God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.
Today’s lesson is asking me to be QUIET and to LISTEN IN DEEP SILENCE.
God is speaking to me all through the day. Isn’t this amazing?
We have been falsely taught that the only time God hears us or answers is if we pray and call upon Him and ask Him for something.
We have been taught that God is off dealing with more important matters, until we invite Him in … but it’s not true.
He is speaking to us all through the day.
He never leaves us. He is with us always.
Just waiting for us to CALM DOWN AN INSTANT and LISTEN.
Isn’t this amazing?
God is speaking.
Are you listening?
What is God saying to you?
He is saying something. He is speaking.
He is trying to get your attention.
If you can’t hear him, it is because ONE REASON and ONE REASON ONLY:
You must be listening to the “frantic, riotous thoughts and sights and sounds of this insane world.”
If you can’t hear God, it is because you are listening to the world.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can only hear one voice at a time.
Are you listening to the world? Or are you listening to God’s Voice?
It is super easy to tell which voice you are listening to:
If you are listening to the world you will feel afraid, worried and fearful.
If you are listening to God’s Voice, you will feel happy, joyful, calm, certain, peaceful and at rest.
Actually, it says: “wholly certain” and “always at rest.”
Are you wholly certain and always at rest?
Answering this question will give you an indication which voice you are listening to.
I especially love the part where it talks about the world and then says:
“You do not live here. We are trying to reach your real home. We are trying to reach the place where you are truly welcome. We are trying to reach God.”
You do not live here.
haha.
That’s awesome.
This world is not my home. I don’t belong here. I don’t live here.
I hear the Voice for God.
There is nothing to fear.
Can you live today’s lesson like it’s true?
Just for one day.
Live like there is nothing to fear.
I have found that a lot of people practice these lessons thinking the ideas will become true in the future. They practice today, thinking that sometime “later” … there will be nothing to fear.
They think that “later” miracles will occur.
But these lessons always have to do with the day you are in. Always. They are never future references. God is the Mind with which you think … today. Your holiness blesses the world … today. There is nothing to fear … today.
One day. Today. No fear.
Like like you KNOW that God is with you.
It’s simple once you make a decision for it.
If God is with you, there is nothing to fear.
“The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own strength. The awareness that there is nothing to fear shows that somewhere in your mind, though not necessarily in a place you recognize as yet, you have remembered God, and let His strength take the place of your weakness. The instant you are willing to do this there is indeed nothing to fear.”
God is the strength in which I trust.
The main thing that I have learned over the past few years is that of myself, I am nothing.
Alone, I am nothing.
This is a reversal of the way i used to think. My whole life I could accomplish anything I set my mind to … and 9 times of out 10, I was successful.
All these blogs on the internet that write about being successful in life and business, they are all true and they all work … but what is it for? Ask yourself that. What are you hoping to achieve and why?
I was successful … but what for?
These past few years, I can’t do anything without God.
And believe me, I’ve tried.
Things that used to work for me – projects, phone calls, ideas – fall flat on their face. Sometimes I’ll try to get something to work and there is literal silence, and not even one response.
For years I thought: I must be doing something wrong. I used to be able to accomplish everything I set my mind to. Let me just change my tactic. Tweak this idea. Say it in a different way. Find a new audience.
I would do a 180, revise a whole project, say something in a whole new exciting fresh way and the result?
Silence again.
I came to a point in my life when I distinctly felt like I was being watched. It was like from a movie, it got that ridiculous. My phone stopped ringing to the point that I would check that it was still working. I stopped getting postal mail, but I thought: well, that’s just because everyone uses e-mail now. But then I stopped getting e-mails too and I would check my internet connection, write e-mails to Yahoo customer service to make sure my mail wasn’t backlogged somewhere.
Nothing.
Dead silence.
And what I know now is that when I run my own agenda, nothing happens.
Literally nothing. It’s freaky & funny. First it freaks me out to feel so utterly alone at times, and then I laugh remembering that I chose this path to be with God.
flashback: Even when events seemed to be “successful” back in NYC when I was running my own agenda and had the great apartment and the great job – the phone was ringing constantly, everyone loved me, there was tons of mail, I was getting promoted, I had a great paycheck, my bills were paid on time, there were fancy dinners, and nice clothes, traveling paid by the company – even back then, it still seemed like nothing was really happening.
I felt like a mouse on a wheel. I never seemed to go anywhere.
This was my experience. I was always waiting for something “else” to happen, something exciting, something that would define me, or make me feel alive.
A moment of joy or peace, I suppose.
But events still never seemed to go anywhere.
I worked hard and got everything that I thought was supposed to make me happy, but it all still felt really empty.
My best moments were lunch hours in the Strand bookstore (18 miles of books!) or sitting on a bench in Washington Square Park, eating a $7 sandwich, watching everyone else eat their lunch. Ten years working in publishing in Manhattan and that’s what I remember: sitting on a bench, eating a sandwich. I loved hanging out with my friend Evan at the end of the day, walking home over the Brooklyn Bridge with him, talking and laughing like crazy. Those are the bright spots that stand clear in my memory. Walks in Prospect Park. Afternoon movies. Sitting outside in the sun.
Simple stuff. I loved when life slowed itself down to a halt and I could relax with a book or with one other person and I would have no cares, no worries, no concerns. No trying to “get somewhere.” No trying to prove myself or to be something. Just being present in the moment.
