The Christ in You Knows Not of Difficulty

“Realize that when you think that this total reversal of thought concerning your self and your world will be difficult you are listening to the your ego. The Christ in you knows not of difficulty. (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the Nature of Unity and Its Recognition, 11.10)”

Affirmation: “This change for salvation is effortless.”

Reflections:

1 – Ego

We all too often make things that are actually easy, hard for us to do. This is the ego talking. The Self/Christ knows not of difficulty. When we know difficulty, we need to reslant our thoughts. And the heart can come to our rescue. The heart knows things that the mind can never know, and the heart knows these things without reasoning and intellectual doubt. What a blessing the heart really is! But we must join the mind to the heart if we are to be wholehearted, as A Course of Love recommends.

2 – Jesus

The Christ is in us. We often shy away from thinking of this, for we think (still) that Jesus had something that we don’t have, something to which we do not have access. This is untrue, because even he, 2,000 years ago, indicated to this disciples that there was nothing he had that they too could not have. We think that we are being egotistical when we claim the Christ in us. And perhaps if we simply say the “Self,” we will be relieved of this anxiety and uncertainty.

3 – Inner Christ

But the larger Self (inner Self) is the Christ that we have not consistently lived. Awakening will bring the Christ to us on a consistent basis. In the meantime, we must await the greatest blessing. We must realize that our experience of the Christ may be intermittent and uncertain, for a time.

4 – Enlightenment

Experiencing the Christ will not always be intermittent and uncertain. When we remain faithful to Jesus and his message, we are well on the way to where we want to go: home. And that home is the enlightenment of ordinary individuals such as ourselves.

5 – Change

This change will come effortlessly, though our study may seem quite effortful. It is not really, and when we think of effort, we are delving into the ways of the ego. Avoid the egotistical, turn Your mind to guidance only, and the ways that Jesus points out will become clearer and more attainable.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I am seeking to avoid thinking in an egotistical fashion when I hear the good news that the Christ/Self is within me. I do choose to let the ego just wither away. And for this to happen, I need to avoid egotistical ways.

Be with me today as I seek to find Your way in harmony and peace. Be with me today as I seek to catch glimpses of enlightenment. This blessing will come only when I am ready, and to be ready, I need to be thinking in a calm, rational way. The “way out” ways of thinking are not called for, and they will mislead. The ego knows not of what we seek, but it would try its hardest to keep the Self from us. May I leave this foolishness behind today and always.

Amen

Free-Floating Anxiety

“What is needed to convince you will be provided.  Such is the urgency of your return to unity.  If not now, then soon, you will be asked to make this final choice, this choice to leave fear behind for good and to become who you are.  (The Treatises of A Course of Love:  Treatise on the Art of Thought, 3.14)”

Affirmation:  “I would leave fear behind today.”

Reflections:

1 – Fear

Jesus seems very bent on our leaving fear behind.  Let him talk to us today.  His way will lead us from the anxieties in which we have often been caught, to the peace and joy of a will that is firmly established in God’s choices for us.

2 – Christ/Self

Who we are is a being, a Christ, that is without abnormal fear.  Of course, Jesus is not talking about the fears that keep us from danger.  He is talking about the free-floating anxiety that prevents many of us from enjoying life.  And he came 2,000 years ago so that we would have life, and more abundant life at that.

3 – Jesus

We will be convinced of the truth of Jesus’s words.  This is the promise of this passage.  And what a glorious promise it is!  To be convinced!  What we need will be provided.  And how?  We will experience this truth through our wholeheartedness, but first through our hearts, which do not actually need the proof in an intellectual way at all.  The heart understands and believes when the mind doubts.  And this mind is the ego-mind, which we would leave behind.  We would see it wither away, and then we will know with the wholeheartedness of a sane mind and a full heart, joined.

4 – Return to Sanity

We are urged to return to sanity.  All of us have been insane to one degree or another all of our lives, except when experiencing glimpses of Awakening.  Jesus would lead us away from this deplorable situation into the light of day, the light of his will also.  He would have us leave insanities behind.  He does not mean pathological insanities as in mental illness, but insanities that are the crux of the human condition.  And we would join him in wishing for an end to these insanities as well.

5 – Christ-Consciousness

Such is the triumph of Christ-consciousness.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I release all free-floating anxiety today.  May nothing mar this beautiful day.  Thank You for the brilliant sun, the balmy weather, the sense that love is out there, waiting for all of us.  May we be patient, but may we know that we do not have to see love delayed.  Open our hearts to Your love, and then may the significant others who would enhance our lives be on their way to us.

Thank You for the many blessings that You give so freely.  Your help is always a free offer.  May I know in the depth of my heart that I am not meant to struggle.  Your way is easy, and with You, even the difficult becomes easy.

Be with us as we walk through a normal day in a normal, but especially be with us if this day brings challenges.  There is no challenge to the advanced teacher of God, according to Jesus, but often we don’t feel that we are very advanced.  Things still trip us up.  I would have a day today that is calm and peaceful, minus the chaos that sometimes seems to engulf all of us.  May we be conscious of Your guiding Presence at all times, leading the way out of dilemmas and granting us Your peace that passeth understanding.

Amen.

Turn to the Christ/Self Within

“There is no mold, no form, no stock answer.  This is why all answers have disappointed you in the past.  Your answer is not the same as any other.  No matter how filled with wisdom one person’s answer may be, it is not yours.  (A Course of Love, 26.20)”

Affirmation:  “May I find my personal answer today.”

Reflections:

1 – Different Answers

This passage for today gives an explanation that may have eluded us before.  Regardless of what has helped another person, that same word may not help us, because we are all individuals with different pasts, different temperaments, different needs (to a degree).  We cannot look to stock answers to find salvation, and especially not to find Awakening or Christ-consciousness.  We have to look inward, at the inner Self, for our Answer, an Answer which rests in God.

2 – Turn Inward

Knowing that nothing anybody else can say may help is possibly a downer.  So we continue seeking, and we are often disappointed in our seeking.  This is all the more reason to turn inward.  I believe that accumulation of words from external sources will eventually coalesce into something that can be of benefit to all of us.  God uses external sources to get His message out also.  Not everything can be learned without any external help.

3 – We Have Sought Long Enough

That is why Jesus has channeled A Course in Miracles, and, some believe, A Course of Love.  He wants us to know, in the latter, that we have sought long enough.  We are enough.  We are ready.  And God would seem to be waiting for us to realize this (an interpretation, not stated in ACIM or ACOL).

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would find my personal answers from within.  Other people’s answers can help inform mine, but mine alone is sufficient for me.  May this not disappoint me, but be cause for joy.  I need only turn inward to You, and what I seek will be found in the Christ/Self within.

Be with me today to keep me calm and tranquil.  May no difficulties arise, and if they must, may I have the wherewithal to handle them easily and in a relaxed fashion.  Help me to be patient with others with whom I interact.  May I take care of the needs that are mine to handle, and may I know joy in the process.

Amen.