Fellow ACIM colleague David Van Dyke shared these essays recently at a presentation for a Course study group given at the Pueblo Divine Science Center:
What is the connection between the Miracle and Forgiveness?
A couple of definitions first:
The Miracle is the remembrance that we have never been separate from God, from our true Self, or from Love Itself. This remembrance is given to us by what the Course calls the Holy Spirit. I will just call it “Spirit” for the sake of this talk.
Forgiveness is the process of bringing our fears, guilt, etc, to Spirit’s light. Forgiving ourselves and others is what allows the Miracle to occur. This removes the blocks to the awareness of Love’s Presence. When those blocks are removed, the Awareness of what we are in Truth returns to our mind.
Forgiveness for ourselves or another occurs when we take our pain in whatever form is appearing at the moment to Spirit for healing.
This happens the moment that we decide that there must be a better way for us to see our relationships, world events, or our life. We may be in a great deal of pain at that point because we, as egos, are very reluctant to let go of being in control, and try to figure things out on our own. We may even be at a point of despair or feeling very lost.
At some point, we all become willing to let go of our pain. We may have only a dim recognition that there is a loving power greater than ourselves, but that is enough. As we begin to ask this power for help, we are on the road to healing. The Course in Miracles calls this power the Holy Spirit, or right mind. According to the Course, this part of our mind is the reflection of the Christ mind that God created and still remains perfectly aware of its divine nature. This is within us and it is the bridge back to the memory of God. It is always in direct communication with God and will give us the answer to anything we ask as long as we are bringing our illusions to its truth.
When we are willing to let go of insisting that we know what is best for us, or that the way we see things is indeed the absolute truth, we can truly ask Spirit to help us. It is only too willing to give us the spiritual understanding we need in order to feel deep peace. This is the Miracle. It is a change in how we interpret our world, a change in perception. This change of mind allows us to see through the eyes of peace because we have experienced a connection with the part of our mind that was given to us by God.
The Course is trying to teach us that our perception of the world is actually determined by how WE choose to see the world. In other words, our experience of the world is not happening TO us, it is being done BY us. As egos, we want to blame the world because it seems to tell us that we are powerless. But blaming the world creates an increasing sense of helplessness. The Course teaches that we have an alternative, which is to forgive everything we would otherwise blame by taking our pain to Spirit for correction. Spirit forgives what we cannot, by helping us look on ourselves without condemnation. It strengthens the awareness of our Spiritual nature and allows us to be genuinely kind to ourselves and our fellow man.
The world we experience is determined by the choice of the teacher we listen to, not by the world itself. If we choose the ego as our teacher, we may experience temporary elation, probably to be followed by yet a deeper sense of separation from God characterized by loneliness, fear, guilt, etc. If we choose the Guidance of Spirit, we will experience a deep and genuine sense of Peace, Hope, and the sense we are being guided toward something greater. The Course shows us how we can have God’s Peace in every situation if we are willing to practice and rely on Spirit’s strength.
To wrap it all up; When we are in pain we should ask ourselves, which teacher do I want to listen to? How much do I value Peace? If I really value it, I will bring my guilt and fear to Spirit and ask for help to remember my connection with Holiness. It’s ok if I can’t seem to hear that Voice all the time because, even in asking, I have been heard. Spirit will succeed in connecting with me and that Presence will become more real to me over time.
I want to leave you with one thought; God’s Answer to our desire to be separated from Him is the Holy Spirit. It is impossible that God’s Answer could fail us. Our healing is not only possible, but it is also guaranteed. This awareness brings us the Peace of God.
If we ask Spirit, the Teacher of Peace, we will have the sense that “all is well” even if the physical situation does not seem to warrant it because we are perceiving from an eternal viewpoint.
When we believe that the World is the Cause of our feelings we will try to change situations so that we can have the sense that “everything is ok”. This belief makes us a victim of the world. Even if our feelings are good we are still teaching ourselves that the world is the cause of how we feel.
Lessons 2 and 5 in ACIM
These two lessons are from the Workbook, a series of 365 lessons designed to give us an experience of the Presence of the Holy Spirit…our right mind.
Lesson 2: I have given everything I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] all the meaning that it has for me. (ACIM, W-2)
When I was very young my grandmother had a cookie jar that she would bring down from a high shelf and ask me to “take a cookie”. Now, being much older, I still look at that cookie jar and feel a sense of the Love she had for me. I used to think that if it ever broke, that I would shatter also. I gave this cookie jar the meaning of Love itself. If it broke, then Love itself would break. In the parlance of the lesson; “I have given this cookie jar all the meaning it has for me”.
In reality, the cookie jar was made by a company in China along with 100,000 others that looked exactly like it. I am the one who has assigned it its special meaning. There is nothing wrong in doing this except for one thing; we do this with EVERYTHING in our world. What we see is not reality but our own thoughts projected outward. The Course wants us to recognize this because, in doing so we begin to see that are we NOT the victim of the world we see. The world no longer dictates what we experience. Instead, we begin to recognize that what we experience is coming from us not being done TO us.
If the meaning of the world lies in the world itself then we have no choice about how we feel. Ego tells us that we must accept the meaning as it is seen in the world rather than realize we have a choice about how we feel about what we see. This leads to another lesson.
Lesson 5: I am never upset for the reason I think. (ACIM, W-5)
I am always upset when I listen to the voice of separation (the ego) as my teacher but if I can take my upset (fear, depression, anger, jealousy, etc.) to Spirit and ask to be shown that my upset is not real, then light can come into my mind because I have been willing to be shown the Truth rather than to assume that I already know it.
Spirit will always show me that I was upset because I interpreted something in my world as having the ability to take God’s Love away from me. It then reminds me that NOTHING can take that Love away. Spirit will tailor Its instruction to MY mind so that I am able to truly understand that Its Love is always present with me. I do not have to struggle to understand, because the Holy Spirit will give me the internal experiences, I need in order to understand. I am not alone. He walks with me. Because of this Presence I can suffer no loss. Therefore, my perception of the situation (my upset) must have been false. In recognizing this I learn that my upset cannot be real because God’s Loving Presence can never be taken away from me.
Do I always FEEL it? No, but having experienced it, I know that it is available and that Spirit will eventually succeed in building a deep trust that cannot be shaken.
These two beginning lessons help us begin to understand that what we experience when choosing the ego as our teacher is not real. It is the beginning of understanding that what we experience comes as a result of which Teacher we choose; the thought system of the ego, or that of Spirit and we will experience Peace or upset accordingly.
