September 27, 2016

We have been looking at and discussing the holy instant recently.  The holy instant is Spirit’s most effective learning device.  For when we step into the holy instant all judgement ceases because we step into the awareness of love.  We may not understand that we have stepped into the holy instant as such, but we are aware that for an instant or a short time we experience peace and love.  We are free from the constant judgement we tend to wallow in.  Everything is good in the holy instant.  Nothing worries us in the holy instant.  We rest in our Source, the One, in the holy instant.  We extend and receive love, whether we realize it or not, in the holy instant.  And all is well.

Do we really know love’s true meaning?  Can we say that we know what love is without relating to our past?  Our whole life story is based on our past experiences.  It’s the only way the egoic thought system can make a separate identity that supports the idea of separation.  So it makes up the meaning of love that supports the idea of separation.  Relating everything to the past is also called judgment.  We compare everything new to something in our past and form ideas about it in duality – the idea of opposites.  We decide if it is love or not love, good or bad, and judge accordingly.  Yet all of creation is good.  The creation story repeats again and again that God saw it was good.  It all is good because God creates by extending love.  When we release our attachment to the past, we have just the present.  The only real meaning of love is unconditional.  There is no degree or “how much” to love.  Love is shared completely.  Love in it’s pure or true sense is Oneness.  We step into this incredible love when we let go of the past and our unreasonable expectations of all that the past tells us.  The holy instant is the time when we let go of all the thoughts that keep us from being aware of the One love within us that is already ours and is really who we are.

Our relationships are the learning devices in which we learn about love.  There appears to be many different kinds of love in this world.  However, many forms of “love” are rooted in our egoic ideas about our past.  Yes, love can appear to carry hurt, guilt and fear from the past.  Remaining attached to those aspects of past “love” will keep us distracted from the holy instant to which Spirit is calling us.  Is the love we cling to “special” or is it unconditional?

You cannot love parts of reality and understand what love means.  If you would love unlike to the One, Who knows no special love, how can you understand it?  To believe that special relationships, with special love, can offer you salvation is the belief that separation is salvation.  For it is the complete equality of the At-One-ment in which salvation lies.  How can you decide that special aspects of the One Child of the One can give you more than others?  The past has taught you this.  Yet the holy instant teaches you it is not so.   T-15.V.3.1-7

Our egoic way of making our relationships “special” supports our idea of separation.  We believe that this relationship will make us complete.  Or that relationship will make us happy.  Perhaps another relationship will permanently damage us.  “Special relationships” may not be so “special” after all.  Our special relationships become holy relationships in the holy instant.  Let go of your attachment to the past and step into the holy instant.  In that instant we are healed, we are forgiven, and we forgive.  We truly are holy.

September 20, 2016

In our spiritual practice and our daily living, are we willing to try to be vigilant for any deception we may be holding. Any thoughts we consider private are therefore hidden and thus we deceive ourselves that we are willing. Our natural state of mind is in complete communication with everyone and our Source. The continuance of the holy instant is dependent on an open mind, a mind that holds no thoughts hidden. Spirit calls to us to make the holy instant ours at once, for the release from littleness in the mind of the host of the One depends on willingness, and not on time. Ask yourself, “Do I want the holy instant now?” Once we decide we want to be in communication, Spirit can then guide us to that transformation. It will come as quickly or as slowly as we are willing to release our hidden thoughts.

We could live forever in the holy instant, beginning right now and reaching to eternity, but for a very simple reason. We must not obscure the simplicity of this reason, for if we do, it will be only because we prefer not to recognize it and not to let it go. The simple reason, simply stated, is this: The holy instant is a time in which we receive and give perfect communication. This means, however, that it is a time in which our mind is open, both to receive and give. It is the recognition that all minds are in communication. It therefore seeks to change nothing, but merely to accept everything. What do we really want? We can release our need to change the world as we see it and look beyond its appearance to Oneness in eternity. Thus do we release our littleness, accept our magnitude and step into the holy instant.

The Course instructs us thus:

The necessary condition for the holy instant does not require that you have no thoughts that are not pure. But it does require that you have none that you would keep. Innocence is not of your making. It is given you the instant you would have it. At-One-ment would not be if there were no need for it. You will not be able to accept perfect communication as long as you would hide it from yourself. For what you would hide is hidden from you. In your practice, then, try only to be vigilant against deception, and seek not to protect the thoughts you would keep to yourself. Let the Holy Spirit’s purity shine them away, and bring all your awareness to the readiness for purity Spirit offers you. Thus will Spirit make you ready to acknowledge that you are host to the One, and hostage to no one and to nothing.   T-15.IV.9.1-10

Relax a moment. Allow yourself to stop trying so hard. Awakening to the awareness of who we really are is truly simple. Release the thoughts you think you need to keep hidden. Open your mind to the direct communication you share with Source and all creation. We do not need to change anything but simply accept everything as it is. Spirit will guide us in what is holy and real. All that is false will fade into nothingness. No thought can harm what is eternal. And what is not eternal is not real and cannot harm anything. Stop a moment, ask yourself what you really want and then be willing to release any littleness you still harbor and step into your magnitude in Oneness. In this do we rejoin and recognize our Oneness.

