Lesson 297:

Forgiveness is the only gift I give…

Actually, Forgiveness is the only gift I have to give in this so-called world. It is the only thing that makes life interesting here~ seeing past the labels and their meanings and their linking belief structures that make up a false self for you and for me…

Yes, forgiveness is the gift I give myself which opens my eyes to, instead, the actually of the present moment. The world of time and space are a past memory; gone simply by withdrawing valuing it. Now is where the ‘real’ world can be experience here. The present moment stands out with a sense of the ‘real’ even within the dream of time… haven’t you noticed? Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the gates of time into the world of the miracle, where you and I are one.

The present is all I am interested in now; the fresh, the alive; vibrant livingness itself… memory and anticipation in their best dress, pale miserably to provide any real sustenance. Everything about relationship with God is now, and cannot be outsourced to time… Forgiveness is the declaration of leaving the past in the past and the future with it, and allowing spirit to rip, now as we are. With nothing in its way, Love shines so brilliantly, it is impossible to miss. It looks like you and it looks like me in all our full innocence and glory.

The Self in truth, always now, in the eternal present, become me and now shares my reality. And it is within this realm of perfect acceptance that I impart to the present which makes it what it is… where forgiveness bestows its gift of perfect love…

Please join me in today’s prayer from the lesson:

Father, how certain are Your ways; how sure their final outcome, and how faithfully is every step in our salvation set already, and accomplished by Your grace. thanks be to You for Your eternal gifts, and thanks to You for our Identity…”

Lesson 273:

The stillness of the peace of God is mine…

For the longest time, I just wanted to get to that place… the place my mind imagined ‘the stillness of the peace of God’ to be. And try as I might, it seemed to continue to elude me… Then periodically, when out of helplessness to affect anything for myself, I’d throw my hands up, so to speak, quit trying, and for an instant that stillness; that peace of God would seem to find me… Until, of course, I tried to hold on to it… Then, back to the same old yearning; the same old trying… the same old lack of peace…

Here’s what finally awakened in me… You can’t get what you already have… The stillness of the peace of God is mine… Sit with that…

Always, just beneath the surface, stillness rests undisturbed by the mind-body dance. No matter what seems to be going on; what the order of thought, the judgment of value within the drama of my so-called life, just beyond, just beneath, I rest undisturbed and complete, in the stillness that is God forever one with me.

I had just developed the bad habit of believing that illusions were reality and therefore focusing my attention on myself as a character of the dream. Once questioned from every possible direction; turning every belief-stone, probing and forgiving all that wasn’t love, its solidity crumbles… disillusioning the falseness of the body-mind reality.

It has merely been a matter of developing a new habit; the habit of engaging with God~ being present to my relationship with Source; pulling the focus inward and placing my attention on what was always, already there… The turntable thought is ‘what do I value and how much do I value it?’…

Love is what I value… The stillness of the peace of God… is what I value… and it is mine…

Undisturbed tranquility… as the lesson suggests, it is within, always. Today, let’s dismiss the old habit of focusing on the impermanent; the false feelings that disturb… and focus-up, focus-in, and rest in the stillness of the peace of God… that is our own…

Lesson 262:

Let me perceive no differences today…

Father, You have one Son. And it is he that I would look upon today. He is Your one creation. Why should I perceive a thousand forms in what remains as on. Why should I give this one a thousand names, when only one suffices? For Your Son must bear Your Name, for You created him. Let me not see him ads a stranger to his Father, nor as stranger to myself. For he is part of me and I of him, and we are part of You Who are our Source, eternally united in Your Love; eternally the holy Son of God.

Remember as we began this year; we took the suggestion offered at the end of chapter 15, to make this year different by making it all the same…? How are we doing? Today’s lesson is tuned to the same single perspective where all is included in God’s Love extended as His One Son in which we are all united…

Life for me has become merely a softening of the eyes, in many ways. You know, like when you look at a sunset or watch the waves roll in and out upon the beach…Judgment has ceased to attract me as a means of organizing my life due to the desire for true meaning replacing it. Today I value only truth, and look only for its messengers of love’s awakening. This way I see from behind the body’s eyes…For this I must rely on the Holy Spirit within my mind for definition. And what I have found is that all the solid edges that fenced off differences in my perception were made of judgment, which crumbles at the sight of forgiveness. Looking out from the forgiven perspective, all is seen a one beautiful tapestry. And joyous union and belonging well up and fill the being in the place where differences, defenses and fear used to reside.

