Love and fear in A Course in Miracles

Love is Reality and fear is illusion.

A Course in Miracles makes this clear distinction in the Introduction, which is only half a page long but it summarises the meaning of the course. Here is the second half of the Introduction:

“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.

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”

When we think too much about the idea of love being the only thing that is real, it is easy to come up with objections to why this is clearly not the case. However, I urge you to think about what is really meaningful in your life, beyond the problems you might be worrying about on a normal day. We usually realise that the moments that really mattered are the ones filled with love, compassion and joy.

We usually don’t remember what started that argument we had a year ago, which seemed so important at the time, but we do remember how it felt when we shared a moment of joy and love with someone or received acts of compassion.  Those are the moments when we experience what is real, and it cannot be threatened.

A Course in Miracles refers to these moments as The Holy Instant. If we remember how we felt in those moments and consciously bring that state of mind into the present more often we can train our minds into extending the holy instant and make it a more frequent occurrence in our lives.

The Course is not often encouraging you to delve into the past or future, because this can bring despair if we remember bad things that have happened or anticipate bad things that can happen in the future. It can still be useful to go into the past to remember the ‘real’ moments so that we can be reminded to recreate them in the present.

Or in my interpretation it can be useful to look back in order to process unhealed trauma which, although it seems very real, is a result of fearful thoughts, either our own or other’s. There is one line that can be useful in relation to this and that’s: “Look at the cross, but do not dwell on it.” But more on that in another post…

The Divine Masculine and the True King Archetype

If we are going to talk about the divine feminine we also need to pay attention to her counterpart, the divine masculine. He can be found within ourselves as well as in other people around us.

The divine masculine energy holds space for the divine feminine to create and bloom. It’s strong but it doesn’t push its own agenda or try to control surroundings. It creates the practical circumstances and safe spaces for us to reach our highest potential. It opens doors and wants to be of service to the divine feminine creative force. Not in a subservient way but in co-creation.

This is where the true King archetype is. It is no coincidence that Yeshua (Jesus) is called a king because that is what he embodied. He was Christ Consciousness (the anointed), devoted to the Divine.

Kings don’t put other people down or control (this is the Weakling - passive shadow of the King Archetype - the shadow masculine, which is unfortunately something that is highly present in this world). Kings lift people and his surroundings up. It requires a sacrifice of the small self, or ego, for the good of others and it’s what Kara Gillighan calls a warrior art.

We all have this within us but sometimes we come across people who seem to embody this more than others. They are the true Kings of this world but are usually not seen in that way because they don’t hold themselves up as that.

Art by John Bauer

The message of the crucifixion...

When Yeshua went through the most gruesome, horrible human trial that anyone can go through, he found peace, love and forgiveness in the middle of it. For me the lesson is this, if he could do that in the face of violent death, and as the story (or myth if you like) goes, even overcame physical death, then we can find love, peace and forgiveness in every little ego death and less severe human trials that we face every day. He was here to show us this through the most extreme example.

Simply put:

"The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear: Teach only love, for that is what you are. If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you are using it as a weapon for assault rather than as the call for peace for which it was intended."

~ A Course in Miracles

One Day...

One day all that is hidden will be clear as day.

What now resides in the land of dusk

will shine in the light of dawn.

How easy our path will be,

carrying us swiftly to that holy place

where we finally belong.

~ My own translation from Swedish of a poem by my great-uncle Lasse Forsberg

Art by Michael Pickett

Awakening

We are all different faces of the same God, playing out different roles and experiences, equally loved by the one Source.

We relate more to some than others because of similarity in energy and frequency, but we are all one.

It’s a dream, a play. Some of us wake up in the dream, becoming conscious of our oneness with Spirit, which is infinite Love, and with everyone else.

We still play our roles and might even play around in different roles within one lifetime, all the while conscious when doing it.

This is awakening. Nothing more, nothing less…

Maria Magdalena

I went for a wintry walk in central Stockholm this week, my home town since last year, and also the city where I was born. I have never lived here as an adult until now so I am still learning my bearings. I was with my mum who planned for us to walk to a specific cafe she likes.

