Forty
Days to Freedom
by Jeff Nance
by Jeff Nance
Day
1:
And
so we embark upon the journey of lifetimes; the Journey of journeys.
This journey, unlike what is often meant by the term, is an internal
voyage to Present Being, to what is truly here and now. Freedom is
not an external destination, nor does it have anything to do with the
ability to act however one pleases, but it is a natural condition,
disposition, or state of mind and being that is truly content in
whatsoever situation it finds itself. So it is that we must work with
the countless conditionings that have been imposed upon us, and that
we have imposed upon ourselves; ever-aiming at the rewiring of the
conditioned mind itself, so that we may know what true freedom really
is.
True
freedom is release from the necessity of ever going without to find
our peace of mind. The attempt to find peace of mind through
rearranging the furniture—or the externals of life—without
fundamentally changing our mind will be forever futile. Want, and we
will find ourselves in want. Go without, and we will find ourselves
going without. If we seek unceasingly for that which our Souls do not
desire, our desires will constantly seem to be thwarted, and rewarded
with frustration and dissatisfaction. And bitter will be the taste in
our mouths, when that which seemed as sweet as honey transforms into
gall in our throats. As is the nature of our seeking, so will our
discovering be.
True
freedom is freedom from self-seeking. In all the externally-oriented,
short-sighted seeking and striving of the little self to achieve its
curtailed versions of peace, happiness, freedom, is the hidden motive
to selfishly seek itself; to concretize this abstraction—this
mind-generated fictitious idea of a separated self that I will refer
to as ego—into a monument to itself that will never be brought
down, and which we must forever pay homage to in the form of
sacrifice of all that which we really do want, and would make us
truly peaceful, happy, and free. Thank God that this fantasy will
never be realized, no matter how much we might join ego in wishing
the self-image—the self-concept—were the truth about us. This
self-seeking is the most debased form of slavery in existence, and is
the chief impediment to our finding true and lasting freedom. This
idol will fall, for all structures are intrinsically unstable.
Rejoice that when this idol falls, you will rise as the legendary
phoenix from the ashes and the rubble of ego and will rebuild your
life upon a Foundation that is eternally sure. This Foundation has
been called God; I will refer to it as Self.
As
the timeless verities of Immortal Being dawns upon the mind, the
distinction between Creator and Creation grows more and more faint,
until the time when the veil is rent, and the Face of Christ is seen
to be the Face of God. And so it is that Jesus of Nazareth said, “Who
sees me sees the Father.” Who seeks the Face of Christ, seeks in
truth the Face of God. And God's Face is everywhere to be seen: in
nature, in the smile of a child or a friend, in a glass of water or
wine, in a thunderstorm, and in any other possible scenario one can
dream up, including the terrifying, the ugly, the maimed and brutish
aspects of life.
What
we seek, we will find. There are two ways we can look at our
experience here. One is that God—the Divine—is absent from our
inner and outer experience; and the other is that It is present to us
in every inner and outer experience. Would we rather be separate and
apart, then joined and united to that which is the universe? God is
literally the All in all; the Alpha and Omega; the yin and yang; the
relative and the absolute, together as One. We are surrounded and
penetrated through and through only by Itself, and this Essence is
the One Self we all share. Let us not forget that in answering the
question of God's immanency, we choose for Heaven or for hell, for
Self or for oblivion. God is transcendent by virtue of Its immanency,
for if It were absent from this Universe, then would Its infinitude
be shattered and lost to Itself and to us. Our internal and external
fragmentation would then be not a vain imagining, but a cold, hard
fact, and integration but a pipe dream, forever unrealizable. Let us
be grateful that it is not so.
The
first realization in the process of changing our mind about our mind:
--
The brain is plastic. Neurons that fire together, wire together;
neurons that fire apart, wire apart.
Your
brain is malleable! By directing your thoughts, learning to access at
will other states of consciousness than those which typify the
everyday waking state we are all familiar with, and developing the
wisdom to know how to make the most of these excursions into deeper
territories of the mind, you will be directly working with your
brain's neuroplasticity, this life-long potential of the brain to
change in both form and function based on which neuronal networks are
reinforced and which are pruned away. What we frequently reflect and
ponder upon becomes the natural inclination of the mind, as the
Buddha rightly observed. Addictions are not formed in a day, they are
very gradually—almost imperceptibly—cultivated until one day
there seems to be no way out from the sense of confinement that they
have produced. Non-addiction is a way of stating our goal of true
freedom. The essence of renunciation is not giving up those things
which you really want—it is coming to a deep understanding of the
undesirability of craving, of clinging, of attachment, of never
really arriving at that lasting, permanent sense of happiness and
peace that are characteristic of the enlightened state of being. This
sense of clinging to the objects of the senses, and to the more
subtle objects of the mind, for what they appear to offer, is the
source of all suffering. A temporary joy is no real joy, and thus the
spirit of renunciation declares: “Short-lived happiness is no
happiness at all. I have use no longer for such lusterless light as
this. I am through with chasing after that which causes myself and
others pain. And all fleeting pleasures but bring me pain when I
cling to them, seek after them, and in their departure from me due to
the impermanence of things. I am ready to seek a more solid and
secure source of happiness, that does not involve the necessity to
even lift a finger to enjoy. Henceforth, I seek but the True Light of
Eternal Freedom, Peace, and Joy."
--
Live meditatively.
Let
us walk in peace; let us sit in silence; let us rest in the beatitude
of a felt oneness within ourselves and with all of life. Let us mold
our lives into a beautiful tapestry of meditation. For the meditative
life is the divine life. The meditative mind is the source of the
peace we seek. Every situation is another chance to develop this
meditative perspective on living. Do we find ourselves washing the
dishes, doing laundry? Excellent! Another opportunity to slip into
that state where everything is interesting, and nothing is important.
Getting yelled at by your boss, or spouse? Suddenly jobless;
homeless? More great opportunities to notice that the moment is
intrinsically peaceful and perfect, and when you are in harmony with
it, you share these qualities with it. Abundance is the felt
recognition that everything is not only going to be alright, it
already is. Abundance—in all its forms—gravitates to a
consciousness that is abundant. A consciousness is abundant if it
dwells not upon thoughts of lack, of disorder, of that which should
be otherwise in ego's estimation, but rather, abides quietly beyond
all appearances, in the realm of ideas of the complete, perfect,
whole, unscathed, untouched reality that is every present in every
precious instant. It is the nature of this reality, from which we
cannot be separated, that makes the instant holy and wholly precious.
The sacred qualities of reality are intrinsic to your being, for your
being and the present moment are not two; they are one. The gift that
you have to offer to yourself and to the world is the Presence of the
present moment. You ARE Now. Without your arriving at this clarity,
how will others come to see what it is they have been missing all
this time—stumbling, fumbling, and bumbling along through the
insidious addiction to past and future thoughts? To become rooted in
the inner stillness from which all things proceed, is to achieve the
goal of living meditatively. This is the precious moment, and when
you are present to it—here and now—your very being is a constant
invitation to others to dive deeply into this holy instant with you.
In
your meditation today, set your intention on what you are here to do:
to release every desire that holds you to a false conception of your
self, that traps you in an ego-box, that progressively Edges God Out
(EGO) of every nook and cranny of your reality until it seems to be
obliterated, and you appear to be but an illusory product of a world
of illusions. There is a Peace that this world is not capable of
giving, and this peace is possible only by releasing, surrendering,
all those things which the world chases after in its blind ignorance
for what is truly worth cultivating in yourself: the Peace of God,
which is nothing but the Peace of your Self. Set your intention to be
on speaking terms with this Self, and request guidance from this
Self. It will answer you as you request, and in Its answer, shall you
find the comfort of the limitless One, and be inspired by Its
Presence. The more you return to bask in this effulgent Presence, the
more shall you recognize It is but your own.
Listen
deeply to the Self within. You will be guided through the process, so
lean wholly upon the wisdom of the Self, which like a child, simply
trusts in the Wisdom which created it, and which remains forever one
with it. Do not worry about how long the duration which you spend in
meditation. When you are finished, you will be prompted that it is
time to return to the affairs of daily life. But do take your
meditative consciousness with you as you do so.
