Just to let you know I’ve been invited to give a 90 minute talk tomorrow night on Paltalk.com – ACIM Gather – at 8:30pm EST.
I’ll be talking about PURPOSE and FUNCTION.
if you don’t already know about paltalk.com, you need to download the free program, and then search A Course in Miracles. The room name is ACIM Gather.
I hope to see you there.
love, lisa
“I rest in God.”
This is a day of peace. You rest in God, and while the world is torn by winds of hate your rest remains completely undisturbed. Yours is the rest of truth. Appearances cannot intrude upon you.
Have you been practicing these lessons every day? Or just reading them in the morning?
It’s important that you do what these lessons ask of you. So when today’s lesson asks you to REST IN GOD …. well … you rest in God.
This doesn’t necessarily mean lounging around on the couch. Unless your lounging on the couch involves resting in God. There is a huge difference sitting on the couch, doing nothing, sitting by yourself, twiddling your thumbs, depressed, worried or bored VS. sitting on the couch resting with God.
Resting in God can be very active.
Resting in God means that you are secure, safe and at peace, certain of ultimate success.
When you are certain of the outcome, you can rest.
You are no longer worried, wondering about things. You can rest.
Do you know that feeling when all your bills are paid, when you have a great job, when you have a perfect relationship, when you are healthy and it’s the end of the evening and you know the phone isn’t going to ring and no one is going to disturb and you can just relax?? Do you know that feeling? You take off your makeup. Or you take a shower. It’s the end of the day. You get into your most comfortable clothes or pajamas and you know that all is well.
You rest.
It’s the best feeling in the world. Nothing compares to it.
Now imagine taking that feeling and extending it throughout your entire day. Now extend to your entire life. You realize there is nothing to rush towards. Nothing to accomplish. Nothing to do. No one you have to please with your appearance. No one judging you. It doesn’t matter anymore how old you are or how young you are. Money does not matter in this place of rest. How you look doesn’t matter in this place. You can be as ugly or as beautiful as you want. You can be yourself. You rest. You don’t have to put on airs. You don’t have to rush frantically to prove you are the best or worthy.
You rest.
You are accepted as you are.
You rest because you are certain of the outcome. You are certain that God loves you. You are certain that you are taken care of. You are certain that everything you need to know, you will be told what to do and how to do it.
You trust.
I rest in God.
“Here is the thought in which the Son of God is born again, to recognize himself.”
“Here is the end of suffering for all the world, and everyone who ever came and yet will come to linger for a while.”
I rest in God.
Carry this thought with you all day today.
I rest in God.
Think about what rest means. Think about what you are like when you are on a vacation with no cares and no worries.
Think about sitting on a beach, or the ocean or in a paid-for rental house when the day is stretched before you and you can do anything you like. You can sleep in. Swim in the pool. Sit in the sun. Draw. Write. Read. Run. Eat. Cook. Play cards.
Everyone around you is relaxed too.
No one has any cares.
This is what you entire life is meant to be like.
That “place” (where you can remember sitting on the beach, or in a beautiful house, or in a car, or out in nature, wherever you are free from all worries) is a quiet center you carry with you at all times. It is the center in the middle of the storm.
So you don’t actually have to be in those physical places to find rest. The memory is already in you. These places are in your mind.
Why?
Because there was a time when you rested in God. You have an ancient memory in you that remembers what it was like before the separation.
In the same way you can remember what it’s like to sit on a sunny beach, you can remember a time when you were One with God. The memory is there in your mind.
So the practice is to stay in that place at all times. To stay in the center and not budge from that place.
Know Who you are.
Draw your circle and call people to you in the center. You no longer join people in their suffering (meaning you do not step outside of the center), rather you stand on your foundation of rock where God stands with you, and you call others to that place with you.
It’s a whole new way of operating, thinking and behaving.
Things will still be chaotic around you, but you are no longer concerned because you are back home with God.
Here is a message from Jesus to you. Chapter 14, Section V, The Circle of Atonement.
“Blessed are you who teach with me. Our power comes not of us, but of our Father. In guiltlessness we know Him, as He knows us guiltless. I stand within the circle, calling you to peace. Teach peace with me, and stand with me on holy ground. Remember for everyone your Father’s power that He has given him. Believe not that you cannot teach His perfect peace. Stand not outside (this circle), but join with me within. Fail not the only purpose to which my teaching calls you. Restore to God His Son as he created him, by teaching him his innocence.”
“Each one (person) you see you place within the holy circle of Atonement or leave outside, judging him fit for crucifixion or for redemption. If you bring him into the circle of purity, you will REST there with him. If you leave him without you join him there. Judge not except in quietness with is not of you. Refuse to accept anyone as without the blessing of Atonement, and bring him into it by blessing him. Holiness must be shared, for therein likes everything that makes it holy.”
“Come gladly to the holy circle, and look out in peace on all who think they are outside. Cast no one out, for here is what he seeks along with you. Come, let us join him in the holy place of peace, which is for all of us, united as one within the Cause of peace.”
Amazing, right?
Specific instructions to stand with Jesus in the middle of the circle and not step outside that place of peace, but rather, to call everyone to join you.
hahahahaha.
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“To give and to receive are one in truth.”
The operative words here are “IN TRUTH.”"
A Course in Miracles teaches you to stop relating to the body and form, and to start relating only to what is true. This requires a new set of eyes, different than the ones you’re used to seeing with your entire life. You need Christ VISION to see what is true.
The truth is always there for you to see – it’s standing in clear open sunlight, right in front of you, IN YOU, it does not hide – but in order to see truth (as clearly as you see form) you must change your perception of what you are looking at in every situation.
You have to literally switch over from one set of eyes to Christ’s eyes.
I have an computer calendar which connects my calendar and contact lists but they are two separate files (but linked together) and I have to click a button to go back and forth between the two lists. I can’t see my contact list while I am in the calendar and vice versa. But it’s as easy as clicking one button at the top of the page, and it automatically switches over. I can go back and forth between the two lists just by clicking one button.
And this is how it is with Christ vision. You’ll be looking at something ugly and fearful, and all you have to do is “click a button” in your mind and the image changes to pure light.
Like my calendar and contact list, I can only see one thing at a time depending on which I am focusing on. I can keep them both on the desktop simultaneously, in separate windows, so that I am aware of both, but I can only see one at a time.
BUT THEY ARE ONE THING. It’s one program. My calendar and my contact list go hand-in-hand.
And this is A Course in Miracles. You can only see one thing at at time. You can only think one thought at at time. A thought of fear and love cannot exist in the same place at the same time. Look at it. Try it. It’s impossible to do. It’s impossible to be scared and happy at exactly the same time. You are either ONE (happy) or THE OTHER (scared). Not both.
So you are constantly choosing what you want to think and what you see … and allowing the two aspects (happy & scared) to combine into one picture: light.
Do not be deceived by what the body’s eyes show you. What they show you is false and meaningless.
But you can see with vision when you make the choice. You’ll see only love when you decide that’s all you want.
The difficulty is that most people are trained from the time they are born to see with the body’s eyes, and look only to form & physical & bodies. It doesn’t occur to most people that there is “something else to see” that is “invisible but truly there.”
IN TRUTH.
You can choose to see differently in every situation.
This requires vision.
This requires willingness.
So Lesson 108 is about unifying your thoughts, to reconcile all seeming opposites.
You are not pushing darkness aside. Rather, you are allowing it transform into light.
