"THAT THE GREATEST EVIL IN MAN IS THE NOT KNOWING GOD."

1. "Whither are you carried, O Men, drunken with drinking strong Wine of Ignorance? which seeing you cannot bear, why do you vomit it up again?

2. Stand, and be sober and look up again with the Eyes of your heart, and if you cannot all do so, yet do so many as you can.

3. For the malice of Ignorance surroundeth all the Earth, and corrupteth the Soul, shut up in the Body, not suffering it to arrive at the Havens of Salvation.

4. Suffer not yourselves to be carried with the Great Stream, but stem the tide you that can lay hold of the Haven of Safety, and make your full course towards it.

5. Seek one that may lead you by the hand, and conduct you to the door of Truth and Knowledge, where the clear Light is that is pure from Darkness, where there is not one drunken, but all are sober, and in their heart look up to him, whose pleasure it is to be seen.

6. For he cannot be heard with ears, nor seen with eyes, nor expressed in words; but only in mind and heart.

7. But first thou must tear to pieces, and break through the garment thou wearest, the web of Ignorance; the foundation of all Mischief; the bond of Corruption; the dark Coverture; the living Death; the sensible Carcass; the Sepulchre, carried about with us; the domestical Thief, which in what he loves us, hates us, envies us.

8. Such is the inebriated stupor of Apparel, wherewith thou are clothed, which draws and pulls thee downward by its own self, lest looking upward and seeing the beauty of Truth, and the Good that is reposed therein, thou shouldst hate the wickedness of this Garment and understand the traps and ambushes which it hath laid for thee.

9. Therefore doth it labour to make good those things that seem, and are by the senses, judged and determined; and the things that are truly, it hides, and envelopeth in much matter, filling what it presents unto thee, with hateful pleasure, that thou canst neither hear what thou shouldst hear, nor see what thou shouldst see.

- "The Eighth Book of Hermes Trismegistus"
in The Divine Pymander, 2300 BC

The Declaration of Independence - IN GOD, July 4^th

The brotherhood of men is based on the Fatherhood of God. When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people, united in singular purpose, to declare the certainty of God and thus dissolve the chains which have bound nations and people to worldly laws which no longer serve, and to assume the responsibility of Saviorship in recognition that every individual has within himself the inherent power of God, given to him both on Heaven and on earth, to change his mind and thus change the world.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that this one people, Teachers of God, should declare the causes which impel them to the restoration from separation to wholeness.

The Kingdom of Heaven, the Divine Government, is founded on the unalterable Fact of Divine Sovereignty - God is Love and therefore so is every individual regardless of circumstances, race, creed, economics or religion.

The peace of God in the hearts of individuals will create unity (though not necessarily uniformity) because while a universal theology is impossible, a universal experience will foster a new common purpose in the minds of those who have felt the peace of God.

We, therefore, the Teachers of God, Assembled and Ordained, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the recognition of our intentions, do, in the Name of Jesus Christ, and by Authority of God, happily publish and declare, that we are free. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance and total dependence on God, we mutually pledge to each other the dissolution of our individual wills that we may do the work of the Father.

We willingly dedicate our lives to God, our Father in Heaven, that His Will may be accomplished and His Kingdom reestablished that all people may come into the recognition that God is Love, and their minds restored to perfection.

-By Lisa Natoli

In every difficulty, all distress, and each perplexity Christ calls to you and gently says, "My brother, choose again." He would not leave one source of pain unhealed, nor any image left to veil the truth. He would remove all misery from you whom God created altar unto joy. He would not leave you comfortless, alone in dreams of hell, but would release your mind from everything that hides His face from you.

His Holiness is yours because He is the only power that is real in you. His strength is yours because He is the Self that God created as His only Son.

Learn, then, the happy habit of response to all temptations:
I am as God created me. His Son can suffer nothing. And I am His Son.

Thus is Christ's strength invited to prevail, replacing all your weakness with the strength that comes from God and that can never fail. And thus are miracles as natural as fear and agony appeared to be before the choice for holiness was made. For in that choice are false distinctions gone, illusory alternatives laid by, and nothing left to interfere with truth.

You are as God created you, and so is every living thing you look upon, regardless of the images you see. What you behold as sickness and as pain, as weakness and as suffering and loss, is but temptation to perceive yourself defenseless and in hell.

Yield not to this, and you will see all pain, in every form, wherever it occurs, but disappear as mists before the sun. A miracle has come to heal God's Son, and close the door upon his dreams of weakness, opening the way to his salvation and release.

Choose once again what you would have him be, remembering that every choice you make establishes your own identity as you will see it and believe it is.

-Jesus Christ, A Course in Miracles

Yesterday and today's lessons are so completely helpful and beautiful, that I am posting the whole lesson of today here.  I highly recommend also reading lesson 183, "I Call Upon God's Name and on my Own".  This is all you would ever need to know to fully awaken in your shining eternal reality and to be happy, each and every moment.  Wow!  We are SO UNBELIEVABLY LUCKY to have this Course in Miracles...with Love, Kristen

You live by symbols. You have made up names for everything you see. Each one becomes a separate entity, identified by its own name. By this you carve it out of unity. By this you designate its special attributes, and set it off from other things by emphasizing space surrounding it. This space you lay between all things to which you give a different name; all happenings in terms of place and time; all bodies which are greeted by a name.

This space you see as setting off all things from one another is the means by which the world’s perception is achieved. You see something where nothing is, and see as well nothing where there is unity; a space between all things, between all things and you. Thus do you think that you have given life in separation. By this split you think you are established as a unity which functions with an independent will.

