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Study of the Text, Chapter 8,VII. The Treasure of God, P 4.9-19-14

VI. The Treasure of God
4 Listen to the story of the prodigal son, and learn what God’s treasure is and yours: This son of a loving father left his home and thought he had squandered everything for nothing of any value, although he had not understood its worthlessness at the time. He was ashamed to return to his father, because he thought he had hurt him. Yet when he came home the father welcomed him with joy, because the son himself was his father’s treasure. He wanted nothing else.

Of course his Father welcomes him home! I would welcome my child regardless of what he had done, and I barely know anything about love. My Father, Who is Love, certainly does as well as I. Here is a difference though; I love my children in spite of their mistakes, and my Father sees no mistakes. He sees only his perfect creations acting from their perfect freedom. There is that difference because I sometimes still see with the ego mind that believes in sin.

God does not wait for us to make ourselves better or to atone for our sins. He does not need us to replace the treasure we squandered. He treasures us, just as we are, because we are as God created us. He loves us and wants for us only our joy and freedom. It is the ego mind that believes we have sinned and needs to atone, and believes that God holds our sins against us so we must make up for it somehow.

The ego tells us we must fix ourselves so we have something holy to offer God. Then it tells us we cannot fix ourselves and so must stay in hiding. But in truth there is nothing to fix. The undoing that we are dedicated to is only for the purpose of choosing to awaken. We are learning we want to wake up and learning what it is we have to let go of in order to awaken.

All this work we do, all the dedication and devotion to the process is for us. We are allowing the untrue thoughts to be removed from our mind so that we become aware of what we are, and always have been, and always will be. We are not trying to make of ourselves something different, but just getting stuff out of the way so that we can have what we are revealed to us. God does not need anything from us.

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Study of the Text, Chapter 8: VI. The Treasure of God, Paragraph 3. 9-17-14

VI. The Treasure of God
3 Let us glorify Him Whom the world denies, for over His Kingdom the world has no power. No one created by God can find joy in anything except the eternal; not because he is deprived of anything else, but because nothing else is worthy of him. What God and His Sons create is eternal, and in this and this only is their joy.

We have made a veil to hide our eternal creations from ourselves. How else could we play this child’s game of making up the impossible and living it as if it were real? We are not guilty for this. After all we are created free to have any experience we want. But we never meant to this illusion to be our home. The veil is thin and the memory of our true home is preserved in our mind so that we could never be lost in our fantasy.

The endgame is to wake up from the dream of play and return to eternity. That is all we are doing now. Jesus found the path out and he has provided us with this book, these lessons and his help so that we, too, can return Home. He is reminding us that we want to end the game and he is reminding us of the Voice that guides our every decision and corrects our thinking.

It seems that the hardest part of this is believing that there is something joyful and eternal that I could have instead of what I have come to believe is my life. How can I believe in something I cannot even imagine? But that is the flaw in the ego’s argument for remaining in the illusion. I can imagine. I can remember. This is possible because the memory of eternity is in my mind right next to the illusion that I made up. It isn’t hidden from me, but hidden by me. I can change my mind at any time and make a choice for reality.

This slow undoing of the ego is just a way to remember that I want to undo the ego. I have allowed myself to notice how uncomfortable I am in the illusion. I have become very sensitive to the pain and suffering of this world, and at the same time the Holy Spirit has drawn my attention to the truth in my mind.

So, slowly as I become aware of discomfort, I look at the belief that caused the discomfort. I realize that I chose this and that I can choose differently. I choose differently as I ask the Holy Spirit to choose for me. My mind becomes clearer than it was before and I notice discomfort and make new choices more quickly and with more enthusiasm. I am learning that not only do I no longer want to play the game of separation, but there is a way to stop and there is something infinitely better waiting for me. I am learning that I want to do this and that I can do this.

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Study of the Text, Chapter 8: VI. The Treasure of God, Paragraph 2. 9-16-14

VI. The Treasure of God
2 The world can add nothing to the power and the glory of God and His holy Sons, but it can blind the Sons to the Father if they behold it. You cannot behold the world and know God. Only one is true. I am come to tell you that the choice of which is true is not yours to make. If it were, you would have destroyed yourself. Yet God did not will the destruction of His creations, having created them for eternity. His Will has saved you, not from yourself but from your illusion of yourself. He has saved you for yourself.

Clearly, I can accept what I experience with the body’s senses as true, or I can accept that Jesus is right and this is an illusion. I can accept that I am spirit, that I am the Son of God and all that implies, or I can accept the ego version of myself as the real me. It is up to me. Those are the only two choices I have and the one I choose will not change anything God created, but it will determine my experience.

How do I stop beholding the world? That seems impossible at first, but this is what I understand about it now. I behold the world when I see guilt, when I am afraid, when I feel confused, alone or unhappy. I see the world when I look with the body’s eyes and believe what I see is the truth. I stop seeing the world as I realize my error and ask that my mind be healed. Then what I “see” will be different.

