The 51% Experience

When I was born as a baby girl on the Earth, my human mind was not aware of anything other than the physical sensations I was seeing, hearing, and feeling. I had no context with which to interpret these sensations, no framework, no relational data that could come together to tell me what I was, where I was, who I was. Through the days and months and years of my life as a human, I began to relate my experiences into an identity. I became a person, with a personality and a fully formed and active ego.

But, that was not really who I am. I soon learned that being a human was painful, and quite often an unhappy experience. To top it all off, the experience inevitably ends in death. But then I learned that God exists, and that I was not who I thought I was. I searched for answers, and eventually I found A Course in Miracles (ACIM). After reading the Text and doing the Workbook lessons I began to understand that awakening experiences begin in the ego thought system, because that was where the idea of the dream was made and the only place where it resides. Jesus tells us in ACIM:

T-3.IV.2. Consciousness, the level of perception, was the first split introduced into the mind after the separation, making the mind a perceiver rather than a creator. 2 Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego. 3 The ego is a wrong-minded attempt to perceive yourself as you wish to be, rather than as you are. 4 Yet you can know yourself only as you are, because that is all you can be sure of. 5 Everything else is open to question.

So – I can only know myself as I truly am. Who is that? Jesus tells me in ACIM that I am God’s Son, perfect and innocent, filled with the Spirit of the Christ.

W-pII.6.1. Christ is God’s Son as He created Him. 2 He is the Self we share, uniting us with one another, and with God as well. 3 He is the Thought which still abides within the Mind that is His Source. 4 He has not left His holy home, nor lost the innocence in which He was created. 5 He abides unchanged forever in the Mind of God.
W-pII.6.2. Christ is the link that keeps you one with God, and guarantees that separation is no more than an illusion of despair, for hope forever will abide in Him. 2 Your mind is part of His, and His of yours. 3 He is the part in which God’s Answer lies; where all decisions are already made, and dreams are over. 4 He remains untouched by anything the body’s eyes perceive. 5 For though in Him His Father placed the means for your salvation, yet does He remain the Self Who, like His Father, knows no sin.

How do I reconcile the wrong minded me who believes I am the ego, with the right minded being who is God’s Perfect Son? It is a process – a process that begins when I realize that I am not who I believe myself to be, and ends when I wake up to my own Truth. Does that take a lifetime? Do I have to pray and meditate and do good deeds to make it happen?
ACIM tells me that all it takes is a little willingness. That willingness is to allow the Holy Spirit to correct my thinking, I have to let go of my own ego thoughts, and allow the Holy Spirit to replace them with the Thoughts of God. And by allowing the Holy Spirit to heal my mind, I forget the errors of the ego, and live in the Peace of God. How long does that take? It can happen in an instant!!!! But that instant will not come until I have learned to listen only to the Voice for God. If I listen only to the Voice for God, I will not be listening to my own thoughts? What am I without my thoughts? Listening to God’s Voice puts me into the knowing mind. This is different than the “right mind” which is really the ego mind choosing to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

T-3.IV.4. Right-mindedness is not to be confused with the knowing mind, because it is applicable only to right perception. 2 You can be right-minded or wrong-minded, and even this is subject to degrees, clearly demonstrating that knowledge is not involved. 3 The term “right-mindedness” is properly used as the correction for “wrong-mindedness,” and applies to the state of mind that induces accurate perception. 4 It is miracle-minded because it heals misperception, and this is indeed a miracle in view of how you perceive yourself.

So – even though I am not totally right minded, and only beginning to think with the “knowing mind”, my willingness is making it possible to truly change my mind.

T-7.VII.10. You are the Will of God. 2 Do not accept anything else as your will, or you are denying what you are. 3 Deny this and you will attack, believing you have been attacked. 4 But see the Love of God in you, and you will see it everywhere because it is everywhere. 5 See His abundance in everyone, and you will know that you are in Him with them. 6 They are part of you, as you are part of God. 7 You are as lonely without understanding this as God Himself is lonely when His Sons do not know Him. 8 The peace of God is understanding this. 9 There is only one way out of the world’s thinking, just as there was only one way into it. 10 Understand totally by understanding totality.
T-7.VII.11. Perceive any part of the ego’s thought system as wholly insane, wholly delusional and wholly undesirable, and you have correctly evaluated all of it. 2 This correction enables you to perceive any part of creation as wholly real, wholly perfect and wholly desirable. 3 Wanting this only you will have this only, and giving this only you will be only this.

