What is the Christ?

Our special theme speaks of forgiveness. It says, “The Holy Spirit reaches from the Christ in you to all your dreams, and bids them come to Him, to be translated into truth. … For when forgiveness rests upon the world and peace has come to every Son of God, what could there be to keep things separate, for what remains to see except Christ’s face?”

Our first special theme was, “What is forgiveness?” We saw that forgiveness is recognizing yourself as the unaffected Self. Therefore, “what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred.” Forgiveness “looks, and waits, and judges not.”

In other words, forgiveness is abiding in the qualities of Christ-consciousness—acceptance of what is, openness, non-attachment, and unconditional trust. This is often called equanimity.

When we abide in equanimity, we allow spiritual intuition to be our consistent guide. That is forgiveness.

If I am bound, my Father is not free.

Today’s lesson says, “If I am bound in any way, I do not know my Father nor my Self. And I am lost to all reality. For truth is free, and what is bound is not a part of truth.”

The truth is, we are unaffected by the world. We are the unaffected Self.

If we believe the mind’s chatter—the mind’s definition of “I”—and if we project our attention into the body as if the body is “me,” we do not know our Self. We do not recognize our nature. And if we do not recognize our nature, we do not recognize the nature of our source.

Yesterday we contemplated what we wanted to be identified with. If Christ-consciousness was your decision, then be doubly committed to spiritual intuition and the Loving All Method today. The Loving All Method is the practice of equanimity, which is the practice of identifying with your true Self. Spiritual intuition reminds you to be what you are.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation, I recommend this meditation today:

Loving Consciousness Description I

What is the Christ?

Our special theme says, “Home of the Holy Spirit, and at home in God alone, does Christ remain at peace within the Heaven of your holy mind.”

Yesterday we saw that spiritual intuition is the means to truth realization, just like kicking the ball is the way to get the ball in the net in soccer. Just like a soccer player needs to become skilled at kicking the ball, its helpful for a spiritual seeker to become skilled at listening to spiritual intuition.

Our special theme provides a clue that will help us become more skilled at listening to spiritual intuition. It refers to Christ-consciousness as the “home of the Holy Spirit.” It doesn’t refer to human consciousness as its home. This is an important point.

When we are fully identified with human consciousness (the mind), we are fully identified with thought. That means we are identified with chatter about what should be and what should not be, what we like and don’t like, etcetera. These thoughts are not the home of spiritual intuition. They are the home of ego. When we ask for guidance from this place of concern—from wanting things to be a certain way—we invite the ego to chatter even more.

When we identify with Christ-consciousness, or at least with the qualities of Christ-consciousness, we open ourselves to know the guidance of spiritual intuition. Some of the qualities we might identify with are acceptance of what is, openness, non-attachment, and unconditional trust. When we shift our perspective into these qualities, spiritual intuition can become clear, because we have shifted into the perspective that is the home of spiritual intuition.

Let me not bind Your Son with laws I made.

Today’s lesson says, “Your Son is free, my Father. Let me not imagine I have bound him with the laws I made to rule the body. He is not subject to any laws I made by which I try to make the body more secure. … Let us not worship idols, …”

In other words, today’s lesson is an invitation to shift from identifying with the mind—from its ideas of who we are, where our safety lies, what our happiness is, etcetera—to identifying with consciousness (awareness).

Yesterday we noticed what we meant by “I”. That provided us with the opportunity to notice what we are identified with. Today, let’s contemplate what we want to be identified with. Which identification do we feel is in our best interest, the human thinking mind or present awareness-consciousness?

Since today is a day of contemplating what you want, I do not feel to influence you with a particular guided meditation. Instead, I will provide links to gentle background sounds, which you can use as you meditate. You can also meditate in silence.

Tibetan Bells

What is the Christ?

Our special theme says, “Home of the Holy Spirit, and at home in God alone, does Christ remain at peace within the Heaven of your holy mind. This is the only part of you that has reality in truth. The rest is dreams. … The Holy Spirit reaches from the Christ in you to all your dreams, and bids them come to Him, to be translated into truth. He will exchange them for the final dream which God appointed as the end of dreams.”

