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SearchA Fast Course in Forgiveness video: Giving and receiving are the same, and simultaneous!
Description of video:
Divine Law is that giving and receiving are the same; what you give is what you get. You are Love, simultaneously extending and receiving Love. But in this world, there appears to be a time delay between giving and receiving. None-the-less, it is you who are bringing what you think about into awareness--now. If you think an unhappy thought, you are holding that thought now. This is present cause. You manifest your present thoughts. You can release your mind by releasing your thoughts. You have been completely mistaken about everything. So surrender; forgive your false thoughts, and move toward the true meaning of love.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6qJCHEM_MU&NR=1
Being of True Service Video
General description: The sense of service can be a helpful step, as a backdrop for watching the mind. Everything is thought and really the service is learning how to forgive and release attack thoughts. "I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts". Service cannot be judged in terms of form. True service is an alignment in purpose.
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P2ezGztTd0
Why am I holding myself back from being able to maintain Knowledge 24/7?
Question:
I don't know why I am holding myself back. I've had the experience of no world and no people, and being the Son of God. I believe it with all my heart. That little knowledge seems to be able to answer any question I can think of about the nature of things. Since I seem to "know" that all this is meaningless, and I do feel that, what am I doing or not doing that might slow myself down? I do know that I have some trouble maintaining the knowledge 24/7. It does seem to slip away from time to time. Is that the problem? Also, I'm not able to "converse" with HS to the degree that I would like. I can get Him to answer me when I ask if He is there, but then ego starts an uproar, and I usually lose Him. Sometimes not, but usually. I love that you're available in this form.
Answer:
The release is seeing that the present moment (knowledge) need not be "maintained" 24/7, but only accepted. The belief that time is linear instead of simultaneous is the only problem, and the vacillation between states of mind reflects the problem. The miracle does nothing. All it does is undo. You are opening to what is known within, watching all self-concepts dissolve, surrendering to the silence of being. As any thoughts of time, of holding yourself back, all questions, and any thoughts of doing or not doing are released, the Holy Instant is all that remains in awareness. The Holy Instant is All. The mind emptied of the meaningless is discovered to be Divine Mind.
The one lesson is undoing, the one way is surrender, and the one life is the experience. This is the advanced course in miracles. When the ego seems to start an uproar, release whatever thoughts appear with the declaration: "this means nothing." Use this as a mantra to release any thought of past or future. Undoing comes first. You will fear Holy Spirit and the surrender to silence and acceptance of Atonement until concepts are undone. Undoing is the practice. Attend to the practice.
Love and Blessings,
David
How are guilt and people-pleasing released? Can the Holy Spirit help increase our willingness, or is that solely our own responsibility?
Question:
The hardest thing for me is the constant sense of guilt. Would you speak about that? You said that guilt comes from accepting ego roles. ACIM seems to say that guilt comes from believing you can attack your brother and therefore yourself. Can you clarify this for me? Also, can the Holy Spirit help with willingness, or being our only responsibility, is it solely ours and not His?
Finally, I read your letter titled "Experiment in forgiveness" about a child returning home as a houseguest. My 25-year-old son has been in my home for about a year now. I have felt led by the Spirit to treat him as a house guest; we had agreed that he could live in a trailer behind my home, that he would refurbish it and I would supply what he needed to do so. He was separated from his wife when he first came here, but now she has moved in and his two children are here. I seem to find myself taking care of them a lot. I am also the sole caregiver to my mother, who is bedridden. How do I untangle from being not only the caregiver of the children but also, from being the one who cleans up after that family, cooks for them, laundry, etc.?
Answer:
The belief that a Divine Mind in Union with God can be broken apart into bits and pieces and fragments is the belief that attack is possible. To see a brother as a separate individual with a private mind and private thoughts is a reflection of the belief in separation from God. Mind is One and forever Eternal, yet the "mortal mind" that is the ego invention is an illusory belief in fragmentation. The ego assigns each fragment a "life" of its own and calls the fragment by a name, and this false memory package is assigned a series of roles. This is how the ego attempts to make something from nothing. It tries to see "life" in graven images made to take the place of Christ. None of the make-believe roles are true. Indeed all the world's a stage, though Divine Mind can play no part. Oneness can never shrink into a little role that seems to play out on a timeline. All that is asked is that you be willing to call upon the miracle and see the world anew with the Holy Spirit. The willingness is our responsibility, and this joins with the Might of the Holy Spirit. The reason willingness is required is because the Will of God can only be experienced voluntarily. If it is your single desire you will recognize that what is whole has no need of healing, and this is the Atonement or Correction to the error that never was.
