“You exist, quite simply, because of your relationship with love. Love is the unity you seek. In having chosen separation over unity, you but chose fear over love. When you let go of fear and invite unity to return, you but send out an invitation to love and say you are welcome here.” (A Course of Love, C:11.18)
Being welcome is an attribute of friendship, and being “friends” with love is something that we all can do. We need to realize that we are one (unity), and in this realization we are inclined to love more than fear.
Of course, we can’t always banish fear. We are particularly prone to fear’s ravages early in the morning, when the whole day looms and we are apprehensive about what lies ahead. At such times we need to make a determined effort to calm ourselves down. Over time, we have developed some of these techniques: writing in a journal, meditation, deep breathing, quiet conversation with your significant other (if time permits), petting a beloved animal. All will make small increments to erode fear. And, as time passes, fear will become more of a stranger in our lives.
We feel ourselves separate and alone when we face the day with apprehension. We are living our comfy homes for a sometimes terrifying outside that seems to wish us no well. These are the types of thoughts that replace love with fear. And it need not be so. The outside world is as much in need of our love as are our nearest and dearest. Give a helping hand to those we meet outside our homes. And then they will seem much less the bearers of bad tidings, or, at the last, uncertain tidings that give us cause for fear. Love with a whole heart, knowing that we actually are safe when we set our minds to creating a beloved world.
Registration closes at 2:00 pm so register early. If you cannot attend live, please register and you will automatically receive the recording.
About the “Let’s Discuss” Webinar – Forgiveness Can be Fun!
There is much confusion and many perceptions and misperceptions projected onto the supporters of the various versions of ACIM. Come and see Course forgiveness in action!
Whether one prefers the “blue” ACIM, the purple, the pearl, the sparkly, or other Course publications, it is time to walk with love together in our webinar series of “Let’s Discuss A Course in Miracles!”
This webinar is an invitation to meet some of those who sponsor, represent, teach, or publish diverse versions of A Course in Miracles, including popular publications publicized as channeled next steps to Course material.
Come and enjoy this reflective discussion as we talk, laugh, and share with our guest speakers:
Reverend Tony Ponticello—the Pearl version
Reverend Vicki Poppe—the Sparkly version
Robert Perry—the Purple version
Glenn Hovemann— A Course in Love
Tam Morgan—the “Blue” version
Please join us in welcoming these representatives in a lively and intentionally loving discussion about the variety of versions, as we each come together to “Teach only love…”
Meet Our Speakers
Rev. Tony Ponticello Minister and Course Student
Rev. Tony Ponticello has served as the Executive Minister of the Community Miracles Center (CMC) since 1987. He was legally ordained a minister originally in 1986 by their predecessor organization, the California Miracles Foundation, and has done pastoral counseling since that time. He was later re-ordained by CMC as its 20th minister in 1997.
Rev. Tony approaches all of his counseling through the ACIM teaching lens of Special Relationships versus Holy Relationships. He teaches classes in A Course in Miracles, runs large international ACIM conferences, ordains ministers, writes for the CMC’s publication Miracles Monthly, as well as managing and maintaining the CMC website.
Rev. Vicki Poppe Minister and Course Student
The story of my life is a story of LOVE through forgiveness, togetherness, vision and celebration. My first Inspiration came when I was about 10 yrs old with my sisters and I talking about bringing heaven to earth and has continued to unfold through family, restaurant business’, physical healings, marriage, our miracles centers and celebrations.
Today I still talk about, see and celebrate bringing heaven to earth with every brother and sister I find myself with. I hear the angels sing very simply, LOVE IS THE WAY. .
Robert Perry Author and Teacher of A Course in Miracles
Robert Perry brings to A Course in Miracles many years of private study and public teaching. He began teaching at Miracle Distribution Center in 1986, and has since taught throughout North America and around the world. Over the years he has become a respected voice in Course circles and has written for many Course newsletters and magazines.
Robert is the founder of the Circle of Atonement and the author of numerous books and booklets based on the Course. Among these are the popular An Introduction to A Course in Miracles and Path of Light: Stepping into Peace with A Course in Miracles. He is also the lead editor of the Complete and Annotated Edition (CE) of A Course in Miracles, based on the original handwritten notes of Helen Schucman.
Glenn Hovemann Publisher and Course Student
Glenn Hovemann is the publisher of Take Heart Publications, which publishes A Course of Love, and the seven-volume Choose Only Love. Both are lengthy works channeled from Jesus, with more to come. Glenn has been passionately aligned with ACIM since 1978 when it was given to him out of the blue.
Glenn is also the editor of Rev. Jon Mundy’s “Miracles Magazine.” For over two decades Glenn and his wife, Muffy, published over a hundred books through their company, Dawn Publications, which specialized in children’s books about the universal lessons available from nature.
