Days 181-200

Dear readers,

I know that I have fallen off the map these last few weeks.  After our previous review period, and as I entered the end-of-year frenzy while wrapping up work and preparing to leave town for the holidays, I have neglected my writing.  For this I am sorry.

It has been tough to commit to my initial plan of posting a new blog each day.  In addition to reading the text and meditating upon the workbook lessons in the Course, writing and publishing a blog has become a part-time job in and of itself.  As the lessons have progressed, I have also begun to find myself at a loss for words.  What can I say that has not been said already?  In progressing through A Course in Miracles, it seems to me that we are covering ground which we have already walked upon.  The same ideas are being repeated over and over again, in alternate arrangements of the same words.  How can my own writing here be any different?

Perhaps the repetition is necessary, like the repetitive motion of piercing the earth with the sharp blade of a shovel.  To reach the treasure buried underneath, we must continue digging.  We must continue to revisit the same Holy Thoughts in their many variations in order to move past the faulty ways of thinking which the world has encrusted in our minds.

And so, as we move forward, forgive me for recycling what you may have read already.  I will also be adopting a new schedule for my writing.  No longer will I post here every day.  Such a commitment has become too taxing for me to continue while preserving the integrity of the Course work for myself.  Instead, I will write a new post at the conclusion of each section of the workbook.

Just yesterday, we began the Sixth Review period.  Unlike the previous review sections, this one focuses on only one lesson per day for the twenty lessons we are revisiting.  After this final review, which concludes Part One of the workbook, I will share my own thoughts and feelings and any related experiences for the topics introduced in lessons 181-200, which are repeated in lessons 201-220.  To bring you up to speed, below is a list of the lessons we have recently covered and will continue to revisit over the next few weeks.  During the review period, we are asked to meditate upon each lesson morning and night, adding the following before and after the idea for the day: I am not a body.  I am free.  For I am still as God created me.

181. I trust my brothers, who are one with me.
182. I will be still an instant and go home.
183. I call upon God's Name and on my own.
184. The Name of God is my inheritance.
185. I want the peace of God.
186. Salvation of the world depends on me.
187. I bless the world because I bless myself.
188. The peace of God is shining in me now.
189. I feel the Love of God within me now.
190. I choose the joy of God instead of pain.
191. I am the holy Son of God Himself.
192. I have a function God would have me fill.
193. All things are lessons God would have me learn.
194. I place the future in the Hands of God.
195. Love is the way I walk in gratitude.
196. It can be but myself I crucify.
197. It can be but my gratitude I earn.
198. Only my condemnation injures me.
199. I am not a body.  I am free.
200. There is no peace except the peace of God.

Again, I apologize for my absence as of late.  I hope that when I pick up my writing here again, you will continue to join me on this journey.  Let us dig together so that we may reach the treasure buried deep within.

I wish you all a blessed and joyful holiday season and a new year filled with hope, love and laughter.

Until next time,
Journeyman

Day 180: Review - Lessons 169 & 170

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

By grace I live.  By grace I am released.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

There is no cruelty in God and none in me.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 179: Review - Lessons 167 & 168

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

There is one life, and that I share with God.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Your grace is given me.  I claim it now.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 178: Review - Lessons 165 & 166

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Let not my mind deny the Thought of God.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

I am entrusted with the gifts of God.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 177: Review - Lessons 163 & 164

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

There is no death.  The Son of God is free.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Now we are one with Him Who is our Source.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 176: Review - Lessons 161 & 162

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

I am as God created me.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 175: Review - Lessons 159 & 160

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

I give the miracles I have received.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

I am at home.  Fear is the stranger here.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 174: Review - Lessons 157 & 158

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Into His Presence would I enter now.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Today I learn to give as I receive.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 173: Review - Lessons 155 & 156

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

I will step back and let Him lead the way.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

I walk with God in perfect holiness.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 172: Review - Lessons 153 & 154

Below are the lessons we are reviewing today, with links to my previous posts:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

In my defenselessness my safety lies.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

I am among the ministers of God.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 171: Review - Lessons 151 & 152

We begin our Fifth Review today in the workbook of A Course in Miracles.  We will revisit two previous lessons each day, while also adding the following idea:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

This important principle, the Course tells us, is reflected in all the lessons we will be reviewing.  As such, we are asked to begin and end our daily meditations with it.

During our review period over the next ten days, I will be taking a break from writing.  However, I will continue to post the daily meditations as outlined in the Course, with links to revisit my previous blog postings on the lessons for that day.  I sincerely hope you will take the time you would have otherwise spent reading to close your eyes and sit in quiet stillness to reflect.  Begin and end your day as such, and you will start to witness the miraculous unfold.  I encourage you to share here any insights you may have.

Without further ado, here is our meditation for today:

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

All things are echoes of the Voice for God.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

The power of decision is my own.

God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 170: There is no cruelty in God and none in me.

On the evening of today's lesson, I had a confrontation with a friend, which resulted in the end of our friendship.  This blog comes a few days after that night.  Over the course of these last few days, the whole situation has eaten away at me.  Finally, as I sat down to write, the healing thoughts came.  I realized that I first needed to address my friend directly.  Below is what I wrote to him:

I am writing to make amends.  I am writing to apologize for my actions over these last couple weeks.  I realized tonight upon reflecting on what happened that I did not behave as a friend, as a Brother to you.  I should have acknowledged your feelings rather than deny your right to feel the way you did.  I should have said, "I'm sorry, I did not intend for you to feel that way."  Instead, I became defensive, and I judged.

When we spoke later on, I had mistaken my own judgment for concern.  But you were right.  I was being judgmental.  I had taken what you had told me in confidence and strung it together to defend my own point of view.  For that I am truly sorry.  It was not my place to name your issues, or to even claim you had any.  As a friend, as a Brother, I should have simply listened.  It was not my intent to attack you; but unfortunately, that's precisely what I did, and without my awareness that I had done so.

One thing I stand by is this: You are a good person.  This I know.  I never doubted that, and I never meant to imply that I thought anything less of you.

I hope you will forgive me for placing undue judgment on you.  I hope you will forgive me for becoming defensive and attacking back.  I hope you will recognize my good intent and that I did not mean to hurt you.  I am sorry that I did.

In the spirit of the holiday, I want to let you know that I am grateful you came into my life, no matter how brief our friendship was.  I wrongfully thought that it was you who needed me.  I realize now that it was I who needed you, to learn from my own misgivings, and to better understand what being a true friend means.

How perfect this lesson was for me today.  There is no cruelty in God and none in me.  Cruelty, in any form it may take - be it judgment, defensiveness, or attack - is all the same.  To be cruel is to withhold Love.  It goes against our very nature, for we are Love.  This was why I had been at odds with myself.  This is what had been eating away at me.  I had betrayed my own nature.

The beauty here lies in the act of forgiveness.  Forgiveness in action is always a miracle at work.  Forgiveness is how we heal, and how we return from a false state of cruelty to our True state of Love.  To make amends is to forgive ourselves, and in doing so we forgive our Brothers and Sisters as well.

So if you're having trouble sleeping, if you're feeling down and out of sorts; ask yourself if there is someone you have not forgiven.  Make amends, and heal the wound.  That is where you will find Peace again.  That is where you will be welcomed back into your Heart, for only Love can dwell there.  It is the only Truth of Who We Really Are.  There is no cruelty in God and none in me.  Remember this today.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 169: By grace I live. By grace I am released.

Our meditation for today is this:

By grace I live.  By grace I am released.
By grace I give.  By grace I will release.

Below is an excerpt from the workbook of A Course in Miracles further explaining our lesson for today:

Grace is acceptance of the Love of God within a world of seeming hate and fear.  By grace alone the hate and fear are gone, for grace presents a state so opposite to everything the world contains, that those whose minds are lighted by the gift of grace can not believe the world of fear is real.

