October 30, 2012

This section talks about miracle impulses. Do we understand what miracle impulses are? They are constantly happening within our mind. These may be the impulses of correct ideas that are always within our One Mind, the Mind we share with God and each other that has never seen or been separate. We just don’t recognize these ideas as rational because we perceive them with a split mind, an egoic mind. Holy or Divine ideas and thoughts will never make sense to us from the perception of a mind attached to its separate ideas. All the perceptions we have made up over our life by trying to rationalize our life experiences and lessons from a belief in a separated reality (illusion) dominate and confuse the mind we think is our real mind. Our separated egoic thinking dulls, distorts, and clouds our perception, making it very difficult to correctly perceive the miracle impulses within our minds.

Thus, we miss the messages and miracles the Voice for God, Spirit is quietly constantly communicating to us.

“Child of God, you were created to create the good, the beautiful, and the holy.

Do not forget this. The Love of God, for a little while, must still be expressed through one body to another, because vision is still so dim.”

ACIM T-1.VII.2.1-3

This is the purpose of our time here in form, in this world of illusion that often makes little sense to us. Miracles are a correction in our thinking. It’s not so difficult to change our mind. We do it all the time, but usually from one misperception to another misperception. But since we are created One with God and share the Mind of God, we have the capacity to correct our mind. It seems difficult and haphazard when we try to comprehend this shift in our separated egoic mind, but God has given us Spirit to guide our corrections, our shifts in thinking. We simply let go of the ideas and thinking we are so attached to and let Spirit guide our minds. Soon enough we will experience glimpses of hope, moments of peace, the glowing of love extended to us from another or to another. In these miracle minded moments we find the awareness of who we really are welling up within us.

The Course takes us on a journey to help us learn the Truth about ourselves and each other. The Course has provided the wisdom of a big brother who knows our path to guide us on our way. This big brother comes in many forms over the journey of our life. Each one we encounter is a manifestation of Spirit offering us an opportunity to let go of some belief or idea we cling to with desperate attachment afraid to let go of. But that encounter offers us an extension of Love, a moment of peace, a remembrance of our whole Divine Self. Let go of everything at that moment. Let the presence of Spirit wash over you in that beautiful peaceful moment. Your mind will be changed. The awareness of the Divine within will well up within you even if just a bit. The ancient call of your true identity will echo in your mind. The door to the awareness of who you really are will open just a bit more, letting in the peace, love and joy already within you arise to the level of your mind.

Take the steps you are led to take. Trust Spirit to guide you well. The joy of living in the awareness of who you really are will shine as a bright light, a beacon to all who want to be aware that they are ion the place you are. You see, they are already there, as you are. They just don’t recognize it due to their cloudy perception. Allow the unclouding of your perception and bring the same to the ones around you. Take the steps, learn the lessons, and let Spirit transform your awareness. You’ll wonder how you could have ever seen otherwise. It is so.

October 23, 2012

Each and every one of us wans to be at peace and experience love, joy, and happiness in our lives. The Course helps us to retrain our mind, correct our thoughts, and lead us to the awareness of the Divine Self we all are. We haven’t lost peace or love. We don’t have to find it somewhere and bring it into our lives. We can’t buy it. We can’t take it from someone else. What we are looking for is already ours. It is already deep within us. We may not be aware of it at this particular moment, but it is definitely within us and always has been within us. We’ve simply lost sight of it by focusing our attention and beliefs on temporary and illusory fixes.

We can all recognize the thought of “if only I had this then I’ll be happy.” Or perhaps if only this one would change I would be peaceful. The Truth is that peace, happiness, and love are and always have been within us. Our job is to refocus our mind to the Holy core within us and recognize the Divine Presence within we are inseparable from. Our mind certainly has a lot of noisy thinking going on, but Spirit is with us to help us see past the noise and hear the quiet voice that rests at the core of our being. We are whole. God creates us whole. Our wholeness is indestructible. No matter where or when we are, we have this divine essence within that is our true Self. It waits within for us to allow it to come forth and transform our thinking and let our natural state of being come forward and show itself.

Sometimes we think we need this or that to find what we seek. We think we have to forcibly change something to make ourselves something else. But no, we have all we need. Any need we think we need is an illusion, a mistaken thought. We do not need to get any thoughts out of our head. We don’t need to genuflect or climb the mountain or any other feat. We simply let go of our needs and allow the Divine self within to surface. That divinity is buoyant. It will always float to the surface when we allow it. We can expend a great deal of effort holding it under, but the minute we let go. Our divinity bobs to the surface. It just can’t be kept down.

