June 27, 2017

We have been talking about the necessity of faith in this chapter.  What is faith?  I’m sure we all have different ideas about what faith actually is.  These ideas  come from our past.  We have formed this idea of faith, sometimes pleasant, sometimes not so pleasant.  I believe the Course is asking us to have faith that we really are whole and complete deep beneath the perception we have of ourselves.  It asks us to have faith that Spirit will guide us in the situations in which we find ourselves in this world.  The Course asks us to have even just a little faith that our problems and the solutions to our problems are simply one problem requiring one solution even as it presents in a myriad of forms until we understand what Spirit is teaching us.

There is no problem in any situation that faith will not solve.  There is no shift in any aspect of the problem but will make solution impossible.  For if you shift part of the problem elsewhere the meaning of the problem must be lost, and the solution to the problem is inherent in its meaning.  Is it not possible that all your problems have been solved, but you have removed yourself from the solution?  Yet faith must be where something has been done, and where you see it done.   T-17.VII.2:1-5

We get so involved in the minutia of our situations that we lose sight of the big picture and what is important.  The details of the situation distract us from the basic problem, that we have aligned ourselves with our egoic thought system which perpetrates separation rather than Oneness.  There is no meaning in separation while there is all meaning and great value in joining and Oneness.  We lose sight of the fact that we are really One with each other and therefore can’t be separate.  Our problems arise from our attempts to see ourselves as separate from each other.

A situation is simply a relationship, being the joining of thoughts.  If problems are perceived, it is because the thoughts are judged to be in conflict.  But if the goal is truth, this is impossible.  We will make this error, but do not be concerned with that.  The error does not matter. What matters is that faithlessness brought to faith will never interfere with truth.  But faithlessness used against truth will always destroy faith.  If we lack faith, we must ask that faith be restored where it was lost, and seek not to have faith made up to us elsewhere, as if we had been unjustly deprived of it.  Faith is faith in truth – that truth is and that Spirit reveals truth to us in this world.

Every situation in which you find yourself is but a means to meet the purpose set for your relationship.  See it as something else and you are faithless.  Use not your faithlessness.  Let it enter and look upon it calmly, but do not use it.  Faithlessness is the servant of illusion, and wholly faithful to its master.  Use it, and it will carry you straight to illusions.  Be tempted not by what it offers you.  It interferes, not with the goal, but with the value of the goal to you.  Accept not the illusion of peace it offers, but look upon its offering and recognize it is illusion.   T-17.VII.5:1-9

Allow every situation, no matter its form, to seek truth in its purpose.  Allow each situation – relationship – to be a reflection of our true nature.  Allow the holy light and love of our divine nature to shine forth as we allow each relationship to be healed by Spirit.  Have faith that Spirit’s promise will rise from within us and answer the call for faith.  We will find ourselves rejoicing in the joy that fills our being as we reconnect with the Oneness our relationships are meant to reflect.  Lighten up and let the light and love we all are in Oneness shine brightly from within.  This is what we all really seek.

June 20, 2017

We have been discussing relationships in this chapter.  The change we are making is allowing the transformation of our relationships from “special”, or unholy, to holy. We begin our healing by deciding to change the purpose of our relationships as guided by Spirit; our Higher Holy Spirit Self.  We change the purpose of our relationships from division and separation to joining, unity and Oneness.  Once we have made this choice with Spirit, it is irreversible yet it causes discomfort and challenges as we learn to change our perception about the relationship.  Each relationship we experience on this journey is a lesson toward total healing.  Be patient, for we have setbacks and challenges as we make progress on this journey back to the awareness of who we really are.

We start by setting the goal.

The practical application of the Holy Spirit’s purpose is extremely simple, but it is unequivocal.  In fact, in order to be simple it must be unequivocal.  The simple is merely what is easily understood, and for this it is apparent that it must be clear.  The setting of the Holy Spirit’s goal is general.  Now Spirit will work with you to make it specific, for application is specific.  There are certain very specific guidelines Spirit provides for any situation, but remember that you do not yet realize their universal application.  Therefore, it is essential at this point to use them in each situation separately, until you can more safely look beyond each situation, in an understanding far broader than you now possess.   T-17.VI.1:1-7

The most important thing to remember is to join with Spirit in setting the goal.  There is only one goal, yet Spirit will help us understand the application of this goal in the right forms for us to successfully learn in each situation on our journey.  Every situation and relationship we encounter is a potential opportunity to learn and heal.  Have faith that Spirit will guide you correctly in the lessons you need to learn.

