Celia Hales – MIRACLES EACH DAY

Relationships

“You have a real relationship, and it has meaning.

It is as like your real relationship with God

as equal things are like unto each other.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-20.VI.12:4-6)

When we are in league with God in a big way, our relationships with others transforms. Rather than being “special,” meaning egoic, our relationships take on a reality that they have heretofore lacked.

If one wants real relationships, we must get right with God. Putting God first in our lives rights things. He speaks to us in silence, but a silence that gives us guidance–if we are open to hearing and to healing.

“Stop and smell the roses”

This everyday admonition invites speculation: If we don’t, what is the worst that will happen to us?

An unexamined life may mean less real living (as opposed to existing), especially if what happens always seems just to “happen” to us, rather than being selected by us.

METANOIA

by Celia Hales. Published in the May – June 2023 issue of Miracles magazine; Jon Mundy, publisher; Glenn Hovemann, editor.

If you understand it well, the healing of memory is the only thing that the world needs . . . (Choose Only Love, bk. I, 13:III)

And along the way, everything unlike Love would come up for you to release it. (The Way of Mastery, Lesson 4, Page 52)

I want to tell you to be embraced by love and to let all the feelings of love flowing through you now find their expression. (A Course of Love, D:Day10.38)

In saying “metanoia,” Archangel Raphael is using a term not previously used in received writings, but which he explains as atonement or transformation (Choose Only Love [CHOL], bk. VI, 11:III). The new term is so apt, for it conjoins mind and heart, as we are asked to do. The search engine Bing says “change of mind”; Google says “a transformative change of heart,” and so both mind and heart are united in the meaning. We have earlier found the words Awakening or Christ-consciousness in received readings. The experience, whatever we might call it, dovetails a healing of memory with progression to a new place in the evolution of our spiritual development.

Before we can reach metanoia on our pathway, we are encouraged to let unconscious thoughts rise to the surface. The only thing we have to do is not abort this process by a return to the ego. Metanoia will happen of its own accord when God knows we are ready, and I believe He knows we are ready when we are letting ourselves be loved. We let what wants to arise do so, and we drench those memories in forgiving love, relinquishing everything that is not love. This first step marks the healing of memory.

In this process, we can see that we are dropping from memory all that does not embrace love. We are told of forgetfulness, a necessary step. Do not let a forgetful memory “throw” you; it is “always temporary,” as we are promised (CHOL, bk. IV, 7:II). We are relinquishing, by a process of transmuting, everything that hinders our direct relationship with God. We will now be guided by revelation, not the thinking mind.

A time of great rejoicing follows. I think we are buoyed by the love we are sensing that God, Jesus, Mary, angels are showering upon us at this crucial juncture. There may be a powerful influx of energy during this time; it is a necessary step, not to be aborted, not to be “prayed” away.

We next move into our own more complete expressions of the love of God as we now comprehend that Love. Jesus wants our work in the world, our contributions. Yet this is not so much in “doing” as an effortless way of being that suffuses our lives as well as the lives of our brothers and sisters–wherever they might be found in the world or even in the universes. “Being” is our way now, following Mary’s way (as we first discovered in A Course of Love).

And being who we really are is the end result of a progression of spiritual evolution and development that will culminate, we are promised, in “weaving a new tapestry that literally means a new world” (CHOL, bk. IV, 9:IV).

Thy Grace Descends

From Celia’s forthcoming Sonnets Divine:

I long for Ye, dear God! Today I need

To turn my life o’er once again to Ye.

My faith seems weak and frail, a mere small seed

That ought to grow all great in Love, doth see?

Surrender all I do just now, again,

And yet again. When I surrender all,

When I surrender all, a hand Ye lend.

Thy grace descends; Ye turn and heed my call!

Indeed, I need a re-surrender true,

For oft’ I have made turn in life to Ye.

What more ought I now seek to say or do?

No thing, my Lord! Abide in Ye be key!

Ye love and bless me sure; I don’t ask more.

Thy guidance heals in truth–no lie, no lore!

On What Really Counts in Life. . .

I’ve wondered if putting A Course in Miracles into practice in a fast-paced and demanding life is the best thing that I could do in that regard, to calm things down. I long for lasting peace, and the way to follow God is to slow down.

I don’t think life is meant to be as fast-paced as we live it.

We Are One

How much of what we do exists only for ourselves? Even a teacher learns better the lesson that she teaches than do her students.

We are all One, and so how much does this really matter?

When I Am an Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple

Years ago in an especially sensitive moment, I saw a phonograph record jacket that depicted a glamorous, vivacious woman in a cherry red, sequined dress, and in a smaller picture off to one side, a subdued, paler, more timid version of the same woman holding a violin.

I imagined that as a little child I would have wanted to grow up to be the glamorous woman, but that my parents wanted the artistic violinist. Playing the violin had actually been one of many ambitions of my father for me.

Looking back, I know that the path my parents set me on was what the innermost “I” wanted in my lifetime. Certainly my talents are not “show biz.” But there is still that urge to be a freer sort of person than would ever have passed muster in my childhood home.

These fantasies are akin to the poem, “Warning,” in which a woman looks on her life longing to be a braver sort: “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple,” Jenny Joseph says.

Might I take this to heart? Isn’t there time to redress? And shouldn’t I begin right away?

Every day is the first day of the rest of our lives.

And possible of new beginnings.

RELEASING ATTACK

by Celia Hales. Published in Miracles Magazine; Jon Mundy, publisher; Glenn Hovemann, editor.

—

I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts. (ACIM, COA ed, W-23)

When anyone attacks you . . ., they are merely crying out in their own fear and insanity. (WOM, Part 3, Lesson 31)

The time has passed when the forces of ego attacked the truth with all their ferocity. (CHOL bk 7, 5:I)

No one who has studied A Course in Miracles can forget the first quotation above; it is a mantra. The world in Workbook Lesson 23 (of 365) is a world in which attack rules because we have not traveled far back to God. Our first step is to change our own attack. When we drop attack, we find that the sword we have been pointing at our heart has a blunt end.

The next lesson is a reassurance about the attack that we still perceive from others. The Way of Mastery says that what we are seeing from others is really coming from fear and insanity. I have found that when I say internally, to myself, “This is just insanity,” my own insanity subsides; I don’t want to attack in return.

Finally we reach the place of Choose Only Love. Our world has become calmer now, and attack has taken a much secondary place–if we see it in ourselves or others at all. Attack has actually been a ploy of the ego, and when the ego and its egoic patterns have been sufficiently weakened and then dissipated, we are living in a new age, the time of Christ. Now life will get better, a lot better. We will find in most of our moments that we experience the happiness that God wishes for us. Perhaps happiness has been a long time in coming, but come it does. Life without an egoic propensity to attack–and be attacked–takes on a mellow, pleasant aspect that is the essence of God’s peace. And where God’s peace reigns, happiness reigns.

