ACIM Workbook Lesson 122 - Forgiveness offers everything I want.
"What could you want forgiveness cannot give? Do you want peace?
Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness, a quiet mind, a
certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that
transcends the world? Do you want care and safety, and the warmth of
sure protection always? Do you want a quietness that cannot be
disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep, abiding
comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?"
"All this forgiveness offers you, and more. It sparkles on your eyes
as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day. It
soothes your forehead while you sleep, and rests upon your eyelids
so you see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and attack. And when
you wake again, it offers you another day of happiness and peace.
All this forgiveness offers you, and more."
"Forgiveness lets the veil be lifted up that hides the face of
Christ from those who look with unforgiving eyes upon the world. It
lets you recognize the Son of God, and clears your memory of all
dead thoughts so that remembrance of your Father can arise across
the threshold of your mind. What would you want forgiveness cannot
give? What gifts but these are worthy to be sought? What fancied
value, trivial effect or transient promise, never to be kept, can
hold more hope than what forgiveness brings?"
"Why would you seek an answer other than the answer that will answer
everything? Here is the perfect answer, given to imperfect
questions, meaningless requests, halfhearted willingness to hear,
and less than halfway diligence and partial trust. Here is the
answer! Seek for it no more. You will not find another one instead."
"God's plan for your salvation cannot change, nor can it fail. Be
thankful it remains exactly as He planned it. Changelessly it stands
before you like an open door, with warmth and welcome calling from
beyond the doorway, bidding you to enter in and make yourself at
home, where you belong."
"Here is the answer! Would you stand outside while all of Heaven
waits for you within? Forgive and be forgiven. As you give you will
receive. There is no plan but this for the salvation of the Son of
God. Let us today rejoice that this is so, for here we have an
answer, clear and plain, beyond deceit in its simplicity. All the
complexities the world has spun of fragile cobwebs disappear before
the power and the majesty of this extremely simple statement of the
truth."
"Here is the answer! Do not turn away in aimless wandering again.
Accept salvation now. It is the gift of God, and not the world. The
world can give no gifts of any value to a mind that has received
what God has given as its own. God wills salvation be received
today, and that the intricacies of your dreams no longer hide their
nothingness from you."
"Open your eyes today and look upon a happy world of safety and of
peace. Forgiveness is the means by which it comes to take the place
of hell. In quietness it rises up to greet your open eyes, and fill
your heart with deep tranquility as ancient truths, forever newly
born, arise in your awareness. What you will remember then can never
be described. Yet your forgiveness offers it to you."
Thank you Jesus - a better Friend I will never find!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
A Course in Miracles takes no prisoners
This beautifully awesome summery of ACIM was Posted on the The Disappearance of the Universe Yahoo Forum by "Alan Dolit" (thanks Alan).
I recently came across the following, although it was written by a
Course student many years ago.
I recently came across the following, although it was written by a
Course student many years ago.
The first moment I opened A Course in Miracles, I was drawn by its
flawless beauty and poetry and heart, but stung fast by its
insistence on hard work. A Course in Miracles is an elegant spiritual
discipline both user-friendly and palpably practical, which focuses
on our true identity, true silence, and true forgiveness. In the
process of teaching those lessons ACIM demands something we may not
want to give: a stunningly high level of devotion. In short, A Course
in Miracles takes no prisoners. You either get down to learning the
wide, wordless beauty of Love and the inescapable naughtiness of the
ego, or you stay trapped in the back of the class with other ACIM
students who try to evade the nature of our Real Identity, and the
nature of Real Love. Let me tell you: many's the day I have spent in
the back of the class wanting to toss A Course of Miracles into the
trash. But, you see, I didn't. Or maybe I should say it another way:
It didn't let me. Of course, mistakes are permitted when you study
the deep, rich pages of A Course in Miracles, Permitted. :) They are
profoundly expected The silent angel author of ACIM tells us our
entire identity is a mistake and that our world is a dream. It
follows, then, that all thoughts relating to our sly, temporal
identity are mistakes by default. And our task, as fumbling initiates
of A Course in Miracles is to learn how to See behind the dream; to
learn how to Hear the still, small voice of God humming like faint
strains of Bach in the depths of our Real Heart. That's the
assignment in a nutshell. A Course in Miracles urges us to learn to
listen to the sweet, divine music within daily, hourly, minutely,
secondly as we breathe, as we move, as we walk, as we speak, as we
pray and we are Home free. I have A Course in Miracles by my bedside.
