tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33105948679140429082024-03-14T01:06:51.965-06:00~spirithinksdanét~This is a sampling ACIM lesson contemplations that seem to want to express themselves through me~ and whatever else Spirit might deem apropos for this particular site. ~part of the world wide web~joining in a unified purpose via ACIM. I feel inspired to complete a sampling of commentaries for a complete year of A Course in Miracles lessons and share them through this medium. Here is my wake-up call, my prayer, my expression of it and my desire to join with you in a common purpose ...danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.comBlogger363125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-48671459470317982942008-01-27T06:31:00.000-07:002008-02-07T13:12:22.248-07:00~NOW is always the moment to see the face of Christ…<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L027">Lesson 27:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style=";font-family:";" >“Above all else I want to see…”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Above all else<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >I want to see.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Above all else I want to see..<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >This is it all right…pure life ~One life ~ the one I share with God.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >I’m thinking again about the section in the course, “This Need Not Be” where it says, <i>‘If you cannot hear the Voice for God, it is because you do not choose to listen’</i>… If I cannot see the face of Christ it is because I do not choose to see above all else… then he says, ‘<i>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…’</i> …above all else I want to see~ <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >A little bit further down in this same section, Jesus says, <i>“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.”…</i>Above all else I want to see…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > ‘<i>Awaken and be glad’</i>… <i>‘Above all else I want to see’</i>…many countless symbols reflect for me the goal to awaken. <i>“Vision is given freely to those who ask to see,” </i>It seems to me that Vision creates its own morality, its own imperatives… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >When I think I’m/you are really here, or that ‘this” is really happening, <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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 ‘<i>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’… <o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style=";font-family:";" >“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.”</span></i><span style=";font-family:";" > ~Above all else I want to see…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >~Just that simple and lay wait in trust…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >We Are Christ and we are in this together, you and I and we are not alone~<o:p></o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-72521413519823650912008-01-20T05:12:00.000-07:002008-02-07T13:22:16.240-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L020">Lesson 20:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style=";font-family:";" >“I am determined to see…”</span></i><i><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >The lesson says, “Your decision to see is all that vision requires… What you want is yours... “So simple, yet…begging the accountability for <i>what</i> ~ 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 <i>that</i> whole idea turned out to a defense <i>against</i> 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 <i>could only</i> lie in going to the <b><i>source </i></b>of my unhappiness: <i>the decision in my mind to choose the ego’s attack instead of the Holy Spirit’s forgiveness</i>. It’s easy enough to see, ~if the screen reflects an unloving film, it can only be that I went to the <i>wrong source</i> and therefore, chose an unloving film. BINGO~ I choose once again…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style=""> </span>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.</span><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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 <i>unseen</i> or <i>unnoticed</i> 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).</span><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style=";font-family:";" >“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.</span></i><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >It is our <i>‘determination to see’</i> that opens us up to noticing, and then to listening~ to the background <i>behind</i> the background; “THE CALL TO JOY”… umm, yummy ~film at eleven…</span><span style=";font-family:";" ></span><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span><br /></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-62217301121552897062008-01-19T04:55:00.000-07:002008-02-07T13:11:08.567-07:00~'The One and not alone: lesson 19<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L019"><span style="">Lesson 19;</span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> "I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts…"</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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. (<i>And, I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts).</i></span></tt><i><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><br /></span></i><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></tt></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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**). <o:p></o:p></span></tt></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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 <i>this </i>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.</span></tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><br /></span><em><span style=";font-family:";" >“The idea for today is obviously the reason why your seeing does not affect you alone.”(L19)<o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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 </span></tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><br /></span><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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. </span></tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><br /></span><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><span style=""> </span>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 </span></tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><br /></span><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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.</span></tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><br />M</span><tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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.”</span></tt><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><br />~joyouslyonemind~</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;color:black;" ></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-73330328453669882482008-01-18T04:01:00.000-07:002008-01-13T09:46:45.241-07:00~Never alone~lesson 18<div style="text-align: center;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style=""> </span>Lesson 18:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style="font-style: italic;">“I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing…”</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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…<br />...