We had about three inches of snow fall overnight here in Wisconsin Dells. Walking to Session at Endeavor Academy this morning, I fell, slipping on the ice beneath the snow, and landed perfectly on my back. Walking home, I fell again, but this time I landed on my right side, my arm jammed against my ribs. I laid there for a moment, unable to move, and I was surprised by a young woman’s voice because I hadn’t seen anyone around. She looked deeply into my eyes, being completely present, and asked if I were OK. I got up slowly and said that I might have broken my ribs. She asked if I wanted a ride, but I said I’d better walk it off.
Then she said do you want to pray and I said yes, and she held out her hands and I clasped them, and she prayed this long, spontaneous prayer, beginning “Dear God”, asking that I be healed and that my family be well and so forth. I actually felt much better, felt healed, and I thanked this angel profusely, knowing that we truly are surrounded by angels.
God's Name can not be heard without response,
nor said without an echo in the mind
that calls you to remember. Say His Name,
and you invite the angels to surround
the ground on which you stand, and sing to you
as they spread out their wings to keep you safe,
and shelter you from every worldly thought
that would intrude upon your holiness.
W-p1.183:2
I turned and walked away with a grateful heart, never looking back. I don’t know where she came from, or where she went, or where her car was.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
It is Always, Simply and Profoundly, a Matter of Awareness
Yesterday morning I woke up around 8 o’clock and faced the rather pleasant prospect of allowing the morning to unfold as it would because I had no particular agenda. I sat down with a cup of coffee and read the day’s Lesson. Everything was moving slowly, as I just sat quietly, looking out the window watching the pine branches swaying in the wind, listening to the wind chimes, seeing the first feathery flakes of snow falling, tentatively.
Then a Thought came to mind, “”Read something, randomly, from the Manual for Teachers.” I opened to, What is the Peace of God? I read it very slowly, lingering over each paragraph, sitting quietly between each one.
Then I came across this astonishing passage.
Forgive the world, and you will understand that everything that God created cannot have an end, and nothing He did not create is real. In this one sentence is our course explained. In this one sentence is our practicing given its one direction. And in this one sentence is the Holy Spirit’s whole curriculum specified exactly as it is. (M-20.5:7-10)
When I looked back at the words forgive, world, create, and the Holy Spirit, I was inspired to read the first paragraph of each of these four instructions on a theme of special relevance, as stated in the Introduction to Part II of the Workbook:
1. What is Forgiveness? 3. What is the World? 11. What is Creation? 7. What is the Holy Spirit?
1. What is Forgiveness?
Forgiveness recognizes what you thought
your brother did to you has not occurred.
It does not pardon sins and make them real.
It sees there was no sin. And in that view
are all your sins forgiven. What is sin,
except a false idea about God's Son?
Forgiveness merely sees its falsity,
and therefore lets it go. What then is free
to take its place is now the Will of God.
3. What is the World?
The world is false perception. It is born
of error, and it has not left its source.
It will remain no longer than the thought
that gave it birth is cherished. When the thought
of separation has been changed to one
of true forgiveness, will the world be seen
in quite another light; and one which leads
to truth, where all the world must disappear
and all its errors vanish. Now its source
has gone, and its effects are gone as well.
11. What is Creation?
Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts,
in number infinite, and everywhere
without all limit. Only love creates,
and only like itself. There was no time
when all that it created was not there.
Nor will there be a time when anything
that it created suffers any loss.
Forever and forever are God's Thoughts
exactly as they were and as they are,
unchanged through time and after time is done.
7. What is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit mediates between
illusions and the truth. Since He must bridge
the gap between reality and dreams,
perception leads to knowledge through the grace
that God has given Him, to be His gift to
everyone who turns to Him for truth.
Across the bridge that He provides are dreams
all carried to the truth, to be dispelled
before the light of knowledge. There are sights
and sounds forever laid aside. And where
they were perceived before, forgiveness has
made possible perception's tranquil end.
In the beginning of this essay, I said that a Thought came to me, and I capitalized Thought because the Thought was from God. It all comes down to awareness. In each moment, where is my awareness? Am I aware only of God’s Voice, the Holy Spirit speaking to me all through the day, or am I aware only of the incessant chatter of my separated mind?
It is always, either/or, on or off, wholeness or separation, Heaven or the world, Everything or nothing, Thoughts or thoughts, Love or fear, Real or unreal.
It always comes down to my awareness. When I am aware only of the peace of God, so be it, I am grateful for the grace of God, experiencing what is Real. When I am aware of fear, I ask the Holy Spirit for help to forgive my fear thoughts, so that I can be aware, again, of the peace of God, letting go of the unreal.
Forgive the world, and you will understand that everything that God created cannot have an end, and nothing He did not create is real.
Then a Thought came to mind, “”Read something, randomly, from the Manual for Teachers.” I opened to, What is the Peace of God? I read it very slowly, lingering over each paragraph, sitting quietly between each one.
Then I came across this astonishing passage.
Forgive the world, and you will understand that everything that God created cannot have an end, and nothing He did not create is real. In this one sentence is our course explained. In this one sentence is our practicing given its one direction. And in this one sentence is the Holy Spirit’s whole curriculum specified exactly as it is. (M-20.5:7-10)
When I looked back at the words forgive, world, create, and the Holy Spirit, I was inspired to read the first paragraph of each of these four instructions on a theme of special relevance, as stated in the Introduction to Part II of the Workbook:
1. What is Forgiveness? 3. What is the World? 11. What is Creation? 7. What is the Holy Spirit?
1. What is Forgiveness?
Forgiveness recognizes what you thought
your brother did to you has not occurred.
It does not pardon sins and make them real.
It sees there was no sin. And in that view
are all your sins forgiven. What is sin,
except a false idea about God's Son?
Forgiveness merely sees its falsity,
and therefore lets it go. What then is free
to take its place is now the Will of God.
3. What is the World?
The world is false perception. It is born
of error, and it has not left its source.
It will remain no longer than the thought
that gave it birth is cherished. When the thought
of separation has been changed to one
of true forgiveness, will the world be seen
in quite another light; and one which leads
to truth, where all the world must disappear
and all its errors vanish. Now its source
has gone, and its effects are gone as well.
11. What is Creation?
Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts,
in number infinite, and everywhere
without all limit. Only love creates,
and only like itself. There was no time
when all that it created was not there.
Nor will there be a time when anything
that it created suffers any loss.
Forever and forever are God's Thoughts
exactly as they were and as they are,
unchanged through time and after time is done.
7. What is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit mediates between
illusions and the truth. Since He must bridge
the gap between reality and dreams,
perception leads to knowledge through the grace
that God has given Him, to be His gift to
everyone who turns to Him for truth.
Across the bridge that He provides are dreams
all carried to the truth, to be dispelled
before the light of knowledge. There are sights
and sounds forever laid aside. And where
they were perceived before, forgiveness has
made possible perception's tranquil end.
