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Gentle Healing Lesson 119, Manual for Teachers, Text.  4-4-19

Lesson 119
(107) Truth will correct all errors in my mind.
(108) To give and to receive are one in truth.

I have thought that I am in danger nearly all the time. Every time I get in a car, I could be in a wreck. I could have a sudden heart attack or maybe that mole on my back is cancer. But I am mistaken that I could be hurt because the only thing that can be hurt is this body and I am not that. I think my feelings can be hurt or that my heart could be broken, but I am mistaken about that as well since this kind of suffering can occur only to what can be separated and I am not that either even if I pretend I am. My safety and my happiness are dependent on the truth and truth will correct these ideas in my mind as I am ready for it to be done. Without the false beliefs in my mind, I will no longer dream of danger.

Today, I will forgive all things. I will forgive the ideas in my mind and forgive their manifestations in the world, and do so as quickly as they come to my attention. In so doing, I will make room for the truth that sets me free. I will remember that I am sinless because I will no longer be dreaming of sin. I will remember that I am in God because I will no longer believe in the idea there is anywhere else to be. As I give up the ideas of separation and bodies and a world that exists outside of God, I will remember that I am His Son.

Every time I do a root cause inquiry it takes me to one of two places. Either I believe that I am unworthy and therefore unlovable, or I believe that I am not safe. Both of these false thoughts are the effect of believing in separation. I forgive the idea of separation, the idea that I still want that experience, and I forgive the idea of something less than perfect safety and the idea of unworthiness and a state in which love is unavailable. They are all mad ideas that lead only to suffering.

Regina’s Tips
The words are no more than signposts. That to which they point is not to be found within the realm of thought, but a dimension within yourself that is deeper and infinitely vaster than thought. A vibrantly alive peace is one of the characteristics of that dimension, so whenever you feel inner peace arising as you read, the [written word] is doing its work fulfilling its function as your teacher; it is reminding you of who you are and pointing the way back home. … Allow [it] to do its work, to awaken you from the old grooves of your repetitive and conditioned thinking. ~ Eckhart Tolle

My Thoughts
Even though words are necessary in the dream, and even though I use a lot of words, I am so tired of them. They never paint the picture I have in my mind. They never really express the idea I want to impart. This is why I have to be quiet sometimes and let the Holy Spirit do Its wordless work on me. The ego resists this so strenuously that I have to take this healing in small bits. The ego loves words and hates silence because there are no words. I have for a long time now realized that the words are hardly important at all and that the real healing takes place within me without my help or my wordy clarifications. My only part it seems is to want the healing.

Manual for Teachers
“It is in the sorting out and categorizing activities of the mind that errors in perception enter.”

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.

Another thing we can do is to notice how we feel when we see political 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.

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.

Text
“There is nothing they (miracles) cannot do, but they cannot be performed in the spirit of doubt or fear.”

I was reading this in my journal from a few years ago. I had forgotten about this and it was nice to revisit it.

When Jesus says miracles cannot be performed in doubt or fear, I understand the reason that sometimes it seems I cannot perform them. When I see that physical healing is needed and I wonder if I am supposed to do this, or if I just cannot believe that this can be healed, at least by me, this blocks the healing.

Yesterday, I got the chance to witness what happens when fear is removed. I have talked about the house I bought and the work being done. As I mentioned in before, the roofing materials were stolen, so I had to buy them all over again. I did not go into fear about this, and I trusted that all would work out exactly as it should.

Since I was not fearful, my mind was clear when it came to the thieves. I did not feel angry or resentful of them, and instead, I realized how painful it must be to live with such fear of lack that you think your survival depends on taking what others have. I pray for their healing as I pray that my mind be healed of any such beliefs. Their healing is my healing because healing spreads throughout the mind. If I were fearful about the loss myself, fear would block love and defensiveness would make the belief in separation stronger within the mind.

Yesterday, I realized I was out of money, and I still have a lot to be done. When I saw the numbers, I felt a moment of panic. Not only was I short of money to finish the project, but also I didn’t have enough money to pay for what was done already. In spite of the panicky feeling, I also felt that current of truth that flows unchanged and unimpeded by ego. I knew that the panic was not the true thought in my mind, and when I asked for help, the Holy Spirit reminded me that there were other thoughts in the mind that I could look at.

