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Study of Text, C 13: X. Release from Guilt, P 14. 1-3-17

X. Release from Guilt, P 14

14 Praise be to you who make the Father one with His Own Son. Alone we are all lowly, but together we shine with brightness so intense that none of us alone can even think of it. Before the glorious radiance of the Kingdom guilt melts away, and transformed into kindness will never more be what it was. Every reaction you experience will be so purified that it is fitting as a hymn of praise unto your Father. See only praise of Him in what He has created, for He will never cease His praise of you. United in this praise we stand before the gates of Heaven where we will surely enter in our sinlessness. God loves you. Could I, then, lack faith in you and love Him perfectly?

Journal
Here is what I think when I read this. God knows me as He created me. He knows nothing that is out of alignment with that creation. He loves me. Jesus says that he would not love God perfectly if he lacked faith in me. So this would be true for me, too. In order to love God perfectly, I must have faith in my brothers because God created them. So how does this unfold in my life?

Mostly at this point, I observe when I fail to have faith. I see the judgmental thoughts in my mind. I look at my justifications for my faithlessness. Then I ask that my mind be corrected. I ask that I might see my brother differently. I trust that this prayer will be answered, and I trust that I will accept the answer as quickly and completely as I can.

And when I, once again, get distracted by my projections and I start to think someone is guilty, as I remind myself that this cannot be true. I remind myself that this one is part of God’s most holy Son, created in His image, and could only ever be that perfect creation. If I see guilt then it must be a false image I am looking at, a projection of false thoughts I have left unhealed in my mind.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: X. Release from Guilt, P 13. 1-2-17

X. Release from Guilt, P 13

13 Like you, my faith and my belief are centered on what I treasure. The difference is that I love only what God loves with me, and because of this I treasure you beyond the value that you set on yourself, even unto the worth that God has placed upon you. I love all that He created, and all my faith and my belief I offer unto it. My faith in you is as strong as all the love I give my Father. My trust in you is without limit, and without the fear that you will hear me not. I thank the Father for your loveliness, and for the many gifts that you will let me offer to the Kingdom in honor of its wholeness that is of God.

Journal
When I read that Jesus said his faith and trust in me is without limit, I had to stop and just cry. I have been working on something that feels very hard to me. This means I have been listening to the ego tell me that it is hard, not possible, that I am not worthy; you know, all the stuff the ego says to keep me involved in the illusion. So here is what is going on for me today.

A couple of days ago I started having very bad nerve pain in a tooth. The dentist would say that I need a root canal. A few things fell into place for me. One is that I was reading FB posts and came across one from Lloyd Lapp. Here is the quote he was posting.

“There are those who have reached God directly retaining no trace of worldly limits and remembering their own identity perfectly. These might be called the Teachers of teachers because, although they are no longer visible, their image can yet be called upon. And they will appear when and where it is helpful for them to do so. To those to whom such appearances would be frightening, they give their ideas. No one can call on them in vain. Nor is there anyone of whom they are unaware.” ACIM M -26.2

Here is my comment.
“Life is so different now, Lloyd. I wonder how I could have lived so much of it in total ignorance, believing that only what most people agree on could be true, believing that only what I see with the body’s eyes could be real. I want to tell everyone to stop trying to make the world so small. Why live like that? Everything feels so much more expansive now; everything feels so possible. It makes me cry just thinking of it.”

I started thinking about all the help that is available to us, and about how I don’t very often take advantage of that help. So this is what happened next.

At the same time I was checking out FB, I was organizing my office, going through papers, filing and discarding. I came across a healing prayer. I used to do energy healing and one form I used was LaHo-Chi. It has this beautiful prayer that you say before you do the healing. I read the prayer and was once again touched by its beauty. I will add it at the end of this entry so that you can enjoy it as well.

Reading the prayer, I suddenly realized that it was meant for me to find it now. I put my hand on my face over the tooth, and said the prayer again, calling on healing masters to help me. (No one can call on them in vain. Nor is there anyone of whom they are unaware.) I felt like I was being led to a miracle, and I could accept it if I wanted to.

The next thing that happened is that I spoke to a friend and I told her about the prayer. I told her that I called on the LaHo-Chi and the LaHo-Chi masters and the Angels of Light to heal me. I told her that this was a denial of the ego laws, that I am under no laws but God’s and that Love heals in every circumstance and without exception. It was one of those times when I was spoken through, and I was as surprised at the passion and certainty as I am sure she was.