I have A Course in Miracles at my desk. I have A Course in Miracles
in my briefcase. But most of all, 14 years after I discovered it, I
have A Course in Miracles in my heart. by Elsa Joy Bailey
flawless beauty and poetry and heart, but stung fast by its
insistence on hard work. A Course in Miracles is an elegant spiritual
discipline both user-friendly and palpably practical, which focuses
on our true identity, true silence, and true forgiveness. In the
process of teaching those lessons ACIM demands something we may not
want to give: a stunningly high level of devotion. In short, A Course
in Miracles takes no prisoners. You either get down to learning the
wide, wordless beauty of Love and the inescapable naughtiness of the
ego, or you stay trapped in the back of the class with other ACIM
students who try to evade the nature of our Real Identity, and the
nature of Real Love. Let me tell you: many's the day I have spent in
the back of the class wanting to toss A Course of Miracles into the
trash. But, you see, I didn't. Or maybe I should say it another way:
It didn't let me. Of course, mistakes are permitted when you study
the deep, rich pages of A Course in Miracles, Permitted. :) They are
profoundly expected The silent angel author of ACIM tells us our
entire identity is a mistake and that our world is a dream. It
follows, then, that all thoughts relating to our sly, temporal
identity are mistakes by default. And our task, as fumbling initiates
of A Course in Miracles is to learn how to See behind the dream; to
learn how to Hear the still, small voice of God humming like faint
strains of Bach in the depths of our Real Heart. That's the
assignment in a nutshell. A Course in Miracles urges us to learn to
listen to the sweet, divine music within daily, hourly, minutely,
secondly as we breathe, as we move, as we walk, as we speak, as we
pray and we are Home free. I have A Course in Miracles by my bedside.
I have A Course in Miracles at my desk. I have A Course in Miracles
in my briefcase. But most of all, 14 years after I discovered it, I
have A Course in Miracles in my heart. by Elsa Joy Bailey
Thursday, March 1, 2007
there is no answer; only an experience
Snakes Alive………
Well I am pretty blown away after reading Your Immortal Realty which is Gary Renards latest book. And I am more determined than ever toward a quest of upholding the integrity of ACIM in what ever way I can. One example of this being something I wrote in the previous (December06) post about the email I had received via a friend which included an invitation by one self proclaimed guru of ACIM who calls himself “Master Teacher”, now when I first red his name I smelt a touch of “ego” mixed in there somewhere, but after reading the whole email I smelt a rat.
Well, much to my surprise and my rat smelling ability being “ratified “ from what I red about halfway into Your Immortal Reality, Gary’s first hand experience with “Master Teacher” just blew me away. Not only were my first impressions confirmed but Gary had been pre-informed of his coming experience from his teachers Pursa and Artian, and of course the solution to the “attack” situation was what I call the golden key of ACIM – forgiveness! Forgiveness undoes the ego!
What this showed me is that there are a lot of mixed up users of ACIM just as there are an awful lot of mixed up users of all spiritual teachings in this “Dream”.
So, what else has been happening in ACIM
I was reading DU again and being amazed at how much I never saw in the first reading, And that seems to be what many are saying too, from what I see on the forums. It (the experience of ACIM) just gets better and better.
I feel honored to be in the ACIM community in these days and know that what we do to keep the message clear today will give longevity to an un-corrupted message for the generations to come and that as the course says “save time”. An overview of the mess the original teachings of Jesus got into not long after his transition and how screwed up they are today through the help of the ego should be a wake up call enough.