Tamara Morgan President, Foundation for Inner Peace
Tamara Morgan is the daughter of Judith Skutch Whitson and has participated with the Foundation for Inner Peace since its inception, pioneering its special projects and initiatives formally since 1984.
Tam met Scribes Drs. Helen Schucman and William Thetford in 1975 and was close to them for the rest of their lives. It was through deep guidance and inner directive that Tam has stepped into her current position as President of the Foundation for Inner Peace.
Note: After this post, I’m going to take a few days off to finish editing and then publishing, on Amazon, a book of sonnets. Thank you for your views. Love, Celia
“The mind in conflict with itself is dangerous to itself, and of course, by extension, to everyone else in all dimensions. Therefore, indeed, beloved friends, beware of those that come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Beware of the viciousness of the ego within your own mind.” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Lesson 22, Page 266)
Even if we have largely given up the ego, it still sinks into our awareness with patterns of egoic thinking that have not been banished. So we are still prone to conflict because our minds/hearts have not fully integrated. When our heart speaks to our mind, we are moving in the right direction. Turn aside from conflict in all its guises, for conflict is of the ego. Just simply ask for a solution to whatever problem presents itself, and know that God is listening.
“Beloved friends, take a moment and simply cultivate deep self-honesty by merely answering these questions:
“Have I ever had a murderous thought?
“Have I ever manipulated another mind in order to try to gain what I believed I needed?
“Have I ever withdrawn love for the subtle reason of causing hurt, or trying to cause hurt to another?
“Have I ever had disrespectful sexual fantasies?
“Have I ever hated the world?
“Have I ever despised myself?
“And last, but surely not least, for in truth, if you would consider it, all of those questions emanate out of this one:
“Have I ever hated God?” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Lesson 22, Page 264)
WOM also says that enlightenment is a state in which the world—and the world is not outside of you, the world is the context, the thoughts, images and perceptions that you have attracted to yourself—can no longer hold power over you.
Deep self-reflection is necessary if we are to find God in our lives. All of us have done things that we regret, but God stands ready always to rectify the situation.
When we reach enlightenment, we will have entertain the subconscious impulses of our minds, and, if we are fortunate, we will know that the best way is to turn to our hearts for a solution. Our hearts are informed by our God who dwells deep within, living through us.
Let not our perceptions of an outer world diminish the love that we feel from deep within.
“Silence can be cultivated in a number of ways. Initially, it will look like something you do through the body—to breathe deeply and rhythmically, to sit next to an ocean, to sit beneath a tree and become absorbed in the wind. Or to merely practice the ancient art of remaining silent without speaking as you go through your daily events.” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Lesson 22, Page 263)
We all need silence, but we live in a noisy world. We all talk a lot, too. Cultivating silence in our daily rounds may be easier than practicing meditation consistently, and being silent as we contemplate is, to my mind/heart, a recommended substitute.
When we are silent, we can listen to our innermost world; we can go within. There is richness there. As we know, God dwells within all Creation. And He will speak to us when we get quiet enough to hear. I don’t mean something audible, but a knowing that gives us guidance for our next step.
Just quieten down, outwardly and inwardly. After a hectic holiday season, perhaps we all could use some silence.
“As Christ you are the light of the world. You are illumined by the light of the Lamb. You are already living a new era in creation. You have completed your path to truth and are ready to accept the eternal revelation of love.” Choose Only Love, bk.2, 6:I
This quotation is speaking to the true believer, the one who has walked far along the pathway back to God, and is ready simply to rest in love. When we walk far, we know that the only reason for life on earth, the only purpose, is to discover how to love. Sure, we want to grow also, because an angel bends over each blade of grass, saying “Grow, grow.” And angels accompany us on our pathway of growth also.
But love is the main thing.
When we love enough, everything else falls into place.
“The only replacement that can occur that will accomplish what you seek is the replacement of illusion with the truth, the replacement of fear with love, the replacement of your separated self with your real Self, the Self that rests in unity.” (A Course of Love, C:9.24)
We see that A Course of Love makes parallels of illusion and truth, fear and love, and the separated self with the real Self, saying that a replacement of illusion, fear and the separated self needs to be made—with truth, love and the real Self. This is salvation, this is the coming to know that we will find in fullness in Christ-consciousness. Until then, we can see only rare glimpses, some longer than others, but still temporary.
This is the only accomplishment that we seek, and on some level it has already been accomplished, for Jesus says that we are The Accomplished. But not in any egoic sense, of course. We have walked the whole pathway, and now we find our way back to retrace our steps.
It doesn’t have to take long in the life of any individual, though the return may take a very long time for everyone on earth. Make no mistake: This is what we are about, the eventual return of everyone to full sanity, which means that we are in communion with our Creator and we have walked into the real Self through Awakening.
