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Study of Text, C 13: IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 1. 11-18-16

IX. The Cloud of Guilt, P 1

1 Guilt remains the only thing that hides the Father, for guilt is the attack upon His Son. The guilty always condemn, and having done so they will still condemn, linking the future to the past as is the ego’s law. Fidelity to this law lets no light in, for it demands fidelity to darkness and forbids awakening. The ego’s laws are strict, and breaches are severely punished. Therefore give no obedience to its laws, for they are laws of punishment. And those who follow them believe that they are guilty, and so they must condemn. Between the future and the past the laws of God must intervene, if you would free yourself. Atonement stands between them, like a lamp shining so brightly that the chain of darkness in which you bound yourself will disappear.

Journal
“Guilt is the only thing that hides the Father, for guilt is the attack upon His Son.”
Over and over, Jesus tells us that guilt is something we must let go. We must let go of placing guilt on others and of believing we are guilty. Both are attacks on the Son of God and hide from us the awareness of God. Guilt is what keeps us from peace and happiness, and keeps us from remembering Love. It is the cause of all suffering and the reason we choose death over God.

“The guilty always condemn, and having done so they will still condemn, linking the future to the past as is the ego’s law.”
Here is how that works. When everything changed at work, I felt resentful. I projected the blame for my feelings on my boss and everyone else. I made them guilty of my unhappiness with my situation. The thought that they were guilty stained everything they did. It was like their actions were passing through a dark filter and all that came through was stained with guilt.

I interpreted their words and actions from the standpoint that they were guilty, and so what they said and did seemed wrong to me and I felt further resentment. Not only that, but I expected to be attacked. I thought about what they would do next and how that would affect me. I was linking the future to the past, and thus sustaining the ego.

“Atonement stands between them, like a lamp shining so brightly that the chain of darkness in which you bound yourself will disappear.”
This went on for as long as I could stand it. Finally, my desire for peace kicked in and I asked for healing. I accepted that healing, that is, I accepted the atonement for this situation and the beliefs that were driving it. It was truly as Jesus says, the Atonement stood between the past and the future and broke the dark chain of guilt. I began to hear and see differently.

They suddenly seemed like friends instead of enemies and in the time we have had together I have learned that I like them and enjoy working with them. I am going to be happy to retire, but at the same time, I wish I had more time to spend with these people. It is truly a miracle when we accept the Atonement. I am going to be eternally grateful for this experience, both because I will leave that job with all relationships healed, and because I will never forget the lesson I learned about letting go of guilt.

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

Study of Text, C 13: VIII.From Perception to Knowledge, P 10.11-16-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 10

10 Yet in this world your perfection is un-witnessed. God knows it, but you do not, and so you do not share His witness to it. Nor do you witness unto Him, for reality is witnessed to as one. God waits your witness to His Son and to Himself. The miracles you do on earth are lifted up to Heaven and to Him. They witness to what you do not know, and as they reach the gates of Heaven, God will open them. For never would He leave His Own beloved Son outside them, and beyond Himself.

Journal
God created me perfect and so perfect I am. Yet, as Jesus says in the first sentence, my perfection is un-witnessed in this world. Well, I get that! I find no witnesses to my perfection and that is the reason I often fall for the ego interpretation of things. I realize that my thoughts and actions and words witness to the ego thought system more than I would like, even now after all this time of study and practice. Even at my best, my perception witnesses to something truer, but now truth.

But God knows my perfection, so nothing has actually changed, and that is my salvation. It is our salvation. We do not share His witness to our perfection because reality can only be witnessed to as one. We still, in this world, see division and that is not one. What I see happening in my life and in the lives of others is a shift toward oneness. We do this through miracles.

We ask for another way to see and accept that vision, recognizing that the eyes do not show reality. Instead we trust the Holy Spirit’s Vision until that vision becomes our own. First the mind changes and then the changed mind projects that change onto the world, and miracles are made manifest. This is why we study this book, why it is called A Course in Miracles. Miracles matter, not the miracles themselves, but the love they represent. It is through performing miracles that we return our minds to reality and remember that we are the Sons of God.

Jesus says that the miracles we do on earth are lifted up to God and they witness to what we do not know. This is our path back home. The gates to Heaven are open to us, and the miracles we do here lead us to those gates and to the welcoming presence of God. Perhaps you think you have never performed a miracle but I bet that you have. Each time that you believe the ego and then change your mind and ask the Holy Spirit to heal your mind, you have an opportunity to change miraculously. All you need to do is accept that healing.

