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Study of Manual for Teachers8-9-12

8-9-12
4 The Holy Spirit abides in the part of your mind that is part of the Christ Mind. He represents your Self and your Creator, Who are One. He speaks for God and also for you, being joined with Both. And therefore it is He Who proves Them One. He seems to be a Voice, for in that form He speaks God’s Word to you. He seems to be a Guide through a far country, for you need that form of help. He seems to be whatever meets the needs you think you have. But He is not deceived when you perceive your self entrapped in needs you do not have. It is from these He would deliver you. It is from these that He would make you safe. 

Where is the Holy Spirit? He is in my split mind. He is in the part that represents my true Self and my Creator. And listen to this; He represents my Self and my Creator, Who are One. If I had any doubt about my identity as this body and this personality known as Myron, it is laid to rest in this sentence. I am One with my Creator. I cannot be Myron.

Myron is a small separated self whose mind runs amuck, who is afraid of many things and feels her vulnerability acutely. Her fragile body experiences sickness and suffers. Her emotions go all over the place and only occasionally do they express joy. Peace is a sporadic state. Does this sound like God? I don’t think so. And yet, I and my Creator are One. I must not be Myron.

Since I am not Myron, I am not her thoughts either. When she judges someone that does not make me judgmental. When she hates someone that does not make me hateful. When she has fearful thoughts that does not make me fearful. I am in no way defined by Myron’s thoughts. Nor do her actions or her words define me. I am not Myron so what does her behavior have to do with who I am? I am still as God created me because I am one with God. The Holy Spirit in my mind speaks for both my Self and for God, because He is joined with Both and so proves I am One with God.

How does the Holy Spirit help? He is the Voice that speaks God’s word to me. He is the Guide that helps me return to God. He meets whatever needs I think I have. When I sit at a keyboard and ask for His help to understand what I read, He gives me understanding. When I forget who I am He reminds me. When I become confused about reality He gently guides me back to truth. When I become afraid He comforts me. I cannot be any of these things of course, because I am Self, I am Son of God; I am perfect and whole and have no needs. But while I think I have needs, Holy Spirit answers my confusion with the truth.

What is it the Holy Spirit does not do? He does not become confused. He does not ever believe in my needs and my fears. If I hear a voice in my mind that says I am in trouble, or that I am sinful, or that I deserve what I got, I know it is not the Voice for God. He does not believe in my delusions. He knows I have them; it is His function to save me from them, but He is not fooled by them. The Holy Spirit is not here to save me from danger, but to save me from my belief that I am in danger.

This is what He does for me, but what does the Holy Spirit do for Myron? Well, nothing, of course. Myron is just a projection of a confused and delusional mind. Why would anyone fix a projection? It is the mind that needs help, not its projections. The story of Myron is helpful only as a screen on which I can see what it looks like to believe these separation thoughts. Myron is a picture of the needs I think I have.

I could feel bad for Myron if she was real, or afraid for her, if she was real. Because she is not real, I don’t ask the Holy Spirit to fix her body or her life. I ask, instead for the healing of my mind.  Occasionally I have an identity crisis and forget who I am. Then I ask for help for Myron as if she were the one who needed it. Holy Spirit is gentle though, and never tries to jerk me back to reality; He just continues to whisper the truth into my Heart as always.  I love that Holy Spirit.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-8-12

8-8-12
3 The Holy Spirit is described as the remaining Communication Link between God and His separated Sons. In order to fulfill this special function the Holy Spirit has assumed a dual function. He knows because He is part of God; He perceives because He was sent to save humanity. He is the great correction principle; the bringer of true perception, the inherent power of the vision of Christ. He is the light in which the forgiven world is perceived; in which the face of Christ alone is seen. He never forgets the Creator or His creation. He never forgets the Son of God. He never forgets you. And He brings the Love of your Father to you in an eternal shining that will never be obliterated because God has put it there.

This is one of my favorite paragraphs in the Manual for Teachers. There simply are not words to express the gratitude I feel for the presence of the Holy Spirit in my mind. He is the link between me and God because He both knows and sees. He knows the truth and sees my illusion. It is through His function that I am able to bridge the gap I created when I believed my own thoughts.

