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Study of Manual For Teachers 1/1/12

1 The role of teaching and learning is actually reversed in the thinking of the world. The reversal is characteristic. It seems as if the teacher and the learner are separated, the teacher giving something to the learner rather than to himself. Further, the act of teaching is regarded as a special activity, in which one engages only a relatively small proportion of one’s time. The course, on the other hand, emphasizes that to teach is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same. It also emphasizes that teaching is a constant process; it goes on every moment of the day, and continues into sleeping thoughts as well.

I went to college to be a teacher but never finished. I would have made a good teacher as it comes to me naturally. When I was Catholic I taught Catechism and mine was the favorite class.  All the kids wanted to be in it. A teacher once told me I am a natural teacher. And I do love to teach.

So why didn’t I graduate and become a teacher? The ego made up a lot of reasons to explain my “failure” to graduate, because this is what the ego does. But in truth, it simply was not my path. Teaching would turn out to be a tool that I would use, and this is why I am provided with that gift. I would need when I became a teacher of God.  Not that this is a required skill for every teacher, but it is helpful for the path that was designed specifically for me.

In truth we all teach all the time. We teach with our words, with our actions, with our thoughts. We teach to learn, and though we seekers study and study, it is really only through our practice (which is our teaching) that we learn. So what we do every day, what thoughts we entertain are very important. They are teaching us what we are. They are teaching the Mind what it is.

The Course says: I am alone in nothing. Everything I think and say or do teaches all the universe. Now there is a thought that will give me pause if I make yourself aware of it. When someone in the office upsets my customer and I want to jump down her throat, maybe I would like to pause a moment and remember the far reaching consequences of that action, the words I am planning to say, and yes, even the judgmental and angry thoughts in my mind.

I went to Walmart two days before Christmas, and the checkout lines were backed up into the clothing department. To tempt me further the ego mind pointed out they didn’t even have half their lanes open. The next day I went to Books A Million and while standing in line began a conversation with the person in front of me to pass the time. It was fine until she started remarking on her experience at Walmart the day before. I told her my story and we talked about the evil giant for awhile.

Suddenly I realized what I was doing. I couldn’t believe that this is what I chose to teach and therefore learn. I looked around and noticed everyone else who could hear us complaining. I thought about what a peaceful line of people it had been, and hoped I had not poisoned the atmosphere. I don’t want to be the one who sets my brother back on his path. My words were teaching the thought system I was identifying with at that moment. I am grateful that I now realize that I have a choice, and in that moment I made a different choice.

Here is my assignment to myself for the rest of the day. You can join me in this assignment if you like, or ask the Holy Spirit what He would have you do to reinforce this learning. All the study in the world won’t wake us up; only practice will do that.

I am going to write a note to myself and put it in a prominent place. It will say:

My every word, thought and deed is teaching me and everyone else. Is this what I want to teach?

Then I am asking the Holy Spirit to bring to my attention those times when I am teaching something I don’t want to learn, so I can make a different choice.

And finally, I am going to ask the Holy Spirit to teach me in my dreams.

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Root of Fear

While I was journaling my lesson, Holy Spirit talked to me about fear.

Holy Spirit: When you see some form of fear in your mind today, Myron, remind yourself that God loves you. He loves you with a love that is complete and unchanging, that is unaffected by your imaginings. He delights in you and all that you do. He doesn’t know judgment, only love. By using the ego’s fearful moments in this way you are allowing the root of fear to be shaken loose. Each time you do this, fear’s hold on you is permanently lessened.

Me: Of course. I see that when I try to avoid or change what seems to scare me I am just teaching myself that it is real and the cause of my fear. If I am worried about money then try to earn more to alleviate my worry, I have brought myself deeper into the illusion. I have caused myself to believe that the world is real and the cause of my concerns.

Holy Spirit: Yes, that is true. Fear found a place in your mind and the mind created images to explain the fear. The fear came first. The circumstances that you see with the body’s eyes are simply a reflection of this fear. All are within your mind; the fear, the story, the body that seems to be experiencing the story. Healing, therefore, must occur within the mind. Do not worship fear for it is a false god. Turn your back to it, and look toward your Creator Who is Love and does not offer fear. In this way are all fearful symbols relinquished for all time.

