October 14, 2014

First of all, we need to remember that all healing is of the mind. The healing of our mind is the return to the awareness of who we really are. Healing is a return to the awareness that we are whole, that we are complete, that we are limitless, that we are Love and that we are One. And we return to this awareness about ourselves through our acceptance of the same about each other. We are taught that we are not healed alone. From the workbook:

“When I am healed, I am not healed alone,

And I would share my healing with the world,

That sickness may be banished from the mind

Of God’s One Child, who is my only Self.”

Healing comes from Spirit. Our guidance in changing our thought system comes from Spirit. For our perception to change correctly, we must allow Spirit to guide our perception correction. Only through Spirit’s guidance will we see another’s true being and realize we are one with that one.

The unhealed healer is the one who tries to heal from an egoic thought system – a belief that we are separate. This is like trying to join those who do not believe they can be joined. Joining is resisted at every step of the way. Even though we are created as One and are joined in reality, our belief in separateness and our resistance to joining will block our awareness of the truth about us and thus the healing of our mind. Perhaps a minister or priest has tried to bring us healing by telling us we are condemned as they are, too. Perhaps a therapist has tried to help us by reinforcing the idea that we are all attacked. How does this help the healing of our minds? All it really does is reinforce the misperception of who we really are and strengthen the blocks in our own mind and another’s mind to the healing of the mind we are seeking – the awareness of who we really are.

The Miracle Workers’ Prayer in chapter 2 of the Text begins with the words: “I am here only to be truly helpful.” How can we possibly be of any help if we are not thinking correctly? If we do not know ourselves truly or understand our healing, how can we possibly help another achieve what we have failed to achieve ourselves? The Course asks us to choose the correct Guide, Spirit. We have chosen our egoic thought system to be our guide for so long, we don’t even realize it is guiding our minds. And we haven’t a clue that it is misguiding us. Even though we are not experiencing peace of mind, we believe that our egoic thought system is guiding us there through separation.

Are we ready to realize we need a change? It’s time to change our guide. Spirit knows us intimately for Spirit is within us and is a part of who we really are, placed there by our Creator. Take a moment and step back from the chaos. Allow the light of Spirit to well up within you and shine our light on the darkness that appears to engulf us. We are the light of the world and darkness cannot exist in the presence of the light we are when we acknowledge it. With that light comes the awareness that we are whole, complete, limitless and that we are One. We are the expression of Love. Our function in this world is to be aware of and extend that Love to all we encounter. We are healed in this awareness as are all healed as we are. As the Miracle Workers’ Prayer concludes, “I will be healed as I let the One teach me to heal.” There is no reason to continue as the unhealed healer. Choose the correct guide already within you, Spirit, and be the healed healer.

October 7, 2014

Fear has no place in forgiveness. If we allow fear to enter our mind, we miss the true meaning of forgiveness and make real what is not real. Forgiveness, as guided by Spirit, lies simply in looking beyond error from the beginning and thus keeping error unreal for us. Any belief that error is real that enters our mind results in the belief that we must undo error, which isn’t real, to be forgiven. In reality, error has no effect for it doesn’t exist. Spirit knows error is not real and systematically and consistently cancels out all perceived effects of any error we are willing to relinquish our attachment to. Spirit is the guide to true forgiveness. Spirit guides us in changing our perception of ourselves and others. Forgiveness is the change from perceiving others as they are not to perceiving others as they truly are. Only Spirit can guide this shift. And we simply need to be willing.

Fear will always block our awareness of truth. Fear is a falsehood. When we feel fear as we look upon another, we are blocking our awareness of who another really is. Just shifting our focus to look beyond that fear illusion will allow the block to fade away into nothingness. In this perception of separateness we have believed that there is something different about another that somehow limits or threatens us. Who we are cannot be threatened or limited. Forgiveness is Spirit’s function, not ours. Our function is to allow Spirit to reveal the truth to us about each other and ourselves and believe that truth. We have nothing to fear! We are whole. We are complete. We are limitless. We are Love in its vast abundance. We are the sharers of Love. What more of an aspiration could we want? It is the perfect aspiration and that is always where Spirit will guide us. Allow all the baggage of beliefs we have piled on the word forgiveness to fall away. Spirit has a new perception of forgiveness for us and will gladly place it back in our awareness as it has never left our true mind. Look beyond all else and see the face of the Christ shining from another’s face no matter what we have seen before. Spirit will always show us the correct perception. Let it rise up in our minds and be aware of its truth and reality.