Day
2
The
path of awakening is highly individualized. Your path is for you and
you alone. You may share certain aspects in common with others, and
it is certainly a joy relating with the commonalities of our higher
experiences. Yet, this path must be trodden alone, and it oftentimes
can seem very lonely. Yet we are never without mighty companions,
though they be but ministering angels invisible even to ourselves for
a time. Yet, the felt comfort of Their Presence will always be
palpable to us. A ministering angel may take the form of a cardboard
box or a fresh carcass to sleep in in the midst of a blizzard. It may
take the form of a hug from a stranger when we are feeling down, or a
kind word that lifts our spirits and renews our enthusiasm and faith
in the inherent goodness of humanity. There is no way to predict the
forms in which divine help comes to our aid. The only thing needful
is that we are open to it when it manifests, and willing to receive
in gratitude the daily manna this universe holds out to us
unfailingly. This requires a sense of spontaneity that is foreign to
the calculating mind of ego.
How
does one cultivate a sense of spontaneity? One cannot, for
spontaneity is the lack of cultivation. However, through a meditative
practice, one can develop naturally the ability to rest in this
present moment, to embody the Self more fully, and this embodiment
will resonate with others, leading them to communicate a felt
appreciation to you. And this, when received genuinely, will lead to
a spontaneous gesture of good will and blessing from you. These are
the miracles—the natural and spontaneous gestures of good will and
blessing you offer to your brothers and sisters. Oftentimes, your
miracles are direct result of the miracles they offer you, which you
receive with honor and appreciation. Have you experienced the smile
from your neighbor, for no apparent reason, which inspires in you an
overwhelming feeling of tenderness, love, and appreciation for them?
Though no words have been exchanged, true communication has been
given and received. If you know this experience, you must also be
familiar with the smile that spontaneously is delivered from you to
your neighbor, for no apparent reason, to which they either respond
or do not. If they do, it is a miracle, if they do not, there is no
offense taken, but only an understanding that love is fundamental to
our being and that if one cannot respond to love with love, it must
be because a terrible repression has taken place, which has blocked
the light from being perceived. A scowl is understood to be a call
for love and healing and help. And you do not forget that in every
case, a part of their mind has accepted your miracle with loving
gratitude.
A
few points will assist us in changing our minds about our minds:
– We
can create our day by utilizing the power of intention with skillful
authority. We are the only thinker of our thoughts, so it is
important to begin to learn to command and direct the mind-energy
that is our thoughts along the lines of the experiences and emotions
that are in harmony with our heart's deepest desires.
– The
brain does not know the difference between a visualization, an
emotionally charged thought, and an actual physical experience.
Therefore, experience can and does take place as much between the
ears as it does in the world of circumstance—of time, space, and
matter.
– Manifesting
needn't take any time at all, if thought is understood to BE
experience. Cherish your dreams, for they are realized first within,
before they are perceived as manifest without.
This
may shed some light on a quote from A Course in Miracles: “What I
experience I will make manifest.” Since thought IS experience, this
is tantamount to saying, “What I think upon, I will make manifest.”
And here, a biblical verse is apropos: “As a man thinketh in his
heart, so is he.” In other words, as a person thinks of themselves
deep down—unconsciously even—that they will give evidence to
outwardly, in manifestation. If a person thinks of themselves as
guilty, sinful, shameful, debased, etc., what can you expect them to
manifest behaviorally that would contradict such deeply held beliefs?
Therefore, as you think, so shall you perceive, and as you perceive
so shall you behave. As perception is simply the middle man in this
logical sequence, we can condense it to: “As you think, so shall
you behave.” As a man thinks, so is he...so does he act, so does he
feel, and so does he relate with others.
For
your meditation today, have a seat and then ask your deepest most
self, your Soul-Self, to impart to you what learnings will be most
beneficial. Trust your self. As Emerson advised, learn to detect
those flashes of light that steal across your mind—your inspired
thoughts—and follow the instructions they give you. Do not discard
them simply because they are your own.
Do
not think for one instant that meditation means getting rid of
thought. Thought is Life. Allow your Self, your Holy Spirit/Soul, to
guide you into all truth, through a simple practice that is quite
unexpected, but wholly welcome. Listen carefully to Its instructions,
and follow through with them as guided, and you may have spectacular
results in no time at all—literally. To change the mind deeply and
permanently, a practice is helpful to which you return daily, finding
in it comfort and a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of everyday
living. This may seem to be a bit of a burden at first, but change
your mind about it, and it will be the loveliest part of your day. If
your practice be uniquely tailored to suit your individual need—which
it will be if it comes from the Universal Inspiration that is your
Holy Spirit—so much the more powerful will be the effects. Trust
your inner wisdom to lead you to a meditation practice that is
perfectly designed for where you are on the spiritual path.
And
one last word of advice: do not compare yourself or your path with
others. Remember the parable of the tortoise and the hare. Be the
tortoise. But remember, there is no competition in the spiritual
life, for only the ego is concerned with competition, and it cannot
join us on this Journey. Take your time, but do not delay. Remember
what the Course states: “Only infinite patience produces immediate
results.” Be about your Father's business...which means, be about
the Heavenly Work of realizing yourself as none other than the one
Self in all.
Day
3
“...And
on the third day, he arose.”
We
find ourselves at a juncture, a meeting place between two worlds. It
is not yet seen how the old one can be transcended, nor yet how the
new one may be attained, although it is known that both can and must
be accomplished, and by you. But you are not without help. Life
itself is your teacher; your life experience is the greatest teacher
of all, for it will show you in what ways you still cling to the old,
and resist the new. Your little willingness to persist in the Way
that you have chosen, though you see no steps in front of you—your
tiny token of faith that there is a Way out that will be made plain
when the crooked places are made straight by the One who walks beside
you—is all that is necessary. You have begun. And ego's fear and
doubt will be no more when your Self's Love and Faith become your
only choice.
This
is not our first arrival here, at these familiar crossroads. But this
time, we have seen that the only things we can give away are all the
resistances to awakening that have held us back; all the cheap and
petty things we valued, hoping against hope that they might one day
bring us a peace they never could deliver. And in the release of
them, the Peace which passes mortal mind's comprehension will be ours
to keep, to cherish and love and give away. Unlike material
possessions, the more we give of this Peace, the more we find we
have.
The
difference between those former visits to the borderland between the
worlds and this one, is that now there is the clear recognition that
you cannot go back; that there is no way you can return from whence
you came. The past is nowhere; do not look to it for anything but a
continuance of the same misery from which you now would find escape.
Look neither to the future, for it is not yet. What you seek is
always and forever, only now.
Deep
within your mind, is the unwavering commitment to awakening. The fact
that your commitment has wavered is testament only to your great fear
of release, and willingness to side with it when temptation calls to
you to choose your weakness—seen apart from the Risen One—rather
than His Strength, which is the Light in you. It is this Light in you
that is the Light of the world. Identifying with His Strength, the
Light will cover the tired world you thought you saw before, and
release it to beauty, seen with fresh eyes. And you will look within,
which formerly you thought the residence of sin, and will see nothing
but a tender, loving heart, that is big and strong enough to embrace
the world in all its suffering, and bring healing and comfort to it.
You will not run from pain, from the expression of suffering, knowing
that it heralds the beginning of healing. And slights you will not
think to take personally, for you will know that they are nothing but
calls for love. You will not forgive persons; only impersonal
situations. Tears will never disappear by being repressed, but when
they are allowed to flow forth, without restraint, without guilt,
without anger, neither with the indulgence of them, they will leave a
blessing in their wake: peace, comfort, a soft smile of grace that
lights your face in a newfound holiness, which then becomes your gift
to give the world. For you will have discovered that nondual Light
and Strength which is the emanation of God's Being: your Self.
