August 18, 2020

Lesson 232 –

Be in my mind, my Creator, through the day.

Each day, each moment, remembering who we really are is a practice that will benefit our state of mind. We want peace, then we focus on the source of peace within us. We have learned that we are One with our Creator and each other. There is no separation. We all share all with all. When we forget our natural state of being, we can simply turn within to the truth that dwells within us that is connected with Oneness, and remember who we really are. We are whole, complete, holy and free. Nothing can take that away from us. Only our denial of our truth makes it appear that it is not so. As we rise in the morning, remember we are Oneness. Anytime during the day – even often – remember and step into the awareness of our Oneness. This lesson gives us this instruction:

This is as every day should be. Today, practice the end of fear. Have faith in the One Who is your Creator. Trust all things to Oneness. Let Oneness reveal all things to you, and be you undismayed because you are the One Child.   W-pII.232.2:1-5

The purpose of the Couse is to heal our mind, to heal our thinking. We awaken to the realization and awareness of who we really are. This may look a bit different to each one of us, but in essence, it is all the same. We can step into the recognition that we are complete, whole and limitless; that we are essentially love. As we begin to allow our consciousness to shift, we begin to see and understand the world and its goings-on differently. We begin to see beyond the appearance of the world to the reality that lies beyond illusion. Our part is to relax and allow the true identity of our being to rise in our mind and set our thoughts free. Just allow your mind to settle down. Busy thinking doesn’t help us, it distracts us. Allow the peace within to rise to awareness. It’s always been there deep within waiting to be recognized. Be still an instant and experience the holy instant of recognition that reveals who and what we have always been. Connected and holy in Oneness.

August 11, 2020

Lesson 225 –

God is my Creator, and We, the One Child, love our Creator.

We must return our Creator’s love for us, for giving and receiving are the same and we have been given all. All is shared so we also give all freely. How could we not do this? For in full awareness we want this, blazing in our mind and keeping it within its kindly light, inviolate, beloved, with fear securely behind us and only peace ahead. How still is the way we are led along to the awareness of our Oneness! This is our destiny and our inheritance.  Of this does the ancient song sing. Take a step away from the chaos of the world and rest in this stillness a moment.

Friend, we find that stillness now. The way is open. Now we follow it in peace together. You have reached your hand to me, and I will never leave you. We are one, and it is but this oneness that we seek, as we accomplish these few final steps which end a journey that was not begun.   W-pII.225.2:1-5

Love is our natural condition. The giving and receiving of perfect pure love is our calling. Once we step into the realization that we are love, limitless love at that, we find it is impossible not to love. In this condition, peace rests at our core. Nothing at all is able to ruffle or threaten our peace. We can rest in the security that the real love and peace within us cannot be threatened. We are One with our Creator and thus, One with each other. When we feel threatened by conditions and situations in the world, we have a choice. We can get caught up in the appearance of the threatening world. Or, we can look within ourselves to the peace and love we share with all and our Creator that is our strength. This is our rock. This is the strength with which we can look beyond the appearance of the world to reality and Oneness.

When the going gets tough, when the challenges seem too big, take a step away from whatever seems so challenging and look to the stillness within us. It’s always there. It never hides. We simply acknowledge it and it is there, strong, present and quiet. Once we allow ourselves to be in stillness, our higher inspiration and guidance is there for us. If we ignore or deny it, it will be there the next time we are willing to allow it to rise within us. We are reminded; we are the light of the world, and all darkness fades away in the light of truth. Be the stillness. Be the light. Be peace. Be who you really are. Oneness.

August 4, 2020

Lesson 218 – Review of Lesson 198

I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.

(198) Only my condemnation injures me. My condemnation keeps my vision dark, and through my sightless eyes I cannot see the vision of my glory. Yet today I can behold this glory and be glad.

I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.   W-pI.218.1:1-6

There is nothing that keeps us unaware of our wholeness and holiness other than our own conflicting thoughts. This is not to blame ourselves. Nor is it to make us feel worse about ourselves. This lesson is meant to show us we have another choice. We have a choice to see ourselves, each other and the world differently. Our real, natural world is one of peace and joy. Yet, our mistaken thoughts and beliefs can keep the real world from our eyes. We have the choice to simply change our mind and see differently, and thus find our world transformed. I am reminded of the prayer response, “ What I believe I will see.”

