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From a Rooftop in Montana

Rev. Jim Armfield

While pondering over what I could submit to the Pathways of Light Miracles News Magazine, my beautiful wife suggested I write about my recent experience re-roofing our family mountain home in Montana. It sounded simple enough — hard work and beautiful scenery. But what does this have to do with the healing of the mind? In a word, everything!

I agreed to spend three weeks removing and replacing a roof — no problem. But what the family was concerned about was that I would be working with and living with someone who everyone felt would be more difficult than the roof itself. However, I was heartened by my ability to get along with all, and my eagerness to be in Montana. Not being naïve, I did realize that this would be a great trial of my belief in patience, forgiveness, and awareness. In short, this experience required all these and something more powerful that I would learn — my willingness.

So while the family members worried about the wellbeing of the both of us, we took off for the mountains of Montana. (I later found out that they had placed bets as to how long we would work in concert without throwing each other of the roof!) And what was I thinking? Well, I asked my Higher Self to help me be awake and be at peace, no matter the circumstance.

Although captured by the beauty of the mountains, I was soon deeply involved in repetitive hard labor. At first you could say I was enlightened, in a chop wood/carry water kind of way. Frustrations and tiredness were easily faced with the lightheartedness of being in this wonderful moment and beautiful place. The ego was active, but even it was possibly under the influence of Montana’s spell.

As the days wore on, my fellow family member and co-worker’s obvious attitudes persisted. His ego was seeking out and antagonizing my latent thoughts of all that my own ego felt I should judge, and find fault with.

After a long day and an evening of my ego enticing me with thoughts of, “How can he be so angry? Why does he do this and that? He is so different and difficult.”

I finally went to bed. I read my books and asked the Holy Spirit for peace. Peace came in a soft voice: “Let him be who he thinks he is. Remember your willingness. That is your opportunity to change everything and return to Heaven here on the roof in Montana.” What I learned from this experience was the following:

Forgiveness Without Willingness
Is Not Truly Possible

We have heard a lot about forgiveness and how powerful quantum forgiveness is. There are books that have been written about this topic including The Disappearance of the Universe, a marvelous book and an excellent example of how we can move toward our God-like abilities. I am grateful for Gary Renard as he guides and awakens.

Quantum forgiveness can void time and bring us into the precious present moment, giving us the chance to truly understand the power of forgiveness. And in the process, our universe, our very mental belief constructs will begin to disappear, because we can change our minds about the world through forgiveness.

But what ignites all the wonders of forgiveness and what brings it forth? I suggest it is our individual willingness, accessible through our God given free will. Willingness? How could this bring on such power? Perhaps a better question may be, how can forgiveness begin without it? Willingness is so small and so simple, how can it possibly stop time and set in motion the disappearance of our universe? Could this willingness ultimately begin to change the most powerful creating device of all, our own minds? How indeed could this be? I believe the answer to be, by our own free will, and from this, we will see the power of our willingness.

God protects our free will; it is most sacred. Our free will is so sacred that we are free to choose to war, to love, and to forgive. This is why so many of us see a world where countries are at war, or where we witness our neighbors fighting, or experience the separation of people. This world seems to be falling apart but are we really powerless to change it? Why would God allow such suffering and pain? Where is the mercy, where is the love, where is the forgiveness? It is right here, right where God has placed it. The answer is in our willingness to choose.

When we choose to dream or to think of separateness, we are exercising our free will. It is in our willingness. It is that same free will that enables us to begin to awaken from the dream of what we think we are, and what we think we are doing to ourselves and to others. Therefore we must awake! We are not dead or dying; we are just asleep, dreaming of things in this life that we have created, and continue to create.

God only asks us for a little willingness to remember who we truly are and where we truly came from. For it is not for us to change the world, but to awake to the world we have created; and then be willing to change our minds about that world.  Willingness is our God–Power to begin to open, to see, to begin to change. Our sacred free will is in our willingness. This is powerful stuff, for without it, all that is available is re-action, but with willingness we are provided a place from which we can create truth. Through our willingness, we can choose to see things differently.