This world is based on false roles. Guilt is kept buried and hidden in awareness as the mind attempts to identify and act out these roles, for the ego belief that made them is kept out of awareness as they are blindly pursued. The ego uses guilt to keep the mind in the illusion of bondage because it is impossible to live up to ego ideals that never had any life or substance in Reality. The "person" never lives up to the "ideal" and this is where the guilt SEEMS to arise. Yet neither the person construct or the ideal or role construct is real. You have been measuring your "self" against an illusion, yet you are not two selves. You are One Self united with our Creator and far beyond any measurement or comparison. Not being a good enough mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, neighbor, student, citizen, ACIM teacher, etc. is never the source of the guilt that imprisons. It is the ego belief beneath all the roles that is the "source" of guilt as long as it is believed to be real.
Your work with ACIM and the music is Calling you into your true function, and that function IS your happiness and freedom and peace! You are not your brother's keeper and the mother role was but a temporary role to be laid aside in the undoing of the ego. You are Spirit, yet you will not remember this until you release the little roles the ego made to keep you unaware. The Holy Spirit will offer more expansive roles (i.e., teacher of God) in exchange for the limiting roles of the past as you begin to Awaken. Yet even the seemingly more expansive roles will be transcended as you learn to forgive illusion entirely. The stepping stones to Enlightenment are just backdrops of scenes and scenarios that allow you to practice releasing all limiting belief and accept the only belief that will set you free: Atonement.
You will see your "son" as what you believe you are. Are you flesh? Then is your "son" flesh and confined to the flesh. Are you Spirit? Then your "Son" is the Christ, our very Self, and the past has been forgiven of all the images and memories that seemed to hide the Face of Christ. When you play the "caretaker" role you lay the limit upon your own mind in awareness, for you witness to the belief that the ego is still in charge and still responsible. Give this "care-taking role" to the Holy Spirit, Who careth for our Holy mind. As you follow the Holy Spirit's Guidance you will see that you are not sacrificing anything to fulfill the function Given you. Forgiveness suits your need, and you have no other.
Be straightforward and honest in this matter and let the Holy Spirit put the words in your mouth when you speak to your son. You will feel a calm assurance when you speak from your heart and say what is truly most helpful. And as you do the past patterns and habits and people-pleasing thoughts of guilt will dissolve away, for they were never truly a part of the Real You. Once they are given to the Holy Spirit they are already gone, and if you cease to protect and cling to these people-pleasing thoughts they will seem to vanish quickly. Your true function is waiting in your mind for you to immerse into it. Take the lid off of the pot of past thoughts, for it is a waste of energy to try to keep the lid on and pretend to be what you are not. When you pray remember this: You do not ask for too much, but far too little. Do not limit your asking, for Joy is what you deserve in awareness, and Joy is what You are in Reality. Your true function will show you this. In your true function, I will come as a witness to your willingness to Awaken. And we shall "gather" and give all the Glory to God, for the Light has come!
Love always,
David
Writing from David on the topic of Stewardship
Blessings of Joy and Love! Glory to the One Who is the Giver of Life Eternal. I have been asked to speak on the topic of Stewardship by my sisters and brothers, and so I shall.
Stewardship has its Source in God, Who is the Giver of Life. In relation to this world, the mind believes it has forgotten God and is imagining a sense of incompletion and lack. The sleeping mind believes in needs and wants and seeks for abilities and things and people to satisfy these desires. The Holy Spirit meets these perceived desires as the mind Awakens, teaching the mind to release all false beliefs and concepts that made up the perceived needs and desires. Such is Stewardship. It is stepping back and allowing the Holy Spirit to take care of all the "details" of Awakening. The Holy Spirit leads to an experience of Wholeness and Completion in which there is no lack. As the sleeping mind begins to trust the Holy Spirit miracles light the way, for they show the truth of the idea "I am sustained by the Love of God."
