Reflections 99 to 112
99/ Never Wait to Start a Practice
7th May 2021
“When a man is willing and eager, the Gods join in.” Aeschylus.
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Life is unpredictable. We never know which way it is going to turn. It is usually when we have taken a few wrong turns that we look for something new to improve our life.
This means we might discover a spiritual path, or experience, that would probably not have resonated with us in our earlier years. The study of A Course in Miracles is one spiritual path. It challenges the belief we have about life, death, and ourselves. It has to resonate very deeply within us in order that we pursue the information it conveys. The reason why it resonates can't be explained. It is a feeling that is beyond words.
A Course in Miracles is about practicing forgiveness. It tells us that death is not real. It tells us that the world is a dream that we are dreaming. It tells us that our daytime dreams are just as real as the dreams we have when we sleep at night.
Your sleeping and your waking dreams have different forms, and that is all. Their content is the same. They are your protest against reality, and your fixed and insane idea that you can change it. (ACIM, T-18.II.5:13-15)
Dreams cans shift from happy dreams to sad dreams in an instant. Whatever the content, A Course in Miracles tells us that we will all eventually wake up. And this is what ACIM promises us. It is the end of suffering.
Whether we are having a good life or a bad life, whether it is a happy dream or a nightmare, we should never wait to start a practice. A Course in Miracles tells us it always comes down to this. There is absolutely nothing to fear.
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100/ Being Authentic to the Truth in Us
8th May 2021
We assume animals aren't body conscious. A dog doesn't worry if it has a flat nose, nor does a cow worry about how it looks. The sparrow doesn't envy the eagle because of how high it soars. Each animal is just what it is.
Humans, on the other hand, worry continuously about their bodies. We're very conscious about our appearance. If we look in the mirror, there's always some flaw we're not happy with. And we're rarely contented with what our bodies do. We're always looking for something to improve our life.
What every human and every animal wants, though, is to be loved. Fear is always there, stalking in the background.
A Course in Miracles teaches us that we are prisoners of our minds. Our agitation and fear is caused by the false belief that we are separate from God. ACIM tells us that we are immortal spirit, and not a body. It gives us the foundation we need to listen to the quietness that is within the mind.
...you are a mind, in Mind and purely mind, sinless forever, wholly unafraid, because you were created out of love. (ACIM, W-158.1:2)
Our minds create our reality. We might think that Heaven is our reward if we are good, and hell is our reward if we are bad. A Course in Miracles teaches us that only Heaven is real.
Being authentic to the truth in us means is being aware of what is going on. If we are fearful, then it's the ego telling us that hell is just around the corner. If we a peaceful, then it's a chance to establish what the Holy Spirit tells us.
There is no hell, pure and simple.
To hear the Holy Spirit, we need to practice being quiet and doing nothing. We make no judgments about ourselves. Awareness of the body fades, and truth begins to reveal itself.
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9th May 2021
The following question is asked in A Course in Miracles, in relation to our absence of peace.
Would you not rather greet the summer sun than fix your gaze upon a disappearing snowflake, and shiver in remembrance of the winter's cold? (ACIM, T-19.IV-A.9:6)
This will probably be easy to answer if we are inclined toward melancholia and depression. It might also be just the catalyst we need for starting A Course in Miracles. Everyone has a reason. One thing is certain. It will involve some form of suffering.
This morning, looking up into the early morning sky, there was a distant plane making a journey from east to west. The tiny, black speck was highlighted against the pale blue of the sky, traversing through the puffs of cloud. Within it would have been passengers making their journey.
Flying on a plane is a nice metaphor for life. Each one of us makes the journey together. Each one of us is here for a reason. No one knows quite what to expect. We are in a body, on a journey, surrounded by infinity.
Eventually the plane will land and all the passengers will get off. All the passengers just continue on their journey.