We see this in the spirit of Christmas, which as I write is ending for another year. Even egoic people drop their defenses once a year. If we retain God’s spirit, we know the spirit of Christmas year-round.

And that is what leaving the ego behind does for us.

Pacing

Norman Vincent Peale counseled pacing in daily life (though he did not call it that). He writes that, if in God’s own time, it is not there, it was not meant to be there.

This also works to mediate against precipitous action.

I don’t know that it would work in a life-threatening situation, but in my own life and work, I know that considered action and going with the flow (not bucking the tide) is what works.

Bear Lightly What Needs Must Be

Is suffering a choice? Leigh says “yes”; Betsy disagrees. And neither has had a particularly happy life.

The fact that suffering might be chosen should give us the impetus to walk lightly along our paths. As the sympathetic executioner is reported to have said to Socrates on handing him the hemlock: “And so fare you well, and try to bear lightly what must needs be . . .”

Soft & Warm Heart

A Course in Miracles says, “I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.” (W-pI.23) Jesus means that the “real world,” a dream granted by the Holy Spirit, is without the conflicts that most of us experience in the modern, work-a-day, world. The miracle comes about because of inner changes in a person.

Even the most conflicted day loses its punching power when one looks out on the chaos from a soft and warm heart.

Ego vs. Choosing Peace

The re-entry problems at work on Monday are not physiological or even psychological for the frequently cited reasons. After “flight” on the preceding two days, the body gets up once again to “fight.” And the more relaxing the flight has been, the more likely the fight will bring fears.

One has let down one’s guard, and the ego doesn’t take kindly to peace. It knows its days are numbered if its owner should ever learn to choose Peace consistently.

Pondering a Life’s Work

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?

Work Musings

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal

Colds or “bugs” are a form of seeking outside ourselves, convenient crutches we use when we are very weary from walking in the world. One then has an excuse to sit down. Written a couple of days before I succumbed to a succession of mild but debilitating viruses: “What do I really want to experience in my world? I don’t want to be hassled constantly to do more-more- more. I need to say ‘no’ to things for a month and then some.”

–

On the work complexities of modern life: “I desperately need to learn how to pace myself. If ever I get ahead at work, I immediately ‘fill my plate’ with a dozen things that are sure to swamp me eventually.” Four days later, the dawn of a solution:

“I sensed today that I make things too hard. I have too much a sense of responsibility. I should let go and let God. Life lived from moment to moment ‘listening’ (to the Holy Spirit) is much more interesting. I can be much too work-oriented, so much that I become a drudge.”

TINY MAD IDEA

Note: Published in Miracles magazine, September – October, 2022 (Jon Mundy, publisher; Glenn Hovemann, editor)

“Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny, mad idea at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh.” (A Course in Miracles, COA ed., T-27.X.6:1)

“To access true knowledge of yourself and thus end all madness, you must go to knowledge in the right way, which is through love.” (Choose Only Love, “Wisdom,” bk 4, 5.II)

We can’t remember any of this, but when we failed to laugh at the idea that we might attack God, making an illusion we would like better than the reality He provided, separating from our brothers and sisters, we chose madness. And in madness is how we will stay until we discover truly how to love. Love rights everything. Unfortunately, we have become so accustomed to hearing that love is the Answer, that we don’t fully comprehend the import.

Perhaps if we try to discover how to love, we will make some progress. We first forgive our brothers and sisters for what they have not done to us. We have been living in a dream, because that is the only way that we could experience the madness that we chose. We must drop judgment of our brothers and sisters, and we do this by recognizing the illusion. A Course in Miracles says that fear is judgment. (T-29.X.9:3) Fear is the opposite of love, and when we drop the judgment that fuels fear, we are left with love. Then, in love, we are safe in God’s arms once again.

We all want true knowledge of who we are. And this true knowledge of self and others arises when we love, ourselves and others. A tiny amount of love can be “milked” for all that it is worth. And when we do so, we are enhancing that which is our heritage, and that heritage is love. God’s Love.

When the fear dissipates, we are no longer afraid of what others will do to us. Because now we don’t fear or judge our brothers and sisters, we are free to love them—possibly for the first time.

When overwhelmed with love, thank God for this blessing.

Planning Our Lives

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal.

I think we plan our lives before we are born. If so, given that I have always spent much time in thinking about what I should do next, I’m sure I planned carefully on the other side.

I once had an intuition that my growing-up years went just as intended. I wanted to emphasize working hard on academic pursuits and developing the impetus to achieve. Now when I question the advisability of all that, surely some balancing act is taking place.

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All of us enter life with a script that is filled with challenges and hurdles meant to build Character in the highest sense possible. But, as Wordsworth says, we forget about this intention (“. . .Shades of the prison-house begin to close/ Upon the growing Boy, . . . .” Consequently, we attend alumni reunions with a bright smile, making conversation that lies about a successful life with rarely a cloud in the sky. Instead, we should drop our masks and admit that life has been tough. After all, we planned it that way—each and every one of us.

Destiny

“There was a chance this time would never come. This is what I am saying. You have a destiny to live. To do what you are here to do is to be who you are here to be.

“Can you imagine what the world could be if each one lived as who they are here to be?

“If being and doing were one?” Memoria

Note: This is a first post from Mari Perron’s new reception from Mary, something Mari is publishing under the title, Memoria.

We hear much about “being who we are,” and “being” rather than “doing.” A Course of Love discusses this the first time. Recent other channelings do as well.

Here Mary is saying that being and doing are one. If we live from who we are, we will operate from a single place, and this place is a place of being AND doing.

We do all have destinies to fulfill. And if we reflect on what that destiny truly is, we will know how to proceed. When we pray, and a quietness and peace come over us, we are hearing God in a way we can understand.

Otherwise, it is as if we were driving a car at night without any lights.

Turn to God to get your automobile lights on.

Holy Instant

“You who are now the bringer of salvation have the function of bringing light to darkness. The darkness in you has been brought to light. Carry it back to darkness, from the holy instant to which you brought it. We are made whole in our desire to make whole. Let not time worry you, for all the fear that you and your brother experience is really past. Time has been readjusted to help us do, together, what your separate pasts would hinder.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-18.III.7)

We are said to be bringers of salvation now, and we have barely begun reading the Text of A Course in Miracles. This must give us hope; Jesus has a lot of confidence in us.

The holy instants which we have now will transform us; it is the light that has risen in us, the vision that we now know. A holy instant is a particular moment in time, a moment in which we feel ineffable peace and pure joy, a moment for which we are encouraged not to prepare. The holy instant is the Holy Spirit’s gift to us. And the holy instant is a gift that we and our brother share. In this, we become One again. The transformation of our special relationship into a holy one has begun.

