March 29, 2016

As long as we are living and experiencing this temporal world, we are deciding to identify with separation or Oneness. We are deciding to acknowledge our wholeness or deny our wholeness. At the root of each decision we make is the choice to be who we really are or deny and reject who we really are. This decision is the acceptance or rejection of our guiltlessness. Our choice determines whether or not we are happy. Guilt is the accumulation of all the feelings around our belief that we are sinful. It is the rejection of our sinlessness and the At-One-ment. There is no real lasting happiness in this denial and rejection.

Guiltlessness is freedom. It is freedom from the bonds of guilt. Any belief that we are separate, limited, incomplete or unwhole blocks our minds from the awareness of our wholeness and the guidance of Spirit. It blocks our minds from correct learning. The happy learner is free of guilt for the happy learner has accepted their guiltlessness through the At-One-ment. The Course tells us:

The happy learner cannot feel guilty about learning. This is so essential to learning that it should never be forgotten. The guiltless learner learns easily because his thoughts are free. Yet this entails the recognition that guilt is interference, not salvation, and serves no useful function at all.  T-14.III.1.1-4

There is no compromise that we ca make with guilt. We either accept or deny our guiltlessness. Learning is living here in this temporal world, as creating is in heaven. Whenever the pain of guilt seems to attract us, remember that if we yield to it, we are deciding against our happiness and will not learn how to be happy.   When the pain of guilt seems attractive, be gentle with yourself, and look within with the conviction of the Love and Peace within you and remind yourself:

What I believe I manifest in my experience.

I have nothing to fear as I am guiltless.

I choose to accept rather than deny the At-One-ment.

I accept my guiltlessness by making it manifest and sharing it.

I bring peace to all through my awareness and belief in my Oneness and my wholeness.

Each day, each hour and minute, even each second, you are deciding between the crucifixion and the resurrection; between the ego and the Holy Spirit. The ego is the choice for guilt; the Holy Spirit the choice for guiltlessness. The power of decision is all that is yours. What you can decide between is fixed, because there are no alternatives except truth and illusion. And there is no overlap between them, because they are opposites which cannot be reconciled and cannot both be true. You are guilty or guiltless, bound or free, unhappy or happy.   T-14.III.4.1-6

It really is this simple. A simple choice. Our egoic thought system doesn’t want us to believe it’s that simple, for complication keeps us believing in separation. But once we release our attachment to the pain of guilt, we will find ourselves soaring free in happy learning. The ease of our happy learning will rise within us and flow in peace and love. We will learn to be happy with the little effort that willingness brings us. Say yes to the At-One-ment. Say yes to the acceptance of your guiltlessness. Make your decision for guiltlessness and be the happy learner you already are.

March 22, 2016

Each of us is free. We are free of the limitations of our past. We are free to be the whole, complete, joyous, divine beings that we are created. We are free to be the happy learners in this world as we journey here. What is stopping any of us from being all we are? The answer to this is not so much the specifics of what we do, but the attitude with which we approach the way we think about this life and make decisions on our journey. It is possible to create a mindset – thought system – for ourselves that optimizes the conditions for learning. We needn’t do it alone. It’s difficult to do alone. However, Spirit will guide us to the optimum conditions for learning if we will allow ourselves to be guided. Our willingness is all that’s needed.

Once we release to Spirit our attachment to all we have learned, Spirit unlearns it for us. The ideas and beliefs we have learned are mostly rooted in our past experiences and so keep us living in the past rather than the present. Once we have released our attachment to the past from our minds, we can begin to learn the joyous lessons that come quickly on the firm foundation that truth is true. As we allow our minds to be open to reality and truth, the universe of learning opens up before us in all its gracious simplicity. The world we made up, rooted in our misperceptions about the past, is complicated and convoluted. The world within us – the Realm of Heaven – is rooted in reality which is the utmost in simplicity. Once we reawaken to the simplicity of who we really are, we will never look back.

Of the happy learner and freedom, the Couse tells us:

The happy learner meets the conditions of learning here, as they meet the conditions of knowledge in the Realm of our Source. All this lies in the Holy Spirit’s plan to free us from the past, and open up the way to freedom for us. For truth is true. What else could ever be, or ever was? This simple lesson holds the key to the dark door that we believe is locked forever. We made this door of nothing, and behind it is nothing. The key is only the light that shines away the shapes and forms and fears of nothing. Accept this key to freedom from the hands of the One Who gives it to us, that we may join the One in the holy task of bringing light. For, like our sisters and brothers, we do not realize the light has come and freed us from the sleep of darkness.  T-14.II.7.1-9

Awaken to another in their freedom, and learn of them how to be free of darkness. The light within us wakens them and they, now awakened, will surely not leave us asleep. In the quietness of its simplicity, it is so compelling we will see it is impossible to deny its simple truth. With the joyous realization that we are One with all reality in Oneness, can we possibly sing the dirge of sorrow any more when our heart is singing the ancient song of joy that wells up within us? In this simple joy we cannot help but be the happy learner.

