April 28, 2015

The Course teaches us Reality is eternal. What do we see in our world as we see it? Is it perishable or is it eternal? Is it permanent or is it temporary? I don’t think anything we see with the body’s eyes could ever be called eternal or permanent. No aspect of nature could be called permanent or eternal. Even the tallest most solid mountain is subject to erosion. Wind, water and plant life constantly wear away and break apart the most solid rock we ca imagine. The earth and the universe are incredibly beautiful creations, but even science would agree that they are not eternal. So there must be another world that the Course is referring to when it speaks of the Real world, Reality.

We don’t see this eternal world, so there must be another world, another Reality we don’t see. If what we are seeing or perceiving is not real, perhaps we can perceive anew or more simply perceive again. What, then, is the world that awaits our perception when we see it? From the Course:

Every loving thought that We ever had is eternal. The loving thoughts our mind perceives in this world are the world’s only reality. They are still perceptions, because we still believe that we are separate. Yet they are eternal because they are loving. And being loving they are like the Creator, and therefore cannot die. The real world can actually be perceived. All that is necessary is a willingness to perceive nothing else. For if we perceive both good and evil, we are accepting both the false and the true and making no distinction between them. ACIM T-11.VII.2.1-7

Reality is simply Love. It is mothing more and nothing less. Love is all there is. Reality is simply loving thoughts. And further, Reality is loving thoughts that are shared. Loving thoughts can certainly be seen as eternal. This is definitely not the world we have come to see as “real.” The world we see has some good in it and some love in it, but never only good and love.

We have chosen to believe we are separate and that we want to create separately from our Source, our Creator rather than co-create with our Source. Thus we made our egoic thought system to support the mistaken idea of personal autonomy. We could never accept any perception of the world that contained no good or love, so our wrong-mindedness adds misperceptions to our world to support our belief in separation. It colors our perception of everything we see and thus distorts our perception of ourselves and the world we see. Since we now believe that both truth and illusion are true, we cannot tell them apart and thus confuse illusion and reality. It is possible, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to perceive only the real world which will lead us to the real Heaven, because it will make us capable of understanding it.

The Course gives us this instruction:

The perception of goodness is not knowledge, but the denial of the opposite of goodness enables us to recognize a condition in which opposites do not exist. And this is the condition of knowledge. Without this awareness we have not met its conditions, and until we do we will not know it is ours already. We have made many ideas that we have placed between ourselves and our Source, and these beliefs are the world as we perceive it. Truth is not absent here, but it is obscure. We do not know the difference between what we have made and what Source created, and so we do not know the difference between what we have made and what we have created. To believe that we can perceive the real world is to believe that we can know ourselves. We can know Source because Source Wills to be known. The real world is all that the Holy Spirit has saved for us out of what we have made, and to perceive only this is salvation, because it is the recognition that reality is only what is true. ACIM T-11.VII.4.1-9

All is possible when we turn our minds to Spirit within us. Love, our true nature, has never left us. We have simply confused it with the layers of illusion we have also believed. The conditions of Reality are within us and Spirit will guide us in setting aside all the mistaken conditions we have added to our minds. Trust the guidance of Spirit and allow the fullness of Reality to well up in your being. You are complete and whole. Be the limitless love that is your Reality.

April 21, 2015

Wakening to redemption is a choice. It is our choice. We either choose to waken to the awareness of who we are or remain in the perceived world of suffering we have dreamed up. To choose to remain in the dream world of suffering is to choose to crucify ourselves. Who would ever want to do such a thing? But we choose to not awaken to the awareness of who we really are by remaining attached to the ideas and thoughts we have made. To align our minds with the egoic thought system is choosing suffering the unawareness of our wholeness, completeness and divine essence. It is denying the truth about who we are.

The freedom to leave behind everything that hurts you and humbles you and frightens you cannot be thrust upon you, but it can be offered you through the grace of the One. And you can accept it by the One’s grace, for the One is gracious to Us, accepting us without question as the One’s Own. ACIM T-11.VI.6.3-4

It is our choice to accept freedom, the freedom of being who we really are. Waking to redemption is waking to the awareness of who we really are and always have been. This wakening is our resurrection.

Our insistence on remaining aligned and attached to our egoic thought system is the single factor that keeps us separated from the awareness of our divine nature. It is actually impossible to be separated from our divine nature. It is also impossible to be aware of our divine nature and aligned with our egoic thought system simultaneously. They are completely incompatible since they each completely contradict the other. This is what is meant by not being able to serve more than one God. We can either align ourselves with truth and reality, or we can align ourselves with illusion and deception. Perceiving ourselves as separate is essentially deceiving ourselves about who we are. It is the ultimate denial of our Self!

Yet, it is easily changed by the miracle of healing our thoughts, the process of healing our minds. All we need do is choose to allow Spirit to guide our choices. Our willingness to do this is the beginning of our journey back to the awareness of who we really are. And if we choose incorrectly, we simply let it go, ask for guidance and choose again. What we gain is the peace of knowing love, joy and happiness already within us. Spirit calls from within us every moment of every day, reminding us of our divine essence. Are we ready to listen? As we begin to waken, we are still aware of the dreams we continue to hang on to. But, the forgetting of these dreams and the awareness of our own divine nature come with the awakening of others to share our awakening.

