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Study of Text, Chapter 11, VIII.The Problem and the Answer, P 1. 11-20-15

VIII. The Problem and the Answer
1 This is a very simple course. Perhaps you do not feel you need a course which, in the end, teaches that only reality is true. But do you believe it? When you perceive the real world, you will recognize that you did not believe it. Yet the swiftness with which your new and only real perception will be translated into knowledge will leave you but an instant to realize that this alone is true. And then everything you made will be forgotten; the good and the bad, the false and the true. For as Heaven and earth become one, even the real world will vanish from your sight. The end of the world is not its destruction, but its translation into Heaven. The reinterpretation of the world is the transfer of all perception to knowledge.

Journal
This reinterpretation of the world, the transfer of all perception to knowledge, is our goal. It is our ultimate goal, but not my immediate goal, I think. When this goal is complete the world we know will be forgotten. Everything we made will vanish, the good and bad, the false and the true, as Heaven and earth become one. Even the real world will vanish. That seems far from anything that I can imagine or have any part in accomplishing.

I look toward allowing all untrue thoughts in my mind to be healed, at least all that I am able to do toward this goal. I look toward awakening within this world, knowing that what I believe is not true and experiencing the real world. This I can anticipate because I can understand it even if I have not yet fully accomplished it. I think that is not phrased exactly right. I have not fully accomplished my part in it would be more accurate.

I know people who have done so, and I see what it must be like to live a more honest and therefore more beautiful, happier and peaceful life. My life has become more so even now, though not truly the happy dream or real world. But that it is closer makes it seem possible and even probable of accomplishment. But to think of the ultimate goal of the illusion disappearing completely and being only one with God, that is something outside my imagination. I understand the concept but have no experience of it in my recovered memory. One day, though.

In the meantime, I will continue the practices and I will continue to be open and available to guidance and instruction and even revelation. I know these things work and have brought me to this much happier state of mind and to the clarity that I have at this time, so I will stay on this path unless guided elsewhere. I know the end is certain and as Jesus tells us it will be, just as I know that tonight the sun will set and tomorrow the sun will rise. I know it even though it has not yet occurred.

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11, VII.The Condition of Reality, P 4. 11-19-15

VII. The Condition of Reality, P 4

4 The perception of goodness is not knowledge, but the denial of the opposite of goodness enables you to recognize a condition in which opposites do not exist. And this is the condition of knowledge. Without this awareness you have not met its conditions, and until you do you will not know it is yours already. You have made many ideas that you have placed between yourself and your Creator, and these beliefs are the world as you perceive it. Truth is not absent here, but it is obscure. You do not know the difference between what you have made and what God created, and so you do not know the difference between what you have made and what you have created. To believe that you can perceive the real world is to believe that you can know yourself. You can know God because it is His Will to be known. The real world is all that the Holy Spirit has saved for you out of what you have made, and to perceive only this is salvation, because it is the recognition that reality is only what is true.

Journal
How I see the world depends on whether I am looking at what God created and what I created, or if I am looking at what I made. I cannot perceive the real world if I look at the illusory world. To be free of the illusion I must no longer desire it. I must desire only what is real. From that desire I am led to release to the Holy Spirit all that is not truth. He remembers the truth for me and will show it to me when that becomes what I want. The real world is all that the Holy Spirit has saved for me out of what I made. Salvation is the willingness to perceive only this.

I was reading in the paper this morning some comments people made about the refugees being placed in our towns. I see that some people have so much fear they cannot conceive of allowing these people into their states. It seems insane to them to even consider it. Their fear is all that drives them and so the world they see is a frightening place in need of constant defense. Their fear will not let them see how their Christian values such as “what you do for the least of my brothers you do for me” and “do unto your neighbors as you would have them do unto you” apply here.

Then there are some who seem to know that they should be generous and provide refuge, but who are afraid to do so. They justify the fear they feel by saying things like, “We don’t hate the ones that would come, but love those who are here.” It is still fear driven thoughts and behavior, but there is also a glimmer of truth in their minds. They know on some level that love is important but fear is still too strong in their minds to choose only love.

Then there were comments from those who spoke from reason. These people are in need, they have been vetted, and we should open our hearts to them. It is the right thing to do and the American way. I have been looking within my own heart. What do I feel? I know that what is fear is not God and not the real world. Fear is always the ego mind and the ego world. Which one will I choose to perceive? It matters, because the choice I make determines my happiness and either pulls us all more deeply into the illusion or lifts us all a little more into the Kingdom.

