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Choose Again

Moving Beyond A Course in Miracles

Ron Rasmussen

Published by by Ron Rasmussen

at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Ron Rasmussen

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CHOOSE AGAIN

MOVING BEYOND

A COURSE IN MIRACLES

By Ron Rasmussen

Dedication

This book is dedicated to several people who have influenced me while I walked my journey called life.

To my wife Donna, who has shown me by example, to continue on my path no matter how many walls I hit; to always get up and continue. She has shown me how to believe in myself, how to listen to myself, and most of all, how to love myself just as I am.

To my teacher of all Teachers – Peg McGinley, who introduced me to 'A Course in Miracles' and led me to go beyond the words used within the book, to meanings which came from within me. What she demonstrated to me is ingrained within my heart, to be shared with others as her gift to me for you.

To my children – all six of them – who were and are my greatest joy in life. Watching them grow into adults and go down their own paths was once extremely painful, but now beautiful knowing that each of them is in their 'right and perfect' place.

And finally, to the 'Spirit' within me that constantly encouraged me to keep moving on – to walk through fears and pain – and then to be shown that life was still there for me to live. The 'small voice within' is ever present, ever speaking, ever knowing of what I am thinking before I have a thought. I believe in what I have written here. It was not always that way, but the 'conflict' with ego is just about over – I am at peace more than I am with ego.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Is This a Required Course?

Chapter 2 - A Course in Miracles

Chapter 3 - Buddhism and A Course in Miracles

Chapter 4 - Love

Chapter 5 - Fear

• Anger

• Hatred

• Jealousy

• Loneliness

• Failure

• Completion

• Success

• Lack

• Health

• Guilt

• God

• Death

• Time

Chapter 6 - The Undoing of Fear

Chapter 7 - Beliefs

Chapter 8 - What If?

Chapter 9 - Stillness and Silence

Chapter 10 - Meditation and Stillness

Chapter 11 - Channeling

Chapter 12 - Jesus

Chapter 13 - A Teacher

Chapter 14 - The Now

Chapter 15 - The New Beginning

Chapter 16 - Thoughts

Chapter 17 - God

Chapter 18 - Ego

Chapter 19 - Open Mind/Open Heart

Chapter 20 - Illusion

Chapter 21 - Judgment

Chapter 22 - Forgiveness

Chapter 23 - The Idols of Sickness

Chapter 24 - The Separation

Chapter 25 - The Journey Back

Chapter 26 - A Meaning of 'Miracle'

Chapter 27 - The Awakening

Chapter 28 - The Final Vision

Epilogue

Lessons: 1 – 40

Epilogue to Lessons

Fourteen 'What If' Questions asked by the Course

1. What is Forgiveness?

2. What is Salvation?

3. What is the World?

4. What is Sin?

5. What is the Body?

6. What is the Christ?

7. What is the Holy Spirit?

8. What is the Real World?

9. What is the Second Coming?

10. What is the Last Judgment?

11. What is Creation?

12. What is the Ego?

13. What is a Miracle?

14. What Am I?

Preface

What if we were to take the Course in Miracles and rewrite it for the current time – eliminating quite a bit of repeated ideas, replacing the word 'Father' with God; and replacing the word 'Son' with 'me' or 'you'; and replacing the phrase "Holy Spirit" with simply 'Spirit'? And while we are at it, let's replace 'ego' with 'self'.

Are you ready for a shorten version of a tool for your spiritual path? We are all heading for the same place, so why not walk along on your path knowing the different paths connect in some way. In reading this book, you will have to stretch your mind beyond its limits – the mind has no limits other than those we placed on it.

You already know deep within you that you are not this body and that this 'life' you believe you see is not reality. No need to wonder how you know, what is important that you acknowledge that you do know.

So one of the first items we must look at is the concept of God – what does that word mean to you – or better, what meaning have you given that word. The Course does state that God is but an idea – and like any other thought or idea, what meaning and value do you give to the idea. And of course God would be an idea in this illusion – everything else is, but can you grab onto that? How do you feel stating that God is an idea? You are also just an idea, remember? And then, the difference between you and God is what?

With rewriting the Course, would we still require so much text and so many lessons? The text represents certain concepts many times, many ways, all for the purpose of having us accept them at some point in our reading. And as for a lesson a day, can we not simplify that by fewer lessons more powerful in their content, and that could be repeated more often?

And so it is that we begin again upon this journey. We begin to read the Course different from the original version, and yet familiar to us. We go deeper into what is being told to us rather than what we read.

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." \- Anais Nin

Introduction

This is a book about the miracle – the miracle of changing a thought held in mind. This is truly the only miracle we know – anything else with such a label is strictly an illusion. And yet the mind itself is an illusion. But more on that later.

I will not try to describe LOVE because it is beyond all words. I will attempt to show what Love is in your life. And like the original version, only Love and fear exist in your world. I sum up this version as:

Nothing real exists and nothing unreal exists.

Within that belief is the Peace you have long searched for.

So what does exist or doesn't anything exist?

When we say 'exist' what is it we are attempting to convey? Exist for me is to be in my world – even though that world is a dream – an illusion. Is there anything in my world or your world that truly exists? If it appears in this illusion, then it too, is an illusion. We all too often forget that this is all an illusion – all of it. Can anything 'real' exist in an illusion? Is there anything we can label 'real', and if so, define real.

Where does that leave us with 'Truth'? In this illusion, is the thought of Truth anymore than a thought? Can anything be more than a thought? Is there anything other than thought? In those moments of peace – where we believe we have experienced 'Truth' – was the experience a thought or was it a feeling within? When we go to that place of 'no-thought' in meditation, where are we? We – the body and all its history – are still where we have been – even the mind is still where we left it. In those moments of no-thought, we move beyond all thoughts – all minds – and move beyond to somewhere beyond words. We know deep within us that we have 'gone' somewhere, but we cannot recall where because where we were is not within our mind; where we were is not a thought.

And being somewhere not within our mind is exactly what the Course brings us to again and again. But all too often it leaves us only wanting, and never receiving. The Course contains too much description of separation – too many implications of separation – too much dependence on something or someone else.

Now if you believe you were created in the image and likeness of your Creator – Love – then what does that really mean to you. Most students pass over this as it is too deep – or too profound – or too bogus for them to accept. And it could be that you have created Love in your image and likeness.

What it means is that you are the image and likeness of your Creator – Love. A likeness beyond definition and an image not to be imagined. Bottom line here is just this: what else could you possibly be but your own Source? What you have been seeking is that which is doing the seeking. Is it any wonder that finding oneself appears so difficult? Just sit with this knowledge in your mind and allow ego to go through its dances and protests – all to no avail – you are what you are because you are! "I AM WHAT I AM, I AM."

This makes you the Universe – the Energy flowing through – the Love ever present – the Source of All – no Beginning and no Ending – eternal.

"If so much of what the voice says is meaningless and unnecessary, then why does it even exist? The secret to answering this question lies in understanding why it says when it says it."

Michael Singer

Chapter 1

Is the Course a Required Course?

We have read no many times that the Course 'is a required course.' Required for what? Required for whom? It almost sounds as if you don't read the Course, study the Course, live the Course, something may happen to you. What about all the people who have never heard of the Course – or those who began it only to put it down as not being for them?

When I first began reading the Course, our Facilitator wanted a one-year commitment from us – it was planned by her as a one-year course. Between 40 – 50 people started the course on the first of January. By the ending in December, the number was less than 20. Some of the people had taken the Course in prior years, but still they could not commit to a one-year contract with themselves. For me, this shows the opposition of ego that is always present. Ego is the reader of the Course. And as we change our mind of particular thoughts – opposite of ego thinking – we come head on to a collision course with the ego.

So is it required? For what and by whom? Nothing is required of you. Just show up! You have All That Is just by being Who you are where you are. Any 'requirements' are strictly of ego. So, you are NOT required to take the Course – read the Course – live the Course. This illusion always allows you a choice to make. A choice is a thought, and it is always about a thought in the illusion. So you can choose again and again and again.

If you choose to read the Course or you choose not to read the Course matters not. What matters is that you have a choice.

"We see what we believe rather than believe what we see." - Alan Cohen

Chapter 2

A Course in Miracles

This is what is referenced throughout this book – the version from The Foundation for Inner Peace. The book is written by Helen Schucman in collaboration with Bill Thetford. It was accomplished during the years of 1965 – 1972, finally edited with Ken Wapnick in 1973 and published in 1976.

It is a 1200 page, three volume book. It is a phenomenon, a work whose content and characteristics, history and impact on the world are so unique that there are no neat labels or categories for it. The Course was authored by an "inner voice" that dictated the material to a research psychologist beginning in the mid 1960's. Its teachings are not of preexisting molds, and combine the spiritual wisdom of the East, and some essence of Christianity. The Course includes a highly specific mind training program in the practical applications of its principles, focusing on forgiveness in the area of relationships."

John Mundy states in his book "Living A Course in Miracles": "What the Course says is not new. How could the eternal be new? Mystics, masters, saints, and sages from all the world and throughout the ages have talked about that which goes beyond perception. We find 'themes,' 'song,' and 'representations' of the Course in the world's oldest philosophies – the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of the Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Christian Mysticism, Sufism, German Idealism, American Transcendentalism, the New Thought Movement, Unity, Religious Science, Christian Science, and many more thousand forms."

This is as good a description as I can think of – no label or category for it – and yet it has influenced the lives of so many. But what about beyond the Course – where had it taken you?

"I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I've been knocking from the inside!" - Rumi

The Course is that door Rumi speaks of. I have, through the years of reading it, been knocking on it, at times desperately, wanting to open it and yet not realizing I have been trying to open it in the opposite direction. For me it opens within.

And so now it has opened – now I have moved through it – now I know the Course from the inside – no longer words someone else wrote, but thoughts from without a mind. Thoughts that have me feeling contented, assured and complete. Thoughts once before thought but then all too soon forgotten.

So is this all there is? Now that I have not only found the door, opened it, and move beyond. Now what? Ego has a million questions about all this – and why not. It feels threatened while there is a feeling of elation – more than elation but no words that would adequately described what is being experienced. And this is not usual for it was always known that such a space existed – a space without words – without thoughts – a space of being, but not knowing what being is.

After reading the Course for several years, just as many of you have, and continuing on day after day, Lesson after Lesson, Chapter after Chapter...there comes a point where the words become meaningless (as the Course so states) – we are getting nothing from reading the Course. We may even be able to quote passages from the Course, but memorizing words means nothing to anyone other than ego. The Course is read initially by ego and as you progress in repeated readings, you become aware of a shift – ego is no longer as noticeable as it was in the beginning. What you have read – what you have taken as a new belief – has affected your mind.

But to reflect back a moment to the time when you are getting nothing more from the Course – then what? Where do you go from there? Surely there must be more. And so this book came to be – something beyond the Course as it is written. Something beyond the words you have read so many times. Something appears missing, but what it is not known.

The point I am trying to make is that there is more waiting for you beyond the Course - more for you to receive from other sources. I don't agree that the Course itself is a spiritual path - I see it as the key to open us up to what we have been seeking within. Is it enough for some people, yes. But it is a beginning, not an ending. It is a key that opens a door and there is much more beyond that door!

So here I be – not am, but be – in a moment of now – in the present – with no thoughts, no words and unexplainable emotions. This must be what it is to be simply 'BE'.

And another knowing is present – there is no turning back – no turning around and going out through the door. The door is no longer there. And only an ego would want to run from this because only an ego would not come close to grasp what this is. And what is this? This is the presence that was being sought – through reading – through meditation – through awareness – what was being sought has been shown. There is no 'I" that states this, for no 'I' is present here. This is the oneness of allness and yet is nothing and everything.

You try to walk your talk. You try to practice the Course teachings constantly. You are aware of seeing God staring back at you from others. When you feel anything less than love, you can change your thoughts. Living the Course is changing your beliefs and staying with them no matter what. You see no suffering. You hear and respond to a call for healing and help. You do not consider the Course as a religious doctrine, but as a spiritual path. The Course is a tool for you to use on this path and there are many other tools available to use as well. See yourself as you see everyone else, and that will take a constant effort on your part. You make the Course real by living it, not by reading it or discussing it. Live it, be it, show it to others by your actions.

At-one-ment means a oneness with God, I am One with God. When you say it, instantly feel the oneness.

As you do the text and workbook, look forward to the second half because it is the main course. The first half of both is just the salad, the repetitive and yet delicious tasting of what is yet to come, but in no way filling . In the second half, you are shown what makes your soul smile and your ego cringe. You are shown what you already know within your being, within your soul. This is just a refresher course for the soul and it is delighted. For the ego, the reader of the Course, this is threatening. And along with the soul being delighted comes the ego's fear of being left out, of being found out what it really is. If you can stay with the first part of the Course, then you will stay with it to the end.

When reading the Course, studying the Course, and living the Course, the emphasis is not on who said what, but rather on what is being said specifically to you. You can read a chapter in the Course and interpret it differently because of where you are at that particular moment on your path. You can come back to the same chapter a few days later and read something entirely different, for where you are at the moment has changed. When emphasis is placed on who is doing the talking, instead of what is being said, you will observe that the ego is gainfully employed in diverting the attention of you, the reader, to an "attack" position.

The wording of the Course has only one purpose: to unblock all belief systems and to allow your original thoughts to be known again. It is not so much a course with which to remember, but a course by which you will forget all that you had believed up to this moment. It is a Course in which you come to know your true identity. There is a big difference in knowing and remembering. There are those who are "ready for the Course" and those that are not. But that, on your part, would be judgment. Everyone is a candidate for the Course, it is only a matter of time until they choose to take it. The only fear shown in the Course is the fear of God that the ego has you believing. Your concern is not with others, but with yourself. If you see others as not "getting it" then chances are, you are not getting it. The reflection of others is yourself. There is no need to improve or simplify the Course, for the Course is taught with all the tools needed and provided by God. The Course is not difficult. It takes a certain amount of time (that illusion again) before you will let go of your old belief system and plug in the original model. And you are complete, whole and One with God. The spark within you glows for others to see.

This book is not a 'graduate' version – not a continuation of the original book – but a deeper leap into what is within each of us – what we have long forgotten and yearn to remember. One does not 'graduate' from the Course – there is no final test. What one does is to be aware of how the mind has changed, how our beliefs have changed, and how we are not finished yet seeking what it is we look for.

Some people can quote the Course from memory \- a feat I do not do. For me, instead of quoting the Course, I prefer to try to live it - demonstrate what I have received from it \- show others that something else is out there for them. And one of the main items I have taken from the Course is this: Be open to what is shown me through various methods - be open to what is before me.

The Course is basically teachings of Buddhism – with the exception of a belief in God or a God. The word 'God' is not associated with Buddhism. The Course however puts great emphasis on the word 'God'. The word 'meditation' is only stated twice in the Course – once in the Lessons and once in the Text, and yet almost each Lesson tells us to 'close our eyes' – meditate. Buddhism believes words are meaningless – thoughts are nothing – this life is a dream and we are the dreamer. It is about awareness, forgiveness, suffering, acceptance, and so much more as is found with the words of the Course.

In Buddhism it is said that we each have within us a 'Buddha' – one who is awakened. In the Course we are told often that within each of us is the 'Christ Spirit' as was seen in the man called Jesus of Nazareth. We have within us the same 'structure' that was within Siddhartha and Jesus – no different because we are no different.

Buddha is quoted many times as not being a God – but an Awakened One. Jesus was and is not God or a God during his time – only after the writings of the Gospels, 50 to 125 years after his death, was the concept of his being God or a Son of God proposed.

Something that is unique to Buddhism is that most of the statutes of Buddha depict a smiling face – happiness! Look at Christianity and see how many statues or pictures there are of Jesus depicted with a smiling face. Christians dwell on the horror of his death while there are so many other examples of happier times for Jesus. Something is definitely wrong with this picture, right?

I will try not be use the words: Lord, God, Holy Spirit, Father, Son, Voice of God, Salvation and holiness (just to name a few) in this writing. I believe all those words exemplify separation – the very item the Course is teaching us to overcome.

I will try to use the word 'Love' instead of 'God' and it means that which cannot be described or defined or even imagined. Unfortunately God is imagined by most of us – descriptions of early Christian learning – pictures – art, and so many other means. Is it not easy to think of God as a 'white-bearded man' up there somewhere?

One of the objectives in this book is to have you believe in your Truth – who you are in Truth. Not the body in the illusion, not the history and story you believe you have, not even the person in the mirror looking back at you. That is how ego appears – that is what ego believes it to be.

Must you stretch your imagination to believe this? Certainly! But are you not already stretching your imagination believing yourself to be this body?

"Looking for God, the vision cannot be seen: cease your search. God cannot be discovered through meditation, so abandon your trance states and mental images. God cannot be accomplished by anything you do, so give up the attempt to treat the world as magical illusion. God cannot be found by seeking, so abandon all hope of results." Shabkar

Chapter 3

Buddhism and the Course in Miracles

Many students have commented over the years that there appears a certain 'Eastern' flavor to the Course – some of it sounds like Eastern Philosophy. And indeed, going into the similarities, we will see how the two philosophies are alike, beginning with the similarities between Jesus and Buddha.

And after reading a lot of information on these two Teachers, I can only conclude this: Who the Messenger is matters little; what the Message is the important point.

Marcus Borg, author of many books on Jesus, states this concerning these two teachers: "...both offer us teachings, instructions, practices, ways to conduct our lives and free our hearts. Jesus and Buddha say to us, even today, 'Follow me.' Do we dare?"

I begin this discussion about a man born before Buddha – a man named Lao Tzu who authored the profound writings: "Tao Te Ching". This book was reportedly written before Lao Tzu was allowed to leave China, where he was going, no one knows for sure. He lived from 551 B.C.E to 479 B.C.E.

Siddhartha Gautama – later to be known as 'Buddha' – was born around the year 560 B.C.E. He lived to the age of 80. There are stories that Lao Tzu traveled to India to 'instruct ' Buddha. But those of just stories, as most of life is.

The stories about Siddhartha and Jesus concerning their beginning are as well similar. While it is said that an Angel appeared to Mary to announce her pregnancy, Siddhartha's mother is said to have had a vision of a 'white elephant' and knew she was pregnant. Siddhartha's mother delivered him in a field, while Mary delivered Jesus in a barn.

Siddhartha came from a royal family – his father being a King of a selected kingdom in India. Jesus was said to have come from the family of David. Upon both of their births, wise men are said to foretell that each of them was destined for greatness – not necessarily riches, but greatness.

And there is even a story that when Buddha died, "the earth quivered like a ship struck by a squall and firebrands feel from the sky. Fearsome thunderbolts crashed down on the earth and violent winds raged in the sky. The moon's light waned and, in spite of cloudless sky, an uncanny darkness spread everywhere. The rivers, as if overcome by grief, were failed with boiling water."

This sound quite familiar concerning the death of Jesus, right?

It is not my intention to dissect the stories of the two Teachers – their teachings are what I wish to look at.

The Course begins by saying 'this is a Course' – Buddhism says 'this the way.'

We know from the Course that a 'miracle' is but a change of thought – we can see differently. Buddhism states that anyone can awaken; nothing holds us back but our thoughts.

Buddhism also states that we are always in Totality. We cannot remove ourselves or anything else – no thought, no thing – from it. It is absolutely necessary to believe in nothing: we have to believe in something that has no form and no color – something which exists before all forms appear.

Do you really think that there is something you put into your mind, or take from it, that's going to satisfy that deep ache in your heart?

The Course speaks often of the present – the past and future just being thoughts. Buddhism speaks of the present as well.

Alan Watts stated: "The aim of Zen (Buddhism) is to bring about a transformation of consciousness, and to awaken us from the dream world of our endless thoughts so that we experience life as it is in the present moment."

He continues: "You will never find the mystery of the creation of the world in the past. It never was created in the past. Because truly there is nothing else – and never was anything else – except the present. There will never be anything else except the present."

In finishing this quote, Watts says: "It is always in the immediate here and now that things begin...and in order to be here, you can't be looking for a result."

The subject of the present appears to us so frequently. It is a message to hold moment by moment, in your daily life. Tolle, Dyer, and Chopra all talk about the present – as well as many, many others.

Do you remember as a kid how you could stay in a moment 'forever'? Then perhaps a school bell would ring or your mother would call you or it might start raining. Now we plan and plan for the next day, the next week, the next year and those beyond. Have you ever even tried to plan the next moment? Can you picture the Universe rolling with laughter at what we think we can do?

It takes a leap of Faith on our part to be in the moment – how will life survive it I am not constantly planning for the next thing? When I was in my garden I would have the feeling that I was there only to learn patience, patience and more patience – and to stay in the moment – not to look ahead to a harvest that was yet to be planted.

To stay in the moment, we must let go – a term used a lot in the Course and AA programs. We must let go of anything and everything – no expectations – no anticipations – and the beauty of it is then we shall have no disappointments. We let go of what we think we are a body and allow our essence to take over.

Alan Watts also stated: "the origin of the world is now – and there is this odd sensation that now comprises everything: the most distant past, the most remote future, the vastness of space, all states of experience, all joy, all sorrow, all heights, all depths...everything is now...there isn't anywhere else to be – there never was and never will be."

He also goes on to say that is why we were never born, and therefore never die. We never came and we won't go. We are always here entering into the now, and in entering the now, we discover the eternal now. We find infinity in the split second.

By now, you must be seeing the similarity between Buddhism and A Course in Miracles.

When Buddha was trying to get to 'enlightenment', he tried many ways of physical abuse as a 'penance' and finally got to a place where he was taking next to no nourishment. His body was literally skin and bones according to his own words.

Finally, he had a question, a thought: "Might there be another way to enlightenment?"

And the rest is history, as the expression goes.

I bring this up because Bill and Helen uttered a similar phrase which led them to A Course in Miracles.

It does make one pause and think a bit.

Buddhists believe to practice Dharma (natural law) is to renounce suffering which means to renounce the worst of all suffering: the delusions (illusions) – ignorance – attachment – anger – pride - jealously and so many others the Course labels as fears – all the negative minds that are the root of all suffering. This is what they say practicing Dharma is about – as students of the Course, we might say that is what practicing forgiveness is all about.

We have come to see that the Course and Buddhism are but tools for us to use on our path. Anything presented to you, that resonates within you, can be a tool.

Hinduism believes that karma is completely unchangeable, predetermined. Buddhism calls it an 'impermanent phenomenon' karma is changeable. "Karma is your mental attitude putting your energy in a certain direction, producing a chain reaction, and you can break that chain before the results ripens. Also, karma is the energy of your body, speech, and mind...the energy of cause relates to another energy that produces a reaction in yet another energy." We call it cause and effect – nothing happens without a cause, and with the cause comes the effect.

"God is not a noun – God is a verb." – R. Buckminster Fuller

From the Buddhist point of view, there is no human problems that cannot be solved by human beings. Sounds very similar to teachings in the Lessons and Text.

One of the major differences in the teachings of the Course and Buddhism is the subject of God. We all know that "God" appears just about on every page of the Course. It is a major theme in the book. Although the Course is about ending the idea of separation, it is also promotes the idea of separation by the use of the word 'God'.

Buddha rejected the notion of 'God' whereas 'God' was of great importance to Jesus. Perhaps all Buddha was rejecting was the 'notion of a personal god – that is, God as a supernatural being separate from the universe.