A Course in Miracles has very distinct views on life and death. One exists and one doesn't. It tells us this: When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think that this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. (ACIM, T-6.V-A.1:1-4)
We are life. This is the message of A Course in Miracles. Life is in the mind.
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10th May 2021
We think that reality is unaffected by anything we do. But A Course in Miracles teaches that the reality we perceive depends on what we think. It depends on the thoughts we send out. These will be either thoughts of fear or thoughts of love.
Reprogramming the way we think is the purpose of an endless list of self-help practices. However, this means working with the egoic thought system. The sole purpose of A Course in Miracles is to expose the unreality of this egoic thought system. In its place, we learn to work with what is real. This means working with the Holy Spirit.
Fear, guilt and sin are loved by the ego. It cherishes them and worships them. These are its messengers. It demands punishment. We can see this throughout the world, and within ourselves. This is our projection. This is how we perceive the world. This is our reality. And this is how A Course in Miracles puts it.
The ego does not think it possible that love, not fear, is really called upon by sin, and always answers. For the ego brings sin to fear, demanding punishment. (ACIM, T-19.III.2:1-2)
An alternative lies in the background, patiently waiting. This is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit talks to us, but never loudly. One could say it whispers lovingly. It talks of peace and joy and wonder. If we listen to these thoughts, this becomes our projection. This becomes how we perceive the world. This becomes our reality.
For love contains the end of guilt, as surely as fear depends on it. Love is attracted only to love. Overlooking guilt completely, it sees no fear. Being wholly without attack, it could not be afraid. (ACIM, T-19.IV-A.10:4-7)
Love, in this context, comes from our Source. The messenger for this Source is the Holy Spirit. If we are fed up with what is happening in the world, and in the context of A Course in Miracles this means what is happening within ourselves, we have to change the cause. And this means changing the cause of our reality.
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11th May 2021
When someone has a near-death experience, they don't take their body with them. They might feel like they are still in a body, but it isn't there. Clearly they are spirit, functioning as spirit does. Their mind goes with them because they still have memories, and are still able to think and create.
We put so much faith in the body that we might ignore the mind. A Course in Miracles undoes our belief that the body needs to be healed. It states that it is the mind that needs healing.
This doesn't mean that we don't seek medical attention when needed. We haven't got the mind control that prevents suffering. But, in undertaking A Course in Miracles, we work with the mind. And we are asked to have faith in something much bigger than the small world in which we live.
Faith in the eternal is always justified, for the eternal is forever kind, infinite in its patience and wholly loving. It will accept you wholly, and give you peace. Yet it can unite only with what already is at peace in you, immortal as itself. (ACIM, T-19.IV-B.10:1-3)
Emilie Spear's account of her near-death experience shows us that we all have a connection with this eternal presence. She talks about the "strings of light" that connects each one of us to the Divine, and the "Pool of Peace" where our thoughts can be transformed. The Pool of Peace is with us all the time, and just needs to be asked.
Transformation comes through working with the mind. It comes through having faith and trust. We look after the body by looking after the mind.
To listen to Emilie Spear's account, you can go onto YouTube and type in 'Emilie Spear's near-death experience, NDE Radio'. The link is below.
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104/ An Idea Leaves not its Source
12th May 2021
A Course in Miracles says this: We know that an idea leaves not its source. And death is the result of the thought we call the ego, as surely as life is the result of the Thought of God. (ACIM, T-19.IV-C.2:14-15)
This is almost impossible to understand. Words can't do it justice. We all know we are going to die one day, and yet we are told that there is no death.
First of all, we have to come to understand this slowly. We take it step by step, and day by day. Our minds can't deal with this level of truth all in one go. It's too much. We have to slowly wake up to this knowledge. We have to be gentle with ourselves.
It's quite clear that the world does not support this type of thinking. But A Course in Miracles never says it will, because it says the world just doesn't exist. We project the world from our minds. This is another teaching that is almost impossible to accept. But what might be easier to accept is this; in order to find this sort of truth, we just have to be quiet and go within.
