Lesson 184

Lesson 184
The Name of God is my inheritance.

You live by symbols. You have made up names for everything you see. Each one becomes a separate entity, identified by its own name. By this you carve it out of unity. By this you designate its special attributes, and set it off from other things by emphasizing space surrounding it. This space you lay between all things to which you give a different name; all happenings in terms of place and time; all bodies which are greeted by a name.

This space you see as setting off all things from one another is the means by which the world’s perception is achieved. You see something where nothing is, and see as well nothing where there is unity; a space between all things, between all things and you. Thus do you think that you have given life in separation. By this split you think you are established as a unity which functions with an independent will.

What are these names by which the world becomes a series of discrete events, of things ununified, of bodies kept apart and holding bits of mind as separate awarenesses? You gave these names to them, establishing perception as you wished to have perception be. The nameless things were given names, and thus reality was given them as well. For what is named is given meaning and will then be seen as meaningful; a cause of true effect, with consequence inherent in itself.

This is the way reality is made by partial vision, purposefully set against the given truth. Its enemy is wholeness. It conceives of little things and looks upon them. And a lack of space, a sense of unity or vision that sees differently, become the threats which it must overcome, conflict with and deny.

Yet does this other vision still remain a natural direction for the mind to channel its perception. It is hard to teach the mind a thousand alien names, and thousands more. Yet you believe this is what learning means; its one essential goal by which communication is achieved, and concepts can be meaningfully shared.

This is the sum of the inheritance the world bestows. And everyone who learns to think that it is so accepts the signs and symbols that assert the world is real. It is for this they stand. They leave no doubt that what is named is there. It can be seen, as is anticipated. What denies that it is true is but illusion, for it is the ultimate reality. To question it is madness; to accept its presence is the proof of sanity.

Such is the teaching of the world. It is a phase of learning everyone who comes must go through. But the sooner he perceives on what it rests, how questionable are its premises, how doubtful its results, the sooner does he question its effects. Learning that stops with what the world would teach stops short of meaning. In its proper place, it serves but as a starting point from which another kind of learning can begin, a new perception can be gained, and all the arbitrary names the world bestows can be withdrawn as they are raised to doubt.

Think not you made the world. Illusions, yes! But what is true in earth and Heaven is beyond your naming. When you call upon a brother, it is to his body that you make appeal. His true Identity is hidden from you by what you believe he really is. His body makes response to what you call him, for his mind consents to take the name you give him as his own. And thus his unity is twice denied, for you perceive him separate from you, and he accepts this separate name as his.

It would indeed be strange if you were asked to go beyond all symbols of the world, forgetting them forever; yet were asked to take a teaching function. You have need to use the symbols of the world a while. But be you not deceived by them as well. They do not stand for anything at all, and in your practicing it is this thought that will release you from them. They become but means by which you can communicate in ways the world can understand, but which you recognize is not the unity where true communication can be found.

Thus what you need are intervals each day in which the learning of the world becomes a transitory phase; a prison house from which you go into the sunlight and forget the darkness. Here you understand the Word, the Name which God has given you; the one Identity which all things share; the one acknowledgment of what is true. And then step back to darkness, not because you think it real, but only to proclaim its unreality in terms which still have meaning in the world that darkness rules.

Use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness. Yet accept them not as your reality. The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does not forget creation has one Name, one meaning, and a single Source which unifies all things within Itself. Use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet do not forget they share the Name of God along with you.

God has no name. And yet His Name becomes the final lesson that all things are one, and at this lesson does all learning end. All names are unified; all space is filled with truth’s reflection. Every gap is closed, and separation healed. The Name of God is the inheritance He gave to those who chose the teaching of the world to take the place of Heaven. In our practicing, our purpose is to let our minds accept what God has given as the answer to the pitiful inheritance you made as fitting tribute to the Son He loves.

No one can fail who seeks the meaning of the Name of God. Experience must come to supplement the Word. But first you must accept the Name for all reality, and realize the many names you gave its aspects have distorted what you see, but have not interfered with truth at all. One Name we bring into our practicing. One Name we use to unify our sight.

And though we use a different name for each awareness of an aspect of God’s Son, we understand that they have but one Name, which He has given them. It is this Name we use in practicing. And through Its use, all foolish separations disappear which kept us blind. And we are given strength to see beyond them. Now our sight is blessed with blessings we can give as we receive.