Being like God I have a creative mind. Though creation can only extend and so never create unlike itself, mind can think about anything and make up scenarios without any limits. The results are illusions but very vivid and believable illusions, and without the Love that inspires true creation, they can seem painful, indeed. I have been so lost in my stories that I forgot they were stories and mistook them for reality. It is the Holy Spirit in my mind that sees the story, but remembers the truth. It is my desire to be free of the story that invites this Correction to heal my mind and restore me to sanity. 

As my mind began to clear I went from believing the Holy Spirit instructed me and guided me as I healed myself, to an understanding that I am healed through the Holy Spirit. I give Him my perceptions and He corrects them. I bring Him my sickness and He heals it. I bring Him my confusion and He gives me clarity.

Studying the Manual for Teachers has changed the way I view the Holy Spirit. I cannot say I understand what the Holy Spirit is, but I understand Him differently now. And truly, what is my understanding anyway except the thinking mind trying to pin Him down and put Him in a recognizable box. It’s funny even to think of it. An ant looking at its hill and thinking it understands the universe now.

  What matters to me is that I know my part and I understand that the Holy Spirit is my savior, my way Home. He is the gift from God that keeps me from being forever lost in my own imaginings. This passage brings me to tears every time I read it.

He never forgets the Creator or His creation. He never forgets the Son of God. He never forgets you. And He brings the Love of your Father to you in an eternal shining that will never be obliterated because God has put it there.

I feel like a little child who in her imaginative play wandered out of site of home and thought she was lost forever, only to realize that her mom knew exactly where she was and came to bring her home again. My mom would not leave me alone to wander endlessly afraid hopeless. She would never forget me.

  Holy Spirit, thank you for the light you shine into my darkened mind. Thank you for never forgetting me. Thank you for teaching me to laugh at my imaginings. Thank you for guiding me Home. Thank you for reminding me of the love I have for my Father and of the love He has for me, eternally.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-7-12

8-7-12
2 The Holy Spirit is described throughout the course as giving us the answer to the separation and bringing the plan of the Atonement to us, establishing our particular part in it and showing us exactly what it is. He has established Jesus as the leader in carrying out His plan since he was the first to complete his own part perfectly. All power in Heaven and earth is therefore given him and he will share it with you when you have completed yours. The Atonement principle was given to the Holy Spirit long before Jesus set it in motion.

In this paragraph I am learning more about the Holy Spirit and the plan of Atonement. The Holy Spirit was given the Atonement principle, and in remembering the truth, Jesus set it in motion. The Holy Spirit’s function seems to be to give us this plan and our part in it, showing us exactly what we are to do to accomplish our part. The part given Jesus is to be the leader in carrying out His plan.

All power in Heaven and earth are given Jesus and as we accomplish our part, we will share that power with him. It is helpful to have some understanding of this, and I am grateful for A Course in Miracles for giving it, but even if I never had any understanding of this at all, I can still complete my part. The truth does not need my understanding to be true. I don’t need to understand why following my Inner Guidance works; I only need to follow it.

I share my journey, every step of it, and every misstep. Sometimes in my sharing I am helpful to someone else. Even my errors can be helpful. I am always ready to learn from someone else’s mistakes rather than making all of them myself, so I am equally happy if someone else learns from mine. But my path is my path.  I love my teachers and am very grateful to them for what they have shared with me, but I have a path that I am to follow that is not the same as my teacher’s. To know that path I must look within. I must open my Heart to the Holy Spirit within and learn to listen for that still small Voice.

What I am given to do and the way I am to do it is unique for me. Your path is unique for you. The Holy Spirit tells each of us what we are to do and how we are to accomplish this. Our instructions will have many similarities and the same underlying truth, and they will bring us all to the same place. However, the details, the way we are to do it, these are specific to each one of us.  This is why it is important to learn to hear the Voice for God that is within your mind.

God’s Voice can be over-powered by our own separate will, the ego voice, but only if we want that. Desire to hear and practice listening is the key. When I have complained that I can’t hear Him, He has told me that He speaks to me all through the day, and that it is me who is not listening. I have learned to listen and when I don’t hear Him I am well aware that it is because I don’t want to know what He would tell me.

