Reflections 296 to 309
296/ Listen and Learn, and do not Judge
20th November 2021
Listen and learn, and do not judge (ACIM, S-2.III.6:9) is a line from the Song of Prayer. It sums up everything A Course in Miracles is teaching us to do.
We have to listen quietly, to hear the quiet Voice.
We learn to trust what the quiet Voice is telling us. It might be surprising.
We begin to distinguish between the quiet Voice and the voice of judgement.
The quiet Voice has many names in many traditions. A Course in Miracles calls it the Voice for God. The voice of judgement is our ego. This is not the ego as defined by Freud. It is the ego which arises out of our fear of separation. It is buried deep within us, and yet ACIM tells us it is not real.
The Voice for God is like a conduit. It keeps seeping into our consciousness. It is delicate and nurturing. The voice of judgement is not subtle. It reminds us constantly of our lack of worth. It bludgeons us into submission.
We have to listen and learn, and not to judge. One is real and the other is not real. One is bigger than we could ever have imagined. The other is not. It is up to us to decide which one that it.
Would God deceive you? He but asks for trust and willingness to learn how to be free. He gives His Teacher to whoever asks, and seeks to understand the Will of God. His readiness to give lies far beyond your understanding and your simple grasp. Yet He has willed you learn the way to Him, and in His willing there is certainty. (ACIM, S-2.III.1:5-9)
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297/ Unifying the Mind
21st November 2021
“As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life.” Buddha.
***
A Course in Miracles asks us this question: Can you be separated from your identification and be at peace? (ACIM, T-8.V.1:1). The question is worth asking about because it is quite clear we are not at peace.
Another question that might be asked is whether we want to heal the mind of fear? The temptation here is to say "yes", but not to take responsibility for engaging in the process. We only have to listen to our minds to know why this is so.
We are told that, alone, we can do nothing. Together, however, our minds can fuse into something far greater than the sum of its separate parts.
A Course in Miracles' whole purpose is to show us that there is no separation. Everything we see will tell us that there is.
A Course in Miracles' one message is to show us that the ego is an illusion. Every thought we think will tell us it is not.
A Course in Miracles takes us on a journey of trust. It's a journey made with the Holy Spirit. This means it’s a journey to what is true.
What is true is everything and anything the ego is not. It’s a journey in unifying the mind.
God's Oneness and ours are not separate, because His Oneness encompasses ours. (ACIM, T-8.V.3:1)
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298/ A Journey Without Distance
22nd November 2021
“To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.” Chinese Proverb.
***
A Course in Miracles wants us to become what we really are.
What we really are is so much more than what we think we are. There is no separation in the language of A Course in Miracles. We are all of one mind and one Self.
A Course in Miracles says we just have to recognize one thing.
What we have to recognize is that the whole power of God lies in all of us, not in any one of us alone.
A Course in Miracles tells us we have never really been anywhere.
The journey to God is merely the reawakening of the knowledge of where you are always, and what you are forever. (ACIM, T-8.VI.9:6)
A Course in Miracles is about the journey within us. The journey is not out there, nor is it a hidden secret. The journey is about returning to our Self.
It is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. Truth can only be experienced. It cannot be described and it cannot be explained. (ACIM, T-8.VI.9:7-9)
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299/ All Mind Is Whole
23rd November 2021
Mind cannot be made physical, but it can be made manifest through the physical if it uses the body to go beyond itself. By reaching out, the mind extends itself. It does not stop at the body, for if it does it is blocked in its purpose. A mind that has been blocked has allowed itself to be vulnerable to attack, because it has turned against itself. (ACIM, T-8.VII.10:4-7)
***
A Course in Miracles tells us there are not many minds, there is only one mind. There are not many egos, there is only one ego. There are not many of us, there is only one of us.
This means that we need to heal the mind in order to establish it as the one mind. This is because, collectively, we are a creation in the Mind of God.
We are told that the only way heal the mind is to remove the blocks. This means looking past the egoic sense of self to our real sense of Self. A mind that is free is the normal expression of a mind that communicates through the body. A mind that is not free uses the body for its own purposes.
The mind that is not free is a mind with the ego in charge. A mind that is free has the Holy Spirit in charge. A Course in Miracles sums it up like this.
When we attack anyone, either mentally or physically, we are equating ourselves with a body since this is the ego’s interpretation of the body. Even if it seems like innocuous mental chatter, it is mindless, without any thought as to the consequences.
