Creation’s gentleness is all I see.
It’s Sunday morning. Let’s have some fun.
My cat Enzo has sprung to life. A few days ago I was tripping out a little realizing that he’s my creation and not even there, and that his sickness is due to ideas that I hold in my own mind. And here’s the trippy part: He healed entirely in that moment. He started eating and all the yellow jaundice disappeared! I am not exaggerating. It was the weirdest thing. I mean, yes, I know I teach this stuff, but rarely do I see such a dramatic example of healing, right before my eyes.
This is creation’s gentleness.
“I have indeed misunderstood the world, because I laid my sins on it and saw them looking back at me.”
I got a great message yesterday from a friend who wants to help a person who is seriously sick, but the seriously sick person is angry and doesn’t want help. I wrote back to my friend and said: that seriously sick person is YOUR idea of sickness. She’s not sick, you are. If you see sickness, then the only place that healing needs to occur is in your own mind. As you are healed, she will heal. Heal your friend by seeing her as she truly is: healed and whole and perfect. See no one as a body. See only the light. See only God in everyone and everything.
Sickness does not exist except as an idea in the mind.
This is the reason I don’t have to preach this message to anyone. I am grateful for this blog where I can express ideas that matter to me, and if you want to show up and peek through the window that is my mind though my writing and this website, well then … awesome. But in my daily life, I preach to no one.
When I am with my friends or family, I do the simple things: cook, read, play, shop, laugh and play.
The only person who needs to practice self-responsibility is me. When I accept Atonement for myself, the world is healed. My mind has the power to heal all sickness, in everyone, for all time.
This is the real work I do: to stay vigilant, to keep remembering the truth, and to remember God and my brothers.
The world of time is the world of illusions.
As you know, I have been in some serious transition lately. The old ways (that I depended on for safety and security) are gone and the new ways have not yet arrived. The world is in serious transition. It’s like everyone is waiting on pins and needles. You all saw what happened last week with financial markets collapsing. The housing market is failing. Marriages are failing. The banks are failing. The economy is failing. As a result, the government prints pretend money. We might as well start using Monopoly money. It’s the same thing. Paper that’s valueless.
Everyone is scrambling for dry land, to find a place where they can rest in safety and peace.
It should be evident by now: THERE IS NO SAFETY IN THE WORLD. Everything ends in death.
When the shit is hitting the fan, don’t let your emotions get the best of you. SLOW DOWN & STAY CALM. This is my own advice to myself. My mind is the only place in the whole world where I can find real lasting comfort.
When I can calm down my panic thoughts enough to listen to the Voice of God (which is the Voice of reason), I am told exactly what to do, where to go, and what to say … and life is one big miracle.
“Today I see the world in the celestial gentleness which creation shines. There is no fear in it. let no appearance of my sins obscure the light of Heaven shining on the world. What is reflected there is in God’s mind. The images I see reflect my thoughts.”
THE IMAGES I SEE REFLECTS MY THOUGHTS.
Yet is my mind at one with God’s. And so I can perceive creation’s gentleness.
A prayer:
Father, In quiet would I look upon the world, which but reflects Your Thoughts and mine as well. Let me remember that they are the same, and I will see creation’s gentleness.
In case of a disaster, here’s good advice: CLIMB TO HIGHER GROUND.
Climb to God.
I am surrounded by the Love of God.
This is the truth. I’ve got helpers everywhere. Thank you all for showing up here. Your comments, letters, emails and love are appreciated more than I can say. I read all your letters as they are magnificent jewels in my life.
Today’s lesson is great – we are joined in purpose.
The reason this blog is so fun for me is that I love sharing what I have stumbled upon in A Course in Miracles: clarity, joy, happiness, peace and miracles.
It’s not just a book full of nice concepts that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy. It is a book that will change your life forever if you do what it asks. There are 365 workbook lessons and all you are asked is to do one lesson a day. Don’t skip a lesson, don’t stay on a lesson for more than one day a time, and don’t try to understand the lessons. They are not understandable. Just do them. Read and practice one lesson a day and you will see results.
Someone asked me a great question yesterday: Has A Course in Miracles really brought you peace and happiness?
Yes, it has. This course really has brought me peace, clarity and joy. It’s astonishing. There are some days still when I feel an intensity – but now it’s like a glitch, like a bump in the road – like driving into a patch of fog. But since I’m driving through it, I’m quickly out of it within a few minutes.
