Light

Light: 

I will there be light. (ACIM, W-73)

and there it is, the central plan of A Course in Miracles, casting light upon a world made dark by our own deepest grievances and judgements. Once, in my earlier Course days, this felt like an impossibility, or at best, a by passing technique that never truly addressed by darkest thoughts. The truth was, and sometimes still, is that I felt justified, even comforted by my darkness. 

it was just easier to blame others.

I love the Course lessons that give me a workable plan, an on the spot mantra that works to the bone of the matter and offers me a different view of a darkened world. But it's not easy, not at first and sometimes not later after years of practice either. But it's always worth the effort to truly see the light that shines from the world, being given back my own illumination through the willingness of seeing yours. 

Your picture of the world can only mirror what is within. ²The source of neither light nor darkness can be found without. ³Grievances darken your mind, and you look out on a darkened world. ⁴Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts your will, and lets you look upon a world of light. ⁵We have repeatedly emphasized that the barrier of grievances is easily passed, and cannot stand between you and your salvation. ⁶The reason is very simple. ⁷Do you really want to be in hell? (ACIM, W-73.5:1-7)

so it's our thoughts that are the source of darkness.

our grievances have literally created hell.

and yet light is present.

love.

³I will there be light. ⁴Darkness is not my will. (ACIM, W-73.11:3-4)

and with this we'll meet in heaven.

right here.

now.

~

I love you, Eric 

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Teachers

Teacher:

and so complexities drop, thoughts soften to the point of holding almost only kindness, and I feel that now my truest practice just has just begun. I am a teacher of God at last, not because of any level reached nor moving past my own curriculum - but because I'm open to learn my hardest lessons with a grace that seemed largely absent before. 

I'm a teach of God because I wish to only demonstrate forgiveness. 

and nothing more.

~

I love you, Eric 

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Bookend

Bookend:

it doesn't take much time and it's not a complicated meditation or prayer - we're only asked to give the littlest time to God each morning and once again before the day closes. Indeed, it's the simplest thing to do. I've had a meditation practice for decades, mantra based, ancient lineage, and invaluable to my own lifestyle. However, my first waking moments and my closing thoughts for the day are given to God, sort of a preamble into my more formal meditation practice. 

and in between,

There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day. ²It is a thought of pure joy; a thought of peace, a thought of limitless release, limitless because all things are freed within it (ACIM, M-16.6:1-2)

so my life is a bookend with thoughts of God between. 

a prayer, really.

everyday.

~

I love you, Eric 

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My Answer

My answer:

yesterday I was asked about my own practice, why there was suddenly health issues in play when I talk of forgiveness, prayer, meditation, and yoga. My reply was instant and straightforward, no sense giving a long explanation to a very simple query:

life.

no one is immune from whatever lesson that presents itself. Life still happens, illness, sorrow, loss and grief are part of being alive. I don't know of any spiritual master who escaped any of those issues and it doesn't seem to me that escape was their lesson to teach at all. I'm a vegan, a yogi, lifelong athlete. I teach and practice meditation and breathwork. I'm sincere in my practice. 

and sometimes I get sick.

I'm pretty fortunate to largely have good health, exceptional in so many ways. Right now there's a few issues that have laid my low but physically I'm still strong and fit. Emotionally there's been a bit of a struggle but that's not entirely new. There's been addiction in my past and a history of depression. I've navigated both pretty well. Sober for over 25 years, and even through periods of depression - my life is largely joyful. 

All things are lessons God would have me learn. (ACIM, W-193)

here's the thing, my simplest of answers.

my life is dedicated to forgiveness.

things happen, I don't know why, and yes, sometimes I do question them. But I know their purpose, there's a plan already in place for whenever anything occurs.

Forgive, and you will see this differently. (ACIM, W-193.5:1)

and that's my answer.

~

I love you, Eric

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Quietly Surrerended

Quietly surrendered:

I can't say that I live a completely surrendered life, one fully devoted to listening only to the voice of love guiding me through the day. There are still insistent demands of the ego that I give into, sometimes following darker thoughts to unpleasant places in my mind. 

but there's a way that leads me home.

always.

and more often than ever now I don't go down those paths at all. 

my day begins with three questions:

³What would You have me do?
⁴Where would You have me go?
⁵What would You have me say, and to whom? (ACIM, W-71.9:3-5)

these questions echo through my mind over the course of the day, a background thought track that urges me to pause and simply listen to a softer voice that the one I've mistaken for my own. This is my Jhana yoga practice, a continuous self inquiry that points to my true nature. What I've discovered is that asking these questions brings me to a natural pause, a brief repast that stops the mental chatter. They bring me to a place of spaciousness, aware, genuinely curious for answers.

willingness.

three questions, and perhaps just asking them them is an act of trust.

so maybe it's a devoted life,

afterall. 

quietly surrendered.

~

I love you, Eric

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Safe Harbors

Safe harbors:

it's funny, even as my life clearly becomes more orientated towards A Course in Miracles, a livelihood earned by sharing it's message on my YouTube channel, lessons and text studied to the point where they often seem to spontaneously work through everyday life - 

and at the very same time I feel so free from the Course as well.

it's the Presence that matters now. 

the Course is my anchor, a safe harbor that keeps me from drifting to close to the stormy seas of ego's complete control. It still repeatedly leads me home. My daily life is filled with it's words. But it's the Voice that guides me now, more clearly than ever, and it often leads me to other safe harbors as well. Briefly though, healing points that feel much needed until I'm asked to let them go too. 

above all else,

here's what I'm told to do....

Simply do this: Be still, and lay aside all thoughts of what you are and what God is; all concepts you have learned about the world; all images you hold about yourself. ²Empty your mind of everything it thinks is either true or false, or good or bad, of every thought it judges worthy, and all the ideas of which it is ashamed. ³Hold onto nothing. ⁴Do not bring with you one thought the past has taught, nor one belief you ever learned before from anything. ⁵Forget this world, forget this course, and come with wholly empty hands unto your God. (ACIM, W-189.7:1-5)

it seems the details of what I do don't really matter.

life is still happening.

yet I no longer fight to be the one in control.

at least not as often.

I'm guided to those safe harbors.

there's a voice that always leads me home.

~

I love you, Eric

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A Favorite Reminder

I do not know what anything is for. (ACIM, W-25)

the above lesson from A Course in Miracles is as true to me today as it was when I first picked up the Course so many years ago. These days it's become a favorite reminder for me, a zen point in which I reset my ego's certainty and instead ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. Yes, there's still a rush to seek judgement, an immediate sense that I do know exactly what a situation or person is for in any given moment. But it's not as lasting or as harsh as it once was, a softer response always makes itself known with a gentle reminder to pause and reconsider. 

this is how so much of life has become a consistent meditation. 

pause.

remembering to ask.

a reassignment of purpose and meaning. 

forgiving. 

and so my life day's go on.

~

I love you, Eric

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