“Heaven is the gift you owe your brother, the debt of gratitude you offer to the Son of God in thanks for what he is, and what his Father created him to be.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19.IV.D.19)
A new idea, that we “owe” Heaven to our brother, because of what he is, because of what he means to us, because of the gratitude that we owe to him. He is our way back to God. We need never to forget this. He is the means that A Course in Miracles is using to save us time on the road to Awakening. When we forgive him for his mistakes, his errors, we are also forgiving ourselves, for there is no difference between him and us. We are truly one in God.
God created our brother to be a Self, Christ within, and we need not to forget this. When we are grateful to him, we find our way to express thanks for him being in our lives. We know that without him, not only would we be lonely, but we would be lost in “sin,” actually mistakes.
When we see mirrored in another our own probably misdeeds, we know what we need to forgive not only in himself but in us. We would be guilty of the same thing, if given half a chance. All of us have fallen short. But we are saved from judgment by refusing to judge him. Our brother is the holy Son of God, the means of our Awakening. We owe him only gratitude for what he has been, is being, and will be to us in the future.
“In seeing the self as separate you have known fear and have been forced to reconcile fear with love. Now, in coming back to relationship and union with me you have realized that you are not separate and now have striven against the ‘opposing’ force of separation. With the acceptance of the Christ in you, you are returned to relationship and need no longer strive against the ‘opposing’ force of separation, for you no longer know it.” (A Course of Love, D:Day40.8)
As we turn from separation, we turn from fear to love. We may even strive actively to turn from fear to love. We have realized that we aren’t separate (as we could never be, for we are part of God), and we have striven to get past these ideas of the ego with every force of our personality. When we accept the Christ in us, we understand that we have returned to a relationship that has long eluded us, and now we no longer need to strive against separation. We know intimately that we are joined with the Christ Self; we know intimately that we are “separate” no longer.
“Forgive the sins your brother thinks he has committed, and all the guilt you think you see in him.
“Here is the holy place of resurrection, to which we come again; to which we return until redemption is accomplished and received. Think who your brother is, before you would condemn him.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19,IV.D.15-16)
We are locked in a passionate embrace with our brother. We can forgive his “sins,” because they be but mistakes, and once forgiven, all gone forever. He feels guilty for his misdeeds. Would we help him by seeing guilt in his as well? I think not. In these mistakes (mistakes are inevitable), we learn what forgiveness really is. We forgive and forgive, 70 times 70 (as the New Testament says), and after a while the dirty cloth of judgment is washed clean, slowly but surely. Dipped in soapy water repeatedly, the black guilt becomes first gray, then just a dingy white, and then, ultimately, entirely white. White as snow. Just that white.
We don’t have anything to fear. Our way is forgiveness of the misdeeds, misspent words, and lamentable thoughts of our brother. When we have achieved the goal of turning over all these mistakes, for judgment by the Holy Spirit, we are home at last. The Holy Spirit will always judge us as the innocent children of God whom we are. He condemns no one, just as God condemns no one. Our way is fairer in this world. We walk a green earth again.
Our brother is our partner in salvation, our means back to Heaven, a Heaven on earth. Would we fail to forgive, when all our brother is asking is forgiveness? We are responsible creatures. We assume responsibility for the mistakes of both ourselves and our brother, for we are actually one. There is no difference. If he has entered our world, our self-contained world, we are really not self-contained at all, but one with him. The fact that he is in our world means that we are in this together. We especially don’t need to assume a self-righteous stance, because the errors that we see him committing are only our own errors, not acted out but seen in him.
Let’s leave behind judging entirely. Judging will block us from Atonement. It is forbidden entirely, as is fear, attack, planning (defensively) about contingencies to come. Leave all of these negative things to the Holy Spirit, Who can handle them magnificently.
We have nothing to fear. God’s plan is benign. And we are saved from ourselves, when we forgive our brother—the one given us by God to love.
“All of this must be ego function because, in reality, you are as you are created to be. And wherever you are in any given moment, enlightenment is but a decision away. That decision entails but one thing: to release the insane valuation that you have placed upon everything and everyone, most especially yourself. That decision rests on the willingness to take God at God’s word. That decision rests on your willingness to cultivate silence.” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Lesson 22, Page 262)
Here we are given a hint about how to “hurry” enlightenment or Awakening: silence. We can realistically understand that when the world is too much with us, too much noise, we are not letting God in. He can’t speak to us in His silence when there is a barrage of other voices demanding our attention.
We need to take time out to just “be” with Him in silence. He will speak to us in this silence.
And then He will give more pointers to let us know how to proceed. When we listen to Him, we will move more quickly to transformation, because His gift of Christ-consciousness is in His will.