There is an interesting take on time in this quotation that bears some reflection. Jesus can adjust time! He says so! We who are strict realists in regard to physical reality will find this assertion hard to accept. The adjustment is not something that can be measured by physical machines, such as clocks. But have we not ourselves observed many times that time sometimes seems to stand still, sometimes seems to speed ahead? If Jesus is here talking about an actual physical occurrence, the clocks (the measuring devices) would themselves have been altered as well. In the final analysis, we don’t know if Jesus refers to physical reality in this quotation, or to simply our perception of physical reality. We know that our perception of the passing of time is subject to variation, and we have known this long before we started reading A Course in Miracles.

It is enough to know that time will be adjusted to allow us to experience the holy instant, which is a miracle. Elsewhere Jesus also says that time is adjusted for us to perform miracles.

The actual facts here are less relevant than the ethereal nature of the holy instant. We are being taken out of ourselves to an experience of pure love, and we will return to ourselves with more of our consciousness transformed. We are making progress.

Rest

“Rest, when truly learned, is a state of being in which struggle has ceased and peace has triumphed over chaos, love has triumphed over fear.

“You may still see but two choices: peace or struggle. But with such an attitude, you would soon be struggling to maintain your peace. There is another choice, and it lies within.” (A Course of Love, T2:1.6 – 1.7)

We are at rest when we commune with our depths, which is the same as saying that we commune with our God. He is always there, ready and eagerly waiting to help in any way that we will allow. He doesn’t interfere if we thwart His ways by not turning to Him; He gave us free will so that we would turn to Him out of our extreme need.

Many don’t turn to God unless and until we are in dire straits. But what a way to live! Let intellectual doubts rest in the knowledge from the heart that there is a Supreme Power that dwells in the depths of our souls. Within and without, He is always there—waiting for our nod in His direction.

We don’t have to choose peace over struggle in some kind of balancing act that seeks to keep the peace and resist the struggle. We need only rest within, and all struggle ceases easily. We have peace when we rest within. And then God reigns. And all is well in His world—and His world is our own.

The Comforter Speaks to Us

“I highly recommend that you establish a relationship with the Comforter as though it were a relationship with a good friend—indeed, the best of friends—until you reach a point in which virtually every decision is given to that Mind: Well, old buddy, should I turn left or right?” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 21, Page 256.)

Jesus here refers to the Holy Spirit in quite familiar terms–as a “buddy.” This colloquial expression lightens our experience of the sacred, making us unafraid of a “Voice” that might speak to us.

It is unlikely that the Voice will be audible, unlikely because we might become afraid. When we look deep within, we know that we have found the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And His words to us come back to us as our own mind speaking.

The Holy Spirit does not frighten us. If we turn aside from the good advice we “hear,” the Voice will lessen. And if we “hear” anything that would harm another, we need to turn aside, lest our own fears make for a situation that is not good.

It is our voice that speaks to us, but if we are staying close to God, we are partaking of His Spirit, and our way will smooth out, assuring us that His offer of help is a free offer. He wants us to know that He loves us, and one of the ways that He shows that is to offer guidance.

We can and will “hear” the Holy Spirit speaking when we open up our hearts to God’s Love. We are here experiencing the “happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings” (from A Course in Miracles).

The Holy Spirit Guides

“Truth has rushed to meet you since you called upon it. If you knew Who walks beside you on the way that you have chosen, fear would be impossible. You do not know because the journey into darkness has been long and cruel, and you have gone deep into it. A little flicker of your eyelids, closed so long, has not yet been sufficient to give you confidence in yourself, so long despised.” (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-18.III.3)

The “Who” is the Holy Spirit; if it had been meant to be Jesus, then in A Course in Miracles the pronoun would not have been capitalized. And God Himself is not called upon very much at all as long as we are lost in illusion. God is said to have turned to the Holy Spirit, God’s Voice and the Universal Inspiration, to teach us how to find our way out of darkness.

We don’t understand the Holy Spirit, but we can come to experience Him, and in the experiencing we will find all the Love that we want. He is our Guide, our way home to God, and He gently leads us by the hand and tells us what to do to make the journey, the “journey without distance,” (said elsewhere) that we need to take.

The last sentence, with a “little flicker of. . .eyelids,” is particularly poignant. Jesus understands that we have walked deep into insanity, and finding our way back is going to be a problem to be overcome. He is writing A Course in Miracles to give us the means to Awaken, and the more that we study it, the more simple the whole course becomes. (Prior to intense study, ACIM seems complicated indeed.)

We have despised ourselves. Our primary thought has been that we are not enough—not “good” enough, not strong enough, not pure enough. We berate ourselves that we have disappointed God. But God sees us as His children, and He does not berate us for mistakes made in innocence. We are innocent of anything bad; mistakes made in illusion seem to have real effects, in our all-too-tangible world, but what is done in illusion is not really done at all. So we can rest easy. We forgive, but forgiveness is an illusion as well, but one that does not breed other illusions. Thus it becomes our way home. We forgive what has never happened in reality! How easy is that?

Purpose

“I and my Father are one. Only Love is real, and Love, alone, heals. My commitment is to the reality of Love. Therefore, Father, bring each moment to me that I might learn anew to love, and allow that Love to transform a temporary illusion into that which extends the good, the holy, and the beautiful.

“Herein lies your purpose. Herein lies your function, and herein—and only here—is Life.” (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 18, Page 217)

What is our purpose in life? I think it is to discover how to live, and when we get really close to God, we discover that living Love is the only way to proceed. Everything else makes no sense at all.

God’s universes could not survive if such was not built on Love. And if it weren’t for our sometimes dim awareness that Love is the Answer, we would long ago have destroyed ourselves.

Sure, we make mistakes—many mistakes. But there is a resolution when we seek forgiveness of ourselves and move forward undeterred. God, according to A Course in Miracles, does not need to forgive us because He has never condemned. He condemns no one. He simply spreads Love, always and forever.

God does give us free will, and so He lets us do as we will for a long time. He knows with foresight that eventually we will tire of our games and turn to Him. He knows that Love will draw us to His side—eventually. It is the one Force in this world that ultimately will not be resisted.

It is this turning to Him that saves us from agony. And when we love, in this world, however imperfectly, we are on the right track.

Gates of Heaven

“Beloved pure soul! You who live for God! Whoever joins this work becomes one with us, and because of that union miracles and spiritual events of incalculable greatness and bliss will occur. Gates of Heaven not yet opened will do so.” Choose Only Love bk. 6, 1:II

A wonderful promise from Choose Only Love, received by Sebastian Blaksley from the celestial. We are often given encouragement in these seven books in the series, published by Take Heart Publications and available on Amazon.

If we choose to take to heart these promises, our lives will smooth out and we will enjoy greater happiness.

Sometimes we think wanting to be happy is a selfish thing. But no! Actually it is the gift of God to us. We just have to follow His message of Love.