Later that day I had a wonderful opportunity to practice what I have been learning. Lately one of our chief competitors has become very proactive in soliciting our customers, and is sometimes successful. I went to see a very large customer and, while he had not bought from the other company, I could tell by his questions, he had been approached.

When I left I noticed how anxious I was. I noticed fear and fear defenses in my mind. Luckily, I had just downloaded NTI and was listening to Matthew while I drove. This was wonderfully helpful to me as I looked at the fear. I also received many thoughts from the Holy Spirit to help me remember the truth.

I remembered that this situation did not scare me. Nothing about it is the cause of my fear. It is the fear in my mind that caused the situation; so correcting the situation will not solve my problem. I imagine it this way: I see a leak in the levee. I put my hand over the leak to keep the water out, and just out of reach is another leak. Yikes, what now? This is what it is like trying to control the effects of the fear I have given a home in my mind.

The only real solution is to turn from the world where the problem is being played out, and to give my attention to the beliefs in my mind that created the story. As I remembered that it is not the story in my life that caused my fear; it is the fear in my mind that caused the story, I gladly asked for healing of the cause, rather than trying to rearrange the effect.

It was hard at first because I couldn’t take my eye off the water gushing out of the leaking levee. It is very hard to convince the thinking mind to ignore its warning system 〈what the body’s eyes tell it〉 and to understand the cause of the problem is somewhere else. So that is why I shut the thinking mind down entirely. It is only a distraction in a case like this.

I repeated my mantra several times. I allowed it to calm me down and take me from my thinking mind to my Heart. There I was reminded of the love my Father has for me. I was reminded that I am not fear. If I were fear, God would have to be fear as well, because He created me like Himself. I remembered to ask Him what I should do, rather than asking the ego mind. I remembered my purpose. My purpose has nothing to do with keeping customers. My job is to extend love to them and my competitors alike.

I had to repeat this or parts of it a few times, but in the end, peace prevailed. It was interesting to note that as I lost interest in financial fears, the ego tried to hook me with bodily fears, then relationship fears. It is a persistent little devil.

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Into His Presence

Holy Spirit, I ask that you be with me all day today, helping me to keep my focus on what is true. When I allow my mind to wander into illusions of what might have been or what I fear is to come, please remind me of the moment I am in now and that this is the only moment there is. It is in only this moment that I can choose again.

As I go through my day acting and reacting, please help me to bring my attention to my lesson, understanding that the body and the world are just the classroom for the lesson. I often forget that this is true and begin to act as if the purpose of life is to change the classroom. Help me to keep the purpose of life clearly in the forefront of my mind.

When I stand before my brother I often see the body and its actions and errors. Please help me to see the light that stands behind this dark vision so that I may learn to see the light within myself. I will be mindful of the judgments I make of my brother’s behaviors and I ask that you correct my thinking so that I don’t foolishly believe my brother is his behavior any more than he is his body.

Holy Spirit, it is so easy for me to forget that the body and personality associated with Myron is just a story of separation, and that I can watch this story to help me remember the truth about who I am. Please help me to remember to step back from this dream figure and notice what she does and says rather than thinking I need to control what she does and says. I am tired of trying to fix the dream, and long to awaken from it, but at the same time, it calls to me and tempts me to once again enter it fully. I cannot do that because I no longer fully believe in the illusion, and yet cannot fully release it. Please help me as I learn to detach from the dream.

This morning it is quiet and easy to feel Your ever present help. I can rest in You, and feel deep gratitude for that rest. As others join me in today’s story I become distracted and feel like I have lost my contact with You. Please help me to see that this is not possible. Help me learn to rise above the battleground and to be aware of You within me all during the day no matter who joins me or what dramas distract me. Help me to see the dramas as lessons rather than distractions.  Amen.

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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God’s Will or Self Will?

It is self-will that seems to be the stumbling block for me. I seem, even now, to be in love with my own will. I have a kidney stone that the doctor expects me to pass before Monday. I also had a wedding to officiate during the week. Most things can be postponed, but weddings, with their printed invitations and expensive catering and the availability of the rented hall…. well, you can’t just put a wedding off, especially at the last moment.

