Commentary on ACIM Lesson 128

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

 

The world I see holds nothing that I want.

 

 

Driving my 'beautiful turtle' across the 3D holodeck of this world today,  there was much to take delight in.  And multitudes of 'possibilities' fueled my imagination, both for paintings, for writings to come, for projects in service to holiness.  God directed.... we didn't rush. (Actually, we can't...:-)

 

For example, as the 'bt' is (like a turtle) quite slow on the open interstate highway, I pulled off spontaneously at a exit just to let the 'heavily backed up and probably getting irritated and unsafe'  traffic pass, and then 'realized' I was near a small healing foundation that I had visited years ago which practiced the teaching of Dr. Ann Wigmore (wheatgrass therapy, which I do a lot of...).  I checked my heart to see if I was being invited to stop by again, and got a Yes.  It was the third or fourth little adventure like that today... all unplanned (or so it seemed :-).....   At the Foundation (set close to a very old, poor, quaint and picturesque Hispanic/Pueblo Indian village) nobody was home, but as I walked around the several buildings calling 'hello, hello', I found myself observing the condition of the structures and their current and future upkeep needs, and I heard my heart saying that perhaps in the future (when free) I would return and do such service. It felt like 'home', being there, and I could feel I would love 'being in service' for a while there too, in 'God's Timing'.  I left my card at the door, as 'suggested'.   

 

I am writing this after completing the editing of todays lesson (other times I write here first), which you will see, is about not 'overvaluing' the trinkets of the world.   To 'value the world' is to completely miss the mark.  To value the opportunity to 'serve one another' from and with God's love is a different story.  That is what the story above is about.  And when our lives are about that, we are 'home' everywhere.  

 

Like Jesus, I associate broadly, with both the refined and the in-the-rough, as equally as I am able (that got covered yesterday in the lesson, right?).  Now in  Albuquerque, I am 'landed' tonight at a quasi-spiritual community, a 'family' of Jesus-loving people that I have known for several decades.  The 'family population' is variable,  some are old-timers I have known many years, some are recently 'off the streets' and just finding God.  It's spring, and the gardens are being planted.  Several men are at work as I drive in and they wave, glad to see me after many months.  Again, it felt like 'home'.  Another opening for the heart to serve.  

 

What am I leading to?  That 'home' is a heart determined thing.  Yuma is 'home' (perhaps originally because of my parents being there, but now, because of the Course-community that I am heartfully co-facilitating), Phoenix is 'home' because of heart connectedness too, same Albuquerque & Santa Fe, same for anywhere I am doing an art show that spirit-enlivened people and I connect at.  

 

And the story about the tire shop two days ago?....  What that was was a view of how, when love is present, that strangers can become (if only for the instant) 'like family'.  ('Like family' in this case as exemplified by the transformation of a straight business exchange into 'a gift accepting/giving economy', the way 'you'd help your brother', without thinking about the money, etc.)  And that instant, it opens up 'a crack in the world' for a higher Love to be experienced.  

 

This is then the definition of a miracle:  to simply serve everyone with love.  It's something I am working on learning too....:-)

 

Namaste, 

 

David  

__________________________________

Todays lesson, with my edits....

 

Lesson 128

The world I see holds nothing that I want.

Bluntly said, this world I am seeing with my body's eyes holds nothing that I need or that could offer me a holy value; nothing that I can use in any way, nor anything at all that serves to give me joy. My acceptance of this thought will save me from untold years of misery, from countless disappointments, and from an endless cycle of 'hoping' that turns to bitter ashes of despair. Certainly no one must accept this thought as true,  for we are given free will, but, if I would leave the limits of this world (and its petty scope and little ways) behind and soar beyond, beyond, beyond, and then beyond even beyond, then that one, that 'myself', will certainly one day accept it fully.

Right now, I can see each thing I value here is a chain that binds me to the world, and it will serve no other end but this. For everything must serve the purpose I have given it, until I see a different purpose there. The only purpose worthy of my mind this world contains is that I 'pass it by', without delaying to 'perceive some hope' where there is none. I choose to be deceived no more. The world I see holds nothing that I want or choose.

I hear God calling me to escape today the chains I have placed upon my mind (when I perceive salvation here, of this world). For what I value I make part of me (and as I perceive myself, I am, at least to myself). All things I seek for in order to make my value greater in my own sight limit me even further; they hide my real worth from me, and add another 'bar across the door' that leads to true awareness of my Self.

Today God, let nothing that relates to body thoughts delay my progress to realizing Your salvation, nor permit any temptation to believe the world holds anything I want to hold me back from You. I accept that nothing is here to be cherished. And I accept that nothing here is worth one instant of further delay and pain; or one moment of uncertainty and doubt. For the worthless offers onlynothing. Let me not forget that certainty of my worth can not be found in what is intrinsically worthless.

Today God, I will practice letting go all thoughts of value I have 'given to the world'. And I will practice leaving it free of the 'purposes' I gave its aspects and its phases and its dreams. I will hold it purposeless within my mind, and loosen it from all I have wished it were. Thus do I lift off the chains that bar the door to my freedom from the world, and thus I go beyond all its little values and diminished goals.

Today I shall regularly pause, and 'be still a little while', and watch and see how far I shall rise above the world. I will practice  releasing my mind from 'illusions chains' and let it return to the naturally awake level where it finds itself 'at home with God'. My mind will be grateful to be so free for this while. For it knows where it rightly belongs. I need only free its wings, and it will fly in sureness and in joy to join its holy purpose. I shall let it rest in its Creator, and there, let it be restored to sanity, to freedom and to love.

Yes God, I will give my mind ten minutes rest three times today at least. And when my eyes are opened afterwards, I will not value anything I see as much as when I looked at it before. My whole perspective on the world will continue shifting, perhaps by just a little, every time I let my mind escape its chains. This world is not where a mind made whole by my God belongs. And I belong where it would be, and where it goes to rest when I release it from 'the world'. God, your Guide in me is sure. I will open my mind to Him. I will be still, and rest.