Stewardship is always voluntary, just as Awakening is voluntary. Unless the use of mind effort (time and skills and resources and funds and energy) is entirely voluntary there will be a sense of coercion and a host of "shoulds" "ought to's" "musts" and "have to's." A steward uses what is available in the service of the Holy Spirit's Purpose and comes to experience that Giving and Receiving are the same. The Purpose channelizes all effort in one direction, Atonement or Complete Forgiveness, and this is how perception is integrated and healed of every distortion.
Those who are Called to Stewardship have been Asked to step into their function. Whatever they seemed to possess in this world is given over to a new Purpose that will show them that it is God Which Provides and Sustains, and ultimately that there is nothing apart from Life in God. From deep within, one is Called to this holy function. The only question is whether one will choose to listen to, answer, follow, and fulfill this Call. "I am Calling you out of the world" is the same Call that has remained constant under the shifting world of conflict and scarcity.
Here are some parables about the blocks to Stewardship taken from the back of the Urantia Book. A steward is one who is willing to volunteer for the opportunity to serve God by forgiving and thus releasing all attachments to the world. As a context for these parables, Jesus and his apostles are training disciples to share the teachings and good news of the Heavenly Kingdom:
One earnest disciple came to Jesus, saying: "Master, I would be one of your new apostles, but my father is very old and near death; could I be permitted to return home to bury him?" To this man Jesus said: "My son, the foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. You are a faithful disciple, and you can remain such while you return home to minister to your loved ones, but not so with my gospel messengers. They have forsaken all to follow me and proclaim the kingdom. If you would be an ordained teacher, you must let others bury the dead while you go forth to publish the good news." And this man went away in great disappointment.
Another disciple came to the Master and said: "I would become an ordained messenger, but I would like to go to my home for a short while to comfort my family." And Jesus replied: "If you would be ordained, you must be willing to forsake all. The gospel messengers cannot have divided affections. No man, having put his hand to the plough, if he turns back, is worthy to become a messenger of the kingdom."
Then Andrew brought to Jesus a certain rich young man who was a devout believer, and who desired to receive ordination. This young man, Matadormus, was a member of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin; he had heard Jesus teach and had been subsequently instructed in the gospel of the kingdom by Peter and the other apostles. Jesus talked with Matadormus concerning the requirements of ordination and requested that he defer decision until after he had thought more fully about the matter. Early the next morning, as Jesus was going for a walk, this young man accosted him and said: "Master, I would know from you the assurances of eternal life. Seeing that I have observed all the commandments from my youth, I would like to know what more I must do to gain eternal life?" In answer to this question Jesus said: "If you keep all the commandments--do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your parents--you do well, but salvation is the reward of faith, not merely of works. Do you believe this gospel of the kingdom?" And Matadormus answered: "Yes, Master, I do believe everything you and your apostles have taught me." And Jesus said, "Then are you indeed my disciple and a child of the kingdom."
Then said the young man: "But, Master, I am not content to be your disciple; I would be one of your new messengers." When Jesus heard this, he looked down upon him with a great love and said: "I will have you to be one of my messengers if you are willing to pay the price, if you will supply the one thing which you lack." Matadormus replied: "Master, I will do anything if I may be allowed to follow you." Jesus, kissing the kneeling young man on the forehead, said: "If you would be my messenger, go and sell all that you have and, when you have bestowed the proceeds upon the poor or upon your brethren, come and follow me, and you shall have treasure in the kingdom of heaven."
When Matadormus heard this, his countenance fell. He arose and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This wealthy young Pharisee had been raised to believe that wealth was the token of God's favor. Jesus knew that he was not free from the love of himself and his riches. The Master wanted to deliver him from the love of wealth, not necessarily from the wealth. While the disciples of Jesus did not part with all their worldly goods, the apostles and the seventy did. Matadormus desired to be one of the seventy new messengers, and that was the reason for Jesus' requiring him to part with all of his temporal possessions.
