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Study of Text, Chapter 11: VIII: The Problem and the Answer, P 15. 12-18-15

VIII. The Problem and the Answer, P 15
15 Would you not exchange your fears for truth, if the exchange is yours for the asking? For if God is not deceived in you, you can be deceived only in yourself. Yet you can learn the truth about yourself from the Holy Spirit, Who will teach you that, as part of God, deceit in you is impossible. When you perceive yourself without deceit, you will accept the real world in place of the false one you have made. And then your Father will lean down to you and take the last step for you, by raising you unto Himself.

Journal
I have an image I have made that I think of as “me.” It is described by all the words I use after “I am.” I am a woman, a mother, a sales person, a minister. I am the very many concepts that are part of that description. I am one who has fought depression many years of her life, one who has been scarred by events in her past, one who is not good with money and so has certain experiences and can expect more of the same.

This image is many layered and very complex, and seems to be the “me” I present to the world, and the image I think of as myself, and so I seem to feel a need to defend it. The only reason I still have any of these ideas of self in my mind is because I defend them against change, as if defending this image is my salvation.

What Jesus wants me to know is that I defend nothing.  These are just thoughts, they are not what I am. When I believe any of them, even the very nice ones, the thoughtful and kind image, the loving and generous image, I am deceived in myself. None of it is me. I can stop defending this image because I am something else and when I stop defending the false idea of “me” the Holy Spirit will reveal my true self to me.

I need to know my true self before I can return to God. If God were to lean down toward me now I cannot imagine my reaction. “I am unworthy” is such a strong belief in my mind that the idea of being raised unto God is more frightening than appealing. So I practice what I am learning in A Course in Miracles. I open my mind and heart to the Holy Spirit and invite Him to teach me my true nature. I am being prepared for that last step.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, Chapter 11, VIII.The Problem and the Answer, P1 4. 12-17-15

VIII. The Problem and the Answer, P 14

14 You, my child, are afraid of your brothers and of your Father and of yourself. But you are merely deceived in them. Ask what they are of the Teacher of Reality, and hearing His answer, you too will laugh at your fears and replace them with peace. For fear lies not in reality, but in the minds of children who do not understand reality. It is only their lack of understanding that frightens them, and when they learn to perceive truly they are not afraid. And because of this they will ask for truth again when they are frightened. It is not the reality of your brothers or your Father or yourself that frightens you. You do not know what they are, and so you perceive them as ghosts and monsters and dragons. Ask what their reality is from the One Who knows it, and He will tell you what they are. For you do not understand them, and because you are deceived by what you see you need reality to dispel your fears.

Journal
Jesus says I am afraid of my brothers, of my Father and of myself because I don’t know who they are. As I remember that there are only two emotions, love and fear, I know that my anger, jealousy, guilt and other negative emotions are really only different forms that fear takes. I am not afraid of them because of what they are, but because I misunderstand what they are. I am wrong about them if I feel anything but joy when I think of them, but that can be corrected.

The problem lies in who I ask for clarity. If I ask the ego, I will get a fearful answer. If I ask the Teacher of Reality, I will remember who they are and I will rejoice in that knowledge. My experience of this is that I receive the truth about our identity and I am so happy. Then I back away from that truth and asking the ego, I find I am again judging and so suffering. But as I continue this practice I lose interest in the ego judgment and I find it easier to ignore it when I hear it.

My guidance right now is to ask, “Who am I?” I am to do this regardless of where I see the error. If I think my brother is wrong, I ask the Holy Spirit, “Who am I?” As I remember who I am, I know my brother’s true identity.

“The idea that there is some “other” to want, to need, to resent, to hate, to fear, or any “other” onto whom I could project guilt is burnt away in the light of purpose. Everyone is my brother/my self. Everything is in me. How can I be angry or fearful or guilty when I realize that every one and every thing is me?” http://tinyurl.com/nbspa3y

This is why I need only heal my mind. I am the world, my brother, and I am what my Father is. As I know that I am innocent, I know that all else is innocent. This is what the Holy Spirit is teaching me. The ego is pushing hard against this, and while I hear the ego, I refuse to believe it.

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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, Chapter 11: VIII: The Problem and the Answer, P 13. 12-15-15

VIII. The Problem and the Answer, P 13

13 Children perceive frightening ghosts and monsters and dragons, and they are terrified. Yet if they ask someone they trust for the meaning of what they perceive, and are willing to let their own interpretations go in favor of reality, their fear goes with them. When a child is helped to translate his “ghost” into a curtain, his “monster” into a shadow, and his “dragon” into a dream he is no longer afraid, and laughs happily at his own fear.

Journal
I would become as a child and allow my frightening dreams to be re-interpreted for me by the Holy Spirit. I would not argue with His interpretation, nor doubt it. I would but accept it in complete trust that He knows what I have forgotten. It seems too often that I hear the ego first, and sometimes still believe what I hear. When this happens I have tried to follow ego’s instructions as a solution to my problem and this only kept me in the problem. Now I choose to practice listening to Holy Spirit daily until my first choice becomes Holy Spirit rather than ego.

