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April-June, 2013

The Peace of God — A Poem

Cathy Corson-Diaz, M.D.

Home is within me.
Peace is within me.
God is within me.

There is no Light
that shines upon me.
The Light is within me;
It shines outward
It is the Source
of all Light

Let it shine;
do not hold it back.
It can never be lost,
destroyed or extinguished.

It can only be covered up.

So uncover yourself and
you will discover the Light
— the potential within.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2013

Relax and Row, Row Your Boat, Gently…

by Rev. Ken Gorman, O.M.C.

These are two suggestions that Robert and Mary seem to repeat often and every time they do, my Inner Guide says something like, ‘there it is again… just listen.’

This suggestion, after decades of study and practice of ACIM, reading anything else related I could get my hands on, a nearly graduate degree in Buddhist Philosophy and the rest… surely I should be closer to enlightenment now than when I started, as all of these things create a deeper and deeper perspective and wow, some amazing teachers, etc.

So what is this “Row, Row Your Boat” and “Just Relax” idea? And why I am I finding the simplicity of the new 30-day Listen and Receive program so powerful? And why the more that I study do I realize that the things that would need to be understood to get anywhere just get bigger and bigger and therefore more and more out of the reach of my intellect?

And why do we have this great big complicated text and think we are actually understanding anything when the text clearly states that ‘I do not know what anything, including this means and therefore I do not know how to respond’ is one of the most powerful statements in the Course (followed closely by statements like ‘My Meaningless Thoughts are Showing me a Meaningless World’). I feel seduced into time and again attempting to construct a ‘meaningful’ Course in Miracles compatible world with Course in Miracles compatible ‘meaningful thoughts’ based on my so called extensive study and understanding of ACIM and run this story that I am achieving something… or so my (spiritual) ego tells me… one has to laugh.

I am not sure I have the answer to this (as that would be more thoughts 😉 but I am now pretty sure I cant ‘get it’ with my intellect and there would seem to be nothing to do in a meaningless world (at least from my ego perspective) as we are already the Son of God, etc… So maybe the only thing to do would be to surrender to something greater that I don’t understand that would lead me back to true awareness. However, that something greater must need my permission… like a doctor needs your permission to do surgery but beyond that we have no knowledge of what they do as we are knocked out. The fact it needs my permission is self evident as, if not, it would have already done its work by now which would also imply I have been with holding permission somehow and running my own show.

Then it says in the Course (first paragraph) that free will does not mean we create the curriculum. This implies a curriculum (a set of events over time), that I don’t understand both in means nor the steps along the way, which will be done for me, if I give permission. If I assume that permission is really just willingness then I suppose that would be aligned with the instruction that only ‘Willingness and Vigilance’ are required (I have never been aware of ACIM advocating accumulation of knowledge or judgment of progress as prerequisites).

That would also mean that once I am willing, a process will happen that maybe I just have to allow, sort of like an unfolding… or maybe like Gently Rowing my Boat Down the Stream… and just Relaxing so I don’t get in the way and go along and play my part with whatever is unfolding? (To me, this also ties into the Way of Mastery instruction to Allow, Allow, Allow once the right intention or willingness has been set).

For me, I think the practice part is very important as it helps me to stay in that space and get out of the way… somehow I can get my body to do things when the Spirit is weak and the ego busy (like get on my knees or smile at someone) and the studying and talking to people keeps me inspired so that I do relax and go more gently rather than give in to ego’s neurosis… but I have lost the idea that I am actually understanding anything beyond what is part of the plan for the present moment… and that tends to seem be intuitive/feeling that comes naturally when I just… relax.

Rev. Ken Gorman, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in London, United Kingdom

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2013

Rest in God

by Rev. Joanne Schneider, PhD, O.M.C.

