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Manual for Teachers: Gentleness, P 2. 11-30-17

IV. Gentleness, P 2
2 Therefore, God’s teachers are wholly gentle. They need the strength of gentleness, for it is in this that the function of salvation becomes easy. To those who would do harm, it is impossible. To those to whom harm has no meaning, it is merely natural. What choice but this has meaning to the sane? Who chooses hell when he perceives a way to Heaven? And who would choose the weakness that must come from harm in place of the unfailing, all-encompassing and limitless strength of gentleness? The might of God’s teachers lies in their gentleness, for they have understood their evil thoughts came neither from God’s Son nor his Creator. Thus did they join their thoughts with Him Who is their Source. And so their will, which always was His Own, is free to be itself.

Journal
I can remember being harsh with my husband when I was married. I would feel attacked by him and I would defend myself. It felt like strength when I defended myself, but it was really weakness. I know now that in my defenselessness my safety lies is a wholly true statement. When I would defend myself two things would happen; our relationship would deteriorate a little, and I would feel more vulnerable.

At that time, I wasn’t able to see things differently. It was going to be awhile before I realized the strength of gentleness. I had to learn that everyone is innocent in spite of appearances. Once I accepted that as true, I knew that there had to be another way to see and I would ask the Holy Spirit to clarify the situation for me. Most of the time now I see the innocence beneath the defenses and attacks and gentleness comes naturally. When it doesn’t, I ask for clarity.

A student of mine gave me this wonderful metaphor that helps to understand attack and to respond with gentleness. It looks like this. We all have layers of beliefs that make up our self and our view of the world. Most of those beliefs are from the ego mind and are defensive in nature, and always skewed. But they feel very real to us and they determine how we see things and how we respond to them.

My friend said she sees this as a bubble surrounding us. So we float along in our bubble assuming that the world and how we see it is accurate. Everyone has their own bubble filled with their own perceptions. So when one person in a relationship says something to the other, it might very well be misunderstood when interpreted through the perceptions that make up their bubble world. This is how arguments and bad feelings occur, and they leave each person confused and therefore angry, fearful, and defensive.

The thing is, these bubbles are floating in an ocean of Love and Peace, but as long as the perceptions within the bubble are unquestioned, the bubble itself remains intact and no one experiences the peace and love that is all around them. If one in the relationship is able to perforate the bubble even a little, the Love they are in will infiltrate the bubble and illuminate the perceptions making them truer than they were.

Now that one, with a mind much clearer will see that the other is not cruel or unfeeling, and are in fact perfectly innocent. It is clear that they are just stuck in their bubble of mistaken beliefs, and the natural tendency will be to gently extend love rather than to defend and attack. The extension of love will defuse the situation and perhaps give the other person a chance to reconsider.

I love this image of the bubbles floating in an ocean of Love. I think it will help me to always question my beliefs and to consider how others might be trapped in their own beliefs. This better way to see things will help to ensure that I never again judge someone harshly and that I am gentle in my actions and words.

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Study of Text, C 15: III. Littleness versus Magnitude, P 10, 11-29-17

III. Littleness versus Magnitude, P 10
10 Decide with me, who has decided to abide with you. I will as my Father wills, knowing His Will is constant and at peace forever with itself. You will be content with nothing but His Will. Accept no less, remembering that everything I learned is yours. What my Father loves I love as He does, and I can no more accept it as what it is not, than He can. And no more can you. When you have learned to accept what you are, you will make no more gifts to offer to yourself, for you will know you are complete, in need of nothing, and unable to accept anything for yourself. But you will gladly give, having received. The host of God needs not seek to find anything.

Journal
Last night I started to feel sick. I could tell I had a fever and I felt congested. I was disappointed. I have been around sick people and I had decided not to believe in “catching” sickness, which is clearly not possible. I can only decide on a thing, not succumb to a thing. And yet, here I am with congestion. This morning I don’t feel really bad, but I am aware of some physical symptoms. The ego-mind wants to make the body the focus of attention. I’m really grateful for this passage to work on this morning as it is helping me to see this differently.

What I did was to read it in first person. I said to myself that I will decide with Jesus, who has decided to abide with me. I am filled with love and gratitude to my brother that he has decided to abide with me. He wills as God wills and I will follow suit. I will as God wills and God wills perfection. I don’t feel perfect right now when I identify with the body, but I remain perfect none-the-less. As I shift my focus from the body to mind, I notice that sickness of the body fades from awareness.

As I am more able to accept nothing less than God’s Will, I remember that everything Jesus learned is mine. Jesus does not accept sickness and suffering as real or necessary, so there is no reason for me to do so either. When I focus on the body and believe I am the body, I suffer what the body suffers. When I focus on the truth of my being and what that means, I am unaware of the body sensations.

It is interesting and enlightening to watch this in action. I think about what is going on in the body and I feel bad. I forget about the body and think about my quiet time with Jesus as he clarifies his Course for me, and I feel good. Back and forth this goes and I see clearly that sickness and suffering are only as real as I make them.