So somewhere in that life of mine, I shifted my goals to SPIRITUAL goals. I figured at least then I’d be “doing something” worthy, or something with a higher cause.
But that never seemed to go anywhere either.
I’m being honest here.
Like, what is the goal? Where is this heading? WHAT IS IT FOR?
I would still feel like I needed to “achieve” something. Have some measure of success, or proof that I had found a life worth living, or that my life meant something, and that I accomplished something, or made a difference.
Around and around and around we go…
And then one day, I stopped being able to achieve results at all. To this day, I cannot get results. It’s baffling. I can’t get a literary agent to call me back to save my life. I’ve tried to get Gorgeous for God placed with a real publisher (Hay House, ideally) but nothing.
All attempts are absolutely silent.
I’ve sent out hundreds of requests to writers and editors to receive a free copy of Gorgeous for God to review the book in a print publication or website … nothing.
I can’t even give the book away for free!
(which reminds me – if you are a writer or editor who wants to review my book in a publication or website, send your request to AuthorHouse Publicity Department at pressreleases@authorhouse.com and they will send you a free book!)
For a long time, I sat absolutely stunned and amazed. Like, what is up with this? What is going on here?
And then I am brought back to the truth: GOD IS THE STRENGTH IN WHICH I TRUST.
I am right where I am supposed to be, doing what I am doing, and it is perfection.
There is nothing that needs changing.
When I worry about future goals, it means I am depending on my own strength, on my own ideas, on my own agenda.
What is needed in this situation? What does God want me to do? What is the end goal?
A Course in Miracles says: “Salvation is your happiest accomplishment.”
I simply need to ASK in every situation that I remember the truth, to be in acceptance of all that is now, and to call upon the strength of God to help me do what He would have me do.
How simple.
To stop running my own show. To give up all my ideas. To really LET GO and LET GOD.
Much simpler than anything I have ever devised for myself.
I always feel like if I don’t take care of things … everything will fall apart. And maybe it will.
What I’ve realized is that I want to extend the love I feel and shine my light, and speak the Word of God. To give as I have received. Remembering this, I laugh, because the Will of God has already been accomplished! I can relax. I can trust. I don’t have to worry about getting the message of Jesus “out there in the world.”
I’m the only one that has to hear it.
Me.
That’s it. I don’t have to “do” things. Why? Because this is God we are talking about. All power in earth and Heaven.
God is my safety in every circumstance.
He wants me to be happy, and He wants you to be happy too.
More and more I see that my function is simply to loose myself from illusions. NOT to make more illusions, so that I can loose myself from them too. This journey is an undoing – NOT a doing, then undoing.
I don’t want to make a world that has to be undone. I want only to be available in this moment, and to listen to God’s Voice.
My whole life I’ve had an idea – a vision – that I would inspire people to be happy. It’s something I’ve always been good at – being with strangers, hugging, kissing, sharing, helping, holding a hand, wiping away a tear, making someone smile.
It’s what I love. It’s what I do.
But on my own, I am nothing. It’s God in me that does all these things.
I literally have no idea how to be in the world OR even what needs to be done, if anything. Maybe nothing needs to be done. I’m always standing in a place of total impossibility … because what is the goal?
And then I laugh – because the goal is to be happy. And what makes me happy?
Being helpful. Brightening someone’s day. Lounging in bed with books. Playing with my cats. Writing in this blog. Getting mail from you. Lunch dates. Movie dates. Donations.
Simple stuff.
I’ve meandered off on a tangent this morning. I had no idea what I’ve written. Or why.
God is the strength in which I trust.
I can let go of all my ideas and put all my faith in God, starting today.
How marvelous.
I love you.
God is the love in which I forgive.
Great lesson.
It says to find some people you have not forgiven. Come up with names.
“It doesn’t matter “how much” you have forgiven them. You have forgiven them entirely or not at all.”
So I came up with some names and applied the lesson.
God is the Love in which I forgive you, [name].
I could only come up with two human names, and then I had Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God on my list.
And then I realized that none of it had anything to do with “other people” and that being mad at God is the height of insanity, and that I’m only forgiving myself.
In a single bright instant of practicing today’s lesson, I could see everything clearly.
So I opened my eyes and began to read the rest of the lesson and I laughed out loud:
“The purpose of the first phase of today’s practice period is to put you in a position to forgive yourself. After you have applied the idea to all those who have come to your mind, tell yourself:
“God is the Love in which I forgive myself.”
I am over here laughing at the simplicity. I am ALWAYS ONLY forgiving myself.
It gets faster and faster and easier and easier. The second I name another person I am “upset” with … i almost immediately recognize that I am not upset for the reason I think, no one is doing anything to me, and that I have another opportunity to remember the truth.
Total forgiveness of myself, for this insane condition I made.
God is the Love in which I forgive.
That’s all.
Seeing how simple this is, I am filled with gratitude and joy.
There are 3 ways of thinking.
(from the Clarification of Terms from A Course in Miracles):
1. Right-mindedness
2. Wrong-mindedness
3. One-mindedness
1. Right-mindedness is where you listen to the Holy Spirit, you forgive easily, you see past the illusion, and through Christ vision you see the real world (which is also an illusion) but with right-mindedness you overlook and forgive what never happened.