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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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.<span style=""> </span>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…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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…” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >The part in the text under the heading “The Justice of God” keeps pushing its way to the front of my mind…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >“I. The Link to Truth<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >It cannot be that it is hard to do the task that Christ appointed you to do, since it is He Who does it.<span style=""> </span>And in the doing of it will you learn the body merely seems to be the means to do it.<span style=""> </span>For the Mind is His.<span style=""> </span>And so it must be yours.<span style=""> </span>His Holiness directs the body through the mind at one with Him.<span style=""> </span>And you are manifest unto your holy brother, as he to you.<span style=""> </span>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >How can you manifest the Christ in you except to look on holiness and see Him there?<span style=""> </span>Perception tells you <you> are manifest in what you see.<span style=""> </span>Behold the body, and you will believe that you are there.<span style=""> </span>And every body that you look upon reminds you of yourself; your sinfulness, your evil and, above all, your death.<span style=""> </span>And would you not despise the one who tells you this, and seek his death instead?<span style=""> </span>The message and the messenger are one.<span style=""> </span>And you must see your brother as yourself.<span style=""> </span>Framed in his body you will see your sinfulness, wherein you stand condemned.<span style=""> </span>Set in his holiness, the Christ in him proclaims Himself as you.<o:p></o:p></you></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>It chooses where you think your safety lies, at your decision.<span style=""> </span>It reveals yourself to you, as you would have you be.<span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>Perception is a part of what it is your purpose to behold, for means and end are never separate.<span style=""> </span>And thus you learn what seems to have a life apart has none.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style=""> </span><you> are the means for God; not separate, nor with a life apart from His.<span style=""> </span>His life is manifest in you who are His Son.<span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>Its radiance shines through each body that it looks upon, and brushes all its darkness into light merely by looking past it <to> the light.<span style=""> </span>The veil is lifted through its gentleness, and nothing hides the face of Christ from its beholders.<span style=""> </span>You and your brother stand before Him now, to let Him draw aside the veil that seems to keep you separate and apart.<o:p></o:p></to></you></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Since you believe that you are separate, Heaven presents itself to you as separate, too.<span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>Father and Son and Holy Spirit are as One, as all your brothers join as one in truth.<span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>In this world this is not understood, but can be taught.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >The Holy Spirit serves Christ's purpose in your mind, so that the aim of specialness can be corrected where the error lies.<span style=""> </span>Because His purpose still is one with both the Father and the Son, He knows the Will of God and what you really will.<span style=""> </span>But this is understood by mind perceived as one, aware that it is one, and so experienced.<span style=""> </span>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> 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 <is> beyond them. All this can very simply be reduced to this:</is></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> What is the same can not be different, and what is one can not have separate parts.” (T-25.I.1-7)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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~<o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 102);font-family:Verdana;font-size:11;" ><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--></span></div> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:11;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-27913965770272468512008-01-17T04:43:00.000-07:002008-01-13T09:45:18.237-07:00~The view from within:lesson 17~<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style=""> </span>Lesson 17: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style=";font-family:";" ><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L017">“I see no neutral things…” <span style=""> </span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";" >…because I have no neutral thoughts…<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";" >I notice a background of comfort abiding me as I am going through the lessons with ya all, this time around.<br />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>I see no neutral things</i>,” (or whatever the lesson) answers every question the day seems to ask.<br />That happens is the miracle; the shift in perception<span style=""> </span>from thinking I have any idea about what I think I see, to realizing that, that very idea of thinking I know,<span style=""> </span>is the very deflector the ego is using at the time, to avert me from <span style=""> </span>using the mirror of my <span style=""> </span>thoughts for my function of forgiveness. The Danét character, doesn’t know. And, alas, the One Who <i>does</i> 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<b>… the Holy Spirit always has my back!</b><br />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…<br />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 <i>not</i> know ‘what’s going to happen or what it means when it does, and wait… <span style=""> </span>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 </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:";" >Tilicho</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:";" > </span><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:";" >Lake</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=";font-family:";" >…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 14.4pt;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >In this high place</span></strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ><br /></span><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >it is as simple as this,</span></strong><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >leave everything you know behind. </span></strong></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 14.4pt;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >Step toward the cold surface,</span></strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ><br /></span><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >say the old prayer of rough