A Course in Miracles tells us we always have two options. We can join our minds or we can separate our minds. We can communicate with each other or we can separate from each other. We can see everything in peace or we can tinge everything with fear. ACIM simply tells us that, to do both together, is to suffer.
All mind is whole, and the belief that part of it is physical, or not mind, is a fragmented or sick interpretation. (ACIM, T-8.VII.10:3)
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300/ Success and Failure
24th November 2021
“Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.” Chinese Proverb.
***
Healing the body is impossible, and this is shown by the brief nature of the "cure." The body yet must die, and so its healing but delays its turning back to dust, where it was born and will return (ACIM, S-3.I.1:4-5). Having read this, we might now consider the following.
There is something within us that is far greater than anything we can imagine.
There is nothing outside of us, even though we think there is.
The truth of what we are far exceeds anything the world has to offer.
A Course in Miracles tells us that success and failure in the world just arises within the mind. We think success and failure comes to us, but really success and failure is just a reflection of our own inner world. What seems to be happening externally to us, is really happening internally.
We are living a dream, and just have to wake up from this dream.
The near-death experience can also show this. Jon Schau's NDE reminds us that anything the world offers has to come at a price. He became famous overnight as a comedian in Norway and started to drink heavily. One night he developed severe stomach pain and ended up going into a coma.
His near-death experience made him realize that we search for recognition for all the wrong reasons. Everything exists within us. We just need to become aware of it. The interview can be found on YouTube, and is in two parts. It is with Jannecke Øinæs who presents Wisdom from North. Both links are below.
Part One
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301/ The Voice That Does Not Exist
25th November 2021
“Be a voice, not an echo.” Albert Einstein.
***
A Course in Miracles tells us this: When you lay the ego aside, it will be gone. (ACIM, T-8.VIII.8:6)
A Course in Miracles also provides a stark warning: The ego wants you dead, but not itself. (ACIM, T-15.I.3:3)
On reading the above, some questions might arise. For example, why does the ego want us dead, or what happens if the ego is gone? How painful is it to let this change take place?
The egoic mind holds the story of our life. It dictates how we should feel and act. The ego is fear-driven even though we do everything we can to escape this fact. The ego wants us dead because it thinks that this is the only thing that assures its survival. A Course in Miracles is unrelenting. It continually tells us that this is insanity. It tells us that getting rid of the ego is the only thing that will make us happy.
A Course in Miracles says that to identify with the ego is to identify with a voice that does not exist. it tells us the ego is only an idea, not a fact. We made it up. The way to unmake this idea is to train ourselves to listen for the Voice of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's Voice is real because it is the Voice for God. This is the only Voice there is.
The Holy Spirit's Voice is as loud as your willingness to listen. It cannot be louder without violating your freedom of choice, which the Holy Spirit seeks to restore, never to undermine. (ACIM, T-8.VIII.8:7-8)
A Course in Miracles asks us not to hesitate. Every time we hesitate, we are extending our suffering.
A Course in Miracles tells that health is the natural extension of seeking out the Voice of the Holy Spirit. This is because ACIM calls the Holy Spirit the Voice for Life Itself.
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302/ Our Little Part
26th November 2021
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Desmond Tutu.
***
Might it be a possibility that we have been deceived about everything and anything?
Might it be a possibility that everything that we have ever considered real is not really real at all?
A Course in Miracles sets these two questions straight. It says it in lots of different ways. One way it explains it is by saying this.
The reality of everything is totally harmless, because total harmlessness is the condition of its reality. (ACIM, T-8.IX.2:2)
A Course in Miracles simply asks that we play our own little part.
By playing our own little part, it means the rest takes care of itself.
By playing our little part, it means the part we play is integral to the totality. What is whole cannot exist without our own little contribution.
Our little part is simply a change of perception. We awaken to what is real. We let go of all anxiety.
A Course in Miracles tells us we have nothing to search for because there is nowhere to go. Our little part can become manifest right here, right now: You do not have to seek reality. It will seek you and find you when you meet its conditions. (ACIM, T-8.IX.2:4-5)
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303/ Someone Knows Better
27th November 2021
“The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.” Confucius.
***
A Course in Miracles tells us that all healing occurs within the mind. When we try to heal the body we are not getting to the cause of the problem.
