From Celia’s Images in a Reflecting Pool: Journal Entries Inspired by A Course in Miracles. Copyright 1995.
Just “being” in life is affirming and good. I don’t have to “do” all the time. I have to realize that doing “more, more, more” to justify my existence is not necessary.
Postscript 2023:
How many of us want to “do” to prove that we are somehow worthy to occupy space on this Earth ? I suspect that this dynamic is ego-driven, and we all know that the ego is a failed experiment.
“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.
“In true knowledge, which comes from knowing your being in the light of eternal truth, you know the divine relationship. The path proposed in this work is the path of being.” Choose Only Love bk. 6, 1:III
Our divine relationship is, first and foremost, the best center for our lives. Previously many people proposed “doing” good works, with faith, as the way home to God. Jesus is here focusing on simply being in love with God. It doesn’t mean we will never “do” anything, but it does mean that our commitment is to simply being who we are, children of the divine Creator.
We don’t have to merit God’s good grace. His sun and rain shine and fall upon all equally. All are wanted by Him in a relationship of divine caring. Love in its essence.
“Thank you Father-Mother God for giving me life. Thank you for being as you are: pure mercy, pure companion. Thank you, each path of my life, for bringing me here where I can dwell forever in the sweetness of love. I leave you with my blessing as I continue now on this new path at whose doors I find myself. You have left me here and cannot come with me. I bless you in the name of love.
“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
The first paragraph of the quotation above is set apart as a prayer to God. He listens, though we know not how. We are embarking on a new path, a path beyond anything we have known before completely before. We are seeking to “be,” to walk on the path of being.
We have long thought that to please God, we need to be busy bees, going about his work with a busy mind. Part of this traditional thinking comes from St. Paul in the New Testament, when he says that faith without works is dead. But “being” doesn’t mean we are idle. We will still work for God, but in a new and different way that is without strain or bother. We will tap into guidance of a new approach to Self, the Self who is merged with God. God will then give us our marching orders.
The Grace of God is a magnificent thing. We have previously struggled to please Him, but this is not what we ought to be about. He will gently guide; He will gently make us aware of the next step. Premeditation is not necessary; living in the moment is. We cease from wearying plans, but we don’t cease from doing all the good that He recommends. Our stance of “being” informs us what to do, what to say, even what to think. Our heart informs our mind. We are safe in His arms.
“For humankind to pass out of this survival instinct, the Mother laws of care and nurture—given to all—must come into their time of fullness. This is part of what can create a new age and make way for The New.” Mirari
Mary of Nazareth counsels “being” as opposed to “doing.” Being welcomes caring and nurturing; it is not a matter of “doing,” for it is a way of life.
We don’t actually cease doing, but doing is enveloped into a higher way of joining with God. He Himself is Being, and when we are being, we are walking in His shadow.
Mary’s way is a way for both men and women, something that a hasty reading of Mirari might miss. We have too long been simply existing in our world, just surviving, often missing out on the joys of life except in fleeting moments.
When we are in simple being, we do car and nurture. Nothing more is needed, because care and nurture are hallmarks of love, which is the highest and the best. We return to God, our separation from Him healed. We invite the joy of life and none of the worries. We are serene.
Ask today for this blessing of care and nurture, through being, to descend upon us. We all need it. We all will touch God when we ask for this blessing, which is surely something in His will.
“My son, your brother, spoke to you of an in-between time, of the twin circles of one way passing and a new way coming into being.” Mirari
Here Mary is speaking of A Course of Love, received by Mari several years ago. That book indicated that we are passing from a time of “doing” to a time of “being,” that there is a time for both, but that we are seeing a transitional time now. Jesus’ way was seen as “doing,” and Mary’s way is seen as “being.” Soon all of us will see the advantage of “being” as a way of life.
This does not mean that we will not continue to achieve in this life. But it does mean that our emphasis will be different. God doesn’t ask extravagant and busy doings of us; He celebrates our being with Him and with others in Love, Love that He champions.
“Each time you think a loving thought, you have literally blessed all infinite realms of creation. Each time you have become unwittingly identified with a fearful thought, you have separated yourself from the perfect Love of God, and you have denied yourself your function.” (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 18, Page 218)
There is a bigger reason to avoid anxiety as much as possible. Fear separates us from God. We are often failing to trust Him, and this is why we have the fear in the first place.
God will take care of us. But we won’t recognize His blessing at all if we doubt that He will care for us, regardless of what is happening in our world, in our lives. We are living in a protected environment as long as our thoughts and our heart are with Him. If we hesitate, negating God’s good action toward us is easy to do. Then the secular law of attraction moves into manifestation, and we suffer in needlessly bad ways.
If we keep our eyes on God, we will experience His Love. If we are having trouble sensing His Love, what we must do is to get quiet, be still, settle down, and stop so much frantic “doing.” Just focus on “being,” which is what He wants most of the time, anyway. In the quietness we will touch our souls.
And it is our souls that remain in the bosom of God.