Well I am pretty blown away after reading Your Immortal Realty which is Gary Renards latest book. And I am more determined than ever toward a quest of upholding the integrity of ACIM in what ever way I can. One example of this being something I wrote in the previous (December06) post about the email I had received via a friend which included an invitation by one self proclaimed guru of ACIM who calls himself “Master Teacher”, now when I first red his name I smelt a touch of “ego” mixed in there somewhere, but after reading the whole email I smelt a rat.
Well, much to my surprise and my rat smelling ability being “ratified “ from what I red about halfway into Your Immortal Reality, Gary’s first hand experience with “Master Teacher” just blew me away. Not only were my first impressions confirmed but Gary had been pre-informed of his coming experience from his teachers Pursa and Artian, and of course the solution to the “attack” situation was what I call the golden key of ACIM – forgiveness! Forgiveness undoes the ego!
What this showed me is that there are a lot of mixed up users of ACIM just as there are an awful lot of mixed up users of all spiritual teachings in this “Dream”.
So, what else has been happening in ACIM
I was reading DU again and being amazed at how much I never saw in the first reading, And that seems to be what many are saying too, from what I see on the forums. It (the experience of ACIM) just gets better and better.
I feel honored to be in the ACIM community in these days and know that what we do to keep the message clear today will give longevity to an un-corrupted message for the generations to come and that as the course says “save time”. An overview of the mess the original teachings of Jesus got into not long after his transition and how screwed up they are today through the help of the ego should be a wake up call enough.
Saturday, December 9, 2006
I Need Do Nothing
I red most of Timothy Freke’s “Jesus and the Goddess” and found myself getting nowhere I really wanted to go, and was loosing the nice sense of “love” that I have acquired through my study of ACIM. So I have put “Jesus and the Goddess” in the cupboard for whenever, which may be never! Took another two weeks to get back in sync with my “love” state.
I am enjoying this “love” relationship that IS NOW, and do not want to sabotage it through some other philo-sophy tangent, so I askd the HS for help.
It really is a love RELATIONSHIP, and what happened some days ago proved this to me. I was reading a passage in the ACIM Text section (18:The Dream and Reality) and came across a portion describing the difference between a DREAM and TRANSPORTATION, which caught my attention as I used to be a searcher for the methods of inducing the OUT of BODY EXPERIENCE. The explanation of what this experience is is totally different from the other schools of thought I had learned and so ACIM had a moving effect on me bringing me to a strong desire for guidance while asking / praying (with tears yet again).
Reason I started searching those years ago was because I had such (guided) OBE experiences in my 20s and wanted more answers to the questions they caused within me. Of which only these past few days do I NOW understand why my searching has been so painful and frustrating from the multitudes of tedious theories and methods practiced.
Well the ACIM is all about “saving time” and I could have saved 20years if somehow I new this back then.
Never the less, my recent (guided) “transportation” experience was without doubt a most beautiful timeless moment to have experienced,…”melting into” ONE with “God” (God being a state not “a being” according to ACIM).
I am consumed with gratitude for this relationship experience and the lesson of “I Need Do Nothing”...a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty.”
Not much has changed on the “outside?” yet, still wrestling with illusions (fears) of the daily grind (situations) etc…
I got an email last week from an ACIM self professed guru, perhaps this sounds cynical, and maybe it is, but I count myself lucky to have gotten off to a good start with ACIM and come in through “the right door”, so to speak. You see just like there are many hundreds of religions (entrapping themselves in absolute and literal dogmas) and their break-away denominations repeating the same silly mistakes, so it seems that it is this same way of the same “ego” interfering with ACIM. The “ego” loves to divide (dualism) and keep the illusion of separation alive, thus with ACIM there have arisen different interpretations of the original, thus interpreters i.e. Master Teachers, Pastors and Gurus.
Now my reasoning is this: if I read my ACIM right, there is no need for an interpreter as the Holy Spirit will assist you toward truth…why do we need yet another “ego” involved? Yes, sometimes I want some person to talk to about aspects I’m reading, but I am glad that I seem to be directed to the right forum or website that has the explanation right there for me when I need it. I love the guidance in this!
So this email I received tells me this Master Teacher has been told by Jesus that JESUS will appear this weekend 8-10th Dec, to him and his disciples. And has asked for everyone to get there if they love him.
