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Study of Text, Chapter 9, VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 7. 3-18-15

VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 7
7 Eternity is one time, its only dimension being “always.” This cannot mean anything to you until you remember God’s open Arms, and finally know His open Mind. Like Him, you are “always”; in His Mind and with a mind like His. In your open mind are your creations, in perfect communication born of perfect understanding. Could you but accept one of them you would not want anything the world has to offer. Everything else would be totally meaningless. God’s meaning is incomplete without you, and you are incomplete without your creations. Accept your brother in this world and accept nothing else, for in him you will find your creations because he created them with you. You will never know that you are co-creator with God until you learn that your brother is co-creator with you.

Journal
Oh my gosh! I am always. Not always as I will be what I am in the future, because in reality there is no future and no past. There is only always. I cannot even grab onto this as a concept; I can only accept it. What breaks my heart wide open is that I will know God’s open Arms, His open Mind. I will know this because I am like Him, in His Mind and with a mind like His. I am that! It makes me cry to read this because I don’t feel it right now. I cry tears of grief but also tears of joy, grief for what I have given up, and joy that it is not lost, just forgotten.

Here, more than anywhere else, Jesus talks about my creations. They are created from my open mind and this means that we, the Christ, the Sonship create them. My creations love me and complete me, and next to even one of them, nothing else has meaning. To know my creations I must know my brother, because he is co-creator with me. I must know my co-creators to know that I am co-creator with God. Is this motivation to release all grievances, to let them die on my tongue before my complaint leaves my mouth, to let them whither in my mind before they take form?

It is a long held belief that I need my brothers to hold my guilt and so I have misused them for eons of time. I have seen them as separate from me and pretended that projecting my guilt onto them, I was free of it. It is hard to believe that I ever thought this would work, and that it was a good idea.

Now that I am withdrawing those projections so they can be healed, and now that I am remembering my union with my brothers, I notice the ego trying harder than ever to encourage projection. The ego would have me use these brothers, these parts of my holy Self for this awful purpose. Holy Spirit, help me remember today that I am that I am, but I cannot know this unless I know it for everyone else, too. Everyone. Without exception.

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Study of Text, Chapter 9, V.I The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 6. 3-16-15

VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 6
6 Miracles have no place in eternity, because they are reparative. Yet while you still need healing, your miracles are the only witnesses to your reality that you can recognize. You cannot perform a miracle for yourself, because miracles are a way of giving acceptance and receiving it. In time the giving comes first, though they are simultaneous in eternity, where they cannot be separated. When you have learned they are the same, the need for time is over.

Journal
I understand that miracles are for here where we need them. In eternity there is no need for miracles. I also understand that miracles are our only witness to our reality that we can recognize. In reality we are the Christ, the Son of God, whole and complete, powerful and eternal.  In the illusion we are little separate people, frail and vulnerable, destined to suffer and die. Through miracles we experience ourselves outside of time and space, and outside the laws of the world. In this way, we begin to remember what we really are.

One time I had a problem that was causing me excruciating pain and I needed the pain to go away while I attended a workshop. I gave my trust that this could happen. The world says that if we have a sickness or disease, there are steps to take. We need to see a doctor, get medicine, maybe have a procedure done. It all takes time, and sometimes it works, and sometimes not.

But I believe in miracles. I believe that it is God’s Will that I not suffer. At the time this happened, my belief was compromised by my doubt, but it was strong enough to ask for pain relief while I flew to this workshop, receive what I needed from it, and flew home. The pain immediately stopped, and didn’t start again until my plain touched down at my home airport.

It was a miracle. I might have allowed the problem to be healed completely, but as I said, my trust was not unopposed. But I will never ever completely believe that I am victim to sickness again. The miracle witnessed to my reality. Things like this have happened often since. Each time they do, my trust grows because I see that I am not what I thought I was.

I have had other experiences. I have been very afraid, or very angry, certain I was justified in my feelings, unable to pull myself out of it. I have asked for a miracle, and seen the feelings dispelled instantly, leaving barely a memory of their presence, and sometimes not even that. Where did those thoughts go? Where did those strong emotions go? Back into the nothingness from which they came. It was miraculous because that isn’t the way it happens in the world we made.

I didn’t need to wrestle with the thoughts and feelings. I didn’t need to let them play out. I didn’t need to change the circumstances or receive an apology, or change anything in the world. I didn’t need to use logic and positive thought or any of the other mental tricks I have learned over the years in order to experience peace. I didn’t need to understand. All I needed to do was to desire peace more than I desired the upsetting thoughts and the miracle occurred. All that upset me was simply gone and I was at peace. The peaceful mind was witness to my true reality.

The many miracles I experienced were done through me not by me. They required only that I desired them, and it was done according to my desire. Through the miracle I gave my acceptance and I received that which I desired. In eternity this is one step, not two. They occur simultaneously. Here, in time, I am learning to accept so that I can receive, and ultimately, that giving and receiving are the same thing. Maybe that moment of knowing is the ultimate miracle, and time ceases.