Years ago I used to only look for bright situations. I’d only hang out bright, happy people. If something bad was happening, I’d go do something fun. If I was experiencing discomfort, I would immediately run away to a place that either made me forget about my problems or that would distract/preoccupy my mind. I’d call someone who could cheer me up. I’d rent happy movies. I’d shop. I’d drink. I’d cook. I’d read positive affirmation books.
But I never got to the ROOT of the problem. The darkness always returned. Because I never unified the two thoughts. I always kept darkness and light separate and compartmentalized.
But now, that has all changed. Now I know to bring the two together. Now I stand in the darkness and let Christ vision transform the image into light.
Today, you remember that giving and receiving are the same.
“To give is to receive.”
AN EXPERIMENT: “Today we will offer peace to everyone, and see how quickly peace returns to us.”
Say:
To give and receive are one in truth.
I will receive what I am giving now.
Then close your eyes, and for five minutes think of what you would hold out to everyone, to have it yours. You might, for instance, say:
To everyone I offer quietness.
To everyone I offer peace of mind.
To everyone I offer gentleness.
Whatever you give will come back in the amount you gave it.
Today’s lesson will show you that cause and effect are identical. What you think is what you see outside of you. What you give is what you get.
“Effect and cause will be far better understood from this time on, and we will make much faster progress now.”
“Truth will correct all errors in my mind.”
My cat Sam is sprawled out on my desk, lounging over my Course book with arms outstretched so I can’t see the lesson. haha. Crazy thing.
He does this a lot: sleeps on my open Course book.
I remember some teachers of A Course in Miracles, years ago, joking that you could sleep with the book under your pillow at night and the information would automatically seep into your brain while you slept. But unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, it doesn’t work that way.
(although I could be totally wrong!!)
It seems to me the fastest way to see a change in your life is to open the book, read the lesson, and do what it says: practice & apply.
Then it works like a charm!
This is another great lesson:
“Can you imagine what a state of mind without illusions is? How would it feel?”
Can you imagine it? How would it feel?
“Try to remember a time – perhaps a minute, even less – when nothing came to interrupt your peace; when you were certain you were loved and safe. Then try to picture what it would be like to have that moment be extended to the end of time and to eternity. Then let the sense of quiet that you felt be multiplied a hundred times, and then be multiplied another hundred more.”
And now … you have a HINT, not more than just the faintest intimation of the state your mind will rest in when the truth has come.
Wow.
Without illusions there could be no fear, no doubt and no attack.
When truth has come all pain is over, for there is no room for transitory thoughts and dead ideas to linger in your mind.
Truth occupies your mind completely, liberating you from all beliefs in the ephemeral.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
It’s true. When I allow myself to be still and listen to the truth, it corrects all errors in mind. Mistakes and worries disappear – poof! – into nothing.
The one thing that I have learned about A Course in Miracles is that the gifts that are given to you are forever. They are not taken away. Once you have them, they are yours for all time, and nothing can shatter your peace of mind.
For years I thought “this is too good to be true” and I was constantly waiting for something bad to happen but nothing ever happened. The light just keeps getting brighter and brighter, and life keeps getting more effortless.
“Truth does not come and go, nor shift nor change, in this appearance now and then in that, evading capture and escaping grasp. It does not hide. It stands in open sunlight, in obvious accessibility.”
One thing I really love about this lesson is that it says once truth has corrected all errors in your mind “you will be glad to look again upon the world. For you will bring with you the promise of changes which the truth that goes with you will carry to the world.”
This is spectacular. You are not trying to escape the world anymore. You are not trying to leave your body anymore. You are fully here – in the world – fulfilling a function for God. You are no longer trapped by your limited ideas or circumstances. You’re longer a prisoner or a victim. You are free. You recognize your Oneness with all things and extend this knowledge to everyone. In your acceptance of healing, joy and peace for yourself … you offer it to the world.
Now the statement “I am the light of the world” makes perfect sense.
Now you have a purpose for being here.
There is no darkness anymore in you. There is no need for learning. You know Who you are.
Now you give what you have received. Now you can lead others from the lonely path they still walk on to the truth. You can point the way and they will follow because the end is certain. Everyone will find their way home to God. This is a required course.
“Do not forget your function for today. Each time you tell yourself with confidence, “Truth will correct all errors in my mind,” you speak for all the world and Him Who would release the world, as He would set you free.”
“Let me be still and listen to the truth.”
This is a great reminder for a girl like me, who is constantly racing ahead to the next event. Let me be still and listen to the truth.
I’ve been “still and listening to the truth” this past week, with increased awareness & dedication, and it’s amazing how effortless life becomes when you STOP and LISTEN.
It’s the OPPOSITE of how you think you should operate, to accomplish whatever you want to achieve. You think it’s GO GO GO and RUSH RUSH RUSH and DO DO DO but really the fastest way to achieve whatever goal you are hoping to accomplish is to simply do this:
Be still and listen to the truth.
This is an amazing lesson. As you practice, you will start to hear another Voice speaking to you … which tells you where to go, what to do, and what to say.
It’s a real experience. It’s a real Voice.
You may not already realize that you’ve been listening to a voice your entire life. This is the voice that tells you you’re ugly, fat, not good enough or better than the other guy, or prettier than all the other girls. It judges. It does running commentary on everything that is happening around you. It induces panic and worry. It makes you lie in bed at night, unable to fall asleep. It never shuts up. It has something to say about everything.
Start to watch your thoughts. You’ll see very quickly: THERE IS A VOICE SPEAKING.
It sounds exactly like you. It says “I’m bored. I’m hungry. I’m tired. Wouldn’t a bag of chips be good right now? You should do this. You should do that. You idiot. You’ll never succeed. People are talking about you. You’re getting old. Look at those wrinkles.”
Etc.
Most people aren’t even aware they are listening to a voice which rips you apart into shreds. They just think “I’m just thinking, these are my thoughts, this is natural.”
But take a good look at the treacherous monster that lives inside of you. Who would induce fear in you? Who would tell you you’re ugly? It’s like the devil on your shoulder. Why would you listen to him at all?
But there is another Voice which will tell you the truth about yourself.
This Voice has a different quality than the voice you’re used to listening to your entire life. This Voice will tell you things that will make you happy and calm you down. This Voice reminds you of God, reminds you of truth, and tells you what you need to know.
“Be still and listen.”
This is the coolest lesson ever. It will bring you into a new experience, if you have the courage to give it a try.
Be still. And listen to the truth.
Ask and expect an answer.
Listen today, and you will hear a Voice which will resound throughout the world through you.
THE HOLY SPIRIT NEEDS YOU!
“He needs your voice to speak to them (all those who sleep and cannot see), for who could reach God’s Son except his Father, calling through your Self? Hear Him today, and offer Him your voice to speak to all the multitude who wait to hear the Word that He will speak today.”
Let me be still and listen to the truth.
I am the messenger of God today.
My voice is His, to give what I receive.
*For every 5 minutes you spend listening = 1000 minds are opened to the truth and they will hear the holy Word you hear.
“God’s peace and joy are mine.”
The more I make these lessons WHAT I AM the more I see things change. It’s spectacular. It really works. You get aligned – get in balance – with your true purpose and things start to shift. People start to give you things. People begin behaving more loving towards you (and more miraculously, toward themselves). You suddenly begin to see the world change which can be an extremely startling thing to witness with your eyes, as you realize: YOU CAUSED IT TO CHANGE AS YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND!
Mind-blowing. Like, wow, I did this. I caused this. I’m responsible for this. And then it’s a happy game you play.
Look at this sentence: “A major learning goal this course has set is to reverse your view of giving, so you can receive. For giving has become a source of fear, and so you would avoid the only means by which you can receive.”