In the beginning of this essay, I said that a Thought came to me, and I capitalized Thought because the Thought was from God. It all comes down to awareness. In each moment, where is my awareness? Am I aware only of God’s Voice, the Holy Spirit speaking to me all through the day, or am I aware only of the incessant chatter of my separated mind?
It is always, either/or, on or off, wholeness or separation, Heaven or the world, Everything or nothing, Thoughts or thoughts, Love or fear, Real or unreal.
It always comes down to my awareness. When I am aware only of the peace of God, so be it, I am grateful for the grace of God, experiencing what is Real. When I am aware of fear, I ask the Holy Spirit for help to forgive my fear thoughts, so that I can be aware, again, of the peace of God, letting go of the unreal.
Forgive the world, and you will understand that everything that God created cannot have an end, and nothing He did not create is real.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Catching a Glimpse of the Truth Increases My Awareness of the Presence of God.
Just after I turned forty, I was taken by complete surprise when I was told by my Dean that I was terminated from my job. I was coaching and teaching at a small college, and he had invited me to lunch at a rather nice restaurant. Just after our food was served, he informed me of my termination with very little explanation. I felt ambushed, and having lost my appetite, I stood up and left. To that point in my life, I had never felt such devastation and shame and fear. I rationalized that we had just brought in a new college president, and I had been caught in faculty politics.
On a practical level, I still had mortgage payments and bills and a family to take care of. On an emotional level, I was facing shame and unworthiness and a complete lack of identity. I remember walking home from the restaurant with tears in my eyes saying to myself, “If I’m not a coach and a teacher, who am I?” Further, I had nothing to fall back on as far as faith, or spirituality, never having gone to church or taken a spiritual path. My life was becoming increasingly difficult, and I was in the early stages of undergoing psychotherapy.
To fill my days, I would walk the three miles from my home to downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, go to the library, look for jobs, and read all morning, go to lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then return to the library for the afternoon, and walk home in the evening—all the time wounded and depressed and lonely.
One day I was walking into town, and the words “sea change” came into my mind. Through therapy, I had begun to pay attention to such “free associations,” and as soon as I arrived at the library, I looked it up. It comes from a song by Ariel in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a play I had studied in college as an English major.
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea change
Into something rich and strange.
(Shakespeare, The Tempest, 1, ii,399-404)
This was my first break since the termination. I felt buoyed up, I felt there was hope, I felt that, perhaps, even I, a shameful bottom-feeder, could be transformed into something rich and strange, just as eyes turned to pearls and bones turned to coral. I love that “sea change” means “a profound transformation.”
At about the same time, I read an article where the columnist explained the meaning of the Chinese ideograms that make up the meaning of the word, “Crisis.” (An ideogram is a symbol used in some writing systems, e.g., those of Japan and China, that directly but abstractly represents a thing or concept itself rather than the word for it.) It seems that in Chinese two ideograms are used to express it, one means danger and the other opportunity. I saw that the danger in my crisis would be to continue looking at the world as I always had, that it was a given, and I was a victim, and that the only thing I could do was to adjust to it, always trying to find more peace and less conflict, that I would always be facing such dualities, there being no alternative.
Or I could see this as an opportunity to look at things differently. I could begin to trust ideas that came to mind, ideas that were glimpses of Truth beyond the world I saw. I could begin to trust that I was not alone. I could trust that there is an alternative to this way of looking at the world, that, perhaps, this is all a dream, as Prospero says in The Tempest.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
(The Tempest, IV, I,156-158)
Looking back, I realize that the termination truly turned into an opportunity. I began seriously searching for truth beyond my sensory experiences. I focused on my therapy, I read books, voraciously, like Lao Tzu's The Way, The Bhagavad Gita, and Krishnamurti, and Jung, and books on Zen. I joined “New Age” groups, I meditated, and finally, five years after the crisis, I came across A Course in Miracles, in fact, my wife, Christine, gave me the Course on Christmas Day, 1986, and seventeen years after the termination, I crossed the threshold of Endeavor Academy in the Wisconsin Dells.
In retrospect, I am grateful for that “fateful” lunch and realize that my Dean was, indeed, my savior. I was saved from my investment in the dream, the illusion, the mirage, the mass hypnotism projected from my limited, egoic self, and I began to catch more and more glimpses of the true alternative that I am the holy Son of God, Himself.
This all came back to me yesterday while reading a chapter in a book by Joel Goldsmith (1892-1964) entitled, The Art of Spiritual Healing. He reminds me that I do not really hear the truth until I feel hopeless, until I am on my knees.
Spiritual healing often has far greater success with incurable diseases than with the curable ones because when a doctor says, “I’ve done all I can do,” the patient gives up hope of a cure from material medica and, in his hopelessness, he is receptive and responsive to the spiritual impulse. (Joel Goldsmith, The Art of of Spiritual Healing, Chapter V, "What Did Hinder You!", p. 57)
And “sea change” was, indeed, a spiritual impulse. That was the beginning of my awakening, a process continuing to this day, the initial realization that I am dreaming.
Just for a moment imagine that you are experiencing an unpleasant night dream: You are in the ocean, swimming; you have gone out too far; you look back toward the shore and see that there is very little hope of rescue. Even though you shout your lungs, no one can hear you. And so you are seized with fear. You struggle and strive to reach the shore, and, of course, the harder you fight the harder the ocean fights you. There is only one thing left for you to do—drown. Yes, drown—but wait! In your fight, you shouted and someone heard you, came over and shook you, woke you up, and behold the miracle! The drowning self disappeared; the ocean disappeared; the struggle disappeared. You awakened and found that you had never left your comfortable home. All that was necessary in order to be released from the struggle was to awaken. This is the nature of spiritual healing. Whether you are struggling with some form of sin, false appetite, disease, poverty, unemployment, or unhappiness, stop struggling and wake up. Wake up to your true identity. You are not a swimmer in a deep ocean; you are not a sufferer in sin and disease; you are not a coach, teacher; you are the Christ-consciousness, a child of God, and the very error you are fighting, you are perpetuating by that fighting. (Goldsmith, p. 58)
. . . unemployment.
Whatever the form it takes, I need constant reminders that “This is not so, I am dreaming, Help!”
I have come to learn through A Course in Miracles that reminders of the Truth of what I am, God’s holy Son, are always available, and that these spiritual impulses will come into my awareness when I stand still for a moment and ask for help. I have learned to trust that they will come into my mind just as “sea change” came to mind, gifts, infused with the power of God. These reminders come to me in a variety of forms: Reason, Forgiveness, Trust,
Gratitude, Peace, Receptivity, and God’s Will.