Grace is not learned.  The final step must go beyond all learning.  Grace is not the goal this course aspires to attain.  Yet we prepare for grace in that an open mind can hear the Call to waken.  It is not shut tight against God's Voice.  It has become aware that there are things it does not know, and thus is ready to accept a state completely different from experience with which it is familiarly at home.

Grace is our final destination, the last step taken along the path of Salvation.  Grace lies within all of us, but it cannot be fully realized until we dispose of all the garbage in our minds.  This is our "release," and the release which we then give to others through our graceful actions.  This is our healing process.  In healing the mind, we heal the world around us.  Forgiveness is the way by which we heal.  Forgiveness is the mending of a mind that has become split in its belief of separation.

In our lesson today, the Course advises that we ask God for a glimmer of the Grace awaiting us.  Though this sublime state is yet to come to us in its entirety, we can sample the experience of it now.  Doing so makes the healing process easier, as we bring a bit of Grace with us to light the way to its Source.

If we think of life on earth as preparation for something Grand, we are thinking in accordance with the principles of Atonement.  A Course in Miracles describes the Atonement as a chain of forgiveness, leading the way to our Salvation or full realization of Who We Really Are.  Each circumstance that presents itself to us is an opportunity to practice what we inherently know - that We are All One, that We are Divine Children of God, that We are Eternal, and that Love is All There Is.  This is how we prepare ourselves to wipe our eyes clean of the world we once saw and behold Heaven in its place.  This is how we ready ourselves for the Day of Grace, which comes to each of us in time as we complete our path along the Atonement.

We must be prepared, but the beauty of time is that we have all we need to get there.  The end is certain.  God will welcome us Home again.  But He waits for us to make the choice to align our will with His.  Must we continue to choose against it and keep wreaking havoc upon our planet?  When will we wake up?  After we exhaust our resources?  After we drop a few more nuclear bombs?  After we decimate the globe?  Let's not wait until we have no choice to make, for although there is a limit to the degree which we can miscreate, we need not go that far.  Let us turn around now and face the Light.  Let us See the path of Truth before us and take our steps in faith, knowing one day Grace will fill our hearts and all we see forever.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 168: Your grace is given me. I claim it now.

Of today's lesson, A Course in Miracles says the following:

Today we ask of God the gift he has most carefully preserved within our hearts, waiting to be acknowledged.  This the gift by which God leans to us and lifts us up, taking salvation's final step Himself.  All steps but this we learn, instructed by His Voice.  But finally He comes Himself, and takes us in His Arms and sweeps away the cobwebs of our sleep.  His gift of grace is more than just an answer.  It restores all memories the sleeping mind forgot; all certainty of what Love's meaning is.

God loves His Son.  Request Him now to give the means by which this world will disappear, and vision first will come, with knowledge but an instant later.  For in grace you see a light that covers all the world in love, and watch fear disappear from every face as hearts rise up and claim the light as theirs.  What now remains that Heaven be delayed an instant longer?  What is still undone when your forgiveness rests on everything?

When we think of Grace, we do not think of struggle.  We think of ease, of comfort, of beauty and of elegance.  Such a word seems contradictory to the ways of this world.  But Grace is not of this world.  It is God's Gift from Heaven, and any grace experienced here is but a taste of what awaits us.

Grace is ours to claim, for it is our birthright.  Grace brings with it Peace and Joy and Love and Safety - all things one imagines that come naturally in Heaven.  Grace is the Light of God, and we see it evidenced in the simplest things in Life.

For instance, just today, during an after school workshop that I teach, the children were infused with a creative energy the likes that I had never seen in them before.  While in the process of improvising scenes for a play that they are writing, a certain joyful essence overtook them.  When they performed what they had written for their peers, the students watching sat in gleeful anticipation upon the edges of their seats.  They had a mighty task this day, and in the course of just a couple hours they had written ten new scenes.  I am confident this would not have been possible if it were not for God's Grace.

For Grace to bless us at our workshop on this day, we had to be collectively aligned and open to receive it.  The kids I teach are wonderful.  They've instilled within the group a sense of Trust, a sense of Safety, and a sense of Unity; for they truly understand the meaning of Ensemble.  Were it not for these established guidelines, we could not have accomplished what we did today.  That was Grace in action here on earth.  That was my taste of Heaven for today.

I pray that you receive your Gift of Grace which has been sent to you this day.  Be open to receiving it, and do so by placing yourself in a position where you can give to others.  That is how God's Grace will make itself known to you.  Claim it now, for it is yours, and Heaven sits by patiently for you to come and taste it.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 167: There is one life, and that I share with God.

Just as there is only One Love and One Energy which we All share, there is only One Life that is shared by us and God.  The form it takes may differ, but the substance is the same.  Our lesson on this day begins as such:

There are not different kinds of life, for life is like the truth.  It does not have degrees.  It is the one condition in which all that God created share.  Like all His Thoughts, it has no opposite.  There is no death because what God created shares His life.  There is no death because the Father and the Son are one.

One Universal Law that is reflected both in this world and in Heaven is that Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.  It simply changes form.  We are Beings of Energy, therefore we can neither be created nor destroyed.  Our bodies are the forms our energies have taken presently, but when we lay our bodies down, our forms will change again.

What is Creation, then?  If everything is Energy, and Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, how did we come to be?  We speak often of the notion that we are as God created us.  But in fact we always have been, and always will be.  What we mean then by Creation is expansion of this unifying Energy.  God created us by His expansion of His Love.  We have been imbued as well with the ability to create.

Love.  Life.  Energy.  Truth.  God.  They are all synonymous.  They are simply different ways to speak of the same thing.  There is no denying the existence of these entities.  We have never known them not to have existed.  Is there any reason to believe that they will ever cease to be?  Sure, they have been hidden through the course of time.  We bury love for one another, fearful it will make us weak.  We slaughter our own bodies, hiding in the carnage any evidence for Life.  Potential energy becomes disguised while it awaits to bloom.  Truth becomes polluted by the little lies we tell.  And God is called a grand hallucination while we claim that He has failed to offer proof of His existence.

But God is all around us; the evidence, quite literally, is Everywhere.  Truth will always find a way, no matter how we try to hide it; Truth will never alter and will always be consistent.  Any Physics professor will tell you that potential energy is just as powerful as is the energy we see in motion; it is only a matter of time before that energy is activated.  Following every death, there is rebirth; a decaying body will supply the soil for another life to grow.  And Love, as we know, cannot be contained forever; invisible though it may be, its bonds are palpable.

So what is death then, but a dark fairytale that we tell ourselves?  Perhaps it is our crude attempt to offer definition to the Truth of Life.  If Life is all we know, then how can we be sure that we know it at all?  We therefore invent death to juxtapose all that Life is, so we see it from a place where we can know what it is not.  If that is our rationale for all the cruelty we've imposed, then don't you think it's time that we chose Life instead of death?  We've seen enough "destruction," and we've seen enough rebirth to know that Life is everpresent, everlasting, and that destruction is not possible.  Why should we then dwell within this dream for any longer?  Let us wake to our One Truth that there is but One Life we share, and that we share it All with our One God, Who is our Source of Everlasting Energy and Love.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 166: I am entrusted with the gifts of God.

Entrust (from http://dictionary.reference.com/)

1. to charge or invest with a trust or responsibility; charge with a specified office or duty involving trust: We entrusted him with our lives.
2. to commit (something) in trust to; confide, as for care, use, or performance: to entrust a secret, money, powers, or work to another.

Let us consider the above as we reflect upon our meditation for today:

I am entrusted with the gifts of God.

