December 1, 2015

This week’s Thought from the Foundation for Inner Peace:

“This world of light, this circle of brightness is the real world, where guilt meets with forgiveness.” (T-18.IX.9:1)

The real world is light. Our ability to see the real world is dependent on us allowing the light within us to shine brightly for all to see. There is only one Source, the Divine, and it is within every one of us. This light us eternal. It will never fade or go out. Nothing can ever change this light or harm it. It is ours for eternity. If we don’t see it we are blocking it from our awareness. It is time to remove those blocks and let this light shine so brightly, unimpeded by our attachment to separation.

Yet we have chosen to live this life of separation believing ourselves to be as separate as we appear. In the awareness of our natural spiritual state, we have no needs. We are whole and complete. Yet for a time we have some worldly needs. How do we discern what needs we need and what needs we don’t need. While we have one foot in the world we made and one in the real world. Spirit guides urs every step of the way. All we need do is ask for and watch for guidance form Spirit. It is there in every word spoken, in every action taken. It may not appear to make sense, but Spirit will disclose all we need to know at the appropriate time. Only Sprit knows what we need at any given moment of any day. Let Spirit guide you in everything and attain the real world.

This real world is light and it radiates to all of creation. It cannot hurt us, for it is within us and is the stuff we are created of. The Course says:

Only the Holy Spirit knows what we need. For Spirit will give us all things that do not block the way to light. And what else could we need? In time, Spirit gives us all the things that we need have, and will renew them as long as we have need of them. Spirit will take nothing from us as long as we have any need of it. And yet Spirit knows that everything we need is temporary, and will but last until we step aside from all our needs and realize that all of them have been fulfilled. Therefore, Spirit has no investment in the things that Spirit supplies, except to make certain we will not use them on behalf of lingering in time. Spirit knows we are not at home there, and Spirit wills no delay to wait upon our joyous homecoming. ACIM T-13.VII.12.1-8

Oprn your spirit eyes. Let the light shine in you and in the real world rise up around you in your awareness. It’s already there. It’s already within us waiting for us to let it shine away all darkness from the world. We’re all in thus together. Be One and shine brightly, and see the wholeness of all our brothers and sisters as we allow their light to join ours. It is truly illuminating.

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.

October 27, 2015

The Course equates our vision or lack thereof with the two emotions; fear which we made and love which we are given. When we chose to “see” with the body’s eyes which perceive incorrectly we feel fear in some form. When we choose to see with spirit vision, our higher vision, we feel love in all its wonder and compassion. The world we made when we chose separation and the denial of who we really are is devoid of the light of spirit and thus is darkness. It does nothing but reflect our perceptions of the past and thus we live in fear of the past recurring. We adapted our body’s eyes to see our perceptions of the past projected on the limits of this little world we made. Yet, we have the ability to see clearly when we allow the light of sprit to shine in our world and reveal the correct perception of everything we have misperceived. Within us is the Christ Spirit which is our true One Self hidden from our sight by our belief that we are less than our One Self. Once we choose to allow ourselves to be even a little willing to allow Spirit to show us the Christ Spirit within us, our true vision rises to our awareness and we begin to understand all that we have misperceived and thus believed about the world and ourselves.

We begin to realize that it is our own state of mind and our own belief about ourselves that has limited our world because it has limited our idea of ourselves. We have perceived the world around us as limiting and destructive when it has been offering us opportunity after opportunity to heal our sight and recognize the wholeness and completeness and divinity of who we really are. The way to tell where our mind is at is by what we are feeling. Are we feeling love or fear? If we feel fear in any form, our mind is set on the choice to deny our true identity by believing we are less than who we really are. Yet, a simple shift in our belief will bring the feeling of unconditional love into our mind, changing our perception of all those challenging things in our world. Love is what our true vision is about. Love is the basis of our true purpose and function. Love is what brings our world together with worlds of others in true harmony as we share love with each other. Turning to and allowing Spirit to guide us is the path to the remembrance of who we really are. We never un-became who we are – that is impossible – but we can block our awareness of who we are by denying or believing we are less than who we are. The emotions we feel then indicate where our mind is at and nothing else.

