is what is referred to here as meaningless. Of course it’s meaningless, all meaning lies in reality. God did not create that which God is not, so the world where the experience God is not, is meaningless. God did not create it. The world I seem to see was created to divert attention from the truth of what I am as God created me…(I am God’s Son; complete and healed and whole…). God did not create Danét… so it is not real… whatever it is I think I think, or perceive in this world, all my design, all equally ‘not real’… self concept …not real…all equally meaningless. The Atonement was God’s answer to the tiny mad idea that spawned the dream of the separated and alone… placing indelibly within the Son’s mind, the Holy Spirit’s perfect re-membering of the truth and understanding of God’s plan for salvation; ‘the beckoning wake-up call of love’. I have heard the call and I have answered. And now I have but one choice within this so-called life of Danét. Which guide/voice will I listen to: Love or fear? ~it is the choice for purpose; the choice to host God or play hostage to ego dictates… for meaning or meaninglessness…

“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.”

This is my responsibility and I accept it gladly for in it I have found all freedom and the peace of God. Somewhere, fundamentally deep within, and as me, I am listening, knowing, being… always ~already~, awake…recognizing the Truth.

I love how the Course is always looping back on the main idea of cause and effect. God being cause ~ we the effect ~ that ideas never leave their source. ‘God created His Sons by extending His Thought, and retaining the extensions of his Thought in His Mind. All His thoughts are thus perfectly united within themselves and with each other.’ (T-6.II.8: 1-2) Thank you for our rejoining in the still peace of God and His holy Son. I love you forever and ever~

Sunday, January 13, 2008

~From meaninglessness to miracles~thoughts with lesson 13~

Lesson 13:

“A meaningless world engenders fear….” What does this mean? Okay, meaningless… Wholly @#*! The idea of meaninglessness rises to mind the question of my little existence, what value it has, hell even its validity or reality at all. Of course that’s a threat to the idea of self dreamed up separate from the truth of being where one can reside soundly in reality. Hell yeah, it’s a threat to recognize that all that gave me reason to fight and struggle, make better and win~ was meaningless. To give up every idea I ever had of what life was; every belief and value ever held. Surely I too, would be meaningless, yes?

The first time I did the lessons, I remember I thought something to the effect of “Yeah, well maybe if I had a negative spin on things like so many people do, but I don’t, thank god, I see mostly the good…” (Competition with God ~ self authorship) I look at that now and I recognized the ego ‘sidestepping denial technique’, a rose-colored glasses perspective designed to avoid even the idea of fear. The idea of total meaninglessness was horrifically terrifying to me. Yet I was completely oblivious to this. So far from any awareness I had to keep it from myself~ too small and fragile was my ‘self’ esteem, too tenuous was my significance in this world ~in my so-called life, which I couldn’t afford to relax a bit. “Had to strive… become a better person… show God I was serious, and appreciative, and a good student’. I didn’t see the set up then… the fear of meaninglessness, let alone the meaningless world, and certainly not the competition with God ~which when I did glimpse it rendered me crippled with guilt. I was a good path for me.
Turns out; none of it meant anything. But, my willingness to trust the Holy Spirit by way of this Course, my gradual willingness to be wrong; to question every thing I ever thought or believed, and my willing to be shown another way and then to practice it, regardless of my personal reactions to it… ~this has been enough…
At some point I became profoundly aware that every upset, from the slightest confusion, irritation, bored resistance, to “knowing” what I “prefer” were confusion about authorship. And, always, with my willingness to look straight on at the seeming situation, I realized no real facts comprised it… only the desperate demands of a spoiled, frightened ego-child afraid to see the truth for fear of losing the ‘seeming security’ of being right about the images and they’re seeming meaning that frailly strung them together to give the illusion of a solid world. Always, this loss of peace stemmed from the belief that I was in competition with God. My “little willingness” to be wrong…showed the instability of a foundation based in “belief” rather than truth which is always solid, immovable and unchanging ~waiting for my recognition of it ~ my Self ~ Love, as God created me. Thank God.

