From: The James Webb telescope – 1 million miles above you or 1.5 kilometers!
Oh No! I wasn’t sure I wanted to go! After all it had been ?? years since I’ve seen these people!
I’m glad I went! It was “I” who had judged these people so many years ago…..time to drop all judgments!
It was “I” who decided – I was not “good enough, smart enough, rich enough or equal” to them.
It was “I” who judged each of them – mostly better than I. It was I who separated myself!
I don’t know what they thought about me and I have learned since is that it’s none of my business either! I wish I had known that way back then! So here is what to take or let go of – as you go to your reunion! Half of our problem is:
What do they think about me?
The other half is: What do I think about them!
Who Cares??? Reallly???
Decide you will have a wonderful time. It is up to you to decide this before you go because it will set you up for just that! Decide you will have a good experience and it is a worthwhile thing to do and you will enjoy, aka being “in joy”.
Decide you will drop all past judgments you have had about people! You will no longer see the “past” in them but only the Present! Let the past go…..it is gone anyway, no longer here and never to return!
Decide you will not let your past judgments cast any shadow on NOW! Besides your past judgments were probably wrong. Forgive the past, be free of it and have the peace of NOW…..right NOW! You can do this.
Go with an open heart and mind. Relax! Accept how things are NOW and not how they WERE. Love is here right NOW. Acceptance is here right NOW
Go with Faith in yourself and in them…. when you see someone you haven’t seen in awhile ask: What have you done since? ……..High school?……College? or been doing…….since I last saw you. Open them up to bring you up to date with their lives.
Go with Trust…….Trust in your Goodness…..Trust in their Goodness. Go with Love……Trust in Truth! God Bless – A Course In Miracles: Lesson 7. I see only the past.
The Courage Bench – Sits at Westpoint, overlooking the Hudson River
I don’t know about you but there are several things going on in my life and in our Country’s life that make me worry. I worry about the division that is making people blind these days. Maybe it has always been and always will be BUT I don’t have to buy into it and take sides. But my ego wants to of course.
The Course reminds us to “look within” and realize it is my choice to be worried but….this need not be! Since it is a choice I don’t have to choose it…..do I? What part of my mind is choosing? Where is my decision maker? A few days ago I caught a thought; actually it was a judgment (condemnation) about a person who was obese. I caught the thought and said “I don’t have to think this or believe this thought – I don’t choose it.” It was disturbing to think it! I stopped the ego – this need not be!
“When your mood tells you that you have chosen wrongly, and this is so whenever you are not joyous, then know this need not be. ³In every case you have thought wrongly about some brother God created, and are perceiving images your ego makes in a darkened glass.”(ACIM, T-4.IV.2:2-3)
That was it! I started seeing the beauty in that individual and the fine intelligent mind that out shown the form in every way. The judgment turned to acceptance and then opened to love.
One night I was worried sick about my son who was very late getting home. I finally decided I would put him in “God’s Hands” and let it go. This need not be!! I went to bed. Everything was fine and even if it turned out differently, he was in God’s Hands forever where I had placed him. The truth is WE, you and I are in God’s Hands too! If we are in God’s Hands then what is there to worry about? “
“Search sincerely for what you have done and left undone accordingly, and then change your mind to think with God’s. ⁶This may seem hard to do, but it is much easier than trying to think against it. ⁷Your mind is one with God’s. ⁸Denying this and thinking otherwise has held your ego together, but has literally split your mind.” (ACIM, T-4.IV.2:5-8)
Denying that we are One with God has left us bereft and lonely. When I am worried I am also sad because I made a mistake and wonder what the consequences will be and then that makes me anxious. This is all 1000% ego thoughts!
“When you are sad, know this need not be. ²Depression comes from a sense of being deprived of something you want and do not have. ³Remember: you are deprived of nothing except by your own decisions, and then decide otherwise. When you are anxious, realize that anxiety comes from the capriciousness of the ego, and know this need not be. ²You can be as vigilant against the ego’s dictates as for them.” (ACIM, T-4.IV.3:1–4:2)
And then I feel guilty because of the mistake – The Course tells us that only the ego can experience guilt and I am not my ego and neither are you!
