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January-March, 2012

ACIM Lessons

by Rev. Veronika Wilcox, O.M.C.

I have worked with the ACIM lessons for seven years now. There have been times when I did them as thoroughly and as sincerely as I could, and there have been times when I didn’t touch them. Living with these lessons has been like a golden thread weaving itself through my life story.

Today I want to share what a difference it has made to me since I first did them, and why I am still working with them on a daily basis, even though much other material has come into my life. Let’s take today’s lesson as an example:

Lesson 265: Creation’s gentleness is all I see. I have indeed misunderstood the world, because I laid my sins on it and saw them looking back at me. How fierce they seemed! And how deceived was I to think that what I feared was in the world, instead of in my mind alone. Today I see the world in the celestial gentleness with which creation shines. There is no fear in it. Let no appearance of my sins obscure the light of Heaven shining on the world. What is reflected there is in God’s Mind. The images I see reflect my thoughts. Yet is my mind at one with God’s. And so I can perceive creation’s gentleness.

In quiet would I look upon the world, which but reflects Your Thoughts, and mine as well. Let me remember that they are the same, and I will see creation’s gentleness.

I wake up in the morning. I see the sunrise. I remember God and I read the lesson. I get up and soon I notice that I am yet again in a power struggle with my husband. But I remember, ‘Creation’s gentleness is all I see.’ And, ‘The images I see reflect my thoughts.’ What’s going on here? Well, an opportunity to remember, practice, and live the truth. In an instant my thoughts change, and I realize that I have yet again blamed instead of taking 100% responsibility for my experiences.

THIS is how I apply and use these precious lessons daily. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But always, always are they my helpful ‘friends’! AMEN.

Rev. Veronika Wilcox, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Merimbula, NSW, Australia.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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January-March, 2012

Lessons Large, Lessons Small

Rev. Carol K. Springer-Witfoth, O.M.C.

Who are we to judge lessons presented to us as long, short, large, small, great, minor, important or irrelevant? Or both?

Years ago, on a warm summer day, my father and I were standing on the patio, admiring my mother’s gardens. They were extraordinary in color and fragrance that warm day.

I was surprised when my father presented me with a question. “Carol, do you ever feel close to God?” Neither God nor religion were subjects we discussed by some long forgotten family law.

There was only one answer I could honestly give him. “When I don’t, it wasn’t God who moved.” End of conversation.

Rev. Carol K. Springer-Witfoth, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Lincoln, Nebraska.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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January-March, 2012

The Holy Spirit’s GPS Knows the Way… Just Relax

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

As the Course teaches, one of the biggest ways the ego keeps us trapped is through our own judgments or projections we place on the world, which is inherently neutral. Most of these judgments involve things I must be afraid of or reasons why I am guilty, not worthy and failing (and occasionally the arrogant flip side of the coin — why I deserve more/to win, am better than others, am not responsible, etc.). Forgiveness to me actually means working on/being at least a little willing to release these judgments (and the value I place on them) and letting something else entirely be shown to me by Holy Spirit.

From an ultimate truth standpoint we are told things like; Only Love is Real, Gods Love is spread out across the face of the earth but the Son of God sees it not, the one who is awake sees Buddha everywhere, etc. If we believe this, it is not a big leap to see how the game of judgment or writing our own meaning based on our limited past knowledge is keeping us from see this. (Maybe we could even call it the habit of judgment and in many cases the addiction to judgment…)

So I started to ask myself why I value judgment so much, so much that I would continue to use it to deny the truth in the face of teachings which I respect greatly such as ACIM… There are many reasons for this but in a recent meditation the Holy Spirit had me focus on one in particular which was around ‘planning’ versus ‘trusting.’

The basic game is that ‘my judgment’ tells me that I need to either be afraid of something and therefore ‘plan’ for my safety or that I am not capable or worthy and should ‘plan’ on avoiding whatever it is. This can take the form of money, circumstances, conversations, spiritual work (our ego’s deepest fear is of God according to the Course) or anything else I see might be coming up in the future.

