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Manual for Teachers: 8. HOW CAN PERCEPTION OF ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES BE AVOIDED? P 6. 4-4-18

8. HOW CAN PERCEPTION OF ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES BE AVOIDED? P 6
6 The body’s eyes will continue to see differences. But the mind that has let itself be healed will no longer acknowledge them. There will be those who seem to be “sicker” than others, and the body’s eyes will report their changed appearances as before. But the healed mind will put them all in one category; they are unreal. This is the gift of its Teacher; the understanding that only two categories are meaningful in sorting out the messages the mind receives from what appears to be the outside world. And of these two, but one is real. Just as reality is wholly real, apart from size and shape and time and place-for differences cannot exist within it-so too are illusions without distinctions. The one answer to sickness of any kind is healing. The one answer to all illusions is truth.

Journal
I love how simple Jesus makes this. In sorting what we see there are only two categories, real and unreal. When my eyes show me a sick body, the ego mind makes a series of decisions to determine that it knows something about that person. What is the sickness, how sick are they, is it contagious, who is guilty, and other things. It uses these categories to decide if the person can be or even should be healed.

When my mind is healed my eyes still show me a sick body but the mind ignores that. It doesn’t acknowledge any distinctions in form or severity. The healed mind decides it is not true and therefore sees only God’s unchanging creation. The healed mind sees only the Will of God. As I am able to do that, I consider it a prayer. If I am completely unaffected by the ego image of a sick body, then the light in my mind can ignite the light in the other person’s mind and a miracle is given.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. https://dev.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 15: VII. The Needless Sacrifice, P 6. 4-3-18

VII. The Needless Sacrifice, P 6
6 In one way or another, every relationship the ego makes is based on the idea that by sacrificing itself, it becomes bigger. The “sacrifice,” which it regards as purification, is actually the root of its bitter resentment. For it would prefer to attack directly, and avoid delaying what it really wants. Yet the ego acknowledges “reality” as it sees it, and recognizes that no one could interpret direct attack as love. Yet to make guilty is direct attack, although it does not seem to be, For the guilty expect attack, and having asked for it they are attracted to it.

Journal
How is it the ego attacks indirectly? I had to think about this because it was not immediately obvious to me. So I considered a relationship with a friend. She is a good friend and I love her. But sometimes, she calls me at an inconvenient time and I answer because she is my friend, but I really don’t want to talk. In other words, I sacrifice my desires to her desires, and even though I will probably enjoy the conversation, I feel resentful of the sacrifice. This is an indirect attack, which Jesus says is really a direct attack.

The problem with attack is that it is not discreet. If I have attack thoughts in my mind, I will expect attack and those are the images that will make up my life. I will interpret the actions of others as attack because I believe in attack. Here is a time that happened to me. I had a visit from a relative and I enjoyed our time together, which was very loving. But when she left, something she said and her general attitude made me doubt her sincerity. I began to feel like she didn’t really care about me and was just visiting out of duty.

This was crazy. There was no real reason to think so. But once the mind got going, I imagined all sorts of reasons this would be true and there was a lot of guilt involved. I saw this happening and knew that I had asked the ego to interpret her parting remarks and this is what it came up with because the ego always attacks and always finds guilt. It was easy to turn it around, and I did so. But, it was a good reminder that attack begets attack and destroys peace. This is why I cannot have attack thoughts and why I am vigilant for them and quick to bring them to the Light for healing.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. https://dev.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, C 15: VII. The Needless Sacrifice, P 5. 3-30-18

VII. The Needless Sacrifice, P 5
5 It is this chain that binds the Son of God to guilt, and it is this chain the Holy Spirit would remove from his holy mind. For the chain of savagery belongs not around the chosen host of God, who cannot make himself host to the ego. In the name of his release, and in the Name of Him Who would release him, let us look more closely at the relationships the ego contrives, and let the Holy Spirit judge them truly. For it is certain that if you will look at them, you will offer them gladly to Him. What He can make of them you do not know, but you will become willing to find out, if you are willing first to perceive what you have made of them.

Journal

All relationships are special until we look at them and decide that we want the holy relationship instead. We have no idea how to do this or even what it looks like once accomplished, but if we are willing to find out, it will be done for us. It seems to take some time and some effort on our part; at least that has been my experience.

Our part is to first look honestly at the relationship in its present state. What is the relationship for? So many times when I have looked into my own mind in complete honesty, I have seen that the relationship was a way to get what I thought I did not have. There was no way this could end well unless I let that neediness go to the light, which is our other part of shifting the relationship.

