Together, We Light the Way

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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-3-12

Day 123
2 As symbols, words have quite specific references. Even when they seem most abstract, the picture that comes to mind is apt to be very concrete. Unless a specific referent does occur to the mind in conjunction with the word, the word has little or no practical meaning, and thus cannot help the healing process. The prayer of the heart does not really ask for concrete things. It always requests some kind of experience, the specific things asked for being the bringers of the desired experience in the opinion of the asker. The words, then, are symbols for the things asked for, but the things themselves but stand for the experiences that are hoped for.

I took a day off from work yesterday. I used that time to work on my website which I am re-doing, and it was a lot a fun. The morning weather was nice and so I enjoyed that. I enjoyed a leisurely walk around my yard admiring the roses and inhaling the heady scent of the jasmines now in bloom. I enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee and I enjoyed journaling without a deadline since I didn’t have to finish quickly so I could get to work.

I have wanted to try my hand at making a short video and posting it on you tube and then putting it on my website. This is something that required me to stretch my computer skills and I needed time to work it all out. Yesterday, I did it! Wow! I’m a star! I even enjoyed breaking up my day of computer work with bits of housework. I enjoyed the sensation of having no pressure to finish one thing and begin another. Everything got done because my agenda was short and my time abundant, and I loved everything I was doing.

As the day came to an end I found myself longing for another day like this one. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have time to do all the things I have been putting off for so long because of work demands? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have more time to write, more time for students, for weddings, for all the things I love to do? Every thought is a prayer so this was my prayer. It was my prayer as I understood it.

Jesus is explaining to us in this paragraph that there is a difference between the words and the intent of the prayer. My words were a concrete picture of an experience. I saw myself somehow having enough money to quit work and devote myself to my ministry and to enjoy my day without as much structure and with the leisure of few time constraints. That was from my head.

What was my heart asking for? I think it was asking for freedom. It was asking to be free from time constraints, from the pressure of a deadline. It was asking to hear His Voice and to write what I hear. It was asking to be of service, to teach, to minister. These things make my heart sing with joy. I am asking for joy. Simply put in the most abstract way I can relate, my heart was asking for freedom and joy. Everything else was my mind’s interpretation of what that meant, how it would have to look in the world to accomplish that.

It is important for me to realize the prayer of the heart, the experience I am longing to have, the true prayer. Otherwise, I will receive the answer to my prayer and fail to recognize I have received it. I will interpret the answer incorrectly and it will be as if there was not an answer.

For instance, freedom from time constraints is probably my most longed for desire. The Holy Spirit is telling me that I have overlooked many answers to this prayer. Because I was expecting a different package, I failed to open the one received. Because I have not fully accepted the gift given, I keep trying to manipulate time myself and so feel stressed even though I am blessed.

I begin my day with God and then I read and journal. Then I post. If I have time I answer emails. If I really have time, I read a few updates on face book, check out a few groups I belong to. Then I rush around getting dressed and planning who to see first and reminding myself of what needs to be done. I make a schedule and hope nothing throws it off. All the time I am doing these tasks I am stressed to get each one done in a timely manner so nothing gets left out.

The stress starts the night before as I lay in bed reviewing what didn’t get done that day and how I will get it back in my schedule. I worry that something will go undone. I plan everything about my evening around the idea of getting to bed earlier so I can get up earlier so I can get more done. I especially stress something will interfere with those early hours when I can listen to Holy Spirit and share what I hear.

The next morning I wake and immediately the mind begins to plan every move, and also immediately begins to worry that its plans are in vain. I love those moments in quiet peace when I hear His Voice, but I don’t fully enjoy it because I am also thinking, “Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.” Even though I don’t say those words, that is the experience I am having. And so it goes for the rest of the day. Making plans. Worrying they won’t work. No wonder I am too tired to do anything else by the end of the work day.