You will awaken to your own call, for the Call to awake is within you. If the One lives in you, you are awake. Yet you must see the works the One does through you, or you will not perceive that the One has done them unto you. Do not set limits on what you believe the One can do through you, or you will not accept what the One can do for you. Yet it is done already. Give all that you have received and you will know your true Identity and that you have awakened to the awareness of your divine essence. Redemption is recognized only by sharing it. ACIM T-11.VI.9.1-6

Choose now to realign your mind with the One Mind. Be willing to allow Spirit to guide you in your choices. Nothing is more healing. Nothing will bring you more joy. Choose again when your choice is mistaken. You can’t harm yourself. That is guaranteed. Bu you can awaken to the lasting love and joy that is already within you. This is your redemption. This is the resurrection of the awareness of who you are and your divine essence. Be the divine One you truly are.

April 14, 2015

The world we see is determined by our perception. Our experiences are interpreted by our perception. And our perception is guided by our beliefs. Our perceptions and our beliefs go hand in hand. Remember the phrase, “What I believe I will see.” This statement is always true. It doesn’t mean what we believe and see is true, it just means we believe what we think we see is real. Perception is that powerful to our consciousness. The Course begins this section with this:

It is impossible not to believe what you see, but it is equally impossible to see what you do not believe. Perceptions are built up on the basis of experience, and experience leads to beliefs. It is not until beliefs are fixed that perceptions stabilize. In effect, then, what you believe you do see. ACIM T-11.VI.1.12-4

How do we choose to perceive ourselves? What do we really believe about ourselves? Do we believe the truth about who we are or do we believe we are the product of our past experiences? No experience and no perception can change who we really are, but we can only see ourselves through the perception of what we believe about ourselves.

Left to our egoic thought system, which is invested in separation, we see ourselves as lacking, a small individual cog in the wheel of a world we think controls us. We seem to be at its mercy, subject to attack and a victim if all its separate parts. However, when we turn our perception over to the Spirit within us, we tap into a bigger view of ourselves. Spirit guides us in the awareness that we are all One, that we are all whole and complete just the way we are. This vision works two ways. Once we see another whole and complete, we then see ourselves whole and complete. And once we see ourselves whole and complete, we see others whole and complete. Spirit guides our minds in transcending the perception of the world we think we see, seeing beyond its appearances to the truth about our true nature as we are created, whole and complete. This awareness, this transcendence, is the truth we are seeking, yet seeking outside ourselves when it is already within us, there to be seen if we will open our eyes. Our body’s eyes will never see this on their own, but our Spirit Vision will see this when we allow our minds to rise to its Sight. We allow our Vision to awaken and there it is!

We have all we need to rise to the awareness our divine nature. The Course tells us:

Do not underestimate the power of the devotion of your One Self, nor the power the god you worship has over you. For you place yourself at the altar of your god, whether it be the god you made or the God Who created you. That is why your slavery is as complete as your freedom, for you will obey only the god you accept. ACIM T-11.VI.5.1-3

It all comes down to the choices we make about what we believe about ourselves. Do we believe the god of sacrifice and suffering we made and crucify our awareness of who we really are, separating us from the Love of the One we are created by? Or do we believe the Spirit Vision within us showing us the truth of who we really are, resurrecting the awareness of who we really are and transcending the world we thought we were trapped in? The One does not require obedience, for our divine nature is natural. It releases us from the sacrifice of submission and rejoices with us in the gladness of freedom. What more could we possibly want? It is our choice. And the time to make that choice for the gladness of freedom is now.

April 7, 2015

We are whole, complete, and divine. This is our true nature. When we align our thoughts and perception with this true nature without exception, we are aligning our minds with the One Mind and true perception. In this state of being we allow all perception to be guided by our one true thought system, the One Mind. We find that all thoughts lead to joy, love, and peace. And we experience the divine nature of who we really are. No mistake we make can possibly change the reality of our true nature. No thought, no matter how real we believe it to be, can alter the truth of our divine nature. Our freedom and our happiness is in our allegiance to our true nature and our true Mind. Love, joy and happiness flow from the freedom of living in the awareness of who we really are.

We fall out of awareness of who we really are when we begin to limit our perception. Selective perception is the process of limiting our perception. Our egoic thought system is so involved with “protecting” us from our thoughts it dramatically limits the thoughts we bring to our awareness. Yet, many of the thoughts it allows to rise to our awareness are misperceptions and selective at that. Our egoic way of thinking allows only the thoughts we are used to from past experiences and lessons to rise to the surface of our awareness. This is our “thought dispatcher” we have been training all our life. However, we have a better dispatcher already within us in Spirit. This dispatcher is our Higher Holy Spirit Self, our true Identity, though we can think if as a holy friend to help guide us. The Course reminds us again and again to rely on Spirit to guide our thoughts. Spirit knows the exact right thing we need at each and every moment. Spirit will guider our perception as we allow It to. We have nothing to fear since nothing unreal can harm us because nothing unreal even exists except in our separated minds.

Every moment of every day we are reminded of our wholeness, our completeness and our divine nature. We need simply look to Spirit for guidance in all we think. Every encounter is a chance to see more clearly. Every experience is a chance to shift our perception and allow a more correct perception to enter our minds. This section ends with this lovely passage:

Every one you meet becomes a witness for the One Mind or for the egoic thought system, depending on what you perceive in them. Everyone convinces you of what you want to perceive, and of the reality of the state of mind you have chosen for your vigilance. Everything you perceive is a witness to the thought system you want to be true. Every One has the power to release you, if you choose to be free. You cannot accept false witness of them unless you have evoked false witnesses against them. If they speak not of Oneness to you, you spoke not of Oneness to them. You hear but your own voice, and if Oneness speaks through you, you will hear the One. ACIM T-11.V.18.1-7

Release your mind from the chains of the egoic thought system and separation and enter the freedom of completeness, wholeness and the divine nature that wells up within you. Be the reality of who you really are and dwell in the Realm of Heaven as you see each other dwelling there, too. The healed mind is the recognition of the Whole Mind we always are.