Teachings of Christ Mind

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

A new section:

I will tell you, we may not get past the first or second sentence tonight.

Well, you know, another thing that makes holiness difficult when it’s supposed to include everyone, is that you believe that to engage in holiness is something you do alone. It’s something between you and the Father or between you and the Holy Spirit or between you and Jesus or, at the least, between you and one other Brother or Sister at a time.

Let me ask you this: How many of you have had the experience of being in pursuit of your holiness and having life get in the way? How many of you have had the experience of taking some quiet time with God or some quiet time with the Holy Spirit, and the children come running in, boisterous, demanding: “We want this! We want that! Can we do this? Can we do that?” And because they are children and because they need your care, you shift your attention, and perhaps you feel a little perturbed at not being given the quiet time you need to contemplate the truth and to be present with the Father.

Now, let’s say that one of your children is lying is bed with a low fever, not feeling well, not too happy. Your husband’s home from work expecting dinner. You’re in the kitchen working away getting it ready, and again, the other children are unusually rambunctious, noisy and bothersome, making it difficult for you to manage the cooking as well as prayerful contemplation of the healing of the one that’s lying in bed not feeling well. And you feel like: “It’s just too much! It’s just too much!”

You see, the problem is, that it’s not clear that holiness is to be extended to everyone and it must be extended to everyone in order for it to be holy. You see, the mistake has been made to think that the pursuit of spirituality is private and not all-inclusive, not embracing, that you need to pull in from everyone into a nice mental cave, if you will, and in the aloneness of that cave which is excluding everyone else for the moment, you pursue your spiritualization. That’s the mistake that’s been made. That’s the mistake that’s being uncovered so that it can be abandoned.

You know, learning about doing the two-step, learning about the holy instant—where indeed you become still and you do join with the Holy Spirit—the purpose of doing this is to allow Revelation. It is to allow insight. It is to allow the Father’s perspective, the Holy Spirit’s perspective to register with you so that you might share it with a Brother, so that in the sharing of it with the Brother it becomes yours as well.

As I’ve said before, that’s as simple as it gets.

So, there’s no way for this to be private. There’s no way for you to be uninvolved. No way at all.

Now, you know, there’s been an event in the world this last week … devastating for those who were involved. How many of you have let yourself be present with them? How many of you have let yourself be conscious of the needs? And how many of you have tried to find a way either prayerfully or tangibly, to help? Or, how many of you have read the news that say, “This country is no stranger to tragedy,” as though tragedy is the norm for everyone there and that they have grown accustomed to it—almost as though it’s their karma.

You know, if you’ve heard that and if you have assumed that they’re having the experience they’re having because of their frame of mind—their beliefs that their behavior has caused them to deserve it and that therefore, the correction of their problem is a correction of their mind and therefore, it’s that truth that you need to be aware of to apply to them in your thought—if that has happened, you have missed the point.

In the process of utilizing the two-step and the holy instant, you will become a better, more meaningful Brother. You will become a greater point of the evidence of fulfillment in the Brotherhood. And it will be recognizable to your Brothers that they’re loved.

Now, when I talked about the good Samaritan, he didn’t pass by on the other side of the road, he didn’t judge and leave the poor soul to “correct his thought.” No. Nor did he say, “God will take care of you” with all faith, and then walk on. Nor did he say, “You need to do prayerful work for healing.” No. What did he do? He cleaned his wounds. He bound his wounds. He picked him up and carried him. That’s not very much of a head-trip, is it. It’s a Brother being even more brotherly. Do you see what I’m saying?

In a way, I am putting down my foot tonight and I’m saying, as I told Paul along time ago, “Keep your feet on the ground and your head not too far away.” You say, “Well, I really don’t want to give too much thought to the devastation there. I’ve seen a few of the pictures … it’s awful!” You know, out of sight, out of mind.

You know, I’m going to ask you a question. You appreciate knowing people who have a broad life experience because their broad life experience—and I mean humanly speaking—allows them to recognize need and know how to address it in practical terms. And they recognize it because they didn’t ignore it somewhere along the way. And when you meet someone else who has very little life experience, you wouldn’t want to be dependent upon them or needing to rely upon them in an emergency.

Now, in order to be aware of your Brother’s need, you’ve got to be willing to be present with them. And here, it might seem as though I’m contradicting myself regarding the term, empathy.