So I turned my attention to those thoughts. I remembered that this script is written and my job is to see it with Christ Vision. The only purpose of the story is to show me where there is still a need to heal my mind. Other true thoughts were there, and the panic quickly faded away. I wanted to know how I could use this situation to heal our mind. I also needed to know how to deal with it in the story.

As I sat there in peace, I remembered that I have some money in a vacation account that I could use. Then I remembered another way I could get some money. During the day, money began to flow into my life in the most unexpected and remarkable ways. I didn’t do anything to create most of this flow; it just came into my life. I don’t know if it will be enough, but I trust that flow. Why should it stop before the project is complete?

One of the things I was to learn from this situation is that fear blocks the flow of love, and removing fear allows it to move into my life in whatever way I think I need it. In this situation, the most useful way for love to show up was as money, and so that is what happened. I will use the money to finish the project because that is what’s needed in this story of Myron’s life, but what I felt was love washing over me just because I allowed it. It was an incredible feeling.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Gentle Healing Lesson 118, Manual for Teachers, Text.  4-2-19

Lesson 118

(105) God’s peace and joy are mine.
(106) Let me be still and listen to the truth.

Again, I am reminded that peace and joy are mine and all I have to do is accept them in exchange for what I chose instead. So, just as I have been doing for years now, I notice what I have chosen to believe that is opposite to the beliefs in peace and joy. I then choose to let those beliefs go and instead to accept new beliefs, beliefs that are true rather than false.

As I read this and contemplate it, I am drawn to the realization that I made substitutes for happiness and peace. This infers a deliberate act and I choose to own that decision so that I can decide again with confidence that my decisions have power and they affect me in profound ways.

I do not have an abundance of choices. Either I decide for God or I decide for the ego. When I decide for God, I receive all that is attributable to God, love, peace, and joy because they are also attributable to me. They are mine and I claim them now.

I am forming a helpful habit of stopping in the midst of my day of doing to just be. I stop the ego voices in my head and simply rest in God for a moment or two. This gives the Holy Spirit a chance to get a word in edgewise. Its message is always some form of reassurance that I am God the Son and I am perfect just as I am.

I am still and I listen to this truth and apply it as my day goes on. Sometimes it shows up as a reminder that I can choose happiness right now. Sometimes it is a reminder that I am loved and that it is safe for me to love in return. It is truly a might Voice for Truth and it is mine.

Regina’s Tips

~ When nothing was coming right away, the thought would be, “I’m not going to get anything out of this quote. It’s too straightforward. There’s nothing more to be had here.” Or maybe the thought would be, “I don’t understand this quote at all.

How am I supposed to get something out of this?” (How is what I am thinking now helping to block contemplation and serve the ego illusion?)

~ When something came very quickly, the thought would be, “That came too fast. That’s just me, not wisdom.” (How is what I am thinking now helping to block contemplation and serve the ego illusion?)

~ When flowery poetic language came, the thought would be, “I’m just writing this to impress others. It’s not genuine.” (How is what I am thinking now helping to block contemplation and serve the ego illusion?)

~ When plain and simple language came, the thought would be, “This isn’t anything. I’m just not good enough to receive something real.” (How is what I am thinking now helping to block contemplation and serve the ego illusion?)

~ When something came through feeling or a silent knowing, and I came up with the words to describe it, the thought would be, “I should hear words.” (How is what I am thinking now helping to block contemplation and serve the ego illusion?)

Etc.

You get the point. In order to allow contemplation, you need to be able to ignore the ego’s attempts to block contemplation, regardless of what those attempts look like.

My Thoughts

I sometimes wonder if I am listening to a higher voice than my ego, but I just stop for a moment to reestablish my intent to hear the Voice for God and then I go on.

Manual for Teachers
As my eyes show me the world, I see nothing but differences. For instance, people are different colors. But what does that mean? It could mean anything or nothing. It could mean that I find it delightful to see these various shades of color, much in the way I love planting different flowers of many colors. Someone else might see different skin tones as threatening, not like them and so that person might be uncomfortable around so much variety. Someone else could have no feelings about it at all.

What it means is up to the one looking. We decide with our mind what it means and then the world seems to show it to us according to our desire. I think it would be a very distressing way to live if I felt threatened by everything that wasn’t like me. I also think that I would find the proof I was looking for if I believed that people of different color or cultures or countries were threatening. I would find that proof, not because it was inherently true, but because I put it there.

