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What Is There?

by Rev. Lee Catalano, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

I always thought my thinking meant something and here I am in the first review (again) and he is telling me that nothing I think means anything. My thoughts are covering up thoughts of God. Not only this but I have assigned the function of everything I see as a means for me to justify attack. WOW! I first have to see this in order to let it go.  

How long has the ego’s thought system had reign in my mind unseen? How much Love have I deprived myself of? Much.

Jesus tells me in A Course In Miracles that when I have anxiety or sorrow, it is always because I have seen a brother as less than he truly is. My brother, the Christ, is all that is there. How very long have I thought there was something else there? Again, how much Love have I deprived myself of? Much.

He tells me the Holy Spirit is weak within me and the only way to be able to strengthen my awareness of It is to spark joy. Sparking joy within my brother is the only vocation within this sad, tired, weary world.

As I spark joy and see it’s witness, I am then made aware of the joy within me. He tells me I can spark joy even when I am not feeling it within myself. This teaches me that I can always spark joy and that my power is not limited in any way.  

“In every case you have thought wrongly about some brother God created, and are perceiving images your ego makes in a darkened glass. Think honestly what you have thought that God would not have thought, and what you have not thought that God would have you think.” (T-4.IV.2:3-4)

Rev. Lee Catalano is a Pathways of Light minister living in Watertown, MA. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

© 2021, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Forget Peace

by Rev. Joyce Peebles, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

The Holy Spirit speaks to me most loudly when I first awake. Imagine my surprise when I heard, “forget peace, work on your belief in guilt.”

This came to mind: “…of all the many causes you perceive as bringing pain and suffering to you, your guilt was not among them.” (ACIM, T-27.VII.7:4)

Keep in mind that this is an unconscious guilt from the separation thought. It dawned on me that until healing of my fear-based thoughts occurs, I will not completely experience peace. Fear and guilt are the opposite of peace and love.

Reality is that we are Love and peace that has been obscured by our mistaken faulty beliefs. Making a goal to have peace is not wrong, but there is homework to do before we get to reap the awareness of peace.

As much as I would like to think of myself further along spiritually than I am, what my mind is projecting is showing me otherwise. There are times when I believe I am this body or that somebody or something in the world is the cause of my upset. This shows me that I am experiencing fearful, judgmental thoughts. Reality check. There is no world “outside of my Mind,” so only my thoughts can upset me.

My function is forgiveness, an often-misunderstood word by ACIM students. Forgiveness clarifies that what I thought I saw exists nowhere except in my Mind. It reminds me I am a Mind and not a body.

This projection that I thought I saw serves no purpose but to show me my mistaken thinking. What I thought I saw caused me pain or anger. You will know you have practiced forgiveness correctly when what upset you before brings thankfulness. You are thankful and grateful your projections are showing you where there is still a need to heal your mind.

“It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way.” (W-pI.190:5:1-2)

“There is nothing outside you. That is what you must ultimately learn….” (T-18.VI.1:1)

There is no reason to argue with Jesus. I am not smarter than Him. The ego lied when it said I could get rid of my guilt by projecting it onto someone or thing in a world that never existed. What I thought I projected has been the cause of my distress. “Forgiveness recognizes that what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real.” (W-pII.1.1:1) Forgiveness is an inside job and involves nobody else but you.

Gary Renard passed on a gem about forgiveness. “Do not allow the ego to analyze what it thinks it is seeing. Analyzing only makes it seem real. The value in forgiveness is that you recognize it is not real. Since nothing occurred except faulty thinking, then there is only innocence left. As you see the outward illusion as innocent, you will also see yourself the same way. It is always us that we are forgiving.”

I have learned to appreciate the part of forgiveness that says, “forgiveness is still, and waits, and judges not.” It is in the quieting of my ego thoughts that I hear the Holy Spirit tell me to give the situation to Him. Guilt is chipped away a little bit by bit when I allow the Holy Spirit to whittle it down from the pile in my Mind. That is His job. My Job was only to accept reality and give the rest to Him. How fast do I want to get rid of my unconscious guilt? This is evident by my willingness to practice forgiveness.

I do not need to worry about getting my peace back. Peace has not and never will be lost, only temporarily obscured by a pile of guilt. So, I will work on my guilt and forget peace right now.

Rev. Joyce Peebles is a Pathways of Light minister living in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Phone: 501-701-8399.

© 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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Everything Is Gold

by Rev. Mary Lu Buie, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Everything is Gold.

I would like to share an experience I recently had at my ACIM group. It’s a new group only one month old. I am a recent graduate of Pathways of Light Spiritual College, which has changed my life totally and I absolutely love being a part of. I am so very grateful for this beautiful experience.

At our last group I was guided to wear gold. Unusual I thought, however I love following my guidance and being happy and delighted to play along like a little child. I put on gold jewelry which I hardly ever wear and a gold accented outfit. “Ok then, brave of me,” I thought.

As the meeting progressed a fellow student shared about a incredible meditation experience she had had several years earlier, where she saw everything around her covered in gold dust. She knew in that moment that everything is exactly as it is supposed to be. And at all times. Everything is perfect, as is. I was so amazed and happy I was wearing my gold. To me this shows we are all connected. We are One. One Mind.

The first time I ever heard the statement that everything has happened exactly as it was supposed to and is happening now as it is supposed to and will unfold as it is supposed to, I really didn’t like it. There were a lot of things about my life I didn’t care for. Or really hated. I carried a lot of guilt, shame and condemnation about myself and my family as a result of growing up in an alcoholic home.