THE TIPPING POINT FOR THE WORLD IS WHEN I HEAR THE VOICE FOR GOD.

Now that I have gone so far I can’t turn back – I have reached the POINT OF NO RETURN!!! It’s like the trip to the top of the roller coaster – all of the work has been done in the first 50%. At 51% is the instant of release and it is a wild and exciting ride after that. Although I am still being constantly vigilant for God and His Kingdom, I know I am on the right side of the curve, the down side of the roller coaster. And I can now, happily, enjoy the ride!!!

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Breaking Free from the Illusion

Now that I have recognized that the world I think I see is really an illusion, powered by the infinite power of the mind of the Son of God – I see that I can retrieve that power and use it for something more substantial than to imprison myself in a world of lack and scarcity. I recognize that I made a world of scarcity because I believed I deserved to suffer because I believed I was guilty of abandoning or denying God. Now I know that is not possible, I have not sinned and I do not need to be punished. I am innocent, and I can enjoy the illusion, turning it into a “happy dream” using the same power I used to make the world of the dream.

The RACE process is what I use to regain my power. It begins with discovering the power I used to make the dream. It works like this:

REACT: Notice the areas where I feel a sense of “lack” – what are the emotions, the thoughts and fears I have built into this belief? Those feelings are the power I have put into the beliefs. When I notice them, I stop and look at each one, taking it to its ultimate conclusion. For instance, if I am afraid when I look at the low balance in my bank account, I think about all of the supposed consequences of that situation. I think things like “if I don’t have enough money, I may lose my home; I may not be able to buy food; I may not have health insurance or the money to see the doctor if I get sick; I will certainly get sick if I lose my home and have to live on the streets; I will get sick if I can’t buy healthy food; without enough money I will become homeless, sick and starving; eventually I will die because I have no money!” Does this sound absurd? I know it might, but that is what ego would have me believe. All fear is fear for the body, and the welfare of the body is the only care of the ego. It is only by seeing this ego mechanism, which is the source of my fear of lack, that I can reject it and return my true power

ACCEPT: When I realize that I have given my power away, I can now look at the intense feelings that I have generated by deliberately putting myself into this fearful place. At this point I need to feel the discomfort fully, letting the waves of negative emotion develop until I see just how much of my energy I have put into this false belief. All of that energy is the energy of God, turned into total and complete terror – that is the true face of ego, dark and horrifying as anything can be.

CLAIM IT: Once I have recognized that I gave away my power in this way, I can reclaim all of the power I put into the illusion. To do this – I must first recognize that it is only belief in my own powerlessness that makes the illusion seem real to me. In A Course in Miracles, Jesus asks us: “T-21.VII.1. Do you not see that all your misery comes from the strange belief that you are powerless?”
Jesus tells us to ask these questions about our true desires:
1. Do I desire a world I rule instead of one that rules me?
2. Do I desire a world where I am powerful instead of helpless?
3. Do I desire a world in which I have no enemies and cannot sin?
4. Do I want to see what I denied because it is the truth?
The first three questions are easily answered. Yes, of course this is what I want, a ‘perfect’ world, where I have all of the power to do and have what I need. But how does the last question relate to reclaiming my power? What TRUTH have I denied?
“T-21.VII.6. You may already have answered the first three questions, but not yet the last. 2 For this one still seems fearful, and unlike the others. 3 Yet reason would assure you they are all the same. 4 We said this year would emphasize the sameness of things that are the same. 5 This final question, which is indeed the last you need decide, still seems to hold a threat the rest have lost for you. 6 And this imagined difference attests to your belief that truth may be the enemy you yet may find. 7 Here, then, would seem to be the last remaining hope of finding sin, and not accepting power.”
Jesus tells us then that the choice of sin or truth, helplessness or power, is the choice of whether to attack or heal. Healing comes of power, and attack comes out of helplessness. If I attack a brother, then it is clear that I don’t want to heal. And if I heal a brother, then I choose for him to be protected from attack. And in that attack or healing, I have chosen to see him either through the body’s eyes, or through Spirit’s eyes. What I want to see must be my choice. As I look on the effects of my belief in fear and lack, or sin in any form, all I need to do is simply ask myself: Is this what I want to see? Do I want this? Because I can only claim what I really want. And if I choose to deny the truth of myself, and to see myself as something less than I truly am, then I am claiming lack and fear. In order to break free from the illusion, I must claim my own POWER as the sinless Son of God. I can say to myself, “Wow! Did I ever make an amazing illusion! I now reclaim my power, and I can use this power to make my life into a happy dream.” When I have done this, I can now:

EMBRACE IT: I am grateful for everything I have created in the world. I love it and appreciate it. There is no sin in having a happy life. I can only experience joy as a Son of God. I choose to embrace the love and joy that are my natural inheritance. I am so happy that I can choose again. I choose to accept the Gifts of my Father in joy. All abundance is mine, for that is what God chooses for me. I can accept my Father’s Gifts because I chose healing instead of attack. True Forgiveness is the only possible result of this choice. AND FOR THAT, I AM TOTALLY THANKFUL!!!

The Two Pictures

As I continue to bust loose from the ego game, it is important to look at the illusions the ego is showing me. If it is true that I made the world what it is, and it is all an illusion, how can I escape the nightmare life I have made and wake up in the real world of joy and abundance? I can start by questioning what I think I see. Is it possible what my senses could be false? Look at the two pictures below.

Now, back away from your computer screen. This effect will work at different distances for different people, but you should see the two characters swap over…! As you come closer to the screen again, they revert to their original characters. How is this possible?
Because both pictures are the same! When we look at an object, we can normally see both fine detail and coarse detail. However when we are close, the fine detail will dominate, and when we are further away, we lose the fine detail, and see more of the coarse detail. Both of the faces you see above are hybrids – each face is actually a combination of two faces. The left hand face shows an angry man in fine detail, but within the picture there is also coarse detail of the calm face. Move away, and you lose the fine (angry) detail, and just see the coarse (calm) detail. The right hand face shows the calm face in fine detail, and the angry face in coarse detail.

Think about this illusion when you look at your brother. He may appear to be angry and vengeful, and when you see him you may be tempted to see him as a sinner, and not worthy of your love and forgiveness. He may appear to be kind and loving, but you still suspect he is out to get you in some way. When you change your focus, you see that he is evil and angry. Neither picture is true. What you are seeing is a total illusion.

Both pictures are the same. But you must learn to look with different eyes and an open mind to see your brother with true vision.

From A Course in Miracles: “T-16.VII.9. There is nothing you can hold against reality. 2 All that must be forgiven are the illusions you have held against your brothers. 3 Their reality has no past, and only illusions can be forgiven. 4 God holds nothing against anyone, for He is incapable of illusions of any kind. 5 Release your brothers from the slavery of their illusions by forgiving them for the illusions you perceive in them. 6 Thus will you learn that you have been forgiven, for it is you who offered them illusions. 7 In the holy instant this is done for you in time, to bring you the true condition of Heaven. “

Bustin’ Loose From The ego Game

God is my only Hope, my Love and my Life. God created me as an extension of His Love, and He gave me a purpose. Lately I have been in a terrible quandry, wondering what my purpose in life is. I lost my job a year ago. I have tried and tried to get another job, with no “luck”. As the days go by, my worldly resources have dwindled. I am jobless and broke. At this point, I don’t know what to do, and I find myself in fear about the future. What am I going to do? What is my true purpose, and how does that have anything to do with my “real” life?

I recently read a book called “Busting Loose from the Money Game” by Robert Scheinfeld. Having been a student of A Course in Miracles for many years, I was quite familiar with the belief that our world is an illusion that I am projecting, but I was not ready to look at the world in the same way that Scheinfeld proposed. All of these years I have been looking at ego and the illusion as an enemy, not remembering that I had made it using my own God given creative power. Scheinfeld proposes that I can change my perception, take that power back, and use it to create the world and experience that is worthy of a perfect and innocent Son of God. So, instead of believing I am a victim of the world I see – I can be the creator of a world that is wholly perfect, loving and supportive of my life and learning. I can create a world that is perfect for the healing of my mind. All it takes is the wilingness to change my mind; I ALREADY HAVE THE POWER!