“You may not feel that you have ever intended to live in fear. But the displacement of the original intent was so complete that each life has begun with fear and proceeded from this beginning continually reacting fear. While the original intent remained within you and caused you to attempt to express a Self of love despite your fear, fear has thwarted your every effort and caused the very effort that has continued the cycle of fear. To have to try to be who you are and to express who you are is the result of the displacement of the nature of love with the nature of fear. What we now are about is reversing this displacement and returning you to your true nature.” (A Course of Love, T4:3.5)
We had an “original intent” eons ago, and that was to live in love—not fear. But fear intervened, and nothing has ever been right since. This is the crucial, central feature of our lives. We have displaced love with fear, and then we have lived in this egoic state of fear. There ought to be a better way.
And there is. We can learn, and not necessarily by traditional means of study, to displace fear and the egoic self with the Self of love. This change will make all the difference. And A Course of Love is showing us how to effect this change. It is true (as A Course in Miracles says also) that God makes the final decision of when we are ripe for Christ-consciousness or Awakening. Then he metaphorically reaches down to us and lifts us up.
Yet there are things we can do to remove blocks to the awareness of love. This in itself will ease our way, and give us a happy experience. We need to get the idea of suspiciousness out of our minds; we need trust above all else. And trust we can have; just a decision to have it is enough to bring it to us. This does not mean that we will be gullible. We have our own good sense, and this is sense of the real Self, not the ego. When we place our faith in the inner Christ Self, we are far more likely to be right than to be wrong in our evaluations of others. Note that this does not mean “judgment” of others, for judging keeps us from attaining enlightenment. We need to simply rest in the assurance that if we are encouraged to avoid a particular situation (or person), we will know how and where to do so. That is all.
“Beside you is one who offers you the chalice of Atonement, for the Holy Spirit is in him. Would you hold his sins against him, or accept his gift to you. Is this giver of salvation your friend or enemy? Choose which he is, remembering that you will receive of him according to your choice. He has in him the power to forgive your sin, as you for him.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19.IV.D.13)
This quotation identifies the holy relationship: My brother (and sister) and I save each other. Would we see sin in the other? Then we see sin in ourselves. Would you judge another? Then we judge ourselves. Would we hate a little? Then we hate ourselves. It is a two-way street. What we give is what we receive. Always, without fail.
So our brother is actually the one who offers Atonement to us. He gives salvation in its ultimate to us, though God makes the decision about when. We can forgive “sins” of each other, though these sins are actually just mistakes.
Do not fear karma if the choices that our brother makes are, in our opinion, bad. We live in the age of grace, and a heartfelt forgiveness cancels out the karma. Karma is, after all, only cause and effect. And if the effect is canceled out, then the cause has been forgiven. Entirely.
This is hard to believe for some of us. We are so used to thinking that we will be punished for wrongdoing, and many feel that that punishment will boomerang from the deeds that we have done, the words that we have said, the thoughts that we have had.
It is not so. Forgiveness cancels out the error. When we forgive, we have canceled out the error in both ourselves and our brother. It is no more. The error is gone. Let this judgment of the Holy Spirit burrow deeply in our minds. And then we will have a healed mind, highly unlikely to repeat the mistake.
Once forgiven a mistake, we don’t want to repeat it.
“This transformation from a state of fear to Love, or from ignorance (the ignoring of truth) to enlightenment (the embracing and acknowledging of truth) occurs for each mind within the dream in a very specific way. That is, it must occur according to what is required to release the patterns that have settled into that particular mind. In a general way, those patterns are the same for everyone. But in their expression, they take on a perfect uniqueness.” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Lesson 22, Page 262)
We must be prepared for transformation through a cleansing of our innermost thoughts. Practically, this means that the subconscious mind gradually opens to those attitudes that need to be changed so that we are truly walking God’s way. Transformation, when following the guidance given in Jesus’ channeled works, is gentle and usually gradual.
We first get glimpses, called a satori in Eastern religion. And then these moment of extreme peace lengthen so that hours may pass in true peace. But there is a particular moment, which we will remember, when transformation comes upon us to stay. If we walk in Love rather than fear, this new state remains with us.
From Celia Hales’ Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal. Copyright 1995.
On second-guessing my life’s work: “What do I really want to do with the rest of my life? Is it enough just to follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting on a daily basis? Is long-range planning really a defense? (A Course in Miracles suggests that it is.) (W- pI.135.14:1) Could I do my writing as well as have a more successful library career?
The key to the latter would be ever-better interactions with the people I encounter everyday. Sometimes I think the job of librarian really doesn’t accomplish much. All of us work so hard on meaningless things; I see it all the time on the reference desk among the patrons, and I try to be tolerant.
