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Stepping Out of the Dream

by Rev. Joyce Peebles, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Central to the idea of forgiveness is stepping out of the dream and knowing what is true and what is untrue. My ego tells me I need to do things that are not true. Some examples: The ego tells me I need to understand someone else or a situation I find disturbing. This is not true. “Today I will judge nothing that occurs. I will not think I understand the whole from bits of my perception, which are all that I can see.” (W-243.1:2)

Fact is, I do not have a clue what someone else is working on in their life. It is not up to me to interpret where they are in their spiritual progress. I may live with them, or be a parent, or spouse, but their spiritual development is not my business. My business is to allow the Holy Spirit to change my perception of how I see them and the circumstances. Stepping out of the dream is being willing to go above the battleground with Jesus and look beyond the ego personality. Therefore, “Today I will judge nothing that occurs.”

The ego also tells me I need to do or fix things. Neither is this true. The Holy Spirit tells me the opposite. I need do nothing. Forgiveness does not twist things around to how the ego likes them. It merely looks, and waits, and judges not.

The ego proclaims something needs to change in order for me to be happy. The Holy Spirit’s guidance is to quiet the mind, relax, and recognize that what you are feeling is fear. You think if someone or something does not change, something worse may happen or you can’t live with the way things are at the moment. Instead allow the fear to just be there; it diminishes as you are willing to step out of the dream and go above the battle ground with the Holy Spirit. This does not mean you do not care. It means you see it from another point of view because you have stepped out of the dream.

Jesus says, “I know fear is not real, but you do not.” The Course tells us all healing is essentially the release from fear. The truth will set you free. It’s talking about freedom from fear. All of us want to suffer less. We are really saying we want freedom from fear.

On the most basic level, we practice forgiveness by realizing we are in a dream state and what is immediately in front of our faces is our workshop at the moment. This means our special relationships such as coworkers, family, and neighbors. We have numerous chances all day long as what comes up each day shows us where our mind needs to be healed.

There are no accidents or coincidences. You have made up your world and decided on a higher spiritual level that precisely these people and circumstances are your best classroom to learn forgiveness. Accept this and see yourself as a student. Always ask, “What do I have to learn from this?” This means I can’t justify my point of view and I voluntarily give up my being right about anything.

The “I don’t know” attitude is priceless. It empties your mind of all that is keeping you from seeing clearly. You are willing to do this because wanting peace of mind and guidance from the Holy Spirit is more valuable than being right. Remember you are afraid of being wrong, so you feel compelled to be right until you understand being right only brings sadness and separation between you and another. Walls are not broken down by being right, they crumble when you are willing to see differently.

The interesting thing about practicing forgiveness is it does not involve the other person or situation changing at all. Although ironically this sometimes occurs. If nothing outwardly does change you are no longer bothered by what you are looking at or experiencing. You are willing to be an observer and let it be. The reason for this is you are at peace. For example, if there is strife between you and a family member, you can within yourself decide to see their innocence, the essence of who they are. You recognize and accept responsibility for your projection of guilt upon them.

You do not verbally say this but your interactions with them change. You react and speak differently. They may not respond differently for a long time or ever. It was never the goal that they change. When you change, on a spiritual level they get the message you are no longer judging them. This is how real change takes place. You are not invested in any particular outcome concerning their behavior. You only care about following the guidance you receive from the Holy Spirit and having peace. Plan on failing many times at first. It gets easier with practice, and the rewards are worth it.

Once we step out of the dream, we understand lesson 248: “What suffers is not part of me. What grieves is not myself. What is in pain is but an illusion in my mind.” (W-248.1:3-5)

Forgiveness brings a different point of view, an acknowledgment that we are not the figure in the dream. All pain comes from identifying with the dream figure, thinking we are it.