I used to be so proud of my children’s accomplishments. I am sure I bored everyone to tears as I extolled on their virtues. I thought this meant I loved them, but I finally understood that I was using them to prove what I didn’t really believe, that I must be a good mother since they turned out so well. I did not get in touch with the actual love until I saw what I was doing and allowed the Holy Spirit to heal the mind of my need. Then I was free to simply love them without these conditions.

As I look back at all the relationships I have had in my life, I see that they were all special and they all filled some perceived need I imagined I had. It is not pleasant to look like this. I seemed to be a selfish person but I was only a confused and frightened person. As I kept bring these relationships to the Holy Spirit, they began to heal and I am having different experiences.

As the relationships shift, they have a new purpose. Instead of using them to prop up a sagging ego, my relationships are beautiful shared experiences, perhaps not the love that is of God, but a much closer reflection of that love.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. https://dev.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Manual for Teachers: 8. HOW CAN PERCEPTION OF ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES BE AVOIDED? P 5. 3-29-18

8. HOW CAN PERCEPTION OF ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES BE AVOIDED? P 5
5 There can be no order of difficulty in healing merely because all sickness is illusion. Is it harder to dispel the belief of the insane in a larger hallucination as opposed to a smaller one? Will he agree more quickly to the unreality of a louder voice he hears than to that of a softer one? Will he dismiss more easily a whispered demand to kill than a shout? And do the number of pitchforks the devils he sees carrying affect their credibility in his perception? His mind has categorized them all as real, and so they are all real to him. When he realizes they are all illusions they will disappear. And so it is with healing. The properties of illusions which seem to make them different are really irrelevant, for their properties are as illusory as they are.

Journal

This makes so much sense. An illusion is an illusion regardless of the form it takes and so healing is simply choosing to disregard the appearance of the illusion and to insist on the truth being made manifest. Maybe, like this: There is no headache, just the appearance of a headache, which I am not interested in. There is only Love and Love doesn’t hurt. Love is joyful and peaceful and that is all that is really going on right now and all I care to have in my awareness.

So if it is so simple and so easy, why does healing often feel so hard? Why is pain so persistent? I have let go of the belief in a number of different pains and after I worked my way through the first one, just being vigilant and persistent in what I knew must be true, the rest have been a lot easier. But, sometimes, I can’t do it. Why is that?

Jesus assures us that the illusion is the effect of a belief and one hallucination is as easy to deny as the next. What is the problem, then? I know it is not that I still believe that I “catch” sickness or I react to my environment in painful ways, or even that my DNA caused it. My mind just doesn’t go there anymore, not with any degree of conviction, anyway. I know that the only thing that can cause sickness are my beliefs. So, just change my beliefs, right? Easy-peasy!

Only sometimes it is not so easy. One thing I noticed is that I do believe that some hallucinations are harder to dispel or maybe it is just that I still identify with the body to such a degree that I can’t quite believe that the pain is not there, that the pain is actually in my mind as a belief in pain. For instance, I can almost always dismiss headaches and small burns and cuts. The pain fades and the injury heals easily. But when the pain is severe, I become afraid and my fear drives me rather than my holy mind.

Another thing I notice is that sometimes I still value the sickness. I think the sickness has something to offer me. It provides me with proof that I am loved and cared for as my family expresses sympathy and offers to help. I have had to discuss this ridiculous notion with the Holy Spirit more than once, along with the idea that being sick is the only way to get any rest, another value sickness holds. When I catch myself doing these things, I laugh it off and get on with things.

A harder one to catch though is the belief I am guilty and guilt calls for punishment. Simply put, I might still believe that sickness and pain can act as self-inflicted punishment that wards off even harsher punishment from God. Could I still believe that?? Surely, not. But, I think that unconsciously, I use pain and sickness as a defense against God. It keeps the story going and my personal self will intact. Sigh.

Nothing is happening with this story and this body right now, nothing at all. It is just an ancient memory playing over and over in my mind. There is no sickness or pain-filled body. There is just the memory of one. What I can do and what I am supposed to do is to recognize that this is true. I am remembering something that only appeared to happen eons ago.