That appears to be in line with the teachings of the course.

"...the simpler the teaching is, the more powerful and transformative it is." - Adyashanti

Chapter 4

Love

As in most books, the definition of the subject should be given first. But how does one define Love? There is no known definition for Love – the Love that is Truth – the Love that some refer to as God, and yet no definition of God is available either. So we will simply jump into this section and talk about God – that formidable word that some of us fear and some us know as our Truth.

The Course tells us that 'God is an idea' and most people will roll right over these words as if they were not printed on the page. But God must be an idea, just as we are an idea. An idea, any idea, is just a thought and what else exists in this dream we are dreaming? Before the dream, was 'God' necessary? What were you before this dream and what are you at the present time? In your dream, you are an idea. Before the dream, as now, you are as you have forever been and will forever be. A dream changes nothing from Truth.

So getting back to the word 'God'... It is my belief that 'God' was made by us to be the opposite of ego. This makes a little sense since this dream contains duality; everything in this dream has an opposite. But yet remember, we are the 'creators' of the dream and we therefore make up the words and give them meaning in this duality.

So what is it that we experience at times that is beyond all words, beyond all other experiences, and that cannot be described, defined, nor transmitted to others? It is the presence of Love, which we also call 'God'. It is the presence of Truth, our Truth, the very essence of who we are, what we are and where we are. And let us become clear on these issues: who we are is Love; who we are is 'God'. What we are is Love; what we are is 'God'. And where we are is Love; where we are is 'God'. We have often defined 'God' as being present everywhere and nowhere; as being All That Is and yet nothing and everything.

This question comes up often: Is 'God' present in our dream? If 'God' is present everywhere and nowhere, then would 'God' be not in this dream? The 'God' we made up is present in this dream, but our Truth is not within this dream; Truth cannot be in an dream and still be Truth. The dream is an illusion, a falsehood, an imagination of an idea we hold in our mind. Can Truth be present in what is not present?

Then what about the experiences we have at time when we know a Presence and yet cannot describe it, as we spoke a few paragraphs before? What might that be? That might be, and is, our Truth being shown to us. It is a glimpse of what we have temporarily forgotten and set aside as we become very involved in our dream. But our Truth is our link to our reality. We know at a very deep level that we shall once again wake up to discover that we were never anywhere or anything but only what we have forever been.

So once again to focus on Love... Is Love within this dream? Nothing real can be contained within an illusion, but an illusion can be seen within Love. What this means is that the Presence is ever-present and the illusion appears to be as well. But the Presence of Love is just that, ever present presence. It is like the fact that we dream at night as we sleep and yet when we awake, that dream appears over, and we find ourselves back in this ongoing drama called life. Whether we dream awake or asleep, we dream in the Presence of Love. We could even say that Love is like the projection screen on which we watch the drama called life.

Chapter 5

Fear

Fear = falsely expecting a result or false evidence appearing real

There are several acronyms for fear – 'false evidence appearing real' – is the one of the best I have come across, and it works for me. Fear is something the self projects to keep us from Truth, of who we are. Fear is a veil of darkness before the Light of Truth. Fear often is described as wall separating us from Love. Darkness is a symbol of fear, so we are taught early on in our life that the darkness of night is scary. The darkness of night is an experience all of itself for me. There are wonders there that are not in my imagination.

There are many, many different fears according to self, but basically there is but one major fear, from which all others come from: the fear of God, the fear of Love. The self fears Love because it believes it cannot survive in the presence of Love; that it ceases to be if Love looks upon it. That part of you that you call self is the part that fears Love. The Truth of you knows you cannot fear Love. You cannot fear that which you are.

Like the piece of art hidden beneath the rough exterior of a slab of marble, so your truth is hidden beneath your many fears. As you chip away at these layers, you come upon the magnificence of your Truth – the greatness that lies within you, that which is within you.

All fears are nothing more than a thought we hold in our mind. If we would truly accept our Truth, would there be anything is this illusion that would possibly frighten us? If we accept the Truth about our Self, is there anything we could not do and do it well? But look at the power we give to a thought of fear! How much meaning we give to something which is an illusion within an illusion. And remember, it is we who give meaning to fear. It is we who give meaning to anything in our dream. No one else is responsible for this dream, except the dreamer – except you!

It is said that only Love and fear exist – Love being real and fear being an illusion – false evidence appearing real. Love is who you are and what you are. Fear is a creation you have made and believe in. The only value fear holds is the value you have given it. If you take the value away, you see fear for what it is – nothing more than a thought. Love, on the other hand, is your Truth and the Truth shall forever be. It is beyond change, beyond limitations, beyond words. It is a knowing that is within us all, a knowing that is experience in the stillness and silence of your soul, the sanctuary of your heart, the center of your being.

Fear comes to you in a constant bombardment of thoughts which are not seen in Love. Fear is presented to you as anger, guilt, shame, blame, addiction, unworthiness, unlovable, low esteem, high esteem, wants, needs, and desires, just to name a few. Fear comes to you in relationships you enter into because you are seeking in them what you already have within. Fear comes to you as sickness of the body. Fear comes to you from what you believe others say to you. Sickness is nothing more than a thought of fear you are holding. Change that thought, and you no longer see yourself as sick.

Do you realize that the world you make as ego is nothing more than an illusion of fears? Ego will offer you its version of love, but it is really fear. How can you tell? Love which is your truth is eternal and never changes. Love as offered you by ego changes before your eyes. The happiness you once thought you had may now be gone. The love you once were so sure of might now be felt as anger or hatred.

As an example, take the fear of quitting smoking. Who has the fear? Who has given the fear power? What is the fear, but a single thought? Who has the thought? Then who has the power to change that thought? It is all about you; always is and always will be. You made the fear; you can un-make the fear. No one and nothing can stop you from smoking. Only you changing a thought you hold – only a choice you can make. Will there be a reaction? Probably, body has become accustomed to the addiction – the body will crave smoking – but your mind will be strong and steadfast to give into the habit again.

And this will be true for any habit you might have. No re-hab facility, no program, no counseling, nothing will of any help to you, including the desire to quit. Desires are but wishes for a future time which does not exist. What is available to you is right now – change your thought. Affirm you have stopped the habit and continue to think that way, continue to hold that thought.

Change your thoughts, change your life.

"You are perfect exactly as you are. With all your flaws and problems, there's no need to change anything. All you need to change is the thought that you have to change." - Danial Levin

Anger

When you become angry, do you ever ask yourself, why? Why are you angry? What do you believe that has happened to cause this much sorrow for yourself? And yes, anger is sorrow for you, because you are not experiencing happiness, a gift to you from God. Are you angry because someone did not or does not behave as you believe they should? Are you angry because you believe you could tell another how they should behave instead of what they choose? Are you angry because the other person may be right, and that makes you wrong? Are you angry because the other person obtained a goal you were also striving for?

All of these questions contain one thread of similarity in them; they all contain a fear you are holding as a thought within your mind. If you would accept others exactly where they are in their life, you would accept yourself exactly where you are in yours. In that acceptance is the happiness you seek. If you would simply not judge another as being right or wrong, you would see yourself without judgment as well. If you are intent on goals in life, you set yourself up for disappointment – no appointment, no disappointment. Have you ever tried to just have life be presented to you?

Anger is a fear that you have about yourself, not about others. Anger has you feeling alone and separated from God. Anger has you feeling isolated and distant from others. Anger often will take you to various forms of addicted behaviors, where you try your hardest to forget you are angry, only to become angrier with yourself. As long as you believe that you are indeed this ego, you will experience fear, you will experience anger.

Hatred

Hatred is a fear that is taught you as a child and as an adult. Hatred is someone else pulling your strings in life. It is when you have allowed the thoughts of another to become a belief with you. In Truth, you are not capable of hatred. In Truth, you are but Love, and Love has no opposite.

Why is it you often hate the job you have? Do you hate the job because you feel you are being underpaid or overworked or even overlooked? Where did you ever learn that you have a value for your performance of any task? Where did you ever learn that if you feel you are working hard, you are overworked? If you feel that others are being given other jobs, better jobs, easier jobs, or jobs that pay more money, where did you learn that you come ahead of everyone else? It was once said that until you love what you do, you will never be able to leave it unless you take the hatred you have for your job with you to the next one.

Perhaps another fear could be called expectation. As long you continue to expect more of anything, you will harbor the fear of not getting what is yours. And what is 'yours'? What if you knew that All That Is has been given you by All That Is? Would you then be more receptive to what you are doing, where you are doing it, and what might be presented for you as an alternative to it all?

Wars are often fought because we believe we hate those that oppose our thinking, our way of life, our religion, our choice of politics, or our choice of life in general. And do you suppose that the opposition then hates us for the same reasons? What would happen if we accepted all nations, all nationalities, all religions, just as they are? What if we saw no difference in any of those things?

Jealousy

Forgetting what Webster says "jealousy" is, what does it mean to you? What do you really feel when you are experiencing "jealousy"? Are you seeing someone else in a place where you wanted to be or still want to be? Do you see another as better than you? Do you see yourself as less than them? And do you notice how jealousy clouds your vision of them, and yourself as well? As you see another, you see yourself! Always! If you cannot see another clearly, you cannot see yourself clearly either.

Jealousy, as most fears, is caused by your judgment. Judgment is what we as humans – as egos – do best, and it is also all that we do. If you say that you are jealous of what another has, or what another is, you are simply judging yourself to be less than they. It is really you always that you judge.

How hard is it for you to be happy for another's success or accomplishments? How difficult is it for you to wish them the very best life has to offer? And do you realize that in this simple change of thought, you are not judging them with you; you are merely accepting both of you where you are at. Can you possibly send love to another if you are also judging them?

Think of jealousy windows as an example. What is the purpose of jealousy windows? To shut them so you cannot get air through them or get the air that is flowing through them when they are open. When you are jealous, you are closing yourself off from seeing your Truth before you. You are closing yourself off to the flow of Love constantly coming to you and from you. So be open and receptive to what is presented to you, and happiness shall be shown you.

Loneliness

You have experienced the fear of loneliness; the feeling of being isolated, distant, and removed from all others. And you have even experienced this fear in a crowd of people and in your relationships. Ego has you believing that you are this separate body, this mass of tissue, walking through this world with other bodies, separated as well from each other. In this fear, you are never able to think of togetherness, of Oneness, of being the same and not being different.

In loneliness, you also experience other gifts of ego: despair, depression, phobias of every sort you can imagine (no one else can imagine them for you). You feel lost. You feel as if you are going nowhere. You feel abandoned, left to float on the sea of life without a paddle. You feel you are without any means of communicating with another lost body passing by. You even feel at times, that there appears no reason for you to continue this existence. If life is to be this sort of game, you want to quit. You have gone as far as you want to go. There appears to a dead-end in your road.

And that is what a fear often appears as – a dead end; nowhere else to go, no other path to take, no other choice to make. What might happened, when you come upon the dead end? You take a step into the unknown, on a path you can't see. What happens is that you begin to notice that you are moving beyond the dead end, you are walking past the fear, past the illusion it is and you see the fear as all fears are – nothing but an illusion – a projection of a thought you held within your mind. So you change that thought, and the fear is gone.

If you could grasp truly who you are in the Truth that is within you, you would forever know that it is impossible for you to be alone – ever. You walk with God, and God is always there with you. How many times are you not there for God?

Failure

This fear – failure - alone often keeps you from even trying! You fear that you might fail at something so that rather than even trying, you just don't even attempt it. You give up before you have begun. And where does the fear of failure come from? The same place other fears come from. From someone or something telling us that we can't do it! Failure is an ego trip-up word – it trips you up before you think too much of trying something new. If you never try, you can never fail. Ego does not like to hear that. Ego says, "Why try? You will only fail." And just because others have said you can't, that certainly doesn't make it so. What others say has nothing to do with what you are capable of doing. Give one good reason why you should not try what you are led to do? And there isn't one! And failure is nothing really more than trying and not completing – so you always try again, and again, and again. You haven't failed, you have only tried.

Failure comes from a thought you hold in your mind that you are not able, not capable, not strong enough, not smart enough, nor good enough to do what it is you want to do. This life you lead is your life. Your thoughts dictate your life. The thoughts of others mean nothing to you unless you give their thoughts more value, more importance than your own. If you did not judge yourself as being a failure, then you would never be a failure. What would you then be? You would be someone that tried something new, and perhaps succeeded and perhaps not – but you tried, you went beyond where you had gone before.

Completion

Similar to failure in that unless you try it, you will never complete it. But what about completing something that has you fearful? Why do you fear to complete anything? Have you ever noticed how many words you use that ego keeps you in its grip? Words like completion, done, finished and it's over. All of these ego words have you fearful to some degree because if something is completed, done, finished – then what? What will you do next? And for this insane reason, many of us have not completed something.

Usually ego drives you to complete something; then informs you when you think you are done, that there is indeed more you must do. With ego, nothing is ever finished because ego has no answer for any question, no resolution to any problem.

Rather than use words like completion which set us for failure perhaps, why not look at anything as a challenge that you work through, become aware of what you did and not judge it, and then move on to the next adventure?

Success

Fear of success is another gift from the ego you can do without. God's will for you is perfect happiness, God's will be done! And it can be done, if you allow it, if you want it. Are you willing to let go of all fears to receive it? What a small price for happiness. When fears are released, they are replaced by love. Being of God, you are heir to the Kingdom and it is yours now, not later. It is not earned by you but rather given to you because of who you are. You cannot be anything less than successful; it is only a matter of choice. Is it measured by what is on the outside of you? It is experienced within your being, within your soul. Have no fear of yourself (which is your ego) and you will experience success in anything you attempt. Not only do you deserve everything, but everything is already yours. What fears are standing in your way preventing you from being successful?

Is the fear of success anything like completion? Being successful for some people means carrying a load of guilt around with them. Being successful for some people may mean that they may feel superior to others. Being successful for some people may mean that the imagined separated gap just became wider. So why do we see success as a fear? Because of all of the above – what will others think of me if I am successful? We fear success because we believe it will involve more responsibility from us in our daily living and interactions with others, and it will. Success is not a word that has just one definition. Success means something different to almost anyone you ask.

Just what does success mean to you. Take this question and just sit with it for a while. Do you immediately have visions of grandeur connected with being successful? Do you see yourself apart from others? Do you see yourself more fortunate than others? Do you fear success because you feel that the other "shoe" is about to drop? Success to ego is even difficult for it to define. Ego has you chase after some object, allows you to obtain that object, and then when you think you are successful because you have the object, ego tells you that this other object is much more worth your effort of obtaining, much more of a show of success. So you begin to chase that one.

Ego cannot be satisfied ever simply because of what it is – nothing – no substance. Ego then cannot define success because it is never satisfied. Where do you experience true peace and contentment? Is it knowing that others believe you are successful at what you do, or is it knowing who you are in truth?

Lack

You, as ego, have this continually nagging feeling you are lacking everything, even after you get what you have been chasing. Because egos are never satisfied, your fear of lack continues – it is perpetual. You believe you must have this person, this house, this car, this job, etc., to be happy and content. Have any of those given you contentment that is lasting? You always want more of what you have or what others have. You always feel that more is better, much more. This fear of lack is so great that you often times are not aware of it until the fear of pain is introduced.

Just look at your eating habits as an example. You want the biggest and the most of what is being offered. You go the buffet style restaurants where you can eat all you can for one price, and the price is all too often your own health. You think you are lacking and then realized that you are extremely overweight. Your fear of lack has now shown you what abundance means.

As egos, you even pray to God for your needs, your wants, your desires, all of which you believe you lack. And you get turned off from God when you don't get what you "prayed" for. Is not being overweight a sign of abundance? Did a car accident not give you more money but left you in a wheel-chair? And the penny or nickel you found on the sidewalk, is that not abundance? Is that not more money than you had a minute ago?

The Truth that is within each of us contains all that is from All That Is. Because of who you are; no need, lack, wants or desires are possible for you. You have All That Is.

Health

Health is one of your greatest fears, having some of us believing that we can never be too healthy. Within the fear of health is the fear of illness and sickness. And like every other fear that you can imagine, this fear will bring to you exactly what you don't want just because you fear it. Your thoughts give you your experience. Just think on that for a moment. Your thoughts present you with what you are thinking. If you are thinking fearful thoughts of sickness, disease or illness, you will experience just that. The alternative at any given point here is for you to change your mind about what you are thinking. Turn off the fear!

The fears of illness, sickness and disease are so subtle you are sometimes not aware of them. You have heard people use the expression that such and such is just eating them up inside – and later learn that they have cancer. Or have you ever heard someone say that they wish they could be laid up for a while, off of work, like after their surgery or accident – and then when they are, they are shocked to find themselves in so much pain. Or how about the expression "no pain, no gain" and you cannot understand why your back is out of alignment and the excruciating pain has you in tears. Or you know the smoker who insists they can quit anytime and know that because they don't inhale, they won't get cancer. The cemetery is full of such bodies.

Pain is often a signal you get to tell you that something requires your immediate attention. But do you pay attention? Sometimes not and the pain then becomes some disease you are told you have.

Do you believe that every pain, every illness, sickness and/or disease experience by someone is caused by one thing – the thought they are holding in their mind of fear?

This is a hard concept for many to accept. But think about it – everything in your life starts as a thought, and then that thought is projected onto a screen you call your world. Actually everything in life is but a thought and nothing more. Because of this, you are able to cure illness, sickness, or disease by changing your mind and holding that thought without letting doubt creep in. It is not an easy task, but it is one that can be done by anyone. We all know someone who has done this – books are full of examples.

The many miracles told in the Bible are examples of how people cured themselves by believing that a word from Jesus was all that was necessary. Did Jesus do the curing? No, the person believing in him did.

Guilt

The fear of guilt is a fear that you seldom call a fear. You often don't see guilt that way. You see guilt as an inner turmoil you experience when you know you did not tell the truth; did not help someone in need; did not give back what you found that belonged to someone else. Guilt is that which you go to bed with but cannot sleep with. You even go so far in your trying to lay your guilt on someone else. Guilt holds you hostage in a self-imposed prison you made for yourself. Guilt blocks your view of your truth. You can't possibly go within and be in the Presence of God holding onto guilt!

You see guilt as a fear that has you being someone you are not – you put on a mask and pretend you are someone else. Guilt causes you to become angry with others for no apparent reason, other than they might be happy and you can't get there. Some of you may remember confessionals used in churches, where you would go with your bag of guilt and box of sins you thought you committed and "confess" that these were your sins and your only sins, but holding back a few perhaps, because you were afraid of what might be thought of you – this is guilt in action.

Ego can have you feel guilty when you do what you are supposed to do, or when you don't do what you are supposed to do. It matters little to ego – it just wants to lay that guilt on you. Guilt is ego's way of making you feel alone and afraid of others. You find yourself not wanting to mingle with others – after all, what if they found out what you did? Do you notice here that others could really care less about what you did? The only person judging here is you – judging yourself and sentencing yourself to guilt for an indefinite time. Because you are the judge and jury, you are also the one – the only one – who can forgive yourself for what you believe you have done. Do you want release from the prison you made just for you? Forgive yourself.

God

God is truly feared by most of us, if not all of us. Think of the atheist who denies God. To deny God means you must also acknowledge the existence of God. God is reminded to you so often in your everyday life, most often in ways you are not even aware of. Do you have to believe in God to say, in response to a sneeze – "God bless you!" Or how about the expression you use at times in response to tragedy and other times, in response to surprise: "Oh, My God!" And those times we are extremely angry and we curse at someone or something: "God dammit!" We use the word "God" in so many different ways and yet seldom understand that each time we use the word, is a time we could just as easily pause and truly think of God.

Often when you fear God, you believe you are to be punished for something you did; you actually believe you are being punished now in your present circumstances, for what you did in the past. You have all heard someone say that they are getting what they deserve because of what they think they did. These people literally nail themselves to a cross and just hang there.

You often fear God for you believe God will end this world you live in at any given moment in time. What would happen to your beliefs if you discovered that the world you see yourself in, is all your own making? What if you discovered that God had nothing to do with your world? Who would you then fear, and who would you then hold responsible? Who else is there but you?

Some even believe that God has given them an illness! You see, as ego, you cannot accept responsibility for your own doing because you don't even know you are doing it!

You have already read far enough to know that your thoughts and your thoughts alone make up your world. Where does God enter into your world?

Death

Of all the fears, you focus so much on death, and yet you seem to agree that you were born and you will die. And yet even knowing this, you fear the experience of death. No one who has experienced death has come back to tell about it. Many have laid claim to doing just that, but really, have they? Death is an experience that ends the life you believe so much in. Remember that this life is just a projection of your thoughts. And so death is the final thought you hold – the end of ego and its dream of nothing – the end of thinking in conflict; the end of thinking and judging; the end of the world as you have come to know it. Then if death is just a thought, just another illusion, what happens after you have that last thought? You discover that you are as you have and will forever be. None of what you thought of life was real. It is and was a dream that was played out when actually it happened in just one thought.

It is not so much that there is life after death, there is life before death. You have been in existence since the beginning, if you care to look at it like that, and you will continue to exist because there is no ending – eternity just continues.

Time

The greatest of all fear is time. Have you ever been in a day in your life, where time was not considered important? Remember all those moments that you gave time such great value – you had to hurry up to get some place and then wait – you had to leave early so you would not be late – your kids asked you to do something while the game was on, and you just had to wait for the clock to click down first. There are millions of ways you have placed time on the highest pedestal and made it your god. You idolize time; you worship time; you savor each and every moment of time, at times.

Within your home, how many clocks, watches, or other time pieces do you have? Do you set the clock each night so that you will get up at a certain time in the morning? Do you wear a watch when you go walking to see how long you have been walking? Do you live your life by a schedule of some sort – all directed and driven by time?

And how about age? If you did not have time as your god, you would never get old. Would there be seasons if there were no time? And could you exist in the world you make of the fears you hold, if time did not appear real to you? Just think for one moment about how this life would look without time.

Would there be a life at all?

There is much talk today about the present moment – the now – the moment – the holy instant. To be there you are told that you must let go of past thoughts and future projections which are based on past thoughts. What does that leave you with? Nothing, absolutely nothing. You are in the existence of your truth – in the existence of eternity – you are simply being and not doing. Is time there? No, because no past is present. How long is a moment? It is an eternity.

And time has a gift for you as well – it gives you something extra – called the fear of being late. And what is late? It is what you call not being on time.

When you go to bed tonight and you finally sink into a sleep, what happens to time while you are sleeping? A clock will show you in the morning that you have slept for so many hours. Knowing this, you feel either rested or tired. And you say that time does not rule your lives?

How about the many expressions you use so unconsciously that tell you just how important you think time is: "Time waits for no man." I don't have the time." "There isn't enough time in the day." "Time is running out for me," and many more. You are so focused on time you have little else to think about at times.

And what is that you fear from time? Herein is the response even you can't think of. Why are you so afraid of time? Is it because you might be late for something or early for another? Time is the biggest cause of your depression – the biggest. Worrying about whether there is a God or not is nothing compared to worrying about time.

Is there a solution to this fear? You have been told how important time is, how much you need to be at the right place at the right time, etc. But did you ever look at your being wherever you are right now, as being the right place at the right time? Is time a product of the present or a product of the past and future? Positively a product of the past and future. Time is not present in the present period. So it is obvious that if you want to be free of time, be present more often. You might say it takes a lot of work to be present, but actually it takes no more than a thought to be there.

