What is Creation?

Our special theme says, “We are creation; … We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. … God’s memory is in our holy minds…”

This is a very important clue. Truth is unimaginable, but it is reachable. And we reach it through a journey within our self.

This could be called returning in the way we came. We began at Home, in the First Principle of God as our Self. In this Self, however, there is no sense of self. There is awareness, but not awareness of. There is Truth without a subject to be aware of Truth.

From this state of Truth “in crept a tiny mad idea.” It could also be called a desire, a desire for something that did not exist. It was the desire to “Know thy Self,” which could be called a desire for a sense of self.

And so, a container that could have an experience of self arose. This container was a subject, something that could feel or know. It was awareness with the additional ability to be aware of. I call it consciousness in order to distinguish it from the awareness that it came from. This is the birth of the Second Principle of God.

Once consciousness arose, which is the ability to be aware of, there needed to be something to be aware of. Consciousness is like a living mirror that wanted something reflected in it, something to watch, know and feel. Of course, consciousness could have simply looked back in the direction it came from, and it would have experienced the reflection of Truth in itself. But consciousness was on an outward-bound journey, so it looked outward in its desire to know something as its self.

Out of this desire, divine law—the creative principle—arose, which is the Third Principle of God.

Through divine law, all of manifestation was born, which is the Fourth Principle of God.

As consciousness watched the images that appeared in it’s self, consciousness became engrossed with them. It began to identify with the images. Each of us, as consciousness, experiences an aspect of that identification. We feel identified with our thoughts, feelings, life experiences, etcetera, because we are the consciousness that has become identified with the images reflected in it.

So now, we begin the journey back in the way we came. It is an undoing. It is the return of a boomerang idea, going back inwardly by reversing the steps we took in the outward-bound direction.

First, there is the undoing of the distinct sense of self, typically called the ego. This is undoing of identification with the image as me. It is this sense of self that creates suffering. Therefore, this undoing is significant, but it is only part of the return journey.

When we awaken to our self as consciousness (the mirror), we experience a more correct sense of self. Whereas the idea that “I am the image” is a delusion for consciousness, the idea “I am consciousness” is more correct or truer. Yet, it is not ultimate truth, because the original true Self has no sense of self.

A sense of self is a type of existence. You could say, “I exist as the sense of what I am.” Since a sense of self is a type of existence, the end of the sense of self is a type of death. It is the death of what we have come to know as existence. The death of consciousness as self is manonasa. What lies beyond this death is Nirvana.

Note: Since consciousness is like a mirror, we can get a sense of Nirvana once we reawaken to consciousness. This sense comes from Truth’s reflection in the mirror of our self as consciousness. However, this sense is still only a sense received from a reflection. In order to know Truth directly, we must awaken fully to it and be it, which is to awaken beyond consciousness.

I need but call and You will answer me.

The reason for telling the story above is to help influence us to “constantly direct [mind-consciousness] toward liberation, through self-effort.” We made the outward journey through a kind of self-effort—idea, desire, curiosity, will, focus—and now we make the return journey through the same kind of self-effort.

But how? Where do we begin today?

Today’s workbook lesson says, “I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith. For God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself.”

The God that we call on for guidance is not some distant deity, knowledge or awareness. We are the one that took the outward journey from truth to our present attachment to manifestation, and every step of that journey is recorded in our divine unconscious. Therefore, the reverse of each step is known in our own divine unconscious. Our own unconscious knows the way! The communication that comes from this unconscious knowing is what I call spiritual intuition.

We literally have everything we need, except for maybe one thing. It’s possible that we haven’t actually made the decision to begin the return journey yet. It’s possible that we are still interested in lingering here a little longer.

Please read and contemplate today’s workbook lesson in full. As you do, also contemplate the power of your own decision or lack thereof. (In truth, there’s no such thing as a lack of decision. Not deciding for one option is deciding for the other.)

Here are a couple of short video clips to help you contemplate today’s teaching in a fun way. You’ll find the meditation links under the video clips.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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What is Creation?

Our special theme says, “Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts, … 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.”

Yesterday we contemplated God’s Thoughts as Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss, perfect love-joy, Love-Bliss for all eternity, and infinite-eternal-existence-being-life. These ideas are not things. These ideas are formless reality, which A Course in Miracles calls “creation.”

Let’s take a moment to look at the contrast between unreality and reality (creation) using the example of a bulls-eye target. The entire target, from the white circles all the way to the yellow bulls-eye, represents the sense of self. Reality does not exist anywhere on this target. Reality is in the absence of the target.

Let’s assume the yellow and red portions of the bulls-eye are the wrong-minded, selfish, personal sense of self that people typically call ego. The blue portion is more general cultural conditioning and human identity. The black and white portions of the target are increasing levels of spontaneous, purified mind.

When the sense of self is fully intact, it blocks reality (God’s Thoughts) entirely. However, when Grace responds to our spiritual commitment by shooting at the target and blowing away a portion of the sense of self, one begins to have direct experiences of reality through the hole in the target.