“When you feel guilty, remember that the ego has indeed violated the laws of God, but you have not. ²Leave the “sins” of the ego to me. ³That is what Atonement is for. ⁴But until you change your mind about those whom your ego has hurt, the Atonement cannot release you. ⁵While you feel guilty your ego is in command, because only the ego can experience guilt. This need not be. Watch your mind for the temptations of the ego, and do not be deceived by it. ²It offers you nothing.” (ACIM, T-4.IV.5:1–6:2)
The Course mentions “sin” in the above paragraph and defines sin as lack of love! That’s it! I’m not sure what Jesus means when he says “to leave the ego to him” but I trust he has a good plan. And the “Atonement” means that we are called upon to Remember we are One with God….That’s it!! You don’t have to give yourself lashes with a whip or “atone” in some other way. We just need to re-member or re-attach ourselves to the memory of God…..we never left God! We SEEM to find ourselves alone in the world without him. Not True! He is with you and will be with you Always because He is in your Mind and always will be.
“Watch your mind for the temptations of the ego, and do not be deceived by it. ²It offers you nothing. ³When you have given up this voluntary dis-spiriting, you will see how your mind can focus and rise above fatigue and heal.” (ACIM, T-4.IV.6:1-3)
DECIDE – to Watch your mind, all thoughts that judge and separate, negative and good thoughts both separate you from others and are dis-spiriting. We are no longer in SPIRIT.
The Course says this is a HABIT to be developed if you let your mind slip, and feel moody, just look and see what you have thought that God would not have thought. Forgive – letting it go! You are FREE!
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.
Are you running on Ego-matic?
The other day I was tooling along not watching my thoughts (as A Course In Miracles asks us to do) but one finally got my attention. It didn’t feel good, it was: “Why doesn’t she do something with her hair?” What part of my mind would care about something as insignificant as someone’s messy hair and why?
When our thoughts run unnoticed, they can easily jump to egomatic. This is not a word my computer thesaurus recognizes but I know what it means. It means senseless; usually condemning; mostly ugly; and always a thought of judgmental ego separation. The mind has been programmed from birth into two columns: love and fear. Everything not from love is in the fear column and that amounts to hundreds perhaps thousands of distinctions. The ego has an endless list. The choice is simple: Heaven or hell.
When practicing the mindfulness of the Course we are in the “heaven” column. We are looking through the Self, i.e. the eyes of Christ, of love, with kindness and accepting of what is. If we ae on egomatic, we are in the “hell” of darkness, believing our misshapen thoughts are true.
Thinking someone has messy hair is up to me. No one can make me think anything. When I think a thought of love, what am I giving/receiving? If the thought is condemning what am I giving/receiving? What I give OUT, I also receive IN.
When my thinking is judgmental: I’m the one with the problem; I feel separate and alone; and in believing it is true, I’m also receiving guilt. That’s why I didn’t like the feeling.
We don’t realize what we do to ourselves, our soul when we place a judgment on someone. Instead of giving the thought away, projecting and getting rid of it, we are in effect keeping it, and making it our problem plus getting a dose of guilt. I judge her for being “messy” but I must also be “messy” in order to know what it is. Projecting is a trick my ego plays to get rid of my messiness by seeing it in someone else. It doesn’t work, I still messy.
In A Course In Miracles, Lesson 108. To give and receive are one in truth.
P.2. “True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body’s eyes behold. It is a state of mind that has become so unified that darkness cannot be perceived at all.”
Isn’t that the state of mind you want to live in? When you catch the silly judgments think what this lesson reminds us to do. Simply say:
To give and receive are one in truth. I will receive what I am giving now.”
Do I want to receive the judgment I am dishing out? The lesson goes on in paragraph 8.
Then close your eyes and for five minutes think of what you would hold out to everyone, to have it yours. Say: To everyone I offer quietness; To everyone I offer peace of mind; To everyone I offer gentleness
Wait. How do you feel? What you offered will come back to you in the amount that you offered it. That is giving and receiving. Instead of offering judgment or “messiness” to my friend I now offer acceptance and that is what returns to me.
Was I in heaven or hell judging my friend’s hair? I realized I didn’t “feel good” and that feeling of being in “hell” helped me see the egomatic thought process.
We have been trained well throughout our formative years and adult lives. But now I can awaken to the fact that my thoughts have consequences on me. We are told that stress causes illnesses. Where does stress come from but our thoughts? This lesson gave me the chance to change my mind and offer quietness to everyone. And when I did, I received quietness.
Go to http://www.acim.org – Workbook Lesson 108 – click to have it read aloud to you!
Remember: You are the Light of the World and God IS the LOVE within!
