Teachings of Christ Mind

Good evening. And welcome to everyone who is joining us on the Internet.

So we ended up last time with the question, “Do I want the problem or do I want the answer?” And mind you, this question follows a part in the book where we were discussing the call for Love, where the human condition with all of its psychological complexities were being discussed, and then suddenly the book apparently changes course, changes subject. And the change demonstrated the appropriate response to the call for Love, which we could call bad behavior, because it brought the attention back to how you are seeing things, instead of saying, “Okay. Here’s how you treat this person. Here’s how you treat that person. Here’s how you treat the other person. Here’s the solution to changing other people, for the better, of course.” And then the question was posed, “Do I want the problem or do I want the answer?”

It’s very simple. If you want the problem, you will try to deal with people out there. You will try to change circumstances. You will try to take charge beneficently. But, nevertheless, it will be you taking charge; you coercing order out of chaos. And if you want to have the problem, that’s the way to do it.But if you want the answer, you’re going to have to step back from the presenting presence that your Brother or your world is putting in your face, to see how it is that you are using your own mind. Why? Because until you’re using your mind rightly, you will spontaneously respond out of habit from your memory and from the definitions you have applied to your Brothers, your Sisters, and your world.

If you want the answer, you have to step back to a point prior to your definitions, and you do that by inquiring of the Holy Spirit, or the Father, “What is the Meaning here? What is the Truth here? What is the answer?” And then you have to shut up. You have to be still so that you might listen and experience the revelation, the revealing of what the Truth is so that in that place and from that perspective, you may act well and be able to respond to the call for Love with that which answers the call for Love. Period.

Now, let’s continue.

In other words, [small laugh] this Course isn’t about the words you’re reading. It isn’t about the ideas that they engender that you can work around and manipulate and come to better conclusions with. No, it’s not a Course in the play of ideas, but in their practical application.

You will receive.

“Oh yeah, but it would be so much easier if I could just respond because I know what the answer is. I know that if they would just do this, it would change their lives. Why take the time? Why waste the time to ask, and then do this thing that I’m not really familiar with doing well—listen? The problem might be … [small laugh] the problem might be gone by the time I get the answer.” Indeed.

… the Holy Spirit’s …

… which is another way of saying realize that you are afraid of the specificity of that which is nothing more than your right Mind …

Strange words. You would probably say, “Well, I never thought it would demand anything of me.” And maybe you haven’t actually thought it through. But the simple fact is that if you’re asking for guidance, you’re abandoning your free will, aren’t you, whether you’re thinking about it or not. When you ask of the Holy Spirit what to do, you’re introducing a willingness to yield to an authority other than your own. And so you think that if you listen to the Holy Spirit, it’s going to require of you to sacrifice your autonomy, your independence; that which makes you unique and special and different, appropriately different from everyone else.

That’s true.

At the bottom line, what you are afraid of is really clear thinking. You are afraid that you’re going to lose your independent authority. It won’t happen because it will be taken away from you. The only way it will happen is if you give it up voluntarily, willingly, because you would rather put your mind to a different use. You would like to put your mind to the use of standing in receipt of what God gives, which is All. God withholds nothing of what He is from His Creation. So you will have to abandon your independence, your autonomy, in order to re-embrace All That Is. But that’s your Birthright; that is what you’re supposed to be experiencing.

Continuing.

In other words, you have it together with God. You have it together with all of your Brothers and Sisters. Because it is shared, there is no withholding, and none of you are in an unequal or inequitable state.

… which is nothing more than your right Mind …

And that’s an important question because it means that you don’t have to ask a perfect question. The intent, the meaning will not be misunderstood by what is nothing more than your right Mind. No matter what you ask, no matter how it’s worded, when you ask, you introduce something new into the picture that hasn’t been there. It’s an attitude of inclusion, instead of staunch independence. And that cannot be misunderstood, no matter how poorly you ask the question.

Meaning the nature of a question.

