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Study of the Text, II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 6. 10-9-13

II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 6
10-9-13
6 The Holy Spirit calls you both to remember and to forget. You have chosen to be in a state of opposition in which opposites are possible. As a result, there are choices you must make. In the holy state the will is free, so that its creative power is unlimited and choice is meaningless. Freedom to choose is the same power as freedom to create, but its application is different. Choosing depends on a split mind. The Holy Spirit is one way of choosing. God did not leave His children comfortless, even though they chose to leave Him. The voice they put in their minds was not the Voice for His Will, for which the Holy Spirit speaks.

Before the split mind choices were meaningless. This is because in our true state the will is free and our creative power is unlimited. But now, because of the split mind, there are opposites and we must make choices. We made a voice that was not real, and we believed that voice, so we were given another Voice. Now there are two voices and we must choose the one we would listen to.

The ego voice that we made and believed will lead us deeper into the illusion and further from Love. The Voice given us by God will help us wake up from the dream of separation and remind us of the truth of who we are. It will lead us to Heaven and restore the memory of True Self. There is no option to not make a choice. This choice must be made every moment of every day.

When I was depressed it was because I chose to believe the ego voice. When I made another choice, I didn’t even realize I was doing so. It is only in retrospect that I see clearly the moment I chose differently. I should say it was the moment I began to choose differently, because it required many choices to let go of the beliefs that made a world where depression is possible. I still make that choice every day.

My life began to change when I began to question my beliefs. Up until that point I just assumed that depression was unavoidable for me. It was my fate. I am sure that beneath that belief there was the belief that I was unworthy and being punished by God for my sins. But after I began to study the Course I learned to doubt the idea of a judgmental, punishing God. I began to doubt my unworthiness. Eventually, I began to doubt the inevitability of depression as a way of life.

I did not set out to rid myself of depression. I didn’t even believe that was possible. But as I questioned my beliefs about God and my nature, I realized that my mind was sick. I learned to ask that my mind be healed, and the miracle occurred. Just as a sick mind projected a sick brain, a healed mind projected a healed brain and the symptoms were gone.

The ego still offers me the option of being depressed. I can see the appeal now. I used to feel sorry for myself and expected others to be sorry for me, too, and that pity was the way I felt loved. When the depression was strong, I could opt out of life and I had that perfect excuse to do so. I was so depressed I couldn’t get out of bed, and no one expected me to. I was so special.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I loved my depression story. A friend had a huge bottle of pills that she kept for the moment the depression was too great to bear. That bottle of pills was her way out if she couldn’t stand life anymore. One day she gave them to me because she didn’t need them anymore. I took them with gratitude and kept them as my failsafe.

You would think that my first reaction would to be to beg her for her secret of getting out of the depression, but instead, I just took the pills and was happy to have them. I believed that death was my only escape and I wasn’t interested in healing as an escape. I loved that story of depression and I wasn’t giving it up. That should have clued me into how sick my mind was, but it would take more suffering for me to reach the point that I began to ask for a different way.

It took time for me to make a different choice, but always, even when I didn’t believe in the possibility of another choice, that other choice was waiting patiently for me. I have friends who chose the bottle of pills, or some other way out, who never made the choice for life. What about them? The cycle of birth and death will just spit them back into the illusion again, and they will have another chance to choose the Voice for God.

Failure is not an option. We are the Son’s of God. We cannot be destroyed, not even by our own hand. We can only dream of destruction. We can dream of suffering as long as we can stand it, but eventually we will dream of God, and then He will lift us up. He waits only for us to make that choice.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 5, 10-8-13

II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 5
10-8-13
5 God does not guide, because He can share only perfect knowledge. Guidance is evaluative, because it implies there is a right way and also a wrong way, one to be chosen and the other to be avoided. By choosing one you give up the other. The choice for the Holy Spirit is the choice for God. God is not in you in a literal sense; you are part of Him. When you chose to leave Him He gave you a Voice to speak for Him, because He could no longer share His knowledge with you without hindrance. Direct communication was broken because you had made another voice.

