Would We See Ourselves Whole & Complete?

“In the end of all seeking, you must look into the mirror and decide to be the one who heals yourself. You are the one who decides, from infinite freedom, how to use the power of your mind in each moment. Therefore, the only question that a seeker of truth really truly need ask him or her self is this:

“Would I know conflict or peace?

“Would I be right or happy?

“Would I see the complete neutrality of all events in this world as wisps of a dream being birthed and passing away?

“Would I see myself whole and complete?

“For as I look upon the world, I have judged myself.

“And as I look upon myself, I judge the world.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 124)

If we listen to these wise words, we see that “flow” in daily life is required. We open up our minds and hearts to the influence of God, moment by moment, and the sometimes frantic outcome of our day transforms. We are happy when we let go and let God, and this is ultimately what flow is all about.

“Would I be right or happy?” This well-known quotation from A Course in Miracles says it all, and here Jesus is saying the very same in The Way of Mastery. (Jesus asked Jayem not to read A Course in Miracles before channeling this new work, and so there is no chance that Jayem was merely quoting ACIM.) The obviously correct Answer is just to fall into happiness. Why do we think we need to raise up conflict with our brothers and sisters so that we are more “right” than they are?

It is hard to imagine that all events in this difficult world are neutral, but they are. We write on these neutral events our own projections. And projection makes perception (another ACIM tenet). The world is doing nothing to us. We are projecting our lives into this world, often invoking the law of attraction to bring about what we experience.

We need to see ourselves a good people, innocent people, people who have only made forgivable mistakes. And these forgiven mistakes will not hold us back.

Choose peace today.

Be in the flow.

Projection Makes Perception

Never tell someone who has lived through a full-blown psychosis that projection does not make perception. He knows it does. The whispered voices (so real at the time), the images “out there” that appear but are not really there–all these become his own, and more.

I once had a friend who saw his mother enter a room wearing a black dress. My friend knew at the time that his mother was not “really” wearing a black dress, but the day was filled with the surprises of psychosis, and he went with the flow. Much later, with perceptions part of the mass hallucination once again, my friend confirmed with his mother that the image had been false.

Because my friend dislodged himself from the mass hallucination, he is better prepared to see that he is, normally, hallucinating on a grand scale, along with everyone else currently in his “sane” mind. Of course, students of A Course in Miracles know it is not really sanity that we all experience, but madness, in seeing a chaotic world. (T-25.VII.3:2) The Course says, “If you behold disaster and catastrophe, you tried to crucify him [the Son of God, your real Self]. If you see holiness and hope, you joined the Will of God to set him free.” (T-21.in.2:3-4)

Think about this a moment. When you are at peace with the world, experiencing a “holy instant” of love and hope, is there really anything that can upset you? However fierce the perception appears, you know that the world and all beings in it are in God’s hands. How wonderful it would be to extend this thought to all our waking moments!

Projection Makes Perception

“What is projection? Projection occurs when there has first been denial within yourself. Projection is an act in which you psychically try to throw out of your ownership everything that you have judged as being despicable or unworthy or you—something you do not want. So you project it. You will throw it up and out and let it land on whomever happens to be nearby. Projection is the effect of the denial of the first axiom that I have given you. It is the denial of the truth that:

“Nothing you experience has been caused by anything outside of you.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Chapter 3, Page 28)

We are in the driver’s seat. We create what happens to us, though not in our personality but in our soul.
We project when we feel unable to handle life in any other way. A Course in Miracles says, “Projection makes perception,” and this truth also applies here. We essentially see what we want to see. We are, in fact, projecting our illusory world. And we see what we imagine in our depths.

If we listen to intuition, we are less likely to create reality in a way that disturbs us. If we know that we take a risk in sharing something close to our heart with a less-than-sympathetic listener, then we are foolish to take a risk like that. We have here been the cause of our friend’s lack of sympathy, and we would have been saved from experiencing this if we had just listened to guidance. We have, in effect, projected what we are experiencing. The perception will hurt us if we are not attuned to intuition and avoid saying the troubling thing.

We see in others what we don’t want to acknowledge in ourselves; that is why we have projected it. If it is “out there,” we feel less responsible for it.

But this is a chimera, an image that has no truth. We are no less responsible because we project. We have bound ourselves to it. And until we get our mind straightened out, a mind informed by the heart, we will not walk a green earth.

Project only what will not hurt. Don’t take unwise risks. Our intuition will, in fact, guide us in every situation, at every time.

The Reality of Everything Is Totally Harmless

“Wrong perception is the wish that things be as they are not. The reality of everything is totally harmless, because total harmlessness is the condition of its reality. It is also the condition of your awareness of its reality. You do not have to seek reality. It will seek you and find you when you meet its conditions.” (ACIM, T-8.IX.2)

We have made a world from our projections from within, a world that is perceived rather than truly experienced. And this perception has been wrong, has gone awry. We don’t have to stay with these misapprehensions, though. There is a better way. And true reality is what it is.

How do we experience true reality? When we recognize that we can be harmed by nothing, we are well on our way. Of course, in this world, this assertion strikes us as irrational. Surely there are many things in this world that hurt us. But our real Self is not hurt, and it is this Self that is able to experience true reality. This Self does not spend time lamenting perceptions of the world that are not accurate. This Self sits in the sun and is contented. Would we not all long for this experience?

Our conditions to meet include harboring no fear and no judgment. These are the twin conditions that keep us stuck in illusions, in our dream world. We may think that stress, fear, is always with us, but we need to think again. Fear is not with us when we are open to the God within. Judgment does not overtake us when we are communing with Him.

So: Today, let loose the misperceptions with which we have peopled our world. Know that fear and judgment can be left behind, and that the quickest route to that right choice is to touch base with the inward God. Meditate on Him, and see if there are not bright spots in your perception. Soon knowledge will replace perception, and we will know that all is well. Let us choose that all will be well today.

Atonement Is the Correction of Perception

“This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with the Atonement, or the correction of perception. The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. (C-in.1)”

This quotation explains why there are differing definitions for Atonement in A Course in Miracles. Jesus is not concerned with specifics, carefully equating similar terms whenever he can.

Here Jesus’s definition for Atonement is the “correction of perception.” We know that perception is what we use in this world to find our way about. It is not knowledge, which comes from God. This perception is made by projection from within each individual.

Since the ego still rules very many of us, it is the ego that projects the perceptions that we make. And it is this perception that needs correction.

