If one is to awaken to truth, it is important to let go of concepts, because concepts are not truth.

Today we will let go of our concepts about God. We will let go of the idea of a “Him” who seems different and separate from us. Although these terms will continue to be used, we will realize the truth. God is the life that we are.

Today’s workbook lessons says, “This day is holy, for it ushers in a new experience; a different kind of feeling and awareness. … Today you learn to feel the joy of life.”

Today, stay focused on the thought, “Into His Presence would I enter now,” and let the inner vision teach you to notice and celebrate life. You will see it in yourself. You will see it in others. You will see it in birds, animals and insects. You will see it in trees and plants. You will notice it in the sun, the wind and in rocks and soil and water. “Nothing is needed but today’s idea to light your mind, …” Reflect on today’s idea. Let it show you that you are the joy of life, living within and amongst joy and life, which are one.

If one is to awaken to truth, it is important to let go of concepts, because concepts are not truth. They are imagination.

Today’s lesson asks, “How could you walk the world alone and separate from your Source?”

What is your Source? It is life. Life is what you are.

NTI Acts, Chapter 5 makes this point when it says, “God is Life, and you live, so Life must be within you. This means that God is within you also. … Right now, as you sit reading this, you live. So right now, you cannot be separate from God. Right now, God is in you and you are in God. There is no separation. Right now, your oneness with God is complete …”

Guilt and unworthiness are concepts. They are imagination. This is easy to see if you will look beyond your imagination to truth.

Think of the guiltiest person you can think of. Bring that one clearly into your mind. Now look closer. Is there life there? (Does or did that person live?) As today’s lesson points out, “There is one life,” and God is life. So look very, very carefully at your guilty one. What is most true (permanent and unchanging) about him/her, guilt or life-presence?

Who is the most unworthy person you can think of? Look at him/her in the same way. Look very, very carefully and honestly. What is most true about this one? Unworthiness or life?

Life is always clean, untouched by what the body does or what the mind thinks, just as sunlight is untouched by the stained glass window that it shines through. And life is what you are, and what others are. This is what’s consistently true. When your eyes have learned to look at truth, everything else pales by comparison.

Today’s lesson says, “’Who walks with me?’ is a question that “should be asked a thousand times a day, till certainty has ended doubting and established peace.” When you ask this question, look. Is life here now? Does it go wherever you go? Is life what you are? Keep looking. Keep noticing until you have trained your eyes to look beyond everything temporary and focus themselves on life.

Today is another opportunity to contemplate the calling we received yesterday, because more than one day is needed to commit deeply to demoting self-will in favor of service to truth.

Today’s lesson tells us why we should make this commitment. “There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be. You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet.” And isn’t this something that we all want?

“To let illusions walk ahead of truth is madness. But to let illusion sink behind the truth and let the truth stand forth as what it is, is merely sanity. … accept the truth, and let it go before you … Step back in faith and let truth lead the way.”

As we contemplate this commitment, it is also important to contemplate the warning that comes in today’s lesson. “Walk safely now, yet carefully, because this path is new to you. And you may find that you are tempted still to walk ahead of truth, …”

Let today be a day of contemplating our willingness to demote self-will in favor of truth. Amen.

Today’s workbook lesson is a calling. All are called. The question is, who will answer?

In order to answer the call, there are certain requirements.

1. We must let go of judging of ourselves. This includes letting go of judging if we are ready for service, if we are worthy of service, and what our role of service should be. This means that an emptying out needs to occur. We need to let go of who we think we are, what we think we want, and what we think our strengths and weaknesses are. We need to be open and willing, and nothing more. Anything that we add to that, like ideas about what our service should be, will likely come from ego.
    
   I am reminded of Eckhart Tolle’s story. He experienced an awakening, and then he spent the better part of the next two years sitting on a park bench in London in a state of bliss. And then guidance began to come. He was guided to move to the west coast of the USA, although he did not know why. So he went. Later it unfolded that he wrote a book, The Power of Now, and his role as a teacher began.
    
