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April-June, 2006

The Miracle of Balance

by Rev. Marie Hanson

This is my second winter in Nevada.  Last year was very cold and brought plenty of snow.  I was like a little kid.  I loved to shovel the walk and driveway. I loved watching it fall.  This winter is called a “pineapple express.”  It was mild most of the time, followed by brief periods of cold and snow.  These two extremes illustrate how nature miraculously balances itself.

The four seasons offer an outward reminder of the cyclic nature of life.  Another way is the observation of Lent, preparing for the celebration of Easter. I enjoy celebrating rituals and believe them to be an important part of my spiritual life.  Ritual can add purpose, expression and color to everyday experience. 

I was introduced to meditation in the mid-80’s and experienced a turning point in my life. My spiritual practice unfolded over a period of years and my life took on new meaning, understanding and direction.  Following what I would call one of many walks in the desert, I was increasingly aware of the need for balance on my journey back to the garden.

The Easter message for me is about release.  It is a sign of peace, a time of joy and celebration.  It reminds me to awaken in the present, and to the gift of love and forgiveness, just like the seeds in the ground awakening from their winter sleep. I acknowledge the cycle of birth and death within myself.  I release old thoughts that are not serving me and embrace new ones with Holy Spirit’s help.  Ah-ha!  The miracle of balance occurred, again.

Rev. Marie Hanson is a Pathways of Light minister living in Carson City, Nevada.

© 2006, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2006

The One Vicious Ego

by Rev. Lee Catalano

The ego would have me believe that it is me. Sometimes while practicing forgiveness I get confused and think that is it difficult to remember who it is that I truly am. The ego is just thought. False thought, it isn’t and never will be, Who I am.

There is only one ego. It makes no sense to judge it, it is one as is the Son of God One. To see the ego at work in another and to say “his ego” or “her ego” is to personalize and to further teach myself, that egos are many and real.

I was looking at the front page of the Boston Globe today and there was a picture of a fellow who’s wife and baby were murdered. Pretty good chance they died by his hand. My mind went straight to the truth. Would the Love in this fellow’s mind That is Who he truly is ever reach out in viciousness? No, of course not. So the ego that is one and chosen moment by moment by the Son of God, is a vicious hallucination.

Every time I am in a state of mind that is less than a mind of gratitude and cooperation with my Brother, I am living in the hallucination, that is the one ego. Jesus teaches that the ego is just less predatory at times than others. This very sad and public circumstance is an opportunity for me to see the truth. The truth is that the ego wants the Son of God dead. The truth is that the one ego can never truly kill the one Son of God.

To become meek is to consistently choose my true Self. Meek is joyful because there is only One Son of God. If I choose to strike out on any level, I am choosing a painful “reality” that is unworthy of the one Son of God. I am choosing the painful hallucination that I am separate, alone and riddled with problems. This is all a very bad dream indeed. A night terror that must be awoken from now, in this present eternal moment.

Rev. Lee Catalano is a Pathways of light minister living in Needham, Massachusets

© 2006, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2006

The Process of Forgiveness

by Rev. Lee Catalano

Forgiveness empties the mind of false beliefs by our willingness to let them go. False beliefs are the driving force behind ego thought. A thought cannot linger and take hold without there being an underlying belief.

Jesus refers to the “little willingness” to see things differently in the Course. The willingness is little in the beginning, because that is all he (Jesus) needs in order to get his foot in the door of our minds, metaphorically speaking. With the little willingness to see things differently we begin to have little episodes of peace. As we begin to identify peace with letting go, our willingness to let go increases to “great willingness.” That is why it is so vital to have the experience that he is pointing to in the Workbook lessons and the experience is peace.

He is not offering me a better life with more magnificent things. He is not promising to make me popular or able to influence my peers and coworkers, as these are all worldly things, false idols. Every single idol that is used to make me feel better about my ego-self is shakable. The peace of God that he is gently leading me to in A Course in Miracles is completely unshakable and cannot be touched by anything in this world, because it is not of this world and its source is beyond this world.

He refers to God’s peace as “the peace that passeth understanding.” Why does God’s peace passeth understanding? As I appear to be here in this world and also at the effects of the opinions and likes and dislikes of the world, there is really no apparent reason to have peace. It is a world that is highly variable and unstable, as is my ego’s sense of well-being. It is crucial to understand that there is truly no reason in this world to have peace. Lasting peace comes only from God and withdrawing belief in the world through forgiveness.

