Dear Friends -
I have been invited by David Fishman over at ACIM Gather/Paltalk.com to express my gratitude tomorrow night, Sunday March 9th at 8:30PM EST.
The topic I will be discussing is Chapter 2 of A Course in Miracles and Chapter 2 in Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth.
I hope to see you there. It will be live. You can ask questions and I’ll answer them.
The room is: ACIM GATHER.
For Mac users (or if you simply do not want to download the Paltalk software), you can listen in by clicking here: http://www.acimgather.org/radio.htm
Love, lisa
Love holds no grievances.
While I was lying in bed this morning, I had an idea for an experiment for today: Behave as if you are NOT a body.
For one day, today, practicing being the light that you are. Be bright.
Spend the entire day relating only to that which is real in you: love, joy, happiness, helpfulness, perfection. Focus only on Spirit, and all the qualities that God gave you.
Keep your full attention and focus on the unseen part of you. When you look at something, realize “this is God looking.” (i’m looking at my cats right now, sitting on my desk, looking out the window. I got unbelievably lucky with these two beauties. HI GUYS! I’ve never seen anything so in harmony. They are brothers and best buddies and they show me, by their demonstration, how “to be”)
When you look with Spirit – one with God – you will feel only appreciation.
So, I had this idea while lying in bed to suggest to you that for today you forget the body. It’s a one day experiment. Can you do this for one day? Be Spirit. Be Love. Be Light. Be Joy. Be Happiness. Be Helpful.
And then I got up, made some coffee, and started reading the lesson and TA-DA, it’s talking about what happens when you identify yourself with a body.
1. “to hold a grievance is to forget who you are.”
2. “to hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body.”
It is amazing that there are CHECK POINTS here in A Course in Miracles where you can see where you are in your own mind.
Do you hold grievances?
A simple question with a simple answer.
Do you hold grievances?
Yes or No.
How you answer this question will show you what you think you are.
If you answered “YES”, then you think you are a body.
If you answered “NO”, then you know yourself as Spirit, as God created you.
This gets simpler and simpler.
A Course in Miracles is a “systematic mind training program” to train your mind to REMEMBER your Identity in God and to train you to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world.
I am reading Steve Martin’s autobiography Born Standing Up and I really love it. He calls it a biography, even though it’s a memoir. In his words he writes: “In a sense, this book is not an autobiography but a biography, because I am writing about someone I used to know (Steve Martin as stand-up comedian). Yes, these events are true, yet sometimes they seemed to have happened to someone else, and often I feel like a curious onlooker or someone trying to remember a dream. I ignored my stand-up career for twenty-five years, but now, having finished this memoir, I view this time with surprising warmth. One can have, it turns out, an affection for the war years.”
Steve Martin was born in 1945 and so he came of age during the 60′s – “the love years” – and I cringed a little when I read the description, thinking: I hope that’s not how I come off sounding, like some flower-power girl who advocates only love. Like some 60′s flower child.
What I am writing about and hope to convey here, is a power that goes beyond telling people you love them. It is not about being hippy-dippy. It’s not about hand-holding or getting together in groups to “feel your feelings” or to “get in touch with your emotions.”
I’m laughing as I type.
It’s about learning to be authentic and real, identifying only with eternal qualities.
In a very real sense, A Course in Miracles is about you coming into contact with the Power that is God, which is your Source, and realizing your strength and grace.
So this is not about people. It’s about you.
Back to the original question: Do you hold grievances?
Are you willing to let them go?
“Perhaps you do not think you can let your grievances go. That, however, is simply a matter of motivation.”
HA!
BIG HA!
DOUBLE HA!
TRIPLE HA!
Letting go of your grievances is simply a matter of motivation.
I love it.
Do you have the motivation to let your grievances go?
Be determined to see all your “enemies” as friends.
“Determine now to see all these people as friends. Say to them all, thinking of each one in turn as you do so:
I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me and come to know myself.”
Let today be a brand new day for you. Wipe the slate clean. This is the ACTION OF MIND you need every day: to let yourself be brand new. Forget the past. Hit the delete button on everything that came before this day.
Look how simple this becomes.
It asks for you to repeat this lesson several times an hour:
“Love holds no grievances. When I let all my grievances go I will know I am perfectly safe. Love holds no grievances. I would wake to my Self by laying all my grievances aside and waking in Him.”
