Today's lesson - My happiness and my function are one

Today's lesson, number 66 in A Course In Miracles, is "My happiness and my function are one."

We have already learned that our function is forgiveness. Remember that forgiveness is rising above the perception of separation and joining with Cosmic Consciousness, the Oneness of the Divine.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part, and the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

Some UUs say that they are first and seventh principle people because they have come to realize that their happiness and function are based on these two principles.

If our function is forgiveness to heal the separation, then happiness and peace are automatically experienced in the carrying out of this function. This fact is the basis of today's lesson that "My happiness and my function are one."

Today's lesson - What is the purpose of our lives?

Today's lesson, number 65 in A Course In Miracles, is "My only function is the one God gave me."

Paul Pearsall, told psychotherapists that they would not be able to help their client unless they understood how the client would answer three basic existential questions: Why was I born? What is the purpose of my life? What happens when I die?

Today's lesson refers to the second of Dr. Pearsall's existential questions: What is the purpose of my life? A Course In Miracles provides us with an answer to this question. In today's lesson, ACIM tells us that "my only function is the one God gave me."

In the great Christian prayer that Jesus taught us, it is said, in part, "...Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Our function is to bring our will into alignment with what we understand as God's will for us.

Aligning our will with God's will, what they call in Alcoholics Anonymous, "turning it over" or "surrender" is what is entailed in salvation. It is written in ACIM's 65th lesson, "The full acceptance of salvation as your only function necessarily entails two phases; the recognition of salvation as your function, and the relinquishment of all other goals you have invented for yourself."

On the path of the ego we invent many goals for ourselves, delusionally thinking that should we achieve those goals, we will be happy. However, whatever brief sense of happiness we might think we experience is very temporary because when we experience what psychologists call "hedonic adaptation" we only desire and crave more. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, according to the ego, until we get over there and then we usually experience disenchantment and disillusionment.

Our only true function is the acceptance of salvation in turning from the path of the ego onto the path of the Spirit or turning from the world of conditional love to the world of unconditional love.

Univeralism since the late 1700s in the U.S. has preached a gospel of Unconditional Love. Would that we as Universalists could recognize, acknowledge, accept, and extend it to ourselves, and to others throughout all of humanity. This recognition, acknowledgement, acceptance, and extension is the function that God has asked us to fulfill if we would achieve a state of peace and bliss. Unitatiran Universalists seek this in their covenant to affirm and promote their seven principles which simply are vehicles for enhancing an awareness of people's holiness and the sanctity of God's world.

Today's lesson, number 64 in A Course In Miracles, is "Let me not forget my function."

What is our function? It is simply to remind ourselves that we do not choose to follow any more the path of the ego littered with illusions, idols, and special relationships. We forgive ourselves and others the errors we have made when we have chosen wrongly and forgotten our function of unconditional loving.

It is unconditional love that we bring to the world and the remembrance of our Oneness with God. This is the basis of our Universalist faith.

While the forms of temptation to engage with the things on the path of the ego are multitudinous, the choice we have, to follow the path of the ego or the path of the spirit, is pretty simple in content: God or the Ego?

Unitarian Universalists know based on their faith that their function is to make the awareness of this choice: God or the ego, conscious to the world. UUs covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Encouraging this search is what brings many seekers to Unitarian Univeralism. UUs validate and affirm the deepest sense that there is a better way, and it is our function as UUs to affirm and promote the search to develop it.

Unitarian Univeralists based on their living tradition can join with the students of A Course In Miracles and say, "Let me not forget my function." That function is to forgive false starts, efforts at barking up the wrong tree, mistakes and errors made, and simply reassure people that they can choose again.

This choosing again is what ACIM means by "forgiveness." Forgiveness is the letting go of the things on the path of the ego and our mistakes in choosing these things to make us happy.

Today's lesson - Forgivenss brings awareness to every mind of peace which is the light of the world.

Today's lesson, number 63 in A Course In Miracles, is "The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness."