I put it there with my beliefs. The eyes don’t really see at all, they simply report to us what we want to be there. Things in the world do not have meaning except as we give it meaning. Our mind evaluates the message and so only the mind is responsible for seeing. I can change my mind about what I want to see and I will start seeing differently. I wonder what it would be like to see through the eyes of Christ, to see what is truly there. Of course, the eyes can’t show me this, but my mind can.

Text
8:III “If you want understanding and enlightenment you will learn it, because your decision to learn it is the decision to listen to the Teacher Who knows of light, and can therefore teach it to you.”

I was telling a friend recently, that sometimes I know what I am. And then sometimes, I feel like Myron, this body, this personality, and when that happens, I feel like a beginner. I feel like I am in first grade and will never get to second grade. But how could that be true? No matter what I feel like I must be as God created me. I must be what God Wills for me.”

What I see is that the only difference between the two states, feeling like I am the Will of God and feeling like I am my ego self, is the teacher I am listening to. When I feel lost or hopeless the only thing wrong with me is that I am listening to and believing the ego thoughts in my mind. The truth doesn’t go anywhere just because I am not paying attention to it.

I will have enlightenment if enlightenment is what I want. I will have it because it is always there waiting for me and because I have the Holy Spirit Who was made for this. He teaches perfectly and continuously because it is His function. He teaches joyously and I can learn joyously, as well. As I remind myself of the truth and turn my face toward the light, the very idea of failure becomes ludicrous. I remember to ask that my perception be corrected, and I see that was the only problem, my perception was out of alignment with the truth.

It requires practice to learn to ignore the thinking mind, but it can be done. I practice every day. To the degree I am successful, I am happy and peaceful. Don’t believe your ego thoughts!

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Gentle Healing Lesson 117, Manual for Teachers, Text.  4-1-19

Lesson 117

(103) God, being Love, is also happiness.
(104) I seek but what belongs to me in truth.

There is only love as there is only God. Everything else is an illusion. Knowing What Is brings joy, knowing what is not real brings temporary pleasure at best and suffering is a certainty. I have one foot in humanity, but that is not my reality. I have the strength of God in me because that is my reality. I can choose to live as if I am only human, or I can choose to live as close to my true nature as is possible.

I choose love in every moment and I am choosing happiness and I am moving closer to Who I Am. In seeking joy, I am seeking my own true nature. In this practice of deciding to be happy and deciding to love everything and to be love in every way possible, I am merely being my Self.

The self I thought I was could not make a decision for happiness because she thought that her feelings were out of her control. Because she believed this, she would not even try. But I have transcended that self at least enough to do this one thing, to decide for happiness regardless of circumstances.

I still have to choose and then choose again at times, but mostly, it only requires that one thought, I decide. Not only is my life better, but I am aware of myself in a different way now. I am not learning to control anything or to become something else, I am simply accepting what was mine and what I always have been.

Regina’s Tips

Regina shared an article called “How I Discovered Meditative Self-Inquiry” by Adyashanti

In this article he explains the steps he takes in contemplation. He begins with a question. He writes only what he knows then he stops and waits for more to come. He never writes a word he does not absolutely know to be true.  He starts out writing as if he were teaching and he would write until he had exhausted what he knew from his own experience on the subject.

He said: Sometimes I would sit right at that place for many minutes, sometimes half an hour, sometimes two hours … but I would not write the next word until I knew that it was true and it was accurate. What I found was that the only way to move was to hold still, right there at the edge of my knowledge, and feel into my mind and my body at that threshold. Not to think about the question. Not to go into a lot of philosophizing in mind. But literally to kinesthetically hold at that boundary between what I knew and what was beyond what I knew. And what I found was that by holding at that boundary … by feeling it, by sensing it, by knowing that I wanted to move beyond it … that eventually the next word or sentence would come. When it did, I would write it down. Sometimes I would write no more than half a sentence before I would know, right in the middle, that I had hit the boundary again. I would stop again and I would wait. I’d hold at the boundary.

He went on like this until he had his answer.

My Thoughts

This feels very familiar to me. This is similar to what I usually do. I begin by writing what I know and I try to stick to my experience of it because how do I know what is beyond my experience? If I don’t feel complete, I ask for clarity. My asking is directed at the Holy Spirit, or to say it differently, to my Higher Self.

I know that all understanding is available to us, but it is obscured if we are trying to use our thinking mind to access it. I think the difference between what I do and Adyashanti is that he is probably a lot more careful when he questions himself. I am looser about it, doing my best to write from within rather than to write from my thinking mind, but I am not sure I always succeed.

