Quiet Places of the Heart

“Even as the thoughts of the world stream through your brain-mind, even as the sensory data are received through the cellular structures of the nervous system of the body, you can relinquish these things, and act only from that depth of perfect wisdom, perfect safety and perfect peace. Let this be a time of ‘thanksgiving.’ Will it be that time in which you truly give thanks for the grace that sets you free? Will you honor that grace by descending of the stairway to the quiet places of the heart in each of your days?” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 11, Page 139)

When we have a busy mind, we are kept from the depths of our being, losing touch with our soul. But we can dip deeply into our mind, and still act from “perfect wisdom, perfect safety and perfect peace.” This better view comes when we relinquish the busyness, and just sink into quietness. This quietness will give us both happiness and calm, because it is the best thing that we have going for us.

Jesus seems here to be asking us to meditate. And certainly spiritual teachers everywhere and of every time have counseled meditation. The happiness and calm that we know after a little while of meditation is palpable. We are much more prone to love, in the greatest sense possible. When we are stressed, love goes out the window.

We thus need to descend the stairway to the quiet place of the heart in each of our days.

It will make all the difference.

Turn to Quiet Center of Self

“Remain with me here, for here do I abide. The only difference between us is that occasionally you believe that you abide somewhere else. When you journey up those stairs, to begin to be distracted by the thoughts on the surface of your mind and by the sensory feedback of the energy field that comprises your physical creation, I remain in our shared heart, patiently waiting for your return.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 11, Page 138)

We are all One, and this includes Jesus, who many believe channeled this message through Jayem. Here Jesus refers to our “shared heart,” and the Self is indeed the One to which he refers.

We often leave this shared heart to go about our business in the world. We don’t touch base with our interior nearly enough. And touching base with our interior is the best way that we have to make wise choices in life. This is communing with the Holy Spirit (as described in A Course in Miracles) or the Christ-Self (as described in A Course of Love).

When we lose touch with what is inside of ourselves, we lose touch with that which can give us solace and peace. We are cut adrift.

Turn to the quiet center of the Self today. Don’t try to go it alone in a hostile and cruel illusion of a world.

We won’t succeed in living a good life if we seek to be independent and self-sufficient.

True wisdom is recognizing that turning to our Creator is the wisest decision we can ever make.

Imagining Jesus’ Lifetime

“As you come to feel grounded, rooted in that deep and silent place, ask whatsoever you will and its answer shall not be hidden from you. Ask to witness my lifetime as I walked upon your Earth, and it will be shown to you. Ask to be shown the vibrational field in which you were conceived in this life; it will not be hidden from you. Ask whatever you would about a friend, who perhaps has seemed troubled of late, and the source of what is occurring within them will be gently revealed to you.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 11, Page 137)

This quotation says startling things that are actually great blessings. Would we not want to know more? When we are grounded in our walk through this world, we develop certain powers that are not available to us when we live on the surface of life.

This is a “knowing.” We don’t imagine, develop figments of the imagination or flights of fancy. This knowing leads us by the hand and gives us a better way to view life.

These are the new gifts that come to us as we walk farther along our pathway back home.

These are gifts that hurt nobody, and that offer a solace to ourselves, as well as our brothers and sisters.

Be sure to say “thank You” to God for these new, psychic gifts.

Caressed by the Touch of God

“When you think a loving thought, you have been caressed by the touch of God. When you hear not loving thoughts within yourself, this can mean only that you have returned to the surface, and have denied the depth within you.

“If you would hear only loving thoughts, simply observe where your attention is. And allow it to settle deeply into this place, beyond time, beyond the body, beyond the dream of the world. For this place—the Kingdom of Heaven within you—is vast beyond comprehension. The world you know when you take your attention to the surface of the mind is contained and embraced within this heart, like a dewdrop begins to be consumed by the ocean that receives it.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 11, Page 136)

We are encouraged to take our mind and heart deep within us, often.
This soulful living will keep us moving in the best direction. We will know peace. We will know stillness. We will be led to make good choices, the right decisions, and we will find peace in those decisions.

This takes love, and we might spell Love with a capital “L,” for this Love is God Himself. We need Him, and all of us know this, though we frequently take our mind to the surface and seem to get disconnected from the vast ocean of His love. If we are to thrive, we must practice not only Love of God, but Love of others, and (particularly difficult for us) Love of self.

This love of Self is not an egotistical thing, for that would break the circuit. This love of Self is recognizing that we can’t love our Creator if we don’t love ourselves. And this is where many of us get hung up. We think that self-love is egoic, and even when we know better, we find many things about ourselves to regret. We think we aren’t good enough, and so we make New Year’s resolutions that seek to turn us into something we can accept.

We are good enough right where we are! Our mistakes are just that, and when we are aware of those mistakes, and seek retribution in God’s love, we have done all that needs to be done. We are sorry for our wrongs; we apologize to others; we apologize also to ourselves.

Take the time today to take to heart the truth of A Course in Miracles: that we are innocent of wrongdoing, that we have been living in a dream, and that our mishaps have not really happened at all.

Dreams are not true reality. When we awaken from our dream, then we will know the reality of harmony and peace, true blessings of the Love Who created us.

Just a Quiet Knowing

“Within this awareness lies the answer to every question you might choose to ask. Within this shimmering awareness is the reassurance that the end of the journey is certain. Within this shimmering awareness do you abide at one with all minds and every aspect of creation. Join with me here often, in remembrance of me. For this is the secret of communion—to relinquish the perception of the world in favor of the acknowledgment of Reality.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 11, Page 136)

The perception of the world includes much that is deplorable. We don’t have to look with fearful eyes at this perception, though. Reality, true Reality, is perfectly harmless. It is the way we perceive that shows us harmony, joy, peace, Love. It leads into knowing, or into just “knowledge,” which is an immediate understanding that is largely intuitive. We act out of knowing when we are sure of the action we are taking. No voices, no locutions, no magic. Just a quiet knowing.

We are invited to commune with Jesus so that he can show us more than we could figure out on our own. Our awareness takes a giant leap forward when we take him up on his word. His foci of consciousness is very great, so that many of us can tune in and be answered at any given time. Of course, such speculation is beyond us. How could there be numerous foci of consciousness on the part of one entity? We don’t know, but then again, we don’t have to know. We can test out our suspicions about Jesus’ availability to us, and we will not be disappointed. We will find him here for us, if we ask for his presence with an open heart.

Would it not be wonderful to have the solution to every problem, shining in the wind? Every question we seek to ask has a ready Answer in the Holy Spirit or the Christ-Self. We need simply pose a question, clear our minds, get quiet, and then wait patiently. The Answer will, when we are open, pop into our mind. There is no struggle. We are the ones who make struggle, and we are looking deep in our depths, where there is only quiet, no struggle at all.

Commune with our depths today.

We will never find a better way to live.

Depth of a Perfect Silence

“I share with you the depth of a perfect silence. I share with you wisdom supreme. I abide as you are: the thought of Love in form. To be in form does not mean to be a body. It means only that the Christ Mind, which is the reality of Love’s existence, truly abides within each of us equally. If this were not so, you could not recognize me. When you read a word, or a sentence, or a paragraph that resonates within you as being the truth, you could not know it was so, if that Truth did not already live within you as the reality of your very existence.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 11, Page 135)

We are not actually learning anything new: We are “remembering.” This is a tenet of The Way of Mastery, that we don’t actually learn new things, that we are recalling to mind what was learned a very long time ago, and then forgotten, much to our detriment.

Our Truth is written on our heart. Not our mind. When we say this, everyone knows what we mean. The “heart” has a very definite point of understanding in our psyche. When we soften to listen to our heart, we want a smooth pathway back to our God. Our feet don’t stumble on stones, we don’t trip and fall. We just walk smoothly along a flower-strewn pathway. And we discover much on this peaceful and often slow journey.

We get impatient to get on with it. We want Awakening, and we want it now.

But this is not God’s way. He acts only when certain that WE are ready for the great responsibility of Christ-consciousness. Sitting as Christ for five minutes a day can speed the process, but still God probably acts in a much more measured pace than we would like. The slowness prompts patience, something sorely lacking in many of us.

Jesus, our leader, is offering us the chance to commune with our God in silence. In silence is how God speaks to us. Understanding Him is a “feeling” issue, and feelings belong to the heart. That is why turning to our heart for decisions is so important. Our ratio of mistakes to good decisions becomes much improved toward good decisions.

When in doubt, just ask for the loving response to be writ upon our heart. This way we won’t go astray as we walk back to God, letting Love heal the separation.

