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Study of Text, Chapter 11: VI: Waking to Redemption, P 8. 11-10-15

VI. Waking to Redemption, P 8

8 You have nailed yourself to a cross, and placed a crown of thorns upon your own head. Yet you cannot crucify God’s Son, for the Will of God cannot die. His Son has been redeemed from his own crucifixion, and you cannot assign to death whom God has given eternal life. The dream of crucifixion still lies heavy on your eyes, but what you see in dreams is not reality. While you perceive the Son of God as crucified, you are asleep. And as long as you believe that you can crucify him, you are only having nightmares. You who are beginning to wake are still aware of dreams, and have not yet forgotten them. The forgetting of dreams and the awareness of Christ come with the awakening of others to share your redemption.

Journal
I’m dreaming of crucifixion. That’s all that is happening; a bad dream, a nightmare, but still, just a dream. I cannot crucify or be crucified except in a dream. The Son of God cannot be crucified because that is not God’s Will. I am safe as are all my brothers, but as long as I judge and hold onto my grievances, as long as I place value in the separate-self and believe it is me, I will suffer for my beliefs.

We are beginning to wake up, and recognize that there is no value in our grievances, and so we are learning to forgive them. We are still aware of our dreams and most of us still become confused about what they mean. We ask the ego for an interpretation and believe what we hear. But, and this is the difference between being completely asleep and waking up, we notice how miserable it is to hold the grievance and how peaceful it is to let them go. So we ask again, this time directing our inquiry to the Holy Spirit.

This is our work right now, to become aware of the voice we are listening to, and to choose differently when we are not at peace. This is the way we end the dream of crucifixion. When it is time, we will be awake from all dreams and forget they ever existed. This occurs as our brothers awaken with us. Together we are redeemed.

My prayer for today is from The End of Death, by Nouk Sanchez

Holy Spirit, please help me to forgive myself for using my body to attack myself and to separate from your Love as my Holy Self.

If this prayer speaks to you, please feel free to exchange “body” with any other word, person, situation, that is being used to deny your Holy Self.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, Chapter 11: VI: Waking to Redemption, P 7. 11-9-15

VI. Waking to Redemption, P 7

7 You will not find peace until you have removed the nails from the hands of God’s Son, and taken the last thorn from his forehead. The Love of God surrounds His Son whom the god of crucifixion condemns. Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die by demonstrating that I live in you. For the undoing of the crucifixion of God’s Son is the work of the redemption, in which everyone has a part of equal value. God does not judge His guiltless Son. Having given Himself to him, how could it be otherwise?

Journal
How do I remove the nails from the hands of God’s Son? When I feel guilty for something I said or did, past or present, I remember that I am redeemed. I am forgiven. In this way, I am teaching innocence to myself, and undoing the crucifixion. It is the same when I make someone else guilty. I undo the crucifixion of the Son the moment I realize what I have done and ask for healing.

I have had the experience, as I expect everyone else has had, of being reluctant to forgive. It seems that it is myself I crucify the most often, and myself that I resist forgiving. It makes no difference if it is myself or someone else; in my refusal to forgive I am condemning the Son of God. Either way, myself or someone else, I am teaching guilt and so learning guilt, and blinding myself to innocence.

If I tell myself that I want to forgive but just can’t, I am being dishonest. The resistance to forgive is the desire to judge, to hold a grievance, and the desire to remain in the illusion of separation. It is a decision I make, a choice. When I am ready to be happy I ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind and to show me another way to see this.

The more often I accept the Atonement for my judgments and release my grievances, the less I am able to tolerate the effects. I want the ease, and the lightness and the joy of being forgiven and forgiving. I laugh at myself sometimes when I realize that I am crucifying myself. I remember hearing Dolly Parton remark about someone doing this to himself. She said, “Get down off the cross. We need the wood.” Ha ha.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: VI: Waking to Redemption, P 6. 11-5-15

VI. Waking to Redemption, P 6
6 Resurrection must compel your allegiance gladly, because it is the symbol of joy. Its whole compelling power lies in the fact that it represents what you want to be. The freedom to leave behind everything that hurts you and humbles you and frightens you cannot be thrust upon you, but it can be offered you through the grace of God. And you can accept it by His grace, for God is gracious to His Son, accepting him without question as His Own. Who, then, is your own? The Father has given you all that is His, and He Himself is yours with them. Guard them in their resurrection, for otherwise you will not awake in God, safely surrounded by what is yours forever.