Manual for Teachers

“The mind therefore seeks to make it true out of its intensity of desire to have it for itself.”

What do I want that is so intensely desired that an entire world was imagined to satisfy this desire? It seems that the wish was for a separate self, independent of God and my brothers. So, what do I gain for my efforts? I get to be different and special. I get needs that must be met and I get to decide how to do that, all by myself.

I have been watching TV lately. I acquired an Amazon Fire Stick, which gives me a lot more options for the types of shows I can watch. What I have noticed is that I like mysteries. I like them in my books as well. I like to unravel or even watch the mystery unravel.

It occurs to me that this mirrors part of the appeal of the world we made. It is filled with mysteries I get to unravel, some as simple as deciding on the brand of toothpaste is best and as urgent as deciding how to deal with a serious problem. In fact, the world presents me with an unending stream of problems for me to solve.

Sometimes I am the hero and sometimes I am the failure. But it is always me, alone, independently making decisions. I have treasured that independence, that separate, special self.

What I have discovered is that it is all a farce. I have never been separate and never been independent. There is no world in which I play out this fantasy. There is only an imagined world seeming to appear in the gap I pretend exists between all things. And even that was dreamed up long ago and is only an ancient memory.

This world of separation was a thought in the mind that existed hardly an instant. I pretend to bring it to life by remembering it and I fool myself into believing I am living in it, all so that I can act as if I am a separate self, making plans and deciding on my own and making things happen. What a goof I am. I used to think this was my super power. Now I think my superpower is my ability to awaken from this soured dream of separation and to live from this awakened state, to live a life of gratitude and happiness.

Text
The only way I will ever be perfectly happy and perfectly peaceful is if I unite my will with God’s Will. The way I accomplish this is to notice what I want instead of God’s Will and then ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind, that is to accept the Atonement for that error in thinking. This is the Holy Spirit’s job, and only what I learn from Him will release my will.

When the Atonement has been accomplished there will be no experience except joy and peace. The only thing that blocks this is the wish for some other experience. What experience could I want that is more important to me than uninterrupted peace and perfect joy? The perplexity that I feel when I think about that occurs because I am confused about what makes me happy.

Here are ideas that used to block me. I would think that if I were thinner and never had to worry about how what I eat affects my body, then I would be happy. I used to think I needed the experience of being loved and respected by my children. Being loved and respected is not the problem. Believing that this is an experience I must have to be happy is the problem.

I used to believe I had to have money and good health in order to be happy. As it turns out, neither is important to my happiness. I prefer to have both, but I can be happy regardless. I used to think my kids had to be ok for me to be happy. I discovered that I can be happy for their challenges just as I am happy for their successes. I can be happy that I am part of their story even when it is a challenging story. I can be happy for the miracle the challenge offers.

What I discovered is that the belief I needed certain things in the world to happen, and that I could somehow accomplish these things on my own, are the very things that were blocking my joy and happiness. These beliefs represent my willfulness, my belief that I want the experience of a personal will rather than that I share the Will of God.

I don’t know what I need or how to get it. The Holy Spirit does know and will teach me if I ask, and if I let go of the belief I already know the answer.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Gentle Healing Lesson 116, Manual for Teachers, Text.  3-29-19

Gentle Healing Lesson 116
(101) God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.
(102) I share God’s Will for happiness for me.

Since happiness is God’s Will for me, the only way I can be unhappy is if I believe in a will different than God’s. That belief is fading away for me. It is not completely gone because I can see its effects at times. Sometimes it is just the thought that something shouldn’t be happening or that if something different were happening then I could be happy. But I don’t hold those beliefs very long. I notice them and then remember they could not be true.

Once in a while, I will feel disheartened in a kind of hazy way for no apparent reason, but then I share God’s Will for happiness for me and the feeling dissolves. When something important to me is not going as expected, generally when my children seem to be endangered, I can be unhappy until I am able to return to normalcy again.

I return to sanity as I choose happiness and by remembering that we are not these bodies and this world is not real and we cannot be in danger. So, I have not entirely accepted God’s Will for happiness for me, but I am doing so more and more frequently and in so doing, I am beginning to believe that there is no will but God’s Will and that I want nothing else.

