What's my assignment?

A Course in Miracles talks a lot about our function.

Our function is our purpose, it's why we're here, it's our assignment.

Are we here to get rich?  To raise beautiful children?  To see the world?  To enjoy our lives?  To be nice to other people?

Although there's nothing wrong with any of these activities, they have nothing to do with our true function, our true purpose, our true assignment.  We're here for so much more than all this.

"Forgiveness is my function as the Light of the World".   --Workbook Lesson 63

What does it mean to choose forgiveness as our true function?

It's not just forgiving the guy that stole your parking place.  It's more than forgiving the person who deeply and truly broke your heart.  It's more than forgiving your parents for the overall permeating sense of rejection they created in your life.  It's more than forgiving what's going on right now in the Middle East.  It's so much more than any part of this alone.

Our true function is to forgive ALL of this.  We are here to forgive the WORLD.  All of it!  Yes, every single bit of pain, hurt, difficulty, frustration, lack, murder, sin, guilt, upset and fear.  The whole enchilada is what we're here for.

"Feel what you have created as a substitute for the truth.  Own it, look upon it, and then let it go.  Learn that regardless of what choice you may have made in the past, once you have embraced it, once you have felt it, you remain perfectly innocent and imbued with the power to choose again, to feel, to learn once again to feel the glorious warmth that permeates the Kingdom of Heaven."  --Way of Mastery p. 81      

We are here to accept every single bit of fear we see in the world around us.  Every bit.  We must see it, feel it, forgive it, accept it and release all judgment of it.  And as we do so, we transmute our feelings about what we see into love.  With acceptance comes love.  And with love comes peace.

"There will not be a molecule of beingness within you that will feel any resentment, any longing, any anger, or any remorse for anything.  All of your experience will have become wholly acceptable to you.  For it was by such experience that you were finally driven to want only the Truth." --Way of Mastery p. 81   

That's why we're here folks.  Nothing more and nothing less.  To forgive, accept and embrace with love all that exists.

"Forgive the World" -- What Does it Mean?

Forgiving the world...it seems like a daunting task.  There's a lot of pain out there.  In fact, there's a lot of suffering close-by.  Where do we even start?

When it comes to forgiving the world, we need to look at how forgiving plays out in both our immediate world and the greater world at large.

Forgiving in Our Own Backyard   In our immediate world, we can forgive the things that come up on an every day basis.  Whenever we feel frustrated, angry or hurt by the people or events that surround us, we need to do a little forgiveness work.  This can be done right on the spot, or it can be saved for a quiet moment later.  I like to review my day each night in bed and forgive anything disturbing that happened.

Global Forgiveness   Forgiving the world at large is a different kind of forgiveness.  It means releasing attachment.  It means that we watch what is happening in Israel, in the Ukraine, in Syria or wherever, from arms length, yet with an understanding that suffering  is occurring.  As we observe, we do not allow our thoughts to mentally sink down with fear and angst for the events that we see.

Just as we forgive the bullies in our immediate world, we also need to forgive the bullies of the world at large. And this we can add to our nightly forgiveness work.

Mind Work   However, when we think about the victims, we must not become upset and focused on the unfairness of it all.  Thoughts are creative and this kind of thinking holds the victims down.  If we want their lives to improve, we need to see them in their strength and truth.  We must hold the mental high ground with images of their higher source and true potential.  (Of course, this doesn't mean that we refrain from providing the help needed.  If there is something we can do, whatever it is, we can feel free to contribute.)

Remember that forgiveness happens on the mental plane.   We must hold a vision that helps the victims and sufferers to rise up.  It is our job to find the vision for peace.  It is our job to forgive and to see love as a real possibility.

World Peace Starts at Home, Inside   Of course, our biggest contribution to the healing of the world is the work we do on our very own minds.  We must release our habits of judging others.  If we want to heal the world, we must heal our own thinking first.  When our minds become a place of peace, the world will reflect that.  When we stop the attack thoughts that frequent our minds, when our minds become gentle, the world will too.

Remember that all minds are joined.  We can lift others up.  By filling our minds with love, we are showing others the pathway to peace.   And loving thoughts have so much more power than fearful thoughts.  It starts right here, right now, with us.  Each of us has the opportunity to contribute to the forgiving and healing of the world.

Look Up

Look to the higher place.
Whenever you meet someone, be sure to cast your eyes upward.

Upward to the place where the soul dwells, that higher self.
See only the beauty, the love, the truth in everyone you encounter.