So let’s take a look at the process of forgiveness. One, I admit to myself I am not at peace. Two, I humbly state before Spirit that I am willing to see it differently. Three, I trust and allow the change to occur.

This is a very basic outline. This process is repeated on every page of the Course. It is in the daily lessons and, when we have eyes to see it, it appears in the Text as well. Then as forgiveness progresses, we begin to see and hear opportunities for a shift everywhere.

A friend in the Course community told me long ago, that the greatest gift to myself, was to see that I was wrong. So true. I was wrong about my identity. I was wrong about the idea that I was terribly unworthy and needed a place to project this unworthiness.

Guilt and unworthiness are the forces that drive my false beliefs. What else is there
truly to know and believe other than I am God’s radiant Child in whom He is well pleased?

Rev. Lee Catalano is a Pathways of Light minister living in Needham, MA. Web site: heavensongministrypages.com

© 2006, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2006

Waking Up/Awakening

Rev. Colleen Mc Nally

I sit this morning taking some deep breaths. As I begin this day, I am aware of a deep need to nurture my soul. “We will practice laying aside our false personas so we can focus on the perception and awareness of our soul.” (Pathways course 802: Soul Awareness)

As I go about my morning rituals and settle into this more focused time of reflection and prayer, two words are jumping around in my mind. They are ‘waking up’ and ‘awakening.’ As I let meanings and understanding come to me, I realize a kind of playfulness. This play on/with these two words brings a smile to my face as I think to myself, “They really mean the same thing; they are inter-changeable. I can wake up or awaken in the morning and I can wake up and awaken to the Love within me.

Every morning on waking up, I check in with my self to see what my thoughts are and to see what is ‘up’ for me on that day. Today I was aware of feeling anxious about teaching. Having taught for nearly 30 years, I consider myself somewhat of a veteran at teaching. In some sense it has defined my life. Yet I am anxious to begin a new class. As I explore this anxiousness I begin to know that it is my ego well at work here.

Will I be liked? Can I do it well enough? Will I do it the way others want me to do it? Will it all be OK? Even, will be OK? I would think that after 30 years I might have answers to these questions. My thinking and feeling was calling for another choice.

“One way to recognize what we are choosing is to notice whether or not our body is tense or we feel depressed, angry or fearful. Our soul is always peaceful and relaxed.” (802: Soul Awareness) I continue with the awareness that I can choose peace instead of this. It seems that this is a major part of laying aside my false persona and focusing on the perception and awareness of my soul.

One thing that I like to do is to turn to A Course in Miracles for guidance, opening spontaneously to a lesson and just allowing it to speak to what is ‘up’ for me, this morning my fears about teaching.

So I open to the Workbook of A Course In Miracles. It is like opening myself to receive what is there and to let it interplay with my issues. As I glance at the page in front of me. I read, “What is Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit mediates between illusions and the truth.” (Lesson 280, p. 487)

It comes to me that Holy Spirit is the mediator between my fears and my truth. I have an ‘aha’ moment. All of my fears are just illusion. They keep me connected to thoughts of separation rather than thoughts of oneness. Thoughts of oneness return me to soul awareness, to an awareness of Love. The teacher becomes the learner here. “For learning, as the Holy Spirit guides it to the outcome He perceives for it, becomes the means to go beyond itself, to be replaced by the eternal truth.” (Lesson 280, p. 487) I say to myself, “to be replaced by Love.”

From this time of meditation, study and reflection, I receive Holy Spirit as my Guide and Answer. I am aware of an awakening. I wake up and awaken to the gift of Spirit, to the gift of Love. “Accept your Father’s gift of Spirit. It is a call from Love to Love, that It be Itself. The Holy Spirit is His gift, by which the quietness of Heaven is restored to God’s beloved Son.” (Lesson 280, p. 437) I center in this awareness, in this thinking, trusting Holy Spirit to be the teacher, trusting Holy Spirit to guide me in my work and returning to the core of my mission of Love.

The following quote speaks clearly to this process of waking up and awakening. “When you get past this hurdle that the ego places in your path, your awakening process becomes much easier. You easily identify with this inner Love and can move in the world with greater detachment. You see through the illusion of separation and maintain your peace and love.” (802: Soul Awareness)

In these perceptions and this awareness and awakening, I give thanks.

Rev. Colleen McNally is a Pathways of Light minister living in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

© 2006, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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