LOVE IS LETTING GO OF GRIEVANCES.
Love created me like itself.
This lesson is amazing. It says:
1. This is the why you are the light of the world.
2. This is why God appointed you as the world’s savior.
3. This is why the Son of God looks to you for your salvation.
4. He is saved by what you are.
What are you?
Light, love, joy, perfect, helpful and holy.
If you’ve noticed, there is a constant emphasis in the workbook lessons on WHAT YOU ARE and almost nothing that addresses the falsity. Have you noticed this? There is no therapy involved. There is no trying to figure out why you have problems, or why you are sad or depressed, or what you should do.
The only thing that this Course says you need to do is REMEMBER THE TRUTH OF WHO YOU ARE.
It does not address problems. In fact, it ignores them.
This is what is asked of you: to look beyond all problems, remember the truth and see the brilliant light that is there.
To see this light in you AND in everyone.
Forget about your limitations. Forget about your ideas of unworthiness, guilt or shame. Forget about your mistakes. Forget about how much time you have wasted.
AND REMEMBER THE TRUTH OF WHO YOU ARE.
Light, love, joy, helpful, perfect and holy.
As you focus on the truth of yourself (light, love, joy, perfect and holy) all your problems and false ideas about yourself will disappear immediately, with no effort.
Try it.
If you’ve been having any difficulty it is for one reason, and one reason only: you must still be focusing on the problem. Ask yourself in honesty if this is what you are doing. Are you still thinking about a grievance and trying to figure out how to solve it? Are you thinking about how fat you are? Or how old you are? Or how broke (or broken) you are? Are you thinking about how you have no money?
If you are thinking about these things, then you are thinking about the problem, which means you are not thinking about the truth.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK TWO THOUGHTS AT ONCE.
It is impossible to think about your problems when you are thinking about God. Let me see you do it. If you are thinking about your problems then you are NOT thinking about God. And if you are thinking about God, then it’s impossible to be thinking about problems.
If you are thinking about your holiness, it is impossible to think you are fat, unworthy and despicable.
It’s funny, right?
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK TWO THOUGHTS AT ONCE.
The instant you remember yourself as LIGHT, JOY & HAPPINESS I guarantee you will have no problems. You will know what to do in every situation. It will not occur to you to wait around for someone else to make the first move. You’ll be in a constant state of extension.
This is the reason A Course in Miracles doesn’t take any time. There is no process. Problems don’t exist. You can take your rightful place as the savior of the world today.
YOU HAVE BEEN ORDAINED BY GOD.
God appointed you as the world’s savior.
This world needs light. You can’t be bright when you are being dark. You can’t be happy when you are sad.
So all that is required here is a simple remembrance of the truth as God created you, and a quick change of mind about your purpose here and that is all.
Here’s my declaration (from Chapter 2 of the text):
I am here only to be truly helpful.
I am here to represent Him – God – Who sent me.
My happiness and my function are one.
To anyone just arriving here at Gorgeous for God, we are going through all 365 workbook lessons in A Course in Miracles in one year. Today is Lesson 66. If you are just starting out, I suggest you start with Lesson 1 and don’t skip a lesson. I’ve blogged every day and posts are archived by month in the right sidebar.
The early lessons set up a solid foundation that is necessary, so if you decide that you like what you see here – and that you want to have an experience of more love, peace, joy, happiness, clarity in your life – I highly suggest for you to buy a copy of A Course in Miracles and start with the workbook lessons, Lesson 1. 56rs467 (that’s my cat Sam, walking across the keyboard while I’m typing, sending you some sugar)
My friend Al over at View from a Mountaintop was asking the question if it is possible to do something “to get a flower to grow faster” … meaning is there something we can do to speed up the process to be in an experience of love and miracles faster?
Of course, the answer to that question is evident: no. Flowers bloom in their own time and in their own way. The flower is present in the seed. The flower doesn’t struggle against itself in the seed or as it blooms. Look at a flower, in any stage, and you notice there is no conflict. It doesn’t berate itself or try harder or be more dedicated. It’s total perfection. It is accomplished that a flower will bloom if you plant the seed and care for it because THAT’S WHAT FLOWERS ARE DESIGNED TO DO and the flower is already present in the seed, and this is basic botany.