The means of correction of perception is forgiveness. In particular, we reach out to our significant others, our brother, and in the forgiveness that we extend, we find love.

What better formula could there be for a new world to be seen by corrected perception?

Enfolding Everyone in Our Experience of Christ-Consciousness

1 – Invisible Space

“Imagine the air around you being visible and your form an invisible space within the visible surroundings. This is the realty of Christ-consciousness. Consciousness may seem to be embodied by form but the reverse is true and has always been true. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 12)”

2 – Spacious Self

Jesus describes something called the “spacious self” on this day. He sees this self as an invisible space that encompasses our being. And we encounter others, outside our invisible space, that we can enfold. This would help explain why sometimes people seem very approachable; we have enfolded them into our invisible space.

3 – Form

We are not ultimately form—not at all. We have believed that the form of the body encompassed our minds, but this is not the way reality really is. Sure, we live in an illusion, but still the solidarity of form seems real. Yet it is a mirage. The solidarity of form is a mirage. When we embody the spacious self, we reach out to others from invisibility, enfolding them unto us. Then we really can communicate as One, as the All that God and we really are.

4 – Merging

“The merging of form with Christ-consciousness is this merging of the Self with the unconditional love of the One Self. The One Self loves Its Self. There is nothing else to love. The One Self is the All. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 12)”

5 – Elevated Self of Form

This explains the elevated Self of form, a concept defined repeatedly in A Course of Love. We seek to embody Christ-consciousness as the All Whom we are, but we do so within a visible body that is nevertheless not true reality, for true reality is formless. Yet, because we live on earth, we need a form to communicate with others; and so the form is provided.

6 – God

The elevated Self of form is knowing that we are living reality with God. We do love unconditionally when we occupy this form. And sustaining this form is what we are seeking to do. Not just to form that reality, but to sustain it into eternity.

7 – One Self

The One Self is the All, and so in loving ourselves as that One Self, we also unconditionally love everyone else as well. This is true reality, unconditional love in a Self that can be seen, viewed, by our brothers and sisters here in this world with us.

8 – Space

“Navigating this endless space as an expression of love is the simplest thing imaginable. All you must do is listen to your Self. Your Self is now a feeling, conscious space, unhindered by any obstacles of form. (ACOL Dialogues, p. 155)”

9 – Relationship

This Day Twelve we learn what being relationship is all about. Jesus calls upon us to rely on feelings within an empty form (a spacious form), because consciousness is not form. Our Self occupies emptiness in space, and by this we can easily join with others in this invisible space.

10 – Pets

This description is not totally clear in this first day of description. More days of description are to come. But this is the introduction to relationship with others, human and non-human. Jesus says that it is easy to join with non-human forms in invisible space, and when we read this, we may think of how easy it is to join with our pet companions.

11 – Unity

This space that we occupy is the space of unity, and with this assertion Jesus once again returns to his oft-repeated exhortation to join in unity and relationship in Christ-consciousness. He says that navigating this space is the simplest thing imaginable, once we follow our feelings and not our thoughts.

12 – Obstacles

“When an obstacle of form, be it human or material in nature, seems to present itself, all you must do is remind yourself that space has replaced what was once your self of form. Feel the love of the space that is you. All obstacles will vanish. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 12)”

13 – Loving Disappearance

We can make obstacles disappear, and this is not evil. It is ultimately loving. These obstacles, human or non-human, are enfolded into our spacious self, and then we can communicate as One. We reach out to the anger and the attack, the defensiveness and the rancor, and we just enfold into our spacious Self. We don’t fight; we don’t retaliate. We just reach out and enfold, in a healing gesture.

14 – Proceed in ACOL

This is part of the theology of A Course of Love, and the concept does raise a number of questions. We will know more as proceed through the coming days in our journey to the mountain top with Jesus.

15 – Space

“Not all forms will be met as obstacles. Forms are only as real as the perceiver perceives them to be. Thus your space will effortlessly join with the space that is free and open to joining. There is no boundary between space and space. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 12)”

16 – Perception

When we have a perceiver in front of us, another human being, then the form appears to be solid. When we have something that cannot perceive, the form is enfolded instantly. There is no barrier of perception.

17 – Non-Human Obstacles

“Non-human obstacles have no need of being deflected for their boundaries have not been made solid by perception. A seeming obstacle of non-human form is easily enfolded in the space of the One Self and can be moved or passed through.

“This is joining in relationship. (Dialogues of A Course of Love, Day 12)”

18 – Love

This quotation, as an earlier one, suggest why it is so easy to love our companion pets. They are not resisting us in any way through their form. They do have perception, but it is not akin to the egoic perceptions of other people who cause us difficulties as we walk through life. The pets are open to being enfolded in our being by love.

19 – Others

Would that everyone were so constructed! And this is where we are heading on this earth Everyone will embody Christ-consciousness eventually. And we will have Heaven on earth.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I have long known that my feelings, and my following of them, are my way to salvation. Now I see that not only is salvation held out to me by feelings, but Christ-consciousness as well. Truly I am blessed, and I thank You.

Thank You for this good feeling that I have today. I get the impression that I am gradually, almost without noticing it, moving into Christ-consciousness. I have had glimpses in the distant past, and those glimpses did not last, were not sustained. I would sustain this new feeling that I have today. Help me to do so with the effortlessness that You say is due me. I can do nothing, just myself. I am totally dependent on You. You make the choice of Christ-consciousness for me, but I do pray that it be soon. Thank You.

Be with me as the mountain top experience proceeds, and I come to see more clearly. Guide my inner eyes to see more clearly. Guide my relationship to All. Thank You.

Amen.

Atonement = Correction of Perception

1 – Terminology?

“This is not a course in philosophical speculation, nor is it concerned with precise terminology. It is concerned only with Atonement, or the correction of perception. (C77)”

2 – Atonement

Some of the most viewed postings in this blog concern Atonement. We all want to know what it means. And here we find out: the correction of perception.

3 – Resurrection

That, of course, is not the whole answer. Jesus has paved the way for us, but it is not the crucifixion to which we look for Atonement, but the resurrection. The crucifixion is a benign lesson that shows Jesus not fighting back, as he would have us not fight back. He did not defend himself, because defense makes what it would defend against (ACIM tenet).

