PART II. SECTION 6: WHAT IS THE CHRIST?
Lesson 278 If I Am Bound, My Father Is Not Free
- If I accept that I am prisoner within a body, in a world in which all things that seem to live appear to die, then is my Father prisoner with me. And this do I believe, when I maintain the laws the world obeys that I must obey; the frailties and the sins which I perceive are real and cannot be escaped. If I am bound in any way, I do not know my Father nor my Self. And I am lost to all reality. For truth is free, and what is bound is not a part of truth.
- Father, I ask for nothing but the truth. I have had many foolish thoughts about myself and my creation and have brought a dream of fear into my mind. Today I would not dream. I choose the way to You instead of madness and instead of fear. For truth is safe, and only love is sure.[1]
This morning I woke up with my mind in a whirl. I had slept later than I like. I had three blog posts to catch up on today. There were emails to respond to and prayers to be said. I had a mound of receipts to enter into our accounting program. My closet is in a state of disarray waiting for me to put away my summer wardrobe and sort out the fall/winter one. The whole house could use a good dusting and mopping…and my son is picking me up by 3:30 today to go for a hike, which I have mixed feelings about going on.
As I lay there dreading getting out of bed and yet yearning for a cup of coffee, I experienced a bit of anxiety – how could I ever do everything that God is calling me to do when I feel heavy, tired, and craving more sleep? Am I really hearing the Voice for God in my life? Can any of this be real? Oh dear Lord, I prayed, let my mind be free of all that is not of Your love, Your peace, Your calm, Your joy. I clear the altar of my mind. I want only You and what You have for me.
Only a moment later James appeared with a cup of coffee just the way I like it. Instead of launching into a description of everything he plans to do today as he normally does, we began to discuss the spiritual concepts of quietness that Ervin Laszlo writes about in his book, What is Reality? The New Map of Cosmos, Consciousness, and Existence. We shared some thoughts about a bible passage that my mother had claimed when she prayed for an ailment James had suffered years ago. One of her favorites, was “By His stripes ye are healed,” and we pondered the meaning of this even as we realized that the humiliation, pain, and suffering of the crucifixion itself stands for the unreality of the body, the meaningless of all symbols that would lift themselves up against God, and that our healing comes from the peaceful, calm tranquility field in which everything is holy, perfect, and pure and there is One certain Voice in place of the multitude.
Last year’s post spoke to my heart and so I share the prayer and the message again here in a slightly revised form. Join with me in prayer using your own words from your own heart, mind, and experiences:
Dear Heavenly Father, I no longer accept my reality as a body or my Self as a prisoner to this fleshy mound of clay. You did not place me in a world where chaos, drama, suffering, and death are sources of delight and entertainment. This is a nightmare that would stand in place of Your perfect love and peace and joy. I will never find You in a world of perpetual demands, limited time and resources, infirmity, imprisonment, and certain death. You are not the Creator of this world and this is not of Your doing! If I would believe such a thing, I could do nothing but deny my Father and my Self out of sheer and utter fear and loathing. Thank You, Father, for the truth, the truth that sets us free and releases us from false beliefs in the nightmare world and the nightmare gods we made as substitute for You. In the name of Jesus with Whom we are one. Amen.
Today we ask for nothing but the truth! The ego gives us multi-varied theories about ourselves and our creation. Who are we? Where did we come from? What is the purpose of our being? Enquiring minds down through recorded history ask these questions of their priests, prophets, seers, shamans, and scientists. There are thousands upon thousands of paths to follow to the truth – every religion upon the face of the earth has a slightly different take on their gospels; scientists have their theories; shamans have their mind-expanding drugs, alternate realities, spiritual guides, and hypnotic states.
Today, however, we want to pass through the mists of dogma, theory, magic, and dreams. We ask for the truth. We go past all the nonsense that would distract and keep us bound. We want to be released from lies, illusions, and vain imaginations. We are no longer bound from the stupor of separation. Today we are free to walk the path of love. Today we awake to truth. We are Sons of God, made in the likeness of our Father, and in Him we find our liberty, our freedom, and Home.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 278. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 435.
Audio credit: the friar patch @ http://www.eckiefriar.com
the friar patch 