REASON
Reason helps me sort out the true from the false in respect to the premises, or foundations, of my thinking process. The clearest way to look at this process is to consider a syllogism, for example:
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
A syllogism demonstrates that if the first two premises are valid, then the conclusion is valid. Of course, the irony here is that philosophers through the generations have used this syllogism as a good example of establishing validity, when, in fact, it is completely invalid because all men are immortal. It is also ironic that they would use Socrates because he said these words about his immortality at his trial:
If death is a removal from here to some other place, and if what we are told is true, that all the dead are there, what greater blessing could there be than this, gentlemen? . . .How much would one of you give to meet Orpheus and Musaeus, Hesiod and Homer? I am willing to die ten times over if this account is true. . .They are now immortal for the rest of time, if what we are told is true. (The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Pantheon Books, New York, 1961, “The Apology,” p. 25)
Jesus begins the Lessons of His Course by establishing a valid premise in the title to Lesson 1:
Nothing I see means anything.
We learn through His systematic mind-training how to complete the syllogism:
I see a tree.
Therefore, the tree means nothing.
Jesus teaches us from the beginning that what is visible is unreal, meaning nothing, and He leads us to experience that what is invisible is real, meaning everything.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein, lies the peace of God.
Jesus begins where He does because He knows that for our entire lives we have taken for granted that seeing means something, basing our lives on this syllogism:
Everything I see means something.
I see a tree.
That tree means something.
And, of course, what the tree means depends on my past—memories and judgments and associations, and what it means to you depends on your particular memories and judgments and associations. And we think we can communicate with each other on this level?
Thank God for A Course in Miracles. It is a systematic mind-training that reverses our habitual, conditioned way of seeing falsely, so that we can learn to see truly. That complete reversal is what a “sea change” means, a sudden reversal of the tide.
Fidelity to premises is a law of the mind and everything God created is faithful to His laws. But fidelity to other laws is also possible not because they are true, but because you made them. (The Urtext, p. 128)
FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness is a shift in awareness from the dream, the unreal, the past, to the awareness of the truth, the real, the present, the peace of God.
Unless the past is over in my mind,
the real world must escape my sight. For I
am really looking nowhere; seeing but
what is not there. How can I then perceive
the world forgiveness offers? This the past
was made to hide, for this the world that can
be looked on only now. It has no past.
For what can be forgiven but the past,
and if it is forgiven it is gone.
(W-pII.289.1)
Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing you see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will you value like unto this, nor hold so dear. Nothing that you remember that made your heart sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you. For you will see the Son of God. You will behold the beauty the Holy Spirit loves to look upon, and which he thanks the Father for. He was created to see this for you, until you learned to see it for yourself. And all his teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with him.
This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the truth. The bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross, that you could not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different. Yet this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches on this world at all. This little step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stride through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness into beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection.
(T-17.II.1,2)
GRATITUDE
I know I am experiencing gratitude when my chest becomes infused with warmth, and I tear up, and my mind is still, my heart filling with love.
Walk, then, in gratitude the way of love.
For hatred is forgotten when we lay
comparisons aside. What more remains
as obstacles to peace? The fear of God
is now undone at last, and we forgive
without comparing. Thus we cannot choose
to overlook some things, and yet retain
some other things still locked away as "sins."
When your forgiveness is complete you will
have total gratitude, for you will see
that everything has earned the right to love
by being loving, even as your Self.
Our gratitude will pave the way to Him,
and shorten our learning time by more
than you could ever dream of. Gratitude
goes hand in hand with love, and where one is
the other must be found. For gratitude
is but an aspect of the Love which is
the Source of all creation. God gives thanks
to you, His Son, for being what you are;
His Own completion and the Source of love,
along with Him. Your gratitude to Him
is one with His to you. For love can walk
no road except the way of gratitude,
and thus we go who walk the way to God.
(W-pII.195.8,10)
TRUST
And now I trust that no matter how I feel while my awareness is on seeing through the body’s eyes, using false premises, experiencing pain and despair, I know that I can shift to another awareness, knowing that “This is not so.” There is only the peace of God, that nothing I see means anything, even though there may be a gap between the recognition and the peace.
For an expression of trust, I am turning to a little book, God Calling. In 1932, a woman came across a book entitled For Sinners by A. J. Russell. Reading the book, she was led to believe that if she were to sit down with a good friend, a “spiritual” woman with “pencil and paper in hand, “ they would receive messages from Jesus. And, indeed, they did. In this little book are messages for each day of the year. Here is the message of October 6, entitled "A Child’s Hand."
Yes, cling. Your trust shall be rewarded. Do you not know what it means to feel a little trusting hand in yours, to know a child's confidence? Does that not draw out our Love and desire to protect, to care? Think what My Heart feels, when in your helplessness you turn to Me, clinging, desiring My Love and Protection. Would you fail that child, faulty and weak as you are? Could I fail you? Just know it is not possible. Know all is well. You must not doubt. You must be sure. There is no eleventh-hour rescue I cannot accomplish. (A. J. Russell (Ed.), God Calling (Barbour, Ohio, 1989, October 6)
And this is Jesus speaking:
If it helps you, think of me holding your hand and leading you. And I assure you this will be no idle fantasy. (W-p1.70.9:3,4)
PEACE
One morning I was sitting on the couch looking out the window, absent-mindedly running through the events of the coming day, and all of a sudden I was overcome by utter peacefulness; I was lifted out. Then, this came into my mind, “This is my only function, this is my only purpose.” I realized that while I walk in the world, but not of it, my only function is to come into this state of mind, the awareness of the peace of God. This is my only purpose, and this is simple. I came into full understanding of Brother Laurence’s phrase, “It’s not what you do, it’s the state of mind in which you do it.”
The peace of God is shining in you now,
and from your heart extends around the world.
It pauses to caress each living thing,
and leaves a blessing with it that remains
forever and forever. What it gives
must be eternal. It removes all thoughts
of the ephemeral and valueless.
It brings renewal to all tired hearts,
and lights all vision as it passes by.
All of its gifts are given everyone,
and everyone unites in giving thanks
to you who give, and you who have received.
(W-pII.188.3)
While you stand to one side as a witness or a beholder, eventually a state of peace will come. Then you will catch a glimpse of God as Is—not a power over anything, just God is. You begin to understand that no power does anything to anyone, and you become a beholder as reality begins to appear. All problems fade out in proportion as you develop this ability to be quiet, to behold, and to witness divine harmony unfold. (Goldsmith, p. 68)
Please read the following passage aloud and hear Jesus saying to you, The hush of heaven holds my heart today, (Lesson 286), as you would soothe a crying baby, “Hush, shhhhh.” Listen to Jesus’s soothing “s” sounds.
In Him you have no cares and no concerns,
no burdens, no anxiety, no pain,
no fear of future and no past regrets.
In timelessness you rest, while time goes by
without its touch upon you, for your rest
can never change in any way at all.
