Once upon a time, the Son of God had a tiny mad idea in which he imagined he was separate from God in a universe of his own making.
Once Upon a Time: A Tiny Mad Idea
Once Upon a Time
Once upon a time, the Son of God had a tiny mad idea in which he imagined he was separate from God in a universe of his own making. He scared himself so badly in his belief that he had actually achieved this impossible idea that he continues to this day to live in fear. This fear is completely unwarranted because “⁷Much has been seen since then, but nothing has really happened. (ACIM, T-3.VII.5:7),” but the mind keeps remembering all the stories that were written in that moment of insanity.
Ever since then, the Son of God has thought he was the son of man and has lived in his false memories. But the time has come for him to awaken and live rather than dream. That is what we are doing as we study and practice A Course in Miracles; we are training our minds to overlook the dream and remember our goal is God.
Here is the truth. ⁶This world was over long ago. ⁷The thoughts that made it are no longer in the mind that thought of them and loved them for a little while. (ACIM, T-28.I.1:6-7) Why, then, one might ask, does it seem to be very real? It can certainly feel like we are these bodies and, in these bodies, and yet, we cannot be that. The bodies were over when the world was over. This is what I strive to remember about this apparent life. ⁶You keep an ancient memory before your eyes. (ACIM, T-26.V.5:6). Knowing this, it is easier to accept the miracle of a mind healed.
It Can’t be Hard
Getting to that miracle can feel difficult sometimes. But that can’t be true. Jesus tells us that nothing is difficult that is wholly desired. In The Simplicity of Salvation, he reminds us this: All it says is what was never true is not true now, and never will be. ³The impossible has not occurred, and can have no effects. ⁴And that is all. (ACIM, T-31.I.1:2-4) He asks us why we have trouble with something so simple as he asks this question:
¹⁰Why, then, do you persist in learning not such simple things? (ACIM, T-31.I.1:10) There is a reason. ²But confuse it not with difficulty in the simple things salvation asks you learn. (ACIM, T-31.I.2:1-2)
How many times have you said that it is so hard? I know I did for a very long time. It was my favorite lament. Hahaha. But the only reason it ever feels hard is that we don’t entirely want the miracle. We want to keep believing what we believe. We want to keep our little separate self in place. But when we decide that we are ready to change our minds, there is a simple solution.
Power of Decision
Using the power of decision, we look at (experience) the problem with the Holy Spirit and tell Him that we are ready to see this differently and ready to accept His healing. Then we become quiet and allow the miracle to occur. In that holy instant, we are in neither the past nor the future; we are in the present moment, the only moment that exists, and in that moment, there is a miracle, and healing occurs.
Suddenly we are free of the burden of judgment, or we are no longer confused about what matters. Maybe that is the moment we have forgiven the grievance and no longer feel like a victim or unfairly treated. At that moment, we feel more like our Self and less like our separate personal self. We are closer to God.
Recently, while doing the lessons, I have had the opportunity to ask for the miracle and to receive it. Here are some of the ways the miracle has come quietly into my mind.
I am in need of nothing but the truth.
Sometimes I think I need more money or a thinner body. Sometimes I think I would be happy if I had a healthier body. Maybe I think I need to be right, and the other person needs to admit it. There is actually an endless and endlessly changing list of what I think I need. But what I really need is the truth. I must remember who I am and who I am to my brothers and to God. As this memory returns to me, I discover that I don’t need anything else to be happy.
Let every voice but God’s be still in me.
When I notice that I am tempted to anger, guilt, or fear thoughts of any kind, I remember that this is not my will because it is not God’s Will. At that moment in which I have denied the ego thoughts, my mind is silent, and into that silence, God speaks. It may come as a true thought or simply as peace, and I know that my mind is healed.
An old memory of something I did that I used to regret showed up in my mind this morning. I felt the pain of guilt for a moment. But then, I changed my mind about choosing that idea on which to place my attention. I remembered that Jesus said that this was just an ancient memory I had placed before my eyes. In this case, it is a memory of an ancient memory, but if I hold onto it as if it is true and worthy of my attention, it will bring me more of the same. So, I choose to turn my attention to the truth instead, and just like that, the emotional reaction fades away, and with it, the memory itself.