God, protect my mind throughout the day as well please. And if or when You see I am seeing some value in an aspect or an image of the world, please help me to not lay this chain upon my mind, but let your Voice remind me to tell myself, with quiet certainty:

This shall not tempt me to delay. 
The world I see holds nothing that I want.

Amen. 

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 127

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

I had planned to drive further because there was still another hour of light left, but I hit the brakes when I saw that Sycamore Creek (in the Tonto NF northeast of Phoenix) had a good flow of water in it.  And in the past, I had done some very nice paintings at this place, but without the running water...so I 'had' to check it out.   Turns out I will 'have to' keep going anyway (to another camping spot I know), because my aircard cannot connect here, and I don't choose to leave you wondering what became of me....(or where your lesson is :-)  

 

Still, it's been a good stop, this hour + of being down at the creek, watching the hillsides change color as the sunset deepened, and watering all eight of my wheatgrass trays that I got clear at the last minute were coming too....  :-).  

 

But the biggest thrill is just the land, which is alive and vital.  50 + miles away from the city, this amazing area of saguaros is right now bursting out with their white blossoms, and the green white of century plant pods are everywhere amidst the boulders.  From the evidence left behind, the creek had been in serious flood earlier in the spring, maybe 6 feet higher than now, and all along it green somethings were growing in the floodwater saturated soils....  (I let out a whoop when I saw lambsquarters, but the oxalic acid taste was so strong I stopped after a few leaves).....

 

**********************

intermission for additional travel into the night....

 

**********************

Now would be a great time to have no need of sleep, for there is much of a spiritually insightful nature that I have had the opportunity to ponder today while traveling.  They will, this time, wait.  I have arrived at another past painting camp (with good cell service), and wish you the presence of holiness throughout your day.  For the summation of all the ponderings of this day can be simplified down to:  God/Love is the answer to everything unreal.  Peace to you.

 

Namaste, 

 

David

_________________________

Todays lesson, with my edits....

 

Lesson 127

There is no love but God's.

Sometimes I think that different kinds of love are possible. Sometimes I think there is a kind of love for this, a kind for that; a way of loving one, another way of loving still another. This is not clarity, for 'Love is one'. It (Love) has A. no separate parts and B. no degrees; C. no 'kinds' nor D. 'levels', E. no divergencies and F. it makes no 'distinctions'. It is simply and consistently 'like itself', unchanged throughout always. It never alters with a person or a circumstance. It is the Heart of God, and also it is the Heart of His Son. (It is therefore my true heart, and your true heart too. :-)

Love's 'meaning' is completely obscure to me anytime I am 'thinking' that love can 'change'. I then do not see that changing love must be impossible (by definition!). And thus I will be blind, and think that I can love at times, and hate at other times. I will also think that love can be bestowed on one, and yet remain itself although it is withheld from others. At any time, for me to believe these things of love is to not  understand it at that time. If Love could make such distinctions, it wouldhave to judge between 'the righteous' and 'the sinner', and perceive the Son of God in (unwhole) separate parts.

True Love cannot judge. As it is one itself, it looks on all as one. Loves meaning lies in oneness. And it therefore must elude the mind that thinks of it as partial or in part. There is no love but God's, and all of love is His. There is no other principle that rules where love is not. Love is a law without an opposite. Its wholeness is the power holding everything as one, the link between the Father and the Son which holds Them both forever as the same.

No course whose purpose is to teach me to remember who and what I really am could fail to emphasize that there can never be a difference in what I really am and what love is. Love's meaning is the same as my own, and is shared by God Himself. For what I am is also what He is, for I am his beloved creation, created of His Own Self. There is no love but His, and what He is, is only everything that there IS. There is no limit placed upon Himself, and so am I unlimited as well.

No law the world obeys can help me grasp love's meaning. What the world 'believes' was made to hide love's meaning, and to keep it dark and secret. There is not one principle the world upholds that does not violate the truth of what love is, (and what I am as well).

O Man/O Woman... seek not within the world to find thy Self. Love is not found there, in darkness and in death. Yet it is perfectly everywhere apparent to the eyes that see and ears that hear love's Voice. Today I shall practice making free my mind of all the laws I think I 'must' obey; of all the limits under which I live, and all the changes that I think are part of human destiny. Today I take the largest single step this course requests (in my advance towards its established goal).

My 'inner teacher' says that if I am successful and achieve the faintest glimmerings of understanding of what love means today, I have advanced in distance without measure and (in time) beyond the count of years (to my release). Let us together, then, be glad to give some time 'made sacred' to God today, and understand there is no better use for time than this.

For fifteen minutes twice today let us escape from every law in which we now believe. Let us open our mind and rest. The world that seems to hold us prisoner can be escaped by you, by me, by anyone who does not 'hold it dear'. Let us withdraw all value we have placed upon the worlds meager offerings and senseless gifts, and let the gifts of God replace them all. For they surely will.

Today I call to my Father and my God, certain that His Voice will answer. He Himself has promised me this. And He Himself will place a spark of truth igniting a fire of Joy within my mind wherever and whenever I give up a false belief (those 'dark illusions' of my 'reality', and of what love means). God promises He will shine His light all through my idle thoughts today, and help me understand the truth of love. In loving gentleness He will abide with me, as I allow His Voice to teach me love's true meaning to my now clean and open mind. And He will bless the lesson with His Love.

Today the 'legion of the future years of waiting for salvation' disappears before the timelessness of what I learn. Let us each give thanks today that we are being spared a future 'like the past'. Today I leave the past behind me, nevermore to be 'remembered' (re-made as 'real'). And I raise my eyes upon a different present, where a future dawns unlike the past in every attribute.

