Teachings of Christ Mind

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

Last week I posed a question at the very end for everyone to consider. And the question was: “What do you do with someone who is unwilling to be healed?”

Now of course, we talked about the fact that some things everyone wants to be healed of: sickness, injury, accident, so on. But the things that people don’t want to be healed of are the things that they are committed to toward the accomplishment of unintelligent conclusions … like being an independent agent for change, like being an orphan—someone without a Source, someone who is committed to becoming real even though he has no Source, and who has caused “becoming real” to be his life work.

This is someone who does not want to hear that he is to abandon that endeavor, because he is already real. He’s just not real in his own right.

You see, at the bottom line, after one said, “Father, I’d rather see things my way, do things my way and determine the meaning of everything,” after saying that to the Father, one was faced with the demand to prove himself to be righteous. Righteous: meaning, including all right ideas, including all that was true, including all that makes him real in his own right.

The result of such a goal would be to arrive at a point of true self-righteousness. That is sin. It’s the intent to accomplish something that cannot be accomplished and to do it with determination … to do it with commitment. But even that’s not enough. The easiest way to put it is that sin is an act engaged in through addiction. It’s not just a goal. It’s not just an idea. But it’s a meaning that one attempts to accomplish through force of emotion … dedicated emotion … undying emotion.

Now, what could promote undying emotion that drives one relentlessly toward a goal—this specific goal?

Well, if the one engaging in it has no Source and is attempting to make a righteous entity out of himself, he’s trying to make himself real. He’s trying to make himself real in his own right.

Now what happens if he doesn’t succeed? Well you see, he can’t even consider that because he must succeed in order to prove his existence is actual. So the addiction to the accomplishment of that arises out of a fear and a premonition that he will not exist if he doesn’t succeed. In other words, he will dissolve into nothingness. He will cease to exist. You could say, he will die—you will die. You see?

Now that constitutes motivation. And the fear of dying or the insatiable intent to exist as that which is righteous and real is a goal that will never on its own, die. It will not cease. You see?

How does one accomplish this goal? One thinks. One thinks, one observes, ignoring of course the fact that what he’s observing he didn’t create. But he doesn’t ask where it came from? Oh yes, it came from “the Big Bang.” It was a physical event—a universal, physical event … pretty amazing stuff. Okay. So he observes everything. He defines everything through the use of his mind and his imagination. And then he evaluates everything and he evaluates his Brothers and Sisters and comes to conclusions about them and always, the measuring stick of those conclusions is their demonstration of their righteousness.

So you see, what’s created out of this addiction—out of this goal—is that one himself engages in demonstrating and proving his righteousness so that he can exercise authority and control, period. Secondly, he requires everyone else to prove their righteousness. You see? So not only is there this inner fear of death if one doesn’t succeed at proving his righteousness and his independent actuality or reality, he is faced with the demand of everyone else to prove his righteousness to their satisfaction. You see?

Everyone else reinforces his addiction because the proving of righteousness and the actualizing of it in social settings, in cooperation, in governing, and so on, it all creates the climate of competition and keeps the addiction fed. The addiction is there just because of inner fear of death but with everyone requiring everyone else to demonstrate their righteousness to the satisfaction of the investigator simply substantiates the insanity further. You see?

This is very important to understand.

Now always, this interaction of the Sons and Daughters of God involves deceit. You see? It’s not honest! Because no one is really disclosing to everyone else that he’s feeling invalid—that he doesn’t feel a Birthright that holds him securely in the grasp of, I’m going to say, holiness—wholeness—but holiness. No one discloses that. Everyone says, you know, that God or the “Powers that Be” gave them a mind and a body and a will of their own to use as they wish and therefore, it’s their right. It’s not only their right, it’s their calling—it’s that which they must engage in.

But they don’t disclose this. They say, “I was created to be independent. I was created to do this. I was created to evolve my righteousness.” And what’s not stated is that that righteousness is going to be used for control, not necessarily for the best interests of everyone being controlled. And the reverse is the case as well. So the controller needs to be wary of not being controlled by others who are exercising the same right and the same practice—the same addiction.

