Table of Contents
Before we begin I want to say something specifically to everyone who is hearing my voice at the moment. I love you. [pause] I love you. [pause] Now, I did not say this to make a point, but, don’t take this love that I have embraced you with and, shall I say, deposit it in your heart like you would deposit money in a savings account to hold on to and to feel privately. When you are loved and you feel it, the purpose of the experience, you might say, the meaning of the experience is to inspire you to extend love yourself. So you don’t want to hold on to it and save it and savor it for yourself. If you let the inspiration that comes from it cause you to extend it to another, that is what will keep it alive, that is what… it will keep it with you, that is what will enliven it in you and thereby enliven you. Share it. Let it be something that causes you to embrace your Brother or your Sister. Okay.
We will start with paragraph two and we will start over on the couch. And we will pass the mic in this direction.
Alright. 1
“Heaven and earth shall pass away” means that they will not continue to exist as separate states. My word,… 2
No, let’s stop there.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away” means that they will not continue to exist as separate states.
Well, we’ve been talking at quite some length about the fact that the only thing you’re ever confronted with is Reality, the Kingdom of Heaven. And the fact that you are interpreting the Kingdom of Heaven as earth does not mean that you have created a second or alternate reality. You’re just misinterpreting the only Reality there is and causing it to be experienced by yourself as something unlike the Kingdom of Heaven.
So as you wake up, what you have called Heaven and earth won’t pass away. The only thing that will pass away is the misperception of Reality that you had been entertaining. They will not continue to exist as separate states. Everything that you had been seeing incorrectly, misinterpreting, will in effect apparently become one with What It Really Is. Everything that you are seeing presently through a glass darkly will seem to merge with Reality as Reality Itself. And so they will not continue to exist as apparently separate states. Again the reason is that there never were two to begin with.
I want to stress this because it is so easy, as I’ve said before, to say, “The world is an illusion.” Well, the kingdom as you are perceiving it is an illusion, but the illusion is that you are seeing Reality as though it were something else. It is very important to understand this point, because if you are not careful in calling the world an illusion, you will be likely to deny the world. You will be likely to withdraw your attention from it, instead of keeping your attention right there with the curiosity to see What It Really Is.
Continue…
My word, which is the resurrection and the life, shall not pass away because life is eternal.
Now why would my word—my word—be the resurrection and the life? Because my word is Truth expressed. My word is Love embodied. My word which isn’t a personal possession of mine, my word is the Voice for Truth. That which expresses the Father’s Will. That which does not play into or reinforce illusions, and therefore weakens them. My word is that which when extended to you uncovers in you the Truth about you and doesn’t reinforce your false sense of yourself, so that your false sense of yourself becomes weakened as that which is Real in you becomes strengthened by virtue of the fact that I am addressing the Real You, the only you there is, the Divine One That You Are.
Your word can be the resurrection and the life. The resurrection and the life—that which lifts up the poor concepts you have of yourselves and reveals a truer picture of What You Are. So it resurrects you and uncovers the Eternal Life that must be present right where you are in order for you to have a fantastic idea that you exist independently, self-authorized, separate, and alone.
In order for you to have a false concept, in order for you to have a misperception, there must be something essentially Real about you in the first place. Because I promise you, if all you are is the current perception you have of yourself, then you are an illusion. And the simple fact is that you aren’t. Right as you sit here, right as you hear my voice, right now the Real One That You Are is listening, is present, and is in actuality the only thing present.
My word is the resurrection and the life, and my word shall not pass away because why? Life is eternal. What You Are is inviolable, unalterable, and eternal. And as you begin to recognize this about yourself, as I’ve said before, you can’t help but realize that it’s the Truth about your neighbor and your brother and your sister; everyone you come in contact with. And as you begin to feel that fact about everyone, your behavior, your attitude, your words will begin to change, and will begin to automatically substantiate and reinforce the Truth about them. And in that way, your word will become the resurrection and the life.
