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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-16-12

6-16-12
4 All living hearts are tranquil with a stir of deep anticipation, for the time of everlasting things is now at hand. There is no death. The Son of God is free. And in his freedom is the end of fear. No hidden places now remain on earth to shelter sick illusions, dreams of fear and misperceptions of the universe. All things are seen in light, and in the light their purpose is transformed and understood. And we, God’s children, rise up from the dust and look upon our perfect sinlessness. The song of Heaven sounds around the world, as it is lifted up and brought to truth.

As I continue my day-to-day practice of mind watching, and giving my willingness to be corrected, I am actually hastening the resurrection. My focus seems to be on my own personal resurrection, but there is nothing personal. There is nothing that is just Myron’s. When I say “my” body, I simply mean it is the body that is my focus at this time. “My” mind is the part of the mind that I am aware of at this time. We are one appearing as many. The idea of personal, ownership, and every other concept of separation is what is being undone to bring us to the resurrection, the day we rise from the idea of death to embrace Life.

Here is a simple example of how I am learning that I don’t want to cling to the idea of death. I have a large yard and on three sides I have thick hedges. I step out into my yard and enjoy the illusion of being in my own little kingdom. Recently, the hedges have been overrun with vines that were killing them, and my friend, Mary, who does my yard work, began the laborious job of pulling out the vines so the bushes can breathe.

I’m usually gone when this happens and when I got home the other day I was dismayed to see that there were huge gaps in my hedges. It seems that some of the bushes did not survive and had to be removed. Mary planted some new bushes in their place, but they are small and will take awhile to fill in the empty places.  I really hate looking at the hedges now. I look over and I see my neighbor’s yards. I feel exposed.

This has been an interesting experience for me because that feeling of being exposed is a perfect reflection of an inward fear. I seem to be very transparent as I write about my personal journal, but I pick and choose what it is I share. There are still things I do not write about, there are things about myself that I do not want to expose. I keep myself separate from my brothers and sisters with my secrets, just as I try to keep myself separate from my neighbors with my hedges.

There is still an expanse of hedge that Mary has not cleared. A part of me wants to say “Stop, leave me some cover at least!” Its too late though, because we have gone too far on this project and to leave this bit undone would just look weird. Again it reflects an inward condition. Sometimes when I post something I wrote and it is not accepted by someone, I feel exposed and vulnerable in the same way I do when I look at my bare hedges.

This feeling of needing to hide is a form of death. The need to be separate, the fear of being judged, these are death. Holy Spirit, I ask you to look at this with me and heal my mind from the belief that death is salvation.  I have lived with this sick illusion for as long as I care to, and am ready to release the fearful thought that sourced it. I am ready to be free. I am ready to live.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-15-12

6-15-12
3 Here the curriculum ends. From here on, no directions are needed. Vision is wholly corrected and all mistakes undone. Attack is meaningless and peace has come. The goal of the curriculum has been achieved. Thoughts turn to Heaven and away from hell. All longings are satisfied, for what remains unanswered or incomplete? The last illusion spreads across the world, forgiving all things and replacing all attack. The whole reversal is accomplished. Nothing is left to contradict the Word of God. There is no opposition to the truth. And now the truth can come at last. How quickly will it come as it is asked to enter and envelop such a world!

Obviously, we need a curriculum of some sort at this time. It can be A Course in Miracles, or something else, but we do need help right now to guide us from the confusion of our own thoughts. We are ancient and in all that time we have, with only a few exceptions, failed to find our way free. With the help of the Holy Spirit and those very few who have gone before us, we are beginning to awaken in greater numbers.

We are standing on the verge of a great awakening. Now we study and practice and enjoy the process of allowing the mind to heal, but it will come that all of this effort is no longer needed. We will reach the end of it and each of us within the Sonship will be ready to accept the miracle of healing.

We will see truly with Christ’s Vision. No more individual perceptions of a person or situation, but true vision that does not change person to person, or with the circumstances. That is hard to imagine. I can sit now with a group of like-minded friends to discuss a single thing and we each see it from a different perspective. Our perspectives may be more closely aligned than if the discussion took place with a random selection of people, but there will be differences.

A Course in Miracles is a curriculum designed to help us let go of differences through aligning our minds with the One Will of God, and yet within any community of Course students there will be differences in the way even the Course is interpreted and understood. These different perspectives lead to opinions and arguments, and even if nothing is said, there is thought of right or wrong interpretation. When there is only one will and all vision is corrected, it will be as if we all see through one clear, unwavering eye.