Our life is full of signals to let us know how we are doing. When we experience rear, guilt, hate, anger, it is a signal to let go of whatever we are focused on and look within to our own divinity. It may be difficult at first. It may not seem to have any results, but with practice it will come. Do the daily lessons. Remember to change your focus to the divine within whenever it occurs to you. Recognize the feelings that distract you and transform them into the signals that remind you to think differently. Let them remind you of who you really are and who your brothers and sisters really are. Allow the blessing of peace, love, and joy to well up within you and remove the shade to let the light of wholeness shine from within you. The light emanating from within us will guide us and each other in Divine Oneness. Rest in the Divine and it is so.

October 16, 2012

The way we have perceived the world we think we see, through being taught by others and teaching ourselves, has produced a dense cover in our minds that obscures our awareness of who w e really are. We believe so strongly in what we have perceived, that we think anything that disagrees with it is not possible. So who we really are continues deep within us, but rarely rises to the surface of our awareness. Our purpose here in this world of form is to use everything we encounter and experience in this world to unlearn the misperceptions on which we have based our concept of our selves. It’s as simple as altering our perception, and as complicated as we make altering our perception.

How willing are we to question just a little of what we have come to believe? Are we willing to hold all our perceptions to the light? Are we willing to surrender all we have worked so hard to perceive and make sense of even if it doesn’t make sense? We, who identify as human beings, separate and defined by a body and past experiences, are very reluctant to let go of anything we have worked so hard for. We are even reluctant to let go of our perception of our needs that we think we lack. This deep seated conviction of who we think we are has stood the test of time. We’ve gotten used to it. We’ve even come to think it brings us peace, love, and happiness just because it’s familiar. And the unfamiliar throttles us with fear. And thus we remain immersed in our mistaken perceptions of who we think we are.

There is a Divine plan for us. There is another way to perceive ourselves. It’s lying right beneath all the thoughts that we are so attached to. It’s waiting there full of light, love, and happiness we have obscured from our awareness by all the other perceptions we have learned and believed. Are we ready to entertain a new belief? This new belief will release us from all incorrect beliefs. Step by step we can walk with the guidance of Spirit releasing the mis-beliefs and misperceptions that fade away in the light of pure Spirit. The love and laughter of wholeness is there within us waiting to be remembered and recognized as we join with the Mind of God and recognize the divine in ourselves and each other. In this Divine Oneness are we reunited in our Oneness.

In this section we are told:

“Child of God, you were created to create the good, the beautiful, and the holy.

Do not forget this.”

ACIM T-1.VII.2.1-2

Through our bodies and this temporal illusory world we are called to extend the Love of God to each other, calling each one to the awareness of who we really are. Remember that miracles are all around us and within us. Only our dense cover of misperception keeps them out of our awareness. Pull aside the veil of misperception and mis-belief. “Let the light of Truth burn off the fog of illusion. Spiritual sight is there waiting for us to abandon our total reliance on our body’s eyes and see what is already ours.

October 9, 2012

Section VI begins with the following words: “You who want peace can find it only by complete forgiveness. No learning is acquired by anyone unless they want to learn it and believe in some way that they need it. While lack does not exist in the creation of God, it is very apparent in what you have made.” (ACIM T-1.VI.1-3) Getting, accepting, and believing the idea that lack does not exist in the realm of God is one of the essential lessons we need to learn. But – there’s another need! Though there are no needs in God’s creation, a need such as this has a purpose in Spirit’s plan for our return to the awareness of who we really are, our salvation, our freedom. Sprit uses the world we have made though our specific perceptions to bring about our transformation and the transformation of the world we see and perceive.

Do we think we would be better off in a state other than the state we are in? Uf yes, then we perceive and believe that we have needs. In our creation, we are created with no needs at all – we lack nothing. Needs arise only when we deprive ourselves with our thoughts and perception of something we already have. We determine our own order of needs according to who we think we are. No matter what needs and level of needs we have determined for ourselves, the only lack we need correct is our perception that we are separate from God. This must be corrected before the error of perceiving levels of need can be corrected. While we believe our perception of levels, correct our must be introduced vertically from the bottom up. Though the temporal world of space and time is made up by perception, it is the world we perceive ourselves in and so Spirit works with what we see as real to unlearn the unreal perceptions we believe and raise our awareness of who we really are to what is True about ourselves.