What are these names by which the world becomes a series of discrete events, of things un-unified, of bodies kept apart and holding bits of mind as separate awarenesses? You gave these names to them, establishing perception as you wished to have perception be. The nameless things were given names, and thus reality was given them as well. For what is named is given meaning, and will then be seen as meaningful, a cause of true effects, with consequence inherent in itself.

This is the way reality is made by partial vision, purposefully set against the given truth. Its enemy is wholeness. It conceives of little things, and looks upon them. And a lack of space, a sense of unity or vision which sees differently become the threats which it must overcome, conflict with and deny.

Yet does this other vision still remain a natural direction for the mind to channel its perception. It is hard to teach the mind a thousand alien names and thousands more. Yet you believe this is what learning means; its one essential goal by which communication is achieved and concepts can be meaningfully shared.

This is the sum of the inheritance the world bestows. And everyone who learns to think that it is so accepts the signs and symbols which assert the world is real. It is for this they stand. They leave no doubt that what is named is there. It can be seen, as is anticipated. What denies that it is false is but illusion, for it is the ultimate reality. To question it is madness; to accept its presence is the proof of sanity.

Such is the teaching of the world. It is a phase of learning everyone who comes must go through. But the sooner he perceives on what it rests, how questionable are its premises, how doubtful its results, the sooner does he question its effects. Learning which stops with what the world would teach stops short of meaning. In its proper place, it serves but as a starting point from which another kind of learning can begin, a new perception can be gained, and all the arbitrary names the world bestows can be withdrawn as they are raised to doubt.

Think not you made the world. Illusions, yes! But what is true in earth and Heaven is beyond your naming. When you call upon a brother, it is to his body that you make appeal. His true identity is hidden from you by what you believe he really is. His body makes response to what you call him, for his mind consents to take the name you give him as his own. And thus his unity is twice denied, for you perceive him separate from you, and he accepts this separate name as his.

It would indeed be strange if you were asked to go beyond all symbols of the world, forgetting them forever; yet were asked to take a teaching function. You have need to use the symbols of the world a while. But be you not deceived by them as well. They do not stand for anything at all, and in your practicing it is this thought that will release you from them. They become but means by which you can communicate in ways the world can understand, but which you recognize is not the unity where true communication can be found.

Thus what you need are intervals each day in which the learning of the world becomes a transitory phase; a prison house from which you go into the sunlight and forget the darkness. Here you understand the Word, the Name Which God has given you; the One Identity Which all things share; the one acknowledgment of what is true. And then step back to darkness, not because you think it real, but only to proclaim its unreality in terms which still have meaning in the world which darkness rules.

Use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness. Yet accept them not as your reality. The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does not forget creation has One Name, One Meaning, and a single Source Which unifies all things within Itself. Use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet do not forget they share the Name of God along with you.

God has no name. And yet His Name becomes the final lesson that all things are one, and at this lesson does all learning end. All names are unified; all space is filled with truth’s reflection. Every gap is closed, and separation healed. The Name of God is the inheritance He gave to those who chose the teaching of the world to take the place of Heaven. In our practicing, our purpose is to let our minds accept what He has given as the answer to the pitiful inheritance you made as fitting tribute to the Son He loves.

No-one can fail who seeks the meaning of the Name of God. Experience must come to supplement the Word. But first you must accept One Name for all reality, and realize the many names you gave its aspects have distorted what you see but have not interfered with truth at all. One Name we bring into our practicing. One Name we use to unify our sight.

And though we use a different name for each awareness of an aspect of God’s Son, we understand that they have but One Name, Which He has given them. It is this Name we use in practicing. And through Its use, all foolish separations disappear which kept us blind. And we are given strength to see beyond them. Now our sight is blessed with blessings we can give as we receive.


 Father, our Name is Yours. In It we are united with all living things
and You Who are their One Creator. What we made and call by
many different names is but a shadow we have tried to cast across
Your Own Reality. And we are glad and thankful we were wrong. All
our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved of all effects our
errors seemed to have. And we accept the truth You give in place of
every one of them. Your Name is our salvation and escape from what
we made. Your Name unites us in the Oneness which is our
inheritance and peace.
Amen.

-Lesson 184, A Course in Miracles

You can't escape love. Once you touch it you get lost. Nothing ever exists that can come out again. Everything is discharged and becomes That itself. When the river enters the ocean it does not return.

The river entering the ocean asks, "Will I always be like this?" What a joke.

The wave is afraid. "I want to forever remain a wave." The fear in the mind of the wave is: "I will be lost!" Where will it go? Even if it is lost, where can it go and what will it become? When the wave form is lost, it returns to its source. Ocean she was, ocean she is, ocean she will be. There is no time concept at all. Time is only in the mind of an ignorant person. In light and wisdom there is no such notion that "I am separate." All is unity, love, and beauty. There is no escape. Ignorance is gone. This is eternal life. This is nectar.

Even though you are That itself, still some undercurrent is working.. .to be more...moving closer to Love itself. That I cannot describe unless someone has had that experience, and can agree that there is no end to it. If it is fathomless, this love process is also fathomless. It is never-ending. It will go on increasing, like an undercurrent. Like the river discharging into the ocean.

Some say, "All is over. You don't need to do anything more. And there is no further experience."

But I feel there is still movement, because it is fathomless, fathomlessness.

-Papaji
Wake Up & Roar Vol.2 p.170-171