Commentary on ACIM Lesson 86

Reviewing Lesson 71 (Only God's plan for salvation will work.)
and Lesson 72 (Holding grievances is a attack on God's plan for salvation.)

What is truth? And can you know it?

The answer to the second question is both yes and no. The first question has no answer.

Why is there no answer to 'what is truth?'. Because, just like the question 'Does a tree falling in a forest make any sound if there is no one to hear?', the actual truth of God (remember an earlier Commentary mention of Buddha declaring 'My true home is brighter than ten thousand suns') is not graspable by any being still identifying with their physical form as 'who they are'. So any answer given about Truth at best points in the direction of it, but it cannot actually answer What It IS.

Why is the answer to the second question both yes and no? Because, yes, it is valuable to ask the question even without hope of answer, for your call commands God to call you back. That is universal law. If you are sensitive to His call back, you can get your bearings (direction to head) on the next segment of your spiritual journey. As you keep calling God and then following His headings, the journey becomes one of deeper and deeper trust, and a functional kind of knowing becomes tangibly present. It is not 'revelation', but it is a complete freedom from doubt. So in that way, we can know truth while still self-identified as a body. But is that really KNOWING TRUTH? I would say no..... it is knowing the effects of truth.

Why am I writing all this? Just to lay out the paradox, and describe the game we are in (this game called Life).

I went to a wonderful satsang (spiritual talk) tonight (yesterday, by the time you read this) on the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, one of the central holy books of Hindu theology. It says the same thing the Course does, but with a completely different cast of characters set in a different cultural and time setting. Remember Rumi's poetry.... "Out beyond all ideas of right or wrong, there is a field.... I will meet you there"....? That field is the setting of this chapter's conversation--- discussing what is knowledge, who is the knower of it, and can it be attained.

In my life, I love to get as many points of view on a thing as possible. I have been trained to recognize that they are all valid, which allows them to be merged to create a fuller picture than any single view ever could. And as a 'Sufi', the teaching always was: Use what you can, don't worry about the rest. Put it on a shelf. Perhaps one day it will also be useful. One quickly apparent benefit of accepting this teaching is one is more open to studying many 'often widely varied' other teaching.

In this process, God is the Guide. After all, God KNOWS you. I mean totally. In fact, God IS YOU (which is way different than You IS God, by the way). So, 'God IS YOU-ness' Guides you to and through all the necessary curriculum that will 'forward the action' (as they say in Landmark).

The quickest way to fast forward spiritual growth is probably the simplest and the most difficult. It is to get there are no exceptions, ever, to our unity with God. There are only illusions, and truth. Having said that, I must now say that the Way, the Great Way (to God) is to Know the Truth. Which, of course, I have also just explained that you can't. But that just means 'you' can't.

So what I am saying is 'The Truth is self-obvious, but not to a self'. Which explains why a spiritual practice of surrendering/releasing/ transcending our 'self' is a good choice, if Knowing Truth is what calls you. Correction. If the call to Know Truth is what God has given you as a priceless graduation gift.

This I teach that I may also learn, and in this writing especially, every time I said 'you', I definitely also meant 'I'.

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 86

Reviewing Lesson 71 (Only God's plan for salvation will work.)
and Lesson 72 (Holding grievances is a attack on God's plan for salvation.)

What is truth? And can you know it?

The answer to the second question is both yes and no. The first question has no answer.

Why is there no answer to 'what is truth?'. Because, just like the question 'Does a tree falling in a forest make any sound if there is no one to hear?', the actual truth of God (remember an earlier Commentary mention of Buddha declaring 'My true home is brighter than ten thousand suns') is not graspable by any being still identifying with their physical form as 'who they are'. So any answer given about Truth at best points in the direction of it, but it cannot actually answer What It IS.

