September 30, 2014

Many of us have misunderstood what forgiveness is. We have learned that forgiveness is about what others have done to wrong us or what we have done to wrong ourselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. When we dwell on what others have done to wrong us or what we have done to wrong ourselves we are believing that we can be wronged. This belief keeps us aligned with a great misperception about us that we are limited, can be wronged, and that we deny our natural wholeness and divine nature. We deny the very truth about us that we are whole, perfect, limitless, and created One with our Creator. We are inseparable from each other and our Creator. Forgiveness is the correction of error or more correctly the perception of error, for error is not real.

To forgive is to look beyond error to the truth beyond it. We must not allow our perception to rest on error or we begin to believe that error is true. Spirit asks us to look beyond the appearance of error to the truth about each other and accept the truth about who they really are. In accepting this truth we will know ourselves truly, for we are One with each other. When we get caught up in seeing error, we separate ourselves from the awareness that we are all One by dwelling on our differences rather than our Oneness. We believe that somehow another limits us in a limited world rather than realizing that another increases us in an abundant world. We need to remember always that our Identity is shared and that Its sharing is reality.

We have a part to play in Spirit’s plan of forgiveness. Our part is to follow our Guide, Spirit, who dwells within all of us. We have lost sight of this Guide within us in our limited idea about what we are. This sense of limitation about ourselves and each other is where all errors arise. This Guide, Spirit, is within us waiting for us to allow It to guide our perception. Spirit works within us gently to correct the mistaken ideas we hold so rigidly that prevent us from seeing clearly. Our spiritual sight is just fine, yet we have shrouded it in a veil of mistaken perception, clouding our awareness of our true Vision.

The Atonement, which is the plan of forgiveness, is a lesson in sharing, which is given us because we have forgotten how to share. Spirit simply reminds us of the natural use of our abilities. We are created with the natural ability to share. Our mistakes or errors are nothing more than a misuse of our natural ability to share as the ability to attack and separate. Even though attack and separation are impossible in the Realm of God, we believe that it is possible, so it appears real to our egoic thought system. When we ask Spirit to guide us, Spirit guides the changes in perception we each need. Spirit guides and corrects our mistaken perceptions and raises what we have made to the true creation beyond. Spirit uses everything in our experience to raise our awareness. Spirit shows us the message of truth behind everything another has said. Spirit guides us in how to fully share our love and gratitude with each other in this world of form. We all are truly One and share everything our creator has created in us. Love is what we are. Love is what we have to share. Love is limitless. No matter what appearance we have put forth in this world, Spirit will translate its appearance to Love. Forgiveness is to share the wholeness of each other with each other with abandon and let all else fade away. We are all the One Child of Oneness experiencing the Realm of Heaven on this earth. Let it be so.

September 23, 2014

What is it about correcting errors? We love to point out and correct errors. Or more correctly, our egoic thought system loves to point out and correct errors. And because the egoic thought system is an erroneous thought, it really doesn’t understand error at all. But the egoic thought system does focus on its idea of error to keep our mind distracted from truth and reality. There is no real error. Error is misperception. When we see error we are misperceiving. Error is impossible in the Realm of God, Reality, for there is no error. It just doesn’t exist!

How confusing is that? When we “see” another has erred, we have seen them as something they are not. And thus we have seen ourselves in error also. We are asked to see another as they truly are, a whole, perfect, loving Holy Child of God who is One with God, us and all Creation. We are One with each other, so how we see them is how we see ourselves. The only way to correct error is to relinquish the egoic thought system and the concept of error altogether. We are as God created us. We haven’t a blemish or a fault. When we correct another, we are telling them that they are wrong. This One may be making no sense at the time, for they may be speaking from the egoic thought system. But our task is to tell them they are right. We don’t tell them this verbally, for the error is not at the verbal level. They need correction at a different level, the level where the misperception occurs. They are right simply because they are the One Child of God as we are. When we react at all to errors, we are not listening to the Holy Spirit speaking to us through another. And so we separate our mind from the Mind of God and adopt the egoic thought system.

