Reflections 226 to 239

 

226/ Finding our Teacher

11th September 2021

“How wonderful it is that no one need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank.

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A spiritual teacher arrives in order to teach us what is true and what is false. This can be a painful process so we need to know the teacher is authentic. We need to know the teacher has travelled the same journey that we are about to embark on.

The following words, attributed to the Buddha, are clear and to the point: "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.  Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But, after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

A Course in Miracles makes us question everything we know. The Voice of ACIM is our spiritual teacher. The Voice is clear and undiluted, and seems to come direct from Source. We could say it is the Voice for God. We could say it is Jesus. The main thing is, it takes a supreme will to live it. If we have to find another teacher to help us, we don't want to find a teacher who has misinterpreted the teachings. Any teaching can easily be adapted to suit what our ears might find easier to hear.

Below, the Voice of A Course in Miracles speaks to us in the first person. This might resonate in different ways. The main thing is it brings humanity to it. The Voice knows what it is to be human. It's not oblivious to what we are going through. And, if it's Jesus, he is telling us that what he did, we can do too.

I was a man who remembered spirit and its knowledge. As a man I did not attempt to counteract error with knowledge, but to correct error from the bottom up. I demonstrated both the powerlessness of the body and the power of the mind. By uniting my will with that of my Creator, I naturally remembered spirit and its real purpose. (ACIM, T-3.IV.7:3-6)

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227/ The Opposite of Confusion

12th September 2021

“Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” Isaac Newton.

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A Course in Miracles teaches non-duality, our complete connectedness to God. However, ACIM has to bring this into context through the language of duality. With every truth there is an opposite.

For example, A Course in Miracles tells us we always try to "make" ourselves into something we are not. We do this out of a fear of lack. To "create" is it's opposite. When we create, it comes from a different part of the mind. It comes from an aliveness that has no sense of fear or lack.

Another example is that we began perceiving only after the separation from God. Perception arose out of this fear of separation. Perception's opposite is simply "to know". We have this knowledge within us all the time. The irony is that we just don't know it.

Our forgiveness practice is the way to heal the duality of life. This is the main teaching of A Course in Miracles. We forgive what never happened because it all arose within the mind. We have never been separate, and never will be. Through forgiveness, we see each person in front of us as spirit, not what the ego would wish them to be.

We are confused because we don't know who we are. Confusion's opposite is known to us, but it is unknowable while we are in a state of separation. This is just the way it is. However, it is also the way it doesn't have to be.

The confusion between your real creation and what you have made of yourself is so profound that it has become literally impossible for you to know anything. Knowledge is always stable, and it is quite evident that you are not. Nevertheless, you are perfectly stable as God created you. In this sense when your behaviour is unstable, you are disagreeing with God's idea of your creation. You can do this if you choose, but you would hardly want to do it if you were in your right mind. (ACIM, T-3.V.3:2-6)

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228/ The Author of Judgement

13th September 2021

"Love is the absence of Judgement." Dalai Lama.

"Do not be the judge of people; do not make assumptions about others. A person is destroyed by holding judgements about others." Buddha.

A Course in Miracles would confirm both of the above, adding that judgement arises because we just don't know who we are. It would say that judgement is an illusion created by our illusory ego, and has nothing to do with the world's idea of judgment. The world compares judgement with wisdom. ACIM just calls it a burden.

There's a section in Chapter 3 entitled Judgement and the Authority Problem (ACIM, T-3.VI). It essentially says that all our problems arise from judging ourselves and others, and thinking that we are the author of our lives. It states that, if we knew who the Author really was, we would have no need of judgement.

A Course in Miracles tells us that the strain of constant judgement is making our lives virtually intolerable. It also tells us it is quite possible to look on reality without judgement, and know that it is there. We have simply forgotten we are created by God. God is the Author of who we are 

The author of who we think we are is the ego. A Course in Miracles tells us the ego is the source of all our suffering. To undo it, we have to face the judgements we make about ourselves and others. At times this feels impossible but we are told it is not. What we gain from releasing judgement is far beyond anything we could imagine.

Our thoughts shape our world. A Course in Miracles simply wants us to change our thinking. Change our thinking and we change our world.

You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from meeting yourself and your brothers totally without judgement. When you recognize what you are and what your brothers are, you will realize that judging them in any way is without meaning. In fact, their meaning is lost to you precisely because you are judging them. (ACIM, T-3.VI.3:1-3)

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229/ Back to the Beginning

14th September 2021

The Workbook of A Course in Miracles has 365 lessons. When we finish it, we come across the epilogue. The opening line can seem a little deflating.