Almost every human being has some one thing which is held on to as a pet evil, and which the entrance into the kingdom of heaven requires as a part of the price of admission. If Matadormus had parted with his wealth, it probably would have been put right back into his hands for administration as treasurer of the seventy. For later on, after the establishment of the church at Jerusalem, he did obey the Master's injunction, although it was then too late to enjoy membership in the seventy, and he became the treasurer of the Jerusalem church, of which James the Lord's brother in the flesh was the head.
Thus always it was and forever will be: Men must arrive at their own decisions. There is a certain range of the freedom of choice which mortals may exercise. The forces of the spiritual world will not coerce man; they allow him to go the way of his own choosing.
Jesus foresaw that Matadormus, with his riches, could not possibly become an ordained associate of men who had forsaken all for the gospel; at the same time, he saw that, without his riches, he would become the ultimate leader of all of them...Riches have nothing directly to do with entrance into the kingdom of heaven, but the love of wealth does. The spiritual loyalties of the kingdom are incompatible with servility to materialistic mammon. Man may not share his supreme loyalty to a spiritual ideal with a material devotion.
Love & Blessings Abound,
David
What about other teachers who claim to channel Jesus?
Question:
I kind of get the impression that we could decide this instant on the Atonement and it would happen. But maybe it was written that I should decide this instant? If nothing we think, say or do makes any difference one way or the other, it seems like a waste of time and money to continue with this spiritual quest. Please let's hear your take on this.
Also, I am kind of confused about a perception I am having and hope you can shed some light on it. There are several people that say they channel Jesus. Among them are Paul Tuttle who channels Raj, Brent Haskell who channels Jeshua, the guy that wrote “Conversations with God,” and of course, you. I have never heard you contradict the Course, but these other fellows do seem to contradict it. In my latest discovery, Brent has written that there is absolutely nothing that can be done to assist in our awakening. He says that it is predetermined exactly when it will happen. The Course, on the other hand, tells us in several places that we are saving time through its help. Now I realize that these guys and the Course and everything is all illusion, but I thought Holy Spirit used illusion to assist us in our quest. Now either these guys are wrong or the Course is wrong, because they contradict. My question is: Is it possible that ego could be trying to undermine my faith in the teaching of Holy Spirit by presenting me with conflicting teaching that is reportedly all coming from the same place? Am I being deliberately misled or have I simply misunderstood something? If there is nothing that can be done at all to hasten our awakening, what is the spiritual search all about? What is the Course for?
Answer:
You have come upon the deepest teaching on Being Awake! You are the One Now, and nothing of linear time that seems to be thought, said, done, or imagined has anything to do with our Eternal Oneness. I have posted the article to which you refer in our files section online on the left hand column and shall send it out "monthly" as an ever Present reminder of our focus Now. This teaching is the Experience to which the Course points. This is the Holy Instant! There is truly nothing to be "done" to prepare for It. Simply desire It wholly and It is Experienced Instantly. Remember Christ has called this a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed. Remember the section in Chapter 18 in “A Course in Miracles” titled "I Need Do Nothing" and the instruction "You ARE prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do." (T-18.VII.5:4-6) There are passages in the Text, the Workbook, and the Manual For Teachers that point directly to the Holy Instant, for the mind that is willing. In the timeless moment, the Holy Instant, there are no contradictions. Cause and Effect are together, and thus there is no gap between them. What does this mean? It means that there is no "past" which "causes" a "future,” for only a bright, clear, shining moment remains in "memory." It means everything exists simultaneously this very moment and that nothing can be "pulled apart" from the Whole.
The phrase "the script is written" has a predetermined ring to it and a sense of destiny. Yes, this world was over long ago. Yes, what is past has gone. Yes, Christ is Real and ever-Present. And yes, Now is the only "time" to be Awake. Heaven seems to be a decision for the mind which believes in opposites, yet Atonement is accurately described as an acceptance of what is Now. You cannot "prepare" for It without "placing It in the future." That is why surrender is necessary. Surrender the thought that anything of this world can be figured out. Forgiven—yes! Figured out—no!