Remember the movie The Matrix? Watch this short clip and ask yourself, “Am I ready to truly believe this?”

If this resonates with you, then I invite you to BUST LOOSE from the ego Game. Let’s all learn the Process to bust loose from the illusion.

So how does this work? This is not about The Secret, The Law of Attraction, or another spin on manifesting, affirmations, visualization or other popular personal growth, self improvement, or personal development technique. By applying the simple “what to do” and “how to do it” process, you can transform your daily experience in ways and at levels far beyond what you may imagine to be possible, no matter how large or small your perceived problems are.

First of all How do you view the things you want to bust loose from? For instance, my relationship with money is something I have found to be a very bothersome, especially since I lost my job. But even before that, I tended to be reluctant to give away my ‘hard earned’ cash, especially if I couldn’t see an instantly gratifying result from that contribution. For example, I had no problem paying for groceries or clothes or gasoline, because I was going to use them soon, and I had a tangible result of my spending. But I did have trouble paying paying a credit card bill for something that was long gone, whether that was a vacation, a meal at a restaurant or the tuition for a class. I would pay the bare minimum always, not even caring about the intrest that was accumulating. After all, if it wasn’t immediately costing me any more, and I would be able to take care of the bill sometime in ‘the future’. My logic always assumed that the people had provided me the service or the products had been paid, therefore, the rest of the money went to the money hungry, ultra rich, credit card companies. I needed to see that my thoughts about money were all backwards. I was looking at my money problems as the cause of my unhappiness, rather than seeing my unhappiness as the cause of my money problems. I needed to see that I was using money as a placebo to make me feel better about the problems in my life, buying things I didn’t need or even really want, and then finding myself even more miserable when the bills came in. I was in a very vicious cycle, and I didn’t know what to do to get myself out.

If this sounds familiar, then I hope that we can bust loose together from this seeming ‘impossible’ situation. We can learn together to see money as a means of expressing ‘Appreciation’, instead of as a sparse means of bartering our souls for brief moments of joy, heavily interspersed with grudging hours of hard work. Wouldn’t I be happier if I could see another way? If you want to join me in this journey, stay tuned for my future blogs on Bustin’ Loose from the ego Game.

Unlock the Light!

(Thanks to my brother, Glenn Paris. You are my soul and my life’s inspiration)

How can my mind be open if I believe I need to protect it by keeping it locked up? My defenses are only necessary if I do not trust that God exists. If God does not exist, then there is a good reason to be afraid. When we are afraid, our frightened minds repeat mantras to try to protect us from the evils we perceive. Imagine Dorothy, closing her eyes and clicking her heels, chanting “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home…..” The mantra is a magical device that serves only to wake her up from a dream, realizing that she never left home at all. But the home the mantra returns her to is a reality that is a bleak, black and white world. Gone is the color, the joy and the magic of the Land of Oz. I can imagine, that in not too long of a time, little Dorothy will be found in the barn, clicking her heels and chanting, “there’s no place like Oz, there’s no place like Oz…..”

Most of the prayers and magic phrases we learned as children were designed to save us from the boogeyman, the devil, or the monster under the bed. What became apparent to me was that my fear thoughts were creating a corresponding effect in my body, reflecting the contraction of my mind drawing away from the thoughts of God, and resulting in a contracted physical state

Fear thoughts can destroy the communication device (the body) – they produce stress hormones (cortisol) – stress hormones are catabolic (break down) in nature as opposed to anabolic hormones which strengthen and build up;

But,

The body which is a device for communication allows me to give/carry the message of light that I receive and that results in my expansion, resurrection and ascension.

So I use the ego’s desire to preserve the body to accept Truth which causes the body to automatically come into alignment instead of “fear” so that the communication device can be preserved to carry the message of Light

Affirmations are the Power of the Spoken Word. Affirmations are not designed to induce belief, their purpose is to affirm what you already know.

I have experienced moments of Light while repeating mantras or affirmations, but I have realized that the primary reason I am repeating mantras is because I fear that God is not real, and that I am alone in the universe. The ego tells me that God is not real, BUT I have realized that the mere fact that there is a voice in my Mind attempting to condemn me, VERIFIES and CONFIRMS that I must be a Son of God.