Healing minds in the sense meant by the Course has really become my preoccupation. Knowing that, is it any wonder that I’m still tied to my very social occupation even though I’d rather write?
“To look upon the fear of God does need some preparation. Only the sane can look on stark insanity and raving madness with pity and compassion, but not with fear. For only if they share in it does it seem fearful, and you do share in it until you look upon your brother with perfect faith and love and tenderness.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19.IV.D.11)
Here we are encouraged to look upon our brother with forgiveness wrought of faith, love, tenderness. He deserves no less, and neither do we, for how we look upon our brother is how we look upon ourselves. There is no difference.
We see God as we see ourselves, and we are lost in insanity, and therefore we fear God, for somehow we think that He too is lost in insanity. It is not true. But we have to recognize that we need to be sane to see God clearly. And we are heading in that direction, toward sanity.
We have long been insane, lost in madness. It does not have to be so, it does not have to remain so. We can step away from madness just as much as have wallowed in it for eons. Now is our time. Now is the time to turn away from insanity. Then we will finally see God clearly as the God of Love that He truly is.
When we look on our brother with compassion, we also look upon ourselves with compassion. Nothing else is right for either of us. But as long as we are lost in egoic fear, the way will seem long and, indeed, impossible.
It is not impossible. Just let a little love into our lives, and we quickly see that this other way, the better way, is what we have been looking for all of our lives.
Seek the love tomorrow, the compassion, the sanity.
“Every obstacle that peace must flow across is surmounted in just the same way; the fear that raised it yields to the love beyond, and so the fear is gone. And so it is with this. The desire to get rid of peace and drive the Holy Spirit from you fades in the presence of the quiet recognition that you love Him.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19.IV.D.5)
The obstacles to our peace are kept in place by our cooperation. We would remove our cooperation from the equation, and then we will know love as we have never known it before. We will no longer want to get rid of peace; we will know that we love our Guide, the Holy Spirit, and we will open ourselves, on a continuing basis, to His guidance.
This is the obvious way that A Course in Miracles is teaching us on almost every page. Turn to the Holy Spirit, succumb to His guidance, and be healed.
We will be living in quiet now. We will understand that guidance comes to us in quiet moments, normally, though sometimes the situation is urgent enough that the Holy Spirit gets through to us even when we are in turmoil.
We are in turmoil only when the ego has arisen in us. We can turn aside just as easily as we welcomed the ego. And turn aside we must, if we are to be saved from disaster. We would not entertain disaster in any shape at all.
We would know God’s peace today. Let us pray for the establishment of a good mood, an uplifted mood, and in this mood, love comes in easily.
“Though we have said it unto you many times, we ask you to truly take pause and to consider this one statement: We come forth to join with you, not from a place above you or beyond you, but a place in which you already dwell eternally.” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Lesson 22, Page 261)
We are at home in Heaven, something we have trouble believing because bad things still happen to us. When we decide that Heaven is what we want, and ALL that we want, we are on the way to eliminating the bad things. Believe this. Take it to heart.
This statement is coming from the lineage, the group of souls who are Jesus’ helpers in the endeavor to save this world. Membership is open to us, too. We just have to go God’s, and Jesus’, way.
Ask to be told more. This will come to pass. We are living in the Now in time, and, yes, in the Heaven of our awareness. If we don’t fully understand, then ask to be enlightened about what we can reasonably believe.
“The fourth obstacle to be surmounted hangs like a heavy veil before the face of Christ. Yet as His face rises beyond it, shining with joy because He is in His Father’s Love, peace will lightly brush the veil aside and run to meet Him, and to join with Him at last.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19.IV.D.2)
We are all a Christ in miniature. Jesus shares his Christhood with us. And when we have learned to see the face of Christ in all our brothers, we will be home free at last. This quotation shows the way in which Christ’s face in our brothers rises to meet us; the veil is lifted. This is true pleasure in the moment, when we see Christ in our brothers. We are being blessed in this moment. It is a harbinger of better days ahead.
We can pray to see Christ in all our brothers. It is a mystical experience that will not last for most people. But in the happening do we see what we are to see in our better moments for the rest of our lives. For Christ is behind the veil of physical form in everyone.
We will join with our brother, metaphorically, when we see Christ in him. We will want to be one with him. And it will be granted us, if only that for holy instant in time.
We will be at peace. Christ will have come to us, recognized at last.
“Loss of love comes from only one source. Call it fear or call it separation but it is still the same. For in your separated state you ask that love make you special to someone else, and that one special to you. You think this is what love is for, and so you make of it something it is not and only call it love.” (A Course of Love, C:14.22)
“If you do not believe you can reverse or ‘turn back’ to the state in which you existed before the original error, then you never shall.
. . .