Unfortunately the words “the resurrection and the life” have taken on religious connotations so that they sound at once severe and lofty, but somehow beyond the human experience. And so it’s hard to feel connected to what those words mean. And it’s very easy to think that it’s only my word that is the resurrection and the life. But when any of you are feeling God’s Truth about your fellowman, your words become the resurrection and the life, because they become that which uncovers and illuminates Reality, the fact that there is more to everything than what you’re experiencing. It’s love extended to your Brother illuminating What Is Real, and not reinforcing fear, and not reinforcing false concepts.
It’s not that your words become something magnificent, but they become so genuine, and so simple, and so grounded, and so real, that the Truth of them feels inescapable to those who hear your words. And because they’re inescapable, their hearing the words causes them to change.
That’s the way in which my word or your word is the resurrection and the life. The meaning is really very down to earth.
Okay, let’s continue…
You are the work of God, and His work is wholly lovable and wholly loving. This is how a man must think of himself in his heart, because this is what he is.
Wow. How much simpler can you get?
This is how a man must think of himself in his heart,…
Why? Because that’s how he’ll get ten gold stars? Or because that will refine his soul? Or so that he can become worthy of entering the Kingdom of Heaven? No. Because this is What He Is. This is What You Are. It’s simply a matter of becoming consistent with What’s Already True.
Okay, let’s continue…
The forgiven are the means of the Atonement. Being filled with spirit, they forgive in return. Those who are released must join in releasing their brothers, for this is the plan of the Atonement.
And those who are released will join in releasing their Brothers. It’s a spontaneous response. If you’re suddenly filled with joy, everyone else will know it; not because you must share it with others, [laughing] but because it’s very difficult to keep it a secret. Have you ever seen someone who has discovered that a surprise they were planning for someone else is actually going to work, the plan they had is actually going to work and they find out that it’s going to work right in front of the person it’s supposed to be a surprise for? And how difficult it is, actually how impossible it is for the person who is going to be surprised not to notice that something unusual is going on, and begin to ask about it?
Those who are released will join in releasing their Brothers for this is the plan of the Atonement, for this is the Way It Works. You see, the plan of the Atonement is… [laughing] the plan of the Atonement is that what works, works. You get it? The plan isn’t some special plot or design for a special circumstance. The plan of the Atonement is that the Way Things Are elicit the experience of the Way Things Are. The plan of the Atonement is that when you begin to engage in the Atonement you come into alignment with the Way Things Work, divinely speaking. And when you come into alignment with the Way Things Work, things begin to work that way; not because it’s a plan, but because Truth embodies Itself, Love embodies Itself. The way Being be’s becomes obvious when you let yourself into the Atonement.
So when you let yourself feel forgiven because someone has uncovered your innocence to you, you cannot help but feel joy. And you cannot help but release your Brother or Sister from grievances you have held against them, because it’s obvious to you that without having done anything to deserve it, you are innocent, guiltless. And your guiltlessness honors you fully, illuminates you in your perfection fully.
And because you know you did nothing to earn it, you paid no penance, but the Truth About You has been illumined within you to you and you feel it, you know inescapably that this is utterly true about those you were holding grievances against. In discovering your innocence, you feel Whole. And you realize that any grievance you have been holding against another for something they took away from you, you realize that the grievance is invalid, because in this experience of your innocent Wholeness, it’s clear to you that they took nothing away from you, and therefore no grievance is justified. The grievance is silly.
So when you let the Atonement in, things begin to work the Way They Work. The plan of the Atonement is implemented.
Those who are released must…
… will…
… join in releasing their brothers, for this is the plan of the Atonement.
And the plan of the Atonement is a spontaneous happening. It is the Way Things Work Divinely, happening and being experienced consciously by you as a spontaneous event; not the result of a devised plan. You see what I’m saying now?
Okay. Let us continue…
Miracles are the way in which minds that serve the Holy Spirit unite with me for the salvation or release of all of God’s creations.
Indeed. Let’s continue…
I am the only one who can perform miracles indiscriminately, because I am the Atonement. You have a role in the Atonement which I will dictate to you. Ask me which miracles you should perform. This spares you needless effort, because you will be acting under direct communication.