Let us place our faith the TRUTH today; we are God’s One Son as God created and we are not alone…

Lesson 259:

Let me remember that there is no sin.

Ya know, that little skill; remembering that there is no sin, not in me, not in you, and not anywhere at any time…(not in reality) has done worlds of good for me in assisting me with the follow-through of my decision to ‘let all things be exactly as they are’. It reminds me that nothing is as it appears because appearance itself was designed to distract the mind from the true and fixate it on the false through the mechanism of belief.

Here’s what I’ve come to see. Sin is insanity. If my experience of a situation is subjective in anyway, sin has got its hook in it. If it can be judged and a hierarchy of values set, my mind is fixed in the realm of falsehood and the Holy Spirit is already at the ready with that moments forgiveness opportunity ~ the gift within the wrapping the, so to speak~ the present-love within…

Also, I find my mind is returned to awareness of the Self that I remain, though my mind gave way to temptation to take appearance seriously for an instant. Furthermore, by delving deeper into present awareness, I see that I was still aware during the ripple of so-called sin across the mind of consciousness, and I have remained unaffected, for I am still as God created me…

God is… And when insanity has been put aside, the goal of God too has gone… For God is and His Son is one with Him…

Father, I would not be insane today. I would not be afraid of love, nor seek for refuge in its opposite. For love can have no opposite. You are the Source of everything there is. And everything that is remains with You, and You with it.

Lesson 253:

My Self is ruler of the universe…

We often talk about this topic in the Course. There is no possibility that any thing could happen in my universe, save it by way of my Self. Regardless of how I focus my attention; outward~ so as to see a small and frightened me in a big bad world, or inward~ so as to see from the Self the vast and glorious light of creation within and beyond the world of form. This, incidentally, allows for me to focus my attention to accept that thought littleness, as just one of many belief options within the illusion within the vast array of belief options which are not my Self, but dreamed up by me, instead…. Which I can do with what I please…

You know, when I came to this lesson the first time around, as with other similar statements in throughout the Course, I felt almost embarrassed. I definitely felt it was an idea arrogant to my place of reverence to a power-greater-than-myself, which I felt beholden to for my success in forgiving myself and awakening unto Him.

It was a difficult lesson for me and one I felt dishonest, due to my perceived unworthiness, to do. However, being the ‘good-student’, I did my best… What I received at that time was a strong, warm feeling message, that I would understand in time, but that from the point of reference I then held, I was too identified with littleness to see the big picture, let alone see that my Self ruled over it. So I accepted that I didn’t know; after all, up to this point in my so-called life, I had been wrong about everything else, why not this… I felt an inner instruction to read and reread, giving my understanding over to the Holy Spirit, the section in Chapter 15 called Littleness versus Magnitude; which I did every day for 30 days. I began to get a sense of that the ‘me’ point of reference I had been holding, and taken for granted as true, was mere wrong. And furthermore, that it was arrogant and a blatant rejection of accepting the atonement for myself. In other words, it was merely a delay tactic.

I gave myself over to the miracle, accepting the Holy Spirit was within my mind and therefore at least part of myself, which freed me to allow for correction of my small and limited perspective. And I began to feel the expanse… Every shadow/belief was filter up and seen as nothing but perspective and I became able to let them go to the idea of nothingness. My willingness to surrender my private mind as it revealed itself became the obvious next step instead of the hidden terror it had been undercover… And now; now all that was different is seen with the eyes of sameness… truly… it’s a miracle… NOW has (as it always was in truth) become my only point of reference, my only perspective…

Through my willingness to be wrong about everything, the my has given way to the Self, which has shown me Heaven on earth; Christ in all my brothers and a world of Creation where Love gives unto itself, receives and expands and expresses the Self in everyone, everything, every situation and circumstance…

My Self is ruler of the universe…

Lesson 244:

I am in danger nowhere in the world…

I am not in the world. I am the beyond; the vast freedom expanse in which the world arises. I am the Self; forever one that which is, from which creation springs. And, I am the Son which God created one with Him, blending in fullness and completion. All danger and suffering and time and space arise from me. But I am not it. What arises from me cannot possibly, now, overtake me. I am beyond in the Now-eternity-in-God, before time was... aware and witnessing… In truth, that which is what I am, has never been here at all…

If a dream of danger or doubt plays out upon the screen of time and space and seems to doubt or endanger myself or you in the world, I witness to that dream play, and I, too, am the forgiveness that remembers it is not the dream, but the dreamer.