In any situation in which we are uncertain, the first thing to consider, very simply, is “What do I want to come of this?  What is it for?”  The clarification of the goal belongs at the beginning, for it is this which will determine the outcome.  Without a clear-cut, positive goal, set at the outset, the situation just seems to happen, and makes no sense until it has already happened.  Then we look back at it, and try to piece together what it must have meant.  And we will be wrong.  Not only is our judgment in the past, but we have no idea what should happen.  No goal was set with which to bring the means in line with the goal.  The value of setting the goal in partnership with Spirit at the outset is that we will perceive the situation as a means to make the goal happen.  This partnership will help us overlook the interferences that seem to come between us and the lesson we need to learn through the healing of this relationship.  If we use the situation for truth and sanity, the outcome will be peace.  Where peace is, truth and sanity must also be.

The goal of truth requires faith.  Faith is implicit in the acceptance of the Holy Spirit’s purpose, and this faith is all-inclusive.  Where the goal of truth is set, there faith must be.  The Holy Spirit sees the situation as a whole.  The goal establishes the fact that everyone involved in it will play their part in its accomplishment.  This is inevitable.  No one will fail in anything.  This seems to ask for faith beyond you, and beyond what you can give.  Yet this is so only from the viewpoint of the ego, for the ego believes in “solving” conflict through fragmentation, and does not perceive the situation as a whole.  Therefore, it seeks to split off segments of the situation and deal with them separately, for it has faith in separation and not in wholeness.   T-17.VI.6:1-10

Resist the temptation to fragment any part of the situation as irrelevant to the lesson and the goal.  Have faith that Spirit will guide us in all the lesson.  Once we fragment the situation, we limit the goal and therefore the teaching and the peace we might realize.  Give yourself completely to the guidance of Spirit in each situation.  The goal we set was to learn completely.  Yet, if we make a mistake in one lesson, there will always be another opportunity to learn the complete lesson.  Just set the goal again with Spirit and trust Spirit to teach you well.  The outcome of living in the presence of truth and sanity is peace.  Spirit will guide us there gently and completely once we decide to partner with the Higher Holy Spirit Self in all things.  Choose this partnership and return to the awareness of who you really are in peace, love and Oneness.

June 13, 2017

We choose what we are willing to see in our relationships.  There is nothing wrong with our relationships.  This idea may seem hard if we are choosing to see our relationships negatively.  Our relationships are holy.  They are holy in Oneness and the eyes of the One.  There is no other truth.  Yet many of our relationships are challenging to us, for we do not see them as they really are.  We see them through the perception guided by the idea of separation and limitation with which we have aligned our egoic mind.  This distorted view of our relationships causes them to appear as something they are not.  As we turn our relationships over to Spirit for healing and transformation, our relationships may and probably will seem to get worse and become more challenging.  We have chosen to allow Spirit to change the purpose of our relationships from division to unification.  We are all unified in Oneness and therefore the true purpose of our relationships is to reflect our Oneness and extend love and peace to each one.

We have experienced the holy instant in our relationship with our brother or sister.  We have glimpsed the forgiveness we have offered and the resulting healing.  Yet, if we lose sight of the experience of that instant, we allow time to cover and hide that experience.  Our experience of the holy instant must be kept shining and gracious in our awareness of time, but not concealed within it. The instant remains.  The gift of the experience of the holy instant is given to us, not only by Spirit, but by the one we are in relationship with.  Be grateful to them.  Allow your gratitude for them to shine and thus retain the powerfulness of the holy instant in each present moment.

