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April-June, 2020

Miracles News, April-June 2020

 

The Holy Spirit will,
of Himself, fill
every mind that so
that so makes room for Him.(ACIM T-14.XI.13:6)

© 2020, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2020

A Simple Question

by Rev. Stepan Mead, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

“A simple question yet remains, and needs an answer. Do you like what you have made?...” (T-20.lll.4:1-2)

Years ago when I first started studying the Course, sentences like the one quoted above were much easier to ignore than they are today. Similar to many students, my life was a mess when I discovered ACIM.

Could this bible looking book really change my miserable life? (a simple question)

I read the Course from the introduction to the last page in a frenzied marathon session. As I recall, it took me about four days and it affected me as no other book had. What was it I just read? (a simple question)

If anyone asked me to summarize my understanding of the nearly half a million words in the book I would have answered, “The Course says I’m insane, and I think it is right!” No one asked me that question though because my thinking was I had read a book which was unexplainable, so I told no one about it.

With my life in even more of a mess, I asked the Holy Spirit (apparently I believed there was access to this Power inside me,) “What should I do next?” (a simple question) “Read it again, slowly, carefully, prayerfully or put it away and forget about it,” was the answer I heard.

Also, when reading the Course something bizarre happened to me. It’s very difficult to articulate, but the words on the pages went into my mind and I lost the sense of my physicality — I was no longer sitting on my couch reading a book. I felt like I was in another dimension. “I can’t figure out what the Course is saying from one paragraph to the next,” was my thinking. “What should I do?” (a simple question)

“ALL the help necessary you think you need is available to you right now,” was the answer I received.

I turned to the Internet and looked up, A Course in Miracles and after scrolling past website after website, I landed on one calling ACIM a cult. I did read that site carefully, but whatever was written, didn’t ring true with me. I knew I was in the midst of a life changing experience and ACIM did not meet the requirements of being a cult.

Until that point, I had never heard of an ACIM gathering, let alone an ACIM community. “What if I found an ACIM gathering, attended and everyone else at it saw that I WAS insane?” (a simple question) Even though I did not mean to phrase that as a question, immediately the thought, “You’ll be in good company!” was my answer.

Scrolling through the websites again, I discovered Pathways of Light. After staring at the phone number for a few minutes I called. Pathways must have had a speaker phone because as I remember that call, both Robert and Mary were talking to me. If either of them even recollects that call, I hope they can still chuckle over me trying to sound like I knew something about the Course! With saint-like gentleness and patience, they answered all my questions, encouraged me to continue to seek guidance from within and volunteered they might even be able to help by sending me some study materials if I was interested.

I saved my simple question for last, “Is it true what the Course says, that I have made my life what it is? That no one else has caused my misery or even contributed to it? I hate my life; no way did I make this!” In the background, I think I heard Mary quietly say, “Oh dear.” Robert suggested I already knew the answer and even congratulated me for calling. I like being congratulated! I ordered some courses, found ACIM gatherings nearby and today, if I was asked the simple question, “Do you like what you have made?” My answer would be, “YES!”

Rev. Stephan Mead, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Seattle, WA.
E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2020, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2020

My Mind Is Very Holy

by Rev. Myron Jones, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

I love doing the lessons and I do them every year just for the pure joy of it. The holiness lessons are my favorite. I wonder if anyone just starting this path, doing these lessons for the first time, believes their mind is very holy or even understands how that could be.

The implication of the lesson is astounding. This year I have a new understanding and I am far more willing to accept it than I ever have been before. My heart is filled with gratitude for this.

The self I experience is just an image I have made. The body, the personality, all of what I think of as Myron is an image, not something real. Jesus makes it clear to my mind that he does not mean this metaphorically when he says that I cannot really see the world because I am looking through the eyes of the image of a body I made, and images cannot see.

Having established that I made an image of a body/personality, I see that I then made an image of an environment that was made to protect the image of the self I made. How perfect this plan to experience a separate self, something completely impossible, and yet accomplished, if not in reality then at least in experience! So, I asked myself, “What does this look like for me? What was my desire and how did I accomplish it?”

From looking at my life with the advantage of years of experience, I see that I wanted to see myself as if I could be a victim, filled with self-doubt, guilt, and fear. I also wanted to see myself as a person determined to overcome, someone who would keep moving right through her terror, even when she was nearly overwhelmed with guilt and self-loathing.

I look back at my life and I see the images that make up the environment I made to protect this self. Early on, when still a child, I had many experiences of victimhood that taught me to see all situations from the viewpoint that I am a victim. My father was an alcoholic and probably bipolar as well. My mother had made an image of herself that had many of the same attributes I had chosen so she modeled that for me and reinforced those choices in my mind.

I experienced molestation and poverty as a child, as well as constant instability in the family environment. All these situations helped establish and protect my desire to see myself as a victim with low self-esteem, going through life in fear of what could and probably would happen next. Once the theme was firmly established it continued to play out with many experiences that reinforced it.