“I and my Father are one. Only Love is real, and Love, alone, heals. . . .
“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)
Being in love, in love with this world, our friends and family, our God, is the only way that works. We really don’t have to run around “doing” frantically. If in a measured pace, what we seek is not there, then it was not meant to be there. Take time today, time just to “be.”
This is, according to A Course of Love, Mary of Nazareth’s way. And, also according to A Course of Love, the way that more and more of us will adopt as we move ahead in time. We think that we have to merit salvation. It is not so. God loves us and will guide us to right living if we will let Him.
Be very quiet today and listen to the Love of the Father. We will in this way only have abundant Life.
“You ask of meaning, but this is not about meaning in the way you look at it. You seek a description of a new way, a new time, as if it is a future that is already written. It is a future waiting to be birthed.” Mirari
Here Mary is speaking, internally, to Mari Perron. Mari has asked about the meaning of what is transpiring, but Mary lets her know that the future is yet to be written—and it is to be written by us. In Mirari, we learn that women are meant to take more of a leadership role. Women have often taken a back seat to men, but this is not the wave of the future.
Much that A Course of Love said about “being,” the way of Mary, is coming into play here. Our men have often championed “doing,” and indeed Jesus himself did also. But our new way in our newly created world will be a way of relationships in that world, and for this change, being is simply more appropriate.
We also heard a great deal in A Course of Love about a new world, just waiting to be created by us. We are coming into this new world now, though the birth pangs are severe, and we are experiencing much turmoil as we live through these times.
But there is hope in what Mary says in Mirari. It is darkest before the dawn, and just on the other side of turmoil is peace.
Let us do what we can to hasten that peace.
“We know for sure that we are all we are being, and that what we are is nothing other than the living Christ. Thus we begin to enjoy the sanctity of our being.” COL bk.2, 19:II
In the next step that we will encounter, we will walk Mary’s way, which was the way of being as opposed to doing. This, from A Course of Love. Now Choose Only Love is telling us the same thing. In this new world we are creating, we will reach Christ-consciousness, and thus our Christ-Self will be in the ascendancy. The Christ-Self is the living Christ, for no longer is the term “Christ” reserved just for Jesus. It is a plural concept in the new world, for all of us share the Christ spirit.
We will still “do” things, but our primary responsibility is to “being.” And this is a great relief. “Doing,” all too often, made us think that we had to earn our way into heaven. Not so.
Doing and being complement each other in this in-between time. As A Course of Love makes clear, Jesus’ way was largely doing, but Mary’s was being, and therein lies the difference. Those of us still called to doing will be helped by those called to being. And vice-versus. We are all in this together.
Being allows for more rest than does doing, or so we might imagine. It is good that we are moving into a new era, where being will teach us how to live.
We never had to “earn” our way into heaven, and now we know it for sure. Just being ourselves will take us straight to heaven, even heaven on earth.
Note: If you like this blog, “Miracles Each Day,” I have others that you might want to view; go to this blog, and click on “Blogs – Online Books – Print/E-Book – Personal Web Site” at the top of the screen. Thanks! — Celia
—
“The truth is that only you exist. Your being, the true being that you are, the living Christ who lives in you, is the only reality. All else is fiction, all else is illusion.” COL bk.2, 18:II
This quotation is saying that we are all One, one being, and that being is the essence of God Himself. Of course, this is a mystical understanding, and we are certainly limited in our entity who lives on earth. Here we are simply a “part” of God, and we are sometimes lost and confused because of our finite nature. But the truth is that we are one with the All, including all of our brothers and sisters who share this world with us. We are blessed beyond description.
We are the living Christ, for “Christ” is a plural term when it refers to the children of God. Jesus started us down this pathway 2,000 years and more ago. And he helps us still. Just ask, and he will be holding our hand.
The “all else” that is fiction is the ego, something we want to shed from our consciousness. This is the illusion that we have been hamstrung by for eons.
But when we turn to God, eliminate fear and judgment, and envelop our being with the Love Who is God, we are saved for something better.
Let us ask today to be saved for that something better.
Many called to the way of Mary will ‘do’ much that is greatly desired in the world but what they do will be a byproduct of their way of being rather than a means of facilitating that way of being. Many of the way of Mary will find acclaim, yet neither acclaim nor obscurity will matter to those following these ways. Being true to the self and the calling of the One Self is all that matters. Eventually all will follow the way of Mary and such ideas as acclaim and obscurity will be no more. But at this time of transition, both ways are needed to demonstrate the means of coming to know, which are what all true expression is about. (ACOL, D:Day19.11)
We are coming to know in this new world. And there is space for both being and doing, the way of Mary and the way of Jesus. Needing both, we cooperate with each other, supporting each other.