Before I’d trained my mind to think differently, the misery and fear was like mud or cement where I’d get stuck in it for days and months, and couldn’t get out.
But now I know how to change my mind in an instant. It’s a tremendous gift to see you have the power to see things differently, in each and every moment. I’ve been given the tools I need to go from fear to love. I have been given vision to see everything clearly.
Christ vsion is God’s greatest gift to you.
Now whenever there is confusion or darkness it is like a flimsy veil – I’m in it … then I’m quickly out of it. Like unexpectedly walking into a cobweb. You don’t see it. You walk into it. You’re quickly amused or surprised. And then you untangle yourself from it. It doesn’t take any time, and it’s painless.
Now, because of Jesus and because of you, there is constant joy as my solid foundation. Sometimes there are strong winds, hurricanes & violent storms, but the foundation of joy is rock solid and cannot be destroyed.
I have created audio classes if you need additional help.
1. The first 50 workbook lessons
2. The Text of A Course in Miracles.
http://gorgeousforgod.com/audio-classes/
I have not yet recorded all Text Chapters yet – I’m working on it – and to listen to the first 50 Workbook lessons, scroll all the way to the last page on TalkShoe.
We’re together. We’re all in the same boat, traveling to the same shore. We go to God together. We are mighty companions and I thank God for you.
My brothers, join with me in this today. This is salvation’s prayer. Must we not join in what will save the world, along with us?
My holy vision sees all things as pure.
My cat is lying in my lap and I can only type with one finger. The jaundice is back and he’s not eating again. All he wants to do is sit in my lap when I’m in a chair and lie on top of me when I’m lying down. He’s such a sweetie.
It feels like he’s getting ready to go soon.
It’s difficult writing with one finger and I don’t feel like moving the cat from my lap so I will simply post today’s lesson, recognizing that it is true. My holy vision sees all things as pure. This cat is pure. This room is pure. I am pure. This moment is pure. It’s a miniature of Heaven and I’m grateful for it.
My holy vision sees all things as pure.
Father, Your Mind created all that is, Your Spirit entered into it, Your Love gave life to it.
And would I look upon what You created as if it could be made sinful? I would not perceive such dark and fearful images. A madman’s dream is hardly fit to be my choice, instead of all the loveliness with which You blessed creation; all its purity, its joy, and its eternal, quiet home in You.
And while we still remain outside the gate of Heaven, let us look on all we see through holy vision and the eyes of Christ. Let all appearances seem pure to us, that we may pass them by in innocence, and walk together to our Father’s house as brothers and the holy Sons of God.
Let me perceive no differences today.
Thank you all for your beautiful messages yesterday. Wow.
I got catapulted in the afternoon. More details to come once I land.
Let me perceive no differences today. There is no difference between good and bad. There is no difference between depression and happiness. There is no difference between passion and boredom. There is no difference between sickness and health.
God is what everything is. All states are exactly identically the same.
Only I, the perceiver, categorize them into a thousand different forms, name them, and then tell a story about it.
What insanity.
There is no complexity in God. There are no degrees, levels or intervals, although in my experience there is occasionally an intensity that I feel more profoundly than at other times. Sometimes it feels unbearable, but God never gives me more than I can handle.
There is only me doing one of two things in every situation:
1. in my wholeness, I’m remembering God
OR
2. in my separateness, I’m fragmenting into tiny bits and trying to make sense of it.
That’s it!
Either:
1. I’m remembering the totality of Oneness
OR
2. I think I’m alone in the universe, trapped in a body, making up stories and thinking them real.
How simple this becomes! There is no in-between. There is no middle ground. Either I’m remembering God OR I think I’m separate and alone. One or The Other.
God has one Son. That’s the truth.
It’s you. It’s me. It’s everyone.
“Why should I perceive a thousand forms in what remains as one? Why should I give a thousand names, when only one suffices? Let me not see him as a stranger to his Father, nor as stranger to myself. For he is part of me and I of him, and we are part of You Who are our Source, eternally united in Your Love; eternally the holy Son of God.”
We who are one would recognize this day the truth about ourselves. We would come home, and rest in unity. For there is peace, and nowhere else can peace be sought and found.
In trying times and difficulty, have faith. You will emerge from it.
Lately, I am unable to function in life. Everything is meaningless.
Writing is the only thing that makes me truly happy. Everything else feels like a dead-end street. I don’t see the point of doing anything anymore.