2. Wrong-minded listens to the ego, justifies anger, defends, perceives sin & mistakes, sees guilt, disease and death.
When you make a decision to go beyond being spiritual or a nice person or a good person, or even trying to be helpful (“there is no need for help to enter Heaven for you have never left”) you get to the 3rd kind of thinking:
3. One-mindedness – This is acceptance of your mind with Christ Mind. There is no split anymore. There is no asking the Holy Spirit questions, as if you are a separate identity trying to understand or learn or comprehend. With One-mindedness, there are no more questions. Knowledge is complete. You are One with all that is. Your Will is one with God’s. There is no small identity interacting with Spirit or Force or God. There is only you, in recognition of your Oneness with every living thing.
It’s 8:30pm here in Wisconsin on a Thursday night. It’s snowing like crazy. If you are just reading this now, searching through the internet, looking for ways to be amused – here’s a thought:
Read the Clarification of Terms in A Course in Miracles.
It’s in the back of the book:
INTRODUCTION
MIND – SPIRIT
THE EGO – THE MIRACLE
FORGIVENESS – THE FACE OF CHRIST
TRUE PERCEPTION – KNOWLEDGE
JESUS – CHRIST
THE HOLY SPIRIT
EPILOGUE
I’m going to crawl into bed right now and read as many sections as I can, and will report back tomorrow. I would love to hear from you what you think.
Take notes. Write down sentences you like, and write and tell me.
I would love that.
Oh yea, and Happy Valentines Day!
God is the Mind with which I think.
“There is no relationship between what is real and what you think you think.”
“Nothing that you think are your real thoughts resemble your real thoughts in any respect.”
HA.
“Nothing that you think you see bears any resemblance to what vision will show you.”
YOU THINK WITH THE MIND OF GOD.
Isn’t this amazing? The Mind of God is the mind you think with.
So you always and constantly have access to the Thoughts of God because they are in your mind. You share the same mind as God.
I love this lesson.
What I have realized is that God is constantly telling me things -practical things – but very often I resist the ideas, usually because they are too simple and because I start using other course lessons to justify my reason to keep doing things the way i want to do them. You know, “there is no world”, “nothing I see means anything”, “I’m not a body” etc. Meanwhile I am receiving thoughts and instruction all day long … but am I listening?
Sometimes if you ignore the Thoughts long enough, your body will eventually send you a signal that it’s time to listen. You might develop a sickness or get in an accident. It’s always better to get in front of that event, and begin to listen, and follow instructions.
“Under all the senseless thoughts and mad ideas with which you have cluttered up your mind are the thoughts that you thought with God in the beginning. They are there in your mind now, completely unchanged. They will always be in your mind exactly as they always were. Everything you have thought since then will change, but the foundation on which it rests is wholly changeless.”
Only ONE thing is necessary for this practice: “Approach it as you would an altar dedicated in Heaven to God the Father and to God the Son. For such is the place you are trying to reach.”
God is the light in which I see.
Today’s lesson is great. Did you read it?
It has something very important that I wanted to point out:
“You mind is no longer wholly untrained. You are quite ready to learn the form of exercise we will use today, but you may find that you will encounter strong resistance. The reason is very simple. While you practice in this way, you leave behind everything that you now believe, and all the thoughts that you have made up. Properly speaking, this is the release from hell.”
That is amazing.
What this says is strong resistance to these lessons is natural. You are being loosened from hell. Of course you resist.
You are attempting to reach the light of Heaven. You are leaving behind darkness, you are leaving behind your identity and all the thoughts you made and all that you currently believe … and you may encounter strong resistance.
You may find you are not practicing as much anymore. That you “forget” to do the lessons. That you are “busy” or “not interested.”
This is STRONG RESISTANCE.
You try to justify by saying “no, really, I want to do this, I like it, but I got sidetracked with my job, but I’m gonna get back with it. Really.”
Strong resistance.
“I didn’t have time yesterday because my schedule was so frantic.”
Strong resistance.
“I don’t need to practice. I know all this already.”
Strong resistance.
Or you might think: “this isn’t so interesting anymore. In the beginning these lessons (and this blog) were great, but now … not so much. Yawn.”
Strong resistance.
If you do the lessons, simply practice, you will start to feel lighter. You will feel sudden joy. You will be happy, for no reason whatsoever. You will feel a brightness surrounding you.
And there’s always more. It just keeps getting better and brighter. No matter how many years you have practiced and studied A Course in Miracles, there is always a new experience if you keep an open mind, and stay in constant dedication to simply meet the lessons brand new every day.
But it can feel scary, because it is unfamiliar. You might feel uncomfortable or “sick.” You’ll want to quit. Trust me, you will. You will want to go back to the way you used to be, even though it was living hell. You’ll start to think “it wasn’t that bad.”
Going into light can produce a number of reactions in you. For me, it wasn’t a wholly welcome experience, because I didn’t know what would happen. At least in darkness, I knew what would happen. There would be grievance and obstacles and problems to solve. That was familiar.
Then I would come into a bright new space where there were literally NO PROBLEMS, NO WORRIES, NO ANXIETY, just peace, joy & happiness, and I would always do something inevitably to screw it up.
Strong resistance.
So the question is: are you doing the lessons? Are you practicing?
