Ours is the power of decision.

Lesson 152, The power of decision is our own.

“Decision” comes from the Latin, decidere, meaning “to cut.”  

Nothing occurs but represents your wish,

and nothing is omitted that you choose.

Here is your world, complete in all details.
(1)

This Chart chart demonstrates that mind is the mechanism of decision.  When we decide for Separation, we experience these consequences, cutting us off from Union.  When we decide for Union, we cut ourselves off from Separation.  There is no in between.  

The Holy Spirit uses our thoughts of Separation to guide us to Union.

Mind of God

A Thought of God

Consciousness

For I am still as God created me

Frequency

Energy

Mind

Mind is mechanism of decision

Split-mind

SEPARATION                                                                              UNION

self                                                                                               Self

Body’s eyes                                                                                 Christ Vision

Projection                                                                                    Reflection

Time/space                                                                                   Eternity

Unreal                                                                                          Real

self-centered                                                                                Relationship                                        

Illusion                                                                                        Reality

Falsity                                                                                          Truth

Fear                                                                                             Love

Doubt                                                                                           Certainty

Judgment                                                                                     Forgiveness

The Holy Spirit’s lessons will enable you to bridge the gap between illusions and truth.  (Lesson 151.9:7)

This is summarized in a sonnet:

Now do we join in glad acknowledgment

that lies are false, and only truth is true.

We think of truth alone as we arise,

and spend five minutes practicing its ways,

encouraging our frightened minds with this:

The power of decision is my own.

This day I will accept myself as what

my Father's Will created me to be.

Then will we wait in silence, giving up

all self-deceptions, as we humbly ask

our Self that He reveal Himself to us.

And He Who never left will come again

to our awareness, grateful to restore

His home to God, as it was meant to be.
(11)

NDE’s: The Necessity for Metaphor

I have long known the value of a metaphor.  Its meaning is, literally, “to carry beyond.”  While reading accounts of Near-Death Experiences, I see the individuals struggling to use terms from “this side” to express to the reader what they are experiencing on the “other side.”

Here are some examples from “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Donald Piper.  He is forced to use “earthly terms” to express “heavenly experiences.”

As soon as I stopped gazing at the people’s faces, I realized that everything around me glowed with a dazzling intensity.  In trying to describe the scene, words are totally inadequate, because human words can’t express the feelings of awe and wonder at what I beheld.

I wasn’t blinded, but I was amazed that the luster and intensity continually increased.  Strange as it seems, as brilliant as everything was, each time I stepped forward, the splendor increased.  The farther I walked, the brighter the light.  The light engulfed me, and I had the sense that I was being ushered into the presence of God.  Although our earthly eyes must gradually adjust to light or darkness, my heavenly eyes saw with absolute ease.  In heaven, each of our senses is immeasurably heightened to take it all in.  And what a sensory celebration.

I was home, I was where I belonged.  I wanted to be there more than I had ever wanted to be anywhere on earth.  Time had slipped away, and I was simply present in heaven.  All worries, anxieties, and concerns vanished.  I had no needs, and I felt perfect.

Time had no meaning.  However, for clarity, I’ll relate this experience in terms that refer to time.

As I try to explain this, my words seem weak and hardly adequate, because I have to use earthly terms to refer to unimaginable joy, excitement, warmth, and total happiness.

Everything I experienced was like a first-class buffet for the senses.  I had never felt such powerful embraces or feasted my eyes on such beauty.  Heaven’s light and texture defy earthly eyes or explanation.  Warm, radiant light engulfed me.  As I looked around, I could hardly grasp the vivid, dazzling colors.  Every hue and tone surpassed anything I had ever seen. The best way I can explain it is to say that I felt as if I were in another dimension.  Never, even in my happiest moments, had I ever felt so fully alive.

It was as if each step I took intensified the glowing luminosity.  I didn’t know how it could get more dazzling, but it did.  It would be like cracking open the door of a dark room and walking into the brightness of  a noonday sun.  As the door swings open, the full rays of the sun burst forth, and we’re momentarily blinded.

