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Study of Text, Chapter 11: V: The “Dynamics” of the Ego, P 3. 10-6-15

V. The “Dynamics” of the Ego, P 3
3 Let us begin this lesson in “ego dynamics” by understanding that the term itself does not mean anything. It contains the very contradiction in terms that makes it meaningless. “Dynamics” implies the power to do something, and the whole separation fallacy lies in the belief that the ego has the power to do anything. The ego is fearful to you because you believe this. Yet the truth is very simple:
All power is of God.
What is not of Him has no power to do anything.

Journal
It is very easy to fall into old habits and project the cause of our behavior on the ego, and instead of believing the devil made us do it; we believe the ego makes us behave so badly. But as Jesus tells us, the ego has no power to make anything, to do anything, much less to control the Son of God. The ego is nothing to fear. It is a straw tiger, an image of power, but really nothing at all.

The belief that through the ego we have made something real and bad is the source of our guilt and fear, and the reason we hesitate to return Home. But if the ego is the source of the world we made, and the ego has no power and cannot do anything, then nothing has happened. We simply have thoughts that take form in our mind and play out an idea for us to consider. That we “feel” while we have this experience is pretty cool, but doesn’t make it real. The ego does not have the power to do anything so nothing has happened, and therefore, there is no cause for guilt and fear.

When the Course tells us that forgiveness is our function here, what it means is that we are to forgive the idea that anything has happened to forgive. All power is of God. The ego has no power to do anything. Nothing has happened in spite of all the dramas we have imagined. There is literally, nothing to forgive.

I forgive the world for what I thought I made of it. I forgive the characters in my dream for what I thought I directed them to do. I forgive the imagined attacks on myself and others. I forgive myself for believing in any of this. I forgive myself for imagining it. How could imagination be a sin? Imagination is not reality so nothing has been done to forgive.

In a way, forgiveness is a joke. We played a joke on ourselves in order to have an experience that we could not have. God provided us with a joke that would help us undo it. The joke is that there is a world and that we are separate bodies living in this world. It’s a joke because it is not real. God’s joke, designed to walk us out of the joke we made up, is that we forgive it. It’s a joke because there is nothing to forgive, being only an imagined experience anyway. When we get Home we will have a big laugh together with our Father.

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11: V: The “Dynamics” of the Ego, P 2. 10-6-15

V. The “Dynamics” of the Ego, P 2
2 What is healing but the removal of all that stands in the way of knowledge? And how else can one dispel illusions except by looking at them directly, without protecting them? Be not afraid, therefore, for what you will be looking at is the source of fear, and you are beginning to learn that fear is not real. You are also learning that its effects can be dispelled merely by denying their reality. The next step is obviously to recognize that what has no effects does not exist. Laws do not operate in a vacuum, and what leads to nothing has not happened. If reality is recognized by its extension, what leads to nothing could not be real. Do not be afraid, then, to look upon fear, for it cannot be seen. Clarity undoes confusion by definition, and to look upon darkness through light must dispel it.

Journal
Fear is still very real to me, and I know that undoing this belief is one of the things I came here to do, maybe the only thing since all others, like victimhood, are related to fear. We cannot undo what we know nothing about, and so I had to experience fear to do this work. My mom helped set this up for me. There was a strong belief in fear in my mom’s mind and so many of the images she made were fearful ones. As a result, I learned fear, and at the same time, I learned what the belief in fear does to us. My mom also led me to A Course in Miracles and studied along side of me. So, I have all I need to do this work and complete my purpose.

I understand what Jesus is telling me in this paragraph. The way the belief in fear is undone is to look directly at it, and to do so with the Holy Spirit, that is to see fear through His Light. Like my mom, I have the belief in fear in my mind and so I have fearful circumstances in my life. I used to hide from these, to run, to ignore, try to solve the problems that caused the fear in my mind to be triggered.

