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Study of Text, C 13: VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 5. 11-4-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 5

5 This is the miracle of creation; that it is one forever. Every miracle you offer to the Son of God is but the true perception of one aspect of the whole. Though every aspect is the whole, you cannot know this until you see that every aspect is the same, perceived in the same light and therefore one. Everyone seen without the past thus brings you nearer to the end of time by bringing healed and healing sight into the darkness, and enabling the world to see. For light must come into the darkened world to make Christ’s vision possible even here. Help Him to give His gift of light to all who think they wander in the darkness, and let Him gather them into His quiet sight that makes them one.

Journal
Every time I see someone as if this is the only moment of their existence, I am seeing them in reality, and I am undoing the separation. I see that one as they are now and without a past and that is a miracle. It is a miracle of true perception, and a miracle of healing brought into the world. If I see my son as if a moment ago doesn’t exist, he is pure in my mind. If I do that for you, you become pure in my mind. Now you are the same. If I have done it for me, then we are all three the same. The miracle has helped me to know that we are all aspects of the One. We are each whole and each part of the Whole.

As I do this in the world, I have accomplished forgiveness in its truest sense. I have accepted the Atonement. This is my gift to the world, this deliberate choice to use Christ vision to bring light into a darkened world. Every time I do this for anyone, I help the Holy Spirit to light this brother’s way. This is such a lofty goal, that I feel joy as I think of it. It is so easy, so simple, so necessary. Then I have some meaningless grievance against someone and I forget my lofty goal, and instead I nurse my grievance as a way to justify my judgment. It doesn’t make me happy and it doesn’t gift the world, so I don’t know why I do it.
Maybe I will remember to choose differently the next time.

I imagine us all walking around with costumes and acting out our parts on a stage. When we are through with our part, we go back stage and take off our costume, which includes walking away from the body, which is just another part of the costume. As we do so, we all stand there together, and we are all exactly the same. Without the body-costume, there is no way to tell one from another, really. We walk away from the costume and with it the play with all its dramas. Could you imagine being angry with an actor because of the part he played for a brief moment in time? Without the costume what would there be to distinguish one aspect from another aspect? Without the past performance to refer to, and without a specific person to attach to that performance, how could we hold onto any grievance, anyway?

This visualization is helping me to see everyone as the same and to let go of the past. I just imagine them walking out of the scene they just played and into another. That previous scene simply ceases to exist. There, the past is gone. Then I imagine this longest running play ending. I imagine us shucking off the bodies and expanding as light that we know as unending. Light blending into never ending light. There, we really are the same, just aspects of a whole. I don’t know what we are in reality, I guess, but this is a helpful image for me.

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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 4. 11-2-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 4

4 Apart from the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit has no function. He is not separate from Either, being in the Mind of Both, and knowing that Mind is One. He is a Thought of God, and God has given Him to you because He has no Thoughts He does not share. His message speaks of timelessness in time, and that is why Christ’s vision looks on everything with love. Yet even Christ’s vision is not His reality. The golden aspects of reality that spring to light under His loving gaze are partial glimpses of the Heaven that lies beyond them.

Journal

Ooh, I like this glimpse at the Holy Spirit. He is part of me (the Son of God) and a part of God, in the Mind of Both. And He knows that Mind is One. Here is something else that I love to read here. He is a Thought of God, and God has given Him to me because He has no Thoughts He does not share. Imagine that! God has no Thoughts He does not share with us. And I think that Thought is not the same as the thoughts we have. I think that what is a Thought in God’s Mind is a Creation.

The Holy Spirit brings some of Reality into our illusion. He says that his message speaks of timelessness in time. I was thinking about those times when I needed Him to manipulate time for me so that I could get my writing and my posting done before I absolutely had to stop and go to work, and He did! I would finish my writing and make my last posting and look at the clock to see that almost no time passed. I don’t know if this kind of thing is what Jesus means by that sentence, but it sure feels like a miracle to me. It feels like timelessness brought into time.

And he says that Christ vision works the same way. Through His vision we see love everywhere we look. I haven’t been able to do this universally and consistently, yet, but I have had glimpses and it is remarkable. It can happen right in the middle of a grievance, and simply because I want Christ vision more than I want to justify my grievance. I can be very angry or very resentful and ask for another way to see it, and everything changes. Just like that! It is a miracle when it happens.

As wonderful as it is, Jesus says Christ’s Vision is not His Reality. It is just a glimpse of the Heaven that lies just beyond that miraculous change. Can you imagine what it must be like to see only God everywhere you look? Cate says that is what she sees. I long to join her there in that place where she sees with Christ. That is why I never for a moment stop looking at the mind, letting Holy Spirit heal what I find there that is not God. I really do believe that I can learn that I want to see only with Christ vision, and that this holy vision is meant for me. I believe that all I need is to wholly desire, to desire nothing above that elevated vision, in order to have it.