Still, Small Voice

“Rest with me, and acknowledge that our minds are joined. As you rest, again, you might notice that thoughts seem to arise and pass away. But do you not sense them, now as though they were coming from a place where you are not, as though you had sunk more deeply to a place of quiet beneath the surface upon which thoughts flow back and forth without ceasing?” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 11, Page 135)

Being quiet, staying in our quiet corner, is a most powerful way to connect with the God within. If we let the hubbub of the world get into our mind and heart, we will find it very difficult to listen to the still, small Voice. And listening to the still, small Voice is exactly what we need to do.

What will that Voice tell us? Some of what we hear will be unique to each of us, for we are unique creations of God, with nobody else the exact duplicate of ourselves. But some of what we hear will be shareable with others, for they too will need the same message. Shareable when they are open to hear, for we do not want to force ourselves on anybody who is not ready to hear God’s message.

If we “rest” with Jesus, we will be well on our way to a new day in living. He would not have us anxious and tied in knots over anything. His Father is not reached that way. We make our own hell on earth when we let nervousness take over. So contemplate silently, or meditate. Still the mind and heart.

When the mind and heart are stilled, then flow happens. And flow is as close to following the Holy Spirit’s every nudge as we can come. We don’t get stubborn and seek to have everything “our” way. We listen to our inner guidance, and then we act. This best way to live is open to all of us, though not all of us are equally listening. For those who are, the message is clear and unmistakable.

Be still and listen for God’s prompting in our very soul.

We WILL hear, and we will not be disappointed in what we hear.

New Order of Reality Dawns

“[T]urn to face the direction of the arising sun, and go into a simple prayer. . . .

“Breathe deeply into the body, relax the mind, and begin simply to say within yourself:

“Death has occurred, and now the birth of Christ is at hand.

“Father, I accept fully your will for me. Your will is only that I be happy and use time to extend my treasure.

“Now I receive the warmth of your Light and your Love.

. . .

“And when the whole body—from the crown of the head to the tips of the toes and down through each finger—is filled with light, then gently open the eyes of Christ, and let yourself see a new world, a new creation, a new beginning. Now the journey to the Kingdom is over, and the journey within it can begin. Graduate school is just around the corner.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 131 – 132)

The above quotation illustrates what we might do and say to welcome Awakening into our lives. And doing so means that “graduate school,” living as an awakened individual, is here.

Not all of us have come this far. But there are indications that many of us are far along the pathway. The “celestial speedup,” which Jesus described in A Course in Miracles, is well underway, and we are now, according to A Course of Love, living in the time of Christ. These are harbingers of a new order on the horizon. And for this to be true, many of us will see Awakening as a true process that takes us into a new world.

Have patience. Above all, don’t blame God if Awakening does not seem to come when we ask. We may not be ready. The subconscious needs to be cleansed, all the way down. And that may take some doing.

Stay the course. Know that the time will be as right as the Answer.
The way back to God is effortless on our part. Can we understand this? No, for we get upset when we realize the work done by the Holy Spirit or the Christ-Mind is so disproportionate to what we are doing. Let God move us, tell us when and where to act, what to think, how to pray.

We live a cosmic second, even in a long lifetime. Our time is not God’s.

So know that we are staying the course, and all will be well.

End of Our Journey Is Certain

“But I can promise you, if you will take up such a path—simply, joyfully, gently, patiently—the end of your journey is certain. If you choose a path filled with magic and many complex strategies, the end is not so certain. The way is easy and without effort:

“I am already that which I seek.

“I need only allow it to guide me.

“While this body lasts, I will allow it to be a communication device that extends the treasure of perfect Love, perfect safety, and perfect peace to all who enter my house.

“And your house is your field of energy, the expanse of your presence.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 131)

Jesus is here warning against those who would seek to “teach” enlightenment through magical means. His way is simple; in fact, it is here already. We are just too blind to see.

We have only imagined that we walked away from, separated, from God. Actually separation from God is impossible, for He dwells within, with us being a part of Him. But we can imagine ourselves anyplace that we want; this is free will in action. Imagining that we no longer know God has occupied us for eons.

Has being without God been good for us? Has this imagination borne good fruit?

Of course not. Walking away from Him Who is our Center could only bring pain, pain that often turned into an illusory suffering. We think that we could exercise our free will only by refusing to be a part of God any longer. We don’t know what we have effected, for the very words are meaningless. We have retreated into madness.
Now we need a cleansed and healed mind. Let Jesus guide the way to our healing. Having taken the pathway himself, he is in the best position to help, especially when we can’t help ourselves at all. If we could heal the separation without aid, we would have done so long ago.

Extend Love to our house, our field of energy, and watch the mind emerge from darkness into light, into happiness.

Dancing in the World of Dreams

“Whatever feelings arise, come and go. But somehow you begin to recognize that you are much larger than the things that come and go, that you are watching a dance of shadows, a dream, gently passing by, that is gone in a cosmic split second. This does not become a way in which you deny your experience. Rather, it gives you the freedom to embrace it and live it totally, with passion, with purpose, with power, and in perfect freedom—no anxiety, no pressure, just the willingness to dance in the world of dreams, while remaining awake. (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 129 – 130)

Dancing in the world of dreams is what awaits us on the other side of Awakening. Our world, actually an illusion, is called a dream because it passes so easily from our consciousness. If we remain awake, we have lost nothing by its passing. All things are fleeting, and we enjoy those things while they remain with us, but we just as easily let them go, for in this world nothing is permanent. Change is the only constant.

I have long enjoyed a private attachment to the image of dancing in our reality. Dancing is such a freeing activity. We twirl and twist, feeling as though our toes lift from the ground and stay aloft. Of course, the toes do come back to earth, but we have changed in the dancing. We have touched some of the freedom that we will know in a constant Awakening.

Would we not like to have “no anxiety, no pressure. . .” in this world? Of course. That is what we have thought to be a pipe dream. But here Jesus is telling us that such a state of affairs can be a constant with us. It is awaiting us in God’s Kingdom, the land of Awakening. It is what we enjoy with a healed mind.

We have lived in insanity, madness. Now we are on the road back home to God. Many of our struggles are falling away as, now, we live the “happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings” (from A Course in Miracles). As our new reality passes by quickly, we don’t have to cling to it. We don’t deny the experience. We just embrace the rapid change that accompanies us on our journey.

This is a way to live a passionate life without the highs and lows of egoic drama. This is the type of passion that gives us joy without a down side.

This is what we all long for. Let’s commune with our God and ask Him to direct us in healing our minds. Insane no more, we will walk a green earth.

Every day.

Sit as Christ

“Now, to build on what you have been doing, we would simply ask you to add this simple practice. When you sit in your chair for five minutes abiding as Christ, remembering the Truth that has set you free, begin to ask yourself the simple question: “This day, how can I extend my treasure? “How can I add to that which I am storing up in the Heaven of my consciousness? “

“Immediately, you will begin to get pictures—an old friend who needs a phone call, someone to write a letter to. It could be something as simple as picking up your cat, placing it upon your lap, and seeing all of infinity in that living being, and feeling the joy that comes as you run your hand along its fur. It could be something as grand as going to Washington, D.C. in order to send a blessing to your president. It does not matter what it is because that voice of Love will be guiding your actions. It may be as simple as turning to your spouse and saying, ‘You know, I appreciate you.’“Whatever it is, let the day not fade away until that action is accomplished, or at least set into motion.”(“The Way of the Heart,”WOM, Lesson 10, Page 130)

Earlier Jesus has asked us to sit for five minutes “as Christ.”This quiet time is extended in this quotation. We are asked to ruminate, in a free-wheeling fashion, about our lives. To ask what we might do to help someone. To ask what we might do to help ourselves. If we have invited these “pictures,”then it behooves us to act on what comes up. It is all an attempt to take us closer to enlightenment, for all that we image can be an expression of Love demonstrated. And extending Love is the great secret to Awakening.

So: Just sit and think, keeping the body relaxed, the mind on neutral—until images come up that we will want to attend to. This type of contemplation is a form of meditation, though we are not saying a mantra. This type of contemplation, though, may be better suited to frenetic Westerners who have trouble stilling our minds. Assume a relaxed posture, and see what transpires. We may be closer to Awakening than we have any idea.

Ask Only

“Ask only:

“How can I extend my treasure this day?