Or do you just come here to read and find out what I am doing?
Strong resistance.
You need to learn to see all the small ways you deceive yourself. These ways are very sneaky, and usually not noticeable.
One of the ways you might practice less is that you’ll might get the miracle you were hoping for and you’ll think: Oh, I’ve reached the goal! How marvelous! It works! I got the great relationship. I’ve been healed. I’ve achieved the goal. I don’t have to practice any more.
Watch out for this one the most!
This is NOT “The Law of Attraction” where you use your mind to get things you want, although that is an inevitable consequence of aligning your mind with God. You will get the things you ask for, but please don’t stop there.
You are escaping darkness. You are attempting to reach God today.
God is the light in which I see.
“Throughout the day repeat the idea often, with eyes open or closed as seems better to you at the time. But do not forget. Above all, be determined not to forget today.”
Above all, be determined not to forget today.
God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.
I had a situation yesterday when someone shut me out. He made a decision to not say anything at all, rather than to say something he knew he would only regret later. He was going to say something hurtful (I could tell) and then he caught himself and said “no forget it. I’m not going to say anything. I’ll talk to you later” and then he walked away.
I can totally appreciate that.
That’s true love. It’s called: Thinking before speaking.
Most people do not think of someone walking away from them as true love, but look at it logically. Someone chose not to hurt me. That was a decision.
It’s better than roses or chocolate.
See how everything is turned on its head in A Course in Miracles? Suddenly someone turning their back and walking away from me becomes an act of love.
I made a decision to see things differently, and that’s a miracle.
I used to take it personally when someone was silent or shut me out but now I can see the GIFT that it truly is.
I used to want everyone to open up to me, and to share, and listen, and laugh and love and to let me come close, and to invite me into their life and heart.
This is what ROMANTIC MOVIES are made of.
Moments of intimacy and getting closer and a happy ending.
What a joke.
Do you notice that someone ALWAYS gets hurt? Always. Even after the credits have rolled, you know the relationship is not going to last forever. You know that someone is gonna say something stupid, do something stupid and then all the doubting and questioning begins. And that’s always a perfect time to replace the one who is not living up to your fantasy expectation.
But it’s a never ending vicious cycle, and it starts all over again with the new love interest.
Even if you stay together, the resentments start building up.
You go around and around and around and around, in circles, until finally you decide to take RESPONSIBILITY for your own actions and realize there is only one relationship that will bring you constant joy and happiness and that is a relationship with God.
“You have one relationship and it’s with God.”
Every other relationship is an extension of the love relationship you have with God.
Period.
There is no other way.
Here in time & space, with bodies, you will get hurt.
No exceptions.
There is no getting around it. You must bring yourself back into singularity where you recognize your Oneness with everything, draw your circle and stand in that spot and not move. Stand with God.
Stand with your beloved, in a relationship that never ends.
Send out an open invitation for everyone to join you IN THE CIRCLE in that love.
I was thinking yesterday, again, that everything is energy. All sorts of different energies in the forms of different people and different personalities. Some energies are terrifically harsh and painful, some are soothing and gentle.
My job is to not judge any of them – people, places or situations – but to integrate those energies in myself. To harmonize those parts of myself that I shut myself off from.
It goes along with today’s lesson: God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.
Every time I meet anyone, I am confronted with my own perception. I immediately have ideas based on the way someone is acting and by the words they are saying. I make up a story in my mind about what is happening, and then I play a character that responds to my perceptions of this “other” person.”
Completely insane.
What if I saw everything as ENERGY, and let myself play the happy game of letting new energies integrate in me?
To be a completely open channel of communication for the Love of God, and not worry about anything else.
That would be an amazing way to live.
Some energies are downright painful. Someone tells you you are fat, stupid, incompetent, you’re fired, I don’t love you anymore, I’ve met someone new, I want a divorce, get away from me, I hate you.
These energies come straight at you.
Often what humans do is try to protect themselves from these energies. They shut down. Eat a box of donuts. Hibernate. Shut out. Attack back.
But what if you invited these energies in, and let the power of God transform attack thoughts to love? This is what makes you the Savior. You have within you the power to change all hate into love, simply by taking total responsibility for it.
So when someone is shutting you out, invite the energy in. Do it in your mind. Don’t run away. Don’t make up a story about what you think is happening. The situation is not happening the way you have constructed it in your own mind anyways, and you can never really know what is really going on with other people, so stop wasting your time & energy trying to figure out other people’s behaviors.
Good advice is “don’t take anything personally.”
The only thing that could “take something personally” is your limited identity, and you are NOT a limited identity – you are the Love of God – so don’t worry if someone insults you or attacks you. Be constant in your remembrance that you are the Light of the world.
Just let the energy in. It sometimes might hurt a little. It can take the form of sickness, or like your stomach is turned in knots. You might even vomit. Sometimes the energy is so intense you can’t get out of bed for a day. Don’t be concerned. Rest. Relax. Trust.
Be gentle with yourself.
Let yourself see everything as God sees it.
God is your Source. You cannot see apart from Him.
Realize the importance of the work you are doing.
You suddenly stop trying to organize the pieces on the game board, and you let everything be exactly as it is. You stop trying to get people to like you. You stop trying to get them to be the way you want them to be.
You simply invite energies in.