The way of Mary seems to be a less obvious way, in that people wonder if any acclaim would be due those who are following this way. There may be acclaim, as well as much doing, but these will be secondary to the relationships that we will form. The relationships in this new world are primary, above and beyond all. We won’t be concerned with acclaim, given or not given, and this will be a hallmark of knowing that the ego has faded away. We will listen for guidance, deep within, and then make our plans to carry out that guidance. We are then being true to our self of personality as well as our Christ-Self.
And that will be all that matters.
This is very tricky for those who reach highly individuated states and it is necessary for those of the way of Mary to support, encourage, and reflect the new to those being examples of the way. This too is tricky for it can lead to judgment. When there is more than one way, there is always room for comparison and judgment. Thus it is realistic to see the ways as intertwined circles existing in support and harmony with one another. As those given specific functions fulfill those functions, they move naturally to the way of Mary. (ACOL, D:Day19.16)
We will all be moving toward the way of Mary, in this new age, as we progress along our pathway to God. In the meantime, there are many still following the way of Jesus, which is more a matter of “doing.” Mary’s “being” needs to support these perhaps more extroverted people. If they don’t have support from those who are simply surrounded by relationships, then those who are doing will have nowhere to turn. We need, all of us, to support each other, but this is especially true of those who have chosen relationships, being, as their way of life—the way of Mary.
We need not judge any pathway taken by anyone. There is room for all of us. As Jesus says here, we are “intertwined circles,” and these intertwined circles need to find each other. Helping each other becomes a mission, a good mission. And in the doing of it, Mary’s followers also find a bit of “doing” as well as “being.”
The truth of this way is not discovered through the passing on of knowledge in form but through relationship. Those following the way of Mary become mirrors of the truth they discover, reflecting the way to their brothers and sisters. This is why this is not a place or state of non-interaction but of great interaction. It is a state that facilitates knowing through relationship. This occurs through the one Self of form. (ACOL, D:Day19.14)
In our physical bodies, we engage in relationships with each other—especially true when we are following the way of Mary. In relationship, we are being our full Self, the Christ-Self, and in interaction with others, our brothers and sisters, in our world, we come into our own.
We teach in this mode. We reflect what we have learned or discovered (depending on where we are in the process), and in this exchange our brothers and sisters are loved into acceptance. It is quite easy to love other people into acceptance. Great love does that, and Mary’s way is nothing if it is not great love.
We set an example in the way of Mary. And this gracious living changes the world into something new and different.
We are about creating a new world, of course. And the way of Mary is what we are all coming to accept. Doing is the way of Jesus, the example life. And while we may still do much when we are embracing Mary, the doing is subsisted in the being.
Being defines us.
This is not to say that those called to the way of Jesus will find acclaim and those called to the way of Mary will find obscurity. Many called to the way of Mary will ‘do’ much that is greatly desired in the world but what they do will be a byproduct of their way of being rather than a means of facilitating that way of being. Many of the way of Mary will find acclaim, yet neither acclaim nor obscurity will matter to those following these ways. Being true to the self and the calling of the One Self is all that matters. Eventually all will follow the way of Mary and such ideas as acclaim and obscurity will be no more. But at this time of transition, both ways are needed to demonstrate the means of coming to know, which are what all true expression is about. (ACOL, D:Day19.11)
We know that desiring acclaim is often an egoic notion, not based in any real need, not something to really desire. Acclaim may be a byproduct of doing one’s best in the world, building on what we know to make changes to create a new world. But just to realize that we want acclaim—with nothing to support it—is to wish falsely.
If we choose to focus on being, we are following Mary’s way, and we might think that acclaim will pass us by. Not necessarily so, says this quotation. We may be recognized by others, but here is the salient point: It really won’t matter to us one way or the other, for when we have moved into Mary’s way, we have moved beyond the egoic. We will be thankful that our work is getting out in the world, but it will be a byproduct of the process in which we live, the process of accomplishing only for the sake of the work itself. The process is important, not always the end product.
If we are spending our lives accomplishing things, we are immersed in the moment of that accomplishment, for the end result will come only infrequently, and we won’t rest on our laurels. We will immerse ourselves in the day-to-day work, slowly adding to our stores, slowing making progress. We won’t live for the peak moments only; we will live for the daily “grind,” something that won’t feel like a grind at all.
Be in this present moment, accomplishing work, but not focusing on the peak experience of having accomplished. Live the work, being all the while. Our doing, as a byproduct of being, will then come into focus with a success unimagined.
Just as Jesus would not have been literally birthed without Mary, the way of Mary cannot be reborn without the way of Jesus. Both ways arose from Christ-consciousness as demonstrations of ways. Those who have thought of Mary as an intermediary are as inaccurate in this belief as are those who thought of Jesus in such a way. (ACOL, D:Day19.8)
We need active “doers” in the world, just as Jesus, in his day, was an active doer. His way paved the way for the Marys of the world. Doing leads to a chance to “be.” Being thus comes on the heels of the doing that has characterized our world for many generations.
