A Course In Miracles – San Jose Karl J Vidt, ACIM Student/Teacher

ACIM T-13.III The Fear of Redemption

abstract background withe sea sunriseSeptember 22, 2015

What are we afraid of? There may be no rational answer to this question. There is nothing real to be afraid of! But we do feel fear in our human condition. We may even fear fear itself. But I think the Course is telling us we actually fear the truth about who we really are. We want to feel whole and complete, loved and loving, abundant and blessed. And guess what, we ARE all that and more. The fact we are all that and more is what terrifies us. We have spent a lifetime convincing ourselves and making an identity that contradicts who we really are. Crucial to that identity is that it is not whole or complete, not loved or loving and not abundant and blessed. We have believed this mistaken identity and adopted it as our own. We are so attached to it that we seek our true identity but believe it impossible to achieve.

The Course teaches us this:

Under the ego’s dark foundation is the memory of the One, and it is of this that you are really afraid. For this memory would instantly restore you to your proper place, and it is this place that you have sought to leave. Your fear of attack is nothing compared to your fear of love. You would be willing to look even upon your savage wish to kill the One’s Child (you true Self), if you did not believe that it saves you from love. For this wish caused the separation, and you have protected it because you do not want the separation healed. You realize that, by removing the dark cloud that obscures it, your love for your Creator would impel you to answer Spirit’s Call and leap into Heaven. You believe that attack is salvation because it would prevent you from this. For still deeper than the ego’s foundation, and much stronger than it will ever be, is your intense and burning love of the One, and the One’s love for you. This is what you really want to hide. T-13.III.2.1-9

We are afraid of who we really are. We are afraid of the power and responsibility of being whole and complete, loving and generous. We have convinced ourselves we are not capable of such a feat when in reality that is second nature to who we really are and it takes no real effort to be that when we believe in the whole of who we really are in community as One.

Reality is never experienced alone – in separation. Who we really are is never experienced alone. Our true identity and nature is experienced in the Oneness of all Creation as One.  We are all One. We cannot be separated. We are created One and in Oneness. Nothing can undo that fact. Only our willingness to believe we are something other than who we really are can we experience ourselves separate and vulnerable to any threat.

You have built your whole insane belief system because you think you would be helpless in the One’s Presence, and you would save yourself from the One’s Love because you think it would crush you into nothingness. You are afraid it would sweep you away from yourself and make you little, because you believe that magnitude lies in defiance, and that attack is grandeur. You think you have made a world the One would destroy; and by loving the One, which you do, you would throw this world away, which you would. Therefore, you have used the world to cover your love, and the deeper you go into the blackness of the ego’s foundation, the closer you come to the Love that is hidden there. And it is this that frightens you.   T-13.III.4.1-5

We are simply afraid of losing this mistaken identity we have made and believe we are. Even though our true Identity is far greater that this little identity, we still cling to this little identity even when it doesn’t serve us. Our little identity has become the identity we are accustomed to and familiar with. It often doesn’t serve us well or at all, but we continue to cling to it and feed it. It’s now time to shift our attention and look at the Divine Identity within us that is real. This Identity includes all we encounter ad experience in our lives, each One and experience pointing us to the remembrance of who we really are and always have been and will be. Neither the past nor the future matter, for we are known to ourselves in the present moment. Be present right now and feel the Divine Presence we are in Oneness. Be not afraid, and let it be, just for this moment and eternity will take care of itself.

ACIM T-13.II The Guiltless Child (Son) of God

abstract background withe sea sunriseSeptember 15, 2015

Our destiny is happiness and peace. This is the One’s will for us. This is our true nature that we always have been and always will be. This is who we really are. Any idea, belief or conviction that we are anything else is simply mistaken. Yet we fear this truth about ourselves. What is this all about? Why are we afraid to step into the awareness of our own Divine nature? The One created us whole, complete and limitless. We are afraid of this truth about us because we believe ourselves limited. We have so bought into our egoic thought system’s idea of separation and inadequacy that we cannot see or believe anything else about ourselves even if it is true. And even when Spirit holds our true nature up for us to see we refuse to recognize it as who we are.

