Teachings of Christ Mind

Top
Library of Christ Mind Teachings
The Raj Material

Hang on a sec…

Good evening. And good evening to everyone who has joined us on the Internet.

Or should I say good morning? Or good afternoon? It’s helpful sometimes to realize that something as definite as evening seems to you to be, is only a … it’s only a local perception. And so those who are joining us from Australia are in the early part of their day. And those who are joining us from Europe are up very early. It’s about twenty minutes of five in the morning there.

So remember that what seems so definite to you and so real, and something you tend to govern your feelings according to, are local perceptions. They are not absolute. It gives you a little bit of a hint that you might really be in Eternity, in a timeless moment, and that your very definite sense of what time it is, is pure illusion—meaning that it isn’t something that can actually govern you. I know. It’s evening. You’ve had a long day, and you’re tired. But are you tired because it’s evening? Or, are you tired because you’ve given the definition, and you are governing yourselves accordingly, and feeling tired, like it’s time to relax?

But if it’s an instant of Eternity, if I may put it that way, then this moment is as fresh as dawn. And it holds the promise of the newness of Creation. And if that was the definition you were giving to it, you would be surprised to find out how fresh and alert and eager you would be at this very instant, regardless of what has happened in the last eight hours. So don’t be so sure about everything, because it will confine you to whatever meanings you’ve given to the definitions.

So as they say in Australia [said with Australian accent], “G’day.”

Okay. We were set to begin on page 27 in the second edition, and page 23 in the first edition. But you know what? This section [Special Principles of Miracle Workers] is out of sequence. It doesn’t come next. And its full meaning will not be as apparent to you if we read it now. So we will continue with the next part that I actually dictated to Helen, which is the next section, Section VI, “Fear and Conflict,” which appears on page 28 in the second edition, and page 24 in the first edition. And I will come back to this section that we have passed over at the appropriate time where its fullest meaning will have been developed.

So, we will start here.

Fear and Conflict1

Being afraid seems to be involuntary; something beyond your own control. Yet I have said already that only constructive acts should be involuntary.

Isn’t that interesting? That sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? How can constructive acts be involuntary? Constructive acts are something you usually engage in on purpose, which means it isn’t involuntary. It makes you stop and think, doesn’t it? Or at least, wonder.

And actually wondering is a habit you should get into more than the habit of thinking you employ, because to stand in wonder is similar to standing in awe. To stand in wonder is to be a question mark, is to be attentive without knowing what you are being attentive to. It is an acknowledgement that you don’t know something, but you want to know what the something is, so there is a curiosity.

And when you do not introduce answers to the curiosity you have, then the meaning of what you don’t yet know about will infill you. And you will be surprised. And you will have learned. And you will have grown. And you will have changed. And when that infilling occurs, you know what to do, and you find yourself doing it because there’s just nothing else to do. But it wasn’t … but it isn’t by design that you do it. It isn’t something you intended to do. But when the influx of knowing occurred, you found intent accompanying it that made it utterly clear what to do and how to do it, so that it was easy to be in the Flow of the Action of the Movement of God.

Continue …

My control can take over everything that does not matter, while my guidance can direct everything that does, if you so choose.

If you read that slowly and if you are in a cynical frame of mind, the statement:

My control can take over everything that does not matter…

You might stop reading the sentence, and say, “Well, then why in the hell haven’t you taken control better? Because my life is the pits. What’s going on in the world is the pits. Your control can take over everything that does not matter? And I’m supposed to think that you have power? And I am supposed to have faith in you?”

Well, then you might read the next part.

… while my guidance can direct everything that does…

… and then you come to the last four words, which are the key words …

… if you so choose.

My control can take over everything that does not matter, and my guidance can direct everything that does, IF–and it’s a big “IF”–or it’s a little “if”—If you are willing to yield up control. If you are willing to abandon autonomy. If you are willing to devalue your own personal authority, and only use enough of that so-called “authority” to say to me, “I choose to let You guide me. I choose to yield to your Guidance. I choose to act upon the influx of Clarity that will come when I stop insisting on asserting an authority that I think I have.” It’s utterly simple.

