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Study of the Text, C. Be Vigilant Only For God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 5. 2-5-14

C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 5

5 Choosing through the Holy Spirit will lead you to the Kingdom. You create by your true being, but what you are you must learn to remember. The way to remember it is inherent in the third step, which brings together the lessons implied in the others, and goes beyond them towards real integration. If you allow yourself to have in your mind only what God put there, you are acknowledging your mind as God created it. Therefore, you are accepting it as it is. Since it is whole, you are teaching peace because you believe in it. The final step will still be taken for you by God, but by the third step the Holy Spirit has prepared you for God. He is getting you ready for the translation of having into being by the very nature of the steps you must take with Him.

May this day, all my choices be made through the Holy Spirit. I am running so late this morning that I thought I might skip this writing, but I set aside what I thought I should so and left my heart open to guidance. I would make no decisions on my own, make no plans without the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The ego doubts the Holy Spirit’s choice and feels nervous about the time. But I remember how often I thought I knew something and how wrong I was. I remember the times I turned to Spirit for guidance and I cannot remember a single time that I was misled.

I used to treasure the right to make choices. I felt uneasy and even resentful at the idea of surrendering that right. Now I notice the ego’s grumbling about it, but I feel relieved that I am no longer trying to make decisions based on the little bit I actually know and understand. I am peaceful to know that I am being led step by step to the remembrance of my true Self. I am exhilarated to see what unfolds without my interference.

Choice is the only freedom I have in this illusion. But there are not an unlimited number of things from which to choose. There are only two choices from which to pick; I can choose to live from the ego or choose to be lived by Spirit. I have made my choice. I will spend today protecting that choice. I am allowing the Holy Spirit to prepare me for God.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text, C. Be Vigilant Only For God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 4. 2-4-14

C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 4
4 While the first step seems to increase conflict and the second may still entail conflict to some extent, this step calls for consistent vigilance against it. I have already told you that you can be as vigilant against the ego as for it. This lesson teaches not only that you can be, but that you must be. It does not concern itself with order of difficulty, but with clear-cut priority for vigilance. This lesson is unequivocal in that it teaches there must be no exceptions, although it does not deny that the temptation to make exceptions will occur. Here, then, your consistency is called on despite chaos. Yet chaos and consistency cannot coexist for long, since they are mutually exclusive. As long as you must be vigilant against anything, however, you are not recognizing this mutual exclusiveness, and still believe that you can choose either one. By teaching what to choose, the Holy Spirit will ultimately teach you that you need not choose at all. This will finally liberate your mind from choice, and direct it towards creation within the Kingdom.

Jesus is stressing the need for vigilance. I must be vigilant for God rather than the ego. We have already established that we can be vigilant. We have been vigilant for the ego and so we know it is possible. Now we are learning that we want to choose God instead. We are learning this through making the choice for Holy Spirit Who chooses God for us.

For awhile the mind is going to be chaotic as it vacillates between ego and God, choosing one then choosing the other, but this cannot last. Consistency of choice will quiet the mind. I choose God over and over and soon the mind begins to calm because there is not the desire for ego, and so there is not the chaos of conflict in the mind.

Thinking of making a choice for God or ego over and over again just makes me tired. I am ready to give up choice altogether. There was a time when that idea just seemed wrong. The ego rebelled and brought up every objection it could think of. Now it just feels peaceful and right. Jesus tells us why we are drawn to this idea even as the ego mind fights against it. Choice took the place of creation in our Mind, and in giving up choice we truly return to our Self as Creators beside God.

Could then, the relinquishment of choice be a sacrifice? In time choice is our only remaining freedom, but as we allow the mind to be healed we leave behind time to discover we exist in eternity. In eternity we are at peace and choice is not even a memory. For now, I begin to remember who I am through choosing consistently for God.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text, C. Be Vigilant Only For God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 3. 2-3-14

C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 3
3 This is a major step toward fundamental change. Yet it still has an aspect of thought reversal, since it implies that there is something you must be vigilant against. It has advanced far from the first lesson, which is merely the beginning of the thought reversal, and also from the second, which is essentially the identification of what is more desirable. This step, which follows from the second as the second follows from the first, emphasizes the dichotomy between the desirable and the undesirable. It therefore makes the ultimate choice inevitable.

