Author: Sally

A student of A Course In Miracles since 1987. Forgiveness is the key to un-doing the ego, the cause of suffering.
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Valentine’s Day: Love yourself

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Mt. Shasta’s Heart, photograph. Sally McKirgan.

Learn to Love Yourself – A Valentine’s Day Gift For You

Do you feel loved?  Do you feel un-loved?

Feel love by connecting to the unconditional, non-judgmental love that is within.  Choose to go there!

The truth is; you are loved, loving and lovable.  It may feel hard to accept that reality but why not try?  Close your eyes and repeat to yourself:

“I am Loved, I am lovable and I am love.”  Repeat this statement to yourself.  Place your hands on your upper arms and hug yourself.  Keep telling yourself that you ARE loved, Lovable and Loving.  Continue to hug and stroke and affirm the love within.

If there is anyone in your mind that you hold a grievance about, extend love to them.  Why not?  You do yourself a favor because when you extend love, you also have love by holding it in your mind. 

Accept your reality as a loving radiant light and extend it out to ALL. That includes your family, friends, colleagues, the U.S. Congress and Senate and the world.

Write the following down and place it where you can see it several times a day:

I am the light of the world.

I am spirit, loved and loving.

Being love I extend it to all.

Our nation is going through turmoil right now.  The truth is, there is always turmoil but when we give someone a smile; a wave of the hand or offer to hold a door open, we are giving love. And as we give, we receive the same inner appreciation in our mind and heart.

When we remember to be kind and loving, our journey is peaceful and joyful.  Love is eternal, formless and never ending so it cannot run out. You cannot run out of love.  You can give away all you want and it is never gone. It is like the bottle of sherry in a Christmas movie I saw once:  it fills up as soon as it is emptied and it never inebriates.

A daily reminder of the love within, will set the belief in your mind. The ego part of your mind will not believe it, but that does not mean that it’s not true. In fact, your ego mind will tell you the opposite and deny the reality of what you are.

You have the power to change your beliefs and thoughts. We all have made mistakes, and have regrets from the past but has remembering or beating yourself up made you happier? When you are in a hole, stop digging.

Forgiveness is remembering you are spirit living in a human body in a classroom called the world.

The Course In Miracles tells us God is love. You do not have to believe in God, just believe in love. Whenever you have a loving thought, you are an extension of love and you are the creator of your life and your world.

You are the light of the world.  When you give love you are holding it in your mind, so it is therefore also yours. Exclude no one from your love — including yourself.

See a Course In Miracles Workbook Lessons

 #46. God is the Love in which I forgive.

#171 – 180: God is but Love and therefore so am I.

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Bully or Beauty

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McKirgan, Sally. Northern California Clouds, Watercolor.

Bully For you” ….remember that saying.  Like its ok to bully your way through whatever, wherever, whenever, go ahead, push, pull, be bold and assert yourself.  Yes, there are times when thoughtful goal setting may be necessary in this world but that is not bullying as outlined below.  I remember one time when my husband and I pushed our way into a venue to see Barack Obama. Should I call that “soft” bullying?  I don’t think we physically harmed anyone or damaged any psyche.  My friend Jim sent me the below definitions of the bully.  Take a look and do an honest self-assessment.   Share this with your friends, kids and grandkids so they realize the injury it does and assess behaviors or themselves or friends. Remember the saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.”   There are professionals who refuse to read reviews because they know the hurt.   As we grow in our spiritual understanding hopefully we let insults run off and forgive, but younger people and children usually can’t.   

Bullying takes many forms.  We have an “inner” bully” too.  Watch your thoughts to see if you bully yourself or others internally.   What is the thought doing to YOU?  Is it making you happy?   Bottom line is the bully aka everybody, needs love.   See love or the call for love.  Just change your mind and offer kindness and peace to yourself and to anyone else who bullies.  Here are Jim’s definitions.  You may have some to add.

Anyone who is unkind to another person is a bully.

Anyone who points at another person who appears different and shouts or laughs at that person is a bully.

Anyone who belittles another person is a bully.

Anyone who threatens or harasses or intimidates another person is a bully.

Anyone who calls another by a derogatory name is a bully.

Anyone who physically or verbally abuses another person is a bully.

Anyone who coerces another person is a bully.

Anyone who joins with others to “mob” or “gang up” is a bully.