All I want to do is read and write.
It’s a wild condition to find myself in – I wish I could describe it. On the one hand I see everything clearly. There’s a clarity that makes me see events, situations and people in a perfect light. On the other hand the world is a haze leaving me completely unable to function in day-to-day life. I fear this is what mental breakdown looks like. And yet, I don’t feel like holding myself together anymore. I feel like letting myself go as far as I can go.
It’s not depression. And it’s not darkness. I feel fine except that I have no energy to plan, strive or do things. I’m not a threat to myself or anyone else, and yet this THING is happening to me. I don’t know what to call it.
It does frighten me a little, and yet thrills me at the same time.
It’s a strange experience. It feels like isolation and stagnation, while at the same time a great sense of solitude, quietness and great inner exploration.
Ultimately, I’m only happy when I’m writing, reading or helping someone.
Those are the three things I can do well, which give me joy and peace. Everything else feels utterly meaningless.
God is my refuge and security.
So I had a crazy scary dream this morning. Scroll down to read it. It was just a dream but it seemed very real. Now I’m sitting here remembering that no one can take away my freedom. No one can do anything that can harm me. They can put a microchip in me, track me, throw me in jail, but my mind belongs to God.
Have you read the story about Immaculee Ilibagiza?
Her first book is called: Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.
This is her new book:
Her entire family was brutally murdered in 1994 in Rwanda, and she spent 3 months hiding in a bathroom with 9 other women while killers looked for her, right outside the window.
During that time, she found peace of mind and God.
GOD IS MY REFUGE AND SECURITY
For three months in the spring of 1994, the African nation of Rwanda descended into one of the most vicious and bloody genocides the world has ever seen. Immaculée Ilibagiza, a young university student, miraculously survived the savage killing spree that left most of her family and friends, and a million of her fellow citizens, dead. Immaculée’s astonishing story of survival was documented in the bestseller Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.
“After the genocide, how could Immaculée find peace in a world changed forever? Immaculée not only found her own miraculous peace but reached out to help others who were suffering. She discovered that love was the key to healing both her own heart and that of her people. The loss of her family left her wondering how she could ever begin to love again, when a friend shared these words:
“Go back into the world and find someone to bless with that same type of love. Give it to someone who has no love at all, such as the homeless, the sick, or the orphaned. Look for the beauty of God in the eyes of a little boy or girl. Find a child whose heart has been shattered, and give him or her some happiness. Remember, all love begins with a smile.”
This is a great reminder. There are atrocious things happening in the world. But nothing can harm you. You live in God. You can be helpful and bless others with this knowledge.
“Go back into the world and find someone to bless with that same type of love. Give it to someone who has no love at all, such as the homeless, the sick, or the orphaned. Look for the beauty of God in the eyes of a little boy or girl. Find a child whose heart has been shattered, and give him or her some happiness. Remember, all love begins with a smile.”
God is my refuge and security.
I live in God.
In God is everlasting peace.
In Him is my Identity.
Only there will you remember Who you really are.
“Let me not seek for idols. I would come, my Father, home to You today. I choose to be as You created me, and find the Son whom You created as my Self.”
Be led by Faith.
I had a super scary dream this morning.
I was on a flight to Boston (but then it changed into a bus), and Bastiaan was with me and he said: we’re here. So I put on my shoes and went back to my seat, and all of a sudden like 50 attendants walked down the aisle – they were dressed in white lab coats with silver trays with needles on them, and each attendant stopped at every aisle. There was enough attendants for every single aisle. They started giving shots to each passenger, through a vein on the underside of the arm near the elbow.
I said “what is this?” and the guy said “to prevent the plague.”
A loud voice in my head said “He’s lying. It’s a tracking device.”
I said: I don’t want it.
He said “You have to, it’s required. You can’t get off the bus without it.”
I said, “Then take me back from where I came from.”
He said, “They won’t let you off the bus there till you get this shot. If you don’t do it there they’ll take you to jail and give you the shot in jail. So you might as well do it now.”
So I gave him my arm and looked away, and let him give me a shot.
When the needle went into my arm, I felt it as a sharp sting and could feel the liquid going through my vein. Then I woke with a start in my bed, thinking Oh God.
Click banner to listen:
Let me remember God created me.
The theme of remembering that “I am as God created me” is very important. It shows up 3 times in the Workbook lessons, as identical lessons.
