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October - December, 2006

Perception of Order of Difficulties

by Rev. Lee Catalano

Wow wee. The belief in order of difficulties is the problem. Jesus states in A Course in Miracles that any perception of comparisons is not so. So how can there possibly be an order of difficulty?

“A larger object overshadows a smaller one. A brighter thing draws the attention from another with less intensity of appeal. And a more threatening idea, or one conceived as more desirable by the world’s standards, completely upsets the mental balance.” (M.8.1:3)

This is about jealousy and the special relationship. This reminds me of observing my daughter’s experience of high school. The threats and cruelty in this section are played out in high school cafeteria’s (and the entire world) daily.

When girls perceive themselves as being the smaller object overshadowed in some way by the larger one they become vicious. This threat goes way beyond the borders of high school, it is everywhere.

We don’t realize that the problem is not with what is “out there”  and seems to be over shadowing us, but is within. Within the mind we believe that we are separate, alone and guilty and then we project this treachery on everyone and everything. The ego knows the role of victim well. Perceiving the self as separate and alone is a desperate state of mind indeed. The mind is already in a state of weakness and it believes that it feels this way because something “out there” has “out shown” us. When in truth we have it all turned around. The cause of our weakened and anxiety ridden state of mind is within. We projected what we believed in our mind onto the world and created the very situations that make us feel victimized.

The greatest gift of all is to recognize that none of this is so. There is only one being of spirit here and the rest is just played out dreams of imagination. It is a cruel dream indeed to believe that i am vulnerable to the opinions and judgements of others. In truth if I am believing in cruelty it is because I believe that cruelty is possible.

There is only one worthy and fully lovable Son of God. The Son of God is forever worthy of God’s Love. There is no other Love but God’s. To become emotionally distraught over losing the Love of another is a fantasy unworthy of the Son of God. Love does not extend itself from ego to ego or from personality to personality. True Love — the Love of God —  is extended through the mind and heart when the ego personality is forgiven and put aside.

Sometimes we need to be completely brought to our knees before we can finally see that there is really no Love in separation. There is no accomplishment or indescribable beauty that entitles us to Love more than anyone else. That is because we are already loved. If we could but learn to sit still and consider this more and more we would be free.

A broken heart is a sickness, a heart attack is a sickness, depression is a sickness, addiction is a sickness and so on with the sickness of the world. There is no illusory sickness in the world that does not have the same exact remedy. There is no order of difficulty in remedy. It is the same one for every perceived malady. The Son of God is forever loved by the Father. The Father’s Will for His Son is the knowledge that he is forever whole and complete and lacking nothing.

All together is the cure. To perceive the entire Sonship and its need is the same. We all have the same exact need and no other. The great need in the hallucination is to remember who we truly are in spirit.

“Finding health a burden, it [the mind] retreats into feverish dreams. And in these dreams the mind is separate, different from other minds, with different interests of its own, and able to gratify its needs at the expense of others. (M.8.2:7)

If you notice, Jesus calls these dreams of separation and power–over “feverish.”

These are not fun dreams, they are painful, anxiety ridden dreams.

Forgiveness Prayer

Holy Spirit may I always remember
that the answer to perfect peace is simple.

My only need is my
Brother’s very same need:

To remember that I am innocent and
totally loved and lovable.

© 2006, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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