Raising the Light

Crossing the Bridge

It has been increasingly evident from reading through the Course and doing the Workbook lessons that forgiveness goes far beyond forgiving the “bad things” that happen in life as well as “those abrasive people” that make our day challenging.

In recent weeks, I have found that forgiving my good day is only the beginning of this journey we have chosen.  True, if something bad happens, we have learned that we must forgive the circumstances as well as anyone involved in making our life a pure Hell.  The people around us are actually a part of us, because we are not separate beings.  To condemn another person is to condemn God and ourselves.  We are all One.

In reality, it is impossible for another person to do anything to us, since nothing external from ourselves is real.  No one can actually harm us or make us feel sad.  Our lives cannot be a pure Hell.  This is forgiveness.

However, it must be understood that there is more to forgiveness than what I have just shown.  There are days where nothing troubling happens at all.  It doesn’t happen often, but I suppose Walter Ego gives us a little latitude so we won’t go out and hang ourselves from a tree.  Yet, even this must be forgiven, after all, good days are not real either.

As we get older, we seem to think, more and more, of our younger days; the people we knew, and all of our antics—good and bad.  We remember our ambitions, the dreams we never realized; we think of friends we’ve wronged, places we never visited, and opportunities that we nonchalantly passed by.  The older we get, the more vivid the memories.  They begin to haunt us until we almost go insane.

The Holy Spirit is always there to bridge the gap between the horrors we imagine and the Truth.  It is at this bridge that the Holy Spirit takes the sights and sounds that echo from what we understand to be the past and translates them from the witnesses of fear to the witnesses of Love.

I can hear my mind tormenting my soul, day and night, as to what I should have done—or shouldn’t have done—so many years ago.  I should be punished for my misdeeds as well as my sins of omission.  And this I do on a regular basis.  I must have been an idiot to think the way I did then.  Maybe I was insane.  What made me react the way I did?  What was my motivation for this act or lack of action?

I stand at the bridge.  The Holy Spirit stands next to me.  He whispers gently, “Look behind you.  What do you see?”

I turn to look at my past.  “Nothing, Holy Spirit.  There is nothing there.”

The Holy Spirit smiles, puts a loving arm around me.  He says, “The past is over.  It can touch you not.  The Father does not condemn you for your sins.  Why are you tormenting yourself?  All tormenting does is create Hell in your experience.  The Father never created Hell.  Why would you?

“Let’s you and I cross over this bridge and forget what happened and what didn’t happen.  Let’s just move forward together.  On the other side of this bridge is peace and love.  It’s not “pie-in-the-sky” and it’s not a fairyland of “milk and honey.”  It’s the real world.  It’s what you were meant to understand.

“Let’s cross over.  You must find peace.  Insanity is blocking the view.  Pain and sorrow is the veil that keeps you from realizing who you truly are.  You don’t have to cross this bridge, but why would you remain in insanity when you can simply receive what you have been looking for forever?”  And so, He led me again to Truth.

Crossing the bridge is easy.  It’s holding on to what torments us that is difficult.  Don’t be afraid.  Take Holy Spirit’s hand and cross the bridge.  There is nothing to fear.  You are indestructible.  You are sinless, guiltless, and holy.

Let go of those insane thoughts.  Let go of what could have been.  Let go of all those people that you loved and cared for.  You are not going to find them in the past.  They are a part of who you truly are.  You’ll find them on the other side of the bridge.  The Holy Spirit will not let you down.

Inspired from the Workbook Part 2, Section 7, “What Is the Holy Spirit” and Lesson 289, “The Past is Over.  It Can Touch Me Not”.

Namaste,
Rev. Michael L. Ciavarella

© 2011, Pathways of Light. http://pathwaysoflight.org
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The Strange Cathedral

He was seeking answers no one could provide.  He was seeking guidance, but no one knew the way.  He was frustrated, confused, and angry.

He walked along feeling discouraged and spent.  None of his dreams had been realized.  None of his plans worked out the way he thought they should.  The world around him looked like insanity, with no jobs, money running low, and people drifting farther and farther away from each other.

He came upon a cathedral-like church.  Not being a religious man, he thought maybe if he went in and prayed he could find his way.  He has heard that praying changes things.

So, through the door he went.  It was a strange place.  There was total darkness.  How odd, he thought.  By this time, he felt a compulsion to walk fully in and see what this was all about.

He felt his way into the sanctuary and found a pew.  The moment he kneeled down to pray, a brilliant Light came upon him.  It was very bright, but to his surprise, it didn’t hurt his eyes.  He felt as though he were suspended in space with total, unconditional Love lifting him.