So, how does the use of affirmations bring us to the point where we are able to use them for constructive change instead of wishful thinking? Think about the temptation of Jesus in the desert before he began his ministry. He was hot, thirsty and hungry. Knowing His own power, ego tempted Him by pointing out that he could have everything the world has to offer, food, drink, rich robes and wealth. His answer, “Get thee behind me, tempter, for thou knowest not the things of God”, was an affirmation of His Reality. The affirmation that He did not need the things of the earth and that He did know the “things of God” confirmed His understanding of His own power and placed the Reality of His Being firmly into His consciousness. The affirmation UNLOCKED THE LIGHT in His Mind. If He had been tempted before, this affirmation of His Reality left absolutely no room for doubt. And, when His mind was assured beyond a doubt, He was able to become truly helpful. Because He had overcome fear, He had no reason to be offensive or defensive and He then was truly able to become our Savior.

Jesus tells us in A Course in Miracles; T-4.VII.8 “God is praised whenever any mind learns to be wholly helpful. 2 This is impossible without being wholly harmless, because the two beliefs must coexist. 3 The truly helpful are invulnerable, because they are not protecting their egos and so nothing can hurt them. 4 Their helpfulness is their praise of God, and He will return their praise of Him because they are like Him, and they can rejoice together. 5 God goes out to them and through them, and there is great joy throughout the Kingdom. 6 Every mind that is changed adds to this joy with its individual willingness to share in it. 7 The truly helpful are God’s miracle workers, whom I direct until we are all united in the joy of the Kingdom. 8 I will direct you to wherever you can be truly helpful, and to whoever can follow my guidance through you.”

God’s Truth goes out through me and to me. God’s Love brings great joy in my kingdom. I share God’s Joy with my brothers, and it has UNLOCKED the LIGHT in my Soul. GOD, MY FATHER, YOU ARE EVERYTHING TO ME!!

Why Don’t We All Write a Book?

How many of us have a book inside of us, waiting to be written? Have you ever thought seriously about writing a book about your life, your beliefs, your fantasies or dreams? Would you believe that you have already written an elaborate script for the life you appear to be living?

I believe that we have not only written the script for our lives, we have written the entire script for the universe. I also believe that we wrote that script believing that we knew best the way back home. WE WERE WRONG….. but that doesn’t matter – because the Holy Spirit has been given us to CORRECT our wrong choice.

In Workbook Lesson 12 of A Course in Miracles, Jesus tells us:

I am upset because I see a meaningless world.

W-12.5. What is meaningless is neither good nor bad. 2 Why, then, should a meaningless world upset you? 3 If you could accept the world as meaningless and let the truth be written upon it for you, it would make you indescribably happy. 4 But because it is meaningless, you are impelled to write upon it what you would have it be. 5 It is this you see in it. 6 It is this that is meaningless in truth. 7 Beneath your words is written the Word of God. 8 The truth upsets you now, but when your words have been erased, you will see His.

If I wanted to write my own book, would it , or could it, say anything more, or better than the myriad of other books that are being written by the millions of authors?

I believe the answer to this question is YES, because it is the book that is given to me, for me, by the Holy Spirit in service of the Atonement. It is for me, and only me – although I can share it with you, and maybe you can glean something for your own awakening.

Jesus asks us in A Course in Miracles:

T-30.VII.1 Would God have left the meaning of the world to your interpretation? 2 If He had, it [has] no meaning. 3 For it cannot be that meaning changes constantly, and yet is true. 4 The Holy Spirit looks upon the world as with one purpose, changelessly established. 5 And no situation can affect its aim, but must be in accord with it. 6 For only if its aim could change with every situation could each one be open to interpretation which is different every time you think of it. 7 You add an element into the script you write for every minute in the day, and all that happens now means something else. 8 You take away another element, and every meaning shifts accordingly.

We write the script, following our own ideas about what we need, and, for the most part, ignore the ideas and suggestions that are showered upon us constantly by the Holy Spirit.

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

W-135.18. What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good? 2 Perhaps you have misunderstood His plan, for He would never offer pain to you. 3 But your defenses did not let you see His loving blessing shine in every step you ever took. 4 While you made plans for death, He led you gently to eternal life.

Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom – Drench yourself in words unspoken; Live your life with arms wide open; Today is where your book begins; The rest is still unwritten…….

