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Manual for Teachers: 11. HOW IS PEACE POSSIBLE IN THIS WORLD? P 1. 5-14-18

11. HOW IS PEACE POSSIBLE IN THIS WORLD? P 1
1 This is a question everyone must ask. Certainly peace seems to be impossible here. Yet the Word of God promises other things that seem impossible, as well as this. His Word has promised peace. It has also promised that there is no death, that resurrection must occur, and that rebirth is man’s inheritance. The world you see cannot be the world God loves, and yet His Word assures us that He loves the world. God’s Word has promised that peace is possible here, and what He promises can hardly be impossible. But it is true that the world must be looked at differently, if His promises are to be accepted. What the world is, is but a fact. You cannot choose what this should be. But you can choose how you would see it. Indeed, you must choose this.

Journal
Jesus says that we can have peace even here and I know this is true because I often do have peace even in the midst of what others would perceive as chaos. This is not always true for me yet, but it is for some and so I know that someday it will be consistently true for me as well. Of course, we must come to believe this because it is God’s Word that we do.

It is also His Word that assures us that He loves the world. I have conflicting reactions to this statement. First, I feel relieved. For a while after becoming a Course student, I felt guilty for the world and so I hated it. It seemed to stand for my guilt and to be a constant reminder that I had made a terrible mistake. In spite of reassurances from Jesus, I still felt like maybe I was being punished for doing this. Maybe that was why the world is so horrible. But if God loves the world then so can I, and my fears are unfounded.

Another thought I had was how could God love the world if there is no world. This confounded me for a while this morning, but then I realized that God loves everything we do because of who we are. It is, perhaps, a poor analogy, but I do understand this love when I think of my children. They are all grown now and some have children of their own, and yet, I have pictures they drew for me when they were tiny. I have no idea what the images represent because they were so young when they drew them, but I love each one because I love the ones who drew them.

Then, Jesus says that what the world is, is but a fact and that we cannot choose what this should be. I think this is another way of saying that the script is written. I have resisted this idea for a long time because I didn’t want to believe that there was no way to change what must happen. I also could not reconcile miracles with an unchangeable world. Jesus says that a miracle is a change of mind and he also says that when the mind changes, the world must change as well.

I do not claim to have some kind of special knowledge and I think that there is much we cannot understand. But I also think that we are given an understanding that is helpful if we are open to receive. This means, we must empty our minds of what we believe in order to be enlightened. How can we be given an understanding if we think we already understand? I also believe that I have been given understandings that are helpful to me at the moment I receive them, and later, that understanding shifts, as I am ready for more. Helpfulness is the most important thing right now, rather than full understanding.

Here is an understanding that I have now about this part of the paragraph. When the tiny mad idea was conceived, it was conceived in every possible version of the world. We experienced all of them and now we remember the ones we want to remember and what we want is determined by what we choose to believe. So, for instance, I am remembering the story of Myron right now, and that story has many versions.

My purpose is to ask what the current chapter in this story is about so that I can be given a new way to see it and in this way to accept the Atonement or forgive it. If I do this consistently, I undo versions of the story and it drops away, not to be remembered again. And thousands of years are saved because I don’t revisit that version of the story of Myron, as it is now gone. I am not actually changing the world; I am choosing to continually refine the version of the world I want to experience until I am entirely through with this illusion.

I think that this is what happens when we Awaken here in the dream. We have undone the ideas that formed the world as we see it. The world continues because other aspects of our self are seemingly keeping the confused and chaotic version going through their desire to remember it. But no matter what it is we want to see in the world, it is still an illusion and it is an illusion that can be seen differently. Instead of seeing hatred and cruelty, an awakened mind sees a call for love and gives the love that is being called for.

When our mind is sufficiently healed, we will see the real world, which will not have the elements familiar to us through our belief in the ego. There will be no sickness, hatred, suffering, fear or death. Then God will take the final step and the world will disappear altogether, at least the world as we envision it. Perhaps the world will be transformed so that it is a world of light and love only without form of any kind that we would recognize. I only say that because of something I read in the Course that said God would honor what we made because of who we are.

I don’t know if this vision of things is correct or how correct it might be. But I do know that it is helpful because it contains that which is necessary. I am to look at the world and allow the Holy Spirit to show me how to see it. It also has the necessary elements of love of Creator for His creations, as well as the element of innocence. Everything else is just window dressing, but it does help me to envision a way this paragraph can make sense to me enough that I can use it.