I made a voice other than God’s and decided to believe everything it said as if it were my god now. That’s kind of scary when I think about it, and I suppose that little twinge of anxiety I feel when I write this is because I am touching on that deep well of unconscious guilt that resides deep in my mind. I think I replaced God and now He can’t even talk to me because I cut Him out of my awareness. It feels scary because I am afraid He is angry about this, but if He were angry He would not have given me a Guide, a Voice to speak for Him.

Direct communication with God has been cut off, not by Him, but by me. I chose to make another voice and I can choose for God instead. This is what I am doing as I practice A Course in Miracles. I am choosing to have the ego undone because the ego is the thing that hinders our communication. I do this by choosing the Holy Spirit over the ego and by doing this consistently until I no longer hear two voices.

There are times when I feel like this is an impossible task. I am encouraged to know that I am in God. How could I be separated from God when I live in Him? And yet, I am no longer in direct communication with my Creator, and I am no longer in peace. The only answer must be that I am not actually separate, but am dreaming of being separate. I am now tired of this dream and am ready to wake up. The Holy Spirit is guiding me out of the dream as I allow Him to undo the ego a belief at a time.

I used to have very low self esteem. Every time I would feel less-than I would ask for healing. I slowly let go of each mistaken thought as I allowed the Holy Spirit to replace that thought with a true one. I cannot hold two diametrically opposed beliefs at the same time. If I believe Holy Spirit then the ego belief is gone. It really is that simple, and yet it took years for me to accept that I cannot be less than someone else. It was not Holy Spirit doing a poor job of guiding me; it was me being balky at letting go of something I thought I needed, but in the end I did it.

Each ego belief that I allow to be undone by the Holy Spirit makes it easier to do the next. He and I are working on a core belief now. I asked Him to help me let go of the belief in guilt, and frankly its kicking my butt. But I know that, together, we will succeed and so it is easier to do than it would have been just a short time ago.  The guilty thoughts arise for me to look at with the Holy Spirit, one after another, and I can get temporarily confused and begin to believe them, forgetting the purpose of looking, at least momentarily.

But now even when that happens, even when I am confused, I am not afraid. This is because I have gone through this process often enough to trust it, and there has been enough mind healing that I am more familiar with the process. This is why the Holy Spirit works with us at a pace we can tolerate. If I had done this before I was ready it would not have worked. I would have run from the guilt thoughts, throwing them at others where I could, and furiously burying them as I have before. If there is one thing I have learned it is that I can trust Holy Spirit. If I am guided to look at something it is because I am ready and I can do it.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 4 10-7-13

II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 4
10-7-13
4 You are the Kingdom of Heaven, but you have let the belief in darkness enter your mind and so you need a new light. The Holy Spirit is the radiance that you must let banish the idea of darkness. His is the glory before which dissociation falls away, and the Kingdom of Heaven breaks through into its own. Before the separation you did not need guidance. You knew as you will know again, but as you do not know now.

We are at the end of our journey, you and I. It may not seem so because of all the mistaken thoughts that are coming up for healing, but it is, never the less, true. In fact, our awareness of those thoughts is an integral part of that healing. We would not be doing this study, or certainly not sticking with it unless we were ready to wake up. The closer I get the more aware I become of the guilt and fear thoughts. I know that this is good, but Myron feels anxious about this, and since I am still fairly identified with her, I feel her anxiety.

I also feel eager for the next step and the next. This is good, but the two emotions together, anxiety and eagerness create a sense of conflict in the mind and that is not comfortable. I’m writing about it this morning because Byron Katie says all war belongs on paper and war is what it feels like. I am at war with myself, wanting to wake up, but afraid to leave my dream.

The ending of this story is not in doubt, however I might feel conflicted about it. Light always banishes darkness, and I have invited the Light to shine in my mind. I invite it every time I notice the dark thoughts that still have a place in my mind. Jesus is reminding me that the darkness is not a permanent condition and that I was not always asleep.