Journal
God created us and so knows us. He is never mistaken in us, never doubts us, never condemns us. He knows us as part of Himself and so perfect and whole. Everything that frightens us is in our imagination. We can be free of it as soon as that is what we want without exception. We long to free ourselves of nothing that we are convinced is something. We long to disentangle ourselves from a dream.

As far as I can tell, the only thing that is required of us is that we fully and wholly desire to awaken and reality will show itself to us. Because we have scared ourselves so badly with what we made, wanting to awaken is not something we come to without help. We have to look at what is keeping us in the dream and choose against it.

It seems to me that A Course in Miracles was inserted into the dream to help us do this. It points out what is really happening. It gives us the tools to see clearly and make new choices. It comforts and reassures. It reminds us of what we have forgotten, and points to our Guide and Helper, so we will be able to break the spell of illusion we have woven.

Because this is a dream of separation, we must learn to see wholeness again. I would think that in order to believe I am separate from my brothers, I had to make them my enemy. Otherwise the deep love I have for them would bind me so tightly to them that I could not convince myself they were not part of me. Now, I must be willing to let that spell be broken. The Course is helping me to do that.

So this is what I do all the time now, because if nothing else, I have remembered enough that I want to remember it all. I want to leave behind this absurd idea and return my mind to its natural state of blissful existence in God. I want to remember my love for my brothers, rather than reject them. So I pay attention to my mistaken thoughts and beliefs, and I give all the willingness I have to allow them to be corrected.

This shows up in my life as anger and fear and guilt projected as all these little dramas and petty attacks. It shows up as the belief I must defend myself against even those I claim to love. A Course in Miracles has helped me to see that all of this is just the natural effect of believing something that is not true and that it can be undone as I question the validity of the thoughts that made it and then, through the grace of God, let them be undone.

I don’t have to atone for my sins because nothing has happened. God loves me and I love Him. I belong to God and He belongs to me. What could a dream of something else mean to me? I am here, God. Please wake me up.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, Chapter 11: VI: Waking to Redemption, P 5. 11-4-15

VI. Waking to Redemption P 5

5 Do not underestimate the power of the devotion of God’s Son, nor the power the god he worships has over him. For he places himself at the altar of his god, whether it be the god he made or the God Who created him. That is why his slavery is as complete as his freedom, for he will obey only the god he accepts. The god of crucifixion demands that he crucify, and his worshippers obey. In his name they crucify themselves, believing that the power of the Son of God is born of sacrifice and pain. The God of resurrection demands nothing, for He does not will to take away. He does not require obedience, for obedience implies submission. He would only have you learn your will and follow it, not in the spirit of sacrifice and submission, but in the gladness of freedom.

Journal
Jesus is helping me to understand why it is that I am so attracted to guilt and fear even though it is obviously painful for me, and clearly not necessary. It is because I have made the ego my god, and I worship at it’s altar. My devotion is powerful and so my slavery is as complete as my freedom. It’s crazy. I hurt myself through my decision to be hurt.

I can stop it by simply making a different decision. I can worship my creator instead of the false God I made to take His place. That is all that is required for me to get down off this cross and live in freedom. I do understand this. It is the reason I have chosen surrender as my path to God. I feel drawn to surrender even though it is not my natural inclination, at least in the world.

I have spent my life becoming independent. I have worked hard at it. Even in my study of the Course I have focused on letting go of the idea of victimization, and sometimes for the wrong reason, I think. Only recently have I accepted the idea that victimization is impossible. I am the maker of all things in my world so how could I be victim to anything. At first, though, I just wanted to be successful at being independent and strong.

