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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-5-12

8-5-12
6 Is he God’s only Helper? No, indeed. For Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized. But Jesus is for you the bearer of Christ’s single message of the Love of God. You need no other. It is possible to read his words and benefit from them without accepting him into your life. Yet he would help you yet a little more if you will share your pains and joys with him, and leave them both to find the peace of God. Yet still it is his lesson most of all that he would have you learn, and it is this:

There is no death because the Son of God is like his Father. Nothing you can do can change Eternal Love. Forget your dreams of sin and guilt, and come with me instead to share the resurrection of God’s Son. And bring with you all those whom He has sent to you to care for as I care for you.

There are obviously many Helpers, which are really just one Helper appearing as many according to our needs. I have chosen Jesus as my teacher and he has been true to his function for which I am very grateful.  I have even heard his voice in my mind answering questions for me. The first time this happened I felt so undeserving of this communication and so worried that people would disbelieve me that I cut that line of communication off.

This happened a few years ago when I was still confused about who I am and what mattered. And I understand now that I did not really cut off communication with the voice of Jesus. He is now the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and so I hear him all the time through the Voice for God. But sometimes I just want to talk to plain old Jesus. ~smile~ I feel so close to him now that it is easy and natural to do this.

Do I really speak to the man who was called, Jesus? No but I speak to the symbol of one who joined me in my dreams so he could lead me out of them. Sometimes it is comforting to speak to Jesus because I can relate to him. I know he is there for me and invites me to communicate with him in everything, and I do this.

This is how I bring him into my life. I talk to him about how I feel and about my concerns and doubts. I ask him questions and write down his answer, which I often share with others because that is what he means for me to do. I ask for his guidance daily, and often check in with him to see how I’m doing and to be sure that my mind remembers who is in charge.

Sometimes I refer to him as Jesus and see the man in my mind. Sometimes I speak to Holy Spirit without the physical representation that Jesus brings to mind. But however I feel to do it, I do speak to him every day, all day long. And more importantly, I listen.  And what I am told over and over is that I am innocent. Everyone is innocent. Guilt does not exist. Neither does pain, suffering or death. No matter what thought I bring to him, the answer is always the same.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-4-12

8-4-12
5 Is he the Christ? O yes, along with you. His little life on earth was not enough to teach the mighty lesson that he learned for all of you. He will remain with you to lead you from the hell you made to God. And when you join your will with his, your sight will be his vision, for the eyes of Christ are shared. Walking with him is just as natural as walking with a brother whom you knew since you were born, for such indeed he is. Some bitter idols have been made of him who would be only brother to the world. Forgive him your illusions, and behold how dear a brother he would be to you. For he will set your mind at rest at last and carry it with you unto your God. 

Jesus is the Christ, and so are we. The difference between us is that Jesus embodies Christ now and we have forgotten that we do. For us, it is potential, for we still dream of separation. If we imagine ourselves still in this dream, if we still have a foot upon earth, then we have not reached our full potential.

Jesus began his work to help us awaken to the truth of our being through his life on earth, but obviously that was not enough. Now he continues this work, leading us home. As we join our Hearts with his we will see as he sees because the eyes of Christ are shared. This must be true because Christ is the truth, the reality as God created it so it is One. What is true for Jesus is true for everyone. That is the nature of God.

Some bitter idols have been made of him… .  Oh lord, how true that is. “What would Jesus do” is a helpful guiding question, but when asked of the ego mind the answer comes from the idea of separation and is not the answer we would get from him, but rather becomes a projection onto him.  We don’t have to look far to see the unkindness done in Jesus’ name, and in God’s name. Let us withdraw our projections, acknowledge their source and place them on the altar for healing.

Jesus would only be our brother and helper. He would guide us Home to God if we let him. The ego will use the idea of Jesus to keep itself alive if we choose to listen to it. Right now its favorite playground is the Chick-fil-a controversy. Many believe that Jesus favors separation when it comes to homosexuality. They see this as an exception to the idea of love and are fervently against it.