The real purpose of the world is to use it to correct our unbelief in reality, our Divinity, and wholeness. God gives us the freedom to choose what we believe. And so whatever we choose to believe we will see as real. We believe what we perceive in the world because we gave it control over us by believing what we made up. If we make fear, we believe fear. Belief produces the acceptance of existence. This is why we all have different perceptions of what is true and real. Spirit uses this same ability to help us change our belief of who we are to correct our error in perception. We can decide to change what we believe. Spirit will guide our minds, if we allow, to a more correct perception and the release from the chains of our mistaken beliefs.

Are we willing to subject the beliefs we hold true to a reality test? Our degree of willingness to do so determines the extent to which our perception can be corrected right now. To sort the false from the true, the miracle proceeds along these lines:

Perfect love casts out fear.

If fear exists, then there is not perfect love.

But: Only perfect love exists.

If there is fear, it produces a state of mind that does not exist.

ACIM T-1.VI.5-8

Change your mind. Test each idea you believe. Spirit has given us this solution to the errors of our perception. Freedom from our perceived lack is waiting for us to be willing to change our belief about who we really are. Let it be so now. There is no better time than the present moment.

October 2, 2012

Wholeness and Spirit go hand in hand. They are inseparable. Our reconnecting to Spirit within us is the path to the awareness of our inherent wholeness. We have never not been whole. We just lost our awareness of the wholeness that is a characteristic of our creation. It can never be lost, only forgotten or buried, only to be rediscovered again when we are ready. Reestablishing our communication with God and Spirit is the purpose of our journey here in this world we have made. This week’s ACIM Weekly Thought from the Foundation for Inner Peace was from Principle 11:

Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communication of the created with the Creator. Through prayer love is received, and through miracles love is expressed.

ACIM T-1.I.11

Prayer, in whatever form works for each of us, is an effective way to reopen that communication with Spirit and thus God.

The miracle is a learning aid for us to begin and step up on our journey back to the awareness of who we really are. Once our journey is complete, there will be no need of further miracles as there will be no need for the body. But their use is the means that all God’s Creations return to the awareness of who we really are. It is our willingness to listen to Spirit and act on its guidance that opens our eyes and mind. We naturally have Spiritual sight, but we’ve closed those wise eyes and fallen into a deep spiritual sleep. With Spirit’s guidance, we wake level by level to higher and higher levels of awareness. We discover new and wonderful things about ourselves and our true identity as we are lifted on this path. As we allow our journey to progress, it is like being carried on the wings of angels as we leave what is holding us back behind and move on to our next discovery.

We have all the tools we need for our journey. Our journey is uniquely ours yet it is also all of ours for we take it together. Look for Love as we move along on this journey. Communicate with Spirit through whatever prayer form feels open and right. Keep an open mind and listen for Sprit’s guidance. Love is received through this open communication and through the resulting miracles Love is expressed to all God’s creations. We are created by God and thus have been given everything that is. We don’t see that right now, for we have closed our minds to that awareness. But as we open our minds to accept a new awareness of ourselves we begin to see how we have limited ourselves and each other and imprisoned ourselves merely by our limited thinking. As the truth about ourselves becomes stronger in our minds we begin to release ourselves and each other from the imaginary limitations our minds have made up. We begin to feel the freedom of our true nature and the truth about who we really are. What are you waiting for? Take that step. Open the door of prayer and communication with Spirit. Take off in the freedom of Truth and soon we will find we are soaring like an eagle in the awareness of who we really are.

September 25, 2012

Do we think darkness exists? We can only answer that question for ourselves. But the Course tells us darkness is an illusion. Darkness doesn’t exist. Escaping from it is simply realizing that darkness doesn’t exist. Perhaps we think to ourselves, “Easier said than done.” This is not something we need do alone. We have all the resources of Spirit at our disposal if we are willing to recognize them. God has given us everything. It is ours because we are created One with God. We are extensions of God, not separate creations. We begin the path of recognizing this and opening our minds to the awareness of our connection with God and Spirit.

We recognized earlier that we are Spirit. This is the essence of our being. The road to this awareness begins by recognizing that the darkness we perceive is basically fear. All that is not real is basically fear. Fear forms in our mind when we forget we are experiencing love. It is amazing that the simple process of forgetting we are the essence of love can blot out the awareness of that fact. But when we turn our perception away from who we really are, we blot it out with the fear we feel because we don’t recognize who we are at that moment. So we begin to make something up, that we are a separate being. And so we look for a purpose.