In this particular meditation, Spirit gave me the image of a journey I had just taken by car from San Francisco to Los Angeles to my parent’s house. If you look at a map, there are literally dozens if not hundreds of potential routes from A to B when you factor in the street systems of San Francisco and LA and the myriad of freeways between them. However, when I typed my request into my GPS there was exactly one route, only one that I was to take… 

In the meditation, I instantly got the analogy as it applies to any decision we think we need to make. To the ego the world looks like a place of many, many alternatives, which causes anything from moderate anxiety to a fearful reaction, a need for lots of planning (despite the fact I would have had little information about traffic, road conditions, speed limits, etc. in this case) and lots of anxiety around second guessing during the entire journey.  To the GPS, which knew all the relevant parameters… there was exactly one route which was calculated in seconds. And as a bonus, if I took a wrong turn, it would give me exactly one more route to get me where I was going.

The analogy of course is to the Holy Spirit that knows exactly what we need to be doing next to maximize the unfolding of the Atonement, walk in the happy dream, achieve our ultimate goal (providing we have set the right goal — I recommend Lesson 258). This concept is covered in ACIM quite frequently, for example in the statement, ‘A healed mind does not plan.  It carries out the plans that it receives through listening to Wisdom that is not its own.’ (W-pI.135.11:1/2)  

One teaching I had along with this that has really helped me is that we do ‘receive’ plans like to book an airline ticket next month, call parents tomorrow, plan customer presentation in two weeks, etc. as that is necessary to function in the world of form. The difference is that we do not come up with them through what I call cognitive anxiety, as deep down we know that ‘I do not know what anything means’ is spot on. But rather we allow the peaceful voice of Holy Spirit to inform us when it is time to make a plan. (I am successful a low % of the time with this but it is a start and it feels great and everything seems to flow perfectly when I manage it 😉.

As with the GPS, if I were in an area I was not familiar with, I would have no way of knowing if I was going the right way. I would just be trusting it and have left all of my ‘judgments’ out of the equation. And like GPS, if we do revert to our own judgments and get sidetracked, the Holy Spirit just gently directly us when we are willing to hit the ‘plan trip’ button in our minds.

Lastly, on a larger scale for me, this concept is contained in the first paragraph of the Course with the sentence ‘Free will does not mean you set the curriculum.’ (ACIM Introduction, 1:4) What this means is that I really have only one route I can take that will get me where I am going. Everything else is just doing nothing (wasting time). My job is follow the instruction which is to ask (press the request route button)… and Holy Spirit’s job is to answer (set the route)… and then just trust… and from perfect trust comes perfect freedom.

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

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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January-March, 2012

On the Road to Forgiveness

Rev. Rebecca Brown, O.M.C.

As I reflect upon my past, I can find countless things that I feel that I should or could have changed or done differently. For example, here I am in my 50’s working on a doctorate degree in psychology that my ego tells me I should have completed 30 years ago.

I hear the ego’s voice scolding me, ”If you had only done the right thing, you could have had a different life. You could have had a better job and a successful career and a lot less pain brought on by near poverty.”

Those types of thoughts and perceptions of our circumstances can lead to serious depression and greater guilt and fear and they often have. Sometimes it will take me a little time before I remember to allow my higher Self’s voice to speak and that voice has something so different to say. That sweet Voice reminds me, “You are exactly where you are supposed to be. Your experiences and lessons have brought you here to the present where the knowledge you are gaining can be the most beneficial to yourself and others.” 

That change in perception allows me to breathe deeper, relax, forgive myself and have gratitude for life instead of fear. I know it is the Voice of God’s Love and His truth.

Recently, there was a situation within my extended family that I reacted to with internalized anger and resentment. I felt victimized and my ego could think of many reasons why I didn’t want to be forgiving but none of the reasons bought me any peace of all. They only served to fuel a fire that my heart really wanted extinguished. When I decided to step back and give loving thoughts to the supposed whole problem and process, I could see clearly that the person I was really angry at was myself and it was myself that I was having difficulty forgiving. Moreover, the events that were upsetting me were my own creations. I had manifested them because I had been sending an unloving vibration to the universe and I could change it by sending a loving vibration instead.

So that is what I have chosen to do and things are changing. As we learn in A Course in Miracles, Heaven is a decision that we can make and we can make it now. We can change many things by choosing to love and to forgive in this moment. When we make the choice to love and to forgive ourselves, that love and forgiveness is extended to the world around us. The vibration of our energy changes and so does the reflection of the world that surrounds us. I am so grateful to God for that. So very grateful.

Rev. Rebecca Brown, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Orlando, Florida.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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