We are asked to let the light of Spirit shine in our world. Where there is darkness, it will vanish in the light for darkness cannot be seen in light. As we allow the barriers to light we have made to fall, there are no shadows left to remind us of the darkness of the world we made. This light is within us. We have been denying it as we made and reinforced our beliefs that the world we made of our misperceptions is real. The Christ Spirit within us is the true identity we share with all our brothers and sisters. It is the whole complete, limitless and divine nature we really are. And our shift to this awareness is in the present moment. It is not in the past nor is it in the future. It is in the light of now. This is the Course’s promise:

The Holy Spirit is the light in which Christ – our true Self – stands revealed. And all who would behold their true Self can see their true Self, for they have asked for light. Because they saw their true Self, they have risen in Spirit to the Creator. And all this will they understand, because they looked within and saw beyond the darkness the Christ – their true Self – in them, and recognized themselves. In the sanity of their true Vision they looked upon themselves with love, seeing themselves as the Holy Spirit sees them. And with this vision of the truth in them came all the beauty of the world to shine upon them.    T-13.V.11.1-2, 4-7

We are love. We are light. We are the Divine beings we really are. Nothing can change that fact. Experience love and allow that joy to rise within you and be who you really are.

October 20, 2015

The Course describes the two emotions as follows:

I have said you have but two emotions, love and fear. One is changeless but continually exchanged, being offered by the eternal to the eternal. In this exchange it is extended, for it increases as it is given. The other has many forms, for the content of individual illusions differs greatly. Yet they have one thing in common; they are all insane. They are made of sights that are not seen, and sounds that are not heard. They make up a private world that cannot be shared. For they are meaningful only to their maker, and so they have no meaning at all. In this world their maker moves alone, for only their maker perceives them.   T-13.V.1.1-9

We each make up our own private world as we journey through life believing we are separate. This private world has nothing to do with a physical world, for our private world exists only in our mind. Everything we think about our world is based on the perception our mind projects on it. Perception is burdened by our past as we continually again and again bring our perception of the past into the present and the future. After a time there is so much past projected on everything in our life that what is real is completely hidden from our mind. The same is true of each one we encounter in our life. Our perception of another consists of so many layers of perception projected from the past that we can no longer see the real One behind the layers of perception. I think that this is one of the most difficult ideas the Course presents to us – that we each people our private world with figures from our individual past yet these figures we see were never real. Everyone in our lives certainly appears real.

How could this possibly be? Everyone in my private world seems to be acting of their own volition. We can’t even begin to understand this idea from our current perspective. We must begin by having faith that there is something to this idea. First of all, if we are all one, then each one in my private world is me – or an idea of me. Since I have made an isolated mind, I project an idea on each of those ideas of me and give them autonomy to act seemingly on their own. I am projecting my perceived ideas of each one’s personality and identity on each part of me that seems not to be part of me. It’s like I am the director of a play or movie directing all these seemingly separate ideas of me to act out my perceptions and make my private world. Does all this sound insane? The Course calls all this insane, but it also tells us it’s not real and can be changed and healed into love at any time we choose to allow ourselves to be guided in that change. Our private worlds are based in fear, the one emotion that can take on so many forms that it becomes unrecognizable. However, fear is basically a fear of the joining of love. It is a fear that we are not separate, that our private world, no matter how unpleasant, is not real and that those shadowy figures in our private worlds are really us! Fear separates and limits where love joins and increases.

Our body’s eyes will never see anything but our private world. But we have within us spirit eyes, spiritual vision, that can see beyond our perceptions and the private world we have made. As we allow our higher Holy Spirit Self within us to open our spiritual eyes, we will find the willingness to open our minds and our eyes to the truth about ourselves and our private worlds. The Course tells us this:

As we look with open eyes upon our world, it must occur to us that we have withdrawn into insanity. We see what is not there, and we hear what makes no sound. Our manifestations of emotions are the opposite of what the emotions are. We communicate with no one, and we are as isolated from reality as if we were alone in all the universe. In our madness we overlook reality completely, and we see only our own split mind everywhere we look. God calls us and we do not hear, for we are preoccupied with our own voice. And the vision of Christ is not in our sight, for we look upon ourselves alone.   T-13.V.6.1-7

Understanding what our private world is and how it came to appear so powerful to us is key in returning to the awareness of who we really are. What we really want is to rest in the love and Oneness of who we really are and let go of all the fear we carry in our minds. Let Love come forward in your mind and show you how to live in this world and allow it to be transformed into the real world – Heaven on earth. Are you ready to let go of fear and let love rise up within you? Then let it be so right now. It is your choice.