Again, because you are afraid you’re going to have to give up your independence; that knowing God’s Truth will constitute a significant loss for you, not the least of which is the freedom to see things your own way. Because if you don’t have the freedom to see things your own way, you have no means of introducing anything original into life, into the human condition. But you know what? None of you is required to be able to provide something uniquely original to the human condition in order to improve it, because the human condition is nothing more than the result of having attempted to look at Reality independently. And the minute you abandon that independent stance, you will find that no uniquely original idea is called for, because you’re no longer suffering from a biased perception of Reality that calls for a uniquely original response. You see, any uniquely original response you feel is needed can only be needed to help correct something in the human condition. But there wouldn’t be any human condition calling for correction if you abandoned your independent autonomy and joined with your Source.

… which is everything …

… and I will say: Nothing of Reality will enslave you.

Do you see what I’m saying here? I’m saying lean on me. Lean on my Vision of you, because that is the way you can claim it for yourself. You doubt that it’s in you, but I know that it’s in you. And you can lean on me as a most practical and loving means of claiming it for yourself, having it for yourself.

That’s a little hard for you to believe when you see the way some of the Sons of God are behaving. But you know what? I’m not asking you to ask of your Brother’s behavior to know the Truth. I’m asking you to ask of your Brother who is the Christ whether he knows it or not, what the Truth is. And this does not mean that you have to go up to him face-to-face and in words say, “Tell me the Truth about me.” But it means, in your mind—and we’re talking about not what you do with the Brother, with your Brother, but the use to which you are putting your mind. You ask of the Christ that you know your Brother is, what the Truth is. You ask that your encounter with your Brother, regardless of his behavior and regardless of what he thinks he is or what he thinks you are, you ask that your encounter with your Brother be one that illuminates Truth to you more clearly than ever before.

Continuing.

… you see, it says, “Ask anything of God’s Son”—not the bastard you think he is, not the bastard he thinks he is.

… because that is the only thing that’s really there …

… what?

… the one he truly is …

You see, you will not see the answer for your Brother until you see that your Brother is no different from yourself and that you are both the Christ. And in the realization that both of you are the Christ, conscious of it or not, you are apprehending both of yourselves correctly—which means that the healing is available for both of you, and you are not holding him to his poor behavior and seeing him as unworthy of the answer, and thereby you are not withholding the answer from yourself. As long as you think you are worthy of the answer but your Brother is not, neither one of you will have the answer together.

Continuing.

These are the things you will find out at an experiential level when you turn to the Father or the Holy Spirit to ask, “What needs to be known here? What do I need to be here in the face of a call for Love?”

So don’t take these words and say, “Oh, now I know what the answer is. I’m not to be deceived in my Brother. And I’m to see only his loving thoughts as his Reality, for by denying that his mind is split, I will heal mine. Whoop-de-do!” That’s not experience. That’s mental masturbation. Don’t do it. Don’t avoid the becoming quiet part of it, where you abandon what you’re confident of to ask of the Holy Spirit, “What is the Truth here that will answer the call for Love, that will really answer the call for Love?”

… your Brother …

Well, what does that mean? In a way it means lift him up unto his Christhood, instead of holding him to your lesser definition of him and your self-righteous, emotional reactions to your lesser definition of him.

Your Christhood and his Christhood are his healing and yours.

… and you have the experience of this when you abandon your separation from your Father by inquiring of your Father, “What is the Truth here? What is the Truth that I need to be aware of about him and about me? What is the Truth about him that goes beyond what my poor conception of him does?”

… you get it? Be not deceived.

Be not deceived. Don’t deceive yourselves through the use of your own poor definitions of each other. You’ve got to abandon them if you’re going to see healing in your own mind and in your Brother’s mind.

If you want to be an agent for change, if you want to successfully respond to the call for Love, you’re going to have to operate outside of whatever your current mindsets are. Because if you weren’t in your current mindsets, you would be seeing Reality, and you would not be inappropriate, and healing would surround you wherever you went.

So, mind you, we’re still talking here about the use you’re putting your mind to. We’re not talking about changing your Brothers or Sisters. We’re not talking about a better means of control. We’re talking about stepping back from that practice and exercise of control, and stepping into the not-knowing place where you lack confidence, ego confidence, and where you’re innocent enough in your mind to let the Truth in. Again, we’re talking here about the use you’re putting your mind to, and as I said last week getting your own head on straight.

Continuing.

You see, that’s what I said. And everywhere you went, healing would surround you; the revealing of Reality would occur, and life would be a delight.