Anyone who tries to dominate another person is a bully.

Anyone who spreads false or malicious rumors is a bully.

Anyone who mocks another person is a bully.

Anyone who taunts another person is a bully.

Anyone who “trolls”, who purposely creates discord or starts arguments, is a bully. (Starts flame wars)

Stealing, shoving, hitting, provoking, and destroying another’s property are signs of a bully.

Being rude to, or insulting, or yelling at someone without justifiable cause is a sign of a bully.

Making fun of a person who is different is a sign of a bully.

Unprovoked yelling at someone is a sign of a bully.

Social exclusion and social aggression can be signs of a bully.

Malicious lies, rumor, innuendo, humiliation, and discrediting are signs of a bully.

We all have the capacity to be a bully, but wouldn’t we be happier if we stopped the bullying and were kind to one another.  

Bullying is a sign of unhappiness and a lack of love. Be the Beauty of the Perfect Mountain; centered, loved, cherished with a Holy Mind connected to and guided by the Love of the Universe.

See A Course In Miracles – http://www.acim.org Lesson 23. I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts. Other ACIM websites are:

http://www.miraclecenter.org

http://www.facim.org

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United or Divided: Let’s meet with the spark of acceptance.

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As of this writing, November 24, new President Elect Joe Biden is being allowed to transition his new administration with the White House. But it is evident from watching the voting and election disputes that our beautiful country, lovely America is at odds with one another, Republican’s and Democrat’s.  “United We Stand – Divided We Fall” sorrowfully comes to mind.  Is that OK with you?  No matter who wins, the condemnation and division will make us miserable until we decide or at least try to understand each other and heal the division.   Understanding brings acceptance or visa versa perhaps.  We need to interview each other, meet up online and reach out to learn what we have in common.  We are the same! We live; eat and breathe and we die.  We are in the same boat on the same planet.  That should be enough to get us to the table of toleration.  What do we love?  That is the question.   

Besides those basics there is another profound sameness.  Mystics and Saints tell us of the spark that is at the center of everyone who is here, has come or is yet to come.   This innocent spark at your center is truth that cannot be extinguished.  It carries you throughout your life, a north star, the guide to constant peace within.  It cannot die and you take it with you when your leave this earthly plane.  Cherish and engage this spark, it is your touchstone, your Spirit identity, the driving force that guides you to Truth and the knowledge of what and whom you are.  It is the life force living within and without in everyone.  It is a guide for any circumstance that comes, if consulted, you will know what to do, where to go and what to say and to whom.  There will be no doubts in your holy mind because peace has entered the rock on which you stand as you go forth with the guidance given. Guilt is nowhere to be found in your holy mind.  You have nothing that you lack and nothing can endanger or put out this life spark, no circumstance is too difficult to understand and no amount of hate can extinguish its holy light. 

The spark is in Trump; Biden; Republican’s; Democrat’s; Independent’s….in everyone.  It is in those who protest Black Lives Matter and those who don’t.  It is in the shooter who kills and he who is shot.  The only difference: refusing to acknowledge the spark in us, is also in the other.  We judge “them “as immoral, criticize, and demonize others with aversion, ignoring, denying the spark could possibly be in them.  We close our minds but the spark still burns within all of us.  Each of us is responsible for recognizing, enriching and honoring the spark in ourselves and in those we condemn.  It will emerge, blossoming as we cultivate endeavor to “see” and claim its reality.  After all, it is love.

Love and the evidence it brings dissolves the barriers that cover the spark.  Look into a little child’s eyes or sweet smile.  Hear her call of “Hi” in response to your smile or wave; look into the eyes of your pet; grandchild; look at the love that comes at you.  It is a gift from the spark, the spark we share.  Love calls to love and cannot be stopped, destroyed, hurt or buried. 

We don’t know what will happen with politics but we have a life to live.  With Covid we don’t know how long or well but we can still live with the fullest amount of love we can give.  If you need to go to a protest in the coming weeks, make a sign “I love you no matter what.” Recognize the spark of love dwells in the person or persons in the next car; to the kid walking down the street; the talking head on TV no matter if you agree with them or not; in the woman in the grocery store line; the homeless guy with the sign; and the person standing or sitting next to you.  Send love; send acceptance, toleration and compassion.  Open your mind to surround everyone you see and include yourself.  Exclude no one from your love or acceptance and we will unite and never be divided by politics, religion or any circumstances life or the world brings.  I send Love you – right now!

