And Then There Was One . . . .

We are the collective experience of an ego-world. The world of the ego is a make-believe world; a seeming state of logical chaos whereby certain predictions can be made within "reasonable" limits. In this "world" we hold certain beliefs based on a system of thought we call, memory. That is, a part of the physical body we call the brain holds the means to store and recall experiences of our "past". It is in this process of recall that a form of explanation is offered to our consciousness and tends to become our "reality", giving rise to what we believe to be the "present", or "now".

This "reality" is experienced against the background of a phenomenal collection of symbols and sensory data that needs interpretation by the "master" of this universe - The Ego! It tells us in language that only ego-creatures understand; with paradoxical standards and concepts that are well respected and accepted in this vast history of what we have come to know as the human experience.

Life in the phenomenal world is an experience that begins with an idea - an idea of phenomenal proportion in the intellect! We are "born" into a form that sits well within the cradle of space and time. This form occupies space in a physical sense and is placed without delay on the treadmill of time to mark finite experiences with beginnings and endings, creating for us that state of mind we see as urgency.

Next, cob-webs of emotions tangle us between opposites where all that we perceive as good or bad can be experienced in other than what we believe to be its present state. A world of duality where the singular experience of love is lost to fleeting moments of fear and the reality of beauty, lost to interpretation in a field of illusory opinion.

It is a world of finiteness, change, and form where perfection lasts only as long as the prevailing opinions remain constant in a world that has but one "real" constant - the speed of light, and even that may be an illusion!

But, one might ask, What about the physical universe? We have such intricate demonstrations of reality in this world of solid facts and incontrovertible evidence of a physical universe. If we were to rest our case on the physical world being proof of reality and the opposite was demonstrated to be a fact, i.e., that the physical world was an illusion, what then?

First, let's take a look at The Premise we all believe in:
1. The physical world is reality and the laws that govern this world are considered truths that command our attention and govern our lives. The physical world is with form, changes, and everything in it that has life, dies. Nothing is everlasting!

2. Virtually an inescapable phenomenon takes place whereby our brains assimilate the real world for us, usually meeting our expectations. We manifest the un-manifested.

3. Studies of the metaphysical, on the other hand, including religious and spiritual thoughts, we consider to be beliefs and accordingly not part of the real world - with any truth ascribed to them based on one's faith in those beliefs.

4. In effect, we believe we are separate minds in separate bodies and completely on our own. We see ourselves with agendas that work within a system of scarcity and fosters competition for a limited amount of available things. It is driven by fear.

5. We look at the concept of time as linear, i.e., having a starting point separate from its ending - along a continuum that fosters a notion of past, present and future.

Now, let us take a look at the premise of "A Course in Miracles":
1. The Physical World is illusory and nothing is going on. This includes what we call the Universe and all attendant thoughts. We see the concept of time as also illusory, but within the illusion in the concept of a spiral where everything happened at once and was healed by God, rather than linear. The concept of space is also one we would relegate to a physical world and unnecessary in Heaven.

2. The one reality in this world is our access to the Voice of God, "The Holy Spirit". This may be interpreted and used interchangeably with a further illusion we can identify with, Jesus, as the Manifestation of The Holy Spirit, since it is his thoughts that reach us through the "Course". Jesus holds himself out to us as our elder brother and not as Divine.

3. Reality, or the Real World of Heaven, is of the Spirit whereby God Is and nothing outside of God can be that is not the reality of God and God's Creations. Attributes of God, and therefore His World, are Formless, Changeless, and Everlasting.

4. God Created one Child, known as The Christ. As an extention of the Father (God), The Christ is made of the sameness; the likeness we call Spirit! We are Love. We are that Christ!

5. The population of the illusory world, - humans, are fragments of a consiousness that until trapped in the world of the Ego shared a common mind with one another in that state of Spirit known as the, Christ.

A. Conscious thought invades the dream-world of the Illusion, but not Spirit.
B. That conscious system of thought is ego dominated and therefore fragmented and separate from the truth.
C. A constant struggle to know Self goes on in the "Batteleground" of the illusion, with the ego sharing one part of a split mind and the Holy Spirit the other.
D. In this world of illusion, the ego is the default system of thought, i.e., perception, and can only be diminished by availing one's self of the Holy Spirit's thought system - by an act of voluntary will - by choice.
6. In summary, the course says:
"Nothing Real Can Be Threatened.
Nothing Unreal Exists.
Herein Lies The Peace Of God."

Can these two premises be reconciled? Can we say without doubt which premise is the ultimate truth? Without equivacation, I believe the answer to the first question is "yes". Look around you: Is not premise number one not what we believe? Is premise number two not what we, as adherents to, "A Course in Miracles" believe? Of course!

As to the second question concerning ultimate truth, we can leave that to a discovery yet to come while we measure its promise in the now. While the course considers itself to be an illusion, it promises a chance for peace through the miracle of shifting one's perception, as well as collapsing time for us all. Between believing in the illusion and the removing of this erroneous thought of separation from Heaven and the, Father, a shift must take place.

Exploring, A Course in Miracles By G.P.W., Jr.

A Taste of Specialness

And why have you come to this class?