You will also not be influenced by preexisting concepts of how things work, or what a miracle ought to be, or who it ought to happen to. You are not likely to be misguided by the habits of your limited self perceptions.
Continue…
The impersonal nature of the miracle is an essential ingredient, because it enables me to direct its application, and under my guidance miracles lead to the highly personal experience of revelation.
Now, the impersonal nature of the miracle. Well. Here would be a personal nature of a miracle: that would be where you said, “Oh, that poor soul needs help. I select that poor soul to be the recipient of the Father’s Love.” A miracle of a personal nature would be a miracle that you authorize.
When you are the medium of a miracle then you are the one extending it, but not the one who decided where it was to be extended. Therefore, you cannot experience any sense of authorship. Now you become involved in a miracle which you can claim no personal responsibility for. And to be involved in a miracle that you’re not responsible for is what an impersonal miracle feels like.
It’s one where you are involved but you can’t take credit for it. This is one of the reasons there aren’t a lot of miracles [audience laughter], because it leaves the ego entirely out of the picture. The ego says, “Can’t get no satisfaction.”
The impersonal nature of the miracle is an essential ingredient,…
One of the reasons it is essential is because it is… because a miracle can’t happen until you join with something other than yourself. A miracle can’t happen until you stop insisting upon being an independent authorizer, which is exactly the cause of what you call the human condition—all the suffering and all the excitement. But awakening begins when you arrive at a point of reaching out beyond your best judgments and your best theories, and so on, and you ask for help. You reach out and open up to join with something else.
So it’s an essential ingredient of the miracle. Why?
… because it enables me to direct its application, . .
… because it enables a joint effort, a mutual commitment…
… and under my guidance miracles lead to the highly personal experience of revelation.
Revelation being the direct communication of God with you, and you alone, except that in the experience of that quote “private communication” unquote you become joined with the whole Brotherhood and privacy ceases.
Continue…
A guide does not control but he does direct, leaving it up to you to follow.
Yes. Willingness, cooperation on your part. Things that do not happen in isolation. In isolation there is never willingness. There is only will-full-ness. And certainly you would never follow anything. You would be the leader.
A guide does not control but he does direct, leaving it up to you to follow.
In other words, the joining has to be an expression of willingness on your part, together with an investment on your part of commitment for your reasons. You will never be able to be dragged into the Kingdom of Heaven. You will have to walk into it consciously for your own reasons. But in order to find the way there, you’re going to have to ask for help, because you cannot find what willfulness blocks you from experiencing. It’s that simple.
In the preceding sentence it says, “under my guidance miracles lead to the highly personal experience of revelation.” Does that mean that the person who … through whom the miracle passes experiences the revelation, the recipient experiences the revelation, or both joined experience the revelation?
All of the above.
Thank you.
Or any of the above.
I understand.
Continue…
Could I ask a question?
Of course.
That experience that I had with the drunk man, where I was I felt like I was asking you for direction, would that be a miracle? I mean I experienced revelation in that.
Absolutely.
And I did have willingness. And I do understand what you mean about the commitment, because, like in the moment where I asked you for the direction, what I should do with this person that I was afraid of that was across from me, I heard that if I didn’t believe what he believed about himself that he couldn’t hurt me. And I felt this willingness to completely believe that, which surprised me a little bit. But it felt supernatural.
It’s called a sudden shift of perception.
Yes. [laughing] And I felt like I just had to wholly commit to that, and then as you like spoke to me and I sat there with him, and I knew as soon as I saw him come up the street that we were going to do something together. And I did not want to and I told you that. And [laughing] it was like one of those big “oh, shit” moments. It was the snarling drunk guy that was coming up the street and I knew that he was going to sit right across from me, and he did. And he wasn’t snarling really at me.
But I had a little bookmark of Jesus coming out of the tomb and Mary Magdalene sitting at your feet, right, and when I looked at the picture, it gave me like instant peace. And so that’s when I, you know, asked you for direction and that’s what you told me, is not to be afraid, and that if I was willing to stay there that you could give me a new experience, but that if I left, that I would not have that experience.