This excerpt invites us to do two things:

1. Discern between truth and dreams.
2. Discern between the right mind (spiritual intuition) and the wrong mind.

I used to think that the right mind was truth. I used to think that the goal of truth seeking was to learn to listen to only the right mind. However, spiritual intuition is not the goal. Spiritual intuition is the means.

Let me share an analogy. Lets imagine that we are children, and we have just joined our first soccer league. Since we are learning to play soccer, the coach spends a lot of time teaching us to kick the ball. Kicking the ball isn’t the goal. The goal is to get the ball in the net. However, kicking the ball is the means of getting the ball in the net, so learning to kick the ball well is important.

Learning to listen to spiritual intuition is like kicking the ball in soccer. Spiritual intuition isn’t the goal, but the means to reaching the goal.

What is truth?

According to our special theme, the truth is beyond dreams; it is even beyond the happy dream. Ultimately, absolute truth is beyond Christ-consciousness.

Notice, again, what our special theme says:

“Home of the Holy Spirit, and at home in God alone, does Christ remain at peace within the Heaven of your holy mind. “

Just as the human experience is within Christ-consciousness, Christ-consciousness is within truth, and that truth is still what we are (“your holy mind”).

It’s pretty amazing. We appear to be human. We are awakening to the realization that we are Christ-consciousness. Yet, our absolute nature is that which makes Christ-consciousness possible.

Ultimate truth, then, is indefinable. Yet, because it is what we are, it can be directly known.

The Word of God is given me to speak.

Today’s workbook lesson says that God’s Word is, “My Son is pure and holy as Myself.”

“Myself” in this sentence is our absolute nature. From our perspective as humans, it is helpful to think of this nature as the source or “Father.” Until we awaken to it, it is helpful to honor it in this way.

“My Son” is Christ-consciousness. From our perspective as humans, it is helpful to begin to notice that Christ-consciousness is what we are. It is our most genuine “I”, our true Self.

Our lesson says, “Let us accept His Fatherhood, and all is given us.”

This sentence points to a shift in our identification. Instead of identifying with the human, who is within Christ-consciousness, we are invited to identify with Christ-consciousness, which is within the source.

Today’s lesson says, “The Word of God is given me to speak.” This is an invitation to speak from Christ-consciousness, to have “I” refer to our consciousness-Self instead of the human-self.

Today, pay attention to what you mean by “I”. Is “I” being used to represent your true Self, or is it being used to represent the false self?

When you notice that “I” in your speaking or thinking points to the false self, silently ask yourself, “What am I?” Look. What is most true about you in your current experience? Are you ready to speak from that truth?

If you have 30 minutes for meditation, I recommend this meditation today:

Loving Consciousness Description H

What is the Christ?

Our special theme says, “Home of the Holy Spirit, and at home in God alone, does Christ remain at peace within the Heaven of your holy mind. This is the only part of you that has reality in truth. The rest is dreams. Yet will these dreams be given unto Christ, to fade before His glory and reveal your holy Self, the Christ, to you at last.”

A dream is defined as “a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep.”

In today’s excerpt from our special theme, “dream” is an analogy. Certainly, we are not in the human sleep state as we walk about in our daily lives. However, we are still living a dream when we believe we are affected by the “series of thoughts, images and sensations” experienced throughout the day. We are not affected by thoughts, images and sensations, because we are untouched consciousness, the witness of the human experience.

Today, continue to check in with your untouched present nature. Continue to notice that it is more intimately you than anything else you might call you.

God’s healing Voice protects all things today.

Healing is awakening to our true nature.

Today’s lesson says, “Let us today attend the Voice for God, which speaks an ancient lesson, no more true today than any other day.”

What is true today that has also been true on every other day?

Do not look to your mind for the answer to this question. Look to your consistent nature. It is here, present now and “no more true today than any other day. … It is in this that all things are protected.”

