School for A Course In Miracles

"The universe of learning will open up before you."

School for A Course In Miracles

“The universe of learning will open up before you in all its gracious simplicity.” T-14. II. 6:4
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Musings: Self Sabotaging Behavior

Once we heed the call to wake up from the ego thought system we begin to see the world differently.

It becomes a classroom in which everything can be used to learn to make a different choice that will lead us out of the dream of separation instead of deeper into it.

Until we understand what we are choosing between, choice is meaningless. We but choose among illusions, which can hardly be called a choice.

“There is a choice that you have the power to make when you have seen the real alternative. Until that point is reached you have no choice, and you can but decide the better to deceive yourself again.”

Self sabotaging behavior is behavior that we know is not in our best interest, yet we do it anyway.

We eat foods that hurt us. We drive people away with behaviors that cause them difficulty. We spend our time doing things that we don’t even respect. We don’t exercise when we know that we should. We drink too much, spend more than we have, smoke, gamble, and generally overindulge.

Self sabotage is a classroom that most of us share. Fortunately, it provides an excellent opportunity for changing our minds because we are aware of our need for change every time we indulge. And we are convinced it is the behavior that needs to change.

The School for A Course in Miracles offers another alternative to trying to change behavior. All our do’s and dont’s can be see as a reflection of a choice in our minds. Which teacher are we running with, the ego or the Holy Spirit?

 Self sabotaging behavior is always one of the SFACIM subjects, viewed from the perspective of A Course in Miracles.

Musings : What a Friend We Have in Jesus

JesusThe title for this post is taken from a hymn that I remember singing as a little girl when I went to Methodist church with my mother. I remember standing tall and singing out with all my heart as I imagined he and I walking together. Fortunately, Jesus was portrayed as a friend by the Methodists, and this friendship came back to me some 40 years later when the Course entered my life.

The Course is not presenting us with abstract metaphysical truths. It is something we need to live every day and our relationship with Jesus is fundamental to our education. By healing our relationship with him we learn how to forgive the world and remember God. We cannot do it ourselves. Our egos do not understand “both” and “together”. If we are doing Jesus’ Course, he is the one that is going to show us what those words mean. In joining him we take our first step toward oneness.

Loving relationships exist and are only possible in the mind. We don’t believe that. Jesus has to convince us that we would be better off if we did believe it. He believes in us and we don’t. He wants us to have everything and be free and experience that God’s will for us is perfect happiness. We don’t want that for ourselves. He shows us very respectfully why we don’t and then he helps us undo the obstacles to happiness.

Joining with Jesus is establishing a loving a relationship in our minds, beyond time and space (but truly there). He tells us he “will be there”, and he is. But we have to go to him. He knows there is no body so how can he come to it. We have to learn to find our mind and join him there. Do you know you have a mind? Do you know how to use it? Do you know what it is for? Joining with Jesus is a step in learning that everything is in our mind. Peace is there. Love is there. It is God’s Home and our home.

The process of returning to our mind is what A Course in Miracles calls a miracle. It is the only thing that will ever make a difference in our lives. It is a gradual process because it teaches us we are minds, not bodies. There never was a body. Our definition of our personal selves is at stake.

Jesus has the job (at least for those who take A Course in Miracles as their path) of leading us home. How did he land that job you might ask?

When the One Son of God had the “tiny mad idea” of separating from God and running away from home, one tiny corner of our mind did not go along with the idea. It smiled kindly and said “no” to it. It stayed home with Love Itself. That aspect of our mind is symbolized by Jesus. He still remains within our minds, waiting for us to choose him by joining his decision to stay at home.

He is the one who says, “We go together, you and I”.

What a friend we have in Jesus!

 

 

Musings: Perfect Happiness

“God’s will for you is perfect happiness. Why should you choose to go against His Will?

In a world of separate bodies going their separate ways, the self-centered point of view, aka ego, has its own plans for happiness.

Attached to personhood, residing in the body, life seems to be  “the story of me”. Being, our true shared identity, is unrecognized while our time-bound existence consumes all of our attention. From this personal perspective, perfecting our story is what life is all about.

You can shift out of this self-centered perspective by recognizing your shared purpose with everyone you meet. This is the special means the Course is giving you for breaking out of the imprisonment of your specialness.

One purpose unites you with everyone in this world. This is your ticket to get on board the happiness train.

Do you understand that you can not have separate interests and true happiness?  They are mutually exclusive.

Your function is to recognize that you have the same shared interest with everyone, without exception. “The  “me”, “my”, “mine” perspective will be undone in the process, releasing the mind to look beyond the superficial distinctions that seem to separate us to what joins us and makes us the same.

What are your words for that?

For the interest(s) you know that everyone will join you in?

For me it is everybody wants to be happy.

Everyone wants the end of suffering.

Please let me know what yours are?  

What are your words, dear reader, for the interest you know everyone shares with you? 

Now, while we are in this world this is our ticket to happiness. It will take you to the gates of Heaven.  

 Lesson 100 of A Course in Miracles tells us that God’s Will for us is perfect happiness and asks us, why we would choose to go against His Will?

 Here is what I am convinced of:

The very moment I accept God’s will for happiness,  I see that I have asked for and received for everyone because I have recognized our interests are shared. This is the happiness we are talking about. It’s not personal. It’s shared.

 My smile doesn’t belong to me anymore. It is not a smile possessed by anyone. It is the smile of Oneness recognizing Happiness.

The acceptance of Oneness beyond all appearances is my cause for joy…..and yours!  It says that nothing has happened in the dream of separation that has interfered with the reality of Love. This happiness extends to all minds like a rising tide that raises all ships. It gives the unequivocal message that the One Self is guiltless.

Sadness is a sign you have chosen to believe that harm has been done and somebody must be to blame. It says you have chosen the ego’s plan over God’s.

No problem! Just a mistake!