   If you look at Eckhart’s story, you can see that he did not pick his role. He also was not searching for his role. He was happy just to be. When the first step in his function came, which was to move, he moved. At that point there was no more to it. The feeling came to move, and so he moved.
    
   Are we willing to have no ideas of our own? Are we willing to simply be here now, following whatever prompts there are in the moment, without planning what our part will be?

 

2. We must be willing to say ‘yes,’ even though we have no idea how we will succeed. Today’s Course lesson says, “And that one Voice appoints your function, and relays it to you, giving you the strength to understand it, do what it entails, and to succeed in everything you do that is related to it.”When you receive your guidance, it is likely you won’t know how you will accomplish it. You may not have the knowledge, skill, resources or money needed. That’s not your concern. A part of how you will learn that there is something bigger than your little self is to say ‘yes’, and then watch how everything is provided. It’s such a marvelous experience! But it is an experience that can only be had if you say ‘yes.’

 

3. You must realize that your service is for you. It doesn’t matter if you are made a teacher, a writer, a musician, a bookkeeper, a housekeeper, an event organizer, etc. You may be able to see how your function serves others, but what is most important is that you notice how your function serves to awaken you. Where are the opportunities to let go of your way of thinking? Where are the opportunities to increase trust? Where are the opportunities to let go of self-will and increase surrender? Whatever form of service you are given, your awakening is its first purpose. Always remember its first purpose, and let your function do its job on you.

 

4. You must also realize that your service is not just for you. Its first purpose is receiving for your own awakening, but its second purpose is giving. All energy is a flow, and in order for a flow to be effective, it must continue to flow. So you will receive from your service, and then you will give. And you will continue to receive, and you will continue to give. This is the flow.It is important to realize that you do not decide how you will give. A trick of the ego can come at this stage. Even if you were careful enough to let go of judging yourself (#1 above), to say ‘yes’ (#2) and to see your function as for you (#3), the ego may try to trick you at this point by convincing you that you are now mature enough to know what is best; now you can decide what to give and how to give it. This is a very common ego trick and one that is to be watched for. It is the ego trying to reestablish itself in your mind. Keep in mind that the way to successfully give is to continually repeat steps 1-3 above.

Today I ask that you contemplate what I have shared above. Everyone has a function to be fulfilled. As today’s lesson says, “He needs our voice that He may speak through us. He needs our hands to hold His messages, and carry them to those whom He appoints. He needs our feet to bring us where He wills, that those who wait in misery may be at last delivered. And He needs our will united with His Own, that we may be the true receivers of the gifts He gives.”

You may already know your function, and you have delayed saying ‘yes.’ You may not yet know your function, but it may come to you soon. Or it may not be time for you to know your function yet. Regardless of your specific situation, a deep contemplation of today’s workbook lesson will prepare you to fulfill your role, whatever it may be.

In Chapter 1 of The Untethered Soul, Michael Singer writes, “… the mind talks all the time because you gave it a job to do. You use it as a protection mechanism, a form of defense.”

Is that true? Is the mind a form of defense?

Let’s watch it for a day and find out. As you watch, some forms of defense you might find are:

~ Thoughts attacking someone who threatens your psyche or gets in the way of what you want (even if it is just the position you want in traffic)

~ Mentally practicing a conversation with someone in order to achieve the outcome you want

~ Thinking about how you should look, be or act in order to be liked or respected by others

~ Thinking about what you can change, manipulate or control in order to achieve the outcome you want

~ Thinking about how you can avoid any feeling or circumstance that you find uncomfortable or painful

Today’s lesson tells us, “You are its slave. … You do not realize what you have done to sabotage the holy peace of God by your defenses.”

Is that true? Are we slaves to the mind’s defensive chatter?

Let’s watch that too. Can you decide to let go of defensive chatter and then move through the day in relative peace, or do you find yourself listening to defensive chatter again?