4 – Forgiveness

“The means of the Atonement is forgiveness. The structure of ‘individual consciousness’ is essentially irrelevant because it is a concept representing the ‘original error’ or the ‘original sin.’ To study the error itself does not lead to correction if you are indeed to succeed in overlooking the error. And it is just this process of overlooking at which the course aims. (C77)”

5 – Universal Experience

“A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary. It is this experience toward which the course is directed. Here alone consistency becomes possible because here alone uncertainty ends. (C77)”

6 – Simple Course

“The course in simple. It has one function and one goal. Only in that does it remain wholly consistent because only that can be consistent. (C77)”

7 – Ken Wapnick

Ken Wapnick said that A Course in Miracles was simple, but it was not easy. He was the primary scholar for ACIM in his lifetime, though there were others who also took up the banner for ACIM (notably Robert Perry, as a scholar).

8 – Awakening

The function is forgiveness, and the goal is Awakening (though we are not in charge of when that goal will be reached, for God alone decides).

9 – Consistency

Consistency is important.

10 – One Goal

The fact that there is one goal in A Course in Miracles keeps the Course simple. We bring our own ego’s complexity to what we read, and that is why we make what is simple very complicated. It is not easy, as Ken said, because our minds are too ravaged by blind ego to take the easy words and apply them. We always want to make something easy into something hard. We are so prone to such foolishness in daily life that it is no question that we bring this trait into our spiritual seeking.

11 – Ego

“The ego may ask, ‘How did the impossible occur?’, ‘To what did the impossible happen?’, and may ask this in many forms. Yet there is no answer; only an experience. Seek only this, and do not let theology delay you. (M77)”

12 – Beginning of Time

This passage refers to the beginnings of time as we know it. How did we separate from God? What tiny, mad idea did we entertain? The ego wants to know, and maybe we do also.

13 – Practical Course

The Course is always practical, and elsewhere tells us that it is concerned with only the practical. It says that a universal theology is impossible, but that a universal experience is not only possible, but necessary. The Course does not waste much, if any, time debating theological issues, and recommends that we not do so either. It suggests that theology is heavily influenced by the ego, which is our false concept of ourselves.

14 – Ego-less

We need to seek the experience that the Course holds out to us–an ego-less form of living that marches us straightway toward Awakening. We get there, as we have said repeatedly, by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus would not have us delayed on this “journey without distance,” and so bids us to seek the experience and not to let theology delay us.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

Theology is the preoccupation of so much religion. Please let my religion, my spirituality, be different. May I seek an experience of spirituality, one that You lead me to discover.

Thank you for Your guidance always. May I better follow Your guidance this day.

Amen.

Holy Spirit = An Idea

1 – Transfer of Perception to Knowledge

“The way to recognize your brother is by recognizing the Holy Spirit in him. I have already said that the Holy Spirit is the bridge for the transfer of perception to knowledge, so we can use the terms as if they were related, because in His Mind they are. (T78)”

Perception is temporary, caught in time with us, but knowledge is eternal, and is of God. These are tenets from elsewhere in A Course in Miracles. Miracles are perceptual, and therefore do not last. Revelation is knowledge, and therefore is eternal. Revelation always comes from God, and it is intensely personal and therefore hard to convey to another. Its validity is determined by the self, the personal self that is trying to access the inner Christ Self (from A Course of Love).

2 – Holy Spirit in Our Brother/Sister

The Holy Spirit is in our brother, and when we recognize the Holy Spirit in him/her, we are seeing the other truly. The Holy Spirit is in us in a very practical sense. Though an idea, He is the Source of Universal Inspiration, the way that we come to know, as opposed to our perceiving. The ego perceives; the self which is accessing the Holy Spirit knows.

3 – Idea of Healing

“The Holy Spirit is the idea of healing. Being thought, the idea gains as it is shared. (T78)”

Ideas do increase when shared. That is why it is so important to seek first the intangibles of God, the peace, hope, joy, harmony, and the like. If we seek first for material pleasures, we will never be satisfied very long with anything we get.

4 – Increases when Shared

“The idea of the Holy Spirit shares the property of other ideas because it follows the laws of the Universe of which it is a part. It is strengthened by being given away. It increases in you as you give it to your brother. Your brother does not have to be aware of the Holy Spirit in himself or in you for this miracle to occur. (T78)”

This is a passage with deep meaning. It suggests that we do not have to get our brothers and sisters to study the A Course in Miracles before they will derive great meaning from it. They will derive that great meaning by our own living out of the principles of ACIM.

5 – A Strengthened Idea

When we give away our understanding of the Holy Spirit, we enrich our brothers and sisters. The idea of the Holy Spirit is strengthened. And they do not have to even be aware of what we are doing.

6 – Miracles

Jesus calls this sharing of the Holy Spirit a “miracle.” It will indeed seem so as we see our brothers and sisters more loving and peaceful, just by the fact that we are trying to share our understanding of the Course with them.

“The Voice of the Holy Spirit is weak in you. That is why you must share It. It must be increased in strength before you can hear It. (T79)”

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I share my understanding of the Course and the Holy Spirit, silently, with my brothers and sisters. May I especially share this understanding with those most close to me.

We will bless our brothers and sisters by our own understanding. May I not try to get anybody else to follow my way, but by my own following of it, may I lead others to You.

Amen.

Definition of the Ego

“I have spoken of the ego as if it were a separate thing, acting on its own. This was necessary to persuade you that you cannot dismiss it lightly, and must realize how much of your thinking is ego-directed. (T67)”

1 – Autonomous Ego?

How autonomous the ego seems to be! Yet it is only our own thinking, the part of our thinking that is insane. Insanity is a concept that some of us find hard to imagine; we think that we are thinking clearly. But, in the grip of the ego, we are quite mad. And in not thinking clearer, we give up any hope of Heaven.

2 – Ego Separate?

Is the ego a separate thing? No. We made the ego when we wanted to separate from God and His guidance. We thought that to be independent would give us something that loyalty and love for God would not. But we are never intended to fail to communicate with our Creator. We are intended to share with others, not to be separate and apart. And we will be unhappy as long as we cling fiercely to independence (or try to do so) and avoid God and others in our daily lives.

3 – Ego-Directed Thinking

“. . .[H]ow much of your thinking is ego-directed. . . . We cannot safely let it go at that, however, or you will regard yourself as necessarily conflicted as long as you are here, or as long as you believe that you are here. (T67)”

4 – Conflict

We do not have to be sorely conflicted, even when the ego is not dead in us. We can turn more and more to the Holy Spirit, letting Him guide our thoughts and actions. If we do not turn to the Holy Spirit, we ask for conflict, for how do we know what to do that will make it all turn out right?

