January 26, 2016

What is guilt? How does the Course define guilt? In the Glossary of Terms, guilt is defined as: The painful emotion that stems from believing that you have sinned and have thus corrupted your being, making yourself worthy of punishment and unworthy of love. The Course teaches that this belief is false, for your true nature as God’s holy Child is incorruptible. Further, the following is from the Glossary-Index by Kenneth Wapnick: the feeling experienced in relation to sin; its reflection from our minds is seen in all the negative feelings and beliefs we have about ourselves, mostly unconscious; rests on a sense of inherent unworthiness, seemingly beyond even the forgiving power of God, Who we erroneously believe demands punishment for our seeming sin of separation against God; following the ego’s counsel that to look on guilt would destroy us, we deny its presence in our minds, and then project it outward in the form of attack, either onto others as anger or onto our own bodies as sickness. We are actually willing to look at all kinds of “sources” of our pain provided they are not the deeper source to which they bear no real relationship at all. We deny its presence in our minds as it seems unbearable to us. And that’s exactly what the ego wants us to believe, thus blocking our awareness of our true holy nature, our true holy Self.

Real relationships are pure. They are used by the Holy Spirit to heal. They have a holy purpose. No real relationship can hold one spot of guilt and maintain its purity or holiness. When we place a condition or project guilt on a relationship, we make it “special” and so block our awareness of its purity. All relationships we allow guilt to touch we use to avoid the person and the guilt. In this way we block ourselves from the awareness of the holiness of the person and our own holiness. Unity – Oneness – cannot rise in our mind when we look to the past and the guilt and pain we place there. The past is gone. The past is not in us. Yet we allow the past and the guilt we associate with it to stand between another and ourselves, blocking our awareness of our Oneness. We believe there are problems between us that are not there and thus use each other to fix what needs no fixing! This is indeed insane.

What would happen if we stopped doing as we have always done? It hasn’t worked very well so far.   Once we seem to have fixed one problem, another seems to present itself. And then another pops up, and so on. Perhaps we can be open to the idea that we have not been willing to look at the deeper source of our pain and so our pain continues to present in a new form each time we think we have resolved it. Perhaps it’s time to change our thinking. Perhaps it’s time to bring our relationships into the now. The Course tells us:

Determine, then, to be not as you were. Use no relationship to hold you to the past, but with each one each day be born again. A minute, even less, will be enough to free you from the past, and give your mind in peace over to the At-One-ment. When everyone is welcome to you as you would have yourself be welcome to your Creator, you will see no guilt in you. For you will have accepted the At-One-ment, which shone within you all the while you dreamed of guilt, and would not look within and see it [At-One-ment].   T-13.X.5.1-5

Perhaps it’s time to stop what we’ve become accustomed to doing and look within to Spirit who waits there for our willingness to see differently. Peace is there within us, shared with all our brothers and sisters alike in Oneness, needing only our awareness to rise in our minds and join us in the Unity we are always. Peace, Joy and Love are within us waiting to be shared with all of creation. Let it be so.

January 19, 2016

Our reluctance to look within is the cause of our blindness. What are we blind to? We are blind to the truth about who we really are. We are blind to our perfection, our completeness and our limitlessness. We have also come up with ways to “look within” which don’t actually look within at all. We believe we are looking within when are actually projecting our misperceived identity on others and therefore ourselves. Misperception is the root of all our guilt. We believe something less about each other and therefore believe that same less about ourselves. So what do we then do? We blame others for our mistaken belief we hold about them. We may think this absolves us from our responsibility of our thoughts, but that is impossible. No one except ourselves can be responsible for what we think and believe.

What happens, then, is that our belief in a mistaken identity blinds us to our real identity. We move through this human existence in a sort of cloud or fog. We operate as if the mistaken beliefs we hold are true, yet they don’t quite make sense. There are so many inconsistencies and conflicting ideas. We feel less than good about so much in our world. And so we try to blame it on the world we think is affecting us. Our problem is that we are the source of the world we see and think is affecting us. We are looking outside ourselves for the relief we seek from our unpleasant world. Looking within will open us to the release we are seeking.

See no one, then, as guilty, and you will affirm the truth of guiltlessness unto yourself. In every condemnation that you offer the One Child of God lies the conviction of your own guilt. If you would have the Holy Spirit make you free of it, accept Spirit’s offer of At-One-ment for all your sisters and brothers. For so you learn that it is true for you. Remember always that it is impossible to condemn the One Child of God in part. Those whom you see as guilty become the witnesses to guilt in you, and you will see it there, for it is there until it is undone.   T-13.IX.6.1-6

We see what we believe and we can only believe in one idea at one time. Belief in opposing ideas at one time is impossible. Realize that the source of our belief is our own mind and that Spirit is within us waiting for us to allow It to gently correct our beliefs.

Do not be afraid to look within. The egoic thought system tells you all is black with guilt within you, and bids you not to look. Within you is not what you believe is there, and what you put your faith in. Within you is the holy sign of perfect faith your Creator has in you. The One does not value you as you do. The One knows Oneself, and knows the truth in you. The One knows there is no difference, for the One knows not of differences. Can you see guilt where the One knows there is perfect innocence? You can deny Your knowledge, but you cannot change it. Look, then, upon the light the One placed within you, and learn that what you feared was there has been replaced with love.   T-13.IX.8.1-2, 6-13

Our pure perfect light is within us. This pure perfect light has always shone within us striving to break through the cloud of guilt and darkness we held so closely. We could not see it through the fog we had made of the belief in our mistaken perceptions about who we are. Awaken to the light of our true Self within. All that is mistaken will fade at this light’s presence. The remembrance of who we really are will rise in us as we see it rise in each other. As you gently walk in this world we made, allow yourself to see the wholeness and light of each one you encounter. It matters not what the circumstances of the encounter. It is our choice to see with Spirit eyes rather than the body’s eyes. The light will always shine away all that is not true and real. Let the light rise in your mind, for that is where the light is and the cloud is gone.