It is also quite interesting how drawn I am to pay attention to the bodily symptoms even though I have proven it is neither necessary or in my best interest to do so. What a strange gift I give myself, this idea of sickness that I have projected onto the body. I will to accept what I am in truth rather than what the ego mind says I am. I don’t need these “gifts” of the ego, being complete as God created me. I give the Holy Spirit these twisted thoughts of sickness and suffering and ask that He heal my mind of them.

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Manual for Teacher: IV. Gentleness, P 1. 11-28-17

IV. Gentleness

1 Harm is impossible for God’s teachers. They can neither harm nor be harmed. Harm is the outcome of judgment. It is the dishonest act that follows a dishonest thought. It is a verdict of guilt upon a brother, and therefore on oneself. It is the end of peace and the denial of learning. It demonstrates the absence of God’s curriculum, and its replacement by insanity. No teacher of God but must learn,-and fairly early in his training,-that harmfulness completely obliterates his function from his awareness. It will make him confused, fearful, angry and suspicious. It will make the Holy Spirit’s lessons impossible to learn. Nor can God’s Teacher be heard at all, except by those who realize that harm can actually achieve nothing. No gain can come of it.

Journal
Someone I love very much became angry with me. There was a time when I would have been distraught over this. I would have worried and fretted and tried to think of some way to fix it. I might even have given in to the emotional blackmail. I simply could not have tolerated the situation. I would also have been resentful and resentment is guilt, and guilt is harmful. I would have felt harmed and blamed my loved one for harming me.

But that is not what happened. My mind has experienced a lot of healing and I don’t see things the same way anymore. I did give it a lot of thought to be sure I was doing the best thing. I regretted the disharmony. But, I didn’t feel like I was being harmful because there was no blame projected. I understood the fear that was driving my loved one. I did not feel like I was being harmed because I did not accept the judgment being directed at me. It was such a different way to experience this. In the end, it all worked out.

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Manual for Teacher: Tolerance.  11-24-17

III. Tolerance
1 God’s teachers do not judge. To judge is to be dishonest, for to judge is to assume a position you do not have. Judgment without self-deception is impossible. Judgment implies that you have been deceived in your brothers. How, then, could you not have been deceived in yourself? Judgment implies a lack of trust, and trust remains the bedrock of the teacher of God’s whole thought system. Let this be lost, and all his learning goes. Without judgment are all things equally acceptable, for who could judge otherwise? Without judgment are all men brothers, for who is there who stands apart? Judgment destroys honesty and shatters trust. No teacher of God can judge and hope to learn.

Journal
I had not thought of judgment as dishonest until I read this paragraph. If I judge someone or something, I am being dishonest because I am deceiving myself. I am saying that I am in a position to judge. I know this is not true. I accept that I cannot know everything there is to know that would allow me to judge.

If I judge my brothers, it is because I do not trust them. When I allow my sight to stop at the body and the personality of my brothers, I see only what the ego mind has made up. Looking only at that, it seems reasonable to judge them, even necessary. But if I allow vision to enlighten me to their reality, I know who they are and I have reason to trust. When I remember that trust is the foundation of the teacher of God’s thought system I feel compelled to rest on that trust, and the desire to judge fades away.

I was thinking about this very thing recently. I have a relative that I have judged. It didn’t hit my radar as judgment because I cloaked it in spiritual ideas and compassionate sounding words. Being with this person during the holidays was tense until I noticed what I was doing and stopped. I began to believe in him and to trust him. Then everything felt sweet and there was peace and laughter. It felt like a heavy cloud had blown away and the sun shined brightly on our family.

It is so important that we not judge that Jesus said that no teacher of God can judge and hope to learn. All other considerations put aside, this reason alone compels me to be vigilant for judgment in my mind. I watch for judgment of myself, especially. This is where I tend to be harshest, and judgment of self is as dishonest and as distressing as any other form of judgment. I cannot, in honesty, judge myself because I did not create myself. To judge myself is tantamount to judging God. May I be tolerant of all living things, myself included.

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Study of Text, C 15: III. Littleness versus Magnitude, P 9, 11-22-17

III. Littleness versus Magnitude, P 9
9 Holy child of God, when will you learn that only holiness can content you and give you peace? Remember that you learn not for yourself alone, no more than I did. It is because I learned for you that you can learn of me. I would but teach you what is yours, so that together we can replace the shabby littleness that binds the host of God to guilt and weakness with the glad awareness of the glory that is in him. My birth in you is your awakening to grandeur. Welcome me not into a manger, but into the altar to holiness, where holiness abides in perfect peace. My Kingdom is not of this world because it is in you. And you are of your Father. Let us join in honoring you, who must remain forever beyond littleness.

Journal
This entire section is trying to awaken us to our glory. Nearly everyone on the earth thinks of himself/herself as alone, small, and fragile. This is not who we are. This body/personality self is an idea projected outward. It is an opportunity to play-act something that cannot happen in reality, like a child playing at being Batman or Superman.

Jesus is inviting us to remember that we are only play-acting this character and that in reality, we are part of God, exactly like God in every way. In Lesson 326, Jesus says this about us as part of a beautiful prayer.
I am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. As You created me I have remained. Where You established me I still abide. And all Your attributes abide in me, because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause and Its Effect are indistinguishable.