A Course in Miracles introduces today's lesson with the following:

All things are given you.  God's trust in you is limitless.  He knows His Son.  He gives without exception, holding nothing back that can contribute to your happiness.  And yet, unless your will is one with His, His gifts are not received.  But what would make you think there is another will than His?

What we can deduce from this is that when we commit our will to God's, we will be able to recognize all the Gifts that He has given us.  These Gifts carry with them a responsibility, a special purpose to which we have been charged.  Can you guess what that responsibility may be?

The Course has emphasized many times that giving and receiving are one in Truth.  We have been entrusted, then, to give the Gifts of God which we receive.

What Gifts do you believe these are?  Certainly they cannot be of temporary value; and everything of this world, as we know, is temporary.  What can they be then?  Love?  Joy?  Life?  Harmony?  Immortality?  Peace?  Compassion?  Power?  Strength?  Yes, all these things and more are Gifts that God has given us.  All these things and more are ours already, if we have the Sight to See them.  If we commit our will to God's, which simply means that we begin to See each other as We Really Are - One with Him and One with one another, as sinless and as Pure as God created us - then we will have received His Gifts as ours.

As God has given all His Gifts to everyone already, how are we to pass them on as we have been entrusted? Our gift becomes the Gift of Vision, the Gift of Remembrance of Who We Really Are.  When we turn our Brothers and Sisters toward the Light that shines within themselves, they will then receive the Gifts that God has given all of us.

Forgiveness is the key to Seeing this Light within ourselves and one other.  Amid the violence and the greed and the evils of this world, how else are we to perceive each other as sinless but through Forgiveness?  If we can just take stock of all the Holy Gifts that await us, we will set our destination firmly in our minds, and thus align ourselves along the path of our Salvation through Forgiveness.  To know that we can never die will help us on our way, for this is proof that nothing of this world could ever harm us.  No harm, no foul, right?  So let's forgive each other for the missteps we have made, and recognize that though things may appear quite dark indeed, it all is an illusion.  For nothing here or anywhere could take away the Life, the Love, the Peace, the Strength, the Joy, or any Gift from God with which we are entrusted.

Until tomorrow,

Journeyman

Day 165: Let not my mind deny the Thought of God.

As A Course in Miracles tells us, an idea never leaves its source.  Who are we then?  From where do we come?  The answer here is simple, yet we have denied the Truth about ourselves for so long that we have forgotten Who We Really Are.  Simply put, we are ideas in the Mind of God.  His Thought created us, and as such, we have never left Him Who is our Source.  Our lesson for today elaborates:

The Thought of God created you.  It left you not, nor have you ever been apart from it an instant.  It belongs to you.  By it you live.  It is your Source of life, holding you one with it, and everything is one with you because it left you not.  The Thought of God protects you, cares for you, makes soft your resting place and smooth your way, lighting your mind with happiness and love.  Eternity and everlasting life shine in your mind, because the Thought of God has left you not, and still abides with you.

If God is All There Is and All There Ever Will Be, and we are His creations, then we must also Always Be.  Let us put it a little more logically:

• God is Eternal.
• We are the Thought of God.
• Thoughts never leave their source.
• Therefore, we are Eternal with God, Who is our Source.

Think about that for a minute.  We are Eternal Beings.  Really let this idea sink in.

Immortality is something we, as humans, tend to glorify.  And indeed it is glorious.  Perhaps our fascination with the concept is because it is reflective of our True Nature.

So what does Eternal Life mean?  Well, for starters, as we know, it means that we can never die.  Death, then, is only an illusion.  But death is such a fundamental aspect of this world.  Everything a part of it must die.  The world itself, then, must be an illusion.

To deny the Thought of God is to believe that the illusions of this world are the truth.  But if the Truth is that we are Eternal, then this world cannot exist.  How can we reconcile this?  We can't, of course.  We must believe the Truth or else believe in its false opposite.  But as long as we are living in this world, how can we come to See what is familiar to our eyes as only holograms within a vivid dream?  We begin by our acceptance of the Truth of Who We Are.  We need not understand it all completely.  That will come in time, and when True Understanding comes, that will mark the end of time.  The death of this world is the birth of our awareness of our Everlasting Home in Heaven.

Let us accept, then, Who We Are today.  As ideas in the Mind of God, we have been given Everlasting Life!  This is a day of celebration.  Let us no longer deny the Truth of our Glorious Nature.  The more we come to understand this, the more we'll recognize the world's illusions as they are.  Rejoice in the knowledge of Who You Are today.  We will live forever, for we are One with God Who is our Source.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 164: Now are we one with Him Who is our Source.

The Course begins describing today's lesson with the following: "What time but now can truth be recognized?  The present is the only time there is."  It is Now that we must recognize that We are One with God.  Let us not wait for tomorrow.  Likewise, let us not delude ourselves that we were once connected but no longer are a part of Him.  We remain as God created us, and He created All of us as One to share Eternal Life with Him.

I have a friend who seems to carry with him lots of anger.  He is single, and he longs to meet someone who will love him.  I get the sense that he feels threatened in the presence of a healthy couple, because it just exacerbates the fear that he's alone.  As a result he closes off, hiding his anger underneath the walls he builds around himself.  From time to time this rage seeps out, in simple things - like when in traffic or while sending a passive-aggressive text.

Well, tonight I had a fall-out with this friend.  It unsettled me, because I know that he has a good heart.  But he shields it under lock and key and distances himself.  When he sees the love two people share he starts to feel excluded.  Yet in those moments, he has failed to recognize the Truth of Who He Is.

The love a couple shares is but just one expression of God's Love, and His Love is the only one there is.  We tend to seek so desperately for someone who will love us, but in so doing we forget that we are Love ourselves.  There is no part of us that is unworthy of God's Love, and there is no part of us that He does not give all His Love.  The Truth is that we are never alone, but if we close our hearts we will perceive ourselves to be.  If we seek our validation from outside sources, we will only feel separated and, in turn, alone.

To See ourselves as One is to dispel the fear that we are disconnected from each other.  To See ourselves as One is to remember that our Source created us as Whole with Him.  To See ourselves as One is to know Who We Are and that no matter what we may perceive, we can never be alone.  For within our hearts the Love of God shines brightly, Everlasting.  All we need to do to feel His presence there with us is to close our eyes and look inside, and we will find His hand upon our soul.

Tear down today the walls that you have built around yourself.  You have nothing to fear; you have no need for anger; for we are One with Him Who is our Source.  The time is Now that we remember this, for Now is all there is, and all there ever will be.  Unlock your heart and throw away the key.  The Loving Hands of God are there to catch you.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 163: There is no death. The Son of God is free.

Only two things in life are certain, right?  Death and Taxes.  Perhaps this has been true within the world that we have made, but these two things oppose the World Beyond, and as such are not so.  We are eternal beings.  There is nothing that could change that.  Only by confusing our True Self with our physical bodies will we then believe that death is possible.

The notion of "taxes" is another foreign concept, for in Heaven there is nothing that could be taken from us - Everything is ours and belongs to All of us, shared freely with each other for the joy of Love we're given.  This freedom from taxation is our release from the idea of death, for in it we will recognize that Love can never die.  After all, the final tax that this world would demand is our own life.  Would you accept this as your fate?  Or would you rather look within and See that you are Love, and that you will live forever?

If all Thought is Source, then everything that we conceive will be.  This is the Power of our Mind which God has given us.  As our will is also free, we have misused that power and constructed dark and lonely shadows here on earth.  This evil we have made is not of God, but a dream within this world.  Our experience of it may seem very real though indeed.  But these grim illusions fade away as soon as we awake to Truth.  They cannot follow us to Heaven, for therein is only Life.

