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Study of Text, C 14: III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 10. 3-9-17

III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 10
10 Those who accept the Atonement are invulnerable. But those who believe they are guilty will respond to guilt, because they think it is salvation, and will not refuse to see it and side with it. They believe that increasing guilt is self-protection. And they will fail to understand the simple fact that what they do not want must hurt them. All this arises because they do not believe that what they want is good. Yet will was given them because it is holy, and will bring to them all that they need, coming as naturally as peace that knows no limits. There is nothing their will fails to provide that offers them anything of value. Yet because they do not understand their will, the Holy Spirit quietly understands it for them, and gives them what they want without effort, strain, or the impossible burden of deciding what they want and need alone.

Journal
When we have accepted the Atonement we will know we are invulnerable. The reason we fail to know this now is that we are attracted to guilt. We believe in guilt and we believe it is our salvation. After all this time of working with the Course I notice that there is still the belief in my mind that guilt has some value and so I don’t give it up altogether.

I keep it locked away for the most part, but every so often it escapes its confines and I see that I am angry or fearful and I know that I have been harboring guilt. Guilt likes to disguise itself as something else. I know someone who is self-destructive and I decide to point out his problems. I do this in the name of love, but really, I am just telling him how guilty he is, and at the same time, I am convincing myself that guilt is real and that I am guilty.

You see, what we teach we learn. Giving is the way we receive, and I sometimes give what I will regret receiving. So I look at it again and consider its value to me, and I realize that it is not helping me as I thought it was and it is not helping the other person either. Then I give it to the Holy Spirit. I show Him the thoughts I have about guilt. I show Him my fear and anger. Then I ask Him to purify my mind. Each time this happens I feel freer and happier and the next time I notice the idea of guilt it is easier to release it.

I have a powerful will that can undo the false beliefs that I told myself were true, but that will has been imprisoned by those very beliefs. That doesn’t mean I am lost. I have a Guide and He is a Healer and my Helper. I don’t remember how my will works but He does. He waits patiently for me to realize that guilt is hurting me and I don’t want it anymore. Then He gives me freedom from the belief in guilt. He gives me what I want, and I am able receive it without effort, strain, or the impossible burden of deciding on my own what it is that I want and need.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 14: III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 9. 3-8-17

III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 9
9 Whenever you choose to make decisions for yourself you are thinking destructively, and the decision will be wrong. It will hurt you because of the concept of decision that led to it. It is not true that you can make decisions by yourself or for yourself alone. No thought of God’s Son can be separate or isolated in its effects. Every decision is made for the whole Sonship, directed in and out, and influencing a constellation larger than anything you ever dreamed of.

Journal

The reason we should not try to make decisions for ourselves alone is because the concept of alone is erroneous. We never decide for ourselves alone. Every decision is made for the whole Sonship. Every decision any of us makes influences all of us. This morning I made a decision that I know was guided by One Who understands this and Who knows the decision that will influence the Son toward awakening.

I was trying to do this morning’s lesson and could not focus even for a few moments. The lesson says Love created me like Itself. I tried a couple of the suggestions. I said that Love created me safe, but it felt like empty words in my mouth. I don’t feel safe. I thought of some things that feel dangerous to me. I sat with this for awhile and asked Holy Spirit to help me.

I thought of my feelings the last couple of days and I let the Holy Spirit lead me through my thoughts and feelings to get to the core of the problem. I saw that I didn’t trust the truth to be true. As soon as I realized this I felt better. That is an old story the ego drags out when I am getting too close to the truth. I asked the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of that belief.

The Holy Spirit took me further into my thoughts and I realized that the reason I have been feeling unsafe is that I have been very focused on the stories in my life. With that kind of focus it becomes harder to disregard what the body’s eyes show me and to disregard the feelings that are triggered by these sights.

Then I was led to an insight that helped me. I realized that I have become almost obsessive about checking news updates on my phone. There is a phone app that allows me to do this easily and I started using it. With all the political upheaval we are experiencing right now, I was falling into the habit of looking at it every time I was not actively doing something else.

Then I noticed last night I was reading a news update while I was actually watching a show on TV. That is way too much ego input! I use the Lessons and what I read in the Text in the mornings as a way to keep my mind focused on the truth, but now I was using the news for the opposite purpose. It was the ego mind’s way of keeping me focused on the illusion.