Does this sound like the self you are presently identified with? In our unity, we are exactly like God, indistinguishable from God.

And now Jesus is telling us that he is here with us right now, and he is with us to teach us, to awaken us to our birthright. He is here to help us to accept our holiness and our grandeur. He says we can have this awareness when we stop clinging to our guilt and our littleness. All day today I have committed to living as if this were done. When I start to feel some concern for time or circumstance, I stop and rest a moment in God and remember that today I am living as an awakened Christ. I question if this is the response of an awakened being. It is going to be great fun!

Jesus says, “My birth in you is your awakening to grandeur.” Of course, he is not saying that the man, Jesus, is birthed in us, but as the Christ, He is born in us and awakens us to grandeur. He goes on to say that his Kingdom is not of the world but is in us. In us! We are the Kingdom! So, yes, we remain far beyond the little self we pretend to be. Let us welcome our destiny and accept it now. Let us throw off guilt and with it fear and be the Divine Beings we were created. Now, this warrants a celebration of Thanksgiving!

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Manual for Teachers: II. Honesty, P 2. 11-21-17

II. Honesty, P 2

2 The peace of mind which the advanced teachers of God experience is largely due to their perfect honesty. It is only the wish to deceive that makes for war. No one at one with himself can even conceive of conflict. Conflict is the inevitable result of self-deception, and self-deception is dishonesty. There is no challenge to a teacher of God. Challenge implies doubt, and the trust on which God’s teachers rest secure makes doubt impossible. Therefore they can only succeed. In this, as in all things, they are honest. They can only succeed, because they never do their will alone. They choose for all mankind; for all the world and all things in it; for the unchanging and unchangeable beyond appearances; and for the Son of God and his Creator. How could they not succeed? They choose in perfect honesty, sure of their choice as of themselves.

Journal
This vision of the advanced teachers of God is so compelling that I long for it to be true for me in all circumstances. It is true for me sometimes now, maybe even most of the time. But I still have areas in my life where I experience conflict. Jesus says that this is the result of self-deception. For instance, yesterday I was riding with my daughter. She was just driving around to put the baby to sleep and took me down a road beside the river. She thought I would enjoy it because it is so pretty there.

She began to notice that I was tense and remarked on it. I said that I don’t enjoy riding right next to the water like that. There was very little bank and the road was almost level with the river. There is something about drop-offs like that that make me uneasy. For some reason, instead of just being uneasy, I became frightened. Probably, this happened because I have asked to look at whatever is left in my mind that is in error so that it can be undone, so I needed to feel the effect of this belief.

This fear of heights and other forms of drop-offs like with the river running so close to the road is self-deception. It is in contrast or in conflict with my belief that I am safe, that no matter what happens to the body, I remain safe. Understanding this, I see that it is not a fear of heights or fear of dropping off the road and into the river that needs correction. It is the belief that I am a body and so what happens to the body happens to me. I can’t believe that I am the Son of God and believe that I am this body. Those thoughts conflict and cause me distress.

So, I spent the rest of the day going back and forth with this. I know I am not this body, that I am spirit. I know that I am afraid of this body falling. Yikes! It makes no sense and this is distressing. Eventually, I must choose to believe in one or the other and believing I am a body is just not possible. So, I ask for correction of this insane belief that I can ever be in danger. I am so done with this fearful belief. I ask the Holy Spirit to remove it from my mind.

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Study of Text, C 15: III. Littleness versus Magnitude, P 8, 11-20-17

III. Littleness versus Magnitude, P 8
8 Is it a sacrifice to leave littleness behind, and wander not in vain? It is not sacrifice to wake to glory. But it is sacrifice to accept anything less than glory. Learn that you must be worthy of the Prince of Peace, born in you in honor of Him Whose host you are. You know not what love means because you have sought to purchase it with little gifts, thus valuing it too little to understand its magnitude. Love is not little and love dwells in you, for you are host to Him. Before the greatness that lives in you, your poor appreciation of yourself and all the little offerings you give slip into nothingness.

Journal
What will I leave behind to accept my glory? What will I sacrifice? I will no longer be able to gather, organize and decipher information in order to make a decision. That is my sacrifice. Instead, I will simply ask for an answer and it will occur intuitively without any effort on my part. At least that has been my experience when I have asked rather than trying to work out the answer on my own.

I will not be worried or anxious about life. Fear is what I will sacrifice. Instead, I will simply accept that what is occurring is in my best interests and in everyone else’s best interest. If I can’t see how that is true, I will ask for clarity, and never doubt or be concerned. I will accept the perfection of all things and simply wait for guidance on what to do next.

I will no longer look for guilt or accept it when it shows up in my mind. Guilt is what I will sacrifice. Instead, I will accept that the host to God could not be guilty. There is no place for guilt in God. If I think I am guilty or someone else is guilty, I must be confused and will simply ask for clarity until I see the truth.  With no guilt within or without, love will be all that is there to be seen and felt. My life now revolves around love rather than guilt. Instead of looking for the guilty party, I ask how it is that I can best extend love to each one that shows up in my life. This is so much better.

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