Perhaps time will show me something new about what I feel about these misguided people…and for now “I forgive him”, “forgive me too for my perception since it may well be distorted”. The book The Disapparence of the Universe has a good explaniation of this fragmentation going on…(see links), Looking forward to reading more in his latest book.
“A dangerous thing happens when a man discovers his own truth. … He no longer finds himself bound by the dogma of some body of thought that supposedly holds the keys to his salvation. He has fought his way out of the cage and earned his freedom. And no one who controls him or hopes to in the future wants to see that happen.” http://blairwarren.com/blog/
Had the joy of going to a John Butler Trio concert on Wed evening with my son James (13), I love his music even more now. The words of one song comes to mind that I will close this post with…”all I know is, all I know is, I LOVE YOU, and I LOVE YOU”.
I am enjoying this “love” relationship that IS NOW, and do not want to sabotage it through some other philo-sophy tangent, so I askd the HS for help.
It really is a love RELATIONSHIP, and what happened some days ago proved this to me. I was reading a passage in the ACIM Text section (18:The Dream and Reality) and came across a portion describing the difference between a DREAM and TRANSPORTATION, which caught my attention as I used to be a searcher for the methods of inducing the OUT of BODY EXPERIENCE. The explanation of what this experience is is totally different from the other schools of thought I had learned and so ACIM had a moving effect on me bringing me to a strong desire for guidance while asking / praying (with tears yet again).
Reason I started searching those years ago was because I had such (guided) OBE experiences in my 20s and wanted more answers to the questions they caused within me. Of which only these past few days do I NOW understand why my searching has been so painful and frustrating from the multitudes of tedious theories and methods practiced.
Well the ACIM is all about “saving time” and I could have saved 20years if somehow I new this back then.
Never the less, my recent (guided) “transportation” experience was without doubt a most beautiful timeless moment to have experienced,…”melting into” ONE with “God” (God being a state not “a being” according to ACIM).
I am consumed with gratitude for this relationship experience and the lesson of “I Need Do Nothing”...a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty.”
Not much has changed on the “outside?” yet, still wrestling with illusions (fears) of the daily grind (situations) etc…
I got an email last week from an ACIM self professed guru, perhaps this sounds cynical, and maybe it is, but I count myself lucky to have gotten off to a good start with ACIM and come in through “the right door”, so to speak. You see just like there are many hundreds of religions (entrapping themselves in absolute and literal dogmas) and their break-away denominations repeating the same silly mistakes, so it seems that it is this same way of the same “ego” interfering with ACIM. The “ego” loves to divide (dualism) and keep the illusion of separation alive, thus with ACIM there have arisen different interpretations of the original, thus interpreters i.e. Master Teachers, Pastors and Gurus.
Now my reasoning is this: if I read my ACIM right, there is no need for an interpreter as the Holy Spirit will assist you toward truth…why do we need yet another “ego” involved? Yes, sometimes I want some person to talk to about aspects I’m reading, but I am glad that I seem to be directed to the right forum or website that has the explanation right there for me when I need it. I love the guidance in this!
So this email I received tells me this Master Teacher has been told by Jesus that JESUS will appear this weekend 8-10th Dec, to him and his disciples. And has asked for everyone to get there if they love him.
Perhaps time will show me something new about what I feel about these misguided people…and for now “I forgive him”, “forgive me too for my perception since it may well be distorted”. The book The Disapparence of the Universe has a good explaniation of this fragmentation going on…(see links), Looking forward to reading more in his latest book.
“A dangerous thing happens when a man discovers his own truth. … He no longer finds himself bound by the dogma of some body of thought that supposedly holds the keys to his salvation. He has fought his way out of the cage and earned his freedom. And no one who controls him or hopes to in the future wants to see that happen.” http://blairwarren.com/blog/
Had the joy of going to a John Butler Trio concert on Wed evening with my son James (13), I love his music even more now. The words of one song comes to mind that I will close this post with…”all I know is, all I know is, I LOVE YOU, and I LOVE YOU”.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Seeing through smoke and mirrors
Plaese note: I am not fully awake from the illusion of this dream yet but I am working at it and things are happening which gives me confidence that some day soon I will wake and I hope you can join with me to too.
