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Study of Manual for Teachers 9-19-12

9-19-12
26 Miracles represent freedom from fear. “Atoning” means “undoing.” The undoing of fear is an essential part of the atonement value of miracles.

The world is a scary place. This is true even when it seems beautiful, peaceful or loving. Even when the world is briefly perfect in my experience, fear is never far away because change is never far away. I can be having a lovely day having fun with friends and family, and the ego mind will be busy in the background offering me fear.

The mind will relate this good experience to something in the past that was not so good. Or it will compare this loving moment with my child to one in which we had a disagreement. The ego will go into the past to find something to regret, or it will project into the future to find something to dread. Thus, peace is never complete and fear is only a thought away.

We did this. We made this illusory world as a way to experience separation. It is not real and it is not our home so there is a way to undo what we have done. There is a Guide to help us find the tools that have been placed within the illusion to help free our mind from the illusion, and our Guide will help us to use those tools. A Course in Miracles is such a tool, and through the study and practice of the Course, my Guide has directed me to many processes that have led to the miracles that represent freedom from fear.

One such process was from the book Inner Healing by Dan Joseph.
These three steps involve:
Acknowledging an inner block (any distressing thought or feeling)

Becoming willing to prayerfully release that block
Opening to an inner experience of divine comfort and peace.

I worked with this process, literally, for years. At first it was hard work and often discouraging because I did not fully desire the change. There were distressing thoughts and feelings that I wanted to keep. Eventually, as my willingness grew stronger I accepted the changes and I began to experience the miracle of freedom from fear. The process has evolved over time, though the elements of the process have not.

Right now I am using a process I learned from the book, Busting Loose From the Money Game. This process involves recognizing that I am responsible for what is happening. I created this and it is not real. It is completely made up. I recognize that it is a creation of my consciousness and I reclaim my power from this creation. I appreciate the power that not only made something unreal seem to happen but also convinced myself it was real. This book uses different language than the Course, but the ideas are the same. 

Whichever process I am guided to use, the goal is the same. I am learning that I have been identified with an illusory self and this is the source of all my fears. I let go of that identification and the memory of my true Self returns to me. In other words, I am allowing the illusion to be undone and the result is a miracle that brings me freedom from fear

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of the Text 9-18-12

9-18-12
25 Miracles are part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement. Atonement works all the time and in all the dimensions of time.

I can visual an interlocking chain of forgiveness. I can see this in two ways. One way is when I become aware of an ego belief and choose to allow that to be healed, and other similar or connected beliefs are healed as well. An example that comes to mind occurred the other day when I was having my moment with the Apple Support team. It seemed that the tech I was working with was being as deliberately unhelpful as he could be and I became angry and resentful.

I chose to see the situation differently (forgave it) and everything changed. I forgave the idea that my brother was separate from me, which was linked to the belief that I am a victim, which was linked to the belief that something outside me has power. If I were to visualize this differently, I would see them as dominoes. I knocked over the first one and it fell into the next and that one into the next, thus in forgiving the first idea, other ideas were forgiven as well.

Another way the chain works is that I forgive a situation or person and others are affected, perhaps being inspired to their own forgiveness process. Even if they are unaware a change has occurred within their mind, and what that change means, it will have begun. I have noticed that as I have forgiven more deeply and more often, I feel happier and calmer. I seldom become angry or upset and when I do forgiveness is always my immediate response. I have also noticed that the people around me respond to me differently.

Sometimes it’s obvious, as when someone in my circle of acquaintances who in the past disliked me or was ambivalent toward me suddenly seems to have changed her mind. For my part I forgave her, or another way to say it is I recognized she had done nothing to me. She is part of this little play I think of as my life. I gave her the role she plays, the script she speaks from. She is in my play to support me in my awakening process.

Since I brought her into my life, told her what to say to trigger me into a reaction which points to a belief in the mind that needs to be healed, how can I call her guilty? Choosing to see her as innocent I no longer feel any animosity toward her, and in fact feel gratitude. I stopped avoiding her and one day I when I saw her I asked how she was doing and because I really wanted to know, she told me. Our relationship shifted because of forgiveness. I see her differently and it is obvious she sees me differently.