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson: 30 – God is in everything I see because God is in my mind. Click on this lesson and then click on the arrow to have it read to you – close your eyes.

You are Loved!

Lesson 30: God is in everything I see because God is in my mind. • Foundation for Inner Peace: Publisher of A Course in Miracles (ACIM)

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The Open Door beneath your Mind

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During this Covid 19 pandemic it seems everyone is pretty miserable. How are you feeling?   I go in and out of worry and depression but I am always grateful for those who are on the front lines dealing with it.  The only way to side step misery is to be aware of  how you perceive the situation.  Perhaps a change of mind is in order.   What you think and the judgments you make will either make you happy or sad.  The mind is a beautiful thing to change.  It is up to you to change it.  Do you dwell in fear or love.

You are 100% responsible for how you think (judge) understand and perceive.  We have a choice in “how” we judge things and situations.  If we see something as an attack then the ego is in charge.  Are you happy when the ego is in charge?  If we can view what goes on around us with an iota of lenience – just a little- we begin to open the mind to the idea of tolerance.

I’m thinking of wearing masks as I write this but it could be anything that disturbs your peace.  I think everyone should wear a mask.  I don’t like them because they restrict air and I need air but I wear one anyway.  I can understand why someone would choose not to, but I want peace.  So I have to change my mind, on the spot, adding a dash of tolerance and mercy to my thoughts.  Just because I disagree I do not have to allow hatred or anger.  I can see either love or the call for love.  And the call for love is to me, my mind and its need for peace as well as theirs.   The ego does not have to run and ruin my life.  I choose to sideline the dominant ego’s thought system and choose charity and mercy.

When we give mercy and respect to others, we have mercy and respect for ourselves.  We don’t realize how much needless unconscious guilt we pile on our psyche with righteous judgments and opinions feeling certain we are right.  Do I want to be right or happy?  Letting go of my conviction that I know what’s right when in fact I don’t always know, opens the door to mercy.

We like to think that we know it all.  But we don’t know what our soul needs to experience or lessons we have come to learn, until they arrive at our doorstep.  We have all experienced being misunderstood or accused of something we did not intend or been unfairly treated.  When knowing how it feels to be unfairly treated, we refuse to mistreat anyone.  One thing we can always do is offer love and acceptance with our thoughts.  In doing so, we open the door in our mind, leading to understanding, and turn from the ego’s decree of punishment, fire and brimstone.

“Then let them (your judgmental thoughts) go and sink below them to the holy place where they can enter not.  There is a door beneath them in your mind, which you could not completely lock to hide what lies beyond.  Seek for that door and find it.  You cannot fail today.  There walks with you the Spirit Heaven sent you, that you might approach this door some day and through his aid slip effortlessly past it, to the light.”    A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson 131.   No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.

See A Course In Miracles, Chapter 21. Section II. The Responsibility for Sight, pg. 448

I am responsible for what I see.

I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide

Upon the goal I would achieve.

And everything that seems to happen to me

I ask for, and receive as I have asked.

We are responsible for how we interpret things!   It is the mercy within that will allow a true  perception to come when we ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand.  “Help me see this differently.”  Look through His eyes and you will have peace.  Me too!

God Is

www.miraclecenter.org

www.acim.org

www.facim.org

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Ego Mode = The Virus Blame Game

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After listening to a wonderful youtube presentation by Tim Wise and Lyn Corona, see the link below, I realize how addicting the ego voice is.  We are in “ego mode” when we MUST find something or someone to blame.  But the source of inner pain or even bodily pain is from…..listening to the ego…believing this faulty thinking and that I am right in choosing the ego mode.

Right now we have the coronavirus circling the world.  Who are we going to blame? Some foreign people, the military, all the Politian’s?  It is the ego part of our mind doing the blaming and we believe it because we want to!  We need to blame and project onto someone so we can feel better.

The ego is attracted to pain because it means the body is REAL, the world is REAL and we are important.  It keeps us trapped in the dream of being a body in the illusion.  We are a puppet of the ego when that happens.

When we decide we are tired of this blame game because of the pain it causes, we look within and see, according to the Course that our only problem is the separation we feel from God.  That is impossible.  We cannot be separate from God because we are In God at this very moment, but we don’t think we are.