January 12, 2016

The idea of guilt is one that I find difficult to fully understand. Perhaps I can try to see it differently. Perhaps I an attached to a perception of guilt that is not what the Course is trying to covey. Paragraph 1.2 says, The guilty always condemn, and having done so they will still condemn, linking the future to the past as is the ego’s law. Perhaps guilt is the idea of linking the future to the past, thus blocking the light of the present from my mind. My attachment to the past certainly condemns me to the unawareness of my true Self that shines in the present. Not seeing my true Light allows me to carry my attachment to the past into the future where I am condemned to repeat the past again and again as I have placed my faith in it and believe it to be real. The word “condemn” may be strong, for we are always whole, but it can certainly seem that way when we are in the middle of it.

The Course asks us again and again to examine what we believe; about ourselves and others and who we are. Our mind is so powerful that what we place our trust in – what we believe – will rule our awareness. The phrase “what I believe I will see” is the manifestation of that power. We have the power of creation given us by our Creator, and we are given free will to do what we want with that power. However, the Creator has willed that we cannot do any harm with our power. Only what is real – holy – can remain while what is mistaken remains only in our egoic mind. We are free to let go of our attachment to what is mistaken at any time we choose to align our mind with the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Most of us have experienced what being in a dense fog is like. We can only see what is right adjacent to us. All else is murky and blurred. We can’t make out the dim figures around us in the fog. This is what carrying guilt in our mind is like. We can’t see the reality of what is around us because of the fog. Fog is just a low cloud hugging the ground. It is like darkness which the Course tells us is where our egoic mind keeps us. Until we allow the bright light of reality to shine in the darkness, we cannot see reality. The world holds our release from the cloud for us if we are willing to allow Spirit to guide our thoughts. Allowing Spirit to guide us establishes a break in the clouds where the light of truth can shine in and dispel the conditions of darkness. The truth of our wholeness and perfection rises to our minds in that light and reminds us of our true being. It is the joy of the sun coming out after a storm that washes over our mind that reminds us of who we really are. This change of thought is the miracle we are seeking. This change of thought is our redemption, our salvation and the At-One-ment. We return to the awareness that we are all One and there is no separation nor has there ever been any real separation.

The world can give you only what you gave it, for being nothing but your own projection, it has no meaning apart from what you found in it and placed your faith in. Be faithful unto darkness and you will not see, because your faith will be rewarded as you gave it. You will accept your treasure, and if you place your faith in the past, the future will be like it. Whatever you hold dear you think is yours. The power of your valuing will make it so.   T-13.IX.3.1-5

Let us ask ourselves, “What treasure have we chosen for ourselves?” Have we chosen the past and separation as our treasure? Has that really worked for us? Are we willing to let go of our attachment – belief and trust – in that idea and allow the light of the present to shine through the break in the clouds we never noticed before? Spirit is within us waiting for us to be just a little willing to step into the light shining through the break in the cloud of guilt. A remembrance of our wholeness, completeness and limitlessness will come rushing into our mind reminding us of who we really are and our holiness. Now is the time. This present moment is the time. Let that light shine into your mind and step into Oneness which you never really left. The exact now is up to you, but do let it be now and rise on the wings of Oneness to the awareness of who you really are.

January 5, 2016

Our role in the redemption of the world leads us to knowledge – reality – by reestablishing oneness in our minds. This is what our function is in this world. This is what all form and perception is leading us toward – reestablishing oneness in our minds. Even as we make mistakes or perceive incorrectly, it all leads us toward oneness – returning to the awareness of who we really are. The Course asks us to listen to the Voice for God – Spirit’s Voice – and to see with Spirit’s Vision. Being vigilant for Spirit’s guidance is the function of the Child of God who returns to the awareness of who they really are and always have been. Every One we encounter in this world is showing us the way to reestablish oneness in our minds. The Course tells us this:

They [all who think they wander in darkness] are all the same; all beautiful and equal in their holiness. And Spirit will offer them unto the One as they were offered unto Spirit. There is one miracle, as there is one reality. And every miracle you do contains them all, as every aspect of reality you see blends quietly into the one reality of the One. The only miracle that ever was is the One’s most holy Child, created in the one reality that is the One. Spirit’s vision is Spirit’s gift to you. Spirit’s Being is the One’s gift to Us. ACIM T-13.VIII.6.1-7

We are all beautiful. We are all whole and complete. We are all holy and perfect. These have always been and will always be. Nothing can change our creation. Yet we, in the misperceiving of our creative power, can believe we are something we are not. We can’t change the truth about us, but we can think we are not our truth and thus believe we are less than what we are. We have allowed the awareness of our oneness to slip from our minds. All we think and do in this world either separates us from each other or joins us with each other.

Miracles join us with each orther. All miracles are the same. They take a multitude of forms, but every miracle’s purpose is to join us with each other. What is our intention in all we do? Is our intention to join in unity or to splinter into separate factions? Let Oneness be our shared intention. Love is the blessing that joins us all for Love can only be shared. Its nature is to bring together and join us all in Oneness. Be a witness to each other’s perfection. Be willing to see each other with Spirit’s Vision and see that we are One with each other. Perception leads to Knowledge as we allow Spirit to guide our perception. Its really is a reawakening to the reality of who we all really are no matter what mistaken beliefs we have aligned ourselves with in the past. Let your past beliefs go and allow Spirit to guide you to the awareness and reestablishment of oneness in your mind. Return to the Being of who you really are.