June 26, 2012

The one temptation the world would teach us is to persuade us to believe we are the body and all that means to us. This temptation occurs in many forms, as many as we can possibly think up. But it always asks us to believe our identity is defined by our body and all we believe about it. Temptation is always about the belief that we are separate, limited, weak, defenseless, lacking, and under attack. It is the basis for all we think about ourselves, and all we identify with in our minds. It is our self concept which we have spent a lifetime making up and reinforcing with our ideas, thoughts, and beliefs.

Would you continue this idea of existence if Spirit in all its glory asked you to choose once again if you are to take your place among the saviors of the world or remain in hell and hold each othercaptive there? Every temptation is a choice. It makes no difference how often we have chosen the hell of separation. Every conscious thought identified with the self concept aligned with separation is an offer from Spirit to each of us to make a different choice. We always have the choice between a self concept of limitation symbolized by the body and the reality of who we really are. Spirit is always within us waiting for us to ask for guidance in this decision. Whatever form the choice may take Spirit is there to guide us if we only make the choice to be willing and ask for guidance.

The choice is always s there within us. It is always the choice between our own weakness and the strength of the Christ within us. We misperceive the self concept we hold of ourselves as our own strength, when it is really weakness. We don’t recognize our self concept as weakness simply because we refuse to look for the strength of Spirit and Oneness within us. That strength is there and always has been. When we choose to look to that inner strength we recognize its reality and remember the reality of who we really are. We recognize it in each other and see it also within ourselves.

It is time to start making that choice. And if we drop away from it, we make the choice again. There will never be a time when we can’t make the choice of Oneness. But the sooner we do, the sooner we find the real world in this life. Sprit transforms correct our vision of what we see and we find ourselves in the peace, love, and joy of Heaven.   We may drop back into the separation that feels like hell, but we remember we always have the choice to see again through the eyes of the Christ within. The Christ within is our true power. Make that choice again and again. Heaven awaits.

June 19, 2012

We have been talking abut the concept of the self we hold and believe so strongly and use as our “identity” to establish a sense of self worth for ourselves. There is nothing wrong with any of this except that we have made this self concept in isolation from Spirit and the truth about who we really are. We have learned this self concept and become so attached to it we established our self worth on this concept made in isolation. The result is that we have blocked ourselves from the awareness of the reality of who we really are. Our self concept becomes a barrier, a veil, a thick soupy fog, that essentially blocks our eyes and minds from the eyes of Spirit we all have.

We are so attached to this self made self concept that we are very unwilling to let it go and let our spiritual vision take hold. We have taught ourselves to fear what we might see if we let go of that idea we hold so dear. So God has given us each other in this world we think we see. We are asked to be willing to see another, whomever we are with at any given moment, as the creation of God they really are. We are asked to be willing to entertain the thought that they may be whole, innocent and divine as they are created. In the moment of that thought, we see our true self reflected back to us, a reality we could never see in isolation without the help of Spirit’s vision.

That flash of vision, that glimpse of reality, opens our eyes to the vast peace and love within us that extends to all of creation. Granted, this is the first flash. We still have much to learn, or better yet unlearn, about how we think. This is the role God has entrusted to us. God entrusts each holy one we encounter to us to grant forgiveness and salvation, seeing the Truth about them. Once we make this shift in our mind the real world opens to our sight. We have dropped the veil of our self concept from our eyes and see the peace, love, and light of God shining forth from each other and thus from ourselves. We feel the connectedness of all creation. And we feel that communion of Oneness extend beyond ourselves and the ends of the earth to the limitlessness of the universe. What joy we feel as we let this new awareness of our true identity rise in our minds. God has held this for us, waiting for us to just be willing to ask. Let it be so.

June 12, 2012

We understand the concept of learning. We have used it all our lives to help us grow and understand ourselves and the world around us. Learning is a process, and so learning is the process Salvation uses to help us change the self concept we hold and believe about ourselves. Learning is the process of changing our thinking. But we are reluctant to change the self concept we hold about ourselves wholly to the Truth in one fell swoop. So Spirit works with us step by step to build a new self concept of ourselves in steps we can sanely manage. And since we are so resistant and reluctant to think we could have made a mistake in who we think we are, Spirit asks us to start by change our opinion of another first.

As each one comes into our livesl we have the opportunity to let it dawn on our sight that this one is wholly worthy of forgiveness. In this dawning are we able to see our concept of ourselves wholly changed. When we allow our thinking about another to change, our thinking about ourselves will change in a like manner. Believe it or not, it is much easier to change our opinion about another than it is to change our opinion about ourselves. So Spirit uses our brother or sister, those who we are in relationship with in any form at the moment, to work salvation in our mind. Realize that the body has no need of salvation. Only our minds, for our minds are where our mistaken ideas are held dear.

In this plan of salvation, we give our trust to the good in another and so we give it also to the good in ourselves. In terms of concepts, we begin to see each other as more than just a body, and thus ourselves as more than just a body. By focusing on the good in another, the body grows decreasingly persistent in our sight, and over time will cease to be more than a shadow encircling the good we see. This will become our concept of ourselves when we have reached the world beyond the one our body’s eyes alone can see. Then we will be willing to not interpret what we see and experience without the Aid that God has given us. In this sight there is another world.

Take this first step and let it be so.

June 5, 2012

This section of the Course opens with the statement, “You see the flesh or recognize the spirit.” This is another one of the Course’s statements where it’s either one or the other. We can’t see both at the same time. Our vision is dependent on this choice we make. And our choice is dependent on what we believe about ourselves and who we think we are.   The belief we are this body of flesh will always keep us from recognizing spirit within us, \for they are opposites. Our mind cannot be in both beliefs at the same time. If we believe we are flesh, bodies, we believe we are separate. Sprit is Oneness and unity, so if we recognize spirit within, which is One, we cannot be separate. Our minds cannot accept and rationalize two opposing believed truths at the same time. So, we will see ourselves as we believe ourselves to be.

Salvation is undoing. It is the undoing of the limited seeing we have believed so accurate and real. Salvation releases us from the mistake of our belief we are the body and the world we see. But salvation does not ask us to behold the spirit and not perceive the body. That would be almost impossible for our minds which have so long believed we are the body we see. It asks us only to make the choice of which we want to believe and to choose to want to recognize spirit within.

We do not understand haw to see a world apart from the world we think we see. Our mind alone cannot see what it hasn’t made up. This world we made up, salvation will undo and let us see a world our body’s eyes could never see. We have been so entrenched in separation that this world we made up is all we can see. How is the world we see transformed? How is this salvation done? There is no doing to be done. There is no learning or any effort that needs to be done. It just already is for it is our will and God’s Will and it is so.

It doesn’t matter where we think we are, on earth or in Heaven. The Truth of who we are within us remains always radiant and beautiful as a star. That essence of our true being can never be diminished or lost. Our true spirit forever radiates within us, full of love, peace, and joy, waiting for us to recognize it within us. We need do nothing but be willing to choose to believe this truth. The transformation follows our willingness to let go of our attachment to what we think our body’s eyes see. Forget looking for a checklist, the steps we must achieve, and the learning we must do to achieve what we already are. Recognize it by allowing Sprit to remind us who we really are. We are already where we want to be. We just don’t recognize it because we are misperceiving it. Let it all go and recognize sprit.