You rest today. And as you close your eyes,
sink into stillness. Let these periods
of rest and respite reassure your mind
that all its frantic fantasies were but
the dreams of fever that has passed away.
Let it be still and thankfully accept
its healing. No more fearful dreams will come,
now that you rest in God. Take time today
to slip away from dreams and into peace.
(W-pII.109.5)
RECEPTIVITY
When I am experiencing the peace of God, I am receptive to God’s Voice, the Holy Spirit. Often, during the day, I experience an idea coming to me, unbidden. It’s the having of wonderful ideas.
. . . “sea change.”
Let every voice but God's be still in me.
Father, today I would but hear Your Voice.
In deepest silence I would come to You,
to hear Your Voice and to receive Your Word.
I have no prayer but this: I come to You
to ask You for the truth. And truth is but
Your Will, which I would share with You today.
Today we let no ego thoughts direct
our words or actions. When such thoughts occur,
we quietly step back and look at them,
and then we let them go. We do not want
what they would bring with them. And so we do
not choose to keep them. They are silent now.
And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love,
God speaks to us and tells us of our will,
as we have chosen to remember Him.
(W-pII.254)
And so, in conversation with a friend, perhaps one who has come to me for help, I simply listen, step back, and often find myself saying, “This just came to mind,” and I trust that whatever it is, it will be helpful for both of us.
Your healing Voice protects all things today,
and so I leave all things to You. I need
be anxious over nothing. For Your Voice
will tell me what to do and where to go;
to whom to speak and what to say to him,
what thoughts to think,
what words to give the world.
The safety that I bring is given me.
Father, Your Voice protects all things through me.
(W-pII.275.2)
GOD’S WILL
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
When I get out of the way, God’s will and mine are one; not mine but Thine.
Your will be done, you holy child of God.
It does not matter if you think you are
in earth or Heaven. What your Father wills
of you can never change. The truth in you
remains as radiant as a star, as pure
as light, as innocent as love itself.
And you are worthy that your will be done!
(T-31.VI.7)
God does not know of learning. Yet His Will
extends to what He does not understand,
in that He wills the happiness His Son
inherited of Him be undisturbed;
eternal and forever gaining scope,
eternally expanding in the joy
of full creation, and eternally
open and wholly limitless in Him.
That is His Will. And thus His Will provides
the means to guarantee that it is done.
(W-pII.193.1)
Wherever I am, the Father within me is; therefore, wherever I am, the Father within me is about His business. (Goldsmith, p. 41)
These reminders, literally, "bring to mind again" the remembrance that I am God's most holy Son in whom He is well pleased.
On a practical level, I still had mortgage payments and bills and a family to take care of. On an emotional level, I was facing shame and unworthiness and a complete lack of identity. I remember walking home from the restaurant with tears in my eyes saying to myself, “If I’m not a coach and a teacher, who am I?” Further, I had nothing to fall back on as far as faith, or spirituality, never having gone to church or taken a spiritual path. My life was becoming increasingly difficult, and I was in the early stages of undergoing psychotherapy.
To fill my days, I would walk the three miles from my home to downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, go to the library, look for jobs, and read all morning, go to lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then return to the library for the afternoon, and walk home in the evening—all the time wounded and depressed and lonely.
One day I was walking into town, and the words “sea change” came into my mind. Through therapy, I had begun to pay attention to such “free associations,” and as soon as I arrived at the library, I looked it up. It comes from a song by Ariel in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a play I had studied in college as an English major.
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea change
Into something rich and strange.
(Shakespeare, The Tempest, 1, ii,399-404)
This was my first break since the termination. I felt buoyed up, I felt there was hope, I felt that, perhaps, even I, a shameful bottom-feeder, could be transformed into something rich and strange, just as eyes turned to pearls and bones turned to coral. I love that “sea change” means “a profound transformation.”
At about the same time, I read an article where the columnist explained the meaning of the Chinese ideograms that make up the meaning of the word, “Crisis.” (An ideogram is a symbol used in some writing systems, e.g., those of Japan and China, that directly but abstractly represents a thing or concept itself rather than the word for it.) It seems that in Chinese two ideograms are used to express it, one means danger and the other opportunity. I saw that the danger in my crisis would be to continue looking at the world as I always had, that it was a given, and I was a victim, and that the only thing I could do was to adjust to it, always trying to find more peace and less conflict, that I would always be facing such dualities, there being no alternative.
Or I could see this as an opportunity to look at things differently. I could begin to trust ideas that came to mind, ideas that were glimpses of Truth beyond the world I saw. I could begin to trust that I was not alone. I could trust that there is an alternative to this way of looking at the world, that, perhaps, this is all a dream, as Prospero says in The Tempest.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
(The Tempest, IV, I,156-158)
Looking back, I realize that the termination truly turned into an opportunity. I began seriously searching for truth beyond my sensory experiences. I focused on my therapy, I read books, voraciously, like Lao Tzu's The Way, The Bhagavad Gita, and Krishnamurti, and Jung, and books on Zen. I joined “New Age” groups, I meditated, and finally, five years after the crisis, I came across A Course in Miracles, in fact, my wife, Christine, gave me the Course on Christmas Day, 1986, and seventeen years after the termination, I crossed the threshold of Endeavor Academy in the Wisconsin Dells.
In retrospect, I am grateful for that “fateful” lunch and realize that my Dean was, indeed, my savior. I was saved from my investment in the dream, the illusion, the mirage, the mass hypnotism projected from my limited, egoic self, and I began to catch more and more glimpses of the true alternative that I am the holy Son of God, Himself.
This all came back to me yesterday while reading a chapter in a book by Joel Goldsmith (1892-1964) entitled, The Art of Spiritual Healing. He reminds me that I do not really hear the truth until I feel hopeless, until I am on my knees.
Spiritual healing often has far greater success with incurable diseases than with the curable ones because when a doctor says, “I’ve done all I can do,” the patient gives up hope of a cure from material medica and, in his hopelessness, he is receptive and responsive to the spiritual impulse. (Joel Goldsmith, The Art of of Spiritual Healing, Chapter V, "What Did Hinder You!", p. 57)
And “sea change” was, indeed, a spiritual impulse. That was the beginning of my awakening, a process continuing to this day, the initial realization that I am dreaming.
Just for a moment imagine that you are experiencing an unpleasant night dream: You are in the ocean, swimming; you have gone out too far; you look back toward the shore and see that there is very little hope of rescue. Even though you shout your lungs, no one can hear you. And so you are seized with fear. You struggle and strive to reach the shore, and, of course, the harder you fight the harder the ocean fights you. There is only one thing left for you to do—drown. Yes, drown—but wait! In your fight, you shouted and someone heard you, came over and shook you, woke you up, and behold the miracle! The drowning self disappeared; the ocean disappeared; the struggle disappeared. You awakened and found that you had never left your comfortable home. All that was necessary in order to be released from the struggle was to awaken. This is the nature of spiritual healing. Whether you are struggling with some form of sin, false appetite, disease, poverty, unemployment, or unhappiness, stop struggling and wake up. Wake up to your true identity. You are not a swimmer in a deep ocean; you are not a sufferer in sin and disease; you are not a coach, teacher; you are the Christ-consciousness, a child of God, and the very error you are fighting, you are perpetuating by that fighting. (Goldsmith, p. 58)
. . . unemployment.