All false illusions sprung from fear have only one result: Their end is death.  But their death is not our own.  Consider this: Can you conceive of not existing?  No.  Of course you can't, and for this simple reason we exist eternally.  Death is the ultimate illusion of our fears, but as it's sprung from nothing that we ever could conceive, death itself but marks the end of the illusions it has made.

Our only goal then is to See the Truth of Who We Are.  To help us on our quest, A Course in Miracles offers us this detailed prayer today:

Our Father, bless our eyes today.  We are Your messengers, and we would look upon the glorious reflection of Your Love which shines in everything.  We live and move in You alone.  We are not separate from Your eternal life.  There is no death, for death is not Your Will.  And we abide where You have placed us, in the life we share with You and with all living things, to be like You and part of You forever.  We accept your thoughts as ours, and our will is one with Yours eternally.  Amen.

Let your Light shine brightly on this day, with confidence that you were made by God to last forever.  See the Life of Love in all the things you look upon today, and know that everything you touch is just a shell of all the Joy that waits for you beyond this world.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 162: I am as God created me.

We repeat an idea introduced previously in the workbook of A Course in Miracles:

I am as God Created me.

As our explanation for our lesson today tells us:

This single thought, held firmly in the mind, would save the world.  From time to time we will repeat it, as we reach another stage in learning.  It will mean far more to you as you advance.  These words are sacred, for they are the words God gave in answer to the world you made.  By them it disappears, and all things seen within its misty clouds and vaporous illusions vanish as these words are spoken.  For they come from God.

Today I had the privilege of exploring a local arboretum.  If you ever feel disconnected, take a walk in the midst of Nature's beauty.  The abundance of life will awaken your senses and enliven your mind.

While meditating on our lesson today, sitting upon soft grass under the shade of a large tree's sprawling branches, a poem came to me:

God created me the rivers and the oceans.
God created me the fruits upon the trees.
God created me a rainbow of emotions.
God created me the depths of all the seas.

God created me a song along the skyline.
God created me an angel in the breeze.
God created me a Child of the Divine.
God created me as who I'll always be.

God created me the sun and moon and starlight.
God created me the distant galaxies.
God created me and watches as I take flight.
God created you to come along with me.

God created us as two birds of a feather.
God created us a single melody.
God created you and me to be together,
Bound by Love for us to share eternally.

After spending the day walking through the beautiful botanical gardens, chasing peacocks and feeding the geese and squirrels, my partner and I treated ourselves to some delicious Thai food and saw the film Eat Pray Love at the discount movie theater.  I'd like to share with you a few of my favorite quotes (some of which I've had to paraphrase here):

"God dwells within me... as me."

Meditate while smiling, not only with your lips, but also with your mind, your heart, even your liver... every part of you.

"To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life."

When you find happiness for yourself, you end up giving it to "tutti" (which means "everyone" in Italian).

What a nice way to round out the day!  From feeling at one with Nature to savoring the spices of ethnic cuisine to seeing an inspiring film filled with words of wisdom; I felt peaceful, blissful, and grateful - just as God created me.

May your day bring you the sweet assurance that you are as Pure and Bright and Beautiful as the day that God created you.  In Truth you always have been and will never cease to be.  See yourself in every joyful thing you look upon today, and know that you're unlimited in Who You Are and how you come to be.  You are at One with All Creation.  Bless this day with gratitude and Love as you remember these few words:  I am as God created me.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 161: Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.

Today we See each other as We Really Are.  Today we recognize that each person we encounter is our Savior.  They may be young or old, fit or fat, black or white, intelligent or not; they may appear to you as doctor, lawyer, teacher, priest or prisoner; you may see them in the grocery store, sit with them on the bus, or toss coins into their jars as they lay shivering on the streets... but it does not matter how they come.  These are illusions anyway, just labels that obscure the Truth of Who We Really Are.  Everyone we meet is our Savior, a Holy Son of God.  We See the Light in them today and ask for their blessing:

Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.  I would behold you with the eyes of Christ, and see my perfect sinlessness in you.

Our meditation from A Course in Miracles today reminds us that to See the Light in one another is to See the Light within ourselves.  This is what the Course refers to by "the eyes of Christ."  If you don't believe in Christ, it is no matter.  Christ is but a symbol for the Perfect Child of God, who exists in all of us.  For some it is the Buddha they believe.  For others it may be another figure.  In the end, it makes no difference.  The goal here is to recognize the Light in everyone, for that is our True Self.  And that is how we See our Self reflected in each other.

We cannot ask someone to bless us if we see them as beneath us.  Know, then, that we are equal, each and every one of us.  We cannot ask someone to bless us if we see them as attacking.  Know, then, that attack is only in our minds, our fear projected outward.  We cannot ask someone to bless us if we see them as unholy.  Know, then, that we are Divine, our bodies only shells hiding the Light of Truth within.

I know this isn't easy.  It's still a struggle for me, too.  It is one thing to know something intellectually, but putting it to practice is another thing entirely.  How, then, do we see each person we encounter as our true equal?  How do we perceive their assaults as illusions in our mind?  How do we envision them as Holy, bearing gifts of our salvation?

The Course advises that we start with just one person in our mind:

Select one brother, symbol of the rest, and ask salvation of him.  See him first as clearly as you can, in that same form to which you are accustomed.  See his face, his hands and feet, his clothing.  Watch him smile, and see familiar gestures which he makes so frequently.  Then think of this: What you are seeing now conceals from you the sight of one who can forgive you all your sins; whose sacred hands can take away the nails which pierce your own, and lift the crown of thorns which you have placed upon your bleeding head.

Our daily practice will make way for us to See more clearly.  One will turn to many, and before we know it, we will find that Vision has replaced our former faulty way of seeing.  Everyone we look upon will only come as Light.

So I say to all of you, some I know and some I don't, wherever you may be I want to thank you for your presence.  Inside yourself there is a Light so bright it moves my heart.  That Light is powerful enough to outshine our very sun.  It gives life to those around you, for it is Life of itself.  Without your Light, we would not be - not any single one of us.  For your Light is the same that shines from God and All Creation.  It is there, in you, even when you do not realize it.  So I ask of you, oh Holy one, my Brother here on earth, that you offer me your blessing, as I offer you my own.  Let us give that Light we share together to one and another, so that we may reunite ourselves in Brotherhood and Love.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 160: I am at home. Fear is the stranger here.

Today's workbook lesson of A Course in Miracles begins with this: "Fear is a stranger to the ways of love.  Identify with fear, and you will be a stranger to yourself."  Fear is the devil's playground - the devil, of course, being our ego.  The ego is like the devil on our shoulders.  It is the part of our mind that has convinced us we are separate from one another.  It is the part of our mind which would have us believe that we are our bodies and will one day die.  It is the part of our mind which feeds upon our fears, growing stronger every step we take away from the Truth of Who We Are.

We are at Home in God, and God's Home is not complete without us there.  We have never really left Him, but we have imagined that we have.  This is the trick the ego's played on us.  This is the basis of all fear - that we are all alone, isolated from each other, apart from God and of only temporary existence.  This may be the truth about our bodies, but our bodies are not Real.  Anything of temporary being is not Real in the Mind of God, for in the space of God there exists but Here and Now - an Eternal State of Being.  This is the Home where our souls dwell.  This is Who We Really Are.

I am at home.  Fear is the stranger here.

Have you ever felt a stranger to yourself?  I know I have.  Heck, we all have.  It's called "adolescence."  Seriously.  Can you think of a period of time in your life more terrifying than that?  During adolescence, we are more apt to identify with our bodies than at any other age, and that is where belief in separation all begins.  The physical changes are apparent.  We begin to feel strange within our very skins.  But then the social pressures take us like a great big wave - the popular and outcast groups emerge, and dividing lines grow wider.  Remember that Pure Love will only join together.  Fear is what divides us.  If anything for certain can be said of adolescence, it's that divisions are made clear.  You're either "in" or you are "out," and even when you're "in" you can't help feeling all alone.  We are classified as one thing or another, and no longer do we have a place that we can call our home.