As I let go of more false beliefs, I have more clarity. It is not something I earned. It is simply the effect of allowing my mind to be cleared of all that obstructed the truth. I am learning that I don’t know what anything means. I am coming to value the “I don’t know” mind. What a strange thing it is that the less I claim, the more I have.

The more dependent I become on my Father, the freer I am. I thought dependence was loss, but I was wrong. Loss of ego independence was not a sacrifice and it cost me nothing and gave me everything that I have so far been willing to accept. I am slowly coming to the realization that the self-will I used to treasure above all else doesn’t even truly exist. Being part of God, I share His Will. How could that be a sacrifice?

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, Chapter 11: VI: Waking to Redemption, P 4. 11-3-15

VI. Waking to Redemption P 4

4 I am your resurrection and your life. You live in me because you live in God. And everyone lives in you, as you live in everyone. Can you, then, perceive unworthiness in a brother and not perceive it in yourself? And can you perceive it in yourself and not perceive it in God? Believe in the resurrection because it has been accomplished, and it has been accomplished in you. This is as true now as it will ever be, for the resurrection is the Will of God, which knows no time and no exceptions. But make no exceptions yourself, or you will not perceive what has been accomplished for you. For we ascend unto the Father together, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, for such is the nature of God’s Son as his Father created him.

Journal
To truly understand and accept my true nature, my complete safety and the absolute certainty of my return to God, it is necessary to accept that there is only God. I could not be separate from God because there is no separate from God. I will “return” to God because I never left. There is no time and so there is not a “time” I am not in God and part of God. In each moment, each eternal now, I am in God.

There is no will that is not God’s Will, so I am as He created me and nothing else could be true. I cannot have a will separate from God because there is no such thing. How could I be different from God and be in God? Clearly, something else is going on here. If only God is possible, then I must be part of God and in God and anything not in alignment with that truth, must not be real. I must be dreaming, surely. What I imagine to be real can only be an illusion.

This is all so self-evident when I sit here with my sweet brother, Jesus, and let him enlighten me about it. So why is it I still fall into the story and think that something is happening and it’s real and it matters, and I must do something about it? And what do I do about it? I call my story of Myron my life, but the truth is, if there were any such thing as death, this would be it. I am ready to resurrect from this pretense of death.

It is helping me to understand that within the vastness that is God, is Jesus. And within the vastness of Jesus, is me. And within the vastness of me, is every other brother. Whatever I believe about my brother, I therefore, must believe about myself. Whatever I believe about myself, I must believe about Jesus and about God.

I suppose that is why the thing most of us take from Jesus’ life is his pain and suffering in the crucifixion. We do that because we believe in pain and suffering and punishment. It is why we believed for so long, that God would sacrifice His Son for our sins. We believe in sacrifice and sin and retribution, so we believed it of God. But we are learning differently.

To be helpful to me now, I must reduce these lofty ideas to the level at which I find myself. Each time I see a brother, here is what I know.

When I meet anyone remember it is a holy encounter.
As you see him, I will see myself.
As I treat him, I will treat myself.
As I think of him, I will think of myself.
I never forget this, for in him I will find myself or lose myself.

In each encounter with a brother there is the potential for awakening, or for deepening my sleep. How I use that encounter is up to me, but the sheer potential for good is staggering. Holy Spirit, help me remember this, and help me let go of all nonsense that blocks this potential.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, Chapter 11: VI: Waking to Redemption, P 3. 11-2-15

VI. Waking to Redemption P 3

3 This course is perfectly clear. If you do not see it clearly, it is because you are interpreting against it, and therefore do not believe it. And since belief determines perception, you do not perceive what it means and therefore do not accept it. Yet different experiences lead to different beliefs, and with them different perceptions. For perceptions are learned with beliefs, and experience does teach. I am leading you to a new kind of experience that you will become less and less willing to deny. Learning of Christ is easy, for to perceive with Him involves no strain at all. His perceptions are your natural awareness, and it is only the distortions you introduce that tire you. Let the Christ in you interpret for you, and do not try to limit what you see by narrow little beliefs that are unworthy of God’s Son. For until Christ comes into His Own, the Son of God will see himself as Fatherless.