If I was low on money I would pray for more, or I would find a way to earn more. If a relationship went bad, I ran. There! No more relationship problem. If I were sick, I would pray for this body to be healed. I would learn all about the problem and the possible solutions and then I would go to work on it. I became a very good problem solver. But the problems just kept shifting form and continued to come, because the problems were sourced by the belief in fear and that belief was in my mind. There was no getting away from it.

One of the most helpful understandings I received from the Holy Spirit came from Lesson 325, which explains how we begin with a belief and wind up with an image (a circumstance) in our lives. Once I understood that, I was able to work it backwards, beginning with the story and discovering what it was that I had wanted to experience. Then I could ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of the belief that was imprisoning me.

I had started realizing that I am completely responsible for everything in my life, but at the same time, I was still resistant to knowing that. Lesson 325 made it impossible to believe that I was a victim of anything, and it also helped me to see that the effects that were scaring me, the stories in my life that were so upsetting, were only images I had made from the beliefs I was holding. This meant that they were not real and were only as true as the beliefs. I could then ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of the beliefs that were not true and then I would stop seeing these false effects.

Just that easy, my mind began to shift and I began to realize that fear is not real. If its effects are not real, then it is not real. I am still working with this. We do a really great job of making realistic effects and believing what I see is a hard habit to break. But it is happening. Now, no matter how afraid I am, in a part of my mind I know that the fear is not real, and I continue to ask Holy Spirit to help me see this differently. I am doing what I came here to do, or more clearly stated, I am undoing what I came here it undo.

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11: V. The “Dynamics of the Ego, P 1. 10-1-15

V. The “Dynamics” of the Ego, P 1

1 No one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking is the way they are protected. There is no need to shrink from illusions, for they cannot be dangerous. We are ready to look more closely at the ego’s thought system because together we have the lamp that will dispel it, and since you realize you do not want it, you must be ready. Let us be very calm in doing this, for we are merely looking honestly for truth. The “dynamics” of the ego will be our lesson for a while, for we must look first at this to see beyond it, since you have made it real. We will undo this error quietly together, and then look beyond it to truth.

Journal
I noticed that when I first started learning this path that I merely transferred many of my beliefs about the devil to the ego. Slowly that began to change but still, I thought of the ego as something separate from me. That is why I began to say, “the ego thought in my mind” and “the ego part of my mind.” I had to do something to help me realize that the ego is just a thought system we used to have this experience. From that realization came a more determined effort to look. Something that I and others say is, “I’m not guilty; I’m just looking.

That seems to be what makes all the difference for me. I have given up the idea that I am guilty for my thoughts. They are just thoughts and meaningless until I give them meaning. Just as we all share the same Self, as we all part of the same Christ Mind, we also all share the same ego. If a thought has landed in my mind, I can be sure it is not personal. It is just a thought in the ego mind and it is finding a landing spot in other minds as well.

If I am aware that this thought is an ego thought, then it must be my job to release it to the Holy Spirit and to accept Atonement for it. This is done, not for Myron, but for the entire Sonship since we all share the same mind. Why be guilty or concerned about the thought; it has just shown up so it can be healed. I’m happy when I can do this for us, and grateful to others who do this when I cannot. As we all do our part, the entire Sonship is healed.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, Chapter 11:IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son, P 8. 9-30-15

IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 8

8 Blessed is the Son of God whose radiance is of his Father, and whose glory he wills to share as his Father shares it with him. There is no condemnation in the Son, for there is no condemnation in the Father. Sharing the perfect Love of the Father the Son must share what belongs to Him, for otherwise he will not know the Father or the Son. Peace be unto you who rest in God, and in whom the whole Sonship rests.

Journal
Who am I, God? This is the question. It is a question that is asked and answered and to find the answer, I must release all condemnation toward the Son, that is, toward myself and toward my brothers. There is no condemnation in the Son, so I cannot know myself while my awareness is focused on what is not me. There is no condemnation in my Father and so I can rest assured that finding Him in my mind is safe.

This section is devoted to telling us that our inheritance is a Self that is part of God and so like God in every way. It is my inheritance to know my brilliance, my loveliness, my beauty, my power, my perfect and uninterrupted peace. All of this is in me because I am in God where nothing exists that is not God.