Jesus has told us that he teaches through contrast, and nowhere is this more apparent to me than when he teaches me that I want peace. I was so confused that for years I did not even know that peace was what I wanted. I didn’t value peace. I was always focused on winning which is the opposite of peace because to win, I needed to defeat someone or something. Being in opposition guarantees separation stays in place, and this cannot bring me peace because it goes against my nature.

This is an example of how it might have appeared to me in the past. My daughter seemed to be upset with me about something. I did’t know what it could be and maybe I was just being egocentric as I saw her upset and assume it was directed toward me. But she would not even meet my eyes when we visited and so I thought she was angry with me about something I said or did.

My first thought would have been that I was being unfairly treated because I did nothing to deserve this. I would want her to stop acting like I did something wrong. I would think I needed her to love me and not be angry with me. If none of this happened, I would become depressed about the situation because I could not make her love me or not be angry with me.

Then I would be angry with her. I would try to manipulate her with guilt. I might try the silent treatment. I would try to gather allies who would agree that she was being unfair and a bad daughter. It would never have occurred to me to seek peace, and if it did, I would have placed the burden of my peace on her.

Now I have one desire. I want the peace of God. I want the peace of God more than I want anything else. I want to have peace and so I teach peace to have it. The situation is the same. I see signs my daughter is upset with me. I ask if there is anything she wants to talk about and she rejects that offer. I watch my thoughts and feelings.

Her rejection feels personal and so I feel rejected. I cannot be rejected so I must be listening to the ego version of the story. I hand this over to the Holy Spirit to heal for me. I want the peace of God. I want my daughter to be healed, too, but I realize that I cannot do this for her. I feel helpless. I ask that my mind be healed of the belief I could be helpless and I am reminded that my daughter cannot be helpless either.

I will teach what I want to learn. My daughter is having her story. That is all that is happening here. The ultimate ending of all stories is God. Nothing to worry about here. I am at peace. I want only peace. The story cannot bring me peace, nor rob me of peace. It can only be the story. As I choose peace regardless of the direction the story takes, I am teaching peace. Perhaps it is a lesson my daughter is ready for. Because it is a lesson I am ready for, I learn it.

The ego offers me another opportunity to choose war, another chance to win this “argument,” but I am not interested. It tries to scare me with stories of loss. I am not interested. If I become attracted to any of its enticements, I will ask for correction and return to peace. I will do this as often as I need to. This is how my life is different now that I realize that peace is all I want. The contrast between my life now that peace is my goal, and the life I lived when I thought winning was my goal is so stark that I cannot miss the lesson.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text, C. Be Vigilant Only For God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 2. 1-31-14

C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 2
2 The Holy Spirit does not teach you to judge others, because He does not want you to teach error and learn it yourself. He would hardly be consistent if He allowed you to strengthen what you must learn to avoid. In the mind of the thinker, then, He is judgmental, but only in order to unify the mind so it can perceive without judgment. This enables the mind to teach without judgment, and therefore to learn to be without judgment. The undoing is necessary only in your mind, so that you will not project, instead of extend. God Himself has established what you can extend with perfect safety. Therefore, the Holy Spirit’s third lesson is:

Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.

I have learned to be vigilant for God and His Kingdom, but that was not always the case. I have been vigilant for the ego for many years. An example of being vigilant for the ego is attack thoughts. This morning I woke up thinking about something I forgot to do for a customer. I lay there listening to my mind.

I heard that irritating little voice attack me for my carelessness. Then it attacked my customer for not taking care of his own business. Then it attacked my fellow workers for not doing their part to prevent this. The ego doesn’t care who is attacked as long as I am attacking and defending. If I am attacking or defending, I am being vigilant for the ego.

I used to be vigilant for any sign that I was under attack. I expected to find them and so, of course, I did. I had not yet learned to question the belief that I was a victim of the world I saw and I completely believed this. As a victim or potential victim of the world, I had to be on the lookout all the time. I had to be ready to defend myself against what I saw as unpredictable and unfair attacks. It’s a wonder I had time to do anything else. It takes a lot of effort to be this vigilant.

