1. Healing and Abundance (1 of 12 Workshops based on "A Course In Miracles")
I am here only to serve you. I am here to create a space for you in which you feel loved and safe. I am here, to help you open a place within your heart where you can learn what you forgot about yourself. I am here to teach you what you forgot, in order that I may remember it for myself: We are One Love.
I ask only that you set aside all previously held beliefs about yourself and everyone else. It will make the process of acceptance easier for you if you set all the weight of the world down- even for just a little while. Keep your ears open, your eyes wide and your heart free... For what's about to happen to you... Is a miracle.
Will you join with me on this journey into happiness? It is a journey that leads to peace and awakening. This path is gentle and our burden is Light. You will enjoy every step of the Way.
So let us waste no more time and begin.
1. HEALING AND ABUNDANCE
A tree is content to be a tree. A dog is satisfied being just a dog. A butterfly is happy exactly as it is.
All living things are content to be exactly as they are; nothing more, nothing less.
Except for human beings.
We feel we must strive, struggle and compete. We feel continuously restless and unhappy with ourselves. We seem to wander from one thing to another; never finding lasting happiness. We try every conceivable identity and role; never feeling like it's whom we are. What we have, is a collective "identity crisis" on our hands.
Why? These feelings can only mean one thing: we are not being Who We Truly Are, and therefore do not know what we truly want.
We are not who we think we are, and by trying to be what we are not, we feel distressed and unfulfilled in every possible way.
The Truth is, we are Spirit. We are One Love. We are not these separate bodies we think we see.
We have forgotten the truth of Who We Are and it is high time we remembered. It is time to awaken to the Magnitude of the Truth of our Eternal Identity.
We can learn how to awaken to Truth and it all comes down to a simple choice in seeing; a single change of mind. A choice we never knew we had. Until now.
We have each given up our eternal memory of Who We Are as spirit, in order to experience independence from God in a body. We wanted to know what it would be like to be something separate or "other" than perfection. We know this happened, because none of us has any memory of our life before birth and in order to experience who we are not; we had to forget who we were.
What we did not fully understand, was how much suffering our decision would cause us. I'm sure our Heavenly Associates explained it to us in great detail, but much like a child does not understand the pain of fire until they touch it, we could not understand what suffering the separation would cause while in our state of eternal bliss- until we experienced it first hand. The instant that we imagined our separation (and I say imagine, because it is impossible to truly separate from God in truth or we would cease to exist) this mistake or "sin" was simultaneously corrected by God through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit within us. He is the Voice for God, who calls our separated mind Home to Him continuously. Most of us cannot hear this Voice however, because our egos have barriers against it. All we can tell is that we feel vaguely dissatisfied with life at best, and downright angry and depressed at worst.
When the separation occurred, our mind split in two: a split between God (our holy mind, whole as it truly is), and the ego (everything separate or negative about us). With that split came the amnesia, these bodies we find ourselves in, and the entire physical world. This may surprise you, but WE made this world- not God. God did create a world however- but it isn't this place. The world God created is what we refer to as Heaven- a place of nothing but peace, love and light. It is the goal of these lessons to heal our split mind and return to this state of eternal bliss. And we do not have to physically die in order to do this.
Having imagined we did the unthinkable (separate from our Loving Creator) this incurred enormous guilt within us, which we are currently projecting outside ourselves on a continuous basis through our negative thoughts. We do not want to bear the burden of this level of guilt, so we blame everyone and everything outside of us as the source of all our problems; when in fact; it is our very own thoughts that are keeping the world we currently see in place. Without these thoughts, we would see Heaven. Our unloving thoughts have made an unloving world that literally hides the light of Heaven behind it.
Yes, Heaven lies just behind the world we currently see; unmarred, undamaged, and perfect as ever, despite what we are experiencing now. And yes, our thoughts hold that much power! God, being Perfect, creates only what is Perfect, and gives His creations the same ability to create that He has. And so we think we have a made a world of our own, and it is hell. We have used our God given power to make a world of fear and separation.
Now it is time to undo what our unloving thoughts have made. It is time to change the way we think and the way we see the world. It is only through correcting our thoughts that we can heal our minds and heal this world.
This is actually a simple process of understanding the thoughts you currently hold, and changing them. It is time to relinquish your judgment on everything around you.