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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 3. 11-1-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 3

3 Perfect perception, then, has many elements in common with knowledge, making transfer to it possible. Yet the last step must be taken by God, because the last step in your redemption, which seems to be in the future, was accomplished by God in your creation. The separation has not interrupted it. Creation cannot be interrupted. The separation is merely a faulty formulation of reality, with no effect at all. The miracle, without a function in Heaven, is needful here. Aspects of reality can still be seen, and they will replace aspects of unreality. Aspects of reality can be seen in everything and everywhere. Yet only God can gather them together, by crowning them as one with the final gift of eternity.

Journal
Because my mind is stuck in time right now, it is impossible to have more than a vague idea of what Jesus is telling me in this paragraph. How can I understand eternity while I believe in time? But I do understand that God takes the last step in bringing me home. I understand that creation cannot be interrupted in spite of my dream of doing so. I accept that separation is a faulty formulation of reality and it has no real effects.

I also know in a small way that aspects of reality can still be seen and that they will replace aspects of unreality. I have moments of universal and unconditional love. I have experienced miracles in which the laws of time and space were completely undone. I have had miracles in which my mind was suddenly and inexplicably healed in an instant, of an idea that was not true. I have felt some aspect of God’s love and been so overwhelmed I could only sit and cry in joy. So, I believe in those aspects of reality.

That last step that is God’s part is beyond my understanding and my experience, so I will just focus on what is my part, and be grateful that the Holy Spirit does His part, and grateful to Jesus for his part. I continue to watch my mind and continue to cultivate my willingness, and more and more I have come in touch with my purpose and my truest heart’s desire. I am learning patience and to be gentle with myself and everyone else.

Even when I stumble along the way, as I have done with my response to my son’s challenges, I know that the peace of God is everything I want, both for me and my son. So I just keep moving forward, accepting help from my Brother, Jesus, and accepting healing from the Holy Spirit. I know that this situation is not bigger or harder than any other, it just represents an unhealed place in my mind that needs to be seen and released. I know this even as it feels impossibly hard, and really big. Not one bit of this situation is reality, and I am willing to know this in my heart.

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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 13: VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 2. 10-28-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 2

2 The very real difference between perception and knowledge becomes quite apparent if you consider this: There is nothing partial about knowledge. Every aspect is whole, and therefore no aspect is separate. You are an aspect of knowledge, being in the Mind of God, Who knows you. All knowledge must be yours, for in you is all knowledge. Perception, at its loftiest, is never complete. Even the perception of the Holy Spirit, as perfect as perception can be, is without meaning in Heaven. Perception can reach everywhere under His guidance, for the vision of Christ beholds everything in light. Yet no perception, however holy, will last forever.

Journal
Here is what I know . . . ok, that was a short list. I don’t know even in the most basic things. I can say that I am here, but then I have to ask, who am I who is here? Where is here? Jesus just told us in the last paragraph that there is no where or when. How about this: I love God and He loves me. At least that is true. But what does it mean? I don’t even know what love is. I know the feelings I have for certain people, but love is universal or it is not love. So clearly, what I feel is not love as love truly exists.

All I have to go on is perception, that is, how I choose to see things. If I allow it, the Holy Spirit will fulfill Its function and correct my perception. Even then, it is still perception and not knowledge. Trying to understand this I thought about how the Holy Spirit has helped me. I have made myself miserable simply by dragging the past around with me. This unfortunate tendency keeps me locked into thinking that is often painful.

So the Holy Spirit has helped me to understand that the past does not exist so there is no reason to feel guilty for it, or to find someone else guilty. He helped me to imagine time rolling up like a carpet behind me, so I look back and there is nothing to see. Where is the reason for guilt now? But if we actually exist in eternity, then there is no timeline at all, so no carpet to roll up. There is nothing happening before or after.

And not only is time an illusion, there is also no one outside my mind to find guilty in the first place, and as the Son of God, how could I be guilty for anything myself? And even this is just a clearer way to see; it is not truth. I accept the limits of perception, but I know that truth or not, there is a way to see that will bring me peace even in this dream state. This is worth pursuing.

I can just forget about knowing anything. That is not going to happen. What I can do is accept correction for my misperceived thoughts. I can bring my thoughts into alignment with something close to truth, if I will allow the Holy Spirit to do that for me. Right now my life is pretty insane. It always has been, but in the past I just didn’t know how insane it was.