I was very nervous about this. I was afraid I would not be able to make it. If I just had a cold or something, I would have bullied my way through it, but if I am in the middle of passing a stone, this isn’t going to happen. I worried over the whole thing for awhile and thought I had found a solution, but that didn’t work out.

I began to notice that I was obsessing about it, and that I was listening to the mind with all its stories of doom and gloom, which is what the mind does. It weaves stories, and this weaving of stories continues the writing of script. This is not something I want to do, so I started my practices of mantra and surrender. I asked myself who it was that wanted to solve this problem. I asked the Holy Spirit to help me see differently. But then I would realize I was back to listening to the mind as it showed me that there really was a problem.

Finally, that night before I went to sleep, I asked the Holy Spirit to help me. When I woke up the next morning, I understood something. As I listened to the thinking mind tell its stories, I was stepping back into my little self. I was trying to assert my self-will in this situation. The mind said I had a problem (even thought nothing had happened, by the way) and that I needed to find a solution. I needed to make decisions and make plans.

As I became aware of what was happening, the anxiety melted away. I know I don’t want to do these things. I want to be fully surrendered to God. I want God to walk the earth through me. I cannot have this desire of my Heart if I wrest back control of the situation through asserting my self-will. As I remembered what I really want it became easy to let go.

The ego responded of course, and I had occasional thoughts about it. I had fear thoughts that it really is important that the wedding go on. But I was no longer confused and I just laughed at the idea I know what anything is for. I remembered the section from The Teachings of the Inner Ramana that says I have no control over the what, only over the where. I cannot control what was happening with my body or the wedding. However, I can control where I place my faith and my willingness. I chose to ignore the mind with its crazy thoughts, and to place my attention on the Heart where the Truth abides.

It was a beautiful wedding that went off without a hitch. 

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Power of Willingness

After several years of vigilance in watching my thoughts its clear to me that the ego is all about grievances. The mind is filled with judgmental thoughts, and is constantly projecting blame. These grievances are designed to keep separation in place. I cannot hold a grievance without believing I am separate from that thing or circumstance or person about whom I am agrieved. The only way to be free of grievances is to want to be free of them more than I want to hold onto them.

It is as simple as that. When I want freedom more than I want to be right, the process that is perfect for me at that time will be brought to my attention. Awakening is being directed by the One Mind. All that is required of me is that I desire to awake, that I give my willingness to this. It doesn’t have to be a complete willingness; I give the willingness that I have and trust that it will strengthen as I give it.

The ego must have been very busy in my dreams last night, because I woke up with a mind filled with grievances. As I noticed the depressing state of the mind I felt discouraged. I noticed the thought that I could never do this. It is just too hard. It is impossible. I sat down and opened to today’s lesson and thought, “How can I do this lesson while I feel this way?” This was the right question. When I was saying that I cannot do this, there was no room in my mind for correction. When I asked how I could do this, I was inviting correction.

I suddenly remembered that I do not need to listen to the chatter of the ego. I do not need to believe the ego thoughts that populate the mind. I remembered that I am not the little mind where the ego makes its miserable home. I was before the mind. When the mind is gone, I am. I am that I am. I remembered my desire to take my place among the saviors of the world. I asked for words that would help us wake up. I looked straight through the ego mind into the Mind where I actually abide. That is the power of my true desire. That is the power of Correction when I give my willingness to be corrected.

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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A Quiet Mind

2-9-11

Here is my favorite, the statement that I most want to be true for me all the time. I have a quiet mind. I am at peace. I am certain. I am joyous. When I think of these blessings, I see a mind that has become quiet because I have stopped giving its endless parade of nonsense thoughts my attention. Into this mind comes occasional directions on where to go, what to do, who to see and what to say to them. Otherwise it is this lovely quiet place.

One of the surprises of this discipline is learning that the reason it has been so hard to quiet the mind is because I secretly enjoyed all its little dramas. As I finally began to achieve some degree of success I saw panic thoughts. I saw fear of boredom. Who would keep me company? What would I do without thoughts to entertain and occupy me?

