Chapter One: The Meaning of Miracles. IV: The escape from darkness
The escape from darkness involves two parts:
1. Darkness cannot hide (fear)
2. there is nothing you would want to hide even if you could (escape from hear)
Although we are children of God and out divine spirit is light our experience is human therefore one that contains glimpses of darkness. We all have fear, grief, regret and other conditions that would be considered dark. By hiding this and judging it we are limiting our dance with the light.
When we become willing to understand that this darkness exists but cannot co-exist with the light then we will understand inner peace and joy. Our true state of being is not one that should be clouded by this darkness.
Holiness cannot be hidden by darkness. Our true divine light will shine through. It is easy to fall victim of believing that we can be defined by our periodic and episodic states of darkness yet out true self cannot be hidden by these states. restoring our focus to the true state of love will serve the spirit rather than what the ego perceives as reality.
Darkness is a lack of light as sin is the lack of Love.
Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything have no need of any kind. the purpose of the atonement is to restore everything to you, or rather, to restore it to your awareness. You were given everything when you were created, just as everyone was.
Those who witness for me are expressing through their miracles, that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation in favour of the abundance they have learned belongs to them.
Lesson Four
These thoughts do not mean anything. They are like the things I see in this room (on this street, from this window, in this place).
Amazing exercise. I am admittedly overly analytical. My thoughts in essence heavily direct my perception of situations, people and who I am. I have a tendency to analyze things to the point that I shift my reality because of my thoughts. I identify with my thoughts and my thoughts shape my reality. So.....the above exercise was difficult yet it resonated with me. My thoughts are not me and they should not influence my reality if their meaning is void. My thoughts like everything else have no meaning except for the meaning that I give them. Previous exercises were easier to integrate because I already did not identify with objects and didn't believe that my worth could be defined by the objects around me. This was far more difficult to incorporate because of the weight that my thoughts have on how I view the world. I am not my thoughts...
In fact my view on this whole exercise does not mean anything. lol. I love this. This can be used for all thoughts regardless of the label that we place on them "good or bad" because the thoughts and the labels are meaningless. It is interesting how if you closely identify self with something.....as I did to my thoughts my ego has a really difficult time letting go of this identification......how can my thoughts have no meaning. It is one thing to say that external things are meaningless and that the internal is what possesses meaning.....but my thoughts hardly seem external at first.
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Atonement and Miracles
Chapter 1 The Meaning of Miracles
III Atonement and Miracles
Atonement is described as forgiving or pardoning a transgression. Basically God forgiving our sins. The reason that we come before God is that his part of the atonement is the cancelling out of all the errors that you could to otherwise correct.
"As you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourselves and others, you must join the great crusade to act to correct it. " I admit that I am not one that can be considered perfect. I admit with all sincerity that I am a work in progress. I like how this statement is not filled with fear or condemnation. It is simply a statement that you are expected to lose your way and make mistakes.....that is how life is but if you do you need to identify that and correct it. Simple. That is attainable where as I am a long shot from perfect.
"The power to work miracles belongs to you. I will provide the opportunities to do them, but you must be ready and willing. Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them. " We are provided with many opportunities throughout the day to make positive change and to make a difference in our own lives and others. Look at these as everyday miracles. Seize the opportunity to truly listen to a brother or sister. Be present. Celebrate life. A walk on the beach at sunset with awaken your belief in miracles.
"You are the work of God, and His work is wholly lovable and wholly loving. This is how man must think of himself." I love this statement. This is something I can work with. We all deserve to be loved and are lovable despite our imperfections. All of God's children are entitled to this regardless of your race, religion, sexual orientation, social or economic status or any other factors that could not possibly define us.
"When you offer a miracle to any of my brothers, you do it to yourself and to me"
We are requested to provide others with acts of kindness. To begin our own path towards God and also to release others on their path. Forgiveness of self and others provides this release. We provide miracles by simply loving our brothers and sisters.
You respond to what you perceive , and as you perceive so shall you behave. The Golden rule asks you to do unto others as you should have them do unto you. This is a rule of appropriate behaviour. You cannot behave appropriately unless you perceive correctly. Since you and your neighbor are equal members of one family, as you perceive both so you will do to both.
A little about me:
Obinna is one of my greatest gifts. I have only come across a few truly enlightened people in my life and Obinna is one of them. His love is limitless, powerful and selfless. Obinna also provides with the best stories pertaining to love because the love vibrating from him is palpable. He shines really brightly. He might only be four but the wisdom that he holds is inspirational. I keep saying that he must be aware that he is divine because wisdom and love flow from his lips.