The circumstances may or may not change, but how I see them will change. For instance, I used to think that when my grown children didn’t call me or come to see me it was because they didn’t love me. I thought they judged me for not being a very good mother, and that they held my mistakes against me. I would feel sad and lonely and hopeless because I couldn’t imagine how to fix this. Every problem they had seemed to be my fault because I had not done a better job raising them. I constantly looked for reassurance from them that I was loved and forgiven by them.

Slowly, over time, my mind was healed and I began to see things differently. When they fail to call or come see me, I assume they are busy living their lives and that makes me happy. I have forgiven myself and so I don’t see their actions as a condemnation. I don’t feel guilty so I don’t perceive their actions as proof of my guilt. Now when I notice I miss them, I call them or invite them over. If they are busy then I do something else. It is the same circumstance, but my experience of it is completely different.

Before when I believed in my guilt I saw the world the ego made, and it was painful. Now that more guilt has been removed from my mind, I see the love that was there all the time. I see more of the real world than I did before. I guess you could say that the veil is thinner now. I see the ego world but I also see through it to the truth. What if they really did hold my mistakes against me and resented me? I could still see through their behavior to the truth.

When someone is living an ego belief in blame and guilt they are suffering. They are suffering because they are confused and cannot see that they are loved. If my kids blamed me and thought I was the cause of their unhappiness I could see it as if they were punishing me, or I could see it as the call for love it is. I could also remember that this is all just a story and that when the soul sheds the body, it sheds the story as well. Behind the story are beautiful souls. We are not really against each other, but for each other. We are living the life that will help us all wake up and that is all that is happening here.

The perception that leaves me feeling bereft of love and guilty for my mistakes is beholding the world. The perception that leaves me feeling grateful and compassionate is beholding the truth. When I behold the world, I lose sight of God. When I believe in the world of the ego, I believe that God is like the ego and so I no longer know God. But God didn’t change and He didn’t go anywhere. As my mind heals and I see the real world more clearly, I also draw closer to God.

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Study of the Text, Chapter 8: VI. The Treasure of God, Paragraph 1. 9-15-14

VI. The Treasure of God
1 We are the joint will of the Sonship, whose Wholeness is for all. We begin the journey back by setting out together, and gather in our brothers as we continue together. Every gain in our strength is offered for all, so they too can lay aside their weakness and add their strength to us. God’s welcome waits for us all, and He will welcome us as I am welcoming you. Forget not the Kingdom of God for anything the world has to offer.

We are in this together. We are joining with Jesus and we are waking up. As we go along, we gather more and more of us. We do this through our words, our writing, and our actions. It happens even without the words and actions; it happens as we heal our mind. My mind is healed and so the mind is healed and every part of the mind experiences the healing in some way.

We cannot always see this in the world, but it is happening. I touch people I have never even met and probably never will. I affect the lives of people I see every day. It might seem like a small thing to me, a smile or kind word, but someone is changed because of it. Then there are the ones who are touching greater numbers of people, the celebrities like Oprah and Jim Carey who influence thousands of people. Social media has become an important platform for this gathering, spreading the word faster and farther than ever could have happened before.

Every contribution, small and large adds strength to all of us. We are truly in this together in every sense of the word. We are waking up and in the process we are helping others to wake up until finally we are awakened as one. This is no small thing. In fact, it is the only thing that matters.

I look like I am going to work, selling chemicals, visiting friends, helping people, writing, trying to lose weight, shopping. I have a story about all of this, but all the while I use these things, these activities, as a way to wake us all up. Even when I get so involved in them that I start to think they are goals within themselves, I pull my mind back to what matters.

I start to think my job is the way I provide for myself and that I have to defend it against others who would take it from me. Then I laugh because I remember that my job is just a back-drop for my real goal. I ask the Holy Spirit to help me remember the truth, to remember my true purpose.

I try to lose weight and I notice how others are doing it and think about trying this pill or that eating plan. Then I come back to my senses. The body and its size and shape are the effect not the cause. The cause is a belief in my mind that is being projected as a body. I ask the Holy Spirit for help in seeing this situation as it truly exists. I ask Him what He wants me to learn from this situation.

I think I want to do something and then I remember that I don’t want to make any decisions on my own. I ask for guidance and the mind is healed of an old belief. All those who are ready to accept that healing are healed with me. It is in little ways like this the mind is healed. It is like a tiny earthquake in the mind, a little tremor that passes through and everyone feels it and is affected by it in some way. Did I ever think there was me and then there was you? Did I see someone else and really believe they were someone else?

The world seems to be filled with interesting and sometimes fun distractions. It sometimes seems the world is a very serious place that needs my constant attention. But the world is nothing. I won’t get confused about that again. Nothing about the world is important other than how I can use it to show me what yet needs to be healed in the mind so that I can choose the healing.