The world in infancy is newly born. And we each shall  all watch it grow in health and strength, to shed its blessing upon all who come to learn to cast aside the world they thought was made in hate (to be love's imagined enemy). Now are they all made free too, along with me. Now are they all my brothers in God's Love.

I will remember them throughout the day, because I cannot leave a part of me outside my love if I would know my Self. At least three times an hour today I shall think of one 'other' who makes this journey with me, and who comes to learn the same lesson that I must learn. And as that 'other' comes to mind, I shall give him this message from my Self:

I bless you, brother, with the Love of God, which I would share with you. For I would learn the joyous lesson that there is no love but God's and yours and mine and everyone's.

 

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 126

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

All that I give is given to myself.

 

 

"There is only one of us here"..... At the time I first hear Prasad utter these words, they entered me like a stunning revelation.  Yes, I still continually re-join the normally superficial thinking of the world of appearances and pretense and forget.  Yet my inner teacher always leads me into opportunities to remember, and more and more consistently, I do.  It's easiest with 'strangers' who I don't know and 'I know will soon be gone', and hardest with 'family' with whom I have a lifetimes history which often covers up the Now.  My teacher is like a musician that plays me through all the ranges, working to even out my tonal response to equanimity whatever the situation.  

 

My little test today was around an unexpected flat tire....  didn't notice it upon entering my trustworthy but beatup 4 x 4 Sidekick, but sure did before I'd moved a couple feet.  Didn't get upset.  (Good start).  Got out of car, and inspected/verified the situation.  Stayed calm.  (Good).   Moved the car slowly back into the shade so I wouldn't be working in near 100 degree direct sun.  Got out the tools, started to jack up the car, then remembered I should break the nuts free before raising.  Did that.  Nuts felt 'wierd', stiff.   Started to jack up the car again, than my 'voice for God' (who is a good mechanic too) suggested I check the size of my spare.  I do, remembering as I did that was a slightly different size.  Right.  That means (since the flat was on the rear drive wheels) that I would have to put the spare on a front wheel, and use the current front wheel as the spare for the back wheel.  So twice as much work.  And the nearest tire shop probably closed in not to long, maybe 45 minutes.  So I thought about cheating....  if I drove slow it probably would be ok and not hurt the transaxle.  Got quiet and checked in.  Got "Don't cheat".  Accepted that verdict without resisting it.  (Good).  Moved the jack up to the front, removed the front tire, put the off-sized spare on the front wheel, dropped the car back to the ground, remembered to double check the torque on the lug nuts.  (Very Good).  My sister from Connecticut called.  I 'listened' but I missed the mark a bit.  I was a little short, a little not present, a little in resistance to her request (which added a 'Mother's Day' gift item for Mom onto my 'to do' list before leaving in the morning for New Mexico).  But I didn't say NO.  Actually, I said YES ....  She 'let me get back to work'...(I had 'made up a complaint about the situation with the tire' as I had talked to her.... which was just old patterns running.... inside the family we egoically 'complain' to each other like 'it's the truth' and usually don't 'call ourselves on it'....  I won't go into it right now--- you have a family?  Then you know. It's called 'family politics'..  :-)  

 

Back to work, jacked up the rear again and then discovered the lug nuts that had felt wierd WERE.  Several were apparently 'crossthreaded'.  So I 'had' to block the tire again so I could add the sweat-producing torque to the lug nuts to force them off.  Internally (as I sweated), my mind was trying to find 'someone to blame for this'---whoever had been 'just doing their job badly' and who had crossthreaded MY lug nuts onto MY tire studs in a way that maybe had ruined them which was going to cost ME more money and MY time when I didn't have time for funky stuff like this!!!  (My Voice for God was probably not so impressed with this....) I noticed that and told my mind to quit complaining, reminding it to BE HERE NOW, and WITH WHAT IS.  (Good.  Back on track).  Finally got the stubborn lug nuts off, and the front tire mounted on the rear.  Was guided to examine both the studs and the lug nuts and try to match the best condition lugs to the best condition studs... no use creating further damage.  Said 'Thank you God' (for the assistance).  Got the lugs back on.  They seemed ok.  Great.  

 

Drive the two miles to the tire shop.  They are still open but clearly getting ready to close.  I do a 'three point landing' in front of their main stall (which let them know I was there), hopped out and pulled out the flat, saying/pointing "There's the nail.  Can you do it right now?"  "Sure, no problem" and off he goes into the shop with the tire.  He's not "my brother" to me yet, but...well... it's kool.  The manager comes out.  He's the guy I 'didn't like' the time I had come to this shop a few months ago.  I check in inside.  Give up the past.  Great.  New upload.  Fresh start.  'Hi, how's it going?" I say.  We talk about what is happening, and what I need to have happen (all the tires back where they started from).  In tire ala carte talk,  each extra is extra, and I could imagine the bill going up.  Out of the blue, I heard mySelf saying, "Hey, maybe you'd like to trade....  Don't say no till you see what I have... and I led him back to my rear door, flipped off the insulated pad that was covering my box of small art prints, and said "I am a really good art painter, and you can have your choice of any of these if you want to trade..."  I was flipping through the images so he got a sense...   "Bet you don't have an artist offering to trade every day, huh... " I said.  He smiled. "No, not really".  "Well, it's up to you, either way works".  "I think we can take care of you" he said back.  

 

I didn't know what that last statement meant, but the work progressed quickly, and my sister called back to let me know I was off the hook... she had found (via internet, I guess) a local florist to do the deed (with Chocolates) on the big day.  I said Great, and forgot to apologize for being a poo.  She forgave me without a word.  That's brotherly love.  

