Teachings of Christ Mind

Now, we begin.

And indeed, once again, greetings unto you, beloved and holy friends. As always, I come forth to abide with you as merely your brother and your friend. Remember, always, that a brother, or a sister, is not someone who is above you, but who is your equal. Remember, always, that a friend is one who has chosen deliberately to see in you the perfection of Christ, and all greatness that can be birthed through you, until you are willing to see yourself in such a Light. And then, that friend joins with you in holy relationship — to create, to play, to extend the Truth of Reality.

For you were born and created to create and not to make. What, then, is the difference between making and creating?

Making requires the special efforts of the egoic mind. Making involves planning what one wants based on what one already knows, and then setting about to find the way to bring it into being according to one’s own ideas. Making always has an element of fear, since the ego itself is the fundamental contraction of fear.

Creating, in the way that I’m using these terms, is quite different. When I say that you were born to create, you were created to create, I mean that being made in the Creator’s image your only function is to serve as a conduit through which the unfathomable mystery and beauty of Love can be expressed in ways that can be seen in this world. An artist can do that with a brush, a singer with a song, a writer with a word, a friend with a smile, a gardener with a garden. You are in the act of extending creation whenever you surrender your own ideas of what a thing is or is for, and choose only to do what you do in order to enjoy the presence of Love and the offering of that Love to whomever or whatever will receive it.

Creation, then, is the process in which the creator extends herself/himself from the world of the formless into the world of form. When you choose to invite friends to dinner, and have no ulterior agenda except to be with them and to create a good salad and some soup for them — just because you love them, because you are in a joyful state of being — you are extending the Presence and Reality of God. Surely, this is much different than what your politicians do when they invite friends for dinner. Therefore, indeed, beloved friends, they are involved in making, while your dinner is the flow of creation.

In the flow of creation, the form, itself, is always recognized to be secondary; it is a mere instrumentation for the content. In making, the form becomes very important. And why? Because in making, the egoic mind already believes it knows what things are and what they are for, since all things are for the ego’s safety and continuance. And therefore, the form of how things are done becomes very important, for form is image and not content. In creation, the form is as you most desire it to be because it gives you joy, not because you believe it will coerce someone else into voting for your party.

Imagine, then, if those of your actors and actresses were more interested in wearing clothing for their great Oscar nominations that brought them joy, as opposed to seeing how good they could look, what will be acceptable, what will be breathtaking, what will grab the attention of others. Rest assured, many of them would show up in their pajamas. Hmm!

The difference between making and creating is the difference between illusion and Reality. Reality is the Love which is God. It is the Creator’s Will to extend Love. You were created out of the Will of the Creator — and therefore, your will to express Love is the Will of God; they are one and the same.

The egoic mind, around the subject of Love since we’re on it, is interested in making love. It has very set ideas of what Love should look like, what form it should take, how other beings ought to respond, what actions are okay and what aren’t okay. But in creation, Love merely extends Itself with innocence. When your will is one with your Creator, you are not in the least bit interested in making love. You are only interested in celebrating the Reality that you are already in Love, and you are already as the expression of Love. You are innocent and you are perfect, just as you are. The form of that expression becomes quite secondary, since it is merely a temporary instrumentation for the fulfillment of the heart’s desire to celebrate the Reality of being in Love.

Let me, then, ask you this question: In your own life, do you exert energy in trying to make Love happen, or do you celebrate that you are already in the presence of Love? For in the former, you must coerce other beings to join your making, and then try to persuade them of how they ought to be behaving, performing, accepting, receiving — so that you feel you’ve succeeded in manifesting what you’ve already determined in the mind. Making love requires others. Creating Love, that is, extending Love, requires nothing but your will, your willingness. This means that you are perfectly free and do not require — do not need — the world to show up in any certain form before you decide to be in Love. And when you are in Love, Love will guide the expression of form.

That’s truly how simple it is. And you will know right away if a smile is enough, whether to another human being or to a leaf on a tree. You’ll know, if you’re with another, exactly how to express it. There won’t be a question, there won’t be a doubt. There will be no interference of the egoic mind. There will be no fear. For when the mind is truly in the Will of God, there is no time. Since there is no time, there is no reference to the past, and no reference to the future. For these things abide in the duality of time. They are not part of what alone is eternal. The past has passed away. The future is, at best, a fantasy in the mind. The present is where God abides.