To the ego, it seems to cost a lot. But you know what? You are not your egos. Your egos are just a picture that you have adopted. But you aren’t the picture you’ve adopted. You are that which has adopted the picture. And the You that has adopted the picture is still the Son or Daughter of God, still the Direct Expression of God in this very moment. It’s the You that has the Real ear right in the middle of the Kingdom of Heaven hearing me right in the middle of the Kingdom of Heaven speaking to you, even though what you are hearing is getting translated into the dream you’re currently dreaming.

Continue …

May I ask a question? I’m interested in hearing a definition of, “what does not matter” and “what does matter,” in that it matters or doesn’t matter to who? To me, or to the Universe, or the Holy Spirit?2

When I read this the first time, I thought, I would rather have His Guidance or His Control take over everything that does matter so I can’t mess it up. And that everything that I think that matters really doesn’t matter, because I’m thinking through my ego, which considers things important that really aren’t—the transitory things. And that I can get Guidance on that as far as how to loose myself from them.

Indeed. You’re partly right. Everything that you think is what doesn’t matter. And I can take care of that. All the definitions that you have given to everything that have biased your perception of What It Truly Is, I can take care of, if you so choose. Exactly.

So it’s either/or, in other words.

First of all, what does matter is Creation Itself. What does matter is What Is Really Going On.

My control can take over everything that does not matter, while my guidance can direct everything that does, if you so choose.

When you have listened for guidance and gotten it, don’t you often say, “Well, my Guidance said it’s appropriate to do such-and-such”?

Now listen to me using those words.

My control can take over everything that does not matter, while my guidance can direct everything that does…

… what do you think my Guidance is? My Guidance is what the Father is saying to me. You see? And my Father can direct everything that does matter. And my Guidance to you when you are listening to me is the Guidance I’m relaying to you from the Father.

Whether … whether I think it matters or not, because I don’t have a clear picture as to what matters and what doesn’t matter.

Except that usually when you are asking, you think you do know what matters. And you … and I’m not singling you out; this is true of every one of you. You have your back to the Altar, okay, which means you are choosing to look at everything from your own private, separate perspective. And then many times, you call out to God for help in understanding how to deal with what you are seeing without turning toward the Altar. So, you are asking for Guidance that is relevant to the distorted way in which you are perceiving the Kingdom of Heaven. And you expect the answer to be relevant to the definitions you have given to everything. In other words, you are asking for Guidance to address and adjust and correct your misperceptions, while you insist on continuing to stand in a position that doesn’t allow you to see What Is Really Going On.

You ask for what really doesn’t matter to be fixed, and still be what doesn’t really matter. You see? And so, very often when you listen for Guidance, the answers you get seem not to relate, because you want the answer to fit the current definitions you are using to determine the meaning of everything. You see, that’s not … that’s a misuse of prayer. It’s not really prayer.

Because prayer involves saying, “Father, in spite of how things appear to me, in spite of how dire they seem, I want to know the Truth. I want to know What’s Real, separate and apart from my best judgments, my best definitions. I want an answer that goes beyond my definitions. I want to be infilled with what does matter, so that I can distinguish between what does matter and what doesn’t matter, and let go of what doesn’t matter. And so I will not require you, God, to conform Your Answer to the lens through which I have chosen to look at everything. I want You to help me take off the glasses.” But in order to do that, you truly have to be willing to abandon the way you’re currently seeing things, the meanings you are currently giving to them, and the righteous commitment that you have made to the way you are seeing things. And that requires humility.

So in these two phrases, whose perspective is it when they talk about “does not matter” or “does matter”? Is it the Father’s Perspective, or is it my ego’s perspective?

Oh, it’s the Father’s Perspective.

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Even though from the ego’s perspective, it matters a lot.

Yes. I see.

Yes.

Thank you.

Continue …

Fear cannot be controlled by me, but it can be self-controlled. Fear prevents me from giving you my control.

Now just to be clear, it means your fear cannot be controlled by me, but it can be self-controlled. Your fear prevents me from giving you my control.

Continue …

That’s makes a lot of difference when you put the “your” in front of it.

