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January-March, 2010

Excerpts from Course 904: Putting God First

Course 904 teleconference is being offered by Rev. Annie Arbona

What does it mean to put God first? God is Universal Love. In God all is one Mind, with no differentiation. The ego is the idea of separation from oneness. Putting God first is the same as putting oneness first — recognizing that we are one with our brother in Universal Love, or God. It means being willing to see past all the forms of separate identities to the common ground of Universal Love that resides everywhere. It is seeing the truth about All That Is and that there is nothing else.

Putting God first means softening our grip on believing in the illusionary forms of separation — letting go of believing that what is not of God’s Oneness could be real. Putting God first means letting the Holy Spirit guide our thoughts… letting the Holy Spirit help us in letting go of belief in separate bodies and individuality.

We are always choosing between God and ego… between Oneness and separation… between Love and fear… between Truth and illusions.

Read Workbook Lesson 166, ¶’s 1-4. (W-pI.166.1-4) Jesus is bringing to our attention that, if we do not accept God’s gifts, we will not be aware that “all things are given you.” (1:1) We are learning that when we believe the physical world is “certain, solid, trustworthy and true,” (2:4) we are trying to deny God’s gifts and make a world on our own, different from What God has given us. In doing this, we are forgetting our true Home in Heaven and are wandering far from our true Identity as an extension of Love and losing contact with our true Nature as part of God. 

When we deny God’s gifts, we think we have to suffer to preserve this strange world of separation we made. What strange ideas we are choosing to hold on to. Inherent in choosing to see a world of differences and individuality, we pretend we are weak and vulnerable. We pretend that the world outside of us is the cause of our thoughts. We deny the power of our mind. We deny that we are choosing to be separate from our Source. In our illusionary ‘life’ scripts, we unconsciously punish ourselves for this choice for separation and choose to believe we are a separate identity that is weak, suffers, and eventually dies. 

Read Text, Chapter 8, Section VI, ¶ 4. (T-8.VI.4) The story of the prodigal son helps us realize what we are doing to ourselves. It helps us understand why we have an underlying belief in our unworthiness and guilt. It helps us understand why we are full of doubt and punish ourselves and believe we are weak.

Jesus wants us to understand that, even though we sought for individuality and specialness, we are still God’s only treasure. God still sees us as He created us — as pure Love — and does not recognize our illusions of being separate or different from Him.

Return to Workbook Lesson 166 and read ¶ 5. (W-pI.166.5) Jesus comforts us with the realization that, even though we wander aimlessly within the dream realms of being separate from God, we are still part of God and we can’t give away the great treasure God has given us.

Read Workbook Lesson 166 and read ¶’s 6-8. (W-pI.166.6-8) We are learning that we are choosing our poverty in exile. We are choosing self-pity. We are choosing tragedy. We are choosing self-deception in order to maintain our replacement of individuality for the gifts of God, which are shared with all.

Process: Slowly reread ¶’s 6-8 and let the message of these words sink in. Think of how the script of unworthiness, limitation, weakness and ‘justified’ self-pity has been written into your perception of yourself in your life. Think of ways you are still hanging on to a limited self-identity.  Become aware of how you consistently think about your identity — who or what you believe you are.

To help you with this, think of ways you think you are limited, weak, inadequate or that you are lacking. Think of ways you may see yourself as suffering or feel you are a victim of something outside yourself. Think of ways you may be still placing the blame on something or someone outside your mind. Write notes on these thoughts about yourself and your life experience thus far.

Now reread ¶ 7 and recognize that this is referring to what you wrote. Ask the Holy Spirit for help in changing your mind about your identity.

Return to Workbook Lesson 166 and read ¶’s 12-15. What is the result of the Holy Spirit’s touch on you? (See 12:2)

When you open your mind to the Holy Spirit, what are you to do with the gifts you are offered? (See 12:4)

What do those who choose the lonely road not understand? (See 13:2)

How do you teach them? (13:5)

What do your sighs, tears and fears teach them? (See 14:1-4)

What are you entrusted with when you change your mind? (See 14:5-6)

What are you asked to become? (See 15:2)

What are you asked to be witness to? (See 15:4)

Read Workbook Lesson 167,  ¶’s 1-2. (W-pI.167.1-2) Jesus emphasizes throughout the Course that the only real life that we have is the Life we share with God. And because the Life we share with God is eternal, there is no death. The idea of death in this world is just a false idea. We are helped to understand that the idea of death has entered when we are not supremely happy or when we are not in perfect joy. 

Process: Think of times when you hold on to perceptions and their resulting feelings that are not supremely happy… As you go through your day, let the Holy Spirit show you when you are holding on to these perceptions during the day… Then open to letting the denial of your true Identity in God be replaced by the Holy Spirit with the truth that you are not separate from God.

To reinforce this, go to the poster, “I Am Willing to Put God First” from the back cover of your binder. Read it thoughtfully. As you read each line, focus on being willing to let go of all belief in loss, sorrow and death. Focus on letting your willingness to be happy grow. Now soften and relax even more. Go to your Inner Teacher, Who resides in your mind… Let your Inner Teacher bring more insight into your awareness…

© 2010, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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