A gentle Voice from somewhere—nowhere—echoed around him.  “Why have you come here?”

Surprised and amazed beyond words, he answered, “Lord, who am I?  What is my purpose?  What is all this for?”  Is this what happens when people pray? he thought.  I never knew it could be like this.

“You ask questions that have baffled the ages, my son.  Those who seek these answers do not believe me when I tell them; it is not what they wanted to hear.  It does not fit into their belief systems taught through the centuries.

“Yet, you come to receive a word from God and I will tell you what I know to be true.  Child, you are the Christ.  You are a single beam of Light that is a part of the Light created by the Father Himself.”

“Excuse me, Lord for interrupting, but I thought Jesus was the Christ.”

“Yes, Jesus is the Christ, my child.  But Jesus is no more the Christ than are you or the person you sit with in the evening, or the obnoxious person you avoid each day at work.

“You are the Christ, my son, which means that you are indestructible, without sin, guiltless, and abundant.  There is nothing you cannot do.  You were given the power of creation.  You create as the Father creates.  Nothing can get in your way, not even death.”

“But, Lord, people die all the time.  What you are telling me is we cannot die.”

“Death, my child, is an illusion.  Death is the witness you provide to make your illusion real.  You are capable of great magic.  Your greatest magic trick is to convince yourself of your destructibility using death, the final witness.

“Aside from death, you use lack of finances, loss of love, disease and illness, broken hearts, broken minds and broken toys.  These all witness to your separation from the Father and from each other.

“But know, without a doubt, that none of these are true.  You are as the Father created you.  You are a Light in the darkness.  You have the understanding that can lead those around you to the Light.  It is yours and is in your possession.

“Now walk out that door and bring your brothers home.  It is not necessary to preach, push, or persuade.  Simply be gentle.  As you walk in the Light, you bring your brothers with you.  You have been entrusted with truth.  You hold the key.  You have always held the key.  Show your brothers that they, too, have the key.  Now go and be blessed.”

The Light went dark.  But he could see.  Light seemed to radiate from his body.  He thought how odd that was, since he never seen anything like that before.  But he never had seen anything like what he experienced here in this cathedral-like church before, either.

Looks like there is some work to do.  Now the question is, how to begin.

Namaste,
Rev. Michael L. Ciavarella

© 2011, Pathways of Light. http://pathwaysoflight.org
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The Missing Link

Since first being introduced to A Course In Miracles and studying and practicing the teachings, I felt that I understood the broad-stroke ideas that I was supposed to receive.  Yet, there was always something that seemed to be missing; something that I wasn’t catching.

I’m one to re-read my books several times.  Last night, I finished my second reading of Your Immortal Reality by Gary Renard.  Near the end of the second to last visit from Arten and Pursah, Pursah recaps the lessons that they and Gary had been working on from the start.

She talks about how forgiveness should begin at the level of “Cause”, not “Effect”.  Cause is in the mind.  Our thoughts are the cause.  The effect is what we see in front of us.

Our thoughts are very powerful.  The Course tells us that we have no private thoughts.  I can think that so and so is a real jerk.  Okay, the jerk doesn’t physically know what I think of him.  But, like the tick that collided with the spider web, the whole web felt the impact.  Certainly, the spider, let’s call him Walter Ego, is smiling because dinner is served.

My physical thoughts are not at large since they cannot be real.  They too are a part of the illusion.  Rather, I wrote a script before my incarnation.  I am producing the Broadway play of “The Life and Times of Me.”  I’m the writer, director, and the producer.  Oh, I’m also the hero of the dream.

These are the thoughts that need forgiveness.  If I said or did something to offend someone, the physical act is not real.  What’s real is, I have this crazy, mad dream going on and I am spending a lot of energy valuing it.

This is the missing link.  Thanks to the clarification from Gary and his teachers, Arten and Pursah, that link has been recovered.

The problem now is that I have to put this link to work.  What good does it do me to say, “Oh, I found the piece that was missing?  Isn’t that nice?  There it is.  Let’s put it on the mantle and show it off to everyone.”

Well, no one’s going Home tonight, Ethyl.  Everyone got sidetracked again.

Recently, I’ve been walking around watching Walter Ego jump out and display blazing parades of confusion, disorder, and turmoil.  As each passage of pageantry presents itself, I would say within my own mind (on most occasions, I still have work to do), “I forgive you for what you did not do.  What you are showing me is not who you really are.  What I see before me is all illusion.”