Ultimately, I will fully accept God’s Will is my will and that is all that exists and all that I want as I accept my true Self. I am continuing to meditate every day in as much patience and heartfelt desire as I can. In a few minutes, I will be still in expectancy of knowing my Self. Each time I sit down for this meditation, I do so with the happy thought that this might be the day. I am also beginning to have moments during the day when I am still, waiting, expecting.

Regina’s Tips
Sometimes we may be asked to contemplate material we do not like. Maybe the material uses words or symbols we do not like. Maybe we don’t have any mental understanding at all, and we feel frustrated about that lack of understanding. Maybe we don’t like the source of the quote. Maybe we have judgments against the person who spoke or wrote the quote, or maybe we have judgments against the text or spiritual path the quote comes from.

Any judgments we have about the material we are contemplating will get in the way of receiving wisdom. If we have any judgments at all about the material, we serve ourselves best by being willing to look at our judgments and let them go.

Grievances block wisdom, and that includes any grievance we may hold against any written word.

My Thoughts
I know that Regina is right about this. At times, I have grievances against the written word that comes from Regina. It caused me grief and distrust, not the writings, but that Regina had embraced teachings that I didn’t care for. She and I had shared a love of A Course in Miracles and she was my teacher of those words for years. We both loved NTI and she taught me with those words. Even Inner Ramana, which was beginning to move out of my comfort zone was a wonderful teaching device and again, I learned from Regina.

But then she began to teach from writings that did not inspire me and I felt abandoned and resented the writings since I loved Regina too much to resent her. But my desire to awaken is stronger than any grievance and so, somehow I wound up here studying this information in Gentle Awakening. The barrier I erected against my own good is crumbling a bit at a time. There are teachings that still do not inspire me, but they are not irritating me anymore and I am open to feeling differently if that is where my own true Self wants to take me.

Manual for Teachers
“The belief in order of difficulties is the basis for the world’s perception. ...What the body’s eyes behold is only conflict. Look not to them for peace and understanding.”

I understand this problem. Life can appear to be very chaotic as I am bombarded with people and situations that vie for my attention. Because of past learning, I categorized them according to importance to me and according to urgency. This is the way we are taught have to live. There are books written to help us learn how to best juggle these choices because for some, it becomes confusing and overwhelming and there seems to be a desperate need to get it right.

Two common categories are good and bad. But, I am learning not to judge anything that occurs, that I don’t need to separate and categorize my life at all. Experience is teaching me to be in this present moment, trusting that I have a loving Presence ever ready to help me whatever my need?

I have already seen that when I surrender my life to God, I am gently uplifted and carried. But this desire to decide on my own what everything means and what should be done about all the separate elements, how to categorize them and to decide which ones are important and which ones are not, takes it out of God’s hands and leaves me on my own again.

Instead, I am learning to see my life as a series of events with only one meaning and one purpose, not good or bad, important or unimportant. I imagine every event being perfect in its time and then being gone to make room for the next perfect moment. I use each moment in whatever way the Holy Spirit would have me use it. I imagine being in joy regardless of what seems to be happening because I am living a life of purpose that is not my own, but God’s.

Text
6.III.4 Since you cannot not teach, your salvation lies in teaching the exact opposite of everything the ego believes. This is how you will learn the truth that will set you free, and will keep you free as others learn it of you. The only way to have peace is to teach peace.

Being a teacher is not a choice we make; it is simply what we are. We are teachers because we teach all the time. Our choice lies in what we teach. When I notice that I am teaching something I don’t want to learn, I stop. This is because I am clear now about my purpose, about what I want. I want the peace of God. I want to wake up to my reality, to remember who I am. I don’t want to teach anything that does not bring me closer to my deepest, truest desire.

How do I teach peace if I don’t feel peaceful? I shift everything through my desire. I am in this ego belief system because I desired an experience of separation. I get out of it by shifting my desire to one of peace and love. I already have a built-in solution which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works from outside the closed system and will shift me from chaos to peace. The Holy Spirit is activated through my desire for peace.

The more I teach peace the more I want it and the faster my desire changes. When my only desire is for peace, I will teach only peace and there will be no more chaos because there is no desire for chaos. I am, through my desire and with the Holy Spirit, creating a different cycle. Recently, I was being judgmental of some people.  I thought I let it go but judgmental thoughts kept showing up in my mind.