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Study of Text, Chapter 9, V.I The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 5. 3-13-15

VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 5
5 You are not yet awake, but you can learn how to awaken. Very simply the Holy Spirit teaches you to awaken others. As you see them waken you will learn what waking means, and because you have chosen to wake them, their gratitude and their appreciation of what you have given them will teach you its value. They will become the witnesses to your reality, as you were created witnesses to God’s. Yet when the Sonship comes together and accepts its Oneness it will be known by its creations, who witness to its reality as the Son does to the Father.

Journal
I, because I was created as the Son of God, witness to the reality of the Father. My creations (of which I am unaware in this dimension, and yet which, never the less, still exist) witness to my reality. When I say, I, I mean “I” as the One Son of God. The “I” that I am more identified with at this time is a separated part of the Sonship. But, regardless of my misplaced identification, it is not what I am. When the Sonship comes together and is One again, it will be known by its creations, as God is known by His Son.

This is outside my limited knowledge at this time, but not outside my Mind, so it is not lost, and I am still as I was created. I am still dreaming, but I will awaken, and when I do, I will remember this. I will awaken through the Holy Spirit, as He teaches me to awaken others. Always, awakening and my happiness depend on my brothers. This is something I must absolutely, and without exception, accept as true and necessary. I cannot know my Self as less than whole and I cannot be whole if I continue to disavow my brothers.

When a grievance comes into my mind, I quickly and gladly release it to the Holy Spirit. I want to know my brother as myself and I cannot do that if I make him separate from me through assigning him to carry the guilt we all fear. I will, instead, withdraw my projections and release them to the Holy Spirit so they are healed for us all.

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Study of Text, Chapter 9,VI.The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 4. 3-12-15

VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother
4 God is more than you only because He created you, but not even this would He keep from you. Therefore you can create as He did, and your dissociation will not alter this. Neither God’s light nor yours is dimmed because you do not see. Because the Sonship must create as one, you remember creation whenever you recognize part of creation. Each part you remember adds to your wholeness because each part is whole. Wholeness is indivisible, but you cannot learn of your wholeness until you see it everywhere. You can know yourself only as God knows His Son, for knowledge is shared with God. When you awake in Him you will know your magnitude by accepting His limitlessness as yours. But meanwhile you will judge it as you judge your brother’s, and will accept it as you accept his.

Journal
This section is harder for me than the others have been. It is hard for the thinking mind to grasp what is being said. Jesus says that I am like God in every way but one; God created me, and I didn’t create Him. Even that ability, He gives me. I, too, am a creator, with as much power as God. Nothing has changed because I have closed my eyes to reality. “Neither God’s light nor yours is dimmed because you do not see.” I continue to create.

I do not create alone, though. The Sonship as a whole creates. Just as God sees us as a whole, we must learn to see ourselves as part of a whole along with our brothers. “Wholeness is indivisible, but you cannot learn of your wholeness until you see it everywhere.” I practice this all the time now. I do this at random. When I am checking out at the store, I will look at the cashier with my heart open to see we are indivisible.

When I notice a casual judgment of someone, I will do the same. I’m asking Jesus to help me with this. It is absolutely essential that I remember and accept my oneness with my brothers if I am to remember that my mind is part of God’s. I cannot be part of God alone, because God does not know “alone.” He knows us as One, indivisible, whole.

“When you awake in Him you will know your magnitude by accepting His limitlessness as yours.” All through the Course, Jesus talks to us about our true nature. As one, we are magnificent, beautiful, unlimited, free, powerful, holy, brilliant, complete, whole. As one we are creators. We are the Son of God. But our true nature is one of wholeness, so I cannot feel this because I still choose specialness over wholeness. But I am making new choices and will continue to do so until I recognize there is only one choice and I make it. Then I will know my Self as I am.

Dear God, the next time I think the cashier is too slow, or I feel resentment toward the hotel clerk who doesn’t give me the room I want; when I look with envy on someone who has what I don’t, or when I think I would be happy if only someone would change; when I read the paper and think how sad this happened, how tragic that, how guilty the perpetrator; dear, dear, God, please remind me of the sacrifice I make in order to see myself separate from these splintered parts of my Self. Holy Spirit, heal my mind, restore me to our Self.

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Study of Text, Chapter 9,VI.The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 3. 3-11-15

VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother
3 If your brothers are part of you, will you accept them? Only they can teach you what you are, for your learning is the result of what you taught them. What you call upon in them you call upon in yourself. And as you call upon it in them it becomes real to you. God has but one Son, knowing them all as one. Only God Himself is more than they but they are not less than He is. Would you know what this means? If what you do to my brother you do to me, and if you do everything for yourself because we are part of you, everything we do belongs to you as well. Everyone God created is part of you and shares His glory with you. His Glory belongs to Him, but it is equally yours. You cannot, then, be less glorious than He is.