The concept of channeling was but a tool of time. Channeling is therefore past. As with all concepts of linear time, channeling was dualistic, with source and scribe seeming to be apart. Yet the Oneness of the moment has no parts. Christ, as an Effect of God, is One with God forever. The Oneness that is God and Christ in God is Everything. Heaven is Abstract Light and extends as Eternal Creation. To the "extent" that any transitory concept seemed to point beyond all concepts to the Real, the concept seemed to be temporarily helpful. Yet it must be understood that the Holy Instant is Now the Point at which all concepts are laid by. Now is the time of the Great Awakening. For the willing mind, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The Kingdom is recognized in the Divine Silence. The Experience is beyond words. Love is a State of Mind Which knows no "other." Very literally, the Self is Christ is One.
You need do nothing to Be as You already are. What You have is Who You are. God gives Everything in Creation, and Everything is You. Nothing can be added to Our Perfection in God. The Grace of God is the Gift of Creation. "I am" can not, need not, will not be earned or achieved. "I am" simply Is. "I am" is before time was. And this is "why" You need do nothing to Be as You already are. Such is the Simple Truth.
Love and Blessings as the One Christ forever in the Mind of God,
David
What do you think about our state of affairs in terms of the "new world order" and other secret societies?
Question:
What do you think about our state of affairs in terms of the New World Order and secret societies? Do you have some practical insights in that area?
Answer:
Thanks for writing and sharing your questions. The New World Order is wonderful to behold with the Holy Spirit, for there is an awareness of the Divine Order. Everything is in perfect alignment with the Purpose of the Holy Spirit. This Perspective is not the ego's version of the "New World Order" which always emphasizes control and a particular distribution of "power" and "resources." There is nothing new or spontaneous or inspired in the ego's apparent hierarchy of illusions. It matters not how the deck chairs of the Titanic are arranged or rearranged, for the Vastness of the Ocean of Spirit inevitably swallows up the entire "ship" in a Stillness that is the Allness of God.
As for secret societies, there is nothing that can BE kept secret or mysterious in the Holy Spirit's Gentle Light. Society is a construct of the ego, which believes in private thoughts and private minds that come and go and group and regroup and arrange and rearrange. Groupings, rumors, and secrets are the attempt to play hide and seek with Christ, yet the recognition of Christ is obvious and direct to the Mind that is whole and unified. The veil of duality falls away in the experience of Union, as dark gives way to the dawning of Light. Everything is openly revealed in Christ, and what seemed to imprison vanished before the coming of the Light.
Enlightenment is practical because it is inevitable. Heaven is Now, is Present, and is thus immediately Known. There are no mysteries in God, and the only seeming mystery was one of mistaken identity. Prayers are thus Answered: Christ is forever Christ, at One with God Eternally. No war was ever fought, for Eternity enters not into time, Truth never descends into error, and Infinity can never be made finite and broken into bits and pieces and degrees and measures. Present Peace is not a small Gift, and the Purpose of forgiveness is not difficult to grasp for the willing mind. It seemed difficult indeed to keep a secret identity apart from the Whole. An artificial concept of ordered images was impossible to uphold with the dawning of the Light. Now all that remains is to rejoice that illusions were never true!
Love & Blessings always,
David
Does the fact that we are constantly praying relate to karma in any way, or just to mind-watching? What exactly is the concept of karma about anyway?
Question:
What I am now curious about is your statement that we are continuously praying, and we need to be watchful of what we ask for. Does this relate to "karma" in some way? Or is it more related to watching the mind? I remember you saying that there is no such thing as cause and effect, and yet that is exactly how karma is described in a book that I am currently reading. I am really grateful to be able to write you and get such insightful, rich answers. It kind of makes me nervous!
Answer:
Thanks for writing and for being so open. You are a gift in my awareness, for your questions are all aimed at undoing error and recognizing truth. Prayer is continuous, and is actually just another way of talking about the desire of the heart. “Let thine eye be single” is another way of saying, “let the prayer of the heart and the perception of the world be single-minded.” This is looking upon the world through the Perspective of the Holy Spirit. Dualistic desires and thoughts induce the illusion of guilt in consciousness, and mind watching is therefore a helpful practice for remaining in touch with our Divine Innocence. Erroneous desires and thoughts need only be forgiven or released, for error does not come from God. What is real and true needs no protection or defense, for Spirit is always completely invulnerable and whole and complete.