Wow. Giving is the only means by which you can receive!
“True giving is creation.”
Are you giving? Or are you waiting? Or are you drifting along? Holding on to the safe routine?
For me, lately, it’s about stepping out of my comfort zone. Expressing my deepest desires and LIVING IT.
Walking the talk.
BEING the demonstration of the message of Jesus – not just reading about it, thinking about it, or talking about – but BEING it, living it, letting it flow.
Is there something in your mind that is calling you to act? To change? To do things differently? Is there something you would love to do, love to be … but you keep returning to your safe routine?
For me, it’s been a persistent thought that “I’m ignoring something.”
It’s a longing to BE what you know you’re intended to be … and to stop waiting for something to happen but rather to step into THE FLOW: to let yourself be lifted and transported.
“True giving is creation. It extends the limitless to the unlimited, eternity to timelessness, and love unto itself. It adds to all that is complete already, not in terms of adding more, for that implies that it was less before.”
“It adds by letting what cannot contain itself fulfill its aim of giving everything it has away, securing it forever for itself.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am over here laughing like crazy. This is it!
Finally (oh my God, I can’t stop laughing) you cannot contain yourself. The light that is in you cannot contain itself within your body anymore. It starts to move. It starts to give itself away. The peace you feel cannot contain itself. The joy you feel cannot contain itself.
It starts to move and transform everything and everyone.
The light of God moves you. It’s like you don’t even have a choice anymore. You suddenly find yourself helping strangers. You find you have the courage to share your dream to someone. Suddenly you are doing new things, and you don’t even know how or why. You didn’t have a plan, a map, or a destination … but all of a sudden the scenery is different. And you realize – in a flash of clarity – that you are in the passenger seat and Jesus is driving the car! You realize you are not doing anything at all except going along for the ride!
And what a ride it is!
I think the most important thing is to allow a new experience to happen when it starts to happen. I’m famous for halting an experience so that I can keep myself “safe” in the comfortable routine. I start to see things shifting and changing, and I start to get scared. Everything gets turned upside down, all topsy-turvy as the scenery changes and my tendency is to try to reorganize it so that things are predictable.
The light that you are is all-powerful …
“It cannot contain itself.”
“Now are you ready to experience the joy and peace you have denied yourself.”
“You prepare yourself to recognize God’s gifts to you, and let your mind be free of all that would prevent success today.”
“You must succeed today, if you prepare your mind as we suggest. For you have let all bars to peace and joy be lifted up, and what is yours can come to you at last.”
AT LAST!
“Determine not to interfere today with what God wills to give, and wills you to receive.”
So what is it that your really want? Where are you holding back? What is it that you really want to do? Your deepest desire? What is it that you love to do? What would make you happy?
That’s what God wants you to have. That’s what He wants you to do.
This light cannot be contained.
“I seek but what belongs to me in truth.”
A Course in Miracles is not a far-fetched fantasy with nice-sounding ideas that are “idle dreams” that maybe will come true in the future, or maybe are true for other people but not for you.
No.
A Course in Miracles is for YOU, and all that is offered is given to you now. There is no need to wait. No need to anticipate. God does not hold back His gifts. He does not make you wait. He has given you everything already.
So if you are praying for healing to be accomplished or for a “miracle” to happen so there is more love (or abundance, joy, or peace) in your life, it means only that your eyes are closed.
Because God has given you all these things already. He does not hold back and make you wait. God is not testing you. There are no obstacles (except your own resistance and hesitation). There is no such thing as time. Everything you need and want is here & now, today.
All you need do is open your eyes and accept the gifts that are all around you now. They are “at your feet” which means they are right in front of you. You simply need to look and see them.
“Joy and peace are not but idle dreams.”
They are YOUR RIGHT because of what you are. They come to you from God.
So the question is: Is your life one big miracle OR are you still struggling?
Do you still believe that what is being offered here will come to you at some point in the future?
Are you still doing the daily lessons hoping that “someday” you will be transformed?
I can only assume that everyone who reads this blog is in a state of constant happiness since I don’t hear from anyone about confusion or doubt.
This is good!
I can only assume you have everything you want and need, and that you are fulfilling your function as a Teacher of God as a giver of these gifts to help all those who still walk the lonely path which you have escaped.
Or are you still in conflict? Are you still affected by situations, events and people outside of you?
Do you read out of curiosity – feel good for a moment – and then move on to the next webpage? only to find yourself worrying about money (your job, your relationship) an hour later?
If you are worrying about anything, you are not doing what is being asked in A Course in Miracles. You must be running your own show, just a little.
Today, I ask you to really take an honest look at where you are in your life.
This is a “journey without distance” which means there is no time involved. If you are still struggling (or depressed or angry or fearful), I ask that you take a good look at where you are compromising. Where are you holding back? In what areas are you not following the instructions contained in the lessons?
Because if there is still some difficulty in your life IT IS FOR ONE REASON AND ONE REASON ONLY: you are not doing what is being asked of you. You must be compromising in some way. Because this Course becomes entirely true when you do what it is asking of you.
So for example: Today’s lesson gives some good practical instruction “Lay aside the conflicts of the world that offer other gifts and other goals made of illusions.”
So the question is: did you do this? Did you lay aside all conflict?
This is practical instruction that you can apply today. It asks you to lay aside your anger, depression, sadness, sorry, worry and jealousy and everything else that is not joy, peace and happiness. Lays aside all conflicts of the world that offer other gifts and other goals made of illusions.
It takes vigilance and commitment to do what Jesus is asking of you. Every sentence (every single sentence!) is specific instruction.
Just to show you how specific the Course is, here are a few sentences from Lesson 104.
1. Today we would remove all meaningless and self-made gifts which we have placed upon the holy altar.
2. We lay aside the conflict of the world
3. We seek what is truly ours
4. We ask to recognize what God has given us.
5. We clear a holy place within our minds before His altar
6. We come in confidence today
7. We wish for nothing else, for nothing else belongs to us in truth
8. We clear the way for Him
9. We recognize that His Will is done already
10. We recognize that joy and peace belong to us
11. We will not let ourselves lose sight of them between the times we come to seek for them where He has laid them.
12. We bring this reminder to our mind as often as possible: I seek but what belongs to me in truth. God’s gifts of joy and peace are all I want.
Whew!!!!!!!!!! It’s like being in the goddamn military. Like being a Marine. Look at these instructions. This is only 12 sentences out of the whole lessons. There are more! Are you looking at all of them, and doing what they say?
This is the practice of A Course in Miracles.
This is where you will see dramatic results in your life.
Chapter 11 says “You may complain that this course is not sufficiently specific for you to understand and use. Yet perhaps you have not done what it specifically advocates. This is not a course in the play of ideas, but in their practical application.”
It’s totally specific. It says “come in confidence today.” Are you doing that? Coming in confidence today. It says “today.” Or are you waiting for confidence to be bestowed upon you? The lesson instructs: “come in confidence today.”
When the army sargeants drag you through the mud and tell you to do 500 push-ups, and run 5 miles at 4am … you don’t wait for “a miracle” or for inspiration to strike when you feel like doing 500 push-ups and running 5 miles. No. You do them because that’s what is being asked of you. You follow instructions.
You signed up. Maybe you didn’t know what you were in for, but once you’re enlisted, YOU’RE IN … and someone else is in charge of you from that point on.
You just follow along, doing what you’re told.
It’s hard! Yes! I know! It’s not easy to come in confidence when you feel weak and doubtful. But you do it anyways! It’s not easy to do 500 push-ups when you are just starting out. But you get stronger as you practice. It’s not faking. You push yourself and suddenly, you notice that you can do these things effortlessly. It starts to get easier.