What Can I Do About the Illusion I See?

Nothing is truly pleasant that is of the ego universe. All pleasure in this world is based on something else’s pain. You can, however, choose to be happy under any circumstance, which is entirely possible.

I imagine the joy that would be if my mother, my sister, my grandmother were here to see my children, and I imagine the day when my children will wish I was still here to share their joy. Even when I get a new puppy, I imagine the day that sweet, innocent, fluffy little bundle of love will get old and sick and die, and I mourn. And when I do, I want to blame God for a world that is sad and unjust and filled with pain.

It has always been the misfortune of my thought process that I cannot fool myself for very long about the source of “joyful” moments in the illusory world. There is joy in togetherness, but for me it is tempered by my vision of those who are not in my happy circle. It is never far from my thoughts that billions of people in this world are suffering. When I see a baby, a kitten, a field of flowers; when I hear music, see a gorgeous sunrise, smell a rose…. anything… I see that the joy it brings me is temporary. Things suffer, things die, love is lost and found, artists suffer, dancers starve themselves and suffer great pain to bring us beauty, composers live tragic lives, artists suffer, look at Beethoven, Van Gogh, Michelangelo … can you see or hear their work without thinking of the blind and painful lives they lived? But when we look upon the suffering of our brothers, do we see them as poor and unfortunate, different from ourselves? Do we see them as less loved by God?

God Loves all with the same pure Love. He sees us as perfect, sinless, innocent. He sees us as we are, all the same, whole and perfect. He does not see the sins we relate to the body: flesh and blood, fallable and imperfect, subject to pain and sickness and death. My dilemma is not that there is no reason for improvement in the world – improvement in the illusion is impossible. What is important is to stop judging the circumstance and recognize that there are no differences in humanity’s states of being based on what we percieve as their circumstance. This means that not everything will go right in your life. You may get cancer, lose your job, lose the love of your life, get leprosy, have a horrible accident, whatever. You still can choose to see all as the same.

This is why it appeals to me that God is good, that none of this is true, that the pain I perceive can be vanquished by forgiveness. If I didn’t see the suffering, I would never pray to know the truth. I would never know that I can change it all by changing my mind. I choose to see this differently. I don’t know what any of these thoughts mean. I choose to let the Holy Spirit change my mind. I can let them go now, and they will be changed to my real thoughts where none of this suffering exists. God is innocent, and so are we. Amen

Here’s a thought on peace of mind—-

Good drugs bring peace of mind-
Meditation brings peace of mind-
Deep sleep brings peace of mind-
Running brings peace of mind-
Listening to good music brings peace of mind-

So what is the difference between these things and the Forgiveness Process?
Forgiveness is the active recognition that I am One with GOD-
It is believing that I am One with GOD
It is a habit of being One with GOD
It is viewing everything in my life with the Love of God
It is seeing there is no value in anything unless it is seen through the Love of GOD
That nothing is more or less valuable than anything else when seen through the Love of GOD
That Oneness with GOD is the essence of my being
That Oneness with GOD is total Peace
A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 109 – I Rest in God.
W-109.1. We ask for rest today, and quietness unshaken by the world’s appearances. 2 We ask for peace and stillness, in the midst of all the turmoil born of clashing dreams. 3 We ask for safety and for happiness, although we seem to look on danger and on sorrow. 4 And we have the thought that will answer our asking with what we request.
W-109.2. “I rest in God.” 2 This thought will bring to you the rest and quiet, peace and stillness, and the safety and the happiness you seek. 3 “I rest in God.” 4 This thought has power to wake the sleeping truth in you, whose vision sees beyond appearances to that same truth in everyone and everything there is. 5 Here is the end of suffering for all the world, and everyone who ever came and yet will come to linger for a while. 6 Here is the thought in which the Son of God is born again, to recognize himself.
W-109.3. “I rest in God.” 2 Completely undismayed, this thought will carry you through storms and strife, past misery and pain, past loss and death, and onward to the certainty of God. 3 There is no suffering it cannot heal. 4 There is no problem that it cannot solve. 5 And no appearance but will turn to truth before the eyes of you who rest in God.
W-109.4. This is the day of peace. 2 You rest in God, and while the world is torn by winds of hate your rest remains completely undisturbed. 3 Yours is the rest of truth. 4 Appearances cannot intrude on you. 5 You call to all to join you in your rest, and they will hear and come to you because you rest in God. 6 They will not hear another voice than yours because you gave your voice to God, and now you rest in Him and let Him speak through you.