Why is the answer to the second question both yes and no? Because, yes, it is valuable to ask the question even without hope of answer, for your call commands God to call you back. That is universal law. If you are sensitive to His call back, you can get your bearings (direction to head) on the next segment of your spiritual journey. As you keep calling God and then following His headings, the journey becomes one of deeper and deeper trust, and a functional kind of knowing becomes tangibly present. It is not 'revelation', but it is a complete freedom from doubt. So in that way, we can know truth while still self-identified as a body. But is that really KNOWING TRUTH? I would say no..... it is knowing the effects of truth.

Why am I writing all this? Just to lay out the paradox, and describe the game we are in (this game called Life).

I went to a wonderful satsang (spiritual talk) tonight (yesterday, by the time you read this) on the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, one of the central holy books of Hindu theology. It says the same thing the Course does, but with a completely different cast of characters set in a different cultural and time setting. Remember Rumi's poetry.... "Out beyond all ideas of right or wrong, there is a field.... I will meet you there"....? That field is the setting of this chapter's conversation--- discussing what is knowledge, who is the knower of it, and can it be attained.

In my life, I love to get as many points of view on a thing as possible. I have been trained to recognize that they are all valid, which allows them to be merged to create a fuller picture than any single view ever could. And as a 'Sufi', the teaching always was: Use what you can, don't worry about the rest. Put it on a shelf. Perhaps one day it will also be useful. One quickly apparent benefit of accepting this teaching is one is more open to studying many 'often widely varied' other teaching.

In this process, God is the Guide. After all, God KNOWS you. I mean totally. In fact, God IS YOU (which is way different than You IS God, by the way). So, 'God IS YOU-ness' Guides you to and through all the necessary curriculum that will 'forward the action' (as they say in Landmark).

The quickest way to fast forward spiritual growth is probably the simplest and the most difficult. It is to get there are no exceptions, ever, to our unity with God. There are only illusions, and truth. Having said that, I must now say that the Way, the Great Way (to God) is to Know the Truth. Which, of course, I have also just explained that you can't. But that just means 'you' can't.

So what I am saying is 'The Truth is self-obvious, but not to a self'. Which explains why a spiritual practice of surrendering/releasing/ transcending our 'self' is a good choice, if Knowing Truth is what calls you. Correction. If the call to Know Truth is what God has given you as a priceless graduation gift.

This I teach that I may also learn, and in this writing especially, every time I said 'you', I definitely also meant 'I'.

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 85
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

Reviewing Lesson 69 (My grievances hide the light of the world in me.) and Lesson 70 (My salvation comes from me.)


Once again I see that nothing is accidental. As I assume is happening with you (who are doing the Course) (which is NOT a requirement for receiving these Commentaries, BTW) my today's adventures gave me the perfect experiences to humbly digest todays new material. And just like the stats that say auto accidents are much more likely within a few miles of your home, so it is that familiar situations and people are the ones 'we' forget to apply Course wisdom/training to. (When I say 'we', of course, I really mean 'I'.) So neighbors, parents, siblings, ex-whatevers.... they all fall into the category of deeply habituated and familiar relating patterns, and are therefore the ones 'we' discover 'we' still need to work on 'seeing newly', even after 'an embarrassingly long time' as a student of awareness.

Hummmm....this was going to be 'about grievances' (to tie it into the Lesson), but I guess there is something else 'my truth author' is choosing to express.....

Anyway (shifting gears), excepting the exceptions, 'the norm' in terms of response to these Commentaries is silence. This is a great teaching, yes? It is the 'mirror of emptiness' that the 'nothingness of the ego's fantasies' gets 'no response' from. I've been recognizing how much my growth as a 'writing teacher of God' is being aided by this, as I am seeing that what is most valid about what I am writing is when I am simply telling my truth, like 'to a wall'. Explaining that, think of me as in a solitary confinement for a long time. The walls of my cell are all I have to talk to. But they don't answer back. They just listen (allow me that one, OK?) It doesn't matter to them (the walls) if I tell the truth, or I lie. They still only 'listen'. So why not keep up the pretenses, and lie to the wall? Only because, in that condition (completely minus 'other ego company'), what keeps me sane is the simple practice of being straight with myself, and telling the truth. How does that keep me sane? It allows me to know myself as who I actually am, egolessly. That is utterly profound, especially when compared to who/how I would know myself to be as an ego caught-up in pretense and looking good.