If we choose blame, we are continuing the separation from God because that is what we did to Him when we chose the ego.  Yes, the “tiny mad idea” in the Course tells us we chose the ego to be separate from God.  If we blame ourselves or feel guilty from separating from God we are still listening to the ego mode and in the blame game.

The solution: We take a deep breath, step aside from the ego in your mind, take the hand of Jesus – the Holy Spirit that connects us to God and say:  “I am as God Created Me, help me see this differently.”   See A Course In Miracles, Workbook Lesson 110.

We insist on finding a “bad guy” to blame because we don’t want to take responsibility for the decision to separate from God.  We do it every time we blame someone and make them the guilty one.  We do unto them, what we did unto God.

You are NOT separate from God because that is impossible.  But in this dream we “believe” we are.  To get out of the dream ask Jesus:

“I am stuck, take my hand, help me see the way you do.  Help me let go of this judgment and blame I place on ______ and let go of my projections, believing the ego’s lies.”

The tiny mad idea that we can be separate from God is just that…..a mad idea!  An idea is not real.  You are not a puppet.  You are a Mind, an innocent Son of God with the power in you to follow the loving kindness in your heart, holding the hand of Love and going home to Heaven where you really are and have always been.

Here is the YouTube video with Tim Wise, Lyn Corona and others from the School for A Course in Miracles, discussing the Corona Virus:

 

 

Here is the link to the A Course In Miracles – Workbook Lesson 110:   I am as God Created Me.  https://acim.org/workbook/lesson-110

More Miracles Organizations

http://www.miraclecenter.org

http://www.acim.org

http://www.facim.org

YOU ARE LOVE and YOU ARE LOVED

 

 

 

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2020 Moon reminds us: “I am There”

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Spring is here and Easter Sunday always follows the first full moon after the spring equinox. That full moon was shining in my bedroom window last night. Passover is April 9, Easter Sunday the 12th and Ramadan on Friday April 24.   However the only ones feeling “spring like” these days, are the birds and the daffodils. Aren’t they lucky to not have to stay inside or six feet away from each other? Thankfully, we can go outside to visit and thank them for their songs and yellow loveliness. There will be no Religious gatherings indoors this year that I am aware of and I know many will miss this spring ritual. I must admit that Easter always left me feeling sad with  Jesus Christ crucified. Even dressing up or hunting for eggs, bunnies and candy never took away the unhappiness.

I felt relief after I began studying the spiritual, psychological, non- dual, mystical and metaphysical book, ‘A Course In Miracles’ where the concept of resurrection is more prominent than crucifixion because as eternal beings our soul never dies.  There is no death of the Self we are.  The body dies because we are mortal. Being mortal we have a split mind with a treacherous ego that crucifies (like it did Jesus) ourselves and/or others non-stop with doubts, judgment, war and attacks. Jesus in the Course told the scribe, NY Columbia Presbyterian Psychologist Helen Schucman, that he is our equal and elder brother, “The miracle is a sign of love among equals. Equals should not be in awe of one another because awe implies inequality. It is therefore an inappropriate reaction to me. An elder brother is entitled to respect for his greater experience, and obedience for his greater wisdom. There is nothing about me that you cannot attain.   I have nothing that does not come from God. The difference between us now is that I have nothing else. This leaves me in a state which is only potential in you.” Text Chapter 1.II.3.4-12.

He assures us that he and the Holy Spirit are always there for us. “I go before you because I am beyond the ego. Reach, therefore, for my hand because you want to transcend the ego. My strength will never be wanting, and if you choose to share it you will do so.” Text Chapter 8.V.6 7-9.   If we take his hand he is there to share his strength. He is the Christ but so are you and I and everyone, whether we accept it or not being equally loved by God.

At this time we need a strength that is not of this world.  I for one am reaching for his hand to transcend the ego.  Many brave people are in the trenches, the Doctors, Nurses, medical staff, sick patients, relatives, friends and you and I are with them. The hand of strength, grace, and faith is there for us. It is waiting by your side, with arms ready to hold you up and kissing the top of your head when you pray. That love is made exquisitely clear in the poem ‘I am There’ by James Dillet Freeman. He is sometimes known as “the poet laureate of the moon” because two of his poems are on the moon. ‘I Am There’ was taken by Astronaut, James B. Irwin in 1971 and ‘Prayer for Protection’ by Lunar Commander ‘Buzz’ Aldrin in July 1969. His poems of assurance are circling above us on the Easter Moon, blessing you and me and our World this spring.