I still believe in fear and guilt, but I am willing to let those beliefs be healed. I do this through practice. All day, every day, I practice vigilance and I practice choosing again. I ask for the Atonement and I accept it as best as I can. Each effort on my part increases my willingness. This is the best use of time until finally we release the idea of time. The best use of the stories is to let them be seen differently until the mind is healed of guilt and fear. And then the stories change to stories of love, until they are finally released completely.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, Chapter 11: VIII: The Problem and the Answer, P 12. 12-14-15

VIII. The Problem and the Answer, P 12

12 If you perceive offense in a brother pluck the offense from your mind, for you are offended by Christ and are deceived in Him. Heal in Christ and be not offended by Him, for there is no offense in Him. If what you perceive offends you, you are offended in yourself and are condemning God’s Son whom God condemneth not. Let the Holy Spirit remove all offenses of God’s Son against himself and perceive no one but through His guidance, for He would save you from all condemnation. Accept His healing power and use it for all He sends you, for He wills to heal the Son of God, in whom He is not deceived

Journal
If my brother offends me it can only be that I believe in the illusion I see rather than in his reality, and that I am interpreting that illusion according to my own skewed beliefs. My solution is to allow my own mind to be healed. Then I will see differently and I will interpret according to the Holy Spirit. I will recognize the Christ in my brother and in so doing I will heal both him and myself.

No matter what I do or think or say, the Holy Spirit knows the truth of my nature. He knows I was created by God, like God, and that this cannot be altered, not even by the seemingly endless dreams of separation. I can wrack up lifetime after lifetime of unreal experiences, but nothing changes. I am still holy, still perfect innocence.

The Holy Spirit, through His unwavering certainty, saves me, and all of us, from all condemnation. I accept His healing power as He sends it to me, and I offer it to my brothers in place of my offense. As I allow the Holy Spirit to remove all offenses from my mind, I am free to offer this healing to everyone sent to me for that purpose. I am a link in the chain of forgiveness that frees us all.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Study of Text, Chapter 11: VIII: The Problem and the Answer, P 11. 12-11-15

VIII. The Problem and the Answer, P 11

11 Do not accept your brother’s variable perception of himself for his split mind is yours, and you will not accept your healing without his. For you share the real world as you share Heaven, and his healing is yours. To love yourself is to heal yourself, and you cannot perceive part of you as sick and achieve your goal. Brother, we heal together as we live together and love together. Be not deceived in God’s Son, for he is one with himself and one with his Father. Love him who is beloved of his Father, and you will learn of the Father’s Love for you.

Journal
I am deceived in my brother if I believe anything about him that is not the truth, anything that is not what God created. I can see the ego behavior, but if I believe that he is his behavior, then I am deceived in him, and will be deceived in myself, and God as well, since we are one. I was reading an earlier entry in my journal this morning and came across this.

This is what I want. I want to see each person with the same vision I see my children. No matter what my children do or say, I know they are wonderful. I know they are perfect beneath their behavior. Their behavior is an illusion based on false beliefs and has nothing to do with who they are. It is insignificant next to their reality.

If they behave badly, I disregard it, and continue to see only the love that they are. Now that I have become very good at this, I am learning to see others in the same way. This is one of the ways that I am removing the blocks that keep me from remembering God and remembering my Self.

What I had written about how I see my children is an example of seeing with Christ Vision, and it is the way I want to see everyone. In seeing others in this way, I am healing them and healing myself. Healing does not require that anything be changed, only that we learn to choose to see what is actually there rather than the illusion we see when we judge.

Jesus tells us this very often throughout the Course. I don’t always do this. Sometimes I choose to believe my judgments, and when this happens forgiveness is needed. I need to forgive what I see and what I think so that we might both experience healing. This is the way healing occurs, and it is a miracle.

For this to be successful, I must accept that there are to be no exceptions in my life. Everyone, regardless of their behavior, and regardless of my ego interpretations of their behavior, is a perfect and holy Son of God. I must be willing to accept, without compromise, the healing of my mind that the Holy Spirit offers me. I must learn that I want this by asking for it and accepting it.

Jesus says that I must learn to love myself and that I cannot love myself if I don’t love my brother. I have noticed that it is impossible to love my brother if I don’t love myself. If I am feeling bad about myself, guilty or afraid, I project onto my brother and attack him for my feelings. So what do I do when I am caught in this cycle?

Actually, it is simple. I just jump in wherever I notice the error. I ask the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of whatever error I notice, and I accept His healing as quickly as I can. I trust that all will be undone, my judgment against myself and my judgment against my brother, because they are the same thing, really.

And here is my favorite sentence in this paragraph. “Brother, we heal together as we live together and love together.” I recognize this as both necessary and beautiful. I want this to be my reality all the time, so I am going to use it as a sweet reminder whenever I am tempted to be deceived in my brother.

© 2015, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

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