In the beginning, it’s not easy to let go of conflict. But you do it because that’s what Jesus is asking you to do. You stop waiting for inspiration to strike. You stop waiting for external conflict to disappear so you can be happy. External conflict will never disappear until you make a conscious decision to let it go … which … no coincidence … is what today’s lesson is asking!
So today, I ask that you look honestly at your life. If this Course is not entirely true for you then there are still areas where you are not following the instruction.
That’s all. You can use today to re-affirm your commitment.
It’s going to push you, and it’s going to hurt. It’s going to hurt when you are asked to give when you feel like you have nothing to give. It hurts to love your enemy when you are pissed off. It hurts to let a grievance go when you want to be right. It hurts to do 500 push-ups in the mud at 4am.
But you are in training.
You are not asked to decide which lessons you like and which you do not like. You are asked to NOT COMPROMISE. “Make no exception.”
And then … wonder of all wonders … life becomes one big miracle for you.
Suddenly it’s true: “there is no order of difficulty in miracles.”
You’ll see, while laughing, that YOU were the obstruction. You will laugh out loud. Nothing was holding you back, except your unwillingness to do what Jesus was asking of you. Once you start following these instructions – sentence by sentence – you will be absolutely astonished & amazed by how transformed your life becomes.
This is a course in MIRACLES.
It’s for you.
“God, being Love, is also happiness.”
The difficulty most people have is that they don’t know who they are or what they want. They meander along aimlessly, waiting waiting waiting for something new to happen.
They keep waiting for a sign, a miracle, or for something to fall from the sky to show them what to do next.
If you are reading this blog: THIS IS THE SIGN YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!
This is the day you receive your gift! Here is your sign. Here is the new beginning.
Nothing new can happen in your life until you KNOW WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU WANT.
You are light, love, joy and happiness. You are the Son God loves. You are healed and whole and perfect, shining in the reflection of God’s Love.
There. Accomplished.
There is no need to search anymore. You’ve been told who you are, and so there is no need to search or struggle. You are God’s Son.
You are loved.
You are safe.
You are perfectly protected. You have a Guide that goes with you everywhere.
Now you can begin to fulfill a function for God that will give you a tremendous amount of satisfaction. Now you can give what you have received to others, and that light will shine back to you 10,000 times more than you gave it.
“Teaching and learning are your greatest strengths now, because they enable you to change your mind and help others change theirs.” (Chapter 4, Section 1)
Know who you are. Help others know who they are.
Change your mind. Help others change their mind.
You are here only to be truly helpful. You are here on earth to represent God Who sent you.
How simple!
Demonstrate that you are not an ego. Demonstrate that you are light, joy and happiness. Demonstrate your Father’s Love here so all can see it.
The simplicity of this is astonishing!
There is nothing to understand. It’s not complicated at all. There is nothing “to get.”
You are what everything is!
Focus that energy into a single purpose. Don’t scatter your light into 5 different places. Put all your eggs in one basket – truth – and stay focused.
This is “The Secret” which is no secret. It’s out in the open. What you think about all day long manifests into the physical world. Where you focus your attention is what becomes your reality.
So what do you want?
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT AND GO FOR IT.
Most everyone I know wants to be happy and to be healed of their fear-based thinking. To have a higher purpose which gives their life meaning. To be free, not bound by circumstances.
How is healing accomplished?
Chapter 5 says “to heal is to make happy.”
Jesus says:
“I have told you think how many opportunities you have had to gladden yourself, and how many you have refused. This is the same as telling you that you have refused to heal yourself. The light that belongs to you is the light of joy.”
“JOY CALLS FORTH AN INTEGRATED WILLINGNESS TO SHARE IT, AND PROMOTES THE MIND’S NATURAL IMPULSE TO RESPOND AS ONE.”
That’s incredible.
Also in Chapter 5, it talks about how the Holy Spirit “induces a kind of perception in which many elements are like those in the Kingdom of Heaven itself” and:
“It points the way beyond the healing that it brings, and leads the mind beyond its own integration toward the paths of creation. It is at this point that sufficient quantitative change occurs to produce a real qualitative shift.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I read this last night, I had to stop for about 10 minutes. I couldn’t get past that paragraph. I kept staring it. I sat there is most immense wonder. It’s so unbelievable. I am led beyond healing and beyond integration (which are accomplished by the Holy Spirit, so all I need is to accept that healing is accomplished) and this leads me to creation.
“It is at this point that sufficient quantitative change occurs to produce a real qualitative shift.”
I am still in awe.
All my years of work – the QUANTITY of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years – of practicing, of forgiveness, of integration with God’s Mind, of reading, of teaching, of writing, of giving, of praying … all of it … has led to a QUALITY shift where everything is transformed.
All my work in my single mind, which seems contained in my single body, suddenly explodes and the whole world starts thinking differently.
The quality of thinking has changed.
This a monumental time to be alive because we are witnessing a real shift in consciousness – literally – where people are beginning to think differently. More and more people are beginning to realize that if bad things are happening in their life … they are causing it!
And further … they are beginning to take responsibility to turn it around!
This is miracle-minded thinking.
From Chapter 2:
“If a sufficient number (of individuals) become truly miracle minded, this shortening process (of time, of fear, of pain & suffering) can be virtually immeasurable.”
It’s the 100th Monkey Syndrome.
When enough people change their mind to think with God, a universal quantum shift occurs FOR THE WHOLE WORLD where everyone starts thinking with God – with love, with appreciation, and with happiness as the dominant emotion.
It’s no accident that Oprah is now broadcasting this new way of thinking to millions across the world, and that people are beginning to think differently, to find purpose, and to find peace & joy.
God, being Love, is also happiness.
There is no fear in love. There is no fear in God. There is no fear in you.
“Allow this one correction to be within your mind each waking hour today:
God, being Love, is also happiness.
To fear Him is to be afraid of joy.”
“I share God’s Will for happiness for me.”
You do not want to suffer.
This sentence makes me laugh. Jesus does not mince words. He does not beat around the bush. He cuts to the chase.
You do not want to suffer.
That’s true, right? You do not want to suffer.
So why do you?
This course does not take any time. If you think happiness takes time, then you believe in a future which means you are NOT present now.
There is an energy field that is available to you RIGHT IN THIS SECOND where there is only love. It’s a whole new world. It’s a frequency of energy where there are no problems, no sorrow, no confusion, no attack, and no doubt. It’s going on right now, right here. It exists simultaneously with the world of pain and suffering. The two worlds operate at exactly the same time in this moment while you read these words. But there is no meeting place between these two worlds.
If you are in a world of pain, then you are NOT in a world of love. You cannot be in both places at the same time.
While you are operating in a frequency of energy where you still plan, plot, visualize, scheme, and strive then you are NOT in the frequency of energy where the Holy Spirit goes ahead of you and makes the path clear.
I’ll try to show this to you with two lines:
______________________________Heaven. Love. Joy. Happiness
_______________________________ world of pain and suffering.
There is no meeting place between these two places. To get out of the world of pain and suffering, you have to rise up. A Course in Miracles calls it “Above the Battleground.”
I want you to see this. A Course in Miracles is about a change of mind. And the only person that can change your mind is you.
I cannot do this for you. I can only direct your attention to the truth, and you must have the willingness to give it a try. It’s not even a doing. It’s not even a trying. There is nothing “to get.”
I find that a lot of people “struggle against” and “fight against” the simplicity of what is available right now.
While you sit in sadness and confusion, love is all around you.