Don't ever look down.

No matter what happens.
No matter what they do.
No matter what you do.


It's all only a dreamscape anyway.

But where you cast your gaze is how you shall dream...
Look down and you will dream of suffering.

But look upward and you will live the happy dream.
When you look for the beauty, the love and the truth in others,
you will live in that very same truth yourself.

Solve One Problem...Get Another

The ego loves to keep us immersed in the "reality" of daily living.  It loves to create problems.  Problems distract us from noticing our separation from God.  If we weren't so busy solving all these pesky problems we might have more time to notice how insane this all is and start to pay more attention to solving our one real problem...that we need to get back to God.

(In previous postings, I've been talking about ego set ups.  There's the "I Can't Win No Matter What I Do", see here.  There's also "The Rug Got Pulled Out From Underneath Me", see here.)

One of the ways the ego keeps us wrapped up in worldly living and away from spiritual thinking is by giving us problems.  Lot's and lot's of problems.  In fact, we're never without problems.  If we solve a problem, not to worry, more will show up.  In fact, solve one...get two.  Problems are BIG and important!  They require our immediate attention, or they require ALL of our attention.  They are urgent.  They are critical.  They must be attended to or something TERRIBLE will happen!

Even worse are the never ending problems.  Most of us have at least one problem like this.  They stem from our false beliefs (for more on false beliefs, see here).  These are the kinds of problems that stick around...perhaps for a lifetime.  For some people, these kinds of problems have to do with money.  For others, with relationships, health or a lack of self worth.  We all know someone who has been sick with one illness after another practically from the moment they were born.  Or someone who can never seem to make a relationship stick.  There are also those people who self-destruct their lives on a regular basis because of their deep-seated false belief that they are not worthy, not love-able, and undeserving.

Okay, take a deep breath and let's look at the real "reality".  Problems are only perceptions.  There's nothing really wrong here.  We have air to breath and clothes to keep us warm.  The birds are singing and the sun still shines.  We have water to drink and food to eat.  Right now, right here, in this very moment, there are no problems here.  And in the next moment, and the next moment and the next moment.  There are no problems.  We are safe and we are loved by the divine.

We have the potential to fill our minds with love.  Or we can choose to indulge the ego and fill it with fear.

And since our thoughts are creative, when we fill our minds with fear thoughts, what are we creating in our lives?  Problems, of course!

So what are some good practical ways to end the perpetual problem cycle in our lives?

Well, first we can choose to cast out fear thoughts whenever we become aware of them.  This takes a great deal of strength of character and determination, but it can be done.  Thinking is habit and habits can be changed.  It is within our realm of power to insist on only allowing worthy thoughts in our minds.  And as our thoughts become cleansed, we create less chaos in our lives.  If we focus on loving thoughts and thoughts of gratitude, beautiful things show up in our lives.

The second way to reduce problems in our lives is to release the habit of judging others (see here, here and here.)  When we judge others, we are damaging ourselves.  We get what we give.  It's just how things work.  When we view others harshly, we view ourselves harshly too.  And that creates guilt down deep in our subconscious mind.  Even worse, when we have guilt, we believe that we should be punished.  And how do we punish ourselves?  Why, with problems, of course.

Just as with clearing our minds of fear thinking, ending the habit of judging is challenging.  It takes work and commitment, but it can be done!  Go cold turkey on judging today.  Just stop it.  (See here.)  Stop creating guilt and begin to create peace.

Finally, the third and most effective way to significantly reduce the problems in your life is through forgiveness.  Start by forgiving every problem you have in your present and every person that is even vaguely connected to these problems.  Once you've taken care of today's forgiveness needs, begin to systematically dig into your past and forgive all the hurts, wounds, anger and upset you have from your past problems.  (See here.)  And then go to work on forgiving your mental blocks and false beliefs  (see here.) Again, this may seem like a lot of work, and it is.  However, forgiveness dissipates problems.  As you forgive and release the world you have created, you will have fewer and fewer problems.

It's your choice to make.  Problems or happiness?

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Forgiveness Offers Everything I Want

This was my reading for this morning in A Course in Miracles.  It's words on forgiveness are so beautiful that I wanted to share them with you.  From Workbook lesson 122:

What could you want forgiveness cannot give?  Do you want peace?  Forgiveness offers it.  Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world?  Do you want care and safety, and the warmth of sure protection always?  Do you want a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?