Lesson 94: I am as God created me.
Lesson 110: I am as God created me.
Lesson 162: I am as God created me.
Feel free to click any of the above lessons to read the whole lesson.
It says this one thought would be enough to save you and the world if you believed it was true.
I convinced that there is a Text, a workbook with 365 lessons, a Teachers Manual, and a Clarification of Terms for the sole purpose of acceptance of this final goal: the realization that you are whole and perfect as God created you.
If you could accept this one lesson about yourself – I am as God created me – you would not need the Text. You would not need 365 lessons. You would not need anything at all.
There is no middle ground in this. If you still feel crazy and confused it is because you are still straddling the fence. You must still be thinking of yourself as unworthy, limited and small.
The moment you accept yourself as God created you, fear disappears automatically.
Love replaces all your problems and conflicts.
How is this accomplished as long as you find yourself in a less-than-perfect world in a less-than-perfect body?
You can remember that you are here for the salvation of the world. You are the holy Son of God Himself. You’re not a body. The body is a piece of clothing you wear – a loose garment. It’s not you. It houses the light and love and joy yet you mistakenly think your body is what you are. It’s not. It’s a costume you wear.
You can be anything you want. A treacherous monster. A princess. A witch. A human being: the scariest costume of them all! You can make yourself into something beautiful or something horrendous. You make yourself into anything you want to be – but then you instantly forget that the costume is not you. You think it’s you! No wonder you’re afraid!
You put on a costume and then you think it’s you! That’s the height of insanity. Imagine thinking you are your Halloween costume, forgetting that it’s just a costume for one night of make-pretend.
You put on a mask and then forget to take it off!
So you put on this body suit at birth – and what should have been one night of fun turns into a lifetime nightmare because you forgot that your body is just a costume which can be discarded at any moment.
Your costume is not you!
You can remember that you have the power to heal all things through the healing of your mind. You can remember that your body is nothing more than a communication vehicle for the Holy Spirit to extend His Light and Joy here on earth.
You are the Love of God.
In your insanity, you thought you made yourself. You thought you made a self – an identity – which you thought was you: guilty, fearful and sinful.
But you’re not any of those things. You are the light of the world.
This should make you very happy to hear that you’re not a body. You’re not your costume, and the costume you wear does not obliterate the Self that you are underneath your costume.
Think about it. Be reasonable.
When you see people on Halloween walking down the street, you see two layers. You know that beneath the scary costume is something not-scary.
Now walk down the street and realize that all you’re looking at is costumes. Look in the mirror at yourself and realize you’re wearing a costume.
It’s not you!
Let yourself today remember what is beneath the costume. Let yourself remember that God created you.
You’re perfect.
There is no flaw in you.
Let me remember that there is no sin.
“Sin is the only thought that makes the goal of God seem unattainable.”
Let’s review:
“Sin is insanity. It is the means by which the mind is driven mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth.”
As you go along this path, you’ll start to feel very crazy at times. There will be moments when you feel like you are stark raving mad, a lunatic, a crazy person.
I have destroyed Course books. I’ve destroyed furniture. I’ve thrashed, kicked, screamed, cried like a baby and said horrible terrible hurtful things to people who were trying to help me. There have been times when I wished I could go back to LIFE BEFORE A COURSE IN MIRACLES … which is the absolute height of insanity because “back there” I was miserable, alcoholic and afraid of everything.
But in moments when I can’t find my footing, when I can’t find solid ground, when I can’t seem to find the path, when the territory is completely unrecognizable, I long for the days when I was oblivious.
But there is a reason this happens, and there is a way out. There is a solution. When you feel crazy, it’s only because you are letting illusions take the place of truth. Once you have glimpsed the light and had the memory of God restored to your mind, you will attempt to go back to darkness … you will … I’m telling you …you will attempt to go back to the place that you came from before you started on this journey. You will try to go back to darkness – to your loneliness, to your isolation, to your sickness, to your justifications and defenses.
The light of Heaven can be terrifying at first – love will crack your heart right open and make you vulnerable – and when this happens you will attempt to rush back to darkness to your separate self in a separate body where you think no one can bother you and you can live in “peace.”
But you can’t go back.
You can’t shut love out.
You can try … go ahead and try to be isolated, have fun with that … but you will be more terrified than ever before. It’s the darkest place that exists.