Our curiosity will be satisfied. We will have experienced the idea of separation, all possibilities will have been explored, and the time will have come to turn as one from the separation idea to Truth. We will have forgiven all the crazy ideas that emerged from this innocent questioning of possibilities.

Fear and guilt will fall away, and with them all idea of attack and defense will be left behind as the toys of youth are abandoned when the child has outgrown them. With the coming of knowledge perception will have no place in the mind, and without conflicting perception there will be no basis for comparison, competition, anger, or war of any sort. Because we have allowed the Holy Spirit to reinterpret our experience, peace spreads across the world and our dreams become a single happy dream.

From where I am right now I can imagine this happening, but I cannot imagine it happening any time soon. My mind is still deeply embroiled in separation thoughts. It is clearer than when I started this Myron story, but it has not awakened yet, and I still see separation everywhere I look. So I continue to do my part to bring us closer to a complete awakening as I watch my thoughts, give my willingness to the Holy Spirit, and accept healing as I can.

My effort is directed toward forgiving what is in front of me, to allowing all opposition to truth within my own mind to fall away. This is my part and the only part I am to do. I trust that my part is essential to the whole and even though I cannot imagine how the end will be accomplished, I also trust that the Atonement is being perfectly directed from a perspective I cannot imagine. 

 

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-14-12

6-14-12
2 The resurrection is the denial of death, being the assertion of life. Thus is all the thinking of the world reversed entirely. Life is now recognized as salvation, and pain and misery of any kind perceived as hell. Love is no longer feared, but gladly welcomed. Idols have disappeared, and the remembrance of God shines unimpeded across the world. Christ’s face is seen in every living thing, and nothing is held in darkness, apart from the light of forgiveness. There is no sorrow still upon the earth. The joy of Heaven has come upon it.

The resurrection as described here refers to the awakening of the mind from its long dream. Jesus talks about the thinking of the world being reversed, and the remembrance of God shining across the world. It says that there is no sorrow upon the earth. My part in bringing this transformation about is to becoming entirely willing for my heart to be transformed.

When I want this and nothing else, it will be done, and my transformation will bring light into other minds, and theirs will be transformed as well, and spread light to others. A strong chain of Atonement will be welded as we each follow our inner guidance as we heal. We will be led unerringly to those who are ready for our gift, and will be guided to say or do whatever will be most helpful to that person.

What I have discovered is that it seems easy to let go of the belief in death as a concept, but harder to let go of specific beliefs and desires that represent death. For instance, attack thoughts, judgments, guilt, fear, and depression are all thoughts of death. The desire for anything the world has to offer is a desire for death. The belief that letting these thoughts and desires go is a sacrifice, is the belief in death.

If someone judges me and I accept their judgment as true and respond by attacking myself or them, I have chosen death over life. If I realize what I have done and feel guilty for my error, I have chosen death. If I project the guilt and feel it is their fault that I feel guilty or feel bad about myself, I have chosen death.

These feelings are so pervasive in the mind that it seems impossible to be free of them, and yet, Jesus did, and he says that we can too. Others have accomplished what Jesus accomplished, and so proven that Jesus is not special, but simply the first to do this. He is the way-shower and we are meant to follow, and therefore can.

I don’t worry about the end result and how hard it is or how long it takes. I have been given all the help I need and simple processes to use to strengthen my willingness and my state of readiness. I am told that the actual healing will be done for me and that has been my experience.

One moment I am suffering because of my beliefs, I realize that I don’t want these beliefs anymore and that they hold no value for me, and the next moment my mind is free. The only thing I did was to desire healing more than I did the drama of the moment, desire healing more than the belief I had held to for so long.

Sometimes it feels really hard to let go. I used to be plagued with doubts when this happened. I thought maybe this whole Course was wrong. I thought maybe I was the exception to the rule that everyone can do this and no one can fail. I was afraid that my sins were unforgivable. Or I would think that while everyone could and would do this, maybe I just wasn’t ready.

Because I continued in spite of my fears, I watched my mind be healed over and over in ways I could not have done on my own, and so my faith grew with each miracle. Now, I still experience great resistance to letting go of some beliefs, but I never doubt it will be done.

I just keep handing it over to the Holy Spirit. I am nothing if not persistent and my persistence always pays off. If I let go sooner, I suffer less, but regardless of the timing, I always eventually, let go, and allow the miracle of healing to occur. This is my part in bringing time to an end and resurrection to the world.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-13-12

6-13-12
28. WHAT IS THE RESURRECTION?