Sometimes the manifestation of the miracle is obvious, sometimes even astounding. But often the manifestation is subtle at first and perhaps not recognized. At those times it becomes clear only in retrospect as you review your life and recognize how much happier and more peaceful you are now, and know it is because you have been practicing what you are learning through A Course in Miracles. That is no small miracle. And it may be even more to it. It may be that when you came to a fork in the road, your past study and your past choices for God take you down a gentler path and you have saved a thousand years, even though you do not realize it.

I wonder if I decided today that I want the miracle, not as a possible outcome of a daily practice, but as a decision I make, how would that change things? What if I start the day asking the Holy Spirit what miracles He would have me perform today? I am going to do that. I am asking and expecting an answer. I am going to keep my mind and heart open so that I will recognize the answer when it comes to me.

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

C 13: VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 9. 11-14-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 9

9 As miracles in this world join you to your brothers, so do your creations establish your fatherhood in Heaven. You are the witnesses to the Fatherhood of God, and He has given you the power to create the witnesses to yours, which is as His. Deny a brother here, and you deny the witnesses to your fatherhood in Heaven. The miracle that God created is perfect, as are the miracles that you established in His Name. They need no healing, nor do you, when you accept them.

Journal
I understand that miracles in the world join me to my brothers. I think of this as happening on two levels. I forgive in my mind and from that pure place of love I project love. In the world this appears as a miracle in form. Maybe the person who I didn’t like and who didn’t like me suddenly becomes friendly and kind. Maybe the sickness I believed in until I forgave the idea, in the world disappears. However the miracle appears, it creates a sense of oneness, of unity with my brothers and sisters. It may appear as form in the world, or maybe not, but the joining has occurred.

What I don’t really get is the part about my creations. I do understand that we as the Son of God are witness to His Fatherhood. That makes sense. I have children in this world and they are witnesses to my motherhood. They prove I am a mother. So we prove that God is Father. Then I get to the part that confuses me. God gave me the power to create my own witnesses. He does not mean that I can have children in the world because that is not creation; that is making.

So what are my creations? The reason that I have trouble with this is that I cannot envision formlessness. And because if creation is extension, then I would create more of me and I don’t have a handle on me, either. There is still too much identity with ego. Or at least while I don’t fully identify with ego anymore, I don’t have an image with which to replace it. I guess what I mean is that I don’t remember anything but form so what I am feels alien and impossible to grasp. So the idea of my creations is intriguing, but not tangible. It is something I take on faith.

Now here is where I get really confused. “Deny a brother here, and you deny the witnesses to your fatherhood in Heaven.” I think he must mean that my brothers here are all, as one, the Sonship, and if any are denied we are not whole. Our creations exist as witness to the Sonship as it exists, whole and complete, so if it is not whole and complete, it is not the Sonship that created them. Of course it was done, and we are whole, but when we deny any part of our Self, we also deny our creations. Well that is being untangled in my mind a bit. Maybe this is why I have no memory or concept of my creations. I still deny my brothers and so I have lost the awareness of my creations.

And then he says: “The miracle that God created is perfect, as are the miracles that you established in His Name. They need no healing, nor do you, when you accept them.” We are the miracle that God created and we are perfect, and our creations that we established in His Name are perfect also. We do not need healing, but only acceptance of what we are and what our brothers are. If we are ever able to accept our true identity, we must accept that our identity is whole and that means none are denied.

There are none I can push away and say that one is not me. I test my resistance as I open my arms and invite in different people, the pedophile, the racist, the murderer, the cruel and the hateful. Do I feel any resistance? How about making it personal? The coworker who seems intent on making my job hard, Trump who seems to be so different from me? Can I accept them both as me, part of the Sonship that I am?

When I accept all my brothers, I accept my creations and I accept our Creator. There is in my mind, a memory of my creations and a memory of God. I long for that memory to be in my awareness, so I am willing to allow the healing that will bring me to that memory, at least as much as is possible here, and completely when I am with my Father again. I do this as I forgive all thoughts that separate me from my brothers.

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

Study of Text, C 13: VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 8. 11-10-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 8

8 When you have seen your brothers as yourself you will be released to knowledge, having learned to free yourself through Him Who knows of freedom. Unite with me under the holy banner of His teaching, and as we grow in strength the power of God’s Son will move in us, and we will leave no one untouched and no one left alone. And suddenly time will be over, and we will all unite in the eternity of God the Father. The holy light you saw outside yourself, in every miracle you offered to your brothers, will be returned to you. And knowing that the light is in you, your creations will be there with you, as you are in your Father.