The prayer from today’s lesson is:

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.

The best way to live this prayer today is to stay focused on our untouched nature. Let the world be as it is. Ask for nothing from the world, and practice surrender as it is taught in The Teachings of Inner Ramana.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation, I recommend this meditation today:

Loving Consciousness Description G

What is the Christ?

Speaking of Christ-consciousness, our special theme says, “Your mind is part of His, and His of yours. He is the part in which God’s Answer lies; where all decisions are already made, and dreams are over. He remains untouched by anything the body’s eyes perceive.”

That means that Christ-consciousness is untouched by anything that occurs in the human experience.

The best way to discover that you are Christ-consciousness is to check in with consciousness (awareness) frequently, and notice it is always the same. As the human that you seem to be goes through different experiences today, repeatedly check in with consciousness. Notice its sameness for yourself. Notice its untouchedness.

Also, take the time to notice that this present untouched nature is you. Notice that this present consistent nature is actually more intimately you than anything else you may call you.

Today belongs to love. Let me not fear.

As you go through the day today and different experiences come and go—some the mind may consider favorable and some the mind may consider unfavorable—continue to check in with awareness. Continue to notice your untouchedness.

The end of fear lies in the direct realization that you are untouched by everything that happens in the world.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation, I recommend this meditation today:

Loving Consciousness Description F

What is the Christ?

Speaking of Christ-consciousness, our special theme says, “Your mind is part of His, and His of yours. He is the part in which God’s Answer lies; where all decisions are already made, and dreams are over.”

While we were on Lesson 267, we spent the day with a visualization plan. It might have been Lesson 267 as it was written, the visualization plan you wrote earlier in Gentle Healing, or a new visualization plan. This is the plan I was with that day:

I forget about anything I am not called to by God. I joyously answer all of God’s calls, no matter how big or how small. I am completely surrendered, completely in love, and awakening to truth at the perfect pace, God’s pace.

My visualization plan is in the same vein as the excerpt I have quoted from our special theme today. Today’s excerpt and my vision point to the easy path, the path of being completely surrendered in trust to spiritual intuition.

From our human perspective, awakening is not complete. However, from the perspective of Christ-consciousness, it is complete. In fact, from the perspective of consciousness, non-awakeness has never happened.

Realizing the perspective of consciousness, a wise human relaxes into the current experience. Relaxing necessarily includes tuning into and following spiritual intuition, since the wrong mind is agitation.

From a human point-of-view, what we know about everything is extremely limited. The wise human becomes comfortable with not knowing and lives in the mystery in joy by following intuition in the moment. The wrong mind, which thrives on agitation, worries, tries to figure things out and tries to control everything toward an outcome that is decided upon in the mind.

If we see Christ-consciousness as our truth and the human as a temporary experience, we relax and enjoy the ride. If we see humanness as our reality, we tend to struggle against the unknown and undesired.

The stillness of the peace of God is mine.

As today’s lesson says, “Perhaps we are now ready for a day of undisturbed tranquility.”

Are you ready to trust that consciousness is your reality? If so, you can relax, and watch the human dream from the stillness of reality.

The lesson also says, “If this is not yet feasible, we are content and even more than satisfied to learn how such a day can be achieved. If we give way to disturbance, let us learn how to dismiss it and return to peace.”

It is helpful to pause whenever disturbance arises. Notice that you are aware. Notice awareness is always present, regardless of the current human experience. Happy or sad, at peace or agitated, healthy or sick, in love or lonely—awareness is always present as you.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation, I recommend this meditation today:

Loving Consciousness Description E

What is the Christ?

Our special theme says, “Christ is the link that keeps you one with God, and guarantees that separation is no more than an illusion of despair, for hope forever will abide in Him.”

This sentence is an invitation for us to become clear on the difference between what is true and what is not true.

Let’s look at the definitions of true, or real, and not true, or illusion.

