February 22, 2011

Do we have hindrances in our lives on our journey? We certainly seem to. They take many forms; seem large or small, high or low, deep or shallow, and impossible or easy. If we are honest, most of these hindrances seem large to us, for we cling to thee idea that miracles are not all the same. The Course is all about teaching us that miracles are all the same, there is no order of difficulty in miracles. See the very beginning of the text. We have many opportunities and ways to learn this. In fact, our whole life is about learning this one lesson.

Every moment of our life presents us with a choice. There choices take many forms, but in every choice is the choice to mover toward Oneness or to move toward separation. Our desire is for Oneness. It is the essence of who we really are. It cannot /be taken away from us or left behind. But we can look away from Oneness and think we are separate. It is an idea made up in our mind and believed. The act of believing this mistaken thought makes it seem real to, it gives the idea power.

All the hindrances we seem to have on our journey may seem different and of differing magnitude. But they are, in actuality, all very small, even tiny. We have made them what they seem to us by our belief that they are as we think we see them. And we think we lose something dealing with these hindrances. But it is impossible for us to lose anything real. Even the loss of time is meaningless for it is but an instant in eternity and meaningless to our Teacher. Since we believe in time, why do we waste it going nowhere when we can use it for the higher purpose of returning to the awareness of who we really are?

The road to Heaven’s gate, the awareness of who we really are, is not difficult. Nothing we undertake with our eyes, ears, and mind set on this certain purpose with high resolve and happy confidence, holding the hand of each One, and keeping step to the Song of Heaven is difficult to do. There is only one road we can take. It is the road to Heaven. But it is our choice which way we go; toward Heaven or away from it. It is hard to wander down the road that goes nowhere with no purpose. But it is easy to take the hand of Spirit and let Spirit guide us in the direction of Heaven and the awareness of our wholeness. Choose to take the high road, the easy road, whatever you may call it and join in the song of Heaven.

February 8, 2011

God, Truth, Reality, Creation, Oneness are all simple. They are all the same, they are One, and there is nothing other than One. There is no complexity in what Is, for there is nothing other than what Is. But we have thought our way to complexity. We have created a world based on our thoughts about every experience we have ever had. It is a world full of choices, many of which seem unclear to us. We go through our lives trying to make the choices we think we see, and to make the right choices for us. The biggest problem we have about making these choices is not the complexity or the rationale of the choices, but the way we make those choices. We try to make those choices ourselves, with only the thoughts we have made up about our experiences in this world.

But there is another way to approach these choices. There is another way to make these decisions, and it’s easier than we might think. The Course tells us: “There is a borderland of thought that stands between this world and Heaven. It is not a place, and when you reach it is apart from time. Here is the meeting place where thoughts are brought together; where conflicting values meet and all illusions are laid down beside the truth, where they are judged to be untrue. This borderland is just beyond the gate of Heaven. Here is every thought made pure and wholly simple. Here is sin denied, and everything that is received instead.”

The “place” we make the choice is in our mind. And the choice we must make is not the choice we think is facing us, but the choice of how we actually make the choice! All our lives we have been relying solely on ourselves to make these choices, judgments, and valuations. The borderland the Course refers to is a place in our mind we have always had, but never really looked to. It is a place where all the wisdom of Spirit is available to us to show us what is real or illusion. Here is where our thoughts may be placed along side Truth and judged without prejudice. What is Tue and real stands, and what is not true falls gently away, fading into nothingness.

This borderland is the meeting of timelessness and time. It is where the world meets reality. It is the mindset given us to live in this world and keep our eyes on Truth. It is the state of mind where the holy instant becomes Vision. It is where we choose and experience Heaven whenever we choose to remember to do so. This borderland never goes away, it never fades. It is where we remember who we really are, and see each other in the light of Truth, reawakening the awareness of our Oneness. Even when we forget who we are, Spirit holds this borderland in our mind, calling us back until we hear the Voice again and return to this place. Rejoice in it and make the choice again today.

February 1, 2011

In our lives we seem to have many different problems. They are varied, take many forms, and seem to have different magnitudes. Some seem simple and some seem difficult, and some seem insurmountable. We see them this way because we look at them and try to resolve them from our perception of them. We see them the same way we see ourselves and each other, separate and not equal, imbued with some perception of loss that is involved with any solution or resolution. We try to solve each problem in a special way related to the form in which we see it. And we succeed in solving many of these problems in the form they take for us. But soon others creep up, taking another special form that we see in our own special way.

But we are missing the root problem. Our problems take many forms in this world, and we see them in relation to the way we see ourselves and our specialness. And all of these perceived problems seem to require some loss on someone’s part to be resolved. The root of our problems is that we think there is a lack in the world and that God is limited because we see ourselves as limited. Until we correct our perception of ourselves, each other, and the world we will never solve anything for all of time never to rise again.

If we are willing to let ourselves see a bit differently, we may find another way to resolve the problems we see. Our way of continuing on in our habitual separate way of thinking will only keep us in that mindset. But the Holy Spirit has said that it can solve any problem we have. We need only be willing to let it go and allow Spirit to show us a better way of thinking. All our problems stem from the belief in lack, loss, and a limited world which we project on ourselves and God. Once we allow Spirit to help us remove the belief in limitation, and foster a new belief in God’s abundance, we begin to see that our problems resolve.

We are so tied to perceiving all at the level of the world that we forget to look beyond to Spirit, to the essence of all that is real and transcends the world of form and illusion. Allow yourself to turn to Spirit and release your hold on the ideas and beliefs to which you are so attached. Spirit has held for us all that we really are, waiting for us to be ready to lay aside our mistaken thoughts and remember who we really are. We are the One Holy Child of God, always One with God and each other and inseparable form All. The realization of this Truth is our salvation and the release from any form of problem we encounter.