March 15, 2016

We have been discussing the conditions of learning. This section begins by telling us that Spirit needs a happy learner so Spirit’s mission can be happily accomplished. Spirit’s mission is to guide our minds to the awareness of who we really are, to the awareness of our wholeness, completeness and our Oneness with our Source and all of Creation. This is the state of truth where we are truly happy. Yet, in our devotion to our egoic thought system – separation – we have become devoted to the misery of separation and thus confused misery and happiness. It is important to begin by recognizing that we are miserable and not happy. What we have done is valued the ideas and beliefs that distract us from the truth about ourselves. As long as we believe the limiting untrue ideas we hold about ourselves, we will not value the truth about ourselves. We must decide we are willing to allow Spirit to show us the changes in our mind to guide us to the condition of a happy learner.

Spirit’s lesson for us is in simplicity. Our efforts to figure our life and the world out in separation has resulted in anything but simplicity. As we try ever harder to find peace and happiness through our egoic thought system we make it all so very complicated and conflicting. Every time we find ourselves in a new learning situation, we find the solutions we had made don’t quite fit. They may even seem contradictory. The mental gymnastics we have pursued have resulted in a twisted mind at times. And simplicity is very difficult for a twisted mind. We have become so attached to the ideas of a twisted mind that simple truth seems so alien to us. Truth and the truth about our true nature is just so simple. We are peace. We are love. We are whole and complete in Oneness with each other and our Source. Yet, we do not see it….yet. All this complicatedness is really nothing. It is not real. The simple truth is real.

For those of us who have become wrapped up in the complicated illusions of nothingness, Spirit says to us in quietness:

The truth is true. Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and everything beside it is not there. Let Me make the one distinction for you that you cannot make, but need to learn. Your faith in nothing is deceiving you. Offer your faith to Me, and I will place it gently in the holy place where it belongs. You will find no deception there, but only the simple truth. And you will love it because you will understand it.   T-14.II.3. 3-9

Understanding simple truth begins by placing our faith in Spirit to guide us. Spirit will guide our faith in It to the holy place where we belong. And here we find ourselves happy learners open to the happy teaching of Spirit.

We are transformed out of the darkness of nothingness and illusion to the light of truth. How could this be anything but happy? The light of truth shines upon us, emanates from us and shines on others, revealing the light of truth to both.

Like you, the Holy Spirit did not make truth. Like God, Spirit knows it to be true. Spirit brings the light of truth into the darkness, and lets it shine on you. And as it shines your brothers and sisters see it, and realizing that this light is not what you have made, they see in you more than you see. They will be happy learners of the lesson this light brings to them, because it teaches them release from nothing and from all the works of nothing. The heavy chains that seem to bind them to despair they do not see as nothing, until you bring the light to them. And then they see the chains have disappeared, and so they must have been nothing. And you will see it with them. Because you taught them gladness and release, they will become your teachers in release and gladness.   T-14.II.4.1-9

We are freed from the chains of the misery we have believed in. Misery has no more power than we give it. Letting go of our belief that all the illusions we have made of nothing are real frees us to the awareness of the simple truth of our wholeness that we have always been. Let go of all your attachment and beliefs. Allow Spirit to guide and direct your mind to what is true and real. Anything you release that is real you will not lose for it remains with you always. Only that which is false and rooted in nothingness will fall away. What is real cannot be taken away. Allow yourself to be transformed into the happy learner and awaken to the awareness of who you really are.

March 8, 2016

We have spent a lifetime making the life we live in this world. We have done the best we could. We have been exposed to many teachings, ideas, and experiences that we have considered and applied or not applied to the world we live in. We may not understand all of it or be happy with it, but we are here now and have made an identity for ourselves. This is an identity that we believe is true and we consider this identity who we are.   Perhaps over the years we have let go or thrown out some ideas about our identity that didn’t seem to work or be right. Perhaps we have held on to some ideas of our identity that we aspired to yet always seem unreachable. Many of us, having embarked on our spiritual journey, have made changes but struggle to make the perceivable progress we desire.

When asked what the conditions for learning are, I have said that they are being willing to ask for Spirit’s guidance. Sounds so simple. I think it is that simple. It may not be easy if we are not willing to be open to it, but it is a simple concept. It boils down to preparing our minds to be receptive to the different ways of thinking that Spirit will offer us. Nothing will be forced on us for we are created with free will to create our thoughts. The Course gives us many ways to begin preparing ourselves. One is to rest in the One. Another is to let go of our attachments to our thoughts and beliefs. Surrendering to “what is” is another. Opening our mind is also suggested. Looking within to who and what we really are is another. We are asked to be open to the idea that we are whole, complete, limitless and holy, with the willingness to consider that this is our true nature and the essence of our being. We are asked to let go of our mistakes, the guilt we hold on to and the fear we feel toward others and ourselves. All of these suggestions and requests are gentle changes we can be willing to be open to as we allow Spirit to change the way we think about ourselves. It is a process that is designed to open us up to the freedom, peace and joy we already have, but have blocked from our awareness.