Look not to yesterdays' manna for today's sustenance. Have faith in the ever fresh Manna that arrives in unique and unexpected forms, and give thanks for them all. Look not in the tomb for the Risen One; He walks in the Garden. Go there and you will find him. Cling not to the cross for release from suffering; Rise up and leave the mountain of skulls behind you. Look not for the Living One among the dead. Let the dead bury the dead. But seek the bringer of abundant life where He may be found, and you will find him there. He knocks at the door of your heart. Bid him enter, and supping with him, He shall show you plainly that the Christ in you is your only reality. Every other light in which you have perceived yourself shows forth nothing but an illusion of yourself. Do not see yourself in different lights, but see yourself in the One Light that is the Strength of Christ in you. Faith in this, though it be but the size of a mustard seed, can indeed move mountains. Give Present Trust in Truth but the slightest nod, and the mountain of difficulties you have had in releasing will melt away, never to be seen again.
A
point that may be helpful in changing your mind about your mind:
– God
is not merely in your mind, God IS your mind. God is individual
consciousness.
This
Mind exists everywhere and in all things. You are never apart from
Divine Mind, but it supports you, sustains you, uplifts you, inspires
you, informs and in-forms you, and redeems to your awareness That
which you believed you had sold off, in your feeling of great
unworthiness. God's Mind, which is your own, proves to you your great
worthiness. Let it teach you that the old world you made is testament
to the great power of Mind. Even in miscreation, the Power of Mind is
evident. Mind cannot utterly divorce itself from its Source, from
That which gave rise to it, and remains one with it. Ideas leave not
their source, and mind—idea—leaves not the Source of Divine Mind
from whence it came.
For
your meditation practice, notice any stress or anxiety that may
reside within you. Pay particularly close attention to any feeling of
knots within your solar plexus, lumps in your throat, and/or
tightness in your chest. We will work with these by going deeply
within, entering into the sensations. Let your creative imagination
guide you in how to dislodge these discomforts, whether it be through
taking deep breaths of air into your diaphragm and letting them
surround and ease these sensations, or through visualizing getting
your hands around the localized spot and removing them from your body
as you might a dresser drawer, or through twisting and turning gears
and valves that release steam and allow the sensations to begin to
circulate and flow out of your being. Experiment with different
techniques of visualization. You will discover how much control you
really do have over your state of being with this process. When you
have achieved a level of comfort which allows you to sit quietly in
peace, take this fast track in awakening through true forgiveness:
Go
through each of the major relationships you have had in your life
beginning with your parents or caretakers, and sisters and/or
brothers (if you had any). Think of any deep held resentments or
hurts that you received or gave in relation to them, no matter how
small (don't go searching for any sources of hurt, but use whatever
ones naturally arise without much effort) and say, “I release you.
I release myself.” Or some variant thereof. And move onto your
extended family. As their image arises and thoughts surface of any
grievances still held, mentally repeat a mantra similar to the simple
one given above, such as: “I release you, and I release myself.”
I have found that the shorter and simpler the phrase, the easier it
is for the subconscious to process. Move to friends, and girlfriends
or boyfriends from your adolescent years, teachers, etc...and repeat
this process until you come to the present moment. Take a few deep
breaths and notice the pleasurable feeling of lightness and ease that
comes with releasing work. This is what true forgiveness is all
about: releasing others from the grievances we have held against
them, that we may release ourselves from the pain of holding
grievances. While grievances are held against any of our brothers and
sisters, we cannot know the meaning of true love. And the Meaning of
True Love is what you are, because it is what God is. The experience
of this awaits you.
Rest
in peace, beloved.
Day
4
So
begins another day in which you may make great strides in our
learning if you are more than a little willing to release all things
detrimental to your progress as soon as they come up. I am hardly
suggesting you approach them like the whack-a-mole game. Why blow up
the boulders in the path when you can much more easily walk around
them? The path of release—of surrender—is the path of least
resistance. Our goal is complete non-resistance to what truly is. I
say “what truly is” because the distorted fantasies and objects
of our idle wishes and vain desires are not true, nor are they truly
there. But while we remain prone to lapse into the sleep and dreams
of ego, we must reckon them all as boulders, as sporadically
appearing moles, on the path up the hill of awakening.
Throw
away the dynamite and all the weapons of war you still may carry in
your ego-arsenal. They will not serve, but merely hinder you. There
is no ego-dragon you must do battle with at the top of the mountain
or anywhere else along the way, that you need any cumbersome
combative gear. Rather, as each of these moles of attachment, these
boulders of unconsciousness—of anger, fear, lust, pride, the
tendency to deride others; to correct, compete with, or gossip about
others; of indolence and procrastination, etc...rear their ugly
heads, bring what I will call the energy of awakening to them.
Say
to yourself, “Here lies a boulder that has caused me to stumble
oftentimes in the past; there appears a mole that used to scare me
out of my wits. I acknowledge there are many more like them on the
path ahead. I need do nothing to obliterate them. They were never the
real problem, only my need to trip over them in unawareness, my need
to curse them for being there, my need to blow them up were the
problem. I release these needs. Now I see that I need but keep
walking, stepping around this and every other obstacle to my peace
that presents itself along the way, recognizing each one as my
teacher by remaining awake enough to learn the lesson it offers me. I
want my peace, and I do not want the scratches and bruises that will
occur if I let these dreams morph into nightmares by giving them the
energy of my attention. The focus of my perception will henceforth go
to what I really do want, and I do not want nightmares. Therefore I
remain watchful, alert, and will not be dismayed or alarmed by the
seemingly countless obstacles to the peace of awakening that litter
the path ahead of me. Like water flowing around obstructions, I will
merely walk around each one, and I will see them for what they are,
not what I made them out to be in my sleep. I thank each one for
giving me the opportunity to learn, to put into practice the peace
that I would teach.”
As
you overcome each temptation to go back to sleep, to lose sight of
the goal—which you carry within you as the cherished ideal of
perennial wakefulness, you gain confidence and strength in yourself.
At first, it will seem difficult to remain alert throughout the day,
and you will find that you have drifted into sleep on more occasions
then you would like to admit. Admit them to yourself, but do so
without guilt. Guilt will not assist you in awakening, but is another
boulder along the way. When you find yourself on the ground, bloodied
and scratched up after tripping over a boulder you had not noticed,
pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep going. Do not let
discouragement seep in to your soul, for this is another pesky mole,
and these negative states will do nothing but rob you of the much
needed energy of awakening that will bring you to the summit. As you
learn to step around these obstacles, it will seem easier and easier
to you as each time you do so, a little more of the energy awakening
will be added unto you. It will become a dance, and the flowing
movements of ascension will begin to seem as if they are coming
through you with little need to consciously control or direct your
steps at all.
As
you become more firmly grounded in your Self—as you become more
Self-centered in the right-minded sense—the terrain will change,
and you will find that, whereas previously there had at times been so
many boulders on the path you had to climb over them to make
progress, you are now confronted with only the occasional boulder.
However, the need for vigilance will remain just as great. And so I
say to you: remain ever-vigilant as you progress, day by day, to the
summit of awakening.
For
a short meditation, bring to mind the resistances that lull you to
sleep on a regular basis. Imagine them as boulders scattered randomly
about as you ascend a mountain path. Acknowledge them for being your
teacher as you quickly, easily, and skillfully step around them all.
They cannot hold you back, only you can. Next, imagine them becoming
fewer and farther between as you ascend, until they are but
occasional protruding stones you can merely step over. Finally,
picture yourself at the summit of the mountain, having attained the
Peace that needs no vigilance, for there is nothing here that could
come between yourself and It. Take this Peace as your prize, and
cherish it as your very own throughout the day. It is God's eternal
gift to you, but you must offer it to yourself, recognizing that it
is your Self who holds it out to you, for your glad acceptance.
Go
in Peace, beloved.
Forty Days of Awakening
Day 5
We do not need more theologies, nor more experiences, in the mundane sense; we need more of that Universal Experience mentioned in A Course in Miracles, which puts all the controversy surrounding theological considerations to rest. As the Course states, “Theological considerations […] are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary.” It is this much needed Experience toward which the Course is directed, that the goal of the Universal Curriculum—which is Perfect Peace—be attained. Miracles themselves are only pointers in the direction of this Experience—or Revelation—and accepting the Atonement is the Experience of the Revelation of God's All-Encompassing Love for yourself and AS yourself. Miracles are the means, and the Final Miracle—the Revelation of Atonement—is the end. Far from being a real end in any final sense, this is rather a New Beginning.