5 – Intuition

If at first we don’t “catch” an intuition, then we can always ask again for advice. Jesus says in ACIM that we always seek advice before taking action, either of the ego or the Holy Spirit. We cannot take action autonomously. And if we are resistant to the advice that we get from the Holy Spirit, it would be wise to wait. If we have already forged ahead, then stop as soon as we can make ourselves, and then follow the guidance as we perceive it. Our perceptions can always lead us astray, of course, but our perception of what the Holy Spirit is saying is likely to be less wrong than is our perception of what the ego says. The ego advises to confuse.

6 – A Part of Your Belief

“The ego is nothing more than a part of your belief about yourself. Your other life has continued without interruption, and has been and always will be totally unaffected by your attempts to dissociate it. (T67)”

This is the best succinct definition of the ego in A Course in Miracles. “A part of your belief about yourself.” Such a definition removes some of the allure that the ego will continue to have until we have found our way home. It deemphasizes the ego as a major difficulty; it implies that a “part” of belief can be disrupted without too much trouble.

7 – Motivation

Is this true? Can we dissociate ourselves from the ego easily? That depends on motivation (a concept of A Course in Miracles). Jesus seeks to encourage our motivation to learn, and then, through learning, to remove the blocks to love’s awareness. Our guide is the Holy Spirit. ACIM spells out the means.

8 – Another Life

Very reassuring is the statement that we have another life continuing without interruption. This implies that there are parts of ourselves elsewhere, in other dimensions, but this is an interpretation, and A Course in Miracles is not specific about what is meant. We can hope that we have another life in other dimensions, the Self that we have forgotten in this world. Truly this is a great reassurance, and a great cause for giving thanks. We have not lost everything by the tiny mistake that we made when we chose this world of the ego over heaven.

9 – Escape from Illusion

“In learning to escape from illusions, your debt to your brother is something you must never forget. It is the same debt you owe to me. Whenever you act egotistically towards another, you are throwing away the graciousness of your indebtedness and the holy perception it would produce. (T67)”

When we love our brother/sister, we know that we are indebted to him/her for a good life, for we are not in this alone. Others play gigantic parts in what we believe to be our reality. And when we love, we see the good parts of others. We are not blinded by what we imagine, rightly or wrongly, to be their “faults.”

10 – Significant Other

This passage also suggests that our way is in our relationship to our most significant other—as ACIM says, our “brother” (which also includes our “sister”). This is the way of A Course in Miracles, and cementing our relationship to a significant other is how ACIM is saving us time. “Save time,” and “learn what time is for.” These are quotations from ACIM, and we are encouraged to take to heart the truth that time is to bring us closer home, to Awakening, to Heaven on earth. What better way is there to spent time? We need to help others, but we ourselves are limited in what we can do when we are still stumbling about in the shadows. “Love thy brother as thyself” is still operative. But traditional Christian orthodoxy has not always stressed the social gospel. The traditional indicates that we have to get our heart right first before we can make a meaningful contribution to the lives of others.

11 – “Holy”

“The term ‘holy’ can be used here because, as you learn how much you are indebted to the whole Sonship, which includes me, you come as close to knowledge as perception can. The gap is then so small that knowledge can easily flow across it and obliterate it forever. (T67)”

This passage emphasizes the distinction between “perception” and “knowledge.” Perception is our own contribution, and it is temporal. It is also often wrong. Knowledge is of God, and it cannot be effectively imparted to us as long as the ego rules. Miracles are perceptual, and therefore none of them is lasting. But revelation is of God, and is therefore knowledge. Of course, with our limited perspective, we cannot always see the difference between what is happening. We can ask, “Is this my perception or is God granting me knowledge?” Then let one’s heart be the guide.

12 – Knowledge vs. Perception

Knowledge usually comes as an inner process, a sense that, “Yes, this is right!” We are surprised by knowledge, whereas we often reason our way into a perception. Knowledge does not ask for the ego’s analysis, knowing that by definition the ego’s analysis is faulty, inaccurate, incorrect. Ask for knowledge of the Holy Spirit and do not let our mind run amuck with musings about the real state of what we are viewing in the world. Because we will usually be wrong. And we will always be wrong if the ego is, at the moment, in ascendancy.

Prayer:

Dear Father,

May I deemphasize the ego in my own mind, as I realize the truth of the “part” of me that it is. Something that is only a “part” can be overcome, with Your help, easily.

Thank you for the reassurance that I have a Self that stands above all the doings of this world. I do not understand, but I do not have to understand to be reassured that all is well in Your world.

Amen.

The External World Is but a Reflection of the Internal

“The thought system of the truth realizes that the external world is but a reflection of the internal world. Thus you can observe with your eyes closed as easily as you can observe with your eyes open. You can observe by having an idea of another’s health, abundance, peace, and happiness. You can observe this within yourself because it exists within your Self. (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the Personal Self, 18.10)”

Affirmation: “I would know that my external world is a reflection of my internal world.”

Reflections:

1 – Projection Makes Perception

The passage for today paraphrases what was said, but perhaps not always understood, from A Course in Miracles: “Projection makes perception.” What this means is that the external world which we see is but a reflection of the internal world that we experience. We can observe the outer with eyes open or closed; it makes no difference. We see what we feel within, and we perceive without what has first found a home within our minds and hearts, the internal.

2 – How Many Angels?

This is the reason that the medieval question, “How many angels can be on the point of a needle?,” is so far beyond its time. There is no world! Jesus says in ACIM that this is what we must ultimately comprehend. We are projecting what we have made real within, and this projection causes us to use our perception (though informed by the ego) to see what we see in the external world.

3 – Hallucination

We are part of a mass hallucination. This is a theological point, but one that will help many to understand what ACIM and A Course of Love are trying to tell us. Certainly all is illusion before we let go of the egoic mind, but whether or not the real world is truly “real” is a question of theological debate. Is anything outside our minds? If God is the All, and we are part of a hologram (another concept that may be useful), then it means that each part is part of the Whole, and that the Whole is present in each part.

4 – Health, Abundance, Peace, Happiness

We can see health, abundance, peace, and happiness. Maybe not exclusively, but more and more as time passes, and our minds and hearts work in tandem. We first see these positive experiences when we listen to the Holy Spirit, and He brings happy dreams to us. The dreams expand so that even tough times often lose their sting. We can be sure that a lovely God watches over us, just as we learned long ago in Sunday school. We may have moved away from our childhood understanding of God, but the germ of an idea may never leave us. And traditional Christianity still is there for us, expanded and enlarged by Jesus’s channeled writings for our era.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would not worry so much about how many angels can balance on the point of a needle, but how many are watching over me now. I would hope that there are a few doing just that. My life does not work well without help—help from others on this plane, in this world, and help from an unseen world. Thank You for giving me the assurance that I do have assistance, and that this assistance is with me always.