Yes. Your fear preoccupies you and causes you to refrain from listening. Or it is overwhelming enough that you expect my response to treat fear as though it’s real, and correct the supposed cause of the fear, rather than doing what will cause you to choose for your Peace in spite of the fear and its apparent cause.

Continue …

The presence of fear shows that you have raised body thoughts to the level of the mind.

And let me just say one thing. If your body could be anesthetized and you could still be conscious, you would be incapable of having the experience of fear. Fear is a body sensation. Mentally you determine what is fearful for you. And when those things which meet the criteria of your definition occur, your body tenses up; anxiety in the pit of your stomach. You say that you have become afraid then, and you have, in effect, let your body lead you, tell you what you are feeling.

Continue …

Isn’t the body just the ego’s proof of separation and aloneness?

Yes. But it’s also God’s Proof of His Presence.

But if it’s fear that’s present, then it’s from the ego.

Exactly. Of course.

This removes them from my control, and makes you feel personally responsible for them. This is an obvious confusion of levels.

I spoke last week about how you carelessly characterize the body as being able to act on its own. “Oh, my body isn’t cooperating with me today. I’m all thumbs.” When you believe that, then you have lost sight of the fact that the body is simply rendering visible to you your current beliefs.

If you recognized that your body was reflecting back to you your current beliefs, you wouldn’t say, “My body isn’t cooperating with me today.” You might say, “ Boy, I’m really handling my body poorly.” And there’s a big difference there.

Because if you recognized that you are the one handling your body, then you can handle it in a new way. You are empowered, because you haven’t lost sight of the source of the authority for what the body is doing. So, when you believe that your body is generating the experience of fear because there is something fearful, and you don’t realize that it’s a choice you are making that you can make again a different way, it removes the correction of the fear from my control, as well as yours, you see, and makes you feel personally responsible for them.

This is an obvious confusion of levels.

The difference, the levels being Mind and matter, or Mind and that which renders Visible and Tangible that which Mind/God is Being. When you think that cause lies in the manifestation, you are confused. And it’s level confusion. That’s what that means.

Continue …

Oh.

My biggest discomfort has come from mental anguish, as opposed to physical anguish. And so, and then the other thing that comes up for me is somebody, like Christopher Reeves who has no sensation from the neck down, still can feel … can be fearful. You see what I mean? In other words, his body is, in effect, anesthetized because he has no bodily sensations because of his spinal cord injury.

So I’m having some confusion here because if I compare the amount of, you know, perhaps I’ve been fortunate, the amount of physical anguish that I’ve felt from a testy situation, or what not. I mean I’ll be sitting in a chair and my ego has really got a hold of me, and it’s all in my head. And it’s the worst that I experience as far as being in quote unquote “hell” is concerned.

I will … let’s simplify this. Any anguish you are feeling is anguish about something going on in the world of form…

Yes. That’s true.

… as though there were a world of form functioning on its own, independent of Divine Order and Divine Love and God. So, you are having confusion about form …

I see. So when is this …

… which ultimately is, whether you call it your body, or the body of somebody across the room, or the tree out the door, it’s all your Body.

So, when it talks about the bodily level, it’s talking about the material level?

It is talking about the Visibility and the Tangibility of the Kingdom of Heaven that you have determined to be a world and universe existing separate and apart from God, caused by physical dynamics, the big bang, et cetera.

That I have to be defended against.

Yes.

Thank you.

I think this is getting to be clear to me now. The choice, “if you so choose,” is going on in my mind. The body, the physical world, that’s the part you can take control of if I let go of that part.

That’s the part that God is already in control of.

Exactly.

That’s the part in the first part up here that says, “My control can take over everything that does not matter.” That’s what that’s talking about.

No. It is talking about all of the definitions and meanings you have applied to what does matter, which is Reality.

Right. It’s going to … the part that’s really going on is okay. And the part that I’ve made-up, that’s the part you can take control over.

That is correct.

And the choice is going on in my mind. And the problem is I clutter my mind up with confusion, and identifying with my definitions that I’ve overlaid all this stuff on.