“And lay up treasures where moth and dust cannot corrupt, that is, where time, materiality, the body and the world cannot ‘hook you.’ Rather lay up treasures that are in Heaven: forgiveness, peace, unlimitedness, recognition of your unlimited power, that which brings you joy and puts a smile upon your countenance. Lay up for yourself these treasures and all things shall be added unto you.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 129)

When we lay up these treasures—forgiveness, peace, etc.—we are seeking the Kingdom of God, called in A Course of Love, the House of Truth. And, as the Bible says, “all things shall be added unto you.” The biblical tenet is to seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And “righteousness” means “right-mindedness.” We need a healed mind.

We know what positivity means, and these gifts from God are all positive. Our own deluded minds have been lost in negativism for long years. It is this negative slant of the ego that has done us in. We wanted treasures that moth and dust corrupt, and we got them—to our detriment.

Now all that is changing for us. We have sifted the good from the bad, and we know that corruptible gifts do not satisfy for long. We want the intangible blessings from God that give us much joy—the Love, harmony, peace, joy, sense of unlimitedness. And we can have them, for they are our birthright. We have previously just been asking for the wrong things.

Let the law of attraction work for the best in life, the intangibles. Then and only then will we know the peace that passeth understanding. Then and only then will we know happiness that lasts.

Our way is being pointed out to us. We are not so dense that we don’t see it. We need simply to abide in God’s embrace, and all good things will be added unto us.

Love Has Worked Its Magic

“Here, beloved friends, is the way to the Truth that sets you free. You must absolutely become wholly committed to being awake for no other reason than that you have realized you have no other choice. You have already made them all and they have only led to pain.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 128)

We know that we have had pain in our lives; nobody has escaped it. It is particularly our choices that have led to pain that gives us the most cause for regret. We think, “If only I had not done that, then things would have been different!” We think if we had done something else, our pain would never have arisen.

But pain is a part of the human condition. Until there comes a time that we surrender, totally, to God, and in that surrender choose Love with all its ramifications. When we choose Love, we have made the only legitimate choice open to us. And this one choice is all that is required to heal our minds all the way to their depths. Over time, in the awakening process, the bad reactions that need healing come to the surface, and we surrender them, forgiving ourselves and others, including God, who come to mind. In this process, we are open to true Love.

And then the great Awakening comes, in God’s timing, not ours. But our Self, being a part of God, has had something to do with that timing. If we carry out the exercises that Jesus gives us in The Way of Mastery, we will speed along our healing. Then we become enlightened, Christ-conscious, individuals.

Is there much change? Not to others. We appear as we always have, and indeed, with no ego to protect, we may appear even more “ordinary.” Our humility masks what a great transformation we have undergone.

Our pain is gone. Oh, there may be a few physical twinges, but the emotional pain (which has been the most damaging to us) has been healed. Our minds are right with God. We know it, if nobody else does, for there comes a particular moment in time that we realize that all has changed.

Love has worked its magic. We are home in God.

Teach ONLY Love

“The wisest of students are those that hear the word and put it into practice, diligently, for themselves—not for their mother, not for their father, not for their spouse, not for their brother, not for their sister, not for the sake of the planet, not for the sake of the universe, not for the sake of the new dawn that is coming, not for the sake of anything but themselves. For their Self is what God created. And that Self calls out to you to honor it, by separating your Self from the illusions that you have allowed to make a home in your mind, and becoming wholly committed to teaching only Love.

“There is no other way. Yes, you can learn to sit in meditation and allow the mind and body to float free, to relax. Yes, you can learn rituals that help to focus your attention so that you remember what you are committed to, and the distractions of the world do not seem to quite catch you or hook you as much. There are many strategies that you can enjoy and experience. But in the end, it is only this: a quiet choice within that no one recognizes, that no one sees, that no one hears.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 127)

Yes, living and teaching Love is the only way to awaken.

It is a simple choice. Jesus makes plain here that methods of stilling the mind in silence may help, time spent in meditation may help, but the real elixir is to just to love. Turn to the ones in our circle and love them. Then embrace the world as a whole, even those outside our circle.

The practice of loving will transform us, will grant us awakening. There is no other sure way.

We make this choice for ourselves, and perhaps saying this makes our choice sound selfish. But there is a more altruistic reason. We can control only ourselves, and even this we do imperfectly. We aren’t supposed to attempt to control those in our circle, and especially not our nearest and dearest, our significant others, including spouse, children, parents. They will resist our control, and for good reason. We simply have to let everyone walk their own path.

Our quiet choice of awakening has to embody the whole Self, and that Self includes God Himself. Our Self, a part of God, is the decision-maker. Elsewhere it is said that God makes the decision of when we are to experience Awakening, but we hold some of those cards ourselves. We walk along the pathway, in surrender to Him, and then, lo and behold, we have the great blessing descend upon us—first in snatches, and then continually.

We might seem to change to nobody else, but inwardly there will be a certainty that we have experienced something that we have wanted very much. We will still seem like ordinary people, social security numbers and street addresses and ID cards, but inwardly we will be very different indeed.

Bid that difference come to us today. But wait on God’s timing, in patience.

How This Day Might I Extend the Good, the Holy, the Beautiful?

“A creator, abiding in enlightenment, knows that all events are neutral, so neutral that they have no effect, except for those who choose to be caught up in illusions. The creator, awakened, merely creates out of devotion to the mystery of That which has created him or her. The mind of an enlightened creator does not arise in the morning and say, ‘How can I survive yet another day in this world?’ In the morning, when an enlightened creator arises, the question is:

“How this day might I extend the treasure of the good, the holy, and beautiful?

“How can I, right where I am, experience these treasures even within the space and volume of this body?

“How can I look lovingly upon what my physical eyes show me, so that I discern or extract the good, the holy, and the beautiful, and therefore, give them to myself?” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 126)

A hallmark of The Way of Mastery is the phrase, “the good, the holy, and the beautiful.” These are indeed beautiful words, something we would all wish to emulate.

Often, though, we may wake up on a given day in a funk, deploring our lives, thinking of our crises for the day, fearful of what that day will bring. We know that this is no way to live, but we do it anyway. We really don’t know how to avoid thinking such negativity. Is there a way out?

There is. It is the oft-spoken maxim in Eastern circles, “Be willing to have it so.” This is what Jesus calls in WOM “allowance.”

“Acceptance” is a close synonym. If we don’t resist negativity, it loses its punching power. What we resist grows stronger; the force field increases. But when we surrender to God in allowing whatever might transpire, to transpire, we are paradoxically freed.

Of course, we don’t lie down in the dust and accept the bad as the “way things are.” We accept only while in the flow that God gives us. And the “flow” keeps us safe. It is another way of stating “mindfulness.”

Focus on the good, the holy, and the beautiful. Seek to expand those things, and all will be well with our day. Even if the days has things that go awry, we will know that we are in the flow with God.

And that makes all the difference.

Relinquish What No Longer Serves

“That book is the depth of your consciousness in which all things are already written. And that depth finds its source in your heart. You enter it through forgiveness, through the process of relinquishing the world—not hating the world, not despising the world, but simply relinquishing it. You allow your time to serve you in the process of relinquishing what does not serve you any longer, and what only disturbs your peace.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 125)

“That book” is actually our minds and hearts, what dwells within and can free us of all impediments. We need to allow our subconscious to surface, and in the surfacing our mind will be healed. It is just that simple, but just that difficult.

When we contemplate, letting our minds go over the past, and we dedicate this time to God, we are on the right track. When we allow ourselves to feel forgiveness for that dramatic past, we are really on the right track.

Most of us have had drama in our past, and we will have drama again if we don’t forgive ourselves as well as others whom we have known. This drama needs to step aside so that the better value of peace can give our mind and heart some rest, some respite.

Ask for help in cleansing the subconscious. In numerous places The Way of Mastery tells us that this cleansing is a necessity for enlightenment.

Let’s get on with it.

To Be In the World but Not of It

“In just this way, unenlightenment can be put away as though it were a toy that you have outgrown—by merely looking at all of the effects of unenlightenment , and then asking the question, ‘Is this what I wish to have continue as my experience? Or am I willing to put the doll on the windowsill, and pick up a book instead?’ A book that speaks of Life, a book that is filled with wisdom, a book that teaches you how to step lightly in the world, to be in the world but not of it.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 125)

Jesus speaks in The Way of Mastery as though enlightenment were a decision of ours. But when we realize that we have God in our depths, that all, everywhere, is “God-stuff,” then the assertion makes more sense.

We cannot just “decide” for enlightenment, though. We need to heal the depths of our unconscious by forgiving each part of our psyche that has judged another. Forgive and be healed. It is just that simple.

Jesus was the only major religious figure to stress forgiveness. He knows something that can make quite a difference in our lives.

Let him speak to us today.

Would We See Ourselves Whole & Complete?

