A Course In Miralces Workbook Lesson #100, My part is essential to God's plan for salvation.

 Lesson #100

My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.

Dan was standing in the dark when I walked into the room and his presence startled me. I said, “Oh, Dan, how are you?” And he said, not missing a beat, “I’m happy to be here.” His answer filled me with joy and made me laugh and I said, “And I’m so much better having you here.”

The Course teaches that we all are One. The metaphysics of the Course is based on the the concept of the  non dualistic Oneness of the Universe. This is an unusual metaphysics given that we are conditioned by our Aristotelian metaphysics to deconstruct things into their component parts to better understand what makes them tick. However, we have learned that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and therein lies the mystery of the Universe and leads to the awareness in today’s lesson that my part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.

It is suggested in Alcoholics Anonymous in the eleventh step to seek this non dualistic Oneness through prayer and meditation turning our will and egos over to the Oneness to experience the power of the whole.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote not only a respect but a love for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. This awareness that we are a part of something far greater than ourselves fills us with great joy, peace, and contentment.

Today, we are asked to take five minutes at the beginning of every hour to reflect on the fact that our part is essential for God’s plan for salvation. Remembering that we are  one with everything is God’s plan for our salvation.

My Kind Of Church Music

Don't Worry. Be Happy Bobby McFerrin

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #99, Salvation is my only function here.

Lesson #99

Salvation is my only function here.

“Salvation” implies that something is wrong, that there is something we must be saved from. What is this problem from which we must be saved? It is our choice for the world of the ego. We chose the ego instead of God. We chose fear instead of Love. 

Society has conditioned us to think that the idols of the world of the ego would make us happy and we were fooled, and in many cases, continue to believe this nonsense. We haven’t figured out yet that our choice of the things of the ego will never make us happy. We have been fooled by the lies, the deceit, the con, the scam, the illusions of the ego.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, in step three, we finally decided to turn our will over to the care of God (Love) and that has made all the difference. We have learned that in choosing Love we are saved from the lies and illusions of the ego which seduces us with its false promises of mitigating our fears. It finally dawns on us, that deep down, there is nothing to fear because Love is our natural inheritance.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity flows from our essential nature which is Love from which we have emerged in this incarnation. We can continue to pursue the illusions of the ego trying to obtain the idols it presents to us or we can decide that salvation is my only function here and ask ourselves in any given moment, “What would Love have me do?” It is in asking this question, patiently awaiting its answer, and that acting accordingly that salvation comes.

Today, we are asked to reflect on the fact that salvation is our only function here the first five minutes of every hour and whenever else during the day when we are tempted by the false promises of the idols of the ego.

My Kind Of Church Music

All You Need Is Love, The Beatles

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #98, I will accept my part in God's plan for salvation.

 Lesson #98

I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.

Well, you can if you want to but you don’t have to. Should I accept my part in God’s plan for salvation or go my separate way? Up to you. See how things work out for you.

In Alcoholic Anonymous, after we realize that our life is unmanageable and we don’t know what else to do, it dawns on us that maybe there is a better way and that better way is turning our lives over to God and accept our part in God’s plan for salvation.

What is that way? It is based on forgiveness. Forgiveness of ourselves and others for our mistakes in thinking the things in the world of the ego could ever make us happy.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning which leads ultimately to accepting our part in God’s plan for salvation realizing the inherent worth and dignity of every person and the interdependent web of all existence of which we, of course, are a part.

“Eeesy Peesy” as little children say. Why fight it? Why wilfully insist that we can do it ourself. Don’t need no Higher Power thing. I am just fine myself. Thank you very much.

So, today, lesson #98 suggests that we accept our part in God’s plan for salvation and that we take 5 minutes at the beginning of every hour to curiously ask that God has in mind for us. 

Listen. 

Don’t talk. 

Let God whisper in the silence. You can only hear God’s voice if you are quiet.

My Kind Of Church Music

Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel.

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #97, I am Spirit.