So, in being silent, you are like my cell wall. Except, every once in a while, you break silence, and say something like "Thank you, I really needed to hear that". And I feel a quiet empowering validness and soft gladness, for, even though I now understand that I am actually doing these writings as a sadhana (spiritual practice) primarily 'for myself', since the truth is my Self is all of you too, 'my walls' are listening for the difference I make for them too. That listening you give blesses me, and calls continually for my best to be given.

Inside of this, in my life, I have seen I am only really alive when I am giving my best. Sometimes I am caught by surprise by this Joy, as when the tiny little painting that will never be able to sell 'for much' becomes a masterpiece. Or as it was today, when the 'chore' of fertilizing the citrus with manure quietly opens into a deeply satisfying day of pruning, digging, watering, and finding 'a teaching of love' in the form of the desert dove in the lemon tree, sitting committedly in her nest upon her eggs, tolerating my peacefully pruning presence under her, who does not fly away. She does not even flap a wing. Nor does she eye me with any fear. I sensed somehow she too 'knew' me, like my silent walls.

She also simply held no grievances.

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 84

Reviewing :
Lesson 67 (Love created me like itself.)
Lesson 68 (Love holds no grievances.)


'God' is just our name for God. That's important to remember, as there is a big difference between a name for something and its reality. So, what is the reality of God? I mean, how is God actually experienced?

Well, there are a thousand names for that too.... it depends on what the 'Divine Activity' has been 'up to'. Sometimes God is Mercy (Grace, when you don't deserve it), sometimes God is the bestower of a Blessing (A Gift Unasked For). In like manner, Attributes of God abound in all the faiths of the world. The Sufi tradition which ordained me is a good example....God is the Pure, the Holy, the Opener of the Way, the Highest, the Forgiver, the Beautiful, the Majestic (and that's just the beginning). All these names describe attributes of Divine Activity. Yet God is beyond all, even these. Essentially, God is the Unnameable and Absolute Love and Absolute Power and Absolute Truth, and the All, All in One.

Practically, God is 'whatever we obey'. I say that in the sense that while most people have it that their life is their life, and their religion is their religion, how I have it is that our life (and whatever we do in it) IS our religion. That is where the rubber of our beliefs (or faith) meets the road of our actual 'reality'.

What the Course is having us do is question the reality of that reality. In Adviata Yoga, this is called 'inquiry'. (In a way, the Course is a 'Christianized' Adviata, being a teaching of non-dualism in a Christian language system.) The purpose of any inquiry is to see newly. Of course, as the minister at the church I sang at last Sunday said 'What are the four words that are absolutely guaranteed to stop your spiritual growth?' I ALREADY KNOW THAT. So, the foundation of 'inquiry' is NOT KNOWING (or, at the very least, Being Open to Not Knowing).

My own relationship with God is based on 'mysticism'. By that I mean 'the intangible unprovable certainty of infinite being'. Or, said another way, 'the intelligent presence of wholeness and Love'. But the truth is, I don't know the words that would actually say what I mean. I don't even know how to describe how I know what I know. I just know that when I know something, it is simply always true and trustable. I know that I know something because I live it, actually, not 'conceptually'.

Like I know that God Loves Me. It's not because of the Sunday School song that I sang hundreds of times as a child. It is because of experience. If my life could be reduced to 60 second soundbites that were all lined up in a row, and which any one of which could be reviewed under a microscope---- my bet is that within any and/or every one of them (if the microscope went to the necessary power of magnification) would be a miracle of some kind that would demonstrate that the something I call God is actively loving me. And I doubt your life is any different. 'Inquiry' is simply the question "What power of magnification is going to be necessary to see the miracle happening in THIS moment?" The answer will reflect our willingness to "see God" directly.