I read a lot. I read while I eat, while I wait for someone, when I am too tired to write, as I go to sleep. I drive all day as part of my job and I listen to books constantly. Once recently I was on my way to the store and reached for the cd controls. I realized I didn’t have anything to listen to. It was only a short drive so no biggee. I laughed at myself as I reached for the dial several times on that short drive. I have taught myself I need to be entertained by ego stories all the time.

So while I have finally gotten in touch with the desire for a quiet mind, I still had a lot of resistance to it. I was also afraid of a quiet mind. While listening to The Teachings of the Inner Ramana I heard something that further explained my resistance to the quiet mind. The constant thinking is my “I” self, my separate ego identity asserting itself. I would stop thinking long enough to become aware of what thoughts had been drifting in and out of my mind, and sure enough, it was I this and I that. I want some ice cream. I don’t like that person. I think I would prefer to stay at a different hotel tonight.

Yesterday, as this happened, I would stop myself from the endless loop of mindless thoughts, notice that it was the ego self reasserting its authority, and choose differently by asking, “What would You have me do?” It was an uphill battle. I have given ego free reign for too long to make this an easy change, but it is simple, and will inevitably be successful. I am blessed as a Son of God. I am very powerful.

The mind is my creation as is the ego identity.  I am not subservient to it, only confused about what I want. It may not seem important to realize that I am using the mind to choose what I want for supper and to stop and ask, “What would You have me eat?” It may even sound silly. Why would the Holy Spirit care what I eat? But it is another step in choosing to loosen the “I” identity.

I am blessed as the Son of God. I am at peace. I visualize myself in the eye of the hurricane. All around me chaos appears, but in my Self there is only calm certainty. I know who I am. I am that I am. Nothing that seems to happen in our story of separation can change that. I am still as I was created. Peace is my nature. Certainty is my nature. The winds of fortune shift and change and blow all around me but I stand in quiet curiosity, observing but unmoved.

I am blessed as the Son of God. I am joyous. I have always thought of awakening as very serious business. It is what I want, and while it is important, in fact, all that is important, I am beginning to realize it does not have to be serious. I am beginning to realize what a strange idea it is that awakening to the only thing that is true requires my serious concentration; that awakening is such a fragile state that laughter and fun would shatter it. I don’t know where I got that attitude, but I see that I was mistaking seriousness for firm intention. I am now firmly intent on joy.

Again, I have been surprised to discover a resistance to even this change. You would think that the idea of joy as a state of being would be so attractive that I would jump right on it. But the ego doesn’t seem all that attracted to joy. I will be feeling joy, joy without a story attached, just joy bubbling up in me and the ego will start throwing thoughts at me designed to pull me back to its reality. I will think of something worrisome or sad or potentially dangerous.

I have also discovered that joy is not really joy if it is part of a story. I can think of something happy that happened to me, and feel good about it, but that is not joy. Joy doesn’t depend on circumstances. So I can’t think joy into being. The ego doesn’t like this because it is something out of its “domain.” Joy just is, and to experience it I seem to only need to want it, and to not allow myself to choose something else instead. I speak of this in only the most uncertain terms because I am on new ground here. But, oh my, what glorious ground this is!

Holy Spirit: Indeed you are blessed as a Son of God! I encourage you to choose joy often. There will be so many opportunities all day long to choose God. When you smile, Heaven smiles with you.

Me: What a wonderful lesson. Thank You so much. I am willing to be very aware of those opportunities. I am so full of gratitude this morning, Holy Spirit. Yesterday I began to feel anxious by the end of the day. It seemed I was noticing the same thoughts all day long. I began to feel as if I were having no effect on the mind. But now I feel energized and ready to begin again.

Holy Spirit: Did you notice that even as you rose from sleep that the thinking mind was right there beginning its process of establishing dominance in the mind? Its first thought was one of deciding if you should get up at that moment or go back to sleep.

Me: Yes, I noticed that. I noticed the back and forth play as thoughts of sleep vs what needs to be done today, how I have felt in the past when I got up early vs how I felt when I slept late and didn’t get as much done as I thought I should. This opened a whole new line of thought creating doubt and uncertainty, and it began to feel confusing and discouraging. All of this in just a moment as I lay there. I never noticed before how burdensome all of this thinking is. I am encouraged, though, because I deliberately, and without thinking, asked what You would have me do.