love</span></strong><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >and open both arms. </span></strong></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 14.4pt;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >Those who come with empty hands</span></strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ><br /></span><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >will stare into the lake astonished,</span></strong><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >there, in the cold light</span></strong><br /><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >reflecting pure snow, </span></strong></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 14.4pt;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >the true shape of your own face. </span></strong><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 14.4pt;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" ></span><strong><span style=";font-family:";" >~ David Whyte ~</span></strong><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-42883525719745070882008-01-16T07:15:00.000-07:002008-01-13T09:44:37.242-07:00~Lotsa thoughts about zero idle/neutral thoughts~lesson 16<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;" ><span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L016">Lesson 16<i>:</i></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><i>"I have no neutral thoughts…”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >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, “…<i>you </i><em><span style="font-style: normal;font-family:Arial;" >cannot</span></em><i> 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.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >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’, <i>we</i> cannot <i>be.</i> 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:<span style=""> </span>of <span style=""> </span>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: <i>“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:<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;" >1)First, you believe that what God created can be changed by your own mind.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;" >2)Second, you believe that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect or lacking.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;" >3)Third, you believe that you can distort the creations of God, including yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;" >4)Fourth, you believe that you can create yourself, and that the direction of your own creation is up to you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;" >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...”)</span></i></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" > So pretty much, this world is the mis-creative thought that God’s creation could ‘usurp the power of God….<span style=""> </span>Ya know, it just sounds completely ludicrous right now…. Ah, the cosmic belly-laugh… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >I love this part, below, from today’s lesson… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;" >“There is no more self-contradictory concept than that of "idle thoughts."<span style=""> </span>What gives rise to the perception of a whole world can hardly be called idle.<span style=""> </span>Every thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the truth or it multiplies illusions.<span style=""> </span>You can indeed multiply nothing, but you will not extend it by doing so.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Mind watching twenty-four seven, I mean <i>really</i> 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…” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >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…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;" >“…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…”<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >The Course says <i>‘you will except the course completely… or not at all’…</i> 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… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >‘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....</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p></span><br /></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-92207656831144948982008-01-15T05:03:00.000-07:002008-01-13T09:43:56.417-07:00~the light of understanding lesson 15~<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:purple;" ><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L015">Lesson 15:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:purple;" ><o:p> </o:p></span><i><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:purple;" >“My thoughts are images that I have made”…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:purple;" ><o:p></o:p>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… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:purple;" ><span style=""> </span>“My thoughts are images that I have made”…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:purple;" >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,<b> “Can this be?”</b> ~anything apart from all that is? Honestly, now… I think not. Period. Only the thoughts of God could be real. Period. The light <i>has</i> 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...<span style=""> </span>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~<o:p></o:p></span><br /></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-15099813609568352092008-01-14T06:22:00.000-07:002008-01-13T09:42:52.021-07:00~ramblings triggered by lesson 14~<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L014">Lesson 14</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span><b><i><span style="">“God did not create a meaningless world…” <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Duh! How could all meaning, create meaninglessness?<span style=""> </span>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 <span style="font-style: italic;">“God is”</span> … (ah, the still peace of that simple, all powerful recognition)… yummy, yes…. And within this Is-ness that <span style="font-style: italic;">is </span>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…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="">“I am responsible for what I see.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="">I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="">Upon the goal I would achieve.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="">And everything that seems to happen to me<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="">I ask for, and receive as I have asked.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">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) </span><span style="">Thank you for our rejoining in the still peace of God and His holy Son. I love you forever and ever~</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><tt><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-family:Papyrus;font-size:14;" ></span></tt><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-family:Tahoma;font-size:14;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-size:14;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-size:14;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-28806197840294743922008-01-13T06:36:00.000-07:002008-01-13T09:42:18.086-07:00~From meaninglessness to miracles~thoughts with lesson 13~<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L013">Lesson 13:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><span style=""> </span><i><span style="">“A meaningless world engenders fear….”