Every single day I am tempted to believe I am this ego in this story. This tells me there is still a desire in my mind to want this illusion to be real. The sane part of my mind knows this projection brings suffering. I alone decide how much I want to suffer by believing God is wrong that I am not as he created me. The following quote has been helpful:

“Then let us wait an instant and be still, forgetting everything we thought we heard; remembering how much we do not know. This brother neither leads nor follows us, but walks beside us on the selfsame road. He is like us, as near or far away from what we want as we will let him be. We make no gains he does not make with us, and we fall back if he does not advance. Take not his hand in anger but in love, for in his progress do you count your own. And we go separately along the way unless you keep him safely by your side.” (T-31.II.6:4-9)

I am reminded I do not wake up alone. My brother, the one I viewed as a problem, goes with me on this journey. We go together or not at all.
Equally important as the text in A Course in Miracles are the lessons. They give detailed instructions on how to apply this course.

For example, “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 what I feared was in the world, instead of in my mind alone.” (W-265.1:1-3)

This is stepping outside of the dream and acceptance of this lesson is more spiritual progress than most people make in their entire life. You understand that the sin you thought was in your brother is from your desire to see him as guilty instead of yourself. You also understand that the only way to see yourself as innocent is to see your brother that way also. It is the idea of sin and guilt that is the problem, not what you thought someone did.

How do you know when healing has occurred? When a memory comes up and there is no pain or discomfort of any kind associated with that person. You were willing to see beyond their personality, knowing that is not who they really ARE and knowing they are a part of you. You have decided you want Oneness instead of separation between you and another.

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

© 2023, 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 Divine Toolbox

by Rev. Dan Strodl, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Over the years I’ve collected many useful tools that have helped me create a life that is peaceful and happy. Here are some of my favorites:

Holy Instant — Whenever I notice I have a fear or judgment, I step back and give it to the Holy Spirit for healing. I say, “Holy Spirit, heal my fear based thoughts” and the fears and judgments disappear. That’s the Holy Instant. The more vigilant I am for my fears and judgments and hand them over, the less they come back into my mind, and the more peaceful I become.

See the best — When I meet friends, family, neighbors, I focus on their best qualities… their kindness, gentleness, patience, humor, peacefulness, generosity, creativity… and compliment them. This lifts them up out of the ego world of fear and self judgments to a world of love and appreciation. And when they are lifted, I’m lifted up with them.

Leave the world — Sometimes my mind chatter is very persistent and I need to frequently disengage from it and open to the peace of my inner Teacher. So I’ve made it a habit to step back hourly… quiet my mind for a minute or two, and re-center in peace. And then I go back into my day relaxed and centered in my right mind.

Let go of conflict — The world isn’t real. So I don’t need to get triggered by other people’s opinions and beliefs. I don’t want to lose my peace… so I let it go, and let them be right. Who cares?

Teacher of Love — To teach is to demonstrate. And so as I walk through my day, I am gentle and kind with my brothers. I smile at people, and chat to strangers, and extend love as I’m guided. And the love comes flowing back to me.

Laugh and be happy — The world is an illusion, so I choose not to take it seriously. I enjoy being playful, silly, and letting go of worldly stories and beliefs. And I enjoy sharing laughter with everyone in my day.

Be present — My mind can become an incessant stream of thinking, and with that comes anxiety and stress. So I slow down, and become mindful of what I’m doing in this present moment. When I am present I am at peace.

Remember who I am — I have Post-it notes positioned all over my home to remind me of the truth of who I am… I am Love. I am temporarily in a dream, here to release all my guilt with the Holy Spirit and return to love. I go through my day and extend love to everyone in my day… and the love returns.

Be the Observer — I sit with Jesus in the cinema and watch Dan on the screen without judging him. I notice things he does, how he interacts with others, and I feel a freedom from the story of Dan.

My life used to be filled with anxiety, stress and fear, but with the Course I am slowly being lifted up out of the darkness to the real world of love, peace and happiness. These tools have been so valuable in my journey home.

Rev. Dan Strodl is Manager of Miracle Network, a Pathways of Light Spiritual Counselor and Accessing Inner Wisdom Counselor. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2023, 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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Returning to Our One Self, United with Our Creator

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

Early in the Course we learned that we rejected the fact that God created us as one with Himself because we wanted to be special, separate, unique and alone. We wanted to make decisions on our own and believe that the direction of our own creation is up to us.