Well, what are you requesting? You’re requesting for your mind to be clear; for your mind not to be biasing Reality and providing you with a distorted experience of it.

And once again, does this mean that your Brother’s call for Love and his bad behavior is entirely a result of your lack of Vision? No. It simply means that healing isn’t occurring there because of your lack of Vision. And the temptation is for you to respond to, react to, retaliate against the bad behavior, instead of clearing your vision, instead of clearing your mind, so that you have the capital “V” Vision that’s transformational.

Why? Because you have it and he doesn’t? No. Because in the experience of your beauty, it’s obvious to you that it’s the fundamental Truth of everything that exists. It’s shared—shared wholly, unequivocally. And so you see in him what is true of you.

Continuing.

Again, we’re talking about the use to which you’re putting your mind; getting your head straight.

When it says, “Do not accept your brother’s variable perception of himself,” it doesn’t mean go out and correct him, go out and change his mind so he stops having this variable perception of himself. It says you stop accepting your Brother’s variable perception of himself that you’re seeing and believing is real. For if you’re seeing it, your mind is as split as his.

You’ll both be blind, and you’ll both fall in the ditch—the ditch called the human condition.

“Together” is the key word there.

How many of you get on an elevator and put an imaginary cocoon around yourself? And you don’t say anything to anyone else. And if someone else says something to you, you are brief and uninvolved. You don’t ride elevators “together” with anyone these days. You ride elevators separate from everyone else in the same little cubicle.

“Oh, boy. Involvement. Who knows why … why did he say good morning? What’s he got up his sleeve? What’s his agenda?” Or, “Hmm. Wonder what she has on her mind?” But it’s not togetherness.

… well, now there’s an inclusive word. Right? Not a separative word.

… is that getting through to you? It’s repeated often enough in these pages.

Again, we’re talking about the way you’re choosing to use your mind to apprehend your Brother.

… let’s be very careful here. That is not the same as saying, “If you perceive a Brother behaving badly, pluck the bad behavior from your mind.” You can observe a Brother’s bad behavior—meaning behavior that is based upon his ignorance of his worth; behavior that’s based upon the fear that he can’t help feeling because he’s separated himself from his Father, and thinks he’s alone—you can perceive a Brother’s bad behavior without taking offense. Offense is an ego response. It’s an emotional and always self-righteous response. It’s a judgmental response.

… again, you do not have to be offended even though you recognize a call for correction.

But you say, “Well, that poor bastard is behaving badly because he’s not bothered to take the time to know who he truly is. And I have. And I have many constructive things to do today. And why the hell should I have to interrupt my constructive things to do to respond to the call for Love, and maybe be the agent for change here because it’s my function not to have a split mind and not to see an intrusion here and not to see an intruder here, but rather an opportunity to be together with someone in Love?” You see? Why should you have to be bothered by the call this makes upon you? Well, if that isn’t taking offense, I don’t know what it is. It is taking offense, but it’s not called for.

… you’re offended by your Brother who is the Christ.

But of course if you choose to forget that he’s the Christ and you think he’s just an ego, just a hunk of flesh, a material being, well, then you’re going to be offended. But you’ve missed the fact that he’s the Christ, which is the key element that allows you to look at it a different way.

You’re deceived in him because you’re using your definition of him in place of What He Is.

You …

That means you are confused about him. You are not able to make a distinction between Truth and illusion, Truth and error. If you can’t make that distinction, you are deceived.

Now this—I must reiterate—has to do with your stepping back from the call for help, the call for Love, in order to see that you are using your mind well.

You can take these words and you can manipulate them around through the use of logic and reason, and you can say, “Well, there’s this individual who is very obtuse, very unloving, behaves in a very threatening manner, does not have anybody’s well-being or interest at heart, and takes advantage of everyone. And this one doesn’t want to hear about the Truth about himself or herself. This one objects strenuously if any intelligent Love is extended toward them. So everything you’re saying here is just so much bullshit. Where is its practicality? How can I apply it?” And the problem is that you have your attention incorrectly placed, because we’re not talking about coercing someone else. We’re talking about the use you’re putting your mind to, and whether the use you are putting it to is causing it to be conflicted or Singular.

