Teachings of Christ Mind

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

For the last few weeks we’ve been discussing looking into our brother’s eyes and remembering God (instead of looking into our brother’s eyes and seeing our definition of them or their definition of themselves), and that the call at the present time around your globe is for the bringing forth of acts of humanity—the call for behavior that embodies Love, that embodies respect, that embodies the honoring of the divinity of everyone you come in contact with. And in fact, it needs to be extended to every thing on your globe—the Earth itself, the life, the plants, and so on and so forth.

Honor and respect need to be brought to it all because it is all the divine expression of God. Why? As I’ve been saying before, because you are smack dab in the middle of the Kingdom of Heaven, calling it something else and, in the process of calling it something else, treating it inhumanely—treating it without respect, treating it as though it is there to fulfill selfish purposes. The opposite of Gift.

Inhumanity to man must be replaced with humanity itself. And humanity is not an idea, it’s an expression—a behavior! That makes all the difference in the world, because it’s not manipulative and because it bestows on the recipient of the behavior, a fundamental knowledge of holiness.

This is what is needed.

One would think that this would be embraced enthusiastically. But, of course, it’s not. It’s not because it means many—the majority—would have to abandon, give up, all of the means they have used to make themselves important, respectable and as wealthy as possible … and, at the expense of others if necessary … or even if possible. It becomes a goal.

Now someone recently, since I have been sharing these needs, these ideas, suggested that maybe Paul is no longer “channeling” Jesus because what’s being said is inconsistent with the Course, in that it would bring truth to illusion … it would bring truth to illusion … as though letting one’s brother be the focus of his attention was to bring truth to an illusion.

But let’s be clear on what it means to bring truth to illusion.

Here’s an example of bringing truth to illusion:

One looks at the world and says, “Oh, it’s a material world that started from a ‘Big Bang.’ It is a physical event … a purely physical event that can be explained through physics … and it has nothing to do with anything other than matter, period.”

In other words, there’s nothing beyond or before the Big Bang. There is no God. And so, to look at the world and apply a definition to it that says, “it is a material world” is to bring truth to illusion.

In other words it is not true that the world is a physical material universe, but to declare that it is, is to make a truth of the statement, a truth of the concept. And so truth has been brought to something which is not true and has been applied to it, and everyone has been encouraged to embrace that concept. That’s bringing truth to illusion.

What’s bringing truth to illusion? It’s looking at a brother or a sister and saying: “God, she’s ugly!” or “Boy, what a deformity that fellow has. It’s a shame isn’t it!” And what is seen, and the definition given to it, is treated as though it’s true … as though it is truth … even though at the bottom line, it doesn’t at all reflect or express anything of the holiness and integrity and perfection of those individuals. But! It’s taken to be the truth and it’s not challenged.

How do you bring truth to illusion?¹ You say that “life is terminal.” You say that “sin, sickness and death are real.” “Everyone will die.” “It’s a fact” … you see? … even though Life is eternal. “Oh, everyone will die.” That’s making a truth out of illusion. That’s bringing truth, or the idea of truth, to an illusion and applying it to the illusion and stating it as a fact … which therefore one would not bother to challenge.

Oh, I know … it is said that, “Well, it’s the truth for now. But after you die and you go to Heaven, you discover that all along you’ve been eternal and you are eternal and life is eternal.” You see? And so, one weasel’s his way out of any need to challenge the “truths” that had been conceived, imagined and applied, and which cause one to never look into his brother’s eyes and remember God, and never to look at someone with a disease and see healing occur, or challenge the terminality of a disease successfully. That’s bringing truth to illusion. You see?

Now the problem is, that when one talks about what I’ve just shared, of bringing truth to illusion, when one looks and sees a material world and universe where birth, sin, sickness and death are “facts,” where humanity is nothing but a collection of psychological neuroses, we’ll say, or concepts that are arising out of electrical synapsis in the brain—a piece of meat—when one looks at that, one takes that as the starting point. And that’s where the mistake lies. If you take that as the starting point, you’re taking that as the given—as the fundamental fact. Truth has been brought to illusion.

And so, one is stuck. One has no way out.

But if you’re going to bring illusion to truth, your starting point must be … that God is All. And the Movement of the infinite Mind that God is, is the Movement of Creation. And Creation is the, I’m going to say, emergence of Ideas forever new. And those Ideas are perfectly experienceable by the Mind that forms them. And on that basis, in spite of what everyone has been educated to believe, everyone is in the middle of the Kingdom of Heaven.

With this as the fundamental starting point, then you look at whatever is in front of you in your world—which currently you are defining as a “material world and universe”—and you desire to see the more of what God is Being right there than registers with you when you are looking at it through your very confined definitions and beliefs. You see?

So, you must look into your brother’s eyes. Why? To see God. And you must look at the trees and the plants and the fish. Why? To see God—to see the more of what’s there than your limited definitions are allowing you to see. This is the way you bring illusion to truth.