From the Course: T-9.III.5 & 6. When another behaves insanely, we can heal them only by perceiving the sanity in them. If we perceive their errors and accept them, we are accepting our errors. If we want to give our errors over to the Holy Spirit, we must do this with their errors. Unless this becomes the one way in which we handle all errors, we cannot understand how all errors are undone. This is no different from the lesson that what we teach we learn. Our brothers and sisters are as right as we are, and if we think they are wrong we are condemning ourselves.

We cannot correct ourselves. Yet we can see another truly, because it is possible for us to see ourselves truly. It’s not up to us to change another, but merely to accept them as they are. Their errors do not come from the truth that is in them, and only this truth is ours. Their errors cannot change this, and can have no effect at all on the truth in us. 7 To perceive errors in anyone, and to react to them as if they were real, is to make them real to us.

Let go of the egoic tendency to judge and point out another’s errors. There is no error that is of us. The only result is that we remove ourselves from the awareness of who we really are and judge ourselves separate. See only truth in the One we walk beside. Listen for the Voice for God in that One as we journey in this world. Spirit is walking in that One as Spirit is walking in us. Allow Spirit to teach you how to see yourself without condemnation by learning to look on everything and everyone without condemnation. Condemnation will then not be real and we are all forgiven – healed. Thus we return to the awareness of who we really are.

September 16, 2014

The answer to prayer is within us. The Course has told us many times we are given all as we are created. We lack nothing. The abundance of Spirit is ours, it is within each and every one and all of us. If we already are everything in our creation, why do we ask for anything? What should we ask for? The only thing we need is the healing of the idea of separation. We have been asking Spirit for all sorts of things when what we really need is Spirit’s guidance. Simply allowing our minds to reawaken to the guidance of Spirit is what is most valuable to us. That will transform our thought system. That will transform the world we see. That will reawaken the awareness of who we really are and who our brothers and sisters really are.

Every little bit of the world we see is a signpost. Spirit is in all of it, just beyond where we are looking, calling to us and reminding us of the Truth about us. As we discussed last week, we have believed we are little and that we ask what we think we need. We have believed we are afraid of the truth about us. And we have become afraid of the answer Spirit gives us to our prayer. What have we judged to have value? Are we willing to value the answer Spirit has for us? The true answer to our prayer has infinite value. It has so much value that it must be shared. The answer speaks to us in all we see and perceive if we will only value it correctly. The Course tells us the answer is given to us through our brothers and sisters. Do we value them correctly? The value we see in them is the value we see in ourselves. To recognize the answer is to be healed. All true healing is of the mind. And the healing of the mind is the acceptance and thus the awareness of the truth of who we really are.

We place value on what we receive. And we establish the value of what we receive by what we give. Creation is Love. The Course teaches that giving and receiving are the same. It also teaches us that to receive all, give all. Giving and receiving all is the extending of Love. If we are created as Love, then the same is true of each and every Child of God. Are we that afraid of real Love? We must be, for that is the answer we are afraid of. As we Love each other unconditionally, we hear Spirit’s message and answer in each other. I am the answer to your prayer and you are the answer to mine. This is what we really want, but are afraid to see. So, as we let go of our fear of the answer, say to everyone,

“Because I will to know myself, I see you as God’s Child and my brother/sister.”

In this thought our prayer is answered and our mind is healed. Let it be so today.

September 9, 2014

Most of us have grown up with some concept of prayer. We have asked for many somethings in prayer and have undoubtedly experienced what appears to be failure receiving what we asked for. We have experienced this to be true not only in things that might be harmful, but in connection with requests that are strictly in line with the Course. Our first conclusion may be that the Course doesn’t work. But perhaps we are not seeing clearly. Perhaps the answer has come and we haven’t opened our eyes enough to see it. Perhaps we are not ready for it yet. One thing we must remember is that the Course has stated repeatedly, as the Course tends to do, that its purpose is the escape from or the removal of fear. Have we come to understand and accept the deeper meaning of the Course? Are we willing to look beyond the appearance of anything to the deeper meaning Spirit is waiting to reveal to us?

Suppose we ask Spirit for what we really want. Spirit has promised an answer to us. If we ask for what we really want but are still afraid of it, the attainment of it would not be what we really want. When we are afraid of what we want, that can no longer be what we want. Do we ever really want what we are afraid of? Many of us have asked for healing. But if we look deeper, what have we asked for? The Course teaches us healing is of the mind. Healing is a correction in our thought system from an egoic thought system to a right minded thought system. If we ask for healing but are afraid of changing our thought system, we are not asking for real healing. This comes down to the fact that we are often afraid of the transformation the healing of the mind can bring, even if that’s what we really want.