I was reminded of the bamboo plant, which is the strongest plant on the planet. You can build buildings with it. I read somewhere that when you plant a bamboo seed it doesn’t grow for something crazy like 3 years. It looks like it’s doing nothing. That little bamboo seed looks like a total failure. But anyone who understands the life of a bamboo plant knows that it is growing strong roots – and he will continue to care and water it, knowing that it growing even though it looks like it is doing nothing. To the human eye, it looks like nothing at all is happening, and most people would just abandon their efforts and call it a failure.
Which is what most people do on spiritual paths. They give up, frustrated, when all that time, they were growing roots and wings.
And then … in one day, in 30 seconds … the bamboo shoots out of the ground 12 inches, completely durable, able to withstand the effects of nature.
So, the moral and lesson of this story is: BE PATIENT. You are growing strong roots. Keep watering and caring for your soul. Keep doing these lessons. Keep nurturing and loving the seed you have planted. Jesus says you must build your house on stone, and not on sand.
That’s what is happening here. One day at a time, brick by brick, we are laying a foundation … and Rome was not built in a day, so be patient.
Remember: YOU have to do the work. Again and again, I will remind you of this. I am doing my own work over here. This blog is simply a gentle reminder to pick up the book and practice the lesson. To think about God, and to give up grievances, and to remember your function and be happy.
Which brings us full circle back to today’s lesson: “My happiness and my function are one.”
What is amazing to me now is the SIMPLICITY OF THIS MESSAGE and how I complicated it over the years, battling with the ego. Underling sentences. Having discussions in groups, talking conceptually. Striving for understanding is what kept me in hell, on the roller coaster of light vs. dark, good vs. bad.
Trying to figure out what these lessons mean or how they work will keep you in a state of confusion, flip-flopping between joy and depression.
Take it from me, I know.
DOING this lessons – practicing – will bring on an experience that will show you they are true.
You don’t have to find reasons to be happy. HAPPINESS IS WHAT YOU ARE. Happiness is how God created you. Love is what you are. Light is what you are. Under all your false ideas which you’ve layered on top of something lovely and magnificent is YOU ARE GOD CREATED YOU, untouched by any of your mistakes or sins or doubts. You are what happiness is. And that’s the reason your function and your happiness are one.
Your function is to be yourself as God created you. Light. Love. Happiness. Joy. Peace. Creation.
God did not give you anything besides happiness. He doesn’t know darkness. He knows only light. It’s all He created.
So, the fast track here is to associate only with the truth in yourself. Be the light that you are. Be the happiness that God created.
You will laugh out loud when you see your attempts to understand yourself. Humans think they are so complex! It’s so funny. They spend years in therapy talking about all the different aspects, twists and turns, uncovering layer upon layer upon layer (at $150/hour per weekly session for years) when in fact THERE ARE NO LAYERS!
You can recognize the light that you are today, and all “layers” dissolve in that instant. Think of the money you will save. No more self-help! No more groups! No more therapy! No more weekend workshops!
You’ll simply be skipping around like a happy little kid. It won’t even bother you that you spent so much time searching for yourself, because in the instant of recognition, everything from before that instant falls away, forgotten forever.
This is what it means to be RE-BORN in Christ. This is the true meaning of Easter, the true meaning of Resurrection. You are born again, with the recognition that Jesus lives in you.
So today are you going to listen to madness or hear the truth?
Are you going to be host to God or hostage to the ego?
You decide.
Don’t forget to read the lesson and practice.
I love you.
Okay. Well, then.
Double homework assignments from now on, for the next 10 weeks.
It shouldn’t be too difficult.
1. One text chapter from A Course in Miracles
2. One chapter in Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth.
This week we are on Chapter 2 in both the Course and Tolle’s book.
Eckhart Tolle is on on Oprah every Monday night at 9pmEST/8pmCentral, and trust me when I tell you: IT’S WORTH WATCHING.
I sat there mesmerized.
I’ve spent the entire day today talking about this event. I still can’t believe my ears and eyes. I never in my lifetime thought I would see on national television someone saying “there is no death” and “this world is an illusion” and Oprah sitting there, shaking her head in total agreement, saying … YES, YES, YES.
This is monumental and huge.
I mean, 
I have known for quite some time this world is an illusion (while all my family & friends were saying: oh yes, that’s Lisa, amuse her, she’s just slightly off her rocker, but she’s really quite harmless, just delusional), but now it’s on Oprah, on national television.
There is no death. Christ consciousness. Jesus lives in each of us.
