Pathways of Light Miracles News, 10/98 p.2

Miracles News Fall 1998

Learning to Access Inner Wisdom • Healing Means Becoming Miracle Minded • Mind Training • Love One Another • Tiny Decisions • Healing What Does Not Exist • Turning to My Right Mind • More Oct. 98 Miracles News
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Learning to Access Inner Wisdom -- by Rev. Bob Slawson

When I arrived at Pathways of Light, my experience with meditation was relatively new and somewhat limited. For about a year I met with a meditation group prior to our A Course in Miracles weekly meeting. This was a thirty minute meditation led by a Buddhist who stressed breathing techniques. I also used a modified mantra exercise. I usually achieved a sense of peace but never experienced a connection with an Inner Guide, Holy Spirit, Higher Self or anything else.

I often have heard others speak of "asking Spirit" or "going to Spirit." I really did not understand what they were talking about. When I finally got over my skepticism, I alternately thought that I was unworthy of accessing Spirit, or that there was a rite of passage I had to discover that would open for me the mystical door to my Holy Spirit.

To my amazement and delight, in my first class at Pathways of Light, appropriately named "Awakening to Your True Self," I made contact with Holy Spirit. In a guided meditation I was told if I wished to access my Higher or True Self, I had to ask. That's all! I had to ask!

Over the next few months I had many opportunities to hear this Inner Guide. The more I asked, the clearer the Voice became. On rare occasions I would get images rather than words.

I felt a little like a kid with a new toy. I could not wait for the guided meditations in the Pathways of Light classes. I reached the point where I did not even have to go into a meditative state to visit with Spirit; just quiet my mind a little and there He was.

It was almost too good to be true. And then my ego reared its ugly head. About six weeks after my first encounter with Spirit, I developed a fear that if I asked too often I would lose the ability to access the Holy Spirit. I learned to my chagrin that first of all I can not ask too often and secondly, it is not my ability that accesses the Holy Spirit. I am learning that my Inner Guide, the Holy Spirit, my Teacher has always been available to me. He has only been waiting for me to have a little willingness. He has only been waiting for me to ask. I now ask!

I had the idea that Spirit's Voice was always literally a voice. I now know that frequently a thought will come to me that is the Holy Spirit talking to me. Last winter during a bitter snowstorm, my wife and I had an argument and I was very angry. I stormed out of the room in a rage. At the bottom of the stairs just before I opened the outside door, I stopped, and sat on the steps. I really didn't want to go out in the cold, but I was still too angry to go back upstairs. A thought came to me. She really loves me, no matter what she said; and I really love her, no matter what I said. This thought, I know now, was the Holy Spirit talking to me. I went upstairs to my wife, told her what my thoughts were, and she gave me a big hug and kiss.

Healing Means Becoming Miracle Minded -- by Rev. Mary Stoelting

The lesson before me right now in my life circumstances is to have the willingness to become Miracle Minded. This means remembering that ego (separation thinking) is nothing and that Love (oneness awareness) is everything. Another way to say this is that I don't have to defend against ego thoughts in others or myself because they don't mean anything, and that love, or seeing oneness and innocence beyond the form or behavior is all that is really important.

When I do remember to become miracle minded, it brings me a great experience of peace and happiness. When I think of how great it feels to remember the Truth, I think, "Why don't I always remember this?" If I am really honest, the answer is that I don't always invite in the miracle minded thoughts of the Holy Spirit--my inner Healer. When I don't ask for the Holy Spirit's perspective, I get another life lesson that brings me discomfort and even pain. If I allow it, the discomfort and pain can be a gentle (or sometimes not so gentle) reminder to "choose once again" to let miracle minded thinking back in to heal my mistaken thinking.

When I step back, take a deep breath and ask the Holy Spirit to come into my mind, I am gently reminded again that the ego is nothing and doesn't matter, and that extending Love is all that really matters. Then the big deals I may be holding about others or myself can be let go of more easily. I can then "forgive" or let go of the idea that there is any harm to defend against. I can relax, because I remember that I am safe and that only Love is real. It is only in my mind that I thought that I could be harmed. It is only in my mind that I could experience lack.