I thought about how I was going to have to be hyper-vigilant for awhile as I broke myself of this habit. I knew it would be hard because the ego mind really believes it needs to know these things about its stories. It thinks it needs these “facts” so that it can make decisions for itself, decisions for Myron.

The Holy Spirit answered my concern right away. It said to delete the app from my phone. I could feel the ego trying to object to that but I had asked for help, so I accepted that help and immediately deleted the app. Keeping close tabs on the news was a decision I made for Myron, and as Jesus says, a decision made for me alone is flawed before it is even conceptualized, and will be wrong for that reason.

How could I, on my own, know what is the best thing for the whole Sonship? How could I know how it will affect even me, much less everyone else? There is another reason this does not work. I never really make decisions on my own. The decision to give so much attention to the world was made with ego. The decision to make a clean break from that was made with the Holy Spirit.

That is the only way decisions are made, that is, in union, and the only choices I have are these two. I decide with ego or I decide with Holy Spirit. And whichever I choose is going to influence the whole Sonship. This is a huge responsibility, and I take it as seriously as I should. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your help this morning.

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Study of Text, C 14: III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 8. 3-7-17

III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 8

8 God is the only Cause, and guilt is not of Him. Teach no one he has hurt you, for if you do, you teach yourself that what is not of God has power over you. The causeless cannot be. Do not attest to it, and do not foster belief in it in any mind. Remember always that mind is one, and cause is one. You will learn communication with this oneness only when you learn to deny the causeless, and accept the Cause of God as yours. The power that God has given to His Son is his, and nothing else can His Son see or choose to look upon without imposing on himself the penalty of guilt, in place of all the happy teaching the Holy Spirit would gladly offer him.

Journal

Now I see why my last experience with fear was so difficult for me to clear. I was teaching guilt and therefore learning guilt. I could not make the other person guilty without feeling guilty and guilt is the cause of fear. I stayed in it for so long because I was in denial. I kept projecting the guilt until I actually believed the other person was guilty and the cause of my discomfort. I confused it further by convincing myself that my reaction was a result of loving the other person.

If I had described it in this way to myself, I would have snapped out of it a lot faster. But that is not the way I did it. I let fear overwhelm me until I was totally confused and believing everything the ego said. But His happy teachings were in my mind as well as the ego justifications, and eventually the pain was so intense that I had to make a different choice.

One of the ways that helped to bring me out of it was to use the Rules for Decision process. This resulted in a post I made to my Rules for Decision group. Here is what I said.

Today I will make no decisions by myself. As if I could. (I always make all decisions with ego or with Holy Spirit.)

Today I will to live fearlessly. I will to bless everyone I think of with miracles. I will to live this day in the peace of God.

Every thought and every word is either blessing someone with a miracle or cursing them with projection. What a difference it makes when I think of it this way. Sometimes it feels very hard to let go of fear thoughts, and yet, as I hold onto them I am cursing rather than blessing myself and others. Holy Spirit, I give You the belief that it is hard to release fear thoughts and I give You the belief that any child of God is truly vulnerable. I will to join with You and share Your Vision.

If I make no decisions with the ego, this is the day I will have. If I do make decisions with the ego, I will change my mind.

In this way I was able to monitor my new decision. If I experienced fear or guilt, if I failed to bless with miracles and if I cursed with projection, if I failed to be at peace, then I knew I had made a wrong turn and I could immediately look at my thoughts and ask for another way to see.

This was very helpful. I did not stay on track perfectly, but I did notice when I was projecting guilt, and I kept asking for help. Eventually, my mind cleared and I knew what I wanted. Then when I asked for healing, I really meant it. I didn’t want to project nor justify. I just wanted the peace of God and I wanted to return to love. This experience was a very strong reminder of the penalty of making guilty.

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Study of Text, C 14: III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 7. 3-6-17

III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 7

7 The way to teach this simple lesson is merely this: Guiltlessness is invulnerability. Therefore, make your invulnerability manifest to everyone. Teach him that, whatever he may try to do to you, your perfect freedom from the belief that you can be harmed shows him that he is guiltless. He can do nothing that can hurt you, and by refusing to allow him to think he can, you teach him that the Atonement, which you have accepted for yourself, is also his. There is nothing to forgive. No one can hurt the Son of God. His guilt is wholly without cause, and being without cause, cannot exist.

Journal

This is such an important paragraph! I have been aware lately of the need to be in a state of universal and unconditional love and so of course I have experienced the ways in which I am not in that state. The most recent and the most difficult challenge was when someone I love very much was being self destructive. I fell right into his story and into fear. Fear is not love and is not helpful, but there I was.