You know, it won’t hurt you a bit … it won’t hurt you a bit when you hear of a Brother in need or a country in need or a city in need, to allow yourself to be present in your mind with those kinds of circumstances so that you might think about what it’s like when there’s no electricity, when the stores can’t function because the cash register won’t work, when all the perishable food perishes and where fresh water isn’t available and none of the utilities work and none of the regularities of life occur anymore … suddenly they’re gone. What happens to you or anyone who is used to a routine of some sort? It throws you out into the middle of the sea, so to speak.

Now, if I say, “Take some time to be present with a situation like this,” am I saying, have empathy for them in an unhelpful non-Course In Miracles sense? No. I’m saying, “Use your mind to approximate to the best of your ability an experience that you may not have had, so that you might become aware through what experience you have had of what might be needed, so that you might turn to the Holy Spirit, so that you might stop and inquire of the Holy Spirit—engage in the holy instant—to know what is needed here. So that you might have enough presence of mind, relative to that situation, to be able to realize that miracles are needed and in spite of infrastructure having collapsed, in spite of no electricity, miracles can occur and miracles will occur.

And no matter how devastating it has been, those who are left will report back and share with their families miracles that happened, experiences that evidenced to them the Presence of God, the presence of good, right in the face of a situation that says, “Good evaporated, there is no reason to have faith.” Just a simple awareness that the Holy Spirit might share with you that here, where the devastation is, is a hotbed of miracles. Just that realization may be all that’s necessary for the clarity that heals and transforms to be further evidenced there where the problem is.

But you know what? I promise you, you won’t have that kind of realization if you don’t let yourself abide with the need.

Oh I know, you want to be able to sit down and have your quiet time in your comfortable chair with your Bible, or with your Course In Miracles or with your holy book and have quiet time to contemplate the realities of Being. But you know what? It isn’t the words that you would use as mantras in your mind that need to get your attention, it’s the everyday needs that need to be the mantra in your mind. And you need to be willing to be present with them without letting them discourage you or depress you, but rather be the clear call for a clear answer so that you might turn your attention to the clear answer and be infilled with it and share it—extend it!

I encourage every single one of you, and many of you think it might be totally inappropriate for me to do this in this context, and I promise you this is not Paul saying this, I encourage every one of you to find a way to contribute even just one dollar. Do you know why? So that your conscious presence of mind, your very Being becomes involved, joins—the key word—joins in the meeting of need where there is great need.

And you know what? I know there are those of you from all over the globe listening and you know it doesn’t matter where you’re listening from, it’s part of your globe where the need is. It’s part of your Brotherhood that has the need. And it is an opportunity for you to join consciously and conscientiously in undoing tragedy, in being the Presence of Love that makes a difference—not an intellectual difference, not an uninvolved difference—but one that washes and cleans the wounds and puts the balm on and wraps it, you know, get your hands dirty, be involved in the practical meeting of the need while the love that motivates you to be practical registers with the one in need and inspires that one in his Spirit and in his mind to remember, there is a God.

What will help break your ignorance about holiness will be involving yourself where need exists—in the practical meeting of need—while at the same time engaging in the holy instant where radical idealism can become practical realism through you. Do you see what I mean?

Keep your feet on the ground and your head not too far away.

Right here is the Kingdom of Heaven and right here is where the Kingdom of Heaven needs to be uncovered. And where there is need, is where the Kingdom of Heaven is covered up, but still there.

Yes, all of your Brothers and Sisters are spiritual ideas of God. They are thoughts of God. They are the Presence of an Idea in God’s Mind. You are the Presence of an Idea in God’s Mind. But don’t be so lofty in your interpretation of that, that you think that human need is meaningless. The meeting of human need inspires the only thing it can inspire, an awareness of God.

Do you want to inspire the awareness of God? Then let your attention rest with the human need, so that the human need is what gives impetus to your turning to the Holy Spirit in the holy instant and begin to nurture the awareness that multiple demands coming from your world are not in opposition to your holiness or your spiritual growth, but are themselves the places where the Kingdom of Heaven awaits coming to view. They are hotbeds of miracles.

You see, you all tend to be looking in the wrong place for miracles. And you get mad at the circumstances where the hotbeds of miracles come to your attention, because you think that’s not where the opportunity is, you think that’s not where your attention is supposed to be, because it’s, um … it’s just, too, too, down-to-Earth.