I don’t know the next link in the chain, as that is not my part. Jesus is in charge of the Atonement because he sees the completed process and knew that she was ready for what I could offer if I chose to. For my part, seeing such a clear demonstration of the atonement principle at work increased my confidence and encouraged me to forgive more often. I saw that all the forgiveness happened in my mind and yet it affected the people around me.

Because I had faith in what I read in the Course and did the work when I had no reason to trust the outcome, I have experienced its effects and now embrace the work with joy and gratitude. I have no trouble believing that the Atonement works all the time. I don’t need proof anymore. I just accept that where I am is where Jesus needs me and what is in front of me is the next link in the chain. I don’t know what it means that it works in all dimensions of time but I suppose I will understand someday.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of the Text 9-17-12

9-17-12
24 Miracles enable you to heal the sick and raise the dead because you made sickness and death yourself, and can therefore abolish both. You are a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of your Creator. Everything else is your own nightmare, and does not exist. Only the creations of light are real.

Holy Spirit, if ever I have the thought that there is nothing I can do to heal myself or another, please remind me of this passage. Through miracles I can heal the sick and raise the dead. I made up sickness and death and so I can abolish sickness and death. I have used my ability to create in an uncreative way to make sickness and death, but I can also use it creatively to create lovingly, that is to extend Love.

Only what is created through the extension of Love exists and everything else is just a dream, a nightmare. It does not exist. The world of sickness and death do not exist. This is how I heal; I know what exists and what does not, and I am not confused by appearances. If I do become confused I only need to ask You, Holy Spirit, to heal my mind and clarity returns.

I have pain in my neck. There are two voices speaking to me about this. The ego says that this is a recurring pain I get from driving so many hours or maybe something else I do. I will go to the chiropractor a couple of times and I will be ok for awhile and then it will come back. I have two reactions when I listen to this voice.

I feel in control because there is something I can do and I know what that is, but I also feel afraid because it depends on the actions of someone else, so I am not really in control. I feel discouraged because there is nothing I can do to cure it and if I did cure it there is nothing I can do to prevent a recurrence. I feel like a victim of my life style, of my body, of the chiropractors skill.

When I listen to the other Voice I am told that I did this, and because I did it I can undo it. I can undo it simply by knowing that it is not real, that what I make is an illusion. I remembered this yesterday and for hours I had no pain at all and my neck was loose and moved freely. When I realized that this had happened the ego voice said that this can’t happen and immediately the stiffness and pain returned. And the ego voice said, “See. I told you so. You have pain so you are not healed.”

What has pain? The illusion of a body has an illusion of pain. What does that prove except that I am identified with an illusion. I chose that identity and can easily change my mind again. I identify with the body and I feel things in the body. I identify with spirit and I feel nothing in the body. That is all that is happening here. Was the body healed? How can you heal an illusion?

When my mind is healed of its identity crisis and no longer projects a belief in sickness and suffering onto the body, then the body will no longer reflect those beliefs. It is no different with anything else I seem to experience in the world. Physical pain and sickness, emotional pain and sickness, financial problems, relationship problems, all of these are simply reflections of the same belief in lack.

So will I be able to ignore the illusion of pain I made through mistaken beliefs and allow the manifestation to disappear? Or will my attention be so riveted on the illusion that I forget, again, that I am an infinite and powerful being. Will I sink into the illusion of being a small and separate and limited body, and pretend to be subject to the laws of man?

The ego voice says that my decision matters and a wrong choice is a sin. The Holy Spirit says that infinite beings are perfectly free, and blameless regardless of our choices. After all, I can only pretend to have pain because pain doesn’t exist. Nothing is happening. Can nothing be a sin? I have made this choice many times. I know that making the choice for Spirit is all that matters. It is the only real thing I can do. I know that I will disregard appearances and trust the healing power of truth.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 9-14-12

9-14-12
23 Miracles rearrange perception and place all levels in true perspective. This is healing because sickness comes from confusing the levels. 