Look, and you will see this is true. Then look again, and perhaps you will also see the paradox it brings with it. The same 'knowing' that makes 'something always true and trustable' can and does make us also blind. That is the great mystery of the power of the mind. That is why the Zen teaching is "to seek Mind with mind is the greatest of all mistakes."

To this conundrum comes God, with the Light of Love. The experience of God's Love is something we are all very familiar with, as it is never not with us. Just 'use your microscope'. But to invite God to be a conscious living presence of Love in our lives is a powerful shifting of our focus. Simply put, God's Love relieves us of all Questions. It relieves us of our 'mind'. Not a bad way to learn about Love.

This I teach that I may also learn.

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 83
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

Reviewing Lesson 65 (My only function is the one God gave me.)
and Lesson 66 (My happiness and my function are one.)


Have you noticed how often it 'happens' that the lesson of the day is just exactly what you 'need to hear'. I truly love these reviews because they 'land so lightly' and remind me of my own natural happiness arising within me, like music of the Beloved.

Lets talk about that a minute. 'Natural happiness' is the opposite of 'original sin'. Natural happiness is simply the joy of being being naturally expressed. Unfortunately, our cultural/religious conditioning usually acts to condition 'a lot' of our natural happiness out of us, and when we recognize that, and what we have lost, it can take a lot of inner work to unlearn that conditioning. But that is what most spiritual work is: Unlearning. Or, de-programming.

Here's a starter list of a few subjects it is worth while to unlearn.

1. Who I am is what other people think of me.
2. I am unloveable (any version, especially, 'a sinner').
3. I can't make it on my own (or, without you).
4. I'm not a successful human being if I don't have.....______, or ______, or _______.
5. 'Looking good' to others is very (or supremely) important.
6. My ego isn't a problem. My life is fine. It's them that is the problem....

As I said, this is a starter list. I suggest you simply start writing down yours in some known place as they arise. We could compare lists down the road a ways. My money in on that our lists will look pretty similar.

'Specialness' will argue otherwise. It's message is that we are not essentially similar, but unique, separate, and special. (Add in also, isolated, alone, lonely, unconnected, and in the extreme, suicidal/homicidal.) But ask for the testimony of anyone who masterfully works selflessly with large numbers of people and they will tell you that most people are pretty similar (within a few common variations), and especially similar in that the biggest thing most people have to 'get over' is themselves. And this is exactly what the Course teaches too.

It teaches: Get over yourself, so that you can give up holding grievances. Get over yourself, so that you can forgive 'others' for what you are not willing to forgive yourself for but haven't yet seen as your own creation, until you can see that. Get over yourself so that you can fulfill your function of being a teacher of God. Get over yourself so that you can receive the happiness that you are swimming in but which is totally unavailable to you because you think you are actually a real 'thing'.

Personally, I testify you are not-- a real thing (not in the way you think you are) because I know I am not either. I trust that moment in my own life years ago after a Gangaji satsang, taking a shower, and suddenly realizing I was not anything but a thought. I trust it because my body also got it, instantly and molecularly. Like high voltage amperage suddenly reversing polarity, like being lightning struck. Yes, as an experience it didn't last. But it changed everything. Because I now know I am a thought, I also know that is who you are, and beyond that, that is who and what everyone/everything is.

We are as unlimited as our thinking, or, as limited as our thinking. While it may appear that the Course is a mind-training course that places limits upon our thoughts, actually the opposite is true. Because, once aligned with actual reality (to which there is no limit or end) our thinking is capable of receiving direct guidance from universal all-emcompassing intelligence. We normally call this 'intuition', and think of it as a 'special gift'. But it is not. It is simply what the Course calls 'sight'.

It is your function to have this sight, to use this sight, to interact with 'others' from this sight, to see yourself with this sight. God would have us be not blind, but rather living powerfully with the simple transformative ability to see, especially ALL others, as ourselves.