When light is dark it is doubly dark and you cannot see in darkness. You will grope blindly, going nowhere.
Matthew 6:22-23
22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Amazing, huh? It doesn’t say when dark is dark. It says when light is dark! When light is dark it is really dark!! So be careful!
Once you’ve experienced the light of your mind and the Love of God it is practically impossible to live in darkness. Should you attempt to go back into the darkness, you will discover that it is deeper and scarier than ever before. What you were once able to tolerate in your life now becomes excruciatingly painful.
Just stay in the light. Don’t look back.
The place you came from no longer exists. The disaster that was your life, the mess you walked away from, is no longer there. You can’t stand in darkness when you know you are all light. The house has been swept and garnished and cleaned. But you keep trying to get back to the darkness because you think it will keep you safe from the light.
But you can’t go back because light is what you are. You are the light of the world.
You can try to make the body your home – be my guest – but I’m telling you it’s delay and a waste of time. It won’t work because you live in God.
But you can find God in darkness.
Don’t try to change the bad to the good. Don’t wish for circumstances to change so you can be happy. Simply do this: Find God in the darkness and the dark will automatically transform to light.
Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning. (Job 11: 17)
I got the best phone message this morning from my friend Max at 8:36am. This one’s a keeper.
He said:
“Natoli. Today’s the day. Do something remarkable. I love you.”
Let me remember that my goal is God.
“All that is needful is to train our minds to overlook all little senseless aims, and to remember that our goal is God. His memory is hidden in our minds, obscured by our pointless little goals which offer nothing, and do not exist.”
What “little senseless aims” and “pointless little goals” are distracting you?
“Shall we continue to allow God’s grace to shine in unawareness, while the toys and trinkets are sought instead?
What toys and trinkets are you seeking?
Be aware that what you seek in form/appearance has the aim of preoccupying your mind so completely that the memory of God is obliterated.
Are you trapped within the frame? Are you distracted by form?
Get out of the box that you’ve made for yourself. Get out of the box that other people have put you in.
And please please please stop putting other people in boxes. Stop trying to make other people be/do what you want them to be for you.
Recognize content. Be in a state of acceptance. Let all things be exactly as they are. There is grace, truth, love and God beyond all appearances.
As you attempt to change the physical form, situation, person, event … you will never see what is already truly there for you to see.
Everything is exactly as it should be in this moment. The only question is: DO YOU SEE IT??
Where is your focus? What are you focusing on?
There are two ways of looking:
1. Are you looking with the body’s eyes?
2. Or are you seeing with Christ vision?
If you cannot see the light and if you are not in perfect joy and perfect peace, it only because your mind is preoccupied with “little senseless aims” and “pointless little goals which offer nothing, and do not exist.”
A Course in Miracles is about shifting your focus so you can see clearly.
Let me remember that my goal is God.
“Our goal is but to follow the way that leads to You. We have no goal but this. What could we want but to remember You? What could we seek but our Identity?”
Let me remember what my purpose is.
The good news is that if you are reading this blog, then you already remember your purpose! Somewhere, somehow, some way, in this journey of your life, you remembered your divinity and holiness. It may have just been a glimpse. It may have just been a spark. It may have been the form of a question asked “What the hell is the meaning of this world??” or “What am I supposed to be doing?”
It may have come in the form of a thought like: “This can’t be life” or “I know there is something larger going on here.”
It may have been that you wished upon a star or birthday candles for true love or an adventure.
But if you are with me, then you have already started to remember your purpose. Your wish has been answered. The gift has been given. Perhaps you don’t know the specifics. Don’t worry. No one knows. The specifics are never given until one second before you need to make a move or take a step. So don’t be concerned if you don’t have a clue what’s going on here. Your part will be revealed to you at the appointed time. You will be told all you need to know.
All you really need to know is that you have a purpose here. You don’t need to know what it is. YOU WILL FULFILL THE FUNCTION THAT GOD HAS GIVEN TO YOU. It is guaranteed. You will do the thing you came here to do. You cannot fail.
I do know the BROAD MEANING of your purpose here – it is to be what you are which is light. Your purpose is to be yourself as God created you. It is to a be a BRIGHT LIGHT in the darkness.
Be yourself. Shine on, bright thing. That’s your purpose.
The quote says:
“It is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor”.