Because no matter what your Brother is doing, if you are using your mind to create conflict within it, you absolutely blind yourself to the wholeness of the Singularity of your Being, and you are incapable of fulfilling your function, which is to be able to see God everywhere, and acknowledge God, and glorify God by that recognition. When the recognition dawns in you, you will know what to say and what to be, or what not to say, or when not to say anything. And you will be able to be utterly appropriate in terms that will definitely contribute to the correction that the call for Love represents. But that’s not where we are in the process, in what we’re reading about right now. We’re still talking about how you’re choosing to use your mind and what the elements are that you are willing to employ.

… you are creating a conflicted mental state.

… your right Mind …

… let your right Mind remove all of the conflict that you are generating in your mind against yourself.

Now all of you are so conditioned to project things and think out there that this sounds like, through the Holy Spirit’s guidance, He will save you from the condemnation of the world, the condemnation of those that don’t like you. But that’s not what we’re talking about. That’s not the subject matter here. We’re talking about the use to which you’re putting your own mind.

And so, the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the guidance of your right Mind will …

From all of the conflict that you subject yourself to by engaging in condemnation. And it saves you from it, the Holy Spirit saves you from it by helping you to let it go, so that your mind arrives at peace, absent the conflicting dynamic of condemnation, returning you to a state of Singularity which is the proper use of your mind.

… the Holy Spirit’s …

Now, let’s back up here.

… for yourself …

… secondarily …

… in other words, use it for the strays that He sends to your door. Don’t use it to go out and hunt down the strays that you’ve picked to bless.

… for yourself …

And that has to mean you and the Brother who is sent to you, because the healing will always be a shared healing.

“Now, is it reasonable … ”—you see this is the way reasoning works—“ … is it reasonable to assume that if someone’s in my experience, that one has been sent to me by the Holy Spirit, and so therefore is fair game for my beneficent gifts?” No. As I said, there are some strays who come for refurbishment, [small laugh] to gain strength, so that they can go on their way without changing, without ceasing to do the thing that is causing their suffering. Those ones are not sent to you by Him for healing—it’s the ones who are hungry for healing. Remember this, else you will find yourself in a tug-of-war that will be nothing but depleting for you.

If someone is in your experience, you ask, “Holy Spirit, Father, have You sent this one to me, to engage with, to be involved with, from whatever clarity You provide me with?” And don’t assume that the answer will automatically be “yes,” because many times, the answer is “no.” And when the answer is “no,” I will tell you, it is part of the healing of that one, who wants to use you unkindly, use you illegally, use you maliciously, because there is so much fear there and so much commitment to it. To not get from you what they want, which is relief without having to change, is part of their healing. Now, if that sounds hard-nosed, it means that you’re a little bit of a wimpy practitioner of cotton-candy spirituality that has nothing to do with Truth, but has to do with concepts, definitions, made up about what a good person is, and what a spiritual person is, and what one who is on his or her way to awakening is.

Continuing.

… here’s the key …

… most significantly …

That’s all. You are deceived because your definitions are getting in the way of your seeing what’s truly there.

… ask what they are. Lean on someone you can trust.

Now, you say, “Maybe. Well, I’m not even really sure of if there are capital ‘T’ Teachers. I’m not even sure that you are who you say you are, Raj. I’m not sure that you’re nothing more than a figment of Paul’s imagination. I’m not sure that my guide is anything more than a figment of my imagination. Who should I trust? How can I trust?” Well, that’s a good way to keep yourselves in limbo.

You’re going to have to invest trust somewhere. And so you might as well dare to invest trust in that which says it is there to restore to you your right Mind, to restore to you your Sanity. You must dare to invest trust where at the moment you do not have sufficient proof to believe that you’re being wise. And so you do it, but you don’t do it foolishly. You pay attention as you’re doing it. As it’s said, “You test the spirits.” But you start somewhere investing trust.

“Why, I don’t even know if there really is a God.” Well, risk the chance that there is a God, and ask God, and dare to listen for an answer. And when you get the answer, dare to trust it. And if the answer isn’t totally clear to you so that you are able to trust it implicitly, ask more questions, because that which has the intent of restoring your Sanity to you, will have a way to share with you what convinces you, not coerces you, but convinces you at an experiential level, and thus allows your trust to increase as you cautiously and carefully extend more and more trust. At some point you have to make an investment of yourself in the process of your awakening. And it always feels risky, because it has you operate outside of the definitions and the rules that you have made up, that make you feel secure.