I am There

Do you need Me?

I am there.

You cannot see Me, yet I am the light you see by.

You cannot hear Me, yet I speak through your voice.

You cannot feel Me, yet I am the power at work in your hands.

I am at work, though you do not understand My ways.

I am at work, though you do not recognize My works.

I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries.

Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know Me as I am, and then but as a feeling and a faith.

Yet I am there. Yet I hear. Yet I answer.

When you need Me, I am there.

Even if you deny Me, I am there.

Even when you feel most alone, I am there.

Even in your fears, I am there.

Even in your pain, I am there.

I am there when you pray and when you do not pray.

I am in you, and you are in Me.

Only in your mind can you feel separate from Me, for only in your mind are the mists of “yours” and “mine.”

Yet only with your mind can you know Me and experience Me.

Empty your heart of empty fears.

When you get yourself out of the way, I am there.

You can of yourself do nothing, but I can do all.

And I am in all.

Though you may not see the good, good is there, for I am there.

I am there because I have to be, because I am.

Only in Me does the world have meaning; only out of Me does the world take form; only because of Me does the world go forward.

I am the law on which the movement of the stars and the growth of living cells are founded.

I am the love that is the law’s fulfilling. I am assurance. I am peace. I am oneness. I am the law that you can live by. I am the love that you can cling to. I am your assurance. I am your peace. I am one with you. I am.

Though you fail to find Me, I do not fail you.

Though your faith in Me is unsure, My faith in you never wavers, because I know you, because I love you.

Beloved, I am there.

 

The Prayer of Protection

The light of God surrounds us;

The love of God enfolds us;

The power of God protects us;

The presence of God watches over us;

Wherever we are, God is!

Blessings on this Easter of 2020!

Many Lessons from A Course In Miracles remind me of these poems: http://www.acim.org  – Here are the lessons you can open and click on the arrow to have it read to you – close your eyes and feel the Love that is for You.

Lesson 40: I am blessed as a Son of God.

Lesson 40. I am blessed as a Son of God.

Lesson 41. God goes with me wherever I go.

Lesson 42 God is my strength, Vision is His gift.

Lesson 43. God is my Source.   I cannot see apart from Him.

Lesson 44.  God is the light in which I see.

Lesson 45.  God is the Mind with which I think.

Lesson 46. God is the Love in which I forgive.

Lesson 47 God is the strength in which I trust.

Visit http://www.acim.org

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Guilt: The “gift” that keeps on giving until…..

On By SallyIn Uncategorized1 Comment

 

Spring 2014 2014-03-12 022Guilt: The “gift” that keeps on giving until…..

The bad news: guilt never gives up.

The good news: you have the power to stop it.

Have you noticed that guilt just doesn’t go away? You observe it but it creeps back again and again and you continue to deny it and let it go but there it is, back again. “I thought I forgave that.” Guilt is the leaky faucet. You think you’ve turned it off but it drips, drips in the background of your thoughts. Where is it coming from? It seeps under the surface like an oil slick on a beautiful beach. Guilt is the energizer bunny with an eternal battery that never runs down and in fact continues to be energized until you look at it with the love, your inheritance, in your mind.

ACIM Workbook Lesson 4. These thoughts do no mean anything.

We believe the thoughts that run through our mind and 99.999% come from the ego (the false self) and that is why they don’t mean anything. But we believe these thoughts. The ego’s job is to keep you from Love and in a state of constant guilt. It feeds guilty thoughts at every opportunity and never wants you to turn against it. We have a split mind. You choose which split, which side to listen to and believe. We can choose between the ego’s ranting and judgments or choose to listen to the voice of peace within (the right mind) the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit that is always available.

Judgment is the origin of all guilt. Our first judgment was a selfish one according to A Course In Miracles; we separated from God at the moment of the “Big Bang” in choosing the ego. It turns out that was a “mistake” (really never happened) because when we chose the ego, we threw God away. But…..it never happened because it is not possible to separate from the God; the God written about in A Course In Miracles that is.