So many people, especially from age 50 on struggle with a  lack of a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. They have completed the first adulthood of 20 - 50 and are embarking on the second adulthood of 51-80. We are biologically programmed for the first adulthood to mate and procreate, but in the second adulthood, Mother Nature leaves us on our own with an existential challenge of what to do with our lives.

A man, 57, struggling with depression, told me yesterday that he likes to make people smile. This man has an infectious laugh and he told me, "When I can make someone smile I feel better."

When this man is able to bring a smile to someone he is "The light of the world bringing peace to every mind though his forgiveness."

The bumper sticker says, "If you see someone without a smile give him one of yours."

Our meaning and purpose is to help people become aware of their holiness and thereby sanctifying the world.

In Unitarian Univeralism we help people become aware of their holiness and we sanctify the world by entering into a covenant with one another to affirm and promote seven principles. The first of which is the inherent worth and dignity of every person who shares the same Divine Spark with all of us. It is this belief in the Divine Spark in everyone that is the basis of our Univeralist faith. Reminding every mind of this fundamental fact by shifting attention from the path of the ego onto the path of the Spirit of Unconditional Love lights up the world.

Today's lesson - Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

Today's lesson, number 62 in A Course In Miracles, is "Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world."

"Forgiveness" means something different in A Course In Miracles that what it means in every day use. "Forgiveness" in A Course In Miracles is a letting go, or a rising above, the path of the ego recognizing that the path of the ego is a projection and therefore an illusion. The projection of the ego is usually an attack which occurs in special relationships where the illusionary belief is "one or the other." Unconsciously, we believe that one or the other of us is guilty because of our separation from God and it is only a matter of time before God seeks revenge for our rejection and abandonment of Him.

"Forgiveness," the miracle, recognizes that this belief that one or the other of us has to be guilty is just an illusion, and we decide to choose to let our belief in this illusion go. Today's lesson teaches us that this letting go of this fomerly unconscious illusion is my function as the light of the world.

In Unitarian Univeralism we covenant together in a Holy relationship based on seven principles which help us overcome attack and our belief in "one or the other" in our special relationships. In particular we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person recognizing that our brothers and sisters are part of us and we are part of them as we affirm and promote the respect for the interdependent web of all existence.

This affirmation and promotion of principles one and seven is the UU way of forgiving the mistakes made on the path of the ego and in this letting go of the dynamics of "give to get" and "one or the other" we become the light of the world.

Today's lesson - "I am the light of the world."

Today's lesson, number 61 in A Course In Miracles, is "I am the light of the world."

This lesson gets to the same idea as expressed in the first principle of Unitarian Universalism, the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

The key idea to keep in mind is that the "inherent worth and dignity of every person has nothing to do with the ego, the glorified individual self, and everything to do with the Divine Spark within which reminds us from whence we have separated ourselves and is still a basic and primal part of our awareness.

In the separation of our egos from the Divine which the Course teaches is an insane illusion, the Holy Spirit, or the memory of our Divine essence, stayed with us and never separated because this Divine essence is who we really are. It is with our mindfulness of this "light" that we can say along with our affirmation and promotion of the inherent worth and dignity of every person, that "I am the light of the of world" or perhaps a better way of saying it is "The light of the Divine world is me."

Univeralists have taught this in the America for 250 years that we are the manifestations, deep down, of Unconditional Love. It is this awareness, this consciousness that is heaven - on earth - as it is in heaven.

It has been predicted that the future of Univeralist theology will move beyond the idea of universal salvation to the awareness of universal holiness in the here and now manifested by inclusion, compassion, generosity, appreciation, joy, and communion. It is this manifestation of universal communion, Oneness, that sanctifies the world.

Today's lesson - Universalism is a belief in the Unconditional Love of the Universe

Today's lesson, number 60 in A Course In Miracles, is a review lesson composed of lessons 46 - 50 which includes "God is the love in which I forgive;" "God is the strength in which I trust;" "There is nothing to fear;" "God's Voice speaks to me all through the day;" "I am sustained by the Love of God."