The pain continued and I continued to know that eventually it must subside as the tooth was healed. The ego was having a field day of course. It insisted that this could not happen and that I was not worthy of this. It offered lots of objections and tried to distract. Then it tried to take over through making plans to see the dentist… just in case. And of course I would go to the dentist if that was necessary, but I wasn’t buying it yet. Still, it was discouraging as the next day I continued to have pain and into the night.

This morning I talked to Jesus about it. I asked him for reassurance that my desire to accept the miracle of healing was not my ego’s idea and I received the assurance that he wants this for me and was directing me to this miracle. Then I started doing my morning work. I started with today’s lesson that says that I give everything all the meaning it has for me. I read what I had written before about this lesson and it felt very relevant to me right now. (http://forgivenessisthewayhome.org/2017/01/lesson-2-4/) Here is one paragraph as an example.

Clearly, there is no reason in the world to not be at peace all the time. I am in charge of how I feel. If I am unhappy it can only be because I want to be unhappy, because I have given everything I see all the meaning it has for me. As I learn this lesson, I see my way out of the ego belief in suffering. Suffering is a choice I make, a desire, something I want. It is the only way it could occur in my life.

In light of the Lesson, I give everything all the meaning it has for me, then yes, I suffer because of the meaning I have given something. I have a damaged tooth because of meaning I gave to the body. It was to be a separation device and a way to punish myself for my sins. Well it was working, but now I am giving it a new meaning. The body with its separation effects will become witness to the miracle I choose instead. Whatever I make to prove separation, the Holy Spirit will use to undo separation if that is my choice. I am not separate from God.

As I read this lesson and my journal, I began to feel more confident about the whole thing. Then I went on to read Chapter 1 of the Text. (http://forgivenessisthewayhome.org/2012/09/principle-of-miracles-1/) This is the oft quoted principle that tells us there is no order of difficulty in miracles. Could that be any more perfect as an antidote to the ego’s nay-saying? As I read what I had written in my journal before, I had to cry again. It was more encouragement. I wrote about a previous healing and how I used Lesson 190 to achieve it.

Jesus is with me on this 100% as this mornings paragraph from Chapter 13 is telling me that, “My faith in you is as strong as all the love I give my Father. My trust in you is without limit, and without the fear that you will hear me not.” (And so more crying. Ha ha.) So what is happening now with my tooth?

I am experiencing the effect of my conflicted thinking. One moment there is pain and the next the pain is gone; back and forth, just like my thinking. But I have faith in Jesus and because he has faith in me, my faith in myself is increasing. Where my faith falters, I trust that Jesus will strengthen me.

When I woke up this morning to more pain I was feeling very discouraged. I let my emotions surface and cried for awhile. Then I let Jesus show me my fear. It wasn’t fear of pain or fear of damage to the truth. All that can be dealt with. It was fear that I cannot, will not do this, will not allow the miracle of love to heal me. It is the fear that the truth is not true and today will be the day I prove that.

It felt like I would be personally responsible for not saving the world. Rather than being the light of the world, I would be the darkness that forever overwhelmed the light. I saw that, recognized it as more ego guilt resulting from asking the ego what this meant, and then I did the Rules for Decision to undo it. Thank you Jesus for that wonderful process. Regardless of how this situation turns out, now I know that I could not be guilty.

LaHo-Chi Prayer

Divine Source Mother, Father, God, we call ourselves
forward into the Light. We call for a clearing. We call for
the illuminate radiant form of our souls, through the Light
of the Christ and the Holy Spirit, to guide, direct, and take
us into the spiritual heart of God; and to bring forth the joy,
the peace, and the loving, within ourselves individually and
together.

We call forth the co-operative Spirit of Unity, the Light,
Love and Wisdom of the LaHo-Chi, the LaHo-Chi Master,
the Angels of Pure Consciousness, and all beings of the Light
of the highest, to assist us individually and together. We
call forth the healing and that which is our next step in
spiritual growth for our highest good.

We give thanks to the Holy Spirit for our transmutation
and transformation through the Divine Light.