Exactly.

Now this goes down to the point of thinking that I need to breathe air and drink water. I mean …

In order to exist.

Yes.

Yes.

And just getting comfort …

But maybe you breathe and drink water for entirely different reason–not to keep you alive.

That was coming to me this week. Now I’ll … Thank you. Thank you. There are appropriate relationships going on in my life right now with Basil, or whatever.

All relationships with all Aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven are going on in your life right now.

You’re just defining them as something else. And in your commitment to and your conviction about the meanings you’ve given to everything, you are living in a fantasy world that constitutes a denial of What It Really Is. But there isn’t a single thing going on that isn’t already Reality right now, right here.

Thank you.

You are welcome.

Continue …

I do not foster level confusion, but you must choose to correct it.

But you must choose to correct it. It isn’t going to happen without a choice being made. You must choose to correct it. You must arrive at a point where you are feeling that there must be a better way. And then choose for finding out what it is.

Continue …

You would not excuse insane behavior on your part by saying you could not help it. Why should you condone insane thinking?

Well, one of the reasons you would condone it is because you don’t realize it’s insane.

Your grandparents, your great grandparents … your great grandparents taught your grandparents, and they taught your parents, and your parents taught you what everything was. And they didn’t teach you that it was the Kingdom of Heaven. And they didn’t teach you to be curious to see more of What Everything Is than all of the rest of the world is seeing, did they?

So you didn’t realize that you were engaging in insane thinking. You were trained to do it. And you were trained to do it in intelligent ways so that you could respect yourself, and so that others could respect you. And all kinds of subtle influential meanings became involved, and kept you preoccupied from being curious to see more of What Everything Really Is than you are seeing.

There is a confusion here that you would do well to look at clearly.

And you are now able to look at it clearly because someone who knows has said, “There’s more to everything than what you are seeing.”

Continue …

You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice.

And to embellish that and ground it more completely, what you think is what you find reflected in your world. So it’s extremely important, what you think.

Now, curiously enough, one of the best thoughts you can have is that what you think a thing is, is not what it is. One of the best thoughts you can think is a thought that undoes the value of thinking.

It’s like I’ve said before, “The right use of will is to choose not to use it.” So, your last act of willfulness is one of choosing to no longer employ willfulness.

Likewise, the best thought you can think is the one that undoes your valuing of thinking. Why? So that you might be in a position to say, “Thy Will be done.” So that you might be in a position to let me control everything that doesn’t matter. So that you might be the perfect receptor of the Fullness of What God Is Being right there where you are as you. So that you might come back into your Right Mind and consciously participate or cooperate in being What God Is Being right there where you are. You see?

Continue …

What you do comes from what you think.

What you do comes from what you think. Yes.

You cannot separate yourself from the truth by “giving” autonomy to behavior.

“Is that so? I don’t know what happened, but, you know, suddenly my foot was planted squarely in his rear end.” [some audience amusement]

Continue …

This is controlled by me automatically as soon as you place what you think under my guidance.

As soon as you place what you think under my Guidance.

Continue …

Whenever you are afraid, it is a sure sign that you have allowed your mind to miscreate and have not allowed me to guide it.

Yes. Is that not clear to anyone? Okay.

It’s clear when I read it here, but trying to put that into practice, I’m having a terrible time. It gets all muddled. If it’s muddled, does that mean that I’ve slipped into the fear thing again?

Indeed. You have … you’ve stopped listening. You have started being a separate, private observer.

It just means that you need to turn around to the Altar again. You need to abandon your thoughts, and become still, and ask for help in understanding What’s Going On, or, asking for help to experience What Is Really Going On, so that you can respond appropriately to What Is Truly Going On, rather than responding inappropriately to what you think is going on, but isn’t. When you misunderstand What’s Going On, your actions are going to be based on that misunderstanding, and your responses will be inappropriate.

That makes sense.

Can I say something?

Yes.