The Peace of Christ, then, depends on your willingness to abide in the present for no other reason than to extend creation, to be one who receives Love, acknowledges the presence of Love, breathes Love, and then allows It to flow through the body-mind, through the voice, through the handwritten word, through the wink of an eye — whatever it is — and then you’re done with it and you’re on to the next moment. The Peace of Christ comes only to that mind that withdraws valuation from the past and the future, and surrenders into the present. For only in the present can Love be felt, known, and extended. Such a mind is a creator. And through that mind, the perfection of Love’s extension flows — without impediment, without obstacle, and without mistake.

The mind, then, that is free, free from the egoic need to make, to control, to shape, the mind that is free from identification with the past and anxiety over the future, abides in the perfectly eternal now — for no other reason than to receive the awareness that it abides in Love’s perfect presence, and then allows that mysterious Reality through that mind, right where it is, as it is. It doesn’t need to make a show. This isn’t about having a prescribed set of activities to do. You are merely present in the moment, and Love lives you.

Holy relationship, then, is where any two beings choose to come together and simply each of them, individually, chooses to be in the presence of Love. And then, whatever happens, happens. Perhaps one will sit in a chair and read a book while another one watches a movie. Perhaps they will come together and create a beautiful dinner. It really becomes quite irrelevant, because they will be moved by the mysterious energy of Love, Itself, which is the Will of God creating experience through His Creations. And when that moment is gone, it’s gone. And the mind of each of them simply finds itself in a new present moment.

The difference between making and creating is essential in The Way of Knowing. Therefore, I want to invite you, in this hour’s theme and message, to begin to look at your own life. Where are you resting in Knowing and allowing Creation to flow through you in each present moment, and where does your mind become absorbed in what you think you must make occur? Come to discern the difference between the two, and notice the quality of feeling that is within you when you are in each of those states.

If you are diligent, you will come to see that whenever you are in the mode of making love, making life conform to what you think it ought to be, you are in suffering. When you are creating, you are enjoying the miracle of Creation, Itself. For you are in a very unique position. You both are That One through whom Creation flows, and you are also the witness of, or the observer of, the act of Creation flowing from the Mind and Heart of that Creative Center I have called Abba, Who is but Love.

Celebrate, then, and embrace the uniqueness of yourself as the Son of God. You are one who gets to experience Love, create Love, and also observe and witness the flow of Love. And if you do not understand that that is miraculous, then spend as much time as you need to alone, without moving a muscle, until you get it. For that is the Truth of your Reality. It is timeless and eternal, and far transcends the boundaries of the physical body and the boundaries of your ideas about your physical self — your personality, your personal history, your children, your mates, your bank accounts. It far transcends everything that is temporarily arising in the field of form.

As the Holy Son of God, as that created Spirit, birthed to create, your ability to be aware of the flow of Love is unborn and undying — you will never lose it. As the Holy Son of God, the power of your ability, the power of your beingness to allow Love to flow through you is unlimited forever, and it will never be taken away. As the Holy Son of God, your capacity to enjoy the very act of being the One through whom Love is extended is without equal in all of Creation, and it, too, is never taken from you.

Those three aspects are really one thing. And they are the Truth of who you are. And any time your mind has fallen under the power of the egoic mind, which is just to choose wrongly and insanely for a moment, the Reality of your being never goes away. It’s never changed or altered in any way. All that has occurred is that you have used time to lose awareness of the Truth. And in the next moment, you are free to choose again. The Healed Mind is One which accepts Its True Knowingness:

I and my Father are One. Only Love is real. I cannot possibly be a victim of what I see, since what I see is what I choose to see. And if I choose to see with the Eyes of Love, all I see is perfect innocence and the Will of my Father clearly at work.