The truth is that no matter what I may be thinking, I am still safe in Love's arms. I can never really leave my Source. I have been just dreaming of harm or lack or being separated from the presence of Love. All is well. I have allowed my mind to be healed. Ahhh... yippee! Thank goodness the Holy Spirit is always there whenever I forget. I can always return to the Truth whenever I am willing to let go of my false ideas and let It in.

Mind Training -- by Rev. Nancy Moore

I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me. (A Course in Miracles, Lesson 213)

It is becoming clearer to me that my exercising is about much more than aerobics, muscles, and meridians. Every day I walk, take a short bike ride, perhaps a swim in the lake, and I practice Qigong. What these quiet activities do is to still my mind so I can be open to receive the teachings. The forms of energy go beyond the physical to allow the space for looking at my thoughts, and bringing them to awareness. As I've had some of my greatest awarenesses, insights, and holy instants during these times, I know Holy Spirit works through me "when I'm available."

This summer I've been swimming in the deep lake wearing a life jacket. I love being in the water, yet am uncomfortable in water over my head. After about a week of swimming in the life jacket, I noticed the muscles in my lower back were very strained. What was causing it was a mystery to me until one day I noticed swimming really aggravated it. The jacket kept my back and neck arched, head up. Well, I wasn't about to give up this joyful play, which was also an exercise for experiencing oneness. So I developed a new position-sort of paddling in a sitting posture and I also spent more time on my back. I was E-a-s-i-n-g the muscles in the other direction, in a gentle watery way. Then it occurred to me, it's the UNDOING of the strain, just as Holy Spirit guides me into undoing the strain & suffering of my overworked mistaken thinking.

My playful antics on another day led to the realization that the life jacket is the Holy Spirit that carries me to the experience of the eternal. If I stop pushing, ...be still, ...I'm there.

I've been a Chi Lel Qigong student for 2 years. Qigong is a Chinese practice combining visualization with a series of gentle movements for moving Chi--the universal energy. "THE MIND MOVES CHI," we are taught.

A visualization in this form of Qigong is to give and receive the experience of blue sky until there is a merging and the body disappears. In a May workshop , for a period during a one-hour practice, I fully experienced this sense of my body disappearing. Afterward I was so filled with exaltation I jumped up and down, whooped and hollered and hugged everyone in sight. My daily practice is not so dramatic. It is a gentle reminder of my true identity, and I love it when I get it.

I became a student of A Course in Miracles 9 months ago (Dec '97). I came to the Pathways program in March. My study of ACIM has intensified through both the daily study and as a participant and facilitator in the Self Awakening program.

Qigong has been a bridge to my acceptance of mind training, a step to knowing that the barriers of the body are an illusion. I began to think of moving Chi as moving love. I could expand the energy of my body--so I could extend love. This Chi/Love Awareness has blessed and enriched my experience of the holy instant. Quiet mind......... changed mind......... thoughts moved............ removed............ fresh thought...... received. Sky......earth, Heaven......world, the world dissolves into Heaven.

Love One Another as I Love You -- by Rev. Georgeann Medved

In 1978 I had an emotional and spiritual crisis. I gave up on humanity, love and all that is good and fell into a deep black pit that was bottomless. I hated that place and so I began a long journey; a long enlightening journey that is never ending, always challenging, but very gratifying. I have acquired many new friends along the path and I am sincerely grateful for them and for the lessons I have learned. Reaching out to others saved my life.

Recently I found a study completed by a church in Texas that showed that among the various personal and sociological problems faced by the exploding population in America today, loneliness was at the top of the list. Our incredible mobility, the hectic schedules many of us keep, the demand on ourselves to be self-reliant and self-sufficient and to succeed at all costs all combine to insure an experience of isolation.

The future for many people in this country includes devastating loneliness, alienation and restlessness brought on by the absence of satisfying relationships. Sadly, in years to come, loneliness will continue to plague our society.

In my black pit, I did not realize that Christ seeks for me to reach out to others as a friend. He desires that I benefit from the power of strong and lasting relationships as I bond to others interested in emotional and spiritual growth. During his final night with the apostles, Christ shared remarkable insights concerning his own relationship with them:

"My commandment is this: Love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love a man can have for his friends is to give his life for them. And you are my friends, if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I know and everything I have heard from my father. You did not choose me; I chose you; and I appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. If you do so, my father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. This then, is what I command you: Love one another." John, 15:12-17

Many of the Pathways of Light courses reinforce my awareness of the value of satisfying and lasting friendships, stressing my need to assign top priority to the art of loving.