The Holy Spirit is reminding me that I have been given ample time to listen and write. He reminds me that time is not real and is easily manipulated by Him to the degree I will accept that manipulation. He reminds me I have been given many opportunities to serve, to teach, to join all during the day, and if I will let go of what I think that should look like, I will enjoy these opportunities.

He tells me that I love the beauty of my yard, and yet I overlook the beauty all around me, and laughs as He points out that this is beauty I don’t have to pay for or work at. No yard person required, no weeding or watering. Its just there for me to look at, and when I leave that spot, I am given a new one. It never gets boring because every moment it is different.

The Holy Spirit suggests I lay aside the expectations created by the thinking mind and receive my gifts. Enjoy the experience. He reminds me that the pressure I feel comes from making my own plans, making decisions on my own, closing my eyes to my gifts. He suggests that I relax into Him and allow myself the joy of being guided, lifted and carried through the world, throughout my day.

As I feel this is complete, I hear the word, trust. All else rests on that one word. Trust. Trust in His plans. Trust in His answers. Trust in His love. Trust in His desire for me to be happy and fulfilled. Trust in my Self to open my eyes to His answers.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-2-12

Day 122
21. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF WORDS IN HEALING?

1 Strictly speaking, words play no part at all in healing. The motivating factor is prayer, or asking. What you ask for you receive. But this refers to the prayer of the heart, not to the words you use in praying. Sometimes the words and the prayer are contradictory; sometimes they agree. It does not matter. God does not understand words, for they were made by separated minds to keep them in the illusion of separation. Words can be helpful, particularly for the beginner, in helping concentration and facilitating the exclusion, or at least the control, of extraneous thoughts. Let us not forget, however, that words are but symbols of symbols. They are thus twice removed from reality.

Many times I have heard people say that God always answers prayers, but   sometimes the answer is no. I understand why they say this. They pray certain words and they do not seem to be answered. This paragraph explains why that is so. God does not hear our words. He hears only what we are really asking for, and one way that this causes confusion is that we don’t always acknowledge, even to ourselves, what it is we really want. So we don’t recognize the answer when we get it.

I have seen that sometimes I really want the opposite of what I ask for. In Chapter 8 of the Text, it says:

Yet you are not asked to dispel your hallucinations alone. You are merely asked to evaluate them in terms of their results to you. If you do not want them on the basis of loss of peace, they will be removed from your mind for you.

And certainly this has been my practice for a long time now and so I know that it works. Yet sometimes what I say I want is incongruent with what I really want. I notice that I am not at peace. I fully realize that peace is not restored by a change in circumstances, but in a change of mind. I am not confused about this part. So I ask that the belief behind my lack of peace be healed. The incongruence occurs because while I do want to be peaceful, I don’t want to give up the belief that has created a loss of peace. When this is the case I am not really asking for healing even though my words say that I am.

An example of this is occurred with the story of “Johnny” that I talked about before. I was judging Johnny as evil, and because this is not the truth and not the Will of God, I was miserable. I cannot judge and be at peace and I really wanted my peace back. But at the same time, I could not, for a long time, bring myself to forgive him or the situation or even myself for my judgments.

I knew that I was supposed to see him as innocent, but I kept looking at his actions and believing them and so I saw only guilt. I would ask that my thinking be corrected, but in my heart I still wanted him to be guilty. God did not hear my words that said that I was ready to have my false belief removed. He heard only my heart that said I wanted to keep my judgment for now.

The very moment that I wanted to be at peace more than I wanted to find Johnny guilty, my heart prayer was answered. The anger I had felt just moments before was gone. The judgments I had made were no longer of interest to me. They were seen as the call for love that they are. Dear God, what on earth makes me ever cling to judgment when I can have this blessed peace anytime I choose? Well, each time this happens the contrast in what I think I want and what I really want motivates me to decide more quickly than before. 