Injury is impossible. And yet illusion makes illusion. If you can condemn, you can be injured. For you have believed that you can injure, and the right you have established for yourself can be now used against you, till you lay it down as valueless, unwanted and unreal. Then does illusion cease to have effects, and those it seemed to have will be undone. Then are you free, for freedom is your gift, and you can now receive the gift you gave.   W-pI.198.1:1-6

Forgiveness is the key to changing our thoughts. Forgiveness is truly a change of mind, a changing of our thoughts we believe to more correct thoughts. We are meant to see ourselves as we really are, whole, complete and holy. We re also meant to see each other whole, complete and holy, for that is our real Self in Oneness. All the seeming hurtful conditions we think we see are mistaken dreams our egoic thought system has made up to reinforce the belief we hold that we are fragmented and incomplete and somehow unclean. Nothing could be further from the truth. Take a step back and be still for a moment.

The stillness of your Self remains unmoved, untouched by thoughts like these, and unaware of any condemnation which could need forgiveness. Dreams of any kind are strange and alien to the truth. And what but truth could have a Thought which builds a bridge to it that brings illusions to the other side?   W-pI.198.8:1-3

This bridge is ours to take any time we wish. We can cross it many times. We can see it in many ways, many forms. It is revealed to us in a perfect way whenever we need it and when we allow ourselves to see it. The other side is our home, our Heaven on earth and in this world. Our forgiveness, even just our willingness to welcome forgiveness, reveals this bridge and the truth of our value and worth beyond it. Willingly step onto this bridge and the peace, love and joy we’ve been seeking with rise  within us in healing memory.

Now is there silence all around the world. Now is there stillness where before there was a frantic rush of thoughts that made no sense. Now is there tranquil light across the face of earth, made quiet in a dreamless sleep.   W-pI.198.11:1-3

All that remains upon the world we see is the truth of what is real. Only that quiet stillness can be perceived an instant longer. Now symbols are done, and everything we ever thought we made completely vanishes from the mind that our Creator knows forever to be Us. We no longer have any need of thoughts of condemnation or injury. They are meaningless in this world of perfect love and peace. And now the joy of freedom to be who we really are blesses us with the infinite peace and love we truly are. Step on that bridge and cross over now. Happiness is waiting just over this bridge.

July 28, 2020

Lesson 211 – Review of Lesson 191

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(191) I am the holy Child of God Godself.

In silence and in true humility I seek God’s glory, to behold it in the Child whom God created as my Self.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.   W-pI.211.1:1-5

This review lesson reminds us that the rediscovery of our true Self is found in silence, quiet. Find a moment to be still and look within. The ancient memories are there in our Mind. Spirit has held them for us waiting for us to be willing to see again and recognize our real Self. The knowing that we are all the One Child, that we are inseparable in Oneness has always been within us for the remembering. There is an ancient song of joy that rises within us when we allow ourselves to open to who we really are.

Here is your declaration of release from bondage of the world. And here as well is all the world released. You do not see what you have done by giving to the world the role of jailer to the Child of Oneness. What could it be but vicious and afraid, fearful of shadows, punitive and wild, lacking all reason, blind, insane with hate?   W-pI.191.1:1-4

This sounds horrible. How could we have done such a thing? Yet it is not irreversible. We have simply denied our own Identity, and this is what remains. We have looked on chaos and proclaimed it is our identity. Yet it is not real. It exists only in our mind. Everything we look upon we misinterpret as chaos of which we have become victim to. And thus, we believe we are as unholy as our misinterpretation. When we let today’s idea find a place among our thoughts and we have risen far above the world, from this place of safety and escape we will return and set the world free. We who can accept our true Identity are truly changed. This is the gift we give to everyone, pointing out the way to happiness that changes our whole perspective of the world. One holy thought like this and we are free: We are Oneness. With this holy thought we learn as well that we have freed the world.