Darkness is merely a lack of light. We all know that a dark room is transformed by bringing light into that room. Immediately the darkness fades away. The same is true of the awareness of our divinity, our spirit essence. The moment we turn and recognize the Divinity we really are, all other thoughts of who or what we think we are fade away in the light of Spirit and Love. The abundance that is ours through our creation, our Oneness with God, is limitless. We always have whatever we need in any situation to do what we need to do and extend the miracle we need to extend. Every miracle is guided by Spirit. We are never alone in doing miracles. Miracles come from Love and we are Love. The awareness of Love at the core of all we see, experience, and do is our connection to the awareness of who we really are.

Entering into this awareness of our divinity and love is the mindset where we are in communication with God. In this state of communication we flow with grace through all we are involved in. We may not flow so gracefully at first, but as we let Spirit guide us and move and think in this world from an awareness of Love, we will feel the arms of Spirit lift our minds to a new perception and understanding. We will begin to see and perceive with the eyes of Spirit. We will hear the Voice for God speaking to us reminding us of who we really are and extending the abundance of Love through us. Let go as you are willing and be led to that next step. You will be blessed with the peace, love, and joy that is already yours.

September 18, 2012

The power to work miracles belongs to each and every one of us. There is no question about this ability. But we do need to be ready and willing to work miracles. Spirit will provide the opportunities, but we must be willing to step up and do our part. We may be unsure at first and lack the conviction that we are able. Doing miracles will bring about the conviction that comes from accomplishment and practice. The ability is our potential. The achievement is its expression. And the Atonement, which is our natural profession, is our purpose. This is what our journey is all about, returning to the awareness of who we really are.

Performing miracles may sound daunting, but it’s really not. We have grown to believe that miracles are huge magical feats that defy all we know. We start by recognizing that we are one of God’s creations. It’s such a simple start. God’s creations are wholly lovable and wholly loving, so this is how we must begin t think of ourselves in our hearts because that is who and what we are. Just being willing to entertain this though brings us so far on our journey. This shift in our idea about who we are is forgiveness. As we realize we are Spirit we extend that same idea (forgiveness) to others in return. We are releasing ourselves and each other from the prisons of our thoughts and beliefs. Miracles are the way minds that serve Spirit unite with each other and all creation. We begin to see that we are all One in the realm of God.

As we place ourselves in the hands of Spirit, ever listening for Spirit’s guidance in all we do, we will find we need not spend needless effort to work miracles for we are in constant communication with Spirit. We don’t need to worry about results or whether we’ve done it right, for we are not alone in our guided actions. We may or may not see any results immediately or over time. Spirit directs the miracles we do and orchestrates their perfect outcome. We are released from all the worry about “doing” and results. We just do and release the outcome. We are blessed with spirit, for that is who we are.

It is our responsibility to let our perception change as Spirit guides it. We live in a world of perception for the time being on this journey. As we allow Spirit to change our perception step by step we awaken to the truth about who we really are. Our experience alters realizing more and more peace, love, and joy no matter what situation we are in at any given moment. We learn that we are love, we are experiencing love, and we are extending love to ourselves and to each other. Here in this mind-set of miracle mindedness we find the Heaven we have so sought after. And we find we have always been there and not realized we were where we were journeying to. Heaven on earth is right here in this true state of mind. Let it be so.

September 11, 2012

Atonement is an awareness that all minds are one with the One Mind, the Mind of God. This is our natural state of mind. Our journey in this world of perceived separation is a journey in perception back to the awareness of who we really are, an inseparable element of the Whole. Our Creator has provided us with all the assistance we need to make this journey easier if we are willing to let ourselves be guided in correcting the errors in perception we have made along our way. Our judgment and decision making has been clouded by our perception mistakes and those mistakes have led to more mistakes in our perception. The mistakes are merely perceptive ones and therefore have no substance. But they do keep us from being aware of our divinity and the Truth about who we really are.

We have been given a guide to lead us back to the awareness of who we really are. We have also been given the choice as to whether or not we listen to and accept the guidance of this guide. The guide appears in many forms. It is the narrator, seen as Jesus by Helen, the scribe of the Course. It is the Holy Spirit, the Voice for God, the Comforter, the eyes of Spirit or Vision. It is also seen in each other as the Christ within or the Sonship. At any point in our journey all these forms of this guide are with us, presenting us with choices, waiting for us to ask for direction in anything we think or do.