Whatever the form it takes, I need constant reminders that “This is not so, I am dreaming, Help!”
I have come to learn through A Course in Miracles that reminders of the Truth of what I am, God’s holy Son, are always available, and that these spiritual impulses will come into my awareness when I stand still for a moment and ask for help. I have learned to trust that they will come into my mind just as “sea change” came to mind, gifts, infused with the power of God. These reminders come to me in a variety of forms: Reason, Forgiveness, Trust,
Gratitude, Peace, Receptivity, and God’s Will.
REASON
Reason helps me sort out the true from the false in respect to the premises, or foundations, of my thinking process. The clearest way to look at this process is to consider a syllogism, for example:
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
A syllogism demonstrates that if the first two premises are valid, then the conclusion is valid. Of course, the irony here is that philosophers through the generations have used this syllogism as a good example of establishing validity, when, in fact, it is completely invalid because all men are immortal. It is also ironic that they would use Socrates because he said these words about his immortality at his trial:
If death is a removal from here to some other place, and if what we are told is true, that all the dead are there, what greater blessing could there be than this, gentlemen? . . .How much would one of you give to meet Orpheus and Musaeus, Hesiod and Homer? I am willing to die ten times over if this account is true. . .They are now immortal for the rest of time, if what we are told is true. (The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Pantheon Books, New York, 1961, “The Apology,” p. 25)
Jesus begins the Lessons of His Course by establishing a valid premise in the title to Lesson 1:
Nothing I see means anything.
We learn through His systematic mind-training how to complete the syllogism:
I see a tree.
Therefore, the tree means nothing.
Jesus teaches us from the beginning that what is visible is unreal, meaning nothing, and He leads us to experience that what is invisible is real, meaning everything.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein, lies the peace of God.
Jesus begins where He does because He knows that for our entire lives we have taken for granted that seeing means something, basing our lives on this syllogism:
Everything I see means something.
I see a tree.
That tree means something.
And, of course, what the tree means depends on my past—memories and judgments and associations, and what it means to you depends on your particular memories and judgments and associations. And we think we can communicate with each other on this level?
Thank God for A Course in Miracles. It is a systematic mind-training that reverses our habitual, conditioned way of seeing falsely, so that we can learn to see truly. That complete reversal is what a “sea change” means, a sudden reversal of the tide.
Fidelity to premises is a law of the mind and everything God created is faithful to His laws. But fidelity to other laws is also possible not because they are true, but because you made them. (The Urtext, p. 128)
FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness is a shift in awareness from the dream, the unreal, the past, to the awareness of the truth, the real, the present, the peace of God.
Unless the past is over in my mind,
the real world must escape my sight. For I
am really looking nowhere; seeing but
what is not there. How can I then perceive
the world forgiveness offers? This the past
was made to hide, for this the world that can
be looked on only now. It has no past.
For what can be forgiven but the past,
and if it is forgiven it is gone.
(W-pII.289.1)
Can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you? In no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely. Nothing you see here, sleeping or waking, comes near to such loveliness. And nothing will you value like unto this, nor hold so dear. Nothing that you remember that made your heart sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you. For you will see the Son of God. You will behold the beauty the Holy Spirit loves to look upon, and which he thanks the Father for. He was created to see this for you, until you learned to see it for yourself. And all his teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with him.
This loveliness is not a fantasy. It is the real world, bright and clean and new, with everything sparkling under the open sun. Nothing is hidden here, for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the truth. The bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross, that you could not believe it is the meeting place of worlds so different. Yet this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches on this world at all. This little step, so small it has escaped your notice, is a stride through time into eternity, beyond all ugliness into beauty that will enchant you, and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection.
(T-17.II.1,2)
GRATITUDE
I know I am experiencing gratitude when my chest becomes infused with warmth, and I tear up, and my mind is still, my heart filling with love.
Walk, then, in gratitude the way of love.
For hatred is forgotten when we lay
comparisons aside. What more remains
as obstacles to peace? The fear of God
is now undone at last, and we forgive
without comparing. Thus we cannot choose
to overlook some things, and yet retain
some other things still locked away as "sins."
When your forgiveness is complete you will
have total gratitude, for you will see
that everything has earned the right to love
by being loving, even as your Self.
Our gratitude will pave the way to Him,
and shorten our learning time by more
than you could ever dream of. Gratitude
goes hand in hand with love, and where one is
the other must be found. For gratitude
is but an aspect of the Love which is
the Source of all creation. God gives thanks
to you, His Son, for being what you are;
His Own completion and the Source of love,
along with Him. Your gratitude to Him
is one with His to you. For love can walk
no road except the way of gratitude,
and thus we go who walk the way to God.
(W-pII.195.8,10)
TRUST
And now I trust that no matter how I feel while my awareness is on seeing through the body’s eyes, using false premises, experiencing pain and despair, I know that I can shift to another awareness, knowing that “This is not so.” There is only the peace of God, that nothing I see means anything, even though there may be a gap between the recognition and the peace.
For an expression of trust, I am turning to a little book, God Calling. In 1932, a woman came across a book entitled For Sinners by A. J. Russell. Reading the book, she was led to believe that if she were to sit down with a good friend, a “spiritual” woman with “pencil and paper in hand, “ they would receive messages from Jesus. And, indeed, they did. In this little book are messages for each day of the year. Here is the message of October 6, entitled "A Child’s Hand."
Yes, cling. Your trust shall be rewarded. Do you not know what it means to feel a little trusting hand in yours, to know a child's confidence? Does that not draw out our Love and desire to protect, to care? Think what My Heart feels, when in your helplessness you turn to Me, clinging, desiring My Love and Protection. Would you fail that child, faulty and weak as you are? Could I fail you? Just know it is not possible. Know all is well. You must not doubt. You must be sure. There is no eleventh-hour rescue I cannot accomplish. (A. J. Russell (Ed.), God Calling (Barbour, Ohio, 1989, October 6)
And this is Jesus speaking:
If it helps you, think of me holding your hand and leading you. And I assure you this will be no idle fantasy. (W-p1.70.9:3,4)
PEACE
One morning I was sitting on the couch looking out the window, absent-mindedly running through the events of the coming day, and all of a sudden I was overcome by utter peacefulness; I was lifted out. Then, this came into my mind, “This is my only function, this is my only purpose.” I realized that while I walk in the world, but not of it, my only function is to come into this state of mind, the awareness of the peace of God. This is my only purpose, and this is simple. I came into full understanding of Brother Laurence’s phrase, “It’s not what you do, it’s the state of mind in which you do it.”