Journal
It has been a long time now since I did something that affected a brother and did not consider that what affects one, affects all. I cannot do or say something unkind, even think something unkind without affecting myself and the entire Sonship. Though I sometimes go back to thinking of this one or that one as separate, or sometimes a particular situation triggers a response that is intended to defend or attack. But that is now the exception instead of the rule, and even then there is a knowing in me that I am mistaken.

When I think of our complete unbroken union, I often think of the Borg. If you are not a Trekkie, let me explain. The Borg are a race of people in the Star Trek series. They are a collective; each individual a part of the whole. To me, the Borg represent an ego version of the idea of union. They act as one and act in accordance to the good of the whole, but they are without compassion or love or kindness. Their imperative is survival of the whole through assimilation, defense and attack.

But I think in terms of Love. What if we remembered the truth about our nature? What if we remembered we were gods, and remembered that means we are Love itself? We would then turn as one, not to defend or attack, but turn in compassion, turn in peace, turn in joy and certainty and fearlessness. I think that we are actually doing this now. Each of us, as we allow our minds to be healed, is remembering that this is what we are. We are each whole and part of a whole.

We do not assimilate others into our wholeness, but rather we live a life that invites union. As more and more choose to live as one and as the Son of God that we are, the stronger the pull toward that union, and the more impelling it becomes. Love is the force that ties us together. There is a different force, though, that drives us apart, and that is fear and guilt.

When we choose to believe in fear and guilt rather than love we are polarized. We saw that happen recently in the campaign for president. An entire nation began taking sides against each other and in their fear they attacked, friends and even family members turning on each other. Even though a decision has been made, a president elected, there is no peace because there has been no overriding decision for love.

More than ever before we are given an opportunity as spiritual beings to be the love that we are and in so doing to be the miracle workers that we are asked to be. I understand the temptation to turn toward fear, but I also know that this is an ego desire, not my true desire. I think of all that could go wrong and soon the ego mind is off and running and I am filled with regret that our fear turned us toward an idea of defense and self-centered action. I am filled with fear as to where this might lead us.

But then I remember that nothing is happening except that I am projecting my ego fears onto a future, and that is not something I want to do. All thought produces form at some level and this is not a future I want to produce. Also, God is not in the future; He is in this moment. Sometimes I have to drag my mind, kicking and screaming, back to the now, but I do it. I remember that I cannot enter God’s presence if I attack His Son. We are God’s Son and if we attack any part of that Sonship, we are attacking the Whole.

For some lightworkers, their part of this story may be to enter the political arena, or to influence that arena. If so, it must be done from compassion and love and with kindness. It must be done without placing guilt and without working from a place of fear. It must be done with constant guidance. Otherwise, the worker has turned from light and toward the darkness.

We cannot, as A Course in Miracles students, assimilate others, we can only show them the light and that light will offer an irresistible invitation. My intention and my devotion is toward that light and toward the Love in Which I was created. I invite you to join me in this powerful intention. Let us unite with Jesus under the holy banner of His teaching, and as we grow in strength the power of God’s Son will move in us, and we will leave no one untouched and no one left alone.

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

President Donald Trump

I woke in the early hours and glanced at my phone. I had an alert that Donald Trump won the election. I was momentarily shocked as I truly expected Hillary to win. But now it is time to pray for him. He will need the love of all light workers as he faces the task of being the leader of this nation. We are all blessed with this opportunity to join with this brother of ours for a higher purpose. And if we feel anxiety about what might happen under his administration, this is only our fear projected into the future, and an opportunity to remember to live in the present moment. In this moment all is well and this is the only moment there is. God is in this moment.

In answer to a fearful response to the election results: I look within for what I see that supports this kind of fear based action and thinking, and I allow it to be healed. I see my brother is my brother regardless of his behavior. I pray for him through seeing him as he truly is not as he appears in time and through his ego actions. In other words, my only function is to accept the Atonement for myself and in doing so I am able to offer the miracle of healing to whoever is ready for it. I can see Trump’s ego behavior, recognize it for what it is and still see that my part in this is to trust Jesus’ plan of Atonement rather than to fall into fear, judgment and reaction.

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

Study of Text, C 13: VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 7. 11-9-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 7

7 Be you content with healing, for Christ’s gift you can bestow, and your Father’s gift you cannot lose. Offer Christ’s gift to everyone and everywhere, for miracles, offered the Son of God through the Holy Spirit, attune you to reality. The Holy Spirit knows your part in the redemption, and who are seeking you and where to find them. Knowledge is far beyond your individual concern. You who are part of it and all of it need only realize that it is of the Father, not of you. Your role in the redemption leads you to it by re-establishing its oneness in your mind.

