To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend
that you read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.
“In quiet I receive God’s Word today.”
Healing comes to the quiet mind. Attitudes are changed. Circumstances are seen in a new way. It is like the black and white picture where if you look at it one way, you see two faces looking at each other. If you look at it in a new way, you see one vase.
Through the quiet mind, the world is seen anew. The quiet mind sees through the thin veneer of separate bodies. The mind that is quiet is brought to God’s peace. The conflict brought about by ego’s thinking is laid aside and dissolves into the the nothingness it is. The quiet mind sees clearly.
Here there is rest. Here there is God’s peace. What was once perceived as complicated and difficult now is seen as simple as the fear is dissolved and the Love that was always there shines forth. All false ideas fall away and the truth comes forth as Love’s simplicity is seen. Here there is rest. Here is the eternal truth. Here is the soul’s deepest nourishment, what we all long for in our heart of hearts.
And all this comes when we are willing to quiet our minds and rest a while in Love’s healing presence. The deep inner longing and the search for God ends because here it is. It has always been right here, in the quiet mind, waiting for our return.
This inner door is opened by being willing to still our tortured minds and rest a while in Love’s healing presence. It just takes a willingness to step back from the world and let the mind be quiet a while. In stillness all that is true is known. All that is real is recognized. This opportunity for healing is always present. It just takes a willingness to quiet our minds and listen to receive God’s word. That is all.
One of the ego’s most prevalent defenses is busyness. The more it can keep us preoccupied with activities in the world, the safer it is from intrusions of peace. The ego considers peace as an intrusion because peace interferes with the ego’s primary goal of maintaining guilt. When we quiet our minds and allow ourselves to experience the peace of God, our minds are open to receive His Word. His Word tells us that we remain one with Him, undivided, unharmed and incapable of harm. His Voice tells us we remain innocent, as we were created.
This is the last thing the ego wants us to hear, for if we hear it and accept it, it would be the end of the ego. And so the ego is constantly looking for things to do, keeping us busy, doing things in the world that lead nowhere, accomplish nothing in truth, but effectively serve the ego’s goal of keeping our minds busy so that we will not receive God’s Word. Because we have taught ourselves well to follow the ego’s lead, we need to practice diligently, quieting our minds, opening to God’s peace and listening to His Voice. The ego loves to point out our failures, to encourage us to give up. “You will never learn this” the ego says, with a smile of contempt.
Yet in truth, being quiet and hearing God’s Voice is our natural state. It takes great effort to keep our minds so busy that we are unaware of our unity with God. It takes so much effort that we have to lay our bodies down to rest for almost a third of every day just to rebuild our ‘energy’ so that we can spend another day keeping busy and defending against our natural state of peace in the heart of God.
Now is the time to lay that aside and return to our natural state. Now is the time to accept His peace. Now is the time to return to Love.
There are so many situations that happen in my life, with my boss or my family or the clerks at stores or people on the freeway that I automatically respond to with anger or resentment or even thoughts of retaliation, but thanks to this course and my Divine Guidance I am learning to stop or at least slow down the insanity (sometimes it takes me hours) and quiet my mind long enough to listen and know that the situation is all an illusion.
I must admit at this point I don’t necessarily “hear” anything when I’m in quiet, but I feel in my heart that maybe I don’t “need” to hear anything. I just need to trust, to stay focused, to know there is another way, to be aware of that quiet place where my Heavenly Father abides. And sure enough, when I come out of spending some time with God, I come back a better person and in those few moments that I spent with Him, I bring back enough courage and strength with me to carry me through the seeming conflict. Today I might not know what the answer is, but I also know what the answer isn’t.
For help to practice hearing God’s Voice, download the free “Listen & Receive 30-Day Program” PDF at this link:
https://www.pathwaysoflight.org/inner_guidance_help/free-l-r
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