The good news is that by the time I discovered that I am not the victim of the world I see, but actually the maker of the world, I had established the fact that I can be vigilant. Now I just needed to turn that vigilance toward God rather than the ego. So this morning as I lay there berating myself (and everyone else) for forgetting to do this favor for my customer, I was also watching my thoughts about it.

First I would be anxious and would make plans about how to mitigate the fallout from the situation. This is me identifying with the little mind. Then, from the seat of the observer mind, I would become aware of these thoughts as if I were watching all this on the big screen, and it was hilarious and I would laugh. Then I would slip right back into the ego drama of it all. I switched back and forth for awhile knowing that I was torturing myself with my conflicted thinking.

Finally I noticed Holy Spirit was urging me to get out of bed. I did so and automatically began my morning ritual of coffee and prayerful journaling. As soon as I got up and started my morning, the conflict resolved itself. My vigilance for God means more to me than my vigilance for ego. I gave the attack thoughts over to Holy Spirit to be judged and the situation resolved.

I think getting out of bed was symbolic for me of choosing against ego. It was like washing my hands of ego. As soon as I did it, I felt relieved. It’s funny how the mind works and it’s neat that I don’t have to understand it; I only have to follow the guidance of One Who does. While I was being vigilant for ego, the attacks seemed real and justified, and defending myself seemed urgent indeed.

It was hard to pull my attention away from it, but when I became vigilant for the Kingdom, the idea of attack seemed ludicrous, and my mind returned to peace. From the peaceful mind I teach peace and I learn it. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for relieving me of the burden of judging. I gladly surrender judgment to You.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of the Text, B. To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It, Paragraph 9. 1-30-14

C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom, Paragraph 1
1 We said before that the Holy Spirit is evaluative, and must be. He sorts out the true from the false in your mind, and teaches you to judge every thought you allow to enter it in the light of what God put there. Whatever is in accord with this light He retains, to strengthen the Kingdom in you. What is partly in accord with it He accepts and purifies. But what is out of accord entirely He rejects by judging against. This is how He keeps the Kingdom perfectly consistent and perfectly unified. Remember, however, that what the Holy Spirit rejects the ego accepts. This is because they are in fundamental disagreement about everything, being in fundamental disagreement about what you are. The ego’s beliefs on this crucial issue vary, and that is why it promotes different moods. The Holy Spirit never varies on this point, and so the one mood He engenders is joy. He protects it by rejecting everything that does not foster joy, and so He alone can keep you wholly joyous.

One of the beliefs that Holy Spirit purifies is time. We are told not to stay in the past, which doesn’t exist and not to send our mind into the future, which doesn’t exist. This is the way the ego uses time to keep us in the illusion. The Holy Spirit uses time to awaken us. All I have to do is make a decision for awakening and the Holy Spirit helps me to see things differently.

Yesterday I was enjoying the leisurely morning of a snow day. We didn’t actually get snow, but rather ice. Either way, though, the south doesn’t tend to fare well in this kind of weather. We are so unprepared for it. No snowplows, no salting of the roads and no one has snow tires. So I got the day off, two days actually. I love it. I still woke up early, and went straight to my meditative writing and posting. But today it was done at a very leisurely pace.

I also did other things, too. I worked on two of the Pathways of Light courses I am doing with other people. I read and watched a John Mark Stroud video. I made homemade bread and drank hot chocolate. Just a really nice two days. But yesterday I remembered I would be going back to work the next day. Instantly I was out of the now moment and into the future, a future which I based on my experiences from the past. My little bubble of contentment burst.

But (yay for me) I realized that I was misusing time and in so doing, I was destroying my own happiness. I changed my mind. I let the thought that I need to think about tomorrow, and the thought that I know what tomorrow should look like, dissolve. Letting it go right away was good. If I let it settle in for a stay, it would be harder to get rid of it. This is the right use of time, this catching wrong-minded thoughts and letting them go to the Holy Spirit.

As I continue to allow the Holy Spirit to choose for me, many thoughts are being healed. I try to keep an “I don’t know” mind. In this way I give up judging, planning and deciding on my own. One Who knows does this for me. I just keep my mind open and ready to receive.
.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

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