Reflections 211 to 225

 

211/  Letting the Light in

27th August 2021

At the beginning of the Text of A Course in Miracles, there's a section entitled: The Escape from Darkness. It starts with this:

The escape from darkness involves two stages. First, the recognition that darkness cannot hide. This step usually entails fear. Second, the recognition that there is nothing you want to hide even if you could. This step brings escape from fear. When you have become willing to hide nothing, you will not only be willing to enter into communication but will also understand peace and joy. (ACIM, T-1.IV.1:1-5)

Understanding peace and joy is as good a reason as any for beginning A Course in Miracles. In our normal state, these feelings are so transitory. They are momentary. Darkness can also be momentary, and the two opposites seem to interact with each other. We just consider this to be part of life.

A Course in Miracles tells us that darkness is merely lack of light, just as sin is lack of love. Truth is always abundant. Our needs are always met within the context of allowing truth to be just as it is. 

A Course in Miracles will lead us towards the truth that lies within all of us, but there will come a time where we need to dedicate ourselves. It's as if we get to a point where we have to draw a line in the sand, and not cross it.  We need to commit ourselves. But before that, we take from the Course what we need, and we need to be wholeheartedly kind to ourselves.

If we are to understand peace and joy, we might consider the title of a lesson towards the end of the Workbook: Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me (ACIM, W-344). This is also the law of God. From this, we could draw the conclusion that, if darkness is lack of light, then we just need to let the light in. The darkness then disappears.

The fundamental message of A Course in Miracles is that we need to forgive what never happened. If we are to learn that we are peace and joy, we need to see that in everyone. By letting the light in, the light then comes on, and nothing else exists.

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212/ Upside-Down Orientation

28th August 2021

A Course in Miracles tells us we are upside-down in our orientation. Our minds think they are stable, but they are anything but. So we are given the method to make them stable, and all we have to do is to apply it.

The minimum it would take is a year because that is how long it would take to do the exercises in the Workbook. But to do the exercises in the Workbook perfectly is almost impossible, so the key is not to get discouraged. The ego loves discouragement, and the Workbook is all about dismantling the ego.

The alternative is in our minds, and has nothing to do with the ego. It has nothing to do with the body. It has nothing to do with the fear that our minds generate. A Course in Miracles tells us to listen for the Holy Spirit since the Holy Spirit also resides in our minds. To do this won't happen overnight, but it will happen over time. 

We are given the pointers, and we just have to follow them. We are told to choose between what is loveless and what is miraculous. We are asked to correct our distorted perception. It takes time to become aware of what this means, but what it means is beyond anything we currently know.

Thinking with the ego seems normal, but it is one of two choices. A Course in Miracles tells us it’s the choice that creates suffering. The other choice alleviates suffering.

Our upside-down orientation then becomes the right way up.

Whatever is true is eternal, and cannot change or be changed. Spirit is therefore unalterable because it is already perfect, but the mind can elect what it chooses to serve. The only limit put on its choice is that it cannot serve two masters. (ACIM, T-1.V.5:1-3)

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213/ The Only Lack We Need Correct

29th August 2021

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” Mother Teresa.

***

A fear of lack is probably one of the fundamental driving forces behind everything we do. A Course in Miracles tells us this is where we stumble. We place all our faith in what does not exist. 

We place all our faith in being separate from God, and this is the only lack we really need correct.

A Course in Miracles tells us that the real purpose of the world is to correct this unbelief. We then see that all aspects of fear have no reality because they do not exist at the level of spirit. In other words, they do not exist at the creative level. 

The whole teaching of A Course in Miracles shows us that we are confused. We don't know what we are, and we think we are what we are not.

You who want peace can find it only by complete forgiveness. No learning is acquired by anyone unless he wants to learn it and believes in some way he needs it. While lack does not exist in the creation of God, it is very apparent in what you have made. It is, in fact, the essential difference between them. Lack implies that you would be better off in a state somehow different from the one you are in. (ACIM, T-1.VI.1:1-5)

When we read that the only lack we need correct is our sense of separation from God, we probably all respond in a slightly different way. We might be curious? We might actively reject it? Whatever we do, A Course in Miracles always teaches us that our reality is only spirit.

This is the only lack we need correct.

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214/ Our Distorted Perceptions

30th August 2021

A Course in Miracles is all about correcting our distorted perceptions: Your distorted perceptions produce a dense cover over miracle impulses, making it hard for them to reach your own awareness. (ACIM, T-1.VII.1:1)

We confuse miracle impulses with physical impulses, and learn that all physical impulses are misdirected miracle impulses. We learn that all real pleasure comes from doing God’s Will. To not do God’s Will is a denial of our Self.