Father, our Name is Yours. In It we are united with all living things, and You Who are their one Creator. What we made and call by many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across Your Own reality. And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. All our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved from all effects our errors seemed to have. And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. Your Name is our salvation and escape from what we made. Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our inheritance and peace. Amen.

 

Journal

“This space you see as setting off all things from one another is the means by which the world’s perception is achieved. You see something where nothing is, and see as well nothing where there is unity; a space between all things, between all things and you.”

In Reality, there is unity, but in our world, the one we constructed in our minds and from our beliefs, there is separation. There is space between all things and each thing is named to give it more reality. Jesus says that we see something where there is nothing. We see a space where there is no space. And, he says that we see nothing where there is unity. The space we imagine between each thing obliterates what is there.

Here is how I visualize this. There is “light” or “energy” and it is in everything and encompasses everything. We imagine that we have broken that energy into parts and placed an imaginary space between these parts. In addition, we have given form to these parts and named them tree, body, pet, ant, water and on and on.

We have then further divided reality into time segments and thus the world exists as discrete events. And so, we have, in our minds, undone Unity and replaced it with our own creation. In doing this, we have decided that we made a world of our own and given it life and given it a separate will. This, we believe, is reality. And all the while, Reality continues to exist all around us, completely unaffected by our delusions.

“It is hard to teach the mind a thousand alien names, and thousands more. Yet you believe this is what learning means…”

Teaching names and their relative meaning is what we think of as education. I watch this with my granddaughter who is just learning to express through language. Her mom points to her nose and says its name then encourages her to do the same. At first, she points to her mom’s nose but eventually begins to understand that not only is her body divided into parts but that it is separate from her mother’s body. When they get here, they don’t really know that.

We are teaching them that the truth is not true, and yet, it is necessary to do so. We are having the experience of being human and to do so effectively, we must learn what humans learn. We have to be able to navigate this world. Then we spend the rest of our lives learning none of it is real or true. LOL. “Learning that stops with what the world would teach stops short of meaning.”

We didn’t really make the world, we just made illusions. But we did not in any way affect what is actually real. Now Jesus says something interesting here. He says: “But what is true in earth and Heaven is beyond your naming.” I get that what is true in Heaven is beyond my naming, but I wonder what is true in earth. I suppose maybe he means the Substance of which all things are created. Not the substance of form as we know it, but the light or energy or however we want to imagine it. Since God is All there is, we can call that “substance” God.

One thing I notice is that he says that when we call on our brother as if he is a body, our mistaken belief in what he is hides his true identity from us. He answers to the name we give him and his unity is thus is denied twice, first by how we perceive him and second by his agreement to be so perceived.

“It would indeed be strange if you were asked to go beyond all symbols of the world, forgetting them forever; yet were asked to take a teaching function. You have need to use the symbols of the world a while. But be you not deceived by them as well.” 

We continue to live in the world as everyone else does. We use the names and see separation with our eyes. We experience our emotions. We continue to have thoughts. So how is it different? We are no longer fooled by what we see, hear and think. Every day we spend time in Reality through meditation, being with our Self, calling on the name of God, and on the Name which God has given us. When we come back into the world, we do so with the memory of the truth that in spite of appearances, there is no separation. There is only unity.

I just had the most amazing revelation in which these words took on a deeper meaning. I understand now that everything is God. The tree is made of God, the sky above is made of God, the air around the tree is made of God, the soil in which the tree is planted is made of God. So are the bugs and the grass and so am I. There is no difference between us at all, we are identical. The difference we see is the illusion.

Do you know what this means? If the tree must be cut down, nothing has happened. If the bugs must be eliminated, nothing has happened. If the dog dies, nothing has happened. The symbol of these things has ceased to exist for us, but nothing is lost. God continues to exist as It always has. I might miss my symbol of God, but I have not lost God.

If I wanted to imagine that in a very simple way, I could think about chocolate chip cookies. I always feel a little sad when I eat the last one. The symbol of yummy goodness is no longer in my house. But, I don’t grieve long because the ingredients continue to exist and so I know I can make more. Kind of a silly analogy but the only one I could think of. ~smile~ The symbols of Life in this world inevitably die away, even the universe will do so, but their essence, the Life Force we call God is eternal so nothing is really ever lost.

