Reflections 141 to 154
141/ When We Sit
18th June 2021
When we sit, the body distracts us. It aches. We feel pain. Sometimes, the body can never be comfortable.
When we sit, our minds are rarely quiet. Thoughts distract us. We begin thinking. The mind never does what we want it to do
When we sit, we just try. But sometimes it is not clear exactly what we are doing.
A Course in Miracles is a course in mind training. It says that purpose is of the mind (ACIM, T-24.IV.2:6). It says that bodies have no goal (ACIM, T-24.IV.2:5). The emphasis is always on undoing the unconscious guilt lying dormant in the mind through forgiveness. This means the responsibility lies with us, and no one else.
When peace is not with you entirely, and when you suffer pain of any kind, you have beheld some sin within your brother, and have rejoiced at what you thought was there. (ACIM, T-24.IV.5:2-3)
This is why A Course in Miracles has the Workbook: The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world. (ACIM, W-in.4:1)
When we sit, we might want to give everything over to the Holy Spirit. This includes our guilt, our fear and our agitation.
When we sit, we sit to heal the mind. This means being present to our guilt, our fear and our agitation.
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142/ Stillness Speaks
19th June 2021
“When the mind is left with nothing to cling to, it becomes still.” Ramana Maharshi.
***
It seems impossible for the mind to be still. If we sit to meditate, a lot of the time is probably spent lost in thought. When we read that stillness speaks, the endless chatter in our minds suggests that this is impossible.
A Course in Miracles tells us our minds will give us what we wish for.
The power of a wish upholds illusions as strongly as does love extend itself. Except that one deludes; the other heals. (ACIM, T-24.V.1:9-10)
So we persevere. We have to learn to find what is elusive and silent.
A Course in Miracles says this: The Christ in you is very still (ACIM, T-24.V.1:1). If we really understood the meaning of this, then words would become redundant.
All we need to know, then, is the following.
Stillness speaks.
Stillness is within us.
Learn to be quiet enough to listen.
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20th June 2021
“It is my conviction that there is no way to peace – peace is the way.” Thich Nhat Hanh.
***
It is inevitable that, at some time or another, something will happen that challenges us. Life is just like that. It seems to be going along smoothly and then a situation arises that puts us on the back foot. It pushes our buttons.
Jesus gave us A Course in Miracles. In it, he gives us two choices: to choose between the ego and the Holy Spirit. One condemns, the other accepts. ACIM also tells us that the only chance for our salvation lies in our brother. This language is biblical, but the message couldn't be clearer.
He is your savior from dreams of fear. (ACIM, T-24.VI.1:2)
He is the mirror of yourself. (ACIM, T-24.VI.8:6)
Choose, then, his body or his holiness as what you want to see, and which you choose is yours to look upon. (ACIM, T-24.VI.7:1)
When someone, or something, pushes our buttons, it's just another chance for forgiveness. It's just another chance to undo all the unconscious guilt in our minds. It's up to us to decide which choice we make. Jesus reminds us about it time and time again. He had no unconscious guilt in his mind over two thousand years ago, and through A Course in Miracles he is training us to have no guilt in our minds now.
When someone pushes our buttons, we need to realise it is not them but us. We make our own reality.
Jesus chose love, not fear, during his lifetime. He teaches us to do the same today.
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144/ Looking for the Changeless
21st June 2021
The changelessness of Heaven is in you, so deep within that nothing in this world but passes by, unnoticed and unseen. (ACIM, T-29.V.2:3)
***
There's complete clarity when we read this: This course makes no attempt to teach what cannot easily be learned. Its scope does not exceed your own, except to say that what is yours will come to you when you are ready. (ACIM, T-24.VII.8:1-3)
There's no ambiguity in the following: The test of everything on earth is simply this; "What is it for?" The answer makes it what it is for you. It has no meaning of itself, yet you can give reality to it, according to the purpose that you serve. (ACIM, T-24.VII.6:1-3)
A Course in Miracles teaches us to change our perception, as highlighted by the passage above. We are not asked to change our lifestyle, work, our personality or friends. But we are asked to change our thinking, of how we perceive things. Our perception of what we see means everything.
Our perception arises through the eyes of the ego, until we change our minds about what we see. A Course in Miracles teaches us that seeing with the ego is faulty perception. We are being shown an image that is not true.