Then let the Child of Oneness awaken from their sleep, and opening their holy eyes, return again to bless the world they made. In error it began, but it will end in the reflection of their holiness. And they will sleep no more and dream of death. Then join with me today. Your glory is the light that saves the world. Do not withhold salvation longer. Look about the world, and see the suffering there. Is not your heart willing to bring your weary companions rest?   W-pI.191.10:1-8

Then let yourself be quiet a moment. Allow yourself to listen to that ancient song within you and awaken. Your true Self is there waiting for your invitation to rise in your mind. In that knowing will you recognize your holiness – your true Identity. You will bring this recognition and awareness to the world and everyone you see. Don’t be fooled by appearances. Look beyond them and the reality beyond all you think you see will be revealed. You will realize that you had simply been no more than mistaken. Welcome the awareness of the wholeness and holiness of all that is.

July 21, 2020

Lesson 204 – Review of Lesson 184

I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.

(184) The Name of God is my inheritance.

God’s Name reminds me that I am God’s Child, not slave to time, unbound by laws which rule the world of sick illusions, free in God, forever and forever one with God.

I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.   W-pI.204.1:1-5

This lesson continues to remind me that we are all One. Oneness is all there is. We and God are inseparable. There is no division, no separation. All that is we share entirely. This is the reason there is no lack. This is the reason we are whole, holy and limitless. We have been seeking this awareness, but have been looking for it in separation. Our belief that we are separate and that we don’t have everything we need.

Oneness is our inheritance. It is there for us whenever we are willing to allow it into our awareness. Oneness is Reality. Separation is an illusion. While we are on our journey with no distance back to the awareness of who we really are, the world of form will serve a purpose as a means to learn there is no separation. It sounds crazy, but by opening our mind to the Oneness of all Creation we allow ourselves to be in the realm of Heaven while we walk the earth. We walk here as an example – a teacher – for all we encounter. The closing paragraphs and prayer of Lesson 184 remind us.  

No one can fail who seeks the meaning of the Name of God. Experience must come to supplement the Word. But first you must accept the Name for all reality, and realize the many names you gave its aspects have distorted what you see, but have not interfered with truth at all. One Name we bring into our practicing. One Name we use to unify our sight.   W-pI.184.13:1-4

And though we use a different name for each awareness of an aspect of God’s Child, we understand that they have but one Name, which the Creator has given them. It is this Name we use in practicing. And through Its use, all foolish separations disappear which kept us blind. And we are given strength to see beyond them. Now our sight is blessed with blessings we can give as we receive.   W-pI.184.14:1-5

The prayer we may offer:

Creator, our Name is Yours. In It we are united with all living things, and You Who are their one Creator. What we made and call by many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own reality. And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. All our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved from all effects our errors seemed to have. And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. Your Name is our salvation and escape from what we made. Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our inheritance and peace. Amen.   W-pI.184.15:1-9

July 7, 2020

Lesson 189 –

I feel the Love of God within me now.   ACIM W.p1.089

What we feel right now is an indication of where our mind is. When we get down to the basics, we feel either love or fear. This reflects what we believe about ourselves. We either believe we are one, connected with all Creation or we believe we are separate, alone and limited. No matter what specific experiences we are engaged in in this world, no matter what seems to be real right now, our belief about who we are brings us to feelings of love or fear. How we feel is our gauge. And it is important to be honest about how we feel and whether it is lasting or fleeting. If it feels precarious or fragile, we probably feel some fear that it will fail us at any moment.

There is a light in you the world can not perceive. And with its eyes you will not see this light, for you are blinded by the world. Yet you have eyes to see it. It is there for you to look upon. It was not placed in you to be kept hidden from your sight. This light is a reflection of the thought we practice now. To feel the Love of Oneness within you is to see the world anew, shining in innocence, alive with hope, and blessed with perfect charity and love.   W-pI.189.1:1-7

Lesson 61 taught us we are the light of the world. This light shines within us. It doesn’t matter whether or not we believe it, the fact is we are the light of the world. It shines forever within us. Our choice is whether we allow ourselves to see it and to let it shine. The world we think we see is searching for that light just as we are. Who will be the one to start letting their light shine? When one allows their light to shine, the light within others will shine, too. Who could feel fear in such a world? It welcomes us, rejoices that we came, and sings our praises as it keeps us safe from every form of danger and pain. It offers us a warm and gentle home here to stay a while. It blesses us throughout the day, and watches through the night as silent guardian of our holy sleep. It protects the light in us, in which it sees its own.