I have two Obinna stories to share with you. One occurred today. Obinna and I were speaking on the phone. He was telling me of a friend that he had visited. This woman had seriously wronged me in the past and although I have forgiven her for her indiscretion against me and my family I can honestly say that I have not come to a place where I could say that I loved her. I have never mentioned this to Obinna yet I sometimes feel that he knows what is in my heart. He was telling me what the two of them had done during the day when he suddenly stopped his conversation and simply said to me that I should try to love " this woman" because we are supposed to love everyone. I thanked him for his statement. It resonated with such truth that I needed to check myself. I told him that I am working on being more loving. I was a little taken aback by his statement due to the pure honesty in it. This four year old is right though. Regardless of the situation I should be projecting love onto my sister. We are here to just love one another and sometimes when we believe that a person has 'wronged' us we forget about love and focus on our hurt. So, I guess thanks to Obinna, I am busy trying to remove my blocks for loving this woman. It is easy to love those that love us. I find it a challenge to love those that have hurt me in some way. This woman has provided me with a fabulous opportunity to grow and I need to thank Obinna for recognizing that. I guess I am blessed to have him reminding me of who I truly am.
The second story happen a couple of days ago. Obinna and I are separated for a few weeks so that he can feel his fathers love for a period of time. During a phone conversation Obinna told me that while he was sitting in his room he could feel my love for him. He asked me if I could feel his love all the way in Vancouver. I made him aware of the fact that no matter where I was in the world our love for each other could always be felt because love is powerful. It is his perspective on life that makes me realize that some gifts are more special than others. Love is a very special gift.
Lesson Three
I do not understand anything that I see in this room.
The point of this exercise is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them. It is therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered by judgement, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is applied.
III Atonement and Miracles
Atonement is described as forgiving or pardoning a transgression. Basically God forgiving our sins. The reason that we come before God is that his part of the atonement is the cancelling out of all the errors that you could to otherwise correct.
"As you share my unwillingness to accept error in yourselves and others, you must join the great crusade to act to correct it. " I admit that I am not one that can be considered perfect. I admit with all sincerity that I am a work in progress. I like how this statement is not filled with fear or condemnation. It is simply a statement that you are expected to lose your way and make mistakes.....that is how life is but if you do you need to identify that and correct it. Simple. That is attainable where as I am a long shot from perfect.
"The power to work miracles belongs to you. I will provide the opportunities to do them, but you must be ready and willing. Miracles arise from a mind that is ready for them. " We are provided with many opportunities throughout the day to make positive change and to make a difference in our own lives and others. Look at these as everyday miracles. Seize the opportunity to truly listen to a brother or sister. Be present. Celebrate life. A walk on the beach at sunset with awaken your belief in miracles.
"You are the work of God, and His work is wholly lovable and wholly loving. This is how man must think of himself." I love this statement. This is something I can work with. We all deserve to be loved and are lovable despite our imperfections. All of God's children are entitled to this regardless of your race, religion, sexual orientation, social or economic status or any other factors that could not possibly define us.
"When you offer a miracle to any of my brothers, you do it to yourself and to me"
We are requested to provide others with acts of kindness. To begin our own path towards God and also to release others on their path. Forgiveness of self and others provides this release. We provide miracles by simply loving our brothers and sisters.
You respond to what you perceive , and as you perceive so shall you behave. The Golden rule asks you to do unto others as you should have them do unto you. This is a rule of appropriate behaviour. You cannot behave appropriately unless you perceive correctly. Since you and your neighbor are equal members of one family, as you perceive both so you will do to both.
A little about me:
Obinna is one of my greatest gifts. I have only come across a few truly enlightened people in my life and Obinna is one of them. His love is limitless, powerful and selfless. Obinna also provides with the best stories pertaining to love because the love vibrating from him is palpable. He shines really brightly. He might only be four but the wisdom that he holds is inspirational. I keep saying that he must be aware that he is divine because wisdom and love flow from his lips.
I have two Obinna stories to share with you. One occurred today. Obinna and I were speaking on the phone. He was telling me of a friend that he had visited. This woman had seriously wronged me in the past and although I have forgiven her for her indiscretion against me and my family I can honestly say that I have not come to a place where I could say that I loved her. I have never mentioned this to Obinna yet I sometimes feel that he knows what is in my heart. He was telling me what the two of them had done during the day when he suddenly stopped his conversation and simply said to me that I should try to love " this woman" because we are supposed to love everyone. I thanked him for his statement. It resonated with such truth that I needed to check myself. I told him that I am working on being more loving. I was a little taken aback by his statement due to the pure honesty in it. This four year old is right though. Regardless of the situation I should be projecting love onto my sister. We are here to just love one another and sometimes when we believe that a person has 'wronged' us we forget about love and focus on our hurt. So, I guess thanks to Obinna, I am busy trying to remove my blocks for loving this woman. It is easy to love those that love us. I find it a challenge to love those that have hurt me in some way. This woman has provided me with a fabulous opportunity to grow and I need to thank Obinna for recognizing that. I guess I am blessed to have him reminding me of who I truly am.
The second story happen a couple of days ago. Obinna and I are separated for a few weeks so that he can feel his fathers love for a period of time. During a phone conversation Obinna told me that while he was sitting in his room he could feel my love for him. He asked me if I could feel his love all the way in Vancouver. I made him aware of the fact that no matter where I was in the world our love for each other could always be felt because love is powerful. It is his perspective on life that makes me realize that some gifts are more special than others. Love is a very special gift.
Lesson Three
I do not understand anything that I see in this room.
The point of this exercise is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them. It is therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered by judgement, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is applied.
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