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April-June, 2023

From Person to Son

by Rev. Robin Singler, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

As part of my morning practice, I turn my day over to the purpose of mind healing, review any workbook lesson I may be working on, and let helpful thoughts and images come into my mind as I focus inwardly and relax. I then ask Spirit (intuition, higher Self, Voice for God) what my mind healing looks like for me that day, and a theme or area of focus will come into my awareness. Over the last few months, a recurring theme has been offered me stated as “We’re moving from person to Son.”

When I first heard this statement, a sense of openness was there as I realized what He was saying, “We are letting go of personal-self identification and moving toward the Oneness that is really true about you. You are the One Son of God, the Creator, not the small self. From personal to Universal. From alone to All-One. From hidden to seen. From separate to unified.”

When this Guidance first came to me, it was very exciting and I was inspired to look up the word “person” and was amazed at what I found. The first recorded use of the word was around the year 1200, and stems from the Latin word “persona” meaning “role,” and is also linked to the Late Latin meaning “member of the Trinity.”

Whoa! Going back still further, the word “person” is originally from the Greek word “prosopa” meaning “actor’s mask.” Well doesn’t that sum it up nicely!

The term “person” has at its core the image of a mask; something that covers something else so what is underneath is not seen or recognized.

The Course talks about the world being populated with bodies that are merely symbols for thoughts in my mind, and as I identify with a personal self, I am living in a delusional, false experience of being a separate individual, hiding behind a mask, playing a role that is defined by the body and personality.

The mask of the body, and the world it lives in, are the set pieces used to make up my own stage performance; a trick so I can keep my separate identity and play all kinds of roles that I wrote for myself. I pretend I am the victim of circumstance, a helpless “person” caught up in a tragic scene, but I have assigned the personal roles to myself and everyone else!

While pretending I am a character on the stage, Jesus tells me in the Course that I am in fact the writer of the script and the director of the play posing as a powerless character. Such folly indeed! How do I make the switch from person to Son? 

To think about this change of mind from person to Son can seem to be a huge task at first, as if its such an extreme change of mind that all kinds of effort must be involved. But when I remember that this experience is all happening in the mind and not in or with a human body, the task laid before me by Jesus/Holy Spirit becomes much clearer.

To experience myself as the Son of God rather than a limited, frail person, I need only step back from being on stage to sitting in the audience with the Holy Spirit. Ken Wapnick, the first teacher of ACIM, used to talk about this a lot and I’ve found it very helpful.

If I’m sitting in the audience watching the play of the world unfold, including the story of mine and all other bodies’ lives, then I have changed who I am identifying as, if even just a bit. As I learn to step back consistently and observe the actors in the play doing what they do, I am learning that I can’t possibly be both the observer of the world’s drama AND the “person” that lives in the body on the stage. Only one can be true or real.

There is one part of this that is very important for me to remember as this practice from person to Son unfolds. In order to shift my identification from small to limitless, I need to step back and observe the world with Spirit at my side, asking for His interpretation of what I’m observing. If I step back, look and judge anything I see, I am still identifying with the person on the stage by holding onto my judgments of what I’m seeing, and so I’m still experiencing myself as a personal, small self.

This will only lead to more suffering and confusion. With the practice of non-judgment (or forgiveness) and the support of my devoted Inner Teacher, I’m learning to look without personal investment, and this is much different from “being” the person.

It is imperative that I rely on Spirit to tell me what everything means so that I can watch and judge not, and accept my True Identity as God’s Son, forever safe and whole.

As I spend more time observing Robin and the world do it’s silly stuff or tragic stuff from a place of non-judgment as the observer or the dreamer of the dream, the attachment to what is going on lessens, and peace and calmness replaces the worried and afraid mindset that being a person engenders. This is moving from person to Son, from limited to limitless.

I am so grateful for how Spirit uses ideas, images and concepts that I relate to to reach and teach me. I trust we all are being carried on this journey from person to Son and we’ll be given all we need to help us awaken from the dream of separateness and suffering.

Rev. Robin Singler is a Pathways of Light minister living in Huntley, Illinois.
Email: rev .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  Phone: 224-650-0837

© 2023, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2023

Love Holds No Grievances

by Rev. Christine Anderson, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

As I practice returning to Love each day, every circumstance provides new opportunities to heal my mind and return to the truth that we are all Love and nothing else.