Finally, I just stopped what I was doing and with great conviction, I told Jesus that I am through with those thoughts. I had no use for them. There is no one else to be judgmental about, so when I judge those people, I am judging myself and losing my peace. I was very certain that I was through with that judgment and because I was certain, it all went away and has not returned, nor do I expect it to. I am set free.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

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Gentle Healing Lesson 115, Manual for Teachers, Text.  3-28-19

Lesson 115
(99) Salvation is my only function here.

(100) My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.

As I have been doing for the last several days, I began with a short meditation for the purpose of being still and inviting my Self to come forward, or maybe it is being quiet so that I have the chance to know my Self rather than the chattering ego mind. I have tried some specific meditations, and thus far I am not inspired by them. Maybe it is too soon to expect them to be meaningful to me. One was helpful in that it suggests using an inspiring song to help me shift from the head to the heart. I do see the value in coming from the heart rather than the head. I used If You Knew How Much I Love You from The Untethered Soul.

Contemplation
Bentinho Massaro says that our life is not about our life and I agree 100%. We came here with a purpose and that purpose is what our life is about. I have only one thing to do here, that is to save the world and thus to save myself. I do this through forgiveness. I forgive the world means I no longer value the world, I let it go from my desires. The world exists because we wanted it. I change my mind; I no longer want the world. I forgive the idea of the world, which undoes the world.

I am essential to this plan for salvation because the Son can be seen as holographic in nature. What is in one is also in the others, so, even as we seem each of us to be unique, we are one. If even one of us loves the idea of the world, we all have the love of the world in us. So my part is to accept the Atonement (forgive) and let the world disappear from my mind and the idea of world becomes weaker in all minds.

Regina’s Tips
A common block to receiving wisdom through contemplation is perceiving the text that is being contemplated as straightforward and easy to understand. Maybe you are contemplating a sentence that is short, simple and clear. “I get it,” the mind says.

Well … that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to be gained through contemplation.

My Thoughts
I am typically impatient and though I do stop long enough to ask for clarity, I seldom give time and thoughtfulness to my answers, just to see what else might come. I suppose that is the value of contemplating the lessons during the day. I admit that I was hesitant to write these two lessons on a card and use them during the day, not because they are unimportant, but because I thought I knew what they mean and that I am all in. But now, I am going to put them on a card and carry them with me during the day, stopping as often as I can to contemplate further.

Manual for Teachers
“If you are offering only healing, you cannot doubt. Doubt is the result of conflicting wishes. Be sure of what you want, and doubt becomes impossible.”

Let me not get in the way of God’s work through me.
Healing is a simple thing. I need only allow the power of God to work through me. It becomes complicated or confused only when the ego mind is allowed to intrude on the healing. Then the mind begins to question; can this be healed, should it be healed? Have you ever had the thought that maybe it was the person’s classroom and maybe you should not interfere? The healer has become confused about his own identity. Conflict has entered the mind.

I was asked to pray for someone this morning. The ego mind jumped right in with questions about the problem and I saw my mind become confused about how to pray in this situation. So I stopped thinking. I let my mind go still and right away, I knew how to pray. I knew that this person was healed and whole and nothing else about her was true.

I knew she was energetic and in love with life, that she felt loving and joyful simply because that is her true nature. These things are true about her because of who she is and I cannot imagine anything else being true. My mind is clear about this and so my prayer is powerful as is the mind that holds it as true. I know what is true and so doubt is impossible and healing is certain.

Text
The Alternative to Projection
We began with a mind that knew only truth, only wholeness. There was Love and there was the extension of Love. This is all that was in the mind and so there was perfect peace. Then there was the thought of something else and the mind was split between Love and the idea of something not Love.

In order to explore the other idea, the thought of Love had to be dissociated. One cannot know unity and know separation in the same instant. To know separation and have that experience it was necessary to exclude oneness. The moment we remember oneness we lose the idea of separation. The idea of separation is not natural to us so we needed a device to sustain it and so we made projection.

Envisioning how we came to this place of a split mind and how we keep it going, it is easy to see how we reverse it. We undo the ego (separation thinking) by losing interest in separation and placing our mind on only the truth. We stop projecting and the thought system of separation must collapse. In A Course in Miracles, we learn what is going on and how to recognize it as it is happening. We learn that there is an alternative and that the alternative is preferable.

Then we start to back out of the separation idea a step at a time, but that can be accelerated the moment we decide that we want nothing else but the truth. The actual change in mind is that simple, we choose again. All of the work involved is to bring us to the place where we want nothing but God. This explanation may be too simplistic, and it may not be exactly the way it happened, but it is a helpful explanation that I was led to.

