Our Being Unlocked / New Life Announced

“Your being was locked securely within the heart of Christ, to be given to you when you yourself claimed your inheritance.  That treasure is literally God’s plan for you.  It is the divine will come true for your being.  It could not be delivered before this  moment; you were not ready.  But now you are, and so I give it to you.  Love placed it in my immaculate hands and honored me with the gift of giving it to you, and with it, new life.”  Choose Only Love, bk.7, 3:II.  Message from Mother Mary.

When we awaken, we will rest easy in words like these.  In the meantime, most of us will have numerous satori, or glimpses of Awakening, glimpses that do not last because, all too often, we lapse back into our fear of the world, our fear of God, our fear, period.  We also lapse into judgment, particularly of our fellow men and women, and for this the antidote is to request forgiveness.  While it is not God who forgives us, because He has never condemned, it is our own selves, for we are our own worst enemy.

When we have reached Book VII of Choose Only Love, we are ready for Mary’s announcement in this quotation.  We have been cleansed.  Our way back is announced, and we are on the brink of Awakening.

All of us will recognize when this is possible.

Birthing Christ

“You are birthing Christ.  Nothing can prevent it from occurring now.  Merely trust each moment.  Surrender into each moment.  Embrace your commitment to Reality.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Lesson 22, Page 270)

Jesus is trying mightily to bring us to enlightenment, the next step for humankind in our world.  It is very reassuring that here he says, “Nothing can prevent it from occurring now.”

The time that Jesus heralds is not the time of our world.  “Now” may be off in the future.

But we have been given hope, and with this we can express our appreciation to Jesus, our elder brother (as called in A Course in Miracles).  To evolve, we need surrender to God, and re-surrender, and re-surrender.  There is literally no end to it, but traveling in this way makes for happiness.

God would not have placed us on Earth without a plan in place to give us guidance as we make our way back to Him.  Be grateful for the small advances that we make.

The end is assured.  And that end is God Himself (also includes the feminine).

Express Ourselves!

“We have talked about the expression of feelings.  It is necessary.  For this, first we travel the path of the silence of the heart.  Then we allow being to express itself.  The manner in which this expression is realized will vary, given the vastness of what you are.  Embrace, sing, dance, cry, moan.  Express yourself!  – Choose Only Love, bk. V, 20:III

Jesus is here channeling the progression to Awakening, or enlightenment, also called Christ-consciousness or metanoia.  We are so diverse that never ought there to be any judgment about how our enlightenment unfolds.  Choose Only Love, in seven volumes, has as its purpose the healing of memory.  There is a progression to the healing of memory, for as The Way of Mastery also points out, all aspects of the mind must be brought to the light by coming up from the depths of the subconscious.

This may sound hard, but never forget that God is in charge.  And also we have help from other realms.  It is God’s will that we progress to our next stage of evolution, to Awakening, and for this our mind and heart work in conjunction.

Let our heart lead.  The message is in our feelings, and there is great depth as we touch God directly through our feelings.

He will do the rest.  God is also a “She,” and so we need to become accustomed to this terminology also.  God is also our Divine Mother.

Awake!

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

Awake! and keep awake!

While eyelids close

to give the body rest

touch not the lashes

of the Spirit’s ever watchful orbs.

Exercise the practice

of the cloistered one

who regularly rising

through the patterned hours

commits attention to that which

beckons him beyond

the chronos of the calendar

to events foretold

in sand grit

sharp as any irritant

to mollusk or to man.

Read instructions writ small

around the edges of the mind

before the sea salt blurs the words

and the search begins again

for clues and crumbs.

Hoist lightning-quick antennae

to catch the faintest quiver

to transmit to relay stations

information for the soul.

Kairos commands:

Keep awake!

Transformation

“This transformation from a state of fear to Love, or from ignorance (the ignoring of truth) to enlightenment (the embracing and acknowledging of truth) occurs for each mind within the dream in a very specific way.  That is, it must occur according to what is required to release the patterns that have settled into that particular mind.  In a general way, those patterns are the same for everyone.  But in their expression, they take on a perfect uniqueness.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Lesson 22, Page 262)

We must be prepared for transformation through a cleansing of our innermost thoughts. Practically, this means that the subconscious mind gradually opens to those attitudes that need to be changed so that we are truly walking God’s way. Transformation, when following the guidance given in Jesus’ channeled works, is gentle and usually gradual.

We first get glimpses, called a satori in Eastern religion. And then these moment of extreme peace lengthen so that hours may pass in true peace. But there is a particular moment, which we will remember, when transformation comes upon us to stay. If we walk in Love rather than fear, this new state remains with us.

And life is never the same again.

Millions of Enlightened People

“The millions of sisters and brothers who throughout the world are living their human lives being the enlightened ones of God, those who found love, embody all varieties of social, religious, philosophical, moral, and other characteristics.  Almost none are well known, because to be a celebrated saint is simply one option among several.  Few choose that path, nor is it necessary.”  Choose Only Love bk. 6, 1:III

What a glorious statement this is: that there are “millions” of our brothers and sisters in this world who are enlightened! I did not know that enlightenment (also called Awakening and Christ-consciousness) was so widespread. And there is no way that I could know, because most of those so blessed keep a low profile. We do not have very many Mother Teresas.

It is possible that those so blessed with enlightenment do not have a name for it, other than “born again,” or “saved.” Most of us in the West do not have a good grasp of enlightenment. The East is different that way. There is a long tradition of enlightenment in Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism, and many people in Eastern countries know what has happened to them when they are so blessed.

I have a friend who had no clue what was going on with her over 30 years ago when enlightenment dawned. She started on a mission to try to find out. In the meantime, she simply called it “transformation.” She is one of the lucky ones; her transformation has been sustained.

If we want enlightenment, we need to ask for it. The pathways of Jesus’ channeled writings all point to this end. It is in truth the only way that our world can be saved from disaster. It is the only way out there for salvation to take hold worldwide.

Turn to love, dismiss judgment and fears that are not meant to be warnings. If we hold fast to our desires for enlightenment, we will draw it to us. And in so doing we will do our small part in advancing our civilizations by dedication to God’s ways.

Awareness of Love

“The only obstacle to enlightenment, to supreme knowledge, is fear. . .

“But fear overrides your awareness of love.  Fear makes you lose sight of love.  Therefore, I say with certainty that although you may do many things to reach God, if you are unwilling to put aside fear, none of what you may spiritually ‘do’ will help you, but rather it will bolster your ego.”  Choose Only Love bk. 6, 1:II

Fear is not stronger than love, though. Negativity, which fear represents, is never stronger than positivity, which love represents. To believe that fear is impossible to overcome is to believe that there exists Someone or Something stronger than God. And we don’t believe this. The “devil,” or “Satan,” which might be said to be in a struggle with God, is simply illusion. In our understanding, the ego is the nearest thing that we have ever come to a devil.

With the law of attraction operating, we know that what we focus upon comes to be, in some form or other. And if we focus on praying for fear to disappear, we are focusing on negativity, which never works. Instead, make the simple shift to focusing on love in all our dealings. Ask to have our love increased. Ask to love ourselves, our brothers and sisters, nature (even), and God. Ask to have love so overwhelm us that we have no room for fear.

We are not perfect, and so there will come times when we are overwrought. But these times do not occur when we are experiencing a satori, a glimpse of Awakening. Those who have awakened do not focus on fear, and so their experience is quite different. In attempting to move toward enlightenment, we are encouraged to focus on what we want, not to insert a negative of what we do “not” want.

Ask to be overwhelmed by love today–God’s Love. This is one of the most powerful prayers that we can offer to the cosmos, and God listens.

Invitation to Sit Five Minutes a Day as Christ

“The struggle to awaken is the very obstacle to its accomplishment.  That is why the five minutes as Christ was given to you as a very simple exercise.  And if, indeed, you desire Christ above all things, would you not participate in it each day?  For that which you desire and love is that which pulls your attention to it.  If you love Christ, then let Christ pull you, attract you to spending five minutes a day in the realization that you can only be what you are created to be.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 20, Page 241)

The “five minutes as Christ” is explained elsewhere in The Way of Mastery as simply the choice to use one’s imagination to live as Christ, sitting quietly, for just five minutes–but five minutes every day. This is not an exercise for the ego, for we have moved beyond the ego. We are inviting our true self, the true Self, the Christ-Self, to fill our mind and heart with Jesus’ blessing.