And actually I was afraid to leave because I figured he would follow me. [laughing] So I thought, well, you know, I’ve got to do this, and I wasn’t, you know, there were other people around and stuff.
And then you continued to explain to me that, you know, despite his appearance, he wasn’t what he seemed and that, you know, that like my own son that other people are afraid of who has a funny appearance sometimes, that I know he’s just my child, and that you wanted me to see him as just your… a child, you know.
And so as I sat there you just gave me this totally different experience of this person. And he began to actually speak coherent sentences and explain himself, even though he wasn’t even talking to me. I mean he was just talking. And then he calmed down, and then he sat there for a while. And then when they called me for my table and I got up and left, he got up and left. So as soon as I had sat down, he sat down. As soon as I got up and left, he got up and left.
But I was moved to tears by the presence of him. And it took me like a year to figure out that what you were doing, it’s like the resurrection and the life, which I figured out tonight.
Yes.
You were showing me that he was the risen Christ, and it was the picture. But I didn’t get that for a whole year later. So it’s kind of… so that’s what the miracle is, kind of.
It is indeed. It is indeed.
Let’s see. I lost my place.
“Lead us…
Okay.
“Lead us not into temptation” means “Recognize your errors and choose to abandon them by following my guidance.”
And if you read it one way, “recognize your errors,” it could sound like it’s a call for an ongoing internal witch hunt to uncover every single error that might be lurking there. But you could say recognize your error and choose to abandon it, if you mean your choice to think alone. Recognize the error of choosing to think independently of the Father, and choose to abandon it by following my Guidance, by yielding to something outside yourself, and thus break the isolation.
You see, then it doesn’t become a matter of yielding to my authority. It amounts to abandoning the very thing that is keeping you from experiencing fulfillment. And it’s not all the different things you are thinking incorrectly. It is the very fact that you are choosing to think at all. Do you see?
Okay, let’s continue…
Error cannot really threaten truth, which can always withstand it. Only the error is actually vulnerable.
Well, now, if only the error is actually vulnerable, then whenever you are feeling vulnerable, it can’t be you that’s feeling vulnerable, because you’re not an error, you’re not an illusion. So when you are feeling vulnerable, you can dare to not honor the apparent call for action to protect yourself, which is defense. You can dare to say, “Ahhh. Something Real must be happening here because my ego is afraid, so I choose to give my attention to whatever this Something Real is that’s scaring my ego so badly. I choose to align myself with the Truth that’s uncovering some falsity about my ego that’s scaring my ego to death.” Interesting choice of words, “scaring my ego to death.”
By aligning yourself with the Truth that is causing your ego to feel vulnerable, you do not strengthen the ego in that moment of its weakness, and it can fade more easily and you will become free of its grasp and its call for you to act defensively on its behalf. Aligning yourself with Whatever It Is that is frightening your ego, will bring you your peace.
Continue…
You are free to establish your kingdom where you see fit, but the right choice is inevitable if you remember this:
“Spirit is in a state of grace forever. Your reality is only spirit. Therefore you are in a state of grace forever.”
Oh, wow. [small laugh] That is what you discovered; that you are in a State of Grace when you neglect to feed the wild animal, when you neglect to feed and nurture the ego by witnessing on its behalf and defending it. In defenselessness your safety lies. And that becomes obvious when you choose for your peace at exactly the moment that the ego is screaming the loudest that defense and attack are called for.
Grace. You know what grace is? Unearned fulfillment. Unearned bliss. Undeserved joy. Unearned innocence. That’s grace. And it’s your Birthright. It’s your Birthright.
Let’s continue…
Atonement undoes all errors in this respect, and thus uproots the source of fear.
By not feeding it.
Continue…
Whenever you experience God’s reassurances as threat, it is always because you are defending misplaced or misdirected loyalty.
In other words, you are witnessing for the ego. The ego experiences God’s reassurance as threat.
Continue…
When you project this to others you imprison them, but only to the extent to which you reinforce errors they have already made. This makes them vulnerable to the distortions of others, since their own perception of themselves is distorted. The miracle worker can only bless them, and this undoes their distortions and frees them from prison.
