I come from the nondual Awakening Mind tradition of service as a backdrop for Awakening. A Course in Miracles clarifies for us that a lifetime of contemplation and long periods of meditation aimed at detachment from the body are not necessary. It describes them as tedious and time consuming. What the Course shares for those desiring to LIVE ACIM is that any time spent in preparation simply pushes off embracing the Holy Instant, now! The workbook of A Course in Miracles has two purposes with the same goal, Peace. The first is to get you in touch with your internal teacher, the Holy Spirit and the second is Forgiveness; removing "the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance." A Course in Miracles shares that your way will be different, a holy relationship will be given you! "Your way will be different, not in purpose but in means. A holy relationship is a means of saving time. One instant spent together with your brother restores the universe to both of you. You are prepared. Now you need but to remember you need do nothing. It would be far more profitable now merely to concentrate on this than to consider what you should do." —A Course in Miracles (T-18.VII.5.1-6) And so meditation as described by A Course in Miracles is a relaxing back into a continuous state of awareness and presence. This orientation relieves the mind of struggle and striving to attain something in the future by opening now to remembering the Truth of Whom You Are! All other methods and processes "look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness and inadequacy." When you LIVE ACIM you accept that Innocence now and so meditation becomes Communion, a heart-song between the Father and the already worthy Son. "Ok that sounds lovely... but where do I begin?" Well A Course in Miracles is a self study book in 3-parts: TEXT | WORKBOOK FOR STUDENTS | MANUAL FOR TEACHERS So the Answer is wherever you are Guided to! :) Commonly people start with the simple workbook assignments for a slow unwinding of the mind and a gentle introduction to experiencing the Holy Spirit as a friend. This mighty companionship is what makes A Course in Miracles so highly individualized. And so symbolically we take our Friends hand and allow ourselves to be lead back to the Peace of God. "It is apparent that a mind so split could never be the Teacher of a Oneness which unites all things within Itself. And so What is within this mind, and does unite all things together, must be its Teacher. Yet must It use the language that this mind can understand, in the condition in which it thinks it is. And It must use all learning to transfer illusions to the truth, taking all false ideas of what you are, and leading you beyond them to the truth that is beyond them." ACIM (T-25.I.7.2) A Course in Miracles online edition "You may be attempting to follow a very long road to the goal you have accepted. ... Nor is a lifetime of contemplation and long periods of meditation aimed at detachment from the body necessary. All such attempts will ultimately succeed because of their purpose. Yet the means are tedious and very time consuming, for all of them look to the future for release from a state of present unworthiness and inadequacy." A Course in Miracles (T-18.VII.4.6-11)
Your way will be different a Holy Relationship is offered you! And so meditation or prayer as referred to in A Course in Miracles is a not knowing and a not needing to understand while accepting you are deeply Loved by the One who does know what is best for all in every circumstance.
Meditation and prayer as ACIM teaches it, is a surrender—ra elief rather than an attempt or effort of any kind to reach or attain anything. Through the workbook we gently open to using visualizations designed to subliminally receive the Peace of God that is already Given!
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Let me remember I am one with God.
ACIM Lesson 124
"Today we will again give thanks for our Identity in God. Our home is safe, protection guaranteed in all we do, power and strength available to us in all our undertakings. We can fail in nothing. Everything we touch takes on a shining light that blesses and that heals. At one with God and with the universe we go our way rejoicing, with the thought that God Himself goes everywhere with us.
How holy are our minds! And everything we see reflects the holiness within the mind at one with God and with itself. How easily do errors disappear, and death give place to everlasting life. Our shining footprints point the way to truth, for God is our Companion as we walk the world a little while. And those who come to follow us will recognize the way because the light we carry stays behind, yet still remains with us as we walk on.
What we receive is our eternal gift to those who follow after, and to those who went before or stayed with us a while. And God, Who loves us with the equal love in which we were created, smiles on us and offers us the happiness we gave.
Today we will not doubt His Love for us, nor question His protection and His care. No meaningless anxieties can come between our faith and our awareness of His Presence. We are one with Him today in recognition and remembrance. We feel Him in our hearts. Our minds contain His Thoughts; our eyes behold His loveliness in all we look upon. Today we see only the loving and the lovable.
We see it in appearances of pain, and pain gives way to peace. We see it in the frantic, in the sad and the distressed, the lonely and afraid, who are restored to the tranquility and peace of mind in which they were created. And we see it in the dying and the dead as well, restoring them to life. All this we see because we saw it first within ourselves.
No miracle can ever be denied to those who know that they are one with God. No thought of theirs but has the power to heal all forms of suffering in anyone, in times gone by and times as yet to come, as easily as in the ones who walk beside them now. Their thoughts are timeless, and apart from distance as apart from time.
We join in this awareness as we say that we are one with God. For in these words we say as well that we are saved and healed; that we can save and heal accordingly. We have accepted, and we now would give. For we would keep the gifts our Father gave. Today we would experience ourselves at one with Him, so that the world may share our recognition of reality. In our experience the world is freed. As we deny our separation from our Father, it is healed along with us.
Peace be to you today. Secure your peace by practicing awareness you are one with your Creator, as He is with you. Sometime today, whenever it seems best, devote a half an hour to the thought that you are one with God. This is our first attempt at an extended period for which we give no rules nor special words to guide your meditation. We will trust God's Voice to speak as He sees fit today, certain He will not fail. Abide with Him this half an hour. He will do the rest.
Your benefit will not be less if you believe that nothing happens. You may not be ready to accept the gain today. Yet sometime, somewhere, it will come to you, nor will you fail to recognize it when it dawns with certainty upon your mind. This half an hour will be framed in gold, with every minute like a diamond set around the mirror that this exercise will offer you. And you will see Christ's face upon it, in reflection of your own.
Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will see your own transfiguration in the glass this holy half an hour will hold out to you, to look upon yourself. When you are ready you will find it there, within your mind and waiting to be found. You will remember then the thought to which you gave this half an hour, thankfully aware no time was ever better spent.
Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will look into this glass, and understand the sinless light you see belongs to you; the loveliness you look on is your own. Count this half hour as your gift to God, in certainty that His return will be a sense of love you cannot understand, a joy too deep for you to comprehend, a sight too holy for the body's eyes to see. And yet you can be sure someday, perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow, you will understand and comprehend and see.
Add further jewels to the golden frame that holds the mirror offered you today, by hourly repeating to yourself:
Let me remember I am one with God, at one with all my brothers and my Self, in everlasting holiness and peace." A Course in Miracles (W-pI.124)
To LIVE ACIM is to embrace a lifelong companionship of Love and Awareness, a walking meditation into LIFE!
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