Ask, and your will receives; from this you will be given the chance to see, to love, to forgive, and to change everything. For example, consider this angry exchange: I slap you on the face for berating me for doing something wrong. I can do this because I have the free will to re-act to your words and perceptions. Conversely, I could choose to use my free will to awaken to the moment and not re-act to the situation. How? By forgiving myself first. I can forgive myself for acting in such a manner that led to you having the perception that I should be berated in the first place. After forgiving myself, I can then be grateful that you gave me the chance to awaken to my errant behavior. By making this choice, forgiveness and gratitude encompass me! I have no need to be angry, or to forgive you, for you have done nothing to me but to remind me of the power of my own free-will. It is this willingness to choose, that is truly a God given gift. This

• willingness to awake

• willingness to forgive

• willingness to change the way we perceive… yes, all these are gifts, little reminders of what God asks of us. He simply asks us for a little willingness.
It may then be surmised, that without willingness there can be no true forgiveness, quantum or otherwise.

Rev. Jim Armfield is a Pathways of Light minister living in Fargo, North Dakota.

© 2009, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice and website address are included.

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Which One?

Gloria Cabassa

Have you ever seen those drawings often used as perception exercises in some personal growth workshops? They are shown to the participants while being asked: “What do you see here?”

I remember very well one of those drawings with two different images: One was a witch with a very wrinkled face, and the other, the face and low neck of a lovely, young lady. The fun part was when the ones who saw the witch wanted to convince the others of the “truth,” and vice versa.

“But what witch are you talking about? There’s no witch there. Don’t you see it’s a young lady?”

“Young lady? Look at her mouth. You see? Here, here…” (Repeatedly pointing to the image, impatiently) “Look at that wrinkled, sunken mouth! You can tell she has no teeth! See?”

“That’s not a mouth, buddy! That’s her neck. Don’t you see she has a little necklace?”

And so it goes on and on, until gradually the participants realize there are two different images, not only one, in the drawing.

A few weeks ago, during a wonderful telephone conversation with Rev. Mary and Robert Stoelting, Rev. Sharyn Zenz and my dearest friend, Rev. Annie Arbona, with whom I have had the joyous privilege of sharing ACIM for almost 25 years, the drawing with the two faces popped up in my mind.

Why? Maybe because I had been seeing the “witch” for a few days, thinking she was real and suffering because of it. During that holy encounter with these loving friends, the Holy Spirit shifted my mind and the “witch” suddenly disappeared.

In ACIM Jesus repeatedly tells us that this world is not real, but an illusion: “The world is nothing in itself. Your mind must give it meaning. And what you behold upon it are your wishes, acted out so you can look at them and think them real.” (Lesson 132, paragraph 4)

As with the drawing of the witch and the lovely lady, what we think we see is not really there. It’s our own perception. That is why we are always upset, fearful and suffering for nothing. Sounds incredible, right? Yet there is another way of seeing the world, for our perception can be corrected and healed. A distorted perception shows the chaos and scarcity of the ego’s world. A healed perception beholds Heaven here and now, the forgiven world, full of miracles and love.

“How lovely is the world whose purpose is forgiveness of God’s Son! How free from fear, how filled with blessing and with happiness!” (Text, p. 573.)

The good news is that God, our Creator, endowed us with the power to decide. Jesus himself is lightening our way and guiding our steps, and we have the Holy Spirit to heal and correct our minds.

And now that we know it, which one of these worlds will we decide to behold?

Gloria Cabassa is a student of A Course in Miracles living in Puerto Rico.

© 2009, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice and website address are included.

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Forgiveness

Rev. Christine McGunigale

I think the opportunity to forgive is an opportunity to grow. We are a Spirit having a human experience in which there will be human mistakes. I like ACIM Chapter 23, section IV pg 496 on “Above the battleground.” This is where I can see the idea of forgiving myself for those thoughts. “Be lifted up, and from a higher place look down upon it. Here in the midst of it, it does seem real. Here you have chosen to be a part of it. Here murder is your choice. Yet from above, the choice is miracles instead of murder. And the perspective coming from this choice shows you the battle is not REAL, and easily escaped.”

Yes, it releases the other person too, but it is not the reason. You may be saying, “But I am making it real.” Yes in a way I am, but I want you to go back and understand the idea that we are human.