Behold, brothers and sisters, reality is here. Realty belongs to us and Spirit and God and is perfectly satisfying to all of Us. Only this awareness heals, for it is the awareness of Truth. We can want no more, for this is all there is. Join in the awareness of the miracle of awareness. The forgiveness or the letting go of mis-thoughts and mis-beliefs is the miracle of returning to the awareness of who we really are. Let go of all else and see that we are all truly the One Holy Child of God, whole, limitless, and a creator of Love.

September 30, 2014

Many of us have misunderstood what forgiveness is. We have learned that forgiveness is about what others have done to wrong us or what we have done to wrong ourselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. When we dwell on what others have done to wrong us or what we have done to wrong ourselves we are believing that we can be wronged. This belief keeps us aligned with a great misperception about us that we are limited, can be wronged, and that we deny our natural wholeness and divine nature. We deny the very truth about us that we are whole, perfect, limitless, and created One with our Creator. We are inseparable from each other and our Creator. Forgiveness is the correction of error or more correctly the perception of error, for error is not real.

To forgive is to look beyond error to the truth beyond it. We must not allow our perception to rest on error or we begin to believe that error is true. Spirit asks us to look beyond the appearance of error to the truth about each other and accept the truth about who they really are. In accepting this truth we will know ourselves truly, for we are One with each other. When we get caught up in seeing error, we separate ourselves from the awareness that we are all One by dwelling on our differences rather than our Oneness. We believe that somehow another limits us in a limited world rather than realizing that another increases us in an abundant world. We need to remember always that our Identity is shared and that Its sharing is reality.

We have a part to play in Spirit’s plan of forgiveness. Our part is to follow our Guide, Spirit, who dwells within all of us. We have lost sight of this Guide within us in our limited idea about what we are. This sense of limitation about ourselves and each other is where all errors arise. This Guide, Spirit, is within us waiting for us to allow It to guide our perception. Spirit works within us gently to correct the mistaken ideas we hold so rigidly that prevent us from seeing clearly. Our spiritual sight is just fine, yet we have shrouded it in a veil of mistaken perception, clouding our awareness of our true Vision.

The Atonement, which is the plan of forgiveness, is a lesson in sharing, which is given us because we have forgotten how to share. Spirit simply reminds us of the natural use of our abilities. We are created with the natural ability to share. Our mistakes or errors are nothing more than a misuse of our natural ability to share as the ability to attack and separate. Even though attack and separation are impossible in the Realm of God, we believe that it is possible, so it appears real to our egoic thought system. When we ask Spirit to guide us, Spirit guides the changes in perception we each need. Spirit guides and corrects our mistaken perceptions and raises what we have made to the true creation beyond. Spirit uses everything in our experience to raise our awareness. Spirit shows us the message of truth behind everything another has said. Spirit guides us in how to fully share our love and gratitude with each other in this world of form. We all are truly One and share everything our creator has created in us. Love is what we are. Love is what we have to share. Love is limitless. No matter what appearance we have put forth in this world, Spirit will translate its appearance to Love. Forgiveness is to share the wholeness of each other with each other with abandon and let all else fade away. We are all the One Child of Oneness experiencing the Realm of Heaven on this earth. Let it be so.

September 23, 2014

What is it about correcting errors? We love to point out and correct errors. Or more correctly, our egoic thought system loves to point out and correct errors. And because the egoic thought system is an erroneous thought, it really doesn’t understand error at all. But the egoic thought system does focus on its idea of error to keep our mind distracted from truth and reality. There is no real error. Error is misperception. When we see error we are misperceiving. Error is impossible in the Realm of God, Reality, for there is no error. It just doesn’t exist!