1 Very simply, the resurrection is the overcoming or surmounting of death. It is a re-awakening or a rebirth; a change of mind about the meaning of the world. It is the acceptance of the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of the world’s purpose; the acceptance of the Atonement for oneself. It is the end of dreams of misery, and the glad awareness of the Holy Spirit’s final dream. It is the recognition of the gifts of God. It is the dream in which the body functions perfectly, having no function except communication. It is the lesson in which learning ends, for it is consummated and surpassed with this. It is the invitation to God to take His final step. It is the relinquishment of all other purposes, all other interests, all other wishes and all other concerns. It is the single desire of the Son for the Father.

It seems that the resurrection is still part of the dream, but is a happier dream, one in which the ego belief system has been looked at, forgiven, and set aside. It is in this phase that all striving is done, all confusion about purpose is over. There is one desire and that is to know God. It is the invitation to God to take His final step.

We will all reach this phase in our awakening. It is inevitable. But each step must be taken in turn. The step itself may be protracted, or it may take only a moment, but it must be done. When A Course in Miracles says that we “need do nothing,” it is referring to the healing of the mind. That is done for us. In fact, you could say it is already done because nothing changed when we fell asleep other than our dream. So there really is nothing for us to do to be the Son of God we were created.

There is, however, much to undo. It was for a purpose that we were given that big blue book, with its many words and 365 lessons. My experience with it has been that all the words, all the lessons, all the practices have been absolutely essential for me, and all have been to bring me to the point that I want to remember what I have obscured in my mind.

I can only speak from my own experience, so here is the story of Myron waking up. ~smile~ These are the steps I have gone through. First I had to notice something was wrong, and conceive of the idea that there might be a better way. Then I had to give a little willingness to change my mind. This was a very protracted state for me as I had to make this decision repeatedly until the decision became stronger.

Contrast was a very helpful teaching aid during this phase. Many times I made a decision for God and felt peace, only to slip back into the ego for long periods where I again sampled the drama and confusion until it became too painful to bear. Then I would choose God again.

Next came vigilance and for me this felt like hard work, but the previous step, though it seemed over long to me, paid off. My determination was much stronger. I knew that what I had for so long accepted as “normal” was actually just a form of hell, and more importantly, I had a had a taste of happiness and peace, so I knew there was something else and that I wanted it.

During all of this I have been examining my thoughts and asking for healing. I have been given many tools to work with; practices, teachers, books and more. There were a lot of times when I doubted and then became afraid. There were many times when I chose the ego’s defenses and then realizing that his has never worked, returned to choosing God. I have gone back and forth many, many times until my certainty grew stronger and my desire for awakening more single minded.

From where I stand now it is easy to look back and see the patterns and be aware of all this. Trying to describe where I am now is harder. It’s like standing in the middle of the forest and trying to describe the parameters. I can only see what I have walked through and what is in my line of vision, but without the perspective of how each piece fits into the whole pattern it is hard for me to really understand and describe, even to myself.

I know that I am not what I seem and I know that I am ready to set aside all that I have believed. I also know that there is still some resistance to some of this, some bits that I seem attached to, but I know that it is just a matter of time. I never lose site of the truth. I might choose against if briefly, but even then I am aware of what I am doing, and I just return to my practice. Also I don’t get upset about my temporary set-backs, nor do I judge myself for them and that makes everything easier.

I’ve learned that I am not in charge of my awakening. I don’t decide what to work on next or how to do it. I wait for guidance in this and do my best to follow it. I have let go of the “need” to know or the “need” to be there. That is a lot more comfortable, too. I am noticing some of the things Jesus talks about. Even my body is functioning better as I less often use it for attack and defense and other forms of non-communication. I am happier and more peaceful and I have so much gratitude.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-12-12

6-12-12
7 Teacher of God, your one assignment could be stated thus: Accept no compromise in which death plays a part. Do not believe in cruelty, nor let attack conceal the truth from you. What seems to die has but been misperceived and carried to illusion. Now it becomes your task to let the illusion be carried to the truth. Be steadfast but in this; be not deceived by the “reality” of any changing form. Truth neither moves nor wavers nor sinks down to death and dissolution. And what is the end of death? Nothing but this; the realization that the Son of God is guiltless now and forever. Nothing but this. But do not let yourself forget it is not less than this.