 

A lesson in the Workbook has this as its title: Anger must come from judgement. Judgement is the weapon I would use against myself, to keep the miracle away from me. (ACIM, W-347)

This lesson tells us to give all our judgements to the Holy Spirit, which is what the whole of the Workbook teaches us. The lesson finishes with: Listen today. Be very still, and hear the gentle Voice for God assuring you that He has judged you as the Son He loves. (ACIM, W-347.2:1-2)

A Course in Miracles wants us to be aware that we are far bigger than what we think we are. It wants us to be aware that real pleasure comes from listening to the Self within us. Judgemental thinking prevents this. By working with our minds, distorted perception can be changed to correct perception. The desire to do this has to come from us. Only we can change what's in our minds.

Near-death experiences also tend to highlight this. Krista Gorman’s near-death experience occurred during the birth of her child. The main message she brought back was the twelve principles of daily living, as listed below. They prove we just have to change our distorted perceptions. We don’t have to die to do this. We can do this just by changing the way we think.

The twelve principles of daily living are as follows: Live with awareness, live willingly, live lovingly, live fearlessly, live compassionately, live patiently, live presently, live purposefully, live spiritually, live faithfully,  live creatively, and live miraculously. The link is below.

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215/ The Detour into Fear

31st August 2021

The "detour into fear" (ACIM, T-2.I.2:1) is what A Course in Miracles refers to as the separation. Because of this, it tells us we feel an emptiness that we need to fill. It also tells us we feel something else. It is the fear that we are going to be punished by God. 

A lot of people might complain that A Course in Miracles is too Christian in its terminology. It refers only to the masculine - never once is the female pronoun used. The wording is hard to understand. The fact is it is timeless. It can be studied by anyone regardless of their faith, gender, age, or country of origin. Its message is direct. We are all God's one Son. We are sleeping. We haven't ever left the oneness of Heaven.

A Course in Miracles is alerting us to what never happened, and allowing us to wake up from this dream. It is all about realising the truth and the light that is within us. But it also knows we are scared. It knows our minds can't handle the whole truth in one go. It therefore prepares us carefully and gives us no reason to be frightened.

The detour into fear is when the ego came into being. At the same time, and in a split instant, God gave us its opposite, which is the Holy Spirit. We hold both within our minds. The purpose of A Course in Miracles is to return us to the endless peace that is our birthright.

The Text of A Course in Miracles uses a few biblical references. Below, it uses the analogy of the Garden of Eden to help us understand.

The Garden of Eden, or the pre-separation condition, was a state of mind in which nothing was needed. When Adam listened to the "lies of the serpent," all he heard was untruth. You do not have to continue to believe what is not true unless you choose to do so. All that can literally disappear in the twinkling of an eye because it is merely a misconception. (ACIM, T-2.I.3:1-4)

The detour into fear is therefore simply a dream that appears to be very real. A Course in Miracles tells us that all we did is fall asleep.

Now we need to awaken. A Course in Miracles is the means to do this.

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216/ Cultural Conditioning

1st September 2021

“No legacy is so rich as honesty.” William Shakespeare.

***

Each one of us has a personal history. We all have aspects that we might be proud and ashamed of. However, one thing is certain. Our environment has shaped us into who we think we are. 

We live through this lens. That is how we might live and die. We might get to the end of our life without a clue as to who we really are. Who we really are remains hidden. And yet it is always there, just waiting to appear.

Sometimes, moments of great pain will force us to reconsider. Time might even stop, and the stillness of life appears. This could be for an instant. It could be permanent. In either case, it is rare. 

Sometimes, moments of great wonder might do the same thing. However, for most of us who are on this spiritual journey, we just work at it very slowly. We have no idea what the awakened state is, or whether it will ever arrive. But something is nagging us. It urges us to go on. We can't ignore it, unless we let mainstream opinion influence us. Both our inner and outer worlds have many ways of putting us off.

A Course in Miracles has no interest in our cultural conditioning.  There is nothing within it that makes any reference to our background or the country we live in. ACIM is all about the essence of who we are.

You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as possible, because your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images. (ACIM, W-67.5:2)

It’s all about repetition. It’s all about our desire to keep coming back to A Course in Miracles. The truth is on every page. All we need to do is just let it sink in.

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217/ A Better Way

2nd September 2021

“Stress is wanting something to be the way it isn’t.” Eckhart Tolle.

