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Study of Text, C 14: VII. Sharing Perception with the Holy Spirit, P 3. 5-22-17

VII. Sharing Perception with the Holy Spirit, P 3

3 It is not possible to convince the unknowing that they know. From their point of view it is not true. Yet it is true because God knows it. These are clearly opposite viewpoints on what the “unknowing” are. To God, unknowing is impossible. It is therefore not a point of view at all, but merely a belief in something that does not exist. It is only this belief that the unknowing have, and by it they are wrong about themselves. They have defined themselves as they were not created. Their creation was not a point of view, but rather a certainty. Uncertainty brought to certainty does not retain any conviction of reality.

Journal
I was once married to a man who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. In this delusional state of mind, he saw and heard things that no one else could see or hear. Think about that for a moment. What if you saw someone coming after you with a knife? It would be terrifying as he drew closer and closer to you. You would run for your life!

Now suppose I grabbed you and said, “Slow down! Why are you running? Why are you afraid? There is nothing chasing you.” You look behind you and the knife-wielding man is gaining on you. Would you stand there and think to yourself that this crazy person trying to hold you back probably has a point? Or would you throw him off, and take off running again?

Schizophrenia is a harsh path. Not being able to trust your own senses, and being afraid to trust anyone else’s. But, really, this is where we all are right now. We are looking out our eyes and letting them convince us of the craziest stuff, stuff that could not possibly be true. We have allowed ourselves to believe everything the eyes tell us even though the eyes themselves are part of the hallucination we call life.

What happened with my ex-husband is that over time we built up trust between us. He began to sometimes come to me to ask if what he was seeing was real. He brought his hallucinations to someone he could trust, and so was able to accept that there was another way to see the situation. This was not always true and after awhile it became necessary for us to go our separate ways, but when he was able to do this, it helped him navigate the world his misfiring brain showed him.

We are learning to bring our hallucinations to the Holy Spirit. It usually starts off slowly and the trust builds over time until we turn to Him all the time. The Holy Spirit knows what we see, but he also knows what is really there. He helps us reinterpret what the eyes are showing us. The more we do this, the more clarity we have.

There was no way that Charlie could have looked at the danger he seemed to be facing and convinced himself there was nothing chasing him. How could he? He could see the danger, but he couldn’t see what I saw. It took trust for him to accept help. In the same way, we cannot dismiss what we see and what we feel and hear unless we have help. We have to build trust and we do that by bringing our thoughts to the Holy Spirit over and over. Eventually, our trust pays off and we begin to see differently, too.

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Study of Text, C 14: VII. Sharing Perception with the Holy Spirit, P 2. 5-18-17

VII. Sharing Perception with the Holy Spirit, P 2
2 The search for truth is but the honest searching out of everything that interferes with truth. Truth is. It can neither be lost nor sought nor found. It is there, wherever you are, being within you. Yet it can be recognized or unrecognized, real or false to you. If you hide it, it becomes unreal to you because you hid it and surrounded it with fear. Under each cornerstone of fear on which you have erected your insane system of belief, the truth lies hidden. Yet you cannot know this, for by hiding truth in fear, you see no reason to believe that the more you look at fear the less you see it, and the clearer what it conceals becomes.

Journal
It is interesting to me that the lesson I am doing today (Lesson 138) says much the same thing. Truth is true and nothing else is true. We don’t really have to seek out truth, but merely uncover it, because truth is all there is. What interferes with truth is not real, simply something we believe.

My experience has been that once I decide I want to see the interference, it is completely obvious. When I don’t want to see it, everything is murky and confusing. Since it cannot be both obvious and murky, it must be that it appears as I want it to appear. Why is it that I would ever choose to be deliberately confused?

Jesus says that we hide it because we are afraid of the truth. I know a young girl who has lived a terrifying life. Now she is in a safe place where she is loved and protected, and yet, though she wants to be loved, she is afraid of love and resists it. When love is too overwhelming, she lashes out at the one loving her. She has been taught that she doesn’t deserve love and so when she receives it, her sense of unworthiness keeps her from accepting love, and it even triggers fear.

Watching her behavior, seeing her defend against love, helped me to understand that we all do the same thing. We all defend against the Love that is God. Who feels worthy of such unconditional, universal love? I think I can say that I feel worthy of this love, and yet, if I did then why would I hide from it? Why would I believe in guilt and fear if I knew that the truth is I am loved beyond measure by my Creator, that I am forgiven all things and that I am the only one who thinks I need forgiveness?

So I search honestly for everything that interferes with truth. I watch my mind for any thought that I am unworthy, that I am judged, that I am unforgiven.  When I find those thoughts, I give them to the Holy Spirit and allow them to be corrected. This is how I uncover the truth that is in me, and therefore could never actually be lost to me.

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Study of Text, C 14: VII. Sharing Perception with the Holy Spirit, P 1. 5-17-17

VII. Sharing Perception with the Holy Spirit, P 1

1 What do you want? Light or darkness, knowledge or ignorance are yours, but not both. Opposites must be brought together, not kept apart. For their separation is only in your mind, and they are reconciled by union, as you are. In union, everything that is not real must disappear, for truth is union. As darkness disappears in light, so ignorance fades away when knowledge dawns. Perception is the medium by which ignorance is brought to knowledge. Yet the perception must be without deceit, for otherwise it becomes the messenger of ignorance rather than a helper in the search for truth.