“This space you can turn back to holds no judgment and no fear, and so it is the repository of all that has proceeded from love. There it keeps all love’s gifts safe for you. Love’s gifts are gifts of creation or extension, gifts you have both given and received. Each act of love is added to the space in the universe that is yours and has become part of the whole along with you. All that has proceeded from fear is nothing, and has no existence apart from your own thoughts.” (A Course of Love, C:17.12, C:17.14)
Within the separation, the illusory separation from God that hasn’t actually happened, it is impossible for us to be contented aside from special relationships. And, of course, these do not content us long, for we ask both too much and too little of them. Special relationships are fraught with fear. We fear being alone again, that this special one will love less (or leave), or that we (even though together still) do not love equally.
These concepts are all meaningless to a holy relationship, which seeks never to take, but always to give—though we know that giving and receiving are one in love. We will be contented when we give up the idea of having special relationships. Not that these relationships will be snatched away from us—no, never—but that we will never be happy on a continual basis until we have transformed our loves into holy loves.
Fear then will slip away. We know that if we lose one form of love, another will take its place. While we do not try to substitute loves for one another, we do recognize that it is our internal love that is most important. And this means that all Selves are One, all loves are One. Fear has no basis for gaining a foothold when ideas such as this are given sway in a life.
“The delights of our holy love will be given to all. Thus, those who are most called to love can enjoy our beauty, and join our song of praise and gratitude.
“To give ourselves entirely will be the hallmark of our expression, serving love, the joyful fruit of our union. By virtue of this, the world will have a new light. Those who seek comfort will find it. Those who long for truth will receive it. Those who grope for love will stop looking, for because of our divine union, they will recognize that love is what they are, and that their being goes wherever they go.”
“The time of truth has come.” Choose Only Love, bk.7, Prelude.
In the Prelude to the last book in the series, we are ushered into a new era, a new era that all of us reading will experience.
We would not have gotten this far in Choose Only Love unless we were taking to heart its bounteous message.
Take our places in the great endeavor we are embarking upon–a new world on Earth. We will succeed, for we have the Love backing us all the way. The positive will win out in the end. Negativism defeats itself, if not immediately, eventually.
“The displacement of the original intent, while it did not change the original cause, formed a false nature for the personal self. This displacement of the original intent can be simply stated as the displacement of love with fear. It is as simple as that. Yet the way in which each of you have interpreted this displacement has come to seem quite complex.” (A Course of Love, T4:3.4)
We think that we live complex lives, and, indeed, the ego has reveled in that thought. But the only thing that happened, the detour into fear, was a shift from love to fear. We may this transition as quite young children. And we are led down a path toward living in fear that has always been hard to reverse.
Now we have a way, and it is simple in the extreme. We simply learn to listen to what our heart is telling us. Our heart always opts for the love that is hidden away deep within it. Our heart always knows how to guide us. In this time of Christ, the heart is our beacon, for the Christ-Self is within, like the heart. Of course, we don’t mean the physical heart. “Heart,” as used in A Course of Love, is a metaphor for the deepest feeling part of ourselves. We feel rather than think, and in that shift, a shift in consciousness comes slower or later.
We can hope for sooner, for those of us reading these words long for Christ-consciousness (if we have not already reached this). We long to live serene and awakened lives, sure of ourselves, sure of our brothers and sisters, and sure of God.
When we occupied physical bodies, we made a mistake, a mistake that could not happen but did. We opted for separation from God by feeling a tiny bit of fear that grew into an almost all-encompassing fear. This situation does not have to go on. We can retreat from fear into our real essence of love. At any time.
“When anything seems to you to be a source of fear, when any situation strikes you with terror and makes your body tremble and the cold sweat of fear comes over it, remember it is always for one reason; the ego has perceived it as a symbol of fear, a sign of sin and death.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19.IV.C.11)
This quotation helps us to understand the dynamics of the ego. The ego is a part of our belief about ourselves that will not rest until we are miserable, though it pretends to offer us the good. It does not offer us the good.
Particularly poignant as a expression of fear, this quotation assures us that the terror that we sometimes feel is ego-generated. Love would never treat us like this, and love never does. We are “in our egos” when we quail in fear against this unnamed something that fills us with cold shaking. The ego thinks that this something out there is a sign of “sin and death,” and so it encourages us to be fearful.
If, even for a moment, we bypass the bitter dregs of death, the stubborn and witchy attempts to handle this unnamed fear, we will be OK. But the only real choice is love, a manifestation of love by forgiveness. Give the angry deed over to the Holy Spirit and His judgment; He alone can handle what has aroused such strong negative emotions.
The ego thrills, and the ego dashes to the ground. There are always oscillations, and there will always be. It the way in which we come to see that the ego is not the way that we want to go. The ego is constantly being undone. And well that it is.