Journal
In this paragraph Jesus explains our relationship to each other and to God. We are one with each other, part of each other. We don’t see that in the illusion, because of course, that is the purpose of the illusion. We wanted to experience not oneness, and so we made images of separateness. We made different bodies and different personalities with different problems and different experiences. We made different things with which to surround ourselves. It makes for a very believable experience, but it changes nothing. God knows us as His one Son and therefore, we are that.

I am learning to see my brother as one with me. I can’t do this very well, yet, but my willingness to do so is giving me a different experience. I never think that what I do affects only me. I never think that my brother’s feelings are his problem and not my concern. I never think that my thoughts are for me alone. Well, let’s say that I am never far from this understanding. I forget this is true, but then I remember.

At first, I changed my behavior. I started being kinder and more thoughtful, knowing that this was a step in the right direction and that it was my way of making a commitment to see differently. If this person in front of me was actually another aspect of myself, then it only made sense to treat them the way I would want to be treated.

Over time, I began to believe that the person in front of me was an aspect of my self, and I didn’t need to change my behavior, my behavior changed because my mind had changed. I still fall back into ego behavior when I start thinking through the ego mind, but I see it and I realize what has happened. I love that this is becoming so natural that I know my mind is being healed of the desire to be separate.

Jesus is also explaining that God is more than I am, but that I am all that God is. For some reason, that makes perfect sense to me. ~smile~ I think this is a sign of the mind being healed of separation thinking, too. I can’t really explain why I feel comfortable with this explanation and why I don’t need to understand it more completely, but it just feels right to me. I don’t even feel strange saying that I am holy, and that I am glorious as God is glorious. I believe it even when I don’t feel it. This is equally true of all my brothers regardless of our stories in the illusion. 

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Study of Text, Chapter 9, V.I The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 1. 3-9-15

VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother

2 It seems to you that the Holy Spirit does not produce joy consistently in you only because you do not consistently arouse joy in others. Their reactions to you are your evaluations of His consistency. When you are inconsistent you will not always give rise to joy, and so you will not always recognize His consistency. What you offer to your brother you offer to Him, because He cannot go beyond your offering in His giving. This is not because He limits His giving, but simply because you have limited your receiving. The decision to receive is the decision to accept.

The reason I don’t think the Holy Spirit produces joy in me consistently is that I don’t always see the effects of it in others. I don’t always arouse joy in other people. Instead of questioning the Holy Spirit, I might look to myself. Am I receiving what the Holy Spirit would give me? The Holy Spirit is always giving, but I block His gifts if I am unwilling to accept them.

If I block the Holy Spirit and do not allow Him to inspire joy in me, I won’t inspire joy in others and then take this as proof the Holy Spirit is inconsistent. I have finally learned that this is never true. I no longer question the Holy Spirit, but understand that He is always giving and it can only be me who is allowing the ego mind to block what He would give.

There was a time when I treasured my bad moods and defended them from anything that threatened to lift them. I defended my identity of one who is depressed. As my mind opened more and more to healing, I released that to the Holy Spirit. I used to treasure my identity as one who was unpredictably angry and whose tongue was sharp, whose words were weapons. I thought it was the way I defended myself against the world. As I learned to release my fear to the Holy Spirit, I no longer needed my defenses, and instead, I extended the joy and the love I received from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit consistently extends love because that is what He is. He extends it to me because He knows that is what I am. As I lay down more and more of my defenses, I am learning to receive the love that is coming my way. As I receive it, I give it as naturally as does the Holy Spirit. I am becoming more consistent in opening to love and so I am becoming more consistent in inspiring joy.

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Study of Text, Chapter 9, V.I The Acceptance of Your Brother, P 1. 3-6-15

VI. The Acceptance of Your Brother
1 How can you become increasingly aware of the Holy Spirit in you except by His effects? You cannot see Him with your eyes nor hear Him with your ears. How, then, can you perceive Him at all? If you inspire joy and others react to you with joy, even though you are not experiencing joy yourself there must be something in you that is capable of producing it. If it is in you and can produce joy, and if you see that it does produce joy in others, you must be dissociating it in yourself.

Journal
When I think of the Holy Spirit’s effects in me, I tend to think of a healed mind manifesting as a healed life. I notice that I feel better physically, and emotionally. I have less worry and less fear. I see that while I am aware of ego thoughts, I don’t believe them like I used to. I am more aware of any desire to run and hide, or to defend and attack, and not as interested in that as I used to be.

I was surprised when I read this paragraph because I did not think of it in terms of joy. I am aware of the Holy Spirit in me as I notice that I inspire joy, even if I am not experiencing joy. This phenomena must be produced by something, and it is clearly not me. The ego certainly does not produce joy in anyone, so it must be the Holy Spirit.

Do I see others reacting to me with joy? Yes, thinking of it, sometimes I do. I hope it happens a lot whether I notice or not. I have had times when I was absolutely not feeling joyful, but when called to minister, something within me responded in such a way as to inspire comfort and peace and joy. I wasn’t feeling those things when called, so where did the response come from? This is the way I know the Holy Spirit. I know Him from my experience of Him moving through me.

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