When we got there and sat down by the window I looked across the street at the large church building we just passed, situated just opposite the cafe. Nothing peculiar about it. Stockholm is full of old churches. Even so, I asked my mum what the name of the church is (she knows almost everything about Stockholm). She said most churches in Stockholm are named after old Swedish kings and queens, but this one is an exception.

The name of the church: Maria Magdalena.

I smiled to myself and thought ‘Of course it is’. I have been on a Magdalene awakening path for some time, reading books, listening to teachings, but lately she’s been with me more acutely, sending me clear signs, because I asked her to.

After coffee we went inside the church and because I have become so aware of Magdalene/Grail symbolism I saw it straight away: Fleur-de-lis, the Knights Templar cross, roses, pentacles. I feel like I now have ‘eyes to See’ when even a few years ago I wouldn’t have to the same extent.

I’m excited to continue looking and seeing.

Art by Linzy Arnott ~ Mary Magdalene

Saint Lucia ~ The Light Bringer

Tomorrow 13th December is the Feast Day of Saint Lucia or Saint Lucy. She is saint and early Christian martyr who lived between the years 283 AD and 304 AD in Syracuse on the island of Sicily in the Roman Empire. Her name comes form the latin word lux meaning light.

As a context to this, the Christianity that existed in the first 3 centuries AD was not the Christianity that we know and have seen in the last 1700 years.

The Roman Empire officially adopted Christianity in 380 AD and it was granted legal status by the emperor Constantine only about 70 years before that. This was the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church and all of the institutional religious Christianity that followed.

So in that context, Lucia lived before this time, and was one of the last martyrs to die in the last persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire (not the last ever persecution of Christians).

The Christianity before 300 AD was naturally closer to the original teachings, and had more in common with Gnostic thought, although there were already groups who had a more in common with Orthodox Christianity.

In many ways, Christianity was an underground grass roots movement and they met in secret in the Catacombs (underground tunnels). There are also records of women being bishops in the early Christian communities but this is another story for another post. The heavily patriarchal aspect came later.

The irony is that Lucia became a saint in the very same Catholic Church that would possibly have seen her and her peers as heretics if she would have lived later.

The story goes that Lucia came from a wealthy Christian family but was promised to marry a non-Christian when her father died and the family was without a male guardian. She instead vowed to remain unmarried and to give her dowry to Christians who were hiding from persecution in the catacombs.

Lucia wore a crown of candles to light her way through the underground tunnels and brought food to the people hiding. The man who was meant to marry her subsequently reported her to the Roman authorities and they decided to have her sold into slavery as punishment. The legend has it that the guards who came to arrest her were not able to remove her. They then decided to kill her immediately by pouring oil over her and setting her on fire, but she wouldn't burn. They were finally able to kill her by sword. Later stories say that Lucia foretold the end of persecution before her death.

The miraculous things that she did when they tried to kill her, if true, shows that she was a spiritual master. What happened to her shows resemblance to later persecutions of spiritually adept women, and some men, during the Inquisition and the so called Witch Burnings or Burning Times.

If Lucia had lived and been persecuted during the Inquisition she would very likely have been seen as a witch for her spiritual powers. The institutionalised Churches at the time of the Inquisition did not want people to have a direct connection with God or their own Divine Source, what is also called Gnosis - direct experience of the Divine.

Saint Lucia Day has become a lasting tradition in Sweden, my home country, and it has become linked to Jul (Christmas) and advent. Girls dress up as Saint Lucia, with a crown of candles, a white robe like dress and and a red belt to symbolise her martyrdom.

It’s unclear why it has become a tradition here but most probably it’s because she is a light bringer, and because December is so dark and cold in Scandinavia, this is very welcomed.

13th December used to fall on the Winter Solstice, which is now 21st December. There may also be links to the Norse goddess Sol or Sunna, who’s name means sun and represents the return of lighter days.