Others see those people as wrong and even evil. They see them as an exception to the idea of love. Many see themselves as persecuted by this situation and victim to the world. The ego doesn’t really care which stance is taken so long as separation is the underlying principle. Jesus calls on us to forgive it, that is, to realize it never happened. No one has been hurt except in their own minds as they interpret through the filter of separation. God is not offended, Jesus is not defamed. In truth, nothing has happened so how could their be sin? How could there be victims?

Oh how the ego loves its dreams of separation. How it loves the ones that we try to share. We can’t really, because one cannot share what is separate, but in our attempt to share them we make them feel so real that one can imagine they are important. One can begin to imagine that separation is more real than Love, more real than God. The illusion of separation with its attendants, anger, fear, and guilt begin to edge God from our awareness, and the ego roars in triumph.

It is so easy to fall into this trap. It is so easy to see one side as virtuous and so the other must be, what… unvirtuous? Is that a word? Spell-check says no. Sinners? Evil? At least, ignorant? What if an idea is either true or not true? What if we acknowledged our ignorance and asked for enlightenment?

What if we forgave the idea that any of God’s children could be less than perfect? What if we forgave the idea that we could be hurt by anything? Only the body, the personality, the separate individual can be hurt and they don’t exist except in our imagined dreams. What we are is perfectly protected. Nothing real is endangered.

We can put down our arms and open our hearts to those who still live in fear. We can accept our purpose and forgive where others attack, and to see where this is needed without succumbing to judgment and thus becoming part of the problem. Our brothers are not bad or evil, only sometimes confused. Let us forgive their confusion until they are able to do so themselves. There is no separation.  When we condemn another we condemn ourselves. When we forgive another we forgive ourselves. Only together do we enter Heaven.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-3-12

8-3-12
4 And therefore all your sins have been forgiven because they carried no effects at all. And so they were but dreams. Arise with him who showed you this because you owe him this who shared your dreams that they might be dispelled. And shares them still, to be at one with you.

Our sins have been forgiven because they have no effect at all. Nothing has happened. How can nothing be a sin? How can nothing make us guilty? The ego insists on guilt because if there is no guilt then its whole construct is … well, nothing. The ego is extremely determined about guilt.

My oldest son is very political. He is also very republican and his siblings are democrat. It makes for some very lively get togethers when he is with them as they tend to be political as well. I ignore the whole thing for the most part, however, the other day I noticed his status update on facebook, mentioned the media and quoted Fox News. For some reason I thought it would be funny to comment, to goad him about this. I said something like, “I didn’t know Fox was media. I thought they worked for the Republican Party.

I really don’t have any interest in this, and I don’t care what party he backs. I normally ignore his political tirades and just don’t read them. I have no idea why I thought it would be amusing to make that comment. I should have known he would take it seriously because politics are important to him. He drug me into his latest rant. I ignored him and made note to self to never do this again.

Here is what the ego had to say about this.
  He has no respect for you.
  He doesn’t love you.
  He is mad at you and now you have lost his affection. He holds a grudge so he might be mad forever.

I saw those thoughts and for a brief moment revisited that place in my mind where I believed those kinds of things. Then I snapped back to reality. I am innocent. He is innocent.

The next day I noticed the ego was back trying another tact. This one was along the lines of seeing the error in his diatribe on the latest political news. The ego had a reply all ready for me. It made sense. It sounded reasonable and was carefully couched in acceptable language. I went over it a few times as the ego mind likes to do. I was almost fooled, but I decided to do nothing until I felt certain it came from Spirit. In that decision I invited the Holy Spirit in and He pointed out that no matter how gentle the language my intended reply still made him guilty.

Wow. I had become mesmerized by the ego thinking mind. As soon as I returned to my right mind, I saw very clearly that I was thinking my son was guilty. I was returning to the belief in guilt. I know this is not true so I know I have no interest in believing in guilt and teaching guilt. The idea of being right lost its attraction in that moment. I returned to a peaceful mind and the difference between a peaceful mind and a mind striving to win an argument is so stark, I could hardly believe I had even a momentary interest in being right. Glad to be back to sanity.