Here is an example. This morning I discovered that someone did something for me that was very loving and kind. I felt that love wash over me and it brought tears of happiness to my eyes. Then, in almost the same breath, I remembered that something was occurring with a loved one that I perceive as bad, and the fear covered over the love and I felt discouraged and the tears were sad tears.

I know what happened. I understand that both the loving feeling and the frightened feeling are the result of perception, and perception isn’t the truth. The loving feeling was closer to truth. It more closely reflects what I am as the Son of God, so while it is not truth, it is a true perception. I see the Holy Spirit’s work in this perception. The frightening feeling is further from the truth. It reflects a thought that is based on an illusion.
How could the Son of God have anything to fear? In order to be afraid I would have to believe something that is false. I see the ego’s thinking in this perception.

It is easy now to discern the source of my perceptions. If my thoughts produce happy, peaceful and loving effects, they reflect true perception. If they produce angry, fearful, guilty effects, they reflect untrue perception. Knowing this, I can ask for correction of my thoughts when I see they are clearly false. I must ask for help because I can’t undo them alone, since I did not make them alone.

In the Rules for Decision in Chapter 30, Jesus tells us that all decisions, in order to have power, must be made in union. We either make them with the ego or with Holy Spirit. So if I made a decision to believe something that causes me to suffer then in order to correct that effect, I must make a new decision this time with Holy Spirit. So instead of joining with ego, I join with the Holy Spirit. My part is to desire change, and His part is to facilitate that change. In union He and I change the perception that was false and my thinking once again reflects love and I am happy. And very grateful.

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

Study of Text, C 13: VIII. VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 1. 10-27-16

VIII. From Perception to Knowledge, P 1

1 All healing is release from the past. That is why the Holy Spirit is the only Healer. He teaches that the past does not exist, a fact which belongs to the sphere of knowledge, and which therefore no one in the world can know. It would indeed be impossible to be in the world with this knowledge. For the mind that knows this unequivocally knows also it dwells in eternity, and utilizes no perception at all. It therefore does not consider where it is, because the concept “where” does not mean anything to it. It knows that it is everywhere, just as it has everything, and forever.

Journal
Jesus says that all healing is release from the past. In another place in the Course he says that all healing is essentially a release from fear. This tells me that a release from the past is a release from fear. So I asked how this could be. How is it that fear and the past are associated? The answer is in this paragraph.

Here is how this seems to me. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit teaches us that the past does not exist, and without the belief in the past, we know ourselves only in eternity. In eternity there is no perception because we have knowledge. In fact, if we have knowledge, we cannot exist in the world. So what is perception and how is it different than knowledge?

Perception is what we have instead of knowledge while we believe we exist outside eternity. Knowledge is certain and unchanging. Knowledge is true now and later and in every circumstance. In fact, knowledge undoes now and later and circumstances. Perception, on the other hand is only what we currently believe to be true. It might be true or it might not. It might be true at this moment, and different in another moment. Perception is an product of time, so it doesn’t exist outside of time.

Here is an example of perception. I had a text from my child that seemed very unkind and judgmental. I felt first angry, then sad. When we spoke in person, I realized she had been making a joke, something that was not obvious in a text. So for awhile I read the words and thought I knew what they meant. That was my perception. Then I spoke to her and the meaning of the words changed. That was my new perception of the same words.
Remembering this incident it is easy for me to see why it is that perception causes us to feel like the world is not stable, and why we feel insecure and therefore fearful.

If we had knowledge instead of perception all this would change. But here is something interesting that Jesus tells us in this paragraph. If we had knowledge we would not see ourselves as in this world. We would know that we dwell in eternity. Eternity is without a where and without a when. Without a when there would be no past.

What would there be to fear without a past? Every frightening or regretful thought I have ever had was based on something I did or heard or learned in the past. The ego thoughts that I bring to the Holy Spirit for healing would not exist if I did not keep them alive through memory, which is the present view of the past. So without a past there would be no need for healing. If there were nothing to be healed, there would be no fear.

The mind that knows it is in eternity knows that it is everywhere, just as it has everything, and forever. I repeated this promise here just because I like to remind myself of the goal and the reason I do the work and stay true to my purpose.

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

Study of Text, C 13: VII. Attainment of the Real World, P 17. 10-25-16

VII. Attainment of the Real World, P 17

17 We cannot sing redemption’s hymn alone. My task is not completed until I have lifted every voice with mine. And yet it is not mine, for as it is my gift to you, so was it the Father’s gift to me, given me through His Spirit. The sound of it will banish sorrow from the mind of God’s most holy Son, where it cannot abide. Healing in time is needed, for joy cannot establish its eternal reign where sorrow dwells. You dwell not here, but in eternity. You travel but in dreams, while safe at home. Give thanks to every part of you that you have taught how to remember you. Thus does the Son of God give thanks unto his Father for his purity.