Why would the struggle to awaken be the “very obstacle to its accomplishment”? I think it is because struggle is above all not “the way,” the Tao, to God. Sure, we will have anguish in this world, but our melding with God always happens when we quieten down and invite His peace. When we have glimpses of Awakening, satori, we can think back and realize that we were always silent on the inside.

With more silence, sitting as Christ, we leave struggle behind and invite the very process that we all want–Awakening/Christ-consciousness/enlightenment/transformation.

Return to Our True Nature

“You may not feel that you have ever intended to live in fear.  But the displacement of the original intent was so complete that each life has begun with fear and proceeded from this beginning continually reacting fear.  While the original intent remained within you and caused you to attempt to express a Self of love despite your fear, fear has thwarted your every effort and caused the very effort that has continued the cycle of fear.  To have to try to be who you are and to express who you are is the result of the displacement of the nature of love with the nature of fear.  What we now are about is reversing this displacement and returning you to your true nature.”  (A Course of Love, T4:3.5)

We had an “original intent” eons ago, and that was to live in love—not fear.  But fear intervened, and nothing has ever been right since.  This is the crucial, central feature of our lives.  We have displaced love with fear, and then we have lived in this egoic state of fear.  There ought to be a better way.

And there is.  We can learn, and not necessarily by traditional means of study, to displace fear and the egoic self with the Self of love.  This change will make all the difference.  And A Course of Love is showing us how to effect this change.  It is true (as A Course in Miracles says also) that God makes the final decision of when we are ripe for Christ-consciousness or Awakening.  Then he metaphorically reaches down to us and lifts us up.

Yet there are things we can do to remove blocks to the awareness of love.  This in itself will ease our way, and give us a happy experience.  We need to get the idea of suspiciousness out of our minds; we need trust above all else.  And trust we can have; just a decision to have it is enough to bring it to us.  This does not mean that we will be gullible.  We have our own good sense, and this is sense of the real Self, not the ego.  When we place our faith in the inner Christ Self, we are far more likely to be right than to be wrong in our evaluations of others.  Note that this does not mean “judgment” of others, for judging keeps us from attaining enlightenment.  We need to simply rest in the assurance that if we are encouraged to avoid a particularly situation (or person), we will know how and where to do so.  That is all.

“Easy and without Effort”

“The end is always a thought away.  Liberation—a simple choice.  The way is easy and without effort.  It rests in the power to decide.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 18, Page 228)

The “end” is Awakening, enlightenment, Christ-consciousness, transformation. Many long for this, but most don’t know that our power of decision rests in the God within. And if God is within, if we are a part of Him, then our power to decide is not simply a matter of just letting our God decide the timing.

We remove the blocks of fear and judgment, and then we make a simple decision that we long to experience the best of God today. THIS is the “power to decide.” Of course, this sounds difficult to our unknowing ears. But here Jesus says that the way is easy and without effort. When we rest on God’s bosom, things are easy and without effort.

The only problem is that we try to do it all with our finite self. And this won’t work at all.

Surrender to the God within. With this choice, we ready ourselves to a greater transformation than we can ever imagine.

Joining Jesus in Christhood

“The Christ in you is wholly human and wholly divine. . . .It is this joining of the human and divine that ushers in love’s presence, as all that caused you fear and pain falls away and you recognize again what love is.”  (A Course of Love, C:5.1)

We are indeed blessed now!  When we recognize the Christ in us, we are recognizing a joining the human and the divine.  And in this joining, we are told, love reigns, “joining. . .ushers in love’s presence.”  (C:5.1) All that has caused fear and pain drops away, and we finally recognize what love really is.  This is the celebration, when we recognize the Self within, the Self no longer a captive of the ego. 

The Christ in us is wholly human and wholly divine, not omniscient, of course, because of our humanness.  We are ready to experience true reality in the fullness of the Christ-consciousness (Awakening) that now engulfs us.  We may as yet have captured only glimpses of this Christ-consciousness.  But the purpose of A Course of Love is to lead us to understandings that will cause the impediments in our psyche to drop away.  Jesus wants us to reach Christ-consciousness.  A consolidation of awakened individuals is the best hope that we have for a world in disarray, lost in pain and suffering, lost in conflict of one brother and sister against another.  But God, we might add, is the omniscient Presence that makes the decision of when we are ready.  Thus, there is an indecisive quality about Christ-consciousness and its coming that we can’t predict.  Only the omniscient God of us all knows when any one of us is truly ready.

There are things that we can do.  Things we must do.  We must give up judgments, one of the other.  We must give up fear (a biggie).  We must give up attack and planning that is not the direct result of guidance.  A Course of Love highlights the giving up of judgment and fear; A Course in Miracles highlights the giving up of attack, judgment, and unguided planning. These directives are meant to remove impediments to the coming of Christ-consciousness, and we can all recognize how difficult these directives will be if we don’t have divine help.

We do have divine help.  We need only ask.  The part of ourselves, the inner part, that is God, will respond.  Angels will also come to our aid, for we are not all alone in the universe.    Those of us who are in close contact with the Other Side will also come to recognize other entities that move to help us, though Jesus does not point this truth out, in so many words.  Jesus has said that he is always with us, always guiding us by the hand.  He is our rock, our salvation to a higher world in this world.  We do not have to die to enjoy the benefits of a higher presence directing our efforts.

Seeking Wakefulness

“It is not stamina but wakefulness I call you to.  Think no more of depletion.  This is the old way.”  Mirari

This part of Mirari is building on Mary’s image of “wild dogs,” male and also female, who are threatening to take over the world. We can all recognize much hostility and anger in our world. Things seem to be culminating in a difficult way, a scary way. But the darkest part of the night is right before the dawn–an old concept but, I think, relevant here.

Good people, people of the faith, are realizing that we are at a turning point. An evolutionary leap is ahead in which more and more people are experiencing Awakening. This means a major change in the way we view the world and the way we view ourselves.

We need only to ask for the blessing of Awakening to begin to receive inklings of what is ahead, glimpses of the Divine that are called satori in Eastern religions. If we cling to our faith, these glimpses will elongate, and the day will arrive when we know more of God than at any previous time in our lives.

This is the “wakefulness” that Mary is asking us to embrace. This is the wakefulness that we all, sometimes desperately, need today.

Love’s Transforming Purpose

“When you decide to fully accept the one purpose given to you, in reality, there will be nothing that will block your way.  Every step you take will, literally, take you through obstacles that dissolve as you approach them.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 18, Page 219)

The one purpose is to walk more closely with our God, to transform into loving individuals who forgive when hurt. God does not even require that all of us hold to the same belief about Him. He is God of the secular as well as the devout. But we can all recognize that our world has gone very awry. Most of us know that a general consensus to care more about each other, to love, would make a great difference, a transformative difference. We know this because our need for love is great, and we often seek for that love with our nearest and dearest.

Transformation, Awakening, Christ-consciousness–these, all meaning the same, are the next evolutionary leap for humankind.

Pray that the day may come soon when we all recognize that there is a better way.

Miracles & Revelation

“Revelation unites you directly with God.  Miracles unite you directly with your brother.  Neither emanates from consciousness, but both are experienced there.  Consciousness is the state that induces action, though it does not inspire it.  You are free to believe what you choose, and what you do attests to what you believe.”  (A Course in Miracles, FIP ed., T-1.II.1)

The first aspect of this quotation delineates revelation vs. miracles, and explains the difference in our unity with God, first, and then our unity with our brother.  God is responsible for revelation; we are not.  He communicates to us by revelation, including, sometimes, the experience of Awakening—Awakening that does not last.  He shows us the end, where we are headed.  And Jesus’s book, A Course in Miracles, gives us the means to get to that end of Awakening.  Revelation is not on the same level as miracles.  Under Jesus’s guidance, we perform miracles for our brother, and, in turn, our brother performs miracles for us.  They are, in that sense, reciprocal, unlike revelation.  Revelation always proceeds from God to us, never the other way around.