First, know that nothing you see means anything, because it is a world of illusion that was generated out of fear and guilt from our imagined separation from God. We have given this world all the meaning it has- and it has none because we cannot truly make anything without Love. Love can only create the eternal, and nothing we see outside of us is eternal; therefore, none of it is real and has no meaning in Heaven. A good test for what is real and what is not is whether or not we can't take it with us into Heaven. If it isn't eternal, it isn’t real. This world is like a fake cardboard set on a stage.
And so, you do not really understand anything you see because you are looking entirely at illusion, and so all of your thoughts about it are illusionary as well. You are having illusionary thoughts about an illusionary world, which means you are not really having any thoughts about anything at all. Your mind has been essentially blank your entire physical life.
We have mindlessly been using our minds to make a meaningless world, and unknowingly seeming to hurt one another in the process.
In this sense, the zombie apocalypse is very real indeed.
To make matters worse, your mind is entirely preoccupied with these illusionary thoughts about this illusionary world, and deep down inside you know it is all meaningless and this causes you distress.
You know something feels amiss. You've known all your life something isn't right about this world, but you could never quite put your finger on it.
That's because this world isn't your home and this isn't the world God created for you. This place was made by the ego. The ego keeps this place going by showing you only illusion through your bodily eyes, which are also part of the illusion, and can therefore only show you more illusion. The only way to truly see is to use your "inner eyes." As it stands now, you do not know what anything looks like as God created it, you do not know what anything is for, and none of it makes any sense. Again, this causes uncertainty, fear, anxiety, depression and anger in you. You blame outside circumstances on these feelings, but in truth, there is only one reason you ever feel any negative emotion: You're upset because you're here to begin with. You want to heal the separation and go home.
The way to undo all of this is to forgive yourself the guilt of your initial mistake of thinking you could live separately from God. You are not a separate being, living in a body. You are a blessed Creation of God, and because of that you are very holy; and your holiness blesses the world, just by your mere presence here.
ACIM LESSON 37: MY HOLINESS BLESSES THE WORLD:
Holy Spirit said to me regarding this lesson:
"Your holiness blesses the world because you are whole. You, who are whole, need nothing; you who are whole make no demands upon the world- knowing full well that the world cannot give you the peace and happiness that you seek. In this sense, your "holiness" IS your "wholeness;" your Unity with all living things.
A wholly whole person aware of their own holiness extends a blessing from their abundant holiness to the world, rather than making demands of it. They give, rather than take.
The Law of Love dictates that what we give is what we receive, so it is in our best interest to give only blessings in order to receive only blessings.
In this way, you ask for nothing, in order to receive everything.
And in any lack or need that you may perceive, remember that God's grace suffices you. You are complete and healed and whole just as He created you.
This is the "Abundance Prayer" you should lay upon the world with your holiness, in order that you may experience abundance yourself.
If you receive what you give, then imagine how much you will receive when you give all to all?
***
We do not believe in our own perfection and abundance. Our minds are split between the ego and the Holy Spirit within us. We believe we are flawed "sinners" capable of wrongdoing and evil.
Having believed what is not true, we must now unlearn our imperfection and embrace the truth of our holiness, perfect abundance, and Oneness. Only this can heal our split mind, and cure everything thing we think hurts us.
In order to heal, we must open the channels of our mind to God. He will not enter where He is not invited, and so, we must learn how to offer this invitation. We offer it through letting down our barriers to Love. Any negative thought is a barrier to Love's Presence, Abundance, and Peace.
PLEASE NEVER FORGET: GOD IS ALWAYS PRESENT. IT IS ONLY YOUR LACK OF AWARENESS OF HIS PRESENCE THAT MAKES HIM SEEM ABSENT.
He is always ready and waiting for your invitation.
It may sound impossible to wrangle in your errant thoughts- at times, they seem to rampage through your mind uncontrollably; but there is a simple way to achieve inner peace, and I promise you can do it.
