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Study of Text, Chapter 11: III. From Darkness to Light, P 8. 9-17-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 8

8 In your mind you can accept the whole Sonship and bless it with the light your Father gave it. Then you will be worthy to dwell in the temple with Him, because it is your will not to be alone. God blessed His Son forever. If you will bless him in time, you will be in eternity. Time cannot separate you from God if you use it on behalf of the eternal.

Journal
Clearly, it is my goal while I am here in time to accept the whole Sonship. That means I must accept the politician I love to hate. I must accept him fully and completely and love him with all my heart. The same goes for all my coworkers, even the one who seem to be mean-spirited.

I must love the clerk at Walmart who was sullen and uncommunicative. I must love the pedophile, the murderer, the thief and the scam artist as fervently as I love my children. There must be no difference or degree in my love for these people because there is no difference between them. They are all of them part of me, and we are all part of God.

Can I love God if I hate parts of God? Can I be in God if hate separates me from part of God? Can I be part of Wholeness if hate means I must separate myself from some part of Wholeness? I cannot bring hate into God, because God is Love. I recognize and accept that dislike and annoyance, and fear are just other more acceptable words for hate.  My goal is to desire only Love, and in so doing, I welcome the Holy Spirit’s healing presence into my mind.

“Shine away those dark and foolish thoughts, Holy Spirit!”

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Study of Text, Chapter 11,III. From Darkness to Light, P 7. 9-16-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 7

7 Only God’s Comforter can comfort you. In the quiet of His temple, He waits to give you the peace that is yours. Give His peace, that you may enter the temple and find it waiting for you. But be holy in the Presence of God, or you will not know that you are there. For what is unlike God cannot enter His Mind, because it was not His Thought and therefore does not belong to Him. And your mind must be as pure as His, if you would know what belongs to you. Guard carefully His temple, for He Himself dwells there and abides in peace. You cannot enter God’s Presence with the dark companions beside you, but you also cannot enter alone. All your brothers must enter with you, for until you have accepted them you cannot enter. For you cannot understand wholeness unless you are whole, and no part of the Son can be excluded if he would know the Wholeness of his Father.

Journal
Jesus is telling us that we are in God’s temple right now but we will not be aware of this until we have allowed our minds to be healed of all the false ego thinking. We must leave behind our dark companions, because we cannot enter into His presence (know that we are in Him) with them beside us, just as he tells us in another part of the Text, we cannot enter into His presence if we attack His Son. In fact, in this paragraph Jesus elaborates on this when he tells us we cannot enter into His presence without our brothers. All of them.

When I was judging my coworker last week, I was not at peace. I had to bring this judgment to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to correct my thinking before I could accept the gift of peace. I was not being denied peace as some kind of punishment for disobedience. I simply could not know I was given the gift of peace while I was in judgment.

It is really a simple concept for me to understand. God is wholeness. He is oneness. There is no thought of separation in the Mind of God. That is the nature of God. I cannot bring a foreign thought into God or it would change His nature, and then He would not be God anymore. Judgment is a foreign concept as is separation. So while I think that my sister is not me and while I think either of us is anything other than a perfect creation of God, I cannot enter into His presence. I must leave those dark thoughts behind if I would know myself as part of the Light.

Today, I dedicate myself to bringing peace to each one I meet. Holy Spirit, I ask that You purify my thoughts today, that I can be free of the dark thoughts I have allowed into my mind in the past. I cannot bring peace unless I am at peace. Help me to see my brother as my self. Vision is mine and I want to learn to use it more consistently. I am ready to awaken from this dream that I am separate from Love, and so I am ready to relinquish all thoughts that are not Love.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: II: From Darkness to Light, P 6. 9-14-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 6

6 The children of light cannot abide in darkness, for darkness is not in them. Do not be deceived by the dark comforters, and never let them enter the mind of God’s Son, for they have no place in His temple. When you are tempted to deny Him remember that there are no other gods to place before Him, and accept His Will for you in peace. For you cannot accept it otherwise.

Journal
I see that Jesus is stating a simple truth. “The children of light cannot abide in darkness, for darkness is not in them.” If I am in darkness, in hatred, in rage, in depression, fear, guilt, in suffering of any kind, it can only be that I don’t remember what I am. I am a child of light and I am only dreaming of darkness. This is all that is happening. In my dark dreams I seem to suffer, and so I am ready to awaken from the dream.

Dreamers do not succumb to their dreams. I am suffering, but I am safe. I will wake up when I choose to see. Vision has shown me the darkness and deceptiveness of ego and I will continue my vigilance to bar them from the mind of God’s Son. I understand now that this is not a personal quest to make a happier version of Myron’s story. I see that there is no personal. This is holy work. It is work done for the mind that we all are.