We believe the ego and think we have separated and that is at the crux of our pain and anger. We blame God for the separation instead of ourselves.  We made up a false “god”, a punishing, warring, petty vindictive god who angrily threw Adam and Eve out of the garden. Ask yourself: Would a loving God do that?   The ego set itself on the ‘god’ throne and we listen to it and obey it. Guilt was born. We are bereft, thinking we threw away our innocence and will never get it back. We either accuse and blame ourselves or project blame onto others, i.e. those guilty and sinful ones. The ego keeps rubbing the guilt wound with self-doubt, blame, selfishness and shame.

Guilt is insatiable. You are its hostage until you decide to be Host to God instead. We need loving help in looking at it.   The Course tells us to hold the hand of love that comes from your right mind i.e. Jesus or the Holy Spirit and say “Please look at this guilty thought with me because I want to see it differently.” Visualize a tight grip on a warm hand. When we hold love’s hand and listen, a thought of understanding will come. Maybe tears will come but those tears will dissolve the “blocks to the awareness of love’s presence” that the introduction to the Course describes. Believe and trust that forgiveness will come. We need to forgive ourselves for the separation from God……which never happened because it is IMPOSSIBLE! The thought of Truth will be gentle and embracing.

When a guilty through crosses your mind, say: “This thought does not mean anything. The past is over; I have no need of this. I am One with God.”   This is a critical conscious decision; a statement of choice that you will no longer listen or believe the ego. You are a “Decider”, a Holy Son of God and you have the power to no longer let the ego abuse you. You are Host to God and not hostage to the ego.

If you haven’t started them, I recommend the Course In Miracles Workbook lessons. The first lessons deal with letting the past go; focusing on the thoughts that bring pain and realizing they are not of God. There is a lesson for each day and the introduction to the workbook will help you begin.

It is a wonderful adventure. Just do a lesson each day and if you don’t understand it – keep going – don’t let the ego sabotage you. If you don’t understand a lesson, just keep going because the “light” will dawn eventually.

The Love within you will defeat guilt. It is a power within that is your natural inheritance.   Accept God’s peace and joy as yours. Your salvation is up to you.

www.acim.org  (history and what it says)

www.miraclecenter.org   (to find a study group near you)

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Experience the Mystery of God

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“The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the source of all true art and science. He whom this emotion is a stranger who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, can’t know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive form, this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religion.” Albert Einstein

The time has come to liberate ourselves from the ego and experience God!  God is Love the opposite of the ego.

How many of us blame things on God? For example we say that something that happened must have been God’s Will or God’s Plan? Even the Insurance Industries describe disasters as “An Act of God”!  Is an earthquake, a forest fire or a hurricane an act of God?  We could blame an earthquake on the shifting of tectonic plates or forest fires and hurricane’s on Global Warming BUT that would mean pointing the finger at ourselves.

Some people don’t like to mention God these days because that mystery, whatever it is, now seems to be out of favor like an old computer or girdles.   Only the people who are politically on the far right or are religious fundamentalists get to believe in God.   But, I’m a liberal, I’m on the left and I believe in God!  I know other liberals who believe in God aka a Creator, Yahweh, a Supreme Being, or the Great Mystery.  Atheists don’t think there is such a thing and they may be right but I bet when push comes to shove and they are in trouble they say “Please God Help.”

In The Course In Miracles,  Manual for Teachers,  20. (pg. 51) What is the Peace of God, states: “It has been said that there is a kind of peace that is not of this world.  How is it recognized?  God’s peace is recognized at first by just one thing: in every way it is totally unlike all previous experiences.  It calls to mind nothing that went before.  It is a new thing entirely.”   The past just slips away and in its place is everlasting quiet.  Only that.”

Our busy ego mind does not like quiet.  Are you aware that your mind is always running on some life theme, a problem or fear of the future?  The Manual goes on to say “God’s peace can never come where anger is, for anger must deny that peace exists.  Who see’s anger as justified in any way proclaims that peace is meaningless and must believe it cannot exist. Therefore, forgiveness is the necessary condition for finding the peace of God.”

