May 29, 2018

What does it mean when the Course says, “sin is an adjustment?” Start with the fact that truth, reality, needs no adjustment. Truth just is.  In order to believe anything else is real, truth must be adjusted to fit our belief of what is true. I know, it sounds twisted, and it is twisted. There is no way to believe we are sinful unless we twist or adjust the truth that we are sinless. This sounds crazy, even insane to us. Yes, it’s insane. We have spent a lifetime adjusting the truth about ourselves to fit the perception of ourselves and each other we mistakenly believe is true and real. We are asked by the Course to question this perception and set it aside, with the recognition that we are truly holy.

We learn how to do this in our relationships with each other. All relationships are truly holy, yet we perceive them as anything but holy. We perhaps perceive them as challenging or a necessary evil. Adjustments of any kind are of the egoic thought system. For it is the egoic thought system’s fixed belief that all relationships depend upon adjustments, to make of them what it would have them be. Direct – holy – relationships, in which there are no interferences, are always seen as dangerous. The egoic thought system is the self-appointed mediator of all relationships, making whatever adjustments it deems necessary and interposing them between those who would meet, to keep them separate and prevent the remembrance of their Oneness. It is this studied interference that makes it difficult for us to recognize our holy relationships for what they truly are. The Course teaches us to re-perceive our “special” relationships as holy relationships. This process is the healing of our relationships and the healing of our minds.

The holy do not interfere with truth. They are not afraid of it, for it is within the truth they recognize their holiness and rejoice at what they see. They look on it directly, without attempting to adjust themselves to it, or it to them. And so they see that it was in them, not deciding first where they would have it be. Their looking merely asks a question, and it is what they see that answers them. You make the world and then adjust to it, and it to you. Nor is there any difference between yourself and it in your perception, which made them both.   T-20.III.3:1-7

There is a question we must ask ourselves. Do we like the world we have made? Yes, we’ve made it. We have twisted the real world and adjusted it so much that it is a world that reflects nothing of its reality. The world we see is not pleasant. We probably see it worse than that, full of attack and judgement, frightening and unbearable. It appears to be a world through which we thread our timid way through constant dangers, alone and frightened, hoping at most that death will wait a little longer before it overtakes us, and we disappear. We made this up. It is a picture of what we think we are; of how we see ourselves.

Have you ever wondered what the world is really like; how it would look through happy eyes? The world you think you see is nothing but a judgment on yourself. It is not there at all. Would you rather see a happy world – a world full of peace, joy and love? The world you think you see is outside of you and therefore unreal. The real world is and remains within you, unseen but waiting to be recognized.

Who in a holy relationship can long remain unholy? The world the holy see is one with them, just as the world the ego looks upon is like itself. The world the holy see is beautiful because they see their innocence in it. They did not tell it what it was; they did not make adjustments to fit their orders. They gently questioned it and whispered, “What are you?” And the One Who watches over all perception answered. Take not the judgment of the world as answer to the question, “What am I?” The world believes in sin, but the belief that made it as you see it is not outside you.   T-20.III.6:1-8

Release all the adjustments you have made to yourself, your relationships and the world you see. Let the light of holiness shine away all those adjustments and reveal all that is real and true in you, your relationships and the world. You will find nothing short of Heaven, for Heaven is Reality. Let the healing begin.

May 22, 2018

Our true home is beyond this world we seem to be surrounded by. We never left our true home. We simply blocked our awareness of it. The world we seem to think is around us is a distorted version of the real world. There is nothing but Love in the real world. However, we have chosen to align with our egoic thought system in believing and viewing the world as it is not. The holy Ones around us in the real world are still around us in the world we seem to see. We just have chosen to see the distorted image of them our egoic thought system holds before us. They are truly just as holy as we are and, in reality, hold our holiness for us to see when we are ready.

You have the vision now to look past all illusions. It has been given you to see no thorns, no strangers and no obstacles to peace. The fear of Source [God] is nothing to you now. Who is afraid to look upon illusions, knowing their savior stands beside them? With them, your vision has become the greatest power for the undoing of illusion that Source [God] Itself could give. For what Source [God] gave the Holy Spirit, you have received. The One Child [of God] looks unto you for their release. For you have asked for and been given the strength to look upon this final obstacle, and see no thorns nor nails to crucify the One Child [of God], and crown them ruler of death.   T-20.II.7:1-8

This is a beautiful tribute from the Course to who we really are. Deep down within us we know this. Our brothers and sisters know this. Spirit knows this. There is no question about who we really are. Spirit asks us to release our attachment to the illusion we believe is who we are. We can tell who we believe we are by whether we offer each other thorns – attack – or lilies – love. The thorns are the obstacles to peace. Lilies welcome peace and love to rise within us to our awareness. Our true home beckons to us beyond the veil. It calls to us to step through the illusion of the veil to who and what we truly are.

