“It’s not the situation that’s causing your stress, it’s your thoughts, and you can change that right here and now. You can choose to be peaceful right here and now…”  …Gerald G. Jampolsky

Well! Now I’ve heard it all. What on earth could Mr. Jampolsky have been thinking about in order to say something as ridiculous as the above quote? I mean, how could we live in this world without noticing what’s happening in it? And how could we not be filled to the brim with stress over it? Those Seem like sensible and practical questions to me.  Of course I’m joking, for I believe he was absolutely right.  

I don’t profess to know anything about Gerald Jampolsky. But in checking him out, before I used his quote, it seems that he was a student and teacher of A Course In Miracles and wrote well over twenty books on subjects such as love, forgiveness, thoughts, life, etc.. I haven’t read any of them and therefore, I haven’t been influenced by his teachings. I was looking for a good and informative quote to open this post with and came across this one by him, which I like – that’s about the extent of my knowledge of him.

“As God created you, you have all power. The image you made of yourself has none.”   …ACIM

What is this image that you have made of yourself; what is this image I have made of myself? It’s an image that has been taught and programmed into us by the world since we made our debuts into this low frequency of energy we refer to as physical. We’re taught that what we can see with the body’s eyes is all there is. We’re taught that we’re lowly beings who need protection and guidance by those in authority. We’re taught to accept the curriculum that has already been laid out for us without question or critical thought. It’s from those who teach this curriculum that most of us form our images of ourselves as lowly and powerless little beings. But nothing could be farther from the truth. 

For many of us there comes a time in our so-called lives when we begin to doubt these teachings. We begin to feel that something isn’t right. We begin to feel that there’s more to the story than we’re being told. In other words, we wander off into the forbidden territory of thinking for ourselves. In doing so we stray inadvertently into the most powerful world in all of existence; the world of thought. A world of wonder that inspires us to question the curriculum that has been laid out for us. 

“Miracles are thoughts. Thoughts can represent lower-order or higher-order reality.”   …ACIM

Wow! That can’t be true! How on earth could such a ridiculous statement as that have any legitimacy to it? Miracles are thoughts? That doesn’t make sense; does it? I mean, if that’s true our thoughts would have to be very powerful; wouldn’t they? Miracles are supernatural occurrences, aren’t they? They must be! 

But what does The Course mean when it tells us that Miracles are natural. When they do not occur, something has gone wrong? Hmmm, that’s a good question. Well I don’t think they’re natural to the image we’ve made of ourselves. Jesus tells us plainly that this image has no power at all. That’s because it’s an illusionary false image of littleness and weakness.

Even though he tells us that this image has no power he also says that thoughts can represent lower-order or higher-order reality. That’s some pretty amazing info. He also informs us that when they (miracles) do not occur, something has gone wrong. What is it that could have possibly gone wrong? Well it seems pretty obvious to me that if Miracles are natural and they’re not happening it’s because we’ve left our natural state by making up these false images of ourselves. And then we turn around and convince ourselves that these images are real and they’re what we really are.

“Neutral thoughts are impossible, because all thoughts have power.”   …ACIM

What? Is that telling me that these seemingly harmless thoughts I think most of the time have power? If I keep concentrating on all the negativity that’s happening in the world; won’t I be happy and healthy? Well it’s entirely possible that I won’t be. I’ve heard that there’s a Law in the Universe that goes something like this, that which is like unto itself is drawn. That could possibly mean that if I predominantly think about sickness or some other negative condition then I could become an attraction point for that same sickness or other negative condition.   

Just because you have been taught to believe you’re something other than you really are doesn’t mean you stop thinking. The thing is, as long as you believe you’re a lowly and powerless physical being your thoughts have no real source, therefore, they have no real power. As the above quote tells us, they have power but its source is fear and power that’s based in fear can only make the physical with all the sickness and other negative conditions the ego can squeeze into it. 

“Thoughts can represent lower-order or higher-order reality… One makes the physical and the other creates the spiritual…”   …ACIM

It’s a difficult transition for those who have been conditioned by the teachings of the world to even contemplate the idea that their thoughts contain power. But, be that as it may, the reality is, all thoughts have power. Eventually we’ll learn the truth that, in fact, our thoughts are the most powerful force in the Universe.    

The more time I spend in this current physical experience the more it seems there is to learn. And when some things are learned, that learning comes like a revelation. All of a sudden it’s there, standing out so stark, clean and clear it requires an exclamation, such as, wow! 

The very first enlightenment about the power of thought came to me before I ever read The Course. It came from Abraham/Hicks. Even though I’m paraphrasing it from memory this is pretty accurate as to what they said: Every thought you think becomes an entity with the ability to think.

That was the most amazing revelation I had ever encountered and for some reason it rang true for me. I accepted it right away. Lights began flashing as deep holes filled in with myriads of answers, which began nullifying stacks and stacks of questions that had accumulated unanswered over the years. 

Of course! That’s how creation happens. Thoughts create thoughts and those thoughts create more thoughts. On and on it goes. As The Course points out:  “The Thought of God created you. It left you not, nor have you ever been apart from It an instant.” But only higher-order thoughts of love create. Lower-order thoughts are those that aren’t based in love. They make the physical, which is temporary. 

“Decide but to accept your rightful place as co-creator of the universe, and all you think you made will disappear.”   …ACIM

There we have it. A very specific instruction for escaping the images we have made of ourselves and the ensuing hell that error has caused. We’re told to use that which, as The Course informs us, is the one remaining freedom we have left as prisoners of this world: The power of decision. 

It seems like very simple advice, which it is, but after going through eons and eons of conditioning by the world it’s not that easy to put it into practice right away. 

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

Before you can decide to accept your rightful places as a co-creator of the universe you must decide to recognize the Spirit. You must recognize, accept and believe the following truth from The Course about yourself: “You were created by Love like Itself.” Once this truth becomes reality to you, you’ll understand that both decisions are one. Your decision to recognize yourself as Spirit will automatically reveal the truth to you that you are, have always been and will always be, a co-creator of the Universe with God. You then realize and understand where your Power lies. It lies in your faith and belief that you are and will always be a part of God. Your belief and faith in this truth will fill your thoughts with the unlimited Power of your Creator.

I’m going to close this post with a quote from Wallace D. Wattles written back in 1910: “There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates and fills the interspaces of the Universe. A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.” 

Thank you for visiting this site – I am truly grateful.

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“Love is your safety. Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are safe. Identify with love, and you are home. Identify with love, and find your Self.”  …ACIM

“Veganism is believing that an animal’s life is worth more than a sandwich. That’s it! That’s how simple it is.”  …The Spiritual Vegan