***

A Course in Miracles was scribed through the process of inner dictation. We might assume that the person responsible was some sort of spiritual guru. It wasn't. It was a Professor of Medical Psychology at New York's Columbia University. The process took place between 1965 to 1972.

This was Helen Schucman. Her colleague, Bill Thetford, another professor and psychologist in the same department, was also complicit. Arguments between the two, and within the department, had been commonplace. One day, it seemed that Bill had had enough. He told Helen he was fed up with the backbiting, and finished by saying "there has to be a better way." To his surprise, Helen agreed. However, over the coming weeks, Helen then began having a series of psychic experiences and inner visions. This culminated with a Voice saying: "This is a course in miracles, please take notes."

The process wasn't easy. In fact, it must have been traumatic. Helen was an atheist with no interest in spirituality. She would take down the words in shorthand, and Bill would type them up the next morning. All this was done in secret. The process lasted seven years and out of it came the Text, the Workbook, and the Manual for Teachers. Even if Helen stopped writing mid-sentence, the Voice would continue where it had left off. And it always corrected Helen if she had made a mistake.

The key is that both Bill and Helen were looking for a better way. By definition, a spiritual path tends to arrive when we start looking for a solution to what is imprisoning us.

A Course in Miracles tells us that we have an imprisoned will, and an imprisoned will can only make life intolerable. It’s when we start questioning why this has to be that the search has begun.

Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there must be a better way. As this recognition becomes more firmly established, it becomes a turning point. This ultimately reawakens spiritual vision, simultaneously weakening the investment in physical sight. The alternating investment in the two levels of perception is usually experienced as conflict, which can become very acute. But the outcome is as certain as God. (ACIM, T-2.III.3:6-10)

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218/ The Value of a Human Life

3rd September 2021

 A Course in Miracles understands that we are functioning on a level where we have to be practical. There is also no escaping the truth. It tells us that the mind is the cause of all our problems. ACIM consistently repeats that we need to work with the mind. At the same time, it reminds us it is illogical to ignore the body.

The body is merely part of your experience in the physical world. Its abilities can be and frequently are overevaluated. However, it is almost impossible to deny its existence in this world. Those who do so are engaging in a particularly unworthy form of denial. (ACIM, T-2.IV.3:8-11)

All this is put into context when we learn the value of healing. This is the miracle. We are told that all healing is the release from fear. In fact, the whole purpose of A Course in Miracles is to release us from our fear in a way that stops us from becoming more fearful. It tells us that only the Holy Spirit can see exactly what each one of us needs. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what will make each one of us anxious. We've no need to worry. All we need to do is trust.

The value of human life can be hugely underestimated. Perhaps it is best summed up with these words from Swami Brahmananda Saraswati.

“To get a human body is a rare thing – make full use of it. There are four million kinds of lives which a soul can gather. After that one gets a chance to be human, to get a human body. Therefore, one should not waste this chance. Every second in human life is very valuable. If you don’t value this, then you will weep in the end.

Because you’re human, God has given you power to think and decide what is good and bad. Therefore, you can do the best possible kind of action. You should never consider yourself weak or a fallen creature.

Whatever may have happened up to now may be because you didn’t know, but now be careful. After getting a human body, if you don’t reach God, then you have sold a diamond at the price of spinach.“

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219/  The Fear of Release

4th September 2021

Corrective learning always begins with the awakening of spirit, and the turning away from the belief in physical sight. This often entails fear, because you are afraid of what your spiritual sight will show you. ACIM, T-2.V.7:1-2)

A Course in Miracles mentions right-mindedness and wrong-mindedness. We are right-minded when we are in tune with what allows our minds to be free of fear. We are wrong-minded when we allow fear to govern our minds and inform our decisions. Miracle-mindedness is also mentioned, going hand in hand with right-mindedness. We could lose our minds just thinking about all of this.

Working with the mind takes time. Inevitably, there will be a lot of slip-ups along the way. We think wrong thoughts, we say the wrong thing, we act in a way that is inappropriate. There are thousands of ways we can prove to ourselves that we are goofing up. The point is to persevere. We simply need to keep trying.

A Course in Miracles tells us that the body is too dense to be illuminated. Only the mind is capable of illumination.  The mind, however, can bring illumination to the body. All the mind has to do is to look beyond the body to the light.

Only the mind can create, so we learn that correction belongs at the thought level. This means that the body is simply a learning device for the mind. On its own, the body cannot create. It all starts with thought, and thought is where it ends.