If your misperceptions make others vulnerable to their own misperceptions, then your clear experience of What They Divinely Are makes What They Divinely Are vulnerable to clarification. Vulnerable means susceptible to… I’m going to say susceptible to a clarity, whether the clarity is a clarity about falsehood or a clarity about Truth.
Remember that all of you are presenting your best concept of yourself to the world. All of you are not presenting the Total Truth about yourselves to the world. But the Divine One That You Are is present right now as you present a more limited form of who you are to the world. I am addressing the Divine One That You Are. And you could say that the Divine One That You Are that sits there right now that you are not experiencing consciously becomes vulnerable to the reinforcement that I am providing that allows for a sudden shift of perception to occur.
You can be vulnerable to good, in other words. Don’t think of vulnerability as a negative. Vulnerability means that you’re not well defended against what’s coming toward you. You see? And in effect everything that I’m doing with all of you is to help you feel undefended against the Conscious Experience of the Truth About You.
Continue…
You respond to what you perceive, and as you perceive so shall you behave.
This is an absolute fact. You respond to what you perceive. And if you’re not perceiving What’s Really Going On, then you respond in a way that is inconsistent with Reality, and you will bump your knee or your shins or stub your toe against Reality. But if you are experiencing the Truth, then you could say you are perceiving Reality and you will respond to it as What It Is, and, as I said earlier, the Way Things Work begin to be what works in your life.
Read the sentence over…
You respond to what you perceive, and as you perceive so shall you behave.
Indeed…
The Golden Rule asks you to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This means that the perception of both must be accurate. The Golden Rule is the rule for appropriate behavior. You cannot behave appropriately unless you perceive correctly. Since you and your neighbor are equal members of one family, as you perceive both so you will do to both.
[repeats]… as you perceive both so you will do to both.
Who are “both” do you think? They are you and your neighbor.
As I said, when you are willing to let the Father’s View register with you about your Brother, and you see your Brother… and a miracle occurs, a shift in perception occurs so you see your Brother truly, you learn that the Truth About Them is the Truth About Yourself. And so your perception about them that you have extended to them becomes your perception of yourself. You are not a benefactor better than your Brother extending to your Brother something he doesn’t have. You are both equal, and you are both equal in your Conscious Experience of What You Both Really Are.
Yes.
When I hear you and when I read the Course I sometimes find myself just falling in line with what you’re saying and just falling in line with what the Course is saying. And on the other hand, I see myself as so full of defense and so full of attack, that it’s just driving me crazy. It’s like there’s… I’m on a fence and I’ve got one foot in ego-land and the other foot in the Course, as what the Course is telling me about myself. And I’m quite upset right now as you can see.
Well, do you realize that there used to be a time when you couldn’t tell the difference at all?
I do remember that. [laughing]
Yes. So you are in a greatly improved place, because now you can tell the difference between the tares and the wheat.
The difference is driving me crazy.
But the difference allows you to make the choice more easily and more accurately. So what you’re really faced with is not confusion, because of the stark contrast. It’s a clarity that calls for commitment from you that you’re reluctant to make, and that’s what’s distressing you. Now I encourage you to see the blessing in the contrast that now is so blatant in your mind. And then realize that what you’re being asked to give up is valueless, because it’s keeping you in misery.
Because it is keeping me in misery. Enough said.
Yes. And don’t let the ego distract you by getting you to focus your attention on your unwillingness to make commitment, and what a slob that must mean you are.
Wow.
Because that will keep… that can keep you busy for years. That can keep you from making the choice.
So what I suggest to you is that you notice the difference, because of the contrast that’s so clear to you now, and that you also notice when the ego would have you become self-demeaning, and just notice it but don’t react to it. Like doing a meditation and you realize that you’ve started to think, and you just notice it without reacting and you come back to whatever the focus is of your meditation. Notice the ego’s ploy, don’t react to it, and bring your attention back to what is going to uncover to you the Way Things Work and the fact that they work that way spontaneously when you let go of control.
Again, the ego will say, “Can’t get no satisfaction.”
You got that right.
But when it’s satisfied, you’re miserable.
