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Gentle Healing Lesson 153 Part 2, Manual for Teachers, Text.  7-8-19

Gentle Healing Lesson 153 Part 2
“We look past dreams today, and recognize that we need no defense because we are created unassailable, without all thought or wish or dream in which attack has any meaning.”

Be still a moment, and in silence think how holy is your purpose, how secure you rest, untouchable within its light. … And who could be more mightily protected?

In my everyday life, I see that this holds true for me. When I am afraid and defending myself, I feel attacked even when there is no attack. I feel vulnerable to attack not yet seen. For instance, when I think about my mom and her sister dying from Alzheimer’s if I follow that thought, I begin to worry about myself.

I am attracted to articles claiming the latest research and maybe adding another supplement to my daily regime because the claim is that it might help prevent that disease. This kind of defense seems natural and necessary to the ego mind, but all that it is doing is destroying my peace of mind and leading me away from Heaven.

On the other hand, when I remember that it is in my defenselessness that my safety lies, I hand the future over to the Holy Spirit. I surrender my mind to His use and I don’t have to think about it anymore or worry about it. It is no longer in my hands, as if it ever were, really. I am at peace, and happy and closer to knowing my Self and living from that Self. Ultimately, living from my true Self all the time, I can be completely defenseless at all times and at all times I will be in peace.

“Now we cannot fear, for we have left all fearful thoughts behind.”
Jesus leaves us this major clue in case we are unsure how to ensure defenselessness. Can I stop thinking fearful thoughts? I have not achieved that state as of yet, but when I think back to what my life used to be, I see such a difference that I know it is possible. I used to be afraid of everything. I tried to defend myself from every possible bad outcome, being careful, always on the alert for disaster, buying more insurance. None of these defenses did anything for me other than to make me more nervous.

Now I have learned that I have choices about my thoughts. I notice a fear thought and I decide if I am going to follow that thought or let it go. As I do this more and more often, I see that it has made a difference in my peace of mind and that the fear thoughts have slowed down. I suppose that is because I am not so interested. The only way to stop them completely is to remember my Self. My Self knows Who it is and knows no fear. My Self knows my choices here will not hurt who I am.

“It is the function of God’s ministers to help their brothers choose as they have done. …For you will not see the light, until you offer it to all your brothers. As they take it from your hands, so will you recognize it as your own.”

Over and over throughout the Course, Jesus tells us that to have Heaven, I must help my brothers achieve Heaven. How do I help my brothers? The most helpful thing I can do is to remember my Self or as Jesus says, my only function is to accept the Atonement for myself. I know that when I interact with those who have done is, I feel stronger and more certain myself.

When I have a challenge and need help with it, I turn to those who no longer believe in problems.

But even now, though I have not awakened fully, I have the opportunity to be helpful. When someone shares their problem with me, I don’t commiserate. I don’t help them look in the world a solution. Instead, I offer what works for me. I help them find the root cause. I offer forgiveness solutions. I help them see another way to approach the issue, a way that does not foster more fear. As I do this, my faith grows stronger and it is easier for me to see the truth the next time I am challenged.

“Salvation can be thought of as a game that happy children play.”

The world is not real, it is an illusion, a virtual playground that we enter through our thoughts. With thoughts that are in alignment with the thoughts of God, we can enter through the fun house and play games of salvation. Or with thoughts of the ego, thoughts of guilt and fear, we can enter through the dark gate and into the creep show.

We buy the ticket we want with our thoughts. So, I watch my thoughts and I watch my words. They will tell me what it is I believe and what I believe is what I want. I have learned which thoughts to encourage and which thoughts to release. It doesn’t have to feel like a deathly serious game. We are perfectly safe no matter which choice we make. Death is not real.

But, if we want a more pleasant experience, we can play the game consistently choosing those thoughts which keep us going in the direction that brings us more happiness, and closer to the gate that takes us out of the game. I used to watch my thoughts and forgive the ones that were not true, but I did it with a vengeance as if my every poor choice was the sin that would condemn me to hell forever. I would make a choice for ego thinking and I would double-down on the error by feeling guilty for it.

Now, I spin the wheel and whatever comes up is good. Either I will choose the thought that will bring me closer to happiness, or I will choose the one that will bring me something I don’t want. Either way, I win because I learn through contrast. I choose God and I receive joy and peace. I choose ego and what I get causes me to suffer and I learn what it is I don’t want the next time. It’s a win-win. I don’t have a choice about playing the game, but I can choose to play it consistency with curiosity and with a light heart knowing that in the end, I cannot lose.

“Today our theme is our defenselessness. We clothe ourselves in it, as we prepare to meet the day. We rise up strong in Christ, and let our weakness disappear, as we remember that His strength abides in us. We will remind ourselves that He remains beside us through the day, and never leaves our weakness unsupported by His strength. We call upon His strength each time we feel the threat of our defenses undermine our certainty of purpose. We will pause a moment, as He tells us, “I am here.”

Manual for Teachers
I don’t understand the world. I don’t understand anything about it because I have been trying to understand with the ego thinking mind. The ego can’t help me see what is really here because the ego doesn’t know what is really here. It only knows what it wants to see here and so that is all it can show me. The ego is interested in only separation and separation breeds anger, fear, guilt, pain, suffering of every kind, and death. It offers small doses of fleeting pleasure, and just enough satisfaction to keep us from seeking elsewhere.

When I try to imagine what the world is like without the ego, I imagine all living things existing in harmony in the Garden of Eden, paradise. This is the real world, the world of peace, and it exists this very moment right behind the world of the ego. We can’t see paradise because we are focused outward at the illusion, and paradise is within. However, my experience has been that I can live a much happier, more peaceful dream as I learn to disregard the ego and focus on what the HS shows me instead. I heard Kevin Rice say it this way: Don’t follow that thought!!! It is thought believed that causes suffering, so don’t believe the ego thoughts and don’t give them your attention. If the ego is showing us hell and we want paradise, then we have to stop following the ego into hell.

Text
Be humble before Him, and yet great in Him.

What I think this means to me is that it is God in me that is great and that works through me. It is not the ego in me that is holy, but rather it is in undoing the ego that I am released from littleness and can take my place beside Jesus in saving the world. Yes, the power of God is in me and it is through this power that we perform miracles as is His Will and our will, too. But I cannot use that power if I am trying to manipulate the world using the ego mind.

That is the difference between God’s plan for salvation and my ego plan. In my ego plan, I look at the effects of ego thinking and try to save these effects using more ego thoughts. Today, in doing Lesson 347, I was reminded of how we misunderstand salvation. Here is what I wrote.

Something that helped me to see what I have been doing is a message from the Holy Spirit shared by Regina Dawn Akers, in which He was helping her see that she uses her body as a depository for her sense of unworthiness. The way she explained it is that she looks at her body and feels unworthy and thinks it is the body that makes her feel this way. The Holy Spirit helped her to see that it works the other way around. She feels unworthy, projects it onto the body and then she can hope to improve the body and thereby become worthy. It is her plan for salvation. When I read this it was like a bright light came on in a darkened room.

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