Teachings of Christ Mind

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

We’re going to stay with the theme a little longer – the theme of loving one another. We’re going to come at it from a slightly different angle tonight, that angle being, bearing witness. Usually, bearing witness is thought of as bearing witness for each other as in a court case or in an argument or in a situation where clarification is needed.

But actually, we need to talk about bearing witness to Reality, bearing witness to everything in its Actuality.

When Moses came down from the mountain with the Commandments, one of the Commandments said, “Thou shalt not bear false witness”1 … continuing with examples that was something not to do.

But what to do instead? The very fact that the subject was bearing witness, means that bearing witness is the activity that needs to be engaged in correctly, instead of incorrectly.

Now, the Bible speaks about glorifying God. Well, that’s bearing witness. To glorify God is to bear witness to God. Since you are the Son or Daughter of God, your function is to bear witness to your Source – That which is responsible for your Being at this very moment. To let That which is Being You show forth, that is your divine function. And it’s through the practice of the holy instant that this is accomplished.

Now when you’re not joined with the Holy Spirit or the Father and you are not being “in the world” from that joined place, you are being in it under the guidance and the rules of mutual agreements. And so indeed you witness for each other, but you also witness against each other. And always it is for the purpose of accomplishing a goal of self-improvement. Even when you are engaged in promoting another’s self-improvement, it is always with your benefit behind it – to witness for another doesn’t mean to witness for what is Real about another or what is true about another, it means doing that which will accomplish a selfish end result – a result that will benefit you and if it is going to benefit you, well, the one you’re bearing witness for is going to end up feeling good as well, even though it’s a game of manipulation, it’s a dance the two of you engage in without ever asking of the Father or the Holy Spirit, “What is the truth about this one I’m relating to, so that I might magnify that, so that I might behave in accordance with what is Real and turn what had been a special relationship into a holy relationship. You see?

Bearing witness … bearing witness. You know, to truly bear witness is to be like a teacher. What does a teacher do? The teacher bears witness to that in the student, which the student is not aware of yet. One could say that the teacher bears witness to a capacity beyond what the student thinks he has. And he provides the environment and the encouragement for that student to access it. And the key element of accessing it, is curiosity, isn’t it.

A true teacher doesn’t send the student to a book to learn. A teacher puts the student in a mental environment – the student’s own mental environment – points him there and says, “Now be curious.”

You can go to the books all you want and you can read about the result of what someone else ended up with as a result of going within themselves. You see? But that’s not what you’re supposed to emulate. You’re not to emulate the result.

You truly are to go within yourself and reach for, be curious to know what you haven’t the slightest idea about yet. You see? The teacher bears witness to that in the student, which the student is not yet aware of.

You see how healing that is? You see how transformational that is? How different that is from manipulating each other for selfish ends – witnessing for another because it will get you something instead of reveal Something already there much greater than was seen before?

The petty manipulations, the small-minded means by which everyone witnesses for each other is empty of fulfillment, because it never lifts those involved out of a personal involvement that is being carried out from an image that each one of them has about themselves being an orphan and needing to do something to establish credibility and meaning.

And yet credibility and meaning cannot be experienced until one abandons the bearing of false witness – follows the Commandment. See, even when you’re bearing witness for the integrity of another, if that integrity has nothing to do with an awareness of God in them, it’s just an integrity that is conceptual and it doesn’t lift anyone into a valid enduring place or way of being.

So, we have the two-step. We have the holy instant to get out of the orphan mind-set and the manipulations that orphans go through.

Now, you want to bear true witness for your Brother? Well then, you shut up. You turn your attention away from your Brother to your Father, or to the Holy Spirit – that which is nothing more than your right Mind – and you ask, “What is the truth here?” And as I said last time, you ask, “I wish to have the experience of what the truth is here so that what I do and what I say and the way I am with my Brother inspires him to let himself into that place in him where the Holy Spirit – that is nothing more than his right Mind – can enter and inspire and illuminate what he didn’t know before. So that he ends up along with you, glorifying God, bearing witness to the Presence of God.”