More and more I see evidence in the world of the only thing that could be true, I am as God Created me, and you and I are one. The Peace of God is in our very make up. Being fathered by God, how could it possibly be made of some thing else… No~only God. Only the desire to author myself and reality … to “specialize” myself, could make it seem so. It feels so good, no; right, to finally forgive this arrogant competition with God.... It’s nearly comical to look at it now … like watching little children acting like they ‘know everything’, like; “you’re not the boss of me…!”
Ummm~talk about a shift in perception ~thank you, God; “my so-called life is nothing short of a miracle the holy shift from meaningless-mindedness to miracle-mindedness. What a miracle.
The section in the workbook called “What Is a Miracle?” keeps surfacing in my mind, so apropos… Take a gander if it suits you: http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#P2_13

All of life needs a source to exist and it is impossible that perfect love ~LIFE ~ could mutate into fearful, inevitable death. What a relief to see this folly, ~ Talk about peace…aahh, peace, this is my natural state. Here, I am at home. And you are there with me because there is no such animal as aloneness ~ in oneness. It’s so simply obvious … LOVE IS ALL THERE IS ~and if for a second I don’t see it, I just close my eyes and zero in on the still point of light at the center of my mind, from which I draw out the world, I feel the deep peace and abiding joy of my Self, ~and Love itself expands, beaconing me to extend… Love whispers, “draw this world” ~ and as I open my eyes, I see… Such is the yummy nature of “choosing once again. “



Saturday, January 12, 2008

~aah, ~allowing the truth of lesson 12~

Lesson 12:

“I am upset because I see a meaningless world”…

What keeps going through my mind is how true it is that all my upset is really due to my resistance to resting in meaninglessness, having ask the Holy Spirit for meaning; “What is this? What is it for?” and then waiting in patience, in the eternal present for meaning to be written for me…as the lesson says, “What is meaningless is neither good nor bad. Why, then, should a meaningless world upset you? If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy. But because it is meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be. It is this you see in it. It is this that is meaningless in truth. Beneath your words is written the Word of God.”

I notice the compulsion to assign meaning ~ The Course says the ego speaks first and loudly~ will I question what I hear? A few years ago, as I began to really be honest with myself, I came to see that I really didn’t care about anything in this ‘world’. It really didn’t matter to me how things went, or what situations seemed to be…I could wait and see…and…this is when I began to notice how vigilant the voice for the ego was in my mind; always on a mission to assign meaning ~ the lengths it would go to convince me I ‘should’ care about this, that…something, anything… It’s my life we’re talkin’ about here after all , isn’t it. Is it? I noticed that if I took orders from and acted on the compulsion, the ‘thing’ did seem real and something I did care about going a certain way. And the world felt real indeed, and eventually led to my feeling small; ‘not significant enough’ to make any impact. This in turn left me feeling exhausted… And, paradoxically, open once again, to choose again. This in turn, brought me back to a state of peace. So it turns out, the “not caring” is a very high state. One in which the burden of this world of form and consequence, is lifted. It can’t but go the way it’s meant to. The script is written…. I but choose to see with love or fear; with trust or worry; alone or as One Mind… So once I choose with the Holy Spirit within my mind, I find, I don’t really care at all about what seemingly goes on. I don’t really believe it real…all that really matters is the happy exchange of love surrounding me~ the opportunity to extend love, the call for love and hear it for what it really is…love~ It is all the same…all the same…only love matters. Love is what we are, after all… Only love… and the mechanism of forgiveness is the instrument which returns me to my right mind. So, one could say, that it turns out ‘forgiveness offers everything we want’.

