“Today we join together to birth the new. (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the New, 12.1)”
1 – New Era
We are heading into a new time in our world, a new era. With Jesus, we are ready to birth the new. He will help; we do not have to feel that we are abandoned.
2 – Dialogue
“From this time on, I will respond to you through direct communication or dialogue rather than through teaching. As with all new means of doing anything, this dialogue must have a starting point. This is it. (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the New, 12.2)”
3 – Inner Words
The next book in the combined edition of A Course of Love is the Dialogues. This means that Jesus intends to engage us in a dialogue, and we may suppose that our inner words may reflect what he has to say to us, though he does not make this clear.
4 – Ongoing Dialogue
“This dialogue will, however, be ongoing, and this is your invitation to participate in this dialogue. (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the New, 12.4)”
5 – Mistakes
We are to be an equal partner in this dialogue, and we need not hang back or express undue humility in the future. We are The Accomplished, however much we still make mistakes.
6 – Jesus
Jesus will engage us in a dialogue that will tell us how to proceed.
7 – Learning / Unity
“Two changes of enormous proportions are upon you. The first is the end of learning. . .The second is the beginning of sharing in unity. . . . (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the New, 12.5)”
8 – Sharing
We may not yet feel ready to dispense with learning, but we are asked to do so. We are sharing in the One that we are with Jesus and everyone external and internal, including God, Who is internal. We project, of course, as we have known, but we still share, and in the sharing is our destiny writ large.
9 – The All
We are One with the All, and the All is everything. This is the unity with which we are in relationship. The terms, “unity” and “relationship” are used repeatedly in A Course of Love to set us straight.
10 – Surprises
“Take delight in these surprises. Laugh and be joyous. You no longer have a need to figure things out. Surprises cannot be figured out! (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the New, 12.6)”
11 – Analysis
We do not have to analyze anymore. The ego loves to analyze, but we would be best to leave this habit of thought behind, now. Analysis is a way to try to come to understand, but we are embarking on a new future, a future that is independent of the past, and so analysis of the present that builds upon what we learned in the past will have no meaning.
12 – Joy
We are told to laugh and be joyous! Jesus does not take us so seriously, and elsewhere we are told that seriousness (of which we have had much) is of the ego. The new Self does not take Itself seriously, and we will enjoy a happier reality by embodying that better state. We need to relax and be calm. In the calm, we will come to know the new reality; we will be perfectly calm and quiet all the time (from A Course in Miracles). We will not engage in drama. We will know joy, which has its own flights, but we will not engage in meaningless battles of heightened awareness brought on by fear.
13 – Dialogues
“Once these dialogues are sustainable without need of the written word, the written word will be less necessary. (The Treatises of A Course of Love: ‘A Treatise on the New,’ 12.7)”
14 – How Many Times to Read ACOL?
There is a chance that those who have read A Course of Love through once (or even more than once, several times) may feel that it is wrong to go back to these volumes. We may think that we are “learning,” when that has been counseled against.
15 – We Need to Reread ACOL Intensively
I think this is a misreading. While it is true that in the Forty Days and Forty Nights on the mountaintop (from the Dialogues), Jesus says that his intention is not for us to make this journey repeatedly, it is also true that the chapters are dense with meaning. And one or even a few readings will not make them our own. We need actually to memorize some of the words, to keep their pristine glory in our minds.
16 – The Role of Contemplation
How are we to “learn” if it is not through reading? I think that contemplation, a form of meditation, is in order here. Others might call this prayer (though ACIM and ACOL do not discuss prayer very much, probably because it is assumed). God will speak to us through revelation, we are reassured, but there must be a time set aside to receive messages. And this normally comes through contemplative time, though it may also come through chance words spoken by our brothers and sisters. Indeed, anything in our world can be a way to receive God’s revelation. But we must be careful that what we are receiving is actually true guidance from God. There must be a sureness about what we are receiving. And we must also recognize that our egos can reassert themselves and lead us astray when we least desire to be led astray.
17 – Understanding from God
May our understanding rise to knowledge, as God Himself reaches down and blesses us with revelation.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
You know that I have always read much. But I have also contemplated much. I ask for Your guidance about the proper balance of these two ways of coming to knowledge (rather than just perception). You grant the knowledge and the revelation. Let me always be aware of Your presence.
As this year draws to a close, and my reading of ‘Treatise on the New” draws to a close, may I retain the concepts as I move forward in my “journey without distance.”
May this day go smoothly. I know how much I need You, still, and I need You very, very much. I know that You will always manifest Your Presence when I am at all open to hearing You in the silence. May I listen to the silence with great benefit today.
Amen.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 