Before the separation I did not need a guide but since I dream of separation, I am grateful for the Helper in my mind. I intend to take full advantage of Him, being vigilant for the beliefs that He would shine away at my say-so. I am also comforted to know that my brother, Jesus, stands at the to correct any errors that I cannot correct. Thank you, Brother.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text 10-4-13 II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 3

II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 3
10-4-13
3 The principle of Atonement and the separation began at the same time. When the ego was made, God placed in the mind the Call to joy. This Call is so strong that the ego always dissolves at Its sound. That is why you must choose to hear one of two voices within you. One you made yourself, and that one is not of God. But the other is given you by God, Who asks you only to listen to it. The Holy Spirit is in you in a very literal sense. His is the Voice that calls you back to where you were before and will be again. It is possible even in this world to hear only that Voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is the final lesson that I learned, and God’s Sons are as equal as learners as they are as Sons.

I was reading in the Manual for Teachers this morning: “Heaven is here. There is nowhere else. Heaven is now. There is no other time.” So there is nothing for me to do to be what I am, nowhere to go. It is not in the future or the past. There is only now. But I don’t really know that. I still think I am something else. I still think that Heaven is someplace else. I know the words that refute that, and I believe they must be true, but if I really knew them I would experience life differently than I do.

On the other hand, my life does reflect my growing acceptance of the Atonement, and I have no doubt that I will soon be where I was before and will be again, that is, I will remember who I am. This is happening because I am learning to listen to that one Voice, the Voice for God, and my goal is to hear only that Voice. Right now I still hear the ego voice, but I deny its ability to affect me. Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said that it takes effort and great willingness to learn to hear only this Voice, but it is worth every bit of it.

Because I ask for guilt and fear to be undone in my mind, I get to see a lot of it. This is necessary because for it to be undone I must look at it with the Holy Spirit. With so much of this happening right now I sometimes get discouraged. I see all this fear and guilt and think I haven’t made any progress at all. But while the well of guilt and fear is very deep in us, it is not endless. And I am capable of doing my part. I know this because Jesus said that what he asked us to do, we can do.

Something that helped me to feel more confident came from Chapter 14. It says: “You can learn to bless, and cannot give what you have not. If, then, you offer blessing, it must have come first to yourself. And you must also have accepted it as yours, for how else could you give it away? That is why miracles offer you the testimony that you are blessed.”

The reason this has helped me is that even when I am completely tangled up in my fear and guilt thoughts to such a degree that I have forgotten why I am looking at them, I can still teach the truth without any of that confusion. Because I give that truth I know that I have that truth and that I have accepted it, or I would not be able to give it. This helps me to remember why I am looking at all these thoughts of guilt and fear. I am looking so they can be healed. I am not guilty; I am only looking.

Sometimes it is really uncomfortable to look at the thoughts in my mind, but it is an essential part of the process that allows them to be purified. In doing this work, I am making the effort and giving my willingness to be healed, and thus I am waking up. I am remembering who I am as I accept the Atonement for these thoughts. I am learning to hear only that one Voice.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 2 10-3-13

II. The Voice for God, Paragraph 2
10-3-13
2 The Holy Spirit is the spirit of joy. He is the Call to return with which God blessed the minds of His separated Sons. This is the vocation of the mind. The mind had no calling until the separation, because before that it had only being, and would not have understood the call to right thinking. The Holy Spirit is God’s Answer to the separation; the means by which the Atonement heals until the whole mind returns to creating.

We are not really here. We are dreaming of an impossible existence. It is not our entire mind that is dreaming, just a part of it. We continue to be just as we always have. We are with God. We create. We have creations who love us, just as we love our creator. But we are also, at the same time, dreaming of separation, and the part of the mind that dreams is fully involved in the dream and doesn’t remember that it is just a dream.

I am beginning to remember, just as you are. God placed the answer to the separation in our mind so that when the time came, when we were ready to awaken, we would have the means to do so. This answer is the Holy Spirit, the call to joy. As I get closer to awakening I long for that joy. There was a time when I thought the way out of here was death and in my confusion and depression I considered suicide, but I wasn’t sure that I was right and so I held off.

Now I understand that death is not an answer. It is just another part of the dream. But even my misguided longing to get out of this life made sense, just not the plan for doing it. I am ready to leave the story behind and return all of my mind to God. I am ready to return to true creation. Death is not the exit I thought it was, but there is an exit. As I turn my attention to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to heal my mind, I undo the world I made up. All that will be left is Reality.

© 2013, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

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