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Sept.-Dec., 2024

Who Is My Father?

by Rev. Myron, Jones, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

“Either God or the ego is insane. If you will examine the evidence on both sides fairly, you will realize this must be true. Neither God nor the ego proposes a partial thought system. Each is internally consistent, but they are diametrically opposed in all respects so that partial allegiance is impossible. Remember, too, that their results are as different as their foundations, and their fundamentally irreconcilable natures cannot be reconciled by vacillations between them. Nothing alive is Fatherless, for life is creation. Therefore, your decision is always an answer to the question, “Who is my father?” And you will be faithful to the father you choose.” (T 11.in.1)

Holy cow! Am I choosing the ego to be my father?

This is crazy! I pray to God as my Father, but I see that I also pray to the ego. An example of this is when I feel sick and look to my ego for an answer. I ask the ego what caused this sickness and what I should do about it. The ego says that I caught it from someone, making them not just separate from me but guilty for giving me their sickness.

The ego says I must go to the doctor who is separate from and above me. It says the doctor will be my savior, and I must listen to and obey him. The ego says I need medicine, and the medicine will be my savior. The ego says I should not listen to the Holy Spirit, Who says that the illness is not in the body but in the mind. It insists that if I listen to this crazy stuff, I will get sicker and sicker, and my punishment for my foolishness will be death. The ego is a harsh god!

When I acknowledge God as my Father and pray to Him, I am shown that the problem is not something that happened in the world but is a mistaken belief within my mind. I am told that I am very holy, that I am powerful, that I made my own problem. And with my permission, this wrong-minded thinking will be corrected. All I am told points to my true nature as an extension of God. It points to my power, my perfection, and my innocence. It points away from fear and guilt. The truth points to the unity of all things and our unity with God.

I understand both systems, and I now accept that this is true.

The only problem I have is that I am still trying to use both systems and as they are diametrically opposed, my mind is conflicted. Conflict causes suffering. In conflict, there is no resolution, and so I am sick, and I am healed, and I am sick again. This applies to all areas of life. My relationships, my finances, and my health all suffer from conflicted beliefs, from my desire to live in both worlds.

The solution is simple and obvious. The ego is insane and not sustainable. The ego is suffering. I have learned that the ego is not my father, and in fact, I am the maker of the ego. I guess you could say that I parented the ego. It is crazy that I should listen to the ego as if it had power over me rather than vice versa. As the maker of the ego, I can reject it as an interesting experiment, but one which fell short of the expected results. Clearly, it is time to let it go.

The Course is always practical.

Jesus knows that we will experience doubt and fear as we make this complete turnaround in our thinking. I was talking to Jesus about the thoughts in my mind the other day. I have begun to do this each morning, asking him to show me today what in my mind needs my attention. The way it works is that I ask the question and then a thought shows up that I need to question.

This time, I had the thought that I was letting both of us down because I was using magic to correct a magical problem. This was a physical sickness, and I was taking medicine. The answer to my question was gentle, loving and absolutely clear. The corrective thought he gave me sounded something like this to me. “Oh, Honey, feeling guilty for your compromise is more of a problem than not having trust in your process.”

The word compromise reminded me of a passage in the Course.

“Sometimes the illness has a sufficiently strong hold over the mind to render a person temporarily inaccessible to the Atonement. In this case it may be wise to utilize a compromise approach to mind and body, in which something from the outside is temporarily given healing belief. This is because the last thing that can help the non-right-minded, or the sick, is an increase in fear.” (T-2.IV.4:5-7)

So, I take medicine for the problem as I continue to let him show me the unforgiven thoughts and beliefs in my mind that are the cause of the problem. I know that, ultimately, there can be no compromise between the two thought systems, but for now, this is the more helpful approach. I also noticed that he doesn’t say the medicine is powerful on its own but that it works because I decided it would work. So, even in the compromise, I am teaching myself that what I believe is true for me. May I continue to use the power of my mind to bring me closer to the truth.

Here is another example.

This one is trying to use both thought systems in a relationship. Suppose I have an acquaintance who seems to always be attacking me. John doesn’t agree with my view of reality and wants to argue about it or make snide remarks. I try to forgive him, but I get tired of it and decide his friendship is toxic, and I need to end this relationship.

I am going to feel better with him gone, and I think the problem is solved. But if I try to solve the problem from within the problem, any relief will be temporary. The next person shows up with an attitude I don’t like, and I am starting all over because I am still attached to the problem.