What would you see? The choice is given you. But learn and do not let your mind forget this law of seeing: You will look upon that which you feel within. If hatred finds a place within your heart, you will perceive a fearful world, held cruelly in death’s sharp-pointed, bony fingers. If you feel the Love of Oneness within you, you will look out on a world of mercy and of love.   W-pI.189.5:1-5

The choice is ours. We are not to make the path. We ae to allow Love to guide our minds to the light and love within us. And with this choice we rest. In our quiet hearts and open minds, Love will blaze its pathway of itself. What has not been denied is surely there, for it is true and can be surely reached. Love knows Us, and knows the way to us. Through every opened door Love shines outward from its home within, and lightens up the world in innocence. This beautiful promise, full of peace and joy, is ours for the accepting. The love, peace and joy within us is waiting to be released so it can transform the world. When you are ready, ask the prayer the Course suggests. If “Creator” does not work for you, replace it with Love or Oneness or any other word that resounds with you.

Creator, we do not know the way to You. But we have called, and You have answered us. We will not interfere. Salvation’s ways are not our own, for they belong to You. And it is unto You we look for them. Our hands are open to receive Your gifts. We have no thoughts we think apart from You, and cherish no beliefs of what we are, or Who created us. Yours is the way that we would find and follow. And we ask but that Your Will, which is our own as well, be done in us and in the world, that it become a part of Heaven now. 10 Amen. W-pI.189.10:1-10

June 30, 2020

Lesson 182 –

I will be still an instant and go home.   ACIM.p1.182

This is one of my favorite lessons from the Course. It never fails to bring peace to my mind. Always a return to the awareness of my true holiness and wholeness – my true Self. It reminds me that I am One with each One in Oneness. From this place I can see another, myself and the world differently. I am reminded to look beyond the appearance of what I think I see and understand to the beaty of the truth and reality beyond. I am healed as I alow the healing of another.

Take time today to lay aside your shield which profits nothing, and lay down the spear and sword you raised against an enemy without existence. Christ has called you friend. They have even come to ask your help in letting Them go home today, completed and completely. They have come as does a little child, who must beseech their parent for protection and for love. They rule the universe, and yet They ask unceasingly that you return with Them, and take illusions as your gods no more.   W-pI.182.11:1-5

There is a child in us who knows our true Self. This child knows the way home. This holy child is our guide. They ask us to rest an instant, to slow down in our frantic effort to make sense of the chaos and confusion of the world we think we see. When we are still an instant, when the world recedes from us, when valueless ideas cease to have value in our restless mind, then will we hear Their Voice. They call to us so poignantly that we stay with them a little longer. In that instant we are at home, and we will stay there with Them in perfect stillness, silent and at peace, beyond all words, untouched by fear and doubt, sublimely certain that we are at home.

You have not lost your innocence. It is for this you yearn. This is your heart’s desire. This is the voice you hear, and this the call which cannot be denied. The holy Child remains with you. Their home is yours. Today They give you Their defenselessness, and you accept it in exchange for all the toys of battle you have made. And now the way is open, and the journey has an end in sight at last. Be still an instant and go home with Them, and be at peace a while.   W-pI.182.12:1-9

Practice this lesson frequently. The holy Child within you is strong. Come without defenses, for They offer only love’s messages to those who think they are their enemy. They hold the might of Heaven and give Their strength. In stillness we find our true home. We have always been there, but blocked it from our awareness. Let your defenses fall away. We are already safe in our true home. Allow the holy Child within to bring us there as we become still for just an instant, long enough to allow Heaven to appear before our eyes.

June 23, 2020

Lesson 175 – Review of lessons 159 and 160

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

(159) I give the miracles I have received. 
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

(160) I am at home. Fear is the stranger here. 
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.   W-pI.175.1:1-2:3

This set of review lessons frames each lesson review in the idea that God [Source or Oneness] is nothing but Love, and therefore so are we. The main teaching of the Course is that we are simply Love – nothing else. How would our view of ourselves, each other and the world change if we adopted and believed this idea? Perhaps we are even afraid to go there. But this is where the Course askes us to go. It asks us to set aside all our preconceived ideas and notions about ourselves and just be open to the idea that we might actually be whole and holy. Let’s look at each review lesson in this light.