Thankfully, this traumatic period does pass.  But it sets in us a fear that lingers with us for a while.  For some this fear will last for the remainder of their lives.  For others (like yourself), by seeking Truth within themselves, they come to recognize that they are not what they once thought they were.  They come to realize that those dividing lines - from "loser" to "most popular" - are only in our minds.  We are all Worthy.  Otherwise, we would not Be.  And if we are all worthy, then we must be tied to something Greater which has made us so.  Every single one of us is Great.  But joined together, we are Greater - joined together, we are the Son of God Himself.  And what but Love could have the power to connect us so?  What but fear could try to tell us that we are not Whole?  The Truth of Who We Are is certain.  We are at Home in God, joined together by His Love.  There is no power that could alter this.  And that is why fear is the stranger here.

Break down those lines that divide you from the rest of the world today.  Do it with Love, and you will remember the Truth of Who You Are.  A Light will start to shine so bright and so familiarly that you will know it is the Light that takes you Home.

So take off those "Kick Me" signs, people... It's time.

Until tomrorow,
Journeyman

Day 159: I give the miracles I have received.

Before I begin, a moment of celebration: This is my 100th consecutive blog!  If this were a television series, it would be syndicated.

Alright, now to the juicy stuff...

A Course in Miracles outlines the principles of miracles in the first few pages of the text.  Here is a handful of those principles:

There is no order of difficulty in miracles.  One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another.  They are all the same.  All expressions of love are maximal.

Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.  The real miracle is the love that inspires them.  In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.

Prayer is the medium of miracles.  It is a means of communication of the created with the Creator.  Through prayer love is received, and through miracles love is expressed.

Miracles are thoughts.  Thoughts can represent the lower or bodily level of experience, or the higher or spiritual level of experience.  One makes the physical, and the other creates the spiritual.

Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating it is as blessed to give as to receive.  They simultaneously increase the strength of the giver and supply strength to the receiver.

Miracles transcend the body.  They are sudden shifts into invisibility, away from the bodily level.  That is why they heal.

Miracles make minds one in God.  They depend on cooperation because the Sonship is the sum of all that God created.  Miracles therefore reflect the laws of eternity, not of time.

Miracles reawaken the awareness that the spirit, not the body, is the altar of truth.  This is the recognition that leads to the healing power of the miracle.

Miracles are natural signs of forgiveness.  Through miracles you accept God's forgiveness by extending it to others.

The miracle acknowledges everyone as your brother and mine.  It is a way of perceiving the universal mark of God.

Simply put, a miracle is a shift in perception from fear to Love.  We are told in today's workbook lesson that all miracles have been given to us, but we cannot know we have received them until we give them to each other:

You understand that you are healed when you give healing.  You accept forgiveness as accomplished in yourself when you forgive.  You recognize your brother in yourself, and thus do you perceive that you are whole.  There is no miracle you cannot give, for all are given you.  Receive them now by opening the storehouse of your mind where they are laid, and giving them away.

Remember that to Truly give is also to receive.  To receive then means that we must give as well.  This is a concept that is difficult to grasp at first, because it goes against the laws of this world.  Here, to give means that we no longer possess the thing we're giving.  But when we give the gifts of timeless value: Love, Joy, Peace and the Vision of All Life as One, we receive them back in magnitude.  That is our reminder for today.

We ourselves are miracles, for we ourselves are Love.  Love has no boundaries, no separate entities.  Love is the through-line that connects us all together.  Any barriers that we put up come crashing down with Love.  When we Truly See another, Love recognizes itself.  The miracle we give to others, from which all miracles come, is the knowledge that each person we encounter is our Savior.  Even when we look upon our earthly enemy, we must See the Savior there within.  By doing so they are our enemy no more.  They may still pose a challenge for us while we're here on earth, but to see that challenge from Heaven's perspective is to see it as an opportunity for growth.

We all possess the potential to alter our way of thinking so that we may see the Love in everything.  Little by little, we will begin to see the fearful images of this world wash away, while in their place a Light of Truth awaits to take their place.  Give this gift of Holy Vision to all those you meet today.  All that need be done is that you See the Love within them.  When you do, you will behold the bond between you and your Brother, and from there you will then realize those ties extend from you and him and God to everyone, connecting us eternally together.  This is how we give the miracles we have received.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 158: Today I learn to give as I receive.

We have learned in prior lessons that to Truly give is also to receive.  Today we learn the root of what it is that we are giving.  The experience of God is not one that we can give, for that comes to every individual at the precise time he is ready.  A Course in Miracles tells us that our gift to one another is to See the Light in everyone.  This Vision is the core of all Forgiveness, Love and Peace.  Of this important Gift, the Course says the following:

It does not look upon a body, and mistake it for the Son whom God created.  It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin.  It sees no separation.  And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.

To See the Light in All is to See past all illusions.  To See the Light in everyone is to See only Perfection.  The Light we see in others is the very Light which shines in all of us.  Together We are One - the Innocent and Beautiful Divine Child of God.  All else is false perception.

I've noted here before that to do this is not easy.  This way of thinking is completely opposite from what the world teaches.  But are we satisfied with what the world has offered us?  Or would we benefit to look beyond the bounds of this place and bring back with us the Wisdom that restores our minds to Heaven?  To see another as yourself can only foster Peace.  To see everyone as the Divine could only foster Glory.  Would we not want these Heavenly experiences here on earth?  They can be ours if we can learn to share this Vision with our Brothers.  Like all Gifts from God, we only can receive it if we give it to another.  See the Light in everyone, and yours will reflect back to you.

The challenge here is looking past the errors of our ways.  Many go through life seeing themselves as only victims, for this world teaches that we will all one day fall prey to death.  This breeds in us a feeling of defensiveness and drives us to attack.  But to realize that we can never die will free us from the chains that hold us hostage to our egos.  Though our bodies die, our souls do not.  There is nothing that can harm the Real You and Me.  This is the means by which we start to See the Light of Truth in one another.  See all attack as just a misguided belief, for that is all it is.  Do not let it affect you, but perceive instead the Truth within the one who is attacking.  They will recognize your gentle gaze, for it is the gaze of God they see in you.  Somewhere within them they will feel a resonating tone, one that matches yours and everyone's, for it is the frequency of our Creator.  If even for an instant, their heart will open and you'll see your inner light reflected in their own.  This is how we give the Gift of Vision, and how it is then given back to us.

Today I learn to give as I receive.

May you be blessed today with Gifted Sight that you may See all God's Creations as yourself in our Shared Light.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 157: Into His Presence would I enter now.

Today we are invited to enter the Gates of Heaven.  As A Course in Miracles tells us, we have now come to an understanding deep enough to carry us into the Timelessness of Perfect Bliss:

Today it will be given you to feel a touch of Heaven, though you will return to paths of learning.  Yet you have come far enough along the way to alter time sufficiently to rise above its laws, and walk into eternity a while.  This you will learn to do increasingly, as every lesson, faithfully rehearsed, brings you more swiftly to this holy place and leaves you, for a moment, to your Self.

My meditation for today was powerful indeed.  The moment I had closed my eyes, I saw great doors before me as they broke open, revealing floods of Light from far within.  I glided through the entryway and found myself in Stillness.  Though I did not move, I felt that I was falling.  Yet there was no ground to land upon, nor walls, nor ceiling either.  Where I was I cannot say, for it was nowhere I had been before.  All around me images were flashing - different worlds among the Universe.  I realized then that I was in the Birthplace of Creation.  As I listened closely, I could hear the pulsing of a Heartbeat.  It was not my own, but something far more rapid and succinct.  I soon found myself within a glowing Orb of Light.  It flickered like a strobe with each pulsation, and I felt inside of me a well of recognition.  This is Where it All began.  This is Where All Life springs forth.  This is Where it will continue still, Forevermore, into Eternity...