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Gentle Healing Journal, Lesson 114 3-27-19

Lesson 114
(97) I am spirit.
(98) I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.

These lessons have been very supportive of my desire to know my Self. This morning, I started my meditation with greater anticipation than before. I know I am not this body no matter how much it sometimes feels like I am. I am spirit and cannot be limited because God created me unlimited. I am the Son of God. What an extraordinary thing to know when for so long I saw myself as so much less. Today, I will focus on my function, which is to simply accept God’s Word that I am as He created me.

My Contemplation
I am the Son of God, God the Son. Can a God also be a body? Can a God also be limited? It must be that I am not what I seem to be as this body/personality. Am I in this body or is this body in me? Is it a thought in the mind of which I am aware? Could I shift my awareness to something else? If I did, would the body cease to be or would others who value this body sustain it in their awareness until I returned my attention to it?

Or perhaps I dreamed up this story of a body long ago and I am just remembering it now, thinking about it, keeping it “alive” in my mind through my memories, “an ancient memory I have placed before my eyes.”

How do I shift my mind from the body to what I am? Perhaps it is a matter of placing my attention on my Self as the foreground and with the body-self in the back ground. Then I could place my attention on the body-self bringing it into the foreground, with my Self in the background. Shifting my attention back and forth until it is easy and natural and until I comfortably keep the Self foremost in my sight and the ego self a bit in the background, never confusing the two again. Could that be it?

Regina’s Tips
Sometimes when wisdom begins to flow, it isn’t immediately brilliant to me. The first few words that appear may seem uninteresting or unorganized. I remember I’ve promised not to judge what comes, and I start writing whatever comes. This seems to open the flow more, and soon I have perfect wisdom for me now. And that’s really all it has to be … the perfect wisdom for me now.

If what comes feels like something that is good for you to focus on today, that’s it. That’s the wisdom. Don’t expect anything else. All you really need is today’s “daily bread.” Today’s daily bread, one day at a time, will take you all the way to the top of the mountain.

My Thoughts
My contemplation was a little different today. I contemplated through questioning possibilities. At first, I had the thought that this was going nowhere, that I am looking for answers not more questions. But then I decided to trust the inner wisdom that was making itself known in this way. Maybe I need to let the questions rest in my mind to see what bubbles up during the day.

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Gentle Healing Journal, Lesson 113 3-21-19

Lesson 113
(95) I am one Self, united with my Creator.
(96) Salvation comes from my one Self.

Again, this morning I sat for a while readying my mind to know my Self. At first, I noticed how much I didn’t want to do this and knew that was because I was afraid of failure and what that would mean. I asked the Holy Spirit to remove those thoughts from my mind and He did. I settled into the process. I didn’t have as many distracting thoughts as before and when I did, I turned from them more quickly. I’m going to try again later. I know that it is normal to take time to acquire discipline of the mind.

Just reading today’s review caused a feeling of peace to flow through me. I asked the Holy Spirit to clarify these lessons for me as I began my contemplation. Serenity and perfect peace are mine right now, not when something happens or when I do something deserving or prove my worth through some great effort. I am my Self and one with God is just a fact that does not change. That it does not change is a hallmark of my Self, as only the changeless is my Self. I can trust that I am completely whole and at one with all creation and with God even when that doesn’t appear to be my experience, even if I can’t feel it.

It is this one Self, my true Self from which salvation comes because knowing this Self is my salvation. The knowledge of my one Self is in my mind. It did not disappear because I turned from it and placed my attention on the split mind. It remains with me and as me regardless of any change I imagine. My salvation was fulfilled at the instant it was needed and now I am ready to accept salvation. I want to be at Home in God as my Self and this is done. Come on, self, what are you waiting for? This is the best deal you are ever going to get, the only deal worth having. Let’s do this.

Regina’s Tips
We have to be willing to let ‘pointing’ come to us in whatever form it will as we contemplate, and then it is important to trust what comes. Usually, as we trust the first little bit that comes, more will follow.

My Thoughts
I write what comes to me after I ask for clarification. Then I read what I wrote, correcting grammar and spelling. I also read to see if it is complete. I sometimes get more as I read. I have moments when I doubt and wonder if this could be right or if it is just me writing from the thinking mind. Over the years, I have come to trust my feelings. When it feels right, I trust that it is right. If it feels wrong, I ask for more clarification.

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