Featured

2020 Moon reminds us: “I am There”

IMG_1852

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

Featured

Rest in Love, Rest in Truth

Apil 2014 2014-03-19 015

You are loved!  Most of us do not allow ourselves to feel it.  Why?  Don’t we believe we are lovable?  You ARE loved, warts, gifts and all!  Give yourself the gift of feeling it.  Really feel it.   Go to a silent place within, close your eyes and feel yourself being held, as if you were a small child again.  Feel yourself being rocked gently and a soft hand stroking your cheek and telling you that you are loved.  Feel the care and sweetness in your heart.  That is how God loves you.  Your spirit is love and as bright, as soft and innocent like this blossom.

I invite you to go to the A Course In Miracles website and listen to Lesson 109, I rest in God, being read to you as you close your eyes.

Here is the link to past in your browser:   https://acim.org/workbook/lesson-109/

The Course offers 365 lessons, one for each day of the year.  We being at lesson number 1 and  read a lesson per day and on the 109th day of the year we learn we can and DO rest in Love, in God and can be at Peace.   We just need to accept it.  At the end of the 365 lessons you will never be lonely again or feel unloved…….when you remember your true identity – God’s Holy Precious Son.

Happy New Year!

 

Featured

January Peace of Mind

Mt. Shasta's Heart

OK – So it is mid January!  You may have made some resolutions about things you want to happen or do this year.  How you doing?  The only part of your mind that would care or “seem to mind” is the ego.  The ego is the part of your mind that carries the judge’s gavel and seems to run you around like the cartoon road runner.

But what if you set your goal at the beginning of each day so that no matter what happened that day you would have peace?

A Couse In Miracles Lesson 34.  I could see peace instead of this.

“Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter.  It must begin with your own thoughts and then extend outward.  It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises.”

Go to http://www.acim.org – click on lessons and then scroll to lesson 34.  You can even close your eyes and have it read aloud to you.

So – each morning, before you get out of bed lie there for a few restful minutes and ask yourself:  “What kind of a day do I want?  What do I want to have happen today? Run through all the events and circumstances that you think the day will hold.

Then looking at them all say:

“But above all, today I choose peace.  No matter what happens I want the peace of God.”

Then it won’t matter if you get the job interview; the check you’ve been expecting; the date or meeting you’ve been waiting for or the diagnosis you’re hoping for.  No matter what happens since your goal is PEACE, you will have it regardless of the outcome of any of the circumstances in your life.

On my white board in the kitchen I’ve written:  Today I want the Peace of God.   You can put it on a note card you carry in your pocket.

In Chapter 17. of the Course, Section VI. Setting the Goal, p.4. (pg. 366)

The value of deciding in advance what you want to happen is simply that you will perceive the situation as means to make it happen.”

If we decide in advance what we want, then we will perceive it and even if we don’t, we will be upset and then remember “Oh, I could see peace instead of this.”

Even if you get what you want, how long will it make you happy?

No matter what happens in our crazy mixed up world, you can have peace!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured

See Love or the Call for Love

See either Love or a Call for Love

792117b3-73b6-4b15-a99d-cfa35fbc7325[1]

The United Nation’s International Day of Peace is Saturday, September 21. Imagine all the people in all Nations of the World stopping for 24 hours to think about Peace! Peace with other countries, counties, family and neighbors!   The above symbol is love in Arabic.

We don’t have to hate. Do we? Do we have to judge or condemn? If a trusted adult tells us that others are offensive we may tend to believe them especially when we are young. We are taught and most of us believe and accept but we certainly don’t have to. For example my mother was prejudiced against a certain race. I had played with some of these kids at school and liked them so I did not accept her belief but I did obey her and not go to their house. As it turned out my sister married a man of that race and low and behold, she changed her mind. A mind is a beautiful thing to change. Mom was a lovely person but she accepted her conditioning and passed it on. It reminds me of the Roger’s and Hammerstein South Pacific song, “You have to be taught.” But we do not have to accept society’s teaching. Hate is a choice.

Could it be that a part of our mind enjoys hate? Think about how you feel when you are in the “hate” emotion. Doesn’t it make you feel strong and powerful and above all right! Years ago I worked in an office with a young man who was mentally impaired. He was from a rich family and he annoyed me and I disliked him. Looking back after years of spiritual work I wondered what that was about. I think I hated him because he reminded me of my own mental impairment. I always thought I was stupid! We project onto others that which we have inside yet do not want to see or admit. It is projected out and seen elsewhere but heaven not in me! When I think of him now, I send love to him wherever he is and I believe his soul receives it. I know mine does.

