A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #153, In my defenselessness my safety lies.

 Lesson #153

In my defenselessness my safety lies.

If we believe we are the beloved child of the Universe loved Unconditionally and things all work out in the end after the ego world dissolves, we realize we have nothing to defend. We are all okay. Always have been, are now, forever will be. The nonsense of the ego world is but a nightmare.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, in the first three steps, we came to realize that our belief and trust in the world of the ego is unmanageable and that there must be a better way. With this realization, we decided to turn our will and lives over to our Transcendent Source from which we emerged and to which we will return.

In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person which is intrinsic and needs no defense. It is the essence of our being. How is perfection to be defended when it doesn’t require any defense in the first place?

Today, it is suggested that we take 5, 10 , 15, 30 minutes at the beginning and end of the day and any time in between to remind ourselves that we are the perfect creations of the Transcendent Source and that our inherent worth and dignity requires no defense whatsoever. In this awareness we experience great peace and bliss.

My Kind Of Church Music

Knockin on Heaven's Door, Bob Dylan

Stories about UU mystic, Harry Hollywood - What’s of real importance to you?

“Don’t you think they should teach kids what is the good life,” asked Rachel? “I mean they teach all this crap in school but the major questions they ignore, the most important things.”

“Philosophy has never been a major subject in public school,” said George. “I mean with common core and teaching to the test the teachers don’t have time in the curriculum.”

Amanda said, “It seems strange that the really important questions about life they don’t have time for.”

Harry said, “The power to decide what  is important in life is our own. We shouldn’t blame others for allowing them to make our decisions for us. Remember each one of us is unique just like everyone else.”

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #152, The power of decision is my own.

 Lesson 152

The power of decision is my own.

Today’s lesson is as blunt and straightforward as it gets. We have the power to choose the world of the ego or the Kingdom of God.

The lesson teaches that Truth is true and can have no opposite. The world we see on the ego plain is illusory, impermanent, and figment of our imaginations which we arrogantly make up and pretend to be  true,  but the lesson today teaches that this illusory world of the ego is not only nothing of God but God doesn’t even know it exists since it isn’t real but merely our insane dream.

In Alcoholic Anonymous, in the eleventh step, it is suggested that we seek to improve our conscious contact with God and give up the illusions we have created in the world of the ego which have made our lives unmanageable. In other words, set aside the bull shit and focus on the Truth.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search takes us from the world of the ego to the Kingdom of our Transcendent Source.

Today, it is suggested that we take five minutes every hour and remind ourselves that the power of decision is our own. We can choose the world of the ego or the Kingdom of God. One is false and the other is Truth. Pretty simple, really, this choice, and by recognizing and acknowledging it we become aware of our power which is not ours alone but belongs to the whole community of saints whether they know it or not. Today we acknowledge that we  know it when we remind ourselves that the power of decision is my own.

My Kind Of Church Music

I Want To Know What Love Is, Foreigner

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #151, All things are echoes of the Voice For God.

 Lesson #151

All things are echoes of the Voice for God.

The street sign of the church read at Christmas time, “You, too, can hear the angel’s song if you tune into the right frequency.”

Neale Donald Walsh opens his Conversations With God books with the idea that God is talking to us all the time but we don’t hear God because we are not listening. We are not tuned in. Today’s Course lesson reminds us to listen for God’s Voice. The lesson teaches that in order to do this we have to stop listening to the ego to make room for the Voice of God.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, in the eleventh step, we are advised to seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God. We already decided in the first three steps that our lives in the ego world were unmanageable, and that there was a power greater than our egos, and that we can decide to turn our willfulness over to our Transcendent Source..When we turn things over we start to hear the Voice of God.

In Unitarian Universalism we affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and in this search we find that to hear the Voice of our Transcendent Source we have to set the voices of our egos aside.

Today, it is suggested that we take fifteen minutes at the beginning and end of the day, and many times in between, to set the chatter of our ego aside and listen to the Voice of God. God whispers and rarely shouts in our ear. To hear the Voice of God we must set the voices of the ego aside so they don’t drown the Voice of God out.