Again.

… your Brothers and Sisters, or anything.

You see, this gives you permission to not kick yourself in the seat of the pants because you’re afraid. Of course, you’re going to feel afraid because you’re leaning into the unknown. You’re making an investment in that which is beyond your current parameters for being. But without throwing your anchor beyond the parameters you’re presently using, you will have no means of enlarging the borders of your tent, enlarging the borders of your consciousness, to have a more whole experience that will encourage you to have enough trust to throw your anchor a really long way.

… children’s …

… it’s only your lack of understanding which frightens you …

And neither are you.

… whatever you’ve made them up to be …

You say, “Oh, I really want to be a healer. I have this vision of having a healing center. And I know I have a God-given purpose.” But, you know that, that usually occurs to those who see being a healer as something one, unlike his patient, does for and to the patient.

But healing happens with involvement. Healing is an experience of sharing. And your immediate thought is, “That’s going to take effort. And that’s going to take time. That’s going to take a degree of involvement which isn’t really that delectable to me.” [small laugh] Ah, but that’s what it takes.

The saying is that infinite patience brings immediate results. When you realize that your Brother and you are worth the experience of fulfillment that follows involvement, that follows the allowing of sharing—not sharing mutually-agreed-upon definitions, but sharing the Truth that’s revealed—without reservation to be willing to take all the time you think it’s going to take if you’re looking at it from your best definitions, you will find that the prolonged element of time that you were afraid it would take because of how deep-seated the other one’s problems were, that time [finger snap] will be cut short. Why? Because you were being willing, because you were willing to be with that one for as long as it might take. Because your desire to function within the Singularity of Mind, your proper use of your mind, was more important to you than the amount of labor you conceived it would take and the amount of time that you imagined it would take.

As long as you are trying to determine whether it’s worth it to you or not, to be involved, you are keeping yourself separate, you are not entering into sharing, and you are using your mind poorly. And you are denying yourself the very thing you want—the joy of sharing healing—the joy of quote “being a healer” unquote. Healing simply cannot occur by remote control, or the exertion of power over something else different and separate.

If you want to see your world transformed, you’ve got to back off from your conditioned tendency to manipulate it into better order. You’ve got to be willing to step back from it, and turn your attention to the source of Truth. You’ve got to want to know what the Truth is, and reach for it beyond your conditioned thinking. And you’ve got to abandon your fears about your world or your Brother. And you’ve got to abandon all the rules of etiquette or proper behavior that everyone must abide by if they’re to get your respect.

And you’ve got to abandon all the little small-minded criteria that you hold your world to and yourself, and inquire of that which knows the larger picture. Why? Because you’re tired of suffering, and you’re tired of not being able to respond to the calls for Love in the ways that resolve them. And because you finally know that the only way you’re going to be able to see these transformations is when you bring your mind into a singular state that’s not confused by your fears, that’s not confused by your inability to distinguish between Truth and error, that’s not terrorized by a lack of a choice for peace.

And then you’ve got to let in the experience that follows that kind of an inner commitment to that which is beyond your present frame of mind, so that you might be blessed with Sanity again. Sanity that makes you happy all-day-long, and anticipate the next all-day-long that’s coming along.

Now I’m telling you that when you do this, you will find that whatever involvement, whatever intimacy you are required to become involved in with your Brother, the motivation for it will be there. And the ability to not be discouraged will be there, once you decide not to judge according to appearances, according to their presentations, or according to your best assessment of their presentations, your best judgments. And you’re willing to say, “If there’s anything at all right there where my Brother is, it has to be the Christ and nothing less. And that is where I’m going to hold my attention. That is the standard by which I insist upon apprehending, conceiving, of my Brother whether he sees it or not, whether she sees it or not. Because anything less that I engage in will constitute my hell, my ongoing ignorance, my lack of inspiration. And I’m not willing to sacrifice that for anything.”

And we’re going to go back to where we began.

I promise you something. The practical application of what the Course teaches is a lot less work than what you’re currently engaged in.

And with love, I leave you with that. And I look forward to being with you next week.