This is a good moment for me.
My only function is the one God gave me.
This lesson appeals to the New York Girl in me, the one that likes to use a calendar and make to-do lists.
It’s actually been quite a long time since I’ve had an organized schedule, but today’s lesson asks me to REAFFIRM my commitment to salvation.
It then asks for me to set aside time to practice the lesson, DETERMINING IN ADVANCE THE TIME, and then adhere to it as closely as possible.
“The purpose of this is to arrange your day so that you have set apart time for God, as well as for all the trivial purposes and goals you will pursue.”
Isn’t this amazing?? Jesus knows me perfectly. He knows that I will pursue trivial purposes and goals. He knows I like trinkets and toys. There is no judgment in this. There is nothing wrong with it. He is simply asking me to devote some time during the day to thinking about God and to practicing the daily lesson. He knows I’m going to seek for the trivial, so all he’s asking is that I decide in advance to “arrange my day so that I have set apart time for God, as well as for all the trivial purposes and goals I will pursue.”
Jesus doesn’t condemn me for going after worldly things.
He’s a practical guy with only love in his heart. He simply says: “Try if possible to undertake the daily extended practice period at approximately the same time each day. Try, also, to determine this time in advance, and then adhere to it as closely as possible.”
“This is part of the long-range disciplinary training your mind needs, so that the Holy Spirit can use it consistently for the purposes He shares with you.”
DISCIPLINARY TRAINING.
You are training your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world.
These daily workbook lessons are simple practical steps you are being asked to practice as part of “the long-range disciplinary training your mind needs.” The practical lesson for today is this: SET APART TIME FOR GOD.
Decide this time in advance.
And stick to it.
Simple, right?
Lesson 65 is a great lesson. You will be amazed by how much clearing occurs today. You are asked to practice the lesson – MY ONLY FUNCTION IS THE ONE GOD GAVE ME – then close your eyes, repeat the idea – my only function is the one God gave me – watch your mind carefully to catch whatever thoughts cross it. Observe.
!! I love this lesson.
Be in observation. Say the lesson, then watch your mind carefully to catch whatever thoughts cross it.
You’re like a fisherman catching fish, except now you are catching your own thoughts.
“Note each one as it comes to you, with as little involvement or concern as possible.”
Then dismiss each of those thoughts by telling yourself:
“This thought reflects a goal that is preventing me from accepting my only function.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
haha. I am laughing. This is one of my favorite lessons. It cuts through the crap, with one effective swoop.
With every interfering thought (ideas about money, goals, relationships, people, your pet, your appearance, dieting, bills, work, traveling, shopping, wars, injustices, grievances), you tell yourself:
“This thought reflects a goal that is preventing me from accepting my only function.”
What is your only function: to be as God created you – the light of the world.
Every thought you have that interferes with this idea, you tell yourself:
“This thought reflects a goal that is preventing me from accepting my only function.”
Then after a while, interfering thoughts will become harder to find. Then say:
“On this clean slate let my true function be written to me.”
I liked what Eckhart Tolle had to say last night on Oprah about changing the question from “What do I want?” to asking life: “What does life want of me?”
I love that. I let go of all my personal goals, and simply ask God, life, the universe: what do you want of me? Use me. I’m your faithful servant. What do you need me to do? Where would you have me go? What would have me say? My body is a means of communication for you, Lord. Show me. I’m yours. I want to be truly helpful in Your plan of salvation. I renounce all meaningless goals.
“On this clean slate let my true function be written for me.”
Amen.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am watching the 90-minute webcast event from last night (from Eckhart Tolle’s book New Earth, they are doing an Introduction & Chapter 1) and IT’S AMAZING!!!!!
Whoa.
I am in love with Eckhart Tolle.
Wow.
Oprah looks beautiful.
YOU WILL WANT TO WATCH THIS.
Oprah is talking about Jesus (!!) and how Jesus is living in us through the human body.
They are talking about God, purpose and Christ-consciousness.
They are talking about individual responsibility, moving beyond positive thinking and beyond “egoic thinking” into Christ thinking.
This is great.
You can watch by clicking here: Oprah and Eckhart: A New Earth and click on Chapter 1 to watch the video immediately without having to download it.
It’s spectacular.
Here’s another link:
http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/webcast/archive/anewearth_archive_main.jsp
Let me not forget my function.