We are consciousness embodied.  We are alive in our minds, and we experience our projections from mind as perceptions of this world.  We experience revelation and miracles from this consciousness.  We are led to act in this world through what our consciousness says to do.  If we allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, then our consciousness has a divine Master.  If we allow our consciousness to be guided by the ego, we have feet of clay.  There is no in between.

These ideas, above, are central to A Course in Miracles.  We have a learning task before us, for until we have the theological undergirding of the Course, we cannot master what it says.  Our mind will be trained as we do the Workbook lessons.  The more theoretical aspects of the Course are presented in this, the Text.  We likewise need to master that theory.  There is no other sure way of catching all the means that will lead us to the end of Awakening, the means to the end.

We must await revelation from God.  And we must await Jesus’s nod as to which miracles we are to perform for our brother.  We will get used to the fact that we are not in control anymore, as soon as we start on the road of relinquishing the ego.

Coming of the New

You are ripe now, and the world is ripe for the coming of The New and its abundance.  Mirari

We are looking at new days.  The conflicts that we see in our world are the final throes of conflict, and our way will smooth in due course.  We have sustained discord as long as we can; we need something better now.

Our “New” is the herald of a new world and a new age.  We will be creating a new world, a world that listens to God.  Oh, we may not call Him “God,” but our emotions will ease and we will recognize a Force for good that has been silenced by our own rebellion against that good.  A Course of Love announced this new age, and now Mirari—received by the same writer—is carrying forth the same message.  Let us be glad that there we are getting a heralding of better times ahead.

What does it mean to be “ripe”?  We are ripe for change, and change for the better.  We are ready for it.  Our trials have let us know that we can’t go on the way we have been going for untold ages.  When enough of us have experienced Awakening—that enlightenment for which we all long—the tipping point will have been reached.

And that time fast approaches.

Quicken & Hasten Enlightenment

“Now, for all of you that would like to quicken and hasten that process, the answer is very simple.  Spend more time becoming self-observant, less time being concerned with what is going on in the world, and no time blaming the world for your state of being—not parents, not society, not God, but owning.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 17, Page 211)

There are aspects listed in this quotation to hasten enlightenment:  self-observation, but not blaming others for one’s plight; and a less preoccupied stance toward the outer world. 

We look inward, and where we look carefully, we frequently find.  Elsewhere in other channeled writings (particularly A Course of Love), we discover that our inward look is not to become overly pronounced for too long; there comes a time that this preoccupation with self is hindering rather than helpful. 

Most importantly we realize that we are in the center of what happens to us.  We don’t blame others when things go wrong. 

And we don’t turn outward for a solution to our difficulties.  Finding Answers means turning to God Who is within.  If we need to get help, we do—but only after He has so prompted us.

We depend on God.  And this dependence takes us to the next level—of Christ-consciousness.  We stay close to Him in our mind and heart, and life smooths out, for we suddenly “know” how to handle our difficulties.  Solutions appear to come all unsought, but they come from the silence that we dwell in when we reach downward and inward to God.

Ultimate Questions

“The longing to awaken has come.  From this moment, though you do not understand it, you begin to attract, slowly at first, perhaps stumbling a bit now and then, exactly those situations that will keep prodding you to look deeper.  A meditation teacher comes.  A prayer group comes that you feel called to join.  You begin the process of your study.

“And a new question is emerging.  No longer is the question, ‘How can I survive?  How can I make money?  How can I do all these things?’  A new question emerges in your mind, ‘Who am I?’  There may be many forms to it, but question remains one:

“Who am I?  What am I?  From where have I come?  What is Life?  God?  What is God?  How can there be anything at all?”  (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 17, Page 209)

We are not in this alone, left by our own devices in a strange world.  We have help from other realms.  That is how the meditation teacher comes, the prayer group enters our lives, our study begins.

If we doubt that there is help out there, perhaps we need to look back over our lives and remember at crucial points when we were saved from ourselves.  Those points are in all of our lives.  There is something more going on here.  We have God’s intervention when we need it the most, even in the midst of the dark night of the soul.  We are saved from feeling alone and lonely, though He may shut us up to Himself alone, for a time.

This quotation asks, “How can there be anything at all?”  A pertinent question to which there is no Answer meaningful to us—except our experience of God.  We can intuit Answers to the larger questions of life as we get deeper in our quest.  Answers come, sometimes when we lest expect them.  The fact that they come just at our point of need will give us comfort and get us to realize that Help is on the way.  We open a book at just the right passage, we hear a bystander’s remark, our significant other looks at us with understanding and love—and we know that these are not coincidences.

We are, all of us, awakening, often in tiny increments, but nevertheless, experiencing change for the better.  Be grateful that the steps are tiny, for if they were gigantic, we would be blinded by the light.

Awakening can be and often is, gentle.  Ask for this blessing today.

Awakening

“Until you decide to change the momentum of the ripples you are creating in the depth of the mind, you cannot begin to ascend from the third dimension.  The desire to do so is always within you.  That is, it may be dormant, but the desire to know God must necessarily be within each soul, since God is your reality.

“You have fallen asleep, and at some point, there comes the urge to awaken.  When it comes, it is unmistakable.  The fireworks may not occur, but a shift happens within your being and you know that you can never return to the way it was.  You can never again pretend that life is only what you see through the senses.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 17, Page 208 – 209)

This quotation is speaking of our Awakening to a new reality–enlightenment, Christ-consciousness. Our Awakening may not be dramatic; Jesus here mentions the lack of “fireworks.” But we will know the change. It is very important that we “milk” this change while it is fresh in our experience. We want to build on the newness of it and in no way, shape, or form revert to the reality that we previously knew. This experience is too important to let it slip away.

We are experiencing other worlds when we Awaken. A sixth sense is born; we do not any longer experience only through our five senses. A psychic gift has been given us. Don’t forget to say “thanks”!

Our Walk through This World

“Here is also where your ‘struggle’ begins—your struggle to create yourself in the world.  Your struggle begins to find yourself.  For the majority of you, this process whereby attention is shifted from a different state of consciousness into the physical dimension, this flash, this quantum leap, this shifting of attention was so dramatic and required such a shock that you began to forget your connection to Spirit.  You began to forget your realization that you are soul, pure consciousness.  You began to lose awareness of your freedom.  You could call it becoming unconscious, or falling asleep.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” The Way of Mastery, Chapter 17, Page 204)

All of us forgot the spiritual world when we were born and had lived a few years. There are reports that young children still remember. But we don’t, and we need to regain our connection to the spirit as time passes. We do struggle, for we have often been badly taught. Life does not have to be a struggle, but most of the time it starts out that way, and it may so continue for many years.

When we reconnect ever so slightly, our asleep nature begins to wake up. And what a difference this makes in our lives! We realize that we are more than just finite children of God; we are heirs to His Kingdom!

Most of us come to this understanding after a spiritual experience, often one we can place by date and time. And reading helps. When we seek, we do find. And you would not be reading this blog if you had not been a seeker, and may still be a seeker.

There can be dramatic improvements in our lives as we go along. We can see the end of most struggles, maybe all struggles. Awakening can be a gentle process, and, oh, the difference it makes!

God Is Life

“The whole while, that very thought must use the power of the One.  For that power is Life!  That power is pure being!  That power is the real world!  That power is the only thing that exists—period!  By the power of That One, you have dreamt the thought of the separate self.  By the power of That One, when you decide to, you will awaken from the thought of egoic consciousness.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 16, Page 195)

“‘That One,’ in the work channeled by Jayem, The Way of Mastery, means the Essence of God that we share with the Godhead. So, in that sense, that we all partake of God, we do play a part in deciding when we awaken from egoic consciousness. The way in which this truth is given here, though, does seem counter to A Course in Miracles, which says that God makes the decision of when we Awaken. If we are part of God, though (something ACIM also says), then our own essence participates in this decision.

God is Life! This is another way of thinking of our Creator. A good way to wrap our minds and hearts around what we actually are. Since we are Life, and God is Life, we have more say in our doings than we think. God gives us this freedom to decide. There will come a time when we realize that we are beyond choice: We just LIVE! And then we are really cocooned in God’s love.

This quotation for today is a very freeing concept. If we put our minds and hearts to it, then we can remove the blocks to love more quickly, and thus hasten our union with God in Awakening.

