“What you are going to realize from this time of seeming difficulty is an end to difficulty and the growth of your ability to do whatever you do peacefully and to be who you are in whatever situation you find yourself in. (A Course of Love: Dialogues, p. 128)”
Affirmation: “May I act peacefully and be who I am in any situation.”
Reflections:
We are in the “time of becoming” on the metaphorical mountain top with Jesus as our companion, but not our “teacher” any longer–for the time of learning has passed, and we are in the time of discovery. We are becoming the true self of Christ-consciousness, the elevated Self of form. But there is an in between state of trying to maintain rather than the sustaining of Christ-consciousness, and we are called to this in between state right now in this 40 days and nights of preparation.
Jesus makes a comparison to an artist composing a piece of music. There is a time when the music may or may not “flow” into him or her, and then eventually, there is a feeling that completion is needed. All along the way, the artist may make the decision to share his music, either early or late in the process of preparation. We are reaching out to our brothers and sisters in love, with the thought that we are heading toward a greater understanding while in the midst of daily life. These 40 days and nights are not meant to take us “out” of life; the optimal situation is to remain in our normal lives. We may think that a removal would be advantageous, but Jesus asserts not.
We need a created place of calm within; that is a main reason why we are not told to try to remove ourselves from normal life. We are the created becoming the creator of our lives. The passage for today emphasizes the ease with which life will be lived when we have attained Christ-consciousness. We reach for this without strain or effort; we allow Jesus to guide us at all times in this mountain top experience.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
Help me to be patient on this mountain top with Jesus. I long for peace, and I long to be who I really am without strain. I have strained so often. It is a great blessing to learn that all of that can be put behind me now.
May I create a place of calm within myself, as I leave behind the old self and reach toward Christ-consciousness and the elevated Self of form. May I be patient, knowing that this boon is my destiny. Thank You for being with me today and every day.
Amen.
ACIM Workbook Lesson for Day 99:
Salvation is my only function here.
Joe
/ April 10, 2010Well, building on the idea I previously expressed-that life here is a both/and experience of physicality and spirituality:
When it comes to “Salvation is my only function here”
What needs saving? Does spirit need saving? Personally, I don’t think so.
So can it be that both ACOL and ACIM are pointing to a physical experience when they talk about salvation–as opposed to a spiritual experience?
The idea being one of emphasis–not one against the other. Which is to say: Both ACOL and ACIM are coming from an emphasis on the spiritual. But that is not meant to be perceived as a denial of the physical.
Full disclosure here: I’ve always been in favor of the idea that the physical is real rather than illusory. Temporal, yes, perhaps. (As opposed to the reality of spirituality which is eternal). But REAL nevertheless.
Otherwise, why would any of us exist in a physical reality?
Just a thought!!!!
Joe
Mari Perron
/ April 11, 2010Once again, Celia, I love your prayer. Just beautiful.
This admission that there is a period in between is so comforting. Although Jesus still emphasizes acceptance here, he also says “many of you will have changed or will be changing the very fabric of your daily life. Changes you feel called to make are not discouraged here. The point being made is simply that removal from life is not possible or desirable.”
I know that I have needed to make many changes to get my inner and outer life in harmony, and that they feel as if they’re continual about now. They never seem to come with ease, but I’ve really “gotten” the way Jesus talks of “seeming difficulties” both here and elsewhere. Change “seems” so difficult as you’re going through it, but it is the way, at times, to a new ease.
Not being able to see the true nature of change while you’re “in it,” is pretty common, and can make you feel like you’re…well…one of the ways I’ve described it to myself is as being “a hard case.” But I think Jesus says here too, that “Life is life,” which seems to me a way of saying that we all share the same troubles and problems (to varying degrees and at varying times).
It just makes sense though, that when you change deeply inside you’ll gain the clarity that allows you to see the changes that must come externally too. To have initiated or allowed them to come is another sort of acceptance.
I bring this up mainly because I’ve been thinking of how Jesus talks of urgency. He says:
“We work now on your awareness and acceptance of your changed state, for without awareness the value of what we do here does remain minimal, and this I cannot allow. The urgent need for your return to unity has been mentioned before, and I remind you of this urgency again.”
The difficult times of change that can cause heartaches and worry may make us doubt our return to unity, and I just want to say that they don’t need to.
Here’s a great quote from the introduction to Elizabeth Lesser’s book, “Broken Open.”
“How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.”