I am very grateful for this peaceful and happy place I find myself. Thank you, Jesus, for sharing my dreams long enough to help me dispel them.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-2-12

8-2-12
3 In his complete identification with the Christ - the perfect Son of God, His one creation and His happiness, forever like Himself and one with Him - Jesus became what all of you must be. He led the way for you to follow him. He leads you back to God because he saw the road before him, and he followed it. He made a clear distinction, still obscure to you, between the false and true. He offered you a final demonstration that it is impossible to kill God’s Son; nor can his life in any way be changed by sin and evil, malice, fear or death.

The statement that stands out to me is that Jesus made a clear distinction between the false and true. This is where we are all headed. It is the reason for the reading, the studying, the processes and practices. We want to learn to tell the difference between the false and the true. I notice this happening right now for me.

It was always happening but I didn’t see it so clearly before. I was still learning to see specific things differently, and that was my focus. That was good as it was an important step of the path, and helped me to eventually generalize these lessons. At first I had to notice that I was seeing everything as either guilty or innocent. Then I embraced the idea that I wanted to see everyone as innocent.

This step took a long time for me as I struggled with how to do this. No matter how hard I tried to do otherwise I was judging some people (especially myself) as guilty and then trying to see them as innocent. But I kept working on it (building my willingness) and eventually there was a shift and I realized that everyone is innocent and nothing they did could change that.

Then one day there was another shift. I realized that there is no such thing as guilt. Guilt is not real because there is no guilt in God. This changed everything. It was a clear distinction between false and true. I don’t know how this worked for Jesus, but I had to take it a step at a time. Since the shift has happened, I am seldom distracted by the “poof” of guilt that I see in the world.

Now, at this moment in time, I am certain that there is no guilt and so it is no longer hard for me to see innocence. I am still aware of guilt thoughts, but even when I am momentarily confused by one, I know that I am confused and I just wait for clarity. Because I am waiting for it, clarity comes quickly.

I think that even these brief moments of confusion are going to be short lived. How could it last when I have so little interest in guilt? Over and over as I read this section I am aware of the debt of gratitude I owe Jesus for blazing this trail, for getting here first and thus assuring that I would, too.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 8-1-12

8-1-12
2 The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. So he became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God. The man was an illusion, for he seemed to be a separate being, walking by himself, within a body that appeared to hold his self from Self, as all illusions do. Yet who can save unless he sees illusions and then identifies them as what they are? Jesus remains a Savior because he saw the false without accepting it as true. And Christ needed his form that He might appear to men and save them from their own illusions.

Jesus was a man, just like us. He lived in the world and experienced the illusion just as we do, with all the apparent issues and challenges we have. While he was doing this he became aware that the world is an illusion. He remembered that his brothers are not what they appear and he saw in them the Christ they truly are. In seeing the Christ in them, he remembered God.

As we live in the world and experience all of the challenges of doing so, we too, can make that final shift. We can remember the truth, recognize the innocence that we all are and see the face of Christ in our brothers, and see the face of Christ in the mirror. This is how we remember God. All that we have to do is accept that what we see now is not true. The truth will then reveal itself to us as it did to Jesus.

Christ used the form of Jesus to show us all that it could be done and to show us how to do it. This can be done through us as well. The body of Myron can be used in this way. The body that you are identified with can be used in this way by Christ. Each time one of us chooses to remember the truth while we are living the illusion, we become a model that others can follow in the same way that Jesus did this for us.

Why do I think I am Myron? I have chosen to identify with the story of Myron and with the body that is part of this story and is called Myron. The more closely I identify with it the harder it is for me to consider I might be something else. If I am fully identified with Myron I will think this whole idea of being something else is insane.

I have gone through a period of allowing myself to consider another possibility. It has been a time of shifts. I shift my thinking, my belief, a little at a time. Because I was so identified with the story of Myron, I accepted all the “sins” I imagined were committed as if they were real, and as if they defined me.