Yesterday we learned about consciousness, which is the realm of creation and the ability for creation. Consciousness is the direct creation of source. Therefore it is an extension of source and the same as source.

“True” and “real” point to that, to the essence of consciousness and source, which is changeless and eternal.

Temporary appearances are made of consciousness. They are an extension of consciousness just as consciousness is an extension of source. Yet on the surface, they appear to be something other than consciousness. They appear to be thousands upon thousands, actually billions of different names and forms. The temporary things they appear to be are “not true.” They are “illusion,” because each of these things is actually more than it appears to be. Each thing is not its temporary appearance, but the eternal essence of its source.

To become clear on what is true and what is illusion, we will continue to focus on awareness in ourselves and on life in the living things that we encounter throughout the day.

How can illusions satisfy God’s Son?

Today’s lesson asks, “Can dreams content me? Can illusions bring me happiness? What but Your memory can satisfy Your Son?”

Temporary appearances occupy the mind. Temporary appearances give the mind something to think about. Since things are always coming and going, shifting and changing, the mind remains very occupied. This is life to the mind.

However, we are not the mind, and what is life to the mind is actually agitation or suffering for us. It’s like keeping our attention with the restless waves on a stormy sea, fearing what will happen to the wave, while ignoring the changeless nature of the sea at its depths. Focusing on the surface is suffering. Realizing and abiding as the depth is peace.

The practice we have already committed to today is also the practice that will bring us to realize peace. It is the practice of focusing on the depth instead of the surface. We will focus on awareness in ourselves, and we will focus on life in each living thing that we encounter today. It doesn’t matter if the people we encounter seem happy, angry, or afraid. The life in each one is the same. Life-awareness is the changeless depth of our source.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation, I recommend this meditation today:

Loving Consciousness Description D

What is the Christ?

“Christ” is a symbolic term. As a symbolic term, it can mean different things to different people. However, if we look carefully at our new special theme, we can see clearly what this term means in A Course in Miracles:

Christ is God’s Son as He created Him. He is the Self we share, uniting us with one another, and with God as well. … He abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God.

Christ and God’s Son are synonymous, and they both point to what many people call consciousness. In some traditions, consciousness is the first creation. It is also the only direct creation of the source, since all other “creations” were created through consciousness. This is similar to the Bible’s claim, if “the Word” is seen as synonymous with Christ or consciousness. At John 1, the Bible says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

It’s important to remember that terms are symbols, and because they are only symbols, terms are not used consistently. Because terms are used differently at different times, we need to reach an understanding that is beyond terms.

Let me paint a simplistic picture that will help us understand Christ-consciousness.

At the highest level of truth, the source exists. The source is a mystery, often represented by darkness. It is unmanifest life teeming with potential.

Out of this potential, consciousness arises. Consciousness is awareness, but it is more than that. It is like a canvas that potentialities can be painted on. It is also the divine mechanism, or paint brush, that enables creation. Through its beingness, ongoing creation happens. Without consciousness, nothing else could be.

This is Christ. It is what we are beyond our experience of human. The humans that we appear to be are temporary appearances in the consciousness that we are.

Christ’s is the vision I will use today.

Today’s lesson says, “Today I choose to look upon what Christ would have me see, to listen to God’s Voice, and seek the witnesses to what is true in God’s creation. In Christ’s sight, the world and God’s creation meet, and as they come together all perception disappears.”

The lesson concludes with a prayer:

Father, Christ’s vision is the way to You. What He beholds invites Your memory to be restored to me. And this I choose, to be what I would look upon today.

To behold Christ’s vision, focus on awareness in yourself and on life in every living being. Let everything be as it appears, without asking it to appear differently, while you stay focused on the life that is the same in all living things.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

Appreciating Life

Note: The music in this meditation is a bit loud (or lively) in the first few minutes, but then it settles down nicely.

What is the Body?

The last paragraph of our special theme says:

You will identify with what you think will make you safe. Whatever it may be, you will believe that it is one with you. Your safety lies in truth, and not in lies. Love is your safety. Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self.