So now, when I notice the compulsion to assign meaning, (one can easily tell by the loss of peace, a sort of free floating restlessness), more often than not, before I make it real, make it matter, decide what to ‘do’ about it, (or more quickly, anyway), I simply forgive what never really happened and see beyond to the call for love. Then simply ask… wait, and listen for the Truth… and ahhh…peace. I see the truth reflected all around me, springing from the well of peace deep within me. And my mind is open to a different world. And from here, I watch… I see how every one is doing their part, and gratitude abounds. Just like the lesson today says, “The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His. That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises.” So there it is… Thank you my brothers who are one with me ~ sailin’ peacefully on Love ~

Friday, January 11, 2008

~umm... contemplationshare~ lesson 11

Lesson 11:

“My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world…”

My mind keeps referencing early sections of the Course~ the part where it (Jesus) is saying to watch your mind carefully…

“It has never really entered your mind to give up every idea you ever had that opposes knowledge. You retain thousands of little scraps of fear that prevent the Holy One from entering. Light cannot penetrate through the walls you make to block it, and it is forever unwilling to destroy what you have made. No one can see through a wall, but I can step around it. Watch your mind for the scraps of fear, or you will be unable to ask Me to do so... watch carefully and see what it is you are really asking for. Be very honest with yourself in this, for we must hide nothing from each other. If you will really try to do this, you have taken the first step toward preparing your mind for the Holy One to enter. We will prepare for this together, for once He has come, you will be ready to help Me to make other minds ready for Him. How long will you deny Him His Kingdom?

…Watch your mind for the temptations of the ego, and do not be deceived by it. It offers you nothing. When you have given up this voluntary dis-spiriting, you will see how your mind can focus and rise above fatigue and heal. Yet you are not sufficiently vigilant against the demands of the ego to disengage yourself. This need not be.

The habit of engaging with God and His creations is easily made if you actively refuse to let your mind slip away. The problem is not one of concentration; it is the belief that no one, including yourself, is worth consistent effort. Side with me consistently against this deception, and do not permit this shabby belief to pull you back. The disheartened are useless to themselves and to me, but only the ego can be disheartened…Watch your mind carefully for any beliefs that hinder its accomplishment, and step away from them. Judge how well you have done this by your own feelings, for this is the one right use of judgment. Judgment, like any other defense, can be used to attack or protect; to hurt or to heal. The ego SHOULD be brought to judgment and found wanting there. Without your own allegiance, protection and love, the ego cannot exist. Let it be judged truly and you must withdraw allegiance, protection and love from it. (T4.III-IV)

I remember the horrid self-debasement I put myself through for my lack of discipline, for my addiction to “being” the character in the script, for ‘seeing’ it theoretically and yet completely caught up in the dream… whipped by it. God, how I have wished that something ‘out there’ could shoulder the burden of my feelings of uselessness and imperfection and hopelessness…but there’s nothing out there. Having given everything all the meaning it has for me and having projected it ‘out there’ has resulted in the futile exercise of trying to rearrange the figures on the screen. And seeing that this attempt has never changed a thing, the only thing left to do has been what the Course suggests...In every situation, ask “what is this for?’…Then wait, watch and listen.

It has been these simple lessons that have placed me in this excellent seat in the audience of the show “My So Called Life’.

It’s so interesting (from where I seem to be right now) to observe my seeming world with its seeming thoughts; to notice the compulsion to make it ‘the real thing’. I watch the shifting, changing landscape and characters and opinions. What a Show! I laugh out loud… So capricious is this serious character, ‘the hero of the dream”. I feel the still, silent prayer of gratitude for having the ‘best seat in the house’ to watch this production from. ~I weep… I laugh…I forgive…

We’re in this together, you and I, and we are not alone. I am joined with you in the joyous realization of the Truth~ you and I are One~

Thursday, January 10, 2008

~contemplating lesson 10...

Lesson 10:

My thoughts do not mean anything…

How true this is in this world, from within this, my, thought system. ~Talk about disillusioning~ All the “all important” thinking about what to be, to do, to say, what I should have said, what ‘they’re’ thinking, what ‘they’re’ feeling, what happened, what should have happened, what’s going to happen if, if not…blah, blah, blah… All said and done, what happened to it? Where did it go? Only to be replaced by the next ‘important’ thought ~ the one similarity being that each has the purpose of defining the world for me (and often others in my mind) and of defining my self. It is merely a distraction from my real purpose ~ a delay in time, which too, means nothing.