What We Need to Accept the Peace of God

“My question for you is, would you be willing to surrender your illusions in order to remember the peace of God?  The question is whether or not you will accept the atonement for yourself, the resurrection for yourself, and be determined to walk this Earth as one who has arisen.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 15, Page 184)

God makes the decision about our receiving Christ-consciousness, but we can delay and even say “no.”  He needs our acquiescence, and here we read from Jesus several aspects of what God is looking for in us before He acts: our surrendering illusions, accepting the atonement and the resurrection, and being determined to walk in this world a one who has arisen.

These words in The Way of Mastery are the only place in my reading that I have ever seen detailed what God is looking for in deciding to bestow His peace.  And His peace will certainly include, at some point, Awakening.

Let’s pay close attention, and let’s ask to be shown how to carry out these desires that come from God.  Really to understand what we might do.

We have to be ready to walk the Earth as one arisen.  If this frightens us, then we are not ready.

Let’s pray to be ready today.

Ask God Why Christ-consciousness Delays

“Beloved friends, The Way of Transformation does, indeed, require your commitment.  Where you feel that your commitment has wavered, simply choose anew.  And the end of the journey must be perfectly certain.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 15, Page 180)

It is impossible to go through life without getting demoralized, at least part of the time—and this is especially true on this path to Christ-consciousness (Way of Transformation).  We are apt to get impatient when we try, and try, and try some more, and God doesn’t see it our way.  Because he has to make the decision of when we are ready.

What do we do?  We take a step back and decide that He knows more than we do.  Then we develop some patience with his timing.

The transformation may come suddenly.  I know a man who recently experienced this Awakening in the midst of “venting” his frustration to his wife.  He was very surprised to sense that transformation had indeed occurred—but it was unmistakable.  And in the next second, he knew that this was not a glimpse, that it would last.

What was going on here?  God was telling him that the suppression of his anger, for many years, was not truthful.  He had been actually keeping himself from experiencing Christ-consciousness by trying to be something he wasn’t.

He had thought that fear was the problem.  But the actual moment of Awakening taught him otherwise.

Ask to have blocks like the one of this man removed for us.  God knows what is keeping us with feet of clay.  Ask to be elevated from the Earth today.  Ask what is the impediment. 

He will respond.

Awakening Is Simple, without Effort

“The Way of Transformation is simple, for the way of efforting one’s way into the Kingdom cannot flow from the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 14, Page 169)

We move into transformation when our heart is full, when Love overflows our being.  We don’t get God’s attention by imploring relentlessly and often.  He knows when we want to think that we are ready for Awakening.  He doesn’t always agree.

So we must be patient, know that by our effort we can do only so much.  A Course of Love counsels the removal of fear and judgment from our thoughts and feelings.  When we do this, we are removing the blocks to the awareness of love.  And that is what we need to do.

The only thing we need to do.  Awakening may come suddenly, when we least expect it.  I know someone who had suppressed anger for years, and then when he blurted out his discontent, he knew immediately that grace had descended upon him, and he felt intuitively that this Awakening would last.

God knew all along that he was cloaking his anger, and this very cloaking was standing in the way of genuine loving.  And God certainly wants us genuine.

Know that efforting will stand in the way.  Be ourselves, warts and all.  Then God can act in us to remove the impediments that have kept us from Awakening.  And we will find that removing fear and judgment, in genuineness, takes no effort at all.

Transformation

“The only transformation you can experience in space and time is the reaching down from the depth of the ocean into one tiny, temporary wave and readjusting the little foam drops on the tip of the wave you call the body-mind of the self, so that it begins to be a transparent conduit for an awareness of the ocean itself.  That is the game of awakening.  It is actually the most delightful use of time you will ever find.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 13, Page 166 – 167)

Don’t we want to have delight in our lives?  Well, when we are out of sorts, then we need to adjust that tiny, temporary wave from the ocean that is our body-mind.  This personal self is temporarily inaccessible to a greater understanding.  But we can’t readjust on our own; we need help, and we can have it from God Himself.  Ask for help in removing discontent, moving us to delight.  There is no better use of time.

We are—all of us—engaged in Awakening, whether we are seeing glimpses or are sustaining it.  We can hope that our glimpses will elongate, and elongate they will when our attitude is right.  Ask to have a readjustment whenever we lapse into negativism.  Ask to see things properly again.

Yes, we want delight in living.  And we can have it!  This is the great promise of Awakening.

Jesus and Mary

“Today the face which was first shown in the feminine figure of Mary and the masculine figure of Jesus of Nazareth is now shown to the world in you.”  Choose Only Love bk.3, 4:I

Here Jesus is saying that we are Christ.   While we may not have reached Christ-consciousness, our Self, deep within, is a Christ-Self just waiting to come out.  Be patient, because the great blessing Christ-consciousness may take some time.  It can’t be rushed.

When we remove barriers to love, principally fear and judgment, we are doing what we can to hurry Christ-consciousness.  And our role models are Jesus and Mary.  These role models were important long before Jesus’ channeled works arrived on the scene.  Now we are seeing these role models as ourselves.  If we can believe our holiness (as the Workbook of A Course in Miracles says), then we are making substantial progress toward our goal of being Christed.

Awakening comes to many in our world, especially now.  For reasons we do not understand, it is easier to reach Christ-consciousness today than it used to be.  Most people had to move into holiness after death, but now, right here in our bodies on earth, many will move into this step.

Pray for this blessing, a decision made by God Himself, today.  He wants it for us, and He will bestow Christ-consciousness as soon as He sees that only good will result.

Being

“To be the being that experiences and to bring that experience to consciousness without the slightest fear of anything that we may feel or think, is what will allow us to go wherever we go and do whatever we do without fear.”  COL bk.2, 19:II

These words constitute a practical way to live without fear.  We know that we cannot live in fear and experience Christ-consciousness, and we all need to move to this greater experience of Love—something that beckons to us constantly.  To “be” the being that we are, experiencing in depth, and not suppressing this experience—yes, this is what we must do.  Not suppressing our experiences will therefore bring our experiences to full consciousness.  We don’t need to live an unconscious life, something that leads us to hurt others without really meaning to do so.

The lack of fear, a turn to love instead, will build upon itself.  I know that feeling love, and Love (God), mitigates against a negative attitude.  Low moods simply dissipate when we express love to our nearest and dearest.  A settled good will toward all of humanity then comes about, for we have discovered how to turn to that which matters.

Focus on “being” today instead of constantly riding the treadmill of “doing.”  Being is the way of the future, the way of great relationships with others.  Our doing has all too often had an egoic tilt.

Become aware of our living today.  Awareness—a determination to feel what we feel and think what we think—will keep our feelings and thoughts from going underground.  We will live a fully conscious life, and this will enliven us and give us a better future to look forward to.

Awakening

“At first you wake up slowly.  Then you begin to walk-awake and you meet those who have awakened, and finally are ready to receive with serenity and peace those who are waking up.”  COL bk.2, 18:II

This is the pathway to Awakening, spelled out for us in Choose Only Love.  We do wake up slowly at least most of the time, when we have been reading channeled works from Jesus.  With him, the pathway is smooth.  With his guidance, the way is sure.

We do meet those who have awakened, though they may be reticent about telling us that they have awakened.  Genuinely awakened people do not brag; the ego is gone from them.

And then, ultimately, we help others who are awakening.  We are led to them.  We react with serenity and peace, sure of what to say and what to do, knowing that we have help from the celestial realm.

Awakening is the same as Christ-consciousness, the same as enlightenment.  Eastern religions have long known about this, but the West is just learning.  And from the best teacher, Jesus himself.

Let us listen and be assured that all will be well when we walk this gentle pathway.

To Live without Limits

“Here is the nub:  No one can make the decision for you.  I have never enlightened anyone.  I have never even so much as lifted them an inch.  I have merely chosen to demonstrate unlimitedness for myself. . . .” (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 13, Page 163)

Jesus can’t do it for us; he says so, here.  We can’t get a transformative experience for Awakening or enlightenment by looking to somebody else, even one such as Jesus.  What do we have to do?  What we can do is remove the blocks to our awareness of love, and these blocks are fear and judgment.  Love is the Answer, always and forever, but these things, fear and judgment, that stand prevent us from loving well have to go.