The Healed Mind is simply One that rests in that simple Reality. It has merely trained Itself to always choose for the Voice for Love, that’s all. It doesn’t matter what arises and passes away. The Healed Mind is not a mind that can make whatever It wants to happen, happen. That is the egoic attempt to become absolutely powerful. The meek of heart — the pure of heart — are those who realize that making is the illusion. Being is the reality.

Making and creating — doing frantically or being the presence of Love, out of which creative contexts emerge because it is the Will of the Creator to extend Himself through a myriad of forms that arise and pass away. The forms change, but the content or the essence does not. And the Awakened Mind is awakened to the ever-present flow of content, pervading all form, at all time. This is why, for the Awakened Mind, loss is not possible, and death is seen as unreal. For death can pertain only to the form. Forms begin in time and end in time, such as a body; that is a form you’re very clearly aware of. Ideas have a beginning and an end. Love is the only thing that knows neither beginning nor end, being the fundamental energy of God Itself.

The Healed Mind does not plan. What does that mean? It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t structure a day — that is, make decisions whether its going to make this phone call now and that one later. But it does not plan what the day shall be for. It merely surrenders into Love and allows Love to birth the day. Do you see the difference? The egoic mind arises in the morning already believing it knows what this one day is for, and this day can have no purpose but the sustaining of the authority of the ego and trying again to make the world conform to what the egoic mind believes must be so. The Awakened Mind knows that this day has no purpose, save that which the Creator would give to it — through the Mind, through the Self. And so, It seeks first the Kingdom and then all things are added unto It. The day flows out of Its surrender to Love.

The Healed Mind — the truly Healed Mind — is One who is like the wind. When you look upon the wind, you cannot tell from where it’s coming, and you don’t know where it’s going. It’s not a logical thing; you can’t control it. You can see its effects. You can try to measure it. You might even try to predict it. But it will always leave you guessing.

A Healed Mind is not interested in making. Its only interest is the delight and joy of creating. It merely shows up where it is asked to be. It no more laments or complains if it is asked to work twenty-three hours a day at bringing forth some creation that extends the Presence and Love of God. It merely does what is asked. The Healed Mind is no longer attached to the world’s definitions of success or failure. For those pertain to the realm of making. It is no longer attached to what others think of Its creation, for It trusts the Mystery that has birthed It and that operates through It in each moment.

Indeed, beloved friends, consider well: are you devoted to making or creating? By way of a simple exercise, in this very moment, how are you approaching the listening to this tape? Did you remember to begin it, as we’ve suggested many times, as one who knows that they are already Christ and they are merely sitting down to abide with a brother and a friend who is their equal and sees the Truth of them? To open the heart and trust that what emerges in the form of your experience, as you listen to these words, is exactly what is perfect for you in this moment? Or did you sit down determined to make yourself like Jeshua by memorizing the words, by getting the concept?

The relaxed mind absorbs all knowledge. The making mind misses all knowledge. The relaxed and healed mind is like a sponge that is constantly learning and being shaped by what it learns. The making mind has no room in it to receive anything new because it has already decided what the truth is, what it should look like, and what it should sound like. It misses the moment in which it can observe, be the conduit for, and the one who is creating, an experience of Love.

In this moment, then, you are quite free to truly open the heart and relax the mind and to realize you are present with a brother, and together you are in the Field of Love. And all that arises, arises in Mystery and returns to its Source. If you can enter into such a Field of Mind, in this very moment you are free. And you are, indeed, One who Knows. If you can join with me in such a Mind — in this very moment then you can prove to yourself how infinitely powerful you are. And what you can apply to this moment can be applied to all moments.

Likewise, if your mind is currently insisting that you cannot be That One in this moment, you’re doing the very same thing. You’re using the infinite power of the mind to choose to remain a maker, and therefore, to reside in suffering. Either way, you remain quite right. Either way, you are expressing your infinite and perfect freedom — to create or to make, to be in Love or to be in fear, to abide in peace or to abide in anxiety.

Now, ask within yourself,

Would I choose to experience what is unending — myself — as a creator or a maker?