The peace of God is shining in you now,
and from your heart extends around the world.
It pauses to caress each living thing,
and leaves a blessing with it that remains
forever and forever. What it gives
must be eternal. It removes all thoughts
of the ephemeral and valueless.
It brings renewal to all tired hearts,
and lights all vision as it passes by.
All of its gifts are given everyone,
and everyone unites in giving thanks
to you who give, and you who have received.
(W-pII.188.3)
While you stand to one side as a witness or a beholder, eventually a state of peace will come. Then you will catch a glimpse of God as Is—not a power over anything, just God is. You begin to understand that no power does anything to anyone, and you become a beholder as reality begins to appear. All problems fade out in proportion as you develop this ability to be quiet, to behold, and to witness divine harmony unfold. (Goldsmith, p. 68)
Please read the following passage aloud and hear Jesus saying to you, The hush of heaven holds my heart today, (Lesson 286), as you would soothe a crying baby, “Hush, shhhhh.” Listen to Jesus’s soothing “s” sounds.
In Him you have no cares and no concerns,
no burdens, no anxiety, no pain,
no fear of future and no past regrets.
In timelessness you rest, while time goes by
without its touch upon you, for your rest
can never change in any way at all.
You rest today. And as you close your eyes,
sink into stillness. Let these periods
of rest and respite reassure your mind
that all its frantic fantasies were but
the dreams of fever that has passed away.
Let it be still and thankfully accept
its healing. No more fearful dreams will come,
now that you rest in God. Take time today
to slip away from dreams and into peace.
(W-pII.109.5)
RECEPTIVITY
When I am experiencing the peace of God, I am receptive to God’s Voice, the Holy Spirit. Often, during the day, I experience an idea coming to me, unbidden. It’s the having of wonderful ideas.
. . . “sea change.”
Let every voice but God's be still in me.
Father, today I would but hear Your Voice.
In deepest silence I would come to You,
to hear Your Voice and to receive Your Word.
I have no prayer but this: I come to You
to ask You for the truth. And truth is but
Your Will, which I would share with You today.
Today we let no ego thoughts direct
our words or actions. When such thoughts occur,
we quietly step back and look at them,
and then we let them go. We do not want
what they would bring with them. And so we do
not choose to keep them. They are silent now.
And in the stillness, hallowed by His Love,
God speaks to us and tells us of our will,
as we have chosen to remember Him.
(W-pII.254)
And so, in conversation with a friend, perhaps one who has come to me for help, I simply listen, step back, and often find myself saying, “This just came to mind,” and I trust that whatever it is, it will be helpful for both of us.
Your healing Voice protects all things today,
and so I leave all things to You. I need
be anxious over nothing. For Your Voice
will tell me what to do and where to go;
to whom to speak and what to say to him,
what thoughts to think,
what words to give the world.
The safety that I bring is given me.
Father, Your Voice protects all things through me.
(W-pII.275.2)
GOD’S WILL
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
When I get out of the way, God’s will and mine are one; not mine but Thine.
Your will be done, you holy child of God.
It does not matter if you think you are
in earth or Heaven. What your Father wills
of you can never change. The truth in you
remains as radiant as a star, as pure
as light, as innocent as love itself.
And you are worthy that your will be done!
(T-31.VI.7)
God does not know of learning. Yet His Will
extends to what He does not understand,
in that He wills the happiness His Son
inherited of Him be undisturbed;
eternal and forever gaining scope,
eternally expanding in the joy
of full creation, and eternally
open and wholly limitless in Him.
That is His Will. And thus His Will provides
the means to guarantee that it is done.
(W-pII.193.1)
Wherever I am, the Father within me is; therefore, wherever I am, the Father within me is about His business. (Goldsmith, p. 41)
These reminders, literally, "bring to mind again" the remembrance that I am God's most holy Son in whom He is well pleased.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
"The mind is an instrument of awareness." Joel Goldsmith
One day back in the early 70’s when my son, Stephen, was a very young boy, we were driving around the town where we lived in central Illinois, and he was standing in the middle, just in back of the front seats in his customary position, taking everything in. Then he asked, looking at a factory, a dark building with few windows, dark and gray, stretching for a block, “Daddy, is that a school?” Having been a junior high English teacher, I laughed at the aptness of his comparison. After all, factories are organized to turn out finished products completely alike in appearances, and schools seem intent trying to stamp out finished students who look alike in spite of the fact that each student is as remarkable individual.
Not to worry, though, because we have both come to learn through
A Course in Miracles that, in fact, there are no factories, there are no schools; there is no world. Through the Course we have learned, systematically, to train our minds to distinguish the difference between what is real and what is unreal, as Jesus sums up in His Introduction.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
It is quite possible, in fact, it is necessary to let go of the belief that what you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is real, and that what you do not see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is real. This is the great undoing, enabling homo sapiens to evolve in to homo illumina, the wise ones into those filled with light, experiencing oneness with God. Coming into this experience of oneness is completely natural because it is our inheritance; we are as God created us.
Thomas Merton once expressed it this way.
My dear brothers and sisters, we are already one. But we imagine we are not. So what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.
To demonstrate that this is our birthright, individuals across the centuries have come into this experience of being what we are in truth in a variety of ways. One great example is Joel Goldsmith (1894-1964). What I love about Goldsmith is his ability to express the Truth I have learned through the Course with a different set of metaphors. The other day, Stephen brought to my attention a wonderful chapter in Goldsmith’s book, The Art of Spiritual Healing, entitled The Language of Spiritual Healing. I was so inspired by this chapter because of the way he found his own language to express his experience.
The Infinite Way is a spiritual teaching consisting of principles which anyone may follow and practice, irrespective of his religious affiliation. The Infinite Way reveals the nature of God to be one infinite power, intelligence, and love; the nature of individual being to be one with His qualities and character, expressed in in¬finite forms and variety; and the nature of the discords of this world to be a misconception of God's expression of Himself in His universe. These are universal principles based on the message of the Master, Christ Jesus, who taught that man can realize his oneness with God through conscious com¬munion with God, thereby bringing about peace on earth, harmony, and wholeness. Joel Goldsmith, The Art of Spiritual Healing (San Francisco, Harper, 1959), p. 40.
He goes on to express how to reverse our deeply-ingrained belief that our senses are showing us what is real by teaching us to look through what we apparently see to what is real.
You train yourself to see people, not as they look, but to see through their eyes, back of their eyes, realizing that there sits the Christ of God. As you do that, you learn to ignore appearances, and instead of trying to heal or reform someone, or improve him, you are really bearing witness to his Christ-identity. (Goldsmith, p. 42)
It matters not what the outer senses may testify. Something within has to sing a song, and the song it must sing is, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. . . I in the midst of you am mighty.” (Goldsmith, p. 43)
He goes on to make his meaning absolutely clear.