As St. Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, "If God is with you, who can be against you?"

We have come to realize that there is a choice available to us: the path of the ego which is based on conditional love, and the path of the Spirit which is based on Unconditional Love. The Universalists have preached an awareness of this choice in the United States since the late 1700s when John Murray, in reaction to the Calvanists, insisted that God's love is unconditional and the Unconditionally Loving God condemns no person to hell, but invites them all to heaven.

The Univeralists realized that we make our own hell on earth and we can also make our own heaven. It is up to us. God gives us free will and does not tell us what to do. The choice is ours. We have to decide what we want.

In our contemporary society, Unitarian Univeralists offer people a choice of covenanting together to practice seven principles. Unitarian Univeralists, based on the first principle of affirming the inherent worth and dignity of every person, have accepted that God is the Love in which I forgive. If you don't like the word "God" you may use any word of your choice to refer to your understanding of your Higher Power.

Based on this forgiveness which is simply letting go of the path of the ego and embarking on the path of the Spirit, the Higher Power is the strength in which we trust because we have realized that our lives on the path of the ego are unmanageable.

With this forgiveness, this letting go of the ego, there is an awareness that there is nothing, any more, to fear. We are all okay no matter what. We are are in a calm, peaceful, centered place of bliss.

Being in this centered calm place of bliss our Higher Power speaks to us all through the day. We hear the celestial music, the hum of the Oneness. There is a harmony which is encompassing.

Being encompassed by this sweet harmony, we are sustained and come to not only respect, but love the interdependent web of all existence of which we are happy to have become aware that we are a part.

Awareness of our holiness sanctifies the world.

Unitarian Univeralism, along with A Course In Miracles, are but two spiritual paths that allow us to experience the Unconditional Love of the Divine.

Today's lesson - Universalist love is unconditional

Today's lesson, number 59 in  A Course In Miracles, is a review of lessons 41 - 45 which include: "God goes with me wherever I go;" "God is my strength. Vision is His gift;" "God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him;" "God is the light in which I see;" "God is the Mind with which I think."

St. Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, "If God is with you, who can be against you." To tweak Paul's idea we might write, "If God is with you, WHAT can be against you?"

The miracle, in A Course In Miracles, is the shift from perception being of illusions on the path of the ego to Christ vision on the path of the Divine. More practically, it is the shift from thinking with conditional love to unconditional love.

Unitarian Universalists are encouraged in their covenant to engage in unconditional love when they affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. As the bumper sticker says, "God bless everyone. No exceptions."

The metaphysical psychology of A Course In Miracles teaches that there are three minds: the wrong mind perceiving illusions on the path of the ego, the right mind joining with God to extend God's unconditional love, and the decision making mind which gets to choose between wrong minded and right minded thinking.

We constantly make the mistake of engaging in wrong minded thinking when we look for salvation in special relationships and idols which we are told, and we temporarily believe, will make us happy. When we are disappointed, hurt, discouraged, depressed, fearful, it dawns on us that there must be a better way. The Holy Spirit, Jesus, the Muse, nudges us, saying "Choose again."

Unitarian Univeralism is a religion of second chances, and third changes, and fourth chances, and however many chances a person needs to "choose again." We are pointed back to our covenant which affirms and promotes seven principles which guide us back to the Divine through unconditional love.

The key characteristic of Universalism is the belief in Unconditional Love. Living in the world enacting this faith, miracles are experienced on a regular basis, miracles which are not of our doing, but flow from the Divine source though us into the world we interact with.

"God is the Mind with which I think" is an excellent description of our Universalist faith.

Today's lesson - Are you aware that you are blessed?

Today's lesson, number 58 in A Course In Miracles is a review lesson of lessons 36 - 40 which are: "My holiness evelopes everything I see;" "My holiness blesses the world;" "There is nothing my holiness cannot do:" "My holiness is my salvation;" "I am blessed as a Son of God."

The mission of the UU A Way Of Life ministries is to sanctify the world by helping people become aware of their holiness. The lesson today, the review of lessons 36 - 40 describe the core of UU A Way Of Life mission and purpose and vision.