That’s what the Course is all about.

There’s a lot that’s distressing going on in the world today. And you know what? You can’t afford to start with the way things are or the way things appear to be or the way you’re perceiving them if you want to get out of it. You’re going to have to step out of the orphan mind-set, out of the level of manipulation, out of the level of bearing false witness and so-called true witness about the other orphans and make the connection with the Father.

That’s what it’s all about.

You know, some of you don’t like being lonely. Some of you, let’s say, who have been mothers or even parents, and your role has been to be a mother and the children grow and the children leave and the house is empty and you have no one to mother or father and your life is empty, meaningless. Well, the role of mother is a temporary one that serves a function. But it isn’t who you Are, it isn’t what you Are. And to try to keep the role when there’s no one to practice it on, causes depression because it’s constantly meaningless.

But you know what? When you find yourself alone, if you find yourself without personal friends, if you find yourself without associations that you used to have, be grateful because you have the opportunity and the time and the quietness to become still and practice the holy instant, the two-step.

All of you play roles with each other if you’re not listening to Guidance. Count on it! There’s nothing original or Real about what you’re doing if you’re just bouncing off of each other’s egos.

And so if you have the quiet time and the space in which to ask of the Holy Spirit what the truth is – to engage in learning – be grateful, because you’re not being distracted by your spontaneous tendencies to fulfill a role with your Brother or Sister when you’re in the way with them.

Then as a result of your practicing the holy instant and experiencing the influx of the Father’s Perspective so that you are able to bear witness to It, you are in a perfect position to have an encounter with a Brother or Sister or friend and not be immediately sucked back into the habitual role, the habitual way of relating to each other that causes you to reinforce the orphan mentality again.

Your job is to love one another, which means, your job is to bear witness for each other, which means to bear witness to the Father in them that you are experiencing because you said, “Before I engage in a relationship with my Brother I am going to join with the Father so that I can see my Brother truly and be with him from there.” That is the Answer. That is the step to your salvation. That is the means of your Awakening.

Now, this is not necessarily new to you, but you are in need of someone to witness for you and witness to That in you which you’re not yet aware of, and inspire your curiosity which may have been dulled through disappointment, because of the loss of those to manipulate.

And so, I am engaging in witnessing for you by pointing you in the direction of that which you’re not experiencing yet but which it is your Birthright to be experiencing. And I’m telling you to go within, into the Silence and become curious, want to know the truth, want to experience the truth.

Now, because this isn’t something new in it’s totality to you, you have engaged in these activities and there have been times when you have been met with resistance. There have been times that opposition has confronted you and you have said, “Oh, this doesn’t work.” Or, you have persisted and persisted and persisted, and there is a stubbornness on the part of the one you are engaging with, based on that one’s internal decisions, that you’re not able to overcome. And so you say, “Hm-m-m, this must not be the truth. This must not be the step to salvation. This must not be the ultimate thing that will promote Awakening.” And it’s not true.

You need some perspective. And so I’m going to return to the example of the teacher – let’s say a professor (although it can be a teacher anywhere). But the professor has classes in a university. And students sign up for his classes and show up – attend the classes – and he teaches them.

As he’s walking around the campus, or perhaps having lunch in the cafeteria, he engages in chats with other students, who are not his students, and may, from time to time, share with them what he’s teaching and invite them to check into his class. But, you know what? He doesn’t try to teach them there!

There is a prerequisite to learning. And the prerequisite to learning is the presence of curiosity … acted upon. And so, when you run into resistance or sheer opposition, stop attempting to be the teacher! Stop attempting to practice the holy instant for a planned result! Stop using, or trying to use the holy instant as a means of control!