For five minutes every hour, lesson 109 instructs us to rest in the peace and stillness of God. Staying vigilant to the hourly practice is a feat for many of us, but a question that comes to my mind is how do I continue that rest throughout the other 55 minutes of the hour? After five minutes of resting in the peace and stillness of God, then what? When those five minutes pass, I find myself going back to the business of the world.

Really though, can I consciously set that peace and stillness in the background of my mind and use it to focus on the thing in front of me in this world? As Ram Dass once said in an interview, the past and the future are just thoughts, what is right here in the moment is the step to God. My understanding of this is that I can use this moment to serve the ego as a response to my attachments in the world or I can use this moment as a step to God by using it to extend love. I can look at what is in front of me, pause to rest in God, and let love flow through me to my worldly activity. Thus, God’s Love is extended into the world. I pray: Dear God, as I rest in you, how do I experience the task before me as a step to You? Show me how.

Rev. Joanne Kraenzle Schneider is a Pathways of Light minister living in Festus, Missouri.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2013

The One About the Good (?) Thief

by Rev. Stephan Mead, O.M.C.

A couple of months ago, the day after I returned from a fabulous Hawaiian vacation, I discovered a man whom I had trusted stole about $30k from me. I remember sitting at a coffee shop looking over some financial records thinking, “This cannot be happening to me.” And, “after all the help I have given this person, this is how he shows gratitude?” I thought I was going to vomit.

Pictures of police reports, lawyer visits, depositions, and courtroom scenes flooded my mind. “No matter the cost, this thief is going to find out he stole from the wrong person” was my new mantra. I looked over the evidence again, and confirmed that I had been grievously harmed. Opening up my briefcase, I removed a pen and pad to make a list of the next steps to take in order to right this terrible incident that never should have happened.

“Never should have happened?” That statement replayed again in my consciousness, except this time I heard it in Byron Katie’s voice. “Never should have happened?” “Oh, sweetie, do you know that is true?” I put my pen down on the coffee shop table.

Deeply I breathed a couple of times, my feeling of nausea was subsiding. In addition to Byron Katie’s sing song voice spoiling my resentment, some ACIM workbook lessons were also invading my mental battle plans. #5, I am never upset for the reason I think. #32, I have invented the world I see. Then, for the knock out punch, #34 I could see peace instead of this.

An unexpected calmness settled my thoughts. “What if there really was another way of looking at this?” “Can I really experience peace instead of the rage going on in my mind?” I suspiciously asked the Holy Spirit for help and immediately received an answer, “Go home, settle down and then go to your real Home.” I followed my instructions.

As I began to re-state my undeserved situation (for the 100th time,) that feeling of calmness once again enveloped me. I was being guided to “rise above the battlefield” and look at life differently. The invitation to “trust” was now the strongest thought in my mind.

So, a couple of months have gone by…What has happened that I can attribute to making a decision to “trust?” A very good friend of mine, who was in line for a liver transplant, fell ill. On Christmas Eve, Nancy (my mighty companion) and I went to visit him. We found him in a coma on his living room floor, called an ambulance and followed him to the hospital. Our friend never recovered.

Nancy and I spent most of Christmas day and the next couple of days with him until he passed. Listening to Nancy sing him carols, watching my friend dying, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of “all is well, the hatred and anger I still harbored towards the man I judged a thief means nothing.” I was being reborn in thought; perhaps that is what Christmas is about?

Several other powerful situations showed up in my life too, each one I participated in, in a manner that could not have happened if I hadn’t made the decision to “trust.” I know that if what I call a “theft,” hadn’t happened, I would have been shopping Christmas Eve, not driving 15 miles out of my way to check on my friend.

Two days ago I heard this man I called a thief, was experiencing some serious difficulties, very serious difficulties. My first thoughts were “good!” And, “I hope his whole family suffers and realizes he is getting his just reward for what he did to me.”

Then I smiled at myself thinking, “what did he really do?” He made it possible for me to make a choice between living in an illusion or living in truth. What if it turns out I owe him?

Rev. Stephan Mead, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Seattle, Washington.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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