We are moving into a new era, and in this era, being will trump doing. We have been too captivated by doing; our daily “to do” lists, with their cross-outs, prove it. We have an addiction to such lists. While Jesus would not have had one on parchment, he might very well have carried a mental list. And, like us, he might have gotten satisfaction from mentally crossing off his performed list.
We don’t need to act this way any longer. As we move into Mary’s way, we still accomplish, but it is a more internal thing. We don’t feel that outer accomplishments define our worth. We feel right in and of ourselves.
Mary was a pioneer in her time. So can we be. She was not an “intermediary” to Jesus, but a full accomplished being in her own right. So can we be.
In Christ-consciousness, doing and being are demonstrations of ways of living that we can assume. Even as we head into Christ-consciousness, this still is true. Let some balance overwhelm us. Experiment with being for a while if doing has been our thing. Experiment. See what fits us.
We will soon discover that there are advantages to both ways of living. It is just a matter of finding out what “fits” to our personality. And then growing into that way that fits most precisely.
The answer lies in the simple statement of as within, so without. By living as who you are in the world, you create change in the world. You create change in the world through relationship. All live and create in relationship. Those called to the way of Mary, however, are called to the creation and anchoring of the new relationship in the new world. Their relationship of union, upon which their contentment is based, is the birthplace, the womb of the new. Their expression is expression of this union. (ACOL, D:Day19.6)
We want to live as who we are. “Being who you are” is the ultimate message of A Course of Love. But it is the real Self, the Christ-Self, who comes to us totally and completely when we have reached Christ-consciousness. Until that time, we do catch glimpses, and these glimpses are sweet.
If we are called to the way of Mary, we will focus on “being” rather than “doing” in this world. Many of us, in this new era of Christ, will be a blend of being and doing. A blend of Mary and Jesus, for Jesus was the “doing” aspect of life in this world. The example life. We too can be example lives, though those called to this way of living are few.
Being is more open to us, because we are heading into a world where being will be the watchword. The way of Mary will emerge in all its glory. While we may still “do,” (for nobody can live here and not do), our heartfelt joy will be found in the being. We will anchor new relationships in this world. We will keep the home fires burning.
Sexist categories will break down, for men and women both will focus on being rather than constantly seek to do in the world. The way looks bright to us, and indeed it is. Our hearts more often tilt toward the fact of being, and however warm and fuzzy, mellow, we can be, the better.
Life doesn’t get any better than this.
The ultimate accomplishment is living as who you are within the world. But in what kind of world? This is the catch that causes feelings of purposelessness in those who are content to live as who they are within the world. Until they realize the power of reflection, they wonder why they, unlike their brothers and sisters called to ‘do,’ do not have a specific part to play in establishing the world in which all are able to be content with who they are. (ACOL, D:Day19.5)
As forerunners of the way that all of us will be later on, those living in the way of Mary, of being rather than doing, will influence all of us for the better. Jesus discusses the “power of reflection,” (D:Day19.5) which is a mighty power when under the sway of being. Those of the way of Mary will influence all of us to move faster toward the time when we live in a new world. If we are called to “doing,” the individuals who are called to Mary will have the solace that they need to carry out their tasks. Mary’s way is at that point in a supportive role, though that role will not long remain just supportive.
Mary’s way is the way we will all embody later on, once the new world has been created. We will relax in this new world, content that the weariness of the old egoic way is no longer—for almost everybody. Of course, there is work still to be done, and Mary’s adherents will effect that work in the most blessed way for the new time and place. Being who we are, we will transform the whole into something much better. And Love will have made this difference.
Those of the way of Mary are content with a way of living. Yet everyone has a function to fulfill in creation of the new world. Only those who express themselves are truly content. (ACOL, D:Day19.2)
Those of the way of Mary are content with a way of living. But everyone, everyone, has a function in the creation of the new world. In being who we are, in living our lives, we fulfill the spirit and law of love—if we are called as was Mary, if we are called now to the “being” mode of Mary.
Those of the way of Mary will still express themselves fully in creating this new world. It is perhaps obscure to come to grips with how just “being” can effect change. But aren’t we influenced greatly by the saintly people whom we have known? And weren’t many of them just “being” in the world? They may not have even tried to proselytize us; they may just have shined their light of love on us, and by so doing shaped our lives, and were a blessing to us.
The way of Mary is very powerful, for it effects change by just the very way that Jesus keeps advocating: being who we are, with an emphasis on “being.”
You perhaps see no ‘specific’ accomplishment in your future, but see instead a way of living as the ultimate accomplishment. You see living as who you are in the world as the accomplishment that is needed from you and yet at times you compare yourselves to those who are able to live as why they are in the world and accomplish certain functions within the world. You perhaps feel function-less and purposeless at times, while at other times, you feel as if you are being exactly as you are meant to be. (ACOL, D:Day19.1)
When we are of the way of Mary, and being is paramount, we may feel that we can see no accomplishment in this world. We can feel function-less and purposeless at times, but at other times, we may be at rest, and we may realize that we ARE doing exactly what we are called to do: be ourselves, whole and complete, a Self Who has realized completion in the time of Christ.