Ha. I am being watched and followed here at Gorgeous for God as we do these lessons and I will probably never be able to get away with skipping a lesson ever this year. THANK YOU JESUS FOR THESE MIGHTY COMPANIONS YOU HAVE GIVEN ME. I am totally grateful.
I decided this morning since I posted something else entirely random (about relationships) to postpone blogging about the daily lesson until the afternoon since two posts at one time seemed like OVERLOAD.
I did not realize anyone was depending on me.
But, it’s good to know you guys are following along. What a gift.
I did read and practice the lesson for myself this morning, sitting up in bed, but I didn’t write anything because I got sidetracked with ideas about being irresistible.
haha. Amusing myself as usual.
As I stated back on January 1st (entries are archived by month, to the right in the sidebar), that YES I’ve made a commitment to blog about all 365 lessons of A Course in Miracles this year, but more importantly, that you have to do the work.
These lessons – like gym training – only work when you participate and became actively involved.
I’m a guide and friendly helpful reminder. Sometimes I’m a muse and sometimes I’m an inspiration and sometimes I’m just a pain in the ass.
So on the mornings that I am NOT HERE (for whatever reason), you can still open the course and read the lesson. You can blog about it in the comment area if you feel ambitious.
I’m grateful for you showing up here every day.
Lesson 64: Let me not forget my function.
My function is to be the light of the world, in every situation, because it’s what I am.
Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
“Only by fulfilling the function given you by God will you be happy. That is because your function is to be happy by using the means by which happiness is inevitable. There is no other way.”
This is so easy and fun.
It gets simpler and simpler.
I’m wondering if anyone reading this has any problems. I am serious. I’d like to hear about them, because it seems impossible to be anything but happy. What could possibly bother you? What problems do you have?
You are all light.
I want you to see if you have any problems today and list them.
Ask yourself if these problems are real or imagined? Are they are unsolvable? And if so, why?
If you look honestly, is it possible that you are getting the results that you want? Is it possible that you are sick because you like attention? Is it possible that you don’t have a relationship because you are afraid? Is it possible that you are protecting yourself and that’s the reason why you never seem to meet new people?
Today, be honest.
Your function here is to be the light of the world.
Ask yourself if you are fulfilling your function.
Are you being bright in every situation? Are you happy and joyous and free?
You will only be happy by fulfilling the function given you by God.
I’m laughing.
I popped over to TQuest’s blog and she was writing about a relationship book she is reading called: “Make Every Man Want You (or Make Yours Want You More): How to Be So Damn Irresistible You’ll Barely Keep from Dating Yourself.”
haha.
Being naturally curious, I had to check it out.
I’m over here laughing. The first paragraph is hilarious. I want this book just from the sheer enjoyment I’m getting from the writing. Good sentences thrill me. Listen to this:
“Irresistibility 101 lays groundwork for having a brilliant life, magical relationships, and of course, being authentically irresistible. The purpose of this chapter is to open your mind to new possibilities and greater personal awareness. Awareness is the key that allows you to stop automatically doing things that drive men away and naturally begin doing things that will allow you to have satisfying relationships. Master this stuff and you’ll notice that men, women, children, small animals, large animals, dust bunnies and anything not glued down will find it virtually impossible to resist you.”
hahahaha.
“and anything not glued down will find it virtually impossible to resist you.”
I’m still over here laughing. Hilarious.
Sounds like A Course in Miracles: Awareness is the key that allows you to stop automatically doing things that drive men (people) away, and naturally begin doing things that will allow you to have satisfying relationships.
Listen to this: Your ability to be completely irresistible and Make Every Man Want You lies in the present moment. When you are fully present (meaning your full attention is in “the now”), you access the infinite source of beauty and aliveness inherent in every living creature on the planet.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Um, excuse me. Does this sound familiar???
“You become one with the cosmic intelligence and timeless magnificence of all that is.”
The author, Marie Forleo, says you are not your mind and then she writes, “Of course you may be saying, “Well, then, WHO AM I?” Who you are is a glorious being behind your mind. You are the awareness, the observer, the listener. You are the wise, elegant, generous and loving consciousness that knows exactly what I am about right now.”
This is slightly off because YOU ARE YOUR MIND but I agree with what Marie says and I “know exactly what she is talking about right now.” You are not the voice in your head that talks all day long to you. You are not the small part of you that terrorizes you and tells you you’re an idiot and a miserable unlovable sinner. You are not the part of you that thinks you are separate. You are not the endless mind chatter that tells you you are not good enough.