Yes, it's a big bite to chew. But like drinking from a fountain of living water, every sip becomes a miracle.

I wrote a song a few days ago, and sang it in a church last Sunday. Here's the lyrics.

I Know I Will Receive
©2010 Rev. David Seacord
___________________________________

God is giving me this moment
and everything I need.
This is true,
it's nothing you need to believe.

I am here to be God's Healer,
and I know I will succeed.
For nothing is impossible
when it's God who has planted the seed.

I am here to be a Miracle (worker),
here to Shine, Be Bright,
Living in God's Holy Power,
Standing upright, to my full height.

God is giving me in this moment
everything I need.
This is true,
it's nothing you need to believe.

I am here to live in Freedom,
and I know I will receive,
everything I may need for whatever
God and I conceive.

God is giving me in this moment
everything I need.
This is true,
Ask in 'the Name' ye shall receive!

Nothing is impossible
Ask in 'the Name' ye shall receive!

Living in God's Holy Power,
it's nothing you need to believe.

Living in God's Holy Power,
Ask in 'the Name' ye shall receive!

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM 82
© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

Reviewing Lessons 63 and 64.


I have been noticing that I have been 'in the world'. My 'past evidence' is that 'I usually and habitually' think and act like I am a body, even though spiritually/intellectually I get I am not. Anyway, since I am being trained by the Course (again) to forgive the world, that includes me-myself too, as 'spiritual/intellectual realization' is not the aim of the Course. The aim of the Course is 'the (24/7) awareness of Love's presence'.

I have been noticing a couple other things too. One is, I have been 'struggling with the discipline of doing the Course'. This is not new. What is new is that I would box myself in to 'doing it' by teaching it and writing these Commentaries. If you think my ego has never complained about this, you are dreaming. I have always loved the teachings of the Course. I have just not loved learning them 'down to my bones'. In the past, I have believed that required a commitment to following the Course's instructions and being disciplined in ways that (in the past, as a very committed 'free spirit') I have never had (ie, never been willing to create). As a result, while the Course has always been 'right handy & nearby', and would be one of my first 'go to's' whenever I would forget God enough for it to become painful, I have never successfully actually 'one day at a time' made it through it in one swooping year, beginning to end. Yet, I am clear I am now being a teacher of God. I meet the fundamental definition: someone who has recognized another as themselves. So somehow, even though I have 'failed to do' the Course 'properly', it has not failed me. While there is admittedly further to go, I acknowledge a lot of ground has been covered already. And that is 'the purpose of time', as the Course says.

So why bring it up now? To give up hiding it, for one, and for two, to be seen as completely as human as you. And to let you know you are covering ground however you are doing this too. And to encourage you in your walk 'Toward the One'.

As an ego like you, I also admit I medicate. To take my egoically-separated life 'straight and cold turkey' has at times (in the past, [like this morning]) chilled my Joy. So I have created my 'special ways' to stay warm. Music is one of them, so is painting beauty. So is writing something I pray will be as useful to you as it is for me who writes it. While they all take me legitimately beyond myself, they also are 'oasis's of self-massage' that I can enter and lose/avoid 'the pain of my specialness' in. What that says to me is (in the past) I have missed the mark at times. I have not (in the past) 'met everything' as it is, unmedicated (without any resistance or attempt to control, ie, in Full Acceptance). While these are 'mistakes that only need correction', for my spiritual ego's perfectionism, they have been (in the past) a torture.

(I keep repeating the phrase 'in the past' in order to acknowledge what has been, yet NOT continuing to instruct my sub-conscious to 'keep creating it'. My/your past is past. What you and I are committed to creating is not more of that, but a completely 'new future'. I merge Landmark and Masterysystems to create this view.)