But as I grew spiritually and emotionally over time, I can now embrace that statement. It lets me know that there is a Power, a Force, an Energy, that knows, that is present, that Loves us all and at all times.

Love is just waiting for our acceptance; just waiting for us to say, “Yes. I’ll fall into Your loving arms and receive the all encompassing embrace of healing to calm and heal my mind, heart and soul.” Let us say yes, yes and a forever yes to this loving embrace.

Here’s a few similar quotes from ACIM.

“Can you imagine what it means to have no cares, no worries, no anxieties but merely to be perfectly calm and quiet all the time. Yet that is what time is for, to learn just that and nothing more.” (T-15.I.1.:1)

“What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?” (W-pI.135.18:1)

Rev. Mary Lu Buie is a Pathways of Light minister living in Vero Beach, FL.
E-mail:redhibisus@aol.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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About My Thoughts

by Rev. Maria Kingsley, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Lesson 10: “My thoughts do not mean anything.”

I’ve noticed how the thoughts I observe in my mind are first searching for meaning, then it seems I accept the meaning that is offered. This is always based on past experiences and what my little mind will do is try to fit it into some known box to somehow make sense of it. This is rather funny, or silly, when observed from an objective point of view.

What I want to do with thoughts as they come up is this: I realize that they are random but fitting into my made-up world view of what I’ve decided things mean or are. This usually comes from past learning as a child or young adult. These ‘world views’ in my mind are fantasy, imaginations of what it all could mean.

The problem, however, is that I believe that they are true and are hard facts of life, and I follow them in my life again and again, often without realizing I’ve made them up. And even when I recognized that I’ve made them up, I somehow feel good that ‘this is just the way I think.’ I somehow feel good and secure in that sense of ‘me.’

We constantly are looking for an identity, and our thoughts that we set up as reality try to give us a feeling of ‘this is who I am’. I often find it difficult to identify with my True Self, because the ego will come in and tell me that I’m really not that great … look at my life, it’s not that wonderful!

In this 10th Lesson, I am told that what I think I think is not actual reality. Indeed, it is lacking reality. The Lesson states that “the presence of these ‘thoughts’ means that you are not thinking … and so your mind is really blank.” (W-pI.10:3:2-3)

And this is an uncomfortable thought as well: I pride myself of all the thoughts I have and want them to be real. To think I am not really thinking, and my mind is blank, feels like an assault. Yet I know it is not, of course. It’s all related to who or what I Am.

The Lesson ends with: “This idea will help to release me from all that I now believe.” Do I have the courage to release all my beliefs? Is that what I want?

Indeed, it does take courage from an ego perspective to let go of all our beliefs. We do cherish what we believe because it makes us feel safe and ‘right.’ We hold on to such thoughts because we believe they protect us from harm or loss.

We defend our beliefs because they fit into some kind of box that we’ve made up in our little mind in the absence of a greater view or understanding.

As children we used our concrete thinking to make everything that was happening around us related to us, to me, to be caused by me or to affect me personally.

As adults, we want to look at that and see whether those views or thoughts or boxes are really still helpful.

As children, we had to find a way to make sense of senseless behavior by parents or others around us. We could not blame anyone but ourselves and so we needed to somehow feel secure. But it never really did that. We never really felt safe because we made up some scenario that would fit, based on bits and pieces of perceptions here and there, from this person and another, and put it together to fit our acceptance.

Right or wrong, good or bad, we swallowed our own stamp on the interpretation of events around us.

These perceptions live on within us as energies that prompt actions and unconscious pop-up thinking. And it seems this is where many people run up against a wall — they cannot find the belief that caused the energy or vibration that now acts from the subconscious, from the background within us. And yet, they are knowable.

It takes vigilance and focus on our actions and thoughts, and an observance. The desire to find the origins of our thinking will come to us, especially when we fervently ask the Holy Spirit for help.

In this process we need to remember that what is in our mind has not led us to safety. It has not really helped or brought us what we are longing for consistently. Often this is not difficult to see because the body will reflect incorrect thinking in ways that we perceive as pain or discomfort of various types.

The body is our barometer and pointer but it takes a curious mind to find its core issue.

And so, the Lessons go on to tell us that “My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.” This becomes very difficult to truly accept by the ego. And indeed, Lesson 12 states: “I am upset because I see a meaningless world” and Lesson 13: “A meaningless world engenders fear.”

Yet we do not need to be in fear because, as I tell myself when fear comes up, “God is still in charge!” This gives me comfort because, now God is truly in charge, not my small ego. To rely on safety from the ego is indeed fear provoking.

So, let us use this upset of the ego to recognize that we have been way off in our thinking. We have not used Love as the basis of our thinking. We have used judgment and fear that have driven us to do and act and condemn others and ourselves.

When I now observe my thoughts, I don’t always catch that they are just made up. But more and more I can observe that my thoughts pop up from seemingly no-where, but they come from my beliefs I have given energy to in the past.

I don’t need to follow them; I can let them go and tell myself, “God is still in charge.”

This is very helpful to me right now. And my body seems to respond to this by relaxing and feeling good. Fear is not a helpful guide but Love and Joy are. Feeling Love and Joy protects me in all that I do throughout the day. I feel safe and comforted.

Rev. Maria Kingsley is a Pathways of Light minister living in Tucson, AZ. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Mail: P.O Box 35122 Tucson, AZ 35122 Phone: 520-780-0170 Web: Maria-Kingsley.comMaria-Kingsley.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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