In Chapter 2, section I of the Course we learn about the origins of our belief in separation. Jesus tells us, “These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the separation, or the “detour into fear.” None of this existed before the separation, nor does it actually exist now. Everything God created is like Him.” (T-2.I.2:1-3)

Over our years of joining to study the Text and practice the daily Lessons of A Course in Miracles, we have come to understand that on our own, we know nothing. We are learning that God gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us return to the truth that we still are in the one Mind of God as as He created us.

In the Manual for Teachers Jesus tells us, “[Trust in the Holy Spirit] is the foundation on which [God’s teachers’] ability to fulfill their function rests. Perception is the result of learning. In fact, perception is learning, because cause and effect are never separated. The teachers of God have trust in the world, because they have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up. It is governed by a power that is in them but not of them. It is this power that keeps all things safe. It is through this power that the teachers of God look on a forgiven world.

“When this power [Trust in the Holy Spirit] has once been experienced, it is impossible to trust one’s own petty strength again. Who would attempt to fly with the tiny wings of a sparrow when the mighty power of an eagle has been given him? And who would place his faith in the shabby offerings of the ego when the gifts of God are laid before him?” (M-4.I.1:1–2:3)

The Holy Spirit, when we are willing to listen, brings us to the real world. The real world is governed by the laws of Love. It is the power of Love that keeps us safe because harm is impossible in Love’s oneness. This is the world we see when we forgive our wish for specialness.

As long as we perceive ourselves as an individual, different from others, we are unaware of the real world. But we have the Holy Spirit in our mind to teach us how to transform this perception into the recognition of the Love in which we live. As we accept the Love we are, we release Its power to know our unity with all in Love. We see past forms to see everyone as one with our one Self.

In Text, Chapter 18 Jesus tells us why we all go Home together:

“You and your brother are coming home together, after a long and meaningless journey that you undertook apart, and that led nowhere. You have found your brother, and you will light each other’s way. And from this light will the Great Rays extend back into darkness and forward unto God, to shine away the past and so make room for His eternal Presence, in which everything is radiant in the light.” (ACIM, T-18.III.8:5-7)

Walking to God with All Our Brothers

In Workbook, Lesson 288, we receive an important prayer titled, “Let me forget my brother’s past today.”

“This is the thought that leads the way to You, and brings me to my goal. I cannot come to You without my brother. And to know my Source, I first must recognize what You created one with me. My brother’s is the hand that leads me on the way to You. His sins are in the past along with mine, and I am saved because the past is gone. Let me not cherish it within my heart, or I will lose the way to walk to You. My brother is my savior. Let me not attack the savior You have given me. But let me honor him who bears Your Name, and so remember that It is my own.”

“Forgive me, then, today. And you will know you have forgiven me if you behold your brother in the light of holiness. He cannot be less holy than can I, and you can not be holier than he.”

When we accept our Self, which God created as His Son, we will not see our brothers as separate from us. We, along with all our brothers, are one Self, united in the Love of God. This is why no one can reach Heaven while they believe they are alone. The concept of “alone” is an ego construct, which it maintains in order to perceive specialness. By definition, to be special is to be different, to be set apart.

Forgiveness is the means to undo the wish for specialness. It opens our mind to recognize the Love we share with every brother within God’s Love. The recognition that we are one Self awakens us to awareness of our Home in Love.

As we learn to use our perception of a brother as an opportunity to let Christ’s vision reveal his innocence, we free ourselves from the ego thought system. We recognize that we are not alone. The acceptance of our brothers as one with us brings us joy. We walk to God, holding our brother’s hand in the unity of Love.

As we continue our daily practice with Holy Spirit we are reminded that everyone in this world is seeking for Love. If we follow the ego as our guide, we wander in the wilderness where love cannot be found. But if we take the Hand of God to lead us, we are led Home to eternal Love.

We have been dreaming of a loveless world. But we have been given the means to awaken from the dream. Now we are on a pilgrimage that will return us home to Love. When we let Him lead the way, He speaks to us through the Truth in our brothers. As we see them truly, we see our one Self, united in the Love that created us. We are no longer deceived by appearances in the dream. We see the path ahead that leads us, together, to our Home in Love.

We will close with a helpful poem from Pathways of Light Course 915: Being a Messenger of Innocence and Unity:

Finding My Brother’s Innocence and Unity

My way Home is to find the place of Truth in my brother.