What to do then when in a tizzie? Forgive myself, right? Lots of luck, sometimes. Sometimes it takes you, my brothers and sister, to open the door for me. That line I wrote yesterday "To be accepted WHILE being exposed."---- That is pure love in action. I have been so graced to have been given such love many times. So have you, I am sure. It's tied into 'the revelation of our own foolishness'. There is just nothing better than to make 'a fool of yourself' , have everybody see it, then get that everyone forgives you (because they have all been there too), and join wholeheartedly in laughing at 'yourself'... That gives a tremendous, miraculous healing.

Yesterday, while phone-conversing-comisserating with 'one of you' I 'missed the mark' so badly and so absurdly that I broke 'out of my mind' and laughed until I almost cried. It saved me. You (my other self, my 'listening brother') saved me. By you, again and again, I am saved. By you, again and again, I remember to forgive myself. I thank you for that, O Great God. For there you were again, right on time.

Please don't go to far, OK? We're only near the end of the first quarter.... nine more months to go.

'All I am saying, is give Love a (full year's) chance'.... :-).

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 81
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

Reviewing Lessons 61 and 62.


"Yet I will trust that, in the Light, I will see it as it is." The line (in the Lesson 62 review) is referring to 'forgiveness as my function' specifically, but the sense of it that lit it up for me was more general. More like: I will trust that, in the Light, I will see everything as it is.

This is the 'great soul desire' (to 'see truly') and I see it is behind everything that is the content of my personal 'faith walk'. Despite all my lifetime of miraculous evidence to the contrary, sometimes the 'thing' most difficult to 'see truly' is simply my own Self. I am sure it is the same for you too. Obscured in the moment by the remaining/surviving voices of smallness that I have protected and kept unexposed, my trust wavers and I experience 'aloneness and lostness'. These moments are my 'shadows of the valley of death', or 'dark nights of my soul'. The course tells me these are simply 'meaningless distracting thoughts and self-fantasys that have no power' which I must remember are only dreams, and trust my Holiness to carry me through. This I am gratefully learning to do.

It is the nature of duality to do battle with God on the battleground of our mind. Many of us experience this insanity of self-doubt from time to time. To it there is no answer, until we remember we made the mistake of forgetting it is unreal. For it will tell me I am worthless instead of holy, and that there is no salvation in God's Love for me.

At times like these, Peace returns when I stop fighting these voices of smallness. I do not continue resisting them. I surrender and 'listen to their insane story'. The Quietness of my listening includes giving up my judgements of being worthy or not worthy. There is no Force used to push any of it away. It is all included. It is all accepted. That is all it wants. It wants to be loved too. To be accepted WHILE being exposed.

I find my Quietness in my body, and especially in my breath. It is the simplest thing, just sitting down and breathing. Just following my breath in and out is all I do. It is all I need to do. What the will is for is to remember to do it.

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 80
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

Let me recognize my problems have been solved.


How do we answer a query or request from a friend? We often say, "Not a problem", "No sweat", stuff like that. Sometimes we mean it, sometimes we don't.

What if we always did mean it, because we understood deeply what the Course is speaking to today? I get a sense that we would all be 'floating' (down the river of life) and 'flowing' a lot more than we might be right now. Personally, I gauge my state day to day by how un-hookable I am being. Or, if I am hooked, how quickly I let go.

This is all simply a function of training (which, if I can be trained to get, so can you). It only takes 'your life', meaning, making it a true priority. And then, being around someone who you can 'catch on' from. And right now, lightworkers who are grounded enough to get 'ignition' from are everywhere, it seems. This is very good, and means we live live in the 'luckiest of times'.

Yet, we all are 'needed' (meaning, our 'presense' is...). Given the magnitude of the error (of 'separation', which fills the entire world, and hemorrhages at us through every media) there is plenty of work to be done. And as the Course says, the assignments are specific. I have received a vision recently that this is all 'in the plan'..... that as thousands of saviors 'work locally' using the shade given by the planetary Voices for God, that we are being 'like overwhelming, man, to the egoic defense system' in a way similar to how our healthy immune-fighting white blood cells overwhelm an invading virus. (I say this as an analogy, as personally, I am not sure that description of scientific 'reality' is dead-on, but we do all recognize the conversation.)