Very simply, there are at least two levels, mind and body, and all sickness occurs in mind and is then projected onto the body. So in reality the body is never healed, but always it is the mind that is healed and then a healed mind is projected onto the body. When we see it backward, when we perceive that the body is the source of the problem, we try to heal with medicines and other methods. This is what the Course refers to as using magic.

Let’s say I have a migraine. If I am confused about the levels, I think that the migraine is triggered by something I ate or an environmental factor. I might keep a diary of everything I eat or come into contact with and try to find a pattern. In the meantime I see a doctor and get pain pills to make the periodic headaches more tolerable.

As my mind is healed I see things more clearly and realize that headaches don’t come from anything in the world, but are caused by untrue beliefs held in the mind. The only way to cure a headache is to heal the mind of those beliefs. As I become closer to having true perception I have less illness in the body. Sometimes sickness comes anyway, and I think that this is because, like anything else that we call into existence, sickness can be a learning tool for ourselves and others. Or perhaps sometimes, even as the mind heals, what has been put into motion must play its self out.

So if healing occurs in the mind and not the body, why is it that medicine and other methods of healing seem to work? I think it is because we want it to. This is our illusion, our own little kingdom that we made up. It would be intolerable if there were no “cures” within our illusion. Also, if we could not heal the body it would drive us to heal the mind and then where would our illusory kingdom be? Right out the door.

Healing the body is magic because the body is not sick. Healing the body is magic because the body doesn’t exist. It is an illusion. So when we heal something in the body we haven’t really done anything and sickness returns, if not in that particular form then in some other. This applies to all sickness, sickness of the body, of the mind, of relationships, financial, and all forms of lack.

This is why when I get a headache or some other sign of a confused mind I use it as an opportunity to remember the truth. My first thought is that pain is not real. If I am emotionally upset, my first thought is that this is not real. I remind myself that pain of any kind cannot be real because it is not part of God. I ask, “Who am I?” I ask the Holy Spirit to come into my mind and undo what I have done.

If the pain does not go away on its own I take something. If I am sick and the sickness does not go away, I go to the doctor. It is not a sin to use magic to achieve what the mind is not yet ready to accept. I have not found that trying to force acceptance is helpful, nor is it necessary.  I have discovered that the mind will be healed in perfect timing as I am ready, and when it is healed, all else falls away on its own.

To feel guilty for not accepting the healing of the mind sooner or for having pain after I have asked for healing is just a trick of the ego, a way the ego keeps the illusion going. When I feel guilt for anything, I respond in the same way as I do for pain. I remind myself that guilt is not real because it is not part of God. I ask the Holy Spirit to come into my mind and undo what I have done.

It is guilt itself that causes sickness of every kind, so it is certainly not helpful to feel guilty if I use magic to bring relief. Magic can be a handy stop-gap measure until the mind is completely healed. The whole illusion is magic, and medicine is just another form of magic. My experience has been that using these magical cures has not slowed down my healing in the least. Feeling guilty for doing so and failing to forgive myself is what keeps the illusion in place.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of the Text 9-13-12

9-13-12
22 Miracles are associated with fear only because of the belief that darkness can hide. You believe that what your physical eyes cannot see does not exist. This leads to a denial of spiritual sight.

It’s hard to believe that we would be afraid of miracles but I know that this is true. Miracles completely turn our world view upside down. Miracles stand outside the laws we made to govern our little kingdom. An occasional miracle is pretty interesting and exciting stuff, but what if miracles started happening all the time, everywhere? They would disprove the laws we have in place to keep our kingdom intact and we would have to face the fact that our kingdom must not be real. Not everyone is ready for that.

Our eyes don’t show us what is in front of us. They were made to report back to us what it is we want to see. In this way we could make a world that suits our purposes and not be distracted by truth. Imagine it this way. Everything in front of you is light. When you want to see a living room with furniture your eyes show you the living room, down to the tiniest detail.