And after all this talk of the name of God, and maybe you were wondering what His name could be, Jesus does the great reveal and says that God has no name. I have to admit, that was kind of a let-down. “ And yet His Name becomes the final lesson that all things are one, and at this lesson does all learning end.” I am going to assume that the Name of God is not a word, just as sometimes when I “hear” the Holy Spirit speak to me it is not in words.

Jesus assures us that no one fails who seeks the meaning of the Name of God. I suppose I will just keep calling God, God. But I open my heart wide to a deepening meaning. I can only receive this meaning through the experience of God but first I must accept the Name for all of reality. In the only way I know to do this is to allow Vision to show me what lies beneath the illusion of a separate thing.

I will keep reminding myself that God is All That Is and that there is nothing that is not God. So, when I see a tree maybe I will see more than the symbol I call tree. If I call on the Name of God when I look at that tree or that person, for any and all aspects of God’s Son, I will be given strength to see beyond them to their Essence.

Past Entry
As Jesus explains how we made this world of separation, my mind created a visual interpretation of his explanation. I saw light, vast, unending. It was not static light, but light that is life, filled with motion, intelligence, thought, and knowledge. Within this light, an impossible thought occurred and unfolded. In this unfolding, the thought seemed to take form as light divided and separated and each separate light was named and in naming seemed to become real. And yet, nothing happened other than the mind had a thought.

How interesting that must have been at first. Thought formed water and land and trees. It formed bodies of many shapes and kept forming in ways that seemed limitless. It is still happening. We “discover” new forms all the time. I wonder if the consequences of separation seemed interesting as well? Were they foreseen, or were they a surprise? Guilt, fear, conflict, perhaps they were all interesting at first, but they feel old and constricting now.

This seems so clear to me, not the visual representation that my mind used to understand this, but the concept itself. There was abstract wholeness and there is still abstract wholeness. My mind seems ready to accept that this is true even as it scrambles to make a concrete story of it.

I practiced seeing the Oneness that is God and I achieved some degree of success but it did not always come easy. The following is an example of an early effort.

All is separation here, but where separation caused conflict, I reminded myself that this is an illusion. I called it God instead of its made up name. I was, in essence, saying this is not a separate thing conflicting with another separate thing. It is God because there is only God. The ego mind was extremely resistant to this. It actively rejected all attempts to see past the illusory forms to the reality beneath them.

At first, I didn’t realize that I was experiencing an ego backlash against my decision to see only God. I just seemed to be irritable. For instance, I acted on a request of the office manager to speak to a customer about a problem. He said someone else from the office had already called him. When I got off the phone I was incensed! What were they thinking at the office? Could we have a little communication here??? My feelings were so strong I felt overwhelmed by them. I thought of all the things I was going to say and do about this. By grace alone, I managed to control my temper to the degree I kept these thoughts to myself rather than calling the office.

This kind of thing went on all day. When someone was not actively irritating me, I was mentally rehashing a past irritation. I had moments of clarity in which I wondered what on earth was going on with me. I see that this experience is a perfect demonstration of separation thinking. Each person in each situation was entirely separate in my mind. Each one had an agenda separate from the other. Each one wanted to win, to get his or her way, and this winning seemed terribly important.

This morning I can see yesterday as a helpful example of separation thinking. Yesterday, while it was happening it just seemed frustrating and miserable. I felt caught up in something I didn’t understand or want. I felt like a victim of the world I see. I felt uncertain of everything. And perhaps it was those moments of clarity in which I declared each enemy to be God that kept me from going off the deep end and saying things I would regret when I returned to sanity.

I didn’t enjoy yesterday, but I am grateful for the lesson it brought me. It helped me to see what Jesus is talking about today. “And a lack of space, a sense of unity or vision that sees differently, become the threats which it must overcome, conflict with and deny.” I experienced this, but having done so from this place of at least partial understanding, I was ready to see how separation works, and how profoundly insane its effects. I truly felt like a crazy person, as I got mad at people and situations all day long.

Today, I look forward to reminding myself that there is no separation, no space between objects, no differences, no special needs; there is only God. The ego can rant and rave over this all it wants. I accept wholeness as my reality. I want to be the teacher of God, not the teacher of conflict. Let my mind be healed of the belief in the world we made and let me return to that world only to undo it. Oh my dear God, what a thought! What a prayer!