The only way I personally know how to not get hurt in this procedure is to never leave the altar of God. I have drawn a circle and I stand in it. I’m standing with God at the altar, but the door is open and I invite you to join me.
I don’t move from that spot. Not even an inch.
I’ve had enough experience to know I can’t do anything by myself. Alone, I am nothing. But with God, I am everything.
In this sense, I don’t scatter my energy anymore to meaningless things. I don’t waste my time on projects that go nowhere. I ask the Holy Spirit about every little thing, and He tells me what to do. What to eat. Where to go. What to say. When to shower. Who to call.
I don’t have to figure out anything anymore. I just have to ask and He tells me … what to do & what NOT to do.
This saves time.
God is my strength. Vision is His gift.
Are you applying these lessons in your daily life??
Not just repeating them like a parrot, or watching the clock for every 30 minutes when you can say the lesson again in mindless rote repetition … but are you remembering and practicing these lessons as situations arise in your life??
That’s how you will know they work.
Yesterday I had a potentially bad situation which turned into the best day ever because I kept remembering “God goes with me wherever I go.”
Our church services were canceled yesterday morning due to ice and wind but I did not get a phone call alerting me of the cancellation. So I drove to the Healing Center (roads were perfectly fine!) but there was not a single car in the parking lot of the church. I still thought I should drive close to the door, just to make sure. The Healing Center has a ridiculously long driveway, and as soon as I started towards the Healing Center I knew I’d made a big mistake. Overnight the winds had blown snow from the fields onto the driveway. I could see it was from wind. Like 24 inches deep, but only one one side of the road leaving the other part entirely clear of snow. I thought I could make it though. Don’t ask me. I’m an idiot sometimes. I thought two tires could carry the other two tires through a small mountain of snow. I thought I could squeeze through. It didn’t look so bad. Plus I could not turn around. It was one of those bizarre situations where once you start going forward, you can’t go back (a little like the journey of A Course in Miracles) and you have to keep going forward.
Needless to say, I got stuck. Really stuck. My car would not go forward or reverse. I couldn’t get it to move it all.
And my hair was wet because I didn’t blow dry-it after showering, despite freezing weather. Literally freezing, below zero.
So there I am. In my car. No cell phone. Wet hair. No one at the Healing Center.
But there was the lesson: God goes with me wherever I go.
I saw a car approaching so I got out of my car and flagged them down. A kind couple on their way to church. The man took a look at my car, and said: no way is that getting out.
He let me get in his car and use his cell phone. They were so sweet. Then they said: if your church is closed, do you want to come with us to our church?
haha. I love the Lord.
I love strangers.
I said, no, but thank you.
Max came and saved me. He arrived with a shovel, but i was really buried so that didn’t work. So we drove away, thinking the best solution was to go get a coffee.
The best solution always is to calm down. Relax. Slow down. Trust.
“Step back and let Him lead the way.”
God goes with me wherever I go.
So we went to a place called The White Rose Bed & Breakfast, a place owned by friends where we thought maybe we could find someone with a truck who could help.
It was the most marvelous morning of my life. We hung out in the parlor, with a fire and the sun streaming in through the windows, drinking coffee and laughing.
I ended up having great conversations with a whole lot of people that I never would have talked to if the situation hadn’t happened exactly as it had that morning. It’s really something to witness THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS. Everything happens exactly as it happens and I don’t have to change anything. I don’t have to be upset that no one called me to tell me church was canceled. I don’t have to be mad at snow, or wind or ice. I can let everything be exactly as it is, without trying to change circumstances or live with regret that I should have done something differently. I was exactly in the right place at the right time, because there is only the moment I find myself in. No accidents occur because there is nothing outside of my most holy mind.
I am always only looking at everything that is happening in the moment that it is happening. There is nothing to fix!
What a miracle to remember this!
Then I was given an opportunity to help someone who really needed help. It was like I was sent to the White Rose specifically because a woman had been praying for someone to show up and help her.
I love it when that happens.
But no truck.
So a friend drove me back to the Academy where I knew there would be lots of people, and someone to help.
Thanks to Hayden’s little tip to “be a diva”, two friends offered to get my car, while I stayed in the warmth of the Academy where there was a live music concert.
It was my friend Scott and his girlfriend who helped me – and I walk Scott’s dog practically every other day when he has to go on long bus trips – something I love to do – and I think he was thinking: payback time. Like he was so grateful just to give back to me, the girl who is in love with his dog. I feed him and play with him and take him on long walks, and Scott always knows the dog is in great hands. So given the chance to help me back, he jumped at the opportunity, which was awesome for me because it was freezing outside and I didn’t feel like going out there again.
Two hours later my friends arrived with my car and keys, happy and laughing, saying they had never seen a car so STUCK in their life. It took them two hours to get it unstuck, in freezing cold weather.
But they did it! And they were happy.
God goes with me wherever I go.
Today is Lesson 42: God is my strength. Vision is His gift.
Read and practice.
Speaking of the Healing Center, we are having a week-long Easter celebration March 16-23. You are invited. I would love to meet you.
Come be with the Master Teacher and 250 teachers of God for one week.
Call or write for more information:
MIRACLES HEALING CENTER: 608-253-4325
Address: 4138 County Road B, Wisconsin Dells WI 53965
E-mail: support@miracleshealingcenter.com
God goes with me wherever I go.
