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Lesson 124: Let me remember I am one with God.

A woman I know who travels a lot has been sheltering-in-place with her partner in their RV since March. She ventured out recently for supplies and was accosted by a man in a parking lot who pointed to her out-of-state plates and demanded to know why she was traveling during this time of pandemic.

The man, she noted, was not wearing a mask or any other protective gear, but did remain more than six feet away from her. She did not reply to the man (what good would an explanation do, anyway) and got into her car to avoid a confrontation. Once safely inside her car, she says she looked at him and thought “man who is scared, expressing himself.” Then, she thought to herself, “love one another.”

She waved at the man as she left the parking lot, giving us a case study on how to apply today’s lesson. Not only did she remember she was one with God, but saw the enraged man in the parking lot as who he was as well – a frightened body calling for love.

Continue reading “AYoMW: May 3, 2020 — Bumping into God in a parking lot”

Lesson 123: I thank my Father for his gifts to me.

There are so many things I want to change about myself. Certainly, I’d like to be taller and better looking, but generally, I stick to the things I can change about myself – my temper, my tendency to constantly self-criticize, my weight … the list is pretty much endless. As soon as I think I’ve got one thing changed for the better, a whole litter of new flaws pop up to take its place.

The line in today’s lesson that jumped out at me was this one:

“Give thanks … that you are changeless, for the Son He loves is changeless as Himself.”

Changeless? This lesson tells me I don’t have to change anything about myself – my true, divine Self, that is. I am already perfect, already innocent, already centered in the truth of my true Being. Nothing needs to be done or changed because nothing is ever amiss.

Continue reading “AYoMW: May 2, 2020 — Don’t go changin’ …”

Lesson 122: Forgiveness offers everything I want.

Marketers are masters of convincing us that their latest product or service is provides us with everything we’ll ever need. But wait … there’s more! Whatever they’re hawking also provides us with everything we’ve ever wanted or desired as well!

Want to be taller, better looking, attract the perfect mate, attract all the money, power and parking spots you desire? This product or service delivers! Act now, and they’ll double the offer – just pay a separate shipping and handling fee!

We fall for it every time. I ordered a guitar course just last night because the freebie was so good. Now, I’m wondering when I’ll have time to eek out even the most basic benefit for my money. There is, however, a money-back guarantee … if I can locate that small print ever again …

So, you can excuse me if I’m a little skeptical of anything – even a spiritual book – offering me one thing that will fulfill all my needs, hopes, wants and desires. Especially when that one thing is this: forgiveness.

Oh, my ego’s sides hurt from laughing for the past 30 minutes at that one.

Continue reading “AYoMW: May 1, 2020 — Let’s make a deal …”

Lesson 121: Forgiveness is the key to happiness.

Who am I without my grievances? I used to make a pretty good living writing for a blog about the intersection between religion and politics. One of my fellow writers questioned if I was really human because I could spit out scathing opinion articles in the blink of an eye. I knew who the enemies were, where the bodies were buried, and how to cover you in so many logical arguments it would leave you sputtering.

A Course in Miracles ruined all of that.

Now, I find it hard to form a cogent political and religious argument. It’s not that I can’t. Given the time and effort, I certainly could recapture my arguing glory days, but, now, I simply don’t want to. What did all of my previous arguing do for me, other than earn some money to pay bills? I mean, that was great, but it’s not like my breathless pixelated creations really changed anything. The snarky writing and praise from those who agreed with me felt good and all, but, really, was that truly who I am? After a while, it just became too painful to continue. It really wasn’t me – not as the Course was describing the real me, anyway.

This lesson describes the false self – the ego – and how it perceives the world. The ego is the “unforgiving mind” that sees only the sins of others. It is “full of fear, and offers love no room to be itself,” this lesson says. It is sad, full of doubt, angry and chooses to live in misery.

Continue reading “AYoMW: April 30, 2020 — A Course in Miracles ruined my life. Thank you!”

Lesson 120: Review of
Lesson 109: I rest in God, and
Lesson 110: I am as God created me.

I need a vacation. It’s not like I can go anywhere, though. I can’t rent a cabin in the woods, or even take a day-trip to a brewery I haven’t tried yet, let alone jet off to some far-flung place on the map. In this time of pandemic, a change of scenery outside of my own living room and neighborhood is pretty much off limits.

But, I still need a vacation. I need a chance to rest – a chance to not be responsible for anything or anyone other than my personal needs and my pets. No deadlines, no pressure, no expectation from anyone else. I really feel the need to lay on the couch and stare at the ceiling for a week.

Even then, I doubt I’ll feel rested and refreshed and ready to dive back into the work that will inevitably pile up. Vacations in this bodily world are one of the biggest illusions – the idea that we can even “get away from it all” is pretty funny once you think about it. We seek to escape this dream by creating a different dream in a different location.

It’s exhausting.

Continue reading “AYoMW: April 29, 2020 — I need a vacation”

Lesson 119: Review of
Lesson 107: Truth will correct all errors in my mind, and
Lesson 108: To give and receive are one in truth.

My ego is having a big problem with today’s lesson, especially this line:

“I am mistaken when I think I can be hurt in any way.”

Obviously, this lesson wasn’t written during a time of pandemic, when bodily threats that can hurt and kill us lurk behind every product we pick up at the grocery store. The ego, of course, is concerned first and foremost with the body. It is its home and it is always on the lookout for any threats to it.