“I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself.” (T-31.V.17.7)

…This idea will help release me from all that I now believe…

At times I have felt so defeated and stupid, and at a loss to ever “get it” The Light of recognition I experienced immediately in the Course that brought me home for an instant has been the beacon at these times. Yet the development of pervasive, persistent habit of engaging with God through choosing to listen to the Holy Spirit, watch my mind and question every value and belief, has been the mainstay. As the course says:

“To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize your learning. No belief is neutral. Every on has the power to dictate each decision you make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that that you believe.” (T-24.2: 1-5)

And my willingness has been enough (and really, all I have to offer, it turns out).

I have become willing to see ~ and allow my real thoughts, of which I can’t define, but do observe through relationships ~in peace and joy and oneness.

The need to think I think, to define, to plan, etc. has eased up. And it has become more automatic to come to life with an ‘open mind’ and empty hands.

Alas~ so much lovelier ~

(…and of course these thoughts don’t mean any thing …but, ah, I do love this feeling, sharing them with you)

You are my thought of love, forever and ever ~

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

~seeing /perceiving lesson 9

Lesson 9:

“I see nothing as it is now…”

While considering this a.m.’s lesson, the following passages from the text spoke out to me. Sharing them now seems apropos …

“Thoughts begin in the mind of the thinker, from which the reach outward. This is as true of God’s Thinking as it is of yours. Because your mind is split, you can perceive as well as think. Yet perception cannot escape the basic laws of mind. You perceive from your mind and project you perceptions outward.” (T-6.11.9: 1-5)

“What you project or extend is real for you.”(T. 7.11.2: 4)

”…what you project of extend is up to you, but you must do one or the other, for that is the law of mind, and you must look in before you look out. As you look in, you choose the guide for seeing (ego or Holy Spirit). And then you look out and behold his witnesses. (T-12.VII.7: 1-3)

It’s so true that everything in this world reinforces itself. It does, as well, I am seeing, when the state of mind is Heaven. Part of the very foundation of the Course, referred to, as a fundamental law of the mind, is, that “ideas leave not their source.” So, the content of God’s thought is Love and we are the extension of that Love. Here, within the dream of separation, the content of the ego thought system starts with separation and can only separate; the split mind can only split. So, this dynamic is called projection when it reflects the ego, which in contrast to the dynamic belonging to spirit, which is extension. It has seemed to my split mind that it has been relatively easy to grasp this concept, theoretically. But then, as I have given myself over more and more to the miracle, and suspended ‘knowing or understanding’ what anything means, long enough for a new interpretation, I have experienced the validity of these two exclusive systems. The miracle reveals itself as a new perception in a myriad of ways. Everything I thought mattered, thought I valued, thought was significant, no longer exists. Let alone the passionate ‘right’-ness I felt about it all and felt required to have. I can hardly remember, nor relate to that reality. Only the vaguest shadow of this self-importance remains; always useful as a symbol to unite through forgiveness.

I am united with you as the Love, which created us as Love…forever, always, now…

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

~Lesson 8 musings~

Lesson 8:

My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts...

I have noticed that thoughts happen ~ It is futile to attempt to try to control them. Through practicing the principles of the Course, and observing ‘my’ seeming thoughts, I see that the only choice is “purpose”. Either the never-ending borage of past thoughts, (or nothingness); accompanied by the background feeling of urgency, anxiety, guilt, fear, need to control, prepare, plan ~ (in other words ~ separation). Even the so- called ‘happy thoughts’ have this low under-current.

Or, I choose to allow the Holy Spirit to think for me. I am happily aware of this choice due to the obvious absence of the above listed set of feeling ‘background music’. Rather, a song of joy, certainty and trust, a sense of One tapestry…released from the burden of ‘separate’ things, situations, people, problems and solutions, of having to know, understand, solve, ‘do the right thing’. With the Holy Spirit we can’t but do the right thing~ and, trust will settle everything, now…

OnemindinChrist~

Monday, January 7, 2008

Lesson 7:

I see only the past…

As sat with today’s lesson, I was flooded with awareness of miracles that have come to me throughout my years with the Holy Spirit guiding me, and ACIM being a primary tool. This is how these thoughts laid out…

I see only the past… Yes, so true, if I rely on my physical eyes to see and ‘their’ guide to interpret… what a racket that is, eh?

