Together, We Light the Way

Click link to go to:
Together We Light the Way Index

Study of Text, Chapter 13:Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 11. 5-31-16

I. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 11

11 The ego teaches you to attack yourself because you are guilty, and this must increase the guilt, for guilt is the result of attack. In the ego’s teaching, then, there is no escape from guilt. For attack makes guilt real, and if it is real there is no way to overcome it. The Holy Spirit dispels it simply through the calm recognition that it has never been. As He looks upon the guiltless Son of God, He knows that this is true. And being true for you, you cannot attack yourself, for without guilt attack is impossible. You, then, are saved because God’s Son is guiltless. And being wholly pure, you are invulnerable.

Journal
As I read this, I watched a parade of “guilty” people go through my mind. With each one in turn I opened my mind to Holy Spirit’s judgment and saw their innocence. In the beginning it looked more like a funeral procession than a parade, but as my mind became more open and love began to well up in me, the people walking past turned to smile at me and the pace picked up. Now instead of walking slowly and dejectedly, they were strutting and their steps were light.

More and more I am beginning to accept that all I see is illusion. It is illusion within an illusion. I was talking to my son this morning about some changes at work and my concerns about them. Then I told him that I am changing my mind. I see that nothing has happened in this moment, and that all my concerns are an effect of my perception. Everything I have thought about the situation is an illusion in my mind, a decision to see things in a certain way and to proclaim it reality. And what I believe, is real for me so I am changing my perception..

God, today is a day in which I would have guilt dissolve before me like sugar in water. I would see everyone as they are, completely innocent. I would see myself as innocent with no regard to the past or the future. Today l know myself as love and thus everyone else as love. Today I will be happy and at peace.

If I make no decisions by myself, this is the day that will be given me.

I have found the Rules for Decision so helpful to me that in July I am offering a weekend workshop in Portland on just this section. It will be very interactive and hopefully everyone will leave with a clear understanding and a firmly established habit of using this process. If you are interested in attending the workshop, please check for details on my website. www.forgivenessisthewayhome.org.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this article.

Printable Page

Study of Text, Chapter 13:Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 10. 5-30-16

I. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 10

10 You cannot dispel guilt by making it real, and then atoning for it. This is the ego’s plan, which it offers instead of dispelling it. The ego believes in atonement through attack, being fully committed to the insane notion that attack is salvation. And you who cherish guilt must also believe it, for how else but by identifying with the ego could you hold dear what you do not want?

Journal
This morning I looked at some work that was done for me and I was dissatisfied with it. I felt a spike of anger which I directed toward the one who did the work. Immediately, I felt guilty for making her guilty, then I tried to forgive her by thinking that I am being unreasonable and how it wasn’t really her fault. This is exactly the kind of thing Jesus is talking about here.

I first made this person guilty then tried to forgive. In so doing, I was keeping guilt in place and in fact, I was increasing guilt in my own mind. I was also failing to forgive because I cannot forgive if I believe in their guilt. Trying to justify the behavior only increases my belief that the person is guilty. I saw what I was doing and so I used the Rules for Decision to help me see differently.

This morning when I decided what kind of day I wanted to have, I tried on a few ideas, but nothing felt right. So I sat there in silence for a moment and waited for the right thought to be given to me. Then I knew; today I want to experience myself as the Love that I am. I want to feel that love well up in me and flow out to everyone else. I imagined the energy of that Love swelling within me, surging upward to its crest, and then breaking gently against everything in its path, and rippling outward blessing the entire Sonship.

I know this can happen - will happen - if I don’t block it with judgment and guilt. So when I feel something today that is not love, that doesn’t fill me with the joy of being what I am and extending what I am, then I am going to undo the guilt that is damming up the flow of love. I will do that by remembering that guilt is not real, no matter what I see in the illusion, no matter how strong the feeling of guilt might be, it remains unreal. I want to see differently. I open to the Atonement, not atonement for guilt, but atonement for the belief in guilt.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this article.

Printable Page

Study of Text, Chapter 13:Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 9. 5-26-16

I. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 9

9 Accepting the Atonement teaches you what immortality is, for by accepting your guiltlessness you learn that the past has never been, and so the future is needless and will not be. The future, in time, is always associated with expiation, and only guilt could induce a sense of a need for expiation. Accepting the guiltlessness of the Son of God as yours is therefore God’s way of reminding you of His Son, and what he is in truth. For God has never condemned His Son, and being guiltless he is eternal.