Amen.

Miracle-Mindedness

“[W]hat happens when this oneness is accomplished is that divine memories arise to replace perception.  This is miracle-mindedness.  The accomplishment of this state of being is what you are here for.  It is your return to your Self.  It heralds the return of heaven through the second coming of Christ, the energy that will bridge the two worlds.  (Treatises of A Course of Love:  Treatise on the Art of Thought, 6.9)”

Affirmation:  “I seek oneness today.”

Reflections:

1 – Divine Memories

There is much of importance summarized in this short passage for today.  We do want divine memories to replace perception, for divine memories include memories of the real world, and the real world is not one seen through perception.  Perception is always inaccurate, to one degree or another.  It is true that miracles themselves are perceptual (from A Course in Miracles), but they are the highest form of perception.  And when we have reached miracle-mindedness as a constant state, we will know our Self/Christ.  And we will embody the elevated Self of form.  We will have reached Christ-consciousness.  And heaven will be with us, for which we do not have to die.

2 – Promises

These are genuine promises made in the Treatises of A Course of Love.  And when believed, these promises are enormously liberating.  We know that we can experience heaven on earth, even before we in fact do experience it.  We also see snatches, glimpses, of heaven on earth before this state is continuously experienced.

3 – Time of Christ

We are, according to the trilogy of ACOL, in the time of the second coming of Christ.  The books never identify if there is to be a physical embodiment of Jesus again.  The spiritual entity of Jesus is with us, though, for certain.  He comes in response to one unequivocal call, a statement from A Course in Miracles that I have often quoted in this blog.  I have found it to be true.  Not that I have seen a vision, but that I have experienced the calm that comes from imagining that Jesus is near.  And does he not immediately calm the heart as the first step to all healing?  Distraught people do not usually believe that healing is possible, and belief in healing is necessary, if we can believe the New Testament, and I believe that we can.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would replace my perceptual memories today with divine memories.  This is a step toward the sustaining of Christ-consciousness.  And You are there for me, as is Jesus.  Never let doubts come to me.  May I have no dark night of the soul.  And, if trouble comes, may I always know to Whom to turn–You.

We are living in the time of Christ.  This is a great blessing.  This world does not seem yet to recognize this, for this world is very troubled.  But the healing of our world will come, and I believe sooner than we think.

Be with us today for a good day.  I ask this so often, because a string of pearls, like good days, is a beauty to behold.  Help me to know Your guidance today, and to follow it unflinchingly.

Amen.

We Cry Out for Healing Today

“Your choice to separate from God is but a separation from your own Self, and this is truly the separation that needs to be healed to return you to God.  (A Course of Love, 17.2)”

Affirmation:  “May I join with my Self today.”

Reflections:

1 – Personal Self

We are often moody.  Why?  We are living in the personal self, the little self that is still occupied with and identified with the ego.  The ego does not wish us well.  It welcomes conflict, because conflict keeps the ego alive and thriving.

2 – Relax into Our Hearts

There is a better way to live.  We can relax into our hearts, when we are down, and still the mind.  The final pages of the Workbook of A Course in Miracles are filled with reflections that some view as meditation.  These reflections, as well as the trilogy of A Course of Love, are particularly appropriate to consider our Self, the real inner being that is the Christ.  And when we turn to the inner being, we are reconciled to ourselves and to God at once.

3 – Glimpses of Revelation

We will sometimes fail to make this transition, for the glimpses of revelation are brief in the beginning.  But gradually, as we continue our pathway, the glimpses lengthen, and our time with the Self expands.  Then we are truly being returned to God, and posthaste.  We are not alone with the ego any longer.

4 – Ineffable Peace

When we have returned to our Self, we will know peace, an ineffable peace, far more often than we will experience any other emotion.  Indeed, Jesus says in A Course in Miracles that we will be “perfectly calm and quiet” all the time.  Drama of the ego will have faded away, and we will be glad of the fading.

5 – Listen Quietly

May we return to the Self today.  We cannot do this alone.  But we can ask for help, and, if we listen quietly, we will hear.  Invite God’s peace into your heart today.  He will not disappoint.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would do whatever I can today to return to my Self, the Christ in me.  I cannot do this without help, and I ask for Your help.  May the glimpses of revelation that I have known come again today, and may those glimpses lengthen in time.  I can eventually look forward to living in the Self all the time.  I welcome that day, though I know that the decision is Yours, and I respect this from the bottom of my heart.

Be with me today.  Keep me from anxiety.  If I am truly living as separated from You, I will have anxiety.  I will not have anxiety when I choose to heal the separation, the separation that has never been real anyway.  You have always been there for me, deep within me–as well as outwardly.  May my perceptions be cleansed into knowledge, Your true knowledge.  May I project outwardly only the harmony and peace that You encompass within me.

Be with me today as I sort out these complexities.  Salvation is simple, and when I get too much into complexities, I am speaking from my ego.  Correct this in me today.  Thank You.

Amen.

Happy Dreams the Holy Spirit Brings

ACIM Workbook Lesson 87 – for Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Affirmation:  “I will there be light.”

Selected Passage:

“I will use the power of my will today.  It is not my will to grope about in darkness, fearful of shadows and afraid of things unseen and unreal.  Light shall be my guide today.  I will follow it where it leads me, and I will look only on what it shows me.  This day I will experience the peace of true perception.  (WB152)”

Reflections:

True perception is a gift of the Holy Spirit, a gift that gives us happy dreams.  And true perception can and does lead ultimately to knowledge.  We can use the power of our will to will today that we see in light.  This is a metaphorical way of speaking, but its intent is clear to even very early students of A Course in Miracles.  We know when we are groping in darkness, in the negative emotions, and we would change all of that to sometimes much more positive.  ACIM will teach us how to make that change.

Affirmation:  “There is no will but God’s.”