The Course tells s this:

This course has explicitly stated that its goal for you is happiness and peace. Yet you are afraid of it. You have been told again and again that it will set you free, yet you sometimes react as if it is trying to imprison you. You often dismiss it more readily than you dismiss the ego’s thought system. To some extent, then, you must believe that by not learning the course you are protecting yourself. And you do not realize that it is only your guiltlessness that can protect you.   ACIM T-13.II.7.1-6

Somehow we believe that we are protecting ourselves by believing we are something we are not. In other words we are denying who we really are. We thus make ourselves miserable by denying our Divine nature, our completeness and our wholeness. What an insane thought! Yet, we continue to believe it and hold on to it very tightly.

The Atonement – At-One-ment – is our release from this prison of thought. Realizing we are free, complete, whole and limitless is the healing we desire. It is a simple act of letting go of our attachment to the mistaken and limiting ideas about ourselves and others we hold fast in our minds and allowing Spirit to flood our minds with the truth about us. This truth is freeing. It releases us from the bonds we have chosen for ourselves and brings to our minds the reality of who we are. The darkness we have grown so familiar with recedes and vanishes. The world we see transforms before us. We find ourselves basking in the light of Heaven on this earth and feeling the love that radiates from all creation.

Our “guilty secret” of separation is nothing at all. When we bring it to the light, the light dispels it and no dark cloud will remain between us and the remembrance of who we really are. In this understanding lies our remembering, for it is the recognition of joy without fear. There is great joy in our homecoming, for this joy is ours. Come hone prodigal child, for your place has always been yours. Let yourself be in that place as you celebrate the return of your awareness of who you really are. You are the Love in which you are created. Be hat Love and let it shine.

ACIM T-13.II The Guiltless Child (Son) of God

abstract background withe sea sunriseSeptember 8, 2015

Our happiness, our awareness of our wholeness, completeness and abundance is a direct result of our beliefs about ourselves. Do we really know ourselves? Does what we believe about ourselves serve our awareness of who we are? The Course tells us this:

The darkest of our hidden cornerstones holds our belief in guilt from our awareness. For in that dark and secret place is the realization that we have betrayed Ourselves by condemning ourselves to death. We do not even suspect this murderous but insane idea lies hidden there, for the ego’s destructive urge is so intense that nothing short of the crucifixion of God’s One Child (ourselves) can ultimately satisfy it. It does not know who the One Child of God is because it is blind. Yet let it perceive guiltlessness anywhere, and it will try to destroy it because it is afraid. T-13.II.3.1-5

Our egoic thought system is interested only in its preservation in our minds through the belief in separation. As long as we believe we are separate and therefore not who we really are, we will perpetuate our separation and thus deny ourselves the joy of our wholeness and divine nature. Our call is to let go of our attachment to our belief that we are separate – not who we really are – and allow Spirit to guide us in all our thinking and lead us to remember the truth about who we really are. The real world becomes the world we see and we find ourselves in Heaven on earth.

ACIM T-13.I Guiltlessness and Invulnerability

abstract background withe sea sunriseSeptember 1, 2015

Such a comforting thought this is: God’s will for us is perfect happiness. Our happiness is guaranteed! Why don’t we feel this way? The simple reason is that we thought we were separate and then believed it, too. We believed we were guilty and vulnerable, both which are against our true nature and thus impossible. We have looked upon ourselves and judged ourselves unworthy and deserving of punishment. We have aligned our awareness with our split mind that thinks we are separate from our Source. Yet, a simple change in our thinking can bring about a huge change in our awareness. The Course tells us what happens when we accept Oneness for ourselves:

When we have accepted the At-One-ment for ourselves, we will realize there is no guilt in Us. And only as we look upon ourselves as guiltless can we understand our Oneness. For the idea of guilt brings a belief in condemnation of one by another, projecting separation in place of unity. We can condemn only ourselves, and by so doing we cannot know that we are God’s One Child. We have denied the condition of our being, which is our perfect blamelessness. Out of love we were created, and in love we abide. Goodness and mercy have always followed us, for we have always extended the Love of our Creator. T-13.I.6.1-6

As we accept each other ­– the holy companions we travel this journey with whether for a moment or a lifetime – we will realize there is no journey, only an awakening. Our holiness, when allowed to shine from within ourselves, shines away the cloud of guilt that darkens our mind. And by accepting our purity, we learn this holiness is our own.