Bottom line is still: All lightworkers are needed, and all need 'training'. That is why I am 'leading you through the Course'. Because it 'trains' both of us. To what? To think outside of self-centered-ness. To immediately forgive. To see others as ourselves. To 'not know', before 'being shown by God'. And above all, to trust God Absolutely. Remember Jesus, on the cross.... his cry out to God? "Why have you forsaken me?". That was the 'final death-throe rattle' of his ego. I'm not saying that to offend anyone who believes in the doxology of 'His divine perfection' where the idea of Jesus having an ego is incomprehensible... but going through the death experience does mean letting go of the body, which is the fundamental reality of an ego. What I see is: If we have a body, we have an ego. If we are 'trained' well, the possibility is it might not 'have us'.

How we demonstrate that it doesn't 'have us' is to not make up problems. That does not mean not seeing 'the problems' that others see. But it does mean seeing through them, and recognizing them as 'not a problem'. People will cancel your vote and think you live in lala-land if you simply completely deny 'their problem'. And that is not compassion, anyway. But if you can stand next to them 'in the problem' and be unaffected, they will notice that while you are being burned at the same stake they are, you are not sizzling like they are. (Whoa.... IT'S AN ANALOGY!) Anyway, the best teaching is 'by example', so the analogy holds. :-).

When the Zen teachings say "Simply say, when doubts arise, NOT TWO...", that is meant in a completely unlimited way. The temptation to egoically opt-out for 'the separation' is what we are being trained to face. It will be our graduation test too. Whatever our bogeyman is, it is going to knock on the door sometime. Whether it is going to 'be real' (or not) is up to us 'being with God' (or being without God) at that moment. Which is why "Being Present" is a moment-to-moment thing. Where was Gandhi the moment before the bullet? "Ram". The moment of the bullet? Same thing...."Ram". (For readers that this makes no sense to.... Gandhi's spiritual practice was the unending repetition of the mantra "Ram", which is a Hindu name of God.)

With God, we can face anything. Actually, we can welcome anything. Actually, we can 'be love' to anything. The purpose of a spiritual community, a training circle, being a group of ACIM students---whatever the label--- is to practice this. So that we can take our place, our 'rightful place'--- as the lesson today reveals, 'in the plan'.

We are all called to be lightworkers. And we must necessarily know 'whereof we speak'. Peace of Mind is our gift to give when we can demonstrate it. (It comes from not making up problems.) So is forgiveness, when we have learned to forgive. So is true faith, when we have that.

Obviously, it is already a demonstration of the 'reversal of the world's thinking' when the idea of not being anything but 'filled up on God' lights us up. Don't Worry. You're in the right place.

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 79
©2010 Rev. David Seacord

Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.


The last line of todays lesson ("You will be heard, and you will be answered.") will serve as our 'beginning' today. Have you a sense of what it is implying? To me, it implies God Knows Me. That I am totally KNOWN. Isn't that mindboggling? In a universe as vast as we have come to understand it is (and I suspect we are still in the dark ages even now about that) the Creator of All That IS Knows each of us (both personally AND impersonally). That is some trans-dimensional bio-spiritual-cosmic supercomputer! A complete and universal hologram program, infinitely creative and responsive (to the slightest use of our free will to deny the Great Eternalness especially)... That is God AS A COMMITMENT TO US, THE SON OF HIS OWN BEING.

While we often think (inside the cultural indoctrination) of God as a 'Father', the commitment running this hologram is identical to 'a Mother's Love'. Therefore to me, our 'Infinite Source' is both Father/Mother, Lover/Beloved, and the Beginning/the End. But notice these are ALL FULL CIRCLES. None of them are of 'duality'. None of them are 'split', or exist 'in separation'. They are simply both of the 'arms of truth'. And (conceptually) they exist for us, as we LOVE to be Held by God 'tightly', with both His/Her arms surrounding us. That is the experience that brings us into Absolute Trust, which is immediately before complete and total ego surrender.

