Reflections 113 to 126
21st May 2021
"In that dawn chorus one hears the throb of life itself."
"Life is a miracle beyond our comprehension, and we should reverence it even where we have to struggle against it."
Both quotes are from the American author and conservationist Rachel Carson who was born in 1907. The first illustrates the wonder of listening to the sound of birdsong in the early morning. It is a miracle of life. It is the sound of nature affirming what is perfectly natural.
If we could sing our song, what would it be? Would it be a song of celebration? A Course in Miracles tells us we have always had a relationship beyond the body. This relationship might be the likened to the sound of birdsong; natural, inspiring and highly creative.
The meaning of the Son of God lies solely in his relationship with his Creator... His real relationship is one of perfect union and unbroken continuity... The one he made is partial, self-centred, broken into fragments and full of fear. (ACIM, T-20.VI.1:1-6)
A Course in Miracles tells us the body is nothing more than the ego's idol. It is the belief in death, and one that is projected outwards.
The belief in idols, whether the body or anything else we cling to, prevents us from knowing our proper home. This home is beyond the veil. In fact, it is beyond nothing. It is right here.
A Course in Miracles tells us how we crave idols to make ourselves feel better. An idol is the temple we make to ensure our safety. It is a darkened space, secret and closed. To deconstruct this idea, we simply quieten ourselves to the awareness that there is something else. This is the Holy Spirit resting within us. The Holy Spirit opens us up to light and love.
This could be like birdsong heralding a new dawn. We are listening to the sound of life itself.
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22nd May 2021
"Little by little, a little becomes a lot." Tanzanian proverb.
***
A Course in Miracles explains that the purpose of any relationship is to see every person we meet as a Holy Son of God. This is Spirit. This means looking past the form, past anything we feel that they may have done, and seeing the Christ within them. The Christ is the Self we share, an innocence that unites each one of us with each another.
To have this purpose, we need to have the means (ACIM, T-20.VII.2:2).
To have the means requires work and application. We have to be silent. Being silent takes practice. The ego hates to be silent.
The means is the Holy Spirit. This is Who we work with. We look past the egoic part of our minds, understanding that the ego is a purely manmade sense of self. It is artificial. It has nothing to do with what we really are.
What we really are is so much more than a body. This is our dilemma. A Course in Miracles tells us this: It is impossible to see your brother as sinless and yet to look upon him as a body. (ACIM, T-20.VII.4:1)
When we see someone as a body, we look on them with judgement, even if don't think we do. And, as A Course in Miracles also tells us: No one who loves can judge. (ACIM, T-20.VII.9:7)
It's all or nothing. We can't look on one person as holy, and another as not.
We make the choice. We either commit to wanting a little, or we commit to wanting the lot.
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115/ Our Desire for Something Else
23rd May 2021
Life has a habit of throwing something at us that we don't expect. Our little world might get turned upside down. A Course in Miracles wants us to look at life another way. It teaches us the world is merely our projection. It asks these questions.
What if you recognized this world is an hallucination? What if you really understood you made it up? What if you realized that those who seem to walk about in it, to sin and die, attack and murder and destroy themselves, are wholly unreal? Could you have faith in what you see, if you accepted this? And would you see it? (ACIM, T-20.VIII.7:3-7)
Our desire to view the world in another light is really based on two choices. The first is what we see through the body's eyes. The second is when we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us.
Clearly most of us look at the world through the body's eyes. We make judgements about what we see. We don't even know what the alternative is. Then, when we begin A Course in Miracles, something will remind us that we do know. Deep within us, a little Voice will begin to rise. It is loving and familiar. It is heartfelt and loving.
When we hear this Voice, how we view the world will begin to change. If we follow the instructions of A Course in Miracles, we might slowly begin to understand what vision is. We want to be gentle with ourselves, because it really is like waking from a dream. No one wants to wake from a bad dream in a blinding flash of light.
Not all of us want to wake up from a good dream either. But occasionally we feel that there must be something else.
A Course in Miracles promises us that we always awaken to joy, peace and light.
Our desire for something else can never be found in thought or fantasy. We have to experience it. Words can only point the way.
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116/ The Witness to the Choice We Make
24th May 2021
A Course in Miracles tells that sin is insanity (ACIM, W-pII.4.1:1), and judgement is but a toy (ACIM, T-20.VIII.7:1). Everything arises out of the mind, and creates this panic that we try to control.
The world you see is what you gave it, nothing more than that. But though it is no more than that, it is not less. Therefore, to you it is important. (ACIM, T-21.in.1:1-4)
A Course in Miracles tells us that the solution is to undo the suffering. This means undoing the ego. Forgiveness is the practice that we are taught.
Forgiveness undoes what never was. It shows a world where suffering is over, and pain of any kind cannot exist.