Miracles bring about and right us on our journey to Atonement and the awareness of who we really are. Miracles are directed by our guide. The opportunities are presented to us and when we are willing we act on them. We may make mistakes in even this along the way. But our guide is with us to filter out the mistakes we make, as we try. In this way these miracles bring the highest benefit to any one or more of us. We may or may not see the effect in the world of any particular miracle we perform, but we will be changed by it. We do the miracle to ourselves and our guide. Its effect in others is divinely guided by Spirit. We need not fear that we may make an error if we release it to our guide.

Though we have forgotten our True Identity for this short while, we have never left it. We have only lost our awareness of it. We are relearning to connect with Spirit. The Course tells us to remember the following:

Spirit is in a state of grace forever.                   

Our reality is only Spirit.                   

Therefore we are in a state of grace forever.

Remembering this in all we do will make obvious the right choice, making it inevitable. In recognizing this Truth we release each other and thus ourselves from all the limitations we have placed on each other in our self perceived world. Let the transformation come about in your mind and Heave ad earth will no longer appear separate. We will perceive and see Heaven on earth as we allow it to be so.

September 4, 2012

As we finish discussing the Principles of Miracles we move on to learning how to open to them in our daily lives. Miracles shift our perception. Miracles happen at the level of the separated mind which thinks it is separate from the Mind of God. Because the separated mind thinks it is separate from the Mind of God, it is not aware of direct communication between God and God’s Creation, us. Miracles help shift our perception to raise our level of awareness and open us to more direct and open communication with God through the Voice for God, Spirit.

This section of the Course helps us understand the difference between horizontal communication with each other and vertical communication with God. Horizontal communication is between us and our brothers and sisters. Miracles help raise the quality of that communication with each other by raising our awareness of who we really are. What results, if we are willing, is the expression and extension of love between us in this temporal world of form. Revelation induces temporary direct communication between God and God’s Creation, us. This is vertical communication, communication between a state of Oneness and a state of separation. Miracles induce a state of mind that enables vertical communication. We may call these communications collapses of time or holy instants. They shift us temporarily into a state of bliss where we have been immersed in the awareness of who we really are.

Since we are at the beginning of the Course, it speaks to us as ones who are only aware of their identity as bodies or the separate identities we made up. When we go back and read these early sections again they have deeper meaning for us now. Our willingness to see and perceive differently has grown. We are open to new understanding. And we continue to expand our awareness of who we really are. We make this journey together. Each of us is in exactly the right place to take the next step or make the next leap. What we do is a reflection of what we believe about ourselves. Let’s join together and take that next step as One.

August 28, 2012

As we continue looking at the Principles of Miracles, we are reminded again and again that miracles are about our thoughts, not our experiences. We may have experiences as a result of miracles, they may manifest in our physical world in many forms and ways, but miracles are always in our thinking. Our miracle mindedness is always a result of our willingness to allow our thoughts and decisions to be guided by Spirit, Source, God, the Universe. You may use another name – like the “Great Zucchini” a term suggested by my friends the Lucketts – but surrender to our Source allows miracles to happen.

When the world we see is transformed due to a shift in our perception, the way we perceive our world, we have certainly experienced a miracle. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Are we willing?” Principle 12 says “Miracles are thoughts.” It’s our choice whether we allow our thoughts to align with the physical or lower experience or the spiritual or higher experience. There is an intention we put forward in our minds for what level we want our mind to be on. We align with the lower or bodily mind, or the spiritual or higher mind. The lower thought system makes the physical seem real and the higher creates the spiritual.

We know what we desire. We want to be in the state of mind of spirit. It is ours to experience. But we must be willing to release our grip clinging to the physical or separated experience of the world, the one we perceive in isolation. The Course asks us to take the principles of miracles to heart and begin to adjust the way we think to allow Spirit to guide our thoughts and decisions. Along this path of release, we will be unsure, we’ll have questions, and we’ll want to know the “right” answer. The only right answer any of us will have is the answer that is inspired by Spirit as we listen for it.

There is no hurry. Our time will come when we let our time come. We cannot force it, for the forcing will only guide us to separation. Take a step aside for a moment. Allow Spirit to speak in that still small voice to you. Spirit will guide you if you listen and let yourself be led. It is as easy as breathing. We don’t even think about taking each breath we take. Let Spirit’s guidance become a habit. It will take conscious effort for awhile. But that effort will ease over time as we release our desire to fight against it. Miracles bring us truth. Miracles extend love. Be the part of the circle of love you really are. The experience will transform to the experience of peace, love, and joy. Let it be so.