So the answer to the question is an answer that no one is really going to like. And I mention this because it’s characteristic of truth that is revealed as you reach out for Guidance, that it will very often contradict your beliefs, your faiths, your confidences. You see?

And I’m going to answer the question: “What do you do with someone who is unwilling to be healed?” by just illustrating what I told my disciples: I told them that if they go into a town or a village or a place where they are not welcomed, that they are to leave and to “shake the dust from off thy feet.” ¹ Meaning, when you leave the town, shake off everything about the town and leave it with the town and move on. I didn’t say this—it’s not recorded—but the point was, go where you are welcome, go where you will not be rebuffed. Go where the truth that you are sharing will not be argued against. Don’t try to change the minds of those who are unwilling to be healed.

Does that sound unspiritual? Does that sound unholy? Does that sound unloving?

No. As you lean into the holy instant, as you enquire of the Holy Spirit or of your Guide or of the Father, “What is the truth here?” and it is revealed to you, it doesn’t mean that you’ve moved into a holy activity which must fulfill your preconceptions of what a holy activity would be, else you will attempt to construe what you’re hearing through the sieve of your preconception and try to practice something that wasn’t meant.

If you’re listening carefully and if you’re being used by someone who asks for help but is unwilling to receive it, you’re not to abandon intelligence, you simply say to this one: “There is not honesty in what you’re engaging in with me. You’re asking for the answer but you are unwilling to accept the answer because you have another agenda. When you actually want to know the truth and receive it—embrace it—call me. But until then, I won’t validate your deceitful activity by joining you in it and being manipulated by it.” You see?

There are rules. There is “the way things work.”

For example, when Paul first heard that there was such a thing as inner Guidance, and he decided to sit down and take time regularly to reach out to it, he did it as a practice, an intelligent application of his attention. And he did this for a couple of weeks, every night, sometimes more than once a day and heard nothing. And as I’ve shared before, there was a point at which he got perturbed and impatient, and he said to whoever was out there, “I have better things to do than sit here and ask and ask and ask and not hear anything.”

Well, he still didn’t get any answer that night. But over the next twenty-four hours, he realized that his exercise of impatience and demand indicated that he was coming from a place of control—that he was trying to make the event of communion happen. He realized that, in so many words, he was trying to twist the Universe’s arm. And it registered with him that it wouldn’t work.

The next night he sat down humbly, his attitude was, “if it takes a year of sitting down every night and listening without hearing an answer, I will do it because I do not want to bring willfulness into the process.” Without my even speaking with him directly, it became clear to him that willfulness brought into the attempt at communion with his Guide would absolutely block the communication.

So you see, if someone is intent on being an independent agent and he tries to connect with the Holy Spirit—that which is nothing more than his right Mind—or his Guide or the Father, no communication will occur because his willfulness will block it. In so many words, his willfulness will constitute a dissonance that will cause him not to hear the answer that’s given every time he or any of you ask for Guidance.

So that’s the way it works. If you bring willfulness into your engagement with Guidance, you will hear nothing. If a town does not welcome the truth, they will hear nothing. Except in the case with my disciples or we’ll say even in the case with Paul where he can hear me, and relay to you, it is not appropriate to engage because of the deceit in the activity.

And so intelligence must prevail and say, “No. But when you are ready to embrace the truth, when you really want to change, I will be present and we will talk and we will be together and there will be healing.”

Now it’s important to talk to those who are willing to hear. Because each one that hears, [snaps fingers] each one who experiences an “aha” and is led to abandon their independence and seek Guidance and give it preference to their own best thinking, they will, by virtue of the illumination in them of the Father’s Perspective, be agents for change.

And so more and more of the Sons and Daughters of God who have been dreaming will stop dreaming. And the result will be that the camaraderie of unity of dreams will weaken. And those who have felt the support of their independent stance and the viability of their insanity and addiction will find their resolve weakening because the withdrawal of mutual agreement among their Brothers and Sisters will make it harder to support the commitment.