Now, I can stop participating in this seemingly endless groundhog day by refusing to believe in it. When I have the opportunity to choose to believe in the sickness or the pain, I turn from the illusion and ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of all these forms of sick thinking, and, very likely, the body will follow suit. Even if it doesn’t, I am lessening the burden of the belief in sickness from the collective mind every time I make that decision.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. https://dev.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Manual for Teachers: 8. HOW CAN PERCEPTION OF ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES BE AVOIDED? P4. 3-28-18

8. HOW CAN PERCEPTION OF ORDER OF DIFFICULTIES BE AVOIDED? P 4
4 It is in the sorting out and categorizing activities of the mind that errors in perception enter. And it is here correction must be made. The mind classifies what the body’s eyes bring to it according to its preconceived values, judging where each sense datum fits best. What basis could be faultier than this? Unrecognized by itself, it has itself asked to be given what will fit into these categories. And having done so, it concludes that the categories must be true. On this the judgment of all differences rests, because it is on this that judgments of the world depend. Can this confused and senseless “reasoning” be depended on for anything?

Journal
It is so easy to fall into the ego’s trap of categorizing and sorting. I have a tendency toward the left in my politics. I have all sorts of reasons for this choice and even try to justify it through my spiritual beliefs. The problem with sorting ideas in this way is that in doing so I do not allow the Holy Spirit to guide me in this area. I think I know what is in my best interests when I go to the polls to vote, or when I encourage others to see it my way.

Another thing that happens is that I tend to think in terms of them and us when it comes to politics. This will reinforce the separation idea and make it stronger in the mind. If the difference in opinion is strong as it has been lately, I find myself demonizing the other side. I remind myself of one of my favorite and often quoted passages from the Course. I cannot enter the presence of God if I attack His Son. I can’t afford grievances.

Here is what I am discovering as I watch my mind during this political climate. There is still a strong desire in my mind to decide what things mean and what they are for. On the other hand, there is a stronger desire in my mind to stop thinking with the ego mind and to allow the Holy Spirit to inform me.

Another thing that I have discovered is that once I release the need for others to agree with me, and once I let the Holy Spirit correct my thinking, I can look at the issues involved without judging them or the people involved. Without judgment, I can look at the facts of the issues without attachment, so I am no longer outraged and no longer projecting onto others.

I posted an article by NPR reminding us that Russian bots are busy trolling in an effort to influence and create havoc. That is just a fact. What we do with it is up to us. We can buy into that agenda and start obsessively reading posts that we agree with according to our own categorizing. Or we can pass by them without choosing to be emotionally manipulated.

Another thing we can do is to notice how we feel when we see these posts. Does it make us feel angry, outraged even? Do we feel separate from those who designed them? Do they make us feel angry at the “other side”? This is a chance to allow the mind to be corrected, to choose love rather than fear.

Do we feel reluctant to give up our anger or do we justify our right to argue our point? Do we still feel like someone is guilty? Do we feel resistance to the idea of not following the posts we agree with? This is just another opportunity to be healed. All these things we want are just a matter of faulty categorizing and they are costing us our peace of mind. Instead, we can decide that being right is not worth it. We can stop keeping this dark place in our mind away from the Holy Spirit and give it to Him to heal, instead. Then we will be free to follow His guidance instead of being slave to our ego thinking.

I have been doing this work. I still feel like we need to regulate automatic weapons. I still think that arming teachers is not a good idea and escalating in that way could never bring peace and safety. I feel like we would do well to fortify our schools. But what has changed is that I am not angry at those who disagree. I am not emotionally overwrought about this situation. And whatever we do in the world, I think that the only true solution lies in the healing of the mind.

I am focused on healing the mind that believes more killing can stop killing and that peace can be had through anger and projection. I am focused on healing the mind of all grievances and the belief that grievances are salvation. These ideas did not come from the ego and so I know they will heal us and help us to awaken.

Regardless of what is going on in the world, my purpose is clear now. I am to choose between love and fear in every situation and allow the Holy Spirit to do the sorting and categorizing. He has only two categories and they are not right and wrong. He sees only that it is either true or is it false.

For a little while I became inflamed by the situation, then I asked for healing. Now, I feel differently. I am no longer categorizing with the ego and so I have stopped looking for who is right and who is wrong. I will not try to influence the outcome through manipulation of emotions or arguing, but through accepting the Atonement for myself in this situation and thus strengthening the choice for God within the mind. This will lead to the peace of God, which will not be affected by what happens in the world. Once there is enough healing within the mind, the world itself will be at peace and we will experience the real world that is promised us.

© 2018, Pathways of Light. https://dev.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

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