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Study of Text, Chapter 11: II: From Darkness to Light, P 6. 9-14-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 6

6 The children of light cannot abide in darkness, for darkness is not in them. Do not be deceived by the dark comforters, and never let them enter the mind of God’s Son, for they have no place in His temple. When you are tempted to deny Him remember that there are no other gods to place before Him, and accept His Will for you in peace. For you cannot accept it otherwise.

Journal
I see that Jesus is stating a simple truth. “The children of light cannot abide in darkness, for darkness is not in them.” If I am in darkness, in hatred, in rage, in depression, fear, guilt, in suffering of any kind, it can only be that I don’t remember what I am. I am a child of light and I am only dreaming of darkness. This is all that is happening. In my dark dreams I seem to suffer, and so I am ready to awaken from the dream.

Dreamers do not succumb to their dreams. I am suffering, but I am safe. I will wake up when I choose to see. Vision has shown me the darkness and deceptiveness of ego and I will continue my vigilance to bar them from the mind of God’s Son. I understand now that this is not a personal quest to make a happier version of Myron’s story. I see that there is no personal. This is holy work. It is work done for the mind that we all are.

For the last couple of weeks I have been conflicted about my purpose. I have thought that my purpose was to achieve certain things, to defend and protect my little goals. But I have also known that this is not right. And so I have also been looking at my reactions to the world I made through my conflicted beliefs, and have been asking that the Holy Spirit heal my mind and restore my peace. I have been allowing my awareness to return to the truth that the only will I have is the will I share with God.

The period of conflict that I have been experiencing is unpleasant, but as I remember that my purpose, my one purpose, my only goal is the peace of God, conflict eases and then falls away. As the chaotic ego thinking is released, it is inevitable that the truth become clear to me that all my separate and personal goals were the false gods I made. As I let these illusory gods (goals) go my mind is more peaceful and in peace I remember that there is no other God, and that God’s Will is my will.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: III. From Darkness to Light, P 5.9-10-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 5
5 God hides nothing from His Son, even though His Son would hide himself. Yet the Son of God cannot hide his glory, for God wills him to be glorious, and gave him the light that shines in him. You will never lose your way, for God leads you. When you wander, you but undertake a journey that is not real. The dark companions, the dark way, are all illusions. Turn toward the light, for the little spark in you is part of a Light so great that it can sweep you out of all darkness forever. For your Father is your Creator, and you are like Him.

Journal
Jesus is just stating facts here. Regardless of appearances, regardless of the illusions I have made, certain things are immutable. They are true right now and will always be true. This is all the Course is trying to help me understand and accept. All the lessons, all the concepts, all the many, many words, are just bringing me to this one thing. I am as God created me. And He created me out of Himself and so that is what I am. I am Light. I am like God.

Last night I had the strangest dreams. I woke up thinking about them and wondering what they meant, if anything, then I forgot about them. But the one thing I can tell you is that while I dreamed of being something strange last night, my dream changed nothing. On awakening this morning, I was till what I was when I went to sleep. While I was dreaming that I was this strange being, I remained exactly what I am now. Even in the midst of the dream of being different, I was not.

This is the same in my waking dream experience. I dream of being a body and having all these strange experiences, but even in the midst of this dream, I haven’t changed. I remain what I have always been, the Son of God. Dreaming I am something else does not make me something else. When I wake up I will probably have the feelings that I had this morning, thinking, “What a strange dream that was.” Will I wonder what it all meant? Or will I simply allow the remnants of the dream to fade away.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: III. From Darkness to Light, P 4. .9-9-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 4

4 The way is not hard, but it is very different. Yours is the way of pain, of which God knows nothing. That way is hard indeed, and very lonely. Fear and grief are your guests, and they go with you and abide with you on the way. But the dark journey is not the way of God’s Son. Walk in light and do not see the dark companions, for they are not fit companions for the Son of God, who was created of light and in light. The Great Light always surrounds you and shines out from you. How can you see the dark companions in a light such as this? If you see them, it is only because you are denying the light. But deny them instead, for the light is here and the way is clear.

Journal
Again, Jesus is telling us we can do this. He is telling us that we have all we need, because what we are, is all we need. The light that will guide us and awaken us is in us. It shines out from us. So I ask myself how it is that I manage to see the darkness in all this light. I must be really determined to walk with these dark companions, or rather, the ego part of my mind is determined. “I” am determined to walk in light.

It is this determination that keeps me looking at my thoughts and releasing them to the Holy Spirit. It keeps me from running, and it keeps me from choosing denial over honesty. I believe Jesus when he tells me that I can do this and that the light is already here, already available to me. It makes my heart beat a little faster when I think of that!