A Course in Miracles tells us that the world, sin, forgiveness and judgement all arise within the mind. It's up to us what we see. We can see brutality, or we can see a call for help. We can blame, or we can forgive. Everything we see in the external world comes from within us, and is simply thought being projected outwards.
A question is then asked: Do you not want to know your own Identity? (ACIM, T-20.VIII.2:1)
The identity we have known all our lives is transient. It can change in the blink of an eye. It is unpredictable. It can be high ranking one day, and homeless the next. The Identity that A Course in Miracles talks about is timeless. It never changes. It is full of joy and abundance.
The world you see but shows you how much joy you have allowed yourself to see in you, and to accept as yours. And if this is its meaning, then the power to give it joy must lie within you. (ACIM, T-21.in.2:7-8)
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117/ The Miracle is in the Remembering
25th May 2021
How we define the life we live is a choice. We can think we are a body, to live and die. Or we can learn that we are spirit, immortal and eternal.
A Course in Miracles takes us on a journey from one to the other. We begin by valuing the body above all else. Then we slowly begin to change. Little steps take us in another direction. We learn to stop putting all our energy into the body, and to start investing our energy in spirit.
We are told this: There is no need to learn through pain. (ACIM, T-21.I.3:1)
Within us all is a memory of who we are. It is a miracle in remembering. We are told it is like an ancient song. Nothing will ever be as dear to you as is this ancient hymn of love the Son of God sings to his Father still (ACIM, T-21.I.9:6). It is found through vision. We see and hear things as they are.
If we have this vision, we know that we are all One. We are all just a part of the Whole. Many who have had a near-death experience would confirm this too. However, very occasionally, their experience can be compounded by a hellish frame of reference.
Dr. Rajiv Parti's near-death experience reflected back to him the selfish nature of his life, and how materialism, and the American dream, had dominated. When he returned to his body, his whole attitude to life changed completely.
"I felt like I was part of the light but I was separate from the light."
"Consciousness was a pure ocean and I was a small wave in the ocean."
You can view his account on YouTube by entering 'Present - Dr. Rajiv Parti's NDE'. The link is below.
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118/ The Choice is in the Mind
26th May 2021
“The mind is its own place and, in itself, can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.” John Milton.
***
A Course in Miracles teaches us to find the cause of our suffering. Only then can we undo the effect.
History proves that suffering exists. It is written into the history books.
The media proves that suffering exists in the world today. The news, which is really just opinion, is mostly made up of the suffering of others.
A Course in Miracles is a course in the change of perception. This is all a miracle is. It is a shift in perception. ACIM asks us to change our mind about the world because the world happens in our minds. This is not a denial. It is the start of peace.
Only peace can be found within the mind. The search for external peace is impossible. A Course in Miracles tells us that nothing can be found out there. Everything is found inside this thing we call the mind.
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. (ACIM, T-16.IV.6:1)
We learn there is no distinction between degrees of suffering. To suffer is to suffer, and the cause is the ego. The alternative is to think with the Holy Spirit. When we think with the Holy Spirit, the effect is peace.
All that is asked of you is to make room for truth. (ACIM, T-21.II.7:6)
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27th May 2021
"Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." Buddha.
***
A Course in Miracles is here to show us the truth of who we really are. If we would ask ourselves where we place our faith, the answer might be that most of us place our faith in what can be seen. We are a body. We mix with other bodies. We live and we die.
And yet life continues around us. The earth continues to orbit the sun, and the moon continues to orbit the earth.
A Course in Miracles tells us that faith in the body is faith in nothing. Faith in the Holy Spirit is faith in the eternal. Faith in the body means having faith in an illusory self, which is the ego. Faith in the Holy Spirit means listening for the Voice for God, which requires trust.
We can only do one or the other, for they are complete opposites. The main difference is this. While the ego can change from love to hate in an instant, the Holy Spirit cannot. It has no opposite. The Holy Spirit is just pure, unconditional love.
Neither the ego, nor the Holy Spirit, need each other for their existence, just like the sun does not need the moon, and vice versa. Both are mutually exclusive. A Course in Miracles leads us on a journey where we begin to understand the reasoning behind making the choice between two completely different systems of thought. It sums it up like this.
But "good" and "deprivation" are opposites, and cannot meaningfully join in any way. It is like saying the moon and sun are one because they come with night and day, and so they must be joined. Yet sight of one is but the sign the other has disappeared from sight. Nor is it possible that what gives light be one with what depends on darkness to be seen. Neither demands the sacrifice of the other. Yet on the absence of the other does each depend. (ACIM, T-21.III.11:4-9)
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120/ The Unknown Part of Our Mind
28th May 2021
It doesn't matter what upbringing we have had. It doesn't matter whether or not we have faith. At some stage in our lives, we have all probably worried about sin. We have wondered about the existence of heaven and hell. We have been concerned about where we will end up.