You don’t have to read another book. You don’t have to go to another workshop. You don’t have to wait till the end of 2008 when you finish all 365 workbook lessons. No. The peace and joy that is being offered to you is available to you now, as you direct your mind to something entirely brand new.
Of course, since the space I am talking about is entirely brand new, then it becomes logical that you cannot do anything to reach this place! Oh, the paradox! You want to reach a new place but cannot get there through any means of past learning! IT’S BRAND NEW!
So, this new space is revealed in a moment of clarity. You don’t have to do anything to reach this place, except have a willingness to let go of all your past ideas.
Lesson 102 says: “today we try to loose its weakened hold still further, and to recognize that pain is purposeless, without a cause and with no power to accomplish anything.”
So, look at this in terms of ENERGY FIELDS. You live in a certain energy field where suffering and problems exist.
Going on simultaneous is a place you can reach today that is the creative action of your mind with God’s Mind where there is only love.
Here is creation.
TODAY … here is a good gift for you … today you are allowing yourself to be open to a new possibility to reach this place. All you need is a little willingness and this alone will “loosen its weakened hold.”
You are trying to get out of the energy field of pain & conflict, not by struggling, but by letting go. By looking logically at the fact that suffering offers you nothing.
I am going to give you a simple way to get out of the energy field, “to loosen its hold.” This alone will accomplish it for you.
Say this out loud, and mean it:
I do not want to suffer.
If you say this and do not mean it, then you should be happy that you are getting what you want. Some people like to suffer. I don’t understand why, but hey! if you like suffering, then you should be overjoyed that you are getting what you asked for.
So no matter what you choose – pain or joy – YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY!
But if you say this – I do not want to suffer – and really mean it and pain is NOT making you happy … this declaration will loosen you out of the world/frequency where problems exist. It’s just a plane of consciousness. It’s nothing more. While you think you have problems or that you are a victim trapped by circumstances (in your job, your relationships) the only thing that is happening is that you are operating in a certain field of energy.
CHANGE YOUR MIND AND GET OUT OF THAT FREQUENCY.
This is so simple, it’s funny.
Listen to this:
“For several days we will continue to devote our periods of practicing to exercises planned to help you reach the happiness God’s Will has placed in you.”
Now read it in terms of energy fields.
For several days now we will continue to devote ourselves to reaching new energy fields where happiness exists.
This exists all within your mind. This is the reason you do not have to change anything external. You devote your mind to reaching that place in you where no problems exist.
You do not want to suffer.
Admit it. Come clean. You do not want to suffer. Who does?
It is not reality. It is not life. It is not God’s Will for you. You do not need to suffer.
All that really needs to happen is for you to take responsibility to realize that this world is thought, and is caused by you .. and that the minute you decide to change your mind (to rise to a new energy frequency), the world will change.
As always, this is an experience you need to see with your own eyes.
If you are struggling with this and have no idea what I am talking about, I would appreciate it if you would write to me:
lisanatoli2@gmail.com
There is NO need for you to suffer for even one more hour.
This is not a game of make pretend. This is not about faking it. This is not about positive affirmations.
God’s Will for you is perfect happiness.
“God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.”
If you are not happy, it is because you like conflict.
That’s it. Plain & simple.
God’s Will for you is happiness, with no fluctuation.
If you are sad, jealous, angry, or depressed … it’s because you like to participate in conflict.
If you see reason to attack someone else’s position, to defend yourself, to judge … go ahead, have fun with that … but be prepared for the consequences. You are only harming yourself and what you put out there WILL bounce back to you.
Give love and you will get love.
Attack and you will be attacked.
That’s all. It’s not a big deal. Cause and effect.
If you are not happy all the time, it is because you like conflict. Admit it. You like to stir the pot. You like the feelings of chaos, doubt, and confusion.
So, don’t act all surprised.
You are getting exactly what you asked for.
When you participate in conflict, you get more conflict. When you attack, you get attacked. When you judge others, others seem to be judging you. When you are sick, you get more sickness. When you are depressed, you get more depression.
You are all light. And when the light in you is dark it is doubly dark.
Matthew 6:23: “But if thine eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. Therefore if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Luke 11:34-35: “The light of the body is the eye; therefore when thy eye is single thy whole body is also full of light; but when thy eye is evil, thy body is also full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not of darkness.”
Amazing, right? You are all light and turning it into darkness.
How great is that darkness!
When you turn the light of you into darkness, it gets darker than ever. Why would you do that to yourself?
You have one function: to be what you are. You are all light. So just be that.
God’s Will for you is perfect happiness.
It’s not about faking or pretending or saying positive affirmations when you feel like crap. Knowing yourself as God created you produces a real experience of HAPPINESS where everything makes you happy.
When you feel like crap, just realize that you are making a decision to feel that way. That’s all. It’s simple. No one doing anything to you. Nothing at all is happening and you are getting all bent out of shape as if things are happening to you, as if people are ignoring you, and as if you are not getting your right due.
YOU ARE DOING IT TO YOURSELF!
I loved on Oprah/Eckhart the other night when some guy from Madison, WI called in on Skype complaining about his wife and how his wife is the problem … and Oprah went “hmmmmmmmmmmmmm” and then leaned back in chair, smiling, all knowing.
That was so funny. People are starting to see clearly. If someone is complaining … the person doing the complaining is the problem AND NOT the person they are complaining about. This is a monumental shift in consciousness from the way people are used to thinking.
Here is Christ vision. This is what it means to “see.” Gone are the days of Jerry Springer type shows where the blame is placed on the other person. Gone are the days of analyzing other people’s insane behavior trying to figure out how “they” should change.
If you see insanity in other people, the only place it needs correction is in your own mind.
If there is chaos or abuse in your life, you are causing it. You’re doing it to yourself. There are no other people. If you are being ignored, cheated, and attacked, you need only look to your own mind to see what is really going on.
Be honest.
It’s so simple: just be yourself. Be your authentic Self as God created you – innocent, generous, patient joyful, gentle, tolerant – and this is all the magnitude in the universe.
“God’s Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and suffering is causeless.”
“Pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself.”
Know yourself as God created you and you will be happy!
YOU ARE EXTREMELY VALUABLE!
This post was written by Monica Dubay and it’s awesome.
Check out her ACIM blog for more great articles: Resurrected Mind
by Monica Dubay
I was on a flight to visit my father, who was spending some time in Florida visiting the places he used to go with my mother before she died. I decided it would be better if he had some companionship. As I was sitting there, reading a book I happened to pick up the airport, a voice spoke to me. It said, “You are extremely valuable!”
I’ll never forget it. It took my by surprise and I felt the import of the words. I let them change me, right then and there. And I really took it to heart. I have to recognize that I am being helped. I can really feel these awakened masters with me and I know that I am not ever alone. When guidance comes in this strong, I pay attention.
Listen to this from Chapter 18, “Littleness and glory are the choices open to your striving and your vigilance. You will always choose one at the expense of the other. Yet what you do not realize, each time you choose, is that your choice is your evaluation of yourself.”
Isn’t that amazing? Your striving is always either toward glory or toward littleness. Ideas of lack or limitation in your mind are killing you. They are literally denying you your true nature.
What if I am here to be a totally glorious awakened teacher of God in service to mankind because of my commitment to the truth? What if that were true?
Well, it is. I am extremely valuable.
I am perfect and whole as God created me and I have nothing to say about it. My ideas of denial are nothing. It doesn’t even make any sense to anyone, especially me. I know that I am happiest when I am giving to someone. When I have stopped to ask myself, do I really like myself and what I am doing right now? Do I enjoy this? Do I like what I spend my time doing? Do I like my partner, my children? Am I feeling glorious, or small? Is this working or not? Do I feel appreciated, loved, cared for. Am I appreciating myself? Loving myself?