We can’t change our core nature. Fidelity to premise is the law of mind. In this holographic dynamism of creation, we see this fact regardless of the level at which we are looking at it; fidelity to premise is the law of mind. So, whatever the premise is, fathers what is seen. Period. The thought of God’s love is the premise of our being… it cannot leave its Source.

The process of forgiving all that seemingly happens, by seeing beyond it, back to the truth of where we already reside in the peace of God, is all we can do within the premise of this world, for we are beyond and exist not within the illusion of ego-identities. This re-collecting brings us back into alignment in mind with our Self in God, which is what we are …

Today’s lesson offers us another chance to choose once again what we will see:

“Your Son is safe wherever he may be, for You are there with him. He need but call upon Your Name, and he will recollect his safety and Your Love, for they are one. How can he fear or doubt or fail to know he cannot suffer, be endangered, or experience unhappiness, when he belongs to You, beloved and loving, in the safety of Your Fatherly embrace?”

Lesson 224:

God is my Father, and He loves His Son…

This is not personal, you know~ It is a fact. Who can dispute a fact? Only opinions find conflict and only with themselves… and opinions, by nature, are not real…

God is Father ~first Cause~ the All-in-all… His Son; His effect…

It is the equivalent, in this world, as the sun is shinning, or the ground beneath ones feet…

I am God’s Son. Period… God extended His Love in natural creation and His Son is the result. There is nothing else…

Now, one could argue semantics certainly. But the beseeching nature of that request, already points to insanity… Does it not?

One knows what one is. ~It is~. The questioning essence is the mark of forgetfulness which is referred to in the Course and the tiny mad idea, where the Son remembered not to laugh, or the detour into hell…

Now, I’m interested in where this line of thought is going, so please bare with me and we’ll find out together.

At some point, even at accidental quieting of the mind due to exhaustion from futile ‘trying’ and running, etc., a prayer of truth finds a space to eek out room for the truth to real-ize… Mine was something like: “whatever is haunting me from behind the scenes of my so-called life that makes it impossible to satisfy, if you’re not there, I’m screwed~ cuz there’s got to be another way…” Today’s lesson is a clear, honest and present prayer of truth, coming form a place of willingness for the truth to be true: “My Name, O Father, still is known to You. I have forgotten It, and do not know where I am going, who I am, or what it is I do. Remind me, Father, now, for I am weary of the world I see. Reveal what You would have me see instead”.

See, as we begin to still the raucousness of the busy, little, strategic mind, we can’t help but notice that most of what we seemed determined to think, plan, regret and ‘learn from’, are just ridiculous, irrelevant ideas; designed to distract the mind from its natural state of stillness and beingness. In other words, sanity…

But then, simultaneously, we realize… we already knew that, too. Yes?

It begins to unfold, that one does, indeed, know oneself and it is merely a matter discarding (through forgiveness) the overlays of false ideas, to reveal the light of truth behind and within…

I am totally bored with the disillusionment of the so-called world story. How could it possible hold ones interest for long? As the Son, God created as Himself, this dream of death we call a life, is much too small and ridiculous to take seriously any longer… One can only throw up ones metaphorical hands in final surrender to the great Cosmic Belly Laugh…

This world now, where life is present, because only present, is… looks lovely as far and close as seeing eyes can see. The reflection of the face of Christ smiles back from the far reaches, and from as close as the beating heart; in completion of each holy instant, of each holy encounter.

There is only the fact; the truth…

God is my Father, and He loves His Son…

Lesson 214:

I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me…

I place the future in the Hands of God.

I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me…

We always hear, and maybe even say; now is all there is… Now is the only moment in which we can truly live. How real is that for us? Will we, this day, this moment, place the ‘future’ in the Hands of God? Apparently, it wasn’t ours to begin with. So what’s the beef? I know, in my own experience of this so-called life, that the very deference to timeline; past, now, future, places me in a position of impotence, ~now~. I can’t make a legitimate decision about what is and what I want to do with it, from the reference vantage of the past/now/future. Because, time and space are meant to be used in service of Spirit; which is only~ now. What I’ve seen, is that when I am attempting to make decisions based on what I have learned in the past, I am really attempting to not decide. I am attempting to not be accountable for right here, right now.

This is the way the ego mind likes it; use guilt from the past and threats and promises about the future, to seduce my mind in to relinquishing its decision making power. I know. I have fallen prey to its seductive antics; feared them, and believed them, and gave myself temporarily to their addictive pull…. It was nothing, in the end. It was death. Which too, turned out to be ‘nothing’...

