Facilitated by Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert & Connie Poole
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Tuesday Dec. 12 ~ Daily Contemplation ~ Lesson 326
I am forever an Effect of God.
Father, I was created in Your Mind, a holy Thought that never left its home. I am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. As You created me I have remained. Where You established me I still abide. And all Your attributes abide in me, because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause and Its Effect are indistinguishable. Let me know that I am an Effect of God, and so I have the power to create like You. And as it is in Heaven, so on earth. Your plan I follow here, and at the end I know that You will gather Your effects into the tranquil Heaven of Your Love, where earth will vanish, and all separate thoughts unite in glory as the Son of God.
Let us today behold earth disappear, at first transformed, and then, forgiven, fade entirely into God’s holy Will.
Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 326
What is Creation?
Our special theme says, “Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, … We are creation.”
The “Son of God” is a symbol based on the idea of separation. It was once believed that the closest one could come to the divine is its first creation, consciousness. Now it is seen that consciousness is not God’s first creation, nor is it reality. Consciousness is the first step into the dream.
There are many stories that attempt to explain how this first step into the dream occurred. All stories are just that, stories. At best, they help us accept that the dream has appeared, and reality exists outside of the dream.
In The Supreme Yoga Vasistha, it is written:
Whatever might have been the origin of the mind and whatever it might be, one should constantly direct it toward liberation, through self-effort.
In this quote, mind is synonymous with consciousness. The quote asks us not to be concerned with the stories about how consciousness came to be; it asks us not to be concerned about what consciousness is. Instead, constantly direct consciousness toward awakening.
If you look again at today’s selected excerpt from our special theme, you will see that it is calling us into an awakening that is beyond consciousness—beyond the experience of Christ-Self, which experiences a direct relationship with the divine source—into the divine itself. The divine is our true Self.
I am forever an Effect of God.
When we look carefully at consciousness in relationship to the source, we see that consciousness is something other than source. Consciousness is the subject that experiences the ego or it experiences the divine, but it is set apart from what it experiences. Consciousness itself—meaning the Second Principle of God—is the ultimate illusion. There is no “second” in God.
As NTI 1 Timothy says, “All that you are is beyond the observer, but the observer is a step in the right direction. For as observer, you begin to surrender the concept of personhood by accepting you can observe the person, so the person must not be all that you are.”
The symbols of “Father,” “Son” and “Effect” are used in today’s workbook lesson, but the lesson is pointing to the fact that we are as we have always been. We are not consciousness (the dreamer) or its dream.
Today’s lesson says, “…it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause and Its Effect are indistinguishable.” That sentence points to the truth that we are being asked to accept. There is no Son in Reality, and therefore there is no Father. There is only Reality, and we are That.
Today’s lesson says, “Let us today behold earth disappear, at first transformed, and then, forgiven, fade entirely into God’s holy Will.” As stated in the previous paragraph, God’s Will is the end of the dream that appears to distinguish a Father from a Son.
The real world is still a dream, but it is a dream that reflects reality. In the real world, true perception sees that everything is consciousness. That is a dream-reflection of the absolute, which is non-dual reality.
Gently contemplate what I have written today. Marinate in it, without trying to figure it out.
Meditation Options
Monday Dec. 11 ~ Daily Contemplation ~ Lesson 325
All things I think I see reflect ideas.
This is salvation’s keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From judgment comes a world condemned. And from forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth, with mercy for the holy Son of God, to offer him a kindly home where he can rest a while before he journeys on, and help his brothers walk ahead with him, and find the way to Heaven and to God.
Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Yours but make up dreams. Let me behold what only Yours reflect, for Yours and Yours alone establish truth.
Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 325
What is Creation?
Our special theme says, “Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth.”
Unfortunately, all that we are aware of is illusion. That means that we have no idea what truth is.
It is helpful if we take in this realization:
We have no idea what truth is.
This is why NTI Luke says:
There are expectations in your mind regarding truth, but these expectations are based on what you know within your slumber. They are not based on knowledge or Life. They are based on interpretation, or death.
What do you expect of Me? Where is it that you think I am leading you to?
Free yourself from these thoughts, and open your mind to Me unfettered by expectations. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me.
People have often asked me what that last sentence means:
“Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me.”