When I am being pulled from my peace I ask myself, “Why?” Then I look at my thinking and see that I need to let it go to the Holy Spirit. I do not beat myself up for those thoughts. I really do let it go. I know in the beginning of my journey, I knew I was born perfect and loved unconditionally and I needed to find that again. I knew that through my life that is what I was taught from my elders, television and any exterior influences. I knew that I had created the world I was living. So from that place is where I was able to understand through A Course in Miracles that the ego was living, not me. I knew that learning to forgive was the way to perfect love. I want share what I teach and that is our ego has many years of practice of leading us.

So, in the beginning of this practice of letting go, it takes time and patience. In the beginning, the thoughts that you are trying to release may come once an hour; then you will realize that they come once a day; then they only happen once a week; then you are free. I say this happens because you finally trusted the Holy Spirit (or whoever is your One) and allowed forgiveness to happen.

So to forgive, you need to forgive yourself! Forgive yourself for thought processes your ego has created. When you do this, your life will be at peace and more harmony and love flows your way.

Rev. Christine McGuingale is a Pathways of Light minister living in College Park, MD.

© 2009, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice and website address are included.

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My Sinlessness Protects Me from All Harm

Rev. Carrie Drought

My sinlessness ensures me… freedom forever from all thought of loss; complete deliverance from suffering. And only happiness can be my state, for only happiness is given me. What must I do to know all this is mine? I must accept Atonement for myself, and nothing more. God has already done all things that need be done. And I must learn I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel God’s Love protecting me from harm.

Wow, isn’t that beautiful? It makes me question…

What is sinlessness? First of all, the word doesn’t come up in spell check (lol). But anyway, here’s my guess:

Sinlessness is forgiving that we feel separate. Forgiving that we think we are all separate. Forgiving that we don’t know God. Forgiving that we don’t understand what we are, what is ours, what our divine right is, what is real. That there are no laws of matter. We don’t live by the world of belief and laws of matter. That we transcend all of that “material belief” by understanding and absorbing the unreality and power of it all. Sinlessness means we live by God’s laws?
 
We are under God’s laws, not laws of matter and laws of this “world.”

Sinlessness means that all perceived “sin” isn’t even personal to us. If you see someone stealing, don’t call him a thief. There is no such thing. There is an appearance of sin which isn’t personal to the person. The way to heal is to accept that there is no such thing as a thief and that the act the person is in is really a “spell” of a belief in lack and not personal to that person.

So, for me, when I am upset or sad, then I do not have to label myself as somehow suffering from some personal problem of sadness. It isn’t personal to me. This is how I am sinless? Because this perceived sadness is not personal to me. Once I realize that, the sadness disappears because it has no fuel to continue to power it because I have released my sense of it being personal to me. I hope so!

I feel great now. But, to be honest, I’m a little worried about feeling the sadness I felt a week ago… and the sadness I have felt from time to time. Maybe it is true that in our spiritual journey we go through what appears to be a “Dark night of the soul,” where we are just releasing a lot of perceived pain and sadness and once it is all out then we are done.

Maybe that is why people seem to have a major transformation after a severe episode of “hitting rock bottom.” They just get to a point of pure surrender because they realize whatever they’re holding onto isn’t working for them anymore.

I want to let go of it. But, quite frankly, I am scared of it. Because I don’t seem to have control over it. I don’t seem to have control over when the sadness comes. All I know is that when I am sad, I do turn to ACIM or Joel Goldsmith’s writings and somehow I get back to a place of peace and happiness.
 
Maybe I should be eternally grateful that I have those tools and I don’t need medication or external things to get me back to peace. Maybe I should just accept where I am and know that when I do get sad,  pick up a Joel Goldsmith book and then bam, I am back to peace and understanding that God is my supply and comfort in all situations. I need not fear.

It’s all about fear. I’m really getting with that understanding. But every time I get so clear, I think I’m going to stay in this wonderful peace and inevitably I do not stay in this peace. So, I guess you cannot lose your vigilance to knowing God. It isn’t a part-time job to know God (LOL) and evidently you need to keep up on it!

Is there a time when you don’t have to be so vigilant? I think so.

Rev. Carrie Drought is a Pathways of Light minister living in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

© 2009, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice and website address are included.

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