When I pray that my mind be healed of a false belief, I always remind myself to disregard appearances. This is an important step for me because I tend to forget that what I see is simply a reflection of my beliefs and has no reality apart from that. I think, it appears as if it were outside me, I pretend that I had nothing to do with its appearance and take the appearance as proof that what I think must certainly be real. I mean, there it is, right?

I cannot trust anything the body’s eyes show me because they were made for the purpose of proving a falsehood to be true. They are a tool we use to help us make the illusion, and to make it possible for us to believe in the illusion. Now that I have decided to wake up from the dream of separation, I have to remind myself frequently that I cannot trust what I see.

I see bodies apparently die and I say to myself, “See, there is death. Obviously, there is death, I just saw that body die.” Actually, that body appeared to die because I want to believe in death. My belief in death is projected outward and appears in front of me like an incredibly realistic hologram.

Think Star Trek, The Next Generation. Captain Picard wants to re-experience a romantic moment with an old girlfriend so he goes to the Holodeck and calls it up from his thoughts about it. It all appears around him, the setting, the music, the people, just as he envisions it in his mind.

He has an incredibly vivid experience of it as he holds his lover and dances with her. He kisses her and feels the same responses he always did. But no matter how real it feels and looks, it is an illusion as becomes clear when he gets a call to duty and shuts the deck down. It all disappears as if it were never there.

When he calls up a fight scene he experiences it as if it were real. He fights and struggles with his opponent. He sweats and gets a workout, and hones his skills, and when he wins, his opponent seems to die. All appears to be very real, but again, it is just a Holodeck where one’s wishes are created from the thoughts in the mind.

The Holodeck mimics “life” as we seem to experience it, because that is exactly what is happening here, now at this very moment. What are you doing? Look around you at the hologram you created from the beliefs and wishes in your mind. When someone in your life seems to die, it is no different than the Captain’s opponent on the Holodeck. It appears very real. Do not be deceived by appearances.

This does not mean that I will stop being compassionate to those who have forgotten it’s a Holodeck. I will still hold them and let them cry. I will still send my condolences. I will still say, “I’m so sorry.” I will still go to the funeral because it is a comfort to my brothers whose minds are still clouded.

What about when people I love die? I don’t know. When my mom died, I did her funeral myself. I felt moments of intense loss. I went through periods of releasing guilt and allowing final healing of the relationships. I miss talking to her and being with her. Mom symbolized unconditional love for me, and I miss that in my life. But maybe these feelings are part of what we asked to experience when we asked for separation. None of the grief and sense of loss has been as intense or as extended as I expected, and I guess that’s because I had already begun to realize there is no death.

My acid test is when I think of one of my children dying. I cannot imagine anything more painful. I absolutely don’t believe my child can die, but I know that the story would go on without that child and that would hurt a lot. But no matter what, I know there is no death. 

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-11-12

6-11-12
6 “And the last to be overcome will be death.” Of course! Without the idea of death there is no world. All dreams will end with this one. This is salvation’s final goal; the end of all illusions. And in death are all illusions born. What can be born of death and still have life? But what is born of God and still can die? The inconsistencies, the compromises and the rituals the world fosters in its vain attempts to cling to death and yet to think love real are mindless magic, ineffectual and meaningless. God is, and in Him all created things must be eternal. Do you not see that otherwise He has an opposite, and fear would be as real as love? 

The last two sentences got me. What God creates must be eternal. How can death exist if God does? It is not possible. God is Life, God is Love, and it is not possible that God could have an opposite. The belief in an opposite of God is the ego and the ego is not real. It is the belief in the ego that we are here to undo.

Belief in death is just another form of attack. This morning I woke up before I was ready to get out of bed. I lay there for a few moments debating what to do. If I got up so early I would probably not feel energetic during the day. If I got up early I could get my writing done and still get to work on time, and maybe get some more work done on my website. Or maybe I would get up only to discover that I wasn’t really ready to wake up, and was too sleepy to really do anything.

I asked Holy Spirit what He would have me do. I turned my iPod to a Byron Katie meditation that I find calming and often lulls me into sleep. I went to that place halfway between sleep and wakefulness and it was there that Holy Spirit revealed to that I live in a constant state of war.