All this forgiveness offers you and more.  It sparkles on your eyes as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day.  It soothes your forehead while you sleep, and rests upon your eyelids so you see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and attack.  And when you wake again, it offers you another day of happiness and peace.  All this forgiveness offers you, and more.  

Forgiveness lets the veil be lifted up that hides the face of Christ from those who look with unforgiving eyes upon the world.  It lets you recognize the Son of God, and clears your memory of all dead thoughts so that remembrance of your Father can arise across the threshold of your mind.  What would you want forgiveness cannot give?  What gifts but these are worthy to be sought?  What fancied value, trivial effect or transient promise, never to be kept, can hold more hope than what forgiveness brings? 

Why would you seek an answer other than the answer that will answer everything?  Here is the perfect answer, given to imperfect questions, meaningless requests, halfhearted willingness to hear, and less than halfway diligence and partial trust.  Here is the answer!  Seek for it no more.  You will not find another one instead.  

If ever I find myself feeling less than content, I know I have forgiveness work to do.  I search my mind for the source of my unforgiveness.  Who am I feeling annoyed with?  Is there anyone or any thing that is bringing this particular form of fear into my life?

Even if it is only a vague feeling of discomfort, I know it must be forgiven.  I may not understand what it is that is making me feel uncomfortable, but I go ahead and apply one of my forgiveness processes to it anyway.

Then I think.  I look into my past and I look deep into my heart.  What is it about this situation that is unsettling me?  What false beliefs do I hold in my unconsciousness that are causing me to experience fear or anger or hurt or frustration?  How can I tie the feelings I am experiencing this day to experiences in my past?

What do I believe about the world and about myself?  Deep down in the dark recesses of my mind, do I secretly believe that I am not worthy of happiness, love and safety?  Do I believe there is not enough good for the rest of the world and me too?  Do I believe I am unloveable?  Do I believe I am guilty and deserve to be punished?  Beliefs like these and many others silently run our lives, causing us to behave eradically and often in ways that harm ourselves and others.

Looking deep at our beliefs, tracking them down to their source, remembering which events in our lives originally created these beliefs and forgiving, forgiving, forgiving is the way to happiness.  I try to forgive every aspect I can dig up.  I forgive the people and events causing me discomfort today, the people and events from its source in my past, the false belief I have embedded in my unconscious mind and any other experiences or thoughts I can discover in my consciousness that relate to this topic.

Doing this kind of mind cleaning and purifying does take commitment, but it pays off in spades.  As we forgive the world around us, slowly but steadily our trust and comfort in our world begins to build.

Forgive and be forgiven.  As you give you will receive.  --Also from Workbook Lesson 122

Peace flows into our minds and we become happy.

If you are unsure how to begin to forgive on this level, my book, "Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness" explains how you can successfully use forgiveness to create happiness in your life.

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Happiness is Something You Decide On

"The 92-year old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair done and makeup applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. 

“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room ...” 

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it."  --The above story came from Chapter Two Blog .   

Mrs. Jones knows something big.  And this is something that most of us go our entire lives without learning.  Mrs. Jones knows that our thoughts are the one thing in life that we have complete and utter control over.  How we chose to look at the world is the one choice that is ours to make.  Mrs. Jones knows that each of us has the wherewithal to choose to allow only thoughts that ultimately contribute to our happiness to fill our minds.   

Choosing to be happy means that we choose to accept everything that occurs in our lives, even blindness. 

Choosing to be happy means that we learn to trust that whatever occurs is ultimately for our greater good, if we will only let it unfold, watching it with love and acceptance.

Choosing to be happy means that we let go of our habit of judging.  We stop judging the people we encounter, we stop judging the events that occur in our life and we stop judging the world and its conditions.

Choosing to be happy means that we commit to work to forgive the source of our disappointments, pains, losses, lack, discomfort, unhappiness, sadness, frustrations and fear, whatever it may be.  

Choosing to be happy means that it is okay for us to experience and feel real pain and hurt when it shows up in our lives.  It's okay to grieve.  It's okay to gnash ones teeth.  It's okay to howl with frustration.  But then, we release it and move on.  we don't fixate and get stuck in victim-hood.  We forgive.   

Choosing to be happy means that we develop a forgiveness lifestyle, that we practice forgiving whatever pushes our buttons each day in our present, that we forgive the painful events from our past and that we work to uncover the "false beliefs" that we have created as the result of these past events that are creating upsetting, confusing and painful patterns in our present.