People, on the path of the ego, are plagued by deep seating feelings of shame and guilt. Our biggest fear is of inadequacy and defectiveness and it only being a matter of time before this is found out by others who judge us, and of course, by us who judge ourselves and others.

We have forgotten who we are and lesson 40 tells us that we are the blessed Sons and Daughters of God. Our Unitarian Univeralist first principle tells us that every person has inherent worth and dignity.

Critics might say, when told that every person has inherent worth and dignity, "Prove it!" This is a nonsense statement because experiences can't be proved, only experienced. When it comes to our holiness, this is an experience that we choose, that we decide on. There is nothing to prove. Proof belongs on the path of the ego. On the path of the spirit, there is no proof required only experience. Francis David, the Unitarian pioneer in the 16th century said, "We need not think alike to love alike." True spirituality is not a creed, not a book, not a dogmatic set of beliefs. True spirituality is experience of loving Oneness - Bliss.

Love cannot be proved. It either is or isn't. Love is a choice we make not a thing we do.

Holiness is a state of being, not behavior. As the wag said, "I am a human being, not a human doer."

Today's lesson - I am very holy

Today's lesson, number 57 from A Course In Miracles, is a review lesson of lessons 31 - 35 which are: "I am not a victim of the world I see;" "I have invented the world I see;" "There is another way of looking at the world;" "I could see peace instead of this;" "My mind is part of God's. I am very holy."

Eventually it dawns on us that there must be a better way. As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, my life is unmanageable. This dawning leads to the search when we could have peace instead of anguish, joy instead of sorrow, love instead of hate and attack.

The last lesson reviewed today is "My mind is part of God's. I am very holy." This is the same thing as Unitarian Univeralists affirm and promote in their first principle: the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and the seventh principle: respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

As we become increasingly aware of the nondualistic Oneness of the Divine, the Tao, the Spirit of Life, God, whatever we want to name our Higher Power, we become consciously aware of our holiness.

It is the mission of UU A Way Of Life ministries to sanctify the world by helping people become aware of their holiness. This is done by the covenantal relationships formed to affirm and promote UUs seven principles.

Today's lesson - Choose again: ego or God?

Today's lesson is lesson 56 which is a review of lessons 26-30 in A Course In Miracles which are: "My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability;" "Above all else I want to see;" "Above all else I want to see differently;" "God is in everything I see;" "God is in everything I see because God is in my mind."

Comedian Flip Wilson when he did his Geraldine routine would say, "What you see, honey, is what you get." Today, the lesson in A Course In Miracles reminds us of this fact: that projection creates perception. What we think we are going to see creates what we see. In other words beliefs create our reality.

It is written in the lesson 26 review, "Pain, illness, age and death seem to threaten me. All my hopes and wishes and plans appear to be at the mercy of a world I cannot control."

In the book, Practicing Psychotherapy In Contructed Reality by Stephen Bacon, Bacon describes the work of Ernest Becker in his book, The Denial of Death, "Why do we not feel this anxiety constantly? Becker believes that we do feel it - at least as background anxiety - but most humans are denied the full experience on a daily basis because we build worldviews that shelter us from the Abyss." p.48

What we see usually are illusions on the path of the ego which promise to make us happy and yet they are empty promises which ultimately leave us vulnerable. It dawns on us that there must be more to life, there must be a better way, and we begin to search for truth and meaning beyond the counterfeit idols which the world offers us.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to create a vision based on seven principles with the hope of helping people become aware of their holiness and sanctifying the world. Today, withdraw from the illusions of the world and their false promises and instead seek to envision oneself, others, and the world with unconditional Love and a nonjudmental attitude.

Today's lesson - There has to be a better way.

Today's lesson is lesson 55 in A Course In Miracles and is a review lesson of lessons 21 - 25 which are: "I am determined to see things differently;" "What I see is a form of vengeance;" "I can escape from this world by giving up attack thoughts;" "I do not perceive my own best interests." "I do not know what anything is for."