Read more: “Know this: your irresistibility is greatest when you are present, and free from mental chatter. That’s because the fullness and glory of your being is showing through. Your being is your highest self and grandest expression of who you are. It is timeless and beautiful, full of love, compassion, forgiveness, and sensuality. It needs nothing and seeks no approval. It is who you really are beneath all the worry, concern and fear.”
“The only way to be better in a relationship is to heal your relationship with YOURSELF”
Isn’t this great? It’s the message of A Course in Miracles. Truth is everywhere. Here it is in a relationship book.
When your eyes are open, you’ll find truth everywhere: on the back of the cereal box, in a cookbook, in a song, on the tag of your pants that says “wash with care.”
Here’s more because I love it: “Your mind, on the other hand, is a past/future fear-based machine, that is primarily concerned with survival.”
HA.
I’m over here laughing. This is great stuff.
“It is always comparing, analyzing, scheming and talking to you about what you need to do in order to become prettier, more successful or more attractive. It likes to talk about your mistakes and how bad, unattractive, fat, stupid, unworthy you are.
“None of this matters. You can be absolutely irresistible starting RIGHT NOW. The rest of this book will show you how.”
Sign me up.
I finished Chapter 1 last night and I have to be honest: my mind was wandering all over the place. I was all over the map.
It was like: MY GOD, LISA> FOCUS.
Did anyone get through the whole chapter?
I read the whole chapter but I was completely unfocused. I’m not going to lie to you.
I did, however, despite my resistance, find some great sentences that stood out for me:
“Except you become as little children means that unless you fully recognize your complete dependence on God, you cannot know the real power of the Son in his true relationship with the Father.”
And this: “All shallow roots must be uprooted. They are not deep enough to sustain you.”
And this: “A sense of separation from God is the only lack you really need correct.”
And this: “The real purpose of the world is to use it to correct your unbelief.”
And this: “All real pleasure comes from doing God’s Will.”
And this: “Child of God, you were created to create the good, the beautiful and the holy. Do not forget this. The Love of God, for a little while, must still be expressed through one body to another, because vision is so dim.”
And this: “The basic decision of the miracle-minded is not to wait on time any longer than necessary. Time can waste as well as be wasted. The miracle worker, therefore, accepts the time-control factor gladly. He recognizes that every collapse of time brings everyone closer to the ultimate release from time, in which the Son and the Father are one.”
Amazing, right?
My book has tons of underlining and stars and hearts from last year when I read one chapter a day (that’s right, the whole text in 31 days)
What I really need is a new unmarked clean book. I know there is one in our local library and I’m going to go get it tomorrow.
That will help me.
This week is Chapter 2. Feel free to post comments, questions, insights, or sentences that you love in the comment area.
“The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.”
One of my favorite sentences in A Course in Miracles is: “Forgiveness does make lovely, but it does not create.”
What this means is what it says: “Forgiveness does make lovely … but it does not create.”
So, remember this the next time you are having difficulty forgiving someone or if you seem incapable of letting go of a grievance. Forgiveness is NOT the highest goal. It does make lovely, but it does not create. Eventually (today?) you will go beyond forgiveness to a place of creation.
But while this course still seems to be a process, we have beautiful instructions on forgiveness.
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD BRINGS PEACE TO EVERY MIND THROUGH MY FORGIVENESS.
What this means is well … what it says.
So the next time you are angry with someone or having a grievance remember that you are holding the world in hell, and that “the light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.”
Simple.
This is not difficult. Come into each new moment as a clean slate. Forget everything that came before each new second, and there will be nothing to forgive. How could you be angry at someone who yelled at you 30 seconds ago or yesterday or a month ago, if you are actively forgetting the past?
The past is over, let it go.
Anger and grievances is for babies.
You are the light of the world.
As you begin, it seems like a process.
1. First you realize that your anger is only hurting yourself
2. You decide to forgive in every situation
3. This will make you have a “lovely” life because “forgiveness does make lovely”
4. You will come to a stage where you realize that “lovely” is a small tiny gift compared to what God is really wanting to give to you.
5. You will become determined to go beyond forgiveness. You will be ahead of the game. You will find that you have forgiven things before they even occur.