I need to step outside the ego thought system and look at it with the Holy Spirit. He may have me do some self-inquiry to get to the bottom of the situation. I question why John’s opinion is a problem for me. I realize that I am upset because I have doubts and I don’t want to think about that. Now that I am at the root cause, I can forgive that belief, and I am free. The next person who shows up with that attitude will not bother me, and I can just love them rather than think they are a problem to be avoided.

Rev. Myron Jones, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Westlake, LA. 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  Phone: 337-515-1042

© 2024, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Sept.-Dec., 2024

You Stand with ME in Light

by Rev. Joyce Peebles, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Those personalities that irritate or annoy you, the ones you choose to become offended over, those that you have perceived as hurting you in the past — it is these people that literally stand with you in the Light.

The reason you cannot see this is because your grievances are hiding the Light. The choice is always between holding grievances or awareness of Light. They are mutually exclusive. It is impossible to awaken from the dream unless you take that person with you. This is where the work comes in.

“I need do nothing” means, I do nothing to change the outer world I perceive. Instead, I change how I see the outer world. This is also called the miracle; your perception changes to gratitude for that soul is your salvation.

Remember you desperately want that soul to be innocent. If you perceive them otherwise and insist they are guilty, the guilt you projected onto them stays in your mind.

When you allow the Holy Spirit to show you their innocence, you see your own. The simple words, “You stand with me in Light,” works great. See Lesson 87 for further help. When you feel resistance, ask yourself, “Do I want to remain in darkness and suffer?”

The way I separate myself from others is by judging or placing guilt upon them. In essence, I am saying you are not like me. Seeing myself as a victim and being self-righteous, I only see the guilt in you. Therefore, I proclaim you guilty and that you and I do not have common interests. This common interest is the goal of waking up from the dream by healing my mind. The only way to wake up is to recognize innocence in both of us.

The Holy Spirit asks us to look beyond the perceived offending personality to see their real essence is Light. That other soul struggles just like you to overcome the darkness, and just like you, they are tempted to use a grievance to keep Love away because they are afraid. I do nothing to change the outer world or person.Instead, I ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of the belief in guilt.

Right now, I am working on something the Holy Spirit has shown me. It is my tone of voice. I have accepted the instruction that I must see innocence in both of us, but there is this matter of further surrendering to the Holy Spirit as evidenced by my tone of voice. If I sound annoyed, or angry, it does not matter that I refrained from speaking of the guilt I perceive in you. My tone of voice is my red flag of how I really think and feel. If my tone of voice is anything but kind and gentle, I need to re-examine what is going on inside of me. Although I keep my mouth shut and do not proclaim your guilt, more is required.

Surrender is meaning the words, “You stand with me in Light.” I feel differently because the Holy Spirit reminds me guilt is not a thought I want any longer and the burden of guilt is gone. When there is no thought of guilt, my tone of voice changes.

This Course is not complicated. The instructions asked for are simple. When I sense resistance, it is always because I am fearful of losing this ego/body self. Right now, that sounds ridiculous because this separated self brings pain and puts me in hell. Who would want it? This is why Jesus tells us we are insane and afraid of Love. This is also what healing the mind refers to — letting go of false ideas about our reality.

We are unlimited, powerful, and Holy. I am grateful to mentors who helped me see that I am not my thoughts or feelings and that I could elect to detach and observe this body, like watching a character in a play or movie. This observing mode is empowering.

Problems cannot be resolved in the world because they do not exist there. The mind is where the projection occurred and where healing must take place. “There is nothing outside you. That is what you must ultimately learn, for it is the realization that the Kingdom of Heaven is restored to you.” (T-18.VI.1-2)

When I think of my brother and say, “You stand with me in Light,” I am acknowledging the body is meaningless in Reality. Believing this brings relief and peace.

Rev. Joyce Peebles, OMC is a Pathways of Light minister. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2024, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Sept.-Dec., 2024

My New Life

by Rev. Dan Strodl, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

My life before A Course in Miracles was so different from how it is now. My days were filled with stress, worry, fear and grievances. I had judgments for many people in my life: work colleagues, neighbors, people in shops, friends. By judging them I’d feel better about myself. I was driven by the need to be successful, intelligent and respected. But underneath these desires I felt not good enough. I wanted people to like me, but I didn’t like myself.