That’s amazing.
God is here. God goes with me wherever I go. I am never alone.
How can I be lonely, or feel abandoned or separate when God is with me always??
Forever and always – with every step and every breath – God is with me.
I can talk to Him at any time.
If I feel lonely, abandoned or separate, it can only be because I’ve forgotten the truth.
I am never alone. God goes with me wherever I go.
Please do today’s lesson. Read, practice and follow the simple instructions.
Applying the workbook lessons of A Course in Miracles in your daily life (in all your actions, interactions, thoughts, and doings) will absolutely change you, in the most marvelous way.
Good Morning. Good Afternoon. Good Evening.
Wherever you are. I love you.
We are going to “increase the workout intensity” now of our daily practicing.
I want you to start reading the Clarification of Terms along with the daily workbook lesson. I will guide you.
After we finish the Clarification of Terms we are going through the Text and the Manual for Teachers, along with the daily workbook lessons … and we will complete A Course in Miracles in one year.
You will be totally transformed.
Today’s lesson 41 says: “Today’s idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience.”
And how *THE HELL* is that accomplished, you ask.
It seems impossible from where you stand now.
I have found there is only ONE WAY to overcome loneliness, abandonment and separation. ONE WAY ONLY, and that is to have a function and purpose here in the world … to be helpful.
But then you say: “there is no world!” and “I need do nothing!”
You will use Course concepts to justify your behavior and stay in hell.
You will protest. You will ask a million questions. Doubts will run through your mind. Justifications. Reasons. Pointing to certain sections in the course to prove your point. Confusion.
But ask yourself in quiet simplicity: Are you ready to be the savior of the world? Are you ready to be happy? Are you ready to experience miracles? Are you willing to be helpful?
Are you willing to lay aside all your ideas and come empty handed in order to experience the peace and joy of God?
Do you want to get out of the hell you have made in order to be in Heaven where everything is calm, constant and certain?
The Clarification of Terms spells everything out in black & white – the need to question and why you do it – all the while cherishing the ego – and the Clarification of Terms says this is ATTACK and a DELAY TACTIC.
Listen to this. It is Jesus speaking:
“Your questions have no answer, being made to still God’s Voice, which asks everyone only one question only: “Are you ready yet to help Me save the world?”
!!!!!
Questions are made to still God’s Voice!
Which asks only one question:
ARE YOU READY YET TO HELP ME SAVE THE WORLD?
How amazing.
Am I – Lisa – ready YET to help Jesus save the world?
(yes. I am)
Are you ready yet to help save the world?
All questioning whether this Course is true or not is delaying you answering this very simple question. Any attempts to prove me wrong are attacks against me, yourself and God, and again: delay tactics.
God’s Voice asks: Are you ready yet to help Me save the world?
God needs you.
Are you ready to be the light of the world? Are you ready to be helpful rather than harmful?
TODAY’S ASSIGNMENT.
1. Do today’s workbook lesson. Practice & Apply.
2. Read the Introduction to the Clarification of Terms.
I am posting it here, so there can be no excuses why you couldn’t read it.
You will love it. It says “this course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed.” That’s amazing to me. We are going BEYOND our current way of thinking. This is a A Course in Miracles. Undoing all errors. Overlooking mistakes. And seeing the truth and light that lies beyond everything the body’s eyes perceive.
**Please read every sentence carefully, and do not skim. You asked for help, and it is being offered here now.
CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
INTRODUCTION
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. 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.
All terms are potentially controversial, and those who seek controversy will find it. Yet those who seek clarification will find it as well. They must, however, be willing to overlook controversy, recognizing that it is a defense against truth in the form of a delaying maneuver. Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. 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.
This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed. It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is planned only to set the direction towards it. Therefore it uses words, which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbols. It is merely the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts. The course merely gives another answer, once a question has been raised. However, this answer does not attempt to resort to inventiveness or ingenuity. These are attributes of the ego. The course is simple. It has one function and one goal. Only in that does it remain wholly consistent because only that can be consistent.
The ego will demand many answers that this course does not give. It does not recognize as questions the mere form of a question to which an answer is impossible. 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.
You will notice that the emphasis on structural issues in the course is brief and early. Afterwards and soon, it drops away to make way for the central teaching. Since you have asked for clarification, however, these are some of the terms that are used.
I love this quote, from unknown author.
(though it absolutely sounds like something I would say)
Drink tea and nourish life. With the first sip, joy. With the second sip, satisfaction. With the third sip, peace. With the fourth sip, a danish.
haha.
I am blessed as a Son of God.
This lesson is about you. You are blessed as a Son of God.
But do you believe it?
YOU are the Son of God. Holy, whole, perfect, innocent, all light, and with all power to heal the sick and raise the dead.
Most people know the Son of God as Jesus Christ from 2000 years ago, but were never told they are the Son of God.
Do you realize this is true? You are exactly like Jesus.
Your arrival here on earth IS the Second Coming.
I woke up thinking, “what more can I possibly add to this?” I was lying in bed, and I asked the question. I said out loud: “If there is something I need to add to this lesson, please let me know.”