Journal
I noticed something new reading this paragraph. It says that when we accept the Atonement, that is, we accept our guiltlessness, we will know that the past has never been. It doesn’t say that the past will no longer affect us, but that it has never been. When I read something like this I get a feel for just how entrenched I am in the world and time as if they are real. Trying to absorb that the past has never been, which means my life (lives) have never been, boggles my mind.

My reaction is funny, considering that I thought I knew this. Evidently, it is one of those things where I understand the idea, but my belief has not caught up with my understanding. Fortunately, my belief will catch up eventually if I simply continue to do the work that is in front of me to do. What I must do is reject the idea of guilt in its every form, and do this in spite of appearances.

I can do this because I know just enough to realize that appearances are not truth. I accept this and I believe it. I can feel very strongly about an appearance, but my feeling doesn’t increase its veracity, it only makes it harder for me to ignore it. What seems to be helping me is to focus on the truth as much as possible. When I think someone is guilty, I ask Holy Spirit to show me the truth about them, and then I wait for true thoughts to fill my mind, or maybe just a true feeling.

Practicing the Rules for Decision, I have formed the habit of questioning the source of my information when I am upset. If I think someone is guilty, I ask myself what it is that helped me make that decision; was it ego or was it Holy Spirit? Knowing that it is guilt, I can be sure it was ego and I can change my mind and ask Holy Spirit to interpret the situation for me.

At first I saw lifetimes of distressing work ahead of me to undo all the wrong-minded thoughts. But then I began to see that my mind was shifting. I started out having to be convinced that this time no one was guilty. After awhile of doing this, I realized that no one was ever guilty, and that I just had to let go of my desire for the guilt to be real. I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There is still some resistance on my part. I think of some particularly bad parenting decision I made when my kids were young, and I get caught in that loop for awhile. How could I be innocent when I really did this? I have screwed up kids to prove it. When I start valuing my guilt, it pays to stop it in its tracks, because if I let it go too long, it is so hard to get out of that trap.

The truth is, the past never happened. There is nothing to forgive except my belief that it did. I accept the Atonement in this situation and allow the Holy Spirit to remove the darkness from my mind. I remember that I am as God created me and if I think I am guilty, I must be having a bad dream. The only thing to do with a bad dream is to wake up.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this article.

Printable Page

Study of Text, Chapter 13:Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 8. 5-25-16

I. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 8

8 You are invulnerable because you are guiltless. You can hold on to the past only through guilt. For guilt establishes that you will be punished for what you have done, and thus depends on one-dimensional time, proceeding from past to future. No one who believes this can understand what “always” means, and therefore guilt must deprive you of the appreciation of eternity. You are immortal because you are eternal, and “always” must be now. Guilt, then, is a way of holding past and future in your mind to ensure the ego’s continuity. For if what has been will be punished, the ego’s continuity is guaranteed. Yet the guarantee of your continuity is God’s, not the ego’s. And immortality is the opposite of time, for time passes away, while immortality is constant.

Journal
Jesus has told us that guilt is the cause of all sickness, and now he tells us that we are invulnerable because we are guiltless, and also that guilt is the reason we made time. If we are to be punished for our sins, and we will believe this if we believe in guilt, then the punishment is to come and therefore a linear time-line is needed.

But we are immortal because we are eternal. So there cannot be time, though we will not really understand this if we keep our belief in guilt. I used to think that eternal meant time would continue forever, but that is not it all. Eternal is not something that continues in the since that it goes on year after year and never ends. Eternal is now, and now is constant. It goes nowhere and never changes.

Sometimes I try to experience now as if I didn’t believe in time. I let go of thinking and just exist in this now moment with no thought as to the next moment and no retreat into a past. I am not very good at this and it never lasts long, but it is a peaceful exercise. Trying to accept timelessness is very hard. My mind is solidly fixed in time. So what I am doing instead is letting go of guilt and this is leading me to let go of the belief in guilt. Without guilt there will be no need for time.