“In the end of all seeking, you must look into the mirror and decide to be the one who heals yourself. You are the one who decides, from infinite freedom, how to use the power of your mind in each moment. Therefore, the only question that a seeker of truth really truly need ask him or her self is this:

“Would I know conflict or peace?

“Would I be right or happy?

“Would I see the complete neutrality of all events in this world as wisps of a dream being birthed and passing away?

“Would I see myself whole and complete?

“For as I look upon the world, I have judged myself.

“And as I look upon myself, I judge the world.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 124)

If we listen to these wise words, we see that “flow” in daily life is required. We open up our minds and hearts to the influence of God, moment by moment, and the sometimes frantic outcome of our day transforms. We are happy when we let go and let God, and this is ultimately what flow is all about.

“Would I be right or happy?” This well-known quotation from A Course in Miracles says it all, and here Jesus is saying the very same in The Way of Mastery. (Jesus asked Jayem not to read A Course in Miracles before channeling this new work, and so there is no chance that Jayem was merely quoting ACIM.) The obviously correct Answer is just to fall into happiness. Why do we think we need to raise up conflict with our brothers and sisters so that we are more “right” than they are?

It is hard to imagine that all events in this difficult world are neutral, but they are. We write on these neutral events our own projections. And projection makes perception (another ACIM tenet). The world is doing nothing to us. We are projecting our lives into this world, often invoking the law of attraction to bring about what we experience.

We need to see ourselves a good people, innocent people, people who have only made forgivable mistakes. And these forgiven mistakes will not hold us back.

Choose peace today.

Be in the flow.

“I and My Father Are One”

“I and my Father are one. It has been that way forever. It was accomplished in the being of Jeshua ben Joseph, who revealed to me the truth of myself, because he loved me. And if he can do it, I can do it. Even in this moment, I accept my destiny to walk this Earth awake and at peace, in mastery, and not in fear. And I begin my ministry now.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 123 – 124)

These comforting words from Jesus (Jeshua ben Joseph), a mantra for us, are manna for our parched souls. We get ourselves so tangled up when we try to go it alone. If we let God live through us, and we are aware of this fact, everything goes so very much better.

Sure, we will still have some emotional upheavals. But they will be quickly overturned when we turn back to God. Our insanity is now short-lived, and that is what our anger and attack really have been—just insanity. Sometimes we need to get very quiet and ask for help in navigating this difficult world. When we ask for help, the help immediately arrives; we need only open to it.

We don’t have to gear ourselves us for warfare in this world. We simply turn aside from the hostility that we see, knowing that when our eyes are accustomed to the Light, we will see no antagonism at all. We will be at peace.

Effortless Decision-Making

“The way is so simple and so easy that the mind of the world overlooks it, thinking that it simply cannot be. But that which is simple seems impossible to that which insists on complexity. And a mind that insists on conflict simply cannot accept that there is another way. Yet what waits before you is simply this: In the end of all of your struggles, in the end of all of your doubts, and in the end of all of the moments of your unconscious conforming to the mind of the world, there remains the simple choice to be made—the choice to acknowledge the truth that has already set you free.” (“The Way of the Heart, WOM)

The truth is that the way back to God is both easy and effortless, something that all of us can allow the Holy Spirit to bring about in our lives. We stay in such conflict, and such conflict is, oh, so unnecessary. And we struggle so. Why?

Maybe it is time that we ask ourselves this question, why? To what avail do our struggles and doubts bring us? We just raise our blood pressure, perhaps, and damage our physical bodies, not to speak of our emotional bodies.

There is another way. And we need to get the clouds of complexity out of the way before we can act on this other way. We just do the loving thing, let Love direct our movements. It is so easy—and yet so hard, for we are used to getting ourselves in a dither.

Choose the most loving alternative, and then test it out in prayer. Are we actually tying ourselves in knots over what is “love’? Or are we following God’s way? Which is it?

Discernment, a Quaker concept, will lead us aright. And that discernment comes through quiet times in our quiet corner. Ask the Holy Spirit what to do, what to say, what to think, even.

And everything will come out alright.

Whispers of Guidance

“But there were other voices that spoke to me and called me, that would come often in the night. As I developed my ability to discern these other realities, these other dimensions, by shifting my attention from the world of the body to the world of inner vision, often they would come in the night and stand beside my bed. I came to know who they were. I came to recognize the masters and teachers of a very ancient lineage of which I was a part. They would come and whisper to me:

“‘Forget not the purpose for which you are sent forth from the Mind of God, for through you there shall be birthed the beginning of an ancient remembrance. And your life shall become that which demonstrates to many the truth that only Love is real.’” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 122)

Jayem channeled “live,” in that his mind receded, remembering nothing, as Jesus channeled through him. Knowing how the channeling happened can let us in on the validity of what The Way of Mastery is really saying. And here Jesus gives insight into his development as the savior that he is.

We too can invite the presence of the Other Side when we lie in bed, waiting to go to sleep, or when we awaken in the night. Whispers of words will come to us, locutions. This does not have to be startling; it can be the warmest reassurance.

The way of Jesus was well-prepared for generations before his arrival; he makes this point in nearby passages. He was remembering what he had prepared to do: Show a way of love that would be totally defenseless and able to be felt in the direst circumstances.

If we follow the way of Jesus, our own way will be lit by love as well.

Jesus: “Father, One that Has Birthed Me, Why Am I? Where Am I? Who Am I?”

“I began to learn to ask of that Source, that mystery, ‘Father, One that has birthed me, why am I? Where am I? Who am I?’ My desire increasingly became to know the truth that could set all mankind free. I discovered that unless that freedom became fully manifest in me, it made no sense to talk about it with others. So I sought out the greatest of minds, the best of teachers. And yes, I was blessed by a family structure already dedicated to understanding the mysteries of what they knew as God. They led me to many such teachers.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 121)

Here, in The Way of Mastery, Jesus is talking about his experiences while a young man on earth. He sought to understand what he did not understand. He sought direction. But he turned inward also, as other passages around this one make clear. He knew that there was ultimately only inward divine help, that others could not map out a way for him.

So it is for all of us. We turn to our heart, and then we come to know what has eluded us until now. God speaks through the heart more often than any other way, though he can speak through teachers, companions, significant others. Divine revelation knows no timetable, and we must be patient, on earth, for the unfolding of that which we do not yet know.

An unhealed healer cannot help others very much; that way is limited. Jesus wanted his own freedom made manifest, before he sought to have a ministry. He sought to set all humankind free. And he succeeded beyond anyone’s dreams.

Jesus is our leader in The Way of Mastery, A Course in Miracles, A Course of Love. He is reaching many who don’t talk about it in their everyday life. But he is succeeding in turning around the world that was heading in the wrong directions. His “celestial speedup” (as called by A Course in Miracles) is working.

And we can be very, very glad that it is.

Imagining Christ

“The message of this lesson, built upon the last, begins to translate the Truth into an action—very simple, very practical—so simple and so practical that you will be hard pressed to find a reason, an excuse, against it. For those of you so busy trying to take care of dealing with all the things life throwa at you, even you know that you can find five minutes. And those five minutes can be the beginning of birthing a whole new universe for yourself.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 120)

The ”five minutes” refer to sitting five minutes imagining that we are a Christ. It isn’t an egoic thing, not at all. It is a form of meditation, but a very potent form. We need to take time out from our busy lives to just imagine what it would be like to have no problems, to let those that we do have rest lightly on our mind and heart, and to dwell with God.

That is what sitting as a Christ actually means: dwelling with God. We start slowly, with just the five minutes. We clear our minds and hearts of problems, and we know that when we put problems out of the way, we will live as an imagined Christ.

This is not hard. Only if we doubt its efficacy will we run into problems. Give it a day or two.

The results will speak for themselves.

Sit Lightly in the Saddle of Life

“Therefore, indeed, beloved friends, look at all that is around you, and decide what value it holds for you. Will you see it as something that you must have in your existence? Or will you choose to see it as something you have playfully drawn to yourself; you appreciate it and it can be gone tomorrow and your peace will not be disturbed? Which way will you view the world?” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 117)

This quotation is saying that we must step lightly in this world, lightly with a sense of play. Our abject seriousness, we know, is of the ego. The awakened individual walks easily through this world, enjoying what presents itself without forming tight bonds that will entangle.

We love, sure, but we know that Love is of God in the end. And so we hold our loved ones loosely in our arms.