I also had a mother who protected her children with the ferocity of a mother bear, and who instilled a sense of grandiosity that helped to balance the sense of worthlessness. She also modeled what it looks like to move steadily through adversity with determination and with pride, which though threatened, remained intact. She proved we could overcome if we just kept going and believed in our innate ability to do so. I got it all set up to have the desired experience.

My life was filled with experiences that continued to fulfill the original intent.If seen with detachment as if it were a movie, it would be a pretty interesting one. Interesting, that is, if you enjoy lots of drama and emotional moments in your movies. I am learning to see this life as if it is, indeed, a movie because that is closer to the truth than believing it is real.

I can see how important it was that I have my own little story if believing in separation and specialness is my goal. As long as that remained my goal, I would continue to pump out more proof I am different than and more special in both good and bad ways than others. But I have changed my mind about that.

A Course in Miracles has convinced me that all of this, all of the life of Myron, is really just a pretty good (or maybe bad, with all its melodrama) movie and that I am not Myron in any real sense. Today I am reminded of what I really am. I am part of God. I am very holy.

As I have allowed my mind to be healed of the belief in separation, I have begun to embrace this reality, this Self that exists as part of God, that lives in God, that is very holy. How different will be the images that I make as this new true vision of myself continues to unfold.

This is not something that can be accomplished through the thinking mind. Yes, the Holy Spirit works to heal the mind on my behalf and this makes it possible for me to accept the emergence of the memories of reality. But accepting my true identity seems to be a function of my heart. The healing of the mind convinces me I want to remember, but the desire that awakens is a function of the heart.

We will each awaken and remember our holiness and the reason is very simple. First of all, it is the Will of God that we do so and only in our most outlandish imaginings could we think that we can overcome the Will of God. In actuality, we are already awake. I know this is not apparent in the stories we live, but it must be true because Jesus tells us that we are as God created us. Nothing has changed that and nothing ever could.

So, where is this awakened Self? Here is how I think of it. You know how sometimes you have fantasies in which your wishes are played out? Maybe you imagine you won the lottery and you think of what you would do with all that money and how it would change your life. You might have a very elaborate story in your mind that could go on for quite a while as you think of what you would buy and who you would help.

Or maybe you have a fantasy of meeting the perfect partner and what it would be like to be with that one. If you are an athlete perhaps you have imagined being the winner and people admiring you, other athletes showing their respect. Perhaps it goes on longer and you see yourself signing contracts and sponsors wanting your picture or name on their product.

Most of us have had fantasies at one time or another in our lifes. When I was a teenager, I imagined myself a famous singer. This had to remain a fantasy since I can’t carry a tune, but it was one of my favorite ways to pass the time and it often became elaborate. So, where was Myron, the ordinary teenager, when I was dreaming of being adored by the crowds at my concerts? That person didn’t disappear when the fantasy person was in my mind.

This is a metaphor for us as we experience our life right now. Myron the teenager and Myron the adult is just as much a fantasy as Myron the famous singer that I used to dream of. And all the time I imagine the story of Myron, with her lifetime of sometimes interesting and sometimes punishing stories, the true Self is right there, simply unacknowledged.

The problem is that we are aware of only those things we give our attention to. I think this is why the Course focuses so strongly on the purification of the mind. It is the fantasy thoughts that we pay attention to that make up the world we see. As long as we are interested in these thoughts, we will continue to see this world and believe in it.

When I was dreaming of being the famous singer, I remained the teenager and while I imagined I was a teenager I continued to be the fully awakened Self in the Mind of God. It is all here, all part of the package and we can all learn to focus our attention on the awakened Self, the unaffected Self that remains as God created it without interruption, without change.

The more we give our ego thoughts to the Holy Spirit and turn our attention to the truth, the clearer the Self becomes to us. It is all just a matter of desire and practice. These lessons are more important than we could have imagined when we began them. They are clearing the mind of the darkness that hides the Light within and bringing us back to the knowledge of our holiness.

Rev. Myron Jones, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Westlake, Louisiana. Read her inspiring Healing Journal articles on the Pathways website. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Myron’s website is: http://www.forgivenessisthewayhome.org

© 2020, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2020

How Do We Find God’s Voice?

by Revs. Mary & Robert Stoelting

To find God’s Voice, we need to spend time in quiet listening to our true Spiritual Source. We need to give our attention to God. In the Course we are given a helpful way to do this so that it becomes a part of our important daily practice:

“Three times today, at times most suitable for silence, give ten minutes set apart from listening to the world, and choose instead a gentle listening to the Word of God. He speaks from nearer than your heart to you. His Voice is closer than your hand. His Love is everything you are and that He is; the same as you, and you the same as He.

It is your [true] voice to which you listen as He speaks to you. It is your word He speaks. It is the Word of freedom and of peace, of unity of will and purpose, with no separation nor division in the single Mind of Father and of Son. In quiet listen to your Self today, and let Him tell you God has never left His Son, and you have never left your Self.” (W-pI.125.7-8)

What our body’s eyes and ears see and hear are merely illusions that interfere with what our true Self is communicating in every instant. Your eternal Self remains united with God, eternally extending Love.