First I learned to hear the Holy Spirit, to distinguish that Voice from the ego. Then I learned that I want to hear Him all the time. Last of all, I learned to believe what He says. When I was in pain He told me that pain is not real. It’s simple, really. God did not create pain so it is not real. I had to allow Him to reprogram my thinking on this because I had taught myself to believe in pain. What I believe is real for me and so I cannot teach myself differently. I can, however, be willing to be wrong, and so allow correction, which the Holy Spirit will gladly do.

He told me that there is no guilt, that guilt is something I made up.  This seemed so impossible to me because the guilt felt so real and was so pervasive in my life. If I had to choose the one lesson I came to learn it would be that guilt is not real. I say that because my life story was about guilt. It took years, all of my life, really, for me to accept what He was saying.

There really is no guilt.  God did not create guilt so it can’t be real. I can stop experiencing guilt as if it is real simply by acknowledging that Holy Spirit is right. Feeling guilty and seeing others as guilty is just a choice I made. It is possible to just stop. And, oh my goodness, what freedom!

He told me there is no fear. I am still letting that go. God did not create fear so it can’t exist.  I must be making this up, too. I am in God, a part of God, so I cannot feel what God does not feel. God created me through extending Himself so I cannot be what God is not. God is not fear so fear cannot be real. It must be an illusion.

I see the sense in that and I know it must be true. Fear can be no more real than pain and guilt. I see myself letting many forms of fear fall away and am very excited to think of letting go of all fear. I am allowing the Holy Spirit to work through me to transform my thinking on this. When I feel fear, I ask myself where that feeling came from. It is a thought that came from the thinking mind. Would I ask the ego to show me reality? Or would I ask Holy Spirit? So when the fear thought comes I turn to Holy Spirit and ask that my mind be healed of all illusions.

Thank you, Holy Spirit.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-6-12

8-6-12

6. THE HOLY SPIRIT
1 Jesus is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, Whom he called down upon the earth after he ascended into Heaven, or became completely identified with the Christ, the Son of God as He created him. The Holy Spirit, being a creation of the one Creator, creating with Him and in His likeness or spirit, is eternal and has never changed. He was “called down upon the earth” in the sense that it was now possible to accept Him and to hear His Voice. His is the Voice for God, and has therefore taken form. This form is not His reality, which God alone knows along with Christ, His real Son, Who is part of Him.

What an interesting manifestation of God the Holy Spirit is. Reading about the Holy Spirit here I realize I never had any understanding of what the Holy Spirit is. I still don’t. What I understand is His function as explained in the Course. This paragraph tells us that the Holy Spirit has always existed as part of the one creation of God and as such is eternal and unchanging. It also tells us that He has taken form, which like the forms we have taken, is not real, but serves a temporary purpose.

The process that occurred is explained by saying that when Jesus became completely identified with the Christ, he called the Holy Spirit down upon the earth. This means that now we can all accept Him and hear His Voice. Over and over I see the debt of gratitude I owe my brother, Jesus. While any one of us could have completed our part and remembered the truth of our being (and will do so) it was Jesus who first did this, thus paving the way for us.

I like that idea, “paving the way.” I envision the journey of awakening as a rocky and uneven road with many twists and turns. It is barely a road at all, hardly even a path, sometimes seeming to disappear in the brambles and bushes of the illusory world. Jesus walked this path and walked to the very end, leaving behind any belief that it could be real and that there was any reason he could want it to be real.

His completion called forth the Holy Spirit to help us all walk this path more easily, in effect, “paving it.” Now the path has become more visible to us, smoother and easier to walk.  Well, that is the story of Jesus and the Holy Spirit this paragraph evokes in my mind, and seems to be a helpful story for me. It feels like another piece of the puzzle slipping into place. It hardly matters that it is just another story among the billions we tell ourselves every day, none of which is truth, but some which are helpful.