By aligning our mind with the egoic thought system we made, we attacked ourselves because we felt guilty. The cycle of attack and guilt serves only to reinforce this idea in our separated mind. Yet, Spirit holds within us our true nature, our holy wholeness, for us to recognize when we choose to think again. Our choice is to remain embroiled in our brokenness or recognize our wholeness. The instant we recognize our wholeness, we are instantly united with our Oneness and the truth about who we really are. It comes flooding back in an instant and washes over all conflicting thoughts we had been harboring in our mind. The world changes before our very eyes for our perception has changed. We see the world with changed vision, seeing through the lens of Spirit that is our true Self. What more could we want? As we look upon ourselves with Spirit eyes, we know our wholeness and Oneness is true. Being true for us, we cannot attack ourselves, for without guilt attack is impossible. We, then, are saved because We are guiltless. And being wholly pure, we are invulnerable. This is who we really are. Let this be what we recognize and believe about ourselves and thus know about ourselves.

ACIM T-13.Intro & I Guiltlessness and Invulnerability

abstract background withe sea sunriseAugust 25, 2015

Guilt is the result of condemnation which is the judgement of one mind by another as unworthy of love and thus deserves punishment. This is the birth of the split mind. The mind that judges perceives itself separate from the mind it judges, believing that by punishing another, it escapes punishment itself. The fault of this “logic” is that we are all One, and thus we judge and punish ourselves in order to escape punishment. It’s a vicious cycle perpetrated by the egoic thought system – the result of the split mind – that keeps us aligned with the idea of separation and thus keeps us in misery. In doing so we have turned away from the awareness of who we really are and hidden our true nature from ourselves.

We seem to be trapped in this world of guilt. As a direct result of our belief in the idea of separation, we have blocked our own awareness of our own wholeness, completeness, worthiness and limitlessness. It is impossible for us to see ourselves as split or separate and whole and complete at the same time. Separation and Oneness are incompatible and irreconcilable. To see both at once would drive us insane, though one might say we are insane for believing the idea of separation at all. It goes against our nature. But there is a way out of this insanity. Just as the acceptance of guilt into our minds is the beginning of our separation, the acceptance of At-One-ment is the end of separation. The shift in our minds from the belief in separation to the belief in our Oneness – our connectedness with all Creation – is our salvation. It is the return to the awareness of who we really are. It is impossible for the One to be so cruel to subject us to this misery, for our Source is Love and Love would never punish. Love does not kill to save. Love brings together and unites. Love is the expression of Oneness. No one drove us out of Paradise, for we are and always have been and always will be in Paradise. We, by believing in separation, blocked our own awareness of our presence in Paradise. The Holy Spirit within us is present with us to guide us as we learn to remove the blocks we have placed to the awareness of who we really are.

The Introduction to Chapter 13 leaves us with this:

This world is a picture of the crucifixion of Us. And until we realize that We cannot be crucified, this is the world we will see. Yet we will not realize this until we accept the eternal fact that We are not guilty. We deserve only love because we have given only love. We cannot be condemned because we have never condemned. The At-One-ment is the final lesson we need learn, for it teaches us that, never having sinned, we have no need of salvation.   T-13.in.4.1-6

Accept the guidance of Spirit right now and let go of our guilt and judgement of ourselves. The guiltless world – the real world – is there beyond it, waiting for us to allow ourselves to see and experience it. In this rests our awareness of our wholeness, our completeness, our worthiness, our limitlessness and Love.

ACIM T-12.VIII The Attraction of Love for Love

abstract background withe sea sunriseAugust 18, 2015

All that is real is Love. No exceptions. Anything that is not Love is not real. Love is our essence. Love is our desire. So why do we seek Love when we are Love. We decided to split from Love and try to make our own love apart from Love. Does that sound insane? The Course would say yes, but we tried anyway. The Course tells us:

Do you really believe that you can kill your real Self? The One has hidden us safely within Oneness, and kept us far away from our destructive thoughts, but we know neither the One nor our real Self because of our destructive thoughts. We attack the real world every day and every hour and every minute, and yet we are surprised that we cannot see the real world. If we seek love in order to attack it, you will never find it. 5 For if love is sharing, how can we find it except through itself? Offer love and love will come to you, because it is drawn to itself – love. But offer attack and love will remain hidden, for love can live only in peace. T-12.VIII.1.1-7