So keep sailing. Keep going. Don’t worry if you feel like you’re out in the middle of the sea and cannot see dry land. In truth, you have already reached your destination, it just doesn’t always seem like it. Often it feels like you’re all alone. You’re can’t hear a Voice. It seems like nothing is working or happening. You feel like a failure and a fool. Be patient. Trust. Keep going.
You are the light of the world, so you have nothing to worry about. There is Someone on board with you Who does know the way. You’re in really good hands.
This lesson is so beautiful. It’s simply asking me to remember my goal, to remember what I want today.
What do I want?
I want to remember my purpose and to fulfill it.
This is the day!
“If I forget my goal I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus conflicted in my actions. No one can serve contradictory goals and serve them well. Nor can he function without deep distress and great depression. Let us therefore be determined to remember what we want today, that we may unify our thoughts and actions meaningfully, and achieve only what God would have us do this day.”
“Father, forgiveness is Your chosen means for our salvation. Let us not forget today that we can have no will but Yours. And thus our purpose must be Yours as well, if we would reach the peace You will for us.”
Amen.
“You will never know what you can achieve unless you try”.
God is the only goal I have today.
“The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way.”
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.
That simplifies it! The way to God is through forgiveness here. There is no other way.
What a spectacular gift. I’m told exactly what to do to find my way to God! A lot of people say “I don’t know how to find God” and “I don’t know how to be happy” and “Miracles are not happening to me.”
Well, here is your answer.
Forgiveness.
If there is conflict, confusion or doubt in your mind … forgiveness will heal it.
Is there anything left undone in your life? Are there any loose strings hanging? Is so, you should tie them up today. Pay your debts. Say your sorry. Forgive and forget. Make some phone calls. Write some letters. Say I love you. Give where you have held back. Reach out.
What are you waiting for?
The human way is to wait until tomorrow or some other time in the future to say what’s in your heart or to do what you love.
You have all the help you need. If there is something you have been putting off, you should do it today.
What are you waiting for?
The one thing I’ve noticed in my own life is how much I take for granted. I think that people will be where they have always been and that I have all the time in the world to tell them how grateful I am and how much I appreciate them.
But the reality is that they could disappear in a moment.
With God as my goal, I remember my gratitude.
And with gratitude in my heart, it’s impossible to hold a grievance.
And when I don’t hold a grievance, life is a happy game.
And when life is a happy game, I’m a child again.
And when I’m a child again, life is easy.
And so, our Father, would I come to You in Your appointed way. I have no goal except to hear Your Voice and return to You at last.
Dear Friends,
Extreme urgency, properly understood, does not imply or encourage desperation. Instead, it is a present call to and for Hope. And where can Hope be but in you and in your natural and present ability to listen, learn, and do as Hope would have you do?
Please have a look at this clip from a movie soon to be released…
Watch the trailer by clicking here:
This day I choose to spend in perfect peace.
It must be evident by now that it is impossible to “save the world” by physical means. If there was a way to end all pain, suffering, killings and hunger, it would have been done already.
But it can’t be done because this is a dream. It’s a nightmare … of your own making.
You can’t change an illusion, but you can change your mind and wake up.
The only thing that can affect any real change in the world is to locate the Source of both the problem and the solution … which is in your own mind.
From this place of perfect peace and perfect safety, you can change the world.
This happens in your mind, where all real change takes place.
THIS IS A LAW.
“If a sufficient number of people become miracle-minded quickly, the shortening process (of time) can be almost immeasurable. But it is ESSENTIAL that these individuals free themselves from fear sooner than would ordinarily be the case, because they MUST emerge from basic conflict if they are to bring peace to the mind of others.”
You must be in peace to usher in peace.
This peace of God will encompass you and change you entirely. This peace is unlike anything you have experienced in your life. If this has happened already for you, then you know what I am talking about. If not, then let all your dedication be to allow this experience to come to you. Ask for it. Ask for the peace of God.
Above all else, I want the peace of God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philipians 4:7)
When this peace comes to you – AND IT WILL – nothing will ever be the same again for you. There will be no more conflict in your heart. In that same place, there will be only love. There will be no more need to defend yourself. No need to tell your brother that he is wrong. In this place, you know all things. This is the gift of God.
Suddenly – everyone gets along. Can you imagine such a state? All differences are erased, and there is only harmony.
One of my friends asked me how come so many people believe in God and I can’t answer that question for other people, but for me – the arrow was shot straight through my heart. It wasn’t a matter of theology or religion or belief or reading ideas in books. God came to me Himself and showed me His Magnificence … and my life has never been the same since.