A fear of release is inevitable. It is consistent with placing our faith in the mind and not the body. It is consistent with change.  But we have to face our fears. Essentially, that is why we are here.

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220/ A Confusion of Levels

5th September 2021

The Voice of A Course in Miracles has authority. It knows what it is talking about. It's clear that it comes from another dimension. And it's also clear we're here, struggling to cope. So let's assume the Voice is that of Jesus. Jesus tells us he cannot help us when we are already in a fearful state. He is very direct about this. He just tells us we have to be aware of the conditions in which fear starts, and then hand it over to him. 

Fear cannot be controlled by me, but it can be self-controlled. Fear prevents me from giving you my control. The presence of fear shows that you have raised body thoughts to the level of the mind. This removes them from my control, and makes you feel personally responsible for them. This is an obvious confusion of levels. (ACIM, T-2.VI.1:4-8)

Jesus tells us that, when we are fearful, we have chosen wrongly. What we have to do is change our minds, and not our behaviour. We only need guidance at the level of the mind. Change is impossible at the level of the symptom. It simply won’t work. 

A confusion of levels simply means we place our trust in the world around us, and this is the level of form.  We don't place our trust in the formless because we can't see, feel or touch it. The sky is a useful metaphor. If the sky is the mind, then the clouds flitting across the sky are our thoughts. They can snare us and drag us with them, or we can let them simply come and go. The sky isn't influenced at all by the form of the clouds. There are no barriers in the sky. The potential is endless.

So, as the Voice of A Course in Miracles, Jesus simply reminds us that few people ever appreciate the real power of the mind. He tells us that the mind never sleeps, and every instant it is creating. He tells us that there are no idle thoughts, and all thought produce form at some level. He tells us our thinking makes us who we are, and we have to be aware of this to ignite the change.

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221/ Everything and Nothing

6th September 2021

“Everything changes. Nothing remains without change.” Buddha.

***

A Course in Miracles tells us we have a choice between everything and nothing. There is no in between. It also tells us we have free will. We can create what we like, but we can only create out of love or out of fear.

We learn that we do not censor our thinking carefully enough. We allow our thoughts to run too freely. We allow ourselves to create whole scenarios in the blink of an eye. Our minds are chaotic and we need to discipline them.

This won't make any sense if our lives are structured and in order. But it might make sense if we wake up early in the morning and our minds are churning. Or perhaps we find ourselves being easily thrown off-centre? A Course in Miracles merely says that this is a belief in nothingness. It is the belief that we are separate. It is the belief we hold in a part of the mind that is not real.

A Course in Miracles gives us some pointers. For example, God has one Son, and both miracles and fear come from thoughts. It explains that conflict cannot ultimately be resolved until all parts of the Sonship have been returned. All we have to do is play our part. Each one of us has to look beyond our own narrow world, and into a world that is greater. We can only do this through each other.

A Course in Miracles tells us that we can create what we like. However, there are always only two choices. One creates our churning thoughts and throws us off-centre. The other creates a mind that is still.

The fundamental conflict in this world, then, is between creation and miscreation. All fear is implicit in the second, and all love in the first. The conflict is therefore one between love and fear. (ACIM, T-2.VII.3:13-15)

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222/ The Final Healing

7th September 2021

“Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before, but rather allowing what is now to move us closer to God.” Ram Dass.

***

Our minds create continually. The goal of A Course in Miracles is to enable our minds to create through spirit, and not through the ego. This means that love continually radiates out from us, and back to us. Fear plays no part. Our minds are healed.

As long as fear plays a part, we haven't been completely healed. Fear has to be overcome and we do this by practicing forgiveness. This undoes the ego which is its source. Fear can be very subtle, or it can be explosive. Fear lurks in the background, and is sly in its approach.

When we hear about the Last Judgement, it is full of fear. A Course in Miracles tells us why. It dismantles this concept, just as it dismantles the ego and rids us of fear. It tells us that judgement is not an attribute of God. The Last Judgement is simply the final healing. It is the moment the illusion of separation disappears. The goal of the Last Judgement is to restore the mind to right-mindedness.

The term "Last Judgment" is frightening not only because it has been projected onto God, but also because of the association of "last" with death. This is an outstanding example of upside-down perception. If the meaning of the Last Judgment is objectively examined, it is quite apparent that it is really the doorway to life. No one who lives in fear is really alive. (ACIM, T-2.VIII.5:1-4)

A Course in Miracles tells us that God loves us unconditionally. It tells us that God and punishment cannot co-exist. It tells us that all these things we fear might happen are really only illusions in the mind.