As was mentioned yesterday, we can be in our wrong mind or our right mind, and we have a decision making mind. In the review today, we begin to realize that the attack thoughts that populate our special relationships on the path of the ego involve the wrong mind. We have come to understand that we don't need to live this way and that there is a better way. As they say in Alcoholics Anonymous in the first step, "we have to come to admit that our lives are unmangeable." As Bill Thetford said to Helen Schucman, the scrib of A Course In Miracles, "There has to be a better way."

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning in their fourth principle. In other words, UUs affirm and promote the search for a better way. The need for this principle cannot arise until it dawns on us that the life of separation from the Divine based on illusions and idols of the ego is a life of pain, anguish, suffering, and sometimes dispair.

The dawning, as we call it at UU A Way Of Life ministries, contributes to the initiation of the search. And this search requires a request for help. We cannot do it on our own. Jesus tells us that where two or more are gathered in my name there I will be. Jesus tells us that Spirit is to be found in covenantal relationships.

The lesson today teaches us that we can find a better way and encourages us to recognize and acknowledge this fact. The lesson today reminds us that attack thoughts and seeking vengeance will not bring us the peace and Love we seek. The lesson today is hinting that we have decisions to make now that we are beginning to understand that we have a choice. UUs are encouraged to engage in the implementation of their fourth principle the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. However, we are reminded that truth and meaning are not to be found on the path of the ego.


 

Today's lesson - Choose: There are no neutral thoughts and things

Today's lesson, number 54 from A Course In Miracles, is a review lesson of lessons 16-20 and includes "I have no neutral thoughts;" "I see no neutral things;" "I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing;" I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts;" "I am determined to see."

A Course in Miracles teaches that we have two minds: the wrong mind and the right mind, and also a third mind which is the decision making mind to choose between the wrong mind and the right mind.

The wrong mind sees illusions on the path of the ego and the right mind sees unconditional, nonjudgmental Love on the path of the Spirit. The Course teaches, based on its metaphysical curriculum, that we have, all the time, a very simple choice: to use the wrong mind or the right mind.

This choice is what is meant when the lessons tell us that there are no neutral thoughts and there are no neutral things.  Thoughts and things are either right or wrong.

There is either ego or Love. The Course also teaches that which mind we choose seems to have effects on others. No person is totally alone because ulimately we are One with Everything. What we choose to think, we see, and this seeing affects others. In this sense, One person can save the world if One were to see with what Christians sometimes call "beatific vision." I like to call it "cosmic consciousness." Some people call it "Christ minded." The Buddhist who wanted a hot dog asked the vendor to "Make me one with everything."

In Unitarian Univeralism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Integrating the metaphysical curriculum of A Course In Miracles with the Uniatrian Universalist living tradition we come to understand that this "free and responsible search" takes on the path of the what the Course calls right minded thinking. UU also articulates the affirmation and promotion of the person's right to choose or, in the Course's language, to engage in his/her decision making mind to continue with the path of the ego or to engage with the path of the spirit.

The path of the Spirit involves forgiveness and accepting for oneself the Atonement. Accepting the Atonement means giving up of the separation from the nondualistic oneness which has given rise to separateness which is experienced in special relationships and the celebration of individuality.

Today's review lesson affirms and promotes that we have a choice to make and asks us to realize that there is a better way. This better way involves becoming aware of inherent holiness and the holiness of all of humanity. The implementation of the fourth principle, the affirmation and promotion of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, takes us onto the path of the spirit which is embued with vision.

Today's lesson - Sanctification of the world occurs with awareness of holiness

Today's lesson, number 53 in A Course In Miracles, is a review of lessons 11 - 15 and include: "My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world;" "I am upset because I see a meaningless world;" "A meaningless world engenders fear;" "God did not create a meaningless world;" "My thoughts are images that I have made."

We make stuff up and complain about what we have made. The ego has promised to make us happy if we do this or do that, if we acquire this or that, if we get rid of this annoyance or that obstacle, etc.