That’s fine.  We should be doing that.  However, according to “Cause and Effect,” on pages 31-33 in the text, we should be forgiving the thought rather than the behavior.  I doesn’t hurt to forgive the behavior since we carry a lot of emotion with us from what we think we do or what others seem to do to us, but now I am learning that the cause is where change will take place.  The effect isn’t even real.  When you get down to it, what is there to change?

Maybe the thing I should be saying is, “I forgive you for what you did not do.  What you are showing me is not who you really are.  I also forgive myself for thinking you did something to me.”

It’s the Cause and the Effect.  Fear is the cause.  Irrational creation is the effect.  Alternatively, Love is the cause and true creation is the effect.  You can’t go wrong with Love.  Love breeds forgiveness.  Love is the music that reverberates in Heaven.

The true Cause is Father God.  His effect, well, that would be you and I.  God’s Sonship is the effect.

Just when I thought I knew it all, something new comes up.  I wonder what I’ll be learning in the days to come.

Namaste,
Rev. Michael L. Ciavarella

© 2011, Pathways of Light. http://pathwaysoflight.org
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That Fine Line

We go about our day with new situations rising up before us and shaping what we call our lives.  Each situation is another opportunity to practice forgiveness.  We forgive our bad days and we forgive our good days.  Good days?  Of course.  Even our good days are a part of the illusion.

We know that forgiveness is not, “I will overlook your abusive or inconsiderate actions.  I will pretend that what you did didn’t hurt me.  Because I am so spiritual, I’m a minister for goodness sake, I will excuse you for what you did to me.”

Rather, forgiveness is, “What?  You never did anything.  Your body is no more real than mine is.  We’re all dreaming this dream and none of it is real.”  So, it’s all an illusion; even the finer things in “life.”

We know that we can change our circumstance if we don’t like where we are or what we are doing.  We can choose a better way if the way we are on doesn’t seem to meet our expectations.

Yes, but that fine line.  There’s a fine line between making the dream better and manifesting our desires.  As we use our ability to create a better scene, it is very important to remember that we are blessed by the Father.  It is His Will that we be blessed.  We can choose blessing in the dream provided we never lose sight of who we truly are.

So, if I decide to search for a job that pays more and I begin to manifest my desire, what good will it do me if all that happens is I make more money so life becomes easier?  What I succeeded in doing is succumb to making a better dream.  I made the illusion real.

If I begin to manifest my desire while remembering that I am still as God created me, abundant, worthy and infinite, I am more likely to be practicing the Course than feeding Walter Ego’s flights of fancy.

There is a fine line between receiving God’s blessing and living better.  As I mentioned, no matter where we find ourselves, we are blessed.  It may not be easy to be jubilant when the nightmare closes in on us like a freight train barreling down the track at 80 miles per hour.  But if we can learn to smile and be jubilant anyway, well, you just don’t know what lesson you are teaching someone sitting next to you.

It’s easy to react with anger and frustration.  It’s expected by anyone standing nearby watching you.  That’s what we do here in America.  We walk around with a scowl and a look of disgust.  It makes us look like the Marlboro Man.  “Don’t mess with me.  I’m bad.”  I haven’t found that technique in the Course anywhere.

We should be walking into every situation, every room, and every person’s space as though we are walking into a party.  We should be open to anything that comes our way.  We’re ready.  We are doing our Workbook lessons and we are open to whatever Walter Ego wants to throw at us.

“Here I am.  My six-gun loaded and ready to fire off another round for the next forgiveness opportunity.”  But, be jubilant!  I’m smiling!  I’m excited!  I’m going home!  I don’t want to come back here again.  I love you all, but I’ve had it with this circus.

So, next time you want to raise that middle finger at the guy that just cut you off, or give someone a piece of your mind, or feel anxiety of any kind rising up within you, remember, it’s a party!  Get excited!  You’re going to teach someone what forgiveness truly means.  You’re going to experience, once again, what forgiveness truly means.  Each time you do, you are taking another layer off the veil that keeps you from seeing who you truly are and where you truly dwell.

It’s time to relax and enjoy the party.  Keep going back to Holy Spirit with your pain and hurt.  He’ll show you how to party with the best of them.

What I am writing to you, I am writing to me.

Namaste,
Rev. Michael L. Ciavarella

© 2011, Pathways of Light. http://pathwaysoflight.org
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Independence Day

It’s the 4th of July!  This is a day to remember our Independence.  Traditionally, we celebrate our independence from England’s rule over a bunch of revolutionaries that had the audacity to find a new land and build a new form of government.