Constantly my mind went to the idea of how I suffered from his choices. I was afraid, I was sad, I was grieving, and all because of him. I tried not to say any of this out loud, but it would trickle through in little ways. In so doing I was telling him that I didn’t believe in him, I didn’t trust him, and I was afraid for him and he should be, too. I was telling him how guilty he is.

Fear is so compelling. Once I let it take over my mind, it is very hard to extricate myself. It doesn’t happen very much anymore, but when it does, I feel like I am drowning in it and I can’t remember how to swim. Before I could stop teaching guilt, I had to stop giving into the fear. I kept going back to the Holy Spirit asking for help, asking for healing.

Fear kept saying that I couldn’t, that I daren’t let it go. But of course, eventually I did. I remembered that the peace of God is my only goal. I remembered that I could not be the miracle worker that I want to be unless I was free of fear. There was no way I could help if I needed help, and finally I broke free of the fear.

I wish I had not said a single word to this person that would add to his burden of guilt. But I am not without recourse. Time is not linear as we believe it is. What is done can be undone and not just going forward. Miracles Principle 25 says that Atonement works all the time and in all the dimensions of time.

And the first principle says that Miracles are both beginnings and endings, and so they alter the temporal order. They are always affirmations of rebirth, which seem to go back but really go forward. They undo the past in the present, and thus release the future. So there is no reason to feel guilty. I can ask for a miracle to undo the harm I have done.

This is from Chapter 5 and is a helpful prayer for just this kind of situation.

Your part is merely to return your thinking to the point at which the error was made, and give it over to the Atonement in peace. Say this to yourself as sincerely as you can, remembering that the Holy Spirit will respond fully to your slightest invitation:

I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace.

I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.

I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace.

I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him.

I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 14: III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 6. 3-3-17

III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 6

6 No penalty is ever asked of God’s Son except by himself and of himself. Every chance given him to heal is another opportunity to replace darkness with light and fear with love. If he refuses it he binds himself to darkness, because he did not choose to free his brother and enter light with him. By giving power to nothing, he throws away the joyous opportunity to learn that nothing has no power. And by not dispelling darkness, he became afraid of darkness and of light. The joy of learning that darkness has no power over the Son of God is the happy lesson the Holy Spirit teaches, and would have you teach with Him. It is His joy to teach it, as it will be yours.

Journal

Here is something that happens to me when I am afraid and I wonder if it happens to everyone. Something happens in my life that triggers a fear. If I am afraid of loss, maybe I will experience some loss or hear about something that could mean a loss to me. For instance, when I had a 401K, and I would hear about a slump in the market, for a time it would trigger fear of loss. I would imagine losing my money and that would threaten my retirement. Eventually, I was able to let that go and I was free of that fear regardless of what the market did.

But while I was still afraid about that potential loss of money, I noticed something else would happen. I would become afraid of other things. I would worry about my money and pretty soon I was worried about my health or my children. I would be worried about the state of the world, and I would worry about an escaped convict showing up at my door and I would go around locking everything.

The thing is that these are all different forms of the same idea, that I could suffer, that I could be vulnerable, that I am a body and subject to loss. I open the door to loss and suddenly I am looking at many forms of loss. It seems like each one is a different fear but it is not. It is just the same fear taking a different form. Depending on how far I am willing to go with the idea of fear, my life could quickly become a nightmare even though nothing is actually happening, not even in the illusion.

It is so much better if I stop the fear as soon as I see it. I do this by asking for another way to see. I open my mind and my heart to the Holy Spirit. I tell him my story and I show him how upset I am and how afraid. I ask Him to help me with this. He helps me to see that I am the only one who is scaring myself, and I am the only one who can let the fear go. He might bring my attention to a writing or to a teacher who will help me to do this. If my mind is open to it, He will simply remove the thoughts I no longer want.

The thing I always have to remember is that I caused the problem with my thoughts and I can end the problems as I become willing to change my thoughts. Suffering is never God’s Will for me, so if I am suffering it can only be because I asked the ego mind for help in deciding what something means. I can join with the Holy Spirit instead and I will see differently, without fear.

The other thing I have noticed so often that it is now a certainty is that fear always stems from guilt. I found someone guilty and this triggers guilt in me, or I found myself guilty and then I begin to see the guilt in others. It is the same process with situations. When this happens it pretty soon gets out of control and fear overtakes me.

