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May-August, 2024

The Introduction of Abilities

by Rev. Myron, Jones, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

“The introduction of abilities into being was the beginning of uncertainty, because abilities are potentials, not accomplishments. Your abilities are useless in the presence of God’s accomplishments, and also of yours. Accomplishments are results that have been achieved. When they are perfect, abilities are meaningless. It is curious that the perfect must now be perfected. In fact, it is impossible. Remember, however, that when you put yourself in an impossible situation you believe that the impossible is possible.” (T-6.IV.8:1-7)

God created me perfect. He created me as part of Himself. There is no such thing as abilities in creation, because all is accomplished. With the introduction of the separation idea, abilities were needed because in separation there was now the illusion of imperfection and so there was the illusion that something needed to be done. I am still perfect and still in God and I do not need to learn anything because in the Kingdom there is not even the idea of learning.

However, since I do not believe I am in the Kingdom, since I believe I am separate from the Kingdom, I have placed myself in the truly bizarre position of needing to become perfect and so I need abilities and I need to develop them.

An example of an ability that I developed is listening to Holy Spirit. When I began this process, it was pretty shaky. I tried different methods until I found what works for me, which is meditative writing. It sounds pretty cut and dried. Try this. No. Try that. No. Oh, okay, this works. But it is never easy with ego because ego is questions, doubts and fears.

So, I would try meditating in the usual way and would fail. I failed over and over. I watched everyone else succeed and report these wonderful results and, yet, I could not do it. I felt like a failure and I felt like I was the one who was unforgiven. In other words, I suffered. 

That’s the way it works with ego. Ego would have kept me in this process forever if it could, trying one method and then another, reading books on meditation, listening to meditation CDs, taking meditation classes. But I had a burning desire to hear that Voice and enough willingness to keep that desire alive.

Finally, I turned from the ego and sought help from my Guide. I didn’t even know I had been trying to learn from the ego what the ego was determined I not learn. I didn’t know that I was finally turning to my true Teacher. All I knew was that I still wanted it but that I gave up trying to give it to myself.

Surrender is what allowed the Holy Spirit to help me. He can never take from us what we want to keep, or give to us what we are determined to give to ourselves. But the moment we truly want His help, it is done.

Once I discovered that I could speak to and listen to the Holy Spirit as I wrote, it only remained to develop this ability further. I did this through daily practice and even that felt like suffering at first. This is because the ego joined me in the practice, constantly criticizing and discouraging my attempts. But because I truly desire this communication, I learned how to become more fully surrendered to the process.

Actually, looking back on it, I realize it was never hard to hear His Voice. It only seemed hard because I was trying to listen to two completely opposed Voices at the same time. When I finally chose the one Voice I wanted, it became easy and now I look forward to each morning sitting here with Him. Occasionally, I am not able to give this time to Spirit. When that happens, I miss it.

So, this is an ability I developed. I learned to hear the Voice for God and to write what I heard. This is a ridiculous thing. How could I not hear that Voice? It is in me. It speaks to me all through the day. It is the only thing that is real. It is both God’s Will and my will. And yet, I had to develop the ability to hear clearly, and still, I am further developing the ability to hear even more clearly. It is an insane situation made necessary through insane choices.

Another ability I had to learn was forgiveness. Like most people, I didn’t know how to forgive and didn’t know I didn’t know.

So, I learned what was not forgiveness as I read in the Song of Prayer about forgiveness to destroy. In the Workbook, I learned what forgiveness is.

“Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven. What is sin, except a false idea about God’s Son? Forgiveness merely sees its falsity, and therefore lets it go. What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God.” (W-pII.1.1:1-7) 

I began to think of forgiveness as letting go. If I forgave myself for a mistake I made, I looked at it with the Holy Spirit and let the guilt go to Him. I forgave my projections onto others and any event I judged as less than optimal. They were all forgiven in the same way. I did the same with any false thought, any thought that was not what I would think with God.  Of course, to do so, I had to learn to watch my thoughts.

“I cannot let you leave your mind unguarded, or you will not be able to help me. Miracle working entails a full realization of the power of thought in order to avoid miscreation. Otherwise a miracle will be necessary to set the mind itself straight, a circular process that would not foster the time collapse for which the miracle was intended. The miracle worker must have genuine respect for true cause and effect as a necessary condition for the miracle to occur.” (T-2.VII.2:1-4)

I thought I knew how to do this, too, but I discovered that I wasn’t very good at it. Reading and practicing what I read in Dan Joseph’s book, Inner Healing, helped me learn to be vigilant and consistent in mind-watching. I also learned to be self-honest. This book is a spiritual process that outlines a three-step process of inner healing. These three steps involve: (1) acknowledging our inner blocks (any distressing thought or feeling),
(2) becoming willing to prayerfully release them, and (3) opening to an inner experience of comfort and peace.

This is the process the Jesus shared with us in the Course. Most new students ask me how to forgive and I tell them to learn to be vigilant for their thoughts and then I share those three steps with them. Often, they come back and ask me again how to forgive. It is hard to believe something so essential to awakening could be so simple. But the ego is complex and reality really is that simple. The only thing that makes it seem difficult is our conflicting desires. But as we continue to practice our abilities, we are instructing our mind to desire only the eternal.

© 2024, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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