 

Time to pay the bill.  I go up to the counter.  How much?  Oh, I'll trade you, the manager says.  Great!  Out we go to the box of prints...  I don't ask how much the bill actually was....  V for G just has me say "In this row they are twenty, and those are ten.  You can have one of these or two of those.  He choose a ten dollar one and he says "I really like this one".  OK, I say, but you can have another too, if you want.  He calls over the worker that did the job.  'You want a print?  Choose one from this pile."  The worker chooses one with great pleasure.  We thank each other.  The Manager notices the poetry called 'The Love Declaration' through the back plastic.  My V for G says with my mouth, "I am a minister too.  That's what my ministry is about.  I give it out with the prints to everybody."  "Oh. Great, fine."  And with that, I am on my way....again.  To the next 'unexpected' problem containing it's unexpected gifts....

 

The Love Declaration

--A Covenant--

 

I am your partner 

in awakening from fear.

From this moment on,

at all times, 

under all conditions, 

I declare I will be,

for all beings, 

A Conscious Source 

of Absolute Love,

and, 

I promise

I will serve

only this Love,

in you, 

in me, 

and in All, 

no matter what,

for the rest of my life.

 

(It's a long story, but back in 1986 when I wrote the above, that was the birth of my true being.  I'll share more about it with you as we continue down the road....)

 

Clearly today, all that I gave was given to myself.  Gratefully, this I teach, that I may also fully learn.

 

Namaste,

 

David

________________________________________

Edited First Person Version

Lesson 126

All that I give is given to myself.

Today's idea, which is completely alien to both my ego and my thinking about the world, is crucial to the thought reversal process that this course is bringing about in me. When I accept this statement fully, there will be no longer any problems in the areas of complete forgiveness, certainty of goal, and sure direction. I will understand the means by which salvation comes to me, and will not hesitate to use it in each moment of the Now.

Let me consider what I do 'believe' now, in place of this idea. Itseems to me that other people are apart from me, and able to behave in ways which have no bearing on my thoughts, nor mine on theirs. Therefore, my attitudes have no effect on them, and their appeals for help are not in any way related to my own. I further think that they can 'sin' without affecting my perception of myself, while I however, can judge their sin, and yet somehow remain apart from condemnation and at peace.

As an ego in a body, when I "forgive" a sin, there is no gain to me directly. I give charity to one unworthy, merely to point out that I am better, on a higher plane than he whom I forgive. He has not earned my charitable tolerance, which I bestow on one unworthy of the gift, because his sins have lowered him beneath a true equality with me. He has no claim on my forgiveness. It holds out a gift to him, but hardly to myself.

Thus viewed, forgiveness is basically unsound; a charitable whim, benevolent yet undeserved, a gift bestowed at times, at other times withheld. Unmerited, withholding it is just, nor is it fair that I should suffer when it is withheld. The sin that I forgave is not my own. Someone apart from me committed it. And if I then am gracious unto him by giving him what he does not deserve, the gift is no more mine than was his sin.

If this be true, forgiveness has no grounds on which to rest dependably and sure. It is an eccentricity, by which I sometimes choose to give indulgently an undeserved reprieve. Yet it also remains my 'right' to let the sinner not escape the justified repayment for his sin....  

Here is the conundrum....do I actually think that the Lord of Heaven would allow the world's salvation to depend on a scenario like this? Would not His care for me be very small indeed, if my salvation rested on such a whim?

Therefore, I see I do not understand forgiveness. As I see it, it is but a check upon overt attack, without requiring correction in my mind. It cannot give me peace as I currently perceive it. It is not a means for my release from what I see in someone other than myself. It has no power to restore my unity with him to my awareness. It is not what God intended His forgiveness to be for me.

Not having given Him the gift He asks of me, I cannot recognize His gifts, and then I think He has not given them to me. Yet would He ask me for a gift unless it was for me? Could He be satisfied with empty gestures, and evaluate such petty gifts as worthy of His Son? Salvation is a better gift than this. And true forgiveness, as the means by which salvation is attained, must heal the mind that gives it, for giving is receiving. What remains as unreceived has therefore not really been given, but what has been given in truth must have been received, for this is the Divine Law.

Today I will commit to understanding the truth that 'giver and receiver are the same'. I will need help to make this meaningful, because it is so alien to the thoughts to which I am accustomed. But the Help I need is here with me. I will give Him my faith today, and ask Him that He share my practicing in truth today. And my inner teacher says truthfully that if I only catch a tiny glimpse of the release that lies in the idea I practice for today, this is truly a day of glory for the world.

I shall give fifteen minutes twice today to a disciplined attempt to understand today's idea. It is the key thought by which forgiveness takes its proper place in my priorities. It is the key thought that will release my mind from every bar to what forgiveness means, and lets me realize its worth to me.

In silence, I shall close my eyes upon 'the world that does not understand forgiveness', and seek sanctuary in 'the quiet place where thoughts are transformed and false beliefs laid down'. I will repeat today's idea, and ask for help in understanding what it really means. I will be willing to be taught. I will be glad to hear the Voice of truth and healing speak to me, and I will understand the words He speaks, and recognize He speaks my own truth to me.

As often as I can, I shall remind myself I have a goal today; an aim which makes this day of special value to myself and all my brothers. I will not let my mind forget this goal for long, but will remember to tell myself:

All that I give is given to myself. The Help I need to learn that this is true is with me now. And I will trust in Him.

Then, I will spend a quiet moment, opening my mind to His correction and His Love. And what I hear of Him I will accept as true, for what He gives will be received by me.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 125

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

In quiet I receive God's Word today.

 

 

 

Being here nearby my parents at this time in their lives has been a very rich and eye-opening experience.  It's been several months now since I arrived without a 'by when I would exit plan'.  I've integrated into the assisted living facility culture as an odd duck of aliveness 'without much disturbing' of the 'regimen' of the inhabitants.  My mother is often embarrassed at my antics (which has exposed clearly for me where THAT voice in my self-judgement arsenal was learned from).  My dad is usually thrilled at them (my antics are simple things, like suddenly starting to sing old world war II songs like a 'grand performance' while we are sitting at the institutional feeding troughs [er...] dining room tables).   Then, Mom, when she sees everybody is loving it, she gives up some of the embarrassment and becomes pleased as punch, proud to be the mother of this odd duck man.  It's a hoot, sometimes, but I deliver it totally straight, like it is the most natural thing in the world to be so uninhibited and fully self-expressed.  Being totally straight with you too, it is.  (In the realm of Course I would reference the principles of Miracles [front of the book, page 1] where it says "Miracles are natural.  When they are not happening, something has gone wrong...").