And more...

Fear of appearing foolish! Another old shirt hanging in the closet of ego's drab dressings; get rid of it! You know within that what you are doing is your purpose. And your purpose will be shown to others when necessary. If you have the confidence in what you are doing, that is what will be seen by others. If you are out for a walk with the ego, you will look foolish to others also. How you look, how you appear to others, is your choice. It is also how you look to yourself. Choose your partner for your path and walk it together.

"When you fully realize, not just intellectually, that everything is just your creation, you will be free." - Dzongsar Jamyang Kyentse

Chapter 6

The Undoing of Fear

How does one undo an illusion? How does one go about seeing differently? How does one go on as the Light of the World? How does one demonstrate Love instead of trying to teach Love?

The answer to all the above is the same: Choose Again. Change a thought – think again. It is so simple and yet there are so many defenses from the ego on the undoing of fear. Without fear, ego is nothing – as it is in Truth. Without fear, ego knows what its circumstances will be.

Imagine just for a moment living your life with the absence of fear! Can you imagine it or it too far out there for you to stretch that imagination of yours? Remember that your imagination is simply thought. Can you hold a thought of no fear for just one moment? Can you hold that thought longer? What is preventing you from doing this? Just a history that you believe you are – a history that you believe – a belief that you are this body. How could you not be a body when you believe you can see the body you think you are?

Yes, there is indeed a ton of surrendering to do – a ton of letting go of old beliefs – and just one belief that you are as God created you – that you and God are indeed One – that no separation exists in your world. That's all. Can you do it? Can you NOT do it?

This is part of the same battle with yourself – the same old war that has been being waged since before birth. But now you know the Truth of you – who you are and what you are capable of being. You know that your only function is to be a Light in the illusion we call life – a Light that shines so others can find their own way and become their own Light.

You will be victorious over the ego – you will become a friend to ego and it will respect you and the choices you make. As long as you are in this illusion as a body, you will be with ego. Fortunately, you are never alone. You are One with One.

The choice in all this is yours alone to make. No one and no thing will make that decision for you. Either you want the happiness that is yours for eternity, or you want to stay seeing the illusion of life as fear. So how do you choose?

"Do not be disturbed by the clamor of the world, which passes like a shadow. Do not let the false delights of a deceptive world deceive you." St. Clare of Assisi

Chapter 7

Beliefs

What are your beliefs? The Course is about having you look at your beliefs and changing them. Have you done some already? Do you still believe you are this body – this name – this profile – this diploma – this gender – this occupation? Is it really difficult to give up an illusion – all illusions? Is it not simply changing a belief?

While down in Costa Rica in 2011, I observed a program directed by Diederik Wolsak. The program is to assist individuals who believe they are addicts – believe they are depressed – unworthy – unloved and unlovable – and a whole litany more – actually covering each and every fear one could think of. I observed some individuals actually releasing old beliefs for a belief that is new to their thinking. I observed some individuals very reluctantly giving up medication that was a part of their life longer than they could remember; but they gave it up. They changed their belief in its 'magic'. I observed some individuals that were not yet at a point on their path where they felt ready and able to give up what they thought more important than peace. But they were exposed to the program – they know the answer is available to them. It will happen when it is to happen – when they are finally able to let go of one illusion that has been given greater meaning than peace of mind.

Now what about your beliefs? We all have them. Many of you know that I affirm I am God. This God I believe I am is not the God I believed in as a child – or an adult for that matter. It is a name others recognize. The God I believe is Love – the Energy that flows through the presence I am in. This was not an easy change – it happened quite suddenly and I am grateful for the Course to bring me to this place. How did the Course show me to this place? It is complicated and yet simple – complicated from ego and simple from Truth.

I have read and re-read and re-read the Course for more than 15 years – time being an illusion, so it doesn't matter. I have taken the Course literally apart over those years – paragraph by paragraph of the text. I have posted some of those, if not all of them, over the years on a board on the internet. (ARequiredCourse@Yahoogroups.com)

I have taken the Lessons of the Course and changed them to 'first person' so that they become affirmations. Yes, I have dropped words, terms, and various other parts of the Course because they became 'meaningless' to me. If I were to believe that 'God' is my Father and I am His Son – then I would be declaring a state of separation. If I were to call upon and listen to the Holy Spirit (which I have done a lot over the years) I would be again separating myself from the Truth of who I am.

The word 'God' is most probably the most difficult term to define – actually very impossible; as is Love, Truth, One, Peace, Freedom, and many others.

And what about beliefs? What are they? What are your beliefs? Simply pause for a moment and think about your beliefs – what is it you believe and then go back to the core of your belief – when did you first take it as your belief – how did it come about? Many of our beliefs are taken from parents, teachers, preachers, and friends, even those we consider enemies. But are those your beliefs or something you attached yourself to?

What is the difference between a teacher and a 'preacher'? One preaches and the other teaches, but there is more than that. Preaching is telling you what you should be and shouldn't be – by who's authority I have no idea. A teacher however teaches by demonstrating what is to be taught. No preaching – no should's or shouldn'ts – just watch the teacher in any moment of the day. Do they appear well, do they appear happy, do they appear at peace, and are they wearing a smile on their face? Do they accept others where they are and as they are? If they share their beliefs, do they also tell you that they are their beliefs, not yours?

Do you believe you are love – are lovable – are worthy of love? Do you believe in love? What is your belief about love? How do you define love and where did you get your definition?

Do you believe in God – and why do you? Is this really your belief or one you pick up along the path or one that was given you, and you never questioned it before?

By now you must be getting the drift that your belief – my belief – anyone's belief – is simply a thought that is held in the mind – one that ego proudly proclaims (most of the time) as mine.

How many times has someone been told you that they were abused without you being aware of it? And does a 'poor' person realize they are poor until someone tells them? We, as society, go around in this illusion classifying the bodies – good, bad, rich, poor, healthy, sickly, etc – what do you suppose happens to a person who is told they are sick or poor or bad? They usually buy it as a belief and look to someone else to make them different. There is no one who has that power over another – no one – even if you believe you can give them that power – it is not yours to give away, but it is yours to use.

"No matter what people say about you, know who you are. Their blame can't injure you, nor can their praise elevate you. You are what you are; nothing anyone can say can change that." Daniel Levin

Chapter 8

What if...

What if who you are is not who you really are? What if what you are is not really what you are? What if where you are is not really where you are? Then who, what and where are you?

What if you discovered that this world you believe you live in is nothing more than a projection of your thoughts – like being shown on a big movie screen before you? And if they are indeed your thoughts, you realize that you then can have a world you want exactly as you want it. You alone have the power to create what you are experiencing.

What if you suddenly knew that who you thought you were, you were not? That this body, this gender, this nationality, this title or label you wear, is not who and what you are?

What if everything you believed about you and your world were just lies? What if everything you believed in was false, not real?

How would you feel? What would you experience at that moment? Where would you turn to find the truth?

The questions raised above are asking you the same question – if I am not who I think I am, not where I think I am, then who am I and where am I? What is the truth I seek?

And indeed, it is just that which we all seek – the Truth.

In your world you believe you live in, you have given meaning to words, defined what they represent to you, in a desperate grasp to understand who you are and where you are and what you are doing here. But think about the fact that you have given symbols meaning for you – meanings that have no other value than what you give them.

So what is the Truth you seek? This is not definable! This is not describable! This is simply known within you at a deep level that is also not describable for you. You cannot describe your Truth, you cannot locate a place where your Truth is, and you cannot see your Truth out there, but yet you KNOW it exists for you. One does not have to believe in a Higher Power or God to experience this. It has nothing to do with a belief you hold, but has everything to do with who you really are. God.

We live in a world of duality – for everything there is an opposite. Good/bad, light/dark, love/fear, God/evil or Devil, etc. Being in this duality we discover that God was created by us in our 'image and likeness,' not the other way around.

That being so, we also discover that the world we see is the world we choose to see – we have the power to change what we see. We need not 'pray' to another 'source' for a change; there is no other source in our world. We created this world.

We have been taught well to pray to 'God' – to the 'Holy Spirit' – to many other deities – and our prayers would be answered, if it were in our best interests. But all that does is have us deny what we know deep within us – we have the power to change that we are praying for.

How is this accomplished? By our letting go of all that we have come so far to believe – that God created this Universe – that God created us – that everything is up to God – that it is God's will for us that everything happens as it does. And where does this leave us? It leaves us believing that we have no control over our lives – that we cannot change how we are now – that we cannot live a different life. We can if only we allow ourselves to be known by ourselves.

Death is seen as the end of a life, and we are taught to mourn the death of someone, to go into a period of mourning, to feel sad about another's life ending. But death is known from the moment of birth. It completes the cycle of life that we have created. It is an ending to a beginning we believe in. In truth, we are without a beginning and an ending.

"Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should be. Become one yourself! - Marcus Aurelius

Chapter 9

Stillness and Silence

Those two words – stillness and silence – are found throughout the Course. Do they mean the same in Buddhism? You decide:

According to Buddhism, real silence is our true nature. To say, 'I am silent' is quite ridiculous. Look at the expression: it is not that you are silent, you are actually silence. The difference between bondage and freedom, heaven and hell.

We are encouraged to stop thinking of silence as a lack of noise – mental noise, emotional noise, or the external noise around us. When you notice you are being very receptive and allowing, you start to return to your natural state, which is a state of being quiet.

Within this natural state, you will see that every way the mind moves is simply a movement of thought that contains no reality and only becomes 'real' if you believe in it. Our thoughts are just moving through consciousness. Our thoughts have no power. Nothing has any reality until you reach for it, grab it, and give it the power of your belief.

The only way to enter into silence is on its own terms. You can't enter with something, only with nothing. You can't enter being somebody, you can only enter being nobody. Then your entrance will be easy. This nothing is actually the highest price we ever have to pay. It is our most sacred commodity. We will give our ideas, we will give our beliefs, we will give our heart, we will give our body, we will give our mind and our soul. But the last thing we will ever give is nothing. We hold this nothingness as most sacred and, somewhere within us, we know it is. Only the nothing enters the silence – that is the only thing that enters. The rest of us, as Adyshanti says 'just bangs on the nonexistent door.' The moment we want something from the silence, that very moment we are outside of the silence once again.

Adyshanti also tells us that silence reveals itself only to silence. "Only when we enter as nothing and stay as nothing, will silence open its secret. The secret is itself. This is why I say all the words, all the books, all the teachings, and all the teachers can only get you to the door, and perhaps entice you to enter...that is the sacred invitation. Inside you find the silence is the final and ultimate teacher and the final and ultimate teaching. It is the only teacher what won't speak to you. Silence is the only teacher and teaching that keeps our humanness on it knees all the time."

The true spiritual urge or spiritual yearning is always seen as an invitation beyond the mind.

Adyshant also writes: "Lots of things are relatively true, but nothing that arises from the mind is absolutely true. What a relief it is for the mind when it no longer has to struggle, and your whole orientation, spiritually speaking, moves from knowing to being."

Another quote from this author: "The fall guy of spirituality is the ego. Since there is really no one to blame for everything that happens in our lives, we manufacture this idea called ego to take the blame. This causes a great deal of confusion because the ego doesn't really exist. It is simply an idea, a label for a movement to which we have attached our sense of self."

The above quote from Adyshanti could just as well be from the Course. It is difficult to tell a difference.

Silence is the only teaching and the only teacher that is present all the time. Each and every moment that we believe we are awake, each and every moment we believe we are alive, each and every moment we believe we take a breath, silence is right there.

This is a great quote from Ram Dass: "We're fascinated by the words – but where we meet is in the silence behind them." That is what I am trying to state so many times concerning the Course: It is not the words – it is not the meaning we give them – they are not to be taken literally – but it is what is beyond them that is the message for us to hear. We have read in the Course how words are but symbols with their meaning twice removed – words are indeed symbols and cannot express what lies beyond them.

Lama Yesha was once asked: "Could you explain how we find answers from within ourselves?" His reply was: "Let your obsessed sense perception rest for a while and allow your silent mind to surface. Then ask your question. You will find that the answer to your question will appear spontaneously from within the peaceful stillness of your silent mind."

A follow up question to Lama Yeshe: "Are you saying that we have to enlightened ourselves?" His reply: "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."

Buddha is quoted as saying that "a million Buddha's were before him, and a million Buddha's after him." Simply stated that Buddha was not unique and not to be placed on a pedestal or even thought of as a God. Going even further with this thought would be that each one can be a Buddha as well.

Now we know within us, and we have been told and have read, that Jesus was simply a human as we believe we are. His awareness of his consciousness, the Christ Consciousness, is what had him appearing apart from others. But once again, we know that Jesus was not unique in any way from us, that what he taught, we can also teach as well. And what he taught – and what we can teach – came from the Source within us.

We, also, have the Christ Consciousness within us. We, also, are a teacher to others. We, also, are Buddha's or Christ's if we are willing to give up the barriers before us to obtain that state.

None of us – not one of us – is anymore unique than any other we believe we see. It is not even a matter of being equal, for that denotes a balance between different things. Each of us is the image and likeness of God. How many images and likenesses does God have? And does God have an image? And would we recognize the image is we saw it, and yet do we not see that image before us constantly?

"Real silence is your true nature. To say 'I am silent' is actually quite ridiculous. When you look at it, it's not that you are silent, it's that you are silence...the difference between bondage and freedom, heaven and hell." - Adyashanti

Chapter 10

Meditation and Stillness

When Buddha taught meditation, he often used examples from everyday life to help his disciples understand the kind of balanced attention he was suggesting – recommending.

It is interesting to note that Jesus also used 'parables' in his teaching methods. Two great teachers, one great method.

To my knowledge, Lesson 124 of the Workbook is the first time 'meditation' is used, and with this lesson, one-half hour is recommended.

The only other time the word is used is in Chapter 18, Section VII:

"You may be attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. It is extremely difficult to reach Atonement by fighting against sin. Enormous effort is expended in the attempt to make holy what is hated and despised. Nor is a lifetime of contemplation and long periods of meditation aimed at detachment from the body necessary. All such attempts will ultimately succeed because of their purpose."

Buddhist meditation takes our untrained, everyday mind as a natural starting point, and it requires the posture of one attentional posture – of bare attention. This is defined as 'the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us at successive moments of perception' – our bare attention takes this unexamined mind and opens it up, not trying to change anything but simply observing the mind, the emotions, and the body the way they are. It is a fundamental tenet of the psychology of Buddha that this kind of attention is, in itself, healing: that by the constant application of this attentional strategy, all of Buddha's insights can be realized for oneself.

"Meditation is the only intentional, systematic human activity which at bottom is about not trying to improve yourself or get anywhere else, but simply to realize where you already are." Jon Kabat-Zinn

Chapter 11

Channeling

If a 'voice' says it's name is 'Jesus' and it appears to be speaking to me, then is not but one illusion speaking to another? Now if a 'voice' never identifies itself, and I never question what or who it is, is not the chance of this 'voice' being that of God?

If a 'voice' would say that 'this is the way' would I follow it? Most likely, yes. But if that 'voice' first said that it is 'Jesus', would I then follow it as well? Probably not.

So what is my opposition to a 'voice' saying it is 'Jesus' or some other name? Nothing perhaps than the fact that it is identifying with a name, has me suspicious. Are not names labels we place on the illusion of a body, an identity? Even the word 'God' is a label we place on All That Is and yet we cannot grasp that concept.

If everything is as the Course states – meaningless, an illusion, not real – then a 'voice' with an identity is also as the Course states – meaningless, illusion and not real.

When we close our physical eyes, we 'see' nothing. We think we see darkness but then where is the light? If we keep our physical eyes closed, we go beyond the fear of darkness into what? – beyond our sight – beyond our imagination – beyond this illusion perhaps.

When we sit long enough in this manner, even our mind comes to a stop – imagine having no thought. What then? What is beyond thought but an awareness of nothing and yet of everything; where we are nowhere and everywhere. We experience the essence we are in Truth. We enter into our Being. We are not just One with everything, we are everything, and yet nothing. You see, nothing and everything are thoughts, as we are no longer even a thought here.

But we do get pulled back into the illusion. Why? Because there is yet something more for us to learn perhaps? Or is there more for us to let go of; more that we are holding onto unconsciously. And unconsciously only means that we are denying something. Could that something be as simple as the experience of death? Do we believe we have to die before we stop this illusion? Do we believe that we were born and that we will then die? If so, we believe in this illusion. We are still holding onto beliefs unconsciously.

"I am not a body, I am free, for I am as God created me." Look at this and stay with it for a bit. What are you really saying when you affirm this? First, you say you are not a body – okay, if you are not a body, what are 'you'? You might say you are an ego – you might say you are a thought – you might even say you are a human being – you might even say you a spirit or you are Spirit. Now look at each of the options and note that each one is a thought as well. Are you a thought? If so, who is the 'I' that is thinking this?

You say you are free – free from what or free from who or free of? What does it mean to be 'free'? Can you experience 'freedom' without your understanding of what 'freedom' is?

One of the meanings of freedom is that you are not attached to something – that you are not confined somewhere – that you can go from where you are. But are you not confined to this body you call you? So the next question is can you leave this body? Now if this body is an illusion, what could possibly be holding you to it, other than a thought you have? Must you die before you can leave the body? Do you not leave the body each time you close your eyes and meditate? Do you not go beyond the body?

And now for the 'big' statement: "I am a God created me." Who is the 'I' that states this? And what is a 'God'? and again, who is the 'me' we say is created? And what does 'create' mean? If we believe that the word 'God' is trying to describe 'All That Is' and that It creates something – if 'God' is 'All That Is' then must I also 'create' and what could It 'create' that is not already within "All That Is"?

Now this went from 'channeling' to 'create' in a quick pace. But what I am trying to emphasize is that you can question each thought you have – each word you use – and with each question, you will let go of what you had believed for what is being known to you.

"Practice being nothing – no thing. In doing so, you'll become everything." - Daniel Levin

Chapter 12

Jesus

What if this man called Jesus of Nazareth, besides being a 'teacher' to the Jewish people of his time, had a life different from that which the Bible recites? What if this man was indeed considered a 'rebel' – one that we might call today, a 'trouble-maker' – one defiant of authority as it was presented?

What if the elders in the temple – the high priest – and the wealthy among the Jews – feared this man because he was looked up to by the lower class as one who just might turn things around for them?

What if instead of the drama of the 'Passion' prior to the Crucifixion, he was simply brought before the 'court' of the day, had the charges read to him of what he was accused, was judged to be guilty and sentenced to death by hanging on a cross? And what if there was no procession through the streets, no whipping, no crown of thorns – just brought to the place of execution and there on was executed?

If all this were true, would you still dwell on what he supposedly taught – especially as presented in the 'Q' Gospel?

Remember that the first Gospel included in the Bible was written 45-50 years after the death of Jesus. It was written most likely from tales told by followers of the Apostles, just as the Old Testament was written from tales told 'around the fire' as the expression goes.

50 years after the death, who was still around that could have witnessed it? So much emphasis is placed on stories as if they were fact. For example: as the Bible relates it, the night before the Crucifixion, Jesus and his Apostles went to a Garden to pray. The story goes on to tell how no one stayed awake with Jesus. Who was awake then to take notes as to what happened?

Christianity began from the Jewish Religion. Christianity even went so far as to take the Old Testament for their Bible. Later on in history we have been told how the 'Christians' killed the Jewish people; so much for remembering their roots.

It appears that the early followers of Jesus had to present to their followers, some tales of miraculous fetes performed by Jesus, and so the many stories came to be. The man's teachings were apparently not enough to hold the people. What they had to have was some sort of a 'god' in the man Jesus, and so that also became a story told many times. Jesus was reportedly the only son of God. That made him very special and made us much less. How can one person call another person 'brother' and believe they are not the same?

Jesus was an ordinary person who tried to teach people who had once believed in many gods, to believe in only one – the same God for everyone. This would have meant that the High Priests' in the Temples would have the same God as the 'leper' begging in the streets. I don't believe many of them bought that!

Chapter 13

A Teacher

Does a teacher teach or does a teacher learn from what is being spoken and demonstrated? Does a learner learn or does a learner teach a teacher? And the difference between the two is?

For someone to teach implies someone knows more than the student and is therefore different, perhaps even special. Teacher and learner denote separation.

Perhaps teacher is the wrong term – messenger may be more in line. A messenger simply delivers the message – the message is not his, only his to deliver. A teacher of truth is but a messenger delivering a message to be heard or read by the person listening or reading.

The greatest teachers are those that you find it impossible to deal with. The greatest teachers are those that push those buttons that you think you have hidden somewhere. The greatest teachers have the most to teach you and the hardest for you to pay attention to. And when you are aware of God's presence, you can accept the teachings of those teachers without feeling attacked. Attack is always an indication of being in the presence of ego.

People don't just set themselves up as teachers as much as you set them that way. We are all teachers/pupils here. How they are seen is how you perceive them. And you what you take from them is your choice. And with each choice you make, you also are learning. Everyone is a teacher; everyone is a student.

Chapter 14

The Now

So much has been written and spoken of the Now, and yet it seems at times as if all of it just flows over our head. Nothing appears to look appealing to us. Why? Could it be that ego cannot comprehend a moment when the past nor future is not present? When not even a thought is present? When not even the ego is present? So what is this magical moment that we all mouth but few of us are aware of?

The Now – the Present – the Present Moment – is beyond description I believe. How could I possibly describe to you what it is for me to be in the Now, when 'me' isn't there? If someone tells you what it feels like – what it means – to be in the now, they haven't been there.

There are several words that defy description: God, Love, Peace, Happiness, Now, just to name a few. All of these words are about experiences that happen beyond this illusion. They happen in Truth – in Eternity – in the Now.

How long can one be in the Now? Careful how you answer that. If the Now is in Eternity – beyond this illusion, then can it be measured at all, especially in time? Being in the Now is not just meditating; it is however just simply Being.

Why go to the Now? Why not? To go the Now, to be present in the Presence, to be without a thought, to be without the awareness of ego – this is truly a gift to us and the Source of the gift is not important to us. The experience is a reminder of who we are and where we are. In Truth we are always in the Now; in this illusion, we are never in the Now.

"...the concept of linear time upon which this world relies so heavily does not account for the fact that time has no real beginning and no end."

Chapter 15

The New Beginning

Is a 'new beginning' even possible if no ending can ever occurr? Some people have taken this expression literally, and looked for a 'new beginning' but failed to find one. Why? They were expecting something that is not possible – that is literally.

A New Beginning is each and every moment of each and every moment...in other words, it is NOW! Now is the beginning of no ending. Now is the moment that simple IS – and we ARE – just BE.

Anytime we expect anything, we must pause and choose again – expectations are of ego, and no expectation is ever fulfilled to its liking. Just think back on some of the expectations given you by ego in your past you still cling to. Did any one of them give you happiness? Happiness that is your natural state of being? Happiness as offered by ego is a very short term at best. It is there, and then it is gone. Then the expectations are given once more – and again – and again...