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 5-1-12

Day 121
6 What is the peace of God? No more than this; the simple understanding that His Will is wholly without opposite. There is no thought that contradicts His Will, yet can be true. The contrast between His Will and yours but seemed to be reality. In truth there was no conflict, for His Will is yours. Now is the mighty Will of God Himself His gift to you. He does not seek to keep it for Himself. Why would you seek to keep your tiny frail imaginings apart from Him? The Will of God is One and all there is. This is your heritage. The universe beyond the sun and stars, and all the thoughts of which you can conceive, belong to you. God’s peace is the condition for His Will. Attain His peace, and you remember Him. 

I pray daily that my willingness to know that there is no will but the Will of God. I pray for healing, for clarity as I so often believe in another will. I want the peace of God. I want that the peace of God is all I want. Except when I want something different. ~smile~ But I know that when I want something different, I am only confused, and I am willing to see differently.

I had an opportunity to do just that. I gave my peace away, recognized what I had done, and asked for healing. This is what happened.

My sister-in-law recently had a transplant of two lungs and a heart. I am her fill-in caregiver. We are supposed to be at the hospital and then with her at home for six months to a year. This weekend I went there for the first time. Brinda was in a lot of fear and what I noticed is that everyone else was “catching” this fear and it was feeding on itself as fear does.

When we became fearful we began looking at everything through the filter of that fear, and so we saw only fearful things. We saw only the mistakes the nurses made, the infrequency of the doctor’s visits, the failure of the respiratory technician to explain things fully.

When we looked at Brinda we did not see how good her color is, how able she is to move around so soon after the surgery, how strong she is. We saw only that she was weak, her breathing sounded bad, she was swollen and looked bad.

Our fear colored everything and made us fearful of our own position. The tendency, of course, was to project that fear and its buddy, guilt, and to see everyone else at fault, and as we saw them as guilty, we of course, felt that same guilt because that’s how it works. We were teaching guilt so learning guilt. What we give is what we receive, so giving guilt and fear, this is what we received.

Luckily, we began to wake up to what was happening, and to make a new choice. We began to realize that we needed to put the Holy Spirit in charge. We started talking to Brinda about affecting her recovery in a positive way by trusting God and so trusting that He was guiding everyone else, all of us and the nurses and the doctors. She responded to this. And we began watching our thoughts and our words, recognizing when we were reacting to fear so we could change our minds about that.

Here is what I am encouraging in our team of caregivers and in Brinda. I am suggesting beginning and ending the day with prayer that blesses everyone involved in her care, and that expresses our gratitude to everyone, and that expresses our desire to step back and allow the Holy Spirit to take the lead in everything we do and say.

I am also encouraging everyone to remember that what we want for others is what we expect to receive ourselves even though we may not realize it on a conscious level. When the nurses do not respond immediately, we bless the work they are doing with other people who are also in need, remembering that we are all one in this together and their well-being is as important as Brinda’s. If we notice fear in each other, including Brinda, we remind ourselves to ask for healing of our mind instead of projecting the fear and blaming someone else.

I am very grateful for my Study and practice of the Course. As soon as I remembered my purpose, I asked for healing and the mind-fog lifted. I was able to see so clearly what was going on with all of us, and when I asked for the action that would be most helpful He reminded me that our thoughts are prayers. He reminded me that my healed thoughts would express as healed relationships and healed bodies. He reminded me that “specialness” reinforces separation and that I don’t want that. I knew that everyone needed to be blessed with the same loving care as Brinda, the nursing staff, the doctors and the other patients.

As I listened to His guidance the peace of God settled over me, and I began to write what He had given me. He also gave me the prayer for this morning. This is the prayer I received and passed on to everyone else.

Morning prayer. Dear God, thank You for your love. Thank You for the rapid and complete healing of Brinda’s body. Thank You for the excellent staff who are working with us all to provide for Brinda’s care and to assist in the healing of her body. Thank You for guiding every decision made for Brinda, and for guiding our thoughts, words, and actions throughout the day. Thank You for the healing force of Your Love for everyone on our floor. Amen

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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