The following quote from ACIM Workbook Lesson 71 helped me with an experience I had recently.

“The ego’s plan for salvation centers around holding grievances. It maintains that, if someone else spoke or acted differently, if some external circumstance or event were changed, you would be saved. Thus, the source of salvation is constantly perceived as outside yourself. Each grievance you hold is a declaration, and an assertion in which you believe, that says, “If this were different, I would be saved.” The change of mind necessary for salvation is thus demanded of everyone and everything except yourself.” (W-pI.71.2)

One morning I woke up, but I was still very sleepy. I was approached in a very hurried manner by an aide who works at the facility where I live. I just wanted her to go away and let me sleep. It was still dark out. Why are they getting me up?

The next thing I knew I was thrashing my feet, trying to keep her away from me, but not for the purpose of causing any injury. Things were getting worse by the minute. This was not a pretty scene. I was not very happy about this and started forming judgments about her.

But somewhere in my mind I was remembering that all mistakes are forgivable.

The way things were unfolding told me right away I was not at peace. It was obvious I was projecting from my own mind and I remembered that projection causes perception. Remember, projection is just the inability to be honest about something that we do not want to look at in ourselves. And so we project it on the other person.

In my moment of insanity, where I was forgetting my true identity as a Child of God, I called out to Holy Spirit for help in my mind and the chaos suddenly ended and I was left alone.

As time went on, the aide came in to talk to me about what was going on at that time. I said to her that in that circumstance, I was not at peace and I asked for her forgiveness and I apologized profusely.

As a student of A Course in Miracles, I needed to remember the real meaning of forgiveness for myself. And that is nothing ever really happened. Only Love is real. So that was the beginning of forgiveness for myself.

So my friend and I parted for a couple of days and then she returned again to talk to me about the matter. She expressed to me she was having a hard time forgiving me. And then the miracle happened. She asked if we could pray together to help her let go of her grievance.

I responded, “Of course we could!” We held hands for a moment of silence and we waited to see what the prayer would be.

The prayer went as follows,

“Dear loving Father, we ask for the awareness of Your Love and peace right now in this present moment. We had a misunderstanding and are willing to let it go.

We thank you Father for all the blessings of this day, those to come, but most of all we give thanks for this present moment for the peace and Love and the awareness that all is well.”

I thank God for this miracle of joining to let go of the grievance and return to Love, our true Nature. I see my friend in reality as the Christ. And I love and appreciate her for joining with me to experience the miracle of forgiveness of letting go of our grievances.

And so now when we greet each other, we sing a little song which is sung to the tune of “Let it snow.” Instead the words are, “Let it go, let it go, let it go.”

In singing this song, we are reinforcing that we were willing to let go of the grievance that we had. It is as if it never happened. When I see her, I feel only peace. There is no sign of anything else. I remember that only Love is real and Love holds no grievances.

There is a song that is called “Love Holds No Grievances” by Charley Thweatt. It is a wonderful song to remind us of the blessing of forgiveness. Go to YouTube and key it in.

Below is an excerpt from Lesson 68, paragraph 6 that will help you to see your friend forgiven:

“Determine now to see these people as friends. Say to them all, thinking of each one in turn as you do so:

I would see you as my friend,
that I may remember you are part
of me and come to know myself.

Spend the remainder of the practice period trying to think of yourself as completely at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that protects you and loves you, and that you love in return. Try to feel safety surrounding you, hovering over you and holding you up. Try to believe, however briefly, that nothing can harm you in any way.”

Rev. Christine Anderson is a Pathways of Light minister living in N. Aurora, IL.
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Phone: 773-704-5483

© 2023, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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January-March, 2023

Miracles News, January-March, 2023

 

Love
Is the
Answer

© 2022, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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January-March, 2023

Mind Games and the Miracle I Need Do Nothing

by Rev. Bill Poppa, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

In the song “Mind Games” John Lennon sings “Love is a flower. You gotta’ let it… You gotta’ let it grow.” This simple lyric seems nice, and it works well in the message of the song itself. However, the simplistic truth in the lyric is more powerful than just a first impression of it.