As a young boy I spent a lot of time out in the country and woods.  When walking through waist-high dried grass, I often surprised a covey of birds and flushed them out of their nests on the ground.  A whooshing sound accompanied their wings as they flew away.

My most vivid memory of heaven is what I heard.  I can only describe it as a holy swoosh of wings.

But I’d have to magnify that thousands of times to explain the effect of the sound in heaven.

A second sound remains, even today, the single most vivid memory I have of my entire heavenly experience.  I call it music but it differed from anything I had ever heard or ever expect to hear on the earth.  The melodies of praise filled the atmosphere.  The nonstop intensity and endless variety overwhelmed me.

Even back on earth, sometimes I still hear faint echoes of that music.  I still have flashbacks, although they’re different from what we normally refer to as flashbacks.  Mine are more flashbacks of the sounds than the sights.

One thing did surprise me:  On earth, whenever I thought of heaven, I anticipated that one day I’d see a gate made of pearls.  The gate wasn’t made of pearls, but was pearlescent—perhaps iridescent may be more descriptive.  To me, it looked as if someone had spread pearl icing on a cake.  The gate glowed and shimmered.

Inborn Biases: Autocratic or Democratic

I just came across another exciting passage in “The Afterlife of Billy Fingers.”  Here’s Billy:

“Although all beings come from the same Source, within each individual blossom, within our differences, lies the pleasure of creation.  In its multitudinous glorious playfulness, the Infinite creates diversity, so there are many soul tribes.  Each tribe has its special explorations to undertake on earth.” (p.  121)

. . .Every tribe has its special explorations. . .

After reading that passage, I found my mind following this train of thought.

During my academic career, I was involved in a variety of high schools, colleges, and universities.  In each institution, I experienced polarities among the faculty and staff and students.  If the prevailing leadership were autocratic, the democratic bias among the various groups went against the leadership; if the prevailing leadership were democratic, the autocratic bias among the various groups went against the leadership. And, of course, there were those in-between.

Billy reminds us that the autocrats and democrats and those in-between came into this incarnation with their respective biases.

The solution is not to become either stronger in your orientation, or become more like your opposite.

 Here’s Billy’s solution:

“Go far beyond human labels of “good” and “bad” and focus instead on the quality of your light. You don’t need to figure this out.  Just follow your chimera, your eternal fire.´ (p. 123)

 Within the context of A Course Miracles, this means to turn over your grievances to the Holy Spirit who will bridge the gap between your small autocratic or democratic or in-between self and your True Self.  The way out is not either/or; the way out is taking the Bridge beyond, listening to the Holy Spirit speaking to you all through the day.

Inborn biases—
autocrat or democrat
take the Bridge beyond

When I ask for help to be receptive and get out of the way, I will be guided, and I will extend that guidance.  This guidance transcends my human orientation, forgiving you yours.

Lesson 49, God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.

The Holy Spirit:: Link Betrween Perception and Knowledge

Lesson 43, God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

Perception is not an attribute of God. His is the realm of knowledge. Yet He has created the Holy Spirit as the Mediator between perception and knowledge. Without this link with God, perception would have replaced knowledge forever in your mind. With this link with God, perception will become so changed and purified that it will lead to knowledge. That is its function as the Holy Spirit sees it. Therefore, that is its function in truth. (1)

GOD

E

N

E

R

G

Y

DECISION

                              FEAR                                                               LOVE

                              P                                                                      K

                              E                                                                      N

                              R                                                                      O

                              C                                                                     W

                              E                                                                      L

                              P                                                                      E

                              T                                                                      D

                              I                                                                       G

                              O                                                                     E

                              N

                                                  HOLY SPIRIT

                                                  BRIDGE

                                                  MEDIATOR

God is energy
decide: perception/knowledge
Holy Spirit guides

The Holy Spirit
perception shifts to knowledge
the Mediator