ACIM Goes to the Movies

This, from the film I (heart) Huckabees:
Dustin Hoffman holds up a blanket, “Say this blanket represents all the matter and energy in the universe, okay? You, me, everything. Nothing has been left out, all right? All the particles, everything.”
“- What’s outside this blanket?”
“- More blanket. That’s the point.”
“- Blanket’s everything?”
“- Exactly. This is everything.”

He pokes his finger from under the blanket, lifting various parts of the blanket as he speaks “Let’s just say that this is me, all right? And I’m, what, 60-odd years old and I’m wearing a gray suit. Blah, blah, blah. And let’s say over here, this is you. And, you’re… I don’t know, you’re 21. you got dark hair, etc. And over here, this is Vivian, my wife and colleague. Then over here, this is the Eiffel tower, right? It’s Paris. And this is a war. And this is, uh, a museum. And this is a disease. And this is an orgasm. And this is a hamburger.”
“- Everything is the same even if it’s different?”
“- Exactly. But our everyday mind forgets this. We think everything is separate. Limited. I’m over here. You’re over there. Which is true. But it’s not the whole truth because we’re all connected….-
All right, now, we need to learn… how to see the blanket truth all the time. Right in the everyday stuff. And that’s what this is for.”
“- Why?”
“- Why what?”

“Why do I need to learn how to see the blanket thing all the time in the everyday stuff?”
****A Course in Miracle’s answer: LESSON 30.
God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.
W-30.1. The idea for today is the springboard for vision. 2 From this idea will the world open up before you, and you will look upon it and see in it what you have never seen before. 3 Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you.
W-30.2. Today we are trying to use a new kind of “projection.” 2 We are not attempting to get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside. 3 Instead, we are trying to see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there. 4 Thus, we are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from us. 5 That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way you see.”
FORGIVENESS MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU’RE SEPARATE.**** (my apologies to Eric Segal)
The purpose of the Course is to help you remember what you are. Forgiveness removes the veils that hide your being. And we all have the great big fuzzy warm blanket to cuddle up together in.

Why Do I Want to Be Here Now?

If you were in the Now, what would you know? The Forgiveness process is letting go of the past and the future – at this point in our existence we can only see ourselves in relation to “other”. We are sorting through that other: you, me, past, future, man, woman, child, old, young, black, brown, red, tan……so many variations that keep us separate and special…. For myself, I want to keep my little special life……my children, my lovers, my job, my car, my clothes, my hair, my fingernails….every little thing I cannot do without. In an instant that could be gone, and I could have Heaven!!!! I just can’t give it all up.

Is this not the purpose of forgiveness? When we find a thought that elicits an emotional response, it is like an arrow pointing to a place where “specialness” is hiding. It is then that we know to look at this, to pull the loose threads that have woven this thought into our hearts. If we recoil in revulsion, jump for joy, burn with shame, weep with sorrow, scream in terror…. those feelings, not any intellectual understanding, is what we need to start the forgiveness process. Whatever your take on the subject, your role; victim, perpetrator, guilty by association, not guilty by denial of association, or any other role in which you relate to the topic…that is where you look for your “special” part.

Once you can look at it as an observer, instead of a participant, you move from believing in the past and the future. What anything believes itself to be or believes it’s state, mental, physical or spiritual to be, is a part of the illusion. The waking up is the process of forgiveness and the acceptance of the atonement. It is the ONLY answer to the ONLY problem; the belief of separation

“Everyone in this world seems to have his, own special problems. Yet they are all the same, and must be recognized as one if the one solution that solves them all is to be accepted. Who can see that a problem has been solved if he thinks the problem is something else? … That is the position in which you find yourself now …. The temptation to regard problems as many is the temptation to keep the problem of separation unsolved. The world seems to present you with a vast number of problems, each requiring a different answer…. [Yet] all this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem, and therefore not to let it be resolved” (W-p1.79.2:1- 3; 3:1; 4:1-2; 6:1). A Course in Miracles
Or as Bruce Lee said, “It is like a finger pointing to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”