I pray that each of us can have a glimpse of this experience today.  Take a moment for yourself and let the Light of God guide you back Home.  Just for an instant, lay all your daily concerns aside, and let the Gates of Heaven open up for you today.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 156: I walk with God in perfect holiness.

"I am as God created me."  This lesson is repeated frequently throughout A Course in Miracles.  Today's meditation enunciates this belief once again.  We go arm in arm with God, wherever we go, whether we're aware of it or not.  How can we, of God's creation, be anything less than Holy?  Only when we forget from Where It Is we come - only when we falsely think that we could not be Pure - does our experience reflect those grim illusions that we make.  In recognizing that we are not sinners, but merely misguided dreamers, we can awake to the Truth that God and all of us are One.  This awareness lights the world around us, and brings along with each one all our brothers and our sisters who await to waken with us.

I walk with God in perfect holiness.  I light the world, I light my mind and all the minds which God created one with me.

Today's meditation reaffirms our place in the Universe.  We have no limits, for we are present Everywhere.  We are each a part of one another, tied together in an unbreakable link with our Creator.  When we forget this simple truth, our minds grow dark indeed.  We cut off the electric stream between ourselves and God, like unscrewing a light bulb from its safe and sturdy socket.  Electricity still flows, but we have closed off from receiving it.  All we must do is turn the bulb back into place, and we will see the brilliant light shine forth from each of us again.

Let us not forget that God walks with us all the time, in every possible way.  We are given constant reminders that He is here with us: A smile from a stranger on the street, a beautiful rainbow arching gracefully through the sky, the sounds of children laughing as they play with wild abandon... All these things and countless more are there to tell us we are not alone.  Our purity is permanent, for we cannot change who God created us to be.  Let us walk in confidence then today, that we are Whole and Perfect, and perfectly Holy.  As we do so, we light the world around us, and bring Light to the rest who choose to wake in our footsteps.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 155: I will step back and let Him lead the way.

Today's lesson is about relinquishing control, and accepting that - in this world of illusion - we never really had it to begin with.  Think about this: Who makes a happier person?  One who tries to orchestrate every single aspect of his life?  Or one who accepts what comes to him and proceeds to make the best of it?  The former will meet disappointment after disappointment, as expectations that he sets are constantly not met.  The latter will move through life fluidly, extracting from each unexpected situation an opportunity to grow.  The former tries to make sense of an insane world, which is insanity in and of itself.  The latter accepts where he is, and lets fate guide him along his path through life.

The only danger in relinquishing control is when it's done before yet realizing Who will be your Guide, and when the destination of your journey is not clear.  This is what today's meditation helps remind us:

I will step back and let Him lead the way.
For I would walk along the road to Him.

God must be our Guide, and Truth our destination.  They are One and the same, as are we with them.  In recognizing this, we also realize that we are walking on the path that leads us Home.  By allowing Truth to go before us, and with the helping hands of those who walk beside us, the road on which we travel is illuminated, showing us the way amidst illusions that we pass.  As we embark upon our sacred journey, the Course advises us as such:

Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you.  And you may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, and let illusions be your guide.  Your holy brothers have been given you, to follow in your footsteps as you walk with certainty of purpose to the truth.  It goes before you now, that they may see something with which they can identify; something they understand to lead the way.

Yet at the journey's ending there will be no gap, no distance between truth and you.  And all illusions walking in the way you travelled will be gone from you as well, with nothing left to keep the truth apart from God's completion, holy as Himself.  Step back in faith and let truth lead the way.  You know not where you go.  But One Who knows goes with you.  Let Him lead you with the rest.

Indeed, as we follow those who have gone before us, others will follow in our footsteps.  With each step we take in the Light of Truth, our own light brightens and serves as a beacon for those who have yet to hear the Call of God.  Let Him be your Guide.  Relinquish all "control" you may perceive yourself to have, for such is wasted energy in this world of smoke and mirrors.  True freedom comes with following the Source of Light.  And when we finally have left this world, illusions will not haunt us anymore.  Let us take that journey now, and along the way we will but laugh at silly holograms that try to veer us from our path.  Keep the Truth ahead of you, and you will walk with confidence of purpose, knowing Who You Really Are.  As A Course in Miracles tells us, "We walk to God."  What other destination could be worthier than Him?  Step back, and let God lead the way, and we will walk together along the road to Him.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 154: I am among the ministers of God.

We are all called by our Creator to do His Will here on earth.  Many of us, however, have forgotten how to listen to His call.  We begin to tune our ears by changing the way we think about ourselves.  We are all free, if we choose to be.  True Freedom does not reside in the illusions we've deceived ourselves in believing, but it rests in the Will of God, which we must recognize is also our own will if we desire to be free.

Each one of us is a Holy Messenger sent by God to bring salvation to the world.  This assignment may imply a limit on our freedom, for if this is the Will of God, what freedom do we have if we cannot follow our own will?  Yet our way apart from God's is not the way of Freedom.  This divergence only traps us, for in separating ourselves and our will from God's, we make fearful figures which obscure the Truth, complicate our choices and constrict our way of life.  Salvation is Freedom, so our sole purpose then is to deliver it to All the world.  That is His Will, and once we do accept it as our own, we will be free.

Along these lines, let us meditate upon our lesson for today:

I am among the ministers of God, and I am grateful that I have the means by which to recognize that I am free.

You have been Chosen to do the Work of God.  This "work" is unlike any work as we conceive of it on earth.  It is a Joyous process to bring Peace unto the world.  It is a Loving mission to awaken others to their Chosen Path.  We are all Divine Creatures, each roaming this planet with a uniquely specialized assignment from our Creator.  No one individual's role is more or less important than another's.  The gifts we each possess were given us by God to do His Will.  Let us give ourselves and these blessed gifts back to our Source and allow our bodies to be the instrument by which He works His Miracles.

Accepting your ministry is to let go of what you once believed you were.  We come to realize that we are not the sinful and depraved beings the world tends to tell us that we are.  In letting go, we allow God to take the place of those shadows in our minds.  In letting go, we invite Freedom into our being.  This is how we tune our ears to Hear Him.  This is how we direct our eyes to See Him.  This is how we open our hearts to Love Him and One Another, for as His Children we are all connected to each other.  We all have the same mission here.  Our execution of that Holy Work will differ, but the end result is one and the same: Salvation will be ours, if we join our will with God's.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 153: In my defenselessness my safety lies.

Defense is just another form of attack, cleverly masked to appear as protection.  But what the act of defending oneself tells us is that we are but a body, fragile and susceptible to harm.  This hides the Light of Truth from our eyes that we are not our bodies, but a spirit joined with all others that could never be threatened by any form of attack.  Here is where True Safety dwells.  And defenselessness is our recognition and acceptance of this fact.  Defenselessness is a mark of greater awareness of one's True nature, and thus provides a safety which defense would only push away.

In my defenselessness my safety lies.

In explanation of today's lesson, A Course in Miracles says the following:

We look past dreams today, and recognize that we need no defense because we are created unassailable, without all thought or wish or dream in which attack has any meaning.  Now we cannot fear, for we have left all fearful thoughts behind.  And in defenselessness we stand secure, serenely certain of our safety now, sure of salvation; sure we will fulfill our chosen purpose, as our ministry extends its holy blessing through the world.