The ego lies. For most of us it takes a long time to realize this and then only after much heart ache and suffering.

Finally, in our desparation, we come to realize that there must be a better way. We realize that our lives are made up of not only nonsense but insanity. We come to realize that  what we perceive and interpret we have projected. As is taught in Alcoholics Anonymous, in the first step, we finally admit that our lives are unmanageable, and in the second step, that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity, and in the third step, that we can make a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understand it.

In A Course Of Miracles this turning over of our will to the Will of God is called "forgiveness" and it is in this forgiveness that a shift in our mind occurs and we no longer are listening to the ego but to God. Our understanding comes not from the perception of seeing but from the vision of Unconditional Love.

For Unitarian Universalists this miraculous shift, this change of mind, is fascilitated by covenanting with one another to accept the inherent worth and dignity of all our brothers and sisters, no exceptions, and to affirm and promote the spiritual growth of humanity by helping people become aware of their holiness and thereby sanctify the world.

Today's lesson - Live in the present not in the past.

Today's lesson, number 52 in A Course In Miracles is a review of the lessons 6 - 10 which are: "I am upset because I see what is no there;" "I see only the past;" "My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts;" "I see nothing as it is now;" "My thoughts do not mean anything."

The Course makes a distinction between seeing and vision. Seeing is projecting which makes perception, in other words we make stuff up, create illusions, live in a dream world. Vision is joining with the vision of God which extends unconditional Love and apprehends the nondualistic Oneness which some call "cosmic consciousness" or enlightenment.

In Unitarian Univeralism we covenant together to affirm and promote a repect for the the interpendent web of all existence. Perhaps this principle would be better stated if we said an "understanding" or "love" for the interdependent web of all existence.

With our Univeralist understanding we apprehend the unconditional Love of the creator and with this seventh principle we begin to recognize and acknowledge the nondualistic nature of the Ground of our Being.

The way we implement the Vision of God in our lives is through what the Course calls "forgiveness" and the "Atonement." The Atonement is a decision to give up our seeing based on a belief in separation, and to replace it with the miracle of the vision of Oneness. This Atonement requires "forgiveness" in the sense of rising above our egotistical thoughts of individuality and specialness and abiding in peace and bliss of Oneness with all creation.

Today, remind yourself that projecting thoughts of your past onto current perceptions is a mistake and that "my thoughts do not mean anything." The choice is "to be here now" as the Buddhists say. If you have trouble being in the present, ask the Holy Spirit for help and turn your desire to control over to a power much greater than what you alone can manage.

Today's lesson - Unitarian Univeralism: a path of holiness,

Today's lesson is based on lesson 51 in A Course In Miracles which is a review of the first five lessons: "Nothing I see means anything; I have given what I see all the meaning it has for me; I do not understand anything I see; These thoughts do not mean anything; and I am never upset for the reason I think."

The Course teaches that perception is projection. We see what we believe we are going to see. Thus, what we think we see are illusions, are projections, are biases, are what psychologists call "selective perception." This is a hard idea to understand because on the path of the ego we believe that seeing is believing when it is really the other way around, believing is seeing. This idea of perception being the result of projection is what the Course calls "wrong minded." We have separated ourselves from the nondualistic Oneness of God by breaking up what we think is reality into billions of parts. Walking the path of the ego is the equivalent of the "Big Bang."

The Course is teaching that we have a decison making mind and that once we realize that perception is projection, that we just make shit up, we can choose  a better way, or the "right mind." The right mind we think with God which is unconditional Love for all of creation. We learn that there is one for all and all for one. The Course calls this "vision" as distinguished from "seeing." When we align our thoughts and beliefs with the nonjudgmental, unconditonal Love of God, we are walking the path of the spirit instead of the path of the ego.