The words I say about this, knowing how I should feel, are not the same as believing them so I choose to be honest and from that honesty allow healing of all that is not truth. I feel like we should accept these people and give them comfort and help to make a new life. I also feel trepidation. I feel afraid. What if one of them is a terrorist plant that evaded the scrutiny of the government and in inviting them in, I have invited the wolf to take refuge among the sheep.

The fear in my heart is the illusion I made. It is the ego. It is also the veil that keeps me from seeing the real world and from returning my mind to God. I cannot enter His presence if I attack His Son, and these refugees are His Son. Looking at them in fear is an attack. What do I do with the fear thoughts that are blocking love?

I made fear and so I believe in it, and as Jesus tells us in the Course, what we believe in is true for us. That is why I cannot undo fear in my mind. I can see the fear and recognize the harm it does. I can know that fear blocks all that is true and good and that it keeps me in the dark. I can know that I cannot have both fear and joy and that I must choose what it is I really want. But I cannot destroy or change what I believe to be true.

The solution is to turn to the Holy Spirit who is in my mind for that purpose. It is His function to undo for me what I no longer want to believe. I give Him the fear in my mind. I put it on the altar within; all the fearful thoughts, all the justifications, all the judgments about this issue. I ask for the Atonement as I set it all next to Him. I trust in His power to undo what I have done in making a world unlike Heaven.

There. I have done my part and now I wait in trust for the Holy Spirit to do His. The ego mind argues against this and tries to show that there is no way to see this differently. It argues for common sense. It argues for separation, at least in this case. I am willing to perceive only the truth. I don’t have to figure out what that looks like or how it could work. I only need to put my trust in God rather than the ego. The real world is all that the Holy Spirit has saved for me out of what I made. Salvation is the willingness to perceive only this. I am willing.

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11: VII: The Condition of Reality, P 3. 11-17-15

VII. The Condition of Reality, P 3

3 The ego may see some good, but never only good. That is why its perceptions are so variable. It does not reject goodness entirely, for that you could not accept. But it always adds something that is not real to the real, thus confusing illusion and reality. For perceptions cannot be partly true. If you believe in truth and illusion, you cannot tell which is true. To establish your personal autonomy you tried to create unlike your Father, believing that what you made is capable of being unlike Him. Yet everything true is like Him. Perceiving only the real world will lead you to the real Heaven, because it will make you capable of understanding it.

Journal
As I read that the ego always adds something that is not real to the real, and thus creates confusion, I am reminded of the ego version of forgiveness. Let’s consider how the ego forgives. It makes the sin real and then tries to forgive it. For instance, when I was holding a grievance against my co-worker, I tried to forgive him. I tried over and over to forgive him and to forgive myself for judging him.

I would think about the words and the behavior that I found threatening. He was, in my mind, symbolic of the young replacing the old, which in this case happened to be me. He was also symbolic of the victimizer and the proof I was unfairly treated. There, I had defined the problem, labeled it properly and thus made my grievance real. Now all I had to do was forgive it. Well, good luck with that! I have only confused myself by trying to believe in innocence and guilt.

I cannot forgive what I really believe is true. I can only offer feeble attempts to explain away the guilt I believe in, make excuses for the behavior I hate, and thus make the reality of it stronger in my mind. This is the ego attempt at forgiveness. The desire to forgive is true and the belief that there is anything to forgive is not true, so I was at an impasse, and for a long time nothing happened other than I was frustrated at my failed attempts to experience true forgiveness.

Finally, I managed to chip away at the problem through my commitment to not give up. I kept asking for healing until my willingness was strong enough to mean that I wanted healing, and only healing. I lost interest in everything except forgiveness. This was the permission the Holy Spirit was waiting for, and He did His part in removing from my mind the belief that I needed someone to be guilty. In other words, he removed what was not real, my belief that my co-worker was truly guilty, and what was left was only the truth, which was forgiveness.

As I continue to allow my mind to be cleansed of all that is not true, I am left with only truth. I do this here in the illusion because it prepares me to accept Heaven. It makes a place in my mind that is free of illusion so that I will understand Heaven. If Heaven is within and I can’t find it, it must be that I don’t understand it. But that is changing as I continue to release what is not true and allow my mind to be healed.