This is really important. Because after two marriages, I have to pull myself up on how I let myself stay in unhappy situations too long. How I worked at a job not because I liked it, but because it paid the bills. I have to recognize that I have been making the choice for littleness and that my true desire is to experience the glory of my Self and extend that into the universe. I have to value myself entirely and recognize that I am whole.
My entire reference for my life has shifted. I no longer tolerate unkindness from anyone. Period. And I refuse to be unkind to anyone. I have to be admonished for impatience and mistrust. I have to see that I have tried to find happiness outside of me, in relationships or external circumstances. None of which has worked.
I am whole and perfect as God created me. That means I am honest, faithful, trusting, giving, and joyful. I must accept that these are the attributes I want to experience. Nothing less than happiness, which is a constant state, by the way. Consistency is honesty. And true happiness never wavers. I can experience happiness all the time if I am vigilant in my mind to be who I really am.
It’s not easy. Here in this place I always feel a little bit afraid of people. I just do. It comes from a knowing that I do not belong here. And I am trying to find a way to be here. I have to earn money because I have children and I really enjoy seeing them. Working is giving and I have learned to enjoy working. I hate just sitting around or just watching movies. I am not entertained by this world any more. The only joy I really feel is in extending.
You might think it impossible to be happy all the time. I do want it, though. I want to experience only that. Only peace, only joy and only love.
In my awakened state, I know it’s true. Yet, I die daily. I allow all my ideas to come into my awareness, admit them, and then let go. I am challenged by the practice I live by, which is to constantly surrender each unloving thought. In that choice, I am willing to be utilized. I want to know myself as I truly am. I am free to be myself. It has nothing, NOTHING to do with anyone else.
Freedom is freedom from judgment. Period. I no longer worry about what others think of me. I am MY SELF.
I have chosen to be in my glory. I simply have to accept that God is love. If God is love, so am I. There is no such thing as conflict or fear. Period. I don’t tolerate it.
Finally, enlightenment is a choice to be the love that you are. A recognition of the truth of you. You are extremely valuable! And you have nothing to say about it. The sooner you experience it, the happier you will be. You might as well accept it right now. Don’t allow any doubts to enter. Just be free of all the nonsense for a moment and let your light shine before men.
What have you got to lose?
Blessings.
Monica
Resurrected Mind Blog
“My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.”
This is my very favorite lesson in A Course in Miracles. I know I say I love them all (because I do!) but Lesson 100 is my #1 favorite.
It reads like a job description for working for God.
It tells you what the employee benefits are, along with what is required of you on the job to allow God’s plan to be understood by those God sends to you.
I used to work in NYC in publishing and occasionally I’d travel – I’d be sent right in with the sharks, to sit in on meetings with CEO’s of huge companies and there I was this little 20-something girl from New Hampshire – and the publisher would call me into his office the day before my trip to give me advice about what I should do to succeed and not get killed and maimed.
What he said always worked. The #1 best advice he gave to me is “don’t try to compete with them – you are not them. They are powerful rich men who have been in business a long time. Just be yourself. You’ll be a fresh of breath air to them.”
The other thing I noticed is that he had faith in me. He trusted me to go alone. He didn’t feel like he had to chaperone me on these trips. He gave me advance instructions and then sent me on my way. He had total confidence in me, which surprised me every time. I always felt they must have made a mistake in hiring me, like there must have been an office glitch in Human Resources and they accidentally picked out the wrong resume and that it would only be a matter of time before they had realized their huge error.
But instead they kept showering me with praise & promotions & bigger paychecks.
All the while I kept thinking: it’s only a matter of time before they find out they chose the wrong person for the job! Certainly there is someone with more talent and experience than me, who is better suited for this job!
I sat on pins & needles the first two years, waiting for them to discover their error in hiring me.
So it is with Lesson 100 and this work of being a Teacher of God.
It kind of shocks you to your core when you realize God chose you to save the world. You think: there must be a mistake here. I’m the biggest screw-up there is! I can’t save the world! This is an error on a scope so huge, I don’t know what to do! There are definitely other better qualified people to do the work God needs to be done!
Save the world! Are you kidding me?????
But God doesn’t make mistakes. He chose you. He hand-picked you to usher in a new world by demonstrating His Love on earth and extending the light of Heaven here in this very dark place.
How else could this be accomplished except through you????????
Your part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.
So here is God calling you into his office before you go out there into the world among sharks … and He’s giving you specific instructions on what to do.
Here is what is being asked of you:
1. Your joy must be complete to let His plan be understood by those to whom He sends you. They will see their function in your shining face, and hear God calling to them in your happy laugh.
2. You are indeed essential to God’s plan.
3. Without your joy, His joy is incomplete.
4. Without your smile, the world cannot be saved.
5. While you are sad, the light that God Himself appointed as the means to save the world is dim and lusterless, and no one laughs because all laughter can but echo yours.
6. You are indeed essential to God’s plan.
7. Just as your light increases every light that shines in Heaven, so your joy on earth calls to all minds to let their sorrows go, and take their place beside you in God’s plan.
8. God’s messengers are joyous, and their joy heals sorrow and despair.
9. God’s messengers are the proof that God wills perfect happiness for all who will accept their Father’s gifts as theirs.
10. We will not let ourselves be sad today.
That’s part of the job: do not let yourself be sad today.
It’s not a question of “are you capable of this” … no, it’s part of the job description. When an employer tells you what to do, you follow instructions because it’s your job.
“We will not let ourselves be sad today. For if we do, we fail to take the part that is essential to God’s plan, as well as to our vision. Sadness is a sign that you would play another part, instead of what has been assigned to you by God.”
SADNESS IS A SIGN THAT YOU WOULD PLAY ANOTHER PART, INSTEAD OF WHAT HAS BEEN ASSIGNED TO YOU BY GOD.
“Today we will attempt to understand joy is our function here.”
JOY IS OUR FUNCTION HERE.
“If you are sad, your part is unfulfilled, and all the world is thus deprived of joy, along with you.”
GOD ASKS YOU TO BE HAPPY.
“God asks you to be happy, so the world can see how much He loves His Son and wills no sorrow abate his joy; no fear besets him to disturb his peace.”
YOU ARE GOD’S MESSENGER TODAY.
Can you understand the magnitude of what this says? Can you see what is being asked of you?
You are asked to let go of process, and take your place today as God’s joyous messenger, complete and healed and whole.
You finally stop asking “What’s in it for me?” and you start asking “how can I serve others? How can I be helpful? What can I give to make others happy?”
God’s Will for you is perfect happiness. This is His gift to you.
Now you give to others.
God gives to you, and you extend to others. See how this works? It’s a perfect simple system.
How else would the light of Heaven find its way into this dark place of pain, chaos and death except through you?
“You are essential to His plan. You are His messenger today. And you must find what He would have you give.”
You came here into this world to find what is being offered to you today. You have been searching for meaning and purpose. You have been looking everywhere for it, for many years.
Today, at last, you are being told why you are here and what your purpose is! Here is the end of seeking and searching.
“It is your function to find the joy that proves to us and all the world God’s Will for us. It if your function that you find it here, and that you find it now. For this you came.”
Let this one be the day that you succeed!
What little thought has power to hold you back?
BE UNDISMAYED BY ALL THE LITTLE THOUGHTS AND FOOLISH GOALS.
Now, you are playing with the big boys.