6. So when someone screams at you, or steals something from you, or does something that previously required forgiveness, you will simply LOVE THEM.
7. You will give them your coat and your cloak and a box of chocolates. At this stage, there is no forgiveness because you have bypassed it and you are standing with Christ, seeing as Christ sees, giving as Christ gives. You give all to all because you are the savior.
8. Here is creation.
9. Here is where God is. Here is Heaven.
10. Welcome Home.
Remember that “the course is written within the ego’s framework.” It is written only to lead you BEYOND your own false thinking. There is no ego. As long as you insist that you are an ego (or that you are one part spirit/one part ego), or a human being going through a process of enlightenment or transformation, your mind will make up a thousand situations for you to forgive.
There is no ego!
But if you say there is an ego, then you are in a frame of time & space where you will continue to see images that require forgiveness. It’s just the way that works. Not because I say so but because you have determined the goal in advance for yourself.
If you do not believe me, answer this question for yourself. Actually answer two questions:
1. do you use the word “ego” to describe yourself or others?
2. do you have situations in your life that still require forgiveness?
If you answered “yes” to the first question, I can absolutely positively GUARANTEE that you answered “yes” to the second question. These two go hand in hand. It’s inevitable. But if you answered “no” to the first question, then you probably answered “no” to the second question because when you renounce the ego, all images of grievances disappear.
Don’t believe me? Try it.
Once you stop calling yourself an ego (the fastest way is to take the word out of your vocabulary – which is easy to do since you are NOT an ego, you are the light of the world), you will no longer see situations that need forgiveness. It’s a miracle. The picture of your life changes. As you change your mind, the world changes. Try it.
Go into a higher frequency where there is no ego, and where there is only love. LIVE THERE. Get above the battleground and LIVE THERE. Catapult yourself into Heaven – where there is only love, where there is no need for forgiveness – AND LIVE THERE.
This is what it means to stand in singularity and to “draw your circle.” You stand in a place where there is no chaos, and from this place of safety, peace and joy you shine your light and you call others to join you on holy ground.
I pray this is making sense to you.
There is an magnificent experience that transcends all worldly goals and ideas and there are practical steps you can take that will guarantee its coming.
On a practical level this means that you have a choice. You can wake up in the morning and say:
1. I’m going to forgive all things (and this is a nice thing to do, it’s lovely)
OR you can wake up in the morning and say to yourself:
2. I’m going to love all things as God loves. I’m going to give as God gives.
See the difference? The first is you being a good nice friendly human being. The second is you being the light of the world.
If you are just beginning, you probably will have to start with #1 and eventually move on to #2 but I wanted to give you both options just in case you are a fast learner and want to skip ahead to the prize: Creation, loving all things as God loves. Being as God created you … perfect.
I assure you that very few individuals do this. Probably only a handful. Believe me. As you go out into your day you will notice that NO ONE loves as God loves, all the time, in every situation. Yes, you will see glimpses of people giving and being generous, but generally these actions are not constant. If you watch them long enough, eventually you will see a frown, a sigh or weariness. This is why I’m asking you to do it. BE THE EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS TO FOLLOW. Jesus is standing with you. You’ll need a little courage. But you will be blown away by the results.
Make someone’s day. Love. Give. Forgive. Be happy.
Let it be a GREAT EXPERIMENT.
Love as God loves. Give as God gives. Be what you truly are: all light.
As you start to observe yourself and other people, you will notice something extraordinary: angels among us. You will see them. They will recognize you and you will recognize them and that’s when you’ll realize that you are not alone. Helpers are given you along the way.
Lesson 63 says an amazing thing. Say this out loud:
“I am the means God has appointed for the salvation of the world.”
Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
I’m running late for church. So I’m just posting a little reminder to you to open the book and practice the lesson for yourself.
I’ll come back later and post something brilliant.
Or MAYBE, instead, YOU can all can post some insight about Lesson 62 in the comment area today, and take over my job! You be Gorgeous for God from now on. I am passing on the baton to you.
You’re all light.
Shine on me and the world.
My friend Al over at View from a Mountaintop reminded me of a great thing I had forgotten:
Don Juan had another one that has stuck with me over the years. “Controlled Folly.” “Do what you do impeccably, as if it really means something, even though you know it means absolutely nothing.”
Oh my God. I love that.
Exactly. The other day I wrote that I go through waves and it’s the truth. I find myself often stuck between “going for something entirely (a worldly goal)” and “doing nothing, remembering the truth, knowing that my goal is God and it’s accomplished.”