What do we want? Love! When do we want it? Uh…there’s a cheer in there somewhere. It’s our choice when we decide we want love enough to let go of our attempt to find it outside ourselves and instead look within to the guidance of Spirit. When we chose to align with the egoic thought system – the split mind – we separated ourselves from the awareness of Love within us. We separated ourselves from the awareness of who we really are. We could not possibly be aware of who we really are and align with our egoic thought system at the same time for that would be so conflicting we could not bear the conflict. The two are irreconcilable. The One holds our real Self-awareness protected in Oneness in readiness for our willingness to remember who we really are.

How beautiful is that Love? We are given free will to create, even in error, but our real Self is held for us unchanged and undamaged by whatever crazy mixed up “reality” we try to create for ourselves. One world is visible to us at any given time. The world we chose to see is the one visible to us. The other world becomes invisible. Even though the real world becomes invisible to us when we choose to align with our split mind – outside ourselves, it never leaves us. It is always held within us in Oneness for our return. Yet, when we choose to align with the real world within us, the temporal world we made up fades away into nothingness. This is the promise of salvation we have misunderstood. When we realize that we are not finding the Love we are seeking, we can turn from looking without to looking within and there see clearly with the Vision of Spirit held so close for us. Be just a little willing to let go of what we have made outside of us and look within to the Love that is already there. Love will come rushing to you for you are Love and you attract Love. There is no mistake about it.

I am reminded of a metaphor rom the theatre. The Course talks of a veil we have pulled over our sight blocking our awareness of the real world. In the theatre world there is a device called a scrim used to hide the part of the stage behind it. As long as there is no light behind the scrim, the audience cannot see what is behind it. They see only what is in front of it. But the instant light shines behind the scrim, the scrim seems to disappear and what has always been behind the scrim is fully visible. Our true Self is behind that veil, that scrim. It has always been and always will be there. We control the turning on of the lights. When we choose to let light shine on what is behind the veil, the scrim, we will see the Love that is within us, and all the Love there is will come to us and join us in the abundance of Love. What are we waiting for? Look within and let your light shine on the real world within you. There you will find all you have been seeking and more in its abundance.

The At-One-ment is but the way back to what was never lost. The One could not cease to love Us. T-12.VIII.1.8-9

ACIM T-12.VII Looking Within

abstract background withe sea sunriseAugust 11, 2015

Once we choose to look within and accept our function to extend and share peace and love, we will find peace and love which is already within us. Peace and love are not static, for they need to be freely shared to be vibrant. Peace and love are dynamic by nature and thus cannot remain static. The Course gives us this promise:

When you have accepted your mission to extend peace you will find peace, for by making it manifest you will see it. Its holy witnesses will surround you because you called upon them, and they will come to you. I have heard your call and I have answered it, but you will not look upon me nor hear the answer that you sought. That is because you do not yet want only that. Yet as I become more real to you, you will learn that you do want only that. And you will see me as you look within, and we will look upon the real world together. Through the eyes of Christ, only the real world exists and only the real world can be seen. As you decide so will you see. And all that you see but witnesses to your decision. T-12.VII.11.1-8

We must decide what we want, what we really want. A soul searching look within will reveal the desire to recognize our wholeness when we allow Spirit to guide our choice. We have no idea how much effort we have expended blocking Spirit’s guidance within our mind. We will sigh in great relief when we relinquish that effort and allow Spirit to guide our choices and wonder why we fought our true nature so diligently through all our separated days.

Whenever we look without, outside ourselves without the guidance of Spirit, and react unfavorably to what we see, we have condemned our consciousness to our egoic thought system – our split mind, judging ourselves unworthy. Nothing could be further from the truth, for we are undeniably worthy, whole and complete in our creation. Our egoic thought system cannot change who we are or mar our divine nature. However, it can block our awareness of that divine nature, wholeness and completeness when we align our mind with its desire to separate from our true nature. This mistaken thought system has convinced us we have displeased our Creator, a feat that is impossible for we are One with our Creator. Yet, we have believed this mistaken concept.