There are 3 steps to this process. It all comes down to recognizing when you're listening to the ego or the Holy Spirit, and then changing your mind if you're listening to the ego. If you listen to the ego, the channel to God is closed, and you feel some level of pain and discomfort. If you are listening to the Holy Spirit, the channel to manifesting miracles is open, and you feel peace and joy. Easy peasy! Right? ;)
So here is how it's done:
ACIM Text Chapter 6 pg.103 V. The Lessons of the Holy Spirit
A. To Have, Give All to All
"God did not make the body, because it is destructible, and therefore not of the Kingdom. The body is the symbol of what you think you are. It is clearly a separation device, and therefore does not exist." (2.1-3)
"I have said that the Holy Spirit is the motivation for miracles. He always tells you that only the mind is real, because only the mind can be shared." (3.1-2)
"To the Holy Spirit, there is no order of difficulty in miracles. This is familiar enough to you by now, but it has not yet become believable. Therefore, you do not understand it and cannot use it. We have too much to accomplish on behalf of the Kingdom to let this crucial concept slip away. It is a real foundation stone of the thought system I teach and want you to teach. You cannot perform miracles without believing it, because it is a belief in perfect equality. Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal Sons of God, and that is full appreciation. Nothing more and nothing less. Without a range, order of difficulty is meaningless, and there must be no range in what you offer to your brother." (4.1-9)
"Egos do join together in temporary allegiance, but always for what each one can get separately. The Holy Spirit communicates only what each one can give to all. He never takes anything back, because He wants you to keep it. Therefore, His teaching begins with the lesson:
To have, give all to all. (5.9-13)
This is a very preliminary step, and the only one you must take for yourself. (6.1) This step may appear to exacerbate conflict rather than resolve it, because it is the beginning step in reversing your perception and turning it right-side up. This conflicts with the upside-down perception you have not yet abandoned, or the change in direction would not have been necessary. Some remain at this step for a long time, experiencing very acute conflict. (6.4-6) Having taken the first step, however, they will be helped. Once they have chosen what they cannot complete alone, they are no longer alone." (6.8-9)
B. To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It
"All who believe in separation have a basic fear of retaliation and abandonment." (1.1)
"What you teach you are, but it is quite apparent that you can teach wrongly, and can therefore teach yourself wrong." (1.4)
"The first step in the reversal or undoing process is the undoing of the getting concept. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit's first lesson was 'To have, give all to all.'" (3.2)
"Upside down as always, the ego perceives the first lesson as insane." (4.1)
"The way out of conflict between two opposing thought systems is clearly to choose one and relinquish the other. If you identify with your thought system, and you cannot escape this, and if you accept two thought systems which are in complete disagreement, peace of mind is impossible. If you teach both, which you will surely do as long as you accept both, you are teaching conflict and learning it. Yet you do want peace, or you would not have called upon the Voice for peace to help you. Its lesson is not insane; the conflict is." (5.1-5)
"The Holy Spirit perceives the conflict exactly as it is. Therefore, His second lesson is:
To have peace, teach peace to learn it." (7.3-15)
"This is still a preliminary step, since having and being are still not equated." (8.1)
C. Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom
"Remember, however, that what the Holy Spirit rejects the ego accepts. This is because they are in fundamental disagreement about everything, being in fundamental disagreement about what you are." (1.7-8)
"God Himself has established what you can extend with perfect safety. Therefore, the Holy Spirit's third lesson is:
Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom." (2.6-8)
"This is a major step toward fundamental change." (3.1)
"While the first step seems to increase conflict and the second may still entail conflict to some extent, this step calls for consistent vigilance against it." (4.1)
"You learn first that having rests on giving, and not on getting. Next you learn that you learn what you teach, and that you want to learn peace. This is the condition for identifying with the Kingdom, since it is the condition of the Kingdom." (6.1-3)
"The third step is thus one of protection for your mind, allowing you to identify only with the center, where God placed the altar to Himself." (7.1) The Voice for God speaks only for belief beyond question, which is the preparation for being without question. As long as belief in God and His Kingdom is assailed by any doubts in your mind, His perfect accomplishment is not apparent to you. This is why you must be vigilant on God's behalf." (7.3-5)
"The third step, then, is a statement of what you want to believe, and entails a willingness to relinquish everything else. The Holy Spirit will enable you to take this step, if you follow Him. Your vigilance is the sign that you want Him to guide you." (10.1-3)
***
To summarize all this:
The body is a "getting" mechanism. Our Spirit needs nothing, and therefore is in a perpetual state of peace. When we do not feel peace, we are identifying with our body, and therefore our ego. We are trying to "get" something when we already have everything. This conflict produces pain. To change our mind, and manifest only through Spirit, we follow these three steps:
1. First, recognize you are feeling some sort of discomfort, and you do not like it, and therefore do not want it. You want peace. In order to have peace, you must give it. To have, give all to all.