There are two owners of the company where I work. One of them is my brother and he is over sales and marketing. I like working for him and appreciate his forward thinking as well as his knowledge. The other boss is over operations and his approach is very different, but they make a good balance and everything has been mostly fine. Until tomorrow. Then my brother is retiring and I will be under the other boss.

I had no idea that Paul was retiring this soon and it came as a shock when he made his announcement. I immediately went into fear and have had a hard time extricating myself. What I notice in this situation is that the fear (and subsequent blame and judgment) is based on a non-existent future. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. I have no idea what the next moment will bring. So why should I be afraid?

This morning I was sitting outside on my patio. The birds were singing to me and the weather was still pleasant. It was a lovely way to begin my day. As I sat there drinking my coffee, I decided on the day I would have. I asked for help in this decision, and I thought that I wanted today to be guilt free and that I would be fearless no matter what the circumstances were.

As I sat there thinking appreciating this decision and feeling thankful for the guidance, I imagined for a moment that I was guiltless, and so was everyone else. I imagined that this moment was the only one. I saw that I was completely at peace. The moment was perfect, nothing was wrong, I was happy.

Then I had the thought that I wish Paul had waited just a few more months to retire. This was the same thing as saying he was guilty of retiring too soon and causing me problems. The spell was broken. I was back in time and no longer at peace. Guilt put me back in time and I lost all appreciation for immortality and eternity, and therefore of peace.

It seemed sad to me at the time, but now contemplating it, I see how lucky I am. I understand this paragraph perfectly because I watched it happen. I had a few moments of timelessness and sold it for a grievance. But having seen how this happens, I am ready to let go of the guilt associated with this change and this brings me much closer to being willing to give up guilt altogether.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this article.

Printable Page

Study of Text, Chapter 13:Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 7. 5-24-16

I. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 7

7 As you perceive the holy companions who travel with you, you will realize that there is no journey, but only an awakening. The Son of God, who sleepeth not, has kept faith with his Father for you. There is no road to travel on, and no time to travel through. For God waits not for His Son in time, being forever unwilling to be without him. And so it has always been. Let the holiness of God’s Son shine away the cloud of guilt that darkens your mind, and by accepting his purity as yours, learn of him that it is yours.

Journal
I really am ok. I am safe and I am untouched by the illusion of life without God. I am with God now because it is His Will. There is no world, no time, no betrayal or sin. None of this is real and none of it is happening. There is a dark cloud of guilt that keeps me confused and blind, and believing in the dream as if it were really occurring, as if my dreams could overcome reality.

The cloud of guilt feels very real to those of us under its influence, but I trust that it is as insubstantial as all clouds. When I am flying I can see the clouds out the window of the plane. They don’t stop the plane or slow it down. I see us moving through them as if they were not there. The cloud of guilt is the same as the clouds outside the plane. It has no power to stop us from awakening or even from slowing us down.

I pray every day to see my guiltlessness as I see my brothers as guiltless. Some days I do very well. It seems so easy I think that it has been done and cannot imagine that I will ever again believe in guilt. But then something happens and I feel guilty or think that someone else is guilty, and the clouds seem to take on a solidity that is hard to get through and impossible to move. Imagine if your pilot refused to go through clouds because he thought they would stop the plane. When I stay stuck in guilt because I believe the guilt is real, this is what I am doing, I’m refusing to fly, refusing to continue this imagined journey. Sigh.

But at least I know this cannot be true. I must be mistaken and I know that I am fully supported as I go through the process of letting that belief go. If nothing else, even in my most difficult moments, I am filled with gratitude for A Course in Miracles. I cannot imagine doing this without the Course. I know other people awaken while on other paths, but for me, my help comes from Jesus through his course. No matter how difficult it might seem to forgive the grievance of the moment, I know that it can be done and that I will do it. Thank you, Brother. I am so deeply grateful.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this article.

Printable Page

Study of Text, Chapter 13:Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 6. 5-23-16

I. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 6

6 When you have accepted the Atonement for yourself, you will realize there is no guilt in God’s Son. And only as you look upon him as guiltless can you understand his oneness. For the idea of guilt brings a belief in condemnation of one by another, projecting separation in place of unity. You can condemn only yourself, and by so doing you cannot know that you are God’s Son. You have denied the condition of his being, which is his perfect blamelessness. Out of love he was created, and in love he abides. Goodness and mercy have always followed him, for he has always extended the Love of his Father.