Nobody wants to get sick. Nobody wants to die. The ego is especially keen to keep us fixated on our bodies – what they look like, how they feel, how we use them to experience the world around us.

A Course in Miracles is not so much concerned with the body. According to its philosophy, we only created this bodily world because we have forgotten that we truly are not bodies at all – but are actually thoughts in the mind of God who have never left their divine home. The bodily world, then, is where we have landed in our forgetfulness and everything we see and experience here can be used by the Holy Spirit to remind us of our true, spiritual identity.

Continue reading “AYoMW: April 28, 2020 — Flea bites from God”

Lesson 118: Review of
Lesson 105: God’s peace and joy are mine, and
Lesson 106: Let me be still and listen to the truth.

Today’s lesson calls our internal voice – that incessant chattering ego – our “feeble voice.” That’s not what I would call the raucous and loud voice that speaks first and loudest about every little thing I encounter during the course of the day. That voice hardly seems “feeble.” It always has an opinion. It always has a judgment and a grievance at the ready no matter what situation I find myself in. Feeble isn’t exactly what it feels like. It feels overpowering on most days.

That is, of course, what the ego likes to hear. It loves to know that I have handed over my will and my power to it so it can run my life – and ruin my life. That’s its job, after all, to convince me that darkness is better than light, fear is better than love and despair beats the socks off of hope. Most days, I must admit, it wins the battle.

That’s only because I forget – a lot. I forget that God’s peace and joy are mine. I forget that this is my heritage – a gift from my creator that I can unwrap and enjoy any moment that I choose.

We forget that we have a choice. The voice of the ego may ultimately be “feeble” but when we’re tuning in to it, it can be a pretty overwhelmingly powerful influence over how we make choices and live our lives.

Continue reading “AYoMW: April 27, 2020 — Quiet down! I’m trying not to think!”

Lesson 117: Review of
Lesson 103: God, being Love, is also happiness, and
Lesson 104: I seek but what belongs to me in truth

I recall when aspartame first came onto the market. I was in a community college biology class and our instructor mapped out the molecular structure of the new artificial sweetener.

“Right there,” he pointed to a question mark he had added to the end of the chain, “is why I won’t ever touch this stuff. This unknown molecule means it’s not safe for human consumption.”

Nevertheless, I spent years after this dire warning drinking diet soda products in the name of “losing weight” and cutting sugar in my diet. These days, of course, we know the health risks of aspartame and other artificial sweeteners, including increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Sugar, as damaging as some scientists say it can be to our bodies, is better than some of the chemical concoctions made to replace it.  

Continue reading “AYoMW: April 26, 2020 — Accept no substitutes”

Lesson 116: Review of
Lesson 101: God’s Will for me is perfect happiness, and
Lesson 102: I share God’s Will for happiness for me.

I blew up at myself this morning. A fairly minor technological foul-up sent me into a rage, complete with obscenities, spittle and the total destruction of a plastic trash can. I’m not proud of my outburst, by any stretch of the imagination – and I have not had such an outburst of rage in a very long time. (Yes, they used to be quite frequent when I was identifying as an angry and cynical being.)

What sparked it? Certainly not my technological glitch. It was not worth all that pent-up energy – but it did serve as a catalyst. I suppose it probably stems from the stress of these times. Coronavirus has us all on edge and being off of our normal schedules has stressed us all out. I thought I was handling it okay. I work from home all the time so that’s nothing new.

However, this pandemic has put other areas of my life in jeopardy. Will my spiritual community survive as an online only entity until we can come back together physically? Who knows how long that will be? How do we stay relevant in the meantime?

I ordered dinner from one of my favorite restaurants last night, but it wasn’t the same. The food was tasty, but what I like about this place is its funky atmosphere and its open windows during good weather. The people, the noise, the beer on tap, the friendly waitstaff and bartenders. I got none of that last night, and even stood six-feet away from another person ordering takeout as we both hoped the place would still be here when this is all over.

Continue reading “AYoMW: April 25, 2020 — Feeling sheepish”

Lesson 115: Review of
Lesson 99: Salvation is my only function here, and
Lesson 100: My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation

My Facebook feed is filled with people who are wrong … deeply, and often irretrievably wrong. I used to spend a lot of time correcting these people – starting long posts and diatribes about their wrongness and just how badly they were mistaken and engaging in hours of back and forth with people who obviously just can’t admit how wrong they really are.

Then, I read this little ditty in A Course in Miracles: “Would you rather be right or happy?”

At first, the answer was obvious: I want to be right. I want to be seen as knowledgeable, as informed, as intelligent and a contributing member of my society! Knowing I was right was what made me happy!

Or so, I believed.

Some people do live to argue – I have a sister that will argue with you all day, every day about the tiniest little thing. It seems to make her happy to challenge every little detail of another person’s argument. In reality, it is the clue to our deepest unhappiness. In a reflection on this lesson over at Pathways of Light, the author muses about our ego’s need to be right:

“The fear of not being right seems to be a greater motivator than the attraction of happiness and peace. On the surface it seems unbelievable that this could be true. But beneath the surface is the fear that if I’m not right, I do not exist.”

Continue reading “AYoMW: April 24, 2020 — Even when you’re right, you’re wrong”