2. Decide that whatever it is you think you want or need, is actually not true. You need nothing. Do not try to force your will upon anything; living or non-living; animate or inanimate; imaginary or seemingly real; situational or not. This establishes peace in your life as you become the giver of peace.
To have peace, teach peace to learn it.
3. You must now decide to stop asking the world for anything. You must essentially "drop your case against it." Let it go. You do not really know what you want, and you do not really know what anything in the world is for. You do not know what your own best interests are. Therefore, you want nothing to do with it. Let all people, situations, and everything else you see be exactly as it is. Do not impose your will upon anything by wishing things were different. Now you have let go of the reins and God will pick them up for you. Now you're paying attention to your thoughts. Now you are being vigilant only for God and His Kingdom- and allowing the true creativity of the Holy Spirit within you to manifest peace and abundance for you.
Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.
This world is not real, and so you should not ask for things from what is not real because you will receive only what is not real- and you will be disappointed every time because you are essentially asking for nothing. You know this is true because you have been experiencing disappointment your entire life. Stop asking the world to give you things or to change to suit your needs. You have no needs except to remember your Divinity and Perfection. You do this by seeing only Divinity and Perfection in everyone around you- knowing the bodies that you see are not Who They Are. By extending this equal gift to everyone, you are asking for everything to be given you in return.
Peace and Abundance will flow.
ACIM Text Chapter 8 I. The Direction of the Curriculum
"The distractions of the ego may seem to interfere with your learning, but the ego has no power to distract you unless you give it the power to do so. The ego's voice is an hallucination. You cannot expect it to say "I am not real." Yet you are not asked to dispel your hallucinations alone. You are merely asked to evaluate them in terms of their results to you. If you do not want them on the basis of loss of peace, they will be removed from your mind for you." (2.1-6)
Another thing to remember is this: the ego always speaks first. In every situation you encounter or thought that you have about the world, the ego will always be the first on the scene. It is pushy and obnoxious! Your only job is to recognize when it barges in and quietly lay it to rest by remembering you do not want to listen to it. You want to hearonly One Voice and one voice only. Do not feel guilty or like you've failed when you catch your ego thoughts! It is actually a huge success every time you do this!!
ACIM Text pg.200 Chapter 11 IV. The Inheritance of God's Son
"Only you can deprive yourself of anything. Do not oppose this realization, for it is truly the beginning of the dawn of light. Remember also that the denial of this simple fact takes many forms, and these you must learn to recognize and to oppose steadfastly, without exception. This is a crucial step in the reawakening. The beginning phases of this reversal are often quite painful, for as blame is withdrawn from without, there is a strong tendency to harbor it within. It is difficult at first to realize that this is exactly the same thing, for there is no distinction between within and without." (4.1-6)
"If your brothers are part of you and you blame them for your deprivation, you are blaming yourself." (5.1)
"Lay it to yourself and you cannot know yourself, for only the ego blames at all. Self-blame is therefore ego identification, and as much an ego defense as blaming others." (5.4-5)
"That is why blame must be undone, not seen elsewhere." (5.3)
"You cannot enter God's Presence if you attack His Son." (5.6)
"But love yourself with the Love of Christ, for so does your Father love you." (6.4)
"God knows His Son as wholly blameless as Himself, and He is approached through appreciation of His Son. Christ waits for your acceptance of Him as yourself, and of His Wholeness as yours." (7.2-3)
I want to clarify that this process is not just about "feeling happy" or trying to "manifest a better life" - although those things will happen. You are actually changing the very fabric of our existence through your thoughts. You are helping to change the world- correcting an ancient "wrong" that was committed eons ago. You are literally bringing Heaven to earth; which some call the Second Coming of Christ.
Do not fear this transition. You are never alone in anything you do. Love goes with you wherever you go. And Love, being Love; gives you only Love. You are safe no matter what!