Yes, I’ve been there, done that.
So let the ego not be satisfied, because that’s the way out of your misery. And if you can’t do it successfully 100% of the time, I’m going to say if you can’t manage do it successfully 15% of the time, it’s no justification for being hard on yourself. You see?
Yes.
Okay.
Thank you, Raj.
You should look out from the perception of your own holiness to the holiness of others.
And the reason you should is because that’s your Birthright, that’s what’s normal, that’s what’s natural to you. It’s not you should look out from the perception of your own holiness. It’s not a command. You should look out from the perception of your own holiness to the holiness of others, because that’s the Truth about you and about them. And anything else you engage in is an embellishment, is what I referred to earlier about as the frills you add to a costume or to your presence. Okay.
Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them. By being united this mind goes out to everyone, even without the awareness of the miracle worker himself.
What does it mean by “being united”?
Being united with the Brotherhood.
And let’s be real specific. Being united with One Who Is Awake.
Having been willing to break the willful isolation and to have said, “I want to be with someone. I want to exist with someone, instead of by myself. I want to cooperate with someone, instead of always doing things alone. And I want to cooperate with someone…” Let me put it this way. “If indeed there is a Reality beyond what I’m currently experiencing, or more of Reality than I’m currently experiencing, then I want to be with and I want to cooperate with and I want to join with One who sees it and can help uncover it to me. I choose to be willing to yield to One who knows more. I am willing to acknowledge that I don’t know at all. I’m willing to be the underdog and say, ‘I need help,’ and mean it and not be insulted by it.”
Now read that sentence again.
By being united this mind goes out to everyone, even without the awareness of the miracle worker himself.
Indeed…
The impersonal nature of miracles is because the Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations with their Creator. As an expression of what you truly are, the miracle places the mind in a state of grace. The mind then naturally welcomes the Host within and the stranger without.
Indeed…
When you bring in the stranger, he becomes your brother.
This is the good news. This is quote “The Way It Works” unquote. And this is the way it works spontaneously.
Continue…
That the miracle may have effects on your brothers that you may not recognize is not your concern.
And the only time it would concern you is if you were wanting to be able to take credit for it; if you wanted this to be a personal miracle, or a miracle at your personal hand.
Continue…
The miracle will always bless you.
Ah, yes. But you won’t discover that until you extend the miracle. And you cannot extend a miracle so that you can get a blessing. It’s not give to get. It’s give because that’s your Function. And when you are fulfilling your Function, you feel Whole. And that’s what you get, is the experience of feeling Whole. You get fulfillment when unselfishness is practiced. When you’re not on your mind anymore, then you fulfilled will be on your mind.
Continue…
Oh, I’m sorry. Question over here.
I just wanted to ask if, many years ago before I knew anything about the Course or miracles or that sort of thing, when I functioned as a nurse…
Well, let me say this. The Way Things Work is the way things have always worked, whether there was a Course or not. Yes. Continue.
There were…
I’m really saying that for everyone else. [audience laughter] [Raj laughing]
There were several times when working as a nurse that I felt like what you’re describing here but I didn’t have a word for it. I just felt like I all of a sudden knew what the right thing to do was, only it didn’t come from me.
Yes.
It came from Guidance. And the most… I was watching to see what was going to happen every bit as much as anybody else because I didn’t… it wasn’t coming from me. And I understand about that feeling Wholeness, because I can vividly remember every time that happened.
Yes.
So many of them. And so that is what you’re talking about.
That is exactly what I’m talking about.
Those are really quite wonderful.
Yes.
Miracles you are not asked to perform have not lost their value. They are still expressions of your own state of grace, but the action aspect of the miracle should be controlled by me because of my complete awareness of the whole plan.
Now what this is saying is that miracles that you perform that I did not ask you to perform have not lost their value. They are still expressions of your own state of grace. But the action aspect of the miracle should be controlled by me because of my complete awareness of the whole plan.
Continue…
The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures your grace, but only I am in a position to know where they can be bestowed.