When we want to live aright, we must only consult our guidance. We don’t judge the events that occur in our world, and we don’t fear those events either. Both judgment and fear keep us from enlightenment; these are the two prohibitions that Jesus makes so plain to us. When we listen to guidance, listen aright, we walk smoothly, our feet tripping on no stones. We enjoy our days in this world, even when events turn bad for a time. We know that the events that we rue are there for a purpose, and we discover what that purpose is, and we are the better for this discovery.

Walk lightly in this world, and with a playful spirit. The right attitude will take us far. The wrong attitude just drags us down.

We can live better, and sitting in the saddle of life lightly is the best way to ride along our pathway back to God.

Living a Passionate Life

“I learned to value unlimitedness. I learned to value Love. I learned to value fearlessness. Yes, my method for doing that was rather unique, and I would not recommend that you follow in my footsteps. Unless, of course, you like the drama of being nailed to a cross and then stood up in front of all of your friends in order to learn to transcend fear in your mind!” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 117)

Jesus is the channeler of The Way of Mastery, and here he rather lightheartedly refers to his crucifixion. We need to value unlimitedness, Love, fearlessness. And we can do so, not by following in his footsteps, but by listening to his words.

Our own pathway will be unique to ourselves. And the first step that we need to take is the prayer that will bring us unlimitedness, Love, fearlessness. If our heart is sincere, we will walk into what we are asking for, maybe not immediately, but over time.

We want to live broad lives, and that is what unlimited living really means. We want to live with passion, not in dramatic highs and lows, but in the essence of who we are as people. To live a dull life appeals to nobody. Love and fearlessness will give us that passionate life. We will survive in what is seemingly a new world, for we project what we would experience. As A Course in Miracles makes clear, “projection makes perception.” Think about what we want to create in this day, and then watch the movie screen of our mind bring it to pass.

Jesus is our model, but we don’t have to be crucified to follow his way. He is showing us an easy pathway to Awakening, and it behooves us to listen carefully.

Live with passion, healthy passion, hurting nobody. And all good things will come to us.

Living in Love to Create Good Tomorrows

“I speak from the perspective of one who is an awakened Christ, who already knows how to birth universes to create that which is holy, good, and beautiful. I know that this is the way. It is the only way. Release the value you have attached to your experiences. . . and spend your time instead deciding which pebbles you are going to drop into the field of your mind. For you will create as the result of what you choose to think today. And what you value today will show itself to you tomorrow.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 117)

If we don’t monitor our minds today, to create in this world the type of experiences that we long to have, then our tomorrows will disappoint us. This world responds to what we focus upon, something that is the law of attraction in operation. We need to lift our hearts and minds in love for what we encounter, even if that something seems sometimes to disappoint. God will do the rest. He will see that our experiences improve as our mind slant improves. It is just that simple.

Drop pebbles of contentment into our minds. This will turn around the things that have made us suffer; this will work. It takes some effort to turn around a negative mind slant, but we have the wherewithal to do so. Let’s make a decision today to live in the peace of God. Let’s make a decision to live in contentment, regardless of what this day brings.

Our decisions make our destiny. When we make a decision to love, then the peace of God descends upon us.

And we are happy.

Faith

“Beloved friends, if you had faith as a tiny, tiny, tiny little seed, you would know that from that little tiny faith, you will create the mighty oak tree whose branches will shelter you from the blistering sun and give comfort unto many. Twenty minutes is an eternity when it comes to creating your tomorrows!” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 116)

Here we are asked to spend 20 minutes in meditation. This will create the eternity of tomorrows that we hope will be good. And they will be good, for we will discover much in meditation that will teach us how to live.

Our faith does not have to be gigantic to get results. The tiny seed, the acorn, eventually grows the mighty oak. Our tiny seed of faith can do gigantic things in our lives, too. We just need to cling to that tiny bit of faith, all that is really asked of us.

We want to give comfort to our loved ones, and here we are told that the seed of our faith will do just that. This faith geminates love, and love can do all things. We need, in this life, only to love, and then all of our activities will fall into place. Our outlook will improve, our energy level will rise, our good deeds will multiply.

It only takes a seed of faith to start an avalanche of Love.

An Exercise in Reverence

“Five minutes of practice sitting in a chair as an infinite creator of exactly what you are experiencing in your emotional field. Just that. You might even want to play with what it would feel like to sit in a chair as a Christ. What would that feel like? I will let you choose whether or not you would like to experience it. Five minutes each day. Do it without fail! Be with yourself, ad decide how you will experience yourself now!” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 114)

Here Jesus gives us an exercise that will help us to realize that we are alright just as we are. He asks us to sit in a chair and imagine that we are a Christ. Just that.

Does this seem too egotistical? Certainly if we let our ego rule, the exercise will be wrong for us. But something deeper is going on. We are heading into actually being Christs. This is what our ultimate resolution will look like.

We need have no fear that our ego will rule this exercise if we pray sincerely to be protected from that ego. Let us give this a “go.” Let us try Jesus at his word, and imagine, in reverence, that we sit as a Christ.

Our Reality Is in the Image of God

“There are many in your world that teach this illusory doctrine of what is called karma—that what you send out now you must experience sooner or later, and how you experience it is directly related to the quality of the ripple you send out. That is not true. That would make you a victim.

“If you are made in the image of God, and I assure you that you are, you are not a victim of the world you see. You cannot, in reality, be victimized by anyone or anything at any time because your reality is that you are made in the image of God. If you could truly be victimized, it would mean that God creates unlike Herself. Does a salmon come from an oak tree? Does a nebula come out of the womb of a woman? Does a raspberry grow on a grocery store shelf? No. Like begets like.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 113)

We are made in the image of God, and like begets like. So we are not victims. Jesus is here saying that karma, as popularly characterized, is not quite accurate. We do not have to atone for our sins (read mistakes) in past lives.

What, then, causes suffering? Basically, we don’t know, but we do know that what we hold in our minds and hearts as a focus is very likely to come true. So we are asked to keep to positivity always, even in the face of pain and suffering.

We experience many variations in our world—all meant for our growth. An old tale has it that above every blade of grass, there is an angel whispering, “Grow, grow.” We might say the same for ourselves. If even angels encourage us to grow, then we must see vicissitudes of experience to create growth. And some of these are more negative than others.

We are not victims. We must realize this, despite New Age thinking that has us blame the victim. There are no victims! We are safe in God’s arms, just all the time.

Even when we doubt.

Ripples of Experience Can All Be Good

“Now, it is very true—please listen carefully to this—that at any moment as you go along in your experience, as you experience the reverberation, the coming back of the ripples you have sent out, in that very moment you are not a victim of what you have created. Because in each such moment you remain as perfectly free as you were when you first dropped the pebble into the pond that even created the ripple in the first place. You are free to choose how you will experience the effect of that ripple.

“And if you experience it with unconditional freedom, with unconditional acceptance and Love, forgiveness, neutrality and innocence, you literally defuse the effects of that ripple upon the pool of your consciousness. And then, in that moment, you become instantly free to begin creating, in a new way, the ripples that you will experience in the future. And this is why you are never a victim of anyone’s creation, especially your own.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 112)

The allusion here is of dropping pebbles into a pool of water, a pool of water that is compared to our experiences here on earth. These experiences fall into our consciousness, and thus we “experience” what is going on.

We are never victims. Is not this very good news? We hold the ace card; we choose what we will experience from the myriad of happenings that we see going on in our world.

It is true that New Age thinking often seems to blame the “victim,” that we cause the bad things that happen to us. But we are at cause here, and we are victims of nobody and nothing. We may never, in this life, come to understand why some things happen as they do, some seemingly very bad things. But we can rest on the assurance that it is not God Who is doing this to us. We remain in the driver’s seat. Yet we are not, as this passage assures us, “victims.”

Let’s choose today to drop pebbles that create ripples that we actually like and enjoy. We can have this blessing of the good if we so choose. Don’t let the choice of what to experience delay our progress any longer.

Choose to experience the best of all possible worlds.

And it will be ours.

Is There Something We Can Do to Hurry Enlightenment?

“If your answer is, ‘No, I hear talk about enlightenment and I get little glimpses, but I don’t really know what it is because I’m not feeling it completely in my lived experience,’ right away you will know that there must be something that you have valued other than enlightenment that you are insisting remains in place in your consciousness. What is it? Search it out, find it and decide whether you still want it.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 110)

Here we are getting guidance that there is something more that we can do to hurry enlightenment. We probably got the impression from A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love that we had to remove the blocks of fear and judgment, or nothing would happen—and we wondered how in the world we could actually do this.

Do we value something in our world that is different from enlightenment or Christ-consciousness or Awakening (all of which mean the same thing)? This quotation from The Way of Mastery seems to say that we must get our values in place before God can act to lift us up. Elsewhere WOM says that the subconscious mind must be cleansed, that all parts of it which limit God must be brought to the surface for understanding and then dismissal.