"...the universe is, instant by instant, re-created anew. Therefore, there is, in truth, no Past, only a memory of the Past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise..." Terry Pratchett

Chapter 16

Thoughts

I believe, I hold this thought, that I am not this body writing this book. This is not a new revelation by any stretch of my imagination, for it has been written by many people over a very long period of our history of this world. It is found easily in Eastern Philosophy and religious teachings. It is told to us in the many stories of the Bible; the Great Teachers, Jesus and Buddha, just to mention a few, taught in their life as well. A book "A Course in Miracles" is all about this very thought. One of the Lessons in that book states that "I am not a body. I am free, for I am still as God created me."

So just how did God create you? Again the answer is found in several sources; you are created in the image and likeness of God. And what does that mean? Simply that as God is, you are. And since there is no place that God is not, then there is no place that you are not also. God created you by a thought within the Mind of God. Thoughts never leave their source, so that is easy enough to understand that you then are still within the Mind of God.

We talk about "thoughts" and "mind" and even "God" as if they were something tangible, something you can perhaps see or touch or even feel. But these are simply words we use in this world of ours, words that often times confuse us more by the meaning given them. Remember the words we use in our world are only in our world.

Let's examine those words to see how they might confuse us. Start with the word "God." That word has several different meanings to many different people, even those who claim they don't believe in God. The very fact that they can express their negative view indicates they also have a positive view – they do believe in God. God is represented in almost all writings in a masculine gender. And there are those that argue that God is feminine for sure. There is no label that can be placed on God. It is stated above that God is everywhere, and yet have you seen God? Have you ever really "felt" God? How would you know?

The simple phrase: "God Is" states what God is – God simply is! God is of no gender. God is of no nationality. The closest you can come with our language of words to describe God in a-some-what meaningful way, is to say that God is Love, but not the love you talk about, sing about or write about or even dream about. The Love God is, is what God Is! And recall that as God is, so are you! Therefore you are that same Love. Also recall that you are but a thought of God and therefore you are as God is. So you can't really "see" God.

How about feeling God? You can feel physically with a body that does not exist, and you can feel by thoughts you hold in your mind. Any feelings you have are thoughts you have that you are projecting. The best you can say with the words you know is that you "experience" God. And how do you do that? You simply and quite naturally become aware of a presence that is so familiar to you; an awareness of something beyond your body, your mind. In experiencing God, you begin to remember your truth – who and what you are. You begin to become aware that this world you believe you see is not real. You become aware that the body you believe in is not real. They are but projections of thoughts you are holding.

So as you become aware of your truth and as you begin to experience God, you begin to drop your old beliefs about God and yourself. As you drop the old beliefs, truth replaces them. Eventually, you may come to where you no longer hold any old beliefs, and hold only the memory of who and what you are. At that point, you will, perhaps, no longer be needed here in this world.

What exactly is your truth? Who and what are you in truth? Again we go back to where you are but a thought within the Mind of God. Does God really have a Mind and does that really matter? No to both! Mind is a word you use in your world. It describes to you a gathering of your thoughts. Many people confuse the mind with the brain, but there is no similarity whatsoever in the two. If you accept that God Is, and that you are held within the Mind of God (at least for now as an aid in helping to understand) then only One Mind exists, that being God. And that is because only God exists. So the "mind" talked about is the Mind of God as well.

This may be becoming somewhat confusing and some clarification is needed before you go further.

You have been told before that you are in this world, but not of this world. What does that mean to you? This world certainly appears very real to you; your body appears very real to you, your debts and your possessions all appear real to you. So how can we say that this world is not real. Everything you see in your world holds only the value given it! It holds only the meaning you have given it! It holds nothing more than that!

How many times in your life have you wanted something because it would make you happy and then when you got it, you discovered that something else was wanted that you were sure would give you more happiness, only to discover upon obtaining that, that something else was out there which offered you yet more happiness? We have all been there. The point is that nothing in your world offers you the happiness and peace you seek. You continue your quest by looking at your world when what you seek you already and forever have.

This world you believe in can be seen as a "dream" you are having, a dream in which you once thought that you could do it better than God perhaps. And in the instant of thought, here you are, wondering how you got here and more importantly, how do you get out of here. In your dream, you see yourself as a body, a body which is individually different from another, and that keeps you in a separation mode in your world. Yes, you group yourselves together by religions or nationalities or even political parties, but within them, you are still seeing yourself as being separate.

Just one of the many problems you have in your dream is the fact that you have "free will" – a gift of God to you. It is precisely this free will that got you here to begin with. But the free will is also your "ticket out of here." With your free will, you have the power to change your mind – to change the thoughts you hold there. Do you actually change a thought? No, you change how you view that thought. Remember you project those thoughts into the world you believe you see.

The concept of this world being a dream is not new. Many, many authors have written about it as well. Most of them will comment that within the Bible, it is said that Adam falls into a deep sleep, and yet nowhere is there a comment of his waking up.

When you began this dream, you created ego. Ego is the belief you have that you are separated from God; that God has forgotten and forsaken you; and that you shall eventually die. And ego does all this teaching by offering you fear in as many forms as it can conjure up. It is said that only two things are in your world – Love and fear. Love being your reality, your truth, and fear being a product of your ego, your imagination. Love is real, fear is an illusion, Fear is not the opposite of Love, for Love has no opposite. Is there an opposite to God?

Recall that you read that you are capable of changing a thought. A thought will forever be a thought, but how you view that thought makes all the difference. And this is where forgiveness starts.

And so it is also with you. You, being a thought of God, never change. You will forever be as you were and have been for all eternity. As God is, you are.

"Thoughts are energy, they can kill or heal." \- Bernie Siegel

Chapter 17

God

Unconditional love is the only true love; it is what you are comprised of; where you come from and where you return to. It is the true, deep, penetrating love that flows everywhere and why not? It is God, God is love, God is unconditional love, you are unconditional love. Your love, God's love has no conditions to it, it is just as you are. The word "love" is used in this world, but it is not the meaning of your real world. You have to let go of the meaning you gave to love and reclaim the meaning you know within you, that which you truly are. That is what you extend to another; that is what you receive from another. That is what is seen in you and that which you see in others. Love without conditions. There is no word in this world's vocabulary for it, but perhaps God!

What does it mean to go within your heart? Does it mean the heart that pumps the blood through your body or is this the center of your being, if such a place exists? You are a thought of God, a part of God, a piece of God. You are God. Is there a center of God? Is there a center to formlessness. Is there a center to the Universe? "Center" and "heart" are used because they are words which depict what it is that is trying to be conveyed but in all actuality does not and could not exist. God is. There is no "center," no "heart" to that which is. It just is.

"God is the circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere." – Empedocles

The Voice of God is You! You already know all that is! Only the ego (you) is preventing you from using what you already know through the use of fears. So look at any and all fears, see through them and start living that which you really are.

God is as close to you as is a thought! How do we know His voice? Easy, because God never condemns or creates fear, only peace.

The more you believe in who you really are, the more of who you really are will be known to you.

God doesn't make mistakes and neither do you, for you are as God is. So what are the mistakes that you think you have made? Nothing more than a choice you made that afterwards, you didn't want and you wish to choose again. In the movie industry, when a mistake is made, what do they call the next step? Take One, Take Two, and so on. And is this not your movie, your dream?

When you let go of ego influences, and follow your inner knowing (your inner knowledge) you will find that you can do anything, that nothing is impossible for you. You are, after all, as God, eternal, everlasting and of love. You can make your life into whatever you want it to be, for you have that power that you believed only God has. You are of God, you are God. Say it, own it and live it. And you can go "home" whenever you so desire. Just be in the moment, let go of the ego and experience heaven. God is not responsible for this dream; you are. God doesn't even recognize this dream. It is your dream and only you can awaken yourself from it.

Know that God is with you in every situation. With this knowledge your thoughts are God's, the guidance is God's, and the power is given by God to remove from your mind, all thoughts that are not of love. See with Spirit within, yourself and others. You are One with God, you can do what God does, if God truly does anything except Being – as you are.

In the Course, you learned that you are the effect of God, Who is your cause, and that the cause and effect are blended so well together that it is impossible to distinguish the two. And really, there were never two, for you always have been One.

There is no known definition for Love – the Love that is Truth – the Love that some refer to as God, and yet no definition of God is available either. So we will simply jump into this section and talk about God – that formidable word that some of us fear and some us know as our Truth.

The Course tells us that 'God is an idea' and most people will roll right over these words even if they are printed on the page. But God must be an idea, just as we are an idea. An idea, any idea, is just a thought and what else exists in this dream we are dreaming? Before the dream, was 'God' necessary? What were you before this dream and what are you at the present time? In your dream, you are an idea. Before the dream, as now, you are as you have forever been and will forever be. A dream changes nothing from Truth.

So getting back to the word 'God'... It is my belief that 'God' was made by us to be the opposite of ego, and yet we know deep within us that there is no opposite to God. This makes a little sense since this dream contains duality; everything in this dream has an opposite. But yet remember, we are the 'creators' of the dream and we therefore make up the words and give them meaning in this duality.

So what is it that we experience at times that is beyond all words, beyond all other experiences, and that cannot be described, defined, nor transmitted to others? It is the presence of Love, which we also call 'God'. It is the presence of Truth, our Truth, the very essence of who we are, what we are and where we are. And let us become clear on these issues: who we are is Love; who we are is 'God'. What we are is Love; what we are is 'God'. And where we are is Love; where we are is 'God'. We have often defined 'God' as being present everywhere and nowhere; as being All That Is and yet nothing and everything.

This question comes up often: Is 'God' present in our dream? If 'God' is present everywhere and nowhere, then would 'God' be not in this dream? The 'God' we made up is present in this dream, but our Truth is not within this dream; Truth cannot be in a dream and still be Truth. The dream is an illusion, a falsehood, an imagination of an idea we hold in our mind. Can Truth be present in what is not present?

Then what about the experiences we have at time when we know a Presence and yet cannot describe it, as we spoke a few paragraphs before? What might that be? That might be, and is, our Truth being shown to us. It is a glimpse of what we have temporarily forgotten and set aside as we become very involved in our dream. But our Truth is our link to our reality. We know at a very deep level that we shall once again wake up to discover that we were never anywhere or anything but only what we have forever been.

So once again to focus on Love... Is Love within this dream? Nothing real can be contained within an illusion, but an illusion can be seen within Love. What this means is that the Presence is ever-present and the illusion appears to be as well. But the Presence of Love is just that, ever present presence. It is like the fact that we dream at night as we sleep and yet when we awake, that dream appears over, and we find ourselves back in this ongoing drama called life. Whether we dream awake or asleep, we dream in the Presence of Love. We could even say that Love is like the projection screen on which we watch the drama called life.

The very first thing you learn or read when you open the Course is that "Nothing real can be threatened..." Only what God created is real, all else an illusion. The test is this: what God made is eternal, what isn't eternal you made. Look around and see what God has made. In this dream, you can change your perception on what we see in an instant. Your hopes are thoughts and your thoughts manifest themselves in this dream. That is what you keep forgetting; that you are in charge of what you see. What you are experiencing is what you brought to yourself. Of course, you let go of something along the way, some beliefs and some forgiveness probably. And you may not even be aware of doing that. Whatever you are experiencing, and enjoying, continue and don't ask why. That is when the ego will give you a truck load of "oh, yeah's."

Problems are your projection of blocks to the flow of life, of the ever-flowing, unconditional love of God. Is one problem larger than the next? Only in your mind! Do you need God to solve a problem in a world only you created? It is your ability, your own Oneness within that solves any problem placed before you by the ego. And it is of the ego, it is an illusion, and if it is an illusion, it isn't real and doesn't exist. We have given a lot of energy to something that isn't there.

Close as just a breath away is God. You are always breathing. You always have breath and likewise, God is always with you. God is even with you when you no longer take breaths. God and you are one.

You have never been anywhere but at the part where you accept the responsibility for your life. You have fought it (and never won); you have hidden it (but always knew where it was); you have ignored it (but it was always there); you have run away from it (only to find it stayed with you); you have tried not to see it (but it never has disappeared); so what is left? Face it and see it for what it is. You want to continue to blame others for what you have experienced? It is your life, you know. Accept it, honor it, see it and affirm that you are totally responsible for it.

There is nothing outside of you that will ever give you what you seek, for what you seek, you already have within. Go there more often and your needs will be met.

Once you are quiet you will "hear" God, but first you must get quiet; you must be silent; and you must be within the spot of nothingness, of emptiness.

To know that you are not this body; that you are free, is as free as free can be. You are a formless, eternal thought of God. You are a part of the whole of God. You are experiencing your life in your dream and you know from within the core of your being; who you really are and what your purpose is. The salvation of your world depends on you, forgiveness is your function. Look upon the world you created and see it with love, see it with the eyes of God, and thus do you redeem your world. That is why you are here in this dream at this time. You know that the ego is not real, it is but an illusion, and everything of the ego is an illusion. You know this. And the beauty of this is that all of us know the same thing and are here for the same purpose. Are you ready? Would you rather walk an illusion or would you rather walk the way of God, the original way, the only way?

Affirm: "I am that I am."

All you can "produce" with your soul is love, and that is all there is! Is the body a "tool: for the soul or is the body merely a product of the ego, and therefore an illusion? Or perhaps, is the soul a tool for the body?

The "grandest vision" you could hold of yourself in this world you made, would be to extend yourself to others; to give love to others; for that is all you are. Love is the truth of who you really are, all else is just a dream.

We are told in the Course that what we are doing, Jesus also did. Jesus was just like you, a human being having a dream. But the difference is that he eventually denied the world he saw and you can do the same. The choice is yours. If you are to truly follow as he did, and feel that you are to do just that, then you will deny what it is you see in this world and focus and know Who and What you really are.

Those around you are a reflection of yourself!

With perfect love, unconditional love, mistakes do not occur.

What your body is doing now is a reflection of what your mind is thinking.

Is a feeling truth? Is fear a feeling? Are feelings based on your past experiences? Sometimes you do not express your feelings, instead you suppress them. This causes dis-ease in the body. Feelings, whether good or bad, should be acknowledged and expressed so as to release them. Within the core of your soul is your highest truth, your only truth.

Truth is always truth and never changes. If you are in the moment, are you just there? If you ask questions then you are attempting to discover what something is, rather than accepting it as it is. Questions bring us to the past immediately. Only the ego asks questions, and is never satisfied with any response.

Can you really do anything with the ego and find lasting happiness? Absolutely not! Remember with God you experience who you really are; with ego you experience what you think you are.

Are you doing a "career" instead of a "calling?" Do you have the trust in God to do your calling instead of your career? How do you know what you are doing, career or calling? If what you are doing creates a love within you, a happiness that brightens your being, a glow that shines from you, not thinking of the material rewards for doing what you are doing, then you are doing your calling. All else is a career.

How are you doing in your spiritual weight training class? Are you going deeper into yourself? Are you being with God more than your ego? Are you in shape for a spiritual uplift instead of an ego let-down. You know how hard it was in the beginning of your spiritual journey to not only begin it, but to stay with it. Look back on the start and realize how you have improved since then. Now accept more "weight added" to the knowledge presented to you. Being open to taking the next step on the path, which your ego may be telling you is "a mountain you cannot climb." You know from experience that you have climbed mountains before, this one only appears larger, but it doesn't mean it is harder or longer to cross. Perhaps there is a "tunnel" through it. You will never know until you start the ascent. And remember that you are never alone on the path. God is a part of you, that's how close God is.

If you stay with God, focus with God, you will not notice nor feel this body, this illusion today. You are not this body. Repeat this over and over to yourself. You are as God created you and you will never change nor be subject to change. You will speak the words of God today in stating who you really are. "I am as God created me. I am not this body."

The Course tells you many times that you always have a choice. First you have to let go of the past which sets the stage for a different choice. Here is a secret from the Course: Forgive first, then choose again. Without forgiveness you do not move into your own thinking. You will literally stay stuck in your thoughts. Think of how you are "hurting," acknowledge the wound, but let it heal and go away, instead of wearing it proudly and showing it to everyone. Acknowledge and forgive are the instructions. And when you "think" that God is punishing you somehow, look upon that incidence as something that needs to be corrected. Always look again at anything until you can see it in the eyes of Love. You have been told how to see in Love.

God is the way you walk in gratitude. God is the way you walk your talk. God is the way you show others by your actions. God is the way you offer to others. God is the way you go yourself. God is the way you know yourself; that you know who you really are. God is the way. God is.

You are a reflection of your brother. Remember that and what you see in him is what you see in yourself. Know and see the God in you and then look upon another and see the God in them. Have a "Namaste" experience! And thinking only love whenever you see another is a wonderful mantra to keep repeating all through a day. Imagine how many times in one day you will say and see love. Imagine the effect on your mind after you have done this for a day! Every time you look upon another, love will enter your mind.

It is the words you use with the mind that make problems. If you choose anything, you have decided between at least two different ideas. However, to be at peace is to quiet the mind, to suspend thought and be with God. And here is another thought for you, what is the mind? Is it of the soul? Do you not remember who you are with it? Or does that knowing just come back to you, and if so, how do you know you know? Do you think about it? The mind does control the body, no question.

Can you act before you think?

A definition of the ego:"...something that has become very important to you has been revealed to you to be something other than it was represented to be...at least the outside packaging...rather than a misinterpretation on your part, you have been working for some time now with misinformation..."

If you can't help yourself, who can? Yes, you can go to God, but ultimately it is just and only you who can change your thoughts. Who you really are is of God. Who you believe you are with ego, is this body. Now which would you rather be? Not even a choice, really. You are and always will be of God, a thought of God, a part and yet the whole of God. You can never be this body, for it is a making of the ego, an illusion made by an illusion, and as it is with all illusions, it isn't real. Who you really are, One with God, is eternal, never changing, and always will be. What a beautiful, blissful feeling to know that.

You reject ego and all of its illusions, including you that was made by it. You accept, you remember, you know within the depths of your soul, who and what you really are and experience the life with that thought in your mind.

If nothing offends you in the eternal world, the world of who you really are, why don't you go there more often? Why don't you choose that world over this dream? Why not be where you are never offended? Why? Perhaps, because you have that split mind and a part of it is ego whose goal it is to keep you in the separated state of fear, to keep you from believing you are of God. But you know within your being, within your soul, you are just that! And because of that belief, you can go to the eternal world of no offense whenever you choose. It is that easy and that close, just a choice away. You can choose to spend this moment, this time, and this day with God. With God, you will not be offended by anything or anyone. You can do it! You are doing it! You are experiencing who you really are!

You made "forgetting" yourself. It is part of what ego has given you so that you continue allegiance to it, your separateness. When you totally remember, ego is forgotten! You cannot create what already is and has been and will eternally be. It is not so much that you have forgotten Who you are as much as you have focused on who you think you are, and that is but an illusion.

Does the past really matter? When you are choosing not to repeat certain behaviors, you are doing so in the present, not the past. What does "letting go of" mean? What is meant by "releasing the past?" And if you release the past are you still holding on to it, carrying it around with you? Can you do both? And even the simple word "ever" is a trick for some people. You know that you choose constantly as to what you will experience. By saying that you will never, ever do something again, you are setting yourself up for a party with ego.

When you talk about the ego, you talk about the "I" you think you are. The "I" that makes the world you see, the people you look upon. That "I" is constant competition with the "I AM" that is your true self, that which you have always been and will be, that which the ego has you believing you are not by having you "forget" what it was like to be without it (the ego). The ego is here in this dream, with you until the dream is over. You just continue, it "dies." You are eternal, ego is but an illusion. If you can continue your awareness of the "reality" of the ego, you will give less and less energy to it, and more to awakening to your true self.

It is not so much "resting on their laurels" as it is "living in the past" which prevents people from being in the present.

You pray that your mind be one with God's. You pray that your mind know the peace of God, the love of God; that this be felt within the core of your soul. You know your soul rejoices with this thought for this thought alone brings you close to being One with God. And you have only but to be silent and listen, knowing you will hear, knowing the answer will come. And as you wait, you wait not alone, but with God, for you are already One. Your mind and God's are One, no longer split but totally healed. And as He speaks, you know that He is speaking from within your soul, His dwelling place, His thought.

You already have everything that is, but you are not aware of that at all times. In order to give anything, take love for an example, you must be aware of it within yourself before you can extend it to others. If you are not aware of love, you cannot extend it. You cannot give what you don't think you have. And in order to manifest anything, it begins with a thought.

And you are so much more than your body, this ego illusion. The body is a communication tool and must be told everything to do by the mind. Without the direction of the mind, the body does nothing. And of course, being a split mind, the ego does direct the body from time to time. Even the actions we believe to involuntary are actually actions we have given thought to at one time, believing our body does certain things, such as breathing, etc. And the soul, that which we are, is but a thought of God. So everything does begin with a thought. Without a thought, there is nothing.

You thought you could live apart from God, separate by yourself, not attached to anything and totally contained within this body. How wrong is all that thinking? You know within your soul that you are of God, in the image and likeness of God, that God exists within you and you are One with God. Your thoughts are thoughts with God, when you are in the presence of Spirit. Your thoughts are separate when you choose the ego. The ego does not exist, God is eternal. You are eternal as God. There is never a time you are not without God, even thinking with the ego, you are still will God.

As you look upon others, you do see the face of God looking back. You do not see them or yourself as having sin, or being unworthy. You see them for what they truly are, extensions of God and together you join your minds and return to your Source. Your name is also God and you come back to One with Him, with no separation existing, no memory of a world that does not exist; just the experience of being as God.

You already know all that is, you have but to acknowledge that you do. It is not something you lost that you must remember, but something you don't believe you have that you do.

When you give your "problems" to God, truly give them, release them, part with them, let them go, you have no attachments whatsoever to them. Just stand back and let the power of God work through you. Without you blocking the way, the process is over quickly and smoothly. Allow it to happen once and you will never again doubt. When you give something, anything, to God to handle, you know that the results will only be in your highest good and according to the will of God. You know that deep within you, trust your knowledge and go with it. Give it to God and get on with your path, and let miracles happen.

You are One with God. You are One with all others. That is a reason you often feel that togetherness when you are together, whether in person or on the net. You are all the thought of God, together, the same thought. Know this as it is already a knowing within you. Know this as you read this. Know this as you meet the next person. You are One, you and I and God, we are One.

Because your will is God's, you have always been free. You thought it best once to make your own will and the thought that occurred was one of separation. You are still free for that is how you have always been. You made a choice and did not like the results, so you chose again. And in this choice, now, in this holy instant, are you forever in God's keeping as you have always been. Your will is God's will for you are One. And with this knowledge once more before you, you can experience heaven which always was and is here. It was you that chose not to see it. You are without sin for that is how God created you. You are in the presence of God as you have always been. You are as God created you. You are home again. You never left.

"Love can only exist between equals." A short statement and yet do you really grasp the meaning. The love extended by God to us is extended in just the same way. He sees us as equal, can we also see him as equal? And what of the love of God? Are we also equal to God? Yes, on all accounts!. And how about the statement "You will accept the love that is there and see lack of love for what it is, a cry for help from one who is hurting." You will accept this Love! And respond to those cries for healing and help, with love.

What is really meant by "I am not a body." The Course constantly tells you that it is the mind that must be changed, that the mind is in control of your thoughts, the responses of your "body." Change the mind and you change your world. Change your mind and the split mind is gone, and you are once again One with God. You are once again that which you really are. You are as you have always been.