What I look for, I find. I seek and find the place of Truth in my mind. In this place, I see the place of Truth in my brother.

With this key to freedom, I free myself and my brother. As I find my brother’s innocence and unity, I find my way Home.

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)

© 2023, 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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Salvation in a Snow Globe

by Rev. Robin Singler, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

According to the Course, forgiveness is my function, and forgiveness looks and waits and judges not. This means forgiveness is the act of looking and suspending all judgment. It is looking at all things in my awareness, both within and without, from a place of calm observance and of detached watching, absent of all need to form opinions or condemn what is being observed.

When I first started studying the Course and attempting to apply it in my life I thought that Awakening would be reached by clearing my mind of all extraneous thoughts and all negative emotions. This led me to go down a path of denying the full experience of my feelings, fears and doubts because I thought it was “not spiritual” to have thoughts or experiences of suffering and that the goal was to somehow eliminate them from my mind and my awareness. But my Inner Teacher; the wise Voice deep inside my mind, has given me a very helpful symbol to use to apply the teachings of A Course in Miracles.

After asking my inner Guidance to help me apply a particular workbook lesson, I was asked to think about a snow globe, and how each snow globe features a figure of some kind at its center that is firmly fixed to the bottom of the snow globe. No matter how much you shake the snow globe the figure never moves; it remains stationary and stable and firm in its place even as the little bits of snow or glitter swirl all around it in chaotic fashion. No matter how much the little bits swirl around the figure, they all settle down eventually and the globe is calm and clear again. It is just as it was before the chaos started and the figure is not affected by the debris circling around it.

As I was guided to observe how a snow globe works, I have noticed many similarities with my own situation in my life and what the act of forgiveness really entails. Forgiveness doesn’t ask me to turn off my feelings and to deny any experience in the moment. Forgiveness asks me to watch what comes up, to welcome it to be there, and to judge it not. To deny my true feelings no matter if they’re ugly or messy or beautiful or shameful is not helpful; it merely keeps them pushed down and unhealed, waiting to reemerge in the future.

Forgiveness doesn’t ask for “perfection” in the world or in my life.
Forgiveness asks me to be just like the figure in the snow globe; to be still and watch in faith that this too shall pass and that I will remain untouched when the storm has passed. The figure gets jostled around just like the rest of the snow globe but it doesn’t move. It is not convinced it is in danger and it is not swayed by the swirl of debris around it. It knows that there is nothing of concern going on and that all is well in Truth.

Forgiveness asks me to observe with full awareness my inner and outer surroundings. Forgiveness asks me to watch without condemnation the thoughts, feelings and emotions in my mind and all of the appearances that seem to be out in the world. I am asked to not identify with them as being part of me. Looking without judgment from a calm, stable center allows me to accept that I am not what I observe. I am not what changes; I am Eternal.

The Course tells me that I am the dreamer of a dream, and that I am merely asleep as I experience myself as an individual person. I can’t possibly be both the dream figure who experiences all the chaos and drama of the dream AND the dreamer.  In other words I can’t watch a play in the audience and be on the stage at the same time. I must be one or the other, I cannot be both.
J
esus asks me in the Course over and over again to step back and look at the dream with Him; to step back and look without judgment on my own projection. So when I shake the snow globe and watch all the debris swirl around the figure in the middle that is very still at the center, I remember this is my goal: To allow chaos, sadness, upheaval and uncertainty all swirl around me while remaining in my calm center. I am to keep my eyes open to notice what is around me and to use it for my mind healing… to smile at it and to love it and to sit in that calm center and feel the stability and the strength of God within me and allow it to hold me up in moments where I am tempted to take the chaos seriously and to worry about what’s going on out there. If I am really The Observer then nothing of the world can harm me. I am untouchable and safe forever and this is very good news. This Truth is what makes forgiveness possible.

I really love the teaching of the snow globe that’s been brought to me. I always thought snow globes were such a waste of space but now I’m quite attracted to them and I’ve added a couple to my living spaces to remind me of my purpose in this world of dreams. It is very possible to look without judgment on chaos as it swirls around me and there is great joy and peace in this.

Rev. Robin Singler is a Pathways of Light minister living in Huntley, IL. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2023, 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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