Hate and anger are harmful to the hater in many ways.  Have you ever tried to be nice when you didn’t want to? What does that type of mental activity do to the brain/body? Check out the Every Day Health website, https://www.everydayhealth.com/news/ways-anger-ruining-your-health/ this site document from various studies, the side effects of hate and negative emotions on the heart and brain, creating stress hormones causing depression and even inflammation.   The ego is the “Master Judge” in our mind that runs our lives until we understand we are in fact miserable and see through the fog and decide to change our thoughts and choose peace. The ego very wisely uses projection and hate as a road block to love. We choose the ego until we decide not to. We however have a choice because we are a decider!

Hate is offensive.  When we see angry people it is very ugly and distasteful. We feel a churning inside. TV and movies offer a heavy diet of violence and hate an onslaught to the nervous systems.   To be honest we need to admit the hate we see reflected in the world outside, is also within. If we can admit that then we are no longer in conflict and it dissipates. Instead of pulling the “wool” over our eyes we just look honestly and in looking, it dissolves. If we don’t fight it or put up obstacles we avoid a pile of buried guilt being placed deep within the psyche to emerge unexpectedly, which it will. Look squarely at the angry person and see either love or a call for love. Try it. You will access a place of peace. You do not need to say aloud “I love you” merely think it. The mind is choosing love instead of the ego’s automatic response of disgust or hate.   Their anger is their momentarily condition but not their reality. In giving love, you receive it. You don’t know if or what you will “do or say” as the situation will depend on wisdom from the higher Self. But you can always think love.

This quote is attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “To defeat an enemy, make him a friend.” You could also say “To defeat an angry person, recognize it is also within and see either love or a call for love.”

If I exclude love from others; I am excluding love from myself. With compassion we no longer condemn.

We are the same, we all people and nations need peace. The Spark of the Divine is within everyone, so I challenge myself to look for it.

How is Peace Possible in your world?

Xmas Symbols Card 2011a no equals

Peace now belongs here, because a Thought of God has entered.  What else but a Thought of God turns hell to Heaven merely by being what it is?”  M. 11.How is Peace Possible in this World? P.4.8 & 9.

The above quote from the Manual of A Course In Miracles can relax our tortured mind if we remember that Peace is of God.  The memory of God is in our mind and we, mankind have denied it but it is impossible to destroy that memory. Mankind has forgotten who we are.  We are of God, we are all His children.  We are therefore related because we came from the same “Father” who loves us equally.  We are One.  We realize that when we remember to think of God.

This is how peace is possible in this world:  Thinking of God, remembering God IS and that you are LOVED, we are ALL LOVED EQUALLY.  We are ONE.

We are related beyond the color of skin; culture; religion, country of origin; language or sex.  We are One.

Since God is mysterious compassionate all encompassing eternal LOVE and we are His offspring, then we inherited the same attributes of compassionate eternal love.  This means we will never die – our bodies will, but our true SPIRIT SELF is eternal like God.

No one can exist or has ever lived that is not of God.  Our task is to remember who we are and we do that by ceasing all judgment.

Ask yourself whether your judgment or the Word of God is more likely to be true. For they say different things about the world and things so opposite that it is pointless to try to reconcile them.  God offers the world salvation; your judgment would condemn it.  God says there is no death; your judgment sees but death as the inevitable end of life.  God’s Word assures you that He loves the world; your judgment says it is unlovable.  Who is right?  For one of you is wrong.” M. 11. 4. 2.8.

“Peace is impossible to those who desire war.  Peace is inevitable to those who offer peace.  How easily, then, is your judgment of the world escaped!  It is not the world that makes peace seem impossible.  It is the world you see (through the eyes of the ego) that is impossible. Yet has God’s Judgment on this distorted world redeemed it and made it fit to welcome peace. 

Peace now belongs here because a Thought of God has entered.” M. 11.4.1-8

Your mind is becoming a judgment FREE ZONE!!  That is Peace!

http://www.facim.org

http://www.acim.org (The Course In Miracles is now in several languages.)