Essential to learning is curiosity, acted upon. And in practical terms for the professor, that means that if he is going to teach a student, the student is going to have to be curious, and he’s going to have to act on his curiosity by signing up for the class and showing up in the classroom … bringing his attention with him. Then the teacher will give his all to that student. That teacher will practice the two-step himself, practice the holy instant himself or herself, and witness to the more that that student is, and is capable of, than he’s presently allowing – inviting and accepting in. It’s simple.

Be careful that you don’t use your spirituality as a higher level of control, and stay with your common sense. Teach those who have brought their curiosity into your presence.

Now, I’ve used the example of a teacher, a teacher as a concept, a teacher as a role. And I’m not suggesting that you scan the horizon for the best teachers you’ve had, or to do a study on what has constituted the greatest teachers in the world, so that you might emulate their behavior in the world. You see?

If you’re being a teacher, it’s because you’re not trying to be a role. It’s very simple. When you listen for the truth about your Brother so that you may use it as a means of control, then you are indeed trying to be the role of a teacher.

But when you engage in the holy instant, when you shut your ego up, when you silence your thinking and you bring your curiosity to the Father or the Holy Spirit – which is nothing more than your right Mind – then your attention isn’t on yourself and what you’re doing, at all, or what others might think you’re doing, what it looks like, whether you look foolish, or wise, or important, or unimportant, because your focus, your attention is on the truth and the experience of its Meaning. And you’re letting that elicit your behavior, prompt your behavior toward your Brother or your Sister, whom you’re not in the least bit interested in controlling or enlightening, as it were.

You’re being the Presence of the Father. You’re letting the Father show up. You’re glorifying God by bearing witness to what? To God, not yourself. You are bearing witness to God. You are involved, but you’re not involved as the originator of your behavior and you’re not being a role.

And so, there’s a simple, humble, genuineness to you. And I’ll tell you something: That simple, humble, genuineness feels good, not only to everyone around you, but to everything … every plant, every animal, every rock, every object. Because every one of them is a divine Idea, an active divine Idea in the Mind of God at this moment, bearing witness to God at this very moment. And when you’re doing the same thing, there is what I’m going to call, a resonance with everything. Resonance is harmony, for lack of better words, it feels good, it is that which elicits joy.

Now, this is your function: to glorify God, to bear witness to the Reality of everything as God is Being It because God is revealing to you what He is being and providing the experience of what it Means.

This is the way the Trinity collapses into a Unity.

Now, let’s be clear on something else: Don’t even bother to try to bear witness for yourself. You know what? That’s what the ego is. That is what you are suffering from. And that is what you want to abandon.

When you are willing to turn within to the Father, or the Holy Spirit – whose job it is to reveal to you the Father’s Meanings – you find yourself in utter harmony with everything, and everything finds itself in utter harmony with you. And it is a conscious experience had by everything. And that is a way of describing the Unity that is caused by or brought forth by the collapse of the Trinity. And that’s Awakening.

Now let’s keep it simple this week. None of you has any other job to engage in, but to bear witness to God … to bear witness to God in your Brother and Sister, and to not confuse yourselves by trying to compete with resistance or opposition that you run into. And mind you, having an opinion about it is engaging in competition with it. And it will drag you right down into the polarities of the orphan mentality. And you’re going to have to find a way once again to be alone so that you’re not reinforcing your old habits and you can shut up without distraction, and you can return your attention to the Father so that you in your bearing witness to the Father, can allow the Father to bear witness to you in your actuality.

It’s beautiful. It is simple. Don’t let yourselves be discouraged.

I love you very much. And I promise you that no matter when you might be hearing this, I am with you now. You are not alone. The Holy Spirit – which is nothing more than your right Mind – is with you and of course, the Father is with you because the Father is being all there is of you.

Accepting these facts, promotes the collapse, bringing about the experience of Unity. When things seem to be rough, this is what is called for. What is called for is, the Answer to the dissonance, or the problems, or the unfairness and so on. You see? So don’t be discouraged, because there’s amble opportunity to bare true witness. It will be your joy.

I love you very much. And I look forward to being with you next time.