Let’s be sure to remember that we have a greater Independence to celebrate.  Every Miracles Practitioner understands that the system we seem to be toiling under is only as real as we allow.  Our natural thought process is to say that we have to work more hours and a whole lot harder in order to meet the rising costs that are pushing us farther and farther toward the boundaries of bankruptcy.

This is only a thought and a thought can be changed.  The instant that we discovered we are dreaming a dream, we also discovered that we signed a Declaration of Independence breaking us from that same system.  We are truly free.  (Read, “Separation”, but this time it’s okay with God.)

If all of this is a dream, who can control us?  There is no one “out there.”  If you had a dream one night that someone kidnapped you, were you actually kidnapped?  Can your captor actually hold you hostage?  If you knew how to have a lucid dream, couldn’t you walk out of your prison even if your captor stood there watching?  Wouldn’t you eventually wake up and find yourself safe in your own bed?

Just because this dream has substance that seems solid doesn’t mean that we couldn’t consider these same questions here.  In fact, we are having a lucid dream.  We just have to remember to wake up and change that thought pattern.

Yes, waking up is the challenging part.  Sometimes we forget to remember that it’s only a dream.

Scientists are now saying that our physical minds are more powerful that we ever imagined.  We know that the Holy Spirit uses everything to bring us back to who we truly are.  He uses our physical minds to help us to remember what we are capable of doing in this realm.

The writers of so many positive thinking books have been telling us for years that we can change our circumstances at any time.  What they never tell us is that we need God’s help to bring those changes about.  Not some wimpy prayer like, “God, please help me make more money,” or, “God, take this abrasive person out of my life so I can do better.”

Rather, “I am a creator as God is a Creator.  He created me to create.  My intention is to forgive my situation and create another circumstance.  This is not to make a better dream, but rather. because God says that I deserve to be blessed in every way.  God says that I am not limited, nor am I in need.  I believe His word.  It would be blasphemy to say that God is wrong by telling me this.”  Now, that’s a prayer.

The boss cannot control you.  The credit card company cannot control you.  The physician cannot control you.  The government cannot control you.  You cannot be controlled by the CIA, the FBI, the FCC, the FDA, HAARP, the military, the educational system, the justice system, the economics system, the banking system, the prison system, or the religious system.  You cannot even be controlled by death.

If a cop pulls you over and accuses you of some crime, you may have to think up some quick creation processes.  But, even if you end up in jail, those prison bars cannot control you.

Wherever you find yourself, you will also find your freedom.  Nothing here can control you.  You have signed a Declaration of Independence.  You are free!

Nothing real can be threatened.  Nothing unreal exists.  T:Intro:2:2-3

Have a great Independence Day.

Namaste,
Rev. Michael L. Ciavarella

© 2011, Pathways of Light. http://pathwaysoflight.org
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The Dream Vacation

“I give my life to God to guide today.”  That’s today’s lesson.  You can find it in the Workbook, Lesson 233.

But, shouldn’t we be giving our lives to God to guide everyday?  This shouldn’t be a one-day lesson.  This should be a way of life for every Miracles Practitioner.  This should be a way of life for every traditional Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu and anyone who takes their spiritual path seriously.

I cannot speak for the other religions, but I can talk about traditional Christianity.  We sang songs about giving our minds, thoughts, and decisions to God.  “Surround Me, Oh Lord”, “Come and Fill Me Up”, “Jesus, Draw Me Closer”, “What a Friend We Have In Jesus”.  There are thousands more.  Every one of these tunes finds us asking God to guide us.

We know that Jesus isn’t God, but Christians haven’t gotten there yet.  That’s okay.  The intention is the same.  “Oh God, give me guidance.  I don’t know what any of this is for.”

When I was a child, I was terrified that I would wake up in Hell because I didn’t confess some little kid’s “sin” before I died.  What I didn’t know, at the time was, I was already in Hell.  Now, all I have to do is find my way out of it.

The Apostle’s Creed has a line that goes, “He (Jesus) descended into Hell.”  The teaching is that He descended into Hell in order to open Hell’s gates and free the captives.  Some marched right out, but some stayed because they were afraid of what was on the other side.

I believe that the error is that He did not descend between the crucifixion and the resurrection; He descended at His incarnation as a body.  He opened the gates of Hell.  He is still trying to convince the captives to walk out of here.

Hell is supposed to be a place of oppression, a place of injustice, a place of torment and gnashing of teeth, a place of great sorrow, pain, and separation from God.  Does any of this sound familiar?  Oh my God, I’m in Hell!

