November 24, 2915

The real world is no stranger to us really. It is our home. It is where we have always been; before we engaged in this world of form, while we appear to be in this world of form and in every presser moment “ahead of us.” It matters not how the world we see appears to us. The real world – our home – lis where we really are. We are just so caught up in and focussed on the world we made that we don’t see it.

The Course says this:

No one in this distracted world but has seen some glimpses of of the other world about them. Yet, while they still lay value on their own, they will deny the vision of the other, maintaining that they love what they love not, and following not the road that love points out. Love leads so gladly!                  T-13.6.1-3

Love leads us if we will just let go of the value we place on the world we made and lift our spirit eyes and ears to the Voice for Love. What a beautiful ancient song Love calls us to, familiar like no other. We are as safe from pain as the One who watches over us. And the world around us shines with love, for the One placed us in the world of Love. Only because we accept the world of pain we think we see do we block our sight of the world of Love – the real world. So shall we deny the world of pain the instant we perceive the arms of love around us where they always are.

Peace passeth our understanding only in the past. Yet it is here always and we can understand peace now. Placing our trust in Spirit to guide us in our perceiving leads us to the remembrance of peace that is wholly true and wholly ours. And all that is not peace and love will fade into nothingness. The gift the One has always given us is the reality that we are created One with the One and all creation – we are never alone.

We begin by aligning our will with the will of Spirit, allowing Spirit to guide our dreams of peace and then awakening to peace. We exchange nightmares for the happy dreams of love and fear. Attaining the real world is awakening from our dreams of the world of separation. What joy to finally awaken and realize we have never been alone, never been separate. To finally awaken to the joining of all our brothers and sisters in peace and love is a joy we cannot even imagine in the world of separation. Be just a little willing to trust Spirit to awaken us to tne peace and love of the real world. There is rejoicing all around us celebrating our wholeness, yet we miss it because we are seeking outside ourselves. Look within. See the light shining within and watch as that light shines away all thoughts of sin and lack. Watch as the light within shines away all thoughts of brokenness and pain. Watch as the light within shines all hate into nothingness. This light within reveals who we really are to us and reveals to us all that is good, beautiful and holy about ourselves and each other.

Say yes to a little willingness to trust Spirit to guide our thoughts. What we seek will be revealed deep within us right now in this present moment which then extends into eternity. Listen to the call of peace and your glad response will be your reawakening to what you never lost.

November 17, 2015

The Course teaches us that we see one of two worlds and that only one of those worlds is real. Which one do you see? Is it the world you want to see? How do you feel about the world you see? Are you happy in the world you see? Would you rather see a better more loving world? This section begins with an exercise which we can do no matter what world we see.

Sit quietly and look upon the world you see, and tell yourself: “The real world is not like this. It has no buildings and there are no streets where people walk alone and separate. There are no stores where people buy an endless list of things they do not need. It is not lit with artificial light, and night comes not upon it. There is no day that brightens and grows dim. There is no loss. Nothing is there but shines, and shines forever.”   T-13.VII.1.1-7

This describes the real world where there is no lack, where we are whole and complete, where we live in and share love and peace with all. Where we live in the awareness that we are all One, connected and communing in the love we share with each other. We see each other as we truly are, rather than the false beliefs we hold that we are all separate and that we must get what we need from another. The real world is a world without form. It is a world we already live in even though we may not be aware that it even exists.

The world we think we see is a world we have made of our ideas and beliefs rooted in the belief in separation. Separation is impossible, for we are One, but our belief that separation is possible results in this world we appear to exist in. It is filled with the ideas of lack, fear, and lovelessness that are not real but appear very real to us. The fact is, we cannot see both worlds, for each of them involves a different kind of seeing, and depends on what you cherish. This is not about things, it is about what we think, value and believe. One of the prayer songs we used to sing in church ended each prayer with the words “what I believe I will see.” If I believe that I am or another is unloving, then I will see unlovingness in my world. But if I see love in myself and in another, I will see love in my world. You see love is always there, for that is all that is real. Yet if we chose to cherish the ideas and beliefs that project a loveless world, that world is the world we see. Love and lovelessness cannot be seen at the same time. Lovelessness cannot exist in the presence of love. So what do you cherish? That is what determines the world you see. So we look for a path to lead us out of this so called “world” we have chosen to see by our choice in what we cherish.

Yet the real world, the awareness of Heaven on earth, has the power to touch us, even in this world we think we see, because we love the real world. Even in the midst of experiencing lack of love in the world we see, we still call for love. And love cannot deny its call. Love reaches out and beckons us, extending its helping hand to us as it hears the cries of pain that rise from this strange world we made but do not want. All we need do to exchange this strange loveless world for the world of love we want is a little willingness to recognize that the world we made is false.

You have been wrong about the world because you have misjudged yourself. From such a twisted reference point, what could you see? All seeing starts with the perceiver, who judges what is true and what is false. And what one judges false one does not see. You who would judge reality cannot see it, for whenever judgment enters reality has slipped away. The out of mind is out of sight, because what is denied is there but is not recognized.   T-13.VII.5.1-6

We need not forcibly change our mind on our own. We can simply open our mind to the possibility that there is a better way. Helen and Bill said to each other that there must be a better way. That opened the door to the dictation of the Course that Helen received and Bill helped transcribe. Look upon the world you see with an open mind willing to see differently. That is all Spirit needs to guide you on the path to the awareness of who you really are and the real world – Heaven on earth. All that is not real will fade in the light of eternal

November 10, 2015

The first part of this section discusses the miracle of the present – now. As we enter in the miracle of the present, light fills our awareness. Not only does light fill our awareness, we become aware that light is the essence in which we see reality and thus eternity. The present is where the “past” fades into unreality and we can release our obsession with the past and the limits we place on ourselves with that obsession. When we release the past and look lovingly on the present, we free ourselves from the limitations and burdens of dragging the past with us in all our thinking. The present moment is the shift to eternity and timelessness.