Often times I experience conflict and confusion on the small things I encounter in everyday life. From a practical standpoint, I deal with them in quick fashion and there is no perceptual loss in my peace as I navigate the solution. In fact, any perceived problem always resolves itself, because my mind does not bother to judge the situation in need of a rational solution. For example, a parking spot is inevitably available in a crowded lot; or the slow-moving checkout line does not move to my liking, yet I’m out of the store with time to spare. There are many incidences like this in any given day and my thinking mind does not labor to resolve these minor inconveniences, they simply resolve themselves in the unfolding.

But what about the apparent larger and seeming more consequential problem that arises unexpectedly, one that serves a greater inconvenience with a demonstrable consequence?

Just this kind of unexpected problem presented itself last night. I co-facilitate Pathways of Light’s “Listen and Receive” program. We meet once a week at 6:30 pm local time on a conference call. We have many people who take part regularly, and often, there are first timers at any given time. The call is set up ahead of time and those who wish to take part dial in to attend and share in the lesson and fellowship.

My co-facilitator and I always dial in early to set up the call by being host and taking control of the software for a seamless experience. There are the occasional technical difficulties for sure, but inevitably they are easily corrected, or are not enough of an issue to be disruptive. Not last night.

We quickly discovered that the software would not allow us to take control of hosting. Without a host, background music plays incessantly and anyone who is speaking has to shout over the music in order to be heard. Shouting causes distortion and further muffles the speaker’s voice. To say the least, it was an unpleasant situation. I experienced mild stress and began to have thoughts of being a victim of technology. To make things more stressful, people were joining in as this was happening, and a sense of helplessness and embarrassment was creeping into my awareness.

We spent 15 minutes trying to troubleshoot to no avail. Accepting the fact, the software malfunction was not to be resolved, we kept our sense of humor in the face of our shared interest in handling a planned session. The participants, unsurprisingly, were completely understanding and cracking jokes as well. It turns out, we experienced a camaraderie in the middle of a seeming problem that allowed us all to bond in a way that was miraculous. A seamless call is hoped and is planned for, but the unfolding turned out to be not only an opportunity to practice forgiveness, but a gift far greater than the best laid plans.

Having a relationship with my Inner Teacher is the most important relationship I have. My Inner Teacher sees only innocence and the changeless reality of God’s Love in all things. Staying vigilant for judgment thoughts so I can let them go as soon as they arise is my responsibility. After that, I need do nothing, because everything is perfect once I turn my upset over.

My True Self knows that is the way Love grows. Love, not fear, is the peace of an abstract mind. Love is Who and What we are and is our natural inheritance. Love knows Itself and sees only Itself in everyone and all things. I do not need to learn Love. I just need to awaken to it. It is a recognition, not a getting.

My True Self is perfect Love, and It is the flower that grows. Its fragrance is God’s scent that permeates all things. It is the Wisdom that does not come from my personality self. Rather, it comes through my personality self whenever I remove the obstacles to peace. It is hard to believe that the first obstacle to peace is our desire to get rid of it. The Course says:

“The first obstacle that peace must flow across is your desire to get rid of it. For it cannot extend unless you keep it. You are the center from which it radiates outward, to call the others in. You are its home; its tranquil dwelling place from which it gently reaches out, but never leaving you. If you would make it homeless, how can it abide within the Son of God? If it would spread across the whole creation, it must begin with you, and from you reach to everyone who calls, and bring him rest by joining you.” (T-19.IV-A.1:1-6)

Be it something as small as finding a parking spot, or as large as a life changing event, I need do nothing once I remember to listen to my Inner Teacher. It is without effort the large is small and the many are few. Typically, there is no specificity coming from my True Self. It is the Love that guides my actions, for Love is the content that envelops all things. It is the connection of all things I experience. I develop a greater trust in this kind of unfolding.

Oh, we still had the call. It was with Spirit as our Guide, we changed phone lines. That meant everyone had to hang up and call in on a new number. Everyone on the call called back in. We even had someone from overseas that took the time to do so. It was past midnight his time. The sharing was wonderful, and everyone tasted a little morsel of eternity and was pulled out of time and felt the changeless peace that we are as one. It is not outside circumstances that decides my true happiness. It is my inside condition that does. I am grateful to know I have the power to choose my right mind over my ego thought system.

My friend Ricki Comeaux said, “I decide to see God, or I decide not to see God. It has become that simple.” How right she is.

Rev. Bill Poppa, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in New Orleans, LA.
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2022, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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