“Trials are but lessons which you failed to learn presented once again, so where you made a faulty choice before, you now can make a better one…”    …ACIM

Can it be possible that C.S. Lewis was right when he voiced the opinion contained in the image on the left? The answer to that question is two-fold. Depending upon what we believe about ourselves it can be either yes or no.

“You are and will forever be exactly as you were created.”   …ACIM

Here we see two very obvious contradictions, which are: We are what we believe we are or we will forever be as we were created. It seems the two are in no way compatible  with each other, and so the question is; which one is true? Are we what we believe we are as C.S. Lewis says? Or are we exactly as God created us; changeless and eternal? The answer is, as mentioned above, both of them are true in a sense, for it depends on our beliefs and perspectives.

Nothing is true until we believe it’s true. It matters not how many times we read about it, or hear it said, or who said it, if we don’t believe it, then for us it’s not true. But the opposite of that is true. If we believe something is true, it matters not what others believe about it, for us it’s true. That’s the power of beliefs.

“It is my belief that the only power which can resist the power of fear is the power of love.” 

How fortunate was the South African author Alan Paton? For he believed – not simply hoped, or thought about – but believed that love had more power than fear. And because he believed it he was absolutely right, especially for himself.

Without belief nothing has any meaning. We can hear about the power of love or the power of our thoughts, but until we reach that place where we believe they contain power, it means nothing.

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away”   

Whatever else the American author, Philip Dick, got right in his life I don’t know. But of one thing I am sure, he got it right in the above quote. When it comes to your own reality it doesn’t matter what you may believe about it. Whatever it is, it is, and whatever you believe about it won’t change it.

Wikipedia defines belief as: “The state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with factual certainty.”

I once heard Abraham, that group of non-physical entities who provide blocks of thought to Esther Hicks, who, in turn, translates them into physical language, describe belief something like this: Belief is no more than a bunch of thoughts you keep thinking until they become true for you.

“You see the flesh or recognize the Spirit.”   …ACIM

In this world it seems that to see the flesh doesn’t require anything but physical eyesight; there’s no belief required at all. But the truth is it takes a powerful belief in illusions to see anything in this world of flesh. We have forgotten the enormous effort and gigantic amount of energy it has taken for us to reach this point in our existence. As the Course points out: “The journey into darkness has been long and cruel, and you have gone deep into it.”

There’s no way such a journey could happen without a huge effort and a gigantic expenditure of energy. And it’s still happening, we’re still using huge amounts of energy and putting out great effort to keep ourselves on a journey into fear, misery and darkness. We have gone, and continue to go, so deep into it that we no longer even know who we are, where we’ve come from, where we are, or where we’re headed. We’ve become too terrified to let go and change direction, and so on and on we go, weary, afraid, and confused, traveling on a road that leads to nowhere.

“Still he wanders on in misery and poverty, alone though God is with him.”   …ACIM 

The above is how the Course describes those who believe they have done the impossible and separated themselves from God. It’s a description that fits all those who believe this world of flesh is real. They trudge along believing they are alone, heading nowhere but to the grave. They’re on an illusionary journey through fear that in reality can never be undertaken for as the above quote says, God is with him. God is always with him, for as this blog points out often, nothing can be separate from its Source of Life and live.

To understand that God is always with us for we are part of Him, is to recognize the Spirit. The reason we find this difficult is we have been taught to believe that God is some sort of grandfather figure dwelling way off in the sky somewhere. We see ourselves as these little physical beings separated and alone against the universe. And it requires a huge amount of effort to hold ourselves in this separated condition. Think about it; how strong must the belief be that keeps us separated from God even though He is always with us?

The One and Only Thing Keeping Us Separated is Fear

Why do we insist on hanging onto a world that we absolutely know we cannot hang onto beyond a few years? Why do we even want to keep ourselves in an environment that’s built on birth, misery, old age, sickness and death? The answer to both questions is the same. We do so because we have thought ourselves into extreme fear. We are not only afraid of God, and therefore afraid of our Selves; we are terrified. That’s why death, which does not even exist except in illusions, strikes dread and fear into our hearts. We are afraid – It’s just that simple.

“You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.”    …Marianne Williamson

How many of us can truly accept that we are, as Marianne Williamson says, a child of God? I would answer, not that many. For if we really and deeply believed it our troubles, cares, problems and fears would be no more. We would, as the Course says, be led as gently as if you were being carried along a quiet path in summer. 

In the opening paragraph of this post I mentioned C.S. Lewis and his quote “We are what we believe we are.” I asked if it might be possible he could be right. The answer is an emphatic no, he was not right! for regardless of what we believe about ourselves, we are now, we always were, and we always will be, children of a Loving God. And we cannot change that truth no matter how much power we have or what we do.

But that being said, there is a scenario in which he is right. Oh I understand how complicated this seems, but there’s nothing in the universe as complicated as this so-called life we have made for ourselves. In this world of illusions where we have denied our own reality we do become what we believe we are.

The so-called experts can’t agree whether the following quote should be attributed to the Buddha or to Socrates. But that part doesn’t matter to me, it’s the message it contains that matters regardless of who coined it: “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” If you think fear thoughts you become fearful. If you think love thoughts you become loving. As the Course tells us: “It is your thoughts alone that cause you pain. Nothing external to your mind can hurt or injure you in any way.” 

I’m going to close this post with a rather long quote from the English Priest & author, David Adam

“How strange it is I search for you when you are with me. I seek your presence whilst dwelling in you. I look for your love when I am in your heart. I ask for protection whilst you walk with me. I ask for peace when it lies unused within me. Let me know I abide in you and you are ever in me.” 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Truly Appreciate You Visiting This Site – Thank You

Until Next Time, Think Positive – Life is better that way