We begin to see that the source of our thinking either comes from our lower mind or our higher mind. The lower mind is the home of the ego, and the higher mind is the home of the Holy Spirit. One relates to the fear of death. The other relates to the acceptance of life.
If we find it hard to accept that death does not exist, while only life does, it might be helpful to read how A Course in Miracles explains the Parable of the Prodigal Son. When we read it, we might get a sense of proportion. Its message is enormous, and yet so simple.
Listen to the story of the prodigal son, and learn what God's treasure is and yours: This son of a loving father left his home and thought he had squandered everything for nothing of any value, although he had not understood its worthlessness at the time. He was ashamed to return to his father, because he thought he had hurt him. Yet when he came home the father welcomed him with joy, because the son himself was his father's treasure. He wanted nothing else. (ACIM, T-8.VI.4:1-4)
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105/ The World as We see it
13th May 2021
In the New Testament, Jesus answered Pilate by saying: "My kingdom is not of this world."
In the Workbook of A Course in Miracles, we are told: I have a kingdom I must rule. (ACIM, W-236.1:1-2)
The kingdom is within us. The world seems to be external to us. What is within us, and what is external of us, is full of opposites. There is anger and there is compassion. There is darkness and light. The list of opposites are endless.
A Course in Miracles talks about perfect Oneness (ACIM, T-18.VI.1:5-6), and the reason we aren't connected to this Oneness is because our minds are so used to thinking in an uncontrolled and crazy way. We are not in charge of our thinking. Our thoughts simply create the world we see.
The world is false perception. It is born of error, and it has not left its source. It will remain no longer than the thought that gave it birth is cherished. (ACIM, W-pII.3.1:1-3)
The whole purpose of A Course in Miracles is to undo the way of thinking that leads to suffering. What bring us to the Course is very personal. However, there is probably one thing that unites us all. We want to feel in control of how we feel, and how we live in the world.
A Course in Miracles tells us that if we see a world that is difficult, uncompromising and dangerous, it is because we are thinking with the wrong thought system.
If we see a world of wonder and magnificence, where nothing inspires fear, we are thinking with the right thought system.
It all starts and ends with us. It all occurs within the mind. We are responsible for the world as we see it.
Where we put our focus, there we see the effect.
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106/ Forces Beyond Our Control
14th May 2021
Switching on the news last night, it was hard not to be affected by the brutality of the world. There was the destruction in Gaza as the conflict escalated. There was yet more news about coronavirus from a masked reporter in a London hospital. There were probably a hundred other sources of news that would have been equally disturbing.
Even if we feel detached from these news items, they still seem like forces beyond our control. A Course in Miracles tells us to be careful about what we think. Is what we see through the lense of the ego; or is it through the lense of the Holy Spirit?
When we undertake A Course in Miracles, we learn to undo the source of our suffering. We learn about the connection between our mind, and our perception of the world around us. We learn about what is real, and what is not real. We learn that fear is not justified in any form. (ACIM, W-240)
A Course in Miracles advises us with the following: Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. (ACIM, T-21.in.1:7)
It tells us that not one think in this world is true. No matter what it is, no matter what it appears as, it witnesses but to your own illusions of yourself. (ACIM, W-240.1:5)
To understand this, we are guided to practice forgiveness at a very deep level. We slowly learn that, as we forgive others, we are in fact forgiving ourselves. Our goal is to undo the pain, death and destruction that is aired on our television screens every single day.
We are searching for the formless. We can't identify it. But slowly we learn that all suffering is like a veil that disguises peace.
For what attracts you from beyond the veil is also deep within you, unseparated from it and completely one. (ACIM, T-19.IV-D.7:7)
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107/ The Questioning Mind
15th May 2021
When John Lennon wrote Beautiful Boy in 1979, he included the following line.
"Close your eyes, have no fear. The monster's gone, he's on the run, and your Daddy's here".