Take a deep breath.  Chill, and still your thoughts.  Hell is not eternal.  It cannot be eternal.  The Father did not create it; therefore, it is also an illusion.  Not only is this world an illusion, Hell is an illusion.  God never created a place of eternal punishment.  It cannot exist.  The only thing that exists is Love.

We’re not really captives.  It feels like we are, but God did create us.  There is no more freedom available than the freedom given us by our Father.

The gate is open, brothers.  Jesus opened it.  He’s standing there pointing the way to freedom.  No one can stop us from walking out.  We may have designed and constructed some great, evil authority figure that will push us back into eternal fire with his pitchfork, but all we have to do is put on our fiercest attack face and he’ll cower away with his pointy little tail tucked between his legs.  If you say, “Boo”, he may just wilt and blow away in the wind.

Every word, every thought, every action that depicts attack on a brother tightens the illusory chain that is holding us here in Hell.  Yes, even a thought.  We used to say, “You can’t say it out loud, but no one can stop you from thinking it.”  No, no one will stop you, but you just extended your vacation to the dismal shores of Hell.

The Holy Spirit will not chastise you for thinking thoughts of attack.  He’ll just say, “Okay, we’ll try again next time.  There are plenty of forgiveness lessons to go around.  I’m patient.  We’ll work this out if it takes another 5,000 years.”  “The Holy Spirit is always a gentleman,” says Rev. Benny Hinn.

“Well, there’s something you don’t see every day, Chauncey.”

“What’s that, Edgar?”

“The skies in Hell are just as blue as they are back home.  The pain hurts just as bad, too.”

Love and Light,
Rev. Michael L. Ciavarella

© 2011, Pathways of Light. http://pathwaysoflight.org
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Too Dark To See

Lesson 218 is a review lesson for Lesson 198.  “Only my condemnation injures me.”  The review lesson goes on to say something that I found very interesting.  “My condemnation keeps my vision dark, and through my sightless eyes I cannot see the vision of my glory.  Yet today I can behold this glory and be glad.”

The sight in question is obviously not the sight I enjoy with my physical eyes.  My physical eyes have never focused on anything in all of my living years.  If I take my glasses off, nothing appears in focus.  It is like looking through a camera or a telescope and fooling with the control, except the lens never sharpens the picture.

Even if my sight was perfect without glasses, I still would not be able to see what is really in front of me.  My eyes only show me what I am thinking and desiring deep within my being while I still believe I am a body.  We have already become aware that nothing outside ourselves is real.  It is only a projection of our guilt over the separation.

As I project my guilt outside of myself, my anger, impatience, and feelings of lack project with it.  So, I blame everything and everyone I believe is around me for my dilemma.  I condemn those I think have done me harm.  I see others as the cause of my miserable life.

This condemnation only succeeds in dimming my vision.  Not my physical eyes, rather, my spiritual vision.  My condemnation places a dark veil over my spiritual view so I cannot see that all those people around me have a Light that cannot be extinguished and literally extends infinitely upward and outward to God Himself.

In addition to that, I cannot see that all of those people around me are also extended parts of myself.  And the Light that is so infinitely bright emanating from them is also the Light that emanates from me.

There is beauty that our physical eyes cannot detect.  There is music that our physical ears have never heard.  Taste and smell have not even begun to share what is truly available to us this very instant.

Yet, “my condemnation keeps my vision dark, and through my sightless eyes I cannot see the vision of my glory.”

I tell myself every day in every circumstance that I can bring myself to remember, “None of what I see in front of me is real.”  I continue to mentally say to people that seem to do something to me, “I forgive you for what you did not do,” and then I send them a blessing.  I understand that each time I remember to speak these words, I am clearing my sight, even in the most miniscule amount.  I’ll take it.  I truly no longer want any of this.  There is nothing here for me.  That is not a sad thing.  If everything here is valueless, what is there to desire?

I am not sure that I am able to own the last phrase in this review at this time.  It says, “Yet today I can behold this glory and be glad.”  I have not seen this glory, although I am sure it is there.  When I finally disengage my need to believe in this tired ol’ body, maybe I will behold the glory.

Until then, I’ll keep chipping away at the veil and clearing my vision as well as I can with the help of the Holy Spirit.  Let’s all just get this over with.  Let’s learn our lessons and, as our friend Gary Renard puts it, watch the universe disappear.  Now that’s gotta be something to see.

Note to Self:  Don’t forget to forgive those good days.

Namaste,
Rev. Michael L. Ciavarella

© 2011, Pathways of Light. http://pathwaysoflight.org
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