October 13, 2015

The Course has told us many times that time is an illusion and therefore not real. It has also told us that time does have a Holy function as used by Spirit. Its one function is healing. As with all things in the world of form – the unreal world – there is another Holy function when perceived correctly. We tend to focus on the past and then project the past into the future, obliterating the present moment – now – from our awareness, thus denying ourselves the one place in time that is real. When we dwell upon the past and project it into the future, we are held captive in all the fear and pain we have been feeling. The past is gone, over with, done. Yet we hold ourselves captive by projecting the past into the future and denying ourselves the release from the past the “now” offers us. Every encounter we experience is a holy encounter, but do we recognize it so? The Couse tells us this:

Would you recognize a holy encounter if you are merely perceiving it as a meeting with your own past? For you would be meeting no one, and the sharing of salvation, which makes the encounter holy, would be excluded from your sight. The Holy Spirit teaches that you always meet yourself, and the encounter is holy because you are. The ego teaches that you always encounter your past, and because your dreams were not holy, the future cannot be, and the present is without meaning. T-13.IV.7-10

Spirit uses time to teach us. Time serves the function of learning. Since we have decided to believe we are separate from each other and the One, we are blinded by the illusion of time, hiding the freedom of the present “now” from our awareness. We rarely take the time to rest in the present moment without fretting about the past or fretting about the future. These thoughts are currently occupying our mind in the “now.” Yet if we release these thoughts and worries we will find a freedom to experience who we really are in this present moment. The light of our Divine essence will come welling up within us and bubble to the surface, bringing peace and joy to us we thought we never knew. Our salvation – the awareness of who we really are – is known in eternity and the present moment is the only time in our temporal “existence” that is an approximation of eternity. This is the introduction and the experience of the Holy Instant. This is the moment when the remembrance of who we really are erupts from deep within our mind and floods our whole being with peace, love and joy.

However, it is our choice to open ourselves to this freedom. Spirit will never force it on us. Though this knowledge is deep within us, our awareness of it is blocked by our attachment and belief in all the blocks we have placed to prevent us from recognizing who we really are. Ask yourself how you perceive your function in your world. What is you answer?

You, too, will interpret the function of time as you interpret yours. If you accept your function in the world of time as one of healing, you will emphasize only the aspect of time in which healing can occur. Healing cannot be accomplished in the past. It must be accomplished in the present to release the future. This interpretation ties the future to the present, and extends the present rather than the past.  T-13.IV.9.1-5

Are you ready for your healing? Are you willing to accept the Holy function of time and release all other perceived functions of time? It is our choice. Do we choose to be limited by the past, or do we change our interpretation of time to its Holy function and realize our freedom? Time will be as we interpret it, for time has no purpose of its own.

October 6, 2015

The Course keeps telling us we are afraid of the Course. What’s that about? Our problem is fear. The list of what we fear goes on and on. Yet, there is only one basic fear. It is the fear that we are not who we think we are. We have invested a lifetime developing an identity that we think we are. It is embodied in our physical bodies whether we like them or not. It is built on our perception of everything that has ever happened to us and every one whom we have ever encountered and related to in our lives. We have placed value on all of this and determined our worth based on all of this. Then, when the Course tells us this is all an illusion, we balk at the idea. How could all that we have invested in as our identity not be real?

The Course tells us our worth is far greater than we could imagine in our split mind. It tells us we don’t recognize the truth about ourselves that is within us. The responsibility of our true Identity seems far too great for us to ever live up to. So, how can we look at this differently and begin to find the healing we so desire? Perhaps we are afraid of simply being wrong or mistaken. Perhaps we can begin by opening our minds enough to be willing to entertain the thought that we might be mistaken about who we really are. Perhaps there is something beyond this separate physical identity that has a greater meaning and purpose. Perhaps there is a divine spark of light within us that reminds us of the Holiness of our true Identity. Our Source, the One, creates like Itself, extending its Oneness to all of Creation. All that is created is whole, complete, perfect, limitless, and loving as the One is, none of which can be even threatened. It is only in our thoughts apart from the One that we can make the illusion of something less.