In her book, What is the Self?, Bernadette Roberts describes some of the last temptations that we experience prior to Manonasa. She writes:
We have to keep in mind that consciousness is the experience of energy, and that in the unitive state [the real world] there is still the experience of various energies and feelings. … Because these energies are new to us they seem to be quite extraordinary. … So one task of the unitive state is that we do not mistake these energies for the divine, but instead, see them as belonging solely to the unconscious self. This task may not be as easy as it sounds; to regard certain energies as supernatural can be a powerful temptation. …
The truth that must eventually be learned or disclosed is that the divine is not an energy or a power, and that none of our experiences of energy or power is divine. Instead, these are powers of the unconscious self, …
The claim to possess supernatural powers in the unitive state is well-known and documented. People have regarded themselves as prophets, healers, saviors, and God knows what else. As Carl Jung noted, the possible masks the unconscious self can take are almost unlimited. They represent the various cultural views man has of a superior being…
Throughout this stage or state there will be many temptations to put on one of these divine or supernatural masks and play out the role. If we fall for one of these masks, … we forfeit going any further with the journey. It is imperative to stay with the true divine center, which is a “still-point” and not an “energy-point,” and to dismiss these arising energies or powers…
Bernadette goes on to write that if supernatural powers are manifesting themselves, there is nothing we can do about it. However, “Our task is simply to see that they are self and nothing but the self. If we cannot eventually make this distinction, we march off to our own dead end, and the passage may well end in total delusion.”
This is what NTI means when it says, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me”:
Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of
his/her own ideas about truth or enlightenment.
As has been pointed out through the tips in the last two days, truth is the absence of self—the absence of any self.
All things I think I see reflect ideas.
Today’s lesson supports what Bernadette Roberts wrote. The lessons says:
This is salvation’s keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own.
The lesson talks about the “gentle world,” which is a “kindly home” where we can “rest a while” before we journey on to Manonasa. This “gentle world” is the real world, which is what Bernadette calls the unitive state. Even in this state, we need to be mindful to stay focused on truth instead of desiring an idea of truth.
As the prayer in today’s lesson says:
Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Yours but make up dreams. Let me behold what only Yours reflect, for Yours and Yours alone establish truth.
It is helpful to realize today that we do not know what truth is—it is a mystery from our perspective. Therefore, it is good for us to let go of all ideas about truth before we create a new dream and mistake it for reality.
Meditation Options
12-10-17 ~ Craig Holliday ~ “Opening to the Nondual Christ”
More Information about Craig:
12/10/17 – Experience Your Perfect Soul ~ pages 158 – 164
Kathy Smith explores the quotes from Experience Your Perfect Soul and shares from her contemplation of them.
12-10-17 Weekly Gathering: “Man in the Mirror”
Topic: “Man in the Mirror”
Rev. Joanne Schneider discussed how we need to look in the mirror of the world and see what we believe about our self.
Sunday Dec. 10 ~ Daily Contemplation ~ Lesson 324
I merely follow, for I would not lead.
Father, You are the One Who gave the plan for my salvation to me. You have set the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in my appointed path. I cannot lose the way. I can but choose to wander off a while, and then return. Your loving Voice will always call me back, and guide my feet aright. My brothers all can follow in the way I lead them. Yet I merely follow in the way to You, as You direct me and would have me go.
So let us follow One Who knows the way. We need not tarry, and we cannot stray except an instant from His loving Hand. We walk together, for we follow Him. And it is He Who makes the ending sure, and guarantees a safe returning home.
Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 324
What is Creation?
Our special theme says, “What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began.”
Time is defined as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.” ~ New Oxford American Dictionary
What captures my attention in this definition is “indefinite continued progress of existence and events.”
It seems like awakening is a process that occurs over time. It seems like awakening is an “indefinite continued progress.”
If you contemplated the target example from yesterday’s tip, then you might see why awakening seems like “continued progress.” However, since reality is the absence of that which experiences “continued progress,” awakening to reality has not occurred until Grace’s final cannon ball destroys consciousness (often called “the mind”). Reality is not known until only the hole remains. Of course at that point, it is no longer a hole. It is all that is.
That which seems like “continued progress” is still part of the illusion of consciousness. However, it is an illusory path that we walk anyway. As NTI Luke says, “We are all followers of the path that comes from within. We are all guided to learn the truth by following the path of unreality.”
I merely follow, for I would not lead.
As our workbook lesson says today:
So let us follow One Who knows the way. We need not tarry, … And it is He Who makes the ending sure, and guarantees a safe returning home.
Please contemplate your personal commitment to walk the spiritual path to its end.
Is there something you can let go of in your life in order to give more focus to the spiritual path and spiritual practice?
If something is not immediately evident, consider asking and receiving an answer from within through writing. After all, inner spiritual intuition is the “One Who knows the way.”
Meditation Options
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