Be still a moment, and in silence think how holy is your purpose, how secure you rest, untouchable within its light.  God's ministers have chosen that the truth be with them.  Who is holier than they?  Who could be surer that his happiness is fully guaranteed?  And who could be more mightily protected?  What defense could possibly be needed by the ones who are among the chosen ones of God, by His election and their own as well?

Indeed, we are all God's ministers.  Many of us have simply not awakened yet to this.  Since we are each created by God, Holy and with purpose, what need is there to defend Who We Really Are?  There is no threat that anyone could ever pose upon us.  Truth needs no defense, for there is nothing that could breach it.  We are Truth and we are Light.  As long as we remember this, we have no need for defense.  To defend oneself reflects the false belief that there must be a weakness to protect.  This is not so, for though our bodies may be hurt and will one day be laid to rest, our spirit is immortal.

When temptation to defend arises, remember this today: You are not bound by the limits which your body may impose.  We are far greater than our bodies, and we are of One Like Mind.  The Mind of God has nothing that this world could ever harm.  We rest within His Mind, Whole and Perfect and Strong.  Such Power needs no defense.  Let us recognize this truth and know that we are safe forever.  Our defenselessness shows that we have remembered Who We Are.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 152: The power of decision is my own.

Today's lesson in the workbook of A Course in Miracles begins with this:

No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision.  No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him.  No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants.  And no one dies without his own consent.  Nothing occurs but represents your wish, and nothing is omitted that you choose.  Here is your world, complete in all details.  Here is its whole reality for you.  And it is only here salvation is.

The very next line says, "You may believe that this position is extreme," and indeed it seems to be just that.  But on some level, whether consciously or unconsciously, we do create the world around us.  Everything begins with thought.  Our thoughts create the "reality" in which we live.  Of course, this is a different sort of reality than the one which is our Truth.  The reality here on earth is one that's ever-changing, bending to whichever thought we may be thinking at the time.  We cannot seem to make up our minds, and so what we end up making is nothing short of chaos.

Perhaps we may claim that it's the other way around - that we are living at the effect of the world around us.  But to make such a claim would mean that we have no power whatsoever.  What, then, would be the point of thinking at all?  Of course, those who believe that they are at the effect of the world tend not to think, but merely coast by, filling their lives with distraction after distraction so as not to take responsibility for anything that happens.  In believing as such, they make it so, not even aware that they are the ones doing it.

On the other hand, it is not easy to accept that we are the ones creating the diseases which we suffer, or the terrible accidents in our lives, or the abuse inflicted by another human being.  How can it be so that we asked for such atrocities?  This is where the idea of karma comes into play.  The form in which the universe presents our circumstances may not be precisely what we chose, but what they offer is exactly what we asked for.  Take, for instance, a hypothetical situation where you find yourself in a car accident and wake up to discover that both your arms were amputated.  Perhaps, on a deep subconscious level, you desired to experience your own power of resiliency and strength.  Perhaps your triumph in learning to survive without your arms inspired others to step up and do much more with their own lives than they believed they ever could.  Now, did you ask to have your arms taken away?  Of course not, but remember that any physical circumstance is just an illusion anyway.  The Real experience you longed for was to know your own strength and resilience, your own ability to inspire.  Karma, always working in the favor of your soul growth, presented the perfect situation in which you could achieve just that.

Maybe the most important inference we can take from today's lesson is that no matter what occurs in our lives, we alone are the ones who determine how we will react.  The decision to respond in a loving manner will create more loving circumstances in our lives.  Yes, this is easier said than done.  But we begin to lead our lives this way when we accept that we have the power to decide.  There must be another way.  That simple statement marks the turning point in a life lived passively to a life lived actively and purposefully.  It then will start to dawn on us that we were created to live Divinely.  Why should we choose destruction over creation?  What good purpose would that serve?  What joy would that bring us?

Along this line of thinking, the Course provides us with the following meditation for today:

The power of decision is my own.  This day I will accept myself as what my Father's Will created me to be.

God, our Creator, willed for us to be like Him - free to live in permanent Joy and to spread Love and Happiness wherever we go.  Why would we want to live any other way?  Yet look around and you will know that we have often decided to oppose this way of being.  We have been tricked by our egos to think that the Will of God is false.  As a result we've turned our thinking completely upside-down, believing what is True is false and what is false is true.  We must decide to right our thoughts if we are to create a better way of life.  Thoughts have enormous power.  What we think will be.  Decide to be Divine, and you'll remember your True Being.  Decide to live in Harmony, and you will see the world shift accordingly.  Decide to reside in everlasting Bliss, and no situation will threaten your happiness.

Remember, when in doubt, to tell yourself: There must be another way.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 151: All things are echoes of the Voice for God.

Today we are asked to give all our thoughts to God so they may be purified.  That which is a false illusion shall be stripped away before the thought returns to us, Whole and True and unencumbered.  Then we may offer this Truth upon the world and reconstruct our perceptions so that they reflect the Gifts of Heaven.  As we do so, we are reminded of the following:

All things are echoes of the Voice for God.

Echoes are not real, but they do reflect the source from which they come.  Thought is always Source.  God has entrusted us with the power to create as He does.  When we are aligned with God, Who is our Source, we create only what is worthy of Eternal Being.  When we fall out of alignment and forget Who We Really Are, we make false icons, which may exist in time but never in Eternity.

Today's meditation lesson tells us that all things are echoes of the Voice for God.  That which is not timeless, then, is also an echo.  Yet echoes can become distorted.  It is for this reason we must hold all that we see, all that we hear, all that we touch and taste and smell and, especially, think, up to the Light of God.  Let any false representations of what we behold fall away and reveal the Purity of what lies underneath.  It's as though, through the daily practice of meditation and prayer, we are given a special pair of eyeglasses.  When we look through them, we are able to discern the True from the false.  That which is a reflection of Love shines brightly through the lenses, while the rest appears as a dark shadow in the backdrop.

While I meditated upon the lesson for today, I thought about the sinister creations of this world.  Where is the Voice of God there?  As the Course instructed, I gave it to God and waited for His answer.  The thought returned to me, and I saw that even in the grimmest of circumstances, Love is there.  When tragedy occurs, there is response so kind, so communal, so truthful, that it outweighs the tragedy and restores the Lightness of our Being where we had formerly forgotten it.  Must it take a tragedy, though, for us to remember Who We Are?  I'd like to believe that it doesn't.  But as long as we allow our thoughts to carry with them beliefs of separation and fear, we will continue to collectively create that which reflects such thoughts.

Let us make the small effort, then, to remind ourselves daily through prayer and meditation of our True Divinity.  As we connect with the Source of our Being, we will be reminded of our connection to all other things.  That is how we shift the frequency of our thoughts to begin manifesting only the echoes of our collective Joy and Peace and Love.  Let us not wait for another grim event to bring us together and remind us of our Truth.  Earn the right to wear those special eyeglasses so that we may behold a world far more beautiful than the one we now inhabit.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 150: Review - Lessons 139 & 140

Today we will conclude the Fourth Review in the workbook of A Course in Miracles.

Below are the links to my original posts for the lessons we are revisiting today:

Day 139: I will accept Atonement for myself.

Day 140: Only salvation can be said to cure.

Let us give five minutes as we wake and five minutes before we fall asleep to meditate upon the following:

My mind holds only what I think with God.

As we close our eyes to join our minds and all its thoughts with God, let us see no images among the blankness there within.  Do not allow your thoughts to take a single shape or form; the imaginary film screen of our mind has ceased its play.  Instead, just simply Listen, as you wait to hear His Voice.  With your inner ear you may begin to hear the faintest chimes; each tone just one of many - hundreds, thousands, even more.  Each one represents another life, another soul, another Creation of God.  The sounds begin to pulsate, growing louder as they chime in rapid succession.  Soon they all begin to blend together, indistinguishable from each other.  They converge, creating Harmony, in One sustained and Loving Tone.