What I come away with is Jesus, my brother who appeared as man just as we have appeared as man, taking on our illusion with all its confusion, found his way out of the illusion. He then took on the function of helping us find our way out, and in this function he manifests as the Holy Spirit, the Voice for God. In this form He continues to guide us and comfort us as we, too, in perfect timing, decide for God.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-5-12

8-5-12
6 Is he God’s only Helper? No, indeed. For Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized. But Jesus is for you the bearer of Christ’s single message of the Love of God. You need no other. It is possible to read his words and benefit from them without accepting him into your life. Yet he would help you yet a little more if you will share your pains and joys with him, and leave them both to find the peace of God. Yet still it is his lesson most of all that he would have you learn, and it is this:

There is no death because the Son of God is like his Father. Nothing you can do can change Eternal Love. Forget your dreams of sin and guilt, and come with me instead to share the resurrection of God’s Son. And bring with you all those whom He has sent to you to care for as I care for you.

There are obviously many Helpers, which are really just one Helper appearing as many according to our needs. I have chosen Jesus as my teacher and he has been true to his function for which I am very grateful.  I have even heard his voice in my mind answering questions for me. The first time this happened I felt so undeserving of this communication and so worried that people would disbelieve me that I cut that line of communication off.

This happened a few years ago when I was still confused about who I am and what mattered. And I understand now that I did not really cut off communication with the voice of Jesus. He is now the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and so I hear him all the time through the Voice for God. But sometimes I just want to talk to plain old Jesus. ~smile~ I feel so close to him now that it is easy and natural to do this.

Do I really speak to the man who was called, Jesus? No but I speak to the symbol of one who joined me in my dreams so he could lead me out of them. Sometimes it is comforting to speak to Jesus because I can relate to him. I know he is there for me and invites me to communicate with him in everything, and I do this.

This is how I bring him into my life. I talk to him about how I feel and about my concerns and doubts. I ask him questions and write down his answer, which I often share with others because that is what he means for me to do. I ask for his guidance daily, and often check in with him to see how I’m doing and to be sure that my mind remembers who is in charge.

Sometimes I refer to him as Jesus and see the man in my mind. Sometimes I speak to Holy Spirit without the physical representation that Jesus brings to mind. But however I feel to do it, I do speak to him every day, all day long. And more importantly, I listen.  And what I am told over and over is that I am innocent. Everyone is innocent. Guilt does not exist. Neither does pain, suffering or death. No matter what thought I bring to him, the answer is always the same.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-4-12

8-4-12
5 Is he the Christ? O yes, along with you. His little life on earth was not enough to teach the mighty lesson that he learned for all of you. He will remain with you to lead you from the hell you made to God. And when you join your will with his, your sight will be his vision, for the eyes of Christ are shared. Walking with him is just as natural as walking with a brother whom you knew since you were born, for such indeed he is. Some bitter idols have been made of him who would be only brother to the world. Forgive him your illusions, and behold how dear a brother he would be to you. For he will set your mind at rest at last and carry it with you unto your God. 

Jesus is the Christ, and so are we. The difference between us is that Jesus embodies Christ now and we have forgotten that we do. For us, it is potential, for we still dream of separation. If we imagine ourselves still in this dream, if we still have a foot upon earth, then we have not reached our full potential.

Jesus began his work to help us awaken to the truth of our being through his life on earth, but obviously that was not enough. Now he continues this work, leading us home. As we join our Hearts with his we will see as he sees because the eyes of Christ are shared. This must be true because Christ is the truth, the reality as God created it so it is One. What is true for Jesus is true for everyone. That is the nature of God.

Some bitter idols have been made of him… .  Oh lord, how true that is. “What would Jesus do” is a helpful guiding question, but when asked of the ego mind the answer comes from the idea of separation and is not the answer we would get from him, but rather becomes a projection onto him.  We don’t have to look far to see the unkindness done in Jesus’ name, and in God’s name. Let us withdraw our projections, acknowledge their source and place them on the altar for healing.

Jesus would only be our brother and helper. He would guide us Home to God if we let him. The ego will use the idea of Jesus to keep itself alive if we choose to listen to it. Right now its favorite playground is the Chick-fil-a controversy. Many believe that Jesus favors separation when it comes to homosexuality. They see this as an exception to the idea of love and are fervently against it.