How confusing is that? When we “see” another has erred, we have seen them as something they are not. And thus we have seen ourselves in error also. We are asked to see another as they truly are, a whole, perfect, loving Holy Child of God who is One with God, us and all Creation. We are One with each other, so how we see them is how we see ourselves. The only way to correct error is to relinquish the egoic thought system and the concept of error altogether. We are as God created us. We haven’t a blemish or a fault. When we correct another, we are telling them that they are wrong. This One may be making no sense at the time, for they may be speaking from the egoic thought system. But our task is to tell them they are right. We don’t tell them this verbally, for the error is not at the verbal level. They need correction at a different level, the level where the misperception occurs. They are right simply because they are the One Child of God as we are. When we react at all to errors, we are not listening to the Holy Spirit speaking to us through another. And so we separate our mind from the Mind of God and adopt the egoic thought system.

From the Course: T-9.III.5 & 6. When another behaves insanely, we can heal them only by perceiving the sanity in them. If we perceive their errors and accept them, we are accepting our errors. If we want to give our errors over to the Holy Spirit, we must do this with their errors. Unless this becomes the one way in which we handle all errors, we cannot understand how all errors are undone. This is no different from the lesson that what we teach we learn. Our brothers and sisters are as right as we are, and if we think they are wrong we are condemning ourselves.

We cannot correct ourselves. Yet we can see another truly, because it is possible for us to see ourselves truly. It’s not up to us to change another, but merely to accept them as they are. Their errors do not come from the truth that is in them, and only this truth is ours. Their errors cannot change this, and can have no effect at all on the truth in us. 7 To perceive errors in anyone, and to react to them as if they were real, is to make them real to us.

Let go of the egoic tendency to judge and point out another’s errors. There is no error that is of us. The only result is that we remove ourselves from the awareness of who we really are and judge ourselves separate. See only truth in the One we walk beside. Listen for the Voice for God in that One as we journey in this world. Spirit is walking in that One as Spirit is walking in us. Allow Spirit to teach you how to see yourself without condemnation by learning to look on everything and everyone without condemnation. Condemnation will then not be real and we are all forgiven – healed. Thus we return to the awareness of who we really are.

September 16, 2014

The answer to prayer is within us. The Course has told us many times we are given all as we are created. We lack nothing. The abundance of Spirit is ours, it is within each and every one and all of us. If we already are everything in our creation, why do we ask for anything? What should we ask for? The only thing we need is the healing of the idea of separation. We have been asking Spirit for all sorts of things when what we really need is Spirit’s guidance. Simply allowing our minds to reawaken to the guidance of Spirit is what is most valuable to us. That will transform our thought system. That will transform the world we see. That will reawaken the awareness of who we really are and who our brothers and sisters really are.

Every little bit of the world we see is a signpost. Spirit is in all of it, just beyond where we are looking, calling to us and reminding us of the Truth about us. As we discussed last week, we have believed we are little and that we ask what we think we need. We have believed we are afraid of the truth about us. And we have become afraid of the answer Spirit gives us to our prayer. What have we judged to have value? Are we willing to value the answer Spirit has for us? The true answer to our prayer has infinite value. It has so much value that it must be shared. The answer speaks to us in all we see and perceive if we will only value it correctly. The Course tells us the answer is given to us through our brothers and sisters. Do we value them correctly? The value we see in them is the value we see in ourselves. To recognize the answer is to be healed. All true healing is of the mind. And the healing of the mind is the acceptance and thus the awareness of the truth of who we really are.

We place value on what we receive. And we establish the value of what we receive by what we give. Creation is Love. The Course teaches that giving and receiving are the same. It also teaches us that to receive all, give all. Giving and receiving all is the extending of Love. If we are created as Love, then the same is true of each and every Child of God. Are we that afraid of real Love? We must be, for that is the answer we are afraid of. As we Love each other unconditionally, we hear Spirit’s message and answer in each other. I am the answer to your prayer and you are the answer to mine. This is what we really want, but are afraid to see. So, as we let go of our fear of the answer, say to everyone,

“Because I will to know myself, I see you as God’s Child and my brother/sister.”