Journal
Ah, the dichotomy of it. I think I am here in time and space, being something I cannot be. Often I forget it can only be a dream and I believe in it. I believe I am Myron and I believe this is my life and where I exist. Even when I know this is not so, I still experience it as if it were the truth. The difference now is that I can accept that this is a dream and when I forget, I can shift back to remembering.

As I experience purification, the dream is a happier dream, but still a dream. The truth is I exist in eternity, in joy and purity. That means I am in eternity now, even as I dream of being in time. As I have allowed my mind to be healed of this fantasy, I have learned to love and appreciate Jesus for his dedication to our awakening. He says that his task is not complete until he lifts every voice with his. I want to join you in this, Jesus. I want to help you awaken everyone.

Right now, I help by accepting the Atonement for myself. I notice each sorrow I seem to experience and ask to see differently. They are far fewer than they used to be, but the ones that come up now are the beliefs I have held close, and so it seems hard sometimes. But this I know; I choose. I choose to keep the beliefs or I choose to let them go.

Dear Brother, I dedicate myself, as have you, to the Awakening. I surrender the self, and I willingly accept guidance.
In the Manual for Teachers it says this about Jesus.

It is possible to read his words and benefit from them without accepting him into your life. Yet he would help you yet a little more if you will share your pains and joys with him, and leave them both to find the peace of God.

I love you Brother, and I gratefully accept you into my life. I gratefully share my pains and joys with you. And I most gratefully leave them both to find the peace of God.

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

Study of Text, C 13: VII. Attainment of the Real World, P 16. 10-24-16

VII. Attainment of the Real World, P 16

16 In me you have already overcome every temptation that would hold you back. We walk together on the way to quietness that is the gift of God. Hold me dear, for what except your brothers can you need? We will restore to you the peace of mind that we must find together. The Holy Spirit will teach you to awaken unto us and to yourself. This is the only real need to be fulfilled in time. Salvation from the world lies only here. My peace I give you. Take it of me in glad exchange for all the world has offered but to take away. And we will spread it like a veil of light across the world’s sad face, in which we hide our brothers from the world, and it from them.

Journal
“In me you have already overcome every temptation that would hold you back.”
In the Course, Jesus has told us that we need do nothing. Again, here, he is telling us that it has all been done for us. He overcame temptation and when it was done by him, it was done for us. This is part of what it means to be One in the Mind of Christ. What is done by one is done for all. So what does this mean to me? How does this affect me?

I think what it means is that I can relax and take this journey in peace. I can notice the ego thoughts in my mind and know they are meaningless, and therefore I am guiltless. I can see them, and let them go the Holy Spirit. I don’t have to worry about what I find in the mind, nor do I have to struggle with it or change it. The only change required of me is that I change my mind about wanting to keep the ego deceptions. I change my mind, not out of fear or because they are evil, but because they hold me back and I am ready to return to God.

Jesus is my brother and all I need is the awareness that my brothers are all I need. As I accept that we are one, I accept my true nature and the nature of my Creator. In that instant of acceptance, I let go of the separate self, and the separate will that allowed the experience of this illusion. In that instant, I know that God’s Will is truly my will and the only will I have. Jesus is the first of us to complete the journey, and in his completion is ours.
Now all we need to do is to accept it as completed.

All the work that seems necessary is that we remove all that blocks our awareness. I allow the removal of these blocks daily as I choose peace rather than judgment, love rather than fear, innocence rather than guilt. I am just reminding myself of my true nature, and deciding for it as opposed to the made up self I chose long ago. Yes, Jesus has undone it, but I must accept it for myself. I do this as I have looked at the effect of separation and seen that I am no longer interested. What I want the Holy Spirit cannot undo, but my disinterest allows the mind to be healed.

I am awakening to Jesus and to those others who have gone before me. They are helping me to remember. Each time I look on a brother’s confusion and refuse to become confused myself, I am a step closer. Each time I am attacked and refuse to defend myself, I am a step closer. Each time I see evil and ugliness, unkindness and guilt and fear, and instead of reacting to it, I ask for another way to see, I am a step closer.

This is how we do it. No need to be afraid, no need to doubt. It is done for us, and as we accept what has been done, we join our brother Jesus in awakening the rest of the Sonship. I am resolute in my decision for union. I will see my brother as myself, and if I falter even for a moment, I will ask for help and Help will answer me.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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