“It is as though you wandered in without a plan of any kind except to wander off, for only that seems certain.”     …ACIM

There’s something inside of each of us, an inquisitive something, that senses we are not what the world tells us we are. The ego rambles on unceasingly, determined to convince us that we’re not what, nor who, we really are. Even though most of us unconsciously accept what the world and our egos teach us about ourselves, there’s something within that can’t quite accept it.

This inquisitive and nearly inconspicuous thought keeps bugging us ever so slightly, which, sometimes, causes us to pause and ask one, or some, or all of the following questions: who am I? What am I? Where am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? How did I get here? At these times, when we’re prompted to ask these questions, it just seems as though what we’ve been taught about ourselves makes no sense at all.

“The idea of birth into a body has no meaning either once or many times.”   …ACIM

The part that seems to make the least sense is the idea that we had our beginning at conception, or at the time of physical birth. This something within us questions this idea, and silently concludes that it simply cannot be true. The above quote from The Course is used in connection with the subject of reincarnation. I mention this here because I want you to be sure I’m not using a quote out of context. The idea contained in it is universal in its meaning, and simply informs that the idea of birth into a body has no meaning.

This information in itself raises more questions, such as; how could I have not been born into a body; I’m here, am I not; my body is here, am I not in it? The answers to these question, once again, comes face-to-face with your beliefs concerning whether you perceive yourself as a Spiritual being, or a physical being. 

The urging to make this decision remains repetitive on this blog because of its importance to perception. For as Jesus points out in The Course; “what you decide in this determines all you see and think is real and hold as true.” Those who see themselves as physical beings will find it extremely difficult to accept the idea that they didn’t have their beginning either at conception, or at the birth of the body.

“Birth was not the beginning and death is not the end.”    …ACIM

For those who recognize that all life is spiritual, and none is physical, accepting the idea that there is no beginning nor ending will be a lot easier.

Oh, I can hear the remarks of astonishment now. “What?? No life is physical? What are you trying to tell me? Are you trying to tell me that there is no life on this planet?” 

And my answer is; no, I’m not trying to tell you that at all; how silly would that be? Life is where ever God is, and He is everywhere, but He is not in physical form. That which we see with the body’s eyes and perceive as living is an illusion. God did not create life to die, and everything physical is destined to do just that. Therefore, it cannot be life. As The Course points out: “If death is real for anything, there is no life. Death denies life, but if there is reality in life, death is denied. No compromise in this is possible.”

“The introduction of reason into the ego’s thought system is the beginning of its undoing. For reason and the ego are contradictory. Nor is it possible for them to co-exist in your awareness.”   …ACIM

The Power of Reason is an attribute that God Himself placed in our minds when we attempted to separate ourselves from Him. He placed it there to help us – when we’re ready – to return Home. To help us escape the madness and enslavement brought about by our decision to be separate from Him, and follow our own little, imagined god; i.e., the ego.

This inconspicuous little something that keeps whispering its doubts about the reality of our past learning will not seem as little or inconspicuous when we learn that it’s none other than the Power of Reason. As the above quote informs us, the ego and reason cannot be in our awareness at the same time. That’s why it seems so dim and barely audible to us; we have allowed the ego to take its place in our minds.

The ego wants to get rid of reason completely, because it knows that it cannot survive in its presence. But it cannot do so because God Himself placed it in our minds. But that being said, with all its rancorous blabbering, loud shrieks and ramblings the ego is capable of drawing our attention away from it. And as long as we allow it to continue doing this, reason’s voice will remain at a barely audible level. It still can be heard dimly as something, even though we don’t know what it is. 

“Where God created life, there life must be. In any state apart from Heaven, life is illusion.”     …ACIM

The world teaches that Heaven is a place. It has no clue as to where this place is, except that it’s out there, or up there, somewhere. It also teaches that this place called Heaven can only be accessed through death. It’s where the good people go when they die. But this kind of teaching requires an opposite; for how can there be a heaven reserved for the good people without a place for the bad?

The Course always teaches the exact opposite of what this world and our egos teach us. This is so because its mission is to correct error, not extend it. It plainly informs us that Heaven is not a place nor a condition. It is merely an awareness of perfect Oneness and the knowledge that there is nothing else; nothing outside this Oneness and nothing else within.

Quite often I revert back, simply as a reminder, to something The Course teaches about itself, which is this: This course will be believed entirely or not at all. For it is wholly true or wholly false and cannot be but partially believed. I’ve been studying it going on seven years, and the more I study it and practice its teachings the more convinced I become of its truth. Therefore when it tells me that, in any state apart from Heaven, life is illusion, I accept it.

But still, I don’t accept is simply because The Course tells me it’s true. I also listen to what my Power of Reason tells me, and it tells me that God is synonymous with life. In order for life to die, God would have to die, and that’s such an outrageous thought that it’s not worth a second glance. Only those wrapped completely in the ego could even consider such a happening.

Even so, when we look around this physical world, it seems as though death is everywhere. It’s the belief of the world that all things born into it are born for just that purpose – they are born to die. But reason brings this belief to question, and sees it as an impossibility. If it’s an impossibility but yet seems to happen, then it can be no other than illusion.

I’m going to close this short post with a relatively long quote from A Course in Miracles: “When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Many think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind.”   …ACIM 

 

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I really and truly appreciate you visiting this blog – Thank you

As much as you can, keep thinking positive 

You’ll find that life is better that way.