We have spent our lives denying ourselves the awareness of who we really are- our true Identity. Yes, we did the best we could with the world as it came to us, but we blocked our awareness of our true being as we focused on this world rather than our true Oneness Identity. Any direction we took was nothing more than a mistaken thought.

Any direction that would lead you where the Holy Spirit leads you not, goes nowhere. Anything you deny that Spirit knows to be true you have denied yourself, and Spirit must therefore teach you not to deny it. Undoing is indirect, as doing is. You were created only to create, neither to see nor do. These are but indirect expressions of the will to live, which has been blocked by the capricious and unholy whim of death and murder that your Source does not share with you. You have set yourself the task of sharing what cannot be shared. And while you think it possible to learn to do this, you will not believe all that is possible to learn to do.  T-14.I.4.1-7

We have spent so much effort denying who we are. We have spent so much effort supporting that mistaken identity we believe ourselves to be. It seems impossible that allowing the conditions for learning could ever be so simple. Even the words of the Course seem difficult and seem to require great effort. Look beyond the appearance of the worlds. Look beyond the appearance of all you have experienced in this world. Releasing our identification with this world is the key. Release everything no matter how precious you value it. If it has real value it will remain with you. That which is not real will fade in importance as Spirt guides your mind in Its teaching. You will learn what you already know as you allow Spirit to guide your mind to the awareness of who you really are – the healing of your mind. Release, surrender and let go and you will have set up the conditions of learning – the openness to Spirit’s guidance.

March 1, 2016

We are blessed. We are Holy. We are complete, whole and limitless. We are all we could possibly want to be. Yet we don’t know or believe it. So to be what we really are we must learn who and what we really are. The intro to Chapter 14 tells us this:

Yes, you are blessed indeed. Yet in this world you do not know it. But you have the means for learning it and seeing it quite clearly. The Holy Spirit uses logic as easily and as well as does the ego, except that Spirit’s conclusions are not insane. They take a direction exactly opposite, pointing as clearly to Heaven as the ego points to darkness and to death. We have followed much of the ego’s logic, and have seen its logical conclusions. And having seen them, we have realized that they cannot be seen except in illusions, for there alone their seeming clearness seems to be clearly seen. Let us now turn away from them, and follow the simple logic by which the Holy Spirit teaches the simple conclusions that speak for truth, and only truth.   T-14.in.1.1-8

The confused seemingly insane world we appear to live in is not real, for our perception of it does not reflect who we are. Stop just a moment, step into the quiet of the now, and allow yourself to begin to perceive your blessedness, your wholeness and completeness that is the peace within you.

What thoughts do we project or extend? Do we extend blessing thoughts? Do we extend thoughts of wholeness and completeness? These are the true thoughts about us and our sisters and brothers. Or have we not learned this of ourselves yet and thus project lesser untrue or mistaken thoughts about ourselves and each other? If we believe incorrectly we must learn what is correct. It may seem daunting to learn the opposite about what we believe, so we must first learn the truth about others so we may see the truth about ourselves reflected back to us. What we believe we give our power to. If we believe an untruth about us, we have given it the power to block the truth from our mind. The Holy Spirit is within us waiting for us to ask for guidance in choosing what we believe. Our misbeliefs are engrained habits in our minds and so we must allow Spirit to guide us in releasing our attachment to those mistaken beliefs and allow a new belief in what Spirit shows us is true to take shape in our minds. Spirit will never direct us toward anything unreal or untrue, but Spirit needs our cooperation for It cannot overrule our mistaken beliefs without our cooperation.

Are we willing to trust Spirit?

The Holy Spirit, therefore, must begin Its teaching by showing you what you can never learn. Spirit’s message is not indirect, but Spirit must introduce the simple truth into a thought system which has become so twisted and so complex you cannot see that it means nothing. Spirit merely looks at its foundation and dismisses it. But you who cannot undo what you have made, nor escape the heavy burden of its dullness that lies upon your mind, cannot see through it. It deceives you, because you chose to deceive yourself. Those who choose to be deceived will merely attack direct approaches, because they seem to encroach upon deception and strike at it.   T-14.I.5.1-6

Begin by letting go of all you are so attached to. What is true will never fade, but what is not true will fade away as we allow Spirit to guide our mind. It is a huge decision to let go. It goes against everything we have ever believed about ourselves. But if we will simply let go, we will find a sense of peace rising up within us from that place where Spirit always dwells. This is our comfort in the face of change. This peace will at first seem strange, yet we will recognize its familiarity as we allow it to rise up in us. It is time for us to choose to set up the conditions of learning in our mind and embark on the journey without distance to the reawakening of our minds to who we really are. That knowing rests in the peace and love within us.