The Light Beyond the Body

In A Course in Miracles, the "Christ" Mind refers to that part in all of us that knows that it is the Son of God and chooses to think with love, rather than fear.

We are so much more than only bodies.  We are Mind.  We are connected through this mind.  We are Love.  We are Oneness, with each other and with our Creator.

Christ's vision has one law.  It does not look upon a body, and mistake it for the Son whom God created. It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thought of guilt from dreams of sin.  It sees no separation.  And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.  --A Course in Miracles, Lesson 158

In this passage from the Course, we are told to look beyond bodies.  God's real creation is our Minds, the Love we all share.  Every one of us was created in this Love.   It's telling us that bodies and earthly events are unimportant.  What's important is the Light of God that is a part of every one of us.

Thus are his sins forgiven him, for Christ has vision that has power to overlook them all.  In His forgiveness are they gone.  Unseen by One they merely disappear, because a vision of the Holiness that lies beyond them comes to take their place.  It matters not what form they took, nor how enormous they appeared to be, nor who seemed to be hurt by them.  They are no more.  And all effects they seemed to have are gone with them, undone and never to be done.  --A Course in Miracles, Lesson 158

When we look past bodies, we can forgive anything, because we see that the real truth is what is happening in the Mind, not here in this earthly 3D dream world.  And the truth of the real Mind is Love.

We're all here on earth having some adventures and learning some lessons, but where we really are, with God, none of this matters.  And in that real place, we love everyone and in fact, are joined with everyone.  

When you give unto another that which alone is true, because all minds are joined, you have offered unto them the only gift that holds value.  When you give another the truth--perhaps even without saying a word--because all minds are joined they recognize what has been offered and say to themselves, "The one before me knows the truth of me and is looking right through every one of my attempts to be less than who I am.  Therefore I see that it's safe to choose again."  That is when miracles occur.  --The Way of Mastery p. 86

When you look past the body and see only the light, you know the truth of even the worst villains.  Remember that this all happens on the level of the Mind, where thoughts are joined.  Knowing this truth, holds the place for them, in your mind.  And this gives them the chance to know your forgiveness.  You are giving them your love which is a chance for them to choose love for themselves.

Whether they do or not, is not your concern.  You get what you give.  Your forgiveness of others creates your own acceptance of yourself.  Self love.  It happens over time as you forgive others and the world around you.

Self love creates peace.  Peace leads to happiness.  This is how forgiveness is the key to happiness.

Our Job is to Clean Up Our Minds

Removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence"  --A Course in Miracles (Intro 1: 6,7) 

This is the goal A Course in Miracles defines for us in its introduction.  It is one of the very first statements in a book of over 1300 pages.  What does it mean?  What are these blocks to love?

Blocks are created through our unforgiveness.  They are the things we judge, what we are unable to accept.

"Your work is not to seek and find love.  It is merely to turn within to discover every obstacle that you have created to its presence, and to offer that obstacle to the great dissolver of dreams, the grace of the Holy Spirit."--Way of Mastery p. 72

So much of what we have filled our minds with is not love. Our memories, our subconscious mind and our current thinking is filled with hurt, pain, anger, judgment, upset, guilt and every form of negative thinking.  

Until we remove this negative thinking, these blockages, these obstacles, we are unable to allow ourselves to accept the love that God is always offering to us, in every moment, in every place.  We do not allow ourselves to see the truth of God's love...

We actually believe in sin and punishment.  Even though we know that God created us in his own image and that therefore we are perfect.

We actually believe in our own lack of worth.  Even though we know that God loves us infinitely.

We actually believe in anger, victimhood, revenge and hate.  Even though we know that God created every single one of us in love and that we are all one with him and with each other.

Our job is to clean up our minds.  We have to sort out all this wrong, emotional, fear based thinking.  We have to search out the blockages, the obstacles, and turn them over to Spirit.

How do we do this?  With forgiveness, of course.  It's a process and it doesn't happen overnight  We have to deliberately seek out every part of our mind where we are blocking love.  And that means digging around in our pasts, in our subconscious and really and truly examining the way we think in the present.

It's important not to get overwhelmed by the task ahead and to keep our eyes on the prize.  And the prize for doing this work is huge.  Actually, it's everything.  It's everything you have always wanted and not known how to get.  It's why you're here.  It's what you seek.

Once we have done this work of removing blockages, we will be able to receive love.

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.

The Moment When Life Begins

A Course in Miracles tells us that in all moments we are making a choice between love and fear.  It is very simple, really.  All we have to do is choose love now.  And in the next moment, choose love now.

"When you look upon all things without judgment through the eyes of forgiveness, when you decide to embody only the reality of Love no matter what anybody else is doing, that is when life begins."  --The Way of Mastery p.79

Only we can be the master of our thought.  No one else can get inside our head. We must be the one to cease the endless fear thoughts the ego stirs up.   At times, this may seem difficult to do, however, this is only the fearful thinking of the ego, trying to convince us it can't be done.  It can be done. It must be done.

And what is our reward for this effort?  Why, it's peace, of course.  It's love. Happiness. Joy.