And finally. choosing to be happy means that we flip the switch in our mind whenever the ego rears it's ugly head.  We flip the switch from fear to love.  We choose to think with Spirit in our minds.  Whenever we notice that the ego has returned with its thoughts of fear and worry, sadness and disappointment, frustration and anger, hurt and despair...we process, we inquire, we dig deep into our pasts to find the source of these thoughts, we examine, we feel and we release.  And then we kick the ego to the curb and get on with our happy lives.  

Forgive the Shooter

Yesterday I drove to the nearest large town, Reno, an hour away, to run some errands.  My 24 year old daughter lives in Reno where she works at Renown, Reno's largest hospital.

Anyway, we met for coffee and then she ran off to get ready for a big formal wedding that she and her girlfriends have been anticipating for months.  One of her two roommates was to be the Maid of Honor at the wedding.

My daughter had something weighing heavy on her heart which she wanted to discuss with me and I woke up this morning realizing that I, too, now had a forgiveness burden which needed to be released.  I thought I'd share the story with you since this sort of thing seems to be happening everywhere these days and it is bringing fear and anger into our everyday lives.

My daughter had just been to a funeral two days before.  Here's why...

A week or so before Christmas, I was out of town on business when I received a phone call from my daughter telling me not to be alarmed if I heard the day's news.  There was a shooting going down at Renown but my daughter was not on duty.  She didn't know much about it but she was safe at home.

As it turned out, the shooting happened in the Urology department and two doctors and a patient were shot before the shooter turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.  One doctor appears to have survived, although things are still critical and the patient will survive, too.  However, a male doctor was killed.  His last act before being shot was to lock the patient he was conferring with in his office, hoping she would be safe, and go out into the hallway to see if there was anything he could do to help the situation.

This male doctor, Charles Gholdoian, was the husband of one of the OB/GYN surgeons that my daughter works for. My daughter tells me that he was a lovely and generous man, his wife is a wonderful woman and skilled surgeon and that they were very much in love as a couple.  The whole thing is a terrible tragedy.  And, by the way, the other surviving doctor is a woman who was shot with buckshot through the right hand and arm.  She will never be a surgeon again.

Okay those are the terrible tragic facts.  The truth is that these days, we hear stories like this all the time.  What are we to do with these stories?  How are we to see these shooters and the terrible crimes they commit?

Here's the tough assignment.  We need to forgive these shooters and their actions.  The reason that we need to forgive them is that we need to forgive everything...EVERYTHING.  It is our job to forgive this entire crazy insane world and every crazy insane thing that happens here.  That means that ultimately, we have to forgive drug lords, Osama Bin Laden, Hitler and these shooters, too.

Of course, forgiving on this level is what I would call advanced forgiveness.  It's not something that is easy to do until you have developed an advanced forgiveness habit and in order to do that you need to be able to think about the world differently. This changed thinking usually takes some years to develop and it's not something I can explain easily in a few paragraphs here.  However, I am going to briefly touch on some of the concepts involved in this level of forgiveness so that you can start thinking about them.  If you find that you hear my words but you don't feel the truth in them yet, that's okay.  If you are on a pathway of forgiveness, you will understand them completely, eventually.

First of all, it is important to separate the act from the person.  We can learn to forgive the person without condoning the acts he or she committed.  When we forgive, it does not mean that we feel any differently about what the person did.  For example, in the case of this shooting, this was a terrible criminal act that has irrevocably and horribly changed the lives of innocent people.  Forgiving the shooter does not diminish in any way the horror of the act he committed. Also, if the shooter had survived he would definitely belong in jail.  Forgiving him does not change that fact.

We all need to realize that part of living in this crazy insane world is that we all act a little crazy and insane at different points in our lives.  Every one of us has been a little mean, selfish, judgmental, or critical somewhere, someplace or sometime.  Every one of us has been a little bossy or at least a tiny bit of a bully at some point in their lifetime.  It may have been just a little teeny bit, but that doesn't matter.  We've all participated.

And, we've all been a victim, even if it is just a little bit.  Perhaps we've been a victim of illness, gossip, check fraud, theft, etc.  There is no-one here that has never been victimized in some way.  We all participate in some form in bullying and victimization.

Also, we all experience loneliness, guilt, sadness, anger, hurt, rejection, worthlessness and fear.  There is no one alive on this planet that does not experience each of these feelings at least occasionally.

