Commentaries on ACIM Lesson 51

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

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A Prayer of Purification

Most Whole and Unnameable 

Greatness of Love, 

You who are the Beginning and End 

of all that Is or Will Ever Be, 

You who inspire my heart with 

Endless Amazement 

at Your Infinity, 

Your Grace,

and Your Beauty. 

I Bow, and place my life before You. 

This day I would come to see newly

....and See as You See. 

This day I would be re-birthed, be born newly

.... and Be as You Be.

This day I would learn to know my true Self newly

.... and Know as You Know. 

I AM, in This Moment,

Willing 

to be undefended from Your Love, 

and

I Ask that You Guide my life this day.

I Ask that I Be Taught as Your Will 

Recognizes I am Ready.

I give You my Trust, 

Knowing that You Love Me Absolutely, 

and 

that Your Vision for my life

Is My True Happiness. 

Come into my Heart,

Most Holy Oneness

Without End,

True Source of my Existence. 

I welcome You.

Amen. 

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Commentaries on ACIM Lesson 50
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

I am sustained by the Love of God.


Knowledge of God is not complex. It is very very simple. All that is IS One.

There are no exceptions to this Oneness, ever. It is in fact, an impossibility. So is our existence separated from this Oneness. Each and every moment of our life is directly sustained by this fact. We are within Oneness forever. Oneness is within us forever.

True trust never doubts, as it is based on direct Knowledge. This Course's aim is that we each receive this direct Knowledge. Only then can we, as fearless warriors of Love, make the choices and take the actions that keep us in trueness to our individual missions.

We live in a weaving of life that contains infinite possibilities, from the insanity of the separation to the ecstasy of the unified. "For the unified Mind in accord with the Way, all self-serving striving ceases, doubts and irresolution vanish, and life in true faith is possible." These ancient words of Zen are a strength to my heart, and a compass to my vision. I cherish them, for by them I have been led through delusion --to certainty-- again and again. May they be valuable to you likewise.

It is not that we never make mistakes. It is that all mistakes are opportunities to re-discover what is actually real. As Hazrat Inayat Khan, the great Sufi master said: "It is not how many times we fall down, but rather how many times we then rise up again, that determines our destiny". The Will of The Oneness is that we Rise Up 'in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God, and Man'. It is that we Move and Be and Have our Being Knowing ourselves as Like Christ, Anointed and At One. No Avatar has existed upon this planet to be special in themselves. All have lived to demonstrate and inspire us to Remember Who we actually are. It is not 'search but do not find' (the egos mantra) that will teach us this Remembrance. What does is the Vision of our Oneness, wherein no thing is accidental, no thing is forced, no thing is missing.

We are complete as we enter the Love of God.

Namaste,

David

Rev. David Seacord
Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag
david@davidseacord.com
www.davidseacord.com
www.davidseacord-everymansjournal.blogspot.com
www.davidseacord-acimcommentaries.blogspot.com
www.davidseacord.nobullart.com

Commentaries on ACIM Lesson 49
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

God's Voice speaks to me all through the day.

The Voice of God is everywhere the fearless heart will enter quietude and listen. It is never not available. It is unafraid of apparent differences, it knows its Oneness is unlimited. 'Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with with me' (Psalms 23) speaks of the strength the Biblical David experienced being given by his Voice for God.

Another word for 'voice' is 'presence'. It is like having your most loving friend within you, providing guidance and wisdom in all situations. If you are inclined to personify, it has no problem taking on personality. For Hindus, it will become the presence of Krishna, (or Ram, Shiva, Kali etc), for Buddhists, it will become the presence of Buddha, for Christians, it will become the presence of Jesus the Christed (Annointed) One. The underlying Idea Of God everywhere is simply to deliver the same Message: There is nothing to fear. I AM with you NOW and I Will Never Not Be.

If we are willing to truly get that the Presence of God is ever-present within our heart-surrendered Mind, we are freed to serve selflessly. Nothing remains impossible, and thus, we often enter 'not knowing', or, the Great Mystery, where our 'assignments' lead us into Wonder (How did 'I' get here? :-). With the Presence of Being given by our Source as 'rod and staff and Comforter', we live lit lives, sharing ignition by example and through communion (the ability to enter into another's world so as they get they are fully seen). This is Compassion acting through us. The purpose of this Course is to make of us such a 'Miracle Worker', which, as is stated in Chapter One, requires purification. We are now 49 days into this purification, and each of us has now received the experience of many moments of 'going beyond ourself'. Let us trust those moments as the life-altering and realigning purifications they are. Let us continue being a call for more of the same, and it shall absolutely be given. We do not walk 'the Path' alone. As Jesus said it, "I AM with(in) you always."

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 48
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

There is nothing to fear.


The Androgynous Divine Reality is fearless. Being 'in it's image', our Nature is also. Years ago, attending author Hugh Prather's ACIM-based 'Dispensable Church' in Santa Fe, I heard him say "The only things we (as infants) naturally fear are 1. loud noises, and 2. falling. The rest of our fears are learned." If there is actually 'nothing to fear', this means we have been pretty busy learning to believe in illusions. If this can be seen, the logical is self-obvious: What is learnable is un-learnable.