I was lying in bed. It was 5:30am. My cats were walking all over me. I was thinking about today’s lesson, which I already knew because I recorded the audio last night before going to bed. I am blessed as a Son of God. Usually I get out of bed as soon as I wake up, make coffee, turn on the computer, check my email, read my daily horoscope (yes, true confession), read the day’s workbook lesson (while sitting at my desk, drinking coffee with chocolate soy milk), and then I click on to Gorgeous for God and start typing whatever comes to mind. That’s the routine.
Today was different. I leaned over, turned on the light, and picked up my Course book off the floor. I sat up in bed and opened the book randomly. It landed in the Clarification of Terms …Section 5, Jesus – Christ.
I am laughing at the perfection. It goes right along with today’s lesson. It tells you who Jesus is, and who you are, and you will love it.
Jesus-Christ
There is no need for help to enter Heaven for you have never left. But there is need for help beyond yourself as you are circumscribed by false beliefs of your Identity, which God alone established in reality. Helpers are given you in many forms, although upon the altar they are one. Beyond each one there is a Thought of God, and this will never change. But they have names which differ for a time, for time needs symbols, being itself unreal. Their names are legion, but we will not go beyond the names the course itself employs. God does not help because He knows no need. But He creates all Helpers of His Son while he believes his fantasies are true. Thank God for them for they will lead you home.
The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. So he became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God. The man was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his self from Self, as all illusions do. Yet who can save unless he sees illusions and then identifies them as what they are? Jesus remains a Savior because he saw the false without accepting it as true. And Christ needed his form that He might appear to men and save them from their own illusions.
In his complete identification with the Christ–the perfect Son of God, His one creation and His happiness, forever like Himself and One with Him–Jesus became what all of you must be. He led the way for you to follow him. He leads you back to God because he saw the road before him, and he followed it. He made a clear distinction, still obscure to you, between the false and true. He offered you a final demonstration that it is impossible to kill God’s Son; nor can his life in any way be changed by sin and evil, malice, fear or death.
And therefore all your sins have been forgiven because they carried no effects at all. And so they were but dreams. Arise with him who showed you this because you owe him this who shared your dreams that they might be dispelled. And shares them still, to be at one with you.
Is he the Christ? O yes, along with you. His little life on earth was not enough to teach the mighty lesson that he learned for all of you. He will remain with you to lead you from the hell you made to God. And when you join your will with his, your sight will be his vision, for the eyes of Christ are shared. Walking with him is just as natural as walking with a brother whom you knew since you were born, for such indeed he is. Some bitter idols have been made of him who would be only brother to the world. Forgive him your illusions, and behold how dear a brother he would be to you. For he will set your mind at rest at last and carry it with you unto your God.
Is he God’s only Helper? No, indeed. For Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized. But Jesus is for you the bearer of Christ’s single message of the Love of God. You need no other. It is possible to read his words and benefit from them without accepting him into your life. Yet he would help you yet a little more if you will share your pains and joys with him, and leave them both to find the peace of God. Yet still it is his lesson most of all that he would have you learn, and it is this:
There is no death because the Son of God is like his Father. Nothing you can do can change Eternal Love.
Forget your dreams of sin and guilt, and come with me instead to share the resurrection of God’s Son.
And bring with you all those whom He has sent to you to care for as I care for you.
My holiness is my salvation.
By now, if you have been doing the workbook lessons every day since January 1st, there should be some clarity in your mind.
This should be getting easier now.
If you are new to this site, we are going through all 365 workbook lessons of A Course in Miracles in one year. If you are just starting out, and would like to participate you need to get a copy of A Course in Miracles and you need to start back on Lesson 1, and do ONE LESSON A DAY.
You need the early lessons as a solid foundation. Don’t just breeze through them and don’t skip over them. This is not a race. It is a gift you give to yourself.
Don’t skip a day, and don’t speed ahead to try to catch up. One lesson a day. It will take 365 days to complete the workbook. You can scroll down on this blog (or search the archives by month) to find the lesson that corresponds with the one you are doing for the day.
Also very important (!!) is to read the Introduction to the Workbook lessons. Crucial. Read it. The Introduction will tell you everything you need to know, and will remind you of everything you have forgotten. I suggest reading the Introduction to the Workbook once a month … it’s that important. A simple reminder to just “do” the lessons and not make any exceptions.
I say all this because of deep personal experience. I never got past the first 50 lessons in 10 years. I kept thinking I was missing something because I didn’t understand a word that I was reading, and I wasn’t having an “experience” like the Course promises, so I kept going back to Lesson 1.
I also kept thinking I was an exception to the rule and didn’t need to follow instructions. I thought “I am a good person, I don’t need these lessons, my life’s not so bad, and I am loving, generous and kind.”
I was in total denial.
I was hiding behind false certainty, feeling desperate behind my smiles.
This went on and on for years, until finally a great teacher – Jeff Mironov – said to me (in his most exasperated voice): LISA, DID YOU READ THE INTRODUCTION??
He said: just do the lessons! One lesson at a time, one day at time, don’t skip a lesson, don’t stay on one lesson for two days, and don’t try to understand. Just do them. Practice. Apply. It will take you 365 days to complete the workbook.
And I am smiling all the way to Heaven as I type. Thank you Jeff. That was great advice. I just kept going and in one year, I completed the workbook.
For me, I kept thinking I could take a shortcut. That’s human nature. I always felt a year was far too long. It seems like a lifetime when you are just beginning. But instead of one year, it took me 10 years. A task that should have taken me ONE year took TEN years.