In this thought our prayer is answered and our mind is healed. Let it be so today.

September 9, 2014

Most of us have grown up with some concept of prayer. We have asked for many somethings in prayer and have undoubtedly experienced what appears to be failure receiving what we asked for. We have experienced this to be true not only in things that might be harmful, but in connection with requests that are strictly in line with the Course. Our first conclusion may be that the Course doesn’t work. But perhaps we are not seeing clearly. Perhaps the answer has come and we haven’t opened our eyes enough to see it. Perhaps we are not ready for it yet. One thing we must remember is that the Course has stated repeatedly, as the Course tends to do, that its purpose is the escape from or the removal of fear. Have we come to understand and accept the deeper meaning of the Course? Are we willing to look beyond the appearance of anything to the deeper meaning Spirit is waiting to reveal to us?

Suppose we ask Spirit for what we really want. Spirit has promised an answer to us. If we ask for what we really want but are still afraid of it, the attainment of it would not be what we really want. When we are afraid of what we want, that can no longer be what we want. Do we ever really want what we are afraid of? Many of us have asked for healing. But if we look deeper, what have we asked for? The Course teaches us healing is of the mind. Healing is a correction in our thought system from an egoic thought system to a right minded thought system. If we ask for healing but are afraid of changing our thought system, we are not asking for real healing. This comes down to the fact that we are often afraid of the transformation the healing of the mind can bring, even if that’s what we really want.

The Course, as does the Bible, emphasizes that all prayer is answered and this is indeed true. Asking Spirit for anything ensures a response and it is also certain that Spirit’s response will never increase fear. It is possible that we may not have heard Spirit’s answer to our prayer. There are many answers we have not yet heard that are waiting for us. They will be revealed in perfect time when we are ready to receive them. We may also be unwilling to recognize the messenger bringing that answer.

If we know our prayers are answered, would we ever doubt a Child of God?   Do we question and doubt each other, the One Child of God we are One with? Our faith in each other is the refection of the faith we have in ourselves. The message we receive from another is up to us. What would we have another say to us? Our decision about who another is determines the message we receive. Each of us is whole and Spirit is within each and every one of us. Spirit’s voice speaks through each One to us. If we are willing to hear the Voice for God in another, how could they speak anything but Truth? Our brother or sister may not be aware of who they are, but there is a light in their mind that does know. This light shines into our minds giving truth to their words and making us able to hear them. Another’s words are Spirit’s answer to our prayer. Is our faith in who our brothers and sisters really are strong enough to let us hear the true answer? Open your mind to the Voice for God and hear it from wherever it comes. When we listen with our higher mind we will hear the Voice of Spirit everywhere. The answer to our prayer is given. Choose to let go of your fear of the answer and hear it now.

September 2, 2014

The Course tells us a lot about Reality; that is, Reality as it is created. It also tells us about a “reality” we made up as a result of our belief in separation; the belief that we can be separate from our Creator and each other. This made up “reality” is the world we think we see. It is a result of our belief in separation. It is perceived through our belief that limitation, lack, attack, defense, imperfection, and incompleteness are possible and do exist. The world we think we see is perceived through the lens of separation and is thus misperceived by the egoic thought system to which we have given control of our thoughts and our minds. We have used judgment to make division appear real. Thus we are constantly trying to maintain our part of “reality” by placing value judgments on all we encounter, experience and think.

The Course asks us to relinquish our judgments about the world we think we see. It asks us to release our attachment to our thoughts and ideas we hold about the world, our experiences and each other. The Course tells us that everything real is of equal value and everything not real has no value for it doesn’t really exist except in our minds. Our Creator has created us whole, One with the Creator and One with all of Creation. Every aspect of creation contains and is all of Creation. Not one iota of Creation is separable from another. Creation is an extension of the Creator and our Creations are extensions of us as we co-create with the Creator. We each contain and share with each other all that the Creator is.