Love only satisfies; love only cools the overwrought emotions. Dwell with God in the form of the Holy Spirit, and so the brittle and rigid emotions will subside. God knows us best, of course, and the Holy Spirit will guide us out of even this abyss.
“The end of sin, which nestles quietly in the safety of your relationship, protected by your union with your brother, and ready to grow into a mighty force for God is very near. The infancy of salvation is carefully guarded by love, preserved from every thought that would attack it, and quietly made ready to fulfill the mighty task for which it was given you. Your newborn purpose is nursed by angels, cherished by the Holy Spirit and protected by God Himself.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19.IV.C.9)
More beautiful words. We are viewing the end of sin, when we forgive our brother and welcome him into our heart with love. Overwhelming love that knows no opposite. We are just now moving into salvation; it will be a while before that salvation reaches its ultimate in Awakening. At least for most people. But each path to salvation is unique to us as individuals. The Holy Spirit does not have a cookie cutter approach to our life in this world.
This is one of the few times in A Course in Miracles when Jesus alludes to the Other Side, with entities that attend us. Here he refers to angels; our purpose is “nursed by angels.” And our purpose well needs to be, for we are infants in the business of salvation. We may have been “saved,” in a traditional sense, long ago, but it is unlikely that we have forgiven fully. And forgiveness is the means of salvation in ACIM. We need to carve this into our hearts. We forgive, then we come to understand, and then when the forgiveness is total, we have a holy relationship with our brother.
The totality of all that forgiveness holds out to us may reach us suddenly, but usually it reaches us more slowly. We give up judgment gradually, listening to the Holy Spirit only in snatches.
We need to listen always, for He is identifies our way out of the mire in which we have become embedded. Ask for help in forgiveness today; this is our quickest route to a holy relationship with not just one, but all, our brothers.
“The delights of our holy love will be given to all. Thus, those who are most called to love can enjoy our beauty, and join our song of praise and gratitude.
“To give ourselves entirely will be the hallmark of our expression, serving love, the joyful fruit of our union. By virtue of this, the world will have a new light. Those who seek comfort will find it. Those who long for truth will receive it. Those who grope for love will stop looking, for because of our divine union, they will recognize that love is what they are, and that their being goes wherever they go.”
“The time of truth has come.” Choose Only Love, bk.7, Prelude.
I worry about people who have heard that love is the Answer so many times that they are numbed by it. But love IS the Answer, and until we relinquish our egoic tendencies and welcome unconditional trust and love into our live, we will never know consistent peace.
This means to give up attack in any form. Doing so makes a giant leap into the arms of God, and His Voice, the Holy Spirit. When we are agitated and inclined to argue, we are indeed lost to God. He can’t get through to us when we are agitated. Pray today for a surcease of agitation, and give a welcome to the peace that supplants it.
We are into the time of the Second Coming of Christ. Nowhere in Jesus’ recent channeled writings are we told that this might be a physical incarnation. But we ARE told that we ourselves are part of this Second Coming. Jesus shares his Christhood with us.
And when we respond rightly, in love, we respond with one accord to be better future.
“There is no room for madness here, nor for the tempest of rough seas. Here there is only life, peace, and creation. Nothing will disturb your mind or heart anymore, since everything that afflicted your soul has been forgotten forever, erased from the memory of your heart in love. Now there will only be expressions of being, extensions of love, and unlimited giving serving the cause and effect of love. Choose Only Love, bk.7, 1:I. Message from Jesus.
Here is a fantastic promise from Jesus. By Book 7 of Choose Only Love, if we have taken all seven books to heart, we are ready to experiment continuous peace. Choose Only Love has cocooned us with love, given us insights by doing so that take us home to God. We are not going to fail now unless we abandon our faith. And who among us would do so at this late date?
We did entertain a “tiny, mad idea” of separation from God, something we first learned from Jesus in A Course in Miracles. But now “There is no room for madness,” and we have walked by the direction pointed out, back to God.
We may still have certain patterns of thought, called “egoic patterns” by A Course of Love, that will occasionally give us pause. But even this is very, very rare now–if it happens at all. We walk humbly before our God, sure of His promises, sure of His guidance, sure of His love.
“Love, too, would set a feast before you, on a table covered with a spotless cloth, set in a quiet garden where no sound but singing and a softly joyous whispering is ever heard. This is a feast that honors your holy relationship, and at which everyone is welcomed as an honored guest.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-19.IV.A.16)
Lovely passage, melodic in its choice of words. This quotation is meant to lighten our attitude toward the holy relationship. The holy relationship, unlike the special, is a place of calm and quiet (note the “quiet garden”). The special relationship has flights of joy, but these are always followed by times of dashed hopes; we climb upward, only to dash our feet on a stone on the ground.