The direct experience of the divine through a hole in the target is often called awakening. However, as long as any portion of the target still exists, there is some sense of self—some illusionary experience—and reality is not yet known as it is. Instead, it is known through some degree of a sense of self. When Grace fires at the target with a cannon ball that completely demolishes the sense of self in its entirety, Manonasa has occurred and Nirvana (creation) is known.

If you consider this example, you might see how there can be different levels of awakening or multiple awakenings.

For example, imagine a person experiences a shot from Grace that blows out the yellow portion of the target. That will feel like an awakening. However, the red, blue, black and white portions of the target remain. Those portions may be blown out all at once one day with Grace’s cannon ball, or there may be a few more shots with a shotgun that blow away additional portions of the target before the final cannon ball comes.

Another person may experience one awakening—one cannon ball blast that destroys the sense of self all at once entirely.

Yet another possibility is a shot that blows a hole in the center of the target and starts a fire, which consumes the entire target from the inside out. This is experienced as gradually decreasing self, as the inner flame burns self up.

If you look carefully at the example of the target, you can see several possibilities:

1. The process of awakening may feel very different for different people.
2. Since different people experience awakening differently, it will be described in different ways.
3. Since non-total awakening can be a drastically different experience than one’s previous experience, based on the size of the hole, one may think total awakening has occurred when it has not.
4. Awakening is not compete until all levels of the sense of self are destroyed, including even the highest or most pure levels.
5. Absolute truth can only be known as it is, which is without any sense of self, when the entire sense of self is obliterated.

I gladly make the sacrifice of fear.

The example of a bulls-eye target can also help us see why one experiences fear or resistance during awakening. Imagine holding still while someone takes a shotgun or cannon and shoots directly at you. We can even experience fear when Grace shoots at us with nothing bigger than a BB gun.

If we want to experience higher levels of awakening, and especially if we want to experience Manonasa, we must be willing to give up listening to fear. If we listen to fear, we will jump out of the way when Grace comes with its gun. We need to learn to hold steady, be still and do nothing even as fear shouts and screams, so Grace can take aim and fire.

Please contemplate this tip today. Give yourself some time to be with it instead of rushing on to other things. The ego would love for you to forget this teaching. Be determined to absorb it deeply instead.

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What is Creation?

Our special theme begins, “Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself.”

Today, please contemplate those two sentences from our special theme along with the sentences and phrases from The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss that I have listed below. As you contemplate these sentences together, keep in mind that the descriptions of truth in these sentences and phrases refer to the First Principle of God only.

If something comes to you as you contemplate, please write it down. However, simply reading the sentences and phrases slowly, and quietly being with them for a period of time, is enough. It is good to read them more than once. I recommend reading them slowly at least three times before continuing to the tip about today’s lesson.

The sentences and phrases to contemplate are:

1. Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit.
2. Only love creates, and only like itself.
3. To come to know, experience and live in Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss is definitely worth the time spent practicing.
4. You’ll discover you are not a body living in a world. You are eternal awareness, perfect love-joy.
5. Absolutely perfect Love-Bliss for all eternity.
6. Living in and knowing your true Self, eternally.
7. Choose the Direct Experience of infinite-eternal-existence-being-life, here and now in this lifetime, by making it the first priority in your life, and by centering your entire life on your spiritual practice.

I can give up but what was never real.

Today’s workbook lesson begins by saying, “I sacrifice illusions; nothing more. And as illusions go I find the gifts illusions tried to hide, awaiting me in shining welcome, and in readiness to give God’s ancient messages to me.”

God’s “ancient messages” are Himself. They are what our special theme calls “God’s Thoughts.” God’s messages are not from Him; they are Him. They are what he is and what you are.

I have created a new list of sentences and phrases that combine the sentences and phrases you have already contemplated with new sentences from today’s workbook lesson and based on today’s workbook lesson. Quietly contemplate all of these sentences and phrases together:

1. Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit.
2. Only love creates, and only like itself.
3. To come to know, experience and live in Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss is definitely worth the time spent practicing.
4. You’ll discover you are not a body living in a world. You are eternal awareness, perfect love-joy.
5. As illusions go I find the gifts illusions tried to hide, awaiting me in shining welcome.
6. Absolutely perfect Love-Bliss for all eternity.
7. Awaiting me in shining welcome, and in readiness to give God’s ancient messages to me.
8. God’s ancient messages are Himself.
9. God’s messages are not from Him; they are Him. They are what he is and what you are.
10. Living in and knowing your true Self, eternally.
11. Choose the Direct Experience of infinite-eternal-existence-being-life, here and now in this lifetime, by making it the first priority in your life, and by centering your entire life on your spiritual practice.

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What is Creation?

As we look at this new special theme, we will do our best to eliminate all confusion about what is true and what is false. This may take some slow reading and contemplation on your part, because the ego mind prefers the state of confusion, and it will attempt to cling to confusion. However, the truth is actually very, very simple, and if our intention is to be clear on truth, we will be able to do so.

