The beginning of a Course in Miracles

There are a few statements and ideas from the prologue that piqued my interest. Anything in quotations is a direct quote from The Course in Miracles and if there are just single quotes then I am basically paraphrasing.

'The world we see merely reflects from our internal frame of reference. Projection makes perception'. This statement is definitely one of those universal truths. We all shape our reality based on our experiences and emotional states of being. Our senses are merely directed by our neurological patterning based on what we have experienced to date. If we experience a shift in perspective and actually view the past differently then our view of the present will change and thus in turn shape our present reality.

'We look inside first, decide the world that we want to see and project it onto the outside world to make it truth. ' I speak to a lot of different people from all walks of life each day each experiencing the world in a different way. I love these differences and celebrate them but also find them amusing. Each person generally is of the belief system that their viewpoints are on the only correct viewpoints and are shocked when others see things differently. I was speaking to a really wise man a few years ago that caused me to reflect on this exact point. I was driving in Calgary and saw a man pushing a shopping cart full of all his worldly possessions. I was at a really rough point in my life financially and was doing everything in my power to make sure that I was remaining financially buoyant. The struggle for me was all consuming. The scene that I witnessed though invoked an emotional response in me. Mainly because I would assume that this is not the state that my brother would chose. I felt for the person. I was upset about it when my friend called. I relayed what I had seen to him. His perspective was entirely different from mine. He simply stated to me that it was wrong for me to project my feelings onto this person and that his perspective might be different. This state of being for him could have represented freedom and surrender. His previous experienced could have been one of financial pressure and emotional pain. He said that I had to right to judge this man's situation as 'bad' because of my views of the situation. He has a point. I had labeled his situation in my mind and had wrongly passed judgement on him. I still stand by the fact that our basic need of security (being food and shelter) need to be met but I no longer project my feelings onto another persons situation.

The Course in Miracles has a different perspective on a number of items compared to conventional interpretations of the bible and common religious beliefs. The generally christian consensus is that sin is basically breaking the 10 Commandments. As long as you follow those basic guidelines you are pretty good to go. In the Course in Miracles sin is describes as a deviating from love....or a lack of love. At first I thought this concept was a little bit vague because I am definitely sinning more often than not. Fear generally gets in the way of love during most of my day. So even though I am generally not breaking any commandments through out the day I can tell you that I am not making all of my choices love based choices. This project I am undertaking.....which is basically a whole overall of myself.....will take quite a bit of effort.

"Love is incapable of asking for anything". This is probably the reason why I am single. The love I have for children asks for nothing in return, there are no conditions to my love and there is no agenda. That is the closest thing that I have experienced to true love. The love that I have for a partner has expectations placed on it. I expect their love to feel a certain way and for them to act a certain way. I do not expect perfection from a partner for I realize that relationships are God's way of providing us situations so that we can grow. The challenges that are posed in relationships are generally so that we can come closer to discovering and accepting our authentic self. So this simple statement that true love asks for nothing might be the root cause for me not finding a partner. I am sure that this dynamic situation will be explored further.

So the Course's definition of love follows the verse in Corinthians: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The course basically states that Love is the only thing that exists. The aims of the course is to remove the blocks that we have to the awareness of loves presence which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear but what is all encompassing can have no opposite. Fear, according to the Course is a construct of the ego and it ascertains that nothing unreal exists. To in essence.....love is all there is.

I realize that this might seem ridiculous but lets close our eyes and walk a new path for a minute. Our realities are dictated by our beliefs and our experiences....so even if the world remained at it was and just your perception of reality shifted to a place of love the world would shift. If we all let go of our fears and our ego based constructs the world would ultimately shift to a place of peace. Similar to a heaven-like state.

The Course states that Heaven is our natural state....which is the state of love. Forgiveness is the means by which we will achieve that. Forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others. If today you resolved to forgive all those that have wronged you.......EVER I think that this would free up a lot of space to focus on love. IF we looked at those "wrongs" as opportunities for us to grow, then we really can only thank those people for those experiences. Just a thought.


I can't wait to start the Course.

One love