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11: VII: The Condition of Reality, P 2. 11-16-15

VII. The Condition of Reality, P 2

2 Every loving thought that the Son of God ever had is eternal. The loving thoughts his mind perceives in this world are the world’s only reality. They are still perceptions, because he still believes that he is separate. Yet they are eternal because they are loving. And being loving they are like the Father, and therefore cannot die. The real world can actually be perceived. All that is necessary is a willingness to perceive nothing else. For if you perceive both good and evil, you are accepting both the false and the true and making no distinction between them.

Journal
There are two ideas that stood out to me.  First, my loving thoughts are eternal. Honestly, I must think about which thoughts are actually loving. Love has been a much confused concept in this world. There were times when I thought I was being loving and actually, I learned through the study of the Course, that it was only neediness that I was expressing.

I had a recent experience of love when I was flying to N Carolina for the workshop. I had been standing in a long line waiting to get on the plane. It was moving slowly because they kept calling up various groups of “special” people. First class and VIPs of various degrees. I was starting to think untrue thoughts about these folks who were getting the best seats and on top of that, were keeping me standing in line.

With nothing else to do, I started practicing being in the moment rather than anticipating the next moment. Immediately I noticed how heavy and dark I felt and realized it was because I was attacking my brothers. So I asked for the Atonement in this situation and allowed those thoughts to be removed from my mind.

When I did finally get on the plane and was moving slowly up the aisle, I met eyes with a man sitting in first class. I smiled at him and kept eye contact for a moment. It was a smile that conveyed love and union, and he responded with a sincere smile of his own. When I looked away, I made eye contact with a woman across the aisle and the same thing happened.
These were holy encounters, an exchange of love. Those thoughts are eternal.

The second thing that caught my attention in this paragraph is that the real world can actually be perceived. The real world is a world of love and I got a little glimpse of that world, a peek behind the veil, when I had the holy encounters on the plane. Jesus says that I can have that experience all the time in all circumstances as I begin to perceive the world in this way.

But to do so, I must choose only truth. At this time, I am still shifting back and forth between the world the ego perceives and the world that is available to me through true perception. I am closer to consistently choosing truth than I ever have been and so my life is more peaceful and loving than it ever has been. I am dedicated to this practice and I am open and willing to allow the full healing of my mind.

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11: VII: The Condition of Reality, P 1. 11-13-15

VII. The Condition of Reality, P 1

1 The world as you perceive it cannot have been created by the Father, for the world is not as you see it. God created only the eternal, and everything you see is perishable. Therefore, there must be another world that you do not see. The Bible speaks of a new Heaven and a new earth, yet this cannot be literally true, for the eternal are not re-created. To perceive anew is merely to perceive again, implying that before, or in the interval between, you were not perceiving at all. What, then, is the world that awaits your perception when you see it?

Journal
I remain a little confused about the world. As in this paragraph, Jesus talks about a world that is different than the world I see. I can understand that on every level. I have seen instances of a healed world as I allowed my mind to be healed. One moment I would be looking at the ego interpretation of a situation, and the next, I would ask for and receive the Holy Spirit’s interpretation, and what had been awful, was then seen (perceived) as perfect. I am not yet consistent in this practice.

Lesson 132 says that the world is nothing in itself. Your mind must give it meaning. It also says this about the world.
“There is no world apart from what you wish, and herein lies your ultimate release. Change but your mind on what you want to see, and all the world must change accordingly. Ideas leave not their source. This central theme is often stated in the text, and must be borne in mind if you would understand the lesson for today. It is not pride which tells you that you made the world you see, and that it changes as you change your mind.”

So again, the world is seen as being available to us, but seen as we would have it seen. It also says that we made the world we see. That seems to infer there is a world that is different than the world we see. Or maybe not. I could be wrong about my interpretation. Then this same lesson tells us that; “There is no world! This is the central thought the course attempts to teach.”

So is there a world or not? I tend to think that the world is part of my mind. It is what I think it is and as my mind heals the world heals. What happens to the world when our mind, as a whole, has been healed and we have all rejoined our Father? Does it exist still in our mind in its healed state, a reflection of Reality? I don’t know, but only have an opinion and an opinion is not truth no matter how strongly one might believe in it. I am putting away my opinions and am looking forward to being taught as we go through this section.

What I can know right now is that God did not create the world I see, and there is another way to see it whether it is real or not. This new vision is a worthy goal, whatever it means. This goal is attainable, and though it is probably not the end of what is attainable I think it is a step in that direction, and one I must take. I have always seen the world as it is interpreted by ego, but I am beginning to see it as interpreted by the Holy Spirit. The difference is one of peace and joy.

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