Try this today: Whenever you notice the mind is chattering as a form of defense, look at what the mind is saying. Notice it. And then slowly say to yourself, “In my defenselessness my safety lies.” (Or you can say, “Peace lies in defenselessness.”) Take a breath and let go of the chatter. Move into a state of openness, acceptance and intuitiveness. Remain there. If you notice that you’ve slipped into being focused on mental defenses again, repeat this practice.

If a situation arises today that needs to be resolved, approach it differently. Instead of going to the mind’s defenses for answers, ask questions and remain open for intuition’s guidance. For example, ask, “How should I look at this?” or “What should I do now?”

Over the last two days we have been contemplating Michael Langford’s theatre analogy along with Lesson 151. Today’s workbook lesson looks at a difference between the theatre analogy and our experience with the world. In the theatre analogy, people are born in a theatre and mesmerized by the film, but they have nothing to do with creating the film. As today’s workbook lesson points out, we are each “co-creator of the universe.”

Today’s lesson begins, “No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision. No one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. No one can grieve nor fear nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes he wants. And no one dies without his own consent.” And it continues by saying, “And it is only here salvation is.”

Just like with Lesson 151, today’s lesson is clear that “what is false is false.” That which we co-create through the power of our decision is not true and it does not change truth. However, our decisions are the source of the illusion that we find ourselves so mesmerized with. We learned this when we studied and contemplated The Code.

Lesson 152 says, “Nothing occurs but represents your wish, … You may believe that this position is extreme, and too inclusive to be true.”

Over the next two days, we will look at this lesson in a very practical way. We will watch for decisions that we make that shape our individual experience. Many of these decisions seem unconscious until we watch for them, and then we see that they are made both consciously and repeatedly.

Here are few examples of the types of decisions you may see yourself make as you watch for the decisions that shape your experience.

I don’t want to do this.
I hate … (traffic, this heat, mean people, stupid people, myself, etc.)
I will never be able to …
I don’t have enough …
I’m tired of this.
He/she is … (annoying, wrong, stupid, lazy, etc.)
I’m so … (stupid, lazy, ugly, etc.)
I have too much to do.
They think … about me.
This situation is unacceptable.
I’ll be happy when I get …
I’ll be safe when I get …
I won’t ever … (understand this, be able to do this, get to go there, etc.)
No one ever pays attention to me.
This always happens to me.
This is too good; something bad is going to happen next.
This isn’t fair.

As you watch for the decisions you make, notice both the decisions and how those decisions affect your experience. Ask yourself, “If I made a different decision about this, how would my experience be different?” Look both at the circumstance and your emotional experience to see if you can find at least one way your experience would be different if you made a different decision.

At the last Gentle Healing meeting, I read some paragraphs from Chapter 14 of “The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss.” Part of that reading was a story about a planet where people are born and raised in a movie theatre, and they never question if the movie on the screen is reality; they simply assume it is.

Here’s that story again:

“Imagine a planet where all of the people were born and raised and spent their entire lives in a movie theatre. Almost all of them believed the movie they were seeing on the screen was real. Their attention was so fixed on the screen that they never bothered to turn their heads around 180 degrees to see the projector’s light. One of them had the courage to turn his head around 180 degrees and he saw the projector’s light. He did not know what it was, but he followed that light until he found the projector. He went back and told the people that what they were seeing on the screen was not real.

“He told them that to find the projector they would have to turn their heads around 180 degrees. Due to the long habit of always keeping their attention fixed on the movie screen, fear of the unknown, their belief that the movie was real, and their disbelief in what he was telling them, very few bothered to turn their heads around 180 degrees to see the light from the projector. Some of those who did follow his instructions turned their heads immediately back to the screen. They were used to the illusion and afraid of the Truth. Others did not sustain their attempt to find the projector long enough to find it. After all it is difficult to find the projector in the dark. One has to pass through a number of doors to find it. Once in a while someone actually persevered long enough to find the projector.”