This course is a beginning, not an end. Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone. (ACIM, W-ep.1:1-3)

We might read this and feel not too much has changed. A year has passed and our ego hasn't gone. Equally, the Holy Spirit probably still feels too abstract for us to have confidence in it. The point is, undoing the thought system of the ego can take a long time, maybe many lifetimes. But it also can be done in an instant. Every moment is a new beginning. As A Course in Miracles says: The holy instant is this instant and every instant. The one you want it to be it is. (ACIM, T-15.IV.1:3-4)

The one thing we have to do is to face our fears. This is the primary goal of A Course in Miracles. When we face our fears, and overcome them, then we can but hope that what is left is peace. Peace is the thought system of the Holy Spirit. It is our only alternative.

The ego actively encourages fear. Acknowledging this is the start. Learning to listen to the Holy Spirit is the next step, and this takes time. Ultimately, though, we need to get right back to the beginning. Below is a summary of three key points from A Course in Miracles. Then, at the bottom, Jesus advises us in own words.

The essence of who we are can never be shaken because the light is in it. 

Our starting point is truth, and so it’s inevitable we will return to this starting point. 

Our innate true nature is peace, despite our minds being in conflict. 

You have not yet gone back far enough, and that is why you become so fearful. As you approach the Beginning, you feel the fear of the destruction of your thought system upon you as if it were the fear of death. There is no death, but there is a belief in death. (ACIM, T-3.VII.5:9-11)

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230/ Teaching What We Are

15th September 2021

A Course in Miracles has the Text, the Workbook and then, at the end, there's a smaller section called the Manual for Teachers. It starts by saying that we are all teachers. It says that to teach is to demonstrate. We are all demonstrating which thought system we are thinking with. We do this all the time, and probably have no awareness of it at all.

The thought system of the Holy Spirit sees us all as being one, the thought system of the ego sees us all as being separate. The ego will say that it knows more than you and so it is going to bring you up to its level. The Holy Spirit merely teaches that this is what I am, and you are the same too.

The Manual for Teachers tells us that we teach what we want to reinforce about ourselves. We teach what we believe is true. However, throughout the Text and the Workbook, we learn that the ego will hurt us, and the Holy Spirit will heal us. We are either dis-spirited or in-spirit. We always have two choices. And we teach only what we choose.

The reason A Course in Miracles came into being is because we are essentially dis-spirited. It tells us we are crucifying ourselves every day. However each day, in fact each moment of every day, we have another chance to be in-spirit. This means being inspired. ACIM is about being happy and peaceful. Essentially, Jesus – the Voice of ACIM - wants us to teach only what we are. This means we teach exactly what we are.

You, too, have a Kingdom that your spirit created. It has not ceased to create because of the ego’s illusions. Your creations are no more fatherless than you are. Your ego and your spirit will never be co-creators, but you spirit and your Creator will always be. (ACIM, T-4.III.1:7-11)

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231/ Spirit, Ego and Being a Light 

16th September 2021

“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.” Hafez.

***

Spirit and ego are like chalk and cheese. There is no common ground. A Course in Miracles outlines this in many different ways. Essentially, however, it can be précised like this: Nothing can reach spirit from the ego, and nothing can reach the ego from spirit. (ACIM, T-4.I.2:6)

In the Manual for Teachers, we are told that each one of us begins as a single light: A light has entered the darkness. It may be a single light, but that is enough. (ACIM, M-1.1:4-5). When we teach with the Voice of the Holy Spirit, we will shine that light. Darkness then becomes illuminated. This essentially means that the ego disappears through the light of spirit.

In the Text, there is a section entitled: Right Teaching and Right Learning (ACIM, T-4.I). It illustrates the need to relinquish the ego, and trust in spirit. It warns us about the ego, and our involvement with ego-centred people. It tells us that we need to be cautious about who teaches us, and how we are taught. It says this: Spirit need not be taught, but the ego must be. Leaning is ultimately perceived as frightening because it leads to the relinquishment, not the destruction, of the ego to the light of spirit. (ACIM, T-4.I.3:1-2)

A Course in Miracles only wants us to know this. To teach with the Holy Spirit is to teach with peace. To teach with the ego is to teach with fear. One teaches connection, the other teaches separation. Fear increases as our separation increases, just as our peace increases as our connection increases.

Spirit and ego are our only two teachers. We can either teach one or the other. A Course in Miracles teaches us to only teach with spirit. It teaches about being a light. It wants us to learn, and then go on to teach that learning. This learning is taught in whatever form it takes: Every good teacher hopes to give his students so much of his own learning that they will one day no longer need him. This is the one true goal of the teacher. (ACIM, T-4.I.5:1-2)

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232/ A Question Asked

17th September 2021

A Course in Miracles asks us this: Who is the "you" who are living in this world (ACIM, T-4.II.11:8)? It's a valid question, and one that is repeatedly asked throughout the Course.

The answer, as we get into the theory and practice of A Course in Miracles, seems to be one that we have forgotten. Everything that we think we are, we are told is an illusion. Time, who we are, none of it is real. The correction is simply a decision of the mind. We change our mind, and we can change our whole concept of time and space. We learn these two things as we venture into ACIM.

