A Course In Miracles – San Jose Karl J Vidt, ACIM Student/Teacher

Monthly Archives: May 2019

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ACIM T.24.in & I Specialness as a Substitute for Love

May 28, 2019 1:00 pm ⋅

May 28, 2019

The purpose of the Course is the attainment and maintaining the state of peace in our minds. The state of peace is attained through the remembrance of who we really are and recognizing we are all joined in Oneness.  We are truly whole, complete, sinless, limitless and free. In this state of peace the mind is quiet, and the condition in which our Source is remembered is attained. It is not necessary to tell Source what to do, for Source will not fail. Source already is wherever Source can enter. There is nothing we need to do but simply recognize what already is.

To learn this course requires willingness to question every value that you hold. Not one can be kept hidden and obscure but it will jeopardize your learning. No belief is neutral. Every one has the power to dictate each decision you make. For a decision is a conclusion based on everything that you believe. It is the outcome of belief, and follows it as surely as does suffering follow guilt and freedom sinlessness. There is no substitute for peace. What the One creates has no alternative. The truth arises from what the One knows. And your decisions come from your beliefs as certainly as all creation rose in the One’s Mind because of what the One knows.   T-24.in.2:1-10

Be willing to hold nothing back from questioning. Set every belief, every conviction on the holy altar. What is real and true will remain. And what is not real or true will fade into nothingness. Remember, “What I believe I will see.”

Section I

The Course tells us Love is all there is. Nothing else is real. To love is to extend, to connect, to share, and all this completely. Love has no reservation. Love is unconditional. Love is peaceful. Love is joyful. One cannot partially love. One either loves wholly or doesn’t love at all. There is no middle ground.  When we love wholly, we find peace. Yet, when we love partially or conditionally, we find conflict.

Love is extension. To withhold the smallest gift is not to know love’s purpose. Love offers everything forever. Hold back but one belief, one offering, and love is gone, because you asked a substitute to take its place. And now must war, the substitute for peace, come with the one alternative that you can choose for love. Your choosing it has given it all the reality it seems to have.   T-24.I.1:1-6

The alternative to love is specialness. Once we make someone or something “special”, we have chosen the alternative to love. This choice then opts also for the alternative to peace – conflict. No one in their right mind would choose other than love or peace, but our choice of specialness betrays our right mind. Choosing specialness opts for differences and division. It opts for judgement and degrees of specialness. Our true nature is divine and is about loving wholly and being wholly at peace. Leave behind specialness. It holds no power other than the power to distract us from love and peace. At any moment we can relinquish our attraction to and belief in specialness – separation. Turn your eyes and ears to Spirit, where the awareness or love and peace are offered. This is Heaven. This is Home. Join with each other in Oneness.

Posted in: ACIM Ch. 24 – The Goal of Specialness, Uncategorized

ACIM T.23.IV Above the Battleground

May 21, 2019 1:00 pm ⋅

May 21, 2019

We are completing our discussion on this chapter; The War Against Yourself. Whether or not we realize it, there is a war going o in our mind as long as we continue to believe we are separate from each other and from our Creator. This war takes many forms. Our own egoic thought system is very creative in finding forms to keep us occupied with conflict. You see, if we are occupied with ideas of conflict – which we believe we must win in some way – we are distracted from our natural state of being which is peace and love. Many times the conflict is about truth and which truth is actually truth. This conflict makes it seem like we are always in the midst of a battleground.

We don’t have to be in the midst of the battleground. We have another choice. Spirit will guide our thoughts to raise above the battleground whenever we allow. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Do I really want to be in the midst of battle?” The battleground is an artificial world. It is no more than an illusion. However, we believe it is real, so we pick up our illusion of a sword and attack or defend, waging war on each other. But we are really waging war on ourselves. If this seems insane, it is. We have made up all we are waging war for or against.