Today’s Course lesson is like the one in this story who had the courage to turn his head around 180 degrees and follow the projector’s light until he found the projector, and then “went back and told the people that what they were seeing on the screen was not real.” Today’s Course lesson says:

“You do not seem to doubt the world you see. You do not really question what is shown you through the body’s eyes. Nor do you ask why you believe it …”

We do well to contemplate Michael Langford’s analogy of the movie theatre and today’s Course lesson together. Isn’t it true that ever since we can remember our attention has been focused outward on thought and the world? Isn’t that like the people in the movie theatre who were born and raised with their attention on the movie screen? Isn’t it true that, just as they did not question the reality of the movie, we have not questioned the reality of our thoughts and perceptions? Isn’t it at least possible that what we have always believed to be reality is not reality? Doesn’t this possibility deserve genuine investigation? Isn’t it worth our time to find out what is true?

Today’s lesson calls our senses “idle witnesses, which merely bear false witness…” Do we want to continue to believe them without question, or are we willing to use inquiry (self-inquiry) and awareness-watching-awareness meditation (Self-inquiry) to discover what is and is not true?

“One of them had the courage to turn his head around 180 degrees and he saw the projector’s light… he followed that light until he found the projector.”

My mind holds only what I think with God.

I will accept the Atonement for myself. The “will” in this sentence implies the future, as in ‘I am going to do this.’ I don’t feel to see it as a future endeavor. I accept the Atonement for myself now. As NTI Luke says, “Now is a very important time, for now is the only time that you can take any action that will make any difference. … Lay aside resistance now. Dismiss meaningless thoughts now. Focus on your willingness and nurture gratitude for being [now]. … The kingdom of God is within you now. Do not let yourself be distracted away from it.”

Only salvation can be said to cure. All problems are temporary. They shall have their end. And yet, every problem or difficulty will be replaced by another until we have transcended the belief in the body-mind as ‘me.’ Salvation is liberation from ignorance. Only salvation resolves all problems forever. With this realization, I am no longer distracted by thinking my happiness lies with some change or acquisition in the world. My focus is clear. I accept the Atonement for myself.

My mind holds only what I think with God.

When I am healed I am not healed alone. In Chapter 1 of A Course in Miracles, Jesus says, “I have nothing that does not come from God. The difference between us now is that I have nothing else.” That is healing, having nothing but that which comes from God. I trust when I am healed, that healing helps others. However, my focus now must be on reaching that healed state, that permanence of “only what I think with God” and nothing else. This is my commitment to myself and everyone.

Heaven is the decision I must make. This decision is not made once, but repeatedly. It is made each day, and it is made throughout the day. Anything that reinforces this decision in me is helpful. Anything that weakens this decision in me needs to be looked at and questioned. A partial decision or a ‘sometimes’ decision is not a decision. Total unwavering commitment is the sign of true decision.

My mind holds only what I think with God.

I have noticed since beginning this review that something is shifting in me. There is greater confidence than there was before in the efficiency of the direct path and in my desire and ability to remain focused on it. I feel as if I am learning now to “claim again” my inheritance.

With this in mind, I contemplate today’s review lessons.

If I defend myself I am attacked. In order to defend myself, I must forget my Self. It doesn’t matter if I am defending my psyche against something that it perceives as an attack or if I am defending against truth by avoiding spiritual practice. Either way, I am not coming from my Self. Therefore, whenever I notice myself defending, I will drop the habit of ignorance and turn attention toward the heart, toward truth.

Sickness is a defense against the truth. I do not feel to focus on effects. It feels better for me to watch where my attention is now. Am I obsessed with thinking about an illness or some other circumstance? Am I resisting an illness or another current circumstance? Do I feel like the victim of an illness or another circumstance? If yes, that focus is a defense against the truth. Instead of being in defense, it feels better for me to be consistently in acceptance, grounded in wisdom, and in contemplation of the truth. When I find myself in defense, I will return myself to clarity and promptly drop the habit of ignorance.