The song is a tribute to his son, Sean. However, it could just as easily be applied to all of us, as inhabitants of this world. A Course in Miracles tells us that we are loved unconditionally by our Father. However, we are also told we are like little children having a bad dream. We are told that what scares us is not real. We are constantly reassured that there is nothing to worry about.
Another line from the song is poignant.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".
Our questioning mind wants adventure. It wants thrills and spills. The world is our playground. But ultimately there will come a time when our plans don't work out. The time will come where we might want to look a little deeper, and find the truth of who we are. What is our reality? Where are we from? What is the purpose of life?
Some people turn to science. Others use spirituality. A Course in Miracles simply tells us that we won't find the answer in the world, because the world doesn't exist. We need to start from where it does exist, which is in our minds. We have to learn to be still. We have to become quiet. Then we simply ask a question, and wait for the answer.
Within the world the answers merely raise another question, though they leave the first unanswered. In the holy instant, you can bring the question to the answer, and receive the answer that was made for you. (ACIM, T-27.IV.7:4-5)
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108/ What is a Miracle?
16th May 2021
“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” Buddha.
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A Course in Miracles drops us straight in at the deep end with the 50 principles of miracles. Below are small extracts from three of the principles.
3/ Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them... (ACIM, T-1.I.3:1-3)
A Course in Miracles tells us that the Source of all love is God. There is the Voice for God, which is the Holy Spirit. There is the Voice of the Course, which is Jesus. We are simply a part of that love.
26/ Miracles represent freedom from fear... (ACIM, T-1.I.26:1)
Since the opposite of love is fear, the opposite of the Holy Spirit is the ego. The miracle heals the part of the mind that creates this fear. Our part is the practice of forgiveness.
34/ Miracles restore the mind to its fullness... (ACIM, T-1.I.34:1)
This is our goal. Currently our minds are split between the ego and the Holy Spirit. We listen to one or the other. The ego upholds the fear of separation. The Holy Spirit dismantles it.
A Course in Miracles teaches us that the miracle doesn’t happen out there, in the world. The miracle happens in the mind. ACIM teaches us that the mind is the cause of everything.
The real miracle, then, occurs when we change our mind. When we stop thinking with the ego and start thinking with the Holy Spirit, the beauty of life begins to unfold.
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109/ Asking a Stranger for Directions
17th May 2021
If we are driving and know where we are going, we don't have to ask for directions. If we don't know the way, we might have to ask a stranger for help. We have to do something, and sometimes a passing stranger is all there is.
Asking a stranger for directions is a bit like placing our faith in the ego. The stranger might know the route to take, but also might not. We might be given completely the wrong directions. Perhaps we give ourselves a hard time for not knowing the way. It is clear the ego loves drama.
Trust requires discernment. It's only when we've had a few breakdowns, a couple of crashes, and many wrong turns, that we might come across a book called A Course in Miracles. It is then we learn to tune into the authentic guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The message of A Course in Miracles is very clear. The ego doesn't know where it's going. The Holy Spirit does. If we look back on our lives, we can probably tell when the ego was in charge, and when the Holy Spirit took charge. This might have been the few wrong turns we didn't expect. It could have been the passing of that stranger? We will never know.
A Course in Miracles tells us to forget the past. We've made good choices and we've made bad choices. We have listened to the right advice, and we have listened to the wrong advice. And yet here we are. The following passage is about judging nothing that occurs.
I will be honest with myself today. I will not think that I already know what must remain beyond my present grasp. I will not think I understand the whole from bits of my perception, which are all that I can see. Today I recognise that this is so. And so I am relieved of judgments that I cannot make. Thus do I free myself and what I look upon, to be in peace as God created us. (ACIM, W-243.1:1-6)
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110/ Adjustments are not Necessary
18th May 2021
Adjustments of any kind are of the ego. For it is the ego’s fixed belief that all relationships depend upon adjustments, to make of them what it would have them be. (ACIM, T-20.III.2:1-2)
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A Course in Miracles tells us this: You are afraid of God because you fear your brother. Those you do not forgive you fear. And no one reaches love with fear beside him. (ACIM, T-19.IV-D.11:5-7)
Fear is the catalyst we need to begin our search. It is the catalyst for seeking change. It sits within us, and gnaws away at us. However, it always tells us the cause of our fear is somewhere out there.