SNAKE OIL
Oh well, here goes my endeavor to communicate some relatively clear thoughts and ideas that I have arrived at and will most likely move on from as the illusion of time advances into its nothingness.
I have literally been weeping over the feelings of being a prey to all the deceit and trickery spewed forth from these so called self-help teachers who seem to get obscenely wealthy from their half baked teachings on enlightenment and the many faces it is portrayed through in the multimedia marketing machine. A lot of smoke and mirrors are used to market their regurgitated half truths, baiting on to another regurgitated publication which is promised to contain the secret to the mysteries etc..
Any way, I have recently become a student of the famed “A Course In Miracles” which I can happily say is without ownership so is not being marketed by myself. Though there are many “gurus” who are marketing ACIM. Thus making of it another religion which essentially it is NOT.
I feel relieved that I bypassed these sellers of truth and have found myself in amongst a pretty sincere bunch of fellow “beings”. I guess I must be getting sharper at recognizing the sellers of truth because I find I can ignore them totally since they have an agenda of their own making (of such things I am so tired). Or perhaps it is true after all “ask (in the depths of your heart) and you will receive”.
I have put the link on the side for any reader who might want the free ACIM book of which they ask for postage and any free will offering toward the cause of ACIM. I am really grateful to the FACIM
What is the Cause or should I say Effect of ACIM?
Gee, I wish I could give a scholarly answer but best I can say is it is to correct the wrong thinking that keeps giving us the results we wish we didn’t keep getting.
ACIM is presented to us in the language of the Christian form ie Father Son and Holy Spirit etc, but the content is definitely not of the now day Christian religious literalist and authoritarian agenda that keep the dualistic ego machine at war (us and them).
I looked at ACIM some years ago and thought it was not for me …looked like too much hard work was required and thought it too close to Christianity of which I had divorced myself from due to so personal experiensual revelations…But here I am some 2 or more years later and two months into ACIM and seeing amazing things going on within and without.
Oh, what changed my mind toward ACIM..the book The Disappearance of the Universe. Great read and the author seems (in my reckoning) to be part of the “sincere bunch of beings I mentioned earlier.
So ACIM is one of those things in life that is essential “when the student is ready”. I don’t know how I will go overall, as I am not the most diligent of studiers by any means so I might not pass the “course” and get my degree, thereby being accepted by the gullible and hence receive their testimonies of how I have healed them and opened their eyes etc…thus endorsing my own version of SNAKE OIL. Or, perhaps that might just motivate me to create my own version and interpretation of ACIM and whola… I am an instant guru of ACIM…hmmm! (and off we go …another ego centered dualist religion).
One amazing thing I am experiencing is the parallel (unity) understandings and truths of what I am learning in ACIM and what has come alive to me out of a little book I bought 12 months ago. Then the little book called Lucid Living didn’t do anything for me as it “promised” it would. But these past few days I picked it up again and gave it another investigative browse and Wholaa… they are both saying the same thing from slightly different angles but the reality is getting brighter and I find I have a nice smile from the awareness that I entertain every time I flip it on, so to speak. You have to read the little book to get what I mean, but it works a wonder and is turning my “world inside out” as the author Timothy Freke says, and as ACIM says “corrects our upside-down thinking.
I don’t personally have any desire to consciously call myself anything be it Christian or Gnostic since it seems from my perception at this point that this kind of labeling serves a dualistic purpose of separation rather than a unifying outcome. Though I have enjoyed calling myself lately Consultant, Trader, Investor, Researcher, and Blogger all of which are relative to what I do. I don’t do Christianity or Gnosticisim….hmmm phew..thank God for that!
On the other hand I still do do Depression, lack, self-sabatage etc…or rather have done those things and only recently too, and thus call myself all sorts of negative things which this sort of self attacking is just not on any more, self love is seriously important, but that is what ACIM is addressing with me and I am confident those latter insane occupations will become redundant soon enough having begun to see their illusion.
Im greatful to the honest beings bringing healing to other beings in this life-dream of which we are all ONE.