WOM is very direct in what it says. And when Jayem was channeling, live, in a kind of trance in which he did not know what was coming through, it is hoped that he was being surrounded by Jesus himself.

This passage gives hope. Let’s ask today what, if anything, in our lives seems more important than our ultimate salvation, the ultimate healing of our relationship to God. Let’s then ask that our confused values be healed.

Then and only then will we be in league with the quotation for today. Our way may just open so that God knows that it is safe to act with us to bring us into enlightenment. After all, we know from ACIM, ACOL, and WOM that it is God in our inner depths Who makes the decision of when we are ready for enlightenment.

Christ-consciousness

“Christ consciousness cannot be said to truly exist—for you—until you create it within yourself.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 110)

We do create Christ-consciousness within ourselves, for this is where God is. And He makes the decision of when our subconscious mind and heart have been cleansed sufficiently for this blessing to descend upon us. We do remove the blocks of fear and judgment, ourselves; this comes from A Course of Love.

Can we hurry the process along? Yes, we can. When we turn to God more and more in our everyday life, we are hurrying the process along. When we meditate, we open a channel for His grace to pour into us.

But we already know these things. It is up to us to cultivate the mind slant that will invite Christ-consciousness to descend. Then, in a very important sense, it is out of our hands. If the way seems long, we must know that this idea might be wrong. There is much we simply do not know. But one thing we do know is that in this time of Christ, it is easier to reach Christ-consciousness.

We reach it from living in our everyday world, but with our heart in the clouds.

Reverence for the Mystery that Is Life

“Now, does that mean that one should become cold-hearted, unconscious, and blind to . . . [others’] actions? Of course not, for part of awakening means to realize one’s interconnection with the web of all relationships. It means awakening a reverence for the mystery that is Life.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 107)

Many, many people haven’t awakened yet; in fact, most people have not. But some have seen glimpses of what lies ahead, and what lies ahead in an ineffable atmosphere of love in calmness. We may see clearly, but we do not denounce the actions of others, even the actions with which we disagree. We all need to be given slack.

We recognize that reverence is required of us as we walk in God’s way. This much we know. Life is a great mystery, and it behooves us to speak softly as we talk of this mystery.

We are connected to all people. When we give slack, we also give slack to ourselves—and this means forgiveness of others and ourselves as well. It is a web, an allusion that Jesus uses in A Course of Love also.

Ask today to have an awakening to the mystery that is Life.

And we will have a spectacular day.

Jesus: “I Come because I Love You”

“I come because I love you. I come because I am your friend. . . .I come to abide with you to bridge the gap that seems to yet separate you from me.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 106)

Jesus is here affirming that he comes to us because of love in his heart for us. It is akin to the reassurance, given in A Course in Miracles, that he will come to us upon hearing a “single, unequivocal call.”

Jesus does not want too much dependence in our relationship to him, though. He wants us to access our power, which is given us by God, Who dwells deep within. When our strength is diminished, he will comfort and console. But always he seeks to strengthen us by his presence, not to make us think that we are weak.

There seems to be a gap between Jesus and ourselves because he seems to have gone so far ahead of us. But he says elsewhere that there is nothing that he has that we cannot attain, and even go further. Yet, still, while we are in this world, he is our “big brother,” always there to cheer us on, to lead us gently and with compassion.

In A Course of Love, Jesus ceases to be our teacher, and becomes just the companion that we have long wished to have. He is our partner in this enterprise of Awakening and moving into Christ-consciousness. This is the next step for us, and his careful channeling in several works has paved the way for us to have this next step in our evolution.

We are heading back to God, Whom we actually never left.

Choose Again

“What you will experience in your tomorrows is only the effect of which pebbles you are choosing to drop into the field of your awareness as thoughts now.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 104)

We often don’t think we are in control of our thoughts, but if not us, then who? It takes great patience to watch our thoughts, but do it we must, if we are to have good days. What we focus on, our awareness of what is in our world, determines what we see. Choose carefully, for our awareness will bring those things focused upon into our little world.

We can choose anew at any time. Let’s do so today if regretful things crowd into our minds and hearts. Spend a moment or two reassessing what we wish to have in our experience. Then choose again.

That is all.

Eat Only Good Fruit to Heal the Separation from God

“No one ever told you, and your Creator never insisted, that you eat of the tree of good and evil. For all good fruit has been given you freely. And you are always free to choose which fruit you will eat thereof.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 103)

Here The Way of Mastery, which many believe was channeled by Jesus, he says that Genesis in the Bible got it wrong. We didn’t have to eat “apples” of the tree of good and evil; that was a misunderstanding. In terms of the recently channeled works, we see that separation from God was never foreordained; we could have done it differently. But now we are to eat only good fruit, which means that we are to heal the separation, something that the Holy Spirit or the Christ-Self prepares us for.

How do we heal the (illusory) separation? We go within and commune with our God Who lives in our depths. We have never been externalized, something that we have long misunderstood. We remove the blocks to the awareness of love, as another channeled work, The Course of Love, says. These blocks are fear and judgment, something that is within our power, with help, to turn aside from.

Let’s turn aside from fear and judgment today. Of course, this is easier said than done, and it is impossible unless we turn to our depths. We simply turn, with our awareness, inward, over and over, asking and receiving help.

Eventually we heal the subconscious depths. As each negativity is brought to the surface, we heal because we have the knowledge of what is holding us back. We walk into the sunlight with God, Jesus holding our hand.

There is no better way to live. When the time is right, God Himself will reach down and us up into enlightenment, Awakening, Christ-consciousness—all words for the same ineffable transformation.

In the meantime, we will catch glimpses of Awakening, and these will happen when we are in a particularly receptive frame of mind/heart. Then the glimpses will elongate, and God Himself will act to take us unto His heart with transformation.

Expand Our Heart to the Fullest

“The only difference has been that I learned to train myself, hour by hour, to drop only unlimited pebbles, that send out vibrations of unconditional acceptance and Love, forgiveness, unconditional and unbridled vision and revelation, while you have selected to do that only a few times.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 103)

The metaphor here is of pebbles being dropped into a pool that is our very being. If we drop unconditional acceptance, of ourselves and others; Love; forgiveness, etc., then we will walk a green earth. If we are stingy with our “pebbles” being dropped in our pool, we will know dissatisfaction and all the ills that this world can visit upon us.

Our vision will show us the way; it is revelation from God. Make a decision today to expand our heart to the fullest, to drop unlimited pebbles into our pool. Jesus has shown the way, and he would have us do so, also. If we train ourselves to experience with our heart, we will be well on the way to a new heaven and new earth.

Our heart does not need proof of God’s existence. Our heart just knows. And we will know when we listen to what our heart tells us. We will know unconditional acceptance, Love, forgiveness, and all the rest mentioned in this quotation.

We will be walking straight back to the heart of God. Let’s walk a smooth pathway, sure of our steps, focused on our aim.

At Death We Merely Leave One Room & Step into Another

“Would you call it a death when you leave one room and close the door behind you and step into another room? Of course not. You just say, ‘I was there; now I am here.’ That is all that truly occurs when the molecules you have called to yourself are unglued because you release your value of them, and their constituents, their parts, dissolve back into the dust or the energy field of the planet. You merely leave one room and step into another.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 100)

This understanding of death is so reassuring and so important to us. So many people don’t believe that we continue as a recognizable personality when we cross the barrier of death. This makes of death an ogre, and it pains my heart to know that so many are so lost in fear when it comes to mortality.

Thanks to Jesus in The Way of Mastery for making this clear. His appearance in the graveyard wasn’t enough for many people. People come to understanding in very many ways. I hope that this quotation will lead many who view my blog to a blessed understanding.

This eternity can be joyous when we realize that it is one continuous tapestry to living, here and in the hereafter.

Make the Decision to Be Alive

“Surrender, then, is the process in which you finally relent; you give up resisting the fact of your very existence. You stop whining about it. You stop lamenting it. You stop worrying about it. You make the decision to get on with being alive! And what is alive about you is going to be alive forever. There is no place to hide and nowhere to go.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 99)

We need to drop the past, with its laments, and march steadfastly into the future, pausing in moment-to-moment awareness of what “is.” This will get us where we want to go, which is deep in the heart of God. Our surrender to Him makes all the difference. It is the mechanism of healing. It is the way home.

All too often we do “whine,” as Jesus says. We regret that we don’t always feel chipper; we have our aches and pains that take us from thankfulness for the lives that we have been given.