As you allow me to select the place for miracles to happen, you will as if by osmosis begin to feel why the selection was made. But it is only through a continued yielding to my Guidance where the opportunity for this experience to occur can happen over and over and over again, only in this way can you learn how to distinguish where the miracle is to be extended. So I encourage you not to decide where a miracle is needed very often, because that will deprive you of the opportunity to wordlessly and thoughtlessly feel, begin to feel and thereby learn when and where a miracle is to occur.
Decision and spontaneity would be exclusive of each other. I couldn’t have the miracle be spontaneous if I was making any kind of a decision about it.
That is correct. A miracle would not be impersonal if a personal decision were employed.
So therefore does it follow that when you are… when a miracle happens spontaneously, it comes from you?
No. But it will have come from one of the Brotherhood who is likewise not interposing a personal sense of authority, or self, into the process. In other words, one of the Brotherhood Who Is Awake, and who himself or herself is yielding to the Father’s Will. Does that answer your question?
I can’t even imagine a miracle coming though my own decision. I may not … I think just meandering into it with a decision negates the possibility of a miracle happening.
This is excellent.
Do you see what I mean?
That is Sanity.
Well, I mean it’s… I mean being in the healing arts, every time something happens where somebody spontaneously has a remission, I mean it’s as big a surprise to me…
Indeed.
… as it is to them.
And they look at me like, “Wow, you really did something!” You know.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Oh yes you did.”
“Oh no I didn’t.”
Exactly. And yet you know you were involved.
In some way. It was like I was the conduit through which it flowed, but that’s it. It’s just like the road is the highway which the car moves in.
Yes.
But not anything more than that.
So when you’re talking about, “when you decide,” that to me isn’t even plausible. So what do you mean when you say, “when you decide where a miracle is to happen”?
If you have a loved one who is ill, or who has suffered an injury, you will pray for them. You will ask for a miracle.
I see.
You will provide a guideline, you might say, for where the miracle is to occur and who deserves it.
I see. I see.
You can ask for what you want, but I would end your prayer with, “Nevertheless, Father, Thy Will be done.”
You can’t always get what you want. If you try real, real hard, you get what you need.
[Raj laughing] [Seeker laughing]
I have a question?
Yes.
Okay, so from the past weeks I’m getting the idea of seeing a need in my Brother and responding, but that response has to be spontaneous. It can’t be a decision—I mean the subtle distinction in our experience from where we are now between a decision and a realization.
Well, what is your response to your Brother’s need? Your response is to be, “Father,..” You momentarily step aside from the Brother in need. You turn to the Father. “Father, what is the Truth here? Father, what is needed here? Holy Spirit, is there anything I am to do? Father, what is my appropriate response?”
You can ask any of these questions. You turn to God and inquire, wanting to know the Truth, wanting to know the Truth that will heal, wanting your mind to be infilled with purity and clarity. Then you are miracle-ready. And then you will learn what to say or what to do. Then the response will be revealed to you.
You and the Awakened Brotherhood don’t have a moment of stopping and asking. I mean you just know each moment, because you’re not in a process of shifting out of decision-making.
Exactly.
Sometimes that happens to me where there’ll be time where I know step to step what to do without needing to stop and, you know, specifically ask. It’s all just apparent for a while.
That is correct. Okay.
Continue…
Miracles are selective only in the sense that they are directed towards those who can use them for themselves.
Mmm. This is a very key point. It’s like if you have a telephone, you’re likely to get a telephone call. Does that make sense? When Paul is willing to listen, I speak to him and he hears me. When Paul is not choosing to listen, I speak to him and he doesn’t hear me. So, when there is a willingness to hear, you are likely to hear something.
Miracles are selective only in the sense that they are directed towards those who can use them for themselves.
You might say, those who are receptive to the experience.
Continue…
Since this makes it inevitable that they will extend them to others, a strong chain of Atonement is welded.
You see, it’s called a… just a moment… it’s called conservation of energy. What works, the Way Things Work is always utterly simple, but it always has maximum results. If you are receptive, if you are listening, you are likely to hear. When you hear, you are likely to be moved. A shift of perception is likely to occur. And when that happens, you are naturally inclined not keep your mouth shut about it, and you are inclined to share it. And so the Way Things Work uses a minimum of energy with a maximum of benefit, and it’s utterly simple.