The answer is always the same, to allow the Holy Spirit to establish the truth in my mind; there is only innocence. I can say the words, but it is the Holy Spirit that helps me to know this as truth. The world cannot have power over me. I can pretend it does and then have that experience, but it cannot be true.

As I turn again and again to the Holy Spirit this is what He teaches me. As I learn it of Him and live a fearless life, I teach it alongside Him. There are only two choices I ever make. I choose the light or I choose the darkness. I choose joy or I choose fear and guilt, and I choose it for the world. This is my function, to be the light of the world through forgiveness. This is my happiness and my peace.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Text, C 14: III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 5. 3-1-17

III. The Decision for Guiltlessness, P 5

5 The miracle teaches you that you have chosen guiltlessness, freedom and joy. It is not a cause, but an effect. It is the natural result of choosing right, attesting to your happiness that comes from choosing to be free of guilt. Everyone you offer healing to returns it. Everyone you attack keeps it and cherishes it by holding it against you. Whether he does this or does it not will make no difference; you will think he does. It is impossible to offer what you do not want without this penalty. The cost of giving is receiving. Either it is a penalty from which you suffer, or the happy purchase of a treasure to hold dear.

Journal

Happiness is simple because it is the effect of choosing guiltlessness. And it is incredibly hard because it is the effect of choosing guiltlessness. Last night someone I love very much broke a promise and did something both foolish and self destructive. I was so angry. I cannot honestly remember being so angry before. I know I used to be angry a lot but that was so long ago.

Anger is actually fear and when we are fearful the natural response is to defend oneself. Defense is often expressed as attack and to attack is to make guilty and then to feel guilty. I wasn’t very happy last night. I knew what was going on in my mind. I saw the guilt and anger and blame. I saw myself trying to control and manipulate. I saw that I was feeling betrayed and that I was feeling unfairly treated.

Sometimes when I see these kinds of things in myself it makes me laugh and the laughter pulls me out of it. Last night it just made me feel like a failure and hopeless. No, not happy at all. I went to sleep feeling defeated and hoping that morning would bring a fresh start and maybe some sanity. But I did note that even in midst of all this confusion, I knew what was happening, I just couldn’t seem to stop it.

Well, it is morning and I do feel better. I feel the pull of ego but I also feel the love and comfort of God’s Love. I did the daily lesson, read my journal of past entries and decided to keep the last one as was. Then I looked at the miracle principle number 43 and there is a message I received from Jesus when I first wrote in my journal about this one. It was a message to me this morning.

In part, this is what it said.

Jesus: Yes, this is what happens when you believe the fear thoughts. Just as the miracle is an expression of an inner awareness of Christ and the acceptance of His Atonement, fear is an expression of identifying with ego and accepting its thought system of separation. You feel battered by these expressions of fear; anger, anxiety, frustration and all the others.

You feel this way because you have told yourself that you should not feel them, and yet they are inevitable when you experience yourself as separate. Your upset is the result of believing you have sinned. You have not, but because you believe you have and because you are afraid of seeing yourself this way, the ego mind creates a fog of confusion and you feel like you don’t know what is happening.

The way to break this cycle is to realize that anything you feel is acceptable. You cannot be guilty because you were not created guilty. You cannot be guilty any more than God could be guilty because you are His extension. Feel whatever you feel, and without guilt confusing the issue, you will quickly recognize it for what it is and move through it. You already have learned to laugh at your false beliefs once you remember your self. I am only telling you how to do it faster and with less discomfort.

It is like those years ago when I received this it was really for today. The more I do this Course I am certain that my awakening is carefully planned with all the characters and circumstances in place so that when a lesson is needed it is right there. I have been working on patience and gentleness, then on relationships, then on universal love and devotion. So of course the perfect storm of a lesson will be right here when I am ready for it.

Last night, in my fear I attacked. I offered a dear brother anger, frustration, blame, guilt and fear. The cost of giving is receiving. And boy, did I ever receive it! I have asked for help to see this situation differently and hopefully I have decided to accept the Holy Spirit’s assistance in making a different decision about it.

I feel calm and I don’t feel the need to make the other person guilty. I don’t feel the need to stay guilty for my error. This makes me miracle ready and I ask for and accept the miracle so that I can give the miracle. In this sane moment, I am astounded that I thought my confused and suffering brother needed my condemnation. Clearly, he was looking for a miracle of love. Perhaps now I can answer his call for love.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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