13th December has been seen in Swedish folk tradition as a night when the veil to the spiritual realm is especially thin. During the celebrations children, and some adults, also dress up as angels or tomtar, a type of elemental beings in Swedish folklore slightly similar to the gnomes. I love and embrace all of the different layers and the syncretism of this holiday.

On the beginning of this particular light portal of December 2020 I invite Saint Lucia to guide us and for the angels and elementals to be present.

Art by Theophilia, Unknown and Lennart Helje

The lesser travelled path of the mystic...

”While the lesser travelled path of the mystic is my preferred choice, I do not invalidate the journey of those pilgrims who have not passed through the internal door of gnosis. It is not a matter of one path being better than the other is. The question becomes: is there a readiness to embrace the same experiences that enlightened Yeshua and his close companions.” (from Anna, Grandmother of Jesus by Claire Heartsong)
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The lesser travelled path of the mystic is also my preferred choice. Sometimes I wish it was different, but there is no going back. The more comfortable path for me would have been to stay in the Christian church tradition that I grew up in. The truth is, sometimes I envy church going Christians who are part of a congregation. They have a community that they can always turn to and they have teachings that seem very established to hold on to when they need support. I respect their commitment to their path and their path is just as valid as mine.
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My path is more lonely, less travelled, less secure but because I stepped onto it knowing that I am never truly alone I will keep going.

Timeline Choice...

Happy Lion's Gate Portal. ✨

What I keep hearing from my teachers and feeling myself is that there are right now two timelines existing simultaneously.

We naturally fluctuate between the two timelines but in every moment you have a choice between the two: one of fear and limitation and one of freedom, love and peace.

Wherever you find yourself at any time is fine but remember that you have a sovereign choice in every moment regardless of the circumstances around you.

The two timelines are both here now, neither of them are separated from this world but the second one requires a vision that looks beyond the veil. It's not out there, it's inside of you.

"This world has much to offer to your peace, and many chances to extend your own forgiveness. Such its purpose is, to those who want to see peace and forgiveness descend on them, and offer them the light." ~A Course in Miracles

You are as God created you...

"You are as God created you. These words dispel the night, and darkness is no more. The light is come today to bless the world. For you have recognized the Son of God, and in that recognition is the world's." (A Course in Miracles)

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I have studied ACIM for six years but the words take on deeper meanings the more my spiritual journey progresses. When we realise our divinity and that God dwells within us, the world also wakes up. Gaia wakes up and starts becoming aware of herself.

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This is the core of lightwork, recognising our own divinity and that we are the 'Son of God', the anointed 'one', as a collective. Everyone has this within them because nothing exists without it. The only difference is that we are blessed to have consciously realised this.

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Artist Unknown

The crucifixion

"The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear: Teach only love, for that is what you are. If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you are using it as a weapon for assault rather than as the call for peace for which it was intended."

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"There is no death. The Son of God is free."

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~ A Course in Miracles

Jesus - Christ/Yeshua - Ascended Master and Guide

Growing up in a Christian family, I have had a relationship with Jesus since I was young, although I could never fully relate to the traditional Christian way of perceiving him.

For me he was someone who became fully identified with spirit while still in an earthly body and can therefore show others how to do the same as a spirit guide and teacher. He is not the only one who has done this and we all have the potential for it.

In A Course in Miracles his role is described like this:

“The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God. So he became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God.”

“Is he the Christ? O yes, along with you.”

“Is he God’s only Helper? No, indeed. For Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognised.”

When I connect with my spirit guides and angels, I don’t ‘see’ them or ‘hear’ them like some might do. Instead I feel them. I have come to recognise the different feelings and vibrations of specific helpers that I work with regularly.

Archangel Michael, along with other angels, gives me a light feeling very much connected to the higher energy centers around my head (although I have also felt my solar plexus activating when connecting with Archangel Michael).

Freja gives me a grounded feeling in my body, connected to strong boundaries and the lower chakras, sacral and root.