With your permission, I would like to observe the many blessings that are here gathered. I cannot say that I possess anything beyond normal experience, however. I am a wayfarer on a journey of light - path obscure, but appointed to be a gatherer, none-the-less.

Gatherer of what? Appointed by whom?

A gatherer of information that the human experience discovers in its search for knowledge. We all sort many pieces - some is part of the Grand Puzzle, some is not! We all appoint ourselves before arriving to this great challenge.
And that challenge . . . ?

To grow in our quest for Truth; to learn our each and every lesson; and, to know our brother in eternity. Once we arrive, we need not remember our course, nor pursue it if we choose not to.

How do you know this . . . now, I mean?

Because I asked and then listened for the answer. I was then given the sign.
And what was this sign?

That since I was at such a point in my eternal journey it was now time for me to become a conscious gatherer. This came after a long, long, period of what you call, time. I was told that the assignment was given me before my human birth and the key was in the information surrounding this birth.

You mean astrologically? Date and time and location of . . .

Yes! Exactly. Those who are to be "gatherers" are born under the sign of zero degree Aries - The first point of Aries, and with the Tropical arrival of the Vernal Equinox, we are ushered into consciousness. It is a very orderly system.

Are their many "gatherers"?

Yes. We are sometimes referred to as the Alpha/Omega children, since we are at the exact beginning as well as the exact end - of the zodiak. The Circle of Life, you know! Of course, our identity is as transient as our time/space location. That is,our reference as A/O children would not exceed what you call this Galaxy - the Milky Way spiral.

Is this not a great honor?

Not really! Oh, in your world it no doubt would be considered very special. But, in reality - in the long run of life, it is just a chore along the way. Something one must do. astrology is part of the illusion of the Universe, which is illusion itself - yet within the illusion of time and space it provides much order in keeping track of things and scheduling events.

Can you tell us more?

Not now. I must be about other "business," as you would say! We will chat more in what would be referred to as a future event.

Take care of yourself,
Love and good will,

Genesis Revisted . . . .

And in the beginning their was thought, and the thought was
pure. And the purity of this thought is called, GOD!

The thought was singular and devoid of duration or form. And since no aspect of dimension existed, no means of measurement was necessary. No time, nor space! No beginning, no end!

And the thought filled the void with Light. And the Light was Truth and The Truth is perfect in every way.

And GOD created His Child in the Light and the creation was spiritual and perfect in every way. And the Child was called, Christ.

And The Light was everywhere at once and called, Heaven.

Nothing exists in reality apart from The Creator and The Holy Spirit, The Sonship and, that State called Heaven.

All else that appears to exist is an illusion; a dream not made by The Creator, but instead the product of a dream-state made by the Son in some errant thought of exercising free-will. All that is real in this "world" of sensory make-believe is The Holy Spirit, limitless in everyway, yet powerless to intervene without invitation. It is a gift from The Father. Its presence occupies that part of the mind opposite the ego.

Illusions are tricks of the mind and are the result of ego consciousness and center on the self. And the self is another name for ego, the natural product of a seed that grew within the dream-state of the Christ from an urge for free-will in search of a life apart from its Creator, The Father.

And in pursuit of that dream - the creation perceived of a Separation from The Creator, and in this error - sin was born, to be followed by guilt, shame and a perceived need to hide from The Creator, The Father, . . . God!

And thus the ego created a mask, calling it body, and a world of physical proportions with laws of nature was born of the split mind; and, space and time became principal governors of that physical perception; and the body was called man and he would have dominion over his world, subject to all the limitations found therein.

And The Spirit shrank in magnitude to match the new "Thought", which was limited consciousness, perceiving of itself as being within this body; and thus was called the Soul of Man, possessed of the mind and super-ego. Thus, guilt was born.

And the world brought forth duality of mind with contrasting thoughts and choices, like so many bad echos; and the ego was at home in this environment and in charge. The natural choice, seated in the consciousness of man, reflective of its own needs and wants and at odds with its environment - the ego. Another choice, not so natural, yet available to the unity of the self, or the Christ in all of us, is the Holy Spirit - that path to God.

Truth Is: God is Immortal, Infinite Without Form and All Knowing, reflecting only one emotion - Unconditional Love.

While man and the physical world is just an illusion, mortal, finite and with form and unenlightened - a product of the ego and generating the opposite emotion - Fear.

But, through the Grace of God the illusory man is capable of opening the door to Truth with the Divine gift of Love and Forgiveness. By whatever path this is accomplished, lessons in miracles are provided to shorten the way home.
So, this is the Grand Lesson of Eternal Life: That all of God's children will "return" to the Loving Spirit from whence they came by awakening from the Dream - only to discover they are ONE Child, The Christ, having never really left; and that no separation ever took place between The Sonship and The Father - GOD!

The Grand Illusion is that life is real; that the physical world that supports life is real; and, that anything outside of Spirit is real!

GOD’s seeming opera has seemed to allow a race called human-beings to play in the Sandbox of time and space, indulging them while they spin cause and effect illusions between one another, searching for the solution to find what they never really lost . . . Absolute Completeness and Everlasting Joy by right of Being Divine.

With seeming endless form, the "Tiny Mad Idea" continues . . .