September 13, 2016

The holy instant stands in shimmering readiness waiting for our acceptance. The holy instant stands within our mind in the present moment. It is not in the past or the future where we seem to be searching for it, but the present now. Are we ready for that transformation? Are we ready to look upon truth and release our belief in our littleness? It is our choice. We can choose to step into the holy instant now or delay it until we change our mind. To accept the holy instant into our awareness is to step into freedom from the “little” world we have made for ourselves and believed is real. We move from the belief we are limited, incomplete, broken and unloved into the awareness that we are limitless, complete, whole and completely loved. We couldn’t be more free than we truly are.

Our practice of the holy instant rests in our willingness to release our belief in our littleness. This doesn’t say we must release our belief, it says we must be willing to release our belief in littleness. We must be willing to accept a change in our thinking. All that is asked is for us to want to delay the holy instant no longer. Once we decide we are willing to see differently, are willing to accept something greater, Spirit can guide us in that acceptance and that transformation. For we cannot accept the transformation alone – in separation – as it involves joining. Our egoic thought system resists joining at all costs for joining releases us from the limitations we have placed upon ourselves through our egoic belief system. The Course asks us why we delay our awareness of our freedom. The answer is fear, the fear of being something greater than we believe we are. Are we ready yet to practice the holy instant? Are we ready yet to want it?

So, how do we practice the holy instant? The Course gives us this direction:

Would you learn how perfect and immaculate is the holy altar on which your Creator has placed Itself? This you will recognize in the holy instant, in which you willingly and gladly give over every plan but the One’s. For there lies peace, perfectly clear because you have been willing to meet its conditions. You can claim the holy instant anytime and anywhere you want it. In your practice, try to give over every plan you have accepted for finding magnitude in littleness. It is not there. Use the holy instant only to recognize that you alone cannot know where it is, and can only deceive yourself.  T-15.IV.4.1-7

Look within to the holiness within you and let Spirit guide your mind to the awareness of your holiness. All Spirit asks is a little willingness, a desire to be all you really are. Throw off the chains of littleness and allow Spirit to guide you to the awareness of your magnitude as you join with your brothers and sisters in Oneness with Spirit and the One. This is the plan for salvation the One has given us – to release our littleness and rest in our magnitude. The holy instant is where this is recognized. Release, let go, and let it be so.

September 6, 2016

Holiness abides within us in perfect peace. Do we recognize this about ourselves? Do we recognize this in each other? Our journey in this world is to reawaken to this perfect existence within us. We have spent a lifetime learning to believe in an identity in littleness. It’s what we have been taught and it’s what we have chosen to believe over the magnitude of our true Self. There is no blame or guilt. Our parents, our teachers, our priests and pastors, our friends and our brothers and sisters did the best they knew at the time. We even did the best we could at the time with the information and guidance we had. There was no damage or injury. We just made incorrect decisions in how we perceived the world we thought we saw. Holiness and perfect peace have always been within each and every one of us. Our grandeur has always been within us waiting to be recognized. The truth in us has been waiting for us simply to join together in Spirit and allow Spirit to guide us to the recognition of who we really are.

Accept now who and what you truly are. Allow Spirit to guide you in the discovery of the truth about who you are. Allow yourself to see that truth in all you encounter and see. We have accepted the idea of littleness about ourselves. Can we not accept something better? Spirit is waiting and, yes, calling to us to look with Spirit eyes on our wholeness, our completeness, our grandeur and magnitude. Can we not listen with our Spirit ears to this call and accept this truth about ourselves? It is really that simple if we are willing to let go of our attachment to what we think we see and believe and open our minds to the possibility of the idea of our greatness? We are One with the One, our Source. What could be greater than that?

We are on a journey to Love. Everything, everyone, every experience we encounter is a step on our spiritual journey. We choose how we see each element on that journey. We can choose to see an experience with difficulty in separation alone or we can choose to allow Spirit to guide us to the Love and Joy and Perfect Peace welling up beneath every thought. If we are wholly willing to leave salvation to the plan of the One and unwilling to attempt to grasp for peace ourselves, salvation will be given us in an instant.

Here is what the Course calls us to do:

Call forth in everyone only the remembrance of the One, and of the Heaven that is in each of us. For where you would have another be, there will you think you are. Hear not another’s appeal to hell and littleness, but only their call for Heaven and greatness. Forget not that their call is yours, and answer them with me. The One’s power is forever on the side of the One’s host, us, for it protects only the peace in which the One dwells. Lay not littleness before the One’s holy altar, which rises above the stars and reaches even to Heaven, because of what is given it.        T-15.III.12.1-6

We do not do this alone. To call only to ourselves is futile. We call to each other to join and enter the awareness that we are all One. To join in Oneness is to remember who we really are and recognize the magnitude and grandeur of our Oneness. Now is the time. Let it be now and enter into this holy instant together.