June 10, 2014

We have previously learned that we cannot learn from two opposing teachers. This attempt leads only to confusion and conflict. In this section, the Course tells us that only one Teacher knows what our reality is. That Teacher is Spirit, our higher holy One Self. If our goal is to remove our blocks from the awareness of who we really are, we must learn it from the One Teacher who knows what our reality is. Our “other” teacher, the ego, is trying also to teach us what we are without knowing what we really are. And wherever we are on our journey, our true nature and identity is always with us behind those blocks we have chosen to believe are there. Is it any wonder we feel confused and uncertain? However unintentional our confusion is, it is important to take responsibility for our role in making and believing our egoic thought system. It is made up and therefore unreal, but it is of our making.

Source gives us free will at our Creation. And that free will is one with the Will of Source. And, they cannot be out of accord. As there is nothing other than this will, there is nothing real that opposes our shared Will.   Freedom is ours and we are therefore limitless. Our belief and alignment with the egoic thought system is the denial of our free will. It also blocks our conscious awareness of who we really are. The idea that we are separate from our Creator and each other and our belief that this idea is true is the root of every block we have to the awareness of who we really are. But, we have a guide, a Teacher who knows our reality and is ready to guide us in removing every one of those blocks. That guide is Spirit, our higher holy Self, always within our mind, gently watching waiting and calling us back to our home, our One Mind.

There is nothing outside our mind that can prevent us from the awareness of who we really are. Any limits to our free will we share with Source is completely fabricated in our egoic mind. At any moment we can release our attachment to that belief and allow ourselves to be guided by Spirit. As the Course says:

“When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing. There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried down a quiet path in summer.”

(T-14:IV.6.1-2)

Once we stop making the extraordinary effort to hold on to our allegiance to our egoic thought system, we will be amazed at the ease that comes over us. Spirit’s way, which is really our true way shared with Source, is our natural way. It is the higher road, the road we recognize that we have been looking for all this time. Take each other’s hands and joyfully walk together as Spirit guides us to the awareness of the Realm of Heaven all around us. We have always been there, yet we couldn’t see it for the fog of our egoic thought system. Let go, and let it be so.

June 3, 2014

Peace is our motivation for learning this course and is the prerequisite for knowledge. If we are not is a state of peace, we are in a state of conflict, and knowledge cannot be accessed in a state of conflict. Peace is the natural sate of who we really are. Peace opens the door to the awareness of our natural state of being that is all around us. Conflict keeps our mind divided. Peace unites our mind and joins our mind with all other minds. In Chapter 7 we learned about the state of grace being our natural state. The state of grace and the state of peace are one and the same. There is no conflict and our mind flows freely in harmony with all other minds within the Mind of God. Our mind cannot rest in peace and grace when it is conflicted.

What causes our mind to be conflicted is that we have given our allegiance to a thought system that is not real. We may not even realize it, but we have given control of our mind over to an egoic thought system. It is a thought system that is invested in maintaining the idea that we are separate from Creation and somehow are independent from God and all others. This idea is constantly in conflict with the truth about who we are – that we are One with all that Is. Much of the teaching and learning we have encountered since our physical birth has guided us to the belief that we are separate and have a separate identity. But that doesn’t make separateness true. It only conflicts with the truth about who we are – that we are One with God and all creation. We cannot change who we really are, so we place blocks to the awareness of who we really are in our thought system. The result, we believe we are a separate identity that is in conflict with our natural state of peace and grace and our higher One mind.

We have inadvertently been following two teachers and two curriculums. One of separation and one of Oneness. One can already see the conflict in this statement. A simple choice to relinquish our allegiance to egoic thinking and the belief in separation begins a journey to the reawakened awareness of who we really are and our Oneness. We already are that One, but we are guided back to the awareness of who we really are as guided by Spirit. Spirit guides us to a state of peace and grace where we can listen to the Voice of Spirit as It guides us. Every moment, every experience, every encounter and relationship become the lessons that teach us the power we have to be at peace, to be in a state of grace. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we are in that state of peace and grace whether we are aware of it or not. Relinquish any attachment and belief in separation and a state of conflict. And allow Spirit to guide our thoughts and mind to Oneness and Unity. We have nothing to lose but conflict. And, we have nothing to gain but peace, love and joy. Don’t worry, be happy. Let it be so.