Journal

Even though perception is never truth, it can come very close and it is what we have to work with here in time. As a matter of fact, as long as we are in time it is essential. As Jesus tells us, it is the means by which ignorance is brought to knowledge.  And, ignorance must be brought to the truth. In keeping them apart, we keep ignorance in place and truth remains obscure to us.

If someone has done something unkind to me and I think they are guilty of doing it, this is an example of ignorance. If I hold onto that grievance, I will suffer. I might not connect the suffering with the grievance, but that will not prevent the misery. But if I realize that my unhappiness is caused by a belief in my mind, then I can ask for clarity and for healing.

This is how I bring the ignorance to knowledge, and knowledge reminds me that I but do this to myself and no one is guilty. Peace is restored to my mind and thus to my life. It is a simple, reliable process. On the other hand, if I hold the grievance away from the truth, it is equally certain that I will remain in a hell of my own making. It becomes a simple matter of deciding what I want, light or darkness.

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Study of Text, C 14: VI. The Light of Communication, P 8. 5-15-17

VI. The Light of Communication, P 8

8 The Holy Spirit’s function is entirely communication. He therefore must remove whatever interferes with communication in order to restore it. Therefore, keep no source of interference from His sight, for He will not attack your sentinels. But bring them to Him and let His gentleness teach you that, in the light, they are not fearful, and cannot serve to guard the dark doors behind which nothing at all is carefully concealed. We must open all doors and let the light come streaming through. There are no hidden chambers in God’s temple. Its gates are open wide to greet His Son. No one can fail to come where God has called him, if he close not the door himself upon his Father’s welcome.

Journal
This paragraph is such good news! The Holy Spirit will remove from my mind all that interferes with communication as long as I don’t prevent him from doing so. Jesus says that He will not attack my sentinels, so I have to give him my thinking errors, my dark thoughts, and not defend them from His help.

I don’t have a lot of sentinels because I don’t have a lot I would defend. I used to defend my special relationships, but I seldom do that anymore. The way I used to do this, was to deliberately not ask Holy Spirit to decide for me what my relationships mean and how to use them. This was especially true with my children.

If my daughter asked me to do something, I would not ask for guidance about the answer. I didn’t want to take a chance that the answer I was given would be no. I didn’t think I could say no to my daughter. I was too invested in my daughter’s opinion of me to take that gamble. When I finally let the Holy Spirit heal that relationship, I was able to open that part of my mind to Him. I still loved and enjoyed my daughter, but did not need her to love and enjoy me. What freedom!

I’m sorry it took me so long to trust the Holy Spirit. The reason I waited as long as I did is because I thought I had to guard this need to be loved and appreciated. It seemed so very important to me, that I could not chance doing anything to upset the delicate balance. With trust growing within me, I let the Holy Spirit in and He showed me that I was guarding nothing.

Now, this relationship is stronger and happier for both of us without this needless burden projected onto it. All of my mind can be this free and love filled if I only open the door to the Holy Spirit. He will do what is necessary to restore communication.

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Study of Text, C 14: VI. The Light of Communication, P 7. 5-12-17

VI. The Light of Communication, P 7

7 You know not what you say, and so you know not what is said to you. Yet your Interpreter perceives the meaning in your alien language. He will not attempt to communicate the meaningless. But He will separate out all that has meaning, dropping off the rest and offering your true communication to those who would communicate as truly with you. You speak two languages at once, and this must lead to unintelligibility. Yet if one means nothing and the other everything, only that one is possible for purposes of communication. The other but interferes with it.

Journal

As I read this, I think about talking to a friend of mine about her life. First I listen to what she is saying to me. If I listen with the ego, I will hear only what I understand through my ego mind. For instance, she might tell me about a dear person in her life who died, and what I hear are my beliefs about death. I will hear how I would feel if it happened to me. My response to her might be helpful or it might now help at all.

If on the other hand, I step back as my ego self and allow the Holy Spirit to interpret her words, I will discern the meaning that she is really trying to convey. I will hear the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of her words, and when I respond, I will say something that will actually help or comfort her.

This applies to all communication. On Facebook, I saw someone attacking people he does not agree with. I had many thoughts about this. I could see his error and based on my own experiences and beliefs, I imagined myself contacting this person and convincing him to see this differently. But, I have had enough experience with ego thinking to recognize it when I see it in myself. I let it go.

Evidently, I just let it go in form, because when I began my prayers, I found myself thinking of this person again, and wishing I could somehow help in this situation. Perhaps because I was already in my right mind and open to Holy Spirit, something truly helpful was communicated.

In my prayers, I visualize myself standing in the circle of Atonement with Jesus. I think of each person who has asked for prayers and knowing that no one should be left alone in their guilt, I see them standing with us in that holy circle. There in the circle, all is healed by Love. On this morning when that man came into my consciousness, I felt such love for him and such desire for his inclusion in the circle, that I knew I was offering a miracle.