So…
Since this makes it inevitable that they will extend them to others, . .
… and the others will respond in the same way and extend it on…
… a strong chain of Atonement is welded.
It’s utter simple common sense. And the Way Things Work Divinely is utter simple common sense. It’s not otherworldly. It’s not miraculous. And it’s because it’s such utter simple common sense that it’s easy for each of you to abandon your commitments to your misperceptions. You see what I’m saying? What I’m saying is that none of this is set up difficultly. Okay.
Continue…
However, this selectivity takes no account of the magnitude of the miracle itself, because the concept of size exists on a plane that is itself unreal.
Yes.
May I ask a…
Is that like what Judy was talking about? She had this encounter with a drunk, and it seemed like just a little thing but the repercussions of that encounter may reverberate through the Universe. Is that…
Indeed.
Is that what we mean by… so we see it as, “well, that was no big deal,” but the ramifications could be… could change the world. So is that what this talks about as far as size is concerned?
That is exactly correct.
Thank you.
And let me just say that if you’re not seeing the Kingdom of Heaven because you’re sitting in the middle of it with your eyes all squinched up, it obviously isn’t going to take much to wake up, in the sense that opening your eyes up is not a laborious act. So the act of opening up your eyes will not seem miraculous even though it will transform your entire experience of being. Period.
You might say, it will change you forever. But the magnitude of the act of opening up your eyes is inconsequential.
Continue…
Since the miracle aims at restoring the awareness of reality, it would not be useful if it were bound by laws that govern the error it aims to correct.
Indeed. Simple again. The rules, the structures of your misperceptions are as illusory as your misperceptions and cannot govern the event of the miracle or its outcome.
You have a question?
So I can’t choose to love someone. I can’t make a decision to love someone. That has to happen spontaneously.
Loving someone is not a miracle. It a Function. It’s your Function. You cannot choose or decide what a miracle is going to be, or where it needs to happen. You must choose to love, because not loving is an act of Self-denial and self-hate that you will unavoidably suffer from. The only way you will love is to choose to be Love.
When you are awake, it will not be a choice. But right now when you are engaged, all of you, when you are engaged in having a private separate experience, separated experience of being where the Meaning of Love has been lost to you, you do have to make a choice. Just like you have to make a choice between the voice for fear, or the Voice for God. You have to make choices, and then make commitment to those choices, so that you undo established habits that keep you blinded to your Function and keep you blinded to Who You Are, and keep you blinded to the fact that you’re sitting right in the middle of the Kingdom of Heaven calling it quote “the world,” the place where the human condition is experienced.
When the choice seems to be a struggle, then there’s reason for joy because we know we’re close to breaking through some habit or barrier that’s been there for a while, like Ken was describing and…
Yes. It means that you are engaging in that which is truly weakening to the ego and your bondage to it. Yes.
Commitment and consistently requesting help from you and my Guide and the Father, those are the best ways to approach that problem.
Absolutely. Yes.
Okay. Yes.
You just mentioned structures that we believe in. I see that as the way we define in our minds everything out there and how we should behave toward it.
That is correct.
And where I’m going is I want to know the best way out of that. Is that just not to know? I’ve been reading Glenda Greene’s book, so just not really to know anything and just keep trying to get in touch with our own heart, the Real part of us.
You must be willing to invalidate what you think you know so that there is an empty space in which the Father can insert the Truth. And the best way to make the space invitingly empty is to say, “Father, what is the Truth here?” When you do that, you are providing a space that you’re not filling up before the Father can fill it up.
[small laugh] Okay.
Now this has nothing to do with saying, “I am really stupid.” It’s not a statement about yourself at all, other than that you are choosing to join with someone other than yourself and partner with that other one from here on.
Right. Good.
Yes.
Thank you.
You are welcome.
This is where we will end tonight.
I want to say once again—Virginia, let me see the whites of your eyes [audience laughter]—that I love all of you. Pass it on.
Thank you.
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