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Conflicting Views

by Rev. Larry Glenz, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

I have found the political events of recent months to be disturbing. And I have been trained to ask for help.

“The horrors of the world we live in today arise from spiritual ignorance. Until we reach that place in ourselves where we identify with one another beyond our own differences, we will perpetuate the disharmony that results from spiritual immaturity.” (From Everyday Grace by Marianne Williamson)

When Marianne Williamson was running for P.O.T.U.S, I did not imagine her winning. I steadily supported her campaign because her vision for the U.S. and the world sounded like the direction I would love to see us take. I never considered it a waste of my money.

I was proud of her for hanging in there for a long time despite the odds. She has a message people need to hear. She believes all the people of the world are God’s equal children. And she believes the world is an illusion that we can positively affect by changing our thoughts about it. She may not have said those exact words during her campaign. But I know what she believes.

Is it possible, however, to follow a path of metaphysical awareness and still be the leader of our American democracy? I suppose it is not any more far-fetched than Donald Trump’s presidency seemed to be five years ago. Neither person had much political background.

I spent over half my life as a high school social studies teacher. I have studied and taught how American government works. I also studied and taught about each American presidency from Washington to Obama until my retirement in 2008.

And yet, my opinions on politics are still valueless.

“I do not perceive my own best interests. I do not know what anything is for.” (W-pI.24 and 25)

The world has always been in chaos. It always will be. It was made to be like this. Nevertheless, it is our classroom to learn forgiveness.

“The world was made as an attack on God. It symbolizes fear.” (W-pII.3.2:1-2)

I have many good friends and close family that don’t agree with my political views. They do not share my spiritual views either. These are good people that I love and always will.

It is sometimes hard for me to understand how they could see the world so differently. However, I have been taught to ask Spirit to help me see this differently.

“What then is the function of a Teacher of God in this concluding lesson? He need merely learn how to approach it; to be willing to go in its direction. He need merely trust that, if God’s Voice tells him it is a lesson he can learn, he can learn it.” (M-14.4:4-6)

This year I have seen lifelong, friendly, and loving relationships damaged by their conflicting world views. This is where I need to remember to let go and let God. Only forgiveness heals. This political landscape is part of my classroom, a lesson from which I can learn.

Although it is a challenge to navigate these political waters with people like my brother, Mike, and my oldest friends, I need only remember my Guide when I become engaged in the discussions. If I can feel His Hand on my shoulder, I will not become angry and frustrated. I can let go of taunts designed to draw me into the conflict.

I don’t always remember to turn to Spirit in the heat of the moment. I have, however, learned that my Guide is available. It is my function to turn to Him and follow. I have been trained to let go and let God. I have learned to trust this process.

During the past months with all the talk of a stolen election and the disturbing videos of the violence in the Capitol, I have experienced more willingness to see things through the Lens of Love. I still don’t acquiesce to views I don’t share. I state my beliefs without fear of criticism and then try to let go of the outcome.

“The world is false perception. It is born of error and it has not left its source.” (W-pII.3:1-2)

My worldly goal here is not to lose any friend because of our politics. Only love is real. Don’t take anything too seriously. Follow the Guide you have been given.

“There is nothing to fear.” (W-pI.48)

Rev. Larry Glenz, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Long Beach, NY. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Website: larryglenz.com

© 2021, 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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Problem Solving

by Rev. Vicki Rostant, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

The ACIM Lesson for the day was “Lesson 80: Let me recognize my problems have been solved.” I started the study of the lessons again last September, and in early February, I was only at Lesson 80!

I was finding it interesting that, in this round, the pace was definitely not a lesson a day! A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the last time I went through the lessons, and I was now at a totally different place in my life — older, and involuntarily retired due to the COVID pandemic restrictions.

In that space, I found my mind going deeper with each lesson and needing more time to explore those depths. Add to that the fact that sometimes I had trouble remembering the five words of the lesson and had to go back repeatedly to the Text! Then new words and phrases would stand out. This slow build of lesson upon lesson led to this mind healing on that morning.

I was with the lesson when my partner called from the car to tell me that she had arrived safely at her school location. As we talked, there were lots of rustling noises as she got her stuff together, and I found myself getting agitated.

Suddenly, I saw a clear picture of the state of my mind in that moment — agitated and full of grievances about a whole lot of things —­ the noises my partner was making; someone who had not responded to my message; a friend who does not behave in a way that makes sense to me, i.e. the way I think she should, etc., etc.