Your eyes are also showing you many other things when it shows you that living room. Is your view of the world one of poverty and lack? Then it will show you a shabby living room. Is your world view depressing, limiting and oppressive? Then it might show you a dimly lit and colorless living room. Whatever your eyes show you will support the view you have of the world.

In reality it is all just light. It takes form according to our desires and our beliefs. There is nothing solid or real or permanent in the universe. Form appears and disappears according to our wishes. While our eyes show us nothing real, they report back to us a perfect picture of our desires. I rented a house last year that seems perfect for my needs. I love the yard and everything else about it is perfectly satisfactory.

It is larger than my old house and needs more furniture so it is kind of empty in places. Occasionally I look around and think I should buy a little table for that corner and put this lamp on it. Something like that. But I never do it. I have pictures that I have never hung. I have some boxes I have never emptied. My daughter once commented that my house looks like a hotel. I put it down to being too busy.

The other day I received guidance to buy a house. I was surprised because I have always said I didn’t want to do that. As a single woman I didn’t think I wanted the responsibility of keeping a house in repair. Also I didn’t have the kind of down payment you need to buy a house so I thought it was out of the question. But the guidance seemed clear so I knew it would happen and sure enough things have fallen into place in ways I would never have foreseen.

When I moved into that rent house my only regret was that being a rent house I might have to move again someday but I hoped it would be a long way off. But that was my thoughts, my ego mind judging and making decisions. It still does that; I just don’t pay that much attention to it. When I looked at this house my eyes showed me what my heart knew; a temporary dwelling, a stopping off place. I didn’t try to change that because a permanent home was not my true desire at that time. This was all unconscious and it is only in retrospect that I see it.

The truth is none of it is real. It is all light taking form as is my will. If I believe only what my eyes show me I will fail to see what lies beneath the form. I will believe that what I see is immutable and that I am victim to it. I will feel imprisoned by what I see all the time, blind to myself as jailor, and therefore hopelessly trapped. Even if I imagined beauty all around me, if I failed to the see the source of the beauty I would be trapped by my blindness, still be trapped by my ignorance. It would just be a prettier trap.

I see that there is something real behind the form my thoughts take. That is my spiritual sight. It is not associated with my eyes in any way. It is true vision. It led me to dwell temporarily in this nice house and it led me to let it go. Vision led me see form differently, to see through the illusion of bodies, the belief in pain and suffering.

Sometimes my vision blurs and I experience all of this as real and so it takes form according to my temporary belief, and I feel as if I am Myron and this body is real and it hurts. But no matter how convincing the illusion I can never completely believe in it, because once you know something you can’t un-know it. Everything that seems real and solid and important in this world is an opportunity to remember the truth. I feel pain and I remember that pain is not real. I feel angry and I remember that anger is not real. The same for fear and guilt. Everything becomes a way I set aside sight and embrace vision.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 9-12-12

9-12-12
21 Miracles are natural signs of forgiveness. Through miracles you accept God’s forgiveness by extending it to others.

Later in the Text I am told that God does not forgive because God never condemns. So what is God’s forgiveness? It is the certainty that I have done nothing for which to be forgiven. I don’t need to be forgiven, but for this to be meaningful to me I must believe that I am innocent. I will never believe in my innocence if I believe in anyone else’s guilt.

It took me many years to understand and accept this. I kept looking at each instance in which I felt guilty or thought someone was guilty and tried to see the innocence. I tried to see how I could be innocent this time, or how that person could be innocent when they were so clearly guilty. Eventually, after giving my willingness to be wrong about that time and to be wrong about the next time, over and over again, I finally understood. I am not innocent of this or that, I am simply innocent.

In order to truly believe I am forgiven I had to give up the idea of guilt. Before the idea of separation there was no such thing as guilt, and since separation is an illusion, so is guilt. What is not in God does not exist. There is no guilt in God so there can be none in me or anyone else. Let me say that again; because there is no guilt in God, there can be no guilt. I am innocent. So are you. It is simply a fact.