Remember also that there is only one mind.  I am a part of that mind.  You are a part of that mind.  The human condition includes all these behaviors and emotions.  It is who we are and we created it collectively as one mind.  We are all just experiencing it from different perspectives.

Now, you probably don't indulge the feelings of victimization, hurt, sadness, anger and rejection to quite the same level that this shooter did.  If you did, you'd be a shooter, too.  Keep in mind, however, that it is all on a spectrum.  If you've felt these feelings, and of course you have, then you are participating in the same thinking that led to this shooting.  We all do, all the time.

This thinking comes out of our ultimate decision to be separate from God.  It is ego thinking.  When we are thinking with the Holy Spirit, we do not think like this.

There are no levels in separation.  We're either with God, or we're not.  Therefore, in the grand scheme of things, there's no real difference between our feelings of fear and the way they play out in our minds and the shooters feelings of fear and the way they played out in his mind.  Yes, he allowed his feelings to amplify to the point where he lost control of himself.  However, his state of separation was the same as our state.  We are all choosing separation most of the time.

Think about this shooter's life a little bit.  He was described as a loner, lonely, alone.  What things might have happened in his past to cause him to live like this.  What brought him to this state?  What sorts of rejection did he experience in his lifetime?  Who abused him emotionally or physically to bring him to this?  Was he ever offered love?  Was it modeled in his family?  Was it modeled at his school during his childhood?   Was he loved and appreciated in his working life?  In what way did this crazy insane world contribute to the amplification of his wounds and fears?  Did anybody ever truly extend a helping hand of love to him...ever?  Was he offered a way out?

Importantly, we can offer that hand of love to him now.  Even though he is dead and in a different place.  Remember, there is no time or space and all minds are joined.  When we forgive him now, we are offering him healing, wherever he is and whenever he is.  And our act of forgiveness is working to heal the world.  We are healing the collective Mind with our forgiveness.

See him in his true light.  He is a Son of God.  He is loved and cherished by God.  God created him exactly in his own image.  God forgives everything.  God only knows goodness.  God only knows love.  God knows that the shooter's truth is actually love.  In heaven, our true state, we are all only love.  We are pure joy.  We are perfect peace.   There is only beauty.  He is God's beloved only son.  Forgive him.  Release him.  Bless him with love.

And in this act you are blessing and releasing us all.  You are raising us all to heaven and knowing our truth as brothers and sisters in God's love.

And,  this includes you.  You are a Son of God, too.  Your act of forgiveness shows you your true self.  It is your own personal act of salvation.

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Are You are Holding Yourself Back?

Why Forgive?

You may be wondering why forgiveness is so important.  Well, here are two very big reasons why you are holding yourself back whenever you do not forgve. 

1)  You are holding yourself back from going home to God.  Our goal is to be more like God so that we can go home and be with him.  Until we become more like him we are destined to remain in  this "dream world" of  suffering and fear. 

God does not judge.  He only sees our true and perfect selves.  In A Course in Miracles, we are asked to give up all forms of judgment and to accept and forgive everything in our lives.
 
"It is necessary for the teacher of God to realize, not that he should not judge, but that he cannot." --A Course in Miracles, Manual for Teachers 10, 2, 1



"God's Son is guiltless, and sin does not exist."--A Course in Miracles, Manual for Teachers 10, 2,9

2)  You are holding yourself back from knowing peace while you are here.  Relinquishing judgments by accepting and forgiving this world is the only path to inner peace.

"God's word has promised that peace is possible here, and what He promises can hardly be impossible. But it is true that the world must be looked at differently, if His promises are to be accepted."  A Course in Miracles, Manual for Teachers 11, 1, 7

We look at the world differently by seeing through the eyes of forgiveness. We drop all judgments.  We know that every person here is a brother, even if sometimes they have forgotten this themselves and behave badly in ignorance.   We must know their real identity for them.   We accept with grace the events of this world and trust that they are happening here for us as a means where we can grow and purify by accepting and forgiving.  When we accept everything that happens to us, we are creating peace in our minds. 

"How is peace possible in this world?  In your judgment it is not possible, and can never be possible. But in the Judgment of God what is reflected here is only peace."--A Course in Miracles, Manual for Teachers 11, 3, 7-9  

Start a forgiveness habit today and move your life in the direction of happiness!  It doesn't happen overnight, but with diligent practice your life will change in ways that astonish you. 

"Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness" is available in both paperback and hardcover at:

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