A Course of Love: An Overview

Note: A Course of Love: An Overview is available from Amazon for $3.95 (print; ebook). It is often helpful as an introduction to A Course of Love. The following excerpt is the preface to the booklet:

PREFACE

The year was 2004, three years after Mari Perron had published the first part of f A Course of Love (also known by its acronym, ACOL) with New World Library. Like Mari, I was living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. And, like Mari, I was a seeker.

Some time had gone by since I had purchased and read the New World edition. But I found myself interested in having a conversation with Mari about A Course of Love, in part about the assertion I had read that Jesus had channeled this new work. We met over coffee. She was charming and articulate, but unassuming, just a “regular” person. We were deep in conversation for over an hour.

Mari’s daughter Mia came over to greet us. Mari lamented that A Course of Love had not “taken off” the way that she would have liked. Mia said something prophetic: She said that it took a while for A Course in Miracles to take off, and that it would just take some time for A Course of Love to become known as well.

As our conversation continued, Mari said, “I have been praying that someone would come to me to help me get the word out about A Course of Love.”

I was stunned. Mari thought that I was an answer to her prayer.

I thought she had the wrong person. I was A Course in Miracles enthusiast, and I thought that she needed a younger generation to come along and help her.

Now, twelve years later and seven years into writing a blog on both A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love, I think Mari might have been right all along. Right about a mission for me, right about Jesus as the one who channeled to her.

Now many others are drawn to ACOL, due largely to Glenn Hovemann’s Take Heart Publications and the new combined volume. Yes, Jesus’s professed “continuation” of A Course in Miracles has an ever-widening and increasingly enthusiastic audience.

To my mind Jesus had “unfinished business” with us after A Course in Miracles. A Course of Love answers many of the questions that we have had after reading A Course in Miracles. Now Jesus not only takes us by the hand and leads us beyond the ego, but he tells us how to establish a new identity—in this body but beyond this body, the “elevated Self of form.”

We are on the threshold of a newly created world. The Voice that Mari heard as “thoughts she did not ‘think,” (D:12.11) now made available to us in A Course of Love, counsels us to transform ourselves and our world.

—

This journey for me of writing this small book about A Course of Love would not have been possible without the assistance of Mari Perron, ACOL scribe, and Glenn Hovemann, ACOL publisher. I thank Mari for her prayers and insight, and Glenn was his ever-supportive demeanor and editorial direction, as well as substantial contributions to the chapter, “Frequently Asked Questions / FAQ.” And, finally, my heartfelt thanks to my husband Paul for everything. He expressed his interest early in this project by telling me that he wanted to read what I was writing. And he has.

–Celia Hales

Heart

Note: Today’s posting is an excerpt, with prompting quotation added, to my book, Being Who You Are: Pondering A Course of Love, 265 pages. The book is available on Amazon for $7.95 (print) and $5.99 (ebook). Five out of five stars for all reviews.

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“While your mind did not accept the truth of your identity or the reality of love without fear, it existed in a reality of fear and judgment, and bound heart and body to this reality. Your heart has now heard the appeal of this Course and worked with your mind to bring about this acceptance of the truth, a truth your heart has always known but has been unable to free you to accept without the mind’s cooperation.” (A Course of Love, T4:7.5)

This quotation explains the concept of wholeheartedness, that we need to join mind to heart, not letting either take the ascendancy alone. In wholeheartedness, we give up fear, not with a whimper, but with a joyful shout. We are free at last! Fear and judgment go together, and both are anathema to reaching Christ-consciousness. Our heart has always known truths that our mind rejected because of our intellectualism. Basically, we didn’t want to be superstitious. We feared that believing in God was intellectually suspect.

Our heart doesn’t have such misgivings. Our heart knows that there is a Something—or Someone—More. And when we listen to our hearts, we are happier. Would you not take happiness, any day, over intellectual skepticism that locks us in despair?

New Path

“After having blessed everything lived, known, taught, and experienced, we let it go forever and begin a new path, a path without past, without plans, without pre-conceived ideas. We are carried by the Grace of God.” Choose Only Love bk. 6, 1:I

Choose Only Love is taking us in new directions. We bless our past, but we don’t cling to it. God blesses our past, but He too does not hold us to it.

We are walking a new way now, a way in which we are “carried by the Grace of God.” This new beginning has assurances that were not ours previously. Our knowledge—not our perceptions—will carry us forth from now on.

We don’t know how this new path will unfold—and wonder of wonders, we don’t have to know. God’s Grace is always sufficient. If we think we need to know specifics, we need only ask, and we will be told, but specifics unfolding in their own time and place.

Take heart, be reassured that God and angels walk with us. We cannot lose our way unless we want to do so. And who would want, once again, to lose our way? We found that our way would not work. Now, as bidden by all revealed writings, we choose God’s way.

If we stand firm in this determination, there is nothing that we wish to do that we cannot do—if the wish is certain and clear in our innermost being, for we are listening to the Guide Whom God is, our sure way.

Love / Safety / Trust

“Where you learned to hate, you will learn to love. Where you learned to fear, you will learn safety. Where you learned to distrust, you will learn trust. And each learning experience will be a learning experience because it will touch your heart.” (A Course of Love, C:24.1)

We are thinking about the heart in A Course of Love. Of course, technically we are thinking about “wholeheartedness,” which is the union of mind and heart. But we focus on the heart because we have so long neglected that vital center of our Self. When we were caught by the ego, we listened to what our deluded and insane mind said. And when we sought to relinquish the ego, we were changing our minds. But there is a step beyond that A Course of Love seeks to have us reach. And this step is reached without words that the mind could understand, or rational understanding that is totally beyond the ego. This is the realm of the heart, where words fail us and we are at home in God. We “know” things without having to be told. We “understand” things without a rational explanation. Life just “is,” and we are finally and ultimately happy in the “isness” that will lead us to Christ-consciousness. We don’t ask anymore because we have no need. We know. And this knowledge saves us.

Considering the Godhead in Masculine/Feminine Terms

“A Special Note about Gender: God has no gender. The masculine/feminine duality of personality is a human attribute. And yet, God is both masculine and feminine, for God is All. As All, God is both as personal as you and as impersonal as ‘It’ or ‘Principle.’ Human beings can relate more intimately to a personal God than an impersonal one, and so ion his lifetime Jesus created the idea of ‘God the Father,’ which casts God as a loving presence, and humans as part of a Divine Family. During Jesus’ time, the culture could only accept a masculine figure; and ever since much of the world has related to God as masculine in both imagery and in language. I grew up in a Catholic society in which God was universally referred to as ‘He.’ That tradition is reflected in the first three books of Choose Only Love.

“In Book IV, however, God more fully revealed Herself: ‘Until now, God Himself, in His infinite knowledge, wanted to show Himself in the world as Father, as well as the love that He is. But from now on She wants to show Herself as Mother, not only as wisdom. The ‘feminine’ of God will come to light more and more every day.’ Thus the reader will notice that the language of the final four books in this series reflects both the masculine and feminine natures of God.” – from Sebastian Blaksley, receiver of Choose Only Love. Passage is from Choose Only Love, Bk. 7, introductory material.