You are as God created you, as God thought of you. You have not left the mind of God. You only thought you had. You have never been apart from God. You only thought you were. What you are, God is. And your thoughts apart from God are but dreams from which you now awaken. You are that "I am" because of Who created you. And for that, you thank God.

Making "to do lists" is only itemizing the ego, numbering the ego highlights of the day it makes you think are important to you. When you open to the flow, miracles happen and joy and peace are experienced. And things that are to be accomplished are somehow accomplished. Stepping back and watching your ego in action is really quite a show. By detaching yourself, you are able to see just how ridiculous the ego appears. It will show you how it attempts to have you forget about God. And all the time you witness ego, know that what you are seeing is but an illusion. And seeing through illusions, you see Love shining back at you, slowly replacing what you think you see with what is real, Love.

"All we have to do is give away what we want. It will come back to us." A hard concept to grasp by many, for you have been indoctrinated to believe that if you give something away, you no longer have it. Perhaps this is true in the material world, but in the real world of which you belong, there isn't any material item to possess and hang on to. There is only that which you are, Love. You can only give what you are for that is really what you have. By acknowledging that you are love, you are able to extend love to others.

What happens if you do not believe you are love? What do you extend then? What feelings are experiencing then? That is what you will extend to others. Feeling fear? You can extend that to others. Feeling anger? You can extend that also. An important part of the giving concept is this: what you extend to others, comes back to you. This should be an indication to you of what you are sending out. Certainly you may say that you are extending love, but you are not getting it back from the other person. Look again at what you are sending. Is it really love, the love of God, the love of which you are, or is the "love" with some strings attached like "I am sending you love, but I wish you would..." Love has no conditions, remember that! No conditions! If you have conditions you do not have love.

If you are not questioning your unhappiness, you are deepening your experience of it. What will it cost you to question your unhappiness? Perhaps the end to it!? No one can force another to awake, nor can one awaken another. You must and can only do it yourself. Again you are told of your total responsibility for your experience. Take the love extended to you today and extend it to another. End your unhappiness by your own desire to do so. Feeling inadequate to this alone, ask for help, but understand it is ultimately you who decided what it is you want to experience. You will simply become aware of what you truly are. When you end your unhappiness, you will experience this, for this is the Love of God. You are the Love of God.

From the bible comes this verse: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God." When you are with God, your word is God's word. Your word is your prayer. Your word is your life. Your life reflects your word. From an old prayer "say but the Word and I will be healed."

Love cannot learn through the ego, for the ego is an illusion and what could be learned in an illusion. Love is Love. It was not to be learned by the ego, it is what is fought and feared by the ego. It is ultimately the end of the ego. If the ego would believe in Love, it would be finished. It is only the split mind, the ego part that is dreaming. The part in the presence of God knows who it really is, but until the mind is healed, made whole, the dream will continue. The reason for the dream is because you thought (and still do) that you are better than God and now you are afraid to face God for those thoughts. But you are trying to correct that illusion.

Forget the "we" for there is only one. You must do what must be done, for God does not even recognize this dream. The illusion will end when you choose to end it, when you have seen it for what it really is, when you have totally refused to believe in the ego. The more you "fight" the ego, the more power you give it. Recognize it for what it is, and stay with God. There are no mistakes, only choices of the ego. What you see are the choices you make, and you have but to choose again, if a choice is not to your liking. And you continue to make choices until you see only love.

The phrase "We need to let God do it" sounds like a "cop-out". With God anything and everything is possible, but it is you alone that must make that request to have God lead you or have ego lead you. And it is your belief in the ego that keeps it "alive;" what else could possibly keep an illusion going, but a belief in it.

Whatever is presented to you is not necessarily what you believe in at that moment. You choose to believe certain information and disregard other. You may come back to the disregarded information at a later date and believe in it then. Your opinion is as valuable as another's. Some information that comes from within us will never be referenced in any material that can be researched and studied later.

Titles are from the ego. We are all "interpreters" of God, for we all have experience with God, whether we choose to admit them or not. No one, repeat, no one, can tell you how to live unless you allow it, unless you want them to be able to run your life. You have the free will given by God. You can choose over and over and over again until you see and feel what it is you are searching for. You "see and hear" others because they are your teachers, all of them. And nowhere does it say we have to enjoy or love our teachers, at least not in the early learning stages. Your mind is split between God and ego. Who you choose to be led by will result in the life you experience.

Who is to say what is a "good" source or a "bad" source of reference. That would differ with each of us. Someone's knowledge (whatever that is) is their opinion (whatever that is) and it is their own. They are sharing it with you out of love, and you can choose to accept it with love also. Of course, you can choose to see those remarks in a different way as well.

"Be still and know." These four words are instant meditation. Anytime during the day you can say these words and go within and get guidance required. You just have to quiet yourself (ego) and listen and know that what is to happen is a response from God. Be still and know. Know that within you is God.

You can release your ego whenever you choose, whenever you are through experiencing hell. All you have to do is tell God, not even ask, just tell God that you are ready to let go. It is that clear to you. You choose now! You are letting go of the ego. You release it to the ethers. You see through it for what it was. You see that it really held nothing for you and yet held you by your will to it. You are reborn. You are the light that shines your way. It is clear to you who you really are and always was, and it is this you will remain, united with God eternally.

Who you are is not a decision you make, but an acceptance of Who I AM. You are a thought of God, a part and whole of God. Your purpose in coming here is known to your soul and as it is slowly being revealed. Who I AM will never be changed. Who I AM is Self defined, defined by God.

Impatience never produces much more than chaos. Guess who loves impatience? Right, ego! Watch yourself in the impatient moments and observe how ridiculous you look. See yourself then in the patient moments and see the results come so much more quickly and easily. Impatience is yourself getting in the way of yourself.

Numerous beautiful thoughts are contained in the Course. You shall walk together with God from darkness to light, through any fear that presents itself. You can rest knowing you are with Him always. You are never alone. Loneliness is a "gift" from the ego that you no longer accept. You know who you are and you know where it is you will return. It has always been and so have you.

Not only can you not give your thoughts away, no one can take them from you. Your thoughts are your own creations. They represent who you appear to be and who people see when they look at you. Your thoughts shape you and your personality. Like yourself and it will show to the world. Dislike yourself and it too will be shown. You are a reflection of your thoughts in this world. The power that you have is awesome!

How you are is how you are seen by others. How you feel about yourself is how you feel toward others. Free your life of conflict, guilt and judgment and you also can heal. You have been told this many, many times. The message is very clear and demands little of us. Let go of ego beliefs and believe in the love which you are, have been and always will be. Be that love and you can do anything.

You have no guilt nor can have any guilt because you can do nothing that is not acceptable to God. You have not and could not be something not acceptable to God. You have not and could not think of something which is not acceptable to God. God loves you just as you are and forever will be.

As you think, you are. Remove the doubt, and be who you are. Your physical perspective is based on your mental perspective. So how is your perspective of yourself? Are you loving to you? Do you take care of you? Are you at peace with you? You can change how you see you. You alone have the power to do just that. And how you see you, is how others also see you.

Before you can heal, you must be healed; before you can love, you must be love. Everything begins with you and then extends out to those you see. And to those you see, you extend love and healing. You will see God in them all.

Look closely and you will see the light within, perhaps dim now, but know that it grows brighter as you grow spiritually. You can see through the eyes of God. Just ask! You are God, you are the Light of the World. There is nothing you cannot do!

Focus all your energy on that which you are, of God, made in love and living in love. Giving energy to any other thought is to give power to that thought and that is only a ploy of the ego to divert you from that which you truly are.

Knowing is given you at the time of your conception, it is a part of who you really are. You will know from within you, what is the truth for you or when the truth presents itself to you. Understanding is never going to happen. Settle for knowing, acceptance of that which is, that which you are.

What you have within you can surface, it can come out if only you allow it. That which is in you is of God; let God come forth from your being. Only the characteristics of God will show, for all else is but a façade. Be who you really are.

Each present moment, each moment, just is, with no beginning nor ending. It is as God is, as you are. It is without past and without future. Many fear seeing because they must let go of the past, the ego and just be with God. What a beautiful thought, and yet one that so many are so fearful of experiencing.

Remembering you are God also brings to your mind, the memory of how the world you left truly is. A world of love, a world without guilt, shame, blame, hatred, anger, jealousy and "sin", all "gifts" of the ego to persuade you to want its world instead of yours. Nothing has truly happen that is disturbing to you, for where love exists, that is all there is. As you continue in this world today, you will notice where love is not, and know that you can see that "episode" differently. You can see everything in love, if you so choose. This power has been in you, and you are responsible for its use.

It is so peaceful to know that you will never lose the memory of who you really are. Although the memory may appear distant at times, unreachable at others, and even beyond hope, you know within the core of you, that who you are, will never change, will always be. Thank God for these loving thoughts today.

Take a day from ego and spend it as God! What a thought! And how difficult it sounds. To just listen to the inner voice, separating them between God and ego, and only doing what God is telling you. Are you willing to give it a try?

Shout it to the world! You are God, created perfect in all ways, created in love, eternal and capable of doing anything and everything; the only thing preventing you from realizing your goal is the illusion about yourself made by the ego. And as it is an illusion, it is nothing; it will disappear as soon as you look at it for what it really is. How can anything which is nothing be a block to you for succeeding in any attempt in anything. You are God. Start living like that right now!

Isn't it strange how heavy illusions become? If you focus on what you really are, then illusions cannot attack you. Illusions are of this world of dreams, but you are not. You constantly and quickly forget. Instead of trying to remember this, know within the depth of your soul that this is so. This is who you really are and all else is but a dream, an illusion. You can take the hand of God and walk through any doorway, just knowing who you really are.

With the Course, you are told that you can't move yourself into bliss, you can't move yourself out of the darkness; it just happens to you; you just have to be open to it. A lot of what you try to have happen doesn't happen because you are in the way of it. You need do nothing.

A vision comes from the depth of your being, from the depths of your soul. It is the nagging, longing sensation that has always been present, but which you have denied. When you write it out and speak it out loud, you will understand the power behind the vision, it is a release of what it is you were intended to do here. And you will experience that nothing, including your vision, is impossible for you to accomplish. And the wording you will end up using is very important to the vision. State it specifically as to what you want and what you see yourself doing when you experience it.

When you extend love to another, you see them as totally free. Freedom is not something you can give another; it is already a part of who they really are and who you really are also. This is the gift you give yourself, to see others free. Then you will realize that you also are free and being who you really are.

Who you are is who you will always be, unchanged, immortal and everlasting. Whom you seek to be is a thought of the ego and you can choose again. You cannot change perfection, love and being a thought of God, and why would you want to even try? You are God, with God, and One as God

Affirmations do work and they work extremely well. If you are hearing a "screaming voice" which repeats that you are not a beautiful being, you can be sure it is the voice of ego. You can be sure that saying affirmations is creating havoc with ego also. If you think of yourself as God, how can you be less than beautiful, less than perfect, less than whole? Stand alone in front of a mirror, preferably naked, and stare at the image staring back at you. Tell that image that you love it...say "I love you" to it and say it with feelings and compassion, with love and peace, with the knowledge that what you are looking at is the body you have chosen for the moment. But look beyond the body; look deep into the image and see what it is you are looking for. See that image of God that is perfect in all details; that is whole, that is beautiful; that is complete; that is from God. See the image perhaps for the first time and embrace that it, hug that image, hug yourself. Getting this far you should be releasing some very old beliefs from the core of your being. You should be washing yourself with tears, not of sorrow, but of joy. Tears that carry away old images, old thought, the past beliefs. You will probably remember when you first heard that you were not "beautiful" and forgive that thought from your mind also. Allow yourself all the time you need for this, and perhaps you will not be able to accomplish it all at first, but with a little effort each day, you will succeed. You will see yourself as you really are and as you were meant to be seen. You are not what others have told you are. You are as you have always been, and will always be. Allow yourself a lot of time for this and continue with it. And each time you look in a mirror and see the reflection back, you can affirm what you really see, what you see with God and not with the ego. Affirmations work and they work miracles; believe that, try it and see. It is, after all, your miracle, create it just for you.

If your thoughts are not of joy, think again and again (same as choosing) until your thoughts are those of joy. Are they your "highest" thoughts? Do thoughts have a degree to them? Is one "greater" than another? Does truth come from words or does it come from the knowing within you as you hear words? Is love a feeling or is it an experience?

Can truth be shared with another? Is it not something that each of us have to acknowledge within us? Understanding is not of this world, acceptance is! The path may seem familiar as you begin to know again what you chose to forget, to make it appear familiar, and yet because of the ego, the path is not that familiar to that part of your mind.

You do not need approval from anyone other than you. You are all there is, so why look for approval where it can't be found? Recall who you really are! You are God, a creation of God, perfect in every detail, no flaws, no defects and only love. What could you possibly want elsewhere that could better who you really are? You, and only you, know your purpose here, the purpose of your soul. Whatever name you are called belongs to the ego, for you are God, formless, changeless and eternal. I AM says it all. Who could possibly disapprove of you other than your ego? God does not judge, does not condemn and only sees love in you for you are God. Get on with your journey! Travel within to find your home, for it is not to be found outside.

Is pain and suffering the same? Both are feelings coming from thoughts coming from fear coming from ego. If you can see yourself apart from the body you think you are, you cannot experience suffering and pain. This part is your sacred Self. It is that which is without a name, for a name belongs to ego. It is that part that is connected to and never left God. One of the easiest ways to know your sacred Self is to be present in the now, in the moment which is without past and future. Without those two, there just is the now, and the past is just the now that was and the future is the now yet to be. Your sacred self experiences only love for that is what you are.

The more you say you "know" God, the more you know God. And the more you listen to God, the more you hear God. God is your source, why should you not know Him? You are the whole of God, why should you not hear Him?

The more you know God, the more you know God. Knowing is that which is within you that was always there but had been forgotten along with who you really are. The little bit you know of God only wets your appetite for more knowing of God, which is really knowing who you really are.

God Is – a statement of Truth. It simply states that God is. God is not changing, not dormant, not small, not big, etc. God is. There isn't any further to go with the Truth than that. This life is a life you are making moment by moment. If you were to say that God is creating Life, then you would also be able to say that God is responsible for Life. You are responsible for the life you lead. If you say with a knowing, 'God Is', then saying with the same knowing, 'I Am', for you are.

You want for nothing, so when you come upon another person who appears to you to be "disadvantaged" ask yourself: what is it in this person that I am myself? Why do I feel "disadvantaged"?

Not to judge is one of the most difficult things for you to accomplish. Not to judge, when that is what the ego constantly does! Not to judge is shutting the ego down. Not to judge is to be in the moment, without the past and without the future, just being in the now. And when you don't judge, you see only peace, joy, and happiness. Can you spend a day without judging? How about if you start with a minute, and move up to 5 minutes and work up to 15 minutes and move forward. Because you exist in a world made by judgment of the ego (yourself), you will be met with a lot of opposition. But with God within you, you can accomplish anything.

Expectation is an extension of need. With expectation you have the need for others to behave as you prefer them to behave. Need is of the ego and as such is but an illusion. See through this illusion and you will discover that you have all that is, that you are all that is.

If you cannot move away from something because it will chase you, if you turn away from it, will is not also chase you? You can move away from anything and you will not be chased by anything unless you allow it. Not only can you move away from something, but you must also release that something as well. Try to move away from anything without releasing it, will only cause you to drag it with you.

There is no new way, no higher way. It is only confusion and illusion of the ego made to make you feel inadequate. Accept where you are as being in your right and perfect place. If what you see does not please you, choose again until you can see differently, until you see in love. You are the way and the light. You always have been. You simply forgot for a moment.

Wayne Dyer tells you to "make a worry list of everything you worried about yesterday, last week and even last year." Go ahead and make this list and look it over very carefully. You will see, not should see but will see, how your ego prevented you from enjoying the life given you. You will see how much energy you were robbed of and was given to an illusion that only brought what the illusion was, nothing. Worry is hanging on the past with hopes of a better future. Isn't knowing that you are being led by God better than wasting energy worrying? Know that you were led where it is you are to be, and know that a lesson is always present for you to learn. Be aware, learn and move on. Worry only prolongs what is already given you. Stop the worry and receive, stop the worry and be wrapped in the thought of love.

You can't pray or shouldn't pray if you already know what the answer is! If you are asking God, then you don't know what the answer is, but the ego is also present telling you what you think it should be. And when you do pray but fail to let go of what it is you are praying on, then you won't get a response. How can God take something from you, if you have failed to let go of it? And what can God 'take' from you but thoughts you hold? You are holding on to your "wounds" because you believe you can still get attention from others with them. Perhaps your "warranty" on your "wounds" has not expired in your ego mind. Why not just turn in the "wounds" before the warranty expires? If you seek validation of any illusions through prayers, you will be disappointed. If anything in your prayers is demanded by the ego, then you are not in your "right-mind." The Truth is from God and it is what you want to hear, or you wouldn't have asked for it. However, because you are in this illusion made by the ego, you are often times thinking its thoughts. You have but to ask God to see and think differently, and it is done. God will never, ever disappoint you. It is only "I" that will disappoint yourself.

It is time to stop looking for differences in genders and realize that you are all One. The body is not real so why give it such importance? Men are not better than women, nor are women better than men. It is only the ego that would have you think that way. This is one of the first steps in creating peace within this dream. Start with your relationships and treat each other as you would want to be treated and remembering who you and they really are. There is no such thing as "man's work" or "women's work." You are all in this dream together; make the most of it by uniting your thoughts of each other. Do not just see the man or the woman symbol, but see God within that being, for that is their true identity.

Don't look upon that which the ego has made as a gift.

All problems disappear when you let go of them. It is the attachment the ego places on them that continually holds you. You have, because of who you really are, the power to choose again. Plain and simple, choose again.

You often take the problems of others only because you do not wish to look at your own, and yet by taking on others, you are looking into your own mirror. The problems are not others, but they are yours.

You didn't come into this dream believing you were unworthy. You were taught that somewhere along time. You weren't born into any particular problem, the problem was taught you as a core belief somewhere in time. These teachings can be undone by simply changing your mind. That is what the Course is teaching. Change your mind, change your dream.

When you value anything of this dream, you are living in the past. Living and being in the moment requires no value to be placed on anything. In fact, when you place value, you are in the past, using judgment and have left the moment. There really is no future so don't give a lot of energy to it. Looking into the future keeps you in the past and prevents you from being in the present.

When you give guilt and shame or other products of the ego, attachments like horrific or terrible or whatever, you are doing nothing more than giving more power to those products and their source. Anything and everything from the ego is just an illusion. See through any illusion with the light you have within you. Allow the veil to fall away. See God in everyone and He will also be seen in you.

You are God, a thought of God, perfect as God, immortal as God, love as God is love. That is who you really are and that is without form of any kind. Because you have a "split mind" in this reality, one part is of God and one part is ego. You appear to forever have a conflict going on. The ego believes it is this body, and this body is indeed a product of the ego. In the separation that you feel between ego and God, the ego is constantly attempting to persuade you that God doesn't exist; it has gone to great extremes to point this out. The more on the spiritual path you go, the more the ego is throwing up road blocks. Anything, including this body that comes from the ego, is but an illusion, and of course, illusions are not real. The ego knows not of love, for if it did, it would be finished, and finished it is at the death of what it made, this body. The body stops, but you are eternal. Everything the ego sees in the world, you request to have interpreted through God, for a change of perception, to look without judging, without going to the past to live in the moment.

Someone once asked, "Where's the line? When is my input not helpful?" Any line you may think of is a line drawn by the ego, a detour for you to prevent you from sharing with others. Follow your gut (God's Unspoken Thoughts) and let it flow. Know that it is being read or listened to by someone who is there to receive it. Are you not about God's business? Well, this is His business and you are being His messenger.

What you are seeking will not be found outside, only inside. Going within is going beyond, beyond all limitations you have placed on this body, this dream. In the beyond, you experience peace, joy and freedom that have always been yours to experience. Once you are beyond the boundaries you placed on the body, you open yourself up to freedom, to the experience of Heaven in which you create with God, you become one with God.

Starting over is not always the easiest choice but it is one that has the potential of being fresh and new, instead of painting over the past, buried under layers of paint. If God decides to tear down the house and begin anew, you know He has a reason for it, and you are the reason.

The thought of being "chosen" always has appeal to you, something the ego always wants. Just being chosen, and you are, is not enough; you have to choose also. As you walk your path, you do see many other paths branching out from the main path, and often it is difficult to determine which is the main path and which is not. All the paths are doable but some may come to an abrupt end. Those are the ones you retreat from, learn from, and get onto the main path once again. What you must keep within your mind, is that the path laid out for you is just that, laid out for you. It is your path for this life. Walk it with God and know that it is yours. Walk it with God and you will walk through all fears with ease. Walk it with God and you will see before you with His sight; you will speak words from His mouth and think with His mind.

The term "falling in love" is interesting. What is meant by this? How does it differ from "being in love?" And the love you seek in relationships is often that which you fail to see in yourself, hence, you find someone as "special." Note that you only fail to see it within yourself, for you are perfect in all areas, lacking absolutely nothing. The term "falling in love" also implies "falling out of love." Remember that you are love and always will be. You are the love you were created by and that is all you can give to others. The love which the ego offers in one you are in and out of, for that love will never satisfy you. When you come upon another that you feel attracted to, do you see beyond the body and into the soul, or are you just attracted to the body of the individual.

What you really seek, what you are perpetually in search of, what it is that you think you need, is and always has been within you. You have but to go within and there find the Love you search for, the peace you desire, the happiness which is yours; the happiness of the soul.

You need do nothing to experience God, to experience who you really are. In fact, the sooner you do nothing, the sooner you will have the peace you seek. You have but only to get out of your own way. One of the Lessons from the Course tells you that what it is that you really seek, that which you are and always have been, Love. That Love is within you. There is no reason for you to seek outside of yourself, for nothing is really outside of you. Only that which is within is real, only that which is God is real. You are God; you are real.

Just another thought to ponder, as if you don't already have enough: We have said that this life we lead is a dream – an illusion – and everything in the illusion is an illusion as well, including the thought of God. Now my question is this: if this is a dream, then even the thought that you are God is an illusion. Before you had this dream, where were you and who were you?

"Enlightenment means waking up to what you truly are and then being that. Realize and be, realize and be. Realization is not enough. The completion of Self-realization is to be, which means to act, do, and express what you realize." Adyashanti

Chapter 18

Ego

Because we have a thought, we are. And what we are is nothing more than an illusion. We gave this thought a name – ego – and went on to blame everything in life on the ego. But the ego is you and me.

What are the illusions of ego? Look around you! Everything you see – anything you see – is an illusion of ego. Your world, your history, your story, your baggage, your image – all illusions. What's real? Nothing is real in an illusion. How can it be? To say something is real is contradictory to what illusion means.

And just who might this ego be? It is just you and I – we are the ego. We are responsible for everything in our life – we are responsible for the world we live in and see – we are responsible for exactly where we believe we are. So where does all this leave the Creator – the One we have 'made' responsible for life and our world and our aches and pains, our suffering, our fears, and so on. Where is this Creator? Certainly one would not locate it in an illusion, right? This may be difficult to grasp but what else have you to look at?