First I had to relax my belief that I am only this body and this personality. Then I had to let go of the idea that I am this body/personality at all. I began to accept that this life I had imagined was me, is just an illusion. Because in identifying with the body of Myron as me I had also identified with all her “sins,” this was something to be let go. First I let go of the idea I am sinful, then I had to let go of the idea of sin. As I did this, I also shifted in my vision of all my brothers.

As I am letting go of what I thought was true, something else is taking its place. I am learning to see the false and to know its not true. Right now I see this happening in the present moment. It takes form in whatever way fits the story for today. I notice I have a headache and I remember that pain is not real. How interesting that I seemed to have called for pain. I wonder why I did that. I give the idea that pain could be real to the Holy Spirit. I am grateful that I know this is not real no matter the appearance.

This morning I realized that yesterday I got caught up in the story making plans and deciding what I should do. I notice the thought that I should not have done this. It is an invitation to guilt. This is just a thought and it doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. I did notice that it doesn’t feel peaceful to do this and I am choosing differently today. I give the Holy Spirit the idea that plans and decisions need to be made. I wait to see what comes next. 

I have such gratitude for Jesus I can barely contain it and it overflows as tears. I am grateful to him for being the way-shower. I am grateful to the Holy Spirit for being my guide and my comforter. I am grateful for another way, and that I am willing to claim this now.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 7-31-12

7-31-12
5. JESUS - CHRIST
1 There is no need for help to enter Heaven for you have never left. But there is need for help beyond yourself as you are circumscribed by false beliefs of your Identity, which God alone established in reality. Helpers are given you in many forms, although upon the altar they are one. Beyond each one there is a Thought of God, and this will never change. But they have names which differ for a time, for time needs symbols, being itself unreal. Their names are legion, but we will not go beyond the names the course itself employs. God does not help because He knows no need. But He creates all Helpers of His Son while he believes his fantasies are true. Thank God for them for they will lead you home.

As often happens in the Course, Jesus tells us that something is true, then he tells us we will treat it as if it is not true. We don’t need help getting to Heaven because we are already there. But. We don’t know we are there so we are given help. Our help comes from outside the mind that made the error. This only makes sense. Jesus is outside the mind now, so he can help and he does this through A Course in Miracles and other ways as well.

We all have an Inner Teacher which is outside the mind, but working through the mind. It has helped me tremendously to have developed communication with this Voice. I did this through keeping a journal in which I ask for help as I study and then allowing that Voice to answer. All I had to do was become willing to set aside what I thought everything meant and then I was given the answer. The more willing I became to surrender to the process, and the less desire I had to decide what anything means on my own, the clearer the Voice became to me.

Jesus lets us know that our Helpers come in many forms, but they are actually all one. However it seems that it is helpful for us to have names and personalities we can relate to and so that is what we are given. I relate to Jesus, Jeshua, and to the Holy Spirit. To a lesser degree I call on Mary, some Saints, and some Angels. Through my study of the Inner Ramana, I have developed respect for Ramana Maharshi.

There are people still living who I look to for help. I look to the Holy Spirit speaking through them to me because their ability to set aside their self to hear that Voice allows an exceptionally clear message to come through. As we have learned anyone can be a teacher of God, simply because they want to, and all of us who want this have at least moments when we are open channels for that Voice.

I am practicing opening my Heart to that communication. We all share the same Holy Spirit so we can all communicate on that level if we become willing. I think that no matter what someone says, we can hear the truth in it if that is what we want to hear. I am learning to listen for the truth and I hear it in the most unexpected places.

Each of these “different” Helpers are really the same Helper, but they stand as symbols that we can relate to and understand. They do this for us as long as we need it. God does not know need, so he does not help, but he supplies all the Helpers we think we need for as long as we think we need them. As long as I believe in separation I will need help changing my mind. Once my change of mind is complete and there is no false belief left in it, perhaps I will be a Helper.