 

In 'Sufi' culture, I have often heard the phrase 'In'sha'allah', which means simply "God Willing" or "As God Wills".  My father used the english 'God Willing' tonight as I was leaving from an evening visit.  I had said "See you tomorrow", to which my father humbly answered "Yes, God Willing".  We had been talking about that he might not have all that much longer to live.  And somebody they had liked had died today....  which happens 'regularly' there.  

 

It all has me being present to the transient nature of our lives.  I opened a box today that had a picture album of mine from 20-30 years ago.  Me as a young man, my son as a baby, people I had loved that I have no clue about now....  all of it now passed, no longer 'real', except as a memory.  I had gone over to see my folks because word had come that their other property up in Oregon had been broken into (probably by local kids---nothing stolen-- just a mess left behind).  In the course of Mom's reaction to the news, she spoke of her 'treasures' that were there that she understood had no value to anyone but her (or, she hopes, a family member).  As she was speaking, I began to recognize that these 'treasures' were really her 'deep attachments', and that understanding extended to then recognizing that culturally, a lot of us have this 'collapsed' in the same way.  Explaining, if I label something I have a strong 'attachment to' as a 'treasure', I don't have to examine what the attachment is about, what it represents, and where it may be holding me in bondage and keeps me from being free (if I could let it go).  Instead of that inner examination, I simply let my very brief life be used up 'protecting my treasures'. 

 

We all do this (letting our lives be used up by some kind of foolishness, one way or another).  We're all like 3rd graders in 3 D time/space, and we're all just 'passing through'.  As I spoke to my Mom tonight, I suggested that the real treasure she has in her hand is the unknown precious time she still has left with my Father... That may be far more important than worrying about what might have happened up at the Oregon place.  That will get handled by other people.  Being here with Dad, this is our opportunity to learn the kind of love that can let go 'of the world'. I am watching my Father slowly do just that.  

 

All that said, the final poignancy for me is that suddenly it is time for me to leave them and Yuma for a few weeks and go 'make some livelihood' over in New Mexico.  It wasn't on the screen until yesterday, but a contract was offered, and I'll be on my way in a day or so, to be gone several weeks.  Another 'right on time' grace of God.  I have to admit I count on it to be this way more and more.  I just believe in miracles, and they happen.  So I said 'Dad, are you going to be here when I get back?' To which he said "Yes, God Willing".  "Just in case you're not, Thank you Dad, for being my Dad."  "Thank you Son, for being my Son"....  "See you tomorrow then..."  "Yes, God Willing...."  

 

Namaste, 

 

David

 

_____________________

Edited first person version

 

 

Lesson 125

In quiet I receive God's Word today.

I choose that this day be a day of stillness and of quiet listening. My Father wills I hear His Word today. He calls to me from deep within my mind, where He abides and gives me life. I will hear Him today. For I understand no peace is possible until His Word is heard within all hearts beating everywhere around the world; and until my own mind, in quiet listening, accepts the message that all my brothers in the world must also hear, in order to usher in the quiet time of peace.

The only way this world will change is 'through me'. No other means can save it, for God's plan is simply this: The Son of God is free to save himself. !!!!!!!  I have been given the Word of God to be my Guide, forever in my mind and at my side to lead me surely to my Father's house by my own surrendered will, yet forever to be as free as God Himself is. I am not led by force, but only by love. I am not judged, I am only sanctified.  And this is so for all my brothers also!

In holy stillness I will hear God's Voice today.... without intrusion of my petty thoughts, without my personal desires, and without any judgment of His holy Word. Neither will I judge myself today, for what I am can not be judged. I stand apart from all the judgments which the world has laid upon the Son of God. It knows my being not. Today I will not listen to the world, but I will wait in silence for the Word of God.

Hear, O holy Sons of God, our Father speaks! His Voice would give to us His holy Word, to spread across the world the tidings of salvation and the holy time of peace. We gather at the throne of God today, the quiet place within every mind where He abides forever, in the holiness that He created and which He will never leave.

He has not waited until I return my mind to Him to give His Word to me. He has not hid Himself from me, even while I have wandered off a little while from Him. He does not cherish the illusions which I hold about myself. He knows I AM His Son, and wills that I remain as part of Him regardless of my dreams; regardless of my madness that my will is not my own. He knows it is my own, because He gave it to me!

Today He speaks to me. His Voice awaits my silence, for His Word can not be heard until my mind is quiet for a while, and meaningless desires have been stilled. I await His Word in timeless quiet. And there is a deep peace within me to be called upon today, to help make ready my most holy mind to hear the Voice for its Creator speak.

Three times today I shall, at times most suitable for silence, give ten minutes set apart from listening to the world, and choose instead a gentle listening to the Word of God. He speaks from nearer than my heart to me. His Voice is closer than my hand. His Love is everything I am and that He is; the same as me, and I the same as He.

It is my true voice to which I listen as He speaks to me. It is my true word He speaks. It is the Word of freedom and of peace, of unity of will and purpose, with no separation nor division in the single Mind of Father and of Son. In quiet I will listen to my Self today, and let Him tell me God has never left His Son, and I have never left my Self.

I shall be only quiet. I will need no rule but this to let my practicing today lift me above the thinking of the world, and free my vision from the body's eyes. I shall only be still and listen. I will hear the Word in which the Will of God the Son joins in his Father's Will, at one with it, with no illusions interposed between the wholly indivisible and true. As every hour passes by today, I shall be still a moment and remind myself I have a special purpose for this day; in quiet, to receive the Word of God.

