“No accident nor chance is possible within the universe as God created it, outside of which is nothing.”   –ACIM

Many, many times I’ve had to balance belief and nonbelief, faith and faithlessness as my thoughts reached toward the realm of nonbelief and faithlessness. This is especially true when I read statements like the one quoted above and then allow my thoughts to surround and penetrate this insane world. And make no mistake about it, this is an insane world. In The Course Jesus lays it out plainly: “This is an insane world, and do not underestimate the actual extent of its insanity.” 

And on top of that he says: “This course will be believed entirely or not at all. For it is wholly true or wholly false and cannot be but partially believed.” So this creates a conundrum for me in the sense that I have to decide between what the world taught me throughout the early years of my life and what great Spiritual Teachers and The Course have taught me over the last twenty plus years. 

But that being said, it’s really not that difficult of a decision to make. It depends on which version of the teachings seems to be the more sensible and realistic. There’s a great chasm that naturally exists between the teachings of the world and the teachings of The Course. It’s kind of like this famous line by Rudyard Kipling: “Oh, East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.” In other words, it’s impossible that truth and falsity will ever meet.  

“And being true, it is so simple that it cannot fail to be completely understood. Rejected yes, but not ambiguous.”   –ACIM   

The above quote is referring to The Course and informs us that it’s true. And because it is true it’s always so simple that it cannot fail to be completely understood. It can be rejected, as the truth usually is, but understanding it is sure. All that being said, the first decision that must be made is to accept whether you believe it’s true or not. Any book can make whatever claim about itself that the author deems necessary to make. If you decide to accept that it is true then you have to accept all of it as true. There can be no part of it that disagrees with any other part. It is entirely true or entirely false, there is no compromise that can be made in this.  

So, for those who, like me, accept that The Course contains the truth there is no alternative other than to also accept the idea expressed in my opening quote, which is: No accident nor chance is possible within the universe as God created it. For many people this information can have no other effect than to cause a state of disbelief. For most people believe that their lives are products of chance and fate. They believe that all sorts of sickness, disease and other negativities lie just around the next corner and they have to defend themselves against them. Which, because of the insane teachings of an insane world, is completely understandable. 

“There is nothing in the world which has the power to make you ill or sad or weak or frail.”   –ACIM

I understand that it may get a bit repetitive but I use the following quote  quite often. I don’t do so for any other reason than my belief that it’s one of the most important lessons to learn and should be learned as soon as possible: “You see the flesh or recognize the Spirit. There is no compromise between the two.”

If you see the flesh (the physical world) only, and fail to recognize the Spirit then the above quote holds no meaning for you. For this decision leaves you with no other option than to see yourself as no more than a physical body. And by this decision you have left yourself open to attack by everything this insane world throws at you. Every day of your life has to be filled with defenses to ward off all the illusionary things that will make you ill or sad or weak or frail. Or even worse, something that might cause that most dreaded illusion of them all; death.  

“Very few people appreciate the real power of the mind.”   –ACIM

Most people don’t ever give their minds a second thought, so to speak. They believe that the mind and the brain are the same thing. Talking about the belief that the brain is the source of thought, Jesus says: “If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea.” 

Regardless of what the world teaches, the brain is simply an organic computer that receives information from the mind, which in turn receives input from Spirit. It is Spirit communicating with the mind, in conjunction with the brain and other organs, that animates and regulates the body. The brain is part of the body and therefore ceases to exist when the body does. But the mind is part of your Spirit, which is a Divine Thought held in God’s Mind and is, therefore, eternal. And being part of your Spirit, which is part of God’s Mind, there is no limit to its power.

Real Thought is that which originates in the Source of all Power, which is Love. The Energy of Love is the Mind of God, or if you prefer, the Universal Mind. Your mind being part of your Spirit, which is a Thought in the Universal Mind of Love, is completely free and able to tap into the Source of real Thought. 

“The ego is nothing more than a part of your belief about yourselves.”   –ACIM

The ego is that infinitesimally small part of your mind that believes it’s possible to exist separate from its Creator. It’s the “you” that you have made and believe lives in a physical environment.  It’s the “you” that sees itself as a powerless little entity dependent on an outside source for all its needs and wants. It’s the “you” that sees only flesh and finds it impossible to recognize or believe in anything Spiritual. It’s the “you” that lives in a body and perceives no other future than old age, sickness and death.

But, all that being said, please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that everyone has the same degree of belief in the ego. If you possessed all the negative attributes mentioned above you wouldn’t be reading this post. Everyone believes differently and most everyone has different egos. Some people are completely egotistical while others have hardly any ego at all. 

 “…Everything that seems to happen to me, I asked for and received as I had asked.”   –ACIM

When I read things like the above quote my ego screeches, shrieks and screams at me; how can you even think of accepting something as foolish as that? How can you be so foolish as to think you ask for and receive as you ask, everything that seems to happen to you? That’s just a silly idea. There’s no truth to it. Don’t listen to that stuff. 

But then my Spirit intervenes with thoughts that are sourced from Love, sending the ego scurrying quickly back into its dark hole. Spirit reminds me of this bit of information from Lesson forty-two in The Course: “Your passage through time and space is not random. You cannot but be in the right place at the right time. Such is the strength of God. Such are His gifts.” 

Then the light of reason begins to light up my understanding and I exclaim, of course! How could it be any other way?  Only the ego sees itself as separate and alone against the Universe. It’s the ego that believes life to be a series of events strung together by chance and fate. The ego cannot see any other reality than the insanity of this world for it’s the ego that has made it all up. 

But I have looked beyond the ego and the flesh and recognized the Spirit. And Spirit reminds me of something else The Course tells me: “Child of God, you were created to create the good, the beautiful, and the holy. Do not lose sight of this.” 

So I reassure myself with these words: You were created to create the good, not the bad. You were created to create the beautiful, not the ugly. You were created to create the holy, not the darkness. Therefore, you are responsible for everything that happens to you whether it’s good, beautiful and holy or bad, ugly and dark. It’s your choice and there are no exceptions to it. 

I’m going to close this post with the first verse of Lesson 130 in The Course, titled, It is impossible to see two worlds: “Perception is consistent. What you see reflects your thinking. And your thinking but reflects your choice of what you want to see. Your values are determiners of this, for what you value you must want to see, believing what you see is really there. No one can see a world his mind has not accorded value. And no one can fail to look upon what he believes he wants.”

Thank you for visiting this site. I am truly grateful

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“Love is your safety. Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self.”  –ACIM

“Veganism is believing that an animal’s life is worth more than a sandwich. That’s it! That’s how simple it is.”    –The Spiritual Vegan