This requires a deep acceptance of self, through Self-Surrender—through a wholehearted surrender (or release) to Self—which will never be very popular among the masses, and that is why Jesus said there be so few who walk the road to Life: not because it is difficult, not even because the many lack the concentration of a trained mind, but because a deep sense of unworthiness to see themselves through—to give consistent effort to the climbing of Mount Awakening—prevents those who stray from the Way from the Experience of Total Surrender into the Everlastingly Loving Arms of God, fearing the condemnatory judgment of their distorted projection of God upon them. “Falling into those Arms”, ego shouts, “would be suicide—or worse—eternal damnation.” Control becomes the sorry gift ego offers as Their substitute. But the Holy Spirit whispers in reply, “Falling into These soft Arms is Heaven, my Child. In Their strong, yet gentle Embrace, is Everlasting Life.”
Many, many people would much rather argue about theological and philosophical concepts and terminologies than dive into this transcendent Experience because, in a sense, it is (a lower case 's') self-annihilation; it is an ego-death of sorts. Actually, the ego cannot die, because it never had a real birth. What has no beginning cannot have an end. What had an illusion of a beginning will merely have an illusion of an end, and that is all. In other words, ego is purely an illusion that seems to partake of Life but is in truth completely devoid of the Life Principle, being the call for death disguised as the call for Life. Yet, you DO cry for Life constantly, and ego's raucous shrieks cannot drown out your cry for Truth, even if you do not yet hear it with clarity. Adam and Eve were immortal while they ate of the Tree of Life. But when they ate of the tree of ignorance—of the judgmental mind that loves some good and hates some evil, and hates some other good and loves some other evil, they fell out of conscious fellowship with the Life Principle, and so they “died” in the day they ate of it.
The judgmental mind responsible for the fall (or separation from Life) of humankind, may even turn the tables on its own judgment, and declare that which it formerly called good, evil; and that which it formerly called evil, good. Regarding such confusion, a confusion so profound it cannot even be described—which seemed to wrest Pure Love out of God's Arms and place in His Hands bolts of lightning to strike blind whoever is foolhardy enough to approach Them—what can the Teacher of God say but, “Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do, having forgotten the truth of ourselves.” Jesus was a man who ate from the Tree of Life, and shared Its Fruits with whoever “had ears to hear”. He was not himself the Tree, and so he said, “Of myself, I can do nothing.” and, “I do not bear my own witness, but my Father bears witness for me. If I bore witness for myself, I would be a liar. But my Father; He it is that does the works through me.” As humble as this may seem to us, his message was misunderstood as blasphemy to associate oneself in any way with the Divine by the priests who believed they were the only ones ordained by God to have any sort of association with Him.
One of Jesus' main messages was, “The first shall be last, and the last, first.” Can one who considers themselves an atheist be a Teacher of God? Absolutely! The Course states, “Perhaps the teacher does not think of God as part of teaching. Perhaps the psychotherapist does not understand that healing comes from God. They can succeed where many who believe they have found God will fail.” The last shall be first and the first shall be last. The pharisees of Jesus' time believed they had found God, and had the arrogance to think the common people must go through them to get to God. This illusion Jesus came to shatter, saying, "Oh scribes and pharisees, hypocrites all, you are determined not to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, neither will you allow anyone else to do so." He cried out to the pharisee and plebian alike, of a Universal Essence that he had come to identify with, which today we call the Indwelling Christ but which he called “the Father within”, co-creatively participating with Whom is like drinking from an Immortalizing Elixir from a Sacred Font, and never having to thirst again. What is the sole cause of suffering but thirsting, in all its many forms?
What is the one thing needful to be called one of God's Teachers? The Course states, “To be a Teacher of God, it is not necessary to be religious or even to believe in God to any recognizable extent. It is necessary, however, to teach forgiveness rather than condemnation.” Jesus said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged. For by whatsoever standard ye judge with, shall ye be judged.” What the bible doesn't include is that the statement really concluded with, “...shall ye be judged, but only by yourself.”
The course plainly states, “A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's.”
Notice two things: the choice of oneness, “to be one”, is the decision to overlook differences (or separation) of interests (which can only be related to interests on the level of form, and never content), and the decision is deliberate, meaning it is made consciously. Forgiveness is always an Act of Intention. To forgive is not to forget, but to remember that forgiveness is the Key with which we may set ourselves free. As Lesson 121 of the workbook of the Course states, "Forgiveness is the key to happiness." The conscious act of choosing to look past—or forgive—the interests that appeared to separate you from your brother and sister means coming to the understanding of interests common to yourself and all of your neighbors as one, fully accepting the commonalities and differences you share with them, so that nothing needs to change (on their part or yours) in order for you to remain in the State of Grace in Perfect Love, which is the State of Being of one who has accepted the Atonement for him or herself (which, of course, has nothing to do with sacrifice, and everything to do with the return to the Life Principle, which is the Eternal Testament to Love. If the separative mind of judgment was the fall, the unified and unifying mind of the Atonement is the ascension. This is the esoteric meaning of the Resurrection. The raising of a dead body could no more establish the atonement than the seeming death of a living body; it is the Atonement Principle of Unconditional Love alone that saves, and will save you as it saved Jesus; in his life, in his seeming death and in his seeming return to life from the dead. That which is the Christ, or Soul, can never kill or be killed, being the Principle of Eternal Life.
Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” And he also said, “I came that you might have Life, and Life more abundantly.” He came to share the Light of Life with us. The Soul is the Light of Life—the Light of the World—It is the immortal aspect of humanity. Jesus was a man who practiced the teaching espoused by the Course: “To have, give All to all.” And so he came to be called a Savior of the world, or a Teacher of God. The truth is that saviorship, or messiahship, is not a special calling, for it is one we are all called to. As the Course states near the beginning of the text, “ALL are called, but few choose to listen.” And in its last section, “Choose once again if you would take your place among the Saviors of the world, or would remain in hell, and hold your brothers there.” This is the timeless Call of Life—of the Alpha and Omega—to life, to awaken to itself AS Itself. The Divine Life is the All in all, and the Spiritual Eye of the Understanding bears witness forever to this Fact.
Recall that the Course says that It—not the book, but the acceptance of the Atonement, of the Son of God's guiltlessness—is a required Course, and that the Universal Experience is necessary. You must, in Fact, realize yourself as no less than a Part of God Itself, and accept all others as the same. It is only from this platform that Common Interests can be understood. Then it will be that the Teacher of God realizes that in giving All to all, he is acting generously out of Self-Interest, because it is the One Self, or Soul, that is common to all. This is indeed a realization, an epiphany, a revelation, and should be understood to be worlds apart from a mere intellectual understanding, or tacit agreement at the level of the discursive-mind to certain logical propositions that ACIM or other spiritual texts may put forth. But—and this is an important point—we have to start somewhere. We must love and accept ourselves exactly as we are in order to grow. Do we really think that we could ever love and accept another truly until we learn to give them to ourselves? Having must always be prerequisite to giving, and giving must always be the proof of having.
Every untrained part of the mind must be “trained up” and this is why I likened the path of awakening to the climbing of a mountain yesterday. One must be well-exercised to undertake such an arduous task, or it will likely be a very painful experience. And so it is with awakening. The biblical phrase, “Try the spirits,” means to exercise your own spirit in the discipline of mind training. Actually, the spirit need not be trained at all, but is ever-perfect in the Sight of God. It is only the mind that must purify itself, primarily through relationship; not only with others, but first and most fundamentally, in our relationship with ourselves. Self-Love has been derided by some, who misunderstand its real meaning, as indicative of a narcissistic obsession with self, vanity, or some type of egoity. But true Love for one's Self has nothing whatever to do with these. It is the little willingness of self to allow the Self to offer self Its Love, and thus redeem its littleness by restoring it to its true Magnitude; which starts with the deep and sincere inquiry of the self whether there might be a better Way to live, to relate with all of life—that is the requited invitation to All of Heaven to take its rightful place in the life of humankind.