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 124

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

Let me remember I am one with God.

 

 

You know all those advertisements soliciting 'come live your dreams', stuff like that....  They are a double-edged sword that cuts two ways, I think.  Why is that? Because I am looking at that a very big way to lose love in my life is being too'committed to dreams'.  (I'm sure you will 'know this one too'.)

 

It's been (in the past) a tough one for me because in a 'very real' (meaning a 'pretty-solidly-identified-as-me') way, my dreams have been 'what gets me up in the morning'.  So I, as an identity, have been a die-hard 'dreamer'/'visionary'.  As John Lennon was one too, I haven't kept bad company....  BUT, in the area of relationship, that there has been a price for living in dreams and that that price has been 'the apparent absence of love in my life' has been at times emotionally hard to swallow.  Because one of my dreams IS 'having love in my life'.  More correctly stated, to have my ('personally perfect'*) dream-love in my life.  By the way, I do know other people like this too.  I usually attract them.  We similar types just know each other.... don't we?   :-)

 

One of my biggest ego fears has been that I would 'miss' (i.e., not be available for) my 'P.P'* dream-love 'when she arrives' if I am 'involved with' someone wonderful (but not completely 'it'/'P.P.'*).  So my 'addiction' to this fantasy (*) picture of 'what it is supposed to be like' has kept a repeating pattern going of entering relationship (with the 'blind hope' that 'this is the (*) one') and then leaving when it is 'clear to me' (or whoever is being 'me' right then) that it's not.  That's often sad, I find, for both me and those I have 'unchosen' (or, as has also happened, who 'unchose' me). 

 

If everyone I did this dance with was enlightened, and I was similarly enlightened, I can see all the sadness would not have been necessary, and we could have both just laughed at our foolishness (and eventually, we usually do).  But given that the pattern has (in the past, I affirm) existed and that there has been suffering for me and others as a result of it is enough to inform me that in this area I still 'may' have blindspots, particularly the blindspot of seeing love through a personal (*) point of view.  That the Godness does not do this, I am clear.  

 

I get I am going to have future opportunities to keep learning in this arena too, although that is nothing to get excited about (my inner Teacher says).  I do keep discovering I already have a huge of amount of love in my life as I am just willing to be open to Being Loved by anyone who chooses to offer that (and increasingly, I do....hooray!).  That the Godness does do that, I am also clear. 

 

You can see, I am sure, that this is all my leftover childish control/insecurity issues running the show when this racket is active.  And it is hilarious to get that a lot of my personality 'peacockness' (that's self-obvious, right? [and also another 'P.P.'*]) is all about (uselessly attempting) egoic self-validation.  Anyway, 'attracting the one' is really a matter of Self-sourced love, not other-sourced love (given, there IS NO 'Other' :-).  And all of this is.....well..... just some stuff that I get I should 'out-myself' about.  So now you know.  Now we can get back to the Course.... and simply remembering all this foofoo is just foofoo (i.e., playpen distractions), compared to remembering 'we are one with God'.   :-).   

 

Namaste, 

 

David

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First Person Edited Version

Lesson 124

Let me remember I am one with God.

Today I will again give thanks for my true Identity in God. My home in God is forever safe, I have protection guaranteed in all I do, and power and strength are available to me in all my undertakings. When I choose God's will, I can fail in nothing. Everything I touch then takes on a shining light that blesses and that heals. At one with God and with the universe I go my way rejoicing, with the true thought that God Him/Herself goes everywhere with me.

How holy is my mind in this remembrance! And everything I see reflects the holiness within all like minds at one with God and with themselves. Now how easily do errors disappear, and everywhere death gives up it's place to everlasting life. Our shining footprints point the way to truth, for God is my Companion as I walk the world with Him a little while longer. And those who come to follow me will recognize 'the way' because the light I carried stays behind, yet still remains with me as God and I walk on.

What I have received is my eternal gift to those who follow after, and to those who went before me or stayed with me a while. And God, Who loves all of us with the equal love in which we were all created, smiles on us and offers each of us the happiness we gave each other.

Today I will not doubt His Love for me or you, nor question His protection and His care. I will let no meaningless anxieties come between my faith and my awareness of His Presence. I  am one with Him today in recognition and in remembrance. I feel Him in my heart. My mind contains His Thoughts; my eyes behold His loveliness in all I look upon. Today I see only the loving and the lovable.

This loving and lovableness?  I see it in 'appearances of pain', and then the pain gives way to peace. I see it in the frantic, in the sad and the distressed, the lonely and afraid, all who are restored by God to the tranquility and peace of mind in which they were created. And I see it in the dying and the dead as well, restoring them to life. And all this I see because I saw it first within myself.

No miracle will ever be denied to any who know that they are one with God. No thought of theirs but has the power to heal all forms of suffering in anyone, in times gone by and times as yet to come, as easily as in the ones who walk beside them now. Their holy thoughts are timeless, and apart from distance as apart from time.

I join in this awareness as I truthfully say that I am one with God. For in these words I say as well that I am saved and healed; and that I can save and heal accordingly. I have accepted, and I now would give. For I would keep the gifts my Father gave me. Today I choose to remember and experience myself 'at one with Him', so that the world may share my recognition of reality. In my experience of God the world is freed. As I deny my egoic dream of separation from my Father, the world is healed along with me.

Today, Gods Voice speaks to me thusly, saying: Peace be to you today. Secure your holy peace by practicing the awareness that who you are is one with your Creator, as He is one with you. And sometime today, whenever it seems best, devote a half an hour to the thought that 'you' are one with God. (This is the Courses first attempt at an extended period for which it gives no rules nor special words to guide our meditation.) I will trust God's Voice to speak to me as He sees fit today, certain He will not fail. I will abide with Him this half an hour. He will do the rest.