Changing our perception can be a slow process. It can be a painful process. When we go within, our negative thinking doesn't give up without a fight. That's why it's good to learn that everything we perceive outside of us is really just our thoughts. Change our thoughts, and we change our reality.
We are literally led by the hand, guided step by step, to change the changeable. It is the changeless that we are being led towards. Nothing can be clearer, or less ambiguous, than our search for that.
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22nd June 2021
“No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.” Plato.
***
The following quote was found online, and comes from a book called The Truth which was published in 2015. "We need not fear death, for it is simply the next phase of life. We never die, we simply change form - just as we have since the day we were born."
Fearing death is inevitable, just as it is inevitable that we might occasionally fear life. This fear might make us seek the truth about who we are. We seek it from different sources. So we dig, and delve, perhaps all the time wondering whether we have the desire to complete our search.
There are so many sources. One, A Course in Miracles, tells us that it is our minds that need the healing. It guides us to a point where we have our own inner teacher. It tells us that the truth is within us, and we have to find this out for ourselves. It says this: Truth cannot have an opposite. (ACIM, W-152.3:5)
For if what is not true is true as well as what is true, then part of truth is false. And truth has lost its meaning. Nothing but the truth is true, and what is false is false. (ACIM, W-152.3:7-9)
In the Bible, Jesus tells us: "The truth will set you free." We might never quite find the truth of who we really are during our lifetimes, and certainly not to the extent that Jesus did during his lifetime, but we can at least do our best.
The following words, attributed to another great teacher - Buddha - should encourage us.
"In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you."
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23rd June 2021
Since you believe that you are separate, Heaven presents itself to you as separate, too. (ACIM, T-25.I.5:1)
***
The Call of Love to Love is the gift of the Father to the Son. It is the gift of God to us. This gift comes to us through the Holy Spirit, the Voice for God. The Holy Spirit is the Quiet Voice in our minds that is there alongside the voice of separation, which is the ego.
Below is a summary of the Holy Spirit's role in this Call.
The Holy Spirit has to mediate between illusions and the truth.
The Holy Spirit bridges the gap between reality and dreams
The Holy Spirit unites our minds, so that our desire to be separate is extinguished.
The Holy Spirit teaches us how oneness is experienced, and what we have to do to experience oneness. But it has to be done in a way we can understand. The Holy Spirit doesn't want to frighten us.
The Holy knows exactly what each one of us needs. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what we are.
The Holy Spirit might conclude the Call of Love to Love by saying this.
What is the same can not be different, and what is one can not have separate parts. (ACIM, T-25.I.7:7)
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147/ Relinquishing the Past
24th June 2021
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” Herman Hesse.
***
Everyone has their own way of studying A Course in Miracles. It is doubtful whether any one person will do it in the same way. It's also a huge volume of work, in three sections, and we really have to follow our own inner guidance.
The Text is 669 pages long. We are told the following words probably two thirds of the way through.
This course requires almost nothing of you. It is impossible to imagine one that asks so little, or could offer more. (ACIM, T-20.VII.1:7-8)
Then, when we finish the 365 lessons in the Workbook, the epilogue starts with the following advice.
This course is a beginning, not an end. Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone. (ACIM, W-ep.1:1-3)
The final section, the Manual for Teachers, says this.
To teach is to demonstrate. There are only two thought systems, and you demonstrate that you believe one or the other is true all the time. (ACIM, M-in.2:1-3)
The goal of A Course in Miracles is to think with the Holy Spirit. We are asked not see ourselves as limited, but as limitless. We are asked to relinquish every fear that held us back in the past, and to place our faith in the thought system of the Holy Spirit. By doing so, we undo the thought system of the ego and relinquish the past.
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25th June 2021
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” Edgar Allan Poe.
***
We always have choice in the world, and our choice is made by how we perceive.
A Course in Miracles tells us that perception's fundamental law is this: You see what you believe is there, and you believe it there because you want it there (ACIM, T-25.III.1:3). We are told that perception has no other law than this.
We are also given a simple law that comes from God: That love creates itself, and nothing but itself. (ACIM, T-25.III.1:6)
Being aware of the first law is a good first step for awareness of the second. However, A Course in Miracles will only come to us when we are ready to take these steps. It comes to us when we have the capacity to put into practice a teaching that the world does not accept.