As I saw this, I saw all my grievances as a dark cloud between God and me, and that this is separation from God. As soon as that thought of God came into the mind, I felt lifted up past all my grievances, and sitting in the well of Peace!

In that moment, all my problems were solved as I had no problems. That thought of God was the Ascension that dropped me into the heart of Truth. I saw that I sat in Peace at the gates of Heaven with all my brothers.

Holy Spirit showed me that the illusion is that we think we have problems. As long as we think that, we focus on solving those problems. They cannot be solved because they arise out of the lie that there are problems! We stand at a pivot (my new favorite word) point in each moment: Identify something as a problem, think the problem is real, then focus on solving it. On that route, many other attendant problems come up, and we go down that rabbit-hole of the thought system that believes problems are possible. We can spend a lifetime playing this “whack-a-mole” game.

Or, back to the pivot point: Something comes up — I see it and identify it as a “problem,” but now I choose. I take a deep breath, recognize the true nature of the problem — a manifestation of my belief that I am a separated being. I take another deep breath and choose to show up to the Truth: “One problem, one solution” (W-pI.80.3.5) As stated, “If you could recognize that your only problem is separation, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you would see its relevance.” (W-pI.79.6.2) The next day was the review of the previous 20 lessons!

Rev. Vicki Rostant, OMC, is a Pathways of Light minister living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2021, 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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There Are No Small Upsets

by Rev. Kelly Lewis, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

There are no coincidences. All is exactly as it is meant to be. Do you believe this? I absolutely do beyond all doubt, though I cannot say that prior to this particular day I could state this as emphatically as I now am.

Today I experienced some amazing synchronicities or “God winks.” My friend posted in her blog the other day about how we project unconscious guilt and how this shows up as upsets in our lives. At the same time I had just started re-reading a great little book called “Releasing Guilt” by Liz Cronkhite. In this book the author writes about our unconscious guilt showing up as anxiety, fear, upsets, illness, and whole long list of “symptoms.” This unconscious guilt, as described in A Course in Miracles, is from the belief that we have separated from “God” or, in other words, the belief that we are a separate personal self. Because we do not want to face this guilt, we project it onto the “external world,” which in actuality, is not external to us.

After reading my friend’s post and this book for a while, I sat and pondered the ways that guilt shows up in my life. While I have definitely had a lot of healing in my mind from working with ACIM, I see the guilt showing up most often as judgment towards others when they do not do things the way I want them done (yes, I have some control issues). I meditated on this for a while, allowing the judgment, blame and guilt to come to my mind. I gave it to Spirit for healing and peace returned to my mind. I decided to go on a bike ride through the woods near my house.

While on the bike ride, there was suddenly a bunch of deer running down the path parallel to the one I was riding on. It was breathtaking! Then I immediately heard a bunch of gun shots going off. This literally made me sick to my stomach; I cannot stand the thought of these beautiful creatures being terrified, having to run for their lives and then being shot. It made me cry.

I then had the thought, “There are no small upsets, all are equally disturbing to my peace of mind.” This made me ponder how I was projecting my unconscious guilt by experiencing upset over these deer (rather than acknowledging the unconscious guilt of the belief in separation). It felt like I completely lost my peace of mind. Yet in my immediate experience, no deer were shot. I was projecting a story; I could have chosen a different story, for instance I could have told myself that someone was shooting at clay pigeons… I don’t know.

I was reminded then that, “I do not know what anything is for.” I realized then and there that it was my story about the situation, it was the meaning that I was choosing, that was keeping me stuck in the emotional pain. I thought about this for a moment. The next thing I knew, time seemed to have passed… I don’t know how long really, but based on where I was at on my bike ride, I would estimate 10-15 minutes.

What happened was a disappearance of “myself.” I was in a state of absolutely knowing that I am not this body, this personal identity and that I was free. All distinction between what seems to be external to me, was gone. All senses seemed to disappear, and it felt like I was everything! It’s really too hard to put this into words, but it was amazing and completely liberating!

I suddenly noticed my ego starting to feel afraid. There were thoughts going through my mind such as, “You can’t stay like this. You won’t be able to get anything done.” You’re going to just sit around and not be able to communicate with anyone,” etc. As I listened to these thoughts, my experience of a nonpersonal-self vanished and it was like I was catapulted back into this “physical reality.”