And, my benefit will not be less if I believe that nothing has happened. I may not be ready to accept the gain today. That does not matter. Yet sometime, somewhere, they will come to me, nor will I fail to recognize them when they dawn with certainty upon my mind. This half an hour of meditation shall be spiritually 'framed in gold', and every minute will be like a diamond set around the holy mirror that this exercise offers me. And as I do this self-emptying, I will see Christ's face arise within me, as a reflection of my own.

Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, I will see my own transfiguration in the glass this holy half an hour holds out for me to look within myself with. When I am ready I will find my transfiguration right here, within my own mind --- waiting to be found. I will remember then the thought to which I gave this half an hour, and I will be thankfully aware no time was ever better spent.

Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, I will look into this glass, and understand the sinless light I see belongs to me; the loveliness I look on is my own true being. I shall then count this half hour as my gift to God, in certainty that His Return will bring a sense of love I cannot understand, a joy too deep for me to comprehend, a sight too holy for my body's eyes to see. And yet I know I can be sure someday, perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, I will understand and comprehend and see.

And I shall add further jewels to the golden frame that holds the mirror God has offered me today, by hourly repeating to myself this short prayer:

O Divine Holiness within me, let me remember today I am one with the One True God, and at one with all my brothers and my Self, and I AM in everlasting holiness and peace. Amen.  

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 123

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

 

One of God's gifts that I am particularly thankful for is a heart that can feel.  There have been times in the past that to emotionally survive [that's 'my story'] I 'went numb', so I have that history as a background to tell the difference.  The real question is whether or not the feeling is the truth.  Conditionally, often it is not.  Ultimately, it always is not. That doesn't mean don't feel it.  It just means I don't suggest always believing what you/l feel any more than I suggest that you/I should believe that you/I  think. 

 

Like physicality, both thoughts and feeling are transitory.  Therefore 'illusionary'.  And where does EVERYTHING transitory and illusional come from?  As a student of the Course, the 'of course' answer is 'from the ego'.  

 

What do I mean when I say don't NOT feel the feelings?  I mean that as we become our God-self we do not block or resist the ego (specifically, my ego, your ego, our egos).  Jesus taught this by saying 'resist not evil'.  That means not suppressing whatever arises.  Instead, the practice is to meet it, contain it as phenomena, eventually be master of it, AND YET,  at the same time, to not become hooked or attached to whatever is arising AS REAL.  

 

Very recently another's compassionate heartful 'listening' gifted me with the space to feel deeply some very old feelings of emotional loss, and I found myself weeping (grieving [and thereby completing] a now-lost dream).  It felt wonderful to just let that river of tears run, let that energy move, instead of having it be stuck and held inside me.  This is what healing is----the re-alignment of energy toward trueness, toward nowness, hereness.  In this case, it was 'my' healing, BUT-- it took 'another'--- someone willing to be conscious even as I was being 'at the effect' of  an untrue past-based projected emotive reality--- to trigger the healing.  That is what spiritual friendship does.... it heals by holding conscious space for 'truth to come and set us free'.  That is what we all have (potentially) for each other.  That is why we come together, whether it is to be a couple, a group, a community, a nation, or a planet.  

 

Tonight here in Yuma our local Course group (which I now facilitate) met.  Maybe because of my own healing, when two in the group shared their need for healing also, the group morphed very easily into an 'energy healing circle', with the receiver in the center, and the group toning and channeling (what I am thinking of as) 'angelic healing chi' to them.  You 'should have seen us'. Right hand sending chi, left hand raised above our heads receiving, invisible angel wings all raised up and forming an etheric cocoon, and of course, beautiful sounds toning on and on.  I didn't ask what was 'received'.  For me, the gift was in the joined group intent to give, to serve.  And my experience was we all as a group became a bit more authentic, more whole, and more real to each other.  Each time we meet the love grows.  This is a good that needs no thought to be known.

 

In brief summation, my sense is that when I feel more peace when I am feeling or thinking whatever it is (at the moment), I am on track toward my greater good.  If I feel or think less peaceful (even if I am getting egoic satisfaction from the thought or feeling....like expressing anger or being right etc.) then I recognize (hopefully) that I am NOT on track.  As mistake calls only for correction, there is nothing to do but accept my own forgiveness....  the forgiveness that God has already given me to extend to myself, and to all my brothers.  

 

This I teach today, that I may also so learn....  

 

Namaste,

 

David

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Edited to first person version

 

Lesson 123

I thank my Father for His gifts to me.

Today I shall be thankful. This I choose, for I see I have come to gentler pathways and to smoother roads. There is no thought of turning back in me, and no implacable resistance in me to God or truth. A bit of wavering remains, some small objections and a little hesitance, but I am grateful for my gains, (which, my inner Teacher tells me) are far greater than I can now realize.

Today being a day devoted to gratitude will add the benefit of some real insight into the full extent of all the gains which I have made; the gifts I have received. I shall be glad today that, in loving thankfulness, my Father has not left me to myself, nor let me wander in the dark alone. I am grateful He has saved me from the self I thought I made (to take the place of Him and His creation). I give Him my heartfelt thanks today.

I give thanks that He has not abandoned me, and that His Love forever will remain shining upon me forever, and forever without change. I give thanks as well that I am also changeless, for I am His Son, and the Son He loves is as changeless as Himself. I am grateful I am saved. I am glad I have a function in salvation to fulfill. I am thankful that my value far transcends my meager gifts and petty judgments of my true Self, the holy one within me who is me whom God has established as His Son.

Today in gratitude let us lift our hearts above despair, and raise our thankful eyes, no longer looking downward to the dust. Let us sing the song of thankfulness today, in honor of the Self that God has willed to be our true Identity in Him. Today let us smile on everyone we see, and walk with lightened footsteps as we go to do what is appointed us to do.

We certainly do not go alone. And let us give thanks that even in our sometimes-imagined solitude a Holy Friend has come to speak the saving Word of God onto us. And thanks be to us all for listening to Him. His Word is soundless if it be not heard. In thanking Him His  thanks are ours as well. For an unheard message will not save the world, however mighty be the Voice that speaks, however loving may the message be.