There is no fear in love. Let us lift our eyes together, not in fear, but faith. There is no fear in us, for in our vision there are no illusions; only a pathway to the open door of Heaven, the home we share in quietness and where we live in gentleness and peace, as one together.

Would you not have your holy friend lead you there? Their innocence will light your way, offering you its guiding light and sure protection, and shining from the holy altar within them where you laid the lilies of forgiveness. Let them be to you the savior from illusions, and look on them with the new vision that looks upon the lilies and brings you joy. We go beyond the veil of fear, lighting each other’s way. The holiness that leads us is within us, as is our home. So will we find what we were meant to find by the One Who leads us.   T-20.II.9:1-6

Look to the light within you. Look to the light within your friend. Your light has never waivered nor gone out. It shines brightly within you waiting for you to follow its light. You and your friend will gladly walk the way of innocence together, singing as you behold the open door of Heaven and recognize the home that called to you. Give joyously to your friend the freedom and strength to lead you there. And come before their holy altar where the strength and freedom wait, to offer and receive the bright awareness that leads you home. The lamp is lit in you for your friend. And, likewise, the lamp is lit in your friend for you. By the hands that gave it to them you shall be led past fear to love. Love is your true home. Choose love today – now – for your friend and for you. And choose to live in gentleness and peace, as one together.

May 8, 2018

We have been discussing releasing our attachment to the obstacles to peace we have made. Peace is within us.  Peace is around us. Likewise, we have blocked our awareness of our own holiness – the holiness within us. It is there within us, no question. However, we have blocked our awareness of it by holding the belief that we are not holy. While we believe we are not holy, we cannot see the holiness so obvious within us. The two are completely incompatible.  We have come to a place in the Course that talks and teaches about the meaning of Easter. And, as one might expect, the Course gives Easter a completely different meaning than what we may currently hold about Easter. The Course gives us an interpretation of Holy Week that symbolizes our journey in this world. What if we were to look differently at our journey in this world as we return to the awareness of who we really are? Perhaps we need to take another look through the vision of our holiness.

We tend to look at the Easter season through the lens of sin, suffering and death. What if we were to look at Easter through the lens of holiness, returning to the awareness of our innocence? The lessons the Course teaches us are that there is no sin and we are incapable of sin. The Course then teaches us there is no real suffering and no death. We are and have always been innocent because we are created holy and remain holy because holiness is permanent; holiness cannot be sullied. We believe we have sinned and are corrupted because we have sinned, believing in the impossible. Any truth in this belief is impossible and unthinkable in the realm of Heaven. We have convinced ourselves that this untruth is true and then spent much effort reinforcing this mistaken belief. Now is the time to release this error from your mind and discard it as hogwash – though I don’t mean to demean hogs. Let Spirit and your friend bring a new meaning of Easter into your mind now. Here’s how the Course describes Holy Week: I have altered pronouns to express how I have come to understand the Course.

A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the whole journey We have undertaken. We started with the sign of victory, the promise of the resurrection, already given us. Let us not wander into the temptation of crucifixion, and delay ourselves there. Help us to go in peace beyond it, with the light of our own innocence lighting our way to our redemption and release. Hold us not back with thorns and nails when our redemption is so near. But let the whiteness of our shining gift of lilies speed us on our way to resurrection.   T-20.I.3:1-6

It’s time we step back and take a new look within at ourselves. As we look within, really look within, we will begin to see something beautiful emerging in our awareness. We will begin to see a beingness full of such light that brightens the world and bathes all the world in holiness. There is peace and love and joy there. We want for nothing there. As we gaze upon the world around us, we will see the light of holiness shining away the pain and suffering we saw before. Easter has no particular time of year for the Course. Easter is when we choose innocence over pain and suffering.

Easter is not the celebration of the cost of sin, but of its end. If you see glimpses of the face of Christ behind the veil, looking between the snow-white petals of the lilies you have received and given as your gift, you will behold your friend’s face and recognize it. I was a stranger and you took me in, not knowing who I was. Yet for your gift of lilies you will know. In your forgiveness of this stranger, alien to you and yet your ancient Friend, lies their release and your redemption with them. The time of Easter is a time of joy, and not of mourning. Look on your risen Friend, and celebrate their holiness along with me. For Easter is the time of your salvation, along with mine.   T-20.I.4:1-7

This is the release you have been seeking ever since you started on this journey. It is your choice when to accept your Easter in your journey. Why wait any longer? Accept the gift of lilies offered you now. There is no need or purpose in a crown of thorns – ever.