There was no ego desire to change him. I simply could not imagine leaving him alone in his guilt, and all I wanted was for him to know how loved and perfect he was. That is the difference between communication directed by ego, and communication through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit went through my mind discarding all egocentric thoughts based on fear, and all that was left was love. This love is what He communicated through me.

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Study of Text, C 14: VI. The Light of Communication, P 6. 5-10-17

VI. The Light of Communication, P 6

6 You who speak in dark and devious symbols do not understand the language you have made. It has no meaning, for its purpose is not communication, but rather the disruption of communication. If the purpose of language is communication, how can this tongue mean anything? Yet even this strange and twisted effort to communicate through not communicating holds enough of love to make it meaningful if its interpreter is not its maker. You who made it are but expressing conflict, from which the Holy Spirit would release you. Leave what you would communicate to Him. He will interpret it to you with perfect clarity, for He knows with Whom you are in perfect communication.

Journal
In another place in the Course, Jesus says that words are but symbols of symbols and thus twice removed from reality. Now he is talking about this again. He says that we speak in dark and devious symbols and that we don’t understand the language we have made. We call this communication but is it really?

Here is a definition of communication from a dictionary: a technique for expressing ideas effectively. Do we actually express our ideas effectively using the language we made up? Recently, someone asked me for my thoughts on a passage from the Course. I expressed my opinion of its meaning as clearly as I could.

She was very pleased with my answer and started talking about what I had told her. Very quickly, I realized she did not understand what I meant. Now we were in conflict, our thoughts on this passage disagreeing with each other. I could have tried to get her to reach my understanding, to convince her to see things my way, but that would have simply increased the conflict, and conflict is not communication. So I let it go and assumed that she heard what she needed to hear at this time.

This is not the first time I have had this experience. It actually happens all the time. I said something innocuous to a friend and she understood it to be a judgment against her. I was shocked at her reaction and stood there trying to think how she came to that conclusion from what I said. Again, conflict is not communication. Using our dark and devious symbols we had tried but failed to communicate.

I think one of the reasons our language is not adequate for true communication is that we use it to convey ideas, while at the same time, to obscure other thoughts. Suppose I was trying to give you a clear explanation of why relationships go awry. I am sharing some personal examples with you, but I am also being careful to share only my stories that I am willing for you to hear. So I am trying to communicate through not communicating.

How, then, can we actually communicate while we are hampered by language? Jesus says we can do this if its interpreter is not its maker. If I ask the Holy Spirit to speak through me, it will be in a style and with a vocabulary that is mine, but the intent will be His. This is what I try to do when I make these journal entries knowing I am going to share them.

I begin by reading the paragraph and then walking away from it, allowing the Holy Spirit to inform me. This part happens without my active cooperation. Then I come back to the task and start writing. How well I allow the Holy Spirit to interpret for me depends on my willingness to set aside what I think I know.

It takes a good deal of practice to allow my spoken language to be directed by the Holy Spirit. I am still working on that. The ego really likes to be in charge of communication and I can still fall back into that habit when I am not mindful. If we all communicated through mind rather than language, all would know all that is being thought and felt.

Sometimes I shudder at the thought, but really, if I knew everything someone thought and felt, then I would understand why they had these thoughts. I would then have compassion for them rather than judgment. Jesus says that even our twisted language holds enough love to make it meaningful if we leave interpretation to Him. So love is the means of true communication and if we fully understood all the motivating factors in everyone’s words, we would feel only love for them.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 14: VI. The Light of Communication, P 5. 5-9-17

VI. The Light of Communication, P 5

5 You have regarded the separation as a means for breaking your communication with your Father. The Holy Spirit reinterprets it as a means of re-establishing what was not broken, but has been made obscure. All things you made have use to Him, for His most holy purpose. He knows you are not separate from God, but He perceives much in your mind that lets you think you are. All this and nothing else would He separate from you. The power of decision, which you made in place of the power of creation, He would teach you how to use on your behalf. You who made it to crucify yourself must learn of Him how to apply it to the holy cause of restoration.

Journal
We used separation to break communication with God, but that never happened. We only obscured that communication. God’s Voice speaks to us all through the day; we just don’t listen. Instead, we listen to the ego. Like everything that we made to separate ourselves from God, the Holy Spirit will use it to help us return to God. He will re-establish what was never broken.

The Holy Spirit looks into our mind and finds those thoughts that let us believe in our separation, and with our permission, He removes them from us. We made the power of decision in place of the power of creation, and the Holy Spirit will teach us to use this on our behalf. In Workbook Lesson 152, The Power of Decision, Jesus tells us that we used our power to make this world, and this world is exactly what we choose it to be.

In Chapter 30, Rules for Decision, Jesus lays out the process to consciously use our power to reverse decisions we have tried and decided against. He does this in a step-by-step process that is very helpful in undoing what we have done. In studying and practicing this process, I learned that when my life takes a turn I regret, it is because I asked the ego for advice rather than the Holy Spirit. I am free to change my mind.

We who made the power of decision to crucify ourselves must learn of Him how to apply it to the holy cause of restoration.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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