Like a hologram, where any piece projected will reveal the whole, this Course has many gems beyond price. Todays intentionally short, simple lesson is among its mightiest. My Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat would sometimes have we students repeat powerful phrases (called wazifas) hundreds of times a day. On retreat, that might be increased to a thousand, or more. The benefit of such intense practice is lifelong Remembrance. If you would remember, under all conditions and circumstances that "there is nothing to fear" I do invite you to consider what "merely repeating this idea as often as possible today" might really mean. Just as certain metals are given a permanent magnetism by being intensely charged, we can use identical process to permanently install (or upgrade) our mental software with Divine Idea. A few, simple gems of truth, acting as Keys to Wholeness, installed deeply enough to be automatically Remembered whenever we are surrounded by The Illusion will alter our life again and again, save years (or lifetimes) of suffering, and replace it all with the miracle called Love.

I suggest todays idea is worth installing for life. You could think of it as a day-long 'bath of love's light'. (I couldn't resist... :-)

Namaste,

David

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Rev. David Seacord
Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag
david@davidseacord.com
www.davidseacord.com
www.davidseacord-everymansjournal.blogspot.com
www.davidseacord-acimcommentaries.blogspot.com
www.davidseacord.nobullart.com

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 47
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

God is the strength in which I trust.


To live in freedom requires strength we do not have if we do not know we are living God's Life. The depth of our forgetfulness of this is reflected in the lost of 'possibility' that is rampant and visible in all 'the separated ones'. All our suffering arises from this forgetfulness. All our Joy from our remembrance. God created us, each and every one of us, me, you, anyone/everyone, as an expression of unique fullness, as an Unlimited Possibility. Our choice to see ourself as limited in any way is like decapitating our hands to play the piano better. It is obviously insane.

Remember to 'Just Listen' (do nothing/give no reality) to this insanity screaming as you begin to fearlessly trust the wings of God in your life and follow your Calling. As I listen for the silence under the scream of my fear-story, for the Emptiness/Fullness that it hides, I am taught what Love is. Love is never losing faith in Reality. Love is Knowing I am You (communion). And Love IS without end forever, and forever eternally NOW.

Eventually or suddenly (as You/I Choose [thinketh in our heart], so shall it Be) the screaming ceases. The 'mind reverses' (returns to Trueness), and we 'dance Life' as God's Infinite Freedom Being Embodied. We are given every strength necessary for the moment NOW. This is trust. The Joy of it is: It works both ways. :)

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 46
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

God is the Love in which I forgive.


Awakening, I begin a list, with self-editor OFF....

It is the forgiveness of God that has made me whole.
By forgiveness, I am made whole.
Through forgiving you, I forgive myself.
Forgive means 'give for'. Give for what? Give, for giving is who I AM.
I am forgiven as I forgive.
I forgive myself.
I forgive myself.
I forgive myself.
I forgive myself.
I forgive myself.
I forgive myself.
I forgive myself.
Please forgive me.
Please forgive me.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.

How deep this mantra goes. There is nothing it cannot heal, nothing it cannot free. No dungeon of insanity it cannot enter. No war it cannot end. No emptiness it cannot fill. No hate it cannot transform into Love. No shadow it cannot lift. No fear it cannot disappear. No shame it cannot make into Holiness. No trespass it cannot erase forever.

Forgiveness is the power that gives my soul freedom. I am forgiven, I am released from the world. No longer a slave, my 'I' forgives instantly, especially myself. And especially you, my self also.

There IS nothing else to do.

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 45
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

God is the Mind with which I think.


"To seek Mind with the discriminating mind is the greatest of all mistakes." (Zen wisdom again.)

Just who creates a 'discriminating mind'? A mind separate from all others? A mind that is so insane that it wishes to overturn the Reality that it exists within? Actually, no such mind exists, at least, not after authentic beingness is recognized. Therefore, whatever recognizes our inauthentic beingness is our best friend.

Would you listen to insanity, making of it your Source of Truth? Yes, of course we all have, in our Past/Future tail-chasing...(any when but NOW)... before 'something touches' us. By being a 'seeker', the effort of seeking makes it nearly certain that we will swim endlessly in the seas of personhood, using our judgements, assessments, feelings, desires, and dreams to guide us through the rapids of experience. As this Course teaches, our ego is very happy to have this be so, as it guarantees that although we will never find our true Joy, it (ego) will always 'have our ear', and so will be able to keep us blind to our Self by reversing reality and convincing us we are seeing darkness as light.


It is by the great grace of our Mother/Father Oneness that we are blessed with becoming too exhausted by this endless effort to seek further, and finally simply Stop Seeking/Searching, and Be Present. If we have learned the skill of paying deep attention, and have developed the necessary inner quietness, we will see in this Stopping, our egoic nature nakedly.

More rigorously spoken, our Divine Nature Awakens and recognizes the ego as nothing, and as 'imagined by insanity'. Is there something to do then? That is the ego again, the habit of Problem. Listen to the Voice of the Fully Stopped. No more doing need be done about a problem that never existed in the Mind of God. Now is Enough.

Namaste,

David