This practice will help free us from the ego’s interference, which would keep us believing we are limited and alone. It will help us break free from believing we are a body so we can experience the fact that we are Love as Love created us — and nothing else. As we daily, hourly reinforce the truth of our eternal Identity in God, the false ego (separate self) thought system we have bought into gradually fades away.

God sees His Son as innocent because He sees his Son as one with Himself. Whenever we perceive guilt in another or our self, we are perceiving wrongly. We are believing we are a false image of what God created us to be. This does not affect God’s knowing of His Son as guiltless. But it does make us unaware of our eternal unity with our Creator.

The choice to accept the ego belief in separation is the crucifixion of God’s Son by denying our true Life in God. The Holy Spirit teaches us to choose the oneness of Love, to choose the Life we live in God. This is the choice for happiness because joy is an attribute of Love. Today we practice letting Love be our Guide in all that we do, say and think because we want to be happy.

One helpful way to apply this during the day is to practice noticing when you do not feel at peace. The Course helps us with this by encouraging us to:

“Permit no idle thought [of separation] to go unchallenged. If you notice one, deny its hold and hasten to assure your mind that this is not what it would have. Then gently let the thought which you denied be given up, in sure and quick exchange for the idea we practice for the day.

“When you are tempted, hasten to proclaim your freedom from temptation, as you say:

“This thought I do not want. I choose instead _______.

“…let Him teach you what to do and say and think, each time you turn to Him. He will not fail to be available to you, each time you call to Him to help you.”
(W-pI.rVI.5:2-6:2;7:2-3)

We already have the peace of God. But we don’t know it because we have accepted the ego thought system of fear and guilt. We’ve taught ourselves that the ego’s lies are true. The Course offers us a loving and gentle journey to let go of the thoughts that hide God’s peace and Love from our awareness. This lesson is another step to help us train our minds to recognize the thoughts that interfere with peace and let them go.

Each time we release a fear thought by offering it to the Holy Spirit for His correction, we take another step forward in the healing of our mind. This step is taken in two parts. First we remind ourselves that we do not want the ego’s thought. Then we declare that we want the Holy Spirit’s correction instead. This practice leads us Home to the Heaven of God’s Love.

Our Gentle Path to Awakening

“…what you need are intervals each day in which the learning of the world becomes a transitory phase; a prison house from which you go into the sunlight and forget the darkness. Here you understand the Word, the Name which God has given you; the one Identity which all things share; the one acknowledgment of what is true. And then step back to darkness, not because you think it real, but only to proclaim its unreality in terms which still have meaning in the world that darkness rules.

“Use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness. Yet accept them not as your reality. The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does not forget creation has one Name, one meaning, and a single Source which unifies all things within Itself. Use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet do not forget [all things] share the Name of God along with you.” (W-pI.184.10-11)

The Course offers us a gentle path to awaken from the dream of separation, guilt and fear. It is designed to not trigger fears of loss and death, but to show us the peace and Love that is our natural Home beyond the dream. It teaches us how to live in the world while waking up.

In the world all things are images, each with its own name to distinguish it as separate. We use these names to communicate. At the same time we need to practice holding the awareness that words are only symbols and therefore not real. Beyond the symbols is the eternal presence of Love’s oneness.

To keep in touch with Love’s Reality, we need to take time each day to go to the center of peace within, where the Holy Spirit reminds us that we are God’s Son, united with Him eternally. Each time we touch base with God’s peace helps us loosen our investment in the world’s symbols. The dream becomes less real and our reactions to perceptions of the symbols softens. We experience consistently deeper levels of peace. Things that used to upset us no longer trigger our guilt. We see more frequently through the eyes of Love. The veil of separation gets thinner and thinner. When our forgiveness is complete, we awaken to our Home in the oneness of Love.
Another Helpful Process to Practice

We have used this process over many years to help us stay on track with Holy Spirit’s plan for our gentle awakening:

1. Have a pen and paper ready. Quiet your mind and ask Holy Spirit for three key words that will help you now in your life. Write each word down, leaving space after each word. (Don’t judge the words. Just write each one down.)

2. Then ask the Holy Spirit for a sentence that will elaborate on each of the three words you received. Write each sentence next to each of the three key words.

3. Slowly read what you received and let it soak in.

Mary: This is what I received when I did the process above:

1. Patience —  Everything you need comes in perfect timing.

2. Openness —  Practice being open to receiving Inner Inspiration.

3. Love —  Let your Inner Teacher fill your awareness with Love.

When I read this, it calmed me deeply. I realized I had been worried about having enough money to cover all our expenses for maintaining our printing equipment and the Pathways website. It reminded me to take everything to Holy Spirit, no matter what. If I worry about anything, I am thinking I am on my own again. And practicing #3 has brought me happiness at ever increasing levels.

Practicing consistently all the areas above in this article has brought us a beautiful, gentle awakening that is still in process.

Revs. Robert and Mary Stoelting, co-founders of Pathways of Light, reside in Ormond Beach, Florida. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2020, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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