It also tells us why it is that we don’t feel like Sons of God, why we don’t see our loveliness when we look on each other, why we don’t feel our power, but rather we feel weakness and vulnerability. It is because we have forgotten that we are incomplete without each other. We are so confused that we believe condemnation protects us and provides a very needed defense against all who would hurt us.

In truth, condemnation is what keeps us in hell. It is what keeps us from knowing our Self and knowing our God. Condemnation has become so much a part of our mind that it passes for normal in our thoughts. I saw how this works this morning when I woke up. I woke up much earlier that I meant to, and since I have a long day and then a meeting tonight, I felt like I should go back to sleep.

I lay there waiting for sleep to overtake me and nothing happened. In that place of nearly awake but not quite, it seems that I am most likely to listen to ego. I had thoughts about what happens when I don’t get enough sleep and began to worry. This, of course, woke me all the way up, and so there was no more going back to sleep.

These thoughts that I was awake and shouldn’t be, that I was going to suffer because I didn’t get a certain amount of sleep, and all the thoughts that followed along that line are attack thoughts. They condemn the Son of God to frailty and prove she is helpless against what she cannot control. Could this be true of the Son of God? Surely, I must be dreaming of frailty.

Since I couldn’t sleep, I woke completely and I asked Holy Spirit how to see this. Immediately, I remembered that I am no longer in charge of this body, this story of Myron. I am surrendered. I told the ego to take it up with the boss. ~smile~ I got out of bed looking forward to discovering why it is I need to be up early this morning. I left the concerns behind me. I will not condemn myself to something less that what God created.

There are so many little ways I condemn all day long. Yesterday, I was vigilant for those opportunities to choose differently. I noticed that I would think about someone I know and dismiss them as not important because I had made a judgment about them long ago. I was passively allowing the judgment to remain in place by not questioning it. I had not even realized I was doing it until I began asking Holy Spirit to undo this kind of thinking in my mind.

Now that I no longer condemn myself for the ego thoughts I find in my mind, I am able to enjoy these opportunities for healing. When I used to judge myself when I found condemnation I would avoid looking and so I saw only the most obvious thoughts. Without judgment, I look forward to a day of undoing with the Holy Spirit.

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11: IV: The Inheritance of God’s Son, P 7. 9-29-15

IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 7

7 At God’s altar Christ waits for the restoration of Himself in you. God knows His Son as wholly blameless as Himself, and He is approached through the appreciation of His Son. Christ waits for your acceptance of Him as yourself, and of His Wholeness as yours. For Christ is the Son of God, Who lives in His Creator and shines with His glory. Christ is the extension of the Love and the Loveliness of God, as perfect as His Creator and at peace with Him.

Journal
What do I say to this? Christ, of which I am a part, is waiting for me at God’s altar. He is waiting for me because he is incomplete without me. Do I hesitate because the illusion is so fascinating that I can’t tear myself away from it? Am I so enamored with pain, suffering and death that I cannot bring myself to let it go? Or am I just plain afraid to face God?

God knows His Son as wholly blameless as Himself, Jesus tells us. I am blameless. I have done nothing wrong. Exploring illusions of separation was not a sin, and stories of wrongdoing are not the truth. I am blameless and so I have nothing to fear from my God. If God finds me blameless, perhaps I can learn to see myself as innocent as well.

I approach God through my appreciation of His Son, not through judgment of Him. If I judge myself for my stories, I cannot appreciate myself. No one appreciates that which it finds guilty and unworthy. I am part of the Son, so judging myself is judging the Son and finding Him undeserving. And if I judge any other part of the Son, any other person, I will judge myself because I will believe in judgment.

The only reason I would hold onto a judgment of myself or someone else is that I think there is some value in doing so. Here is an example of how this works in the mind. I paid someone to do some work for me and I realized he did a poor job of it. I thought about approaching him about this and asking that he correct his work. But I also noticed that the more I thought about it, and what I would say to him, the more judgment entered into my thoughts and the words I planned to use.