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Study of Text, C 15: VIII. The Only Real Relationship, P 2. 5-11-18

VIII. The Only Real Relationship, P 2
2 Hear Him gladly, and learn of Him that you have need of no special relationships at all. You but seek in them what you have thrown away. And through them you will never learn the value of what you have cast aside, but still desire with all your heart. Let us join together in making the holy instant all that there is, by desiring that it be all that there is. God’s Son has such great need of your willingness to strive for this that you cannot conceive of need so great. Behold the only need that God and His Son share, and will to meet together. You are not alone in this. The will of your creations calls to you, to share your will with them. Turn, then, in peace from guilt to God and them.

Journal
Oh my! I want to answer this call from Jesus. I want to desire that the Holy Instant be all that there is. I want to share my will with my creations. I want to turn in peace from guilt. Turning from guilt is the answer to the rest and it is so simple that anyone can do it. And yet, I seem to struggle with this. It is not a struggle to notice guilt and turn away, but the struggle is that I seem to pick it back up again almost as fast as I let it go.

Even as I was thinking how much I want to do what Jesus is asking us to do in this paragraph, I realized that the moment before I was thinking that my daughter ignored my last two texts. She texted me, but it was not in answer to my questions, it was to ask me a favor. I felt resentful. This is the same thing as saying that she is guilty. It feels frustrating and discouraging that I keep doing this.

Would I turn my back on God, on Heaven, and on my creations just so that I can resent my daughter and see her as guilty? Apparently so, at least for a time until I come to my senses. Of course, I am not going to stop being vigilant for opportunities to choose again, but I will be so happy to finally convince myself that I never want to see anyone guilty again.

My efforts are making a dent in the belief in guilt. I don’t actually experience guilt as often as I used to and I always turn from it eventually and usually soon, so that is encouraging. Holy Spirit, I ask You for help. I want to give up on guilt as some kind of solution. I know that transferring my own sense of guilt to others isn’t helping and I even know that I am not guilty. How could I be? I am as God created me…still… regardless of appearances. Please purify my thoughts and heal my mind of all that is not truth. Thank you.

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Manual for Teachers: 10. HOW IS JUDGMENT RELINQUISHED? P 5. 5-9-18-18

10. HOW IS JUDGMENT RELINQUISHED? P 6
6 It is not difficult to relinquish judgment. But it is difficult indeed to try to keep it. The teacher of God lays it down happily the instant he recognizes its cost. All of the ugliness he sees about him is its outcome. All of the pain he looks upon is its result. All of the loneliness and sense of loss; of passing time and growing hopelessness; of sickening despair and fear of death; all these have come of it. And now he knows that these things need not be. Not one is true. For he has given up their cause, and they, which never were but the effects of his mistaken choice, have fallen from him. Teacher of God, this step will bring you peace. Can it be difficult to want but this?

Journal
I agree that it is painful to hold onto judgment. Clearly, I have no way to judge. Everything I know is just a perception and not really knowledge at all. And worse of all, when I do judge, I cause suffering. I don’t need to judge because I have within me One Who knows everything and will judge for me if I ask. Sometimes, though, it seems I will never get over this bad habit of judging. I notice so many judgmental thoughts in my mind during the course of the day.

This morning, I have decided to be more mindful of these judgments. In the past when I have noticed these thoughts, I have been giving them to the Holy Spirit to correct, but I dare say, I have not paid enough attention to this effort. Probably, I have fallen into the habit of giving lip service to the words and have not always given my attention to the importance of releasing the judgments. In releasing the judgmental thought, I am teaching myself that I want to let go of the desire to judge.

Today, I am asking the Holy Spirit to bring these judgments to my attention, and when He does so, I am fully committed to accepting correction for my errors. I don’t want to add to the misery we suffer as we keep these thoughts in our mind. I want to do this with enthusiasm and with joy knowing that I am helping us all awaken through my efforts. Letting go of the desire to judge will bring us all to the peace of God. It might seem like work to be vigilant, but the most important element in this decision is the unequivocal desire for freedom from the burden of judging. As Jesus says, “Can it be difficult to want but this?”