Where does duality come from? Of course, from ego, and just think about it for moment, and it will actually make sense. Nothing ever satisfies the ego. No goal that is given you to attain ever gives the peace you seek. Once you have attained one goal, another will be offered by ego. It tells you that if you want to find that happiness seek this goal – find the person – get the job – accumulate that money, etc. With duality, it is always one way or another – for everything we see or do, there is an opposite present as well. Do you sometimes feel like a ping-pong ball in your world – batted from thought to thought?

We believe we have two 'voices' we hear – one being called ego and the other called what? We all have a word for the other voice – God, Jesus, Buddha, Spirit, Angel – just to name a few. Here I am asking you to stretch your mind once more – and there will be more times, trust me.

Instead of naming the other voice; how about accepting that voice as YOU? The you of Truth – your Essence. We put too many labels on anything and everything, and all too often these labels only cover-up what it is we wish to see.

Another theory was to call the other voice 'Good Ego' and the other, 'Bad Ego.' We then proceed through this illusion doing 'battle' – good versus bad – and life gets to be a total drag – it is all ego whatever we think.

So going back to the other voice as 'You' – you discover something that has long been hidden from you. The voice of You is Truth and the ego is an illusion. So how can the voice of You be in this illusion? We can't see the Voice, nor grasp the Voice, nor hold the Voice – we can do none of the things we can do while in an illusion. We simply 'hear' the Voice and yet not really hear. The Voice speaks and yet the words mean nothing to us – unlike the words of ego that we have given meaning to. The Voice is the guidance with which we move through this dream. Each step of the path is a choice. Each choice a decision. Each decision a result of listening to one of two voices. And two voices contain only one of Truth. When we 'listen' to Truth, there is a feeling of peace over us. Ego does not comprehend peace, so it comes immediately with its fear-truck to hose down the feeling of peace, and trying to ignite once again the fires of fear.

Do you grasp that in this illusion, in this dream you are having, there is no one else but you? The others that you say you see are all there at your direction from your script. You are indeed the dreamer – the writer, director, producer, and star of this epic you call your living. Having accepted all of the above; that makes you totally responsible for this illusion you call life.

Many of us attempt to shift blame for happenings in our lives to others – but remember we put the 'others' in our life. They only do what is we want them to do. And you will begin to understand that when you are addressing another, you are addressing yourself. The judgments you have of another is the judgment you have of yourself. I did not say it is probably the judgment of yourself, I wrote it IS the judgment of yourself.

As an example, take the judgment of someone being a 'drunk' as you call them. How does that fit for you? Are you also 'drunk' with possessions you must have and continue to accumulate? Are you also 'drunk' with the power your position might create for you? And you might also say that the other person has an addiction, and you judge them also on not being able to stop. What are you 'addictions'? Do you like to eat, drink, gamble, sex, read, watch TV – all to an excess? Have a weight problem (don't we all)? Are you a compulsive shopper? Do you read book, articles, or watch TV while many other tasks are undone – perhaps even to the point of ignoring your own children?

That is just one example. Any judgment of another is a judgment of yourself. Just look at you for a while and you will see the same behavior in you.

So it is a War Against Yourself! It is you against you, and being just you, no winner can possibly be declared. You created this dream of duality – of having to be right or wrong – how can anyone be declared winner with this duality? There is no winning because there is no losing. Your ego has you so entrapped in this illusion, that it even has you defending yourself against yourself. That is like the dog chasing its tail.

So is there any solution to this War? Can we have peace with our self? First of all, admire your ego – it is who you believe you are in this body. Stop arguing with it – stop fighting it. That does not mean that you will do whatever ego wants to do. It means that you will listen to it and choose again. I say 'choose again' because whatever ego wants cannot be peace – peace is beyond the comprehension of ego. Ego knows chaos, turmoil, and fear. Explain to ego, as you would to an innocent child, how nice it is to experience peace. Ego can grasp some of that.

Remember the movie: "Phantom of the Opera"? This is probably my favorite of favorites. In the movie, I see the Phantom as the ego of Christine. It wants Christine for its very own, after all, it 'made' Christine as she is. As the story comes to an end, Christine must make a choice between the Phantom and her lover. And part of her choice is that she will kiss the Phantom – give the Phantom a 'taste of love'. Immediately the Phantom changes his thinking and helps Christine and her lover to escape the fire that is quickly taking over the Opera House.

And so it is with your ego – love it, talk to it as a child. Remember the ego knows nothing of love – it knows only fear. It will dissolve in the presence of Love.

Will you continue to have battles with the ego? Certainly, but they will not be as long as prior ones. Will you still argue with ego? Yes. Will you still watch carefully what ego is about to do? By all means.

We have given names to experiences that are not ego oriented or even related. Experiences such as joy, happiness, love, peace, wholeness, just to mention a few. All of these experiences come from within – from the core of our being, our essence. There are no opposites to these experiences. They all are spiritual. There is no opposite to God.

"The ego may exist as a series of passing thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions, but it and of itself it has no identity. Ultimately all of the images we have about ourselves and the world turn out to be nothing but a resistance to things as they are. What we call ego is simply the mechanism our mind uses to resist life as it is." - Adyashanti

Chapter 19

Open Mind/Open Heart

For me, this means that I am open and receptive to all that comes to me, to all that is presented to me, to all that I believe I see in my world. And being open means to simply observe without judgment; to see without a distorted view or opinion.

At our physical entrance into this world, we are greeted with a present of duality – it is what our world is made of. Take out the duality and our world ceases to be. At birth we experience warm and cold first – warm of a womb and the cold of the outside of the womb. We learn hunger pangs and the comfort of being fed. We learn crying and being calm. And then we progress through our life learning all the rest – nothing exists in our world which has no opposite. Even an atheist who vows there is no God, is also stating there is a God for in order to deny the existence, one has to also accept the existence.

Many writers have written how each day, each moment is a present from God and we more often than not, forget to open our present first thing upon waking. How many presents of 'presence' have we failed to open because our mind was shut and our heart closed?

But it really matters not, for to even think about what might have been is to fall into the snares of the ego side of the mind – the part that we believe we are as this body, this name, this story and so on. The past never was nor could it ever be. And the future is but a thought from other thoughts that will also never be. So what is left for us; only this now, this moment, this present of presence. In this now we are simply open and receptive to what is – never to what we believe was and might imagine will be.

And since we have mentioned 'mind', can you think of a good definition? Is it not impossible to define and even more difficult to indicate the location? If there is but One Mind and we are It, then is there no place the mind is not already present?

And since we are asking you to stretch your mind even wider, here is another thought taken from Taoist teachings: There was a teacher who dreamed he was a butterfly, soaring gently and to all heights. When he woke, he also wondered whether he as a butterfly dreaming it was a man?

Are we not the dreamers of this dream? And when we wake, where shall we be? If we are 'dreaming' then we must also be 'sleeping' and therefore we have not changed from what we were when we went to sleep – we are as we shall always be – nothing can change the changeless – nothing can alter the perfect – nothing can contain that which knows no boundaries.

Ever try to define 'God'? At best you come up with imagined images which influence your thoughts – what thoughts you had as a child – what you were taught by parents and teachers – what you think you learned on your own. Can we define That Which Is? We are limited in this dream by the words we have made. But our words are in a world of duality, of love and fear. Does 'God' exist in this world? Is there any where God is not already present?

On this magical journey we believe we are following – a journey without a beginning and having no ending – we have heard, we have read, and we have been taught – to let go of all that we believe – to surrender all that we believe we know. And if we do this what is left for us? Only our Truth – can you live with your Truth? Can you take that one step to the unknown for that which is already known?

What part of us desires to hold onto all that we believe we know, all that we believe we have, and all that we shall accumulate? What part of us thrives on the recognition of documents on the wall which we believe improves our story – a story of what we think we are while ignoring the knowledge within that is All That Is?

When we experience the last experience of this dream – death – then what about all the story of us – what about all of our possessions – what about all that learning we have accumulated? None of it goes with us upon death. The body simply ceases to be and all that it thought it was is now no longer true. And all that it thought was of value is of nothing to it now. And the mind – where does the mind go, or doesn't it?

You have not come here to understand." When we try to understand we try to build some kind of edifice, some kind of house in which we live, some kind of structure of ideas that we can be sure of. There is a belief that one can grasp reality in thoughts and words. Many people share this belief, not in any covert, conscious way, but as a tacit assumption. But if you've really worked on yourself, you will see that every idea that you grasp turns to nothing. When you look at it closely it somehow melts. Even the ideas that one felt so important, one sees, they've got no substance to them."

So...for me - I have not come to understand, because that is not possible - I have come here to be aware and simply be in that awareness.

In spirit, who and what are you? Knowing the answer within you, could you possibly have more than what you already have – All That Is? Poor is for ego, whole is for spirit. We are neither rich nor poor - we are whole.

"We are not humans on a spiritual path. Rather we are spirits on a human path." Jean Shinoda Bolen

Chapter 20

Illusion

Do you believe the world you see is an illusion? If so, then everything you see in your world is likewise an illusion, including the body you believe you are and the brother you believe you must have to 'know God." But your brother then is also an illusion – nothing more than a reflection of yourself; what you think you see in him is what you are. If you believe you see 'God' in him, then you must also see 'God' in you.

Within this illusion is our mind – like everything else. Does the mind have 'power'? Does the mind of itself do anything that we do not have control over? Is not everything is this dualistic world a choice for us to make each moment? We make that choice consciously or subconsciously – but we do make them. They are never made for us.

Like everything else in this world, 'God' is then also an illusion. We call this God by many names, the most common are 'Father' thus implying that we are a son or daughter – but they only shows separation – and separation is what ego works diligently to perpetuate.

So where does all this leave you? Without a 'God' somewhere to turn to – a God you hope will forgive you your 'sins' – your mistakes – a 'God' that will save you from the evil you see in your world – and the list goes on endlessly. We 'pray' to 'God' for material items – for health – for good fortune – for fame – for just one more chance at something. Who is in the end that makes the decision and ultimately take the action required? Only you. And what then does that make you? No words are known to man to describe that which we are. And that which we are is beyond all imaginations – all dreams – all fantasies – all thought. We have to grasp this total concept but it is becoming closer for many of us. We are not this body, this title, gender, etc – those are all masks we wear in the play of life.

"Being a belief or a dream, the ego never got started but – it sure looks like it did! The deeper question is not how did the ego get started but – why do we perpetuate it? Why can't we stop it? Why can't we let it go?...How do we let go of an illusion, if we do not know that we are caught in one? After all, the main quality of an illusion is that it is an illusion." Jon Mundy

Chapter 21

Judgment

Can you think of a time when you did not judge anything or anyone? It is what we do so automatically that for us to stop judging is a real challenge. How we judge is based on what we believe happened in our past, based on the knowledge we have gathered from that time. Can you honestly look upon the world you make and see it as neutral? Try it and see if you can. Everything is dark or light, hot or cold, up or down, good or bad, and all the figures of speech we attribute to a world of duality we have made.

And that is just about seeing your world. How about seeing others in your world? They are also judged based on the knowledge we believe we accumulated from the past. But the real challenge in judging others is simply this: as we see others, we see ourselves as well. This one does not set well with most people. The self has major objections raised on this issue. If I say that this man is homeless, and I have a home, am I seeing him as I see me? I am seeing him separate from me, and I acknowledge my separation in my judgment of him. Can you see the God reflection in another's face? Can you say to another 'Namaste' with conviction? Gender is part of the illusion, and yet do we do not see first the gender we judge someone as? Then we proceed to judge their body as if ours were different.

So how does one see without judging; how does one move along the spiritual path and refrain from judgment? It is more than just stating one must have a neutral thought. Can one really have a neutral thought? What exactly is a neutral thought?

The only way to see the world you have made is from the Truth within you, and that Truth is Love. Seeing your world in Love is not looking through 'rose-colored glasses'. It is seeing only the goodness in all – everything and everyone. It is seeing not through the eyes of a body, but through the eyes of Love \- and the difference is simply that as you look with the eyes of the body, you hold the thought of Love in your mind. Holding the thought of Love, you will see Love before you – it can be no other way.

Only the self believes it can judge; in Love, there is no judgment.

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." Mother Teresa

Chapter 22

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of those exercise that you do only on yourself. You never can forgive another person for something you think they did, because that is precisely the problem – something you think they did. No one can do anything to you that you have not somehow given your approval. Nothing happens to you that you have not thought of first. Many will find much to argue about here, but more will be covered in greater depth later in this book.

For example, you are holding a thought in which you think so-and-so did a dastardly deed and you not only judge them, but you proclaim their sentence as well, and then go about broadcasting the latest news (gossip). Note you began this by holding a thought and judging that thought. Suddenly, for a variety of reasons, you no longer believe in your original judgment. You feel bad you said those things about that person. You feel bad because you could think those thoughts about that person. What do you do? You can apologize to the other person; you can tell others that you were wrong about that person. Most of all you can forgive yourself for having that thought. See that thought differently – see that the other person was exactly where they were to be – in their right and perfect place – as you are now. So the thought has not changed, but your view of it has.

Forgiveness of the past offers a new present. If mind is soul, then it would be healed. If soul is of God, is God, then it would need no healing, only mind. Eternity is experienced in the now, which contains no past and no future. It is the moment that lasts forever. Spiritual healing is a tricky phrase because it also indicates a spirit which requires healing. Spirit with a small "s" would indicate self, while a big "S" would indicate Spirit, your Truth. But does a spiritual healing suppress the past, or does it change the past as to how we see it again?

Only much searching of the soul can find the truths of who you really are. Knowing these truths, you can then create your character, your life and all your happenings in my life. You can do all this and more knowing that you are God and you are limitless, formless, and free.

"I rest in God!" What a beautiful thought to hold when things appear not to be going the way you "planned" them. When the body is feeling pain, that you know doesn't really exist; when you feel your physical heart hurting over the loss of another body; when you are feeling anything but the love of God; know always that you can always rest in God.

Many authors tell you that the ego is the loudest voice you hear, and that is why you are to be still and listen to that still small voice, the other Voice you hear, God giving you the knowing what to do. The Voice does not tell you what's right or wrong, good or bad, or any other judgments. That would be the voice of ego speaking you hear.

One soul doesn't really affect another soul as they are One. One brother helps another brother and together the two souls shine with love. Victims and villains are only roles we choose to play in the life. Our souls are as they always will be, a reflection of God.

Can you have intentions and not have expectations? Can you have expectations and not have a preference as to how it will turn out? Isn't that what an intention is? Think of an intention as a thought of what you want to see happen. Just be open to what comes to you and accept it as presented, knowing it is for you.

This is forgiveness time. Forgiveness of the only person requiring forgiveness...YOU! And when you do this, and you will do this, you will experience a closeness with who you really are. You may cry tears flowing like a raging river, you may vomit until you think you have nothing left to come up; you may experience all manners of release you didn't know existed. It is all about ridding the cells of your body and the changing of thoughts in your mind about what happened in your life. What is holding you back is nothing more than allegiance to the ego, and its desire to keep you in hell. But what the ego offers you and has offered to you in the past is not real; everything was and is just an illusion. Walk through those illusions and see the Light on the other side. There is no illusion that cannot be walked through, for illusions are nothing. And remember, you never, ever walk through the fears alone. You are always with God.

And what are miracles but a change in your perception, a change of mind, a change of thought, and how you see another. If you are not seeing or thinking in love, you are not as God and you need to change your mind. And you can continue to change until you see and think in love, as God. When you look upon another, do you see the face of God looking back at you? If not, change your mind and look again upon another. What you see is what you are. And keep looking for the face of God is there.

Forgive yourself and you will think of yourself in a different way. With forgiveness you will feel lovable and loving; you will experience prosperity instead of lack; and you will attract to you that which you project. When you feel as love, you will attract only love. Understand that wherever you are is your right and perfect place right now. If you are not feeling loving and prosperous, you have some forgiving to do. Forgiveness is only for you by you. With forgiveness comes a release of the excess baggage you have been carrying. You cannot be in the present moment with baggage from the past!

"We do not find freedom from guilt by making sin real, and then atoning for it. We do not experience freedom from guilt by beating up on ourselves...Only by leaving the past in the past do I find freedom. We cannot obtain freedom from guilt by engaging in ritualistic practices. We are called upon to see things the way God does and that can only be done in the present. " Jon Mundy

Chapter 23

The Idols of Sickness

As an ego you believe in everything except God. As an ego you are god. You make this world you see. As an ego you see yourself as this body, this history, this story, this label, this baggage you carry around. One of the things you believe in your world is that of sickness. You believe you can be sick – that this body can be in need of something to make it feel better.

You believe in a tiny pill, that when taken will ease or cease your pain – or prevent you from becoming pregnant – or having you believe you can have sex all night – or even take you to places not otherwise accessible to you. Your belief in pills is fantastically strong in the society you live in.

When you gather in social conversation with others, you hear others talk of this or that pill, or this or that doctor they visit or this or that symptom of some disease they have heard about. Even when you are in a spiritual group of people these subjects will come up. It is our way of life. Now you may not agree with this, but do you ever take an aspirin to relieve a headache – a cold tablet to stop your coughing and/or sneezing? We all have, at one time or another, taken medicine believing it would makes us feeling better. And it did, right?

So was it the medicine or the belief we held that made us feel better? Are all medicine simply placebos? If our mind has us believing we are sick, will not our mind have us believing we are better?

And I will include here the subject of heredity. You have been told you are a certain nationality, which only means your parents were a certain nationality. You do not have to buy all the other trimmings offered you because you are a particular nationality. And you do not have to be accept that because some of your relatives had a certain disease, that you will very likely also have this disease. Or that because no one in your family lived beyond a certain age, you are also destined to die before that age.

Heredity is merely a group of ideas given you by your parents and if you accept them, then you will be a product of such thought. But if you see that heredity is nothing more than thoughts, you can change your thinking. You do not have to buy into all the nationality stuff. You are you and you can be whoever you chose to be without a myriad of stories.

Sickness, any sickness, is of the mind, as is everything else in your dream. There may certainly be times when you utterly collapse and call yourself sick. But it might be as simple as being told to slow down – let go – seek peace. Remember the two voices you have. Listen to the one in which you find peace.

So is death the result of sickness? Death is the final experience of ego. It is as certain as is birth. So does an illness cause death, or does death simply occur? We often play at being God and try to prolong our life, escaping death when we think it is close. But the moment of death is not something we get a chance to call. No more than we get to call the date and moment of our birth. It is all an illusion that we believe in so strongly. And what happens when we let go of that belief? Where would you be if you no longer held onto that belief? Where else could you be, but right here, now? The difference will be in the peace you hold instead of the fear you held.

Peace and Love are forever present with us. Are we always present in the present?

Chapter 24

The Separation

Did you know of being separate before you read the Course? Did you have feelings like you were uncomfortable and couldn't explain why? Or you were happy but not really happy? As if something in your life was missing. Something was not quite right but you could not name it. At times, this would 'drive' you crazy, as the expression goes.

I grew up very much alone. No brother or sister – parents divorced – lived with Mom who had to work all day, every day. There were a few kids in the neighborhood but they were not always available to be played with. So it was just me and me to spend the days. This is probably when I first realized that something else was present in my life – something that spoke to me, and yet never to be heard; something present with me and yet never to be touched. But this something always was there for me – always had something to say about what I was thinking. This something knew what I was thinking before I realized I was. And so I accepted its guidance, but certainly did not always follow it.

I grew up in a Catholic setting – parochial grade school –mass every morning – confessions every Saturday, mostly out of habit or Mom's insistence. But even back then, I never truly accepted the belief of me down here and HIM up there. It just didn't make sense. And so I probably traded Him up there for Him right here with me. I did not call it God, and actually did not call it any name. I spoke, many times aloud, as if I was just talking to myself.

But the other voice, the noisy loud voice, also present was the one I had to contend with. Listening to it got me into a lot of trouble many times, more than I would like to remember. After all these years, it is still present in my mind. Not quite as noisy nor as loud nor as frequent as it used to be, but it is still there in my mind.

I made many 'deals' with the quiet voice through my adult years – deals like: if You allow this to go away, I will do 'such-and-such' in return. Pleadings like 'let this child live, please, and I will go back to the church.' Looking back on all those 'deals' I have to laugh because whatever was to happen was going to happen.

There was also a period in my life when I would curse and swear just to be heard – only to learn it was only because I was scared – I felt lost and forgot how to listen to HIM.

This, for me, is what separation is – the mind-boggling manner of my thoughts bouncing around in my head – no reason for most of them – but so many that I could not begin to look at of them.

One day I reconnected to Him, and since have not 'left' Him. After 32 years of marriage, six children, my wife was diagnosed with cancer and given six weeks to live. She lived six weeks and two days.

One afternoon I went for a walk alone. I just felt like I had to walk and clear my head – and think of what was before me. I walked several miles that day, not realizing it. But the voice of no words – HIM – was with me and we spoke. HIM never left me all that time, but I had left HIM. HIM patiently waited for me to return. And so we talked.

Sure I ask HIM "Why" but never did I get a response other than I would be helped over this mountain on my path. I had not looked at where I was as a 'path' until then. My wife would soon be gone from my life – I would have an 11 year-old son to raise alone. And then the questions of money (from ego) came up and I was just told to be patient – to trust – to just be there for the wife and son. What appeared important now was her comfort and my son's understanding and acceptance. This was not about me, but about what I had to do.

So once again I gave my trust to HIM and moved through this period of life. The tears I shed were of relieve or loss or both – but I shed them until I felt empty inside. As I look back, I would consider this as my 'dark night of the soul' – a time when I felt like hiding in a closet – staying in bed – but the responsibility of raising that son was ever present. And so I poured myself into it. I would not say it was an easy time, but I would say it was a rewarding experience. I moved beyond ego so frequently, that it soon became habit. HIM was there for me, and I listened.

And life flowed forward for me.

And all that the above shows is that I believed in separation. I believed I as alone in a world of chaos. But of course, I was not.

This dream we all have, this illusion we call life, contains duality and separation. Both are mere thoughts and yet some of the most powerful thoughts we hold. It is difficult for us to accept the Oneness we are – we are not separate bodies – not separate minds – just One. You are in my dream because I put you there. I am in your dream, because you put me there. There is only One of us.

Separation is a feeling we all have that something is missing in our lives. We lack something not to make us happy, but something that will complete us. Some of us have chased after many 'pots-of-gold' looking for that something to make us happy, to make us feel complete.

One of the many odd beliefs in this illusion we call life, is that what we seek we already have – what we have been seeking, we are. We have chased our tail and never caught it, as they say. So stop yourself – stop running away from life and be in life – separation is only a thought we hold in a mind that is not real.

"We don't experience ourselves in terms of our ego, in terms of a separate someone or separate entity. It's more a feeling of the One recognizing itself, or Spirit recognizing itself." - Adyashanti

Chapter 25

The Journey Back

Where is it you believe you are going to where you once were? What is it that you believe you are moving towards that will be different from where you believe you have been? Where can you go that you have not already been?

A lot has been written about our journey – our path – our trail – our road, and all of them referring to going somewhere. Some have said statements like: "Once you step on your path, there is no turning back." That certainly sounds quite restrictive, something ego would come up with. This does not reflect the presence of Love, of peace, of freedom.