Selected Passage:

“I am safe today because there is no will but God’s.  I can become afraid only when I believe there is another will.  I try to attack only when I am afraid, and only when I try to attack can I believe that my eternal safety is threatened.  Today I will recognize that all this has not occurred.  I am safe because there is no will but God’s.  (WB152)”

Reflections:

One does attack only when one is afraid.  Knowing this, how can we not forgive ourselves and our brothers and sisters?  Attack is the misguided way that we ask for help.  It is the opposite of giving help.  And we must give help, sometimes in very subtle ways, if we would know the best way to live.  If an overt display of help would not be well-received by someone who is attacking us, let us back off.  But we can give what we are led by guidance to give.  And sometimes we can simply wait for a better moment to make our gift to ourselves as well as to others.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would ask for an easy day today.  Perhaps this is not a realistic prayer, but it is one that feels right to me now.  I need some solace, some happy dreams.  I am on the verge of experiencing too much stress.  May my perceptions change so that I am at peace.  May You walk with me throughout this day, and may I be conscious of Your presence.

This time I am afraid of my own reactions.  Being stressed puts me at odds with Your peace, and I would not be at odds with Your peace.  Help me to lie low today as I regain my equilibrium.  This day I devote to You.  This day I will seek, in as many moments as I can, Your peace above my ego-oriented propensity to be right.

Keep me from knit-picking.  I would be tolerant of all whom I encounter.  I would seek for their happiness every bit as much as I seek for mine.  Give me Your guidance as I seek to maneuver through the mines of an uncertain world.

Thank You for being there for me.

Amen.

Knowledge of the Divine Order

“A miracle is a correction introduced into false thinking by me.  It acts as a catalyst, breaking up erroneous perception and reorganizing it properly.  This places you under the Atonement principle, where perception is healed.  Until this has occurred, knowledge of the Divine Order is impossible.  (T5)”

Affirmation:  “I would invite miracles today.”

Reflections:

1 – Definition of a Miracle

The selected passage gives one definition of the miracle, a definition offered by Jesus.  The wording of this passage is straight-forward, but may be difficult to understand on first reading.

2 – Two Aspects of the Miracle

Jesus links the miracle with Atonement.  In addition, he says that our perception will be healed.  These two aspects of the miracle make it imminently desirable.

3 – Atonement

What is meant by the Atonement?  There is no single definition given in A Course in Miracles.  I think Jesus assumes that we will understand, but many of us remain puzzled.  We remain puzzled because traditional Christianity sees the crucifixion as having purchased our salvation from an angry God by the sacrifice of His only Son.  A Course in Miracles differs on this, though.  ACIM sees the resurrection as the crucial point.  ACIM does not try to describe the resurrection, but A Course of Love does describe the Jesus following the resurrection as having a “new form.”  The resurrection is never denied, though we do not presently understand, through our limited science, how the resurrection could have happened.  (We may also question the New Testament raising of Lazarus.)

4 – Take the Understanding that We Can

I think that Jesus would take us where we are, and have us accept as much as is needed for Atonement to be effected in us.  We are at one with him in Christ (shared by the Self of all–A Course of Love tenet).  We are justified by God’s sight when we have turned our way over to a Higher Power.  We do not try to blindly save ourselves anymore.  We may study ACIM diligently, but we know that the Awakening is only a God-given gift.

5 – Perception – Healed?

Second, how can our perception be healed?  We will no longer have the kind of mind that projects evil onto the world.  And, as we have seen repeatedly in A Course in Miracles, projection makes perception.  All is within; there is nothing without.   That is a theological concept in ACIM, and if we find it difficult to accept, then Jesus would not have us delayed by theology.  We look within, see what we wish to see there, and then project with our human eyes the outside; we perceive the exterior world.

6 – Mass Hallucination?

Of course, I believe that we are part of a mass hallucination (an interpretation, not stated in ACIM).   It would be particularly pernicious to deny what our physical eyes show us.  But we do know, from ACIM, that what we see is illusion.  A Course in Miracles says, “There is no world!”  That is what we must ultimately see (ACIM tenets).

7 – Healed Perception

When our perception is healed, we will not look out on the same world, because projection makes perception (a Course concept).  Our lives will work better in this new world (called by the Course the “real world”), and we will live in calm and quiet.  This indeed is what miracles hold out for us.  What a blessing!

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would look out on the world with a healed perception today.  That is my goal for today.  Help me to reach it.

I may not sustain a healed perception, but I ask You to take me farther along the pathway today.  May we understand the Atonement as much as is humanly possible.  May we realize that there are physical laws of which we are as yet unaware.

Be with us as we live through the illusion of this world.  May we join with our brothers and sisters to we seek to find the reality that underlies our world–Your reality.  I would see the real world with healed perception today.

Amen.

Specialness

“The specialness of God’s Sons does not stem from exclusion but from inclusion.  All my brothers are special.  If they believe they are deprived of anything, their perception becomes distorted. (T12)”

Affirmation:  :”I would have clear perception today, perception leading to knowledge.”

Reflections:

1 – Everyone Is “Special”

All of us are included in this statement about specialness.  We are all equals.  Elsewhere Jesus says that none of us has anything that is not also given to our brother.  He also says that temporarily some may have more than another, but eventually this will change.  These are theoretical foundations of A Course in Miracles.  What is this “more” that some have now?  It is an understanding about forgiveness that leads to salvation, and, with this, happiness.  All of these–forgiveness, salvation, and happiness–are said at different points in ACIM to our “function.”  We may find that we are too self-centered when we are unhappy to reach out effectively to others, or even to forgive them.  And we may get so down on ourselves that we don’t see how salvation is possible for one such as ourselves.

2 – Wait for the Mood to Lift

This is faulty thinking.  When our mood lifts, we will see more clearly.  Our seeing may still be perceptual rather than a knowing, but the right perception leads inexorably to knowledge of God.  This pathway becomes clearer the farther along we walk.  At this point, it may be enough to know simply that we will be happier when we ask for guidance, and this guidance will console us.  Our needs will be met.  We may not now believe this, for we live in a sometimes difficult world, but our attitudes will change, and even if other people perceive problems for us, we will live protected in the haven of God’s Arms.  (These are interpretations, not stated in ACIM.)

3 – Perceiving in a Distorted Fashion

When we feel little and left out, we are perceiving in a distorted fashion.  We think that we are deprived.  But none of us are deprived of anything, except it be our choice.  We can choose again, and the Holy Spirit will respond.  We may actually receive what we ask, or we may not.  If it would hurt us, we will not receive it.  Jesus says that a loving Father does not give a Son (or Daughter) what would hurt him (or her).  He will protect us still, if in our ignorance we ask for what will harm.