It's a chance to leave this "hell on earth" we create in our very own minds and enter into Heaven right here in our own daily lives.  Right here. Right now.

In most moments, most days, it's just a matter of noticing our thoughts.  When fear creeps in, when judgment takes over, we can make another choice.  "Choose again", as A Course in Miracles says. We can make that choice to flip the switch from fear to love.

Choose again.

But...some days it's harder to flip the switch.

Occasionally the darkness descends and won't be transcended easily.  When this happens, ask the Holy Spirit to help.  Give all your fearful thoughts over to the Holy Spirit.  If it helps, visualize yourself actually handing them over.  Or create a huge white light altar and place your fear upon it.  Spirit will take it from you and cleanse your mind. Sometimes this cleansing happens instantly.  Sometimes this process can take hours.  Vow to sit right where you are until your thinking clears.  Wait it out.  Every time a fear thought comes, turn it over.  Do it again and again if you have to. Here's an affirmation you can use:

"I accept the love of God."

Repeat this over and over.  Then spend some time just quietly listening with no expectations of hearing anything.  If there is anyone you can forgive for anything, do it.  Work at this process diligently, and I promise you, the fear will pass.  Love thinking will return.

Does this seem difficult?  Uncomfortable?  Insane?  Actually, it's insanity to live in torment, when a choice for peace exists.  It's insanity to live in fear when a choice for love exists.  There are people all over this planet choosing love, right now.  Join us.

This is when life begins.  

I See Only the Radiance

"For when I look upon you, I see not the very momentary dreams that you seem to think are lasting so long.  I see only the radiance of that which the Father has extended out of Love.  I see only that which has neither beginning nor ending.  I see only that which knows neither birth nor death.  I see only that which has no limitations.  I see only that--the light of which is already extended throughout all dimensions and all universes."--The Way of Mastery p. 70

When we are forgiving this must be our thought process.  We must look beyond this dream world where people behave badly and hurt one another.  We look to our higher truth.  We go into our minds and know the radiance of one another.  We know the loving intentions of our Father, the creator who created each one of us in his own image.  We are simply and truly only Love.  That is our truth and that is the truth of our trespasser.  What you see here now in front of you in this 3D illusory world is only a moment in time.  It's not the higher truth.  Look up.  Look beyond.  See only the radiance.  That is the place of forgiveness.

Turn it Over to the Holy Spirit

If it's judgmental, critical, unaccepting, unkind.....

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's upsetting anxiety-making, creating a knot in your stomach, jaw grinding...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's sad, grief-ridden, loss-induced, melancholy...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's painful, searing, humiliating, mortifying...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's frightening, unsafe, makes you feel untethered, all alone and unsupported...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit 

If it's rejection, unworthiness, self-criticism, or feelings of being unloved and under-valued...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's lack, meager, not enough, little, reducing, insignificant, paltry...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit 

If it's devastating, earth-shattering, bone-breaking...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

And when it comes back into your mind, as it most likely will...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit, again and again, as often as needed. 

You were intended to be happy and joyful.  The Divine wants you to live with peace in your mind. You were created for so much more.  You are magnificence.  You were made from God-stuff.  You are in God's Mind.  You are fully, wholly, completely, perfectly...Love.

It's the Holy Spirit's job to keep you safe, supported, abundant and happy.  But he can't do his work if you fill your mind with fear.  Turn it over to him and let him help you accept and forgive the world. Accept the happiness you were always intended to have.  Be the Love you really are.

Allowing, Accepting, Trusting

Some beautiful words on allowing:

Allowance is not a passive acceptance of things as they are, but a recognition that there is something quite beautiful at work.  There is an intelligence, a love, that knows you better than you know yourself and is presenting you, moment to moment, with jewels and gems and blessings and lessons that something is weaving the tapestry of your life, and nothing is happening by accident.  -- "The Way of Mastery", p. 68

A Course in Miracles tells us that we never know what anything is actually for.  This means that many of the events in our lives are planned behind the scenes for us.  Sometimes, when we are in the midst of one of the painful events that come up during the course of our lives, it's really hard to understand that this was gently planned for our greater good.  In fact, often, we simply just can't see anything about the situation that feels that any good can come from it at all.

However, as they say, "time will tell".  As the years pass, we can look back on our most painful events and understand the why of it.  We see what we learned.  We see how we became a stronger, better person because of it.  Or, we see that we had the opportunity to learn, but didn't accept it.

No worries.  When we don't learn our lessons the first time, they come around again.  And again, and again.  They look and smell a little differently, but they are just another version of the same darn lesson giving us yet another go at it.  We keep getting the lesson until we get it.  

Life really is a classroom and it's all there for us.  Trust the process.  Accept what comes up. Turn anything painful and all fearful thinking over to the Holy Spirit. As Jennifer Hadley likes to say, "Let the Holy Spirit do the heavy lifting".  Turning it over is an act of allowing.  It's the miracle in action, that moment when we choose love over fear.

Then examine these events to see how you can learn and grow from them.  Try to keep your acceptance level high, your loving attitude intact and your mood in the positive.  This is how we grow.  This is how we become who we were really meant to be.  This is how we uncover our real truth.  We are spirit.  We are really only love.