I love the Christmas Carol - “Do you hear what I hear?”

My Kind Of Church Music

Do you hear what I hear?, Whitney Houston

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #150, Review of lessons 139 and 140. The Atonement is our natural inheritance.

 Lesson #150

Review of lessons 139 and 140

My mind holds only what I think with God

139 - I will accept Atonement for myself.

140 - Only salvation can be said to cure.

“Atonement”, as taught in A Course In Miracles, is the healing of our separation of our ego selves from the Oneness of God. We are the drops returning to the ocean. We, once again, become One with the All. It is this “re-membering” which is our salvation and that is the only cure for what ails us.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, it is suggested in step eleven that we improve our conscious contact with God which is the same thing which the Course calls Atonement.

In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and this search takes us back to re-membering the Oneness from which we have separated ourselves. This is the mystic vision of the Universalists which is celebrated by the Transcendentalists.

Today, it is suggested that we take a few minutes at the beginning and end of our day and many times in between to remember from whence we have come and to which we will return, and accept this healing from the separation for ourselves. In this acceptance we experience great peace and joy and our existential anxiety is cured.

My Kind Of Church Music

Jesus Loves Me/He's Got The Whole World In His Hands, Whitney Houston

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #149, Review of lessons 137 and 138, Heaven on earth,

 Lesson #149

Review of lessons 137 and 138

My mind holds only what I think with God.

137 - When I am healed I am not healed along.

138 - Heaven is the decision I must make.

As part of what Emerson called the “Oversoul” and the mystics call “cosmic consciousness” and Christians call the “Body of Christ” I come to realize that when I am healed I am not healed alone but the whole Self is healed. This is what the Course calls the “Atonement” which is when humanity returns to its unseparated state of being. Accepting the atonement as a healing which takes one into heaven and the acceptance of the atonement is the only decision which I can make sooner or later, come hell or high water, now or whenever. In refusing to choose heaven we only delay the inevitable and create more suffering and anguish in the short run.

In Alcoholic Anonymous, it is suggested in step three that we make a decision to turn our will and lives over to our Transcendent Source. When I do this, not only am I healed but those with whom I am in relationship are healed as well.

In Unitarian Universalism, we covenant together to affirm and promote not only a respect for the interdependent web of which we all are a part but a love for the interdependent web recognizing that in this respect and love there is a healing which draws heaven closer to our enjoyment.

Today it is suggested that we begin and end the day, and many times in between, remind ourselves that we are here to heal ourselves and in this healing we are not healed alone, and in this mutual healing is heaven created on earth as it is in the Transcendent hereafter.

A Course In Miracles Lesson #148, Review of lessons 135 and 136 - The small ego self and the cosmic Self

 Lesson #148

Review of lessons 135 and 136

My mind holds only what I think with God

135 - If I defend myself I am attacked.

136 - Sickness is a defense against the truth.

In the metaphysics of the Course it is taught that there is the small ego self and the Cosmic Self which includes everybody which Emerson called the “Oversoul” and what Christians call the Body of Christ and what the Easter religions call the “cosmic consciousness.” When we defend the Self we are attacked. The inherent worth and dignity of every person needs no defense and to attempt it is to deny its essential nature. So, when we defend the truth we are mistaken which the lesson today calls a “sickness.”

In Alcoholic Anonymous it is suggested in step eleven that we seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Transcendent Source. It is this search which restores us to sanity.

In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. It is in the covenanting process that we recognize and acknowledge our Oneness and the basis of this Oneness is that which gives us our inherent worth and dignity.

Today, it is suggested that we begin and end the day, and many times in between, reminding ourselves that if we defend ourselves we have forgotten who we fundamentally are and in this forgetting we have become sick. If one desires to become well, it is good to remember that from whence we have come when we became incarnated in our body and that to which we return when we leave our body to return to our natural inheritance.