Guilt, shame, and feelings of alienation can all arise from acts we have done in the past. Add to that a belief in a higher power, and we probably find we spend a good part of our lives trying to atone for our sins. For example, we might go through therapy. We might do charitable acts. We might even try a spiritual path.
Deep down, we might feel a little helpless. We feel we are never quite right. A Course in Miracles has a unique spin on this. It asks us this question.
What if you looked within and saw no sin? (ACIM, T-21.IV.3:1)
Just this simple question might cause us anger or confusion. It might take us by surprise. Regardless of how we feel, the line continues with this: This "fearful" question is one the ego never asks. (ACIM, T-21.IV.3:2)
This is because A Course in Miracles describes the ego as insane, and says we need to move past insanity to reason. We have to find the part of our mind which the ego doesn't know about. This is where the Holy Spirit resides.
The importance of finding this part of our mind is emphasised in every page. A Course in Miracles tells us that we are responsible for everything that happens to us. We shape our world. When we work with the Holy Spirit, we make the right decisions, and the right choices. In the Workbook, we are told this.
It is impossible that anything should come to me unbidden by myself. Even in this world, it is I who rule my destiny. What happens is what I desire. What does not occur is what I do not want to happen. This must I accept. (ACIM, W-253.1:1-5)
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121/ The Voice of Reason
29th May 2021
"You are not the voice in your mind, but the one who is aware of it." Eckhart Tolle.
***
Yesterday, there was a black-suited man on an underground train, with a bible in his hand, who was quietly sermonising for the whole five-minute journey. The carriage was empty apart from two people close to him, and us at the back. Everyone ignored him.
Then there was the woman who was asking for change on a street corner. She was elderly and shaking. Most people walked past, very few stopped.
What do we do when someone verbally insults us? Or when a driver cuts us off in traffic? How do we respond? If we really listen to the reasoning behind our decisions, we will probably find they are all judgemental and fear-based.
The ego loves these dramas. But A Course in Miracles tells us that the ego doesn't know what reason is. Reason lies only in the part of the mind where the ego is not involved. This is the part of the mind where the Holy Spirit resides. We are told that the Holy Spirit is the Voice of reason, and listening to this Voice doesn't require sacrifice at all. No judgement is involved, regardless of who, or what, is in front of us. It simply means that we change our perception. We put our faith and belief in what is true and real.
A Course in Miracles tells is that all minds are joined. There is no separation. We are told that miracles are natural to this state of mind: They are as simple and as natural to it as breathing to the body (ACIM, T-21.V.3:4). Later, it says this.
You do not realize the whole extent to which the idea of separation has interfered with reason. Reason lies in the other Self you have cut off from your awareness. And nothing you have allowed to stay in your awareness is capable of reason. (ACIM, T-21.V.4:1-3)
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30th May 2021
"You yourself are your own obstacle, rise above yourself." Hafez.
***
It was Woody Allen who said he wanted to live his next life backwards. He would start dead, and get that out the way. Then he would retrace his way back through his life, until he would spend the last nine months floating in wonderful spa-like conditions. He would then finish off as an orgasm.
We definitely want the orgasmic in our life. We want it to be joyful, heightened, each day to be a new, fresh experience. If this isn't the case, maybe we just need to let go of an old way of thinking? We could then begin to look at life afresh.
A Course in Miracles teaches us to explore our minds. We are told there are two parts to the mind. One is friend and one is foe. Both see the same things, they just look on them differently.
The ego is assertive. It wants to rule the mind. It wants to dominate the Holy spirit, and take its place. The Holy Spirit does not defend itself, but quietly waits to take the ego's place. It is simply our choice if we allow this to happen.
This is our challenge. A Course in Miracles tells us that to heal ourselves is to help humanity. We are simply healing the one mind of which we are all a part. When we start to think right-minded thoughts with the Holy Spirit, we begin to free ourselves. This leads us away from madness, and towards the goal of truth.
It's when we reach the end of this journey that A Course in Miracles tells us this.
And here you will lay down the burden of denying truth. This is the burden that is terrible, and not the truth. (ACIM, T-21.VI.7:11-12)
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123/ A Course in Cause and not Effect
31st May 2021
When we learn the nature of cause and effect, we come to understand that the source of true happiness is always within us. A Course in Miracles tells us this .
Truth is constant. (ACIM, T-21.VII.10:5)
Happiness must be constant. (ACIM, T-21.VII.13:2)
Joy cannot be perceived except through constant vision. And constant vision can be given only those who wish for constancy. (ACIM, T-21.VII.13:3-4)
The cause of anything arises within us. It lies within the framework of what has been familiar to us all our life. It lies within the mind. The effect then arises from the cause. It is what comes at us. If the effect is that our lives are happy and fulfilled, there would be no need to change anything.