The concept “PAST” is a storehouse of ideas and meanings that alleviate me of any responsibility to “NOW”. (Minor detail: keep this ‘private thought’ away from awareness). This storehouse is like the ego drug dealer’s place. A place where I can always get a fix for a ‘price’ and my willingness to do this is the ‘detour into hell. From this place, meaning has no value, only the distraction from ‘NOW’. By ordering all thought, ideas and meanings into hierarchies I can deceive myself into thinking I know something about this world and that my assessment is RIGHT. (Keep secret from myself one small detail: there is no world). And each time the armor cracks and the unknown light shines through ~ blinding me in my rightness~ the seductive consoling voice of my ‘dealer’ speaks, “Quick take a fix – set it all right again…don’t wait to see what the light shows, it’s blinding you! Come back in here where it’s cool and dark and you.”

The ego made roles (roles that have seemed mean so much, at times) to contain what cannot BE contained. They are but concepts, garments made to cloak the belief in private thoughts and private minds. The responsibility I NOW accept is for the state of mind God Wills for us as the Christ: ~PEACE~.

The past is very much like a past memory marquee that repeats until we learn to transcend it. I have noticed that as my desire for joining and union has become more consistently singular, I, we, together, are released from the past and thus released from the illusory consequences, which we once believed, were true. Ultimately, at the core, everyone wants to love and be loved. When we relinquish judgment, we at last open to the experience of True Love. True Love and Freedom ~ one in the same. Freedom is the state of mind that we can only experience when the past has gone. And this happens when we give what we seem to see over to the Holy Spirit to show us what we see...Christ Vision sees all things as reflections of thought in this very moment~ Love is Now!! ~With no past judgments distracting the mind, the miracle of Love is seen ~ NOW!

~ I am joined with you in the eternal NOW, always ~

Sunday, January 6, 2008

LESSON 6:

“I am upset because I see something that is not there”....

With out exception, this has been the case for me. I am seeing a reflection of my mind… always. The Course says that the outside world is a reflection of an inward condition… and this has truly been my experience, the more I have given myself over to the Holy Spirit for the miracle over-haul, the more different every thing, person or situation appears to me than it did when looked as from the eyes that see a problem to fix. The miracle shows there is no problem that hasn’t already been solved and is playing out such that ‘all thing work together for good’… And since there isn’t anything out there, whatever I think I am seeing ‘out there’, I put there. It is my projection, and from my dream and the ‘out there-ness’ is my chance to see what I have denied ~what I have projected. I can see it because of the Light of Christ, within all~ joined in the One perspective (forgiveness or the Atonement principle), which we all share. The more I look at everything and everyone ‘out there’ through this One perspective, the more I realize that ‘seeing’ is only valuable once I have given all I think I see over to this idea. And that cracks open my defenses and allows the Holy Spirit within my mind to ‘show me’ what is there~and what it is for…

I am joined with you in this perspective and the ‘Happy Dream’ is on…

Always and forever~

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Lesson 5:

“I am never upset for the reason I think”... As I have been doing the lesson today, I keep thinking about the passage in the Course text in chapter 24 section 2:1-5, where it says:

"To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize your learning. No belief is neutral. For a decision is a conclusion based of everything that you believe."

It seemed like such a tall order when I first started. Yet, it turns out, that my 'little willingness" is enough. All my ideas and beliefs just keep presenting themselves via my brothers, shining before me through the light of Christ within us. And the dark spots of judgment are revealed, innocently laid before me for my forgiveness. My willingness to not have to know what anything is or what it is for, but rather to ask the Holy Spirit to interpret, then I just be still and wait, and beyond what I could ever comprehend, One purpose seems to materialize through my forgiveness of ‘my’ meaning. Ah... what peace... so purely simple...

