Freedom comes from welcoming reality.

 

You are of the mind not the body or the ego.

When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you who are life. If we share the same mind, you can overcome death because I did. Death is an attempt to resolve conflict by not deciding at all. Like any other impossible solution the ego attempts, it will not work. T-6.V.A.1:1-7

A Course in Miracles (p. 233). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The idea in the above passage that the body and the ego are not life is awesome. Life is of the mind and in the mind. The mind is one with everything which lives forever. This is what Jesus demonstrated. The body can die but the mind lives on as his does for over 2,000 years.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. This inherent worth and dignity is of the mind not of the body or the ego.

Today it is suggested that several times today to reflect on who and what we really are. We are of the mind not the body or the ego.

Making your best decisions.

The Holy Spirit never itemizes errors because He does not frighten children, and those who lack wisdom are children. Yet He always answers their call, and His dependability makes them more certain. Children do confuse fantasy and reality, and they are frightened because they do not recognize the difference. The Holy Spirit makes no distinction among dreams. He merely shines them away. His light is always the Call to awaken, whatever you have been dreaming. Nothing lasting lies in dreams, and the Holy Spirit, shining with the light from God Himself, speaks only for what lasts forever. T-6.V.4:1-7

A Course in Miracles (p. 232). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The above passage is a further encouragement to accentuate the positive and minimize the negative which is the function of the Holy Spirit. The “miracle” is a shift in perception from the world of the ego, conditional love, to the Kingdom of God, unconditional love. The Holy Spirit functions to facilitate the emergence of peace and joy from the nightmares of our sleeping state.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Today it is suggested every time you are faced with a decision to ask “What would love have me do?” Ask the Holy Spirit to help you make your decision. If peace and joy arise you have chosen correctly. If fear and guilt arise, choose again.

What does a fuller, higher expression of human life look like?

Beyond religious and cultural differences, we do in fact have quite clear and remarkably congruent ideas about what higher human attainment looks like. Here are some of the descriptors that I hear most often regarding spiritual leaders. He or she:

1. •  Is authentic and has integrity

2. •  Is calm, peaceful, and centered

3. •  Has a clear mission or vocation 

4. •  Is compassionate, caring, kind, and loving 

5. •  Is courageous, dependable, faithful and faith-filled 

6. •  Is forgiving and generous 

7. •  Is a great leader, teacher, and/or mentor 

8. •  Is humble, inspiring, and wise

9. •  Is nonviolent 

10. •  Is open-minded and open-hearted 

11. •  Is persistent, values-driven, and committed to serving others. 

While the words chosen may vary slightly for a given person or group, they tend to be synonyms of the words in this list. What the consistency of the responses tells me is that we already have a general perception of what makes someone worthy of our admiration and possibly our emulation. We recognize a fuller, higher expression of humanity when we see one.

Wigglesworth, Cindy. SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence (pp. 5-6). SelectBooks, Inc.. Kindle Edition. 

How many and to what extent do you or people you know exhibit these 11 characteristics?

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Accentuate the positive and minimize the negative.

A wise teacher teaches through approach, not avoidance. He does not emphasize what you must avoid to escape from harm, but what you need to learn to have joy. T-6.V.3:1-2

A Course in Miracles (p. 232). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Jesus suggests a “strength based approach” not a deficit based model. Instead of saying “Don’t do that” it is more helpful to say “Do only that.”

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search is for how to live our lives in ways that make us and others happy. Does this search take us in the direction of finding what we should fear or what will bring us peace and joy?

Today it is suggested that we accentuate the positive and minimize the negative.

Remembering God’s unconditional love.

How can you wake children in a more kindly way than by a gentle Voice that will not frighten them, but will merely remind them that the night is over and the light has come? You do not inform them that the nightmares that frightened them so badly are not real, because children believe in magic. You merely reassure them that they are safe now. Then you train them to recognize the difference between sleeping and waking, so they will understand they need not be afraid of dreams. And so when bad dreams come, they will themselves call on the light to dispel them. T-6.V.2:1-5

A Course in Miracles (pp. 231-232). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

An acquaintance of mine said he has been very anxious and upset because his white blood count is way up, his doctor referred him to an oncologist, and he has been very afraid of having cancer. He said he has done numerous things to manage his anxiety and while they have helped somewhat, he is still very anxious and can’t sleep well. I said to him “Do you pray?” He looked startled and said, “Well, I used to but in the last year I have stopped going to church. They were expecting more and more from me and I felt I wasn’t good enough.” Do you think I should go back and start praying again? I raised my eyebrows and smiled. We laughed together and he said, “Thank you, I feel so much better.”

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. My friend needed to wake up from the nightmare his own fears were making and remember what he really is: a soul in a body. Attending more to his soul than to his body seemed to bring a peace and joy he was seeking.

Today take some minutes throughout the day to attend to our soul by remembering God’s unconditional love for us.

Open your heart to the joy of God.

Like any good teacher, the Holy Spirit knows more than you do now, but He teaches only to make you equal with Him. You had already taught yourself wrongly, having believed what was not true. You did not believe in your own perfection. Would God teach you that you had made a split mind, when He knows your mind only as whole? What God does know is that His communication channels are not open to Him, so that He cannot impart His joy and know that His children are wholly joyous. Giving His joy is an ongoing process, not in time but in eternity. God’s extending outward, though not His completeness, is blocked when the Sonship does not communicate with Him as one. So He thought, “My children sleep and must be awakened.” T-6.V.1: 1-8

A Course in Miracles (p. 231). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

What happens when a person is open to communication but other people avoid them? Perhaps the other people don’t know what they don’t know and so see no need to communicate or perhaps there is guilt which engenders fear of punishment and so they lay low as they say. There can be many reasons why a person blocks the ability of other people to communicate. This blocking can be defensive and protective and enables the lack of mutuality which deprives the people of happiness. People do the same thing with God. They block God’s communications.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The application of this principle involves an openness of heart to the communications of others even when distressing.

Today it is suggested that we drop our guard and listen to others even if it scares us and we feel vulnerable.