Journal
Out of love I was created and out of love I abide. This is true regardless of the dream state that seems to be my life. But my experience is not one of love, at least not all the time yet. It can be, though, as I allow the idea of guilt to be removed from my mind, I begin to live the happy dream in anticipation of the end of the dream.

What I know now is the difference between love and fear, and I know that I can decide against fear when I choose to. Here is something I wrote in my Daily Lesson journal this morning.

“This morning as I let my mind settle into the choices I would make, I realized that what I want is that the day continues just as it is now. I feel happy and peaceful, and deeply in love with God. What else could I want for my day? I am overwhelmed with gratitude. What happened to that sense of loss I experienced last night at the thought of leaving the weekend behind? I made a different decision as I used a different advisor. I let go of what I thought the world needs to be and let the Holy Spirit show me what it can be.”

For awhile this morning that deep peace and love of God pervaded my very being. Then I was looking at a picture on Facebook and I had an instant of judgment. It wasn’t even a fully formed thought, just a feeling of judgment, and the peace vaporized, just like that. I felt a moment of panic as I realized what had happened to my peace. I traded it for judgment. I cannot judge a brother and be at peace, nor retain the state of perfect love.

Once I thought about it, I knew what had happened and what to do about it. I had, without conscious awareness, chosen to ask the ego to help me decide what that picture meant. From there I decide what can be done about it. In this case, I had quickly decided who was to blame, and was relieved that it was not my problem and I could ignore it. Separation, and then more separation.

Then I made a different choice, a different decision, using the Holy Spirit as my advisor. I canceled my original question by remembering that I forgot to decide with Spirit. I asked Him to interpret the picture for me and I stepped back in my mind and waited for His correction, knowing I wanted a new way to see this. I felt the conflict melt away and the peace return.

It seemed such a little thing, this quick judgment of a picture on Facebook. How important could it be? But there is no hierarchy of illusions. All wrong minded thinking, whether it seems big or little to me, cause lack of peace and lack of peace is as complete as is peace. This process of using the rules for decision is taking time and patience, but this is what time is for, this is what the world is for. I am literally undoing the ego in my mind.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this article.

Printable Page

Study of Text, Chapter 13, I.Guiltnessness and Invulnerability, P 5. 5-20-16

I. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability, P 5

5 You will see me as you learn the Son of God is guiltless. He has always sought his guiltlessness, and he has found it. For everyone is seeking to escape from the prison he has made, and the way to find release is not denied him. Being in him, he has found it. When he finds it is only a matter of time, and time is but an illusion. For the Son of God is guiltless now, and the brightness of his purity shines untouched forever in God’s Mind. God’s Son will always be as he was created. Deny your world and judge him not, for his eternal guiltlessness is in the Mind of his Father, and protects him forever.

Journal
This paragraph is making it very clear that the Son of God is guiltless and will discover this for himself. He will discover his innocence because it is in his mind right now. He is innocent right now, and is only waiting for him to know this. And it is also clear that the Son of God is me, is you, is everyone together. But to know we are the Son of God, we must know ourselves as one and as guiltless.

Yesterday I was judging someone and finding him guilty. For a moment I was convinced of his guilt. I had all the proof. But then I remembered that if this one is guilty, then I am guilty because we are not separate. I am not free until he is free. So I asked the Holy Spirit to show me what I was blocking with my attention focused on appearances. Suddenly I was free of the guilt. It was just gone. Thank you, Holy Spirit.

This is not the first time I have rejected the ego’s interpretation of events, and asked the Holy Spirit to look with me. And having practiced this for awhile now, I realize that it is quick and easy if I catch it right away. However, if I get mesmerized by my dream story, it becomes harder to let the judgment go. So I stay vigilant for those grievances, and Holy Spirit and I deal with them right away.

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

Tell a friend about this article.

Printable Page

Page 1 of 3 pages  1 2 3 > 

<< Back to main page of Together, We Light the Way

Has this page been helpful to you?
Your contribution to support this site is greatly appreciated. To make a tax deductible contribution with a credit/debit card, click here.
Click here to donate from your PayPal account.
Or send a check to Pathways of Light, 12530 Lions Chase Court, Huntley, IL 60142.