What we fear is the past which we remain so attached to. We are also afraid of the future, which we think of as the past projected into the future. We are afraid that the past will repeat itself in the future. Guess what? The past will repeat itself as long as we continue to remain attached to it and believe it is who we are. What if we were to let go of the past and look at the present?

“Now” has no meaning to the ego. The present merely reminds the ego of past hurts, and it reacts to the present as if it were the past. The ego cannot tolerate release from the past, and although the past is over, the ego tries to preserve its image by responding as if it were present. It dictates your reactions to those you meet in the present from a past reference point, obscuring their present reality. In effect, if you follow the ego’s dictates you will react to another as though they were someone else, and this will surely prevent you from recognizing them as they really are. And you will receive messages from them out of your own past because, by making it real in the present, you are forbidding yourself to let it go. You thus deny yourself the message of release that every One offers you now. T-13.IV.5.1-7

Be willing to set aside everything you know and believe. We all have the holy wisdom of Spirit within us waiting to be remembered and recognized. Given the opportunity – allowing – our Higher Holy Spirit will transform our mind, rejoining its awareness with the One Mind, and bring us to the awareness of our true Identity by recognizing the Identity of Oneness in each other. We do not return to the awareness of who we are alone. We return to this awareness in communion with all of Creation. Love, Joy, and Peace are the recognition of reality. Allow Spirit to open your mind and rejoin with the awareness of our true Identity. Now is the moment, whenever we are willing to let it be.

September 29, 2015

Redemption is simply the remembrance of who we really are, the remembrance that we are whole, complete, limitless and divine. It is a remembrance because we never stopped being who we really are. We mistakenly blocked our awareness of our true Self. Redemption does take some effort on our part, but simply the effort to be willing to trust our higher holy spirit Self to emerge from behind the blockade we built to hide it from ourselves. There’s no sane answer to why we blocked our awareness of our true self and all that we are, but we did, so we must allow ourselves to be led back to the awareness of our Divine nature.

From the Course:

Beneath all the grandiosity we hold so dear is our real call for help. For we call for love to our Higher Holy Self as our Higher Holy Self calls us to Oneness. In that place which we have hidden, we will only to unite with the Higher Holy Self in loving remembrance of our Oneness. We will find this place of truth as we see it in each other, for though they may deceive themselves, like we do, they long for the grandeur that is in them. And perceiving it ourselves will welcome it, and it will be ours. For grandeur is the right of the One Child – Us – and no illusions can satisfy us or save us from what we are. Only our love is real, and we will be content only with our reality. T-13.III.8.1-7

We think of ourselves as separate and carry an air of grandiosity about who we think we are. But since we have lost touch with who we really are we have nothing to compare that with. Our comparisons are made with judgments we made up of others. The truth about who we are is far more than what we could possibly imagine in isolation. The Course calls the truth about us “Grandeur.” This Grandeur is vast, expansive, full of grace and completely peaceful yet filled with unimaginable joy. There is a calm unassuming dignity that hums beneath all that we are when we begin to realize that we are all One in this Creation.

Our redemption is the remembering of this truth about us. Every experience, every One we encounter, every feeling we feel is an opportunity to turn our thoughts to our Higher Holy Self and listen for the call to return our minds home to the One Mind. Our resistance to this call is the only thing that keeps us from the awareness of the peace and joy within our Divine being. Our brothers and sisters we are journeying with in this world are there for a divine purpose. They are the ones we are to offer redemption by changing our minds about them and seeing beyond the appearances we project on them to the Higher Holy Self they really are in Oneness with Us. The transformation is divine. Look then beyond to that which is within and allow the Higher Holy One Self to arise and reunite us all in Oneness. This is the Grandeur of redemption. Let it rise in your mind and be reminded of who you really are.