It’s been a long time since I posted anything on my blog, and my last post declared change in the making. We’re selling our house and that’s a major change, too. So, I thought I’d try and catch up on the last change first.
I began with the idea of making the body a neutral thing in my mind. Once I committed myself to the third step in the Holy Spirit’s curriculum, Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom, seeing the world as a dream, so to speak, became pretty easy. In other words, it became easier to see the ego and its tricks, without judgment, and to just reduce, reuse, and recycle them.
At first, I started asking Jesus should I do this or that, and following his answers. But, after eliminating some activities that had become part of my daily routine for good reasons, I soon found myself wanting to reuse them. So, I asked him if it would be okay if I did them, and he said yes. From this I understood that it might be easier to change my mind if I just let them go, especially if I were to become a vagabond, but I could continue those practices with discrimination and they needn’t be an impediment.
Having already let them go, I now have a lighter hold on them. Where they had become ritual, I no longer feel like I have to do them every day. Instead, I can ask what the day requires and act accordingly.
Another attachment I had to address was the thought I am a Teacher. Jesus advises us to teach what we are learning. But, in the Manual for Teachers, he makes it clear that we are to teach by example. He says that everyone is teaching what they are learning all the time. And, because we are all equal members of the Sonship, no one is better (or worse) than anyone else. Specialness is a ploy of the ego.
I became more involved in Course groups on Facebook. And I soon learned that I had tried to compromise the Course. The biggest stumbling block for most students is the idea that the world is not real. And we will try to revise the Course to keep the world over and over until we see it clearly with “the eyes of the Holy Spirit.” The Course gives us concepts like “true perception,” “the real world,” and “the happy dream” to describe the transformation of our experience in the world as we learn to practice forgiveness, but the ego invariably tempts us to make these concepts real, which is to say eternal. So, getting out there and expressing my views soon made me aware of my mistakes, for which I was grateful. This has only encouraged me to remain active and remember that I am a student.
I have also learned that there are many learning styles and even ones that seem to contradict my own are working for those that use them. Again, with forgiveness I am accepting and acknowledging their value, which enlarges my universe through the extension of love, which is our God-given nature.
All of this comes down to the importance of making a commitment and what my Teacher called “stepping out on faith.” When you find the truth and want to stand for it in the world, you step out on your word; you act in accordance with the truth, as you understand it. You will make mistakes and by them, you will expand your understanding. The only thing at risk is your ego, the self you made, and the truth is it isn’t real in a lasting sense, and you can make a better one, and keep on making better ones until you learn that you can completely forget the self you made and just let the Self we all are run the show completely.
Michael Valentinus Wilson 