And so, my Father, I choose to spend this day with You in perfect peace. Thank you for this gift. Thank you for my brothers who take this journey with me. Thank you for Jesus.
Let every voice but God’s be still in me.
Father, today I would but hear Your Voice. In deepest silence I would come to You, to hear Your Voice and to receive Your Word. I have no prayer but this: I come to You to ask You for the truth. And truth is but Your Will, which I would share with You today.
Today, we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions. When such thoughts occur, we quietly step back and look at them, and let them go. We do not want what they would bring with them. And so we do not choose to keep them. They are silent now. And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love, God speaks to us and tells us of our will, as we have chosen to remember Him.
Sometimes, in quiet, when I am all by myself, I hear other people’s voices rattling around in my mind, telling me what I should do or not do. It’s memory based on something that may have happened earlier in the day, or from the week before. Here in the world it’s called “thinking.” But it’s not thinking at all … it’s blank blank blank blankety blank blank blank.
From Workbook Lesson 8: My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts:
“This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. No one really sees anything. He sees only his thoughts projected outward. The mind’s preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception of time from which your seeing suffers. Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. It therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything.”
“The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not there. To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking at all.
THE MIND IS ACTUALLY BLANK WHEN IT DOES THIS, BECAUSE IT IS NOT REALLY THINKING AT ALL.
“The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision.”
Have you ever been really focused on a project? Put your whole mind, body and soul into it? Either with baking, writing, drawing, reading, working, or researching?
If the answer is YES, then you will know that something really spectacular happens to you. All your energies get focused into one perfect straight line, like a laser. You’re so focused that your mind is not thinking about anything else. It’s not thinking about the past. It’s not thinking about the future. It’s not thinking about conversations/gossip that were discussed around the water cooler from an hour before. It’s not thinking about money problems or relationship issues. It’s in the moment. Time disappears. You’re at peace. And when you emerge from that state of mind, you’re astounded.
It’s that feeling of “Where the hell have I been?”
You look at the clock and can’t believe 3 hours have passed.
Or the opposite occurs, you look at the clock and can’t believe only 5 minutes passed, and yet before you is a perfect creation (a problem solved that had been bothering you, a perfect piece of writing, a solution in the form of a great talk with your boss, a deal sealed that brings you satisfaction, a resolution with your mate).
Miracles happen when you are in the flow.
A Course in Miracles is nothing more than a simple way to remove the obstacles that were blocking the flow. That’s it! It’s nothing more complicated than that.
It’s a way to catch yourself when you are engaged in “blankety blank blank blank.” It will help you to still your mind from the endless chatter, from the thinking of the world, from the conversations of past and future, from all your worries and troubles … and then …. then! …. God can get a Word in edgewise.
He will share the truth with you.
It’s like there’s a huge river called LIFE and during the events of your own life you put up sandbags and walls that blocked the river. Now you’re just learning to let the walls down. You’re allowing the obstacles and blocks to be removed from you. You’re letting the light in.
And the river starts to flow again.
Who knows where that river will take you? Does it matter? Does a river wonder where it is going? It does not.
It simply flows, and its pure perfection.
If you feel like your life is stopped or stalled, ask yourself if you are willing to have the obstacles/blocks removed from the river.
Where are you holding back? Where are you not giving? What can you do to get the energy flow moving again?
There are questions I ask myself.
Then I am willing to let every voice but God’s be still in me, so that I can hear His Voice telling me what I need to remember.
Make it a practice to be still. Get in the habit of setting aside time for prayer/communion with God. Make it a practice to catch yourself and stop when you are preoccupied with past thoughts.
You’ll be amazed.
- from Gary Haugen
“Jesus did not come to make us safe. Jesus came to make us brave. If my life of following Jesus doesn’t feel dangerous, then maybe I’ve got to check to see if it’s Jesus I’m following. I have been praying to be liberated from safe bets. We want to avoid having been “on the trip” but having “missed the adventure.” Our Heavenly Father offers us a simple proposition: Follow me beyond what you can control, and you will experience me, and my power, and my wisdom, and my love. Jesus beckons us to return to the vulnerability of a child. Does this mean I must abandon what I do well? No. He simply wants us to take those strengths on a more demanding climb.”
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“GOD first; the world next; myself last”
- Sai Baba
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