I am joined with you in the 'one purpose, unified and sure' ~forever and ever~

Friday, January 4, 2008

ACIM lesson 4

Lesson 4


”My thoughts do not mean anything”… it goes like this for me… As I am recognizing that my thoughts, thoughts of this so-called 'life of Danét' mean nothing and then, when I allow the Holy Spirit to "think for God, for me" the meaningful becomes apparent. And I begin to see Christ shining behind all thoughts reflected in this seeming life. And I notice the interwoven peace spread like a blanket beneath, and surrounding all seeming things and beings and situations and the glorious perfection that 'all things work together for good', as the course says.

The Course text begins with laying out the 50 principles of A Course In Miracles" and I’m thinking about Principle 36:

Miracles are examples of right thinking, aligning your perceptions with truth as God created it.

The course uses the word “right-mindedness” which means thinking along with the Holy Spirit rather than the ego. And the more this has become a way of life for me, the more I see the absolute simplicity of it. Although the miracle doesn’t directly express the truth of God, it is aligned with it or reflects it. And I can see it in the light within you which I recognize now, is the reason I can see at all. Nothing is without our agreement on one level or another. I see the Christ it you to feel the reality within myself. The truth of God is that we are all one. In this world, we experience the oneness by transcending all the ego barriers of separation: thoughts of anger, hurt, victimization, etc. While true perception is not the truth, it is nonetheless not in conflict with it. These reflections are the goal of the Course as well our One Self for they are the inevitable effect when we undo all the barriers to truth. What I have experienced then happens is that the thoughts I think with God being to sort of think me… umm, umm, umm… guess I’ll just sit in the stillness of this yummy space with you a while… forever now..

Thursday, January 3, 2008

ACIM lesson 3

LESSON 3:

I do not understand anything I

I do not understand anything I see… Sooo true. The great relief of my life was coming to the realization that I had been ‘wrong’ ~wrong about everything! My premise for reality was faulty. What a luck break, this realization/awareness. The ‘knowing’ mind is dangerous territory for me. My first responsibility in any given situation is to look squarely at what I think I think and perceive ~and then empty out, inviting the Holy Spirit within my mind to adjust my perspective. Now, I don’t of course; do that always, but more often than not any more. As a matter of fact not doing this and thinking with the compulsory strategic mind no longer feels right~ and the feeling of off-ness then becomes my reminder that I have forgotten to think, but let grandiose egoic identity thoughts have their way with my life force which is just mis-creative thought and the improper use of my natural gifts of creation. Today, I’d like to allow the Holy Spirit mind to show me my real thoughts, the ones I think with God; what they really mean , and what the rest forgiven get incorporated into a forgiven perspective… Let Love reign!!!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

lesson 2

LESSON 2:

“I have given everything I see… all the meaning that it has for me”…. I can only say yep, that’s true…when it comes to this world and my so-called life, concerning anything perceived, it means what I want it to. Ya know, I have spent oh, too many wasted hours looking for meaning outside myself, both in an effort to find someone/thing to blame, or tell me what to do, define my life off of, in other words: blame. And, at the end of the day, in the raw honesty of my own soul, I have been left with the workings of my own mind. It doesn’t matter where I adopted my perceptions, opinions, point of reference (all of which turned out to have a faulty premise as far as what I am in truth, incidentally), still the responsibility for all, comes back to me. When I first realized this, I was terrified. I had this deep awareness that I was using most of my life force just trying to manage the denial of this fact… Yet, facing it set me free. ““I have given everything I see… all the meaning that it has for me”…. which refers me over in my mind to that yummy quote 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.” ~LOVE IT!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

ACIM Workbook lesson ONE

Happy, joyous New Year!