The explanation about gender, you will note, quoted above, comes from Sebastian and is here quoted from Book 7.

Traditionally, Christianity has used the masculine gender, as did Jesus 2,000 years ago. Now we are encouraged to think of God in broader terms, knowing (as I think Jesus knew, too) that God is bigger than one gender. In the more inclusive way that God is dealing with us now, we are encouraged to try to see His/Her grandeur, that the God we worship is not to be seen in anthropomorphic terms.

We tend to see God in our own image, but that somewhat misstates the case. We are told in the Genuis that God created us in His image—not the reverse. So we are encouraged to try to think in “God terms,” and of course this attempt asks a lot of us.

The Mother God will be seen by us as a gentler version, for most of us carry warm feelings toward the one who birthed us and cuddled us in her arms. The mother/child bond has been seen as the most significant of all our relationships. And Book 7 of Choose Only Love recognizes this significance.

Ask God to show us how to think of the Godhead. See if what Sebastian says here in his reception of Choose Only Love finds a place in our hearts.

STRENGTH

Note: Published in Miracles magazine (Jon Mundy, publisher)

I can give you my strength until yours is as certain as mine. . . . (WOM, Part 1, Lesson 7)

You always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you. (ACIM, COA ed., T-31. IX.2:3)

I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. (Phil. 4:13, KJV)\

Jesus knew stress in himself while on Earth. The evidence is in the New Testament: indignantly overturning the moneychangers’ tables in the temple; agonizing in Gethsemane (though no one knew this because his disciples slept; perhaps Jesus told this in his appearances later on); asking God from the cross why he had been forsaken. Yes, this man was fully human—whatever else he also was.

But he overcame, as he bids us to do. Again, the New Testament tells us how. From the cross, rather than thinking of himself, he thought of his mother, standing nearby. He put her in the care of his beloved disciple, John. He welcomed a man being crucified beside him into Paradise that very day; he knew that was where he himself was heading.

Yes, he overcame with strength, and we are bidden to overcome also. But we have his help. He shares his divinity with us; he shares his Christhood. And we are made strong thereby.

We certainly all know stress, but now we discover that we can also know strength. In both stress and strength, we emulate Jesus. And he is always here for us. He promises to come upon a “single unequivocal call.” (ACIM, COA ed., T-4.V.14:10)

We need the strength of Christ, by which we mean not just Jesus, but us as well—all the Sons and Daughters of God. This explanation is a mystical statement of what the term Christ really means. Let’s put our minds and hearts to the test, to really see how we might emulate Jesus in his strength, knowing that stress can always be set aside.

We will find that our humanity can be championed—not by stress—but by the divinity—the strength—that we all share, with Jesus himself, with Christ.

Happy Dreams

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

New Truth

New truth comes to me

and I

eager to demonstrate

this sudden energy

look for someone

who might listen

but all are busy

looking for their own

interior informings

or if they hear me

give back blank looks

and realizing I have failed

to share some substance

of my newfound joy

I wince and wonder

if I’m meant to speak at all

or rather keep inside me

all that cries out to be told.

From time again of reaching out

with words

in vain attempts

conveying little

of this deepest gift

I come at last to know

the patience of the ancients

who learned what I must learn:

the simple waiting

until time and place

and question from another

might reveal

communal readiness

to share.

Meditation from Celia:

“I said before that the first change, before dreams disappear, is that your dreams of fear are changed to happy dreams. That is what the Holy Spirit does in the special relationship. He does not destroy it, nor snatch it away from you. (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-18.II.6)

The two parts of this quotations are linked together by the fact of a happy dream. The Holy Spirit acts in us to change our dreams of hostility and anger and pain to happy dreams, even though we are still asleep and don’t entirely know how this change is happening. What is going on is that our projection from within, where the Holy Spirit resides, is changing. We are projecting more loving thoughts, and thus the perception that we have of the outer world is that it is changing, independent of us. This change is not independently wrought. And as we become happier, seeing in a more loving and kind way, the dream we experience becomes even better!

At this point our special relationships will begin to look better and better, not filled as much with pain or the vicissitudes of mood. The special relationships, at this precise point, have not yet transformed into holy, but the potential is there. We will want them to be holy as we proceed in our study of A Course in Miracles.

The Holy Spirit does not snatch away our special relationships, though we are fearful that, being inferior, He will decide that this form has to go. The person most likely doesn’t have to go—if the transformation into a holy relationship can be made.

We are learning in the context of ACIM. We are projecting more positive aspects to our outer world, and everything changes at this point. We are drawn by the joy that we experience as these changes come about. This joy leads us to forget the ego, and just run to the joy.

And in that running will we take the next step, the sometimes disjointed next step, of transforming our special relationships (which have always been problematic) into something better—something holy.

Peace

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

God Fruit

I am

you are

he is

all God-fruit

from germinated holy seed

and ripening unevenly

appear misshapen and discolored

as if from bruising

or poor pollination.

I am

you are

he is

judged by size and shapeliness

and sometimes even fragrance

as would-be orchard laborers

determine if we’re worth

the time and trouble

to sift and sort for sale.

Even I

and you

and he

forget we are not

quality controllers

in the large warehouses of humanity

where clock time works against us.

The message is the thing

that seeks to penetrate the rind

for transformation of the seed capsules

to let burst forth the flavor of the core.

From Celia’s Images from a Reflecting Pool: a Journal:

On what “works” in work for me: “This morning I was very sleepy and relaxed–a little numb. As a result I slowed down at work to great benefit. I need to stop falling all over myself to get my work done.” Yet, the very next day, I wrote, “I seem to anticipate work and have a hard time doing that. I don’t handle a million things to do very well.” Yet, though I clearly recognized this in 1992, I still haven’t truly accepted it and planned my work accordingly.

I have a pattern of taking on more and more, getting “swamped,” and pulling back—only to repeat the same dynamic. I may be addicted to an adrenaline rush which my body can’t sustain over the long haul. So I end up anxious, and my husband does therapy for me over breakfast. Not fair to him or my real Self.

A Course in Miracles says that the first obstacle that peace must flow across is the desire to get rid of it. (T-19.IV.A.1:1)

How true!

God’s Listening Ear

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Breaking Bread

Am I engaged in eating

when another I might feed?

Must both the giver

and receiver dine together?

And if I

not hungry

simply want to share

is table fellowship required?

But if no food have I

not even for myself

might my meal partner

have some to share with me?

Or if we two

have no fresh bread

to break and eat together

might there be

a different kind of meal?

A breaking open of ourselves

revealing sustenance?

A spirit sharing one with one?

And wafting through the meal

aroma of the Father’s favorite food?

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool: a Journal:

“Lead, kindly Light . . .

Keep thou my feet: I do not ask to see

The distant scene; one step enough for me.”