In the work of The Infinite Way, the words "real" or reality" pertain only to that which is spiritual, eternal, im¬mortal, and infinite. Only that which is of God is understood to be real or is recognized as reality. With this definition of reality in mind, it should be easy to grasp the statement that we cannot see, hear, taste, touch, or smell reality. (Goldsmith, p.50)
It all comes down to our awareness, to our conscious awareness. Goldsmith expresses it perfectly in one sentence:
The mind is an instrument of awareness. (Goldsmith, p. 43)
Our mind, our consciousness, can, in truth, be aware of only one state, the peace of God, our real Self. However, our consciousness can appear to be aware of another state, an unreal state, the state of fear and conflict brought to us by our senses. Goldsmith demonstrates with every sentence how to use this instrument truly, being aware of what is real, spiritual, eternal, immortal, and infinite, in the middle of a world made up by our senses.
It requires the faculty of the Soul to behold reality. Reality pertains only to that which is discerned through an inner awareness. Jesus referred to this as, “Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not?” In other words, there is that which must be seen and heard with the Soul faculties. (Goldsmith, p. 50)
As a healing practitioner, he makes a very useful distinction between existence and non-existence.
When we speak of sin and disease as unreal, we do not mean that they are nonexistent. We are not just fooling ourselves and using our imagination in saying that they are unreal or untrue, but if a person has ingrained in him from infancy that the material is the real and the material body the whole, then to him the disease is existent. When sin, disease, and death are called unreal, it is not a denial of the so-called existence of these things: It is a denial of their existence as a part of God or reality. (Goldsmith, p. 51)
The beginning of wisdom is the realization that these conditions need not exist. Freedom from them comes not from seeking relief from God, but through seeking God and rising to that dimension of life in which only God is. There is not freedom from discord; there is not freedom from sin, false appetites, or desires; there is not freedom from poverty: There is only freedom—freedom in God, freedom in Spirit. (Goldsmith, p. 51)
Towards the end of this essay, he makes it all crystal clear by using the metaphor of a mirage.
Let me illustrate this. If you were traveling on the desert and saw, as is often the case, that the road ahead of you was covered with water, and if that were your first experience in the desert, you would automatically stop your car because obviously you could not drive through a sea of water. Your first thought would probably be, "What shall I do? How will I get through that water? How can the water be removed from the road?"
You look around and do not see any help. Then you look back again at the road, and if you look long enough, intently enough, you awaken to the fact that there is no water there. What you have been seeing is a mirage, an illusion. You smile, start your car, and go forward. As long as you were seeing water on the road, you would sit there helplessly waiting for that water to be removed, but the moment that you understood it to be a mirage, an illusion, the water disappeared, and you were free to go forward. (Goldsmith, p. 53)
The mirage of the water does exist because, for a moment, it is your awareness. But that awareness of its existence does not make it real. My awareness of the reports of my senses does not make the reports real. My awareness of the existence of sin and disease does not make them real. Only by shifting my awareness to the peace of God do I experience what is real.
When I make this shift to the awareness of my Real Self as God created me, then sin and disease cease to exist. It is always on or off, 0 or 1, all or nothing, love or fear. That which exists or does not exist is dependent on my awareness. And I can always ask for help to shift my awareness from seeing water to experiencing the peace of God. This is healing. This is forgiveness.
Healing takes place, not through the intervention of some God, but through arriving at a state of consciousness in which sin, disease, and death have no reality, a consciousness which no longer battles these forms of discord and no longer tries to get rid of them. Our attitude toward them is the same as our attitude toward the water on the desert after we have discovered that it is not water, but an illusion, or mirage. (Goldsmith, p. 54)
. . . you awaken to the fact that there is no water there. You smile, start your car, and go forward.
When my awareness shifts to the peace of God, my heart fills with gratitude, I smile and go forward.
Not to worry, though, because we have both come to learn through
A Course in Miracles that, in fact, there are no factories, there are no schools; there is no world. Through the Course we have learned, systematically, to train our minds to distinguish the difference between what is real and what is unreal, as Jesus sums up in His Introduction.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
It is quite possible, in fact, it is necessary to let go of the belief that what you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is real, and that what you do not see, hear, taste, touch, and smell is real. This is the great undoing, enabling homo sapiens to evolve in to homo illumina, the wise ones into those filled with light, experiencing oneness with God. Coming into this experience of oneness is completely natural because it is our inheritance; we are as God created us.
Thomas Merton once expressed it this way.
My dear brothers and sisters, we are already one. But we imagine we are not. So what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.
To demonstrate that this is our birthright, individuals across the centuries have come into this experience of being what we are in truth in a variety of ways. One great example is Joel Goldsmith (1894-1964). What I love about Goldsmith is his ability to express the Truth I have learned through the Course with a different set of metaphors. The other day, Stephen brought to my attention a wonderful chapter in Goldsmith’s book, The Art of Spiritual Healing, entitled The Language of Spiritual Healing. I was so inspired by this chapter because of the way he found his own language to express his experience.
The Infinite Way is a spiritual teaching consisting of principles which anyone may follow and practice, irrespective of his religious affiliation. The Infinite Way reveals the nature of God to be one infinite power, intelligence, and love; the nature of individual being to be one with His qualities and character, expressed in in¬finite forms and variety; and the nature of the discords of this world to be a misconception of God's expression of Himself in His universe. These are universal principles based on the message of the Master, Christ Jesus, who taught that man can realize his oneness with God through conscious com¬munion with God, thereby bringing about peace on earth, harmony, and wholeness. Joel Goldsmith, The Art of Spiritual Healing (San Francisco, Harper, 1959), p. 40.
He goes on to express how to reverse our deeply-ingrained belief that our senses are showing us what is real by teaching us to look through what we apparently see to what is real.
You train yourself to see people, not as they look, but to see through their eyes, back of their eyes, realizing that there sits the Christ of God. As you do that, you learn to ignore appearances, and instead of trying to heal or reform someone, or improve him, you are really bearing witness to his Christ-identity. (Goldsmith, p. 42)
It matters not what the outer senses may testify. Something within has to sing a song, and the song it must sing is, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. . . I in the midst of you am mighty.” (Goldsmith, p. 43)
He goes on to make his meaning absolutely clear.