False healing heals the body in a part, but never as a whole. Its separate goals become quite clear in this, for it has not removed the curse of sin that lies on it. (ACIM, S-3.III.1:1-2)
The dramatic impact of this sentence, taken from The Song of Prayer, cannot be escaped. The curse of sin reeks of judgement and of being punished. But all A Course in Miracles is really doing is linking it to the ego. To truly heal, then, we have to know that every other person we meet is exactly the same as we are.
A Course in Miracles tells us that true healing occurs when we recognise our oneness. When we try to heal the body, we are acknowledging our separation. This is healing as the world conceives of healing.
A Course in Miracles tells us that true healing does not occur by knowing more. True healers simply acknowledge that person in front of them.
This is done with the mind, by the mind, and through the mind.
We live in a world where someone always knows better. There is always someone who can heal our pain. When we acknowledge that the solution lies within the mind, our awareness of separation begins to lessen. When this occurs, our minds slowly begin to heal.
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304/ The Shift from Fear to Love
28th November 2021
"If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.” Buddha.
***
The final pages of A Course in Miracles give us this line.
Never forget this; it is you who are God's Son, and as you choose to be to him so are you to yourself, and God to you. (ACIM, S-3.IV.5:1)
A key part of this one sentence is when it says ‘it is you’. Our whole essence is being summed up. We are collectively the Son of God. If we all recognised this, there would be no war, no suffering, and no exclusion.
Later, there is this sentence: While you wait in sorrow Heaven's melody is incomplete, because your song is part of the eternal harmony of love. Without you is creation unfulfilled. (ACIM, S-3.IV.8:3-4)
A Course in Miracles is simply telling us that each one of us is unique. Each one of us sings a song that links us to the whole. Without any one of us, creation would be unfulfilled.
A Course in Miracles takes us on a journey from being fearful to being fearless. This is the same as stepping away from the ego and stepping towards the Holy Spirit. It's a journey without frontiers because ACIM tells us that what God created has no frontiers.
The final pages also include what is transcribed below. The words below are compressed into a statement of fact. The statement of fact is this. Only the present moment contains the shift from fear to love.
Be still an instant. (ACIM, S-3.IV.7:4)
Heaven is here and Heaven is your home. (ACIM, S-3.IV.8:9)
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305/ The Laws that Were Created for Us
29th November 2021
Fear of the Will of God is one of the strangest beliefs the human mind has ever made. It could not possibly have occurred unless the mind were already profoundly split, making it possible for it to be afraid of what it really is. (ACIM, T-9.I.1:1-2)
***
A Course in Miracles tells us that the purpose of the Course is to help us remember what we are. The reason for the Course is that we do not know what we are.
Our minds are split between what is real and what is not real.
A Course in Miracles makes a comparison between atheists and martyrs. It says we either believe that God does not exist. Or we believe that God is crucifying us.
Healing the mind means changing the mind. It means recognising the laws that were created for us. Slowly we learn that God does exist, and that God is not crucifying us. We are crucifying ourselves.
A Course in Miracles' whole message is to let us know that God is on our side. The ego disputes this. The Holy Spirit reminds us that this is so. The change of attitude happens within the mind, and all it means is that we are becoming right minded.
Being right minded simply means knowing what we are.
If you hold your hands over your eyes, you will not see because you are interfering with the laws of seeing. If you deny love, you will not know it because your cooperation is the law of its being. You cannot change laws you did not make, and the laws of happiness were created for you, not by you. (ACIM, T-9.I.11:7-9)
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306/ Listening to Truth
30th November 2021
“Listen to your own Self. If you listen to that Self within, then you find the Truth.” Kabir.
***
Listening to truth means listening out for the Voice for Truth. This essentially means listening out for the Voice of the Holy Spirit.
A Course in Miracles tells us that the Voice for Truth is within each and every one of us. What gets in the way are our judgements, our perceptions, our fears.
Every time we look on someone with doubt, we are obscuring the Voice for Truth. Its clarity is hidden from our awareness by the other voice. We all know this other voice. It is our own unique little story. It is also deeply vindictive. It holds resentment very dearly.
A Course in Miracles tells us that no response given by Him will ever be one that would increase fear (ACIM, T-9.II.3:3). We learn that listening to truth only happens when we include each other. There is no other way.
A Course in Miracles gives us these two lines.