The Reality of Creation is the Will of the Creator, or the Will of all Creation. This will is a shared Will. It is ours whether we think we want it or not. And we really do want it for it brings the awareness of our completeness to our Mind. To accept our completeness, to accept our Divine wholeness and Love is to accept Reality and the reality of who we really are. We have never actually been anything other than that reality. We have simply blocked our awareness of our Divine wholeness. We are the essence of Love that our Source is. We come from that Source and carry that Source in the depths of our being. Letting that Source essence shine from within us as we go about our lives in this perceived form is our happiness. It is our natural state of being. It is Heaven on earth.

This may sound totally impossible and perhaps insane if we try to understand this from our egoic thought system. And it is virtually impossible to make this shift in thought and belief while we hold on to a belief in separation. But as we accept the idea of Reality into our minds, Spirit moves in us to assist us in perceiving this world differently. Spirit guides our perception to correct the misperceived ideas we are so attached to. Spirit asks us simply to be willing to allow Spirit to show us another way to perceive whatever is blocking our awareness of who we really are. The only real thing in Creation is Love. We are meant to be the communicators of Divine Love to the world. Love guides us in this communication as we allow it. Are we willing to begin to manifest Love in this world? Are we willing to let it shine within us and let it shine in others so they may see it shining for themselves? Accept the reality of Reality into your mind and allow Spirit’s guidance to transform your perception and all perception as we open to our collective One Mind. We are the Reality of Oneness and Love. Let its full effect into your awareness of who we really are and be that Love.

August 26, 2014

One might ask, “What do you mean, the Acceptance of Reality?” We think that what we see and experience is reality. However, that can be deceiving. We have grown up and lived in a world of perception, a world of separation. The world we think we see is more about our perception of it and what we think about it than its actual form. That is evidenced in the fact that two people can see and experience the same event yet have completely different descriptions of what happened. We judge everything we see and experience through the bias of our past experiences and all that we have been taught and exposed to in our life to this point. We have accepted the “reality” of our perception without question rather than looking beyond our perception to the truth beyond it. We have come to accept that we are OK with what is familiar, even if it’s not great, and look no further.

Reality is the world Source created. Reality is the world we were created in and in which we co-create with Source. There is no separation in reality. There is no lack or limitation in reality. There is no attack, defense, blame or guilt in reality. There is no fear in reality, for there is nothing real to fear in reality. All fear is a result of our acceptance of and belief in the idea of separation; that we are separate from our Source and each other. We have distorted the fact that we are created in the Creator’s image and that we are an extension of our Creator into a belief that we are something different than we are created. We believe that we have messed up and damaged our Creator’s creation. In reality this is absolutely impossible.

Therefore, we have come to fear ourselves. We have come to fear who we are. We have come to fear our perceived will because we believe it is different from our Creator’s will. The truth is our will is One with our Creator’s Will and each other’s, sharing all there is with the Creator. We lack nothing and there is nothing real about us that can be hurt or damaged. We are One with Source. The only thing that keeps us from the awareness of this is our belief in and fear that we are different. We have become so entrenched in our belief that we are not One with our Creator that we find it impossible to change our mind on our own. So we have been given Spirit as a guide to show us the way back to the awareness of who we really are. Spirit asks us to begin by being just a little willing to look at ourselves differently. Can we begin to accept that we are One with our Creator? Are we willing to drop the resistance to the truth about us that we have been so tightly clinging to all these years? God’s will for us is to be One with all Creation, to be in our natural state of being filled with peace, love and joy.

The world we think we see is not really reality. It can’t be because there is so much division perceived in it. Reality is perceived beyond the appearance of this world we see. Every One we encounter and every experience we experience is an opportunity to allow Spirit to guide our perception and raise our awareness to true reality. Begin by accepting real reality into your awareness. Allow the idea that we are as we are created, whole and perfect, to take root in our minds and accept the reality of who we really are, the One Creation of the Creator. Peace, love and joy are only a thought away. Accept the real reality of the Creator and step into the awareness of who you really are. This is reality.