Journal
Jesus says the Course is perfectly clear, and I agree with him. There was a time when that sounded crazy to me. The Course was so hard for me to understand and harder still to accept. What I discovered over time is that everything that seemed complicated and hard became simple and easy as I was ready to allow that change. I was the one making it seem difficult. I was interpreting against it and so did not believe it.

It seemed to me like I believed it, but just couldn’t do it. But I see now that I didn’t really believe it. I would read something like we were all one, and I would try to believe it. I would try to see us as one, but still hold onto the idea that we were different. I would see this one as better than another or worse. I would see some people victimizing me or others, and believe in that instead of believing in oneness.

It was a process, and it took time for me to walk through it. Each step I took brought me a new experience and that experience changed the way I saw things. It was miraculous, really. I would struggle with a letting a grievance go and it would be so hard, sometimes taking weeks or months. I had a couple that took years.

But then one day I would finally reach my tipping point. I would be so sick of feeling stressed by the situation that I would finally ask with all my heart to be relieved of this grievance. And that would be the moment that I wanted peace more than I wanted to be right, and it was just done. I was healed, and I was happy. The next one would be easier because I believed in the healing power of the Atonement more than I had before.

I have finally reached the point that my perceptions are true enough that I seldom hold onto wrong-minded thinking for very long. My experience of allowing those thoughts to be healed has led me to new beliefs, and changed perceptions. More thoughts are coming up for healing and I look on them with the Holy Spirit and I am willing to see with Christ Vision in a way I didn’t even understand before. Occasionally it still feels hard, but I am not fooled. I know it is not hard, just temporarily unwelcome.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, Chapter 11, VI.Waking to Redemption, P 1. 10-29-15

VI. Waking to Redemption P 1

1 It is impossible not to believe what you see, but it is equally impossible to see what you do not believe. Perceptions are built up on the basis of experience, and experience leads to beliefs. It is not until beliefs are fixed that perceptions stabilize. In effect, then, what you believe you do see. That is what I meant when I said, “Blessed are ye who have not seen and still believe,” for those who believe in the resurrection will see it. The resurrection is the complete triumph of Christ over the ego, not by attack but by transcendence. For Christ does rise above the ego and all its works, and ascends to the Father and His Kingdom.

Journal
I see suffering and I see death, and it is impossible for me to stop seeing this as long as I believe in them. There is no point in trying to see this differently in the way I used to do. When I would see someone suffering and felt bad for them, I would try to see it differently. I would talk to myself about this not being the truth. I would tell myself that they are not the body that is suffering. But these were just words and all they could do was to push the truth down further from my awareness, because there was no healing in that process.

Here is how it is different now. Instead of seeing suffering and trying to see something else, and then feeling guilty and afraid when it didn’t work, I now see the suffering and realizing that my mind is not healed, I ask for healing. Over the years I have done this many times and I have learned that this prayer is always answered. I may not accept it fully the first time I ask, but even a little willingness changes the way I see.

Eventually, I have formed a new habit of asking that my perceptions be healed, and accepting that healing. These new perceptions become stable after awhile and now there are some wrong minded thoughts that I no longer believe even when the thoughts show up in my mind. No matter what my eyes show me, or my ego mind believes, I am never confused about them.

This success has motivated me to continue my practice. Everything I see in the world, and all my interpretations of what I see are based on my perceptions, and my perceptions tell me what it is that I want to believe. Perceptions are not the truth, but simply a choice made according to the experience I want.

I can change my mind at any time, and I do this through the Holy Spirit. I share with Him the way I am seeing something now, and I ask Him to heal my perceptions and show me what is really happening. It is that simple. If it takes time for acceptance to kick in, then I am patient with myself. I can afford to be patient because I have absolute faith in the outcome.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.