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Study of Text, C 15: VIII. The Only Real Relationship, P 1. 5-7-18

VIII. The Only Real Relationship
1 The holy instant does not replace the need for learning, for the Holy Spirit must not leave you as your Teacher until the holy instant has extended far beyond time. For a teaching assignment such as His, He must use everything in this world for your release. He must side with every sign or token of your willingness to learn of Him what the truth must be. He is swift to utilize whatever you offer Him on behalf of this. His concern and care for you are limitless. In the face of your fear of forgiveness, which He perceives as clearly as He knows forgiveness is release, He will teach you to remember that forgiveness is not loss, but your salvation. And that in complete forgiveness, in which you recognize that there is nothing to forgive, you are absolved completely.

Journal
“The holy instant does not replace the need for learning…”

Jesus talks about the holy instant in two ways. There is the holy instant in which we are momentarily free of all attack thoughts, all guilt and fear, that instant in which we choose forgiveness instead of guilt. We can have many of those and they seem to be cumulative in their effect. They eventually lead to the ultimate holy instant in which we see the real world. But even then, we are still learning and so we need the Holy Spirit to teach us. Jesus says this continues until the holy instant has extended far beyond time.

“He must use everything in this world for your release.”

Any little bit of willingness we give Him is used for our healing. When I first started doing the Course, I had very little faith, my willingness was weak, and my trust wavered all the time. But, the Holy Spirit used it, small that it was, and now I am strong in willingness, faith and trust. He taught me every chance He got, and I learned from Him as I was able.

“His concern and care for you are limitless.”

I cry when I read things like this in the Course, probably because I have spent so very long believing that I was not worthy of love. I think the tears are a mixture of hope and relief, hope that I am loved and relief that He won’t give up on me. The alternative is a very scary thought, indeed.

“He will teach you to remember that forgiveness is not loss, but your salvation.”

I cannot tolerate grievances anymore and I release them as quickly as I find them… for the most part. Sometimes fear gets in the way and it takes me a little longer than right away. ~smile~ But even when the ego mind is so certain that forgiveness is not warranted or even possible, I know this isn’t true. I know that this is my story, and so my responsibility. No one can write in my story except me, so there is nothing to forgive of another person. On another level, I recognize that there is no other person in my story, only projections from the mind. Either way, there is no one to be guilty of anything, just choices made and opportunities to change my mind.

“And that in complete forgiveness, in which you recognize that there is nothing to forgive, you are absolved completely.”

The only way to know you are forgiven is to forgive.

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Study of Text, C 15: VII. The Needless Sacrifice, P 14. 5-3-18

VII. The Needless Sacrifice, P 14

14 It is through the holy instant that what seems impossible is accomplished, making it evident that it is not impossible. In the holy instant guilt holds no attraction, since communication has been restored. And guilt, whose only purpose is to disrupt communication, has no function here. Here there is no concealment, and no private thoughts. The willingness to communicate attracts communication to it, and overcomes loneliness completely. There is complete forgiveness here, for there is no desire to exclude anyone from your completion, in sudden recognition of the value of his part in it. In the protection of your wholeness, all are invited and made welcome. And you understand that your completion is God’s, Whose only need is to have you be complete. For your completion makes you His in your awareness. And here it is that you experience yourself as you were created, and as you are.

Journal
The holy instant is the moment in which we choose forgiveness instead of guilt. I have had many instants in which I noticed guilt in my mind and brought it to the Holy Spirit. This is a regular practice of mine, something I do all the time. Do I always mean it wholeheartedly? No, probably not. But it does have a cumulative effect and each decision to do this increases my desire to be free of guilt.

I have made a number of forgiveness decisions that stand out in my mind. These were times when I wanted forgiveness rather than guilt more than anything else and the result was a true holy instant. To be honest, those times felt like a miracle because they were the ones I resisted until I had suffered so much that I had to forgive.

There is another way Jesus uses the term “holy instant” and that is the ultimate holy instant in which we choose the real world. When I say that I want to awaken or that I recognize that someone has awakened, this is what I mean. The ultimate holy instant is the moment when we awaken from the dream and experience what we are. This typically occurs when we have consistently chosen forgiveness, the realization that there is nothing to forgive. This is what Jesus is talking about in this paragraph.

In awakening completely from the dream, we no longer choose guilt and with guilt gone, there is no fear. Realizing that we are truly one, we no longer desire to have private thoughts and happily choose full communication. There is no one we would exclude from our completion. In this ultimate holy instant, we discover that we are in love, in love with God, in love with everyone and everything. We are in the real world, living the happy dream. I am very grateful to those who have gone before me in accomplishing what seemed impossible to that I would know it is possible.

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