Jesus began this paragraph by telling us that this is not difficult, just very different. We have become accustomed to pain, suffering and death. We think that guilt and fear are natural and fully justified. What we refuse to see is that we find justification because we are looking for it. We look for it in the dark and we find it there because we put it there. We are the authors of our sad and fatalistic stories. We write the story, project it outward, and seek to find it. We then pretend we don’t know where it came from, but it definitely proves our point.

Today when my thoughts wander to the darkness, I am going to remember this. I am going to remind myself that I see dark images because I am looking in the dark. I can as easily see the joy and the peace and the love that is God and so is me as well. I can look at the light instead. It is a simple choice. I am going to use my favorite mantras to remind me and help me turn to the light.

The peace of God is everything I want. God does not will this, so it cannot be. God’s Will is my will.  Then I will let the Holy Spirit give me whatever thoughts He knows will help me.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: II: From Darkness to Light, P 3. 9-8-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 3

3 O my child, if you knew what God wills for you, your joy would be complete! And what He wills has happened, for it was always true. When the light comes and you have said, “God’s Will is mine,” you will see such beauty that you will know it is not of you. Out of your joy you will create beauty in His Name, for your joy could no more be contained than His. The bleak little world will vanish into nothingness, and your heart will be so filled with joy that it will leap into Heaven, and into the Presence of God. I cannot tell you what this will be like, for your heart is not ready. Yet I can tell you, and remind you often, that what God wills for Himself He wills for you, and what He wills for you is yours.

Journal
It seems like it would be so easy to just surrender to this joy and watch my bleak little world vanish. What is it in the world that is so important to me that I would hesitate to choose to know that God’s Will is mine? I ask myself that question this morning, and right away I think about how difficult I made things for myself last week, and how my thoughts kept me in the bleak world I chose.

I was angry, frustrated, fed up, with a situation at work. I got all tangled up in my thoughts and spent the week slipping in and out of the ego mind. I seemed unwilling to forgive the situation and felt like I was unable to do so. Today, my mind is clear. I see that I was projecting images from the beliefs in guilt, fear and rage that are obviously still in my mind.

It wasn’t really about the story of guilt, fear, and rage but rather, the story was imagined and projected into the world from those beliefs. While I was enthralled with that little drama, I kept listening to the ego tell me, first, it was someone else’s fault, then that I must fix the story. The advice varied wildly, but the refrain was always focused on the story.
Once again, I got caught up in trying to fix the effect, like looking into my reflection in the mirror, not liking what I see, and trying to correct the image I see there.

Today, with more clarity, I see the obvious. If it is in my life, I put it there. If I want it gone, I must invite the Holy Spirit to look with me and heal my mind. It is never about the situation or the people involved; it is always about my mind and what I find there. The situation simply reflected my thoughts and showed me what I believe to be true, that guilt is real, I am unfairly treated, and I am a victim. Jeez.

And today, I see that none of this could possibly be true. God does not will guilt and fear and rage. If this is not God’s Will, then it cannot be. I must be dreaming, a really bad dream as it happens, but still just a dream. I cannot be what God did not create. I cannot have a crazy distorted will that is different from God’s Will. I am an extension of Love and joy and peace are my inheritance.

Holy Spirit, You and I know the dark places in my mind. Please bring the light to those shadowy beliefs. Teach me not to simply pardon, but to forgive entirely. I don’t want to pretend the situation is undone; I want my mind to be completely healed. I want to look at each person involved and see only Christ, and to feel only love. I need your help and I open my heart and mind to that help.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: II: From Darkness to Light, P 2. 9-7-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 2

2 God’s Son is indeed in need of comfort, for he knows not what he does, believing his will is not his own. The Kingdom is his, and yet he wanders homeless. At home in God he is lonely, and amid all his brothers he is friendless. Would God let this be real, when He did not will to be alone Himself? And if your will is His it cannot be true of you, because it is not true of Him.

Journal
It is so important that I accept the truth that God’s Will is my will. This imagined will I have made to take the place of my true will is hurting me. It tells me that I am endangered and in need of defense. It tells me that I am alone and apart from all of creation. It tells me that I must find special people from whom I can take what I think I lack and somehow this is going to ensure my happiness.

No wonder I often feel alone and friendless, small and frail. I have a voice in my head that teaches me this is true, and sadly, I made this voice, and I keep it intact by listening to it. I call it my will and I value it in spite of the bad advice it continues to give me. I treat it as if it is what I am, and I defend it against God.