When I asked Holy Spirit about this, I understood that I hate confrontation and that I felt resentful toward this person because he was forcing me into this position. I judged him and found him guilty. Then I felt guilty for judging him. You see what an endless and futile circle judgment creates?

I felt tense and unhappy while I was doing this. My discomfort was not about what got done or was left undone in the story. The ego has a home in my mind for now, but so does the Truth. I know - even if I hide it from myself - I know that I cannot enter the presence of God if I attack His Son. There is no judgment or guilt in God and I cannot bring any with me into Him. If I could, I would indeed be destroying what God is.

As I let go of the idea that judgment or guilt has any place in my holy mind, I see myself and everyone else differently. I see them as they are, pure and innocent as they were created. I then appreciate them. How could I not? How could I not appreciate what is so lovely and so glorious, that which is an extension of our Creator and as perfect. I have had moments of clarity and that has been enough to make me want the real deal, the return of Self, never ending love and joy.

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11: IV: The Inheritance of God’s Son, P 6. 9-28-15

IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 6

6 Christ is at God’s altar, waiting to welcome His Son. But come wholly without condemnation, for otherwise you will believe that the door is barred and you cannot enter. The door is not barred, and it is impossible that you cannot enter the place where God would have you be. But love yourself with the Love of Christ, for so does your Father love you. You can refuse to enter, but you cannot bar the door that Christ holds open. Come unto me who holds it open for you, for while I live it cannot be shut, and I live forever. God is my life and yours, and nothing is denied by God to His Son.

Journal
I cry when I read this. Brother Jesus is holding the door open for us, and this invitation is open for as long as we need it to be. I feel so much gratitude for him, and for God who would deny me nothing. I cannot enter, though it is held open for me, if I come with condemnation in my heart. This hits home especially this morning, because I have been condemning myself.

I read a quote by Mooji that felt very important to me. This is what it said:

Once you have surrendered yourself then you should not be worried about any of these things. If you have surrendered yourself to the supreme existence, then you are not to take excessive care of yourself anymore. Otherwise you’re not really surrendered. Either this thing about surrendering is a joke; it’s just in the mind and we’re playing games, or it’s true. If you surrender, you surrender—you know? There can’t be surrendering and still waiting to see if it works or it doesn’t work. Then these thoughts don’t have a landing place. If they come, you say, “Take it up with the boss, okay? I don’t deal with it anymore; it’s not my business anymore. I’ve handed myself in.” – Mooji

I love the way Mooji says this, with humor and certainty. Take it up with the boss. I’ve turned myself in. I have been trying this idea of surrender, and have moved in that direction so that I know that surrender is a peaceful, happy state. But I don’t stay there. When I read what Mooji had to say about it, I knew surrender was right and what I want. Then a thought surfaced and I felt fear.

I remembered standing in front in the mirror yesterday and thinking that I have gained more weight recently than I have in a very long time. In that moment I felt panicked and all I wanted was to lose some weight. I also felt conflicted because I am not comfortable with the old way of doing so. I felt afraid because I didn’t want to go back to the old story of the body is in charge of my life and I just have to find a way to control it from within the story, the right diet, the right exercise.

On the other hand, I am not completely convinced that I want to surrender this obsession with the body. I don’t know if I can trust this to God. How interested is He going to be in fashion and the image I present to others? Not at all, right? And it doesn’t help that Mooji is kind of a chubby guy himself. Proof that God doesn’t read GQ and Cosmopolitan. This is a problem.

Bear with me here. I am trying to work this out in my mind and can only do so if I am completely honest about my thoughts. I feel real fear at the thought that I turn over everything, completely surrender the self and become the follower, the instrument of supreme existence. On the other hand, I feel really shallow and a bit embarrassed that the sticking point is my body image. But I have to go there because that is where the ego grabs my attention and so it must be true for me at this moment.