When I first started in the Course, it was very clear that they said, “This is a course in mind control.” And I didn’t like that when I first heard it, but I really understand it more now. And it is constantly moment to moment making a decision to either shut up [laughs], or, you know, let my ego run amuck. So it’s a thousand times a day, whatever it is, I keep reminding myself to face the Altar. But, you know …

… which … and another way of saying that is to inquire of a Source outside of your best judgments and thinking as to what is real.

And I can only experience that when I’m quiet.

Yes.

Other than that I’ve got my agenda going full steam.

Absolutely.

Robbie, if you are feeling muddled, it’s because you have …

(Paul: just a moment.)

… abandoned the state of inquiry. You’ve abandoned curiosity. You’ve closed off to a larger Source. And you are back in the level of all of the little ideas that you are thinking. And it’s a wonderful indicator to you of what has happened. Not so that you can be mad at yourself for how careless, or lazy, or sloppy you are, but so that you recognize that, “Oh. Yes. Here’s another opportunity for me to do this simple thing, become curious again, and ask for help in how to see this.”

Continue …

What role does the Workbook play in this mind-training?

An incredible one.

Is completion of the Workbook important in understanding the message of the Course?

Would you say that again?

Is completion of the Workbook lessons important in understanding the message of the Course, or in accomplishing the goals of the Course?

Everything about the lessons in the Workbook are aimed at finessing you into the position of willingly yielding to God. The Workbook promotes the shifts of awareness that occur as one slowly or quickly abandons his or her commitment to his or her own best definitions and best judgments and best thoughts, and join with the Brotherhood, join with God, reunite at an experiential level. Can this happen without doing the Workbook? Absolutely.

As I said last week, you are confronted only by Reality. And in effect, every single object, every single thing in your experience is Creation Itself seen through a glass darkly. And in effect, Creation being What It Divinely Is, every Aspect of It is like a shake on the shoulder while you are dreaming your dreams. You’re constantly getting the invitation to wake up.

And so, any event of your day, any sentence in the Course, in the Text, can easily be the shake on the shoulder, the Divine Event, that causes you to make enough of a shift that more of your attention is on the Reality outside your perception, outside of your dream, so that you can make commitment to moving there in your awareness.

Does that answer your question?

So if then any sentence or any lesson or any part can bring about this shift, then there’s no need to make any commitment to the entirety of the Workbook. Is that what you are saying?

The Workbook, I’m going to put it this way, the Workbook is the most advanced tool present in the human condition, if I may put it that way.

So you would recommend it to everyone listening?

I would recommend it. I would recommend it to everyone who finds themselves led to look at it and to engage with it.

It is very specifically constructed, if you will, so as to effectively cut through the patterns of thought, the definitions, the meanings, that you have all given to the Kingdom of Heaven that cause it to appear to be something different, and to weaning you away from the ego structures that are not you, but which you firmly believe are you. And it is constructed in such a way as to cause this to happen in spite of your egos.

If you want to know what it is, it is a most effective means of distracting your egos over a period of a year in a manner that causes it to be inattentive to the places where the Divine You recognizes Itself, and your attention shifts with greater honor to the Divine One That You Are, so that there is room for God to enter once again into your conscious awareness as your Conscious Awareness, and you come Home into your Right Mind.

Now, if the Workbook is the most advanced tool present in the human condition, in the dream, at this moment for waking up, then it behooves you to avail yourself of it. But what I will not condone, or support, is any form of Bible-thumping; any form of Course-thumping; any form of saying, “This is your answer. Digest it whether you want to or not. And if you don’t, you’re foolish.”

You know what? You could go through the Workbook for a full year and be finessed into a greater state of being Awake, into a greater state of Clarity, without turning to the Altar in the middle of you, without turning to that Flame, if you will, that Illumination that is your Essential Self, because it’s the Presence of God being God right there as You, because you are part of the Infiniteness of What God Is.

And so, you can devote yourself for a year to turning within, turning back toward the Altar, and being taught of It by letting It in. And you might actually make more progress than if you studied the Course for a year, the Workbook for a year. Why? Because turning to the Flame within you, the Divinity within you That Is You, causes an intimate involvement between you as you presently perceive and experience yourself to be and the Divine One That You Are. And there is a one-on-one relationship, it would seem, between you and your Self. And that involvement, even if it is one that doesn’t quite cause you to yield to the Divine You that you are relating to completely, it nevertheless keeps you constantly in touch with What Is Real, What’s Real About You. And that kind of relationship, because it’s purely experiential, will move you unalterably in the direction of your Awakening.