This is probably why people don’t think God exists.   We enjoy our anger too much to forgive.  If we enjoy the anger we won’t forgive so our minds are busy hating and never quiet enough to allow the experience of God, which the ego mind does not want you to have .  So it keeps the anger going and the idea of forgiveness never enters and so our chances of experiencing the quiet which allows the peace of God is hijacked!  We don’t think God exists.  We do not have to allow or give the ego thoughts that kind of power.  When the thought comes just say “that is not what I choose to think.”  ” I no longer want to hate and be angry.”

We can give up anger if we want to.   We can have the experience of the peace of God if we are willing to do that.  When we give up anger we are forgiving, letting go and choosing peace.  We give up attacking, judging or condemning  and we experience the quiet mind and the peace of God.  Replace attack and judgment with love.

We can *silence the ego and the Course indictes that we can  because it states:  “How is the peace of God retained once it is found?  Returning anger in any form will drop the heavy curtain once again and the belief that peace cannot exist will certainly return.”  So this indicates that we can and will experience God, as we work on giving up anger, and sure enough when anger returns we will feel that heavy curtain again.

“Stop for a moment now and think of this: Is conflict what you want, or is God’s peace the better choice which gives you more? A tranquil mind is not a little gift. “The memory of God comes to the quiet mind.” 

We need to decide to forgive everyone and everything including the world!  “Forgive the world and you will understand that everything that God created cannot have an end, and nothing He did not create is real.”  God created you and you are as real and as eternal as He!  Yes, bodies die but never the eternal spirit that you share with God, as his Son.   God did not create the ego, the false self, He created His Son as Spirit like Himself.

His Will is without opposite.  His Will is yours.  “The mighty Will of God Himself is His gift to you.  He does not seek to keep it for himself.  This is your heritage.  God’s peace is the condition for His Will.  Attain His peace, (let go of anger and forgive) and you remember Him.”  And you will experience the “radiant beauty” Einstein suggested in the above quote.

A Course in Miracles – Manual for Teachers,  #20. What is the Peace of God. Page 51.

YOU ARE LOVED!!

*One way to silence and understand the ego part of your mind is to do the Workbook Lessons, one a day for a year’s study.  They start you on the path back to the mind you share with God.

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Love cannot condemn

On By SallyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Is it possible to really love someone and at the same time judge them?  “He or she’s really great but……” Maybe they are not doing what you would do or want them to do i.e. teens getting home late; partner over spending or not spending on the right things; children, friends acting out and annoying you. There are irritations in our lives but WHO is annoyed and why? Identify the part of your mind that is upset. It is the part that is impatient, judgmental and is angry demanding punishment. Yes parents need to discipline children but it can be done with love, calmly verses anger or blame. The ego mind judges and demands discipline or  punishment but it is not your identity. You are much more than that.

The goal of a peaceful life unfolds when we decide to change our thoughts.  We become  uncomfortable with our current modus operation.  We have a split mind – love and hate.  We finally realize the part of the mind where the ego’s schemes are hatched and how it can disrupt our lives.  The ego is NOT who we are and we no longer heed its urgings.  We gradually awaken to our true identity and accept that we are the love, the Spirit within. The ego tries to cover it up and creates havoc but you take charge and recognize the LOVE within that you are.  That love has been there all along.

If we listen to the ego’s voice we will never love un-conditionally. The ego’s way of loving amount’s to manipulation to get its way or giving in order to get. What’s in it for me? Challenge yourself to watch its gyrations and observe it but don’t follow it or feel guilty.  We all have ego thoughts. Just look and laugh! Even something as innocent as going to lunch or dinner and seeing someone the ego judges as “different,” maybe it’s their annoying clothes, their voice or the way they chew food. It is a judgment and it is from 100% separation. That person could be someone you have longed to meet (a favorite author or a professor of quantum physics) if you only knew! The ego does not know anything. Judgment separates us into lonely boxes. Even a “good” judgment, for example “what beautiful hair she has,” which really means I do not have hair like that and so we are different.  The ego likes to compare.  Love never condemns.  You have a powerful mind that DECIDES; you can choose to listen or dismiss the judgmental thoughts of separation. And if you judge yourself it is the ego trapping you.  Don’t listen!

Imagine what it feels like to be deeply accepted, loved and totally guilt free. Feel that within; give it to yourself and you will give it to others. If you condemn others you are condemning yourself.  Jesus said “Judge not so ye be not judged.”  Condemn and you are a prisoner of guilt; but love and you are guilt free.  Realize how guilty or sorry you feel after you have attacked someone and eventually we know it is not worth it!  Love sweeps all ego beliefs away with a gentle hand of compassion.