And so even the towns where my disciples left, or those whom you discontinued involvement with, will find themselves, I’m going to say, beginning to spontaneously experience clarity—clarification—healing.

You cannot afford to become preoccupied with those who do not want to hear the truth but want to argue it or who want to engage you and pepper you with question after question so that they can provide a further stumbling block to you and enjoy your dilemma of trying to help them. You see?

That can be satisfying too and it could take you quite a while to realize that you’re being used and that the other one is enjoying watching you squirm. Then intelligence comes into play and you say, with meaning and with understanding that you have better things to do than engage in futility, and you say, “No.” And you leave the vicinity and you shake whatever remnants of the interchange are that might be lingering. You can’t leave it and be angry about it. You’ve got to leave it behind because there is a step that must occur. It’s matter of fact. It’s black and white. It’s simple. It’s intelligent and it is free of distress. You say “no” to a deceitful, dishonest involvement and you require that the future involvement be honest. That is holy.  

Now, let’s go into the book.

Well first of all, what’s happening in the state of independence from the Father is that a self must be imagined, an independent self—one who has all the capacity to become real that is needed and so on.

So this self that is brought forth is what is referred to as the ego and it makes its world on sin. What does it make it on? What is the sin? The sin is the insane and addicted goal of becoming righteous independently and doing it with an incapacity to falter in that goal because faltering means death, utter failure, nonexistence. And that is all it takes to keep the addiction maximal.

The ego made its world on this. It determines what its world is from that context. You see? It’s not that a sinful thing was done, “Oh, he was immoral with her!” What a distraction. It’s a distraction from the correction of sin because, as you can see, there’s no way you can get from his being immoral with her to the issue of being addicted to the goal of being a successful, fully-realized, independent entity. Hey:

A hundred-and-eighty-degrees out of sync. Where sin, disease and death replace life, truth and love. You see? A hundred-and-eighty-degrees out of sync.

What clouds of guilt? Well, the guilt that you imagine you’re engaged in. The guilt that you imagine is a result of your not succeeding yet—your failing at your goal even though you’re trying. And the guilt that is inseparable from your initial act of divorcing your Father: “Father, I’d rather see it my way. I am not interested in Your perspective any longer.”

The nature of addiction is: That it causes you to not experience the joy of being, but the distress of being that covers everything in a heavy and impenetrable way. It’s depressing.

… the one of the ego’s creating …

… and this is very important: It didn’t create a universe that isn’t real. Listen:

… what it Is …

… it’s a mental shift that doesn’t change the actuality of the Kingdom of Heaven or Creation, but alters the experience or perception of it. And so there’s not a universe that’s going to disappear, but Creation is going to emerge out of the distortion that the addiction to becoming righteous blocks. You will not see Creation as it is until you abandon your independence, join with the Father, with inquiry that you’re willing to accept the answers to. You see?

… not in actuality, because that’s impossible, but it’s changed the perception of it. It …

Sin, disease and death—the human condition, which is simply a misperception of Creation in all of Its perfection. Now:

If it’s an error—the section we’re reading is called SIN VERSUS ERROR—if it’s error it’s correctible.

Well you say, “It sure hasn’t been happening for me!” Well, be sure that as you enter into your desire to hear the truth—to hear Guidance—that you’re not bringing this sort of arrogant obtuse flavor, “Well, it hasn’t been easy for me.” You see? That’s an emotion. That’s an idea. It’s an evaluation and the energy of it will keep you from hearing. It’s not useful. You say, “Well, I sure feel it.”

Well, let’s get something else clear. There’s a difference between feeling and emotions. If you’re angry, if you’re upset, if you’re depressed, if you’re jealous, these are emotions. They have nothing to do with Soul. But feelings, on the other hand, have only to do with Soul. Feelings are love, joy, peace, awe, the recognition of good without anything obscuring it. These are feelings. They are the capacity of Soul to experience God’s Meanings in Creation without interference.