The Course, as does the Bible, emphasizes that all prayer is answered and this is indeed true. Asking Spirit for anything ensures a response and it is also certain that Spirit’s response will never increase fear. It is possible that we may not have heard Spirit’s answer to our prayer. There are many answers we have not yet heard that are waiting for us. They will be revealed in perfect time when we are ready to receive them. We may also be unwilling to recognize the messenger bringing that answer.

If we know our prayers are answered, would we ever doubt a Child of God?   Do we question and doubt each other, the One Child of God we are One with? Our faith in each other is the refection of the faith we have in ourselves. The message we receive from another is up to us. What would we have another say to us? Our decision about who another is determines the message we receive. Each of us is whole and Spirit is within each and every one of us. Spirit’s voice speaks through each One to us. If we are willing to hear the Voice for God in another, how could they speak anything but Truth? Our brother or sister may not be aware of who they are, but there is a light in their mind that does know. This light shines into our minds giving truth to their words and making us able to hear them. Another’s words are Spirit’s answer to our prayer. Is our faith in who our brothers and sisters really are strong enough to let us hear the true answer? Open your mind to the Voice for God and hear it from wherever it comes. When we listen with our higher mind we will hear the Voice of Spirit everywhere. The answer to our prayer is given. Choose to let go of your fear of the answer and hear it now.

September 2, 2014

The Course tells us a lot about Reality; that is, Reality as it is created. It also tells us about a “reality” we made up as a result of our belief in separation; the belief that we can be separate from our Creator and each other. This made up “reality” is the world we think we see. It is a result of our belief in separation. It is perceived through our belief that limitation, lack, attack, defense, imperfection, and incompleteness are possible and do exist. The world we think we see is perceived through the lens of separation and is thus misperceived by the egoic thought system to which we have given control of our thoughts and our minds. We have used judgment to make division appear real. Thus we are constantly trying to maintain our part of “reality” by placing value judgments on all we encounter, experience and think.

The Course asks us to relinquish our judgments about the world we think we see. It asks us to release our attachment to our thoughts and ideas we hold about the world, our experiences and each other. The Course tells us that everything real is of equal value and everything not real has no value for it doesn’t really exist except in our minds. Our Creator has created us whole, One with the Creator and One with all of Creation. Every aspect of creation contains and is all of Creation. Not one iota of Creation is separable from another. Creation is an extension of the Creator and our Creations are extensions of us as we co-create with the Creator. We each contain and share with each other all that the Creator is.

The Reality of Creation is the Will of the Creator, or the Will of all Creation. This will is a shared Will. It is ours whether we think we want it or not. And we really do want it for it brings the awareness of our completeness to our Mind. To accept our completeness, to accept our Divine wholeness and Love is to accept Reality and the reality of who we really are. We have never actually been anything other than that reality. We have simply blocked our awareness of our Divine wholeness. We are the essence of Love that our Source is. We come from that Source and carry that Source in the depths of our being. Letting that Source essence shine from within us as we go about our lives in this perceived form is our happiness. It is our natural state of being. It is Heaven on earth.

This may sound totally impossible and perhaps insane if we try to understand this from our egoic thought system. And it is virtually impossible to make this shift in thought and belief while we hold on to a belief in separation. But as we accept the idea of Reality into our minds, Spirit moves in us to assist us in perceiving this world differently. Spirit guides our perception to correct the misperceived ideas we are so attached to. Spirit asks us simply to be willing to allow Spirit to show us another way to perceive whatever is blocking our awareness of who we really are. The only real thing in Creation is Love. We are meant to be the communicators of Divine Love to the world. Love guides us in this communication as we allow it. Are we willing to begin to manifest Love in this world? Are we willing to let it shine within us and let it shine in others so they may see it shining for themselves? Accept the reality of Reality into your mind and allow Spirit’s guidance to transform your perception and all perception as we open to our collective One Mind. We are the Reality of Oneness and Love. Let its full effect into your awareness of who we really are and be that Love.