The Course offers us another choice. It offers us another way to see ourselves. The Course offers us the vision of Oneness. The real truth about us is that we are holy, complete, whole and One with each other and the One we may call God. Our true nature is peace and love and joy. Our natural state of being is peace and happiness. We have Heaven on earth as our existence here if we are willing to open our eyes and see what is real and eternal. Our egoic thought system makes up a world for us that distorts the real world. Our egoic thought system distorts peace to look like war and love to look like hate. Any sane person would want peace and love rather than war and hate. It’s our choice. The Course asks us to look beyond the appearance of the world we perceive to the real world – Heaven – beyond. The world we think we see is nothing more than a thin veil, no more than a bit of mist that is easily moved beyond when we release our attachment to it. In this manner does Spirit help us to rise above the battleground we have been so involved in and become an observer of the insanity of the battleground. We begin to see it is little more than an illusion distracting us from all that is good and holy within us. What if we just stopped participating in conflict? What if we chose peace and love instead? We have all we need to let this be. There is only good in reality. When we choose reality, all that is not good fades to nothing. We realize we have been existing in and occupying our minds with nothingness and missing out on all the good and happiness around and within us. Allow yourself to let go of the battles and rise above the battleground to see what truth is and what is false.

Chapter 23 closes with this beautiful statement:

Think what is given those who share their Creator’s purpose, and who know that it is theirs. They want for nothing. Sorrow of any kind is inconceivable. Only the light they love is in awareness, and only love shines upon them forever. It is their past, their present and their future; always the same, eternally complete and wholly shared. They know it is impossible their happiness could ever suffer change of any kind. Perhaps you think the battleground can offer something you can win. Can it be anything that offers you a perfect calmness, and a sense of love so deep and quiet that no touch of doubt can ever mar your certainty? And that will last forever?   T-23.IV.8:1-9

We are truly the light of the world. This is indisputable. Allow yourself to rise above the battleground and let your light shine. Be a beacon for those searching for the recognition that they are One with you and your Creator. Let them see their wholeness reflected in the image you hold in your eyes of them. This is the salvation we offer each other as we join in holy Oneness.

Posted in: ACIM Ch. 23 – The War Against Yourself

ACIM T.23.IV Above the Battleground

May 14, 2019 1:00 pm ⋅

May 14, 2019

No one wants to be on a battlefield during a battle. Yet, we often choose to remain in the midst of battle by our refusal to relinquish attack and defense. Conflict is the tempter. We tend to prefer to see differences rather than sameness or equality. Even competition is a form of attack, which reinforces our belief in difference. If we are all One, how can there be any differences? If all that is real is shared completely, how can we lack anything that means anything? We can rise above the battleground any time we choose to do so. It is simple. It is instantaneous. However, we must be willing to be raised above the battleground. We must be willing to leave conflict behind. Haven’t we had enough already? Perhaps we can desire love and peace rather than conflict.

Love and conflict are incompatible. One is real, the other is not. They cannot coexist. If we believe conflict is real and therefore possible, we will see conflict and it will block our awareness of love and peace already within us. If we believe love is real, it outshines all that is nothing, making nothing nothing. It may sound unbelievably simple, and it is. Truth and reality have all the power of the universe behind them. And thus, nothing cannot exist in the presence of everything. Our Creation has just one function; to recognize its Oneness, its Unity, and hold that for each and every part of Creation that has believed it is not a part of Itself. Our function is to recognize the love and peace within us and extend and share it with all the universe. This is the highest purpose. The lovely light of our relationship is like the Love of Oneness. Spirit understands how to increase our little gifts and make them mighty. Spirit also understands how our relationship is raised above the battleground. This is our part; to realize that conflict in any form is not our will. The overlooking of the battleground is now our purpose.

Be lifted up, and from a higher place look down upon it. From there will your perspective be quite different. Here in the midst of it, it does seem real. Here you have chosen to be part of it. Here murder is your choice. Yet from above, the choice is miracles instead of murder. And the perspective coming from this choice shows you the battle is not real, and easily escaped. Bodies may battle, but the clash of forms is meaningless. And it is over when you realize it never was begun. How can a battle be perceived as nothingness when you engage in it? How can the truth of miracles be recognized if murder is your choice?   T-23.IV.5:1-11

How do we know if we are on the battlefield or risen above it? There is a stab of pain, a twinge of guilt, and above all, a loss of peace. This we know well. When they occur, we do not leave our place on high, but quickly choose a miracle instead of conflict. Oneness and all the lights of Heaven will gently lean to us and hold us up. For we have chosen to remain where the One would have us be, and no illusion can attack the peace and love of Oneness.