When given the choice between money and going home, I choose going home.
I choose God.
And that’s probably the reason I never have any money.
A Course in Miracles says this path is not hard but it is different.
BOY IS THAT THE TRUTH.
My life, and the way I live it, is the OPPOSITE of everything I ever imagined for myself. It’s not difficult, but it is different.
I have no money but I am happy, healthy, at peace, joyful, creative, full of love, and a constant source of light. I laugh all day long. Nothing bothers me. Everything makes me happy.
Maybe this is how it’s supposed to work? I’m leaving the world behind and taking my rightful place in Heaven.
I only want to do the work that God has sent me here to do and then leave. Being in a body is not comfortable for me. I’m grateful to serve but I’m an alien here. I’m One with the universe – Mind, Spirit – One with all things and yet I find myself in a condition of separation. It’s beyond bizarre.
Does anyone else realize this world is not where you belong?
Does anyone else feel uncomfortable here?
Human beings are creatures of ADAPTATION.
We learn to adapt here. To get along in separation. To live in a body. To live with loneliness, boredom, sadness, sickness and depression.
What a place to be.
I dedicate my mind to truth because I want to go home. I want to end this dream of separation for everyone. I don’t want to delay and linger in time, procrastinating in illusions, when “every 5 minutes spent remembering the truth saves 1000 years, and 1000 minds awaken.”
This is the work I do, and unfortunately, it doesn’t pay money in dollars.
So when Al wrote that to me about “controlled folly”, it’s like a lightbulb when off in my head:
“Do what you do impeccably, as if it really means something, even though you know it means absolutely nothing.”
What do I love to do? I love to write and inspire people. I love to make people happy. I love to cook for friends and family.
What do I really want? I want to be active. I want to have money to pay my bills and do cool things. I want to travel. I want to inspire people to be their true self and get over their addictions. I want to be out in the world, a visible force, giving light to everything I see.
I watched Oprah’s show on Friday about Oprah’s Big Give and I was completely inspired and amazed by the contestants. I want to do what they do: to be out among people, giving of myself.
I want to be truly helpful.
I WANT TO DO IT IMPECCABLY, AS IF IT MEANS SOMETHING, EVEN THOUGH I KNOW IT MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Lord, hear my prayer.
I am the light of the world.
You will love this lesson, and it will simplify things enormously for you.
It asks you to say:
“I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I am here.”
Did you say it out loud? Read it again. Say it. It’s amazing.
“I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I am here.”
Look at it logically. There is no conflict in this statement. It tells you in plain & simple language what your function is. You are the light of the world. That is your ONLY function. There is no need to suffer pain in order to go through a transformation to be happy. There is no process.
Did the sun go through a transformation to be bright? Think about it. The sun just shines and shines forever. It doesn’t do anything else. It doesn’t hold grievances. It doesn’t shine on some people who deserve it while not shining on others. It makes no comparisons. It has no judgment on who receives the benefit of its warmth. It simply shines on everyone and everything.
It rises in the morning, and it shines and it shines forever.
It never goes dark.
When clouds cover over it, it is still there shining.
It doesn’t get pissed off at clouds. It keeps shining, as bright as always.
It remains entirely unaffected by things going on in the world.
It doesn’t go dark (or refuse to shine bright) because of wars, killing and insanity.
It doesn’t get angry. It doesn’t feel jealous. It doesn’t feel attacked. It doesn’t defend itself.
It’s pure light.
It just keeps on shining.
It doesn’t know how to do anything else: IT IS THE SUN!
It is designed to shine.
And so it is with you. You are the light of the world. You are designed to shine. You have no other function.
YOU ARE THE SON!
We are back to what I constantly say: there is no process here. You don’t have to go back to your childhood to try to figure out why you are so screwed up. You don’t have to write lists of people you need to forgive. You don’t have to try to find the dark places in you that need healing.
No. No. No.
You simply need to accept what you are in reality: You are the light of the world.
It’s all you need to know.
There’s no process. There is no going anywhere. Do you think the sun thinks about days and months and years? Does it plan? Does it organize its day?
No. No. and No.
it just shines. It doesn’t know how to do anything else.
See how simple this becomes?
You are like the sun that lights up the world.
You are the son that God loves.
Shine on, bright thing.