Note of these vicissitudes are present in the calm and peaceful, and joyous always, holy relationship. This is a relationship that is permeated, through and through, with love. We don’t have to strain toward some sort of unnatural high; we are cocooned in an ocean of love that knows no bounds.
And, once we have achieved the holy relationship, we would never go back to the unholy, or special, again. As we make one relationship holy, we would want to make all of our relationships with brothers holy.
And we can. Just put our minds to it. It is not hard. Forgiveness is key, as always.
“Above all, beloved friends, remember: there are no mistakes! You are free to trust the momentum that seems to be shaping your life. For you are the one who has complied with it by inviting the Holy Spirit to take you home. You are the one that has prayed for acceleration. Therefore, also be the one who accepts the grace being offered unto you.” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 21, Page 260)
It is a startling idea that there are no mistakes! Even the “tiny, mad idea” that started us on the road to separation from God was not a “mistake,” per se. God let us go when we were lost in adolescent rebellion.
And now He is welcoming us home, again at our bidding. When things seem rough, realize that this is “acceleration,” guided by the Holy Spirit.
We need to remain compliant, flexible, in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Further rebellion will be counter-productive. Drop any rebellion, and decide today to come home to God, to be home in God.
“God is already here. I am forever God’s. I surrender.
“Surrender is the fruit of allowance. Surrender is the fruit of forgiveness. Surrender is the same as the atonement.” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 21, Page 259)
The idea of surrender is dear to my heart. Before I discovered Jesus’ recent channeled works, I knew that surrender would be “my way.” I knew that God was asking me to surrender to a plan for my life that seemed daunting
God is living through us. He is not a “separate” deity. His way works, when we listen and follow the prompts that harm no one else, and help us. His sure guidance keeps us walking along the right pathway.
Here The Way of Mastery says that surrender to God is the same as atonement. This I find a startling idea. When we know what God is asking of us, and we follow, that is both surrender and atonement.
“Blessed soul, beauty of eternal life! Here we are, united in a time and place that has merged into the eternal. Together we are the light of the world. United we are the sun of life. From our relationship of pure love, a new reality has been born, a reality pure and holy. We are one mind, one heart, one holy being. In our unity we are as we have always been–the immutability of being, expressing itself forever in glory.” Choose Only Love, bk.7, 1:I. Message from Jesus.
Jesus’ words are comforting. He is reassuring us that we have never left the arms of God–and of himself. He blesses us with his words.
If we have ever felt “not enough”–and all of us have–then we need feel insufficiency no longer. In the midst of this quotation, we find that our saving grace is in our unity one with another and with God.
We have not changed–not in reality. We took a detour that we now regret, though because everything is actually perfect, we know that God also, with us, made the decision for separation. It was first our choice as free beings of free will, but He “let go” because we were so eager to experience all that could be experienced.
Now we come home, never to leave again. We are wrapped up in a cocoon of love, and lest we forget, we have God’s promptings to keep us in the know.
“All suffering is the resistance of reality. All awakening and healing is the letting go of resistance. Forgiveness. Allowance.”(“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 21, Page 259)
What we resist becomes stronger, and when we resist pain, turning it in suffering, we are on the wrong track.
Acceptance is the way for suffering to be eased, though this is a hard teaching to wrap our minds/hearts around. But healing is in its wings. A healing of emotions, perhaps, or maybe a healing of the physical pain as well.
God will answer. Remember that the pain is at least partly mental, and this mental healing is what will transpire first. Then ideas will come about healing the physical pain as well.
Relax into the pain. Let it come. This is true allowance.
“Let’s return a moment to the choice that was made for the human experience, the choice to express whom you are in the realm of physicality. You were not ‘better’ or more ‘right’ before this choice was made than you are now. You made a choice consistent with the laws of creation and the steps of creation outlined above. From this choice, many experiences ensued. Some of these experiences were the result of fear, some the result of love. The choice to express who you are in physical terms was not a choice made of fear but made of love. A physical self is not inconsistent with the laws of God or of creation. It is simply a choice.” (A Course of Love, T3:12.8)
A Course of Love reassures us that physicality is not a second-best choice. It is purely within the laws of God, though the way in which this choice worked out for us was flawed. We developed the ego, and in so doing, our physicality took on a role that has hindered our full development in this world.
Now w e are faced with a new choice: an elevated Self of form, form without the ego. And, indeed, the latter half of A Course of Love indicates that we have given up the ego as a bad idea. And the Self of form will know God in an intimate way that the egoic self never did, never could.
This blessing ought to give us reason to be thankful. We are not trapped by bodies at all, though we might have once viewed our life on earth in these terms. We can live well and happily in the flesh.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 