All along I have a true will, the will I share with God. It sits alongside the small personal will that I have been listening to. I can reclaim my true will by simply desiring to do so. Sometimes I think that I have done this, and I feel such joy and peace you wouldn’t believe. I cannot imagine why I ever wanted a separate will.

Then I return to my separate made-up self and again I am enthralled with the idea that I need it. I think I need to defend myself against a co-worker and I cannot use God’s Will to attack so I pick up my little self will again. Or I think that I need to look different, or I need more money, or I believe I am guilty, and God’s Will does not recognize any of this as true, so I turn to the little will. It brings me proof that I am right to be afraid and offers me lifetimes of advice that has never met a single one of these needs.

I am tired of wandering homeless. This prodigal daughter longs for her Father and the Will she shares with Him. This is why I am so grateful to my brother, Jesus, for bringing into action the solution to this dilemma. Thank you, Jesus, for the Atonement. Thank you for your devotion to the Atonement. I am grateful for the Holy Spirit, the Bridge that will allow me to cross from the illusory world to my true Home. The peace of God is everything I want.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: III. From Darkness to Light, P 1. 9-3-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 1

1 When you are weary, remember you have hurt yourself. Your Comforter will rest you, but you cannot. You do not know how, for if you did you could never have grown weary. Unless you hurt yourself you could never suffer in any way, for that is not God’s Will for His Son. Pain is not of Him, for He knows no attack and His peace surrounds you silently. God is very quiet, for there is no conflict in Him. Conflict is the root of all evil, for being blind it does not see whom it attacks. Yet it always attacks the Son of God, and the Son of God is you.

Journal
Right now I am feeling anxious because I have to talk to a customer about a mistake I made. I want to do it right this moment and I know the reason I am in such a hurry is that I feel guilty and afraid, and I want to make everything right. This is always the ego solution to everything I think is wrong. I hate how I feel, so the ego says I need to do something to make it right. I must find the right words to make up for my error and the sooner the better.

The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is gently nudging me in another direction. The situation is not the problem. The problem is the ego interpretation of the situation. The ego says I am wrong and guilty and in trouble. The Holy Spirit says that the problem is that I believe I am this story and that I am endangered at every turn.

He says that the story of Myron making a mistake is the effect of the belief in my mind that I am separated from God and so am vulnerable. It is the effect of believing the thought that life is not fair and that guilt is an endless, awful burden that is mine to carry. So fixing the story isn’t going to help. I will still be left with these mistaken thoughts that will simply make more stories of disaster.

Other than the thoughts in my mind about the mistake I made and what I must do to correct it, nothing has happened in regard to this situation. I am hurting myself with each fear thought I entertain. I am moving myself further and further from the Light that is in my mind. The Holy Spirit will comfort me and guide me if I turn to Him. But to turn to Him, I must turn from the ego.

I cannot be at peace if I try to listen to both voices. They speak different languages, they turn in different directions. Trying to walk both paths at the same time keeps me in conflict and conflict is painful. I am suffering, but it is suffering I brought on myself. It will stop the moment I choose. I will choose God, Who has never led me astray and never failed me.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: II: The Invitation to Healing, P 7. 9-2-15

II. The Invitation to Healing, P 7

7 Would you be hostage to the ego or host to God? You will accept only whom you invite. You are free to determine who shall be your guest, and how long he shall remain with you. Yet this is not real freedom, for it still depends on how you see it. The Holy Spirit is there; although He cannot help you without your invitation. And the ego is nothing, whether you invite it in or not. Real freedom depends on welcoming reality, and of your guests only the Holy Spirit is real. Know, then, Who abides with you merely by recognizing what is there already, and do not be satisfied with imaginary comforters, for the Comforter of God is in you.

Journal
There is only one kind of healing, the healing of the mind. From a healed mind, a healed world is reflected. The only way to heal the mind is to invite the Holy Spirit to look with us on what is not healed and to undo what we see there. In joining with the Holy Spirit, we join with God, and we know our Oneness.

This is our function, our only function and the only way we are going to Awaken and achieve peace. The Holy Spirit waits with us as we make this decision. As we call to Him, He steps forward and lights our way. When we look to the ego for comfort and guidance, the Holy Spirit steps back. He must do this because He cannot override our will.

What we discover is that the ego is not a comfort and guides us deeper into nowhere. Eventually we must return to our true Guide because no one will choose darkness forever. The way this has unfolded in my life and probably in most lives, is that I don’t make this choice only once, but over and over. Each time I make the choice for God, the ego gets smaller and less substantial in my mind, and the choice for God is easier to make.

Let us not be satisfied with imaginary comforters, for the Comforter of God is in us.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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