But there is a way out, and this quotation gives it. We just get on with being alive; we just get on with living! We deemphasize the parts of our lives that we find undesirable, and we walk into the sunshine of a new day with emphasis on what is right.

That is all. We have the panacea for all life’s ills, here in this one quotation. We do live eternally, and the best place to start our eternal life is always and only Now.

Awareness Gives Us the Choice of What to Experience

“Awareness is all that you have and all that you are. Out of your use of it, comes all that you choose to experience. And out of that comes your decision of how you will experience what you have called to yourself.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 98)

Jesus here gives us a complicated short passage. The basic idea is that awareness is our lease on life, the way that we call to ourselves all that we experience. It is what we have in our awareness, what we are aware of, that determines what we see.

So we have some choice in the matter, of course. We can purify our awareness, looking for the positive, and in so doing, we will reap great rewards. Our experiences will improve in tone, our mood will be higher, and we will see a beautiful world, rather than one that we would discount as being harsh and unkind to us.

This is another of Jesus’ reminders that we create our own reality. It is very hard, though, to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and “force” ourselves to be positive, when we are feeling down. The best way to approach life is to “be willing to have it so,” even our negative moods. Don’t resist them, for resistance makes the negativity stronger and less likely to dissipate. Resistance cements in place, and we would not do that.

Just go with the flow, which is another way of saying “be willing to have it so.” Just accept that in this world, our moods will vary as does the weather.

We can move with the tide, or we can buck it—or attempt to do so. And bucking it never, ever works.

Be gentle with our emotions, always and forever. We won’t experience perfection in this world, though we will ease into constant joyousness when we discover how to ride out the rough spots, move into the grand ones.

I, Alone, Am the Literal Creator of My Moment-to-Moment Experience

“If you would choose to awaken wholly, if you would choose not just to be a wave that has mysteriously arisen from the ocean, if you would choose to be more than just another soul that has arisen from the Mind of God and is, somehow, crashing about through the universe, it is absolutely necessary to own, as your own, the pebble that drops into the still, clear pool of your awareness with the thought:

“I am the one who chooses the effects I experience.

“I, alone, interpret all neutral relationships or experiences.

“I, alone, place the value upon objects, things, thoughts, and belief systems.

“I, alone, am the literal creator of my moment-to-moment experience.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 97)

We are the creators of our experience, though I believe this is often on an unconscious level, with the inner Christ-Self calling the shots. Surely we don’t knowingly bring bad things to ourselves, and something bad things happen. This is one of the puzzles of the universe. But we need not blame God; indeed, we must not blame God. I believe He is a God of love, just like Jesus has been saying. We can’t always recognize Love, even when it in right before our eyes, hits us in the face.

“I am the one who chooses the effects I experience.” Yes! We can believe this, because we know that our attitude toward the happenings in our lives makes all the difference. This is a “creating our own reality” that we can understand, not a puzzle of the universe at all.

“I, alone, am the literal creator of my moment-to-moment experience.” Yes, we are, even when bad things happen. We don’t understand, can’t understand in this world. But I think we will understand in the next.

In the meantime, our lives on earth, let us place no blame, and blame no victims. We don’t know what the soul of anybody is really trying to do, and the soul is that all-embracing Self of Whom the inner Christ-Self is a part.

Be Aware

“Therefore, look upon that which resides within your awareness, within your consciousness. What are the things that you know that you know? What are the things that you would avoid? What are the feelings that you have not explored? What are the objects, the people, the places, the values that you strive for, that seem to thrill even the cells of the body? (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 94)

Jesus is here asking us to have self-awareness, and surely self-awareness helps us to live good lives. If we know our inner being, we come a long way toward functioning well in the world. And in a better world that we will create, as A Course of Love says.

What are we sure we know? There may actually be very little of which we are very sure. Our egoic worlds have been turned upside down with our new reading, the new channelings of Jesus. And we may take some time to settle down. Let’s ask for Jesus’ blessing to eliminate our confusion, if it is confusion. We need to realize that the old egoic nonsense is truly gone, that we are living in the Christ-Self Who will function in a new way in a new world.

What would we avoid? Top on our list of what to avoid is surely a return to the ego. Pray that the egoic patterns will cease to enthrall us. Pray that we not return to the pit of egoic despair that we used to know.

What are our feelings? These feelings are highly important as we seek to create a new world. Let intuition rule our lives. Test out the insights, and I am sure that you will find that intuition is the very best way to live. It is the panacea to all ills.

What thrills us? That which speaks to our very core with happiness/joy is what we ought to pursue, for God placed in our minds and hearts the best ways, to be determined by the joy that we feel. Don’t forget to thank Him as we encounter joy on our everyday rounds.

Live today in the thrill of knowing that we will not return to our old ways of the ego.

We are walking ahead to a new day, a new day in a new world.

Jesus: “I Am with You Always”

“Beloved and holy friends, may peace be with you always. . . . Remember, there’s a perfectly good reason why I keep saying, time and again, ‘I am with you always.’ Amen.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 7, Page 92)

Jesus is a part of our Self, the Self Whom we all share. Her consciousness is not really separate from ours. These ideas are well-developed in A Course of Love. It helps us to understand what is really going on when Jesus is channeling to one of his scribes. Their mind and heart does not really disappear.

We can imagine him as he was 2,000 years ago, but he would rather that we see him in a more all-encompassing way, a way that he shares with us as the Big Brother we may not have had before.

There is a well-known passage in A Course in Miracles in which Jesus assures us that he is holding our hand as we walk along on the pathway to salvation, the pathway to Awakening. I have often quoted this passage in this blog, in which Jesus affirms that this thought will be no “idle fantasy.”

Reassuring in the extreme, it may mean that Jesus has infinite foci of consciousness. Or it may mean that his Consciousness and ours join in the God of Whom we are a part. Or may be a both/and statement. Don’t let theology delay us. It is not necessary for us to enjoy a true and real experience of Jesus and of God.

Jesus says, “I am with you always.” Can we not just take him at his word? And cease our efforts to be alone and lonely? Our friend is here with us, for it will come on a “single unequivocal call” (from A Course in Miracles).

If in difficulty, call today. And be reassured when anxieties and depression fall by the wayside.

Journey within the Kingdom Begins Anew

“Rest assured, when the journey to the Kingdom is completed, the journey within it begins anew. The bliss, the wisdom, the creativity, the laughter, the friendships, the family, the joy, the serenity, and the peace—that have been, for the most part, seen as an impossible dream—will become your most ordinary state of being.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 7, Page 91)

If we can only believe what Jesus is saying here, we will have hope for an ever-better life. Would we not all want that, even if the life we have now seems pretty OK?

A Course of Love says that ordinary people will begin living extraordinary lives, and in that transition, our friends will wonder what has happened to us, why are we different? Let’s hope for an extraordinary life today. If we follow the wisdom that Jesus offers in his newly channeled works—A Course in Miracles, A Course of Love, The Way of Mastery—we will have a new life in our grasp.

In many cases, we already know what we do. Yet we often don’t put that knowing into everyday practice, because our old habits of living poorly do drag us down.

Ask today to put our knowing into practice. Jesus has taught us wisely, and eventually we come to see that even he is a companion rather than a teacher. Walk with him today. Be assured that he holds our hand as we walk along. He has promised this (from A Course in Miracles), and he says that imagining that he holds our hand is no “idle fantasy.”

Be sure to say “thank you” to the one who thinks of us always. Our leader, our savior from the snares of what we would avoid, Jesus himself. Instead, we can have bliss, wisdom, creativity, laughter, friendships, family, joy, serenity, peace—all!

With blessings like this, we will never look back.

AMAZING COMMENTARY ON A COURSE OF LOVE

Note: Published on Amazon. To be published in Miracles magazine, January – February 2020 issue.

LOVE ON THE MOUNTAIN, by Laurel Elstrom
Review by Celia Hales

Love on the Mountain is a big book, a glorious book, that focuses upon the Forty Days and Forty Nights of the Dialogues of A Course of Love. Laurel Elstrom has climbed the mountain, first a journey for herself and friends, and now makes another climb, this one for us. And she found Jesus there, at the top.

If we have been puzzled by the Forty Days and Forty Nights, now we have help, outstanding help. Through a variety of reading aids–including a challenge for each “day,” quotations from ACOL, “inquiries,” practices, meditations, and a final section for each day entitled, “Go Deeper”—we are led ever more completely toward understanding what our trek toward Christ-consciousness really means. The experience of Awakening comes alive, our questions find answers. Laurel asks the difficult questions, and then she answers them in words that cull from ACOL the most precise meaning.