Jesus demonstrates unlimitedness as a divine being.  We can ask for unlimitedness in ourselves, ask it of God, and we may very well get an affirmative response from Him.  We may very well find ourselves thinking, saying, and doing things that have eluded us until now.  We reach skyward in our unlimitedness.  And we find that we are not alone in this desire for ourselves.  God wants us to live in an expanded way, too.

We are unlimited, though we think that our finite minds hold us back.  It is true that with our finite minds, we don’t know everything.  We don’t know all the glories of the Kingdom and the universe(s).  But we can still enjoy magnitude.  Our Self is a glorious rendition of God’s way with us.  He is holding nothing back.  We are the ones who restrain ourselves.  And we have it in our power to change that restraint. 

Just ask, and see if we aren’t able to see an expanded role in our service to the world.

Commit to Awakening

“The Way of Transformation is much simpler than you think.  But again, it rests on your decision to use time to be wholly committed to awakening from the narrow constraints you have placed upon your vast field of consciousness.  For no other reason than that it might be rather entertaining to allow this tiny little ray to continue in space and time for a while, while being aware of the totality of your Self and actually operating from that totality.”  (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 13, Page 160)

This quotation suggests that we have something to do with the timing of our Awakening.  God makes the decision, as A Course in Miracles tells us.  But we must remove the blocks to the awareness of love, the blocks of fear and judgment, as A Course of Love tells us.  This quotation, from The Way of Mastery, seems to say that if we let our consciousness expand, removing the constraints we have placed on it, we will make progress toward Awakening.  We might stay on this earth, in space and time, but we would draw on the larger Self who is beyond our little persona/personality.  This larger Self is merged not only with God, but with other people, too.  Our brothers and sisters are in this with us.

These thoughts demand some concentration.  If we can walk peacefully to a transformation, an Awakening or Christ-consciousness or enlightenment, we will be walking toward the goal of The Way of Mastery.  This is the next step in our evolution.  We need to take this next step.

Our world needs a comprehensive reawakening.  Let us focus on staying calm (no fears) and giving everyone some slack (being non-judgmental).  If we can do that much, we will have made progress that we may not even comprehend until the moment that we sense God’s presence in lifting us up into Awakening.

We Need Each Other

“The buildings, the automobiles you drive, the dollars in the bank—none of that is real.  These are merely symbols of the quality of experience you have chosen to call to yourself, as a temporary learning experience.

“Beloved friends, use time well.  Ask yourself:

“Am I fully committed to transforming my awareness from one who has been sleeping, and perceiving myself as limited to the space-and-time dimension, or am I committed to truly hearing my brother’s call to take up my cross and follow him?”  (“The Way of Transformation,” WOM, Chapter 13, Page 158)

The dollars in the bank, even when diminishing, are a temporary learning experience.  We want to cry out that it is all so unfair, that we didn’t call this to ourselves.  Yet we are caught in it.  And we have to make the best of a bad hand dealt to us.

In this ordeal, let us turn to our brother—whom we can imagine as Jesus or we can imagine as the one standing next to us in the flesh.  We need each other now more than we did last week.  And this will grow, perhaps, over time.  We need to awaken, even in the midst of our ordeal.  We have been asleep.  Now is the time to welcome the end of fear and judgment, and the beginning of wisdom, the glimmerings of Awakening.

We can turn this ordeal into a mixed blessing.  We can see our way home to God in and through it.

Expressing Mastery

“Expressing mastery is the effect of The Way of Transformation in this world, in this time, in this little tiny moment.  Rest assured, to the degree that you turn your attention to expressing mastery, to the degree that you use time wisely to be the embodied Christ, when the body drops away and it veils from you no longer the magnificence of the Light you are, the light will not be blinding to you.  You will not contract in fear.  You will merely let this world go gently and as easily as a child has put away a toy that has been outgrown, because its usefulness is complete.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 12, Page 145)

The way to Awakening, as developed in Jesus’ recent channeled works, is gentle in the extreme.  Previously, many individuals who awakened without this guidance were hurled into reality unawares.  A great shock.  But A Course in Miracles, A Course of Love, and The Way of Mastery (the last also known as the Christ Mind Trilogy) have prepared us well to make a gentle transition into enlightenment.

Moreover, we know what is happening to us.  In previous years, the people who were hurled into reality frequently then went on an anguished search to try to find out what had happened to them.  There was evidence in the Eastern religions, Buddhism and Hinduism (among others), but very little could be found in Christian writing.  Sufism, the mystical arm of Islam, also knew some understanding.  But Christianity was nearly left out, and even today, there is very little that is discussed in mainstream Christian teaching.

If we want Awakening, Christ-consciousness, enlightenment, we need to erase the barriers of fear and judgment.  Our awareness of what love means needs to be strong in our heart.

Our light needs to shine in this world.  Ask to be shown the way today.

Depth of a Perfect Silence

“I share with you the depth of a perfect silence. I share with you wisdom supreme. I abide as you are: the thought of Love in form. To be in form does not mean to be a body. It means only that the Christ Mind, which is the reality of Love’s existence, truly abides within each of us equally. If this were not so, you could not recognize me. When you read a word, or a sentence, or a paragraph that resonates within you as being the truth, you could not know it was so, if that Truth did not already live within you as the reality of your very existence.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 11, Page 135)

We are not actually learning anything new: We are “remembering.” This is a tenet of The Way of Mastery, that we don’t actually learn new things, that we are recalling to mind what was learned a very long time ago, and then forgotten, much to our detriment.

Our Truth is written on our heart. Not our mind. When we say this, everyone knows what we mean. The “heart” has a very definite point of understanding in our psyche. When we soften to listen to our heart, we want a smooth pathway back to our God. Our feet don’t stumble on stones, we don’t trip and fall. We just walk smoothly along a flower-strewn pathway. And we discover much on this peaceful and often slow journey.

We get impatient to get on with it. We want Awakening, and we want it now.

But this is not God’s way. He acts only when certain that WE are ready for the great responsibility of Christ-consciousness. Sitting as Christ for five minutes a day can speed the process, but still God probably acts in a much more measured pace than we would like. The slowness prompts patience, something sorely lacking in many of us.

Jesus, our leader, is offering us the chance to commune with our God in silence. In silence is how God speaks to us. Understanding Him is a “feeling” issue, and feelings belong to the heart. That is why turning to our heart for decisions is so important. Our ratio of mistakes to good decisions becomes much improved toward good decisions.

When in doubt, just ask for the loving response to be writ upon our heart. This way we won’t go astray as we walk back to God, letting Love heal the separation.

End of Our Journey Is Certain

“But I can promise you, if you will take up such a path—simply, joyfully, gently, patiently—the end of your journey is certain. If you choose a path filled with magic and many complex strategies, the end is not so certain. The way is easy and without effort:

“I am already that which I seek.

“I need only allow it to guide me.

“While this body lasts, I will allow it to be a communication device that extends the treasure of perfect Love, perfect safety, and perfect peace to all who enter my house.

“And your house is your field of energy, the expanse of your presence.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 131)

Jesus is here warning against those who would seek to “teach” enlightenment through magical means. His way is simple; in fact, it is here already. We are just too blind to see.

We have only imagined that we walked away from, separated, from God. Actually separation from God is impossible, for He dwells within, with us being a part of Him. But we can imagine ourselves anyplace that we want; this is free will in action. Imagining that we no longer know God has occupied us for eons.

Has being without God been good for us? Has this imagination borne good fruit?

Of course not. Walking away from Him Who is our Center could only bring pain, pain that often turned into an illusory suffering. We think that we could exercise our free will only by refusing to be a part of God any longer. We don’t know what we have effected, for the very words are meaningless. We have retreated into madness.
Now we need a cleansed and healed mind. Let Jesus guide the way to our healing. Having taken the pathway himself, he is in the best position to help, especially when we can’t help ourselves at all. If we could heal the separation without aid, we would have done so long ago.

Extend Love to our house, our field of energy, and watch the mind emerge from darkness into light, into happiness.