The Ark of Atonement's Safety is indeed entered two by two. But if you have no partner, do not despair, you can make your mind and body the second, for relationship with these you will always have, as you have the poor with you always as a society. The mind and body do appear to be stricken with a poverty of truth and vitality, but the Light of Life that is the Christ—God's Son—will transform all things inwardly and outwardly, in due course. This Light will banish all the sickly forms that darkness may seem to take in ego's feverish imagination, and restore the Vision of the perfect Purity and Blessedness of Creation to the mind that has accepted that Truth's validity is unalterable, as is the deceptive quality of all illusions. And so, one who has accepted the Atonement can state, with perfect clarity. “The truth is true, and only the truth is true.” Old things pass away, and Behold, all things have truly become anew. In this precious, present moment, you can choose again to side with the saviors of the world, and thus transform the world of your experience. As you look upon the picture of the Real World, hung lightly and in light, in the frame of Holy Relationship, it is transformed into Reality; no longer a mere picture, It has become the Kingdom of Heaven Itself. As the Course states, “All this is YOU, and nothing OUTSIDE of this IS you.” and “HAPPY DREAMS COME TRUE. NOT because they are dreams, but only because they are HAPPY.” Recall to mind that God's Will for you is only perfect happiness. Make the Happy Dream of the Real World true for you, and don't delay your arrival to the Lawns of Heaven by discarding it as just another illusion.
The Bible says, “Ye are gods.” This means that we are each of us the Kingdom of Heaven, for in a holographic sense, each part contains the whole of Creation, and there exists no part of Creation separate from the Creator. It is said in the Course that “The Sonship in its oneness DOES transcend the sum of its parts.” In holography, each time you divide and subdivide the original image, you get a less-distinct, blurrier image of the whole. And so it is with the Sonship, or the sum of all Souls that Live. When the Sonship comes together as one, the Light that they will make Manifest will be greater than all their separate Sparks of Light apart. So bright will this shining be, that a Hydrogen bomb's blast is the only possible earthly comparison to what this Spiritual Event will be like. The difference is that, instead of being destructive of life, this will be a sign that the Abundant Life has finally dawned upon the world, to heal and make it whole. This is the Second Coming of Christ, this coming together of the Sonship as One.
The Sonship will be reunited when the thought of separate interests disappears from the minds of everyone. Therefore, the Second Coming of the Christ and the Last Judgment are but the same Event seen from different angles, for the laying by of separate interests is indeed the unequivocal decision to abandon judgment in the recognition: “I do not know my own best interests.” This, of course, is because you don't know your brother's or sister's best interests as your own, nor do you recognize your neighbors as your brothers and sisters. Until you do. Remember, everyone you meet is your neighbor, whether he belong to your “clan” or not.
When the Christ Principle comes to reign on earth, as it does in Heaven, will the Golden Rule be perfectly understood and perfectly practiced, for miracles are indeed signs of true courtesy. This is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, or the New Heavens and New Earth that the bible mentions, and, although it may take millions of years to come about, yet will it come about, because it is God's Will, and “God is not mocked” means the Will of God—which you ARE—can never be thwarted, under any circumstance. Only in nightmares could you make a mockery of God's Creation. God's Will WILL be done. Do not interpret this as a threat, but be reassured that God's Will is always and only that the little Spark of Light in you be joined to the Universal Light of Truth's Inspiration, born of the Universal Experience of Intense and Indescribable Love that is Revelation, from That which IS the Universe and the First Cause—the Prime Mover—of the Universe, to that Idea of your Self, which remains at one with Its Source and all Its Manifestations, or Effects.
The attitude of God's Teacher is, “Whatever is in your best interest—my beloved sister or brother, my dear friend and neighbor—must surely be in my own as well. What I desire in my heart of hearts for myself—freedom, peace, joy, love, acceptance, and understanding—these I desire for you also. As I would have them for myself, so do I give them to you.” This attitude is the ticket for the miracle-worker to be instantly transported to the Real World—to God's dream world of happiness. The attitude of the Happy Dreamer who lives in the Real World is, as the course states, “'Thy Will be done,' and NOT, 'I want it otherwise.'” How different is this than the sad and fearful dreams of the ego, which the course describes as “...perceptual temper tantrums, in which you literally scream, ‘I want it THUS!’ And thus it seems to be.” The world you desire to see, you WILL see. Will it be the happy world of shared interests, or the sad world of separate interests? You get to choose.
The Teachers of God are very clear that it is not up to them to change another, nor could they do so. As a general rule, They avoid offering unsolicited advice, knowing solicited advise is that which is usually best received. We are not asked to correct our brother, “but merely to accept him AS HE IS”, as the course states. A friendly reminder: it is always in our best interest to forgive our brother or sister, and to accept them AS THEY ARE; and they are God's Children, the same as us, and in no way are they separate or different in this One Respect. On the level of appearance—of form—there may seem to be countless differences, but on the level of Truth—of content—you are holy and wholly joined as one in the Light of the Sight of God. We are all Members of the Family of God. If that which is uncorrected exists within your brother's mind, rest assured that the Holy Spirit, or the Inner Teacher that abides in his mind, will correct all of them easily and effortlessly with no help at all on your part. “Do not attempt to remove a splinter from your brother's eye. Rather, remove the beam that is stuck in your own. Then, seeing clearly, you may be able to help him in some way with his splinter.” To paraphrase a biblical quote.
So what, we well may ask, is our part as a Savior of the world? When our sight is restored, how will we help our brother remove his splinter? The part we have to play, as a savior of the world of our experience, is simply, acceptance. This loving acceptance of others is all that is asked of us as Teachers of God, and if we add more, we merely take away from the miracle potential of the situation, by the arrogance of attempting to usurp the Holy Spirit's role as the Corrector of the minds of the separated Sonship. In this, we try to undertake the impossible, and our will (which is not really will at all, but only the ego's idle wishes) WILL be thwarted. As the Course states, “YOU cannot correct YOURSELF. Is it possible, then, for you to correct another? But you CAN see him truly, because it IS possible for you to see YOURSELF truly.” So there it is, if it is impossible for us to correct ourselves by ourselves, without Help from the Teacher that dwells in every Mind, then is it possible, apart from magic, to change the mind of our brother or sister? We are being told that we can help them only by accepting them exactly as they are, understanding that they are a part of the “all things” we are asked to let be—just as they are—in a workbook lesson. We are asked only to see them truly..."exactly as they are."
It is this dynamic and complete acceptance of others, which arises as a natural consequence of genuine Self-Love, that holds out the greatest power for change for one and all. If this temporarily be too difficult, or seem too much to ask of you, do not fight yourself, for that is the least corrective thing you can do. Understand with compassion that you are not yet ready to fulfill your one and only function of forgiveness as the light of the world; you are an unsaved savior. If the combination of those two terms seems inane, you are seeing truly. All that we are being asked to do is to see the truth of innocence behind every dark shadow of guilt; to see the truth of love beyond all fear, in back of all hate. See your brother “AS HE IS”, as a Son of God, the complete equal of yourself. A part of his mind will always resonate to this full acceptance of himself at one with you, and so you both will have seen past separate interests; together, you will have learned the perfect lesson as God's Teachers. The Course says, “Should they decide to learn it, the perfect lesson is before them and can be learned. And if they decide to learn that lesson, they become the saviors of the teachers who falter and may even seem to fail. No teacher of God can fail to find the Help he needs.”
Rather than a meditation exercise, I leave you with this, “Unsaved savior, unhealed healer, untaught teacher, speechless professor, undisciplined trainer: hear my message to you today, “Savior, verily I say unto thee, save thyself; not with fear and trembling, but with love and compassion for one and all, through the One Self in all. Healer, heal thyself. cover not with bandaids the blisters of your swollen ego-boils, but lance them one by one by developing the habit of releasing yourself to peace and completion in each holy instant you are able. Take up your bed and walk, ye halt; ye ARE already able to, hadst thou but a mustard seed's faith!