Time to put your foolish toys away, and take your place as the Savior of the world.
You are essential to God’s plan for salvation.
Here is my all-new favorite thing to eat:
MOCK TUNA FISH SANDWICHES
Last week I was having a wicked craving for tuna fish. Before turning vegetarian 7 years ago, tuna fish sandwiches were my all time favorite thing in the world. I basically ate them every day and never got tired of them. Then I gave up meat and fish and that all changed.
But last week, I was wanting tuna fish soooo bad that I almost went and bought a can of the real stuff, which seemed easier than driving 50 miles to Madison, WI to Wholefoods to buy a can of Morningstar fake veggie tuna (which I’ve never tried):
I wasn’t about to drive 50 miles to satisfy a craving and when I thought about it: I wasn’t going to eat real tuna fish either.
But the craving wouldn’t go away. I was dreaming tuna fish sandwiches! So i told someone about it and she said: Oh i have the best recipe for you! It’s better than tuna!
And she’s right.
This is exactly like tuna fish, only better!
MOCK TUNA FISH:
1 can of chick peas, mashed up with a fork (or with your fingers)
Hellman’s mayonaisse
sweet relish
chopped-up olives
mustard
Great with baby spinach on wheat bread or wraps.
Sounds gross, but it’s totally delicious.
“Salvation is my only function here.”
This past week has been so interesting to me. Cobwebs are being swept away. Spring cleaning. Moving away old heavy furniture of the mind, and clearing a space for something new. It feels great.
This whole past week the thought in my mind has been: KNOW WHAT YOU WANT.
My ultimate goal has always been to be happy and at peace … but that is accomplished as I have trained my mind sufficiently to see things differently as every situation arises. Now it can extend from me to others. Now I am moving into new territory, finding ways to help others. Finding DEFINITE PURPOSE as it defines my life and helps other people.
Salvation is my only function here.
I’m getting clear now. What do I want? What is my function? Know what you want. What is my vision?
To bring the mind training of A Course in Miracles to the world. To teach that there is another way of thinking and looking at everything. To help people help themselves. To inspire and encourage people to realize there is more to life than accepting what is thrown at you, like scraps to a dog.
I’m not content to sit around and say it is accomplished. That’s child-play and make pretend. It’s not accomplished till I see that every person in the world is happy.
The beautiful part is that I’m watching it in action: for myself and others.
“Training your mind in a systematic way” works. I get letters every single day from people all around the world telling me the most amazing stories of how their lives are transforming. I’m grateful to be witnessing it with my own eyes. I’m standing at the ground floor watching the foundation being built.
It’s not a fantasy anymore. I’m watching it being built.
The construction has begun. We have started building. Changing lives one person at a time, beginning with me and then extending to everyone and everything in the world.
I just finished reading the Starbucks story called Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks built a company one cup at a time. This is an accurate title: their built their company one cup of coffee at a time. They are not franchised. They built that company from one little store in 1971 and no money. Starbucks was this tiny little coffee bean store in Seattle, WA in 1971. They only sold coffee beans at the time. One little store. Along the way to becoming “Starbucks” (as we know it now with stores in every town and city) it encountered enormous failure. ENORMOUS FAILURE. Millions of dollars lost. People saying “no, it can’t be done” but Howard Schultz kept his vision. He kept going. For 3 years the company lost millions of dollars. Investors wanted to pull the plug and many backed out. Said it wouldn’t work. Said it couldn’t be done. Don’t be stupid. It’s a ridiculous idea – selling espresso. You look like an idiot.
But Howard kept going with his dream. And look what happened! What he did was find a few individuals – he could count them on one hand – who believed in him and his vision (despite all appearances) and they took that dream and made it a reality.
His success is that he believed in what he was offering and he had faith in the people who were helping him. He was willing to be wrong about everything, and he let other people step in and help him. He gave over his tight control of how it should look, and he realized with a vision of such magnitude he needed to TRUST other people to do their jobs and help him.
At a certain level, it started to get bigger than him and he realized he couldn’t do it alone. He needed all the help he could get.
Which is exactly how I feel. I need all the help I can get.
I have a tendency to want to give up when things are failing. But I have a vision. I have a vision of every person in the world owning A Course in Miracles and practicing and applying the lessons in their daily life.
I love the story of the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe being told they had no talent and would never make it. But they did not listen to “one person’s opinion.” They kept going.
Howard Schulz, CEO and founder of Starbucks, was walking down the street in Chicago in the late 80′s, when they only had 5 stores in Seattle and he said to a friend “one day everyone walking down this street will be carrying a Starbucks” and his friend said: “You’re crazy. It’ll never happen.”
hahahahahahahaaha. Who’s laughing now? He had a vision. He saw it while everyone else said “it can’t be done. don’t even bother trying. it’s a waste of time. Get a job. Do something different. It’ll never work.”
Logically, he should have given up. All signs pointed to failure. He and his family didn’t have any money for many years. He was losing other people’s money. But it was like he didn’t have a choice and had to keep going forward … succeed or die trying!
Salvation is my only function.
I teach A Course in Miracles. It’s the one thing that brings me immense joy. It’s what I am and what I do. I am a Mind that can bring joy to every mind, and heal all sorrow and sickness.
I am THE PROOF that God’s Will for me (and everyone) is perfect happiness.
I like how ACIM calls it a “plan of God” which reminds me of building a house with blueprints. First you have a vision, an idea, and then you draw it out, and then you start building from the ground up. This is God’s plan. We’ve been given a map, instructions, and building guidelines. It’s not a fantasy anymore.
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT.
Salvation.
To help the lonely, the afraid, the depressed, the addict, the confused, the sick, the dying, the poor, the rich … to see life differently.
I’m not offering coffee. I’m offering salvation. Not one cup at a time. But one person at a time.
“Till everyone walking down this street” sees clearly.
Salvation is my only function here.
This is my function.
The other thing I love about the Starbucks story is that Howard Shultz made thousands of costly mistakes along the way. HUGE BLUNDERING MISTAKES. Massive setbacks. But instead of seeing them as mistakes, he saw only obstacles and opportunities to make things better. No matter what happened, he kept going forward with his vision.
Succeed or die trying.
Salvation is my only function. I’m not finished till every person in this world knows happiness, peace & joy as their birthright.
I have ZERO idea how this is accomplished (in the specifics) but with the help of God, I’m determined to find out.
Succeed or die trying.
I love this. Written by Deepak Chopra.
“If we are constantly creating ourselves all the time, then it is never too late to begin creating the bodies we want instead of the ones we mistakenly assume we are stuck with.”
“Every breath is a creative act.”
“Why is it that we are not all perfectly healthy today?”
??????????????????????
by Deepak Chopra:
Every breath you take is a creative act. The molecules in the air are random and chaotic. If they happen to enter your body, they magically acquire a purpose and an identity. Could any act be more creative? Consider what happens to a single oxygen atom as you breathe it in. Within a few thousandths of a second it passes through the moist, nearly transparent membranes of the lungs. It immediately attaches itself to the hemoglobin inside one of your red blood cells. In an instant, a remarkable transformation occurs. The blood cell changes color, from the dark blue-black of oxygen-starved hemoglobin to the bright red of oxygen-rich hemoglobin, and a stray atom of air suddenly becomes YOU. It has crossed the invisible boundary dividing the lifeless from the living.
This is how the river of life– the river of the body– moves along, with
utmost fluidity, intelligence, and creativity. We are placed here in this
world to manage a project that is equivalent to building a new universe
every day. Creating yourself is not just a full-time job, it is a
staggering one.