 Lesson #97

I am Spirit

Are you a body with a soul or a soul with a body? Today’s lesson gives us the answer: “I am Spirit.” Spirit is what you are, part of the Divine Flame that fuels the Universe.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, in step eleven, we are encouraged to remember that we are Spirit by engaging in prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power and in step twelve, we are encouraged to share it with others which only enhances the spiritual well being of the whole world.

In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the love of the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. We come to realize that we are conduits of Unconditional Love to the world. In doing so, salvation comes to the world.

Today, we are asked to take five minutes at the beginning of every hour and remind ourselves, “I am Spirit” and God and I are a dynamic duo. This awareness can make our experience of the world holy.

My Kind Of Church Music

Wholy holy by Marvin Gaye

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #96, Salvation comes from my one Self.

 Lesson #96

Salvation comes from my one Self

In today’s lesson we are asked to choose between the way of the ego or the way of Spirit. We make life so complicated, but it is really very simple. Do we choose fear or Love? Fear drives us to the idols of the ego while Love is the Source of our salvation.

In Alcoholics Anonymous we are asked to admit that we are powerless and that our lives have become unmanageable. Many people balk at this idea and say it just isn’t so and continue on until they hit bottom. When they hit bottom, they become desperate, and finally realize that to  turn their will over to their Higher Power seems to be their last ditch possibility for salvation. It is in accepting  the Love of our Higher Power instead of our own ego that our lives miraculously change.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search is inward and upward not outward and downward. As Leonard Cohen tells us in his great song Anthem that the crack is where the light comes in.

Today we are asked to take five minutes at the beginning of every hour and relax and look inward for the crack where the light comes in  and in so doing we realize that salvation comes from our Oneness with the All.

My Kind Of Church Music

Anthem by Leonard Cohen

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #95, I am one Self, united with my Creator.

 Lesson #95

I am one Self, united with my Creator.

The initial shock of learning that I am not my ego, my self with a small “s” seems, at first, unbelievable. However, sitting with this awareness, overcoming the primal fear we experience, leads then to an awareness that we are a part of something far greater than just our ego, a transcendent whole, what the Course calls the Self with a capital S because this Self is God.

It is shocking to learn that we are God. We can only become aware of this reality if we are willing to give up the ego, the small self.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, we are encouraged in step three to make a decision to turn our self over to our Self. Some people call this “surrender.” Some call it “letting go.” In the Course it is called “forgiveness” which facilitates the Atonement. This corrected perception from the world of the ego to the world of the Spirit is what the Course calls the “miracle.” In AA, for those who apply the steps of the program, miracles occur on a regular basis, every day, many times a day.

In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person which emanates from  the Self, which Emerson, the Transcendentalist, called the “oversoul.” UUs also affirm and promote a respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Today, it is suggested that we take 5 minutes at the beginning of every hour to remind ourselves that I am one Self, united with my Creator. We are not bodies, but Spirits. The body is merely the communication device, like a radio, which transmits the Divine and ethereal vibrations of the Self.

My Kind Of Church Music

In The Air Tonight, Phil Collins

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #94, I am as God created me.

 Lesson #94

I am as God created me

The lesson today asks us to set the idols of the ego aside and get back to fundamentals. The basic question all human beings are challenged by is “What and who am I?” The answer, according to A Course In Miracles, is “I am as God created me.”

In Alcoholic Anonymous, in step eleven, we are encouraged through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with the Source from which we have emanated. This Source, as the mystics tell us is the “ground of our being.” This Ground of our Being is pure and uncorrupted by the nonsense  which has buried our awareness of it by the insanity of the ego.

In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together, hopefully with sincere commitment, to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This worth and dignity was bestowed on us when God created us and God loves God’s creatures, as the Universalists have taught, unconditionally.

Today, we are asked to take 5 minutes at the beginning of every hour and remind ourselves that “I am as God created me.” We then are to wait expectantly for the light, joy, and peace to fill us with bliss.

My Kind Of Church Music

Hallelujah sung by K.D. Laing