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.
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