True Security, the peace of God

I was inspired to write this blog by reading a column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, entitled Security is an Elusive Mental Blanket by Philip Chard, a psychotherapist and regular columnist for the Sentinel.

Please read Philip's column by clicking on this link:

http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/advice/oct05/365340.asp

Dear Philip,

I rather enjoyed yesterday’s column on Security. I began tracking you right away when you emphasized “illusion” in your first paragraph. Illusion comes from the Latin ludere, meaning “to play, to mock.” An illusion is a mockery of truth. I began tracking you in the sense that a correspondence was set up in my mind between my terminology based on Jesus’ Course in Miracles and yours. “Small picture” is an illusion projected from within by a self that has no source in reality. It is an internal state of mind, the ego mind, projected to appear out there. When it seems to be out there, we make adjustments regarding money, relationships, and fixed patterns of behavior, not recognizing that we are responsible because there is no out there separate from in here, in the mind. There is only my mind. Since there is no out there, only in here, I have the responsibility of choosing to see from the “small picture” state of mind, or from the state of mind of the peace of God, the “big picture.” I also like the word “elusive” in the title; our focus out there on the “small picture” is an evasion of reality, of the truth.

The “big picture” is simply the recognition of a state of mind of the peace of God that is our natural inheritance as children of God. The recognition that the peace of God is shining in me now is seeing the “big picture.” This is our only security because any investment in the “small picture” is an investment in an illusion, a mockery of truth.

That’s why I like your paragraph that begins, “True security grows from an abiding faith. . .”

Now, I think you will find this incredible. Here is the title for the lesson for today from Jesus’ Course in Miracles, Lesson 299: Eternal holiness abides in me. Your use of the word “abide” is inspired. My mind, your mind, is the abode of God’s holiness. Here’s the lesson:

My holiness is far beyond my own
ability to understand or know.
Yet God, my Father, Who created it,
acknowledges my holiness as His.
Our Will, together, understands it. And
our Will, together, knows that it is so.

Father, my holiness is not of me.
It is not mine to be destroyed by sin.
It is not mine to suffer from attack.
Illusions can obscure it, but can not
put out its radiance, nor dim its light.
It stands forever perfect and untouched.
In it are all things healed, for they remain
as You created them. And I can know
my holiness. For Holiness Itself
created me, and I can know my Source
because it is Your Will that You be known.

These comments came to mind regarding the lesson in the context of your column.


My holiness is far beyond my own
ability to understand or know.

Holiness is synonymous with the “big picture.” We can know it by recognizing it, but we cannot understand it from the ego perspective.

Yet God, my Father, Who created it,
acknowledges my holiness as His.

The state of mind of the peace of God is an extension of God.

Our Will, together, understands it. And
our Will, together, knows that it is so.

My will is only to experience the peace of God, to look through the illusion and say, “This is not so.” Only the peace of God is so. The letting go of the “small picture” is forgiveness.

Father, my holiness is not of me.
It is not mine to be destroyed by sin.

“Sin” comes from the Aramaic, Jesus’ language, and it is an archery term. To be on the mark is to hit the target. To be off the mark is to miss, to sin. Isn’t that amazing! Sin has nothing to do with violating a church code; sin simply means to invest in the illusion.

It is not mine to suffer from attack.
Illusions can obscure it, but can not
put out its radiance, nor dim its light.

I am, you are, the light of the world. We are very holy.

It stands forever perfect and untouched.
In it are all things healed, for they remain
as You created them. And I can know
my holiness. For Holiness Itself
created me, and I can know my Source
because it is Your Will that You be known.

So, I begin each day looking forward to reading the lesson for the day. Today’s is 299, meaning the 299th day since lesson 1 on January 1, 2005. And how do you think Jesus helps us begin our great undoing, investing in the “small picture?” His first lesson title forces us to take a direct look at it, and say to ourselves: Nothing I see means anything.

So there you are. You fired me up. Thank you.

Take care.

To place this blog in the context of Jesus' teaching, please read my "Latest Article," entitled Yours is the Power of Decision on my website:

http://www.throughamirrorbrightly.com/

Skeptic

Dear Glenn,

I will start with the last sentence in your e-mail: I really would like to believe that I’ve not wasted my life chasing illusions.

Well, you have.

Just as I wrote that sentence, this poem flashed into my mind.

LYING IN A HAMMOCK
AT WILLIAM DUFFY’S
FARM IN PINE ISLAND,
MINNESOTA

Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
Asleep on the black trunk,
Blowing like a leaf in green shadow.
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year's horses
Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.
James Wright


Now, I am very excited about this flash because it shows me a way to answer your question. In respect to the poem, let me establish that there are two states of mind, one is the peace of God, and that is the only one real, and the other is the state of mind of conflict, ruled by the ego, having no source in reality, being completely unreal, an illusion.

Now, the poet lying in the hammock is experiencing the peace of God and thereby, seeing only this reflection in whatever his eyes light upon, including horseshit. Seeing the reflection of the peace of God does, indeed, light up everything you see. In the last line is the recognition that he has spent most of his life experiencing the conflict of his ego-centered life, thereby seeing only his projections, making his illusory, wasted life.

Since I am in the direct experience of the peace of God, right now, sitting here writing, I am in the state of mind receptive to the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit. That’s what I heard when the poem flashed into my mind.

It is quite possible for you reading this right now to join with me, momentarily bypassing, forgiving, your ego state of mind, the peace of God, and in that moment your skepticism would vanish as you melted into the peace of God.

But the chances are good that your skeptical state of mind interfered with the experience of the true state of mind. There is no way then, that I can convince you of the validity of my experience. Imagine that I am floating in the ocean near the shore, and you are standing on a low cliff looking down and asking me what the water is like. No matter the metaphors I might use to convey to you the temperature of the water, you could only know by jumping in. Your wanting to know on your conceptual terms prevents you from the experience.

Jump into the lessons of The Course in Miracles with little willingness and trust and ask for help to experience the peace of God.

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.


Lesson 1: Nothing I see means anything.

Jump.

Thank you.