So the mind-training then would be helpful in a situation, like Robbie’s, where it becomes muddled as you are out in the world experiencing all this that appears to be coming at you.

Absolutely. Anything that helps you discipline your mind is profitable, if it is disciplining your mind to give its attention in the right direction and yield. Anything that helps you become less sloppy in the use of your mind, or, shall I say, the use of thoughts, is beneficial. And as I said, there is no more advanced tool in the dream at the moment than the Workbook.

Thank you.

You are welcome.

The Workbook got me in the habit of taking several times everyday to devote to that activity. And then other things started to happen as I kept those times open. And then there was that time when I began to start to speak to you and my Guide. And that started to become part of it. And a lot of it I don’t know exactly what’s going on. But just … and it could be said turning to the Altar. But, just taking that time several times everyday to look outside of the box of our mutually-agreed-on definitions, to me is, that’s a big part of the key. Although the Workbook is obviously very clever the way that was … it really got me started.

But I think a lot of what’s going on for me now is happening outside of the dream. I’m connecting. And I’m getting a sense of being boxed in by the dream. It’s like a feeling. I’m beginning to feel the constrictions of living inside of this definition that shuts me off from the experience of all the life that’s going on around me.

Indeed. Yes.

But the habitual, the just taking the time several times during the day to step out of whatever is going on in your mind and turning within is …that’s been the key. And the Workbook got me going in that.

Yes. Indeed.

Continue …

It is pointless to believe that controlling the outcome of misthought can result in healing. When you are fearful, you have chosen wrongly. That is why you feel responsible for it. You must change your mind, not your behavior…

Let’s back up.

When you are fearful, you have chosen wrongly.

You might say, “When I’m fearful, it’s because someone else has chosen to behave in a way that’s threatening, or unpleasant.”

But …

When you are fearful, you have chosen wrongly.

And here’s a simple example. Some people feel at peace and comfortable with five dollars to their name, where other people panic when their bank account gets down to an amount that will only cover them for one month. You see? One person is afraid of spiders, and another one lets them crawl all over them.

When you are fearful, you have chosen wrongly.

Wrongly, because if you were looking at it through the Father’s Eyes, you would find nothing to be afraid of, because you would find nothing in your experience foreign to you.

Continue …

Which part do you want me to do?

You must change your mind.

You must change your mind, not your behavior, and this is a matter of willingness. You do not need guidance except at the mind level. Correction belongs only at the level where change is possible. Change does not mean anything at the symptom level, where it cannot work.

That is simple and clear. Yes. Continue …

The correction of fear is your responsibility.

Notice that it doesn’t say, “correction of what is fearful.”

If you have a relative, or a friend, or a boss, who is behaving in an unloving way and it causes you fear, you might think that they need to be changed.

The correction of fear is your responsibility.

It’s very simple. The experience of fear is always a waste of energy, because it accomplishes nothing.

You can be perfectly clear about something that is going on without experiencing fear, and in the absence of fear, together with your ability to recognize something that needs to be corrected, have available to you the ideas and the actions that will correct what needs to be corrected. Fear is not essential to the correction of a problem. When something is going wrong, you can recognize that something is going wrong without engaging fear within yourself. And that’s what is desirable, so that in your Peace, you may have Clarity that is able to respond to the situation appropriately, and resolve it quickly, without aggravating it.

Continue …

When you ask for release from fear, you are implying that it is not. You should ask, instead, for help in the conditions that have brought the fear about. These conditions always entail a willingness to be separate.

Yes. Because, inevitably, when you separate yourself from the Whole, you suddenly … after experiencing being Infinite, you suddenly experience being tiny and on the outside–separate. And it is an unnatural experience. And it doesn’t feel good. And your Sanity says, “Don’t stay here too long.” Now, that’s Wisdom. But in a separated standpoint, it can sound like a threat, or a warning, that says, “Danger. Danger. Danger.” And then you can become defensive and get stuck in that separated place.