Love is within and not found out there in the world. Go within and think of someone who has loved you unconditionally.  Maybe a grand parent, aunt or uncle?  If you cannot identify anyone, then entertain the thought of an all loving Creator; Yahweh; Allah, Jesus; Mohammed; Krishna or God (or your dog) beaming love at you like a laser beam. Feel it – and it is yours.   It is your inheritance. You are no longer lost. Love found you. Hear the inner voice of Spirit telling you that you are LOVE; a loving mind choosing love. Everyone is included in the same identity of Oneness.

Wear that identity of LOVE into the world. There is a blessed relief that washes over us when we realize our Oneness with everyone and all things. All bitter struggles, the distractions and loneliness end when we refuse thoughts of separation. Be a love finder, not a fault finder and pure joy will fill your mind and Peace Prevails.   “When you want only love, you will see nothing else.” A Course In Miracles T. 12. VII. 8. (pg. 231)

https://acim.org/workbook/lesson-92/

Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one. Workbook lesson 92. “If we see others as different from ourselves …  we judge and condemn but do not love.”

Click on “arrow” to hear the lesson read to you.

http://www.facim.org

http://www.miraclecenter.org

 

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Open Your Mind: Open Your Heart

On By SallyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Does an open heart, open the mind or does an open mind, open the heart?

Maybe it doesn’t matter which one happens first, but for me, when I’m waiting in line at the market feeling anxious because the line is slow, my mind is locked, closed and my heart constricted. That is why having a practice in watching the mind helps because when aware of the “agitation” I can say “I want to see this differently” and with that I am open to the Souls who share the line with me and let go and relax. I can see the silliness in spending energy on something trivial like agitation. I want and choose peace, inner peace. The Course In Miracles tells us the goal of the Course is inner peace and the workbook lessons certainly help us look at the blocks we have put up to keep peace away, and as it turns out LOVE too. The ego is the culprit but it is ONLY a thought, we happen to believe.

Monitoring your thoughts and mind is the key: How do YOU feel? Are emotions in charge of you or are “YOU” in charge of your Mind and consequently the emotions. But we have to look at the emotions rather than indulge or believe them and when we look, which is part of the forgiveness instructions, in the What is Forgiveness link below, they dissipate like smoke on a windy day. We no longer live from our emotions or let them run our lives unless it serves us somehow.   There are those who like an emotional state of anxiety and fear because they think it keeps them motivated but it is not good for the health of the body, which we need in order to go through the lessons we came here to learn and it is also not good if inner peace is our goal.

We don’t have to believe our thoughts just because we think them. An example is my boss told me he’d like to see me in his office for a meeting the next day at 2 pm. I hadn’t a clue what it could be about but I can tell you thoughts ran rampant through my mind, and they were not all good thoughts. What could it be? Maybe I’d be fired or asked to resign! Well, it turned out I received a compliment and a promotion! All that energy spent in worry, fear of the future, fear of the past! Everything but: “Right Now, all is well.” Ahhhh…..right NOW….all is Well. This instant is the only time there IS! Everything else is my projecting into the future and the ego fear running amok.

As students of the Course we are told we are the Christ, a Holy Son of God and Jesus our elder brother will guide us, if we take his hand and invite him in. Share all your emotions and thoughts with your elder brother. He awaits your invitational prayer – this is one I use:

“Jesus Christ, Holy Son of God, Dear elder brother, please guide my heart and mind and help me look at and remove the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is my natural inheritance, as I journey to the Home and Father, I never left.”

I try to repeat this whenever I am upset about something and especially when I can’t sleep at night because I’m ruminating about a worry; a meeting I dread; a bill to be paid; someone I need to forgive but don’t want to. Unlock your mind and look at all those thoughts with your elder brother; let him give you a thought to replace the ones you think are true…..and your Heart will Open.

Click on these links and click on the arrow, “play” and have it read to you – close your eyes.

ACIM: Introduction https://acim.org/acim/what-it-says/

Workbook Lesson 185. W. pg. 348. I want the peace of God. https://acim.org/workbook/lesson-185/

What is Forgiveness –W. pg. 401 https://acim.org/workbook/what-is-1/

You are worth it because you are LOVED!