Bull shit

When you feel guilty, remember that the ego has indeed violated the laws of God, but you have not. Leave the “sins” of the ego to me. That is what Atonement is for. But until you change your mind about those whom your ego has hurt, the Atonement cannot release you. While you feel guilty your ego is in command, because only the ego can experience guilt. This need not be. T-4.IV.5: 1 - 6

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Comedian Flip Wilson, when he did his Geraldine routine, would have her say in a saucy way “The devil made me do it!” This line always got a laugh. In this passage of ACIM, Jesus teaches us that we can say, “The ego made me do it!” and rather than feel guilty we can laugh at the insanity and absurdity of the situation because we have recognized that the ego is not who we really are if we have accepted the Atonement which is the undoing of the separation and the acceptance of the nonduality of existence.

Today, it is suggested that we remind ourselves of the inherent worth and dignity of every person and the attacks by egos that contribute to a sense of separation and division are bull shit.

The practice of radical acceptance.

When you are anxious, realize that anxiety comes from the capriciousness of the ego, and know this need not be. You can be as vigilant against the ego’s dictates as for them. T-4.IV.4: 1 - 2

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Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric diagnoses in the United States. Why would this be? In the richest, most powerful country in the world why are its citizens so fearful? The cause is not psychological or material but spiritual. Americans in spite of the evidence are terrified of scarcity and deprivation. These fears are not actual but relative born out of illusions of lack and loss. As the Course suggests, these anxieties are the result of the ego and not of the reality of God’s unconditional love.

Today, it is suggested that we give up the comparisons and the judgments and engage in what some call “radical acceptance” which is the awareness that things are as they are in the moment. Radical acceptance involves the letting go, the giving up control, the savoring of the peace of the present moment without conjuring up the past or anticipating the future. Just settle into and accept the now.

Where are you looking for love?

When you are sad, know this need not be. Depression comes from a sense of being deprived of something you want and do not have. Remember that you are deprived of nothing except by your own decisions, and then decide otherwise. T-4.IV.3:1-3

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

In English the word “depression” seems to have replaced the word “grief.” Grief arises when a person experiences loss. It is predictable that a person would feel sadness when the strings of attachment have been broken. The Buddha taught that suffering arises from attachment. Jesus teaches the same thing in the passage above.

When we become aware of our attachments, it is up to us to manage them in a loving way. Too often people become not only possessive, but deluded by the idea that what they are attached to is what gives them happiness. This delusion is the illusion created by the ego and the ego rejoices in that we have believed in its idols.

Today, it is suggested that we reflect on the fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism which is to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Where is this search conducted: in the world of the ego or the world of Spirit? Too often people waste time and effort looking for love in all the wrong places.

Looking for the Divine Spark is sometimes like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I have said that you cannot change your mind by changing your behavior, but I have also said, and many times, that you can change your mind. When your mood tells you that you have chosen wrongly, and this is so whenever you are not joyous, then know this need not be. T-4.IV.2: 1 - 2

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

In this passage, Jesus reminds us that we can always change our minds and focus on the Voice of God rather than on the voice of the ego. The question we can ask ourselves is “What would love have me do?” Does the answer spark joy or distress?

Today, we can reflect on the first of the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism which is to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. If we look for the Divine Spark in every person we can find it even if it is like looking for a needle in the haystack.

The Voice for God or the voice for the ego: to which will we listen?

If you cannot hear the Voice for God, it is because you do not choose to listen. That you do listen to the voice of your ego is demonstrated by your attitudes, your feelings and your behavior. Yet this is what you want. This is what you are fighting to keep, and what you are vigilant to save. Your mind is filled with schemes to save the face of your ego, and you do not seek the face of Christ. The glass in which the ego seeks to see its face is dark indeed. How can it maintain the trick of its existence except with mirrors? But where you look to find yourself is up to you. T-4.IV.1: 1 - 8

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

Once again when we read the day’s ACIM verse, it brings a smile and knowing laugh. Yes, we can listen to the Voice for God or to the voice of our ego. ACIM reminds us that the voice we listen to is up to us. Which voice do we value more, do we put our stock in, do we ask to lead us to peace and happiness?

Today, we are reminded of the Unitarian Universalists' seven principles, the fourth of which is the affirmation and promotion of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The principle reminds us that we can listen to the Voice For God or the voice of the ego. The choice is ours.

The calm being of God’s kingdom; The free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

The calm being of God’s Kingdom, which in your sane mind is perfectly conscious, is ruthlessly banished from the part of the mind the ego rules. The ego is desperate because it opposes literally invincible odds, whether you are asleep or awake. Consider how much vigilance you have been willing to exert to protect your ego, and how little to protect your right mind. Who but the insane would undertake to believe what is not true, and then protect this belief at the cost of truth? T-4.III.10: 1 - 4

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

The ego would have us believe that the Kingdom of God is not true and yet it dawns on us sooner or later, one way or another, come hell or high water that there is a better way than the way of the ego, and at this point the search begins for truth and meaning.

Today, it is suggested that we reflect on the fourth principle of Unitarian Universalism which is the affirmation and promotion of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search takes us within and not without. Sit quietly. Clear one’s mind of the myriad thoughts of the ego, and experience the calm being of God’s kingdom.

You are the kingdom of heaven.

In your own mind, though denied by the ego, is the declaration of your release. God has given you everything. This one fact means the ego does not exist, and this makes it profoundly afraid. In the ego’s language, “to have” and “to be” are different, but they are identical to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows that you both have everything and are everything. Any distinction in this respect is meaningful only when the idea of “getting,” which implies a lack, has already been accepted. That is why we make no distinction between having the Kingdom of God and being the Kingdom of God. T-4.III.9: 1 - 7

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

The idea that you ARE the kingdom of God has the ego laughing hilariously in mockery. In spite of this hilarious mocking laughter, the kingdom of God is exactly who you are as the extension of God’s unconditional love for God’s creation. 

To HAVE the kingdom of God implies that at one time you were without your Transcendent Source and thus You existed in poverty and deprivation of something which is your natural inheritance and the very essential substance of your being. So the kingdom of God, the spark of the Divine, is not something you have but what you are.