January 5, 2020

Lesson 5 –

I am never upset for the reason I think.

This lesson always reminds me to stop my mind and ask for a different interpretation. My egoic thought system wants me to be upset and therefore not thinking clearly. When I think with the egoic thought system, I rush to judgement and come up with a mistaken perception. We all do this, and do it more often than we think we do. The signal we get is our upset. How would we act differently if every time we felt upset we stopped and reconsidered our thoughts and perceptions? Perhaps our world would be a little more peaceful. Perhaps we would be just a bit happier. It doesn’t matter what our upset of the moment is. What matters is that we recognize we are upset and then stop and look within to see the root of our upset.

This idea, like the preceding one (These thoughts do not mean anything), can be used with any person, situation or event you think is causing you pain. Apply it specifically to whatever you believe is the cause of your upset, using the description of the feeling in whatever term seems accurate to you. The upset may seem to be fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy or any number of forms, all of which will be perceived as different. This is not true. However, until you learn that form does not matter, each form becomes a proper subject for the exercises for the day. Applying the same idea to each of them separately is the first step in ultimately recognizing they are all the same.   W-pI.5.1:1-6

We needn’t obsess with any of this. The most effective way I have found to practice this is to be gentle with myself; to take a step away from my upset and try to observe my upset objectively without judgement. If I continue to feel upset, I can come back to this  process later. Our wholeness is guaranteed. We are whole and complete and always will be, even if we don’t feel that way right now. When all else fails, ask Spirit for guidance. Our Higher Holy Spirit Self is always waiting in our mind; waiting for us to ask for guidance when we need it.

Perhaps we have just begun this journey. Be patient. Allow yourself to grow step by step. We have spent a lifetime learning to think with our egoic thought system. It will take some time to learn how to think with our One Mind – the Mind we share with all of Creation in Oneness. The change we are seeking is a change in the way we think – changing our thoughts. This process is more about allowing rather than making effort or forcing change. Relax and allow Spirit to move in your Mind. The upset you have been feeling will begin to abate. The upset will lessen. We may even fool ourselves begin to smile just a bit to know that our upset is not about the specific feelings we are having about specific situations or people. We are upset because we are out of touch – unaware – of our true Self in Oneness. The Course’s purpose is to help us return to the awareness of our true connected Self in Oneness.

In these exercises, more than in the preceding ones, you may find it hard to be indiscriminate, and to avoid giving greater weight to some subjects than to others. It might help to precede the exercises with the statement:
There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.   W-pI.5.4:1-4

Try to accept the idea that all upsets are the same. They may appear very different to us, some more difficult than others. Try to be willing to accept the idea that they all have the same magnitude for they all come from the same misperception; that we believe we are separate. Again, be gentle with yourself. Every experience we have, every one we encounter, is a perfect opportunity to practice this concept. Be willing and see where Spirit takes you. You just might be surprised.

December 22, 2020

Lesson 257 –

Truth answers every call we make to God,
Responding first with miracles, and then
Returning unto us to be itself.

It is our time. It is the time to let go of all our preconceived ideas and recognize the Truth within us. Until now, we have made it very complicated. Surrender the complication. Allow the Spirit within to speak and show the way. We can stop fighting it even now.

Forgiveness, truth’s reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and thus escape the prison house in which I think I live. Your holy Child is pointed out to me, first in my friend; then in me. Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word, and give as I receive. And as I look upon Your Child today, I hear Your Voice instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be:

“Behold their sinlessness, and be you healed.”   W-pII.357.1:1-5

Let me forgive myself  and my friend for nothing more than a miss-thought. This is all that is needed to start the transformation of the world we think we see. Let it be and allow yourself to see differently. Heaven is waiting to be revealed in what we already have.

December 15, 2020

Lesson 351 –

My sinless friend is my guide to peace.
My sinful friend is my guide to pain.
And which I choose to see I will behold.

What do I choose to see in those around me? This may seem backwards to some. We may not even realize we have a choice in how we see others. This choice is a revelation. My choice to see another as either sinful or sinless determines how I see the world. Just think about this for a minute. We each have the power to see each other and the world as we choose. Will we choose sinlessness or sinfulness? The real world is sinless. That is how it is created and how it remains. Yet, we often choose to see it as sinful. What if we were willing to see the world differently? Perhaps we can gather enough courage and curiosity to entertain the possibility that this may be true.