We only seek change when we have experienced the opposite, which is suffering. The cause of suffering is again in our minds. The effect is what appears to be happening to us, or around us. We think it is the effect that makes us suffer.
We are told that elusive happiness, the sort that changes with time and place, has no meaning. It is an illusion, just as the ego is an illusion. Constant happiness is meaningful only to the Holy Spirit. It would terrify the ego. This is because we have to undo the ego to get to it. However, since our egoic sense of self is just a hypothesis, we are really undoing nothing.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus said: "Seek, and ye shall find". Today, he says this.
Desire what you want, and you will look on it and think it real. No thought but has the power to release or kill. And none can leave the thinker's mind, or leave him unaffected. (ACIM, T-21.VII.13:6-8)
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124/ A Desire for What Will Never Change
1st June 2021
The following quote is attributed to Leo Tolstoy: "There is only one time that is important - NOW! It is the most important time because it is the only time we have any power."
The Buddha is alleged to have said: “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
Both quotes are referring to the state of peace. We only need to have a little self-awareness to understand that peace is not part of our mindset. For most of us, our thoughts abound in a stream of agitation and stress. And yet this moment – the now - is all there is.
A Course in Miracles refers to the present moment and the now. ACIM calls it the holy instant.
The holy instant is a miniature of Heaven, sent to you from Heaven. (ACIM, T-17.IV.11:1)
In the holy instant nothing happens that has not always been. (ACIM, T-15.VI.6:1)
You look upon each holy instant as a different point in time. It never changes. (ACIM, T-20.V.6:1-2)
There is but one. (ACIM, T-20.V.5:7)
A Course in Miracles tells us the holy instant can be seen as a window in time through which we look upon eternity. Or it can be seen as eternity itself.
The present moment. The now. The holy instant. They are all the same. We just need to desire the changeless.
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125/ What We Don't Know
2nd June 2021
There is so much we don't know. There is so much we don't see. A Course in Miracles tells us this: To sense is not to know. (ACIM, W-pII.4.1:8)
From this premise, we are asked to go beyond the senses. It's a journey into understanding ourselves, and each other, in a completely different way.
A Course in Miracles uses relationships as a template. It states that every meeting is a chance to begin again. Instead of judging, we start acknowledging what we can't see. This is spirit. Through our relationships, we develop an appreciation of who we truly are.
Only appreciation is an appropriate response to your brother. Gratitude is due him for both his loving thoughts and his appeals for help, for both are capable of bringing love into your awareness if you perceive them truly. (ACIM, T-12.I.6:1-2)
Nancy Rhynes said that all her relationships changed dramatically after her near-death experience in 2014. Before that, she wasn't interested in anything remotely spiritual. She was hit by a truck while cycling in a small town just outside Boulder, Colorado. Even as she was being dragged under the truck, she had an experience of her consciousness separating from her body. Later, while she was being operated on for her multiple injuries, she had her near-death experience.
It was at the start of her experience that she telepathically heard a voice tell her: "You are my child, welcome home. You are loved beyond all measure." She then went on to understand that part of her contract in this life was to tell people about her experience.
When Nancy woke up she asked herself if her experience had really happened. But then she understood that this life feels like the dream, and her near-death experience felt like reality.
Nancy has a number of accounts on YouTube. One is: 'Present! Nancy Rhynes near-death experience'. The link is below.
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126/ An Interpretation of the Truth
3rd June 2021
A Course in Miracles is very clear about the distinction between sight and vision. Sight is what the brain and body sees. Vision comes through the mind. We might be completely unaware of our minds, and how our minds can shape our thinking.
Below is a line which illustrates this.
The brain cannot interpret what your vision sees. This you would understand. The brain interprets to the body, of which it is a part. (ACIM, T-22.I.2:7-10)
A Course in Miracles likens the body to a fence. It separates the Self from the whole. What we see from beyond this fence is what makes up our life. We may not believe there is any more than that. Nor do we believe there is any less.
Our minds judge what our eyes see. We give meaning to what lies beyond the fence. It's a bit like a frog thinking the pond is all there is. And yet, that there is more is beyond doubt.
A Course in Miracles likens us to a baby. What a baby sees will mean different things at different times. This is how we react when we think we are a brain and body; or rather, when we think we are the noisy part of the mind. Everything can change in an instant. The sunny day turns gloomy. A friend becomes an enemy. Anger overwhelms us.
When we listen to the quiet part of our minds, we begin to see things differently. We begin to see beyond the fence that we have built. We begin to understand that no one else is any different. We see that every relationship is a chance to end our feelings of separation. We understand that what is in one of us, is in all of us. This is our vision, and this is when what is real replaces what is false.
It is denial of illusions that calls on truth, for to deny illusions is to recognize that fear is meaningless. (ACIM, T-22.I.10:6)
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