Lesson 159 tells us that we give the miracles we have received. The Course teaches us that we have everything we need. It also teaches us we have been given an abundance of miracles – even limitless. Perhaps we have mistakenly blocked all those miracles from our awareness. Be assured they are there and they are real just waiting to be given. For as with all that is real, all is shared. We receive miracles by giving them. This idea is contrary to any belief in separation for separation believes in limitation.

You understand that you are healed when you give healing. You accept forgiveness as accomplished in yourself when you forgive. You recognize another as yourself, and thus do you perceive that you are whole. There is no miracle you cannot give, for all are given you. Receive them now by opening the storehouse of your mind where they are laid, and giving them away.   W-pI.159.2:1-5

Miracles are Love and their result is Love. What else could we possibly want? Look then at lesson 160. The Course teaches us that Love and fear are opposites and cannot coexist. One of the sayings so famous from the Course is, “Love is letting go of fear.” When we align our minds with the miracle of Love, fear is the stranger to our mind and fades to nothingness. How many times have we been told to not be afraid? We have nothing to fear in the light of our wholeness and holiness. An open mind will find this idea completely plausible.

How simply, then, the question is resolved. Who fears has but denied themselves and said, “I am the stranger here. And so I leave my home to one more like me than myself, and give them all I thought belonged to me.” Now are they exiled of necessity, not knowing who they are, uncertain of all things but this; that they are not themselves, and that their home has been denied to them.   W-pI.160.5:1-4

The gist of the problem is that we have denied who we really are and thus blocked our true identity and holiness from our minds. The solution is simply the reverse, to be willing to stop denying who we really are and allow the miracle of a shift in our minds to awaken us to our wholeness. Let this lesson bear its fruit in our minds. We are Love and nothing else in reality. We will see the world, ourselves and each other differently when we make this realization. Today we can realize the healing of our mind.

June 16, 2020

Lesson 168 –

Your grace is given me. I claim it now.   ACIM W.p1.168

As I began to contemplate this lesson again, I asked myself, “What does the Course mean by ‘Your grace is given me.’” I have learned that we all have everything we need.  I have also learned that we are all holy, complete, whole and limitless. If I already have everything, what is this grace I am given? Then I realized this lesson is talking to my split mind. My split mind does need healing and awakening. And, it appears to my split mind that I am lacking what I need. I see the grace as the beautiful way in which Spirit holds the truth of who I really am for me until I am ready to accept and step into that awareness. Who or what holds that remembrance may appear different to each of us. Perhaps we see that entity as God, Source, Spirit, Oneness or our Higher Holy Spirit Self. The grace is that it is held without judgement, knowing we are already whole even when we don’t see it ourselves. The Course tells us this:

Today we ask of Source the gift They have most carefully preserved within our hearts, waiting to be acknowledged. This the gift by which Source leans to us and lifts us up, taking salvation’s final step Themselves. All steps but this we learn, instructed by Their Voice. But finally Source comes Themselves, and takes us in Their Arms and sweeps away the cobwebs of our sleep. Their gift of grace is more than just an answer. It restores all memories the sleeping mind forgot; all certainty of what Love’s meaning is.   W-pI.168.3:1-6

What are we waiting for? The split mind we have made for ourselves is not real. It is separation and thus is illusion. We are not separated in any way for we are all of one Mind,. When we realize our Oneness, we recognize our wholeness, completeness, limitlessness and holiness. These are the unchangeable essences of our true being. What Joy it is to recognize this. What Peace and Love wells up in our mind when we realize this. This perfection has always been within us, though hidden by our belief in separation. In our acceptance, the ancient memory of our true Self in Oneness rises in our Mind. All memories of unworthiness recede in the light of Truth when we embrace such Light.