In Unitarian Univeralism we covenant together to affirm and promote seven principles which help us to walk on the path of the spirit right mindedly and engage in the vision with God. There are other ways to engage in the vision with the mind of God and yet, for some, Unitarian Univeralism implementing its third principle of acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth, is a helpful strategy to become aware of one's holiness and the holiness of others. It is in this encouragement to spiritual growth and awareness that Unitarian Univeralism carries out its mission to sanctify the world.

Today's lesson, "I am sustained by the Love of God."

Today's lesson, number 50, in A Course In Miracles is "I am sustained by the Love of God."

All the things that the ego tells us will sustain us: special relationships, money, medicines, clothing, prestige, etc. are nonsense.

St. Paul wrote in his letter to Corinthians, "If God is with you who can be against you?"

You and God are a dynamic duo. God is the ground of your being. It is with God that you are sustained eternally.

Put your faith in the Love of God not the things of the ego.

Ask yourself, "What would Love have me do?" "What would God have me do?"

Jesus has told us that all we have to do is ask, to knock, and the door will be opened to us. Of course, God was there all along, we just had closed the door on Him as we became enamored with other things, and saw them as the sources of our salvation.

A Course In Miracles tells us simply when we chose wrongly, "Choose again." It is, in the last analysis, the Love of God which sustains us.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. In UU terms it is not just the respect for the interdependent web, but the love of the interdependent web which not only sustains us but is the basis for our consciousness.

Today's lesson - God's Voice speaks to me all through the day.

Today's lesson, number 49 in A Course In Miracles, is "God's Voice speaks to me all through the day."

I remember seeing the church sign at the Christmas holidays which said, "You too can hear the angels song if you tune into the right channel."

The Christmas song's lyric is "Do you hear what I hear?"

We can tune in and get on the resonance of the Universe. That tuning in and experiencing the resonance is God's voice.

The opposite is all the drama and nonsense of the ego plane which distracts us, titillate us, arouses us, and pulls us from our peace and bliss.

It takes conscious intention, usually, to hear God's voice, but we can do it if we desire. Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirmn and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This can mean that we seek out an awareness of the Spirit of Life and our Higher Power as we understand It.

Today, pay attention, close your eyes, and get centered. Remind yourself to return to this place in your mind and heart several times today. Can you function from this place as you go about your daily affairs? Yes, you can with practice.

Today's lesson - There is nothing to fear

Today's lesson, number 48, in A Course In Miracles is "There is nothing to fear."

We are told in the introduction to A Course In Miracles, "The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite."

It is pointed out in today's lesson that those who trust in illusions experience fear because illusions are not true. It is further pointed out that those who trust in illusions are trusting in their own strength rather than in the strength of God.

Our decision making mind can choose between the path of the ego and the path of the spirit. When we choose the path of the ego, fear arises because the ego tells us it is "one or the other" and "give to get" which always involves attack and loss.

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. This principle affirms and promotes "liberty" which is freedom from fear and with this loss of fear comes a willingness to be just and with justice comes great peace.

Today's lesson - God is the strength in which I trust

Today's lesson is number 47 in A Course In Miracles which is, "God is the strength in which I trust."

This lesson is very similar to the third step of Alcoholics Anonymous which is "Made a decision to turn our will over to the care of God as we understood him."

In the Our Father prayer  we pray, "....Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."

The AA slogan says simply, "Let go and let God."

Have you noticed how we try to control what we can't control and finally we have to admit that our life is unmanageable.

In Universalism we recognize that God loves us unconditionally and it gives us great peace, but we have great difficulty in extending this nonjudgmental attitude to others.

It is a great paradox to admit that our strength comes from recognizing our powerlessness, our judgmentalessness, our misguided belief that we have the power and the strength to control the circumstances that impact our lives.

One of my favorite jokes - "Want to hear God laugh? Tell God your plans."

There is great peace in asking Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God, your Muse, the Spirit of Life, the energy of the Universe for help.

At the end of our lives when our spirits are pried lose from our bodies we must surrender our egos. This return to Love fills us with terror over giving up the ego which was never real to begin with. Learn now to let the ego go and go with the flow. In this going with the Flow there is great strength which can learn to trust. The wise ones call it "faith."