Cast off the bandages that hide your inner wound; it is not unto death, but unto life that you are called. The Soul's Invulnerability is never realized by masking the pain of the self's vulnerability. Be brutally honest with yourself, but be ye not brutal in doing so. It may hurt at first to rip away these facades of health and wholeness, but the short-lived discomfort of the removal of these magical aids is but the beginning of healing. The Course says, “The patient could merely rise up without their aid and say, “I have no use for this.” There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once.”
Faith is the source of all healing, and so Jesus told those whom he healed, “Thy faith hast made thee whole.” Feeling deeply your inner wound, you will develop compassion for yourself. The Course says to take pity on yourself, so long enslaved to the hell of belief in separate interests; It says, “A little flicker of your eyelids, closed so long, has not yet been sufficient to give you confidence in yourselves, so long despised. You go TOWARD love, still hating it, and TERRIBLY afraid of its judgment upon you.” Have faith that there is one thing that God cannot understand, and that is retribution. God does not understand condemnation or anything that calls for punishment, because punishment and condemnation are uncorrective, and what is uncorrective does not exist except in the imagined world the ego spun out of its own projected fantasies—spawned by the desire that—to put a spin on a Course lesson—'all things be different than they are.'
To summarize these thoughts, as the Course does some of its own: “What is the same can NOT be different, and what is One can NOT have separate parts.”
Go with God, beloved.
Forty Days of Awakening
Day 5
We do not need more theologies, nor more experiences, in the mundane sense; we need more of that Universal Experience mentioned in A Course in Miracles, which puts all the controversy surrounding theological considerations to rest. As the Course states, “Theological considerations […] are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary.” It is this much needed Experience toward which the Course is directed, that the goal of the Universal Curriculum—which is Perfect Peace—be attained. Miracles themselves are only pointers in the direction of this Experience—or Revelation—and accepting the Atonement is the Experience of the Revelation of God's All-Encompassing Love for yourself and AS yourself. Miracles are the means, and the Final Miracle—the Revelation of Atonement—is the end. Far from being a real end in any final sense, this is rather a New Beginning.
This requires a deep acceptance of self, through Self-Surrender—through a wholehearted surrender (or release) to Self—which will never be very popular among the masses, and that is why Jesus said there be so few who walk the road to Life: not because it is difficult, not even because the many lack the concentration of a trained mind, but because a deep sense of unworthiness to see themselves through—to give consistent effort to the climbing of Mount Awakening—prevents those who stray from the Way from the Experience of Total Surrender into the Everlastingly Loving Arms of God, fearing the condemnatory judgment of their distorted projection of God upon them. “Falling into those Arms”, ego shouts, “would be suicide—or worse—eternal damnation.” Control becomes the sorry gift ego offers as Their substitute. But the Holy Spirit whispers in reply, “Falling into These soft Arms is Heaven, my Child. In Their strong, yet gentle Embrace, is Everlasting Life.”
Many, many people would much rather argue about theological and philosophical concepts and terminologies than dive into this transcendent Experience because, in a sense, it is (a lower case 's') self-annihilation; it is an ego-death of sorts. Actually, the ego cannot die, because it never had a real birth. What has no beginning cannot have an end. What had an illusion of a beginning will merely have an illusion of an end, and that is all. In other words, ego is purely an illusion that seems to partake of Life but is in truth completely devoid of the Life Principle, being the call for death disguised as the call for Life. Yet, you DO cry for Life constantly, and ego's raucous shrieks cannot drown out your cry for Truth, even if you do not yet hear it with clarity. Adam and Eve were immortal while they ate of the Tree of Life. But when they ate of the tree of ignorance—of the judgmental mind that loves some good and hates some evil, and hates some other good and loves some other evil, they fell out of conscious fellowship with the Life Principle, and so they “died” in the day they ate of it.
The judgmental mind responsible for the fall (or separation from Life) of humankind, may even turn the tables on its own judgment, and declare that which it formerly called good, evil; and that which it formerly called evil, good. Regarding such confusion, a confusion so profound it cannot even be described—which seemed to wrest Pure Love out of God's Arms and place in His Hands bolts of lightning to strike blind whoever is foolhardy enough to approach Them—what can the Teacher of God say but, “Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do, having forgotten the truth of ourselves.” Jesus was a man who ate from the Tree of Life, and shared Its Fruits with whoever “had ears to hear”. He was not himself the Tree, and so he said, “Of myself, I can do nothing.” and, “I do not bear my own witness, but my Father bears witness for me. If I bore witness for myself, I would be a liar. But my Father; He it is that does the works through me.” As humble as this may seem to us, his message was misunderstood as blasphemy to associate oneself in any way with the Divine by the priests who believed they were the only ones ordained by God to have any sort of association with Him.
One of Jesus' main messages was, “The first shall be last, and the last, first.” Can one who considers themselves an atheist be a Teacher of God? Absolutely! The Course states, “Perhaps the teacher does not think of God as part of teaching. Perhaps the psychotherapist does not understand that healing comes from God. They can succeed where many who believe they have found God will fail.” The last shall be first and the first shall be last. The pharisees of Jesus' time believed they had found God, and had the arrogance to think the common people must go through them to get to God. This illusion Jesus came to shatter, saying, "Oh scribes and pharisees, hypocrites all, you are determined not to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, neither will you allow anyone else to do so." He cried out to the pharisee and plebian alike, of a Universal Essence that he had come to identify with, which today we call the Indwelling Christ but which he called “the Father within”, co-creatively participating with Whom is like drinking from an Immortalizing Elixir from a Sacred Font, and never having to thirst again. What is the sole cause of suffering but thirsting, in all its many forms?
What is the one thing needful to be called one of God's Teachers? The Course states, “To be a Teacher of God, it is not necessary to be religious or even to believe in God to any recognizable extent. It is necessary, however, to teach forgiveness rather than condemnation.” Jesus said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged. For by whatsoever standard ye judge with, shall ye be judged.” What the bible doesn't include is that the statement really concluded with, “...shall ye be judged, but only by yourself.”
The course plainly states, “A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else's.”
Notice two things: the choice of oneness, “to be one”, is the decision to overlook differences (or separation) of interests (which can only be related to interests on the level of form, and never content), and the decision is deliberate, meaning it is made consciously. Forgiveness is always an Act of Intention. To forgive is not to forget, but to remember that forgiveness is the Key with which we may set ourselves free. As Lesson 121 of the workbook of the Course states, "Forgiveness is the key to happiness." The conscious act of choosing to look past—or forgive—the interests that appeared to separate you from your brother and sister means coming to the understanding of interests common to yourself and all of your neighbors as one, fully accepting the commonalities and differences you share with them, so that nothing needs to change (on their part or yours) in order for you to remain in the State of Grace in Perfect Love, which is the State of Being of one who has accepted the Atonement for him or herself (which, of course, has nothing to do with sacrifice, and everything to do with the return to the Life Principle, which is the Eternal Testament to Love. If the separative mind of judgment was the fall, the unified and unifying mind of the Atonement is the ascension. This is the esoteric meaning of the Resurrection. The raising of a dead body could no more establish the atonement than the seeming death of a living body; it is the Atonement Principle of Unconditional Love alone that saves, and will save you as it saved Jesus; in his life, in his seeming death and in his seeming return to life from the dead. That which is the Christ, or Soul, can never kill or be killed, being the Principle of Eternal Life.
Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” And he also said, “I came that you might have Life, and Life more abundantly.” He came to share the Light of Life with us. The Soul is the Light of Life—the Light of the World—It is the immortal aspect of humanity. Jesus was a man who practiced the teaching espoused by the Course: “To have, give All to all.” And so he came to be called a Savior of the world, or a Teacher of God. The truth is that saviorship, or messiahship, is not a special calling, for it is one we are all called to. As the Course states near the beginning of the text, “ALL are called, but few choose to listen.” And in its last section, “Choose once again if you would take your place among the Saviors of the world, or would remain in hell, and hold your brothers there.” This is the timeless Call of Life—of the Alpha and Omega—to life, to awaken to itself AS Itself. The Divine Life is the All in all, and the Spiritual Eye of the Understanding bears witness forever to this Fact.