Love Has Worked Its Magic

“Here, beloved friends, is the way to the Truth that sets you free. You must absolutely become wholly committed to being awake for no other reason than that you have realized you have no other choice. You have already made them all and they have only led to pain.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 128)

We know that we have had pain in our lives; nobody has escaped it. It is particularly our choices that have led to pain that gives us the most cause for regret. We think, “If only I had not done that, then things would have been different!” We think if we had done something else, our pain would never have arisen.

But pain is a part of the human condition. Until there comes a time that we surrender, totally, to God, and in that surrender choose Love with all its ramifications. When we choose Love, we have made the only legitimate choice open to us. And this one choice is all that is required to heal our minds all the way to their depths. Over time, in the awakening process, the bad reactions that need healing come to the surface, and we surrender them, forgiving ourselves and others, including God, who come to mind. In this process, we are open to true Love.

And then the great Awakening comes, in God’s timing, not ours. But our Self, being a part of God, has had something to do with that timing. If we carry out the exercises that Jesus gives us in The Way of Mastery, we will speed along our healing. Then we become enlightened, Christ-conscious, individuals.

Is there much change? Not to others. We appear as we always have, and indeed, with no ego to protect, we may appear even more “ordinary.” Our humility masks what a great transformation we have undergone.

Our pain is gone. Oh, there may be a few physical twinges, but the emotional pain (which has been the most damaging to us) has been healed. Our minds are right with God. We know it, if nobody else does, for there comes a particular moment in time that we realize that all has changed.

Love has worked its magic. We are home in God.

Teach ONLY Love

“The wisest of students are those that hear the word and put it into practice, diligently, for themselves—not for their mother, not for their father, not for their spouse, not for their brother, not for their sister, not for the sake of the planet, not for the sake of the universe, not for the sake of the new dawn that is coming, not for the sake of anything but themselves. For their Self is what God created. And that Self calls out to you to honor it, by separating your Self from the illusions that you have allowed to make a home in your mind, and becoming wholly committed to teaching only Love.

“There is no other way. Yes, you can learn to sit in meditation and allow the mind and body to float free, to relax. Yes, you can learn rituals that help to focus your attention so that you remember what you are committed to, and the distractions of the world do not seem to quite catch you or hook you as much. There are many strategies that you can enjoy and experience. But in the end, it is only this: a quiet choice within that no one recognizes, that no one sees, that no one hears.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 127)

Yes, living and teaching Love is the only way to awaken.

It is a simple choice. Jesus makes plain here that methods of stilling the mind in silence may help, time spent in meditation may help, but the real elixir is to just to love. Turn to the ones in our circle and love them. Then embrace the world as a whole, even those outside our circle.

The practice of loving will transform us, will grant us awakening. There is no other sure way.

We make this choice for ourselves, and perhaps saying this makes our choice sound selfish. But there is a more altruistic reason. We can control only ourselves, and even this we do imperfectly. We aren’t supposed to attempt to control those in our circle, and especially not our nearest and dearest, our significant others, including spouse, children, parents. They will resist our control, and for good reason. We simply have to let everyone walk their own path.

Our quiet choice of awakening has to embody the whole Self, and that Self includes God Himself. Our Self, a part of God, is the decision-maker. Elsewhere it is said that God makes the decision of when we are to experience Awakening, but we hold some of those cards ourselves. We walk along the pathway, in surrender to Him, and then, lo and behold, we have the great blessing descend upon us—first in snatches, and then continually.

We might seem to change to nobody else, but inwardly there will be a certainty that we have experienced something that we have wanted very much. We will still seem like ordinary people, social security numbers and street addresses and ID cards, but inwardly we will be very different indeed.

Bid that difference come to us today. But wait on God’s timing, in patience.

Relinquish What No Longer Serves

“That book is the depth of your consciousness in which all things are already written. And that depth finds its source in your heart. You enter it through forgiveness, through the process of relinquishing the world—not hating the world, not despising the world, but simply relinquishing it. You allow your time to serve you in the process of relinquishing what does not serve you any longer, and what only disturbs your peace.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 125)

“That book” is actually our minds and hearts, what dwells within and can free us of all impediments. We need to allow our subconscious to surface, and in the surfacing our mind will be healed. It is just that simple, but just that difficult.

When we contemplate, letting our minds go over the past, and we dedicate this time to God, we are on the right track. When we allow ourselves to feel forgiveness for that dramatic past, we are really on the right track.

Most of us have had drama in our past, and we will have drama again if we don’t forgive ourselves as well as others whom we have known. This drama needs to step aside so that the better value of peace can give our mind and heart some rest, some respite.

Ask for help in cleansing the subconscious. In numerous places The Way of Mastery tells us that this cleansing is a necessity for enlightenment.

Let’s get on with it.

To Be In the World but Not of It

“In just this way, unenlightenment can be put away as though it were a toy that you have outgrown—by merely looking at all of the effects of unenlightenment , and then asking the question, ‘Is this what I wish to have continue as my experience? Or am I willing to put the doll on the windowsill, and pick up a book instead?’ A book that speaks of Life, a book that is filled with wisdom, a book that teaches you how to step lightly in the world, to be in the world but not of it.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 125)

Jesus speaks in The Way of Mastery as though enlightenment were a decision of ours. But when we realize that we have God in our depths, that all, everywhere, is “God-stuff,” then the assertion makes more sense.

We cannot just “decide” for enlightenment, though. We need to heal the depths of our unconscious by forgiving each part of our psyche that has judged another. Forgive and be healed. It is just that simple.

Jesus was the only major religious figure to stress forgiveness. He knows something that can make quite a difference in our lives.

Let him speak to us today.

Is There Something We Can Do to Hurry Enlightenment?

“If your answer is, ‘No, I hear talk about enlightenment and I get little glimpses, but I don’t really know what it is because I’m not feeling it completely in my lived experience,’ right away you will know that there must be something that you have valued other than enlightenment that you are insisting remains in place in your consciousness. What is it? Search it out, find it and decide whether you still want it.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 110)

Here we are getting guidance that there is something more that we can do to hurry enlightenment. We probably got the impression from A Course in Miracles and A Course of Love that we had to remove the blocks of fear and judgment, or nothing would happen—and we wondered how in the world we could actually do this.

Do we value something in our world that is different from enlightenment or Christ-consciousness or Awakening (all of which mean the same thing)? This quotation from The Way of Mastery seems to say that we must get our values in place before God can act to lift us up. Elsewhere WOM says that the subconscious mind must be cleansed, that all parts of it which limit God must be brought to the surface for understanding and then dismissal.

WOM is very direct in what it says. And when Jayem was channeling, live, in a kind of trance in which he did not know what was coming through, it is hoped that he was being surrounded by Jesus himself.

This passage gives hope. Let’s ask today what, if anything, in our lives seems more important than our ultimate salvation, the ultimate healing of our relationship to God. Let’s then ask that our confused values be healed.

Then and only then will we be in league with the quotation for today. Our way may just open so that God knows that it is safe to act with us to bring us into enlightenment. After all, we know from ACIM, ACOL, and WOM that it is God in our inner depths Who makes the decision of when we are ready for enlightenment.

Christ-consciousness

“Christ consciousness cannot be said to truly exist—for you—until you create it within yourself.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 9, Page 110)

We do create Christ-consciousness within ourselves, for this is where God is. And He makes the decision of when our subconscious mind and heart have been cleansed sufficiently for this blessing to descend upon us. We do remove the blocks of fear and judgment, ourselves; this comes from A Course of Love.

Can we hurry the process along? Yes, we can. When we turn to God more and more in our everyday life, we are hurrying the process along. When we meditate, we open a channel for His grace to pour into us.

But we already know these things. It is up to us to cultivate the mind slant that will invite Christ-consciousness to descend. Then, in a very important sense, it is out of our hands. If the way seems long, we must know that this idea might be wrong. There is much we simply do not know. But one thing we do know is that in this time of Christ, it is easier to reach Christ-consciousness.

We reach it from living in our everyday world, but with our heart in the clouds.

Eat Only Good Fruit to Heal the Separation from God

“No one ever told you, and your Creator never insisted, that you eat of the tree of good and evil. For all good fruit has been given you freely. And you are always free to choose which fruit you will eat thereof.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 8, Page 103)

Here The Way of Mastery, which many believe was channeled by Jesus, he says that Genesis in the Bible got it wrong. We didn’t have to eat “apples” of the tree of good and evil; that was a misunderstanding. In terms of the recently channeled works, we see that separation from God was never foreordained; we could have done it differently. But now we are to eat only good fruit, which means that we are to heal the separation, something that the Holy Spirit or the Christ-Self prepares us for.