What do I identify with? It’s possible that the mind will answer this question truthfully. For example, if you are identified with the body and with fear, the mind may give that answer. However, sometimes the mind will say, “I am identified with love,” or “spirit” or “awareness,” when that isn’t true.

How do we know, with honesty, what we are identified with? NTI Philippians recommends that we watch the body. Since the body follows the thoughts that we believe and value, the body will demonstrate what we are identified with. NTI Philippians, Chapter 2 says:

The way you operate in the world is a reflection of your faith and your belief. For the way you operate is not action, but the image of the expression of thought.

Trust that you do not know yourself, because you have not observed that closely until now. Realize that your purpose is to ensure that your faith is placed with the motive you have chosen. Be clear on this purpose, and then observe yourself.

What is it that you find yourself doing? Why are you doing it? Is that action evidence that your faith is placed with your motive, or are you finding that you have placed your faith elsewhere?

Be careful that you do not judge that which you see and observe. Separate yourself from the body. See the body as not you. See it merely as evidence of thought that is in your mind. See it as a learning device and nothing else.

When you look at the body, which is showing you what you have asked to see, what is it that you discover? What do you learn about your mind?

Realize, now, who you are as you watch this body and learn from it. Realize that you did not know, and so you lived in ignorance before. But now you do know, and it is your will to correct the ignorance you lived by before.

Be grateful for this body and all it is teaching you, for in partnership with this learning device you will correct the mind. You will bring faith into alignment with motive through your own desire to do so.

So today, watch the body with the desire to learn what you are identified with. The goal today is self-honesty.

I will not use the body’s eyes today.

The lessons says, “Christ is our eyes today. And through His sight we offer healing to the world through Him, the holy Son whom God created whole; the holy Son whom God created one.”

We have already set a purpose for today. We are using today to discover what we are identified with, the body-mind or life-awareness-presence. As we watch the body in order to make this discovery, we may see things we are tempted to judge. Instead, let’s watch the body with Christ-eyes. Let’s bring healing energy to whatever we see by watching with the Loving All Method instead of with self-judgment.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation today, I recommend this meditation:

Brain Relaxation

What is the Body?

Our special theme says, “You will identify with what you think will make you safe. Whatever it may be, you will believe that it is one with you.”

What do you believe makes you safe? Do you trust the mind that tells you how things should be and should not be? Are those judgments your guide to safety? Or do you trust life-awareness-presence, which simply is with whatever appears to be?

Please contemplate these questions today.

My sight goes forth to look upon Christ’s face.

It is common to believe that a person is not demonstrating Christ if s/he is rude and unhelpful. It is extremely common to believe that the person who shoots and kills several people is not demonstrating Christ.

How can we be expected to see Christ’s face in people like these when they clearly demonstrate the wrong mind instead of the Christ mind?

The answer lies in choosing the Loving All Method over the judging mind.

We each will see based on the mind we see through. If we see through the judging mind, we will see good and bad—things that seem Christ-like to us and things that don’t. However, if we see with life-awareness-presence, we see life-awareness-presence in everything, and that is Christ.

Notice that today’s lesson asks for our mistakes to be revealed. Anytime we do not see with the Loving All Method, a mistake in our mind is there to be revealed. That means that if we see something we feel we cannot love, accept or emotionally allow, we are in our wrong mind.

If you discover that you are in your wrong mind today, apply the Loving All Method to that. Love, accept or emotionally allow the fact that you have slipped into the wrong mind. That doesn’t mean that you should indulge the wrong mind. When you shift to the Loving All Method, you shift out of indulgence into the right mind’s perception of the mistake. It might feel like stepping back from the wrong mind without judging it. It might feel like resting and letting the wrong mind unwind or settle down. Although the wrong mind may remain present in awareness for a time after shifting to the Loving All Method, you should be able to feel a difference regarding your inner way of being with it.

If you have 30 minutes for meditation, I recommend this meditation today:

Loving Consciousness Description C