Why is it that we are all not perfectly healthy today? Ultimately it is a
matter of awareness, of how we see ourselves. If you look closely at your own life, you will realize that you send signals to your body that repeat the same old beliefs, the same old fears and wishes, the same old habits of yesterday and the day before. That is why you are stuck with the same old body.
It takes breakthrough thinking to change this kind of awareness. How can
you achieve this? The answer is surprisingly simple. The gigantically
complex project of creating yourself can be broken down into just a few
processes that come under your control every day: eating, digestion and assimilation, elimination, and breathing. In addition to these, the most important routine to follow is transcending– the act of getting in touch with the quantum level of your self. Practicing a form of meditation is the key to achieving this. According to Ayurveda, this is the way to boost ordinary existence to a higher plane.
I often gather all these processes together under one heading– living in
tune with your quantum mechanical body. This is the total created act of life. If you live in tune with your body in this way, all of your daily
activities– no matter what they are at whatever time of year– will
proceed as smoothly as the processes of eating, digestion and assimilation, elimination, breathing, and meditation.
The truth is that every person expects to get sick at some time in his or
her life; to expect otherwise seems almost illegal. Yet the Ayurvedic sages looked at life through different eyes. A famous Vedic verse says, “It is our duty to the rest of mankind to be perfectly healthy, because we are ripples in the ocean of consciousness, and when we are sick, even a little, we disrupt cosmic harmony.”
Can you see the basis for this extraordinary saying? It is not correct to
see yourself as an isolated organism in time and space, occupying six cubic feet of volume and lasting seven or eight decades. Rather, you are one cell in the cosmic body, entitled to all the privileges of your cosmic status, including perfect health. Nature made us thinkers so that we could realize this truth. As another Vedic verse declares, “The inner intelligence of the body is the ultimate genius in nature. It mirrors the wisdom of the cosmos.” This genius is inside you, a part of your inner blueprint that cannot be erased.
I believe that there is no sharp boundary dividing you from the rest of the universe. Each of us is balanced between the infinite and the
infinitesimal. The same protons found in the hearts of stars, which have
lived at least five billion years, take up residence inside us. The
neutrinos that streak through Earth in a few billionths of a second are
part of us for a brief instant, too.
In the midst of the distractions and possible stress you may feel in the
next couple of months, remember that you are a flowing river of atoms and molecules collected from every corner of the cosmos. You are an outcropping of energy whose waves extend to the edges of the unified field. You are a reservoir of intelligence that cannot be exhausted, because Nature as a whole is inexhaustible.
From Deepak Chopra’s monthly newsletter:
‘Infinite Possibilities for Body, Mind and Soul’
P.O. Box 420051, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0051
November 1998
Wow. Tanja’s daily blog is so amazing. I read it every day. She posts in the afternoon. For those of you who are following along with the daily lessons of A Course in Miracles who want some more reminders, more reinforcements or additional simple practical advice, this is the place to go:
“I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.”
Today is a day of special dedication.
No, it’s not my birthday (but soon! May 2nd!) ….
Today is a day of special dedication for YOU and for all the world.
Today … “We take a stand on but one side today. We side with truth and let illusions go. We will not vacillate between the two, but take a firm position with the One.”
“We dedicate ourselves to truth today, and to salvation as God planned it be. We will not seek for it where it is not. In gladness we accept it as it is, and take the part assigned to us by God.”
Insert YOUR NAME here:
And say these words out loud:
“I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.”
Today is your commitment ceremony … realizing how much a union with God offers you.
It offers you everything. And since you are already joined with God in truth, it requires nothing but acceptance of what is already true.
Joined with God and every living thing, letting illusions go.
It’s already accomplished so you have nothing to lose by saying Yes!
Saying Yes! brings this simple fact into your awareness. You are already joined with God, but perhaps you do not know it. God does not need your commitment … He doesn’t even know of separation … but you need it.
Do you, (insert your name), accept your part in God’s plan for salvation?
I do!
“How happy to be certain! All our doubts we lay aside today, and take our stand with certainty of purpose, and with thanks that doubt is gone and surety has come. We have a mighty purpose to fulfill, and have been given everything we need with which to read the goal. Not one mistake stands in our way. For we have been absolved from errors. All our sins are washed away by realizing they were but mistakes.”
In a very real sense, it’s marrying Jesus – with everyone & everything in the world joined with you – all the angels rejoicing and God standing there at the altar with you as Best Man.
It’s a day of special dedication. You take your place beside Jesus, siding with truth and letting illusions go.
“The strongest force in the world is genuine and everlasting commitment.”
“I am spirit”
I love this lesson. Like all of them, you should test it out. Try it on. See if it fits. Give this lesson a ride around the neighborhood and see how you like it.
These lessons are not just to be read. They are to be used. They are to be tried on like clothing. It’s one thing to look at a photo of something you want in a magazine – a car, a dress, a house – it’s a whole other thing to have it in your life. Where it jumps to life off the page and becomes yours.
This is what it is like with the lessons of A Course in Miracles. They are still and lifeless while they sit on the page. They do nothing of themselves until you OWN them. You must make them yours. Try them on. Take them out for a test drive.
You won’t know you are Spirit until you start being Spirit.
You will never know what it’s like to drive in a Porsche while you stand in the showroom floor looking at it. You actually have to get in it, turn the key and drive out of the parking lot.
So it is with these lessons.
You must make these lessons come alive for you.
Get in, turn the key, slide into these lessons, and away you go.
Emmet Fox wrote a great article called The Seven Day Mental Diet where you make a decision to not complain for an entire week. It’s a one week MENTAL DIET to transform your thinking and ultimately your life.
In essence, you decide to become what you truly are: Spirit.
I’d like for you to try it. For 7 days, BE these lessons.
Don’t just “do” them … BE THEM.
Be Spirit.
Don’t just think about Spirit. Don’t pray that you wake up one morning transformed (this will take forever). Just be it!
Be Spirit.
Be Light.
It’s what you are.
I’ve said this before: a lot of people (me!) wait around for a “miracle” to happen or think they have to finish all 365 lessons to be transformed, but the transformation happens today. It’s happens by your decision. It happens when you decide it happens.
If you want to be happy and at peace and filled with energy, it is given to you in the second you decide that’s what you want.
It’s not difficult because Spirit is what you are in truth. Spirit is what you are under all your ideas and self-concepts.
Forget about the body. Watch your language and catch yourself when you start relating to yourself as a body. Watch your use of the word “I”. Is it Spirit, or is it an “I” that wants to come into a Spirit experience? You’ll notice the difference.
The “I” that knows itself as Spirit is eternally happy. It gives and loves and rejoices. The other “I” that thinks it is a body is constantly wanting things to change and is typically in a state of depression or anxiety.
The “I” that thinks it is a body wants to protect itself, be safe, change the body, change other people, and wishes for situations to be different. It is continually on a diet. It has addictions. It has problems. It thinks about death, worries about money, and is constantly afraid, bored, or confused.
Spirit, on the other hand, acts. It moves. It accepts. It rejoices. It’s energy. It doesn’t wait around. It realizes it is safe and healed. Spirit recognizes it’s wholeness. In the simplicity of this recognition, it wants only to extend light and love to other people.
Say this to yourself:
“Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world.”
“Saving the world” is accomplished in my mind as I remember the truth. All I need do is give a few minutes of every hour to the Holy Spirit and He does the rest.
One week. 7 days.
Be Spirit. Give. Live. Forgive. Love. Create. Move. Be active.
Of course, once you accomplish 7 days of being Spirit, you’ll never want to go back to being a human being in a body. It’s just too painful.