Think what is given those who share their Creator’s purpose, and who know that it is theirs. They want for nothing. Sorrow of any kind is inconceivable. Only the light they love is in awareness, and only love shines upon them forever. It is their past, their present and their future; always the same, eternally complete and wholly shared. They know it is impossible their happiness could ever suffer change of any kind. Perhaps you think the battleground can offer something you can win. Can it be anything that offers you a perfect calmness, and a sense of love so deep and quiet that no touch of doubt can ever mar your certainty? And that will last forever?   T-23.IV.8:1-9

Happiness and peace will never be found on the battlefield. Allow yourself to rise above the battlefield and see it differently. See there is no point in conflict when all we could possibly get out of it is nothing. We sacrifice our peace by staying on the battlefield. We regain the awareness of the peace and love within us as we rise above the battlefield. Leave conflict behind. It cannot give us anything we really want. Step into the awareness of the Heaven within us and rise above that battleground. Let go and never return, for it is not real and has nothing to offer.

Posted in: ACIM Ch. 23 – The War Against Yourself, Uncategorized

ACIM T.23.III Salvation Without Compromise

May 7, 2019 1:00 pm ⋅

May 7, 2019

Are we fully aware of our state of mind as we journey through this world? This goes to our intent in all we do. Our purpose in this world is to learn to see ourselves and each other clearly. We are truly without sin. We are truly without any lack whatsoever. We are whole and complete. We are the manifestation of holiness and Oneness in this world. Most of us, through our belief that we are separate, have compromised how we see and perceive each other. Yet, there is nothing un-whole, incomplete or unholy about anything real. This mistaken perception is merely not true. We can allow ourselves to let go of our conviction any time we choose. Truth is all powerful. Mistaken truth has no power at all except to block our awareness of Truth. What have we offered each other? Truth or a mistaken truth that is really nothing?

Is death in any form, however lovely and charitable it may seem to be, a blessing and a sign the Voice for God speaks through you to another? The wrapping does not make the gift you give. An empty box, however beautiful and gently given, still contains nothing. And neither the receiver nor the giver is long deceived. Withhold forgiveness from another and you attack them. You give them nothing, and receive of them but what you gave.   T-23.III.2:1-6

Offering salvation to each other is our purpose. What is salvation? It is forgiveness. It is the recognition of their holiness, their wholeness, their Oneness. Salvation is recognizing we are all whole and complete, holy and One in Oneness. Nothing else matters. Once we recognize that all that is real is holy, all that is not real fades away to nothing. We spend much effort trying to right the “wrong”, fix the “broken” and clean the “soiled.” The wrong, broken and soiled are no more that illusion, no more than appearances. The Course asks us to look beyond appearances to what is real. This is the gift we offer each other. We offer each other the awareness of their wholeness and their holiness. We are created holy and we remain holy. This cannot be changed no matter how much we think we have erred.

Perhaps, then we might think we must defend our holiness, our divine nature. Perhaps we think our Oneness needs protection. Truth cannot be changed. Nothing can alter Truth. There is no real power against Truth. Remember, the most we ca do is block our awareness of Truth. We have the choice to change our mind and let go of the block we have made. Wouldn’t you want to recognize any assault on peace within you in any form? Wouldn’t you rather it be impossible to lose sight of the peace within you? Peace can be kept shining before your vision, forever clear and never out of sight, if you do not defend it. Defense is a form of attack, and thus distracts us from the awareness of what cannot be attacked and what needs no defense. Peace, like salvation needs no compromise.

Mistake not truce for peace, nor compromise for the escape from conflict. To be released from conflict means that it is over. The door is open; you have left the battleground. You have not lingered there in cowering hope that it will not return because the guns are stilled an instant, and the fear that haunts the place of death is not apparent. There is no safety in a battleground. You can look down on it in safety from above and not be touched. But from within it you can find no safety. Not one tree left still standing will shelter you. Not one illusion of protection stands against the faith in murder. Here stands the body, torn between the natural desire to communicate and the unnatural intent to murder and to die. Think you the form that murder takes can offer safety? Can guilt be absent from a battlefield?   T-23.III.6:1-12

We have no need to ever again grace the battlefield with our presence. Rise above it to the awareness of holiness, peace and love. This state of awareness is Heaven on earth. This is our home. Love without compromise.  Live in peace without compromise.  Let the light of Oneness shine from within you without compromise.  Let go of all you ever thought without compromise.  This is our purpose.  It is the freedom of living the spirit filled life within that shines its offer to all we encounter.  Give it freely and discover it in abundance within.

Posted in: ACIM Ch. 23 – The War Against Yourself, Uncategorized