Looking within, peace can arise.

Peace is an attribute in you. You cannot find it outside. Illness is some form of external searching. Health is inner peace. It enables you to remain unshaken by lack of love from without and capable, through your acceptance of miracles, of correcting the conditions from lack of love in others. T-II.I.5:8-12 A Course In Miracles

Will we ever find what we are looking for?

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which begs the question of where to search? Jesus tells us to look within. He tells us illness is the result of external searching. Do you really think that other people and things will make you happy? People keep trying to find that external relationship or thing which will help them feel complete, whole, satisfied, fulfilled and as the wise person might ask, “How is that working for ya?”

In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is suggested that when the searching is all said and done we admit that our search externally is unmanageable. We hit bottom. Then, it is suggested that we make a decision to turn it over to our Higher Power.

Today, it is suggested that we give up the external search and just look within quietly, let the dust settle, and see what we can see. The Course suggests that an awareness of peace will eventually arise.

We are extensions of God’s unconditional love not creatures of our own making.

All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception that you have the ability to usurp the power of God. Of course, you neither can nor have been able to do this. Here is the real basis for your escape from fear. The escape is brought about by your acceptance of the Atonement, which enables you to realize that your errors never really occurred. T-II.I.4:1-4 A Course In Miracles

Deep down all human beings feel inadequate and defective because they know that their ego is not real. It is all pretend. Their ego is not who they are. It is this ignorance of who they really are  that gives rise to anxiety, the most frequently diagnosed mental disorder in the United States today. People medicate in an attempt to minimize if not eliminate this anxiety. The anxiety is a spiritual problem not a psychological and medical one so the attempt to medicate it while it can temporarily diminish the distress does not heal.

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step three, that we make a decision to turn our willfulness over to our Higher Power. Step three is after step one where we recognize that our lives are unmanageable because we have thought we can make ourselves better all by ourselves.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to accept one another as we truly are and encourage our spiritual development.

Today, it is suggested that we rise above fear by realizing that we are the perfect extensions of God’s unconditional love and not a creature of our own making.

Extend love; don’t try to fix things.

To extend is a fundamental aspect of God which He gave to His Son. In the creation, God extended Himself to His creations and imbued them with the same loving Will to create. T-II.1.1:1-2

No child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in what he is, but he can use it inappropriately by projecting. The inappropriate use of extension, or projection, occurs when you believe that some emptiness or lack exists in you, and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead of truth, T-II.1.1:6-7

We are called to extend God’s unconditional love. Instead we often project our lack and inadequacy onto others and try to “fix them.”

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is often said that we should be taking our own inventory and not everyone else’s.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person by extending God’s unconditional love to everyone. Salvation of the world is when everybody loves everybody all the time.

Today, be aware of extending God’s unconditional love to everyone who crosses our path whether physically or in our mind.

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Fear and awe

A solid foundation is necessary because of the confusion between fear and awe to which I have already referred, and which is often made. T-1.VII.5:1

“Awe” is one of those words which is rarely used in our modern and postmodern society. The distinction between fear and awe is often blurred. The bombing by the United States of Iraq was a TV spectacle which was branded as “shock and awe.” The UN declared this bombing illegal according to International Law and a war crime. 

This bombing occured in the world of the ego. In the world of Spirit unconditional love fills us with awe at the magnitude of the Creative Force of the Universe. It is the opposite of fear, but the person experiencing it has to know the difference between fear and awe and most of humanity has not matured far enough yet to know the difference. A Course In Miracles is a mind training program which facilitates the development of this awareness.

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step eleven, that we improve our conscious contact with God. This conscious contact generates awe.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person and this affirmation takes us from the realm of fear to the realm of awe, from the realm of conditional love to unconditional love.

Today, we are invited to move from our confusion about fear and awe, from the level of fear to the level of awe, or from the level of conditional love to the level of unconditional love.

Is A Course In Miracles for you?

This is a course in mind training. All learning involves attention and study at some level. Some of the later parts of the course rest too heavily on these earlier sections not to require their careful study. You will also need them for preparation. Without this, you may become much too fearful of what is to come to make constructive use of it. However, as you study these earlier sections, you will begin to see some of the implications that will be amplified later on. T-1.VII.4:1-6

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace.

Most people find A Course In Miracles difficult. It seems over their heads. They complain that they don’t know what the Course is talking about. This difficulty is because the Course is based on a metaphysical philosophy that is very foreign to the everyday life that we have been conditioned to believe in and follow. It takes a while to understand the Course’s frame of reference, its vocabulary, its values, its suggested practices in mind control and decision making. Basically, the Course is suggesting that we do God’s will and not our own. The only spiritual program in the world that teaches the same thing within the experience of most people is Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve step programs.

While twelve step programs are used to change bad habits they are, in their essence, spiritual programs. Many people may change their bad habits by giving up their drug of choice but they never work and don’t get the program. Abstinence is one thing, spiritual growth is another.

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested that people find a home group, find a sponsor and work the steps. If people do this they experience a miraculous change in the quality of their lives.

In Unitarian Universalism people join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. The paths that facilitate spiritual growth are many of which A Course In Miracles is only one. ACIM is not for everybody, but for those who are drawn to it, it is, indeed, a miracle because of the mind training it provides.

Today, it is suggested that we consider whether A Course In Miracles is something that can facilitate our spiritual growth. If it is, then we are asked to consider making a commitment to long term study and practice. As is written in the introduction to ACIM “This is a course in miracles. It is a required course, Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time.” 

We are born for a purpose which is to become consciously aware of our Oneness with God (Life.) Our incarnation was a separation from the Oneness which was unconscious and now the purpose of life is to achieve a consciousness of God as we work to become once again a conscious part of the Whole..

Salvation is when everybody loves everybody all the time.

Reality is “lost” through usurpation, which produces tyranny. As long as a single “slave” remains to walk the earth, your release is not complete. Complete restoration of the Sonship is the only goal of the miracle-minded. T-1.VII.3:12-14

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

“Reality” is the unconditional love of God which is usurped by the ego through our social conditioning to believe in the ways of the world of the ego. As long as any human being on the face of the earth believes that the world of the ego is real and is the source of happiness, humanity is not free and has not been restored to their right mind. It is the goal of the miracle minded to facilitate the achievement of the time when everybody loves everybody all the time.

In Alcoholics Anonymous it is suggested, in step eleven, that we improve our conscious contact with God. This conscious contact fills us with unconditional love for all life.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. It is in this affirmation and promotion that we work miracles and restore the Sonship.

Today, let us turn from the false promises of the world of the ego and focus on the unconditional love of God which resides in our love for one another.