–Arthur Hays Sulzberger

Simply put one foot in front of the other and walk. This is the secret of getting over an enervating malaise, if it is only mildly debilitating. Truly pathological depression is going to require something more: usually biochemicals as well as a good listening ear. (And God has the best Listening Ear of all.)

Keeping Pace

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Martyr

Don’t call me martyr!

I abhor the name!

Daring

to dissect what motivates

to label action

to pass judgment on behavior

pieced in hearsay quilts!

Don’t tell me who I am

for you don’t know!

You cannot read my heart

and if you could

would miss the wisdom

from the depths of pondering

and placing

self-absorbed requitement for existence first.

Don’t nominative my life with fickle flattery

that cheapens everything I hold most dear

and spreads a sense of soiledness throughout my soul.

Don’t speak to me of

what you might call sacrifice!

I shun the word as prostitution

of my own free will

and sure damnation

of God’s wealth of joy.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal:

Norman Vincent Peale counseled pacing in daily life (though he did not call it that). If in God’s own time, it is not there, it was not meant to be there. This also works to mediate against precipitous action. I don’t know that it would work in a life-threatening situation, but in my own life and work, I know that considered action and going with the flow (not bucking the tide) is what gets the job done.

–

On what really counts in life: “I’ve wondered if putting A Course in Miracles into practice in a fast-paced and demanding life is the best thing that I could do. But I don’t think life is meant to be as fast-paced as we live it.”

Work

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Buried Treasure

The God of terror and of joy

has buried deep within

the unimaginable

to frighten and release

in its own time.

Perhaps we once knew what it was–

knew and were not strong enough

to deal with that reality

so like the single talent one

entombed it well.

And through the years

we grew and changed

and as time passed

forgot the nature

of our buried prize.

We came to distrust

hidden substances

in their un-knowing

and then to fear

and then to hate.

We bought large locks

for dungeon doors

determined now

to keep enchained

the secret there.

But it too grew

and finally outgrew

the closet chamber deeps.

The concentration pressed against

the world of consciousness

and would not be contained.

I press with all my might

but cannot keep

the stone from bursting forth

revealing the white raiment

of my twice-born soul.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool: a Journal:

I remember in college hearing a professor mention that some character in literature “derived his meaning in life from work.”

I immediately saw myself in those words. But in recent years my journal has been filled with variations on the theme, “I have to get over feeling that I want to push-push-push at work.” The problem is that I become obsessive about work when I am truly “into” it, but my emotional make-up screams at me that I need to lighten up.

So I do—and the oscillations of greater and lesser work play themselves out over and over. I would be better to seek a steady pace, not making the same mistake of work overload on a recurring basis.

–

It is hard for me to go easy when I see deadlines staring me in the face. Yet this is just what I must learn to do. The fact that the problem recurs proves that there is a better way for me to freely choose—and choose it I must.

Looking to the Future

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Washing

Hardly recognizing I’ve been washed

I catch the scent of sun-sweet cleanliness

and wondering about the source

don’t stop to ponder greater need.

Seeing that the new spring rain

has made all Nature fresh again

I leave to her the task of self-renewal

and disregard my likeness to her own.

But restlessness o’ertakes me

and I no pleasure gain from her fair form

as I encounter winter in my spirit

where new April life should be.

I cannot rise in rapture

to match the show of beauty splashed about

but witnessing new wonder

feel myself begin to plummet to despair.

I question her concerning this

and hear her say

my clothes are soiled beyond restoring

and I must discard all

before I can be washed full clean.

I cannot readily agree to give up favored garments

and cast aside what have become

the ordered habits of my days.

Then I an inventory take

of all these purchased,

hand-me-downs,

and old ones altered to conform

to the image I’ve desired for all to see.

And realizing all are worn and dingy

and no longer hold the shape and newness

they once had

still wonder what replacements

I can find more worthy than these wraps

I’ve clung to for so long.

While pondering this question

I become so conscious of anxiety

at present state I cannot find a

single satisfying garment wrap around.

I think of all my dreams

where I run free

completely nude

while all the others

fully dressed

stand by and stare.

And realize the message of the dream

directs me to an inner casting off

where I unhesitatingly

walk about with barefoot spirit

happy to be free

of all encumbrances.

And thinking of the ancient rite

of river cleansing

seal of sacrament

concluded with new convert

wrapped in clean white robe.

I remember Nature’s words

and tell her in hushed voice

that I agree my washing need is great

and looking to her purgatorial source

to take away my soul soil utterly

I cease debating how or when or where

some earthly pure white robing might occur.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal:

Is suffering a choice? Leigh says “yes”; Betsy disagrees. And neither has had a particularly happy life. But the fact that suffering might be chosen should give us the impetus to walk lightly along our paths. As the sympathetic executioner is reported to have said to Socrates on handing him the hemlock: “And so fare you well, and try to bear lightly what must needs be . . .”

–

Sometimes the best therapy is going to work each day. An easy attitude toward one’s duties is a remarkable coping mechanism. Should one resist, the force field may become stronger, and the flow all but gone.

–

David said that he thought I would be very good at library administration, but that I would be perfectly miserable in my work. Yes, I too fear I would be in a place where no birds sing.

So I risk making a mistake by avoiding this challenge in order to travel peacefully along more pleasant pathways.

After all, the A Course in Miracles says, “Heaven asks nothing. It is hell that makes extravagant demands for sacrifice.” (W-pI.135.24:3-4) In the cool of fading evening, I think I will be glad I listened to the songs of birds.

Peace

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Deliver Me!

Deliver me

from indignation’s wrath that

saps my creativity

and true compassion

and poises on the brink

of righteousness so false that

I can see no way around my

puffed-up sense of rectitude

and blinded arrogance.

Deliver me

from anger so projected on

pale circumstance or conversation

so lightly entered into by another

as to be overwhelmed at my

unleashing fire and thunderbolt

from sources never intimated

by what would seem

a casual exchange.

Deliver me

from cheap facade–

the painted harlequin of face

that covers rage so deep as to

explode in unforeseen expression

inexplicable by me

or anyone who listens or observes

or hears a later telling of

the strange and puzzling tale.

Deliver me

from table overturning in a

self-appointed moment of smug

superiority of justice meted out

or conspicuous display of brute force

from dark imprisonment

in invulnerability’s easy guise

that camouflages craftily

the well-thought-out charade.

Deliver me!

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal:

For me, too much stress brings on anger (and, all too often, resulting attack), whereas overwork linked with perfectionism brings on a critical attitude. Knowing this suggests that I should consciously avoid filling my life with patterns that bring out the worst in me. Knowing this, does it not follow that I should cultivate Peace at whatever cost to ambition? It is best to observe what triggers one’s negative behavior, and then turn in the opposite direction.

–

“Stop and smell the roses.” This everyday admonition invites speculation: If we don’t, what is the worst that will happen to us? An unexamined life may mean less real living (as opposed to existing), especially if what happens always seem to happen to us, rather than being selected by us.