I interpret the consistent theme of Love on the Mountain: A Guide to Self-Discovery to be a constantly expanding awareness of living our experiences, without doing anything to distract us from experience or to soften life’s blows. This way of viewing the Forty Days and Forty Nights works well, for we are leaving behind a separated life (from God) and joining others in unity. Our differentiated human form is elevating, becoming the elevated Self of form, the new term that we use for our awakened mind and heart.

Laurel recommends that we work with her book in conjunction with ACOL, reading each day’s lesson first, and then moving on to her commentary. This guide can work well in either a study group or individually. In a study group, one chapter a week would normally work best. The reading aids in Laurel’s book are short and to the point, well-suited to reading aloud (as one is asked to do with A Course of Love itself). I can envision lively discussions as those of us who love ACOL are teased out of thought and into our heart in an effort to get at the “true” meaning of the text. In individual study, the various reading aids fit our short attention spans, giving us a “bite” of knowledge that we can assimilate without difficulty.

Love on the Mountain is easily digested because it is well-written. Yet the meaning is deep, and there are layers and layers of meaning, as befits a guide to ACOL. Laurel has succeeded admirably in elucidating ACOL prose, often using examples and terms from daily life that give us something to peg a meaning to.
Laurel Elstrom is a writer, teacher, and spiritual coach who has contributed to The Bridge, The Embrace, and The Miracle Worker. She has 108 YouTube videos covering each chapter in A Course of Love. She also has 30 years’ experience as a facilitator of groups studying A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love. This book was beta-tested in several study groups for A Course of Love, and so here we have a compilation of “what works.”

Several years in the making, Love on the Mountain succeeds in what it set out to do. It guides readers of A Course of Love to and from the mountain of Self-discovery, the climb that will make life different than it has ever been before. Laurel has a natural acceptance of our clay feet, and her reassuring words as we make an attempt to scale the mountain lead us to love A Course of Love all the more. She says, though, not to struggle. The end of separation from God, the next leap in human/divine embodiment—the elevated Self of form in Christ-consciousness or Awakening–is not a difficult pathway. We are returning home, the place we never actually left.

I recommend Laurel Elstrom’s Love on the Mountain enthusiastically and with love for what it can do for our journey to Christ-consciousness. In conjunction with A Course of Love, we have in Love on the Mountain the perfect text to accompany us to and from the mountain.

Presence of Love

“I know the way home because I have completed the journey, and I will show you the way. With every word that I utter, my one intent is to reveal to you the place within you that is the presence of Love that you seek.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 7, Page 91)

If we believe that Jesus has channeled The Way of Mastery, A Course in Miracles, A Course of Love, we know that he has shown us the way home to God. And we believe that he made the journey that is now before us.

Jesus always acts from Love, and it behooves us to do so also. It is sometimes difficult to wrap our minds around “love,” because we have so many connotations to this word in our world. If we let our hearts speak to us, though, we will be in better shape as we contemplate Love. This is a great solution to every difficulty, just letting our hearts tell us what to do, say, even think. Our heart knows the Answers, when we in our mind do not. The primacy of the heart is a focal point in A Course of Love.

Cultivate the presence of Love today by leaning into our heart. Our heart is One, for we are One in God. Jesus’ every intent is to take us home by offering us a taste of the presence of Love.

Accept his offer today.

“Be Willing to Have It So”

“Imagine, then, living in a state of being in which literally nothing was unacceptable to you because you knew that the Source of your true being was far beyond the limitations of anything created in space and time.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 7, Page 90)

Nothing may be “unacceptable,” but this sentence doesn’t mean that we won’t work to change things that seem troublesome. For life to be acceptable, we mean that we are “willing to have it so,” that nothing must change for us to live life fully. This is a great secret of life, something I once read in Joseph Campbell. Joseph had been advised by a guru not to struggle so in life. Surely struggle is not a pleasant way to be.

Our Source is God Himself, far beyond limitations in time and space. When we make our home in God, we will live in true acceptance of whatever we do find on the earth plane. It is only after we have “accepted” that we can make meaningful change for the better. To fight against “what is” is to make unnecessary adjustments in trying to live in this world.

We aren’t asked to fight against ordinary reality. We are not asked, ever, to fight against anything. Our way is to find that which is positive, good, and peaceful. When we reach for the peaceful, we accept, and when we reach for the positive, we make meaningful change without struggle.

“Be willing to have it so.” By our very acceptance of the ordinary moments in our day, we pave the way for a better future.

We touch God in such moments.

Happiness Is an Inside Job

“As long as there is a trace of energy within you in which you are striving to get from any perceived thing or object around you what you are sure you lack inside yourself, you cannot know the love of Self. And you cannot experience freedom. Happiness is an inside job.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 7, Page 89)

Abundance is our natural state of being. God does not actually know “lack” in us. We think that we need what others have, and so we seek to “take” from them. This is especially true when it appears that they have an increase over what we have. When we imagine such as this, we look for “special” relationships.

When we seek to supply an imaginary lack in ourselves through others, we are looking amiss. We are already whole. Our only problem is that we have made many mistakes. But these mistakes are not rightly called “sins,” for sins have an attracting quality that keeps us coming back to them.

When we know that God’s way is to give us abundance, we shape our minds and hearts to that end. And we attract it. But we don’t take from others to do so. We experience freedom only when we live and let live, i.e., let others walk their own pathway without our trying to “take” from them. Others will round out our lives, but we must give from the standpoint of fullness/abundance, always.

“Happiness is an inside job.” Yes! And giving and receiving, because we are all one Self, is always mutual. We will have what we need, with the need always supplied immediately, when we cease grabbing for what we want. “Grabbing” is an egoic state of mind, and it is never the right way to achieve our ends. Love of Self is the way to God’s greatest blessings, not greed.

Lack is not our birthright as children of God. If we see lack in ourselves, we are seeing wrongly, and when we replace our thoughts and feelings of lack with the truth that abundance is ours, all will be well.

Live Effortlessly & Love Effortlessly

“Stop wasting your energy trying to love God. That will not do it for you. Stop wasting so much energy trying to learn how to love another. That will not do it for you. And for God’s sake, please refrain from all attempts to get anyone to believe that you love them!” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 7, Page 89)

Why would Jesus say such things? It is because when we “try,” effort is involved, and the new way of thinking, with the heart leading, is effortless.

We may find this hard to believe, because the ego has had us on a treadmill for a very long time. Yet we can believe it. It does take some adjustment on our part, because habit if strong. We are so used to struggling and striving that we don’t know what it means to relax in God’s grace. Relaxing in God’s grace is exactly what we are now called to do.

Do we wish that we could make other believe that we love them? This is wasted effort. When we center in ourselves, and just love—not “try” to love—we soon are blessed with the knowledge (and it is knowledge, not perception) that all is well, and that we living in a love-filled world.

Love, by itself, is enough to heal. And healing is what we need above all else. We can have this healing for the asking. Relax, don’t press, rest in God.

We have so much on our “to do” list. We prioritize, with effort. And then we mark off our accomplishments. This is the ego talking. Do we really think that marking off accomplishments on a “to do” list is the way to live? There is no end to it. That’s the rub. Live more internally. Let the next right thing find us.

If we cease our struggles always to “do the right thing” on our “to do” list, we will find that that right thing, miraculously, does find us.

There Is NO Need to Crucify One’s Self

“You already know what crucifixion is all about. You have done it to yourself a million times in ways far worse than a mere nail driven through the hand that creates a little twinge of pain. Hell is nothing more than the state of being rutted, or stuck, in the process of crucifying one’s Self, which is the attempt to murder and destroy what God has created out of Love.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 7, Page 89)

We truly are our own worst enemy. What we have done to ourselves, when we feel besieged with problems, in angst over minor matters, obsessing about trivialities.

Of course, some problems are acute and more severe than others.

But there is an Answer to that as well. We need not crucify ourselves, as Jesus is saying we do. We can turn to the Holy Spirit or the inner Christ-Self to rectify our difficulties. Any difficulty will lighten when we know that there is a Higher Power—God Himself—who is right there with us, helping us always. And God is always with us, helping us. We need never to forget this. We don’t externalize God anymore, for He is in our depths. We are a part of Him. This certainty is enough to take us through the worst turmoil.

Just remember: We are doing this to ourselves. We can have joy instead of suffering and pain. We don’t have to endure, in agony, all alone.

Let the difficulty rest lightly on one’s mind and heart. Rise above it. Know that we are doing this unto ourselves, when we wallow in pain, turning it into suffering.

What a waste!

There is an Answer. Turn to God, always and forever.