</span></i> 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?<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">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.<br />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…<br />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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">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…!”<br />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.<br />The section in the workbook called “What Is a Miracle?” keeps surfacing in my mind, so apropos… Take a gander if it suits you: <a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#P2_13">http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#P2_13</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> 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</span><span style="">. “</span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-79297852331237560652008-01-12T06:03:00.000-07:002008-01-12T08:27:54.601-07:00~aah, ~allowing the truth of lesson 12~<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L012">Lesson 12:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style="">“I am upset because I see a meaningless world”…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="">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?<span style=""> </span><i>If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy.</i><span style=""> </span><i>But because it is meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be.<span style=""> </span>It is this you see in it.<span style=""> </span>It is this that is meaningless in truth.<span style=""> </span><b>Beneath your words is written the Word of God</b>.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="">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, <span style=""> </span>I came to see that I really <i>didn’t</i> 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<span style=""> </span>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 <span style=""> </span>I took orders from and acted on the compulsion, the ‘thing’ did seem real and something I <i>did</i> 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, <i>open</i> once again, to choose again. <span style=""> </span>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 <i>but</i> go the way it’s meant to. <span style=""> </span>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 <i>really</i> 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’. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="">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 <i>when your words have been erased, you will see His.</i><span style=""> </span>That is the ultimate purpose of these exercises.” So there it is… Thank you my brothers who are one with me<span style=""> </span>~ </span><span style="">‘</span><span style="">sailin’ peacefully on Love ~ <o:p></o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-62990765854852533432008-01-11T04:44:00.000-07:002008-01-12T08:27:21.326-07:00~umm... contemplationshare~ lesson 11<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L011"><span style=";font-family:";" >Lesson 11:<o:p></o:p></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style="font-style: italic;">“My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world…”</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >My mind keeps referencing early sections of the Course~ the part where it (Jesus) is saying to watch your mind carefully… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >“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? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >…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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style="font-style: italic;">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)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >It has been these simple lessons that have placed me in this excellent seat in the audience of the show “My So Called Life’.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > 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… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >We’re in this together, you and I, and we are not alone. I am joined with <span style=""> </span>you in the joyous realization of the Truth~ you and I are One~<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-75281403060893727752008-01-10T04:09:00.000-07:002008-01-12T08:26:41.985-07:00~contemplating lesson 10...<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L010">Lesson 10:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center; line-height: 14.4pt;" align="center"><b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">My thoughts do not mean anything…<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">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 ‘<i>they’re’</i> thinking, what ‘<i>they’re’ </i>feeling, what happened, what <i>should</i> have happened, what’s going to happen<i> if</i>, 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">“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)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">…This idea will help release me from all that I now believe… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">At times I have felt so defeated and stupid, and at a loss to ever “get it” <i>The Light of recognition</i> 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: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">“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)</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">And my willingness has been enough (and really, all I have to offer, it turns out).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">Alas~ so much lovelier ~<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">(…and of course these thoughts don’t mean any thing …but, ah, I do love this feeling, sharing them with you)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">You are my thought of love, forever and ever ~<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" > <o:p></o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-81741233873090249292008-01-09T04:40:00.000-07:002008-01-12T08:24:31.564-07:00~seeing /perceiving lesson 9<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" ><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L009">Lesson 9:</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center; line-height: 14.4pt;" align="center"><b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">“I see nothing as it is now…”<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">While considering this a.m.’s lesson, the following passages from the text spoke out to me. Sharing them now seems apropos … <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">“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)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);"> “What you project or extend is real for you.”