Our special theme begins by saying, “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.”

Let me review the Four Principles of God with you:

First Principle of God – Pure, unmanifest, life-awareness; abstract, unlimited potentiality. It is what A Course in Miracles calls “Father” and “Heaven.” It is also called Nirvana. It is the Source and ultimate truth.

Second Principle of God – Consciousness. This is the only direct creation of the Source. In A Course in Miracles it is called “Christ” and “the Son of God.” It is the unaffected, still witness. All things manifest are made of this principle; therefore, all things are consciousness.

Third Principle of God – The ongoing activity of creation, which occurs naturally through the interaction of the witnessing principle with that which is witnessed. In Gentle Healing, we learned about this through “The Code” and NTI Ephesians. I often call it Divine Law. It is how consciousness forms itself into the many temporary forms that make up the manifest universe.

Fourth Principle of God – Manifestation. Everything in this realm is temporary, and so it is often referred to as a dream. It is consciousness appearing as something other than consciousness, and so it is called illusion. One who believes this is the realm of reality is referred to as unconscious, not awake, or ignorant. When this realm is seen through ignorance, it is fearful and full of suffering. When seen through clarity, this realm is miraculous.

There is a truth and an untruth in my wording of the Second Principle of God. I called it “the only direct creation of the Source.” The truth is that the Second Principle of God is the only direct creation of the Source when looking at God from the perspective of self and illusion. As we climb the ladder upward toward truth realization, or as we return in the same direction that we came, consciousness is our last dream experience before awakening to truth entirely. Therefore, it is the only aspect of the dream that touches source. There are no aspects of the dream prior to consciousness.

What is the Last Judgment?

Here is a quote from The Garland of Guru’s Sayings, a poetic garland of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings written by Muruganar:

O worldly folk who long for and run after
an endless series of unenduring things,
‘tis wisdom true to seek and know That one thing
on knowing which all other things will cease to be.

That quote sums up the message of our current special theme.

My Father gives all power unto me.

Today’s lesson says:

The Son of God is limitless. … What he wills with his Creator and Redeemer must be done. His holy will can never be denied. … I am he in whom the power of my Father’s Will abides.

Please contemplate this excerpt from today’s lesson along with the previous quote from The Garland of Guru’s Sayings.

Also, read Chapter Five from The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss again today. As you read it, please write down the sentences that strike your heart the most.

And then, at least two times later in the day today, review:

1. The quote from The Garland of Guru’s Sayings
2. The previous excerpt from today’s lesson
3. Anything you may have written while contemplating them together, and
4. The sentences that you have written down from Chapter 5 of The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss.

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What is the Last Judgment?

The last paragraph of our special theme is an invitation to make the same decision that Buddha and Jesus made, and to make that decision as completely as they made it. The last paragraph says:

This is God’s Final Judgment: “You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father and you are My Son.”

Today, please contemplate what you are. Let your mind reflect on it throughout the day. Here are the words used to describe you from the last paragraph of our special theme:

“forever innocent”

“as limitless as your Creator”

“completely changeless”

“pure”

If it feels helpful to you—if it feels like it would deepen the experience of realizing what you are—ask a question and then write (or speak into a recorder) to let the answer come. Example questions are:

What am I?

How is it true that I am forever innocent?

How can I see myself as God does?

What can I do differently that will help me realize my changeless nature?

What is the best question for me to ask?

Etcetera.

I came for the salvation of the world.

Anyone who knows the story of Buddha’s life or Jesus’ life accepts that this statement—I came for the salvation of the world—was true for them. This was undoubtedly their purpose, and it is what they are remembered for.

How did they complete their mission?

They completed their mission through ego death. As Jesus put it, “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Consider this teaching from NTI 2 Corinthians:

As you accept that the world is not real, and therefore can have no effect on you, the mind will begin to awaken by seeing for itself that a dream cannot affect the reality of existence as it is.

This service that you perform of not believing in the world and of not acting as if the world is real, is a service you provide for yourself and for the entirety of the one mind that you are. No part of the mind is left out of the benefits of the service you perform.

Through your service and your true dedication to this service, the mind is awakened to truth through what it learns. Through your faith, you are a teacher. And through your teaching, you are awakened by all that you learn.

Our special theme ends with an invitation—a calling, actually—and that invitation is echoed in today’s workbook lesson. Buddha and Jesus are two well-known examples of accepting this invitation. It’s helpful to have human examples to look to.

Being right where you are right now and seeing as you see, how can you say ‘yes’ to this call?

Buddha’s first step was to start at the beginning with the search.

Jesus’ first step was purification for 40 days and nights in the desert.

Ramana Maharshi went directly to merging through unending meditation.

What is your current step?
And with this in mind, what is your focus today?

If it feels helpful to you—if it feels like it would deepen your realization of the answer to the previous question—ask the question and then write (or speak into a recorder) to let the answer come.

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