You have received the holy instant, but you may have established a condition in which you cannot use it.  As a result, you do not realize that it is with you still.  And by cutting yourself off from its expression, you have denied yourself its benefit.  You reinforce this every time you attack another, for the attack must blind you to yourself.  And it is impossible to deny yourself, and to recognize what has been given and received by you.   T-17.V.13:1-5

We all stand together in the holy presence of truth.  There are no ifs, ands or buts about this.  Heaven rejoices in this truth and because Heaven is within us, the gladness is also ours.  We are joined in purpose, but remain still separate and divided on the means.  Yet the goal is fixed, firm and unalterable, and the means will surely fall in place because the goal is sure.  We will share the gladness of the One Child that it is so.

As you begin to recognize and accept the gifts you have so freely given to another, you will also accept the effects of the holy instant and use them to correct all your mistakes and free you from their results.  And learning this, you will have also learned how to release all the One Child, and offer it in gladness and thanksgiving to the One Who gave you your release, and Who would extend it through you.   T-17.V.15:1-2

Release your relationships from the limitations with which you have bound them.  Release them to Spirit and offer them healing.  Allow the experience of the holy instant, where it is revealed that we are all joined in Oneness, to remain in our awareness.  The truth of Heaven will stay forefront in our minds and bless us with the rejoicing and gladness of Heaven.  The healed nature of our relationships is thus revealed.

June 6, 2017

We have now chosen healing for our relationship.  We have asked Spirit to heal and transform our relationship from a “special” relationship to a holy relationship.  Are we willing to see this through?  This is the choice we have made.  Will we stick with it when the going gets a bit uncomfortable?  This is a time when a bit of faith is helpful.

This is the time for faith.  You let this goal be set for you.  That was an act of faith.  Do not abandon faith, now that the rewards of faith are being introduced.  If you believed the Holy Spirit was there to accept the relationship, why would you now not still believe that He is there to purify what Spirit has taken under Its guidance?  Have faith in your brother or sister in what but seems to be a trying time.  The goal is set.  And your relationship has sanity as its purpose.  For now you find yourself in an insane relationship, recognized as such in the light of its goal.   T-17.V.6:1-9

The relationship feels insane because it now has two conflicting purposes in our mind.  The purpose according to our egoic thought system is separation, while the purpose according to Spirit and our healed mind is joining – Oneness.  Is it a wonder that we feel conflicted at this moment?  Have faith and be patient.  Our egoic thought system screams in our mind, “No, don’t allow this relationship to be changed.  Get out of this one and find another that will serve your separation like that one did and no longer can.”  It appears the only way to escape from the distress you feel is to get rid of the one you gave to Spirit for healing.  Do not abandon Spirit now, nor your brother or sister, but have faith that this relationship has been transformed to holiness.  Accept this idea with gladness, even when you do not understand it.  Do not forget, now, the misery your relationship brought you that prompted you to ask for healing and transformation in the first place.  Give Spirit the time and faith to transform your relationship, bringing light and understanding into your mind as you patiently observe the transformation.

We are new at this.  Allow Spirit to guide you in this healing.  This is what we really want.  Spirit will guide us to the holiness we seek with this One, guiding us to the correct form it needs to take for us.  Be vigilant for Spirit’s guidance.  Have faith that it is there and will come when needed.  Our true intent is holy and will come as we allow Spirit to make it so.

Throughout the One Child is the song of freedom heard, in joyous echo of your choice.  You have joined with many in the holy instant, and they have joined with you.  Think not your choice will leave you comfortless, for the One has blessed your holy relationship.  Join in the One’s blessing, and withhold not yours upon it.  For all it needs now is your blessing, that you may see that in it rests salvation.  Condemn salvation not, for it has come to you.  And welcome it together, for it has come to join you and your brothers and sisters together in a relationship in which all the One Child – Oneness – is together blessed.   T-17.V.10:1-7

We undertook this journey of healing together.  We realize that our “special” relationships serve only separation and the loneliness and misery separpation brings us.  Allowing the healing transformation of our relationships brings to our minds the awareness of our wholeness, our completeness and our divine nature in unity with all our brothers and sisters.  Give your relationships to Spirit for healing and allow your divine nature in Oneness to arise in your mind.  Have faith, even when the going gets rough, that Spirit is doing its job and bringing healing to your relationships.