And then there is the statement: "How do you know it's your path? How do you know it's the right path for you?" My usual response to these is: "How do I not know it's my path. How do I not know if it is the right path for me?" I believe the 'path' before me has been and is my only path. It was a path that was there at birth and will end in the illusion with death. The many choices I have made on the path have designated it as good or bad by other people. For me, it is neither good nor bad – it is MY path. And where might it lead me? Where is there to go?

Many others have written books on the subject of Now. And if you will believe in the Now, you will also believe that your journey is nowhere but Now. Now is that speck of pause in our illusion when we simply BE. No time, no labels, no thoughts, no memories – nothing. It is for me, where I believe I am journeying to. The Now is that spot where I have always been; I have never left. In Truth, I can never leave anywhere because there is nowhere that I am not.

"At the beginning I was mistaken in four respects. I concerned myself to remember God, to know Him, to love Him, and to seek Him. When I had come to the end I saw that He had remembered me before I remembered Him, that His knowledge of me had preceded my knowledge of Him, that His love towards me had existed before my love to Him and He has sought me before I sought Him." – Bayezid Bistami

Chapter 26

A Meaning of 'Miracle'

Remember all the times you heard the word 'miracle' and often the awe that would accompany it? The 'Miracle of Lourdes' is an example. Recall reading about the 'cures' people had while there? It is true that some did appear 'cured' by being there – or having the water upon them there. But what actually happened? Could anything other than another thought actually occur? We have this thought, for example, that we are unable to walk and go to Lourdes and believe that by being there, we will be able to walk again. And if we believe that completely, we walk. Miracle? Yes, but it only shows what a miracle is.

A miracle is just a change of thought we hold in a mind we believe in. Just take a moment and look at all the thoughts you had today – how many you changed instantly and how many were changed later. Was there even one thought that never changed? If you say you thought you were this body and that did not change, you would be incorrect. Your body changes moment by moment because we think it does. We have been told how the molecules, the skin, the blood, etc., constantly change so that at any given moment you have changed.

The Bible, stories of fiction, speaks of 'miracles' happening to people who believe in the 'powers' of a man named Jesus. Their healing was not a result of the man, but a result of the individual wanting the healing. They believed they could be healed and they were.

I once attended a group meeting on the Course, and the subject of 'miracle' came up. One individual stated that the miracle for him was when a sperm and egg attached, in other words, a birth. He was adamant on this point, as he believe this for over 20 years of reading and 'teaching' the Course.

I suggested to him to 'choose again' – his definition of a miracle was a definition of this illusion – the making of a body. The miracle is the ability to 'choose again' – to change the thought held in the mind.

This is the miracle – the only miracle – to change a thought we are holding in mind. We can change the world we see – we can see others as the Light of the World.

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is 'Thank you,' that would be enough. – Meister Eckhart"

Chapter 27

The Awakening

In Buddhism, to be awakened one is called a Buddha. To be awakened means simply to be awake from the dream of illusion – to see your world through the eyes of Truth – to hear in Truth – to speak in Truth. Fear is no longer present in an awakened state – only Truth. You are still in the body you believe you have, but you only see that body as means of moving through this life. But you also see that you move nowhere for there is nowhere to go. Time is not existing – eating is done only to sustain the body.

Buddhism also teaches that within each of us is the Buddha – within each of us lies the ability to become awakened – to become a Buddha. Siddhartha did not become a god – he became Buddha – the awakened one.

In the stories of the Bible, Jesus is referred to as Jesus the Christ. We are told in the Course that within us is the same 'Christ' spirit that Jesus had. Whether one looks to the word 'awakened' or the word 'Christ' – one is looking at what is within themselves. To be free of the ego, and still be in the world is to be awakened. Are you up to it? Of course you are. Remember who you are in Truth.

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is 'Thank you,' that would be enough." – Meister Eckhart

Chapter 28

The Final Vision

What could be 'final' except an illusion of ego? We give much meaning to the word 'final' – the end – the last – no more. But a vision is also an illusion, and being an illusion, it is a gift from ego, given to us to believe in – to trust in – to hold 'true'.

And would a 'final vision' be anything less than the last moment we believe we see in the illusion? Is it at the moment of the experience of death? And is death an experience? And what is an experience?

We have a difficult time to grasp the thought that what we see is all illusion. What we cling to is an illusion. What we love and who we love are all illusions. The walls appear heavy indeed which stand between us and Truth – Love. Every thought ego has is a wall to our remembrance of who we are in Truth – Love.

But the walls are of ego and therefore only illusions. And we can go beyond illusions – we can 'walk' through the walls we believe are separating us from Love. Illusions are nothing other than a meaning we give them. Without meaning, they are just illusions – nothingness. Is there any strength in a 'meaning'?

"If we are serious about achieving enlightenment, we need the strength to renounce the things that are a big deal for us, and we need a great deal of courage to step onto the path alone." - Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

EPILOGUE

This Course is not about a beginning or an ending. It is simply about remembering our Truth – the Love we are – the image and likeness of God. It is not asking a god for answers. It is about knowing that all answers are within us – now and forever.

It is the knowing that all that we have been reading – hearing – seeing – all of that is there to show us a simpler way of living this life. Life is a gift; living is the experience of the gift. Life is meant to be happiness – happiness is not to be found anywhere in the world we make. Happiness comes from within and is not describable to anyone, including ourselves. Happiness is experienced – is lived moment by moment.

Is there an ending to the Course? What you have read in the Course are but seeds planted deep into your mind. You may close the book – actually dispose of it – but what you have read is still firm within your mind. Once you have not just opened the book, but read the Course, your mind will never be as it once was before you read the Course.

Is the Course so unique as this sounds? By no means is it. It is gathering of words meant to be read by you. What you take from the Course is your choosing. What you leave in the Course is also your choosing. Above all, do not believe you must understand what is contained in the Course. To understand is for ego; you simply accept or deny what you have read – take some and leave some.

What about those who profess to interpret the Course for you? What about those who say that 'their way is the only way to read the Course'? Are there other interpretations of the Course? Indeed there are as many as those who read the Course. The Course is written to 'you' – look at the words! It is not written to 'us' or to 'them'.

If you have not already tried this, try it! Read the Course in the 'first person' – change the 'you' to 'I' and everything you read will be as if it is an affirmation – which it is.

And about moving beyond the Course? That's what this book is all about – moving on beyond the Course. Moving beyond the volume of pages of text and lessons, all focused on what is stated in the Introduction – Love and Fear.

A natural path for me in going beyond the Course was to get into Buddhism. Reading about Siddhartha, his awakening and his teachings made me realize that what is taught in Buddhism is taught in the Course. The only exception is that the Course includes God in its teachings. Buddhism does not recognize a god. Otherwise the teachings are basically the same. Many students of the Course have stated that the Course sounds 'Eastern' in its writings – coincidence?

Buddha lived approximately 500 years before Jesus. And the story of Siddhartha is very similar to Jesus: both were both of a royal line – Jesus supposedly of the House of David, Siddhartha 's father was a king. Siddhartha's mother reportedly conceived in a dream of a white elephant, while Mary, the mother of Jesus, reportedly conceived in a dream of an angel. And both Jesus and Siddhartha taught and worked among the poor. Now is all this coincidence?

The major difference in the teaching of these two Teachers of teachers is that most of what 'Buddha' said has been copied down in writing. What Jesus said in his teachings is most likely lost in the sands of time. What Jesus is credited with saying, as reported in the Bible, was all written long after his death – anywhere from 45 to 125 years later. No one was still around to give an actual verbatim report.

It is most likely that Jesus died on the cross alone – no disciples or family present. He was then probably taken down and placed in a 'pauper's grave' where the bodies of deceased criminals were contained. This is a theory addressed by many writers and scholars.

LESSON 1

Everything I see means nothing.

I have given what I see the meaning it has for me.

I do not understand anything I see.

My thoughts do not mean anything.

So the first lesson shows us nothing – not anything – and absolutely no meaning. Now before you close the book, stay with the lesson a bit longer. As you look around you, wherever you believe you are, see anything and everything. Now as you see it, know it all means nothing – not one item – nada – nothing.

Anything and everything you look upon that has meaning has only the meaning you give it. And what meaning have you given anything? What exactly does meaning mean to you? Does something mean more to you than something else? Why? Is there something you see that you cannot or will not part with? Why? If you believe this is your dream, then the items in your dream are but illusions as well. What kind of value do you give your illusions? Is there one particular illusion that is going to outlast all others? Is there one particular illusion you plan to die with, and perhaps plan to die with you? No one has ever taken any illusion with them in the experience of death.

Understanding if one of my favorite ego terms – I must understand this – I don't understand that – tell me more about it so I can understand it. There is no understanding in the world of illusions – dreams are but fantasies – who could ever hope to understand a dream. One item the Course does repeat often is that instead of wanting to understand, we are willing to accept. This will drive your ego crazy – more than normal. In acceptance we let go of our need for understanding, and accept what is now, this moment, no strings attached. Accept life and move on.

How do you feel being told your thoughts mean nothing? Your thoughts do not mean anything. Now in the acceptance of this, think of one thought that you think does not fit this mode. Can you? Even the thought of you thinking you are a body means nothing. You are at best a thought in a mind. And God? Where does this leave God? God also is a thought, therefore God means nothing. This is an all or nothing attitude here – either all thoughts mean nothing or some thoughts mean something. But a thought is a thought and no matter how you slice your thoughts, they still contain nothing.

Lesson 2

I am never upset for the reason I think.

I am upset because I see what is not there.

I see only the past.

My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.

I see nothing as it is now.

Think of any time you were upset, recently would be best. Do you know for sure why you were upset? Perhaps you didn't get that new car you wanted; perhaps you didn't buy the house you wanted. Perhaps your kids didn't do what you wanted them to do. Perhaps you didn't lose the weight you wanted to lose. Do you see a common word here 'wanted'? When we want anything, we are setting ourselves up for an upset. We want and we want and we want more and more.

Why do we want anything? Is it because we believe we are lacking something to make us happy? Is it because we want to show the neighbors that it appears we have money? Is there truly anything out there that we could possibly want that would give Peace and Happiness? If there is, grab it! If not, let the wanting go. You have All That Is; there is nothing more to have!

Okay, you are upset because you see what is not there. And? This is an illusion, remember? Nothing here is real. Nothing here means anything, including all that you believe you give meaning to.

What you believe you see now is what you believe you saw in a past that never was. And your mind is indeed preoccupied with past thoughts; it knows of no other. Your mind cannot be present in the present. Your mind cannot be in the Now. Your mind tries to show you a future that will never be, based on thoughts of the past. Have you ever experienced the future? Is it even possible? Have you ever experience the past? Is that possible?

What is being shown to you is not the Now, the Present Moment. Your mind cannot do that. You can and do experience the Now, the Present Moment, but without a mind. Stay with this thought a bit. Think about in meditation. You can only experience the Now, the Present Moment, but you can do it only without the mind.

Lesson 3

My thoughts do not mean anything.

My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world.

I am upset because I see a meaningless world.

A meaningless world engenders fear.

What thoughts do you have when you affirm that your thoughts do not mean anything? Ego does not like this and will come with all it can muster up to change this concept. If my thoughts mean nothing then my mind must mean nothing as well. If my mind means nothing where does that leave my beliefs of who I am in Truth. For me, a thought is a thought and a belief is a belief. A difference? Oh, yes, for me at least.

A thought is what is presented to me constantly in a steady stream of chaotic messages from the mind – from ego. A belief is a knowing within coming from within and forever staying within.

When we speak of our 'beliefs,' we are most often speaking of thoughts we hold in our mind – believing we are this body, this name, this title, etc. This thought may also state that we unlovable, unworthy and so on. Can we change this type of belief? Certainly! We change by normally going to the origin of the belief – when did we first have this thought – what caused it? Upon looking at it, we can then see beyond it for the fear it was, and change it to a more positive outlook.

The belief from within has always been a part of us – and it will never change from what we are in Truth.

So if my thoughts have no meaning, then of course, my world is meaningless as well. How could it be otherwise? My world is a projection of my thoughts. My thoughts are meaningless. My world is meaningless as well.

Ego does not like the idea of meaningless thoughts. It wants only thoughts of fear. How else can it have us do what it wants unless we are kept in fear? How can fear exist in a meaningless world? If we feel upset by a meaningless world, then we have yet to let go some meaning we are holding onto.

Does a meaningless world really engender fear? Only from the ego perspective. This world we speak of is an illusion, a dream. It is indeed funny to even contemplate giving meaning to an illusion, a dream.

Lesson 4

God did not create a meaningless world.

My thoughts are images that I have made.

I have no neutral thoughts.

I see no neutral things.

Not only did God NOT create a meaningless world, God did not even create a world of meaning. Ego would enjoy having us place the responsibility of the world we see on God. But 'God' had and has nothing to do with the world we see.

The world we see is a projection of the thoughts we hold. And again, to emphasize, our thoughts are meaningless and therefore the world we project from them is likewise meaningless. The images we believe we see are from the thoughts we hold. We 'make' them alone.

Why can't we have a neutral thought? How often have we claimed 'I'm neutral' only to learn later that by stating that we are neutral, we are actually thinking we are neutral – we have a thought that we state.

We exist in this dream in a duality created by us. Within our dream, we have to be something – we cannot be neutral if we just sat and did nothing – we are then doing nothing. Without duality, we would not judge; we would not compare; we would have no feelings of wanting or needing; we would have no goals to achieve. Can you stretch your imagination to such a point? Without duality, what would it mean to you? Would the ego even exist in a dream without duality?

Lesson 5

I am determined to see.

I am determined to see things differently.

What I see is a form of vengeance.

I can escape from this world by giving up attack thoughts.

Note the power that the word 'determined' holds for you. You are not just willing; not just wanting; not just able; not just thinking – about seeing differently – you are determined to see differently. Nothing will prevent you from seeing differently – NOTHING! And when you do see differently, what will you see?

What you look upon now is seen how? Do you see only Love? Or do you see chaos, suffering, differences, anger and attack, just to name a few? And the sights of vengeance – everywhere you look. You can change your view. You can change your world. You can see Love present instead of this mess before you. But can you escape your world simply by giving up attack thoughts? Can you escape this world?

This is your dream, your illusion, your world. We do not escape the dream. The dream ends with the experience of death. Is there really an escape from an illusion? You are here in the world you make so you might as well make the best of your world. Change how you see it. Change thoughts of fear to thoughts of Love. Choose again and again and again – as long as it takes – until you not only see Love before you but you experience the Peace you seek.

Lesson 6

Above all else I want to see.

Above all else I want to see differently.

Does this sound like a plea? Does it sound as if you have come to the end of the proverbial rope? How much do you want to see differently? ABOVE ALL ELSE! You know what you believe you see is not real – what is before you is only an illusion. Above all else you want to see Truth – you want to see Love – you want to see God in any face you look upon – you want to see God wherever you look.

What does it take to see differently? Only for you to choose again. If what you see is not Love, if what you see does not fill you with Peace, then choose again. You have choices – unlimited choices – there is no running out of choices. And the choice you make is yours alone to make – no one can make it for you – no one can make you choose what you do not want. This is the Freedom that you are.

Regardless of what you do in this day, set a goal to see only Love. And you see only Love by choice. Your world, your choice, your call.

Lesson 7

I do not perceive my own best interests.

I do not know what anything is for.

Here is another 'gem' that ego enjoys hearing. Not only do you not know your own best interests (then who does?) but you don't know what anything is for. This makes you appear very stupid, right? And no ego will want you to think you are stupid unless it tells you so.

In listening to ego all these illusionary years, has it truly knew what was best for you at all times? Are you at the place that you have planned on being? Are you in a state of bliss – of happiness? No? What went wrong do you suppose? You listened to ego and ego does not only know what is in your best interests, but it actually knows nothing. Notice how many times in a day, the ego constantly asks why, where, when, and other such questions. A major difference between ego and your Truth is simply this: in Truth you know All That Is, a knowing from the core of your being. You accept your Truth and have no questions. You feel comfortable in your Truth and need not know more – there is actually nothing more to know than your Truth. There is nothing that is held back from you. Remember you are in the image and likeness of God. Would God hold something from you? Would you be in the image and likeness with something lacking?

There are words used in the Course that are confusing to at times: learning – understanding – knowledge, to name a few. It is not that we learn anything new in the Course, it is that we learn how to let go of what we think we know – we do not know anything – nothing! And I have already stated that understanding is of the ego – you will not understand the Course – but you eventually accept what is presented to you. And then there is knowledge – again an ego goal – get knowledge and be successful – get knowledge and get a degree – be better than someone else. It all means nothing – this is a meaningless world.

What we know within – the knowing that is so apparent to us and yet obscure because we cannot adequately describe it – that knowing – that knowledge if you wish to refer to it as such – is your Truth. You have always been aware of it – there was never a time when you did not possess it – it is you.

It is perfectly correct to state that you know nothing, for you do know nothing. What you 'know' within is not of this illusion. It is your Truth. Have you ever tried to describe your Truth to someone? Don't even try!

Lesson 8

God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.

Now take this one carefully. Look at it closely. What is it you are affirming with this statement? God is in everything you see – because God is in your mind. The trip up for some here is the word God.

If you have not already let go of all images of God that you have held, now is the moment to do so. Can you see God? Is God within your mind? What does God look like and would you know God if you saw God? And where exactly is your mind that you say that God is within? Is mind part of the illusion? I say yes – it is of the illusion and without the illusion, there is no mind.

When we say we see God wherever we look, we are simply stating the Truth that 'God' is everywhere and nowhere. There is not place God is not present and there is no place that God is. Confusing? The concept of God is similar to what we call energy – to a force that is present and only experienced – to the air we breathe. There is no where that God is not already there.

Is 'God' necessary beyond the illusion? We feel good about having God in our dream and we know within that we are the God we speak of as well. But everything ends when the dream ends. Ego ends, the illusion ends, God ends.

We could speculate on what is beyond this illusion but why bother – we don't anything, right? Beyond this illusion is simply what which we are. What is it, the ego asks? Wait and see, we respond to the ego. But ego being a thought will disappear with the dream. But we in Truth will be as we have forever been. And I find that extremely comforting.

Lesson 9

I am not the victim of the world I see.

I have invented the world I see.

I could see peace instead of this.

I could not be a victim of the world I see unless someone else created my world – and that isn't going to happen. This is my world, my dream, my vision – created by me from the thoughts I hold and give meaning to. How does it feel to accept responsibility for a world you see when you know you have made it? Confront ego with this concept and be aware of its reaction. Unless you are seeing Love in your world, your world is coming from the interpretation of your thoughts by ego. But there is another way of seeing your world – remember this world is one of duality – always an opposite is available.

You can choose again if you are not seeing Love, and you can continue to choose again until you see Love. Love is your natural state of being; it is your identity in Truth; it is your core. This will never change no matter how much you see something not as Love. Love is always there to be seen, but we are not looking in the right direction.

How hard can it be to see Peace instead of the chaos and turmoil you do see? It is as easy as change a thought – choosing again. We are speaking here of only a thought! How difficult is it for you to change a thought? Think about it. The change you see is only a thought away.

Lesson 10

My mind is part of God's.

My wholeness envelops everything I see.

My wholeness blesses the world.

There is nothing my wholeness cannot do.

Now an ego might ask, 'What part of God's mind am I?' And you might respond, 'Does the Mind of God have 'parts'? Your mind is not only a 'part' of God's Mind, it is God's Mind. This is pretty difficult for us to grasp the realization of this statement. It is much easier to say that I am God, then it is to say my mind is God's Mind. This takes us another step deeper into our grasp of who we are in Truth. You are whole because God is whole. You bless the world you see because God blesses the world you see. There is nothing that your wholeness cannot do because there is nothing God cannot do. You not only are blessed, but you are a blessing.

Simple accept the knowledge that you are God is one step, but to go beyond that step and fully accept all that the knowledge contains. You are God! There is no place that God can be that you are there as well. You are the Universe, the energy, the air – you are All That Is.

Now what do you do with this knowledge that has been shown to you? You simply accept it and continue being in your dream – but you will notice how much different your dream appears now with that knowledge. Ego asks you about the power of God – what do you do with the power of God? Just the same as you have been doing – seeing Love instead of fear; choosing again to see only Love. This is the power that exists in your world, but this power to change a thought is not from the ego. Ego just has you go from one fearful thought to another fearful thought. The power within you allows you to change any thought you have – anytime – anywhere.

Lesson 11

God is me wherever I am.

God is my strength and vision is a gift.

God is my Source.

God is the light with which I see.

God is the mind with which I think.

God's Voice speaks to me all through the day.

Continuing with the thoughts from Lesson 10, you strengthen your concept of your being God. There is no place that you could go that God is not already there. Is God waiting for you, as we once use to say? No, the Presence of God is – period. There is no place, no time, no way that the Presence of God is not present. You cannot be without God – simply not possible.

How you see your world is a vision from your Source. And the strength you think you need to do a task such as choosing again, is already within you. Try it and you will discover it is there waiting for you to use.

Seeing only Love we see no darkness of fear. You can't have it both ways. The darkness we speak of is not the darkness of a night, but the darkness of a world you make which has no Love. You are the Light of this world – shine on all darkness and only Love will be shown.

There is but one mind – but only in this dream. Does God have a mind? You have a mind in this dream because it is the source of your dream. But the Presence of God is constantly in your mind. Choose your thoughts until you feel the Presence of God – a Peace that envelops you.

And God is indeed speaking to you 24/7 – are you available 24/7 for God? Does God's Voice sound like ego? Hardly. You can hear ego because it speaks to you in a language you have made – with meaning given the words you know. Hearing the Voice of God is different – impossible to describe or define accurately. God's Voice simply gives you knowledge of everything and anything. Not necessarily words, but inner feelings of peace and love.

Lesson 12

God is the Love with which I forgive.

God is the strength with which I trust.

There is nothing you can do that you can do without God. Does God forgive? What would God forgive and who would God forgive? Forgiveness is just for us egos. We forgive ourselves for believing we are separate beings. We forgive ourselves for believing we can judge others, when others are but reflections of ourselves. We forgive ourselves for past mistakes knowing that a past never happened. Bottom line: we forgive ourselves for forgetting we are God.

And the ability we have to forgive ourselves is the strength of God within us. Simple because we are who we are in Truth, we have the ability to forgive ourselves. And what is forgiveness actually? Is it not just that we choose again?

Lesson 13

There is nothing to fear.

I am sustained by the Love of God.

You are constantly and continuously in a state of fear – just because you believe you are an ego. But by now, this far on a place that goes nowhere, you also know that fear is not real – that fear does not exist. So why then are you constantly in fear? Each moment you change a thought from fear to Love, ego furnishes you with another thought of fear. It is all it knows how to do. And so you continue to choose again. There will come times when you can remain with the thought of Love a bit longer – and longer – and yet longer still. It is all about training the mind, as the Course has so often stated.

You are never alone – you simply can't be alone knowing who you are. Alone implies another, and there is no other. You are God, and God is All That Is. You cannot even be alone with God – you are that which are trying to be alone with. Just Be – Be That Which Is – accept it, affirm it.

Just as you believe that blood must flow through what you call a body, so also does God flow through you – giving you Love – giving you All That Is.

Lesson 14

I am the light of the world.

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

I give peace to every mind through my forgiveness.