Atonement corrects illusions, not truth. Therefore, it corrects what never was. (ACIM, M-2.2:2-3)

Spirit is immortal, and immortality is a constant state. (ACIM, T-4.II.11:9)

We learn that there is no separation from God - we just have an illusion of separation. We learn that time and space do not exist, we just imagine they do. We learn that there is no gap and no absence. Everything is exactly as it should be.

Near-death experiences are one way to answer the question of who we are. When we feel isolated, alone and afraid, NDEs can put into context all of the above. We can talk about illusions and truth, spirit and immortality, but words will always be weak. Having a visual reference point from someone who has experienced the above adds to the picture.

Amy Call's near-death experience is a good example of a profound visual experience. As a young girl she was always asking questions as to why there was so much cruelty in the world. No one understood her anxiety and stress, and as a teenager doctors prescribed heavy medication. During her NDE as an adult, questions that had troubled her before were answered. She experienced herself not only as Amy, but also as the Divine experiences us. In other words, she became all of it. Go onto YouTube and enter Amy Call's IANDS near-death Experience. The title is: There is order in (apparent) chaos. The link is below.

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233/ To Have and To Be

18th September 2021

“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.” Bill Watterson.

***

A Course in Miracles tells us the Kingdom of Heaven is what we are. It tells us that what the Creator created is within us, outside us, and everywhere around us. It also tells us we all have a kingdom that our spirit creates, and this has nothing to do with the ego. Our spirit creates like our Creator.

It is hard to understand what "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you" really means. This is because it is not understandable to the ego, which interprets it as if something outside is inside, and this does not mean anything. The word "within" is unnecessary. The Kingdom of Heaven is you. (ACIM, T-4.III.1:1-4)

The fundamental message of A Course in Miracles is how identifying with the ego hides our true Identity. It tells us that the ego regards spirit as its "enemy", and that we, who identify with the ego, cannot believe that God really loves us. 

As long as we identify with the ego, we are separate human beings. We try and do the best we can, and we struggle on in our daily lives. We are told the truth is always here if we want it, but we have to want it truly. We are told light cannot enter darkness unless we choose to let it in. 

The ego tells us "to have" and "to be" are different. The Holy Spirit tells us they are identical. The ego upholds separation, and enforces it. The Holy Spirit knows that we all have everything and we are everything. In essence, there is no distinction between having the Kingdom of God and being the Kingdom of God.

“To have” and “to be” are the same to a mind that thinks with the Holy Spirit. It’s the same as saying the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. Part of our mind knows this, part of our mind doesn’t.

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234/ Practice Makes Perfect

19th September 2021

What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.” Buddha.

***

A Course in Miracles essentially tells us these two things. God has nothing to do with the world in which we live.  And our minds make the world in which we live.

Jesus, as the Voice of A Course in Miracles, also tells us the following.

If you cannot hear the Voice for God, it is because you do not choose to listen. That you do listen to the voice of your ego is demonstrated by your attitudes, your feelings and your behavior. Yet this is what you want. (ACIM, T-4.IV.1:1-3)

The message therefore seems to be that we can change our mind in any situation and in any circumstance. The message is that the ego makes us suffer, and that we don’t need to suffer. The message is that we just need to watch our minds and know what is going on.

When your mood tells you that you have chosen wrongly, and this is so whenever you are not joyous, then know this need not be. In every case you have thought wrongly about some brother God created, and are perceiving images your ego makes in a darkened glass. (ACIM, T-4.IV.2:2-3)

A Course in Miracles is a course in mind training. It is a course in completely changing our perception. It tells us we have the right to think anything we want. However, if we suffer, we are simply asked us to think again.

Practice makes perfect. Without mistakes, we wouldn’t know what it is to suffer. A Course in Miracles is here to teach us that we are perfect. There is nothing imperfect about what we are.

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235/ Don't Let our Thoughts Get in the Way

20th September 2021

When life gets a little frantic, then we just need to step back.

When we feel unclear in what to say, we just need to pause.

When our heads feel full of nonsense, then we just need to surrender.

All solutions lie within us, but they can't be found by thinking. A little window opens when we have time to see our thoughts for what they are.

Trust, honesty, tolerance, gentleness, joy, defenselessness, generosity, patience, faithfulness and open-mindedness are all characteristics that we achieve when we surrender to the present moment. A Course in Miracles labels these the characteristics of God's teachers (ACIM, M-4). To recognize them fully, we have to undo all our unconscious guilt.

If we don't feel any of the above, then we need to go inward. We need to be aware of what is going on. We need to be aware of what is happening. We then forgive it.

In the present moment, we have everything we need to fully accept our lives as they are.

We've no need for anything else. We don't have to let our thoughts get in the way.