When we are tempted to yield to the desire to look outward and be apart, remember that Spirit holds our true nature in our mind, waiting for us to turn around and look within to the truth of our divine nature. Look within and again choose to accept our function to extend and share peace and love. We will find and recognize that same peace and love within us in all its dynamic grace and grandeur. See only what is within us that is eternal and limitless and free. It cannot be stopped. It cannot be compromised. Look within and allow Spirit to guide us back to the awareness of who we really are and look upon the world from within with divine loving eyes. We will see what we know we are. Look within and let it be so.

ACIM T-12.VII Looking Within

abstract background withe sea sunriseAugust 4, 2015

This section of the Course is so important for me. We must learn to look inside and trust what we see. For inside is reality. The wholeness, completeness and limitlessness of who we are is not visible to the physical eye. Nor is it visible at all. But its effects are apparent, even obvious. What is real is within us. And it will be reflected in our awareness in our mind if we will allow. Letting go of our rigid beliefs about how anything should appear is the key to allowing our true awareness to rise within us. We expend a great deal of effort squelching our spiritual sight. Yet it takes much less effort to let go of the squelching and allow Spirit to guide the rising of the awareness of who we really are in our mind. We turn our spiritual eyes away from what is outside of us and focus the on the Divine truth that is within us.

This Section, Section VII, opens with this:

Miracles demonstrate that learning has occurred under the right guidance, for learning is invisible and what has been learned can be recognized only by its results. Its generalization is demonstrated as you use it in more and more situations. You will recognize that you have learned there is no order of difficulty in miracles when you apply them to all situations. There is no situation to which miracles do not apply, and by applying them to all situations you will gain the real world. For in this holy perception you will be made whole, and the Atonement will radiate from your acceptance of it for yourself to everyone the Holy Spirit sends you for your blessing. In every child of the One, the One’s blessing lies, and in your blessing of the children of the One is the One’s blessing to you.   T-12.VII.1.1-6

Learning is invisible. Miracles are invisible. The real world is invisible. But, the results of all this will be apparent when we look within and see with our spiritual eyes. The world outside may or may not appear differently, but we will perceive it differently. We must all play our part in the redemption of the world – seeing it differently.

Likewise, Spirit is invisible. We see and experience the results of Spirit’s presence and guidance in our lives when we look within and allow ourselves to see with our inner Spirit Vision. This is the Vision that sees clearly and correctly. In its sight what is true and real remains or becomes evident and what is not real fades away. In this sight the world we think we see is transcended, for the real world and what is possible in the real world is far beyond the world we think we see outside ourselves. Our mind, with the guidance and partnership of Spirit, sees that as our function in Heaven is Creation, our function on earth is healing. As long as we believe otherwise about who we are, we will block our awareness of peace and who we really are.

We see what we believe about ourselves, and we believe the result of where we invite ourselves to look – inside or outside. What guidance have we chosen? The Course has this to say:

You see what you expect, and you expect what you invite. Your perception is the result of your invitation, coming to you as you sent for it. Whose manifestations would you see? Of whose presence would you be convinced? For you will believe in what you manifest, and as you look out so will you see in. Two ways of looking at the world are in your mind, and your perception will reflect the guidance you have chosen. T-12.VII.5.1-6

Which way of looking at the world have we chosen?   Which guidance have we chosen? Our choice is revealed in what world manifests in our mind. We believe the manifestation of the guidance we have chosen. If we are not happy with the manifestation we see we can choose our guidance again. Choose the guidance of Spirit and see the real world revealed within. Remember always to look within where the real you is waiting.

ACIM T-12.VI The Vision of Christ

abstract background withe sea sunriseJuly 28, 2015

What have we invested ourselves in? Where have we placed our value? The indication of our self-value is where we have aligned our mind. When we invest our allegiance in the world outside of us, we impoverish ourselves. There is no profit in the world outside of us for there is nothing real there to invest in. Our perception of the outside world is purely conjecture for we have made it out of a mistaken premise that we are separate from it. There is no separation in reality. Our investment in a world outside of us cost’s us the world’s reality by denying our own reality and gives us nothing in return. We cannot sell our soul, but we can sell our awareness of our soul, thus we don’t recognize our true selves while we are invested in something else.