Recall that the Course says that It—not the book, but the acceptance of the Atonement, of the Son of God's guiltlessness—is a required Course, and that the Universal Experience is necessary. You must, in Fact, realize yourself as no less than a Part of God Itself, and accept all others as the same. It is only from this platform that Common Interests can be understood. Then it will be that the Teacher of God realizes that in giving All to all, he is acting generously out of Self-Interest, because it is the One Self, or Soul, that is common to all. This is indeed a realization, an epiphany, a revelation, and should be understood to be worlds apart from a mere intellectual understanding, or tacit agreement at the level of the discursive-mind to certain logical propositions that ACIM or other spiritual texts may put forth. But—and this is an important point—we have to start somewhere. We must love and accept ourselves exactly as we are in order to grow. Do we really think that we could ever love and accept another truly until we learn to give them to ourselves? Having must always be prerequisite to giving, and giving must always be the proof of having.
Every untrained part of the mind must be “trained up” and this is why I likened the path of awakening to the climbing of a mountain yesterday. One must be well-exercised to undertake such an arduous task, or it will likely be a very painful experience. And so it is with awakening. The biblical phrase, “Try the spirits,” means to exercise your own spirit in the discipline of mind training. Actually, the spirit need not be trained at all, but is ever-perfect in the Sight of God. It is only the mind that must purify itself, primarily through relationship; not only with others, but first and most fundamentally, in our relationship with ourselves. Self-Love has been derided by some, who misunderstand its real meaning, as indicative of a narcissistic obsession with self, vanity, or some type of egoity. But true Love for one's Self has nothing whatever to do with these. It is the little willingness of self to allow the Self to offer self Its Love, and thus redeem its littleness by restoring it to its true Magnitude; which starts with the deep and sincere inquiry of the self whether there might be a better Way to live, to relate with all of life—that is the requited invitation to All of Heaven to take its rightful place in the life of humankind.
The Ark of Atonement's Safety is indeed entered two by two. But if you have no partner, do not despair, you can make your mind and body the second, for relationship with these you will always have, as you have the poor with you always as a society. The mind and body do appear to be stricken with a poverty of truth and vitality, but the Light of Life that is the Christ—God's Son—will transform all things inwardly and outwardly, in due course. This Light will banish all the sickly forms that darkness may seem to take in ego's feverish imagination, and restore the Vision of the perfect Purity and Blessedness of Creation to the mind that has accepted that Truth's validity is unalterable, as is the deceptive quality of all illusions. And so, one who has accepted the Atonement can state, with perfect clarity. “The truth is true, and only the truth is true.” Old things pass away, and Behold, all things have truly become anew. In this precious, present moment, you can choose again to side with the saviors of the world, and thus transform the world of your experience. As you look upon the picture of the Real World, hung lightly and in light, in the frame of Holy Relationship, it is transformed into Reality; no longer a mere picture, It has become the Kingdom of Heaven Itself. As the Course states, “All this is YOU, and nothing OUTSIDE of this IS you.” and “HAPPY DREAMS COME TRUE. NOT because they are dreams, but only because they are HAPPY.” Recall to mind that God's Will for you is only perfect happiness. Make the Happy Dream of the Real World true for you, and don't delay your arrival to the Lawns of Heaven by discarding it as just another illusion.
The Bible says, “Ye are gods.” This means that we are each of us the Kingdom of Heaven, for in a holographic sense, each part contains the whole of Creation, and there exists no part of Creation separate from the Creator. It is said in the Course that “The Sonship in its oneness DOES transcend the sum of its parts.” In holography, each time you divide and subdivide the original image, you get a less-distinct, blurrier image of the whole. And so it is with the Sonship, or the sum of all Souls that Live. When the Sonship comes together as one, the Light that they will make Manifest will be greater than all their separate Sparks of Light apart. So bright will this shining be, that a Hydrogen bomb's blast is the only possible earthly comparison to what this Spiritual Event will be like. The difference is that, instead of being destructive of life, this will be a sign that the Abundant Life has finally dawned upon the world, to heal and make it whole. This is the Second Coming of Christ, this coming together of the Sonship as One.
The Sonship will be reunited when the thought of separate interests disappears from the minds of everyone. Therefore, the Second Coming of the Christ and the Last Judgment are but the same Event seen from different angles, for the laying by of separate interests is indeed the unequivocal decision to abandon judgment in the recognition: “I do not know my own best interests.” This, of course, is because you don't know your brother's or sister's best interests as your own, nor do you recognize your neighbors as your brothers and sisters. Until you do. Remember, everyone you meet is your neighbor, whether he belong to your “clan” or not.
When the Christ Principle comes to reign on earth, as it does in Heaven, will the Golden Rule be perfectly understood and perfectly practiced, for miracles are indeed signs of true courtesy. This is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, or the New Heavens and New Earth that the bible mentions, and, although it may take millions of years to come about, yet will it come about, because it is God's Will, and “God is not mocked” means the Will of God—which you ARE—can never be thwarted, under any circumstance. Only in nightmares could you make a mockery of God's Creation. God's Will WILL be done. Do not interpret this as a threat, but be reassured that God's Will is always and only that the little Spark of Light in you be joined to the Universal Light of Truth's Inspiration, born of the Universal Experience of Intense and Indescribable Love that is Revelation, from That which IS the Universe and the First Cause—the Prime Mover—of the Universe, to that Idea of your Self, which remains at one with Its Source and all Its Manifestations, or Effects.
The attitude of God's Teacher is, “Whatever is in your best interest—my beloved sister or brother, my dear friend and neighbor—must surely be in my own as well. What I desire in my heart of hearts for myself—freedom, peace, joy, love, acceptance, and understanding—these I desire for you also. As I would have them for myself, so do I give them to you.” This attitude is the ticket for the miracle-worker to be instantly transported to the Real World—to God's dream world of happiness. The attitude of the Happy Dreamer who lives in the Real World is, as the course states, “'Thy Will be done,' and NOT, 'I want it otherwise.'” How different is this than the sad and fearful dreams of the ego, which the course describes as “...perceptual temper tantrums, in which you literally scream, ‘I want it THUS!’ And thus it seems to be.” The world you desire to see, you WILL see. Will it be the happy world of shared interests, or the sad world of separate interests? You get to choose.
The Teachers of God are very clear that it is not up to them to change another, nor could they do so. As a general rule, They avoid offering unsolicited advice, knowing solicited advise is that which is usually best received. We are not asked to correct our brother, “but merely to accept him AS HE IS”, as the course states. A friendly reminder: it is always in our best interest to forgive our brother or sister, and to accept them AS THEY ARE; and they are God's Children, the same as us, and in no way are they separate or different in this One Respect. On the level of appearance—of form—there may seem to be countless differences, but on the level of Truth—of content—you are holy and wholly joined as one in the Light of the Sight of God. We are all Members of the Family of God. If that which is uncorrected exists within your brother's mind, rest assured that the Holy Spirit, or the Inner Teacher that abides in his mind, will correct all of them easily and effortlessly with no help at all on your part. “Do not attempt to remove a splinter from your brother's eye. Rather, remove the beam that is stuck in your own. Then, seeing clearly, you may be able to help him in some way with his splinter.” To paraphrase a biblical quote.
So what, we well may ask, is our part as a Savior of the world? When our sight is restored, how will we help our brother remove his splinter? The part we have to play, as a savior of the world of our experience, is simply, acceptance. This loving acceptance of others is all that is asked of us as Teachers of God, and if we add more, we merely take away from the miracle potential of the situation, by the arrogance of attempting to usurp the Holy Spirit's role as the Corrector of the minds of the separated Sonship. In this, we try to undertake the impossible, and our will (which is not really will at all, but only the ego's idle wishes) WILL be thwarted. As the Course states, “YOU cannot correct YOURSELF. Is it possible, then, for you to correct another? But you CAN see him truly, because it IS possible for you to see YOURSELF truly.” So there it is, if it is impossible for us to correct ourselves by ourselves, without Help from the Teacher that dwells in every Mind, then is it possible, apart from magic, to change the mind of our brother or sister? We are being told that we can help them only by accepting them exactly as they are, understanding that they are a part of the “all things” we are asked to let be—just as they are—in a workbook lesson. We are asked only to see them truly..."exactly as they are."