I Can Escape from the World I See by Giving Up Attack Thoughts

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Sacred Font

Forgetting that we come from holy water,

that we once were the river,

we soon are frightened of its power, its depth

and what might lie within.

Mammals we think ourselves to be

and use the river to our own chief ends

unmindful of our once connectedness.

Rites of cleansing followed still religiously

in ways prescribed by ancients who

perhaps knew something of the mystery

but knew not how to give the secrets hidden there.

Dare we risk ourselves to plumb our

inner ocean? to let the whale devour

without assurance we’ll survive?

to dream there might be life too deep to fathom

and being tossed on shore we’d breathe again?

Perhaps the frequent washing of our souls

that tears provide

might also give a glimpse

of living water yet reserved

for us alone within the sacred font.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal:

Why do I seem to need to have permission to be happy—never to spoil it by worry?

–

Even the most conflicted day loses its punching power when one looks out on the chaos from a soft and warm heart.

Peace

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

The Holy Promise

The holy promise

planted in the soul of each newborn

reverberating through the lineage

to those who hear the words aloud

repeated by their elders as they learn

the answers to the “who made you?”

and struggle with their own

repeated “why?” and “what now?”

and the tension of the sometimes

too taut tether cord

and planted, too, this covenant

within the deeps of those

who never hear the sacred sentence

Scripture speaks to those

within the confines

of an orderly progression

of confessional conscientiousness

where stories of the patriarchs

weave threads of continuity

irrefutable by time

this covenant

announces from on high

the ‘I will be’ and ‘you will be’

resounding through all heartbeats

transcending sacred writ

telling all attentive

and declaring loud to deafened ears

and sending solace to the spirits

of those who never harken

to the inner urgings of their soul.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool: a Journal:

One has let down one’s guard, and the ego doesn’t take kindly to peace. It knows its days are numbered if its owner should ever learn to choose Peace consistently.

–

Why is it that so many of us are cowards in the middle of the night?

–

If we could all learn how to separate “big deals” from trifles, we would certainly be well along the way toward living satisfactorily and peacefully.

Work Pressures

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Listening

I sought to listen to my Lord.

By various means I tried to hear Him speak–

a brightening breeze through leafed-out trees

a bird outside my window pane

a tiny stream o’er river rocks

a sung word touching deep within

a Scripture phrase speaking anew

and my own pen bringing forth more

In these and more I thought I heard my Lord.

But then my heart, still restless, searched again

for music far beyond the lovely singing

for just one sacred word for mantra’s sake

for inspiration wordless as a feeling.

And then my heart declared to me “search on!”

to reach beyond the music to the silence

to find the space beyond all sacred speech

to journey safe beyond diverse distractions.

I found the place at last

filled with wonder dark and fathomless

a stillness indescribable

a place beyond all time and memory

a depth beyond my wide imagining

the center of my very self it is

where even consciousness appears suspended

there is where my Lord comes now to me.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool: a Journal:

There is a point at which too much work to do becomes clearly counterproductive, because one’s stress level impedes actually turning out the work at a reasonable pace.

In the midst of 800 junior high students clamoring for attention in their school library, I once said to myself (over and over, in a kind of refrain), “If I do nothing else, I will remain calm.”

Of course, that affirmation actually put me in a frame of mind in which I could do something else. Reverse psychology is a powerful protective device.

–

On the strength in remaining calm: “When I’m not stressed, I think I can handle virtually anything.”

–

On solving problems: “No decision can be really difficult unless we complicate the issue by worry.”

Truly to Live

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

My Soul

My soul

called forth

from me

by that within

and yet beyond

called out

to be

to fly

called back

to follow

the limitations

of its transient home

called up

to glimpse

the more of yearning

called on

to strive

to pierce the breaking point

called down

to dream again

and there

within the dream

called in

to break

and from the broken pieces

called out again

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal:

One should make one’s living in a manner that allows true “living,” on the job as well as off. Serving as a reference librarian and book/periodical selector is the pleasant way that I spend my day, the way that I earn a living that doesn’t consume all of me but allows me to think and dream about other things.

When I am stressed, I don’t make much progress in my spiritual life because I am too distracted. Maybe I should take the route that allows me to live comfortably (emotionally) because big bucks in some other job might make me financially secure but very tense, anxious, and maybe even unhappy in the daily work.

Choice to Write

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Beatitude

Blessed are the dead

whose death comes peaceful as a slumber

from a day of toil and song

Blessed are the living

whose walks are filled with knowledge

that each day might be their last

Blessed are those whose memories

comfort with the absence

of those gone before

Blessed are those whose heart strings

play the melodies

of unsung songs and voices

Blessed are the celebrants

whose lives memorialize

the spirit of the absent ones

Blessed are the glimpses

that quicken possibilities

of joy that lie ahead

Blessed are the passionate

who follow spirits leading them

into the heart of God

Blessed are you

whose open souls receive

the gracious gifts so freely given

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool; a Journal:

An experience in scholarly writing: “I worked very hard last Monday, reading all day for my book. I really didn’t enjoy it.”

Later on . . . ”Most of that work was fruitless. I didn’t put it in my book after all. When work becomes a dull ache, it is usually wrong.”

–

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? (The Course suggests that it is.) (W- pI.135.14:1) Could I do my writing as well as have a more successful library career?

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?

Creation Story

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Habitat

Standing there afar

my habitat held in your hand

my heart’s pure ache so palpable

the world must sense my longing

but turn from me as

from some clanging bell.

How many labyrinthine turns must I traverse?

How many sandals must I wear sole thin?

How many times pray “show the way”?

What game of hide-and-seek has been ordained

among the tall trees of my weary mind?

How many clues must I search out

to later disregard?

Am I to be not privileged to sleep

before the hearth before I die?

or sup at table?

or rock contented all way round

and there attend the fire?

to sing and laugh

and let my homing spirit feel the joy?

From Celia:

Creation Story

There is a myth about the creation of souls that helps me to understand why we falter and fall away from God. This myth, first expounded by Ruth Montgomery’s Guides in the 1960s, says that in the beginning God sent out from Himself sparks of light, souls in embryo, to experience life. Some wandered farther, away from God, and got into trouble. Others stayed close to Him and were guided by His greater Light.

We sometimes need to learn from both good and evil, and choose the good from a sense of knowing, and in that John Milton’s great treatise Areopagetica is right. When we choose good from experience, we truly know. It would be wrong, though, to deliberately set out to experience evil in order to learn from it. It is enough that we learn to avoid the choices that take us away from God. In the myth, the fear to wander from God, felt by those souls in embryo who stayed close to Him, seems to be the flip side of Love.

There is a long tradition in Christianity that says Christ needs our hands and feet to carry out his mission in this world. We might be lost indeed if it weren’t for the souls who cling to God and learn of Love. We do know that sometimes we learn best from others like ourselves, people with two hands and two feet, homo sapiens.