Can you ask of the Holy Spirit truly, and doubt your brother? (ACIM, T-9.II.4:4)
The message your brother gives you is up to you. (ACIM, T-9.II.5:1)
A Course in Miracles tells us we cannot hear the Voice for Truth in ourselves alone, simply because our brother has the same Voice in him or her. This means no one is exclusive or special.
A Course in Miracles tells us our brother is every living being we meet, or even remember or think about. It’s a tall order, but it’s only a tall order when we think with a mind that is divided.
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307/ Handing Over Our Errors
1st December 2021
“Don’t worry about hard times because some of the most beautiful things we have in life come from changes or mistakes.” Unknown.
***
A Course in Miracles is very clear. There is a huge distinction between what the Holy Spirit sees and what the ego sees. It is our decision to choose one or the other. This really means it is our choice to be happy or sad.
How we look at another person is either through the eyes of the Holy Spirit or through the eyes of the ego. It is really as simple as that. When we judge with the ego, it is ourselves we are judging. The Holy Spirit sees past this. The Holy Spirit only sees the truth that is in all of us.
The alertness of the ego to the errors of other egos is not the kind of vigilance the Holy Spirit would have you maintain. Egos are critical in terms of the kind of "sense" they stand for. They understand this kind of sense, because it is sensible to them. To the Holy Spirit it makes no sense at all. (ACIM, T-9.III.1:1-4)
All of us have said and done things we have regretted. All of us think thoughts we wouldn't dream of saying or doing. A Course in Miracles teaches us that this is the ego talking. We need to see past the ego in ourselves. We need to see past the ego in everyone else too.
A Course in Miracles teaches forgiveness. It teaches us to forgive ourselves and others. This is done silently. In silence, we change our mindset and in silence, we change our minds.
We hand over our errors to the Holy Spirit. If we do this quietly and systematically, the ego has no choice but to get laid aside.
The Holy Spirit forgives everything because God created everything. Do not undertake His function, or you will forget yours. (ACIM, T-9.III.8:1-2)
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308/ Reality Is Here
2nd December 2021
“The more real you get the more unreal the world gets.” John Lennon.
***
A Course in Miracles tells us that our only escape from fear is to change our mind about reality. It tells us that we will never find satisfaction in fantasy. Fantasy is a product of the ego, and only fantasy can be fearful.
To know reality, A Course in Miracles tells us that these two things are crucial.
Accept as true only what your brother is, if you would know yourself. (ACIM, T-9.IV.1:4)
Remember always that your Identity is shared, and that Its sharing is Its reality. (ACIM, T-9.IV.1:6)
According to the ego, reality varies from person to person. It fluctuates from day to day. According to the Holy Spirit, reality is an awareness of totality. Reality has no separation.
Ingrid Honkala's near-death experience sums this up. She remembers her drowning perfectly, even though she was barely three-years-old at the time. In fact, a lot of what she talks about now, as an adult, mirrors exactly what A Course in Miracles teaches. In essence, that we are one. We are Light. We are Spirit.
"One never stops being one. One never left the Source. One just became distracted and seemingly forgot." In other words, reality is here.
Ingrid's account can be heard on YouTube. The quote above was spoken in the interview with Anthony Chene Productions. The link is below.
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309/ The Light in the Mind
3rd December 2021
This course offers a very direct and a very simple learning situation, and provides the Guide Who tells you what to do. If you do it, you will see that it works. (ACIM, T-9.V.9:1-2)
***
A Course in Miracles tells us that light can't be found by analysing darkness.
A Course in Miracles tells us that there is only one reality, and it is not the one we see with our eyes.
A Course in Miracles tells us this: When God said, "Let there be light," there was light (ACIM, T-9.V.6:2),
The inference is that the light of reality is with us always.
The suggestion is that the light we see is fringed with shadows.
The implication is that, if God is love, we should call it ‘love-light’.
This light is clarity. It is certainty. It is wonder.
A Course in Miracles lets us know that darkness only relates to the ego. God did not make the ego. We did. Light only relates to the Holy Spirit. We did not make the Holy Spirit. God did.
This means that the light we really want to see is in the mind. There is nowhere else that it can be.
Remember that you choose the guide for helping, and the wrong choice will not help. But remember also that the right one will. Trust Him, for help is His function, and He is of God. (ACIM, T-9.V.8:9-11)
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