Continue …

At that level you can help it. You are much too tolerant of mind wandering…

And that’s what you are talking about Robbie–mind wandering.

Continue …

… and are passively condoning your mind’s miscreations. The particular result does not …

… passively condoning your mind’s miscreations. By not being alert and catching spurious thoughts and correcting them or stopping them, you passively condone them. And as you do that, you slowly become subject to the insanity of them.

Continue …

The particular result does not matter, but the fundamental error does. The correction is always the same. Before you choose to do anything, ask me if your choice is in accord with mine. If you are sure that it is, there will be no fear.

The particular result does not matter, but the fundamental error does.

And the fundamental error is that you are letting your thoughts flow without being joined with One who can distinguish between What Is Real and what is not. It’s a lack of mental discipline, a lack of making a choice.

The correction is always the same.

Turn back to the Altar.

Before you choose to do anything, ask me …

… or ask God or ask your Guide …

… if your choice is in accord with …

… ours. Meaning God, your Guide, Me.

See, that breaks the isolation. That’s the key. That’s where the discipline comes in to stop willy-nilly rambling with a flow of thoughts originating from where? From your past experience.

If you ask me if your choice is in accord with mine, and after having asked and experienced the answer and the meaning that accompanied it you are sure that it is in accord with mine, there will be no fear. There simply will be no fear. Because the fear wasn’t occasioned by something fearful. It was occasioned by being unjoined, being alone. You see?

The answer always lies in breaking the isolation. The answer to what? The problems, the distresses that you experience as a result of choosing to be alone, isolated, and separate. Join with Me. Join with your Guides. Join with the Father. “Join” is the key word. You do not have to do all of this on your own by yourself. You are not isolated entities that are the product of a sperm and an egg and a physical universe, with a mind that’s in your brain. Join, reach out, ask, inquire, be curious, and let in the response. And your fear, and your confusion, and your distresses, and your anxieties, will be nonexistent in the communion.

Paul can verify that to anyone who wants verification, because when he is being with me as he is right now, there is no self-consciousness. There is no fear. There are no concerns. And if he would stay with me after the Gathering is over, he would find that all the things that await him would not be overwhelming or fearful or draining, if he would look at them with me, and we did them together. He says he’s chicken. [some audience laughter] But he is getting closer and closer to doing it. Because what used to bother him, bothers him more. And as you said, being in the box is more uncomfortable and more confining than it seemed to be a long time ago. But the answer is the same for everyone. And it’s simple.

You know, going through the Workbook will not necessarily quickly cause you to abandon your allegiance to your best definitions, and your best ideas, and your best thoughts. What will cause it, is your frequent request of God to fill you up with whatever you need to know to meet the events of your day that you have been told is a day in the Kingdom of Heaven.

One of the key lessons in the Workbook is, “Today I will make no decisions by myself.” Whew! Well, that’s what I’m talking about. Break the isolation. Stop valuing the independence. Prefer to find out what the Experience of Unity is, what the Experience of Family is, what the Experience of Communion with All of Creation is like. And be curious constantly, as often as you can, without bringing your imaginations into play.

Doing this is not going to take you away. You will not suddenly be lifted out of the world, separated from loved ones, separated from the beauty that you do see around you. What will happen is that everything that has nothing to do with What Is Real around you, will vanish, so that everything that is around you will be experienced in its full Meaningfulness, full Divine Meaning. Everything you are experiencing right now will be infinitely enhanced. And so, the only thing it’s going to cost you are your illusions.

The correction to fear, which is the first stage of misperception of everything …

The correction is always the same. Before you choose to do anything, ask me if your choice is in accord with mine.

Break the isolation. Don’t do it alone. A simple, beautiful Truth.

And that’s where we will end for tonight.

Thank you.

I thank you. I thank you. Okay.

  1. ACIM 2nd Ed: T2.VI Fear and Conflict 

  2. Students commenting or asking a question. 



Select recipients from the dropdown list and/or enter email addresses in the field below.