Thanks be given to you and I who hear our God's Voice, for we become the messenger who brings His Voice with us, and let It echo round and round the world. Let us receive these thanks of God today, as we give our thanks to Him. For He would offer us the thanks we give, since He receives our gifts in loving gratitude, and gives them back to us a thousand and a hundred thousand more than they were given. He will bless our gifts by sharing them back with each of us. And so do our gifts to God grow in power and in strength, until in time they shall fill the world with gladness and with gratitude.

Let us receive His thanks and offer ours to Him for fifteen minutes twice today. And we shall realize to Whom we offer thanks, and Whom He thanks as we are thanking Him. This holy half an hour given Him will be returned to us in terms of years for every second; and has the power to save the world eons more quickly. Let us give our thanks to God.

And as we receive His thanks, we shall understand how lovingly He holds us in His Mind, how deep and limitless His care for each of us is, and how perfect is His gratitude to you and to me. I shall today choose to hourly remember to think of Him, and give Him thanks for everything He is now giving me, this one who is His Son, that I might rise above the world, remembering my Father and my true Self. 

Commentary on ACIM Lesson 122

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

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Forgiveness offers me everything I want.

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Today, after editing the 'first person lesson' I find I am complete, and have nothing more to say (beyond the 'first person version' :-).....  

 

Namaste, 

 

David

 

_______________________________

 

First person version.

 

Lesson 122

Forgiveness offers everything I want.

What could I actually desire that forgiveness cannot give? Do I desire peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do I desire happiness, a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty that transcends the world? Do I desire care and safety, and the warmth of sure protection always? Do I desire a quietness that cannot be disturbed, a gentleness that never can be hurt, a deep, abiding comfort, and a rest so perfect it can never be upset?

I know forgiveness offers me all this, and more. It sparkles on my eyes as I awake, and gives me joy with which to meet my day. It soothes my forehead while I sleep, and rests upon my eyelids so I see no dreams of fear and evil, malice and attack. And when I wake again, it offers me another day of happiness and peace. All this forgiveness offers me, and more.

Forgiveness lets the veil be lifted up that hides the face of Christ from those who look with unforgiving eyes upon the world. It lets me recognize the Son of God, and clears my memory of all 'dead (death) thoughts' so that remembrance of my Father can arise across the threshold of my mind. What would I desire or want that forgiveness cannot give? What gifts but these are worthy to be sought? What fancied value, trivial effect or transient promise, never to be kept, can hold more hope than what forgiveness brings?

Why would I seek for an answer other than the answer that will answer everything? Here is the perfect answer, being freely given in response to all imperfect questions, meaningless requests, halfhearted willingness to hear, and less than halfway diligence and partial trust. Here is the answer! I shall search for it no more, for I know I will not find another any other in its stead.

God's plan for my salvation cannot change, nor can it fail. I am so thankful it remains exactly as He planned it. Changelessly it stands before me like an open door, with warmth and welcome calling from beyond the doorway, bidding me to enter in and make myself at home, HERE, where I truly belong.

Here is the answer! Here is my answer! Why would I stand outside while all of Heaven waits for me within? I will forgive this world, and thus I will be forgiven, for as I give I do receive. There is no plan but this for the salvation of the Son of God. Let me today rejoice that this is so, for here I have an answer which is clear and plain and beyond deceit in its simplicity. All the complexities the world has spun of fragile cobwebs disappear before the power and the majesty of this extremely simple statement of the truth.

Here is the answer! I shall not turn away to aimless wanderings again. I will accept the wholeness of salvation now. It is the gift of God, ---- not the gift of the world. The world can give no gifts of any value to my mind, for I am now receiving what God has given me as my own. God has willed that salvation be received today by me, and that the intricacies of my ego's dreams no longer hide their true nothingness from me.

With open eyes today I look upon a happy world of safety and of peace. Forgiveness is the means by which it comes to me to take the place of my self-made hell. In quietness it rises up to greet my open eyes, and fill my heart with deep tranquility (as ancient truths, forever newly born, arise into my awareness). What I will remember then can never be described. Yet my acceptance of forgiveness offers it to me.

Therefore, remembering these gifts that forgiveness gives, we (I and my Teacher within me) shall undertake our practicing today with certainty and faith that this shall be the day salvation shall be mine. Earnestly and gladly will we affirm the truth of it today, aware we hold 'the key' within our hands, accepting Heaven's answer to the hell I made, but where I now choose to remain no more.

Morning and evening will I gladly give a quarter of an hour to the practicing in which the end of hell is guaranteed. I begin in high spirits, for I have been shown I have reached the turning point--- the point at which the road becomes far easier. And now the way is short that I have yet to travel. Indeed, I am close to the appointed ending of the dream.

I shall sink into happiness as I begin these practice periods, for they hold out the sure rewards of questions answered and what my acceptance of the answer brings. Today it will be given me to feel the peace forgiveness offers, and the joy the lifting of the veil holds out to me.

Before the light I will receive today the world will fade until it disappears, and I will see another world arise I have no words to picture. Now, let me walk directly into God's light, that I may receive the gifts that have been held in store for me since time began, kept in waiting just for today.

Forgiveness offers everything I truly desire. Today all things I ask for are given me. Let not these gifts recede throughout the day, as I return again to meet a world of shifting change and bleak appearances. I shall retain in clear awareness these holy gifts as I see the changeless in the heart of change; and the light of truth behind appearances.

Although I may be tempted to let these holy gifts slip by (and drift into forgetfulness), I shall not.  I will hold them firmly in my mind and think of them for at least a minute as each quarter of an hour passes by. I will remind myself how precious these gifts are with this reminder thought, which has the power to hold God's gifts in my awareness through the day:

Forgiveness offers everything I desire.
Today I have accepted this as true.
Today I have received the gifts of God.