You bring illusion to truth by looking at what you are deluded about with a very specific desire to see the Truth of it … to see the Presence of God there. And this is absolutely consistent with what the Course teaches. It is the function of the holy instant—the practice of which puts you in a position of having the Father’s Perspective revealed to you because you’re willing to abandon what you thought everything was, in favor of the experience of what God is actually Being … so that you might wake up to the Truth. Do you see?

It’s very simple and straight-forward.

What makes it complicated is the devotion you have to your concept or definition of yourself which, of course, not acknowledging and honoring your holiness, causes you to engage in the very manipulations that I was speaking of … where you manipulate and control to the best of your ability and with the greatest skill you have available to you, to cause your brother to behave nicely toward you and to in any way possible get him to cross your palms with silver and make you wealthy, even if in the process he becomes a little poorer.

And if you’re really skillful, you can make him feel not so bad about being poorer. You see? All of this because you don’t Know who you Are.

You think you are a mortal. You think you are, perhaps, part of God’s Creation who has been given free will and set you free to pursue your life’s goals … your health, wealth and happiness … on your own.

If you believe that, then it is not a very interesting prospect to consider yielding to the Father—yielding up your authority that you think you have—losing the benefit of screwing your brothers and sisters out of their good, to your benefit, and hopefully being able to do it in a way that causes them not to feel bad.

Now, the only way you can look into your brother’s eyes and remember God, is to want to see God yourself—is to want to have a different perspective than the one you’re currently employing. And as I’ve said before, it doesn’t have to be a terminal disease or a horrendous life situation to put you at a point of willingness to reach beyond your apparent capacities that you thought would always be sufficient to keep you “healthy, wealthy and wise.” It doesn’t take that.

But, when you decide you want to Wake up without a catastrophe motivating it, it takes some conscientiousness. It takes some courage, because you’re used to being able to exercise control pretty well. And it feels good. And it feels right. And it says something to you about your nature and your character … all of which feeds your ego.

Now, if you think that practicing the holy instant, or if you think that anything in the Course in Miracles is geared toward the improvement of your ego, the improvement of your ability to be independent, you’re wrong. And it’s important to know that.

It’s going to move you out of that. It’s going to move you into a new “space.” That’s where the courage comes in. And that’s where the fulfillment awaits. And that’s where the persistence and the commitment come into play.

Now, the holy instant—the two-step, as I’ve called it—where you shut up your thinking and you meditate, or in some way become still in your mind, and then you let there be a single idea, “Father, share with me the Truth.” “What is the Truth that it’s my Birthright to be experiencing, that returns my Sanity to me?” …

[Now it doesn’t take that many words, but that’s the meaning behind the simple thought in the middle of the Silence that you’ve chosen to move into.]

… Now, when the Revelation occurs, when the Father or the Holy Spirit conveys to you the Truth, you are moved by It. It changes you. And if you are with someone when this is happening, and you share what you’re experiencing—you share what you’re hearing, you’re sharing the view that you’re having and what it means—whoever you’re sharing it with will feel blessed.

But you know what? You will not have been trying to bless that person. You will not have been trying to do anything. In fact, here is the important point: You will not have been self-conscious at all. You certainly will have been the presence of the movement of illumination in expression—an expression that your brother or sister who is with you could hear and understand and be blessed by—but that would be irrelevant to you. That is irrelevant to you when that’s happening. And this is a new experience of who you Are.

It’s an experience of being the presence of Love, the presence of Life, the presence of Truth, the presence of Mind, the presence of Soul, the presence of Spirit and the fundamental presence of Principle … all without trying. And all without an intent to impress or teach in any way, because you weren’t self-conscious. You didn’t have yourself on your mind.

Now, maybe you didn’t have yourself on your mind. Maybe you weren’t self-conscious. But you didn’t disappear! And whoever was with you when you were sharing, will have found “being with you” to be much more significant and much more valuable than when you were talking with him or her from your concept of yourself, from who you thought you were, from the role you were playing as part of your manipulation of your world to make you happy, healthy, wealthy and wise. You see?

So, when you become who you Are, which occurs in the holy instant, when you behave in a new way with your brother or sister from the perspective of the Father—the perspective of the Holy Spirit that is revealed to you—you’re arriving at Home. And the point of the holy instant is to bring you into that conscious experience of Being which is unified. Not one where you disappear. Not one where your presence is meaningless, but where what the Father is Being right there as You takes on the fullness of His Creation that He embodied, embodies, is embodying in You.

It’s a different experience.

You could say it feels like a different function. And yet, when it’s happening you don’t even have a definition for that. You just Know that you’re Home. You just Know that this is Reality. It changes the way you experience everything. Everything looks like, feels like and is the Kingdom of Heaven to you when you don’t have yourself on your mind, when you’re letting the Father’s perspective be what you have on your mind … when you let that be what’s on your mind.

As one of the disciples said: “Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”² You see? Then you’re being who you Are, and “understanding” who you Are, conceptually, intellectually, gets swallowed up in the experience, the fullness, the wholeness of being what you Are.

