A Course in Miracles teaches us that “time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic.” (W-pI.158.4:1). We are taught that the hours, days and years that we still count are in effect part of a hallucinatory dream that the seemingly sleeping one Son of God is dreaming. This dream of time is merely a maladaptive attempt to hide from the imagined wrath of the Creator Whom the Son thought He rejected because He craved to experience life as an an autonomous individual, which is impossible if the Oneness of God is the only reality. How could a part of Oneness ever wrench itself from Oneness, no matter how many billions of fragmentary parts are produced? This is the tiny, mad idea that the Course talks about. But as long as the world and the body are still steen as all we have, the dream (the ego thought system, including time) remains intact, and with it all the rejection, attack and murder that constitute the ego thought system of separation from Oneness.
And so everyone who walks this planet has a split mind, wherein both the voices of the ego and that of the Holy Spirit are present. Sadly, 99,9% percent of all people still choose to listen mostly to the voice of the ego, thereby guaranteeing that time winds on wearily. A Course in Miracles is a curriculum that teaches us how to awaken from the dream, by learning how to increasingly listen to that other Voice in the mind: the Holy Spirit, the Voice for Love. Although this Voice will lead to the experience of timeless inner peace, it also ends our precious cherished special individual existence. That’s why we experience such enormous resistance to following up on Jesus’ advice in the text, the Workbook, and the Manual for Teachers. This, by the way, is of no concern to Jesus: he is not bound by time. He knows (and tells us) that everyone is guaranteed to graduate from his course in due time. Our one remaining freedom of choice is to decide when we will accept the Lessons of Love (which are taught in many other spiritual systems as well; the Course is only one from among many thousands of forms of the universal course (M-1.4:2)).
It can be helpful to frequently take some time to ponder the blessings we could experience once we would choose to follow up on Jesus’ advice a bit more diligently; a bit more passionately; a bit more devotedly. After all, if we can intellectually accept that leaving time and space behind will result in eternal inner peace – as spirit, it makes sense to take time to acquire the mindshift that the Course aims at bringing about. So if we look at our everyday lives, what mind characteristics would be helpful to cultivate to speed up this desired (though still resisted) mindshift from selfishness to oneness, from time to timelessness, from misery to inner peace?
Safety. If I can accept that my reality as spirit does not depend on my body and the world, then I can afford to rest in complete safety. Of course I still take care of my body. Of course I still make sure there’s food, shelter and money to pay the taxes. But that’s all part of the dream. Life is only a struggle as long as I see danger around me and I don’t feel safe. The more I can accept the safety that is my inheritance as Son of God, the easier such trivial matters will flow in my life, as many spiritual aspirants can attest to.
Desirelessness. If, outside of time and space, I – as spirit – have all because as the Son of God I am all, there’s nothing lacking to maintain my timeless peace. What, then, remains left for me to desire? This does not mean we should feel guilty about passionately desiring various earthly things, from hobbies to basic necessities such as food and shelter. But has there ever been not enough in your life? It’s okay to still desire this and that. The trick is not to make a big thing about it. It’s not where salvation lies. Desires are kid’s toys that at some point we realize we don’t need anymore and then lay aside, without regret. And don’t be upset if that process seems to take a lifetime. Time isn’t linear after all.
Defenselessness. If I – as spirit – am safe and have no need for ‘salvific’ desires any more, there’s really no need to attack, condemn, or reject anyone or anything outside me, especially when I realize that all of life combined is the One Son of God and all condemnation is really self-condemnation. To be sure, as long as I still believe my body in time and space is my reality, I need not act as the proverbial doormat. But I can learn to see my judgments a little sooner from ‘above the battleground’, and then quickly choose to forgive myself and to act kindly, that is, without any need to defend myself.
Peacefulness. My ultimate goal here in this particular reincarnation in time and space is to become a beacon of peace all the time. This I can become by conditioning my thought stream to focus on safety, desirelessness and defenselessness. I will forgive myself for still cherishing ego thoughts. I choose these only because I am still too afraid of the Oneness Love of God, which is perfectly understandable. Enlightenment doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a slow process. But what is ‘slow’ in the light of the unreality of time? As a happy learner and a Teacher of God, I can afford to be infinitely patient. And as we know: only infinite patience brings immediate results. Enjoy your awareness of your timeless reality!
See also my “Miracles or Murder: a guide to concepts of A Course in Miracles“. This guidebook, endorsed by Gary and Cindy Renard, was published in March 2016 by Outskirts Press and is available at Amazon.com:
See my Feb. 2020 Course workshop on YouTube called “A kingdom to rule” (English captions/subtitles available).
Dutch visitors may also be interested in this Dutch page: ikzoekvrede.nl.
Miracles or Murder 