Love … Love arises out of caring. Love arises out of caring and caring, when you know “the secret,” causes you to turn to the Holy Spirit and inquire what the truth is and then you shut up and listen so that it might be revealed … register with you … inspire you and allow you to extend it to your Brother. And in your Brother’s receipt of it you are blessed—both of you are healed.

You see, it just doesn’t work any longer to say, “Well, if he had handled himself better he wouldn’t be in this mess. If he had been thinking the right thoughts he wouldn’t be having this experience. It’s his business to take care of, not mine.” There’s no love in that, is there? Why? Because there’s no joining in that … there’s no connection … there’s no caring enough to stand there where your Brother is experiencing a dilemma and perhaps have enough life experience to understand more than an intellectual theory, that he’s just getting what he deserved—where there’s enough life experience for you to recognize, while listening to the Holy Spirit, what the flaw in the thinking might be that can be illuminated, so that one can see it and can easily set it aside because the light bulb went on. You see?

Might miracles not be the natural and inevitable result of caring enough about your Brother to cut through your own intellectual crap that gives you all the reasons you don’t need to actually relate to your Brother so that you can, in your Realness, address the need so that the need is met. You see?

Love’s gotta come out! And you know what? I’ve said it before in so many ways: Love is pretty meaningless where it’s not needed. “Oh yes, I know, love is needed everywhere and Love is everywhere—Love is omnipresent. Yes, I know that.” But there are places where it doesn’t seem to be because to one degree or another all of you are not seeing the Presence of God everywhere. And so the Presence of Love needs to be shone like a Light, where it seems not to be. It needs to be brought to the wound or the distress, not to confirm it, but to address it so that it’s healed.

Needs are the hotbeds of miracles. Needs are where miracles are surfacing if they are not denounced or denied or discounted, if they’re looked at squarely. If they are looked at squarely, that does not constitute false empathy … Oh, unless you agree with what you see and if you commiserate with the one who is suffering—now that’s empathy. But to be clearly aware of the need and to be clearly aware of the fact that the need is an illusion that your Brother needs to come out from under and be free of, that’s not empathy. That’s knowing the truth. You know: Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.²

Oh, if a Brother is in need, sometimes everyone gets a little self-righteous. “You know, I don’t like to hang around people who are always in need. Oh, you know … needy people … oh, they can be a real bore. Wow …” Or, they could be a hotbed of a miracle!

You will never Wake up … the holy instant will never move you suddenly into your Awakening if you think that needs are beneath you or something you dare not look at, or the consideration of which has nothing to do with A Course In Miracles or any other teaching.

Find your Love. That’s what I’m saying. Don’t hide it. Don’t withhold it. And remember to value the evidence of need, because need is where the miracle is going to occur. The uncovering of wholeness is what the miracle will accomplish. Where wholeness is already in place, no miracle will happen.

Am I scolding anyone? No. I’m trying to make utterly clear where Love is needed, what your Love is for, and why you practice the two-step and the holy instant. There’s no point in practicing it in a place where it doesn’t count.

Now, you could say that everything I’ve shared is totally self-serving because of what I’m going to say next. It’s not! I have been teaching … I have been disclosing to you more about the purpose and function of the holy instant and more about what its practice means, so that no one offhandedly overlooks the very place where the miracle awaits you.

Now, I must share once again that there is a need that the Foundation has in order for Paul and Susan and Chris and Judy to do the work that is done—to make these sharings possible. It cost money. It requires support. There is need. When the need is not met, the experience is not pleasant. And you could say the situation becomes a hotbed for miracles.

And you could say, “Well…” like the Pharisee walking by on the other side of the road, “Well, if Paul had a better sense of unlimited wholeness, there would be no need.” That’s a convenient way to say, “I don’t want to be involved. I don’t need to be involved. Joining means nothing here.” But I promise you it does.

A short while back a call for help was put forth and much Love was expressed, much joining occurred, much was shared. Thank you. It was appreciated. It was put to work. Comfort was experienced. Love moved in both directions. Please be willing to give some attention to Paul and Susan and Chris and Judy.

The Foundation does not support Chris and Judy, but Chris is reimbursed for the experience and excellence he brings to making these broadcasts available, and the audio and the web site and the servers that the web site is on.

Keep your feet on the ground and your perspective clear enough and loving enough to keep alive what you love that’s happening here, so that it may continue to be extended without suffering for those who are engaging in extending it.

I love you. I love you all. And I look forward to being with you next time. And I thank you for listening.