It is this dynamic and complete acceptance of others, which arises as a natural consequence of genuine Self-Love, that holds out the greatest power for change for one and all. If this temporarily be too difficult, or seem too much to ask of you, do not fight yourself, for that is the least corrective thing you can do. Understand with compassion that you are not yet ready to fulfill your one and only function of forgiveness as the light of the world; you are an unsaved savior. If the combination of those two terms seems inane, you are seeing truly. All that we are being asked to do is to see the truth of innocence behind every dark shadow of guilt; to see the truth of love beyond all fear, in back of all hate. See your brother “AS HE IS”, as a Son of God, the complete equal of yourself. A part of his mind will always resonate to this full acceptance of himself at one with you, and so you both will have seen past separate interests; together, you will have learned the perfect lesson as God's Teachers. The Course says, “Should they decide to learn it, the perfect lesson is before them and can be learned. And if they decide to learn that lesson, they become the saviors of the teachers who falter and may even seem to fail. No teacher of God can fail to find the Help he needs.”
Rather than a meditation exercise, I leave you with this, “Unsaved savior, unhealed healer, untaught teacher, speechless professor, undisciplined trainer: hear my message to you today, “Savior, verily I say unto thee, save thyself; not with fear and trembling, but with love and compassion for one and all, through the One Self in all. Healer, heal thyself. cover not with bandaids the blisters of your swollen ego-boils, but lance them one by one by developing the habit of releasing yourself to peace and completion in each holy instant you are able. Take up your bed and walk, ye halt; ye ARE already able to, hadst thou but a mustard seed's faith!
Cast off the bandages that hide your inner wound; it is not unto death, but unto life that you are called. The Soul's Invulnerability is never realized by masking the pain of the self's vulnerability. Be brutally honest with yourself, but be ye not brutal in doing so. It may hurt at first to rip away these facades of health and wholeness, but the short-lived discomfort of the removal of these magical aids is but the beginning of healing. The Course says, “The patient could merely rise up without their aid and say, “I have no use for this.” There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once.”
Faith is the source of all healing, and so Jesus told those whom he healed, “Thy faith hast made thee whole.” Feeling deeply your inner wound, you will develop compassion for yourself. The Course says to take pity on yourself, so long enslaved to the hell of belief in separate interests; It says, “A little flicker of your eyelids, closed so long, has not yet been sufficient to give you confidence in yourselves, so long despised. You go TOWARD love, still hating it, and TERRIBLY afraid of its judgment upon you.” Have faith that there is one thing that God cannot understand, and that is retribution. God does not understand condemnation or anything that calls for punishment, because punishment and condemnation are uncorrective, and what is uncorrective does not exist except in the imagined world the ego spun out of its own projected fantasies—spawned by the desire that—to put a spin on a Course lesson—'all things be different than they are.'
To summarize these thoughts, as the Course does some of its own: “What is the same can NOT be different, and what is One can NOT have separate parts.”
Go with God, beloved.
Day
6
Meditation
is not about sitting in a certain posture and trying not think about
anything. Meditation is about gaining access to a higher state of
consciousness. It is all about changing your mind about your mind.
What is needed is a fundamental change of consciousness, such that
the source of every thought we ever thought or yet will think will be
shifted in the direction of greater peace, joy, love, and
unity-consciousness.
When
you sit, offer yourself the priceless gift of a tranquil mind. Sink
deeply into peace. Feel the calm arising from the utter lack of need
to go anywhere or do anything. Cultivate a sense of Divine Apathy.
Watch your mind. Thoughts arise like a steady stream of bubbles from
some hidden source. They are not the problem. The problem is
identifying with the thoughts that rob you of peace and bring some
form of upset.
There
is a soap opera playing out between our ears. The psychological
diagnosis of modern society might be: “Lost in thought”. We
become so identified with our thinking that we lose sight of the
thinker. To be at choice in the thoughts you think is the
precondition of a free will. But because of identification with
thoughts, we have obscured the clarity of the thinker, and are
therefore constantly coerced into doing the bidding of the various
characters of our mental soap opera. And we experience varying states
of suffering, alternating between playing the role of victim and
victimizer.
The
show must go on until we learn to step back and watch the drama
unfold without getting caught up in the plot of undisciplined
thought. Have you ever paid close attention to the hypnagogic
phenomena while drifting to sleep? The mind fabricates the sights,
sounds, and sensations that will most effectively draw us into
unconsciousness. A similar thing happens with our egos: we attract to
ourselves those experiences (including thoughts) that tend to hold us
back from awakening to our true, spiritual nature.
The
ego compounds guilt, even as it traffics in grievances. The pain of
guilt is unbearable, and the need to avoid it becomes the motivating
factor the egos misuse of projection. Properly employed, projection
is a means by which we extend Love, Soul, and every Goodness to our
brother or sister, seeing in Him or Her only what we know to be true
in ourselves: the Divine Light of Understanding. Unlike the ego's
misprojection of guilt, the holiness we see in our neighbor is really
there, and can be shared. As the popular idiom states,
“What you spot, you got.” So the Light you saw in your neighbor,
you must have beheld first within yourself. Sharing It is the
projection of True Communication, and will transpire whether or not
any words at all be spoken. Again, all that is necessary is that we
see our brother or sister truly.
Only
what is real can be shared, and only Love is real. Let this be the
guiding principle we employ in our dealings with one another, and let
us do our part to make the Golden Rule the norm by giving of
ourselves, from our storehouse of treasures, that which we would
receive. We cannot join in illusions, but only in Truth. Joining in
Truth with our brothers and sisters is the praise and thanks you
offer God, on your behalf.
For
your meditation today, begin by internally telling yourself, firmly
but gently, with eyes open, “For the purpose of this exercise,
nothing that I see is worth perceiving.” Then close your eyes and
state mentally, “For the duration of this exercise, no thought is
worth thinking about.” Now, imagine yourself as a stone dropped
gently into a very deep lake. The purpose of this exercise is to
experience what it means to sink deeply into peace—to experience
what the Course is describing when it asks you to, “sink
down and inward, away from the world and all the foolish thoughts of
the world. You are trying to reach past all these things. You are
trying to leave appearances and approach reality.” Let your
imagination really run wild in this one: picture the shape and color
of the stone, and hear the “kerplunk!” of the stone as it hits
the water, and follow its journey “down and inward” as it sways
slightly to and fro—perhaps flipping a time or two—in the shallow
currents. Be the stone as it descends into the lake's depths,
as you sink past all shallow thoughts, to the Reality of the Peace of
pure Being, to the deep Thought of God that you are, symbolized by
the lakes soft, sandy floor. As you sink deeper and deeper, notice
the darkness that surrounds you, and notice as well you are sinking
straight down now, as the shallow currents do not run so deep.
Sinking, sinking, sinking...finally you land on the bottom of the
lake, hundreds of meters below the surface. Enjoy the peace of coming
to rest at a standstill here, and remain grounded in this way as long
as it feels comfortable. You may repeat the thoughts with which
today's meditation began, “Nothing that I see is worth
perceiving...no thought is worth thinking about.” At this point,
you may let an image of a great mountain come to mind, such as Mt.
Sumeru, and feel the imperturbability and immovability of this
mountain as your Self. Engage in today's meditation as long as it
feels comfortable to do so. The time spent is not as important as the
depth of peace experienced in the practice period. But if you feel
you did not experience the peace we seek, do not be discouraged. We
are only just starting out in our journey of awakening. And this is a
journey of awakening—not to awakening—because at
any step along the path, we can experience the Goal of Freedom and
Peace of Mind that is our Heart's Deepest Desire.
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