Love and Peace
SNAKE OIL
Oh well, here goes my endeavor to communicate some relatively clear thoughts and ideas that I have arrived at and will most likely move on from as the illusion of time advances into its nothingness.
I have literally been weeping over the feelings of being a prey to all the deceit and trickery spewed forth from these so called self-help teachers who seem to get obscenely wealthy from their half baked teachings on enlightenment and the many faces it is portrayed through in the multimedia marketing machine. A lot of smoke and mirrors are used to market their regurgitated half truths, baiting on to another regurgitated publication which is promised to contain the secret to the mysteries etc..
Any way, I have recently become a student of the famed “A Course In Miracles” which I can happily say is without ownership so is not being marketed by myself. Though there are many “gurus” who are marketing ACIM. Thus making of it another religion which essentially it is NOT.
I feel relieved that I bypassed these sellers of truth and have found myself in amongst a pretty sincere bunch of fellow “beings”. I guess I must be getting sharper at recognizing the sellers of truth because I find I can ignore them totally since they have an agenda of their own making (of such things I am so tired). Or perhaps it is true after all “ask (in the depths of your heart) and you will receive”.
I have put the link on the side for any reader who might want the free ACIM book of which they ask for postage and any free will offering toward the cause of ACIM. I am really grateful to the FACIM
What is the Cause or should I say Effect of ACIM?
Gee, I wish I could give a scholarly answer but best I can say is it is to correct the wrong thinking that keeps giving us the results we wish we didn’t keep getting.
ACIM is presented to us in the language of the Christian form ie Father Son and Holy Spirit etc, but the content is definitely not of the now day Christian religious literalist and authoritarian agenda that keep the dualistic ego machine at war (us and them).
I looked at ACIM some years ago and thought it was not for me …looked like too much hard work was required and thought it too close to Christianity of which I had divorced myself from due to so personal experiensual revelations…But here I am some 2 or more years later and two months into ACIM and seeing amazing things going on within and without.
Oh, what changed my mind toward ACIM..the book The Disappearance of the Universe. Great read and the author seems (in my reckoning) to be part of the “sincere bunch of beings I mentioned earlier.
So ACIM is one of those things in life that is essential “when the student is ready”. I don’t know how I will go overall, as I am not the most diligent of studiers by any means so I might not pass the “course” and get my degree, thereby being accepted by the gullible and hence receive their testimonies of how I have healed them and opened their eyes etc…thus endorsing my own version of SNAKE OIL. Or, perhaps that might just motivate me to create my own version and interpretation of ACIM and whola… I am an instant guru of ACIM…hmmm! (and off we go …another ego centered dualist religion).
One amazing thing I am experiencing is the parallel (unity) understandings and truths of what I am learning in ACIM and what has come alive to me out of a little book I bought 12 months ago. Then the little book called Lucid Living didn’t do anything for me as it “promised” it would. But these past few days I picked it up again and gave it another investigative browse and Wholaa… they are both saying the same thing from slightly different angles but the reality is getting brighter and I find I have a nice smile from the awareness that I entertain every time I flip it on, so to speak. You have to read the little book to get what I mean, but it works a wonder and is turning my “world inside out” as the author Timothy Freke says, and as ACIM says “corrects our upside-down thinking.
I don’t personally have any desire to consciously call myself anything be it Christian or Gnostic since it seems from my perception at this point that this kind of labeling serves a dualistic purpose of separation rather than a unifying outcome. Though I have enjoyed calling myself lately Consultant, Trader, Investor, Researcher, and Blogger all of which are relative to what I do. I don’t do Christianity or Gnosticisim….hmmm phew..thank God for that!
On the other hand I still do do Depression, lack, self-sabatage etc…or rather have done those things and only recently too, and thus call myself all sorts of negative things which this sort of self attacking is just not on any more, self love is seriously important, but that is what ACIM is addressing with me and I am confident those latter insane occupations will become redundant soon enough having begun to see their illusion.
Im greatful to the honest beings bringing healing to other beings in this life-dream of which we are all ONE.
Love and Peace
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