How do we heal the (illusory) separation? We go within and commune with our God Who lives in our depths. We have never been externalized, something that we have long misunderstood. We remove the blocks to the awareness of love, as another channeled work, The Course of Love, says. These blocks are fear and judgment, something that is within our power, with help, to turn aside from.

Let’s turn aside from fear and judgment today. Of course, this is easier said than done, and it is impossible unless we turn to our depths. We simply turn, with our awareness, inward, over and over, asking and receiving help.

Eventually we heal the subconscious depths. As each negativity is brought to the surface, we heal because we have the knowledge of what is holding us back. We walk into the sunlight with God, Jesus holding our hand.

There is no better way to live. When the time is right, God Himself will reach down and us up into enlightenment, Awakening, Christ-consciousness—all words for the same ineffable transformation.

In the meantime, we will catch glimpses of Awakening, and these will happen when we are in a particularly receptive frame of mind/heart. Then the glimpses will elongate, and God Himself will act to take us unto His heart with transformation.

Healed in Mind, Body, Spirit

Healing requires the willingness to feel desire, to see it as good and to see it as holy. (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Chapter 4, Page 46)

We are in charge. We can listen to guidance, and thereby give up at least some of the control. But we remain in the driver’s seat. What we say goes, for we are creating our reality.

Of course, it is best if we open to guidance, the Holy Spirit, the Christ Self, the Higher Self, God. We simply are not aware enough, in our finite minds, of all that we need to do to create the best reality. We are limited that way.

We know too much to let the ego rule, and that is why we no longer seek guidance of this false persona. True, we can lapse into egoic thinking, and thereby lose our way, but do we really want to risk this? I think not. We want to be healed in mind, body, spirit. And our desire to be healed fuels the changes that we need to make in order to be healed.

Healing is, ultimately, Awakening, enlightenment, Christ-consciousness. Before we reach that milestone, we will see glimpses of what that mellow, heartwarming state of being really is. We will be led, ever so gently. It isn’t as though we will be hurled into reality, and this is something that A Course in Miracles makes plain. Our pathway will be gentle, though of course, because we are fallible, there will be some bumps along the way. Nobody, well, almost nobody, escapes the ego in one fait accompli. Escaping the ego is a gradual process.

Ask for healing today. Know that when we ask, the healing is already on the way. God has just been waiting for this opening.

Divinely Selfish (and What It Means)

“If you ever want to come home, you are going to have to become very, very divinely selfish. You are going to have to become so selfish that you will not tolerate judgment in yourself—of anyone or anything. Because you will begin to recognize that every such act catapults you to the other side of the universe from where you want to be.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Chapter 3, Page 33)

When we are “divinely” selfish, we know that all of us are in this together. We don’t give ourselves less attention than we shower on another. We know that it is in our best interests to give up judgment—for the sake of ourselves. Because we are all One, giving up judgment becomes in the best interests of everybody else as well.

Jesus shocks us with the word “selfish.” But when we know that all of us are of the same nature, the Oneness draws us to a new understanding, an understanding that all that is right for us is also right for other people, indeed for the whole world.

Judgment prevents enlightenment, Christ-consciousness or Awakening, from happening to us. The Way of Mastery was designed to catapult us into enlightenment. Jesus actually holds out hope that all the world can join us in this ineffable state. He has never before attempted to bring all of us to this state, en mass.

Be divinely selfish. Know that what works for one, works for all. And what is loving to one, is loving for all.

Let Love guide our way.

Our Experiences Are Stepping Stones Home

“The very thought that you would claim as your own from which you have created the world of your own personal experience is also literally the result of your prayer to awaken. And the Father is creating—assisting you to create—just those experiences as stepping stones that carry you from where you are to where God is.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Chapter 3, Page 31)

Yes, stepping stones show us the way. The way to where God is. And these stepping stones are smooth and stable so that we don’t dash a foot against a stone, causing a tumble.

When we create our personal experience, that personal experience shows us the way to awaken. Our prayer to know what to do is all that it takes. God does the rest. That is an unequal contribution, and perhaps we think that somehow, in some way, we need to do more.

This is a false thought. We need, as A Course in Miracles says, only a “little willingness.” God does the rest, ALL the rest. Our unequal contributions from the Holy Spirit, and from ourselves, have nonetheless accomplished what seemed impossible.

We are home, in God’s arms, at last.

Healing from Within

“You are literally creating everything you choose and nothing is forced upon you.

“Now we are going to take that thought just a little deeper for a moment. It literally means that if you have decided you want to awaken, you have already called to yourself every experience that can truly best serve your awakening. The friends, family and people you have relationships with are those who likewise can best gain from the experiences elicited through relationship with you. It means that right here and right now you are already demonstrating the power that you are seeking—the power to truly choose to awaken, and to command the whole of creation to serve you in that awakening.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Chapter 3, Page 30.)

We seem to have something to do with our Awakening. This is a step beyond what we were told in A Course in Miracles, when we were told the fact that God makes the decision, and we must simply wait. We were told, of course, that we can remove the blocks to the awareness of love, and this will make a huge difference.

The Way of Mastery stresses that each subconscious thought and feeling must be brought to the surface of the mind to be healed. We can aid in this process, and thus have a more direct influence upon when the Awakening for each of us occurs.

We are surrounded with everything that will prompt our Awakening. We have always been.

We are particularly surrounded by relationships that are mutually helpful. And we have always been.

The Way of Mastery is designed to lead us to Awakening. That is its stated purpose. We can contrast this to A Course in Miracles, which was designed to dislodge the ego; and A Course of Love, which was designed to establish a new identity. But all three recently channeled works do work together, for their message is the same—heal the illusory separation from God, and rejoin His fold.

Christ-consciousness Realized

“All that I will be sharing with you, not just in this lesson, but in this course, has as its final goal your complete Christed consciousness and the fulfillment of what your own soul desires.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Chapter 3, Page 27)

The purpose of the Way of Mastery (Christ Mind Trilogy)! Jesus is doing what he can to lead us to Awakening, and in the Way of Mastery he articulates this more clearly than in either A Course in Miracles or A Course of Love. His purposes there were slightly different: In ACIM, to dislodge the ego; in ACOL, to establish a new identity.

But in The Way of Mastery, he goes right to the heart of our trouble: the need to awaken, to move toward Christ-consciousness or enlightenment. He cannot awaken us directly, but he can direct our minds and hearts to remove the barriers to enlightenment that have prevented this blessing from descending upon us. God takes this action, as ACIM said. And we ourselves can do much to cooperate with Jesus in removing the barriers that we have placed in the way.

This is the fulfillment of what our soul has longed to have. The fulfillment that will turn meekness into a treasured way of being for all souls. This is a not a cast-down meekness, but a gentleness of spirit that will make all things, all things, right. It will be a meekness such as the man Jesus embodied when he was on earth.
This gentleness of spirit will give us the joy that we crave, the joy in Awakening that we have known is out there, waiting for us.

First Step in Awakening

“The first step in awakening is to allow into the mind this axiom of truth:
“Nothing that you experience is caused by anything outside of you. You experience only the effects of your own choice.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Chapter 1, Page 5)

We are in the driver’s seat, in that our projection is out-pictured as perception. This is all that we see in forming our world, reaching from deep within, often seeing what we want to see. Of course, this wanting is not on the level of the personality, but the soul, the inner Christ-Mind, Who is a learning being for a long time as this Self seeks to know God.

Much of the entire Way of Mastery is geared to one mission: to awaken as many people as possible, as soon as possible. So it makes sense that Jesus would explain what he is about right at the beginning of the first book, “The Way of the Heart.” If we follow Jesus’s instructions throughout The Way of Mastery (i.e., the Christ Mind Trilogy), we will be led to unwrap our subconscious mind, bring it up to the surface, and heal. This is what we are about. And everyone is blessed with a different subconscious, and so the way back to God differs for each of us.