~Let’s make this year different from all the rest, by making it all the same. Through 2006, we made a decided commitment to a unified purpose, using the lessons to assimilate and gather together our undeniable common ground/zero-point: WE ARE AS GOD CREATED US… and nothing has intruded upon the holy Son of God of which we are all ONE…. In praise and gratitude I come to you this first A.M. of emblematic ally a new beginning: 2007. Thank You for being what I am that I may never fail to recognize mySelf. This immeasurable debt of gratitude I gladly spend forever paying ~by being present NOW! 2006 wrapped-up in linear time. How close have I come to dispelling the idea of linear time altogether? The Course says that where our hearts are, there are our treasures also. My heart is only known to me in the present moment where every belief and value in time is brought to the holy zero-point and questioned. For here, now, we are eternally one, and together the loneliness of separation is dispelled. The present is the greatest present….The present is before time was…. Ah, excellent section reference here… “Judgment and condemnation are behind you, and unless you bring them with you, you will see that you are free of them. Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the only things that are forever true. All healing lies within it because its continuity is real. It extends to all aspects of the Sonship at the same time, and thus enables them to reach each other. The present is before time was, and will be when time is no more. In it are all things that are eternal, and they are one. Their continuity is timeless and their communication is unbroken, for they are not separated by the past. Only the past can separate, and it is nowhere. The present offers you your brothers in the light that would unite you with them, and free you from the past. Would you, then, hold the past against them? For if you do, you are choosing to remain in the darkness that is not there, and refusing to accept the light that is offered you. For the light of perfect vision is freely given as it is freely received, and can be accepted only without limit. In this one, still dimension of time that does not change, and where there is no sight of what you were, you look at Christ and call His witnesses to shine on you because you called them forth. And they will not deny the truth in you, because you looked for it in them and found it there. Now is the time of salvation, for now is the release from time. Reach out to all your brothers, and touch them with the touch of Christ. In timeless union with them is your continuity, unbroken because it is wholly shared. God’s guiltless Son is only light. There is no darkness in him anywhere, for he is whole…” (T-13.VI.6-8) We trust our ways to Him and say “Amen”. In peace we will continue in His way, and trust all things to Him. In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His Will in everything we do. He loves God’s Son as we would love him. And He teaches us how to behold him through His eyes, and love him as He does. You do not walk alone. God’s angels hover near and all about. His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I will never leave you comfortless…

Ahhh, wonderful Spirit/ACIM family,

I am so pleased that we will be giving ourselves over to the Holy Spirit by accepting the gift of the ACIM workbook lessons this year.

I am joined with you in this unified purpose of re-member-ing the love that we are in truth through the means of the Atonement ~forgiveness.

LESSON 1

Nothing I see in this room [on this street,
from this window, in this place] means anything

This morning I was thinking about the section in the course which talks about the time of Christ and embarking on a new year, and the thought "Make this year different, by making it all the same," just kept circling around in my mind. This e-mail is what came out of it...

Let no despair darken the joy of Christmas, for the time of Christ is meaningless apart from joy. Let us join in celebrating peace by demanding no sacrifice of anyone, for so you offer me the love I offer you. What can be more joyous than to perceive we are deprived of nothing? Such is the message of the time of Christ, which I give you that you may give it and return it to the Father, Who gave it to me. For in the time of Christ communication is restored, and He joins us in the celebration of His Son's creation.

God offers thanks to the holy host who would receive Him, and lets Him enter and abide where He would be. And by your welcome does He welcome you into Himself, for what is contained in you who welcome Him is returned to Him. And we but celebrate His Wholeness as we welcome Him into ourselves. Those who receive the Father are one with Him, being host to Him Who created them. And by allowing Him to enter, the remembrance of the Father enters with Him, and with Him they remember the only relationship they ever had, and ever want to have.

This is the time in which a new year will soon be born from the time of Christ. I have perfect faith in you to do all that you would accomplish. Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy. Say, then, to your brother:

I give you to the Holy Spirit as part of myself.

I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself. In the name of freedom I choose your release, because I recognize that we will be released together.

So will the year begin in joy and freedom. There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. Make this year different by making it all the same. And let all your relationships be made holy for you. This is our will. Amen. (T-15.XI.8-10)