If you choose the path of the creator, then the first thing you need to do is to remember that creating is not the same as making. Creating involves seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven. Now what does that mean? Well, it means that you have to sell all that you own, get a backpack, buy a ticket to Kathmandu, and spend seventeen years hiking through the Himalayan Mountains until you find just the right cave, and then another seventeen years of astute meditation and prayer before you begin to get your first glimpse of God. That is what seeking the Kingdom involves. Or, you can simply turn the mind to the Peace of God — right where you are — and accept it. And in that very moment, you will have gained what all the yogis in their caves have ever gained, what all of the Buddhas and Christs have achieved in their austerities. The Kingdom is but a choice away:

I choose now for the Perfect Peace of God.

And just like that, you’ve achieved all that needs to be achieved — if you receive it.

To create means that you are committed to seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven, then allowing yourself to celebrate that, regardless of what your physical eyes show you, regardless of how the brain-mind is interpreting or creating perception of what the physical eyes reveal to it, regardless of all of that, you are free. For whatever is arising is perfectly harmless. Forms come and go, Love remains. And where else can you possibly find freedom, except as one who is merely abiding as the decision for Love?

If you would be a creator, you’ll need to give up striving, for striving is part of the world of making. And you will need to give yourself permission to cultivate a mastery of allowing. Allowing is not a passivity. Allowing is not sitting on your pillow waiting for the Universe to manifest good things in your life. Allowing is an act of turning within, appreciating your Oneness with God, and simply asking,

Father, what would you like to create in this moment?

And suddenly, a thought comes. And the thought reveals you driving your car thirty-five miles to see a friend and inviting them to dinner. Well, then, get on with it! Driving your car for thirty-five miles is an act that takes energy. It is not a passive act at all. Allowing is a very powerful state of being, for allowing does not resist anything in the field of action — anything! And if you are asked to create a retreat center in northern New Mexico, well, you simply get on with it, even though you have no idea how it’s going to come to pass. You merely make yourself available and you show up.

On the outside, then, a creator — a true creator — may look very ordinary. A creator may look to be one who is, shall we say, not getting the applause of the world. Their picture may not be on the front of what you call the People magazine. Hmm! They may not be the centerfold in the Playboy or Playgirl. A creator is one who is delighting in allowing the flow of Life to find ways to touch hearts and minds with Love. The creator is not about storing up golden coins for a winter’s day. The creator is merely about watching, being a conduit for, and being involved in, the creative extension of Love. That creation might require the storing up of golden coins, for the creator resists nothing of the world. Nothing is seen as good or bad, it’s just an instrumentation for effecting the Will of God. And the Will of God is the extension of Love. And when you are involved in that, your will is one with the Father, that’s all.

The difference between making and creating is essential in The Way of Knowing. It would behoove you, then, to spend some time, over the next month or so, in merely abiding in the innocence of observing your life and beginning to notice when your energy gets caught up with making instead of creating. Where have you, perhaps, given your life over to making, wishing you could create? Begin to observe the moments in your day when you can choose to create, and remembering that to choose to create means:

I give this moment over for the Will of my Father. I wonder how I could simply surrender into being the presence of one who has accepted the Kingdom for him or herself? And then I’ll see where it carries me in the next second.

So that you begin to see that regardless of what is arising in the conditions around you, or what other minds are doing in this world … I’ve said that this world is a big clash of dreams, and the vast majority of minds are still far more committed to illusion than Reality … to come to see that the world has no effect on you. There are just events arising and passing away. And in any context, your mind remains free to give up making for creating, and then surrendering that moment to the Will of God.

Accepting the Atonement for yourself is another way of saying accepting Love’s presence — breathing it in and celebrating it:

Ah, yes! This is all that’s really real anyway. Ah-h-h. I wonder what would want to be created in this moment?

And then observing the delightful expression of that Will in that moment, that’s all. When I said,

The meek shall inherit the Earth,

it means that eventually there will be established as the pervasive quality of human consciousness just this state of being. The world will be populated by creators who arise in the morning going:

The day really belongs to the Creator. I’m just created to extend the Creator’s Will.

Father, what would be a groovy way to hang out this day?

Some of those minds might hear,

Oh, just hang out in the forest and listen to the birds.

And so, those beings will give their day to delighting as deeply as possible in the experience of the singing of the birds. Others will hear a different message. And they will set about and do whatever they are asked. Why? Because the mind of the creator is no longer in resistance. Sanity has been re-established and there’s nothing to fret about.