Emotions that you call feelings are something you can relish and roll around in your mind and dwell with for long periods of time. And because you feel them, you think that your expression of them is an honest expression of you, when they are simply misunderstandings, misinterpretations that disallow you from experiencing Reality—the Kingdom of Heaven and feeling the Meaning of It. You see?

… the goal of becoming righteous …

You see? Lifted to the status of truth, why it’s supreme and it will govern you. And the addiction that arises out of the fear of death—your failure to become an actualized independent entity—you will not find release from. And yet that is what Waking up is the release from. That’s what Atonement is the release from.

What strange device? The device of raising the mistake to the status of truth.

And it’s brought to it for judgment with vengeance, because if you don’t practice this clearly, succinctly and with pure logic you will delay your arriving at the point of becoming an actualized, righteous, independent being and you will die.

… that the mistake has been raised to the status of truth.

But:

Now the simple fact is, that you wouldn’t bring it to truth because of your commitment to it. And that’s why the word “sin” is applied to it, because you bring commitment to staying asleep, even though you can’t succeed. It’s unachievable. And you cannot realize it on your own when you’re under its influence.

Faithlessness … being your claim to be independent from the Father and to rely upon yourself. You see?

And so I am telling you that the whole human condition, the insane attempt to become righteous in your own right is something that cannot be accomplished. And therefore, your additive belief that it can be accomplished is nothing more than a mistake. If it’s a mistake, it’s an error. And an error can be corrected. And an error can be corrected very simply.

That’s the claim anyway.

You know, the commitment to righteousness. There’s no way that can be seen as a mistake. It seems very real. It seems very reasonable. And yet the goal of righteousness does not have righteousness as its goal, it has the goal of making something that isn’t real—a self that doesn’t exist, real. You see?

Impossible, without a perspective being provided by those who are not under the influence of the addiction.

The one who’s going for the goal.

… No … not.

… the Father’s Mind …

That’s the belief. If it isn’t believed that the Father’s Mind has been changed completely, then no one would be engaged in the goal of righteousness as the action of an addiction.

… what?

Mind you, it hasn’t and it’s not true and the suffering associated with the human condition is something you can be released from easily, because it is an error. It is only a mistake.

Too hard to believe? I’m sorry, don’t bring that feeling or idea into your listening for Guidance to know “what is the truth here?” Don’t bring that which casts a shadow on your path causing the Light to be obscured from you. Don’t you be that which the shadow identifies. Abandon the shadow. Abandon the doubt. Abandon the mistake.

Well, it’s far better to have an addictive goal that promises fulfillment, pure full-fledged, self-righteousness, than it is to be mistaken. Because if you’re mistaken, then you must stop doing the thing that guarantees your life! And that means that your life won’t be guaranteed. That’s too risky. That’s too dangerous. That’s too unrealistic, when the actuality is that that is the threshold of release into Wholeness.

Now because you’re experiencing or seem to be subject to sin, sickness and death, you’ve already made the choice incorrectly. And that’s why the Holy Spirit, your Guides, myself and God must bring the truth to your attention from a place outside the addiction, and penetrate the addictive perspective and introduce an idea perpendicular to, out of phase with the addiction and the commitment to it, so that a light bulb might go on and you say, “Whoa, there is another way to look at this … there is another way to be.” And then invite it.

I tell you, the subject of Sin Versus Error could have seemed to be a really heavy complicated thing. I mean, sin can be so humongous and all pervasive and controlling of you, putting you at such a disadvantage that you might as well just ignore it and live out this lifetime. But it is vital and it is interesting and it’s easy to see the difference between sin and error. And it’s easier, since we’ve been talking about it, to see how you employ it, how you foil your attempts to Wake up, because you so easily backslide and begin once again to rely upon your best thinking, your best judgments, your conditionings, all of the agreements that you’ve made with everyone about what things are. You see?

But those agreements don’t have to be honored. You are free to abandon them and choose for the Perspective that undoes the illusion of sin and corrects it because all it was, was a mistake.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for hearing. I look forward to being with you next time.