Source loves Their One Child. Request Them now to give the means by which this world will disappear, and vision first will come, with knowledge but an instant later. For in grace you see a light that covers all the world in love, and watch fear disappear from every face as hearts rise up and claim the light as theirs. What now remains that Heaven be delayed an instant longer? What is still undone when your forgiveness rests on everything?   W-pI.168.4:1-5

Let us now claim this grace that has been given us. It is within us in plain sight. Nothing of reality and truth are hidden from us. Only our disbelief in our holiness blocks our awareness of our truth from us. Turn to the Light grace reveals to us and see clearly who we really are. Not one of our mistakes matters. They fade into nothingness in the Light of Truth. Let them go, for they do not serve us. Peace, Love and Joy are always ours. Repeat again this lesson, this prayer.

Your grace is given me. I claim it now. Source, I come to You. And You will come to me who ask. I am the One Child You love.   ACIM W.p1.168.6:5-9

June 9, 2020

Lesson 161 –

Give me your blessing, holy Child of God.   ACIM W.p1.161

Are we willing to accept  blessing? Our willingness is key to true change and growth. Our minds must be willing to be open to a different perception. We become engrained in a certain way of thinking which keeps us fully entrenched in our belief in separation. Allowing our mind to even consider a different perception is the beginning  of a new way of thinking and a new experience of our true Self. This lesson asks us to ask another for blessing. The blessing is the realization of who we really are. Perhaps we are unwilling to trust another, but this lesson begins to show us a way to perceive others in a different light. In that different light we begin to see them as our savior, seeing our holy Self reflected in them. Thus begins the beginning of stepping into the realization that we are all One, joined in the completeness of the unification of Creation – Oneness.

Today we practice differently, and take a stand against our anger, that our fears may disappear and offer room to love. Here is salvation in the simple words in which we practice with today’s idea. Here is the answer to temptation which can never fail to welcome in the Christ where fear and anger had prevailed before. Here is At-one-ment made complete, the world passed safely by and Heaven now restored. Here is the answer of the Voice for God.   W-pI.161.1:1-5

We are used to thinking in specifics in the world we see. We are not used to seeing in the abstract. So, our learning will be in the form of specifics. We don’t comprehend that we are all One at this time, so our teaching and learning will come from the understanding of separation while that is what we believe. Each one we encounter at any given moment is who Spirit uses to teach us.

One friend is all friends. Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. Such is the truth. Yet do these thoughts make clear the meaning of creation? Do these words bring perfect clarity with them to you? What can they seem to be but empty sounds; pretty, perhaps, correct in sentiment, yet fundamentally not understood nor understandable. The mind that taught itself to think specifically can no longer grasp abstraction in the sense that it is all-encompassing. We need to see a little, that we learn a lot.   W-pI.161.4:1-8

And so we begin to see the world differently. We look beyond the appearance of the world to the glimpses of reality beyond. It will take practice, but if we are willing, we will begin to see the transformation. Our readiness is closer now, and we will come nearer true vision. If we are intent on reaching it, we will succeed. Once we have succeeded, we will not be willing to accept what we previously settled for. What we will see will sing to us of ancient melodies we remember. This is the remembrance of Heaven, which we have never really left.

Select one friend, symbol of the rest, and ask salvation of them. See them first as clearly as you can, in that same form to which you are accustomed. See their face, their hands and feet, their clothing. Watch them smile, and see familiar gestures which they make so frequently. Then think of this: What you are seeing now conceals from you the sight of one who can forgive you all your mistakes; whose sacred hands can take away the nails which pierce your own, and lift the crown of thorns which you have placed upon your bleeding head. Ask this of them, that they may set you free:

Give me your blessing, holy Child of God. I would behold you with the eyes of Christ, and see my perfect sinlessness in you.   W-pI.161.11:1-8

And Spirit will answer Whom you called upon. For Spirit will hear the Voice for God in you, and answer in your own. Behold your friend now, whom you have seen as merely flesh and bone, and recognize that Christ has come to you. Today’s idea is your safe escape from anger and from fear. Be sure you use it instantly, should you be tempted to attack another and perceive in them the symbol of your fear. And you will see them suddenly transformed from enemy to savior; from the devil into Christ.   W-pI.161.12:1-6

Let this blessing flow over and through you. Let this grace fill you as it raises you to a higher place where we can see clearly.