Journal
God’s gift to me is Christ’s vision and I can bestow that gift to everyone and everywhere. This is what I am to do. I accept the Atonement for myself, and then I see with Christ’s vision. In doing so I offer miracles to those who seek them. To whom do I offer the miracle? That is not my concern. The Holy Spirit knows my part and who it is I am seeking. I just follow His lead.

Ask Him very specifically:
What would You have me do? 
Where would You have me go?  
What would You have me say, and to whom?

Asking this is the way we agree to our part in the Atonement. It is our commitment to be a miracle worker.

Since this is my commitment, I realize that whoever is in my life today is there for me to share this holy instant. It may not be immediately evident to me, and often isn’t. But sometimes I am looking for change in my purse to pay the clerk and when I look up, I smile at her and her face lights up for just that moment.

The love that I am has connected with the love that she is. Maybe she doesn’t understand what just happened, and I likely I don’t understand the extent of what has happened, but it happened because I did my part. In that moment I used the gift of Christ’s vision and both of our minds were lightened. What happens next is not my concern.

Sometimes it is a word or two, or a teaching. Sometimes it is just my presence at the right moment. Sometimes it is the example I set as I react with love rather than defense. I have no way to know what is helpful in the moment, or who it is that is ready for the miracle. And believe me, love in any form is the miracle, the part that matters.

3 Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.

I have spent a long time learning what love is, and learning to release everything that is not love. In so doing, I have allowed purification and so miracles are my right, and they are my responsibility. What I have also learned is that it is a responsibility that I carry lightly. I need only stand ready to express love and where and how will be decided by the Holy Spirit and communicated to me in some way. The only thing that blocks this is ego thoughts I have not released. So I remain vigilant for those thoughts and ready to release them.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 13: VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 6. 11-7-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 6

6 They are all the same; all beautiful and equal in their holiness. And He will offer them unto His Father as they were offered unto Him. There is one miracle, as there is one reality. And every miracle you do contains them all, as every aspect of reality you see blends quietly into the one reality of God. The only miracle that ever was is God’s most holy Son, created in the one reality that is his Father. Christ’s vision is His gift to you. His Being is His Father’s gift to Him.

Journal
I am having trouble with this paragraph. It is hard for me to understand, and I guess the reason it is hard to understand is that Jesus is explaining something unexplainable. But I am going to look at it closely and ask for clarity. Here is what I understand.

They are all the same; all beautiful and equal in their holiness. That is us. We are aspects of a whole, all equal, all the same, all holy.

And He will offer them unto His Father as they were offered unto Him. That is, our awakening is the Holy Spirit’s function given Him by God. In fulfilling His function the Holy Spirit gives us back to God, awakened.

There is one miracle, as there is one reality. And every miracle you do contains them all, as every aspect of reality you see blends quietly into the one reality of God. We are studying A Course in Miracles. We are miracles and we are learning to give miracles, to do miracles, to perform miracles. These are all ways that Jesus refers to this aspect of our function here.

What he seems to be telling us in this paragraph is that every miracle we do contains all miracles. This reference brings to mind a hologram. Here is what I read about holograms: “…the word hologram comes from the Greek words holos, “whole,” and gramma, “message.” If a hologram is cut into pieces, each piece projects the entire image…”

Could it be that we are a whole and each aspect of us (the selves we cut into pieces) contains the whole? Jesus is telling us that miracles are like that. Each miracle, regardless of the form it takes, contains the whole, contains all miracles. Maybe that is what he is saying in the first principle of miracles: There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not “harder” or “bigger” than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal.

And this part of the sentence: …as every aspect of reality you see blends quietly into the one reality of God. I think this is saying that the miracle exposes an aspect of reality, some aspect of Love, and these aspects are part of God as well. God is the one reality and there is nothing else.

The only miracle that ever was is God’s most holy Son, created in the one reality that is his Father. So, the Son of God, of which we are an aspect, is the one miracle. Again I reference the hologram. An apple is photographed in a certain way that allows a holographic image to be seen. When this happens, you have the original image of an apple and you have a small image taken from the original. The small image contains everything the original contains. The Son of God is the miracle, and all the other miracles we perform are the original miracle in every way. Only form makes them appear as if they are different.

And the miracle that is the most holy Son was created in God. So there is still only God.

The Holy Spirit is the Thought of Correction and what is a Thought in the Mind of God is creation. So the Holy Spirit, like the Son, is also in God, therefore, there is still only God. His being is His Father’s gift to Him. And the Holy Spirit’s gift to us is Christ’s vision. Christ’s vision allows us to see only the truth without the errors of the ego distorting it. It is with Christ’s vision that we are able to see the beautiful brilliant light that is our brother in spite of the character he seems to be playing.

This is my present best understanding of this paragraph.

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