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July-September, 2020

Love, Life and the Pursuit of Heaven on Earth

by Rev. Peggy Rivera, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

I have to say that when I thought of what I wanted to talk about for the article this month, it didn’t take but a moment, literally a moment. The thought came to me right away — Life, Love and the pursuit of heaven on earth.

I thought to myself, “How can that be because we are taught in the Course there is no world; what we think the world is is an illusion?” So, I set out to research the subject. And wow, I found many things to talk about. I mean, “What is Life anyway? Is life the gift our Father gave to us in the Creation?” Yes, it is. “Is it eternal?” Yes, it is eternal. But another way of putting it I found is Life is the sea of Creation in which L.I.F.E. arises. The acronym L.I.F.E. stands for Love In Full Expression. And Love is our true nature. I have to apologize I do not remember the source of that information. I found it online and I loved it, but then I forgot to write down the source. But it seems to fit right in for the explanations that I found. I also found a quote from Chuang-tse,

“The effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not.” Chuang-tse

I had a little chuckle over that because Chuang-tse is not a student of the Course, being that he was a fourth century philosopher. But I thought how much that is like the information the Course teaches us.

The job of the ego is to create confusion, which clouds our consciousness and makes us forget Who we are. In truth, we are the extension of God’s Light and Love. But because of the tiny mistake, we think we are a body condemned to Hell. If we relate ourselves to the body, we really are in a self-imposed hell.

I was really impressed as I listened to the recording of Rosemarie’s discussion about her childhood last month. And I thought how much I could relate to that. I think we all pretty much can relate to that. I also think that our stories are part of the journey in healing our minds. I love that. I have heard people say not to get too involved with the story, but to me it is really important to acknowledge our story. That is our call for Love and healing. It shows us where we need to shine the light so we can heal that aspect of our mind. As we learn to heal and forgive, we are able to shine brighter. We become clear vessels for God’s Love and Light to shine through.

This is how we bring Heaven to Earth. In ACIM Jesus says, “In this world you can become a spotless mirror, in which the Holiness of your Creator shines forth from you to all around you. You can reflect Heaven here. Yet no reflections of the images of other gods must dim the mirror that would hold God’s reflection in it. Earth can reflect Heaven or hell.”

“Could you but realize for a single instant the power of healing that the reflection of God shining in you can bring to all the world, you could not wait to make the mirror of your mind clean to receive the image of the holiness that heals the world. The image of holiness that shines in your mind is not obscure, and will not change. Its meaning to those who look upon it is not obscure, for everyone perceives it as the same. All bring their different problems to its healing light, and all their problems find but healing there.” (T-14.IX.5:1-4;7)

The reflections of the images of other gods that could dim the reflection of God’s light could be the perceptions we thought we were. They are the stories we have invested in here on the earth. The loss of our true Self, the depression, loneliness, lack of self-esteem, fear and separation. All of these distort our reality.

This is why I am so pleased to understand what Jesus meant when he said, “Let us be glad that we can walk the world, and find so many chances to perceive another situation where God’s gift can once again be recognized as ours! And thus, will all the vestiges of hell, the secret sins and hidden hates be gone. And all the loveliness which they concealed appear like lawns of Heaven to our sight, to lift us high above the thorny roads we travelled on before the Christ appeared.” (T.31.VIII.9:1-3)

Do I think I won’t ever get angry here on earth if I truly clean the slate? Will I feel peace and contentment all the time? This is why I titled this discussion Love, Life and the pursuit of Heaven on Earth. I won’t say it won’t happen, but I will say we strive for that. Every time we have sadness or judgment, we can see it as ego based and call on Holy Spirit to help us correct the thoughts.

It is so comforting to know that He is always there, waiting for us to choose Him instead of the hell that we lock ourselves in when we see darkness. There can be no darkness in the Light. It isn’t possible. When we see our brothers through the Light of our Father, we reflect His Love and It is reflected back to us. And we reflect It to our brothers. Before we know it, we all reflect God’s Love. We extend Love through the Atonement and that is Heaven on earth.

Have you ever been in a disagreement with someone who clearly wanted to fight with you, but you made the decision to say, “I’m not going to fight with you”? They kept trying but you stayed strong in your decision. They either walked away mad or found a way to agree not to fight.

We can choose that; we get to ask for clarity every time we feel something other than peace and we will know the answer like magic. We get to choose again, knowing that we are always supported.

Every time we choose to reflect Love, we come closer to Heaven on earth. Every time we look at our brother with Love and understanding, we are choosing miracles. Miracles heal, Love heals and forgiveness is part of the process. We can use our physical presence to assist each other in that healing. This is why it is really important that we work with our stories, to clear the misperceptions so we can become clear vessels for God’s Love to flow through us.

I love this part of this lesson that says: “I give You thanks for what my brothers are. And as each one elects to join with me, the song of thanks from earth to Heaven grows from tiny scattered threads of melody to one inclusive chorus from a world redeemed from hell, and giving thanks to you.” (T.31.VIII.11:4-5)

The Universe means One Song. We are all One Song in God.

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