(T. 7.11.2: 4)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">”…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) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(153, 51, 102);">I am united with you as the Love, which created us as Love…forever, always, now… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" > </span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-42727384105339028262008-01-08T05:20:00.001-07:002009-01-09T16:12:16.021-07:00~Lesson 8 musings~<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";"><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L008"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lesson 8:</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style=" Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 153, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts...</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=" Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 153, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">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. </span></span></span><span style=" Calligraph421 BT"; color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=" Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 153, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">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 </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">but</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> do the right thing~ and, trust will settle everything, now…</span></span></span><span style=" Calligraph421 BT"; color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=" Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 153, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">OnemindinChrist~ </span></span></span><span style=" Calligraph421 BT"; font-family:";font-size:14pt;color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;"></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""> </span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-18494254237598245282008-01-07T06:06:00.000-07:002008-01-08T09:13:33.244-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L007">Lesson 7:</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">I see only the past…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">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… </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">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? </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">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.” </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">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~.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">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!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">~</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> I am joined with you in the eternal NOW, always ~</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""></span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""></span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-41797368829032076682008-01-06T06:59:00.000-07:002008-01-08T09:10:16.554-07:00<p style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><span style=""><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L006">LESSON 6:</a><o:p></o:p></span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">“I am upset because I see something that is not there”.... <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">With out exception, this has been the case for me.<span style=""> </span>I am seeing a reflection of my mind… always.<span style=""> </span>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 <i>isn’t</i> anything out there, whatever I think I am seeing ‘out there’, I put there. It is <i>my</i> projection, and from <i>my</i> dream and the ‘out there-ness’ is <i>my</i> 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 <i>is</i> there~and what it is for…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">I am joined with you in this perspective and the ‘Happy Dream’ is on…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">Always and forever~<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""><span style=""> </span><span style=""></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""><span style=""> </span><span style=""></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-36672562945780951582008-01-05T03:08:00.000-07:002008-01-08T09:05:00.037-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" ><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L005">Lesson 5:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">“I am never upset for the reason I think”...</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> <span style=""> </span>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:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">"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."<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">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 <span style=""> </span>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...<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">I am joined with you in the 'one purpose, unified and sure' ~forever and ever~ <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-39483078334771037302008-01-04T09:35:00.000-07:002008-01-08T09:03:10.751-07:00ACIM lesson 4<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L004"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" >Lesson 4<o:p></o:p></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" ><br /></span></i> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">”My thoughts do not mean anything”</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">… it goes like this for me… As I am recognizing that <em><span style="font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">my </span></em>thoughts, thoughts of this<em><span style="font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";"> so-called 'life of Danét'</span></em> 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 <em><span style="font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">peace </span></em>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">The Course text begins with laying out the 50 principles of A Course In Miracles" and I’m thinking about </span><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">P<strong><span style="font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; font-weight: normal;">rinciple 36:</span></strong></span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"> <strong><i><span style="font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; font-weight: normal;">Miracles are examples of right thinking, aligning your perceptions with truth as God created it.</span></i></strong><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">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..