I am also aware that I am receiving guidance about what I eat, and I am being guided away from heavy foods and a lot of meat. I have no idea why this matters at all, but then there are lots of things I don’t know, so no surprise there. I also know that I asked that my mind be healed about this business of the body and food. I want to be free of my life long obsession about food and how it affects my body as if my mind had nothing to do with it. Ever since then, nothing has worked the way it did before, and while that is good, it is also frightening to someone who is still attached to body image.

I cannot see myself returning to peace without full surrender. How this came up for me this morning is that as I read the lesson I realized that I am condemning myself. I feel guilty for my body image concerns and for not following clear guidance. I think I am wrong for that and other non-surrender thoughts come into my mind as the ego convinces me that body image is just the tip of the iceberg.

It is just a silly notion I can laugh at even while I guard it against God. There are other more serious ways in which I defend against God and the ego mind points them out so that I will know that it is useless for me to try to enter the door. I am too guilty; I am condemned and it will take me an untold amount of time to earn the right to enter that door. I feel so sad and so discouraged when I listen to that thought.

But I am not alone in my mind with the ego. I am with God. I share God’s thoughts. Some of them are rising up in my mind at my invitation. I see that I don’t have to undo each thought of separation. I don’t have to meet every thought that I am this separate self in control of life, with the desire to surrender. I only need to decide on surrender and all the thoughts of separation will cease to be meaningful. Thank you for that thought, God. Everything was very dark there for a moment and now the sun has come from behind the clouds and it is light again.

I am more certain than ever right now that I surrender this life to the supreme existence, and if I slip back into separate-self decisions, I am not going to condemn myself for it. I will just take Mooji’s words as my own. If they come, I will say, “Take it up with the boss, okay? I don’t deal with it anymore; it’s not my business anymore. I’ve handed myself in.” ~big smile~

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

Study of Text, Chapter 11: IV: The Inheritance of God’s Son, P 5. 9-25-15

IV. The Inheritance of God’s Son P 5
5 If your brothers are part of you and you blame them for your deprivation, you are blaming yourself. And you cannot blame yourself without blaming them. That is why blame must be undone, not seen elsewhere. Lay it to yourself and you cannot know yourself, for only the ego blames at all. Self-blame is therefore ego identification, and as much an ego defense as blaming others. You cannot enter God’s Presence if you attack His Son. When His Son lifts his voice in praise of his Creator, he will hear the Voice for his Father. Yet the Creator cannot be praised without His Son, for their glory is shared and they are glorified together.

Journal
Jesus is trying to help us to understand a very simple thing. We are all part of one Self. What we do to another we do to our self because the other is our self. He is trying to help us understand that blame, whether directed at ourselves or at others is ego identification. If I believe I am guilty, I will believe that others are guilty. If I believe others are guilty, I will believe in my own guilt. Either way, I forget who I am and accept the ego as my identity.
When blame is involved, whether we say something out loud or only think it, whether it seems to be a big grievance or just an idle thought, we are denying our true identity and choosing to align with the ego identity. It is helpful for awhile to look at each situation and let the Holy Spirit guide us to the truth about it, but eventually we must accept the Atonement for the belief in guilt and blame. Then all the stories of wrongdoing will lose their appeal, and so we will stop making them.

There is no way to be in the presence of God if we attack His Son. We cannot know God without His Son, and to see His Son as guilty is to separate His Son from Him. This is an attack on the Son and so an attack on the Father as well. There is nothing that will snap me out of my grievance faster than remembering that I cannot enter God’s Presence if I attack His Son.

It might take me a bit to completely let go of the grievance as I consider the ego justifications for holding onto it. I know that feeling of thinking that I must forgive and at the same time thinking that I can’t let this person off the hook because they really did this. If it is myself that I am blaming, I will have the same experience of thinking that I really did this bad thing and so I must be guilty.

But no matter the appearance, no matter the justification God’s Son is innocent, and no matter where I look I see only God’s Son. It’s up to me when I choose to acknowledge this indisputable fact, but until I do, I suffer the belief I am separated from God, and that is true suffering. It is the cause of all suffering and accepting that we are all innocent as God created us is the only relief we will ever get from this suffering. This is the only way to know my self.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.