For the last couple of weeks I have been conflicted about my purpose. I have thought that my purpose was to achieve certain things, to defend and protect my little goals. But I have also known that this is not right. And so I have also been looking at my reactions to the world I made through my conflicted beliefs, and have been asking that the Holy Spirit heal my mind and restore my peace. I have been allowing my awareness to return to the truth that the only will I have is the will I share with God.

The period of conflict that I have been experiencing is unpleasant, but as I remember that my purpose, my one purpose, my only goal is the peace of God, conflict eases and then falls away. As the chaotic ego thinking is released, it is inevitable that the truth become clear to me that all my separate and personal goals were the false gods I made. As I let these illusory gods (goals) go my mind is more peaceful and in peace I remember that there is no other God, and that God’s Will is my will.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: III. From Darkness to Light, P 5.9-10-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 5
5 God hides nothing from His Son, even though His Son would hide himself. Yet the Son of God cannot hide his glory, for God wills him to be glorious, and gave him the light that shines in him. You will never lose your way, for God leads you. When you wander, you but undertake a journey that is not real. The dark companions, the dark way, are all illusions. Turn toward the light, for the little spark in you is part of a Light so great that it can sweep you out of all darkness forever. For your Father is your Creator, and you are like Him.

Journal
Jesus is just stating facts here. Regardless of appearances, regardless of the illusions I have made, certain things are immutable. They are true right now and will always be true. This is all the Course is trying to help me understand and accept. All the lessons, all the concepts, all the many, many words, are just bringing me to this one thing. I am as God created me. And He created me out of Himself and so that is what I am. I am Light. I am like God.

Last night I had the strangest dreams. I woke up thinking about them and wondering what they meant, if anything, then I forgot about them. But the one thing I can tell you is that while I dreamed of being something strange last night, my dream changed nothing. On awakening this morning, I was till what I was when I went to sleep. While I was dreaming that I was this strange being, I remained exactly what I am now. Even in the midst of the dream of being different, I was not.

This is the same in my waking dream experience. I dream of being a body and having all these strange experiences, but even in the midst of this dream, I haven’t changed. I remain what I have always been, the Son of God. Dreaming I am something else does not make me something else. When I wake up I will probably have the feelings that I had this morning, thinking, “What a strange dream that was.” Will I wonder what it all meant? Or will I simply allow the remnants of the dream to fade away.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: III. From Darkness to Light, P 4. .9-9-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 4

4 The way is not hard, but it is very different. Yours is the way of pain, of which God knows nothing. That way is hard indeed, and very lonely. Fear and grief are your guests, and they go with you and abide with you on the way. But the dark journey is not the way of God’s Son. Walk in light and do not see the dark companions, for they are not fit companions for the Son of God, who was created of light and in light. The Great Light always surrounds you and shines out from you. How can you see the dark companions in a light such as this? If you see them, it is only because you are denying the light. But deny them instead, for the light is here and the way is clear.

Journal
Again, Jesus is telling us we can do this. He is telling us that we have all we need, because what we are, is all we need. The light that will guide us and awaken us is in us. It shines out from us. So I ask myself how it is that I manage to see the darkness in all this light. I must be really determined to walk with these dark companions, or rather, the ego part of my mind is determined. “I” am determined to walk in light.

It is this determination that keeps me looking at my thoughts and releasing them to the Holy Spirit. It keeps me from running, and it keeps me from choosing denial over honesty. I believe Jesus when he tells me that I can do this and that the light is already here, already available to me. It makes my heart beat a little faster when I think of that!

Jesus began this paragraph by telling us that this is not difficult, just very different. We have become accustomed to pain, suffering and death. We think that guilt and fear are natural and fully justified. What we refuse to see is that we find justification because we are looking for it. We look for it in the dark and we find it there because we put it there. We are the authors of our sad and fatalistic stories. We write the story, project it outward, and seek to find it. We then pretend we don’t know where it came from, but it definitely proves our point.

Today when my thoughts wander to the darkness, I am going to remember this. I am going to remind myself that I see dark images because I am looking in the dark. I can as easily see the joy and the peace and the love that is God and so is me as well. I can look at the light instead. It is a simple choice. I am going to use my favorite mantras to remind me and help me turn to the light.

The peace of God is everything I want. God does not will this, so it cannot be. God’s Will is my will.  Then I will let the Holy Spirit give me whatever thoughts He knows will help me.