<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:14;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-30016746804073776932008-01-03T09:29:00.000-07:002008-01-03T08:13:19.961-07:00ACIM lesson 3<p style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L003"><strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >LESSON 3:</span></strong></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-family:Arial;font-size:11;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><i><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >I do not understand anything I </span></i></strong> </p><p style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153); font-weight: normal;">I do not understand anything I see… </span></i></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; color: rgb(51, 51, 153); font-weight: normal;">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!!! </span></strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" > </span></strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-family:Arial;font-size:11;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 12pt 0in; line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><span style=""> </span></strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 153);font-family:Arial;font-size:11;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-87349723368822872272008-01-02T09:08:00.000-07:002008-01-03T08:03:55.479-07:00lesson 2<p><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L002"><strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >LESSON 2:</span></strong></a><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><strong><i><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >“I have given everything I see… all the meaning that it has for me</span></i></strong><strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >”…. 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>“I have given everything I see… all the meaning that it has for me</i>”…. which refers me over in my mind to that yummy quote from chapter 21 <i>“I </i></span></strong><strong><i><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >am </span></i></strong><strong><i><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >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.” </span></i></strong><strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" >~LOVE IT! </span></strong><span style=";font-family:";font-size:11;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-89209284031083561682008-01-01T08:44:00.000-07:002008-01-03T08:07:46.254-07:00ACIM Workbook lesson ONE<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Happy, joyous New Year!</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;">~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 <i>is</i> the greatest present….The present is before time was…. Ah, excellent section reference here… <i> “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 </i><em>because you called them forth</em><i>. 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)</i> <i>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…</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><span style="">Ahhh, wonderful Spirit/ACIM family,</span></strong><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><span style="">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.</span></strong><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><span style="">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.</span></strong><i><span style=""><br /></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style="">LESSON 1<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"> </p> <i><span style="">Nothing I see in this room [on this street,<br />from this window, in this place] means anything</span></i> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><span style="">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 "</span></strong><em><span style="">Make this year different, by making it all the same," </span></em><strong><span style="">just kept circling around in my mind. This e-mail is what came out of it...</span></strong><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style=""> “<strong><span style="">Let no despair darken the joy of Christmas, for the time of Christ is meaningless apart from joy.<span style=""> </span>Let us join in celebrating peace by demanding no sacrifice of anyone, for so you offer me the love I offer you.<span style=""> </span>What can be more joyous than to perceive we are deprived of nothing?<span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>For in the time of Christ communication is restored, and He joins us in the celebration of His Son's creation.</span></strong></span></i><i><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><i><span style="">God offers thanks to the holy host who would receive Him, and lets Him enter and abide where He would be.<span style=""> </span>And by your welcome does He welcome you into Himself, for what is contained in you who welcome Him is returned to Him.<span style=""> </span>And we but celebrate His Wholeness as we welcome Him into ourselves.<span style=""> </span>Those who receive the Father are one with Him, being host to Him Who created them.<span style=""> </span>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.</span></i></strong><i><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><i><span style=""><span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy.<span style=""> </span>Say, then, to your brother:</span></i></strong><i><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><i><span style=""> <span style=""> </span></span></i><em><span style=""> I give you to the Holy Spirit as part of myself. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 14.4pt;"><em><span style=""><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>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.</span></em><i><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><strong><i><span style="">So will the year begin in joy and freedom.<span style=""> </span>There is much to do, and we have been long delayed.<span style=""> </span>Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening.<span style=""> </span>Make this year different by making it all the same.<span style=""> </span>And let all your relationships be made holy for you. This is our will.<span style=""> </span>Amen. (T-15.XI.8-10)</span></i></strong><i><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-42258319374234660262008-01-01T07:30:00.000-07:002013-11-27T04:42:14.274-07:00~ACIM lesson thoughts for one year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love A Course in Miracles... My holy-mirror friend Patricia and I always joke that our relationship with the Course is the greatest love affair of our lives; everything we ever looked for in a relationship in this so-called world. Which is true... And the best part is that it points to a very real experience beyond the Course and this world entirely, which soon becomes the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Only relationship... Source and creation in perfect union.</span>This blog is about that relationship, my experiences and thoughts. I am using a base format of i year of ACIM workbook lessons as a springboard each day, from which Ill let inspiration take it from there...In deepest appreciation and love~ forever and ever</span></h2>