Others see those people as wrong and even evil. They see them as an exception to the idea of love. Many see themselves as persecuted by this situation and victim to the world. The ego doesn’t really care which stance is taken so long as separation is the underlying principle. Jesus calls on us to forgive it, that is, to realize it never happened. No one has been hurt except in their own minds as they interpret through the filter of separation. God is not offended, Jesus is not defamed. In truth, nothing has happened so how could their be sin? How could there be victims?

Oh how the ego loves its dreams of separation. How it loves the ones that we try to share. We can’t really, because one cannot share what is separate, but in our attempt to share them we make them feel so real that one can imagine they are important. One can begin to imagine that separation is more real than Love, more real than God. The illusion of separation with its attendants, anger, fear, and guilt begin to edge God from our awareness, and the ego roars in triumph.

It is so easy to fall into this trap. It is so easy to see one side as virtuous and so the other must be, what… unvirtuous? Is that a word? Spell-check says no. Sinners? Evil? At least, ignorant? What if an idea is either true or not true? What if we acknowledged our ignorance and asked for enlightenment?

What if we forgave the idea that any of God’s children could be less than perfect? What if we forgave the idea that we could be hurt by anything? Only the body, the personality, the separate individual can be hurt and they don’t exist except in our imagined dreams. What we are is perfectly protected. Nothing real is endangered.

We can put down our arms and open our hearts to those who still live in fear. We can accept our purpose and forgive where others attack, and to see where this is needed without succumbing to judgment and thus becoming part of the problem. Our brothers are not bad or evil, only sometimes confused. Let us forgive their confusion until they are able to do so themselves. There is no separation.  When we condemn another we condemn ourselves. When we forgive another we forgive ourselves. Only together do we enter Heaven.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-3-12

8-3-12
4 And therefore all your sins have been forgiven because they carried no effects at all. And so they were but dreams. Arise with him who showed you this because you owe him this who shared your dreams that they might be dispelled. And shares them still, to be at one with you.

Our sins have been forgiven because they have no effect at all. Nothing has happened. How can nothing be a sin? How can nothing make us guilty? The ego insists on guilt because if there is no guilt then its whole construct is … well, nothing. The ego is extremely determined about guilt.

My oldest son is very political. He is also very republican and his siblings are democrat. It makes for some very lively get togethers when he is with them as they tend to be political as well. I ignore the whole thing for the most part, however, the other day I noticed his status update on facebook, mentioned the media and quoted Fox News. For some reason I thought it would be funny to comment, to goad him about this. I said something like, “I didn’t know Fox was media. I thought they worked for the Republican Party.

I really don’t have any interest in this, and I don’t care what party he backs. I normally ignore his political tirades and just don’t read them. I have no idea why I thought it would be amusing to make that comment. I should have known he would take it seriously because politics are important to him. He drug me into his latest rant. I ignored him and made note to self to never do this again.

Here is what the ego had to say about this.
  He has no respect for you.
  He doesn’t love you.
  He is mad at you and now you have lost his affection. He holds a grudge so he might be mad forever.

I saw those thoughts and for a brief moment revisited that place in my mind where I believed those kinds of things. Then I snapped back to reality. I am innocent. He is innocent.

The next day I noticed the ego was back trying another tact. This one was along the lines of seeing the error in his diatribe on the latest political news. The ego had a reply all ready for me. It made sense. It sounded reasonable and was carefully couched in acceptable language. I went over it a few times as the ego mind likes to do. I was almost fooled, but I decided to do nothing until I felt certain it came from Spirit. In that decision I invited the Holy Spirit in and He pointed out that no matter how gentle the language my intended reply still made him guilty.

Wow. I had become mesmerized by the ego thinking mind. As soon as I returned to my right mind, I saw very clearly that I was thinking my son was guilty. I was returning to the belief in guilt. I know this is not true so I know I have no interest in believing in guilt and teaching guilt. The idea of being right lost its attraction in that moment. I returned to a peaceful mind and the difference between a peaceful mind and a mind striving to win an argument is so stark, I could hardly believe I had even a momentary interest in being right. Glad to be back to sanity.

I am very grateful for this peaceful and happy place I find myself. Thank you, Jesus, for sharing my dreams long enough to help me dispel them.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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