God’s Light grows dim in us when we turn a deaf ear to His pleading. But He stands ever ready to rescue us by whatever means it takes.

Every religious tradition, in every age, says that only Love matters. In the end, this truth is the only truth yet to discover. And it will be no secret we are healed.

Work Pressures

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Floodgates

Waters parting

floodgates making way

I sensed prepared for me.

I heard them coming

deafened by the roar

of mighty waters rolling

down upon me.

I said a prayer

prepared to die

so sure my next few breaths

would be my last.

I know not if I knelt

or sat

or stretched myself out prone

ready to receive the hand of death.

Louder came the roar

A sound so full of fear

I wished for deafness before death

anything but being made

to hear that awful sound.

The roar grew louder

louder still

and I

so sure my drums would burst

fixed all my thought on broken ears

as cause of death

and in an instant heard played again

the thousand tapes of noisy voices

of my wasted life of listening.

And still the roar increased

till I heard screams

my own thin voice

inside my head

with shouts of

‘Kill me, then!’

‘Yes, do it now!’

‘Anything but this!’

But ‘this’ was not yet finished

my pleading was in vain

as if demonic spirits

took delight in my despair.

And then

as quickly as begun

the roar subsided

to the pleasant sound

of water

over smooth worn stones

reminding me

of where in childhood

played for hours

and sheltered

from the loss of innocence

was I.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool:

There is always time for what is needful. This learned after long experimentation. So why do I still fight fire when I have a desk filled with work, or a house that hasn’t been cleaned in a week?

What “bad thing” will happen to me if it isn’t all accomplished in the too-short time I have allotted?

–

Colds or “bugs” are a form of seeking outside ourselves, convenient crutches we use when we are very weary from walking in the world.

One then has an excuse to sit down. Written a couple of days before I succumbed to a succession of mild but debilitating viruses: “What do I really want to experience in my world?

I don’t want to be hassled constantly to do more-more- more.

I need to say ‘no’ to things for a month and then some.”

–

Now I would add that much of my work is self-generated, but influenced by my colleagues, who are working at least as hard.

It is as though we were a group of children, backstage before a piano recital. One’s nervousness and hyperactivity influences another, and then another, and yet another. And to what end?

The dubious “achievement” of performing before an audience.

Now, proving our “worth” this way by more and more elevates work to a personal god whose demands are insatiable. And isn’t that the clue that the dynamic is ego-based?

Is It Necessary to Know Good by Evil?

Note: Celia’s post follows poem.

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Restless

Winding through the branches of my spirit

whispering glimpses of mortality

wandering among the conscious complex

winnowing former dogma like frail facts

down into recesses of my essence

drifting through unbridled memory

dauntingly presumptuous in its power

dares this new disturbing premonition

halting nowhere near the seat of power

having so destroyed that weaker vessel

hurrying to reach its destination

hovering within the fecund chamber

coming round the shaping walls of truth

curving in and out of questions forming

casting out decisions long since crumbled

climbing vine-like through the hallowed halls

tethering to no anointed altar

targeting no restrictive domicile

templing within no single sacred cloister

the hot bright breath of God appears.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool:

I think we plan our lives before we are born. If so, given that I have always spent much time in thinking about what I should do next, I’m sure I planned carefully on the other side.

—

We are our own worst enemy. We do not have to do all things, even if all of these things are good. Sometimes I entrap myself over a perceived “good goal” by taking steps to move toward it—knowing all the while that living out the goal will be painful.

—

Achieving at my maximal level has long been a goal. I don’t like to be defeated by anything, to drop out of the race without trying sufficiently. An old “Father Knows Best” television program drove the point home to me while still very young (and aren’t we quite impressionable when young?).

I sense I could do library administration, albeit not without struggle. Do I want to be one who, as Milton says, “slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat”? Yet Milton’s famous passage also suggests that one would know good “by” evil, by the contrast.

This I don’t believe is necessary. Maybe now is one time that my doubts should be respected, because the ultimate goal, being ego-related, is questionable (as well as tangential to what I really want to do). It’s a replay of a “have it all” 1980s motif—surely a way of life most of us are coming to repudiate.

Love

Note: Ann’s poem is first; Celia’s post follows.

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

The Word

The Word became flesh

once upon a time once before time once in time

each time a child is born a gift is given.

And upon their shoulders rests the imprint of the One

whose Word makes all flesh to become.

Flesh becomes Word becomes Verb Word

saying ‘Let there be’

and there is

as night follows day and dawn follows darkness,

dappling creation with new language.

Be becomes all Words–

creating nouns and expletives,

pronouns and correlatives,

assumes the burden of unanswered questions

and declaratives yet undeclared.

Flesh becomes Active Verb–

transforming the great I AM into nominative–

posturing as transitive

whose unknown object

completes the diagram

forming a sphere.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool

Many years ago I was in a frame of mind in which unlimited possibilities seemed open to me. The salient aspect of this period of time was that I was living with an attitude filled with love. In making decisions, invariably I would come to a fork in the road. It seemed that I could choose either way ahead and—this the questionable part—that either would be equally “OK”—just different ways to work out my destiny.

Maybe we really do live in a safe universe when we are at home in Love.

–

Reality offers what I really want–the prayer of the heart. (A Course in Miracles, M-21.1:3-4)

–

Sometimes the unconscious guides us to a certain familiar pathway as a warning. If I find myself gazing vacantly out a window and fantasizing about the future, the future that I see may eventually lead to difficulty, but it will always hold much joy.

Intuition

A new feature of poetry; my post follows. – Love, Celia

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

Doxology

Praise to Thee, O Lord, Creator of the Universe,

Who brings forth from your earth womb all life.

Praise to Thee, O God, Sustainer of the Universe,

who gives life the abundance Thou designed for it.

Praise to Thee who places godhood

in the center of our being.

Blow Holy Spirit, Wayward Wind,

with all thy special power

come stir again the old desire

in us who yearn to flower.

Rain into us the fullness

of the morning dew

made into streams

that penetrate our roots.

Make green the carpet of our days

that we, lured into verdancy,

might sprout new buds

and bloom as never even

once upon a time we dreamed.

Press down upon us sunshine

of the vision in your mind

of who we were and are and yet to be,

always within the firm embrace

of thy mysterious trinity.

From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool:

There is a way of living by intuition and a way of living by rational choice (the latter usually called just “reason”). The two are not mutually exclusive, of course. But I have found that life is freer, more natural, happier, when I am brave enough to let intuition rule. And it does take some bravery.

–

It takes a certain willingness to follow intuition. Maybe there will always be a question in my mind about whether I am being rational. But time and again events prove the correctness of following yet another hunch.

–

Do we have “free will”? I once read someone’s remark to the effect that we act as if we do when we cross the street, so why not assume that we do?

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