I remember once connecting with Jesus Christ strongly during meditation. The feeling I got was of a warm blanket of compassion and unconditional love enveloping me. The part of me that felt most connected was my heart. When my heart center is opening I feel compassion and unconditional love flowing from me and to me and a pleasant pressure on my chest. My eyes also tear up easily.

Jesus can help to connect us to our heart chakra/center, which connects us to ur inner Christ selves. There are other guides that can help with this and Jesus is not the only one. For me, he is someone I have been guided to connect with deeply since I was a child but have only realised as an adult in what way. I will continue to connect with him as one of my closest guides.

I will there be light.

"I will there be light." We have come here to anchor in the frequency of light and unconditional love into our bodies and this planet. We are only beginning to understand what these words mean. It is so much larger than we think. To do this we first bring the shadows to light. They are no more and no less than ourselves inverted. Love will burn through the layers of personal and collective trauma so that a new reality will enter. This is our task and this is what we are here to do. 

(Quote from A Course in Miracles)

Spirituality is not an excuse to bypass the state of the world

I have come across two types of spiritual bypassing when it comes to dealing with suffering in this world.

One type claims that the world is so full of fear and suffering, that this is the true nature of this physical world, that there is nothing we can do about it and that it is not our job to change it. In this view, the only way to escape this suffering is by making sure that when we leave this physical world and body we will not return but instead ascend.

It says in ACIM: "The world is not left by death but by truth, and truth can be known by all those for whom the Kingdom was created, and for whom it awaits." The kingdom of God or the state of heaven is reachable in this world and is created for all of us as our birthright. This state is the state of infinite love, which is the truth of who we are. We cannot erase what we are but we can put up blocks to our true reality of love. So thinking that we are powerless and separate from the consciousness of the world and that we need to leave this world through death to transcend the suffering is really just another type of separation from source.

We are the only ones that can change the world. This will not come in the form of our individual selves changing the minds of every other person on the planet. It is much more intricate than that, and has more to do with energy than with physical interaction. God did not create this physical reality of seeming separation and suffering, our minds did and we can undo it. In ACIM the first step in this undoing is creating a happy dream. This means that the physical world, the dream, will still be our reality but the suffering will be gone. We all have our individual place in this salvation and it starts with seeing ourselves for who we are and having infinate compassion for others.

The second type of spiritual bypassing claims that this physical reality is not the ultimate reality anyway so we do not need to do anything about the suffering that seems to exist. Alternatively we just need to spread love and light and leave it at that. This view tries to sprinkle artificial love and joy over everything and refuses to look at the shadows. Of course most of us know that this does not work, since looking at the shadows and dealing with them is necessary in order to release them and get to the true love that lies beneath. It says in ACIM that "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."

Anyone who is practising Transcendental or Vedic Meditation has been taught that seemingly negative feelings will surface from time to time and that this is part of what the meditation is for, to release old stress and to transcend. To do that we need to accept these feelings arising and look at them. When we do, they are released. This can work on a micro level as well as on a macro level, individually as well as societally. The state of the world, the corruption, racism, sexism, violence, war, environmental destruction and the leaders that we are unhappy with represent suppressed shadows of the collective consciousness that need to be looked at, worked through and released.

Spirituality is not an excuse to bypass the state of the world. Quite the opposite. The people who can see most clearly have a responsibility to fix it. One miracle at a time, a miracle being a shift from fear to love.

Lady Death and the Healed Relationship

In Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés there is a chapter about relationships where Estés talks about the need to invite Lady Death and the Life/Death/Life nature within us into our relationships. She says there is a fear of the death aspect of this process, especially in western cultures. One relationship goes through several cycles of death to be followed by new life, "the necessary deaths and startling births that create true relationship".

Estés writes: "We pretend we can love without our illusions about love dying, pretend we can go on without our superficial expectations dying, pretend we can progress and that our favourite flushes and rushes will never die. But in love, psychically, everything becomes picked apart, everything. The ego does not want it to be so. Yet it is how it is meant to be, and the person of a deep and wildish nature is undeniably drawn to the task."

