Together, We Light the Way

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I Am Eternal Spirit

What are the blessings that come with letting the truth return to your mind?
C-3.8. How lovely does the world become in just that single instant when you see the truth about yourself reflected there.

It is easy to get caught up in the story and forget who We are. This is why we need constant reminders. It is the reason for A Course in Miracles, for the daily lessons, for these courses. Most of the time, I know this world, this body and its story are not my reality. But sometimes I start taking it very seriously, as if this is all there is to us and every little thing is of great importance. Thank God, this doesn’t happen so much anymore and when it does, I know my way out. I know that each time it happens, I remember the truth and I become stronger in the truth. It is my part in the Atonement to accept it, to make decisions for God over and over until I know nothing else. I have to be absolutely certain that I want God before God can do His part and lift me to Him.  The following is an example of a time when fear did come temporarily into my mind and how I handled it,

Yesterday, my daughter and son in law took me for a ride on the “mule”, a for wheel ATV. I didn’t really have any interest in this but said yes before I thought it through. We went over and under and through every terrain you could think of. I was jostled and had to duck to avoid being hit by branches. I didn’t enjoy it and wished I hadn’t come. First, the ego-mind blamed my daughter for inviting me. She surely knew this was not my cup of tea. This was a typical ego projection. When we don’t like how we feel, we look for someone to blame. 

I couldn’t hold onto this thought for long because it was ridiculous. All I had to do was say no and I didn’t. Then, as the terrain got really rough, I felt fear. Of course, as soon as I opened the way for the ego to interpret the situation, fear was bound to show up. At some point in the ride, I came to my senses. I remembered that fear is not real and so I must be choosing an emotion that is distressing me. So I stopped. Once I stopped, I enjoyed the rest of the ride. 

First, I had made a decision with the ego and experienced resentment and fear, then I changed my mind and made a decision with the Holy Spirit and experienced happiness. That’s the way of it in every circumstance. I already knew this but it was a good reminder. We must make these decisions every day and in each situation. I used to be upset with myself when I did something like this, when I fell back into an ego response, but now I see that it doesn’t mean anything. It is just another opportunity to reinforce the truth in my mind.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Healing by Seeing Your ‘Life’ as a Movie

I started with the concept of the world not being real and then I studied and practiced what I was learning. I did these Miracles Practitioners courses, some of them many times. I did the processes and read the explanations. I did the Daily Lessons and contemplated and wrote about them and the rest of the Course. Most importantly, I kept practicing in my everyday life what I was studying.

What has occurred is that I have gone from believing a concept to being true to knowing it is true. Seeing this life as a movie or a dream is a way of expressing what is happening. Here is the story I like as a way of understanding it. There really was a tiny mad idea to experience separation and specialness. From that idea, there unfolded a way to make this happen. Using the power of creation that is ours because we were created like God, we made a world we can use for our experiences and bodies that will carry us through this world.

It is a temporary experience and was never meant to be anything else but I think it has been going on for so long that we have lost track of its temporary nature. We exist in another illusory or temporary dimension and from there we decide on the experience we want to have. Maybe we just want to play and so there may not be a meaningful outcome for us.

Like going to an amusement park. You don’t hope to learn something from the experience, you just want to scared by the roller coaster and thrilled by other rides and eat too much junk food and throw up, maybe win a trinket and then go home. I think this is what we have done so many times but eventually, the alarm that we set to wake us up goes off in in our mind.

When that happens, awakening stories begin. We might still choose something fun and interesting but we have a goal in mind. We are learning to retrace our steps, to back out of the illusion and return home. So, our stories become our classroom and we choose scripts that will give us the lessons we need and that will lead us out of the stories completely at some point.

As each story reaches its natural conclusion, we pop out and return to this other dimension and probably think about what we learned. Maybe we have Helpers there, people who are a bit higher on the ladder much like the helpers we have here, teachers and those who awaken before us. Maybe they assist us in planning our next life so that we can get the most out of it and move closer to awakening.

In that dimension, we are still in the illusion but with a bit more clarity. It must be such a relief to be free of the body and to realize that these life adventures are not real and so we haven’t been hurt. We might think we are in Heaven at first. Especially, to be met with such love, this must be so wonderful after spending time in the world. But this level is not the ultimate goal either. Until we move past this, we continue the cycle of birth and then death. Eventually, we will move past even that heavenly retreat and into God.

Right now, though, it might be nice to realize that we are part of God and that this is our destination, but where I put my attention is on the work that is before me. I know that this world is something we made up just as we make up theme parks here, and I know that I am not the character I chose to play while here. I also know that what I am is invulnerable and eternal. This makes a huge difference in how I live in the world and what it feels like while here.

For instance, if someone dies, I feel compassion for those left behind who don’t know this is a temporary experience. And really, even if they understand this, it will still be very hard on them to be without that character because almost no one here is so detached from the experience that they don’t grieve the loss of a close loved one. But I am certainly not concerned for the one who died. It doesn’t matter what kind of life he lived here since it was all just a play or movie and not reality. He is fine. He is back in that dimension planning his next adventure. No one has actually died, anyway. We just pop in and pop out.

Another way this affects me is that I don’t have too many big deals anymore. Why would I think something was a disaster when I know it is just a ride at the carnival and I’ll be getting off soon? And guilt starts to seem ridiculous. Who is there to be guilty? I wrote the script and it is one that I wanted to experience. I invited all the players to join me and gave them their lines. Now I will be mad at them for doing their part? Ridiculous.

And something else that is happening is that where fear used to have a home in my mind, with few exceptions, now there is love. I didn’t make that happen. I just let go of the fear and love showed up. I feel a connection to everyone and I feel love toward most. If I don’t feel love, I wonder why and that question is generally resolved right there and I feel love. The way all of this happened was simple. I just kept looking at all the magic thoughts (ego thoughts) in my mind and I kept deciding that I wasn’t interested in them anymore. The rest just happened naturally once enough of them were gone.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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