Our way of living is the accomplishment, and only if the ego tries to intrude again (though it has been banished) will we doubt our function. Know that remnants of the ego, its patterns, do still influence our minds, and it is these remnants that give us uncomfortable moments. We ourselves are just OK as we are.
Those of you who are the forerunners of the way of Mary may have felt confusion over your sense of calling. You know you are called to something, and something important, but it does not have a form within your mind and so you see not how it can become manifest in the world. In other words, you know not what to do. (ACOL, D:Day19.1)
There are forerunners to the way of Mary in our world today. They sense that, for them, they are simply to “be” in their relationships with others. Doing is not required of these individuals at all, though they may do much in the midst of being who they are.
These individuals may, in the midst of the busy doings of our world, feel cut adrift. They may feel that something important is asked of them, but they may be unable to give form and meaning to that conception. When this indecision happens, we are asked to simply abide in the knowingness that being who we are is all that is asked of us. This being will inevitably include our brothers and sisters.
There are some who will be significant others, our relationships, but in the long run, we are in relationship with all who share our Self, for the Self of union is universal. Be patient with all that is unsolved in our heart, and know that we are on the right pathway, when intuition has prompted a “being” rather than a “doing.” The rightness of this pathway will be proved by subsequent events in one’s life.
What was created cannot be uncreated. Thus transformation is needed. The miracle makes you fully aware of the embrace and the consciousness of unity and places you outside of time. In this state, no duality exists. Doing and being are one. (ACOL, D:7.5)
The only circumstance under which what was created would be uncreated is if God ceased to love us. And this would never happen, we can imagine. We have never done anything so terrible that He, All Love, would deny us love because we have made mistakes. We have merely been calling for help in our misdeeds, and a call for help (and love) is met by Love, the greatest Love, from God, that can and does exist.
So, since we are not going to be uncreated, we know that we need transformation. And this transformation comes in the form of enlightenment, called in A Course of Love, Christ-consciousness.
A miracle will make this inevitable happening come about. We join in the embrace with the One, and with our brothers and sisters, and Jesus (another brother), and we become aware in a way that we lacked heretofore. The embrace is called upon many times by Jesus in ACOL. It is the recognition that we are loved, and that we are held tightly in that Love. We can appeal for love, we can ask for help, and we can cuddle with Jesus, as we lay our head upon his shoulder. The imagery is very touching as well as very profound.
When a miracle occurs, we are momentarily outside time. Outside time is where the Self of unity lives. There is no duality here, because doing and being are one. This somewhat mystical statement is not totally clear in this context, but it does reappear often in ACOL. We are to both “do” and “be,” in the way of Jesus and of Mary, and as time passes, we will move into just being more and more. We will live as Mary did, deriving our sustenance from relationship. Example lives such as that of Jesus will then be no longer necessary.
“Being is completely without these distinctions. It is a state in which the mind is in communication with everything that is real. To whatever extent you permit this state to be curtailed you are limiting your sense of your own reality, which becomes total only by recognizing all reality in the glorious context of its real relationship to you. This is your reality. Do not desecrate it or recoil from it. It is your real home, your real temple and your real Self.” (ACIM, T-4.VII.4)
“Being” is another name for God. And when we are in communication with Being, with God, we are in communication with all that is real. This is, by the way, the term that religious teacher Eckhart Tolle uses to refer to God, because he feels that the term God has been misused.
This communication doesn’t happen until farther down the pathway to Awakening. In the early stages of our walk to salvation, we would be much too fearful of God to meaningfully communicate with Him. So we have been given the Holy Spirit, God’s Voice, our Teacher and Guide, Who is less fearful to us (in our own perceptions).
When the mind is communication with the All (another name for God), we are living rightly. We are living our reality, what is truly real.
Because we are a part of God, when we understand that we live in Him, we are coming to the intellectual knowledge that will save us. Previously, we have not recognized that God is the divine spark within us. We have seen Him as a Creator outside of His creation. Many still believe this, for the universe, in this way of thinking, is seen as God’s handiwork. But of what would He have created the universe? There is only He. His “God-stuff” created all that exists.
We need to recognize that we exist in relationship to the All. This is one of the messages of A Course of Love, which builds on the ideas, to some extent, in A Course in Miracles. We are in unity (because the All is One) and in relationship (the diversity of creation) to the All. These ideas from ACOL help us to see what is really there for us to experience in this world and worlds beyond this one.
So Being is there for us to experience. Being is God. And reality is all that is really true, freed from illusions and an illusory world.