I was at war when I woke up. Get up, go back to sleep. Gain this, but lose that. What if I can’t go back to sleep? What if I shouldn’t go back to sleep? Uncertainty, doubt, stress. This is my boss’s fault. He is the one who suddenly decided we need to be at work early on Monday’s for a sales meeting, and now I’m pressured to get everything done on time. The discomfort of uncertainty leads to projection. The world is attacking me and I am defending myself through projection.

I hear in the background Katie’s soothing voice reminding me that Reality (her word for God) supports me. I have heard her say this innumerable times, but now I HEAR it. I am God’s own holy and beloved child. Everything loves me. Everything is for me. It was only my fevered imaginings born of unfounded guilt that led me to believe the world is attacking me.

The Holy Spirit showed me many other instances in which I saw myself as attacked. In my defenselessness my safety lies. If I stop projecting blame and trying to outsmart the “enemy” and simply lay my weapons down, I will be shown the Love that upholds me, surrounds and comforts me.

When my son was just a toddler he was experiencing a very frustrating moment. We were visiting at a home of a single couple. Nothing was child proofed. It seemed to him that he was thwarted at every turn as he just tried to do what came naturally to him, and everyone kept saying no, stop, don’t do that, don’t touch that. He became so frustrated that he lashed out in anger.

I understood and held him and tried to soothe him. He mistook my love and support as simply another limitation, another attempt to imprison him, this time with my arms, and he tried to fight his way free. I am like that. I imagine that I am being imprisoned and attacked at every turn and I defend myself, and the battle seems never to cease. But I am fighting an imaginary battle, and imaginary enemies. I am Love, I am loved. I am God’s Son and without enemies. I have simply misunderstood, and the Holy Spirit is reinterpreting for me.

I came fully awake to the reality that I have not been battling an enemy, but God. I realized that the ego mind was like my toddler son and in its fear and confusion was afraid to let go of the fight. I asked the Holy Spirit to heal my mind of the belief in attack. I really don’t want to hold onto this ineffective and unnecessary defense. I was invigorated and ready to start my day. So much energy is wasted on attack and defense. It’s a wonder that any of us has the energy to get through the day.

Death is just another imagined attack. I have tried to protect myself against it. I have tried to out-maneuver it. I have projected blame onto innocent people and innocent circumstances. I imagined death and then blamed God as the cause. Then I defended God with all sorts of convoluted reasoning because the belief that God was attacking me was too painfully fearful to bear. I have been fighting an illusion, a mirage, a thought form. Nothing is there. I am the Son of God, I am eternal, and death is just another false idea borne of unfounded guilt.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Study of Manual for Teachers 6-10-12

6-10-12
5 The “reality” of death is firmly rooted in the belief that God’s Son is a body. And if God created bodies, death would indeed be real. But God would not be loving. There is no point at which the contrast between the perception of the real world and that of the world of illusions becomes more sharply evident. Death is indeed the death of God, if He is Love. And now His Own creation must stand in fear of Him. He is not Father, but destroyer. He is not Creator, but avenger. Terrible His Thoughts and fearful His image. To look on His creations is to die.

Letting go of the belief in death is letting go of the belief in a cruel and punishing God. It is to let go of the desire to overcome and destroy Love (God) by making it something it is not. Have I been so determined to prove I am right to fear God that I would literally “die” to make my point? Evidently so. The surprise is that once seen for the sham it is, the belief in death can be easily laid aside.

Death is always going to be about the body. In order for me to believe in death I must believe in the body. I believe in an experience of a body, but I do not believe the experience is real and so do not believe in the body, therefore I don’t believe in death.

I still get caught up in the story of the body and become so involved that I might as well believe in it because I am so affected by it, but now I never completely lose my perspective. There is always a light in my mind and it draws me back to truth. My forays into forgetfulness are much shorter and less intense than they used to be.

Everyone withdraws his or her attention from the story at some point, but no one dies because there is no such thing as death. I still feel loss when someone disappears from my story. I still believe that communication ends when the body is no longer with me, and that is what causes the feeling of loss.

Well, I don’t believe that is true, that communication must end when the body is no longer maintained, but my experience of communication outside of bodies is so limited that I don’t fully believe in it either. I believe in the concept, but since my experience is limited, I still think there is a wall or some kind of block between myself and the one who is no longer expressing as a body.

That does not make sense, but that is my feeling. So I guess I still believe in death of a sort, at least death of communication. I suppose it is death as separation. If I believe I am lost, even temporarily, from someone who is not embodied, then I still believe in separation and separation is death. Holy Spirit, I am willing to let go of this belief. Please heal my mind.

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