I will accept Atonement for myself.

Atonement for oneself is to walk the path toward God.  It does not mean repentance for the sins we have committed, for in God's eyes we are sinless.  Atonement, then, is recognizing where we are right now, and where we long to be.  Atonement is the guided road which we must walk to free ourselves from all illusions we have made on earth.  To atone is to forgive, and to forgive is to love wholly.  Loving wholly is with reverence for the Truth of Who We Are, to know that each of us is equal and a part of one another.

Only salvation can be said to cure.

Modern remedies may only seem to solve the pangs of illness.  But what we're really doing is replacing one illusion for another.  The only cure for sickness is to put our minds at ease, for dis-ease cannot be where one is peaceful and serene.  Salvation brings us Peace, for it has saved us from the thought that we are dying and alone.  We can never die, and nor could we be ever left alone.  God is with us always - in the air we breathe, the souls we meet, the earth we walk upon... When we Truly realize this, we are Saved and will no longer be susceptible to sickness.

Salvation will be ours when we decide to follow God's Angels along the path of the Atonement.  His Light and Truth shall guide our way.  And as we watch false dreams dissolve, all illness will depart our bodies; for we will have recognized the Sacred Self we are.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 149: Review: Lessons 137 & 138

Below are the links to my original posts for the lessons we are reviewing today:

Day 137: When I am healed I am not healed alone.

Day 138: Heaven is the decision I must make.

Again, let us start our meditation with the following:

My mind holds only what I think with God.

Imagine that you're in a prairie, a wide vast stretch of nothingness.  Here you sit upon soft grass and look at the horizon.  You see the setting sun, and in an instant you're transported to a state of complete calm.  The landscape where you sit becomes illuminated with sun's orange rays, highlighting each blade of grass distinctly.  The rays stretch out to meet you, and you sense that through them you are drawn together with all of Life itself, One with All Creation.

When I am healed I am not healed alone.

Heaven is the decision I must make.

We can only continue along our current path of destruction for so long before the murkiness becomes too thick for us to move.  Heaven is the decision we all must ultimately make, because in the end, even if we have engulfed ourselves entirely in the shadows, we cannot deny Who We Are forever.  We must finally turn around and face the Light - the Truth of our Divine Nature, the Truth that we are Heaven and all that it encompasses.  When we come to this miraculous realization, we are healed.  And as each of us is part of a Collective Whole, we are all healed, for we are not alone (nor could we ever be).

Let us choose to See the Truth of our being now.  Why delay any longer?  To know that in this moment we can find ourselves in Heaven, let us make the choice to be there and to recognize that Heaven lives within us.  In this recognition we are healed, and we will heal all others by the virtue that We are All One.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 148: Review - Lessons 135 & 136

Below are the links to my original posts for the lessons we are reviewing today:

Day 135: If I defend myself I am attacked.

Day 136: Sickness is a defense against the truth.

We begin our meditation with the following:

My mind holds only what I think with God.

When you close your eyes, imagine that you're flying over all the places that you know... Then fly further as you pass over those regions on the earth which you have yet to see, but always wanted to... Fly further still as images stream by which you have only seen in your imagination.  As you gain speed, the pictures all around you blend together, a rainbow of blurred watercolor flying fast and quickly past you.  The speed with which you travel makes it seem as though you're zooming through a tunnel.  Faster still, and the point from where the images seem to flow toward you flashes, flickering wildly.  It sparks and grows and starts to fill the full field of your vision, and soon all that you see is Bright White Light in front of you...

If I defend myself I am attacked.

There is no reason to defend, for we cannot be harmed.  We are Divine Creations of God.  What could possibly damage us so?  To defend is not to be aware of Who We Really Are.  To defend is to rebound attack, which only aggravates it more.  Our purpose here is to diffuse attack, not to promote it.  Attack reinforces the illusion that we're separate, when in fact We are All One.

Sickness is a defense against the truth.

Sickness is an illusion which blinds us from the Truth that we cannot be harmed.  Sickness is temptation to identify with our bodies.  But we are not our bodies.  We are Ideas in the Experience of God.  We are One with Him.  We are the Blessed Souls He has appointed to bring Light unto this world.  Our bodies are the instruments through which this can be done, but they are not Who We Are.  If our body should fall beyond repair, our soul will lay it down with gladness and move on to something else - another body, perhaps, or a whisper in the breeze which will inspire other souls.  But sickness cannot harm us, for it is itself illusive.  To invite sickness within us speaks of errors in our minds.  Disease means that we're not at ease, and a Child of God who knows Who He Is could never be dis-eased.

Let us move through life today with the awareness of these truths.  Remember Who You Are, and there will be no need for defense.  Remember Who You Are, and you will know that you're not ill.  Remember Who You Are, and you will rest at Peace and Oneness with the One Who made you Strong and Pure and Whole and Everlasting.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman

Day 147: Review - Lessons 133 & 134

Below are the links to my original posts for the lessons we are reviewing today:

Day 133: I will not value what is valueless.

Day 134: Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.

Let us begin our meditation once again with this:

My mind holds only what I think with God.

With the intent to align ourselves with our Creator, let us close our eyes and breathe in deeply.  Sit peacefully in the blankness of your mind, as you place your full focus on the rhythm of your inhale and your exhale.  When all superficial thoughts have gone their way and you sit in perfect stillness, begin to listen closely for a sound amid the slow beat of your breath.  Use your inner ear and you will hear a distant hum.  Let the vibrations of this echo draw you in, and let the sound envelop all your senses.  Feel your heart as it dances to the melody it sings.  The hum crescendos as you recognize it is a voice.  Its harmonious song starts to liven all the cells within your body.  Every part of you is tied to it, vibrating with its frequency.  As you approach the source of sound, you see a Vision, a swirling spiral of Light.  From it emanates the beautiful Voice that called you to it.  And you see that all around this Light are others, just like you.  Together, you ride the waves of sound that usher forth from this shared space.

I will not value what is valueless.

What point is placing value on something that will not last?  But that is what we do when we value what is of this world.  Nothing in this world will last forever - not our possessions, not our homes, not our bodies, not even the earth itself.  The most that they can offer is a temporary importance, for that which is a part of this world can only be an instrument for our souls.  It is through them which we may experience the Truly Valuable, but they are not of value in and of themselves.  Love, Joy, Peace - these are where our value should be placed.  We achieve these states of being through our relationships with one another.  Since We are All One, it is only in relationship that we experience our True Self.  In so doing we recognize that Love and Joy and Peace is in Reality What We Are.  Only that is worth our value.

Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.

Forgiveness is the way by which we rid the world of false beliefs.  Forgiveness is to Love.  Forgiveness is to offer Joy and Peace to those who have forgotten Who They Really Are.  It is not a power dynamic, where the forgiver is virtuous and the forgiven is a sinner.  Sin does not exist.  To Truly Forgive is to recognize this fact, and to reflect the light of one's own heart to shine away illusions of the dark.  Forgiveness is the means to bridge ourselves to one another, to see ourselves as Whole again and dispel belief in separation.

Returning from our meditative state, let us not forget the value of these lessons for today.  They come from the Source of Knowledge, the Voice which beckons us to listen so that we may find our way back to the Light.  We do this by remembering Who We Are, and that We are All One.  The Love and Joy and Peace that comes from this awareness is all that's worth our value.  We cannot experience it fully until we bring all others with us.  The way we do this is through our forgiveness of our Brothers and Sisters.  Let the bonds of the relationships that form keep us connected to each other for eternity.  Let separation reign the earth no more, and we will live in Harmony again.

Until tomorrow,
Journeyman