1 – Day 19
“Those of you who are the forerunners of the way of Mary may have felt confusion over your sense of calling. You know you are called to something, and something important, but it does not have a form within your mind and so you see not how it can become manifest in the world. In other words, you know not what to do. You perhaps see no ‘specific’ accomplishment in your future, but see instead a way of living as the ultimate accomplishment. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 19)”
2 – Way of Living
A way living is the ultimate way of Mary; it is not achieving, out in the world, as doers have done in the way of Jesus. This becomes a reflective way of life, a way of relationship, often in the family, and is sometimes understood, perhaps, by women more so than by men. This is according to the stereotype of how women have been viewed in a patriarchal society. And in the new world, men and women both will be far more likely just to live, just to live in relationship, than to try to achieve, even if that achievement is ego-less.
3 – Comforting
This way is a comforting way, this way of Mary. It is a very loving way, this way of relationship. We move in circles that are near to us; we heal each other in ways that are impossible if one is out in the world trying to make a mark, to actively change the world for the better.
4 – Change Happens from Within
A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love both emphasize that change of the world happens only when we first see an inward change. We change amiss when we attempt to overturn the old order by force of external means. We change what we perceive, and then we change what we know, and in the doing, we change quite a bit in the outside world. Even followers in Mary’s tradition will change quite a bit in the outside world, but it will be a by-product of that change that happens closer to home, closer to the heart.
5 – Contented
“Being content is being fulfilled by the way in which you express who you are—by the way you express your content—your wholeness. Those who use their gifts to create the truth they see are those who in ‘doing’ find their way to true contentment and true creation. . . .Those called to the way of Mary are called to be what they want to see reflected in the world and to the realization that this reflection is the new way of creation. In their being they become what they want to create. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 19)”
6 – Becoming
Those of the way of Mary are in the midst of “becoming” a being whom they want to create. In their Selves they embody change. If one first becomes something that is actually desired in the outside world, we truly make a change over which we have some control. We can always change our own selves. And in the changing does the world itself change as well.
7 – Being
We rest content when our very being has been transformed, and if the way of Mary is our way, then this is what we are about.
8 – Interaction
“The way of Mary is not a place or state of non-interaction however. This is not the state or place of the monks, nuns, or the contemplatives of old. It is not solitary nor isolated, nor confined to a specific community. It is a way of existence in which relationship is paramount. It is not listening to a calling to ‘do’ but a calling to ‘become.’ (A Course of Love: Dialogues, p. 180)”
9 – Relationships
Relationships do matter a great deal. And when we are following Mary’s way, we major in relationships. They are our focus, they are our reason for living. Cannot we see that women have historically played this role, even when the ego was the dominant inner force?
10 – Rest
There is rest in the way of Mary. We no longer try to change anybody or anything that is outside of us, unless that change happens naturally through our interaction with them. We aren’t trying to a role model for anyone; we are just “being.” We are not “doing” in the active way that Jesus was doing. His example life is not called for by those who follow Mary.
11 – Not “Doing”
The way of Mary is not a “doing” so much as a way of “being.” This does not mean that doing will be absent from our brothers and sisters who follow Mary’s way, but their primary mode of living will be in relationships. They will not always be as known by our world as those who are actively doing. But they will not dwell in obscurity. As we fulfill the obligations and mission for which we live in the world, we will naturally move more toward being rather than doing.
12 – All
Eventually all will follow the way of Mary. This may be hard for us to understand at this time in our history, when there is so much that we perceive as “wrong” with this world. But as we all learn to “be” rather than to try (sometimes misguidedly) to “do,” then we will see that no change is lasting that does not include an internal change. This is a largely unexpressed but implicit tenet of Jesus in both A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love.
13 – Anchors
Both Jesus and Mary are anchors in this time of transition. Both ways–doing and being–are needed as we seek to bring to our world a new, transformed world.
14 – Acclaim
“This is not to say that those called to the way of Jesus will find acclaim and those called to the way of Mary will find obscurity. Many called to the way of Mary will ‘do’ much that is greatly desired in the world but what they do will be a byproduct of their way of being rather than a means of facilitating that way of being. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 19)”
15 – In Relationship
So we live, first of all, in relationship when we are called to the way of Mary. And we may find acclaim, but it is no longer foremost to us, even when we are outside the realm of the ego. We don’t have to “do” to achieve our purpose in life; we just “are.”
16 – Way of Jesus
“Without those pursuing the way of Jesus, those pursuing the way of Mary would have a much more difficult task. There would be little space in which to anchor the new. Those following the way of Jesus create the openness of the spacious Selves who allow for the anchors of the new to be cast and thus to ride out the many storms of this time of transition. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 19)”
17 – New Age
Those of the way of Jesus have paved the way for the new age, those who will follow in the way of Mary. Someone needed to actively work in the world to bring about change—by setting an example, and, earlier, by teaching and learning. Now those goals have been achieved, and many of the way of Mary have gained much from the accomplishment. Now the time is ripe for simply “being,” no longer out in the world creating a new order.
18 – New Order
Yet the way of Jesus, the new order, needed to be achieved, to give the Marys of the world a place to rest content. Now those of the way of Mary can walk serenely in a world that did not exist a few years ago. It exists now, for a few followers of Mary—and more followers of Mary will come in the years henceforth.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
I have spent most of my life “doing”–sometimes in a feverish pace. I am so relieved that Jesus does not ask me to “do” compulsively any longer. Thank You for the words that indicate that “being” in relationships is also a good thing. Help me to truly understand the way of Mary.