Life as I experience it through the character of Myron is just a story played out on the biggest and most spectacular 3D screen ever. What happens in this story is not real and the characters are not real. Who is there to be guilty? What could they be guilty for? Within my story I am in charge of everything that happens. Everyone who shows up for my little production of the Life of Myron, does so at my invitation. They play the part I assigned them and read the lines I gave them. How could they be guilty of anything?

Every good story has a theme, a purpose, something to be accomplished. My story is no different. My theme has been one of victimhood and the purpose has been to discover that this is not possible. So early on, right from the beginning I set up her story so that she would feel like a victim in many little ways and some big ones. How could victimization be proven impossible if no one played the victim?

So all these characters, the main characters, the bit characters and the extras helped Myron feel like a victim so she could finally learn she wasn’t. The actors who played her parents began the process of teaching her she was a victim and many others joined in to add to the idea. Each one did his or her part exactly as directed and did it to support me in my decision to learn that no one is a victim of the world they see.

There were also those who helped her learn that she was not a victim by leaving clues or through encouraging and supporting her. They wrote books for her to discover and read; they loved her even when she was acting out her victim behavior, such as blaming and projecting onto them. They too, did this at my direction and for the purpose of helping me learn that no one can be a victim.

There is no difference between the two groups of people. They were all here in the story of Myron to support me in my quest for the truth. So who is there to forgive? What is there to forgive? The quest is coming to an end, as within the story Myron has begun to realize this and she reacts differently to the other actors.

When someone treats her as if she is a victim she no longer obliges with that behavior but she also no longer blames them for playing their part. She sees them as not, guilty, but only confused. In her heart she knows they are innocent and finally it is not that she refuses to see them as guilty, she simply cannot see them guilty.

Guilt is becoming meaningless to her. This certainty, this conviction that guilt is not real and no one is guilty built slowly throughout the entire production as she began to accept her own innocence through extending God’s forgiveness to others. This is a miracle story.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 9-11-12

9-11-12
20 Miracles reawaken the awareness that the spirit, not the body, is the altar of truth. This is the recognition that leads to the healing power of the miracle.

Sometimes I get bad headaches and when that happens my first thought is, “What triggered this headache?” I wonder if it could be something I ate or sitting for too long at the computer. I used to try to figure it out and would keep a journal of what I had been doing when it occurred. I was making the body the altar of truth, looking to the body for the cause and for the solution, looking to the body to tell me the truth. What a joke I was playing on myself! As if the body, which is an illusion, could be the cause of anything.

Now when I have a headache, I might still, out of habit, wonder what caused it but I quickly pop back into reality. I caused it. I remember the power of decision. I know that I decided on this.

No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. L 152

I am now aware that spirit is the altar of truth.

Lesson 190 says that pain is not real and one day I decided that this must be true. It only makes sense that if it is not part of God then it cannot exist. I began to practice this idea every time I experienced pain. Eventually my practice led to greater conviction and I began to realize that long term pain that I had experienced for years was no longer there.

As I had been doing my practice, I would ask the Holy Spirit to come into my mind (join with me) and heal it, or undo the ego belief there. Because I really want this, the prayer is answered and as I became ready it began to manifest in my human experience and became apparent even there. While still in the middle of the process I would take medication that I had given the power to relieve the pain, but that did not heal me.

Even if there were a cure for headaches they would only be a way of allowing a frightened mind to accept the miracle, because medicine does not heal without our permission. It is only at the level of spirit that healing occurs. I have experienced the miracle and I will never again be able to believe in the body as the altar of truth.

I still get headaches occasionally, or other pain because I have not completely let go of the value I have placed in sickness, but I also never believe it has anything to do with the body except that the body is the screen onto which I project that belief. The body is never again going to be the altar of truth for me. This is good because as the lesson says, “This is the recognition that leads to the healing power of the miracle.”

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