I spent the rest of my bike ride thinking about this… wondering how did it happen? Was it because I was letting go of the unconscious guilt, letting go of the story I was believing about the deer, etc. I have had glimpses of this state of not being this individual self, but it has never lasted this long, and it has never been this profound. All theorizing, believing about oneness has been replaced with experience and knowing. I am amazed. I also realized fully how our egos, while they do cause us pain, also allow us to experience the physical world.

As I continued to ride, one more synchronicity occurred. After I was returned to this personal self, the song that came through my Airpods is called “Little Earthquakes.” In the song, the singer speaks of many upsetting things in her life, and states, “Oooh these little earthquakes… it doesn’t take much to rip us into pieces.” And I thought of how this applied to what I had been thinking. All our upsets, all the beliefs we have that keep us believing in this individual and guilty identity, take us from the greatest peace of all — knowing that we are one and we are innocent. These little earthquakes, these little upsets in our minds, do rip us into pieces (in our minds anyway) and take us out of our experience of our oneness. 

“There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.” “I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go.” (W-pI.5.4:3-4;6:3)

Rev. Kelly Lewis, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister in Saginaw, Michigan. Email:kelalew@gmail.com

© 2021, 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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We’re Entitled to Miracles, Not a Perfect Pain-Free Life

by Rev. Jennifer McSween, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Given the way last year, 2020, unfolded — for all of us — you might think that I’m in denial when I say that for me, 2020 was a year of miracles.

Here’s what I mean: I officiated my last wedding ceremony on March 14th, 2020. This brought the most lucrative part of my ministerial business and the part I enjoy the most — officiating weddings — to a screeching halt as most of the world went into lockdown.

We were now restricted in terms of how we shopped, where we traveled, and the way we socialized. On April 28th my mother died from complications of COVID-19, five days after coming down with the first symptoms. Since she had been living in a senior’s residence at the time, I had not seen or hugged her for six weeks prior to her death due to the lockdown restrictions.

By appearance, none of this qualifies as a miracle. As a matter of fact, from the perspective of the world or on the level of form, all of these events occurring at the same time, is more like a recipe for worry, pain, and fear. A recipe for misery, not miracles.

However, from the perspective of A Course in Miracles, a miracle has nothing to do with the presence or appearance of anything on the level of form. Rather, according to the Course, a “miracle” is a change in our perception that allows us to feel safe, healed, empowered, and at peace regardless of circumstances or conditions.

Workbook Lesson 77 teaches “I am entitled to miracles.” To be entitled to something means it is ours by “right.” We need do nothing to earn it. We simply have to claim it. The Course also teaches that Forgiveness is the means to miracles. How we are to practice forgiveness is by looking past the form or appearance of a troubling circumstance or condition and recognize the truth that lies behind. And the truth is that regardless of what we see, encounter or experience, all that is ever taking place is that we are experiencing the thoughts and ideas that are in our minds, in different forms.

To be entitled to miracles does not mean that we’ll never experience pain, fear, or lack of peace.

What it does mean is that we all have the ability to remember the truth and to choose to look at everything and everyone from the perspective of truth in any moment or situation that we do not find peaceful. Practicing forgiveness is the way we claim the miracles to which we are entitled.

This is what I did in each of those seemingly troubling situations I mentioned earlier that I experienced in 2020. Whether it was feeling the deep sense of loss over my mother’s passing, feeling concerned about losing a big chunk of my income and not being able to serve in a way that I enjoy most, or feeling stressed and worried about the restrictions and changes in my lifestyle and how I interacted with others.

I practiced forgiveness and this allowed me to experience a sense of peace throughout the year, despite those on-going conditions. I still feel that sense of peace today, even though I have not been able to officiate any weddings since March 14th, 2020. In spite of the fact that here in Quebec, where I live, we went into a deeper lockdown in October. On December 25th, further lockdown measures were implemented. All non-essential stores, businesses, and services were closed.

Despite the fact that in mid-January, an 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew was added and is still in effect at the time of this writing, February 11th, 2021. Still… I am at peace. I’m not entitled to a perfect pain-free life. As a matter of fact, as long as I am metaphorically “here,” i.e. as long as I experience myself as a body, living in a world surrounded by other bodies and forms, I will experience pain, fear, or lack of peace in some form.

I am however entitled to miracles, meaning, that in any moment in which I experience any form of fear, pain, or lack of peace, I have the right to practice forgiveness and experience miracles instead. That’s what I did in 2020 and this is why I say that for me, 2020, was a year of miracles.

Rev. Jennifer McSween, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light Minister living in Montreal, Canada. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Website: http://www.revjennifer-mcsween.com

© 2021, 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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