I will continue to do the things that I must do. I will go to work, but I will use work to help us wake up. I will take care of the body, but I will use the body to help us wake up. Jesus has welcomed us to this journey and God welcomes us home. I will not tarry for anything in the world.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of the Text, Chapter 8: V.The Undivided Will of the Sonship, Paragraph 6. 9-12-14

V. The Undivided Will of the Sonship P 6
6 The ego’s way is not mine, but it is also not yours. The Holy Spirit has one direction for all minds, and the one He taught me is yours. Let us not lose sight of His direction through illusions, for only illusions of another direction can obscure the one for which God’s Voice speaks in all of us. Never accord the ego the power to interfere with the journey. It has none, because the journey is the way to what is true. Leave all illusions behind, and reach beyond all attempts of the ego to hold you back. I go before you because I am beyond the ego. Reach, therefore, for my hand because you want to transcend the ego. My strength will never be wanting, and if you choose to share it you will do so. I give it willingly and gladly, because I need you as much as you need me.

Jesus is so certain of me that when I think of it I cry. I feel certain of me, too, because I am willing to share his certainty. Jesus knows because he has transcended the ego and so has Knowledge now. I trust him and he trusts me so I trust me as well. I trust myself even when I am confused. I trust me even when I slip back into ego thinking. I trust me even when I feel helpless and hopeless. Because I trust myself, I always rise from the ego pit into the light and I do so quickly.

I do reach for your hand, Jesus, and I do this as often as I need to. You are my elder brother and my partner, and my aide as I do this. I look to you as the model I would follow, your teachings as the standard I would achieve in my life. I will transcend the ego because you did. I will transcend it because that is my purpose as it was yours and is everyone’s. I dedicate this day toward that goal.

Thank you for showing me the way, and for being my ever present helper, and for lending me your strength. I cannot express my gratitude because I just don’t have the words.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of the Text, Chapter 8: V.The Undivided Will of the Sonship, Paragraph 5. 9-11-14

V. The Undivided Will of the Sonship P 5
5 Would you know the Will of God for you? Ask it of me who knows it for you and you will find it. I will deny you nothing, as God denies me nothing. Ours is simply the journey back to God Who is our home. Whenever fear intrudes anywhere along the road to peace, it is because the ego has attempted to join the journey with us and cannot do so. Sensing defeat and angered by it, the ego regards itself as rejected and becomes retaliative. You are invulnerable to its retaliation because I am with you. On this journey you have chosen me as your companion instead of the ego. Do not attempt to hold on to both, or you will try to go in different directions, and will lose the way.

I am very aware of ego retaliation. I used to think that when I would slip back into ego it meant that I was weak and vulnerable and that my best efforts came to naught. I believed this because that’s what the thoughts in my mind were saying to me. When that happened I felt like a failure and that I couldn’t do this. That left me in an impossible place since I couldn’t go back to complete ignorance and yet couldn’t go forward. It was hard because I had not yet detached from my ego identity enough to realize that I am not that defeatist voice I was listening to.

It’s different now even though I still notice the ego thoughts in my mind and sometimes get hooked by them. When I experience a significant shift in my thinking, I especially get bombarded by ego thoughts. This is the ego part of the mind trying to pull me back into the story. It tries anything and everything to get me interested. It says others are guilty, I’m guilty, I’m never going to succeed, I’m a failure, I’m overworked and put upon.

I still hear all that nonsense and sometimes listen and believe for a little while, but I never fall for it like I did before. Yesterday the ego tried again and I felt bad about myself for a few minutes, then turned away from it. I cannot yet avoid the ego voice completely, but I can choose the voice I would believe. I made a deliberate choice to remember the truth. I gave the ego thoughts to Holy Spirit and asked that they be removed from my mind. Each time I do this, I become more certain of my true identity and the ego hold on the mind loosens some more.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of the Text, Chapter 8, V. The Undivided Will of the Sonship, P 4. 9-10-14

V. The Undivided Will of the Sonship P
4 When you unite with me you are uniting without the ego, because I have renounced the ego in myself and therefore cannot unite with yours. Our union is therefore the way to renounce the ego in you. The truth in both of us is beyond the ego. Our success in transcending the ego is guaranteed by God, and I share this confidence for both of us and all of us. I bring God’s peace back to all His children because I received it of Him for us all. Nothing can prevail against our united wills because nothing can prevail against God’s.

In this section, Jesus is really making it clear that together we will transcend the ego. It is very simple, really. Jesus transcended the ego and now helps us to do what he has already done. He has total confidence in us because he knows we will succeed as he did. I used to doubt myself, but Jesus held steadfast in his certainty and so he knew for me what I doubted. Now I have no doubt whatsoever that I will return my mind to God because I have joined my will with his and nothing can prevail against us because nothing can prevail against God.

While I still become distracted and still get hooked by ego sometimes, I never lose sight of the goal. I might become angry with someone, but I never want to stay angry. I never argue for my anger. I might make the other one guilty in my mind, but I change my mind. Even while I am temporarily angry, I am asking that the belief my brother is guilty be removed from my mind. This is how it is for me now. I look forward to the day the desire to blame cannot even find a foothold in my mind, no matter how tenuous.

I don’t doubt that day will come because I don’t doubt God. I don’t doubt the Holy Spirit. And I don’t doubt Jesus’ plan of Atonement. I don’t even doubt myself anymore. Jesus transcended the ego and through joining my will with his, he will transcend it again through me. And in perfect timing he will do so through each of us until, as one, we will return to our Father.

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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