All the things in the world that were supposed to make me happy — money, success, a fancy car, foreign holidays —weren’t working. Happiness would last a little while and then I was down again.

I finally realized that something was missing, and I went on a spiritual search. I tried different spiritual practices, and when I reached A Course in Miracles, I knew this was the one. I immersed myself in the Course, did a lesson every day, went to study groups, read the text, went to workshops, and read Course related books.

I started noticing where my mind was, and it was often in fear, grievances and judgments. I learned to hand these things over to the Holy Spirit and they would be healed. The darkness would lift and the Light would come through. Slowly my mind became more peaceful and happy. A love that I never knew before grew and extended out to my brothers. Separation weakened and I felt a unity with people in my life that I never felt before.

Forgiveness (letting go of worldly stories) has been a wonderful way to free myself from the ego mind. I now look at the stories in the world and remember they are not real, just a way to keep me stuck in the dream. I feel such freedom to be detached from the world’s opinions, beliefs and judgments. And the Holy Spirit is always with me to lead me back to my Right Mind.

It was a slow process, and I began to experience miracles every day; fear would weaken and be replaced by Love. I lost interest in external things — money, success, needing appreciation — and my true Self grew.

I’ve trained my mind to see past the judgments of my brothers and see the Light in them. Last week I had a situation where a friend emailed me a video of a man filling his mouth with vodka, and then spitting it out, and setting it on fire. The fire went backwards into the man’s mouth and set him on fire. I was so shocked and felt upset that my friend would send me such a violent video, and I judged him harshly. Then I remembered to see the Light in him and release my judgments. It came to me that this was his way of connecting, and he had the best intentions. I was able to let my judgment of him go and see the Light in him.

As I progress in the Course and let go of the worldly values, I don’t take the world seriously. I now find myself laughing a lot of the time. The world is a funny place and I share silliness with everyone, and they play with me. This simple practice lifts us up out of the ego’s clutches to the Light in all of us.

Today my life doesn’t resemble the life I had in the past. Happiness and peace are my natural state… fear, judgments and grievances are rare. And when I am triggered, I know what to do. I hand it over to Holy Spirit and He heals my mind of more guilt.

I feel so blessed to have the Holy Spirit always with me, guiding me along the path I never could have found on my own.

Rev. Dan Strodl is a Pathways of Light minister and publisher of Miracle Worker magazine in London, UK. His email is: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Visit Miracle Network online at http://www.miracles.org.uk

© 2024, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Sept.-Dec., 2024

Holy Spirit, Guide Us to Your Peace and Joy

by Revs. Robert and Mary Stoelting, Founders of Pathways of Light

We have been working with A Course in Miracles for 40 years. Over this time, our willingness to follow Holy Spirit instead of deciding things on our own has increasingly helped us to let go of our thinking about being separate and that it is our job to decide what we want and need in order to be happy.

This practice has also helped us to ask of everything, “What is this for? Is this idea reinforcing the ego’s false values of separation or reinforcing the truth of everyone’s oneness in the Mind of God?” This practice has helped us step back and let the Holy Spirit return us to the truth that everyone is the same extension of God’s Love.

The Holy Spirit is also helping us to be mindful of when ego thoughts pop up in our mind — to notice when we become fearful or afraid, or when we are following the ego’s lead to project guilt onto another, or when we focus on the past or the future instead of the eternal present where we live in God’s Kingdom of eternal Love.

Over the years the Holy Spirit has guided us to continue with our study of the Course and continue to do the daily Workbook lessons to reinforce the truth that we are Spirit and not a body. The Course reminds us that we are dreaming a dream of separation from God and that we are still the perfect Love that God created us to be.

Our best friend, the Holy Spirit, has very consistently guided us day by day to help us remember what our true purpose is and why we are here. We have been guided to share with others how much the Holy Spirit can help anyone who is willing to step back and let Holy Spirit lead them to a more peaceful and happier life. 

The following are messages that we have received from Holy Spirit when we were willing to stop and listen for a better way:

Let Holy Spirit Be the Judge

When we recognize we are judging a situation or someone in the world, this is what Holy Spirit reminds us of:

The truth is that everyone in this world you see is still God’s Perfect Love because God gave all of Himself to everyone. As you let yourself remember the truth, you help yourself and you help the world.

The ego thoughts you have recognized in yourself or anyone in this world are just mistaken ideas. It is helpful for you to think of these mistaken thoughts as calls for Love.