We give thanks for perfect alignment within our spirit, soul,
and personality. We come together in one unifying energy as
one heart, one mind, and one Light. Amen, Amen, Amen.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: X. Release from Guilt, P 12. 12-30-16

X. Release from Guilt, P 12

12 No illusion that you have ever held against him has touched his innocence in any way. His shining purity, wholly untouched by guilt and wholly loving, is bright within you. Let us look upon him together and love him. For in love of him is your guiltlessness. But look upon yourself, and gladness and appreciation for what you see will banish guilt forever. I thank You, Father, for the purity of Your most holy Son, whom You have created guiltless forever.

Journal
When someone’s behavior seems to threaten me it can be hard to accept that person’s innocence. For instance, when I was working there were people, coworkers and customers, who I had to learn to see differently. Sometimes it is a relative that I seem to resent and I seem unable to forgive, even one I love very much. But understanding that the reason it is harder is because it feels threatening helps me to become willing to see differently.

What is really happening in these cases is that I am fearful and so I am trying to defend myself. It really isn’t about the other person, it is about me. Isn’t that always the case? It is always about me. I don’t forgive others; I just forgive my projections onto them, or I defend those projections. I have one of those situations right now and I know that rather than forgiving I am defending. But I really want to stop doing that.

I love this paragraph because it is helping me to forgive and to return to peace. Jesus is letting me know that my projections onto my relative are not affecting him in any way. He is still innocent and as God created him, no matter how I see him right now. And, in spite of my distorted vision, I can still find him because his, “shining purity, wholly untouched by guilt and wholly loving, is bright within” me. Jesus says that we can look together, and I am taking him up on this offer.

I am not alone in this and that is the point, I am not alone. I will not heal my mind on my own, but my desire for a healed mind will allow my mind to be healed. So together, Jesus and I will look on my guiltless brother, and in doing so my own guiltlessness will be revealed to me. I close my eyes and I place my fear on the altar so there will be nothing blocking my vision.

Then, holding hands with Jesus, I “look” at my brother, not trying to see him differently, just allowing myself to see what was always there behind my fear. I am not making anything happen, but only allowing the truth to be shown to me. I am so grateful. I wonder how this will unfold in my story of this person and our interactions. I am looking forward to finding out.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: X. Release from Guilt, P 11. 12-29-16

X. RELEASE FROM GUILT, P 11
11 You cannot enter into real relationships with any of God’s Sons unless you love them all and equally. Love is not special. If you single out part of the Sonship for your love, you are imposing guilt on all your relationships and making them unreal. You can love only as God loves. Seek not to love unlike Him, for there is no love apart from His. Until you recognize that this is true, you will have no idea what love is like. No one who condemns a brother can see himself as guiltless and in the peace of God. If he is guiltless and in peace and sees it not, he is delusional, and has not looked upon himself. To him I say,

Behold the Son of God, and look upon his purity and be still. In quiet look upon his holiness, and offer thanks unto his Father that no guilt has ever touched him.

Journal
Clearly I have never entered into a real relationship with anyone because I have not loved all equally. I have some people in my life I love more or differently than I do others. I also have some in my life that I love less or not at all. I used to be very confused by passages like this. I thought it meant that the love I feel for my children, for instance, is wrong because it makes them special to me.

Now I understand that there is nothing wrong with the love I feel for my children. The problem is that I reserve that love only for them. In doing so, I have made love something it could never be. I have limited it, and love is limitless. So now I don’t really know what love is; I only know what I have made to take its place. Even the love I have for my children, the purest form of love that I can know in this reduced state, is tainted by the belief in guilt. This sentence stands out to me and I know that it is essential I understand and accept it: No one who condemns a brother can see himself as guiltless and in the peace of God.

So to make this very simple for myself, I am going to say what I want to do about this. I know that I want to remember love, real love, the love of God. I want to extend that love so that others will have that present experience, too. I think this must be possible because Jesus is asking me to do it. So here is my plan. I am not going to try to be more loving. I am going to increase my willingness to desire love above all things.

I am going to notice the signs that I am making someone special. It doesn’t matter if I see them in special love or special hate, I am going to be vigilant for signs of specialness. Then I am going to recognize that I have chosen the ego as my guide as to what love is and how to return to it, at which point I will change my mind and choose the Holy Spirit as my guide. I will ask that my mind be healed of the belief in special love and the belief that I need it. I will ask to be healed of the belief that there is an opposite to love and that it has some value.

Then I will sit in stillness for a moment and allow the healing to take place. I will give myself this present moment, this holy instant, in which I will accept the healing. The idea of special love and special hate is as ingrained as is the belief in guilt, so I will be patient and gentle with myself as I do this practice. If it takes time, then I will remember that this is now the purpose I have given time, and is the only value time has for me.