A Course in Miracles repeatedly states that the world we see is just a reflection of that fear. It all comes from within us. In the end, we just adjust to the world, and the world to us.
Two questions, however, are then asked: Do you like what you have made? (ACIM, T-20.III.4:2)
Have you not wondered what the world is really like; how it would look through happy eyes? (ACIM, T-20.III.5:1)
A Course in Miracles' whole message is that there is a reality behind our perception that does not change. It requires absolutely no adjustment at all. We just need the willingness and desire to let reality be as it is.
That is why it is so important to forgive ourselves, and others, for what we have simply made up: In your brother is the light of God's eternal promise of your immortality. See him as sinless, and there can be no fear in you. (ACIM, T-20.III.11:8-9)
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111/ Freedom from the Body
19th May 2021
Near-death experiencers very often talk about the pain of getting back into their bodies. Their spirit has been free. Now it's back to being restricted. They might describe it as being squeezed into a wetsuit, or a cold lump of clay.
A Course in Miracles teaches us that the mind is far more important than the body. It also teaches us that the body exists in a world that seems to contain two voices fighting for possession (ACIM, T-8.VIII.2:1). These two voices belong to the ego and the Holy Spirit.
Freedom from the body is not on the ego's agenda. The ego's purpose for the body is selfish. It sees the body as its home and makes us to do the things that make it feel safe. The Holy Spirit merely wants us to use the body to reach other minds. When faced with another body, A Course in Miracles says this: In him is Heaven. See sin in him instead, and Heaven is lost to you. (ACIM, T-20.IV.2:3-4)
Beverly Brodsky's near-death experience shows us exactly what freedom from the body means. Her NDE happened in the 1960s after severe head injuries had left her in unbearable pain. With no belief in a higher power, one moment she was pleading for help, and the next, she had become pain-free.
She says she felt like a child being cradled by a loving parent. She didn't have a body, but her spirit was held. She was loved unconditionally.
In many ways, she says that what we think we are, and what we really are, is like comparing a drop of water to the ocean: "Here we are like a little candle, and there we are like a star."
Beverly's account can be heard on YouTube. It can be found under: 'Present! - Beverly Brodsky and the near-death experience'. The link is below.
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112/ The Little Breath of Eternity
20th May 2021
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”Heraclitus.
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What is a little breath of eternity? A Course in Miracles tells us this.
The little breath of eternity that runs through time like golden light is all the same; nothing before it, nothing afterwards. (ACIM, T-20.V.5:8)
We are told that we look on each holy instant as a different point in time. And yet it never changes. Everything that ever was, or ever will be, is right here now.
Only in time can anything be lost, and never lost forever. So do the parts of God's Son gradually join in time, and with each joining is the end of time brought nearer. Each miracle of joining is a mighty herald of eternity. (ACIM, T-20.V.1:4-6)
A Course in Miracles talks about Vision and judgement. Vision is when we see with the Holy Spirit. Judgement is when we see with the ego. Any encounter we have is just another chance to change our mind about how we see.
It requires work. Our minds are full of judgement. We only have to step back and listen to our thoughts to understand that this is so. So this is why we are guided to practice forgiveness. We do it to undo the unconscious guilt that lies dormant in our minds; this is the fuel for our judgement.
A Course in Miracles teaches us that everyone we meet, or see, or think about, allows us to do this. It is just another chance to change our minds. Do we judge, or do we forgive? The little breath of eternity shows us there really is nothing to judge, and therefore nothing to forgive.
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