Holy Spirit: I was hoping you noticed that. The ego judged the degree of your success yesterday based on its own interpretations. It cannot know if you succeeded because it doesn’t know what anything is for. After only a single day of concentrated effort on your part, you have shifted the ego dynamic. You began the day listening to the mind, and very quickly chose to give your attention to Me instead.

Today when the mind seems filled with discouraging thoughts, just look at them. Is that what you want to believe? Looking with belief is suffering. It is not necessary or helpful. Look, instead, with mild curiosity. Then ask Me for My thoughts instead.

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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If Guilt is Hell

2-8-11
This morning may be the first time ever that I answered, without hesitation or thought, the question, “If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?” The word that came into my awareness unbidden by the ego thinking mind was innocence. I am not guilty because I am innocent. You are not guilty because you are innocent. Innocence is Heaven. As I stand on that firm ground, that unchanging, unshifting ground, everything else falls gently into place.

I notice a thought in the mind that says I should have remembered my brother’s birthday. I feel guilt arise from believing and entertaining that thought. My obvious interest in guilty thoughts invites more of them into my mind and soon I am awash in guilt. It all happens very quickly, so quickly that it seems to be happening to me, rather than by me.

Recently, my vigilant practice has lifted me from those shifting sands and placed me on firmer ground. I have been using the mantra, “I am that I am.” And sometimes, “I am that I am, and I am nothing else.” I use the mantra as a constant reminder of my truth. I use it to break the cycle of guilty thinking. This morning I realize that this mantra is saying the same thing as today’s lesson. My holiness is my salvation. Both are excellent mantras with the same meaning. So is, “I am as God created me.” These words all remind me that I am not guilty, I am innocent.

Standing on this firm ground of innocence, when the thought appears that I should have remembered my brother’s birthday, I notice it and allow it to leave my mind. I do not give it my attention because I am not interested in entertaining guilt. I am not as enamored of guilt as I once was. I have not given it up completely, but I am more interested in letting it go than I am in feeding it with my faith. It has begun to starve from lack of attention.

As I continue this practice (which has been greatly helped by listening to the Inner Ramana Teachings as I drive all day in my job, or work around the house on weekends) something very interesting and wonderful is happening. I have begun to laugh at the idea of listening to the mind. I will be experiencing a perfect moment. Absolutely everything is perfect. There is nothing in that moment to complain about, worry about, or regret. The ego mind will offer me an objection; dredge up a memory from the past of an error that feels shameful, or, if I am not interested in those, it will invent some worry about the future.

If I give this ridiculous parade of thoughts my attention and concern the perfection of the moment dissolves into pain, sorrow, anger, fear; actually it doesn’t matter which of these because they are all the same. They are different forms of the same effect. Guilt has appeared as a thought in the mind and if embraced as true, its effect is lack of peace. The story doesn’t matter. The form of the effect doesn’t matter. Lack of peace is lack of peace.

The funny part, the part that makes me laugh is that I have begun to see the absurdity of believing my thoughts. I have to ask myself why on earth I ever gave these thoughts credence. As I think about it I laugh out loud! In the past the ego would say, “Here’s a reason to feel guilty.” And I would dutifully respond, “Oh yes, I see. Give me another memory to reinforce that guilt.”

I didn’t use those words, of course. After all, that wouldn’t be part of the game I play with the ego. In order to sustain the existence of the ego I have to pretend that I don’t know what is going on. But now that I have chosen to break that incredibly painful and destructive cycle and to call the ego on its game, I am having a lot of trouble taking it seriously. Thus I am going around laughing like a loon at unexpected moments.

I am looking forward to another day of watching the ego dissolve in my laughter. My visual is of the wicked witch of the west melting as Dorothy pours water on her. “Oh nooo!” In the story, the witch was terrifying and dangerous to Dorothy, and yet, in the end she was of such little substance that she could be dissolved by simple water. Guilt is much the same, it seems. It dissolves in the face of a simple mantra, and a gleeful laugh.

© 2011, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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