The truth is we are each a creation of Source, God, or Oneness. We are that Oneness. We are holy, we are complete, and we are whole. Nothing can change or corrupt that about us. Our Higher Holy Spirit, forever within us, holds the remembrance of that sinlessness for us. We may have chosen another path for a time, but our wholeness is never lost. Even when we stray rom the awareness of who we really are, our sinlessness is held within us for when we choose to change our mind about who we are and reconnect with our true being. Reconnecting with our Holy Self is Salvation as the Couse teaches it. It is a matter of shifting our mind to a remembered existence that taps that holy power within us. And it starts with our willingness. This lesson explains it in this affirmation or prayer:

Who is my friend but Your holy Child? And if I see them sinful I proclaim myself a sinner, not a Child of God; alone and friendless in a fearful world. Yet this perception is a choice I make, and can relinquish. I can also see my friend sinless, as Your holy Child. And with this choice I see my sinlessness, my everlasting Comforter and Friend beside me, and my way secure and clear. Choose, then, for me, my Creator, through Your Voice. For Your Voice [Spirit] alone gives judgment in Your Name.   W-pII.351.1:1-7

We are always just a thought away from the awareness of our sinlessness. We have focused on and believed so convincingly in the idea we are sinful that we lost sight of our true being. At any moment we can make another choice. A choice that will transform the world we see around us. Seeing the world through the eyes of Oneness rather than the lens of separation and division give us a new perspective. We can choose – and we really want to choose – this new-to-us perception, yet a return to the real world and reality we had abandoned. We do not need to change anything except our belief in sinfulness to transcend this world. Change your thoughts and change your world. And thus, step into the joy and peace of eternal and infinite love. This is the freedom we have been seeking.

December 8, 2020

Lesson 344 –

Today I learn the law of love; that what
I give another is my gift to me.

This lesson is about learning the law of love. Since the Course teaches us that love is all there is, this is at the heart of the Course. We are love and nothing else. God, Source, or Oneness is love. The Ones we travel with in this world are also love. And as love we are all One. We are all connected, inseparable no matter how hard we try to be or believe we are separate. No thought is independent. Each thought we think affects our perception of the world and who we see ourselves and others to be. There is incredible power in these thoughts, for they determine how we perceive ourselves and each other. Even though the Course teaches us that love is all there is, we can block the awareness of love in our consciousness by which thoughts we believe to be true. This lesson describes the law of love as follows:

This is Your law, my Creator, not my own. I have not understood what giving means, and thought to save what I desired for myself alone. And as I looked upon the treasure that I thought I had, I found an empty place where nothing ever was or is or will be. Who can share a dream? And what can an illusion offer me? Yet the one whom I forgive will give me gifts beyond the worth of anything on earth. Let my forgiven companions fill my store with Heaven’s treasures, which alone are real. Thus is the law of love fulfilled. And thus Your One Child arises and returns to You.   W-pII.344.1:1-9

The law of love teaches us what giving really means. We have learned that giving and receiving are the same. There is no difference whatsoever. All that is real – love – is completely shared. It cannot be divined. In fact, love can only be increased. What we give to another is also received. If we give attack to another, we attack ourselves, as we reinforce the idea we are not One with each other. This serves only to separate us in our own mind. No one else need see this way for us to see ourselves separate. We can choose to deny the awareness of the love offered us, but we cannot destroy the love we are. We do no more than block our awareness of the love we receive. Who in their right mind would ever do this? The solution is to allow our mind to accept the law of love and step into the awareness of who we really are. We are so near to the awareness of our true being. It is no more than a thought away when we allow Spirit within us to guide our thoughts. And when we do, we will recognize this Spirit as our real Self.

How near we are to one another, as we go to Oneness. How near is Oneness to us. How close the ending of the dream of sin, and the redemption of the One Holy Child of Oneness.   W-pII.344.2:1-3

This mind shift is so near. We can taste it as it resonates in the ancient song we hear in our mind. Rest in this ancient song. Allow it to rise and fill our being with the beautiful melodies of Oneness. This is the Song of Heaven that fills and surrounds us. May we allow our minds to dwell in this place of peace and love where we live by the law of love in everything we think and do. This is our destiny, This is home.