You alone are the light of your world. With your light your world is visible to you. Without the light, only darkness appears. Seeing your light in your world allows you to see fear for what it is – nothing. Seeing the light in your world is a reminder for you of your function as that light – forgiveness is your function. And that forgiveness, as we already spoke of, is only of yourself. Oh, you may think others have caused you suffering or harm, but nothing happen. It was and is only a thought you had. By choosing again, you see clearly. As long as you continue to light up your world, you will see more areas that require a change of thought.

Sooner or later you will come to the one thought holding you here in your world. The one thought that began all this, and the one thought that will change it forever. That thought is the one you hold of your belief in your body – your belief that you are something you are not – an ego.

And how you see your world reflects to others how a world can appear. Others look upon you and desire to have what is seen in you. Share your knowledge with them – give them what you have and be more of what you are.

Lesson 15

I will not forget my function.

My only function is the one God gave me.

My happiness and my function are one.

This is one the most repeated 'lessons' presented in the Course. Over and over again we are reminded that our function is forgiveness – forgiveness not of others but forgiveness of ourselves.

Why do you need forgives of yourself? Because yourself believes it is separated from God, and yourself feels angry about that – guilty about that – anxious about that. Because this is all an illusion, there is in the illusion nothing more than thoughts. And it is this thought or thoughts that you must forgive yourself for holding on so tightly. A thought is not a sin – not even a mistake – only a thought. It is all just a thought.

As long as you continue to hold onto such thoughts, you will not experience happiness as you are in Truth. Forgiveness of yourself insure happiness is yours.

This lesson might be rewritten as : Let me not to forgive myself today. Forgiveness is the function given me by God. Forgiveness has me seeing that my thoughts mean nothing. The happiness of God is mine once the blocks of fear are released by my forgiveness.

Lesson 16

God created me like God.

God holds no grievances.

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

I like this one – just so simple. God created me like God. As God is All That Is, is there anything else God could have created me as? Is there anything but God? How is that for a Zen Koan?

God holds no grievances so I cannot hold grievances. As God, I am. When I think anything other than Love, I am playing God, not being God. When I am playing God, I am believing I am a body – an ego. And when I play God, I am hiding the Light within me – others cannot see the Light because of my thoughts.

Lesson 17

My salvation is within me.

God's plan for salvation will work.

Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.

If we were to rewrite this lesson, we might say this "My forgiveness is within me. God's place for my forgiveness will work. My holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for my forgiveness.

Salvation and forgiveness are the same. The ability for me to forgive myself is within me. The plan God has for me to forgive myself not only will work, it is working. When I hold a grievance against another, I am holding that grievance against myself only. My forgiveness is for me alone.

Lesson 18

I will there be light.

There is no will but God's.

The light has come.

My will is God's Will. If I will there be light, there will be light. There is no other will – no other way. We cannot even say 'God's way or the highway' – there is no highway.

God's Will for you is happiness. Is that so difficult for you to allow to happen in your life? Are you so insisted on being a body that you would do without happiness?

Lesson 19

I am under no laws but God's.

I am entitled to miracles.

Miracles replace all grievances.

More repeats of lessons to learn: there is no other Will but God's. The Course uses the word 'laws' but fails to tell us what those 'laws' are. Does God have laws? Why would God have laws? God has no laws and there is no reasons for laws. God has a Will which he has given us. The Will of God! How much more could be available to us?

Believing in a separate body has you often looking at miracles as an act of the 'supernatural' as if often depicted in movies. The miracle we are entitled to is the only miracle that is – choosing again – change a thought we hold of fear to a thought of Love.

Knowing I can change my thoughts – knowing I can choose again – assures me that I not only do not have any grievances – I cannot have a grievance. God does not hold a grievance.

Lesson 20

Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.

Let me recognize my problems have been solved.

In this dream, you believe you have problems. And what exactly is a problem? A problem is an offering by ego of a situation where chaos is apparent and no solution is possible.

In seeing a problem in this way, you can also see that the solution is within the problem. Is there something you cannot accomplish knowing your Truth? Will a simple 'miracle' – another 'choose again' – show you the problem in a more favorable light? Is your 'problem' even visible in the light? Do you even have a problem?

Lesson 21

I am as God created me.

I am One as God.

If you were to take just one lesson from the Course and use it as your constant mantra and daily lesson, this would be it. If you believed nothing else presented here and in the Course, believe in this – believe it to the core of your being.

This is not arrogance to affirm this statement. "I am as God created me."

What does this mean to you? Actually it is meaningless, as is everything else. This statement is not about you – the body – in this dream. This statement is about you being One as God – about you being God – about you as God created.

Keep this one tucked away for instant recall. It is the life-jacket of Love to keep you afloat in the timelessness of this dream.

Lesson 22

I am spirit.

Forgiveness is my only function here.

What does it mean to be called 'spirit' here? It simply means that you are not a body as you often believe you are. You are in this dream but not of this dream. Before this dream you were already, and after this dream, you will continue to be. Remember you are as God created you – you are One as God.

And again, forgiveness is emphasized for you to see once again. And the forgiveness is for you alone. There is no one else to forgive but yourself. So forgive yourself of every thought you have ever held in the imaginary head of yours. You have done no wrong and could not do any wrong.

Lesson 23

God's Will is perfect happiness.

I share God's Will for happiness.

God is Love, and happiness.

Is there any other happiness besides 'perfect happiness'? God's Will is happiness and the happiness from God is as 'perfect' as God is 'perfect' as if such a term could attempt to describe God.

Ego offers its version of happiness as well. But the difference is that the happiness of ego is such a short version and never quite gets to the place that the Happiness of God takes you. You might say that the happiness from God is not a long duration either. But it is, it is you who does not see it. In the happiness of God, you experience a Peace beyond description, and a Joy never felt the same way twice. Ego pulls you back to your dream by a myriad of ways. Once you become aware of this, choose again.

Lesson 24

God's peace and joy are mine.

I will to be still and listen to God.

If I were not One with God, One as God, could I possibly have the joy and peace of God? But I am That I am and the Peace and Joy of God are mine to experience.

As often as possible in any given day, simply be still and listen to God. There is no voice, no sound, not even words we recognize – but God does communicate with us in the language of silence – the language of God.

Lesson 25

Truth will correct all errors in my mind.

To give and to receive are one in truth.

The Course uses the word 'Truth' many times and yet, does it not simply state 'Love'? What exactly is Truth? Anyone know for sure? It is a word we take and do not question. And yet, what does it mean to you? I like the word 'Love' – for me, that is God – that is my Essence – that is my Source. The Course tells us early on in its teachings that only Love and Fear exist – Love being reality and Fear being the illusion. The less thoughts I have in my mind about what word to use the better; the less opportunity for ego to come up with alternatives.

And the Course early on teaches us that to give is to receive; to give is not to lose, but to have; difficult concepts for an ego to accept. Ego says is we give, we no longer have. And again to change the wording: "To give and receive are one in Love."

Lesson 26

I rest in God.

I am as God created me.

I rest in the knowledge of who I am. I rest in God and God in me. I am as God created me and I will never be anything less or more. As God is eternal, I am eternal. As God is, I am.

That is a statement of Peace, the Peace of God, in which I rest my tired mind.

Lesson 27

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.

Forgiveness offers everything I want.

This lesson a central theme of the Course. Forgiveness is a key for us to open doors to Love. Forgiveness is required because we sit here in this illusion believing we are this body, this story, this ego and separated from God.

Because of this, we sit in guilt and unhappiness. We sit in fear – every fear the ego can throw at us. And there was a time when any fear was real to us – we believed the ego – we believed the fear to be real.

Now we are more aware – more awakened – that fear is nothing more than an illusion – something that does not exist – is not real. Now we laugh at what we once believed. Did we not look foolish?

Forgiveness is the key to doors we believed were locked to us. And the key opens every locked passage we come against. The act of forgiveness offers us everything we want – the Peace of God and the knowledge of who we are.

Lesson 28

Let me remember I am one with God.

In the silence and stillness I receive God's Word today.

All that I give is given to me.

In each and every moment of each and every day of your living this life, remember you are One with God. To be One with God, you must realize that you as God is – you are. If you say you are with God, that implies that you and God are two – separate. Being One with God leaves no doubt what is being affirmed.

In the silence and stillness listen to what is being told you – told yet not spoken – said yet not heard by ears - known within but not in the mind.

What you give to others is what you have within you – gifts given you to share – and to share without loss.

Lesson 29

There is no Love but God.

The world I see holds nothing that I want.

Beyond this world there is a world I long for.

It is impossible to see two worlds.

Note that it does not say 'God's' – simply 'God'. Love and God are One and the same. I am One with God- I am One with Love – I am God – I am Love. Can you affirm this?

The world you make holds nothing that you want – really. What would you want that is an illusion? What happiness can an illusion give that will last beyond time? What can you possibly search for in your world that you believe you must have in order to survive? And do you simply want to 'survive' or do you want to 'live' the life given you?

Beyond this illusion you call world is a place of being where you have never left. Yet you have a longing to return and yet never have left. The longing comes from within. Without it you would simply be a 'zombie' like creature in the dungeons of illusions.

If it is impossible to see two worlds, then it must be possible to see one, and so it comes down to your choosing which one. One world is an illusion – the other is that which you could never leave nor have left.

Lesson 30

If I defend myself I am attacked.

Sickness is a defense against the truth.

The only reason you would want to defend yourself is that you believed you were being attacked. Do words really hurt you? Are words simply symbols with meanings removed many times? Are words more than a thought? Can a thought harm you? Only if you believe they can. It all comes down to what you believe – and what you believe can be changed by choosing a different thought.

Do you see sickness as a defense against Love? In my using 'Love' instead of 'truth' did the meaning of the sentence change for you? Sickness is of the mind as is everything in the illusion. And the mind holds the thoughts we deem important to us – ones that we desire to hang onto. And where is the thought of Love in all this? It is ever present, but often covered over by the many thoughts of fear we hold dearly.

Change your thoughts and defenses are not required.

Lesson 31

When I am healed I am not healed alone.

Only forgiveness can be said to cure.

When you choose to see yourself healed, your world heals as well – and all that is in your world. You heal not just for yourself, but for all others. For you not to heal is not sharing what you have within you – Love.

And how do you heal yourself? Forgiveness is said to be the cure because forgiveness means you have changed your mind – you have chosen Love over fear.

Lesson 32

I will step back and let God show the way.

I walk with God in perfect wholeness.

Stop where you are and affirm that you and God are One – that you are as God is – and then watch as your steps are taken by the God in you. Do not look for others to show the way you are to go – no one but you knows the way you are to go. Do not look to others to tell you how to walk your path – they don't know. But you do – it is within you – go there and discover what has forever been there.

Being One with God, being as God, you will walk in wholeness – complete in every way. There is nothing more required. You are now complete as you have always been, but forgotten for a moment in time.

Lesson 33

There is no death.

I am free.

I am as God created me.

I One with God.

If birth is the beginning of this illusion, then death must be the ending of this illusion. Does an illusion even exist? Ego has concern with the thought of death upon being born, and yet it fails to grasp that with death is its ending seen. Like everything else offered by ego in the illusion we called our world, death is second biggest fear next to the fear of God.

Does death exist? If you affirm that you are free, and indeed you are, then are you not also free from the thought of death? There is no such thing as being a 'little' free – you are either free or you are a captive of ego. But you are not a captive of ego – only a thought you hold will have you believe this.

You are free as God created you. You are as God created you. You are One with God – you are God. Is God not free? You are NOT different from God.

Lesson 34

There is one life, and that I share with God.

I claim it now.

By Love I live.

By Love I am released.

You have been confused in your past about life – you believed the life you were leading by ego was your only life. Now you accept that the life of ego is nothing more than an illusion, a dream, and more often a nightmare.

The Life given you as God is the only Life existing anywhere. Claim it now. It has always been right in front of you, waiting for you to claim it. Life is a present to you and living is the experience of the present – like experiencing the Presence in the present.

By Love you live – As God you are. By Love you have released yourself from the thoughts of fear.

Lesson 35

Be still an instant and go home.

Call upon God's Name as your own.

The Course speaks of the 'instant' – Tolle speaks of the 'Now' – Dyer talks of the 'present moment' – so much has been mentioned about the same subject. A subject that is completely foreign to ego. How can you be still for a moment and go home? And what is that 'moment' when time does not exist? If time does not exist, then ego does not exist. This is why ego fights you so hard to keep you from entering the 'Now'. In that space without space – that time without time – you are where you always have been. You realize you have never left.

'Call upon God's Name as your own' is a directive for you to follow. How much clearer can it be said – God's Name is your name. This is not arrogance – this is humility.

Lesson 36

The peace of God is shining in me now.

I feel the Love of God within me now.

Within you is the Peace of God. Within you is the Love of God. Within you now is God. And the Presence of God is forever there. It can never be anything different. God does not change, and you cannot change. In your acceptance of the Peace and Love of God, they will be visible to others as they look to you. Peace and Love are to be shared.

Lesson 37

I choose the Love of God instead of pain.

Why would you even contemplate pain instead of Love; only because ego is whispering in your ear that you are experiencing pain because God no longer loves you. But the good news, as they say, is that this is only a thought – and a thought of fear at that. We have within us the power to choose again – to change any thought that does not provide us the Peace of God – to one that fills us with the Love of God. Pain is nothing more than a thought of fear.

Lesson 38

I am God.

I have a function God would have me fill.

And once again, the Course tells you that you are God. How many times have you read that line and just allowed to float right over you. Remember as you read the Course, the ego reads the Course. The ego would not enjoy this line.

Being God, what function could I possibly have that God would have me fill? Does God have a function? Am I not God? I simply allow God to flow through me – getting self out of the way – and just being in the flow of Love.

Lesson 39

There is no Peace except the Peace of God.

There is no Love except the Love of God.

Not much more can be said about these statements – they are your essence – your Truths, if you will. You can search outside your illusion but you will never find the Peace and Love you seek. Within you is the treasure of treasures – the Peace and Love of God.

Lesson 40

My mind will not deny the thought of God.

I will not to allow my mind to deny my Truth – that I am as God is – that I am One with God – that I am as God created me. I will choose again and again each time a thought comes in conflict with this.

Being One with God, I give what I am to the world I see before me. And that world includes all those present in it.

EPILOGUE TO LESSONS

This course is a beginning, not an end. God goes with you. You are not alone.

You are as certain of being home as is the pathway of the sun laid down before it arises. Your pathway is a sure thing. It is not possible or even conceivable to change a course given you by God as you were created by God.

While no additional lessons are presented, there is always the presence of mind that they are here for you should you have a need for them. They are like arrows pointing the way on your path.

Now you have discovered or rediscovered who you are – not only are you as God created you, but you are that which Creates. And with that knowledge known to you, you will see your world, your life much differently. Where you thought darkness was, there you will see Light. Where you thought once was fear, there you shall see Love. Where once you thought you saw yourself as an illusion, you now see yourself as Love.

No end is certain, for you had no beginning. In the stillness and silence you will hear what is to be told you and you will always have a choice as to its acceptance. And of course, you may always choose again.

And now in the Peace and Love of God, I continue on my way to where I have never even started, but where I have forever been. I am that Peace and Love.

Fourteen 'What Is' Questions asked by the Course

In Part Two of the Workbook of the Course, fourteen questions are posed. The questions are from the Course, the definitions are from within:

1. What is Forgiveness?

Simply stated, forgiveness is the ability you have to change your mind – to choose again. Forgiveness, as it is very stated in the Course, is for you and you alone. You forgive yourself thoughts you hold which are not thoughts of Love – thoughts which do not give the feeling of the Peace of God.

Not forgiving yourself only causes you other problems, all of the mind but could be seen in the body as well. By not forgiving yourself, you carry resentments around in your baggage. Ever look at your resentments carefully? Just how old are they? Did you know that resentments carry a 24-hour expiration date? You can hold them for one day, but then it is time to release them – time to choose another thought in its place.

Unforgiving thoughts will be added to your caldron of fears you have been stirring for all your life. And as this broth of fears boils over, sickness of the body is not only possible but is guaranteed. Must you wait for the signs before you put out the fire? Must you wait for the ego to say one of its favorite lines: 'If only I had paid attention sooner' – we have been there, done that, as the saying goes.

It is not that we are slow learners, we are reluctant learners. We are reluctant to allow new ideas to come into our minds – new thoughts that would replace old thoughts. This is where forgiveness comes into play in your life. Forgiveness will change those thoughts of fear with thoughts of love. The choice is always yours to make.

I believe that once you master the concept that a miracle is simply a change of your mind, forgiveness is the next item to master. Forgiveness does not really change a thought – it has you looking at the thought differently – in Love.

2. What Is Salvation?

Several words used in the Course are irritating to me, as if they were fingernails scratching on the old blackboard. Salvation is just such a word for me. For me, this word is from religions where the thought of being saved is a major issue. But what does one get saved from? I have not only NOT sinned, I cannot sin. I have no use of being saved from sin. I have no use for the word 'salvation.'

3. What Is the World?

The world is nothing more than a projection of my thoughts – and where might I project these thoughts? Actually nowhere for there is nothing in a thought to project. It is all illusion caused by an illusion.

It is difficult for us to wrap our minds around this concept. The world we see isn't really there, but we are so sure at times that it is. Remember all the other lessons on giving meaning to what we see? This is the world we believe we see – one that we have given great meaning to – one that we actually believe exists. But we know within that this is all illusion – all a dream, and we are the dreamer.

4. What Is Sin?

Here is another words that like an itch on the skin – scratch it and it will be gone for a bit, but know that it will return. Sin is a term used in archery meaning to miss the mark. Sin is also a term from religions meaning more than just missing a mark – it implies missing out on heaven. Unless we confess the sin, do repentance for the sin, and sin no more – we will not get to heaven. Looking back on my religious background, I am laughing out loud.

Religions appear to have this drive to keep us feeling guilty about something – anything. This way we will continue to confess, repent and continue to sin. We say that our world is a fear based world – religion for me is a fear based philosophy.

5. What Is the Body?

The one subject the Course hammers home to us repeatedly: I am not a body. So what is this body that we are not? The body is an illusionary form given to ego and then called many labels which are accumulated as it passes through this life.

As an ego, much emphasis is placed on the body – just look at the advertisements coming at you from every source possible. Unless you use this product, wear this label, eat this food, exercise just so, you are in big trouble. And all of this comes at us at such great speed, we forget just what the body is – an illusion – a projection of a thought we are holding.

If we believe that we create our world and we can see that world in Love if we choose, then we can also believe that we create our body by the thoughts we hold in our mind. Now some of you believe in heredity – as your parents were, so you shall be – over-weight, alcoholic, addicted, depressed, poor, etc. For those of you in this group, pause for a moment and look once again at what is written here – all it says it is that you are holding a thought that you must be as your family was. That is hogwash!

Ever look at the label of nationality – what does it mean to you? Actually not much. What is does mean is that somewhere back in time you ancestors came to this country from another country. If you are doing a 'family tree' this may be important. But in your everyday life, it means nothing to you, unless you give it meaning. Remember we live in a meaningless world.

When we affirm that we are not this body – that we are as God created us – we are affirming our Truth. The first thing we affirm is that we are not a body – they we affirm we are God.

6. What Is the Christ?

My definition of 'Christ' is the same as it is for 'Buddha' – awakened. Jesus was awakened and Siddhartha was awakened. What is it to be awakened other than to see life as the illusion it is – to wake from the dream – to be in the dream but not of the dream.

Each of us has the ability to awaken. What did Jesus and Buddha do to awaken? They let go of every thought they had of all the illusion that was before them. They saw beyond the illusion – through the illusion – to the point of recognizing Truth.

7. What Is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit, according to the Course is the Voice of God or is for God. For me, this implies separation from God. It implies that I cannot communicate direct with God. But I not only can – I do communicate direct – even to the point of affirming 'I am as God is',

8. What Is the Real World?

In the very beginning of the Course, we read: "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists." I believe this. Therefore the real world for me is the world I can not see in this illusion – it is the world which I never left. The world I make with the projection of my thoughts is threatened constantly and is ever changing. The world I make is an illusion – not real – it does not exist.

9. What Is the Second Coming?

Here is another statement that, for me, is religion based. The Second Coming of what or who? And when was the First Coming? We have the power to heal our world – to save our world – to forgive ourselves. What could we possibly wait for? And how long can we wait as life can end for us with any given breath?

10. What Is the Last Judgment?

Another of those words from religion. What was the 'first' judgment? My first judgment was at birth – crying because I no longer felt the warmth of a womb – no longer fed without effort. Now here I was screaming, feeling strange, cold, and probably hungry. My first judgment was that I had to cry to be fed. My last judgment will be the last site of the illusion I called 'world'. My last thought might be in the stillness and silence before the experience of death.

11. What Is Creation?

Creation is a word by ego to attempt to explain the unexplainable – this illusion. God does not create – does not need to create – because God IS – is what? IS all That Is. What could God 'create' that doesn't already exist? Ego has written a good story about creation and yet not all egos agree on one version. With God, there is only One.

And so the obvious question to be raised is this: If I affirm that I am as God created me, what am I saying?

Early in my Course years, I remember being told that the ego makes and God creates. To make means something of change and not eternal. To create means eternal and unchanging.

When you read that God created you in the image and likeness of God that is simply stating what you have forever been and will forever be. It is not as if God created now – there is no now for God – you have always been.

The term 'creation' helps grasp a little bit of who we are. As we allow this knowledge to enter into our core, we will become much more comfortable with it and even get to the point of acceptance.

12. What Is the Ego?

Ego is a word given to indicate who you think you are as the body you believe you have. Ego is nothing more than a thought in your mind. When asked where did ego come from, ignore the question. Ego asks ego constantly where it came from, and like anything else of ego origin, it never has an answer – theories, yes, but answer, no.

13. What Is a Miracle?

Books, movies and a myriad of newspapers have all focus on 'miracles' – the unexplained phenomena. But what truly is a miracle? Nothing more than a change of thought, of a belief you hold. One moment you see chaos, the next you can choose to see Peace. One moment you feel fear, the next you choose Love. The Bible is a good place to find stories of miracles attributed to the Teacher Jesus of Nazareth. But read the stories again and you will see that only because the individual believed that touching his cloak, as an example, and they would be healed. It was the thought they held in their mind that healed a sickness caused by a thought they had held previously. Miracles occur moment by moment – thought by thought. Do be impressed with them – you have that power within you. Simply choose again.

14. What Am I?

Simply stated, I am God. And what is God? That makes for a very good Zen koan. I think the Course states this well:

"I am complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of Love. In me is creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the home of God. I am the Heaven where Love resides. I am Sinlessness Itself.

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"One of these days I believe we may be given another Course,

the graduate version.

Why?

Because all sorts of people are being schooled in this new thought.

The world is evolving before our eyes,

and I see its ideas wending their way into the (reluctant) human mind."

Monica Tanzier

About the Author:

About the author:

Ron Rasmussen has read, studied and taught A Course in Miracles for over 15 years. He has posted numerous comments on ARequiredCourse@yahoogroups.com. He was once the owner and moderator of that board. He also posts regularly at WayneDyersPlace@yahoogroups.com and Spiritualicious@yahoogroups.com He has continued his spiritual path with interest in Buddhism, Sufism, Hindu and Eastern philosophy.

Connect with Me Online:

r.rasmusen@aol.com

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