If you want to be truly helpful, remember to extend Love to others and to yourself for believing these thoughts could be true. When you remember the Christ in all your brothers, you free yourself.

Let Holy Spirit Bring Us to the Eternal Present

When we experience thoughts of being afraid that something terrible might happen in the future, this is what Holy Spirit reminds us of:

The truth is that there is no past. There is no future. In Reality there is only the eternal present. You live in the Mind of God. This world is not your home. Remember you still are as God created you. You are safe… you are innocent… you are loved… you are Home in the Mind of God, now and forever.

Let Holy Spirit Help Us Pause, Choose Peace and Receive the Truth

When we recognized we were not peaceful because we were impatient with some situation that was not working out fast enough according to our made-up deadline, the Holy Spirit helped us this way:

We heard the words of the song, “Slow down, your going too fast. Got to make the moment last! Skipping down the cobble stones… da da da da, feeling groovy!” This made us laugh and relax about the situation.

Remembering Only God’s Plan Brings Us to the Truth

When we made plans for the future without pausing first and checking in with the Holy Spirit, we were reminded of the famous quote found in Lesson 71: ”Only God’s plan for salvation will work.”

In paragraph 9 of Lesson 71 we are told to ask: “What would You have me do? Where would You have me go? What would You have me say, and to whom?  …let Him tell you what needs to be done by you in His plan for your salvation. He will answer in proportion to your willingness to hear His Voice. Refuse not to hear.”

Mary: Years ago, when we had a spiritual retreat center in Kiel, Wisconsin, we thought that we would be working there for the rest of our lives. One night, very early in the morning, I started hearing the Holy Spirit telling me that it was time to move to Florida to continue our work through Pathways of Light.

This was very scary because I thought we were too old (we were 65) and didn’t have enough money to move all our printing equipment all the way to Florida. It seemed inconceivable to me. Where would we get the funds? At that time I forgot Lesson 71 and was not open to Holy Spirit’s plan. 

Well, a week later Holy Spirit returned again at about 4:00 a.m. and talked again about moving to Florida. This time I was more open to stepping back and letting go of my preconceived ideas. I was open and listened. He said that it would all work out and that we were being carried if we were willing and would trust in God’s plan enough.

Well, amazing things happened and the way was cleared as we strengthened our trust in God’s way instead of what we thought.

It is 15 years later and we now understand why stepping back from making plans on our own and trusting in Holy Spirit’s plan is so important. Among many other blessings during our time in Florida, Spirit also brought to us two angels — Revs. Colleen and Deb Fee, who now have important roles on our Pathways of Light team.

With Holy Spirit, Healing Is Simple

Healing merely accepts Reality as It is. Healing only seems difficult because at some level, we still want the dream of separation from Love’s oneness. This is the barrier in our mind that opposes the Will of God. It only has effect in dreams that are not real.

We can waken from fearful dreams in any moment. We have been blessed with an inner Teacher Whose purpose is to help us recognize what is truly helpful and what is not. As we become willing to accept the help of our inner Teacher, we become increasingly aware of the Love that is given us without limit.

We learn to see truly once again that there is no separation. We are forever joined in God’s one Mind of Love. We are eternally united with every brother and our Father. In this recognition comes peace that cannot be disturbed; joy without limit. In Workbook Lesson 137 we are told:

“Healing, forgiveness, and the glad exchange of all the world of sorrow for a world where sadness cannot enter, are the means by which the Holy Spirit urges you to follow Him. His gentle lessons teach how easily salvation can be yours; how little practice you need undertake to let His laws replace the ones you made to hold yourself a prisoner to death. His life becomes your own, as you extend the little help He asks in freeing you from everything that ever caused you pain.

And as you let yourself be healed, you see all those around you, or who cross your mind, or whom you touch or those who seem to have no contact with you, healed along with you. Perhaps you will not recognize them all, nor realize how great your offering to all the world, when you let healing come to you. But you are never healed alone. And legions upon legions will receive the gift that you receive when you are healed.

Those who are healed become the instruments of healing. Nor does time elapse between the instant they are healed, and all the grace of healing it is given them to give. What is opposed to God does not exist, and who accepts it not within his mind becomes a haven where the weary can remain to rest. For here is truth bestowed, and here are all illusions brought to truth.” (W-137.9–11)

Robert and Mary Stoelting are co-founders of Pathways of Light.
Website: http://www.pathwaysoflight.org  Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2024, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

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