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236/ Learning Through Rewards

21st September 2021

“The highest reward for a person’s toll is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” John Ruskin.

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A Course in Miracles does not sit on the fence. It says that the mind and not the body is the cause of sickness. The ego and not spirit is the cause of pain.

The acceptance of sickness as a decision of the mind, for a purpose for which it would use the body, is the basis of healing. And this is so for healing in all forms. A patient decides that this is so, and he recovers. If he decides against recovery, he will not be healed. Who is the physician? Only the mind of the patient himself. The outcome is what he decides that it is. (ACIM, M-5.II.2:1-7)

A Course in Miracles tells us that any form of physical sickness, and any form of emotional pain, is all the same. It all originates within the mind. When we start to acknowledge this, we can understand what hurts us and what heals us. We can then become more careful about how we respond in any given situation.

Fighting fire with fire is a clear example of how the ego thinks. We probably all have memories of doing the opposite. For example, when someone was angry, we didn't inflame the anger. Calm words diffused it. The fire was doused with love.

A Course in Miracles tells us that this is the only sane option we have. This is healing. By choosing the peaceful option, we are literally healing the mind.

Leaning to think with the Holy Spirit simply means we are learning to see others in the same way. We learn through the rewards it brings. If we got this right all the time, we wouldn't be here. When we do get this right, we know we are on the right track.

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237/ Being Truly Helpful

22nd September 2021

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest to you.“ Mother Teresa.

***

A Course in Miracles want us to change our minds. It wants us to step away from the ego/body relationship and arrive at a point where we can just trust spirit. It wants us to know who we are, and what God is.

Being truly helpful simply means all judgement is suspended. We see everyone for who they are. A Course in Miracles tells us that all our difficulties arise from this one thing. We don't recognize ourselves, our brothers, or God. The answer is in the mind because God's Voice is within the mind. We just can’t hear God’s Voice because God’s Voice is drowned out by all our egoic thought.

This chatter just gets in the way. It creates a narrative of who we are and what we are. A Course in Miracles is about dismantling this. It is about finding our higher purpose, and why we are here. It is also about undoing the myth of God, and our relationship with God.

The Bible repeatedly states that you should praise God. This hardly means that you should tell Him how wonderful He is. He has no ego with which to accept such praise, and no perception with which to judge it. But unless you take your part in the creation, His joy is not complete because yours is incomplete. And this He does know. (ACIM, T-4.VII.6:1-5)

A Course in Miracles tells us that God is praised whenever any mind learns to be truly helpful. It says that, to be truly helpful, we also have to be wholly harmless. Being truly helpful can’t exist without the being truly harmless.

Being truly helpful therefore means surrendering. We surrender to our higher purpose. We surrender to a Higher Power. We surrender ourselves into the Mind of God.

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238/ The Healer's Prayer

23rd September 2021

"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself." Rumi.

A Course in Miracles would say that this is healing, and asks us to do the same thing. It tells us we can't change the world. We just need to change our mind about the world.

"Healing comes when we choose to walk away from darkness and move towards a Brighter Light." Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

A Course in Miracles also says our healing lies in this. It's the same as leaving the thought system of the ego and moving toward the thought system of the Holy Spirit.

"Little by little a little becomes a lot." Tanzanian Proverb.

Little by little, we learn that love and fear can't coexist. Little by little we keep on going even if we think we are failing. Little by little we learn that the goal of A Course in Miracles is to let go of all the grievances we have ever held. A little becomes a lot when we really understand that all we are is spirit. Without the negativity of the ego, healing then has no limits.

It is impossible for a child of God to love his neighbour except as himself. That is why the healer's prayer is:

Let me know this brother as I know myself. (ACIM, T-5.in.3:6-8)

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239/ Love Holds No Grievances

24th September 2021

“Love knows no reason, no boundaries, no distance. It has a sole intention of bringing people together to a time called forever.” Unknown.

***

You who were created by love like itself can hold no grievances and know your Self. To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body. To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death. (ACIM, W-68.1:1-4)

These are the opening lines from a lesson in the Workbook entitled Love holds no grievances. They were included in a talk by Cate Grieves, a teacher of A Course in Miracles from Melbourne, Australia, whose topic was the correction of perception. In other words, she was teaching us how to look at the world with love instead of fear.

Her talks are given in a nice, friendly way. They allow us to hear from someone who has used A Course in Miracles to fully awaken. She teaches to help us to know that we can too. She has the same story as ours, she has just woken up from it.

This most recent talk is to do with the letting go of grievances so we can perceive people in the right way. She tells us how damaging holding grievances is, and she presents it in a way that arises out of her own experience. The whole emphasis is on the day to day practical application of forgiveness.

Cate's talk can be found on YouTube and  is called ‘The correction of perception Satsang talk with meditation’. It was posted on 23rd September 2021. The link is below.