Let God’s Glory Be Reflected in How We Live

Of myself, I do nothing. But my Father, through me, does all things. And it is very good. (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 4, Page 55)

We too can step aside and let God’s direction flow into our lives. After all, we are composed of “God-stuff.” He is living through us, and when the separation has been healed, we will know it with a certainty that puts all confusion to rest. Our confusion will melt away, and we will be home, in God’s arms.

Our desires direct what we do. Ask those desires to be filled with God’s grace. We are immersed in Life when we feel our desires. Pray that our desires might be worthy of us—and worthy of God. A nearby statement says in WOM, “. . .[L]et the petals of the rose blossom within our holy being.”

We are not used to thinking of ourselves like this, in this exalted way. We are so used to denigrating ourselves, calling it humility. But true humility does not disenfranchise us. A false humility will mean that we have a poor self-image, and while self-images are actually a false concept (in that no image is needed), we ought to rise up to the best that we have in us.

God asks no less of us, that we let His glory be reflected in the glorious lives that we live.

Humble Asking Always Gets an Answer

“If you ask me for guidance, you have signified your willingness to give over your own control, at least to some extent. Your frequent failure to ask at all indicates that at such times you are not willing to go even that far. Failure to ask for guidance is a sign of fear. But when you at least ask, you are acting on a cooperative thought, even though it may not lack ambivalence. You are therefore entitled to a specific answer, but unless you follow it without judging it, you will become defensive about the next steps you will take.” (ACIM, COA ed., T-4.IX.4:1-5)

Jesus is available to us for guidance. As our elder brother, his advice is sounder than our own. It would be wise to ask.
Later on in A Course in Miracles, Jesus does not so much ask us to turn to him as to turn to the Holy Spirit. He knows that we ask of the ego, or we ask of Higher Guidance—whatever we do. While we may not be aware of these mental gyrations, they are nevertheless much a part of ourselves. We don’t make decisions just in our own superficial mind. Guidance is very real, but guidance of the ego is always wrongheaded and disastrous.

We will get specific answers, and these specific answers may very well come as the next quiet thought in our minds. Practical advice is always given. The Holy Spirit can be very practical, giving advice for the most mundane matters. The only criteria is that these matters are important to us. Humble asking always gets an answer. The solution is always found with the problem, as soon as the problem is articulated, even silently.

If we think we have decided what we want to do, and then ask, we have turned the tables on the Holy Spirit. We may not like what we hear, for the initial decision has, in all likelihood, be made in conjunction with the ego. ACIM says that the ego always answers first.

We don’t have to listen to the ego. It certainly would be wise not to do so, but simply to turn the matter over to spirit. The answer comes quickly.

In This World You Need Not Have Tribulation because I Have Overcome the World. This Is Why You Should Be of Good Cheer.

1 – New Testament

The title of this posting, a passage from ACIM, sometimes causes problems for students of A Course in Miracles, because it is a statement directly contrary to one that occurs in the New Testament. On a number of occasions, Jesus clarifies and refutes words attributed to him in the New Testament, but I do not think that a refutation is what is happening in this instance.

2 – Before Resurrection

In the New Testament, he is speaking before his resurrection. He says at that time that we will have tribulation in this world. But in A Course in Miracles, he is speaking after his life, death, and resurrection, from the Other Side, and he is saying that he overcame the world. He has made the journey before us. He has paved the way. So we need not have tribulation (a caveat: we sometimes do), but ought to be of good cheer.

3 – Tribulation

Why do we have tribulation in this world when Jesus says explicating in ACIM that we need not endure tribulation? I think that we don’t know any better. We use the law of attraction by thinking of disaster, and so disaster all too often comes. When we think of the joy that Jesus promises, we are much more likely to live a life of equanimity.

4 – Humility

When we have understood Jesus’s lesson, we will be in the spirit, and we will beyond humility. Note the following passage:

“Humility is a lesson for the ego, not for the spirit. Spirit is beyond humility, because it recognizes its radiance and gladly sheds its light everywhere. (T56)”

We do not have to worry about whether or not we are humble enough. The ego will always tell us that we are being arrogant when we claim “great” things for ourselves, but Jesus reassures us that it is not us, but the ego in us, that is really the source of arrogance. When we are meek, as Jesus encourages both in the New Testament as well as A Course in Miracles, we will know great things and not be moved, egotistically, by them.

5 – Meek

“The meek shall inherit the earth because their egos are humble, and this gives them true perception. (T56)”

True perception comes before knowledge, and knowledge is of God. Our true perception will not last when knowledge has arrived via Awakening. But most of us have not yet known Awakening, at least to be sustained. What may we hope for in that regard?

6 – Awakened

I think that the Awakened are meek people, and the adjective “meek” is not soft or downtrodden or falsely humble. They have let their egos go, and with that omission from their minds, they see truly. I know two enlightened people, one from books and one from my circle of intimate friends (right here in the town where I live). The first is Eckhart Tolle, and his accounts are engaging in the extreme. He is a distinctly and quietly happy individual, with no sense of ego involvement as he tells his story. He has sustained enlightenment for over 30 years, and so his experience is not just a glimpse, or satori.

7 – Personal Experience

Similarly, in the town where I live, my personal friend is to all accounts an ego-less individual. But she doesn’t push herself forward. I have known her for eight years, taking part in a writing group in which we share our impressions of religious themes. She always writes poetry that is deep and heartwarming. But I never suspected that she was Awakened until she requested that I read a manuscript that she drafted some 30 years ago. For several reasons, she has not tried to publish until now. But now she is eager to share her story. And I hope that she will succeed in finding a publisher. My friend’s demeanor is quiet and gentle. The words in her manuscript are convincing of her experience of enlightenment.

8 – Christ-consciousness

I feel blessed to have read, and to know, of experiences of Christ-consciousness. It gives hope to all of us that this blessing is perhaps not far away and impossible of accomplishment. But I hasten to add that we must be patient and wait on God’s timing, for it is He who makes the decision about when we are ready to Awaken. As my friend notes, God gave us free will, and if we impose preconditions on our desire for enlightenment, God will hold off. There must, in her belief, be a total surrender, no preconditions.

9 – Tribulation

Let’s return to the title of this posting:

“In this world you need not have tribulation because I have overcome the world. This is why you should be of good cheer. (T56)”

10 – ACIM Differs from the New Testament

This passage from Jesus is a paraphrase of what he is quoted to have said in the New Testament. But in the New Testament, we are led to believe that we will have tribulation. His resurrection is meant to counter all of that; the resurrection happened after his teaching that said the reverse. And the Course stands by the resurrection as truth. A Course in Miracles does not say if the resurrection was revelation or a miracle, but, given the definitions found therein, it seems to be a miracle.

11 – Avoid Tribulation

Tribulation is pain that we would want to avoid at all costs. Remembering that Jesus overcame the world, and harkening to good cheer are mental actions that we can take at any time.

12 – Be of Good Cheer

When we are feeling down, it is wise to recall such passages. We can conjure up good cheer, even when the day seems drab. It takes only a moment to recall us to ourselves.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

Thank you that in this world we do not have to have tribulation. We can be of good cheer, because Jesus has overcome the world. Help me not to be confused by the difference that this quotation from A Course in Miracles constitutes from the New Testament. Help me to take from this ACIM quotation what it can do for me, something that is considerable.

It takes only a moment of reflection or of prayer to recall us to ourselves. We can know peace as well as good cheer, even in this world that too often seems filled with woe.

Amen.

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