I love how this paragraph ends. It tells us to be grateful for our Helpers because they will lead us home. I do feel grateful, very grateful. My heart overflows with love and gratitude for this help in every form it takes.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 7-30-12

7-30-12
8 O my brothers, if you only knew the peace that will envelop you and hold you safe and pure and lovely in the Mind of God, you could but rush to meet Him where His altar is. Hallowed your Name and His, for they are joined here in this holy place. Here He leans down to lift you up to Him, out of illusions into holiness; out of the world and to eternity; out of all fear and given back to love.

Obviously something has shifted for me. I see that Jesus is right when he tells us that we are innocent and that only what God created can be real. I see that guilt is not real, and neither is pain or fear or depression, shame, hate or any other of the effects of the belief in separation. This world is not real and the bodies with their personalities are not real. I see that I am not anything I thought I was, and that any word I use to describe me simply limits what I am. Suddenly I understand what it means to say, I am.

I am still aware of the ego thoughts in my mind. They are there when I wake up. I notice them throughout the day. They especially press in on me at the end of the day. Occasionally I am aware of a thought that I still believe. For instance, I talked about my fear of heights. So far I have not let that thought go. I have no idea why that is. My friend told me about her experience with that fear and how she was freed from it when she learned about a past life experience of falling to her death.

I wonder how this will unfold for me? The fear I feel when I think about being in high places is so intense that it is hard to believe it could ever just go away, and yet, fear is not real. I made it up. This means that it is only a thought away from ceasing to exist for me. A slight shift in perception and it disappears. For now I seem unwilling to allow that shift, but that’s all right. It will unfold as it must. I will be interested to see that happen.

Most of the thoughts that catch my attention do so only briefly. They are like old ideas that I have lost interest in coming back for another try. I will suddenly remember something mean I said to my mom when I was young and feel a twinge of guilt. I look at that guilt and it just fades away because I can’t sustain a belief in it. It’s not a matter of choosing not to be guilty for a certain thing, it is that guilt itself is an illusion. If there is no such thing as guilt then it cannot apply to anything said or done or thought. If it is not part of God then it cannot exist. God is not guilty.

The ego does not give up just because I see it for the charlatan it is. It keeps bringing me disturbing thoughts to see if I am interested in some of them.  It insists that I if I see a spiteful thought in my mind, this means I must be a spiteful person and so I must be guilty for that. That is so silly I cannot imagine why I used to believe it.

Thoughts don’t belong to me; they just exist in the mind until the idea of separation is let go. They do not reflect the truth about me or about anyone. These thoughts I lay on the altar for healing. Even if I feel no particular interest in them I bring them to Holy Spirit anyway. If a thought is in my awareness it is for me to heal.

The reason I was thinking about all this today is that my life is so much more peaceful and happy now. As I read today’s paragraph I can believe in it because I have experienced a significant shift in that direction and so I know it can happen, and I know how easy it is. In the past I would read these promises, these little glimpses into Heaven and they would be lovely words without a lot of impact. I simply could not imagine getting from here to there.

I felt too burdened by my accumulated guilt and the fear of the future. What must I do to atone for that guilty past? Surely I would be punished in some way and often. These beliefs pulled me so deeply into the illusion that I could not imagine ever clawing my way out of it. To be with God, a part of God? To be safe and perfectly peaceful and happy? It must be a trick to get me close enough to punish, the ego says. The ego doesn’t make sense, but it can be scary anyway.

Or if that one doesn’t work the ego says someday after enough hard work and endless hours of study; someday in another lifetime, I will wake up and things will be better. Read another book, travel to study with another teacher. Do another process. The reward is there, always just out of reach. Safely, out of reach. Because who wants to give up their self for something that may not even exist.

I believed all that and more. And yet, one day I saw it all for the nothing it is and everything changed. It all looks the same, but nothing is the same. I am innocent. I am still as God created me. I am one with my Creator. He loves me and will lean to me and lift me to Him. Oh my dear God, what that must be like!

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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