Live Zen-Like Lives Filled with Mellowness

“You must not see your brothers and sisters within the house of illusion but must see them where they truly are—within the House of Truth. As soon as you would “see” the house of illusion, you would make it real, and with its reality judgment would be upon you…not any judgment of God, but judgment of your own mind.” (ACOL, T3:11.13)

We must not hold hard feelings against our brothers and sisters who have not yet emerged from the house of illusion. Indeed, in this passage we learn that we must not make real this house at all. We must look past it to the House of Truth which encompasses all things. This House of Truth, the Kingdom of God, is where we really belong. And we have known this throughout our religious upbringing. Jesus does not make new rules so much as he reminds us of the ones that we have always heard and tried to live by. He shows us the new way, though, in that we don’t give any credence to sin anymore, and we realize mistakes for what they are. We move beyond our mistakes to that which will erase them forever. We know that we are innocent of wrongdoing, for we have been living in illusion, and what happens in illusion does not really happen at all.

If we see our brothers and sisters in the house of illusion, we are guilty of judging them. And newly arising fear and judgment will cripple our progress. Our glimpses of Christ-consciousness will stop, and a new egoic consciousness will be in danger of taking us over.

This we cannot let happen. This we do not want. Let us walk toward what we do want, which is a world washed clean of mistakes and the resultant conflict, suffering, and pain. There is a way to see a world like this. Jesus tells us that God sees this world, a world of joy and peace, happiness and contentment, serenity and calm. All of this can be ours when we leave behind fear and judgment. If this seems too much to ask, we might ask instead how we might live Zen-like lives filled with mellowness. Not lives that engage with the suffering and pain, but lives that look beyond to a better horizon.

Our way will smooth out as we let more and more glimpses of enlightenment take us over. The way will clear; life will emerge from the ruins of an ego that has been rejected.

Take time today to ask what we can do to bring this world into being. That is the best question that we could ask. It is the only real question before us now.

Prayer

I ask for a once-and- for- all end to anxieties today. I know that I have not walked the whole pathway as long as I still have fear as part of my emotional makeup. I ask for this fear to end.

And may I not judge my brothers and sisters. This too is forbidden, according to Jesus.

Be with me for a calm and centering day. Thank You.

Amen.