As I balance the way of Jesus–the doing–with the way of Mary–the being–may I have Your constant support. I cannot live well in this world without Your guidance every step of the way. Thank You.
Amen.
1 – Fulfillment
“You have been preparing for this final stage of the fulfillment of the way of Jesus. You have also been preparing for the beginning of the fulfillment of the way of Mary. . . .Each way is as needed now as it was two thousand years ago. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 18)”
2 – Attention to Both Jesus and Mary
So we need to give attention to both Jesus and Mary. Mary was left out of A Course in Miracles, but she is very much in evidence in A Course of Love. She is said to have reached Christ-consciousness also, as, of course, did Jesus. We are ending the “time of Jesus” in that example lives and “doing” are not to be the way of the future. We are heading into a time to fulfilling relationships and simply “being.” But right now we are caught on the cusp of each. We are not finished with Jesus’s way, and Mary’s way is not fulfilled for many. So we learn from both at this juncture.
3 – Preparing
We have been “preparing.” While we have moved beyond learning in the old sense, the sense in which we learned with the aid (nefarious aid) of the ego, we are learning through observation of this glorious world. Even amid pain, we can see glory. And with the words of Jesus to sustain us, we can heal at least a portion of that pain.
4 – Mary’s Way
Mary is not the exalted bringer of salvation. Her way is quieter, but that does not mean that everyone who follows in her way will be obscure, unknown by the world. Those following her may achieve a great deal, but their primary consideration is for relationship and being contented in “being” rather than “doing.”
5 – Active / Receptive
“One way is active. One way is receptive. Yet the ways are not separate any more than Jesus was separate from Mary—or any mother separate from her child. The ways are rather complimentary and symbiotic. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 18)”
6 – Legitimate Ways
We see that both the ways are legitimate. Even as Mary was not separate from the child of her womb, Jesus. Jesus’s way is active, and Mary’s is receptive. In this we can see an echo of stereotypical attitudes toward men and women, and their places in this world. But we do not have to turn aside from the characterizations herein because we are liberated. We can see value in seeing the male as active, the female as receptive. Certainly we know that even in the workplace, the way of women is different from their male counterparts. There is often more cooperation and less competition when women hold the sway.
7 – Jesus’s Way
“As has been said, the time of teaching and learning is over. If the way of Jesus was a way of acceptance, teaching, learning, and leading an example life, then the remaining ways of Jesus that are still applicable and appropriate in this final period are those of acceptance and of being an example life. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 18)”
8 – Teaching and Learning
In this quotation from the Dialogues of A Course of Love, we see that Jesus is dropping out both teaching and learning in our present day. Even though we are still on the cusp of Mary, we still find reasons for acceptance and being an example life. We are not so sure that teaching and learning are our way, though some of us might still be caught up in it. Our hearers will see something different, though, in our acceptance and our example life. They will observe, rather than take unto themselves, as though external to themselves, the teaching that they hear. They will not learn in the old way. They will take unto themselves only what resonates internally, and they will turn aside from an external source of presumably higher wisdom. There is no wisdom higher than the internal.
9 – Separated State
“”Your separated state was a sickness, an unwanted state, and thus a temporary manifestation. The joining of mind and heart provided reunion of the human and divine and thus accomplished the resurrection of the eternal in form. Your virgin state, the state unaltered by the separation, has been returned. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 18)”
10 – Elevated Self of Form
This describes the elevated Self of form, no longer in separation. The quotation also harkens back to joining of mind and heart (into wholeheartedness), a tenet of the original volume of A Course of Love. We are merging the human (the little or personal self, so soon having relinquished the ego) and the divine (the inner Christ Self). We are growing closer to God, our very Being inside.
11 – Interaction / Relationship
“The new visual pattern is that of spirit resurrected in form. It is the ascension of the body, or elevation of the self of form. You are called to demonstrate this pattern. The choice is to demonstrate this pattern through interaction with the world, or through incarnation through relationship. Neither is exclusive. Both are contained within the other. (A Course of Love: Dialogues, p. 177)”
12 – Essence
This passage encapsulates the essence of Day Eighteen. Some will follow the way of Jesus through interaction (the active way) with the world, some will follow the way of Mary through relationships (the receptive way), and some will combine both ways in their time in this world. All ways are needed in this time of transition.
13 – Feelings
Feelings are now our way of coming to know. This idea has been expressed previously, but now is reiterated. We lay aside all sickness as a temporary manifestation of external searching, and we turn within to find our knowing. The way that we exemplify this knowing, though, differs–whether the way of Jesus, the way of Mary, or a symbiotic relationship of the two.