'What' does the ego surrender? As revealed in todays lesson.... one thing it surrenders is "complexity". Is it not self-obvious we all somewhere in us yearn for 'the simple life', while the world preaches its truisms that 'you gotta get with the program' (which is almost always [in my seeing] some version of survival-based fear-motivated action). This is probably 'true' even if you Love your work. Just contemplate quitting, with no new job or self-work income lined up, and see if you don't experience a few survival issues. For us in the 'modern world', the loss of tribal/tangential (local neighborhood) community survival support is huge. And then, when we are able to 'schedule a vacation from it all', what a lot of us do is get as simple as possible.... go be in nature, relax on a beach, go for a walk of many hundreds of miles (throwing in my dream)... any way we can figure out to just get simple. When our 'free time is up', if we are 'normal', we reluctantly return to the slavery of our complexity, so that we can 'make it' financially, after which we dream we can relax and live 'the good life'. It is a bit of tail chasing, and not nearly as 'directly present' as 'picking the apple and then eating it'. But this is what our ego tells us we Must Do....

Contrasting all that then, what I see todays lesson as being about is the essential possibility of spiritualization, i.e., reducing all our life's complexities down to simple, basic fundamentals and thus being able to live much more freely and simply amidst all the complexity. Amazing possibilities arise out of this, like being fully Present at all times, for instance... Luckily, it is not about believing or not believing anything. It is simply about a way of seeing (or not seeing) so that there is no internal confusion. The basic fundamentals are 1. Live with open eyes (metaphorically and spiritually and actually). 2. Live with an open heart. 3. Trust the Promise (that God knows your life, its needs, and 'has it all covered'). These three work together as an empowering unity. Just like we do to, with God...... This is 'the mystery of the universe'.... that Man 'is One' with God. Said artistically, in our ordinariness is our splendor.

Therefore, let me recognize there is no problem, so that it can be solved... :-).

Namaste,

David

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 78
©2010 Rev. David Seacord


Let miracles replace all grievances.


Are you being tested? I am. I see it is support.

How else would be know we were growing except to suddenly wake up and catch ourselves 'in the act'. I see this is what Prasad meant when he said being Awake was like 'being in a cage with a tiger about to pounce'. Our mind is working 24/7 to lull us back to sleep. That tiger is our friend, saying, 'if you do, I have you'.

So we live and practice being on the razors edge. It can take many forms, depending on what our individual curriculum path is. But it is all ego aikido, whatever the form. Practice, Practice, Breakthrough, Practice. More Practice, Practice, Another Breakthrough, More Practice.

The phone rings. It's somebody you'd like to not speak with. You speak with them, remembering they are your brother. Work is boring. Repetitive. You do it with patience and detail. You do it well. Nobody notices or cares. You realize nobody needs to. Something breaks down. Your day is changed and you don't get done whatever you'd planned. You choose peace, go with the 'flow' and miracles happen left and right as a result. It's time to write another 'commentary'. I don't know 'what to say'. Somehow the words 'just come' in a beautiful empty way. I am fed. You are fed.

What exactly are we practicing? This instant I'd say 'Trusting Life', in another it might be 'Being Silent', in yet another it might be 'Recognizing there are no mistakes'. It could be a long list, but it is hologramic. Everything on the list is but a form of everything else on the list.

Like not holding grievances is a form of 'offering light' which is a form of 'healing the separated mind' which is a form of 'entering the One Being'. And like the tiger crouching is a form of Divine Support, which is a form of God's Perfect Love.

So ultimately it is all forms of the formless.....and our surrender is.... letting go completely of expectations and desires, just getting that the point is to be empty and spacious and silent. What was that that Gangaji said? Just choose silence. Don’t even choose love. Choose silence, and love is apparent.

Where can 'a grievance' exist if the mind is silent? What need have we left to chase, when such love is apparent. It is simply the way of wholeness to rely completely on miracles. :-)

Namaste,

David