I am grateful for this understanding and I think that Jesus has given us the perfect prayer to use in our practice.

Behold the Son of God, and look upon his purity and be still. In quiet look upon his holiness, and offer thanks unto his Father that no guilt has ever touched him.

I know that the Holy Spirit will bring into my mind the relationships that need my attention. In fact, I know the very one to work with right now, and so I will… What happened first, is that I saw his guilt and seeing it I knew what it was that was obscuring the truth, So I rested my mind a moment and then I asked the Holy Spirit to show me his holiness instead. Then I thanked my Father that no guilt has ever touched him. This is a good practice.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: X. Release from Guilt, P 10. 12-28-16

X. RELEASE FROM GUILT, P 10
10 Release from guilt as you would be released. There is no other way to look within and see the light of love, shining as steadily and as surely as God Himself has always loved His Son. And as His Son loves Him. There is no fear in love, for love is guiltless. You who have always loved your Father can have no fear, for any reason, to look within and see your holiness. You cannot be as you believed you were. Your guilt is without reason because it is not in the Mind of God, where you are. And this is reason, which the Holy Spirit would restore to you. He would remove only illusions. All else He would have you see. And in Christ’s vision He would show you the perfect purity that is forever within God’s Son.

Journal
Release guilt as you would be released, says Jesus. There is no other way. I will not look within and I will not find the Atonement if I am holding grievances. Not even what I would think of as little grievances, or careless grievances. As he says in another place in the Course, “You cannot enter God’s presence if you attack His Son.” Within us is God’s presence, but I will not know this, will not see it, will not enter there while I still attack.

This feels right to me, but I was wondering how it is I reach the Atonement, which is the undoing, the healing, the correction, if I cannot see it within me for the dark clouds of guilt? It seems a catch 22 at first glance. But my experience has taught me that my desire will bring me where I need to be. I desire with all my heart to be free of a grievance, and it is done. I am in the Atonement, melting into It, blessed by It, loved by It. And if my desire is not complete, I will be healed to the degree I allow and this creates a stronger desire within me for the Atonement.

I am very holy and I want to remember that holiness. As Jesus says, I cannot be what I believe I am. I cannot be separated from God. I cannot be fearful and guilty. I can only imagine these states of being, because they cannot exist within the God’s Creation and there is nothing except His Creation. As I am able to remember and accept this, I find it impossible to assign guilt. When I get too deeply attached to a story, I forget that the story is not real and in believing in the story, I am unable to believe in the truth.

More than anything else I might think I want today, Jesus, I want to remember this truth. Each time I have a guilt thought about someone else or myself, please remind me to look again, this time with vision. How could that be true, that these holy sons of God could be guilty when they are so holy? How could there be guilt within God where we all reside? Yes we are guilty of many things in time, but time is not real and we are not in it. We are in eternity.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: X. Release from Guilt, P 9. 12-27-16

X. Release from Guilt, P 9

9 You who have been unmerciful to yourself do not remember your Father’s Love. And looking without mercy upon your brothers, you do not remember how much you love Him. Yet it is forever true. In shining peace within you is the perfect purity in which you were created. Fear not to look upon the lovely truth in you. Look through the cloud of guilt that dims your vision, and look past darkness to the holy place where you will see the light. The altar to your Father is as pure as He Who raised it to Himself. Nothing can keep from you what Christ would have you see. His Will is like His Father’s, and He offers mercy to every child of God, as He would have you do.

Journal
This step of my awakening is the hardest yet. I am very vigilant for ego in the mind, and with few exceptions am willing to see differently right away, and when not right away, eventually. I have pulled back the veil and peeked at what is behind it. I have felt love for everyone, real love that has no cause and has nothing to do with the ego mind. I have felt joy that has no cause in the world. But as yet, I have not sustained it. I have let the veil fall back into place.

I say it is the hardest yet because I have seen past he veil. I want it back so bad, and yet I trade that lovely visage for some distraction or some drama, some guilty thought. Also, the stories that distract me are the ones that represent my greatest fears and that are the most painful. So even though they are few, they occupy my full attention, and feel impossible to ignore.