14 – The Self
This passage also encapsulates the entire Forty Days and Forty Nights quite well. We are to become the resurrected self of form, elevated to the Self that has always been innate in us. This Self has never left God, and when we welcome this Self into our little self, we will know love and peace and joy as we have not known them for many eons.
15 – Self and Relationship to Self
“Both the self and the relationship of self to all must become known in order for the paradise that has been re-found to be re-created for everyone. What else would life be for but to make the invisible paradies of love visible and livable for all? (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 18)”
16 – Read Carefully
This quotation takes some explanation, although the meaning is clear when read carefully. The self is union with God and everybody and everything else; the relationship of self to all is the second half of what we need to do. Consequently, this quotation begins as a reassertion of unity and relationship.
17 – Paradise
We want paradise here on earth. We can have it. We do have it when we experience the union of God and man internally, coupled with the relationship that we have with God and man externally. Union and relationship; unity and relationship. The terms are used over and over in A Course of Love, and so Jesus must mean something very important by them. It is hoped that we won’t become jaded in our reading of these two terms, for in their fullness of meaning they are crucial to our establishment, with God, of a Heaven on earth, of Paradise in this world.
18 – Re-create
We need to re-create, because we have been lost in the illusion of separation. We are not really separate, indeed we could not be and still live. But we were unaware of our union with God as long as the ego was in the ascendancy. Now that the ego has fallen away (or is in the process of falling away), we know God in a way that was veiled for us by our egoic notions. We wanted the material above all else, but it ever failed to satisfy for longer than a moment. We wanted love, but found ourselves unable to give—and we know now that what we give is what we receive.
19 – Virgin State
So now we seek to recreate Heaven on earth, the return to the Garden of Eden, to return to our virgin state.
20 – Blessings
Let’s not delay any longer. These great blessings can be ours today. Only believe. And if you can’t believe, it isn’t to be yet for yourself.
21 – Patience
Be patient. The way will be shown to you in the privacy of your inner Self.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
I earnestly want to fulfill your plan for me: that my little self elevate into the Self that I truly am. This means that earthly being is not less than heavenly. What a joy this means that life in this world can become! Thank You.
I do not yet know whether my way is the way of Jesus, the way of Mary, or a combination of the two. Guide me in this dilemma. I will listen to Your Voice today.
Help me to get through this one day with grace. I am very much wanting to feel Your Presence. This is a great blessing to me as I live the way of Jesus, leaning toward the way of Mary. I am very much a homebody, though I have been out in the world. Guide me to no longer try to “teach,” as this is not the way that people will come to You now. Guide me to remind others of what they already know internally. Just to observe what is true, and to say it. I ask this of You today. Thank You.
Amen.
“Illusion is the death you need but arise from. Arise and awaken to your resurrected self! There is no longer a god-head to follow into paradise. Take not the example of any of these and know instead the example of woman, of Mary, Mother of God. (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the Art of Thought, 8.9)”
Affirmation: “What would Mary do?”
Reflections:
1 – Mary in ACOL
Jesus does not mention Mary in A Course in Miracles. But she plays a pivotal role in A Course of Love. She is said to emphasize the life of “being” as opposed to the more active life of Jesus, which was “doing” (from ACOL).
2 – The God-Head
I think that the description in the passage of the god-head is meant to encourage us not to see God as an external figure who will usher us, after we die, into heaven (if we, presumably, have so merited). These ideas are partially derived from traditional Christianity, which has a theology of a God Who stands outside His creation, His handiwork.
3 – ACIM and ACOL Differ
A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love are different in philosophy. We are all enclosed in God’s umbrella Self. There is nothing outside. Indeed, as in a hologram, there is nothing outside ourselves (the latter from the Text of ACIM). For the whole is in each part.
4 – Theology
But, again, do not let theology delay you. If these ideas feel foreign to you, you do not have to believe them to experience the value of A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love.
5 – Mary
Mary incorporated in herself the more passive elements of God, the “being” rather than the “doing.” She gave birth to Jesus, and nowhere in A Course in Miracles or A Course of Love does Jesus deny the Virgin Birth. Yet we are not required to take any particular beliefs that are theological unto ourselves if we have doubts. We are encouraged that Jesus takes us where we are, and guiding us by holding our hands, he leads us onward.
6 – Mari Perron
Mary is a great icon of the Roman Catholic faith. Her mention is ACOL may in part have been that Jesus channeled the trilogy through Mari Perron, who is herself Catholic. As with all channeled works, Jesus speaks first to the one who is receiving the material. But Helen Schucman, who scribed A Course in Miracles, was also Catholic (though Jewish), and Jesus does not mention Mary in ACIM. Perhaps we are ready to see men and women as equally important to the furtherance of salvation. And so Mary takes her place, in ACOL, beside Jesus.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
May I spend much time today just “being” instead of doing. May I reflect on the part that Mary played in the life of Jesus, and may I learn from her.
Be with me today through thick and thin. You have always been there for me, even when I sensed nothing of Your presence. I would sense Your presence today. May I walk in Your way, as always.
Amen.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 