The mind involved in making listens for the impulse of God, and then has a million reasons why that cannot be. And those reasons are always linked to learning that has occurred in the past or anxiety about an imagined future. In other words, the mind of a maker is never present. It is caught up in the illusion of duality, not the Reality of Perfect Oneness.

One who Knows is a creator. And a creator is empty of himself, that is, empty of the self that was made in error. The Knower of Reality is the presence of Love, the spaciousness through which the Creator extends Its Perfect Will. It has no attachments and no illusions. It is not run by what other people think of It. It is not run by what It has accomplished in the past, or what It perceives It must have in the future.

The mind of one who Knows and rests in true creativity is merely present, witnessing the extraordinary, mysterious ways of Love. For Love allows all things, embraces all things, trusts all things, and therefore, transcends all things. And perfect peace can only exist where the mind has transcended all conflicted states of duality. Transcendence is not denial. It can come only through embracing, through allowing, through being present.

Your mind is a mind that has been healed. You do not need to heal it. You only need to accept that healing has been accomplished by the grace of that Love that birthed you to create. That is what I meant when I have said a teacher of God need only accept the Atonement for themselves.

I am already healed. Time to get on with it.

All forms of healing, then, are merely contexts created by Love through a mind that has accepted healing — a context created that would give the mind that perceives itself as unhealed an opportunity to choose differently.

Therefore, I want to create for you a context in this very moment. A way of demonstrating to you exactly what I’ve been sharing with you in this hour. For in this moment, as a brother and friend who loves you, and loves my Father, I am merely allowing myself to create words recorded on a tape that helps to create a context that I am literally observing emerge. I have not planned it. I’m not trying to make anything happen. I am abiding in Love.

And out of that Love I am now receiving the thought from the Will of my Father. I am observing it flow through my mind into the field of being that you would know as this, my beloved brother, being translated through electrical impulses into that which creates a vibration of vocal cords, that creates words that are recorded onto a tape, that are then heard by your ears, that send vibrations to your brain-mind — and giving you permission to access it with the deeper Self that Knows the Truth.

I am witnessing all these things even as it flows through my mind toward yours.

I invite you, then now, into the context of healing. Say, then, this within your holy mind:

My mind has already been healed by the Grace that birthed me in Its image. I need only use the power of that mind to choose the perfect Peace of God. I do so now and forevermore. I am one who Knows.

Father, what would You create in this moment that is an extension of Love?

And do nothing but observe what comes into your mind — what feeling suddenly flows through the body.

There! Short exercise. A context to demonstrate how it all works. No magic, no pilgrimages, no special pills, no special diet, no special love affairs — nothing special at all. Simply the presence of Mind. And rest assured, in that moment, if you were truly joining with it, you had no thought whatsoever that you are a separate ego who does not know God. You were that Mind enjoined in the creative process itself. You were in your right-mindedness. And in that moment, you are the Knower. And as a Knower, you are free to have as many moments of that Knowing as you want to experience.

So, beloved friends, merely observe the mind for a while, until you learn to detect the difference between making and creating. You’ll come to discover that creating is much more fun, takes a lot less energy or effort, and creates a whole lot more joy within your own experience, your own energy field. Delight in that simple practice, and remember: you don’t have to go to a temple in Tibet to perfect it. For wherever you are, you are in the Temple created for you by the Creator who loves you and knows exactly how to enlighten, forevermore, the Mind of the Creator that He has created. Enjoy creating!

And with that, indeed, beloved friends, peace be unto you always, you who are eternally perfect Co-creators with our Father. Peace be unto you always.

Amen.

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Question One

Question One: What is the difference between joy and pleasure, and why do a lot of spiritual traditions denounce pleasure?

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Question Two

Question Two: The Shanti Christo board had a phone conference today, and I asked if anybody had any questions for this tape. And they suggested that we just ask you if you could speak to us — the board and the members as well — about the direction we’re going and anything that you would care to address about the frequency of Shanti Christo and what we can do to keep our frequencies in alignment with the vision.