In this world, all encompassing love feels impossible. It's quite apparent that our separated minds can create its opposite in abundance. However, we are shown that within our minds is a Helper that can light the way. It can help us undo the unconscious guilt that keeps us from the love that God extends.
A Course in Miracles tells us this: God's laws do not obtain directly to a world perception rules, for such a world could not have been created by the Mind to which perception has no meaning. (ACIM, T-25.III.2:1-2)
We are told that we have entered darkness, yet we have not entered it alone. We are told that we have help, if we are just prepared to call on it. We are given free will to do whatever we wish. The purpose of the world belongs to us.
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149/ Standing in the Sunlight
26th June 2021
“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.” Helen Keller.
***
Yesterday, we were two days into a holiday. Where we were staying, there was a dog that was blind. He was moving around in the garden, sniffing everything and wagging his tail like any dog would do. Blindness didn't seem to be an impediment. He was simply curious about everything.
Perhaps we could be likened to that dog? We, too, sniff around and try to find new experiences. We, too, are 'blind' to our reality. Where we differ is that we are never content. That is why we go on holiday, not realising that our minds go on holiday with us.
There's a line in A Course in Miracles that says this: Never forget the world the sightless "see" must be imagined, for what it really looks like is unknown to them. (ACIM, T-21.I.1:1)
We are told that our cues for seeing are all wrong. We stumble and fall over things we do not see, and fail to recognise openings that are there. We are literally blind to what is reality. It is here, all around us, but we cannot see it.
A Course in Miracles tells us we simply do not see.
We don't need to go on holiday to be happy. We could be standing in the wind and rain, and feel like we are standing in the sunlight. We could be like the blind dog, and feel unconditionally loved. A Course in Miracles tells us this.
In you is all of Heaven. Every leaf that falls is given life in you. Each bird that ever sang will sing again in you. And every flower that ever bloomed has saved its perfume and its loveliness for you. (ACIM, T-25.IV.5:1-4)
Within us is the truth. Within us is the sunlight.
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150/ Prayer is an Energy
27th June 2021
There is the story of a woman who witnessed an horrific crash. There was a crowd of people at the scene, and she had come to a halt a few cars back. She didn't know what she could do to help, so she just stayed in her car and prayed.
A few months later, there was a knock at her door. A stranger was there. He said that he was the person in that accident. Because he had been so badly injured, his spirit had left his body. That was when he had observed the ball of white light leaving her car, travelling in an arc, and landing in his car. The ball of white light was her prayer. He found her by remembering the license plate of her car.
Everyone has prayed at some stage during their lives. It might have been at moments of crisis. It could have been an offering of thanks. Whatever the reason, our prayers are thoughts that are sent out. Every thought has an energy. A Course in Miracles tells us the following: The secret of true prayer is to forget the things you think you need (ACIM, S-1.I.4:1). We don’t see the bigger picture. We panic internally and cry out loud.
Many near-death experiencers state that they have a stronger sense of what’s important when they return to their body. What they thought they needed before is no longer relevant.
Karen Thomas is an example. Prior to her near-death experience in 1982, she had a strong Christian faith and was committed to the church. After her experience, she had to leave her church because she couldn’t bear the dogma. All her needs had changed and she was a different person. She saw the world in a different light.
Her near-death experience also taught her that prayer is an energy. She describes how she saw the prayers from her friends, and particularly the prayer of her daughter, represented by musical notes. It was her daughter’s prayer in particular that persuaded her to return to her life.
Karen has a number of accounts on YouTube, including a recent interview with Silvia Isachsen. The link is below.
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151/ To Heal Instead of Harm
28th June 2021
When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. (ACIM, T-6.V-A.1:1)
***
A Course in Miracles tells us that no matter who we meet, no matter who we talk to, no matter who we interact with, only two things can happen. We can heal ourselves or harm ourselves. With this in mind, the healer's prayer is this: Let me know this brother as I know myself. (ACIM, T-5.in.3:8)
We learn that only healing is the Holy Spirit's form of communication.
We are told that minds can communicate, but they cannot hurt. Only the body, in the service of the ego, can hurt other bodies.
With this in mind we really have to look at our mind, and how we think. With this in mind, we really have to be careful how we interact with one another.
In everyone you see but the reflection of what you choose to have him be to you. (ACIM, T-25.V.4:7)
A Course in Miracles is very clear. We can heal ourselves or harm ourselves. We can choose darkness or light. We can attack or forgive. We can choose the ego or the Holy Spirit.