Chasing Time
I felt some stress from the idea that time was moving along, and I still had things to get done today. I used to live like that, always chasing time and always losing the race. Even when it seemed to all get done, I still lost because I did everything in fear of failure and so lack of love. I don’t know how I was able to survive life living like that.
This morning as soon as I noticed the tension, I questioned my thoughts. I realized that I must have been asking the ego for advice, and I chose again. This time, I surrendered the day to the Holy Spirit, and I did what seemed to be in front of me and then did the next thing, and I felt peaceful and happy doing them.
Everything that needs doing will get done, not because I am working hard or fast, but because I have turned from the self and to the Self. What does the little ego self know? How can it guide me to a peaceful and happy outcome? My mind becomes quiet when it is time to do the next thing so that God’s Will can come into my awareness. I love my life now.
Forgiving it All
I have been practicing forgiveness of the body, the world, and all untrue thoughts for a long time, but with an emphasis lately on watching them disappear. If I feel a headache coming on, I forgive it and watch it disappear. If I think I can’t lose weight, I forgive that idea and watch it disappear. I think someone is guilty of something, and I forgive that idea and watch it disappear.
I know that there is nothing outside me and that the body’s eyes don’t show me anything that exists. So, I am forgiving it all. I am watching it disappear as a reality for me. What I will be left with is myself, as God created me. I feel a shift. I guess it is the result of what I have left behind. It feels like love and happiness. It feels like serenity. I wonder if it is permanent. We shall see.
But you know what? On reflection, I questioned the last two sentences. Why do I wonder if it will be permanent? Is it because sometimes, in the past, a shift wasn’t permanent? I am re-imaging a past experience, and so I am asking for the same result again. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for pointing this out. I don’t want to keep living in the past and the future and completely overlooking the only real moment: the present moment. I choose to live in that eternal moment.
What Is Sin?
2. The body is the instrument the mind made in its efforts to deceive itself. ²Its purpose is to strive. ³Yet can the goal of striving change.
Last night I used the body to fill a false sense of emptiness with ice cream, and when that didn’t work, I tried pretty much everything else in the kitchen I could think of. None of it worked, and it only made me feel weak and helpless and all the emptier. I was using my body to strive to fix a problem that didn’t exist.
This morning, I am using the body to strive to fill my mind with the truth. I am not guilty, nor have I ever been guilty. Guilt doesn’t exist except in the confusion of a mind that believes it is separate from God. Today, I strive for happiness and peace where it can be found, not at the bottom of a bowl of ice cream but within my own mind. So far, I haven’t been willing to see what it is that causes these periodic bouts of uncertainty and emptiness, but I know I will. In the meantime, I continue to choose again for God and to forgive all the rest.
Contemplation of Deciding with God, Not Against God
To decide with God, I must let go of the insane idea that I am not as God created me. When I first contemplated this, I felt it was almost impossible. It felt like these ideas of weakness and sin were so strongly reinforced in me that I would continue to return to them. But each time I made a choice for God, I became stronger in my faith in God’s Word, and the easier it was to turn from the ego beliefs.
Sometimes, I still slip into ego thinking, but the truth is so much stronger in me that I don’t stay there. I realize that I have equal access to my holy mind and that who I am, my true Self, answers for me if I choose that. Occasionally, I briefly feel like I’m stuck in my ego thinking, but I also know that I can extricate myself through my desire for the truth.
That is my point of choice, and it is incredibly powerful. I might feel like I am pulling against a great force, but if I persist, I see that it loosens, and I am free. That happened to me recently. I was concerned about my son, and I felt myself falling into his story. I wanted out. At first, it felt like I was glued to that story, and I had no control, but I knew that couldn’t be true. I kept my mind moving toward God, and thoughts came to me that helped. Pretty quickly, I was at peace. All I have to do to be free from any ego thought is to be still. If I don’t fill the silence with my own thoughts into that holy instant in which I have invited God, healing occurs.
To read my short article, A Message From Spirit, CLICK HERE.