Still, I am doing the work, putting them on the altar, asking for another way to see, giving all the willingness I have. I am turning away from the ego thoughts of discouragement and blame. Most importantly, I am forgiving myself for not accepting the Atonement fully at this time. I think what is helping is that the moment I returned to thoughts of guilt was in the past, even if it were only a second ago, it was in the past and the past does not exist.

Every present moment is filled with potential for success. That is encouraging, and I have actually learned to enjoy the practice of recalling myself to the eternal present. Without the past where is guilt now? Without focus on the past, the ego will cease to exist because I will not carry it into the future. The ego has so many objections to my hopefulness, but as I give each one to the Holy Spirit for re-interpretation, I see how hollow are the ego’s beliefs. This morning I choose to believe the promises that Jesus makes. In this moment I choose to believe that nothing can keep from me what Christ would have me see.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: X. Release from Guilt, P 8. 12-26-16

X. RELEASE FROM GUILT, P 8
8 Now it is given you to heal and teach, to make what will be now. As yet it is not now. The Son of God believes that he is lost in guilt, alone in a dark world where pain is pressing everywhere upon him from without. When he has looked within and seen the radiance there, he will remember how much his Father loves him. And it will seem incredible that he ever thought his Father loved him not, and looked upon him as condemned. The moment that you realize guilt is insane, wholly unjustified and wholly without reason, you will not fear to look upon the Atonement and accept it wholly.

Journal
Jesus is both acknowledging that we are not now living what is true, and he tells us, again, how it is that we can live the truth. We are suffering because we believe in guilt. It is that simple. When we decide to believe him and understand that guilt is not real, we will not be afraid to look within and find the Atonement and we will accept it wholly.

Right now Jesus says that we are lost in guilt, alone in a dark world where pain is pressing everywhere upon us from without. I had that experience yesterday. I was with family and it was mostly a peaceful and loving day, but there was one situation that was painful. There is a family member who I worry about, and there was some subtle friction there. Later when I was alone I felt the unease intensely.

Looking at it today, I realize that I lacked faith in my brother. I judged him and found him guilty. Guilt led to fear and that was the cause of my disturbance. The belief that his behavior could lead to something bad (projecting the past onto the present and thus assuring that the future does not change) was painful. It felt like I did nothing to deserve this and it wasn’t fair that I was suffering. (Beware of the temptation to see yourself unfairly treated.) My dark thoughts were painful and the pain seemed to come from the other person. (If only he would act differently, I could be happy.)

Two things happened here that made the situation seem oppressive; one is that the solution seemed to be that the other person had to change and nothing I said or did could affect that change. This left me feeling helpless and a victim. The other is that in seeing the other person as guilty reinforced the belief in guilt in my mind. This made me afraid to look within to find the Atonement and so, again, I seemed to be without a solution.

The saving grace is that I have been working on letting go of the belief in guilt. Throughout the unhappy experience I was watching for true thoughts in my mind and I found many. This kept me from fully accepting what the ego mind was offering. One thing I did that was very helpful is that I remembered Jesus saying in the Course that I can share my burdensome experiences with him and he would help me. So this is what I did. I let the emotion out, and as I cried I talked to him about how this felt. That did help a lot and opened me to more help.

Another thing that happened is that I have asked the Holy Spirit to use my sleep time to heal my mind. Evidently he did that. I woke up this morning feeling much better and I had a true thought bubble up to the surface. Upon awakening I had not thought about the situation with the family member, so I was surprised by this thought. The only thing happening right now is that he is not living the life I want him to live. I had to laugh at that. Why should he do that? Why would I think that was necessary?

The ego never gives up on guilt, though. I began to think about how depressing it is that I could go a whole day worrying and judging. I began to think that I am very far from awakening, and not the teacher of God that I profess I want to be. I started to think how much help I am given and that I am guilty for not doing better. The ego just loves the drama of all this as it waffles from “poor me” to “shame on me.” It would love to spend another day sad and discouraged.

Thinking these kinds of thoughts is like standing in quicksand. It just sucks me down into depression, and the more I struggle against it, the faster it does its guilty work. But if I sit still in the wake of the ego storm, just resting my mind in God, I feel the ego-induced emotions wash over me. I hear the ego self-judgment and fear thoughts, but it all passes and I find myself free of the muck. Then I give my willingness to the Holy Spirit to look within for the Atonement and let it do it’s beautiful healing work as I lay one false belief after another onto the altar to be undone. After that it easy for me to say no to the ego thoughts that try to once again get my attention.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.