Recognizing non duality peace arises.

This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way: Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.

Introduction to A Course In Miracles.

These two sentences are experienced as awesomely profound if the metaphysics of ACIM are understood.

What is being taught here is that the non duality of the Transcendent which is what is real can’t be threatened or harmed. It is what it is. The world of the ego doesn’t really exist. It is all an illusion which has been constructed by the components of that ego world. Recognizing and acknowledging these two facts allows the peace of God to arise.

These ideas are also articulated in the major world religions in different forms. In the Tao Te Ching we are taught that the real Tao cannot be spoken, cannot be adequately described, is beyond definition. Jesus uses many metaphors to describe the kingdom of God: a mustard seed, yeast, a hidden treasure, etc.

In A Course In Miracles the kingdom of God is non dual Oneness which is realized when we heal our separation. This is called the atonement. 

In Alcoholics Anonymous we are encouraged in the eleventh step to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand God. In Unitarian Universalism we are encouraged, in the seventh principle, to affirm and promote the respect for the interdependent web of all existence which we call “Life.” 

Some people express atheism saying they don’t believe in God. What God is it that they don’t believe in? If we substitute the word “life” for the word “God” could the person say they don’t believe in Life?

Today, understanding the metaphysics of ACIM, we can bask in the peace of God knowing that ultimately we are one with God as we manifest the extension of God’s unconditional love into the universe of consciousness. However, in order to do this we must shed our egos.

Removing the blocks to our awareness of Love’s presence

The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.

Introduction, A Course In Miracles

The purpose of A Course In Miracles is to help us remove the obstacles and barriers to our awareness of Love’s presence. We are told that the awareness of the presence of Love is our natural inheritance.

The big barriers and obstacles to our awareness of Love’s presence is our search outside ourselves for things that will make us happy. It usually takes many years and a lot of effort and energy expended to finally realize that outside ourselves in the world of the ego is not where happiness is to be found.

 In step one of Alcoholic Anonymous it is suggested that we finally admit that we are powerless to make ourselves happy by acquiring and using the things of the external world. This persistence in acquiring things and becoming attached to them only gives rise to pain and suffering and has made our lives unmanageable. Finally we realize as is described in step two that there is a Power greater than ourselves that can restore us to sanity. This Power is experienced as Love’s presence within.

In Unitarian Universalism we affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, but for most people this search takes us on a wild goose chase. The old saying, ‘if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there” applies to this searching. What is it, aftercall, that we are searching for? Jesus was clear when asked where His kingdom lies. Jesus said that the kingdom of God lies within. Indeed, Love’s presence is within us. It is the idols of the world that are barriers and obstacles to this awareness.

Today, it is suggested that we sit quietly and disregard our “monkey mind,” We can calm down, relax, and allow the peace and joy of God’s Unconditional Love to arise in our awareness.

Do you want to take the Course in Miracles?

Do you want to take the Course in Miracles?

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.

Introduction, A Course In Miracles

Today, on UU A Way Of Life, we are beginning our study of the text of A Course In Miracles. The third principle of Unitarian Universalism is to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. How is this encouragement to be implemented? One of the ways we do this at UU A Way Of Life ministries is to encourage the study of A Course In Miracles.

There are other ways to encourage spiritual growth and UU A Way Of Life supports these other ways as well. Unitarian Universalism’s third principle is the affirmation and promotion of a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. There are many roads to Rome as they say and A Course In Miracles is only one road. It is the road UU A Way Of Life ministries is choosing to take at this time. You are welcome to join us.

In the introduction to ACIM it is taught that life is a process of learning and we can learn what we want when we want to learn it. However, there is a basic curriculum which establishes what we have to learn sooner or later as we wish and choose. The point is that we can choose when to learn the curriculum but we don’t get to choose the curriculum itself.

What is the curriculum we have to learn sooner or later? It is two things. First, at our birth into a body, we have separated ourselves from the non dualistic Oneness from which we emerged. Second, we spend a lifetime first constructing the separate self we believe is real and then undoing it as we merge back to the non dualistic oneness from which we came. 

The construction of the illusionary self was an unconscious process and becoming aware of what we have done, we decide to undo it which is a conscious decision. It is this conscious decision to undo our ego that entails the curriculum which we must take sooner or later, come hell or high water.

This decision to undo the ego usually comes about when it dawns on us that there must be a better way to lead our lives than what we have been doing up to that point. In Alcoholic Anonymous, this is called “first step work.” The first step reads in part, “We admitted we were powerless...and our lives had become unmanageable.”

Have you ever felt that your life has become unmanageable? Have you then begun a search for a better way to live your life? In what directions and where has this search taken you?

Most people say that they just want to be happy. But what will bring them happiness? Is it the wiles and snares of the ego, or the alignment with their Transcendent Source? And if you decide it is the latter, how does one make this alignment? What have you found helpful so far?

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #365 - The holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

 Lesson #365

The holy instant would I give to you. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

Today, day 365, we arrive at the end of our year-long study of the workbook of A Course In Miracles. If we have done the work suggested, we have no need for further lessons for we have learned that all we need do for peace and happiness is align our willfulness with what we believe is God’s will for us. 

Jesus told us that God’s will for us is unconditional love. When Jesus' disciples asked how they could arrive in God’s kingdom, Jesus said simply, “Love as I have loved.”

In Alcoholic Anonymous, in step twelve, it is suggested that, as a result of our spiritual awakening, we carry the message of the program to others and practice the principles and understandings we have experienced in all our affairs.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. Having come to the realization of our being one with our Transcendent Source, whatever we consider the Transcendent Source to be, we resonate with the inherent worth and dignity of every person and the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Today, and hence forward, we will keep the faith and move forward in peace, confidence, and joy knowing and serving the will of God which is Love.

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #364 - This holy instant would I give to you. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

 Lesson #364

This holy instant would I give to you. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

Having been raised Roman Catholic back in the 1950s and 60s I remember the Latin mass prior to the decision of Vatican II which made it possible for the mass to be said in the vernacular. Many of the Latin phrases I remember, a favorite being “Pax vobiscum”, Peace be with you, and the response was “Et cum spiritu tuo” and with your spirit as well. Today’s lesson: one of the last five of the year-long study of the workbook of A Course In Miracles reminds us that the peace of God is always with us should we choose to recognize it.

In Alcoholic Anonymous, it is suggested that we improve our conscious contact with God as we understand God in step eleven. We do this through prayer, meditation, and mindfulness and extending the peace of God to others..

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which is pursued when we say to one another “Pax vobiscum.” UUs also accept one another and encourage each others’ spiritual growth as stated in principle three of seven.

Today is a day of peace when we put God in charge and shed the illusionary concerns of our egos. Pax vobiscum everybody.

A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson #363 - This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

 Lesson #363

This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

The lesson today is the same as yesterday and the day before that. We are drawing to within two days of the end of the year long ACIM workbook lessons. This lesson is repeated five days in a row because it is so important. What is more important to our salvation than shedding our ego born out of separation and rejoining the Oneness from whence we came and which is the Ground Of Our Being?

In Alcoholic Anonymous the eleventh step encourages us to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand God. This is the purpose of life and what deep down we yearn for although we go off on many other wild goose chases after worldly things we think will make us happy.

In Unitarian Universalism we join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning which can take us hither and yon until we realize that what we seek is within and not without and we begin to become aware of and experience our inherent worth and dignity which comes from the Divine Spark within.

Today, as we have in the two previous days and as we will do tomorrow, it is suggested that we rest in the present with our Transcendent Source and experience the rising of peace and bliss.

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