A Course in Miracles talks about the need to give our special relationships to the Holy Spirit to turn them into holy relationships. This is a process of letting go of our ego illusions about the relationship. The Course likens the special relationship to an ellaborate picture frame, filled with grandiose illusions of what we expect the relationship to be. If we are willing to give these illusions up, the Holy Spirit will transform the relationship to its highest possible potential.

Both books make it clear that many relationships fail or are broken off at the point of it starting to be transformed into a 'true relationship' or 'holy relationship'. The task at hand is simply too much to take on for many people. The Course says that the relationship can seem aimless and disorganized in this process and that the ego at this point tends to want to substiture the seemingly 'failing' relationship for another relationship which fits the former goals that the ego has set out. It takes strength, wisdom and fortitude to continue on and having faith in that the relationship is in fact not failing but has been saved.

In Jay-Z's video 'Footnotes for 4:44' he mentions that Beyoncé and him had built this mansion of a relationship that wasn't built on 100 percent truth. When they realised this they decided to tear the existing relationship structure down and start again. He also says that this is by far the hardest thing he has ever had to do and that most people would give up and walk away instead.

When we realise that the structure of a relationship has illusion in it and that we are focusing on an elaborate frame instead of the picture, the picture being the person, we need to tear the structure down. This means tearing down our ego expectations and let our fancy images die so that a real relationship can take place. This is what Lady Death will do and this is why she scares us. We often don't want to look at the person or ourselves as we really are, in fear of loosing what once was or seemed to be. Nevertheless, it is necessary. Lady Death reminds me of the Hindu goddess Kali who helps us usher in the necessary death of certain things in order to reach the highest good. She not only does this but she also births the new and is the source of all creation. She personifies the Life/Death/Life nature within us.

Lady Death is Kali, and Kali is the Holy Spirit that takes our lives and relationships under her guidance and brings transformation. All she needs is an invite. Without an invitation she cannot do anything for us. The process will not be comfortable and it requires patience, strength, forgiveness and faith. but it is the only way forward towards real love and real connection with ourselves and others, in whatever form it will take.

Who walks beside you...

"Truth has rushed to meet you since you called upon it. If you knew Who walks beside you on the way that you have chosen fear would be impossible."

(A Course in Miracles, Text p. 378)

Tapestry of True Vision

This life is a thread of holy instances if we choose to look on them. Between them are intermittent periods of illusion.

These instances weave together to become a tapestry of recognition and true vision, where only love remains.

These instances connect us to our true selves but it involves recognising the beauty in the other. It requires a radical forgiveness where we insist on the innocence of our companions even when the ego is screaming out their guilt.

There is no escaping this practise. We cannot deny our sister or brother and expect to find ourselves.

The task is to draw out the lines between the points of true recognition, which is unconditional love, until we see the shape of our true essence appear. 

Embodyment

As a student of A Course in Miracles I sometimes use the phrase from the Workbook that says "I am not a body. I am free." to soothe myself away from overidentification with the physical world including my body. I have come to understand that the body is not bad or good but it has no meaning except the one we give it. It can be used for 'holy' or 'unholy' purposes. In other words it can be used to extend love or uphold the illusion of fear. It's our choice.

At the same time I am part of several growing online communities of women who value the divine feminine highly and who approch spirituality through a divine feminine perspective. In these groups the body is often looked to as a highly intelligent spiritual temple that should be celebrated and that can introduce us to our true selves if we listen to its messages.

I have found it hard to reconcile these two perspectives but after thinking about it I have found that they are very closely connected, only expressed in different ways. The Course teaches that the body can be a "beautiful lesson in communion, which has value until communion is". The balance is to try to not go down one of these two paths: overidentification with the world/body or denial of the world/body. Neither is useful. The former creates stress in the body that it is not built to carry and keeps us from realising who we are. The latter keeps us from expressing our full potential in this world and from extending love through the body since we deny the usefulness that the body can have if it is used for these purposes.