The present is before time was, and will be when time is no more. In it are all things that are eternal, and they are one. Their continuity is timeless and their communication is unbroken, for they are not separated by the past. Only the past can separate, and it is nowhere.   T-13.VI.6.5-8

The release of our attachment to the past is the end of fear and separation.

The present offers us the opportunity to see all in the light of Oneness. It offers us the interpretation of all we experience and all those we encounter that guides us to the awareness of the real world we are already in. The lesson in each experience guides us to the awareness of our wholeness, our completeness and our abundance. It shows us the truth about each one we encounter and the perfect love they truly are. The present offers us the sight of each other in the light of Oneness that unites us all and frees us from the false burden of the past. Do we choose to hold the past against ourselves and each other? If so we choose to remain in the darkness that is not there and refuse to accept and enter the light we are offered.

For the light of perfect vision is freely given as it is freely received, and can be accepted only without limit. In this one, still dimension of time that does not change, and where there is no sight of what you were, you look at your Higher One Self and call all Witnesses to shine on you because you called them forth.   T-13.VI.6.4-5

Our true essence of wholeness, completeness and limitlessness rises to our awareness in this eternal present moment. This is the miracle of the present. This is the healing we’ve been wanting. This is our salvation, the release from the limits of time.

We are only light. There is no darkness anywhere in us, for we are whole. Each of us is a voice in the song of redemption – the remembrance of who we are – the hymn of gladness and thanksgiving for the light we are. The remembrance of the ancient song that sings of our light is so familiar we join in it instantly and share it with all as we recognize the same light in them.

The Course gives us this commission:

Shine on each other in remembrance of your Creator, for you will remember Oneness as you call forth the witnesses to Creation. Those whom you heal bear witness to your healing, for in their wholeness you will see your own wholeness. And as your hymns of praise and gladness rise to your Creator, That One will return your thanks in the clear Answer to your call. For it can never be that we called upon the One and remained unanswered. The One’s Call to you is but your call to the One. And in This Call you are answered by Peace.   T-13.VI.9.1-5

This present moment – now – is the moment of eternity you’ve been seeking. This is the moment to recognize the peace, joy and love that is within you. Choose to accept the miracle the present offers you and feel yourself and all Creation rise to Heaven on earth. We need never leave. This is our eternal home. Choose “now” right now, leave the past behind, and step into the awareness of who you really are.

November 3, 2015

The biggest block to our awareness of who we really are and our ultimate freedom is our attachment to our perception of the past. We have chosen to believe our perception of the past and accept that perception as reality. There is nothing real about our perception of the past. All that we think and believe about the past is based on our thoughts, reactions, judgements and interpretations of the past. For others who have experienced the same past we have, our perception is very different that their perception of our shared past. Since we each believe our own perception is “real”, we can never agree on what “real” actually is. Then we compound the problem of our perception of the past by projecting it into the future and believing that it will also be real then. Thus we are bound for a future as miserable as our past. Is it really that hopeless?

It may seem to be that hopeless, but no, it’s not. No matter what the conditions of our past we are not bound to repeat the past unless we choose to. And the choice to repeat the past is to continue thinking and believing as we always have. What has seemed and appeared real to us over our past is not really real as it is merely our perception of the past and not an objective conclusion based in the light of reality. Over the years of our perceptive conclusions and judgements about our past we have gathered cloud upon cloud of misperceptions and beliefs that obscure our minds from the light of reality. In this way we judge the “present” on these clouds of misperceptions. Yet this way of thinking is unnatural because it is delusional. Once we learn to look at everyone, including ourselves, with no reference to the past as we perceive it, we will be able to learn from what we see now. In the light of now, the past can cast no shadows to darken the present unless we are afraid of light. We believe so strongly in our perceptions of the past that we are afraid to let go of them even if they are mistaken. And thus we are afraid of the present and its light for we know it will reveal our mistaken beliefs and perceptions as mistaken. And thus our minds hold the dark clouds of misperception that shrouds the reality of each one of us from our sight.

The darkness is only in our minds for it is not real. And while time – the past and the future – has imprisoned our minds from the awareness of reality, it can also serve to release us from the prison of our misperceptions and mistaken beliefs. Past, present and future are not continuous unless we force continuity on them. The past is not real now – it’s over with. The future is not real now – it hasn’t happened. But the present is real for it is always now. The present is eternity in reality for there is no other time than now. The Course gives us this wisdom:

The miracle [the awareness of the present] enables you to see another without their past, and so perceive them as born again. Their errors are all past, and by perceiving them without their errors you are releasing them. And since their past is yours, you share in this release. Let no dark cloud out of your past obscure them from you, for truth lies only in the present, and you will find it if you seek it there. You have looked for it [truth] where it is not, and therefore have not found it. Learn, then, to seek it where it is, and it will dawn on eyes that see. Your past was made in anger, and if you use it to attack the present, you will not see the freedom that the present holds.   T-13.VI.5.1-7

Living in the present is where our salvation lies. We need not go anywhere, achieve anything or pay any price. We need simply let go of our attachment to our perceptions and beliefs of the past and allow ourselves to join with the Oneness of all Creation and allow our minds to be guided by Spirit to see each other in the light of the present and thus recognize who we really are. Accept the miracle of the present and share it with one another and step into freedom, for there is no real past to imprison us.