THE GIFTS OF GOD — Sondra Ray and Markus Ray on A Course in Miracles

What we experience is what we see, and everything we experience we asked for it. Even the most traumatic and painful events in our life, we somehow "asked for them" with the underlying subconscious thoughts that attracted them. Here is the prayer that will liberate us by taking full responsibility for our own thoughts and requests.

I am responsible for what I see.
I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve.
And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and receive as I have asked.

This may seem too severe. When we turn over our mind to the Holy Spirit, we can invoke only happy thoughts and situations in our life.

Do we want Vision or do we want judgments? How we perceive the external world is solely based on this decision. The beliefs we hold are in error, and they are projected onto the world, giving us a problematic life. These beliefs are judgments. On the other hand, vision would show us a different mind, and therefore a different world. One free of judgments. A heaven on earth. And this heaven abides in us. There is an ancient song of our own gloriousness in the light. It sings of our Oneness. It shows us the ancient Reality of Truth that part of us has never forgotten. Our holy vision sees all things as pure, because we see the holiness in our mind. "My mind is part of God's. I am very holy.” This is Lesson #35. It takes us into the Light, where everything is One in Love. This is our reality.

Vision is ours, instead of judgment. We desired to be separated, and in that decision entered "guilt" and "sin." They were illusions, but we made up and ego self that thought them real. We cut off from our Creator, and lost the vision of our original innocence. Yet, we can restore our vision by looking upon our brother's sinlessness. Christ rises in our vision, and shows us the innocence in which he was created. Holiness is restored by the truth of what is there, not of what is not there. What is there is the loveliness of our brother's sinlessness. When we look upon that, we look upon the Identity that God created whole. We look on that and nothing else.

The "means" for Salvation, or full enlightenment, is the Atonement, which is complete forgiveness. We may like to have the boon of this Liberation without giving up our attachment to "sin," which is our attachment to "guilt." Therefore we reject the means of forgiveness. The “end,” or “purpose,” is our holiness. We want full awareness of this holiness, but our belief in "sin" or "fear" block us from achieving the goal of holiness, peace, and Joy. We cannot have awareness of Love without giving up this notion of "sin" and all its "effects." The body is neither "sinful" or "sinless," it is a "neutral thing.” But the ego uses the body to make the "special relationship" real. It's means are "sin" and its end is "death." We transcend the body in the vision of Holiness. And forgiveness is merely letting go of the illusions of the impermanent forms we imbue with false identity, and embrace the Self of the Spirit that is immortal.

The Temple of the Holy Spirit is not a body, but a Relationship. An the most KEY Relationship is the Holy one we have with our Creator. This is the most important union necessary, because in this union is the Holy Union we form with everyone else. Our Holy Relationship looks beyond the demonstrations of the body, at the heart of Love which Created us. Our God Created Self is a Thought in the Mind of God, and it is there we join to be One with all of Creation. Having the right Identification is essential. Use of the Body after this Union of the Spirit has been achieved, will produce the Beauty that reflects this Holy Relationship. Only Peace and Joy could result. Only Forgiveness and Atonement could undo all of our errors in perception. We have the means to be absolved of our errors and make contact with Truth, our Sacred Self.

The Holy Relationship, fully realized, gives us the Heralds of Eternity. Both persons become the closest to their own real Self. Joining with the Christ in our Relationship is a timeless action. Each Herald of Eternity is the end of sin and fear, and the peace and joy that is welcome comes to the forefront. Far beyond the value of our judgment, the Holy Relationship is the means by which the truth is simply seen and known. Judgment and Vision cannot occupy the same mind, so we must choose one or the other. One Holy Instant with one brother is enough to invite these Heralds of Eternity. The loveliness of the Holy Relationship's "limitless forgiveness" cleanses away all that is not Eternal in you. We are the beneficiaries of this Holy Relationship with one who is in our life now. The Christ is with us and He purifies us in this, the greatest Gift—a Holy Relationship.

What would entering the Ark of the Covenant look like? What would be required of us to take those remarkable few steps into Heaven? First, we must believe it is possible, and that we can listen to the Voice for God in the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us there. Then we have to completely forgive ourselves and our brother, yes our brother, for everything we "thought occurred, but did not." We don't see errors in him, nor in ourselves, that are part of our true Self as God Created us to be. Not one error has any consequences in the reality of this joining with our brother, in seeing "the Christ in Him." In this Holy Vision we see all things, especially all people, in the purity of their God Self. Why would we not want to have this boon from the Christ, as "students" of A Course in Miracles? Accepting fully the Atonement for ourselves, we would have to extend it to our brother as well. And if we can do this with one brother, we can transfer this miracle of the Atonement to all brothers. Then we not only "enter the ark" two by two, but bring everyone else into this Heaven as well, along with us.

This Lesson #169 is a further clarification of GRACE. It is our loftiest aspiration to live by GRACE. Why not? What blocks it? Do we still hold grievances? Are we still judging, hanging onto fear, guilt, anger? These are all the blocks to the awareness of our Oneness with God. Our mind determines when we allow Grace to enter. We have free will to block it. We have free will to cause ourselves to suffer. There is nothing our holiness cannot do, but are we in touch with our holiness? Grace would accompany this awareness of our holiness. Grace is the final step that God makes when we have mastered the Lessons of the Miracles God would have us learn. Then we have prepared our holy relationships, the "Altar" that is the table of truth upon which our Grace can enter. We can be determined to bring this Grace into our life. We can be determined to forgive everyone and everything.

GRACE is a Gift of God to His Son / Daughter. It is natural. It is whole. It is the "problem free state of being." "Your Grace is given me. I claim it now," is Lesson #168. God gives the Grace, but we seldom claim it. We may think we do not deserve it. We may think we have to prepare ourself to receive it. We may think it's not "really there." We may think it has no Power to make any difference in our Life. All of these doubts are balderdash. The Truth is God's Grace is here for us now. We need but claim it. Ask for it, and it is given, in other words. Even our acceptance is not the determining factor. As long as we have a "little willingness" for Grace to enter us, we can reap the benefits of God's Perfect Love. All "problems" are solved by Grace. Problems are maintained when we think we have to "solve them." We do not wee we "made up the problems" in the first place, then "sought solutions" that did not dissolve them. Only Grace gives us the total Solution, because it comes from Perfection Itself. When we align with Grace, all our problems are solved. Separation has ended, and God's Peace and Joy come to us, blazing in our awareness. AMEN.

Why do we ask a false self we made up for answers to anything? What is "not true" would only offer us "untruths" as answers. Any concept of the self as "sinful" would have to be a gross adjustment from the Reality of Who we are as God Created us. We are trying to "render imperfect" Who God Created perfect. We deny our perfection, and then seek guidance from the flawed and limited "self" we made up, forgetting that the Self God Created is accessible to us immediately, fully intact in the innocence God Created. What "adjustment" would be needed in the acceptance of this True Self we share with our Divine Source, and all of our brothers and sisters as well? The Answer God gives is some form of Peace. We accept our Self, and also the Self of our brothers, as purely innocent. This acceptance puts us into a Heaven friendly "state of receptivity." From there God can make His final step to us, and draw us nigh into the Paradise we have been promised as our birthright.