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Study of Text, Chapter 11: II: From Darkness to Light, P 3. 9-8-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 3

3 O my child, if you knew what God wills for you, your joy would be complete! And what He wills has happened, for it was always true. When the light comes and you have said, “God’s Will is mine,” you will see such beauty that you will know it is not of you. Out of your joy you will create beauty in His Name, for your joy could no more be contained than His. The bleak little world will vanish into nothingness, and your heart will be so filled with joy that it will leap into Heaven, and into the Presence of God. I cannot tell you what this will be like, for your heart is not ready. Yet I can tell you, and remind you often, that what God wills for Himself He wills for you, and what He wills for you is yours.

Journal
It seems like it would be so easy to just surrender to this joy and watch my bleak little world vanish. What is it in the world that is so important to me that I would hesitate to choose to know that God’s Will is mine? I ask myself that question this morning, and right away I think about how difficult I made things for myself last week, and how my thoughts kept me in the bleak world I chose.

I was angry, frustrated, fed up, with a situation at work. I got all tangled up in my thoughts and spent the week slipping in and out of the ego mind. I seemed unwilling to forgive the situation and felt like I was unable to do so. Today, my mind is clear. I see that I was projecting images from the beliefs in guilt, fear and rage that are obviously still in my mind.

It wasn’t really about the story of guilt, fear, and rage but rather, the story was imagined and projected into the world from those beliefs. While I was enthralled with that little drama, I kept listening to the ego tell me, first, it was someone else’s fault, then that I must fix the story. The advice varied wildly, but the refrain was always focused on the story.
Once again, I got caught up in trying to fix the effect, like looking into my reflection in the mirror, not liking what I see, and trying to correct the image I see there.

Today, with more clarity, I see the obvious. If it is in my life, I put it there. If I want it gone, I must invite the Holy Spirit to look with me and heal my mind. It is never about the situation or the people involved; it is always about my mind and what I find there. The situation simply reflected my thoughts and showed me what I believe to be true, that guilt is real, I am unfairly treated, and I am a victim. Jeez.

And today, I see that none of this could possibly be true. God does not will guilt and fear and rage. If this is not God’s Will, then it cannot be. I must be dreaming, a really bad dream as it happens, but still just a dream. I cannot be what God did not create. I cannot have a crazy distorted will that is different from God’s Will. I am an extension of Love and joy and peace are my inheritance.

Holy Spirit, You and I know the dark places in my mind. Please bring the light to those shadowy beliefs. Teach me not to simply pardon, but to forgive entirely. I don’t want to pretend the situation is undone; I want my mind to be completely healed. I want to look at each person involved and see only Christ, and to feel only love. I need your help and I open my heart and mind to that help.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, Chapter 11: II: From Darkness to Light, P 2. 9-7-15

III. From Darkness to Light P 2

2 God’s Son is indeed in need of comfort, for he knows not what he does, believing his will is not his own. The Kingdom is his, and yet he wanders homeless. At home in God he is lonely, and amid all his brothers he is friendless. Would God let this be real, when He did not will to be alone Himself? And if your will is His it cannot be true of you, because it is not true of Him.

Journal
It is so important that I accept the truth that God’s Will is my will. This imagined will I have made to take the place of my true will is hurting me. It tells me that I am endangered and in need of defense. It tells me that I am alone and apart from all of creation. It tells me that I must find special people from whom I can take what I think I lack and somehow this is going to ensure my happiness.

No wonder I often feel alone and friendless, small and frail. I have a voice in my head that teaches me this is true, and sadly, I made this voice, and I keep it intact by listening to it. I call it my will and I value it in spite of the bad advice it continues to give me. I treat it as if it is what I am, and I defend it against God.

All along I have a true will, the will I share with God. It sits alongside the small personal will that I have been listening to. I can reclaim my true will by simply desiring to do so. Sometimes I think that I have done this, and I feel such joy and peace you wouldn’t believe. I cannot imagine why I ever wanted a separate will.

Then I return to my separate made-up self and again I am enthralled with the idea that I need it. I think I need to defend myself against a co-worker and I cannot use God’s Will to attack so I pick up my little self will again. Or I think that I need to look different, or I need more money, or I believe I am guilty, and God’s Will does not recognize any of this as true, so I turn to the little will. It brings me proof that I am right to be afraid and offers me lifetimes of advice that has never met a single one of these needs.

I am tired of wandering homeless. This prodigal daughter longs for her Father and the Will she shares with Him. This is why I am so grateful to my brother, Jesus, for bringing into action the solution to this dilemma. Thank you, Jesus, for the Atonement. Thank you for your devotion to the Atonement. I am grateful for the Holy Spirit, the Bridge that will allow me to cross from the illusory world to my true Home. The peace of God is everything I want.

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