4 – Gifts of the Holy Spirit

When we ask for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are always answered in the affirmative.  These are not “special” gifts, but gifts that are the inheritance of everyone.   By so doing, we have taken the right prayer and wedded it to the philosophy of A Course in Miracles.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I do understand that all of us are “special,” which can also be stated that none are “special,” because we are all equal.  I would not let the ego intrude today; I am trying to encourage my ego to wither away.  I do not mean my personal self, but the egotistical, false sense of self that I all too often had in the past.  I would let that past stay in the past.

May we come to understand that one day all gifts from You will be shared by everyone.  In the meantime, for awhile some will have more of one thing, and some more of another.  All of this is only temporary, in our illusory world.

Be with me today as I seek to remain in the flow with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  I would welcome entry into the Christ-consciousness, but I await Your nod on this.  I have had glimpses of Awakening, and for that I am grateful.  I pray for all my brothers and sisters that they will have glimpses, before the new Way is sustained.

Amen.

Knowledge of the Divine Order

“A miracle is a correction introduced into false thinking by me.  It acts as a catalyst, breaking up erroneous perception and reorganizing it properly.  This places you under the Atonement principle, where perception is healed.  Until this has occurred, knowledge of the Divine Order is impossible.  (T5)”

Affirmation:  “May my perception be healed.”

Reflections:

1 – Definition of the Miracle

This is one definition of the miracle offered by Jesus.  The wording of this passage is straight-forward, but may be difficult to understand on first reading.  Do not fret, at this point, in trying to understand.  The remainder of A Course in Miracles will let these principles be examined so that we can come to an understanding.

2 – Miracles, Atonement, and Perception

Jesus links the miracle with Atonement.  In addition, he says that our perception will be healed.  These two aspects of the miracle make it completely desirable.

3 – Perception and Knowledge

“Perception” and “knowledge” are different, and only the second (knowledge) is actually accurate.  We “know” when we have walked the way of Atonement.  Before that, our perception is frequently informed by the ego, and we see and live in difficult circumstances.  Only the “happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings” (from the Workbook) can save us from ourselves.  These happy dreams will calm us, and prepare us for the Awakening.  ACIM says that we would be too fearful to welcome Awakening without the preparation through happy dreams from the Holy Spirit.

4 – Healed Perception

When our perception is healed, we will not look out on the same world, because projection makes perception (a tenet from ACIM).  Our lives will work better in this new world (called by ACIM the “real world”), and we will live in calm and quiet.  This indeed is what miracles hold out for us.  What a blessing!

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would do the miracles today that You prompt me to do.  Jesus says that he will guide us.  I would not try to choose any miracle to do, because surely that would be misguided.

Be with me as my perception is cleansed.  May I look out on a world that my projection has healed, because I wish to see the real world.  Be with me to make this possible.

I would follow the guidance of my Guide throughout the day.  Make me flexible enough to do that.

Thank You.

Amen.

Awakening from the Dream of Sin

ACIM Workbook Lesson 313 – for Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Affirmation:  “Now let a new perception come to me.”

“Now let His true perception come to me, that I may waken from the dream of sin and look within upon my sinlessness, which You have kept completely undefiled upon the altar to Your holy Son, the Self with Which I would identify.  (WB457)”

Reflections:

1 – Much Meaning

This brief prayer packs much meaning from ACIM tenets.

2 – True Perception

First, we need “true perception,” because what the egoic mind has projected from within has been a perception that mirrors the inward conflict that the ego always generates.  And this makes a world that seems awry virtually all the time.  With true perception, we are identified with the Self within that is another word for the Christ within (an interpretation, not specifically stated in ACIM).

3 – We Have Been Asleep

Second, we have been asleep, because in the myth Adam fell asleep and nowhere is it said that he awoke (stated in the Text).  God knows that we sleep, because His channels of communication are closed, and He recognizes this, thinking that His children sleep and must be awakened.  We have taught ourselves the most unnatural habit of not communicating with our Creator, and we would undo this; we would commune with God more often, much more often.  (“Unnatural habit” and “communion” with God are Text imperatives.)  If we would stop imagining that we sin, we might stand a chance of recognizing that we have merely made mistakes that are correctable.  We would not condemn ourselves or others.  And we would recognize our sinlessness.  I have had individuals who read this blog say that our innocence is the most difficult concept of A Course in Miracles to believe.

4 – Our Altar Is Undefiled

Third, the altar to the holy Son (or Daughter), the Self, is undefiled, meaning that we are indeed sinless.  Our innocence has been kept pristine throughout the years that we believed that we were separated from God (and in which this separation became believable because we were actually mad).  There will be no comprehensive Awakening until the sanity of the Sons and Daughters of God has once more been recognized.  The Self that is a Son or Daughter has not fallen into insanity, but the egoic mind has made the personal self (a term from A Course of Love) think amiss.  We would change all this, but we cannot effect it ourselves.  And this is where A Course in Miracles says that the Holy Spirit comes in.  We open ourselves to His guidance, we remain flexible in our daily activities to do His bidding, and sooner rather than later God knows that we have dismissed the insanity of the egoic mind and are ready to awaken.

5 – True Perception

May the understanding of true perception effect a miracle in our lives today.  We may not be ready to awaken, but the knowledge that comes to us through ACIM will bring that distant day many years closer.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would awaken, if I had my choice.  But it is Your choice, and I realize that, since Awakening has come only in snatches for me, I am not yet ready for the sustained Awakening that only You can give.  I did once experience six months of Awakening, and that memory is sweet.  But that was a long time ago, and I forget quickly.  Help me not to forget today; help me to remember more of what you taught me in that period of time so long ago.  May my brothers and sisters see glimpses of Awakening along the way also.  Thank You for the blessing of these glimpses.

I would have true perception.  I realize that this is a precursor to Awakening.  I would not let my weakened ego win back strength from guile.  Jesus warned against this in A Course in Miracles.  May my ego just wither away.  I will remain with a strong sense of the Self, which is far beyond the little self that has been monopolized by egoic tendencies.

Help me to reach You today.  I know that You are within, and that all external to me is simply a projection.  All except the intangible love, joy, peace that You bring.  May I experience Your gifts today.  And may I never forget to say “thank you.”

Amen.

Perception Follows Judgment

ACIM Workbook Lesson 312 – for Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Affirmation:  “I see all things as I would have them be.”

“Perception follows judgment.  Having judged, we therefore see what we would look upon.  For sight can merely serve to offer us what we would have.  (WB456)”

Reflections:

1 – We Make the World We See

We do make the world that we see.  This is a reiteration of the oft-repeated refrain in ACIM that projection makes perception.  Surely this is an important point, since it is repeated so often.  It may be hard to imagine that we see the world that we have made, because it is our wish.  But A Course in Miracles says many things that at first glance are hard to accept.  This is one more.