December 1, 2020

Lesson 337 –

My sinlessness protects me from all harm.

Our true essence, our true being cannot be harmed. That is, our holy whole Self cannot be harmed. The real world does not know harm, for harm doesn’t exist. Harm is an illusion. Yet, it certainly appears that harm exists in the world we seem to live in. We have set up the idea of a body – which the Course tells us is an illusion – and identified ourselves as this body. The ruth is we are not this body we seem to inhabit. We made it up to reinforce the idea of separation. Thus, we identify different than our Creator even though we are really One. We made up the idea that we are “sinful” to support the idea that we seem to be less than. In this world it appears that all sorts of harm can befall us and we are beyond any control over it. What if we are really sinless? What if we are beyond all harm? For a time, we have chosen to believe we are separate, that we are a body, and we are susceptible to the world’s forces.

The Course has taught us that we are still as we are created – holy, whole, and complete. Our sins are nothing more than mistakes that can easily be corrected in our minds. Allowing the awareness of our sinlessness to rise in our minds brings a different perspective and understanding of the world. We see beyond all the petty stuff to a reality beyond where peace of mind abounds. Seeing the world and all its troubles from a place where we are experiencing inner peace gives us a new perspective. It shows us what is real and what is illusion. No longer will we feel threatened.

My sinlessness ensures me perfect peace, eternal safety, everlasting love, freedom forever from all thought of loss; complete deliverance from suffering. And only happiness can be my state, for only happiness is given me. What must I do to know all this is mine? I must accept Atonement for myself, and nothing more. Our Creator has already done all things that need be done. And I must learn I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel Our Creator’s Love protecting me from harm, to understand my Creator loves Their One Child; to know I am the Child my Creator loves.   W-pII.337.1:1-6

We are Oneness. We are holiness. We are complete, whole, and just as we are created. No belief in any illusion can change that fact. Heaven is our home while we still walk this earth. We are here to recognize who we really are and let the perfect light and love we are heal the world. The light and love we share are the miracles we share as our function here. A shift of thought is the journey to the awareness of who we really are. In this shift we share each other’s holiness and wholeness with the world. May this prayer be our guidance to the opening of our mind to the truth of who we really are.

You Who created me in sinlessness are not mistaken about what I am. I was mistaken when I thought I sinned, but I accept Atonement for myself. Creator, my dream is ended now. Amen.   W-pII.337.2:1-4

Allow yourself to be freed from the bonds of your split mind, for we are limited only by our thoughts and beliefs. Let yourself be open to the perfect peace and love of our creation. We are Oneness; all there is and all there ever has been or will be. Be the light of the world you are as you accept this truth about all creation. We have come home to Oneness.

November 24, 2020

Lesson 330 –

I will not hurt myself again today.

Forgiveness is our only function in this world. By forgiving we allow the unprecedented flow of Love to be acknowledged and seen in our lives. Need we suffer lack of love any longer? Each time I deny the presence of love in me and in another, I hurt myself. Hurting myself is nothing more than denying myself the love that is already given me and shared with me. All forms of hurt and suffering boil down to the denial of Love’s Presence. Forgiveness is the change in our mind that recognizes Love’s Presence within us. Love’s Presence is the light that shines away all darkness in our mind. It is the mind shift that recognizes our innate holiness, completeness, and wholeness. We may have mistakenly denied this truth about who we really are, but we could never change its truth. Allowing ourselves to rest in the truth of our being is the healing we’ve been seeking all our lives. The process of denying our truth and maintaining our separation is exhausting. It’s no wonder we’ve been tired. We may not believe it, but the way of love is refreshingly releasing and easy if we are willing to accept its truth.

Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. Why should we attack our minds, and give them images of pain? Why should we teach them they are powerless, when Oneness holds out Its power and Love, and bids them take what is already theirs? The mind that is made willing to accept Oneness’ gifts has been restored to spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of Oneness united with its own. The Self which Oneness created cannot sin, and therefore cannot suffer. Let us choose today that Oneness be our Identity, and thus escape forever from all things the dream of fear appears to offer us.   W-pII.330.1:1-6

Inner Peace is the source of true happiness. We do not need to delay the experience of peace any longer than we choose to. It really is our choice. Oneness is waiting for us to step into full awareness of our Oneness. It is our sense of being that seems incomplete without our acceptance of who we really are. Just a little willingness will begin to open the door to our Grandeur in Oneness. Our true Identity is Oneness. This cannot be denied us. Allow your true Identity to rise in your mind. If it feels too difficult, try this prayer the Course offers us. Spirit is always within us waiting to be asked to help us make this shift to the awareness of Oneness – our real Identity.