“I am responsible for what I see.

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

goal I would achieve.

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

And receive as I have asked”... (T-.21.11)

When I place my decision making in the service of Spirit; this present moment becomes fully alive for me, and all manner of resources seem to appear within my field of vision, which previously alluded me. Also, I am unconcerned about the so-called future; I know that no accident or chance is possible within the universe as God created it, ~outside of which is nothing. I decide for happiness, now; I give the power of decision to the Holy Spirit, Whom is consecrated by God to decide for God for me.

Yes… I place the future in the Hands of God, for in the now, I feel my Self; alive and creative:

I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me…

What God gives can only be for good. And I accept but what He gives as what belongs to me…

Lesson 205:

I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me…

I want the peace of God…

I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me…

Is there anything that wouldn’t be resolved, given the peace of God? The thought; the peace of God, alone, has releasing and restorative properties. Replace any thought with this one thought: the peace of God, and instantly feel a sense of proportion, hopefulness, and calm… Even the symbols of the words: the peace of God, seem to carry tranquil properties.

The peace God… The peace of God... The peace of God…

Consistant leaning in the direction of the peace of God, by merely placing our attention on it instead of something else, brings a feeling of serene comfort, unparalleled by anything one can find in this world. As a matter of fact, behind all the ‘using’ and ‘bettering ourselves’ and winning games, aren’t we ultimately just looking for the experience of peace; total, unmitigated peace?

As the seat of our being begins consistently to reside in the experience beyond the seeming ‘physical experience’ playing out at any particular time, where we have our attention directed toward the unknown, or the Holy Spirit’s domain; the more at home we become with the essence of a situation, being more ‘real’ than its physical characteristics. We being to sense that it is ‘the peace of God’ which is carrying us through from one forgiveness lesson to the next…

It is this calm assurance that lets us release the death grip we have on the belief in scarcity and survival, and begin to lean back and trust…

The peace of God statement given in this lesson has at times, gratefully, positively, served as a sort of mantra to navigate some pretty stormy waters in my life. Please join me in reviewing it now:

“The peace of God is everything I want. The peace of God is my one goal; the am of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life, while I abide where I am not at home.”

It is our inheritance to reside in the peace of God, and when that too, becomes consciously, our only goal, which is the same as truth; we feel its influence evermore consistently throughout all the workings of our lives…

And gratitude follows naturally, as the path is laid before us, one now at a time…

Lesson 177:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I…

This glorious premise we practice; where all is love, and only Love, gives life and meaning to and for you and me, keeps everything so very simple. From the Love premise, extension only, is seen as life’s creation. I am so very grateful for this dedicated series of lessons… deliberately resting in the belly of LOVE…

It’s funny, in all the times I’ve gone through the lessons and their applications, always, what I am looking for, I find. Here’s an example; I’m going along yesterday, feeling absolutely yummy, grateful, good, and one with everything: imperturbable. Everything was going my way, as usual.

So, I get this phone call. It’s like premise-slide; and I instantly I am no longer thinking or feeling, I am being thought and felt-up by the premise I allowed. The premise is dictating a spectrum of responses appropriate to its design.

Each premise comes complete with its own thoughts and feelings; each true to the core of the premise. Once the premise shift is made in mind, one is at the mercy of it until one chooses again. FLASHING-RED-FORGIVNESS-OPPORTUNITY!!! Whatever it is within my thought system that I am still vulnerable to sliding into, represent my forgiveness lessons. How glorious it is to see this immediately, and what’s more, be grateful for it…

Only one premise is true: LOVE: abstract, changeless, formless, eternal oneness…

There is no death. The Son of God is free…

Everything else is some form of the death-script, authored by the belief in the time/space reality. Every judgment, every need to be right, is a choice that death be true. Death is the belief in the possibility of being in competition with God for authorship of reality. It plays out in every call for love in this world; from preferences, to threats, persons to events. It is survival by way of scarcity and specialness. Doesn’t that sound insane? It certainly does to me as I rest here in the premise Love~ as I am.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I…

As we recognize the false premise with which this world takes it meaning, and choose once again, the truth, bringing each illusion; each forgiveness opportunity back to the premise of Love; the Holy Spirit within our mind, we are restored to the peace beyond this seeming world of shifting tides, to the ocean which is creation. We find that we are at home already.

Now we are one with Him Who is our Source…

Simply…

God is but Love, and therefore so am I…