We need to make anyone who passes through our lives feel that they are, have always been, and will always be, completely safe.
This is the function given you for your brother. Take it gently, then, from your brother's hand, and let salvation be perfectly fulfilled in you. Do this one thing, that everything be given you. (ACIM, T-25.VI.7:8-10)
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152/ Sanity or Insanity
29th June 2021
“I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” Isaac Newton.
***
The Wimbledon Tennis Championships have started. It is exciting to see the sun shining and the crowds back. It also allows us to explore the deeper meaning behind A Course in Miracles: that loss is impossible, and everyone wins.
Being normal and enjoying life is important for our sanity, and sport can play a big part in that. To see any contest supplying skill and passion is exciting. It also brings with it a fair degree of suffering. To lose is nothing. It is winning at all costs.
A Course in Miracles doesn't say we shouldn't be normal. It does say we should be sane. Insanity arises when we place all our faith in what is outside of ourselves. Insanity is when we see ourselves as being divided and separate. Insanity is when we allow ourselves to get caught up in the egos of others. No one wins and everyone loses.
Sanity arises when we see the drama of a sporting contest unfold, and we realise that we are all the same. We are all connected. We are all one Self that is changeless. There is no sin, just error. There is no ego, just the illusion of an ego.
When we see beyond the form to the formless, any sporting contest is put in its proper context. It is taking place within the dream. Don't make it real, but do enjoy it. This is sanity.
What is dependable except God's Love? And where does sanity abide except in Him? The One Who speaks for Him can show you this, in the alternative He chose especially for you. (ACIM, T-25.VII.10:1-3)
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153/ What are Our Rights?
30th June 2021
“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” Nelson Mandela.
***
A Course in Miracles tells us what is naturally ours:
You have the right to all the universe; to perfect peace, complete deliverance from all effects of sin, and to the life eternal, joyous and complete in every way, as God appointed for His holy Son. (ACIM, T-25.VIII.14:1-2)
The world will dispute this. It will tell us this is impossible.
Equally, we might feel uncomfortable reading the above. Wars are fought in the name of God. Anything related to war is related to suffering.
A Course in Miracles teaches us to let go of these judgements. It tells us that we are looking with blinkered eyes. We are looking at things through our conditioning and upbringing. We allow the shadowy world within us to form our opinions.
Justice and vengeance are familiar themes in the world. It's a familiar theme to the ego. It's a combination the ego loves. A Course in Miracles asks this: Can this be justice? God knows not of this. But justice does He know, and knows it well. For He is wholly fair to everyone. (ACIM, T-25.VIII.5:1-4)
There is no vengeance in God's Mind because He knows only justice.
What are our rights? Simply to have choice. We can side with the ego, or with the Holy Spirit. We can believe in the justice of the world, or we can search for the justice of God. A Course in Miracles guides us there, and miracles are the result. It's ours for the taking if we want it.
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154/ Our Reluctance to Receive
1st July 2021
Equality is the fundamental principle of A Course in Miracles. No one loses and everyone gains.
Inequality is clear throughout the world. There's more than enough food in the world, but millions go to bed hungry every night.
A Course in Miracles teaches not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world (ACIM, T-21.in.1:7). Miracles arise out of that change, and the initial change has to come from within us.
Guilt lies in the ego. It lies deeply buried within the mind. Our purpose is to undo that guilt, and we do this with the help of the Holy Spirit.
To give a problem to the Holy Spirit to solve for you means that you want it solved. To keep it for yourself to solve without His help is to decide it should remain unsettled, unresolved, and lasting in its power of injustice and attack. (ACIM, T-25.IX.7:5-6)
A Course in Miracles tells us that any problem that the Holy Spirit solves is one in which no one ever loses. No sacrifice is asked of anyone.
Miracles arise out of this, and this is where our responsibility lies. We just need to change our minds, and receive what is our due. The world changes when we change, and we do this through forgiveness.
Unless you think that all your brothers have an equal right to miracles with you, you will not claim your right to them because you were unjust to one with equal rights. Seek to deny and you will feel denied. Seek to deprive, and you have been deprived. A miracle can never be received because another could receive it not. Only forgiveness offers miracles. And pardon must be just to everyone. (ACIM, T-25.IX.8:1-6)
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