Creator, Your Child can not be hurt. And if we think we suffer, we but fail to know our one Identity we share with You. We would return to It today, to be made free forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we were.   W-pII.330.2:1-2

We are holy, complete, and whole. We cannot sin because we are Oneness. Mistakes are no more than mistakes and are easily corrected with the help of Spirit within us. There is nothing to be afraid of for every correction is in the mind. And Spirit will guide us every step of the way for It is within us always. This Course has taken us so far, yet right back to the root of our real being where we started. Let this be your function now, for there is nothing in reality that can hurt you, me, or anyone else.

November 17, 2020

Lesson 323 –

I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear.

The Course makes many references to letting go of fear. Fear is an emotion or an idea that keeps us locked away from our true Identity. In many instances we are afraid of losing the identity we have made for ourselves and believe ourselves to be. It is always an identity that relies on the idea of separation – that we are separate from others and God. We have invested a lifetime of effort and belief in our identity and are afraid we will have no identity if we let go of the one we have made. The belief in this identity and our fear of it not being real keeps us locked into it even though there is a much greater something hidden beyond that identity. This fear is the destroyer of peace, for it hides the truth about who we are from our mind.

And as we pay the debt we owe to truth,—a debt that merely is the letting go of self-deceptions and of images we worshipped falsely—truth returns to us in wholeness and in joy. We are deceived no longer. Love has now returned to our awareness. And we are at peace again, for fear has gone and only love remains.   W-pII.323.2:1-4

There is no great penance to pay for our mistaken identity. We only need a little willingness to see beyond who we think we are to the truth of who we really are to step into the awareness of our wholeness and holiness present within our minds. What we believe about ourselves is what we will see about ourselves. The proof is in the recognition of our holy selves and the homecoming we experience when we begin to allow our perception of ourselves to shift. Even as we begin to allow this transformation to reveal our true selves, we may still be afraid of our power and divinity that is revealed to us. Relax and allow the Holy Spirit within us to guide and direct us.  This revelation will bring us to a peace of mind that surpasses anything we have believed possible about who we are. This lesson offers us the following prayer to relieve the fear we may feel about this “sacrifice.”

Here is the only “sacrifice” You ask of Your beloved Child; You ask them to give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely let Your Love come streaming in to their awareness, healing them of pain, and giving them Your Own eternal joy. Such is the “sacrifice” You ask of me, and one I gladly make; the only “cost” of restoration of Your memory to me, for the salvation of the world.   W-pII.323.1:1-2

What we are asked to “sacrifice” is suffering, loss, sadness, anxiety and doubt. Who would not gladly sacrifice these things? What flows to replace these is Love and Peace. We experience the healing of all pain and find eternal joy welling up within us. This brings the transformation of the world to our consciousness. We recognize that call for love in each other rather than the attempt to attack. We recognize Heaven on earth as we open our Spirit eyes to the truth of reality. Let us set aside our fear – yes, even “sacrifice” our fear – and allow peace to flow like a mighty river through our consciousness. As others call for love, we will have the Source of unlimited Love to extend to anyone or anything that believes they lack that love. Let the circle of love be unbroken as we let love flow through our mind and our very being. So are we and the whole world healed. Hence the Course adage, “Love is letting go of fear.”

November 10, 2020

Lesson 316 –

All gifts I give others are my own.

What are these gifts? I believe the gifts the Course talks about are love. They may be disguised as forgiveness until we understand truth, but they boil down to love. Reality has an infinite supply of love that is completely shared. There are no portions of love meted out either equally or according to whether we have “earned” it. All of love belongs to all of us. All gifts belong to all of us. Forgiveness is the tool that helps us heal our mind enough to begin to see this truth of love. The Course teaches that giving and receiving are the same. As we give we receive and as we receive we give. It is  essentially sharing in a constant continuous flow. Every one of us is deserving because we are holy as we are created. Nothing can change or corrupt that truth. The worst we can have done is block our awareness of the infinite love we all share. This lesson says this about our gifts:

As every gift another gives is mine, so every gift I give belongs to me. Each one allows a past mistake to go, and leave no shadow on the holy mind my Creator loves. My Creator’s grace is given me in every gift another has received throughout all time, and past all time as well. My treasure house is full, and angels watch its open doors that not one gift is lost, and only more are added. Let me come to where my treasures are, and enter in where I am truly welcome and at home, among the gifts that My creator has given me.   W-pII.316.1:1-5

There is no lack in reality. The world we seem to live in appears to be so finite – so limited. The real world has no lack or limitation of anything real. Remember the teaching, “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unread exists. Herein lies the peace of Oneness.” The Course also teaches, “Nothing real can be increased except by sharing. That is why Oneness created you.” T-4.Vll.5:2-3 It is our function to be sharers of love, extenders of love, increasers of love. When we are willing to fulfill this function, miracles occur and the world changes. Isn’t this what we really want? What do we need to do? Just be willing and Spirit will guide us. This lesson offers this prayer to help us get started:

Creator, I would accept Your gifts today. I do not recognize them. Yet I trust that You Who gave them will provide the means by which I can behold them, see their worth, and cherish only them as what I want.   W-pII.316.2:0-3

We can begin to see the worth in giving and receiving the gift of forgiveness which is transformed into the gift of love. The gifts are limitless. The gifts are healing. The gifts bring us the awareness of the world we have been seeking – the real world. Those we journey with – our brothers and sisters – are One with us on this journey. Our purpose is unified. In this One purpose we are healed, we are loved and we are loving. Let this bliss rise in all of us and enter the awareness of who we really are in our Divine Holy Identity. May we all give and receive these gifts.

November 3, 2020

Lesson 309 –

I will not fear to look within today.

The Course teaches us that we already have within us all we need. We may not recognize this right now, but all we need is there within us nonetheless. It is embedded in our holiness, instilled within us as we are created. It is unchangeable and unremovable. It is embedded in our holy Self, our true Identity. The truth that we are Oneness is and always will be, always has been. The only thing we can possibly do to remove it is block it from our awareness. Belief in limitation and separation are the blocks that can do just that. Yet, we cannot change the truth that Oneness is our true essence and Identity. Fear is another idea that can block our truth from our awareness. Our egoic thought system has made a separate identity that we have come to believe is who we are. The belief in this identity is powerful enough to block our true Identity from our awareness, but not powerful enough to change who we really are. So, Spirit waits, holding our true Identity within us, until we are ready to accept a “new” idea of who we really are.

Within me is eternal innocence, because it is the One’s Will that it be there forever and forever. I, the One’s Child, whose will is limitless as is the One’s Own, can will no change in this. For to deny my Creator’s Will is to deny my own. To look within is but to find my will as the One created it, and as it is. I fear to look within because I think I made another will that is not true, and made it real. Yet it has no effects. Within me is the Holiness of Oneness. Within me is the memory of Oneness.   W-pII.309.1:1-8

We spend our lives seeking for answers outside ourselves, refusing to look within, just because we believe the answer could never be there within us. Once we realize the absurdity of this belief, we begin a journey of discovery about ourselves. With the alignment of our mind with the nature of our holiness comes an inner peace that dwells within us. It brings an awareness of perfect love and joy that does surpass all understanding. Isn’t this what we really seek? Isn’t this what we really want? We don’t have to do it alone. The whole universe – Oneness – is behind us in this endeavor. The transformation is ours for the asking. This lesson offers us this prayer to aid us in our decision:

The step I take today, my Creator, is my sure release from idle dreams of sin. Your altar stands serene and undefiled. It is the holy altar to my Self, and there I find my true Identity.   W-pII.309.2:1-3

The holy Identity within us is our altar – forever undefiled. We have never left Oneness. We have never left the unified One we really are. There is no separation. We remain One with our Creator and each other, for that is the essence of our Creation. Take a chance on Oneness. Can it be any worse than the insanity of the world we seem to be in? The transformation of our perception of the world and each other is miraculous indeed. Be willing, even just a wee bit willing to let go of our fear and allow our inner guidance to bring new sight to our eyes. We will find even more than we thought we were seeking. We will find ourselves in a state of Heaven even as we still walk on this earth. And so we walk in perfect peace and love and joy.