2 – We Interpret What We See

We can have solace in a difficult world by recognizing that the lesson for today indicates that our sight includes our interpretation of what we are seeing.  We can choose the emotion that we will experience by being more careful about what thoughts we entertain.  Richard Carlson (author of Shortcut through Therapy and other Psychology of Mind books) says that feelings follow thought, though we do not often recognize this.  So, if we believe this and take it to heart, we need to be more careful about what we think.  The thought will generate the feeling or emotion that we experience.

3 – We Are Much Too Tolerant of Mind Wandering

Jesus himself in ACIM says that we do not watch our thoughts carefully enough.  We are much too prone to mind wandering (from the Text).  And everything that we think makes form at some level (an ACIM tenet).  We do not understand these levels, and ACIM is not specific about whether or not some levels are on other planes of reality (e.g., the Other Side).  We need to follow Jesus’s advice and say “Stop!” to ourselves when we realize that we have engaged in mind wandering.  It may be seen that much that we make is false and bad for us because we have entertained negative thoughts.  Even popular psychology agrees, in that we are made to understand the self-fulfilling prophecy.

4 – Try Not to Judge Today

Let us make a pact with our closest brothers and sisters not to make judgments today.  If there is someone whom you know who studies ACIM, contact them and ask that they join with you in a day judgment-free.  If not a day, try for an hour at a time.  The results will prove the point of today’s Workbook lesson.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would not judge today.  I would realize anew that what I judge against affects my perception, making an interpretation that is not true.  My interpretations are always wrong when informed by the ego.  And judgment is of the ego.  Help me to keep these thoughts in mind today that I may have a good day.

May I not fall into “mind wandering” today.  This is one of my worst habits.  I sometimes pray aloud to keep my mind from wandering.  Help me in any simple techniques today that will keep me on track when I talk to You, when I commune with You.  I would open my heart, my inner heart, and feel Your presence keenly.  May today be a banner day, filled with the sense of Your presence.

Amen.

Perception = A Mirror = Not a Fact

ACIM Workbook Lesson 304 – for Monday, October 31, 2011

Affirmation:  “Let not my world obscure the sight of Christ.”

“Perception is a mirror, not a fact.  and what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.  I would bless the world by looking on it through the eyes of Christ.  And I will look upon the certain signs that all my sins have been forgiven me.  (WB451)”

Reflections:

1 – Projection Makes Perceptions

This is a repetition of the oft-repeated “projection makes perception.”  It is the way in which we create our own reality.  There is no other answer.  The Holy Spirit will give the Answer when we are ready, and we can pray that this blessing will come soon.

2 – May We See with the Eyes of Christ

If perception is a mirror of our state of mind, it behooves to be careful what we entertain in our minds.  This would encourage us to seek out uplifting reading, good entertainment, happy experiences.  We can do much to effect this.  When we see with the eyes of Christ, we will see a new and joyful world.  The old will no longer attract us, the old with its egoistic notions–notions which led only to pain.  May we find the way today.  May we delay no longer.

3 – Our Forgiven “Sins”

When we know that our “sins” have been forgiven, we will realize that we are still as God created us.  We are innocent, though this may be one of the most difficult tenets of the Text to incorporate into our worldview.  We will bless ourselves and others.  We will know love intimately for the first time.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I see with the eyes of Christ today, and may I not be tempted to attach any egotism to this.  It is Your Will that I have vision.  May my projections make a perception that is good and true, loving and peaceful.  Be with me today as I attempt to make changes that will influence my world to be a better place.

May we come to understand what it means to say, “projection makes perception.”  We do not often understand fully what this means.  I would keep its meaning, that this world is simply an illusion that I have projected, close to my heart today.

Amen.

Everyone Shows Me the Face of Christ

ACIM Workbook Lesson  269 – for Monday, September 26, 2011

Affirmation:  “My sight goes forth to look upon Christ’s face.”

“I ask Your blessing on my sight today.  It is the means which You have chosen to become the way to show me my mistakes, and look beyond them.  It is given me to find a new perception through the Guide You gave to me, and through His lessons to surpass perception and return to truth.  I ask for the illusion which transcends all those I made.  Today I choose to see a world forgiven, in which everyone shows me the face of Christ, and teaches me that what I look upon belongs to me; that nothing is, except Your holy Son.  (WB430)”

Reflections:

1 – The Miracle of Seeing the Face of Christ

This prayer says directly that we are to see the face of Christ in all of our brothers and sisters:  “a world forgiven, in which everyone shows me the face of Christ.”  This is a miraculous occurrence, and because it is perceptual, it will not last (a Text tenet).  But the miracle can recur, and even if it does not, and we see the face of Christ only once or, at most, a few times, we will be blessed by the miracle.  Mother Teresa saw the face of Christ in the people whom she tended, “Christ in all his distressing disguises,” she said.

2 – A Personal Experience

I once did have this experience.  It did not last, and has not recurred, but it was a transformative experience of my early twenties.  A decade and more later on, a friend who was quite “religious,” but not a student of A Course in Miracles, told me that she thought we were meant to see the face of Christ in everyone.  By that time, I had discovered ACIM, and I had I found the same sentiment as expressed by Jesus.  Once we have experienced this miracle, we will not look upon others in quite the same way.  We will know that, even if we are not seeing Christ’s face currently, it is there for our cleansed eyes to see.  And we will be blessed by the memory of what we have once experienced.

3 – We Must Forgive to See Christ’s Face

Jesus says that our forgiveness is a prerequisite to seeing the face of Christ in others.  One of the faces of a friend, in which I perceived a Christ likeness, was one whom I had forgiven fully for past perceived injustices.  Others, at nearly the same time, were strangers to me.  But I certainly held no animosity toward them, and I believe that it might be said that I was in a state of total acceptance and forgiveness of them.  May we experience the face of Christ over and over, and may we be blessed by the miracle.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would see the face of Christ in everyone I see today.  I know that to do so, I must hold no unforgiveness in my heart.  Help me to love today, totally and completely.  Help me to pray for those who seem to be estranged from me.  I wish all well.  I do not know what may be prompting the estrangement, but I would pray for its healing.

May the face of Christ give me healing today, for I need it also.  Be with me, through thick and thin, and lead me back home to You.  Thank You.

Amen.