So, if you are here today, and you would like to feel more joy and happiness in your life, I highly suggest the practice of the workbook of A Course in Miracles. It will change you. Absolutely.
You need to buy a copy of the Course. You need to open the book. You need to practice and do the work.
I also suggest for you to buy a copy of my book Gorgeous for God. If you like this blog, you will love the book:
So today’s lesson says: My holiness is my salvation.
It says: “If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?”
You’ll have to answer that question for yourself, but how amazing … GUILT IS HELL.
That’s astonishing by itself.
Guilt is hell.
Sure is.
It weighs you down. It sucks the life out of you.
So today you are going to find all those areas in your mind that are keeping you trapped in hell, so you can LET THEM GO.
“Begin the practice period as usual, by repeating today’s idea to yourself. My holiness is my salvation. Then, with closed eyes, search out your unloving thoughts in whatever form they appear; uneasiness, depression, anger, fear, worry, attack, insecurity and so on. Whatever form they take, they are unloving and therefore fearful. And so it is from them that you need to be saved.”
!!
These sentences always amaze me. You can think you are a loving person, kind, good, charitable and generous …. but do you have insecurity, guilt, fear, anger, worry???
If so, you are unloving.
This course is uncompromising. You might be able to hide your insecurities behind a smile and a happy face, but you can’t fool yourself.
A Course in Miracles is bringing you into an experience where there is ONLY LOVE. No more insecurity, no more guilt, no more fear.
A state of pure innocence, pure grace, pure holiness.
It’s what you are, as God created you.
This sounds absolutely impossible to almost everyone. A state of ONLY love. Most people cannot even imagine it.
But this is what will occur as you practice the workbook lessons, and let yourself be washed clean of all ideas which keep you in hell.
If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?
My holiness is my salvation from this.
all the fabulous clothes in my closet that currently do not fit me, there is nothing my holiness cannot do.
There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
I read something amazing on Arulba’s Dance of the Mind blog yesterday.
She was talking about workbook lesson 37 – My holiness blesses the world – and she raises the very logical question of why would there be a purpose to “being here” in the world, to bless it, if the world is nothing more than a projection of mind, and not real.
A very good question.
It’s quite a good blog entry. I suggest you head on over to Dance of the Mind and read it. I especially loved this:
ARULBA: So, if we are holy, then what other function could we have than to be holy. There is nothing we can do but bless the world. So our purpose isn’t really the dualistic idea of blessing the world, as Marianne Williamson says. It is to see the world through our own holiness because we are are whole. Our being is holy because we are one with all that is.
ARULBA: If we were to recognize our holiness (our wholeness), this would have an affect on others.
ARULBA: We are whole, we are one with everything that is, we are holy. How we perceive ourselves and what we perceive others to be affect the perceptions of others and how they view themselves as well.
!!
Amazing and true. The reason my holiness blesses the world is because I am holy and so the world must be holy also, so my holiness blesses it simply because of the nature of who I am.
Here is the reason there is nothing to heal. There is no world. There is no “me” and “you” as separate identities. There is no more thinking the world needs to be fixed. My holiness simply blesses the world because of what I am and who you are. One with God. There is no such thing as advanced and beginners. There are no degrees or intervals or levels.
There is only me, recognizing my own holiness, and in this remembrance my holiness extends to everyone and everything. Automatically.
It was already accomplished – and my holiness already encompassed everything – but I simply was not aware of it. I was oblivious and blind.
Now I am aware. Now I can see.
This is why I need to do nothing. Truth needs only to be recognized.
God is.
Today’s lesson 38 from A Course in Miracles confirms with this award-winning mind bender: “If you are holy, so is everything God created. You are holy because all things He created are holy. And all things He created are holy because you are.”
!!
I love it.
Totally circular. There is no beginning and no end. Everything comes back to me, back to God. There is only Oneness. All things are holy. There is no process. There is no distance. There is no one who is excluded because everyone is a perfect part of my wholeness. This is the reason my holiness blesses the world. Because the world is what my holiness is.
It is NOT me blessing someone who is “less than” me. No. There is nothing outside of me. If I see sickness, than it is ME who is sick.
I give blessing to everyone because blessing is what I am. I see holiness everywhere because holiness is what I am. A “miracle” is the recognition that everything God created is holy. No exceptions.
Today’s lesson is very practical. It will solve all problems, remove all pain, and end all sorrow. It does so in connection with myself and with anyone else.
“Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind. Your holiness is unlimited in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of his Creator.”
The reason has become obvious: there is nothing outside of what God created. My mind is part of God’s. I am very holy. My holiness envelops everything I see. My holiness blesses the world.
There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
I love you.
Consider the lilies. They neither spin nor toil.
It’s out! My favorite issue of the year. The Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair.
Yes.
To see a slideshow of all 14 Annie Leibovitz Vanity Fair Covers (since 1995), click this year’s cover:
Here I am!
haha
This clip is from a few months ago (and I look like I’m wearing my pajamas) and you might have already seen it, but just in case you haven’t seen it, here’s the link. There are also lots and lots of other great teachers of A Course in Miracles talking about their experiences.
click here to watch:
Lisa ACIM Youtube Quickie – and other Teachers of A Course in Miracles.