When I open my heart and disclose my joys, fears and sadness to others, I show them that I have problems similar to theirs and that is one of the greatest gifts that I can ever give to another person. If they so choose, when I reveal myself in this way, they may go to others and ridicule me. Most don't.

The Pathways of Light courses also reassure me that I'm on the true path when I choose to seal relationships with unconditional Love. Love as a verb sometimes challenges me to let go of others and let them make their own mistakes or to step into my tough-love shoes and say, "No more!"

Today I know that I will never step off the edge of the universe into an endless, black pit again. For that I am grateful and willing to share my precious gifts of experience, strength and hope with anyone who reaches out to me for help.

Tiny Decisions -- by Barbara Ivria Kuhn, OMC

With all the demands on time, we make hundreds of decisions a day that determine whether we give, receive, learn, do, listen, grow, dig in... The decisions are so tiny, most escape our notice. Often it takes the commitment to something for a whole day or a whole evening to make us conscious of having used a block of time for some purpose. Then we see that time was used for one thing and not another.

The easy days are the ones when a thousand little "look inward prayers" float on the breath, thereby making the most choices for the highest good.

It's a great blessing when one happens upon a bit of wisdom that brings an "Ah-ha" and that experience makes a real difference. One such parable was told by Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya.

Rabbi Elazar said, "When our learning exceeds our deeds we are like trees whose branches are many but whose roots are few; the wind comes and uproots them. But when our deeds exceed our learning, we are like trees whose branches are few but whose roots are many so even if all the winds of the world blow against them, the winds would be unable to move the trees."

And so it is for me. Because One is All, it is especially important that my part in the All brings joy to other Souls in the All. Prayer is only part of my "thank you" gift to Spirit.

"Actions speak louder than words." "The proof is in the pudding." "And faith without works is dead." So many phrases designed to get my attention!

My deeds reflect my good when those deeds ease a child's hunger, put nails in the roof of a Habitat for Humanity home, extend loving arms to a grieving parent, gather up a mile of ugly road litter. As I delight in completing those deeds set before me, my roots sink deep and flourish in the fertile Soil, I revel in the warm, bright Smile of the Sun and I soak up the gentle renewing rain of Spirit.

Healing What Does Not Exist -- by Rev. Pam Schueller

Fleeting, limited thoughts are not eternal and, in A Course in Miracles language, do not 'exist.' They do not have reality or meaning, although my mind may give them meaning. I cannot 'heal' a false idea, or separation thought. If I see my brother as a 'nerd,' (and myself as different) or see myself as a 'nerd' (and my brother as different) or see anybody as a 'nerd' (separate from the whole Self, or Son of God we all are), I can't 'heal' the thought because it is a mistaken idea.

What I can do is heal my mind that thought the idea is real or true, and recognize that I suffered because of attachment to the mistaken idea. I can ask for help, a shift in my mind--a miracle. Truth is eternal. Whole, innocent, perfect being is all-inclusive. When I release my obstacles (false beliefs, images and ideas of separation), my mind is open and free to receive the experience of our natural state of being, and the effects it brings, inner peace and quiet joy.

Turning to My Right Mind -- by Rev. Miya Gillette

Whenever I get stuck in my worldly thoughts or have a feeling of anger and attack, I picture a dial in my mind and I turn that dial to the right ever so slowly. It is like the dial on the clothes dryer. I can envision this in my imagination. When I turn that dial to the right, I am tuning into or turning to my Right Mind.

At Pathways of Light I learned about my Right Mind. At first some of these concepts were difficult for me to understand. Right Mind, Holy Spirit, Inner Wisdom were just words to me. Eventually these words became experiences. The classes seemed to be a building process that brought me closer and closer to my awareness of Spirit. Over the summer I saw the change in my thoughts slowly evolve into a more peaceful experience of life.

I like this visual of turning a dial. If I am upset I simply see myself turning a dial to my Right Mind. Then I am at peace.

Learning to Access Inner Wisdom • Healing Means Becoming Miracle Minded • Mind Training • Love One Another • Tiny Decisions • Healing What Does Not Exist • Turning to My Right Mind • More Oct. 98 Miracles News