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danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-83237197937702455262007-12-31T06:04:00.000-07:002007-12-31T08:06:07.236-07:00<h2><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#P2_FinalLessons"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Lessons 361~365:</span></a><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);"> <o:p></o:p></span></h2> <h2 style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">This holy instant would I give to You. Be you in charge. For I would follow You. Certain your direction gives me peace…</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><o:p></o:p></span></h2> <div style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 3pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"> <p class="postbody" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">For years this statement has been my daily waking prayer … In actuality, this has the prayer in my mind ever since I truly accepted the miracle; since my I changed my mind from hell to Heaven, from illusory goals to truth as my only goal, from imprisoning myself as hostage to the ego to embracing my Self as host to God and accepting my function of happiness through forgiveness by making the one irreversible choice for the Atonement for my Self. This releases me from fantasies of ‘special-nesses’ of any kind. I so love what I seen now… You <i>are</i> my Self!!! …<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <h2><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: normal;">It is with deepest gratitude, I reflect on this past year’s joining through ACIM lessons.<span style=""> </span>I am so very blessed and as we move into the next year of time and space, I have but one New Year’s resolution: <o:p></o:p></span></h2> <div style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 3pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"> <p class="postbody" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);"><span style=""> </span>I <i>will</i> to see what I denied~ <i>because</i> it is the truth. This is to say, I accept each person, place, thing, circumstance, and/or situation with equal value, without exception. Christ vision has now been received and opened the flood-gates of light behind and beyond which I experience as the great rays; full-love~ <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="postbody" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">At last…. <i>Our</i> time of fantasy <i>has</i> come and gone~ Only God’s time, this present moment, is… The answer was gifted where it could be used. After all, God placed the answer together with the problem, so that they <i>could</i> not be separated by time…. Duh! How simple to see now; it is impossible that I have a problem that has not been -solved already. It <i>has</i> been done and Love is all that remains as viable for our forward path… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="postbody" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">We cannot loose our way because there is no way but His, and nowhere can we go except to Him. We began this year with the happy decision to align our choices with the Holy Spirit by listening to the Voice for God~ using the daily workbook lessons… And we can rest in His certainty that this was no idle task…. You can feel it, can’t you?! We are as God created us! This one thing is sure…. Joy and gratitude are our natural state and our constant companion for direction…. We simply can’t loose what we are! ! ! ~ LOVE ! ! ! ~PURE, UNTAINTED, INNOCENT, GIVING~RECIEVING LOVE ! <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="postbody" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT"; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);"><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#Epilogue">Happy New Year!!!</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> </div>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-89763203634119708382007-12-30T06:47:00.000-07:002007-12-30T07:12:36.352-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";"><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L360">Lesson 360:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">Peace be to me, the holy Son of God.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">Peace to my brother, who is one with me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">Let all the world be blessed with peace through us…<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">Of course the lessons wrap up in a state of perfect peace, because that is our true state… All is well with creation and us… always, already. We merely mistook ourselves to be the characters in a dream of separation and specialness, scarcity and loss… Yet through joining with a single-heart, in wholehearted willingness for the true~only, and giving ourselves innocently over to the curriculum of this Course, the mind has been returned, at last, to where it never really left in truth; to our natural state of perfect peace extending and blessing… <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">Sure, there are a good deal of forgiveness opportunities still to reveal themselves as we go about our lives, but now we see them as <i>beacons</i> ~lighting the way to unity with each other, and the way home…<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">Please join me in the exquisite prayer offered in the lesson today:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";"><span style=""> </span>Father, it is Your peace that I would give, receiving it of You. I am Your Son, forever just as You created me, for the Great Rays remain forever still and undisturbed within me. I would reach to them in silence and in certainty for nowhere else can certainty be found. Peace be to me, and peace to all the world. In holiness were we created, and in holiness do we remain. Your Son is like to You in perfect sinlessness. And with this thought we gladly say “Amen”.</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3310594867914042908.post-45084444021615699002007-12-29T07:21:00.000-07:002007-12-29T08:09:58.411-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";"><a href="http://www.truthbook.com/sacredtexts/ACIM/Workbook.html#L359">Lesson 359:</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">God’s answer is some form of peace. All pain is healed; all misery replaced with joy. All prison doors are opened. And all sin is understood as merely a mistake.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";"><o:p> </o:p>~PEACE~ Imperturbable peace is the great gift I have been given for merely taking back what I thought about you and me and life and placing it on the alter of the mind of God’s Son, which is my mind, and allowing the Holy Spirit; which is , it turns out, my <i>true </i>Mind, to reinterpret and realign all for good… In other words, by being willing to see that I had been <i>wrong about everything</i> and selfishly releasing what was false; due to it making me unhappy, a grand shift was made in my psyche: from anxiety to Peace ~ from fear, to Love!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">When we truly forgive what <i>we</i> thought and perceived about each other and the world, we are instantly and continually left with what is true~ the experience of serene peace, which is also letting all creation be as God created. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">This delicious process of mind and feeling watching; forgiving all blocks to Loves awareness, always, and resting in the still peace that accompanies trust… This is accepting God’s answer~ <i>God’s answer, which<span style=""> </span>is always some form of peace~</i>It is<span style=""> </span>really the only way to fly, now~ Don’t you agree? <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">I know for me, life seems to live me, now… The present, is the present presence of God within all things… Whatever needs to happen or be accomplished somehow gets handled, for I constantly release to forgiveness and healing, any agendas of my own that surface up … <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Calligraph421 BT";">Peace is the still center of the love that I am; one with all creation…<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>danéthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07420180765701634942noreply@blogger.com0