So how do we know if we have gone too far into one of these extremes. It says in The Course that "The ego separates through the body. The Holy Spirit reaches through it to others". The Holy Spirit meaning our inner divine guidance system from beyond the physical world that connects us with our divine selves or God. If we ask our inner guidance system, or intuition, how we are meant to use our body for the highest good, guidance will come often in the form of impulses or inspired action. It may also come as emotions, which can be felt physically. This is what listening to the body's messages mean. These messages originate from beyond the physical but is interpreted by our physical body as emotions and sometimes physical sensations.

I had an angel reading last year and the woman who did the reading told me that I need to come into my body more fully. There are different reasons why many people might shy away from fully embodying their physical bodies and fully feel through the body. They might be afraid of the repressed emotions that can come to surface if they allow themselves to be fully in the physical body. Or they might have a misguided view of spirituality that views the body as bad. She told me something along the lines of 'You are not fully in your body because you don't want to feel the feelings of being fully in a human body. Your soul is very harmonious and peaceful but you did not come here to be a lightbody. You came here to show up as a powerful being, or you would not have come here, but you need to actively engage your energy body. You need to allow yourself to ground into your body.' I had been mostly in the state of denial of the body but I know I have also experienced overidentification at times as well as balance.

Marianne Williamson refers to the balance of navigating between the physical and metaphysical worlds as 'Allowing ourselves to dwell within the illusion but carrying with us wisdom from beyond'. In other words, grounding into the physical and being fully in ones body while still knowing on a deep level that I am not of the body. The more I experience that balanced state the more I realise that there is no contradiction in honouring the body temple while still saying "I am not a body. I am free."

"Decide for truth and everything is yours."

I, like many others, want to have more financial freedom. I want to have passive or nearly passive income to be able to have the freedom and time to do the things that I am convinced that I need to do in this lifetime and to give of my gifts freely to others without constantly worrying about income. A recent opportunity that did give me passive income for some time, has proved to not work out in the long run. When reflecting on this I realised that I did get too attached to this particular source of income. Of course when I opened A Course in Miracles on a seemingly random page a couple of days later I got this message:

"Idols are limits. They are the belief that there are forms that will bring happiness, and that, by limiting, is all attained. It is as if you said, "I have no need of everything. This little thing I want, and it will be as everyhing to me." And this must fail to satisfy, because it is your will that everything be yours. Decide for idols and you ask for loss. Decide for truth and everything is yours." (ACIM Text p. 630)

When I am looking for specific answers for situations in my life I tend to find that I get exactly what I want from the Course or some other source. Bear in mind I often open it up on a seemingly random page nowadays and this time was no exception.

Around the same day I was reading Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda where his guru quotes Matthew 6:33 "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Let's just say, I got the message quite clearly. To live a satisfying life, physically, materially, mentally and spiritually, it is best to not get attached to specific outcomes or sources of material satisfaction in this case. If I do, I am asking for loss. These are principles that I have heard over and over again from different sources, but nothing teaches us as effectively as personal experience. It is counter-intuitive to some extent. By not controlling or becoming attached, there is a higher chance of receiving exactly what we need and truly want.

On the other hand we often hear in business and self help circles to 'focus' on what you want to manifest. We can do this but if we are not open to the different forms of how it can and will manifest we limit our capability of receiving it. If the one channel that we are focusing and depending on doesn't work out we have to expand and make ourselves receptive to a wider view. "..it is your will that everything be yours" and "seek ye first the kingdom of God,..., and all these things shall be added unto you" means that if we focus on our true will, which is to know that infinate love is the ultimate truth and and that we are that truth just having a 'physical' experience, things will flow more easily and without too much strain. The more this truth sinks in, the more free I am and the less I limit myself, the higher the chance of being able to receive or give everyting needed at any time.

I am not a body. I am free.

I am not in this body. This body is in me, to be of use as my holy altar for a definite amount of time in the midst of eternity. It is a temporary tool, animated by spirit, used for the purpose of altering this physical reality by reaching into it. Reaching down only to lift up. This body is fully me if I let it be, but I am not it.