If you would like to order a greeting card with the above photo you can do so at:
We cannot hate unless we have made a judgment about someone or something that we decide is offensive. We have decided we KNOW what is right or what is wrong.
We cannot hate unless we have been taught that something is offensive or disgusting. We are the product of our family, societal beliefs and our culture.
We must realize we find a certain enjoyment in hating. Maybe you hate Trump. Isn’t he fun to hate? Maybe you hate Obama. Isn’t he fun to hate? We enjoy hating because it makes one feel big, strong, and above all right. We KNOW we are right and they are wrong. We LIKE being RIGHT.
For example: We decide being a cheat is terrible. We’ve been taught and we believe cheating is bad, even sinful so we hate cheaters. We see the “sin” of cheating in THEM and hate them for it. What we are really doing is projecting our own “cheating sins” onto them and hating them for it and consequently we are released. They are the sinner not me! We all have cheated at one time or another but we know it is wrong so we see it in THEM and that makes us feel innocent.
This is the ego’s strategy to keep us projecting and hating and conflicted and separate!
It also keeps us blinded, in misery because we are bereft of love, which is gleeful to the ego while still being mired in unconscious guilt.
The KKK and Alt Right hate Liberals. Liberals hate the KKK and the Alt Right. Both groups think they are right. Both groups enjoy hating the other and see the other as being sinful and wrong. Both are projecting on the other what they refuse to see in themselves.
The Liberals “hate” the haters, but don’t want to recognize it within and hate the KKK for being blatantly hateful.
The KKK & Alt Right certainly have “hate” but don’t want to recognize it as bad, and hate the Liberals for judging them, something they also do.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hates Trump. Trump hates Kim Jong Un.
We all know deep down that hating is wrong so why do we continue to do it.
The ego wants to keep us in a state of hate because it keeps us mired in guilt. If we are feeling guilty we cannot be happy. Ego’s Mission Accomplished!
Abraham Lincoln said: “To defeat an enemy, make him a friend.”
I say:
1. To defeat an enemy, look within.
2. Find the offense. “I really hate__________.”
3. Realize it is a projection. You don’t have to know “why” just know you are projecting and that is enough.
4. Own It. “I’m doing this, holding this thought. No one is forcing me.”
5. Look at it. “OK, but it’s not pretty” says the ego.
6. When we look, we are actually forgiving. We have exposed it and acknowledge it. We let it go, and we are released from the judgment.
7. We are free.
With understanding we can no longer condemn. We are the same. We all suffer from the same ego judgment. We all feel guilty. We all need release.
I admit I am a liberal. I maintain that if I exclude love from someone; I am excluding love from myself. I do not agree with the KKK because I exclude no one from my love……even them. I know the Spark of the Divine is within them too so I must look for it.
As students of A Course In Miracles we are asked to consider our True Identity.
We are born into a body, in a particular family of certain circumstances but seeking the answer to the age old question: Who am I? We learn (gradually) we are NOT who we THINK we are!
The Course tells us we are Spirit and little by little we come to understand that YES, that is true, our (eternal) spirit does reside in our body for now but the time will come when we will leave the body, thank it for its service and move on. We are really caretakers (or not) of our soul that is currently inhabiting this body!
The more and more we REMEMBER we are in fact SPIRIT, the more peace we will have. When the body has a problem, which it will, it is a chance to say: NOPE – NOT ME!
Of course we take care and “fix” the body and do whatever we can to stay in the world and learn lessons that are sure to come. A elderly friend became sick recently and the sickness was such that she decided NOT to “fix” her body! That was courageous but I know the time will come when I will make that same decision. I will know what’s right when that time comes and I will leave knowing I did the right thing.
Workbook lesson 199. I am not a body. I am free, is a wonderful lesson to explore the feelings of not being the body. You can go to http://www.acim.org and click on lessons and then close your eyes and listen quietly to let it sink in.
Remember, you are a decision making Mind! You have the power to choose! You have two choices: Love or Fear. You can listen to the ego’s fear or listen to the Holy Spirit’s grace and faith.
Isn’t it great to know you have a CHOICE! That is why you are not a victim.
http://www.facim.org – Lesson 199: “I am not a body. I am free. I hear the Voice That God has given me, and it is only This my mind obeys.”
Guilt: According to the metaphysics of A Course In Miracles
When we look at the ego without shame or guilt and it is undone. Guilt Be Gone!
The following describes some aspects of the metaphysical thought system in A Course In Miracles.