Now, I will share this with you: After the Resurrection my disciples were left with the call to follow me, to do the works that I did. And that did not just include my disciples, but all of mankind. “Follow thou me.”³ Follow me in joining in the holy instant with the Holy Spirit—which is nothing more than your right Mind, your divine Sanity. Join with the Father and be from that vantage point. And vantage point, are not the right words, but they convey the meaning.

The message left for all mankind was: Do this! Be from this Perspective! And don’t stop! It will not help you be a better mortal, who will live longer and make more money. It will let you fit in with the Movement of Being—the Presence of God in action called Creation—and Gift everything with a clear apprehension of what it is and acknowledge it. And, in the acknowledgement of it, gift it with the Love of the recognition of the Father in it.

As you do that, as you begin right where you are, looking into your brother’s eyes, looking at your world, looking at each thing in it, with the desire to see the more of what God is Being, you are bringing illusion to Truth and it will be uncovered to you. And it will be uncovered to you right where your misperception was going on. In other words, right where the illusion was being perceived.

So do not misunderstand. You must look at the illusion by looking through it to what is beyond the definition that is keeping your vision limited, because you don’t want to be stuck with surface appearances and imaginary definitions that aren’t true … and then call them truth.

Now I want to bring up one more thing. There are elections going on, and they have been going on in many parts of the world over the past few months. And there is a clamoring amongst the citizens of these various countries—a clamoring for integrity and honesty and a push to have those who are governing, not be governed by, we’ll say, Wall Street or the big money around the globe.

They want their politicians to stop selling their souls. Because as long as they have sold their souls they can’t afford to be honest, because they have to serve the ones who own their soul, the ones with whom they have a contract, when supposedly they are supposed to have the contract with the people they represent. And there is a lot of self-righteousness expressed about those who have sold their souls. But there’s no love in that, and there’s no perspective in that. And there’s much need for perspective, because with perspective there can be love.

The saying is: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

There’s almost no one who can hear my voice who hasn’t sold their soul already. They sold their soul to a partnership with another brother or sister, holy Sons or Daughters of God, by making a pact and together saying to the Father, “We’d rather do it our way,” and “human will” was born. And the human wills were orphans because they had disowned their Father—their Source.

We’ve talked about this before, but I’m bringing it out in this context because it’s important.

Don’t be self-righteously, mean-spiritedly critical of your brothers who have sold themselves to big money, or to a constituency or to an organization, because you have done likewise.

You sell your soul to your wife. You don’t want to make her mad, and so you’re careful what you say. You don’t want to make enemies with your family, and so you are dishonest at times. You also want to be, let us say, a good “father,” and a good “husband,” or a good “wife,” or a good “son,” and so you’re dishonest in the attempt to fit a concept of what a good son, a good husband, a good wife and so on, is. You’re willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill a role, when you aren’t in touch with your soul.

Now here’s what needs to be looked at: How do you get in touch with your soul again? In other words, how do you arrive at a point where you shift from selling your soul to sharing your soul? The only way to do it, no matter what words are used to express it is, what is embodied and shared in A Course in Miracles. It is through the practice of the holy instant for the purpose of having a holy relationship. And we’ve already talked about that.

It requires setting aside your best judgments, your best definitions, your best skills at manipulating without upsetting people too much, and even perhaps making them feel good. It means abandoning those things. It means abandoning control, and it means becoming still as a role, becoming still as a personality, becoming free of being the best or the highest or the most worthwhile. It means abandoning being self-conscious, where you have yourself on your mind. And it means in the silence within you leaning into something other than you—at least at that moment what you think you are—and letting yourself be filled with the conscious awareness of what is Real, what is True, and then being from there and not abandoning that position.

Now, until you can do that, you cannot afford to be self-righteously indignant at your fellowman who’s not sharing his soul either because he has sold it and is still serving the one or ones to whom he has sold it.

Now, let’s be perfectly clear. That doesn’t mean that you approve of the behavior that comes from those who have sold their soul. But the correction that is called for is not going to come through the normal channels of manipulation. And I’m being perfectly clear here with you, because every single individuality on your globe has the opportunity to be part of the shift that isn’t one of “manipulation,” of “control,” where the furtherance of self-righteousness and egotism can occur.

The call is for everyone to dare to take seriously the meaning of the holy instant and the desire for a holy relationship and persisting in the attempt, in the intent and in the accomplishment of it, more, and more, and more, and more, until it is continuous, because you have discovered that it is too uncomfortable to not be able to share your soul. It’s too uncomfortable not to Gift everything with the acknowledgement of what it truly Is. It’s too confining, it’s too dark, it’s too miserable … and besides it’s full of sin, sickness and death. You see?

You are the unself-conscious presence of Mind, being the flow of the Movement of God and being utterly appropriate in every moment, blessing everything in every moment because you’re playing your part as co-creator in recognizing and acknowledging God in it All, without having yourself on your mind for a moment. And I will tell you that that is utter freedom and it is utter bliss and it is your Birthright.

Don’t hesitate to bring illusion to truth and do stop bringing truth to illusion.

I love you all and I look forward to being with you next time.