We do have strength even though we don’t realize it. This, from the text:

The Holy Spirit is your strength because Spirit knows nothing but the spirit as you. Spirit is perfectly aware that you do not know yourself, and perfectly aware of how to teach you to remember what you are. Because Spirit loves you, Spirit will gladly teach you what Spirit loves, for Spirit wills to share it. Remembering you always, Spirit cannot let you forget your worth. For the Creator never ceases to remind Spirit of Us – the One Child of God, and Spirit never ceases to remind Us of the Creator. The One is in your memory because of Spirit. You chose to forget your Creator but you do not really want to do so, and therefore you can decide otherwise. As it was my decision, so is it yours. T-12.VI.2.1-8

It is our decision to make. Do we want the world outside as we perceive it or do we want the world love extends in our thoughts. The world is in our thoughts so we must choose our thoughts and world with the guidance of Spirit who holds our reality for us.

In our belief in separation we blind ourselves to real vision. We end up seeing through the lens of perception which clouds and skews all we see. And we, having invested in that lens, believe it to be real. It appears to be outside of us because it is completely incompatible with the reality that remains within us. Yet, it blocks our awareness of what is within us. Within us is also the Vision of Christ. Spirit has held that for us as well and kept our true Vision whole. We cannot see with both visions, because our seeing based in separation is completely incompatible with our true Vision. When we choose to allow Spirit to guide our seeing, we will surely see the real world. We must learn the cost of seeing incorrectly through misperception and choose to place our investment in our Divine wholeness and the Heaven within us. We have denied the reality of our true self for so long that it may seem impossible to make the shift. Yet we need not do it alone. In fact it may be virtually impossible to do it alone. Spirit is waiting for our assent to allow It to move within us where It already is One with us. We are One. We are One with all Creation. Not a single bit of Reality is apart from us. This realization is the key to the awareness of who we really are.

 What is one cannot be perceived as separate, and the denial of the separation is the reinstatement of knowledge. At the altar of the One, the holy perception of Us becomes so enlightened that light streams into it, and the spirit of Us shines in the Mind of the One and becomes one with it. Very gently does the One shine upon All, loving the extension of the One that is Us. The world has no purpose as it blends into the purpose of the One. For the real world has slipped quietly into Heaven, where everything eternal in it has always been. There the Redeemer and the redeemed join in perfect love of Oneness and of each other. Heaven is your home, and being in the One it must also be in you. T-12.VI.7.1-7

Our true nature is the most natural thing we can imagine. Once we invest in the awareness of our Oneness we will wonder why we ever believed and thought differently. Our peace, joy and love is in this shift to the awareness of the Divine One we truly are in Communion with all Creation. Release all and let it go, for Spirit will draw us into the awareness of who we really are. This is what is.

ACIM T-12.V The Sane Curriculum

abstract background withe sea sunriseJuly 21, 2015

Our potential is limitless. Once we decide to deny our denial of who we are and accept that we are whole, complete and limitless, we allow Spirit to move within us, recognizing that Spirit is One with us. The guidance we need to relearn we are love and that love is all there is flows within the holy Mind within us we have denied for so long. Misery is gone. Attack and defense are discarded by the side of the road and vanish into nothingness. We rest in the One Mind and forget we ever thought anything different. As we rest we extend the infinite love we are with each One, recognizing the whole in each One as they ask.

 Your learning potential, properly understood, is limitless because it will lead you to the One. You can teach the way to the One and learn it, if you follow the Teacher Who knows the way to Oneness and understands the One’s curriculum for learning it. The curriculum is totally unambiguous, because the goal is not divided and the means and the end are in complete accord. You need offer only undivided attention. Everything else will be given you. For you really want to learn aright, and nothing can oppose the decision We make. Our learning is as unlimited as we are. ACIM T-12.V.9.1-7

Make the choice today to release the insane curriculum we have become so attached to. Choose to allow Spirit to guide you in relearning the sane curriculum and find the peace, joy and love we have been seeking. We were seeking outside ourselves when it has always been within us. Let this sanity be our choice today and flow in the grace of love within us. Accept this sanity now and rest in the One and Be.