In the work of The Infinite Way, the words "real" or reality" pertain only to that which is spiritual, eternal, im¬mortal, and infinite. Only that which is of God is understood to be real or is recognized as reality. With this definition of reality in mind, it should be easy to grasp the statement that we cannot see, hear, taste, touch, or smell reality. (Goldsmith, p.50)
It all comes down to our awareness, to our conscious awareness. Goldsmith expresses it perfectly in one sentence:
The mind is an instrument of awareness. (Goldsmith, p. 43)
Our mind, our consciousness, can, in truth, be aware of only one state, the peace of God, our real Self. However, our consciousness can appear to be aware of another state, an unreal state, the state of fear and conflict brought to us by our senses. Goldsmith demonstrates with every sentence how to use this instrument truly, being aware of what is real, spiritual, eternal, immortal, and infinite, in the middle of a world made up by our senses.
It requires the faculty of the Soul to behold reality. Reality pertains only to that which is discerned through an inner awareness. Jesus referred to this as, “Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not?” In other words, there is that which must be seen and heard with the Soul faculties. (Goldsmith, p. 50)
As a healing practitioner, he makes a very useful distinction between existence and non-existence.
When we speak of sin and disease as unreal, we do not mean that they are nonexistent. We are not just fooling ourselves and using our imagination in saying that they are unreal or untrue, but if a person has ingrained in him from infancy that the material is the real and the material body the whole, then to him the disease is existent. When sin, disease, and death are called unreal, it is not a denial of the so-called existence of these things: It is a denial of their existence as a part of God or reality. (Goldsmith, p. 51)
The beginning of wisdom is the realization that these conditions need not exist. Freedom from them comes not from seeking relief from God, but through seeking God and rising to that dimension of life in which only God is. There is not freedom from discord; there is not freedom from sin, false appetites, or desires; there is not freedom from poverty: There is only freedom—freedom in God, freedom in Spirit. (Goldsmith, p. 51)
Towards the end of this essay, he makes it all crystal clear by using the metaphor of a mirage.
Let me illustrate this. If you were traveling on the desert and saw, as is often the case, that the road ahead of you was covered with water, and if that were your first experience in the desert, you would automatically stop your car because obviously you could not drive through a sea of water. Your first thought would probably be, "What shall I do? How will I get through that water? How can the water be removed from the road?"
You look around and do not see any help. Then you look back again at the road, and if you look long enough, intently enough, you awaken to the fact that there is no water there. What you have been seeing is a mirage, an illusion. You smile, start your car, and go forward. As long as you were seeing water on the road, you would sit there helplessly waiting for that water to be removed, but the moment that you understood it to be a mirage, an illusion, the water disappeared, and you were free to go forward. (Goldsmith, p. 53)
The mirage of the water does exist because, for a moment, it is your awareness. But that awareness of its existence does not make it real. My awareness of the reports of my senses does not make the reports real. My awareness of the existence of sin and disease does not make them real. Only by shifting my awareness to the peace of God do I experience what is real.
When I make this shift to the awareness of my Real Self as God created me, then sin and disease cease to exist. It is always on or off, 0 or 1, all or nothing, love or fear. That which exists or does not exist is dependent on my awareness. And I can always ask for help to shift my awareness from seeing water to experiencing the peace of God. This is healing. This is forgiveness.
Healing takes place, not through the intervention of some God, but through arriving at a state of consciousness in which sin, disease, and death have no reality, a consciousness which no longer battles these forms of discord and no longer tries to get rid of them. Our attitude toward them is the same as our attitude toward the water on the desert after we have discovered that it is not water, but an illusion, or mirage. (Goldsmith, p. 54)
. . . you awaken to the fact that there is no water there. You smile, start your car, and go forward.
When my awareness shifts to the peace of God, my heart fills with gratitude, I smile and go forward.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Seeing a Game Within a Game is an Act of Charity
Last Sunday evening, my wife, Christine, and I went to see the movie, The Women. It was aptly named because not one male character ever appeared with any of the women. The movie depicts the ebb and flow of friendship among four women—Sylvie, a magazine editor, Alex, a lesbian, Edie, pregnant for the fifth time, and Mary, a devoted wife, doing volunteer work, organizing charitable events, working for her father, and being a mother. Within the context of this circle of friends, the film focuses on Mary dealing with the dissolution of her marriage and her triumphant struggle to become her own person.
Mary (Meg Ryan) learns of her husband’s infidelity, becomes estranged from her daughter, initiates divorce proceedings, hits bottom, begins her recovery, and starts her personal business designing clothes. All this time she is developing her potential, finding the self that she let go of in her attempt to step back and be the perfect wife.
Finally, she mounts an incredibly successful fashion show, reconciles with her daughter, and at the end, her husband pleads for a second chance.
During the movie, I found myself saying, “I’m watching a game within a game.” I picked up that phrase from my son, Stephen. Just that afternoon we had watched a football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. He is a loyal, but long-suffering, fan of the Lions, having grown up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and I am a fan of the Packers, having switched loyalties after living in Wisconsin for years.
I was cheering for the Packers, and I was surprised to hear him cheering for the two wide receivers for the Packers, Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, particularly when they made spectacular plays that doomed his hapless Lions. When I asked him about it, he said, “I’m watching a game within a game.” He went on to explain that he and eleven of his buddies were playing “Fantasy Football” on their computers. At the beginning of the season, each of them selected a team of twelve players from all the teams in the National Football League and charted their performances in games throughout the season. That afternoon, he was pitted against his buddies, each one surveying the NFL landscape to see how their fantasy teams were faring.
Now I understood the concept of a game within a game. Each time Jennings or Driver caught a pass or scored a touchdown, Stephen earned a certain number of points based on the yardage and the scoring. For example, in this game, his two wide receivers earned a
Mary (Meg Ryan) learns of her husband’s infidelity, becomes estranged from her daughter, initiates divorce proceedings, hits bottom, begins her recovery, and starts her personal business designing clothes. All this time she is developing her potential, finding the self that she let go of in her attempt to step back and be the perfect wife.
Finally, she mounts an incredibly successful fashion show, reconciles with her daughter, and at the end, her husband pleads for a second chance.
During the movie, I found myself saying, “I’m watching a game within a game.” I picked up that phrase from my son, Stephen. Just that afternoon we had watched a football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. He is a loyal, but long-suffering, fan of the Lions, having grown up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and I am a fan of the Packers, having switched loyalties after living in Wisconsin for years.
I was cheering for the Packers, and I was surprised to hear him cheering for the two wide receivers for the Packers, Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, particularly when they made spectacular plays that doomed his hapless Lions. When I asked him about it, he said, “I’m watching a game within a game.” He went on to explain that he and eleven of his buddies were playing “Fantasy Football” on their computers. At the beginning of the season, each of them selected a team of twelve players from all the teams in the National Football League and charted their performances in games throughout the season. That afternoon, he was pitted against his buddies, each one surveying the NFL landscape to see how their fantasy teams were faring.
Now I understood the concept of a game within a game. Each time Jennings or Driver caught a pass or scored a touchdown, Stephen earned a certain number of points based on the yardage and the scoring. For example, in this game, his two wide receivers earned a