The final healing is therefore when our minds are totally connected to God. Nothing else exists because, quite simply, there is nothing else that can exist.

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223/ Challenging Our Assumptions

8th September 2021

“Assumptions are made and most assumptions are wrong.” Albert Einstein.

***

A Course in Miracles challenges our assumptions. Take this, for example: Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely from fear, and frightened people can be vicious. (ACIM, T-3.I.4:1-2)

A Course in Miracles talks about the above in the context of the crucifixion. It says that the crucifixion has nothing to do with God. ACIM states that the crucifixion is simply the symbol of the ego. The crucifixion has everything to do with our separation from God.

It's at this point that we might consider whether the Voice of A Course in Miracles is Jesus talking to us? The Voice asks us to look at all the assumptions we make, and understand that they arise entirely out of fear. The Voice is telling us it is not the crucifixion that is important, but the resurrection. The Voice wants us to know that the resurrection demonstrates that nothing can destroy truth.

A Course in Miracles is here to inform us that we never die. We live forever, regardless of whether we are in a body, or out of a body. The Voice simply tells us to stop crucifying ourselves. We are not meant to suffer. The Atonement is the acceptance of this. The Atonement undoes all our suffering because it undoes all our misthought. 

Near-death experiences have their own way of expressing this. They question every assumption we have ever held. John Davis talks about his near-death experience on the Jeff Mara Podcast. He goes into detail about being given a tour of the Afterlife. This might challenge all our assumptions about what happens when we die, but we can see that his experience is unique to him and his mindset. His tour culminates with a Being telling him this: "You must tell them there is no death."

To him, this Being was Jesus. It was his lesson to bring back. The link for the video is below.

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224/ A Firm Commitment

9th September 2021

"The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important part of the spiritual path may be just to keep moving." Pema Chodron.

***

There's a saying that a broken clock always tells the correct time twice. A Course in Miracles states much the same when it says the following.

No one has ever lived who has not experienced some light and some thing. No one, therefore, is able to deny truth totally, even if he thinks he can. (ACIM, T-3.II.1:7-8)

We all have varying degrees of badness. Making a commitment to finding absolute truth comes when the time is right. But maintaining our commitment can seem daunting. We inevitably slip up along the way. 

A Course in Miracles is a path to absolute truth, but never claims to be the only path. It says there are thousands of others, all with the same outcome. So it simply has to resonate with us. However, to change our thought system completely - from one of perception to one of knowledge - requires a firm commitment. The thought system of perception, or of the ego, does not let go easily.

This means we have to persevere. We might have slip ups along the way, but we should never let them put us off. With this in mind, a couple more thoughtful sayings transcribed below might seem quite appropriate.

"You have to do what is right for you. No one walks in your shoes."

"Do not be afraid to travel a new path; it may be the way to find what you’ve been looking for all along."

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225/ To Know Is to Be

10th September 2021

Knowledge, according to A Course in Miracles, is not what the world would have it be. It is not an accumulation of facts. Knowledge is the complete knowing that we are one with God. Or, to put it another way, we are established in the Mind of God.

Perception, on the other hand, has two aspects. One is right perception and the other is wrong perception. A Course in Miracles tells us that most of us perceive wrongly. For example, we don't have to look too far to see greed and violence. ACIM tells us that this is perceiving with the ego, and is wrong perception. We are judging what we don't understand. We don't understand that the world is a dream projected from our minds. It is an illusion, mirroring our inner world.

To know is to be. This is the same as saying "I know what I am." This would be right perception if it is taken at a deeper level. To know what we are goes far beyond our identity of form. It goes beyond being a bus driver or a nurse, black or white, male or female. If we can perceive our formless nature, then we are on the right track.

Knowledge is timeless, because certainty is not questionable. You know when you have ceased to ask questions. (ACIM, T-3.III.2:10-11)

A Course in Miracles equates knowledge with revelation. There is a complete surrendering of thought. We are in the Mind of God which is timeless. However, it says that all our difficulties arise from not knowing our brother. Our brother means the person in front of us. This person could be male or female, politician or murderer, bank manager or homeless person, it doesn't matter. When we see them as they truly are, we perceive correctly.

To recognize means to "know again," implying that you knew before. (ACIM, T-3.III.2:2)

This one line probably hits the nail on the head. We all have the memory of who we are deep inside us. The same memory is within each and every one of us. So to recognize this is our chance to awaken. We remember who we are.