In Heaven God is Cause and Christ Effect, Eternally One in Spirit. This is another way of speaking of the Creator and Creation as One. Karma is a way of speaking about the erroneous cause & effect relationships of time-space. In the cosmos cause and effect seem to be split apart and different from one another. The sleeping mind has forgotten its Eternal Nature and sees itself as at the mercy of "outside" forces. By listening to our inner Spirit it is possible to forgive or overlook the error of separation. Each day is filled with precious opportunities to experience that there is nothing "outside" of our Spirit. Everyone and everything is literally included in our unified mind, and this Perspective is the healed world that the Holy Spirit reveals. In personal dreams karma (cause and effect) seems real, yet in Enlightenment it is apparent that cause and effect are not separate. Images are unreal "effects" that seem to come from an unreal "cause" (the ego), yet what God did not create cannot be a real cause. Perfect Love casts out fear because fear was never real. There is no battle being fought between truth and illusion, and when truth dawns in awareness it is apparent that truth is perfect Oneness and has no "opposite."
To the sleeping mind that believes in the reality of this world, there appears to be many "sources" of fear and guilt in the world. This is the projection of the belief in separation, which is the illusion of fear. To undo error is the way to Know ThySelf, for truth remains Constant and the error which seemed to give rise to all Self-doubt dissolves once it has been raised to the Light of Divine Love. Love and fear do not co-exist, and when fear is brought to Love only Love remains.
A helpful way to think of karma as a stepping stone to Enlightenment is: As you sow, so shall you reap. Forgiveness sees the false as false and reaps the reward of peace of mind. Yet when it is apparent that there is nothing to fear in the world, when linear time no longer has meaning, and when everything is recognized as the tapestry of mind, karma and all concepts of cause and effect as separate have disappeared from consciousness.
Love is a free Gift from God. And happily nothing can change this freely Given Gift of Identity. You are as God created You, and this Gift proclaims our Natural Inheritance as Spirit. Everything "else" simply fades and grows dim and disappears with the Dawning of God's Gift of Love in sacred remembrance.
I love You forever and ever! You are the One,
David
How should I perceive my leaking roof, and other small "disasters" that repeatedly occur in my day-to-day life?
Question:
Please tell me how I should react to a roof that was new five years back and is now allowing a flood of water in my house? What created it, and how do I cope? I live in the moment most of the time, but how do you deal when it all falls apart so unexpectedly, out of the blue? Am I being punished somehow?
Answer:
There is no punishment, for that is the ego's interpretation and you are not the ego. I have always thought of rain and water as symbols of the Holy Spirit, flowing and cleansing. The water pouring in is the Spirit washing away all barriers and erroneous limits of false belief. Last Fall there were bees (many of them) finding their way into the PeaceHouse, and the Holy Spirit said it was the simplest of messages: simply BE. The Holy Spirit uses the images that seem close by or familiar as "attention getters,” and the message is always to be attentive to Inner Guidance. Last week a friend seemed to have her car towed away and was able to see that the lengthy sequence of events regarding the repair of the car had literally been taken out of her care. The lesson is that nothing is personal. It is the ego's personal perspective that seems to be coming undone. In ACIM's Manual for Teachers there is a stage in the development of trust in which things seem to be taken away. Actually the mind is given an opportunity to see their lack of importance and value, for all value is of the Spirit. With an apparent leaky roof it is important to remember: "This too shall pass." Then pause an instant to rejoice in the Love of God, Which is our Everlasting Peace and Rest. All Glory to God for creating All as One forever. I am with You All the Way.
Keep faith in the Holy Spirit, for faith leads to undoing the ego belief, and undoing leads to forgiveness of illusions. Without illusions veiling the Truth, the experience is Pure Love.
In Love & Joy,
David
Is it possible that I've already been hearing the Holy Spirit for a long time, (full question in audio)
Description:
This question is asked at 3 minutes and 7 seconds into the following audio, which is part of an interview of David by DavidPaul & Candace Doyle.
Listen to the audio here: http://www.livingmiraclescenter.org/MP3/QandA_audios/DC7.mp3