1. We think we destroyed God – the “tiny mad” idea shattered the unity of Heaven and we become first cause…..now we are God!
2. We feel a horrific guilt and the ego says we have killed God. Guilt is like an giant iceberg – we are only aware of the tip but it is still there under water.
3. This horrific guilt is denied, pushed down and never looked at.
4. When we look with Jesus at the guilt and smile it is undone because in Reality, nothing happened. We use the “little willingness” to look. We need help in looking. We cannot do it by ourselves – we need to join with Love.
5. If we do not look at the guilt, we project it out as anger, attack others or ourselves. In NOT looking, it is given power and it does not go away.
6. It is psychological law that what is repressed or denied will come out as projection. We either project on others or on our body and become sick. All pain is the projection of guilt.
7. Looking at the ego without guilt or shame is forgiveness. The ego is just a silly thought. You are not the ego. It is not you.
8. What you “think you see” the guilt will disappear when you look with Jesus or Holy Spirit. This world is not true. It is not real. It is an illusion, shadows on the wall of the cave.
9. It is impossible to be separate from God.
10. You are at Home in Heaven with God, dreaming. The separation never happened!
Guilt, like the sharp sticks in the above picture, “sticks” us when we believe the ego’s lies. The ego is the thought, the source of guilt. When we get “stabbed” with guilt, we LOOK with Jesus and we ascend to the blue beautiful sky that waits!
We have a split mind – we can listen to 1.The Wrong Mind of the ego or 2. To the Right Mind containing the Holy Spirit.
It is a momentary choice – the ego usually speaks first so your only choice is to choose again – you are that powerful!
What is it going to be: A sharp stick or the softness of a white petal brushing against your cheek?
Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you. So too does the source of guilt. You see neither guilt nor salvation as being in your own mind. When you realize that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you also realize that guilt and salvation must be in the same place.
Read lesson 70 frequently and remember salvation comes from YOU. The decision maker, the part of your mind that decides to listen to the ego or the Holy Spirit is WHO you are. You are a decision making Mind. Guilt comes from the decision maker choosing and listening to the ego. Guilt is an invention in the mind. It is a lie. You have done nothing wrong but the ego would keep you trapped in the world by making sure you are miserable at all times! Don’t listen to it.
Don’t believe the *guilt, don’t believe that the body is your total identity and don’t believe your thoughts of fear or pain. When you do, you are deciding to be a body and being led by the false self, the ego.
We fear God and think he will take something back from us. Loss is a big factor of the world. This is a place of loss. Death seems to be the greatest loss but it is not real either.
You are Love, how could you lose that? Ego says we lost love. It lies! Gently and without fear, look at the hate that is denied and repressed. In looking it is forgiven – and it is gone because it is “seen.” You have brought it to the light.
Hate is a defense against guilt, (when we hate something we feel guilty )
and guilt is a defense against Love. (feeling guilty we never feel love, lovable or loved)
You are saved by your decision making mind. That is why salvation comes from you. The body can give you pleasure or pain and both only make the body and the ego seem real.
“Few appreciate the real power of the mind, and no one remains fully aware of it all the time. However, if you hope to spare yourself from fear there are some things you must realize and realize fully. The mind is very powerful, and never loses its creative force. It never sleeps. Every instant it is creating. It is hard to recognize that thoughts and belief combine into a power surge that can literally move mountains. It appears at first glance that to believe such power about yourself is arrogant, but that is not the real reason you do not believe it. You prefer to believe that your thoughts cannot exert real influence because you are actually afraid of them. This may allay awareness of the guilt, but at the cost of perceiving the mind as impotent. If you believe that what you think is ineffectual you may cease to be afraid of it, but you are hardly likely to respect it. There ARE no idle thoughts. All thinking produces form at some level.” T 2. VI 9. 3 – 13
Yes, you have a body and it is neutral. Yes, take care of it, keep it healty but it is not YOU. All problems are the same. Bring the problems to the decision making mind. Our belief in the problem is the problem. Embrace both the victim and victimizer, we are all one and we are the same.
We do not think we are a Son of God, but it is impossible to be separated from Source. Look at the guilt and wait; look at the hate and wait some more, be patient, don’t judge the ego. Just look. Looking is forgiveness. Look and it will disappear. We cling to our ego and disaster stories but they do not identify you.
See the post: Guilt is in the mind, But it is not True!
Guilt: The “gift” that keeps on giving until…..
Inner Peace For You 