Our own choice can be a choice for God in all things. This will immediately bless us with a harmony in our dealings with others that we have never known before. This harmony will be experienced in our minds and hearts as peace, the peace that passeth understanding.

Choose wisely. We must. We must try to get our world back on track.

When We Love

“Most of the abilities you now possess are only shadows of your real strengths. Your spirit knows, loves, and creates. These are its unequivocal functions. All of your present functions are equivocal, or open to question or doubt. This arises because you can no longer be certain how you will use them. You are therefore incapable of knowledge, because you can perceive lovelessly. And you cannot create surely, because perception deceives and illusions are not sure.” (ACIM, COA ed., T-3.VI.1:1-8)

We are heading into ever-greater realms, but now we live uncertainly, not yet Christ-conscious, not yet Awakened. We head into greater realms when we love totally and completely, no uncertainty, no doubt.

Until we assume Awakening status, we will be unreliable in our world. Others cannot depend on a being who sometimes loves, sometimes hates. We need to drop the ambivalence of our feelings for other people, drop the negative and assume the positive always. And that positive is always a greater love. We create our own reality, and it is only love that creates a reality with which we can be happy for eons in the future.

We have been weaving illusions in an erratic fashion. When we love, we create a true reality, and we are blessed by our creation. God steadies our hand as we create; His insight informs our own. We create surely, lovingly, and we walk into the sunlight with Jesus.

Gentle Transition into Awakening

“I asked you once before to review your ideas about the afterlife, a life in which most of you believe peacefulness reigns and the spirit is free of the body. Yet if you were to think now of a person whom you know who has died, you would not be likely to think of them much differently than they were in life, even while you are able to imagine them being peaceful and free of the constraints of the body. This is as good an idea as I can give you of how to imagine the elevated Self of form, as not much different than you are now, but peaceful and free of the constraints of the body.” (ACOL, D:Day10.27)

Jesus might also add to this quotation that his description of a peace inside and a peaceful body outside is similar to how enlightenment has been described. Of course, he hopes that all of us will be enlightened when we assume the elevated Self of form; this is his purpose in taking us to the mountaintop for 40 days and 40 nights.

Sometimes enlightenment comes with a bang, but for those who are well-prepared (as we are being well-prepared), it is a gentle crossing over. Being mellow often accompanies a glimpse of enlightenment, and from this peace, we can deduce that there truly is nothing to fear in a gentle crossing over to a better state of mind and heart. Our incessant mind activity will slow down, as Eckhart Tolle has described.

Our ego gave us such a busy mind. And now Jesus says that at this point in A Course of Love, we have remaining of the ego, only “patterns” that linger, egoic patterns that linger. When we express the desire to leave these patterns behind, we are adding our resolve to that of our God, and the habit of these egoic thoughts will leave us, too. We need to be resolute, firm in our conviction that we want peace, we want happiness, and to get there, we will turn aside from fear and judgment. These two—fear and judgment—will prevent our crossing over into enlightenment or Christ-consciousness.

We just need to ask for help as we form a new identity without those old bugaboos. Help will come, and in the present, as soon as we voice the prayer. Take Jesus at his word: He will come to assist us with a “single, unequivocal call” (from A Course in Miracles). Sit with a computer, and type in your appeal to Jesus. Imagine what he might say in return.

And we just might not be far wrong.

Dear God,

Be with today as I seek to leave behind fear and judgment forever. I am mellow now, and that is a good starting point. In the silence, I can almost hear You agreeing with me. You speak in silence, but the silence can be a thundering song sometimes.

Thank You for answering my prayer. I can claim that promise of Yours because I know that Christ-consciousness is in Your will for me. And all others.

Amen.

Relaxation Takes Us Home

“We now will discuss being the true Self while becoming the true Self—the time in between your awareness of and access to Christ-consciousness, or unity, and your sustainability of Christ-consciousness, or unity, in form. As was said earlier: To realize the state of becoming is to realize that an in-between exists between the time of learning and the time of being the elevated Self of form. This is what our time on this holy mountain is largely comprised of. We are in an in-between state of time. We stand at the inter¬section point of the finite and the infinite in order to complete the creative act of becoming.” (ACOL, D:Day6.1)

Becoming is a state of being best felt by pure relaxation, a genuine and pure mellowness that totally encompasses our mind and heart. Jesus counsels in The Way of Mastery that we relax when seeking Christ-consciousness. If we are overwrought, there is no way that the subconscious can join us in seeking a higher way of living. Our overwrought state limits us, because stress makes the subconscious unavailable to us. When we ease into a peaceful state, we are cooperating with He Who lives within, at the deepest point of existence. We are cooperating with God.

The last section of the Dialogues of A Course of Love would have us go through a process of “becoming” that will culminate with our assumption of enlightenment or Christ-consciousness. Will we all make it? No, but many will. Not making it can be a source of great frustration, and this is the last thing that we need. If we don’t “make” it in this reading of ACOL, there is a good reason, though that reason is probably hidden from us. There comes a time when we simply have to accept God’s pivotal place in decision-making; He will lift us up when we are ready, and we are not in a good position always to evaluate our state of being.

The idea of God “lifting us up” to Christ-consciousness is metaphor. Actually the subconscious mind has been cleansed completely not only of the ego, but also of egoic patterns of thought that have clung to us. When this happens, then Awakening is assured. We will reach home; it is only a pattern of time. Accept the glimpses that come to all of us, pray for more (for this is in line with the true will of God), and wait in patience for all that we want to be bestowed on us. Love with an ever-increasing fervent intention, for Love is the opposite of fear, and fear and judgments are the impediments to our getting what we want.

Dear God,

Thank You for the relaxed manner of living that encompasses me today. May I not fall into a lassitude that would be no credit to either You or I. May this calm center follow me about the day. May I experience a glimpse of Awakening this day. One day, I know, it will extend into something sustainable.

Thank You for guiding my thoughts and feelings to an ever-increasing peace on a daily basis.

Amen.

We Are More Ready for Enlightenment than We Realize

“We are here for the final stage of your becoming, not because you have reached some ideal of enlightenment or what you might think of as perfection. If this were asked of you, how many of you would have felt free to join me? Yet in your acceptance is your perfection realized without judgment. In your becoming is your enlightenment realized without judgment. These things become not achievements, but the acknowledgments of the accomplishment that has always existed within you and all of your brothers and sisters.” (ACOL, D:Day4.57)

Maybe we are really further along than we think. Maybe, if we remain humble, shorn of the ego, we will actually realize that we are accomplished in the sense that Jesus means. Maybe enlightenment is only a hair’s breath away. I would like to think that this is what today’s quotation is saying to all of us. Jesus so much wants us to reach Christ-consciousness, and he wouldn’t try so hard if we couldn’t do some things to effect change in ourselves.

We know that we have to remove the blocks to the awareness of love, but what does that really mean? How can we practically change so that we are aware of love at all times? Actually it may be a matter of our bottom-line motivation, and motivation for change through forgiveness of ourselves and others was a large part of what A Course in Miracles tried to bring about. Now Jesus has gone a step farther in A Course of Love. We know more now, we are establishing a new Self, a Christ-Self, a new identity that in no way accepts the old lies of the false self, the ego. We made that one out of our fears and judgments. Now we are bidden to leave our fears and judgments behind and walk into the sunlight, holding the imaged hand of Jesus fast and tight. This flight of imagination bears much fruit. He can be anywhere, with anyone, at any time. This is what his spirit is all about. And for those of us brought up in traditional Christianity, taking Jesus as our personal friend and savior is nothing new.

We are more ready than we realize. Allow happiness to engulf us today. Allow a positive attitude about salvation to tell us what steps to take. Be in reverence toward God, for the final decision of whether or not to bestow Christ-consciousness is God’s own. This is what Jesus has told us in ACIM and ACOL, and this is what we will find to be true.

Invite a glimpse of enlightenment today that will extend in time as long as our mellowness does. And soon the glimpses will merge into maintenance, and then, ultimately, sustainability. Our reading of ACOL promises us nothing less.

Dear God,

I have known real happiness in Your shadow today. I hope for the same tomorrow. Nothing less than this is what I request of you. Be with me as I reach out to others, and they to me. Be with me as I hold the hand of Jesus and get prompts of what to say.

Thank You.

Amen.